Spinosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus

To continue where we have ended, what if a T-Rex fought a Spinosaurus, rather than a carnosaur did? The simple answer is: the odds are in Tyrannosaurus’ favor. But!

As I have written previously, Tyrannosaurus had a more powerful bite than a carnosaur of its’ size…okay, relatively its’ size, such as the Carcharodontosaurus. When talking about a much bigger carnosaur, such as Mapusaurus, it is another story – yes, Tyrannosaurus is still likely to win, but it would be harder because in fights size does matter – this is something that AFO did get right, just…not entirely right.

Again, Spinosaurus was bigger; Tyrannosaurus had a stronger, more efficient, better bite and jaw power, but Spinosaurus was bigger and stronger, period. Unlike carnosaurs, but more like Tyrannosaurus itself, Spinosaurus took strength and weight over speed, just…in a different manner from Tyrannosaurus’. On land, when Tyrannosaurus went after Spinosaurus, its superior bite (to the carnosaurs’) meant that it would be able to defeat Spinosaurus faster and with more surety than any of the carnosaurs would. The carnosaurs did a ‘death of 1000 cuts’. Tyrannosaurus took far fewer – it needed far fewer, because it was that awesome.

…Yet if Spinosaurus got lucky, pinned down Tyrannosaurus with its own bite and began to pummel Tyrannosaurus with its’ claws, Tyrannosaurus would be defeated just as any carnosaur would, for the two were built much more similarly to each other than to Spinosaurus with basically the same weaknesses – a more fragile skeleton than that of Spinosaurus, for example. Moreover, in the water, where Spinosaurus held the home turf advantage…yeah, it would defeat Tyrannosaurus as well as any carnosaur, just with slightly different odds. Size matters, as well as habitat.

Okay, let us set the dinosaurs aside for now; let Tyrannosaurus and Spinosaurus figure out which of them is ‘the real king’ and mock the various carnosaurs’ in the process. Can we talk about something else? ‘For Honor’ (FH), for example?

…On May 16, 2017, a new installment of FH was released, featuring two new PCs – the Centurion and the Shinobi. As I have discussed them earlier, both of them could bring more problems to FH than solve them – but still, the two appear to be well designed and neat and with plenty of options, emoji and otherwise. Okay, so where is the commotion?

To elaborate, when FH became available for real for the first time, there was a powerful ad campaign beforehand; even the ‘AWE Me’ YouTube channel was contacted, and its’ members – contracted to forge the Raider’s Dane axe and the Kensai’s Nodachi greatsword by ‘Men At Arms’, while ‘DIY Cosplay…’ presented the Peacekeeper’s outfit. These days, ‘MAA’ has been busy forging such weapons as WW’s shield and the cutlasses from PotC franchise.

A brief note aside: DCEU’s weakest point is probably the movies – while MCU is struggling to put itself together, (and the new movie about the ‘New Mutants’ is a part of the X-Men franchise rather than the Avengers’ isn’t going to make this any easier), on TV, DCEU has got a very good thing with ‘Arrowverse’, and even if the upcoming ‘Black Lightning’ show isn’t going to be a part of it officially, (MCU and ‘Luke Cage’ are so impressed by it – not), this can still change, as it happened to ‘Supergirl’, I reckon. MCU has nothing like this; so far it just has AoS, and by now not too many people remain ‘in love’ with it. (However, I will not rant about AoS right now, no). Other shows are coming forth, of course, but until they become available for real, it is too early to talk about them; and ‘The Defenders’ franchise remains separate from AoS and the MCU films. That is not a problem, except that it means that MCU is still fractured – but its’ movies are still better than those of DCEU are. WW’s shield is precisely this point – it was so borrowed, idea-wise, from Captain America, that it is not even funny. Although, if MCU decides to troll the WW movie with its’ Captain Marvel film, (it could happen), now that would be humorous.

As for PotC? Honestly, the fifth movie already feels like a remake of the first with a rebooted cast, save for Captain Jack, of course. Meh, maybe it is time to retire this character already, however lovable this rascal is.

Back to FH? Here is the thing. Its’ story was not very good, (okay, ‘the campaign mode’, but still). There were plenty of technical flaws, but they got fixed by now, but the campaign/story mode? Not so much. And the fans were griping about it the loudest, and now that ‘Injustice 2’ (I2) is released and it is a game built along the same lines – basically – as FH, the fans and the gamers now have even more options and choices and they are not in FH’s favor. Now would be a perfect time to release something along the lines of ‘MAA’ or ‘DIY Cosplay…’, but no. All we got were some gamer videos centered on the new PCs, and…that is it, really. The new update of FH that took place on May 16, 2017 went down with little commotion; some people may have blinked and missed it, you know?..

So, FH is not doing all that great, while AoS got renewed for its’ fifth season. Good for them and their lawyers! …Except that ‘World’s End’ had the lowest numbers from the 4 seasons’ finales, and generally the numbers were the lowest for AoS ever. If this trend continues for S5, then any legalities might be pointless, for what is the point of a show that no one is watching?..

No, tonight I am not going to rant – about AoS or anything else. Instead, I am just going to tune out, for now. Until next time, everyone!

Pathfinder: Shackleborn - May 22

So, here's another Pathfinder character - a barbarian from NPC gallery, remade as a variant tiefling:

SHACKLEBORN CR 1/2

XP 200

Tiefling barbarian 1

CN Medium outsider (native)

Init +1; Senses Darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +5

DEFENSE

AC 15, touch 9, flat-footed 14 (+6 armor, +1 Dex, –2 rage)

hp 20 (1d12+8)

Fort +6, Ref +1, Will +3

Resist cold 5, electricity 5, fire 5

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee greatsword +6 (2d6+7/19–20) orheavy flail +6 (1d10+7/19–20)

Special Attacks rage (6 rounds/day)

Spell-Like Abilities:

1/day - web

STATISTICS

Str 21, Dex 13, Con 20, Int 10, Wis 10, Cha 10

Base Atk +1; CMB +6; CMD 15

Feats Cleave, Power Attack

Skills Climb +5, Escape Artist +2, Intimidate +4, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +5, Survival +5, Swim +5

Languages Common

SQ fast movement

Combat Gearpotion of cure light wounds, potion of remove fear, alchemist's fire; Other Gear breastplate, greatsword, heavy flail, sling with 10 bullets, 5 gp

How's it went?

Spinosaurus vs. Carcharodontosaurus

Let us see. ‘Time’ has been cancelled, ‘Powerless’ – ditto, AoS is over, ‘Blindspot’ – ditto, and ‘Killjoys’ will return only at the end of June. What is there left to talk about? How about dinosaurs?

Not so long ago I came across an online discussion, as to who would win in a face-off: Spinosaurus or Giganotosaurus? For those sticklers of accuracy, you can replace Giganotosaurus with its’ African counterpart, Carcharodontosaurus, but, regardless, who would win?

Here is the thing. Both dinosaurs are different from T-Rex. In case of Tyrannosaurus, evolution went towards raw strength rather than speed; Tyrannosaurus was made to crush bone and armor of such dinosaurs as Triceratops and Ankylosaurus, dinosaurs which knew how to fight against T-Rex, and so they did. By nature’s standards, it was a fair fight, just at look at the first episode of ‘The Truth about Killer Dinosaurs’, for example – a Triceratops could defeat a T-Rex if the odds were in its’ favor and vice versa. When the ‘Tyrant Lizard King’ went against the ‘Three-Horned Face’, the battle could go in either way…RL animals hate that.

Next, we have Giganotosaurus, and Carcharodontosaurus, and Mapusaurus, and Tyrannotitan, and the rest of the carnosaurs of the Cretaceous – and the earlier Jurassic. The differences between Giganotosaurus and Allosaurus were mainly concerned with size, and their behaviors were similar, as both hunted dinosaurs much bigger than any of the carnosaurs – the sauropods.

Now, I am not going to discuss the issue of the latest version of the dinosaur family tree, i.e. that the theropods are closer related to the ornithopods, and the sauropods may be an independent group of the ‘terrible lizards’ all along – as ‘The Complete Guide to Prehistoric Life’ explained, (it was a book published by Impossible Pictures, BTW), the relationships between theropods, sauropodomorpha and ornithishchia dinosaurs are very confusing and scientists hadn’t quite figured out as to who relates to whom. The book was published years ago, but as we can see, this statement continues to ring true.  

Back to the carnosaurs. All of them – Jurassic or Cretaceous – focused primarily on hunting sauropods, most of whom were big enough to run down and trample any theropod in a straight-on fight, unlike Triceratops or Ankylosaurus, which could lose to Tyrannosaurus just as the T-Rex could lose to them. Thus, the carnosaurs never grew as robust as Tyrannosaurus did, not proportionally – they could not afford to be slow, they always had to be fast enough to outmaneuver the sauropods.

And yes, in truth, the sauropods themselves were probably some of the slowest dinosaurs ever, and as it is known by now, throughout the Mesozoic they continued to evolve into ever bigger and stronger beasts – not faster ones. Thus, carnosaurs themselves were not too fast and they grew increasingly bigger themselves – from Allosaurus and Sinraptor to Acrocanthosaurus to Carcharodontosaurus to Giganotosaurus and beyond. Yet due to quirks of their anatomy and DNA they simply could not get as big as the sauropods – speaking generally, sauropods would always be bigger than theropods, regardless of species-by-species case. Thus, even the biggest carnosaurs, such as Mapusaurus and Tyrannotitan, were more gracile than Tyrannosaurus was and they were team fighters – it would take several Giganotosaurs to bring down a single Argentinosaurus, especially if it was closer to its full size (35 m or so in length), for example. In modern terms, this is like a pride of African lions, teaming up to take down a single African bush elephant, as shown by the original ‘Planet Earth’ TV series – there are several lions, there is a single elephant that isn’t fully grown, but still can kill any lion with a one good kick, but if the lions will bring it down, then they will feed on it for weeks, thus it is worth being specialist elephant killers, see?

Now the analogue is not perfect, but it works. Carnosaurs were the lions of the Mesozoic…so does it mean that the Tyrannosaurus Rex was the tiger? Perhaps, but there may be an even more apt analogue for the King in the modern world, the American cousin of the lion and tiger, the jaguar. Pound for pound, the jaguar has the strongest bite of the big cats, it is even able to bite through skull bones – and in modern mammals, skull bones are some of the thickest and strongest, for the obvious reasons; in ‘Jaguar: The Year of the Cat’ the feline in question was filmed killing and eating tortoises and armadillos, both of which are armored well enough to be safe from smaller predators, such as the margay and the ocelot, for example. Unlike the lion, the jaguar is a loner, but it is about the same size as a lion, just – not as heavy, as I wrote earlier, during the Nat Geo Wild’s Big Cat week. Thus, the Tyrannosaurus Rex might have been the Cretaceous’ jaguar, a solitary hunter that ‘kills in one leap’ as the modern jaguar supposedly does. In addition, if faced against a lion in a fair, one on one fight, a jaguar could win, however—

However, here we enter the highly polarized land of lion vs. tiger (or anything else, really), and I am not going in there either. As AFO suggested, the lion won due to having a mane, and technically, it was an Asian lion, with a mane that is much smaller and less bushy than its’ African counterpart’s….Where were we?

Right, killer dinosaurs. The Indominus Rex from the ‘Jurassic World’ film might have been God-knows-what, but in game statistics, it was a carnosaur, i.e. a very different beast from a tyrannosaur, cough. Not unlike the African lions, carnosaurs such as Giganotosaurus and Mapusaurus had to have some concept of teamwork, because otherwise they would be unable to bring down an Argentinosaurus, even a young one. Thus, individually, a carnosaur would lose to the T-Rex, regardless of its size – it is a worse individual fighter, it has a proportionally weaker bite, designed to wound rather than to kill, and is proportionally weaker as well.

Yes, Rexy would have probably died after a fight with the I-Rex – a one-on-one fight…due to pain shock, and blood loss, and the like. The thing is that the I-Rex would have died first, because Rexy’s bite was much more powerful, and Rexy would probably be strong enough to rip the I-Rex literally into pieces during the fight – it was that powerful, and this brings us to Spinosaurus, and its’ fight with a T-Rex in JP3.

Now, it was established by now that the Spinosaurus in the JP franchise is a biologically incorrect one – in RL, Spinosaurus was front-heavy enough to move on all four legs instead, meaning that its’ front legs were even more muscular and powerful than those of a carnosaur, (Carcharodontosaurus, Acrocanthosaurus, etc.), which brings us back to JP3. If you look at the film’s Spinosaurus vs. T-Rex battle, Spinosaurus won not because it had the more powerful bite, (it didn’t, it was more like a crocodile or an alligator, teeth and jaws better suited for holding and gripping than for slicing and tearing), but because it bit down onto T-Rex’s head and used its front legs to break its neck. End the clip.

Now, true, in RL, Spinosaurus probably could not do that – its’ front legs were not pronated enough or something. Of course, until a time machine is invented and we go back to the Cretaceous North Africa to see the Spinosaurus how it was in life rather than as a fossil, we can never be fully certain, but—

A fight between a Spinosaurus and a Carcharodontosaurus is more likely to go in Spinosaurus’ favor; the last time this particular prehistoric predator was featured in a documentary series – ‘Planet Dinosaur’ – it did fight a Carcharodontosaurus, and while the Spinosaurus did succumb to its’ wounds at the end of the episode, it was still able to drive Carcharodontosaurus away and hurt the other dinosaur also very badly in the process. (I.e., the Carcharodontosaurus featured in a later episode of ‘Planet Dinosaur’ was a different Carcharodontosaurus than the one fighting the Spinosaurus… never mind).

This brings us to the actual fight between Spinosaurus and a carnosaur – any carnosaur, whether it is Carcharodontosaurus or Giganotosaurus. On land, Carcharodontosaurus would have the advantage – it would be faster and more maneuverable than a Spinosaurus would, and thus it would be able to outmaneuver its rival and be able to wear Spinosaurus down and kill it. Of course, if the Spinosaurus got lucky just once and was able to pin down Carcharodontosaurus with one good bite, then it still could win, by beating it to death with its powerful front legs and its superior weight and strength, (proportionally speaking). And in the water, Spinosaurus would win, because it was an aquatic dinosaur, adapted to life – and movement – in water, and Carcharodontosaurus (as well as the rest of carnosaurs) was not. Carcharodontosaurus was slower in the water, probably slow enough for Spinosaurus to ambush and catch it and drag into the watery depths, where the Carcharodontosaurus would drown. (And yes, supposedly, Spinosaurus specialized primarily in fish eating, but since it was one of the largest meat-eating dinosaurs ever, it surely ate red meat when it could catch it?)

So yes, when you put Spinosaurus against any carnosaur, whether it is Carcharodontosaurus, Giganotosaurus, etc., it is not unlike putting a lion against a crocodile. As AFO showed, the smart money goes to the croc… so what about a Tyrannosaurus? What if it were to fight against a Spinosaurus?

Now that is truly another story…

S.H.I.E.L.D., 'World's End' - May 16

The universe has ended, Holden Radcliffe said before he vanished into thin air, not with a bang, but with a whimper – and he inadvertently captured the essence of AoS S4 finale, intentionally or not.

What went wrong with ‘World’s End’? (Other than the unnecessary pun of the name?) The crew of AoS tried to finish-off every plot line here: Aida and her Madame Hydra persona, (and, also, Radcliffe, I suppose), the LMDs and Ivanov, (and also the rest of the Russians), and Robbie the Ghost Rider and the Darkhold. From a technical P.O.V., it all was accomplished: everyone died – Mace, Ivanov, Aida, Radcliffe, friends of agent Piper –, the framework has collapsed and is gone, and Robbie took the Darkhold and left…for Doctor Strange and his people, maybe? Regardless, he is away for now, and if he comes back, AoS laid the groundwork for his and Daisy’s relationship, if that is what is wanted. Considering that the ratings of ‘World’s End’ were very low, especially for a season’s finale, it is anyone’s guess if Luna will want to return to feature in it. (Considering that ABC television network’s YouTube channel uploaded many of Robbie’s special moments in AoS so far, and it still didn’t work, the viewers, the ratings, didn’t rise up to what they were in the initial ‘Agents of Hydra’ mini-arc’s episodes, Luna may not return. Who knows? The final scene showed that, apparently, Coulson (and the rest of his people?) ended up in space, which is not the usual haunt of any of the Ghost Riders, so if Luna will not be coming back, AoS already got it covered, especially short-term).

The reason for that is while technical side of the solution was executed perfectly, the other aspects of it…were not. Coulson gushed how he and May missed the fight between Ivanov’s LMDs and Robbie and Daisy? Frankly, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s battle against Hive’s Primitives in S3 finale was much more epic and exciting and better; did anyone realize immediately that Robbie and Daisy had killed Ivanov ‘for good’ in that fight, and not yet another replaceable LMD? Yeah, it was that ‘good’; the S4’s finale was about as bad as ‘Laws of Infernal Dynamics’ – both were low budget and low key. Ely Morrow was supposed to be a god, but all he had was some sort of a crazy-ass box…and a bunch of gangster minions. Aida was, for all purposes, a female version of Hive, as I commented in my previous AoS review, but in the end, all she had left was regeneration, teleportation and lightning bolts, and they were useless against Reyes…

And that, really, is a reason of its’ own – somehow AoS made Reyes de-facto invincible; not even LMDs were strong enough to stand-up to him in the end. Part of AoS attractiveness is that its protagonists aren’t invincible and all-powerful, they get hurt and suffer as regular people do, which is why when they triumph – over Hydra, over LMDs, anyone else – this is only makes them better!

Well, this time this did not care: the Ghost Rider was some sort of a supernatural McGuffin than helped S.H.I.E.L.D. kill everyone and everything instead with nary a scratch. This damages the ‘suspension of disbelief’ and makes the titular agents less likable. Grant Ward was a monster and a villain? The way that the team treated and handled him, back in S2, was barely better. Aida is supposed to be some sort of an all-powerful monster? S.H.I.E.L.D. tricked her with an LMD version of Jemma…and if they could whip-up a brand new LMD on the go, couldn’t they do one for Radcliffe? The man did recant in the end, but no, he gets to go into oblivion with the rest of the framework all the same…while sounding kind of like Rhys from ‘The Catch’, (whose S2 concluded last week, BTW). And – why? Was there some sort of a contract clause or what?

…And yes, the RL problems are still a ‘feature’ of AoS, it seems – but I have written about them many times before, so, let us wrap it up instead. In S4, AoS did its’ best, (one hopes), to wrap-up anything left behind by the first 3 seasons. They did it in various ways, mostly by trying to erase it all, as they did with the framework, (Mack/Yo-Yo/Hope scenes were some of the best in the S4 finale), and by mashing everything together and trying to do very fast-paced and energetic episode. As a result, within MCU, S.H.I.E.L.D. has lost everything and everyone, including general Talbot, who is hanging to his life by a thread, and whose aide hates S.H.I.E.L.D. because they were framed.

Yes, this will give Talbot’s actor at least some episodes to be absent from, and it will give the agents a new character to battle with, to defeat, or to befriend – AoS is never clear on that. But still – my point is that AoS tried to, and largely succeeded, in getting rid of their old associations from the first 3 seasons. The problem is that AoS’ issues are RL and take place largely behind the camera, and they had not gone away, it seems. Thus, for now, we settle down for another inter-season hiatus and we wait for further news from Marvel in general.

PS: And did anyone think that the acting of actors in Fitz/Simmons/Aida triangle was seriously unconvincing and insincere? Even more so than the sheer predictability of the FitzSimmons triumphing over all odds? Maybe the actors are getting fed-up with AoS and its’ plotlines as well? Who knows.

Pathfinder: Sable Company Marine

For a change - since I didn't make many Pathfinder-related posts lately - here's a Sable Company Marine NPC, an atypical one, I suspect:

SABLE COMPANY MARINE CR 5

XP 1,600

Gnome ranger 6

N Small humanoid (gnome)

Init +3; Senses low-light vision; Perception +12

DEFENSE

AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +3 Dex, +1 dodge, +1 size)

hp 49 (6d10+12)

Fort +6, Ref +8, Will +3; +2 vs. illusions

Defensive Abilities defensive training (+4 dodge bonus to AC vs. giants); Immune poison

OFFENSE

Speed 20 ft.

Melee mwk dagger +9/+4 (1d3+1/19–20)

Ranged+1 light crossbow +12 (1d6+1/19–20) or

mwk dagger +11/+6 (1d3+1/19–20)

Special Attacks +1 on attack rolls against goblinoid and reptilian humanoids, favored enemy (elves +2, goblinoids +4)

Ranger Spells Prepared (CL 3rd; concentration +4)

1st—alarm, delay poison

TACTICS

Before Combat The ranger casts delay poison.

During Combat The ranger uses Precise Shot to help allies in melee.

Base Statistics Without delay poison, the ranger's statistics are Immune none.

STATISTICS

Str 12, Dex 16, Con 12, Int 12, Wis 13, Cha 10

Base Atk +6; CMB +6; CMD 20

Feats Dodge, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Monstrous Mount Mastery, Monstrous Mount, Weapon Focus (light crossbow)

Skills Acrobatics +8 (+4 when jumping), Climb +6, Handle Animal +4, Knowledge (dungeoneering, nature) +10,  Perception +12, Ride +15, Survival +10

Languages Common, Gnome, Sylvan

SQ favored terrain (underground +2), hunter’s bond (animal companion), track +3, wild empathy +6

Combat Gear+1 flaming arrows (6), potion of barkskin, potion of cure moderate wounds, smokesticks (2); Other Gear masterwork chain shirt, +1 light crossbow with 20 bolts, masterwork dagger, 167 gp

S.H.I.E.L.D., 'The Return' - May 9

…And so, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have returned to RL by AoS’ standards. What did they find there?

Robotic clones of Anton Ivanov, the supposed Superior, but so far everyone calls him ‘the Russian’ instead – apparently even by AoS’ own standards, calling him ‘the Superior’ is simply too ridiculous. Plus, while it is tempting to see his enormous, if not limitless, supply of clones as a homage to SW and its’ clone troopers, in reality AoS already did something like this in S3 already, with the character of Alisha, an InHuman woman with precisely this power – multiple bodies. AoS is back to recycling ideas; Anton is Alisha, while Aida (Mk III?) is Hive, with Fitz taking over from Simmons. Aida is Hive as he should have been – the epitome of the InHumans and their powers, and not just some monster with regenerative powers that ate people…oh wait. At S2 finale, Jiaying was revealing to be some sort of a fraudulent monster that remained forever young by consuming other people, and not just ordinary humans, but also other InHumans. The S2 finale put AoS ‘out of whack’, and it may be that only now they have caught-up with their intended schedule… We will just have to wait and see as to what will happen next.

…Well, yes, we already know some things – namely that Robbie Reyes the Ghost Rider, (or a Ghost Rider, look at MCU wiki for clarifications), is coming back for the S4 finale. We also know that Mack is still in the framework and Yo-Yo went in to save him. Only, the last we see of Yo-Yo in ‘The Return’/ the first we see of her in the framework, is that she was stuck in a framework Hydra’s torture chair with the building burning down around her. This raises the possibility that we will see another ‘Slingshot’ (i.e., Yo-Yo) AoS TV episode or webisode in the future, centered around her and Mack, (obviously). Maybe Tripp and Ward will be around for the ride, too.

However, while Yo-Yo certainly deserves more time to herself and Mack (and Hope), and having Tripp and Ward stick around some more in AoS is also fun, this plot move takes her and Mack out of circulation in any AoS episodes that take place in RL, allowing AoS to jiggle between them and the rest of the team, and Robbie. Yeah, I still think that there is some idea of the Ghost Rider pairing up with Quake in the works – it was probably being worked in the original story arc of S4, when Robbie, and his brother, were introduced properly to MCU and AoS and S.H.I.E.L.D. (in the story). But again, AoS has plot issues that are being resolved only now, (hopefully), and after the misadventure with Mitchell, people are probably reluctant to pair Chloe (Daisy) with anyone, and there is the matter of budget – will AoS be able to handle Luna (Robbie) on top of NCB (Yo-Yo) and everyone else? We will probably learn as to what will happen after the S4 finale, in some special news article/podcast of MCU.

In other news, FOX and Marvel will be releasing yet another Marvel-based show, ‘The Gifted’, about an ordinary family whose children are revealed to be mutants, and who now will have to deal with that and avoid any trouble from the authorities and etc. Sadly, there even is not a proper trailer, so we do not know if the story takes place in the ‘Legion’-verse, (which is also ran by FOX and Marvel, rather than ABC, as AoS is), or what. We will just have to wait and see as to how this situation will play out.

So, this is it for ‘The Return’ – it is a solid, straightforward and suitable episode of AoS. Will it be enough to bring new fans over to AoS even as the show counts down to the S4 finale? We will see.

InHumans - May 7

…And to round-up the roster of the future arrivals are the InHumans, the TV show.

Okay, here is the thing. The InHumans are already something of a presence on TV thanks to AoS, of course, but in S4, this has been downplayed – sort of. More precisely, they continue to play an important role in S4, that of an abused minority especially in the framework world, but compared to what they had in S2, especially the second half? Still downplayed. Why?

Well, one answer is that AoS tried to get in sync with the other parts of MCU, including the ‘Secret Empire’ plotline in the comics, where Steve Rogers transformed into a Hydra agent and took over the world. Or is in the process of taking it. Whatever. Marvel might be trying to make a clever critique of the current RL government of USA, as is ‘BtVS S11’ comics, where all the demons, vampires, witches and etc. get into internment camps, but-

Now, such camps are a part of the USA past, especially of WWII, when anyone, (especially people of Japanese origins), suspected of conspiring with the enemy governments, (especially that of ‘imperialist Japan’ rather than ‘Nazi Germany’, but still), were sent to such a place and usually stayed there until the end of WWII. Such camps are a part of US history, not something to be proud of, but not something to be ignored completely, either.

Back to the comics? BtVS is depicting such camps as fascist, (so far ‘Buffy’ seems to be shying away from any RL symbology, good or bad, cough), while Marvel is having Hydra take over the world in comics and AoS did something similar on TV too. That is especially ironic if you consider that AoS (and MCU?) seems to have gotten rid of Hydra by the end of S3, so-

So, once again MCU might have bitten more than it should have. One of S3’s problems was that it carried over too much S2 elements done incorrectly and/or pointlessly, and S4? On one hand, it seems to be rebooting the show, especially the Ghost Rider bits, (the man is returning at the end of S4, in the last two episodes), but on the other hand? It tries to remain synchronized with the rest of MCU, that is something else. More precisely, AoS was largely doing its ‘own thing’, independent of the Marvel movies, for example, since the last two episodes of S2.

Nothing wrong with that, just look at ‘The Defenders’, who appear to be doing exactly that ever since the first season of ‘Daredevil’ and beyond, but apparently the people at AoS feel differently. This brings us over to ‘InHumans’ the future TV show, I suppose.

It is simply unknown just how they feel fit into the wider MCU universe, so to speak. In RL terms, it is also anyone’s guess as to how they will co-exist with the AoS as well. Right now, RL has ‘Legion’, but it deals with mutants and more precisely – with the X-Men end of the MCU spectrum, so it does not have to meet AoS at all. (So far, there are no mutants and/or mutant references in AoS, BTW). There are the various ‘components’ (i.e. TV series) that form ‘The Defenders’, but the latter exist on Netflix rather than on TV and avoid competing with AoS directly. (Though you can also get AoS on Netflix, but Netflix is simply different from TV, period). ‘Cloak & Dagger’ as well as ‘The Runaways’ are coming to Freeform and Hulu respectively, but this again makes them more like ‘The Defenders’ rather than AoS, so again – no direct competition. But ‘InHumans’ will be a part of TV, maybe even of ABC television network that already hosts AoS, so this will be different, this will be like ‘Agent Carter’.

…Again, I have no idea why AC was cancelled and AoS did not, at worst AC was just as good as AoS was, and at best, it was better, but there you have it. Maybe because the main actress, Hayley Atwell, got herself a better deal? The same thing happened with Jaimie Alexander, (who played Sif in MCU) and Luke Mitchell, (Lincoln from AoS). Nothing personal, just business.

Or maybe – just a little bit personal. AoS S4 gave us closure, (most likely) with Grant (Dalton) and Tripplet (Britt). There was just another reference to Lincoln – nothing else, and Daisy has promptly let him go, not unlike as to what has happened between her and Grant, but with a good deal less grace, I suppose. Thus, Lincoln probably is not returning to AoS, (whatever happens to his counterpart Roman over at ‘Blindspot’, regardless). Fair enough. Frankly, noises that Daisy doesn’t need a boyfriend came from the official releases long before, so this isn’t surprising, and we will probably never know just what happened on the set of AoS before S3, (especially the finale) and so forth.

As for Reyes (Gabriel Luna)? Well, again, we will have to see how the S4 finale pans out? If, sadly, Mack perishes on the submarine/underwater base/whatever, then it’s one thing, Reyes can be a part of the main cast and feature on a regular basis in the episodes, or Mack survives, he remains a part of the main cast, and Reyes will appear on a regular basis, (in theory), but nothing else. In addition, yes, the main cast of AoS can expand, again, but after S3, I am not making any statements regarding that, yet.

In addition, into this mess come ‘InHumans’ the TV series? Yes, but it seems that they already are experiencing some problems of their own. The first promo picture makes them seem ordinary, boring and common, something that the fans were very vocal in criticizing, (they want to see Medusa with her animated hair or Gorgon with his hooves, it seems), and the first promo video is basically a logo of ‘InHumans’ with some dialogue that talks about a betrayal, a revolution or a coup – the difference between the three tends to depend as to how comes on top: the old regime, the new regime, or someone completely else. In ‘InHumans’ case it depends on whether or not the king is Black Bolt, (who usually is the InHuman king in the comics) or not. Guess we will just have to wait and see and hope that it will not disappoint.

Therefore, this is that for this week. So you next time, then!

For Honor: Centurion & Shinobi

More about ‘For Honor’.

To wit, I finally saw the promotional videos of the Centurion and the Shinobi, and-

Well, the Centurion appears to be something of a hybrid between, well, an ancient Roman soldier and a gladiator, complete with a facial mask. He fights with a gladius, which is short, but broad, sword, and an armored fist. The gladius was one of the oldest swords, it may be a direct and an immediate descendant of the so-called Iron Age sword, which is probably the oldest sword of Europe, and it was a very versatile weapon: it could chop, it could slice, it could cut and stab, as it was shown in the S2 of DW – ‘Roman Centurion vs. Rajput Warrior’. This is one of the better DW episodes ever, as it showed the ad- and dis-advantages of both cultures, to wit that the Romans fought better as a group – say, an army, while their opponents, such as the Celts and the Teutons fought better one-on-one…which is why the Rajput won that battle (it was one-on-one). The Romans fought as a shield wall, they possibly had invented the tower shield, (compare the Centurion’s shield from DW with that of the Spartan from DW S1, when the Spartan defeated the Ninja, aka the Shinobi, and you will see the difference). They led with the shields and followed with their swords, allowing their enemies to break upon the Roman wall of steel.

The flip side, of course, is that individually the Roman military was much worse than their ‘barbaric’ opponents which is why so many of the gladiators weren’t ethnically Roman, but foreigners instead, (gladiator battles were often fought one-on-one or in small groups, duh!)…

As the promo video shows, the FH Centurion is exactly the opposite of RL history – it is an individualistic fighter armed with nothing but a short sword and a gladiator-like armor, (and yes, the word ‘gladiator’ is probably derived from the word ‘gladius’, RL grammar history rocks, sometimes). There is a direct statement that the Centurion fights for an ‘empire’, but whether or not it is for the Roman (Byzantine?) Empire, is another story, and given that in FH the storytelling is its’ weakest aspect, I am not expecting too much from this side, information or otherwise.

As for the Shinobi… Again, we’re dealing with a Ninja, albeit one that is more robust than how the Ninja are usually depicted and dressed much more colorfully than what is stereotypically expected, and is armed with a kusarigama, which is something else.

Well, in reality it was a sickle, a farmer’s tool that some enterprising and inventive soul opted to attach a ball on a chain, not unlike that of a Morningstar or a flail. The result is an impressive, versatile, and dangerous weapon, and FH’s Shinobi wields it with pride. Of course, so did its’ DW counterpart, but it still lost to the Spartan…but that was because DW was kind of naïve in its first season, and it tried to utilize such ‘alternative’ weapons as black eggs – to wit, hollowed, empty eggs, filled with powdered glass, or pepper, or something similar. Such weapons were not ineffective, but they scored no kills, zero kills, (officially), so the warriors who utilized them, lost to their opponents – always. FH seems to have nothing like this, so their Shinobi/Ninja is proportionally more formidable than DW’s used to be.

As for the Shinobi fitting in with the rest of Samurai… I have a feeling that FH is beginning to make the new classes purposefully different from the old ones; we have the Centurion defeating the Peacekeeper (both are Knights) at the very least, and I think something similar is happening with the Shinobi and the rest of ‘team Samurai’: he is ‘related’ to them, but stands apart from the ‘original four’. Again, we will have to wait and see as to what FH will do with that…

So, that’s it for now, two new classes for FH, coming on May 16, 2017; we will just have to wait and see if the Vikings will have someone new for them as well…

S.H.I.E.L.D., Cruel World - May 2

…Therefore, agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have said ‘farewell’ to the ‘cruel world’ of Madame Hydra/AIDA and left it behind. Except for Mack, who would rather stay there with his daughter Hope instead. So what?

Firstly, this means that AoS has resolved, at least to some point, its’ ‘conflict’ with SkyeWard fans. Odds are, Skye/Daisy and Grant were never in the works…or perhaps discarded sometime between S1 and S2, but the impetus lingered, and the way it all got resolved didn’t help either…so now, in S4, AoS decided better late than never, and gave its’ viewers some sort of a resolution between Grant and Daisy at least: perhaps in some universe, Grant, (who is a good guy himself now), and ‘his’ Skye will be happy together, even if he and ‘the canon’ Daisy cannot be…

It is possible that Skye/Daisy was never supposed to be with Grant, but somehow, through AoS mishandling the situation, it got out of hand and in a direction that AoS did not care about. They tried ignoring it, (not unlike how George Martin tends to ignore the fans’ inquiries about his future book – ‘Winds of Winter’ or something like that), and it worked, sort of. S4 of AoS had some of the lowest ratings ever…but by S3 AoS realized that it was not doing something, so they tried to do fan service instead. The show is sending feelers out to the fans and viewers – there was the entire ‘Hot Potato Soup’ episode with the Koenigs, (Patton Oswauld) and now this. AoS has realized that if the numbers of viewers and of ratings falls low enough they will be cancelled, so they are trying to reverse the trend…

Yes, again, the reason as to why a show is cancelled is not straightforward. ‘Agent Carter’, ‘Time after time’ and ‘Powerless’ showed that clearly enough, but still, contract or no contract, Marvel or Disney, AoS clearly decided to change its’ approach to its’ relationship with fans and viewers, so – good for them. Robbie Reyes the Ghost Rider is returning at the series’ finale, and-

Right now, it can go in any way, but here are the more likely ones, (I think). Mack has remained in the framework with Hope, and as the next episode’s promo is showing, he just might die on Ivanov’s (the Superior’s), soon-to-be-sinking submarine. Thus, either he will die, (stay in the framework forever), leaving Henry Simmons free to leave the show, and so will NCB, who plays Mack’s love interest Yo-Yo/Elena Rodriguez, most likely. Thus, Gabriel Luna, who plays Robbie Reyes/the Ghost Rider, will be free to adjoin to AoS as a new main character.

Alternatively, none of the above happens. Yo-Yo will actually rescue Mack in time, he will stay, she will stay, and the Ghost Rider will remain a recurring, not a main, character. The end. Either way, this can work for AoS, in part it all comes down to its’ budget and how will the show end, on the higher or lower end of its (still low) ratings.

This is especially important, since at least two new Marvel-related shows are coming to the viewers, (Netflix and Freeform): ‘The Defenders’ and ‘Cloak & Dagger’. Between them and FX’s “Legion”, which deals with mutants rather than the Avengers, the InHumans, or anyone else, AoS might be feeling the pressure mounting to change its’ approach to…something, and that is what it does. Good luck to it!

And speaking of new arrivals that don’t have to do with Marvel, for a change – firstly, Stephen King’s ‘Dark Tower’ novel series are coming to TV as a new series, and it seems to be just as impressive as ‘The Defenders’ are, for example. Yay! Second, ‘For Honor’ is updating itself also in May 2017, apparently, with at least two new PC characters – the Centurion and the Shinobi. That…is not so yay, actually, as both sound problematic: the Shinobi is supposed to be a part of the Samurai roster, yet since its’ name means a ninja-like character, (just ask any fan of… the ‘Naruto’ anime and manga, for example, for the reason why), how will it be different from the Orochi? Not better or worse, just different? Minds want to know…

The Centurion, meanwhile, as part of the roster of the Knights, seems to have its’ own problems – it was a rank of the Roman Empire (and the earlier Republic); it is a part of the ‘ancient’ times, not the ‘medieval’ ones, as the knights were. Yes, sure, such divisions are ‘superficial’, especially for various games, (‘Battlefield 1’, for example, as a megalodon shark as an ‘Easter egg’ attack option), but ‘For Honor’ actually goes for authentic-looking characters, so a Centurion will probably just not look as the rest of its’ teammates, or else one of the game’s stronger points – the authenticity will take a hit. Either way, ‘For Honor’ loses.

So: AoS is beginning to fix itself; ‘For Honor’ – not so much; and many wonderful new shows are coming to TV and the Internet. That is it for this time, tune-in next week!