Herons, a fanfic - Nov 15

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so here's a brief Tolkien-based drabble instead: 

Across the multiverse…

Once upon a time, there was a war of wrath.

And the Valar burned the strongholds of Morgoth in the North to the ground.

And little was left of it, but ashes. …Ok, ashes, and the survivors, fleeing to all the four corners of the Middle-Earth.

And the Valar, the Maiar, and the rest of their allies were about to pursue them, when something else arose from the ashes: a flock of birds, long-necked, long-limbed, long-beaked, with large wings, clad in feathers of ash-grey. The birds circled once, twice, three times over the remnants of Morgoth’s fallen fortress and flew away, across the Middle-Earth, for they were the first herons of this world.

The Valar and the Maiar, (in particular, the Maia who would be later known as Radagast the Brown), just stared at the open-mouthed and open-eyed, for this was the first good news since Morgoth was defeated for good now. And as they stared and discussed among themselves the new development, someone else made good on their escape – Sauron, (of course).

“Well, this was a lark,” he thought to himself, as he made his own way across Middle-Earth, to his own secret hideout, (unknown to anyone else, good or bad). “Now it’s off to execute my next plan – one to take over the world!

End

AAA, Season Finale - Oct 31

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the AAA season finale… and what did we just watch?

On the baseline, AAA did what an MCU show (or any other instalment for that matter) does – it moved the MCU universe forwards: now, both Billy and Tommy are alive (in a manner of speaking), and Billy is going forth in order to rejoin/reconnect with his twin. Fair enough, (though I never figured out as to why Wanda v. 2.0 had to be a homosexual male – since the comics. MCU likes to twist things, so it could have made ‘Billy’ into ‘Billie’ – instead it made him Jewish. How clever, really – but we talked about this before, so let us not do it now). Where does it leave the titular character?

Ah yes, Agatha. AAA made her its’ titular character, and it made Agatha even less likeable than before. Again, it all comes down to religious values: in monotheistic faiths, (especially the Abrahamic ones), redemption of a villain is a big deal; in polytheistic faiths – not so much. Witches and witchcraft root in the latter religions, and so AAA was a polytheistic TV show, where redemption isn’t required – and so Agatha remained unapologetically evil, killing Lillia, and Sharon, and Alice – and not caring about these acts at all. Bully for her, but Disney/MCU operates in RL; it sucks, true, but it is also dominantly monotheistic still, and so leaving Agatha a main character and a villain might’ve been too much, so…

…So Disney/MCU downplayed AAA a lot – because of the above, (and the homosexuality theme too, let’s be honest), in favor of the ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ film, (and rightly so), in favor of the ‘Venom 3’ film now too – even Disney/MCU itself didn’t like AAA whatsoever all this time, and so the only reason they seemed to make it at all is to introduce several same-sex characters – Agatha and Rio, (though as Death, does Rio even have a set gender?), as well as Billy/Willy. Since this is Disney/MCU, this same-sex angle was also downplayed and did not really feature in the AAA S1 either. Disney/MCU managed to annoy both sides of the equation, put otherwise. The last time Disney achieved this was a while ago, with an attempt to reboot the Buzz Lightyear franchise – but this is another story.

For now though, this is it. Of all the Disney/MCU pieces that I have seen so far, AAA was the worst one, (for me, at any rate). See you all soon – and hopefully with a different, (preferably better), subject of discussion as well!

Venom 3 - Oct 25

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Venom 3’ film at last.

The movie works. It primarily aims at the feelings, the emotions, and the such, and since this is the third (and final?) film of the series, it works. More specifically, it works because both the Sony studios in general and Mr. Tom Hardy in particular, did their best to make Venom likable and approachable, and so on. Whereas in AAA we’re dealing with an almost complete set of strangers that don’t appear to matter to the greater MCU at all, (aside from the titular character, the Teen Willy/Billy, and Rio the Grim Reaper), in ‘Venom 3’ we’re dealing with characters who became well established in that universe (Earth-688B, apparently), instead.

Moreover, the plot itself had been built up from the start – this movie series was about the titular character, and how the latter becomes from just one of the symbiotes (the Klyntar), into Earth’s defender from king Knull and his forces.

The King in Black, incidentally, is more than just ‘one movie villain’ himself: contrary to expectations, and to the Marvel comics, here, Venom and Knull never had a personal confrontation, and now, it seems that Knull might be this universe’s main Big Bad.

The other candidate for that role are ‘the Imperium’, mentioned by the late Strickland. In Marvel, this is assigned to the Shi’Ar aliens, who are usually associated with the X-Men, and who have already re-appeared in the ‘X-Men ‘97’ cartoon, however briefly. Since the ‘Sony Universe of Marvel Characters’ is mostly about the wall-crawler and his cohorts, the odds of the Shi’Ar appearing there are low, but not impossible – if Sony and Disney/MCU make an agreement, who knows what can happen?

Well, a confrontation between Spider-Man and Venom did not happen, for a fact, and the wall-crawler himself appears to be absent from ‘his’ universe. There was a Parker baby in the Madame Web movie but how the latter is related to the ‘Venom’ series is still unknown. In addition, it takes place during the 1990s, so at best it would be in Eddie’s past, no?

More importantly, the ‘Venom 3’ film moved this universe forward, as we now have the universe’s (potential) big bad, as well as new developments, such as the fact that the Venom Symbiote is gone. Ish, because Sony isn’t beyond hedging its’ bets, and ensuring that the VS might have survived, (the cockroach scene), plus VS left another part of it in the MCU, remember? Therefore, it can come back, but whether or not Tom Hardy will, is another matter.

Without Venom, however, the SUMC will suffer, as both ‘Morbius’ and ‘Madam Web’ films fell far short of the series, and Miles Morales’ animated movie series are separate from the SUMC (in a matter of speaking, but still). Put otherwise, for better or for worse, SUMC still has progress and development, while MCU, (as depicted by AAA), appears to have stalled.

Does ‘Venom 3’ have its flaws? Obviously – as you get past the emotional manipulation (by the movie itself), the plot is thin and simple, but then again, as MCU showed, you don’t need a complex plot to succeed or a simple plot to fail. ‘Venom 3’ succeeded where AAA is failing, and that is what matters.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon!

AAA 'Death' - Oct 24

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, while I do want to talk about the ‘Venom 3’ film, we will need to postpone it for a few days still, because of spoilers and similar issues. Onto AAA’s episode 1x07, ‘Death’.

First, ‘Death’ is the other identity of Rio Vidal, it looks like. In the Marvel comics, Death appears often enough, and the comics have plenty of death-related deities too. In MCU, however, the Grim Reaper didn’t really make an appearance, so Rio Vidal being one of its’ incarnations… well, why not? Weirder things have happened in MCU, not to mention that this is progress and innovation, things that had been missed in AAA until now.

Again, MCU movies, TV series, and so on, always did their best to move the entire universe onwards, though, admittedly, since the end of Phase 3, this become more erratic and less efficient than before. Possibly, it would be better for everyone if MCU ended then, on a high note, than wherever it is going now – and enter ‘Agatha All Along’. So far, this show had little else going for it save for Agatha’s misadventures; yes, it is her show, but she herself had been for too little in MCU and played a specific and a small role for her to matter all that much.

…And maybe she does not. We already got Billy, Wanda’s son, possessing Willy the Teen here, and Billy/Wiccan is quite an important character, even though Marvel comics and MCU are different. Therefore, there is already a good chance that he will ‘eclipse’ Agatha after all – Western media are good at this sort of thing, this gradual transference from one main character to another – and the show will end on a different note from which it started. Pause.

Ah yes, Madame Lilia. She came back to life once more, and she died once more, and AAA the show used her and her life to progress TT/Willy’s/Billy’s story some more, albeit in a non-linear fashion. How clever, neuvau, and innovative! For real. Cough.

However, on a more serious note, AAA is turning out to be banal, rather than zany, about TT than about the titular heroine, and with more distractions than with the actual content. Here, MCU is trying to use atypical approaches and images to tell a typical story and while it is succeeding, the people are not being too impressed – or too invested; they will not be too upset if Rio/Death takes away Agatha after all, that is.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon!

 

AAA ' Familiar' - Oct 17

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. In addition, what about AAA? Oh, bother…

First, TT is Willy Kaplan rather than Billy Maximoff; apparently, the spirit of Billy has merged with Willy (William) and now the MCU Pokefusion is searching for Wanda’s other boy, i.e. Tommy. (Speed in the comics). Such a twist, such brilliant writing!.. But, seriously, the way that AAA has been connecting and attaching itself to WV, showing itself to be WV’s sequel now, rather than just a spinoff, is impressive – one of the more impressive bits on this week’s episode, ‘Familiar’. Not that the bar is very high, either, but still…

Aside from the tie-in to WV, ‘Familiar’ reveals that – drumroll, please – MCU’s Willy/Billy is not just homosexual, but also Jewish! Given that Judaism is treating its sexual minorities not as favorably as the modern Western society does, this is ambiguous, and might be one of the reasons as to why AAA isn’t being showcased by the news/media too much, unlike how WV had been.

Willy/Billy himself is ambiguous as a character, but this is not too new – in DC, the Penguin is sometimes shown to have Jewish roots; Kaley Cuoco’s ‘Harley Quinn’ cartoon and the live-action ‘Gotham’ TV series had been some of the more prominent ones. The current ‘Penguin’ TV series does not go there too much, which is fine – it is a crime drama first, and everything else, including the DC comic elements, second.

In Marvel, meanwhile, we had the M.O.D.O.K. of Earth-1226, who was also Jewish, and who is a villain too, not unlike the Penguin, (but in a different style completely). As it was written before, (now this show ended, after a single season), does the global Jewish community really need to have ambiguous or outright evil, characters featuring their faith? Given the RL events in the Middle East right now, (October 2024), probably not.

…Mind you, what is happening in the Middle East right now has nothing to do with the post-Protestant neo-pagan Western society of our times; it is Eastern monotheism, pure and simple: the descendants of Abraham’s sons, the legitimate Isaac and the discarded Ismail are going to war once again, and the West… doesn’t really want to get involved; the U.S., whose own geopolitical interests are at stake there, probably has to do something, but the elections-2024 are prioritized, and so it doesn’t do anything. The other Western countries do not even try.

Is what Israel is doing in other countries, (such as Lebanon) right and proper? Possibly not, but they do not care; their government certainly does not. Can the other – Western – countries interfere? Quite so, but it would cost them, and the consequences would be unpredictable as well, and so they do not. Especially when there is money to be made off the RF/Ukrainian conflict instead.

Back to AAA, it also… serves as a mirror of the contemporary Western society, discussed above. The rest of Agatha’s new coven are gone, one-way or another, (Rio does not count, she got plot armor, most likely), but neither Willy/Billy nor Agatha herself care about it; they are going on their journey together regardless.

One might say that TT does not care about Alice and co. because he only wants to find Tommy. Jolly good; now re-watch the ‘Dr. Strange 2’ movie to see how well this mindset served Wanda herself in her quest to find her twins; now, to add insult to injury, AAA shows that at least one of her own twins has been on the same Earth and plane of reality as she was, and her entire mess with America Chavez wasn’t as necessary as it appeared to be. Yay.

Agatha, meanwhile, is reprising her role in WV – a witch-opportunist. She, apparently, had buried the rest of her new coven, and is now doing with Willy/Billy mostly the same thing that she tried to do with his mom in WV – stringing him along while waiting to backstab him as well. Character development for Aggie-poo? That is so funny!

Oh and we have to see Ralph Bohner again, albeit in a flashback. MCU is really trying to tie AAA to WV. In this, they are succeeding. What will they do with this success is another question.

For now, however, this is it. See you all soon!

'Joker 2' and AAA - Oct 10

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so I watched the ‘Joker 2’ movie, and it might have given reality a run for its’ money – in a bad way. Compared to it, the AAA mini-series is merely hollow and pointless instead. Pause.

Taking a breath. The first ‘Arthur Fleck-Joker’ film was good. It was about a marginal member of the American/Western society who got his hands on a gun/handgun/firearm with bullets and suddenly his demands for respect couldn’t be dismissed out of hand, without consequences – the modern Protestant society hates that, and fears that, and so the Gotham society split into two by the appearance/manifestation of the Joker – the patricians (or the elites) hated and feared him, while the plebes (or the proletarians) made him their banner. This resulted in a social eruption in Gotham quite comparable to what happed in real life NYC during the 19^th century during the American civil war… and ‘Joker-2’ completely left it behind.

No, seriously, what the ‘Joker-2’ is about? ‘Joker-1’… see above, plus the titular character’s interactions with the Wayne family, which resulted in the tragedy that would enable Bruce Wayne, (just a child in the initial film) to become Batman and the Joker’s arch nemesis. More specifically, Batman and Joker are two halves of a whole, they work best when they’re dealing with each other, and when they don’t – say, the first Suicide Squad film – then it’s something else, and not for the better, either. The first Suicide Squad showed this, and so does the second JP Joker movie.

To make matters worse, it is a musical. Musicals – singing and dancing and what else have you – do not combine with live-action movies too well. Those who work are usually animated, as ‘Encanto’ was, or are just tolerable, like the ‘Mean Girls’ reboot. Most others, even such magnificent ones as the ‘In the Heights’ or the ‘West Side’ reboot, fail, and ‘Joker 2’ is certainly not ‘In the Heights’. Rather, it is a love story of Arthur Fleck and Lady Gaga’s character, who is not Harley Queen; rather, she is Lee.

Yes, the two women share a name – Harleen Quinzell, but nothing else. There is a saying: ‘How you name a boat, that’s how it will float’. Names do matter, and since Lady Gaga’s character was not named Harley Quinn, she did not become Harley Quinn, and so JP’s Joker fell in love with an OFC.

Let us elaborate. JP’s Joker himself is something of an OMC, but the truth is that there is no canon Joker origin story; the closest we have is ‘The Killing Joke’ story, a one-time comic book story, but even that is not always accepted by the DC-verse as the one true origin. More precisely, no one – not even the Joker – cares about the Joker’s origin story; he just is and that is it. He can both be and not be Arthur Fleck at the same time, it will not matter.

Conversely, Harley Quinn is Dr. Harleen Quinzell, the female psychologist, who fell in love with the Joker and became a Gotham Rogue herself. Her origin story is well established and well used, and so for the ‘Joker-2’ scriptwriters to reject it out of hand, it smarts, and it shows that whoever Lady Gaga’s character is, she is not Harley Quinn. In addition, for most DC comic-book fans to watch a variant Joker flirt with an OFC (and little more happens in this film), it just is not kosher, and so they turned on the film, just as the critics did, (though perhaps for different reasons). The result is a flop… onto AAA?

…What about AAA? This week’s episode, (‘Hour/Power’) is yet another episode where another OC dies; we are introduced to Agatha’s mum; and in general are we supposed to care for those people? The witches, starting with Agatha, are turning upon each other, and are killing each other…big whoop. This is the modern post-Protestant/neo-Pagan society, concisely. The Teen is Billy Kaplan the Wiccan, Wanda’s gay son… people suspected it all along. The miniseries are only halfway done, so Agatha and Rio should survive for a while yet, everyone else is up for grabs… who cares? ‘Joker 2’ came out, and it makes the remake of TLM look almost palatable. Sad, given just how good the first movie was. Ah well, real life sucks, just ask the barred and the spotted owls – but that is another story.

For now though, this is it. See you all soon!

Big Paul, a story - Oct 8

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so here's a story for you instead:

 It was dark now. Big Paul, a veteran sheepdog, was already at guard, guarding the sheep. (Hey, what did you expect?) It was still relatively early after sunset, so everything was quiet, though not too quiet, and Big Paul could already smell someone familiar.

“Red,” Big Paul called out to that specific someone. “Come out of the grass – I can smell you!”

“Yes you can,” Red, a male red fox, did look out of the grass, though he kept his distance, given the size difference between himself and Big Paul. “So what? I am not harassing your sheep, and there are not even any lambs. Piss off!”

Big Paul frowned. “This is what I want to talk to you about,” he told Red. “Everyone and everything seem to be more on edge lately than normally; is it because of the dry spell, or not-?”

Big Paul did not finish, as a breeze brought a wisp of a scent to him – bobcat! Big Paul had his own opinion of the wildcat – unlike red foxes, bobcats were quite capable of killing even adult sheep, (if they got lucky), and this particular bobcat, after Big Paul barred her path, went after him, and almost killed him, if the sheepdog hadn’t been able to break out of her grasp and bark a frantic alarm, bringing forth his master with the gun. The bobcat got away, regardless, and Big Paul was in no hurry to relive this experience, and so he immediately whirled around, ready to bark an alarm – but there was no sign of the bobcat.

A dry branch cracked under a heavy foot – this was no fox or even wolf, let alone a wildcat. Big Paul whirled back – Red was long gone, it looked like – and came face to face with a bear.

“Hello,” he said evenly, trying to keep his voice from shaking and himself from backing away. Big Paul succeeded at this, mostly.

“A dog,” the bear – a black bear rather than brown, but it did not matter here, not particularly – did not sound impressed, for his part. “A sheepdog. Step aside, dog, for I want to eat a sheep”. Even as he was speaking, the bear was standing upright, upon his hind legs, giving himself a further height advantage – one that was uncalled and unnecessary, in Big Paul’s opinion. 

Big Paul took a deep breath. “I cannot let you do this,” he began, when the bear grabbed him with the forepaws and lifted the sheepdog up to his own eye level. 

Looking into the bear’s eyes, all but glowing from insanity and hunger, Big Pau realized that this was it, the end of the line, he was going to be eaten alive in the line of duty, and the bear’s grasp of him over the ribs was so firm that Big Paul could not even bark a warning-

The bobcat came flying out of the night, a ghost of grey and reddish-brown colors. She dug all of her claws into the bear’s shoulder and bit down with all of her disproportionate might into the bear’s ear. 

The bear roared – and unlike the bobcat, he was overly loud… or maybe it was just Big Paul’s opinions, as the infuriated giant flung him away. Still, every cloud has a silver lining, theoretically, as the sheepdog’s master appeared on the scene and discharged his gun.

The bear dropped.

On all fours.

The gun in question was loaded with small shot, more suitable for smaller animals such as foxes and bobcats, (also the occasional hare, squirrel, and gamebird, but due to his loyalty, Big Paul ignored his master’s lapses), not so much for wolves or deer, and certainly not for bears. 

To make matters worse, the bear’s hide was covered in all sorts of things, from pine needles to pine tar, and so he felt the shot, but little more – and so he charged at Big Paul’s master.

It took every bit of the sheepdog’s strength and speed to slam into the bear, only for the better to slam him away with barely a recognition before biting into the master’s gun – hard. With a fading sight, Big Paul was barely able to register-

BAH

-the herd of sheep, led by the rams, slamming hard into the bear’s flank, knocking him over and trampling him.

“Say what?” was the last thing the sheepdog thought, before he fainted.

<i>Epilogue…</i>

It was night once more. Big Paul – bandaged over the ribs – was standing watch over the sheep once more. The sheep, the entire herd, were in their enclosure once more. Red the red fox was sniffing around the neighbourhood once more.

“What happened?” Big Paul asked the fox now that the bear seemed to be gone.

“After I helped the muzzles open the sheep gate, the sheep charged and trampled the bear, distracting him long enough for the rest of the humans to arrive and deal with him,” Red replied.

“The muzzles?” Big Paul blinked as he looked around – and sure enough, there was the bobcat, flanked by two or three younger and smaller versions of her. This was not the best situation Big Paul wanted to be in.

“Bah!” one of the younger rams bleated through the fence of their enclosure. The bobcats immediately whirled around and stared at him – and the ram promptly fled from the fence.

“Listen,” Big Paul sighed. “For better or worse, I owe you one, so here’s some advice – don’t.”

The bobcats immediately whirled back to him. Unlike the ram, the sheepdog did not back down. “Listen, me and my master, we aren’t alone right now, we got back-up because of the bear attack,” he pointed, with his muzzle, at the human dwelling – lights and human voices were coming through the window, and two younger and less experienced sheepdog were playing next to it. “You won’t be able to handle everyone, especially with a sheep-“

“The summer is a bad one, and a dry one. There’s almost nothing left to eat now,” the bobcat vocally responded to Big Paul for the first time since they learned of each other, and her voice was emotionless and dry. “We have to eat or we’ll starve.”

“It is out of my paws,” Big Paul said sadly, even as he sat down onto his haunches and howled. “Ahoy there, Big Dog in the Sky! Can you help them – can you help us out, please?”

The wind picked up. It blew through the skies, bringing storm clouds with it, and then they burst with rain. The rain washed away the dust and the dirt, invigorating the plants and the small animals – frogs and toads, newts and lizards, mice and voles. When it stopped, night flowers were opening, moths were flying around, and everything felt more invigorated and lovely already. 

“…I didn’t expect this to happen,” the sheepdog told his interlocutors, but they were already gone.

<i>End?</i>

AAA 'Reach/Teach' - Oct 3

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about this week’s episode about ‘Agatha All Along’ after all.

First, Sharon Hart/Davis is dead, and the coven replaced her with Rio. Sigh. AoS was notorious in how it dealt with its’ deceased characters: when the show needed to, it did a song and dance number, and when it did not, they de-facto just vanished into oblivion. AoS was a hypocritical show, as we have discussed in the long past – and now AAA has arrived. In this week’s episode it is all but revealed, Ms. Hart/Davis was all but a stand-in for Rio – she died so that Rio could arrive on the Witches’ Road in style, so to put it otherwise, AAA has AoS beat, and not in a good way.

In addition: remember Sharon’s probably-not-a-wake, when the coven’s members are pronouncing a list of what the ‘new’ green witch should be, and they get Rio? Does it mean that Rio is all of those things? Really? Given that AAA is her own debut in MCU, this makes Rio Vidal more pretentious than anything else. Does AAA really need this? Pause.

The greater question is, does MCU need AAA? So far, there is no indication just how exactly it is connected to MCU, aside from Wanda’s corpse; given that we have seen Wanda last in the ‘Dr. Strange 2’ film, which played around in the multiverse, AAA can be taking place in alternate timeline from the one, (because Wanda is a nexus being, among her other traits). Given how MCU has quietly put the kibosh on the multiverse after ‘Loki’ the TV series and ‘Ant-Man 3’ the movie, this is not very likely, but still.

Aside from Rio being injected into Agatha’s new coven with all the subtlety of a locomotive, the main goal of this week’s episode (‘Reach/Teach’) was Alice Lu-Gulliver confronting her demons, both metaphorically and literally. This was done well enough, but again, AAA is Ms. Lu-Gulliver’s first appearance in MCU so it’s hard to generate anything for her; the late Sharon Hart/Davis at least had her time in WV before she died here; Agatha and Rio bounce against each other, and TT is probably Billy Kaplan, (Rio tells Agatha that he isn’t her son, so Nick Scratch he apparently is not); but Alice? No one is too impressed over her victory over the demon, who was one of those monsters of the week that come and go with no impact at all. BtVS, in the 90s, had this scheme down to an art form, and proportionally, it was a better show than AAA is all along. Anything else?

No. Somehow, AAA is making much ado about little anything, probably substance. (We are not talking about the movie with the same name – someone else will have to review it entirely). It is fun to watch but little else, and there is no more ties in with the rest of MCU once it left WV and the state of New Jersey entirely. Where will it get from there, to success or disaster, only time will tell.

 

…Therefore, for now, this is it. See you all soon!

AAA 'Miles/Trials' - Sep 26

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, and I really hate my family sometimes. This is it, no epithets, no elaborations, (my apologizes to those who want gossip – I do not feel much like gossiping at this moment), so let us move onto this week’s episode of AAA instead. Here… we do not find much improvement, as the titular character, the ex-witch Aggie-poo, already loses one member of her new coven, one missus Hart/Davis. Let us shed a tear for this fallen worthy, and… not much more, because in the greater MCU the good Mistress Sharon was not much more to begin with. Aye, Wanda treated her – in WV – as one of the NPCs’ in her sitcom-based RPG, but the greater MCU… didn’t really treat her any different.

No, indeed, hold the outrage: in WV, the character was an occasional, albeit a recurring one, and once the WV miniseries ended, we never saw anything else of her or of her fellow West View denizens. The way that Wanda treated them – regardless of her own reasons, issues, and mental state – was abominable, but AAA is not about Wanda, Wanda is off the table due to her apparent death.

…As the ‘Dr. Strange-2’ movie showed, there are plenty of Wanda Maximoffs in the multiverse still; some of them are actually happy mothers (and wives?). A Wanda Maximoff may appear (reappear) in MCU still, who knows – but what about Agatha?

In WV, Agatha inserted herself into Wanda’s RPG and waited for the Scarlet Witch to exhaust herself mentally and physically before bringing her superior skills and experience into play. It was a good plan, but it failed nonetheless, and Wanda trapped the older witch in a Framework-like reality of her own.

Framework was a part of AoS portion of the MCU, which was more of science than of sorcery, but Framework itself was created with the help of the Darkhold – the same Darkhold that played an important role in both WV and ‘Dr. Strange-2’; it’s unlikely that any of AoS’ characters will appear in AAA, but who knows, a fan crossover is always possible. More importantly, however, that even under the spell that made her an officer of the law and a protagonist rather than an antagonist, Agatha remained antagonizing, petty, and selfish. When ‘The Teen’ (TT; might be Billy the Wiccan, Wanda’s gay son, or might be Nick Scratch, Agatha’s own son in the comics, or might be yet another MCU OC – who knows?) broke the spell and snapped Agatha back to reality (in a manner not unlike the Framework, again), she still remained this sort of person – and so far she doesn’t appear to be changing for the better, either.

Will Agatha change? The world of MCU, her corner of MCU is as much Neopagan as anything, and-

-and look at the Pinocchio franchise, of all things. (I know, of all things, but still). In the original novel, the philosophy was Catholic Christian (and it even reflected in the original animated Disney film), and so Pinocchio changed himself on the inside and became a better person, (among other things). In a Soviet spinoff of the novel, (much less known and widespread in the West, but still), the Pinocchio-counterpart remains a puppet, but he makes the world (his world) a better place for all but the villains. In addition, in the more recent Disney remake of the abovementioned-animated classic, Pinocchio just accepts as to who he is and does not change at all. Pause. So where does this leave Agatha?

The role of monotheism is downplayed in AAA, but the fact is that regardless the bracing discussion on the definition of ‘witch’ and ‘witchcraft’, for modern people witches are descendants of the pagan/polytheistic clergy, and their demons/devils/etc. used to be ‘pagan’ gods. As KAOS and ‘Twilight’ (recently released on Netflix) show, ‘pagan’ culture is alive and well in the Western society. Moreover, in that culture, a person does not need to change to be better; they already are good. In this context, Agatha doesn’t need to change – she just needs to survive Rio, the Salem Seven, and anyone else who’ll be gunning after her while she’s depowered, (probably not Wanda or Steven Strange though). If that happens, she will just kill the rest of her new coven; she will recover her power and move on to newer pastures. The end of this miniseries. Since aside from Agatha herself we have never met any of those characters, (Sharon doesn’t count for the abovementioned reasons), and Agatha herself so far has a bigger reputation than anything, this still could happen – but whom do we kidding? Agatha will become a better person despite all of the Neopagan paraphernalia AAA the show is dressed in, and become an important part in MCU’s next phase. If MCU does not collapse first, that is, but it probably will not, (events in RL notwithstanding).

…In any case, I probably will not be able to review and/or discuss the AAA episode 1x04 next week on time, so you have been warned. Sorry about this. Real life sucks. For now, however, this is it. See you all soon.

 

 

AAA series premiere - Sep 18

Obligatory disclaimer: sometimes, real life… does not suck, as earlier today I got to see both a raccoon and a striped skunk in the wild. Naturally, the two animals do not look anything similar to each other, for the pair are distant relatives at best, but moreover…

The raccoon is a tree-climbing mammal. Eyesight is important to it for the obvious reasons, and so its’ skull has a shape that allows for some binocular (forward-facing) vision at least. The raccoon is equally confident on the ground, but it prefers to retreat to the nearest growing/standing tree (or a burrow, true), than stand its’ ground and fight… on the ground, pardon my tautology. That is good news… for both sides, for raccoons tend to have powerful jaws, sharp teeth, and an attitude to match them. (In addition, in Toronto, only the coyotes are bigger than they are, and coyotes do not appear to be too interested in raccoons, you know?)

The skunk is a burrowing mammal. For it, sense of smell is the most important, and so, it has better smell and worse eyesight than the raccoon does; in addition, proportionally, skunks are smaller and lighter than the raccoons are. Here, in Toronto, and the rest of Canada, the skunk species is the striped skunk, one of the biggest modern skunk species period, and the raccoon is decidedly bigger and heavier than it is. The skunk, admittedly, has powerful forepaws with large claws to better dig out earthworms and similar food items, (it doesn’t climb trees unlike the raccoon), not to mention its’ trademark defence power of skunk spray, but the skunks in our neighborhood apparently are the shy ones, as they tend to stay away from people and dash from cover to cover instead.

Again, on this occasion, I saw both of these mammals during the morning, way after sunrise, mid-September or not, so it is probable they were not at their best or their regular, (both skunks and raccoons tend to be more active at night instead), but still, the raccoon was slightly bolder out of the two species. Anything else?

‘Agatha All Along’ has premiered today, (Sep 18, 2024), and what can be said about the miniseries? It is progressive. It has same-sex couple (couples?). It has a Euro-American, an Afro-American, and an Asian-American character – all of them are in Agatha’s entourage and are on her side (at least initially). The series’ story is a travel story, a journey story, a story of transformations and transitions and changes – everything that MCU tried to be ever since the Avengers: Endgame film. The actors’ playing is very good and confident, the roles are cast quite nicely – i.e., the actors fit the characters – and we just saw the first two episodes out of several, so it is too early to judge the plot in general. As for WV…

Well, Elizabeth Olsen and her Wanda are finished with MCU for now, apparently. The character of Vision is going to get his own miniseries in the future, but for the moment there are no details aside from a statement that there’s going to be a series for Vision. AAA stems from WV, of course, but aside from an obligatory homage, AAA is quickly leaving WV behind both literally and metaphorically. Let us wish it good luck. Last time there were witches on the TV screen, it had been the SW: Acolyte series and that had been a failure, clear and simple. I hope that AAA will not be MCU’s version of it.

For now, this is it. See you all soon.

Jaws vs. Livyatan 2024 - Sep 17

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us briefly talk about the ‘Jaws vs. Leviathan’ that was aired during the summer 2024. It is a sequel to the ‘Jaws vs. Meg’ that also aired earlier, and was discussed by us as well. Therefore, what about this show?

On one hand, it is an improvement over the first show, if simply by virtue of having a better CGI, one that is not almost all-monotonous dark blue. There are different shades and colors, and one can easily notice what is going on here. Moreover, the plot/script of the final face-off is a bit better, and is less reminiscent of the dragon-not-quite-a-fight in the HoD S1 finale. Therefore, why is the rant?

Because the premise of the show just feels somewhat wrong. Sharks are cartilaginous fish, while whales are cetacean mammals, alongside the smaller dolphins, porpoises, and co. The physical similarities between the two groups (and the extinct ichthyosaurus reptiles of the Mesozoic) are only superficial and physical, and are not even complete, given how the cetaceans (and the extinct ichthyosaurs) breathe air, while the sharks (and their relatives) do not.

Yet, the differences between sharks and cetaceans is more than just physical, it is mental: like most of the mammals, the cetaceans take care of their young, (as it was shown in the show), while the sharks – not so much. The cooperative hunting/feeding by the great white sharks is something else again: it is a pecking order, and a cooperative pecking order, but it is not pack hunting of the orcas.

Orcas… they’re the top pack hunters in the modern oceans; great white sharks attack and eat whale calves, to be sure, but orcas attack and successfully eat adult whales instead, including such big species as the modern grey whale, and even, according to some rumors, sperm whales.

Now, male sperm whales are the biggest modern toothed whales (cetaceans), period, and not even orcas like to mess with them, but sperm whale females and calves are smaller and thus have bigger chances to end up on the orcas’ menu. That said, what matters here is that the orcas do what the great whites can do, only better, and their existence is one of the reasons as to why the Megalodon shark did die out by the Pleistocene epoch. (Recent past, but still the past). In addition, the modern sperm whale?

First, the modern sperm whale is a carnivore specialist, as it feeds primarily on large species of squid and octopus, while the modern orca will try to eat anything at least once. Second, the two species are not close relatives; the sperm whale’s close relatives are the Kogia whales, two species of really small cetaceans that look slightly like the sperm whale does, but without the oversized head; there are plenty of debate as to how close they are to the sperm whale… but they are still more closely related to it than the killer whale does; more specifically, the sperm whale, the Kogia whales, and the extinct Livyatan whale are one group, and the killer whale is another, in the overall cetacean clan; and to involve the orca with the sperm whales and their relatives is wrong and incorrect.

Yet genealogy does not really play a role in the ‘Jaws vs. Livyatan’ special, and it doesn’t matter; what matters is that comparing sharks to cetaceans is like comparing apples to oranges… or even potatoes – the two groups of animals are too different on the inside to compare and contrast; but-

-but frankly, the ‘Jaws vs.’ series doesn’t care about such scientific niceties; instead, in the best tradition of AFO, it does its’ best to come across as both informative and entertaining; the version I watched was rather skewed in favor of the sharks – but then again, these are Shark Week specials after all – but still informative and entertaining enough for me to watch till the end, even though the repetitive reiteration that the CGI sharks act just as the live fish do was annoying. Still, the show was better than the reality is, because real life flat-out sucks – but that is another story.

For now, however, this is it. See you all soon!

'The Chalice' Rick Riordan - Aug 2

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about Mr. Rick Riordan’s YA novel ‘The Chalice of the Gods’ (2023). It had been rather overshadowed by everything else that had been associated with this author in 2023-4 (and beyond), but it is a good novel in its’ own right.

What it is about? Percy Jackson is moving on from high school to college/university (eventually, hopefully), but he needs three letters of recommendation from the Olympian gods to achieve this. ‘The Chalice’ deals with the first letter that PJ receives from Ganymede, the cupbearer of the gods, (also the constellation Aquarius), for retrieving the titular chalice, so there are probably another couple of novels in the works still.

‘The Chalice’ takes place before ‘The Trials of Apollo’ series as well as Nico and Will’s standalone adventure in the Underworld, as PJ’s baby sister is nowhere near even being born, (unlike the first novel in ‘The Trials’). (Also, Jason is alive and perhaps even with Piper still). Fair enough.

The plot of ‘The Chalice’ deals with PJ’s, Annabeth’s, and Grover’s… well, quest to find the chalice. They also deal with the fact that they are changing – both literally aging, (because they are mortal, unlike the Olympian gods), and by developing and transforming socially as well: they are growing more apart now than how they were before, when they were younger, and so they need to deal with it.

Two of the entities that the trio meets in ‘The Chalice’ are literally connected to age: Hebe, the goddess of youth, and Geras, her opposite, the god of old age. Spoiler alert: the latter is the main antagonist of the novel, but PJ is able to defeat him, with some help from Annabeth and Grover, by figuring out that aging is not so bad and that the Olympians’ immortality is a rather crummy deal after all.

…Yes, PJ had to deal with this sort of thing at the end of the first series – the Chronus’ war - already, but overall ‘The Chalice’ also feels like a soft reboot of the PJ franchise – it even talks about nostalgia and a brief, temporary rejuvenation of the trio. Clearly, unlike the original films about PJ and the lightning thief and the sea of monsters, the new TV show is here to stay and prosper, and Mr. Riordan intends to benefit from it.

The other main non-Olympian deity PJ meets here is Iris. He already met her in the second book of the second series, but now Iris got remade for some reason, possibly to distance herself from the sexual minorities, because of the obvious RL reasons. No, seriously, throughout ‘The Chalice’ there are no mentions of sexual minorities, but plenty of heterosexual couples with children instead – and then, of course, there are Percy’s mother and stepfather, who are having a baby of their own – see above.

…Speaking of Iris? ‘The Chalice’ also introduced her demigod daughter Blanche, who is apparently Iris’ opposite and so the two don’t exactly get along? In addition, Blanche may or may not like Grover, who is already in a relationship with Juniper, so drama! J-Ro, whose Ron Weasley also had a robust dating life says ‘hi’.

No, seriously – PJ, Annabeth and Grover are a variant Golden Trio, but we have talked about it already; anything else?

The way that PJ ‘infiltrates’ Zeus’s impromptu branch feels like an Easter Egg for ‘The Lightning Thief’, but, again, Mr. Riordan isn’t against an occasional throwback or reboot – as it was said above, ‘The Chalice’ feels like a soft reboot of some sort; also, no one gets hurt too seriously, (though yes, Percy may disagree), so this book is decidedly child-friendly too, even though it seems to be more aimed at a young adult audience instead. Therefore, in conclusion, it can also be safely said that ‘The Chalice’ is a good book to read a couple of times, and be left after this – nothing more.

For now, too, this is it for us. See all of you soon!

Deadpool/Wolverine - July 24

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the ‘Deadpool 3’ film instead – spoilers alert ahead!

…As it was written before, this is a redemption story, and hence a monotheistic, rather than a polytheistic one. Both of the titular characters of the film are down on their luck and are not handling it too well, so enter the TVA to shake the situation for them up even more. The TVA is also supposed to tie them into the MCU multiverse, but as the events of ‘Loki’ S2 showed, MCU has largely shoved the TVA itself to the sidelines, so this aspect of the movie is kin of doubtful – even for the movie.

No, seriously, the main element of ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ are the titular characters, as they get their bearings in gear, (or whatever the phrase is), and have to defeat both Dr. Cassandra Nova, and deal with the TVA, which still has its’ own problems, reminiscent of ‘Loki’ S2 once more. The TVA, however, quickly becomes sidelined (until the end of the film, and even then it is not too important any longer), and we are left with an X-Rated MCU mutant movie instead.

The plot is straightforward: Wade needs to save his world by fixing the whatever problems his world’s Wolverine has made. Logan – from this universe – also needs to save his problems, and save their world in the process of doing so. Logan, however, has lost his mojo, and Wade is trying – in several meanings of the word – to help Logan recover it. Pause.

The fact that both of those characters have very tangled timelines from the RL perspective does not help. Therefore, D&W has relocated itself largely to the Void from ‘Loki’, (introduced in S1), where they encounter various mutants and several other characters, both from MCU and otherwise. Mind, that the movie’s plot is a straight-out redemption story, seen through an equally straight-out RPG plotline, where the titular characters have to defeat tougher and tougher opponents until the final boss – Dr. Cassandra Nova in this case. Moreover, since the end of Phase 3, MCU did not really go for in-depth, rounded villains, (the situation with Kang and his actor had not helped things either), and so, Dr. Nova is rather forgettable, as is Paradox, (who gets arrested in the film’s end too, as part of TVA’s cleaning up its’ house at the end of ‘Loki’ S2. Isn’t interconnectivity clever, cough?). What next?

The movie is carried by emotions rather than logic, and by visuals rather than anything too in-depth – R-rated or not, D&W is still a Marvel comic film, and as such the next ‘Gawain and the Green Knight’ movie it is not. Thank goodness for that, too. What else?

Ah yes, the extra mutant variants of the films. Guess MCU has not yet given up on the Multiverse concept, and RR is doing a better job in fixing it than the Rock did with DCEU… before it ended. In addition, Wade broke up with Vanessa (at the beginning of the film)? Seriously? After the emotional wrangler, that was their second film? Well, weirder things have happened…  The point is that D&W film has delivered a good story, and it is good, even if it isn’t seminal, semiotic, or anything else high-brow. It has not recharged me per se, but it did bring something of a smile to my face after all.

This is it for now. See you all soon!

FH: Sohei - July 24

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, but at least there is entertainment, on the other hand.

First, there is the ‘Despicable Me 4’ film. It… is not bad, but it is still apocrypha: see, the first three films were about Gru changing from an anti-social villain into a more social anti-hero. Then there were the Minions’ movies, which acted as something like a prequel to those first three films, explaining the Minions’ general history and their shared history with Gru. Now, the DM4 film seeks to reset the timeline, by introducing Gru’s new son, by introducing Gru’s history with him, and by rebooting the Minions and their new employers, (cough). It is not a bad strategy, just a weird one, and given that the DM4 is a less than a successful film, (by the critics’ standards, anyhow), I guess we know as to which side the coin has landed.

Second, there is, well, the second season of Hulu’s ‘Hit-Monkey’ series. It is based on a Marvel comic line, but it is not a part of MCU, which might be why such sites as the Marvel comic database are downplaying it in favor of the D3 film, which we will discuss at another time. ‘Hit-Monkey’ S2, meanwhile, might not be something epic, but it is still worthwhile to watch, you know?

Finally, we come to FH (‘For Honor’) newest hero, the Sohei. In RL, they were warrior monks of the Buddhist variety, so GM has never utilized them in his ASOIAF, at least not in the canon, or even the GoT, versions. FH, again, created something, or someone else entirely, armed with seven different weapons of all things, and the primary one appears to be some sort of a glaive – aka a variant lance. Again, FH’s PC has little in common with their RL counterpart other than their name, but that is par for the FH’s course. Pause.

Now, here is probably when you expect me to rant about something or other, but the truth is I have no energy to do so, no motivation. I watched recently a YouTube personality rant about the Megalodon of all things, how is has most definitely not surprised. Now, I agree – the Megalodon has died out, if only quite recently, but ranting about this fact? It will not affect anything at all, by now there are two Megalodon, in a manner of speaking – the RL fish that died out, and the imaginary sea monster that continues to exist, and the two entities are both separate and combined at the same time… The point here is that ranting about things is never helpful; fun, but never helpful, and besides, I just do not have the energy, given how things are going on in my RL: yes, Marvel’s treatment of its’ not-MCU-properties is bad, and FH is something else, but it does not matter – things will change soon… or they will not.

For now, though, this is it. See you all soon.

Jaws vs. Meg 2023 - June 18

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us have a flashback to the Shark Week 2023 instead. Now, there has been some consideration about the new SW: Acolyte series, but at the end of the day? It does not deserve the hate that it is getting… or does it?

From my point of view, the people who hate ‘Acolyte’ are the same people who hated the SW Sequel Trilogy, aka films 7-9, and who were handled by Disney/SW… however they were handled. Regardless, they weren’t vanquished; already by the time of the ‘Mandalorian’ S3, when Disney/SW were beginning to bring, well, the SW universe from the 6^th movie’s setting to the 7^th, the old criticisms were coming back. They stopped when the ‘Mandalorian’ ended, but apparently did not go away, as they resurfaced once more when the ‘Acolyte’ came out. Now what?

So far, Disney/SW franchise is not backing down from the TV show the same way they did with the 8^th and 9^th films. Back then, they fluctuated between total support and full reboot, and the result was a big setback, much bigger than any other Disney branches had to deal with. Since then, Disney/SW tried to retcon and circumvent its’ rebooted/redesigned universe, but with more mixed success than they would like, and ‘Acolyte’ is part of this mixed bag. What will Disney/SW do next, now that the ‘Acolyte’ is not being as successful/accepted as they expected it to be? It is anyone’s guess, of course, but hopefully they will be more consistent with their response than how they acted during the SW Sequel movie trilogy… Back into the real world?

No, ‘cause the reason I’m writing this entry is because I got to see the Shark Week special ‘Jaws vs. Meg’. In this special feature, people made a CGI battle between the great white shark and the Megalodon, with the latter winning, because of course it did. Pause.

Here is the thing. The reason as to why I was watching the special in the first place was because of nostalgia for AFO (Animal Face-off), as well as JFC (Jurassic Fight Club) and DW (Deadliest Warrior). In the first show, episodes ended with two RL CGI animals faced-off, in the second – we had prehistoric animals, and in the third, we had a live-action re-enactment of a quasi-historical battle – say, a Spartan vs. a ninja, or a Viking vs. a samurai. Here, in ‘Jaws vs. Meg’, we also have a CGI battle, both of a modern and of a prehistoric animals, well – fish. What next?

Well, for one thing, there was no doubt that this was the fight for the great white shark to lose. In nature, especially among the vertebrates, (the invertebrates are another story, admittedly – just watch Monster Bug Wars), size matters, and bigger and stronger beings triumph over their physical inferiors. Lions dominate over leopards, leopards – over cheetahs, wolves – over coyotes, coyotes – over foxes, and so on. The bigger and stronger Megalodon would dominate the great white shark during the time the two species coexisted, simply because while the great white shark could hurt it, the Megalodon could kill it far too easier than vice versa – as the special feature’s CGI confirmed. The Megalodon was able to take the punishment that the great white shark threw at it, and kill the latter with a single lucky strike. Overdramatized, maybe, but regardless, this would how it happen… what else?

Co-existing with the Megalodon caused the great white shark to become a specialist – it specializes it hunting seals, fur seals and sea lions, mostly in tropical and subtropical waters. It is more modernized than the Megalodon was, but it still prefers warm and tropical waters than temperate and colder ones. These days, with the global warming (or whatever it is called), the shark is moving north (and south?), including the shores of Eastern U.S. and Canada. What will come out of this, is yet unknown.

Back in the past, the great white shark had to stay closer to the shoreline, because in the open ocean the adult Megalodon lived and dominated – other sharks. However, there were also the cetaceans…

The cetaceans’ overall evolutionary history still hasn’t been completely resolved, but what matters here and now, is that during the Miocene and Pliocene, the baleen whales were smaller than their modern counterparts are, and more vulnerable to attack from such as carnivores as the Megalodon and the predatory prehistoric sperm whale cousins, (including the Livyatan). Just as the great white shark specialized in the pinnipeds – seals and their cousins that usually stay closer to the coast than in the open seas, so did the Megalodon specialize in the cetaceans, which preferred the open seas to the coastlines instead. The two species co-existed by specializing in different directions, and the Megalodon’s closer cousins, the mako sharks, specialized in yet a third – they aren’t as massive as the great white shark, but are faster and more maneuverable than it is. If the great white shark is a lion of the seas, then the mako sharks are the cheetahs instead. They would not outfight the Megalodon (or most other prehistoric predators), but outpace and outmaneuver them instead. The killer whales, for example, are known to attack great white sharks – successfully, too – but the mako sharks? Not so much. However, where do they fit in?

The main reason as to why the Megalodon is not around anymore, no matter what fan favorite theories proclaim. During the end of the Miocene and the first half of the Pliocene, the two Americas formed a single continent finally, and the world began to enter an Ice Age. The Megalodon (and many of its’ prey species) couldn’t handle the climate change and died out; also, in the Megalodon’s case, the disappearance of the warm shallow seas between the two American continents left its’ young vulnerable – well, more vulnerable, to predation from smaller sharks, including the great white and the hammerhead species. Megalodon vanished during the Pliocene and Pleistocene periods, and the smaller sharks flourished.

The same situation goes for the whales: the modern whales are giants, true, but they are specialists as well. The baleen whales feed on plankton, and many of their species spend their lives migrating between the two poles, following the seasons and the currents, to keep themselves fed, (and the global warming is throwing a wrench into this), while the biggest toothed whale, the sperm whale, is a deep sea hunter, feeding mostly on the big, giant, and colossal deep sea squid species. Its’ closest relatives, the two Kogia whales, are tiny by comparison, and little is known about them, so let us put them aside for the moment. The point here is that the time of easy living in the ocean has ended for now even before the humans evolved on planet Earth; compared to the Miocene, when the global oceans were full of small and medium-sized baleen whales, the modern ocean has only big baleen whales, or giant ones. Megalodon would be outmuscled in the modern ocean – but the great white shark would have nothing to do with that… Anything else?

The CGI battle of ‘Jaws vs. Meg’ could have used some tweaking and twerking, but this is splitting hairs; the point here is that it was an enjoyable TV program, while the ‘Acolyte’, for example, is much more forgettable.

Therefore, we will end the discussion for now - This is it. See you all soon!

Venom 3 trailer - June 4

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. In particular, I really hate my family sometimes… and this is all I want to say about it, because this post is not about their character assassinations, but rather about ‘Venom’.

Well, the trailer for the third, and final, ‘Venom’ film, coming in October 2024, most likely. It is a chaotic mess, but in a good way.

First, Tom Hardy is stealing the show, because of course he does. He has been carrying the ‘Venom’ films from the start, and so hooray! He makes the ‘Venom’ franchise great, but that said…

The first ‘Venom’ film was unimportant… but it was original, and already separate/distinct from MCU. Yes, it was rather underwhelming, as the main villain of the film was a discount Carnage, but never fear – the second film flat-out featured Carnage, with Venom’s character and character history being reset. In addition, Anne Weying, or whatever her last name is, starring as the She-Venom. Right now, she is notably absent from the last movie’s promo; it is almost all about Eddie and Venom on one hand, and the alien symbiotes coming to Earth. Wait, doesn’t this sound familiar?

Of course, it is – this was the plot of the first ‘Venom’ film, where Venom, as well as several other symbiotes, came to Earth. Aside from Venom and Riot, they did not make it, but also they came to Earth as a scouting party of sorts. Riot tried to return to their home planet, but Venom stopped it, saving Earth from the alien invasion because Venom’s race is not really friendly towards others, as Carnage and particularly Riot demonstrated. However, the first ‘Venom’ film also featured a Dr. Dora Skirth, a female scientist ally of Eddie, who had a forced bonding attempt with a yellow-colored symbiote, and both died, abruptly. The trailer for the third ‘Venom’ film also features a female scientist, who might bond with a yellow-colored symbiote… or she might not. She is also an ally of a military commander who might be baron Mordo in disguise… or he might not be. Anything else?

Well, the Lizard, (last seen in ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’), aka Curt Connors, might be in the movie as well, at least as a cameo. Since ‘Morbius’ showed that Sony is quietly shifting MCU’s Spider-Man characters over to its’ own universe, this is quite a possibility, especially since we saw a shot of a lizard (namely a little reptile without any augmentations), in the trailer too. However, ‘Morbius’ is nowhere as successful as the ‘Venom’ films are, so it is questionable, if the Lizard and co. are appearing; the ‘Kraven’ might need to succeed first in order for this to happen, perhaps.

That said, so far the most confusing issue here is Ms. Chin and the absence of Anne. Yes, this movie seems to be mostly about Eddie and Venom’s bromance, but still? Why are this duo dancing with Ms. Chin of all people? So far, she was only a supporting character, nothing more, is she going to be more important in the third movie, or is it more of the Spider-verse shenanigans? In the second Miles film, Ms. Chin did have a cameo, showing that Venom’s universe is a part of the greater Spider-verse somehow, so who knows…

That said, keep in mind that Sony’s movies are a mixed bag, but they work best when they do more original material than just simple follow the lines hero’s journey or things like that, and both of the previous ‘Venom’ movies proved this point; the trailer for the third film – ditto. Therefore, I, for one, am excited for it to come out (in movie theaters only, apparently), in autumn 2024.

For now, however, this is it. See you all soon!

X-Men '97 - season finale

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about X-Men ’97 season finale. It… is not much of an improvement, unfortunately.

What has become one of X-Men ’97 traits? A lack of personal stakes for the main cast: here, for example, Rogue, Roberto (Sunspot) and Magneto seceded from the X-Men, and several of the latter went to rope them in. It was a mixed success, until professor X interfered personally and… healed Magneto, making him a ‘white hat’ once more, with Rogue and Roberto following suit. Seriously, drama does sell, but it has to be convincing, and the stakes covered by it have to matter. Otherwise, it just chews up the scenery and time. (The lack of chemistry between Roberto and Jubilee most of the time is not even worth mentioning anymore).

As for the other villains… Bastion came up only in the last few episodes of the season, and so we never formed an attachment to him, had an investment with him. He died – and good riddance. Mr. Sinister has been ‘only’ depowered, so he’ll be back once more in the future seasons, (if there are any)… Oh, and JG briefly pokevolved into the Phoenix.

Right, here is the thing. In the canon, including the original X-Men cartoon, the Phoenix was an external force, a semi-incorporeal, albeit a very powerful entity, that needed a corporeal host to manifest itself to the max. Jean Grey is the best-known example, of course, but there were, and are, others who also were, or are, the Phoenix. In the original cartoon, the Phoenix in JG was defeated, eventually, so how JG was able to tap into it is unknown. Maybe we will learn in the future seasons, (if there are any); the question as to why JG want to bring back the Phoenix, (their relationship was ambiguous, to say the least) is a different matter… Anything else?

Ah, yes, the season ends with the X-Men being scattered through time, and we get to see some of the future seasons’ villains, including some sort of a version of Apocalypse. Given how in the ‘Beyond Good and Evil’ story arc of the original series Apocalypse was banished outside time and space, guess who’s coming back, eh?

Otherwise, the X-Men ’97 11^th season was good enough; better than ZS’s ‘Rebel Moon’ movies, for example. The new/old/rebooted X-Men do not shine, but neither do they dim; they deliver; delivered; will deliver some good old-fashioned entertainment, and that is good enough for their viewers. Oh, and Senator Kelly is now president of the U.S. Of course he is.

…However, for now, this is it. See you all soon.

X-Men '97 - Extinction II

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. The RPG 2^nd Edition Pathfinder, in particular, seems to have gone marasmatic: they try to come across fast and lose, yet at the same time they try to micromanage everything. Look at the latest adventure path, one that is set in the Mosswood (or whatever it is called, it does not matter here). In the player’s guide to the path, the Pathfinder team is bombasting the readers’/players’ with oodles of suggestions and references yet all the while telling them it does not matter; they can be whomever they like. Fair enough, but… in this case either the readers/players really can be whomever they like, in which case all of the information in the guide is superficial and unnecessary, or this information is mandatory, in which case the players have to choose out of the options presented by the guide, and their personal desires are irrelevant. Pause.

Aside from the fact that both options are equally bad and annoying, there’s also the fact that team Pathfinder and the DMs don’t really have ways to enforce it, if the players will disregard the Pathfinder options, (remember, they’re supposed to be suggestions), and go with the flow. Not to mention that the DMs usually do not want to fight with their players, because often the latter are their friends too, on one hand, and on the other, RPGs are a luxury item, they aren’t needed, they cater to whims, and if they don’t, people will find other options (such as D&D) that do. Onto X-Men ’97, then?

Yes, pretty much. Not unlike the RPGs, this cartoon series is also a luxury item, it is trying to tickle the audience’s fancy with a lot of Easter eggs and references, and when they stop, we are left with something else.

For example, Magneto – in this episode – restarts the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, taking Rogue with him, as well as Roberto. Well, Magneto and Rogue’s relationship aside, firstly, Magneto actually saved the day – or at least helped a lot – in the first part of the season’s finale, so is he really evil anymore, or did the scriptwriters want to write yet another Magneto vs. Professor X fight? (The two of them did fight here, sort of). On the other hand, since Roberto is with Magneto now… err, with the Brotherhood now, Jubilee seems to be actually missing him… why? Throughout the season, Roberto was essentially a prop; his chemistry with Jubilee was nonexistent, and so was his role on the show, and now that he is with Magneto and Rogue, Jubilee actually begins to miss him? Can we say – ‘forced relationship’? And In the past, it looked as if the relationships on AoS were contrived. Anything else?

The bulk of ‘Extinction 2’ episode was about fights, with little being done, to be frank. The non-relationship between Jubilee and Roberto feels forced, and so’s the conflict between most of the X-Men and Magneto, Rogue and Roberto. This entire specific episode feels like filler, albeit an exciting one, so odds are is that it is. In fact, as it was said before, the entire X-Men ’97 now feels like a luxury product that is getting a bit desperate for whatever reasons. Ah well, it is no skin off our back.

…Meanwhile, for now, this is it. See you all soon!

X-Men/Mufasa - May 1

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Now onto the home stretch of the X-Men ’97 season?

…Well, rather not, because by now we got the gist of the conflict in this season: it is the X-Men and most other mutants against yet another sentinel version – the Prime Sentinels. As far as Sentinels go, they are the X-Men version of the Mindless Ones, complete with glowing eyes. They can hardly be stopped, they can barely be reasoned with, they are yet another incarnation of the ‘evil mob’ kind of foe, and as such they cannot be sympathized, not really – and (the now dead) Gyrich is behind them. Of course he is. He is the mastermind behind the mob, (not to be confused with the actual X-Men character named the Mastermind). It was said before and it is said now, the X-Men ’97 franchise is going around in a circle like a snake in a wheel and going nowhere.

…Ok, this was uncalled for – with Magneto’s help the Prime Sentinels are defeated, but since the season’s finale is a 3-parter, and this was only the first part, so more excitement is ahead, really. Hell, even Jubilee and Roberto will be given something to do! Back in the 90s, Jubilee was all but written out of the main narrative, because it was no longer obvious what she was needed for in a show with a big cast, and the same is happening now, her and Roberto’s adventure in Mojo-land notwithstanding. This time she and Roberto are being dragged along for the ride like a couple of accessories to the main suit, and-

-and yes, Jubilee may grow up into a formidable warrior if she doesn’t die, and Morph is used as a prop to showcase various other Marvel mutant characters without them being actually around, and professor X is back, and everyone is excited, and the audiences are eating the show up, and there’s no specific background, unlike what is shaping up in the ‘Deadpool 3’ movie, and we’ve been here before, remember? Therefore, instead of beating up a (existential status undetermined) Deadpool, let us briefly talk about the upcoming ‘Mufasa’ film.

This is a spin-off of the ‘Lion King’ films, focusing on the childhood of Simba’s father instead. In this trailer, we see that 1) the (spotted) hyenas might be present, but they are playing a smaller role than they did in the original movie (both incarnations), which is good, because they need more good PR (the hyenas do). 2) Is that Mufasa’s brother Scar is not very prominent in the trailer either, but there are scenes of two lions of different ages fighting each other. In one scene, the background is on fire, and we get a glimpse of a small creature attacking the (enemy?) lion – perhaps it is Timon, who, alongside Pumba, is also supposed to be appear in the film. In the second fight, the background is icy, so either we are going to have a flashback into the past, into lives of cave lions instead, or Mufasa is going to get onto the Mt. Kilimanjaro or somewhere similar.

…The geography in the ‘Lion King’ franchise is just as bad as zoology is – in RL Africa has deserts at the ends, the jungle in the middle, and the savanna in-between, broadly speaking. In the world of Mufasa, Scar and Simba, we get the desert between the savanna and the jungle instead, therefore, an ice and snow covered mountain could fit quite well into this ensemble.

3) – in another scene, we have a lion cub, or cubs, having a misadventure with at least one Nile crocodile. In RL, this reptile is the only challenger to the saltwater crocodile in size and strength; the royal lion can defeat it, however – on land, and preferably in a pride. One on one, and especially in the water, the Nile crocodile has the upper hand, however. Since Mufasa (and his companions) are just cubs, they are in big trouble.

Finally, 4) – Rafiki. He is a mandrill, and this monkey, as well as its’ only true relative the drill, are not baboons, nor are particularly close cousins to them; rather, their closest relatives are the crested mangabeys, a group of guenon-like monkeys that don’t look anything like the drill/mandrill duo, as the latter look much more like the baboons and the geladas instead. Moreover, unlike the latter, the drill and the mandrill live in the African jungle, and as such, they appeared in Disney’s animated Tarzan-verse, and avoid the savannahs instead. Disney is certainly playing fast and loose with Africa in the ‘Lion King’ franchise; it will certainly be interesting to see how the movie will come out in winter of 2024.

For now, however, this is it. See you all soon!

X-Men/Deadpool 3 - April 24

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, so let us talk about the X-Men ’97 instead. Um. This is akin to using capitalism to distract from feudalism, or reverse, or something along those lines anyhow. Shall we try again?

As we have been talking increasingly in those previous weeks, X-Men ’97 are fan service; the scriptwriters and co. behind them are outright adapting the older comic storylines for the episode plots. For the entire season’s plot too, for that matter. AoS had its’ own share of flaws, but at least it tried to be original, for the first 2-3 seasons of its’ run anyhow. X-Men ’97 does not. Rather, it has plenty of fan appeal; in this week’s episode, ‘Bright Eyes’, we saw a Steve Rogers/Captain America; last week, it was Ronan the Accuser. Therefore, where is Uatu? Shouldn’t he be watching – never mind. He is probably watching the live-action adventures of Wolverine and Deadpool instead.

Now that trailer is something else. Not unlike the X-Men ’97, it is a classic – it is shaping up to be a tale of redemption and resurrection; Deadpool flat-out proclaims himself Jesus, aka the Savior, and he’s saving Wolverine. Well, a Wolverine, but the fact that HJ is playing the character also clears up some things, doesn’t it?

Let us roll back a bit. To date, humanity has invented only two versions of religion: polytheism and monotheism. The two models are simply different, and it does not matter which is better or worse, but what matters is that salvation and damnation, temptation and redemption, and all the other ‘tion’ words matter only in monotheism; in polytheism, not so much. By talking about salvation, Deadpool, and ‘Deadpool 3’ flat-out tries at least to tap into monotheism, which in US means Christianity, at least the Protestant version of it. Pause.

The problem is that these days the U.S. does not acknowledge itself as a Christian country, not how it did before, before the 1990’s, at least. The entire wink-wink nudge-nudge approach does not work too good either – for example, Ms. Meg Cabot’s novels have plenty of Christian/Protestant moral values, (and they are not half-bad from the technical point of view), but because she never openly admits this, her novels fall flat, and instead of being mouthpieces for those values they… do not. They may be making Ms. Cabot plenty of money as people are buying and selling them, but not much else, and the same will go down for the ‘Deadpool 3’ film as well – it will make Disney/MCU/anyone else a lot of money, it will help establish the mutants in MCU somehow most likely, but the Christian imagery, motifs, and what else have you will just dissipate, and that is it. Still better than X-Men ’97, who don’t even have that. The ‘Deadpool 3’ film is clearly having a lot of effort behind it, effort and money, and so it will deliver, much more so than the ‘Madame Web’ movie had, for example. (The latter had potential, in fact, but it was squandered).

Therefore, to sum up, whereas X-Men ’97 is purely entertainment and fan service, ‘Deadpool 3’ is setting itself up as something more – much more than that. Will it be able to achieve this is another question, we just have to wait and see.

For now though, this is it. See you all soon!