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.

Hit-Monkey - Nov 17

 Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, (though lately it seems to be evening out, admittedly), so let us talk about Marvel’s Hit-Monkey series that had come out today, (Nov 17, 2021). What can be said about it?

It is actually a tough one to describe. On one hand, the combined Marvel team seems to be more withdrawn about it than it did about its’ M.O.D.O.K. cartoon, though it must be pointed out that the two cartoon series are very different on practically every level; M.O.D.O.K. was all about the universe, if not the multiverse, while Hit-Monkey is more restrained, with strong overtones not just of Deadpool, but also of the Kill Bill franchise, (which is owned neither by MCU nor by Disney, thank God). More precisely, whereas M.O.D.O.K. tried to encompass everything but the kitchen sink, ignoring the fact that most of it just unnecessarily cluttered the main story line – the titular character’s attempts to balance out his job and his family life, cough – Hit-Monkey doesn’t do that; it is actually about the titular character avenging his monkey tribe, while meeting all sorts of new people – such as Fat Cobra and Lady Bullseye – in the process of doing this. …Yes, it is an overly simplified synopsis, but it still works; while MCU seems to be getting into the multiverse aspect of itself, Hit-Monkey, well, does not – it got plenty of drama as it is. Of course, WV and TFAAWS did as well, not to mention the ‘Black Widow’ movie, (and I have my doubts about the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’ series too), but, again, this might be a part of the MCU Phase 4 plan.

Let us elaborate. The first three phases were about ‘the sacred timeline’, to use a quote from ‘Loki’, (the show, not its’ titular character). That is good, but in the same show, we saw Sylvie killing off He-Who-Remains, who was one of the Kangs, and so ‘the sacred timeline’ is now just ‘one face in the crowd’ instead. ‘Loki’ also had another Kang taking over the TVA now that HWR is gone, (for the foreseeable future), and so the TVA aren’t about to interfere once Spider-Man, (the Tom Holland version) and Dr. Strange cast the spell that we saw in the trailers – one that was supposed to change the reality…but because Peter Parker began to lose his nerve at the last minute, everything has went wrong, and the latest trailer showed us, among other things, the multiverse of madness beginning to manifest, and Dr. Strange being caught in the middle of it as well. Now what?

Well, firstly, this movie is going to be about Spider-Man, as he tries to save a lot of people at once, while Dr. Strange – well, this version of Dr. Strange, as opposed to the one that we’ve met in the episode 1x04 of ‘What If?’ – is trying to actually repair the damage by returning everything to the status-quo, i.e. how it was before the spell was cast; as the latest trailer shows, the good doctor apparently fails. Back to Spider-Man?

Well, aside from MJ doing the swan done as done by Gwen Stacy in the ‘Amazing Spider-Man’ movie series, (Earth-120703, if anyone cares), there’s the fact that maybe not all of the villains will go after Spider-Man at once; Dr. Octopus in particular seems to have a change of heart, (while Electro appears to have been re-designed instead). It will be interesting to see as to how Peter will deal with all of this, (to say nothing of MJ, you know?).

This, in turn, brings us to the ‘Venom’ films as well as the upcoming ‘Morbius’ movie – by now, the fans are wondering, just what is going on with them? The trailer for ‘Morbius’ in particular seems to be incorporating elements from all three Spider-Man franchises – and it does. Odds are that after the dust of ‘No Way Home’ settles, the world of this Spider-Man and his cohorts will be transferred from MCU to the ‘Sony Universe of Marvel Characters’, which is an entirely different situation and a universe as well. There, Peter Parker, (in whichever incarnation of his), and his friends, (the ones that will survive, anyhow), will try to make their new lives, with no way of returning home, (since the relationship between Sony and Disney/MCU isn’t all that friendly still), while Dr. Strange will have his own hands full, (as depicted in his own upcoming ‘multiverse of madness’ movie, remember?). Moreover, this sort of a situation will fit well into the MCU’s Phase 4 theme of transitions; even the upcoming ‘Hawkeye’ series fit into this theme, as the titular…title will pass from Clint to Kate. Is there anything else?

Ah yes, getting back to Hit-Monkey, this particular Hulu series doesn’t fit MCU’s phase 4 at all, and we’re not talking about the depiction styles either. Then again, ever since the Helstrom series, Hulu’s Marvel shows and series tended not to be part of MCU at all, so Hit-Monkey’s ‘nonconformism’ is not too surprising either, to be honest. It is still fun to watch though, but that opinion is subjective…

Well, this is it for now. See you all soon.