Powerless & For Honor VII - Feb 9

And so it happened that ‘Powerless’ has found its’ stripes – sort of. Tonight’s episode, (‘Wayne’s Dream Team’?) was a typical sitcom about a work place; there was very little superhero element, mostly in the beginning and concluding scenes. In addition, yes, apparently ‘THE superhero’ of Charm City is the Crimson Fox. Go her.

Anything else? Well, for all of its flaws, ‘Powerless’ is still strong than AoS, despite AoS being an older and (supposedly) more ‘robust’ show by far. All is learned by comparison, in March there is going to be a comedy – ‘Making History’ or something similar – which makes ‘Powerless’ look really good, sophisticated, and clever.

An aside: yes, TV shows inspire one another; AoS’ itself has inspired several series, including ‘Blindspot’ and ‘Dark Matter’ (a sci-fi TV show set in space). DCEU’s LoT has done the same thing – by now, there are several TV shows that deal with time travel in different ways; ‘Making History’s’ approach is that of comedy that makes ‘Powerless’ look good – and we are talking about promo videos that are supposed to entice people into viewing the show in question. Of course, ‘Powerless’ approaches this topic with its own flaws: apparently it is just skipping them and airing itself on Thursday evenings, (at least in Canada). Not cool, but it is the call, period.

Of course, in real life the relationship between U.S. and the rest of the world continues to twist and turn: today there were news about twenty or so American refugees who got into Canada (the province of Manitoba) on foot – and keep in mind that winters in the Canadian prairies is not something to be toughened out, period. Guess they wanted to get out of America that badly; guess currently U.S. sucks that much.

In other news, this week people learned about all of the playable characters in ‘For Honor’ – all of them, except for the Lawbringer of the Knights and the Valkyrie of the Vikings: this is good, but a curious point: the sword of the Vikings’ Warlord is supposed to be a gladius? Weird.

Here is the weird part. The gladius was the sword of the Roman Empire; in DW, the Roman Centurion wielded it in S2. It was a short, broad sword, unlike the khanda sword of the Rajput warrior who fought the centurion in DW, easy to wield, but—

But the Roman army fought as a cohesive unit; they were more flexible than the Greek phalanx was, (think the Spartan in DW S1), but regardless, there was not individuality on the level of the Rajput – or the various Celtic people that lived beyond the borders of the Roman Empire. DW had shown a Celtic warrior in S2 too; his weapon was the longsword, so hello, Warden of ‘For Honor’, we will get to you in a bit.

To finish with the Romans, for most of their history, they preferred to use their short, broad swords in combo with their shields, which were much bigger and stronger than those of their barbarian neighbours were. Pushing with their shields and stabbing with their swords in close melee, the Romans’ military tactics were different from their neighbours, who often preferred to use one-on-one combat in their battles; they used much bigger, longer and heavier swords than the Romans did – and that included the Vikings; (just look at their weapons in ‘Vikings’ of History channel, if you want).

Enter Warlord, technically speaking. ‘For Honor’ may be just a video game, but it is a very good video game; they went the extra mile to make their playable characters unique, each with their own signature weapon. Thus, the choice of ‘gladius’ is surprising, because the Vikings had their own sword – the so-called Viking sword.

It was one of the oldest sword designs in the post-antique Europe; it was built to slash and slice, rather than to stab. William the Conqueror in DW’s S3 used it against Joan of Arc, who was armed with an arming sword instead.

The arming sword was the next step in European sword evolution: as DW has shown, it was designed to stab as well as to slash, so a completely different set of moves was taught/learned to use this blade properly. The longsword of Warden in ‘For Honor’ came next, thus it is more advanced than the sword of Warlord, and if you ever have the two of them fight, (which probably happens fairly often with all the beta testing that ‘For Honor’ is having before the big reveal later this month), you can see the difference between the two swords; the blade of Warden is much longer and heavier than that of Warlord.

The Japanese – to stay on topic of both swords and ‘For Honor’ – have done something similar; for example, the nodachi – or the greatsword – used by Kensai is older and less advanced than the katana – or the longsword – of Orochi.

…Let’s put swords aside for the moment, and point out that ‘For Honor’ has also tried to give backstories to its’ factions. The Knights are spreading into Ashfield in order to recolonize and rejuvenate the legacy of their ancestors (the ancient Romans?). The Samurai are building their empire in Myre after losing their homeland (Japan?) to water and fire. (So, the universe of ‘For Honor’ doesn’t have Japan? Now that is an interesting idea for a fantasy). And the Vikings have come to Vallenheim also to rebuild anew – something went wrong with their new home too (a reference to Vinland, maybe?). In addition, they seem to be the naval power among the three – so maybe the final product will have some naval battles too?

So, that’s it for tonight; so you all soon with something less trivia-like than just sword history and evolution (hopefully).

S.H.I.E.L.D., BOOM - Feb 7

Last night’s episode of AoS, ‘BOOM’, was a peculiar episode in several ways. Let us try to list them.

Firstly, Jeffrey Mace has allowed himself to be captured by the Russians so that the rest of the team would help Daisy stop Sparkly, a Watchdog revealed to be an InHuman, whose power is to self-detonate and survive this – repeatedly. Now, on one hand, AoS has finally created a new InHuman with new, and unique powers, (there were rumors of AoS showing/introducing a character named Molecule Man into the MCU, but it’s anyone’s guess if that’s Shockley, or Vijay Nadeer, or whoever – see below). On the other, however, they killed off senator Nadeer.

Yes, the senator was an unsympathetic character to say the least, but somehow AoS has handled her death prematurely; in an earlier episode they depicted her brother having survived having shot and going into an InHuman version of hibernation as well. It made sense that he would have a confrontation with his sister the senator sometime in the future. Now she is dead, (officially?), so what role is Vijay to play? Killing Shockley in the future with his own InHuman powers, (whatever they are)?

Shockley himself is another topic of contention. On one hand, it is nice that he now has a name to go with the face – until ‘BOOM’ he was known as Watchdog Alpha, a rank, rather than a name, so there’s that; on the other hand, Shockley? It’s up for discussion, whether this makes him rank with the episodic characters of Robert Stevenson, (in the original ‘Treasure Island’ novel there were such minor characters as Mrs. Blankley and Mr. Crossly), or with Pokémon (“Shockley, I choose you!’ “Shockley-Shock!”). The man has used a Taser before, and now he just explodes, so – Shockley? Just who is the genius behind that name, anyhow?

Speaking of genius, let us talk about how Mace has stopped Ivanov’s truck. It was the same way as to how Steel has stopped a train in ‘LoT’ S2, (the first half). ‘LoT’ is part of DCEU, not MCU, so – copyright infringement? And that’s not even getting to the Russians – back in ‘Arrowverse’, team Arrow is also fighting them, just in a different incarnation: unlike Jeffrey Mace/the Patriot, the Arrow was never especially American; not that he doesn’t have his own problems, but still. AoS often had problems with originality, but at least it did not appear to be ripping off from other shows so directly. Greater real-life politics in the U.S. is one thing; the situation in D.C. is getting increasingly messy; but lifting off from other shows? Yeah, AoS will probably catch flak for that; other TV shows have lifted off ideas from it, (‘Blindspot’, cough), but never so blatantly…

Speaking of other shows, ‘APB’ deserves a mention, since it has begun this week. So has ‘Legion’, of course but it works. ‘APB’… it is hard to say. Whereas AoS usually has good ideas, but bad delivery, ‘APB’ has it almost the other way around. For one thing, its’ basic idea – a millionaire inventor has a personal tragedy, and repents from greedy ass into a good person – was lifted from the ‘Iron Man’, movie, comic and character. For another, another of its’ basic ideas is have robots help cops fight crime, and—

And ‘APB’ is a cop show, but there are already plenty of police-based shows on TV: ‘Law and Order: SVU’, ‘Chicago PD’, etc. So far, robots are not enough to make ‘APB’ stand out in the crowd, as ‘Blindspot’ has its puzzles to achieve that.

And on the topic of robots and technology, the drone that has appeared in ‘APB’ certainly looked amazing – and also very similar to the drone that my family had bought as a toy for the New Year; the two certainly share the body plan/design. Our drone looks also impressive, and can also fly, but—

But first, you have to charge it, its’ battery. To do that, you have to link the drone to a computer – it cannot be charged directly from an electric outlet, too risky for the battery in question. You charge the battery for half an hour, (i.e. 30 minutes), and then you can fly the drone…for about 6 to 8 minutes, depending on the weather conditions; our drone is especially vulnerable to strong winds, so… I cannot help but wonder just how well ‘APB’s’ drone works in real life, off TV?

So: AoS continues to go down, (currently, the ratings are even lower than what they were in the ‘Ghost Rider’ story arc), and ‘APB’ is not doing so well either. What will the future bring them? We will just have to see. 

For Honor VI

…While AoS continues on ahead, as do other old shows, of course, joined by such new ones, as ‘Riverdale’ and ‘Powerless’, ‘For Honor’ goes on as well, as do other games, of course, but—

However, ‘For Honor’ seems to be diversifying, so to speak. Last week, the ‘DYI Cosplay Shop’ has released a video that shows the process, or the instructions, of how to make your very own Peacekeeper costume. If anyone is still confused, the Peacekeeper here is one of the Knights’ characters, an assassin wielding two swords, and looking kind of Umberto Eco here. Now, ‘Man at Arms’ have brought forth the Kensai’s sword – the nodachi.

Now, as I have probably written some time earlier, the nodachi was Japan’s version of the greatsword, unlike the better-known katana, which was Japan’s answer to the longsword. The main difference between the two weapons was the size: you needed two hands to wield the greatsword (or the nodachi), while for the longsword (or the katana) one hand would do. If you look at the intros of the Kensai and the Orochi in the game, you will see that difference.

Beyond that, it should be noted that when creating the nodachi, the Japanese remained true to themselves: while the Western swords are designed not so much for slicing as for stabbing, for the Japanese the reverse is true. In the Western terminology, the design of the nodachi would probably cause them to call it a sabre, rather than a sword… does anyone care about this in this day and age, facing with a game? (Instead of a real life blade coming at them in the real world?)

This probably brings us to the game mechanics. The Peacekeeper is a fast character, using speed and precision to defeat its’ opponents. (I am using ‘it’ because by now most of the PC characters in ‘For Honor’ can be customized into being either male or female. Hah). The Kensai also uses precision, (actually, I think that most of the characters of ‘For Honor’ do, BTW), but his nodachi/greatsword also uses momentum, as it was shown in a clip of the Kensai going five rounds with the Nobushi, who uses the naginata instead. Both of them tried to end each round quickly, but whereas the Nobushi was versatile, the Kensai was less so; this character is generally slower than the Nobushi or the Peacekeeper in question are. (That was the intent, BTW).

Back to the real world? ‘DIY’, as well as ‘Man at Arms’ and a few other similar groups are a part of the ‘Awe Me’ YouTube channel, which promotes all sort of cool things. ‘Man at Arms’, in particular, have done something similar to the ‘For Honor’ nodachi with the ‘Battlefield 1’ jambiya dagger and trench club. (The latter is self-explanatory, the former was a specialized dagger, also curved and designed for slicing, rather than just for stabbing; it appeared in DW S3 as one of Lawrence of Arabia’s weapons)… Put otherwise, more power to them.

So: ‘For Honor’s’ next big breakthrough is in a matter of days, on February 14. They are already putting an extra mile in contacting – and contracting – ‘Awe Me’ group. Good luck to them, and – I can hardly wait for the next development. 

Powerless, 'Wayne or Lose' - Feb 2

‘Powerless’ has made its’ debut. Does it work?

Okay, that is a loaded question. Shows can get aired regardless of whether or not they work, just look at AoS: not only its episode for this week, (‘Hot Potato Soup’), contained a bunch of Russian clichés for villains, (yes, and the Donald seems to be a fan of Russia for the moment, cringe!), but it also had some tall and skinny secondary agent that played no particular role at all; maybe he was supposed to be a love interest for the girl Koenig, but somehow it just didn’t happen – one of AoS’ problems is a bad delivery of what are otherwise good ideas. ‘Powerless’ seems to have something similar too.

No, seriously – the idea is very good: the lives of background civilian characters who have to endure the fallout between the various superheroes and villains; the show, in particular, focuses on a company that invents, (or tries to), ways to make the civilians’ lives more bearable. Okay. There are worse ideas in existence, but the way that the S1 premiere of the series has done it? Not so good.

The first half of the episode has characters interact in humorous ways that border on outright obnoxious and unbearable; it is a fine line between that and humor, and I am unsure where ‘Powerless’ had landed. In the other half, the humor had abated, and the episode had some very good moments, especially the discussion between Emily and Jackie…where the humor was at its’ lowest. Somehow, at least in this episode, the sitcom format of the show did not really work. You can have a sitcom show about an inventing company, (run by Bruce Wayne’s cousin, no less, who just wants to return to Gotham City, ha-ha), set in the DCEU, but somehow, tonight, it didn’t work. The show was simply – uninspiring, uninviting, and not just because the villain of the episode, (Jack-o-Lantern or someone like that) seemed to be a cliché, (and even AoS was able to avoid clichés in most of its episodes), while the superhero, (Crimson Fox?), was not depicted very well either. AoS did its’ best to grab the audience’s attention from the start; so did ‘The Librarians’, and they are much more comic than AoS is, (for the obvious reasons).

…Yes, ‘The Librarians’ have actually scaled down the humor in S3, but the thing is that their humor was never as lowbrow as ‘Powerless’ seems to be. (There was an off-kilter remark regarding sex with robots, for example. Yeah, ha-ha). In addition, ‘The Librarians’ are an adventure show, not unlike AoS, or any of the ‘Arrowverse’ shows, it’s just that its’ heroes are unconventional, and battle their foes in unconventional ways. ‘Powerless’, on the other hand, is a sitcom; it doesn’t have any action, and relies mostly on humor to get from point A to point B – and in the first episode, it seems to be functioning the best when its’ humor is low, rather than high. Hah.

So. The newest component of DCEU is off to a rocky start, and there are rumors that DCEU movies are not doing so good either. (They are not). Hopefully, ‘Powerless’ won’t be the first sign of DCEU’s end. On this pessimistic note, see you later. 

S.H.I.E.L.D., Potato Soup - Jan 31

‘Hot Potato Soup’ was aired. And?

And it was a good episode. The Koenig family rocked. The interaction of the FitzSimmons and Mack against LMD Radcliffe Mk I was poignant and dramatic. So was Ming-Na’s performance as LMD May, (no doubles this episode). Radcliffe the original is shaping to be a very formidable villain, but – when did he look into the Darkhold the first time? He certainly did not do it onscreen, even during the Ghost Rider mini-arc, and before S.H.I.E.L.D. secured it, it was lost, discovered by Lucy Bauer and her husband in some crazyass hideout instead. When and how did Radcliffe fit into this chronology?

Aida is continuing to evolve as a villain, which brings us to the apparent Superior of the Watchdogs and etc. – a Russian villain named Anton Ivanov, who has a submarine. Pause.

Firstly, it is a Russian villain. The show attempted for him to have a dramatic entrance, but the truth is, without his nationality, he is just another villain, who ‘is not Hydra, really’, a psychopath, apparently, but that is it. In many ways, Anton is yet another disappointing villain, alongside Malick, and Lucy Bauer, and Ely Morrow – even Radcliffe is a better and smarter villain than all of them combined, and he still has sympathetic traits in him. Hive has ruined it for AoS villains – after an alien space worm that has almost destroyed Earth’s civilization, it is hard to be taken seriously when you are just a crazy guy in a sub.

The matter of nationality…yeah, in S3 AoS did bring forth the ‘evil Russian stereotype’, and ‘Hot Potato Soup’ alludes to it directly: it is ‘Parting Shot’, where Bobbi and Lance, (Blood and Palicki) left the show. So far, they are not coming back, so AoS has introduced a new agent instead: a girl Koenig, and she is not played by Mr. Patton…probably because that would have been too much even for Mr. Patton. Oh well, he still rocked, and so did the Koenig family of both genders, unlike the AoS’ idea of Russian villains. This is cliché, or cast-typing, and real life being what it is, the president Donald seems to be actually friendly with Russians, so it’s possible that right now the cast and crew of AoS are having a collective facepalm/cringe moment regarding ‘Hot Potato Soup’ – they probably thought that Hillary was going to win the election and continue Obama’s policies, including the foreign ones, including the ones dealing with Russia.

…BTW, Russia became ‘un-democratic’ on Hillary’s watch when she was handling U.S.’s foreign affairs, so there is that. Furthermore, her opponent supposedly came into power via Russian hackers, but no concrete proof had been presented during the ‘interregnum’ and now that the Donald is in charge for real, and doing some damage to the U.S. for real, there is no talk of it being the Russians fault… So what?

Well, it means that for all of its’ stupidity, the American society and government, (and the relationship between the two has its own issues) can get its’ head out of its’ ass and start to fight for it really considers to be important, regardless of whatever histrionics Hollywood pulls out as part of its effort (remember Madonna? Yeah, this is a case when naiveté and passionate speaking make things worse, not better). At this moment in history, Russians make good bogeymen, but nothing more. This isn’t the best attitude to approach them with, and the use of Russian (and Russia) related clichés in such shows as AoS isn’t helping anyone either; even ‘The Last Ship’, which is much more political than AoS is, has moved past this cliché; so why AoS is returning to it? …It may be just the straw to get it cancelled, instead.

On the other hand, ‘The Last Ship’ is relevant to this rant also because in the original novel, (different from the TV series, BTW) because it featured a Russian submarine – just as AoS is, now. Of course, ‘The Librarians’, S3 premiere, has also featured a submarine, (just not Russian, more like a museum piece, hijacked by Apep), so AoS is not even being original here: the good guys, (S.H.I.E.L.D.) have a quinjet, so the bad guys, (not Hydra, most definitely, even though ‘The Patriot’ depicted Hydra coming back) have a submarine. Clever, right?

Well, no. This is more of the entire recycling of ideas. In S2, the late Robert Gonzales commanded his faction of S.H.I.E.L.D. on an aircraft carrier called the Iliad. AoS being what it was, it has not mentioned the Iliad since the end of S2, though there was info that agent Weaver was now running the vessel, nor has it made an appearance. Between this info, and the fact that Hydra is back, yeah, AoS is back utilizing S2 ideas – the Ghost Rider related reboot is failing right now, even if one ignores how the LMD May is Kara in a nanomask, yeah? However, amazing performance by Ming-Na – she brings both of her characters to life now.

So: awesome delivery by the actors, but a much less amazing plot, with potential real-life repercussions (as we have seen, the Donald isn’t shy in using his power around – just look at Ms. Yates). That is it for now, see you all later!

S.H.I.E.L.D., Wake-Up - Jan 25

‘Wake-Up’ was aired last night. Moreover, it was good. Dr. Holden has his flaws, but he, (as well as Aida Mk II), are decent enough, and original, villains by now. Their treatment of May may not be as horrifying as the abuse that Kara went through at Whitehall’s hands in S2, but still evil enough (but more on it later). That’s point a.

Point b is probably Mack. Henry Simmons did not have much screen time this episode, but the scriptwriters still did their best to round him up. We know now that he had an ex-wife and a daughter who died just days after her birth, so while Mack and his ex are, well, exes, some connection between them remains. (BTW, AoS S3 had introduced Mack’s younger brother Reuben, remember?) Yo-Yo will have to work it in if she wants a relationship with Mack (and hopefully she does).

Point C is the failure of S.H.I.E.L.D. to infiltrate senator Nadeer’s office. Yes, S3 had an episode post-Maveth, but the truth is that any show usually has a limited amount of material, especially original material, to make a plot. AoS S4 has been underwhelming from the mid-season finale, so there is no surprise that this lacklustre streak has continued in the ‘LMD’ story arc. It still worked – S.H.I.E.L.D. could use a setback – so ‘Wake-Up’ was a good episode in this aspect as well.

The only problem was the finale, when Radcliffe has put May into a Bahrain-based mental stimulator. (Hello, ‘Matrix’?) It may sound strange, but is Andrew coming back? He was killed back in S3… as Lash, but still killed. If he is coming back, in whatever manner, then…

Then it is more of the recycling that has been plaguing AoS from S3 until now. Even official reviewers of the series, even its’ fans admit that the show is clearly recycling its’ old ideas, (see above), and this was one of the reasons why its’ popularity has dropped so sharply in S3, especially in its’ second half. AoS was aware of the issue, and it has subtly rebooted itself before S4…or at least tried to. By now it is obvious that the issue has not been put to rest, but continues to resurface every once in a while. Regardless, ‘Wale-Up’ was a still good episode, and I have honestly enjoyed watching it. Until next time, when we talk about ‘Riverdale’…maybe.

(So: AoS is beginning to get itself together, but it is not entirely successful yet. Good luck to it all the same.)

PS: And here is an NPC from Pathfinder. The new Worldscape comic has arrived, so I took a ranger from the NPC Codex and rebuilt him as a new archetype. Does it work?

JUNGLE LORD CR 19

XP 204,800

Human ranger 20

CE Medium humanoid (human)

Init +9; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +25

DEFENSE

AC 33, touch 18, flat-footed 26 (+8 armor, +3 deflection, +9 Dex, +1 dodge, +5 natural)

hp 184 (20d10+70)

Fort +20, Ref +22, Will +13

Special Attacks victory cry

Defensive Abilities improved evasion; Immune fire (120 points), poison; Resist cold 30

OFFENSE

Speed 40 ft.

Melee+2 longspear +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d8+11/x3)

Ranged oathbow +28/+23/+18/+13 (1d8+8/19–20/×3)

STATISTICS

Str 22, Dex 20, Con 16, Int 11, Wis 14, Cha 8

Base Atk +20; CMB +26; CMD 45

Feats Bleeding Critical, Blinding Critical, Combat Reflexes, Critical Focus, Deadly Aim, Dodge, Endurance, Improved Critical (composite longbow), Improved Initiative, Improved Precise Shot, Manyshot, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Quick Draw, Rapid Shot, Weapon Focus (composite longbow)

Skills Acrobatics +15 (+19 when jumping), Climb +19, Handle Animal +12,Heal +15, Knowledge (geography) +13, Knowledge (nature) +18, Knowledge (planes) +5, Linguistics +8, Perception +25, Ride +18, Stealth +28, Survival +25, Swim +14

Languages Common, Sylvan

SQ animal focus, brachiation, favored terrain (forest +2, jungle +4, mountain +2), hardened by nature, hide in plain sight, hunter's bond (animal companion), inspired moment, strong bond, swift tracker, track +10, wild empathy +19, woodland stride

Combat Gear+1 anarchic arrows (5), boots of speed, +1 flaming arrows (5), +1 frost arrows (5), +1 shock arrows (5), +1 unholy arrows (5), potions of cure serious wounds (2), potions of delay poison (2), scroll of neutralize poison, adamantine arrows (5), purple worm poison (2), smokesticks (5), tanglefoot bags (5); Other Gear+4 mithral chain shirt, +2 longsword, oathbow (+6 Str) with 30 arrows, belt of physical might +4 (Str, Dex), cloak of resistance +5, efficient quiver, ring of protection +3, ring of sustenance, 4,195 gp

The Librarians - Jan 22

‘The Librarians 2014’ S3 has ended. It was good, as ‘The Librarians’ were before, the only issue was the limited budget and special effects, but otherwise? It was still good. Not too scary, not too childish, the titular heroes saved the day, Apep is gone, as is the rest of pure evil that he tried to conjure up, (it was just shown as a generic black smoke cloud, with some blue lightning – not very evil, actually), and DOSA will probably disband…or at the very least, it won’t be mentioned, (or be making appearance) in S4 at all. (Or maybe it will, if ‘The Librarians’ need some sort of a villain that isn’t very original – it could happen).

‘The Librarians’ are a good show, but neither are they ‘that’ good. You can watch them when they return in S4, (if they do – this sort of thing is fickle), or you may not, it all comes down to your taste. ‘The Librarians’ don’t captivate; they entertain and amuse, and sometimes this isn’t enough.

…Oh sure, they have tried changing the formula here, as I written regarding the previous episode, but they did it in a half-hearted way; Ezekiel’s new love interest Cindy has disappeared, completely, and Charlene seems to be coming and going sporadically, playing only a minor role here. Odds are, the limited budget affects more than just the special effects…

…Also ending is ‘Salem’ the series. It was a very good horror show, and it will be missed, but to counterbalance it, I suppose, ‘Riverdale’ is coming to TV – mainly to the CW, but still. As I have also written before, it is yet another adaptation of ‘Archies’, this one with plenty of changes, especially secondary ones, but the main character depictions are the same, although if Archie ends up with a new and younger Ms. Grundy, now that will be a plot twist.

…The truth is that ‘Archies’ regularly tries to go beyond its’ comic book limits. Aside from the already mentioned ‘STTW’, that didn’t really have any characters beyond the ‘Sabrina’-related ones, but was still set in Riverdale, there had been an ‘Archie and friends’ cartoon show, where the gang was in junior high school rather than high school, and Dilton was replaced by his Afro-American counterpart named Eugene. I think that it vanished after a single season.

‘Archie’s Weird Mysteries’ lasted for 3 seasons. It was another cartoon, one about the supernatural – ghouls, werewolves, especially vampires – and its’ episodes usually held some sort of a moral lesson for the viewers. Other cartoons, like ‘Guardians of Legends’, also tried the same approach; at least AWM didn’t go for specifically Christian values as ‘Guardians’ did, even though the latter were actually about Greek myths, (and mangled them terribly, especially the Iliad, the Odyssey and the Argonauts’ story arcs); plus ‘Guardians’ had aired their S2 before S1, so nowadays they are found mostly on the Internet, and they aren’t very popular.

With AWM it is somewhat different – ‘Archies’ is deliberately keeping AWM off YouTube and the like; they really don’t like to share, which makes ‘Riverdale’ only more surprising – this is a major breakthrough for them, especially now. Of course, it should be remembered that ‘Archies’ do best with a limited series, such as ‘Archie vs. Predator’, (yeah, that predator), while when it tries to do something longer, like the series where a grown-up version of Archie married Betty in universe, and Veronica in another, the result just fizzles out, as that particular series had. Who knows if ‘Riverdale’ will not experience something similar?

Finally, ‘For Honor’ is also beginning to beta tested for real this January. As people know now, it is going to be a platform game with three factions – the Samurais, the Vikings, and the Knights. On one hand, all three factions may fight for the sake of it, (it is this sort of game, after all), on the other – there were spoilers of an official Apollyon game path, where the titular villain plans to set off ‘an age of war’ between the three nations, so there is that. Maybe this game path will be beta-tested too.

So that is it for tonight; I will see you all soon, probably with another AoS review, yeah?