Runaways: Refraction - Dec 28

‘Runaways’ continue to gather steam, as they are going slowly but relentlessly towards their S1 finale. (Are seasons even a thing for Web TV shows?) They are continuing to be separate and apart, different from the traditional comics, but that is no problem – so does ‘Riverdale’, when it comes to the rest of its’ franchise: there’re ‘Riverdale’ comics, and there’re ‘Archies’ comic, they are together but separate. Ditto for the ‘Runaways’.

In other news, the ‘Librarians’ TV show also continues to go…through its’ 4^th season, as a matter of fact. It already has embraced the old age progression gag as the (upcoming) episode 4x05. Again, as it was written regarding their S3, the ‘Librarians’ are unconventional heroes…that are going down the conventional path since S3. They are still going strong, but they are still going nowhere, even if they have their own comic book series, (at least for a while). Yay them, that is so impressive.

Yes, not really – often TV shows and their literary adaptions, (comics, books, etc.) do not often mesh, not even if they are part of ‘Star Trek’ or ‘Dr. Who’ franchise, which brings us back to the following: all of these TV shows, (and Web TV shows) are commodities to be sold to, and bought by, consumers, audience. They need to sell, because otherwise? They don’t go anywhere, as AoS has done by S5; even though ‘Rewind’ gave them something of a boost, AoS’ S5 is still in the lower ranges of AoS numbers, still lower than S3, for example, and ‘Life Earned’ was probably the lowest AoS episode yet. Why? For a number of reasons, including the argument over whether Hydra is Nazi or just fascist, and the issue of the characters’ treatment – the latter continues even now, with the FitzSimmons doing, well, the whole gender role stereotype: in the first four S5 episodes Jemma was made really, well, feminine, while in ‘Rewind’ Fitz turned into some sort of a commando, causing Lance Hunter, (or Nick Blood?) to exclaim: “But that’s my thing!”

That is certainly a thing – yes, the return of Lance Hunter did boost the numbers for ‘Rewind’ – and then AoS promptly hit everyone with a ‘fall finale’ hiatus, causing everyone to lose attention and interest in AoS again, at least for a while, and with new shows (i.e. ‘Grown-ish’) coming and old shows (i.e. ‘X-Files’) returning to the TV in 2018, AoS got its’ job cut out for it – again. Yes, the Hydra controversy has mostly gone back into the background, as MCU got rid of Hydra for good…although AoS seems to be showing signs that it might be coming back or something; ‘Rewind’, with its’ U.S. military conspiracies and co. was much more interesting than the previous episodes of S5 combined, but again – the fall finale, and it seems that all of the goodwill gathered by ‘Rewind’ will be wasted. At least ‘Librarians’ have better sense than to do anything like that, now do they?

This gets us back to creativity, and here is the thing. AoS’ S5 has it. So do ‘Runaways’. Only ‘Runaways’ are using it more sensibly than AoS ever did, but yes, it’s tricky to work it out; ‘Librarians’ seem to be going all out, and so far they aren’t having much better luck than AoS does, plus AoS has racial variety going for them, while ‘Librarians’ have only one person of color in their cast – Ezekiel. With a name like this, you have to wonder as to just how and why John Harlan Kim got this particular job: was he lucky, or is he some sort of a token actor here?

This question obviously does not apply to ‘Runaways’ because of the obvious reasons, and they still had plenty of creativity, (though Old Lace did not appear in this episode – and he is a part of the regular cast back in the ‘Runaways’ comics, damn it!). They are still going strong, (though yes, they do not have much distance left to cover), and they are still different and varied. Hydra may (or may not) be gone from MCU for good, but AoS seems to be on the way out of MCU all the same – already it is gone from the MCU mainstream, and we’re talking about Disney here – they know where the money goes, and if it is out, so’re you.

Hopefully, Hulu will be able to keep ‘Runaways’ – and the upcoming ‘Cloak & Dagger’ series – out of its’ clutches. See you all next time!

Pathfinder: OC VI

Romy is one of the best sailors in the frontier - just listen to him, he says so, and he got a harpoon to back it up.

Romy comes from a brave line of lizardfolk chiefs; he has earned his harpoon in battle against a coven of hags who tried to take over the neighborhood via some powerful storm magics - but Romy's tribe suffered as well, and the cost has been high: Romy remained the next in line to lead the tribe, something that wasn't appreciated either by the tribe or Romy himself - the lizardfolk male sought adventure, not power, so he left his tribe behind, (and no one held him back).

Since then, Romy has had plenty of adventures, including working with a number of munavri, strange creatures, which is rare even in the lands of the frontier. From them he learned the sailors' craft and became very good with it, much better than most of his race.

By now, Romy's sailor services are in demand, and he is becoming a person of prominence in the frontier. People are listening to him, and other lizardfolk often flock to his banner whenever he takes service on one ship or another. Romy has the potential to become a leader of the lizardfolk still, but it is unknown if this is what he wants at all.

Romy

Male lizardfolk ranger (darklands sailor) 8

CN Medium humanoid (reptilian)

Init +6; Senses Perception +14

DEFENCE

AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+1 deflection, +3 Dex, +2 natural)

hp 62 (8d10+24)

Fort +8, Ref +13, Will +4

Resist fire 10

OFFENCE

Speed 30 ft.; swim 30 ft.

Melee mwk harpoon +15/+10 (1d8+4/x3) or

Bite +15 (1d3+4) and

2 claws +10 (1d4+0)

Ranged mwk net +15/+10 (entangle)

Special Attacks favored enemy (animals +2, drow +4)

Ranged Spells Prepared (CL 5^th; concentration +6)

2^nd—aquatic cavalry, scamper

1^st—hidden spring, tamer’s lash

STATISTICS

Str 14, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 12, Wis 12, Cha 11

Base Atk +8; CMB +9; CMD 26

Feats Aquatic Spell, Combat Reflexes, Deadly Aim, Endurance, Point-Blank Shot, Power Attack, Precise Shot

Skills Acrobatics +3, Climb +10, Heal +8, Knowledge (dungeoneering, geography) +6, Knowledge (nature) +8, Perception +14, Ride +2, Stealth +6, Survival +8, Swim +16; Racial Modifiers +8 racial bonus on Swim checks

Languages: Aquan, Common, Undercommon

SQ hunter’s bond (companions), keen ear, quick swim, skilled pilot, subsonic warning, weapon familiarity, wild empathy +7

Combat Gear potion of cure moderate wounds; Other Gear mwk net, mwk harpoon, cloak of resistance +1, ring of protection +1, 194 gp

PS: This is the last of my PCs so far. What do you think?

Pathfinder: OC V

Rene is lizardfolk shamaness. She is a native of the frontier lands, and has remembered vividly how her people, the lizardfolk, got driven away by humans, elves, and their allies. She remembers, and she doesn't care.

Rene is a survivalist. She knows that while the lizardfolk are ancient and powerful in their own right, they are still no match for the new imperial conquerors, and that the only way to survive is to adapt. Rene is a crystal tender, her primary spirit is that of stone, but she is aware that being like stone is being motionless, but not eternal; even rocks vanish into dust, and people mustn't imitate the rocks to avoid that fate.

Rene is an opportunist. She isn't against leading - or helping to lead - a reformation movement of the lizardfolk culture, but until this happens, or begins to happen, she is quite happy to make money from her services, serving as information source, or even a go-between for the PCs, providing that they pay her, for Rene, unlike most other lizardfolk, knows the value of money. As such, she's more likely to be an ally of the PCs, rather than a true friend, (though she usually has a pleasant demeanor when dealing with any clients).

Hema

Female lizardfolk shaman (crystal tender) 8

N; Medium humanoid (reptilian)

Init +1; Senses Perception +5

DEFENCE

AC 20, touch 11, flat-footed 18 (+5 armor, +1 Dex, +4 natural)

hp 40 (8d8)

Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +12

OFFENCE

Speed 30 ft.; swim 30 ft.; fly 60 ft. (good)

Melee bite +5 melee (1d3+6) and

2 claws +0 melee (1d4+4)

Special Attacks hexes (crystal sight, lodestone, metal curse, stone stability), touch of acid (1d6+4, 7/day), wandering hex (brain drain)

Shaman Spells Prepared (CL 8^th; concentration +13)

4^th—forest’s sense, vigilant rest

3^rd—earth tremor, fly, signs of the land, soothing mud, locate object or meld into stone

2^nd—alpha instincts, callback, greensight, winter grasp, stone call or tongues

1^st—discern next of kin, heightened awareness, hidden spring, sense spirit magic, shield of faith, thorn javelin, magic stone or identify

Spirit stone; Wandering Spirit lore

STATISTICS

Str 16, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 14, Wis 12, Cha 14

Base Atk +6; CMB +5; CMD 16

Feats Augment Summoning, Eagle-Eyed, Extra Hex, Flexible Hex, Spell Focus (conjuration)

Skills Diplomacy +11, Fly +13, Handle Animal +13, Knowledge (nature) +15, Perception +5, Spellcraft +15, Survival +13

Languages Common

SQ body of earth, invoke latent facets, reciprocal resonance (DR 2/adamantine), scion of stone

Combat Gear potion of invisibility, wand of cure light wounds (26 charges); Other Gear +1 mithral chain shirt, cloak of resistance +1, headband of inspired wisdom +2, 4 gp

PS: So, what do you think?

Pathfinder: OC IV

Finn is a bastard, genealogically speaking - half human and half elf. He is an avid adventurer, a risk-taker and can be charming, at least half of the time. He is also in league with the nihilistic daemons of Abaddon, and doesn't care about anyone but himself, (and his unholy masters, of course).

Finn used to be a straightforward adventurer, until he was contacted by the daemons and offered a deal; daemons do not do this often, but when they do, the results are often fatal. Finn, in particular, hates the idea of dying and growing old, (regardless of the order), and so he made a deal with the daemons: he will serve them, and in return, the daemons will drive him to immortality.

...Daemons, of course, are very unreliable, yet in Finn's case they did give him something: a knowledge of various fungal blights that he uses to alter his bombs to a great efficiency. Being naturally agile and angry, Finn often wins against opponents, superior to him in size and strength, but what he really seeks are the right natural components that will give him the proper ingredients to give him the immortality he seeks. This is why he has come to the frontier, and this is where he intends to stay, where he succeeds.

When encountered by the PCs, Finn can either be sneakily charming, if they have want they want, (or he thinks that they do), or he can be dismissive, abrupt, and disturbingly familiar with necromancy, (plan b, if immortality goes south). Either way, he can be a very formidable opponent to the PCs, if used right.

Finn

Half-elf alchemist (blightseeker) 8

NE; Medium humanoid (elf, human)

Init +4; Senses low-light vision; Perception +2

DEFENCE

AC 19, touch 15, flat-footed 18 (+4 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural)

hp 55 (8d8+16)

Fort +7, Ref +10, Will +3; +2 vs. enchantments, +6 vs. owners

Immune sleep; Resist fire 20

OFFENCE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee +1 dagger +11/+6 (1d4+1/19-20)

Ranged spore bomb +11/+6 (4d4+4d4 blight)

Special Attacks bomb 12/day (4d4+4d4 blight, DC 19)

Alchemist Extracts Prepared (CL 8^th)

3^rd—fey form I, gaseous form, haste

2^nd—barkskin, cure moderate wounds (2), perceive cues, vine strike

1^st—cure light wounds (2), keen senses, stone fist (2)

STATISTICS

Str 11, Dex 12, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 13

Base Atk +6; CMB +6; CMD 21

Feats Brew Potion, Dodge, Mobility, Skill Focus (Craft [alchemy]), Throw Anything, Toughness, Weapon Finesse

Skills Bluff +7, Craft (Alchemy) +15, Disable Device +4, Knowledge (arcana) +18, Knowledge (engineering, history, planes) +11, Knowledge (local) +15, Knowledge (nature) +14, Perception +2, Sleight of Hand +4, Spellcraft +12, Use Magic Device +10; Racial Modifiers +2 Perception

Languages Abyssal, Common, Dwarven, Elven, Sylvan, Undercommon

SQ alchemy (alchemy crafting +8, identify poisons), blights (fatiguing, fear-inducing, impairing, minor sickening, sickening), mutagen (+4/-2, +2 natural, 80 minutes), elf blood, poison use, swift alchemy, swift poisoning

Other Gear +1 chain shirt, +1 dagger, headband of vast intelligence +2, Large scorpion venom (2)

PS: So, what do you think?

Pathfinder: OC III

Theofelt was a noble scion...until he discovered that his family had untoward dealings with the drow of Sekamina...and remained a worthy heir of that house. Well, not the heir, but the spare, yet his discretion was appreciated, as he was sent to the frontier not as an exile, but as the representative of the house in question.

Theofelt is a cavalier of the order of the whip, a rather brutal and cruel organization. While he isn't as comfortable with slavery as his parents and eldest brother is, he has no problems with it either; especially with using slaves as free labour to civilize the new frontier...primarily with a lance and a whip, but in other ways possible too.

Theofelt is evil, but he is evil in service of his family, his king and queen, his country, (not necessarily in that order). He does what needs to be done, and while he is normally is relentless in his duty, he can be flexible...to get what needs to be done, otherwise - tough break.

Theofelt runs the local charter house for his order (order of the whip), and as such he is beginning to rise in the ranks of his order as well. So far, his success hinges on him, well, being successful - he's a self-made man, even by noble standards, and he has no intent of losing that. If the PCs find themselves at a crossroads with Theofelt, they should better watch out: the man is neither afraid of getting his hands dirty nor does he lack minions to do that for him.

Tahitos

Human cavalier (vermin tamer) 8

LE; Medium humanoid (human)

Init -1; Senses Perception +0

DEFENCE

AC 18, touch 9, flat-footed 18 (+9 armor, -1 Dex)

hp 86 (8d10+32)

Fort +8, Ref +2, Will +3

OFFENCE

Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)

Melee mwk lance +13 (1d8+2/x3) or

Mwk whip +13 (1d3+2, nonlethal)

Special Attacks banner +2, cavalier’s charge, challenge (+8, +5, 3/day), inspiring pain

STATISTICS

Str 12 (14), Dex 12, Con 12, Int 15, Wis 12, Cha 13

Base Atk +8/+3; CMB +12 (+14 dirty trick); CMD 21 (23 vs. dirty trick)

Feats Beastmaster Salvation, Beastmaster Style, Combat Expertise, Improved Dirty Trick, Obscuring Beacon, Power Attack, Shake It Off, Toughness, Whip Mastery

Skills Bluff +16, Diplomacy +16, Handle Animal +16 (+18 for mount), Intimidate +16, Ride +8 (+15 on mount), Sense Motive +5

SQ darklands mount (giant beetle), order of the whip, stuck in the saddle +8, tactician (2/day, 7 rounds, standard action)

Combat Gear potion of enlarge person; Other Gear +1 half-plate, mwk lance, mwk whip, belt of giant strength +2, cloak of resistance +1,  39 gp.

PS: Any comments? Criticisms?

S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Rewind' - Dec 23

AoS has reached the ‘fall finale’. Where does it stand?

…It has achieved the break from the past seasons that it needed to have back in S4 – as Lance has shown Fitz, S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone for good in the MCU universe. Yay?

Firstly, yes – Nick Blood has starred as Lance Hunter once more on AoS, in a manner similar to Dalton (Ward) and Britt (Tripp) back in S4, save that the titular team is out of the framework now, hopefully. (It is still a possibility that Radcliffe betrayed them in S4, and the septet are still in the framework, somehow, just in a different part of it. AoS has been known to remake its plot line with large twists in the past, you know?) That said, Blood’s heart wasn’t in the acting, you could tell – he was still Lance Hunter, but in a much-diminished role, so there’s that… but again, unlike Dalton and Britt, Blood (and Palicki, who played Bobbi Morse on AoS, remember?) ended his RL relationship with MCU in a bad way – his and Palicki’s own Marvel show, ‘Most Wanted’, fell through…and frankly the way their characters, and especially Palicki’s Morse got handled on the show? Not the best way, either. (Cough S2 finale cough).

Speaking of characters, apparently Fitz is going to learn to deal with the darkness within him that got released in the framework. It would be easy to root for him…but AoS has already put Daisy through something similar back in S4, (after she got freed from Hive’s mental control and all), plus there was Robbie Reyes and his own issues as the Ghost Rider, remember?

…Yes, so far there was no mention of the Ghost Rider anywhere in S5, but maybe that’s because back in RL Gabriel Luna is currently working in a film named Hama; so far it is still in the filming stage, so we’ll have to wait and see what it is about in the future – but still, back before S4, MCU and AoS made a big whoop about the Ghost Rider coming to AoS…and he did. Just for nine episodes. That is slightly less than half of an AoS season. Ouch! A change of strategy was required, so this time around, before S5, AoS cast gave only some slight hints about what S5 was going to be around, and…

And it did not work very well – the numbers for AoS S5 are lowest yet, even though the AoS’ cast and crew did do their best this season to win their audience back. However, between DCEU’s ‘Arrowverse’, the ‘Gifted’ TV show about MCU’s mutants, and even another MCU show – about the InHumans, (remember?), AoS has its’ work cut-out for it, and it shows. In the numbers. In addition, the reworking of the main characters does not help either – the FitzSimmons are already going through it, so who is next?..

Mind you, this phenomenon is not restricted to AoS – ‘Blindspot’, having returned for its’ own S3, is going through the same thing as well. Its’ problem is that the first 2 seasons were very, very good, so it decided to go for an S3 – but it has no new ideas of where to go from there, so now ‘Blindspot’ is promptly recycling its’ old ideas – something that AoS has also done, largely in S3 and 4, and it didn’t do anything good for the ‘Agents’. The only new development is the introduction of Rich Dotcom as a main character…and some sort of a comic relief, and…what for? In S1 and 2 ‘Blindspot’ didn’t really have a comic relief…so why now?

Another possibility is that Rich is going to be token gay character, (he is in a same-sex relationship on ‘Blindspot’ already). However, so far we see no evidence of that either, so why is Rich a main/regular character on the show, again? Between this reworking of at least one old character, and the recycling of old ideas, ‘Blindspot’ is beginning to suffer, and that is not good.

Finally… it seems that ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ is going to feature Allosaurus amongst other dinosaurs. Again, Allosaurus was a carnosaur – it was an earlier, (Jurassic), smaller, (about 9 m in length on average), version of Giganotosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus, Mapusaurus and co. of the Cretaceous – and that includes the I-Rex; whatever it was supposed to be, in RL mechanics, the I-Rex was a carnosaur, but it was discussed already… so that’s that.

Put otherwise, this is it for today – see you next time!

Runaways: Metamorphosis - Dec 21

Marvel’s ‘Runaways’ continue to live up to being ‘a hulu original’. Period. They also continue to be a soap opera, which is only loosely remains tied to the original comic plotline. That is no problem either, as Marvel comics have made ‘Runaways’ their new darling in place of the previous favorites – ‘the Defenders’ and ‘the InHumans’, and ‘the Defenders’, at least, are a mess.

Spoiler alert – read on at your own risk.

True, they know in which general direction they are going – to an eventual confrontation with Kingpin, Wilson Fisk, who became the mayor of NYC in the past comics, but the details? They are a mess. Blade, Deadpool, the Hood – they come and go without contributing much to the general plot; ‘the Defenders’ seem to be largely about, well, the Defenders as they try to prevent Diamondback from becoming the new Kingpin of crime, (since they don’t know that he’s being actually backed by Fisk here, it seems)…and getting nowhere fast. They seem to be defeating Diamondback on a regular basis, but the man just comes back – and he already beat the stuffing out of the Punisher, (who seems to have his own agenda and be a bigger jerk than he normally is), and shot the Black Cat, (and in a different universe the Black Cat is teaming up with Silk to take down the Goblin King and co., so there’s that). ‘The Defenders’ just don’t know how far they want to go and how they will get there and how fast…

On the other hand, ‘Runaways’ don’t seem to have this problem – but then, this incarnation of the series is a TV/Web TV series, and have figured the problem of pacing beforehand. Of course, so has AoS for S5, (hopefully), but so far they aren’t doing so good – they got some of the lowest numbers ever so far, and the fact that after this week they are taking a mini-hiatus isn’t going to help them either – ‘Lost Girl’ (LG) had a stronger standard and history than AoS had, in proportion, but it still ended on a whimper, rather than a bang. True, LG played hard and fast – unnecessarily so – with its’ backstory, but AoS…has done the same thing, though not to the same extent, as it was discussed earlier. And the ‘Runaways’?

And the ‘Runaways’ have it easier – they have a baseline from the comics and they continue to do their own thing. Like the dinosaurs from the JP-franchise, they are a hybrid, and not unlike the I-Rex from the first JW movie, they appear to be quite successful – and there is no metaphorical Rexy to challenge them, no TV (or Web TV) canon. There are ‘Runaways’ comics, but while Marvel isn’t as bad as the Archies franchise is, their canon is often fragmented and revised itself…but it is different for comics than it is for TV (+Web TV) or the movies.

Yes, this is a reference to the latest SW movie. SW7 was designed as a rework of SW4. This is more of a rework of SW6, and now the plot of the future SW9 movie is hanging in the air. On one hand, this is good – SW7 was one of the weakest movies of the SW franchise; on the other – the fans, (and to the lesser extent, the critics) are divided about whether or not SW8 was a good movie or a bad one, and while the SW franchise still has enough momentum from its’ past achievements to weather this, this really isn’t where it wants to go, (and the news suggest that it has problems of its’ own) – but that is a story for another time.

And as for the ‘Runaways’ they keep on going and they remain strong. Good luck to them. See you all soon!