Gotham by Gaslight - Jan 29

…And now, some product placement.

Over the weekend, I saw ‘Batman: Gotham by Gaslight’ animated movie, and I…recommend it. It is good. It has all the main components of a Batman movie, animated or otherwise. It has romance between Bruce & Selina, (apparently, this corner of DCEU is on a Batman/Catwoman, not a Batman/Wonder Woman, kick). It has both the appropriate accuracy to the original ‘Gotham by Gaslight’ miniseries and its’ own original content. (Seriously, look at the original comics – they are quite different from this movie). It has mystery – seriously, the revelation of who is really ‘Jack the Ripper’ in this corner of DCEU is actually more surprising than you could expect from an animated movie; ‘Batman’, after all, is the World’s Greatest Detective, so some whodunit isn’t inappropriate in his franchise.

…On that topic, I do believe that Bruce here has quoted Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes, so some in-universe amalgamation was in play here as well. Neat – and so’s the technical side of the movie, it was professionally done as well. Double kudos for team DC here as well.

Anything else? The plot worked, if you have not figured it out before, and ‘Batman: Gotham by Gaslight’ is simply fun to watch. The canon characters involved in this movie, such as Ivy, Hugo Strange and Harvey Dent, (though in this case, it’s possible that a different character entirely became Two-Face here), also fit quite as well, as does the zeitgeist – the end of the 19^th century, pre-WWI era. Yay.

…But as for details and specifics, I think I will pass. Spoiler issues – not everyone has watched the movie yet, so no details either. You want to know them? Watch the film, and good luck!

…That is it for now, see you all soon!

S.H.I.E.L.D. 'Best Laid Plans' - Jan 27

‘Best Laid Plans’… The latest AoS episode… Did it work?

Not really. The plans got derailed – of Mack and Yo-Yo, as well as of Kasius and Sinera, but-

But Sinera died. In a fight with Daisy, (though Deke helped – but more on Deke below). When compared to Kara’s death in S2, to Grant’s, the Malicks’, Hive’s deaths in S3, even AIDA in S4, you will realize that Sinera’s death was simply meaningless: she and Daisy were doing their best to kill each other, and Daisy accidentally won. That is it. No one will shed a tear for her, not even Kasius, who is apparently already busy on his next master plan, now that the xenomorphs (remember, in the previous episode?), and bombs have failed. Oh, and he has a seer as well!

…Let’s pause a bit. If Kasius has his own seer, and they’re real, and not a fraud as John Garrett had been back in S1, then Kasius should’ve known that Sinera is going to die out there, regardless of how formidable she is, and if he loved her, he would never let her go on her own. Evil does not mean incapable of loving – Grant and Kara, and Gideon Malick with his daughter showed that. (Sorry, but in canon S3 Grant did become a villain, alas, and he died as one – but he did bring Hive back to Earth at expense of his own life – not unlike a hero – and Hive did beat S.H.I.E.L.D. up better than Grant ever could. Talk about a pyrrhic victory!).

Back to Kasius, ahem. So he has a seer of his own, who may be a real deal. Given how AoS loves twists and turns, it just might be Virgil, who hadn’t died in the S5 premiere – remember him? This could be him coming back – or maybe it will be a cyborgnetic version of Lance Hunter; given how AoS loves its’ twists and turns, that is also possible.

Anything else? The sequel to ‘Deep Blue Sea’ is coming out this year. The original film was about a crazy doctor using mako sharks to develop a cure for cancer; it worked, but then sharks escaped during a storm and killed almost everyone, and getting killed themselves in the process. Basically, it was ‘Jaws’ meeting ‘Jurassic Park’ and producing a ‘Jurassic Shark’ kind of movie in the process. The most noteworthy part of DBS was that the movie used mako sharks rather than the more famous great whites, as the movie monsters. The sequel is using bull sharks instead – again, a less-known species than the great white…more or less. In ‘River Monsters’ series, (RM), the bull shark appeared fairly regularly, and while this species was smaller than the great white shark is, it was still a formidable species. Kudos to Darin Scott and co. for starring them in DBS2.

…Conversely, here is the thing. In the DBS2 trailer, the bull sharks were shown as pack hunters, a new and improved version of the old fish. That is not bad, but real life being what it is, there is already a carnivore who does it without any genetic editing – the killer whale. It is just as formidable a predator as any shark is, it has a more advanced brain than any shark does, and it is already a pack hunter, unlike most sharks…or, to be more precise, it is a better and more coordinated pack hunter than the sharks are…and it is much more adaptable than any shark species is, too. Why can’t it be a villain in a movie?

…Possibly because between the ‘Free Willy’ movie franchise and such films as ‘Blackfish’ that expose animal abuse of killer whales and similar species by humans, the killer whale or orca is just isn’t villain material; plus there are no confirmed attacks of humans by killer whales either, so there’s that.

…Back to AoS? Not much left to say. The previous episode was largely all about the back story, filling the gaps for the viewers. This episode was all about action and moving into position – both by the agents and by Kasius and his forces. The final confrontation is about to begin, and AoS needs it: its’ numbers are growing, but are still low. Good luck to them!

…That’s it for this time; see you all soon!

For Honor S5 - Jan 25

Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks. Sometimes you get a feeling that it is not so bad, that you are getting the hang of it, and then you get to feel like a bloody pawn in someone else’s game, with less than half the available information being, well, available to you beforehand. I sometimes really have the life in general, not just specifically generic, but sometimes…

This brings us to today’s topic, with Pathfinder: Worldscape taking a hiatus for a foreseeable feature, because that’s Pathfinder for you – let us talk about FH instead. Earlier today they declared that their S5 is coming this February – 2018. Yay? Hard to say.

One thing that is good is that they have ironed out the technical problems…at least some of them. Yay! Fixing them is an important move forward, to be sure, but it is only one of them. The crew of FH seems to have also invoked Apollyon, and that is something else.

Who is Apollyon? She was the main villain in FH S1 story mode, and one of the reasons as to why FH went through some tough times was because it had a weak story mode. Let us recap.

The bulk of FH are the face-offs, not unlike what went down in DW. No, not just the TV show, (more about it below), but the actual video game, which wasn’t unlike that of Injustice 2, for example, or Mortal Kombat franchise: two characters face off time after time, one pair after another, and the last fighter standing wins. Simple, and FH has done something like that – in fact, it has done exactly like that, with one important difference: unlike DW or Mortal Kombat, it allows for multiperson teams too. FH also has a sufficiently complex system of scoring, of damages, armor points, hit points, etc. The technical side of FH was one of its better aspects, and so it is no surprise that they have fixed it, because they are good at it. But the storytelling…

On the other side, FH tries to be more like Overwatch or Injustice 2, but both of them, and especially Injustice 2, have a very strong story mode on top of the all technical advantages and virtues. With Overwatch, it is different – their world and characters are already so varied and diverse that the players can already create their own storyline easily, with the crew just occasionally providing backstory for one character or another, (they may even be in the process of becoming an e-sport), while FH…isn’t in those leagues yet.

Another important difference of FH as a game is that all of its characters appear to be ‘masters of one’. I.e., Peacekeeper has her dual swords, Kensei – a nodachi/greatsword, Raider – a greataxe, etc. This makes FH different from, say, DW, where Vlad the Impaler has, as example, a kilij sword, a halberd and a hand cannon, just as he had on the show, when he faced-off with Sun Tzu.

That actually deserves a discussion/rant of its own: I discussed AFO at length, might as well discuss DW too, (something that I did not do for a while now). In the episode ‘Vlad the Impaler vs. Sun Tzu’, Vlad won because he had the better weapons – supposedly. Well, no, they were not ‘better’ as in ‘higher quality’, they were ‘better’ as in ‘more advanced’. You can talk about ‘the dread arithmetic of war’ or all that crap, but there is some truth to it; Vlad’s firearm, no matter how primitive, (‘a hand cannon’, really?) was a better killing weapon than Sun Tzu’s ‘fire arrows’…basically ordinary arrows that had a wad of cotton tied behind the arrow tip, and then set afire. As literal fire arrows,…they just were not very efficient; when used on a field that had been soaked in sesame oil or similar substance beforehand…moreso, but still. Once firearms did evolve beyond the single-shot ‘hand cannon’, they did push bow and arrow, and even the crossbow, out of real life warfare…so there!

Vlad won because he had the better weapons…or at least the weapons that the show’s experts, (well, hosts, really), liked better. Sun Tzu’s jian sword was just as efficient as Vlad’s kilij, but team ST did a worse showing of it than team Vlad did with the kilij, and-

…The kilij is a sabre, or a scimitar. It is a cavalryman’s blade, designed to give further momentum to the swinging strike of a rider on a horse, in kilij’s case the tip is even weighted down to give the blow more force. Okay. And on the other hand, we have the jian sword, which is a straightforward, straight, stabbing sword, which can also slice as well as stab, (the Chinese called their sabre ‘dao’, and it was also featured on DW, in the episode ‘Ming Warrior vs. French Musketeer’ or something like that). It was more of a foot soldier’s weapon, seeing how it was much more versatile, and foot soldiers did not have as much momentum for a big wide swing as the cavalry did. ST and Vlad had their face-off on foot, so ST should have had the advantage here, just as in S3 Washington had it over Bonaparte…but here Vlad won in part because the kilij got more kill points than the jian did…why? It sliced through the bone? The jian did as well, just not as in obviously demonstrative way.

This brings us back to the points. The first two seasons of DW were very big on points and doing everything by the book…only they did not. As they showed repeatedly throughout the first two episodes, they ignored the points whenever they could, declaring anything that they wanted; for example, back in S1, they declared that the knight’s broadsword and the pirate’s cutlass were equal, but the points that each of the blades scored were different. Thus, two possibilities.

A, the points are right and the hosts were wrong, in which case the entire grading system is wrong; it isn’t the deadliest warrior who wins, but the most impressive one; or b, the points are wrong and the hosts are right – in this case the entire grading system is pointless and unnecessary: the experts/hosts can declare who is the winner, who is in the right, and that is it. That is how it went in AFO, remember? Why couldn’t DW go the same way? Who knows, they stuck with it until the end of S3 and the series finale, and while DW is missed, it seems to be largely gone, especially on YouTube™, so there is that.

Back to FH? (Sorry for the DW-related rant, but I needed it, apologies again). There is not much left to say. The promo for FH S5 has all of the characters appearing in the background, done in an identical, black-and-gold color scheme, making them all look semi-identical, like pawns of a chess game, (see intro to this piece). Not sure if that is the best idea that FH ever had, but we will have to wait until February of 2018 to see what happens next.

That’s it for this time – see you all soon!

Pathfinder: White Martian - Jan 24

To continue the lack of TV-related material, (‘Black Lightning’ is a good series, just not exactly exciting in regards to reviews, and as for ‘Grown-ish’…), let us continue with Pathfinder: Worldscape instead. Today we got the White Martian fighter.

White Martian fighter (warlord) 1

N Medium humanoid (white martian)

Init +2; Senses detect thoughts; Perception +0

DEFENSE

AC 13, touch 12, flat-footed 18 (+2 Dex +1 dodge)

hp 14 (1d10+4)

Fort +3, Ref +2, Will +3

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft.

Melee longspear +4 (1d8+3/x3) or cold iron longsword +4 (1d8+3/19–20)

Ranged radium pistol +3 (1d8/x4)

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 14, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 11, Cha 12

Base Atk +1; CMB +4; CMD 16

Feats Iron Will, Power Attack, Toughness

Skills Heal +0, Perception +0, Survival +5

Languages Common

SQ arrogant, cannibalistic ritual, evasive dueling +1, skill training

Combat Gear potion of cure light wounds, alchemist's fire, holy water, oil (2), healer's kit (2 uses remaining); Other Gear cold iron longsword, radium pistol with 20 bullets, longspear, bedroll, tindertwigs (2), whetstone, wooden holy symbol, 3 gp

PS: Any comments, criticisms?

Black Panther and Co. - Jan 23

…With both ‘Gifted’ and ‘Runaways’ first seasons done, there is only AoS left to carry us until February 2018, when ‘Black Panther’ makes its’ debut in cinemas. So far it seems to be fairly true to its’ source material, (not counting prince Namor of Atlantis outright destroying it…again), though one thing has caught my attention: why is Kilmonger declaring himself a ‘golden jaguar’ to fight the titular hero?

…The problem is not about the villain being ‘a dark mirror’ of the hero again, (something that plagued MCU for a while now), but rather – the jaguar bit. There are no jaguars in the Old World, (i.e. Africa and Eurasia), just as there are no leopards in the Americas (or the New World). Of course, the zoo- and circus-based animals are the cosmopolitan exception here, and big cats do escape from them into the wild, but so far, there are no true feral populations of the leopards in the Americas, or of the jaguars in Africa and Asia. (On the contrary, there are populations of feral hippos in South America, for example). So yeah, for Kilmonger to call himself a ‘golden jaguar’ is somewhat bizarre, but – understandable.

The leopard is the second-biggest cat in Africa. The panther here is still the leopard, just the all-black, not the spotted, color morph. Bagheera from the ‘Jungle Book’ franchise was a leopard, technically, but because of coloration issues, he is ID’d as a ‘panther’, rather than a ‘leopard’. In the New World, (i.e. the Americas, including USA), ‘panther’ is a name of a wild feline also known as the ‘puma’, the ‘cougar’ and the ‘mountain lion’, a wildcat that is more closely related to the cheetah and to the less-known jaguarondi, and none of them are what is known as ‘big cats’ – the leopard, the jaguar, the lion, etic. However, MCU’s Wakanda is in Africa, rather than in the New World, so the ‘panther’ here is the leopard, not the puma… while in RL Wakanda apparently is an apartment complex in the American state of California…right. This is just messed-up.

…Aside from the leopard, the other big cats of Africa, (small cats as the serval do not count, they just do not have the same imagery), and they are the cheetah and the lion. Cheetah is already the name of one of DCEU’s villains, one of Wonder Woman’s archnemeses, so giving this name to a MCU character could cause a major copyright/trademark fight, something that neither company really wants, while the lion…

Yes, a lion can be a villain – just ask Disney, but somehow a fight between ‘a black panther and a golden lion’ can raise a question as to who is the villain here. Kilmonger, of course, has the same question here, but MCU is on team Panther here, so no lions. They are probably all waiting for Captain America to arrive in Wakanda anyhow.

That is that for ‘Black Panther’ the movie; anything else? Well, awhile back we saw the first proper clip of MCU’s ‘Cloak & Dagger’ web TV/TV series. So far it seems that the titular characters are slightly older than their ‘Runaways’ counterparts are, not in high school, but in a college or a university. ‘Dagger’ is a girl named Tandy, who forms daggers of light. ‘Cloak’ is a boy named Tyrone, who forms a cloak out of shadow. Given that they are also one of the first distinctly interracial couples of TV, (something that AoS has not had mastered properly by now yet, for example), ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are going to have plenty of contemporary interracial, racial, and just socio-political content as well. Considering that ‘Runaways’ already tried this, sort of, especially with Alex…bully for ‘Cloak & Dagger’, I reckon. I mean in Canada you can see this sort of couple on the street, but ‘Cloak & Dagger’ are an American web TV/TV series, and this sort of thing is big deal in Hollywood and etc., so there!

Finally, there is another upcoming movie – ‘Rampage’. Based on a video game with the same name, so far the trailers were centered on a giant gorilla and his best friend, The Rock. Yes, that man – he certainly gets around in the movies, doesn’t he? Anyhow, aside from the already-mentioned gorilla and a Godzilla-like lizard, ‘Rampage’ is also going to feature a wolf-like monster that can…fly. Well, glide in a ‘flying squirrel’ style, but still. Giant aerial wolf. I have played ‘Rampage’ the game back in the 90s, and none of the monsters there could actually fly/glide through the air, so ‘Rampage the movie is going to be something else.

…and that is that for now. See you soon!

PS: Here is a sea-spawn from Pathfinder: Worldscape. How does it come across? Does it work?

Sea-Spawn ranger 3

CE Medium monstrous humanoid (sea-spawn)

Init +1; Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +9

DEFENSE

AC 14, touch 11, flat-footed 13 (+3 armor, +1 Dex)

hp 36 (3d10+15)

Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2

OFFENSE

Speed 30 ft., swim 30 ft.

Melee 2 mwk handaxes +5 (1d6+3/×3) or

Bite +5 (1d3+3) or

Horns +5 (1d6+3)

Ranged mwk heavy crossbow +5 (1d10/19–20)

Special Attacks favored enemy (animals +2)

STATISTICS

Str 17, Dex 12, Con 16, Int 8, Wis 16, Cha 8

Base Atk +3; CMB +6; CMD 17

Feats Double Slice, Endurance, Quick Draw, Two-Weapon Fighting

Skills Intimidate +4, Knowledge (geography) +3, Knowledge (local) -1, Knowledge (nature) +4, Perception +9, Stealth +7, Survival +5, Swim +17*; Racial Modifiers +8 racial bonus on Swim checks

Languages Common

SQ amphibious, favored terrain (sea +2), track +1, wild empathy +2

Combat Gearpotion of bull's strength, potions of cure light wounds (2), potion of hide from animals; Other Gear masterwork studded leather, masterwork handaxes (2), masterwork heavy crossbow with 20 bolts, 63 gp

Pathfinder: Oparian barbarian - Jan 22

For a change, since the 'Gifted' S1 has ended, here's an Oparian barbarian from the Pathfinder Worldscape comic series, with a drunken rager barbarian archtype (Alchemy Manual Player Companion as a source book) for a change. What do you think?

Oparian barbarian [drunken rager] 6

N Medium humanoid (Oparian)

Init +5; Senses Perception +10

DEFENCE

AC 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+4 armor, +1 Dex, +1 natural)

hp 62 (6d12+18)

Fort +9, Ref +3, Will +3

Defensive Abilities improved staggering evasion, tolerance +2

OFFENCE

Speed 30 ft. (20 ft. in armor)

Melee mwk longspear +11/+6 (1d8+6/x3)

Space 5 ft.; Reach 5 ft. (10 ft. with masterwork longspear)

Special Attacks drunken rage (3 points), rage (16 rounds/day), rage powers (animal fury, no escape, renewed vigor 1d8+2)

STATISTICS

Str 18, Dex 13, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 4

Base Atk +6; CMB +10; CMD 21

Feats Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative, Intimidating Prowess, Power Attack

Skills Climb +11, Intimidate +12, Knowledge (religion) +6, Perception +10, Sense Motive +7

Languages Oparian

Gear mwk hide armor, mwk longspear, amulet of natural armor +1, brewer’s kit, 30 gp

S.H.I.E.L.D. 'The Last Day' - Jan 20

‘The Last Day’ got aired last night. And?

And it was something of a letdown, primarily because of Robyn the InHuman seer, or more precisely, because of how she was depicted. As a young girl, Robyn came across as a vapid, annoying, so naïve that she’s actually dim girl, rather reminiscent of Sansa Stark…in some fanfics. As an old woman, Robyn was…the same, and perhaps even more childish and mentally unbalanced than she was as a girl. ‘The Last Day’ may have also supposed to have start May exploring her more maternal side…but this was already began to be explored back in S2 in relationship to Daisy, (the entire Phil & Mel as parents dynamic), so on one hand ‘Day’ didn’t give us anything new, and on the other hand…what happened to Robyn’s mother, to Morse and Hunter?

…Well, we already know that Palicki, (who played Morse), got a job in a non-MCU-related movie in RL, so it’s simply unlikely that she’ll re-appear in AoS anytime soon, but surely some throwaway scene of Hunter, (played by Blood, remember?), could’ve been put into ‘Day’? …Apparently not, since there was no sight of him, but rather Daisy bonded with Deke, (sort of), over their fathers: she has mentioned Cal… just not by name. (What gives?) There goes this reference of an earlier season for this week. And apparently Deke’s last name is Shaw; how nice; for a show that has made a big whoop over racial diversity since the very beginning, AoS certainly likes to avoid interracial couples; WASPs are paired with WASPs and PoCs with PoCs; there are Phil and Mel, but they are often downplayed, and frankly their relationship in canon is depicted in different ways from one episode to another.

…Right, never mind that, back to Hunter? No, not really, though Enoch certainly seems to be coming and going and no one appears to notice when he does that, even though by now all of the titular characters got stuck on the remnants of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s old Zephyr megaplane or whatever it is supposed to be. Of course, this also raises a question as to why the xenomorphs have not invaded it and eaten everyone, because Synera was able to find it without much trouble, but-

Yes, the new monsters technically are not xenomorphs from the AVP franchise; they are based on an MCU alien race, but in the comics, the aliens in question are sentient, and the not-xenomorphs are not. When shown more clearly, they are a mix of future predators, (giant derived futuristic flightless bats), from ‘Primeval’, (remember that show? It was good!), and the alien cockroach from the first ‘Men in Black’ movie. Wow. The audience must be overwhelmed.

…And why were the xenomorphs shown more clearly? Because Mack and Yo-Yo were helping Flint the teenage InHuman in saving the rest of the remaining humans from them. So far so good, but what was Flint wearing? Is he being set up, (by the show), as some sort of a king/leader? You know, as AoS’ attempt to tap into the upcoming ‘Black Panther’ movie, because of obvious reasons? It could happen, because otherwise, the teen in question looks simply ridiculous, and that is not right.

Anything else? A bunch of ragged followers of the seer tried to kill Daisy to prevent her from returning to the past, thus saving the world – they failed. The agents are returning to their present time – they just gave to defeat the Kree here and now, so odds are defeating the Kree and fixing the present to prevent the future is going to occupy them for the rest of S5 to come. Fair enough. Good luck to them, then.

…And as for us? See you all soon!