Happy Halloween 2015

Happy Halloween to all the ghosts goulies, Pirates, princesses, mummies, Vamps and Personal Healthcare companions >.-

I Hope your trick or treating is fruitful and you get plenty of the good stuff ( Twix, Reese's peanut butter cups, Almond Joy) for mom and dad 😋

Macross Delta Announcement trailer

So the Live Stream just concluded and trying to watch a region locked stream on an iPhone proved challenging but I saw most of it. They showed off the new Valks, the VF 31 and Sv 262!  From what I can gather this series takes place on colony planet on the frontier of the galaxy in AD 2067. There's something called the Var Syndrome which is consuming the Galaxy.
The legacy of Protoculture continues on this new colony world where the aerial knights of the wind live.
There's apparently two squadrons, the tactical sound squadron and the aeriel knights. The Squadron flying the Sv 262 Draken's might be Zentradi....the other Squadron are flying the VF-31's Yack Decultcha!

Like M:F There will be a "Deculture edition first episode" will air 2:00 pm JST December 31st !

Street Fighter V Here Comes a New Old Challenger! Dhalsim

YOGA YOGA YOGA
Well so much for waiting for the Indian Gaming Expo, Ono just revealed the 8th classic character at the Paris Game Show!
Check out Sim's slippery new style! Looks like he's learned a thing or two from Oro....or maybe vice versa.
So Sim's rocking a beard now in his primary outfit....ok.
Maybe it's just me but the beard makes Dhalsim look like your typical Fox News terrorist! Dhalsima Bin Laden anyone?




Updated core roster courtesy of NeoPyroXx of Capcom Unity

And below are the six 2016 DLC characters...I'm fairly certain I know their identities and I know which one I'll be purchasing first with my fight money! CoughGuileCough

Star Wars Rebels S2E4 Relics of the Old Rebublic

Relics picks up immediately where episode 3 left off The Empire is in hot pursuit of Rex, Wulf, Gregor and the crew of the Ghost, this episode more than any other in this series really paid homage to the OT...specifically the battle on Hoth in ESB and Luke's Death Star trench run in ANH.
Seeing the 3 AT AT's pursuing the clone wars era relic was humorous.
And I enjoyed seeing Ezra as the bridge builder between Kanan's distrust of the clones and Rex's reluctance to help the rebels. He truly lived up to his name!
This was a great episode throughout and the scene at the end where Rex see's Ahsoka was the icing on the cake!

Anime Review: Aldnoah.Zero

With the recent confirmation by NASA that there is indeed liquid water flowing on the surface of Mars this anime became even more prophetic! I'm not gonna give a summary of the 12 episode series but I will say this, anyone younger than 18 will not appreciate the incredible richness of the story that explores some adult subjects such as social status, perceived entitlement, cultural differences, love and hate, grieving for lost ones, PTSD, torture, slavery, natural resources vs technology, assassination plots used to declare war masked as terrorism...Aldnoah.zero touches on all of the above in 12 gorgeous episodes that are masterfully designed! The characters are each well thought out and developed with interlacing back stories that when woven together create a rich and engaging drama. 

The character designs are a bit cliche for the medium but by the final episode " A Childhoods End" (good book by the way) their designs are no longer an issue because you'll be so engaged in their struggle.

One of the characters I found interesting for reasons beyond what I mentioned previously was Captian Darzana Magbaredge, she reminded me of Misa Hayase from SDF Macross, or what her personality would be like if Hikaru had not chosen her and she accepted the offer from Captain Global to take command of the Megaroad 1.

The mecha designs were very well done, each Martian Kataphrakts was unique and possesed a new obstical for Inaho and the Mustand Squadron. Lord Saazbuam's Kataphrakts(mecha) harkened back to the old school days when combiners were all the rage! Watching it combine totally brought me back to my childhood sitting in front of the TV watching the 5 lions transform and form Voltron!

The conclusion of Aldnoah.Zero was a bit of a surprise but I absolutely appreciate the choice considering the story, it was honest and held true to the story! Not a Disney animated movie, and I thank the writers and director for that! 

This Anime deserves a spot on the shelf alongside my favorite Animes such as SDF Macross, Neon Genesis Evanglion, Ninja Scroll, Wings of Honeamisse and Ghost in the Shell.

A-

Star Wars Episode VII The Force Awakens Trailer 2 Thoughts and Impressions

The trailer was....good, safe...the most interesting parts for me was seeing Rey spelunking the wreckage of the Star Destroyer and the quick shot of the tall red droid in front of a temple.
By far the most interesting aspect of the trailer was what wasn't shown....Luke Skywalker! 
All in all a good trailer but I didn't get the feels😒
For those who say I'm not a true fan I was born in 73 and saw Star Wars in the theater...before it was ANH.

I'm kinda pissed I wasn't able to get tix to see it at the Zeidfeld Theater in NYC, like I did for the PT. But I did get tix for me, my wife and my friends. 

59 days left!

So what did you think of the trailer?

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens Official Theatrical Poster Thoughts & Impressions

Well here it is folks! The Force Awakens Theatrical Poster brought to you by Pantone!

 

We get to see the Starkiller base...that's no Death Star....that's a Starkiller...

So after studying this glorious poster from corner to corner to corner to corner an overwhelming sense of of deja vu overcame me, and then it hit me like a time traveling dino riding cop!!!

Looks like Princess Leia never paid Han for his heroism in the OT and blew it all on Ancient Chinese Pearl Cream! Damn that shit works miracles!!!

Movie Review Hotel Transylvania 2

My son is big into Halloween this year so I took him to see HT2....the first one totally flew under my radar. My son loved it he was laughing hysterically and I found myself laughing also...but for completely different reasons (homosexual vamp camp director).
Imagine Road Trip, Monster Squad and Adventures in Baby Sitting mashed up into one movie, that's the gist of HT2.
Watching Drac, Frankie, Wolfman, Mummy, Blobie and the Invisible Man on a road trip to help little Dennis find the monster within was funny and there was also a good message for parents about putting undo stress on children with their expectations.
If you miss HT2 while it's in theaters, don't scream, it'll be on Netflix soon enough....
C+

iZombie S2E2 Zombie Bro

In this episode Liv and Clive investigate the murder of a young man in a fraternity, this was a very funny episode watching Rose McIver (Liv) do her best impression of a 20 something college fraternity dude.
Evening funnier was Ravi and Major high on Utopium in a club.
Aside from the comedy it is sad to see the direction Major is headed this season, his resentment towards Liv and his struggle with his conscience over killing "people".
There is a scene towards the end that was bittersweet between Liv and Major that leaves a glimmer of hope for the two.
Then there was the other half of the show which revolved around Blaine and his rivalry with Stacey Boss the head honcho of organized crime in Seattle, Blaine uses his influence over a undead DA to head up a task force to go after Boss. But even the need for brains isn't enough to convince the DA to go after Boss...
So Blaine turns to his father who also happens to be undead for money, but Blaine reveals he is there for more than just money....  

Star Wars Rebels S2E3 The Lost Comanders

Season 2 starts off right where the first left off with the crew of the Ghost aboard Comander Sato's blockade runner in Hyperspace running from the Empire. The need for a remote location to set up a base of operations has Ahsoka point Kanan and his team to the Seelo system.

If you never watched The Clone Wars I'll give you the Quick and Dirty, Ahsoka Tano was Anakin's Padawan, she was a talented Padawan that showed great promise but was accused of a terrorist plot at the Jedi temple and treason she fled from a republic prison on Coruscant and was eventually caught. She was removed from the Jedi order and brought before a Republic Court to be tried. Anakin was the only Jedi that believed she was innocent and found the real traitor, another Padawan, Bariss Offee. Afterwards the Jedi counsel offered her re entrance to the order but she turned it down ( I would've also). She walked away from the Jedi Order as Anakin pleaded for her to reconsider.

Rex was a legendary Clone Commander who served the Republic with unwavering pride alongside Anakin, Obi Wan and Ahsoka Tano....I binge watched all 5 seasons on Netflix, it may have started a bit slow but by the last season it had really hit it's stride! TCW had some very memorable characters!

 Anyway that show was a bridge between Episode II AotC and Episode III RotS. Now we have Star Wars Rebels which I believe will bridge Episode III RotS and Next year's Rogue One live action movie.

TCW show left off with one of the clones...Fives if I recall figuring out the plot and the inhibitor chips real purpose, and here we are years later and Kanan trying to teach Ezra how to be a Jedi, but this episode Ezra reminds Kanan what it is to be a Jedi....fear leads to anger....yada yada yada.

Good start to the new season!

SFV: SCR Exhibition Tournament

Here's some good Street Fighter V matches from the exhibition tournament at the SoCal Regionals Capcom Pro Tour. Laura Matsuda looks very dangerous at this point as did Karin.

The Walking Dead S6E1

Leave it to Rick Grimes to make a post apocalyptic parade of the dead! And Daryl Dixon is the Grand Marshal!

It was good to see Morgan again, I'm curious how he over came his bout with insanity? Whatever he's been thru it has obviously brought him to a different point than Rick! Morgan seems keenly aware of people and their true selves....it's weird, best way to describe it would be he seems in tune with the force....

Ok so let's get to the core of the episode Rick and Morgan discover a massive amount (1000ish) of walkers trapped in a rock quarry that's been blocked off at both side by tractor trailers, the one on the far side is about to fall into the quarry due to weather erosion. 

To solve the threat Rick decides the best course of action is to herd them away from Alexandria! 

In order for this plan to work Rick asks for volunteers from Alexandria, the same folks he went bat shit crazy on a day or two ago to build a make shift path made of cars and walls to herd the massive amount of walkers away from Alexandria....but they gotta actually pass Alexandria in order to do this...basically using the Merle Method.

Great Idea right!?

 NO!!!

This has to be the most assanine plan I've seen in this show so far! 

Glen even mentions that if you can create a funnel and manage how many come out of a warehouse at one time they're easily dispatched....

Picture your self with a bowl of Captain Crunch and each piece is a walker and they're all moshing in this rock quarry moaning and groaning attracting other walkers into this bowl...what would you do???

Me...I'd try and set those mutha fuckas on fire! Petrol shower and moltov cocktails, they were so crowded in the quarry they'd set themselves on fire! And then leave the few that weren't Anakin'd to attract more!

But what about the other side where the truck crashed off the ledge???

Well instead of wasting all the manpower building a race track for walkers I'd ask Mogan to make a new blockade using that large crop chopper thing parked on top of that one Walker and call it a day! 

Aside from the obvious risks involved in Ricks plan you're leaving Alexandria fairly unprotected from what ever else is out there....and if unfriendly's didn't know about Alexandria before they certainly do now with them shooting off flares like its the 4th of July!!!!

Then again my plan would've worked better and the there would be nothing to do in season 6 but sit around the greatest campfire ever and sing cumbiah my lord.....

Oh yeah...anyone see Carl? 

Movie Review: The Martian

When I saw the trailer for this movie and Matt Damon says " I'm going to science the shit outta this" I wrote this one off as another Ridley Scott sci fi movie with stupid fuckin scientists....yeah I'm looking at you Dr. Holloway! For some reason I also had a difficult time accepting Matt in this role...similarly to how I initially felt about Sandra Bullock in Gravity.......I was wrong in both instances.

The Martian was actually very entertaining if you don't go in with any preconceived notions of astronauts, botanists, or astro physics....not to say you'll be walking into something like Bayformers, but it'll help.
At first Mark Watney's monologue's seemed a bit contrived but over the course of the movie I grew used to it and these "conversations" seemed natural, like I was there with him and they brought leverage to a dire situation with his critique of Capt. Lewis's musical preferences....aside from it being an in joke, I have to agree, The Martian isn't gonna win any awards for best soundtrack.....but the soundtrack actually worked very well in the context of the situations in the movie.


Matt Damon did an amazing job in the role in my opinion and made Watney a much more relate-able character, he infused the character with personality which is a testament to not only Matt Damon but also Ridley Scott's casting prowess, just look at the cast of The Martian! Chiwetel Ijiofor, Kate Mara, Jeff Bridges, Michael Pena, Benedict Wong (Prometheus, Moon, Sunshine) and Sean Bean (Boromir)!
About half way thru there's a scene where a young astro physicist proposes a alternative to NASA's plan to expedite supplies to Watney code named..........wait for it.........project Elrond! It was a very funny scene and I suspect Sean Bean had a difficult time not saying

The movie is littered with funny scenes like this and is interlaced throughout so well the balance between the drama of a man stranded on Mars with only his intelligence and wits to survive and Watney coming to the conclusion that he is a Space Pirate works perfectly.

As I mentioned this was an enjoyable fun movie but there were a few glaring things that made me question the movie...

1. Would a Botonist know how to rewrite code for a rover? 

2. Would a Botonist know about Hexadecimal coding? 

3. Why was there speed tape in the decontamination chamber?

4. Even if the Hermes departed several months prematurely it still would only have been mission planned for only enough fuel for a round trip from Erf to Mars and back.....right?

5. So we have the technology to travel to the Mars, but we can't detect a Martian storm until it's within visual range....

6. What kind of magic batteries were in Watney's helmet cam??? 

7. Where's Wilson???

8. Is it THAT easy to walk into NASA and see the Chief Director and Administrator?

If I were Ridley I would've tried to get permission to show a frozen Clooney floating past the Hermes as they picked up the supply rocket during operation Elrond. But that's just me.

The Martian is a very enjoyable Sci Fi light movie from Capt. Sci Fi Ridley Scott, worth the price of admission! 

B

I will say this, I hate the one sheet for this movie. Can you imagine if the poster for BVS had a close up of Aflecks face in the Batman mask with the words I Am Batman.... the Novels cover art is better.

Star Wars Rebels Season 2 NYCC Trailer

Here's the trailer for Season 2 of Star Wars Rebels from this years NYCC. Some reused footage from the previous trailer with clips from Siege of Lothol...but lots of new clips as well, with the Seventh Sister! Good Ol Dathomir supplying an endless supply of disposable bad guys :) I was on the fence with the first season until Fulcrum's identity was revealed, now I can't wait to see how all this all plays out with so many memorable characters from TCW series! Ahsoka wielding two white bladed lightsabers....awesome! Retired CA Rex....looks like Clone MRE's are off the menu!

iZombie S2E1 Grumpy Old Liv

I'm so glad Liv, Clive, Ravi, Major and the gang are back! Fear the Walking dead was such a disappointment! My DVR is Max'd out (see what I did there), and there's just not enough time in the day to keep up with all these shows...

So S2E1 Grumpy Old Liv had Clive and Liv investigating the death of the neighborhood grumpy old man (every neighborhood has one)...
The highlight for me was Blaine's little speech to a couple in his new business venture...a Funeral Home....Shadey Plots! Ahhh nice to see the play on words and continues!
"Your peace of mind is my number one concern"
Love it!
So when Liv used the last sample of the cure on Major, Ravi's hopes of curing Zombie-ism were dashed...or were they?
Gotta get some of that  tainted Utopium! And who do they turn to? Blaine!
Now I'm curious if Blaine's cronies know that Blaine is no longer a Zombie? Last Season we saw Zombie Blaine pretending to be human, now I think we will see Human Blain hiding the fact he's human from his zombie cronies and clients.
Now that Peyton fled once Liv sprung the news that there's zombies in Seattle and the she is actually one also, Liv has found a new roommate...Gilda. I guess Liv and Gilda never crossed paths in S1 and doesn't realize she's Vaughn's secretary....ahh the drama!
Oh and Major, yeah guess where he's working now?  Max Rager! His position? Senior VP of Zombie "retirement". Vaughn discovers Majors newly inherited ability to identify zombies hiding among the living and uses his feelings for Liv as leverage to get Major to terminate all the zombies on Vaughns naughty list.
With the zombie genre really becoming over saturated iZombie is a refreshing take on the whole undead craze and season 2 starts off strong!

Fail The Walking Dead

Well that was ultimately under whelming and unsatisfying. I'm surprised FTWD got picked up for a second season, the show suffered from a multitude of problems in my opinion, a cast of uninteresting characters that didn't offer a reason to give a shit about them, Travis Manawa, a High School English Lit teacher who is divorced now with a new woman (who happens to be a guidance counselor at the same school).Madison Clark, a single mother of two teenagers Alicia and Nick, the latter a lying,conniving drug addict that has the same moral compass as Golum (he'll last while).Travis's own son hates him and Alicia and Nick have no respect for him.

Then there's Travis's ex wife Liza she's busting her ass to raise Chris and put her self thru nursing school...ooh we have a character that has a medical background maybe we'll get some info on the virus!

Nope!

How about Chris Manawa??? Why do I care about him? Unlike puddin lovin' Carl I really couldn't find a reason to care for Christopher.

And then there's Nick's sister Alicia....she's smart, attractive and seems genuinely normal. Alicia is totally drama free and seems to be handling the end of days rather well.

Then there's the barber of El Salvador, Daniel Salazar he's about the only character I thought could survive in the real Walking Dead show, interestingly enough he seemed like the polar opposite of Hershel, a nice old man who loves his family...he lets Travis stay in his shop similarly to how Hershel let Rick and company stay on his farm. 

For me the show finally showed some promise in episode 5 where we meet the most interesting man in FTWD...Strand the well maintained gentleman who shared a cage with one of Travis's neighbors....remember the overweight one Travis was sent in to talk to? I loved how Strand ever so calmly deconstructed the poor guy who was on the verge to begin with and then bartered to save Nick when they were about to take him away by giving the Colonel his cuff links. What he said to Nick afterwards felt so prophetic considering the hellhole we know the world is going to become, almost as if he knew it was going to happen! 

And I know when he suggested heading west instead of east into the desert my friend Krogenar's interest piqued... And when he let Nick look thru the telescope out to sea I could hear Krogenar jumping up and down yelling triumphantly at the TV...congrats Krogenar....but Strands plan is going to fail, I don't know how but I suspect Kirkman is gonna sink Strands plans....

Aside from the weak characters another problem was we all know where the show is headed and the trama and drama that Travis and his "family" faced felt insignificant compared to the fucked up shit Rick and his "family" has gone thru.

The one thing I was really hoping FTWD was going to bring that TWD hasn't touched upon much since S1 was some hints about the virus! The opportunity was certainly there with Liza and Dr. Exner, but alas nothing...quite disappointing.

So after this six episode run I really can't honestly say there's anything that's gonna make me want to watch Season 2 of FTWD.

Macross Delta Update: Live Stream 10/28

It's been awhile since I've anything worthwhile to report about the next Macross series since Frontier! I'm hyped to say come October 29th we will finally get some details on M Delta via a live stream, the winner of the idol contest, characters, the location and hopefully a teaser trailer.
Also there's a great article on Forbes ( yes that Forbes) about Macross and the upcoming new series...
Macross Delta on Forbes.com

Street Fighter V: Here Comes A New Challenger! Laura

After yesterday's lackluster reveal Famitsu decided to troll Ono San by beating him to the Dragon Punch....Ha ha see what I did there? They let the cat out of the bag and revealed the 3rd brand new fighter to the franchise days ahead of the planned reveal at the Brazil Games Show!

Ooopsie!!

We'll still need to wait for the trailer but here's Laura!

She looks like a capoeira practitioner, I think her design is great, she definitely looks like a Character that fits in the Street Fighter Universe. The bangles are a nice nod to the other capoeira fighter in the franchise, Elena. I like her gi and the half corn rolls are cool!

The 16 Character Core Roster has been updated courtesy of Capcom Unity member NeoPyroXx, So with Laura's early reveal planned for BGS I still believe Capcom will announce another character to coincide with NYCC which takes place the same dates as BGS 10/8 -10/11. It would definitely be an perfect opportunity to announce Alex's return or Tom's first appearance.....

Street Fighter V: Here Comes a Classic Challenger! Zangief Reveal

Holy Stolichnaya!
The Red Cyclone is back! After seeing Ono's tweet yesterday it was obvious but I didn't expect to see him so soon! I have to admit his reveal is no where near as hype as Karin's but I'm sure there are fans of the Red Cyclone such as AquaSilk that are happy to see him make the initial 16.