Boredom

I haven't had any finals since last Thursday at 8 in the morning. After that, I've had nothing to do, and I can't go back home until tomorrow. See, my parents had to book me a flight and I didn't know my finals schedule before the time I had to book the flight at a good price. With that in mind, I had to have my flight after everybody's finals are over, by today. It's gotten so bad that I called one of my friends, and after a long discussion, I learned he had a take-home logic final that I had him send me so that I could do the logic problems (I took a logic class this past semester that covered more) on it. I actually took someone else's final (he is going to do it also, but I am doing it for myself). That is how bored I am, people.

MEV

I have gotten my boxes, but only opened one so far. I like playing various Sealed events, so I try and play Sealed with my boxes. I have to wait until I'm back in SF, as there is no one that I know of in Troy that actually plays VS.
Sigh, they messed up the Deadpool 7-drop, in that it doesn't have the artist listed. I want to apologize to the eBay merchant who was selling MEV that had Deadpool for sale. I doubted that the actual card would be missing the artist (Zircher) listed, so I doubted that the cards were real. Apparently, it is real, though. Currently, I am planning on building a Cable/Deadpool deck (for the heck of it) and it is easy in that Cable is at even drops and Deadpool is at odd drops. Who will my 1-drop be? If only HYDRA Recruit were a 1-drop, then I would call him Bob, and play with Bob. Why isn't there a Weasel 1-drop. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance fans will recognize him as the guy who helped out in trying to determine whether or not Black Widow is a traitor. Deadpool fans will recognize him as Deadpool's smart guy who builds weapons and hangs out with him. I really want Bob and Weasel, along with other Deadpool supporting characters. Oh, well. At least they gave me Deadpool legend.

12/10 Comics

Okay, time for reviews. I missed two comics from previous weeks. I missed one on Thanksgiving week, and then I missed one last week. Those are included.

Amazing Spider-Man 580


Basic Plot: Spidey goes up against The Blank.

Yes, that West Coast Avengers villain, the Blank, is back. Who? Exactly. Still, amusing. I enjoyed this issue. It wasn't anything special, but it was fun, and that is all I really ask for. I didn't really like Weeks' art, but whatever. It was slightly distracting, but not bad enough to ruin it for me. The Blank is a guy with a force field that allows him to not get hurt, and also allows him to easily remove webbing. The plot is something I've read many times before, but whatever. This was still amusing. I can't wait for Harry next week, though. See, I have been wondering ever since BND how Harry's back. Okay, so everything happened the same way? No? Did Harry ever become the Goblin? If so, did he die, then wake up in Europe, doing nothing until recently? This is really weird. OMD (and BND) ruined a lot of continuity, so I really don't know what the hell is happening any more.

Secret Invasion: Inhumans 4


Basic Plot: The Inhumans keep trying to rescue Black Bolt.

Sigh... Craziness. I noticed a pattern in the SI: Inhumans comic. After reading 3, I realized what was going to happen in 4. See, the first issue had some intro, then went into the Skrulls demolishing Attilan, ending with the Inhumans in a bad position. The second issue had them kicking Skrull ass, and then leaving on a good note. The third issue had them doing some stuff, then getting their asses kicked at the end. Therefore, I figured that the Inhumans would kick ass and back on top at the end. This was a great issue. I liked seeing the Inhumans kick some ass, especially Black Bolt. Using Ahura to command the Skrull scientist to free him, Black Bolt then knocks out the telepath, then whispers in the scientist's ear. Yeah. Bad ass. I never thought whispering in someone's ear would be a bad-ass scene in a comic. Go figure. I personally love Tom Raney's art, and was glad to see him working on this. Annihilation: Conquest, like Ultimates 3, just didn't feel right in terms of the artwork. Both were done by artists I like, Raney and Madureira, but both were on books that should be epic, and they don't fit that criteria all that well. Raney is good, just at doing fun stuff, not on things that are trying to shape the Marvel Universe (or Marvel Cosmic Universe). This was a good example of something that worked. Man, I can't wait for War of Kings. That looks so cool.

What if...? House of M


Basic Plot: At the end of House of M, Scarlet Witch said, "No more mutants." What if she had instead said, "No more powers."

Well, that was interesting. The art was different, and somewhat bizarre, but manageable. The story was odd, but I liked it. Basically, every single person loses their powers. Iron Man has to fight crime all by himself, as there are a lot of non-powered super-villains, and not as many non-powered super-heroes. But, as the cover shows, the Red Skull still has the Cosmic Cube, which isn't quite as powerful, due to the spell, but still powerful enough to make the Red Skull ridiculously powerful, and commanding Hydra and the Hand, attempts to take over the world. See, what I like is that most of the heroes are still heroes, even without powers. Spidey is the one who takes the most time to come around. With great power comes great responsibility? Well, without the power, there's none of the responsibility. Until, he realizes he still has stuff to do. Man, that was one of the more awesome Avengers Assembles that I have heard. Civil War had the people fighitng Cap, well imagine everybody teaming up to take on the bad guys. I mean, everybody. Normal people just charging into battle. It is cool. The Young Avengers/Runaways story is also amusing, although weird. I'll discuss it more in the next review. My main problem is with how everybody lost their powers. Not every mutant lost their powers, so why would every superhuman lose their powers? And how does that extend to the entire universe? What is a power? The Skrulls posing as heroes lost their powers to shapeshift, although that isn't really a power to them. It is to us, but not to them. So did every Skrull lose shapeshifting powers? What about cosmic beings? Did Galactus lose his powers? What about Nova? The Guardians of the Galaxy (well, wherever they were and doing whatever they were at the time)? Oh, well. The best part is how they referenced Secret Invasion, by having the Skrulls lose their abilities, thus revealing the plan early.

What if...? Fallen Son


Basic Plot: As opposed to having Cap be shot, he testified, and then Iron Man was killed by an angry Tom Foster.

Sigh... While the short reference to Secret Invasion was amusing in the other issue, this was more bizarre. With Tony gone, stuff happens, including the Skrulls doing other stuff. Jarvis does some stuff, and the leaders so some stuff. What, I'm not really sure. It could have been a memorial (which doesn't make sense) or preparations for battle (moving out earlier), which would make sense, but then it is left open, which is kind of sucky. The art, well, the art is bad. I hate the art with a passion. It is so disturbing to me. I personally don't like the story all that much. It is kind of sad, but odd, because it doesn't feel real enough that it could have happened, and then the story is about people grieveing (there are titles that go over the stages of grieving). I mean, sure, but it wasn't interesting enough to me. As for the Runaways/Young Avengers stuff, that is weird. Basically, as opposed to going to our time, Kang accidentally went to a future where Victorious (Victor Mancha, a Runaway) ruled the world. He went back in time to gather the Runaways as the Young Avengers to try to stop Victorious. But, really, Kang was stopped, or something, and the current Iron Lad is Victor. It is odd, confusing, and not all that great. Sure, you get to hear Molly say that she isn't Bruiser, but Princess Powerful (how many times has she done that?), but it just isn't all that good. Meh.

Secret Invasion: Dark Reign


Basic Plot: Norman meets with Emma Frost, Loki, Doom, the Hood and Namor to discuss the future.

Sigh. This had so much potential. The story was okay, basically how they all want to rule the world, but now, with Norman in charge, they can do a lot of stuff, but have to at least accept him, or weird crap. It wasn't anything special, and I was more interested in why Emma has nightmares about Kitty Pryde (oh, Kitty), which happens twice. Namor seemed odd. He was ignorant one minute, then knowledgeable the next. All in all, the story wasn't anything that I found great. It was okay, and just okay. The main problem I had was with Maleev's art. I don't like Maleev. I just don't. Covers are okay (occasionally), but most of the time I hate Maleev's art. It didn't disappoint in disappointing. Wait, let me rephrase that. It was as crappy as I expected. Namor's going bald, it seems, and didn't shave in weeks, leaving horrible stubble. Norman's hairstyle isn't what it really should be (bald-ish, with red lines, but more red hair, like on the cover. Oh, wait, more like brown hair. Yeah, that was annoying. Their intereactions were okay, aside from Namor. Mostly, it was just a piece of crap. I am looking forward to having Norman rule the world, but this was a horrible start.

Tired

You see, this week, I have finals. So, I'm not providing as much. Sorry. You can see the new trailer for Hulk Vs., which has Deadpool in it. It's here.

Negativity

Some people think of me as a negative person. I guess I can see that. When I look at the world, I don't really see that everything is great and happy, but see the flaws in everything. When somebody presents me with something they want me to evaluate, as opposed to saying that I like it, instead I give all the reasons I dislike it. By doing that, I try to give ways on how to improve it to make it better. Back when I used to go on VSUniverse/TCGPlayer often, I was mostly in the fantasy card section. I love creating fantasy cards, and loved to make some, but also help other people make theirs better. There was somebody there that always responded to everybody's card that he liked it. Every single card. It could have been a 20/20 1-drop that was Army and "Characters defending against characters you control lose and can't gain reinforcement" and he would say that he liked it. It could have been a 2/2 8-drop that you could only recruit if you KO'd two of your characters and he would have liked it. Now, I'm not an optimistic person, I honestly am not. Still, I can appreciate optimists, but not pointless optimists. Basically, the person wasn't giving any good feedback. If he had said, "I like it because it gives you a challenge," or, "I like it because it really makes the game easier," then at least that is slightly constructive. I would give a lot of examples on how it is bad and could be improved. Eventually, people started attacking this guy for not being constructive, and I PM'ed him and told him why people weren't approving. Eventually, I was able to convince him that blindly saying that everything is good isn't helpful. He actually provided feedback for people later. I know that some people don't like being shown the flaws in what they have, but I feel that it is important for people to see that they aren't perfect. I always accepted what people told me and either tried to explain why I thought I was right, or realized they were right, thanked them, then changed it. I don't necessarily say that something is good just to make someone else feel better, I say what's wrong with it so that it can be improved upon. If I don't like an idea, I'll mention that. If I think that something doesn't make sense, I'll mention it. If you make a Batman card that is a 6/6 Flight/Range 3-drop that can only be recruited if you discard a GK character, I'll probably mention that it doesn't make sense to make Batman have flight, and that it doesn't make sense to just have a really big Batman. I'd recommend something that negated, drew cards or something else that fit Batman (scaring opponents, planning, etc).
Not everybody appreciates honesty and trying to help, though.

Transporter 3

One thing to get out of the way first: I got my MEV boxes in the mail today, and am happy about that. I don't know how I'm going to open them yet (open them all at once, then make decks, make my own sealed decks to see what I can do, try and get other people so I can draft, etc), but I am happy that I now have 6 MEV boxes.

My cousin works at a movie theater (and he made Employee of the Month for November, too!) and while visiting him and family in Coumbia, MD this past week for Thanksgiving, he was able to get me and my grandfather tickets to Transporter 3. I love Jason Statham ever since I saw him in Crank (which was ridiculous). When I heard there was a new Transporter, I wanted to see it. I haven't seen the others yet, although I know the plots to the extent that I need to (and I want to see them), and so going into Transporter 3, I was excited. It didn't disappoint. See, with a movie like Transporter 3, you don't want a complicated story with lots of twists and turns and is an amazing movie experience. What you want to see is Jason Statham doing some crazy driving, and kicking people's asses while losing his shirt. It delivers, with some awesome car chases, including one where he chases the car and one where he gets to tip the car onto its side to drive in between two trucks. He has two main fight scenes where he is able to beat all of the people attacking him fairly easily for the most part. There is one part that reminds me of Punisher, when he fights the Russian, where punching him doesn't seem to hurt as much. Statham still wins, which is expected. The whole movie is ridiculous and over the top, which is fine, as that was what I was expecting. For some reason, my grandfather was confused about the plot which was very simple, as it wasn't the main purpose of the movie. They didn't outright say a whole lot of the plot, but by simply paying attention for short periods, you could tell that the main plot is basically this: People want to dump toxic waste, so they kidnap the daughter of the Minister in charge of the environment (or whatever he was, it doesn't matter, just that he controls whether or not they dump), and hire Frank Martin to transport her to wherever they want him to. That's it. Along the way, Frank drives and kicks ass. It wasn't a good movie, in that it wasn't deep or anything special, but it was a fun movie that was enjoyable to watch.

Majora's Mask

This is a weird game. Seriously. For those who don't know what I am talking about, let me explain it to you. The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time was one of the best selling games for N64 and was ridiculously popular. They made a sequel to Ocarina that takes place fairly soon after the events of Ocarina. In Majora's Mask, you are wandering through a forest, when you get ambushed and mugged and lose the Ocarina of Time. After chasing the thief, you end up getting turned into a Deku Scrub and have to chase after him again. You only have 3 days (72 hours) to get back the Ocarina and return to the Happy Mask salesman who will turn you back. Eventually, with only 6 hours to go (hours pass by really quickly in the game), you confront the Skull Kid who turned you into a Deku. You get back the Ocarina and use its power to go back in time, but only 3 days back in time. At the end of 3 days, the moon is going to crash into the Earth (and the moon looks angry) thanks to the meddling of the Skull Kid. It is really weird as you have 72 game hours to complete whatever task you are trying to complete, of you have to start over. For example, there is a Piece of Heart on top of a house, and the only way to get there is by shooting yourself out of a Deku flower. The Deku flower is inhabited by someone, though. Because of that, the only way to get him out is to go through this series of tasks, exchanging items between people. Each day makes you have to start that over again, as you no longer have some of the items you were given. It is odd and bizarre, yet also awesome.