No, I know it isn't the 4th Thursday of November, but I still feel thankful. I don't know why, but today, I just want to be thankful. This is specifically about VS.
As you may know, as VS was coming to an end, they had more interactions with the fan community than ever before. Part of that consisted of them having longer preview periods before sets with more cards revealed, plus they gave preview cards to some of the people in the blogosphere, me included. Late March of last year, Ben Seck PM'd me on VS Realms, letting me know that he wanted me to preview cards for Marvel Universe on my blog. As you can imagine, that was a big surprise and I was ecstatic. I know my blog hasn't been the biggest or most popular for VS. I mostly started it to rant about my comics that I picked up as otherwise, I had nowhere to direct complaints or appreciations. Since there were other VS blogs going up, though, I made mine have VS also. Anyway, I got picked to preview Annihilus's 5-drop incarnation and the Negative Zone location based off of the prison from Civil War. I did so, using my specific writing and personal skills, going over the comics and Annihilus's history, which amuses me. If you can't remember, the article is here. I loved the Annihilation storyline a lot. It was spectacular, sensational and amazing. Getting to preview Annihilus was awesome. Sure, I would have preferred a Skrull card (like the Kl'rt from that set), but Annihilus was a great character, and my MUN deck was based off of him. When the time came around for MEV, well, I knew Deadpool was in it, and I desperately wanted Deadpool. When TBS game me Blink to preview, I was incredibly disappointed, as while the Exiles are cool, and has been a good series from time to time, I mean, come on! I love Deadpool more than I like certain friends of mine. Not just people, but actually friends. Heck, even some family members I like less than Deadpool. Sure, writing about Blink was fun, and it is a cool card. You can see my preview for Blink here. I started to get my hopes up, though, when I saw other people were getting to preview two cards. So, yes, when Weapon X was previewed, I got to preview a Deadpool card. Extended Monologue is an awesome card and I am so happy that I got to preview it. The card itself is a perfect tribute to Deadpool and perfectly encapsulates a Deadpool fight. He may not be the biggest threat ever, but he'll be the person you go after first, even if there are more powerful people to deal with, just because he is so darn annoying. Plus, with his healing factor, that makes him even more deadly. So, being able to only target Deadpool makes perfect sense. Oh, and you can find that article here. So, to sum up this long paragraph, I want to thank UDE and VS for allowing me to preview cards (probably one of my favorite aspects of the TCG world) and especially for allowing me to preview a Deadpool card.
What else? Well, there have been great community forums for VS. When I started paying attention to VS online, I got accounts at VS Realms, VS Universe (TCGPlayer) and VS Paradise, probably the largest of sites (well, maybe not as much Paradise). Paradise was where I spent most of my time originally, because, well, the people there were less often mean, and they also had less annoyances. I got my first experience with fan cards there, which was fun (and something I took over to TCGPlayer) and had a great time talking with the people there (who were almost all from Australia). Even at TCGPlayer, in the fantasy card section, I made a little name for myself, mostly being one of the people who was more critical than most, trying to make everything make more sense and fit into the game. So, I'd criticize 3/3 Army 1-drops with no drawbacks, whereas other people might get really excited about them. Still, it was fun and I hung out there some too. Eventually, for reasons I forget, I left TCGPlayer (still have the account, just didn't do anything), and Paradise kind of fell apart after they got no support in Australia, so I hung out on Realms, and there were lots of cool people there as well, once you got past some of the more annoying people. I still haven't migrated to Dot Org, and might, but I'm not sure. Either way, the point I'm trying to make is that VS allowed me to meet lots of interesting people, some of whom I met in person, others not so much, but still, the community, for all its faults, was a great place, and I am thankful that I was part of it, while it was still bigger.
In general, VS was a really fun game. It still is, although it is sad that there aren't any more cards being made. I have always loved being able to control characters I love. It is part of why I play TCGs and video games. After enjoying OverPower and HeroClix, VS was, well, better. It is a more balanced, better game that allows for lots of craziness, silliness and lots of characters to do lots of things. OverPower was weak in that you had 4 characters max, and lots were just outright better than others, both in terms of stats and abilities. Also, the Strength, Fighting and Energy cards as attacks were kind of lame. Yay, I get to attack you from Spider-Man using Sauron. Wait, what? HeroClix worked better to an extent. First off, it was cool to have figures of characters although some of them were kind of awkward (paint-wise or sculpt-wise). Still, you could have lots of people, and your amount depended upon how powerful the people you chose were. So, Superman or the Hulk would take more points than Black Cat or Catwoman. Also, while there were teams involved, very few teams were so good that the best strategy was to pick that team, so you get horrible team-ups. Plus, power levels made things tricky. Sure, if my opponent has Superman, it would be hard to fight him. But, well, I want to actually be able to fight him. Sure, I might get a Critical hit on a 12 (two 6-sided dice for attacks), but with his invulnerability, I am doing jack squat. It got awkward and frustrating. VS isn't perfect, but it is the best collectable game out there with superheroes. You can include anybody, but teams make things better, by getting more powerful team-specific cards and being able to team attack with and reinforce teammates. Plus, there get to be so many more characters. Also, while Superman might do well, you can also do well with an army of characters, which makes lots of different strategies viable and fun. VS was a fun game with a lot of different ways to play and, well, had good Deadpool and Kl'rt stuff. So, I give thanks to VS for being a good superhero game that let me use Deadpool and others effectively.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Deadpool Cubeecraft
I have made no effort to hide the fact that I love Deadpool. Some time ago, I discovered Cubeecraft and since they didn't have a Deadpool, decided to make my own.
Click for template
To use the template, cut out along the edge of the shapes, and along the white lines. Then, just connect each letter to its counterpart (A to A, B to B) and you should have yourself a Cubeecraft Deadpool.
As featured on The Deadpool Bugle.
Click for template
To use the template, cut out along the edge of the shapes, and along the white lines. Then, just connect each letter to its counterpart (A to A, B to B) and you should have yourself a Cubeecraft Deadpool.
As featured on The Deadpool Bugle.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Suspense
I am the wrong type of person for suspense/slasher movies. At least, I think I am. I don't know what the intended audience is, but I am fairly certain I am not in that audience. I came to realize this when I watched Disturbia. Or maybe it was when I watched The Wicker Man. Well, let me tell you the stories, anyway. My "friends" and I theater-hopped a fair amount. I wasn't too fond of it, but whatever. They were my own age and I played VS with them and my parents wanted me to hang out with people my own age. So, we'd get a bunch of us and using two tickets, get into a movie theater, then go from movie to movie. I was somewhat opposed, but whatever. We had seen some movie, Eragon maybe, and we decided to see some more. So we went to The Wicker Man. Let me tell you, that was a horrible movie. Just absolutely horrible. While it is bad from the beginning, the end is where it really stands out in my mind. See, Nic Cage plays this cop who has a daughter on this island populated only by women, and he goes to find her there or something. Eventually it is revealed that this is all a trap for Nic, as they actually want to sacrifice him. See, they had a bad harvest and when they have a bad harvest, their religion/cult demands they sacrifice a man to their god or whatever. So, it's some trap to get Nic to the island where eventually they surround him as he realizes this was a trap. He takes out his gun (he's a cop), which they took the bullets out, then as it doesn't fire, starts punching and kicking the women. Yes, Nic Cage starts beating up ladies. Through sheer numbers they overpower him and put him in a sack. As they carry him away, he rants at them as he says they are murderers and that "killing [him] won't bring back their goddamn honey." Then, as they break his legs, he yells about how they just broke his legs. My thoughts are that as they neared the end of production, they realize how bad it was and decided that it didn't matter anymore so any effort they had put into it vanished. Ah, but it is supposed to be scary or something, and instead I was laughing like crazy.
Later that night, we saw Saw II and Silent Hill at one of the kid's houses. I wasn't fully paying attention as I was also playing VS, but, well, it just seemed silly. Both just seemed silly. Again, I was just laughing at the movies rather than being scared.
I watched Disturbia with a group of friends (that are actually friends), and well... Basically, it is Rear Window with Shia LeBeouf. He sees murders through his window and then tries to warn people kind of. It tries to make it seem like he isn't a murderer, but eventually, the movie reveals he is in fact a guy who is just killing people. When Shia finally goes in his house, bodies literally just start falling everywhere, and while my friends were slighty freaked out by it, it was so ridiculously over the top that I couldn't take it seriously at all. As we walked out, I was laughing at how silly it was and they just looked at me as if I were crazy.
Recently, I watched two movies on Hulu, My Little Eye and Bad Reputation. Both are suspense/horror movies and both were horrible. I watched both and was just amazed. Still, keeping on track with who I am, I laughed a lot at both. My Little Eye is about this "reality show" where 5 people live in a house for 6 months and if they succeed, they get a million dollars at the end. Eventually, they realize it is a snuff site, and not a reality show, and everybody dies. Oh, wait. I spoiled it. Well, you could guess that easily anyway, just from the description given. It was trying to be serious, I think, but it was just stupid. Bad Reputation was just as bad, but a lot funnier. I don't know how serious the creators of Bad Reputation were trying to be, but they ended up making what is pretty much a parody of hte genre. There are so many cliches everywhere. Basically, it is Carrie, except that she was raped instead of having blood dropped on her, and she doesn't develop telekinetic abilities, instead relying on other methods. The main antagonist is some football star and he has his friends and they all have girlfriends and are the "cool people" where the protagonist is nerdy, but obviously hot. Without giving too much away (why would you care anyway), the death scenes are hilarious. One aspect that is great is the sounds. It sounds like 20 tomatoes are being squished when she stabs someone. Yes, apparently, stabbing makes a squishy noise. A really corny one. Speaking of corn, red corn syrup looked horrendously fake in the second murder. Really bad. Oh, and don't get me started on obliviousness. A word of advice: When you are at a party, and somebody is dropping little while pills in everybody's drink, don't drink. I still don't know, though, whether or not it was supposed to be a parody of the genre or just ended up being one.
Anyway, my point is that I think that horror/suspense movies are meant for people who want to be scared or shocked, not people who laugh out loud (LOL) every time somebody dies. Am I wrong, though? I honestly don't know many people who like the suspense genre, so I can't say what the target audience is. Is it for people who genuinely like the movies or is it actually for people like me who think the movies are silly and laugh at them?
Later that night, we saw Saw II and Silent Hill at one of the kid's houses. I wasn't fully paying attention as I was also playing VS, but, well, it just seemed silly. Both just seemed silly. Again, I was just laughing at the movies rather than being scared.
I watched Disturbia with a group of friends (that are actually friends), and well... Basically, it is Rear Window with Shia LeBeouf. He sees murders through his window and then tries to warn people kind of. It tries to make it seem like he isn't a murderer, but eventually, the movie reveals he is in fact a guy who is just killing people. When Shia finally goes in his house, bodies literally just start falling everywhere, and while my friends were slighty freaked out by it, it was so ridiculously over the top that I couldn't take it seriously at all. As we walked out, I was laughing at how silly it was and they just looked at me as if I were crazy.
Recently, I watched two movies on Hulu, My Little Eye and Bad Reputation. Both are suspense/horror movies and both were horrible. I watched both and was just amazed. Still, keeping on track with who I am, I laughed a lot at both. My Little Eye is about this "reality show" where 5 people live in a house for 6 months and if they succeed, they get a million dollars at the end. Eventually, they realize it is a snuff site, and not a reality show, and everybody dies. Oh, wait. I spoiled it. Well, you could guess that easily anyway, just from the description given. It was trying to be serious, I think, but it was just stupid. Bad Reputation was just as bad, but a lot funnier. I don't know how serious the creators of Bad Reputation were trying to be, but they ended up making what is pretty much a parody of hte genre. There are so many cliches everywhere. Basically, it is Carrie, except that she was raped instead of having blood dropped on her, and she doesn't develop telekinetic abilities, instead relying on other methods. The main antagonist is some football star and he has his friends and they all have girlfriends and are the "cool people" where the protagonist is nerdy, but obviously hot. Without giving too much away (why would you care anyway), the death scenes are hilarious. One aspect that is great is the sounds. It sounds like 20 tomatoes are being squished when she stabs someone. Yes, apparently, stabbing makes a squishy noise. A really corny one. Speaking of corn, red corn syrup looked horrendously fake in the second murder. Really bad. Oh, and don't get me started on obliviousness. A word of advice: When you are at a party, and somebody is dropping little while pills in everybody's drink, don't drink. I still don't know, though, whether or not it was supposed to be a parody of the genre or just ended up being one.
Anyway, my point is that I think that horror/suspense movies are meant for people who want to be scared or shocked, not people who laugh out loud (LOL) every time somebody dies. Am I wrong, though? I honestly don't know many people who like the suspense genre, so I can't say what the target audience is. Is it for people who genuinely like the movies or is it actually for people like me who think the movies are silly and laugh at them?
Friday, March 27, 2009
Comic Review
Wow, one of these? I haven't done this in a while. There are a few I want to go over, though.
Ultimatum:
Well, Ultimatum 3 and Ultimate X-Men 100 were released last week, and were, well, interesting. This was the final issue of Ultimate X-Men, which is sad for me, considering I liked the series, even through its extreme bumpiness due to the different creative teams popping in and out. The Mark Brooks art is gorgeous, and he is such a great artist, and I think he needs more credit. With what he has gotten to do, he's done really well. The story is amusing, but very violent. Nearing the end of the Ultimate universe (for all intents and purposes), they have decided that anybody can be killed off at any time for any reason. With that in mind, they had Magneto use Multiple Man create lots of dupes and make them all suicide bombers. Madrox kills a lot of people, including people at the Frost Academy of Tomorrow, and in the Morlock sewers. Oh, and all those Captains from Ultimates 2 (Britain, France, Italy, etc) when he blows up Parliament. Really, it is kind of silly, but whatever. Magneto's already gone crazy. All in all, it is kind of annoying, in that there was so much left that they could have done, especially considering the Hellfire Club's secret had been semi-revealed, but not explored. I was waiting, but now it doesn't matter because they all died. Maybe that is what has me on edge about the Ultimatum event. There were lots of storylines that were hinted at, but never got to happen. Oh well. Ultimatum 3 continued the Ultimatum pile of shitfest. Apparently, Blob was in his right mind when he ate Wasp. Hmmm... Well, okay, then. Oh, and Hank bites Blob's head off. Right, that makes sense. Then, Hank takes Wasp's body back to the Triskelion where he discovers Multiple Men attacking. He gives Wasp to Iron Man, telling him to start project Jocasta (to get Wasp's mind into a machine). Then, he lets the Multiple Men kill themself and him by getting them to jump on top of him (why they all do that I don't know), then walks into the water, where he blows up. Huh. Oh, and Thor sacrifices himself so that Cap and Valkyrie can come back. Really? Get rid of the most powerful member for Cap and Valkyrie. Sure, Cap's smart and more powerful than 616 dead Cap, but Thor is, well, Thor. The freaking Norse God of Thunder. We already went over this in Ultimates 2, how Thor really is the actual Thor. Oy. Personally, I never cared about Valkyrie, as there has been nothing with her except for the craptastic Ultimates 3 and a panel or two at the beginning of Ultimatum 1. So, to lose Thor for Valkyrie is just stupid. Oy. Oh, and now Cap is determined because Wasp is dead. Honestly, this whole event is just annoying as hell. I still hate that Thor's hammer is being used by Magneto. I know it isn't the Mjolnir from 616 that only obeys Thor, but, well, it should be. Mjolnir in mythology was Thor's weapon and only Thor's weapon. It was so heavy that only Thor, wearing a special belt, could lift it. In the comics, that was changed to the worthy being able to lift the hammer, and in the Ultimate universe, to only those wielding the belt could wield Thor's powers. But, now Thor doesn't seem to have that belt, and Magneto seems to be able to wield the hammer just fine. Sigh... I guess Ultimate War had Magneto stop the hammer, then throw it back into Thor, but I hate the idea of Magneto having a weapon that powerful, although considering it isn't the same hammer (how many hammers does Thor have? why does he have multiple Mjolnir?) who knows what it can do. Sigh... Only two more issues of Ultimatum and two more Ultimate Spider-Man issues and that is it for me. No one-shots or the future Ultimate events. I am riding out the Ultimate universe, remembering when it was still good and keeping that intact (with runs of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, while letting Ultimatum bring them to a horrible close).
Deadpool: Games of Death
This was fun. One thing that is going on in Deadpool at the moment is hearing multiple voices in his head, and having Deadpool-vision. Both are concepts by Daniel Way, who has gotten much better at portraying Deadpool from the time he was in Wolverine: Origins. I'm fine with it, because honestly, it is amusing at this point, considering how he also is showing how he isn't stupid. Like so many people, he acts stupid, but unlike a lot of them, he isn't. Sure, he acts crazy and does things that are stupid, but he isn't. He knew what was going on when he got hired, but feigned ignorance all the way through. Also, he was able to win, and considering the people involved, that is no small feat. This was a fun one-shot that reminds me why it is great to love Deadpool, especially at the moment. He is getting a lot of publicity and it means he has guest appearances and his own series, a one-shot and a mini-series. How awesome is that?
Deadpool/Thunderbolts: Magnum Opus:
Speaking of the crossovers Deadpool is getting, Deadpool 8-9 and Thunderbolts 130-131 are part of a 4 part story called Magnum Opus. It really isn't a "great work" but it is amusing as hell. See, back at the beginning of Deadpool's new series, he manipulated his way into a Skrull compound, got info on how to kill the Skrull queen, then tried to send it to Nick Fury, his employer. Along the way, though, Norman Osborn intercepted the data and used it to kill the Skrull queen himself, getting Nick Fury/Maria Hill/Tony Stark's old job in the process. Deadpool just learned about this and wants revenge for having the money and credit stolen from him. Unfortunately for him, the Thunderbolts are on the case, and after Deadpool. All in all, I appreciate the story more than anything else. Thunderbolts has been a consistently good series since Civil War (I liked it before that, since New Thunderbolts, but whatever) and it is great to see Deadpool guest star in the series. Also, the story is awesome and helps Deadpool out. I mean, it is Deadpool versus an entire team of "heroes" which is fairly impressive. All I can say is that this storyline is fun, amusing, and I love Deadpool.
Ultimatum:
Well, Ultimatum 3 and Ultimate X-Men 100 were released last week, and were, well, interesting. This was the final issue of Ultimate X-Men, which is sad for me, considering I liked the series, even through its extreme bumpiness due to the different creative teams popping in and out. The Mark Brooks art is gorgeous, and he is such a great artist, and I think he needs more credit. With what he has gotten to do, he's done really well. The story is amusing, but very violent. Nearing the end of the Ultimate universe (for all intents and purposes), they have decided that anybody can be killed off at any time for any reason. With that in mind, they had Magneto use Multiple Man create lots of dupes and make them all suicide bombers. Madrox kills a lot of people, including people at the Frost Academy of Tomorrow, and in the Morlock sewers. Oh, and all those Captains from Ultimates 2 (Britain, France, Italy, etc) when he blows up Parliament. Really, it is kind of silly, but whatever. Magneto's already gone crazy. All in all, it is kind of annoying, in that there was so much left that they could have done, especially considering the Hellfire Club's secret had been semi-revealed, but not explored. I was waiting, but now it doesn't matter because they all died. Maybe that is what has me on edge about the Ultimatum event. There were lots of storylines that were hinted at, but never got to happen. Oh well. Ultimatum 3 continued the Ultimatum pile of shitfest. Apparently, Blob was in his right mind when he ate Wasp. Hmmm... Well, okay, then. Oh, and Hank bites Blob's head off. Right, that makes sense. Then, Hank takes Wasp's body back to the Triskelion where he discovers Multiple Men attacking. He gives Wasp to Iron Man, telling him to start project Jocasta (to get Wasp's mind into a machine). Then, he lets the Multiple Men kill themself and him by getting them to jump on top of him (why they all do that I don't know), then walks into the water, where he blows up. Huh. Oh, and Thor sacrifices himself so that Cap and Valkyrie can come back. Really? Get rid of the most powerful member for Cap and Valkyrie. Sure, Cap's smart and more powerful than 616 dead Cap, but Thor is, well, Thor. The freaking Norse God of Thunder. We already went over this in Ultimates 2, how Thor really is the actual Thor. Oy. Personally, I never cared about Valkyrie, as there has been nothing with her except for the craptastic Ultimates 3 and a panel or two at the beginning of Ultimatum 1. So, to lose Thor for Valkyrie is just stupid. Oy. Oh, and now Cap is determined because Wasp is dead. Honestly, this whole event is just annoying as hell. I still hate that Thor's hammer is being used by Magneto. I know it isn't the Mjolnir from 616 that only obeys Thor, but, well, it should be. Mjolnir in mythology was Thor's weapon and only Thor's weapon. It was so heavy that only Thor, wearing a special belt, could lift it. In the comics, that was changed to the worthy being able to lift the hammer, and in the Ultimate universe, to only those wielding the belt could wield Thor's powers. But, now Thor doesn't seem to have that belt, and Magneto seems to be able to wield the hammer just fine. Sigh... I guess Ultimate War had Magneto stop the hammer, then throw it back into Thor, but I hate the idea of Magneto having a weapon that powerful, although considering it isn't the same hammer (how many hammers does Thor have? why does he have multiple Mjolnir?) who knows what it can do. Sigh... Only two more issues of Ultimatum and two more Ultimate Spider-Man issues and that is it for me. No one-shots or the future Ultimate events. I am riding out the Ultimate universe, remembering when it was still good and keeping that intact (with runs of Ultimate Spider-Man and Ultimate X-Men, while letting Ultimatum bring them to a horrible close).
Deadpool: Games of Death
This was fun. One thing that is going on in Deadpool at the moment is hearing multiple voices in his head, and having Deadpool-vision. Both are concepts by Daniel Way, who has gotten much better at portraying Deadpool from the time he was in Wolverine: Origins. I'm fine with it, because honestly, it is amusing at this point, considering how he also is showing how he isn't stupid. Like so many people, he acts stupid, but unlike a lot of them, he isn't. Sure, he acts crazy and does things that are stupid, but he isn't. He knew what was going on when he got hired, but feigned ignorance all the way through. Also, he was able to win, and considering the people involved, that is no small feat. This was a fun one-shot that reminds me why it is great to love Deadpool, especially at the moment. He is getting a lot of publicity and it means he has guest appearances and his own series, a one-shot and a mini-series. How awesome is that?
Deadpool/Thunderbolts: Magnum Opus:
Speaking of the crossovers Deadpool is getting, Deadpool 8-9 and Thunderbolts 130-131 are part of a 4 part story called Magnum Opus. It really isn't a "great work" but it is amusing as hell. See, back at the beginning of Deadpool's new series, he manipulated his way into a Skrull compound, got info on how to kill the Skrull queen, then tried to send it to Nick Fury, his employer. Along the way, though, Norman Osborn intercepted the data and used it to kill the Skrull queen himself, getting Nick Fury/Maria Hill/Tony Stark's old job in the process. Deadpool just learned about this and wants revenge for having the money and credit stolen from him. Unfortunately for him, the Thunderbolts are on the case, and after Deadpool. All in all, I appreciate the story more than anything else. Thunderbolts has been a consistently good series since Civil War (I liked it before that, since New Thunderbolts, but whatever) and it is great to see Deadpool guest star in the series. Also, the story is awesome and helps Deadpool out. I mean, it is Deadpool versus an entire team of "heroes" which is fairly impressive. All I can say is that this storyline is fun, amusing, and I love Deadpool.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
VS
There is a new main VS website following the announcement that VS was no longer going to be produced. What was once Steve Garret(Kamiza)'s own hub for VS is now VsSystem.org. A lot of people have moved to the new site from other sites, such as Realms and TCGPlayer, but I haven't gone. There are many reasons for this. The main point of this though, is to explain my thoughts on the current state of VS as much as I possibly can.
I love superheroes. I have loved them for a long time. I also love TCG's and have for a shorter amount of time, but a fair amount of time nonetheless. I played Overpower with a friend of mine for a long time, as we both were superhero fans. He had a lot more than me, and I didn't spend nearly as much as on other games, partly because I didn't have the money to spend and my parents weren't going to buy me cards. Either way, with him stopping, I literally had no one to play against. I found Recharge, which I played for a short amount of time with him, mostly though by myself. I found it cheap at Toys 'R Us, and wanted to complete the sets, so I went to Cards and Comics Central near my house. When there, the guy behind the counter asked me if I'd be interested in VS, seeing as it was a new game that was actually starting to grow whereas Recharge, well, never really started to begin with. I bought a couple packs and the X-Men/Brotherhood starter and liked the cards. New art, a new game and it looked fun. For a while, I was playing wrong, but eventually I found other people who actually knew how to play and I had a lot of fun. My deck was horrible, but somewhat consistent and surprised people and was able to win. I bought more of Web of Spider-Man, and was excited for Marvel Knights. I'm definitely not a DC fan, and was less of one then. I never got DC Origins or DC Man of Steel, but got a little Green Lantern (because I was interested in the GLC). I got a bunch of cards from new sets, even going to the DJL, MXM, MHG, DLS and MTU pre-releases and the 10K SF and Pro-Circuit SF (although just for side-events). Playing VS was lots of fun for many reasons. Getting to use favorite characters in battle is a concept I always have liked (I played HeroClix, love superhero video games, etc) so this was fun for me.
As I have stated before, I am a realist. I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic, but sometimes I am seen as pessimistic, which is unfortunate. When UDE announced they were going to stop making VS, that was bad. VS, as a game, is dead. They are not making cards for it, and to me, that means it is dead. Now, that doesn't mean I am going to stop playing it. The game is fun, and I still know people I can play against, so I am going to continue to play. But, honestly people, VS is dead. No, that doesn't mean that people have to throw all their cards into a fire and forget it ever existed, and they don't have to do other stupid, crazy things. When I say VS is dead, I specifically am referring to the card game, which is no longer going to have any cards made for it. I am not referring to the players, who are extremely loyal and love to play the game. There are people who aren't going to stop playing because the cards are no longer being printed. I am among them. Still, the card game is dead.
I was a big fan of VsParadise, when it was still up and about, as they were an incredibly friendly and great community. Sure, I had accounts on Realms and TCGPlayer, but my main support was for Paradise. They had a fantasy card contest, which is where I first designed fantasy cards. I believe that I had seen fantasy cards before, but never really paid attention to them. I got incredibly into fantasy cards, and tried to make realistic, balanced cards. I also hung out on TCGPlayer in the fantasy card section, helping people out and giving people feedback on cards they had designed. I have made a lot of fantasy cards. That includes a couple sets, where I made entire teams and concepts. I believe I also made hundreds for Spidey and friends, including about 20 different Spider-Man, when I just wanted to have fun and make clone a viable deck (as that was one of the first decks I liked a lot). I love creating fantasy cards and helping others to create them. I am fairly good at determining balance on cards and am fairly good at getting wording that works. I may seem a little nitpicky when it comes to wording, but I feel that fantasy cards should be like real cards. Still, I designed my cards for fun. I never intended to use them. I have never been a big fan of using cheats in video games, and that applies to everything. Using fantasy cards, to me, is like cheating. They created a certain thing, and you just take it and change it up to fit your own personal needs. I love fantasy cards, don't get me wrong. I just don't think that fantasy cards should ever be used as actual cards. That concept doesn't sit well with me.
In the time after UDE announced they were going to stop making VS, Ben Seck went on Realms and said that he thought there should be some kind of "player council" that the players have to do whatever. I am not a fan of the idea, but others are. CarlosTheDwarf started looking into creating a "player council" at the very least to start things off, and it could move on from there. He also planned with Kamiza to create a new site, especially considering the shaky behavior of Realms after it went down. He also worked with Flashback who got the only non-UDE employee copies of the last cards of MEQ to share the cards with the world. With all of these different things happening, seemingly taking place with Carlos' idea, being that he was pushing for a council, then having secret discussions with Flashback and Kamiza about unrelated things (that wasn't clear as they were secret), I mistakenly lumped all of them together. With that, I was against the new site, as I thought it was a "player council" thing, and as I am against that concept, I was against the site. When I said that I had issues, and tried to explain them, people from the site lashed out at me, which was annoying. I don't support a "player council" because I don't like the idea of a group other than the people who created VS running what is going on in VS. Sure, I don't have to follow anything they say, but it still is a bunch of people discussing what they think is best. The way that things had been going, I was also assuming that they were just meeting in secret, then making decrees and handing them down to us. I now know that isn't fully correct, but I didn't at the time. Still, the point remains that I don't like the concept. It doesn't sit well with me. It won't sit well with me. I understand people want it, so if people do something, I am not opposed to people following a council, I just don't want to have anything to do with it. I wholeheartedly support VS and love the game a lot. The way I was treated, it felt as though I was all for burning VS cards in the street in my underwear, holding CarlosTheDwarf's head as a trophy under my arm. When Carlos explained the new site more in depth to me, I was more for going there, but at the same time, I like Realms and wanted to stay there, just because it was familiar. That also didn't sit well with people. Now, I know CarlosTheDwarf personally and he is a great guy. He wasn't rude at all, and was very level-headed, as I believe I was. Unfortunately, there was such a negative reaction from the people at VsSystem.org that I still really don't want to go there. It was an elitism, where they proclaimed they were better because of the new site, and I didn't like it. I may stop in at VsSystem.org in the future, but presently I can't see myself joining the group, considering how much I don't want to associate myself with some of the people there.
I don't even know what to say at this point. Once I start ranting about something, I keep going and going, repeating myself, becoming redundant and repeating myself. Still, I love VS and had a lot of fun over Spring Break when I played with my cousin. I only wish that I had a better community I could play with. Oh well. To everyone who actually made it to this sentence, if you think I should head over to VsSystem.org, let me know because honestly, it does matter to me what certain people think.
I love superheroes. I have loved them for a long time. I also love TCG's and have for a shorter amount of time, but a fair amount of time nonetheless. I played Overpower with a friend of mine for a long time, as we both were superhero fans. He had a lot more than me, and I didn't spend nearly as much as on other games, partly because I didn't have the money to spend and my parents weren't going to buy me cards. Either way, with him stopping, I literally had no one to play against. I found Recharge, which I played for a short amount of time with him, mostly though by myself. I found it cheap at Toys 'R Us, and wanted to complete the sets, so I went to Cards and Comics Central near my house. When there, the guy behind the counter asked me if I'd be interested in VS, seeing as it was a new game that was actually starting to grow whereas Recharge, well, never really started to begin with. I bought a couple packs and the X-Men/Brotherhood starter and liked the cards. New art, a new game and it looked fun. For a while, I was playing wrong, but eventually I found other people who actually knew how to play and I had a lot of fun. My deck was horrible, but somewhat consistent and surprised people and was able to win. I bought more of Web of Spider-Man, and was excited for Marvel Knights. I'm definitely not a DC fan, and was less of one then. I never got DC Origins or DC Man of Steel, but got a little Green Lantern (because I was interested in the GLC). I got a bunch of cards from new sets, even going to the DJL, MXM, MHG, DLS and MTU pre-releases and the 10K SF and Pro-Circuit SF (although just for side-events). Playing VS was lots of fun for many reasons. Getting to use favorite characters in battle is a concept I always have liked (I played HeroClix, love superhero video games, etc) so this was fun for me.
As I have stated before, I am a realist. I try not to be too optimistic or pessimistic, but sometimes I am seen as pessimistic, which is unfortunate. When UDE announced they were going to stop making VS, that was bad. VS, as a game, is dead. They are not making cards for it, and to me, that means it is dead. Now, that doesn't mean I am going to stop playing it. The game is fun, and I still know people I can play against, so I am going to continue to play. But, honestly people, VS is dead. No, that doesn't mean that people have to throw all their cards into a fire and forget it ever existed, and they don't have to do other stupid, crazy things. When I say VS is dead, I specifically am referring to the card game, which is no longer going to have any cards made for it. I am not referring to the players, who are extremely loyal and love to play the game. There are people who aren't going to stop playing because the cards are no longer being printed. I am among them. Still, the card game is dead.
I was a big fan of VsParadise, when it was still up and about, as they were an incredibly friendly and great community. Sure, I had accounts on Realms and TCGPlayer, but my main support was for Paradise. They had a fantasy card contest, which is where I first designed fantasy cards. I believe that I had seen fantasy cards before, but never really paid attention to them. I got incredibly into fantasy cards, and tried to make realistic, balanced cards. I also hung out on TCGPlayer in the fantasy card section, helping people out and giving people feedback on cards they had designed. I have made a lot of fantasy cards. That includes a couple sets, where I made entire teams and concepts. I believe I also made hundreds for Spidey and friends, including about 20 different Spider-Man, when I just wanted to have fun and make clone a viable deck (as that was one of the first decks I liked a lot). I love creating fantasy cards and helping others to create them. I am fairly good at determining balance on cards and am fairly good at getting wording that works. I may seem a little nitpicky when it comes to wording, but I feel that fantasy cards should be like real cards. Still, I designed my cards for fun. I never intended to use them. I have never been a big fan of using cheats in video games, and that applies to everything. Using fantasy cards, to me, is like cheating. They created a certain thing, and you just take it and change it up to fit your own personal needs. I love fantasy cards, don't get me wrong. I just don't think that fantasy cards should ever be used as actual cards. That concept doesn't sit well with me.
In the time after UDE announced they were going to stop making VS, Ben Seck went on Realms and said that he thought there should be some kind of "player council" that the players have to do whatever. I am not a fan of the idea, but others are. CarlosTheDwarf started looking into creating a "player council" at the very least to start things off, and it could move on from there. He also planned with Kamiza to create a new site, especially considering the shaky behavior of Realms after it went down. He also worked with Flashback who got the only non-UDE employee copies of the last cards of MEQ to share the cards with the world. With all of these different things happening, seemingly taking place with Carlos' idea, being that he was pushing for a council, then having secret discussions with Flashback and Kamiza about unrelated things (that wasn't clear as they were secret), I mistakenly lumped all of them together. With that, I was against the new site, as I thought it was a "player council" thing, and as I am against that concept, I was against the site. When I said that I had issues, and tried to explain them, people from the site lashed out at me, which was annoying. I don't support a "player council" because I don't like the idea of a group other than the people who created VS running what is going on in VS. Sure, I don't have to follow anything they say, but it still is a bunch of people discussing what they think is best. The way that things had been going, I was also assuming that they were just meeting in secret, then making decrees and handing them down to us. I now know that isn't fully correct, but I didn't at the time. Still, the point remains that I don't like the concept. It doesn't sit well with me. It won't sit well with me. I understand people want it, so if people do something, I am not opposed to people following a council, I just don't want to have anything to do with it. I wholeheartedly support VS and love the game a lot. The way I was treated, it felt as though I was all for burning VS cards in the street in my underwear, holding CarlosTheDwarf's head as a trophy under my arm. When Carlos explained the new site more in depth to me, I was more for going there, but at the same time, I like Realms and wanted to stay there, just because it was familiar. That also didn't sit well with people. Now, I know CarlosTheDwarf personally and he is a great guy. He wasn't rude at all, and was very level-headed, as I believe I was. Unfortunately, there was such a negative reaction from the people at VsSystem.org that I still really don't want to go there. It was an elitism, where they proclaimed they were better because of the new site, and I didn't like it. I may stop in at VsSystem.org in the future, but presently I can't see myself joining the group, considering how much I don't want to associate myself with some of the people there.
I don't even know what to say at this point. Once I start ranting about something, I keep going and going, repeating myself, becoming redundant and repeating myself. Still, I love VS and had a lot of fun over Spring Break when I played with my cousin. I only wish that I had a better community I could play with. Oh well. To everyone who actually made it to this sentence, if you think I should head over to VsSystem.org, let me know because honestly, it does matter to me what certain people think.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Watchmen Review
As you might be able to tell from the smiley face above, this is a review for Watchmen. The movie came out the day that I went on Spring Break, and unfortunately for me, I wasn't able to see it (because of where I was) until the 10th, the Tuesday after it opened. I would have seen it earlier if possible, believe me. I also would have reviewed it earlier if I could have. I shared some thoughts on read/RANT, but here is my full review.
I am not a big fan of Watchmen. Sorry, people, but that is something I have to say. I've read it, and frankly, it was okay, but not the greatest thing in the world, at least in my opinion. I have lots of complaints about it, but those are not really all that relevant to the review. I just feel I have to mention that before I start talking about the movie. So yes I have read Watchmen, but I wasn't as enthralled as everybody else seemed to be.
The movie was good. It was fun and enjoyable. Yes, it is incredibly long, but honestly, it didn't feel as long to me. You know the saying, "Time flies when you're having fun?" Well, when something is somewhat enjoyable, time moves somewhat quickly, and definitely not at a slower pace. The movie faced a lot of challenges. As with all superhero movies, and in fact all movies based off of something that was made beforehand, a big problem is how well the source material is respected and adapted. So when Uncle Ben was killed by Sandman, that was a problem. When the Joker didn't have a backstory and was merely insane and anarchistic, that was good. With Watchmen, maybe more than any other superhero work, there are going to be people who are incredibly nitpicky. For them, I have to say that I think they did a great job at adapting the comic. No, not everything is perfect, but considering how dense Watchmen is, to include everything would have taken a lot of effort. Plus, when you consider that a comic is a medium without sound and movement, adding it in can be awkward. I've seen comics where there is a voice that speaks and you can't see who it is speaking, but you can see the word bubbles. With a movie, that is a lot harder to do, considering that it actually has to be a voice. With a voice changer, sure, you could make it ambiguous, but that would be incredibly awkward. Also, things can be much more ridiculous in comics (squid) that don't necessarily translate well to film. So, while it didn't get everything in Watchmen perfectly, I think it works really well with what was taken.
I have some complaints. One is that there is less into the psychology of Rorschach with Dr. Long at the prison. In the comic, Rorschach sees the rorschach blots, contorts his face as he thinks about what he actually sees, then, totally calm, he says that it is something that sounds normal. This happens for the session, then later, on another day, he decides to actually talk about what he sees. So when he sees the same blot, he contorts, then mentions waht he actually sees in the exact same manner that he mentioned the normal things. So, completely deadpan talks about a butterfly in the exact same deadpan talking about killing the dogs that the child murderer had. It was great, especially since Dr. Long started freaking out after he realized he didn't know Rorschach at all. Plus, I can't say for certain, but I seem to remember it this way, he didn't kill the guy with the cleaver, but left him chained to the furnace with the cleaver, set the house on fire, then walked out. He waited to see if the guy came out, but he never did. I think that was much more badass than just killing the guy, and I think that would have been more interesting. If that isn't what happened, then yeah, it was fine, but I seem to recall it playing out in the comic like that. Also, while somewhat time consuming and probably pretty non-important over all, I enjoyed seeing how Rorschach found the material to make his mask which was in the comic, but not the movie. Other complaints come from the costume department. Yes, obviously Ozymandias has a horrible Joel Schumaker Batman and Robin-esque costume, but, well, I like seeing superhero movies where the costume is pretty much exactly the same. Nite Owl looks like he's almost in a movie Batman like costume also. There seems to be too much leather in general.
Still, even with complaints, like I mentioned in the previous post, I went in trying to enjoy it. What happened was that I unfortunately went with my grandfather, who isn't a big superhero fan and has very old fashioned tastes. In what is somewhat stereotypical, he doesn't like the music and movies that kids listen to today, instead preferring the old stuff. He hated Watchmen. More specifically, he said, "I don't know if I can say it's the worst movie I've ever seen..." I didn't mention it earlier (but it is fixed by this point), but your opinions can easily change and get blown out of proportion. I remember this English class where people were debating what should happen to this person who did something wrong. There were 4 places to sit, those in favor of the harsher penalty, those more strongly in favor of the harsher penalty, those in favor of the lighter penalty and those more strongly in favore of the lighter penalty. I believe I was in favor of the harsher one, but everybody started out just in favor of whichever one they believed. As people argued back and forth, people started to want to win more than anything, moving to the more strongly section of the area they were in. As people just yelled at each other, both groups were horrible at convincing the other. I didn't move, and I was actually somewhat able to convince one of the other people, speaking more rationally than my colleagues, and in a few more minutes, he probably would have joined my side. What I learned was that when you have an opinion, even if you don't feel very strongly about it, when people act stupidly and the debate becomes less about the issue and more about insults, you feel much more sure of your opinion. This has happened to me multiple times (especially with my grandfather in trying to convince him that things today aren't all horrible), and I think it happened with my grandfather. I liked the movie, but in hearing him complain about it with his only genuine complain being that it was long, I felt a much stronger need to defend it. I did like the movie, but I don't think it was the greatest movie ever. Like the comic, I think it is good, but not great and the best thing ever. I actually liked the movie more than the comic, which doesn't really happen often with any movie that is based off of something. Still, I enjoyed Watchmen a lot. Without my grandfather, I probably would have enjoyed it slightly less (as I wouldn't have felt as great a need to defend it), but that can work either way, which is why I don't recommend it.
All in all, I think it was a fun movie. I don't think it was quite as deep as the comic, which to me is a good thing. I think that if you enjoyed reading Watchmen, you probably would enjoy watching it. If you didn't read it, I think it might be slightly harder to follow and slightly worse, but still not a horrible experience if you have an open mind. My final advice? Watch the Watchmen. It's worth it.
Friday, March 20, 2009
How to enjoy a movie
People who know me know that I am a big superhero fan and that I love continuity. One of the big reasons I read Marvel more than DC is that DC changes their continuity often in big events, whereas Marvel doesn't really. The closest I can think of to Marvel doing that is One More Day which was horrible for that and other reasons. I also love seeing little things that don't add to the story, but show that the writer or artist knows what he or she is creating and how that character should be written or drawn. When it comes to superhero movies, I love them. Surprise, surprise. But, with all of the things that are different (Uncle Ben's killer was Sandman? Batman wears rubber nipples?) you might think otherwise, as I love Spider-Man to be the same no matter where I am.
Movies can be fun to go to with lots of friends. I know this, because I have done it before. You can talk about it before, after and hopefully not in between. Talking about a movie after can be lots of fun. I remember that when I saw Disturbia, as we were leaving, I was laughing at how corny the bodies that kept falling out of the guy's house were. I mean, there were a lot of bodies, just falling out of closets and stuff. It was silly. My friends didn't quite feel that way and wondered why I was so disturbed for enjoying seeing death in such large amounts. Still, it was a lot of fun to discuss it. Why would superhero movies be different, right?
I like going to superhero movies (and movies in general) alone for the most part. I can talk to people before and after, just not immediately before and after, and in the movie, being alone or with somebody shouldn't really matter if you are trying to just watch the movie. When I go to superhero movies, I try to have fun. It is how I enjoyed seeing Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, X-Men 3 and Fantastic Four 2. I don't go into them in full fanboy mode, expecting everything to be perfect, because that is unrealistic, but also because I want to have fun. Isn't the point of the movie to have fun and enjoy yourself? Sure, I saw Ghost Rider with other people, but I still enjoyed watching it. But, afterward, I like to reminisce.
After watching a superhero movie, especially about a superhero I like, I like to go over everything they did wrong, while walking home. I live a fair amount of distance away from the theater I usually go to, which means I have a lot of time. I like to just think about the movie and how it was. After watching Spider-Man 3 (at 1 AM on IMAX), I walked home, going over how bad the symbiote worked, especially with the dancing and strange behavior, how bad Sandman was treated, how bad Venom was treated, how stupid the New Goblin looked and acted (and how stupid the name New Goblin is), and everything else I didn't like about the movie. But after that, I got all my hatred out about the movie, and realized that while I was watching it, I still enjoyed it. I am not saying Spider-Man 3 is a good movie, far from it. I am saying that it is a movie that can still be enjoyable. If I obsessed about movies while watching them, I'd never finish a movie, because everything has never been perfect.
The act of walking home, getting all the bad stuff out of the way, then just moving on allows me to enjoy movies for what they are and get my fanboyish nature under control and to enjoy movies other people might not. Try it next time you see a superhero movie about a superhero you like. Just go by yourself (you can always see it with friends later also if necessary), work out all the issues you have with it while going home, then look back and see if you enjoyed it. Don't work on the things it did wrong in the movie itself. Wait for after the movie, when you let it all out at once. You might be able to be like me and enjoy movies, even if they aren't good.
EDIT: In writing my Watchmen review (that will go up midnight on Monday, the 23rd), I realized one of the other reasons to go alone. Right after the act of doing something, your opinions are beginning to form and can be easily molded by things that can get in your way. After watching a movie, if a friend loved or hated it and you have a differing opinion, your opinion might become stronger after hearing their reasoning, especially if it is bad reasoning. So, if someone hated a movie that you thought was okay, you might end up with your final opinion being that you loved it, just to spite the other person, subconsciously. This can also happen if they have a similar view to yours, as mentioning things they liked might make you like it more, or things they dislike might make you dislike it more. Sure, it is still your opinion, but it then has been altered. I like to have my actual opinion about something, and not be influenced by outside sources until I've gone over things in my own head, so that when I then talk to my friends, we can just talk about it as we all actually feel as opposed to making poor subconscious decisions about things.
Movies can be fun to go to with lots of friends. I know this, because I have done it before. You can talk about it before, after and hopefully not in between. Talking about a movie after can be lots of fun. I remember that when I saw Disturbia, as we were leaving, I was laughing at how corny the bodies that kept falling out of the guy's house were. I mean, there were a lot of bodies, just falling out of closets and stuff. It was silly. My friends didn't quite feel that way and wondered why I was so disturbed for enjoying seeing death in such large amounts. Still, it was a lot of fun to discuss it. Why would superhero movies be different, right?
I like going to superhero movies (and movies in general) alone for the most part. I can talk to people before and after, just not immediately before and after, and in the movie, being alone or with somebody shouldn't really matter if you are trying to just watch the movie. When I go to superhero movies, I try to have fun. It is how I enjoyed seeing Spider-Man 3, Ghost Rider, X-Men 3 and Fantastic Four 2. I don't go into them in full fanboy mode, expecting everything to be perfect, because that is unrealistic, but also because I want to have fun. Isn't the point of the movie to have fun and enjoy yourself? Sure, I saw Ghost Rider with other people, but I still enjoyed watching it. But, afterward, I like to reminisce.
After watching a superhero movie, especially about a superhero I like, I like to go over everything they did wrong, while walking home. I live a fair amount of distance away from the theater I usually go to, which means I have a lot of time. I like to just think about the movie and how it was. After watching Spider-Man 3 (at 1 AM on IMAX), I walked home, going over how bad the symbiote worked, especially with the dancing and strange behavior, how bad Sandman was treated, how bad Venom was treated, how stupid the New Goblin looked and acted (and how stupid the name New Goblin is), and everything else I didn't like about the movie. But after that, I got all my hatred out about the movie, and realized that while I was watching it, I still enjoyed it. I am not saying Spider-Man 3 is a good movie, far from it. I am saying that it is a movie that can still be enjoyable. If I obsessed about movies while watching them, I'd never finish a movie, because everything has never been perfect.
The act of walking home, getting all the bad stuff out of the way, then just moving on allows me to enjoy movies for what they are and get my fanboyish nature under control and to enjoy movies other people might not. Try it next time you see a superhero movie about a superhero you like. Just go by yourself (you can always see it with friends later also if necessary), work out all the issues you have with it while going home, then look back and see if you enjoyed it. Don't work on the things it did wrong in the movie itself. Wait for after the movie, when you let it all out at once. You might be able to be like me and enjoy movies, even if they aren't good.
EDIT: In writing my Watchmen review (that will go up midnight on Monday, the 23rd), I realized one of the other reasons to go alone. Right after the act of doing something, your opinions are beginning to form and can be easily molded by things that can get in your way. After watching a movie, if a friend loved or hated it and you have a differing opinion, your opinion might become stronger after hearing their reasoning, especially if it is bad reasoning. So, if someone hated a movie that you thought was okay, you might end up with your final opinion being that you loved it, just to spite the other person, subconsciously. This can also happen if they have a similar view to yours, as mentioning things they liked might make you like it more, or things they dislike might make you dislike it more. Sure, it is still your opinion, but it then has been altered. I like to have my actual opinion about something, and not be influenced by outside sources until I've gone over things in my own head, so that when I then talk to my friends, we can just talk about it as we all actually feel as opposed to making poor subconscious decisions about things.
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