Den of a Mechalomaniac

Redecorating!

2012-02-09T23:45:00.000-08:00

So I've been redecorating my room, which lead to RIDER SHELF!

It's a scant part of the collection and there's no real theme to any of them being displayed, with the exception of the Joker/Skull/Black Trio, said theme being Double was awesome and Ren Kiriyama (Shotaro's actor) likes Kamen Rider Black. Aside from that I can't not display Ryuki and Knight, or Agito on the Tornador. Kabuto had been in the box for a while, and the Double Riders are classics.

On the bottom we have the big stuff shelf, consisting of PG Strike Gundam, some weird 12 inch Wing Gundam figure that I forget buying, and my holy grail of toys. That which is loved by good and feared by evil. Voltron, defender of the universe!

Voltron is actually one of the better "DX" style toys I've seen as he has an arm swivel and elbow articulation. I'm sure the Toynami Voltron from a few years ago and the upcoming Mattel one that's 2 feet tall are a bit better, but this version (technically a 1997 Trendmasters reissue of the 1984 Matchbox importation of the original Golion by...someone. Possibly Bandai) holds a special place in my childhood.

This shelf is now above my bed, so with an increase in seismic activity on the wall due to me hitting it in my sleep I put something less fragile and less pokey than various Figuarts on it. Blue Beetle is a bit out of place, and I'll eventually move him elsewhere and replace him with some more 3.75 inch figures. Maybe Hasbro will make figures from TOR and I can put Satele Shan and Darth Malgus up there.

Proving I care more about displaying stuff than keeping electronics equipment orgamized, I've got various Gunpla there. I've since moved my Gundam Fix Figuartion Gundam F90 and Crossbone Gundam X1. Hopefully the fact the heater is right there won't damage the models too much. Or the electronics I guess.

And the shelf I've yet to finish will be for my Chogokin robots. So far I just have SRC Star GaoGaiGar + Hammer and Soul of Chogokin Daiku Maryu. I'll be putting my Mazingers, Dendoh, and Ogre later. Maybe a couple Revoltechs if I can make them fit.

So yeah, that's what I've been up to the last few days or so.

Hello 2012!

2012-01-05T23:59:00.000-08:00

It is, in fact, 2012. Five days into it, in fact, and only 6 days after my last posting in which I said I would be posting the next day. Go me.

Anyway, as promised here's what I'm looking forward to in the coming year.

The Avengers film. Seriously after build up over the last 4 years, this is going to be awesome, if only because nothing like it has ever been done before. I really, really hope it works out. But Joss Whedon hasn't let me down yet. On a totally unrelated note I've never seen Dollhouse.

Along the same lines, The Dark Knight Rises. This one will be hard to live up to people's expectations of it being another The Dark Knight, so far as how good it is, but I'm sure it will still be entertaining. Also I'm calling it here and now. Batman dies at the end.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation. Rise of Cobra is my favorite live action movie based on a 1980s toy property (which I suppose is really just saying that I like it more than Masters of the Universe and the Bayformers films), and this new one adds in The Rock and Bruce Willis. While I'm sad Christopher Eccleston and Joseph Gordon Levitt aren't returning, I'm still hoping that this movie will just be some good, old fashioned fun.

Mass Effect 3. As mentioned last year, I'm a whore for Bioware. I will eat up everything they make. I've spent the last week and a half playing The Old Republic religiously (and I'm having lots of fun), while playing through the DLCs for Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 2 that I missed during server maintenance. To say I'm awaiting the end of the trilogy eagerly is an understatement.

Super Robot Wars Z2 Rebirth Chapter. It's not announced yet, but I'm totally expecting it to come out this year. Or at least hoping it does. Along the same lines I'm also looking forward to Super Robot Wars OG 2nd.

S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Fourze Elec States. Base State interests me too, and I'm sure there will be a looot of others that I end up wanting, but Elec States just looks really nice based on the promotional pictures. Others that interest me are Super Shinken Red and Zolda.

Transformers Prime Season 2. Because this show is the best Transformers has been since....well Animated, which was the series right before this one. But it's still really damn good!

Super Robot Chogokin Daizyujin. Japan is making the original Megazord. This is going to be epic. Hopefully it actually makes it out in 2012.

And finally. I'm waiting for December 21st. Because either the Mayans were right and the world will change, and I'm hoping for some kind of zen shift of consciousness that leads to a better future. Or nothing will happen and I'll laugh at all the Doomsday cultists and wonder what the next arbitrary end of the world date will be.

Have a good 2012 everyone.

Favorites of 2011

2011-12-30T01:37:00.000-08:00

As we approach the end of another year, I feel it's time to look back on the previous year at some of my favorite things in various media. This is going to be quick, dirty, and mostly text because ~~I'm addicted to The Old Republic~~ I've been busy.

Favorite Movie: Captain America: The First Avenger. This movie was just plain, Nazi punching fun. The actors were all great, the writing was sharp, it overall captured this Golden Age feel without seeming too goofy, and it's probably the first thing that makes me proud to be American in...a long, long while.

Favorite Video Games: Batman: Arkham City/Super Robot Wars Z2 Destruction Chapter. This is a toss-up between the two. I spent weeks playing both of them. Admittedly I'm biased toward Z2 and eagerly look forward to the second part. Meanwhile Arkham City continued the tradition of making you feel like you ARE Batman.

Favorite Comic Book Story: Justice League Generation Lost. This is admittedly a biased thing because 90% of the comics I read are backlogged stuff from the library. And yes I know half of it was published in 2010 but I read the whole thing in 2011 so nyeh. Anyway this book had a good story, and was light hearted enough without becoming flat out parody. It also did a good job of giving everyone in the lineup a moment of being badass, which is impressive for a team of like 8 people.

Favorite TV Show: Pirate Sentai Gokaiger. I'll admit I don't watch much live action stuff, but this show is everything it needs to be. It's fun, interesting, and most of all, the love that went into it shows. The purpose of Gokaiger is to celebrate 35th Anniversary of Super Sentai, and it does that magnificently.

Favorite Toy: S.H. Figuarts Kamen Rider Knight. This is a recent acquisition, but damn this figure is amazing. The various cape parts look dynamic (as opposed to say, Garo's cape), Darkwing looks great, and he's got every accessory he theoretically could have without going into Knight Survive's stuff.

Favorite New Song: Time Judged All by Eiji and Ankh. I mean by Shu Watanabe and Ryosuke Miura. I find myself humming it or playing it in my head at random intervals. I also like how it blends this kind of ominous chanting with standard J-rock stuff.

And that's about it for everything I can think of. I don't read novels enough to have a favorite one, and given that I've watched all of three new anime things at all this year, I don't think that's much of its own category. (Hint: It's not Gundam AGE.)

Speaking of Gundam AGE, I got bored with the show a fair bit, thus the lack of recaps. I'll probably do a mass look at the last arc of Generation 1 once it ends in January. Whether the show becomes more interesting for me in Generation 2 remains to be seen.

Aside from that, I'll be back soon with things I'm looking forward to in 2012.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T00:20:00.000-08:00

It is now roughly 20 minutes into Christmas Day in my timezone, so I just want to say Merry Christmas Internet!

Gundam AGE Episode 6

2011-11-17T22:55:00.001-08:00

He's gonna make you an offer you can't refuse.

Really, I think I'd like the series a lot more if it involved a mobile suit using mafia.

With yet another episode under its belt, Gundam AGE continues to be...okay. Emily gets to emo some as Flit tells her he's going to be staying with the Gundam, his one true love! Meanwhile Grodek gets a flashback of his wife and adorable little daughter.

And I'm sure they're both completely safe and unharmed, living faaaaar away from the threat of the U.E.

Actually, no. Both (presumably) died in a U.E. attack on a Colony some years ago. This, and some actions later on involving the guy who totally isn't a mob boss despite his name being Don Boyage (or Voyage. Either way it's a terrible name.), give some more insight into his character and where I think it's going. He goes to the mob boss asking for Warships, with which he intends to take on the U.E. Apparently all by himself. My guess is he's going to be going all Captain Ahab on them. We'll see later on though.

In other miniscule subplots, Vargas has added some armor onto the Genoace which will allow it to take two hits before uselessly exploding. Don't worry Genoace. One day you'll grow up and surpass the Leo! Meanwhile Woolf has taken off.

It's mating season you know!

No, that's actually the wife of Woolf's acquaintance who develops mobile suits. He provides said acquaintance with a picture of a Gundam and tells him he wants something better! This...clearly makes sense! On Bizzaro World. We'll see what he ends up with later (kit release schedules say it's a G-Exes).

The meat of the episode comes from Flit following the completely and unreasonably emotional Emily into the colony of Fardain. Seriously, it's not like her friend and object of her romantic interests is planning to continue risking his life. But before any feelings can be shared, a Mobile Suit battle breaks out!

And they wield tommy guns!

Flit and Emily are soon saved from being crushed by a man who leads them to the impoverished undercity. He explains that the battles are fought between two opposing factions of colony nations who are unable to bury the hatchet, despite the war having been over for years. And this little thing called the U.E.

Hippies and fur fuckers want peace forever!

I have to admit, this idea that there was a war fought between two opposing colony nations, rather than between the colonies and earth is pretty interesting to me, and makes me want to see more of it. Except their only MS designs are boring not-Zakus. Then again, maybe that's where the Gundam of legend comes from? Maybe it's something that'll be expanded upon later.

I liked Red vs. Blue better when it was made with Halo.

The man who took Flit and Emily in manages to lose track of his daughter, due to the group leaving Haro to babysit her. Brilliant idea guys!

Holy shit it has a Met-hat and Heat Shovel. I want one.

The man decides to go after her in his shitty worker mobile suit, the Desperado, which is surprisingly capable against the not-Zakus. And still looks more effective than the Genoace. Of course he can't hold up for too long against the greater numbers (because he didn't hide under the Met-hat). That's okay though, because Flit has brought the Gundam, apparently being able to launch it with no authorization from anyone!

"Hey Gene, get a look at this guy will ya? Gene? OH GOD THE RICOCHET KILLED GENE!!!!"

It support defends the Desperado, and manages to reflect the bullets back at the not-Zaku's, taking the one on the left out. That's....embarrassing for that pilot. Sadly rather than brutally destroy the crappy mobile suits, Flit just plays around with them until they run away. What a bunch of wuss-

The giant U.E. mobile suit has a +8 to its stealth score and does +2d6 damage on a successful sneak attack.

Flit battles the new U.E. model (which is called a Baqto I believe.) Unfortunately it features a beam shield which reflects the DODS Rifle and damages the surrounding buildings. Whoops! The U.E. decides to do the most logical thing I've ever seen a Gundam villain do. Frame the hero for a crime and beat it before the po-po shows up.

Always keeping the white man down.

And so the episode ends with Flit being arrested by the colony's police forces. Next episode: The Scooby gang rushes to find the true criminal! More of the Mob Boss! And AGE-1 Titus appears!

This episode had some interesting bits. I continue to like where Grodek is going, and the battle between the remnant forces was a nice change of pace. At this point I'm also convinced the U.E. are just following the AGE-1 around. Seriously they don't show for like 7 years and then the last 6 episodes have been nothing but them? It could turn out to be nothing, but I've got a feeling Flit's mom has a history with the U.E. somehow. We'll see if I'm proven wrong later on.

Gundam AGE Episode 5

2011-11-09T23:43:00.000-08:00

This episode Flit meets another contender for his affections! *cough*

Going into this episode, I was worried it would be another mirror of Mobile Suit Gundam's "Escape from Luna II", in that I expected the crew to get detained by corrupt Earth Federation officials who thought they could use the resources at the heroes disposal better than they could. Because they're jerks.

Well, what actually happens is a corrupt Earth Federation official tries to arrest Grodek for, you know, stealing a ship without authorization. The Federation only tolerates that kind of thing if you also go back in time to 1986 and rescue a couple of Humpback Whales. Grodek has a backup plan though...

Shu Shirakawa, eat your heart out.

Good, old fashioned blackmail! See, the Federation higher-ups here (here being Fardain, the colony the gang is now docked at) have been essentially embezzling money. Grodek promises to make light of this fact at his court marshal, and has the evidence to back it up. Figuring that letting Grodek keep his state of the art ship and superweapon is better than the media shitstorm that would cause. We don't need to be starting Occupy Fardain, after all.

Following this, there's a short scene with Emily continuing her "I don't want Flit to pilot the Gundam" subplot, which shows her whining to Grodek. Grodek is pragmatic about such things, saying that they need the Gundam. Without it they won't be able to sell model kits, after all! This causes Emily to go running off crying, rather than doing the sensible thing and actually talking to flit. Of course she's a 14 year old girl, and an anime character, so I can't hold not being sensible against her.

Like a deer in the headlights. Despite it being daytime.

Meanwhile, Flit is busy committing vehicular manslaughter with a segway. Unfortunately for us, he misses and the little bastard only ends up with a scraped knee. This little bundle of annoying child is Desil Galette, and when Flit touches him it's love at first sight. Actually Flit gets the same psychic reaction he did with Yurin, which means this kid is a ~~newtype~~ ~~psychodriver~~ psychic or something.

Anyway Flit takes care of the kid as UE ominously scan them. The kid gets to annoy us with Zero-G tag for a little bit, before the random UE attack of the episode! The colony's missile trucks try their best, but they prove to be as effective as they are against Godzilla, so it's Flit to th---

Insert your own Nelson Muntz Laugh here.

...I mean Desil to the rescue. Yes, even though this Gundam series had the foresight to use a lock and key, it still gets stolen within 5 episodes! Desil goes out for a little joyride, but Flit just fought a furry for his right to use the Gundam last episode, so there's no way in hell he's letting Scrappy Doo take it from him.

The most impressive tactical maneuver I've seen in this show thus far.

Unfortunately Flit isn't as smart as Largan, and decides to take the Genoace out to get the Gundam back. Flit's a main character so he doesn't die instantly, but he doesn't perform too well. Fortunately Woolf is there too berate him for it, while they both watch Desil fight the UE...rather efficiently. Hell, he's a better pilot than Flit is.

After a while though, Desil gets bored and decides to go back to base, leaving Flit to wonder just what the hell was going on. Or maybe he's secretly wishing for the kid to spontaneously combust. Emily continues to watch from afar, worried that Flit is growing further away from her. Either way, the scene then skips to Desil watching the Diva from afar, when he's approached by several hooded figures.

Holy shit the bad guys are working for Marik Ishtar.

The main man who happens to have a mask (PSSST I BET HE PILOTS THE ZEDAS, BUT DON'T TELL ANYONE. THEY'RE TRYING TO BE SUBTLE.), tells Desil that he can't associate with these people now that he's a dweller of Eden. Desil retorts that he's disappointed in the Gundam and in Flit. Then he wants food.

All in all some stuff actually happened like introducing an annoying bastard child with ace piloting abilities. It's like having a male version of Quess Paraya in the show! Actually all joking aside, Desil doesn't immediately remind me of anyone else in Gundam yet. It seems obvious to me at this stage that these hooded guys, and whatever Eden is, are the UE, and that Desil (and probably Yurin) are their agents. This seems almost too blatantly obvious, but this show hasn't given me reason to think that the obvious answers are wrong.

Five weeks in the show is...still not great. There's worse Gundam out there for sure, and episodes 2 and 5 were good enough, but the low points of 1 and 3 left me feeling bored, which is the last thing I should be feeling from an entertainment medium. The battles thus far have been average to dull skirmishes in the vastness of space. It's a trap Gundam (and a lot of RR anime) falls into, where the battles devolve into "dodge around a bunch and shoot beam rifles at each other". I understand limited animation budgets and all, but some better fight choreography would go a long way to making the combat heavy episodes more memorable.

One other minor nitpick that really bugged me though. Last episode it was shown that at least Woolf's Genoace was capable of using the DODS Rifle. Episode 2 showed the AGE Builder was capable of making the DODS Rifle in about 5 minutes. The DODS Rifle is good at shooting down UE things. Why did Woolf's Genoace have the same old beam peashooter (albeit with a nifty bayonet attachment) instead of a DODS Rifle? Yes this is getting into comic book nerd nitpickery (and believe me, I am a comic book nerd), but really, they should arm themselves better.

Next time looks to be a bit of a change up, with some kind of human group piloting some not-Zakus that cause trouble. Hopefully it'll be a nice reprieve from the UE attack of the week.

Gundam AGE Episodes 3-4

2011-11-08T22:04:00.000-08:00

So I'm a bit late on episodes 3 and 4 of AGE. The reason for this is twofold. First off, neither episode seemed all that interesting, or worth talking about in detail. And second I was busy beating up a weak and cowardly lot in Arkham City (Game of the Year winner. I'm calling it right now.)

Anyway I'll be brief on episodes 3 and 4 since, as I said, not much of interest was had to me.

Episode 3 mostly picks up with episode 2 left off, with Flit facing off against more UE forces while the operation to save the colonists continues. In the middle of this a new UE unit, the Zedas. It manages to survive a couple of hits from the DODS Rifle (the subs switched from DOTS to DODS, I'm not sure why), which tells me a named character is piloting the thing.

Flit has trouble hitting the three times faster Zedas, but Purple Haired Tifa (as in Tifa Adil from Gundam X, not the busty lady from FF7, and her actual name is apparently Yurin) uses her ~~newtype~~ ~~psychodriver~~ powers to help him. Of course during all this, the thing sneaks into the colony and tries to destroy the command center behind their colony core seperation operation, because....civilian casualties pleases it somehow I suppose.

The operation mostly goes well, after Flit blocks the Zedas off from the colony core. Rather than easily maneuvering around the tiny object in the vastness of space, I guess it feels bad for trying to commit mass murder and decides to go home.

But because no one important aside from Flit's mother has died in the first three episodes, something has to go horribly wrong. The colony core gets stuck on a stray piece of debris, and Flit's superweapon can't get there in time. But that's okay, because the old Federation Commander that Flit has an emotional connection to, and who was conveniently mortally wounded in the earlier attack has decided to die via explosion, rather than a slower, more painful death via bleeding.

All joking aside, the scene did convey the sorrow Flit felt toward this guy's death fairly well, and that's probably the highlight of the episode. So yes, the massive holocaust of everyone on the colony dying horribly is averted, and the civilians are saved and conveniently shoved off screen, where none of them will ever be seen again. Except Purple Haired Tifa.

Overall I think Episodes 1, 2 and 3 should have been compressed into a pair of episodes, but at the same time I'm not sure how to do that. The first episode set up what it needed to, and the second was fairly well paced. This episode seemed to drag on a bit too long. Oh and at the end we meet...

Woolf Enneacle (this is the spelling Wikipedia gave me and yes it is retarded) is the spotlight of this episode. He's a mobile suit racing pro turned ace pilot. And his hair looks as such to give him wolf ears. Five bucks says he's voiced by Richard Ian Cox in the inevitable Ocean Dub.

Anyway Woolf was in healing sleep for some reason, and missed the big "Nora explodes" thing. Also the silent coup that put a bunch of new people in command of the ship. Grodek decides to make him the ship's MS squad commander (the ship's MS squad currently consisting of Flit, him, and....theoretically Largan, the last of which apparently realizes how bad Genoaces actually are since he's yet to sortie again). Anyway, Woolf knows that main characters get all the ladies while cool older mentors get pineapple'd, so he wants to pilot the Gundam!

Flit, despite being perfectly willing to give the thing to Largan three episodes ago, is annoyed by this and says that he wants to keep being the main character. Woolf tries to pull rank (and, you know, the logic that an ace pilot in a war machine would take care of the UE faster than you can say "genocidal rampage"), but eventually pulls the "if you beat me in a contest of skill you can keep it" card. Because no one in a work of fiction has ever read any other work of fiction before.

Flit denies this at first, but Emily (the blonde girl he will probably end up fathering a child with) basically agrees for him, because she's going through a character arc where she doesn't want Flit to keep fighting and doesn't expect him to win. I think I'll start calling her blonde Frau Bow. Though her outfit reminds me more of Sayla.

Anyway they launch, Flit in the Gundam and Woolf in his snazzy looking Genoace Custom. I'm sure it still sucks, but it has a bayonet and a cool emblem on its shield. What follows is the standard battle where Woolf's superior skill gives him an early lead, but his overconfidence and the Gundam's immense power let Flit catch up. Of course the battle is the interupted by the UE. Because...they just roll that way. Actually this is worse than the usual UE attack, because they have a ship. A big ship.

Cue the Imperial March here. Seriously, this UE Mothership is...big. Really big. Flit and Woolf are hiding behind a rock with the mobile suit equivalent of a popgun. That's okay though. After running around, the Diva launches the DODS Rifle and Flit uses it to save Woolf by destroying a Gafran. Which just leaves the dozens of other Gafrans! Woolf fixes the situation by stealing the DODS rifle (which raises a point I'll bring up next episode), and blowing up an asteroid to....allow the to escape or something. Oh yeah, and Flit can keep the Gundam. Yay.

This episode was decently paced, but predictable for me. The immediate comparison I can draw is the fourth episode of Gundam 0083, which was basically the same situation with Monsha and Kou (except I wanted Monsha to win and replace Kou as the protagonist there). The UE Mothership is impressive, but that was probably the highlight of the next episode.

So far, a month into the series I'm not exactly feeling it. It's not awful, and I'm not going to give up on it, but in my grand scale of Gundam this series isn't exactly raising itself above the average. Of course I've yet to make my grand scale of Gundam yet, so maybe it is and I'm giving other things too much credit.

Oh well, I still hear this show is better than Horizon in the Middle of Nowhere.

Episode 5 will be up laterish. I've got more to say on it, and don't want to make this post any longer.

Gundam AGE Episode 2

2011-10-17T21:44:00.000-07:00

I was considering doing a lame AGE pun again, but I honestly couldn't think of one that fit the episode. Ah well.
So the second episode of Gundam AGE left me feeling a lot better about the series than the first did. It is at this point I once more mention there will be spoilers, so if that's not your thing turn back now.

Episode 2: The Power of Age had some similarities to the original Gundam and SEED, with the race against time to escape a colony that will soon cease to be. Unlike those other two series, AGE has a bit of optimism about the situation, with the Federation commander putting together a plan to gather the population into the center of the colony and pull it out using the new battleship ~~White Base~~ ~~Archangel~~ Diva.

The will then form a rag-tag fugitive fleet as they search for the lost thirteenth colony, a shining beacon known as Earth.

As an aside, the Diva (that first picture up there) looks a bit...bland. On the other hand, someone I know mentioned that it looks like it can split down the middle, so maybe it pulls a Macross. Or a Valstork. It's not a bad design overall, and maybe I'll start to like it better.

Anyway the plan does paint these characters with an almost child-like optimism. They don't want to minimize losses, they want to save everyone.

Of course that doesn't apply to all members of the Federation. The Captain of the Diva is a jerkass, willing to let thousands of people die just so his one ship can get away. I would have some sympathy for him if the show painted it in the slightest as a "Well, we need to get this ship to safety because it's got super advanced technology that can fight the UE!" But no, he's just a jerk. And that is why Grodek Ainoa is my new favorite character in this show.

Put simply, Grodek tells the Captain to shove it, tasers his bodyguards, ties him up and proceeds to delete the Diva crew's security clearance. Let's do a quick comparison of Gundam captains by first (real) actions here:

Murrue Ramius: Failed to start up a Mobile suit. Was then forced into command of a battleship after the death of her senior commanding officer. Got bitched out by her XO for having human decency.

Bright Noa: Was forced into command of a battleship after the injury of his senior commanding officer. Put up with Amuro's sass for about 3 episodes longer than he should have.

Grodek Ainoa: Told his senior commanding officer where he could stick his attitude and proceeded to hijack his way into command of a battleship. And he's a descendant of both Bruno Global and Jamil Neate.

Now, I'm not saying Grodek is better than Murrue or Bright. But he's off to a damn good start.

The rest of the meat of the episode comes from Flit trying to get the Gundam to the Diva before the colony explodes. Because your super advanced battleship designed to carry your super advanced mobile suit is kind of pointless without the mobile suit. Along the way though, Flit meets a stray young girl!

I can't imagine why she would be terrified and run away from him.

The girl, who I don't think gets a name in the episode (but probably has one already anyway) fills the quiet, cute little girl quotient for the show. And she apparently has psychic powers, directing Flit to the path that leads him to escape the colony and senses the approach of more UE at the end of the episode. I'm sure she won't have a mysterious past that in some way and/or end up piloting a gigantic mobile armor which places her in mortal danger.

Hello, dead girl walking.

Ok, given AGE is for younger audiences maybe she won't die horribly. I'm willing to bet good money that she has some connection to the UE though.

The rest of the episode involves another skirmish between a Gafran and the AGE. AGE, still wielding one of the Genoace's beam guns, proves that the Federations weapons are completly useless against the UE. Even Leo's weapons made the Wing Gundams (that's Gundams in Wing, not a plural for Heero's Gundam) flinch sometimes. These don't even cause it to blink. Fortunately, AGE something that totally screams RPG mechanic!

"[Beam Weapon Crafting]. Ur Mats, my skl!!!"

The AGE can apparently analyze an enemy, develop blueprints for a weapon designed to defeat said enemy, transmit this data back to a machine called the AGE builder on the Diva, and have the weapon crafted in about 10 minutes flat. Aside from being 1) an obvious RPG mechanic (crafting bench anymore) and 2) a ploy to make more toys/models, this is pretty interesting. It's implied the AGE can learn in other ways as well, so we'll see how that plays out.

"Jeeg Parts! SHOOT!"

The first weapon made is called the DOTS Rifle, a beam weapon that spirals the energy to increase penetration. Or, more simply put, a DRILL BEAM RIFLE. Flit, don't believe in yourself. Believe in me who believes in you!

"GIGA....DRILL.....BEAM!"

The DOTS Rifle takes out the Gafran in one shot and the day is saved....except more UE show up, including a black MS (which I believe is called a Zedas) which will probably turn out to be Flit's Char.

Overall though, a much better episode than the last one in my opinion. It's still got a fairly heavy Super Roboty vibe to me (though not to the extent of G Gundam), but I actually like that. Gundam has been around so long I really enjoy when they do a fresh take on things. The intro still hasn't grown on me though.

S.H. Figuarts EX Machine Tornador

2011-10-11T21:35:00.000-07:00

So thanks to a particularly awesome gentleman from Rhode Island, I'm now the proud owner of an S.H. Figuarts Machine Tornador.

I only took a couple of pictures so far, but it is very, very awesome. There's enough die-cast in the body to give it a nice heft. The detail and paint job are gorgeous. And, of course, it transforms! So, the first thing I did was do what any Agito fan would do upon getting their hands on one of these.

And of course I was listening to this the whole time. Though considering the name of the song is MACHINE TORNADER and the box of this toy calls it MACHINE TORNADOR, I wonder if they just changed their mind on the English spelling in the decade since Agito aired, or if it's the right hand (Bandai) not talking to the left (Toei's music department). I suppose it doesn't much matter.

Anyway, the bike came with a stand for Agito (not to mention some much needed grippy hands so he can actually ride it). I'll nab some pictures with that at a later time. Until next time, internet.

The New AGE of Gundam

2011-10-10T23:14:00.000-07:00

Haw, I made a painfully obvious pun that I'm sure dozens of other people have made before me. But seriously, this is my thoughts on the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.

I'm going to preface this by saying that Gundam and I go back a ways. My first exposure was in 1999 or so when I got ahold of some Gunpla at a local import shop. Specifically the 1/144 "Low Grade" Airmaster and Leopard Destroy from Gundam X. From there I looked into it and picked up VHS copies of the original movie trilogy, 0080, and 0083. Finally, like a large chunk of America, I saw Gundam Wing when it aired on Toonami in early 2000, and my Gundamitis infection progressed from there.

The reason I mention this past is because it colors how I view this episode. Not necessarily the series as a whole, but definately the first episode. And my feelings on said episode can be summarized as....meh.

Yes, meh. Not good. Not awful. Just meh.

(It is at this point I warn you that there will be spoilers ahead. Ye who fear such things turn back or be forever damned.)

I'm not opposed to the idea of aiming for a younger demographic. I like SD Gundam Force which is about one step above Pokemon on the Kid-O-Meter. And AGE isn't even going for that kiddy. The series opens with Frit (that's the main character, or at least the first one), watching his mother horribly die before his eyes, causing him to become obsessed with the Unknown Enemy (that's the name of the bad guys), and proceed to build a Gundam. Sure it's a step down from what happened in the Tomino created series of yesteryear, but it's still some heavy stuff.

No, my problem with AGE episode 1 is that it's a rehash of Mobile Suit Gundam episode 1. The main kid is obsessed with something mechanical. His would be girlfriend talks to him about stuff. His home colony is plunged into a terrible battle, and he hops into the Gundam to fight off his enemy. Some of the specifics are changed, sure. But at its essence it's still the same episode.

Denim, Gene? Is that you guys?

At this juncture you're probably saying to yourself that "Sure, but Gundam SEED did the same thing!" And you'd be right. In fact, I thought SEED's first episode was fairly meh too. Moreso, actually, since it took Kira the whole episode to actually get in the Strike, where here, we get to see the AGE-1 in action, at least a little.

Well...we get to see it Beam Shank a bitch.

The opening didn't impress me much either. It seemed...uninspired, I suppose. I almost feel bored listening to it. I think it would work better as an ending. Inversely, I like the ending theme, and think it would work better as the opening. Make it happen YouTube!

The series does have some interesting potential. I wonder if the painting of the Gundam that is vaguely the RX-78 is supposed to setup the twist that this is the Universal Century's far future or even a prelude to Turn-A. I don't see the latter as being that likely due to the lack of Tomino involvement, and the fact the intended demographic isn't an audience that would be watching Turn-A, but hey, nothing is impossible.

This method of developing Mobile Suits has been passed down the Asuno line for generations!

I find the Mobile Suit designs are overall positive. I love the Gafran and I dig the Genoace's design, though its performance in the series so far has me judging it as "worst Gundam grunt ever". Seriously, I think I'd rather pilot a Leo. The biggest downer for me is AGE-1 itself, at least in its normal form. Mostly because, like the first episode, it's a rehash of the RX-78. I am looking forward to seeing what Titus and Sparrow (I refuse to call it Spallow until I see some in-series reason for the engrish) forms are like though.

Anyway I am still looking forward to the series. I ultimately ended up enjoying SEED, and it too was (intentionally) a spiritual remake of the original series up to the halfway point. And I know that it will eventually step away from the mold of First Gundam. The "gimmick" of being a generational saga tells me that much. I just hope it happens sooner than later.

The New Fifty-Two: Wrap Up

2011-10-01T21:46:00.000-07:00

So at the end of the day, (or beginning of the month, in this case), everyone is going to be asking themselves if the relaunch is worth it. Obviously it's too early to say if this will get DC a boost in sales in the long run. They may have gained a bunch of new readers with this stunt, but that doesn't mean much if they don't keep them.

Similarly the overall story quality has no real comparison. Fifty-two new #1 issues against years of stories (whether you count the entirety of DC History, or just a piece of time since any one of the three major Crisis events). And, of course, the answer from each person will be different.

So, from where I'm sitting I can only look at it this way. How many ongoings did I want follow before the relaunch vs. how many do I want to follow after the relaunch (which is, of course, different from how many I am financially able to follow). Before the relaunch I basically was interested in about 9 or 10 books. Post relaunch that's gone up a little bit maybe to a dozen or so.

So in a pure "how many of their comics do I want" sense, DC went up a bit. Of course that's basically a rigged game because I actually took a look at all 52 of the new #1s while before, just as an example, I fell out of interest with the Teen Titans sometime after Final Crisis. And I never got interested again. The #1s, as they are so deviously designed to do, provided a clear point shouting "Hey, take a look at me again". Which isn't to say I need a #1 to take a second look at a book. Using the above Teen Titans example I came into that book around the fourth or fifth trade. But a #1 does draw a lot more attention, and it is more likely someone would look at it rather than issue #23.

I am going to try to pick up an average of one comic a week. Animal Man, JLI, Blue Beetle, and Aquaman for the time being. Others will come and go as finances allow, and still more will be looked at in trades as they show up at my local library. I'd like to think this wouldn't just happen again in a few years time but well....it's happened before. Such is the way of a comic fan.

Next time: Back to my irregularly scheduled ranting about giant robots or something. Though I do like that this little exploration into comics gave me a reason to consistently update.

The New Fifty-Two: Miscellaneous

2011-09-30T20:38:00.000-07:00

And back with my last post about the DC Universe relaunch.

The stuff that surprised me, in a good way:

Green Arrow: I expected this to be crap, mostly because it looked like they were Smallville-ing him. They did to an extent I suppose, but he comes off more like Tony Stark, at least a little bit. It's not an amazing book, but it is a solid one, and the fact the villains were basically committing crimes for YouTube hits speaks to the times we live in.

Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.: This was one I ended up liking a lot more than expected. I havn't read Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers which apparently had this character being all badass, so honestly I was kind of expecting this book to be average at best. Like the above, it isn't amazing, but the concept is basically the classic Universal Monsters (or legally acceptable expies of them, go go Public Domain), fighting monsters. It needed to pick up the pace a bit more in the beginning, but it was still good stuff.

Mister Terrific: I expected this to suuuuuck. I don't recall ever going "Hey, Mister Terrific! That's who I want to read an ongoing about!", but it turned out to be well written, and did a damn good job of introducing the character to people who either didn't know about him before, or simply knew him as "That smart guy from the JSA".

Captain Atom: Like the above I expected it to suck, though mostly because my previous perception of Captain Atom was that of a hard-ass military officer who is basically the opposite of fun. This works great compared to, say, the rest of the JLI but not for headlining his own book. Admittedly he's still the hard-ass military officer (though I'm not sure if he has a commission), but they play up his predisposition toward doing his duty a lot more. So props to the writing team.

Supergirl: I chalk up my low expectations about this book to DC's solicitations. They made it sound like (to me) she would be holier than thou bitch out to oppress humanity. The book itself paints her as a girl who finds herself suddenly out of her element on an alien world, under attack by hostile forces, and with abilities she hadn't known before. And it paints her well. The only complaint I can levy against it is aside from her inner monologue, the entire book is basically an extended action sequence. Still it does a good job of establishing her character.

I, Vampire: My bias against this comes from the simple fact that it's a piece of vampire fiction coming out in a post-Twilight world. Probably unfair of me, but I like my vampire fiction a certain way. Buffy, Angel, and Hellsing: Yes! Twilight, Vampire the Masqurade, Anne Rice novels: No! This was...a bit of a mix between the two, to tell the truth, but I still liked it. I feel for the relationship between the protagonist and the woman he loves turned villain, and the action was pretty good too. I just hope it doesn't shift into full on Twilight mode later on.

I don't know how to feel. Really, there's a bunch of books that just leave me uncertain about them. Either they're good enough to be average or just...confusing:

Batgirl: So okay it's average. I wasn't immediately down on this book because Barbara Gordon is back in the costume, though I am sad because I loved the dynamic between Stephanie Batgirl and Barbara Oracle in the previous Batgirl book. In the end I liked the book fairly well, it just didn't blow me away.

Batwing: I love the concept and the writing is good. I want to see more and had I done this week by week rather than in one lump sum this would definitely be in the good category. At the end of the month though other stuff had slipped ahead in my mind, which could just be a matter of timing. Still, I can't say there's anything bad about it.

Resurrection Man: Another book with an interesting concept, but for some reason just falls into the back of my mind when thinking about all of the new releases. It might be the setup of a mystery though. I think it's the kind of book I would like better reading in a trade, seeing large chunks at a time rather than tiny bits.

The Fury of Firestorm: The Nuclear Men: Ok, first off: long ass title. I've always liked the character of Firestorm, ever since I was introduced to him in the Super Powers Team: Galactic Guardians (aka what the Superfriends became in the 80s, when they were allowed to show actual violence). He's got a very interesting power set, and I liked the two mind idea. So I was looking forward to this book and while it's not bad, I guess it didn't meet my expectations. The villains are really villainous, so you want to see them get their comeuppance. The contrast between the two main characters is set up quite well, it's just the ending has the merged form of Firestorm speaking more like the Black Lantern version. The second issue might change my opinion to be more positive, I suppose.

Justice League Dark: I have no idea what the hell is going on beyond Enchantress going crazy, and a bunch of magic heroes being....shown doing stuff? They're not even really assembled as a team yet, and save for two of them, they haven't even met each other. This is another one that I'll probably wait for the trade for.

"Forgettable in some way" Which isn't to say these are bad. They're either "meh" or I just didn't feel they belonged in any other category:

Action Comics: Meh. It's not bad and I get Grant Morrison trying to do a Superman coming into his own story. It's just for the last decade there's been this little show called Smallville that's been doing the same thing. I do like Lex Luthor in this though.

Detective Comics: Needs less violence. Seriously. Otherwise it's firmly average. Still above Batman: The Dark Knight though.

Deathstroke: Another "meh" one. It's similar to O.M.A.C. in that it's like a dumb action movie as a comic, but it had some character interaction bits that push it above for me. Still, it's...not that great.

Red Lanterns: Grr, angry. Really I like the whole Green Lantern mythos, but I just didn't find this book very interesting. At all. And I have no idea how the premise can be sustained without just becoming a bunch of random violence.

Suicide Squad: Torture porn. Yay. Also Harley Quinn's outfit makes her not look like Harley Quinn. And Amanda Waller isn't morbidly obese anymore.

Birds of Prey: Why is Black Canary on the run from the law? Who are these other women with her. Why isn't it Huntress and Batgirl? It's not bad, but I just don't have much to say about it.

DC Universe Presents: I liked this when I read it, but like Batwing it just sort of fell into the back of my mind. Still, showcasing some lesser known characters isn't a bad idea (granted Deadman has been in two other books already).

Nightwing: Another one I found average, though I like the bits where he visits his old circus. (If you haven't noticed I don't have much to say about stuff in this category.)

Batman: The Dark Knight: The fact both this and (adjectiveless) Batman pulled the "break out at Arkham" card shows that Batman doesn't need that many starring books. Overall this is probably the most forgettable book of the whole relaunch, and that's a bad thing.

Blackhawks: Another average one. It's like Men of War but with less realism. This at the same time makes it stand out to less to me, but appeal to me more.

The Savage Hawkman: Oh hi Venom. This wasn't too bad, and I dig new "armor coming from under his skin like he's out of Tokusatsu" gimmick. Still the book needs to...explain more, I guess. Also I'm eagerly awaiting to find out if Hawkman has yet another new origin story now.

And I think that covers all the individual issues. If I forgot one, assume it went under "Forgettable". Because I forgot it. I'll be back with some final thoughts later.

The New Fifty-Two: The Bad and the Ugly

2011-09-30T01:22:00.000-07:00

And moving right into the rest of the DC relaunch, it's time for the less positive, glass half empty side of things.

The Bad:

O.M.A.C.: This is the dumb 80's action movie of comics. I'll admit I'm pretty biased against Dan DiDio, but I just felt it was mindless action with a dumb nonreveal and a bunch of characters I don't care about. Maybe it gets better, but it didn't do anything for me.

Legion Lost: Who are these people? What are they doing? Why do I care about them? They give names sure. I get some vague idea that they came back in time to stop some guy from the future, but...meh? They apparently kill two of them off at the end and I don't find myself caring because...I don't find myself caring about any of them in the first place.

Legion of Superheroes: Everything I said above applies. It's slightly better, but not by enough.

Red Hood and the Outlaws: Three things. #1 If I want Starfire porn, I can go on the internet. I don't need it in this book. #2 No one likes Jason Todd. You should have realized this 20 years ago when people paid 99 cents a minute to kill the little bastard off. #3 Props on giving Roy Harper back his arm but it doesn't fix #1 or #2. I'll admit this has potential to be good though, if they shape up the characters.

Voodoo: If I want to see porn I can go on the internet. I feel more sympathy for the character than I do Starfire (keeping in mind I feel nothing for this version of Starfire), but still the book is...dumb.

"It's not you, it's me." Which is to say, stuff that I'm not interested in, but have nothing against the book for it.

Men of War: I'm not into war movies or Call of Duty or anything like that, but I do like the concept of a comic about special ops military unit in a world of Super heroes. I like that they did a backup about (what I presume to be) modern day soldiers as well.

Stormwatch: I know who none of these people are, save Martian Manhunter. Still it introduced them well enough (better than either of the Legion books at least), and the concept is an interesting one. Unlike the above I might check this out more in a trade paperback at the library on a lark, a year from now.

Swamp Thing: I've never been able to get in to Swamp Thing. Even the Alan Moore run which is considered to be the highlight of the character is just something I couldn't find myself caring about. The only time I really said "Oh hey awesome, it's Swamp Thing" is at the end of Brightest Day when he was a fifty foot tall undead. So...yeah it was kind of doomed to this from me from the start, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Batwoman: First off, this book has gorgeous art. The problems I have come from referencing stuff that I have no concept of. My only other exposure to Batwoman comes from her part in 52, and when she was a brainwashed minion of Darkseid in Final Crisis (and...whichever one of the billion FC tie-ins it was that focused on Renee Montoya). So I imagine I'm having a similar reaction to this that someone who didn't read Green Lantern would have reading the new Green Lantern #1.

Grifter: Like Stormwatch, I wasn't into Grifter before this. This book didn't make me want to read more. That's all I can say about it really.

"You'd be good except for...." Which is to say stuff that has one aspect holding it back.

Justice League: Hurry the fuck up. You've got 7 characters on the team. We see four of them at all. We see two of them for more than a couple pages. The art is great. Geoff Johns is a good writer. It's setting up Darkseid which has the potential to be epic (if not done before). Just...come on, JLI and Justice League Dark both introduced all their characters in fewer pages.

Hawk and Dove: Rob Liefeld should be left in the 90s. Other than that, I dig it. I liked the Dove/Deadman pairing from Brightest Day and I'm glad they kept it here (even though him being able to speak without possessing anyone is something he hasn't done elsewhere, even post relaunch.)

Superboy: This needs to not directly tie into the Teen Titans. Honestly with how both this and Teen Titans end I'm not sure how the two books won't be intertwined. I'd say the "genetic clone trying to discover his identity" idea is a good one, except Young Justice (the TV series) exists and is doing a much better job than this has so far.

Catwoman: This was a good book until she and Batman boinked with their costumes on in the last 3-4 pages. ...yeah that's just weird and I really didn't need to know that they did that. Maybe next issue will reveal it was her jilling fantasy.

Teen Titans: Basically the same problem as Justice League, though I like the concept more. Also what I said about Superboy applies, though less so in this one issue. I'll see how things progress though.

"It's not that good but I'm buying it anyway."

Blue Beetle: I want this book to succeed and I want it to get as good as the original book was. The first issue wasn't great, but thinking back on it the original book's start wasn't that great. My biggest issue so far is covering the same ground the original series did. This isn't bad for new readers, but it'll drive away non-obsessive veteran readers. I hope they throw a few twists in, and most importantly, they keep that interesting dynamic that Jaime had with his friends and family.

There's still a few more loose ends to cover, but it is again late, so I will be finishing up tomorrow.

The New Fifty-Two: The Good

2011-09-29T20:40:00.000-07:00

Hey for once I didn't procrastinate for a week before following up on something! Good for me. Anyhow, this is a run down of my opinions on DC's comic relaunch, book by book, based on their first issues. Obviously some books will get better or worse as time goes on. This list is in order by the week they came out, because I'm basically looking at DC's site to remind myself of all the books.

Starting off I'll be doing...The Good:

Animal Man: A family man superhero is a great idea for a book. It handles the characters in a realistic fashion and makes all the characters likeable. The story seems to be going into a neat, if not gruesome direction with his daughter apparently getting the powers of B'wanna Beast, a character I started to dig because of Batman: The Brave and the Bold. Of course this version of the animal fusing powers is less TV-Y7 rated. Either way I'm excited to see where it goes. This is one of my three favorite books they're doing.

Justice League International: I recall feeling... Relieved? Excited? Some positive emotion when Grant Morrison relaunched the core JLA in 1997. For years the Justice League had seemed like a bunch of goofy second stringers, and my biggest recollection of them was in the leadup to the Death of Superman. But after Infinite Crisis and Fifty-Two, when the new Blue Beetle and Booster Gold books started picking up, I started to look back on them and really kind of dig the old JLI in a nostalgic kind of way. And I loved Generation Lost from last year because it really played up the idea that these guys were true heroes, despite being seen as a shadow of the Justice League, or just a flat out joke. This new book seems to carry on that idea, with them basically being seen as a giant PR stunt by the public. I also love the idea of Booster Gold being the leader, and the variety of the team is great, both ethnically and aesthetically. Needs more Skeets though. And more Blue Beetle, but he has his own book. Either way this is another of my three favorites, though objectively speaking Animal Man is probably a better written comic.

Static Shock: I never really got into the cartoon, nor into any of his previous comics so my exposure to the character is minimal to be sure, but he's got an interesting power set, and the character is pretty sympathetic. He's a teenage kid as a hero, but they don't make him annoying or too angst-filled. Or hormonal, but he might fight a villain named Bikini Bitch down the road which makes for stiff competition. Please let me be making a bad joke about that rather than a premonition of the future.

Batman and Robin: This is my second favorite of the billion Batman books they did. I admit I'm not too sold on this Dynamic Duo's...*puts on sunglasses*...dynamic yet. Bruce "I Smile Twice a Year" Wayne and Damien "I'm a recovering sociopath" Wayne both lack the....jovial fun that both Dick as Batman/Damien as Robin or Bruce as Batman/Dick or Tim as Robin had. Still, the father/son dynamic is a good angle to go with, and it does provide something new, and starting the book out by taking Damien to visit the place Batman was born was a nice touch. I'm looking forward to seeing where this goes.

Demon Knights: I admittedly didn't really get into this until giving it a second or third read-through, but I think the concept of this one sells me more than anything. D&D Justice League is fun, and Vandal Savage being the party Barbarian is a nice touch. It needs to introduce more of it's characters though. I know Etrigan, the aforementioned Vandal Savage, Shining Knight, and vaguely Madam Xanadu, but the other characters make me go "Who are you and why do I care about you?" That said, any book that ends with dragons attacking an inn is worth reading.

Green Lantern: This doesn't count as a relaunch since it basically continues on from the old book, dealing with the fallout from War of the Green Lanterns. Seeing Sinestro star in a book is pretty fun, and honestly it makes me wish there was an ongoing Sinestro Corps book more than a Red Lantern one. They kind of dropped the ball on it being a starting point for new readers, and the Guardians of the Universe need to die. Maybe that'll happen when Hal gets the ring back!

Batman: My favorite of the billion Batman books they did. It shows off the Bat family pretty well, and I love the touch of showing that Alfred has the highest access to the Bat-computer. Higher than Batman himself. Overall I think I prefer this one because it showed character interaction between the Bat-characters more successfully than any of the other Batbooks. Damien was a little prick to Tim. Dick was the trusted older brother. Harvey Bullock, unlike earlier incarnations he seems to appreciate Batman's help a bit more, while still having that same balance between surly fatass and damn good cop.

Green Lantern Corps: Like Green Lantern, this follows from the old DC Universe, though less directly. It mostly focuses on introducing (or reintroducing in my case) Guy and John, and I think it nails each of their characters pretty well.It slightly suffers from DC's tendency to build up multi-part stories, which is to say not much happens in this issue, but honestly that's a criticism I could make about 90% of the relaunch books. Honestly though, I love the Green Lantern mythos enough that it would have to be really bad for me to not like it.

Wonder Woman: They're going with the Greek Mythology angle which is pretty much what all of the good Wonder Woman stories I've read have done (the bit where she travels to the underworld in Greg Rucka's run before Infinite Crisis stands out to me, in that aspect). I kind of wish she'd kept the pants that early art from the costume had. The Star Spangled Panties look was never something I was really into. Oh and Wonder Woman suplexes a centaur. I think that speaks for itself.

All-Star Western: As someone who doesn't like westerns which don't feature Gene Hackman killing Leonardo DiCaprio, I like this book. It's less a western and more a murder mystery story set in late 19th Century Gotham starring Jonah Hex and Amadeus Arkham (yes, the guy the asylum is named after). It's got some good action, and an intriguing story. Hex is setup as a suitable badass, with Arkham trying to psycho-analyze him through most of the book. I'm wondering if it'll keep this formula, or become an anthology-type book to focus on other DC Western characters.

Aquaman: This is the third of my three favorite books. Yes, Aquaman. This book is awesome with a capital A. It sets up a creepy ongoing plot and basically tosses all those myths about Aqaman being useless in the garbage. He telepathically commands fish. Oh and he's bulletproof and can flip a tanker truck with his trident. And then he goes home to his lighthouse to sleep with his equally badass red-head wife. Seriously, this book is great.

The Flash: I miss Wally's humor (and given that Barry and Iris aren't even dating let along married, I'm not exactly sure what Wally's status in this is now), but this was also really enjoyable. It sets up a nice story arc with Barry believing a friend from his past to be dead, only for him to be....not dead, and in fact be Jamie Madrox. Though I hope we get to see the Rogues back soon. They're one of the few villain groups I find enjoyable enough that I'd actually read a full book about them (along with the aforementioned Sinestro).

Green Lantern New Guardians: Emotional Spectrum Sentai! Lanternger! I've always been a fan of Kyle Rayner (I was one of those new readers that DC wanted to sucker in when they made Hal go crazy, so uhh...it actually worked in one case), and the multi-Lantern concept is something I've always really dug. So this book is something I'm really interested in. The recap of Kyle's origin is helpful for new readers and has ANIME GANTHET, which is worth it to me. Still a lot of the book is setup of a mystery with no real hints to what's actually happening, so I hope we get some payoff.

Superman: I liked this book, a lot. I was wondering why at first, but it eventually came to me. It reminds me of Superman The Animated Series, with a light mix of that silver age narration as Superman performed his incredible feats. It showed off both Superman and Lois pretty well, not to mention a bit from Jimmy Olsen and obvious villain Morgan Edge. Also, unlike most (or all) the rest of DC's relaunch books, it actually manages to tell a complete story in one issue. Sure, there's a bit of lingering mystery and lots of character threads to build on, but the issue presents both a physical threat, and a character conflict between Clark and Lois over the direction the Daily Planet is taking. And both are addressed in the issue. No cliffhanger showing a horde of fire monsters, or some shocking twist ending. Just the promise of more characterization. This may not be the best book of the relaunch, but it is most certainly the best #1 issue of the relaunch.

And that's it with what I found to be good. I'll be back later or tomorrow with The Bad. And possibly the stuff that fits into other wacky categories, because there aren't many that I found to be just flat out bad.

The New Fifty-Two: Foreward

2011-09-29T00:30:00.000-07:00

Wherein I rant about the DC Comics relaunch, because that's what all the cool kids are doing these days. And as an aside, I think the old Fifty-Two is one of the best comics of all time.

So over the last month, DC has been relaunching their entire comic line because apparently their sales figures sucked eggs and they figured resetting everything (thus pissing off a large quantity of the readers they had) would fix everything. Maybe making sure I could buy their comics somewhere other than a specialized comic store would help more.

Well okay, they actually did that with this too. I dig their digital distribution thing, because back when DC restarted their Batman Beyond ongoing, I really wanted to buy it. I just couldn't find a place to do so. Borders was the only place around here that sold individual comic issues and they weren't anywhere near up to date with them. Sure, Amazon was an option, but ordering a single issue of a comic book over the internet is a waste to me. So guess what? I didn't buy Batman Beyond. Though I'll probably get the trade now.

But I remember when I was but a youngin', in the dark days of Liefeld and Hal Jordan murdering the Green Lantern Corps, and Cap-Wolf, I could walk into the Albertson's of Rosamond, California and pick up any number of X-Titles, any of Spider-man, Superman, or Batman's 4 books a month, and even some more obscure stuff like Dark Horse's Ultraman comic based on Ultraman: Toward the Future. Rosamond was a small place that basically only existed because of Edward's Air Force Base. The Albertsons was the only thing resembling a grocery store in town. There were a handful of fast food joints, and a whole bunch of desert. In that small place not even considered a town, there were two or three places I could buy comic books.

Fast forward to 2011 and I live in the much larger Puyallup, Washington which has about a dozen grocery stores, two Walmarts, two Targets, and a not too tiny Mall. The only places that sold comics at all were the Waldenbooks in the mall (which went out of business about 3 or 4 years ago), and the Borders (which went out of business about 3 or 4 weeks ago). Oh, and the comic book store which is off a small street about a block away from the Sonic. I found out this latter fact about a week ago.

Which is my point. If DC wants comics to be more accessible, they need to make buying them easier, not reading them easier. Get them into grocery stores again, into Walmart, into some kind of store in the mall. Hell, try to get them into Gamestop. The crowd that likes to waste money on video games and the crowd that likes comic books fit together like PB&J. Of course Gamestop would probably just start buying them back and reselling them for 50 cents off. Ok that might not be the best idea.

The digital distribution does help that greatly though. It also solves another problem that I at least have of not wanting to hang onto a bazillion single issues of comics. That might be some people's bag, but I view most of my old comics as just taking up space in a box, waiting to be either given away or sold so I can buy other stupid junk that will end up taking up space in 15 years. So yeah I see this as a plus. I buy the comics digitally now and the really good stuff can get bought in a trade down the road. When it's 10 bucks on Amazon.

Anyway with the ranting done I'll be getting into the actual comics of the "New 52" as they're calling it. Tomorrow, because it's late and my ranting went on for faaaar longer than I expected.

The Eight Riders

2011-06-04T00:49:00.000-07:00

Today I got one of two boxes from HLJ of stuff I ordered in May. It contained three of the last four S.H. Figuarts “main” Riders that I was lacking, alternate forms and New Den-O not withstanding. At least until July and August when Ichigo and Ryuki come out. It makes a pretty nice lineup I think.

Eight servings of justice, coming right up.

Most are in some kind of signature pose, or at least as best an approximation I could do. Agito is enraged by his lack of hands which prevent him from being calm, and Faiz I just couldn’t think up a good one for. The wrist shake doesn’t work in a still picture. Ah well, they can’t all be as memorable as walking the path of heaven while counting up your sins and being a cool guy.
Sadly KickHopper was shipped separate of the other three (Kuuga, Agito, and Kabuto specifically). Aniki is just a loner like that I guess.

Anyway this puts me up to 21 Figuarts. 24 if you count Ankh and the two Kurokos. That’s a lot in a year and I kind of get depressed sometimes when I think about how much I spent on them all. But they’re awesome looking so that makes it all better.

This has been a crappy month...

2011-05-15T11:39:00.000-07:00

So far in May I have:

1) Failed to find employment.
2) Required surgery to remove a pesky little gallbladder that was causing me the worst pain I'd ever felt.
3) Caught a cold.

Unfortunately 2 and 3 are making 1 continue on longer than I'd have liked.

It's not all bad though, I guess. I managed to scrounge up enough money to preorder the remaining two S.H. Figuarts Shinkengers, so come September I'll have the whole team (Kaoru not withstanding). Just in time for Bandai to drop GOOOOOOOOOOKAIGERRRRRRRRR on me. Really, there's all of five sentai teams I feel obligated to collect and Bandai has to open up with two of them. Though the odds of them doing Dekaranger, Jetman, or Zyuranger in the immediate future are fairly small.

Ah well. Hopefully I'll be able to get a job soon enough to not have to worry about scrambling for funds for the inevitable web exclusive Gokai Blue/Green/Yellow/Pink, and work on picking up some older exclusives that I want. I'm looking at you Agito Trinity Form.

Gushing over Super Robot Wars Z2 Part 1 (Continued)

2011-04-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Last time I talked about the series returning from other SRW games, both from Z1 and from previous installments. As the title of this suggests, I'm going to keep on with that.

The new arrivals to the franchise are a mix of inevitability and "about damn time". Shin Mazinger, Gundam 00, and Code Geass getting into the franchise was a given. Animated Gundam series, SD Gundam notwithstanding (ironically) will always show up eventually, and usually sooner rather than later. The longest stretch was probably Gundam X (ended 1997, first appeared in Alpha Gaiden in 2000). Aside from that, everything seems to get in around two years of completing their airing (which seems to be some kind of magic minimum time period, though exceptions exist). Which means we can expect Unicorn to be showing up around 2014.

Geass was wildly popular, has robots, and was by Sunrise. Since it's not a Brave show, that makes it a sure inclusion. And Shin Mazinger is a Mazinger. They can't use the old OVA and TV show timelines forever. Now we start waiting for SKL. Eureka Seven: Pocketful of Rainbows/Good Night, Sleep Tight, Young Lovers/The Movie follows the logic of "If a TV series gets in, the movie version gets in". It happened to Macross, Gundam, Zeta Gundam, and well...Macross Frontier and Gurren Lagann as of this game.

Gurren Lagann would only have been held back by legal red tape, since it's basically the reverse Evangelion, being a wildly, well animated Gainax anime that makes you think but has an ending that mostly makes sense and a main character who's confident and has few problems getting others to support him by the end. On a sidetrack, I would love it if Rebuild of Evangelion ends with the reveal that the Angels are working for the Anti-Spirals and Simon shows up to show Shinji how to yell and form an AT Field Drill that pierces the heavens. Or I guess god in this case. ...there's a reason I don't write anime.

The remaining two series; Armored Trooper Votoms and Daiguard suffer from the same setback. Their robots suuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Daiguard is basically Boss Borot as the hero robot. And the mecha from Votoms make a Zaku II look like Shin Getter Robo by comparison. Then again SRW is no stranger to making something that should be utterly terrible and making it good. The Garland from SRWD was, in a word, untouchable. When it's a motorcycle that turns into powered armor. They still made Daiguard a resupply robot though. And they made up for the Scopedog lacking by making its pilot, Chirico, an utter badass. This is 100% accurate to the anime. As an aside I feel bad for making fun of Votoms in my younger years. It really is an awesome show.

Anyway the one "new" entry, and really only series in the game, I'm not fond of is the Eureka Seven movie. I'm one of a small handful of people I know who liked the TV series. The whole "sky surfing robot counterculture" thing seemed interesting to me. It had its problems of course (such as putting all character development into the first half of the show and all plot into the second half, as opposed to pacing it out). Still, I came away with a positive opinion of it. That all said I havn't seen the movie and honestly, seeing it in this game doesn't make me want to go watch it (as opposed to, say, Daiguard or Trider). The worst part is the Nirvash upgrade is just......dumb looking. It's like someone replaced the Nirvash's neck with a large flying saucer. It does not enthuse. It also doesn't seem to mesh with any of the other series, and the only link I can really find is with the original enemies.

The rest of the cast fits together beautifully though. Votoms, Code Geass, and Gundam Wing's casts play terrorist/freedom fighter through most of their routes. Celestial Being and Dancouga Nova team up to stop war, with the original Dancouga team showing up to coach the Nova guys on how to be awesome. All of the super robots hang out together (naturally), with Kamina and Ryouma becoming hot blooded bros. You know...until Kamina....leaves. As I mentioned last time the Z1 cast seem to mostly be supporting here, but that's enough. Trying to make up post series plot for all of them would be overbearing.

The Banpresto Originals are all fairly nice. Brasta (or whatever the proper name ends up being) isn't bad. It plays with the idea of a multifire gun a bit and makes it seem less boring to me than Virgora Glory (which I like to call Sad Virgin Weissritter). My biggest gripe is a lack of a proper upgrade, but that might be coming next game. The melee/range focus was nice though.

Where the original designs shine though, are the enemies. Particularly a group of dimensional monsters called DAMON who range from cool looking to pure nightmare fuel, far more so (to me at least) than the Einst ever were. They back up the freakishness by making them downright deadly to fight too. I really hope we see more of them in a future game (either in Z2 Part 2 or in a future Original Generation game).

The BGM selection is a bit more limited than I'd have liked. Each Z1 series only gets a single theme, which is probably the biggest downside. Particularly missed for me are Gasshin! God Gravion and Invoke. Still the ones they did keep were okay, and as said above I can always change everything to Heats. New series get two themes for the most part. Generally the opening to the series and some piece of BGM. Macross F gets five songs, but that's acceptable considering the franchise's focus on music.

The only other complaint I can really raise against the game is the lack of a squad system. When you've got something like 60 units available, being limited to 15-20 is disappointing. I think it was done to encourage multiple playthroughs of the game, but I would like to see the Tri Battle System from Z1 to return in the next game.

Overall though, SRWZ2 Hakai-hen is one of the best SRWs I've had the pleasure of playing, and I'm eagerly waiting for the next game, which I think is called Saisei Hen, given the trailer at the end of the game. I'm just hoping it comes out sooner rather than later.

Funny thing about later... (Also hear me gush about SRWZ2)

2011-04-27T00:42:00.000-07:00

So yeah it's been....three and a half months now since my last post. The wonderful thing about the concept of later is that there's not a specific time limit, so as long as I do make another post (which I'm doing), it is, in fact, true!

Anyway I said I would gush about SRWZ2 later, and having played the game and beaten it twice already (with the third run nearing its end), this is a good time!

For starters I'm going to talk about the series list, covering the returning SRW veterans this time. The entire returning cast from Z1 (save the 70's Mazingers, Grendizer, and Getters) are essentially guest starts, but they're still welcome. This is a great improvement over the Alpha series, which lost a few series with each new installment, and it's something I hope to seem the continue should there be a Z3. Plus, save Daitarn 3, the stories of the Z1 cast were finished either in the game itself, or beforehand, so adding some fun character bits with the new cast (such as Kei from Orguss hitting on every woman there), works out quite well.

None of the SRW veteran series that were added to Z2 are all nice to see again. Nothing here feels overused compared to, say Combattler V or Nadesico, or Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. I like Katoki's redesigns better than the TV series versions too but it just gets oooooold. I digress though. Godmars hasn't been seen since SRWD and the series has come quite a ways since then. Plus SRWD had this problem where armor calculations were terrible and when you've got a non-dodging super robot with a bomb inside of it, the last thing you want on it is paper thin armor.

Also not seen since SRWD is Shin Getter Robo: The Last Day of the World (aka Getter Robo Armageddon), and it is among the series always welcome in SRW for me for one single reason....

Because even if every other BGM in the game is crap, I still have that. Sing on Kageyama. Sing on.

That all said, Armageddon is the first Getter Robo I actually say, as it's one of two available legitimately (Starzingers doesn't count). And the gritty, torn cloak Getter piloted by the Ryouma who looks like a mass murderer is just more fun, gosh darnit. Admittedly Z2 only does the first two and a half episodes or so, and (spoiler) Musashi actually survives the game.

As mentioned above, Endless Waltz in SRW is past stale and into downright moldy for me, but seeing the TV version of Gundam Wing is welcome, particularly considering some of the new additions (which I'll get to in a bit). The units haven't been seen since SRWD (I get this feeling that they like SRWD), and the plot hasn't been done since Alpha, if I'm not mistaken.

Trider G7 is one of those things I have no particular attachment to, but Z2 has made me like it a bit more. I always wrote it off as a Daitarn lookalike piloted by your standard annoying kid pilot from the 80s. Mind you my only other experiences with the series were watching the opening, and playing SRWGC, where it got promptly ignored in favor of RaijinOh. Turns out the annoying kid pilot is the CEO of a Megacorp and he's got a shuttle full of his employees. That made me like it a bit more. What really brought me over was it's combo with Zambot 3 which is in a word, hilarious.

There's one with Daitarn added as well, that serves as this game's Final Dynamic Special.

Of the remaining three returners, two are only on their second outing. Macross F and Dancouga Nova both appeared in SRWL, last November. Still, neither have particularly worn away their welcome yet. The Macross units come off as a bit sub-par, and not too much of the story seemed to happen (says the guy who can't read Japanese well enough to interpret the story). Overall I feel Macross F will have bigger payoff in the next game.

Finally, among the returners, are the two Dancougas. Now, I love the original Dancouga. The show had its dumb moments, some pretty bad animation, and is basically the best objectification of 1980s mecha anime that I can find. So basically, you can't really do wrong by me if you put Dancouga in SRW. Here, it plays a supporting role to Dancouga Nova. More specifically it's like a mentor role, with Shinobu and friends (Alan included) showing up in Final Dancouga every now and then and basically showing the Nova team how to be cooler. And that fits rather well. Plus there's hints, rumors, and theories that Dancouga's plot might be happening in the next game. Or maybe Blazing Epilogue.

Nova is...okay. It's basically Gravion Drei, and Z2 gives it far more connections with the original Dancouga than the show ever did. Most of the show was mindless action with some plot thrown on for seasoning. Within the context of an SRW, it actually gets a bit more by linking its plot to other series (SRWL linked it to Iczer-1/Iczer-3 for example). Plus if nothing else it's another elephant wearing quadruped shoes and a bird hat to blow things up.

Anyway that's all the veterans for now. As this has gone on a while, I'll talk about the brand new series next time. Yes that includes Eureka Seven's movie because...well I'll get to that.

2011 Begins

2011-01-06T03:53:00.000-08:00

So yeah, it's been some time since my last posting here. Because I'm a lazy git. The new computer is still working out great. Knock on wood.

Anyway it's 2011 so it's time to stop being a lazy git. Writing here again is part of that, but I should probably get another job. Money is important to that whole living thing after all. Plus there's stuff I want. >.>

I don't have anything of substance, but as I said when I started this, it is basically for me to write about something. As such, here are some things I'm looking forward to in 2011.

- The Green Latern Film. Because I love the comics and despite thinking Ryan Reynolds is better suited to play The Flash (Wally West, specifically), it still looks good.

- Dragon Age 2. Because Dragon Age is the best RPG I played and I'm a gigantic whore for Bioware.

- The Old Republic. Because I'm a whore for Bioware. And Star Wars.

- The Thor Film. Because the idea of Kenneth Branagh directing a comic book superhero movie is both hilarious and too awesome to pass up.

- The Nintendo 3DS. Because it looks neat.

- Gundam Unicorn Episode 3. Because look at my internet name.

- And, most of all, even though it was only announced yesterday...Super Robot Wars Z2. Because holy shit a sequel to the best SRW in recent years using some awesome series. And Gundam Wing without Endless Waltz. And lots of other stuff. I'll gush to this later.

So yeah, that's my horribly blatant filler post. I'll be back with something more substantial later.

Retiring of an old friend

2010-08-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

I have what one might call an unhealthy attachment to my computer; at times referring to it from anything as a girlfriend to a child to a pet. But in any case I am not afraid to say I love it. As such, I feel just a bit of sadness at the prospect of retiring the old thing.

Yes, I have a new computer, and so far the relationship is going well. But me and the old one have something like eight years of history with each other, and that isn't just something you forget. So I choose to remember the good times with my old PC. The games. The WoW addiction. The forum wars. Countless hours spent watching stuff or listening to music. It was there for me through it all. Will its successor prove as reliable? I hope so, but only time will tell.

As for the old one, I don't think it's seen the last of its days yet. With a bit of sprucing up, I might be able to find something to do with it.

The Workin' Life

2010-07-07T22:59:00.000-07:00

So it's been two weeks since I last posted here. I apparently suck at keeping current. Ah well. Good news! I got a job. I'm sore as hell and it's going to be a lot of long hours and hard work, but I still have a job so I'm not complaining. Mostly because it gets me money. And money gets me stuff. Like feeding my figure addiction.

At any rate first priority will be getting a new PC. This one is ooooold. I'll also fix my camera so I can get pictures of RX. Which I have still failed to do. Anyway, short post for now, but like I said before, this blog is mostly so I can write.

More Toys, No Batteries

2010-06-23T23:06:00.000-07:00

So I caved and got another S.H. Figuarts, as you can see above. This time it's the child of the sun, Kamen Rider! Black! R! X!, also known as Saban's Masked Rider from that ~~piece of steaming human fecal matter~~ failed attempt at bringing Kamen Rider to American shores in the 90s.

Anyway I would love to take more pictures of both RX and the Robot Damashii Devilfish (which you can kinda see behind RX), but my camera has no batteries. Something is up with either my batteries or my battery charger to where seemingly fully charged batteries (or at least, that's what the Wiimote says) will not power the camera.

My theory (because I have a whole 0 years of electronics experience) is that the battery isn't producing enough of a charge for the camera, which wants more voltage than the Wiimote. When I get some spare money (that I don't blow on something frivolous <.<), I'm gonna look into a new battery charger, since the one I have is a cheapo Energizer that so far as I can tell, actually doesn't read anything regarding the charge of the batteries and basically works off a timer.

In lieu of something more in depth on RX for now, I will simply say that I like him a lot and want a Black, Decade, and Diend so I can recreate the most badass scene from Decade on my desk.

Say what you will about Decade (which I might some day, I dunno), but having two Minami Kotaros fight Apollo Geist and an SRW style mash-up of villains is nothing short of pure awesome.

Anyway, since my batteries can at least power my Wiimote, I'm gonna go play more Metroid Prime Trilogy.

S.H.Figuarts Kamen Rider G3-X

2010-06-17T23:35:00.000-07:00

I got a box today, and this is what was inside! Apologies for the crappy lighting on all the pictures, by the way. I used my sad attempt at making a lightbox for taking photos and it turned out kind of dim. Once I work up a better photo technique, I'll reshoot them. Anyway I'm going to spend the next several paragraphs describing this guy. Here's the short version: I like it!

For those wondering, this is a character from Kamen Rider Agito, and is basically a Japanese cop named Makoto Hikawa wearing a badass suit of armor who fights monsters. So yeah, he's pretty cool, and a lot of these poses I have him in try to be reminiscent of the fact he's a cop. Design-wise, I like the character. His armor is this striking blue color highlighted with silver and some black a jumpsuit worn under the armor in the show).

As far as the figure goes, it is wonderfully sculpted, with just about every detail from the suit in the show replicated. The paint is also perfectly done, right down to the battery meter on his belt and the police insignia on his chest. They even got the super tiny bits of silver around his eyes. Everything about him looks great.

Articulation is likewise excellent. Double ball jointed neck and shoulders, double jointed elbows and knees, ball joined ankles, wrists, hips, and waist. Basically, everything short of fingers. There are some limitations due to the design of the armor, however. Specifically the left arm tends to get a bit blocked due to a knife holster. Additionally the hip movement is somewhat hampered by these two little hip plates. These are just minor quibbles though, and are simply due to the design of the actual character rather than a fault of the figure. Oh as an added bonus, the feet are die-cast, so he's weighed down nice and good.

Accessory-wise, G3-X comes with almost everything he used in the show. He's got his pistol, baton, knife, and best of all, RIDER MINIGUN! The minigun can both fold up into its briefcase mode too, and has it's missile attachment. The knife and baton have variants for their closed up modes, which can be attached to holsters on the figure, along with the gun. He also has various hands for holding the weapons, as well as fists and splayed open hands for various poses.

Of course, he's still missing a few weapons from the series. Specifically he had a grenade launcher attachment for the pistol, a grappling hook, and this cool arm-mounted sword thing. All of those are apparently coming with the S.H.F. Kamen Rider G3 (without the X). So yeah, I'm buying that one too. >_>

Anyway, seeing as this is a Kamen Rider figure there's only one true way to end this. Even though he never did it in the show...

RIIIIIDER KIIIICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Prime Nostalgia

2010-06-16T02:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight I'd like to talk about a toy, one that is very important to myself and perhaps even to the greater culture as a whole. That toy, if the picture wasn't a big enough give away, is the SRW Girl Gashapon Series.

Err...I mean Optimus Prime.

Yes, Optimus Prime! The leader of the Autobots from one of the biggest robot franchises of all time. He's more than just a toy. He's a symbol of freedom for all sentient beings and perhaps more interestingly, a symbol of 80s robot toys, at least in America.

Sure, he looks outdated now. More recent Primes have better articulation, better proportions, more paint applications,giant axes, the ability to combine with farting SR-71s...I could go on for a while with this. In any case, yes, this Prime is a product of 25 years ago, a shining memory of the inner child inside all of us.

You see, Optimus represents a simpler time. Where Autobots waged their battle to destroy the evil forces of the Decepticons. Where terrorism meant a nutjob in a blue KKK mask was building a machine to cause all american currency to burst into flame so he could mint his own money. Where a muscular, blonde man stripping down to a loincloth wouldn't get called out by media watchdogs as being indecent.

And when you could still find flat-nosed semi-trucks.

Really though, Optimus, to me, is a piece of both toy and cultural history, and I can't help but remember my childhood when looking at it.

Of course Transformers isn't the same as I remember it. The show, objectively, could be downright silly at times and the animation was terrible. But to hell with objectivity. Transformers is still just as magical as the Disney-est of Disney movies. And if we want pretty effects, we can wait for the third movie coming out next year. Isn't that right Optimus?

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

...Optimus?

Confessions of a Modelomaniac

2010-06-13T01:14:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I've never finished a model.

That is to say I've never gotten a model that I've built to a condition where I feel it is finished. For the most part I've finished construction but I always chicken out when it comes time to paint them. And really, as you can see from the Exia up there (the 1/100 non-graded version, if you're curious), it looks fairly toylike.

Don't get me wrong now, I still like them but I feel like I'm not doing them all the justice they deserve. A lot of them have just been sitting in boxes for the past year. You might notice a bit of dust that's been gathering on the Exia's arm.

More and more as of late I've been leaning toward figures, rather than models. I've been a fan of Revoltechs because they had a pretty diverse lineup and the ones I have weren't too expensive in the grand scheme of things. Figures as a whole make good looking display pieces and are in theory more durable than kits (if not always in practice), but I admit there's something personal about building the kits yourself.

So, to that end I think I'm finally going to build and finish a model, and I know just where to start.

Behold two cheapo kits of Gear Fighter Dendoh and Gear Knight Ogre. They're small and as you can see are molded in about three colors. These things seem to be at about the same quality level as the Gundam Wing and Gundam X non-grade 1/144 kits that began my modeling habit so many years ago.

It'll probably take me a bit to actually get to doing them since I need to actually get some paint first, but by god I'm going to do it.

My 5 Favorite Mecha Anime: Part 2

2010-06-12T00:12:00.000-07:00

And now to finish the list! Because I have nothing better to do except play Metroid Prime Trilogy which I finally managed to get ahold of today.

#3: Aim for the Top! (aka Gunbuster)

This is one of the most incredible stories ever written. It captures the emotions of all it's characters and takes you through every heart wrenching high and low in their lives as they train to become mecha pilots and fight off the space monsters.

This series is also one of the few mecha anime (and honestly probably one of the few sci-fi stories) to make use of the idea of time dilation and the speed of light. While it adds a certain scientific credibility (which is then destroyed by the 200 meter tall super robot, but still), it is also one of the story's greatest strengths. It ensures that these heroines are sacrificing relationships with those left behind as they fight their battles, ensuring that regardless of their victory or defeat, things will not be the same when they return.

And I say, with no amount of shame, that I cried as the credits rolled on the last episode. While this list is basically my personal opinion, I do not feel afraid to say, objectively, that Aim for the Top is one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever put onto a screen.

#2: Voltron: Defender of the Universe

Unlike the previous entry, Voltron is on this list purely for the memories. I have no doubt the nostalgia filter is in full effect here, but this show planted the seeds of the giant robot craze that would grow within me.

Objectively, the show is silly, formulaic, has pretty crappy animation, and uneven voice acting (to put it lightly), but I looooove it. I watched it all the time when it was on TV and rented it out at the video store when it wasn't. Every robot show I watched after that from Transformers to Power Rangers was me channeling that love of Voltron and projecting it onto the other show. When Toonami first started running and had Voltron on it, I squeed like a fangirl at a Cloud Strife cosplay convention. And I'm not even going to mention what happened when I found out Super Robot Wars W had Japanese Voltron (by which I mean Golion) in it.

Sooo yeah, Voltron is #2 because of the five year old child inside me. Also I've been talking about Lion Voltron this whole time. Vehicle Voltron is like that other kid who was an accident from a drunken New Years.

#1 Gear Fighter Dendoh

Look, it's a show most people have never heard of. Gear Fighter Dendoh is a show from around the turn of the millennium that I hear has roots in the abandoned Brave series Baan Gaan, but that's mostly internet rumor. It also has the same director and scriptwriter as Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny, but avoided most of those show's problems, possibly due to sharing writing duties with the writer who would go on the work on Kamen Rider Den-O and Shinkenger. But that's just internet rumor/speculation too.

Point is, Dendoh is a good show. Like Gaiking it takes the stock "aliens invade earth and the heroes have to stop it" plot and executes it very, very well, always remebering to keep just a little self aware of it's super robot origins. The heroes are two young boys who compliment each other very well. One is compassionate and intelligent. The other is a skilled martial artist and courageous.

The supporting cast is also well developed, taking the classic Gundam idea of masked characters and playing with it a bit. The importance of family is played up in the series, and though the characters face hardships in their battles, it never devolves into annoying, senseless angst, always retaining the heart and soul of it's super robot-ness.

The robot design itself is also really cool. Dendoh follows in the vein of Daimos and G Gundam in that it has a "pilot moves = robot moves" scheme. It also took the then popular idea of Tomagachi/Digital Pets to a different level and had the characters encounter these digital/robotic animals which were then stored into these devices they had. They could then be equipped onto Dendoh as new weapons. It was an interesting idea (until Gaoranger took it to ludicrous extremes and ruined the idea forever, for me).

All in all though, Dendoh is just a good show. It's simple in story, though it has a few interesting turns along the way, but it takes its simplicity and executes it very, very well.

Anyway, that's my top 5 favorite mecha anime, at least for now. Five years ago this list would have been different (and not just because two of the entries didn't exist five years ago), and I'm sure five years from now it will be different from this. It'll be fun to look back and see how I've changed from now, though.

My 5 Favorite Mecha Anime: Part 1

2010-06-10T23:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, this is an internet countdown list. It's also my blog so nyeh! Or is it nyah? Either way.

You see, a couple of months ago, my friend Kaiterra started doing these top 5 lists on a forum game I frequent/administrate (something I'll get into at a later time, most likely), and one of the first was to rank our top 5 favorite robot anime of all time. It was just a list though, and I didn't exactly go into detail as to why, so I thought I'd do that here.

I'll note that this is my personal favorites and not a list of the best. I am not trying to say categorically that any or all of these are the most critically acclaimed robot shows of all time. With that out of the way, onto the classically reversed ordered list!

Oh and I'm going to avoid major spoilers, like how (insert main villain from each show) is really (insert main hero from each show)'s father and how Rosebud was his sled.

#5: Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann

At first (and second, and third) glance it's bizarre as all hell, and honestly speaking I was turned off by that at first. But giving it a chance, I realized that it was really Gainax's anti-thesis to Evangelion. Of course by this point far more intelligent/dediated/unlazy people than I have analyzed and compared the shows by this point so I'm not going to try to do that.

But while Evangelion used robot anime as a premise to examine the human psyche and their relationship to god and all that other confusing shit, Gurren Lagann had a much simpler message. Keep on fighting, even in the face of the impossible. (Row Row Fight the Power!) It, to me anyway, inspires hope and courage, and that's a good feeling.

The fact it had giant drills and robots that were measured in light years helps too.

#4: Gaiking: Legend of Daiku Maryu

To start, let me say the only exposure to the original Gaiking I've had was through Super Robot Wars Alpha 2/3, and the Soul of Chogokin Daiku Maryu sitting in my closet. To me, it was always one of those old SR anime that seemed to be fondly remembered, but didn't spawn fifteen different versions like Mazinger and Getter did.

This show though, does a very good job of taking classic designs and making them seem modern, even without changing the design much (or at all). Similarly the story takes a fairly stock premise; that of a young boy with a great power who leaves his home to seek out his father, and executes it very well, never getting too serious. And unlike a lot of anime, the identity of the boy's father is not obvious, at all. I know it sounds odd, but believe it. In fact, the show as a whole has a lot of good twists, particularly for a show aimed at a shonen crowed. I really give props to the writer, who has since moved onto another of my favorite shows: Kamen Rider W (count up your sins!)

The animation could be uneven at times, but as a whole it was very clean looking. I also give huge props for the opening song, by Psychic Lover. I think it was a major factor in my choosing to watch the show, and it still gets stuck in my head from time to time.

At any rate, there's the first entries. To avoid spending all night typing, I'm going to break this up into two or three parts, so I shall leave with the words that all watchers of television dread!

To be continued...

Great Mechanical Weapon Conflicts

2010-06-09T23:19:00.000-07:00

This is where I talk about my earliest experiences in the Super Robot Wars...

No I'm not a veteran of any real wars, and probably wouldn't know how to bludgeon someone with a firearm let alone shoot one. I'm talking about Banpresto's long running series of video games. They aren't the most complex Tactical RPGs ever made, but that's not what SRW is about. It's about awesome.

That kind of awesome. JLA meeting the Avengers awesome. Spectacular, jaw-dropping, orgasm for your eyes awesome.

My personal experience with the game started, humbly enough, during the American anime-fan Gundam craze of 2000. Gundam Wing had just started airing on Toonami, but I had been exposed to the greater Gundam universe a bit before that through dubbed VHS releases of the original Mobile Suit Gundam movies and random Gundam model kits I picked up at a nearby import shop.

Around this time I had also heard about the Gundam specific crossover game, SD Gundam G Generation and had sought out some of it's earlier SNES (well, SFC) predecessors in ROM form to try out, since it was cheaper than importing a PS1 game (not to mention modding said system). I fiddled around with a few of them, mostly SD Gundam GNext because it had a semi-complete english translation.

It was while reading up on those that I first heard about Super Robot Wars, specifically due to the mention of this black hole tossing robot called Granzon and a magical wind powered robot with cats piloting funnels called Psybuster (at least back then. Now it's either Cybuster or Cybaster, depending on what source you look at).

They were much different from Gundams, that's for sure. I had been exposed to other robots, of course. I grew up watching Voltron and Robotech, and the prior summer I had managed to see the entire TV series of Evangelion (sadly this was before I knew the ending of that show was like looking at the world through the eyes of a heroin addict). Still, none of those things tossed around astronomical phenomena or had feline copilots, so I looked the game up.

Anyway this sounded intriguing to me so I looked up one of the games, Super Robot Wars EX. It was fun, but the amount of Japanese was pretty heavy compared to the type of things I had been playing, so my experience didn't last long. Still, I had a taste of it and would keep this wider world of giant robots in my mind.

As the months went on and I experienced more, I eventually gave another SRW a chance. This time it was Super Robot Wars 4, the installment directly following my previous foray into the world of super deformed fighting robots. And this time with the help of a translation guide, I stuck with it.

I think it was the addition of the "main character" and your unit, the Gespenst that helped keep me around. I knew it eventually got replaced by the Gundam wannabe Huckebein, though the wider variety of series also helped, particularly Dancouga.

From that point though, my interest took off and I picked up more and more games. Admittedly the next few were also ROMs, up through the third GBA entry (OG1, though I have since bought it twice over), but this series had sunk it's colorful, mechanical teeth into me so far that I eventually started shelling out money (and lots of it) for it. And after all these years, I've yet to stop loving it.

Oh my god! I've started a blog.

2010-06-08T21:29:00.000-07:00

Warning: This is the first blog post I've ever made and it's really long, mostly going off on random tangents as to the nature of life, the universe, and everything. Also spending five paragraphs to get to the reason I made this thing.
I've really stepped in the deep end now. You see, I haven't ever really considered writing a blog before. To me they were always those things that were like journals, but anyone on the internet could read them. Seeing as the point of a journal (to me anyway) was to transcribe your innermost thoughts, having such a thing published on the internet always seemed to counter the point of a journal.

Of course, taking that one step further you could argue that since a journal is never meant to be read by anyone but the author, that there is indeed little point in actually writing one. Barring the unlikely case of amnesia, you know your own innermost thoughts. Why should you need to read them again? Sure, you could forget details of your life, but if you did, they were likely unimportant. The big things; graduation from high school, your first car accident, standing in line outside of Gamestop in freezing weather at 7:00 am to pre-order a Wii*...you'll remember them. Maybe it was 8:00 am. And maybe I'm just not sentimental.

The point of all that is to say that I've never really been big into writing a journal. I've given it a few attempts in both the .doc and .paper format. (As a side note .paper is my geeky way of saying physical paper. You know, the type you write on with a pencil). I suppose that's why I've never blogged either. I didn't want to jot down my thoughts for myself, so why should I bother to do it for other people? Of course the fact that you're reading this shows that: a) you're dedicated to reading random musings of some guy on the internet (I'll try to put in more pictures next time) and b) I changed my mind.

If you've read this far...thank you for taking this much of an interest into my random, possibly ramblings! To get to the point the reason I'm starting this is because I feel like having a place where I can consistently write about something. It won't always be this long and profound. Honestly most of the stuff I say here will be more about things I'm interested in. Which is actually a lot of stuff. Most of it what many would call "nerdy". That's a really broad term, but I won't go into that now because I don't feel like musing on the meaning of it. Also because I don't want to make this post any longer.

In closing, I'll just say that I wanted to make the first post with a bit of substance. Posting a picture of ~~a Gundam~~ ~~GaoGaiGar~~ Gurren-Lagann and saying "lol hi internetz" would just be kind of random and pointless. And my blog isn't 4chan (sorry to disappoint all of you expecting boobs). In any case I'm going to rant a bit less from here on out. Ranting isn't really my style unless it's related to some kind of entertainment media. In any case, thanks for reading this far peoples of the internet, and I'll catch you later.

* And yes, I'm sure I got off easy with my experience pre-ordering of the Wii.