Miniatures Finished: Cats

I like cats. I have one and she's beautiful, if kinda fat. Here she is: 

Naturally, I wanted some cats in 28mm as soon as I saw them and have been amassing a small collection to scatter around my gaming tables for big displays.

 Miniatures from Reaper, Eureka and Black Cat Bases, I used my many cat books for references. 

Superhero Media: Ratchet & Clank - Nexus

I was so hyped for this game that I had it pre-ordered and paid off months in advance; the trailer looked amazing, the last two entries had been satisfying and there were promises of an end to the hanging plot threads. What I got instead was half a game that looked more like a demo for the new Insomniac gravity engine and didn't really add to the existing setting in any significant way. I picked up the game a few days before I left for Europe, but ended up returning it before my flight out when I realised it took less than 10 hours to finish. I was mad at this game for years, in frankly, a petty way, I eventually picked it up 2nd hand for a few dollars to play again, but still held a grudge. Playing Nexus again for this review, mostly for the sake of completeness, my stance has softened a little. 

Yes, Nexus is a disappointing half-measure, but there is still a lot to enjoy, and what is in the game is inoffensive, for the most part. The return of dialog trees instead of cut-scenes and an out-of-nowhere romance between Ratchet and Talwyn Apogee are the only truly annoying elements of the game, with holdover annoyances like too much noise, uninspired weapons and repetitive enemies merely being part of the Future trilogy at this point. The parts that work, work really well, and I feel that the actual hard work of the game gets lost in all of the complaints. The opening of Nexus is probably the strongest of the series, especially fleeing incoming enemy ships on fragments of wreckage just before the credits roll. Exploring the swampy planet inhabited by Gargathons with the hoverboots and new jetpack function is wonderfully cathartic, very much the highlight of the game. 

The problem of Nexus is that individual elements are excellent, like the Museum or Orphanage sequences, but the whole work just feels rushed and incomplete. Of course, it is now pretty clear that Insomniac has lost the passion for the series, but there was certainly potential for Nexus that was never realised. For me, the most disappointing part is that any new fans going back to the old games will be left with a sour taste in their mouths at the end of the Future trilogy and may not want to revisit the Ratchet & Clank universe, letting these great characters fade into obscurity like Bonk, Bubsy and Gex. You know I'll be getting a Ratchet & Clank Totkau figure for "Melee of Champions" as soon as they are released, but I swear I'll have my 28mm version for Ultimate Alliance one day. Until then, the PS2 Trilogy and even the Future games will keep the characters alive for me when I want to see their adventures. 

Thinking Out Loud: The Gospel of Frank

Two things of note happened to me recently, one being that I decided to dive back into media of The Punisher, Marvel's murderous vigilante, the other being that I saw a person on the train wearing a "Blue Lives Matter" mask emblazoned with the iconic Punisher skull. Longtime readers of this blog should experience zero shock at the fact that I support defunding the police and find anyone supporting the "Blue Lives Matter" movement to be, at best, misguided, if not outright hostile to my belief system. So then, how does a humanistic Anarchist pacifist find themselves enjoying the Punisher, and what do I think the character represents in a contemporary setting? This one's going to be something of an essay, so settle in for a long one. Frank Castle, as presented in his original role as a Spider-Man antagonist, is something of a "Dirty Harry" figure, intended to contrast Peter Parker's unwillingness to do lethal harm. That comic fans are wont to misunderstand subtlety and take to idolising characters originally intended as parody and pastiche is so much to be taken as read, that, of course, Frank Castle became a cult darling very quickly.

From my understanding, very much that of an outsider, I'll admit, I believe that the element of Frank Castle that attracts the reactionary (and often bigoted) police officer is the perceived lack of accountability. Those few police officers that I am able to be friends with echo this sentiment to a certain degree, at least in that they feel the bureaucratic elements of their work can often hold them back from doing their job better. For my friends, they consider "the job" to be service-based, helping people at risk or in need of aid, with the peacekeeping element as secondary, at best. For those police who believe the, utterly false, narrative of "good guys and bad guys", however, The Punisher represents an efficacy of justice without restriction; for a particularly skewed idea of justice. From my perspective, informed as it is by research and academia, I believe the "best" form of direct justice is rehabilitative, with the aim that any perpetrator receive the support they need to engage properly with society. Critics of this position claim that it doesn't tackle the root cause of criminality, and, actually, I agree. But Frank Castle doesn't engage with those causes of crime either.

Despite what you may have heard or read in popular news press, the cause of most crime is very well known and demonstrated by a preponderance of evidence; the cause of crime is poverty. In my own country of Australia, petty crime has dropped sharply for the period of the COVID-19 pandemic, and our federal government has increased welfare for that same duration to be, for the first time in many years, above the poverty line. So as many found themselves able to afford both food and rent, crime for the sake of subsistence dropped. Funny that. To bring this back to the idea of "dispensing justice", to the person stealing to avoid destitution and/or starvation, incarceration does little to remedy the root cause of the crime, merely delaying an inevitable relapse into the same behaviour. So want to end crime? Don't give more money to the police, give it to the poor instead, the results are certain and well-documented.

So what does all this have to do with Frank Castle and his astounding body-count? Well, believe it or not, Frank doesn't do what he does with the mindset that he is, in any way, helping to end crime, only to end criminals in a very immediate sense. In Contest of Champions, an alternate version of Frank (from a universe where they lost the Superhero Civil War) is challenged by Outlaw (aka the British Punisher) over the politics inherent in murdering criminals, many of whom are people of colour; Frank replies that what he does is "not political", with Outlaw implying that this assertion comes only because he is White. With anything more than a cursory examination, The Punisher, whilst indiscriminate with his killing of anyone he, personally deems to be irredeemable, is seemingly possessed of a supernatural ability to never come close to injuring an innocent person. In this, as such an ability is something only a fictional character can manage, I personally find my ethical balance with Frank Castle. Despite his lifetime of wholesale murder, he cannot, and will, never hurt an innocent person.

So is it this superhuman accuracy which endears Frank to a certain subset of police officers? Because the idea of being The Punisher cannot truly be appealing, with his extreme nihilism in the face of crippling grief abated only momentarily when he gets into a truly great killing streak; it just sounds like a really bad time, right? Or is the appeal Frank's almost total lack of accountability for his actions? The Punisher can murder as many human beings as he wants (and despite your feelings on their crimes, drug dealers, pimps and mafiosi are actually human and have rights) and never suffer any real legal or ethical consequences. That's why Blue Lives Matter is a dangerous ideology, because police officers, be they "good" cops or not, want a version of their career in which they are permitted to commit more murder with less consequence. I don't know about you, but that idea fucking terrifies me. Frank Castle is the protagonist of his stories, not the hero, anyone who wants to be him has no right trying to dispense justice, as that is not what Frank Castle does, on any level.

Superhero Media: Agent Carter - Season 2

Broken record on this one, but why is there only two seasons of Agent Carter? It's a much better programme than Agents of SHIELD and Arrow, both of which have enjoyed much longer runs. Peggy Carter is back, forcibly placed on leave when she doesn't back down from the Dottie Underwood case from season one. Heading out to California, Peggy is reunited with Jarvis and Agent Sousa and quickly drawn in to a conspiracy involving illegal experiments and wealthy political donors. As always, the set design, costumes and music are excellent, with Carter and Jarvis looking perfect for the period, plenty of vintage cars and great old Hollywood locations to shoot in. As well as the snappy 'gal-Friday' dialog, Agent Carter brings in elements of post-war racist backlash and bigotry, with Sousa still being passed over due to his bad leg, despite having been injured at Monte Cassino, and being awarded a Purple Heart and new character Jason Wilkes coming under suspicion merely for being black. 

The villain is once again female, in Whitney Frost (aka Madame Masque), who, sick of being put upon by men who think of her of 'lesser', wants to harness the power of the mysterious dark matter to raise herself up. This version of Whitney was a child genius who worked on the Manhattan Project, but was bounced after the war and forced to take up a career as an actor. The scenes in which Whitney bamboozles the men around her with her scientific acumen are brilliant, with the actors making a real show of things. The tone is a little camp at times, but that has the air of being more around the style[s] of the era in which it is set than a dumbing down of any kind. The second-to-last episode opens with a big, glam musical number reminiscent of Gene Kelly, which I love and wish there could have been more episodes where that device was used. 

Howard Stark returns for a few episodes, and the introduction of Ana Jarvis (Edwin's wife) round out the core cast nicely, allowing the existing members of the team to grow as characters. Agent Carter is probably the second or third best MCU television production, and yes, I'm including Netflix in that one. The cast is excellent, the look is classic, it's basically MCU Mad Men, but no one ever really talks about it, or has really seen it. Two of the writers of this programme went on to work on Thor Ragnarok, which tells you how good they are, I truly am rather upset that this ended after two seasons. Agent Carter is clever, slick and a hell of a lot of fun, but is gone too soon, and we may never see either the programme or titular agent back. That's a damn shame. Get the DVDs and set some time aside and get to grips with this great series. 

Miniatures Finished: Public Security Section 9

I was meant to have these all done for Little Wars 2018, but a bit of a mix up at Hasslefree Miniatures (which was quickly resolved by their, extremely courteous, customer service) meant I got them after the event. Still, I had everything but Mokoto done, so I figured I may as well hop to it.

Public Security Section 9 

 

Tachikoma, repainted Japanese vending machine toys. They're actually a little big, scale-wise, but they work well enough on the table. 

 

Bateu and his Tachickoma "Think Tank". Bateu is Hasslefree, I've had him for a while, but he was in dire need of some touch-ups. 

 

 I did have a Major, but when I came into a bit of cash, I decided to splurge on the Clear Resin version and the metal one to match. Beautiful models from Hasslefree and well worth the price. 

If I get a bit more cyberpunk gaming in, Section 9 will be making an appearance. If I can find a Togusa, that would do me nicely for the team. Not that I'd complain if someone made a Paz, Bouma and Saito as well. 

Superhero Media: Krrish 3

Going to start out with just saying that you really should track this film down and watch it as soon as possible. I know I try to keep series in order, and that Krrish 3 is the third film in the Koi... Mil Gaya, Krrish series, with Krrish 4 slated for a 2020 release. However, the first ten or so minutes of Krrish 3 recap both previous films, so you can jump right in. Also, Koi... Mil Gaya isn't really a superhero film, more like a mashup of Big and E.T., so I won't be reviewing it here at any point. Happily married and living the life of India's greatest hero, Krrish's only real problem is holding down a job when he's constantly being called away to fight crime and rescue people. Krrish's father, Rohit is working on a device to heal people with the power of the sun when the evil Doctor Kaal and his "Humanimal" mutants start to cause trouble, gunning for Krrish with a vengeance. 

Krrish 3 borrows heavily from both Superman and Spider-Man films, as well as a healthy dose of X-Men black leather costumes, but the Hindi cultural elements and ideas from Hindu myth make it different enough to be unique in many ways. Krrish does the typical leaping through the city, saves a passenger plane and stops to save a child from falling from a building; when Krrish discovers that the child was attempting to rescue an injured pigeon, he doesn't criticise the child, but talks to him and rewards him for his compassion. The phrase "everyone is Krrish" is almost the tag-line for the film, with the idea that Krrish is not only a hero, but a cultural icon and an ideal of selflessness, driving the emotional core of the narrative. Being an Indian film, the special effects aren't as nice as a current Hollywood production, but the practical effects and huge cast of extras make it look a lot better in some ways. When Krrish returns from the dead for the final battle against Kaal, he has ascended to a new plane of power and a city-leveling battle of gods results. 

The final act of Krrish is essentially the Superman/Zod fight from Man of Steel, only a hell of a lot better. There is a part where Kaal makes Krrish choose between stopping him and saving a baby, and Krrish throws himself in the path of destruction to save the infant, because he's a fucking superhero and that's what it takes. Yes, Krrish 3 is one of the best Superman films of the past decade. The DCEU got you down? Check out Krrish 3, Superman vs. The Elite and hey, doesn't Brightburn look really good? Again, writing this in January 2019, so it's probably out on DVD by the time you're reading this. Hell yes, I want a 28mm Krrish, hit me up if you find something suitable, I'm sadly not much of a sculptor. A little camp, twee at times, but a great superhero film that you probably haven't seen yet. 

Super-Dooper Super-Sayians: Part II

Got a few more games of Dragon Ball Super Card game in, made a few more purchases and think I'm finally getting the rules at least 90% right. A couple of new mistakes were using characters in the "Battle Zone" to combo and a couple of interpretations of rules based on playing previous games. As luck would have it, my opponent didn't bring his decks, so he used my Android 13 deck; Ryan is actually a much better card player than me, so him using the "worse" deck made for pretty even matches. In both games, my Red GT Goku came out on top, but it was close each time. 

The combo in the Red GT Goku is working fairly well, essentially enabling me to draw more cards when I need to to boost the critical attacks. In contrast, Android 13 discards any characters in his opponent's Battle Zone, so that deck can win with weight of numbers. Because I've never really been much of a card gamer, I prefer it when my decks have a straightforward strategy, rather than needing a undergraduate course to play properly. 

What's keeping me interested at this stage is that there really seems to be no such thing as a "dead" card in this game; meaning that, no matter what's in my hand, I have a way to use it, even if it's just to play it as a resource or combo with it. In most other card games that I've played, cards can accumulate in a player's hand that really have no use, because the opportunity to use them has past, usually. I know some card-gamers will dispute that, but I've run events, I've seen top-tier players not get the cards they need, no matter how good their deck is; two of my Pokemon League regulars, back in the day, were national champions at one time. Android 13 is struggling with that a little at the moment, but I've ordered some cards and that deck will transition to Goku Black at some stage soon. 

Many miniature wargamers that I know resist playing collectable, blind-packaged games like DBSCG, because the cost can blow out quickly, leading to the player willing to spend the most winning more games. Thankfully, I'm winning more games at the moment and, since being reduced back to casual work, I'm buying maybe 2-4 packs after playing a few games with each deck, which I get to do perhaps once a fortnight. Of course, I'm not playing in tournaments or other events, though I've had a look at a couple, and whilst the community seems pretty neat, there is a constant complaint that all of the newer cards supersede the old ones and I'm not keen to go down that rabbit hole. 

This is something you may not know if you've never played too many card games or worked in a FLGS, but most "booster packs" come with roughly the same amount of cards (between 8-20), for more or less the same price ($4-$9AUD). There are outliers, but that's the price point designers tend to aim for, as it gives value to the casual buyer. Games like Magic the Gathering and Pokemon have a big enough secondary market that buying booster cases is more efficient, because a canny consumer can make their money back. Another reason I'm liking DSBCG is that most of the "rare" cards that I want to build my decks are under $2USD on the secondary market. There are more expensive cards, but, again, as I'm not playing in events, I don't need to go to that expense to have fun and win games.

 

Superhero Media: Godzilla (1998)

As an avid wargamer, comics fan, Kaiju fan, Smash Bros player and Wuxia fan, I'm familiar with the "colourful" nature of fan culture, especially as it exists online. One fandom that never seems to disappoint is the Japanese Godzilla fans and their community. Despite despising the 1998 American Godzilla, the film still gets folded into cannon and even resolved in the, far-superior, Godzilla: Final Wars. There's no two ways about it, Godzilla is pretty terrible, and for more than a few reasons, but there is something worth taking a look at here if you can wade through the shit. For example, the scenes where characters are chasing Zilla through New York and he keeps vanishing in the fog are really well done and evoke the right mood, also Jean Reno and his French Secret Service are the most compelling characters. The third act, where the French are getting killed off by the baby Zillas is a little disappointing with how they're set up in the first half of the film, but I have a soft spot for infantry versus "Kaiju Spawn" scenes. 

This take on Godzilla is quite dull, all-in, turning one of the most iconic movie monsters in history into yet another disaster film where Americans run away from falling debris. Unlike the 2014 Godzilla, the 1998 version makes no hints at the larger franchise or other monsters, we have to deal with Zilla battling helicopters and the aforementioned French soldiers versus spawn scene that seems ripped from The Lost World. The cool thing though? How this film follows into Final Wars. In Final Wars, two members of an expert panel on Godzilla inquire about "the American Godzilla", dismissing it as "They called it Godzilla, but it really wasn't"; the name 'Zilla' is the accepted one in the fandom, hence what I'm using in this piece. In Final Wars, Zilla turns up in Sydney, Australia, but is defeated by the real Godzilla in a matter of seconds, which is more than it deserved, really. 

As I tend to repeat, I find superhero films with nothing redeemable or interesting in them to be rare; so far only Green Lantern and Super Buddies fit the criteria. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't plenty of films that I watch that I never want to see again, Godzilla being one of them. That's part of why I mention the "good" parts of any of these bad films, so that I have them to hand on my blog rather than having to sit through them again. Say I felt like adding Zilla to my Kaiju games, I know that the best bit was the Kaiju Spawn versus soldiers, so I could get myself some 6-10mm raptors or t-rex to fight my 6mm Soviets and just cut to the fun part. I'm saying that I'm constantly thinking about superhero wargames, but by thinking about what elements of the media I'm consuming that may be of use down the track.