Team Ideas: More Victorian Avengers

I find it weird that these "Victorian Superhero" articles tend to some of my better performing posts, despite the fact that the first one began with a dismissal of the entire concept. I'm actually coming around on it a bit now that I've had so many ideas, but until I find regular opponents, I won't be starting on putting any miniatures together. This one's going to be a little different, in that I won't be doing so much "in-universe" writing, but more discussing the concept and inspiration. Also, I won't be suggesting too many miniatures or sticking to a rigid number this time.

For those not familiar with the concept, rather than just so "Steampunk Batman" for the millionth time, I try to combine existing superheroes with fictional, historical and folk characters associated with the Victorian era, or close to (such as "Captain America" being from the Napoleonic era as Richard Sharpe). The rules aren't strict, but I try and stick close to Victorian Science Fiction, Pulp and "Boys Own" stories as best I can. When considering a character, I look beyond the powers and image and into what they represent in their own era, meaning there's always more than just a costume change to be had. 

Spring-heeled Jack (Spider-Man) 

Name a recurring theme with Spider-Man. Was it that he constantly is assumed to be a criminal? Spring-heeled Jack was an Urban Legend in Victorian London, a black-clad horror often seen fleeing the scene of a grisly murder through impossible physical feats. Now imagine that Peter Parquet, a talented but unlucky engineer, decides to build a costume filled with devices to enhance his natural abilities, thinking he can use it to protect the innocent people of his borough from criminals. The Parquet luck kicks in and soon people are running screaming from "Spring-heeled Jack", and laying blame for murders at his feet. Driven by guilt, Parquet still dons his costume and does his best to fight crime.


John Henry (Luke Cage) 

Many think the legendary John Henry died after his famous defeat of the steam engine he was racing, but the real truth is that the authorities dragged him away for disturbing the peace and usurping the rule of white men. Instead of being quietly hanged, the judge, a KKK member, "volunteered" Henry for medical experiments, just to make sure he suffered. Whether through fate or his own strength, Henry survived, becoming somehow stronger and tougher, using his newfound power to escape. Since then, Henry has wandered the world, righting wrongs and striking a blow against colonial powers wherever he can, often in exchange for some payment, so that he can keep ahead of the law.


T'Chaka Zulu (Black Panther) 

Descended from the great king Shaka, T'Chaka Zulu has seen his ancestor's land taken from him by the hated English since childhood. Seeking advice from the witch doctors and clever-women of his council, T'Chaka was led to follow ancient myths into the last uncharted regions of the African continent, seeking new weapons to use in the fight for freedom. When the king finally returned to his people, he held two priceless treasures, the Heart-Shaped Herb, which grants strength and power, and Vibranium, a rare and deadly metal. Armed with these new secrets, T'Chaka led the Zulu on a bloody and successful campaign to reclaim parts of the great Shaka's territory. Taken by surprise, British forces in South Africa were immediately on the back-foot, but now they have time to prepare a counter-attack, how will T'Chaka's forces fare?


Sandow (Hercules)

Eugen Sandow is famous the world-over for his strength, physique and attitudes on personal fitness, but he has a secret that no one knows; Sandow is immortal. After his death, Hercules, having atoned for his misdeeds through the famous Twelve Labours, made his way to the fields of Elysium, where he engaged in games and feasting with the other notables of history. As society advanced, so did the influence of Olympus wane, and even mighty Zeus lost interest in protecting the world. When word reached the Lion of Olympus of the terrible wars, martian invasions and smog choked cities, he petitioned Hades for a short-term release. Wandering the world, Hercules, in the guise of Sandow, does his best to lift humanity back to a state of enlightenment and slay the monsters of the modern world.


The Haunted Writer (Ghost Rider)

Practically none does not know the name of Charles Dickens, but only a few know the price he paid for his talent. Although Dickens would be famous in later life for debunking Spirit Mediums, in his youth, he himself was a dabbler in the occult. Hoping to escape from the horrors of life in a blacking factory, the young Dickens made a deal with a mysterious entity for fame and fortune, but little did he know what the true cost would be. Dickens was granted the ability to see and hear the spirits around him, which soon drove him near mad in their constant requests and chatter; writing down their stories was the only way he could maintain his sanity. The stories of ghosts such as Oliver Twist and Martin Chuzzlewit threw Dickens into the public eye and gave him the influence to solve the dark mysteries of a bleak house and lay some ghosts to rest. Dickens may be cursed, but he has, through his own intellect and talent, turned the curse into a force for good.

Ned Kelly (Iron Man)

Going to drop the narrative voice on this one as it requires some explaining. In Australia, Ned Kelly is so tied into a culture that romanticises the colonial era, that separating the reality from the myth is incredibly difficult. Everybody knows that Ned Kelly was a brutal murderer, but the fact that he was charismatic and the police were just as corrupt and brutal help weave an ideal version of the man that Australians identify with. Probably one of the best takes on the mythology of Ned Kelly is a book by Robert Drewe entitled Our Sunshine, which was adapted into the film Ned Kelly starring Heath Ledger. The book takes place the night before the siege of Glenrowan, with Kelly and his gang holed up in the local Hotel, preparing for the police attack and winning over the locals. Spurred on by drink and camaraderie, Kelly's mind wanders to plans for after the siege is won; he wants to begin a popular revolt and turn Victoria into an independent state for the Irish. In literary and academic circles, Drewe's take on Kelly is referred to as being "futurist", meaning the character is a drunk futurist in a set of homemade armour; get it? Of course, Kelly had a very personal agenda, centered around his own background and ideals, but that too isn't all that far from many presentations of Tony Stark. 

Hope that fires some ideas up in people, if this is popular, I'll do some more when the ideas occur to me.

Superhero Media: Iron Man 2

One element of doing these media reviews is that I really enjoy is that I tend to find myself talking favourably about films that others malign more often than I whinge about popular films. Take Iron Man 2, I really enjoy this film and pretty much always have, but the mere mention of it can start people off on rants about how "terrible" it is. I'll readily admit that Iron Man 2 does feel rushed in parts, as Marvel Studios were not expecting to have to make it so soon, but the success of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk took them by surprise. That taken into account, however, Iron Man 2 does manage to have less of a "bridging" tone than say, The Matrix Reloaded or The Two Towers. After the shock reveal at the close of Iron Man, Tony Stark is riding high, remaining independent from the government, whilst building the Iron man persona into a business success and partying as hard as he can. There a clouds on the horizon, however, as Tony is slowly dying from blood poisoning and the son of his father's rival, Ivan Vanko is plotting revenge. 

First up, kudos to the design team and Mickey Rourke for creating a version of Whiplash/Blacklash that was both visually interesting and not goofy as all get out. I'm not really sure why Whiplash is the subject of such ire, he's certainly more interesting and engaging than Iron Monger, I tend to put it all down to "sequel fatigue", with audiences disappointed that Iron Man 2 didn't feel as new and as fresh as Iron Man, which of course it doesn't. I find this a lot with fans of film who don't necessarily know much about the behind the scenes and/or the academic functions of the medium, they want the thrill of discovery that comes with a new franchise to continue through every iteration, which is, of course, impossible. Hell, for shits and giggles, let's just list off the awesome stuff that Iron Man 2 brings to the series; Black Widow, War Machine, Howard Stark (as portrayed by John Slattery), references to Moon Knight and Agent Coulson being a Captain America fanboy. Tell me again, how Iron Man 2 is the 'worst' MCU film? 

 

Now I'm going to gush over Justin Hammer, so bite on a belt if you have to.  Justin Hammer is amazing and I wish he would come back to menace Spider-Man or something. Sam Rockwell is always good value, especially as a villain, often dancing his way into a scene and chewing the scenery like a starving Vincent Price. Even people who claim to hate Iron Man 2 seem to love the scene where Hammer pulls out guns and describes them to Rhodes and his boss, and the payoff for the "ex-wife" delivery really makes the character work. Speaking of the final confrontation, back when I did a film and music blog, the Iron Man and War Machine versus Hammer Drones scene made it to #1 on my list of "Best Superhero Movie Fights", this was before The Avengers, so that list would be way different now, but man do I still love that scene. The contrast between the two suits and the two friends is a great watch and something I'll happily revisit apart from the film entire. Also, Kate Mara is in Iron Man 2 briefly, meaning she has done a decent superhero film, even if no one remembers it.

EDF VII Vs Kaiju

One thing I hate about the miniatures hobby is how long it can take to get to something in the painting que. Case in point, I finally got my first Kaiju done, almost a year after I got the model. Anyway, on with it.

Soviet Tank Hunters 

 

Some more T-34s, I have a lot, plus some infantry weapons teams. 

 

Tanks line up against Z-Ton, from the Ultraman franchise (model kit). 

 

Sorry about the sideways picture, forgot to change it and doing so on Blogger is a real pain. These kits are pretty good, and it was fun to paint. Hopefully get a game going soon.

Superhero Media: Justice League - The Flashpoint Paradox

Normally, I like to talk about the comic version of these stories before I cover the animated adaptations, but I didn't have ready access to Flashpoint and have always felt that the film is the better version anyway. After an encounter with Professor Zoom, the Flash (Barry) wakes to find himself in a world where his mother is alive, he has no powers and Europe has been ravaged by a war between Atlantis and Themyscria. Quickly figuring out that history has been altered, Barry heads to Gotham to find Batman and get help, only to discover that, in this reality, Thomas Wayne is Batman, Martha is the Joker and Bruce was killed by Joe Chill. Normally, I'm not keen on "edgier" interpretations of Batman, but there is a tragedy to Thomas Wayne leaving healing behind for murder that makes this more than the shallow treatments that are the Grim Knight and the Batman Who Laughs. Sadly, not too many characters get as interesting a treatment as Batman, with Superman being kept as an experiment for decades and Aquaman and Wonder Woman just being angry at each other. 

Where The Flashpoint Paradox excels isn't so much in being an interesting "Elseworlds" title, but as a character piece for Flash and the lengths he's willing to go to be a hero. Throughout The Flashpoint Paradox, Flash is intending to save the world that he is in, not the one he came from, partially because in this new world his mother is alive, but mainly because the world is suffering and he is a hero. Barry being Barry, he holds the assumption that if he can just get Batman and Superman behind him, things will work out and he can save the day, even though the British Isles have been destroyed in the war and Atlantis is prepping a doomsday device. The more fatalist Batman is the one who pushes Barry to make the sensible choice, travel back in time, and change the past back, because the world will be a much better place for it. This version of Batman accepts defeat, knows he will die, and makes his peace with leaving a better world behind him, that's why he's so satisfying to watch. 

Even though very few parts of The Flashpoint Paradox are especially good in of themselves, the combined whole is excellent, certainly one of the best of the Justice League animated films. Keeping Barry as the focus character works well, as he is the most human and relatable of the main Justice League roster, as well as often being the "heart" of the team. This story simply wouldn't work as well with Batman or Wonder Woman in the main role. Online superhero commentators tend to tout The Flashpoint Paradox as being one of the best examples of what Warner Bros "should" be adapting, and I can't say I disagree too much, but doesn't The Flashpoint Paradox pretty much engender a reboot? The worst part of the story is that it booted the New 52, I'd really hate any live-action version to wipe away the DCU films and characters I actually enjoyed. If you haven't seen The Flashpoint Paradox yet, add it to your watch list, it's an enjoyable time.

First Game of Marvel Crisis Protocol

I finally got around to playing a game of Marvel Crisis Protocol [MCP] thanks to a friend, who provided the know-how as well as an excellent collection of minis and terrain. I have painted some MCP myself, but you'll have to wait out the backlog to see them. I was going to record this as an AAR, but got too distracted, so look upon this as more of a commentary of my first game.

Like many, I was initially put off MCP by the odd scale, especially as I have a great many superheroes of all varieties in 28mm already, and an awesome table for big games. Add in the price point, which is pretty high per model and the patchy quality of those models and I can't say I found MCP more attractive than SuperSystem and/or Super Mission Force. Also, and this is really a "me" problem, I'll admit, the game is just Marvel; no DC, Image, Shonen Jump, Malibu, Boom, IDW, King Features, Frew, webcomics, video games or Dyanamite. Still, I want to play more supers games, and a team for MCP wouldn't cost me all that much, so maybe it would be worth it?

I was playing as the Avengers, Hawkguy, Black Widow, Thor, Iron Man and Cap. This gave me a good spread of range and melee, heavy hitters and fast units, so I would get to experience most of the breadth of play available. My opponent/teacher had Red Skull, MODOK, Bullseye, Baron Zemo and Crossbones. Like many supers games, I found that some of the characters didn't really function how I expected them to, which was clearly a balancing move for the game, but left me wondering what the point of certain characters were. Black Widow, for example, was pretty useless, even her stealth abilities just didn't come into play all that often.

What I did really enjoy about MCP was the core mechanics, the dice matching was fast and easy to get my head around, and thanks to the character cards, there wasn't too much clutter on the board. I'm not sure if I've mentioned it here before, but I'm never fond of too many cardboard tokens on my nicely finished gaming surface. I've actually done tokens for other games, including Reality's Edge and Sludge that are as much playing pieces and/or terrain to better tie in with the table and figures. If I'm going to be playing more MCP, I'll have to come up with something for "activated" markers that I like.

There is, of course, the 'measuring stick' issue, which combined with the weird scale and specific terrain, is exactly the kind of thing that could turn me off the entire game very quickly, regardless of how fun it actually is to play. Of course, having played now, I can see myself using some of my existing terrain, more Knights of Dice stuff and even some toy cars of the right size. Much like SuperSystem or SSUA, MCP uses terrain size rules to govern damage and Super Strength, to this end, most pieces have a size number underneath. This is pretty easy to get around with some home-made or 3rd party kits and a marker really. Mind you, the official terrain is quite nice, I'll probably grab a Sanctum Sanctorum for my own table at some stage.

Also, and it seems I have to keep saying this to people, Superheroes can fight ANYWHERE! Yes, city tables are cool, but they're also a lot of work and hard to transport. Evil Base interior, Savage Land Jungle, ancient temple, Moon Base, all of these work and aren't as much work. Hell a few of those can be used for other games in other scales if you're really clever, so there's no need to shell out for all the official Atomic Mass Games stuff if you don't want to. I'll probably be doing something with some 3x3' boards I'm working on for other games, as they're pretty scale neutral already.

Ok, here's Clint, so let's talk about this. During the game, Hawkeye sat on an objective and shot at people. Now, in miniature wargames terms, that makes sense for that kind of character, but, to my mind at least, it doesn't really reflect Clint Barton in the majority of comics. He's a scrapper and something of a brawler, but in MCP, I wouldn't have used him like that at all, because I would have lost the model and Victory Points. Captain America has a fun ability that essentially lets other Avengers use a free power each turn, so I think having a combo-move with Hawkeye and Black Widow would have been doable and make both more useful in the overall game.

Finally, the choice of available characters is a little off to my reckoning. There are around 100 on the market currently with some odd inclusions and odd exclusions. For example, I can buy Brother Voodoo and Angela, but no members of the Fantastic Four are being produced, and there is currently only Hulk and She-Hulk, no variations. I'm sure there are game, contract and market reasons for these release decisions, but from a consumer perspective I'm left wanting a few of my favourites more often than not.

Despite my criticisms of MCP, I like it and I will play more. It's currently popular, so I get to play Supers more often, I'll be stocking it at work soon, so knowing how to play is professionally helpful and some of the minis are really nice. Given the huge amount of proxy options available though, I'll probably be doing more "counts-as" figures for my own play and sticking only to the official ones when demonstrating for work. So it may be a while, but yes, there is more MCP to come on this blog, True Believers!

Superhero Media: Aquaman

Whilst the general cultural consensus among nerds is that Aquaman is one of the "good" DCU films, I find myself more in the "pretty good" camp on this one. Yes, the film looks good, for the most part, even if I find the heavy CGI a bit of an eye-strain after a while, with the design of the Atlantean technology and cultural artifacts being unique and engaging. The villains work, though I'm hardly a big fan of Ocean Master, at least they kept his name and Black Manta was pretty awesome, certainly one of my favorite villains in the DCU so far. In fact, the cast is, for the most part, excellent, with the exception being, of course, Jason Momoma as Aquaman. I don't know if it's the knowledge that he can be a very unpleasant person to his co-stars, or just simply that he has very little on-screen charisma to speak of, but Momoma is the least interesting part of the film in which he is the nominal star. Yes, I would have preferred a more regal Aquaman, but even given what the filmmakers had to work with, I'm not all that impressed with the Aquaman we got. 

Why does no one talk about Julie Andrews playing the Kraken in Aquaman? Aside from being a great scene, it's an incredible casting get and a, probably accidental, statement about the historical erasure of feminine religious rites in favour of a more militaristic and masculine culture. I've never really been one to believe that a film can be so visually interesting as to rise above poor writing, The Secret World of Arrietty being my only exception, but I have to say that Aquaman does come close in parts, there is clearly a lot of thought behind the design; Merra's jellyfish dress in the arena fight sequence is great if you just want to Google one example. Not being too familiar with "New 52" Aquaman, in my mind, I was hoping for something a little closer to Justice League Unlimited with a smattering of Batman Brave and the Bold, but the lack of deep cuts to the broader lore of the character was probably the most shocking omission. Seriously, not even a single "Outrageous!"? Not good enough. 

At the time of writing this (October 2019, blah blah backlog), Aquaman 2 has just had a provisional date confirmed, but part of me just wishes that Aquaman would remain a stand-alone film that I can go back and enjoy every now and then, like Mystery Men or Daredevil. Despite all of the shade I've been throwing here, I actually quite enjoyed Aquaman both times I've watched it so far. The dumb bits are mostly inoffensive and the good parts are quite good, I can ignore slip ups on the CGI and I would probably grab the Art/Design book if I came across it at a good price. I'm really not sure how this franchise could be improved without the removal of Momoma, he really is the weak link in what is a solid effort in the genre. I've seen a few internet commentators compare Aquaman to Black Panther, but I feel it's really more like Thor, in that it's reasonable, more than a little fantastic, and filled with brilliant design work that only film nerds seem to talk about.

EDF VI

The amount of unpainted terrain I had was getting a bit much, so I've worked it into my rotation along with miniatures. First up was some stuff for Kaiju and WWII, as I want to run some Kaiju at the Australian Plastic Model expo.

Together, the bases make a decent sized collective farm. 

 

A T-34/85 uses some farm buildings for cover. 

 

These Monopoly buildings are great for the 6mm scale, I'm tempted to scope out Op Shops for more sets. 

 

I had a heap of spare ZIS trucks, so some have found their way onto terrain pieces. The gas tank is from a knockoff Battleship set.

 The tractor is also a spare miniature from the box I got from my father. 

I have some more terrain planned, with a bit of a twist on what's already here, so keep an eye out if you're a fan of the smaller scales. 

Superhero Media: Gamera Super Monster

Here we are, the last film in the classic Gamera run, coming nearly a decade after Gamera Vs Zigra and clearly just a cheap cash-in on the existing property. As much as some of the Gamera films aren't all that great, I hazard that any one of them is actually outright terrible, but Gamera Super Monster is pretty terrible. For starters, there is no new footage of Gamera in the film, only clips from the previous films interposed with sections involving a young boy and the three good space women he teams with to fight the evil space woman. This is barely a Gamera film, more like a clip show episode of a long-running series with a nonsense framing device to hang a lampshade on the laziness. All in, there is probably more action in Gamera Super Monster than other films in the series, through virtue of access to the clips of previous fights, but the fights are disjointed, cut down and keep coming back to the kid and the Space Women. 

Ok, so there are some things that really stand out in Gamera Super Monster that I need to talk about, because they're so damn weird and got stuck in my head for days after viewing the film. One, the evil alien spaceship is a really obvious Star Wars Star Destroyer knock-off that looks like it was borrowed from a different film. Two, the three good Space Women really seem to be in a poly clique, as they all live together, take their lead from the main one and sleep in the same bed. Three, there is a decent pun where a police officer spooks three kids and remarks about "shonen jump", as in the long-running Japanese comic, but it's not translated in the subtitles and I only picked it up because of the smattering of Japanese I know. Four, the film starts with the main kid and his friends reading Shonen Jump, including a comic about Gamera being owned as a pet turtle by a police officer; if you know what the hell this is, please let me know. Five, the main kid's mother makes him abandon his pet turtle, which really bugs me because reintroducing pet animals to the wild is a good way to get them eaten by predators, but it works out because the turtle was Gamera all along? 

This would have to be the one Gamera film I really didn't want to finish, as all of the interesting parts were recycled from films I'd already seen, and the new sections were more frustrating than anything. Although Gamera Super Monster is framed as the end of the original series, with Gamera even dying to save the Earth in the conclusion, it feels disjointed and more of a fan-film than an actual continuation of what has come before. The repetition of the monsters from previous films only highlights how much better they were in their own films, with more time to develop. Throughout my viewing of these films, my girlfriend has seen bits and pieces and has questioned how I actually enjoy them; I am fortunate in that my first encounter with Gamera was through the 1990s films, which are actually quite good, considered some of the best Kaiju cinema of their era. Now that my next viewing is Gamera Guardian of the Universe, I'll be making some time for my girlfriend to watch it with me.