Superhero Media: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2004)

I was considering covering the various comics that make up The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen before talking about the infamous film, but I actually think the film is a better starting point for this whole thing. Much as I like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the comics really are something of an acquired taste, being more about literary references than super heroics and featuring no small amount of graphically sexual and violent content. Most people that game the League tend to focus more on the idea of their being a more traditional superhero team, which makes sense for a tabletop game, as there is only so much space for something like a commentary on literary colonialism. In this, I've never found The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen film to be particularly objectionable, though it is certainly far from a great film. I really don't understand the argument that the film is a poor adaptation of the comic either, as a straight adaptation would be practically impossible with the content contained within the various comics. 

In terms of being a superhero film, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is pretty standard for a pre-MCU effort, being more of an action film with the dressings of Superheroes and Victorian Science Fiction, though the design work, especially of the Nautilus and Nemo's technology is excellent. The cast too, is brilliant, and having a person of South Asian descent playing Nemo is a nice touch, but I guess we have to talk about Sean Connery, right? The popular take is that Connery found LXG so bad that he quit acting, but the actual truth is that he and the director, Stephen Norrignton, had such a toxic working relationship that the great actor finally decided to retire after such an unpleasant filming experience. This is a bit of a sad note, as Connery has been decent to excellent over his long career, and is still missed as a presence in the landscape of cinema. 

As much as I am a fan of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen comics, I really can't hate the film; yes, it's goofy and over the top, but it's all in good fun. Things like Mina Murray being an actual vampire, Dorian Grey and an Adult Tom Sawyer as a Secret Service agent I really like, as they're not too far out of the ethos of the League as seen through the lens of this film, though I am honestly sick of Edward Hyde being an Incredible Hulk stand-in, even if I do that in my own games; it's just lazy. In terms of putting together your own Victorian hero teams, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is far from the worst source material you could find, even if just for the visual elements of Nemo's technology and other super-science, I know I'd love a set of the armoured troopers with automatic rifles. The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen is not some undiscovered gem, or a maligned cult classic, it's a trashy, fun superhero action film in the vein of many similar efforts from the 1990s and early 2000s. I can't say I'll be going back to it anytime soon, but I do still find LXG to be a fun watch.

EDF VIII Vs Wave V

Sometimes I lose track of projects and all of a sudden I have a heap of stuff on the "take pictures of this and put them on the blog" shelf. Not sure how I missed a giant Samurai robot for so long, but there you go.

WWII Soviet tanks, tractors and field guns. (Mirco Armour)

 

Factory terrain. (Spartan) 

 

EDF Mech, "Sapphire Samurai", with T-34 for scale. (Spartan) 

 

EDF Point-Defense Batteries, with Soviet Infantry for scale. In game terms, the EDF player will be able to deploy these "pop-up" guns during a battle as a form of ambush unit. (Spartan) 

 

EDF Airport (Spartan) 

 

Invader bio-structures creep across the face of the Earth in the wake of Alien Kaiju. (Games Workshop) 

Superhero Media: Gamera - Guardian of the Universe

Oddly, I'm pretty sure I saw Gamera - Guardian of the Universe after I saw Gamera 2 - Attack of Legion, despite that being the reverse order. The only real time Gamera got a reboot, this series of films from the 1990s is, to date, the only time Gamera would surpass Godzilla, both in Box Office and public regard. When scientists start mysteriously disappearing whilst investigating rare birds, Inspector Osako leads research scientist Mayumi Nagamine to discover the horrific Gyos, giant ancient creatures that feed on human flesh. Meanwhile, Yoshinari Yonemori and his crew discover a large floating mass of the coast of Japan, covered in metal objects, including a massive plate of indiscernible hieroglyphics. When a plan is hatched to capture the Birds in a Tokyo stadium, the roof breaks open to reveal Gamera, Gyos' natural enemy. People are stunned and confused until Asagi, Yoshinari's daughter, claims to be in mental contact with Gamera; he is the protector of the Earth and here to fight Gyos. 

Probably what I like best about Guardian of the Universe is that it's just a solid action film with a good cast where the hero and villains happen to be in big rubber suits. The pacing is good, the cast is solid and even the updated Gamera Theme on the soundtrack is pretty banging. As always, the scale-model sets that Gamera and Gyos wrestle over are beautiful, and, as far as I can tell, around 1/32 scale, so the detail is superb. With some CGI effects laid over the top, the Kaiju fights are a sight to behold, especially as any earthly happenings, like lightning and explosions, are still practical. There's nothing overtly political or deeper in what's happening in Guardian of the Universe, but it's still one of the best Kaiju films ever made, in my own estimation, mostly because all of the pieces putting it together are well-crafted. I think the sequel, Attack of Legion is even better, and probably my favourite Kaiju film, but Guardian of the Universe would make any theoretical "Top 10" I were to do, though probably lower than Shin Godzilla and Godzilla II - King of the Monsters. 

As I mentioned, my girlfriend has been watching snippets of some Gamera films with me and mostly poking fun at how dumb they are; I made her sit down and watch all of Guardian of the Universe, which she ended up enjoying, even if she's in no mad rush to see more classic Kaiju. I think I'll be keeping Guardian of the Universe in my "back pocket", so to speak, for showing people who haven't seen any Japanese Kaiju and need to eased into it, because it's a solid film even before being a great monster outing. I bought the entirety of the Gamera series on DVD, but I'm honestly not sure where you can go to see these unless you track them down yourself; though they're probably online somewhere if you know where to look. I'd gush more, but I need to save some fanboy squees for Attack of Legion. Seriously though, go see Guardian of the Universe.

5 More Superhero Wargames Armies Ideas

Given that absolutely no one seemed interested in my last article about building superhero-themed miniature wargames armies, I decided I just had to do another one. Seriously, that article is probably one of my least viewed, it's crazy. The lack of interest, however, hasn't stopped my brain from coming up with more and more ideas for wargames armies inspired by superhero media, hell, I even built a Warhammer 40,000 Deathwatch army based on the Asgardians from Marvel Comics and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Anyway, if you're superhero inclined and wargames inclined, here are some more ideas on combining the two in games other than SuperSystem and the like.

Wilderbots (Marvel)

(really wanted a better picture, sorry) 

Concept: On the distant planet of Sakaar, technology has regressed and society is slipping backwards into feudalism. Out in the wastelands, the dread "Wilderbots" roam free, terrorising the natives, destroying crops and raising villages. The Wilderbots are malfunctioning and broken robots that have gotten loose and exist only to destroy, a great wargames army concept if ever I heard one. Seriously, I've been tempted to build this army since I first read Planet Hulk. 

Army Building: What immediately springs to mind for me is that the Wilderbots would make a great "counts as" army for Tyranids for 40K. The army would be made up of rampaging robots off all shapes and sizes, so something that lets you build in more than just "standard infantry size" is a must. An alternative would be something like Chaos Daemons or even an army with plenty of cavalry and tanks. 

Models: There is such a wealth of robot, android and cyborg miniatures available that I would be doing a disservice to try and list them all. Add the number of toys and models that also fit the bill and you'll be spoiled for choice. If it were my army, I'd be looking at Star Wars, Heroclix and Horrorclix to fill out the bulk, as they're the only ranges in plastic that aren't GW Necrons.

GCPD (DC)

Concept: Making a wargames army of police may seem a little odd, but a quick look at Batman No Man's Land or Battle for Bludhaven and you'll see that Gotham PD is a force to be reckoned with. This isn't something that would be a huge army, but more of a platoon at most, with more of a focus on characters and interesting army building than ranks of troops. Sure, Jim Godon is your "General", but don't forget elite SWAT teams lead by Brandon or Petit, "scout squads" of tertiary Batman allies like Huntress and Spolier and, of course, Batman as your elite assassin or maybe orbital bombardment token. 

Army Building: I've covered this a bit above, but there really is no limit to this if you think about it a bit. I'm not going to make a political comment on militarised police forces (much), but surely Gotham has been issued with APCs and sonic canons from the Wayne Foundation, and we know that Gordon is happy to use the myth of Batman to his advantage, which could translate to the tabletop as some kind of punji pit or minefield thinning out the thugs. Hell, Clayface joins the force in one continuity! There's your Dreadnought/Giant/Mech right there! 

Miniatures: There is plenty available in the Knight Models range, but cost may be prohibitive, for a cheaper alternative, Heroclix and Modern Police are pretty widely available. Most of the characters (Gordon, Montoya, Bullock etc) are in the Heroclix range, not to mention there are plenty of great APCs, police vans and cars around in toy lines and even 3D prints. 


Africans (Tarzan)

Concept: Basically, what if The Legend of Tarzan had ended with a proper battle and not the cop-out we got? Seriously, that still bugs me. Natives, apes, lions, wildebeest, crocodiles and snakes, all led by Tarzan himself, that's a heck of a force to put on the table. I've already made something like this for Empire of the Dead, but there is plenty of scope for larger armies in games like GASLIGHT or Dragon Rampant.

Army Building: Obviously, Tarzan will be a combat-based leader, like a Space Marine Captain or Ork Warboss, but the rest of the army should be close-combat heavy as well, though the native tribes could have some mild ranged attacks to represent spears and bows. Large apes could form units of fast-moving shock troops, with crocodiles and snakes forming ambush units or trap counters. 

Miniatures: Plenty of companies make Tarzan, I bought the Tin Man one because it has a good size and presence, but the Reaper version is also pretty nice. When it comes to animals, I tend to shop at Eureka, because of the price and range, and also because I can drive there in around half an hour. Once again, Reaper and Wizkids do a decent range of affordable animals. 


Space Knights (Marvel/IDW)

Concept: Rom has a complex history between the Marvel and IDW runs, but basically, the Space Knights are an alien race who have sacrificed their bodies to become the ultimate cyborg warriors to battle the Dire Wraith menace. Each Space Knight is the master of a particular martial skill or weapon, making them individually formidable and almost unstoppable en masse. Sent across the galaxy to hunt down and eliminate Dire Wraith Infiltrators, the Space Knights are a law unto themselves. 

Army Building: The Space Knights would be an ideal basis for any gaming army that focuses on a small number of elite troops, like Grey Knights, Deathwatch or Enforcers. There are characters like Rom, Starshine and Terminator for leadership roles, plus plenty of disposable background Space Knights to fill out your squads. One of the best parts of this concept is that each Space Knight is unique, so "counts as" weapons need not really be an issue, who's to say one can't have a Plasma Gun or Assault Canon? 

Miniatures: There are actually a few Space Knights in the Heroclix range to get you started as well as a few good "not-Roms" if you look around. More so than other armies on this list, Space Knights will require some conversion, fortunately the "generic" Space Knights in the Heroclix range are pretty easy to work with, especially if you have some plastic GW Eldar arms lying around. Space Knights tend not to use vehicles, but any suitably Kirby-esque space craft will probably suit the look just fine. 


Monster Society (One Punch Man)

Concept: Admittedly, this one isn't too different from either the Wilderbots above or the Abomi-Nation from last time, however, the visual aesthetic would be vastly different. A hidden collective of monsters set on eradicating humanity, the Monster Society operates on a brutal system of "survival of the strongest", with those who fail or get injured becoming food for the others. If you like big nasties and being evil, the Monster Society is right down your alley. 

Army Building: Again, the Monster Society offers a great deal of flexibility for a wide variety of games. From 40K Tyranids, to Warpath Plague and even Horizon Wars, just about any army with more of a close combat bent to it would work fine with this theme. I could honestly see it working brilliantly as an Age of Sigmar Gloomspire Gitz force if you have the player group that would let you get away with it. So long as there's a vague Anime vibe, just about any monster will fit this army pretty well. 

Miniatures: There are plenty of monsters around in a variety of scales, but I'm actually thinking of a toy line from another Manga series, MUSCLE. A little big for 28mm, but perfect for heroic scale games, MUSCLE are a hard rubber figurine line that features anime styled monsters and aliens. For bigger units, take a look at model ranges from Ban Dai and the like, there is a wealth of stuff available. 

Hope that gets you started, I know I'm trying to resist making more armies along superhero lines, but then, it's kind of a problem for me...

Superhero Media: Miraculous - Season 2

True to my last review of this series, as soon as more Miraculous - The Adventures of Ladybug and Cat Noir popped up on Netflix, I dove right into it. The second season builds more on the mythology of the Miraculous, with Marinette working with Master Wang Fu, holder of the Turtle Miraculous, an 184 year old man and last of the Guardians. There is more information on what the Miraculous are and how they work, plus the Fox Miraculous gets a new champion for one episode in Alya, Marinette's best friend and emotional support lesbian. In the first episode (other than the Xmas special), Adrien's father is revealed to be Hawkmoth (not that it wasn't pretty obvious), but conceals this from Ladybug and Cat Noir through an elaborate ruse; it's a bit silly, but done pretty well considering the intended audience. Actually, for a "kids' show", Miraculous does a lot of things really well, especially the love quadrangle[?] between Marinette, Adrien and their superhero identities; with Marinette being into Adrien and Cat Noir being into Ladybug. As silly as that sounds, the pair do actually progress a little in their attraction[s], with Cat Noir being on the receiving end of a "Let's be friends" speech and taking it well, not acting like an entitled child. 

Marinette, pushed by Alya and her other friends, gets to spend more time with Adrien and there does seem to be a growing attraction, but neither is able to push it forward in any way; as a youth mental health worker, this is pretty much bang-on for a lot of 14 year olds that I've worked with, especially in affluent areas. If the repetitive nature of the "monster of the week" stories and the recycled transformations of Miraculous annoy you, sorry to say that it continues, and I'll admit it grates if I'm binging the programme, but it's there and is part of the genre and complaining won't help it. What bugged me was more down to the translation from the French, in that Cat Noir often calls Ladybug "milady", which has creeper tones in English, but is clearly just trying to match the lip-sync of "mademoiselle". I'm not sure what this choice was made, as many characters refer to "Chat Noir", keeping the French noun; having Chat Noir use "milady" all the time makes me think he has a sword and fedora collection at home. Given that cultural diversity is a big part of Miraculous, with characters from a range of backgrounds, it seems more like an oversight than a real decision. 

I said in the last review that I was probably not interested in miniature versions of Ladybug and Chat Noir, but I happened to stumble across some Kinder Surprise toys of the series and I figured that they should be about the right size to scale with Heroclix, given the restrictions of the capsules. However, my Chat Noir came in four pieces and was close to 1/35th scale put together, so that was disappointing. I'm not keen on building an entire Miraculous set, but having Ladybug and Chat Noir would be nice for my Ultimate Alliance: Annihilation campaign, as I'd like more non-American superheroes when I finally get around to starting. There is quite a fan-following for Miraculous online, and most of it seems to be pretty good; sure, I found some gross slash fic and fan art when I was researching this, but for the most part people just seem to love the programme. There is a lot of charm to Miraculous, I'll be at least checking out the next season when it pops up on Netflix.

Thinking Out Loud: Multiverse of Champions Protocol

So after playing a few games and finding a decent play group, I think I'll be getting into Marvel Crisis Protocol [MCP] at least a little. Whilst some of my bugbears with the game, such as the odd scale, overpriced minis and custom dice, remain, having people I enjoy playing with really helps get me into something. Of course, me being me, I can't let well enough alone and have to mess with it a little. Or a lot. I probably don't need to tell anyone reading this that the MCP models are a mixed bag in terms of quality and stability, but thankfully, there are plenty of other options out there for those willing to look. Naturally, I'm not just looking at Marvel superheroes.

Even I'm not so nuts as to want to recreate my SSUA project in MCP, I'm not really sure I could in any meaningful way, so I'm going to need another narrative framework for my AARs and my own self-justification. Thankfully, I happened to have moved house recently and was unpacking some trade paperbacks, finding Contest of Champions and giving it another read. Now here's a concept that needs to be gamed! The Collector and The Grandmaster gather heroes and villains from across the multiverse to battle for the ISO-8, but their chosen champions have their own agendas and soon the situation spirals out of control. So now I have some kind of, Multiverse or Champions... Protocol? Yeah, that works.

With the theme and basic narrative framework down, I can start looking at what teams I want to build, as MCP works on "Affiliation[s]", so just collecting any random character because I like them won't work. As I already own the MCP Hulk and Moon Knight, the Defenders Affiliation looks good to me, as they both fit and the variety of heroes is pretty broad, including Doctor Strange, The Ancient One, Spider-Man, Blade, Clea, Daredevil, Elektra, Ghost Rider, Hawkeye, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, Magik, Scarlet Witch, Valkyrie, Wolverine and Wong thus far in addition to the pair I already have. This is a pretty fun spread of characters, and I can see myself buying some more official models, some characters that would work with my existing proxies and plenty of room to expand if I start enjoying the game more.

So what does this mean is "in the pipeline" for my MCP games? Well, more figures from different franchises, more AARs and some fiction justifying why I have an odd mix of characters fighting my opponent's Official Team. Basically the same nonsense I've been doing for years, but now in 32mm. Throw in a little Dragon Ball Super Universe Survival and the multiverse antics of What If? and we should be getting pretty close.

Superhero Media: Pacific Rim Uprising

Why do I keep defending films that popular consensus has panned? Is it some masochistic intellectual exercise? Do I just like bad films? Or maybe, just maybe, I don't let other people's opinions dictate how I feel about media. Yeah. How about that? Following on from the surprise mega-hit of Pacific Rim, Pacific Rim Uprising takes place several years after the events of the previous film, with the world slowly rebuilding from the Kaiju attacks and the Jagers forming something of a global military. Jake Pentacost, tearaway son of Stacker, is living on the fringes of society, partying and wasting away his potential, when he encounters Amara and the pair are drawn back into the Jager Corps. One of the most interesting elements of Pacific Rim Uprising for me is in the first act, where Jake introduces a society of people living in abandoned mansions and scavenging damaged Jagers from the war to make money to import food and supplies; living a life of hedonism after years of enforced austerity. I would have liked that part of the film to be explored a little more, but there is no shortage of world-building in Pacific Rim Uprising. 

To avoid gaol, Jake and Amara are enrolled as Jager Corps Cadets, where they butt heads with entitled white people before there's a sideplot with rogue Jagers that goes nowhere and finally, more Kaiju attack in the third act. The look inside the more mundane processes of the Jagers and their crew is nice, as most Kaiju films don't bother with the workaday of the people tasked with defending the Earth, even if most of the characters we meet are pretty generic. I was fond of the "Rogue Jager" idea, and was disappointed when it turned out to be a red herring and just a way to introduce more Chinese characters for the bigger Asian box office. Once the Kaiju rock up, however, the action ramps up again and we're treated to more than half an hour of monster versus giant robot. The finale almost had me cheering when the Kaiju Voltron-ed together and tried to set of a volcanic chain-reaction to destroy the planet, the only solution for which was, naturally, mass-driving a Jager from orbit into the monster. Awesome. 

Pacific Rim Uprising isn't trying to be anything more than the sum of its parts, which I actually appreciated, despite the lack of depth when compared to the original. The Jagers being more agile and the story being more generic was fine, when I want my Kaiju films to have deeper meaning, I reach for Gamera 2 - Attack of Legion or Shin Godzilla, not Pacific Rim. This was fun, and there's really nothing wrong with a film where giant monsters attack giant robots just being fun. That's why the best American Kaiju films are Kong Skull Island and Godzilla II King of the Monsters, because they embrace the subject matter without trying to be something more than fun and solid films. I hope there is another Pacific Rim, even if it is more like Uprising and just a fun romp with big Kaiju fights, because I want to see the genre get more exposure in English speaking markets. Hopefully I can also find an affordable Jager for my Kaiju gaming.

The Pitch: Superman Trilogy - Prologue

Ok, so I kind of want to more of my "The Pitch" articles, as people keep throwing interesting ideas at me or drawing me into arguments about how "they should totally make a Batman Who Laughs movie" (which is a terrible idea, just being clear). The problem is, The Pitch takes a long time to write and much of the information isn't really what I'm excited to write about. You've probably noticed that my last couple have been shorter and more conversational in tone, as I just had the one or two points to cover. To this end, I'm changing up how The Pitch works. Shorter articles, more of a focus on ideas and with an eye to talking about how the characters interact with the medium of film, rather than a full-on "this is how I would make a movie".

My first project is going to be taking a look at a troubled character, in terms of the film market, Superman. I've spoken about the issues with making a good Superman film in the past, more than once, and I really don't think it's as hard as the internet commentary would indicate, but there are certain hurdles that few really clear. It's not a matter of Superman being "too powerful", though the lack of credible threats to him is a factor. It's not a matter of repetition, but I'm kind of sick of Zod and Luthor as the only antagonists. It's not that the character is locked into the time in which he was created, though at least a nod towards the Gold and/or Silver age seems to work better. Superman is tricky because he is the progenitor, the original superhero, and the narrative and cultural baggage that comes with that can make the work so much harder.

What I don't get is that Superman has so many good stories, yet no one seems to be able to adapt them. Superman the Movie and Superman II have the excuse of comics being more serial at the time they were made, but many of the films that failed to make it to the screen seem intent to remake Superman II or focus on adapting The Death of Superman. For me, both of these stories, whilst good, don't front-load the most interesting things about Superman. As I've said before, the focus really needs to be more on "The Man of Tomorrow" than "The Man of Steel", what does Superman mean as opposed to what Superman can punch. 

So keep an eye out for a new version of The Pitch, coming soon, with a look at Superman and how I feel a film series may work for this character.

Superhero Media: Captain America - The First Avenger

I've hinted at it previously when discussing MCU films, but I honestly believe Captain America - The First Avenger is the best film in Wave 1. Part of it has to do with the writing, set design and composition, but really, Chris Evans brings it all together. I have to say that I wasn't keen on Chris Evans as Cap right up until Age of Ultron, my fan-cast back in the day was Jensen Ackles, and I still think he would have done a good job, but everything that Evans is outside of the role just informs the character even better. Chris Evans was the Captain America we needed, not the one I wanted. Is it really important that Evans is a genuinely decent person whilst playing Captain America? When you consider the international reputation of the American Nation this century so far and how easy it would have been for a young actor cast in the role to go on to be a bigoted, neo-conservative, queer phobic all over Twitter. Instead, we got a compassionate, caring man who adopts stray animals and makes sure everyone on the cast and crew of the Marvel films gets a good lunch. If that's not the spirit of Captain America made flesh, I don't know what is. 

Most Golden Age superhero films (The Phantom, The Shadow and The Rocketeer) tend to get a bad wrap in the press, but Captain America - The First Avenger busted blocks across the globe, even in countries where America itself is not looked upon fondly; that's damn impressive. And it's not like Captain America - The First Avenger is some high art masterpiece or anything, the story is pretty basic and the tone very pulpy for the most part, but the strong cast and solid emotional core makes it connect with people more deeply than one may first expect. I won't wax on anymore about Chris Evans, who really plays two different roles in this film, and Tommy Lee Jones is basically just being Tommy Lee Jones, but how about Sebastian Stan and Hayley Atwell? Agent Carter has to be one of the biggest wastes of talent in the MCU (yes I'm still mad we only got two seasons of Agent Carter), and her performance here is stunning, especially the scene in the car where she falls for skinny Steve Rogers and the improvised moment where she reaches out to touch the newly emerged Captain America. 

As a wargamer, there is a lot to love in Captain America - The First Avenger as well, with plenty of Cap and Howling Commandos battling Hydra, the camp magnificence of Hydra itself and more Nazi super-technology that you could even need. Sure, it turns out the Cosmic Cube has more to do with the broader MCU meta-plot later on, but for now it's a fun MacGuffin and a great nod to Cap lore. I used to have a set of Howling Commandos for my 1949 Secrets of the Third Reich American army, converted from Eureka Pulpitations figures, but they went when I sold the army; I'd really like a set that looks like the characters from Captain America - The First Avenger, preferably in 28mm rather than Batman scale or whatever. Cap will go on from here to be one of the most important characters in the MCU, and this first outing is a great start as well as a damn fine film with an excellent cast.