Superhero Media: Ant-Man and The Wasp

I have a feeling that when the great sweep of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is done, or at least done enough that we're writing think pieces about it to fill up space in the pop culture narrative, that the Ant-Man film series will gain new appreciation. Seen as an also-ran, Ant-Man's story is one of the better crafted journeys, with a great cast and an emphasis on fun rather than action. Goofy, comedy, superhero, heist films that are fun to watch seems like more than enough for a series to be about, but add in Paul Rudd giving his best performances to date and it becomes something special. In many ways, Ant-Man and The Wasp was the film we, the audience, needed after the unrelentingly grim ending of Infinity War, a purely fun romp with a good heart and people we wanted to see again. Hell, I was thrilled to get more of Cassie, with Abby Ryder Fortson being so adorable in the role that I was able to bypass my mental block of associating children with work and just enjoy having her around. The scene where she wants to be her father's superhero partner is so well done I have no doubt she'll be accepting an Oscar at some point in her life. 

When Scott Lang has a weird dream about Janet Van Dyne, he's picked up by Hope and Hank Pym from his house arrest and a new adventure begins to rescue Janet from the microverse. Yes, I know they call it the Quantum Realm in the film, but I like the Silver Age comics name better, so Microverse it is. Like all good heist films, the team have to dodge law enforcement (Jimmy Woo and the FBI), rival gangs (Sonny Burch) and a stone-cold killer (Ghost) on their trail, but they get to do it with size-changing cars and giant ants. Damn, this is just a really fun film, how did it not do better? The resolution at the end, that Janet can just cure Ghost with "Quantum Energy" is a bit lame, but the emotional core of reuniting a family (as Scott's was in the first film) still provides a good conclusion. Including Bill Foster, but not making a "Black Goliath" joke is disappointing, but at least they didn't kill him with a robotic Thor. Then, of course, there is the real star of this series, Michael Pena as Luis. 

It's not just the "Luis rants" that are great, it's how well rounded this throwaway character is and how fun it is just to see him around. His scenes allow the actors to really let their comedy chops loose, with their having to play their characters as being described by Louis, idiosyncrasies and colourful tastes intact. You want one of the best examples of how much attention to detail Marvel Studios has in making these things? Scott's ringtone for Louis is a Morrissey song, scenes before we find out that Louis' aunt had a jukebox which only contains Morrissey songs. That's the kind of thing that wouldn't have mattered if it wasn't there, but because it is, the whole scene is made better for it. Isn't it crazy that Ant-Man, of all characters, and the Scott Lang version too, not only has two decent, big-budget films, but has somehow become a central element of the MCU? Scott Lang, reformed thief, closeup magician and funny dad, saved the universe in Endgame, saved Captain America in Civil War and looks to be a major Avenger in Phase 4. What a time to be alive. 

Oh, and Marvel Studios? Release "Luis Recaps the Marvel Universe" already, please. 

Home Town Advantage - Part III

I know essentially no one but me is a fan of these articles, but I do enjoy writing them, and my follower numbers aren't so huge that I really worry about revenue or anything. The idea is pretty simple, here's another list of cities/towns/general locations which would be good for your superhero gaming as settings. There are a few reasons for wanting to do this, aside from not having the baggage of an existing superhero setting, like not having to make everything from scratch, being able to download online maps and resources and setting tone through location. Even if you do want to play in an existing setting, as will be discussed below, maybe being in Marvel New York or Gotham is just too tied up with continuity and being "off to the side", as it were, will be helpful. I personally find that moving to the locales not hit by the big events is a massive help when playing in the Marvel or DC sandbox myself.

Miskatonic University

Ok, so hear me out on this one. Run a Big Hero 6/Black Summer style game where all the heroes are university postgrads working on super-technology, but the antagonists are from the Lovecraft Mythos. Doesn't that sound cool? A bit like Cthulhu Tech, but superheroes and more modern-day. Or just run a university-based superhero team and leave the Lovecraft angle hanging to annoy your players? New England is lovely after all. Plus if you're roleplaying, there is simply tonnes of information and maps of the University and the area already, meaning you can skip quite a bit of preparation and dive right in.

Knowhere

Probably more known now as the mining colony in Guardians of the Galaxy, the Knowhere of the comics is actually even more interesting and a great base for a superhero team, as the comics demonstrate. Knowhere is a repository of Universal Knowledge, essentially a giant library and tech cave just waiting for the kind of players actually smart enough to research their targets and prepare plans. There's teleportation facilities for away missions and Cosmo the space dog is chief of security, so throw in some lost technology and you can end up with a much different vibe for your Marvel Universe game than you'll get working out of Avengers' Mansion.

Scrapyard

I may have mixed feelings about the "Alita" franchise, but the city of Scrapyard is really cool and worth a good look. Underneath a floating wonder-city of lost technology, scavengers and cyborgs compete for the chance to move to the world above whilst surviving on the garbage that is thrown down. Whilst the concept of 'superheroes' doesn't usually enter this world, it is primed for for exactly that kind of action, with a corrupt government, plenty of street gangs and a massive criminal empire that a rag-tag group of heroes could happily rail against. The setting introduces a great deal of future technology, but is also primitive in many ways, which a clever Game Master will be able to utilise to tell some great stories.

Paris

Look, maybe just run the game in Paris? This may feel like a cop-out, but trust me I'm going somewhere with it. Yes, I'm something of a Francophile and, yes, I really enjoy Miraculous, but I think Paris, or a version of it, has a lot to recommend as a setting. Despite not being strongly associated with superheroes, Paris is at least home to Nightrunner, Ladybug and Chat Noir, and, if you're not playing modern day, Les Hommes Mysterioux. Not being an American city provides a great change of tone and there is a huge history to the city that is lacking in the New World, such as a series of catacombs beneath the streets in which entire societies live, plenty of landmarks and museums and even slummy tower blocks for villains to recruit from. For a different look at the city, check out the District B-13 films or some early Luc Besson crime dramas; you may find some fun ideas for your next game.

Superhero Media: Deadpool

Right up until the moment I was watching Deadpool in the cinema, I was really apprehensive about it, suspecting that it may just turn out to be trash, despite how good the cast was and how fun the trailer looked. You see, I'm old enough to remember a world where Deadpool comics were not often great, where the character was annoying and not well liked; I remember Deadpool being garbage. So I didn't believe the hype, I didn't care all that much if I could help it, and I tried not to hope too hard that Deadpool might actually be good. Thankfully, Deadpool was not only good, but turned out to be one of the better solo X-Men film outings, keeping true to the character, but not letting too many of the more tiresome elements bleed through. I don't think that anyone who didn't grow up with '90s X-Men family comics can understand just how ubiquitous and tiresome The Merc with a Mouth was for a few years there. One of the best decisions the filmmakers made with Deadpool was to keep it small and just do something quick and fast, like a microwave chimichanga. 

Keeping things small, Deadpool makes sure to check all the Superhero Movie boxes, with an origin, references to the broader franchise and sequel teases, all with a blase and irreverent tone that teenage boys will love. That's the trick that Deadpool pulls well, in that the film isn't actually a meta-criticism of the superhero genre, or a deconstruction, it's a standard Superhero film with a sarcastic tone and more swearing, pretending to be a clever deconstruction. Add to that basic, but somewhat clever conceit, a solid script, plenty of good actors and the intent to make a fun film, rather than meeting fan expectations or directly adapting comics. Deadpool isn't even all that beholden to the other X-Men films, with Colossus, the X-Wing Jet and even the X-Mansion all looking a little different from their last appearances in Days of Future Past and The Wolverine. The addition of Negasonic Teenage Warhead was probably the most brilliant choice of the film, having a jaded character for Deadpool to bounce off who is already tired of his shit before he starts. I hope she makes it to the MCU at some stage. 

Probably my favouite part of Deadpool is Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, I don't know how they got her, but she's the funniest character in the film and a good update on the tiresome version of the comics, which was just a parody of the already tiresome Aunt May from Silver Age comics. It's a little cheap in places, parts seem to have been rushed to finish last minute and the studio had no confidence in it, but, somehow, Deadpool works, it comes together into an enjoyable film. When I crack open some early '90s X-Men and see how tiresome the character used to be, I'm actually amazed how good the film turned out, even after watching it several times and seeing the sequel, it exists somehow on the edge of my perception, as a goal that can never quite be achieved, even when it stares me in the face. It will be interesting to see how Deadpool is integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, I'm sure it will be a fine film, but how they balance the tone and if he may appear in crossover films, remains to be seen.

Miniatures Finished - 07/03/21

Despite sending a decent amount of time sorting out my Superhero miniatures during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, it appears that I always have more to paint than I remember. The current focus of my work is actually just painting the overflow of the storage box I keep the undercoated miniatures in.

Cyborg Spider-Man: A random booster pull, I based him up for Reality's Edge Cyberpunk gaming, though I expect he'll see the table during my slow-burn "Spiderverse" project. Heroclix

Hit-Monkey: Another booster random, I actually had to look this character up because I'd never heard of him. Seems fun enough, and is such a small piece to store that I won't miss the space. Heroclix

The Punisher: Commission piece done for a friend, the face is pretty poor, but the rest of the sculpt is quite nice. Heroclix

Godzillas: I had a friend run these off when members of my local club started doing 1/1200 scale naval gaming, just as something fun to throw on the otherwise bare tables. 3D Prints

Gentlemen Ghost: Great character, been meaning to paint him up for games for a while now. Good thing I've been painting lots of ghosts for other games lately. Heroclix

Superhero Media: Swamp Thing (2019)

A high-budget, high-concept television adaptation of Swamp Thing? Sign me up! I had heard nothing but praise for Swamp Thing, and the occasional lament that there would be no second season, so when I was able to get the DVD for a reasonable price, I jumped on it. I'm not so naive as to expect that the programme would be heavy on existential spiritualism and the magical realism of Alan Moore's run on the comics, but I was hoping for more than I got. Ok, so Gotham isn't an adaptation of the GCPD comics and Lucifer is nothing like the Vertigo series, but both at least manage to be interesting in their own right. Swamp Thing is so generic, except for the presence of Swamp Thing himself, that I felt like I had seen it all before, and usually done better. The town of Marais is rotten to the core, full of secrets and under the thumb of a powerful man with a dark past. Oh great, I was really hoping for, yet another, take on what Twin Peaks did the best version of decades ago. Yes, the Swamp Thing costume and preference for practical effects are nice, but not enough to hide the flaws. 

Because Swamp Thing burns money every time he's on screen, the protagonist of the series is Doctor Abby Arcane, played by Crystal Reed, who is competent in the role, but distractingly beautiful. Look, I know it's television, so they hire beautiful people, and yes, I know beauty is no indication of intellect, but I'm getting to the stage where I want to see more "average" looking people on the screen, you know? Heavier or less conventionally attractive people being the villains is dull and overplayed, I'd like something else now please. Most of the series' narrative focuses on the hunt for Swamp Thing and the conflict between wanting to "save" him or to mine him for the cure for everything ever; it serves well enough, even if most of it boils down to conversations about what's happening because the budget doesn't stretch too far. There is the germ of a good idea in Swamp Thing, but it's buried in generic plot and typical television tropes that make the whole experience pretty bland to watch. The entire series is only ten episodes, but it could have easily been cut down by half and still get the same amount of plot in. 

I probably shouldn't, in retrospect, have watched Swamp Thing so soon after Man-Thing, as the former plays like an attempt to do the latter, only seriously, which doesn't work. Hell, the big reveal at the close of the season, for the second season that will never happen, is Flouronic Man, but, you know, played seriously. What, was Kite Man too busy? Also, Blue Devil is in this programme, at least kind of? There is a character who almost becomes a recognisable version of Blue Devil by the end of the series, but he doesn't really interact with Swamp Thing, so it seems like another wasted opportunity. Here's the thing, the compartmentalisation of the DC/WB/CW programmes has been a good thing in the past, giving us a breadth of tone and not bogging anything down with too much continuity, but I think not slipping Swamp Thing in with something else hurt it. So much time is given over to "but what is this thing?" moments, that someone going "there's a guy who can fly and shoots lasers from his eyes, I think we can handle one swamp guy"; again, I'm looking for brevity here, as the series just keeps repeating itself and other series. I don't feel it's a real shame that we won't get more of this Swamp Thing.

Drokk the Law!! - Part X

Well the sad news is I won't be running a Judge Dredd game at Victorious 2024 anymore, but I may have some more takers at work for the fun and light action that can be had in Mega City One. This means I'm slowly making some more gangers when I can find suitable miniatures, but as they're a low-ish priority, it may be a while before they're shown here sorry.

The table is coming together, despite the fact Andy can't work on it very much and I'm not really contributing at this stage. Once I clear out some more Necromunda tiles I need for an event soon, I'm considering some drifts of rubbish for that real 2000AD feel. For now, I dug some vehicles out of my collection, one of my favourite ways to add a bit of characterful scatter to any table.

Three games were played on the night, Judges Vs Apes, Apes Vs Vigilante and Robots Vs Judges. Oddly, Andy, Sam and myself all got a win in somehow, which was kind of nice. Also, despite my arriving later and leaving earlier now that I have a much longer distance to travel to the club, being able to get three whole games in is pretty neat. If we could get a campaign going, there might be noticeable growth in teams each week, like back in my old Necromunda days with the classic edition. It would mean we need more models for each gang, which will be tricky with Andy's classic collection of '80s GW Dredd.

My losing streak with Bubba Feet continued against the Apes, without my causing a single casualty thanks to some poor rolling on the few shots I could pull off. Sam has also gotten very good at keeping my options limited and forcing Bubba to move when he could take a shot with his laser rifle, which is typically a definite kill. The final blow came from a cannon-fodder Gorilla Gangster with a handgun, thanks to Bubba wiffing his melee roll, despite having an advantage.

In the final game, my Renegade Robots were being chased by the Judges, with the goal being that my leader, Haro2-Goodbye, had to escape before he was caught or killed. Somehow, I keep getting to be the defender in this mission with my Robots, which works out alright, as Haro is pretty tough and does his best work in melee, so starting right near the enemy is always good for me. Thanks to, for once, having a numbers and range advantage, I mopped up the Judges pretty handily, only losing a minibot, who are really only there to be expendable anyway, not being able to carry anything bigger than a handgun. I'm feeling that some new missions may need to be worked out as there's perhaps three or four in the book that are reasonably balanced and flavourful, and that's not really enough for a campaign.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Bio Broly

Hey, I finally got a Dragon Ball Z film without Goku! Shame the writing isn't all that great, but I did enjoy Bio Broly as a fun romp, if nothing else. Following on from the events of the World Tournament Saga, Android 18 has confronted Hercule about the prize money she was promised, with Trunks and Goten tagging along, when they are offered a challenge by Jaguar, a former rival of Hercule's. Of course, it's a trap, and soon 18 and the boys are fighting Bio-Warriors, a kind of gooey, cloned army of martial artists. As ordinary fighters are nothing against Androids or Super Sayians, Jaguar soon reveals his trump card, a Bio-Warrior Version of Broly. Most Broly fans don't like Bio Broly (or Bio Broly, for that matter), but from an outsider's perspective, the only real difference seems to be cosmetic, as the character was never really that complex to begin with. 

In terms of the film, there is enough here to enjoy, even if it's short and a little dull at times. The fight in a big chemical plant makes for a visually different DBZ battle, if nothing else, and gives the whole enterprise something of a classic superhero vibe. I was half expecting Dr Collie to fall into a vat of gunk and emerge with green hair and chalk-white skin. The chemical plant/lab is so huge, in fact that it more resembles something from Warhammer 40,000, but rendered in the classic mat-painted style of DBZ. It turns out the only thing that can defeat Bio Broly is the very goo from which he's made, do Trunks sets about blowing up storage tanks until the facility floods and beating Broly becomes more of a game of dodging him until he's caught by the goo. Whilst many won't like that aspect, I think it works quite well, enabling "weaker" characters like 18 and the boys to take on a major villain without breaking the whole "power-scaling" thing. 

As there is some part of me that actively enjoys trolling the "core" DBZ fanbase, I've always been tempted to build a Bio Broly deck for the card game[s], mostly so I can tell people that I have a Broly deck and then watch them get sad. I mean, the Dragon Ball Super incarnation aside, Broly is still a dull character who is only memorable in terms of visual element; hell, he only has dialogue in one of the three films in which he is the literal title character, that's the guy you're placing on the pedestal. I at least get Goku being popular, because he's a blank-slate power fantasy, and they're always popular, that's why Superheroes caught on in the first place, but Broly really is just a brute with no personality. Broly is the Doomsday or Lunatik of DBZ, there, I said it. After writing this one, I finally get to watch one of the DBZ films I really like tonight.

Miniatures Finished: SWAT Reinforcements

After completing the last batch of SWAT, I decided that five was, perhaps, too few, so picked up a handful more on my next trip to Eureka Miniatures. Yes, I can drive to Eureka, it's pretty awesome. I just went there today and got a nice handful of things, some of which you'll see here at some point, but I digress.

Eureka Miniatures German Bundeswher, from the Moderns range.

Here with their fellows, the extra Officers, along with Radio Operator and K-9 unit, make for a nice little generic force of disposables.

Superhero Media: Die Hard With A Vengeance

Before I get to talking about Die Hard With A Vengeance, I just wanted to mention two throw-away comedy lines that have dated hilariously. One is a 911 Call-centre Operator making a joke about marrying Donald Trump, and the other is about Hillary Clinton being the likely 43rd President of the United States. I really hope Trump isn't still in office when this comes through the backlog. Hell, I kind of hope he isn't alive anymore, but what can you do? Five years after saving his wife and other passengers at Dulles Airport, John McClaine is back in New York, having lost some status and his wife and picked up a serious drinking habit. Expecting to have a day off to nurse his perpetual hangover, McClaine is pulled out of the drunk tank when a terrorist known only as Simon demands he play his little game before more people die. Soon an electrician named Zeus (Sam Mutherfukin' Jackson!) is caught up in the game and the FBI comes in to tell McClaine that Simon is really Simon Gruber, brother of Hans and played by, a shockingly buff, Jeremy Irons. 

The film progresses into a great series of tasks and puzzles McClaine and Zeus have to run to that seems ripped from a really exciting role playing game I wish I could have played. Despite having the entirety of New York City to play in, and actually including scenes in Canada, Die Hard With A Vengeance manages to be tense, fast-paced and often nerve wracking, as the whole NYPD rushes with McClaine and Zeus to prevent a series of bombs going off. Honestly, this may be one of the best sequels of all time, right up there with The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II, with flashbacks to the original Die Hard and McClaine using his knowledge of Hans Gruber and experience of previous films to win the day. Those too young to remember a world before the Marvel Cinematic Universe may be shocked to learn that sequels referring to other films directly used to be something of a rarity. Seeing Hans again nearly a decade later, even only for an instant, is a great bit and gives McClaine a great moment of character development that's pretty rare in Action cinema. 

The fact that we got two more Die Hard films (at the time of writing, there is a 6th in the works) after With A Vengeance is generally considered to not be a great thing, with most finding Live Free or Die Hard and A Good Day to Die Hard to be pretty poor. You'll have to wait for my take on those, but I do think that their existence has forced people to go back and get a better appreciation for the first three, especially Die Harder. That these films are great should go without saying, but the fact that they remain so great is worth celebrating as well; that the ways in which they have dated, and they have, are pretty minor and doesn't detract too much. Yes, there are almost no decent female characters in the franchise, and that kind of sucks, but the films aren't outright sexist or misogynistic in any real way. The interactions between McClaine and Zeus are a little dated, and occasionally awkward, but I know I don't expect McClaine to be a bastion of post-racial enlightenment. Ok, two more to go in this series.