Superhero Media: GANTZ (2010)

I've actually been watching a few "Live Action" Anime adaptations lately, and found myself enjoying them quite a bit, despite the conventional wisdom that they tend to be poor. I think it's down to my not really liking a lot of the general Anime tropes and genre conventions, many of which the films tend to jettison for time. In Tokoyo Ghoul, for example, a lot of the angst is compacted for the sake of the narrative, and it is more about the Ghoul community and existence than the big fights of the Anime, so I enjoyed it a lot more. Years back, I watched GANTZ: O on a whim and could not get into it, because I had no real idea what was going on and it was clearly made for people who were already fans. By contrast, GANTZ is exactly what I wanted, a good introduction to the core concepts of the series, with decent pacing and a lot of the chaff cut away. 

After dying helping save a man's life, estranged childhood friends Kato and Koruno awaken in an unfurnished apartment with several strangers and a Black Sphere containing an unconscious man. For those not yet familiar with the GANTZ franchise, people are taken at the moment of death and given a chance to free themselves by battling aliens (most often in the guise of Japanese folklore monsters), with many only dying again in brutal ways. As players kill aliens, they earn points which can be used to free themselves, resurrect dead players or upgrade weaponry. Basically, GANTZ (also the name of the sphere) is a really cool concept for a story (or roleplaying game or video game), but occasionally gets bogged down in its own lore and mythology. Really, the franchise reminds me a little of Hunter: The Reckoning, a roleplaying favourite of mine, in that the characters "chosen" are pretty diverse and tend to have little in common to begin with. 

GANTZ is a little more "heroic" than other entries in the series I've seen, with Kato even having a costume and training montage at one stage, though the brutality of the fights does strip this feeling away pretty quick. That said, the suits are cool, the weapons pretty unique and the monsters are memorable, if a little underdeveloped, so if you're intrigued, this film is worth checking out. I'm a little tempted to pull GANTZ into my broader Ultimate Alliance narrative, as a kind of failed technology running rogue, but the Japanese Government not trying too hard to shut it down, because it keeps the aliens under wraps. I may check out the Anime, if I can stream it or get it on sale, but I'm not sure how keen I really am on doing that anytime soon. 

Miniatures Finished: Twin Moons

Been a little while thanks to getting Nocturnal together, but finally finished up a few more minis. Nothing in particular, other than finally getting to my own MCP collection, just what came to hand after moving house.

The Leader: A little odd that I hadn't yet got to this iconic Hulk villain yet, especially because I go through big Silver Age patches in my painting. Orange and blue is always fun to paint though. Heroclix

Moon Knight: I wasn't happy with my old one, so I got a new Moon Knight, really happy with how the white turned out on this one, wish I could get results this good consistently. Heroclix

Paralax: It may be telling that I read comics in the '90s, as this is probably my favourite costume for Hal Jordan. It just oozes power and strength and I'd love to see it return when Hal wasn't possessed by a fear parasite. Heroclix

Moon Knight: My first MCP model, obtained when a friend wanted to split the Blade out of the box. A lot nicer than the starter box ones I did for work, but the white isn't as nice as my Heroclix version. Atomic Mass Games

Zubatman: In an alternate reality, Bruce Wayne defends Fuchsia City from Team Rocket as the Dark Knight, Zubatman! This was a joke I made once on Facebook and could never get out of my head, because it just gets better the deeper you dive. Typically used as a Daredevil stand-in for MCP. Converted Heroclix

Yamcha: Ordered this thinking it was 28mm, but turns out it was scaled for MCP, so he got done up as a proxy, usually Iron Fist or Wong for my Defenders. Fantastic model to paint and really happy with the result, big recommend for their service and STLs. damange83

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Super - Broly

Finally, a genuinely good film with Broly in it! Well, the second half is really good, at least. And the version of Broly presented is different in a lot of ways from the previous incarnation, so it's almost a new character; but Broly is still amazing, right? Well... Look, if the Dragon Ball Super version of Broly had been the first one, I'd probably be fine with the character, but having lived with the Broly fanboys since the late 1990s, I'm kind of just done, sorry. Recasting Broly as a childlike innocent forced by his father's hubris to live on a nightmare world for most of his life before happenstance improves his lot is at least more interesting than having him hate Goku because he cried a lot that one time they were babies. The thing is though, Broly is still pretty shallow, even for a DB character; he gets mad and loses control and is really powerful for unclear reasons. Once the fight starts, it's great, on the best looking fights in DB history, hands down, and it manages to stay engaging for most of it, but the time to get there isn't all that great. 

What Broly does have is some interesting world-building that I really enjoyed, like having characters who joined Freiza's army for a diversity of reasons and Bulma using the Dragon Balls to keep herself young. That is so bang on for who Bulma was back in the Dragon Ball days, it's nice to see character continuity over such a distance of time. Bra is born, so hopefully we'll have some more of her down the track if we get more DBS at some point, I like that a Sayian character exists who isn't into fighting and would rather spend time at the mall. It makes a nice contrast to Goku and Vegeta, whilst also showing more of the slow integration into humanity that started with Gohan. I think I've asked this before, but why are fans so hyped for Gogeta, but less so for Vegito? I really cannot tell the difference between the two other than the cosmetic and method of fusion. Super Sayian God fusion is pretty fun though, especially with the return of failed fused forms, which was always a nice touch, given how ridiculous the power levels are at that point. 

I know a fair few people are big on the Broly soundtrack as well, but I really don't get it. It's just anime music with the characters' names being chanted, nothing special as far as I can tell. I do enjoy getting to see a more devious side of Frieza, who plans and schemes a lot more than he has in the past; making smart choices for the most part and making use of what advantages he has over Goku and Vegeta. The real star of Broly however, is the animation, which seems to draw as much from Into the Spider-Verse and psychedelia as it does traditional Shonen anime, with a fluidity of motion unlike essentially anything that has appeared in DB before. With the continued addition of cell-shaded CGI to help flesh-out the fight scenes, Broly is a visual delight, even if much of it is two or more burly men without shirts punching each other and yelling. Broly probably isn't a good jumping-on point for the broader DB franchise, but I really hope it does indicate what's in the future. More experimental animation, revising Movie characters into better versions and building the setting apart from the Sayians.

Soopha Dewper Super Sayians - Part 7

In attempting to get more of my friends to play the Dragon Ball Z Collectable Card Game (FuZion Format), I've had to start approaching it from a more Magic the Gathering-based perspective. You see, most of the people I play cards with only play Commander, a MtG multiplayer variant, so framing FuZion through that lens could well help me bring some of them across. Something card players like pretty much more than anything else is shiny cards with nice art, especially foiled versions if they can get them. So if I were to make a deck that was full of foiled cards that had a play-style analogous to a popular Magic deck, well maybe that'd give me a way in, right? So anyway, that's why I built Blue Ginyu.

For those that never played the Dragon Ball Z games, especially the Panini version, and are only familiar with the anime, building Captain Ginyu may seem like an odd choice, however, Ginyu was once the best decks going around. Each turn in FuZion, you start by powering up and then drawing three cards, with some clever deck building, you can probably get more cards in your hand, but having more than three attacks and/or blocks is pretty rare. What makes Ginyu different is that he can pull out his Allies (the rest of the Ginyu force) and they can do the fighting for him. When the format had a limited card pool, Allies could be very deadly, and there's still room there for good decks. In fact, I had a Ginyu Force Orange Allies deck before FuZion came along and have considered bringing it back as Freestlye Beats.

I also decided to jump in on the My Hero Academia CCG, because a few people at work were giving it a go and it looked cool. I've only played with the intro decks so far, but the mechanics are fun and there are almost no dead cards in the entire game. I'm going to start building an All Might deck, mostly because I pulled good cards for him and he looks easy to play, but also because my other option is the short guy who throws his balls at people. Not going to cover everything about the game and my deck building here like FuZion unless I start playing it a lot, but it's another Superhero card game, so of course I had to take a look, even if I'm not a huge fan of the programme. Interestingly, this game is based on the UniVerses system by Jasco, so, in theory, I could play my My Hero Academia characters against the old Megaman card game characters? I'll look more into that, even if I'm also not a big Megaman fan.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Battle of Gods

How do you relaunch one of the most popular Anime franchises in history for a new century and a new generation? By adding a couple of new toyetic characters and giving Goku a new form, apparently. I really want to like Battle of Gods, there's a lot going on that I like to see in DB, such as the characters enjoying downtime, the "Otherworld" and Goku losing a fight. The animation is sharp, some of the best in the history of the franchise, with plenty of great fluid movement that isn't traditionally associated with Anime. In terms of the narrative, however, Battle of Gods leaves me cold. I like Beerus and Whis, and their role[s] later on in DBS are excellent, but here their only purpose seems to be to propel Goku to the next stage, "Super Sayian God". As much as people complain that the story of Battle of Gods was re-run in DBS, but, to me, this feels more like an introductory Saga to a new status quo, like the Trunks or Great Sayiaman Sagas before it. 

The Goku/Beerus fight is very cool to watch, and the bigger budget of the film format allows for a great spectacle, but I just cannot engage with it as much as I want to. There is almost no threat to the fight, with Beerus being unable to lose and the "Destruction of the Earth" never feeling like a real possibility with all of the godlike beings that hang around the main cast by this point. There are no stakes, as the Hollywood people would say, so there's no tension and I can't get invested. I do like that Whis and Beerus are just part of the cast from this point on, but the fact that the "Destroyer God" doesn't do anything other than eat and sleep wears thin as a joke pretty fast. Because, you know, he's a cat. Do the Destroyers in the other universes do the same? It's hard to imagine the clown guy just napping all the time, but maybe it works differently now. Oh, and the film ends with Beerus pointing out that there are more universes, because Goku needs to have stronger guys to fight. 

Again, I really want to like Battle of Gods, but I just can't get there with it; there's too many little things that bug me about it. Like, is this the first DB outing where Bulma is just stupid rich? I mean, she's always had money, but now she can give away a literal castle and a pile of gold at her birthday party? Ok, so it's good for some jokes and it's great to have the Pilaf gang back, but does Bulma really let her oldest friends rot in poverty when she has so much money? That's cold, Bulma. The Pilaf gang being back is amazing, 10 out of 10, would watch these guys as their own spin-off, especially with the Trunks/Mai pairing that pays off later in DBS. I know that sexuality is barely a thing in DB, but boy is Trunks in for a shock, given that Mai is technically in her forties and has a lifetime of "experience". As a jumping-on point, Battle of Gods is pretty lore-heavy, but it still looks great and I know some people who got their start here, so maybe check it out if older, clunky Anime tends to turn you off.

Danton - Part V

Ok, second-to-last one of these, but somehow the longest. Still we're almost done with this jaunt into my first youthful foray into multiverse superhero-ish writing. I can't say it hasn't been pretty awkward going over this for me, but at least I've seen the origins of some of my broader concepts and tropes, which is pretty cool for a writer.

Prelude to Bonaparte - A Danton Adventure

A young General, Napoleon Bonaparte, has risen to prominence under Dracula's regime. He is raised to the rank of General after the Schama War, being before the reunification of France a mercenary, continuing to lead his same force independently of Chewbaca in the Zombie Jesus War. During the final battle with Zombie Jesus, Napoleon discovers his ability to fire energy blasts. As a reward for his service in both the Schama and Zombie Jesus campaigns, Chewbaca grants Napoleon stewardship of Brittany.

This position makes Napoleon hunger for power, he stages a coup, killing Chewbaca and taking control of the French Lawyer army, adding it to his mercenary force. Napoleon embarks upon a naval voyage to the Middle East; upon arriving, he leads his army to victory in Jerusalem and takes for himself the Lance of Longinus, thereby becoming nigh-invincible. Upon returning to France, Napoleon discovers that it has been taken over and is ruled by a Decepticon who can transform into a Guillotine. The armies of Napoleon easily conquer France again, but are unable to penetrate the walls of Paris. Napoleon commissions Einstein to build a chronosphere.

After the chronosphere is completed, Napoleon shifts into Paris and confronts Guillotron. The battle between Guillotron and Napoleon carries on for days, much of Paris is leveled between Napoleon's Gallic Gun and Guillotron's Blaster Canon. In desperation, Napoleon uses the chronosphere on Guillotron, while he is stunned, Napoleon uses his Final Flash, which raises almost of that is left standing in Paris and destroys Guillotron. In the wreckage of Guillotron, Napoleon finds the first Dragon Ball...

Danton - Part IV

You know, when I started writing these up again, I really had no idea just how much of it there was. I mean, I wrote this all in a few dull History lessons in 2004, that's long enough ago that it's pretty fuzzy for me, so I guess I suspected I didn't do all that much of this? And we're only halfway, well halfway-ish, so I hope you're not as sick of this as I'm getting.


Danton 4: Napoleon Ball Z

While Danton and company were defeating Robespierre in Otherworld, France was conquered by Napoleon, through an alliance with Chewbacca and his army of lawyers. Napoleon became Emperor by finding the Lance of Longinus and forging a series of rings. Now he seeks to become immortal by finding the Dragon Balls; to achieve this he dispatches Inspector Clouseau. Meanwhile Blanka/Danton returns from Otherworld, when he sees what has happened to France, he travels to Paris and challenges Napoleon to single combat, be prize being leadership of France. With the powers of the Lance of Longinus and the One Ring, Napoleon could easily defeat Blanka/Danton, but instead prolongs the combat, making a fool of Blanka/Danton before blasting him to Russia with the Kamehameha technique.

Burning for revenge, Blanka/Danton seeks out allies to fight Napoleon; he stumbles upon Simon Schama, who has led the Mongolians to victory across Asia, forging a massive empire. After striking a deal, Schama dispatches Sniper Wolf to assassinate Clouseau; he fails miserably and is killed by Link. Schama's army marches across Europe, making allies against France. In fear, Napoleon visits a coven of witches, who tell him that "No man of a woman born" can kill him. Now over-confident, Napoleon leaves his army to its own devices, awaiting the final battle in his Volcano Death Fortress.

Without their leader, the French army is quickly defeated by Schama's hardened veterans. Blanka/Danton and Schama confront Napoleon, unfortunately Clouseau has returned with all of the Dragon Balls. Napoleon wishes himself immortal and proceeds to brutally kill Blanka/Danton. Despite his advanced battle-armour, Schama looks doomed, until, at the last minute, Doctor Strange returns from the Hell Dimension in which he was trapped. Strange opens a Dead Zone into which Napoleon is drawn and sealed forever. Schama and Doctor Strange establish democratic rule in France.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Plan To Eradicate the Sayians

Ok, I'm scraping the Dragon Ball Z barrel now, there's not much left without starting to play more of the video games, so I guess it won't be too long before I move onto Dragon Ball. Sometime around the week Goku took off in the Perfect Cell Saga, mysterious creatures appear along with a gas that is slowly killing the planet. Heading out to deal with the issue, Goku, Gohan and Piccolo soon clean up the random monsters and meet up with Vegeta and Trunks to take out the last gas generator, only to discover themselves fighting Freiza, Cooler, Lord Slug and Turles. When the final villain, Doctor Lychee, is revealed, the truth comes out that the Z Fighters have been battling ghosts the entire time, ghosts out of a machine built by an alien race destroyed by the Sayians long ago. Man, is it just me or are the Sayians getting to be like Batman's parents with the amount of stuff they've meant to have done before getting killed off? 

In terms of DBZ, Plan To Eradicate the Sayians is not great, the story is weak and it doesn't add much to the franchise, but I love Doctor Lychee as a villain and I'm going to gush over him for a while again. One of the issues with the storytelling style of the Dragon Ball franchises is that villains (other than Freiza and Broly) never really get to come back, so there always needs to be a new threat and we don't get new fights with classic antagonists. Doctor Lychee gets around that, by being able to bring back heavy hitters from the past, without leaning on the Dragon Balls or other magical loopholes. I've been crafting a character in the image of Doctor Lychee for my broader Equalisers SS4 setting, but if I could get the actual character in 28mm, he'd be a regular in many of my convention games as well. Just think about the Marvel Rising characters getting their shot against the "Super Axis" or The Legion of Superheroes coming up against the Sinister Six, that's exactly the kind of game I started writing my SuperSystem Ultimate Alliance rules to do. 

The argument can be made that Doctor Lychee is just an excuse to recycle villains and makes the fights repetitive, but I think that shows a lack of imagination. Just an example from Plan To Eradicate the Sayians, we've never seen Freiza and Cooler fight together, sure, it doesn't last long, but seeing combinations like that is a big part of the appeal of Dragon Ball Multiverse, which I also enjoy quite a bit. The post-52 series of Booster Gold does something similar with time travel for excellent effect, with four versions of Blue Beetle getting to team up and fight a team of Silver Age villains. I really can't stop coming up with ideas for Doctor Lychee in Ultimate Alliance games, like, he's pretty much a perfect match for both the Legion of the Unliving and the Black Lantern Corps without even doing anything to tweak either. I can see Nekron wanting to get his hands on the technology that drives Lychee, and he seems like a much better lieutenant than Black Hand. Alright, now to convince someone to make me a Doctor Lychee in the right scale.

Danton - Part I

Whilst moving house recently, I came across some pages of loose leaf I've saved since my final year of high school. They contain a silly little story I wrote while bored in class one week and I just never seemed to throw them out for some reason. Reading over them again, I found that in these silly stories is something of the origin of some of my approach to gaming storytelling as it is nearly two decades hence. So for a little bit, I'll be writing up the story, which spins out of a synopsis of the first part of the 1983 film Danton, it's very silly and rather juvenile, and I've only edited the spelling mistakes and worst grammar, so maybe come back next week if you were hoping for anything more meaningful.


Danton

During the Terror, Robespierre and the Committee struggle to maintain control over the masses. Danton, the Great Orator, and his followers seek to overthrow the Committee and end the Terror. Robespierre seeks to imprison Danton without inciting a popular uprising. Danton allows himself to be imprisoned to further his cause. Some of Danton's followers turn against him. Robespierre decides to release the Sentinels to quell the mutant menace. The Justice League break Danton out of gaol and give him the armor of "La Dynamo Tricolore". Dracula seizes control of the Committee and reactivates Voltron, making the Marquis de Condorcet Voltron Commander. Seeking revenge, Robespierre allies himself with The Iron Paw, a coalition of werewolves. Gamera is awakening from his hibernation imposed by Doctor Strange, who has repaired Gundam Wing Zero.

When Gamera awakens, he goes on a rampage in Paris, Dracula sends Voltron to stop him. A team of Werewolf-hunting Ninja attack the Iron Paw, who are actually evil and trying to release a Storm Elemental into the world. In a pitched battle all the Werewolves and Ninja, bar a single Ninja, are killed. The last Ninja swears to hunt down and kill Robespierre, who has gone to Otherworld to fight in the Mortal Kombat tournament. A pair of Japanese fae turn Danton into a giant badger to battle Gamera and Voltron. During the battle, Voltron accidentally destroys Master Mould's holding cell and it attempts to destroy all humans in Paris. Doctor Strange arrives in Gundam Wing Zero and destroys Master Mould with his Beam Cannon. Voltron kills Badger Danton but is destroyed by Gamera, who leaves mysteriously with Doctor Strange.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball - Episode of Bardock

Ok, this is gonna be a quick one, as Episode of Bardock is all of twenty minutes long, and there's not much to it. Somehow not dying along with most of his species and his planet, Bardock is flung back in time to the era of Freiza's grandparent, Chilled, somehow before the sayains or tuffles evolved? But there are some slug aliens I can't remember the name of and they have healing goo, which is somehow linked to the healing tanks the Frezia army uses? Ok, so diving into the lore and "science" of Dragon Ball is always a bad decision, but the origins of the Sayian race and how they came to work for Freiza come up often enough that it still kind of bugs me. Turning briefly to my ongoing theories on the generation of the Frost Dynasty however, I will note that Episode of Bardock supports my concept of each new generation being more powerful than the last. 

So Bardock is the first Super Sayian, huh? Well that's pretty neat, and does tie in with the idea that certain Sayian families have a monopoly on the power, at least in the main timeline. Think about it, aside from Broly, only those of the Vegeta and Bardock lineages have ever ascended to the level of Super Sayian in the main universe. Interesting, huh? I'm sure there's a fan essay to be had there for someone more committed to that sort of thing than I. In a twenty minute special, however, Bardock only gets to be Super Sayian for a few minutes, which is more than enough time to defeat Frost and hopefully not create a time paradox because I assume King Cold has already been "born"? I mean, the Time Patrol does pick Bardock up in the games, so there had to have been some kind of shenanigans along the way. 

Probably the best description of Episode of Bardock is "non-essential", there's nothing in it for any but the most die-hard fan, who plays all the games, watches all the programmes and probably even plays at least one of the card games. I myself had some "Mysterious Masked Sayian" in one of my Dragon Ball Super CCG decks back when I played, so the character is around if you look for him, but isn't currently essential to the main story. Then again, the short run-time of Episode of Bardock makes it perfect to get a little taste of DBZ in a short period of time, and at least the animation is decent, even if the story is pretty poor. As for me, it's on to bigger and better DBZ outings.

Miniatures Finished - 01/11/21

I rarely feel like I get to paint what I want to right now, more that I'm painting little projects constantly to get them finished. That's not strictly true, but that's kind of how I'm feeling about painting. Does mean some older things are getting finished though, which I guess is nice.

Astro Boy: A character I've wanted for a while finally joins the Ultimate Alliance! I'll have to borrow the complete 1980s series off a friend again for a "Superhero Media" at some stage. 3D Print.

Kirby Robobot: Remember my other Kirby being a little big? Well this one is pretty much bang-on for scale, which is nice, but now I need to find one not in the suit. Still, this was adorable and I couldn't pass it up. Toy.

Crazy Jane: I bought up the rest of the Doom Patrol that I didn't already own and I wanted to experiment with a new technique for painting black, so this was something of a perfect storm. Heroclix.

Count Vertigo: I actually had this model partially painted for years and got so sick of looking at it, I finished him in one sitting. The sculpt is terrible and not at all fun to paint. Heroclix.

Awesome A-Bomb: I wanted this character for a specific reason, but right now I have no idea what that was. This is a really nice sculpt and was pretty fun and quick to paint. Heroclix.

Kaine: Obscure Spider-Man antagonist for my Spider-Man game series, this is actually a nice little sculpt except the face. Fun, '90s colour scheme as well. Heroclix.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Bardock The Father of Goku

A true hero is only as good as their origin, and as Goku is just an obvious rip-off of Superman, more information was needed to distance the two, so Bardock The Father of Goku was birthed from the minds of the series writers for Dragon Ball Z. So Bardock, as an expanded character with his own mythos that crosses film and video games, is pretty unnecessary, not really adding anything to the broader franchise, but that doesn't make Bardock The Father of Goku much less entertaining. The narrative needs to do some major calisthenics to get anything happening, I mean, Bardock gets the gift of prophecy just so that he can see clips of Dragon Ball and DBZ and react to them, that's some convenient writing right there. This happens, of course, because the only real story to tell is in the contrast between father and son, with the brutal Sayian warrior who kills without a thought eventually becoming proud of the hero his son will grow up to be. 

Interestingly, much of the narrative of Bardock The Father of Goku takes place over a few hours, perhaps a couple of days, whilst this fits with other DBZ films, which mostly cover a single fight, it doesn't give us much time to get to know Bardock as a person. True, he's even less deep that Goku, who has all the personality of a Golden Age video game character (essentially none), but Bardock does go on a journey of sorts, coming around to a different point of view, even if it does take major spoilers for DBZ to do it. Although it's always good to see Sayain Great Apes again, most of the fights in Bardock The Father of Goku aren't all that interesting, as the power level needs to be carefully managed; the one peak is when Bardock takes out several Freiza Elites by fighting smart, but it's over all too quick. Of course Bardock can't fight the actual antagonist of the film, Freiza, because we already know how powerful he is and the anticlimax would be disappointing. 

As much as I find Bardock Father of Goku middling at best, I kind of wish there were more DBZ films like it, in that they could explore more of the setting outside of the Z Fighters and Earth. Yes, the series has, and continues to visit new worlds and places, but they are only seen through the eyes of Goku and friends. Stories of the Great Drought on Namek or the rise of the Frost dynasty are waiting to be told and may allow aspiring writers to try out new things without impinging upon the existing setting all that much. There's a whole universe out there to explore, and sometimes the less known corners can hide the best narrative gems. The games and Anime have introduced a multiverse of possibilities, and I'd like to see it filled out more in the future.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Wrath of the Dragon

In this adaptation of the popular video game franchise, Dragon Quest, the great hero Tapion must use his magical sword and enchanted ocarina to defeat the evil wizard Hoi and his terrible monster Hirudegarn. To aid him in his quest, he has Trunks, Gohan, Videl and Goku who help fight Hirudegarn and protect the people of Earth. Wait a minute, this is a Dragon Ball Z film? Holy hell it is! It's the one where Kid Trunks gets the sword that Future Trunks has. Look, Wrath of the Dragon is pretty decent, all told, but the whole elements with Tapion, his history and the magical music box feel like they're from a different series, or at least Dragon Ball rather than DBZ. The film is really about Trunks making a friend, which is actually quite nice, as Tapion gains closure on his grief from the bond as well. Though what I personally enjoyed most about Wrath of the Dragon was getting to see the Z Fighters take on a Kaiju! 

Despite the huge variety of characters and stories that can be told in the superhero genre, it's actually pretty rare to see human-sized characters with powers take on giant foes all that often; off the top of my head, it's mostly a Silver Age Superman bit. Also there's Doctor Demonicus, but I'm pretty sure only I actually remember that character. I mean, it really seems like an obvious premise, take your super-strong people who can fly and shoot energy and have them fight a big monster who wants to trash cities, preferably Tokyo. Sure, as a concept, it could have diminishing returns, but that's a hell of a bit for Avengers 9 or whatever. As much as I like the Legendary Pictures Godzilla franchise, I don't expect it to run too long, as it's not doing anything great at the box office, why not have Disney get the rights on a contract to have The King of The Monsters fight Earth's Mightiest Heroes? I'd watch the hell out of that. 

Aside from the relationship between Trunks and Tapion, there isn't too much to Wrath of the Dragon other than some really good fights, not that that's an issue in a DBZ film or anything, just an observation. The city scenes are some of the best in the history of the franchise, and getting to see more of Videl as the Great Sayiawoman is always welcome. Whilst I may still be waiting for my comprehensive range of DBZ miniatures for superhero games, I can at least eye off a
Hirudegarn to go with my Kaiju games, once I find an action figure in my price range. As much as I enjoyed it, I don't think that Wrath of the Dragon will be making it into high DBZ rotation for me, the presence of Tapion and his magical accouterments break the immersion for me just a little, really seeming like abandoned designs for Dragon Quest than something that was intended to go along with late-stage DBZ Goku and friends.

Miniatures Finished: Badman

Been painting a lot of Warhammer 40,000 figures on commission lately, which means lots of batch painting and uniforms, so superheroes have been a nice break, introducing some more colour and individuality to my process. As I don't have an event or anything to prepare for, I'm trying to group figures together on a theme where I can. This time, powerful villains.

Bizzaro: At some point I decided I needed more Superman villains for some reason I can no longer remember, but Bizzaro was on theme, so here we go. Nice simple scheme, a litter darker wash than I gave Superman for added contrast. Heroclix

Bane: I wasn't happy with how small my previous version of Bane was, but it took a while to find a version just the right size and not bigger than some of my Hulks. I really want a Bane in fatigues and gear from No Man's Land at some stage, but I may have to make it myself. Heroclix 

Titanium Man: I think I got this classic Iron Man antagonist in a grab lot of 'clix from somewhere, but I had a shortage of painted villains at that time, so he got based up despite basically just being a less iconic Crimson Dynamo. I need to do a Russian game at some stage, just for fun. Heroclix 

The Blood Brothers: Despite coming across these characters in Annihilation, the figures are closer to their Silver/Bronze Age look, so I went with a bright paint scheme. I'm not sure how the Brothers' powers (which fluctuate based on their proximity) will work in SSUA, but it should be fun to figure out. Heroclix 

Frieza: The quest for more Dragon Ball Z minis continues, this one being a vending machine toy that painted up pretty nicely, all things considered. Despite having many forms to choose from, I'll settle for this Frieza and a "Final Form" version when I can find one. Toy

General Traag: A classic TMNT baddie from a random booster, sadly the Rock Soldiers in the range are in the same pose, so this may be it for the time being. I quite like that he looks a little like a green plastic army man, sells the concept of military dictatorship well. Heroclix

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: 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.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Broly Second Coming

How do you follow up one of the most successful, but not really all that good, Dragon Ball Z films of all time, in Broly The Legendary Super Sayian? By not doing anything the same other than having the same antagonist. I was a little shocked how much I enjoyed Broly Second Coming, especially as Broly himself doesn't get any better, just quieter, but the change of focus to Gohan and the extended Dragon Ball-esque sequence with Trunks, Goten and Videl hunting the Dragon Balls really charmed me and the whole thing was pretty enjoyable. You could remake the entire film with an entirely new villain instead of Broly and it wouldn't lose a thing, but having Kid Trunks pee on Broly's face is almost a meta-criticism on the antagonism of the DBZ fandom for any story that doesn't centre Goku and fighting. It's probably not that, but in my head there may be no better metaphor in the entire series, other than perhaps Vegeta fighting Arale, for Toriyama just wanting to write fun fight manga and the fans being way too into a shirtless man punching other shirtless men. 

Probably my favourite part of Broly Second Coming is that Gohan has to beat Broly by outsmarting him, rather than matching strength. And yes, Gohan does beat Broly pretty soundly, by dropping him into lava; it's not Gohan's fault Broly has ascended fan-fiction OC powers that let him magically survive molten rock. The tableau of Gohan, Goten and Goku combining Kamehamema beams at the end to defeat Broly is pretty nice, however, even if I would have preferred Gohan's much-lauded brains getting to be useful for once. In the wake of Dragon Ball Super, this era of DBZ film is pretty interesting to watch, as it represents only a handful of episodes where we see the characters in-between the defeat of Cell and the coming of Buu, it's almost a different programme in many ways, with the focus more on adventure and comedy, like classic Dragon Ball but with fewer fantasy elements. If there was one Saga I could get more of with a Dragon Ball wish, it would probably be The Great Sayiaman Saga, as it reads like Toriyama trying to branch out into something new and different. 

I've run out of things to say about Broly Second Coming, so I'm going to use this space for something else. Does it bother anyone but me that Gohan is set up as being, by far, the most intelligent member of the Z Fighters, but it's never a factor except for two brief moments in DBS? Gohan is a Professor in DBS, meaning he's undertaken at least a decade of post-secondary study, and whilst it doesn't seem to have been in Military Theory or Martial Arts Anthropology, surely his critical thinking skills must be of some use? Hell, after considering the trajectory of his own life critically, Gohan elects to go back to training for the benefit of those he cares about. Man, Gohan is just such a more interesting character than Goku, what with having an actual personality and complex wants and needs, rather than just wanting to be stronger because. Ok, only one more Broly film to get through before I get to a DBZ film I really enjoy.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Broly the Legendary Super Sayian

Oh Kami, I have three of these to get through now... Ok, so I'm not a fan of Broly, pretty much across the board, and that seems to cop me more flack from other Dragon Ball Z fans than when I point out that Goku has no personality, somehow. Starting with Broly the Legendary Super Sayian, the character has been a huge deal in the broader fandom despite not having any real character or personality until the Dragon Ball Super version, and none of his "movies" being all that good. It makes sense that Broly is popular, however, despite the fact he has little going for him, created by DBZ writer Takao Koyama, Broly is essentially an ascended OC, right down to the lack of real development and his creator continuing to insist that he is the "strongest" years later. For those blissfully unaware of the realms of fan-fiction, an OC is an "Original Character", created by the author and typically of unassailable power, even when compared to Goku and pals. Now, I've tried my hand at fan-fiction back in the day, so I can't point fingers too much, but yes, Broly is Koyama's pet OC, and the films suffer for that. 

In this first outing, Paragus, father of Broly, arrives on Earth and coaxes Vegeta to a "New [planet] Vegeta" so that he can be king. Most of the rest of the gang are dragged along so that Broly gets to beat on all of them, helping later "power scaling" arguments on early internet forums. After far too long, the team figures out that the "Legendary Super Sayian" they're looking for is Broly and the whole thing is a trap, with Paragus planning to kill Vegeta with a coming comet. You see, Vegeta's dad, Vegeta, tried to kill Paragus and a young Broly, because he feared Broly's power, so Paragus lures Vegeta to New Vegeta to get revenge on his dad, Vegeta. Meanwhile, Broly files into Hulk-like rages when he sees Goku, because Goku cried a lot when they were both babies. Ok, that's just dumb, but the odd thing? The fight is actually pretty good. It takes too long to get there through a mediocre plot, but once the battle starts, the action is solid, with a bit more bone-crunching than is typical in DBZ. 

In many ways, Broly reminds me of Venom, in that they're both dark inversions of the protagonist, with dodgy vendettas and cool designs, but not much else going for them. Somehow, that kind of character is always popular, as Broly clearly demonstrates, no matter how much I still don't get the appeal. There's no nuance to Broly, he just hits things and gets stronger, yes, the Dragon Ball Super version is better, but that's not the one that got things started, this is. The reason Freiza gets to keep coming back is that he has a personality and complex motivations beyond just wanting to destroy, even the continual bevy of Androids programmed to kill Goku have more personality than Broly. I'm really not looking forward to the next two films, but I'll push on for the sake of completion. Oh, and please stop asking me if you can play as Broly in the various DBZ card games, of course you can, but the deck, like the character, is pretty uninteresting.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - Super Android 13

Contrary to the opinions of many Dragon Ball Z fans, I don't enjoy Super Android 13 all that much, probably for the exact same reasons that many do enjoy it, just to be contrary. Whilst on a shopping spree in what I'm assuming to be Central City, the Z Warriors are attacked by two new Androids and a fight ensues for the better part of an hour. For me, it's a problem of motivation, in that the Androids are simply programmed to destroy Goku and friends, and lack too much personality beyond that. It's not that I don't enjoy the action and fighting of the DB series, but i do like a little more context than "we're programmed to hate you"; Androids 13, 14 and 15 don't even have the rebellion against their creator that 17 and 18 did to give them more to be. So, basically, Super Android 13 is one big fight, but at least it's an interesting one?

Again, I don't feel that there's all that much to Androids 13, 14 and 15 beyond the typically interesting Toriyama design work, but the fight is well choreographed and seeing Vegeta, Trunks and Piccolo get their licks in is nice, even if Goku gets the biggest moments. It's a bit of a shame that Gohan is still relegated to the sidelines, but that will change from the next film on, so I can live with it here. As always with the Movies, Super Android 13 doesn't really fit into the overall DB canon, as there is no time where all of the characters are alive, in the same place and not fighting someone else already when the events depicted could happen. Unlike many other entries, however, some fans bend over backwards to make Super Android 13 fit in to the broader narrative somehow. Honestly, I feel it's down to the fact that the film is just a big fight that enamors so many, as well as just the design of the main antagonist in his "Super" form. 

If you're of the kind to find the filler episodes of DB uninteresting, Super Android 13 may just be the outing for you; there's plenty of violence, not much dialogue and the whole thing is done in under an hour. In fact, as a superhero fight reel, the film does pretty well, even if most of the DB characters have essentially the same powers when you boil it down. For those curious on the ongoing quest for more DB miniatures, Androids 13, 14 and 15 are way down the list, below quite a bit of more obscure and less popular stuff, as, again, I just don't find them all that engaging. Perhaps some kind of "Android Force" game in the distant future, or an elite squad for a Red Ribbon force, but certainly not a major want for me. Now, the next film in the series? I'm pretty excited for.

Yet More Superhero Wargames Armies Ideas

I can stop anytime I want, I swear. It's just that I think people could really benefit from these army ideas, even if these are some of my worst-performing posts. Something I can do just for me, right? Like I can get these damn ideas out of my head so that I'm not tempted to make them myself, even if I did end up buying most of the Space Knight Heroclix recently for gaming. 

If you're not caught up by now, the idea behind these infrequent pieces is to discuss ideas for bringing a superhero-inspired Miniature Wargames armies into existing games if your FLGS or local club isn't keen on the genre. Whilst I try to not keep the ideas focused on any specific game or set of rules, I do have a vague idea of something along the lines of Warhammer 40,000 in mind, at least in terms of army size and variety of units.


The Brotherhood (Marvel)

Concept: Based on the representation of the "Brotherhood" army in X-Men 3, the entire concept of this force boils down to Magneto saying "In chess, the pawns go first". Despite probably being powerful enough to take Alcatraz by himself, Magneto doesn't want to run the risk of losing, so he brings an army of disposable minions to his side to do the dying for him. With his core group of more powerful mutants to back him up, Magneto is master and commander of a very dangerous rabble. The similar army Magneto builds in Ultimate X-Men is probably worth a look here as well.

Army Building: This one seems pretty straightforward, with mobs of weaker mutants making up the bulk of the force and a small number of elite and powerful members to provide the real punch. As most of the "lesser" mutants don't need to have really specific powers, they could be grouped in "squads" that serve functions. For example, mutants with strength and claw mutations for close combat, chameleon and climbing mutants as scouts and psychics scattered here and there as "radio operators" mean you can fill out a decent sized army pretty easily. Juggernaut and Phoenix fit easily as Dreadnought like vehicles and "monster" infantry, and plenty of games allow for powerful solo characters like Pyro and Kid Omega. 

Models: Honestly, I'd be looking at Heroclix for most of this, just as a way to keep costs down and to scale well with other games. There are plenty of thugs and criminals in other ranges if you want a look closer to the film for your mobs of disposable mutants. I could see using Knight Models or Crisis Protocol for Juggernaut to get something big enough, but I know from past experience that getting enough models in the right scale to match is pretty difficult and expensive.

Red Ribbon (Dragon Ball)

Concept: A mercenary army dedicated to conquering the world, Red Ribbon not only has troops, tanks and planes, but also robots, monsters and ninjas; what else could you want in a wargames army? Probably the only truly recurring villains in the Dragon Ball franchise, the Red Ribbon forces have brought everything from mercenary soldiers to Perfect Cell against Goku and friends over the years, giving plenty of scope for a fun and unique army build. Plus much of the naming scheme is colour-based, so you can have fun with naming things, like Colonel Taupe, Major Heliotrope or Sergeant Aqua. 

Army Building: The spread of troop types and characters means you can never really run out of ideas on this one. You can have plenty of Red Ribbon soldiers, tanks and planes to fill out the rank and file, of course, but do you need an elite unit? How about robots, or maybe ninjas? An elite assassin? Tau Pi-Pi is ready to go. Hell, there's even the Androids and Cell if you need something of an otherworldly power scale. For this concept, I'd probably be working backwards, deciding on a game and army, then finding stuff in the Red Ribbon catalog to fit. 

Models: Sadly, the amount of Dragon Ball miniatures on the market is rather low, but don't give up before you start. Most of the major characters can be found as a 3D print, and there is a great line of model vehicles that vary in scale from 28 to 40mm for pretty cheap. For the soldiers, there are plenty of lines of Cold War Chinese and Soviets that fit the bill quite well, and scale alright with some of the Girls Und Panzer tank models that are a bit more rounded and "cute" in style, for that Anime look.


Free Armies of Mongo (Flash Gordon) 

Concept: What happens when the heroic Flash Gordon of Earth turns the citizens of Mongo against the foul Emperor Ming? The Free Armies of Mongo are born! Mostly taken, in concept, from the King's Watch and King's Quest comic series, this idea works for pretty much whatever version of Flash Gordon that you happen to prefer. Hawkmen, Lizard-men, Tree People and whatever else you feel like are ready to go fight for their freedom against the evil empire!

Army Building: This army falls into the "Halo Covernant" or "How the Tau should work" category, in that each unit will have a very different look, perhaps even being a different species. It's pretty straightforward from there, really, Hawkmen are a "jump pack" unit, Aborians are commandos, Lizard-men are scouts, and so on. The various characters like Flash, Dale and Vultan are ready-made commanders and squad leaders, and there are plenty of rockets to fill out all of your vehicle needs. 

Models: There are plenty of "Not-Flash Gordon" miniatures available with a quick search online, I own some from Reaper and Dirk Garrison myself and they suit fine. Bringing together several different ranges may be necessary, depending on how big you want your army to be. The rocket ships may be a little harder to get, but I've seen a few good 3D print examples around with a good "retro" vibe.

Foot Clan (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

Concept: It's a Ninja Clan with some comic book extras, not much more to this one. An ancient Ninja Clan, transplanted to New York City, embraces both mysticism and advanced technology in order to further its agenda of accruing power and influence. Most often led by the mysterious figure of "The Shredder", the Foot includes everything from Mutants, to inter-dimensional mercenaries and even robots depending on the source material, but there are always plenty of Ninjas to throw at the enemy. 

Army Building: I'd by lying if I said I hadn't been considering putting together a Foot Clan force for my wargames club's Samurai League, but I thought better of it. The Foot just kind of work really well for a lot of games, because you can have as many ninja as you want or need, then just add in whatever else is required for elite units and characters. Personally, I'd be using a mixture of elements from different incarnations of the Foot, from Rock Soldiers and Krang to Karai and Mousers, because that would give me more variety and more options to choose from. 

Models: There are plenty of Ninja models avaiable, which should fill out whatever you need in terms of "squads"; even the TMNT Heroclix Foot Clan Ninjas are pretty nice, though the weapons can be warped and often need replacing. Naturally, Heroclix have all of the characters you'll need, most are pretty affordable on the secondary market as well, but there is the IDW Board Game if you're one of those people who cannot abide Clix. Mantic does a great tunneling vehicle in the Warpath range too.