Supehero Media: Deadpool 2

As much as I didn't expect the first Deadpool to be as good as it was, Deadpool 2 doesn't really have any business being as good as it is; which is somehow better than the first. It's kind of not a fair comparison, as Deadpool was a small-budget experiment that was only dragged into release by a fan backlash, whereas Deadpool 2 has all the money and backing to be as big and bold as it wants. Taking on the broader superhero film industry, but the X-Men series especially, Deadpool 2 is actually a deconstructionist parody that angry nerds on the internet claimed they wanted, but seemed all to quick to dismiss. Funny that. When Wade Wilson's freewheeling mercenary lifestyle catches up with him, Vanessa dies tragically and he attempts to kill himself over and over before being rescued by Colossus. Attempting to join the X-Men alongside Negasonic Teenage Warhead and her girlfriend, Surge, Deadpool soon goes rogue to save Firefist, a teenage mutant played brilliantly by Julian Dennison, the best thing to come out of New Zealand since my ex-girlfriend. 

Rather than focus strictly on the story, Deadpool 2 bounces around themes and set-up scenes to tell all the jokes it wants, often at the expense of narrative, even spending a reasonable proportion of the second act setting up an extended tease for an "X-Force" film that was never intended to exist. For such a goofy film, a lot of smart choices went into making Deadpool 2, from not overly expanding the cast or premise, to not repeating too many jokes and bringing us more satire. One of my favourite lines is "So dark! Are you sure you're not from the DC universe?", not just because it was funny, but because back in my younger days when superhero films were less ubiquitous, Marvel Comics were considered to be the "darker" take on superhero comics. Even contemporary film-making itself, as a process, gets a jab or two, and not just in the credits, the "Holy S*** Balls" track which plays over the score when Juggernaut attacks is a masterpiece of satire; how many vocal choir themes have played over villain entrances in films for the past decade? 

I think the genre needs more films like Deadpool 2, and no, I don't mean films with an R rating, fourth wall breaks or even Deadpool himself (though I'm hanging out for the third entry). We need more superhero films with this much thought put into them for something beyond references and franchise connective tissue. Yes, the pop culture drops flow thick and fast in Deadpool 2, but for me the takeaways are Negasonic being queer and it being a big deal to no one and not played for titillation, Colossus somehow having a more compelling arc than most characters in other X-Men films and Dopinder having his own journey of violence and death quietly in the background. Oh, I forgot to mention in both my Deadpool and Mighty Med reviews that Karan Soni has a small recurring role in Mighty Med and now I want a MCU crossover even more. Yes, I'm sick of the fans, and convention Deadpool cosplayers and all the rest that comes along with the success of these films, but I still can't help but love them all the same. The X-Men series may have only produced a half-dozen good films over two plus decades, but if that's what it took to get Logan and Deadpool 2 back-to-back, maybe it was all worth it?

Miniatures Finished: Blood in the Machine

After a while and quite a few games, I have finally finished 19 Renegade Robots for Judge Dredd Miniatures Game. As I tend to enjoy doing, I've pulled the gang from a variety of sources and, to keep it in a very 2000AD style, I've opted for a variety of colours rather than a unifying scheme.

The complete gang, named after the Brian Merchant book, just in case anyone was wondering how I was going to work a leftist reference into another miniatures game. I can't imagine that I'll ever have a reason to put all of them on the table at once, but I like having options, you never know where a campaign is going to end up.

My demolition droids, including my usual Gang Leader, Haro-2-Goodbye. Haro is Necromunda Ambot legs and arms on a Gunpla Haro (1/12 scale) and the other is a Pacific Rim Heroclix repaint.

Combat Droids, converted Eureka Miniatures in the front, with Mantic behind, flanked by two D&D Warforged Monks. I like the idea of kung-fu robots. And the JDMG rules actually let me make that kind of character, so that's fun.

Junkers, both converted D&D miniatures. If I expand the gang, I would likely get more Junkers, as they're cheap fodder that are also surprisingly tough on the table.

Servo Droids form the backbone of the gang, being fairly affordable and almost as tough as a Judge. Mine are mostly converted Star Wars Legion models, excepting the back left, which is another D&D blind box find. I could also maybe do with another couple of these, but I'm waiting to find the right models. 

Minibots, the 'cheap filler' for the gang that can take barely any equipment and tend to get taken out fast in a fight. The other cheap option is Robodogs, which I have a few of through Necromunda, but am yet to figure out how to make the best use of them in the game.

I've also been working on some terrain specifically for JDMG, as can be seen with the garbage pile above. The tower is for Necromunda, but might work for Dredd as well, we'll see how it all pans out. I'm trying to let this project happen organically, rather than building a specific army or table like I do now; go a bit oldschool I guess, with just a collection of stuff that works together. We'll see how it goes, I think my next focus will be my Street Gang.

Superhero Media: Guardians

The trailers and hype for this film were so cool back in the day! Billed as "The Russian Avengers", Guardians turned out to be more like a 1990s superhero film, in terms of the bad writing, poor special effects and nonsense plotting. More so that being a Russian version of The Avengers, Guardians is closer to Neo-Soviet Fant4stic. Seriously, there are four heroes in Guardians, a scientist who can transform his body (Arsus), a young guy who moves fast and takes risks (Khan), a man with internal torments and rock powers (Ler) and a blonde who can turn invisible (Kseniya). Having gotten their powers during the Cold War, the Guardians, as a side effect of their powers, do not age at the normal rate, which is made a point of, as if it will play a big role in the story, but it's just a thing that sits there for no reason. If I had to guess, the Guardians being part of a Soviet-era superhero programme (nammed "Patriot") is some kind of weird hand-waving to imply the current Russian government would never do horrible human experiments, which, from an outside perspective, is pretty eye-rolling.  

Like more than a few things I've reviewed, if Guardians was just bad all the way through, then it wouldn't really be interesting; it's because there is enough going on in Guardians that I think it's worth a watch. For starters, Arsus, the Reed Richards of the team, turns into a giant bear. That's his power, "becomes bear", and later they give him a massive minigun, that's pretty cool right there. Ler is pretty forgettable, though his speech about having to watch his daughter and grandchildren get old and die before him is interesting enough, if not especially unique. Kseniya honestly just comes across as an excuse to get an attractive woman in tight clothing for most of the runtime, as her personal narrative of "amnesia" is pretty lazy and doesn't go anywhere. Khan at least has an interesting look and speedters always make for fun visuals, but aside from some mention of a dead brother, I didn't really get what he was "about" as a character; he was just there to be cool, which never works as well as the writers seem to want it to. 

If there's one element of Guardians that I'm going to bring into my own games, it's the villain, Professor August, a rogue scientist with the power to control machines with his mind. Ok, so August actually has a general "super soldier" powers package, but has cybernetically altered himself with a device that lets him control machines, but the strength and agility doesn't come up all that often. August's plan involves stealing two huge towers to make a giant antenna that will enable him to control all the world's satellites and thereby the world. That's a solid comic book villain plan and I love how gonzo it is, made even better by the fact he pulls it off for most of the film and only loses at the eleventh hour. Also his minions, a "clone army" are soldiers in balaclavas with an array of lenses poking out, which is basic, but looks really cool. If you haven't seen Guardians, I'd say it's worth at least the one watch, even if it is pretty poor overall, as there's enough fun stuff happening to get through the film, but it's not some forgotten classic or cult darling in waiting.

Thinking Out Loud: The Hero of Time

Hey there! This is another one of those entries that's not even tangentially about superheroes, just something that's been on my mind that I had to get down somewhere. So sorry, come back next time for something involving capes and tights.

I'm of the age that I owned a Nintendo 64 at the time it was the current generation of console, and would occasionally get games as gifts or whathaveyou. Like many of that age, I fell in love with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, finishing it many times over; it was actually my first Zelda game, and even to this day the series doesn't feel "right" to me in the classic 2D-style. Sadly, I couldn't afford to do more than borrow a copy of Majora's Mask back in the day, but I made up for it with the 3DS version as an adult. Even now, if I'm sick, or even on holiday, running through Ocarina and Majora is a good way to spend my time.

Oddly, these games have actually gotten better as I've gotten older. I mean, I don't think there was stuff there that only came to light later, more that, having done degrees in English Literature and Film Studies, my critical faculties have greatly increased and I can see more in the narratives than I could when I was a literal child. Themes like loss of childhood, inevitability and the need to find closure permeate Ocarina of Time, which is part of the reason it still resonates with players decades on.

Majora's Mask is about trauma and grief, right? I don't know if it was a deliberate choice by the makers of the game (given general Japanese cultural attitudes towards Mental Health, I doubt it), but every element of the game is steeped in loss and the pain it brings. The antagonist has been so hurt by the world that he lashes out in an apocalyptic manner as soon as he has the power to do so, the cartoon fantasy equivalent of a school shooter. The game even starts with the bullying victim bullying the next person down the chain (Link, yes that was a pun) because it's the only power dynamic Skull Kid can relate to. Ah, but I hear you say, aren't the majority of school shooters racially motivated? Well, what does Skull Kid do to Link after stealing his horse for a joy ride? He forces a new, "lesser" racial identity on Link, which causes the people of Clock Town to vilify him, refuse him service in shops and basically treat him as a second-class citizen. With the Business Scrubs and the fact that only the local Banker is keen to talk to Deku Link, there's probably an allegorical reading of the European Jewish experience to be had, but we'll leave it at that.

And what of Link? Well, he starts the game running. From what? Here the "nebulous" nature of Zelda cannon can be easy to trip up on, but I tend to see Majora's Mask as the direct sequel to Ocarina of Time. At the end of Ocarina, Link is forced to return to childhood, despite having spent a not-insignificant amount of time as an adult, putting his life on the line to defeat a mad wizard whose evil has literally twisted his childhood home into a place of nightmares. Of course, the world where Ganon has been defeated has no need for Link, and Zelda seems to be working from a framework of compassion in sending him back, but Link has been forever changed and cannot go back to his life of the most bullied Kokuri. How do the Ocarina credits end? With Link running into Zelda's courtyard as a child once more. Whilst there is a perfectly fair romantic reading of Link and Zelda's relationship, I tend to feel that the connection they share through the Triforce is probably deeper than that, given that the three are continually reincarnated to act out the same struggle throughout history. Naturally, the child Zelda is unable to relate to the Link who has been an adult, seen the future and felt the blood of evil men on his hands, so he has lost even that connection and flees Hyrule entirely, searching, perhaps unconsciously, for someone who can relate to his experience.

Meanwhile, back in Termina, Link is stuck in a "Groundhog Day" three-day loop where he can watch those around him go from disbelief to panic to horrific fiery death knowing that he will survive and have to do it all again. And how does Link combat the end of the world? By putting on masks that literally change him into someone equipped to fix the problem, a process that is clearly painful and traumatic, but which Link puts himself through repeatedly to save others. There's probably a D-I-D reading there, but that's way above my Psychotherapist pay grade. Depending on how familiar with Majora's Mask you are, it may take quite a few runs through the last three days of the world for you, though Link, to save it, so just how many times does this poor child who has seen and lived through way too much already see the world end because he failed? Once all the titans are awakened, Link can prevent the moon from hitting Termina and save the world, pretty standard fantasy stuff, really. However, is this allegorical? Is Link really accessing an inner strength, or perhaps building his Maslow's Pyramid? Link leaves Termina at the end of the game, his belongings restored, but how is he psychologically? Is he stronger for what he has gone through, or has this adventure broken him even more?

And where could this lead next? That's a question that has been floating around my brain for years, off and on. Yes, I know about the "Split Timeline" and all that, and I've played other Zelda games, but I want to know what happens to this Link, the one who defeated Ganon and then Majora before wandering off into the dark areas of the map. Well, sorry to say, all this was a lead-in to another one of these speculating on a possible final installment of a trilogy. So keep an eye out for that, sooner rather than later.

Superhero Media: Godzilla II King of the Monsters

Oh my God-zilla, but this came out of nowhere! The 2014 Godzilla was alright and Kong Skull Island was a hell of a lot of fun, but King of the Monsters pushed everything to a new level; being a really good action film even without Godzilla or grading on a curve for being an American Godzilla film. No longer bothering with easing Western audiences into the whole Kaiju concept, King of the Monsters has Godzilla on-screen in the first minute and throws out a heady mix of Mothra, Rodan, King Gidorah, the Hollow Earth and Aliens as it smashes it's way to greatness. Every part of this film is finely crafted in a way most genre action films don't bother to be, from the soundtrack, to the cast and especially the Kaiju, King of the Monsters had the potential to be a great hit. Sadly, it did poorly at the box office and that's all Hollywood executives care about right now. I can only hope that Godzilla vs. Kong performs well and I finally get that Kaiju Cinematic Universe I want, complete with all the weird monsters Toho has the rights to, but with American money behind it. 

Unlike the previous attempts to adapt the King to a Western audience, King of the Monsters embraces what has worked in the Japanese films for decades, even down to Bear McCreary using the classic "Godzilla" theme as the basis for his score, giving longtime fans like me a thrill as the big brass horns start up. And don't get me started on the version of Blue Oyster Cult's "Godzilla" done with Serj Tankian, a Buddhist Monastic choir and full orchestra, still my favourite new song of 2019. How good is this film, when you get down to it? I saw it in the cinema with my then-girlfriend, who had only seen the 1998 and 2014 versions and thought the whole premise was laughable, but she was cheering with me when Mothra comes back into the Boston fight to take out Rodan and kept talking about how amazing the whole thing was through dinner later. King of the Monsters takes us to the Hollow Earth to detonate a nuclear bomb in Godzilla's face, which heals him, of course, as a preamble to the third act, but none of it feels out of place or forced, it's that well crafted. How this wasn't the start of something bigger just baffles me, more people have seen Gidorah memes than they have this film. 

Even the sounds the kaiju make are pumped-up versions of their classic calls from the Japanese films, such is the fidelity on display here; it's astonishing. And for all the loyalty to the history of the franchise, King of the Monsters is still a beautifully crafted film, with scenes like Godzilla approaching the underwater base frankly better lit than many entire films I've seen of the same era. Hell, I didn't even get to the cast yet! Kyle Chandler, Vera Farmiga, Millie Bobby Brown, Ken Watanabe, Bradley Whitford and Sally Hawkins are just a few of the names that grace this motion picture, that's a hell of a cast and they deliver, from the shock and awe of the opening, to the final "Long live the King" drop. King of the Monsters is one of my favouirte "rainy day" movies, something I'm always up to watch, even if I only saw it again a few days ago, because it's a lot of fun and always thrilling. What the cast and crew of this film did right is the same thing the Marvel Cinematic Universe does right, they trusted that something that had been around for decades already "worked" and build a solid film around those concepts, rather than trying to reinvent it from the ground up. I hope this isn't the end for the "Monsterverse", I want to stay and see where it goes. Long live the King.

Drokk the Law!! - Part XII

Taking a break from my usual Mega City 1 AARs to focus instead on how my gangs are progressing. As any wargamer will tell you, there hits a certain point in any project where you have to start keeping accurate books on everything so that you don't miss something or double-up on stuff. For me, the Judge Dredd Miniatures Game has hit that point, given that my Renegade Robots number around 20, but I don't have a street gang that's not bits from other games pushed together. To avoid getting too carried away just yet (though it may already be too late), I'm going to focus on the handful of gangs I've been playing with, leaving some other ideas and collections to the side for the moment. These gangs are;

Renegade Robots (Blood in the Machine)
Street Gang (Flo Rida Block Porpoises)
Mobsters (Inagawa-Jones Syndicate)
Demonic Cabal (Cult of the Outer Gods)
Lone Vigilante (Bubba Feet/The Justness Legion)

This probably doesn't seem like a small amount of models, especially for a game I currently barely play, but I'm hoping to build a broader a community if I can loan out gangs to potential players to learn on. Once these are done, or at least done enough, I can look at some Judges, another Street Gang, Apes and perhaps even some Outlaws and Mutants. By the time this article is published, I'll probably have finished the last of the Renegade Robots, so expect some pictures of them soon as well, then I'll likely be focusing on the Inagawa-Jones Syndicate, as I just got some cool minis for them from the old Urban War range.

A major part of any JDMG campaign involves Mercenaries, which serve as the balancing mechanic between gangs at different levels. For example, if your gang has a total cost of 700 and your opponent's is 800, you would get a free 100 Credits to use on a Mercenary for the game. I really like this as an idea, because it makes up for difference directly, allows the use of models from outside of your normal gang and saves any fiddly catch-up mechanics. Just which Mercs are available varies from Gang to Gang, but there is also plenty of crossover. Because I'm wired that way, I compiled a list of all the Mercs available to my five main gangs and included their approximate Credit value.

Bat Burglar (80)
Fattie (60-100)
Futsie (10ish)
Juve (10-60)
Juve Jimp (90)
Klegg (190+)
Klegghounds (100)
Lone Vigilante (500)
Punk (~95)
Pyrokinetic (225)
Robodoc (50)
Robodog (30)
Sky Surfer (100)
Vid Reporter (25)
Agent (95-300)
Combat Droid (~500)
Gorilla Gangster (125)
Street Judge (150-300)
Chimp (50-75)
Citi-Def Soldier (100-200)
Mutant (20-110)
Wally Squad Judge (100-200)
Assassination Droid (195)

Now this seems like quite a lot of minis to collect and add to the lead mountain, but some of them are already going to be in some of my gangs, from the obvious Juves and Punks through to Agents and Assassination Droids actually being an option for Mobsters, so I'll have some anyway (in fact, the Kabuki Robot from Urban War is my intended Assassination Droid model currently, has a nice Ghost in the Shell vibe). I can pull some Robodogs from my Necromunda extras, and I actually already have some Sky Surfers, Apes and Mutants waiting for paint, so filling out this list won't actually be that arduous a task for the most part. The only real struggle will be the more iconic 2000AD characters, like Judges, Fatties and the Bat Burglar, as they only really look the one particular way.

One of the reasons I love miniatures agnostic gaming so much is that I get to hunt around for just the right mini for the character I'm trying to make. I already had some Urban War minis to start my Mobsters with, getting more was a pleasure, and many of my incidental Punks, Juves and Cultists are getting put together from Stargrave plastics, which I picked up cheap. I have my eye on some Eureka Apes to get my Chimps and am looking into some 3D printing options for some items. I may consider the Warlord range if I can get it cheap, but that also won't be as fun as turning old Blood Bowl models into a Street Gang or finding something unique at a swap meet. Alright, I'll leave off there for now and hopefully go finish the last robot so I can post that Gang up next time we're in the Meg.

Superhero Media: Dragon Ball Z - The History of Trunks

Ok, I swear I'm going to talk about how great The History of Trunks is and its importance in the Dragon Ball Z series, but there's something else I need to get to first; Dream Theatre, Bootsy Collins and Buckethead are all on the soundtrack of this film. Really. I have the Remastered Collection on DVD, so maybe it's different for other copies, and I have to watch the dub to hear the tracks, but holy shit Bootsy teamed up with Buckethead at some point to soundtrack Dragon Ball Z and I only just found out about it! In an alternate timeline, Goku is felled by a "heart virus" and the world moves on for a few months until a pair of evil Androids attack, killing most of the Z Fighters and forever altering the history of the planet. Years later, a tween named Trunks wants to battle the Androids like his father did, despite being too weak to make a difference, thankfully he is saved by one of the greatest characters in the entire Dragon Ball franchise, Future Gohan! Ok, so the name is silly, but the future alternate to Gohan is a fascinating character who warrants some serious unpacking. 

Most of The History of Trunks you probably know if you're a fan, as huge sections of it are lifted into Dragon Ball Z, and the story has been told again and again; so I'm not covering it too much here. Let's start with Gohan first, now I'm normally not fond of adult Gohan in anything but the Piccolo or navy blue gi (Sayiaman aside), as it provides some visual difference for the character apart from Goku that the group tends to need for colour balance if nothing else. Future Gohan is the one exception for me, not just because of the lack of other characters, but because it is really only in this one timeline that Gohan has willingly taken on the role of planetary defender left to him by his father. This Gohan hasn't forged his own path, like he does in DBS, he's driven by duty and destiny, perhaps even aware that his end may not be a happy one, but he carries on because that is what expected of him. In many ways, The History of Trunks is a film about Gohan, and just how good he has it in the main timeline, making his decision to return to fighting in DBS all the more poignant. 

As I've discussed before, The History of Trunks was the first piece of media where I became aware of the "Villain Apocalypse" concept which would come to be something of a fixation for me. Androids 17 and 18 are walking engines of destruction, slowly eradicating the human race merely for something to do, and no one can stop them. Hell, The History of Trunks doesn't even really have a happy ending, as Trunks cannot defeat the Androids and has to travel back in time to make the Trunks Saga happen. There is a depth and pathos to The History of Trunks that is pretty rare in the DBZ films, truly being a character piece more so than just an excuse for a series of fights strung together. True, Androids 17 and 18 don't get even a sliver of the development that they would in the continuing series, but their role in this outing is more akin to a force of nature with a face. For a long time, The History of Trunks was the one piece of DBZ that I owned a copy of, so I must have seen it a least a dozen times, but it's still enjoyable and one of the better written parts of the overall series.