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.

Miniatures Finished: Last of Marvel Crisis Protocol

So this is the last of the Marvel Crisis Protocol I'm likely to do, unless the store decides to do more store characters or I get some work on commission for the game. I'm still not sold on the game, or the figures, especially considering the new scale and high price point. For example, the Heroclix MODOK from the Mutant Mayhem set is under $20 and is the same size as the Crisis Protocol version. Just sayin'.

Captain America and Crossbones in front of a newspaper stand.

I think I'll have to get a few more games of Crisis Protocol in at some stage, didn't follow my first too well and found the rulebook not well laid out, but people tell me it's a lot of fun. 

Superhero Media: Unbreakable

It must be at least a decade since I last watched Unbreakable, and I admit that the poor quality of the later films in the series, Split and Glass, had lessened my remembrance of this film. When I finally sat down to watch Unbreakable, however, I was truly impressed by just how good the film really is, as a stand-alone. Like many who went through a Film Studies major in the 2000s, I was, for a time, fond of criticising the patchy work of M. Night Shymalan, and whilst he's never really lived up to the potential he showed early on, Unbreakable remains a competent and well-executed film. The story begins when David Dunn, an out of work security guard, is the only survivor of a high-speed train wreck, walking away without even a scratch, only to find himself shortly confronted with Elijah Price, an eccentric Comic Book collector with a rare condition that makes his bones extremely brittle. Price is convinced that superheroes exist and goes to great lengths to demonstrate to Dunn that he is a superman unaware of his legendary power. 

To call Unbreakable a "slow burn" would be fair, calling it a "mood piece" may not even be far off the mark, as the pace is slow and the focus is more on Dunn trying to save his career and marriage than heroics of any form. Not to say that the film fails to be engaging at all, just that when I watched it between two Spider-Man films, there was a bit of cognitive whiplash. As much as I enjoy web-slinging, superhero fights and feats of strength, the slower pace and more grounded approach of Unbreakable was a welcome break, and the film is very enjoyable in its own right. Price's rationalising of the uncanny with comic book logic is played brilliantly, sounding just as dumb as these things do to outsiders, but still following their own form of logic; the scene where Price considers rows of comics to solve his conundrum is pretty much the best visual representation of how my brain works you will ever see. 

So is there room for a David Dunn in my Ultimate Alliance games? Probably not, unless I find the perfect miniature already being made somewhere. Neither Dunn nor "Mister Glass" are great characters in their own rights, or particularly original, but it is those same broad strokes that help make Unbreakable so compelling. There is plenty of room in the genre for more grounded and sober takes on the idea of superheroes and super-powers, so long as not everything is as slow a burn as this version. On the rare occasion I do ask for more "adult" superhero fare, as the genre is primarily for children, it is work like Unbreakable of which I am thinking, contemplative, human-centered narratives that meditate on the idea of the superhero, not just the blood and sex fests of "adult" comic lines. It's kind of a shame that the follow-ons to this film were so poor, as it does drive the more casual viewers away, though, thankfully, the film nerd audience have gone back to reappraise this first outing for Dunn. Well worth a look if you're only usually watching the MCU or Arrowverse.

Drokk the Law!! - Part IV

Back to the blocks as gaming resumes for 2023! No full campaign to start covering yet, but Andy, Sam and I are testing more teams from the Mongoose Judge Dredd rules that we've tweaked for fast and more even play. This week it was a Zombie Horde (played by me) versus City-Def (played by Andy) in a straight-up Street Brawl, with a six turn limit.

City-Def are an interesting team, and one I played years ago when I was experimenting with Judge Dredd as a set of rules for generic Sci-Fi skirmish. They get decent equipment, but can get "Trigger Happy" and blast away at everything in sight, friend or foe.

On the other hand, or rather, the other side of the table, the Zombie Master team is about bodies. Lots of shambling dead ones. With a psychically powerful, but physically weak Zombie Master/Mistress, a handful of "Super Zombies" and plenty of regular Zombies, I could put twenty models down to my opponent's four.

Once again we used the club Sci-Fi table, which is nice, but Andy is getting a more Mega City 1 style board together slowly, so we'll eventually be playing games on that instead.

The game itself was pretty dull, honestly. I don't know if it was a bad match-up or just not playing for an objective, but every turn involved my Zombies shambling forward and the City-Def popping off a few shots and then backing up. We called it at the close of six turns so I could get a quick game in with Sam, but it seems like the Zombies would have eventually won if we played it all out.

For the upcoming campaign, I probably won't be playing a Zombie Horde, aside from having already put a lot of effort into my Renegade Robots, the Zombies aren't a lot of fun to play and I get the feeling that they'll struggle against certain gangs. The Zombies themselves are particularly vulnerable to explosive weapons, so Judges would mop them up quickly, and they can't do a lot of damage, so Robots and Fatties would be a struggle as well.

City-Def are interesting, having good armour and guns, but mediocre stats, plus the chance to start shooting at each other if you're unlucky. I think they'll probably struggle in a campaign because they can't recruit new members too quickly and aren't as durable as other elite gangs like Robots and Judges. From a narrative perspective, there's no problem playing City-Def into Judges or anything like that, these units go rogue all the time.

The next step in getting the campaign up and running is getting more players involved and learning the game. I'm almost finished my Renegade Robots and have a Street Gang under construction. Depending on how my upcoming move goes, I should also have a Lone Vigilante and maybe even a Demonic Cabal ready before too long. Andy has started painting his Apes, Fatties and Sky Surfers, so soon we could have a whole mess of gangs running around Mega City 1, causing trouble for those damn Judges.

Superhero Media: Spider-Man Homecoming

I think I might be a tad spoiled by all the great Marvel Cinematic Universe films, as I somehow always forget just how amazing Spider-Man: Homecoming is. Every part of this film is brilliantly crafted, from a stunning young cast, supported by veteran actors, to the look of the costumes and technology, to the rapid-fire script and great character moments. I knew this was going to be great when the Marvel Studios logo was played over with a symphonic version of the classic Spider-Man cartoon theme, and whilst I'm still a little dark that it isn't used in the rest of the film, the following opening with the events of Civil War from Peter's perspective set the tone beautifully. Tom Holland is easily the best live action Peter Parker to grace the screen to date, the choice to hire a professional stage performer with dance experience was masterful, as Spider-Man moves like a gymnast, flowing from movement to movement. One of the best parts of the Ultimate Spider-Man comics was Peter Parker interacting with other superheroes in the setting, trying to find a surrogate father figure, so getting more interaction with Tony Stark is also great to see. 

After some of the bigger stories of the MCU, with aliens, gods and the fate of the world at stake, Homecoming is refreshing in that the big crisis is essentially larceny, with Peter really getting to be the "Friendly, Neighborhood Spider-Man". With his cannibalised equipment, the Vulture may have a really cool look (I love the "talons" on his feet for carrying swag), but any of the Avengers would have him mopped up in minutes, however Spidey is still learning how to be a hero, and that's where the conflict lies. Vulture himself isn't even really all that bad a guy, having fallen into criminality when the choice was that or poverty, and not being all that into violence as a means to an end. The scenes in which Adrien Toomes has to interact with Peter Parker and slowly figures out his true identity are masterful, and some of the best work Michael Keaton has done as an actor. In the end, Spider-Man earns his place on The Avengers, not because he saved the world, or has the best powers, but because he did the right thing with what he had, despite what it cost personally. Homecoming very much presents the version of Spider-Man I grew up reading, and it was refreshing to see him in the MCU at last. 

More so than many MCU films, I really don't tolerate the nit-picks and "but, actually"s that crop up around Homecoming; call it fanboyism if you want, but I really don't think people level reasonable criticisms. Is Marisa Tomei really "too young" to play Aunt May, or is it actually an attempt to make the character more than a hostage in waiting? Are the Sam Rami films better or are you just nostalgic? Is Spider-Man not saying the "Great Power" line a detriment, or a much needed break from repetition? The fact is, Homecoming works in more ways than other attempts at the character have previously; the actors look young enough to fit the role, the script has enough jokes to provide levity but the stakes feel real for what Spidey can deal with. Tom Holland is one of the major stars of the MCU, working brilliantly in the ensemble outings as well as his own series, and I hope the rumors that he'll be departing the role after a third Spider-Man film aren't true, I'd really like to see him hang around, even outside of the costume, perhaps being the new head of Stark and taking on an Ezekiel style role to the next Spider hero. Until that time, there's a few more of these to get to.

Miniatures Finished: Bot War Infestor Queen

I think this model was sitting on my painting table for around six months, which is pretty rare for me, as I tend to paint quickly, but I just kind of got bored with it when it looked like I wouldn't get to play much Bot War anytime soon.

The mighty Infestor Queen! She's scaled for the 8mm Bot War stuff, but I've placed a Heroclix figure next to her so you can get an idea of just how big she is! 

 

The whole model only features around 8 paint colours on her, mostly washes, but I'm really happy with how she turned out! 

 

With the Queen done, I've now painted every model in the Infestors faction, so I'm looking at some Red Star or maybe Overlords so that I can demo games for people. 

 

I changed the scythe she had to something less comically large, this part is from a Dark Eldar Talos.

Superhero Media: Infinity

I picked up this event comic from the cheap bins on the trip home from work one night, pretty much because it had Jonathan Hickman's name on the cover and it was only $10 for a softcover trade nearly and inch thick. When I finally slogged through Infinity, I found that it wasn't just the latest event from Marvel, but, in fact, was three or four events squished together in a, frankly, too-long epic that didn't change any status quo or introduce much that was all that new. An enigmatic and ancient race, "The Builders" have returned and are destroying intelligent life for some reason, whilst Captain Universe is being cryptic and trying to get The Avengers in space, also the multiverse is collapsing and the Illuminati can't stop it because Wakanda and Atlantis are at war, and Thanos is coming to Earth to murder his son he now has. As cool as a lot of that is, it's a bit much to follow at times, leaving Infinity a tad disjointed to read and not as much fun as it should be. Hickman is a master of high-concept, space fantasy, Von Danikenite storytelling, but here he probably needed an harsher editor. 

I'm not sure I can really break down the story of Infinity in any way that would fairly represent the event, because of how much goes on, so this one's going to be more a summary of my high and low points of reading it, so that you can decide to pick it up or not for yourself. If you're one of those weirdos I meet who are big fans of The Black Order from Infinity War, they have a lot more going on in Infinity, especially Ebony Maw, who I almost like as a character now, even if he's basically Mephistopheles from Doctor Faustus crossed with Count Orlock from Nosferatu. I don't keep up with The Avengers anymore, but it's nice to not only see Shiang Chi on the team, but also to see him punching robots to death in space gives me a thrill of child-like glee. Infinity makes a lot of references to Annihilation, which I want to like, as referencing my favourite event comic of all time should make me happy, but it has me drawing negative comparisons to the original and all of the less interesting versions that have come out since. I don't get why Wakanda and Atlantis are at war, but that's a cool idea, so I was on-board, but very little of it is seen in the comic, so I may have to wargame Merpeople with crab mechs Vs Afro-futurist soldiers in cat costumes on my own dime sometime. 

Like many events, Infinity features dozens of characters, but few get much time to develop. The above-mentioned Ebony Maw is interesting, and my boy Ronan gets to kick arse and take names, but the stand-out for me was Black Bolt, king of the Inhumans. It can be difficult to present a mute character well in a visual medium, and that's led to Black Bolt getting sidelined quite a lot, so it's great to see him flex. An all-too-short fight between him and Thanos is one of the highlights of the book, as well as the reveal that he's been playing the rest of the Illuminati for a long time. In case you can't tell, I'm torn on Infinity, it's not a bad read, strictly speaking, but I feel major events in comics should be a good point for new readers to get engaged, and this really isn't that. There's too much happening, too many characters that don't do much and a lot of pre-reading that needs to go into enjoying the story fully. I'm glad I read Infinity (a few times, actually) and don't regret the money I spent, but it's not for me and there's no shame or harm in it's not being.

Miniatures Finished: Cool Customers

Ice to see you again, cool cats and chill chicks! Here's a frosty fresh look at the glacially grim supers that have slid off my painting table recently.

Captain Cold: One of the famous Flash "Rogues" that I have ready to go, Captain Cold will also see some use in Suicide Squad games. Heroclix 

Blizzard: A rare item in my collection, in that I opened Blizzard from a booster pack of the Iron Man set that was pretty awesome. I persevered the translucent section because I kind of like how it looks. Heroclix. 

Mister Freeze: I've had a few versions of Mister Freeze over the years, but they've met with bad ends, like snapping across the torso and being stolen. Finally got around to doing a decent version for Batman/Gotham games. Heroclix 
 

Vermin: One of the very first comics I owned was one of Spider-Man's first encounters with Vermin, so I've had a soft spot for this obscure and tragic villain for a while. Got him in a booster as I probably wouldn't have picked him up otherwise. Heroclix 

Scarlet Spider: So he may not be a great character, but I have plans for a Spider-Man centric mini-campaign at some point and I'll be needing him. He got painted because I wanted to practice a blue/red scheme for a commission project. Heroclix 

Michael Korvac: I quite like this character and think his Guardians of the Galaxy/Avengers run is really good, if brief. My gaming group keeps talking about non-40K narrative science fiction gaming, so Korvac may get a second life. Heroclix 

Superhero Media: The Amazing Spider-Man (2012)

In what seems to be a trend of me not wanting to make any friends with this blog; The Amazing Spider-Man is pretty decent, actually, and I like it more than the Sam Rami Spider-Man. Whereas the Rami films drawn upon an anachronistic version of Spider-Man conjured from half-remembered Silver Age reprints, The Amazing Spider-Man pulls from the 1990s animated series and the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. Having grown up with both of those versions being my main narrative knowledge of Spider-Man, outside of the occasional comic I could afford, I naturally feel much more at home with The Amazing Spider-Man than I did with the Gen-X infused Rami version. So that I don't lose too many of you, let's start with the problems the film has and what drags it down, because hating on The Amazing Spider-Man is a popular nerd hobby in of itself. Firstly, the film is a little long at over two hours, with too much time being spent on covering facts about Peter Parker and his life which everyone and their grandparents already know. The use of CGI is too heavy, with the design of the Lizard particularly being a disappointment. 

Aside from nitpicks, that's really about it, sorry. Yes, the whole "conspiracy" around Peter's parents is as garbage as it was in Ultimate Spider-Man, but it's barely mentioned in The Amazing Spider-Man, and, honestly, some focus on Peter's parents is refreshing. If we're to accept that Peter is somewhere in the 14-17 age range, then his questioning of who his parents really were is pretty appropriate in developmental terms. In fact, one of the things I like best about this film is that the teenage characters are pretty close to being actual teenagers, both in looks and behaviour, certainly not as well as Homecoming would do in later years, but it's much better than a Flash Thompson obviously pushing thirty. I've read complaints that Andrew Garfield is "too handsome" to play Peter Parker, which honestly tells me more about the self-image of the person writing that complaint than anything. I've worked in schools and I can tell you, it doesn't matter how good looking the kid who's bad at sports and takes pictures for the school paper is, he's going to get bullied. I think I'm seeing a trend here with older fans maybe not being the target audience anymore and being a tad butthurt about it. 

What The Amazing Spider-Man does have is one of the greatest Stan Lee cameos of all time, with his librarian remaining oblivious to the huge superhero fight going on behind him; if I ever get around to doing another "Top Ten Stan Lee Cameos" list, you can bet that will be on there. The cast of the film is really great too, with Sally Fields and Martin Sheen doing a great job as Aunt May and Uncle Ben and Rhys Ifans is really good as Kurt Conners, even if the Lizard sequences aren't the best. One great moment with the Lizard though, is when he finds Gwen hiding and just takes the device he needs from her, rather than hurting her, because he doesn't need to. Great way to make the villain menacing without too much outright murder. Again, I do prefer The Amazing Spider-Man over any pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe efforts, but mostly because it resembles a Spider-Man I'm familiar with from the comics and television of my youth. The film is far from perfect, but I could never reconcile the hate it got as something other than a function of nostalgia for the Rami films.