Moving and new play.

So we're finally all moved and sorting out where things go at our new home. And yes, driving that far did make me feel like a zombie. Amazingly, after a bumpy truck ride, my clix collection came out in good shape. The truck sucked because it didn't hold speed well, had to be floored at times to go 50 and couldn't go the speed limit very often unless we went downhill.

After two expensive gas fill ups for the 55 gallon diesel tank, my bank card got blocked. I had to call them up and explain that I was indeed the person using the card for what they called "excessive purchases of gas". I guess it's a good security measure, but it was pretty inconvenient when I had gas to pay for.

Then there was this interesting area of highway in Arkansas. The speed limit was posted at 60. Sounds okay right? Especially since my sick truck could barely pull that off, I was fine. Well, some wonder-wizard highway developer decided there needed to be three giant speed bump things on this stretch of highway with no warning of any kind. Seriously, I might have been going 55 and the whole mess was tossed up in the air and I could hear the whole load coming down hard. Furniture did break. Why did they want us to go 60? Is it some cruel joke? I don't get it. Even seeing the third one coming (barely) I couldn't slow down any more in time to make it matter. Diesels aren't known for their "stop on a dime" powers.

So, furniture broke and had to be tossed, but we did make it safely within a couple days drive. Now things are put together to a fairly livable state.

Unfortunately, there's really no one here who sells my favorite game. There are people who play though, I got them involved some time ago. I am talking to a local store to see if they might consider carrying heroclix, so wish me luck!

Great fan films

Well, I'm a week away from loading up a big truck to move across states. A new adventure awaits. So, with all the major movies coming up, I thought I would use this blog post to pay homage to some of the greatest (in my opinion) of those vids every made. I hope you enjoy them!

There's no knocking great CGI and this vid on some popular Marvel heroes proves it:



But what really impresses me is live action filming. This may not be top of the mark, but it is enjoyable.



Hey, I liked it alot and wish they would have made more. Of course that is a costly endeavor. So let's look at another one:



That's a production of Bat in the Sun and you should take some time to watch the shows on their youtube channel HERE. This most recent is the longest of their works and a little stiff in places. It's still very enjoyable work as fan films go.

NEXT:



Now this stomps the snot out of the five minute Grayson Film that circulated some years ago. It's about as old, but the effects and makeup are super, especially for a fan film. That's not to put down Grayson, because it totally rocked too. And people do need to remember that these are FAN films, not full budget productions, so what they did really was over the top.

I hope you enjoy these films and the pro ones opening up in theaters this summer. I'm sure I will!

Thor and Green Lantern: Double Review

Yes, I'm doing a double review; two for the price of one. First I want to talk about the Thor movie that made major record sellouts across the country and earned raving reviews. Mine is really no different. If you haven't seen Thor yet and it's not longer in the theater near you, you've missed out. You need to see this movie. It's brilliantly made with fantastic special effects and views that make Asgard worthy of... well... ASGARD. The Ice giants looked awesome, the battle scenes were all incredible. One of the feelings I look for when I go to a comic related movie is that I am definitely looking at the character in question. I want to feel like "Oh Yeah! That's definitely Spider-man, Cap, Thor" or who ever I went to see. Thor delivered that in spades. Props to giving Hawkeye a speaking part for the short time he was in the movie. Even that felt very accurate. Loki was diabolical too, big props on that. When you see it, remember to wait through the credits for the teaser at the end. One of the villains is suggested for the Avengers movie and it promises to be awesome already. I saw a hint of TWO villains in it.. how about you?

Now the only problem I had, and it really didn't bother me that much, was Odin's eye. The movie makes it look like he lost it in combat with the giants. Even the comics continuity, however, follows the original legend that Odin gave his eye in payment for ultimate wisdom. The eye is never specified in legend, but most often drawn as his left eye. In the movie it's his right eye. Now, because it doesn't specify, they could claim that he went in search of ultimate wisdom because of the war with the giants (that still wouldn't be accurate though). Legend says his gaining the wisdom happened before those wars. But it's not something that made me dislike the movie in any way. It's just technical fact jargon that I happen to know. If that's all I could find "wrong" then they did a fantastical job. And they did.

Now, let's take a look at the new Green Lantern Fast Forces pack. I have to say that this is a well made set that does allow for new players to get involved quickly and easily. Points are carefully set to make for quick team building in even hundreds. It even says so right on the back of the package. All six together make a nice even 600 points, so you can pit two sets against each other right off the bat, or make two 300 point teams out of one. That's instant game play with map and dice included. For all it has in the package, meant for new players, there's just one thing missing.

A RULEBOOK, PEOPLE! Seriously? No rules of any kind? Hang on a second. You have a great marketing strategy to get new players by using venues like Toys R Us, Target, Walmart, etc.... and there's NOTHING that says HOW TO PLAY? OOPS! Were we assuming that the only people who would buy know someone in heroclix? That would be folly if so. People may buy this set out of interest in the movie... then go, "This is cool, but what do I do with it?". People who are in the game aren't going to care, but there's a lost connection, lost opportunity for those who get this to get started as the package suggests: "Fast forces are the quickest way for you to get in the game".

The figures look pretty cool and click nicely. I only had to fix two of them and they were very minor fixes. Plastic quality.. a little cheaper than most, but usable. Hal's head doesn't seem quite right, that angle in mass production makes him look like he broke his neck. Modders could make a heck of a zombie out of Hal in this set!

Still, I suggest picking up this set, because it's way cool and has Kilowog and Tomar Re. You can't get those two without shelling out some bucks for the originals. Enjoy some clicking today with Green Lantern, we are!

Green Lantern's changing origin

I recently picked up the Green Lantern Super Spectacular comic at the grocery store and gave it a good read. I can't afford comic books much anymore. For that matter, I have to stick with a limit of vices for budget sake. So my comic junkie fix is Heroclix. First of all, it's not that spectacular. It's full of short stories that come across as teasers more than anything with little in the way of good ol Green Lantern action. The only story really worth the read is the origin story. Now for the meat of this blog article.

Just how many ways are they going to choose for Abin Sur to die? Yes, it's always a crash landing in a spacecraft. What's always changing it the cause of that crash. Never mind the need of a spacecraft when you have a power ring that allows for space travel, no, forget that. There's been some weird explanations for that one. They pile it on heavily with an excuse in this newest story. Actually, it might be one of the best excuses they've come up with so far. Abin Sur loses faith in his ring to protect him because of some fortune telling prophecy. His will must have been waning badly in the first place for that to work. So the ring would eventually fail because of that weakness. So who caused the crash of the ship that Abin shouldn't have been in? The second cause of him using that ship, namely...

That's Atrocitus. If you've been paying attention to current storylines (and I try to) and Heroclix, you know this guy is the leader of the Red Lanterns. He doesn't have a power ring yet in this story, but he's on Abin's ship for another really silly reason. Apparently Abin needs him to show where the darkness is coming from. Uh, okay. Anyway, Atrocitus breaks free and attacks Abin... cue crash. But that's not who originally did this according to origins written.. last time I read the story of Hal's origin in a special called Emerald Dawn, it was this guy...

That's Legion. Legion is a whole alien race living inside of yellow armor. Note the color.... yellow. The weakness of a power ring at the time was the color yellow. In the current story, that weakness is mentioned again and declared to be still be accurate. Funny no? According to that 90's storyline, Legion fought Abin to the point of nearly killing him and a spacecraft was his only hope of escape, having drained his ring with no safe place to recharge. So he fled with Legion right on his heels. Legion pursues him into Earth's atmosphere and causes the crash.

Of course, that's not the only way the story has been told, even still. You can check out all those versions in one handy place HERE.

It seems to me that Abin Sur's fate keeps getting tweaked with what ever villain is popular at the time. To me, this makes the continuity of it all a total joke. I've seen origins get tweaked in movies a bit, but this is ridiculous. If I understand correctly, in the movie it may even be different still, with the darkness itself causing the crash... we'll see. At least Hal still keeps getting the ring from ol Abin. That hasn't changed... yet.

Better with friends

I've been musing on the colossal figures we have from GSX and I've come to this conclusion: they work best in a force.

These are not the colossal figures of old that have the multi-attack ability and can stand on their own like Dark Phoenix, Anti-Monitor, Galactus and others. Results of playing these characters alone against an equal point force are typically disastrous for the colossal. I draw that conclusion from several games and not just my own.

Strategically, multiple figures will outmaneuver and take down a single figure. The ability to keep on attacking while taking a click of damage to pay for it becomes a very risky issue. Onslaught has had better luck out of all the new colossals and the sentinels fare the worst.

But, playing them in a force makes a huge strategic difference. While Apocalypse is always a clear target, having his horsemen getting in the way can mess that up. Now, not only can Apocalypse be a real threat, he can afford to rest up and clear those tokens while his underlings work some interference. A troop of sentinels or Onslaught with underlings work about the same.

So play a higher point game and enjoy the true power of the colossal!

A challenge to modders and customizers

I've seen all kinds of great customs out there by fantastic artists. I've seen customs of Sentinels and even Galactus. So I have a challenge for all those customs makers out there...

Yeah, Celestials.

Celestials are the biggest and pretty much most powerful things in the Marvel Universe. They can be any size they wish, thought their natural size is a shadow over galaxies. So how would you make a custom Celestial?

What kind of material would you use? I considered pvc pipe as the core of the body, but attachments could get tricky. Then, what kind of stats would you give a Celestial?

I can't imagine them being anything but white power types all around that ignore things like outwit, perplex, probability control, psychic blast, exploit weakness, shape change and plasticity. What kind of stats do you give something that can snuff out a universe with a reflex action?

Anyway, this is my challenge to the customs makers out there. Make a good looking Celestial and you've done what pretty much no one else has ever done. I bet people would be begging for it!

A heroclix charity event in Austin

On April 29th, in Austin, Texas at the Dragon's Lair (gaming shop venue) they will be holding a charity tournament to benefit the Austin Children's Shelter.

The purpose of the shelter is to provide a safe place for children in crisis. This is a past from their website: "In addition to emergency shelter, ACS now offers long term residential care for older youth, respite care, transitional living for young adults, care and services for teen mothers and their young children, expanded education programs, and family counseling services for children in our care. By meeting the specific needs of each child, we reduce the emotional trauma for children of all ages and make a positive impact on their future. "

You can check out their website HERE.

You can check out Dragon's Lair more HERE. The event isn't listed on the Austin calendar yet, but you can email mwbmc@yahoo.com for more information on what you can do to help out. Donation of prizes is appreciated too.

Not say they are short on prizes though. Booty to win in this tournament are a Colossal Dr Manhattan clix, all of the Giant Sized Xmen Limited edition pieces, and a hard bound edition of the graphic novel, The Dark Knight Returns (very rare) and a lot more. Check out HeroclixWorld for a listing of more of those prizes and to see what they have to say about this event. Yes, it's a link, click it.

This is a great way to help out some kids in need and who can say no to that?