Monthly Archives: December 2014
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 54,000 times in 2014. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 20 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
History of Power Rangers Jungle Fury – Unofficial Companion Piece
Merry Christmas, one and all!…Okay, I don’t normally do this. I feel as though doing companion pieces to reviews is kinda stepping on the toes of the reviewer. However, something odd happened after watching today’s History of Power Rangers. For those uninitiated, History of Power Rangers is a show done by Atop The Fourth Wall host, Linkara, that talks about…well, the history of Power Rangers, season by season. It’s generally a broad overview of each season, keeping only the important details in. And, in that sense, today’s HOPR, which focused on Jungle Fury, did exactly that, and I really enjoyed it…With that said, for some weird reason, a lot of details to the show that I felt were overlooked kept popping up in my head. It was made worse when, after I was done watching, I brought up Netflix and decided to watch some episodes, and these details seemingly increased in number. Now, admittedly, a lot of this could be seen as pointless trivia, but I really like it. So, I thought I’d get it all out by compiling a list of details that either weren’t covered for whatever reason, or just helped explain them when they were. Obviously, though, you’ll wanna watch HOPR FIRST before reading this, in case you haven’t done so already. And I figure we might as well start off with the first thing we saw in the review…
#1 – The Strike Rider
While the Strike Rider IS shown in the beginning of the video, primarily so Lewis could make a snarky comment, there was one thing about it that I wish he’d talked about. See, up until now, every season since In Space had a Battlizer, an American-made powered-up form for the Red Ranger, usually in the form of some advanced armour. However, Jungle Fury doesn’t really have a traditional Battlizer. Instead, the Strike Rider, and the armour that comes with it, are often considered by many to be the Jungle Fury Battlizer. Now, not everybody is in agreement over that point, and anyone reading this is free to make their own call, but personally…yeah, in my opinion, it kinda is. It gives Casey an advanced form, it’s unique to him, and he’s even seen using it at times after the team gains access to Jungle Master Mode. It’s not really anything vital to go over, but I thought it still could’ve been brought up.
#2 – The Wolf Ranger Costume
Okay, I’m not gonna debate costume fashion sense here, but I think there’s a theme present in RJ’s morphed form that I think Linkara may have overlooked: He’s supposed to look like a Muay Thai kick-boxer. Even the Wolf Morpher itself has a little ring bell switch to it. Why? Because in his morphed fights, he’s constantly employing that style of martial art. Granted, I would’ve preferred if he used that style a bit more unmorphed, so it was more clear when the time came that the suit was made with that combat style in mind (having kick-pads and whatnot), so I suppose I can see where Lewis didn’t recognize that.
#3 – The Shark Sabers
Alright, admittedly, this is probably one of the lesser points to bring up, but I just find it kinda neat. If you watch the show (and if you don’t, I don’t know why you’re reading this), you probably noticed that the Shark Sabers look kinda…flimsy. In that, they’re VERY flimsy, resembling HORRIBLE props. However, and I admittedly only know this because I watched Gekiranger, where this point was actually specifically covered, that’s actually part of the design. Think of the blades like if the edges of rubber were sharp. They can bend and flop around, but they’ll still cut. This way, while swinging them around, anything that gets close to them is getting sliced, and they’re also harder to get around, making them every bit as good as defensive weapons as they are offensive. Again, kinda pointless trivia that only the most geeky of people would care about, but…well, what can I say? I excel at being a geek. lol
#4 – The Wolf Zord
Getting back to RJ for a sec, I thought I should bring up how his Wolf Zord works with the others. Basically, it replaces the Cheetah Zord as a new right leg for the Jungle Pride Megazord, and uses its bladed tail to improve kicking power. Again, RJ mostly uses kick-boxing in the field. However, the Wolf can’t combine with the Zords that form the Jungle Master Megazord (or, if it can, it was never shown to be able to in either Jungle Fury OR Gekiranger). Instead, when the others are piloting the Jungle Master Megazord, RJ can project copies of the Tiger and Jaguar Zords to form the Wolf Pride Megazord, which functions exactly like the Jungle Pride Megazord with Wolf Power, only usually piloted by RJ on his own. Although, one cool thing about having the two Megazords usually working together that they never fully took advantage of was the fact that the Elephant, Bat, or Shark Zords could each combine with one of the two, so they could power up even further, although that could require them splitting up between the Megazords, so not sure if that would work or not. Whatever, still cool to think about…at least more-so than the last thing I need to talk about…
#5 – The Pai Zhua Masters’ Spirit Forms
Okay, this one is actually more about confirming a suspicion Lewis had. Yeah, the spirit forms of the Pai Zhua Masters were from Gekiranger. In fact, it’s what their Sentai counterparts each looked like. I’d say that it makes more sense in the Sentai, and it does, but rather, I’ll instead just say that, after a while of watching, you kinda got used to them. HERE, however, I have NO idea why they used them. It’s not even a thing where they were used so that certain shots from the Sentai could be adapted either, since their appearance in Jungle Fury was ALL original footage. So…Yeah, I don’t know. lol
Anyway, that’s all I really wanna talk about. I hope that Lewis Lovhaug understands that I don’t necessarily want to step in on his show. It’s just…I dunno, I guess Jungle Fury, and Gekiranger for that matter, left a pretty big impact on me. As such, I’m gonna NEED to reel this in, because as anyone who knows me personally can tell you, I LOVE Power Rangers RPM and Engine Sentai Go-onger, which are next. Hopefully, I’ll keep a better thumb over my need to exposit more needless details and trivia. In the meantime, though, here’s one Ranger fanatic who can’t wait til March. Ja né, and Merry Christmas. 🙂
Early Preview of Justice League Infinite Chapter 3
Merry Christmas Eve Day, everybody! lol So, as an early Christmas present, here’s a sneak peek at chapter 3 of my current fanfic, Justice League Infinite, and once again, a look at the DCIU (yes, that’s what I’m calling it, lol) version of Poison Ivy.
Ivy leaned back against the pilot’s chair, looking out through the front window of the shuttle. It was her turn to keep watch for Starro, and while she didn’t know how to steer the ship, she at least understood the read-outs on the helm’s screens and controls. Still, it was getting more than a little boring just looking ahead for anything to appear out of nowhere, and while the ship was much faster than the average space shuttle, it was still going much too slow for, say, the stars to speed by.
“Should be any time now,” Pam heard Wonder Woman declare as she slipped into the seat next to her.
“Maybe he took a nap somewhere?” Ivy suggested, getting a shrug from the Amazon Queen. “…So, thoughts?”
“Just hoping we can put a stop to this without any bloodshed,” Diana replied.
Pamela sighed, the vines and leaves on her suit ruffling slightly. “I just hope we can stop this period and get home safely.”
“Feeling regret for coming?” Wonder Woman asked.
“Not regret per se, just concern for the people I’m leaving behind,” Pam admitted.
Diana gently put a hand to Ivy’s shoulder, smiling warmly. “…Garfield will be alright, Pamela. And you’ll see him again soon enough.”
Poison Ivy nodded, looking back out at the stars and deciding to change the subject. “…So, you and Mera, huh? What’s THAT like?”
The Queen of Themyscira shrugged. “It’s nice. She’s a good person, a wonderful friend, a kind ruler to her people-“
“And it must be great going to bed every night to someone you know legitimately cares for you and knows your personal needs,” Ivy suggested with a knowing smirk as she folded her arms behind her head, managing to get a rare blush from Wonder Woman. “You let me stay on Themyscira for a time, remember? I KNOW the customs of your people.”
Diana grinned, almost as if she’d been challenged. “Quite. Oh, and for the record, Artemis is still waiting for you to come calling.”
“HEY, that was a one time thing!” Ivy shot back, sitting up as her foliage turned a rusty red for a moment before turning green again. “We both agreed to those terms!”
“And you believed her?” Diana inquired. “Did you even KNOW the kind of person Artemis was? She’s a warrior whose mindset is always on winning and getting what she wants.”
“Yeah, well I-” Pamela started to retort before her eye caught the image of something closing in from a distance: A large, green, star-like object with a single red eye in the center. “Starro!”
“Everybody, ready up!” Wonder Woman yelled, the rest of the team entering the main cockpit as she did.
The group of seven heroes watched as they got closer to the creature. It was most certainly as big, if not bigger, than the shuttle, and its tentacles were long and thick looking, seemingly strong enough to crush the ship if it so wanted. And for some odd reason, as they drew closer to it, Diana felt a small chill run down her spine, as if there were some hidden power to Starro that only she could feel.
“We should be extremely careful when engaging,” Wonder Woman stated.
“Fate, better use that spell on yourself and the others,” Superman recommended, the golden-helmed sorcerer nodding in agreement.
“Hey, this is probably a bad time to bring this up, but even if we can breathe in space, it’s not like we can ALL fly,” Flash pointed out. “I need a ramp to get airborne for even a little while, and Ivy can’t fly period.”
“I’ve got that part covered,” Batman replied, reaching into his belt to produce what looked to be silver anklets of some sort. “Hook these on. It’ll magnetize you to the haul of the ship, and it shouldn’t even slow you down much.”
“Well, that should help,” Ivy admitted, strapping hers on while Doctor Fate erected shimmering golden energy fields around her, Flash’s, Diana’s, and his own body. “What about you, though?”
“Jet propulsion and magnetic boots are installed,” the Dark Knight explained as a steel mouthpiece shut over the lower half of his cowl. “Now let’s get to work.”
And before you ask, I of course mean Artemis the Amazon, not the Goddess…or Artemis from Young Justice…Man, that’s gotta confuse some people. lol Anyway, lemme know what you think so far, and be sure to check out Chapter 3 when posted. Ja né, and Merry Christmas!
Thoughts On Batman #37 – Is The Joker Immortal?
…So, I’m sure you’ve all heard what happened in Batman #37 by now. If you didn’t, here’s the cliff-notes: The whole city is Jokerized, none of Batman’s cures for Joker venom work, investigation of a supposed haunted hospital turned up images going back a hundred years where the Joker’s face could be seen in the background, he reenacted the murder of the Waynes for Bruce to see with Duke Thomas’ family (Batman saved them, although they’ve since been Jokerized), Joker got shot through the heart by Jim Gordon and lived, and to top it all off, he then proceeded to call Batman ‘Bruce’. In other words, this was pretty much the holy shit issue.
So, aside from the fact that Joker apparently knows who Batman is now, and I’ll get to that in a bit, this issue raises one big question: Is The Joker immortal? I’ve thought about it a lot for the past 29 hours (bought it at 6 yesterday), and I’ve come to three possible explanations for what the hell is going on. They are as follows.
- The Joker is some kind of immortal evil that’s been haunting Gotham for at least a hundred years. Now, because we established in Zero Year that Joker falling in the vat of acid at Ace Chemicals is still canon, that must mean he’s not necessarily immortal but able to reincarnate, though is nonetheless difficult to kill. Again, he was shot through the heart.
- He’s somehow fucking with Batman’s head, making him THINK he’s immortal, just to make Batman feel like some insignificant figure before the almighty immortal evil that is himself. And while stuff like the photos and him surviving being shot are difficult to smoke and mirror, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE, not in the DC Universe.
- None of this is real. Think about it: This arc started with Batman recovering from an injection of Scarecrow’s fear toxins meant to make him see his end over and over, and that in every one, no matter how it differed, it always ended with a sort of mad, accusing laughter from Gotham, as if to say “Who did you think you were?” Well, look at what’s happened now: The Joker’s back, is fully ready to end him, and there’s seemingly nothing Bruce can do to stop him.
Now, of those three options, 2 and 3 seem to be the most likely, particularly the last one. Specifically, one thing that suggests that to be the case, on top of everything I just said, is the notion that Joker knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman. Now, again, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE. If he was REALLY willing to kill Batman and end their ‘relationship’, as he calls it, I could see it happening. However, here’s the problem, and kind of why no one does this: Once Joker knows who Batman is, that’s it. Game’s over. At that point, Batman has NO options left. He HAS to kill The Joker, because he is now far too dangerous to let go. He walks, and everyone close to him as both Batman and Bruce Wayne is now a target. Not to mention, Batman would officially be a liability to the Justice League, because Joker’s already proven he can get to them, but now he can get to them all the easier through Bruce. All he has to do is follow him to go meet them in their personal lives to find out who they are. And while Scott Snyder suggested there would be repercussions from the end of this story, somehow, I doubt he’d go THAT far… … …Well, okay, that DC Editorial would LET HIM go that far. lol
Anyway, lemme know what your own theories on the matter are, and we’ll see what happens in March. Ja né!
Justice League Infinite Chapter 1 Is Up! + More Character Previews
So, I have now officially posted chapter 1 of Justice League Infinite! If you wanna read, by all means, click the picture below.
Now, because I’m a nice guy, let’s take a look at some more of the characters to appear in this story, starting with the zombified gangster born on a Monday: Solomon Grundy.
As you can tell from the image shown, I used Grundy’s appearance in from The New 52’s Earth 2 book for the character, and like said version, he is the chosen champion of The Rot. He can make the ground and the roots under him wither and die, and even turn them undead and warp them to his will. What’s worse is that his body can continually regenerate and recover from damage as long as he’s connected to The Rot, which is one of the varying essences that make up the world itself. He also has large butcher knives stuck in his shoulders (like in Injustice: Gods Among Us), and can thus use them for melee attacks if punches or the like backed by his incredible strength don’t quite get the job done. And while he talks in the same sort of Hulk-esque speech that he’s more commonly known for by people who play the video games or watch the TV shows and movies that he’s appeared in, he’s still actually rather intelligent, at least when it comes to fighting, able to catch opponents off guard with his various abilities. The only way to defeat him is to cut him off from The Rot. Green Lantern Alan Scott was able to do this by physically banishing him to the moon, where The Rot’s energy couldn’t reach him, save for allowing him to continue to survive.
Steve Trevor in this universe is actually a government agent, sent by Washington to convince Superman to take on a dangerous mission. He’s still a good guy, though, and doesn’t approve of the method of convincing Superman to take the mission, which would be to expose his identity if he didn’t coöperate and come for him and his family. He deeply admires superheroes and believes in their fight for good. He also has a past with Wonder Woman, although for the moment, it’s unclear what all that entails, and they remain good friends to this day.
Loana, much like in For The Man Who Has Everything, is basically a hybrid of Lois Lane and Lana Lang (and is also supposed to be African-American in this story, so please excuse the image). Basically, in this universe, she is both the childhood friend and sweetheart that Lana Lang is, as well as an award-winning journalist for the Daily Planet that Lois Lane is. As of the beginning of this story, she’s currently living with Calvin on the Kent Family Farm, and less-so works in the offices of the Daily Planet and instead commutes around to various locations for on-site reporting. Personality wise, she’s closer to Lois, being a little feisty and teasing of Cal at times, and also taking her work with the same level of dedication and commitment as Superman takes his own duties.
Anyway, that’s all for now, but keep an eye out for when additional chapters are posted, as I’ll continue to give little special looks into the characters and plot points presented as they début. Ja né!
Batman & Azrael: KnightsEnd
Batman’s replacement Azrael eventually goes crazy. To be fair, Azrael (real name Jean-Paul Valley) was always a bit crazy, but allow him to build a mecha-Batman suit fueled by delusions and hallucinations, and the fall happens far quicker than Bruce Wayne expected. Remember the DC event One Year Later when Batman, Nightwing, and Robin traveled the world for a year and he left Two-Face in charge of Gotham City? As brilliant as Wayne is, his decision-making skills occasionally need some adjusting. In Detective Comics #677, written by Chuck Dixon and drawn by Graham Nolan, as well as Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight #63, written by Denny O’Neil and drawn by Barry Kitson, our original Batman attempts to correct his mistake of allowing Azrael to inherit his title.
Azrael’s father religiously brainwashed him in the assassin cult of St. Dumas, so his insanity isn’t really his fault. Still…
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Early Preview of My Justice League Infinite Fanfic
So, now that ‘Season 1’ of Power Rangers Guardians of Gaia is finished (which you can read here), I’ve gotten to work on the first of two DC Comics related fanfics I have planned, Justice League Infinite. With that said, I thought I’d let you guys take a quick sneak peek at a scene from Chapter 1 of the story, which introduces Poison Ivy of this universe. Keep in mind, this is a work in progress, and is subject to change before it’s posted.
It was raining hard in southern Brazil, so much so that the dam near a village so small that it wasn’t even on the map was cracking hard under the pressure of much larger waves than normal. The people of the village, seeing this, were quick to decide to grab their things and run. Unfortunately, even with so few people, they couldn’t evacuate nearly quickly enough, nor were there many higher lands for them to escape to. As such, when the dam finally burst, some were still in the process of fleeing on foot.
A young boy groaned as he fell to the ground, in such a hurry that he failed to see the large bowl that had been dropped in the soil. His mother screamed at him to run, but he was stunned still in fear as the waves began to approach. He held up an arm and braced himself, only for mere sprinkles of water to hit shortly after a massive tearing sound ripped through the air.
Looking ahead, the young Brazilian boy gasped in amazement of what he saw: A red haired woman in a black and green costume standing before him with her arms stretched out to the waves, and massive vines torn up through the ground that created a wall of stones wrapped in vines. They continued to spring up further and further along, creating a barricade around one side of the village and diverting the water further down the river.
Pamela Isley, also known in some circles as Poison Ivy, sighed hard as she slumped a little, having stopped the flood from claiming any lives. She’d heard it through the grapevine that there was heavy rain predicted for this area, and knew well enough that Brazilian rescue teams dispatched wouldn’t arrive in time. So, she came as quickly as she could, regardless of the fact that the Brazilian government wasn’t exactly known for being all that open to ‘her kind’, as she’d heard it put once.
“O-Obrigado!” the boy behind Pam exclaimed, seemingly in awe.
Ivy smiled weakly, helping him up. “De nada. Você está bem?”
“Sim, sim!” the boy answered, just as his mother ran up to hug him. Pam waved as the mother took him away, likely to regroup with the rest and let them know it was safe to return.
Well, at least I got SOME thank you this time, Pamela thought, walking off. Better than ‘Get the hell out, witch’, or ‘A demon! Grab your pitchforks and throw your vegetables’. Not that that’d do anything anyway, since throwing a vegetable at me is like shooting bullets at-
“That was impressive,” a voice called out from above, startling Ivy a bit before she glanced up at the source.
“Your highness,” Pam greeted with a grin as Diana and Jesse floated down on the back of the former’s pegasus. “…Starting a party or something?”
“Something like that,” Diana replied. “We need your help on a mission.”
Pamela cocked an eyebrow. “…What kind of mission?”
“The kind where we could all die, and even if we succeed, we might not get much in the way of thanks for,” Flash answered, getting an odd look from Diana. “…Oh, sorry, I think I got my hand tangled in your lasso on the way here…”
Poison Ivy smirked. “…Well, that sounds right up my alley. When do we leave?”
And that’s all for now. Leave a comment below what you think of this scene, of this interpretation of Pamela, and so on, and keep your eyes peeled on my Twitter for the next while to see when I post the first chapter. Ja né!
The One And ONLY Thing Bugging Me About Batgirl Nowadays
You may have noticed that, despite proclaiming my liking of the current Batgirl title, I haven’t really been actively reviewing it much. Well, that’s ‘cuz…well, there’s not much else to say other than what I’ve already said. I like the art, I like the direction they’re going, I like the use of Babs’ photographic memory, and I like that, while Alysia isn’t a main character anymore, she IS still around from time to time. Overall, it’s a good book…….However, as I was reading Batgirl #37 today (because the weather was uber nasty yesterday and I just didn’t want any of that), I realized the one thing about the book that’s been bothering me a lot: Black Canary.
Look, I didn’t read Birds of Prey. I felt it to be a very underwhelming title, especially in comparison to how it used to be. However, I AM aware that at the end of the series (which I assume takes place after the end of Gail Simone’s last issue of Batgirl), the team breaks up following a falling-out between Babs and Dinah. Cut to this story, where Barbara lets Dinah live with her and her room-mate after Di loses everything she owns in a fire…that turns out to have been caused by Babs. Ever since then, Dinah has slowly but surely been becoming more and more of a bitch with every issue, to the point where she was having fun at Babs’ expense in this one and refused to come help her when she was potentially in trouble (although to be fair, even she didn’t find the image of Batgirl in a wheelchair amusing in the slightest). Look, there’s being angry at a friend, and then there’s being hatefully spiteful and, frankly, not at all like the heroine I know Black Canary to be. Frankly, the Black Canary I know, regardless of what was going on between her and Batgirl, would have at least gone to help her.
I really hope that Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher read this and are hopefully not planning to stretch this out much farther, because if they do, it’s gonna make this book hard to enjoy. Like I said, I enjoy every other aspect of this Batgirl title, despite it being polarizing to many others. But this whole thing with Dinah has just gotten completely out of control, and needs to end, FAST.
Please come back, Black Canary
Anyway, lemme know what you think, what your own thoughts on the book are, and hopefully, this little issue solves itself soon. Ja né!
Why DO They Call It Evolution In Pokémon?
Y’know how when you’re awake at night and you can’t sleep, and your mind drifts to weird topics? Well, I was thinking last night why it is that, when Pokémon grow and change, it’s called evolution? Because it’s really not, at least not from a literal standpoint. Now, because I’m not a scientist, nor do I play one on television, and I don’t really expect very many to read my blog, I’ll simplify my terms here: Basically, evolution is the term used for when a species grows and changes to better suit their environment. It’s what a lot of people believe happened to the remaining dinosaurs that didn’t die off, and how life continued on Earth after the event that caused most of them to become extinct.
Now, before anyone goes Phoebe from F*R*I*E*N*D*S on me (and I cannot wait for that show to be uploaded to Netflix, I miss the heck outta it), I’m aware of the fact that there are people that don’t believe in evolution. That’s fine. I’m not here to start a debate over that. I’m just saying that, under that description, what a Pokémon does isn’t really evolution in the most literal of senses. Really, what’s happening is that they’re growing up, getting stronger, and at some point, developing into a different kind of creature. The biggest difference is that Pokémon seem to evolve as individuals, and with a few exceptions, have a set direction, whereas real-life evolution is done as a species and can’t be pre-determined, no matter what Brannon Braga and everyone else who worked on the Star Trek Voyager episode ‘Threshold’ might tell you, and you want more info on that, watch SF Debris’ review of the episode. Another major difference is the fact that species evolve to survive in different environments, whereas Pokémon don’t seem to have that problem, and instead evolve seemingly as a way to keep up with and compete with other Pokémon, either by becoming stronger, gaining new abilities, or changing types (for example, Mudkip evolving to become part Ground-type to gain immunity from electricity).
If that’s the case, though, why DO we call it evolution in Pokémon if that’s not what’s actually happening? Well, that’s when it hit me: Maybe they DON’T mean it in the literal, scientific sense, but the metaphorical one? Evolution has oftentimes been used as a metaphor for people growing stronger, smarter, getting new skills, and a lot of other stuff that aren’t actually covered under the literal explanation for evolution. And really, when you think about it, that’s what’s happening with Pokémon: The grow up, get bigger, stronger, faster, gain new abilities, can learn different attacks, change types, and so on. So, maybe calling it evolution isn’t necessarily wrong, just that the word is being used in a different sense.
So, does this mean that literal evolution doesn’t occur in Pokémon? Honestly, that’s an interesting question. Why DO some Pokémon have just the right types, abilities, and body shapes to thrive in different environments? Take Helioptile for example. This is a Pokémon whose typing gives it a huge disadvantage against other inhabitants of its native environment, which is generally a desert or rocky terrain. However, its abilities take perfect advantage of its environment, allowing it to become evasive in sandstorms, absorb solar energy, and so on. That seems to suggest that it evolved from a species that couldn’t survive in that environment. And then there’s Pokémon that have eerie similarities to others, like how the otherwise extinct Kabutops resembles a lot of other Pokémon that have come into existence later on. Stuff like that tends to suggest that literal evolution does exist in the Pokémon world. So, for those that maybe stay up at night wondering about evolution in Pokémon, like I did? Don’t stress too much over it, and especially don’t keep yourself up trying to figure it out, otherwise you WILL find yourselves nerding out hard over it. lol
Anyway, leave a comment below telling me your own theories on evolution in Pokémon, and maybe some ones you’d like to see Nintendo and Game Freak toss out in the future. Ja né!
Jyger's Rant 