The Mandalorian Trailer, My Thoughts

Five years after the Galactic Empire fell in Return of the Jedi, the galaxy is in chaos. It's a time where the lawless became the law. It was the time of bounty hunters and mercenaries. And among them...was the Mandalorian.

The Mandalorian is an upcoming TV series for the Disney+ streaming service, due to release in November. It tells the tale of the titular character's adventures in the outer reaches of the galaxy. What's a Mandalorian, you may ask? Well, they're a race of people in the Star Wars universe. You guys know of Boba Fett? Well, he's a Mandalorian.

The show will be run by Jon Favreau (You may know him for directing the first two Iron Man films. He also played Happy Hogan), and it boasts quite a cast: Gina Carano, Carl Weathers, Nick Nolte, and even legendary German actor/director Werner Herzog. So, let's take a look at the trailer, revealed at the D23 Expo!

Wow, I bet some Stormtroopers are going to be wanting those helmets.

Oh, I bet those Stormtroopers regret not being able to aim.

That's a neat ship. And what a pretty planet.

"Ahhh, another day of bounty hunter, another dollar." Or...credits? Hey, what is the currency in the Star Wars universe?

I still am amazed they got Carl Weathers for this.

Oh look, they're flying over Dune! Watch out for sandworms!

When you're a bounty hunter, making a cool entrance is part of the job.

I think we just met some of the characters.

Heh. That Twi'lek must be lonely.

A bit of Western homage in those shots. Makes sense, I think Westerns were an influence on Star Wars.

"For the 500th time, I am NOT Boba Fett!"

Hey, IG-88! I remember him from Shadows of the Empire! That was a fun game! I hated him.

So, what is a Mexican Standoff called in the Star Wars universe? A Mandalorian Standoff?

"Bounty Hunting is a complicated profession." True, but you get to be your own boss.

I think he just broke the face of an Ood.

Huh. The Mandalorian has his own version of webshooters.

Hah. Dude in carbonite.

Well, I have to say, I am intrigued. I admit, I am a bit more of a...casual fan of Star Wars, mainly thanks to the Sequel Trilogy. I do want to watch this, as it seems like it will be quite good. I get a Western vibe to it, which is kind of neat.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!

Daredevil #275 (December 1989)

The Man without Fear has swung by this blog before, mainly with my review of Daredevil #233 (August 1986). It would be the last issue of the influential Daredevil run by Frank Miller. After Miller departed the book, three fill-in issues were made. Steve Englehart (using the pseudonym John Harkness) was supposed to take over next, but lost the post after one issue thanks to a plot conflict with one of the fill-ins. Enter Ann Nocenti.

Nocenti was originally brought in to write a fill-in, but she stayed on the book for four-and-a-quarter years. This made her the series' longest regular writer. Nocenti had already cut her teeth writing for Marvel, having written stories for the Jessica Drew Spider-Woman, Doctor Strange, and Star Wars. She also wrote the 1986 miniseries Beauty and the Beast (December 1984-June 1985), a miniseries that focused on the X-Men characters Dazzler and Beast. She also wrote the Longshot miniseries (September 1985-February 1986), which was the introduction of the titular character. Nocenti's run dealt with themes like feminism (which was a regular theme of her work), drug abuse, and nuclear proliferation. She also introduced Typhoid Mary to the Daredevil mythos. This would cause her to come into conflict with editors on occasion.

Before we begin, we also have to talk a bit about a crossover Marvel was doing at the time called "Acts of Vengeance". Going between December 1989 and February 1990 (and bringing in many of Marvel's books at the time), the crossover was basically an excuse to have Marvel's heroes face off against villains they normally didn't fight. For example, Moon Knight fighting Hydro-Man or the Fantastic Four fighting the Leader. Made for some interesting match-ups. Daredevil would be among the heroes brought into the Acts, as he finds himself battling one of Marvel's most dangerous villains: Ultron. So, how did that go down? Let's find out as we take a look at Daredevil #275!

The cover is pretty awesome. You go Ultron holding Daredevil by the neck while he is standing over the beaten bodies of Karnak and Gorgon. Behind them is a what looks like a bunch of Ultron heads on pikes. It's pretty macabre, and shows the insanity of Ultron rather well.

"False Man"
Writer: Ann Nocenti
Penciler: John Romita, Jr.
Inker: Al Williamson
Colorist: Max Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editors: Ralph Macchio, Mike Rockwitz
Editor-in-Chief: Tom DeFalco

The story begins with Doom holding up Ultron's head, like he thinks it will impress Reed Richards or something.

"Alas, poor Ultron. Doom knew him...not very well."

Doom rants about the Kingpin's ego always letting him get in the way of defeating Daredevil. As such, Doom will show him who is the better man, by using a robot to kill the Man without Fear. And he won't just use any robot. He'll use the robot that has given teams of Avengers trouble. No kill like overkill, I guess. Doom hasn't just got the body of Ultron, he's also got the mental systems of the previous twelve incarnations of the robot up to this point.

Doom has mixed them together to create the perfect new Ultron...Ultron 13. He places the head of the robot on the body, and activates it. Ultron is reborn, his first thoughts being that the Ultron minds are no one's servants. They serve themselves...against each other. As Doom gives him his orders, Ultron thinks about how flawed his creators have been.

Meanwhile, in upstate New York, Daredevil is chilling in a barn, where he notes that there's a lot of various different skulls there.

"If I could see, I would be rather uncomfortable right now."

Uh, Matt? You may want to run. That loooks like the lair of a psycho killer, man. Using his super-senses, he listens in on the happenings below.

We see two of the Inhumans, Karnak and Gorgon, alongside their faithful dog Lockjaw. They're with a man named Skip, who owns the farm. There was some strangeness going on with Skip's farm and Attilan, the Inhumans' home. The two are also looking for a child that is the heir to the Inhumans' throne. Likely Black Bolt and Medusa's kid Ahura. I think this was brought in as a leftover from an Inhumans story Nocenti wanted to do. She did write the Inhumans graphic novel a year earlier.

Daredevil feels like this whole thing is completely absurd. I don't blame him. I read the issues before this, and it's pretty crazy, ha ha. Matt finds himself feeling like he doesn't care about any of this, and wonders how he turned off his compassion.

Meanwhile, Ultron is making some extra weapons to fight Daredevil.

Page 159, Panel 2

Yup, he going to throw Ultron heads at Daredevil. Ultron finds himself thinking about Jocasta, his first attempt at a mate. He then laments that he himself is flawed, and all flawed creators must be destroyed. Meanwhile, Daredevil is preparing to leave. He realizes that he needs to be alone. Can't fix himself up if he's too busy helping others.

It's then that a blonde woman known only as Number Nine walks in with Gorgon. Yeah, there was whole weird story beforehand with Number Nine. It was weird. Basically, Nine was genetically programmed to be servile, the "perfect woman". A woman named Brandy (Skip's daughter) has been trying to teach her basic feminist principles, and it's left her a little unsure of herself. As I said, it was a weird story. Gorgon tries to point out that everyone is "programmed" in a way, by parents, by society, by status. And everyone struggles with it. Even Inhuman Royals.

In the woods, Ultron has...gotten weird.

And here we see Ultron perfoming a ritual to summon Calculon, God of Microchips.

You know, Ann Nocenti went on to edit a magazine for pot smokers. I'm sure that it has nothing to do with this. Ultron decides to just wander off, questioning why he's going to kill Daredevil. After all, Daredevil is just a human. Ultron hates all of humanity, and Daredevil is just another human. So why just kill this one human? Ultron 13 has the voices of all the previous 12 incarnations in his head,
and it's leading him to wonder who 13 himself is. I smell a theme...

Number Nine goes out for a nice jog. On the run, she encounters all of Ultron's extra heads. She then runs into Ultron, who demands to know where Daredevil is. She screams that she never will, and tries to flee...only to get zapped by the mechanical menace. He discovers that she survived the blast...and is already healing up. Ultron thinks he's found her: his perfect, indestructible woman.

Gorgon and Karnak get ready to leave. After all, they got a lost kid to find. Brandy offers to help out, and she wonders if Daredevil will, too. It's not like they have to worry about Number Nine. Her creators think she's dead (again, crazy story), so she's safe.

Speaking of Number Nine, she and Ultron do some talking...while he takes her to show off his totally not wonkybonkers head display.

I guess you could say Ultron...lost his heads?

She tells him she has no idea who she is, and so does he. He admits that he is flawed, which doesn't bother Number Nine in the least. Ultron examines her, while his previous incarnations argue in his head over what to do with her. It seems his urge to kill is winning out (Makes sense, the majority of Ultron's incarnations were all about killing people), and Nine screams.

Daredevil hears it (He's got super-hearing), and goes to check it out. It leads the others to realize that Number Nine is missing. Ultron starts ranting about being a mockery of man, as humanity is flawed, and since humans created Ultron, he is flawed, too. He screams he must be destroyed, and so must his creators. Nine tries to talk him down. Gorgon and Daredevil take the fight to the robotic rogue.

Karnak tries to use his power to find the weak points in objects to break Ultron, but he angrily blasts the three off of him. The story ends with Ultron grabbing Number Nine. Yup, this is a two-parter.

This story is...alright, but it feels really weird. Keep in mind, it's continuing on another storyline that also was rather weird. At least, I felt it was weird. I admit, rereading this issue, I did feel a bit lost. I got the scans for this issue from Daredevil Epic Collection Vol. 14: Heart of Darkness. It had been a while since I read that trade, so I was a bit confused at first as to what is going on with the Inhumans, Skip, Brandy, and Number Nine. So, I'd recommend getting the trade to get the whole story.

The big thing about the story is the theme of being flawed. I did like the interactions between Number Nine and Ultron. They both were artificial beings in a way. Number Nine was created to be perfect, but she struggles to figure out who she is, and in a way...Ultron is as well. They were both intended to be "perfect", but have inherent flaws due to being created by flawed beings.

John Romita Jr. is a second-generation artist, his father John Romita Sr. was famous for his work on Spider-Man back in the 1960s. His art style is more gritty than his father's, and he seems a bit more..."blocky" for lack of a better term, a bit stiffer.

Nocenti's run on Daredevil, from what I read of it, does come off as different to the classic Miller stuff, but it brings plenty of weird. Again, if you want to give this story a read, track down Daredevil Epic Collection Vol. 14: Heart of Darkness. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you enjoyed it, spread it around! Next time, we'll see how the Man without Fear survived the Mad Mechanoid...

Astral Chain Trailer, My Thoughts

Since the last video game trailer I looked at was set in a post-apocalyptic world, I figured we'd take a look at the trailer for another game set in a different kind of post-apocalyptic world, this one with a bit of cyberpunk flavor to it. After a massive global disaster, the remains of humanity now reside in a megacity. It's the last remaining piece of civilization. Sadly, it means humanity is now more vulnerable to attack from beyond the stars than ever. The city's only hope is the police force's special task force, equipped with sentient weapons called Legions. This is the world...of Astral Chain.

Eh, your typical cyberpunk city. Gritty, no sun, lots of neon signs. Betting there's lots of crime and cyborgs, too. You could plop Rick Deckard or Motoko Kusanagi here, and they'd notice nothing odd.

Evidently, these extradimensional invaders are fond of Japanese culture. Look at that fire samurai!

This looks completely insane. But then again, it's not surprising. It's PlatinumGames. Look up Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising Revengeance.

So, you can capture the invader monsters and make them fight alongside you? It's like having a tag team match alongside your Pokémon!

Basically, you have to fight together with your Legion, making combo attacks to defeat the invaders. Again, it's PlatinumGames. Action/hack-and-slash stuff is kind of their specialty.

I kind of find it hilarious that the female cop's uniform has shorts. It is really that hot in this megacity?

Uh oh, she hacked the Matrix.

Hmm, so there may be a downside to the Legions?

Wheee, ride to freedom!

Those are some big freaking monsters.

I'm guessing that's one of the main villains? Maybe? Looks like a villain.

That dude's dead.

Well, this is...interesting. I'm not quite how your player character and the Legion are supposed to work together to make these combos. Maybe through quick-time events? I have no idea. PlatinumGames has made games that do look like fun (I want to play Bayonetta sometime), so I think this will be fun. The monster look neat, but the megacity does look like your standard cyberpunk dystopia. It's not the game's fault. Still, it looks like fun, and I'll give the demo a shot.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!

RAD Launch Trailer, My Thoughts

Back in April, I took a look at the announcement trailer for the post-apocalyptic roguelike game called RAD. I remember thinking that the game looked like a lot of fun, and wanting to give it a try. Well, the launch trailer is here! That's right! RAD is here! Let's take a look!

How many games have used the Unreal Engine? I think RAD is the 5,834,623rd.

Loving the music and look. God, I wish that Farcry: Blood Dragon would be brought to the Switch.

The song is called "Remade Again" by David Earl. I want this game's soundtrack.

When in doubt, turn to teenagers. You see, if you're a teenager in something with an 80s aesthetic, you automatically have the ability to save the world.

One-eyed chicken meat can't be good. I can imagine it's rather...gamey. Like a three-eyed fish would likely taste.

His name is Blinky, in case you're wondering. It would be awesome if RAD homaged this wonderful little mutant fish.

I wonder if you can customize your avatar. Good customization is always fun.

I'm betting that Gas Mask ends up the villain.

Huh. You can mix mutations? That'll come in handy.

I love the idea of slowly restoring life to the wastelands.

Yeah, maybe meeting people while mutated is not the best idea.

The bosses look neat.

I think that's what you dying looks like.

Oh, you CAN customize your avatar! Awesome! I'm giving mine a glorious 80s rocker mullet!

I want that sword-wielding centaur mutant rearing up with the lightning to be made into a painting! That is AWESOME!

Well, this game looks like only one thing to me: Epic Personified. I want this. I want this game. I want this game bad. I want to play this game! Give me this game! I want to mutate into rad monsters and beat up other monsters with a baseball bat!

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! And I am looking into other options to provide extra support for the blog! See you next time!

Marvel Super Heroes: Secret Wars #8 (December 1984)

The Secret Wars rage on! Last time, we saw the debut of an all-new Spider-Woman, we saw Volcana make a devil's bargain, and the She-Hulk got the mother of all beatdowns! So, where are we going next with this? Will we learn more about our mysterious new heroine? Will Volcana end up regretting her deal with the Enchantress? Can the other heroes save She-Hulk? Will I stop asking stupid questions and get to the comic already? Can do! This is Marvel Super-Heroes: Secret Wars #8!

The cover of the comic, a Mike Zeck piece, has become pretty iconic. Front-and-center is the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, with his fancy new costume. It's kind of a funny cover to me because right behind him, you see the heroes and the villains of the story brawling in the background. It's like he's so distracted with admiring his new suit that he doesn't even notice the battle behind him. It's really funny. But seriously, it is a great cover.

"Invasion!"
Writer: Jim Shooter
Penciler: Mike Zeck
Inkers: John Beatty, Jack Abel, Mike Esposito
Colorist: Christie Scheele
Letterer: Joe Rosen
Editor: Tom DeFalco
Editor-in-Chief: Jim Shooter

The story begins with the heroes flying into action.

"Here they come to save the dayyyyy!"

They arrive at the Doombase, but Reed Richards is suspicious. Surely, Doctor Doom would have noticed there were there by now. Why hasn't he sent a force to intercept them? The other heroes don't care, they just want to fight.

Inside the Fortress, the Enchantress is basically drinking herself senseless. She laments how she wasn't able to get Thor to kiss her in issues 3 and 4, which would have gotten him under her power. Yeah, Amora is rather obsessed with Thor. She hears the din of the heroes charging in, but she's too plastered to really do anything. Man, that Asgardian mead must pack a punch. Volcana is watching over the injured Molecule Man while he recovers from the wounds Wolverine gave him in issue 6.

She also hears the sound of battle, and Volcana vows to make sure no one can get to him, especially Wolverine. Good luck, lady. You're a rookie supervillain, and he's got a century of combat experience. In Doombase's dungeon, Klaw frees the Lizard. He can't stand seeing him cooped up, as he was trapped once in a ship, and it made him a bit crazy.

Elsewhere, She-Hulk is taking a heck of a beating, but Absorbing Man picks up the sound of Thor's hammer. They go to engage, but not before Doctor Octopus seemingly finishes off She-Hulk.

"BAH GAWD ALMIGHTY! THAT KILLED HER! AS GAWD AS MAH WITNESS, SHE IS BROKEN IN HALF!"

Doctor Doom stumbles out of his quarters, looking a bit worse for wear. Well, he did barge into Galactus's ship uninvited, so no surprise he'd get a cosmic boot out of the ship. Monica Rambeau goes to search for the She-Hulk, as she can take the form of a beam of light, which will allow her to cover the area much faster. The Wrecker tries to bash Iron Man with his enchanted crowbar, but ends up getting a repulsor to the face. The heroes and villains brawl in the Doombase, where the new Spider-Woman gets to show her stuff.

"Judo THROW!"

Hawkeye is able to wound Piledriver by firing an arrow at close range. Hulk bursts through a wall like a gamma radiation-powered Kool-Aid Man to find the Enchantress. Evidently she's sobered up quick as she uses her seductive powers to knock the Jade Giant cold. She tries the same trick on Captain America, but ends up getting a faceful of his Mighty Shield.

Titania tries to shove a 40-ton metal beam down on the heroes' heads, but is stopped by Spider-Man. She tries to attack him, while ranting about how she used to be the one who got picked on, but now can do the beating up. Yeah, basically Titania is your victim of bullying who ends up becoming a bully themselves. Hawkeye and Ben Grimm (who turned back into his human form during the battle), encounter Klaw and the Lizard.

Mister Fantastic and Iron Man, accompanied by Thor and Spider-Woman, find Molecule Man and Volcana. Volcana tries to blast them, but Iron Man is able to power everyone through...heavily damaging his armor in the process. Molecule Man creates a transparent air shield to protect himself and Volcana. However, Monica Rambeau is able to go through it in the form of light (The shield is transparent, so light can get through it).

The energy transformer has Molecule Man in a headlock, which makes Volcana freak out. She agrees to surrender. Meanwhile, Titania is not doing so well against Spider-Man. Remember, Titania may have the wall-crawler beat on raw power, but Spider-Man has been fighting supervillains since he was a teenager. His speed, agility, and Spider-Sense allow him to dodge the powerhouse, as well as lay some quick blows of his own. The entire time, he also taunts Titania about how she still is the "whining little wimpette" she always was. The battle ends with Spidey tossing her out of Doombase.

"This ain't faiiiiiiiir...!"

This would have an effect on Titania for a while afterwards, as future stories established this battle gave her a phobia of Spider-Man that would last for a long time. Cap and the Human Torch encounter Ultron. Torch tries to melt him, but he can't generate enough heat to melt the mad machine's adamantium body. Cap encourages Torch to use his Nova Flame (a giant blast of heat that tends to weaken the Torch). Desptie the power of the Nova Flame, it didn't damage Ultron's body. It did manage to damage his circuitry, so it wasn't a failure. Cap finds Doctor Doom, but the Latverian tyrant is clearly really out of it.

"Ugh, why does Doom keep falling for drinking contests with Richards?!"

"Why does Doom keep falling for drinking contests with Richards?" Mr. Fantastic, Spider-Man, and the Hulk manage to find Ben Grimm and Hawkeye. Thankfully, they were able to pacify the two villains...by playing patty-cake with the looney Klaw. It's hilarious. Monica finds She-Hulk, battered and bleeding. With the battle over, and the Doombase taken, Reed Richards takes the wounded to the infirmary. It was lucky that Monica found the Gamma Glamazon when she did. Much longer, and She-Hulk would have been dead...like the Wasp. The uninjured villains are locked in the dungeon.

Back in Zsaji's village, Colossus is carrying her to her home. She's very weak, like the life was drained right out of her. The Russian mutant spots the bottle of mind-linking vapors that Johnny Storm had used in an earlier issue. He uses the vapors, and he's able to discover why Zsaji is in such bad shape...she used her healing power to wake the Wasp up. Turns out she wasn't quite dead. Just in a sort of stasis...that Zsaji got her out of. Okay.

Yeah, she took a laser blast to the chest. How do you end up in STASIS from that?! It was shown, ON-PANEL, that she was BLASTED IN THE CHEST! Also, did the heroes just leave Colossus behind? I know he was injured and all, but they at the very least tell him where they were going and they would pick him up later? Anyway, she wakes up in the Doombase (Monica and Hawkeye had retrieved her body earlier so they could give it a proper burial), and she has her priorities in order.

Janet van Dyne is a believer in the phrase "Leave a good-looking corpse."

"Janet Van Dyne is a real believer in the phrase 'leave a good-looking corpse'" That's our Janet. Elsewhere, the X-Men and Magneto are monitoring Galactus. The Master of Magnetism believes that maybe Galactus is not actually going to eat the planet, but has something else in mind. They don't get a lot of time to debate this, as Cyclops spots something.

Meanwhile, Reed Richards is repairing Iron Man's armor, and discovers that it's not Tony Stark underneath the suit. Yeah, retcons can actually explain this. New Avengers: Illuminati #1 (May 2006) revealed that Reed had known about Tony Stark being the original Iron Man. Iron Man: Legacy #6 (November 2010) revealed that the other members were well aware of Stark's struggles with the bottle at the time, so it was likely Reed was already aware Jim Rhodes had taken up the suit.

Elsewhere, Spider-Man spots Thor and the Hulk emerging from a room, Thor's costume repaired. Spidey's suit got torn up during the brawl with the villains, so he needs some repairs. He goes to one of the devices, concentrates...and a strange black ball appears. He picks up the ball...and it flows over him.

Yup, this is the first appearance of what would be known as "The Black Costume". It would also become half of Venom in the future. Spidey is a bit confused by the design, but figures he was subconsciously thinking of the new Spider-Woman who just showed up. He then feels an earthquake. The story ends with Professor Xavier telepathically alerting the heroes: Galactus has begun his consumption of Battleworld.

This comic was...alright. I would have liked to have learned a bit more about the new Spider-Woman in this issue, like where she came from or how she got her powers. Yes, those would be revealed in future stories, but a bit of hinting here would have been nice. Also, it would have been nice to see Hulk lament the condition of She-Hulk. They are family, after all. Wasp's return from the grave was also kind of ridiculous. We saw her get blasted in the chest. How was she in stasis from that?!

The big positive was the action. There was plenty of it in this comic. It was a big ol' brawl, and I enjoyed that. I got a good chuckle from how Ben Grimm and Hawkeye dealt with Lizard and Klaw. That was pretty funny. So was drunk Enchantress. Also, Spider-Man's black costume is really neat and slick, even though Julia Carpenter used the design first. I can't imagine that anyone in 1984 thought that the costume would eventually end up becoming one of Spider-Man's most popular villains/anti-hero allies ever. And speaking of Spider-Man, his battle with Titania was awesome, too. I like how it was shown that his experience, speed, and agility (as well as his knack for running his mouth) was able to overcome Titania's raw power.

It's an action-packed issue, and I did enjoy it, despite the deus ex machina with the Wasp. Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, please spread it around! Join me next time, as Daredevil battles Ultron...

Pokemon Sword and Shield Team/Rivals Trailer, My Thoughts

We've been learning a lot about the newest Pokémon games, Sword and Shield lately. We've learned about some of the new Pokémon occupying the region of Galar, some of the new Gym Leaders, but there are some questions that have been left unanswered. Will our characters be dealing with any regular rivals? Will there be a new team of bad guys for us to worry about? Well, those questions are going to be answered! Let's take a look at the Pokémon Sword/Shield Team and Rivals trailer!

Sun and Moon started a new tradition with Pokémon games: Certain Pokémon have unique variations in certain areas. These variants often have different appearances and slight type alterations from the "original". For example, in previous Pokémon games, Meowth was a Normal-type Pokémon. In Alola, the region that Sun and Moon/UltraSun and UltraMoon was set in, wild Meowth are Dark-type, and look a bit different.

See? Classic Meowth on the left and Alolan Meowth on the right. The same Pokémon, just a bit different. And Galar is continuing that tradition.

Oh my God, Galarian Weezing is hilarious! I love this variant! I especially love its design! The top hat smokestacks, the green cloud facial hair, it's beautiful! It's absolutely beautiful!

Zigzagoon is getting a glam rock makeover in Galar! It looks neat. And naturally, its evolved form Linoone gets the glam rock look. Looks awesome.

Well...this is a first. Evidently, in Galar, Linoone can evolve further into Obstagoon. You cannot tell me that that thing was not inspired by Kiss. Seriously, that's Gene Simmons if he was a Pokémon!

And now we're going to learn about yet another new Pokémon! This one has the ability to change forms. There have been Pokémon that have this ability to take on different forms, like Deoxys. Form changing is not quite like regular Pokémon evolution. I'm not sure how to explain it, but it's not like regular Pokémon evolution. Morpeko here is one such Pokémon.

Evidently, its form changes based on whether its hungry or not. That's an interesting take on a form change. And is it just me, or does Morpeko look like a mutant Pikachu?

And what's a Pokémon game without rivals, huh? Well, meet your rival for Galar! His name is Bede, and he seems like a jerk. Hmm, over the years, Pokémon games have shown the rivals having friendlier relationships with the player character. Is this one going back to the roots a bit with having a possibly meaner rival? And then there's Marnie, who looks like a punk rocker. Hey, maybe the two could be different kinds of rivals, with Bede being the meaner rival and Marnie being the nicer one? That would be cool.

And of course, a bad guy team. Another old Pokémon tradition continues on! Meet Team Yell, who are basically obnoxious fans. Pokémon bad guy teams over the years have been modeled on organized crime and cults, so having them modeled on a obnoxious fandom is a new one. Since Galar is based on the UK, I like to imagine that these guys may be slightly inspired by soccer hooligans a bit.

Well, I'm liking what I see so far. I think there well be more Galarian variants that have yet to be revealed, and Team Yell is hilarious. I'm hoping we do learn a bit more about Bede and Marnie down the line.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!

1917 Trailer, My Thoughts

Sam Mendes is a British director of movies. He's directed American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead, and two films in the James Bond franchise: Skyfall and Spectre. He's actually the first director since John Glen to direct two Bond films back-to-back. He is also the grandson of Alfred Hubert Mendes, a novelist and veteran of World War I, the War to End All Wars. The elder Mendes's service in the war would inspire Sam Mendes's latest cinematic creation: 1917. He produced and co-wrote the movie with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.

1917 tells the tale of a pair of British soldiers: Schofield (George MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman). They have been given a rather impossible mission, should they choose to accept it. They have to get a message across enemy territory that will stop an attack that will doom 1600 British soldiers. Time is of the essence on this one, as the attack will happen the next day. The mission is also a personal one for Blake, as his brother is one of those soldiers whose life is unknowingly in danger...well, as dangerous as war can get. So, let's take a look at the trailer for 1917!

Explosions going off behind you is a good reason to run.

This bit with the Doughboys in the trench has a real horror film vibe. I'm expecting some kind of monster to attack them.

If this were a horror film, the monster would get that guy who found the photograph.

Yeah, those guys are totally dead.

Man, Schofield and Blake could really use Wonder Woman's help right now.

Good thing for Schofield and Blake those soldiers learned to shoot at the Imperial Marksmanship Academy.

In Apocalypse Now, the choices were fighting or surfing. In this film, you either fight or swim in dead bodies.

Hey, Benedict Cumberbatch!

You dolt! The soldiers are going THAT way!

Spend Christmas watching a film about war.

Well, this seems rather interesting. The cast includes people like Benedict Cumberbatch and Mark Strong, whom I have enjoyed in other films, and I also enjoyed Skyfall, so I think I'll give this a shot. It sounds like a good movie.

Thanks for reading this blog entry! If you liked it, spread it around! See you next time!