Adventures in Pokemon Y, Part 1: The Beginning

Alongside Pokémon X, I also managed to obtain Pokémon Y, its "twin", I guess you can call it. The latest games in the main series of the Pokémon franchise, X and Y combines classic Pokémon gameplay with new features.

Upon firing it up, I found the first option the game gives is the language, as in the language you want to play the game in. Naturally, I chose English. Afterwards, Professor Augustine, your mentor professor in Kalos, introduces himself and giving another speech about how Pokémon and humans live together in harmony and peace, and make each other better and all that wonderful stuff.

Next, the game tells you to pick what your trainer character will look like. This time, a new feature is added. In addition to gender, you can now pick your trainer's skin tone/hair color. This is a neat new feature, as it gives you more control of your game character's appearance, and allow a player to create an avatar that can resemble the actual player a bit more...or give an avatar with an appearance the player desires. Unfortunately, the options are rather limited on it, and it doesn't let you pick out eye and hair color you want. Hopefully, something in the game later on will give you the option of doing more customization.

After a new bird-like Pokémon flies into a bedroom, your avatar wakes up, and is in pajamas. After changing into the standard outfit, you leave your house and encounter two pretty girls. The blonde introduces herself as Serena, and the perky brunette is named Shauna. They reveal that they were sent to pick up the player alongside four other children, and ask you to meet them in the next town, Aquacorde Town. After making a short trip, we arrive in the town, where we meet up with the two girls again, and also with two boys: the dance-crazy Tierno, and the shy bookworm Trevor. After choosing a nickname for yourself, you get to choose a starter Pokémon.

My choice was Fennekin, which I decided to name Vulcan. Shauna picked Chespin (she tends to pick the Pokémon whose type is weak to yours), and Serena picked out Froakie (she picks the Pokémon whose type yours is weak to). Trevor then hands you a Pokedex, and reveals the five of you have been charged to travel around and complete the Pokedex, by, well...catching Pokémon. You're also given a letter to give to your character's mother. Hmm, I wonder what Professor Sycamore is writing to the trainer's mother about...

Anyway, afterwards, Shauna challenges you to a battle...easy win. This battle is really just so new players can get the basics of Pokémon battles. Anyway, as I said earlier, Shauna will pick the starter your Pokémon has the elemental advantage over. The battle graphics are gorgeous. The backgrounds reflect the place you are battling in, like a town or forest, and even reflect the time of day you are battling in (if you're battling at night, the sky is dark, for example).

After battling Shauna (and giving the letter to the player character's mother, who will give you a Town Map), you can head out into the wider world of Kalos. Here's a little tip: In Aquacorde Town, before you leave, there is a shop that sells Poké Balls. Pick up a couple. When you leave, the first wild Pokémon you encounter will be a Pidgey. This is the one opportunity to easily catch a Pidgey, as they are VERY hard to find afterwards.

After that, I went ahead, and found the girls. This is really for new players, as Serena shows how to catch a Pokémon. Some veteran players may be annoyed by this, but I didn't mind. Besides, Serena gives you some free Poké Balls for your trouble. Now, the game begins proper! My goals here: Collect some Pokémon, train them, and prepare for the first Gym...

Pokémon Obtained:
Fennekin (Vulcan)
Pidgey (Wildwing)
Zigzagoon (Rocket)
Caterpie (Kojima)
Fletchling (Chevy)
Scatterbug (Mothra)
Bunnelby (Lola)

Marvel Preview #4 (January 1976)

Guardians of the Galaxy is on the fast track to being the biggest box office hit of the summer, if it wasn't already. It was a pleasant surprise to me, as many of the characters in the film are hardly well-known outside of comic book readers, the members of the Guardians themselves first appearing in Marvel titles from the 1960s and the 1970s.

In fact, in honor of the film, I decided to do a review of one of the first appearances of one of the central characters of the film: Peter Jason Quill, aka the Star-Lord.

They messed with my Walkman. They shouldn't have messed with my Walkman...

Star-Lord in the comics is surprisingly different, yet similar to his film origin in many ways. He's also an older character than one might think. His first appearance was in Marvel Preview #4 (January, 1976). Marvel Preview was a black-and-white magazine that lasted from 1975 to 1983 and had 34 issues released (issues 25 to 34 were released under the name Bizarre Adventures). Interestingly, Star-Lord's fellow Guardian, Rocket Raccoon, also debuted in issue seven of Marvel Preview.

Here I come to save the galaxyyyyyy...

Co-created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Steve Gan, Englehart's inspiration behind the character by the interest Englehart had in astrology at the time (it was the 1970s). The issue has an introduction by the man on how Star-Lord came to be. It's...trippy. Again, it was the 1970s. The story, being in magazine-format, is quite a long one.

In this original story, Star-Lord comes off as well...a jerk obsessed with revenge. As a boy, he witnessed his mother murdered by aliens, and he swore revenge on them. He made it his lifelong goal to go to space and get his vengeance. As a result, he spent his youth hitting the books and eventually becoming an astronaut at NASA. However, he struggles with interacting with others, as his obsession with space and revenge prevents him from forming friendships and romances.

Despite his angry and solitary nature, a spark of heroism does exist in Quill, as he leaps to save the life of a fellow astronaut from a centrifuge accident. However, his jerk nature comes back to bite him in the butt when he is not picked to go on a space mission, as being in space for long periods of time will require people to get along with each other, and Quill has not exactly been making friends. After a night of drinking, he gets melancholy about not being able to get into space.

The kicking off seems to have had an effect, as later, he is given a chance to work in a space station, Quill's commander noting that ol' Petey seems to have gotten better in his behavior and attitude. Over the next couple months, Quill finds peace on board the station. One day, a spaceman appears and tells the inhabitants that during the next lunar eclipse, one human shall be recruited to become the Star-Lord. Quill suggests that someone volunteer to be the next Star-Lord, meaning himself.

The head council of the station agrees to the idea, but tells them they want someone more experienced in space operations. Quill. FLIPS. OUT. I mean, he flips out. He goes tossing-a-chair-at-the-screen nuts. Bananas, cuckoo, crazy, wacky, shama-lama-ding-dong. The astronaut they chose is Greg Harrelson, the astronaut that Quill once saved from the centrifuge. Enraged, Quill rampages through Cape Canaveral, attacking people and stealing a rocket. Yup, this is our hero, the man who will become a film star and source of hilarity and awesomeness about forty years later.

He makes it to the space station, where he continues his rampage and attacks Harrelson, hell-bent on becoming the Star-Lord. Luck is on Quill's side as the eclipse hits...and he is taken.

Quill finds himself on an alien world where he meets a bearded man and is given a uniform and a gun. Quill discovers that the suit allows him to fly and the gun is an Element Gun, able to shoot fire, water, wind, and earth. I think the Element Gun is pretty cool. Shame he didn't have that in the film, because the Element Gun is awesome. The old man asks him what Star-Lord will use his new power for...and Quill admits he is unsure. The old man reminds him of his desire for revenge against the aliens who killed his mother, and Quill finds himself out in space...and he encounters the aliens. Quill leaps into action and gets his vengeance.

He finds himself back on the old man's planet, where he realizes it was an illusion. The old man explains that he did this to get Quill's desire for revenge out of his system. The comic ends with the statement that the Star-Lord's adventures have just begun.

The comic is not a BAD story, per se. However, there are a couple big flaws. Mainly, the character of Peter Quill himself. He is a major jerkwad in this story. However, this was intentional on the part of Englehart. You see, his intention was for the character to grow over his adventures to become more of a heroic and cosmic character. Unfortunately, Englehart left Marvel before this evolution could unfold (This comic is the only Star-Lord story he'd write), so Star-Lord was left as a major-league jerk here.

The other major flaw I have is, I never really got any idea of what Star-Lord is from the story itself. Star-Lord was actually supposed to be an intergalactic policeman, but I didn't quite pick that up from the story. And being your typical 1970s Marvel cosmic story, there's a lot of flowery narration, making the story a bit hard to get through at times.

On the other hand, I loved Steve Gan's artwork. It's detailed, and plain gorgeous to look at. I wonder if he did any other work for comics. His work here makes me think of John Byrne a little bit.

All in all, Star-Lord's debut is a flawed story, but it's still a fun read with beautiful art.

Guardians of the Galaxy Review

Yesterday, I went out to a theater and got to see a film I had been eagerly anticipating for quite some time: The newest Marvel Cinematic Universe film, Guardians of the Galaxy.

I'm Hooked on a Feeling...

In short, I loved it. The film was genuinely fun, with great action and awesome characters. It was a bit silly at times, but that only made it a nice breather after the MCU's last offering, the darker Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron.

The film centers around Peter Jason Quill, the self-proclaimed Star-Lord, an intergalactic thief who finds himself having to join forces with the beautiful and deadly Gamora (Zoe Saldana), the revenge-crazed Drax the Destroyer (Dave Bautista), the good-hearted tree-like Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel), and the angry loudmouthed Rocket Raccoon (voiced by Bradley Cooper), to take on Ronan the Accuser (Lee Pace), who is after a powerful stone that would give him the power to destroy planets for his own monstrous agenda.

One of the best aspects of the film is, in my mind, the soundtrack. I'm a huge fan of old-school pop culture, including music, so the film's soundtrack was right up my alley. It was neat hearing such classic songs like David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream", Rupert Holmes's "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", and the Runaways' "Cherry Bomb" in a film set deep in space.

As for performances, the most surprising to me was Dave Bautista as Drax. His Drax was surprisingly funny, being a bit of a, as TV Tropes would call it, Cloud Cuckoolander, yet also being a violent maniac obsessed with revenge. He had some surprisingly funny lines. I expected Rocket to be the source of some laughs, and he was, but Drax was funny as well. Chris Pratt's Star-Lord was reminiscent of Han Solo, which I thought was awesome. Zoe Saldana's Gamora was focused, intense, and awesome. Bradley Cooper's Rocket was cynical, angry, and sarcastic, but also hinted at deeper issues. Vin Diesel's Groot was, despite only saying generally "I am Groot", expressive, and amazingly understandable. Lee Pace's Ronan went into ham territory at times, but it only made him more amusing, and really helped show how crazy and monstrous he really was.

The effects and fight scenes were also fun to watch, and the film had lots of fun nods to the mythos of the Guardians of the Galaxy, and the post-credits scene gave a few seconds of glory to a character I never thought would be seen on the big screen.

Do I recommend this film? Oh yeah, I recommend it. I cannot wait for the sequel!

My thoughts on the Gal Gadot Wonder Woman

As it is known, Gal Gadot has been cast to portray the Amazing Amazon herself, Wonder Woman, in what will be the character's live-action feature-film debut: The upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Upon release of the photo, I heard critiques of everything from how Ms. Gadot looks in the suit to her pose in the photo, to the costume itself.

As for me, I don't really mind the suit itself, to be honest. I understand that when it comes to many superheroes, it's hard to make their costumes work on film. I actually kind of like the suit itself. My only critiques would be to make the red and blue a bit brighter in color (I don't know if it's the lighting of the photo, but it looks like Wonder Woman is in brown and black), and make the skirt a bit longer. This outfit, the way it is now, gives me the impression that Wonder Woman is trying to do her own take on Xena: Warrior Princess's costume.

As for Gal Gadot herself, I think she looks great as Wonder Woman. I've heard complaints that she doesn't LOOK like an Amazon, that she lacks the musculature. To be honest, I've seen my fair share of Wonder Woman covers and artistic interpretations of Wonder Woman. To me, she doesn't look that much skinnier than she's often drawn as by artists working for DC.

As for Gadot's actual performance as Wonder Woman, well, we'll have to wait and see. I haven't seen her in anything before, so I can't fairly comment on her skills as an actress. However, I am an optimist, so I'm hoping she will do a good job.

And as for the pose in the photo, I've heard complaints saying it portrays this Wonder Woman as overly aggressive. I can see why. I'm not exactly sure of the circumstances of the photo being taken, so I'm going to wait and see until we learn more about how Wonder Woman will be portrayed, as well as the general plotline of the movie and Wonder Woman's role.

All in all, I have to say, I think so far, we're doing okay here. Wonder Woman's costume could use some brighter colors, but otherwise that, I think we're on the right track...or at least a decent track.

My thoughts on Lady Thor

It has come to my attention that Marvel Comics is introducing a new lady to take up Thor's weapon, Mjolnir, and with it, his fight against evil.

 

 

Yup. She looks pretty cool in design, and I am glad they're at least not killing off Thor Odinson. He'll still be around, which I appreciate.

 

Of course, if you look back on Thor's history in the Marvel Universe, new people taking up the identity of Thor isn't exactly a new thing. In Thor #273 (July 1978), Roger "Red" Norvell took up the mantle of God of Thunder. Norvell was a member of a film crew who was given the power of Thor by Loki, taking advantage of Norvell's crush on Sif.

 

 

 

I can't help but feel that Red was intended to more closely resemble the Thor of the actual myths. Unlike the Marvel Thor, who was typically portrayed as a clean-shaven blonde, the mythical Thor was redheaded and had a beard. Anyway, Norvell goes insane with power, but after accidentally killing a friend of his, Sif is able to help him see what a monster he had become. He would eventually die fighting Jormungand, the World Serpent, in Thor's place. It turns out Red's empowerment and death were, unbeknownst to even Loki, was all part of a plan by Odin to save Thor's life from his prophesized death fighting the World Serpent in Ragnarok.

 

He would eventually return to life, and be the protector of Asgard for a while, even getting his own hammer, Crusher. No one knows what he's been up to lately, so he'd be a neat character to bring back.

 

Norvell would be the first, but not the last person to replace Thor for a while. The next would not be a mortal cameraman, but a monstrous-looking, yet noble cyborg alien. His name: Beta Ray Bill.

 

 

Big guy kind of looks a little like a demonic horse in the face, doesn't he? Anyway, Bill first  appeared in Thor #337 (November 1983), the first issue of the epic Walter Simonson run. Beta Ray Bill was an alien chosen by his people, the Korbinites, to lead his people to a new homeworld. When his ship, the Skuttlebutt, approaches Earth, Thor is sent by SHIELD to investigate. Thor battles Skuttlebutt's automatic defenses, and then encounters Bill himself. The two fight, and Skuttlebutt crashes to Earth. When Bill picks up Don Blake's walking stick and strikes it on the ground in frustration, he becomes an alien-looking version of Thor, and is then brought to Asgard by Odin alongside Thor.

 

Bill pleads his case to Odin, claiming Mjolnir as spoils of battle, and needing its power to help him protect his people. Odin decides to have Bill and Thor fight to the death for the right to wield Mjolnir. Bill wins, but refuses to kill Thor. In the end, a compromise is made: Thor gets back Mjolnir, and Bill is given his own Uru hammer: Stormbreaker.

 

Bill has had many adventures in the past thirty years, and has stood as a staunch ally to the Asgardians and good friend of Thor.

 

In the 90s, the idea of making a new Thor persisted, and the next Thor was an architect named Eric Masterson. He first appeared in Thor #391 (May, 1988).

 

 

 

Masterson was a divorced single father, working as an architect in New York City, and raising his son Kevin. Kevin himself would become a legacy hero in TWO Marvel timelines, but that's a different story. Anyway, he proved himself worthy of lifting Mjolnir by helping a wounded Thor. After getting injured taking a blast meant for Thor himself, the Thunder God bonded himself to Masterson.

 

He became Thor for a while when the original killed Loki, and was punished for it by Odin. Masterson had a difficult time in the role, especially when it came to interacting with other heroes, who knew the original well. When Thor came back, he continued to be a hero, this time with a mace known as Thunderstrike. He would even get his own series, something Red Norvell nor Beta Ray Bill never got (To be fair, Bill did get a couple mini-series). Sadly, Masterson died purging himself of the curse of the Bloodaxe.

 

In my honest opinion, I have to say that I consider it not a big deal that someone else is taking up the hammer. As I have shown, it has been done before. In the cases of Bill and Eric, there were great stories involved in their taking up Mjolnir, and they became great characters and heroes in their own right.

 

So, I have to say I am honestly excited with the idea of a female Thor. I only wished it was a character that was more connected to Thor's mythos like Jane Foster or Sif. Heck, I'd accept Valkyrie or a resurrected Kelda (Kelda would make sense to me, as she is the Goddess of the Storm, as established in JMS's run). Having an established supporting character, especially a long-running one, take up the mantle of a hero to me is a respectful thing. It's to me why Bucky Barnes and Sam Wilson both deserve to take up the mantle of Captain America. They were good friends of Cap, and had worked with him many times.

 

But to be fair, Marvel has been willing to show in recent years that they have become more willing to take risks, and I feel it's been more hit than miss on their part. It has been shown that new characters taking up old names, who have no real connection to the original or last holder, CAN work. Kamala Khan, for example, had no real connection to Carol Danvers before taking up her old codename of Ms. Marvel, and it's been very well-done so far.

 

Essentially, I am very curious about this new Thor. I hope she does well, and I do hope the story that brings her in is a good one. I also hope she is a good character. I think she should've been introduced earlier, so we could get to know her a bit pre-Thor, though. Ah, well. Thor will get his hammer back one day. He lost it and got it back before. Until then, let's just enjoy the ride.

Adventures in Pokemon X, Part 1

A few days ago, I decided to pick up Pokémon X, one of the latest games in the long-running Pokémon franchise.

The first Pokémon I chose was a Fennekin. It was the very first time I chose a Fire-type starter for a Pokémon game. I chose Fennekin because I thought it was cool and I had a clever nickname for him: Eastwood. It's a bit of a pun. Fennekin is a Fire-type Pokémon modeled on foxes, and Clint Eastwood starred in a film in 1982 called Firefox.

One of the first Pokémon I captured was an old classic: a Pidgey. Capturing a Pidgey was a nightmare in this game, mainly because Pidgeys DO NOT come around often.

Not very long after you start the game, you travel through the Santalune Forest. The Forest is an amazing place, where a trainer can catch a variety of Pokémon. They're enough to build an entire team of Pokémon right from the start, and then some. In the forest alone, I was able to capture all three of the elemental monkeys (Grass-type Pansage, Water-type Panpour, and Fire-type Pansear), Pikachu, Caterpie, and Weedle alone. Essentially, the forest is a great place to start building a Pokémon collection, as well as many great choices to build a team around.

To make a long story short, I've been training my Pokémon team for getting ready for the first Gym in X, the Santalune Gym in Santalune City. Thanks to Bulbapedia, I was able to get some info on what I'd be facing in the Gym, so I decided to train up my Pokémon team for the big battle. My goal is to get up to Level 10, and then battle the Gym trainers, and finally, face Viola herself.

With Viola specializing in Bug-type Pokémon, I decided to train up the two Fire-type Pokémon I have in my possession: my Fennekin (Eastwood), and my Pansear (Blazer). Blazer is going to need to really level up, as he learns his first Fire-type move, Incineration, at Level 10. Pansear NEEDS this move, but which of his other moves do I give up, Leer or Play Nice?

One of the fun things I had going on during my grinding was my Zigzagoon, Bandita. She had the ability Pickup, which basically meant that when walking, she would suddenly hold an item at random. I got some free Potions and Antidotes this way, even got a couple Great Balls this way.

I also used the opportunity to add more to my Pokémon collection. One Pokémon available in the area around Santalune City has eluded me so far: Dunsparce. I did encounter one once, but I couldn't catch it, and I haven't encountered another since. It's Pidgey all over again!

Another Pokémon that really annoyed me was Burmy. You see, Burmy evolves into different Pokémon based on the gender: females become Wormadam, and males become Mothim. So I had to capture a female Burmy and a male Burmy. Another problem is that Burmy has only one attack prior to reaching Level 10: Protect. Protect is an annoying attack. And worse, if you manage to paralyze, poison, or put Burmy to sleep, the Shed Skin ability it has allows it to recover almost immediately.

Anyway, I managed to evolve my Metapod into a Butterfree (Bonus, it learned Confusion. This'll be hopefully helpful), as well as evolve my Kakuna into a Beedrill. I also explored a bit of Route 22 and managed to add a Litleo to my collection. Since it's a Fire-type, I now have a THIRD Fire Pokémon in my collection. That's swell, because now I have another little weapon in my arsenal to use against Viola and her Bug-types. Once I train her up, I'll be ready for Viola. Wish me luck!

Spider-Man 2099 #1 (September 2014)

Miguel O'Hara, the Spider-Man of the cyberpunk dystopia known as 2099 A.D., has found himself stuck in the early 21st Century thanks to a temporal distortion. Now, he has to adjust to a life and world far away (and far less advanced in some ways) than the world he knows.

Peter David returns to the character after writing the original Spider-Man 2099 twenty years earlier. I have to say, this was a smart move on Marvel's part, not only because David co-created the character, but also, he is still a great writer.

The first page is a recap page. I like recap pages. I think more comics should have these, so that readers who are picking things up in the middle of a storyline can get caught up without wasting a lot of time and page space. Rather cleverly, Miguel's holographic assistant, Lyla, takes up this role here, giving us a little bit about Miguel, how he became the Spider-Man of 2099, and how he got stuck in the 21st Century.

This issue does a little bit of establishing Miguel's new life in the 21st Century. We see him getting a new apartment, and keeping an eye on things in Alchemax by working under an assumed name. As part of this mission, he has to deal with the rather weasel-esque head of Alchemax, Tiberius Stone, who is also Miguel's future grandfather. Yup. Time Travel.

We also see him deal with his first super-powered threat: A time-traveling law enforcement agent with future knowledge and a ray that can kill people. He doesn't get a lot of development, but he's a one-offer, so that's okay. I don't know why, but the guy kind of resembles the Destroyer armor from the Thor mythos, given a sci-fi makeover. I get a feeling we'll be seeing other agents from this guy's agency in the future.

The fight between Miguel and the Temporal Secret Agent Man takes them through the Alchemax building. It's an action-packed fight, with a funny moment involving Miguel's holographic clothes. They end up in the office of Liz Allen, where Miguel is able to trick the agent into destroying himself. The comic ends with Liz Allen wanting to know who Spidey 2099 is, hoping she can get him to work for her personally.

This is a fun first issue. I was excited to read this comic, having read and enjoyed the original Spidey 2099 series in trade form. It did what a first issue should, and it did it well. The issue also planted seeds for future storylines that I cannot wait to see pan out. It also even had a little hidden nod to X-Factor. Mr. David, you hit the ball right out of the park. Cannot wait for more! If you're looking for a good series to get into, try this one out.