Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Trailer, My Thoughts

It's here! It's finally here! The trailer to the sequel of the MCU's first jump into the cosmic realm, Guardians of the Galaxy, is here! I was so excited to see this trailer! And here it is for all of you to view.

The trailer begins with Star-Lord at some platform thing, holding a gadget. We do get a closeup of what he's holding, and it's essentially a tricorder made from one of those 1970s electronic football games that Mattel made back in the day. Seriously, it is! Look at it!

That actually does make sense, considering in the MCU, Peter Quill was taken from Earth as a child in the mid-1980s, so it's not too unfeasible that he may have had one of these. Drax gets out his knives, and Gamora readies a futuristic rifle. It's nice that the creatives remember that Gamora is skilled in a very large variety of weapons, as she was raised to be an assassin.

The gang then encounter a monster OH MY GOD THAT'S A BABY GREAT OLD ONE! DO NOT LOOK TOO MUCH AT IT OR YOU WILL GO INSANE. Some funny banter between Peter and Gamora. And Drax, being Drax, decides, "Imma charge it, laughing a maniac, and stab it. Stab it a lot. With my knives. Metaphor."

Then Baby Groot, in his little adorable uniform, connects a wire, and we start hearing Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain." I'm guessing this song will be on Awesome Mix, Vol. 2.

Next, we see the Guardians standing before a golden woman. For those not versed in Marvel's Cosmic side, this is Ayesha, aka Paragon, Her, and Kismet, portrayed by Elizabeth Debicki. In the comics, she was an artificial being, created by the same group that created Adam Warlock. Based on what we see of her and what she says, it looks like this version of her will be a powerful cosmic ruler. Maybe she's the head of the MCU's version of the Universal Church of Truth, perhaps? Sure sounds like she's on a holy crusade...

Nice job with the insult, Rocket. You messed up.

The bit of banter between Peter and Rocket was funny. Rocket has a point, Quill. They'll pay more now for the Guardians' services. You're worth it.

Aww, Gamora is learning to dance. That's awesome.

Drax is great. "DIE SPACESHIP!" And poor Baby Groot. Mama Gamora can't play with you now, little dude. She's gotta blast some bad guys. And Nebula must've spent some time with the Guardians between movies. Would explain why she's trying to blast Gamora, screaming about idiots.

 We also get a little heartwarming moment with Drax referring to the Guardians as a family. Considering what he went through, it's sweet to see that he's found a family again.

And seeing Kurt Russell at the end was SO COOL.

This trailer was a blast to watch! I want to get that mix of "The Chain" with the added violin! Where can I get that?! I can't wait for this movie! It's going to be so much fun!

Kong: Skull Island Trailer, My Thoughts

I am way late on this. Way late on this. With the reboot of the King Kong franchise, Kong: Skull Island coming to theaters...in a few days, I thought I'd take a look at the final trailer for the film. And here it is.

The trailer starts with a bang! Just King Kong casually wrecking dinosaurs. He's called KING Kong for a reason, folks. I'm betting those dinosaurs owed him money. You owe a debt to King Kong, you better pay it on time. Because he will come to collect. Just ask those dinosaurs.

The trailer next shows a bunch of helicopters flying towards an island. Now, from what I understand, this film takes place in 1973. I wanted to say that was a nice nod to the 1976 remake, but it's three years off. Since it's 1973, the Vietnam War is still raging, so I wonder how the military was able to spare all this equipment and men for this expedition.

We get a glimpse of Tom Hiddleston playing the character of James Conrad, a Vietnam Vet and British Special Air Service captain. Kong is going to get Loki'd, heh heh. I apologize. Anyway, he remarks there are plenty of ways to die on an island.

Corey Hawkins (at least, I think that's him), alongside John Goodman, gives him some money. Hawkins lays Houston Brooks (What a name), a geologist. John Goodman plays a man named Bill Randa, the head of the expedition. I'm guessing they want to hire Conrad as a guide through the jungle, considering his experiences in Vietnam. Uh, how would they know this "unknown island" would be a jungle similar to Vietnam? It might be a rainforest. Or a giant glacier. Or even an advanced alien city.

We get a glimpse of Brie Larson, playing Mason Weaver, a photojournalist, fiddling with a 1970s-era film camera. Gettin' in some action experience before donning the red-and-blue spandex in the upcoming Captain Marvel. Maybe she'll get empowered by a Kree machine left behind on the island.

We then get a brief glimpse of Samuel L. Jackson as Lt. Colonel Preston Packard, who is the Captain Ahab of the movie. I'm guessing he'll be the villain of the picture.

We get a glimpse of John C. Reilly as Hank Marlow, who lived on Skull Island for nearly thirty years, dropping a bomb. Yup.

And then we see a bunch of helicopters sighting King Kong, and trying to shoot him. You'd think at some point it would occur to these guys that the GIANT GORILLA MAY BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND BULLETS. Anyway, Kong wrecks them like he does the dinosaurs. The helicopters probably owed him money.

I want to say that I love the music in this trailer.

The bit with Marlow explaining the Skullcrawlers' name made me chuckle. It helps that with that big bushy beard he has, he looks like Daniel Bryan's crazy uncle.

The trailer ends with loads of shots of fighting and explosions and guns firing and Kong breaking helicopters like they owed him money and the monsters. It is a blast to watch.

I loved this trailer, and I've been excited to see this movie since I first saw the teaser trailer and kept forgetting to blog about it. I can't wait!

DuckTales Trailer, My Thoughts

Many things have been making a comeback in recent years. The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers are getting a new movie, and a certain classic cartoon is making a comeback as well. That's right, I'm talking about DuckTales!

Now, many who were about my age may remember this old series, which told the tales of the adventures of Scrooge McDuck, the Richest Duck in the World, based on the Uncle Scrooge comics. Alongside his nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie, and hapless pilot Launchpad McQuack, he sought ways to increase his already grand fortune and also fought villains like the Beagle Boys, Magica De Spell, and Flintheart Glomgold. Other characters would be part of the series like Webigail "Webby" Vanderquack, Gyro Gearloose, GizmoDuck, etc.

The series was a popular hit, spawning a popular videogame for the NES and Game Boy (which got remastered in 2013).

Disney has announced it's making a comeback, and here's the trailer!

The trailer begins with Donald Duck driving the boys to Scrooge McDuck's manor. The boys are rather excited, with Louie making a funny crack that the boys will finally be sold. I'm hoping we get to see Donald have more of a role in this version than he got to in the original show.

I think they're also going to give each of the Duck triplets their own personality. I like that idea. It makes them more interesting characters. From what I remember of the original show, the triplets were rather interchangeable character-wise (They were even all voiced by the same person, Russi Taylor), so to me, that's an improvement.

We then get to meet Scrooge himself, and his manor. In a nice touch, the paintings are in a style rather reminiscent of Carl Barks. It seems that Scrooge is living up to his namesake, an old miser who lives alone in his manor. It seems according to Louie, he was a big-time celebrity, but seems to have faded out of the spotlight.

We next hear David Tennant's vocal performance for the first time, spouting out Scrooge's catchphrase about being tougher than the toughies and smarter than the smarties. It's great they let Tennant use his actual Scottish accent for the role. I loved the late Alan Young as Scrooge, but Tennant is already showing to be a worthy successor.

We also meet the new take on Webby, who is a hyperactive Donald Duck fangirl. I have to admit, I do like her new design, and I'm hoping she gets to be a more active adventurer, unlike the tagalog in the original. I do like the scene where Donald loses his temper and gets his butt stuck. That was funny.

Scrooge's low-key days are insane for everyone else. Never forget that, folks. But based on what we see here in the trailer, it could be that Huey, Dewey, and Louie have reignited Scrooge's love for adventure.

At 1:15, I think we get a glimpse of Flintheart Glomgold! Awesome! I hope Magica De Spell and the Beagle Boys appear as well!

I also like the new take on the theme. I bobbed my head when it played.

Is it just me, or does Beck Bennett's take on Launchpad sound very similar to Terry McGovern's?

I loved this trailer. I smiled ear-to-ear when I watched it for the first time. I know some may complain about the changes to the show's look, but me...I don't mind it. It wasn't going to look like the original version, some things were going to get changed. I am just so happy to see the DuckTales gang back in action after so many long years.

When it comes to fans of the show, new and old, I think they will be in for a treat. I can't wait for this series to start!

Captain America #248 (August 1980)

We're going back! Back to the time of War and Remembrance! Yup, for this review, I decided to revisit one of my favorite Captain America runs, the Roger Stern/John Byrne run. The last comic from this run I reviewed was Captain America #250 last month, in which Captain America was asked to be a possible candidate to be President of the United States. I am not kidding. Anyway, let's take a look at this issue with Captain America fighting...the menace of the Dragon Man!

The cover is pretty neat, Dragon Man chomping down on Cap's shield, which is still attached to Cap. Cap lies beaten on a pile of bricks. Well-done cover here. One glaring issue here: Dragon Man is supposed to be purple.

"Dragon Man!"
Writer: Roger Stern (alongside John Byrne)
Penciler: John Byrne
Inker: Josef Rubenstein
Letterer: Jim Novak
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Jim Salicrup
Editor-In-Chief: Jim Shooter

The comic begins with Captain America, Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, and a SHIELD robotics expert named Gaffer examining a robot in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

The robot is a simulacrum of Baron Von Strucker. You see, in the last issue, SHIELD was preparing to and over Baron Von Strucker to Israel to be tried for war crimes (Von Strucker was a former Nazi), however, Von Strucker tried to escape, but Captain America, Nick Fury, and Dum Dum Dugan was able to stop him. However, he turned out to be a robot.

Gaffer remarks that this robot is incredibly advanced, sophisiticated enough to fool prison doctors into thinking he was human. Fury tells Gaffer to analyze the robot, and Gaffer says it would take a few days. He wants to know if this robot has connections to some troubles with robots and LMDs that Cap and SHIELD have had to deal with Captain America #342 and Defenders #54.

That's something I love about the Marvel Universe of this time, the references to other issues. It gave the feeling that the Marvel Universe was truly connected, and that events in books mattered and had impact.

Cap notices the robot's eye is moving. It leads him to wonder why such a sophisticated robot would be left to be freely examined when it hits him.

The robot had a self-destruct feature, reducing it to slag. A small sphere flies from the remains. A soldier tries to shoot it down, but it manages to get away.

Fury, well, furiously admonishes the soldier. Shame he didn't call the soldier a "goldbrickin' yahoo". Cap tells him that they'll get another lead on the mysterious robot maker. Fury insists this whole thing is SHIELD's problem, and Cap reminds him of SHIELD's handling of a government plan to take over Stark Industries (It happened over Iron Man #119-129). Fury explains he wasn't proud of that, but even the Director of SHIELD has to follow orders. Cap understands and tells Fury to let him know if SHIELD has any leads. Fury tells him he'll let him know. Dum Dum's arm is patched and slinged up, so he offers to give Cap a lift anywhere he wants to go. Cap decides to go to the Avengers' Mansion.

Meanwhile, the robot's builder, one Samuel "Starr" Saxon, aka Machinesmith, is happy to see his gadget make its return to his lab. He then has the gadget analyze all the data it captured from its time inside the robotic simulacrum of Strucker. Hmm, I wonder what data the gadget was collecting, and why Machinesmith wants it... Anyway, Machinemsith comes to a loading dock in his lab, where he has obtained something...big.

He removes the tarp to reveal... the Dragon Man! And Machinesmith is clearly overjoyed.

While Machinesmith is jumping in joy, Captain America is looking for work. In his civilian identity of Steve Rogers, he's looking for illustration work. Didn't the Avengers give out weekly stipends for members? I'm guessing Cap turned them down or donated them to charity. He encounters Josh Cooper, who plans to treat Cap to dinner alongside Mike Ferrell. They're celebrating an old college friend of Mike's moving into the building. And who is the new resident?

Yup, it's the first appearance of Bernie Rosenthal! She and Steve hit it off, while amusingly noting they both have clefts in their chins. Back at his lab, Machinesmith is examining Dragon Man, and discovered the robot can be reactivated. "Starr" Saxon prepares to reactivate the Dragon Man, but then shows a bit of pathos with some great panel storytelling by John Byrne.

The Dragon Man roars back to life. And he's angry. In its rage, Dragon Man trashes the place, which annoys Machinesmith, but then he realizes he is essentially dealing with a powerful robot with the mind of a child. He summons of his golden spherical gadgets to calm Dragon Man down with a nice little dose of soothing ultrasonic noise.

I'm just including this panel because I just love Dragon Man's face in this panel. He looks so delightfully derpy. "Hee hee, Dragon Man like pretty glowing ball." But then it's revealed why there was a gadget inside the Strucker robot. It was collecting data on Captain America. He orders the gadget to hunt down and get the robot to attack him.

Back in the borough of Brooklyn (alliteration!), Steve, Mike, Josh, and Bernie are discussing music when the radio announces a newsflash. Seems some flying object has been buzzing a group of buildings, which Cap realizes were buildings he visited that day. Bernie hopes it's not a UFO scare. It's the Marvel Universe, Bernie. It probably is an actual UFO. Steve goes to the window, and sees...

The Bat-Signal! Nah, it's the Dragon Man in the Moon. Yeah, the Marvel Universe has the Dragon Man in the Moon. Seeing this means that the were-Dragon Men will rampage, so Steve has to take care of that.

Josh remembers he had to give something to Cap, but when he gets to Steve's apartment, the Sentinel of Liberty has already suited up and left. Steve finds the Dragon Man, playing with the gadget. Cap approaches the monster very carefully, as he knows how powerful the monster-like robot is. He then realizes the gadget looks like the same one that was in the Strucker robot. I like to imagine that it is.

However, when Cap draws near, the gadget erupts with another ultrasound noise, one the Dragon Man does not like. It causes the Dragon Man to go on a rampage, and Cap gets worried. He's not comfortable with the idea of fighting a super-powerful robot in the city, as people could get hurt.

In an apartment, a couple are grumbling about a lack of excitement in their lives, and they get more than they bargained for when Dragon Man decides to bust in, and he's not there for a cup of sugar. The woman's scream distracts the robot, which allows Cap to escape his grip, and get the couple out of the apartment. Cap sees the gadget that is causing the mess, and tries to destroy it with his shield. However, the gadget dodges the shield toss, and it flies right into Dragon Man, and the robot tries to eat the shield.

It's a good thing the Dragon Man is a robot, otherwise I'd be worried that Machinesmith didn't bother to feed him enough. Anyway, because the shield is pretty much indestructible, a frustrated Dragon Man tosses it in the air. And a little funny moment.

Heh heh, they can see the shield, but think it's a weather balloon. Cap dodges a fire blast from Dragon Man, who is trying to blast the gadget. Cap is able to put out the fire by making the robot careen into a water tower. The powerful robot gives chase to Cap. Cap's shield then lands on the roof they're on, which is actually pretty convenient.

Cap is briefly distracted by the shield landing, which allows Dragon Man to grab the Sentinel of Liberty and give him a big ol' bearhug. The issue ends with Dragon Man trying to crush Cap's midsection.

This issue was pretty good. It had a nice fight scene, a couple moments of humor, and we got to see a little bit of Steve Rogers in his civilian life at the time. John Byrne's art was in great form here, and Josef Rubenstein's inks, like Terry Austin's in X-Men, compliment his pencils well. I enjoyed this issue, and I think you will, too. If you find War and Remembrance in a comic store, pick it up. It's nine issues of good comics.

You know, I just realized something. Except for the Back to the Future comic review I did last time, I've been reviewing mostly Marvel stuff. I'll have to relieve that. So next time, I'll take a look at something from the Distinguished Competition, as it were. Not to mention, March is Women's History Month. So you know what, I'll kill two birds with one stone. Next time, we'll take a look at an adventure of the Amazing Amazon! That's right! I'll take a look at Wonder Woman next time!

Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment Trailer

Shovel Knight is back! Well, sort of. The game's latest expansion, Specter of Torment, is coming to the Switch. I love Shovel Knight, and I was very happy to see the game get an expansion. And here's the trailer for it!

First of all, I love the music they use in this trailer! It's the right mix of spooky and bombastic. Did Jake Kaufman make this?

From what I understand, Specter of Torment will be an expansion that focuses on Specter Knight, one of the members of the Order of No Quarter, the villains of Shovel Knight. The expansion is essentially a prequel to Shovel Knight, explaining how Specter Knight helped recruit knights to form the Order of No Quarter, and the game even promises to reveal how Specter Knight died and was resurrected by the Enchantress.

I like this idea. I really like that this expansion is...well...for lack of a better word, expanding upon the mythos and world of Shovel Knight. I also like that we get to learn more about one of the members of the Order of No Quarter. I know there was a previous expansion focused on Plague Knight called Plague of Shadows that was set concurrent to the main Shovel Knight game, which does make me wonder. Will we get more expansions focusing on the other members of the Order?

A part of me hopes so, as I would love to learn more about the other members' pasts and origins, but at the same time, I can imagine that would be a rather tall order for Yacht Club Games, as there are eight members of the Order.

We get to see some gameplay, and I do like the look of it. Specter Knight looks cool in motion. The color palette and the general look of the game have taken on a more...well, spooky vibe. It's been a while since I played Shovel Knight, so I can't quite remember Shovel Knight's play style, but I imagine Specter Knight can do some stuff Shovel can't. I did see him cling to walls, so that's cool.

The blue bird puking a rainbow platform made me raise an eyebrow.

We do get a brief glimpse of the game being in black-and-white. I think those are supposed to be flashbacks. I thought that having them in black-and-white was really neat. It gives off this feeling of the classic Universal Monster movies. You'd almost expect Specter Knight to meet Dracula or the Wolfman.

I hope this comes to the 3DS. This sounds just as much fun as the original Shovel Knight. I want to grab my 3DS and play it again now...and get that Plague of Shadows expansion...

Blaster Master Zero Trailer, My Thoughts

The Nintendo Switch is here, and there are a whole bunch of games coming for it, and in this case, for the 3DS, too! One of them is a blast from the past! Considered one of the greatest games of the NES era, Inti Creates and Sunsoft are bringing out Blaster Master Zero! And here is the trailer!

I have to admit, I never played the original Blaster Master. I did play friends' NESes as a kid, but the first console I owned was an SNES. Despite this, I do want to give this game a try. I love the look of it. The tank parts look like the original 8-bit graphics with better coloring, and the 3-D parts where the guy walks around on his own look like they were upgraded to 16-bit style to me.

I like the sound of the music. It's great enhanced chiptune work. Kudos to the composer on that. It was wonderful to listen to.

It's kind of funny that one of the presumed bosses is called Mother Brain. I would theorize that Blaster Master and Metroid may somehow be a part of the same universe, but Blaster Master isn't a first-party Nintendo game.

The coolest-looking boss is Central Gear. I mean, come on. It's a giant gear with crocodile teeth, veins all over it, and atomic breath that would make Godzilla proud.

The tank looks like it has a nice variety of weaponry, which is good. I am curious about the character of Eve. Something tells me that there is more to her than meets the eye. Usually is in stories like this.

Now, I do have one question? Is this an enhanced remake of the original? It sounds like it is. I like enhanced remakes of old games.

I can't wait to play this game! It looks like it'll be so much fun!

Samurai Jack Season 5 Trailer, My Thoughts

Jack is Back!

That's right, folks! The time-tossed samurai is returning for a fifth and final season, ten years after the original end of season four. I loved this series back in the day, and I was so happy to see it return! And here's the trailer!

The trailer starts with Jack standing in various places, and remarking that 50 years have passed since the last episode. Jack himself, though...has not aged. I have heard that was because of his being tossed through time like a football in a football game.

It appears that here, Jack is in a bit of a funk. Which makes some sense. The man has been fighting Aku for half a century, and it seems that for all his efforts, Aku is still in control of the world. Not to mention that time and time again in the series, Jack has found a way to get back to his own time, but the way keeps getting taken from him. Imagine that going on for FIFTY YEARS. Jack is a strong and noble man, but even he can be worn down by all of it.

We see some scenes of despair, and then something interesting. A group of women, being given orders to kill Jack. They were given orders by another woman who wears a mask with the head shape of Aku. I'm guessing that Aku will naturally be the Big Bad, while these women will be his elite mooks.

Speaking of Jack, I have heard that since Mako, Aku's voice actor, passed away, they did find someone new to voice him. I wish the new actor luck. They got REALLY big shoes to fill.

We do see the women engage Jack, who got himself some cool samurai-style armor, and what looks like a new sword. I wonder what happened to his old one? He also tries to shoot them with a machine gun. That's new. Again, it's been 50 years, this ain't the Jack of old. Seeing him shoot that gun like that combined with his new facial hair makes me think he's started to channel Mr. John Rambo a bit.

These Aku-helmed women are tough! They move like the Flash on speed, and utterly WRECK Jack. We also see he takes a wound during his battles, and it's bleeding. We even see him leave a trail of blood against a wall. It gives the feeling this show has matured with its audience, but it's also a clear showing that the creators are taking advantage of this season being on adult swim.

I also have to say, I love the music in the background. I've gotten into Retro New Wave recently, and the music is great to listen to.

I do like that this trailer tells a little story itself, the women stalk Jack, attack, he hides out and regroups, and then gets ready to deliver some pain. The trailer then ends with footage of Jack kicking butt, and announcing that the season will arrive on March 11.

I LOVED this trailer! I actually watched it several times, that's how much I love it! This new season is going to be fun to watch! I hope this season does provide a proper ending to Jack's story, but I think the creators are going for that, so I can't wait to see how Jack finally ends Aku's reign of terror.