Monday, July 30, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batgirl 011

The Story
Batgirl fights off Knightfall's goons, using her limited resources. When things start to go badly for her, Detective McKenna comes in and saves her. The detective explains Knightfall, Charise Carnes's story, how her family was butchered with her the only survivor. She was sent to Arkham even though evidence hinted at her being the perpetrator. McKenna reveals to Batgirl that someone in the Bat Family was a mole, ending the chapter with a shot of Batwoman.

The Review
As something of a connoisseur of fights, I have to say I liked how the first part of this issue was handled. Fights aren't really embellished much in american comics, but for what it was I really enjoyed it. Limiting Barbara's available weapons helped give the situation a sense of danger, and Barbara's narration of what each batarang does added a sense of progression to the fight.

News: Fairy Piece

Far too many people say Fairy Tail is a carbon copy of One Piece. Other, more sensible people, recognize the prevalence of certain trends in shonen manga and don't make a big deal out of it. For those people Funimation recently announced some brand new acquisitions at Otakon.

One Piece Season 5 - I expected that we would be getting this soon, but I didn't expect to see Funimation acquire the rights before getting sales numbers for season four back. This confidence in the franchise on Funimation's part speaks well for the series' future.

But that's not all!

One Piece Film: Strong World - I asked Funimation CEO, Ken Fukunaga, about this way back at comic-con 2010. He said they were working on acquiring the rights and that it all depended on what the Japanese parent companies decided. Two years later we finally get it! I'm hoping this means we'll get to see releases for the other movies, my collection needs completing.

And for the fans of Fairy Tail we have:

Fairy Tail Season 2 - We'll be getting another 24 episodes. I'm not sure which set of episodes these are, I need to double check how many have been released so far. But it's a good sign for the franchise. Even better is...

Fairy Tail - The Movie - This one caught me off guard. After how long it took to get Strong World I would never have imagined that Funimation would have acquired the rights to a movie that hasn't even been released yet. Good thing too, this means I can avoid having to deal with wondering when the fansubbers will get around to it. We'll be able to see the movie how it was meant to be seen, legally and of much better quality. No news on when exactly it will be released, but I imagine sometime towards the end of this year.

Check here for more news! Funimation News!

News: Dead or Alive 5 Sexy Costume Trailer


Just in case anyone still thought the Dead or Alive series was a legitimate fighter, I thought I'd post this to assure you otherwise. I feel sorry for fans of the original series, before the volleyball corruption. It can't possibly feel good to see the DoA Volleyball mentality carry on over into the main series.

I've been toying with the idea of posting some more news along with reviews. Let me know what you think, if you like shorter pieces like this or just want to stick to reviews.

Friday, July 27, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman and Robin 011

The Story
Damian attacks Jason, and the two fight while Damian taunts him about the Joker beating him. Damian ultimately wins, stealing Jason's Red Hood mask.

Meanwhile, Terminus's criminals are catching and branding cops with the symbol of the bat. They then move on to a full scale assault, where they brand anyone they can get their hands on.

Batman goes after whoever is responsible for the attacks, just as Terminus's people set off bat shaped explosions on the highrises of Gotham.

The Review
The best part of this book was, hands down, Robin's fight against Damian. It's an interesting way to address the major event in Jason's past, while revealing his feelings about how Batman failed to take the Joker down after Jason's death. Under the Red Hood has been one of my favorite Batman movies, so I appreciate seeing Jason's feelings having evolved beyond being bitter about Bruce's refusal to murder the Joker.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman 011

The Story
Batman and Lincoln March carry on their fight, culminating in an explosion that Batman barely escapes. Lincoln's body isn't discovered, and when Dick comes to visit Bruce explains how he once did have a brother, but said brother died in a car crash. He chooses to believe that his parents would never do such a thing as hiding the fact that his brother was still alive.

Jarvis's story finishes with Martha's misscariage, and Jarvis being targeted by the Court for defying them. Back in the present, Bruce offers to discover the truth behind Jarvis's death. Alfred refuses, having come to terms with his father's death on his own.

The Review
This review, as all other reviews have pointed out, is not for those that haven't been reading the Court of Owls storyline. There's nothing I can say, no spectacular event or action that will make you start reading the story just to get to this issue.

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Movie Reviews: The Dark Knight Rises

The Story
After eight years of retiring from the world, Bruce Wayne is once again called upon to fight evil. With an underground invasion by Bane, a former member of the League of Shadows, Batman will be forced to face his greatest challenge, and his greatest failure yet. With the life and soul of Gotham on the line, it's time for the Dark Knight to rise.

The Review
This is it folks, the big one, the one we've been waiting all year for. Now that The Dark Knight Rises has hit theaters, what's the verdict?
Well, and this is hard for me to say, it's not as good as The Dark Knight. Now to be fair, I think everyone expected there was no way Rises could live up to its older brother. But I imagine that everyone, myself included, held the hope that Nolan would surprise us as much as he did with TDK. Which, when you get down to it, was probably unfair, and will color the opinion I, and others, have of TDKR.

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Manga Reviews: Fairy Tail Volume 3

The Story
Natsu and team clash with the Eisenwald guild, making short work of the dark guild's members. They learn the true target isn't the citizens, but the guild masters' meeting further down the line. They are trapped inside the trainstation by Erigor's wind barrier. It isn't until Happy reveals he has Virgo's key that they are able to escape. Natsu and Happy go after Erigor and Natsu fights him.

After a tough fight, Natsu is able to defeat Erigor, but Kage escapes with the Lullab flute. He tries to play it, but is mentally defeated by Makarov, who convinces him not to go through with the plan. With Eisenwald stopped, the magic in the flute activates and reveals the true demon inside. Natsu, Erza, and Gray defeat it, crushing the meeting hall in the process.

During the match between Natsu and Erza, a messenger from the council arrives to arrest Erza.

Anime Reviews: Persona 4 The Animation Episode 12 - It's Not Empty At All



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The Story
Yu and the group go back into the TV world, where Rise discovers the location of the creepy kid, Kubo. They make their way into his corner of the world, where they find a video game themed castle. After letting Teddie fight against some monsters, they find Kubo arguing with his shadow self. The episode suddenly cuts to after the fight, and over the course of several weeks Yu watches helplessly as his friends drift further and further apart. One evening, he's attacked by a shadow that looks like a giant baby.

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Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Cartoon Reviews: The Avengers - Earth's Mightiest Heroes


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I don't normally watch that many American cartoons. Not because I'm a Japanophile, but because I've been so burned by the past decade of American animation that I can't get the energy up to even bother most of the time. But thanks to Rob Bricken over at Topless Robot, whose columns I read in Animea when that magazine was still a thing, kept gushing about the series with every new episode, I decided it was worth a shot to check the series out.

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Of course, like the moron that I am, I started watching it towards the end of a semester, when everything was due. Fortunately I had a day off from both classes and work, and was able to watch almost the entire available series in two days. First impressions are good. I haven't given two craps about Marvel for a few years. Besides the movies they just didn't have anything to offer, while DC had Batman. I was also lost in what was currently going on in the Marvel universe, I read the first five volumes of Essential X-Men, but haven't picked up a Marvel book religiously since then.

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The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes is perfect for someone like me. I know the basic characters, and while I don't know their entire history, I know enough to appreciate the interaction between the characters. The show is a perfect mix between stand alone stories, and the episodic format. While I do appreciate the amount of investment needed to watch most anime series, I still appreciate the Western episodic format that lets you pick up any random episode in the middle of a show and still get what's going on.

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There's so much I love about this show that it's hard to decide where to even start talking about it. So I will divide this review into convenient subtopics!

Anime Reviews: Persona 4 The Animation Episode 11 - Catch Me If You Can


Plot Summary
The creepy kid from back in the first episode is back, and he's playing a video game. Because all creepy losers play video games.

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This is how he writes his reviews. 
At the scene where the latest dead body was found, it is revealed that the victim was the jerky teacher, Morooka. The main cast sit in the local restaurant, wondering what happened that changed the killer's motifs. They almost consider giving up, but the delivery girl gives them the beef bowl challenge. At first they use it as a distraction, but soon realize they cannot finish the bowls. Yu gives a metaphoric speech about how they can't ever give up. They need to better themselves, and keep persevering.

Monday, July 16, 2012

Anime Reviews: Persona 4 The Animation Episode 10 - Real Me Doesn't Exist


Plot Summary
The episode pics up immediately after the last one ended, with Yu seeing Rise on the midnight channel. She starts a sexy striptease, which Yu responds to by frantically pressing the record button. After the show ends, Yu checks it to find that the recording didn't work.

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Anime Reviews: Persona 4 The Animation Episode 9 - No One Sees the Real Me


The Story
A young idol, Risette, sits in her room while makeup artists finish getting her ready for her show. Her manager talks on the phone, preparing future appearances as well as her upcoming movie role. After sitting silently, as she has clearly done before, she finally says she quits, before going onto the stage. Her song doubles as an opening, with the animation cutting to still frames and back.

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Sunday, July 15, 2012

Cartoon Reviews: The Legend of Korra Episode 12 - Endgame

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The Story
Act 1
At the rally, Korra and Mako try to expose Amon as a waterbender by telling the entire crowd the truth. Amon, being one of the only competent characters in this series, has unfortunately planned for this and reveals his burned face. As Korra and Mako, shocked their plan did not work, start to escape, Amon reveals that he has captured Tenzin and his family.

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What a twist! It's almost Shyamalanian. In that it makes no sense!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Avatar the Last Airbender - The Promise Part 2

The Story
Sokka and Toph struggle to teach her students how to metalbend, while fighting off the firebending master whose school the metalbending academy used to be. Zuko in the meanwhile is learning how to rule from his father, while keeping secrets from those closest to him. Aang and Katara tell King Kuei about Zuko's refusal to move the fire nation colonists out, leading to the earth kingdom armies mobilizing.

The Review
I've been putting off writing this review, because I like to maintain a professional tone in my reviews. And for the first few weeks after reading this book, I would not have been able to get beyond incoherent rambling. Fortunately I now feel calm and collected enough to be able to discuss why exactly The Promise Part 2 made me so angry.

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Avatar the Last Airbender - The Lost Adventures

The Story
Since The Lost Adventures is a collection of several short stories, there is no connecting story thread. The book is divided into four parts, with stories organized based on what season they take place in, as well as a short extras section. Because of this organization the stories can be inserted nicely between episodes in the show.

Most of the short stories are comedic in nature, with a few rare ones taking on a more serious tone. Some manage to blend comedy and seriousness into one. These are the stories that capture the feel of the of the series.

The Review
The interesting thing about reviewing a collection of separate stories is that the quality of the individual stories is separate from each other. Meaning that if one story is good, it doesn't influence the quality of the other stories. So it's very possible to have an eclectic collection of stories, with quality ranging from excelent to putrid. Because of this the only way to truly judge the value of The Lost Adventures would be to review each story separately. But because that kind of review would be far longer than anyone would want to read, we'll stick to a general opinion of the collection as a whole, followed by whether I recommend it or not.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Black Metal Volume 2

The Story
Sam and Shawn are attacked by Beelzebub, but saved by the witch Heradoxa. She tells them that Beelzebub will be back with reinforcements. They leave for someplace safer, but it is all a trap orchestrated by Satan.

The twins' foster mother, reveals herself as an Angel and returns to heaven, where she is executed by Metatron for her failure. Back in hell the group is separated, and Sam and Shawn come to their forest, while Heradoxa tries to turn them against each other.

They learn of the war in heaven, and Metatron's false nature. Shawn decides Sam needs his own sword, and they go to Valhalla to have Gorn make a new one.

Once the sword is complete, Heradoxa succeeds in turning Sam against Shawn, and the two fight. They are evenly matched and reconcile after their conflict. But they are weakened, and Satan comes and steals their swords, cutting the brothers in  half.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman Annual 001

The Story
 Mr Freeze talks to a psychiatrist in Arkham, about an accident his mother had. He breaks out of the asylum, and after getting his gear from the Penguin he goes back to his old lab in Wayne Tower. His backstory is rewritten to have him working for Bruce, while trying to find a cure for his wife. But Bruce pulled the plug on the experiment. After a confrontation with Nightwing and Robin, Freeze goes to Bruce's office, where he finds his wife waiting for him.

Batman fights Freeze, revealing that Nora is not Freeze's wife, that she was actually from decades before Freeze started his research. Freeze became obsessed with her, because of her frozen state, the only thing he was ever interested in being the cold.

The issue ends with young Victor dumping his sick mother into the frozen lake.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman - The Dark Knight 010

The Story
Batman and the police are tracking a criminal that has been kidnapping children, and though he releases them, they return mentally changed. Batman tries to find out who is responsible for the kidnappings from the most recent victim, but the child is too traumatized. In a rare and touching scene, Batman sits with the little girl and comforts her.

After this touching scene we get a jarring shift where Bruce is shown neglecting not only Damian, but his current girlfriend as well. He's played off as clueless to his neglect, which conflicts with his development in Batman and Robin.

Gordon in the meanwhile is haunted by his inability to protect his daughter from the Joker, or to protect his son from himself. He's attacked, in his own home, by the scarecrow, who's upped the horror ante and sewn his lips closed, while somehow retaining his abilitiy to speak.

Movie Reviews: The Amazing Spider-Man

The Story
After their house is broken into, Peter's parents take him to live with his aunt and uncle, before disappearing. Years later, Peter is bitten while investigating his father's partner, Dr Connors. He gains spider powers, and starts working on his father's formula with Dr Connors. The compound leads to Connors turning into a lizard monster, and it's up to Peter to stop him.

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Manga Reviews: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Volume 1

The Story
Jotaro Kujo, grandson of Joseph Joestar, has a problem. He's possessed by an evil spirit. A visit from his grandfather, and an associate, reveals that the spirit is actually a psychic representation of his inner power. A Stand.

Joseph reveals that Jonathan Joestar's nemesis, the vampire Dio, has returned. His reappearance has caused the awakening of the Stand in the Joestar family.

After an attack by another Stand user, under the control of Dio, and after his mother falls ill when her own Stand awakens, Jotaro and co must travel to Egypt to defeat Dio, before the Stand kills his mother. But nothing is easy when on a Bizarre Adventure, and even on the plane they are attacked by another of Dio's servants.

Manga Reviews: Toriko Volume 6

Plot Summary
Terry faces off against the black GT Robot, while Coco fights the giant robot. Coco has a hard time at first, his poison attacks do little against the inanimate robot at first, but eventually he is able to overcome his foe. Sunny faces his own enemy, defeating him, before being expelled from the Mammoth's body.

Toriko, Rin, and Komatsu go deeper into the Mammoth's body, searching for the Jewel Meat. The run into the black robot, Rin is mortally wounded, and Toriko beaten. The robot knocks him through the wall, where Toriko finds the Jewel Meat. The taste of the meat reinvigorates his Gourmet Cells, and Toriko is able to defeat the black robot, whose operator identifies himself as Starjun.

Manga Reviews: Toriko Volume 5

The Story
Rin and Toriko get blasted into the White Forest, where they have to fight off dozens of animals, before making their way into the Devil's playground, a series of large rock pillars, where strong animals make their home.

Komatsu and Sunny cross the Pre-Historic Marsh, where they find many senselessly slaughtered animals. While Rin and Toriko fight through the Devil's Playground, the weakned Toriko having a harder and harder time fighting off relatively low level creatures.

The four find each other again at the cliffs of the Regal Plateau, right as the Regal Mammoth falls from the top. After the Mammoth lands they are attacked by another GT Robot, but Coco's intervention saves them. He faces off against the robot while the other four are sucked into the Mammoth, and go to find the Jewel Meat. But once inside they find another GT Robot, and Sunny faces off against him.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Black Metal Volume 1

The Story
Shawn and Sam Stronghand discover that they are the Roth reborn, an ancient demon and wielder of the Sword of Atol. As demons seek their lives, for their ancient enemy Baron Von Char still remembers. Along with the Black Metal band Frost Axe, and their friends, the brothers enter hell to slay Von Char and claim their place as ruler of Hell.

The Review
Black Metal represtents a trend in Western comics I hope to see continued. While some may think that I'm just a manga fan, I'm actually a fan of all types of sequential art. But there are certain things about manga that appeal to me, things that I would love to see applied to Western comics. This doesn't mean I want to see the art style copied, as OEL manga tends to do. Rather I want to see two specific stylistic trappings copied.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Catwoman 010

The Story
Catwoman attacks Dollhouse, who just picked up another hooker. He goes after her with an assault rifle, and it's only thanks to Spark's intervention that she is able to get out alive. She tries to go back, revealing that she was "taken" in the past, but no one came to save her. Spark kisses her, to stop her from heading back.

The kidnapped prostitute wakes up in a closed off ward of what looks like some kind of underground hospital. Dollhouse talks to him, saying  how he just wants to help, that he's providing food, a place to wash the drugs out of the system. Dollhouse gets off the PA, and reveals that he's been harvesting organs from his rehabilitated prositutes, and has been keeping their bodies, posing them as dolls.

Catwoman meets Detective Alvarez, having heard that he was looking for her. Meanwhile, Spark reveals himself to be working for the crooked police officers who Catwoman stole the money from.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batgirl 010

The Story
Batgirl fights several car thieves, and while one of them tries to escape he gets caught in a bear trap. Batgirl stays with him until the security detail for the party comes to take care of  him. When she gets home, Barbara gets a call from her roommate, asking to be bailed out of prison.

The two discuss Bruce's revitalization project, with Alysia providing a counterpoint to Barbara's opinion on Bruce's plan. Barbara comes to the decision that she's done fighting for rich peoples' things.

Later, Barbara goes back to the building the story started in, and finds the three person security detail, holding the car thief, now with a missing leg, hostage. The woman holding him declares their group to be the Disgraced, before dropping the thief. Barbara saves him, but is attacked by a winged member of Disgraced. The two fight, before Barbara is surrounded by the rest of the team.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Nightwing 010

The Story
As Nightwing investigates the Strayhorn appartment, he is attacked by SWAT. He escapes, and gets a call from Lucius, discussing a business proposition. His plan is to reinvigorate the Amusement Mile themepark.

While investigating the murder of the Strayhorn brothers, he is attacked by armored vigilantes. He finds their base of operations, where he finds a group of the paramilitary vigilantes training. Their Leader, Paragon, notices him there and attacks him, declaring that "The future of this city hinges on your death."

The Review
Is it just me, or is this the way the Haly's circus storyline started? Someone declaring that Nightwing/Dick had to die? Oh well, easy way to create tension early on I guess.

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman and Robin 010

The Story
The issue starts off with a new villain, Terminus, addressing a group of criminals who are in some way marked by Batman. He promises them revenge.

Bruce, along with Dick, Tim, Damian, and Alfred is sitting for a portrait when an argument breaks out between Tim and Damian. Damian later calls all the former Robins to meet him, where he declares a challenge to all of them, to prove himself the best Robin.

Back at the batcave, Damian confronts Tim about the events in Teen Titans Annual #1. The two fight, ending with Damian forcing Tim to admit that he considered killing Fist Point.

The issue ends with Terminus exiting from his subdermal regeneration machine, and placing a mark on a dilapidated looking missile.

Game Reviews: Edgeworld

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Reviewing games isn't really my thing, but like a washouted celebrity, I figure I might as well try my hand at something unfamiliar. I'm sure the abject failure will be entertaining for all.

I have been interested in doing game reviews, since those seem to get the most pageviews, but since I don't play that many games I would run out of things to say quite fast. But I figure I can get a few reviews out of the few games that I have played.

Edgeworld is an online game, run entirely in-browser, along the lines of Farmville. Except instead of growing crops you're demolishing the hopes and dreams of all that dare to dream to thrive in a cruel, alien world. Think Farmville crossed with Starcraft.

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Graphic Novel Reviews: Batman 010

The Story
Using the names Lincoln March gave him, Batman tacks down the Court of Owls to the house he first searched for them in when he was a child. When he arrives he finds the entire court committed mass suicide. Later, her realizes that something about the suicide isn't right. He tracks the true culprit to the Willowwood Home For Children, where he discovers a shocking secret.

In the backup story, Alfred's father continues to tell the story about the Wayne family being targeted by the Court of Owls, and the event that led to the reveal in this issue.

The Review
(Spoilers discussed below)


I've always been against additions to the basic Batman mythology. I wasn't a big fan of the Black Hand arc because it called back to a part of the story I for one think should be left well alone. Saying things like, "Batman's father may not have died," playing around with the past just doesn't have the impact the writer intends. Readers mostly just roll their eyes and wait for it to be retconned. The only constant is that Batman's parents died, and then he became Batman. Anything else is just needless fluff that will be forgotten eventually.

The Weight of a Sword


Article Originally Posted At: The Ironforge

I once got into an argument about how much swords weighed. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have gotten vocal on the topic in a Red Robin. But honor had been stained, and I could not back down. Unfortunately the only weapons available were knives and forks, and those do not make for epic duels. But had it come to a duel, I would have easily won because my opponent would have picked a weapon that corresponded to what he thought swords weighed.

Meaning he would have tried to fight me with the equivalent of a fifty pound dumbbell.

He might have been under the impression that he was Cloud.

The fight would have been short, and it would have been painful. And at the time I would have gladly gone all the way, because I was furious.

Please keep in mind I do not endorse murder, not even when it is done with an awesome sword. I fully admit that I was in the wrong just by arguing, or at least getting vocal to the point that our argument disturbed the other guests. There's a time and place for everything, and a restaurant is neither a dueling field, nor is it the internet.


So please keep in mind that I know I was wrong to react the way I did. If given the chance I would have approached the situation in a completely different fashion.

Though really I probably wouldn't have. The guy was a jackass, plain and simple. Pardon the language. But he was the kind of smug prick that thought he knew everything, or at least acted that way. I didn't mind it when he talked about topics I either knew nothing about, or just didn't care about. But the moment he started talking about something I was not only very familiar with, but also quite passionate about (as you will see), I could not let his fallacy go uncorrected.

It began, innocently enough, with a discussion about how to make easy money. He, we shall call him Igor, put forward the idea of selling replica swords just by cutting them out of a sheet of metal. I told Igor that nobody would pay for that kind of crap. Among other things the balance and weight would be completely off. It would be obvious even to the uninitiated that the swords were fake and worth no one's time or money. Obviously anyone willing to spend money on a sword would know enough to recognize utter garbage when they saw it. Especially when the suggested crap would make the Uruk-Hai swords look like crafted masterpieces (at least those went through a proper forging process).

"Lurtz use tears of children for quenching."

Igor countered with, "Nobody would be able to tell the difference. And swords are so heavy anyway, it wouldn't make a difference."

I replied that, "They really weren't that heavy. The heaviest ones were five pounds at worst."

"What? That's ridiculous, they weighed at least fifty pounds."

"Fifty pounds? There's no way anyone would be able to use that. Medieval Europeans weren't so stupid that they'd build weapons they couldn't possibly wield effectively."

"They could use them," Igor said. "They were all buff, like Samoa here."

At this point Igor turned to our Tongan friend, who shall be named Samoa, to protect the innocent.

"Could you use a fifty pound sword," Igor asked.

"I don't know, maybe," Samoa said, clearly uninterested in our dispute.

I tried to point out the fallacy of assuming that Europeans could match Tongans for pure brawn, but my logic was of course ignored. I was also certain that Samoa didn't want to be involved in the discussion, and since he could, and had, attempted to stab me with a knife for fun before, I didn't press the issue.

Of course the only reasonable thing to do was point Igor in the direction of accurate reading material, to allow him the chance to atone for his crime of ignorance if he so desired. But my generous offer was met with a scathing reply.

"You're just like the people who try and give use stuff to read from their church, trying to prove us wrong."

Did I mention that I was on a mission for my church, sitting in Red Robin with all the other missionaries from our district, having an argument about how much swords weighed? Because I totally was.

The discussion pretty much ended there. What else could I say in the face of such extreme douchery? Pure, focused logic, and academic effort was no match. I could point him towards legitimate research. I could have given him a sword, literally thrust it into his hands, and once he cleaned up the blood he still would have found an excuse as to why he was right. There was just no arguing with that, and there lies my only true regret. Well, one of my regrets.

I regret acting like a putz and letting my emotions get the better of me in a discussion that should have been academic. I regret getting into the argument with someone that didn't want to listen in the first place.

But in the end, what I regret most was not carrying a sword with me. Even if he would have ignored the evidence, it would have made my argument just that much more...pointed.

For anyone interested in the specifics of how much swords weighed, check this out. I'm not sure what exactly he's saying, but he uses math to do it. That means he's smart.

Book Reviews: Monster Hunter Legion

The Story
About a year after the events of Monster Hunter Alpha, Owen and the rest of MHI are in Las Vegas for the first international monster munters convention. While there they meet hunters from all over the world, all who have been noticing strange happenings across the world. After Owen has a dream about the strange symbol his father told him about, the monster hunters are approached by Stricken, the enigmatic leader of Task Force Unicorn, who sets up a competition for ten million dollars for the first who takes out an unknown monster that massacred a Nevada town. This first encounter pits MHI and their new allies against old and primeval fears as they face their greatest foes yet.

The Review
There's something to be said about waiting until several books in a series are out. As soon as I finished reading Monster Hunter Alpha, I couldn't stop myself from diving right into the E-ARC of Monster Hunter Legion. Unfortunately, now I have to wait even longer for the next book.

Cartoon Reviews: The Legend of Korra Episode 11 - Skeletons in the Closet

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The Story
Act 1
With Republic City completely conquered by the Equalists, Korra and Mako have to disguise themselves as Chi Blockers to move around the city. They hide out in the sewers, among the homeless. Korra and the rest go to meet Iroh's ships, but find none of the Equalist forces are waiting for them. The ships get caught in an ambush by underwater mines and Hiroshi's brand new bi-planes. The fleet is destroyed, but Korra manages to save Iroh.

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"Being a general is hard!"

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Editorials: Marvel Now!

PhotobucketI'm sure most of you have heard about the "reboot" of three of Marvel's franchises. Well, more like a reboot of two franchises, with a third series mixing the two together.

And they aren't really reboots, rather they're just renumbering the issues starting in October. Personally I'm looking forward to this. It's been a few years since I last followed any Marvel series, and this makes a good jumping on point for me. I've been wanting to get back into the X-Men and Avengers, but haven't had a chance to break into the currently running series.

With this new move by Marvel, they'll be providing a starting point for new readers, a cunning move considering the success of their movies this blockbuster season. Interest in their franchises is rising, or I assume that it is, and they need to find ways to capitalize on this for their comic series.

Cartoon Reviews: The Legend of Korra Episode 10 - Turning the Tides

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The Story
Act 1
While Mako watches over Korra as she sleeps, Tenzin goes to be with his family. Later, as Korra is getting some food, she explains what she learned about Tarrlok to Tenzin and Lin. Mako and Asami have an argument over his behavior, and she confronts him about the kiss he shared with Korra.



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