Nerd Tutorial Podcast

  Other Games Hyrule Warriors (2014) Wii U, Switch, 3DS A spinoff of the Dynasty Warrior game series from Koei Tecmo, the series follows several well known Zelda Characters in their efforts to push back the evil forces.  While the story is loose, the major draw of this game is the Dynasty Warrior game play, which sees hundreds of enemies being defeated by a singular individual over a large battlefield with ever changing objectives.      CD-I Games In 1989, Nintendo and Sony partnered together to create a CD based addon for their upcoming Super Nintendo System, set to release sometime in 1991 or 1992.  Prior to the announcement however in 1991, Nintendo decided to dump the contract with Sony and instead went with Phillips to develop their CD based addon.  The sudden announcement from Nintendo just prior to Sony's announcement eventually led to the Playstation system in 1994.  Nintendo however, seeing the poor launch and reception of the Sega CD, pulled out of the agreement with Phillips for a CD based SNES Addon.  However, with the agreement desolved, Nintendo agreed to allow Phillips to develop games based off the Nintendo Licenses, which included Mario and Zelda.   As a result, three games were created by Phillips for their CD-I machine: Link: The Faces of Evil Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon Zelda's Adventure   All three games are largely Action Adventure titles and not consider canon within the Zelda Timeline.  Both Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon were released at the same time, featuring Russian animation that universally hated by the fans.  Zelda's Adventure, released 8 months after the first set of game, featured a top down perspective, and replaced the animation with live action, which is still considered horrible by today's standards.  All three games are largely unplayable in the sense that they are not fun and are frustrating to play.        In Other Media The Legend of Zelda Cartoon During the height of Mario Craze, there was The Super Mario Bros: Super Show, which aired during day time syndication in 1989.  A part of the original run was a series of Super Mario Cartoons, referencing at the time Super Mario Bros 1 and 2, with Super Bros 3 episodes later pushed to a 2nd season.  The cartoons themselves were only about 12-14 minutes long, and were inner spliced with Live Action Mario and Luigi, played by Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively.  The Mario Cartoons ran from Monday through Thursday, but on Friday, was a Legend of Zelda Cartoon instead.   The Legend of Zelda cartoon, much like the Mario cartoon, last only about 12-14 minutes, and a collection of thirteen were created for the series.  The events of the series largely related around the time between The Legend of Zelda and The Adventures of Link, and often related to Link battling the remaining forces of Ganon to defend the land.  The series was not without its comic attributes, as Link was constantly trying to get a Kiss from Zelda, along with the Tagline, “Excuse Me, Princess.” with the word ‘excuse' exaggerated for comic effect, usually used when ever Link was sarcastically apologizing to Princess Zelda.  Contrary to most princesses as well, Zelda was actually very capable on her own right, often being engaged and participating in the action.   The series is mostly well known for Link's Catchphrase, but was often a big interest among kids of their era, mostly due to the fact that it only happened once a week, and due to this, the episodes rarely looped upon themselves, so if you missed it, you wouldn't get the chance to see it again for 3 months.

Topic: Legend of Zelda     What is it? Nintendo's Big Three, as of NES days, consisted of Super Mario, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda.  Taking place in a fantasy world of goblins, monsters, castles, and princesses, this series had transformed some of the landscape of videogames and being a bench mark for many later games and series, with some hallmarks that continue to this day.     Development During initial development of the Famicom(Family Computer, also known to the west as the Nintendo Entertainment System(NES)) addon, known as the Famicom Disk System, two major games were being developed.  The First was Super Mario, while the second was Legend of Zelda, however their creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, didn't know how either game would shape up.  During the planning process, the two games were created in tandem, with Super Mario coming out first due it's more linear nature, and Zelda coming out afterwards.  Ideas when developing the games were split between the two games, with some ideas being more favorable for Mario over Zelda.  Zelda's design necessitated less linear game play and forced players to think about what to do next.    Elements of the initial story were taken heavily from J R R Tolken's Lord of the Rings, primarily the setting and world in which the antagonist lived in.  The initially hero, dubbed ‘Link' was meant to be a time traveler, along with the plot device, the Tri-force, being made up to circuits/electronics, thus Link would be a Hyper-Link, or a Link to the Past, Present, and Future.    Released on the Famicom Disk System, The Legend of Zelda was a huge success.  With the Disk System, save states could be created, which acted as back ups for your progress.  Along with new weapons/items, additional armor, and various secrets waiting to be found, the game was a block buster upon release.  Due to the North American market not having the Disk System for their NES, the game was ported instead to a standard game cartridge of the time, with new chips being created to hold the majority of the game on.  US released copies featured a Gold game cartridge over the typical gray that was offered with all other games.   After the success of the first Zelda, a second follow up went in to work.  Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, took a different turn in the game play, offering a top down map for which to explore, but offered a 2d platform style action that Link would fight in. Released 2 years after the first, gaming critics cited it as a masterpiece, with many western audiences feeling somewhat indifferent to the game at the time.    With the coming of the next generation, the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo saw their own version of Zelda coming out, returning to the original Legend of Zelda roots, but also added a feature that would eventually become a staple of many Zelda game, a Light and Dark World.  Initially, the Super Nintendo games held an initial allotment of half a Megabyte, but Zelda began the trend with a full Megabyte to incorporate all the features.  In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a Light and Dark world exist, where Link can travel between the two to gain new weapons, powers, and transverse the world in ways other than the initial ways.  Released in 1991, the game was a classic and is to this day, still highly rated, and one of the best selling games for the Super Nintendo.   Following the success of Zelda as a generational Title, a new Zelda game has come out for every Generation of Nintendo's consoles, including the Mainline Home Console and Hand-held Console.  In 1998, The Legend of Zelda saw game series move in to 3d, just as Mario had done a year earlier.  Even during the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a launch title, instead of a traditional Mario title.        Initial Story The initial story of the Legend of Zelda is not very straight-forward or linear at all.  Described as a multi-timeline series, the main series had an initial timeline, before branching off in to various timelines.  The characters of Link, Zelda, and bad guy Ganon are not even the original individuals, but reincarnations of the classic characters years into the future, sometime even hundreds of years later, often still playing the exact same roles as before.    Rather than develop the games in the released order, in order to explain the time line, we'll explain them in order of their placement on the timeline:   Skyword Sword (2011) Wii U Skyword Sword starts the Zelda timeline, set in a world where humans primarily live in the sky and travel around on giant Sky birds.  Zelda, a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, who is charged with watching over the Tri-Force, is whisked away to the surface world, where she learns of her purpose and intends on safeguarding the world from Demise.  Link goes about saving her and puts an end to Demise, but not before he can make his own reincarnation.  This is also the creation of the Master Sword, as the sword was originally a part of Hylia prior to giving up her divinity.   The Minish Cap (2004) GBA As the GBA had a long life span, this incarnation is notable for introducing the Minish Cap, a replacement hat for Link, not unlike Mario Hat from Super Mario Odyssey.  Much like many features of Zelda there is a obvious world, and a hidden world.  In this case, the Minish Cap allows Link to shrink to Minish proportions (Small), in order to navigate and transverse secrets of the world. This adventure for Link sets up the Four Sword and the main antagonist of the next game Vaati.   Four Swords (2002) GBA Released alongside a release of A Link to the Past, Four Swords tells of how Link used the Four Sword and transformed into four copies of himself.  This story primarily focuses upon Vaati's return and Link utilizing the Four Sword to defeat him.  The true feature of this game was the 4 player co-op nature, which was later revisited on the Game Cube.   Ocarina of Time (1998) N64 Credited as landmark title that brought Zelda to 3d.  The story tells of a very young boy link saving Princess Zelda, but traveling back and forth from time, which causes him transform in to the Adult Link.  This game introduced 3d, but also a music system, with special songs, capable of summoning effects or allowing used to progress through the story.  The game was the first time the story fleshed out more of Ganondorf's back story, along with other notable races, including the Gerudo, Goron, Kokori, & Zora.      DEVIATION IN TIME Based on the events of Ocarina of Time, one of Three Timeline get created: Child Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to a child to finish out the rest of his life. Adult Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Zelda returns the Master Sword to the pedestal, and Link is said to have disappeared following his return to the past.  Fallen Hero Timeline – Where as Link was failed to defeat Ganondorf, and he is instead sealed by the Seven Sages and locked away.        Child Timeline: Following the defeat of Ganondork, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to his child form to live out the rest of his life.    Majora's Mask (2000) N64 Created using the original Ocarina of Time engine and many of the same assets, Majora's Mask is very much a sequel to the Ocarina of Time.  In this version, Link stays a child, but gains additional powers in the form of masks, which alter his shape and abilities.  The main events of Majora's Mask resolve around Link in search of Navi, his fairy from the first game.  He meets the mysterious Skull Kid, who is wearing the possessed Majora's Mask.  Skull Kid, via Majora's Mask, aims to destroy the town of Termina by having the moon crash in to it.  Link has only 3 days in which to stop the apocalypse, but learns can go back in time by playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina, giving him unlimited tries to save the world.      Twilight Princess (2006) Wii Following the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is stopped and due to having the Triforce of Power, can't be killed.  As a result, he is banished to the Twilight Realm, where he eventually takes it over and corrupts it to his own purpose.  During the events, he usurps Midna, the Twilight Princess, and during his invasion back into the world of Light, plunges the world into twilight.  Midna recruits Link, who in twilight infused areas, is able to transform into a wolf the Midna rides, and the two aim to save both the world of Light and the world of Twilight.     Four Swords Adventure (2004) Game Cube Revisiting the GBA Four Sword's multiplay gameplay, the game utilizes the GBA link Cable to link various GBAs together to play all at the same time.  While Ganondorf has been defeated for hundreds of years, his sudden resurrection forced the Link of the time to draw the Four Sword once again.  This releases Vaati, which Ganondorf uses to his advantage to distract Link.  Eventually, Link is able to defeat Vaati once and for all, and seals Ganondorf within the Four Sword.     Adult Timeline: Following the events Ocarina of Time, Link disappears following the defeat of Ganondorf and his sealing away in the Sacred Realm.  Ganondorf continue to own his Tri-Force of power, as does Zelda with her Triforce of Wisdom, however, Link's disappearance, shatters the Tri-Force of courage in to 8 pieces.      The Wind Waker (2002) Game Cube A major departure in style, Wind Waker and all games in the Adult Timeline follow a very cartoony, cell-shaded look.  While a prominent style in the games, and a departure from a more realistic looking Link promised in trailers, the look had grown on players and has its own unique charm, with lot of personality in Link.    Wind Waker tells of how Ganon returns from his seal in the Sacred Realm, and in order to save the world, the Gods decide to flood the world, sealing away Hyrule and Ganon at the same time.  Follow flood, people move to the top of mountains that become islands.  Link is set in to action as Ganondorf returns to the surface and is kidnapping young girls with pointy ears, in search of Zelda.  Link traverses this world on the King of red Lions, a boat sent by the gods, in which Link must use the power of the Wind Waker to cause winds to help pilot the boat.      Phantom Hourglass (2007) DS Following the events of Wind Waker, Tetra(Reincarnation of Zelda) and Link travel the world in search of a new continent to call home.  Tetra is kidnapped and Link must travel around to save her.  He receives the Phantom Hourglass, which is necessary for exploring various dungeons.  Much like the last game, the gameplay is largely split in two major features, sailing between islands, and fighting in a similar top-down form as previous classic era games.     Spirit Tracks (2009) DS Following the Events of Phantom Hourglass, the new kingdom of Hyrule is established.  Hundreds of years pass, and a new Link and Zelda are reborn.  Zelda is concerned about her advisor, Chancellor Cole, who reveals himself to be a demon initially sealed way on the new Hyrule Kingdom long before they arrived.  He steals Zelda's body, but her spirit remains with Link, who together must navigate the mysterious Spirit Tracks and find the sacred Spirit Temples that original banished the Demon.        Fallen Hero Timeline: Unfortunately, Link was unable to defeat Ganondorf, who succeeded in claiming the Tri-Force of Courage and the Tri-Force of Wisdom.  Before he could use the full Tri-Force, he was sealed away by the Seven Sages into the Sacred Realm, where Ganondorf continued to create his armies.  Following initial seal's breaking, Hyrule launched an invasion on the Sarcred Realm in order defeat Ganon.  Despite the Kingdom of Hyrule successfully banishing Ganon in the realm once again, it left the country impoverished and without many resources, including money and its people.     A Link to the Past (1991) SNES The first game to feature a duality Light and Dark world system, Link to the Past is a classic and one of the best selling SNES games of all time.  Hundreds of years after Ganon's defeat, a Wizard named Agahnim was able to stop a number of mysterious events plaguing the kingdom.  Naming him the priest of Hyrule and top advisor, Agahnim brainwashed the guards and makes the six maidens, descendants of the Seven Sages, disappear in to the Dark World.  Zelda, the last maiden, telepathically calles out to Link to rescue her.  He saves her and begin searching for the tools needed to defeat Agahnim, who wants to resurrect Ganon.  Link eventually goes to Stop Agahnim, but not before being banished to the Dark World, where he eventually found the six maidens and is able to find the TriForce.      Link's Awakening (1993) Game Boy / Switch Initially, a pet project by a few game creators to try and remake the first Zelda for the Game Boy, the project eventually caught the attention of other developers who wanted to add to it.  Eventually, the higher ups found out about the game and decided to fund it in earnest.  Following the Events of A Link to the Past, Link sets off to find new training, in case of the next disaster.  His ship wrecks on Koholint island, which is populated by individuals that remind him Hyrule.  He learns, in order to leave the island, he must collect 8 sacred instruments, and wake up the Wind Fish in order to leave the island.     Oracle of Seasons & Oracles of Ages (2001) GBC Originally starting as a trio of games that would use passwords to link the three games together, the result ended in just two games, with Seasons being more action oriented and Ages being more puzzle oriented.  The main story focuses on two witches, collectively known as Twinrova, attempting to resurrect Ganon.  Link from A Link to the Past is summoned by the TriForce and sent to stop them.     A Link Between Worlds (2013) 3DS Centuries after Ganon's Defeat, a mysterious wizard named Yugo appears and kidnaps the Seven Sages, and Zelda, storing them in Paintings until needed.  Link travels after them into the world of Lorule, which is similar to his own.  Link is unable to stop Yugo from summoning Ganon and takes it into himself.  Link is nearly killed, if not for the Dark Counterpart to Zelda in this world, Hilda.  Eventually it is revealed that Lorule had its own TriForce, but constant warring and fighting forced them to destroy it; however, this allowed monsters and demons to rise up, which destroyed their Kingdom.  Hilda brought all the elements of Link and Zelda's world to hers in order to gain a Tri-Force of their own and save their world.  Link eventually defeat Yugo and convinces Hilda that their world needs the Tri-Force as well.  Upon returning to their world, Link wishes upon the Tri-Force and it creates a sister version in Lorule, restoring peace to the dark world.     Tri-Force Heroes (2015) 3DS A new adventure for Link, who travels to Hytopia.  Here, the evil witch Maud has forced Princess Styla into an irremovable brown Jumpsuit, which she forces her to hide away in her castle.  Using two other Link look-a-likes, they must collect the Lady's Ensemble and defeat the evil Witch Maud.  Similar to 4 swords, this utilizes multiplayer to play and complete, and feature different outfits link can wear to utilize different abilities.     The Legend of Zelda (1986) NES At some point, the Tri-Force of Courage is hidden by the King of Hyrule, suspecting his son, the Prince of Hyrule, won't be a worthy person.  As a result, the Prince questions Princess Zelda, who knows the true location, but refuses to tell her brother.  Now put in an eternal slumber, the Kingdom falls into decline to due not having the full power of the Tri-Force.  Ganon returns and gains control of the Tri-Force of Power; the next Princess Zelda hide the Tri-Force of Wisdom in eight dungeons in order to safeguard it.  Link is tasked with saving Princess Zelda, who has now been imprisoned by Ganon, and is dubbed the Hero of Hyrule.    The Adventure of Link (1988) NES 6 years following the events of The Legend of Zelda, Link had a glowing mark on his hand, which imprints the boy who will be able to wield the Tri-Force of Courage.  Tasked with visiting several locations to prove his worth, Link is able to successful collect the Tri-Force of Courage, and return to the eternal slumber Zelda, awaking her with the full power of the Tri-Force.        Great Calamity Timeline Though not a part of the official timeline just yet, developers state that this timeline is the end of all timeline, marking the end to major timeline.  While it's unsure which time line this falls into, it's a future in which an advanced civilization named the Sheikah Tribe, helped install various technologies into Hyrule, causing it to prosper.  In preparation for Ganon's return, they created various Guardians and Divine Beasts to fight Ganon upon his return, now known as Calamity Ganon.     Breath of the Wild (2016) Switch The next princess, named Zelda, notices that Ganon is nearly upon them and goes about claiming the Divine Beasts, giving them to four capable pilots, and finding Link, a knight who can successful wield the Master Sword.  While Zelda is initially unable to awaken her sealing powers, the Day of Calamity occurs, causing all the guardians and Divine Beasts to go malfunction and turn against the populous.  Now with Zelda and Link alone, Link is fatally injured and forced to be healed in the Shrine of Resurrection.  Zelda herself, went to seal away Calamity Ganon, successful, but not without sealing herself away too.  100 Years have passed since the Day of Calamity, and Link, partly with Amnesia, sets out to save the Princess Zelda.   Breath of the Wild Sequel (2022) Switch   Characters   Princess Zelda Named after Zelda Fitzgerald, mother to Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, and titular character of the Legend of Zelda Series.  The reincarnation of Hylia, the Goddess that protected the Tri-Force from Demise, she is the individual that started the reincarnation process for the Zelda line of individuals.  While the Princess and defacto ruler of Hyrule, she is also known to be the keeper of the Tri-Force of Wisdom.  She depicted slightly differently from game to game, but is usually a Blonde woman in her late teen to early 20s, depicted in flowing princess robes and possessing mannerism of a Princess.  Her weapon of choice is typically a Bow, which shoots light based Arrows, and is known for her ability to seal away evil.  While she is often the Damsel in Distress, there are some games that show to have more agency.   Link The main Playable Character in the series, Link is presented as an everyman, just going about his life, until the call to be a Hero calls upon him.  He is the keeper of the Tri-Force of Courage, and generally depicted as a sword and shield using adventurer, in his typical Green tunic and hat.  Link can wield the Master Sword, a legendary sword, considered the final weapon in the game, and usually depicted as utilizing it in his left hand, while his right hand carries his shield.  Link has had several titles in various games, including: Hero of Time (Ocarina of Time) Legendary Hero (Link's Awakening) Hero of Winds (Wind Waker) Hero of Twilight (Twilight Princess) Hero Chosen by the Ocean King (Phantom Hourglass) Hero of the Skies (Skyward Sword) Hero of the Wild (Breath of the Wild) Hero of Hyrule   Ganon / Ganondorf While interchangeable, Ganon and Ganondorf are the same person.  The main villain of every mainline Zelda Game, Ganon is known for wielding the Tri-Force of Power and leading various villainous armies against the Hero.  Initially a reincarnation of Demise, the evil from Skyward Sword, Ganondorf has reappeared time and time again, always with aims to claim the Tri-Force for himself.  While starting as Ganondorf, a dark-skinned Gerudo, Ganondork eventually can be transfigured and warped in to Ganon, which is more akin to a boar or pig like man, as seen in later incarnations of the character.  Ganon/Ganondorf is always the final villain and main antagonist of all major Zelda games on home console.   Impa Princess Zelda's caretaker and chamber maid.  Impa does not always play a major factor in the story, and as such, is depicted in various forms.  She is sometimes an old woman on the verge of death, to a skilled fighter in her 30s to 40s.  She is always there to assist and lead Zelda on the right path, and has even led Link on the right path in some games.   Sages Derived from the original Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time, the term Sage is meant for individuals with wisdom and great power.  While much of their lore is not known, it's whispered in legend that they created the Master Sword and even the Temple of Time.  Maidens are similar in line with Sages, as they are either reincarnations or descendants of Sages.  The initial sages seen in Ocarina of Time, which later sages are either descendants or reincarnations, include: Rauru - Sage of Light Saria - Forest Sage Darunia - Sage of Fire Ruto - Sage of Water Impa - Sage of Shadow Nabooru - Sage of Spirit Zelda - Leader of the Sages, and presumed Sage of Time     Homework Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Topic: Falcon and the Winter Soldier Review   New Characters   Jonathan F. "John" Walker – Captain America / US Agent – Protrayed by Wyatt Russell In the comics, at one point in time, Steve Rogers gives up the title of Captain America a number of missions that seem corrupt to Steve, including being called upon for the ‘Commission on Superhuman Activities'.  The US appointed John Walker as the new Captain America for a period of time, embodying the spirit of a more militant and conservative America, in contrast to Steve Roger who was seen as been more progressive for the time.  The stress of being Captain America however becomes too much for John Walker, which forces Steve Roger, who has been known as just ‘Captain', to take back the Captain America role.    John Walker later takes on the identity of the US Agent, donning a similar costume to Captain America, and is appointed by the US Government to various teams and mission, acting as heads of the West Coast Avengers and other teams.  He's described as a loose cannon version of Steve Rogers, but still a relatively good guys in many cases.   Similar to Captain America, he was experimented on by a character known as the Power Broker, which gave him super strength, to match his Olympic level athletic skills.  He is similar trained as Steve Rogers, and possesses similar skills and abilities.   Lemar Hoskins – Battlestar - Clé Bennett The Bucky to John Walker's Captain America.   Karli Morgenthau – Flag Smasher - Erin Kellyman In the comics, Karl Morgenthau was the son of a wealthy Banker turn Diplomat, and even dreamed of becoming a Diplomat himself, until his father was killed in a riot.  He believed that nationalism made people they were superior to others unnecessarily, and that removing nations would make everyone happier, removing the unnecessary barriers between everyone.  He was a frequent villain of Captain America.   In the MCU, this is the 9th character to be gender-swapped.  Others include The Ancient One, Mar-vell, and Morgan Stark.   Isaiah Bradley - Carl Lumbly Elijah "Eli" Bradley - Elijah Richardson In the comics, following the events of Dr. Erskine's death, the secrets of the Super Soldier formula were lost, and only within Captain America.  Still wanting the army of Super Soldiers, in the 1940s, they forcibly recruited 300 black men and began experimenting on them with a new Super Soldier formula.  Only a few men survived, and were placed on the front line in WWII.  On his last mission, after learning he was the sole survivor and meant to go on a suicide mission, Isaiah stole a Captain America Costume and shield, and then went in to battle.  Though his mission was successful, he was captured, but eventually freed by German revolutionaries.  Upon his return to America, he was imprisoned for life, and placed in solitary confinement for 17 years, prior to a presidential pardon.  After leaving prison, he led a relatively quiet life, though met with several notable Black Civil Rights members, aiding them.  His grandson, Elijah, in the comics, goes on to become Patriot, a young Captain America, after he partly inherited the flawed Super Soldier Formula.   The story is an allegory for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where black men were forcibly experimented on to develop a cure for Syphilis.     Baron Zemo – Previously of Captain America Civil War - Daniel Brühl       Sharon Carter – Evil? - Emily VanCamp In the Comics, Sharon Carter is also known as Agent 13, where she often has dubious moral leanings that can affect various parties.  While usually on the good guy side, her lack of morality that don't otherwise affect her tend to get individuals either hurt or tend to hind her on opposite sides of heroes.   Valentina Allegra de Fontaine - Julia Louis-Dreyfus In the comics, she was a SHIELD agent, who was in many cases a double or triple Spy for organizations.  She ultimately, rose to deputy director of SHIELD under Nick Fury, before falling back to be a spy once again.

Topic: Falcon & The Winter Soldier Tutorial     We begin our Discussion on the Newest Marvel Show, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which is our newest Marvel series.  Does it live up to Wanda Vision, check out next episode to find out.     Who is The Falcon?   Comic History First introduced in 1969, Samuel Wilson was rescued by Steve Rogers, Captain America, from a Caribbean island where the Red Skull had planned on experimenting on Sam.  After fighting the Red Skull, Sam would go on to continue working with Captain America.  It was during this first outing that he was given the power to telepathically communicate with Birds, especially a falcon her name Redwing, but the Red Skull and a Cosmic Cube.  It wasn't until 5 years later that he was given a pair of wings by Black Panther that allowed him to fly.   Falcon remained a loyal partner to Steve Roger, even helping train his replacements during time in which Steve stepped down as Captain America.  During this time, Falcon learned to command other birds beyond Redwing, and became capable of command multiple types of birds.  Falcon was also of the people to Steve Roger's Secret Avengers, opposing the Super-Human Registration Act, the main catalyst of the Civil War in the comics.    A major turning point in the character came in 2014, when Steve Roger has his Super Soldier serum neutralized, causing him to rapidly age to the age of 90.  Without the power of the serum, same passed on the shield and mantle of Captain America to the Falcon.  Falcon would go on to act as Captain America, utilizing the wings of Falcon and the Shield of Captain America.  His numerous adventures led to a new Avengers team, along with for a time, leaving SHIELD due to their work on a New Cosmic Cube.    SHIELD would eventually make their new Comic Cube, which took on the vestige of a young girl named Kobik.  During these eventually the original Captain America was dying, but Kobik revitalized Steve Rogers, allowing him to retake the title of Captain America.  This version of Steve Rogers however was a fascist version that was actually a sleeper agent for Hydra.  While Falcon's faith in American Government had wavered, he return the title of Captain America to Steve Rogers(Fascist), and departed the country to help elsewhere.    Upon Falcon's return, he learned that Steve Rogers(F) had taken up the mantle as the leader of Hydra.  Falcon returned to being Captain America once again, and assisted the Avengers in rebuilding the Cosmic Cube to help Kobik, who actually had the real Steve Rogers inside her.  Completing the Cube, freed Steve Rogers, and allowed him to beat the Steve Rogers(F).  Understanding that Steve Rogers could do more benefit as Captain American than he could, he returned the Mantle of Steve Roger, and returned to being just the Falcon.  Falcon, then working for a Veteran's Assistance group came across Bucky Barnes, and aided him in helping find soldiers that had gone missing.     Powers Avian Telepathy – Ability to communicate and commands birds. Master Martial Artist – After having trained with Steve Rogers, Falcon became a proficient fighter in various fighting styles and forms. Peak Human Condition – Including peak strength and endurance. Master Aerialist – As a flying hero, he is an amazing fighter in the air, some would say better than Ironman or Captain Marvel. Falcon Wings – A Set of Wakandan created Wings that give Falcon the power of flight. Captain America Shield + Uniform – Former     MCU Version The MCU version of Falcon Finds him as a former Rescue Paratrooper, who upon returning home find himself working the VA until he volunteers to help Steve Rogers during the events of Winter Soldier Movie.  He continues as an Avenger post Age of Ultron, and is the first to be on Steve Rogers side during the events of Civil War.  He is snapped out of existence at the end of Infinity War, only to return at end of Endgame.       Who is The Winter Soldier?   Comic History First introduced in 1940 as the young sidekick of Steve Rogers as Captain America, the James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was the Teenage hero working alongside Steve Rogers during World War II.  Toward the end of the war in 1945, Captain America and Bucky were on the hunt for a bad guy, then the plane they were on was plummeting in to the Atlantic Ocean.  Both men attempted to escape, but Bucky's costume was snagged on the plan upon exiting, causing the plan to crash in to the ocean and for him to be presumed dead.  Captain America attempted to save his companion, but was sent into suspended animation, being frozen in the waters of the Atlantic.   In 1946, the Soviets were attempting to find Captain America, instead found Bucky, who had survived the crash, but who had lost his left arm and put in to a similar suspended animation like this mentor.  Though at the peak of human conditioning due to working and training alongside Captain America, Bucky survived and was reprogrammed by the Soviets to become their personal Assassin, the Winter Soldier.    As the Winter Soldier, he carried out the bulk of secret, and famous, Assassinations across the world for many years.  His left arm replaced with a new cybernetic arm when ever advancements in technology would allow.  He would at one point become the teacher and trainer for a young Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, while she training.  They two developed a romantic relationship, but after a failed assassination mission, Bucky was deemed too unstable, and his mind was wiped after each mission, and placed in Suspended Animation until a mission was needed.   During an event in 2004, where the Winter Soldier was activated to steal the Red Skull's new Cosmic Cube, he met and fought with Captain America, who later learned that the Winter Soldier had been his best friend this entire time.  Using the power of the newly created Cosmic Cube, Captain America restored Bucky's memories, but the sudden rush of emotions and remorse over the life he had led caused Bucky to destroy the newly created Cosmic Cube, transporting him elsewhere in the process.    For the next few years, Bucky began hunting his captors, eliminating them and becoming a SHIELD secret agent for Nick Fury.  Following the Events of Civil War, Bucky blamed Tony Stark and Red Skull for killing Steve Rogers.  Bucky would eventually confront both men, but lost to the Red Skull.  And when confronting Tony Stark, Stark passed along Steve Roger's final wish for Bucky, that he save Bucky from his decent to violence and madness.  Tony Stark believing the best way to do this, was for Bucky to become the New Captain America. Bucky accepted, but wanted the mental implants removed, and that he answered to no one, not SHIELD or Tony Stark.   For the next few years, Bucky acted as Captain America, eventually winning over the Avengers and the US Government, on his way to reforming his life; he even rekindled his romance with Black Widow.  Even when Steve Rogers was revived and was capable of taking back the mantle of Captain America, he continued to let Bucky carry on the title, believing that he was the better individual to carry on that legacy, and that the world didn't need Two Captain Americas.    During the Fear Itself event, a villain powered by a similar Hammer to Thor's beat Bucky to within an inch of his life during an attack on Washington DC, saved by a Nick Fury and his ‘Infinity Formula'.  Steve Rogers took back up the mantle of Captain America after his friend seemingly thought dead, with Bucky believing it was better that he return to his Winter Soldier title instead.  Winter Soldier would continue to work behind the scene of super heroics, though seemingly out of the picture for a majority of the major events.    Bucky was a part of the team that went in to a Villains prison, in order to rescue the newly created Cosmic Cube, Kobik, and was seemingly there when Steve Rogers (F), was revived.  Years later, upon learning that the revived Steve Rogers was actually a Fascist version, he worked along side the Avengers to find the real Steve Rogers.  After helping complete the cube, he shrunk down in size with Ant Man and rescued the real Steve Rogers from the cube.     Powers Master Martial Artist – After having trained with Steve Rogers, Falcon became a proficient fighter in various fighting styles and forms. Peak Human Condition – Including peak strength and endurance. Infinity Formula – a diluted version of the Elixir of Life, it slows down the aging process and seemingly give the user peak physical conditions.  However, unlike Steve Roger's Super Soldier Serum, this Formula must be taken regularly once a year in order to stay in peak condition.  Prior to receiving it, Bucky had already been at Peak Human Condition, which only added to his skills. Cybernetic Arm – Replacing his missing left arm that was lost during World War II, his arm is improved with new technology over the years.     MCU Version The MCU Version follows very similar to Comics, aging up Bucky to be a similar age to Steve Rogers during World War II.  Bucky, unlike his Comics version, did receive an experimental version of the Super Soldier Serum, turning him into a Super Soldier in the process, though seemingly not to the point that it was noticeable by others.  Rather than being lost in the Ocean similar to Steve Rogers, he was instead lost over a ravine, only to be rescued by Hydra and turned in to the Winter Soldier.  Following the event of the Winter Soldier, Bucky left Hydra and began seeking out who he was, only to be blamed for an attack on Wakanda leader, King T'Chaka.  During the events of Civil War, Steve Roger protected Bucky, as he realized Bucky wasn't the enemy, only doing the bidding of programming by Hydra agents.  Bucky lost his initial cybernetic arm, but was rescued by Steve Rogers, who escaped to Wakanda with the help of the Black Panther.  While in Wakanda, he was deprogrammed and the mental implants were removed.  During the events of Infinity War, he aided Steve Rogers and other heroes in protecting Vision while the Mind Stone was being removed, receiving a new Vibranium Arm to replace his lost cybernetic arm.  He was snapped Away by Thanos, just like the Falcon, but returned during the Events of Endgame.     Cosmic Cube Cosmic Cubes are cube objects that allow for reality manipulation, control over matter and energy, and basically answers to the sentient being owning them, often being considered omni-wish granting devices.  Their creation is generally a well guarded secret and very difficult, but by opening up a portal to a universe inhabited by ‘Beyonders', you can suck out some of the energy in that universe and contain it in a cube.    The Cosmic Cube typically get created and wielded by individuals without any spectacular super powers, like the Red Skull.  They're a common source of conflict within Captain America stories, as they're the common focus and creation by those seeking more power.  While on a similar level to Infinity Stones, they're not nearly as powerful and omnipotent, as they can't effect time or the soul.    In the MCU, the Tesseract was considered a Cosmic Cube, before it was determined that it was the Space Stone in hiding.      Where are we at in the Marvel Timeline? Prior to the Events of Endgame, half of all life in the universe was snapped away, both Sam and Bucky included.  While Endgame only shows a tiny bit of the life returning to normal, Bucky went on to work with the US Government as a deep cover agent, working to root out Hydra agents, and trying to make amends for the damage he did.  Falcon continued working alongside the Military, continuing his work as an Avenger.    As a part of re-intergrating those lost by the Snap, and returned during the Blip, the Global Repatriation Council was created to aid those returning from the Blip.  As a part of their work, they reinstated country boundaries and aimed to return those snapped away back to their old lives.  However, any refugees from other countries ended up buying or moving in to new homes and places left behind by those who were Snapped away, and upon the return of original owners, many of those refugees were forcibly removed by the owner or local governments from their new homes, and placed into resettlement camps.  Many in these camps resent the GRC, as they are poor infrastructure and lack of supplies necessary for those that were displaced.  As of recent the GRC, in an effort to return to the world of 5 years prior to the snap, has begun implementing deportation for refugees to their original countries of origin, which has only increased anger and tensions of the Refugees.  

A Nerdy Move   It's out with the old, and in with the new place.  I spent probably 2 months looking for the right place, and I found a pretty good one, and so after setting up the place, Mom and Me talk about moving and the trials and tribulations regarding it.   Before Moving: Take pictures of your collections If you have a display or set up you like already, taking a picture of it will ensure you can return to that display sometime in the future. Pictures can also help keep track of what things you might be missing later on.   Boxing Collectables Bubble wrap is your friend. Try to keep stuff together of similar genre/display. If you have small parts, box them up and keep them with your other items. If you have pieces with parts that can fall off in a move, make sure package them up with all the parts taken off. Tupperware can be your friend for keeping small parts together and organized.   Boxing DVDs & Books Consider your collection and pack according to your groups Consider if you have duplicate or stuff you no longer enjoy that you might want to get rid of Books are heavy, so don't put them into big boxes, smaller boxes are your friends on this one   Boxing Costumes/Props If you're costumes can fit in a Space Saver Bag, it might be an easier way to travel with yours stuff. Box your props comfortably in boxes. Weapons and sword are best left in boxes. If you have the original packaging, all the better.   Getting rid of stuff Consider where you're moving, and if you have stuff you no longer enjoy/use. If you have things in your closet you never use or show off, consider getting rid of them.  Craig's List, Facebook Market, and eBay can be your friends.   Consider Personal Transportation If you're using a moving company or traveling far, if you have things that are awkward or unusually sized, or considered too valuable, put them in your own vehicle. If you can't afford to pack your personal vehicle, make sure each item get boxed by you to ensure its safety.   Consider Blue Painter's Tape Because it's intended to be a very temporary solution to problems, I found it invaluable when wrapping stuff and keeping it organized, especially as I could write on it.     The Move: Take careful account of your items and where you put them If you have movers coming to get your stuff, make sure you track where stuff is being put and where stuff is at the end of the day. If you're doing your own move, make sure you label stuff well. Nothing sucks more than missing a vital part of your home and then not finding it for a few days.   If you are moving close If you're move is close, and you have the ability to move some stuff over early, DO IT. This can be very valuable for props and other collectables that you want to keep from getting damaged in a move.   Plan for where you are moving to If you're moving closer to the ocean or more inland, consider the climate you're moving to and how it might affect your collectables. Some things may not react will to be chilled in the winter, or baked in the summer. If it's a long move, presume you won't have access to your stuff for a while. Pack spare clothes, expect most of your entertainment to come from podcasts or other media.     Unboxing: Get stuff in place Decide where furniture is going to go first. Once you start putting stuff on bookshelves or desks, those items aren't moving any time soon. Make sure you know what each box contains so you can decide where you want to start first.   Have a spare table/work space As you're unboxing, you may need to rest stuff on to other places temporarily. Get a folding table, or some temporary table to prop stuff on to, so you can organize it before you put it up.   Have a System for Boxes/waste Having a system for all your boxes and where you'll put them/collapse them is important Having set locations for where garbage and stuff Know where your garbage bins are. Cut handles in to your boxes, it will honestly help a bunch     My Hardware store runs: PVC piping to hang the puppets ‘S' hooks to hang bags/backpacks New Shower Head Floating Shelf Picture hanging hooks Cleaning Supplies

Topic: Godzilla vs. Kong Review   This week, we return once again to review the colossal thrown down, the greatest ironman match, the titan clashing against each other, the… greatest fight ever?  Godzilla vs Kong was a fun romp, not as good as Kong on Skull Island, but I think it's still a great movie none the less.  Come find out what we thought!    

Topic: King Kong     The move is over, and we’re back with new episodes.  And we pick ourselves back up with one of our more recent topic, on our way to their epic faceoff, we’re studying King Kong, The Eighth Wonder of the World.  Unlike his nemesis, Godzilla, King Kong has a far smaller collection of movies by comparison, but his impact on American pop culture and history and certainly been around in America just as long as his Japanese Counter Part.  And as we await their epic battle, we learn a bit about the massive ape, and study his movies to see what we can gleam off the future encounter.     Creation Created by Merian C. Cooper for his title movie, King Kong (1933), young Cooper was fascinated with primates.  Upon growing older, he eventually started working in the motion picture industry and after production finished on The Four Feathers(1929), he started thinking his next picture would be something to do with Primates.   A year later, he found himself at RKO, a major movie studio, and Cooper began development on what would be King Kong, deciding that his primate would be giant sized.  He had actually decided the ending of the film first, liking the idea of his giant primate fighting war planes atop of the New York Insurance Building.  Famously, Cooper liked the idea of pitting a giant primate against a dinosaur, but decided to focus on one main character instead.   The name for King Kong took some development however.  Cooper originally like names that started with a K, but found himself having a difficult time coming something that sounded mysterious and catchy.  In original scripts, the title monster was only referred to as ‘The Beast’, but the studio did not like the generic name.  Eventually, after notes from the studio, Cooper landed on the name ‘Kong’, but in worried it would sound like a docudrama instead, like other one word films at the time.  He added ‘King’ to differentiate it, thus became King Kong.     Fictional History King Kong is a massive Monster Primate, who originates from ‘Skull Island’, a mysterious island that King Kong lives with other prehistoric mammals and creatures.  The island is thus named due to the skull shaped mountain that lies at the center of the island.  The island is also home to the ancestors of a once highly civilized nation that previously built a wall to keep in the monsters on the island.  Though the name was never used in the original 1933 film, the name was featured in the novelization that came out two months prior to the movie, and has since stuck.   Though described as prehistoric Ape, King Kong has a number of human like qualities, notably, his ability to walk upright in an anthropomorphic manner.  He is described as being upwards of 40-50 feet tall, he was later rescaled to be 18-25 feet tall in the original 1933 film.  In most initial western versions, King Kong is roughly 25 feet tall, however in later Japanese versions, he was scaled in size to be similar to Godzilla.  Most recently, in the 2017 film, he was 104 feet tall, and finally 337 feet tall to fight against Godzilla in 2021.   In most early versions of the character, King Kong is a villain, however, in more recent films, he’s given a sympathetic story, and is even the hero in some of these movies.      History While a major film icon in the west, the character’s intellectual property owners have been split between various parties through history, making the character a difficult character to track.  Initially, the rights were thought to belong with Cooper, but in 1962, when the character was licensed to Toho to make King Kong vs Godzilla (1962), Cooper sued RKO.  Even though there was quite a number of evidence in Cooper’s favor, some key documents were lost between his time in the military and his return home, which the courts found that RKO owned the character.   Eventually, concern over the rights would come up again in 1975 when Universal Studios were trying to make a King Kong Film.  Eventually Universal Studios went to court, arguing that the King Kong novelization and serialization were now in the public domain, but that Universal couldn’t infringe on the original 1933 film.  A later ruling affirmed that the Cooper estate has owned the rights to King Kong’s name, story, and character, which were later sold to universal in 1976.      The character himself has appeared in less than a dozen films over the last 88 years.    King Kong & Son Of Kong (1933) The initial films released by RKO, with the success of the initial King Kong movie, a subsequent film was released later in the year.   King Kong vs Godzilla (1962) After the success of Godzilla in Japan, they looked to make further movies in the franchise.  This moving being the 3rd movie in the Godzilla franchise, it was also the first time either character was portrayed in a color film, showing what they would look like in color.  This King Kong was different from its original western counter part, which included: Coming from Faro island instead of Skull Island Being able to absorb electricity Being same relative size as Godzilla, (100 feet) The film is famous for having to two creatures attacking different parts of Japan, before getting together on the summit of Mount Fuji and fighting each other.  In the end, both tumble in to the ocean, with only King Kong rising up from the depths and swimming back to Faro Island.   King Kong Escapes (1967) In another first, predating Mecha-Godzilla, this 1967 film offered a Mecha-King Kong, a similar mechanical version of the title character.  The film sees a mechanical King Kong digging for a mysterious element, but the robot goes haywire, which results in our heroes capturing King Kong and taking him to Mecha-King Kong to finish each other off.  They eventually can’t do it, and instead somehow get to Tokyo from the North Pole, and recreate the famous ending of the 1933 film, this time using the Tokyo Tower instead.  After defeating Mecha-King Kong, King Kong swims back to his island, never to be heard again.  This is also the version time King Kong seems to have a handler so sorts, as there is a woman who has the ability to control King Kong.    King Kong (1976) A modern remake of the original 1933 film.  This film was what started the law suits with Universal Pictures, as Paramount Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis were attempting to remake the original film, and bought the rights from RKO-General.  The film is a largely faithful remake, but take places in 1976 instead of the original 1933 time frame.   King Kong Lives (1986) A sequel to the 1976 film, King Kong had been alive the entire time, but is currently dying.  In order to save him, they need to transfuse blood from a similar creature, which is where introduce a ‘Lady Kong’, and another similarly sized King Kong primate who helps save King Kong. The film sees King Kong die after the events to save Lady Kong, but Lady Kong gives birth to their son, and returns to Borneo to live peacefully with their son. King Kong (2005) This is the Peter Jackson film that took 3 hour to watch.  A retelling of the 1933 film from a 1933 perspective, it focuses on a film maker, who hires a crew to get footage of the amazing creature, before bringing it back to New York.  The film was well received and earned top marks for its special effects and acting. It was also the first live action film in nearly 20 years.   Kong: Skull Island (2017) As a part of Legendary’s MonsterVerse, which focuses on King Kong and Godzilla movies created in the west.  The movie take places in the same world as Legendary’s other 2014 and 2019 Godzilla movies.  The film follows Monarch, as it searches to map out the various ‘Titan’ monsters around the world.  The Film does a good job of introducing other monsters and setting up the world, and stars Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson.  The movie also teases Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, which was the next major movie to come out.   Godzilla vs Kong (2021) The newest feature, which is a sequel to the 2017 film and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.       King Kong in Pop Culture There have been multiple illusions to King Kong in various media over the last 88 years, ranging from parodies and humorous references, to near duplication.  Famously, scenes have been reference and re-used in various cartoons, such as the Simpsons, Futurama, The Muppets, and more.  Other movies have references scenes from King Kong as well, including the Nutty Professor, Lego Batman: The Movie, and even Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs were based off the films.    Donkey Kong Franchise The 1981 Nintendo franchise about hero trying to save his girl friend from the title character.  The fact that you travel up buildings that and face off against a large ape were clear illusions, as Nintendo wanted to make a King Kong game.  The character himself would continue on as something much different as the 90s moved on, moving in to a hero role, and being re-imagined as a primate family that fought to save their island.  He was named Donkey Kong, to mean ‘Stubborn Gorilla’.   Rampage Franchise An 1986 arcade classic sees three Kaiju sized monsters destroying a city.  These monsters include a Godzilla/Ymir analog in Lizzie, a giant werewolf in Ralph, and a King Kong like gorilla names George.  The series has several remakes over the years, usually coinciding with new video game hardware and platforms at they came out.  It was adapted in to a film in 2018, which include the Rock leads a rare Albino-Western-Lowland Gorilla that knows sign language, and eventually grows to city-toppling proportions.     Homework: Kong: Skull Island (2017): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULoar_y7H4 Godzilla vs Kong (2021): Available on HBO Max and in Theaters

Topic: Movies and Franchises about the Future   This week, we’re looking at a collection of media about the future that either has yet to happen or never happened in our lifetimes.  In a lot of this, we really talked about what we all thought the future would be, and how quickly we thought it would happen.  Would you agree that the progress of the future is slowing down, or would you say we were just too unrealistic with the future?     Futures that Should have Happened:   Star Trek Tells of a war between 1992 to 1996 about the Eugenic War; a war where genetically altered humans attempted to take over humanity, causing nearly 37 Millions deaths. This is the same Eugenics Wars as Kahn Noonien Singh.  2053 - World War 3 ends after a nuclear exchange 2063 - We develop the First Major warp ship, which gets the attentions of the Vulcans and begins the early foundations of the federation and exploration. 2103 - Mars is colonized.   Thundarr the Barbarian 1994 – Premise tells of a runaway planet that drifts between the Earth and Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction and radically changing the Earth’s climate and geography   A Clockwork Orange 1995 – A future Britain is laden in crime, and a new technique that reforms prisoners with aversion therapy.   V for Vendetta 1995 - 1996 – In the Comic Version: Series of events highlight how a nuclear war year in the 1980 that leaves much of Africa and Europe devastated. While Britain is not bombed itself, it feels the effects and the corporations and fascist groups take over the country, leading to the series of events. 2025 – 2026 – In the Film Version: As a result of the United State’s Second Civil War, a worldwide disease began to spread. Britain is taken over by a neo-fascist, police state government which rounds up undesirable individuals, including political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and others to be imprisoned and executed.   Terminator 2: Judgment Day 1997 – Tells that an AI will take over all computers and cause a war, leading to the near end of humanity.   Escape from New York 1997 – Humanity’s crime rose by 400% in 1988, and forced Manhattan island to be turned into a massive   Lost in Space 1997 - Jupiter 2 was said to launch due to overpopulation of the world.   Demolition man 1996 – Cryogenic freezing of Criminals is established 2010 – A great Earthquake merged parts of Northern and Southern California 2032 - San Angeles, a merging of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara is a major megalopolis, and a utopia for the setting.   Knight Rider 2000 2000 – Predicts a future with Sonic Pistols, and talking Cars   2001: A Space Odyssey 2000 – Space travel itself is common place, with advanced AIs that help manage all the functions of these ships and people.   Mega Man Franchise 200X to 20XX – Stories tell of a Robotic evolution and development that replaces a lot of common jobs and functions with robots, leading to a peaceful future. Mega Man battles with Dr Wily and his rogue Robots, which are often reprogrammed from their original function order and turned to terrorism. 21XX – Later version of the game sees X, the successor to Mega Man, being used to create the first series of Reploids(Replicated Androids) that have human feelings and personalities. X fights against Mavericks Reploids, Reploids who have turned to crime or been infected with a virus, in order to protect humanity.    Time Cop 2004 – Time Travel exists as a means of stopping Crime.   Transformers: The Movie 2005 – The Autobots, giant transforming robots that turn into various vehicles and devices, have helped advanced human’s technology to the point of being similar to the Autobots.   Bicentennial Man 2005-2020 – Androids have become sophisticated butlers and house hold tools.   Freejack 2009 – The super wealthy have figured out immortality, by traveling back in time to just before a person dies and using their bodies as substitutes. This is due to most of the population being on drugs and poor environment.   I Am Legend 2009 – 2012 - The film predicted an outbreak of a re-engineered measles virus in 2009 that kills 94% of the populace and mutates 5% into zombie-like "Darkseekers"   2012 2012 – Predicts that a solar flares from the sun will cause rising sea levels and rampant tsunami around the world, leading to various governments building Arks to protect up to 100,000 of humanity.   The Postman 2013 – Tells of a future after an unspecified apocalyptic events in 1997 that started a trend of militias leading hate crimes and other racially motivated attacks. 2043 – Due to the actions of the postman and the movement he started, the United States is rebuilt and much better afterwards   Back to the Future 2 2015 – Film travels to the future, where Marty must stop his son from ruining his life. It predicts lots of various technology, most notably, Flying Cars.   Neon Genesis Evangelion 2000 – A worldwide event known as ‘Second Impact’ sees a meteor crash into Antarctica and devastates the populous, killing 2 billion people and raising the sea level 2015 – Majority of the story takes place, telling of a futuristic city of Tokyo 3 which has 26 story tall robots called Evangelions that protect humanity from the alien Angels sent to wipe out humanity.   Rollerball 2018 – In a future where corporations have taken over the government, a new sport, Rollerball is now the most popular Sport, with people being forced to watch it at home.   Blade Runner 2019 – Interstellar travel has been developed and becoming common place, with synthetic humans employed as labor.   The Running Man 2017 - The United States has become a totalitarian police state following a worldwide economic collapse. The government pacifies the populace through The Running Man, a broadcast game show, where criminals fight for their lives as "runners", fleeing from armed mercenaries named the "stalkers", to earn a state pardon.   Akira 1982 (1992 in English Adaptation) – Sees Tokyo destroyed by a nuclear bomb, starting World War 3 2019 (2030 in English Adaptation) – Tokyo is rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo on the artificial island in Tokyo Bay. Although the home of the 32nd Olympic games, the city is gripped with Anti-Government protestors and gang violence.   Pacific Rim 2013 – Kaiju monsters start appearing from the ocean and destroying humanity. 2020 – Humanity has developed giant Robots piloted by 2 individuals in order to combat the Kaiju.   Edge of Tomorrow 2015 – An asteroid falls in Germany, carrying aliens that quickly take over Europe. 2020 – A small victory gives humanity hope an invasion of France is planned to retake the earth. It’s discovered that the aliens use a system similar to ‘Goundhogs Day’ to return their memories to their past selves and alter events so that they go in their favor.   Johnny Mnemonic 2021 - "Mnemonic couriers" carry sensitive information in their brains; the world is dominated by megacorporations.   Futures potentially to be   Soylent Green 2022 - The effects of overpopulation, pollution, and climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing. Soylent Industries controls the world's food supply, with their latest product, Soylent Green being various health and full of protein.   Repo Men 2025 – Advancements in prosthetics develop bio-organs, allowing the replacement of various internal organs. They are sold by ‘The Union’, a corporation that sends out ‘Repo Men’ to repossess these bio-organs from people who are unable or unwilling to pay for them.     Children of Men 2027 – Humanity hasn’t had any children in 18 years, leading to various wars and global depression, which puts humanity on the brink of extinction. This has led Britain, one of the few remaining governments to become a police state, but also a haven for refugees.   Hotel Artemis 2028 – Water Privatization causes riots in Los Angeles, which leads to bank robbers getting injured and running to Hotel Artemis, a hospital/hotel for criminals. There are robots doing surgery and also 3d printed transplant organs.   Ghost in the Shell 2029 – By this time, cyberization is common place, and humans have their brains protected with ‘Cyber Brains’ which allow interfacing with electronics and other tools. There are fully cyberized people who are entirely artificial, save for their brains incased in ‘Cyber Brains’.    I, Robot 2035 – Humanity has developed humanoid robots within the last 10 years that have taken over various jobs throughout the world. The newest model and AI to run it run rampant as a result of the AI believing it is in the best interest of Humanity if robots ruled over humans in order to keep them from killing themselves.   The Martian 2035 – Manned missions to Mars is in their 3rd wave, with humans living on Mars for roughly 36 days at a time, exploring and beginning the work of future colonization. Mark Watney is left behind after an emergency exit from the planet following a storm, and is forced to live on Mars for over a year on his own.   Moon 2035 – The moon is being mined for a rare mineral that is needed for new super conductor electronics on Earth. It’s ran by a singular clone and an advanced AI.   Meet the Robinsons 2037 – Major advancements in technology allow nearly anything to be real. This includes flying vehicles, talking frogs, advances robotics and AI, and so much more.   Ready Player One 2045 – The world is plagued by an energy crisis and global warming, leading to economic collapse and widespread social problems. The only release/haven for escapism is the OASIS, a MMORPG/Social Community online that actually have the most stable economy in the world at the moment.   Event Horizon 2047 – Space travel is normalized and not unusual, with the main Ship, the Event Horizon, testing a radical new engine designed to travel through time-space rifts, and it brings back something it didn’t intend on bringing back.   Minority Report 2054 – Pre-cognition humans exist and are used to tell the events of future murders, which allows Pre-cog Police to arrest people before murders can take place.   Interstellar 2063 – Humanity’s crops and food supply is devastated, with people growing corn and major dust bowls coming to cause havoc on a daily basis. Children are taught that space travel doesn’t even exist, in an effort to focus on survival instead of exploration.  Humanity/NASA sends one last manned mission in space to find a suitable new home for humans.   Oblivion 2077 – Humanity was invaded by Aliens 60 years ago, and as a result of the human using nuclear weapons to defeat the aliens, the few humans living on Earth are there maintaining drones that harvest the sea water for fuel sources. Remaining humans now live on other planet, with the fuel being used to power their ships.    Total Recall 2084 – Mars has been colonized and humans have the ability to take vacations via implanted memories of having adventures/vacations via a place called ‘ReKall’.   The Jetsons 2100s – A future where flying cars, apartments/homes in the sky exist, and humanity lives in almost pure luxury in the sky.   AI 2101 – Advanced robotics and AI end up creating androids that feel and fall in love. One such example is an android child, that can replace a child in the home, giving the experiences of being a parent.  It can actually Fall in Love with a person, or atleast simulate it.   WALL-E 2105 - Humanity was devastated by over population/consumption, with too much trash. This forced humans to leave the planet on cruise, vessels, while robots were meant to clean up the planet afterwards.  Humans never returned as the company ‘Buy n’ Large’ terminated the program to clean Earth as it felt it couldn’t sustain any life on the planet. 2805 – Humanity begins its return to Earth as life is discovered back on Earth, hoping to make it hospitable again.   Alien 2122 - Space transportation is typical and the crew of the Nostromo discover a distress beacon that leads to a horrifying end.   The Black hole 2130 – Space travel is typical, with a crew returning to Earth, only to find a lone ship near a Black Hole, who is somehow immune to its gravitational constant.   Judge Dredd 2139 – Humanity has been forced in to Mega-Cities as much of the world has become a wasteland. Humanity lives in these cities and are protected by the ‘Judges’, who act as both Police, Judges, Juries, and Executioners of the law.   The Matrix 2199 – Humanity created robots, and the robots, being advanced AI, develop sentience causing a revolt with humans. Because the robots are powered by solar energy, Humans blot out the sun with dangerous black clouds.  The robots, eventually enslave humanity, forcing them to be born like crops and using them as batteries for their own powers, all while humanity is tucked away in a virtual landscape known as the Matrix.   Fifth Element 2263 – In a future with interstellar travel is typical, humanity had degraded to large high rise cities, with flying cars, and even genetic recreation of humans in a matter of minutes, potentially bring people back from the dead or from serious wounds.   Zardoz 2293 - Following a nanite plague that left most of the world uninhabitable, the human population is divided into the immortal "Eternals" and mortal "Brutals." The Brutals live in an irradiated wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in "the Vortex," leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country estate. The connection between the two groups is through Brutal Exterminators, who kill and terrorize other "Brutals" at the orders of a huge flying stone head called Zardoz, which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect.   Logan’s Run 2274 - The remnants of human civilization live in geodesic domes, a utopia run by a computer that takes care of all aspects of life, including reproduction. The citizens live a hedonistic lifestyle but, to prevent overpopulation, everyone must undergo the rite of "Carrousel" when they reach the age of 30. There, they are killed under the guise of being "renewed”. To track this, each person is implanted at birth with a "life-clock" crystal in the palm of the hand that changes color as they get older and begins blinking as they approach their "Last Day.” Most residents accept this chance for rebirth, but those who do not and attempt to flee the city are known as "Runners”. An elite team of policemen known as "Sandmen”, outfitted in predominantly black uniforms and serving in an agency of the city called "Deep Sleep”, are assigned to pursue and terminate Runners as they try to escape.   Starship Troopers 23 Century – Humanity has colonized various planets in the solar system, and developed interstellar travel. However, they meet a race of non-technological aliens, later called the Arachnids, or ‘Bugs’, which humanity presumably provokes and causes an all out interstellar war.  The Bugs are led by super intelligent bugs that eat human brains to gain further intelligence.   Idiocracy 2505 – Over the course of many years, intelligent people chose not to have children, worrying about over population, while less intelligent people continue to reproduce indiscriminately, leading to a dumber and dumber society that over relied on corporations and automation. As a result, laws and rules in place have no human oversight, and most humans are blindly ignorant of how the world actual works, with most automation being place to basically keep humans alive.   Planet of the Apes 2015 – A drug that repairs and enhances neural links in the brain is tested on chimps, with one young chimp Ceasar developing with humans and gaining insights and human knowledge. The development leads to a new drug that makes Chimps and other primates smarter, but causes a world wide pandemic.  2025 – Only 1 in 500 are immune to the pandemic, but in San Francisco, the Chimps lead by Ceasar rule over the forests and cities, with humans trying to reestablish their civilization has it’s been taken over by intelligent primates. 3978 – Human astronauts from 1972 find themselves warped to the future and discover that Primates have evolved similar to humans, and now rule over the planet.     Movies with no Set Times   Mad Max     Gattaca Eugenics is common and widely used, with those human not genetically altered limited from certain careers and opportunities, acting as second class citizens, forcing them to menial labor. Biometrics can quickly determine if someone has been genetically altered and what qualities of the alterations they have.   Mortal Engines Following a war using an impossible destructive weapon, mobile cities have been developed that travel across the world, eating up other cities that help fuel their existence and survival, with technology of the past being relegated to history.   Source/reference assistance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stories_set_in_a_future_now_past  

Topic: Robots Review   So Mom and me are back talking about robots, and all the strange tangents we can come up with.  Admittingly, this is more of rant podcast as we take LOTs of tangents in this episode, so while not entirely robot driven, it certainly was a fun diversion in to some other topics.     Big Hero 6 (2014) Scott Adsit - Baymax Ryan Potter - Hiro Daniel Henney - Tadashi T.J. Miller - Fred Jamie Chung - Go Go Damon Wayans Jr. - Wasabi Genesis Rodriguez - Honey Lemon James Cromwell - Robert Callaghan     Bicentennial Man (1999) Robin Williams - Andrew Embeth Davidtz - Little Miss / Portia Sam Neill - Sir Oliver Platt - Rupert Burns Kiersten Warren - Galatea Wendy Crewson - Ma'am     Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics" A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.  

Topic: Robots   We Love them, Crave them, and occasionally, Fear them.  The week, we dive in to the topic of Robots, both what they mean to us in Fiction, but also in real life, and perhaps where does the fact and fiction blend together or doesn’t?  Robots are really cool though.     How Define a Robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer— capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically.  Typically, Robots can appear human in nature, but come in many shapes and forms.  We almost always see them as tools, rarely as individuals and almost never as people.   In our real world, they’re basically machines that do specialized mechanical tasks, as opposed to calculations or executables like a computer; but we expect these machines to be piloted by a computer, or atleast act based off one, but can also be piloted/controlled by humans directly.     Robots in Real Life In our modern world, we adore and want Robots.  The ideal for modern society is to have Robots do all the hard and difficult physical tasks for us, while we do either less, or nothing at all.  It’s a dream world, as I’m certain we’ll still very much be a part of interacting and being a part of the world, but it will take some time to get even close to it.   As it is now, our common modern days Robots can be found in a number of places: Our Home – Rombas and other vacuum robots Hospitals – there are some robotic surgery machines Food Service – There are some robots that actually make your good, while others clean dishes Farming – There are some robots and automation in the Farming Sector Warehouse and Factories – For years, we’ve been simplify tasks for robots to do for us that would otherwise be too dangerous, to difficult, or too slow for a human to do.  But in a number of our warehouses, it’s robots that managing the inventory, stacking and putting it away as necessary. Military – Various Drones and bomb disposal robots exist to aid the military and keep humans out of harm’s way.     Uncanny Valley The Idea of the Uncanny Valley is this notion that as things, particularly robots, are particularly less human, we tend to like them a lot more, but as time goes on, and the Robots become more human in quality and nature, we tend to like them a lot less, to the point of down right hating them.  But as time continues, and robots get more sophisticated and advanced, our like for them begins to rise once again.  The low point, when humans actually start dislike and are disgusted by the robot is like a valley, and thus where the term comes from.    The notion as to why we like them when they aren’t that human, is that their human like qualities stand out much easier, and we tend to imprint ourselves on to the robots, allowing us to empathize with them.  It’s why R2D2 is one of the most popular Robots in fiction, despite having very little human characteristics in form and shape.  This is why Robots tend to look simple in nature in cartoons, and early robots aren’t too human on any particular level.   Conversely, when we try to make human like robots, we tend to dislike them, and are even hateful of them.  The reason for this is that when we get to more human looking robots, as humans, we’re able to see the difference and able to notice when something isn’t quite right.  It could be the way they move, the texture of their skin, their little gestures, and potentially even their eyes.  It looks off and we can’t put our finger on it.  When it’s less human looking, we’re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, even see its positives more than its negatives.  Its why I think some models and actors look too good, and it’s off setting to me, like they look too good.   Eventually, as the robots get more life-like and sophisticated, the elements that once made us hate the robots begins to disappear, as the boundary begin to disappear and the human qualities are like our own.    This Uncanny Valley is also seen in a lot of early Computer Generated Graphics and Video Games, as the graphics attempted to catch up with technology, they got to a period where they didn’t look quite right, and even when they look good, they still don’t feel right, and don’t quite look like they belong.  Compositing, along with the artists making said graphics, have gotten a lot better over time, so that in some cases, it’s hard to tell what’s read and what’s not.     Robots in Fiction Robots in fiction come in lot of different stories, but typically always come in one of a few flavors.  They’re almost always in Science Fiction, though they can appear in other fantasy settings, though usually portrayed as a Golem or some sort of fictional machine.  Typically, Robots get broken down in story to a hand full of different stories, usually based on how human to how robotic they are:   Robots, but fundamentally human – These are robots that can have an advanced AI that lets them think and feel, even learn and come to love/empathize. They have almost all the characteristics of a human, save that they are a robot at the end of the day.  Top Tier AIs – These are robots that have super sophisticated AI, but aren’t exactly human, or still have cold/logical thinking. They’re often portrayed as not being human, and thus are subservient to humans, rarely showing true emotion, or emotions they shouldn’t have been able to develop.  A mix of Human and Machine – they are robots that can display some human qualities, but are typically only mimicking the natures of Humans for the sake of humans. They still think cold and logically, but can process the world around them to some extent.  They tend to lack more human qualities, save for what the writer wants to imbue the character with.  Total Robot – Pure robots at the end of the day, without an ounce of humanity built in to them. These robots tend to be villains, like Hal9000 from a Space Odyssey .  While not always evil, they are typically the antagonist.    Famous Robots: R2D2 (Star Wars) Bender (Futurama) Bishop (Aliens) Johnny 5 (Short Circuit) The Terminator (Terminator) HAL 9000 (2001 A Space Odyssey) Optimus Prime (Transformers) B-9 (Lost in Space) Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet) Rosie (The Jetsons) Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still) WALL-E (WALL-E) Sonny (I, Robot) Vision (Marvel Comics) Baymax (Big Hero 6) Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)   Pitfalls and Triumphs of Robots Robot AI vs Sentience – At what point are Robots truly sentient beings, and at what point are they robots? It’s a question that gets asked a lot of Robots.  Most popularly in Ghost in the Shell, an anime franchise that asks if you’re a fully cyber person, are you actually a human, or were you ever actually a human to begin with?  Robot Racism – Typically, there is a disgust for Robots, not being seen as humans and merely as tools, but because of their human qualities and potential characteristics, they can be conflated for actual humans, and thus you get to an issue of ‘Coding’. Coding is the notion that you’ll graft on qualities of humans or society on to something else, whether intentional or not.  Thus you can look at something and see that it’s coding for something else, because it helps either ground your world or paints a picture for you quickly.  In the case of robots, Robots aren’t human, as where humans are, so when people are racists against robots, it’s because they’re lacking certain human characteristics, which tells us that the writer or directors believe that these are qualities that make up what humans are.  Thus when you look for allegories in modern society, you can code that behavior, or lack of it, on to another person/race/people.       Homework: Big Hero 6 Bicentennial Man Lego Robot  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BXHZCBW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1  

Wanda Vision review   So, there’s this show about a magical woman and he robot husband… and it take place in 1950s… no wait 1960s…. or was it the 90s?  This was a very strange series to watch, but one that was very much a desired fleshing out for the Scarlet Witch, and also for Vision.  And we both has a blast watching it.       Spoilers – This show will spoil elements and Episodes of Wanda Vision, so you have been warned.     Wanda Maximoff – Elizabeth Olsen An avenger who was previously altered by the Mind Stone, increasing her latent magical powers.  Officially now known as the Scarlet Witch, a moniker for the type of witch that can use chaos magic.  Wanda is initially not entirely aware that she created this reality, but has slowly figured out that she has.  She depart at the end of the series, but it rumored to return during Dr. Strange’s next movie, possibly as a villain.  It is revealed that the reason her altered reality mimics sitcoms is because she loved them as a child, watching them with her family.  The character’s growth however has been mostly resolved around her repeated losses of a family, either her parents, Pietro, Vision, and now her altered reality family.   Vision – Paul Bettany An android and former Avenger.  He is fact not the actual Vision, but a creation of Wanda’s magic within her reality.  A later nod to the white Vision, or ‘The Vision’, later appears and they duke it out, but in the aftermath, the second vision disappears and is unknown where he is.  Paul Bettany sited his performance was based off Dick Van Dyke and Hugh Laurie.   Billy and Tommy Maximoff – Julian hilliard & Jett Klyne Manifestations of Wanda’s imagination and powers within the ‘Hex’.  They twins are similar representations as first seen in the comic when they were made up of both Wanda’s magic and the Marvel Satan/Devil: Mephisto.  Similar to their comic origins, both boys have the powers of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, mimicking their comic book origins.  In the comics, both boys come back at Wiccan and Speed, whose souls are the same Billy and Tommy, and though not brothers, share a familiar bond.  Both children’s soul may continue to exist in some form, something which may motivate Wanda in the future.   Monica Rambeau – Teyonah Parris Character was last seen in Captain Marvel, as the daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend.  As a cause of going through the ‘Hex’ barrier, she has absorbed some level of powers, which gives her super powers.  Which ones are unknown, though in the comics, she has the ability to change in to energy of any kind, which grants her some abilities, but which is unknown and haven’t been properly explored.  The character will return in Captain Marvel 2.   Jimmy Woo - Randall Park An FBI agent who happens to be the first to report to the ‘Hex’.  He was last seen in Ant Man and the Wasp (Ant Man 2), previously as Scott Lang’s parole officer.  One joke returning his time during Ant Man is the card trick he first displays for Monica Rambeau when they first meet.   Darcy Lewis – Kat Dennings An astrophysicist previously seen in both Thor and Thor 2, originally an intern following around Jane Foster for student credits.  She has since upgraded to a full on Astrophysicist in the many years and is now a full time scientist with her own qualifications.  She is the first to discover the TV show hidden in the background radiation.    Ralph Bohner/Pietro Maximoff – Evan Peters Initially appearing as the twin brother to Wanda, Evan Peters was the X-men version of Quicksilver, who was cast and portrayed as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver in X-men: Days of Future Past.  It’s interesting for him to be cast as this version’s Pietro, as a wink-and-nod to how sitcoms would recast character without any storyline reason for them changing all the sudden.  It is eventually revealed that he was given his powers by Agatha Harkness and mind controlled in believing he was Wanda’s brother.   Agnes/Agatha Harkness – Kathryn Hahn Originally portraying captured resident Agnes, the nosy neighbor, she is eventually revealed ot be Agatha Harkness, another witch with similar powers to Wanda, but with the ability to absorb magical powers from other witches.  Though different from the comics, as Agatha Harkness is a much older witch in the series, she retains some of the mentor like qualities from her original comic version.  She is the one who informs Wanda of who she is and what kind of powers she really has, as well as giving her early lessons on magic of Witches.     Illusions to TV Sitcoms Episode 1 – Dick Van Dyke Show and other ‘American Dream’ style Sitcoms of the 1950s Episode 2 – Bewitched and other fantasy-sitcoms of the 1960s Episode 4 – The Brady Bunch and other American Family Sitcoms of the 1970s Episode 5 – Family Ties & Growing Pains, and other American Family sitcoms of the 1980s. Episode 6 – Malcom in the Middle and other sitcoms of the later 90s and early 2000s. Episode 7 – Modern Family & the Office, and other sitcoms of the 2000s and 2010s.     S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division) A new organization that has replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. as an American peace keeping force meant to deal with superheroes and such.  While S.H.I.E.L.D. does continue to exist, it is considered under the radar and not officially funded by the United States.  S.W.O.R.D. was originally build with the intent of combating and researching extraterrestrial operations and activity, mainly anything happening outside of the Earth Sphere.  In the comics, the organization is an Arm of S.H.I.E.L.D, with its purpose being very similar.     Infinity Stones continuing role While they may have been destroyed, the Infinity Stones continue to play a role the story, speaking to the various strangeness of character.  It’s theorized that the individual stones don’t actually give the powers their most known for to people in which it imbues powers to.  IE: Wanda’s powers mimic/mirror the Reality Stone more so than Mind Stone, even in the visual language as her powers are red, not yellow. QuickSilver’s power mimic the Space Stone more than the Mind Stone, even in the visual language as being Blue in color. Weapons created by Hydra using the Space Stone mimic the Power Stone at the end of the day. Same for Captain Marvel, whose powers seem to mimic the Power Stone more so than the Space Stone. Theory holds that more powered Super Heroes, rather than through technology or science, will be powered due to radiation given off by those who were previously enhanced by the Infinity Stones.  This includes potentially the Fantastic Four.     Trivia Each Episode reportedly cost around $25 Million dollars, making it the most expensive tv series per episode. Wanda’s voice saying “Previously on WandaVision” get progressively less cheerful as episodes progress. Each of the first 7 episodes are roughly 20-30 minutes long, mirroring classic sitcom episode lengths, with the 8th and 9th episodes being around 40 minutes long.    

Topic: WandaVision Tutorial   With the much anticipated return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the next major collection of material for the universe is scheduled to be TV shows, primarily featuring the other Avengers, and not the main set.  And having missed out on Black Widow, which has been very patiently waiting since the summer of 2020, the first new installment in the Phase 4 is a TV series about Wanda and Vision.  So lets get mom up to speed.     Where did we leave off? Last major production was Spiderman Far From Home, set a few weeks in theory after the end of Avengers: Endgame. At the end of Endgame, everyone originally blinked out of existence by Thanos, known as the ‘Blip’ or the ‘Snap’, returns and the world is going through the process of healing and getting back to normal as nearly half the population returns from a five year absence.    In the case of Wanda, she had only recently returned from being blinked out of existence, fighting with Thanos and memorializing Tony Stark after his death.  Her exact whereabouts after the events of End Game are a mystery.   In the case of Vision, Vision is considered dead at the end of Avengers: Infinity Wars, having first been up in the devastation left behind when Wanda Destroyed the Mind Stone, only for Thanos to reverse time, bring vision back, and kill him a second time in front of Wanda when he ripping the Mind Stone out of his head.  Its presumed that his pieces were picked up in Wakanda and transported to the Avenger’s facilities for safe keeping.     Mutants in MCU To really walk about Wanda is also to talk about Mutants and the X-men in the MCU.  During the late 90s, Marvel was actually in a fairly bad position, having filed for Bankruptcy protection in 1997.  It was during this time, that marvel began selling the rights for their character to other movie studios, in an effort to infuse cash in to their holdings.  This led to movies such as Blade (1998), X-men (2000), Spiderman (2002), and The Hulk (2003).  As a part of the deal, X-men franchise’s TV and Film rights were sold to FOX, but not just the X-men, but the concept of Mutants as well.  This meant that any character that was a Mutant was considered fair game for FOX to make movies out of.   Enter 2006, and Marvel Studios begins preproduction on Ironman (2008), their first solo Superhero flim, and the kick off what we know today as the MCU.  During the this time, X-men movies were still coming out, but the juggernaut of what Ironman started in 2008 couldn’t be fully realized.  Numerous film rights began returning to Marvel, however, mutants were not among them.  By 2015, Avengers Age of Ultron (2015), there was an agreement that both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were shared characters with Fox and could be in the MCU, denoting that they weren’t mutants, but were instead, individuals whose powers were given by the Mind Stone.   By 2009, Disney had purchased Marvel outright, the Film/Television side was put under different management from the Comic Book/Print side. For the next few years, the Comic Book side began to deemphasize the X-men and Mutants, focusing more on characters they owned out right.  There was a push for ‘Inhumans’, a variation on mutants, for a while, along with most major stories only including a few major Mutant characters that were main stream.  This culminated it a number of major storylines, including House of M, and even with the death of several major X-men, including Wolverine, Cyclops, and Professor X.    By 2015, the leadership of the Comic Book/Print side of the business was ousted and all major developments from all of Marvel were in the hands of Kevin Feige, who has been leading the Film/Television side of the business.  And now as of 2019, with Disney now owning FOX media, the rights to the X-men and Mutants are owned once again by Marvel.  Fan expectation is that either Marvel will make their own outright X-men movies, or potentially add them in to the MCU in some way.      Wanda Maximoff (The Scarlet Witch) Born of Max Eisenhardt, better known as Magneto, alongside her twin brother Petro(Peter) Maximoff, the two are mutants who have been seen throughout the Marvel Universe.  She and her brother were raised as Ophans and Gypsies, famously by a Cow-woman named Bolva.  A young age, her magical powers began to blossom, and she was trained by one of the most powerful magic users in the world, Agatha Harkness.    Wanda and her brother joined their Father, Magneto, for a period of time with the brotherhood of mutants, before eventually joining the Avengers, and being long standing members of it.  At some point, she met and fell in love with Vision, with the two being married for a period of time.  Though initially unable to have children, through the use of Magic, Wanda gave birth to two sons, Tommy and Billy, but due to shenanigans from the Marvel Devil, Mephisto, the two taken away and their existence nullified.    Wanda’s big story primarily revolves around ‘House of M’.  At one point, Wanda’s powers became too powerful for her to control, which caused her to lash out uncontrollably in a fit of rage over the mention of her former children.  This uncontrolled power eventually warped Vision, who later attacked the Avengers, before being killed by She-Hulk.  In the aftermath, Wanda was taken by her Father Magneto to Professor X to get help.  The concern however was whether to Kill Wanda or not, as her powers were out of control, which eventually led to the reality bending ‘House of M’, where mutants replaced humans as the dominate species on earth.   ‘House of M’ saw many mutants and humans leading happy and ideal lives for themselves, with Magneto ruling over the world, but some individuals still remembered.  Eventually, it was discovered that Quicksilver had convinced Wanda to warp reality, and upon Magneto and other heroes regaining their memory, they confronted Quicksilver over what happened, culminated in Quicksilver’s death.  Wanda would bring him back to life, but shocked that her Father and Professor X would be willing to kill her, she changed reality back, but said three words, “No More Mutants.”   As a result of ‘House of M’, reality was changed back to normal, but 90% of the mutants were depowered and the mutant gene was now dormant and was not suppose to exist in any new children being born.  This made mutants more an endangered species on the planet, and moved hundreds of mutant heroes from activity.  Eventually, the mutant x gene began reappearing in children, and with some mutants getting their powers back.   In later rewrites to the character, Wanda is revealed to just be an Orphan, not a mutant and not the daughter of Magneto, but having lived near a mountain that radiates energy and improved her already dormant magical abilities.  This is the version of Wanda we know from the MCU.   Powers Wanda’s powers were originally thought to be telekinesis as a mutant, but have since been reconned as being magic.  Her original stem from her ability to warp reality, originally it was at the disfavor of those she attacked, causing them to have bad results for actions they took.  Later this was evolved in to full reality manipulation, allowing her to warp the very nature and reality around her, not unlike the Reality Stone.  She is capable of various other magical schools associates with Magical Crafts performed by Dr Strange and the like.  Her main claim to fame relates her ‘Chaos Magic’, which allows her to shape reality as a whole.   In the MCU, her powers stem from the Mind Stone, imbuing her with telekinesis and telepathy abilities.  For all extensive purposes, they have not been fully explored in the MCU.     Vision A ‘Synthezoid’, a special type of Android that contains all living tissues and body parts of a human, plus the ‘Horton Cells’, which provides strength, durability, and resistance.  He was built by Ultron, using parts from another state of the art android call the ‘Human Torch’(Not the same character), and with a special gem called the ‘Solar Gem’, which operates much like a human, but hundreds of times faster.  This gem is similar placed as the Mind Stone for the MCU version of Vision.   Originally, Vision was created by Ultron with the intent of being a double agent.  But realizing that he didn’t want to fight human, he changed sides and has been a leading member of the Avengers since.  Vision would take part in multiple stories, even having a relationship with Wanda for a while.  At one point, Vision was kidnapped and dismantled by a bad guy.  He was eventually rebuilt by Tony Stark, but minus the synthetic red skin he previously had, revealing a white, neutral exterior, and also minus his emotions. This second Vision continued his relationship with Wanda, but after due the events prior to ‘House of M’ he was ripped apart by the She-Hulk after Vision spawned a bunch of mini-Ultrons from him.  A third Vision was built some time later, using the parts from the last, and it was this version that eventually built his own family of Visions, attempting to learn more about the human condition and emotions, he started his own family as a result.   Powers: As a Synthezoid made from the android Human Torch and using the Solar Gem, Vision’s body allows him to project solar rays as beams of energy at his targets.  As well, due to the ‘Horton Cells’ in his body, he can modulate his density, allowing him to pass through walls and people, but also to strength himself and make him super strong and super durable.      What to Expect? Speculation about the series presumes that the series will likely have something to do with reality manipulation.  The series may also launch new super heroes and provide knowledge on what happened to vision.    There is a concern that the events will be a mixture of House of M and Visions, the former as far an ideal life for Wanda and the later in the sense that Vision started a family in the suburbs. 

Topic: Godzilla Movies Review   This week, we watched a giant Lizard smash a building… lots of buildings in fact.  And lots of Lizards too.  I think a few had wings even… so many monsters, so little time.  But a fun time at that, lots of it!  And both mom and me would agree that they’re a lot of fun.  So we’re back with two American Godzilla, and the most recent live action Godzilla from Japan.   Godzilla (2014) Directed by: Gareth Edwards Starring: Aaron Taylor-Johnson as U.S. Navy EOD LT Ford Brody Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishirō Serizawa Elizabeth Olsen as Elle Brody Juliette Binoche as Sandra Brody Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham David Strathairn as Admiral William Stenz Bryan Cranston as Joe Brody Monsters: Godzilla Muto (Male) Muto (Female) This movie felt like a proper disaster movie, but at times, it doesn’t feel like a movie, more like we were following a narrative and series of unfortunate events. Almost like a found footage piece. Depictions of Japan, of the fictional city Janjira, were very comical. Rather than looking like a suburb of Japan, it looks like an American suburb with Japanese aesthetics. They even driver cars on the left side of the car, which is typical of America.  While Aaron Taylor-Johnson may be a decent actor, he felt very disposable in the film. At the time of Casting, Elizabeth Olsen hadn’t been cast as the Scarlet Witch in the MCU yet, but her role felt fairly disposable as well. Looking at the role now, she’s only memorable because this was what she was in prior to the Marvel movies. Ken Watanabe always adds gravitas to a film he’s in, especially in this case of Godzilla. Godzilla is talked about and seen sporadically in the film, but major brunt of destruction is from the Muto monsters. Godzilla has a proper fight at the end of the movie. While critics praised the tone and direction, many criticized the under developed characters, lack of thematic depth, turning Godzilla into a secondary character, and insufficient screen time for the title character. Japanese critics liked the film, but felt the same way. Toho  liked the film so much, they decided to reboot the series with Shin Godzilla.     Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019) Directed by: Michael Dougherty Starring: Kyle Chandler as Dr. Mark Russell Vera Farmiga as Dr. Emma Russell Millie Bobby Brown as Madison Russell Bradley Whitford as Dr. Rick Stanton Sally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne Graham Charles Dance as Alan Jonah Thomas Middleditch as Sam Coleman Aisha Hinds as Colonel Diane Foster O'Shea Jackson Jr. as Jackson Barnes David Strathairn as Admiral William Stenz Ken Watanabe as Dr. Ishirō Serizawa Zhang Ziyi as Dr. Ilene Chen Monsters: Godzilla Mothra Rodan King Ghidorah And many more, including King Kong Unlike the 2014 Film, this one felt more like a Movie than the last. Perhaps it’s the bigger sets and more sightings of Godzilla. It was nice to see some of the cast from the 2014 Godzilla return. It’s a shame Ken Watanabe’s character was killed as the film leave the possibility of a third Godzilla movie in the near future. Nice to see Bradley Whitford in work. American Critics were not impressed by the film, remarking that the script was ‘laughable’, the monster battles were either too numerous or boring, and that the film was paper thin with no real drama.     Shin Godzilla Directed by: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi Starring: Hiroki Hasegawa as Rando Yaguchi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary. Yutaka Takenouchi as Hideki Akasaka, Aide to Prime Minister. Satomi Ishihara as Kayoco Anne Patterson, Special Envoy for the President of the United States. Film used the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami & Fukushima Daiichi nuclear Disaster as inspiration. Film is considered political, mostly in the sense that it’s a scathing depiction of Japanese bureaucracy and its politicians. Often seen as trying to manage the in pending fall out, rather than trying to manage the actual situation, and tied up in various meetings. Did very well in Japan, winning 7 Japanese Academy Prize, including Picture of the Year and Director of the Year. Laughed at multiple points from hearing the ‘Decisive Battle’ illusions being made during the planning phases. The song is from Evangelion (1995) anime, directed and created by Hideki Anno, is used at multiple points throughout the film. Can see lots of allusions to Evangelion, though as a Evangelion fan, I might be more hyper aware than most.    

Godzilla   A giant sea creature, that walks on its back legs, shoot radioactive breath/laser from its mouth, and vaguely looks like a dinosaur, and no I’m not talking about mom.  We begin our talk on Godzilla, and learning about the nearly 50 year old King of the Monsters.  Another series mom may have a greater affinity for than even me.     Kaiju – Literally meaning “Strange Beast”, the term originated for just about any mythological creature or monster from Japanese legends, but after opening up its boarders to the west, the term has also meant any legendary creatures that exist outside of Japan as well.    In Modern terms, we use the term Kaiju to reflect creatures of science fiction or fantasy that are relatively the size of Godzilla, multiple stories tall creatures.  Western example can include King Kong, Monsters from Power Ranges, namely and inspirationally, from Pacific Rim.  Even Steven Spielberg got inspiration for Jurassic Park from Godzilla and other Kaiju movies.   Godzilla is considered the first Kaiju movie.     History   Debuting in 1954, and created by Toho, in his own self title film, Godzilla has been a fixture of Japanese and American media for nearly 70s years.  Though no official individual is the one that birthed the creation of the creature, he was initially intended to be an allegory for Nuclear Weapons as seen by the Japanese.  Others have likened Godzilla to the United States, as a terrible beast awakes from its slumber to take vengeance on Japan.   Despite his first film of being the villain, later films would actually see him being an Anti-hero and possibly a protector of humanity, along with being a less serious and more campy.  As time has gone on, Godzilla has faces other kaiju and had a rotation collection of villains and enemies in which were trying to destroy humanity.    Toho Co, the company that created Godzilla, is previously well known for Kaiju and Tokusatsu(Japanese special effect films) films, but also release many directed by Akira Kurosawa, along with the anime films of Studio Ghibli.  They also work with other anime companies to get their movies released in to theaters.   Eiji Tsuburaya, the individual in charge of special effects for the first Godzilla film, developed the technique that would be called ‘Suitmation’.  This was the act of creating latex/rubber suits for actors to wear and become the monsters.  This was further developed by shrinking the sets down to miniatures, to give the scale to the actors in the suits.  The camera was then placed low to the ground and filmed at double speed, to get the aspect of the Monsters as being huge, but also create smooth movement as the actors moved slowly in their costumes.  Special Effects were then substituted with Puppetry or other models to give the effect of swinging tails or mouth movements.  Even as CGI has become more prevalent in the Japan, Suitmation is continuing to be used on certain levels, with the suit actors doing motion capture to film the actions and translate them to CGI.     Characteristics Original Japanese name was Gojira, from combining the two words Gorira (Gorilla) and Kujira (Whale) in Japanese. It later Romanized into Godzilla upon appearing in the west.    Inspired by Ray Harryhausen’s film ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’, Godzilla was conceived as a reptilian, sea creature, loosely based on the concept of dinosaur.  He has various spiked plates along his back, which is the source of his power in some films. His body’s texture is said to be based off Keloid scars that were often seen on survivors form Hiroshima.  While initial seen as green in comics, cartoons, and on movie posters, Godzilla is actually charcoal grey.   Godzilla’s signature weapon is his Atomic Breath, a beam of nuclear energy shot out like a laser from Godzilla’s mouth.  Godzilla is also known for his physical strength and muscularity, along with being amphibious.  He is shown to shrug off conventional weaponry thanks to his rugged hide and his regenerative abilities that allow him to heal from injuries quickly.  As a result of his strength, the only things that can otherwise hurt Godzilla are creatures of similar stats/quality to Godzilla.   Originally, Godzilla was portrayed as being 165ft tall in the original Japanese version, which would have made it so it could peer over the tallest building in Japan.  It was later rescaled higher in American dub of the film, up to 400ft tall, to give it proper size according to the American Producers.  It was later scaled up to 330ft in Japan, which was to continue the intention of making it so he wouldn’t be dwarfed by Japanese high rise buildings of the time.  His size would continue to grow as later movies in the 2010 started to come out, with the creature eventually becoming 985ft tall in ‘Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters’(2017).     Films Godzilla has appeared in 32 Japanese films, dating back to 1954.    Showa Era (1954 – 1975) His initial 1954 appearance portrayed Godzilla as an invading force of nature.  However, later films in the era would portray him in a more comical and slapstick light, as the films were largely aimed at families and children.  Still, this period ended up spawning additional movies for some of Godzilla’s featured rivals and allies, leading to more movies that weren’t necessarily staring Godzilla.  This is where we see Godzilla fight: Rodan Varan Mothra King Ghidorah Mecha-Godzilla   Heisei Era (1984 – 1995) The series took a break from 1975 until 1984, but returned with ‘The Return of Godzilla’.  The reboot tended away from the Showa Era, and instead made Godzilla a force of destructive nature once again. The new series kept a singular timeline of events between its movies, acting as a direct sequel to each other.  Many of the earlier villains were brought back once again.  In 1995, the character was killed, seemingly ending the Godzilla Franchise.   American Godzilla (1998) In 1992, TriStar Pictures acquired the rights to Godzilla, with the intent on creating a trilogy of films based off the Japanese creature.  The original script would have stayed true to the Japanese origin of the creature, as a monster mutated by atomic bombs.  However, disagreements over the budget of the film caused the original director to leave, with Roland Emmerich coming in to direct.  Fresh off of Independence Day (1994), Emmerich wanted total creative freedom, as he wanted to ditch a lot of the origins of the Japanese Godzilla.  Oddly, the budget for the film would be about the same as the original pitch’s budget.  Emmerich moved away from a Dinosaur being bombard with nuclear energy and instead turned it into an iguana instead.  The film was widely panned by critics and fans, who has come to see the original version and not the Emmerich version of the character.  The following two planed films were canceled, and instead developed in to an animated series, which held up much better with fans than the film.   Millennium Era (1999 – 2004) Largely seen as the backlash against the American Godzilla(1998), the Millennium Era of Godzilla sought to bring back the character to glory and show the Americans how it’s done.  Unlike the Heisei series, each film is considered stand alone film, with no direct relation to one another, outside of the original 1954 film.  Sadly, outside of the first film in the Era, most of the films were not well received, as the Godzilla formula was becoming stale and old to Japanese and American markets.  After the 2004 film, Godzilla: Final Wars, which saw the return of various monsters from the Showa Era, which capped off 50 years of Godzilla, the character was quietly put on hibernation.   Godzilla (2014) Initially set to be a short 40 minute film, Legendary Pictures decided to create a full film instead, barrowing much more of original Godzilla canon, and differentiating it from the 1998 film.  Much of the original 2014 American film deals with two other Kaiju, and purposefully leaves Godzilla out of much of film until the very end, in order to build up hype.  The film was very well received, which prompted a sequel ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong set to come out in March 2021.   Reiwa Era (2016 to present) After an early screening of Godzilla(2014) to its Japanese creators, Toho praised the American Godzilla, and sited it as the reason to bring Godzilla back to Japanese media.  To bring back Godzilla, they brought in Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuichi, the creators and mastermind of Neon Genesis Evangelion(1995) anime, to create the film.  With Anno creating the screen play and script, and Higuichi coming on as special effects director.    The new series entitled Shin Godzilla, would focus more on the recent natural disasters of Japan, rather than the atomic bombing of its earlier films, and also focused on the failure of the Japanese government, which was a concern amongst Japanese after the 2011 Tsunami.    The film was a success and later films are slated for release, but due to the shared nature of the series with Legendary Pictures, plans have been put on hold for any new film.  Three additional CGI films were later produced between 2017 and 2018 feature Godzilla, and were exclusive to Netflix.     Major Antagonists   King Ghidorah – Considered Godzilla’s archrival. Rodan – not too dissimilar from a pterodactyls, he serves as one of Godzilla enemies, and in comes cases, ally. Mothra – Basically a giant Butterfly King Kong – the third movie was based off their fight. Mecha-Godzilla – A mechanical version of Godzilla, in one case, made from the Skeleton of Godzilla.  

Topic: Mandalorian Season 2 Review   We’re back at it for the second season of the Mandalorian, as things get crazy.  Mom enjoyed this, and we had quite a bit to talk about regardless, what with Breaking News from the Week!  But Yeah, the Space Western Rides again!   Updated News: On February 10th, LucasFilm announced that Gina Carano, former MMA fighter who played Cara Dune, was no longer employed by the company and would no longer appear in any future Star Wars projects.  LucasFlim decided not to work with Carano on any further projects after posts on social media that related American Conservatives with Jews in Nazi Germany.  This comes on the tails of earlier posts, where the actress ridiculed COVID-19 Mask mandates, falsely suggested that the 2020 US Presidential Elections had widespread Voter Fraud, disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement, and was accused of transphobia for her mocking of the preferred gender pronouns by transgender individuals and their allies.  At the time of writing, conflicting information suggest that Cara Dune was not intended to appear in the 3rd Season of The Mandalorian, but was instead to star in Rangers of the New Republic.    In the wake of Lucasfilm deciding to remove Carano from future productions, many of the conservative voices in America have demanded that Pedro Pascal also be removed the show, due to him having written disparaging things about conservatives and right wing media figures/events.  The #canceldisneyplus has also begun trending on twitter, with those upset about the removal of Carano from future Star Wars projects asking people to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+.    As of writing, Season 3 of The Mandalorian is in pre-production, with no release date confirmed.     New Characters Giancarlo Esposito - Moff Gideon One the remaining high ranking Imperial officers left after the fall of the Empire, he leads his own squad of Imperial Remnants.  He participated in the Great Purge that wiped out the Mandalorians from the planet of Mandalore and scattered the remaining survivors to the stars.  He is also the wielder of the Dark Saber, a weapon he presumably claimed during the Purge through unknown means.    Temuera Morrison - Boba Fett The original Actor for Jango Fett returns to play Boba Fett, his cloned son.  It’s fitting as the actor was an unaltered clone, and by the time of the Mandalorian, Boba Fett would be in his early 40s, though the actor is in his 60s.  Presumed the Cloning process isn’t perfect.  Boba Fett in the series does not consider himself a Mandalorian, and never has, with the name of his armor being ‘Mandalorian Armor’, thus where the title and name presumably comes from.    Mercedes Varnado - Koska Reeves Also known as Sasha Banks in the WWE.  The character is a member of Bo-Katan’s Nite Owls, a primarily Female group of Mandalorians, former members of Death Watch, who are seeking to reclaim Mandalore.  The wrestler purposefully chose a hair style that could be mimicked in Cosplay, and preformed most of her own stunts, including some Wrestling moves.   Katee Sackhoff - Bo-Katan Kryze Last known wielder of the Dark Saber prior to the events of the Great Purge of Mandalore, she leads her Nite Owls in dismantling Imperial targets and collecting weapons/resources for her team, in the efforts to reclaim Mandalore.  Her former sister, Sabine Kryze, was the ruler of Mandalore prior to Death Watch’s interference and political coup of the government.   Katee Sackhoff is no stranger to Sci-fi series, having previously played Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in the series Battlestar Galactica.  She has also previously voiced the character of Bo-Katan in the Clone Wars tv series.   Rosario Dawson - Ahsoka Tano Original debuting in the CG animated Clone Wars, she is the former padawan to Anakin Skywalker, who left the Jedi Order after she was framed for a crime she didn’t commit.  Though it was later discovered that she was framed, she left the Jedi Order, feeling that it had lost its purpose and sought to find her own way through the force.    She would next be seen in Rebels, roughly 5 years before the events of Episode 4, as an aid to the crew of the Ghost who act as a terrorist cell for the Rebellion.  Ahsoka Tano aids the former padawan, turned full Jedi, Kanan Jarrus and his new student, Ezra Bridger, in the ways of the Force, along with aiding their missions.  Ahsoka is presumed dead upon a fight with Darth Vader during the attempt to find a Sith Holocron, but is eventually saved from death by Ezra in the ‘World between Worlds’.  Ahsoka, though saved, did not continue with the Rebellion, instead choosing to follow a spiritual path, as she had been saved from death.    By end of the events of Rebels, she and Sabine Wren(Former wielder of the Dark Saber), set out to find Ezra Bridger, who save the Ghost crew at the end of Rebels, but has been mysteriously lost in Space via Hyperspace whales.  In the episode, she is hunting Grand Admiral Thrawn, who presumably knows the last known whereabouts of Ezra Bridger.   Ming-Na Wen - Fennec Shand Originally thought to be killed in the version season, episode five.  She was approached by an unknown individual, later revealed to be Boba Fett, who patches her up with some cybernetics.  She is then a body guard and associates of Boba Fett going forward.     “This is the Way…” There is no hard and fast rule about Mandalorians not taking off their helmets and not being seen by others.  A key fact is that prior to The Mandalorian, previous Mandalorians took their helmets off and showed their faces all the time.  The particular Sect of Mandalorians that Din Djarin follows is known as ‘Children of the Watch’, a faith/religion that was previously followed on Mandalore known as the ‘Way’, but fell out of favor over the centuries in Mandalorian culture.  Din Djarin is initially unaware of any other way for Mandalorians to operate, due to having grown up in the ‘Children of the Watch’ and believing that this was the way Mandalorians operated.  Also, due to Mandalorians not being a common fixture of the galaxy for some time, very little is properly known about the individuals known as Mandalorians, so there were few who could correct or enlighten Din Djarin.      Announced Spinoffs Three Spinoffs were announced in December 2020 at the end of the 2nd season.  All three series are intended to follow up on The Mandalorian timeline, continuing in the same settings and potentially interweaving and participating in each other’s properties.  The move would be similar to Marvel and Netflix’s arrangement for The Defenders, a series of 4 individual Netflix TV shows set in the MCU and following the events of The Avengers(2012), where all 4 series eventually’s main star would team up in a TV series.  Disney, having owned Marvel at the time prior to Disney+, is looking to do the same for its Star Wars TV series.   The Book of Boba Fett Set for December 2021, the series follow Boba Fett, presumably after event Season 2 of the Mandalorian.   Rangers of the New Republic Announced in December 2020, the series is set to follow some of the individuals of the New Republic as they keep the Outer Rim safe.  Originally set for Gina Carano to reprise her role as Cara Dune and her own vehicle, it was later announced that she would no longer have any more roles in Star Wars properties.  The series presumably is still production, though little is known of its plot or cast.   Ahsoka Announced in December 2020, this would continue to see Rosario Dawson reprise her Role as Ahsoka Tano, presumably as an adult version, and continue to have her traveling the Galaxy doing Jedi things, without being a Jedi.  

Topic: Star Wars – The Mandalorian Season 1 Review   Is it really a Western form the 1950s and 60s?  Yes, Yes it is. Mom explains in details why that’s the case.   Setting 9 ABY(After Battle of Yavin)(Episode 4).  For context, Luke Skywalker was born on 19 BBY(Before Battle of Yavin), and the Battle of Endor on 4 ABY(Episode 6).  5 years after the death of The Emperor, the Galaxy is slowly returning to order with the New Republic, however, the outer rim is like the wild west.  Republic Officals/Law exists, but isn’t common and vastly under manned, and those seeking to hide from the New Republic.  Many Imperial officers and outposts exists in the Outer Rim as the Empire was seeking to control the entire Galaxy.  As a result, most Imperial Officals are attempting to gain power and influence, in order to say they are the next leader of the Empire after Darth Sidious.  The Outer Rim is also home to a number of other races and factions biding for control over their own territories, including bounty hunters.  Famously, the original Trilogy of Star Wars (Episode 4-6) take places within the Outer Rim, including Tatooine(4 & 6), Endor(6), Hoth(5), and Dagobah(5).   Creator: Jon Favreau A mainstay of the film industry, he stared and featured in various movies including Rudy (1993) & Chef (2014).  He’s arguably one of the major players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), having directed Ironman(2008) and Ironman 2 (2010), and Executive Producer for nearly all movies dealing with Ironman and Spiderman, and acted alongside as Happy Hogan.  He’s directed a number of movies, including Elf(2003), Chef(2014), The Jungle Book(2016), and The Lion King(2019).  He serves at the creator, one of the executive producers, and director of The Mandalorian.    Cast: Pedro Pascal      The Mandalorian / Mando / Din Djarin Famously in a number of roles, including Kingsman The Golden Circle (Agent Whiskey), Wonder Woman 1984 (Maxwell Lord), Game of Thrones (Oberyn Martell), & Narcos (Javier Pena).  While Pedro Pascal primarily voices the character and does a fair amount of scenes as him, a bulk of the stunt work is done by stunt actors. He prepared for the role by watching Akira Kurosawa's samurai films and Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns.   The Child / The Kid / Baby Yoda The character is fan named ‘Baby Yoda’ to better describe the character, as he has no known name.  Yoda Species is never specifically called any such name, and only the fan derived name for the species of Yoda and other characters that appear like Yoda.  The character is largely created using puppetry, with some CGI used to accent.  Famously, in order to preserve the character’s appearance and not give away their existence, Disney did not prepare toys or other merchandise for the character.  The lack of Toys and other merchandise for the 2019 Christmas season was a potential loss of 2.7 million dollars for Disney, but the decision was supported by Bob Iger, Disney CEO, who believed the company was a story making company first and foremost, and supported John Favreau’s decision.   Carl Weathers   Greef Karga Apollo Creed   Werner Herzog The Client Famous Director, known for his movies featuring ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who are in conflict with nature.   Omid Abtahi      Dr. Pershing The Doctor is an interesting character for a number of reasons.  Firstly is that his outfit and actions in the series depict that may be from the planet of Kamino, where clones are created, seemingly setting up the notion that he is out to clone The Child.  Secondly that he is wearing glasses.   Nick Nolte          Kuiil An Ugnaught male, seen previously in Cloud City, as the little guys that were trying scavenging C3PO and seen during the freezing of Han Solo.   Taika Waititi      IG-11 These are a series of Droids that were initially developed during the Clone Wars, but later rebelled against their creators and disappeared in to the Galaxy.  They operate similar to a hive mind and work as bounty hunters across the galaxy. Taika Waititi is famous for being the director of the 3rd Thor Movie, and bring more comedy to the character.  He would also direct some of the episodes of The Mandalorian, and voice IG-11.  He’s been announced to be the director and co-writer for an upcoming Live-Action Star Wars film.   Gina Carano      Cara Dune Gina Carano is a former MMA fighter, and gained muscle for the show.   Emily Swallow   The Armorer Emily is known for her television roles, including Kim Fischer on The Mentalist.   Amy Sedaris      Peli Motto Amy is a Pixie of a woman, but basically unrecognizable in this role.  Famously in West Wing.   Bill Burr                             Migs Mayfeld Famously, the actor was not a fan of Star Wars and would mock the series.  He suggested the role by Favreau as his casting would be amusing.  Burr would later state he was impressed with filming, along with praising the writing for the show.    501st Legion Played the Storm Troopers in the series, famously bringing their own costumes and gear with them for the final episode that demanded lots of Storm Troopers.  Previously, the movie Gettysburg brought on civil war re-in-actors for the hundreds of extras necessary for the filming of that movie, as they brought period piece costumes, props, and experience to the roles.  This is similar how the 501st Legion brought their experience in to their roles as Storm Troopers.   501st Legion is a group of Cosplayers that primarily portray the bad guys from Star Wars.  Started in South Carolina, it’s a purely volunteer group that focuses the construction and screen accurate bad guy gear in Star Wars.  They are unaffiliated with Lucasfilms LLC or Walt Disney Company, but are the preferred Imperial Costuming Organization, and are mostly seen at Casual, Promoation and Charitable events, often at the request of Lucasfilm.  Joining requires being atleast 18 years old and a high quality costume from a Star Wars Villain.  Their sister group, the Rebel Legion, primarily consists of Good Guys from Star Wars, and The Galactic Academy, is for children under 18 years old, with no strict costuming rules, and meant for children and teenagers to share their love of Star Wars and costuming.   Mandalorian Filming Set https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufp8weYYDE8     George Lucas Rule on Glasses George Lucas wanted his world to seem like something fantastical and unique, so his live action films never had anyone wearing glasses.  Characters could wear goggles, Shades or other items, but could not wear typical Eye Wear.  George Lucas rationalized that with how futuristic the world was, they would have eliminated the need for glasses by correcting your vision, and as a result, the art of making glasses would have disappeared.  George Lucas also made a point of saying there were no Buttons or Zippers on costumes, and that there is no underwear in the Star Wars either, famously trying to convince Carrie Fisher to go braless while in costumes.    

Topic: Star Wars: The Mandalorian Tutorial   This week, Per Mom’s request, we begin the topic of The Mandalorian .  It’s a series that has been touted some years ago, but has morphed over time in to something completely different, and we’re going to do something different as well.  Instead of start from the past and going forward, we need to instead, start from the end and get to the beginning of Mandalorian  lore and culture.  To better understand our topic.     Boba Fett To truly understand why the Mandalorian even exists, is really to begin back at the beginning with the original Bounty Hunter and what spawned the Series, Boba Fett.   Boba Fett first seen in ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’, a two hour special that came out during Christmas, and seen as an animated character during one of the segments.  His next appearance was in Star Wars V, Empire Strikes Back, as among various other Bounty Hunters sent to hunt down the Millennium Falcon.  He appears in only a hand full of scenes, less than 10, and spoke only 4 times in total:   “As you Wish.” “He’s no good to me Dead.” “What if he doesn’t survive?  He’s worth to me.” “Put Captain Solo in the Cargo Hold.”   By the time of Star Wars VI, Return of the Jedi, where is first actually named by another character, he was even fewer scene and never said anything, outside of a scream upon his famous death of falling into the Sarlacc Pit.   Despite the character’s apparent death, he seemingly survived and made his way to various ‘Legend’ media, including books, comics, and video game series, where he continued to be an anti-hero and occasional villain depending on the story.  The character’s cult like following, despite the limited time on film, that lasts less than 5 minutes in total, has him a fan favorite, and is what spawned the Mandalorian  name and concept.    Originally, Mandalorian  was just the name of his armor, which was set to be a Commando style all white trooper, known as a Super Trooper, alongside Storm Troopers.  The idea eventually became a bounty hunter and a single individual, named Boba Fett.  Additional Lore Element began being developed in media, which included the world of Manadolore, the world of the Mandalorian s, which were now a race of people.      Jango Fett The next seen Mandalorian  is Jango Fett, Boba’s father.  Boba himself is an unmodified clone of Jango Fett, with Jango Fett being the genetic template for what would be the Clone Trooper, and be the name for the eponymous Clone Wars.  Despite being in only one film, he has far more scene than his son Boba, and is considered a major antagonist during Star Wars Clone War.   Behind the scenes, the fan favorite nature of the character led to his inclusion in the second Prequel movie.  Boba Fett’s armor comes from his father, who after dying, is taken up by Boba in memory of his father, albeit, recolored in to the green and red armor instead of the steel and blue accent look.      Extended Media, Legends With Disney purchasing Lucas Films, they rebranded all created material in the Star Wars extended media as being non-canonical, eliminating hundreds of authors work that has shaped the Star Wars universe and the stories in this world.  All new material was dubbed ‘Legends’.  While most of this became non-canonical, some of the history and world building has bled in to the new canon of the Star Wars franchise.   From this Legends content, it included that       Clone Wars A good portion of lore and world building outside of the Legends series was developed during the Clone War Tv Show.  Clone Wars, not be confused with the movie, was a CG Tv Show that took place between the when Episode 2 and 3, which followed Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano, the padawan(Apprentice) to Anakin Skywalker, during the intervening years of the war.  The TV show spent a good bit of time, following the Republic and developing the world.    Because the TV Show came out between 2008 and 2014, much of the lore regarding Mandalore and the Mandalorian s were pieced together from the now Legends material, and fleshed out by the show’s creators.  Upon purchase, Disney moved anything that wasn’t directly produced by Lucas Arts as Legends material, with Clone Wars being considered Canon, including all the content regarding the Mandalorian.   A follow up TV Show called Rebels, continued the stories from Clone Wars, with a young Mandalorian warrior name Sabine Wren being a part of the main cast.       Mandalorian Lore: Mandalorians are a group of warriors, namely hailing from the Planet of Mandalore.  Their people were feared as some of the most skilled and powerful warriors in the galaxy, outside of Jedi.  Starting from their homework, they eventually took over other neighboring planets and their prowess and renown spread from the Outer Rim of planet and eventually to the Inner Rim of Planet, with many Mandalorians becoming mercenaries and bounty hunters.   Upon reaching the Inner Rim of planets, the Mandalorians found the Jedi, who gave them their first major challenge in centuries.  In order best the Jedi, they developed new weapons and created their now famous armor that they are known for.  Now with the ability to fight the Jedi, Madalorians became even more feared through the galaxy, including by Jedi, and the two participated in various wars in the galaxy over the next few millennia.     However, the Jedi and Mandalorians were not always enemies.  One example is Tarre Vizsla, a child of Mandalore that was taken as a child to become a Jedi.  As a Jedi Tarre Vizsla was taught the ways of the Force, but continued to distinguish himself by creating his own variant of the Lightsaber, the ‘Darksaber’. At some point, Tarre Vizsla was given the title of “Mand’alor”, the sole ruler of Mandalore and a renowned figured in their society.  After his death, family members would eventually take up the Darksaber and unite the various clans of Mandalore into one proper state, led by House Vizsla.    Despite unifying the various clans of Mandalore, various Mandalorian Warlords appears and continued fighting their own enemies, along with themselves in a bid for supremacy.  Eventually, the long wars with the Jedi ended when fighting on Mandalore triggered a cataclysmic event that transformed much of the planet’s lush forests and oceans in to a sea of white deserts, forcing Mandalorians to constructed domed cities to live in.  Devastated by their loss, the Mandalorians retreated to their home sector, and ended much of their conquests, as they sought to rebuild their homeworld.    Just prior to the events of Episode 1, a Civil War would break out on Mandalore, with one group of Mandalorians seeking unity and pacifism, led by Duchess Satine Kryze, while another wanted to return to their old ways of conquest, dubbing themselves Old Mandalorians.  Eventually those seeking pacifism won out, exiling the Old Mandalorians to a local moon.  Mandalore would develop in to a peaceful society, and eventually even joined the Galactic Republic in between then and the events of Clone Wars.  By the time of the Clone Wars, Mandalore, along with 1500 other systems banded together, with Satine, to create the Council of Neutral Systems, a coalition that sought to stay out of the conflict and take a neutral stance on the fighting between the Republic and the Separatists.   Unknown to Satine and Mandalore, the Old Mandalorians was revised in to Death Watch by their leader Pre Vizsla.  He wanted to bring Mandalorians back to their original glory and worked together with the Separatists and Count Dooku to do so.  Death Watch launched various attacks on Galactic Republic strong holds, and event attack Mandalore itself, believing that their actions would spark a resurgence in Mandalorian ways.  Following attacks by Count Dooku’s forces, Death Watch appeared and offered the Mandalorian people new leadership and protection from the invading Separatists, which led to Satine Kryze being imprisoned and Pre Vizsla taking over Mandalore.  What followed was a series of stories in Clone Wars that saw Darth Maul return and take control over Death Watch, which led to Maul killing Satine, and eventually leading to Darth Sidious to visiting Mandalore to collect his former apprentice.    With Darth Maul taking control over Death Watch, a separatist movement, led by the sister of Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze, sought to remove Death Watch from leadership of Mandalore, calling the Galactic Republic for aid.  This eventually led to the Siege of Mandalore, capturing Darth Maul and ending the rule by Death Watch.  While Bo-Katan was named Regent for the planet, under the new rule of the Galactic Empire, she refused to do the Empire’s bidding and was exiled from Mandalore.  Following this, the planet became a training ground for new military cadets.   By the time of Rebels, Mandalore is fully controlled by the Empire, with Mandalore developing troops and weapons to be used against those opposing the Republic.  Rebels would follow the exploits of a Resistance cell, aided by one Ahsoka Tano, as the liberated Mandalore and returned leadership to Bo-Katan.  However, by the end of the series, the Empire began a Purge of Mandalore, killing most of the Mandalorian populous and melting their famed Beskar armor into ingots.  Few clans escaped the plans and spread themselves amongst the galaxy, hiding and trying to just survive.           Mandalorian Armor All Mandalorians are best known by the armor they wear, which strikes fear amongst the galaxy.  Known for their T-shaped visors on their helmets that obscure their face, the armor itself was outfitted with various built in features, including darts, flame throwers, and even Jet Packs.  Most Mandalorians further armed themselves with additional blasters, such as rifles, heavy repeater blasters, and simple pistols.   The armor itself was made from a material known as Beskar, a nearly indestructible metal that could deflect blaster bolts and even stop a light saber from cutting through it.  While Beskar was available for Mandalorians prior to the Purge of Mandalore, it’s since become a rare and valuable commodity in the galaxy.     Darksaber The lightsaber created by Tarre Vizsla, it’s unusual in the sense that the blade itself is black and glassy in color, and is projected as a straight blade, similar to a Katana, unlike the rounded blade of a lightsaber.  The saber is considered a prized possession of the Mandalorians, and its owner is considered the rightful ruler of Mandalore, bestowing the title of Mand’alor on to the anyone who holds it.  Mandalorian custom says that you must defeat the current owner in combat in order for ownership to pass to you.  Any other form of acquiring the saber would be considered illegitimate, and unrecognized by the Mandalorian people.   After Tarre Vizsla’s death, the saber was returned to the Jedi Archives, before being stolen by house Vizsla and returned to Mandalore.  The saber would continue to be held by the leader of House Vizsla until Pre Vizsla was defeated by Darth Maul, who then became its owner.  After Darth Maul fled Mandalore in order to help his mother, the Dark Saber was hidden on Dathomir, before being found by Sabine Wren and used during by herself during the events of Rebels.  The saber would eventually given by Bo-Katan, in memory of her sister.  Bo-Katan would lose the saber during the events of the Mandalore Purge, where its fate remains unknown.         Time Setting for The Mandalorian When watching The Mandalorian, the point in Star Wars time is roughly 5 years after the events of Episode 6.  Remnants of Empire still exist, as former leaders, programmed Storm Troopers, and various hardware still exist in the universe, with each Leader trying to carve out their leadership over the remains of the Empire.  They are in hiding for the most, but are being snuffed out by the New Republic, as they attempt to secure the galaxy following the Empire’s and Emperor’s defeat.  

Topic: Cosplay Making   This week, I wanted to talk to Mom about some of the Ideas I’ve had for cosplay, and such.  Any good nerd has wanted to dress up as their favorite characters.  And a lot like any good addition, it just takes the one time to get hooked.  But at a certain point, you might have to just make it yourself because it doesn’t exist anywhere out there.       Personal projects   Work Wizard Hat This is a hat for work.  Intend to be kind of like Gandalf’s wizard hat.  The major difference being that the front and back will have stitched Lettering appropriate for work.  I also intend to hide a pocket into the top of the hat in order to hide stuff for fun.   Magic Book The idea here is to make a sort of magical tome, that when you open it up, it lights up and shoots out light from it, giving the impression that fantastical magic would come out.  Ideally, you’d hollow out large book, something maybe the size of 2 phonebooks stacked on top, and then, have the middle pages with a sort of sheet paper with cut outs for the various glyphs and such.  Underneath, in the hollowed out section, you’d have a series of lights that shined in an order to give it that impression.    Piranha Plant Puppet (Super Mario Bros) This originally started as a Chain Chomp from Mario Bros, but I’ve since re-imagined it as a Piranha Plant.  The idea is a roughly 2 foot in diameter Ball, constructed like a beach ball, but with one of the 6 sizes missing. The missing space is the mouth, which will open and close with teeth and a tongue.  The intent here is for myself to be Mario, but my right hand is the Piranha plant.  I’m going to gimic my right arm and have my actual right arm in all black.  My arm is in the Piranha Plant head, and the fake arm is holding a potted plant with the Piranha plant stem coming out.  The real hard part for this is coming up with the pattern so I’m consistent with the shape of the ball shape, then from there, creating the fake arm.  I imagine the sewing of the white spots on the plan will add some challenge too.   Lakatu Puppet This is the one for shooting the moon.  The idea is a puppet that looks like Lakatu, the Turtle in the cloud that follows you.  The idea was to have a full puppet, and have it riding on an actual cloud, filled by a beach ball for simplicity and weight concerns.  From there, Lakatu would also have a fishing pole, and it would suspend stuff from it.  One object being a small camera that I could actually take pictures with.  This one is more logistics and putting it together, but it will take time.     Skills for making Cosplay Sewing Foam Work Gluing Wood working Repurposing Junk Browsing Goodwill/Second Hand shops Painting Understanding materials Lots of Creativity         Cosplays I want to do:   Doctor (Arknights) Arknights the game is fairly big still, and while it is still big, I figured a costume of the Doctor would be good.  The character itself doesn’t talk, and their face is obstructed, so I would do the same, and carry around a bunch of gimic stuff as well, just to have fun with it.  Never talking ever!   Warlock Tier 2 (World of Warcraft) Making the costume will be a bitch, especially because it’s a flowing robes, and the shoulders and helm are so big.  I’d want the helm and shoulders to either light up and create a smoke effect, but my skills are well out of that range.  I need to get MUCH better and working with rigid foam for that.  Plus, I kind of want to have smaller Imps hanging off me, as though I’ve summoned too many.  These would be MUCH harder to make, considering I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how. There’s a person who HAS made them previously, but is charging a lot for them.  There’s that and the staff…   Draenei Paladin Tier 6 (World of Warcraft) This is one of those costumes that if I figure out Foam, I’ll be in business.  Just lots of foam… It’s the notion of making armor, a weapon, and figuring out a latex sort of prosthetic for my face.  These are blue people with tendrils.  The fun part might also be figuring out the hoofed feet too, but there are furries that do horses I can mimic.  It would be a fun thing to do, especially the spectacle, but gotta figure out foam first.   Gilgamesh/Archer (Fate/Stay Night) Another one that’s mostly revolving around foam.  The bigger concern is his sword, Ea, which has three segmented blade bits that turn count to one another.  I can imagine a gear and spindle in my head moving, but I’d need to make a good template to see if it’s do able.  I really do think it can be done, but this is also something I’d love to get a 3d Printer to actually make it too.    Boo Ghost (Mario Brothers) This one is very technical.  The idea is not too dissimilar to the Parana Plant Puppet, but instead of actually being a moving puppet, it’s a projected Puppet.  What I’d do is buy a small little hand held projector, and then suspend it inside a clear ball with theatre fabric, for the light to bleed through.  The intention is to have the projector display an animated Face for the puppet.  The fun part will be switching between the ghost looking normal, and then animating to hiding.  The sequence would go like this:   Normal Idle animation Transition to Hiding Animation Hiding Idle Animation Transition to Normal animation Maybe something silly? Like a tongue lick or such? Animation.   It would work the best if run off a smart phone, WHICH I have a spare one.  The only trick is programming a custom app to run the animations from, and if you could get a simple clicker or something to transition, even better.  There might be other ideas here that would best with it, but this is a matter of researching technology and working through it.   Bowsette Kimono (Mario Brothers) I had an Idea, after the initial Bowsette Cosplay, was to come back in a Japanese Kimono.  The intention was an all Black Kimono, with a green Obi-sash(For the turtle shell), with a yellow Haneri (inner cloth).  What would make it unique is that there would be stitched in Mario Style flowers, but drawn/done in the style of an ukiyo-e painting (Traditional Japanese Art).  The flowers would start at the hem and kind of crawl up the kimono till just above the knee and on to the sleeves.  I wanted to do the longer sleeve, the kind that draped down to like the knee or such.  And then, the real kicker was that the sleeve on the inside, showed a Mario 1 style castle and flag pole on the left sleeve, and a set of stairs with Mario on the right sleeve.  This way when you fanned them out, you’d get the image.  My only real concern with this cosplay is partly the Japanese style Mario flowers, I don’t know how to ART that, but I know a person with a stitching machine, but it would be LOTS of colors.  And then there’s also the concern over taking a Kimono and making a joke out of it with Mario stuff.  I’ve seen people make Yukatas, a simple summer style Kimono which are very laid back, and made with various printed cloths, but I would feel strange about mimicking and making a Kimono, especially as I’d do it in drag too.    Japanese style Bowser / Dr Robotnic Unlike Bowsette, a Japanese inspired Bowser or Dr Robotnic would probably be cool.  I’d probably go with Dr Robotnic, and get a navy blue Yukata, pair it with a yellow sash, and then a Red Hori coat, and switch in the Eggman symbol on to the back.  If I could as well, I’d love to make FAKE tattoos, along my arm and chest, give the impression of a Yakuza.   Ursula (Little Mermaid) Okay, this one would be a Drag performance, but I figured that if I have the Big Black Dress from Bowsette two years ago, and I could make the tail, I could probably make octopus legs as well.  My thought here would be to get a bunch of strings and connect them to my wrists, so when I moved my arms, the legs would move as well.  I figured this for making the eels hangs on my in a similar fashion maybe.  The only issue with the octopus legs would be their weight and having them come out of the body evenly.  Plus this has already been done before, so I wouldn’t be new to the party.   Doctor Strange (Marvel) Okay hear me out, this was a really COOL costume from the Marvel Movies.  What to add to it, there’s a spinning LED light board, and from there, you can program it to do the Doctor Strange magic circles.  It would look really cool , especially if I could get a light up necklace as well, even better.    Foam Sword This would be the first project I’d do with Foam really.  Making a sword, because I’ve had a few different designs that I’d love to actually just create.   Peace Bond Armor + Sword Okay, this one takes some explaining.    Peace Bond itself is when you wrap a strap around your sword to keep it secure in its scabbard.  The intention was that if you were there for peace, you’d never need to draw your sword.  Whether this is a real element or just a story, this is the idea atleast behind our Modern con verion.   Peace Bonds for Conventions are these colorful Zip ties that you put on Prop Weapons so that Con Staff know it’s an approved item to bring in to Cons.  This way no one gets hurt from a sword, an actual gun, or such.  I want to make an entire sword and armor out of these colorful Zip Ties.  And especially as it’s a joke, you need to have the armor/clothing made out of very commonly found items at a Con.  I figure FF7’s buster sword, maybe a One Piece Hat, and then some other commonly seen stuff at cons.  It’s that or just make a really big Buster Sword(Comically Large swords), and some armor/cape, maybe a gauntlet and gladiator skirt.  Something silly and stupid, which would be a Joke for the Con itself regardless.  This one would take LOTS of Zip Ties and figuring out how to layer them in such a way that makes it look like stuff.  Another example of foam coming into help on this one. 

Topic: Wonder Woman 1984 Review   Mom and me both had concerns over the movie, but not that we couldn’t agree that some stuff in it was great, and other stuff wasn’t.  It’s an interesting movie none the less, especially when you look at some of the aspects that we thought were lacking.   Patty Jenkins - Director Gal Gadot – Diana Prince / Wonder Woman Chris Pine – Steve Trevor Kristen Wiig – Barbara Minerva / Cheetah Barbara Minerva is the 3rd known Cheetah in the Comics.  Movie Presents the powers as being the Apex Preditor, which happens to be a Cheetah, vs in the Comics, was due to an Ancient Plant God Urzkartaga.  Pedro Pascal – Maxwell Lord As depicted in the Comics, Maxwell Lord IV is a powerful business magnate and eventual manager of the Justice League International.  In the comics, he eventually gains mind control powers due to a gene bomb granted non-powered humans super powers.  He’s been a major bad guy in DC Comics as the guy who kicked off the events of Infinite Crisis by killing the Blue Beatle, infecting people with a cyborg virus, and eventually mind controlling Superman to beat up Wonder Woman and Batman.  Maxwell was eventually killed by Wonder Woman in order to save Superman from mind control, but not before a satellite called ‘Big Brother’ showed Wonder Woman killing him, a move that ostracized Wonder Woman for a time.  He was eventually resurrected during the Blackest Night event, and permanently resurrected during the events of Brightest Day.   Pascal claimed he was going for a Gordon Geko by ways of Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor.  Comes off more like Donald Trump.     Tangent Blackest Night (2009) This was an event in DC Comics which was meant to explain why Super Heroes and Villains kept coming back from the dead.  In DC Lore, Green Lanterns are merely one of 7 various Lantern Corps that operate around the universe, with each having various focuses and based off feels, IE Love, Willpower, Fear, so forth.  DC Rationalized that there was an 8th Lantern Corps, a Black Lantern Corps which controlled death, led by a bad guy named Nekron, who secretly allowed Super Heroes and Villains to keep coming back from the dead.  The intention was to seed the world with sleeper agents and activate them, turning anyone who HAD previously died in to a bad guys, including individuals like Superman, Green Lantern, and other Heroes and Villains.  This led to various non-previously-diseased super heroes taking up various other Lantern Corps in order to defeat them.   Brightest Day (2010) After all Super Heroes dawn White Lantern Rings and join the White Lantern Corps, the following events post Brightest Day deal with the fallout from Blackest Night, partly dealing with resurrected individuals who had been dead for some time.  This also included Maxwell Lord, who goes about wiping his existence from everyone in the world, only to settle back in to his life of monitoring Super Humans and trying to keep them in check.     Release Wonder Woman was originally slated for November/December of 2019, but was moved in order to avoid competing with Star Wars Episode 9, before being moved to June 2020 after seeing how well the first film did in the summer.  This also had an added effect of giving the studio more time to tweek and edit the film, but also to see it going head to head against Black Widow, another super hero movie.  The film would later be delayed multiple times due COVID 19 shutting down movie theaters: first moved to August 2020, then to October 2020, and then finally released in Theaters and Home Media via HBO Max in late December.    Concern over Re-writes/edits There’s been plenty of Rumors regarding the editing, re-writing, and changes made by the Film Studio producing the film.  The Film itself was shot back in 2018, and spent time between then and release, making various edits to the film.  The true scope isn’t fully known at this time, but it’s presumed that heavy editing changed the nature of the film.   Another concern for the Film comes in the fact that Warner Bros doesn’t seem to have any concrete or established plans for its DC Extended Universe, so the movie can’t necessarily do all the things the Marvel movies do, like setting up world building and dropping hints about comic references, nor can it develop the characters or point them in a direction for growth.    Trivia Dream Stone was made from Citrine, a gem long representing wealth and prosperity, also known as a ‘Merchant Stone’ or ‘Money Stone’. The Dream Stone was to originally belong to a character name Sandman, the God of Dreams, another super hero. So when Maxwell Lord uses it to become the Dreamstone, it bursts into sand, which is meant to be a homage to the character.  At the time, a Sandman film was being floated and early production had started, and this might have been a tie in to it.  When Barbara appears later in the movie wearing furs and clothing made from the skin of animals or animal print, this is a homage to the First Cheetah in the comics, Priscilla Rich, who enjoyed wearing animal furs, and wore a magical cheetah costume. Diana’s wardrobe through out the film is based off Brooke Shield’s attire from the 1980s, since both were all and had similar physiques. This was Padro Pascal’s second Wonder Woman project, after having previously appeared on the Wonder Woman Tv Pilot in 2011. Patty Jenkins has gone on to describe the film as a standalone film, similar in the lines to James Bond or Indiana Jones.  

Topic: Wonder Woman Tutorial   In route to discussing Wonder Woman 1984, we need to do a Tutorial on Wonder Woman herself.  And her creation is amazing!  I was surprised by it and so was Mom.  You have to listen just to find that part out.   Creator:   Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, pen name: Charles Moulton. Marston was a unique individual, a Harvard PhD psychologist who also helped created the lie detector.  He believed that Comics had ‘great educational potential’, and was hired by All-American Publications as an educational consultant.  The Publication would late merge with another company creating DC Comics.    He lived with his wife Elizabeth Marston and also Ms. Olive Byrne, of which they had a consenting polyamorous life together.  Marston’s research and stuff focused heavily on gender, with him at one point studying all Female communities, ie observing the rituals and behaviors of Sororities.  It led him to believe that women were the superior gender, but was only being held back from power due to the difficulties of giving birth and raising children, but also housework.  He eventually theorized that eventually both child rearing and housework would get easier, allowing women to get educated, gain power, and take their rightful spots as leaders of the world.   When he set out to make Wonder Woman, he did so consciously, deciding to create a female super hero in a male dominated landscape.  Marston would later write:   "Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.   Wonder Woman is also loosely based off Elizabeth and Olive, with Elizabeth inspiring her attitude, and Olive inspiring her appearance.  Apparently Wonder Woman’s bracelets was inspired because Olive liked to wear big bracelets.     Comic History: Since staring All Star Comic #8 in 1941, Wonder Woman has had her own on going Comic Book ever since then.  Marston would initially write for the series, with H.G. Peter doing the artwork until his death in 1947 at the age of 54.  Later writers would pick up the character and run with it.  Early stories focused on feminist agenda, and for the times, push a radical, progressive women’s agenda.   After Marston’s Death, new writers toned down some of the Wonder Woman elements from earlier comics.  This included the remove of more bondage related elements, toned down some of the radical feminist agenda, and eventually adding Hellenic and mythological elements and roots to the character.    By the late 1960s, Wonder Woman lost her powers, owning to stay in the world of man, and for a time, picked up martial arts and weapons combat, and gave up being a super hero for owning a boutique.  She participated in various story lines that focused more on espionage and mythology.  Eventually, due to the 1970s TV show, Wonder Woman was repowered into a super hero.  However, by 1985, Wonder Woman’s comic was losing popularity and the character was written out.    During the Crisis of infinite Earth, Wonder Woman was depicted as originating on Earth Two, a second Earth to the main DC Continuity.  As a result of the event that wiped out the Multiverse and all other Earths, Wonder Woman was to be written out.  However, at the end of the series, Wonder Woman was given a new origin story, as an ambassador from her home land of Themyscira.  This is how she would be portrayed in the modern age.   By the end of Flash Point event, the New 52 reimagines Wonder Woman again, this time also carrying her now iconic sword and shield in to battle.  The character was redesigned again in 2016, bring her more in line with her original creation.     Crisis Events DC has major cross over events subjected in to Crisis Events, typically with the intent of retconing, shaking up, or revamping the entire comic landscape.  This is often done to streamline continuities or characters, change up dynamics of the world and/or characters, or re-introduce new elements back in to the series.  The events offer huge crossovers events for various books, characters, and stories, with the finality of the decisions that get made due to it.  These Stories include:   Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985) This event resulted in the collapse of the Multiverse, the notion that there are various worlds with similar or mirror characters that live similar or mirror lives due to the nature of possibility.  As a result of losing the multiversity, several characters migrated to the main continuity, while other characters were killed off, like Super Girl.    Zero Hour, Crisis in Time! (1994) This event saw the original Green Lantern become a bad guy and attempt to recreate the universe in his own image.  The true purpose was to streamline the dates of events that happened, making it so that most character had been around for only 10 or so years, along with fixing the continuity issues plaguing various characters and their introduction from the previous Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.   Infinite Crisis (2005) This Crossover saw the reintroduction of the Multiverse, and redid the timeline and events once more.  As a result of some character leaving to a pocket dimension in the First Crisis event, they see how dark the universe has gotten and decided they need to recreate Earth Two and Destroy Earth One.  Eventually though, the Multiverse gets recreated as a result.   Final Crisis (2008) The event sees a Super Man Villain, Dark Sied, taking over Earth using a formula designed to ensnare people to his will.  Because Earth is the cornerstone of the Multiverse, and controlling it give the power to control over Multiverses, Dark Sied was capable of controlling the entire Multiverse.  The comic in theory kills both Dark Sied and Batman, though both would return through weirdness.   Flash Point (2011) Flash Point sees the Flash use his super speed ability to go back in time and save his mother.  As a result of saving his mother, but at the cost of changing the entire universe, including depowering the Flash.  In the end, Flash is able to get his powers back, and restore the events that led to the correct universe.  However, while initially intended as a contained story, the events led to the ‘New 52’ Timeline.  New 52 was a company-wide relaunch of all their series, simplifying and revamping many characters and time lines.   Convergence (2015) Considered one of the worse Crisis Events, it saw a bad guy trying to battle the various DC cities against one another.  And this meant from any continuity, any property, and almost any franchise was on the table.  While everything eventually returned back to normal, and set in motion a removing continuity from DC Comics.  The DC You initiative wanted to focus more on stories than continuity, however, this was widely hated by fans, and quietly swept under the rug.   Dark Nights Metal (2017) The most recent Crisis Event depicts a bad guy, named Barbados, who seeks to leave a dark Multiverse dimension via Batman.  Upon escaping, he brings with him various other murderous and evil Batmans, led by the Batman who laughs and kicks the butts out of the regular Multiverse characters. Eventually the Multiverse heroes beat the Dark Multiverse.  This series is the first to not have any major shake-ups in the universe necessarily.     Character History: Depending on which timeline, revamp, or relaunch, the character’s history has been changed countless times to suit the needs of the writers and runners of the comic books.   The most common origin stories for Diana include: She was born of clay and brought to life as a golem by the gods She was a blessing from the gods She is the daughter of Zeus, and thus a demi-god.   All stories start with Diana being raised on Paradise Island, later renamed Themyscira, and being trained by the Amazons of the island.  She meets with Captain Steve Trevor and is brought to the world of man, either to protect it, or to act as an Emissary for Themyscira.   Diana Prince is her alias, otherwise she is Diana of Themyscira, when not known as Wonder Woman.  She is depicted as being among the best woman in the world.  Strong and powerful, but delicate and kind, smart and heroic, embodying all the greatest qualities of womanhood.    Beyond that, she is considered a part of the Holy Trinity of DC Comics, which include Superman, Batman, and herself.  She is also the first of the Three to join the Justice League, later retconed as her, Superman, and Batman creating the league together.   Her Powers include: Super Strength Super Durability Super Speed Super Agility Healing Factor Flight (Post Crisis on infinite Earths)   Beyond her Super powers she is a: Master Tactician Master Combatant Multi-Lingual Expert Pilot Possessing Great Wisdom   Equipment: Bracelets of Submission – Crafted from Zeus’s legendary Aegis Shield, Wonder Woman’s iconic bracelets act as Bracers on her arms, allowing her to deflect bullets and projectiles,including energy blasts. Lasso of Truth – a powerful rope that is capable of retraining the universes strongest beings, including Superman.  The lasso also compels people to be truthful.  The lasso has also shown healing and anti-magic properties. Golden Tiara – Wonder Woman’s headband has doubled as a boomerang on occasions, depicted as being super strong and sharp. Invisible Jet – Wonder Woman’s original mode of transportation prior to her ability to fly.  It is meant to be based on a Pegasus, but has changed from a propeller plane to a jet plane over time and publications. Sword and Shield – Since the New 52 continuity, Wonder Woman has also carried a Sword and Shield, reminiscent of gladiators in Roman times.  They’re depicted as being of similar metal to her Tiara and costume, having been crafted by the Amazonians.   Costume: Depending on the depiction, Wonder Woman’s costume has been relatively consistent over time, mirroring similar elements over the time.  Most notable changes over time have included the bottom portion going from a skirt with stars to high-cut briefs with stars, her red, strapless top depicting an eagle, later her Wonder Woman logo over the cups of the breasts.  In 2010, they decided to change her look up and gave her pants and a leather jacket.  The original look would alter return a year later in 2011, and by 2016, her look was resigned to look more gladiatorial, with an over the shoulder strap for her sword and shield, along with her a gladiatorial skirt in the form of leather strips, not unlike Xena, Warrior Princess.  This was also the version used for the Live Action movies.     Villains: Wonder Woman’s Rogue Gallery consists of a lot of Greek Gods and Mythology creatures, though has some unique villains too.  Though they all share a common element that they are all intelligent and/or doctors in some field.   Giganta – a woman who is capable of changing her shape and size, while still retaining her intelligence.   Cheetah – a woman, occasionally a man, who dresses like a Cheetah to fight Wonder Woman.  Modern takes on Cheetah have her Cheetah like characteristics and powers gifted by the plant god Urzkartaga.   Doctor Psycho – can control minds.  He’s notable for being created partly based off Marston’s college professors who opposed women’s suffrage and feminism.   Doctor Poison – a woman who uses poison to control minds, along with other effects.   Ares – The God of War, who is in direct opposition to Wonder Woman, who strives for peace around the world.   The First Born – Daughter of Hera and Zeus, he is destined to sit on Zeus’s throne.  He fights with Wonder Woman who aims to stop him.   Circe – A Sorceress with various god like powers, including mind control, creating energy blasts, teleportation, and transforming objects. She’s all known for her siren’s call that lures men to their death.   Medusa – the Gorgon with snake like hair and can turn people in to stone.   In Media: Beyond the original Comic Books, Wonder Woman has been a pop Icon for the last 80 years.  As a result, she’s been depicted in various media outside of her comic origin.   It was the famous 1975 Wonder Woman Tv Show which reintroduced Wonder Woman’s powers in the comics.  Protrayed by Lynda Carter.   Wonder Woman has been a mainstay of various animated DC properties.  Most Notably in the Super Friends Cartoons from the 70s and 80s and the DC Animated Universe cartoons that aired throughout the late 90s and early 2000s.  She’s also been a part of major Justice League Direct to Video features.    In Film, She is portrayed by Gal Gadot in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman 1984.

 Topic: Full Metal Alchemist Review   Part 2 of the Experiment is always seeing the results.  After reading some of the Manga, watching 2 different anime, and then the movie, it’s time to see what mom’s Opinions of these various versions are.     Manga: Chapter 1-2: Liore Incident The primary point of these chapters, along with introducing the Elric Brothers, is to show the Manipulative nature of Religion/Cults, which comes up later throughout the series. Chapter 3: Youswell, Coal Mine This chapter also shows more the folly of man, as the government isn’t perfect and has a lot of corruption from within, something that is hinted at much later.  Chapter 4: Train Hostages A bit more action to the chapter, it shows off the beginnings of the military, along with the power they might supplant. Chapter 5: Shou Tucker, Introduction of Scar Shou Tucker and Nina are meant to be a warning of diving too deeply in to science and forgetting about your humanity.  This also introduces Scar, whose religion plays an active point in the series’ events. Chapter 6: Ed Loses to Scar Ed’s Loss to Scar is meant to show that Alchemy can’t solve everything and that an over reliance on it can be the downfall.  Alchemy is a tool, but not the solution. Chapter 7: The retreat/aftermath Granted, this chapter is meant to give Ed and Al a way out, but meant to show both of their desperations and reliance on one another, how each out essentially die for each other. Chapter 8: Doctor Marco, Early clues to Philosopher’s Stone’s creation Doctor Macro is a person who knows the truth and is running away from it, burying it in a hole never to be found again, but realizes that someone who’s goal is just and moral, offers to help, even thought it will hurt. Chapter 9: Winry, getting fixed up We show off Winry and her eventual importance, not just as a sisterly neighbor, but how she is the emotional core of the duo and their reliance upon her. Chapter 10: Central City, Learning how Philosopher’s Stone is made Granted, a lot of the chapter is fapping about, but it shows the lengths in which the villains will keep their secrets hidden, less someone realize what they are up to and either stop them, or copy them. Chapter 11: Visiting the 5th Laboratory After learning that the Philosopher’s Stone is made by sacrificing human lives, Ed and Al continue to investigate, even though they both know they won’t rely on this method of making a stone.  The seek out the 5th Laboratory in hopes they’ll find additional information that could help them. Chapter 12: After the 5th Laboratory After having met two other individuals that had their souls placed in armor, we learn a bit more about how Ed and Al see humanity, with Ed believing that all life is sacred, while Al wonders if he is even truly human or real, which sets up an existential crisis for a few chapters.   Overall: The early manga chapters, the first three volumes, do a good job of laying out a lot of frame work for the series, hinting at later chapters and themes that will run throughout the series.  Namely how religion and strictly held beliefs can do great harm, but also the corrupting power of science, governments, and just power in general.  A lot of dark themes being presented by Arakawa.       Anime (2003) Ep 1&2: This plays very similarly to the manga’s Liore incident. Ep 3: Goes back to the beginning and shows the details of how Ed and Al lost their mom, did the bad Alchemy, and got to this point.  Ep 4: A side story about how Al and Ed getting to central, a detour has them solving a stupid mystery Ep 5: They get their first introduction to the military, while saving a general on a train.  Very similar to Chapter 4. Ep 6-7: This tells the story of Shou Tucker, but drawn out to show Ed becoming a State Alchemist and showing how both Ed and Al bonded with Nina before she became a Chimera. Ep 8: Ed tires to resign from being a State Alchemist, until he is kidnapped by a serial Killer and nearly killed.   Overall: The art style is a bit more cartoony and relaxed by comparison to the original manga.  Characters look like anime characters with slightly more realistic proportions.  The only downside for the original anime is the pacing, which moves along very slow, and a lot of events that happen in the manga have no-barring on later events, and don’t necessarily add to the story/plot, so much is helps hide the fact that the production went to in to it way too early.       Brotherhood Anime (2009) Ep 1: This episode isn’t cannon to the series, but shows off a lot of what is displayed later on in the series shortly thereafter, including Ed’s automail body parts, Al’s hollowness, and other characters that will come up later.  I’d say skip it, but other episodes don’t linger on certain notions right away. Ep 2: Plays very similarly to Episode 3 of the 2003 anime, with the events of Trisha Elric dying and Ed applying, and succeeding, in becoming a State Alchemist. Ep 3. Liore Incident, but instead covered in a single episode Ep 4. Shou Tuck incident. Ep 5. This follows chapters 6 and 7 pretty well.  Ep 6. This follows chapter 8 and 9 pretty well. Ep 7. This follows chapter 10 very well and leads in to the 5th Laboratory arc.  Ep 8. This follows chapters 11 and 12 very well.)   Overall: The story itself moves starkly faster than the 2003 counterpart.  A lot of this is due to the assumption that a lot of people had been keeping up with the manga, again a monthly series, and they were getting toward the end.  As a result of wanting to speed through material that had already been covered, a lot of episodes condensed and simplified, moving much quicker through them.    This is also when we remember that the 2003 anime got announced either late summer or early fall of 2002, a time when only 11-13 chapters had been completed.  By comparison to the 2009 version, as it was announced while nearly 80+ chapters had been out, the 2003 Anime suffers from filler plots and side tracks to character/world building that doesn’t aid the story.  In contrast, the beginning of the 2009 anime suffers from going too quickly through plot beats that are spread out more in the original anime.  Once the first 12-13 episodes get produced of the 2009 anime, it slows down some, but allowing the characters to have more development, and introducing new scenes and character not present in the 2003 anime.    The Art work also represents the later years of character design that Arawaka was using, rather than the very Manga-eque look of the early 2002 years.      Movie (2017) Strange dissonance with music choices Kids get ‘Wizard of Oz’-ed in very beginning Liore incident showing the very end of the situation Why is Father Cornello running?  He has a ring?  He’s well respected and admired in the city? Lots of… costumes.  Things don’t seem to blend in naturally. Missing Iconic Clap-Sound when Ed claps his hands together. Al looks off at certain times.  Would have preferred a practical suit actor instead, you’d think that it wouldn’t be that difficult considering Tokusatou series. Events are very out of order. Why would Hughes bring his wife with him for the next month while he’s on assignment? Gate of Truth with Ed as a teenager, that isn’t right.      

Topic: Fullmetal Alchemist Tutorial/Experiment   Ep 82: Fullmetal Alchemist Tutorial/Experiment   An Experiment: This week, we’re asking mom and our audience to not only read some Manga, but also to watch some anime, and a movie.  All of these things are the exact same things.  Which makes it even more interesting.  Namely, Fullmetal Alchemist, which is not only a long running manga series that ran for over 9 years, but also two Anime, and a Japanese movie.  So, what happens when print media becomes a TV series and a Movie?  Let’s see what Mom thinks.       What is Fullmetal Alchemist? Hiromu Arakawa is the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist.  She was born in 1973 and grew up on a dairy farm in Hokkaido.  From young age, she loved manga and would collect it whenever she had money from her allowance.  She initially went to agriculture high school, a theme she would later revisit for her next Manga “Silver Spoon”.  After graduating, she spent another seven years working on her parent’s dairy farm before moving to Tokyo to follow her dreams of becoming a Mangaka.    She initially started as an Assistant before eventually getting her big break with ‘Stray Dog’.  This won her the 21st Century “Shonen Gangan” award in 2000, and the company, Gangan, would eventually become the publisher for most of her work.    Her next big title, Hagane no Renkinjutsushi, aka Fullmetal Alchemist, began publishing in 2001.  The series was a monthly title, which consisted of roughly 35-40 pages per month in Square Enix’s Monthly Shonen Gangan anthology.  The series would run for the better part of 9 years and become one of the most defining Manga and Anime for a world wide audience, particularly in the west.  This would eventually win her the prestigious Annual Shogakugan Manga Award  in 2003.  The series also spawned two anime series, with two follow movies for each series, as well as a live action movie in 2017.   Hiromu’s additional works include: Hero Tales – Imperial China theme wars/conflicts Silver Spoon – Agriculture High School, Slice of Life The Heroic Legend of Arslan – Based off a similar book series     World/Story Fullmetal Alchemists tells the story of Edward(Ed) and Alphonse(Al) Elric, a pair of brothers gifted in the science/magic of Alchemy, as they travel around the fictional country of Amestris in search of a way to recover their bodies and become whole.    In this ‘steam punk’ world, closely matching technology of the early 19th century, alchemy is the most practiced science throughout the world, which allows users who have studied to do transmutation magic.  Given a collection of items or materials, an Alchemist can draw transmutation circles across along a surface and channel energy in to it in order to create something new from the materials.  The magical system primarily operates by first identify the material, breaking it up in to its most natural components, then rebuilding it based off the transmutation circle.  The magic system is a hard magic system, consisting of rules and laws that must otherwise be followed.  The most fundamental being the Law of Equivalent Exchange, which directs that in order to create something, you must first lose something of equal value; and is also referenced at the beginning of every episode in the Anime.  Because of the hard magic System, Alchemists are limited in what alchemy itself can do, these include: You can’t make something without the proper components.  IE, you can’t make a metal sword out of wood. You’re limited to making something of equal size as the amount of components you have.  IE, you can’t build a house with only a single plank of wood. The more complex the alchemy, the more complex the transmutation circle.     Within the country of Amestris exists the military, an omni-powerful organization that runs the country and is tasked to maintain order throughout the country and its borders, but may have secret motives and directives.  While they act like a standard military army and political organization, the most defining feature is the State Alchemists, Alchemists that are hired and operate for the military on their behalf.  The benefit works for both parties, as State Alchemists receive large stipends of funding from the government, but can be called in to service by the military to act as human weapons against opposing forces.  State Alchemists are also known as Dogs of the Military, a derogatory term as the military likes to throw State Alchemists at their problems, and that Alchemists must heavily rely on the military for funding to continue their research.  Each Alchemist is given a code name, which usually had something to do with their alchemy style, such examples include: Flame, Iron Blood, Crimson, and ofcourse, Full Metal.   While not explicit rules of the magical system, Alchemists within the world are limited in doing two major things with Alchemy.  The first not making gold, as this would throw off the entire economy of the country.  This is also a call back to the origin of alchemy, which at the intent of making precious metals, like gold itself.  The second is that human transmutation is outlawed, and considered highly taboo, along the lines of grave robbing or worse.   To continue with the Steam Punk nature of the world, people who have lost their limbs can have them replaced with robotic limbs known as ‘Automail’.  Most Automail replaces lost limbs like arms and legs, and rarely is it used to replace sections of the body even.  No electricity is necessary as it uses nerves in the body that already exist and blood to power limbs.  While uncommon, it is well known and entire communities and companies exist as a matter of building various limbs and parts.     Characters The story primarily follows Ed and Al as they travel through the world trying to use their knowledge of Alchemy to regain their bodies and become whole.  This is due to Ed and Al attempting to bring back their dead mother using Alchemy using Human Transmutation, but failing to do so.  As a result of this initial failure, Ed lost his left leg and Al disappeared entirely, the toll or price for attempting Human Transmutation.  As a result of Human Transmutation, Ed gained advanced Alchemic knowledge, which he uses to bind Al’s soul to a nearby suit of armor, thus bringing him back to the world, but at the expense of Ed’s right arm.  After a prolonged recovery for Ed to gain an Automail Arm and Leg to replace those lost, the two set forth to find the Philosopher’s Stone, a fabled Alchemy tool that ignores the Laws of Equivalent Exchange, in hopes of resorting their bodies.   Edward Elric (Ed) The main title character of the series, always seen with his signature blonde hair, golden eyes, red coat.  Edward is known as the Fullmetal Alchemist, the youngest State Alchemist, and best known for his signature ability of not needing a transmutation circle to produce Alchemy, a rare gift never seen before in most Alchemists.  Gifted, brave, and fierce, Edward is also a skill physical combatant, using his unique alchemy skills to augment his fighting style by creating weapons out of nowhere, even manipulating plates on his Automail Right Arm.  While a strong individual, Edward is also quite hot headed and temperamental, prone to fits of rage if something sets him off, often his height, which is often considered small for his age.  Despite his hot temper, Edward is very caring, especially toward his younger brother Alphonse, to which he has promised to find a way to recover Al’s body no matter what.    Alphonse Elric (Al) The younger of the Elric Brothers, he is also a main character, and is portrayed through the series as being a giant, hollow suit of armor.  This is due to his soul being bonded to a suit of armor.  This carries some advantages, such as not needing to eat or sleep, also not getting hot or cold, and seemingly immortality, assuming the blood seal remains undamaged.  However, these same pros are also cons for Alphonse, a very loving and caring soul that would rather shelter kittens than every punch a person, as he struggles to continue living without having a proper body.  Much like his brother, he is also gifted in Alchemy, though not at the same caliber of his brother, but is physically stronger and an even more skilled combatant than his brother.  He travels with his brother, and is often confused for his brother from time to time, as they both are in search of the Philosopher’s stone.   Colonel Roy Mustang The Flame Alchemist, a State Alchemist who used his position to climb the ranks of military, with ambitions of eventually becoming the Fuhrer, leader of the country.  Cocky and reassured, his outward appearance hides his true motives and feelings, which is a commander with pure intentions of making the country a better place.  Much like his name, his manipulate flames using Alchemy; this is accomplished by using his special spark sensitive gloves to snap his fingers, creating sparks and then manipulating the air quality to direct explosions and blasts of fire around.    Winry Rockbell Best Friends to Ed and Al, she acts as Ed’s mechanic, as it was her who built Ed’s Automail Arm and Leg, even installing them on to his body with the assistance Winry’s grandmother.  A gifted mechanic, she loves machines in all forms and shapes, gawking over them.  She cares deeply for both Ed and Al, thinking of them as brothers and wishing for only the best for both.  She is often the emotional support for both, and even Physical Support for Ed.   Scar An initial Antagonist, Scar is a nick name given to a killer of State Alchemists.  An tall and strong Ishvalan (similar to our Middle Eastern heritage/decent), he known for the X-shaped scare along the front of his face.  He hunts State Alchemists due to them having invaded his country and basically starting open warfare when his country did nothing to Amestris.  To combat State Alchemists, Scar’s right arm is adorned with Ishvalan sigils and runes, similar to Alchemy’s transmutation circles, which allow him to break down anything to its base components.  Using it, Scar can break weapons, streets, buildings, and even begin breaking down a person on to their base components as a means of killing them.      Lust One of three initially introduced Homunculus, seven in total, she is represented by a tall and beautiful woman with an Ouroboros tattoo on her chest.  Much like her name, people lust after her and she uses this to her advantage, often hiding in plain sight amongst others in order to spy upon them.  She is cool and level headed, but also sadistic, she enjoys watching humans scurry and suffer around her.  Her unique skills allows her to extend the length of her fingers to razor like talons, upwards of several feet long, and cut through just about anything as a result.  Like all Homunculus, she is essentially immortal, and if killed, will return to life, or rebuild parts of her body, nearly instantaneously   Gluttony Another Homunculus introduced early in the series, he short and very rotund, not too dissimilar to a ball in many ways.  He is often seen eating other creatures and people, as directed by Lust or other Homunculus.  Much like his name, he is always hungry, and his unique ability, allows him to eat just about anything without feel the ill-effect, or getting full either.  Often a comic relief character, he is also the character with the most child like sense of character, having only an interest in doing what other Homunculus tell him to do , please his master, and eating.   Envy An androgynous Homunculus who is often seen with Lust and Gluttony.  He is amongst the cruelest of all the Homunculus, playing and torturing humans for pleasure.   He is the most likely to kill without hesitation and follow his master’s orders swiftly once given.   He is unique in that he can shape-shift in to other forms, including different people so that he may act like a spy, or transform in to his true, monstrous form.  Just like Lust and Gluttony, his is functionally immortal and will recover from injuries and death with near immediate speed.      Adaptations:   Manga – The manga initially ran from July 2001 till June 2010, finishing with 108 monthly chapters over the better part of nine years.  All volumes have been release in the state by Viz Media. 2003 Anime – Released after about only 20 chapters in to the Manga’s initial start, the series diverges after a certain point from the original material.  This is due to the manga still be in production, and only being a few chapters in which it was decided to make it an anime.  As a result, while Arakawa was a part of the initial storyboarding process, she was not involved in the filming, writing, or animation, resulting in a different take on the material. 2009 Anime – With the Manga beginning to wind down, A second anime adaptation was announced, this time following more closely to the original manga.  As a result, the 2009 anime is considered the definitive version of Fullmetal Alchemist as a result.  The anime was purposefully set up to end just a few weeks after the manga, and staff were already animating the final episodes in time with the manga.  2017 Film – In 2017, a live action film was created the follows the first major story arcs of the series.  This film omits quite a bit of world building and simplifies a fair amount of the world, characters , and principles from the original story.  As a result, he’s generally considered the worse adaptation amongst all known adaptation.         Anime 2003-2004 https://www.netflix.com/title/70204980 Anime 2009-2010 https://www.netflix.com/title/70204981 Movie 2017 https://www.netflix.com/title/80223731    

Topic: Nerdy Collectables   Nerds LOVE, I do mean, LOVE their collectables.  We love collecting stuff, and who doesn’t?  Everyone has a collection, but nerds have collections that seem to always seem odd and befuddling to most.  So here’s some follow up ideas for what you can give your favorite nerd this Christmas.     Funko Pop Started in 1998, the brand was founded because its creator, Mike Becker, wanted a Big Boy Restaurant Mascot coin bank, but couldn’t find one that was affordable.  He created his own company and licensed the brand to make it.  This eventually led to them making Bobblehead of the Big Boy Mascot, which in turn eventually grew to other smaller brands.  In 2005, Becker sold the company to Brian Mariotti, who began aggressively licensing the bobblehead concept to other companies.  By 2011, the Pop! Vinyl line of figures came in to existence, which is what the company is most known for.    The Pop! Vinyl is the company’s best selling product and most often thought of when thinking of Funko.  The style was intended to mimic the Japanese Chibi (Deformed Cuteness) art style and characterization, often seen Nendoroids(Chibi anime action figures).  Pop! Vinyls typically take on licensed works, usually movie, tv, comic, fantasy, and literary characters from a wide range of media brands, alongside real people like World Leaders, Wrestlers, and other celebrities.    It’s popular to not open the Pop! Vinyls, as they work well as display pieces within their original boxes. Much like Vintage Action Figures, they can also lose some of their value if taken out of the box as well, assuming they’re resold.   There are some people however, who do not like Pop! Vinyl.  A majority of the criticism, or dislike, comes from the notion of: They look disturbing (White eyes) True / professional collectors don’t want cartoony collectables Too Mainstream Cheaply Made Mass Produced Not a True collection item Haters going to hate; OR Some people just hate what brings other people joy.   http://popvinyls.com/     Statues Action Figures Two types of action figures types: Vintage Premium   Vintage Action Figures are essentially Old Toys, kept in either Pristine or Good condition over the many years.  Their value differs from brand to brand, but typically follows the following format: Rarity In Box and/or all original items Condition A toy originally played may do well on the open market if played with sparingly or taken care of over the years, but if it has the box and all original items, it will tend to see for much more.  Most people who by Vintage toys are often getting them for collection sake or re-buying their youth, ie buying something because they had it as child once or because they never had it as a child. https://www.ebay.com/b/Vintage-Action-Figure-Lot/246/bn_7023219109   Premium Action Figures are just as they might sound; they tend to be made primarily for collectors and intended for an older demographic and market.  Unlike traditional Action Figures, these are meant to be taken out of the box and set up as a display.  They also tend to be taller than most Action Figures, ranging from 9inch to 15inch.  Their value may differ from brand to brand, but typically follow the format of: Rarity Detail / Complexity Pose-ability / Articulation These toys are typically never intended to be played with, but rather, intended to be set up in a pose and marveled at for the remainder of their ownership.  Depending on the figure, they can range in to the $100s of dollars based.  https://www.bigbadtoystore.com/                 XXRAY Jason Freeny, an American Pop Surrealist Artist, popularized the notion of a Cutaway toy/cartoon character sculpture that shows one half of a individual and an anatomical inside, similar to a x-ray. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/146648531591273567/ https://mightyjaxx.rocks/collections/xxray   Nendoriod Created by the Good Smile Company in 2006, Nendoriods are typically 3-4 inch toy action figures of your favorite anime / video game characters from Japan.  What makes them unique is their Chibi look, high possibility, and various accessories including various faces, weapons, outfits, and props from their shows.  Because of a universal design of the Nendoriods, you can even swap heads, faces, and other element between various Nendoriods to get new looks and crossovers.  Most Nendoriods are single print runs of the figure, so only a limited amount are available, and pre-orders are available; but that’s not to say they always sell out.  The more popular the character, the harder it might be to find a Nendoroid, but they are around.  They typically set you back about $40-$60, depending on complexity and/or what kind of accessories are included. https://www.goodsmile.info/en/products/category/nendoroid_series/announced/2020       Plushies Tsum Tsums A collectable Disney Plush series that are known for Disney characters shaped like logs.  The name comes from Japanese word tsumu, which means ‘to stack’.  The Plushies are well known for Disney character, including Star Wars and Marvel, though other imitators exist.  They come in a variety of sizes, which include: Micro – 2 inches Mini – 3.5 inches Small – 7.5 Inches Medium – 11 inches Large – 17 inches Mega – 21.5 Inches Most, if not all, Disney characters have been made in to TsumTsums.  A popular mobile game allows you to collect the Tsum Tsums as additional character so the same, originally popularized in Japan as well: LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum.   Nesoberi A primarily Japanese style of Plush, these pluses are similar to Tsum Tsum in the sense that the character is often found laying on their stomach, but are characterized by their oversized heads and chibi looks.  They tend to have large heads and tiny bodies.  While they aren’t meant to be stacked like Tsum Tsums, they can be.  While there is no Official name for this series of toys, Nesoberi is a brand of Sega Prizes that can be won via Crane Games.  They typically a head about 8-10 inches round, with a small body roughly a foot long.   Movie Prop Replicas Perhaps not just movies, but people love to have replicates of the original items in movies, tv shows, or books.  Typically, original Movie Props rarely ever come on to the market outside of auctions or rare giveaways, and most auctions tend to be in the thousands of dollars.  The next best option are replicas, which instead of the $1000s, instead run in the $100 range instead.   Prop replicas can range from prop weapons / items, wardrobe / costumes, patches, parts, and more.  A good place to go is Etsy to find prop replicas that you may have not known existed outside of the main/licensed brands.   Most popular Movie replica, light saber from Star Wars.   https://www.entertainmentearth.com/s/prop-replicas/p https://propstore.com/products/       Accessories Women’s Fashion Hand Bags Pillows Art work

Topic: Gift Giving Guide (2020)   The holidays are among us, and now is a great time to consider what to get for Christmas for that special someone in your life, or just a nerd you happen to know.  This week we’re discussing gift giving for the nerds in your life.   See our Previous Episode Here!   Party Games Jack Box Party Pack Cards Against Humanity / Apples to Apples The Resistance Among Us Betrayal At House On The Hill     Game Consoles Playstation 5 Releasing on 11/12/20 Backwards compatible with 99% of PS4 games $399 for Digital Version $499 for HD Blu-Ray Drive Opinion: New system means Playstation Exclusives will come out only for it, but right now, there isn’t any brand new ‘Killer App’ that makes the system a must get now.  The PS5 is useful to get as an upgraded PS4 if you already have a lot of games for the PS4, but not necessarily worth getting at this time.  Like Buying a new car, but not necessarily any difference in where you’re driving to and from.     Xbox Series X/S Releasing on 11/10/20 Series X is bigger and more powerful and Series S. Similar to iPhone S series. Some games will be ‘Optimized for Series X’.  Backwards compatible with 99% of Xbox One games. $299 for Series S $499 for Series X Opinion: A concern over games for the Series S over Series X, as there will be some games that will take advantage of only Series X hardware, and not be playable on Series S.  Much like the PS5, it’s intended to offer a great experience in the future, but doesn’t offer any immediate ‘Killer App’ titles.  If you have an Xbox One, it’s an upgrade, but that’s about it.  Like Buying a new car, but not necessarily any difference in where you’re driving to and from.     Nintendo Switch Released on March 2017 Sold 68 Million units worldwide. $199 for Switch Lite $299 for Regular Switch Opinion: Nintendo has a cool niche of offering great family friendly games that you can’t get anywhere else.  Nintendo has a huge catalog of games at this point, and their games always tend to be different when compared to the Playstation or Xbox.  It can be considered childish and colorful, but no less fun and entertaining.  Only downside is that it’s been out for awhile, and so if someone was interested in getting it, they may already have.  An upgraded of the Switch is also rumored for sometime in 2021, so it might not be worth getting if a new one comes out a few months later.     Show Off Potential Nerds love to show off their passions as often as possible.  But they also Love to just look at their collections too, seeing the endless possibilities     835 Cool Statues of Licensed brands A bit limiting on merchandise, but a great starting place it feels like.   This is Why I’m Broke Truly nerdy stuff worth getting Nice variety of strange, practical, and desire-able Links to various Etsy, but Amazon too   Geekstore Lots of Licensed Brands, but not a lot of actual merchandise Selling the ‘Offical’ licensed merchandise   Boxlunch Good collection of licensed brands Lots of variety       Etsy As mentioned last year, Etsy is a great place to look for one of a kind things from makers that make this kind of stuff.  If you’re looking for a cosplay piece, someone out there makes it on Esty, or even better, sells the plans on how to make it.    If you want to request something from Esty, it’s safe to make the assumption it’s going to be delayed due to the holiday season, so it Might not come on time.   You can ask for custom orders too.  If you like the look of someone’s work, but you don’t see what you’re looking for, you can always ask if they do custom orders.  This can help the Maker add to their merchandise they can sell, and also be a great relationship in the future for stuff.  Try to stay in someone’s wheel house though; don’t go asking for something that’s outside of their norm.  IE, don’t ask someone who primarily makes jackets or works with leather to suddenly start making dresses all the sudden.  Also, try to stay within a brand: most Makers try to stand out by having their own brands or focuses, IE, some people focus on Mario or Nintendo merchandise, so asking for something from World of Warcraft might be out of their wheel house.  Ask, be generous, and kind, because you’re asking for something from them.     Loot Boxes Lootcrate has a number of geeky loot boxes tailored for different focuses, ie: Marvel Harry Potter Rick and Morty WWE Anime Pixar   Others exist as well, some offering food or other items: Lego Comic Books Tokyo Treat Box   This can be a bit pricey at the end of the day, as it’s considered a monthly subscription, but they often offer discounts for those who purchase multiple months at a time.  You can set the length for as long as you want, so if you want to do only a few months to a year.  Most of the items in a box can will usually cost more if you bought them separately, so while you may pay a $25 charge, you’ll likely receive $40 - $50 worth of value in the box.  And some of the items can also be sold online as they’re collectables that only come in the loot boxes.     Order Early Holidays this year will likely be more focused on shipping and receiving stuff in the mail.     

Topic: Harry Potter and Sorcerer’s Stone Review   Finally a chance to see if Print matches Film!  I’ve wanted, and probably some point will, to do this with Anime as there are numerous examples of printed comics (Manga) being turned in to animated shows (Anime), and sometimes the differences are stark, and sometimes, it’s a One to One copy.  This isn’t the case, as Harry Potter itself has numerous changes to it that take an 8 hour read in to a 2 hour film, and with a shortened run time, some liberties are necessary.  So here’s our thoughts on it.   Quick Run Down Harry potter is dropped off to the Dursleys after Voldemort’s defeat It is shown how poorly Harry is Treated and the weird stuff that happens around him Letter being sent to Harry about being accepted to Hogwarts are stopped by Dursley, Hagrid introduced and explains how Harry is a Wizard Harry is introduced to the wizarding world, gets his supplied, Hagrid picks up the Philospher’s Stone Harry Travels to Hogwarts via Train, befriends Ron Harry is sorted in to his house, Gryphndor Harry is introduced to His Teachers, along with Snape, who dislikes Harry Harry is tricked in to a duel with a rival student, but learns of Fluffy, a 3-headed dog A troll is in the school, and Harry and Ron defeat it, Hermione befriends them Harry is explained and played Quidditch as a seeker Christmas, Harry discovers the Mirror of Erised and its secrets The Trio learn who Nicolas Flamel and that he created the Philosopher’s stone, leading to them leaning that it’s hidden in the school The trio learn of Norbert the dragon, and in getting out of the school, Harry, Hermione, Nevil, and Draco are sentenced to detention when caught Everyone is sent to the Forbidden Forest for detention, to find a injured Unicorn, Harry encounters Voldemort, but is saved by Centars The Trio journey through the defense leading to the Philosopher’s stone. The Puzzles along the way are: Fluffy – Calmed by Music Plants – Stopped by fire Magic Flying Keys – Harry catches the right key floating in air Chess – Ron leads the Trio through a chess game, but he is taken out at the end due to his sacrifice. Another Troll – but already beaten Potion Riddle – Hermione solves the riddle, but passes out due to the potion making someone fall asleep Harry meets Professor Quirrell, who is trying to use the Mirror of Erised to get the stone. Harry gets the stone, and then confronts Voldemort, who is living on Quirrell’s head.  Quirrell is stopped by Harry’s inherent Protection magic and burned badly, and dies of his wounds.  Harry passes out before Dumbledore arrives to save Harry. Harry wakes up in the hospital, has a chat with Dumbledore. Gryphndor wins the House cup due to Dumbledore giving pity points Everyone goes home for the summer     Sorcerer’s Stone Vs Philosopher’s Stone Reason noted was due to Scholastic thinking that Philosopher sounded too archaic for readers, and suggested Sorcerer instead.  Rowling disliked this change and felt that she should have fought harder for it not to be changed, but didn’t have the clout or prestige at the time to do so.    During filming, any reference to the Stone was done twice, one for the British audience, one for the America audience, where they actually used the differing terms.     Book:   Pro Enjoyed the comical nature of the Dursleys. Easy to understand writing style for children’s literature.   Con Felt like it took a while to get in to the magical aspects of the books     Film Pro Children Actors weren’t that bad. Depth of Cast, pretty much nailed all the looks Love the Castle & music CGI is dated, but doesn’t take you out of the movie     Con Seamus Finnigan – Unnecessary character in the film. Ghosts could have been used better used to add exposition Poor use of exposition throughout film (Ex: Centaur + Unicorn Scene) Lack of useful world building, IE not adding much context to prior events or reactions       Changes from Book to Film Shortened Dursley elements Harry + Hagrid (Birthday in July) Getting to the train station Draco meets Harry Harry meets Ron, George, Fred House Points How Harry learned of the 3-headed Dog Troll Scene (Minor changes) Snape v Quirrell Missing the Gyphndor v Hufflepuff match Everything with the Dragon Missing potion test Ending Fight (Quirrell + Protection magic)

Topic: Harry Potter Tutorial   Eventually we’re going to get to something a bit more literary, and it was a topic that was teased a number of times.  So we dive into Harry Potter and its rather lengthy book series.  Our conversation takes  a bit to get there due to the most recent events regarding the author, but I still felt it was a good discussion.   History Written by J.K. Rowling, she was convinced of the idea while her train from Manchester to London was delayed in 1990.  Between when she finally published the first book in the series, her mother had died, she had her first child, and her husband divorced her, not to mention she was in relative poverty prior to the first book coming out.  She continued to write the books of Harry Potter until 2007 when the final book came out.  She has continued to write books, primarily aimed at young adult, but also some crime stories aimed at adult, under the pen name: Robert Galbraith.   The seven books in total were published from 1997 to 2007, each book encompassing a fictional school year in the life of Harry Potter at the fictional Hogwarts School boarding school for Wizards and Witches.  The seven books include:   Philosopher's Stone (1997) Chamber of Secrets (1998) Prisoner of Azkaban (1999) Goblet of Fire (2000) Order of the Phoenix (2003) Half-Blood Prince (2005) Deathly Hallows (2007)   The first three books each one awards Smarties Prize, a well respected Children Literature award.  Rowling removed her subsequent books, in order to allow other winners.  Each book sold better than the last and was a huge financial success for the author.   Although J.K. Rowling did not intend to continue writing any more books in the Harry Potter series after the release of Deathly Hallows, and admitted her next fiction would likely not be fantasy, she mentioned in 2010 that she was working on a new book in the saga.  This new book was intended to be an encyclopedia of various terms, placed, characters, and notes about the Harry Potter universe, intended to continue fleshing out the universe, and include ideas or notes that never made it in to the books.  The encyclopedia ended up being Pottermore.com, which offered an interactive collection of notes, games, and elements of the Harry Potter world.  By 2019, the site was rebranded as WizardingWorld.com, as much of the media outside of the books is branded under the Wizarding World name.   An 8th Story was introduced in 2016, as Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which was a stage Play, and eventual book.    The Harry Potter Wiki, is just the Harry Potter Wiki, no clever name.     Separating the Author from their work While J.K. Rowling is a professed Christian, but her books often promote magic, a notion which has put her in hot water with some communities.  She is also considered center left of politics, promoting gay marriage in Scotland when it was up for referendum.    In late mid June 2020, Rowling made comments that read:   “If sex isn’t real, the lived reality of women globally is erased. I know and love trans people, but erasing the concept of sex removes the ability of many to meaningfully discuss their lives.”   Many individuals took the comments as being ‘Anti-Trans’ and cruel to the community.   The comment seems to be in reference to the phrase ‘people who menstruate’, which is prescribed to transgender men and non-binary individuals, and Rowling’s preference that they be called women.  Many groups found this hurtful, including a many of the lead cast members of the Harry Potter Films.  She eventually returned her Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (RFKHR) Award after the award’s president called her statement harmful.     Premise/world The world of Harry Potter, also known as the Wizarding World, depicts a version of our modern world that has a secondardy magical world layered underneath it.  This world depicts modern humans capable of magic, though keeping it secret from the rest of the world.  At one point, those without magical abilities (Muggles) and Wizards lived together, but as fear and persecution of wizards grew, the Wizarding community eventually went underground.  Much of their world is hidden from public view, through enchantments, barriers, and manipulating memories of those.  While the story of Harry Potter primarily takes place in Britain and the United Kingdoms, Wizards and Witches come from all over the world, even in America.   The Wizarding World of Britain primarily centers on the Ministry of Magic, which enforces magical laws and structures, similar to the Prime Minister or President for Wizards.  Their job is to primarily manage magical laws and ensure that Muggles don’t learn of the Wizarding World. While Muggles aren’t allowed to know, some individuals in high political positions, Prime Ministers, etc, are aware of the Wizarding World for security reasons.   Unlike the rest of the world however, the Wizarding World does not keep up with modern technology.  As an example, instead of pen and paper, the still use quill pens, ink, and parchment.  Most Wizards and Witches have no greater understanding of modern technology, with some out right despising it.  Most magical areas actually disrupt electricity, stopping them from working all together.  While you can enchant electronic items to work with magic, they often don’t take on the same characteristics.  The Wizarding World itself is considered very old fashioned, often still in the 1500s of technology.   Magic in the Harry Potter world is an inherent ability, and while someone may have magical capability, most are not capable of Magic without proper training and study.  To this end, Magical Schools exist throughout the world, including Hogwarts, which acts as a traditional British Boarding school that takes in children throughout the year.    Most magic requires a wand, which is specifically tailored by a wand maker using various types of wood, but also magical cores, such as Phoenix Feathers, Dragon Scales, and other mystical creature’s horns, hairs, and even heartstrings.  While magic is possible without a wand, it is often less precise and powerful.   Most magic requires the precise movement of the wand, in conjunction with an incantation of Latin words that describe the act.  Wands themselves are described as being quasi-sentient, often choosing their owner for themselves; a difficult task for a wand maker is selling their wands to new students, who might have to try out various wands.  While a person can use another person’s wand, the wand is often described as being temperamental, and magic produced from it is often less powerful and less precise.  A wand can change its allegiance though if the original owner is stunned, disarmed, or otherwise defeated or even killed.  Some spells are known to damage or break wands, and as a result, damaged wands perform unexpectedly and are prone to back firing.  A broken wand however cannot be fixed, and the owner will want to procure a new wand as a result.   Some magic is available without magical skill, but are commonly found in the magical world.  This includes potions, alchemy, plants, and certainly creatures, which include various dragons, unicorns, and other mystical creatures from around the world.  Entire studies and work goes in to hiding magical creatures, as some people purely study various kinds of animals.       Story The story primarily follows Harry Potter and his friends as they venture through Magical School over seven years, starting in 1991 until 1997.  Each book covers a year of their lives in the school, starting from age 10 until 17.  The story itself is told from the first hand experience of Harry Potter, so unless Harry Potter sees it or experiences, the actions of other characters and events are left vague or unknown.   The story is well known for having lots of recurring characters, however, the most common characters include:   Harry Potter The lead character, he is the audience point of view throughout the series, as also the character with the least amount of knowledge of the Wizarding World.  He is introduced to it at 10 years of age, having learned he is apparently the one who defeated Voldemort 10 years prior to the beginning of the story.  He is easily distinguishable by his unkempt brown hair which hides a thunderbolt scar left behind by Voldemort.  He is described as being a so-so student, but a strong sense of right and wrong, but always put in challenging situations that lead to occasional mistakes.  He eventually comes the Head of Magical Law Enforcement for the Ministry of Magic.   Ron Weasley Harry’s best friend, he comes for a large family of Wizards and witches, each with orange, ginger like hair.  Ron is often a comedic character, being insensitive and immature, but is never the less loyal, strong, and occasionally brave.  He grows over the course of the series to overcome his immaturity, eventually becoming a leader in his own right.  He is described as a poor student, similar to Harry Potter.  He eventually comes to marry Hermione, works with Harry as an Auror for a time, before working with his older brother at the Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes, a magical joke shop.    Hermoine Granger Harry and Ron’s friend, she is a Muggle-Born witch, a witch whose parents weren’t magical at all.  She noted as being the smart one, with an encyclopedic knowledge of magic and wizarding world.  This often comes off as a know it all, which greatly annoys everyone else.  Much like Harry, who also didn’t come from the Wizarding World, she often see the out-dated norms of magic and it’s beliefs, and it likely the first to try and break or change them too.  She eventually marries Ron Weasley and becomes the Minster of Magic.   Albus Dumbledore The Headmaster of Hogwarts, and a well accomplished Wizard in the Wizarding World.  He is considered one of the most powerful wizards, but is also prone to eccentricity, gentle humor, and unfailing kindness.  He is seen the kind elder statesmen in the franchise and a true hero to all his students.  He his death leaves a profound loss on all those in the Wizarding World.  While never directly expressed in the books, Rowling would later say that Dumbledore was infact Gay, and harbored feelings for his rival, Gellert Grindelwald.   Severus Snape A teacher at Hogwarts, he is initially the Potions Master, Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, and eventually Headmaster of Hogwarts.  He is also head of House Slytherin.  He is a mysterious character that appears to be up to no good and holds a deep disgust and hatred of Harry Potter.  His actions, while they would appear to be against Harry Potter and his friends, are often in the end, to their benefit, as he continues to aid the school and Harry Potter, much to his own charging.   Voldemort Originally born Tom Riddle, he rechristened himself Lord Voldemort as he became the most feared and dangerous Dark Wizard of his time.  He is known for his having survived at the hands of Harry Potter when he was a baby, but is eventually revived by his legion of Death Eaters.  While a gifted student in Hogwarts, his thirst power led to his seeking immortality.  He is the primary antagonist of the series, with Death Eater sleeper agents all over the Wizarding World.     Movie Adaptations All seven books were eventually translated to movies, with the final book ‘Deathly Hallow’ turned in to two parts.    While the movies are faithful to the books, they omit a large number of background stories and characters, often omitting them due limited run times of the movies, but also their impact on the story.  As the first movies didn’t come out until 2001, after the first four books were released, it is hard to say what minor elements from one book become a pivotal or important moment later on.    One example includes Rita Skeeter, who is an important back ground character during the 4th book and but minor appearance in later books, her role in the 4th movie is nearly entirely cut out and never resolved, though she is often seen in the background.   The movies also saw the relative growth of several child actors over the course of 10 years of production, including Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton, and Matthew Lewis, all of which have continued in either Film, Tv, or Stage productions, trying to distance themselves from their former Harry Potter Roles as much as possible.  The lone exception being Emma Watson, who has become full blown movie star.   

Topic: Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Blade Works Review   While mom didn’t watch all of it, she actually kind of wants to now, just to see where the story goes.  This isn’t a bad thing, if anything, another person who will finally understand my undying love for Saber.  Okay maybe not undying love, but atleast sees these complicated characters and world for what they are.      To help people follow along, here’s a list of the various characters that are seen throughout the series, to better allow you to follow along.   Masters: Shirou Emiya A lead protagonist, and Master of Saber.  He has a strong sense of justice and wants to be a hero, despite little to no aptitude for magic. While unfamiliar with the rules and true nature of events, he fights in an effort to stop all the fighting and end the war as soon as possible. Rin Tohsaka Daughter of a prestigious mage family, she is the Master of Archer, and tends to act as a Tsudere type character. (IE, acts very brash and brutish to the main character, before becoming friendly and loving with them later.)  Rin continues to pursue the Holy Grail due to her family’s strong desire to reach the Root, and joins only out of obligation. Illyasviel von Einzbern She is from a prestigious Mage family and is the Master of Berserker.  While she appears to be the youngest participant in the war, she is actually 18 years old, but takes the form of a ten to twelve year old child.  She is actually a homunculi and Shirou’s step sister, for whom she has a conflicted relationship. She believes she was abandoned for Shirou, but in reality, her father was unable to return to the castle to retrieve Illya, leaving her to be lonely and pressured to perfect her magical skills. Shinji Matou Sakura’s older brother and Master of Rider.  A chauvinistic and a narcissist, he openly treats Shirou with hostility and derision. He is has no real magical skill, as the Matou family’s magical bloodline has been diluted over the decades.  This is what prompts the head of the Matou family to adopt Sakura, previously of the Tohsaka Family, and raise her to be the Matou’s next heir instead of Shinji. This prompts Shinji to take his anger and frustrations out on Sakura. Souichirou Kuzuki A strict teacher of Rin’s Class, he is the Master of Caster.  While he does not desire the Grail, he becomes the master of Caster due to Caster killing her previous master and him wanting to help her.  It’s implied that Him and Caster are potentially involved romantically.   Servants: Saber Artoria Pendragon(King Arthur), the King of Knights, who was actually a girl.  She a stoic and knightly figure, but brushes up against Shirou, who tries to save her and sees her more as a girl than a knightly figure.  She is in the fight due to her desire to rewind history and stop herself from drawing the sword in the stone. Archer A mysterious individual who is capable of summoning sword and turning them in to Arrows to fire from his bow.  He doesn’t remember what Heroic Spirit he is suppose to be, and often acts fickle and teasingly with Rin, and hostile with Shirou, who he dislikes.  Despite being a long range class, Archer regularly uses swords he creates from his magic. Lancer Cu Chulainn(Child of Light), a Hero from the Ulster Cycle of Irish Mythology.  His master is unknown, but primarily acts as a watchdog and assassin during the course of the war.  Berserker Hercules, one of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology.  He is deeply loyal to Illyasviel, but lacks emotions due to his Berserker class.  His Noble Phantasm is known as his Twelve Labors, which represent his immortality; upon receiving enough damage that would otherwise kill him, he regenerates and loses one of his Labors(Lives).  Caster Medea, an unfortunate priestess from the tales of Jason and the Argonauts.  She is renown for her magical prowess, which surpasses most masters and magus of this age.  Due to her killing her original master, and leaving only six known masters, she uses her magical prowess to obtain fake command seals and summon Assassin, thus becoming the seventh Master. Assassin Sasaki Kojirou, a mythical swordsman said to have faced Miyamoto Musashi in combat.  Assassin is actually a false servant, as servants summoned by the Assassin class are all former owners of the name Hassan-i-Sabbah(Old Man of the Mountain).  Because he was summoned under false pretenses by Caster, herself a Servant, he is bound to the Ryuudou Temple where both Caster and Souichirou reside, unable to leave the grounds. Rider Medusa, the Gorgon of Greek Mythology.  Initially she is the servant to Sakura Matou, but due to Shinji Matou insistence, Sakura transferred her rights as Master to him.  She still seeks to protect Sakura but act Loyal to Shinji’s orders and commands.  Her Noble Phantasm is a Pegasus that she rides, hence of the Rider Class.     Other: Sakura Matou A part of a rival Mage Family, she is a friend to Shirou and often takes care of him.  She does this as her Brother is mean and cruel to Shirou, and she does it as penance for her brother’s actions.  She primarily serves as a support character during the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes, but becomes a primary protagonist during the Heaven’s Feel route, where we find out how poorly she was treated and routinely tortured by the Matou’s magical training, and by Shinji. Kirei Kotomine An Observer from the Holy Church, he was a former master in the 4th Holy Grail War and acts as an impartial judge and moderator for the 5th Holy Grail War.  He is described as a defective person: finding pleasure in the misfortune and suffering of others, but never openly seeking it for them.  He acts as Rin’s legal guardian, and convinces Shirou to participate in the Holy Grail War. Gilgamesh The King of Heroes, ruler of Mesopotamia, and considered the first hero due to his record being amongst the first ever recorded.  He was of the Archer Class during the 4th Holy Grail War, but survived to take on a mortal body following its conclusion.  He acts as a 8th Servant during the 5th Holy Grail War.  Gilgamesh is known for believing everything of value belongs to him, including the Holy Grail.  His Noble Phantasm is known as the Gate of Babylon, a massive vault that holds all the treasures he collected during his life time, including all the prototypes of Noble Phantasms, which he launches like bullets and rockets at his enemies. Taiga Fujimura Shirou’s legal guardian and English teacher at the school Rin, Sakura, Shinji, and Shirou all attend.  While she a comedic character, she is unaware of the magical nature of the events happening around her, and is oblivious to the events of the series.  She plays limited parts in the various routes, and is primarily a background character.

Topic: Fate / Stay Night Tutorial   Today, we dive deep in to one of my favorite Anime Franchise, the Fate series, specifically Fate Stay/Night and its prequel Fate Zero.  I know that the series is very dense and large, especially when you consider all the spin offs and media that exists out there for it.  And that’s before you get to ALL of the Sabers out there…. Let dive in!     What is it? Fate / Stay Night, or the Fate Franchise, is a part of a large universe of characters and stories in the Nasu-verse, a fictional universe created by Kinoko Nasu of Type-Moon.  Created initially as a Visual Novel in 2004, and the third major work of Type-Moon, the series was an immediate success and quickly spawned a massive franchise that dwarfs many of Type-Moon previous and future works.   While the Fate Franchise is the most popular work, the Nasu-verse comprises of several series, including:   Kara no Kyoukai (jp: Boundary of Emptiness / eng: Garden of Sinners) A series revolving around Shiki Ryogi, a paranormal investigator with the ability to see and cut the mystical lines of mortality in anything, and her friend, Mikiya Kokutō, a fellow assistant investigator who works alongside the powerful Sorceress Tōko Aozaki in her agency.   Tsukihime (eng: Lunar Princess) Tells the story of Shiki Tohno, who like Shiki Ryogi, can see the mystical lines of mortality of anything and cut them, thus ending the their existence.  The story progress as he faces vampires and changes depending on which heroine he chooses follow throughout the story.     What is a Visual Novel? A Visual Novel is like a Choose your own adventure in book, though typically takes the form of visuals with characters standing up against a back drop/setting and a serious of dialog boxes express what the characters are saying or doing.  Most games follow branching story lines which lead to various endings depending on the actions taken by the player.  In most games, the Player takes on the role of the lead character and is given a limited pool of options to react or respond to when presented by events or situations in the game.  An example could be a character asking if they look good, with the player being given the choice between various options to respond; and depending on the answer, will trigger a reaction from the character.   Visual novels are popular within Japanese media as they are relatively cheap to produce and create, as most Visual Novels rely on beautiful still art of characters, their reactions, backgrounds, and occasional splash pages, along with minimal background music, and focus more on stories.  Few visual novels rely on motion graphics or voice acting, and if they do, it is limited to an opening scene or trailer for the game.  Most games tend to lead toward a particular demographic, and offer fan service for those demographic in an effort to get them to buy the game.   Most Visual novels are of the Eroge, or Erotic, variety; which primarily focus on stories that have sexually explicit scenes and graphics depicting those scenes.  Eroge games can range from Teen to Adult rating, with some game being straight Hentai, while others are more titillating and offer fan service.  A popular theme among Visual novels tends to be Harem based games with a single character with multiple love interests of the opposite sex.        History / Lore Fate / Stay Night, at heart, is a story revolving around Shirou Emiya, who unwittingly joins a secret Battle Royal involving six other mages and each of their servants in the Holy Grail War.  As the name suggests, the ultimate prize is the Holy Grail, a creation of magic that can grants any wish from the winner of the War.  During the time of Fate / Stay Night, this is the fifth incarnation of the Holy Grail War within the fictional city of Fuyuki City, on the south tip of Japan.  The city was chosen for its strong ley lines, but also due to no magus or holy church involvement in the area during the First War in 1790s.      Within the Fate / Stay Night, there are three different routes/stories that exist within the game, each of which change the nature of the story dramatically once they split off from one another.  These include:   Fate Route – Primarily Focusing on Saber and building the world/lore of the game. Unlimited Blade Works Route – Primarily Focuses on Rin Tohsaka and her servant Archer, and places more development of the various cast of character than the other routes. Heavens Feel Route - Primarily Focuses on Sakura Matou and her servant Rider, and focus more on the background behind the Holy Grail War, along with the darker aspects of the world that led up to the current events.    One must complete each individual route in order to progress on the next route.  While each route tells a different story and aspect of the world and events, they all use the same characters, who each have the same feelings and emotions, but differing motives as the story progresses.    Each Holy Grail War consists of seven Mages and their Servants.  Servants are summoned individuals known as Heroic Spirits, which take on the form of famous historical figures.  These historical figures can be real life individuals or fictional individuals that actually did exist within Nasu-verse. Most characters range from various myths and stories, but most range from stories originating within Europe primarily.  Examples of historical figures include:   King Arthur Gilgamesh Alexander the Great Hercules Medea Medusa Gilles de Rais Lancelot   Each Servant being summoned may be one of seven available classes of Heroic Spirits being summoned, with only one class per War, in order to make the war fair. Each servant is referred to by their class, in order for other servants and mages to not realize who the Heroic Spirit is and thus gain a tactical advantage.  IE, might be known as Gilgamesh, but is referred to as Archer.  Each class has benefits and weakness, some are based on strength, while others are based on tactical or strategic advantages or weakness.  These classes include:   Saber – A knight who uses Swords in combat, considered very desire-able class. Archer – A knight who uses ranged weapons, ie Bow and Arrows, guns, or any other kind of projectile. Lancer – A knight who uses a Lance, Spear, or Medium range weapons in combat Berserker – A strength based hero who dominates with overwhelming force Assassin – An rogue typically who is known for killing their opponents from the shadows or in a secretive manner Rider – An individual known for riding or driving a vehicle or creature Caster – A Magical Type of individual   Each Mage has three Command Seals upon their right or left hand, which symbolize their pact with their servants, and are laid out artfully in accordance with the Mage’s style of magic.  Each Command Seal can compel the servant to act or do as the Mage commands, with the more concrete and forward commands being the most beneficial to the Mage over more broad ranged commands.    Mages and Servants may or may not work well together, as some Servant or Mage classes out right hating each other, while others are distrustful, and others are best bonds in the world.  Most servants act in accordance with their Mages, as Mages supply the very mana necessary for the Heroic Spirit to exist within the physical world.  A Mage is considered disqualified from the War if they lose their Servant and do not make a pact with a new Servant(One that has already been summoned), or dies during the war.    As eluded to earlier, the true purpose of the Holy Grail War is not to grant wishes, but intended to harvest mana and magic from the servants that participate within the Holy Grail War, and then use it to activate the Greater Grail and reach a mythical origin (Root) of magic.  The system however is fundamentally flawed, as the Greater Grail can only be held by a servant, thus limiting it to only granting wishes.  However, during the 3rd Holy Grail War, the Holy Grail itself was corrupted by a rogue servant, thus causing the Holy Grail to be tampered and would not work properly regardless of the magic absorbed in to it.     With the Main Story, includes a few notable characters:   Shirou Emiya – Lead protagonist and Master for Saber. He has a strong sense of justice and wants to be a hero, despite little to no aptitude for magic. Saber – Artoria Pendragon(King Arthur), the King of Knights, who was actually a girl. She a stoic and knightly figure, but brushes up against Shirou, who tries to save her and sees her more as a girl than a knightly figure. Rin Tohsaka – Daughter of a prestigious mage family, she is the Master of Archer, and tends to act as a Tsudere type character. (IE, acts very brash and brutish to the main character, before becoming friendly and gentle with them later.) Archer – A mysterious individual who is capable of summoning sword and turning them in to Arrows to fire from his bow. He doesn’t remember what Heroic Spirit he is suppose to be, and often act fickle and teasingly with Rin, and hostile with Shirou, who he dislikes. Sakura Matou – A part of a rival Mage Family, she is a friend to Shirou and often takes care of him. She does this as her Brother is mean and cruel to Shirou, and she does it as penance for her brother’s actions. Shinji Matou – Sakura’s older brother and Master of Rider. A chauvinistic and a narcissist, he openly treats Shirou harsh and coldly, and often takes out frustrations on his sister.  Illyasviel von Einzbern – She is from a prestigious Mage family and is the Master of Berserker. She is the youngest participant in the war, at only 12 years old.  She is actually a half- homunculi and Shirou’s step sister.  She is intended to become the Holy Grail upon the completion of the Holy Grail War, using her body as the catalyst for its creation.   To Date, there have been animated version of all three routes.  Fate / Stay Night (2006) – Studio Deen While the original Fate Route is fully realized, many fans considered it an inferior interpretation due to its animation issues and the later releases. Fate / Stay Night – Unlimited Blade Works Movie (2010) Studio Deen A singular Movie version of the Unlimited Blade Works Route, however, much like the previous work, it is considered inferior interpretation, as it glosses over a lot of the events and details from the game. Fate / Stay Night – Unlimited Blade Works (2014-2015) ufotable After the success of Fate/Zero, this is considered the superior version of the Unlimited Blade Works Route, as it more closely follows the route’s events, along with the superior arts and animation from ufotable. Fate / Stay Night – Heaven’s Feel (Presage Flower), (Lost Butterfly), & (Spring Song) (2017-2020) ufotable Released as a series of three films, ufotable returned to animate the Heaven’s Feel route and knocked it out of the park.        Spin Offs The fate series to date has had a number of spin offs from the original game, some which are better documents in novels, video games, manga, anime, and/or other visual novels.   Fate / Zero The Prequel to Fate/ Stay Night, it tells the story of Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou’s adopted father, along with his servant Saber, as they participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War, just 10 years prior to the events of Fate / Stay Night.  The prequel is considered a better place to start the Fate series, as it outlines the events of the Battle Royal and sets up the various Fate routes better when viewed later.  It was initially started as a light novel series before being animated by ufotable in 2011.   Fate/hollow ataraxia A continuation of the Fate Story 6 months later, however, from the vantage point of Bazett Fraga McRemitz, a mage sent by the Magus Association to participate in the 5th Holy Grail War.  She is the original master of Lancer before he is stolen from her.  The story takes place in the dream of Bazett and follows her and her servant, Avenger, as they replay through the events of Fate / Stay Night’s various routes.  While it is a continuation of the story, it’s not the direct continuation of any particular route, and is left to open interpretation as to the true events that actually did happen during Fate / Stay Night.   Fate/Prototype Considered the original Version of the Fate / Stay Night Story, it was the initial draft and documents for the series.  It’s notable as it re-contextualizes a lot of characters, including making King Arthur a man and Shirou as a female with magical aptitude.  It has only a short animation included after Carnival Phantasm, but sparked a lot of interest from the fan community.   Fate/Apocrypha A true Spin Off, it re-imagines the Holy Grail War having been stolen during the Third Holy Grail War, and pits two warring factions (Red and Black) who each summon seven servants to battle against the opposing side.  The Story primarily It’s notable as it introduces Mordred as the Saber of Red and the Son of King Arthur (despite Mordred being a girl too), but also introduces an 8th Class of Servant known as Ruler (Joan of Arc), a neutral party that acts as a mediator and official for the Holy Grail War.  Originally a Light Novel Series, it was later animated by A-1 Pictures in 2017.    Fate/EXTRA (Extella, CCC) Another true Spin Off, it re-imagines the Holy Grail War as a tournament with where the final victor will grant a wish.  This started off as a dungeon crawling video game series in 2010-2011, with Sequels including Fate / Extella, and Fate / Extra CCC.  It’s notable for having Red Saber, the first non-Arthurian variation on Saber, despite looking similar to Artoria Saber.  She is actually Nero Claudius Caesar, the 5th Roman Emperor.  It was animated in to a single series: Fate/EXTRA: Last Encore directly to Netflix in 2018.   Carnival Phantasm Existing within the Nasu-verse, this is a light hearted, comedy affair.  Carnival Phantasm re-imagines most of the characters with their personalities and faults dialed up for comedic effect, and includes various other character outside of the Fate Franchise, most notable Tsukihime.  It initially started as a manga in 2004-2005 before being animated in 2011-2012 by studio Lerche.   Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA A magical girl variation on the Fate Franchise, this variation re-imagines Illya as a human girl who gains the powers of a Magical Girl.  The universe takes influences from the Nasu-verse, but instead of summoning heroics spirits, people equip class cards and summon heroic spirits in to themselves and fight in the war.  Illya uses her magic wand/stick to activate weapons and merge with various heroic spirits available to that class.  The series is known for being very cute looking, but heavy on fan service and heavily implied sexual harassment of various characters.  It started as a manga, and has been adapted to various seasons in anime from 2013 – 2016, with various movies after that.   Emiya-san Chi no Kyou no Gohan (Today's Menu for Emiya Family) A light hearted affair, it imagines the Holy Grail War as not happening and instead various Masters and Servants living together peacefully.  Each episode focuses on preparing a meal for dinner in the Emiya house, which often includes other characters in the Fate / Stay Night story coming to visit for dinner.  Most episodes show someone cooking and going through the process to make the dinner or meal, with Saber as a self insert character having never seen most of the meals cooked.  The light hearted and warm feeling shows a different side of the characters that more homely and healing.     Home Work: Fate Stay/Night: Unlimited Blade Works CrunchyRoll Netflix

Topic: Lego Review   We’re back again to talk about the tiny little critters that kill your feet in the wee hours of the dark filled morning, especially when you’re least suspecting it.  We dive in to the Lego Movie, some of our purchasing experiences, and what we built this last week.  Personally, I'm a bit upset with how much I passed up the Lego Movie before this, it's SOOO Good!     The Lego Movie https://youtu.be/lPnY2NjSjrg     What Mom Built: Deep Sea Creatures https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-Creator-Creatures-31088-Building/dp/B07GWZNF91/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=lego+deep+sea+creatures&qid=1602819969&s=toys-and-games&sr=1-1         What George Built:  Jedi Defender Class Cruiser https://www.amazon.com/LEGO-75025-Defender-Class-Cruiser/dp/B00C57JERG

Topic: Lego Tutorial   This week, we look at the tiniest building material ever, and the rather huge empire it’s spawned as a result.  Both myself and mom have fond memories of this toy, and so what better discussion than Legos!   History of Legos History starts in 1916, when Ole Kirk Christiansen purchased a woodworking shop that had been in business for 30 years prior, primarily building furniture and aiding building houses.  By the time of the Great Depression, he was working smaller projects, but in working on those projects, he was inspired to create toys.  Christiansen held an internal contest to name his company, and Lego was chosen.   Lego, a contraction of Leg Godt, or ‘Play well’ in Danish.  It was later learned that in Latin, it’s loose translated to ‘I assemble’ or ‘I put together’.   After World War 2, with Plastics becoming available in Denmark, Christiansen purchased a plastic injecting molding machine, and set about creating toys with it.  While the idea of an ‘interlocking building cube’ wasn’t a new concept, Christiansen improved it by making it hollow and locking.  They weren’t initially well received, as many preferred wooden or metal toys, and those that did sell well were not well received because the locking mechanical element wasn’t ideal.  Christiansen later added cylinders inside the hollow space to increase the friction with the studs on top, creating the modern 2x4 Lego Brick.  Christiansen would die that 1958, but his son, Godtfert, took over the company in his stride.   Years earlier, Godtfert had developed the idea of a toy that was based off a system rather than a standalone toy.  This meant that any prior or new toys would continue to work with one another.  Seeking to gain market share in the US during the early 60s, they partnered with Samsonite to produce and sell Legos in the US.    1966 saw one of the most popular toy sets come out, the Lego Train, which included tracks and a 4.5v motor for the train.  By 1969, Duplo were introduced for a much younger children. ‘Duplus’ in Latin meaning double, as it was double the size of a normal Lego brick.    By the 1970s, Lego expanded drastically until the early 90s.  Human figures were added, followed by the standard Mini-figure we know today.  The ‘Expert Builder’ series, later known as ‘Technic’ was added as well, featuring gears, differentials, cogs, levers, axles, etc, which allowed for more realistic models, and aimed toward an older audience.  Various themed sets were also begin to be introduced as well, including Space, Medieval Castle, Pirate, along with their Town Series.   However, by 1992, profits began to decline.  A change in designers in the mid 90s saw the retirement of many senior Lego Designers and new talent brought in, but this new talent didn’t under toy design, and even less about Lego.  This led to longer development time for sets, and less challenging sets to put together, something that fans were disappointed in.  1999 was also the first time Legos sets themed around licensed properties were being seen; but they too were a double edged sword, as the sets were more expensive due to the licensing agreements, and once the franchises died down, the sets were forgotten as well.    Lego rationalized that they continued to operate the company as though it were growing, rather than looking toward trends in the market, such as: declining child birth in the west, less play time for kids, and not sufficiently interesting toys.  By 2004, the company was almost in bankruptcy.   Lego refocused their efforts on their core brands and began looking for ways to expand their brands.  One way was to venture in to video games, where Lego in North America saw licensed Legos as a big seller over other markets.  They also began moving their production to other countries to minimize the cost of production.    2014 saw the release of the Lego Movie, which was a huge success, receiving unanimous praise for it’s quality and storytelling.  2017 saw a spinoff in Lego Batman Movie, which was also well received as a parody of Batman itself.  2019 also saw the sequel to the Lego Movie, but it was not as well received.   2019 was also the year that Lego purchased the Bricklink, a website devoted to Lego Fans.  Bricklink offers an amazingly detailed parts list of ever known brick created by Lego, along with all the various sets ever created by Lego, internet forums, and a hub for e-commerce as it sells individual bricks.  A person can design or purchase plans for a set, and order the individual parts from Bricklink and make it themselves.      What Are Legos? Legos as we commonly know them, are plastic, interlocking bricks and pieces that are designed to be connected with one another.  Typically, one buys a package that contains enough bricks to build something out of it, which could be anything from a vehicle, dwelling, creature, or even a setting.  These packages are often called Sets.  Each Set comes with a set of instructions and all the pieces, including a few extras, intended to make the thing displayed in the packaging.    The pieces can be used by themselves to make other creations as well, and are often suggested for alternative creations to make from the instructions or packaging.  The real beauty is that Lego pieces from one set can be combined with any other Lego Set ever created, so the possibilities to make things are relatively endless.  Lego sets from the 70s and 80s will still work with sets from the modern sets.    Most Lego Pieces come in a variety of colors and shapes, with the standard, most well known, piece being the standard 2x4 brick.  Further square bricks include 2x2, 2x1, 1x1, 4x1, and many more.  Some sets include specialty pieces that are only available with that set or its theme.  There have been various themes over the years, from Medieval and Pirates, to space and underwater exploration, along with traditional towns and city construction.  These sets also include the classis Mini-figure, a type of yellow skinned figure meant to represent people in the toys.  Early versions only include a simple smiling face, but as sets have gotten more complex over the years, the mini-figures have gone on to reflect and represent various people as well.   In 1977, saw introduction of the Technic Series of Lego, then known as Expert Builder.  These pieces were less brick like and featured rods and tube shaped connectors, along with various gears and other mechanical parts intended to build more advanced items.  These often build more advanced models that featured more complex technical functions intended for an older Audience.  On the flip side were Duplo, a pre-school aged version of Legos that was meant to bridge the gap for younger children.  Both Duplo and Technic Legos can be used with original Legos.   Using the knowledge of Legos and their endless possibilities, one can create just about anything out of Legos, and many have.  Some use traditional bricks to make pixilated sculptures and/or art of people, places, or things.  Some use the Legos to recreate various vehicle and items, especially from Tv, Film, Video Games, Comics, and Books.  Some use Lego sets to recreate whole scenes or locations, such as a lego set meant to recreate an amusement park.     Themed Sets Legos primarily took off during the early 60s as part of a system of toys, meant to include various toys together in to a play set.  Since this development, various themed lego sets have been released over the years, with different generic themes being introduced.  By 1999, sets based off licensed properties were also introduced to Lego’s catalog of sets.   Traditional Lego Theme Sets: Town – Modern Suburban Life Castle – Medieval Castles, Knights, Dragons Space – Featuring space exploration and bases Technic – Expert/Older mechanic sets Train – Focused on train sets Pirates – ARRRRR, Pirates… Aquazone – Underwater Exploration Mindstorm – Technic + Robotics Ninja – Ninjas…. Architecture – Building real life buildings / landmarks Duplo – For Children under 5.   Licensed Theme Sets: Star Wars Harry Potter Toy Story Marvel DC MineCraft Disney Princess Jurassic World Batman Spiderman Overwatch Frozen Super Mario Stranger Things Mickey Mouse Thomas the Train     LegoLand Built originally in 1968 near the Lego Factory in Billund, Denmark, the original Legoland was intended to be a park that visitors could visit to see new and upcoming Lego products.  The original genesis of the idea was due in part to the Lego Factory getting nearly 20k visitors a day, each wanting to see the new sets that would be coming out soon.  The park was intended to celebrate Lego’s toy history, but also showcase Lego’s various sets and creations, including human size sets and creatures.  The park was an instant success, and over the years, has expanded and added rides and water parks to the original park, but also opened other theme parks around the world, including the US, England, Malaysia, Dubai, and Japan.     Spin Off Media/Games Lego is not just a simple company anymore, and has branched off in a number of directions.      Lego Video Games Lego games have been available since the mid 90s, with a number of games taking advantage of the building aspect available to computers, and creating various stand alone games.  Many games were released for the Game Boy and other Nintendo handhelds, along with some titles for major consoles.   What changed Lego games was Lego Star Wars, which instead of building stuff, you were actually playing through the Star Wars stories as Lego Versions of the characters and world.  It was unique in that it tended to joke around with the Lego nature of the world, with you collecting Lego bits to eventually build bridges or remove obstacles in your way.  Other games were eventually released in a similar format, all based off licensed properties, including Batman, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lord of the Rings, Marvel, and more.      Movies In the 2000s, Lego released various Bionicle movies, based off the same toy franchise, but ramped up development in the 2010s, when Warner Animation Group was created.  Warner Animation Group was taking up the mantle of Warner Bros previous 2d Feature Film division, with their first movie being the Lego Movie.  Much like the Lego Video Games, Warner Animation Group uses the Lego worlds themselves as stand alone worlds where the people know they are legos, but exist within it.    The Lego movie tells the story of one Mini-figure that is intended to be the chosen one to save all Lego people from being divided and segregated from other sets.  The Movie was a major success and spawned other Lego movies, including Lego batman, which also received wide spread acclaim.            Spin Off Brands   Ker-o Close in quality to Lego, with outstanding sets like Transformers and Star Trek   Mega Contrux More closely focuses on Licensed Sets, like Pokemon, Call-of-Duty and Halo   Mega Blocks More similar to Duplo, but intended for Preschool age children.   K’Nex Rather than Lego-ish bricks, it’s more closer related to Erector Sets perhaps, using various rods, connectors, gears, wheels and other components to build various models.     Homework The Lego Movie LEGO Creator 3in1 Deep Sea Creatures 31088      

Topic: Parody Movies, Tv Shows, & Anime   This week, we're reminiscing and remembering plenty of strange and fun Parody shows.  The Idea hit me that we're probably all running out of shows and movies to watch, so why not stuff that makes fun of other stuff, and what's more nerdy than parody and satire?   Definition of a Parody, Spoof, Homage, or Satire: A work that is created to Imitate, Make fun of, and/or comment on an original work.  This is often done via satirical or ironic imitation.    Satire is when you mock people for their short comings, faults, or vices. Irony is when someone does or says something that is the opposite of what we expect them to do or mean.        Example:   Satire – In Galaxy Quest, the actors recoil and act on their cowardly instincts for survival upon first entering and visiting the ship of Galaxy Quest.   Irony – In Little Mermaid, Ariel gives up her voice for legs so that she can meet and fall in love with Eric.  But Eric doesn’t recognize her without her voice, and thus, is still looking for his love.           Parody Tv Shows Big Bang Theory (Nerdy) The Orville (Sci-fi, Star Trek) Saturday Night Live (Various) Simpsons (60s & 70s & 80s Family Sitcoms) The Office / Parks and Rec (Documentaries, Office Life, and Government action)   Parody Movies Cornelio Trilogy (Various: Zombie, Cop/Police, Conspiracy/Aliens)                 Shawn of the Dead                 Hot Fuzz                 The World’s End Zombieland (Zombie Movies) Galaxy Quest (Sci-fi, Star Trek) Shrek (Fantasy Tales) Airplane (Disaster Movies)               Leslie Nielsen Filmography Post 1980               Naked Gun               Dracula: Dead and Loving it Blazing Saddles (Western) Spaceballs (Sci-fi, Star Wars) Austin Powers (Spy Movies, James Bond) Tropic Thunder (War Films) Monty Python: Holy Grain (Historical European, King Arthur)   Parody Music Weird Al   Parody Anime One Punch Man (American Super Heroes) Cute High Earth Defense Club Love! (Magical Girl Shows) Gintama (Various) Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi (Various) Kono Suba (Fantasy/MMO/Issekai) Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt (American Adult Animation)  

Topic: Pokemon Review   Mom returns with tales of her journey in the world of pokemon.  She have thoughts, Ideas, and our discussion was actually very interesting in the respects of Video Game ideas and philosophy of those that make the game, and where they come from.  It's actually pretty interesting, as we've been doing this for over 70 weeks now, mom is getting quite comfortable and skilled at trying to understand the culture of the people who created the game, which is awesome.  Plus our usual divergence in to Animal Crossing as well.     Homework Review   Spinoff Pokemon Games   Pokemon Stadium Series Console: Nintendo 64 Developed by Nintendo as a response to the popularity of the Pokemon Games, these were the only way to see the Pokemon on the Big Screen. The game was bundled with the Nintendo 64 Transfer Pak, an add-on for the N64 so that you could transfer your Pokemon from the gameboy games to the N64 and use them in the game.  The original intent was for tournaments, so that those watching had something to watch and see during the event, instead of the blocky, pixilated version of the game.   Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Series Console: Gameboy Advance, Nintendo DS, Nintendo Switch Based on Mystery Dungeon Mechanics (When Dungeons or Zones are randomly Generated), this game found you the player transforming in to a Pokemon, based off a personality test, and visiting various dungeons to complete the game. Along the way, you can collect other pokemon to follow you and assist in the dungeons.  Unlike other Pokemon games, the battles are simple, as you navigate through the dungeon and happen upon other enemy pokemon.  Several games have come out over the years, with more light hearted affair and pokemon talking to each other.  There also tends to be a lack of any humans around, so pokemon appear in a more natural setting, with many civilized trappings.   Pokemon Ranger Series Console: Nintendo DS Attempting to take advantage of the Nintendo DS’s bottom Touch Screen, this version of the game sees you capturing pokemon for a short period of time and using them on missions. The big change is that instead of the RPG mechanics of the main game, you use the stylus to draw circles around pokemon in order to capture it temporarily.  Pokemon captured temporarily can then be used to assist with your mission or help with capturing pokemon.  An example is a water pokemon may slow or immobilize the enemy pokemon you’re trying to capture with the stylus.    Pokemon Rumble Series Console: Nintendo 3DS, Wii U Like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, you travel through various procedurally generated dungeons and fight other pokemon. The main difference being the real-time melee mechanics, which act out in real time, meaning you have to run up to attack them, but also dodge their attacks too.    Pokemon Snap Console: Nintendo 64, Wii / Wii U Virtual Console A less beloved, but still cult popular, game in the Pokemon Series. This one is an on-rail (Meaning you follow a set path as laid out by the game) sees you going through various areas and taking pictures of pokemon.  The goal is to take pictures of Pokemon, with points awarded for the quality of the picture taken; this can be due to multiple pokemon, different pokemon in same picture, rare or evolved pokemon, or the actions the pokemon are doing in the picture. The pokemon are all in their natural environment, but with Pokemon Bait launched in certain parts of the area, you can trigger events to get more pokemon to show up, different pokemon to appear, or trigger a short event that makes for a better picture.   Pokemon Puzzle Games Console: Gameboy Color, Nintendo 64, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo Switch These are various games based off puzzle mechanics. Usually, these are re-skins (Reusing other games mechanics, worlds, models, etc, from games in order make new material) of other existing game series. Puzzle Challenge & Puzzle League – Reskin of Panel de Pon / Puzzle League Pokemon Shuffle – Reskin of Puzzle & Dragon / Bejeweled Mechanics Pokemon Café Mix – Reskin of Disney’s Tsum Tsum Mechanics   Hey You, Pikachu Console: Nintendo 64 A unique game where you follow your Pikachu around and talk to it. Utilizing the N64 Voice Recognition Unit, an add-on included with the game, you can talk to Pikachu and direct it around to do stuff for you.  Talking to Pikachu directly allows you to build trust and score, which can unlock additional skills for Pikachu.  It’s unique in that its Add-on is only used for the one game, and also doesn’t work well with adult and teenager voices.  While the gameplay is simple, it was launched right in the middle of the initial pokemon craze to take advantage of it.     Super Smash Bros Console: Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii / Wii U, Switch While not a Pokemon game in of itself, pokemon have been represented in every Smash Bros game, and often favorite. Initial Super Smash Bros saw series mascot Pikachu to the roster from day one, and is often a favorite amongst other player, along with Jigglypuff as an unlock.  Later series would add additional pokemon, including Pichu, Mewtwo, Charizard, Lucario, Greninja, & Incineroar.  In Super Smash Bros Braw, we saw the introduction of the Pokemon Trainer, which could switch out between Charizard, Ivysaur, and Squirtle to allow varied gameplay in one character.  Outside of the various stages in the game being pokemon themed, there are also Pokeballs, which contain any number of pokemon that can be summoned on to the stage and aid the thrower by causing damage, debuffs, or chaos during the match.         Pokemon Anime Largely credited for opening up the Western Audience to Anime, Pokemon has been a staple of TV for the last 23 years.  Pokemon’s Cartoon/Anime follows the adventures of Ash Ketchum(As in Catch them All, the series’s tag line), also simply known as Satoshi in Japanese, as he ventures around the world to become a Pokemon Master.  The show follows the basic plot of the games, with side stories and adventures to flesh out the world and character, intended to be the common adventure of a Pokemon Trainer and his friends.  The show’s art style has largely unchanged from 1997 till 2016, when the Anime had a change in art style.    There have been a few spin off series that are Pokemon Anime, but don’t follow the events of Ash. Pokemon Chronicles – Following trainers for the Johto League, similar to the Gold and Silver character designs. The game follows their exploits, but takes place in the same world and time around Ash and his journeys. Pokemon Origins – A more faithful retelling of the Pokemon Red and Blue series of games. It was a mini-series released just before X & Y’s release.  While initially limited to Japan, they were eventually released on to the Pokemon Youtube Channel for free. Pokemon Generations – A pokemon series initially released on Pokemon’s Youtube Channel. The series follows the first six generations of pokemon and Largely focus on side stories of various pokemon character that have been seen through the games, including trainers, Gym Leaders, and other random characters.  Pokemon Twilight Wings – A mini-series released on to Youtube, the series follows events of Sword and Shield, and only finished production in August due to Covid-19 delaying the production of the final episode.   Like any long running series, Pokemon has had some episodes removed or heavily edited due to Controversies regarding the material or elements of them. “Cyber Soldier Porygon” – Likely the most famous example came early in Pokemon’s broadcast. The episode featured Ash and Pikachu being digitized and entering a computer to aid Porygon, a digital Pokemon.  During the episode, Pikachu’s Thunderbolt Attack causes a mix of Blue and Red flashing effects in rapid succession, causing a strobe effect for roughly 5-7 seconds.  This resulted in some viewers experiencing Blurred Vision, headaches, dizziness, and nausea, with some viewers experiencing Blindness, Seizures, convulsions, and losing consciousness.  While 685 viewers were reported to have been hospitalized, it’s presumed that over 12000 child may have been affected by the episode.   After the episode, Pokemon took a 4 month Hiatus.  After the Hiatus, other episodes were edited to remove strobe effects, along with the Opening sequence being edited and changed.  The episode has never been seen outside of the original broadcast and was removed by Nintendo.  In the west, the episode was mocked and used as satire for Japanese Anime in other western animation, particular Simpsons and South Park.   Jynx – Jynx is an ice-pokemon, but upon release in America, it was criticized for promotion of Black Face. While the notion of Black Face was Foreign to Japan, who doesn’t have a large foreign population in Japan (only 3-4% of the population in Japan is Non-Japanese), Jynx was later changed to have a Purple colored Face instead.  This was what led to the exclusion of the episode “The Ice Cave!” which heavily included Jynx before the edit.   Several Episodes have been removed due to illusions to Earthquakes or Destruction, namely episodes in Japan, as the episodes original Airing date was halted due to Earthquakes or Tsunami’s in Japan. Similarly in the West, two episodes were pulled temporarily pulled after the 9/11 Attacks during the initial broadcast: one featured the destruction of a city and another due to the title “The Tower of Terror”.  Both episodes were eventually rebroadcast.   Some Episodes were only skipped in America. This included “Beauty and the Beach” where the characters participate in a Swimsuit competition, but features James of team Rocket sporting inflatable breasts.  The Episode was initially skipped due to the previous content and concerns over over-sexualization, but later re-edited and rebroadcast as a ‘Lost Episode’.  Another episode, “The Legend of Dartini” would have seen Ash and company looking for the rare Dartini Pokemon and visiting the Safari Zone, however was skipped due to the frequent use and appearance firearms in the anime.  The episode leads to an error in the show, where Ash had captured 30 Tauros Pokemon, which see use later in the series.      Much like other long running Anime Series, Pokemon has movies, 24 theatrical released movies over the last 23 years.  Pokemon itself in Japan releases a Movie every year, which often tells side stories for Ash and company which don’t get referenced or reflected in the mainline anime.  It’s also amongst the only times in which major Legendary Pokemon get seen, as they are rarely referenced or seen in the main Anime.  A handful of the POkemon Movies saw a release in the West, namely during the first and second generation, with later movies not seeing a Domestic Box Office release, but released to Video Instead.     While Japan has had one new Pokemon movie every year, the west released Detective Pikachu, which is amongst the highest grossing films in 2019 and second highest grossing videogame film of all time.

Topic: Pokemon Tutorial   Today, we're starting the long haul of going through Pokémon.  We're going to discuss mostly the games today and the world of Pokémon, because if we went through the myriad of spinoffs, this would become an even longer episode.  We go over the basics, and try to discuss some of what Pokémon represents as a whole.     History Created by Satoshi Tajiri, the game initially started based off his love of collecting insects as a child.  As the home he lived in started to become more urbanized, he noticed bugs disappearing and children staying in the house more often.  He wanted to create a game that would allow people to catch creatures similar to insects, which he would call Pokémon.      Prior to Tajiri being known for Pokémon, he developed the self-published magazine, Game Freak, which discussed Video Game, and eventually began reviewing them, before becoming a video game development company.   The initial Pokémon game was Pocket Monsters Red & Green in 1996, which was quite popular for the aging Nintendo GameBoy.  It went on to re-invigorate the series, and sparked its second coming.  A further version known as Pocket Monster Blue updated the graphics and went on to add some more Pokémon and updated the graphics for many of their Pokémon as well.  This Blue version would be the basis for the Red and Blue Pokémon titles we saw in the west and other portions of the world.  The initial idea for having two games was that they could divide some of the monsters between the two different systems, allowing for more of a reason to trade between other players, which was a focus of the game.    About a year later, the Pokémon Anime would start in Japan, which has been ongoing since 1998 until today, and included all of the previous game series.  The series follow Satoshi, or Ash, with his Pikachu through various Pokémon regions and areas, interacting with new Pokémon, gyms, and trying to become a Pokémon master.  Pikachu was originally the second option for a Mascot Character, as the original Jigglypuff was initially considered, but turned down after lukewarm reception.   GameFreak and Nintendo would continue to release new games, adding to the expanding roster of Pokémon with each cycle, or Generations.  There are too many spins off to name; the series is likely one of the best selling franchises behind Mario, and probably more common than Mario as well.     Premise The world is very similar to ours, save for more wild forests and areas that have been unaltered or inhabited by humans.  Typical animals do not exist, but instead replaced with Pokémon, many of which resemble animals of our own species, as well as various planets, materials, and forms.  Most Pokémon are animals of some king, but some are plant based, take the shape of rock golems, or even pool of slime.  There are even ghost Pokémon.    Pokémon carry an affinity, or known as a type, which signifies what abilities they have available to them.  Some Pokémon may use abilities that are not associated with their type, and may even have more than one type associated with them.   Pokémon all have special abilities, from head-butting and clawing, to even producing fire, water, electricity, and even psychic abilities, and more.  These abilities form the basis of Pokémon battles and fighting.   Pokémon come in all shapes and forms, and most can evolve after a period of time, or training.  Evolved Pokémon follow a simple track and always evolve in to the next line of Pokémon in their species, save for an Eevee, which can evolve in various other Pokémon in its species family.  Evolved Pokémon are almost always more powerful than non-evolved Pokémon.   Pokémon live in the wild, but can also live with humans much in the same way you would pets.  Depending on the type of Pokémon, they might life in forests, caves, near water, or even in snow.  Pokémon typically reside in certain regions of the world, and even then only in certain areas, though some Pokémon are more common than others in some regions.  If a Pokémon lives with humans, it’s not uncommon for them to be treated like members of the family.  It’s not uncommon for Pokémon to develop long lasting relationship with their human owners, or trainers, often coming to their aid or defense if anything is to arise.  Most humans have at least one Pokémon, if not more, of their own; though for younger generations, they may have a family Pokémon, as adults are less likely to have huge Pokémon collections.    If living with a human, Pokémon typically reside within a Pokeball, a ball that electronically houses the Pokémon within a ball roughly the size of a softball.  The size of the Pokémon doesn’t matter, as it is digitized and placed within the pokeball.  No science has really gone on to explain the mechanics or sciences behind it.  Pokémon generally get caught in a pokeball once they have been weakened in a battle, usually by throwing the ball and having it tap the pokeball. Once a Pokémon is in a pokeball, they are forever tied to that pokeball and can be recalled back into the ball if they are in a weakened state.     Most people who go on to raise and train Pokémon are known as Pokémon Trainers.  Pokémon Trainer is a person that trains Pokémon to become stronger or better over time, with the usual intention of using the Pokémon to perform battles with.  Pokémon Battles are typically 1 on 1, with each trainer being able to use up to six Pokémon in total.  Pokémon battles are typically affairs to see who is the better training, but also a way of resolving most major disagreements.  Anyone and everyone can be a trainer, even those with jobs already, and it is not uncommon for a battle to break out at a moment’s notice, though most do not do so indoors, but tend to do it outside, or in specialized locations or Arenas.  If a Pokémon take enough damage, they will faint and return to their pokeball until they can be healed or revived.       The goal of most Pokémon Trainers is to become Pokémon Masters, competing in tournaments and competitions to crown truly skillful and great trainers.  In order to be able to compete in these tournaments and competitions, Trainers must compete in Gym Battles in the local area, and defeat the Gym Leader to receive a Badge that signifies the Trainer’s skill.  These badges are often requirements four tournaments, competitions, or matches, and trainers without a significant number, or certain badges, will not be allowed to compete.   Beyond battle competitions, there are Pokémon Coordinators, a type of trainer that specializes in showing Pokémon Skills and talents, along with clothing, in order to prove their worth.  Rather than fighting, a Pokémon may use their abilities to create shows or tricks that can be judged by judges.  Similar to Gym Battles, most major towns have some sort of competition that can be entered throughout the year.   At the age of 10, young children can start their adventure to become a Pokémon Trainer.  They are often gifted, or earn, a Pokémon, and from there are allowed to leave the house and start their own adventure.  A typical trainer will start with some basic necessities, including some pokeballs and medicine for their Pokémon, along with basic camping and survival gear.  Pokémon Trainers can make money off of other trainers or collect rare objects in the wild to help them along.   Everyone has access to Pokémon Centers.  There are locations that offer to heal and rehabilitate Pokémon if they have been injured, hurt, or incapacitated in a battle.  The process is relatively quick, and free of charge to any Pokémon trainers.  The Pokémon Centers offer bedrooms and meals for children trailing on their own adventure, along with helpful advice and information about the area.  They are found in every town, village, and city, and even long specialized routes or locations.    While most people are good natured to their Pokémon, not everyone is, and some will use their Pokémon for evil or malicious intentions.  There are some leagues of villains that band together, like Team Rocket, which attempt to steal and kidnap Pokémon from their owners in order to assist with world domination or some other evil plot. They are often the antagonist of games and other media.   Much like bad people, there are good people, who try to study Pokémon throughout the world.  To aid young adventures, these professors of Pokémon offer a Pokedex, which keeps track of all known Pokémon in the region and other locations, and offers information, pictures, and collecting of Pokémon.  The intent is for trainers to fill up their Pokedex, and return the information to the professor for further analysis and study, leading to their symbiotic nature.     Games - Mainline Generation 1 (1996 – 1999) Console: GameBoy JP: Pokémon Green & Red, Blue, Yellow US: Pokémon Red & Blue, Yellow Total Pokémon: 151 Region: Kanto These initial games were the basis for the Franchise, which hasn’t deviated much from the initial formula.  Released in Japan in 1996, and the US 1998, the series has one major spinoff in Pokémon Yellow, an enhanced version with updated sprites for the Pokémon, minor game play tweaks, and the ability to have Pikachu follow you from the start.  Pokémon Yellow is meant to mirror the anime, which mirrors the original game as a whole.  The original game took place in the Kanto region, similar to the real life Kanto region of Japan, which is the home of Tokyo and surrounding prefectures.   Generation 2 (1999 – 2002) Console: Gameboy Color Pokémon Gold & Silver, Crystal Total Pokémon: 251 Region: Johto This generation was the first major advance, debuting on the gameboy color, but if you still had the older hardware, would still work on a regular Gameboy.  He series added a day and night system, as well as an in-game clock, with some Pokémon only appear at certain times of the day. The game also introduced an additional 100 Pokémon, and evolutions for other Pokémon that didn’t exist before.  Players upon finishing the Johto region could travel back to the Kanto region and continue the adventure there.  Players who also had the older games could trade Pokémon from their older version to the new version, allowing for a full complete pokedex.  You can not trade from a newer version to an older version however, as the older Blue & Red games would have the newer Pokémon added.  Taking place in the Johto region, which mirror modern day Japan’s Kansai region, with places like Osaka and Kyoto included in the area.   Generation 3 (2002 – 2006) Console: Gameboy Advance Pokémon Ruby & Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed & LeafGreen Total Pokémon: 386 Region: Hoenn This was the first generation to offer remakes of older games, with FireRed & LeafGreen faithful remakes of the original Pokémon Red and Green, but using the updated pokedex of 386 Pokémon.  These games also offered the first series of 2 on 2 battles, pitting four Pokémon against each other.  The series is however not well regarded, as they dropped the day and night cycle due to issues with the battery in the cartridge, as well as limited updating of the series elements, including trying to limit the collectable Pokémon to 202 instead of the full 386.  The games take place in Hoenn, an island similar to Japan’s Kyushu Island.   Generation 4 (2006 – 2010) Console: Nintendo DS Pokémon Diamond & Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold & SoulSilver Total Pokémon: 493 Region: Sinnoh Introduced on the two screen DS, the games offered an improved Day and Night cycle, found in Generation 2, as well as introducing 3D Graphics to the game in certain areas.  Due to the Nintendo DS’s wifi capabilities, it allowed people to also play against other people in local areas virtually, meaning you could be battling or trading with someone on the other side of a building or network. Like the previous generation, the also remade Generation 2’s Gold and Silver games, being relatively faithful adaptations and remakes using newer hardware and technology.  This time, the Sinnoh region acts as Japan’s Hokkaidō  island, the very north of Japan’s islands.    Generation 5 (2010 – 2013) Console: Nintendo DS Pokémon Black & White, Black 2 & White 2 Total Pokémon: 649 Region: Unova Unlike other generations, 5th generation is unique for a couple of reasons.  Firstly, at the time, it’s offered the most new Pokémon at 156, but none of the Pokémon were evolutions for previous Pokémon in other generations, meaning only New Pokémon.  It also was the first generation to not remake older games, which would have been Ruby & Sapphire by normal conventions. It’s also the only series to have direct spin offs in the form of new games; these games continued the story from the first game, but played as though it was you were a new trainer coming in to the continuing story.  It is also unique in not offering a third, director’s-cut version of the game, like with Yellow, Crystal, Emerald or Platinum.  It is also unique in that the setting is meant to be New York City and not a part of Japan as previous versions had been.   Generation 6 (2013 – 2016) Console: Nintendo 3DS Pokémon X & Y, Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Total Pokémon: 721 Region: Kalos 6th generation is notable for introducing fully 3d Pokémon, with all Pokémon fully rendered in 3d.  It also introduced Mega Evolutions, a rare additional evolution that is limited but extremely powerful form for some Pokémon.  Introduced was the Pokémon Bank as well, which could hold all your Pokémon online for an additional fee, and upload them in to other games without link cables or wifi access locally.  The 6th generation returned with remakes of older titles, with Ruby and Sapphire getting the remake treatment.  The Kalos region is heavily influenced by France, but also by the greater Europe as a whole as well.   Generation 7 (2016 - 2019) Console: Nintendo 3DS & Nintendo Switch Pokémon Sun & Moon, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, Pokémon Let’s Go! Total Pokémon: 809 Region: Alola For the first time in many generations, the ability to trade back and forth with older versions was made available again, with X & Y, Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire, and Virtual Console remakes of Red, Blue, & Yellow, allowing players to collect all 809 Pokémon.  It was also the second time in which new versions of the games were released as direct sequels to the first.  A new feature wasn’t necessarily new Pokémon, be regional Pokémon, with some Pokémon switching elements and getting new looks, associated with them, leading to variations on the same Pokémon.  Pokémon Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee were also released for the Switch, which were faithful adaptations of Pokémon Yellow with Pokémon Go style controls.  The Alola region is based off Hawaii and it’s islands.   Generation 8 (2019 – Present) Console: Nintendo Switch Pokémon Sword and Shield Total Pokémon: 896 Region: Galar The first mainline game title for the home Console, Sword and Shield offers a refinement of all the classic systems.  Rather than an overhead, or 2d plane, the game is fully 3d and follows players in a similar fashion as they world a 3d game, though areas are still laid out like maps.  Pokémon now have a new evolved form, making them huge, and in some cases, new features and forms, but giving them new abilities as well.  One major dislike is that while there are a total of 896 Pokémon, only about 400 total Pokémon are available for collection and being added to the pokedex, with many fan favorites being omitted from the final roster.  Dubbed Dexit, after Brexit and pokedex, the news was not well received, with Nintendo and Gamefreak stating that they couldn’t support all nearly 900 Pokémon, and realized they would have to limit it at some point, as well as focusing their energy on improving the quality of the remaining Pokémon.  Galar is loosely based on Great Britain and the British Isles.     Homework Pokémon Let’s Go Eevee Pokémon Anime of Any Kind

Topic: Virtual Reality Review   This week, we took mom in to VR and the many trial and tribulations associated with being in a different WORLD!  Mom was very vocal during the event, and like all good people who look incredibly silly during VR, I decided to respect her dignity and not record it.  Maybe in the future, but it would have been wrong to do so otherwise.  Come listen to what we experienced.     Games Played:   Steam VR Home   Google Earth VR   Steam VR: The Lab   Spiderman: Far from Home – Virtual Reality Experience   Beat Saber     VR Set Ups:   Playstation 4 VR A less confusing and cumbersome version of VR, this is a great route if you already have a Play station 4.  The setup requires a lot less work than typical VR, and if you’re used to purchasing games as you normally might for the PS4, it is an easier setup.  This is designed for people without the fancy PC and is an all in one system designed to be the most hassle free. Needed Components: Playstation 4 Playstation VR Headset Playstation Move Expected Cost: $900 (Less if you have other components.  System can be bought as a bundle.)     Oculus Rift S The original big name in VR, the system has gone through quite a bit of changes in the past decade since it was released.  With their newest version, the Rift S, there are now cameras outside of the device which remove the need for the older cameras that used to track the system from a far.  The cameras track the space around you and the controllers, but assume the movement of the controllers if they move outside of the camera view.  The system is still designed to work with a powerful PC and is tethered to the system via cables, but offers a rewarding experience for those looking to get in to the VR space.  The original version still exists, but as the Rift S offers better tracking at the same price point, it’s probably worth the getting the newer version.  As it has access to the PC, it offers probably the widest selection of games from both Steam VR and Oculus store. Needed Components: Oculus Rift S A good, Powerful PC. Expected Cost: $400   Oculus Quest A standalone unit, the Oculus Quest is meant to be a more consumer friendly version of VR for those without a powerful PC.  Using similar tracking system as the Oculus Rift S, the standalone system doesn’t require a PC and runs on similar hardware as a top of the line cell phone.  This does however limit some of it access to games and other media, as you can only purchase approved games off of the Oculus Store.  But the free form nature of the system is best for being on the go and needing the most minimal of set up of any of the systems being discussed. Needed Components: Oculus Quest Expected Cost: $400     HTC Vive Cosmos Considered the higher end system, HTC Vive is the second big name in VR, coming about two years after the Oculus Rift.  The major difference is that HTC Vive offered the first fully 3D movement for VR, allowing you to walk around in VR, where Oculus originally only let you do that in 180 degree without a third Camera Station.  This is achieved by the Base Stations: two small cubes you place on the outside of your play space which track the distance between each other and the headset/controller.  Like the Oculus, the newer Cosmos version is utilizing cameras on the outside of the system to eliminate the need for the original Base Stations, as the original HTC Vive is being discontinued; but with the base stations, you can still get better quality VR tracking.  Also like the Oculus Rift, you’ll still need a powerful PC to handle the processing.  The HTC Vive is considered the more high-end VR setup, with better graphics and more technology, but expect it to be more expensive as a result.  The HTC Vive is also limited to only the Steam VR platform, so games exclusive to Oculus aren’t easily available. Needed Components: HTC Vive Cosmos Powerful PC Expected Cost: $700-$900 (Original vs. Elite)     Valve Index The original HTC Vive was a collaboration between Valve and Steam, but the Index is Valve’s own stand alone system.  It’s more expensive than the HTC Vive, but meant for people who are already in the market, especially the HTC Vive as it can reuse components including the Base Stations and controllers.  It features 120hz refresh rate and superior controllers that are meant to be more intuitive and comfortable.  As it is the newest player in the market right now, but Valve has been there for several years now, making them already strong experts in the field of VR. Needed Components: Valve Index Powerful PC Expected Cost: $1000 (Can be lowered by already having HTC Vive Base Stations or other controllers)

Topic: Virtual Reality Tutorial   This week, we're looking in to Virtual Reality, the concept of going to other created worlds and living in them, either full time or temporarily.  It's also an excuse to put my mom in my HTC Vive next week and have her experience VR as well.  Being the total dare-devil she is, I'm curious as to what she'll think about it.   What is it? The idea of Virtual Reality has meant a different reality that has been created in some way.  The term Virtual itself was a kind of philosophy that meant a reality that was both ideal and real in some way.  Today, we use the term Virtual to describe anything that originates from technology, or more specifically, computers.  When we speak about Virtual Reality, we tend to talk about entering, or existing, in a digital/computer generated environment or scenario, typically through physical means.      Today, we know Virtual Reality as head sets that you are able to view and interact with the virtual world through.  Modern Virtual Reality is being used mostly for video games, but other applications such as transportation, medical, and even defense as well.     VR In Media   Depending on the media, whole civilizations or worlds may exist virtually, while some enter a virtual space for a short term time and leave once their jobs are done.  Media often portrayed their Virtual Realities as either the Ideal reality you’d like to have, or as a modern system in which you have some control over.  In the Ideal Reality, you are transported to a world where it’s the most ideal for you: somewhere you’d like to have traveled or existed in, or a world that is so different from our own that it ceases to be anything like ours anymore.  The other example is often used like a prison, where people are kept and unaware that they are stuck or in there; and if they are aware, then they have little or no control over the world and are existing through it.  There are also media that portrays Virtual Reality more as Augmented Reality; this is the idea that through special devices, you can see additional things in your real world setting and interact with them.   Typically, all Virtual Reality requires you to need to enter a space where the reality will exist, wear some sort of device to access the digital world, or be connected to it directly to a machine through a port installed on the body.  A common example is something like a headset that scans your brain for the actions you want to take, or connecting directly into your spine.     Example in Media.   Matrix  (1999) Probably the most famous Example of Virtual Reality, the Matrix itself takes place in a world where humans are no fuel for robots, and in order to keep humans in line, they are connected to the Matrix.  The Matrix itself is modeled on a late 90s, early 2000s, modern day metropolis, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, or New York, where humans are completely unaware that they are in any kind of Virtual Reality.  Humans who have been disconnected from the Matrix, fight to find others who they can disconnect and join in the resistance against the Machines.  Humans who have been disconnected can return back in to the Matrix, but can be uploaded with various knowledge packs, allowing them to know various fighting styles, how to use guns, and just about anything else.  Neo(Keanu Reeves) is one such person disconnected, but later becomes capable of manipulating the Matrix to allow him to have superior strength, see through things in the Matrix, and even Fly.      Inception (2010) In Inception, there is a military training device that allows people to share their dreams.  The dream world can be manipulated to look or become just about anything within the dreamer’s perception or idea.  Once in the dream, people can interact and travel in to other people’s dreams in order to steal or gather information about a person, or in Inspection, plant an idea.  The movie shows off the ability to manipulate reality, and how it can be used to great advantage to create anything you want, or a great prison in which to get lost in.  Leonardo DiCaprio is one such person who have been trapped in his own dreams before, and knows how to venture in to the dream to get information.     Ready Player One In Ready Player One, most people are poor and barely surviving, much of the world’s resources are gone, but people still have the OASIS (Ontologically Anthropocentric Sensory Immersive Simulation).   OASIS is a digital world where players can upload their creations and use them through the world.  The movie, along with the book, play off of tropes and items from various media sources, like the Delorean from Back to the Future, a Gundam from Mobile Suit Gundam, King Kong from the same series, T-Rex from Jurassic Park, and even sets from the Shinning.  The movie has its hero, Wade Watts, participating in a treasure hunt for the future ownership of OASIS after its creator’s death.      90s Cartoons VR Troopers Adapted from various Tokusatsu series: Metal Hero Series: Superhuman Machine Metalder, Dimensional Warrior Spielban and Space Sheriff Shaider.  The series tells of three humans who are protecting the real world from enemies in a ‘Virtual Reality’ by transforming in to masked heroes.  The series is uses footage from various Metal Hero Series, and none of the series actually line up with any of them.     Super Human Samurai Syber Squad Adapted from Tokusatsu series Denkou Choujin Gridman, or Gridman the Hyper Agent, was DIC Production’s attempt to cash in on the Power Ranger’s fad of the 90s.  The show’s action took place in a Digital World, where our Hero would transform in to Gridman/Servo and fight evil monsters that were really computer viruses.      Star Trek – The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Discovery, & Picard By the time of the Next Generation, the 24th century, Star Fleet developed the Holo-Deck, a room that used shields and light to project a Virtual Reality.  The notion was that the shields, a type of Force Field, would be projected in a room, and light would then be passed through/around them, creating various objects and spaces.  The force fields could mimic heat and cold, texture and shapes, and the light would always seem to bounce off items perfectly.  The rooms were usually the size of a small banquet hall, with the intention that multiple people could exist in the space at the time.  Virtual people or creatures in a holo-deck are often known as Holograms, who can have very sophisticated AIs.  Holograms typically can’t exist outside of the Holodeck without holo-emitters being placed in the surrounding space.   In Discovery, they seem to have either early version of holo-decks being used, but not common in the rest of Star Fleet.  By the of Picard, they no longer need to be in rooms, and can instead have holo-emitters placed in an area to generate the holograms.    Holo-decks were often used as a means of changing up the scenery or locations in Star Trek.  This allowed writers to write in historical characters or settings, or play on various notions or locations that wouldn’t be common in space.  Famously, Voyager’s Doctor was a hologram that expanded his abilities/roles over time, showing the sophistication of the AI technology and programming.  Many of his stories grappled with if a Hologram could be considered a person, or his limitations as a Hologram.      Japanese Animation: Ghost in a Shell (1995) Perhaps one of the First anime to visit Virtual and Augmented reality, as well as a more definitive Cyberpunk setting.  It tells of a future where cyberization, the act of becoming a cyborg or gaining machine parts, is common place.  It shows how virtual worlds can be created within people and settings, and even how the world has been augmented with Virtual advertisements, signs, and even projections that can confuse the brain.  It’s a series the goes on to ask what is real at the end of the day?  Later series play with the notion of Virtual Reality and hacking more so.  The series follows Major Motoko Kusanagi and Section 9, a task force for the Japanese Government, assigned with difficult missions that require utmost secrecy and security.      .hack//Sign (2002) Read as ‘Dot, Hack, Sign’, the series started as an Anime, intending on promoting a Video Game series where you play a fictional MMORPG in, and started a franchise.  The story tells that in 2009, a virus known as Pluto’s Kiss destroyed any computer connected to it, wrecking just about every electronic connected to it.  Two years later, access to the network recovers, and the first game to come out for it is ‘The World’, an MMORPG with a fantasy Setting.  Players log in to the world via head sets and interact with other people in this digital world, however mysterious things are happening, that cause players to go in to Commas after playing the game.  One such person, Tsukasa, is trapped in the game via one of these mysterious happenings, and eventually gets out.  They are eventually able to get out, only for other people to go in to Commas later on due to events.    Sword Art Online (2012) Likely the more popular version of Virtual Reality, the first of its kind Virtual MMO is being released to only 100,000 people lucky enough to buy it.  Upon first logging on, player discover that they can’t log out of the game, and are then told by the game’s creator that they are trapped in this Virtual MMO until they can reach the final boss of the game on the 100th floor, and if they die in the game, they die in real life due to the head set over clocking.  The initial players are stuck for 2 years in the game, until they eventually get free, and continue going back in to various Virtual Worlds of different settings and genre.  This anime shows the more common idea of what Virtual Reality is capable of, as a gateway to fantasy worlds and new games to play.  It’s popularity spawned a number of sequels and copy cat anime, manga, and novels, which all seem to play on the theme of people being getting lost in their virtual world.     VR HeadSets One of the First VR Headsets was ‘The Sword of Damocles’ which only projected a wire-frame square upon the world.  It was the first in the late 60s, and was so heavy, it had to be suspended from the ceiling.  While rudimentary, it started the Idea of this kind of technology being the future.   By the 90s, various companies were trying to get the full Virtual Reality set up working, with Full body suits and chambers designed to give you the full immersion feeling of being in Virtual Reality.  Sega was amongst the first to really create Virtual Reality Gaming, with Arcade Cabinets that featured headsets that tracked your vision and sign.  While many companies tried to get it to take off, there was also a fair amount of failure, leading to many companies discontinuing the study in to VR.   By the 2000s, Virtual Reality was a fad and not common study, with few companies really looking in to it.  It wasn’t until 2010 when early versions of the Oculus Rift being developed that offered 90-degree field of vision that VR started to become more interesting.  In 2012, Facebook would go on to buy Oculus VR for around $3 Billion.  By 2013, Valve had joined in the development, developing lag-free software to make VR content more possible.  A year later, they joined the market with the HTC Vive.    By 2016, over 230 companies, from Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, Facebook, and more has developed AR or VR groups, developing new technology for the immerging market.  

Topic: Minecraft Review   Mom and I deep dived in to our experiences with Minecraft this week.  We come together to figure out what happened during it.  This episode does appear to be a bit shorter than before, but I still think it’s a good episode in the end.   Initial Impressions?   What did we like, or find ourselves, doing?   Complexity?   The Niece/Granddaughter Effect/Experience?   Minecraft VR   As I have a HTC Vibe VR set back at home, I decided to try and give Minecraft VR a try.       

Topic: Minecraft Tutorial   While not as rich a narrative as Sonic, and not as engrossing number of titles as Mario, the undisputed champion of best selling game of all time is currently a game with pixilated boxes and simple, sandbox game play.  A game so simple, my nieces of 6 and 8 play it regularly.  So we need to figure this out, it’s time for Minecraft.    Apologizes that some of the audio was corrupted toward the end of the episode. We left what was salvagable intact for those who want to listen.   What is it? Minecraft is a 3D Sandbox game, using pixilated looking graphics and blocks designed for the world.  Unlike early 8bit and 16bit games of the late 80s - early 90s, Minecraft uses blocks 3d blocks with simple, pixilated graphics to represent various building material and natural resources.  Almost all elements of the game are based off these 3d Blocks, even down to the animals and items you can use.   A Sandbox game is a game in which the player is given creative freedom to progress through the game as they see fit.  Some games will still have stories and additional gameplay elements designed to keep players either on task or offering immediate concerns/gameplay, but players are free to do as they wish to reach those goals.  In the case of Minecraft, there is no true endgame and players have freely created a lot of their own new games from the core game.     Who? / When? The game was created by Markus Persson, online name, “Notch”.  A former game developer for King Games, he primarily worked on browser (phone/website) based video games until early 2009.  In his spare time, he tinkered with making his own prototype games, employing elements of other games he liked and mixing them in to his creation.  When Persson left King in March 2009, he developed his game further, releasing an early version of the game in May 2009, based off a code he developed over a weekend.  This early/Classic version of the game had weekly revisions based off feedback from those who played it.    In June of 2010, he released the Alpha version of the game, and shortly after left his currently game developer job.  By later 2010, The game was moving in to Beta version of the game, looking to fix bugs and progress elements of the game before release.  He also set up his own company to help work on the game, Mojang.  By November 2011, Minecraft was released as a full version, and shortly thereafter, the lead developer was passed on to Jens “Jeb” Bergensten.    In 2014, Mojang was sold for 2.5 Billion dollars to Microsoft, where the game continues to be updated and developed to this date.  The most recent version being Minecraft Windows 10, which supports a number of different features, including VR, multiplayer functions with those playing other versions, and eventually ported to almost every single videogame platform, including Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Various mobile devices, and even on Standalone platforms like Amazon Fire Tv and Apple Tv.      How to play? Each game takes place in a procedurally generated world, meaning that the world itself is created at random, so that no two people would ever likely have the game play space.  Local areas, including forests, tundra, water, deserts, and other common elements are the same, but placed in different spots, and of differing sizes, so that no two place space are the same.   Once the game has loaded, players play from a first person perspective, meaning the player can only see what the character would naturally see.  From here, players may scout out the island in search of where they would like to start building their home.  The main feature of the game is the creation aspect, using various materials found through the game world.  Some materials, from dirty, grass, and wood, can be harvested easily by punching the ground and trees, while other material must be cut down or mined with tools.  To develop various tools, players combine the various materials they’ve harvested and create the necessary tools and items from them.  Players can also combine materials to make new items, including beds, doors, windows, and a variety of home furnishing.   The individual materials can also be used to create structures and stand alone objects.  Each material typically takes up to a 1x1x1 block space, and can be placed on the ground or stacked together to create buildings, stairs, or other various structures. Since the main feature of the game is built around creation, players have made just about everything: From famous locations, to entire cities and castles, even to fully functioning games and events.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l315VzDcLmI   There are a variety of game modes: Survival Mode: The earliest version included survival elements that kept played progressing beyond just building.  During the day, the played could gather elements, build shelter, and collect items freely.  But once night fell, zombies would come to hunt the player.  The player can protect themselves via homes, or venture out and defeat the monsters.  The player has limited life pool, but can be healed with items.  If the player is defeated, they return to a set point, and must venture out to reclaim their previous collected materials and items.   A variant to this mode is known as Hardcore, where the difficulty is ramped up, and a single death results in loss of all progress and end of game.    Some villains or bad guys you might commonly find are the: Zombie Spiders Wolves Enderman Skeletons Creeper (Unofficial mascot)     Creative Move: Unlike Survival Mode, Creative Mode is designed for players who just want to build stuff.  Players are given access to all elements and building blocks in the game, allowing them to spend their time just building out their world as they see fit.     Adventure Mode: A mixture of Creative and Survival, this mode allows others to play in user created maps and adventures, designed to offer new challenges and customized experiences for players.     Due to the customizable nature of the game, players can download user created content for use in their own worlds, or even download whole worlds to play in.  Various texture packs exist on the market place, allowing people to add various new characters, blocks, and elements in to the game as they please.  Major theme backs include games from Mario Bros, Fallout, Mass Effect, and even other movies and tv show franchises.          Spin Offs? Minecraft: Story Mode This was an Episodic Spin-off game in the vane of various Telltale Games.  Telltale Games present various choices throughout a game, and with each choice comes new dialog, events, and outcomes to the story.  Based on actions taken, some characters will either have new dialog options, differing opinions about the character, or in some cases, may even die.  Minecraft: Story Mode took players through a journey to defeat an Elder Dragon, and was available through various storied episodes.   Minecraft: Classic Release in May 2019 during the 10th anniversary of the game, this version of the game is based off the original 2009 prototype game first released.  It is more limited in what it can do, as it’s a simplified and stripped down version from the version we know today.   Minecraft: Earth A developed in July of 2019, it took the Minecraft gameplay and enabled in a real world setting using Augmented Reality (AR).  Augmented Reality is an interactive experience that maps items and events to real world locations; most of these items and events cannot be seen or interacted with without the use of a device that can see the reality.  In this case, Minecraft: Earth uses iOS and Android devices to allow people to view minecraft structures and items in the real world.  Currently this game in a beta state, but has shown promising advances.       Minecraft: Dungeons Based on the world of Minecraft, Minecraft: Dungeons is a Dungeon Crawler game, released at the end of May 2020.  Played from an Isometric view, players equip armor and weapons and travel through various dungeons.  Unlike Minecraft, there is little creation elements in the game, and the majority of the game is meant to be fighting various bad guys and monsters from the game.     Homework: Minecraft – Of any platform

Topic: Sonic the Hedgehog Review   Mom and I return from our adventures both watching and playing Sonic the Hedgehog.  It's also about time we talk about the strange and weird world of Sonic's fandom, which is probably similar to that of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, though perhaps a bit more toxic.     Sonic Mania       Sonic Movie When the initial trailer came out for Sonic the Hedgehog, it was a much different thing than what we were expecting.  Due to the fan/internet backlash over the look of Sonic in the trailer, the movie was postponed from November 2019 to February 2020.    While critics panned the movie as too formulaic, repeats of similar movie tropes, and a basic fish out of water screen play, fans enjoyed the film, and it’s to-date, had a better opening weekend over Detective Pikachu and is currently the second highest grossing movie of 2020.       Sonic Fandom:   What happened in the wake of Sonic Games Much like how the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles spawned a number of anthropomorphic cartoons trying to sell their toy lines, video games followed suit.  A more video games came out mimicking Sonic’s speed and game play, creating an animal mascot character go along with it, with hundreds of imitators trying to create their own mascot and game franchise.    This caused Sonic to feel diluted and his attitude seemed so common, that a modern take seemed more like a parody in of itself.  This caused a lot of issue, as the character itself didn’t age well in to the 2000s and beyond, with Sonic trying to keep this edgy and attitude like aura about himself, but his games not exactly succeeding in promoting and showcasing him quite the way fans have really remember him being.   Fan Created Original Characters (OC) Sonic’s world, which is very appealing to some, has spawned lots of fan created characters Most character have element of Sonic or other characters in the franchise, with many seeing just Sonic in a different color beside the Iconic Blue, and/or his spikes rotated backwards. Additional accessories like Goggles, scarves, belts, hats, etc, are not uncommon as well.  Some of these characters are very edgy, likely a reflection of teenagers who grew up with Sonic as a kid, expressing their confused maturity in their OC characters So many OC characters created, that you can try to google your name + ‘The Hedgehog’ to find an OC out there. https://www.deviantart.com/midnite-delight/art/Ireland-the-Hedgehog-2013-2014-412884185 https://imgur.com/r/thehedgehog/syUde   Fan Generated Content: Fan Comics using Sprites from the games More comics have transitioned away from Sprites and into full artwork, with MANY long running comic series Comic creator Tyson Hesse developed a strange Comic version of Sonic eventually got to work on the Sonic Comics by Archie, also got to do animation for Sonic Mania and even helped with the Sonic redesign for the 2020 Sonic The Hedgehog film Fan Animations using sprites from the games exe – A horrific CreepyPasta story CreepyPasta are fanfic horror stories The Story of Sonic.exe tells of a kid who was given a copy of Sonic.exe via CD to play at home. The game shows various characters, encountering horrific violence and dismembered bodies, via a Sonic the Hedgehog with black and red eyes.    Fan Created Games Many fans using the Classic sprite to make games, while others made games based off the Adventure/3d games. Most fan games are unlicensed and fan creations, with little input from Sega or Sonic Team Sonic Amateur Game Expo: a yearly, online event to showcase Sonic fan games, both finished and in production One Christian Whitehead was a sonic game creator, who pitched a licensed Sonic Classic game to Sega, and created Sonic Mania with a number of Sonic Fan Game creators. He previously helped rebuilt Various Sonic games for newer media, including Sonic CD and Sonic 1 & 2 for newer consoles and devices.   Fan themselves: Sonics fans have a wide gambit between there likes and dislikes in the Sonic games and community. A lot of fans prefer the Classic Sonic, while others prefer the 3d Sonic, and neither side really like what happened. Sonic fans seems to never be all that happy with anything that comes out Sonic Related A large majority of the fan base is spurred by Nostalgia Some find the Sonic Fandom bizarre and ravenous, too emotionally attached to their beloved characters and games to see proper reason.   After years of Sonic Fans having poor games and negative stigma placed upon the community, many fans began to turn on Sonic, but rather than abandoning Sonic, their frustration and disappointment began to show in the Fan Content.  Much of the content in the Fandom began becoming more satirical, both all the games and their content, but also against the fans as well.  Much of the content created now for Sonic seems to be distorted and bizarre, which is hard to tell if it’s mocking, trolling, a parody, satirical, or honest and genuine.    What is well known is that many people who were a part of developing the Sonic fan content in the early days, have since gone on to become stewards of Sonic going forward, with many now developing his games, making his comics, and even helping craft his movies.   Big Shout Out to Super Eyepatch Wolf for ideas and discussion on this topic.  Check out his original video on Sonic's Fandom.    

Topic: Sonic The Hedgehog Tutorial   This week, we’re discussing the fastest thing alive, or atleast as he was billed in Video Games.  Sonic has had an interesting lifespan, a popular and celebrity status in the 90s, he’s since fallen on to hard times in the transition to 3D and come to 2000s, he’s tried to reinvent himself dozens of time with little success.  But he maybe, arguably, more popular than Mario in some online outlets and circles.  So first, let’s discuss the blue blur and where he came from!     History: By 1990, Nintendo had firmly planted themselves as the leader in Video games, and Sega wanted to catch up.  They believed that Nintendo’s strength lied with its mascot, Mario, and his game titles which helped push sales.  Up to this point, Sega did not have an official Mascot, but several unofficial mascots.  They decided to hold an internal design competition to create their own mascot to rival Nintendo, with a heavy focus on a Mascot that would appeal to a western Audience.  Among the considerations, artist Naoto Ohshima and Programmer Yuji Naka were considered for the project, having developed a prototype game involving fast moving characters.   They eventually settled on Sonic, a blue hedgehog, that could roll in to a ball.  His color was chosen as Blue to match the Company’s Logo’s color, and given red and white shoes to mirror Michael Jackson’s shoes on the cover of his album Bad.  The primary antagonist, Doctor Eggman, was another character initially developed for the mascot, based off Teddy Roosevelt, but was later reused as the villain.    The initial game, Sonic the Hedgehog was then used as the company mascot, and tied in with their Sega Genesis (JP: Mega Drive) system, and became the killer app for the console.  Along with an aggressive marketing campaign that saw Sega Genesis mocking and claiming to perform better than the Super Nintendo, Sonic helped start the great console wars of the early 90s.  At one point, the Sega Genesis held a 65% market share of all game consoles in North America.    When Sega was ready for a follow up, Yuji Naka believed he received little credit and initially quit, before being hired by US-based STI (Sega Technology Institute).    At this point, two games were in production, STI was working on Sonic 2, and a team led by Ohshima in Japan began work on Sonic CD for the soon coming Sega CD Add-on for the Genesis.  Sonic 2 would introduce Tails, a two-tailed Fox sidekick to Sonic.  Sonic CD would introduce love interest Amy and Rival Nemesis: Metal Sonic; the game also introduce a mechanic for Time travel, in which Sonic would travel through time to fix the future, and have various changes to the world based on actions in either the past or present.   STI would continue to work on Sonic 3, however, the scope of the game was much larger than initial anticipated.  Due to Sega wanting the game to come out early and limited cartridge space, they initially planned on the game being a two part game, with the first half of Sonic 3 being released first, and a few months later, releasing part 2.  The first part, just called Sonic 3 launched with a new rival in Knuckles; an Echidna with spiked fist gloves who was the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds.  A few months later, they released Sonic and Knuckles, the second half of Sonic 3, this time allowing you to play as Knuckles.  With the added time, they created a lock on function with the cartridge, allowing the original Sonic 3 to be connected, and released as a whole.  The lock on function allowed Knuckles to be played on Sonic 3 as originally intended, but also allowed Knuckles to be played on Sonic 2 as well, swapping out the original Sonic.     While projects including Sonic continued after the Genesis’s life span ended and the new Sega Saturn became the main console, few Sonic Games were released, mostly due to the difficulties of bridging the 2D to 3D gap and keeping true to the game’s concept and ideals.  By 1998, the new Sega Dreamcast console started the 6th generation of consoles and introduced Sonic Adventure, the first true sequel to the Genesis games.  Sonic was redesigned, and various characters added to help round out the game’s story and game play experience.  With the move to 3D, the game worked hard to try and keep the sense of speed the game series was known for, with some mixed results.  Sonic Adventure 2 was released in 2001, introducing a mirror version of Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog.  Despite the strong sales of Sonic on the Dreamcast, the introduction of the PlayStation 2 seemed to be a nail in Sega’s console coffin, with the announcement that they would stop making the Dreamcast and get out of the Console market.   Following the demise of the Dreamcast, Sonic and Team began to appear on rival Nintendo’s GameCube console, along with Sony’s Playstation 2 and Microsoft’s X-Box.  Various new games included Sonic Heroes, mixing the game play of three different characters at once.  They later released Shadow the Hedgehog, giving the title character a gun and interacting with various other Sonic characters over time.  Several older titles, including Sonic Adventures, and the various Genesis games were also ported to various consoles, making Sonic a very easy thing to play despite the console.    By 2005, nearing Sonic’s 15th Anniversary, Sega was in a rush to have something ready by the time of the Anniversary.  They released Sonic The Hedgehog (2005), a new game intended to return Sonic to his rightful place and reboot the franchise.  However, the game was riddled with game breaking bugs and very lack luster story and characters.  While some of the game play was fun, the many bugs in the game usually broke the immersion and fun.  It is often considered the worst game in the franchise and worst game of the year.   After the Sonic The Hedgehog(2005), Sonic has been in a constant space of trying to rebooting and reimagining itself.  These include:   Sonic Riders – A racing game Sonic and the Secret Rings – Set in Arabian Nights, an on rail runner Sonic and the Black Knight – Sonic in Medieval times with a sword Sonic Colors – Similar rail runner Sonic Unleashed – What if Sonic turns in to the Hulk Sonic Lost World – Similar to Mario Galaxy, but with a tube world   By 2011, for Sonic’s 20th anniversary, Sega released Sonic Generations, a mix of the classic 2d Sonic with the more recent Adventure 3d Sonic.  Classic levels were recreated, with some elements purely 2d over some elements 3d.  This concept was much better received over others.    Sonic also began partnering with Nintendo more frequently, with Sonic being introduced in to Smash Brothers Brawl.  Sonic and the gang then joined with Mario and company for Olympic style games for both winter and summer, and have released periodically.   In 2014, Sonic was re-imagined and rebooted again in to a new series known as Sonic Boom: Rise of lyric, with an accompanying TV Show called Sonic Boom.  The game was just as poorly received as Sonic’s 2005 reboot, while its accompanying TV show fared better than the game.  The game became the lowest rated in the Franchise, as well as the worst selling.   By 2016, for the 25th Anniversary, Sega released Sonic Forces and Sonic Mania.  Sonic Forces allowed players to create their own Sonic-universe character for the first time, allowing you to play as them, but with added gadgets and abilities; the game also brought back many elements from Sonic Generations.  Sonic Mania is a pixel based sequel to the early classic 2d Sonic Games, created by a team primarily consisting of Sonic Fans who has been making their own custom Sonic games and levels.  Forces had mixed reception, mostly due to the short length, as where Mania was praised as a return to form.        Premise: Nearly All Games in the Sonic Franchise take place on a fictional Planet of Mobius, where the evil Doctor Eggman (Doctor Ivo Robotnik) is trying to conquer the world.  To do so, Dr. Eggman seeks the Seven Chaos Emeralds: gems with mystical powers that can do just about anything (Think Infinity Stones/Gems).  Dr. Eggman uses an army of Robots with trapped animals inside to carry out his plans.  Sonic is always tasked with Stopping Dr. Eggman as a result.    Typical Sonic games have Sonic running through the level to get to the end as quick as possible. This can be through loops, corkscrew pipes, grinding rails, and if Sonic gets himself in to a ball, he goes even faster. As Sonic progressed through the level, he’ll hit various check points, allowing Sonic to return should he lose a life along the way, with a final checkpoint/banner that Sonic hits at the end of the Act/level.  As Sonic’s main goal is speed: the faster he completes a level, the more points he will receive.  Various Badniks, robotic bad guys, litter the level, and Sonic can typically roll through them as a ball, or Jump on to them in a ball form.  At the end of each Zone, there is typically Dr. Eggman as a final boss of the Zone, usually in some vehicle/machine intended to finish off Sonic.  If Sonic beat Eggman, he can run to the end of the stage and free animals that have been trapped.   Littered throughout the world of Sonic are Golden Rings, or just Rings, that Sonic can collect.  Rings serve three different functions:  one as a collectable to receive additional points at the end of the level, secondly by collecting 100 rings, Sonic gets an extra life, and lastly, as a health pot.  If Sonic gets hit, land on spikes, or lava, all of the rings he had collected get lost and are scattered throughout the area; players have a limited window in which to collect some of them again, otherwise they are lost.  So long as Sonic has atleast one Ring, he won’t lose a life to damage.  Sonic can also find various item boxes through the game that provide power ups and bonuses.  Common boxes include additional rings, some include Shields so that Sonic won’t lose his rings to damage, short term invincibility, or extra lives.    Sonic can also enter the mysterious Special Stage area, which allows Sonic to transverse the stage and collect additional rings for lives.  At the end of each Special Stage is a Chaos Emerald.  Upon collecting all Chaos Emeralds, Sonic gains the ability to transform in to Super Sonic, which gives unlimited in invincibility, he accelerates much faster and has a higher top speed, and turns golden.  Sonic must have atleast 50 ring to turn in Super Sonic, and each second, he loses a single ring.  If Super Sonic loses all of his rings, he’ll revert back to regular Sonic, and have no rings left.   Later games give the ability to play as various characters, with new game play abilities:   Tail – Can Fly and even lift Sonic up.  Knuckles – Can punch enemies and climb up walls Amy – Carries a hammer and can strike enemies Shadow – Plays just like Sonic Characters:   Sonic The Hedgehog – a Blue, anthropomorphic hedgehog, and series protagonist.  Sonic is described as a wild drifter and a staunch defender of freedom.  He can be a trickster and rebel, but always does the right thing.  He is best known for his running speed, of which makes him the fastest thing in the world.   Miles “Tails” Prowler – a two tailed Fox that is Sonic’s best friend and sidekick.  Tails is often portrayed as a child science prodigy, making various inventions to help out Sonic.  He can use his two tails to create a helicopter like effect, which allows him to be lifted off the ground for short period of time.  He can also point them horizontally, acting like a fan boat to propel him forward.   Knuckles the Echidna – a bright Red Echidna with enlarged fists with spikes on the end, he is the guardian of Angel Island and the Master Emerald, which controls the chaos Emeralds.  One believing that Sonic had stolen the Chaos Emeralds, he later becomes a friend to Sonic and Company.   Amy Rose – a Bright Pink Female hedgehog who wears a red dress and gold bracelets.  She is known for following Sonic around and acting as his love interest, even if Sonic doesn’t reciprocate.  She is known for her huge hammer, which she uses to smash down on to enemies and alike.    Dr. Eggman (Dr Ivo Robotnik in America) – An evil genius with an IQ over 300, he is depicted as being portly/overweight, wearing a red jacket and black slacks.  He is most well known for his bald head, goggles, and comically large, red/orange/brown mustache.  He is the primary Antagonist of all games in the Franchise and is seen riding around in his Egg-mobile.   Metal/Mecha Sonic – A mechanical creation by Dr. Eggman, Metal Sonic mimics the look of Sonic, albeit in a robotic form, and mirrors his abilities.  Though cold and emotionless, the robot seeks to only compete with Sonic and defeat him for his master.    Shadow the Hedgehog – Initially thought to be the most powerful experiment ever, he is revealed to possibly be a clone of a clone.  A black and red Hedgehog, he wears hover boots and appears to skate to gain speed.  His abilities match Sonic, though he has greater knowledge and control over the Chaos Emeralds.   Rouge the Bat – a white female Bat introduced in Sonic Adventure 2.  She acts as a femme fatale like character, claiming to be the world’s greatest jewel hunter.  She can fly and is renowned for her ability to find/steal jewels.  She a Freelancer, working for either good guys or bad guys, depending on the right amount of money.     Other Media: TV: Sonic has had several Tv Series over the years.  These include:   Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog(1993) – a Satirical take on Sonic and his many adventures.  It was known for a very slapstick animation style and often nonsensical story lines.  Each episode was a standalone episode and did not play into a larger narrative.    Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM) (1993-1994)- This series more closely follows the Video Game and related Archie-Comics version of Sonic that was currently running at the time.  The narrative follows Sonic and a collection of freedom fighters who fight against Dr. Robotnik, who is bent on capturing the various people(Who are animals) and turning them into robots.  The story is typically more dramatic and darker than the more light hearted adventure series that ran along the same time.  It’s on as SatAM as it was typically shown only during Saturday Morning Cartoons.   Sonic Underground (1999) – This series had a separate canon and continuity from other Sonic media at the time.  It starred Sonic and his siblings, the last of Mobius’s ruling family, as they fight against Dr. Robotnik and attempt to reunite with their mom, in order restore her to the Throne.  To Aid the siblings, they’re given magical pendants that transform into musical instruments.  Each episode was known for having its own song. The series is not well regarded, mostly due to an overly complex plot, not following established lore/continuity, and lacking any feeling from the original games.   Sonic X (2003-2006) – Created by Japan, It’s Sonic as an Anime.  Much of the characters are transplanted in to modern day Japan, using a majority of their Sonic Adventure designs/models.  The series even replicates the two adventure games at one point, along with several original stories.  The show has generable favorable response to it.   Sonic Boom (2014-2017) – Meant to coincide with the 25th Anniversary, it star Sonic, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles on Seaside Island, Protecting the island from Dr. Eggman.  The series garnered favorable reviews for the most part, and was notable for being made entirely in 3d.     Comics: Sonic has had a long running Comic series through Archie Comics.  The story is reminiscent of the Saturday Morning Cartoon Incarnation of Sonic, but expands on the mythos and storyline.  The comics continued well into the 2000s, adding elements of the games in to the world as the popped up.  The Comic is known for having darker tones than other series, and is a fitting follow up to Sonic SatAM.     Movie: Sonic the Hedgehog movie came out in 2020.  The film was originally intended to be released in late 2019, however, after the release of the trailer, fans were upset about the look and design of Sonic, remarking how Human he looked.  A major overhaul of the character postponed the movie to early 2020, with a much more cartoony and videogame inspired look.  The movie is also notable for having Jim Carrey as Dr Robotnik, who basically chews up the scenes every time he’s on screen.       Homework Sonic Movie Any Sonic Games Recommend: Sonic Mania/Classic Sonic

Topic: Dr Who Review   It's been a week or so, and we watched quite a bit of Doctor Who.  Mostly because there's a lot, but we wound up with similar conclusions.  What I've enjoyed about Doctor Who has really been the sense of trying new stuff frequently and often, never staying formulaic, and certain charm of following along characters and seeing what they'll get in to.  We got see all five of the modern incarnations of the Doctor, some episodes explain more than others, but it was a good watch.  Some Episodes are Legit Movies, not in length, but amazing premises, that if they'd only decided to not make it in to a TV show first.  But all of it was very good, and we would certainly watch more!   Series 1, Episode 1: Rose Series 2, Episode 4: Girl in the Fireplace  Series 2, Episode 13: Doomsday Series 3, Episode 10: Blink  Series 5, Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor Series 9, Episode 11: Heaven Sent Series 11, Episode 3: Rosa

Topic: Doctor Who Tutorial   This week, we discuss the strangest Doctor you’ve ever met.  The series is a long running British TV show, practically a staple of any nerd convention, and with the start of a new era in 2005, a modern fixture of Nerds everywhere.  His name doesn't matter, he's simply the 'Doctor' and for our first British Tv Show, we couldn't have picked a greater show.  Come fine out about Doctor Who!     What Doctor Who is a British Science Fiction TV series about a fictional character, known as ‘the Doctor’ who travels through-out time and space, fixing, interacting, and generally learning about events within history, even those that haven’t happened yet.    Typically, the show follows ‘the Doctor’ an alien creature with multiple lives as he and a traveling companion, or more, transverse the galaxy/time/universe to encounter various species, bad guys, and historical figures and events, either to help interact with them, or to watch them play out.  Following a monster/adventure of the week element, the characters typically travel to a place, either for purpose or because the TARDIS takes them there, and the job of the Doctor is to preserve time or uncover the disturbance and the nature of events happening.  The companion typically acts as the show’s self-insert character, so that the world being unique and new is the same for them as well.    The series is known as ‘Doctor Who’ due to the ongoing joke of the Doctor not having a last name, and characters being introduced to him, replying, “Doctor who?”   When Originally airing in the 1963s, it continued through various iterations until 1989, with the series seemingly put on Hiatus for the time being.  The series continued as reruns in British TV and occasionally in America, where it developed a cult following.  In 2005, the series was brought back and has continued since then.   Typical seasons in the early years lasted about 26 episodes, but later seasons since the 1980s ran for only 13-14 episodes each a season, with a new season each year.  With the return of the series in 2005, the individual seasons are typically only 13 episodes long, but tend to take a one year break every two seasons or between Doctors.  Currently, the series began airing the 12th Season in January and finished in March.     Who the Doctor The Doctor is an alien known as a Time Lord, from the planet Gallifrey.  The fictional Race was in charge of watching over the Universe and Time, ensuring that events played out as they were intended to.  However, after a fictional war with the Dalek, in which the Daleks won, the planet Gallifrey and all Timelords were destroyed and lost, leaving only the Doctor.  The Doctor himself stole an Obsolete TARDIS and used it to travel the universe.    As a Time Lord, the Doctor has access to multiple regeneration cycles, or lives.  Once the Doctor spends all of his energy or life, he then goes through a process where we changes into a new person, still containing all the memories and knowledge from his past life, but taking on new personality and characteristics.  This mechanic allowed the series to continue on when another actor left the role.  To date, there have been 14 different actors who have portrayed the Doctor over time.  Typically an actor takes on the role for roughly 3 seasons, though some have lasted longer and shorter.    While each actor adds or prays the Doctor in different ways, they typically continue to have several key personality traits, such as curiosity, Disarming and Mercurial, wise, melancholy, but holding back some form of darkness.  While often childlike and jovial, when pushed, the Doctor can be serious and even threatening.  This also includes a deep sense of right and wrong, but is usually dislikes violence of any kind, often being critical of those who use it.  The doctor typically knows about every event that has ever happened, along with most major figures of history that play in them, though not necessarily everyone involved.   To aid the Doctor he has his trusty Sonic Screwdriver.  The Device is like a universal tool, capable of doing just about anything the plot needs, from unlocking mechanical locks, hacking computers, a flashlight, conducting medical scans, microphone, and even as a weapon.  The tool basically lets the doctor do just about anything, though it isn’t perfect, and the Doctor often has issues getting the device to work properly.  As well, the Doctor carries Psychic Paper: while purely white, if the Doctor mentions credentials or a status, the paper will show such information to anyone who sees it.    Similarly, the Doctor’s has a particular look that remains consistent throughout the doctor’s tenure.  IE: if the doctor jeans, a black shirt, and a black leather jacket, they are always wearing this exact same costume.  The Doctor’s clothes even work like Psychic Paper to locals, so while still wearing the same bit of clothes, locals believe he is wearing period piece clothing.  Because the clothing stays consistent throughout the tenure of the Doctor, there have been various signature items that have been worn: Sixth Doctor – Multi-colored Jacket Seventh Doctor – two Long scarves and a straw hat Ninth Doctor – Leather Jacket Eleventh Doctor – bow ties Twelfth Doctor – Bolo, looks like a magician.   All incarnations of the Doctors have been Caucasian, British, none of which have had red/ginger hair, which the doctor laments each time.  While all previous Doctors have been male, with the Thirteenth Doctor, it was the first time the character was played by a woman.     TARDIS Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space To do so, they travel in the TARDIS, a time-traveling space ship that takes on the form of a 1960s British police box.  The TARDIS is perhaps only a 1x1 meter box approximately 2 meters tall, however the internal form of the TARDIS is actually bigger than a house, housing various rooms, closets, a kitchen and an elaborate control system, stylized around a circular room and central control console.  While the insides of the TARDIS stretch seemingly forever, the outside remains the same.  Originally the TARDIS would change to mirror the location the TARDIS arrived at, as to allow for camouflage with the local area.  However at some point toward the beginning of the series, the form got stuck as a 1960s era British Police box and hasn’t been fixed ever since.  The TARDIS, itself, is characterized as having its own personality sometimes, either faulting or malfunctioning until a moral or lesson is learned, and acting of its own accord if necessary.  Depending on the series, the interior of the TARDIS has also changed to reflect the Doctor’s current life.     Companions Companions are characters of our own time period(of which the series was filmed) that act as the primary audience POV for a majority of the show.  These characters act as surrogates for the audience, allowing the new elements of the scene or world to be seen with fresh eyes.  The Doctor has always traveled with atleast one Companion, if not more, depending on the seasons.  Companions often stick around for around two seasons, with some transitioning in to the next Doctor upon regeneration.    As of 2005, the Companions have largely been Female, in order to balance out the male lead.  While the Doctor has no romantic relationship with most Companions, often seeing them as children who are just following along, but in some cases, the doctor has had some relationships with Companions and other characters in the past.      Various bad guys have been introduced to the series over time: Daleks - Riding in mechanical armor shells, they are the oldest and longest lasting villains of the series, having been the villains that defeated and destroyed the Time Lords. Cybermen – Cyborg humans from either a sister world to Earth or a parallel world.  They exist as coldly logical and emotionless cyborgs bent on replicating by turning humans in to Cybermen. Weeping Angels – Statues that only move when not looking, they feed off of people by sending back to the moment of their birth and leaching off the ‘Potential Energy’ of a person as they continue to live out their life. The Master – The Archenemy of ‘the Doctor’, he is a renegade Time Lord who wishes to rule over the universe.   A number of villains are usually Monsters or Aliens of some sort.     Why? The series is a beloved Science Fiction series, often spinning in to different genre at a whim and with ease.  One week might be a western, the next a steam punk future, a very technological future, the next week a monster, and so forth, allowing the series to play in different time periods or with different setting each episode.    Various spins have been created over time, including the most well known, Torchwood, an anagram of Doctor Who.  Torchwood would focus on the present and follow exploits of a team dealing with various issues in and around England and Great Britian, though with less Time Travel as Doctor Who.     Homework: Series 1, Episode 1: Rose Series 9, Episode 11: Heaven Sent Series 3, Episode 10: Blink  Series 2, Episode 13: Doomsday Series 2, Episode 4: Girl in the Fireplace  Series 11, Episode 3: Rosa Series 5, Episode 10: Vincent and the Doctor  

Topic: How has Nerdy things Changed during Covid 19   Myself and Mom and have skirted around the concern about the pandemic, especially how it's changed just about everything in the world.  As it is now, we've been stuck at home for nearly two and half months, going on three, and probably four or five.  A lot, including myself, have lost their jobs and in this uneasy time, not even our favorite Nerdy passions haven't been effected either.  So, this week, we go in to see what's happened and has changed in light of the world's sudden changes.   Movies Box Office movies as of early March expect to lose $5 Billion US Dollars Many major Studios will no longer be releasing Box Office figures until future date. Nearly a hundred movies have been pushed back to later dates, including some movies set to release either within the last two months or in the near future.  Some movies that were set to release in theatres were instead released on home video immediately.   Released to Home Video/Streaming Early: Frozen 2 Onward Birds of Prey Sonic the Hedgehog Artemis Fowl   Movies in Production Suspended: Avatar Sequels The Batman Cinderella Jurassic World: Domination Matrix 4 Mission Impossible 7 Shang-Chi And the Legend of the Ten Rings   Delayed: Fantastic Beasts 3 The Little Mermaid Home Alone Spiderman Sequel Peter Pan & Wendy Uncharted   Movies yet Released: Wonder Woman 1984 – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020 Thor: Love & Thunder- Set for Nov 2021, Tentatively set for Feb 2021 Top Gun: Maverick – Set for June 2020, Tentatively set for Dec 2020 Soul – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2020 New Mutants – Set for April 2020, Tentatively set for Aug 2020 Mulan – Set for March 2020, Tentatively set for July 2020 Jungle Cruise – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for July 2021 John Wick 4 – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for May 2022 Ghost Busters: Afterlife – Set for July 2020, Tentatively set for March 2021 The Eternals – Set for Nov 2020, Tentatively set for Feb 2021 Doctor Strange in the Multiverse – Set for May 2021, Tentatively set for March 2022 Black Widow – Set for May 2020, Tentatively set for Nov 2021       Conventions: With Concerns over social distancing and stay at home orders, the following conventions have been canceled for 2020.   BlizzCon – Mid November PAX West(Penny Arcade Expo: West) – Labor Day Weekend (Early September) Comic-Con San Diego – Mid July Anime Expo – July 4th weekend Fanime – Late May   Many other conventions set for August and beyond are still set to continue, however these are likely to be canceled as well.    For contractual reasons, many conventions are unable to cancel their events outright ahead of time like they would like to.  This is due to many contracts including a ‘Force Majeure’ clause within their contracts.  The clause is an element of most standard contracts that allows for the cancelation of the contract and agreement, presuming that the reason for cancelation is outside of the control of either party and was unpredictable.    As example, an outdoor Concert or Event being canceled due to rain wouldn’t fall under this clause because rain for an outdoor event is predictable.  If the location was flooded due to rains, especially if the area isn’t known for flooding, this might fall under the Force Majeure clause of a contract.   For many conventions, they are unable to cancel their contract unless the city, state, or venue say you can’t continue as normal.  As a result, especially in the beginning, many companies canceled their events prior to the city or state starting lock-down procedures and stay at home orders.  Even though the orders went in to effect, if the venue canceled it before hand, the clause doesn’t apply, as the decision to cancel was made prior to order going in to effect.   This may be why many conventions and events are still scheduled to go, as many conventions need to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars ahead of time to reserve the space and technology needed for the convention.  Many conventions are also trying to play the waiting game as well, waiting to see if the concern over the pandemic will subside and allow for business to go on as normal.        Pro-Wrestling Initially was to be canceled due to Corona Virus, however in mid April, Flordia stated that Pro Wrestling is an essential business.  A Pro-Donald Trump for President PAC, ran by the McMahon family, donated 18.5 Million dollars to Florida Govern Ron DeSantis on day of the announcement that Pro-Wrestling was considered an Essential Service.   WWE All WWE Live Events/House Shows have been canceled indefinitely Filming for Raw/Smackdown/PPV filmed out of WWE Performance Center(Training Facility for WWE) NTX Still filming out of Full-Sail University Raw and Smackdown performs, as of now, are filming multiple shows worth of content at a single time.  This is in an effort to keep employees at home as long as possible in order to limit exposure. Several wrestlers sitting out during Virus.  Roman Reigns is the most well known, was set to fight Bill Goldberg for Universal Championship at Wrestlemania, but pulled out due to concerns over his young newborn twin’s safety Wrestlemania and Money in the Bank PPV shot at Performance Center Wrestlemania was a 2-day Show, with Movie-like matches for AJ Styles Vs Undertaker and John Cena Vs Bray Wyatt After Wrestlemania, over twenty main talent wrestlers were released, along with majority of Producers/Road-Agents and staff, amidst a desire to cut back the budget.  Reports claim that the reduction of staff would save potentially $4 million dollars monthly savings, however the company has over $500 million dollars in savings in the bank, along with lucrative TV deals still in production.     AEW Continued with Empty Arena tapings, choosing to do so weekly rather than tapes, and only the one show.  Moved operations to Jacksonville, Florida, where Company Owner’s NFL team resides.  While initially shot in Empty Arenas, it was later moved to smaller venues.  Audience is made up of other wrestlers. New wrestlers continued to Debut during Empty Arena shows, including Matt Hardy, FTR(Formerly The Revival: Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood), Brodie Lee(Formerly Luke Harper) New Mid-card Title created: AEW TNT Title, named and themed after network they broadcast on.     Independent Wrestling Organizations Smaller Independent Wrestling Organizations have taken a major hit and aren’t performing. With many wrestlers essentially out of work for the time being, Funds started by Former WWE Talent Rusev, who started by donating $20k for other wrestlers not working.  Concern over cancelation of events and dates for organizations sparks concern, especially in the beginning.       Video Games Lots of people have been stuck in doors, and with many people furloughed or with stay-at-home orders, they can’t do much. Major Gaming Consoles are not available in stores, need to be ordered online. GameStop and other retailers not open due to Virus. Video Game Sales is up by $1.6 Billion over last year. Twitch saw 1.49 Billion game hours watched, 50% increase over March Nintendo announced Sales of the Switch up by 24% over last year, with 13.5 Million copies of Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Microsoft reported 130% additional gamers playing online   There are concerns over development of both games and Consoles.  As Nintendo’s delays in production only recently made the Switch console available for retailers, Microsoft’s Xbox X Series and Playstation 5 are now going in to production for a holiday release, and with production houses closed, the delay may mean that fewer or no consoles will be available for winter release, missing out on lucrative Christmas revenue.   Same is true for games themselves, with many production houses having to either shut down, or reduce staff/hours in order follow city and/or state guidelines.  Similar to movies, there are many games that will likely be either canceled or postponed to later dates due to the pandemic.    https://twitter.com/theAdamPage/status/1238520148908179461?s=20  

Topic: Anime for Kids Review We're back again this week to talk about some of the anime we watched with my Sister in Law and mother of my two nieces who are only fledglings into anime. We watched some, but not all of the anime, as children do from time to time. But we talked about some of our shared experiences as well, and found that we’re not too different at all, just that some of us spent a lot more time watching cartoons and the other didn’t have children. Sailor Moon Crystal (Hulu)Card Captor Sakura (Hulu)Kaleido Star (Hulu)Monthly Girls’ Nozaki Kun (Netflix)K-on (Netflix)Cells at Work (Netflix)Glitter Force (Netflix)Teasing Master Tagaki-san (Netflix)Fireworks (Netflix)Violet Evergarden (Netflix)Little Witch Academia (Netflix)

  Topic: Animal Cross Review   We spent a week to let Mom give the Animal Crossing a try.  She actually started atleast a week or so prior to our first episode on the topic, but now that she’s been playing for about two weeks, we come back with more questions and comments about those Darn Raccoons and their plots to steal all of our Bells!       Some Cool Tips https://www.wired.com/story/animal-crossing-new-horizons-tips/   Nook Miles Buy Recommendations: Pretty Good Tools Recipes – 3000 Miles This will give you the better versions of tools, upgrades from your flimsy versions you might have been carrying using before.   Pocket Organization Guide – 5000 Miles There are two of these that eventually come up, but they allow you to expand your inventory from 20 to 30, and then to 40 items.  Which even then, will certainly get filled up fast. The first one comes up after you pay off your house, and once you get the Residential Center, the second one should pop up.   Tool Ring: It’s Essential! – 800 Miles This allows you to map your most commonly used tools to a ring on the directional pad, allowing you to easily access your tools or put them away without always going into your inventory.   Custom Design Pro Editor - 800 Miles This will let you develop or make your own custom designs for signs, flooring, and clothing.  Until you have this, you can't recieve or download them either, but once you do, lookout custom clothes.   Nook Miles Ticket - 2000 Miles These are basically island adventures, where you can catch rare fish or bugs, but also find new fruits and crafting materials.  Occasionally, you might wind up on Scorpion or Turantula Island, which can be very profitable.   Top 8 Pop Hairstyles - 2400 Miles Top 8 Cool HairStyles - 2400 Miles Top 8 Stylish Hair Colors - 3000 Miles These are new customize options for your character, including new hair styles and different colored hair.  If you want pink hair, only way to go.     The Stalk Market This is an easy, but risky way to make easy bells in the game.   On Sunday mornings, until 12pm/noon, your in game time, there will be a boar named Daisy Mae, who will offer to sell you Turnips in batches of 10.  Later in the week, you can sell your Turnips to Timmy and Tommy Nook, hopefully for more Bells than what you bought them for.   The price for the Turnips fluctuate throughout the week, and change from morning to evening.  You’ll learn the prices by talking to Timmy or Tommy and asking the prices.  Sometimes, it will be for a much higher price than bought for, while others less so.  Ideally, you create a network of friends who are also playing, and trade what the prices for your turnips are.  Price vary, in some cases they go up throughout the week, and others go down.    Alternatively, Reddit, being all Reddit, has a subReddit for people who want others to visit their islands to sell Turnips.  Beware that when the Nook boys are buying turnips for high prices, that it attracts a crowd, so expect long wait times for selling if you don’t get in right away on a post.    https://www.reddit.com/r/acturnips/     Get the Nintendo App and Custom Clothes/Designs Ever wanted to create/import your own unique logo/design in to Animal Crossing?  You can.   Download the Nintendo Switch Online app and register your friend code.  It knows what games you have, and once you install the Animal Crossing addon, which it will do for you, it will give you a ‘mini’ Nook Phone.  From here, you can scan custom QR codes online and import your own images into do the game.    You can get QR codes online or make them yourself in an editor. https://acpatterns.com/editor   There’s also a Nook Book of fashion, and once you get the Able Sisters tailor shop, you can download them for free from the internet. https://nooksisland.com/designs  

Topic: Animal Crossing   Like alot of people right now, we've seemed to amass a great bit of time on our hands.  Those fortunate to still be working maybe not, but alot of us have been stuck at home and have been really wanting to find something new to do.  Thus, we offer this topic on Animal Crossing, specifically Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a new game perfect for people who don't necessarily like video games, but also a game perfect for people to relax with.     Nintendo Switch Affectionately called ‘The Switch’ or just ‘Switch’, is Nintendo’s latest console released in 2017.  Unlike Nintendo’s main line consoles for the last few years, the Switch merges the comforts of a home console with that of a handheld console, two markets Nintendo is unique in their mastery in.  What makes it unique is that the console starts as a hand held, with controller on either side of the game screen, but can be docked in a cradle at home, allowing you to connect your device to a larger Tv monitor.  The controllers on the side of the switch can also come off, allowing you to use them as either a new controller mode, or use them as smaller controllers for two people to play at once.  The system itself is just behind the power of a PS4 or Xbox-One, but makes up for it with a classic Nintendo titles/games that can’t be played anywhere else, but also a robust 3rd party and indie game market place.  Right now, it’s the console to have, especially as it’s very portable and inclusive for all.    As Animal Crossing: New Horizons is a Nintendo exclusive title, you can’t this game for any other video game console but the Switch.   If you are new to the console and/or don’t have one already, but are interested in getting started, there are two major models to keep an eye out for: The Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite.  The major difference is the Lite version has missing features, primarily that the controls on the side of the game screen do not come off and are permanently attached to the main unit.  As well, there is no docking option for the console, so you can’t connect it to a larger TV or monitor.  The Lite version is ideal for children and those without ease of access to a TV, but is more compact and mobile.  If you are not a serious gamer, and don’t mind the reduced screen size, the Lite version is a good compromise and decent price point.   As of writing and recording: a regular Nintendo Switch will typically cost $299 at retail, and the Nintendo Switch Lite around $199. Beware of Bundles or Special Editions, as they will charge you more for the base unit than necessary.  Bundles often also include a game or added tools, like a carry case, for your system; as where a Special Edition are merely additional decorations on the console, which may or may not matter to you.  In either case, expect to spend a lot more money for either cosmetic bonuses, which can be purchased cheaply, or additional items that purchased separately wouldn’t cost as much.    In Mom’s case, she was able to purchase a Switch Lite for the actual retail price via www.gamestop.com.  Other retailer may have it available, but we found Gamestop selling it for the actual intended price.    Also Keep in mind that Animal Crossing: New Horizons itself is a $59 game as of this writing and recording.       What is Animal Crossing? Anima Crossing is a life simulator, similar in vein to other games like The SIMs or other simulators like Sim City or an Airplane Simulator.    Developed by Katsuya Eguchi, a level designer and programmer at Nintendo, he relocated from the Chiba prefecture to Kyoto prefecture shortly after college, leaving behind all of his friends and family.  After moving, he realized how lonely he was after leaving all of his friend and family behind, and how being close to them was a great and important thing for him.  Thus, this was the impetus for creating the game.  He later recounted that he and his family loved to play video games, but never actually played them together.  He wanted to create a game that his kids could play, and that he could play too later in the day, seeing their progress and leaving stuff for his kids later on too.   All Animal crossing game follows similar gameplay experiences and roles.  You start as a villager arriving to an area, and after meeting with Tom Nook, you are given a place to live, but must pay off the rent/ownership of the house to him over time.  You do this by collecting various objects from around your island, town, or village, and either selling it back to Tom Nook or using it to decorate your house with.  You meet other anthropomorphic animals that act as fellow neighbors and villagers in your area, who you can communicate with.  They can come and go as they please, with new one appearing later on to take their place.   While the game has no root ending or endgame element, your encouraged to make your village, area, island, or town in to the best darn place possible and to decorate it as you see fit.  As the game has no base requirements for completing it, you are allowed to focus on individual goals to your leisure.  While many would ask what the purpose of Animal Crossing, the game has been described as a ‘Healing’ game.  In Japan, ‘Healing’ media are just media that are good and wholesome, and makes you feel good afterwards.  In terms of Anime, ‘Healing Anime’ have no real agenda, and typically follow characters as they live their lives and find either happiness in the mundane or little delights of life.   Examples of Healing Shows in America might be: Golden Girls Friends Black-ish Grace And Frankie Gilmore Girls 30 Rock Cheers The Big Bang Theory     History of Animal Crossing? Animal Crossing (2001) Nintendo 64 / Game Cube First game initially titled: Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Forest) It was initially intended to be released on the Nintendo 64’s 64DD expansion device, as it would have utilized the 64DD’s internal clock, but at the 64DD was a flop in Japan, the game was retooled and an internal chip was created for a cartridge version of the game in 2001.  It is considered the last N64 game released for the system in by Nintendo in Japan, and second overall.  A few months later, a GameCube port was created, known as Dōbutsu no Mori+. This version saw added features left out from the original N64 version, including: Adding the Museum and Able Sisters Adding the second floor and basement to your house Adding more collectable Bugs and Fish Introducing Islanders (Similar to Nook Mile Islands)   This GameCube version of the game is the version we saw in the west as Animal Crossing.  Due to the localization processes, many elements of the games dialog, items, and events, had to be changed and altered for audiences.  This included: Various Japanese holidays being removed or edited, and new western holidays added to replace them. Reframing or removing cultural reference, and re-contextualizing them when unable to remove all together. Extensive re-writing of all the in game text, of which there was a lot. After localization was completed, it was found that there was more English text than Japanese.   Nintendo of Japan was so impressed with the results from the translation, that they re-translated the game back in to Japanese, leaving in the western changes, redubbing it Dōbutsu no Mori E+, or Animal Forest: English Plus.     Animal Crossing: Wild World (2005) Nintendo DS The game is very similar to the original GameCube version, with slight additions and removals.    The major feature of the game was its online abilities.  Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection would allow gamers to visit other players online, expanding the reach of the game.  While the game itself had to be scaled down somewhat, almost all the original features of Animal Crossing were there in the game, including even more characters, fish and bugs, and a whole host of features that expanded on the use of the secondary game pad on the Nintendo DS.   In 2014, the Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection was shut down to make way for new programs and services, meaning that players of Wild World could no longer connection via the internet.  Private servers and homebrew methods exists for those who play the game, as a means of connecting to the internet.  Local play is still an option as well.       Animal Crossing: City Folk (2008) Nintendo Wii A Nintendo Wii Port of the major game, it carried over a lot of the added additions from the previous game.  The new major feature is the city portion, where you can hop on a bus to head to the city, where a lot of the shops and visitors that randomly appeared throughout a week had their own shops and stalls.  Previously, you would have visitors randomly stop by that would sell specialty goods or services, but now a majority of them could be found in the city.   A lot of players of the previous games found the newer title lacking in new features.  As well as the city being an element that you traveled to, only if you wanted to, and not a core feature of the game.  The added element of the Wii Speak module wasn’t as popular either.     Animal Crossing: New Leaf (2012) Nintendo 3DS A return to the handheld generation, New Leaf was well received by the players for many new features added, the most since the original e+ version that was released back in 2003, 9 years prior.  Rather than a new resident moving in, you’re promoted to the Major of your town.  Some of the new features allowed more customization of your town and buildings, particularly where they could be found and placed, along with many new shops and stores for the player to use.  It also allowed more customization to the character and several graphical and UI updates to the game, giving the characters more human models and updating all the bugs, fish, and plants to more realistic proportions.    The game was well received by fans of the series.  In 2016, a new version of the game was released, adding Amibo Support.  Players who already had the game merely had to download an update for free, while new players could buy the game outright.     Amiibo Amiibo are Nintendo exclusive figure statues, roughly 3-4 inches in height.  Each statue has a chip in its base that allows the figure to read by modern Nintendo Consoles, including the 3DS, Wii U, and Switch.  Depending on the game, Amiibos can unlock new cosmetics or collectables for a game.  As Example, In Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing Amiibos unlock new villagers.  In other games like Mario Kart 8, Amiibos unlock new costumes for your Mii Racer.  In Smash Brothers, they store fighting data, so you can practice against targets that know your fighting style better and player better for practice. Amiibos were first released in 2013 for the Wii U version of Smash Brothers, with most, if not all fighters, represented by an Amiibo.    The gimmick was first introduced in to the world by Activision and their Skylander series of games, with Activision originally offering exclusivity for the idea/technology to Nintendo, but they turned it down.  Other companies had done similar gimmicks: famously Disney did similar with their Disney Infinity line, using their various Disney properties and characters.      Animal Crossing: New Horizon (2020) Nintendo Switch Released on Nintendo’s newest device, the game a great success with players, as it released on March 20th, alongside Doom: Internal.  Similar memes with both games came out at the same time.  The game was also hugely successful, as they came out around the time of the Covid-19 Virus and many parts of the world being asked to stay at home, giving people ample time to play.   Similar to New Leaf, the game offered many new features.  Rather than starting on an established plot of land, you actually start on an abandoned Island.  Once there, you go about upgrading your tent to a house, plotting the locations of important businesses and shops, and trying to make the island as successful as possible.   Along with graphical and UI updates, the game saw even more customization in characters and furniture.  The newer features include crafting, which allows the player to create their own furniture based of recipes found in the game.  Along with crafting, there’s the option to customize your items even further as well.   Added features also include Nook Miles, a specialty currency earned through accomplishments and milestones in the game, that can be used to buy upgrades and specialty items from Nook.  A more interesting feature is the ability now to dramatically reshape your islands layout, including moving or adding rivers and lakes, to making new cliffs or destroying them.  A much beloved feature as well is an automatic saving system.(in previous versions, a very angry mole, Resetti, would chastise the player if they didn’t properly save before turning off their system.  With New Horizons automatically saving progress, he has since been fired, but takes up new work else.)      What do you do in Animal Crossing? The majority of the game play in Animal crossing is fundamentally, trivial.  Nothing you do in game really matters, save for what you otherwise make of it.  The game was meant as a way to connect with others emotionally, rather than working toward a shared goal.   That being said, the game offers quite a bit of collecting and decorating for player to do.  A lot of what you want to do in game is meant to either decorate or sell for Bells.  Bells are the main currency of the game, and can usually be earned by selling items to the Nooklings Timmy and Tommy.  They’ll buy just about anything, from crafting materials, fish, bugs, shells, fruit, clothing and furniture.  Bells are used to upgrade your house, and in other games, used toward public works projects.  Bells are also the main currency for buying decorations and outfits.    A major staple of Animal Crossing has also been updating the Museum.  Blathers, an owl that manages the Museum, takes donations of Fish, Bugs, and Fossils from the villagers.  So long as there isn’t one already in the museum, he’ll accept the donation.  Fish can be fished from rivers, lakes, and the sea with a fishing pole.  Bugs similarly, can be caught throughout the island as well.  Depending on the season and time of day, some fish or bugs only show up then, so it’s important to play frequently, otherwise you might have to wait a long time for them to come back in season.  Fossils on the other hand, can be dug up from cracks in the ground, which ones you dig up are random, and you will often come across fossils that have already been donated to the museum.  Anything you can’t donate can always be sold to the Nooklings as well.   Most decorations come in a few different types, but most don’t fit any standard.  Decorations can be widely classified as Indoor, Outside, or plants.  Plants like trees and flowers can only be outside, while Indoor and Outside decorations being able to mix and match as your leisure.   This can range from book cases, beds, tables, and chairs, to kitchen appliances, video games, fish or bugs you’ve caught, and so many more things.  Outside items are generally bigger and require more space, but can be statues, pools, even tables and chairs even.  A special care for flowers as well, as while you can only naturally get red, white and yellow flowers, mixing certain types of flower colors together will create variations on those flowers, causing Blue, Black, Pink, or Purple flowers to grow instead, which are rare and desirable from players.   Beyond the decorations and comforts of your home and island, meeting with and talking with your villagers is also important.  They’ll often talk about other people they’ve met, things happening on the island, and will occasionally gift you with items, like clothing, furniture, decorations, or even reactions.  Reactions  are little emotes you can make your character do, depending on your mood, with a total of 40 possible reactions.  The villagers do remember what you’ve done as well, and will mention your dealings on the island if they catch you doing stuff.  While some villagers will move away over time, you can keep them happy by talking with them, sending them letters, or even gifting them items, which you’ll see them wear or keep in their house from time to time.    Some people have gone on to create specialty islands that have interesting themes or visions.  Some have created unique scenes, while others have created locations, like basketball courts or theme parks or even mazes for people to run.  A new type of youtube video has spawned of Island tours, which people visit other people’s islands to see what they’ve done with them.  Especially when the player gain access to the development tools to manipulate the island’s geography.      Why Play Animal Crossing? For someone like me, who has been stuck inside for the last two months, it’s nice to have something to do each day, but also rewarding to see my villagers come running up to me when they see me, if only just to talk.   For a lot of people, it’s a healing game, even TVTropes.com agrees with this notion, describing the game as essentially a healing Video Game.  It’s meant to be relaxing, pick up as you go, and enjoy.  The mileage for some will be greater for those who can spend more time at it, or those who wasn’t to get the most out of it, but with no inherent goal, it’s okay to relax and take one’s time.    Animal Crossing Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxvZwQPpPt8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO7WBWGOPzo  

Topic: Anime for Kids   Today, I traveled a very FAR distance to come and visit my Sister-in-Law and discuss Anime with her.  Previously, I showed my nieces 'My Neighbor Totoro', which they loved.  Which sucked for me, because this was AFTER me and mom got back from Japan, where we saw Lots of Totoro just hanging out.  Had I show the girls this before we went, we could have gotten some killer stuff with them in it.  That being said, there's quite a bit of children appropriate Anime out there, and I'd love to get my nieces interested in the medium as a way of expanding their view points, and also having someone new to talk to about anime.  My Sister-in-Law gracious welcomed me in to her home, and we talked anime turkey.  If nothing else, give this woman a round of applause for raising two very well adjusted little girls, and also her first time ever doing a podcast.   What is Anime: In Japan, any kind of animation, whether traditional 2d animation or 3d computer graphic animation, whether from America, Europe, China, or Japan, for Adults, Teens, or Children, all animation is considered anime.   In America, while there is no uniform consensus on what Anime does or does not include, I presume it to mean animation either from Japan or with heavy influence from Japanese Animation.  This means I would include some American properties, like Avatar, as Anime.  This means you can include Sailor Moon, Pokemon, Digimon, and other shows broadcasted on TV because they came from Japan, thus anime.      Common Themes of Anime Unique/Colorful Character Designs Interesting worlds Mascots/unique creatures Semi-realistic human proportions Largely human cast Attention to Physics Stories that are more nuanced Characters are Moral and Upstanding typically     Types of Anime Demographics: Kodomo-muke (3-10 children) Typically shows aimed at small or young children in elementary age Shonen (10-18 Boys) Typically Boy’s action/sports for young teens to adults Shoujo (10-18 Girls) Typically Girl’s Romance/themed for young teens to adults Senin/Josei (Adult/Mature Audience) Shows aimed toward adult audiences, tend to focus on more mature/nuanced topics or life Hentai (Pornographic) Porn…. No really, that’s what it is.   While Children, Shonen, and Shoujo are aimed at their demographics, there’s a wide range of audiences that enjoy these shows too.  Many Shonen or Shoujo fans continue to enjoy these shows well into adult hood, while many teens continue to enjoy anime aimed at Children.   Types of Anime Shows (Genre)   Actions/Adventure Fantasy Science Fiction Space Mecha A show in which character pilot humanoid/animal based machines Sports Mystery Magical Girl Shows were girls transform into Magical heroines Card/Game Shows were the premise revolves around a card game or type of game, often used for promotions of other games/properties available in real world. Romance Slice of Life Show in which share the happenings of everyday life and the adventures around it. Healing Shows that are meant to be relaxing and heartwarming when watched. Idol Shows resolving around creation, management, production, or life of an Idol group consisting of 3 or more guys or girls, typically girls School/Work Shows where the primary location for the show revolves around school(typically high school) or at work.       Children’s Anime Anime is shown at all times of the day, but most particularly in the mornings and evenings.  Anime typically shown in the mornings are usually aimed at children or younger demographics, while anime shown in the evenings are often aimed at teens and adults. While a majority of children anime is shown in the morning, there are still some Shonen or Shoujo shown in the morning as well, and even some popular children’s anime is shown in the evening as well.  Anime typically can hold key evening times, including 8pm, 9pm, and even 10pm time slots, denoting its importance/prevalence.   Children’s anime tends to be simpler in scope and programming, often choosing to do a monster-of-the-week format instead of a long running story.  This means that the show often resets itself at the end of every episode, save for new characters, abilities, or statuses that are intended for use in later series.  Or the episodes are often self-contained stories: utilizing a few or single major character and other supporting characters to tells an individual story.   Children’s anime tends to be educational on some levels as well, teaching history, sciences, morals, or repeating important life lessons.    There are four major types of Children’s Anime:   Western Adaptations Stories that are adaptations of traditional Western/European folk tales or stories Japanese Media/works These are stories that are unique to Japan, often using linguistic puns/gags that don’t translate well in the west. Joji-Muke Essentially anime for Young Girls, think Hello Kitty Shonen-muke Essentially anime for Young Boys, typically focusing on toys or video games. These tend to have the greatest success.     Homework: Sailor Moon Crystal (Hulu) Card Captor Sakura (Hulu) Kaleido Star (Hulu) Monthly Girls’ Nozaki Kun (Netflix) K-on (Netflix) Cells at Work (Netflix) Glitter Force (Netflix) Teasing Master Tagaki-san (Netflix) Fireworks (Netflix) Violet Evergarden (Netflix) Little Witch Academia (Netflix)    

Topic: Video Games and How to Make Money   As a follow up to last week's discussion, Mom wondered how people make money in video games, and being the clever nerd that has actually spent along time in the meta narrative on Video Game creation and process, I came back with some information to offer.   What does it cost to make a Video Game?   This namely depends on the complexity of the game.  A game with Side Scrolling or 2D graphics will usually cost less than a game with 3D graphics.  But the nature of the game’s content and desire to fulfill it is also necessary.   Staff There are a core number of elements you need to make a game: Game Designers Basically the person who designs the world, mechanics, and fun of a game Programmers Individuals that make the Game Designer’s vision possible via programming and developing tools or systems for the game Graphic Design and Animators Video Games being a primarily visual media, requires people who will be able to create characters, worlds, and animate them in a game. It can also include menus, UI layout, and ensuring the game’s information is easy to understand Sound Designers Every good game needs a sound track, or atleast needs to have an audio feedback to express what the character is doing, if it’s a successful fit or a critical miss. Sound Design relies on giving an audio cue to know you did something Testers These are individuals who test your game to ensure that they catch bugs and errors in your game, ensuring that your game is as polished and presentable as possible. Depending on the complexity of game, they can also offer balancing and ideas to further the game. Producers These are people who help keep the game in line: whether they ensure every member of the team has the tools necessary, coordinating deadlines and completed tasks, ensuring the game’s vision isn’t lost during development, being a fellow visionary on the game, and much more   Beyond that, you can have more specialized roles and staffs, including an Human Resources, Sales and Marketing, Integration with various console platforms, and so many more positions.  Some people may have varying roles or multiple roles, but these are the kinds of people you will needs, and each one will need a salary or compensation for work completed.   Technology Most games are built in various software engines, on various computer products, and may need various tools and multipurpose libraries of useful assets or information.    Software Depending on complexity of the game, you may need to buy or license a game engine to run your game and develop for it, which in of itself is not cheap. Some engines are free to use, like Unity, but more powerful engines often cost in the thousands to millions to license and develop on.  This is even before the powerful computers necessary to program in.  Less complex games can get away with reduced costs. Services Depending on your game, especially in an always online world, you may need local and cloud based services like Maps, weather conditions, server space for save data, or a place to host multiplayer games. Services like this will certainly require additional money, especially if your game is popular and takes off. Templates, Libraries, and Plugins Most video game elements are not created in a vacuum. Everything from characters and sounds, to how they and other objects have already been built once before.  So if you don’t need to rebuild the wheel, why not buy the assets you need for your game.  Especially if you’re aiming for certain elements of game play in your game, you can buy assets online that mirror or give you a starting point to develop your own game elements, which can save more time and money down the line.     Time All games take a period of time to make.  This will always be dictated by the scope of the game and the size of the team.  So the bigger the game, the more staff, thus more time to produce the game, meaning more money.  Some games might also have tighter time constraints, as games based off of movies might need to come out around the same time as the movie, leading to rushed game development.  Games with a smaller scope can get by with less staff, but it still takes time.    Typically, games with bigger scopes and large teams will take around 2-3 years to develop a game, as where games with smaller teams can probably take around 10-12 months.  These can be quicker or shorter depending on the game complexity and scope, along with the team working on it.      Retail/Revenue     In Sum Simple games like Angry Birds as an example, might cost around $10,000 to make, while games like Grand Theft Auto 5 might cost $100 million dollars or more.  Games that cost more are also expected to sell more too, so a game costing a $100 million dollars needs to sell upwards of 2 million copies before it ever breaks even.      How Game Companies Make Money: While it’s intended that all games are built to have fun, they are also primarily built to make money.  There’s lot of ways game developers and their companies make money off of video games:   Basic Box Retail This is the most basic version of how a game makes money. Thinking back to the days of the 80s and 90s, where you went to a store, bought the game, and went home and played it.  Basically, the act of purchasing the game in question.  Interestingly, most game consoles sell at a loss in the first few years of production. IE, an Xbox 360 might retail for $399, but the same of its parts and labor to put it together might be around $500-$600.  The logic being that while the technology is expensive, most people won’t buy multiple consoles, thus locking you in to preferred console.  From there, video games themselves can be expensive, $50-$60, and can only be played on that console Depending on the platform it will be played on, there will likely be fees/costs associated with publishing the game on that platform. Major Gaming Consoles like Playstation, X-Box, and Nintendo will take a small portion of revenue to be able to be played on their systems, but your game will certain reach a wide market.  Platforms like computers may have platforms like Steam who help sell your game, but take a portion of the profits from you as a result.  If you’re on a mobile platform like Android or Apple, there’s likely a fee to be on the store.   Subscription This is a pay to play model, where you pay a monthly/yearly fee to play the game. The game itself can have an entrance fee to purchase the game, or require you pay just the Subscription to play alone.  These are typically games that are intended to be played for over several months/years. These are also games with social aspects, whether working with or playing against other players.  Typically any game with online play will require a subscription. Major consoles Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo all have subscription services as well to be played to play online with their games. Namely since these companies host the servers connectivity with the games and their developers/publishers, subscriptions to play online are not unusual.  Though if you pay a subscription, you won’t be paying them additionally for each game.   Free-To-Play These are games which are free to play themselves, but may require that you watch/view material outside of the game, or pay to progress through it the game quicker. Advertisements A game can be free to play, but will require watching or viewing of advertisements. Freemium These are games that are free to play, but take a long time to progress, namely due to the gating of content or progression. The gating can be shortened or eliminated entirely by the purchase of game currency or unlocks, allowing progression of the game to continue. Games that rely on this model are looking for gamers they term as ‘Whales’. These are games that will spend lots of money to unlock, progress quicker, or collect rare items in the game.  These are the type of people who will spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on game. Free-To-Play are more common amongst mobile games.   Advertisements Game development can be expensive in and of itself, so some times game developers offer to include Advertisements in their games. It can a few different forms: In-Game-Advertisement Some games may have advertisements built in the game’s world. EX: Grand Theft Auto 5 has some billboards that change throughout the year to advertise new stuff in the real world.  Product Placement Because development can be expensive, some games may use Product Placement to help fund their game. EX Sonic Adventure 2 had a Product Placement  with Soap Shoes, which is seen on characters and developed a rail grinding element in the game itself. Most games use fake or ‘Greek-ed’ names for items. IE  It’s not Coca-Cola or Pepsi, it’s just ‘Cola’.  But some Product Placement may request their items in the game, like cars or locations. Sponsorships Some games may ask for a sponsorship detail, making it so it’s a preferred game and help with the advertising and marketing of a game. As a result of the company spending money to promote the game, they’ll take a portion of the revenue as well.   User Data More common, especially in Mobile Game markets, companies can collect information about you through your phone. They will always mention this in their term of service, but they may collect information on your play habits or even reference the kind of websites you visit.  This data can then be sold to marketing companies as a way of targeting their advertisements in the future.   DLC (Down Loadable Content) Typically games with lot of varied items, characters, or content will have DLC. These are usually additional offerings that are not required to play the game, but are purchase-able as a way to enhance or offer new content to a game.  This content can include: Unlocked characters – either new characters or ability to unlock character right away New levels/modes for games Unlock weapons or skins for characters or models Releasing future content of the game – IE, in a chapter based story, the next chapter DLC has been seen in big games, as a way to add additional content to the game without releasing a new game. Typically this offers additional content to the game that isn’t included in the base game.   Currency/Unlocks Similar to DLC, these are often means to unlock content included with the base game. These are typically used as ways to bypass restrictions or content in a game so that you can progress through it quicker or easier.  Example might be unlocking all character in a fighting game, rather than progressing through a story mode to unlock them. It might also be a unique currency in the game that allows you to buy the best weapons or abilities in the game, so that you can progress through the game quicker, or make it easier to do so. Another names for this is ‘Micro-transactions’       How can Gamers Make Money? Gamers themselves have opportunities to make money off of video games.  In most cases however, the game becomes less about having fun, and instead become about offering/selling a product rather than enjoyment.   Game Testing (Quality Assurance/QA Testing) Gamers are in a unique position to Test Video Games, as they’re familiar with games themselves, they can be useful in understand how stuff works and doesn’t naturally, along with being able to explain it easier to a bug reporter. While you don’t have to be a gamer necessarily, understanding the logic and inherent controls of video games is a big plus. While most people think you might get paid to play video games, what you’re actually doing is testing elements or parts of a game for potential bugs and oversights. Typically, these are unfinished and/or unpolished games that need someone to go in and find where the problems are.  Depending on the game, as well as the culture, some testers will work long hours and overtimes, with some working 10-16+ hours in a day, as well as weekends.  The pay model will differ for varying game companies and vendors, with bigger companies offering more pay typically. Great webcomic and stories about this found here: http://trenchescomic.com/   Youtube/Twitch A popular model of revenue for people is playing games online for the enjoyment of others. This is often seen live via Twitch, or recorded sessions via Youtube, which some Twitch broadcast often uploaded to Youtube.  A majority of these channels that do well offer a unique experience. It can include: Playing a game with commentary or discussions about the game and/or content Playing online against other people, testing your skill against theirs A play-thru of the game, intended to show your progression through the game. Playing Online with friends or fellow games, usually requiring everyone to be able to communicate together Performing unique play-thru. IE Speedrunning, or playing a game with rules, limits or criteria.  Developing or crafting housing/worlds, Minecraft. On Twitch, people viewing the content are often asked to subscribe to the channel to help pay for the content, or can cheer for the channel with Bits, a one-time gift of money in the form of a Twitch based currency. On Youtube, people viewing the content will be asked to watch the Youtube ads or asked to support via Patreon In either case, subscribing via Twitch or through Patreon will gift the viewer with unique rewards or perks, such as chatting in chat, call out in the video, special emotes or emblems, or more depending on the channel Popular channels can make millions of dollars a year, however most channels do not make a lot of money, perhaps $10,000 to $40,000 a year depending on their frequency and content. Before you can start making money, you need to show either Youtube or Twitch that you have regular/routine broadcastings, you have a certain amount of viewers, and some other criteria. Once meeting these thresholds, you can apply for Partner Status and receive money from your content. While it can be lucrative for some, for most it is not. With so many people posting and streaming content, it can be hard to get noticed unless you’re either already popular, or you have a unique experience you’re offering.  The more unique, the better to make yourself stand out.   Tournaments/eSports Some games can be played professionally, especially multiplayer games. Tournaments offer the opportunity to show your skill and talents, with the best players taking home money. People who play in Tournaments often are people who do it full time, playing the same games frequently and often in order to build skill, tactics and strategies, along with understanding of the game’s mechanics and limitations. This is treated a profession at this point though, with only the best typically making money.  eSports are a natural progression of Tournaments, which sees sponsorships taking over potential prize money. You don’t necessarily have to be masters of these games though. You can play host to the eSports, offer commentary on matches, Act as a referee, or help with the marketing of a league, team, or tournament.  Advanced knowledge of these games are required through, so you can’t just walk in to it. Most of the players for eSports and Tournaments are usually already using the Twitch/Youtube model of making money, and are actually discovered on those platforms by potential sponsors.   Farming In-Game Currency/Services More unique to MMORPGs, people will play a game to collect the in-game currency or items to sell for currency from a game. After collecting the currency, they will sell it through website that offer the currency for Cash.  It’s more popular with MMOs because of the ease of collecting the currency or items, as the currency is endless and the transaction can be hidden or obscured.  Some players will offer to farm currency for other games that offer unlock/rewards for currency. IE: Overwatch has skins that you can win via-loot boxes, or pay for them via in game currency. There are some players who want to play with high level players, and thus will pay another person to play their account to unlock later levels/content, or improve their ranking or level so that they can be match up with higher level players. Some people may just start accounts, level them up, then sell it on eBay or websites, though this is frowned upon by gamers and game developers/publishers, often being against the terms of service.   Journalism A way to monetize your game play might be to do so as Journalism. Posting reviews on games you have played or unique commentary on you experience with it can be rewarding. Much Like Youtube/Twitch model, there are a lot of people out there trying to do this as well, so it can be difficult to get noticed or being to make money off of it without having a unique hook or reason for people to read. Blogs/websites, including Youtube, offer a way to express your thoughts and opinions easily.       Other people who Make Money off of Video Games Re-selling Video Games More so with older games, and less so with more recent, older games can fetch good money, especially if they were popular at one point. Collector’s editions or special type of games fetch more money than others. Retail outlets like Game-Stop purchase used games and consoles, reselling them for more than bought in order to make money on them. eBay and other online auction outlets can be a good place to purchase and resell gaming media. People who can repair old systems are highly valuable as well, as people who can fix older consoles are becoming fewer, along with replacement parts becoming slimmer. Video Game Merchandise While you can’t reproduce copyrighted material, you can pay homage to them. Websites like Etsy and eBay offer to sell gaming merchandise for people.  This can include one off bags or accessories, cosplay and props, along with trinkets and home furnishings.  It’s not unusual for people to take their love of gaming into crafts and create stunning objects for collectors.    

Topic:  Super Mario Bros Review + Speed Running + Twitch/Streaming So this week, we had some homework that would have been difficult for some to accomplish if you didn't already have any of the included games.  I'll be linking videos for those who couldn't play the games, but this week, thanks to some help, Mom actually played them.  And while she had difficulties playing Super Mario Bros. 1 with out any help, even she admitted she'd get it eventually given enough time.    Home Work: Super Mario Bros. 1 Game picked because in video games, there’s quite a bit of learned knowledge that comes from years of playing video games.  Some of this includes controls, visual language, enemy interaction, and certainly familiarity with the world.  Some example of this learned knowledge is: Jumps are better when you run We always want power-ups Understanding Health Bars Controls in an FPS Pits are bad I also choose it because the Game Design in Mario is very smart, even though it would never feel like it.  It assumes that you never played a game like this, because back then you wouldn’t have, and lets you experiment naturally with little punishment.    Mario Kart I picked this because it’s likely the second most popular Mario franchise after Super Smash Bros.  This game lets you jump in and goof around easily with friends, and always felt like it very easy to pick up and get going.  What I feel is nice about the game is that you can develop your skills over time to do better in races, rather than needing to develop your skills to progress further in to the game, which is difficult for some people to do.    Mario Party I picked this because I found it interesting how Mario franchise can be adopted to fit just about any genre, including a board game.  I appreciate the board game because it allows for lots of mini-games that always seem to offer unique game play and interaction.   Speed Run The term ‘Speed Run’ comes from the intent of playing a video game and completing it as fast as possible.  Playing a game with the intent of doing a Speed Run is referred to as ‘Speed Running’.  While there are lots of games that are fun to play, there are some that are better for Speed Running.  These are games that involve: Skill – mastery of the game and controlling your character Precision – the game must be consistent in its controls and how the game mechanics work Low RNG – RNG is basically randomness in enemy or world actions outside of your own. While these are not deal breakers for many games that have Speed Runs, they tend to be the more common elements.   Some important terms: Frames – Essentially the micro-seconds of a game, or rather, states in which the game screen changes by even a small pixel RNG – Game Randomness, many games rely on random elements to keep players on their toes.  These can include random dice rolls, cards that are chosen, hit chance, or enemy actions.  Lots of games include RNG in multiple ways. EX: Pokemon: what a pokemon will do in battle. Cycles – In some games, enemies or mechanics work in a repeat cycle, IE, enemy will always jump, run forward, then jump again.  Various cycles or rotations in games exist and players who Speed Run tend to see them often enough to know what best to do when they encounter it. States – The state of the game at any time.  IE how far has a character progress, what upgraded or items to they have, what part of the story are they on.  Simple example could be board game, where the pieces are and whose turn is it is a ‘State’ Glitch – An unintended error in the game, where the game doesn’t work right in one particular pixel or way, allowing players to exploit the game  Sequence Break – This is when a player performs an action that allows them break the intended layout or order in which the game developers intended the game to be played in.  IE: obtaining items out of order, skipping portions of a map, or skipping required actions the game intended.  These are usually done via Glitches or exploiting mechanics of a game to do things that the developer did not intend.  Most common games for Speed Runs are usually older games, games from the 80s and 90s, but not exclusively.  Some popular titles include: Super Mario Bros 1. – NES Super Mario World – SNES Super Metroid – SNES Super Mario 64 – N64 Doom – PC Quake – PC  Some newer titles are also run, including: MineCraft – PC Resident Evil 2(2019) – PS4 UnderTale - Multiple Mario Kart 8 – Wii U/Switch Super Mario Odyssey - Switch Cup Head - Multiple Portal 2 - PC  Depending on the video game, additional rules and limitations can be placed on the game in order to achieve various different times.  This can include: Any% - Typically the simplest, completing the game as quick as possible, regardless of using glitches or sequence breaks to bypass elements of the game. 100% - Full completion of the game, Plus collecting all available items, collectables, or upgrades Low% - Full completion of the game, but while collecting the bare minimum of items, collectables, or upgrades necessary to complete the game. Glitchless – Similar to Any%, however, avoiding any glitches or elements of the game that were unintended by the developers. Challenge – These may be completing a game while invoking a challenge, IE, fewest jumps or weakest weapons  Various websites exist to track the Speed Running community, where they upload videos or scores to leader boards to track their progress and who is currently the fastest.  One of the more popular is Speedrun.com, which tracks hundreds of games.  It’s a community that is very much friendly with one another, as they try to find new routes or tactics to overcome the time crunch.    Tool Assisted Speed Run (TAS) A Tool Assisted Speed Run(TAS) is where a person is assisted by tools to complete a Speed Run.  So rather than completing it purely by skill, a person has manipulated the controls to allow them to play in a better or worse way.   Typically, this means a program will play the game by making precise inputs as previously recorded by a programmer.  The programmer, using emulation tools, will go Frame by Frame of a game, mapping out the inputs of the game at a speed or responsiveness that cannot be replicated by a human.  This allows a game to be played in the most optimal way to complete the game intended, or cause the game to do things unintended by its original developers.  Some example include: playing a game perfectly from start to finish, playing a game that is technically cheating but still winning, or manipulating the game to create new code and create new elements of a game.  TAS are usually showcases for cool things in video games, IE, unintended cheats or exploits in games, to weird mechanics and programming that resulted from it.    Twitch / Streaming In the digital age we currently live in: ‘Streaming’ is the act of broadcasting things people do not actively own, over the web, in real time.  Streaming example include: Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Twitch.  Typically, streaming is the act of watching or listening to something that is currently available only for a set period of time in it is available or in which the service is paid for.   If you watch a video on Netflix, you’re streaming because you do not own the material and you must pay for the service.  If you’re watching via Youtube, this isn’t considered watching a stream, as the content is intended to be free of charge and always available.     Twitch Is a Video Streaming service that primarily focuses on user-created Video Game Streaming, but also includes more general topics as well, ranging from Cooking, arts/crafts, beauty, talk shows/podcast, politics, music, and even just chatting.  These streams only include original content as generated by the channel’s users, IE: you can’t watch movies on Twitch as the channel’s user did not generate the content.  There must always be some kind of user generated input in showing the content.  Originally starting as ‘Justin.tv’ in 2007, the website allowed people to broadcast user-created content for free to unlimited number of people.  The platform was intended for people who wanted to stream their lives as they interacted and lived through it, allowing people to live in someone else’s shoes, al ‘Truman Show’.  The website’s Video Game related content quickly became the dominate content and was thus spun off in to ‘Twitch’ in 2011.  Justin.tv was eventually shut down and a majority of its content moved to Twitch.  In 2014, Amazon acquired Twitch and has since merged it with other Video game related communities, including Curse.  Today, Twitch is the #1 streaming platform for Video Game, which allows anyone to stream their own user-created content.  For many games, it is also the home for eSport broadcasts, but also including Speed Runs.  Other game content includes people with unique narrations on their game-play, or multi-player games being played together my multiple people, which is usually the bulk of the channel’s content.  Many Streamers are small time celebrities due to their views; due to the number of views, some streamers make a living off of streaming, with player Ninja making upwards of $100,000 a month while on Twitch.  Twitch is the 26th most popular website in the world, 13th in United States.  It is worth roughly $3.8 billion.  Twitch’s competitor include youtube.com and Mixer, which is quickly joining the ranks of Twitch as it plucks off some of Twitch’s top streamers away.    eSports eSports is a form of Sport for video games.  It usually is an organized competition between professional players, in either individual or teams, in order to win a tournament or competition.  Most of these competitions are over Multiplayer games, which require a one-on-one or team based game play.  Some of the most common games include: MOBA – Multiplayer Online Battle Arena FPS – First Person Shooter Fighting Card Games Battle Royales RTS – Real Time Strategy  Some of the most popular eSports, as sponsored by their developers include: League of Legends Dota Counter Strike Overwatch Super Smash Bros StarCraft Hearthstone Call of Duty   In recent few years, eSports have been recognized by the Olympics, along with Colleges and Schools, which offer professional and amateur eSport programs.  As of 2019, 130 colleges have some kind of eSports based program.  

Topic: Super Mario Bros Tutorial   To get us off the rather serious, or rather, semi-serious topic of last week, I felt it was wise to move on to something completely different.  With a lot of people stuck inside as of late, I felt that we should consider video games as an avenue of discussion.  Since a great majority of Nerds love video games, we'll start off simple, and with the most recognizable character in Video Games.  So we're discussing and starting our topic on Super Mario Bros. and it's surprisingly lengthy history.     History of Nintendo Founded in 1889 as a Playing Card Company In 1975, the Company began pivoting toward electronics and Game Cabinets in Arcardes Donkey Kong released in 1981 Jumpman was introduced as company Mascot, better known today as Mario These games are developed by Shigeru Miyamoto, who would go on to be the ‘Walt Disney’ of Nintendo In 1980, Game and Watch series of games released, popular hand held games In 1983, Nintendo releases the ‘Famicom’ or ‘Family Computer’ as a video game console in Japan. It is released worldwide in 1985 as the ‘Nintendo Entertainment System’ 1985 Also sees Mario’s First Major outing in ‘Super Mario Brothers’. In 1988, Nintendo began publishing ‘Nintendo Power’, a monthly magazine for their new games and fan magazine. By 1989, Nintendo released the ‘Game Boy’ a portable video game console. It is arguably, the most successful and most sold video game console, (If you include it’s various iterations) Nintendo stays strong in the Handheld market through out release In 1991, Nintendo and Sony begin work and development on CD Addon for Super Nintendo, but as CES(Consumer Electronics Show) in 1991, Nintendo backed out of the deal and went with Philips instead. The decision to break partnership with Sony caused Sony to develop the PlayStation, Nintendo’s biggest rival in the console market to date. 1996 sees release of Nintendo 64, Nintendo’s reliance on cartages over CDs causes a lot of its 3rd party publishers to move on to other consoles. 2002 saw Satoru Iwata becoming President of company, leading the company through many new consoles 2006 sees release of the Wii, becoming a major Success for Nintendo and the most dominate 7th generation console 2012 sees release of the Wii U, the successor to the Wii, bring in HD graphics. It is considered a failure due to lack of understanding how to use the system by consumers and gave developers In 2015, Satoru Iwata dies due to complications at 55 In 2016, Nintendo release the NES Classic, a smaller device with Classic NES Controllers that included a number of popular NES titles. It did the same in 2017 with the SNES Classic.  Due to high demand and low inventory, a rather later secondary market continues to sell the consoles at double or triple the original price 2017 sees the release of the Switch, merging both Handheld and console gaming in to one device for Nintendo   Nintendo Consoles 1985 – Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (3rd Generation) 2016 – NES Classic Edition 1989 – Nintendo Game Boy (GB) 1998 – Game Boy Color (GBC) 2001 – Game Boy Advance(GBA) 1991 – Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) (4th Generation) 2017 – SNES Classic Edition 1995 – Nintendo Virtual Boy 1996 – Nintendo 64 (N64) (5th Generation) 2001 – Nintendo GameCube (GCN) (6th Generation) 2004 – Nintendo DS(Dual Screen) (DS) 2011 Nintendo 3DS (3DS) 2006 – Nintendo Wii (Wii) (7th Generation) 2012 – Nintendo Wii U (Wii U) (8th Generation) 2017 – Nintendo Switch (Switch) (9th Generation)     History of Mario Started life as ‘Jumpman’ in original Donkey Kong(1981) game. Name was later changed to Mario is Donkey Kong Junior where he is a villain. He would get his brother Luigi and star in his own game Mario Brothers(1982). This also marked the first time he was noted for being Italian and a plumber. Mario gets his name from ‘Mario Segale’, Landlord for the Nintendo of America’s offices at the time. Mario has appeared in over 200+ video game series Confusing Last Name, joked as “Mario Mario”, hence Mario Brothers, but no official Nintendo Stance on the last name   Characters of Mario Princess Peach(Princess Toadstool) Ruler of the Mushroom Kingdom, main Love Interest, usually being held captive, but usually very resourceful, and can float/fly Luigi Younger brother to Mario, often portrayed as a coward and scared, is lighter and has more floatier jumps Bowser (King Koopa) Main Antagonist, a giant Bull/Turtle leader of the Koopa Race(Evil turtles) wants to marry Princess Peach Bowser Jr Bowser’s Canonical Son Koopalings Initially Boswer’s children, but later recon to be Bowser’s minions Toad A loyal Subject of Princess Peach and recurring assistant/character to Mario and Luigi Toadette A female version of Toad Donkey Kong A big Ape, originally intended to be King Kong, he kidnapped Paluine in his own game and made Mario come to save him.  While he has never appeared in a Mainline Mario game, he is a staple of Mario’s various Spin Offs, including Mario Kart and Mario Party. Diddy Kong A younger Cousin to Donkey Kong, he is portrayed a smaller monkey with a tail, a cap, and wearing a t-shirt. Princess Daisy Lead Princess in Game Boy Mario titles, she is best friends with Princess Peach, often portrayed as a tomboy and upbeat personality Rosalina While not an official princess, she often portrayed in similar fashion.  She is portrayed as mysterious, wise, and worldly Pauline Original captured heroine of Donkey Kong, has made spare appearance in other Mario titles, most recently as leader of New Donk City in Super Mario Odyssey Yoshi A rideable dinosaur for Mario and company. He has his own games where he is the hero. He is portrays as an innocent child with a long tongue that eats enemies and turns them to Eggs.  He was in original Design documents for NES Mario games, but wasn’t realized until Super Mario World Cappy A newer character introduced in Mario Odyssey, he is a sentient hat that replaces Mario’s classic had when it is destroyed Wario Mario’s Rival and a negative mirror to Mario, portrayed as money hungry and glutinous, often trying to best Mario whenever possible. He has a spin off of games that are semi-irrelevant and weird by intention.  The name "Wario" is a portmanteau of "Mario" with the Japanese adjective warui (悪い) meaning "bad"; hence, a "bad Mario" Waluigi Similar to Wario, he is Luigi’s Rival and mirror to Luigi, portrayed with long lanky arms and willing to cheat to win.  Though he has never starred in his own game, never seen without Wario, and never appeared in any mainline Mario Games, he has a cult following and is the subject of lots of Internet Memes and jokes.   Mainline Mario Titles There are 21 mainline Mario games, with atleast 10 rereleases for alternate Hardware.  Most games revolve around Bowser causing havoc in his efforts to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.  This often is forms in Princess Peach and her Castle being taken over the Bowser, and Mario attempting to save Princess Peach.  In other cases, Bowser has unleashed or tapped in to various new abilities, worlds, or associates to assist him in getting Princess Peach to Marry him and for him to take over the Mushroom Kingdom.   Mario is the primary hero of these games, with Luigi as a second player option; in more recent games, Luigi has slightly different abilities over Mario, leading to different gameplay.  Other games introduce Princess Peach or Toad as alternate characters that can be played, each of whom offer their own unique abilities that allow them navigate the game in different ways.  Mario’s goal is march through each level in a world or land, in order to reach the Castle and defeat a boss that will unlock the next world or land.  At the end, Mario must face off against Bowser in his castle/base to defeat him and save Princess Peach.   While Mario has little assistance outside of his brother, he can gain access to a number of power ups.  Most notably are: Super Mushroom - Makes Mario taller and capable of breaking blocks with a punch Fire Flower – Make Mario capable of throwing Fireballs Tanuki Leaf/Super Feather – Gives Mario the ability to fly and spin to defeat enemies Super Star – Makes Mario immune to any damage he might take for a limited time, instantly defeat enemies Yoshi – A rideable Dinosaur that Mario can ride and gain access to new abilities Each game has its own unique power ups, some that reappear in other games, with others that do so only in that title.  If Mario gets hit by an enemy, he will lose whatever power-up he most recently had and transform back into his original form.  A following hit will cause him to lose a life, and Mario will need to start back from the beginning of the level, or closest check point that he cleared.   Most enemies in the game can be beat by hopping on top of them, punching them when they are close enough in later games, or attacking them with a power up.  Some enemies can only be defeated by some power-ups.  Bosses often take about 3 hits or more, depending on the game.   The mainline Mario games include: Super Mario Bros. (1985) – NES First major Mario game, released with NES in America, often as a bundle. Super Mario Bros. Deluxe (1999) - GBC Rereleased on Game Boy Color with updated over world Map Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels (1986) - NES Technically Super Mario Bros 2 in Japan, it was considered too difficult for American Gamers and was not released in America until Super Mario All-Stars(1993)   Super Mario Bros. 2 (1988) – NES Originally published in Japan as Yume Kōjō: Doki Doki Panic, a tie in with a Japanese TV Channel’s Mascots.  It was released in the West as Super Mario Bros. 2 as Nintendo felt it would be easier and better fit for Western Gamers.  Super Mario Bros. 2 takes place in Mario’s dream. Super Mario Advance (2001) - GBA A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware   Super Mario Bros. 3 (1988) – NES Return to a more classic Mario. First introduction of Tanuki leaf and raccoon tail/ears for Mario.  First time Mario flew, and first introduction of an Over-world Super Mario Advanced 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (2003) - GBA A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware   Super Mario Land (1989) - GB                 First Game Boy Mario title.  Introduction of Princess Daisy   Super Mario World (1990) – SNES First outing on SNES. Often released with the system. Started as a remake of Super Mario Bros. 3.  Introduced Yoshi, who had been planned as earlier as Super Mario 1, but cut due to technical limitations Super Mario Advance 2 (2001) - GBA A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware   Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins (1992) – GB Second Outing on Game Boy, Introduction of Wario, Mario’s Rival   Super Mario All-Stars (1993) – SNES A release of Super Mario 1, 2, & 3, and also first time seeing the Japanese Super Mario 2, renamed as Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels   Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island (1995) – SNES First Mario Title to focus on Another character, ie Yoshi, as the main hero Super Mario Advance 3: Yoshi's Island (2002) – GBA A rerelease on Game Boy Advance hardware   Super Mario 64 (1996) - N64 First Major game in 3D, pioneered a number of 3D Platform elements that would become mainstream Super Mario 64 DS (2004) – DS A rerelease on Nintendo DS hardware   Super Mario Sunshine (2002) – GCN Follow up to Super Mario 64, showing of new tech, allowing Rideable Yoshi, and more story driven than previous games.  Introduce Bowser Jr.   New Super Mario Bros. (2006) – DS A return to the 2d side scrolling roots of the Mario Franchise   Super Mario Galaxy (2007) – Wii First Major game to introduce gravity changing effects to the Mario series, in the form of planets. Introduction of Princess Rosalina   New Super Mario Bros. Wii (2009) – Wii A follow up to their outing on the DS, this featured 4 player co-op play, along with a fully 3rd art design over the pervious   Super Mario Galaxy 2 (2010) – Wii First Direct sequel for a Mario title since early NES days.   Super Mario 3D Land (2011) – DS New major 3D Mario title on handheld, reintroducing classic Super Mario Bros 3 power-ups   New Super Mario Bros. 2 (2012) – DS Another direct sequel to the first game   New Super Mario Bros. U (2012) - Wii U Following on the success of the Wii version, introducing new power-ups New Super Luigi U (2013) - Wii U During Mario Brothers 30th Anniversary, a special Luigi only variation New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe (2019) – Switch Rerelease for Switch Hardware, including New Super Luigi material   Super Mario 3D World (2013) - Wii U Following success of Super Mario 3D Land, brought in 4 player co-op and more vertical elements   Super Mario Maker (2015) - Wii U A 2D Side Scroller Maker, in line with ‘Little Big Planet’, allowing people to make their own Super Mario levels in various design styles, and play other people’s as well Super Mario Maker 2 (2019) – Switch A rerelease for Switch Hardware, with improvements and updates   Super Mario Run (2016) – Mobile First Mario Game on Mobile devices, criticized for being pay to play.   Super Mario Odyssey (2017) – Switch Main line Mario game for Switch, first introduction to non-Mario-design humans and realistic world.  Introduction of Cappy.     Non-Mainline Mario Games Beyond the main Games, Mario has starred in and helped launch several other genre of games in the past.  These include: Puzzle Games Kart Racing Games Role-Playing Games Party Games Sports Games Educational Games There are also some games released outside of Nintendo with their Blessing.   Puzzle Games Mario (1990) This series has Mario as a doctor, throwing pills at viruses that the player needs to match up. The pills are thrown one at a time and travel downward at a consistent pace. The goal is to connect four of the same red, yellow, or blue colors together, with atleast one Virus among them.  Once matched, they’ll get removed, along with the virus.  Each Pill has two colors on it, so if one of them disappears, the other will drop down if able to.   Dr. Mario has had numerous rereleases for each console.   Kart Racing Games Super Mario Kart (1992) Considered the most popular Spinoff, Mario Kart sees various characters in the Mario cannon racing around a themed track.  What makes it unusual to traditional racing games is that characters can collect items and use them against their enemies, allowing character to progress or hinder other players in the process.  The game has a secondary Battle-mode, where the characters are on a map and use the same items to attach other players with; there hits will cause a player to lose, with the last standing player being considered the winner.  The series has had multiple iterations across all of Nintendo’s platforms, each adding new elements.  Super Mario Kart (1992) - SNES Mario Kart 64 (1996) - N64 Mario Kart: Super Circuit (2001) - GBA Mario Kart: Double Dash (2003) - GCN Mario Kart DS (2005) - DS Mario Kart Wii (2008) - Wii Mario Kart 7 (2011) - 3DS Mario Kart 8 (2014) - Wii U Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (2017) – Switch (Rerelease with added content from Wii U version)   Role-Playing Games Super Mario RPG: Legends of the Seven Stars (1996) - SNES The first RPG in the Mario series, created by Square, it treated the game like a traditional RPG Game of the 90s with Mario Elements.  It was the first game to ever represent Mario in a 3D fashion.  Never rereleased on to other consoles outside of the Super NES Classic. Paper Mario (2001) – N64 Created by Intelligent Systems, it shows Mario in a chibi-2D form, similar to a stamp or paper cut out, as he navigates the Mushroom Kingdom to saver Princess Peach from Bowser.  The game adds a number of Puzzles and unique design choices for the look of the Mario World.  It spawned other games of its own, including: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2004) – GCN Super Paper Mario (2007) - Wii Paper Mario: Sticker Star (2012) – 3DS Paper Mario: Color Splash (2016) – Wii U Mario & Luigi Series Created by AlphaDream, it follows Mario and Luigi on the Game Boy and DS hardware as they navigate a wackier version of the Mushroom Kingdom.  These games are unique in that there are only ever two party members in Mario and Luigi, they have special team up attacks, and is based off timing and elaborate attacks.  This series also plays more comedic, with lots of in joke at the expensive of other Nintendo Titles/character and gaming tropes.  Other games include: Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga (2003) - GBA Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time (2005) – DS Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story (2009) – DS Mario & Luigi: Dream Team (2013) – 3DS Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam (2015) – 3DS Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle (2017) – Switch A more recent entry, created by Ubisoft, it is a crossover between Mario and the Raving Rabbids Franchise.  It is also the first Tactical Strategy RPG for Mario, as Mario must navigate a space and defeat enemies, using the humor and weapons of Raving Rabbids Franchise.  Very comedic and light hearted, a unique gameplay that mirrors more realistic tactical games, but with a more light hearted setting.    Party Games Mario Party (1998) – N64 Developed by Hudson Soft, it follows characters from the Mario universe playing a board game. Each character represents a board piece on the game, with four players playing each game regardless.  Players take turns rolling dice, deciding how far the progress on the map, landing on tiles that either reward or take coins, offer special bonus or penalties, or trigger events.  At the end of each round in which each player has gone once, players will be asked to play a mini-game to earn additional coins.  Some mini-games free-for-all, 3vs1, or 2vs2, based off what tiles you landed upon.  Players are rewarded more coins based off their results in the mini-games.  The intent of the coins is to get to the Tile selling Stars and buy the Star, with the player with the Most Stars winning.  Stars can be awarded via special events, and even stolen by other players if they land on certain tiles.  At the end of the game, additional Stars are awarded to players that performed well during the entire game, and the player with the most stars win.    The series has been adopted on to multiple consoles since the N64, and always include four players.  Recent entries have had all players working together at the same time, and had board games maps that don’t circle themselves.  Mini-games are always swapped out and rarely reused for each game, with new mini-games developed to match each console’s Hardware.    Titles include: Mario Party (1998) - N64 Mario Party 2 (1999) - N64 Mario Party 3 (2000) - N64 Mario Party 4 (2002) - GCN Mario Party 5 (2003) - GCN Mario Party 6 (2004) - GCN Mario Party 7 (2005) - GCN Mario Party 8 (2007) - Wii Mario Party 9 (2012) - Wii Mario Party 10 (2015) - Wii U Super Mario Party (2018) - Switch   Sport Titles: Mario and company have been in a number of sport cross overs.  Most sport games are taken as straight games with Mario Characters in them, versus some games have more fantastical elements gameplay elements added in.  These Genre include: Mario Tennis Mario Golf Mario Baseball Mario Soccer Mario Basketball Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games A crossover with Mario and Sonic characters where they compete in Olympic style games.   Educational: Mario has taken part in a number of Educational games, some teaching typing, geography, and history.  These games initially not released on Nintendo hardware, instead for the PC and Mac, but were eventually ported over to the NES and SNES.  These games, as educational games, did not fair well, and were poorly reviewed.   Fighting: Super Smash Bros. (1999) – N64 While not a direct Mario Title, Mario and company have been mainstay regulars of Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros series since its inception.  Mario is often the first playable character, or listed as the first from the select screen.  Mario, much as the other characters, are portrayed as close counterparts to their own games, using similar moves and abilities from their games. These include: Super Smash Bros. Melee (2001) – GCN Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) – Wii Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U (2014) – Wii U & 3DS Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (2018) – Switch     Homework: Super Mario Brothers 1 Mario Party Mario Kart     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZH2wGpEZVgE https://youtu.be/RQ-m6UFw6PQ?t=5649 https://youtu.be/SlFJv01rhLA

Topic: Zombie Review We're back once again, talking about Zombies at point in which it feel all too familiar.  Both myself and Mom felt a bit uneasy watching the movies this last week, but it's a good reminder of what we're dealing with and what're facing right now.  Interesting conversations to be sure. Shawn of the Death (2004)ZombieLand (2009)World War Z (2013)Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies (2016)Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress  (2016)

Topic: Zombies Tutorial This week, recorded on April 1st 2020, I decided to have a topic that felt a little too close to home.  We're talking about Zombies, mostly because it's probably as close to a virus outbreak as we are now.  This episode is less to scare us about the COVID-19 concerns, but more or less a metaphor and possible future we can expect ourselves in.  Movies and media have always painted the future to come, so maybe there's something we can learn from Zombies as a whole.   Tutorial What is a Zombie Zombies are Dead humans who have been reanimated.  Depending on the origin, the reanimation process originally was due to magic: a Sorcerer would reanimate the dead and the death of the Sorcerer would end the reanimation.  More modern telling have the reanimation process involving some kind of science fiction, including carriers, plague, parasite, radiation, pathogens, disease, etc.  Some modern telling never actually go in to the logic or origin, leaving it vaguely defined or undefined.   Zombies are typically dead humans that have been reanimated.  Typically, these are only humans with some level of muscle mass, as skeleton Zombies are not common.  Depending on the media, though increasingly, Zombies are described as being pale in color, increasing amounts of decomposition, and inability to form rudimentary logic or communication, often hissing, growling, groaning, or moaning instead.  In the times that they are able to communicate, it often the sole term of “brains…”.   Though common, but not consistent, Zombies have a lumbering walk, with an inability to move beyond a slow walking pace, often without moving their knees, and limited motor skills with their arms and hands.  Some telling of zombies have them fully capable of a full sprint, chasing after victims, and full use of their hands and arms, though not the dexterity or skill to be able to items as anything but as a club or blunt object.  Depending on the media, some undead are fully capable complex thoughts and language, basically just a dead human continuing to live as if they weren’t dead.   Zombies are typically described by their desire to seek out the living, whether to continue to pass on the disease or to eat humans.  When their origin was magical, the Zombie was a lumbering tool intended to replace farm hands and manual labor.  Zombies can be found roaming in packs due to their mutual desire for humans, or lingering about in locations, shuffling by until a human is sensed.   Zombies are often acting upon instincts or singular desires, in most cases, to get humans and eat them.  Zombies, typically, do not go after animals, though Zombie Animals do exist.   A human bitten or scratched by the Zombie will die shortly after the attack and will in turn become a zombie.  In some cases, this process can take a longer period of time, or is instant.  Zombies will pass up dead humans and only focus on live ones, ie if a human just died due to gun shot, most Zombies will continue after the live humans rather than the recently deceased. Known ways to kill Zombies is to either shoot them in the head(Brain), shoot them in the heart, or burn them.  Different media though have expanded on this way to end them.   It is important to note that while some depictions of Zombies are noted as Ghouls, they are not exactly the same.  The major difference, in most cases, are that while Ghouls are Dead, they have some semblance of life still, IE, they can still think and interact with others.  Ghouls still desire Flesh like Zombies, but Zombies are mindless creatures acting on instinct, while Ghouls act on self preservation.  The line is blurred dramatically, as there is no common agreement as what differentiates a Zombies from a Ghoul, though it’s expected that Ghouls are a higher status than a Zombie, whether in function or existences.   History of Zombies Zombies themselves, originated from Haitian Culture, as a part of the Voodoo religion and mythology.  The Sorcerer, a “Bokor” would raise the dead via Necromancy, and it was up to a Haitian priest (Houngan) to end the Necromancy.  The belief is based off Haitian slaves, carried over with some Shamanistic beliefs, as the religion of Voodoo evolved over the centuries of enslavement in Haiti.  In some cases, the slave drivers, often slaves themselves, and occasionally priests, would use the threat of becoming a Zombie to avoid suicide of the Slaves.  Only bad people became Zombies, ie, if you were a good worker and died, you returned to Africa, but if not, you were doomed to become a Zombie.   Zombies themselves spread to the west during the American occupation of Haiti from 1915-1934.  During this time, American writers were pulling from the Voodoo religion and using it in their books and stories.  The first known mention of Zombies is in William Seabrook's The Magic Island (1929), in which he described the Haitian Zombie and used the term for the first time.  Movies in the 1930s would being using the Haitian Zombies as elements in their film, with the first being White Zombie (1932).  Early uses of Zombies in movies were typically of the magical/voodoo variety, with someone claiming or using magical powers to bring back the dead.  Most of these movies were limited to horror, but were pulled out to action films in some cases, see James Bond in Live and Let Die that uses a Caribbean variation on Voodoo.     Modern Zombies Zombies were changed entirely as we know them thanks to George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968).  Romero’s Zombies were not magical in origin, but vaguely defined scientific reason.  The film was also unique in that it used zombies less as a theme, but more a social commentary on our society.  This was the first Zombie movie as we know it today, and in which all Zombie media is typically based off.  Later films in the 70s would popularize the hunt for Brains and try to rationalize the origin of the Zombie out break.    By the 80s and 90s, few zombie movies saw commercial success, with only a hand full with Zombies, but not necessarily Zombie films.  Early revival of the genre would start in Japan in 1996, where horror video games Resident Evil (BioHazard) and House of the Dead would spark an interest in Japanese culture and movies, with a number of movies coming out by late 90s.  Subsequent sequels to Resident Evil and House of the Dead would reach the west and spark a revival of the genre.  New titles like 28 Days Later(2002) and Shawn of the Dead (2004) would revive an interest in Zombie movies and show a growing interest during the early 2000s.  These newer entries in to Zombie popularized the ‘Running’ or ‘Smart’ Zombie, Zombies that were more aggressive and capable.   By 2010s, Zombies had become main stream, with the AMC premier of The Walking Dead in October of 2010 going on to become the most successful Zombie TV show ever, spawning over 11 seasons to date.  World War Z (2013) was one the highest grossing film in 2013, but also the highest grossing Zombie Film of all time.  Zombie movies were also branching out, offering that Zombies were more than just mindless creatures, but were human like.  These Zombies were still dead and craving flesh, but were still logical, rational, and otherwise normal, save for their new dead status and the desire for flesh.  This new take mirrored other supernatural mainstays like Vampires, where instead of being purely villains, they were also becoming more Human and sympathetic.     Zombies in Pop Culture Zombies, themselves in media, represent the inherent vulnerability of society to the unexpected.  IE, we were never really prepared for Zombies and their growth is a lack of forethought in that it could happen, OR the ineptitude of our society, or government, to prevent/stop it.  As a subtext, they represent the slow march of Death coming for us, and our inability to stop it; Zombies are avoidable, even able to stave them off, but eventually, Zombies will be the death of us.  Zombies are also a symbolism for what we, or society, will become; themes of how the world changes are common in Zombie Media.    Most narratives about Zombies follow a group attempting to survive the Zombies.  Most stories take place either during the initial wave of Zombie Out Breaks, IE, when the first cases start appearing, and hysteria sets in, or in a fictional Zombie Apocalypse. Initial Zombie Out Breaks depict a rapid devolving of society and all out chaos as Zombies over take our surroundings. Protagonists are often fleeing from one location to another, trying to avoid the Zombies by fortifying themselves, or being on move constantly.  These stories rarely end with the Zombies either dying out or a successful plan to halt their growth, but so much that the Protagonist got out and are safe, for now. Zombie Apocalypse depicts a world that is already over run by Zombies and survivors are merely the last waves of humans trying to survive. Their stories can revolve around society trying to survive can carry on, with the constant threat of Zombies just within arm’s reach.   Most Zombies media revolve around fear and self-preservation, which is manifested in survivors who are trying to grasp or rationalize the events around them.  Often, Zombie media is a character study of how people cope with stress and the situation around them: do they break down under the stress, create delusions about what’s happening, do they step up and become heroes they always knew they were, or do they survive until the next day?  Zombie media is also a breakdown of the world as much as it is their protagonists.  What does the world become once Zombies exist and how do we as society evolve or devolve as a result?    Sometimes, Zombies aren’t called Zombies, but go by other names: Infected Walkers Undead Dead Lurkers Zoms Biters White Walkers Living Dead Ghouls Walking Dead   While most Zombie related media is horror driven, more recent affairs have given Zombies a humanistic side.  Warm Bodies (2013) depicted Zombies as a potential love interest and romantic.  Zombieland (2009) and Shawn of the Dead (2004) gave comedy to Zombies, playing off the tropes of Zombie movies for humor.    Various Japanese media properties have given their own take on the Zombie:  Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress re-imagines a steampunk 18th century Japan with Kabane (Japanese for Corpse) as a stand in for Zombie High School of the Dead is a bog standard Zombie Break Out series, with plenty of fan service Zombie Land Saga imagines if Zombies became a Japanese Idol Group School-Live! Depicts a Zombie Apocalypse with cute, moe characters Other Japanese properties use Zombies interchangeable as heroes.     Homework: Shawn of the Death (2004) ZombieLand (2009) World War Z (2013) Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies (2016) Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress  (2016)