#yes i watched the prequels sequels and started the books comics and disney+ shows

[theduckboy]

we'll make it up as we go along.. 🚀

#luke skywalker #star wars #my art #yes i watched the prequels sequels and started the books comics and disney+ shows #yes i'm still desperately clinging onto the original trilogy #wouldn't be a star wars fan without trying to fill the void

[thearcalian]

This is not my usual political post.  Well, kinda. But not in the broad, big picture Trump-supporter-but-not-a-Republican kind of way.  This is smaller, and more relevant to my personal experience.  That said, it’s going to be long and rambling as fuck.  A few of my followers it will relevant to; most not.  Those who are not, if you stick around, you will find it’s relevant only in terms of who I am and how I got here (unless you are also a fan).

Anyone who’s bothered to go far back enough in my blog’s history will note that, when I started, I was a left-leaning libertarian who still liked Doctor Who, Star Wars and even Steven fucking Universe.  But also, a DC comics fan.  The DC fan part is a long rambling story by itself, but I’ll summarize by saying that I started out being a Robin fan, but wound up being mostly a Terra fan.  Yes, comic book Tara Markov, mostly the good girl 90s version commonly called Terra II.  I won’t go into THAT whole history either, but its relevant background.

I haven’t read comics on a regular/consistent basis since 2007.  Occasionally since then I’ve read arcs or issues because of certain specific characters, but on the whole my comic habit stopped cold.  I kept waiting for heroes to come back.  Because before comics even went “woke”, there was a different kind of woke problem happening, that went all the back to the early 70s; namely, treating the characters like crap.  Heroes weren’t allowed to be heroes anymore.  They were victims, or villains, or merely humans with powers and/or a costume.  And if a hero WAS a hero for real, then it was treated as a joke, which in its own way was even worse.

 So when I first saw this headline https://cosmicbook.news/att-closing-dc-comics-5g-ethan-van-sciver  I thought the “5G” meant the next generation of internet servers, not the characters themselves (the TLDR version is that if the next “fifth generation” comics fail to sell, DC will no longer be published.  Oh, they’ll still make the movies and cartoons and what not, but the comics themselves will no longer be published.)  When I saw that it actually meant that they would shut down the comics entirely, I was like “….What?”

 Part of me wanted to look on it the same way I do on the self destruction of Star Wars and Doctor Who (and in terms of narrative, Steven Universe, which was always flawed in terms of the political preconceptions of Rebecca Sugar and her cronies but nevertheless managed to produce an old-fashioned, true hero within their own political context, but in the “Future” final season going on now managed to screw even that up). I was glad to let Star Wars and Doctor Who go.  I wish The Prequels were the last Star Wars we ever got;  I wish that, while Capaldi had still been cast as the Doctor, he’d had worthwhile Doctor Who to be in.  Because what he got was not Doctor Who in any substantial way.  I was glad to watch the Disney Sequels and Chibnall/Whitaker crash and burn.  Good riddance.

 But I honestly thought that comics would, in a market way, fix themselves; that the publishers would finally go, “Oh right, you wanted Superheroes, not woke quotas filled.” Instead I got “We give up.”

 I….just honestly don’t get why AT&T/Warner Bros don’t go back to superheroes that are freaking Marketable!  And if you want to have Black heroes (or whatever else) that’s fine; but there’s a right way and a wrong way to do it.  The right way is to introduce the character to the mythos, let them build their own story within it, and THEN have them take over the title role a few years down the line, say at least 5 years.  That’s why nobody batted an eye when John Stewart was the Green Lantern in the Justice League cartoon; because the guy had been around for decades by then. As opposed to just randomly introducing a black Batman out of thin air.

But again, wokeness is only half the problem.  The other half is treating the characters like shit.  And this problem goes back to 1971 when DC decided that Roy Harper was a heroin addict (because don’t do drugs, kids!) and a few months later Marvel decided to break Gwen Stacey’s neck (because realism, kids!)  And it’s never stopped.  Tara Markov bringing the roof down on her own head, irredeemable. Jason Todd gets his brains bashed in by the Joker, then later on coming back as a third rate Punisher wannabe. Superman dies.  Batman gets his back broken and replaced by another Punisher wannabe.  (Yes, both of those were fixed….eventually.  But they were never good ideas in the first place!)  Doc Ock in Spiderman’s head.  Captain America a secret Hydra agent all along.  On and on and on and on and ON.  STOP IT!  STOP!

So why in the world don’t they just start the comics over at zero, with the iconic heroes, and *let them actually BE HEROES?!?*  Not comedy relief camp like that Batman 60s tv show, but just the straight up Hero’s Journey, with modifications made for each character?  And as noted, you can bring in your black/Hispanic/whatever heroes gradually in a way that everyone would accept.

 Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.  Instead, DO THE JOB RIGHT.  It’s not that hard.  It really isn’t.

@tron @dafterwho @the-rageaholic

[neoduskcomics]

What Star Wars Means To Me

I was twelve years old when I saw Star Wars end. I was sitting between my dad and my brother at a screening of Revenge of the Sith, a movie that my prepubescent mind had convinced itself was the greatest thing it’d ever seen.

The movie’s climactic battle had come to an end, and as I watched the final scenes play out, I could feel the film’s looming departure steadily but surely setting in. In the movie’s last moments, Owen and Beru looked out into the binary sunset, cradling their new baby nephew, with John Williams’ score emotionally building toward the final credits, and a hollow emptiness began to overwhelm me. Episode III was coming to a close, and with it, so too would end the saga of Star Wars. Something that had brought so much happiness, so much excitement, so much magic into my life was now ending before my eyes. Everyone knew that there wouldn’t be another prequel or sequel or anything else. This was it—these final frames all-too-quickly spinning past the projector. In just a few seconds, it seemed that Star Wars would be gone forever.

As I left the theater with my brother and my dad, they started up a discussion about what we had just watched, but I was too emotionally drained to join in. It was hard for me to come to grips with the fact that the Star Wars movies were really done with. Sure, Star Wars itself would still go on in some form. The Clone Wars cartoon was enjoyable. And they started making those cool-looking Force Unleashed games, too. Plus, there were the comics and the books and all sorts of other stories being made.

But it just wasn’t the same. You could write a thousand books, make a thousand TV shows and develop a thousand video games filling in whatever nooks and crannies the films overlooked in the Star Wars canon, but they would never, ever be a substitution for sitting in that theatre and seeing the quiet fade-in of the words “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...”

When the movies left, it was like a bit of magic had left the world, too. And between the ages of seven and thirteen, that magic inspired me. It made me read and create and imagine more than any time I spent at school ever did. Whenever a new movie came out, I fantasized about what the next one might be like. And when the movies ended, I fantasized about what a whole new Star Wars trilogy might be about. Maybe it would follow Luke creating a new Jedi Order, or maybe it would take place thousands of years before the prequels and show us the origins of the Jedi and the Sith. I hoped and dreamed and wondered, but I knew how unlikely it all was. Lucas would never make another movie, let alone give Star Wars to someone else so that they could go on to make an Episode VII. And so, Star Wars, as much as I continued to love it, slowly faded from my life. There was no use crying over spilt blue milk. Star Wars was done, and it wasn’t coming back.

And then I heard that Disney bought Star Wars and that they were going to make an Episode VII.

At this point, I’d like you to recall the scene at the end of Ratatouille where the evil food critic Ego takes a bite of Remy’s titular cuisine, and then suddenly he’s transported back in time to a moment in his childhood when he could still feel the warm embrace of love and happiness, and the cold, melancholic ice that once encased his withered heart melts away in a matter of seconds, restoring life and wonder to his old, bony body. Do you remember that scene? Because that is exactly what I felt like when I heard this news.

And I am not hyperbolizing here; I was literally shouting with jubilance when I heard that there would be an Episode VII. I can scarcely recall another moment in my life when I felt that level of genuine, startling happiness. It was like throughout all those years of Star Wars’ absence, all those years of resignation, a repressed excitement for the franchise was building up within me, never surfacing, never finding the right opportunity to ignite, but steadily rising and rising in pressure. And then, on that day, at that moment, upon hearing those words, all of that pent-up excitement just exploded out of me like a volcanic eruption. I didn’t know who was making this supposed Episode VII or what it would be about or when it was happening or even if it would be any good. None of that mattered. Star Wars was back, and I was going to celebrate like the Empire had just fallen.

Flash forward to the holiday season a couple years later, and even the non-geeks could see that the franchise had been reawakened in full force (get it, awakened, force, see what I did there). Star Wars logos, T-shirts, cups, toasters, mugs, toys, Lego sets and waffle irons filled the stores and display windows. Star Wars really, truly was back. What a fucking exciting time it was. I couldn’t help but just let all that giddiness get to me. There was magic in the air, and it wasn’t the magic of Christmas, but rather the magic of mystical techno samurai flying across solar systems to murder each other with glow sticks. Holy shit. Star Wars was back. STAR WARS WAS BACK. The hype was real, and it was everywhere.

But with that hype came an extreme and sustained spike of nervousness and skepticism. Criticisms of every new bit of information spread like fire throughout the interwebs. Did you see that weird new lightsaber? Is that another Death Star? Doesn’t that character just look like a rip-off of this other character?

After all, people loved Star Wars, and they couldn’t stop themselves from asking if this revival would live up to their expectations. Would The Force Awakens be a worthy successor to the franchise—a true return to form after decades of waiting for a real sequel to Jedi? Or would this simply be another prequel trilogy to dash the fans’ expectations and burn everything they loved about the series to the ground, buoyed only by the parallel stories of fans and creators determined to make sure Star Wars lived on? Lucas had failed us for the last time. People needed something GOOD.

The Force Awakens destroyed at the box office. Unadjusted for inflation, it became the highest-grossing film ever to hit American theaters, and the third highest-grossing film ever to hit the world. It was released to critical acclaim and massive audience approval. Abrams had done it. He had made a new Star Wars movie that both he and the fans could be proud of. All that hype was justified. All that waiting paid off. Star Wars wasn’t just back, it was good again. Great, even.

But as people celebrated Episode VII’s monetary and critical triumph, and as memes and excited chatter spread across the web, a notably large group of people simply did not feel that The Force Awakens met the standards they had set for it. To the point that they began to convince others that it was actually a bad, perhaps the worst ever, Star Wars movie.

And I’ll be honest—even I wasn’t sure how to feel about The Force Awakens when I first saw it. There was so much pressure on it to be good, and I was spending so much of the film’s runtime questioning whether or not I liked it, that I don’t think I was really, genuinely experiencing it. The movie felt like such a self-contradiction. It was so weirdly, at times even jarringly similar to the Original Trilogy, and at other times it was so strangely and uncomfortably different from it. The Resistance? That’s just the Rebellion. Starkiller Base? That’s just the Death Star. Kylo Ren? He’s not as threatening as Vader. Rey? She’s not as relatable as Luke. Part of me thought it was great, but another part of me felt terribly, soul-wearingly conflicted. I had to search my feelings about this film long and hard before I would be ready to draw a final conclusion about how it fit into the series.

It wasn’t until I saw it again a week later—when the crushing weight of all that pressure and anxiety and anticipation had time to dissolve—that I felt as though I was truly watching the movie for the first time. I was relaxed, passive, and ready to be entertained. I already knew what the movie was. I already knew what was going to happen. There was no more nervously waiting and watching to see what would become of my beloved franchise, what new things they were introducing to it, what old things they were keeping, and whether any of it was any good. I could just sit back and accept the film for what it was. And this time, I absolutely adored it.

The Force Awakens is in no way a perfect movie—far, far from it. But it was a miraculous work of Star Wars storytelling that won over both audiences and critics with its skillful direction, clever writing, compelling characters, great sense of humor and warm spirit.

Yes, TFA was closely and purposefully tailored to the original movies, but it was so, so much more than just another adventure film about a desert-inhabiting youth taking off to explore the galaxy and blow up giant space stations. It was a tale of friendship, hardship, humanity, and facing your darkest fears. It was about Rey struggling to look beyond the unknown terrors that lied before her—to confront her destiny and take up the lightsaber so that she could protect her new family. It was about Finn embracing his own humanity and working up the resolve to fight that which he spent the whole movie trying desperately to get away from. It was about Han reaching the culmination of his character’s growth from self-absorbed, smarmy money-grubber who ran from danger to a damaged and guilt-ridden father who renders himself both physically and emotionally vulnerable in order to save his son’s very soul.

Every relationship feels meaningful. Every dramatic revelation feels earned. Every joke hits. Every effect is dazzling and eighty percent of the time completely practical, which is why this movie will look far better in ten years than the prequels do now.

Poe and Finn are two of the most likeable characters to ever grace Star Wars cinema, and it’s no wonder that everyone wants them to be a couple when they had such an amazingly fun first date. Kylo Ren freezes a fucking blaster bolt in mid-fucking-air with the goddamn Force. BB-8’s thumbs up made every audience I saw the movie with burst into laughter. Poe blows up, like, fifteen TIE fighters in a row, followed by Finn shouting “That’s one hell of a pilot!” not even knowing at this point in the movie that Poe is still alive. The scene where Rey touches Luke’s lightsaber and is thrust into an acid trip of Force visions is both terrifying and mesmerizing. The two guards steadily backing away from Kylo Ren’s temper tantrum is adorable and hysterical. That moment when an emotionally distressed Kylo Ren struggles to pull Luke’s lightsaber from the snow, only to see it zoom past him and be dramatically caught by Rey as John Williams’ iconic score begins to build is fucking fantastic. And Han’s final confrontation with his son is so horrifically tense, and so well-executed and fitting as a conclusion to Han’s story that the internet, as liable as it was to do so, miraculously did not explode with blinding rage when it found out that Abrams had killed off one of the series’ most beloved characters.

Is there reason to be skeptical about the direction of the franchise? Yes. Is Disney perpetrating some worrisome behavior with their successive hiring and subsequent firing of every prospective director they get ahold of? Yes. Will Star Wars just become another MCU where we get two to three new movies every year and they all kind of begin to just meld together without any sense of consequence or meaningful continuity between installments? Maybe.

But I just can’t bring myself to think about that sort of thing right now. And maybe it’s not even really useful to think about it like that at all. Because regardless of what I or anyone reading this thinks, all that stuff is basically out of our hands. Maybe Star Wars will become stale and burned out after a few years of sequels and spinoffs. Or maybe, after establishing their new claim to the franchise with a few safe movies, the company will start to be more willing to experiment with new styles, stories and characters. I mean, with that completely new trilogy on the horizon, it does appear to be where this ship is headed.

But, who knows. Speculation is all we have. And all I can really say for absolute certain right now is that, for the moment, I have Star Wars in my life again, and I’m going to cherish it for as long as I can. Because I spent ten years in a world without Star Wars, and I have a lot of love left in me to give the franchise before I burn out, as a lot of other people seem to have already unfortunately done. I’d rather not go into the future of this series revival already prepared to hate the new Han Solo movie or Rian Johnson’s new trilogy or whatever else might come our way.

Because at the end of the day, despite the way many fans and even some past creators have treated it, Star Wars, pure and simple, is about joy. And when we live in a world that’s so filled with dread, fear, corruption, terror, hatred and downright tragedy, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to just let yourself give into something like Star Wars. I don’t mean to say we should just unconditionally love everything with the Lucasfilm logo on it, but maybe just recognize that sometimes it’s more valuable to be open and understanding and willing to love something than it is to be skeptical, critical, nitpicking and pessimistic, especially with something that is so widely adored and cherished the world over.

Maybe people won’t like The Last Jedi. Maybe they won’t like the Han Solo movie, either. Or maybe they’ll love them. But Star Wars isn’t any individual film. It’s a part of our culture, a symbol of the human spirit’s fascination with adventure, mysticism and the battle between good and evil. It means a billion different things to a billion different people and spans generations.

My dad once told me that when he used to take my brother and I to the toy store—years ahead of The Phantom Menace being unveiled—he was shocked to see that Star Wars toys still lined the shelves when a new movie hadn’t been made in well over a decade. But that’s what Star Wars is. It might have peaks and valleys, and there might be times when it feels like it’s all but left us, but in reality, it never really ends. It’s an invaluable part of human history whose effects will be felt for generations to come, and right now, it’s thriving in a way that nobody has seen in years.

We owe it not just to the franchise but to ourselves to enjoy every moment of it. Because Star Wars is the very embodiment of love, joy, hope, humor and adventure. Because Star Wars is a reminder that sometimes it’s okay to just let yourself be a kid again. Because while everything can be going wrong in the real world, Star Wars will always see to it that the light triumphs over the dark. Because while life is tragically short and full of hardship, Star Wars is forever.

#star wars

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #462

Top Ten Things That Hopefully Will Actually Happen in 2021

I mean, it’s got to be better than last year, hasn’t it? Just on law of averages. I know it’s not really the greatest start. Everything’s shut again but it’s colder now. We’ve not got a handle on this thing. The idiots are still in charge. But I still feel cautiously optimistic. There is a vaccine now, at least. Trump is gone, barring some cataclysmic last-minute kerfuffle. A new lockdown is required, so hopefully however painful it is right now it’ll be the death throws of this wretched virus. Will 2021 look like 2019? No, not a chance. But maybe by summer, by autumn, we’ll be well over the hill. 2022, hopefully, will be great.

Not that I’m writing off the new year altogether! No siree. I think this is the year we turn the corner and see the road before us. I think this year can be good, and I think that – outside of pandemic and politics – there is quite a lot to look forward to.

I’m not right now talking about personal ambitions or wider, geopolitical hopes and dreams. This is all about stuff that I want to see or play or whatever. Things that don’t really have any bearing on if the world keeps spinning or we all make it through another tumultuous twelvemonth relatively unscathed. Just, y’know, stuff that’d be nice.

Cinematic Superheroes: 2020 was a bonkers year, and one of the things that was bonkers as it unfolded was how all these huge movies kept getting pushed back. As a result, there were precisely no Marvel Cinematic Universe productions released. Like, at all. Thankfully – hopefully – that will change in 2021. As well as some Disney+ stuff (see below) there’ll also be the belated release of Wonder Woman 1984, which came out around Christmas but which I’ll probably stream this month; and, lockdown permitting, we should finally see the likes of Black Widow, The Eternals, and things that were already scheduled for ’21 such as DC’s The Batman and The Suicide Squad. And y’know what? I’m even looking forward to Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Yeah, maybe some more will slip, but I’m just glad that we’re finally getting some men in tights back in our lives.

Plus all these Great Shows: just before Christmas Disney outlined its slate of upcoming releases and by Crikey it was mega. And the best part is, so many of these shows and films are imminent! In a couple of weeks WandaVision will hit Disney+, and later this year we’ll also see (I do believe) The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, maybe Loki, The Book of Boba Fett, and maaaaaybe if we’re lucky Obi-Wan Kenobi. Even outside of the other movies and things that they announced, and even if we don’t look as far ahead as 2022, Disney+ has a hell of a lineup for this year, and even if lockdown closes the cinemas, we can still enjoy a nice good stream.

Starred Up: the arrival of Star, the “grown-up” channel on Disney+, was confirmed (and confirmed to be included in the existing sub, which was nice), and recently it was announced that it will go live on February 23rd. For some reason I was expecting it later, so that’s nice. It’ll be good to see some of the smuttier Marvel movies make their return (especially Fox’s X-masterpiece, Logan), but I’m more looking forward to having all the Die Hards and Aliens in one place. Even the crap ones.

Finally, Halo Infinite: I really like Halo; it’s pretty much the reason I ever bought a console in the first place. So I was incredibly excited for Halo Infinite, and – I must confess – a bit disappointed by its reveal. A delay is fine; take your time, do a good job, try to avoid crunch. I’ve got more than enough to play. But with my pretty new Series X installed next to my shiny new 4K TV, I’d love to get into a proper new Master Chief adventure once again. And finally it’ll happen! My Big Christmas Game for 2021 is sorted.

Return of the (Lego) Jedi: speaking of Big Games for 2021… I love the Lego games from Traveller’s Tales, and it all started with Lego Star Wars. With the release of The Rise of Skywalker in 2019, I kind of assumed they’d be making a new one, and they are: The Skywalker Saga. Much delayed (I think it was meant to come out last summer originally?), but finally making its debut at some point in 2021, it promises to be a more expansive effort than any previous Lego game, and also offers a fresh look at every film in the increasingly-inaccurately-named trilogy. My youngest is really getting into Star Wars and she loves the Lego games, so this is something we can really enjoy together.

2020’s Greatest Hits: yeah, lots of great things coming out in 2021, but I gotta say one thing I’m really looking forward to is catching up on all of the things that were supposed to come out in 2020. I’ve already mentioned the likes of Black Widow, but there’s Coming 2 America (on Prime Video in March), Dune (potentially still hitting cinemas), No Time to Die (God knows), Spielberg’s West Side Story (delayed a whole year!)… even smaller-scale things like the cool-looking Freaky have been pushed right back. And whilst I’m not exactly looking forward to it, pity poor Peter Rabbit 2, knocked from an early Easter slot when the first lockdown hit, only to have its February half-term run destroyed by Lockdown III. Maybe next year, eh, Peter?

Matrix of Leadership: The Matrix turns 22 this year, shockingly enough, and last time I watched it was still absolutely brilliant in one of those hardly-ever-happens ways. The sequels I could live without, although I’ll warrant they’re still stylish with nice action, but they were a huge disappointment (moreso for me than the often-lambasted Star Wars prequels). However, I am super excited for Lana Wachowski returning to direct a fourth Matrix movie. I don’t know why, but I just think it’ll be great; there’s twenty years’ worth of “internet stuff” and “games stuff” and “comics stuff” she can use as reference or in-joke, and let’s face it, Keanu Reeves has never kicked as much ass in his life as he does in the John Wick movies, so we don’t need to worry about that. What the hell will it be about? How can you make a sequel to what felt like a pretty definitive ending? I mean, half the characters died (spoiler!). But I don’t care about that, I just want to see it (hopefully at a cinema).

One (Other) Ring to Rule Them All: I ended up spending quite a bit of time in Middle-Earth in 2020, including reading The Hobbit to my girls, Unfinished Tales, and Ian Nathan’s book about the making of Peter Jackson’s trilogy, Anything You Can Imagine. So I am, shall we say, primed for Amazon’s new TV adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s opus. The Lord of the Rings series – as I think it might still be called? – will be set a lot earlier than the more famous stories, and although there are a lot of potential hiccups and hurdles in the way, I hope the less-familiar period and setting will offer scope for a series to make its own unexpected journey, showing even those that have read The Silmarillion something they’ve not seen before. I hope they don’t try to make it into Game of Thrones, and I hope they don’t try to shoehorn in too many aspects of The Lord of the Rings (I mean, hobbits shouldn’t really feature too much into it, surely?), but the pedigree is strong and I’m very excited.

Sinful: Russell T. Davies’ last show, Years and Years, was a fascinating combination of terrifying apocalyptic sci-fi and domestic soap opera, and one of the best things that happened in 2019. His next show, It’s a Sin, is about something altogether more real but still apocalyptic: the AIDS crisis in the gay community of the 1980s. I imagine he’ll still be expertly combining soapy drama with casual gaggery and moments of utter heartbreak. Apparently this is a story very close to his heart that he’s been wanting to tell for – yes – years and years, so it’s sure to be one of the TV highlights of 2021.

The Unconfirmed: one of the great things at the start of the year is, you don’t know what you’re going to get. Sometimes you get, well, 2020. But sometimes you don’t! Sometimes you get a year in film like 1984 (Terminator! Ghostbusters! Gremlins!) or 1999 (Matrix! Fight Club! American Beauty!); sometimes you get a year in gaming like 1998 (Half-Life! Zelda! Grim Fandango!) or 2007 (Halo! BioShock! Crackdown!). What’s coming this year? Well, with the new consoles out, we’re going to finally start seeing some new games that wrestle with the hardware; not just the cross-generational likes of Halo or Horizon but some new games, some unannounced games. We’ll also, no doubt, see proper footage and trailers for stuff we do know – Hellblade, Fable, hopefully Perfect Dark. Taika Waititi’s got at least two films on the go; that’ll be good. Spielberg doesn’t usually rest on his laurels; he’s finished West Side Story, so what’s next? Bond will come out, somewhere, somehow; will we get the announcement of a new Bond? Speaking of recasting, is Jodie Whittaker really leaving Doctor Who? I’ve not been too fussed with the show the last couple of years, but I’m always rooting for her and will be sad to see her go; but does that mean we’re in for another New Doctor palaver later this year too? Will we see or hear anything of Rian Johnson’s Star Wars films or, even better, a Knives Out sequel? The new Stranger Things has got to be this year, hasn’t it? What about Star Trek – Picard season 2 and Discovery season 4 should be happening, but will we also see the Pike and Georgiou-focussed spin-offs? God knows! It’s all up in the air! And these are only the things that we know or can speculate a little bit about! But that’s what makes it so exciting.

Well, that’s it for now. As I write this, what can only be called a mob of white supremacist terrorists – idiot insurrectionists, if you will – have stormed the US Capitol. Truly terrifying scenes, given the added worry of the Twat in Chief using the crisis as some phony excuse to cling on to power. I have faith that it’ll be resolved, short-term, and that democracy – capital-D Democracy – will endure, for now. But it just goes to show how volatile everything is. The kids are being homeschooled again. London’s hospitals are teetering on the brink. There’s gunfire in the Senate. But the first Black Senator just got elected in Georgia. My wife’s playing Ooblets. Somewhere it’s sunny, somewhere else a kid’s catching snowflakes, and somewhere else again some lucky sod is getting to watch Nine to Five for the first time ever. Things are scary and often crap but on the whole I think the arc of the universe tilts ever so slightly towards Being Generally Okay.

Take care of yourselves, wear a bloody mask, and here’s to 2021 Being Generally Okay.

#top ten #films #tv #games #halo #xbox #star wars #marvel #mcu #dc #batman

[theantisocialcritic]

Archive Project - January 7, 2014 - Most Anticipated 2014

Onto Day 3 of the First Annual Hummy Awards! To paraphrase Moviebob, 2014 looks like it's going to be the year filmmaking forgets. 2015 is shaping up to be the biggest year in film… well maybe ever. Major Blockbuster movies like: Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: Episode VII, Man of Steel 2, Ant-Man, Jurassic World, Fantastic Four and Fast & Furious 7 will be hitting the big screens. This year is the red carpet to next year's big Blockbuster Blowout but from the looks of it, it will be a fun walk into 2015!

Here I have assembled a list of some of this years biggest movies! Lets see what 2014 has to offer!

—————————————————————————————————————————

Upcoming Films in the Immediate Future! ————————————————————————————————————————— Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit  1/17 Hunt for Red October is one of my favorite books and movies! An awesome cold war espionage tale with a message on Soviet Communism. In the next two weeks we will be given a reboot of Red October's main character, Jack Ryan with Chris Pine dealing with his first mission. Given the circumstances of this movie I don't expect something great but i'm assuming if it is successful it will be the means of jumpstarting a franchise. Lets see where this goes…

I, Frankenstein  1/24

Justice League: War  2/4 Warner Bros Animation has been on a roll lately with it's animated movies: The Dark Knight Returns, Superman Unbound and The Flashpoint Paradox. I have a lot of confidence with them as they do the origin of the Justice League on this straight to video adaption!

The Monuments Men  2/7 Really cool concept and a lot of talent being put into this movie. Definitely worth a look!

The Lego Movie  2/7 This seems dumb, but also very awesome! CGI animation being made to look like LEGOs, from the animation team that made Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and that appears to be genuinely funny. Sign me up!

Robocop  2/12 Robocop is a classic. Rebooting it is probably a bad idea. This could go either way but i'm still excited to see this!

Son of God  2/28 The Bible really is a good source for potential storytelling for film. Unfortunately not a lot of movies about them get made. This one slipped through the cracks and it appears to be pretty interesting!

Mr. Peabody and Sherman  3/7 This movie offends my childhood on a deep personal level. I grew up watching Rock and Bullwinkle cartoons. THAT BEING SAID. It can't be worse than the Rock and Bullwinkle movie and if it's at least funny I MIGHT give it a pass.

Grand Budapest Hotel  3/7

Need for Speed  3/14 A movie adaption of a video game that isn't really story driven that looks surprisingly similar to Fast and Furious. Lets see...

Muppets Most Wanted  3/21 Your thoughts on this movie begin and end with the title...

Noah  3/28 Speaking of Bible movies.. Who's up for a little blasphemy? Russell Crowe apparently..

Captain America: Winter Soldier 4/4 YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES.

Heaven is for Real  4/16 Based on the, i'm assuming, successful book, this Christian film looks to be a pretty cool drama with a lot of heart!

Transcendence  4/25 Johnny Dep is in this movie and it's not Jack Sparrow. Thats about all you need to know.

Earth to Echo  4/-- We don't know much about this film yet other than the title and general release date but it sounds pretty awesome!

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Blockbuster Season 2014 ————————————————————————————————————————— Amazing Spiderman 2  5/2 I'm a vocal detractor of the first film as a movie that exists only to keep the rights to Spiderman movies from going back to Marvel and that it heavily ripped off a lot from Batman Begins and Twilight (to paraphrase Moviebob, once again..). This movie doesn't look all that great but its a Spiderman movie and i'd at least say its worth seeing once.

Godzilla  5/16 HOLY CRAP THE TRAILER IS AWESOME!!

X-Men: Days of Future Past  5/23 The X-Men movie's current mission statement is the wipe away X-Men Last Stand and X-Men Origins out of the movie's canon and it appears that this movie is one of the last steps to fulfilling the mission they set in X-Men First Class. I'm very excited for this!

A Million Ways to Die in the West  5/30 If your a fan of Family Guy and Ted than this is a movie that should interest you! Seth MacFarlane directs and stars in this comedy-western, along side Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson and Neil Patrick Harris.

Malieficent  5/30 Live action prequel into Disney's classic Sleeping Beauty? Hmm. Interesting.

Edge of Tomorrow  6/6 Tom Cruise stars in an action movie….. YAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!

How to Train Your Dragon 2  6/13 This is one of the coolest concepts to a sequel i've heard in a long time! The first movie is a great animated film and i'm very excited for this!

Transformers Age of Extinction  6/27 LeBuff is gone! The transformers are redesigned! The Dinobots are showing up! If we are lucky this should at least match the quality of the first Transformers movie!

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes  7/11 Rise of the Planet of the Apes was a surprisingly great movie that in hindsight shouldn't have worked as well as it did. It ended up being one of the most notable Science Fiction films of this decade and a well done character drama. And now we get a direct sequel that ties that movie in with the classic Planet of the Apes movies! Thats something to get excited about!

Guardians of the Galaxy  8/1

SPACE AVENGERS! If the end credits scene in Thor: Dark World was any indication, this movie will be one of the most insane things ever put to film. Its the biggest risk Marvel has taken since The Avengers and some of the characters, despite their comic book origins, seem too weird for any film out of context: namely Vin Diesel as Groot the Tree and a Raccoon that runs around with Rocket Launchers!

TMNT  8/8 If I cared about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles i'd probably be offended by this. Whatever, this film is set to be a very notable film in any case.

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Fall 2014 ————————————————————————————————————————— Intersteller  11/7 Christopher Nolan is a great director and this film looks to be his most original film since Inception and as his first venture after the conclusion of the Dark Knight Trilogy, its definitely notable!

Big Hero 6  11/7 Disney's first take at an animated Marvel movie! In the wake of Frozen and Wreck it Ralph, I could not be more excited!!

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1  11/21 I really liked Catching Fire and i'm excited to see how the series plans to start finishing it's story.

The Hobbit: There and Back Again  12/17 Finally ending 2014 with a bang is the long awaited third part to Peter Jackson's trilogy based off of The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkein. If you DON'T know why this is a big deal than I DEMAND you go check out the first two Hobbit movies RIGHT NOW. Watch Lord of the Rings while your at it!!

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And my personal pick for most anticipated movie of 2014 is…

of course..

Captain America: The Winter Soldier!!

Based on the famed Winter Soldier arc from the more recent Captain America Comic books, the choice of bringing the Winter Soldier into the Marvel universe brings forth a lot of interesting possibilities for upcoming stories concerning Captain America and their universe. This movie has me more excited than any other this year!

Runner-Up: Guardians of the Galaxy

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For more on upcoming movies in 2014, Check out Moviebob at the Escaptist http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/moviebob/10862-Here-Comes-2014#HHbbGGGE1AQoZTP8.99

Thank you very much for reading!

Live long and prosper!

[andrewuttaro]

Reviews with Andrew: The State of #StarWars Episode 1 - Pre-Episode IX

Star Wars maybe the sample case to end all sample cases on what toxic fandom is. I’m not saying that to be a predictable ass but come on, have you been living under a rock? I am personally saddened to see how the response to the Last Jedi has ruined the fan unity, if that ever even existed, on Star Wars. It’s okay to not like a movie. That’s the bottom line. It’s okay to be lukewarm all puns intended. I was a little sour after my first viewing of the Last Jedi but after two more viewings I put it together a bit more. But at the end of the day there was nothing in that movie that was downright unforgivable… even Canto Bite.

On a scale from 1-10 Star Wars nerd, 10 being you can name different species of aliens that only appeared in de-canonized Expanded Universe books and 1 being your experience of Star Wars can be summed up by being captivated by a slutty Leia costume, I consider myself right in the middle of the pack at 5 or so. I’ve seen all the movies, played as many video games as possible and dabbled in some books. I’ll admit there was a time I would’ve said 7 on that scale but I’ve fallen back as life has changed for me. What I want to do today is talk about the State of the franchise. I think there is two parts to this. The state of the in-universe story and the state of the creative output making new material for us to consume.

Obviously these are my opinions and obviously I am going to spoil some movies, books and TV shows here. If you’re up-to-date on the basic lore I think you’ll be fine. Moreover, I want to talk specifically about these things in a Pre-Rise of Skywalker context. There will be a similar piece I will do sometime after the Rise of Skywalker. Disney has advertised this final installment in the sequel trilogy as “the end of the Skywalker Saga” and that’s a notable before and after moment in my humble opinion. Feel free to tear me to shreds in the comments. Review with Andrew is all about the discussion so let me know what you think. With entertainment properties the size of Star Wars it’s such a collective experience that to not be aware of popular opinion is to kinda miss the point. So with no further ado, let’s start with where we sit in-universe prior to the conclusion of the Skywalker Saga’s Sequel Trilogy.

Fate of the Galaxy

I am 25 so I grew up with the Prequels as the backdrop of my Star Wars experience. Here comes something that will probably get many of you to click off: I enjoyed the politics in the prequel trilogy. Disclaimer: that does not mean I love the prequels overall. That trilogy lacked clarity and compelling performance in multiple places. However I am not going to lie and not tell you Emperor Palpatine seizing control of the Republic Senate and reorganizing it into the Galactic Empire wasn’t the most simultaneously jaw-droppingly dreadful and entertaining moments of my young life watching movies. It was. It sticks with me to this day. However the political machinations come at the expense of dragging the whole story into the dirt on several occasions in those movies particularly in the Phantom Menace.

The Sequel Trilogy clearly and obviously overcompensated for this popular grievance with the prequels. I have not gotten around to the New Canon books yet, I know they explain the politics leading into the Force Awakens very well, but the first two films in this sequel trilogy have departed so far from galactic-level political movements that their plot is confusing at times. Had the character development and narrative pace not been so good in the Force Awakens it would’ve been an incoherent film given the lack of political setting. I don’t need Senate deliberations or trade negotiations, I get it; but how is there a whole fleet of bad guys who had enough time and Empire-like resources to build a planet-sized death laser to decapitate galactic government? This problem carries over to a movie like the Last Jedi where Resistance leadership is axed at every turn before the whole movement can fit in one spacecraft!

The fact that none of it is explained in the movies is the real kicker here. Setting was something the Original Trilogy did effectively on a flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants basis while the Prequel Trilogy did it haphazardly with CGI heavy establishing shots and exposition dumps built into the script. The Sequel movies have done neither and had it not been for great acting from the core cast of both of these main saga films this would be a huge problem. In the scale of my earlier Star Wars nerd spectrum, anyone beneath a 6 or 7 on the scale is having trouble following along story wise. Good thing the CGI and character writing is good because that constitutes a story-building shortcoming too great for many franchise films to overcome.

That said, the Anthology films have been superhot fire in spite of the main saga. In fact, the broader strokes of galactic politics and setting worked against both Rogue One and Solo. The direct connection between the battle at the end of Rogue One and the beginning of A New Hope provided for good food for thought and a totally rad Darth Vader scene, but it also made you scratch your head and call BS on Leia in New Hope when she says that ship is on a diplomatic mission. You just came from a battle and this same guy was two corridors away from chopping your head off, that’s a really poor cover story. And who could forget the collective groan that was Han Solo getting his name from the Imperial recruiter in Solo. Give me a break.

I don’t think it’s unfair to say broad world-building has not been a strength of the Disney-Era Star Wars films so far. Again, I know the books, comics, TV shows and other media are doing that world-building in spades. If you enjoy that media that’s great. When the animated Star Wars Clone Wars was on the air it wasn’t explaining things we didn’t get about Episode III, it was filling in gaps in fun ways. Star Wars has always been a property for a mass audience and when that mass audience, which you have to assume does minimal research beforehand, might walk out of a film not knowing broadly what was going on, that’s a problem. Star Wars isn’t supposed to rely on content beyond the films and if the Rise of Skywalker does we’re going to be in for a messy finish to the sequel trilogy.

Finally, let’s talk about where the characters are going. Rey seemed to gain full control of force powers by the end of Last Jedi, so I am excited to see how her power is deployed in wrapping up this trilogy. I am an admitted sucker for a redemption story, but I can’t envision one for Kylo Ren that would be close to satisfying. That character kinda has to die a bad guy. If they stick with the themes Rian Johnson setup with the main characters in Last Jedi then Kylo needs to die the legacy guy who is consumed by what he thinks he needs to be simply by virtue of parentage. We’ll see about that. Finn, Poe and their respective orbits of characters are… I guess great supporting pieces. I loved the arc Finn went through in Force Awakens and I love the arc Poe went through in Last Jedi but now I don’t see where that leads both of them. I don’t know if there is a logical end point for their stories based on where they’ve been. After seeing Luke’s time in this trilogy wasted after seeing Han Solo’s time in this trilogy more or less wasted I just can’t see a world where at least one of the new core cast isn’t wasted in the end. But I’m not married to that opinion, in fact I really hope I’m wrong and JJ Abrams ties it all together.

Fate of the Brand

Let’s talk about the thing we all love about Star Wars: Jedi and Sith. With JJ Abrams returning for the final installment of the “Skywalker Saga” as it were we have a distinct possibility at hand that the dualist dichotomy of light side versus dark side is undermined forever. For a pragmatist such as myself it’s weird to be against the discovery of a middle ground but here I am. The Jedi and the Sith represent the fundamentally flawed nature of the Force. It’s always making corrections. It’s always pulling someone too far too one side and correcting and sometimes overcorrecting. Like most all spiritual forces there is an acute degree of imperfection that makes the perfection of its divinity real. Turning the force into something that can be mastered and controlled with Grey Jedi turns the whole thing to magic tricks. Yes, I am aware of the Grey Jedi plotline in Star Wars Rebels. No, it doesn’t change the problem here.

The problem is the resolution of the whole light/dark side narrative with Grey Jedi is the perfect Disney ending… but more importantly, it’s probably the JJ Abrams ending. Fans of his work on Lost as well as his movies will tell you he’s a master of the mystery box. Historically he’s not so great at answering the questions he sets up… as in resolution. He is now responsible for resolving the Sequel Trilogy and I am going to have a real problem with 42 years of Star Wars Jedi/Sith lore building ending with a variation of: They figured it out and lived happily ever after. If the last piece of the Skywalker Saga ends this way it will be the fan toxicity that followed the Last Jedi times twelve except this time without the even-keeled nerds like me defending the writing.

It's pretty clear that Star Wars was going to be different from the moment George Lucas sold the property. The fact he’s felt regret about that is another discussion for another day. He sold it to a mega corporation he knew was going to get started making sequels and spinoffs. Disney prints money at a rate the Federal Reserve gawks at. Every Star Wars film before 2012 was more or less a Lucas project. They were all one man’s vision carried out through different producers and directors to varied results. Post-Sale different creators coming in was going to change the creative flow and result in different takes on the world. That’s not a bad thing. Star Wars fans need to accept Star Wars canon with a new dividing line: Lucas Canon versus Disney Canon. I enjoy both but if you wake up in the morning upset about Disney-Era Star Wars then you probably should just decide to believe in the Lucas Canon.

I thought Kathleen Kennedy was a wonderful person to bring in as the puppet master of the Disney Era Star Wars franchise. I still think she has the career bona-fides to justify being at the head of the beast. However, in the hiring of Kevin Feige you can tell she and the brain trust she built around Star Wars has realized they saturated the market too much and damaged the product a little. Solo was not an awful film, but it will forever be the first Star Wars movie to lose money. However that happened aside, the Disney Star Wars Brain Trust needs to decide what it wants going forward. I’ve already discussed how the pieces of the anthology films that were unmoored from the broader Skywalker narrative were the best of the Disney Era films. The rate at which directors and producers have been fired indicates there was a confusion about how much Star Wars was going to be allowed to be different.

Are you going to let the directors play on your playground with the toys you bought for 4 Billion dollars or are you going to tell them how to play until they storm off in anger? Disney Star Wars has chosen the latter in all but one of the four films they’ve produced so far. Rian Johnson did his own crazy thing with the Last Jedi, you let it ride and you let that predictable nerd backlash screw up Solo. Now you don’t know what you’re doing. You have to pick. If you want to let the property rest for a few years after Rise of Skywalker and then drop it on us on some Tuesday in 2024 that’s great! It will probably be best for the brand. But when you do come back please commit to the degree of creative freedom you’re actually going to give your directors.

The four films of Disney Star Wars are batting at about .750. Solo was your bomb but even that one was an enjoyable movie. The whole thing will be more fun and piss off fewer people when it appears you guys have unified marching orders. Star Wars as a brand is okay but if its comes back looking as confused as it did with whatever comes after Rise of Skywalker it’s not going to be good. At that point sinking one of the biggest entertainment properties in history would be an accomplishment all it’s own. The Studio and brand questions post Rise of Skywalker will be very interesting. For now let’s wrap up the conversation of the State of Star Wars before that epic conclusion.

Conclusion

Star Wars still makes mad money and reels in younger people with no experience with the property. By that logic it’s doing just fine. Any nerd property is going to have a segment, even a large vocal segment like we’ve seen here, that will get upset with a new creative direction. That’s okay, move past it like professionals. If that can happen and that new creative direction sees a commitment to it from the studio I see some fun Star Wars to come. If not then I am fully prepared for Star Wars to be run into the ground. Which is also okay because it’s just an entertainment product (see Indiana Jones and the Lord of the Rings). The in-world story faces a lot of loose ends it needs to wrap up to stick the landing in Episode IX. I don’t have total confidence JJ Abrams can do it, but I am interested to see.

I won’t be doing a grade here because this is more a meta-review than an individual movie review. So let me hit just a couple of those loose ends that will be the hardest to wrap up in a satisfying way: Poe and Finn’s friendship, Palpatine’s Return and not making Darth Vader’s sacrifice worthless, Rey’s place in the Force, the fate of Kylo Ren, the very nature of the Force, and of course what is this thing between Kylo and Rey? Like and share this blog. I want to do reviews more and more and reader input is important to that so leave a comment with your thoughts! I can also do weird little think pieces like I did after Force Awakens like “Is Star Wars about disarmament?” so if you like reviews of all media coming off a screen let me know what you want to read about!

Thanks for reading.

P.S. Last Christmas looks like grade A date night material. It could be next level if the plot actually makes sense beyond the normal romance narrative rigmarole.  

#star wars

[swipestream]

My Little Pony: Beyond Good and Evil

This is a guest post written by Alex Stump:

My two little brothers have been watching My Little Pony for a long time now. I watched a couple episodes (and also the unholy spin-off series Equestria Girls) and I’ll be 100% honest…My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a really good show. But don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not coming out as a Brony. I, as an 18-year-old man have better things to do then obsessing over a show made for seven year olds. Which really fascinates me, what is it about this kid’s series that attracts so many young adults? It’s a question that has been going around since the show premiered and the most widely accepted questions/theories I’ve seen are:

A) People like MLP for the same reason people like Star Trek or Firefly.

B) These people had terrible childhoods and they watch MLP to experience the childhood they never had.

C) These people had awesome childhoods and watch MLP because it gives them a sense of nostalgia.

And D) People watch MLP because they’re mentally handicapped.

These answers have some truth to them but I find them to be mostly flawed…So how about I give you my own answer to the question. Sure, everyone has his or her own reason for watching, but I think there’s a unifying reason why. You see I believe the reason why MLP is so popular and why it stands out in the entertainment industry is because the show has a “thing”.

What is this “thing” you ask? Well, this “thing” is very important to fiction. It goes all the way back to ancient times. It was prevalent in the 20th century but sadly is being abused and forgotten in the 21st century. Let me give you some examples:

(Example 1) The Adventures of Robin Hood is a 1938 film staring Errol Flynn and tells the tale of Robin Hood and his merry men. This movie has great action scenes,

good acting, amazing sets, and is quite possibly the happiest go lucky movie I’ve ever seen. Seriously, this film is so happy I dare you to watch it without smiling. Robin and his merry men are tons of fun to watch. They’re funny, smart and most of all virtuous. The women are great too, they’re modest, beautiful and don’t complain about the traditional family structure. Just about every character in the film has an enjoyable personality. We see medieval society portrayed in a mostly positive light, which is nice to see. Even religion gets a good light and in the end everyone lives happily ever after.

The movie’s really good; it’s a beloved classic for a reason. (Seriously, this movie’s good. If you haven’t watched it already, WATCH IT!!!)

Now let’s talk about the 2010 Robin Hood movie directed by Ridley Scott.  This film isn’t what you’ll call happy.  Robin Hood is not a righteous nobleman but a lying criminal who desserts the holy crusade and fights the evil stereotypical French. The women are awful, the church and medieval society are both portrayed in a negative light and the rest of the movie is just dark, gritty and forgettable. Guess what? The movie wasn’t well received, with critics like Roger Ebert calling the movie “innocence and joy draining away from movies.” Now there’s a new Robin Hood movie coming out this year and apparently it’s yet another dark and gritty take on the Robin Hood story. Just what the masses wanted, am I right? (Example 2) Superman! Who doesn’t know the man of steel? He is the most well known superhero in the DCU. His origin story’s an all-time classic; he is a common role model for kids and adults, his sidekicks and super villains are good. Most importantly, he saves kittens stuck on trees. Even if you don’t like Superman, nobody can deny the cultural significance he has all over the world. He is more then just a superhero, he is the superhero…In the new Superman movies however, and he is anything but a superhero. In the DC cinematic multiverse, Superman’s a nihilist, he fails to save people, kills his enemies, and lets his emotions get the better of him. He treats his life as a superhero not as a duty, but a curse. When Superman (spoiler alert!) dies in Batman v Superman nobody gives an anti-life equation, because that guy on screen is not the man who has everything. What happened to the Superman?

(Final Example): Star Wars is one of the greatest space operas ever made. A movie with amazing characters, a classic story and groundbreaking special effects. They’re movies that pay homage to Akira Kurosawa and the serials from the 30s and 40s. A story that borrows from East Asian philosophy and the archetypes of Joseph Campbell. A story with a great amount of historical symbolism, ranging from WW2, the French Revolution and the Roman Empire. Yet with all of the complexity and metaphor, the original Star Wars trilogy (and to some extent the prequels) is nothing more than simple kids movies…the new films by Disney I wouldn’t call simple. The new movies lazily rehash the plots from the original films but without the symbolism and archetypes. The new heroes are either too perfect or too flawed, there’s pretty obvious political messages floating around and all the original characters we know and love have forgotten everything they learned from Jedi and they all die. Don’t complain though, because filmmaker JJ Abrams will call you sexist for not liking the movies. (It makes you wonder what goes on behind the scenes.)

So, what exactly is this “thing” that My Little Pony, Star Wars, Robin Hood, and Superman have in common that their modern day remakes and sequels lack?

Heroism. No, really. Heroism or just simply, the heroic character is the most common archetype in storytelling and the most important. People naturally draw themselves towards heroes because they represent some kind of greater good, whether it be, faith, bravery, hope, charity and yes…friendship. When done correctly, the heroic character becomes a timeless icon. I mean look at my examples again. Superman is good not because of his superpowers but because of his character. Superman’s an immigrant, a stranger who uses his alien powers to help others. He stands for truth, justice, and the American way. No matter how bad the situation is, he never kills people. (For more on this subject, watch the animated movie Superman vs. the Elite or read the comic book it’s based on.)

Robin Hood (from The Adventures of Robin Hood) is a great character not just for his romantic, charismatic personality but also for what he’s fighting for. He fights an illegitimate authority and wants to return King Richard back to the throne of England. He believes him to be the rightful king, and he will sacrifice everything in order to get him back. Robin Hood knows he’ll bring a good, just government to England.

And Star Wars is a classic tale of good defeating evil, growing up into adulthood, redemption, and a tale of low-lifes becoming great heroes. Let’s look at Han Solo for a minute. Sure people talk about how cool Han Solo is like how he shot-first but in my opinion that’s not what makes him an amazing character. In the beginning of A New Hope, he’s a jerk to Luke. He doesn’t believe in the Force. He’s not a man of honor and only cares about money. However he slowly starts to care about Luke and Leia and discovers faith in the Force and after going through so much trouble and getting everything he wanted. He comes backs to save Luke, allowing him to destroy the Death Star. Despite not being a man of the book he is still a hero inside. Which if you really think about the real hero in the original trilogy it is Han, not Luke.

People look up to these heroes because they inspire us. Not to put on capes, overwears and conduct vigilantism, no, but to never give up hope, to always take up virtue and to know that good always triumphs…which really lacks in modern day entertainment. A lot of modern storytellers don’t understand heroism and don’t know why it’s so important to many classics. The new Superman movies suck because they don’t have any of Superman’s trademark heroism. Like I said, he kills the bad guys, he fails to save people and loses control of his emotions. That’s not a hero. The new Star Wars movies suck because all of the new characters are these god-like Neanderthals who have no reliability that made the original characters great. No all of them are sad old people who don’t learn anything. In fact, many remakes and sequels of classic stories are sad in tone when their originals were not-why is this? Well we all know why, it’s all because of the postmodern viewpoint that heroism is a fantasy and in real life everything that makes a hero doesn’t exist. Such a worldview is really bad and it shows in many original stories today. I mean look around you, fiction’s so dark it’s become commonplace for a piece of entertainment to take place in a post-apocalyptic world or dystopia where all authority is bad, all hope is lost, God doesn’t exist and the only thing that’s metaphysical is politics. There aren’t any heroes, only cynical, morally ambiguous, deeply flawed characters with little to no sympathy.  When the day is saved and the bad guy is defeated it usually ends on a very bitter note like nothing was every achieved. Does that sound entertaining to you?

Plus, when you get right down to it, a lot of these stories are shockingly bad. Many fields of entertainment aren’t being made by talented people but by executives who only care about money. Their writing is lazy, quality over substance, completely mindless with characters that are either one dimensional to two-dimensional, which writers try to hide it by making them inherently flawed. Now an inherently flawed characters is perfectly normal as long is there’s some sort of payoff or balance, However tons of writers today fail on both, causing audiences to feel alienated from the protagonist because the story literally gave them reasons not care about his or her struggles. Mix that all up with a problematic imagination and an unsubtle political agenda and you get a match made in limbo. Again, a lot of these problems come from this false interpretation of heroes not being real. Of course heroes are real. Anyone can be a hero. We enjoy fictional heroes because they remind us that good exist; If there is no hero, then there’s no value, if there’s no value then people don’t care and if people don’t care then the story is forgotten and then lost in time. I know every story can be different In form but the most popular formula is about heroes saving the day which is being desecrated in the modern era…

However-and I can’t believe I’m about to say this (or write this) My Little Pony is the exception. In the show, heroism isn’t ignored or perverse but accepted. The characters do heroic acts and they’re celebrated for it. Almost every character is nice, trustworthy and never cynical or morally ambiguous. The world they inhabit isn’t nasty, but a beautiful place, one that’ll make you wish you lived there. The show promotes many positive messages with a huge focus on friendship being the best ever, and no matter how dark the show gets (and believe me the show can get surprisingly dark at times) none of the heroes give up hope and they all lives happily ever after.

Plus, the show is well made. It’s not created by greedy executives but by talented people who’ve been working on cartoons for decades. The dialogue is funny, most of the episodes are smart, the characters are well-developed, the music and animation is surprisingly great and the show’s smart enough to not go P.C. Compare this to other television shows like The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Big Bang Theory, The Handmaids Tale and every show on the CW, MLP is one of the few TV shows that’s actually good. Wouldn’t you agree?

I think the reason why so many young adults watch MLP is because many of them are so tired and fed up with how much fiction has merged with postmodernism and choose to watch this simple kids show, Not only for being smart and entertaining, but also celebrating something many of them haven’t seen in a long time…and that’s a story of good people doing good things…But hey, that’s just a theory! A game-wait a minute? What’d you guys think? Was my theory on the brony phenomenon absolutely right, absolutely wrong or was it missing a couple of points?

  My Little Pony: Beyond Good and Evil published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #384

Top Ten SDCC 2019 Predictions

Every year when I do this sort of thing, it gets harder. Like I said before with E3, it feels a bit like my nerd tastes have narrowed, and I have a lot less free time to enjoy the plethora of nerdy things out there. Plus, it feels like these big multimedia showcases have expanded to the point where announcements are made over a period of a fortnight or so as companies hold their own side-conferences, or smaller players wait until there’s more oxygen in the room once the big guns have had their say. Add to this the fact that Sony skipped E3 entirely this year, and DC is more or less doing the same with SDCC (at least as far as movies are concerned), and you have a recipe for me just making stuff up. I could have done an E3 Top Ten just about Xbox rumours, and I could have done this about the MCU (when do we think we’ll see the X-Men in an Avengers movie?!). Maybe I will!

Regardless, we amble once again towards a San Diego Comic Con. This year is probably going to be most notable for Marvel’s contributions; sadly with no comparable DCEU panel we won’t get any more info out of Batman, Wonder Woman, or Harley Quinn. I’m a little bit out of the loop with what the Big Two are planning comics-wise, and anyway, SDCC isn’t quite the hotbed of comics news it once was. But with a few exciting-looking panels, I’m sure there’ll be lots to talk about.

Usual caveats apply: I’m not insider, I know nothing, these are all guesses, some more educated than others. Sometimes this turns out to be a wishlist. Let’s see how wrong I was, eh?

MCU Overload: now Endgame is out of the way, I think Marvel will be a lot less cagey about their future. I predict release dates and official announcements for most of Phase Four (Black Widow, Eternals, Shang-Chi, a few sequels); the surprise tease of some Black Widow footage; something we really weren’t expecting (Squirrel Girl, perhaps, or a Captain Marvel sequel featuring Kamala Khan). In short, I think Marvel will seriously dominate all the headlines and get us thinking eagerly about what we’ll be watching this time in 2024.

Avengers Re-Assemble: there’s going to be a couple of Avengers retrospectives, and I predict we’ll see a repeat of the 2011 SDCC when the cast of The Avengers/Avengers Assemble (delete as regionally appropriate) appeared on-stage together for the first time. This may very well turn out to be Robert Downey Jr’s last panel appearance to discuss Tony Stark (funnily enough, however, I don’t think it’s the last we’ve seen of Chris Evans as Steve Rogers…). This will be a big event, and rather melancholic, too.

Disney Plussed: as well as all the Marvel film shenanigans – most of which are still too deep in pre-production to offer juicy morsels to the faithful – I think we’ll see loads of stuff about the MCU Disney+ shows. A proper, full trailer for Loki (which I think is the first to film), as well as oodles and oodles of info and maybe even footage from whatever’s lining up next. I think we’ll see Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Mackie, Sebastian Stan, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, and Jeremy Renner all on stage. We’ll get proper synopses for all of these shows. And, yes, I think Falcon and Winter Soldier will still be called Falcon and Winter Soldier, and it will sort of be about Sam Wilson’s journey into becoming Captain America.

Making it So: okay, moving reluctantly away from Marvel, I think the Star Trek: Picard panel will be another highlight. Jean-Luc himself, I believe, will be on stage, alongside some of the cast, and one of the show’s directors: Jonathan Frakes. They will release another, fuller, trailer for the show, and a release date too. And maybe – just maybe – we’ll even get a tease for the next season of Discovery. Engaging!

Top TV Trailers: keeping things on the small screen for the moment, there are a few panels dedicated to upcoming genre TV. TV shows which, to be honest, I probably won’t find the time to watch. But even though production has only just started on some of these shows, I still think we’ll see some footage. The Witcher, the Netflix book/game adaptation starring latter-day Superman and best-case-scenario moustache model, will have a full trailer; meanwhile, the as-far-as-I-know-still-untitled Game of Thrones spin-off will have some kind of Con-exclusive sizzle reel or teaser. I’m way, way behind on Thrones anyway so the spin-off doesn’t really interest me, but I do hope I can find space in my busy schedule for The Witcher.

Continued Transformations: the new Transformers comic feels like it’s taking a while to build, and moves a mite slowly at times, but it is building a new and compelling world, amazingly finding a unique spin on the 35-year-old franchise. A spin-off mini-series focussing on the Constructicons has already been announced, but I think SDCC will see the unveiling of another mini; maybe a prequel detailing the war with the Threefold Spark? Alternatively – if the core series is not expanded – maybe we’ll get another crossover. My personal preference would be Rodimus and Megatron’s Lost Light crew winding up in Equestria. What? A guy can dream!

Teen Titans Go! Straight to Video: after the My Little Pony movie a couple of years ago, I thought a sequel would make its way to our screens before the series wrapped up; I was sort-of right, but the second MLP movie is going straight to Netflix. I wonder if something similar will happen with my kids’ other favourite movie based on one of their favourite shows, Teen Titans Go! Maybe it’s early doors, but I think a sequel movie to the utterly fantastic Teen Titans Go! To the Movies will indeed happen, but it’ll wind up on the DC Universe streaming platform rather than go cinematic.  

OG Titans FTW: sticking with superheroes too young to drink, and again following on sorta-kinda from Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, I think as a SHOCKING TWIST we’ll get official confirmation – but no other information – about a revival of the original Teen Titans cartoon. Just a teaser trailer, and a “COMING SOON”… but this would really, really make my SDCC.

She-Ra’s Sibling, Take a Bow: so the new season of the excellent She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is coming next month; this we know. There’ll be a panel about the show, and given that it must be essentially completed, we’ll get a nice full-fat trailer. But. Here’s the thing. I think we’ll get the barest – barest – tease of a wider universe beyond Etheria, perhaps by the merest suggestion of She-Ra’s brother. I don’t actually think we’ll see He-Man in season three, but I think She-Ra will perhaps learn the word “Eternia” and discover that she may, indeed, have family out there. I imagine – and hope – that they want to keep the focus on Adora and her friends, and not drag the show’s centre of gravity off in the direction of a big, strong, and more famous male character.

Yesterday’s Agents: finally, we go full circle, back to the MCU… sorta. Because at this point, can’t we all agree that any Marvel TV show – apart from, presumably, Agent Carter – takes place in an alternate but very similar universe? I mean, there’s no way the characters from Agents of SHIELD or the Netflix Defenders series exist in the mainstream MCU without their being called up during the whole “On your left…” bit in Endgame. But regardless: Agents of SHIELD. A show that has had mixed fortunes but which, on the whole, has been really compelling and entertaining. I’ve just started on season six but so far it’s been great. But like many great things, I think it must end. Season seven is coming, but – unless they do eight at more or less the same time – I think that’s it. You had a great run, with some cracking stories and wonderful characters that I’m going to miss. But with the whole Disney+ thing, I feel we’ve seen the end of, well, all other Marvel shows. And this is what they’ll announce at SDCC.

So there you go. Not necessarily a vintage year but enough to get excited about. For me, really, it’s all about the MCU! Let’s, shall we?

#top ten #sdcc19 #sdccfunko #comic #marvel #mcu #movies

[britesparc]

Weekend Top Ten #358

Top Ten Things That Look Cool in 2019

After last week’s trip down memory lane, stopping in all of 2018’s laybys for a wee, I'm turning my attention to the coming year. 2018 was, in a lot of ways, great; can 2019 top it? I mean, for a start, we might see the back of both Trump and Brexit, although I admit in both cases that’s probably a long shot; Brexit might even end up consuming the entire world like that little black hole thing they fire at Vulcan in Star Trek. But I remain an optimist, and I think even these twin evils can be vanquished. But, really, I'm meant to be talking about fun entertainment-y type stuff. Otherwise I'd fill these things with “aww, my little girl starts school” or “boy, I hope I don’t contract Ebola”.

So! What could be better than the year that brought us the end of IDW’s Transformers comics and the biggest Avengers movie of all time? How about a year that brings us the start of a new range of IDW Transformers comics and an even bigger Avengers movie, AND a Star War?

So. 2019. Ten things. Don’t disappoint me, you fickle time bastard.

Ends of an eras: look, in 2019, a Star Wars trilogy ends. Not only that, but it’s the end of a trilogy of trilogies; arguably the culmination of a story begun over forty years ago and which has changed cinema irrevocably, more than once. And that is not even the most exciting film released in 2019. Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars Episode IX are two of the biggest, most exciting-looking, most-anticipated films of my entire life, and they come out merely months apart. I can’t get over it. It's ridiculous. Literally nothing else comes close to generating the buzz I get from these two films. Disney owns my soul.

Animation showdown: if further proof were needed vis-a-vis Disney and soul-owning, there is also a battle of the animation superpowers when Pixar’s brightest goes up against Disney Animation’s biggest. Toy Story 4 and Frozen 2 both come out in 2019. Despite all three Toy Storys being better than Frozen, I'm probably more excited to return to Arendelle than to Bonnie’s toybox; we have three perfect Toy Story films already, and I just can’t believe that a fourth will be anything other than a disappointment, even if it’s really very good. A sequel to Frozen still has a North Mountain to climb, but I'm more comfortable with it being less of a masterpiece. As to which will make more money? I reckon if it’s good, if there’s a wind behind it, and if Star Wars doesn’t hoover up too much airspace, Frozen 2 could be not only the biggest animated movie of all time but maybe – just maybe – the first animation to hit $2 billion.

Next-gen now: well, not now exactly; more likely 2020. But all things being equal 2019 will see the first concrete details – maybe even names?! - of the successor consoles to the PS4 and Xbox One. I’m really interested in seeing where they go from here: game streaming? Integrated VR? 8k? Beyond the grunt and gimmicks, I'd like to see a next-gen that offered gameplay-improving abilities such as deformable scenery, vast crowds, destructible cities, water and flame physics, rather than just sexier graphics or even more Ds to make H. All the same, I'm really excited to see how it all pans out.

It never ends: as one door closes, so another transforms into a giant robotic dinosaur and breathes fire. Yes, coming soon to a comic store near you, is IDW’s revamped and rebooted Transformers universe. Streamlined, bereft of around 13 years of continuity, potentially excluded from the wider universe of Hasbro properties, we have (yet) another origin of everyone’s favourite robots in disguise (sorry, Go-Bots). The idea to set the story on Cybertron, pre-war, is a good one, and seeing newer characters like Windblade take their rightful place in Transformers lore is delightful (I hope we see other comics-originated characters like Nautica and Aileron before too long). My only reservation (other than, y’know, this series following my favourite series of all time) is that some of the best Transformers stories ever told were about pre-war Cybertron, and specifically Megatron’s ideology and subsequent formation of the Decepticons. I’m still really excited, but can this possibly come close to living up to what came before?

Discovering Picard: two Star Trek shows in one year? What is this, 1996?! But it’s (probably going to be) true: season 2 of Discovery starts very soon, bringing with it Pike, Spock, and the Enterprise. Truth be told, although I dug Disco, it didn’t feel quite as “Star Trek-y" as it could have, and trying to square its continuity circles gave me a headache. How its darker take on the Federation’s history will impinge on characters we already know gives me pause. I’m much more excited – although likewise much more nervous – about Patrick Stewart’s return to the franchise in the currently-untitled Picard spin-off. Next Generation is my favourite Trek flavour, so catching up with probably my favourite character and seeing how the universe has evolved beyond the ending of Nemesis is – wait for it – engaging. See what I did there?

Get ready, Agent: I’ve been looking forward to a new Crackdown for years. Not just since Crackdown 3’s announcement in (wow!) 2014; I’ve been hoping and wishing and praying since Crackdown 2 (which, weirdly, I never really got into). Off the top of my head, I can’t really think of another announced game in 2019 which I'm really excited for; just as well, as I’ve still got Mass Effect: Andromeda, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Gears of War 4 to complete. But I love the superheroic verticality of Crackdown, the tower-climbing, orb-collecting, minivan-throwing power you feel. The second-to-second gameplay in the first game is one of my top gaming experiences of all time, right up there with Halo in terms of sheer enjoyment rush. I’m disappointed the freeform destruction appears cordoned off in a multiplayer arena, and the game doesn’t appear to have evolved much since 2007, plus it’s had a protracted and apparently difficult development... but I love Crackdown, so I'm keeping everything crossed.

Strang3r: I missed Stranger Things this year. Whilst perhaps not quite reaching the heights of the first season, Stranger Things 2 was more consistent for me, building from episode to episode and feeling like a more complete package (the slightly dodgy Eleven-in-the-big-city story notwithstanding). So I'm really looking forward to Part 3. Moving out of its spooky Halloween comfort zone is a bold move, but perhaps allows for some delightful blockbuster thrills. It'll be interesting to see how the young cast fare as they get older, and hopefully they’ll continue to put David Harbour and Winona Ryder closer to the action.

Literate TV: there are a number of Capital-B-Big adaptations of books coming to the small screen this year: Good Omens (which I'm reading at the moment), His Dark Materials (which is one of my favourite books), and Catch-22 (which is also rather good). This is to say nothing of the Gatiss & Moffat Dracula adaptation, which may still sneak in at the end of the year. Although my TV backlog is ridiculous at the moment – including most of the Marvel Netflix stuff, the last couple Maniacs, Sabrina, Lost in Space, and fellow Gaiman adaptation American Gods – these all sound rather fantastic, and I can’t wait.

Livewood: speaking of classic TV... I can’t believe it’s actually happening, but the Deadwood movie is apparently coming out this year. Deadwood is phenomenal, one of my favourite shows of all time, cut down far too soon, and it’s so, so good that they’re finally being allowed to finish their story. I’m worried, naturally, as I often am when classics are revisited; but truth be told I'm more worried about how I'm going to watch it as it’s all HBO. Presumably it’ll be on Sky or something.

Gelflings-a-go-go: what’s this? More TV? Bloody hell, how on Earth am I going to finish writing my book?! To say nothing of completing Red Dead! Anyway, this is another Netflix biggie: a prequel/continuation/spin-off/whatever of beloved 80s puppet curio The Dark Crystal, the weirdest and creepiest kids’ movie ever made. I'm fascinated to see how they build upon what Jim Henson created, especially as I believe it was a very personal movie for him. Also: have you seen the cast list?! Blimey!

All that, and I still didn’t get round to the other superhero films (including two Captain Marvels – or Captains Marvel?), the return of Alan Partridge, the frankly-tragic-looking (in a good way) conclusion of the How to Train Your Dragon trilogy, DC’s young-reader-friendly Wonder Comics, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. There are an awful lot of things to look forward to this year, even if the rest of the world is getting all Children of Men on us.

#top ten #2019 #2019 preview #things to come #star wars #marvel #deadwood #crackdown #netflix #transformers #star trek #disney

[swipestream]

An Interview with Brian Niemeier, Part II

Brian Niemeier is a best-selling science fiction author and a John W. Campbell Award for Best New ‘Writer finalist. His second book, Souldancer, won the first ever Dragon Award for Best Horror Novel. He chose to pursue a writing career despite formal training in history and theology. His journey toward publication began at the behest of his long-suffering gaming group, who tactfully pointed out that he seemed to enjoy telling stories more than planning and adjudicating games.

Released this week, Brian’s newest book, The Ophian Rising, concludes his groundbreaking Soul Cycle series. Recently, I sat down with Brian to discuss The Ophian Rising, the rest of the Soul Cycle, and more. Part I of our interview focused on the Soul Cycle. Let’s now find out what is next.

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Returning to how layered your storytelling is and the wide sweep of authors and works that you’ve mentioned as influences, what authors have been most influential to your storytelling?

Frank Herbert. I’ve mentioned before that I read and fell in love with Dune in high school. In fact, it saved my love of reading from being smothered.

Also, Neil Gaiman. I loved the Sandman in its original comic run, loved Good Omens that he did with Sir Terry Pratchett. Neverwhere was okay. I really haven’t liked a lot of his solo stuff since but Sandman was a big influence.

Kevin J. Anderson’s and Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars novels from the mid to late 90s. The Thrawn Trilogy, Jedi Academy, and Dark Saber.

During one of our previous interactions online, you mentioned the importance of reading to an author’s development. What are you currently reading right now?

Right now, I am going back to fill in my Larry Correia collection. I have my copy in paperback of Monster Hunter Vendetta right here and I’m about a third of the way through.

Have you read Son of the Black Sword yet?

Yes. I took an interesting approach to Larry’s work, which is kind of unintentional. I’ve read the first installment of each of his series. So I’ve read Monster Hunter International, Hard Magic, and Son of the Black Sword, so now I’m reading the second book in each one. Hopefully by the time I’m done with Spellbound, House of Assassins will be out.

You are also an editor. Can you describe some of the challenges compared to writing?

Sure. In terms of the challenges, editing is a whole different animal. When you’re just composing original prose, the field is wide open. You know that you have this huge blank canvas that you can put anything you want on there, so you’re really free of restrictions. You can always come back and revise it later.

Editing is a far more technical process. It differs from proofreading in that I mainly provide three services, which is line, copy, and content or development editing. I don’t do what your junior high English teacher does. I’m not going through with the red pen and pointing out, “Well, this is a comma splice. This is ‘it’s’ not ‘its’ so it should have an apostrophe. You want to use ‘whom’ instead of ‘who’ here because it’s in the object.” I mean, if I find those mistakes I will correct them, but mainly I am the last line of defense between the readers and an unsaleable book. I’m there to give suggestions that, if followed, will make your book professional and make it saleable.

The questions I ask myself are: Is this prose easy to read and understand? Is it readable? Do the mood, tone, and themes that the author wants to get across come through clearly? Is the plot advanced? Is every page, paragraph, and sentence doing at least two things? Like advancing character, advancing plot, conveying mood and tone, developing a theme? Is this book structured correctly? Do the pinches and turns and climaxes and, you know, the peaks and valleys come at dramatically appropriate moments to maximize the audience’s emotional impact? Those are just a few of the challenges and, of course, so is doing all of that without killing the author’s voice.

I’ve always got to be on guard to make sure that I’m not editing this book into a book that I would write. It’s got to still be the author’s book because the author is still the ultimate authority. The author can take all of my notes and say, “Go pound sand. I’m not going to take any of this advice.” It’s the author’s call. So I’ve got to make sure that at the end of the day, even if he does take all of my advice, it’s still his book, not mine.

Can you mention some of the books you’ve worked on?

Of the books that have hit the market, I edited Justin Knight’s second book. I’m looking through my list of stuff I’ve edited to make sure I get the title right. That one underwent a title change– that was Praxis.

I also edited a short story for JD Cowan, who you may be familiar with, called “In the Eyes of the Demon”, and, just recently released, Vigil by Russell Newquist.

What’s your next project?

Well. I’ve done my passion project. I’ve done the Soul Cycle, and in terms of indie authors, it was a success. It exceeded my expectations. I was hoping to break even on it and I’ve actually been able to earn a living through that, sometimes supplementing it with the editing. It’s been critically acclaimed, it has gotten some great reviews, so I’m pleased. Well done, good and faithful Soul Cycle. Thanks to all the readers who supported it.

Now that we’ve got the more complex, layered, I don’t to say inaccessible story, but there is a curve you’ve got a surmount to get into Nethereal. I think you’d agree it’s kind of a tough nut to crack. You have to figure out how to approach it. I chalk that up to, one, being the first book in a series that tells a rather complex story, and that’s just how the story is. I mean, I simplified that thing as much as I could. And two, Nethereal is the midpoint of the whole saga.

I do at some point plan to go back and do a four book prequel trilogy that explores the life and times of Almeth Elocine and his rise and fall. We see him in the prologue of Souldancer and he shows up one more time in that book. Then he shows up a couple times in The Secret Kings near the end. Really, as has been hinted, everything is really his fault. The Guild itself, the purge of the Gen and other non-human races, and their defeat. It’s kind of all on him, which will be made clear. Nethereal is very much the echo of what he did before he got to Kairos at the beginning of Souldancer. I think he’s my most compelling character. You’ll get to see a bit more of him in The Ophian Rising. He’ll actually get to see him take the field and do stuff this time, so there’s a little tidbit for you. We’re going to examine him, but that’s not my next immediate project

So again, we’ve done the heavy stuff, we’ve done the more literary stuff, and you guys have been good. It’s time to give you a treat:

The next project is giant robots.

Let’s have some fun. Let’s get in our giant mecha and let’s blow up some space colonies. Let’s shoot the big laser straight down the middle of the approaching squad of enemy mechs and just watch them blossom in sequence into Christmas lights.

Like Macross or Gundam?

Remember when Nick Cole and Jason Anspach first launched Galaxy’s Edge? Before they had the title, they just called it #StarWarsNotStarWars. This is #GundamNotGundam. I say Gundam all the way. I mean, I like what I’ve seen of Macross, but I’m a Gundam fanboy. I love it so and I’ve got to be really careful because Bandai is super uptight even more than Disney about protecting their IP. I will probably not be able to use #GundamNotGundam in marketing. I’ve already got five books outlined for it.

There has already has been a short story published in that universe It’s called “Anacyclosis”.

Is that the story hosted on Sci Phi Journal?

Correct. So anybody who wants a foretaste of what’s coming next can go check that out. There’s quite a bit of the lore of that series contained in that story. It’s a good jumping on point.

Earlier this summer, you released a novella, “The Hymn of the Pearl”. Could you tell us a bit about it?

Anyone who signs up for my newsletter–which you can do through my website Kairos at BrianNiemeier.com–gets a free copy of my first novella “The Hymn of the Pearl” for free. It’s been described as a sort of historical fiction but in a version of Late Antiquity that never was. There are two competing magic systems practiced by two competing orders of priests. It deals with the fate of humans and gods and how they can’t be created or destroyed, just moved around. There’s a redemption story. There’s an attempt to start a war. It’s good, clean, wholesome fun.

Is this a setup for a future project or is it self-contained?

Right now, its self-contained. I do have ideas where I might go with it. There’s enough demand for an entire series. I have had people who’ve read it saying how much they want a sequel, but just as many have told me, “No, no, this is perfect as it is. I wouldn’t want to see you cheapen this with a sequel. I wouldn’t want to see you water it down.”

Let’s just say that there might be a sequel to “The Hymn of the Pearl” someday, but it’s on the back burner. I’m going to focus on my mecha series next.

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Thanks again to Brian Niemeier for his time and for writing the genre-bending Soul Cycle series.

You can get the final book of the award-winning Soul Cycle today, and complete your collection by picking up the other captivating books in this supernatural space adventure series.

An Interview with Brian Niemeier, Part II published first on http://ift.tt/2zdiasi