Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger Episodes 18-22

Not unlike the migratory patterns of birds, there are constants within the Sentai franchise. For instance we're currently at the point where a new character is introduced to the group and has a series of adventures establishing his interactions with the rest of the team. Last year this happened a little earlier and the general effect was a show doubling down on what it already had by adding another obnoxious personality. This year the writers took a little more time and have introduced a character far different from most sixth rangers I'm accustomed too. We are getting a little ahead of ourselves though. Before we talk about the new guy's personality, first we've gotta talk about how he ends up joining the team.

As you may recall, Zyuoh The World first appeared in episode 17 and made quick work of beating the team like they owe him money. This continued into the next episode when he introduced them to his own set of giant robots and provided such a sound thrashing it left everyone more than a little gun shy about facing him again.

The villains plan for The World were to unleashed him every time a new player (AKA monster of the week) begin to have trouble with the Zyuohgers. Naturally these means he's back in action by the end of the episode, That's when Yamato institutes a plan to fly the new guy away for a one on one fight so the others could take care of the regular monster. This is where I noted an improvement in the fight choreography. This battle was fast and mean, and the series since has featured better action than earlier in the season.

During the big fight, The World powers down, allowing Yamato to see that he's actually some poor tortured soul rather than a blood-thirsty killing machine. The following tale was all about him convincing the others to try and rescue this guy from the aliens. Obviously the others are hesitant to try such a ridiculous plan but since they've also benefited from Yamoto's empathy for all living things, why not give it a shot. Long story short, success!

All the conflict out of the way we finally get to meet the man under the tights. This is where things take a turn for the odd. For his experiment in creating a new life form, Master Genis combined his own cells along with the life force of three zyumen into a human. This required a host with very little will power of his own and thus he picked Misao Mondo, the most pathetic man in all of Japan. OK, I'm exaggerating, but this guy is something wholly different from the vast swath of Sentai heroes. He's just a bundle of social anxiety, self-loathing, and overdramatics. It's actually neat to see someone like this as heroic figure for kids as there are plenty of people with these same issues. I can even see a little of my younger self in the poor guy. He basically grew up without any friends, so he goes overboard when it comes to dealing with people only to retreat when things get awkward. If all that weren't enough he also talks to the three dead zyuman who serve as his unconscious mind. Guy's a nut.

Over the following episodes we get to watch Misao integrate himself into the group. At first he has to decide if he even wants to fight since he thinks so lowly of himself. Once most of the team is captured and put in yet another bondage situation he finally decides to help out.

It must be Tuesday.

After that we set up his relationships with the other team members. Him and Yamato bond by both being gentle individuals as well as being the only humans capable of using zyuman powers.

Misao really attaches himself to Tusk with the notion of powerful friendship between awkward guys.

We haven't gotten a direct team-up of Misao and Leo yet but there is definitely conflict there as Leo can't stand what a ninny the new guy turned out to be.

As for the girls, Amu has figured out she can keep Misao on task with a little feminine encouragement. Lord knows if they'll keep that up long enough to maybe deal with him having a crush on her. Sela so far has had the least interaction with him so there's still a blank slate for how they can bounce off each other.

Overall the introduction of Zyuoh The World has helped to straighten the show out after some stumbles during the last batch of episodes. There have been some difficulties in introducing such a meek hero but I think his presence helps since he plays of the other characters quite well. The writers still need to pair him up with other characters to fully develop his place in the team. Beyond that they have to avoid the pitfall of his story not going anywhere like Kinji last year. Fingers crossed there.

It appears that a new story arc is about to begin with a new kind of villain and the return of the bird man who's been M.I.A. for sometime now. Plus it looks like Yamato's going to get another fresh set of powers. That's a post for another day though. Right now I've got my own set of animals aggressively reminding me it's dinner time.

CosmicSparky Visits Kokomo, Indiana.

There's a certain beauty to following a line of events to it's inevitable conclusion. Back in early 2015 I took up an interest in subscription boxes which lead to trying out the whole My Toy Box service, which when combined with YouTube videos about said boxes and Funko pops resulted in a slight rekindling of my admiration for toys. Eventually I started to buy Funko Pops and a few of them were bought from a store called Kokomo Toys located in, shocking twist, Kokomo Indiana. I rather enjoyed ordering from them thanks to good prices and quick shipping, especially since being so close means items arrive at my house between blinks. After some studying I found the town was much more than just a cool toy store. If we really traced this back to square one we can blame this entire journey on Johnny Tellez. During my time working the Alzheimer home I couldn't wait to treat myself to a trip and visit this odd hamlet, with my recently renewed freedom I finally got to do just that.

A little background. Kokomo, Indiana is a town that essentially had it's head kicked in by a combo of corporate greed and violent acts of natures. For years it had been a place for innovation and plentiful manufacturing jobs, then those jobs turned tail for cheaper pastures. Adding to that insult was an equal bounty of tornadoes and flooding.

In the years since those disasters, the town has worked towards digging itself out of the pits and becoming something notable again. As you can probably guess there's still plenty of evidence leftover from their troubles. Damaged buildings, beat down & dingy little house, and more old factories than the place knows what to do with. That being said, the town still has a ton to offer. I mean we're talking about a place with both local specialty stores as well as national standbys, a mall, something like 30 parks, museums, YMCA, a sizable downtown with actual stores, on and on. There's a lot of stuff for a place I'm sure many people have never heard of.

After the fairly uneventful three-hour drive we kicked things off in what the town refers to as geek street, a block of Sycamore featuring a comic, toy, and game store. Think I saw a record store as well but neglected to check it out. First up was Comics Cubed in a nifty little corner building. Despite my love for comics, most stores based around the topic tend to give me the creepy crawlies generally due to the customer base. Sorry fellow comic fans, but you know what I'm getting at. While the store is fairly small and subsequently a little cramped they've got lots of stock and good stuff at that. It's about 85% comics with a bit of games and collectibles for added flavor. It's the sort of place I could definitely see going to for weekly releases. The owner was friendly which made up for a couple of his customers coming off a tad rude. One of my favorite parts was that they'd tie whole miniseries or runs on a book all together for a lower price than buying individual issues. Didn't get any pictures but the place is colorful and cool. So far so good.

Next up was my main event. Kokomo Toys, a holy place for toy lovers. While it didn't exceed my expectations it met them perfectly. There's so much to take in I actually had to repeat some aisles just to take in all my options. Here's a wee picture to give you an idea.

It was odd to note price differences from the ebay and physical store. For instance Funko pops have a range of prices on ebay to make up for the free shipping. In store they're only eight bucks each which is a fantastic price. Likewise I saw items that were more expensive in store than ebay but with the offerings on each front being surprisingly different there's a good reason for both to exist.

If you do visit be prepared for an odd smell. They stash a lot of old collectibles in box which makes for a sort of moist, musky odor. I didn't mind it but my more whiny companions did.

Still the selection is great and the prices are really fair. I tried to limit myself to somewhere between $50 and $75 but lord almighty I could have easily spent over a hundred. I left behind items like a Metaluna Mutant doll, Soulcalibur figures, those NECA videogame figures, Street Sharks, and most of all I passed up a still in box Draco the Dragon from Dragonheart. That was one of my all time favorite toys but with my limitations I went another way. If you're a toy person in any way shape or form, you really must check this place out sometime.

Wrapping up geek street I visited Goblin Games real quick. Actually having a local tabletop store these days it's neat to compare and contrast. This place had a lot of playing room and nice prices on their games, but not as much stock as my local joint. Not bad, but not as memorable as the neighboring stores.

Before we headed out to other sections of town we headed over to the storybook express convenience store. It's one of several buildings put together by a development company with a love for reusing old materials and making everything look unique. Don't be fooled though, the inside is still a fairly typical party store though this one has a few more excessive items like bongs and friend chicken.

Needing a wee boost of sugar we headed to Gingerbread House Bakery which was a great decision. While the donuts I had was just good, everything else was practically orgasmic. The peanut butter cups alone are worth a visit. There's a brewery moving in across the street and a pizza joint down the block which means this spot will soon be a refuge for the glutinous.

After that we checked out the opalescent glass factory. Nice stuff but as you can guess incredibly expensive. Then it was time to take in a few odd sights. We'd already seen the kokomantis, a big metal praying mantis, so it was time to seek out the two literal giants. I'm talking about Old Ben, the largest Steer in the world, who's stuffed corpse is kept in highland park next to the world's largest sycamore tree stump. Yea all of this stuff is very kitschy but god help me I love it. There's just something inherently endearing about monster livestock or oversized bug statues.

Feeling the need for proper food we decided to hit one of several drive-in's and ended up at a local joint named Rays. I'd looked into this place as it has some fame for it's big tenderloin burger. True to what I'd heard this was a good sized tenderloin and it wasn't half bad though everything there was just too damn basic. There wasn't anything special about any of it save for size. Likewise the atmosphere could definitely use a boost. Service was good though, points earned there.

Our bellies weighed down with meat and taters, we headed out to some less specialized locations like a local goodwill as we made our way to my last major stop. The night before the trip I decided to search for any good retro game stores and lo & behold I found The Gaming HQ. Very lucky I did since this was such a neat store. I've seen classic game stores with more items than this but they still had a fine selection and generally fair prices. Best of all it was really organized. Color me impressed. Similar to Kokomo Toys I could have spent plenty of geenbacks but I behaved and only brought home a couple items. What really tickled me were the glass cases with high-quality, and moderately rare games. It was essentially my old gaming collection that I'd sold off over the years to maintain a certain level of living. We're talking Suikoden, Parasite Eve, Mega Man Legends, Lunar, etc. Absolutely give these guys a shot if you love video games.

After that we started to wrap up and head back to the glove. Sure enough, I could tell I was back in my home turf when the scenery took a noticeable turn towards Tales from the Darkside atmosphere.

So what do I think of Kokomo, you ask? Well it's certainly an odd duck. For one it's got this strange mix of being a small town yet being quite large in scale. It's got all the shrinky-dink nonsense of villages across the country yet there's a population just shy of 40,000 with all the commerce needed to support that. Those people are a unique batch as well. There are tons of good ole boys and girls from the manufacturing days living out their days within the city. With so many folks like that together in one area it almost feels like a trip through time. These people lived in a time when you could just work at a factory, raise a family, and call it a day. Later in the day I couldn't help but notice how few young folk I saw. Obviously I saw a few teenagers and twenty somethings, just not many. This stuck out all the more the next day when running errands in my wee town of 9,000 people I saw more young attractive woman than I did all day in Kokomo. Maybe they were hiding down at the water park, I can't say.

Would I go back one day? Maybe. I loved Kokomo Toys, The Gaming HQ, Gingerbread House Bakery and Comics Cubed. Plus I'm sure there are many other oddities hiding among the many streets. At the same time it's a somewhat depressing area as it's a living embodiment of the American dream taking a shit and leaving people with the task of digging their way out. There's still a ton of visible damage from everything that hit the place yet there's a good supply of people aiming to make new businesses and make the it more livable.

That's enough dramatics about the failings of America for now. I did indulge in some good old fashioned consumerism, so let's look at my haul.

At Comics Cubed I grabbed an issue of The Incredible Hulk featuring my favorite swamp dweller, Man-Thing. That's another guest appearance down, something like 70 more to go.

I also nabbed this big pack of issues of The Legend of Kamui. I'd only vaguely heard of the title before, and honestly there's a lack of decent info on the internet. Still this seemed like something worth getting. Even better, it was marked as issues #1-26 for $9.99 but it actually 27, 28, 36, and 37 as well. Perhaps you'll see more about this one later on.

At Kokomo Toys I grabbed Cerberus from the Final Fantasy VIII Guardian Force series. Despite my love for this franchise I own almost no trinkets or memorabilia so this was a nice way to patch that hole. Then I picked up the new Dr. Strange Funko Pop, a Yubi Godzilla mystery mini, and since I needed to grab something classic, I picked up a Thundercats Slith figure.

Since I was behaving by that point in the day, the only things I got from the Gaming HQ were two shooters published by Working Designs (god do I ever miss those guys). Gungriffen Blaze was developed by Game Arts, the crew behind titles like Grandia and Lunar. Second is Silpheed: The Lost Planet which is those same guys teamed up with Treasure which makes it a instant buy. I also picked up a Val Lewton double Feature at the Goodwill store. These are out of print and sort of pricey these days so it's a nice find.

So that was my big reward, making up for the months of nonsense I put up with at the Alzheimer home. Now with the special trip out of the way I'm officially back to work on making something of my life, what a drag. I'm actually going to try and have another article cooked up for you all this weekend while I work on a massive pile of backlogged writing. See you again soon.

Star Wars Book Club: Aftermath Review

This is a very special post today, friends. After months of toil including two of the longest weeks of my life I've finally returned to my old lifestyle. The job at the Alzheimer home is over, and an attempt at working for a local party store didn't work out. Now I'm back to just my old shelter job and doing my own thing most of the time. It's a true return to form which allows me the time to get things back in shape around here while expanding my presence on other sites and maybe even finding a paying gig here and there. Yea I'll have to hunt down another job eventually but for now I've got some clearance to work on my own projects and goals.

It's rather freeing after months of awful. In truth, I enjoyed the company of most of my co-workers. It was simply one of those business where the folks in charge are slowly grinding the place into the dirt while treating their employees like leaches. Not a good scene, especially for a place with an already strange and sorrowful atmosphere. But ya know what? I'm not here to talk about depressing locals or the shitbirds who run them. No, this is truly a time to return to the good stuff. And with that in mind, let's get back to one of my favorite features in that galaxy far far away with another installment of the Star Wars Book Club.

Star Wars Aftermath is notable for a variety of reasons, as the first post Jedi novel in new continuity, the beginning of a new trilogy, and the worst received title so far in this publishing initiative. I'm talking about some downright savage one and two star reviews just tearing this thing apart for everything from punctuation to character development. Given some fans reluctance to accept the new expanded universe it's usually a safe idea to approach every bad review with some skepticism. I mean this book couldn't possibly be as bad as so many made it out to be, could it? Truth is, this is a pretty weak tale. Not one completely without merit mind you but definitely the lamest New EU novel I've encountered so far. Let's check out why.

We open not long after the events of Retrun of the Jedi. The remnants of the Empire are struggling to regroup with a meeting of top brass military on the planet Akiva. In charge of this gathering is Admiral Rae Sloane who you may remember from New Dawn and a couple short stories. Honestly it's nice to see her again as she's so far been a more level-headed imperial baddie.

The plot description on the book itself may lead you to believe that Wedge Antilles is one of the main heroes of the tale but that's not the case at all. Wedge is captured early in the story and barely makes an impact on following events. Instead our heroes are a band of misfits on the planet surface.

Norra Wexley is...well she's kind of a drag really. The best way to describe her in one word is baggage. She left her son behind to join the rebellion in a vein attempt to search for her prisoner of war husband. She never found the guy during her service though she did participate in major battles such as the destruction of the second death star which has left her with PSTD.

Here's the thing. I have no problem with believing soldiers in this universe suffer with emotional trauma but to pin Norra's PTSD on one of the most heroic moments of the franchise is kinda lame. We're supposed to believe that while everyone else was dancing with teddy bears, she was crying in the shower. It would have served the character much more to have a more personalized trauma for us to identify with. As it is, she's just a massive buzzkill most of the time.

The reason for Norra's return to Akiva is to reunite with her son Temmin who we later know as Snap in The Force Awakens. Temmin isn't the worst character here though he suffers from behaving like he's a good deal younger than the stated fifteen years old. I mean we're lead to believe he's built up his own shop, salvaged his own droid bodyguard named Mr. Bones and frequently deals with criminals yet I couldn't shake the feeling the author was envisioning a whiny eleven year old certain interactions.

Speaking of Mr. Bones, he's a tough topic. On the one hand he does provide some genuine humor and plays well off surrounding personalities. At the same time, at lot of his lines and jokes can come across very forced and a little cringe-worthy. It's like the author decided Mr. Bones would be a crowdpleaser and tries to force it rather than letting it happen naturally.

Next up in our motley crew is Sinjir, a former Imperial agent who now spends his time drinking away memories. He comes across a bit better than the rest of the team thanks to a mix of being well-spoken, self-serving, and more than a little sarcastic. Those with an interest in inclusion might be glad to know he's also gay, though this effects the story in no meaningful way.

Then we have Jas, a female bounty hunter working for the alliance. Truthfully I'd be hard pressed to describe her personality as it's rather flat. She's a fairly standard resourceful loner. Thankfully she lacks most of the irritating lady warrior tropes. Other than that, there's not much to her.

As you might imagine, this oddball group slowly comes together in hopes of eliminating the remaining Imperial officers. As you may also guess, being the start of a trilogy they're not entirely successful. That's not what matters so much as is the adventure entertaining? It is.....sometimes.

Author, Chuck Windeg throws a few curve-balls our way. First he presents the tale in simple present tense. At first I couldn't quite peg what bothered me about this until I remembered these stories explicitly begin with the phrase “a long time ago.” Secondly, Chuck is a big practitioner of bullet points and sentence fragments. Don't be surprised to find page after page that looks something like this.

The biggest issue of all is pacing. We're already dealing with a large cast of characters in different locations, necessitating frequent shifts of perspective and hanging plot threads. This is understandable until the book doubles down on the issue with interludes that are completely unrelated to these events. Imagine reading three separate action scenes that have been left hanging for dramatic effect only to switch over to some war orphans on Naboo, or the awkward dinner of a family split between Empire and Alliance. While I enjoy the notion of learning more about post Jedi events, these sections only add to the troubles of a story that barely holds itself together as is.

What's more, only a few of these interludes are actually interesting. In one case that's a good thing as it's apparently the set-up for the second book in the trilogy. Another involving a black market deal to sell Darth Vader's lightsaber to a group of cultists is just cruel. I want more of this story, how did the saber get there? Who are the oddballs obsessed with a dead man's laser sword? It comes out of nowhere and leaves in a hurry.

And that's sort of the ebb and flow of this book. Plot threads are constantly put on hold, interesting concepts are teased only to suddenly be dropped, and the whole time the reader is struggling to care as the pacing doesn't allow for a smooth reading experience.

It's not all bad though. As I mentioned earlier, Rae Sloane continues to be a unique threat. Not altogether villainous so much as dedicated to her cause. The main cast also has the potential to become likable leads now that they've mostly sorted through dull emotional trauma and come together as a group.

As far as hints toward the greater Star Wars mythology there are two items of note. One is the revelation that during his reign, Emperor Palpatine sent out exploratory missions into uncharted space where he believed Sith power originated. One of the imperial officers suggests the remaining fleet head out and regroup there which seems likely to happen.

The other point of interest is a mysterious informant offering aid to the alliance. There's nothing much to go on currently but maybe we'll get lucky and find this to be an old foe returning to action or perhaps one of these threads leads to more info on Supreme Leader Snoke. A nerd can hope.

In the end this one is solely for dedicated Star Wars fans. It lacks the gripping narrative of Lost Stars, the fun of New Dawn, and the character interplay of Tarkin. For now, Aftermath rests firmly at the bottom of our power rankings which currently stand as:

1. Lost Stars by Claudia Gray
2. New Dawn by John Jackson Miller
3. Tarkin by James Luceno
4. Aftermath by Chuck Wendig

As you can see by the top photo, I've already got the next title lined up and waiting. I gotta tell you folks, it feels so great to be back simply working for the shelter, and having the time to catch up on writing, reading, watching, walking, just everything. The past three months of nonsense are over and it's time to make this year count for something. You'll be seeing a lot more of me soon with more articles here, elsewhere, and possibly some video content as well. Got lots to do, may the force be with us all.

Happy-ish Birthday 2016

It took thirty-one recurrences but it finally happened, I got sick for my birthday. Lemme tell you a trick as well. I don't get sick nearly as much as most folk so when some germ finally sneaks through my defenses it's infinity worse. Since Sunday morning it's been a total onslaught of slime, coughing, feverish shaking, with barely enough energy to maintain my already slim grip on reality. Even with how much better I'm feeling today, simply writing this post is taking all if my energy. Don't be surprised to find a paragraph where I lapse out and simply type the letter m over and over again.

That's how I spent mine and the nation's birthday. Covered in blankets, walking at a speed of quarter mile an hour. I didn't get out to see any fireworks, somebody screwed up the barbecue, though I didn't have the appetite for it anyway. All in all I think I can officially label thirty-one as my worst birthday ever.

Not all is lost however. I am absolutely going to have a complete mulligan birthday this weekend. We're talking polish sausage, sauerkraut, clearance fireworks, pie, and board games. Considering the first thing I have to do upon getting better is go back to work, I'd say I've earned the do-over.

Beyond that, there's also gifts. Those lovely little bits of sentiment that ease the trauma of finding yourself another year older. Not an altogether bad haul this year either, so let's take a look and focus on the good while we try to ignore the blob of ooze dripping out of my skull.

There's always that subset of gifts that are are small or spur the moment. Usually that's a small sum check in a card from gramma, other times it's a whole meal. One might say the buying party could have done better had they taken their time but I've gotta admit cornmeal catfish tastes all the better when I'm not paying for it. Oddly enough the one workplace gave me a tiny gift card for Meijer. It's a nice gesture though it'd certainly mean more if the place wasn't paying other employees more than me simply because they hired in two or three weeks later.

There's always someone who gets you something practical and necessary. This year that duty went to my dad who picked up the check for some of my yearly moped maintenance. Granted they'll never make a Hallmark commercial about a guy installing a new air cleaner but it's nice all the same.

On Saturday my brother gave me an early present with Bravely Default. This is one of the top reasons I got my 2DS. Problem is I'm already working on like 4 games at the moment so this is jumping to the front of the line with like ten others waiting to be played. I'm not saying I have to quit my job and play video games, but I might just quit my job and play video games.

My sister and brother-in-law were next in line when they delivered one present onto my deathbed on my actual birthday. The prospect of Vampire Hunter D on blu-ray would most definitely have garnered a bigger response under normal conditions. As it was, I was only able to lift it maybe an inch above my chin before letting out a thin, raspy woo.

The second half of their gift arrived late. My own set of nice colored pencils. I've been meaning to make a post about this but ever since taking up this shit show Alzheimer home job I've found coloring to be a good therapy tool. Gotta keep that brain working, ya know?

Finally we've got my mum. She took an extra day to give them to me but seeing as how she'd been nice enough to provide her dying boy with mashed potatoes and tea, we'll forgive her such oversights. First up are some proper pourers for my healthy sized mini-bar. If asked to point out one solid advantage of the new job is a fine stash of booze available at all times. Ensuring each bottles longevity by eliminating spillage is some top priority shit.

Next up is volume zero of Spider-Gwen. In case you haven't heard, this alternate universe version of Gwen Stacey who gains spider powers and loses her Peter Parker has been quite the rising star in the comic world. With what little I've read so far I can kinda see the appeal. There's enough regular elements of spidey storytelling to keep things comfortable while giving everything a different feminine touch. The fact that this is a somewhat grungy and downtrodden version of Gwen is a huge improvement over the prim and proper bore Peter Parker dated so long ago.. Personally I was never a fan of that twit so seeing an alternate take where she actually has a personality and contributes to society is pretty golden. Plus it initiates her into the club of spider-chicks I've long been a fan of.

Last but certainly not least is San Juan, a card game with a nifty feature known as simultaneous role selection. Essentially it means every turn you select a role which determines what you and everyone else gets to do, but since you picked it, you get some some kind of bonus. Maybe you build for less, maybe you pick up extra cards. It all depends on what role you pick. There's only so many games with this feature and out of all of them, this seemed like the best fit for my gaming endeavors.

So, yeah. Pretty good haul for an otherwise wretched birthday. I'm trying to work on some other posts for you guys, but being sick makes progress slow. Each paragraph practically requires a twenty minute recovery nap. Currently I've gotta figure out whether I'm going to work tomorrow. Honestly, even if my health returns I'd prefer not to go. It's supposed to be ninety some odd degrees and I'll still have all the energy of a slug. I'll see you all soon since I'm about a third of the way through another post. Until then, wish me luck. Thirty-one is already tough.

Marvel Collector Corps June Women of Power Unboxing.

As you can probably guess from the slowed rate of updates, I'm still working my morning job at the Alzheimer home. It's only fitting that the place is driving me crazy but I soon plan to have my time there wrapped up. Yes indeed, depending on how a couple events play out I should be back to just having the shelter job somewhere between next week and the end of July. In the meantime nothing is quite as important as maintaining some image of mental health. And what better way to keep ones mood high than a big crate of mystery goodies?

As a big fan of Marvel's various super ladies I was pumped for this month's theme. With so many options for characters to use like X-23 (currently Wolverine), Silk, Spider-Woman, Captain Marvel, etc how could this be anything other than a slam dunk? Turns out avoiding spoilers this time around would be quite the ordeal as the box took longer than ever to arrive. DHL was the original carrier who sent the package all the way past Michigan to Chicago area where they handed it off to USPS who required four days to get it back here and another to get it to my porch. To put this in perspective, folks in my area use Chicago for a day trip, so what's the deal post office? Finally I got to dig into this newest offering of Funko/Marvel goodness and for the first time since subscribing, it didn't fully live up to my expectations. Don't get me wrong, it's still a damn fine box, it just missed the mark a little for my personal tastes.

First up is the small stuff. This month's patch is current Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan and it does a fine job of capturing her likeness. I've yet to read the girl's main book though word is it's really something special. I plan on checking out the omnibus coming this fall to catch up on her adventures. Maybe then this patch will be a little more special. Pin duty goes to Spider-Woman Jessica Drew, oddly in her old outfit. I'm a big fan of Jessica and wish she'd gotten a little more attention than just the pin. Still happy to place her on the ever expanding lamp shade pin collection.

It's a little surprising to see Civil War II as our comic as I figured we'd either get a stand-alone super-heroine title or the all female A-Force. This still works for the theme given Captain Marvel's large role with support from She-Hulk and others. Does anybody else find it strange that Carol Danvers is on the exclusive Funko cover twice? Last I check girl doesn't have a clone. The book's pretty decent overall. The beginning is a little off when the writing is trying to be funny but it comes across as sort of awkward and stilted. The art's top notch and there's enough here to keep me interested in checking out the full story once it gets collected.

Next up is clothing. Gotta say these Funko shirts hold up surprisingly well. They've all been comfortable enough that I wear em pretty frequently and so far there's been no major damage of any sort. This month's shirt is a bit underwhelming when compared to the Civil War and Deadpool entries. Nothing terrible mind you just a little bland. Weirder still is that the info card shows three other concepts for the shirt that probably would've turned out better. Why they switched to such a basic design in the end is anyone's guess.

Now for the main feature of every box, toys. The side toys this month are a two piece set of mystery minis featuring Captain Marvel and She-Hulk. These are a nice improvement over the Ant-Man minis from last year which forced coalitionists to trade or shop eBay to complete the set of four. For me however, mystery minis are one of my least liked Funko product lines. They just plan lack the appeal of Pops or quality of Dorbz and Hikari. Not to mention they have a greater tendency to tip over. She-Hulk has tipped nearly once an hour since I got her. These two do have nice sculpts so at least there's that. From the looks of it, I'm guessing Funko still hasn't cleared the Marvel license for use with Rock Candy or Vinyl Vixen lines since this would have been the ideal place to premiere an item like that.

Last up is our newest exclusive Pop, Squirrel Girl. Right up front, I haven't read anything with this character other than her brief stint as Nanny for the New Avengers. As you might assume I've got almost zero connection with her. Even so, I can still admit to a top quality pop when I see one and this is really nice. The detail is already great (just look at that tail!) but when combined with her tiny squirrel friend, it makes for a pretty awesome pop.

As I said earlier, this is still a pretty good box but coming after the excellent Deadpool and Civil War editions makes this one feel a little small and lifeless in comparison. To a certain extent I blame the theme for being too big. If they had narrowed it down to just women from the spider books or members of A-Force or something along those lines it would have been easier to keep expectations in check. Instead I'm left wondering why characters who already have pops and merchandise on the way are included while one like X-23 and Silk can't even get the shirt or Dorbz treatment. The Squirrel Girl pop is absolutely the best part of this box for that very reason. She's a character that doesn't get much in the way of collectibles and they gave her the royal treatment. That's the sort of thing I want to see more from this service.

The theme for August is Spider-Man. Looking forward to it as always. With the pop they've got options such as his new glowy costume or maybe give us the Superior Spider suit from doc ock's days. If we're lucky, maybe one of our web ladies or Black Cat can sneak in on that one.

I might try out another box in July if I can afford it. Depends on when I leave this job, ya know? As I transition outta there you'll definitely see an uptake in my online activities. Got plenty of stuff to post about on here along with articles to edit and finish for Dread Central and a whole article series I want to purpose to another site. Wish me luck on that. With any luck I'll be back to living the broke, one job life soon.

Doubutsu Sentai Zyuohger Episodes 12-17

As is customary these days, I must start this post by apologizing for my extended absence between posts. Work continues to suck up far more time than what I sighed up for. These site posts are great therapy however as it's like settling into a comfy womb. Alright, that's probably because I write in bed. Forgive me these little luxuries. At work though, I just tryto go though the motions and survive each day without too much trouble. Zyuohger found itself doing much the same for the past month with a stack of standard episodes that failed to move the plot forward by much. It wasn't so bad though, let's get caught up.

So let's talk about characters first. Both Yamato and Amu got moderate development over the past few weeks with more details about his bond with his uncle, and some depth to her sense of duty and justice. Poor Sela on the other hand sort of floundered during this stretch which is all the more unfortunate when you consider she's a shark. Sorry. I couldn't resist.

Leo and Tusk were the targets of considerably more growth. Tusk has revealed his love of the written word and a penchant for strategy though he's easily frazzled under pressure. Even so, he still comes across as a little flat so it helps that his actor has improved a great deal on comedic timing.

The writer's had already established a bit of misogyny on Leo's part which they've added onto with a bit of good old fashioned skirt chasing. Guy loves his ladies. In addition they've established his respect for the abilities of his teamates along with the ability to keep rushing through the bullshit. Guy's still my favorite team member so far this year largely thanks to the actor who adds in all sorts of extra tidbits to his performance.

The villains haven't developed much though Naria was finally given the chance to do something more than make monsters grow. She's also shown a bit of a cruel streak that rivals her cohorts. Wouldn't be surprised to see her get a nice two or three part tale revolving around some scheme of her own later on.

As for the episodes, Let's give em a quick rundown.

Twelve was possibly the weakest installment of the series thus far. It revolved around Tusk getting duped into working at an old cranks' bookstore. There was some decent humor and the monsters plan of removing language was pretty neat. Problem was Tusk's efforts to get kids interested in books and the manor in which his friends helped out was far too childish and pandering for my tastes.

Thirteen fared a little better as it continued the groups search for the bird man. The team is visited by a girl who claims to have seen birdy and offers to guide them up a mountain to where she spotted him. All of this is quickly complicated both by a monster and Leo's overbearing crush on this new acquaintance. This one was notable for the guest spot by Sayuri Inoue; a Japanese idol with a big love for Super Sentai. Supposedly the girl dreams of being an extra hero one day. While her character may have been a little flat she's definitely got potential, and is super cute to boot. I say give the girl some animal print spandex and let her join the show.

Somebody turn on Dreamweaver.

Fourteen is in direct competition with twelve for bottom of the barrel. The main thrust involved Amu bonding with a guy and his sickly sister. He works like a dog in hopes of earning the cash to afford the treatment she needs. The monster of the week uses this to manipulate the poor fool into helping him steal some rare jewels and tie up the team.

Most of the tale was well done but the ending was a real clusterfuck. After deciding to help our heroes who then defeat the monster, the guy finds the suitcase of money he'd been tempted with. In the last scene he informs Amu that he'll return the case to the police and continue working his ass off to afford his sisters treatments. Amu merely offers her belief in his abilities. I understand that this is a kids show which makes for a tough time dealing with moral gray areas but what the fuck? We get no indication that this dude receives any reward or boost for returning the money so all we can imagine is that he continues to throw his life away in the constant pursuit of cash to save his sibling. All the more insulting is that this money was stolen from a bank, which means it's insured, so why can't he take it and use it for such a good cause? The team doesn't even chip in a few dollars to help the guy out. Woulda made a nice tip after he freed them form yet another case of bondage. It made our heroes kinda look like dicks which isn't cool. I like Amu but I certainly hope her character focused episodes improve before she becomes Yakumo of this series.

Fifteen paired Leo and tusk up to stop an evil sniper who turned people into dolls. Very basic and straight-forward tale but nothing to complain about. Continued the trend of good humor when Uncle Mario thought of altering the Yamato doll. Something of note here is that both the sniper and the previous episodes thief were trying to become new team leaders in the evil aliens blood game. Naturally both fail but this does lead to a new development in the next episode.

Sixteen shifted focus back to Yamato. The baddie this week in league with Naria are kidnapping everyone who looks like an animal in search of Zyuman. Uncle Mario is one of the victims since he's wondering about dressed as a cow. We get some back story on their family dynamic. Yamato didn't seem to get along very well with his father, sharing Mario's same love for animals instead. As we get to see, that bond also extends to a certain heroism and respect for all life. Good stuff but the real kicker comes at the end when we learn the reason for all these abductions. The big boss has decided to make a zyuranger of his own by taking capturing zyuman and infusing their power into some poor bastard he's been torturing for god knows how long.

Seventeen finally gives us the turning point we've been waiting for with the arrival of evil ranger, Zyuoh The World. No, really, that's his title. We still don't know his civilian identity though I'm sure that will be revealed quickly enough.

Only one third or so of this episode is actually about this newest villain. The rest is a Sela focused tale where she showcases her care giving sensibilities when a monster sticks playing cards to peoples head that provide massive electrical shocks when near others with the same suite.

Not much of importance occurred during that main chunk of story. So Sela's good at taking care of people, that's not something that requires fifteen minutes of screen time for the audience to understand. On the upside, this continues the provide the balance a character like her needs. As the resident tough girl of the group there's a value to having something to soften her up and keep her likable for the audience and that's still in full effect as she makes for a good role model with a properly developed personality.

The real reason you're reading about this installment though is Zyuoh The World. Obviously I can't say much about his personality or even the quality of the acting. What we can discuss is that he's not the bird man as I had suspected. Lord knows what exactly the plan is there. Maybe birdy will end up becoming some kind of back-up hero or recurring baddie down the line? Anyway, this new dude has been infused with the powers of a wolf, rhino, and crocodile which he can mix together at once. Also he fights with a fishing rod that doubles as a gun. Alright it sounds absolutely ridiculous because, frankly it is. To a certain extent, that's why it actually works. Last year when Starninger showed up on Ninninger, the series actively pointed out how over the top he was. That's not the case here at all. Is it silly for some overpowered bad guy to fight with a fishing pole? Absolutely. Did anyone on the show point this out? Not at all. It's just there currently as window dressing. Perhaps later there will prove to be a reason for it. Right now, it's just fun.

And with that we're all caught up on Zyuohger for the time being. Much as most of these episodes came up short when compared to the first ten, this series is still far improved over the past few years. That alone will keep it at the forefront of my Summer viewing. I hate to leave you all on such a sudden note but I've got to edit all the massive spelling errors on this thing (probably shouldn't write during cocktail hour), read some Star Wars, and hit the hay. See you soon.

X-Men: Apocalypse Review (some spoilers)

Pictured: one angry blueberry.

I've been on quite the roll in regards to the theater lately. Despite regularly adding anywhere from 140-170 movies to my memory banks each year, only a handful of them are witnessed on the big screen. I've already broken my usual numbers for that this year with most of them being opening weekend or even opening day.

Seeing all these flicks right outta the gate has made it very easy to keep up on the comic book flicks this year. Within the past few months I've gotten to witness Deadpool (good). Batman v. Superman (rubbish), Captain America: Civil War (damn fine, if a tad messy), and now the latest spandex adventure, X-Men Apocalypse. So far it is the second worst reviewed X-Men film, just ahead of the abysmal Origins. Are we really dealing with something that bad, or are critics overreacting just a little? The Answer is more complicated than you may think.

First off this installment is set fully within the odd prequel time line that seeks to both reboot the old flicks while still playing nice with them and never completely making sense. For instance; you may recall the ending of Days of Future Past where Mystique pretends to be William Stryker as the military fishes Wolverine out of the river. At the time, it was meant to serve as an indication of how this new continuity could change old events if only they'd remembered to do anything with it. That twist is completely ignored which should serve as an indication of what kind of flick you're getting into. That's not to say it's terrible, just very shortsighted. That shortsightedness affects other elements of the film, so as we cover the things that work with this film, keep in mind there's usually a side of it that doesn't.

Pictured: the movie I want to see.

Something Good: Fassbender as Magnito, and his solo plot in Poland.

Everybody knows Michael Fassbender is a damn fine actor. I haven't always enjoyed his version of Magnito, especially in First Class where he brought an extra side of ham. Through the sequels he's done much better and his work within the first act of this one is astounding. Turns out after the events of Days of Future Past, he went into hiding in his native Poland, eventually marrying and fathering a child with gifts of her own.

One day some of his co-workers at a steel mill find out who he really is and take lash out at Eric and his family. This is some of the best material in the whole movie and I would have honestly preferred a solo Magnito flick of this style.

After being recruited by Apocalypse, Magnito quickly turns to a floating sadsack/weapon with almost nothing to contribute. Worse still is his placement at the end where he's not only made a miraculous recovery from his despair but doesn't even get a smack on the wrist for his part in nearly destroying the world and killing fuckloads of people.

Speaking of killing, this is easily the most gruesome entry in the series with beheadings, crushing, flesh rending, and even body horror. It's surprisingly dark stuff until the last act. At that point, while the world is suffering tremendous cataclysmic events, streets are suddenly empty and action is reduced to blasts of color with little consequence. It's very odd considering the opening minutes feature people being smashed like soda cans.

Something Good: Kodi Smit-Mcphee as Nightcrawler

Missing in action after X2, Nightcrawler finally returns to the franchise under the guise of a new actor who keeps the core of the character intact. Nightcrawler is used more for comic relief here than in his previous appearance yet he remains enduring as all hell.

Something Bad: Jennifer Lawrence as Mystique.

For the third time in a row, Jennifer Lawrence proves to be horribly miscast in this role. And even with as much as I don't care for the actress herself, I won't place the blame solely on her. This prequel trilogy has framed mystique as everyone's tortured rock star girlfriend instead of a mysterious troublemaker with plentiful baggage.

Here she's supposed to be the inspirational leader of this fresh team yet despite freeing Nightcrawler from cage fighting slavery I really can't point out any accomplishments on he part. At best she nearly gets herself killed which spurs all her boyfriends into action. The less said about her hammy line-delivery the better.

Something that sorta works: Quicksilver

After stealing the show during the last movie, Quciksilver is brought back so he can hunt down his father, Magnito. Naturally he provides good comic relief and more crowd pleasing superspeed scenes but that's it.

Nothing comes of his quest to find daddy, and there's basically no character growth to speak of. He's just here to provide some levity.

Pictured: a waste of time with wings.

Something that really doesn't work: Angel.

Ten years ago we got to see founding team member, Angel show up in The Last Stand only to be completely wasted. Now the character returns with a new actor only to once again be completely wasted. There is no reason for him to be in this story. What's worse is that while Last Stand left the door open for him to one day return and actually do something, this one kills him off. What the actual fuck is that about?

Likewise: Psylocke

Speaking of pointless plot threads, meet Psylocke. She's here to do ninja moves and look thick in a spandex onesie. Mission accomplished.

Might Work Later: Storm.

Alexandra Shipp takes over the role of Storm. From other times I've seen the girl she doesn't seem like a bad actress, and frankly she's pretty easy on the eyes. However; her goofy attempt at an Egyptian accent doesn't work out and she makes karate noises whenever she uses her superpowers.

On the upside, by showing her life as a thief we've already got more depth to this character than ever before. Small Victories.

Not gonna work: Cyclops

Tye Sheridan is our new Cyclops and.....well....he kinda sucks. He gets the dick part of the role just fine but he doesn't have the charm or range of someone like James Marsden that allows the character to be an enduring dick. Instead he makes poop face like all the time. Oh and he makes karate sounds too.

Doesn't Have to work later so let's have fun: apocalypse

Apocalypse is and always has been a ridiculous and annoying villain. He's made for some grand stories no doubt, but he's still just a big angry blueberry with a love for speeches. Kudos to the filmmakers for having the stones to leave him mostly comic accurate. Oscar Issac does his best to deliver a strong performance through pounds of make-up and layers of ludicrous dialogue. Honestly, you'd be hard pressed to ask for a much better screen version of this character. He's silly, talkative, and overpowered, just like in the pages. Points there.

Pictured: a teenage girl having a fit, which turns out to be a good thing.

Probably gonna work. Jean Grey

Strangely deep voiced Sophie Turner takes over the role of Jean. She does a decent enough job of selling the girls emotional state, primarily her fear of her own powers. There's a good balance of her having a a casual relationship with her teammates while still being slightly closed off. Problem is her story is all on repeat. We've already seen Jean struggle with her fears and begin to unleash her Phoenix powers which is exactly what we get here. Nothing new. This is another problem with the movie.

Repetition:

If not for the angry kool-aid man, this would almost serve as greatest hits mix-tape for the franchise. We get to see Magnito suffer a family tragedy in Poland, again. Get to witness Quicksilver perform a daring hyper-speed rescue, again. Wanna see Strykers old base, and watch Wolverine escape the weapon X program again? You're in luck. Wanna see Cyclops get his powers in school again? The school comes under attack, again. Professor X is kidnapped so his powers can be used for evil, again. Watch the phoenix force save the team, again. You get my point.

All that repetition adds up to another big problem. Nothing really important to the franchise happens here. It's all very shiny and yes it is entertaining. In the end you've been sitting around for two hours so a psychic can loose his hair and tell a bunch of teenagers to put on silly costumes. I'm ok with that setting but did we really need a whole prequel trilogy plus time travel to get there?

It may seem like I hated this one but that's not true. It's simple junk food viewing and competently made. Decently paced with a few strong performances to make up for the bad ones. Action's pretty solid there's just nothing new which when combined with issues that have plagued the series for years it all just seems rather pointless. Let's try and rank it against it's brethren from worst to best shall we?

9 First Class (rubbish)

8 Origins (easier to watch rubbish)

7 The Last Stand (meh)

6 Apocalypse (pointless fluff)

5 Days of Future Past (well made but convoluted)

4 The Wolverine (only the R rated version)

3 Deadpool (good fun)

2 X-men (simple and classic)

1 X2 (solid all around)

And with that we're on break from superhero flicks for a while. Unless you count that new Ninja Turtles movie. Honestly, my theater going may slow down again as the Summer looks fairly bleak other than The Conjuring 2 and Kubo and the Two Strings. Maybe that's a good thing. I can finally try that summer reading everyone talks about. I mean there's always more X-Men.