2018

"No, you move."

PROS;

Well, I Watched Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

I said that when the new TMNT series would be debut, I would give it a chance. Despite my apprehension going into this new series, I decided I would watch this show with an open mind. As of this writing, it has not 'officially' debuted on television, but the first episode is available for all on Nickelodeon's YouTube channel.  And after having watched the episode for this review, I can safely say, without a shadow of a doubt, without hyperbole, I will not be watching this new series.

Now granted, we're only one episode in, and that's not enough to judge the entirety of an animated series that has not even aired yet, but if Mystic Mayhem is an indicator of how this series will evolve, then there is not much for someone who's been on the Ninja Turtle train pretty much as long as I've been alive to keep watching. Who knows, I could be proven wrong. When I first watched Steven Universe, I thought it was the stupidest thing ever. Nowadays, I scour the television guides days in advance in order to fill up my PVR to record the newest episodes as soon as possible. A year from now, we could all be saying that Rise of the TMNT is the greatest incarnation ever.

Sufficed to say, I have my doubts.

Characters I'd like to see in Smash Bros for the Switch

I have to give myself credit, no one's ever done something so creative like this before, lololol. No one's ever posted a list of their top hopes for Smash Bros characters. Don't even bother searching it on YouTube. Heh. (Yeah I'm bad at intros.)

Okay, seriously though, at the time of this writing, we have gotten nothing more than a single teaser trailer for the Smash Bros Switch game, and all we know for sure is that we're getting the Inklings as playable characters, and Link is getting a Breath of the Wild makeover (whether it's a costume or not, we'll see). And we're getting this game in 2018 probably.

Nerdy Questions for 2018

·        Will we get a new Skylanders game? 

·        If so, will the Imaginators be compatible?

·        Will the Infinity-inspired Disney Toybox figures continue?

·        What will the new Gravity Falls graphic novel be about?

·        Will "Rise of the Ninja Turtles" be good?

·        What will the first Nintendo Direct bring us?

·        Will we get a game where all amiibo are usable? 

·        Who will the guest character be in Soul Calibur 6?

·        Will WWE and NJPW clash?

·        Will “Woken” Matt Hardy be any bit as fun as #BROKEN Matt Hardy?

·        Will we finally get some answers as to what's going on in the Cloverfield universe?

·        How will Avengers: Infinity War balance such a large cast?

·        Will Godzilla get any bloody bigger? (Like, seriously, 2016 Godzilla is over three hundred feet tall and only comes up to 2017 Godzilla's knee!)

·        Will toylines like the Grossery Gang Putrid Power action figures or the Mega Construx Heroes line ever actually reach my local Wal-Mart?

·        Will we find out what happened to the 02 kids at the end of Digimon tri? 

·        Will Marina get an amiibo figure? (Oh, and Pearl too I guess.)

·        How will the Ninja Turtles play in Injustice 2?

·        Will I finally get Primal Rage 2 working on my PC?

·        How will Them's Fightin' Herds play?

·        How will Indie Pogo play?

·        Will more Beast Wars characters get the Masterpiece treatment?

·        Is there truth to the rumour of a Beast Wars revival?

·        Will we get more Bucky O' Hare content?

·        Will more old franchises return?

·        How amazing will Mega Man 11 be? 

·        Will more Ocean voice actors be brought in for Funimation's Dragon Ball Super dub?

·        Will the winner of the Royal Rumble be as predictable as recent years?

·        Will Alita: Battle Angel help the Gunnm series finally become mainstream? 

·        Will the eventual Battle Angel Funko Pop figures be from the movie or from the manga? 

·        Will we hear anything about the Bone movie?

·        If Contra gets another console game, will we get to play as that polar bear character from the Chinese mobile game?

·        What is the story behind My Hero Academia's upcoming movie? 

Thoughts on Alita: Battle Angel

Full disclosure; I own (and have read) all nine volumes of the original Battle Angel Alita manga. I have seen both episodes of the OVA. I've only got a couple volumes of Last Order, and have not followed the series for quite some time. To illustrate to you just much time I've spent away from this franchise, Mars Chronicle was completely new to me.

We've known that James Cameron was interested in adapting Battle Angel Alita for a long time now, early '90s I think.

I didn't really get interested in the series until 2008-9. I ordered volume 1 at the local bookstore, and I was hooked. The art, the detail, the story. It all pulled me in and kept me there for eight more volumes. I started losing interest in Last Order, I kind of forgotten about Alita.

EMBEREDGE second chapter

CHAPTER 2;

          It was later that morning when Henry and Tom loaded their gear into Henry’s personal mini-carrier arrived at the front gates of the legendary Warriors of Avalonia Academy, the massive complex building at the center of Yar Yu City, the largest city in the country.

          Tom didn’t grow up in a cityscape, so for him it was somewhat of a treat to be able to spend time within the city was somewhat of a treat for him. In the country, Tom never had much a chance growing up to explore the vastness of the city

          For Henry, being in a city was nothing new. He had grown to personally found the countryside much more visually pleasing than the stone and metal buildings he had been around the majority of his life. To him, tranquility was found in nature.

EMBEREDGE first chapter

 CHAPTER ONE;

          Moonlight broke through the clouds this night, casting shadows throughout Yar Yu City. A lone figure moved swiftly across the cityscape. Jumping from roof to roof, the figure found its target outside of the magnificent structures as he reached the border between Avalonia and the Ancient Forest. The figure sees a solitary transport carrier traversing the back roads of the Forest. The city was normally quiet at night, but the rumble of the massive vehicle’s tires could be heard for miles.       

          The sound was so intense it rattled the men’s insides. It crunched the already beaten down gravel under its wheels as it backed in to the dock of the Hornetblade Industries equipment factory. Two security guards were on hand this fateful night.

After three months of Crunchyroll

A little bit of Digimon Tri. A tad of Monster Hunter. A handful of Dragon Ball Super. And a heck of a lot of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee, which, for those who don't know, is the Japanese version of Samurai Pizza Cats, a franchise I adored as a kid. That was my time with Crunchyroll this year.

So, I got to thinking, should I try to do more cartoon reviews here? I mean, the main focus of this blog will always be artwork, but I've got a real hankering to watch some old and new cartoons. I did do a few episode reviews of Dino-Riders awhile ago. 

I'm just thinking outloud I suppose. ^^'

Regarding "Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"

Fred Wolf's Ninja Turtles series lasted ten years and one-hundred and ninety-three episodes. 4Kids' Ninja Turtles lasted seven years, one-hundred and fifty-six episodes, a TV movie and countless shorts.

Neither one of these series had a colossal juggernaut like Nickelodeon backing them up.

Thoughts regarding the Beast Wars Netflix revival rumour

The initial article.

Beast Wars, or Beasties as it was curiously called in Canada, was the second-ever 3D animated series. Debuting alongside an incredible toyline, Beast Wars was three seasons long, and a sequel series, Beast Machines, and two Japanese-only spinoffs, Beast Wars the Second and Beast Wars NEO. The games...well, nevermind about the games...

Beast Wars was one of my favorite cartoons ever. I rank it up there with the Ninja Turtles and the Ghostbusters, I really mean it. Even today, the show holds up. Yes, it shows it's age, but the characters still appear in Transformers media to this day. So, you can imagine when the rumour about a Beast Wars Netflix revival popped up recently.

Well, this rumour got me excited. Very excited. Like, almost giddy. I like that. I like that things can still make me feel excited and giddy and something close to what you humans call "happy." Until I started to think about it a bit.

The article listed eleven characters as being apart of this new series, which I assume will be a reboot, if in fact it is true. Looking at this list makes me somewhat...wary; Optimus Primal, Megatron, Rattrap, Ravage, Scorponok, Cheetor, Blackarachnia, Terrorsaur, Inferno, Rhinox, and...Magmatron?

First off, why Ravage? Yes, the Ravage in Beast Wars was the same character as in G1, but he only showed up for three episodes. And he wasn't exactly the best designed character in the series either. (Tigatron's beast mode head's glued onto a recoloured Cheetor.) Why out of all the characters to show up on this list, why Magmatron? If you are unaware, Magmatron was the villain of the Japanese-only series NEO. Yes, Magmatron showed up in the IDW comic, alongside practically every other Beast Wars character imaginable, but not in the original cartoon. Although, I suppose, if the Nickelodeon TMNT cartoon can feature characters from all other TMNT continuities, so could this potential new Beast Wars series.

Lastly, why doesn't the list feature Dinobot? Or Waspinator? Or Silverbolt? I'm not talking about cannon fodder characters...okay Waspinator was literally cannon fodder, but you know what I mean? Why include characters like Ravage and not Dinobot or Silverbolt or Waspy? 

Regardless, if in fact Beast Wars is being prepped for a revival, I shall watch it with much anticipation. It's a series that I loved as a child and one I still love to this day.

(If the art style is confusing you, click here for context.)
(If you'd like to see the lineart for this piece, click here.)

My most desired Funko Pop toys

Funko Pop is slowly taking over the Earth.

Okay, maybe not. But they do have an incredible line-up of figurines. Literally everything from Star Wars to Star Trek, Marvel to DC, Disney to Warner, Ninja Turtles to Power Rangers, WWE to...Golden Girls?

13 Questions About Kingdom Hearts 3

It's one of my most anticipated games of...whatever year it actually appears.