You know, I had no desire to be there, yet I kinda wish I had been there…

So for those of you who don’t know, JACON had their final convention over the weekend, and while I’ve heard some horror stories occuring during the convention weekend (which other than the flooding, I won’t into), there was one story that was the reason I wish I had gone (okay, two reasons).  This post is taken directly from Wedge on the AnimeBelle forums:

“Oh funny story. Angry Gamers Panel. They initially didn’t let “Jesus” in because the room hit capacity, finally someone left and “Jesus” came in. Jesus played a guy in a game of Shaq Fu, and even though Jesus died for his sins the guys wouldn’t die for Jesus’ honor. Then the Super Gameboy would not work, so they called on Jesus who simply put his hands around the thing prayed and then turned it on and voila it worked perfect. Jesus was totally cool.”

One post directly after that mentioned that the panelists tried the “blow on the cartridge method” but that didn’t work either.

I kinda wish I was there to see this, too.  I’ve seen the Angry Gamer Panel (Which is fun as hell to see, btw.  Go check them out when you see them at a con) before and never saw them have this problem before.

Praise Gamer Jesus!!!

~Kirby

Xmen Origins: Wolverine

Warning: Spoilers will sprout up in this review.

This weekend, Duo, Evey, mah girlfriend, and I all went to see the new Xmen movie.  I had seen the trilogy when it came out.  The first two I put up with.  I didn’t particularly like what they did with many of the characters, but I kept telling myself that it was some sort of alternate reality from the true canon storylines, and the stories were digestible enough that I enjoyed the movies.  The special effects were nice, and I had a good time each time I saw then.

That is, until I saw the abomination that was the third movie.  I might make a rant review about that later, this is about the new movie Xmen Origins: Wolverine.

From a storyline perspective, I again had to put myself into the “alternate reality” mentality.  They got quite a few things correct, and it stayed rather true to Wolverine’s backstory.  In the constraints of a regular movie time length, I can understand why they didn’t delve into what he did between quitting Stryker’s team and hooking up with his woman.  However, they had already done a montage or two by this time, why not another one showing him going to Japan, wandering around and being that “Ronin” character he always seems to be.  But, again, I can understand.

Another thing I would have loved to see explained is the seeminly arbitrary change in his name from James to Logan.  They do explain it in the comics, quite well.  In the movies it’s an afterthought.  One moment he is James, the next he is Logan.  Throughout the whole movie, Sabertooth (who isn’t called that at all) stays as Victor, so it isn’t as if they changed their names or anything.

The creation of Weapon Eleven, aka Deadpool, is an interesting idea…but it has no counterpart in the comics.  They have yet to reveal what Weapon XI was (or what will become it).  They could have used almost anything, but to try to slide in something into the cracks like that is just dumb.  As I said, it’s a cool sounding idea, mixing different powers artificially (it was done in canon by the mutant Mimic, who had the power to use five mutant powers at once).

The ending left a lot to be desired.  It was almost as if they went “ok, we’re out of money, let’s wrap it up”.

So, for the story, I’d give it a solid B.  It tried, a little too hard in some places, and failed in other places, but overall I was drawn in and had a good time.

Now, when it comes to the CGI, it some parts it was awesome.  Wolverine healing looked badass, his bone claws were pretty sweet.  The other mutants powers, especially Wraith’s, were badass.  And the Blob looked just like that, a blob.

However, there were quite a few scenes were it was painfully obvious it was CGI.  The first time Logan pops his shiny new adamantium claws, it is just a horrid showcasing of CGI.  They look obviously fake.  And when he blows up the helicopter?  It looks like a fiery explosion straight out of a bad Beyonce music video.

The CGI did well it some parts, and the fight scenes looked great…so in all I’ll give it a B.  Well, B-.  The bad outweighed the good.  When the good drew you in…the bad just thrust you out of the scene.

Overall, I had a good time.  It keeps Xmen in the minds of the people, and hopefully will draw more interest into the comics (and hopefully make some of the storylines better).  Would I have liked to see some changes? You bet your ass. I was told DEADPOOL would be in this.  And damn it, Ryan Reynolds kicked ass as Wade Wilson…but I want Deadpool.

So I hope this movie goes well, so we can see a great (and accurate, if Reynolds has anything to do with it) Deadpool movie soon.

-Zeke

Steampunk aniRAGE.

So with MetroCon on the way, we decided to get dressed up for the con!  And with the theme for MetroCon being “Steampunk” we decided to get dressed up for the occasion! Funny part is, we came up with this last night browsing through Home Depot.

The whole discussion came about when rick found a link to a video on how to make your own lightsaber.  I can’t remember the link, but I’ll find it for you later.  So apparently, after seeing images of Star Wars figurines online in a steampunk theme, he suddenly came up with the inspiration last night to make his own steampunk lightsaber and be a “Steampunk Jedi.”

So after rummaging through the Home Depot, and finding all the parts for his device, me and Dashi decide to join him in the fun.

So far, it looks like this:

Rick:  Steampunk Jedi
Kirby:  Steampunk Engineer (Mr. Fix-it)
Dashi: Steampunk Smuggler (ala Hans Solo)

Now all I have to do is find a jacket and suspenders for work pants and whatnot…

~Kirby

I swear World War III is going to start in June…

So I was finishing up the last minute details of our trip to MetroCon, when I see that there’s 3 new news additions to the website.  “Okay,” I thought.  “Probably something about the Masquerade or Chess Match or even an announcment about the layout for this year.”  But my eyes did not deceive me when I scrolled down to read the tidbits, and then it hit me….

World War III is 80-90% likely to occur at MetroCon…

Some of the uneducated are wondering “Now why would you say something like that?  That’s perposterous!”  or “You’re an idiot…” (looks at Zeke)  Well, have a seat, and let Uncle Kirby tell you a story that may or may not be true. (Hell, I don’t know if it’s completely true myself, but the prospect of seeing some fun happenings during the con give me hope it is.)

According to rumors that have floated about the Internet for a LONG time (God only knows), the main voice actors for the English dub of Gundam Wing despise each other and can’t stand being in the same place as one another.  While I don’t have full details, the main point seems to either be that during the recording, there was some kind of despute, or there was a bit of a jealousy spike due to the popularity of the characters that drove them apart.  According to the rumors, the only way the GW voice actors will appear at a convention is if there’s a LOT of money involved, and even if that happens, there’s no guarantee that they’ll get along during the con.  So far, Roy Harms has managed to get Marc Hildreth, Scott McNiel, Kirby Morrow, Brad Swaile, and Brian Drummond, all of who played Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, and Zechs, respectively as guests.  I don’t know HOW Roy pulled it off, but he did, and this is going to be quite an interesting series of events at MetroCon.

Now I don’t know about you, but one side of me would have non-stop giggle fits if fights broke out between the voice actors.  On the other hand, I kinda hope it doesn’t happen, cause I’d hate for an awesome convention like MetroCon to have problems with their guests.

So I’m half-tempted to buy MREs and pass them out should the apocolypse start to happen…  Then again, Ramen might be a safer bet…  MRE’s might give you salmonella or some weird disease.  (Those things need to be burned…)

Oh by the way, if anyone’s wondering why I put the percentage at 80-90%?  Cause they haven’t added Ted Cole to the list…

~Kirby