#I hope one of my entries can be more detailed than mini dragons

[pomellon]

Chilled is helping Ze with… He lost track mid explanation so he doesn't quite know, but he's sure it's gonna be a marvellous scientific contraption!

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Alex ze Pirate Mini Review 5: Why I love One Piece and my final verdict

(Warning. Post contains initial geek out about One Piece that is meant to correlate to my opinion on Alex in general)

When I started this series of posts, one thing I asked myself was, how could I sum up my problems with the Sam story while also tackling some general issues with AzP without redundantly repeating major points of my previous posts.

… So I decided instead of giving a straight answer, I would first tell you how I came to fall in love with One Piece.

Around 14+ years ago, I began reading manga, with works such as Ranma 1/2, Pokemon and Dragon Ball being my starting point. You know, the average stuff everyone had read at some point. One Piece, already back then consisting of over 25+ volumes,  was only something a friend started to lend me and I read the first seven volumes, not really quite getting why it was that popular. I did not hate what I read, but there was nothing outright standing out to me the way the story was told that got to me. And then I hit the Arlong arc with volume 8 and onwards. While it was mostly the adventure of Luffy with his crew against Crocodile and his Baroque Corporation that totally sold me on the manga later on, the Arlong arc was what really got my attention. Seeing the character of Nami betray her friends, pieces of worldbuilding that would years later play a role and so much more, made me curious where things were going. Particularly, why Nami would betray Luffy. And when I reached chapter 77 to 81, where I got to read Nami’s backstory, how Arlong killed her adoptive mother in front of her eyes when she was just a little kid and Luffy declaring he was going to help her and her village, I was hooked. This was the first time in my life as a manga reader, I was not just entertained, I was emotionally invested. Because not only was Nami’s backstory genuinely saddening to me, but seeing Luffy determined to help her and the ensuing battles was exciting. Exciting because it truly showed to me, how awesome of a character this goofball with stretching powers really is. Not because he was physically strong, but because he was willing to do all of that for someone just “because” he considers that person a friend. Seeing Luffy not just beat up Arlong, but destroying everything this bastard had build on the suffering of the village and in doing so setting Nami free of the past that haunted her, because he cared for her as a person not in a romantic but platonic manner, was satisfying on so many levels.

 And ever since then Eiichiro Oda proved to me time and time again, even if he hits a bump in the road (seriously, fuck most of the Fishmen Island arc) he knows how to write a world that doesn’t just manage to be cartoonishly entertaining, but also filled with heartfelt moments, where true heroism is not defined just by physical strength, but the willingness of the main characters to help and care for each other and the people they meet across the journey. There are many stories out there where the power of friendship as a virtue, and the virtues it is build on are a theme. But in the world of shonen manga, One Piece for me is still the top.

 And Andrew Dobson’s Alex ze Pirate is the complete antithesis to everything Oda EVER created in One Piece.

 While One Piece has one of the most complex worlds I have ever seen in fiction, with Oda often times setting building stones for future story arcs years in advance (seriously, the thing with Brook and Laboon alone is worth mentioning) , Dobson can’t even bother to properly tell us in what part of the ocean Alex has her adventure or why there is a beaver dog thing walking around a bunch of humans.

 While One Piece has some gorgeous artwork and unique designs with an insane level of cartoonish detail, Dobson has some very generic designs and draws like a 15 year old girl that read Spirou and manga too much and now starts doing scribble artwork.

 While Oda draws chapters for over 20 years now, Dobson could not even bother to finish up the adventure of the crew getting properly together back in 2004, as only one volume was released.

 While One piece tells a story that defines the shonen genre for over a decade, Dobson tells stupid newspaper strip jokes that are not even interconnected much.

 While Oda’s Strawhats are the embodiment of the word nakama, Dobson’s characters only bring the following old saying to mind:

 With friends like this, who needs enemies?

 Bottom line, Alex ze Pirate is absolute garbage as a work of entertainment, particularly in the world of kids entertainment. It was so already long before Dobson wrote the three part story I reviewed in detail, but this story in my opinion was for anyone with a bit of brains the last nail in the coffin. Cause overall, this was likely Dobson’s last chance in his and the eyes of the readers.

 The last chance, because he was going to put all his talent as a writer and artist into this one story to prove his critics wrong; That he could tell an engaging and emotionally fulfilling story in a multi part story, longer than his 15 pagers. But like with everything else I have seen so far, he failed.

 He failed artistically, because damn does this not look even remotely professional compared to other professionally published work or even other silly webcomics like Cludscratcher or Housepets (which I highly recommend you to read).

 He failed as a storywriter, because instead of emotionally engaging and well paced, this shit is rushed, works more on “tell, don’t show” than anything else and really just magnifies the worst aspects of his characters and Dobson’s mean spirited humor in general. Cause this is not a tale where we feel like Sam genuinely has found a family and friends in Alex and her crew. It is the tale of Sam just accepting that he has nothing better going on in his life.

 He failed, because instead of actually putting care, effort and love for his characters and work into this, he likely just wanted to get it out and hope that just because he “put effort” into this more than usual, he would already get praise by default.

 And once this thing was out, all that happened was the following: Even more people realized what kind of hack he is, that this project was not going to be salvaged even if actual stories instead of strip based jokes are told and he misinterpreted the disinterest as reason to just completely give up, instead of trying harder.

 And as a result, even if Dobson still went on to do shitty redesigns and a few more pages for it, Alex ze Pirate soon after ended. Put into everlasting hiatus, where it joins such work as Pilote Candidate or Frank Millers All Star Batman and Robin.

 Dobson, if you ever read this, let me just say it how it is: You failing to make even the most basic story about people appreciating their friends, particularly when within the last decade there has been an entire fandom of manchildren out there that was build on a show with “Friendship is Magic” in the title, just shows how bad of a storyteller and creator you are. You shouldn’t have gone to college in order to become an animator, you should have joined fanfiction.net in order to get some basic understanding on how to even write. Cause your writing is so bad, it makes fanfiction look genuinely complex and thoughtful. Well that and you should perhaps go out and find genuinely friends and not just online supporters that mistake you for some persecuted innocent artist, when in reality you are just a toxic idiot who attempts to manipulate people so he can profit of them and their fleeting interest in his substandard comics based on the lowest common denominator cartoons.

 I wrap this review up. We will revisit Alex one day again, but for now, I just want to focus on something more positive. So within the next weeks, if I post something, I will try to make it focused on something NOT Dobson related. You know, stuff to genuinely enjoy. Till then, I just want to say thank you. Thank you @hypocricyofandrewdobson for reblogging my entries. Thank you to everyone who liked this, reblogged this or started to follow me because of it. I hope I managed to educate and entertain you all in a positive manner, without making myself come off too much like an assholish nerd with too many interests. Stay safe.

 And hey, if any of you has his own two cents on Sam, Alex or the others, even ideas how to make them genuinely better, I am always open.

 See ya.

[doshmanziari]

2019 Mega Drive Explorations [2]

A continuation of part 1. Click the link below the first entry to read more.

Alisia Dragoon (1992)

If there’s one strong commonality between my experiences of playing nearly all of these games, it’s that I really could do without most of the bosses (and fuck boss rushes). Less than two weeks since, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from how meanly Alisia Dragoon ratchets up its difficulty in its later levels, with enemy placement that, on an initial playthrough, half the time expects a supernatural level of anticipation, and a squad of bosses who just go on and on, requiring an absurd level of precision. I hate it! It’s a shame, because Alisia Dragoon has so much to (hesitantly) recommend it, maybe most of all its graphical splendors -- even the bejeweled HUD is fun to look at -- and topographically exciting level designs; the penultimate stage is alone memorable for being slanted at forty-five degree angles. Alisia herself is accompanied by four familiars who can be leveled up and have separate uses. It’s cute. Everybody wants to hang out with a dog-sized dragon. A minor detail I loved was venturing into seemingly empty nooks and crannies and finding that items did indeed reside there, waiting to manifest. I’d say that this is a Mega Drive title which anyone looking to explore the console’s library should give some time to, but I also understand if the same people give up on it. There’s no good reason to endure the last stage’s nightmares.

Cadash (1992)

Although it’s missing some stuff that’s present in the earlier arcade and TurboGrafx-16 releases -- notably the the priest and ninja classes -- Cadash on the Genesis remains the delightful, finely sized dungeon crawler it ever was. The game has a predictable structure of progression where you move from village to dungeon, find a key, access the next village, and so on. The most recognizable point of comparison might be The Adventure of Link. There are enough twists and bits of humor to make the game pop where it needs to, whether it’s shrinking in size to access the interiors of dwarf village, speaking to a dog who is lamenting their dead owner, or a bestiary that includes potbelly dragons and waddling heads made of rock. Happily, the music is no exception to Taito’s trend of having strange soundtracks for its 80s and 90s releases (Toshiko Tasaki is listed as the composer, but that’s in the capacity as an arranger for the Genesis version; the original composer remains uncredited), and it plays a big part in making the atmosphere feel a little more off-kilter than screenshots may suggest. Unlike the arcade version, the Genesis release has no timer -- an exclusion I don’t mind when it’s the sort of game where I just wanna bop around and level up. My dream is that this is re-released on the TurboGrafx-16 mini with online co-op functionality.

Mystic Defender (1989)

The truth is that all videogame development is “troubled.” Sometimes it’s just more obvious within the product itself, and I think that may be the case with Mystic Defender, which comes across as a game that was half-finished and suddenly needed to be stretched out to meet a quota for playtime and avoid going over budget. The first two stages, a forest and shrine with slight Japanese influences, look fine and excellent (respectively); the third goes the Giger-esque route, and while the tiles don’t quite fit together, and it’s a curious progression after stage one and two had a sort of continuity, the trope always has some gross-out appeal. Everything after this is either asset recycling or so vaguely themed that it’s impossible to care about what you’re seeing or know where you are. Any of ‘em could be the finale. The actual final stage gave me flashbacks of Tiertex’s Strider II, whose last stages have you walking around big boring mazes of flat long paths and hoping that the direction you’re going is the right one. Overall, promising and disappointing. Everyone reading this should, at minimum, check out the epilogue for the most hilariously formal congratulatory text I’ve ever seen in a videogame.

Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter (1993)

Geez. If any Mega Drive title exemplifies boss-related bullshit, it’s Mazin Saga: Mutant Fighter. Adding onto the frustration is that there is a potentially stand-out beat ‘em up here. I think what will first strike most people is how good this game looks. There’s a fluidity to sprites’ animations that has to be seen to believed, palettes are used expertly for ambient effect, and the backgrounds usually make an effort to catch your attention, subtly or dramatically. Your person (or... suit of armor?), Mazinger Z, has a handful of attacks that are satisfying to use, like a flurry of sword strikes if you mash a button, or an aerial attack that’s done in tandem with horizontal jumps; and if the total type of opponents is limited, they’re at least behaviorally distinguished. What singlehandedly makes Mazin Sager miserable are its bosses, whether you’re preemptively contending with them as a human-sized figure (sometimes in sections where a single screw-up can cost you a life) or taking them head-on as a giant version of yourself. The latter are presented as a fighting game, and, early on, are easy and formally ambitious enough for you to forgive their clumsiness and mechanical simplicity; after all, not many beat ‘em ups switch their genre for bosses. Around stage three is likely where you will start to see the A.I. input-read and generally fuck you up. As a giant, you have a couple of moves that do damage greater than the other four or so, but the windup and spacing they require (not to mention complicity on the A.I.’s part) make them impractical, meaning that you are basically forced to do as much damage per hit as you can see in the second screenshot. Meanwhile, bosses deal way more damage, can do nonsense like interrupt your aerial attacks with lows, execute screen-wide dashes that have no frame disadvantage, and culminate in a boss rush which ends with a devil who gave me significant trouble even with the help of save states. Never again.

Two Crude Dudes (1992)

I was glad to have my baseless assumption about this being a one-note Meme Game be, well, baseless. Turns out, Two Crude Dudes is one of the better beat ‘em ups I’ve played. There are very few cheap shots, stages are brief and don’t wear out their welcome, you’re given a pretty fair amount of time to respond to oncoming opponents, and only a couple of bosses left me scratching my head about how to avoid taking damage. Also you can throw like EVERYTHING and it’s so fun. There was a stage two encounter where I was like, what the heck, when does this end, and then I realized that you could, and needed to, throw an aircraft that kept reappearing, and it was then that I knew that this was a good game. A similar epiphany happened much later on when I discovered that tanks are throwable if you mash the button. The soundtrack is kind of forgettable percussive- and bass-heavy funk-rock, but energizing in-game, and sometimes has a strong instrumental resemblance to the Genesis games that utilized Hitoshi Sakimoto’s Terpsichorean driver. A general criticism is that this is a pretty plain looking beat ‘em up, and the post-apocalyptic setting seems to have restrained rather than facilitated creativity.

[yay855]

World of Final Fantasy: What They Did Right, What They Did Wrong, and What They Could Do Next Time

Every so often, I like to write out a post detailing a game I’ve recently played, and how I believe that future sequels could improve upon it. Well, as I recently started replaying World of Final Fantasy, I feel like I should start on that, now that it’s both fresh in my mind, and yet I’ve experienced it all.

First off, What They Did Right:

* The number of mirages out there is surprisingly large, numbering at 180 total (not counting DLC and unique mirages). And yet, each one feels rather enjoyable; either they fall under the same family (and thus, are excusably just recolors of a different mirage, as is tradition for the series), or they feel genuinely unique in look and use. In addition, many mirages can easily switch between multiple different families, allowing many to find further use even in an area where their element wouldn’t be that great.

* The characterization is great. Lann is a jokester who’s simple but lovable, Reyn is a braniac who gets frustrated at others but is also eager to join in on their fun, and there’s a lot of lively NPCs out there- like Vivi, who’s so eager to please and just so adorable. Many characters feel like actual people, even some that get little screen time.

* The skill trees feel so wonderful. Though they’re a bit confusing, and filled with a lot of “filler” skills (aka minor stat boosts), it’s still enjoyable to fill it all out, only to receive a special skill or major stat boost as a reward.

* Tama is a wonderful talking mascot, being adorable but not annoying, even despite her verbal tic. Her banter with Lann and Reyn is always fun, and she’s a very good battler as well, with very high stats.

* The encyclopedia entries are filled with little jokes that make them enjoyable to read.

* The game returned to an Active Time Battle System, something they haven’t done since Final Fantasy 9, though X had something similar, and the Active Dimension Battle System didn’t even have random battles or special battle screens. Still, the system feels good to use, and the UI for it really helps make it clear who goes next.

* The user interface is easy to use. It has a lot of screens to push through that each take a moment to pull up, but you never get lost in it. The only real issue is that it pushes that weird four-button-prompt UI at first, though it’s easy enough to switch to the classical style.

* The stacking system is an interesting way of both simplifying and complicating battle strategy, and makes you really think about what stacks you make. It allows you to even combine abilities together to make more powerful ones, which I enjoy.

* The AP system, while flawed, provides an interesting way of using abilities, due to it slowly regenerating over time, and even some mirages having abilities to restore it further.

* The Jiant/Lillikin transformation system is neat, and allows for more unique combat styles with the stacking system. Furthermore, many characters are admittedly suited for being so small and adorable, such as Vivi and Bartz.

* Mega Mirages are fun and enjoyable, and really make you feel their worth.

Next, What They Did Wrong:

* There are a lot of mirages that are difficult to find. This might not be much of an issue, if not for the fact that many elemental attacks are difficult to come by, especially Light. And Light-element attacks are almost necessary later in the game to beat a lot of difficult bosses. There are a grand total of two monsters you can find in the wild which can even use Light attacks, one of which a rare random encounter, the other an optional and easily missed boss, both in the exact same area.

* The Stacking System is 100% necessary for combat in almost every case. The only real use for it is in capturing certain mirages, and restoring AP quickly. But the former is extremely situational, and the latter leaves you weakened and defenseless. Stacking should not be a mandatory feature.

* Your two protagonists are forced to be part of the stacks until you beat the game- and there’s no New Game+ mode which lets you keep the ability to not use them. Maybe there will be with the upcoming Maxima expansion, we’ll see.

* The skill trees are rather unclear in terms of what does and does not carry over between forms. Is it all green-colored tiles, or only green-colored skills? Why would you have some skills and abilities not carry over at all? Why not just let all mirages have access to every skill you’ve unlocked on their family tree?

* Many mirages have limited skill trees, which don’t fully unlock until very late in the game. This ends up causing many of your more-powerful mirages to simply not be used, in favor of ones you can continue to upgrade, leaving them underpowered in the late-game. Furthermore, all new mirages you capture start at level one! And leveling is very slow in this game, at least until you reach the mid-end game.

* I’m personally not a fan of random encounters. I prefer Dragon Quest 9′s version, where the enemies are visible on-screen, and the player can avoid them if they want.

* There’s an area in early-to-mid-game where you lose all your mirages, skills, spells, and abilities... including skill trees. They give you new mirages to use, but you’re still forced to use melee and whatever damaging items you have on hand. Furthermore, in this area, they introduce the Eldboxes and Machines... and then don’t even bother using them again until much later in the game.

* The user interface, and even some of the dungeons and towns, can get laggy. It isn’t enough to make it bad, but it’s still unpleasant. Though keep in mind, I play on the PC version; I don’t know if others have a similar experience.

* You never get more AP. There are ways to get around that, but the fact is that your AP is always stuck at 4 per party member, with a total of 12 for a full stack. This is simply unacceptable; you end up having to rely on either Ethers, or specific abilities to get by; otherwise, you wouldn’t make it to the final boss of the dungeon with even half AP.

* Magic is almost necessary in this game. While there are a decent number of mirages with a melee focus, there are far, far more that use magic, and very few that use elemental melee attacks. And given that you can’t check your foe’s stats other than their resistances and weaknesses, this ends up making you steer towards magic for both characters. Furthermore, Lann is built for melee combat, and Reny for magic... except that they never explain that, and you can’t easily find their stats.

* So many characters simply don’t look good in Lilikin form. While it can be amusing in some cases, the fact is that characters like Cloud, Lightning, and others simply look ridiculous, and you can’t take them seriously.

* The ending cinematic looks terrifying. It has photo-realistic levels of detail on top of an almost storybook-type design on top of chibi characters; this causes an intense uncanny valley effect, where you’re forced to look away in disgust while these characters are singing and dancing in celebration. It’s fine in the game CG and anime visual styles, but that ending is just.... eugh.

* Mega Mirages are often not very useful. Even when they’re at your level, they tend to be overly specialized in one area, even though many of them have abilities in each category. But the end result is that, at least in my experience, Cerberus (which is the only XL-size mirage you can get until the mid-late game) has three different magic skills, and yet deals less damage with them than I would deal without using it in the first place.

* At the endgame, you are forced to play through multiple minigames to proceed. This might not be such an issue, if not for the fact that they’re all ridiculously difficult and poorly-explained. The Cactuar Mini-game has the foes disappear far too quickly to actually hit them, and so you’re forced to just attack one specific area before they even pop up in the hope that you get lucky and hit something; the Blitzball minigame has its shots fire far too slowly to be at all accurate; and the Figaro one is just minesweeper, something that the target audience of the game have never played, and it also has poor UI.

Finally, What They Should Do Next:

* Tweak the mirage rate, and add detailed explanations of where to find them. Or at least provide hints of where to find mirages of certain families and powers. Don’t make any one type difficult to get, especially if you have an area full of mirages weak to that type.

* Allow for up to nine characters in your battle party at once, making for a max of 3 full stacks.

* Change the stacking system in the following ways:

1. Make stacking a special ability tied to Joyride and Follow. Those with Joyride can have others stack on top of them, while those with Follow can stack on top of others who don’t have Joyride.

2. Stacking should cut the values of each stat (though not weakness) by 25%, save for Agility, which is determined solely by the mirage on the bottom.

3. High-topple attacks should be far more common.

4. You can use your turn to alter your stacks- not just stack and unstack, but to choose who gets on, who gets off, and who replaces who.

5. Show the exact effects of stacking in the menu. Let us see what skills we would gain by stacking certain characters together, as well as the full changes to our stats and resistances.

6. As a result of this change to the stacking system, Reyn and Lann won’t need to be part of any stacks in the party.

* Make AP a stat itself, similar to health. While it shouldn’t increase like health does, at least make mirages have a varying amount of AP, perhaps ranging between four and ten.

* Make all skills carry over between mirage forms.

* Instead of mirages being able to switch between different families, make it so that mirage families are completely open, perhaps with branching paths between each form.

* Replace random encounters with respawning enemies visible on-screen.

* If there has to be minigames, at least make them fun and optional, instead of overly frustrating and mandatory.

* Add in more elemental melee attacks.

* Add in multiple playable human characters who can replace the main protagonists, perhaps with each human character functioning as a different class. I understand that Maxima will add this, but it really should have been in the base game, instead of having Lann be melee-focused, Reyn be magic-focused, and neither one have any actual special abilities beyond what Mirajewels they equip.

* Increase EXP scaling for under-leveled mirages. If you’re going to add elemental-themed areas, then at least make it much easier for our mirages to get to the appropriate level before we hit the boss.

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews: Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

Every now and then, there is a game that comes and completely manages to entangle you in it’s world and story. Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is one of those games that showcases a beautiful world with a story that is suitable for all gaming age groups.

This game was developed by Level 5, the same company that created the Dark Cloud duology, which is the only series I have played from this developer. The first Dark Cloud was released in 2000 for the PS2 and it seems that Level 5 has grown alot since then making even more games and series. This includes the likes of Professor Layton, Yo-Kai Watch, and even a Dragon Quest game. The character models and environments were created by Studio Ghibli, a renowned Japanese anime film studio famous for such works as ‘Spirited Away’ and ‘My Neighbor Tortoro’.

With the combined forces of Level 5 as a RPG game developer with the renowned art and story quality of Studio Ghibli, Ni No Kuni brings a world that is not only unique, but it very easy to immerse yourself into.

The story of Ni No Kuni begins with a boy named Oliver. When driving a custom built car by his friend Phil, the car swerves into a river with Oliver inside. During this accident, Oliver’s mother comes to his rescue and later dies of heart-failure. A few days later, as Oliver continues to mourn for his mother, his tears break a curse on a faerie from another world who was turned into a doll. This faerie, known as Drippy, tells Oliver that he’s the Pure-Hearted One. As the Pure-Hearted One, Oliver has the ability to heal hearts. It’s this ability that Drippy believes can save Oliver’s mother if he helps him return to his World. It is Drippy’s belief that Oliver’s mother is the soulmate of the Great Sage Alicia, who did battle with the game’s antagonist, Shadar.

Shadar however, is not the main villain. The game’s true villain is the White Witch. It is the White Witch who aids Shadar in his goals. In exchange of this, she asks Shadar to aid in her goals to remaking the world. It’s great to see the true villain behind Shadar’s powers as it gives context to the White Witch to avoid the “The True Villian” trope.

During the course of the game, Oliver will be traveling the world to learn how to become a wizard. As he journeys around the world, Oliver will learn new spells and various information that will be put in his Wizard’s Companion book. This book will be highly important when playing the game as it will tell you about locations, details of spells, crafting recipes, and short stories and legends on the game’s world.

The importance emphasized of the Wizard’s Companion helps give the player a purpose to read the book and not write it off as a simple game index. You’ll need to keep referring to this book to create recipes using alchemy and answer questions asked by the various NPCs. By giving the book this level of importance, it gives a reason for player’s to read the Wizard’s Companion on their own accord to be prepared for other similar instances within the game.

The battle system of Ni No Kuni will have Oliver and his friends fighting various monsters. These monsters can be fought with the skills of Oliver and his party members or with creatures known as familiars. Familiars are monsters that you capture in battle to fight on your side. The player is able to freely control these summoned familiars allowing the player to reposition and avoid attacks in real time. The only complaint I have in regards to familiars is how difficult they are to capture. The only way to catch them is to fight monsters in battle and hope that the monster gives you a chance to serenade it when defeated. This is the only way to catch monsters to allow them to become your familiars. This “hope for the best system” is extremely frustrating, especially in regards to side quests that require you to capture certain familiars.

Side quests come in the form of Swift Solutions Merit Stamps. Completing these side quests will give you stamps for a card. As mentioned before, catching familiars is just one of the few types of side quests you’ll encounter. Other sidequests include, bounty hunts, healing broken hearts, creating items, and finding lost items. You need 10 stamps to complete a card. With each card that is complete, you can exchange them for rewards. These rewards are abilities that will aid Oliver in his quest. Some of these abilities include, gaining more experience in battle or running faster in the overworld. This gives a great incentive to complete side quests in the game to unlock abilities that can aid you greatly in terms of exploring and fighting. Having these extra abilities is a great motivator for completing tasks other than just getting extra money, experience, and items.

The only other main complaint I have with the game is the role of the White Witch. Even though there are scenes throughout the game showing the White Witch providing Shadar with abilities to stop Oliver, she doesn’t really take on a much bigger role in the story until the last 3-4 hours. Every character has a deep connection to the other characters and the overall plot. When the White Witch reveals herself to Oliver, the game takes on a completely different story where the last few hours feel more like a mini-sequel rather than part of the main plot. That’s not to say the White Witch is a terrible character, I just feel that her particular story unnecessarily made the game be longer than it really needed to be.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, is an excellent story that can enjoyed by gamers of any age. The game is slated to receive a sequel in January 2018. If you’re looking to try the game out, I highly recommend it as this is the perfect time to enter into the series with the first entry being fairly cheap in retail stores.

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch receives an 8/10

[aaronheatonwords]

Yakuza 0

Sometimes a series exists on the periphery without being able to engage a certain audience. Despite being full of things that a person might like, be it intrigue or strong characters which challenge stereotypes or even just good old-fashioned dumb fun, something about it just won't grab the part of the brain that says, hey, set some time aside and enjoy this! Breaking Bad occupied this space in the part of my brain reserved for TV shows; even though the basis of the show checks every box I would want to see in a series, there's something about it that just pushes me away time and time again. At this point, it could just be the immense amount of hours that would have to be dedicated to it, and the fandom that would need to be fought off to talk candidly about it. Ultimately, though, a large part of the issue is that the zeitgeist surrounding the show has vanished. There are still plenty of people who think highly of it, but the frantic fan fervor surrounding it has come and gone.

Enter Yakuza 0. This series has existed since 2005, and as soon as it began to pick up steam in the West it has surfaced in one way or another with a very dedicated playerbase pushing for its release. Though the releases that have come to the west started out very questionably, the localization eventually found its footing and ditched English voice actors for a subtitled Japanese-only audio track. With that, the quality of the story seemed to soar and the people who loved Yakuza really loved Yakuza. A gritty crime drama full of double-crosses and intrigue, betrayal, violence and a healthy injection of Japanese culture set in a lovingly-rendered and small-scale city block; with a description like that, who could resist?

Unfortunately, me. Even though Yakuza sounds like precisely the sort of game I'd love, so much about it pushed me away. By the time it was feasible for me to acquire a copy of Yakuza in a timely manner, it had already had three prior entries. Start a series on the fourth game? No, ma'am! What about all of that rich characterization I was missing in the previous games? The hundreds of hours of ups and downs, tears, laughter, blood and sweat of our beloved cast of intrepid well-meaning criminals and their companions? Simply unthinkable.

When Yakuza 0 released in the west, it was on a wave of red-hot fans clamouring for a regular release schedule for the series. It came in hot, aided by the cheerleading of several industry figures I followed and respected very much (what's good Austin walker!), and it posed itself as a no-experience-necessary entry point to a series that had become daunting to approach in any other manner. With a few videos of breakdancing mafioso-types and some gratuitous violence, Yakuza 0 had grabbed me with its clammy hands, looked into my eyes, and ignited a fire in my loins that would make the bravest firefighter think twice about their line of work.

Starting with a loan collection spearheaded by a young Kiryu Kazama, Yakuza 0 quickly sees things go south for who would become our main man in the series. Kiryu's mark turns up dead by way of hot lead to the brain, he was the last one known to have seen the man, and on top of that the murder draws attention to a heretofore unknown piece of land that stands to dismantle a carefully-constructed real estate takeover. As a greenhorn in the yakuza, he makes an easy target for three lieutenants vying for position inside of the clan. Refusing to bend to their will begins the tale of the Dragon of Dojima's rise from lowly recruit to legend within the organisation. Parallel but in tandem with Kiryu's situation is Goro Majima, a disgraced ex-yakuza whose existence has been relegated to brown-nosing and shoe-kissing until his untold crime has been atoned for. Together, they rattle the chain of the yakuza and cement their standing.

Before you can dismantle a clan from the inside, though, you have to get used to the lifestyle. Yakuza 0 revels in its setting, filling the city of Kamurocho with bright lights and crowds and attractions galore. Despite being a PS3 game ported to the PS4, its density of crowds and detail is impressive. Trading pure scale for intimacy and detail, walking the city streets inspires a sort of awe for the times. There are restaurants of every corner, people soliciting you from doorsteps and crowds getting in your way. Even walking is a struggle as you bump and bounce off of the people strolling up and down the streets. The economic bubble of the times is played up and the revelry can be felt from the non-stop noise to the random bar hoppers you can find stumbling around and puking in alleyways. While the framerate isn't always very happy with this attention to detail, a few hours of adjustment will make it all worth it.

Yakuza 0 affords a special spotlight for the interactions between Kiryu and his friends and rivals, however. The three lieutenants who stand in Kiryu's way as he attempts to clear his name are imposing figures, despite mostly operating from the shadows. Their faces are rendered in face-punchingly beautiful detail, every crow's foot and furrow present during close-ups and fights. With such expressive and detailed faces, it makes it incredibly easy to get lost in the situations they present to Kiryu as he fights his way through his predicaments.

On that note, fight you do! At such a young age, we get to see Kiryu at his meanest and most impulsive, and Majima as he falls back into his scrappy ways. The game starts with two beatings, one of a group of hooligans and one of a couple of (presumably) innocent drunks. As you fight, your fists glow with intensity, called Heat, and you can use it to unleash brutal power moves. Combat itself is a basic brawler with simple punches, kicks and grabs at your disposal supplemented by the ability to pick up and swing a variety of environmental items. You can brandish bats, swords, trash cans and benches, motorbikes and a number of other ridiculous objects as you throw down in the streets. The Heat moves are what serves to make the combat stand out, however. Frankly, they're just rude. Slamming heads in car doors, shaking salt into eyeballs, throwing people into rivers, breaking arms and legs and smashing faces into brick walls all while yen explodes out of the poor souls caught between your knuckles and the ground makes for an empowering (and sometimes revolting) combat system.

Majima and Kiryu are capable of more than just busting skulls, though, as good as they are at it. Between story missions and fist fights are a staggering amount of side quests. Some are happened upon by accident, some are brought on by intentionally seeking things out, but all of them are worth at least a smile and many more are worth some genuine laughter. A big thumbs up goes out to the localization team, of course, but the bulk of the work must have been done by the original writers. Though this game has such a self-serious and intense story, the side quests offer a reprieve from the emotional tax that the main story levies from the player. In the span of an hour, you can go from helping break up a panty-selling ring to break-dancing with a world-famous pop star to helping a reporter infiltrate a weapons-trading ring to helping a poor soul sell some mushrooms. No, like mushrooms. Like really mushrooms. Actual cooking mushrooms. Majima and Kiryu, who are generally straightforward and ambitious characters, are given a chance to revel in silliness and break character in a way that lets both the players and the story have room to breathe and decompress between intense beats.

As fun as the world is to exist in and as well-detailed as the city is, it can sometimes lead to disappointment. There is so much to see that there's a compulsion to attempt to take part in everything, which often leads to a feeling of having hit a dead end. The mini-map and map denote which buildings have interactions built into them, but visually there are almost no differences between buildings which house a minigame or unique characters and buildings that are simply set dressing. Without a clear visual tell, it can lead to situations where an NPC asking for your business is nothing more than audiovisual noise, rather than the potential sidequest or event that they seemed to be setting themselves up as. Even towards the end of the game, I was hoping for more of the city of open itself up to me, in density rather than pure size. Unfortunately the two playable areas don't change very much, aside from the occasional story beat forcing the player down a predetermined path. The city feels more alive than most open worlds accomplish in their entire maps, but it can often lead to disappointment when trying to enjoy the area.

The biggest issue with the game is how ancillary Majima's story feels in comparison to Kiryu's. Kiryu serves as the driving force and heart of the game, being the central figure that the Yakuza are trying to track down and the de-facto lead of the series. He is driven, determined, and unafraid of the threats on his life in a way that gives his story an almost unstoppable sense of momentum. Majima, on the other hand, feels as if he's constantly being played by other forces in the story. While he is a far cry from Kiryu in the sense that he's more willing to get his hands dirty and engage in foul play, his character feels somewhat caught in the currents of the story instead of a force shaping the events. While Majima's story is well-written, I found myself dying to get back to Kiryu nearly every time Majima came into play. There is plenty of ridiculousness to be had with Majima and Osaka is a fun playground to exist in, but without a connection to him I found myself more curious about the opposing half of the story. This may come own to preference, but Kiryu's story felt the stronger of the two by a significant margin.

After years and years of holding out on the series, Yakuza 0 feels like the perfect point for newcomers to jump in. Even though it's full of nods to the later games (even as a newcomer, they feel fairly obvious), none of it feels obtuse or played up in such a way that new players will feel left out. Kiryu and Majima are introduced and set up with lots of room to grow, and indeed do change and adapt over the course of the game. While anyone with knowledge of later games will have a decent idea of where things will end, the journey of getting to that point is consistently gripping and dripping with dramatic tension that few other games even approach. The city clocks of Kamurocho and Osaka make for very beautiful and intricate locales, even if they do sometimes feel slightly restricted. For lovers of crime dramas and brawlers, for those who can sink into a well-realized space and everyone who loves Japanese culture and history, Yakuza 0 is a treat.

[yellowvan2-blog]

Get Real Time Weather In Osaka, Japan

Get Real Time Weather In Osaka, Japan

If your wedding day is fast approaching one of your concerns may be what the current weather in Osaka Japan is. Will your day be filled with sunshine or will the current weather in Osaka Japan conditions be soggy? If you find your current weather in Osaka Japan is going to be sunny and hot make sure that you're well hydrated for your big day. Make sure the current weather in Osaka Japan doesn't wreak havoc on your appearance and apply a moisturizer with sunscreen under your makeup. Don't forget your lips. If the days leading up to your wedding calls for a current weather in Osaka Japan forecast of sun make sure to use sun block each time you go out. Painful sunburns will spoil the mood. Make sure that you're smelling fresh for your wedding and apply a clear deodorant if you're going to be sweating in the current weather in Osaka, Japan conditions. If the current weather in Osaka Japan calls for perfect days and blue skies for your honeymoon you'll probably find yourself venturing out of your hotel room on a few occasions. Bring attire of a swimsuit, shorts, trunks, or cute sundresses. You may also want to invest in a couple of attractive hats to help protect yourself from the bright rays if the current weather in Osaka, Japan calls for it.

It was so serendipitous, I couldn’t have imagined the success we encountered in my wildest dreams. “The only reason Margo and Katee asked me to join is because I have a lot of friends who I could spread the word to. I wouldn’t brag about this if it weren’t my only skill. I can’t sing or even hold a tune, basic math makes me sweat, and I’d rather leap out a high window than DIY anything. But I like people and they seem to like me back. I also have a background in improv and stand up, so I guess that helped.

Being on stage is pretty easy for me. Co-directing means I can’t skip rehearsals whenever I’d rather be eating pasta in bed (that’s most Sunday nights honestly) but it’s been an amazing challenge and I’m glad I took it on in spite of the extra workload. YoYo (left) with other participants during a rehearsal for the upcoming The Vagina Monologues play in Osaka, Japan. “I didn’t know about The Vagina Monologues at all when I read the e-mail inviting me to join the group, I was just interested in acting in both English and Japanese. I was surprised to learn the contents.

More surprisingly, other ladies at the call for actors seemed very familiar with the show. They were from abroad, places like America and Europe. But few of my Japanese friends knew it except some theater people. “Sometimes the content made people embarrassed—we were even once rejected to use a venue because it was too sexy. But some were very open to it. Researching the show to better understand our cause, telling me they had a chat about it even I wasn’t there—some of my old friends were raising a topic that we had never talked about before. The Vagina Monologues (TVM) is a good starter to notice matters we are ignoring. “We still see many sad issues like DV, sexual harassment, and violation of one’s rights all over Japan. Seeing TVM might not be the most drastic solution, but I personally like the way we are bringing those issues up. We can do something. We can rise together. We can change the paradigm. And we suggest many ways to do so. It makes people feel positive, I hope. If people think it interesting or fun, they naturally spread it. This year’s performance is on Sunday, Feb. 24 at Pine Brooklyn in Osaka. See details here. To reserve tickets, email vdayosaka@gmail.com.

Pass the training and receive your Ninja License! You will be entitled to priority entry to LEGO® NINJAGO WORLD, due to open in July 2019! March 15-May 6, 2019 This spring, LEGOLAND® Japan turns two! A new 4D movie is released! Please come and visit Palace Cinema to check it out! Is a miniature version of ten of the most amazing locations in Japan, including Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima. With over forty rides throughout the park there are plenty for all ages to have fun on. For older kids and adults, try the Dragon roller coaster in the Knight’s Kingdom.

For the little ones, try our mini rollercoaster Dragon’s Apprentice. If you’re in Pirate Shores come and try Anchor’s Away, a ride the whole family can enjoy. Where the fun begins! Come and take a tour of our Brick Factory and see how LEGO bricks are made. You’ll even receive a fresh brick straight off the production line as a souvenir of your visit to LEGOLAND Japan. After watching a road safety video, children aged 6-13 drive electric cars around a realistic course encountering traffic lights, roundabouts and other drivers. At the end, they all earn their very own LEGOLAND®Driving License. Rider must be 6 - 13 years of age.

Explore the world of Lego via our interactive park map! 7 days before your visit and save up to 10%! Choose either a Pirate, Kingdom, Adventure, LEGO NINJAGO or LEGO Friends themed rooms and see LEGO come to life as you walk through the corridors and enter your room! Plan your visit to Legoland Japan! Looking for a cool children's theme park? A theme park for kids is the best way to keep your family entertained for a whole day, that will also leave them so excited they’ll be talking about their amazing day all night long. Treat your family to the ultimate LEGO experience and come and stay in our amazingly unique and fun family hotel. From the moment you arrive you will begin your magical LEGO experience as the hotel itself is so colorful and has been created to look like it has been made out of giant LEGO bricks. Download the new LEGOLAND® JAPAN APP and get live ride times, show times and an interactive park map with directions. Park and attractions opening hours for 2018! How to find us. LEGO, the LEGO logo, the Brick and Knob configurations, the Minifigure and LEGOLAND are trademarks of the LEGO Group.©2018 The LEGO Group. LEGOLAND is a part of Merlin Entertainments plc.

In the late 80s and early 90s, a small group of Japanese jeans fanatics in the city of Osaka went on a quest for the perfect jeans. Their pursuit for the best denim would eventually unleash a jeans boom that has thoroughly changed the global jeans market. Jeans are as American as you can get. But the jeans that American companies like Levi’s, Lee and Wrangler make today are far removed from those that American icons like James Dean and Elvis Presley wore. Production of raw, unwashed denim was discontinued in the US in the 1960s; the old looms and the skilled workers that produced it vanished soon after.

At some time in the late 1980s this was starting to bother two employees of Lapine, a small fashion store in Osaka. “I really liked Levi’s 501,” recalls Hidehiko Yamane, one of the two, now well known as the founder of EVISU. “But in the 1980s, jeans were changing. The quality of the sewing was going down, rivets were different, the material was not the same anymore, and they even used plastic buttons. “At the time, many Japanese bought vintage jeans from the US,” remembers Mikiharu Tsujita, the second employee, now owner of FULLCOUNT. “It was becoming more and more difficult to find them, and they were becoming expensive. Lapine’s owner, Saburo Fujimoto, initially went ahead with their plans, but when it became time to pay for a batch of denim, he balked.

But Yamane had already made the denim, and had also fallen deeply in love with the project itself. He decided that if Fujimoto wouldn’t, he’d do it himself. In February 1991 he quit his job. Two months later he started the company that would grow into EVISU. By 1992, Yamane had made hist first 300 pairs of jeans. Popular Japanese magazine mono happened upon them, liked what they saw, and introduced them on their pages. Soon, Yamane was assisted by Tsujita, and two former customers from Lapine, the Shiotani brothers. They didn’t stay very long. Tsujita started FULLCOUNT in 1992, while the Shiotani brothers started their own company, WAREHOUSE, in 1995. Each one following his own vision of what the perfect jeans should look like.

These three however were not the only ones in search of the holy grail of vintage jeans. In 1988, Kobe based fashion manufacturer World Co. had launched Denime under the leadership of Yoshiyuki Hayashi. Six years before that, Shigeharu Tagaki, possibly Japan’s top expert on vintage jeans, had founded STUDIO D’ARTISAN. Surprisingly, all these pioneers were located in the same region. STUDIO D’ARTISAN, EVISU, FULLCOUNT and WAREHOUSE in Osaka, Denime in Kobe, a city neighboring Osaka. This happened partly because they were all friends with the same passion for jeans. “We all knew each other,” says Hayashi. This could only have been possible in Osaka’s open culture. “People here don’t hide information,” says Hayashi with a broad grin. This closeness and open sharing created an intense rivalry. One other dominant aspect of Osaka culture played a major role.

“In Tokyo, team play is more important,” says Tsujita. “People follow strict rules. People in Osaka however, are more individualistic and proud. You even see this in baseball. When Tokyo players first play in Osaka, they are shocked how free and undisciplined teams are here. Osaka also fosters a strong respect for traditionally made products. “In Tokyo there is a greater focus on trends,” says Yamane. It didn’t hurt that Japanese textile giant Kurabo was based in Osaka, and that Hayashi was backed by another local fashion behemoth, World Co. “Because of World, Kurabo went through all the trouble to create vintage denim,” says Hayashi.

“They would have never done that for a small company. Making something that “nobody made” was far from an easy undertaking. “In the beginning, we were often told it was impossible,” says Yamane. We didn’t know how to make the selvedge denim, or how the sewing was done. The Osaka 5 give almost obsessive attention to these details. “Rivets should be made of copper so they eventually get a green-blue color,” says Yamane. “We usually use 6 different thicknesses for the threads used in sewing,” says Takeshi Kawata, chief designer of STUDIO D’ARTISAN. ”Because jeans shrink, we also calculate the needle width very carefully.

Showing a similar concern for the stitch, Yamane displays a pair of old faded EVISU jeans. The hemline’s fading is interrupted at regular intervals, creating a playful display. “That only happens when you use a chain stitch,” he explains proudly. The attention to detail extends to the type of cotton that each company insists on using. “For our best jeans, we only use Memphis cotton,” says STUDIO D’ARTISAN’s Kawata. FULLCOUNT’s Tsujita however, swears by Zimbabwe cotton. “It is handpicked, therefore much cleaner and whiter. Because only one crop per year is grown, the cotton grows much bigger. The pioneers’ great advantage in being able to recreate vintage denim has been old power looms that were collecting dust at small factories in nearby Okayama Prefecture.

The area had developed itself as a manufacturer of student uniforms, but with baby boomers grown up and families becoming smaller, business was bad. When they were approached to recreate vintage denim, they were both available and delighted. Since the five first pioneered vintage jeans, the market has greatly changed. The Japanese vintage jeans boom of the late 90s enticed a large number of companies to jump onto the bandwagon. When this boom started to fade, many Okayama factories started to create their own brands. The well-known brand Momotaro was for example begun by Collect, the textile mill that first worked with FULLCOUNT. Large companies have taken over two of the pioneers. STUDIO D’ARTISAN was purchased by an Okayama company, and Denime by entrepreneur Hitoshi Tsujimoto, who in the late 1980s developed his own vintage jeans line for his fashion retail chain Nylon.

Tsujimoto has cut out companies like Kurabo and Kaihara and contracts directly with dozens of small factories. This has allowed him to change the production process. “We make so much denim at one time that we can control the quality better while reducing the cost. Before I bought Denime, the company’s jeans sold for 35,000 yen (351 euro), now they’re 25,000 yen (250 euro). But it takes a lot of money.” With 16 companies in his portfolio, money however seems hardly a problem for this astute businessman. This gives the impression that from now on the focus will be on profits, no longer on the quest to create the perfect jeans. However, with Denime no longer in the hands of World, Hayashi has left the company. In 2010, he set up a new company, RESOLUTE. “My aim is to make a perfect replica of the Levi’s 501,” the 55-year old Hayashi says with fire in his eyes. Also read Jeans Revolution for some context about how unlikely Osaka was as the birthplace of the global jeans revolution. Buckets of stone balls at Oyama based Kouritsu. Detail of the hemline of used EVISU jeans. The fading is interrupted at regular intervals, creating a playful display. “That only happens when you use a chain stitch,” explains owner Yamane.

We’re finally leaving Kyoto (reluctantly) and headed towards Osaka. Quick side note for Kyoto, as mentioned in my previous blog post, there are way too many locations in Kyoto to cover. So I’ve not actually included everything in these blog posts. If you want the complete itinerary, click here. With that out of the way, let’s have a look at Osaka. We arrived in the evening. After checking in to the hostel and leaving our luggage, we headed towards Dotonbori (about 900m away from our hostel). We’ve spent the remaining of the day exploring Dotonbori. The neon signs filled up the street with life, something we don’t see in Kyoto. We tried out these grilled giant scallops and the famous takoyaki. Next morning, we headed towards Kobe but I’ll write about Kobe in a different post. So I’ll be focusing on Osaka alone for this post. We headed towards Osaka Castle. Famous for being impenetrable during Sengoku era. Even though it was pretty much destroyed multiple times and rebuilt, it’s still massive. Inside, you’ll find a lot of replica/authentic relics that emphasizes the civil war. Pigeon man just outside the castle.

Osaka is located on the Osaka Bay between the island of Honsu and the island of Tsugoku. Osaka is the third largest city in Japan. The city has a spectacular aquarium, several museums such as the National Art Museum and several ancient sights such as Osaka castle. The centre of Osaka can be divided into two parts: Minami and Kita. Minami is famous for its shopping facilities and for going out. Osaka has a moderate sea climate. A sea climate has fewer differences in temperature than a land climate. However, summers are warm and humid. Blorg.org and precipitation figures are high and constant all year round.

Especially summers may give you a clammy feel. Skies are almost always overcast here. Winters are mild and subzero temperatures are uncommon. Because of the supply of warm air there is a risk of tropical storms in Osaka. The figures below are based on long term weather and climate records. Climate figures are very useful but don’t present a general impression of the climate and the eventual weather circumstances within a certain period. The figures don’t always reflect the chance of wintry weather, extreme heat or hurricanes. The information at this site was carefully composed from climate data collected by meteorological services, meteorological offices, climate experts and other sources. “More climate info” is based on statistics, climate data and personal experience. No rights can be derived from this site. Weather has no memory and gives no guaranties. Nothing is as changeable and unpredictable as the weather. The authors of this site feel in no way responsible for any damages caused by misinterpretation or other circumstances that may influence your holiday or trip to a certain destination. We provide information, it’s up to the reader to use it to it’s benefit.

Osaka Castle, which around a million people visit per a year, is one of the most famous sightseeing spots in Osaka. In the castle you can enjoy the exhibitions about the history of Osaka. They are explained using videos, models and so on. In Osaka Castle area, there is the Osaka castle park where you can enjoy lunch, seeing the castle. Also this park is popular spot for cherry blossoms. Check this park, if you visit Osaka in spring. Personally, Dotonbori is the best place to describe “What is Osaka”. Osaka was flourished as the center for delicious foods. You will find Dotonbori street full of interesting advatisements for restaurants.

It is good place to taste Osaka cuisine; Okonomiyaki, Takoyaki, Kushikatsu and so on. Tsutenkaku, which is located near Dotonbori, is the landmark of Osaka. Tsutenkaku is 100m high and used as the observation tower. The official mascot character is “Billiken” and it is known as “the god for happiness”. Abeno Harukas is a complex program skyscraper constructed in Abeno-ku, Osaka and the highest building in Japan at 300 meter hight (at the present of 2015). You can directly access there from Kintetsu Abeno Station. Not only you enjoy shopping or eating, but also you see the amazing view of Osaka from the observatory named “Harukas 300” located on the 58 to 60 floor.

Universal Studios Japan is the most popular theme park in Osaka. There are many attractions focus on the world on movies. Particularly, at Harry Potter section, which was opened in 2015 everyone from adults to children enjoy the atmosphere of Hogwarts. The best drink there is “Butter beer” from “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”. Kaiyukan is the popular spot among tourists, families and couples. Kaiyukan display around 620 species of marine animals mainly from the pacific ocean areas. The most popular marine animal is Whale Shark. You will be surprised at its size and cuteness. Without eating Okonomiyaki, you cannot enjoy your travel in Osaka. Okonomiyaki is the best food to present Osaka cuisine.

There are thousands of Okonomiyaki restaurants and they have their special Okonomiyaki recipes. You must find your favorite Okonomiyaki restaurants. Grand Front Osaka opened in 2013, is the huge complex building which create the new cityscape of central Osaka. There are around 260 shops and restaurants, hotels, show rooms, offices, creation spaces and so on in the four connected tour buildings. You can easily access there from Osaka station. Umeda Sky Building is the spectacular building which have the floating garden observatory platform on the top. From the platform, you can see the amazing scenery of central Osaka and the scenery was chosen as one of the 100 sunset views in Japan. On the underground of this building there are many restaurants where you can taste Japanese cuisine such as Okonomiyaki. Ticket counter is on 39th floor. The feature of HEP FIVE is the red ferris wheel on the building.

There are entertainment place named “JOYPOLICE” as well as shops or restaurants in the facility. How about getting on the ferris wheel at the end of your Osaka travel? You must enjoy a romantic moment with Osaka night view. Takoyaki is as popular as Okonomiyaki as the Osaka cuisine. You can enjoy the contrast; the outside is very crispy but the inside is soft. In your travel in Osaka you must try this local food; Takoyaki. Tennoji Zoo, which opened in 1915, is the third oldest zoo in Japan. Around 900 animals from 200 species can be seen there. At the feeding time, you can see penguins, elephants and polar bears are fed. The national museum of art in Osaka collects and displays masterworks of modern art. Popular artists exhibitions are sometimes held in temporary exhibitions areas. The exterior design represents the development of modern arts using bamboo.

Namba parks, which is located in near Namba station, is the giant shopping mall. Many various trees are planted on the building. You can enjoy shopping with lots of nature and you must forget you are in the center of an urban city. Suntory Yamazaki Whisky is very popular as Japanese whisky all over the world. This whisky factory is located in Osaka because of the source of clean water. In the factory you can taste different kinds of Yamazaki Whisky as well as seeing how Yamazaki Whisky is made. Fees for factory tour:1000yen (Reservation needed. Mino park is the natural park located in the north of Osaka.

[bwprowl]

TakaraTomy’s latest entries in their Transformers run get a look at first tonight, along with the formal reveal and pre-order of the new Nendoroid from a video game that’s kinda popular. Then we’ve got pre-orders for toys bringing back the anime boom of yesteryear, with another Nendoroid of the classic variety, and Bandai of America trying to bottle that Dragonball lightning again. Plus a quick peek at a new Pokemon toy that caught my eye, and a new Transformer hot off the shelf onto my desk, tonight on Tuesday Night Toys!

New Stuff: Fine China

After seemingly staying quiet for some time, TakaraTomy finally saw fit to show off the next entries in their collector-geared Legends line: Targetmaster versions of Kup and Hot Rod, and Sharkticon with a bonus Sweep head. The Targetmasters continue to go as ambitiously above-and-beyond as TT has been getting lately, including multiple retooled parts (including new arms for Kup and a flip-down engine cover for Hot Rod) and completely new-tooling figures of the transformable gun-buddies. Those look great, though a couple things are rather off. Hot Rod’s got his proper magenta colors here, though his flame decal is looking a bit oddly stained-glass-ish. Kup’s colors are the real question mark, desaturating his distinctive teal all the way down to a mix of greys. This seems to be the result of Takara referencing some particularly poorly-colored models from late G1 episodes, and leaves it looking, as a friend of mine said, like a toy of Kup’s corpse. That aside, the new Targetmasters still look very good, and will likely still be worth it to those going in for the new tooling.

Hey TT, if you wanted to throw together a pack of Nightstick and Fracas, I’d be totally okay with that.

Sharkticon is predictably done up in a more specifically cartoony color scheme, and includes an amusingly Wario-esque alternate ‘Sweep’ head for the Scourge body. It’s nice of them to pack two troop-builders together.

Nendoroid Mei from Overwatch was fully revealed and put up for pre-order yesterday. She continues the detailed standard set by Tracer, good to see GSC is not just phoning these ones in. She includes a removable Snowball who can be set up with an effect for her Ultimate (the description even suggests you set up other Nendoroids ‘frozen in place’ within it). Sadly, no tiny Ice Wall or defensive block is included, those would’ve really pushed Snow Waifu over the edge. These Overwatch Nendos could maybe benefit from Zelda-style DX releases with bonus accessories. As-is, she still looks great, and they know people are going to buy her anyway. Apparently Mercy will be next.

Wishlist: Runnin’ in the 90’s

Nendoroid Lum from Urusei Yatsura went up earlier. The classic Alien Girlfriend getting a new toy like this just this year shows the endearing popularity of Takahashi’s formative rom-com, and the toy looks to be a good choice for anyone still nostalgic for it.

I saw that the first few of Bandai of America’s Dragon Stars line of six-inch Dragonball figures was up for pre-order, and that led me down a rabbit hole of finding out that they were actually launching a full Dragonball Super toy line for aisles over here! Not just these premium collector figures, there are also little blind-bagged spin-battling figures, collectible figurines, a fan-launching Goku, and these goofy things that apparently flex and their shirts fall off. It even includes role-play toys like deluxe Scouters and what is probably the greatest Dragonball cosplay accessory ever: A wristband with a firing Kamehameha.

Oh god anyone actually remember Karate Fighters?

Seeing all these clearly kids-play focused gewgaws makes the impending rollout of Dragonball Super in the west an interesting anticipation. DBZ was indeed hot shit in the late 90’s/early 00’s, and toys not unlike these ones were available to kids like me. Bandai made a lot of money off the franchise, and it’ll be interesting to see if they can repeat that success nearly two decades later.

Tangentially, Tamashii’s World Tour exclusives include this very nice-looking Kaioh-Ken-effect Goku SHF.

I haven’t paid enough attention to Tomy’s stateside Pokemon line. For all that some people gripe that Nintendo doesn’t release toys of enough of the Pokemon, Tomy does seem to do their best to make multitudes of miniature and posable figures of a variety of the cute little bastards. Notably, I was in the aisles the other day and came across a new figure they’re done of Mega Mawile! Mawile’s been a sleeper favorite of mine for some time now, and the Mega form was welcome when it appeared in Gen 6, and this new figure is an impressive, decently posable rendition of it. Nice to see Tomy willing to throw some unexpected choices out there along with all the Starters and Eeveelutions. I’ll have to grab this thing at some point, to indicate to them that I’d like more like it.

On-Desk: Couldn’t hit him

Hasbro’s distribution on Transformers has been nothing if not consistent lately. I hear people are finding that Chaos on Velocitron pack in Toys R Us across the country, so I head to my local TRU and there it is! Now just the last few days everyone has been finding the new Broadside in stores, and indeed, I found one for myself. Broadside was an anticipated release for me, not just for completing the Autobot Triple Changers or adding one more to a modern Wreckers lineup, but because he’s always been a rather unique design with a particularly underrepresented alternate mode. So how is the toy itself?

Titans Return Broadside is a ‘retool’ of Alpha Trion in the same way a chicken burrito is like a chicken salad. Some of the same ingredients are there but you’d probably need someone else pointing it out to even notice. Broadside really is pretty much a whole new toy. The robot mode is one of the looser reinterpretations we’ve gotten from the otherwise stringently G1-accurate Titans Return, sporting the character’s artwork-distinctive ‘broad’ grey chest with a cockpit bit in it, and in spite of ‘only’ being a Voyager-class toy, does a good job of ‘looking’ bigger than average, the way Broadside has often been shown in comics. Lots of bits besides his chest contribute to this, from his thick lower legs with the fins jutting out even further in front of them, to his big meaty mitt-hands, to his solid block of a face. He just conveys size, something that’s always cool when toys of any scale do it.

Transformation to his jet mode is shockingly simpler than I was expecting, especially after the enjoyably involved conversions of the previous wave’s Megatron and Optimus. You really just angle his legs up, shift the arms down, and flip up the nose and you’re there! It definitely is more than the sum of its parts, at least. Once it’s all in the right position everything converges together into a decidedly fantastical but still cohesive jet mode. Once again it commands a sense of size, with the bulky back end and chunky cockpit with its big bubble window that can easily be popped open to seat his Titan Master (delightfully named ‘Blunderbuss’). Thanks to a couple well-placed pegs and clips, it even holds together decently, in spite of playing fast and loose with how the transformation itself works. Still, this is definitely the ‘third mode’ of the Triple Changer.

So would a Broadside gijinka just be a KanColle?

The ‘main’ alternate mode would of course be Broadside’s aircraft carrier form. Fully stretching out the robot’s frame and pegging together panels on the top to achieve the ‘deck’ of the ship, this mode delivers the most fully on the ‘big’ promises of this toy. It’s as long as possible, and even stands high thanks to some creative ‘landing gear’ that folds down from the bottom, to help it set stable. There’s a wide variety of details on top of the deck, selling the idea that this is a big ship with lots going on, including an ID number, a runway (made up of some stickers that could be better) a tiny little scale control tower, and plenty of spaces and areas sculpted in for planes (and more on those in a minute). If there are some imperfections like the stickers and top panels not lining up perfectly flush, it’s all kind of swept away in the overall appeal of the toy achieving a big, unique mode like this.

Broadside is complimented with one of the coolest extras I’ve seen included with a mainline TF in some time: A sprue of absolutely tiny scale airplanes, which are actually sculpted in the likenesses of the Combiner Wars Aerialbots! You clip these off and they’ve got holes on their undersides to peg into the standard-scale tiny pegs that all TR toys have in some places (nominally to let Titan Masters stand on them). In Broadside’s case, the deck of his carrier mode is loaded with a bunch of those things, letting the planes be pegged in a multitude of different positions all over it, completing the look of an aircraft carrier and fully selling the size and scale of the thing once and for all. It rather awesomely turns the whole thing into a mini vehicle playset of sorts. It truly brings the toy to life in this mode, and was a super-cool thing for Hasbro to include. These tiny jets honestly make this toy.

Meanwhile, you can flip over the control tower for probably the goofiest Titan Master seating option in the entire line.

Broadside is far from perfect, with each mode having its share of issues or shortcomings. But it’s the way all the good parts those modes also have come together that makes him work as well as he does. He’s unique and fun to play with, and the bonus of the tiny Aerialbots is just a hoot (you can even peg them onto him in robot mode to sell the idea that he’s super-huge in that form). I know most are going to get him just to complete one or another ‘set’ with previous toys, but he is totally worth getting on his own merits.

I’ll see you all next time, and as always, I hope you have fun!

[curdinway-blog]

Top 102 Movies of the 2010’s, According to a Crackpot

I’ve decided to try the impossible.

The seed for this idea came from Polygon.  The site ran an article by which various staff members ranked their top ten movies for the decade.  Naturally, that got me thinking about MY top ten films for the decade.  Then I realized I hadn’t seen most Oscar winners, let alone enough movies to qualify to make a list.  Then I realized I would have much, MUCH more than ten movies in my list.

Thus, I embarked on a madman’s dream.  It involved crunching movie after movie after movie, then trying to hopelessly rank it on my list if I thought it was good enough.  I missed my own deadline of New Year’s.  Now, I am releasing this on my next deadline: The Oscars.  Literally now, when they are already underway.

I hope you will read this list with some forgiveness in your hearts.  Biting off more than you can chew doesn’t describe it.  There are a whole host of movies I wanted to see before I made this list I haven’t gotten to and probably never will.   There are many movies on this list I saw close to a decade ago and am trying to place in a ranking against pieces I just saw a few days ago.  Oh, and I’m comparing across genres and types.  What I’m trying to say is, this list is probably going to suck in a lot of ways.

With that being said, I really did try to rank the following to the very best of my ability.  I racked my brains, racked them, and racked them again. Ultimately, I made my decisions from a whole host of criteria, ranging from everything from pacing, to various aspects of entertainment value, to complexity/themes, to cinematography.  I tried to be objective as much as possible, but I also think that how much you like a movie should be considered a piece of criteria as well. After all, that’s primarily why we go to the movies; we want to have a good time.  As such, expect to see a lot of science-fiction and animation of this list. In my defense, it was a great decade for each.

And now…without further ado…let me introduce…The Top 102 Films of the 2010’s, According to a Crackpot!

  102. Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow

Starship Troopers meets Groundhog Day, Live Die Repeat is a well-executed mecha-battle movie with a wrinkle of time-travel tossed in for good measure.

 101. Wreck-It Ralph: Ralph Breaks the Internet

It may not be as good as the original, but Wreck-It Ralph 2 makes the grade with some cunning swipes at internet culture, the world’s best worst Disney Princess song, and bittersweet revelations about what it means to be a true friend.

 100. Mirai

Few films truly approach their story from a child’s perspective; but in tone, structuring, and imagination, Mirai lets us see again through young eyes.  Director Mamoru Hosoda uses time travel as a vehicle for exploration of deeply personal familial relationships, and how they shape us into the people we become.

 99. The Last Gold

The Last Gold is an unheralded little gem about a quartet of female US Olympic swimmers who found themselves competing in an impossibly frustrating and unfair situation; the 1976 Olympics.  As East German swimmers swept podium after podium (with the aid of a systematic doping program), the US Women’s team faced intense public criticism, especially phenom Shirley Babashoff, who could have been the female Mark Spitz if not for the rampant cheating going on.  Largely forgotten and regarded as a disappointment by the American public, The Last Gold illustrates the team as one worth remembering and dignifying; in particular, for their final, desperate effort at gold in the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay.

 98. Mad Max: Fury Road

Pretty much nonstop surreal nutty action, Mad Max surely has some of the most creative and tricky stunts done in the past decade.

 97. The Amazing Spiderman

Utterly forgotten in the wake of its more successful follow-ups (and predecessors, for that matter), The Amazing Spiderman is nonetheless a solid reboot of some well-worn material. The concept behind Spidey’s origin is well-thought out and original, and ties directly to an interesting villain who is more the victim of his own genius than the archetype evil megalomaniac.

 96. Doctor Strange

Doctor Strange marks itself as unique among the various Marvel offerings by pondering nothing less than the meaning of life… and overloading us with psychedelic, Inception-esque imagery.

 95. Concussion

Featuring a terrific and vocally unrecognizable Will Smith, Concussion asks not only some difficult questions about the country’s (and my own) favorite sport, but also some difficult questions about what it means to be an American.

 94. The Big Sick

I’m not a big rom-com guy, but The Big Sick won me over by creating romantic tensions from realistic scenarios; in particular, the difficulties that arise from differences in race and religion.  The film’s awkward sense of humor is well-incorporated, making this a funny movie as well as an intelligent one.

 93. Bridesmaids

A funny movie about friendships and change (anchored by an excellently tragicomic Kristen Wiig), Bridesmaids showed the Judd Apatow formula could work on equal terms for the female sex.

 92. 50/50

50/50 tackled the cancer movie with an unusual slant of good humor, and chased it down with heartfelt drama and good performances.

 91. Hanna

In which a supergirl Saoirse Ronan (pre-fame and accolades) is honed into an assassin by her father so that she can kill a wicked, hammy CIA operative Cate Blanchett before the agency gets to her first.  If you ever wanted to see a small girl beating thugs to death with her bare fists in the style of Jason Bourne, this one’s for you.  Loads of fun, totally bananas, and dripping with cool.

 90. Hunger Games

More or less a faithful adaptation of a literary bestseller, Hunger Games nonetheless deserves credit for doing the job right.  The cinematics and ideas here are very nice for a teen blockbuster, and Jennifer Lawrence rightfully turned into a star for BEING Katniss Everdeen.

 89. What We Do in the Shadows

Quirky, subversive, hilarious, and utterly “New Zealand”, What We Do in the Shadows made vampires and werewolves funny again…in a good way.

 88. Icarus

An accidental documentary seemingly spurred on by fate, Icarus is about the creep of misinformation and deception into every aspect of our lives, even sports, by the unscrupulous and powerful.

 87. Prometheus

A film I absolutely adored the first time around, but toned down my enthusiasm for with a more critical eye to detail.  Nevertheless, Prometheus should be appreciated for its immense scale of ambition and huge open-ended philosophical questions; it should also be appreciated for throwing a veritable kitchen sink of full of campy horrors at its viewers, including a crazy autosurgery scene.

 86. 10 Cloverfield Lane

10 Cloverfield Lane flies high on its simplicity.  Three main actors, one small doomsday shelter, and loads of palm-sweating, stomach-clenching, double-guessing suspense.  John Goodman, you so craaaaazy.

 85. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Give J.K. Rowling credit for not making this a cynical cash grab; the writing in Fantastic Beasts is actually delightful.  There is a strong balance here between the sweet magical whimsy going on and some dark, brooding commentaries on American society.  A strong cast of endearing characters rounds out a very robust entry in the Harry Potter series.

 84. How to Train Your Dragon II

A very good sequel to a classic, HTTYD II still provides the acrobatic, dragon-flying goods, even as it steers us into a troubling, thought-provoking battle between might and right, fixed circumstances and free will.

 83. The Big Short

While Inside Job will always remain the definitive work on the maddening 2008 financial collapse, The Big Short is a strong effort featuring intimate inside perspectives of the actual people who did the dynamiting.  A slick sense of humor and a celebrity all-star team intent on ripping Wall Street a new one makes this film a winner.

 82. Captain America: Civil War

Cap: Civil War is noteworthy in that it makes civilian collateral damage the primary fulcrum and conflict of a superhero movie.  It is also a bit of a “mini-Avengers” that successfully incorporates some slam dunk additions to the team; then pits them against each other.

 81. Get Out

One of the decade’s cleverest and most ambitious horror flicks, Get Out shows how the sum of a million little microaggressions equates to something very ugly indeed.

 80. The Hateful Eight

A slow-burner as far as Tarantino films go, The Hateful Eight is an interesting social play interspersed with exaggerated violence and profanity; a commentary on how our nation was forged in the fires of overcoming racial and societal differences.

 79. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Catching Fire does what all good sequels aim to do; take the appealing constructs of the original film and pump them up on steroids.  Everything the Hunger Games did, Catching Fire does bigger, badder, and better.

 78. Big Hero 6

A weeaboo’s dream, a great superhero flick, and a gentle meditation upon loss and healthy grieving, Big Hero 6 is a very entertaining film with a big heart and a wonderfully plush-looking buddy robot.

 77. Mary and the Witch’s Flower

Mary and the Witch’s Flower is a Studio Ghibli flick, helmed by Studio Ghibli animators…under a non- Ghibli studio.  Here are all the familiar beats we love as viewers; the weird, wonderful setting (a school of sorcery for talented children), abuses on the natural world wrought by technology and ambition, and a delightfully ordinary red-headed girl who must think on her feet and grow if she is to survive.  Harry Potter crossed with Miyazaki…who could ever resist that?

 76. Avengers: Infinity War

The key to Infinity War’s successes is Thanos.  The Mad Titan had been waiting in the shadows for most of MCU’s run during the past decade; in Infinity War, we finally see him in the formidable flesh.  At once terrifying and tragic, Thanos is the most iconic villain of the 2010’s; a villain finally worth pitting an entire squad of heroes against, and perhaps, more than a match for all of them.  The film’s shocking ending and willingness to go to darker places makes this movie MCU’s The Empire Strikes Back.

 75. Alien: Covenant

Man, did Covenant get a bad rap.  Audience members branded its characters stupid, its monsters unscary, and its premise a letdown from Prometheus.  They were wrong on every count.  The characters of Covenant act as normal explorers should; not as we, in all of our omniscient wisdom, should advise them to.  The monsters are absolutely bloodcurdling; truly nasty, unrelenting creatures which are content to flay their victims alive if they cannot kill them outright.  And the story did not answer many of Prometheus’s big questions because it was simply better and more interesting than that.  I posit the reason Covenant was such a flop is not any failure on its part, but rather a failure of audiences’ openmindedness and tolerance for the macabre.  Alien: Covenant is the best Alien movie since at least Aliens; a pitch-black, bordering on nihilistic tale of bad things happening to good people.  It is also a successful conglomeration of the various qualities of Alien, Aliens, and Prometheus, and a fascinating cross-examination of an android who is too human for his own (or anybody’s) good.

 74. The Shape of Water

Amélie meets The Swamp Thing, The Shape of Water is an odd, intriguing romantic Cold War thriller that celebrates those members of society who are ostracized, marginalized, or cast aside.

 73. ParaNorman

Funny, scary, and important, Paranorman is a spooky, kid-friendly take on tolerance and the price of ignorance.

 72. Gasland

By all practical accounts, Gasland is horrifying.  This is a film that shows the surreal consequences of free-for-all fracking; water that can be set on fire, air pollution that exceeds 100x the safe limit for some toxins around fracking wells, and literal poisoning of wildlife and residents via breathing, drinking, and skin absorption.  While all of this content would make for a great documentary, it is banjo-pickin’, easy-going filmmaker Josh Fox who makes this film even better. His heartfelt personal accounts and willingness to stand aside and let the victims speak for themselves gives this documentary a warmth and decency usually missing from such explosive exposés.

 71. Wreck-It Ralph

A hilarious mash-up of video games and memorable arcade characters, Wreck-It Ralph manages to stay clever, hip, and inventive the whole way, even as it plays expertly off audience nostalgia.

 70. Green Book

Thanks in large part to its pair of terrific leads, Green Book manages to be an uproariously entertaining road trip buddy movie; even as it brings to light the racial problems which existed (and continue to exist) in America.

 69. Scott Pilgrim vs The World

Possibly the most Millennial film ever made, Scott Pilgrim is a busy, delicious barrage of video games, garage bands, pop culture references, and comics.  Intricately detailed and gut-bustingly funny, Scott Pilgrim’s supply of visual gags and uber-referential one-liners is practically (turns 8 sideways on fridge) infinite.

 68. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Winter Soldier is high-tier MCU.  The electric superhero proceedings benefit from a deliciously twisty plot, and a surprising injection of sharp political commentary.

 67. Dunkirk

One of the most viscerally intense PG-13 movies ever, Christopher Nolan’s war epic is a nightmarish tour-de-force that places viewers directly in enemy crosshairs.  In typical Nolanian fashion, however, this is also high-brow, intellectually stimulating fare.  There is not only the logistical puzzle at play of how to successfully evacuate 300,000 plus English soldiers from the French coast; Dunkirk understands warfare as a product of two extreme and opposite polarities of human nature. War cannot be waged without nasty, selfish streaks of human survival, as there will simply be no one left to fight it; neither can it be won without remarkable acts of courage and willing sacrifice.

 66. Blackfish

Deeply troubling and disturbing, Blackfish shows what happens when you take the most intelligent and sensitive animals in the world besides us and confine them in a bathtub for their entire lives.  A stirring call for respect for nature, and a long-running tally of SeaWorld’s sins, Blackfish is a must-see documentary.

 65. Contagion

Contagion is one of the decade’s scariest films.  After all, murdering mask-wearing lunatics and supernatural bumps in the night can be discounted as a trick behind the camera; but the boogeyman in Contagion almost assuredly exists, a nuke buried somewhere in the bosom of Mother Nature.  If we blunder into it, God help us all.  The film’s chilly, distant demeanor and scientific accuracy (Contagion gets bonus points for being the most scientifically accurate movie of all time) makes its depiction of a modern plague frighteningly plausible; its fixations on points of transfer are enough to convince anyone to wash their hands twice.  

 64. How to Train Your Dragon

One of the best movies to ever exit out the Dreamworks pipeline, HTTYD is an excellent parable about hate and jingoism, wrapped up in an exhilarating thrill ride that made us all want a Toothless of our own.

 63. Restrepo

Restrepo is such a hard film to gauge.  It doesn’t take aim at politics, or delve too deeply into the lives of its subjects; American soldiers in the Korangal Valley, Afghanistan.  Restrepo is content to simply put us in their boots.  Never has combat been so realistically brought to the American doorstep.  In Restrepo, one can see the terror of death, the adrenaline hit of downing an enemy, the tomfoolery of kids messing around with one another in between bouts of fighting for their lives.  This is the pure essence of modern war; in its DNA, one can see what so many directors of fiction have been trying to recapture in their work.  Restrepo is a remarkable and dangerous accomplishment; an accomplishment that would eventually cost co-director Tim Hetherington his life while shooting a subsequent film in Libya.

 62. Abominable

Dreamworks has been a rather lackluster studio in comparison to the rest of the industry.  With that being said, it is more than capable of making great movies; and Abominable is right up there with the best the studio has ever made.  This gorgeously made Asian-flavored film explores China as a meeting grounds of various philosophies; wealth and privilege versus working class, urban versus agrarian, East versus West, and how exploitation and cultural diffusion have reshaped life there.  It is also simply a wonderful tale of an introverted girl who must travel to the Himalayas to deliver a magical yeti back to nature; and how that journey unlocks her ability to grieve and connect with others.

 61. Winter’s Bone

Winter’s Bone is the movie that announced to the world that this Jennifer Lawrence person could act, I tell you h’what.  This menacing coming-of-age journey through the Ozark drugscape shows the importance of family in such poor, isolated communities as something more than a cliché of hillbilly pride; it is actually a means to survival and redemption.

 60. The Boy and the Beast

The Boy and the Beast can certainly be appreciated simply as a fantastical, colorful training/battle movie about an orphaned human boy and his cantankerous bear master.  But it is as it dives deep into the complexity of the male mind that the film fascinates thematically and generates stirring emotional resonance.  In particular, the film has something to say about the anger that can spur young men to violence, and the stabilizing force a mature male presence can have (but does not always have) on that anger.  The benefits of fatherhood extend to father-figures as well, who become more emotionally aware and sensitive, and gain deeper meaning and fulfillment in their lives. Hosoda is truly one of the best directors working in animation today, and The Boy in the Beast is typically intelligent, thematically dense work from him.

 59. The King’s Speech

A feel-good film done with classical style, The King’s Speech is an elegant, touching tale of friendship that will surely play well among lovers of The Royal Family.

 58. The Artist

Thanks to rich visual storytelling and fantastic performances, this pre-talkie throwback hardly needs words to delight.

 57. The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Isao Takahata’s final film The Tale of Princess Kaguya feels like a beautiful pastel picture book brought to life.  At once a fable of ruinous greed, classism, and sexism, it is also a haunting soliloquy of love, nature, freedom, beauty, and death…all that makes life precious.

 56. Kubo and the Two Strings

Kubo and the Two Strings makes me mad.  Not because it is a bad film; far from it.  I am angry because Kubo had everything going for it.  It had big-name actors, it had effects which pushed stop-motion to its limits, it had a big marketing push in theaters to push viewership, it had great critical reviews.  It was supposed to be Studio Laika’s crown jewel; the film that would win big at the box office and thrust the studio of perennial indie hits like Coraline and Paranorman into well-deserved limelight.  And it was good.  Like, really good!

Unfortunately, Kubo and the Two Strings flopped at the box office, for reasons I cannot imagine nor articulate in polite company.  But it will get its due here; Kubo is a stop-motion masterpiece with rich, resonant themes and ground-breaking visual effects.  It also has a rendition of “My Guitar Gently Weeps” on a Japanese samisen. So go see the damn thing.

 55. The Wind Rises

We might be getting another Miyazaki film after all, but The Wind Rises was a fantastic send-off piece for anime’s most legendary director.  This is a truly complex, mature film about the relation of beauty and art to woe and suffering, and a critical examination of the tunnel vision that often grips great artists.

 54. Knives Out

A classic whodunit tweaked for the modern era, Knives Out balances its twisty mystery proceedings with some well-timed black humor and more than a few pokes at the wealthy elite.

 53. Inside Job

A carefully researched and scathingly delivered incrimination of the greed that ruined a nation, Inside Job is one of the best documentaries of the era.

 52. Hugo

A wondrous, Dickensian-tale of an orphan who lives in a Paris train station and discovers the secret of a mysterious automaton, Hugo is an intelligent, sensitive family picture and a touching love letter to early cinema.

 51. Moonlight

Being different is hard, as I can say from firsthand experience.  While I can hardly imagine what it is to be African-American or gay, let alone both at once, Moonlight offers some glimpse into that difficult reality.  The film’s touching love story is a journey of self-acceptance and courage that is well worth seeing.  

 50. Tangled

Tangled was Disney’s announcement to the rest of the field that it was back, baby.  After a period of shaky and poorly thought-out 3-D projects in the early 2000’s, Disney took a long, hard look at itself and identified what it did best, then brought out the best of those qualities in its witty, triumphant take on Rapunzel.  Here are the songs, guffaws, villains, and magic we all love as fans, delivered perfectly into the next dimension.

 49. Source Code

Groundhog Day via sci-fi thriller, Source Code is a clever, action-packed take on time travel, but also an emotionally investing take on what it means to live each day-and life-to the fullest.

 48. Toy Story 4

Rarely has a sequel piece ever seemed as risky as Toy Story 4.  The studio had its closing piece in Toy Story 3; a film I thought was respectable but not particularly interesting.  But rather than let sleeping dogs lie, Pixar opted to throw that ending in the garbage…and pulled something far more bizarre and wonderful from the trash.  Toy Story 4 is a wacky, existential riff that acknowledges the importance of family and responsibility in our lives, while simultaneously declaring that it is okay to value ourselves outside those traditional parameters.

 47. Arrival

Arrival is hard science-fiction done exceedingly right.  Depicting an extraterrestrial visitation across the globe, Arrival seems truly tangible in a way most alien films do not, down to the very form of its decidedly non-humanoid creatures.  In vein of Contact or Interstellar, Arrival picks the brain and heartstrings with equal acumen, making it a lasting and valuable commodity to anyone’s sci-fi library.

 46. Spiderman: Homecoming

Spiderman: Homecoming is the geekiest of Spiderpieces.  This is the Spiderman where Spiderman is Go-Pro-ing himself before a big battle, or joining a quiz bowl team, or building a Lego Death Star with his nerdy confidante, complete with miniature Lego Palpatine.  Light, refreshing, and utterly hilarious, Homecoming gets a lot of mileage out of Tom Holland’s awesome portrayal, and tells a simple, uncomplicated story that doesn’t impede the shenanigans.

 45. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2

Audiences were expecting a fireworks show for Deathly Hallows: Part II, and boy did they get one. A terrifically exciting heist sequence and a grand final battle made this the most epic and exciting entry in the Harry Potter canon.  The culmination of carefully laid character arcs and sentimental links back to the series’ early days had fans smiling through their tears and punching their tickets to Platform 9 ¾ again and again.  A splendidly satisfying sendoff.

 44. Skyfall

Apparently, you can teach an old dog new tricks.  Skyfall brought Bond into the new decade in style, modernizing and sharpening all its facets while remaining, yes, Bond.  James Bond.

 43. Argo

Argo is a rock-solid retelling of a tense CIA extraction op, hitched to the allure and wonder of good old-fashioned movie making.  

 42. Free Solo

Free Solo is a marvelous documentary, and I mean that quite literally.  Marvel at the jaw-dropping heights depicted, marvel at the logistical challenges of filming a free climber without killing or distracting them (which would mean the same thing).  But most of all, marvel at the huge cojones of subject Alex Honnold, as he attempts to climb the world’s largest rock wall; without the life-saving grace of a rope. As a thrill act, Free Solo is visceral and terrifying.  But as a character study, it is equally fascinating.  The same things which make Honnold such a one in a billion talent are the same things which cripple him emotionally and socially.  Watching Honnold slowly start to conquer these own personal obstacles-even as he prepares for the physical obstacle of his life-is a truly satisfying experience.

 41. The Lego Movie

Endlessly imaginative and hilariously subversive, The Lego Movie is not only a worthy standard-bearer of its iconic toy brand, but also a glorious celebration of creativity and free expression.

 40. Snowpiercer

I’m gonna describe Snowpiercer using single word describers.  Okay?  Hilarious. Bloody.  Ambitious.  Tragic. Exhilarating.  Revolutionary.  F***ing insane.  Okay, that last one was two words.  How about amazing?  Yeah. Amazing works.  This dystopian satirical piece is a mad thrill ride on a runaway train through an environmentally wrecked world, and it is one of the craziest things I’ve ever loved in my life.

 39. Moneyball

This movie is a sports genre gamechanger about a sports genre gamechanger; that is, the “Moneyball” strategy that forever changed the world of baseball evaluation.  Watched purely on the terms of its baseball X’s and O’s, Moneyball succeeds.  However, it is the tale of lovable loser Billy Beane, and the film’s assertion that winning comes second to loving yourself, that really turns this hit into a home run.

 38. The Social Network

As eccentric and brilliant as its central genius, The Social Network depicts the synthesis of Facebook as an unflattering mirror for the site itself; that it is often driven by negative emotions of inadequacy, jealousy, and loneliness, and serves as a proxy for the real social interactions we require for fulfillment and happiness.  Slickly edited, funny, and smart, this is one of the most iconic and generational films of the decade.

 37. Gravity

The opening few minutes of Gravity is one of the most intense movie scenes not only of this decade, but of all time.  From there, the tension just barely relents.  Suspenseful and tightly-spun as a space survival story, Gravity is also a technical marvel which redefined zero-G cinema forever; and made us eternally thankful we are safely on the ground.

 36. Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild is a ground-level view of poverty and climate change in the Mississippi River Delta region, seen through the eyes of a child.  Quvenzhané Wallis brings her role to life with an incredible child performance, and lends this work a sense of deep intimacy and emotional resonance, even as it grasps at themes which are national to global in scale.

 35. Incredibles 2

Incredibles 2 is one of Pixar’s best ever sequels.  Here are the same witty, relatable family dynamics we fell in love with in Incredibles 1; but the superhero shenanigans have been one-upped and then some.  In fact, Incredibles 2 has the best action sequences I have ever seen in a 3-D animated film.  Add in a smart ideological battle between the current age’s (perhaps correct) cold cynicism and yesterday’s quixotic beliefs, and you have one of the best superhero movies ever, as well as a film that arguably beats out its OG.

 34. Guardians of the Galaxy

I admit that from the film’s opening credits, where Chris Pratt canters across an alien planet to “Come and Get Your Love” and utilizes a scurrying lizard creature as his own personal microphone, that I was sold on Guardians of the Galaxy.  This is one of those rare works like Shrek or Princess Bride that simultaneously skewers and elevates its genre; in this case, the old-timey B-movie science-fiction flick.  A riotously funny movie that just doesn’t give a (expletive), Guardians of the Galaxy is also surprisingly poignant when it chooses to draw its eclectic bunch of outlaws into an impromptu family.  This is absolutely one of the best films in the MCU.

 33. Coco

A gorgeous, vibrant love letter to Mexico full of zesty music, Coco has some big things to say about art and its link to memory, and how exploitation can tarnish its beauty. Pixar has once again illustrated a remarkable ability to craft a world utterly original and believable in its own rich details and machinations; a world which sets a grand stage for its intimate story.  It has also once again illustrated an ability to make us all cry our eyes out.  Curse you, Pixar!

 32. Her

The film that made a romance between an artificial intelligence and Joaquin Phoenix work somehow, Her is a thoughtful and sensitive film that expands our definition of love to encompass all levels of intimacy and circumstance.  It is also, to my knowledge, the most gentle and hopeful AI movie ever made, and it deserves commendation for that.

 31. Spotlight

Spotlight is a black hole. This film about the Boston Globe’s reporting on the Catholic Church’s coverup of child molestations by priests starts off slowly, then sucks you in more and more, gathering its mass until you are crushed under all the weight of deception, apathy, pain, and despair.  I suppose this is also a strong allegory for the value of reporting or something like that, but frankly, I was too upset for most of the film’s duration to notice.  As a lifelong Catholic, Spotlight made me feel utterly betrayed and angry; not only at the Church, but also at myself for sleeping at the wheel. This simply cannot happen again.

 30. Citizenfour

Citizenfour qualifies as arguably the most important film of the decade.  Laura Poitras’s documentary on government informant Edward Snowden is an intellectual horror flick; full of deserved paranoia, stunning overreaches of executive power, and spooky mirrors to the Orwellian nightmare of 1984. Citizenfour reveals how the alluring promise of the internet has betrayed us, and provided a means to the exponential surveillance of everyone in our supposedly free Western society.

 29. Marvel’s The Avengers

Avengers seemed like a fantasy project when it was announced.  How could anybody hope to make a movie about not one superhero, not two superheroes, but a whole team of them, without sacrificing narrative coherence, without losing sight of the big personalities at play?  Joss Whedon proved such an all-star game could be possible, and somehow, work synergistically.  This is one of the biggest popcorn movies ever, and it changed the expectations for superhero flicks towards bigger, grander, better. The success of Avengers also established MCU as the defining franchise of the 2010’s; and perhaps, beyond.

 28. Inception

Inception’s script took Christopher Nolan 10 years to tweak, and watching the film you can believe it. This is a 3-D maze of a caper/heist movie, in which dreams form the substance of worlds stacked atop one another. It is a devilishly tricky exercise, but one that is done with the greatest precision and execution. Featuring impressive and trippy set-pieces, one of the generation’s best femme fatales, massively cerebral ideas, eerie atmosphere, and an insidious sense of ambiguity, Inception kept me awake for quite some time after I watched it at two in the morning.

 27. Room

Focusing on a kidnapped mother and her young son Jack, who has only known captivity, Room could have been a very dark movie.  Instead, it chooses to tack a different route; how do we survive trauma, both its initial effects and its aftermath, and triumph over it?  

The film is sold by Brie Larson and Jacob Tremblay.  Larson deservingly won an Oscar for her role;  Tremblay’s performance is the best child performance I have ever seen.  Together, they create a mother-son relationship that is utterly real and compelling.  The film is also noteworthy for its camerawork, which is used very effectively to suggest changes in Jack’s worldview as he grows older.

 26. Django Unchained

Brash, bold, and unapologetic, Django Unchained is a gloriously socially-conscious revenge fantasy. Featuring buckets of blood and Wild West shoot ‘em up gunfights against Klansmen and slave-holders, the film charts the course of a former slave on his way to rescue his sweetheart from the clutches of a diabolical slave owner.  

 25. Lincoln

Thanks to yet another star turn from acting legend Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln is a witty and warm biopic of one of our greatest presidents.  It is also a glimmer of encouragement during the political gridlock and dysfunction of the early 2010’s.  Rather than proving democracy does not work, Lincoln seems to argue, such issues are actually a sign of a functioning and healthy democracy.  Our ability to disagree strongly with one another and come to imperfect compromises in order to solve our problems is our country’s greatest legacy.  It was also the means to the passing of our noblest and most overdue piece of legislation: The 13th Amendment.

24. Won’t You Be My Neighbor?

Won’t You Be My Neighbor is, for me, the best documentary of the decade.  Focusing on the extraordinary Mr. Fred Rogers, the film does a great job of humanizing Mr. Rogers; revealing his insecurities, relentless drive, and sly sense of humor (often through dream-like Daniel Tiger animated sequences) while demonstrating that yes, he really was that good of a person.  As it progresses, the film grows increasingly melancholic and encompassing.  The qualities Mr. Rogers stood for-namely, understanding, love, honesty, and respect-seem sorely lacking in today’s society.  Even more distressingly, it would seem the saintly Rogers was beginning to have his own doubts about his life’s work as the cruelty and hate of the 21st century emerged in full on 9/11.  Won’t You Be My Neighbor expresses human goodness as something fragile which must be fostered and prioritized by all of us if Mr. Rogers’ message is to mean something in our modern world.

 23. Moana

Moana’s audiovisuals are off the charts amazing.  The lush tropical landscapes and utterly lifelike oceans make this the most graphically impressive 3-D animated work I’ve ever seen.  The soundtrack, partially composed by Lin-Manuel Miranda, stands as one of Disney’s best all time.  But it is Moana herself, the titular princess, who stands as the film’s greatest game-changer.  Realistically proportional, of Pacific Islander descent, and strong enough to carry a story without a love interest, Moana is a refreshingly modern character utterly in command of her own destiny.  Add in a rich story steeped in Polynesian culture and veined with environmental undertones, and you get the new high bar for the Disney Princess Movie.

 22. The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner is a testament that must be heard.  Adapted by Cartoon Saloon from Deborah Ellis’s excellent book of the same name, the movie is a street-level account of Parvana, a young girl who goes undercover as a boy to feed her family in Taliban-era Afghanistan.  The conditions portrayed are nearly unimaginable; imagine being a prisoner in your own home, only let out for reprieve under the supervision of a male guardian.  Such was the reality of thousands of women and girls in Kabul as late as 2001.  Cartoon Saloon drenches this film in a constant, lingering fear; at the same time, normalcy is depicted and triumphed. Siblings still squabble.  Clothes are still washed, meals are still cooked and eaten, water is still fetched.  Stories are still told.  The Breadwinner is not just Parvana’s tale; it is the voice of the thousands who live in war-torn or oppressive societies worldwide, and yet still make their own brand of normalcy, still form expression and find joy.  Their daily survival is an inspiration to us all; their story is to glimpse the resiliency and spark of the human spirit.

 21. A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is one of the most auspicious debuts I can remember.  First time director John Krasinki makes his creature feature a masterwork of tension and clever sound editing, and crafts an indelible world where so much as a pin dropping puts everyone on pins and needles.

 20. Inside Out

Pixar’s peek inside a child’s mind is a work of the utmost intelligence and sensitivity.  Intuitive enough for even the youngest viewers to understand, yet nuanced enough to describe the transition of a human consciousness from child to adult with painful clarity, Inside Out is one of the studio’s very best features, and a strong defense of mental health and self-expression.

 19. Your Name

For so long, director Makoto Shinkai was an exercise in frustration.  5 Centimeters Per Second was gorgeous.  Garden of Words was the most visually stunning 2-D animation I had ever seen.  And yet the writing was pedantic.  The plot was tepid, the characters flat.  I would watch these films, eye candy at its most pure and non-nutritional, and seethe that they were not better, that all that glorious potential was yet unrealized. And yet, I never stopped believing in the potential of Makoto Shinkai.  One day, I reasoned, this guy was going to piece a story together with some semblance of care as he did his illustrations, and on that day something special would be born.

I saw Your Name just a short time ago.  Of course it’s jaw-droppingly beautiful, that goes without saying.  But here’s what else it is, folks: it’s funny.  It’s heartwrenching.  It’s suspenseful.  It’s got plot twists.  It’s got a story.  And not just a good story, but a GREAT one.  

I imagine watching this movie must be like watching your kid graduate high school.  You forget all the mouthing off and dirty socks left all over the place and that fender bender with your new car, and just soak in the glow of that special moment you always believed would come.  You couldn’t be happier.  You couldn’t be prouder.  And you know this is the beginning of something truly wonderful.

Congratulations, Mr. Shinkai.  You did it, man.

 18. Interstellar

The knock on Christopher Nolan was always that he had the heart of a robot and didn’t have strong female characters.  Debate whether that is true of his other films, if you must; but not this one, because Interstellar is possibly the biggest tear-jerker in sci-fi history, and Jessica Chastain’s Murph is a bitter, brilliant centerpiece to it all. Interstellar stands tall as one of the best science-fiction films of the decade.  It has strong, ambitious science wrapped in glorious visual effects, and is very quietly a solid piece of Americana, lovingly arrayed amidst America’s cornfields and dusty roads in a tribute to The Great Depression.  Most of all, however, Interstellar is a wondrous joining of heart and intellect, a working theoretical thought experiment that demonstrates love is a force greater than gravity, space, time, or any other cosmic entity the universe may foist upon us.

 17. The Force Awakens

While it is not number one on my list, perhaps no film brought me greater joy this decade than watching The Force Awakens during its Thursday night premiere.  It was nothing less than the very Star Wars movie I had hoped and dreamed for as a kid.  As a massively entertaining blockbuster surpassing huge expectations, Star Wars: The Force Awakens is terrific.  As a perfect passing of torch from beloved old to promising new, it is an utter triumph.

 16. Rogue One

Okay, is my bias showing yet?

Perhaps this is a bit steep for some people, but heck, when you are dealing with the second-best movie in one of Hollywood’s most beloved franchises, you have to give props where props are due.  Rogue One is such a gamechanger for Star Wars.  Its gritty, pulpy sense of realism seems peeled straight from a Star Wars comic book; its characters immediately strike as memorable, particularly K-2SO, who is like C-3PO if C-3PO got sent to prison and came back jacked.  Rogue One also is important for its many departures from tradition.  Many of the innovations credited to Episode VIII were done first-and done better-in this film.  Rogue One is not afraid to show the rebellion in terms of moral gray; a shocking act shortly after the film’s opening establishes this and destroys the previous model of basic black and white good vs. evil.  If Luke, Leia, and Han got to play the part of hero in A New Hope, then it was because there were elements in the Rebellion doing the dirty and morally-questionable grunt work shown here; Rogue One shows how the war was won.

Rogue One also introduces a few other themes riffed heavily by Episode VIII, including the idea that the Rebellion/Resistance is not a neat, idealistic counter to oppression but an uneasy conglomerate ravaged by internal conflict, and that force-sensitive people are not necessarily the product of hereditary chains of Jedi and Sith, but often sporadic and independent products of the Force.  It is, on top of what it initiated, simply a well-paced and superbly-crafted piece of space opera.  Rogue One has the best romance (besides Han and Leia) in Star Wars history, has hands-down THE BEST Vader scene ever filmed and another that is a classic in its own right, and has one heck of a villain in Director Krennic. Krennic is one of those mid-level bureaucrats that must have always existed for the Empire but which never received such deserved attention before; his position of weakness, coupled with burning ambition, makes him a hilariously pathetic figure, one you might begin to feel bad for were he not such a nasty piece of work.  Even the soundtrack is great.  Rogue One is a war film, and Michael Giacchino of Medal of Honor fame makes this sound like a war film, even though it also sounds very much like Star Wars. Ultimately, that’s what Rogue One is. It is a Star Wars film that manages to be a war film and everything else it wants to be terrifically well.  To hell with it.  I’m putting it this high.  If you have a problem with Rogue One being the #16 movie on my list, you can go kiss a wampa’s backside.

 15. Roma

Like its protagonist-a nanny to a wealthy family in 1970’s era Mexico-Roma is a film of marvelous patience and understated strength.  Alfonso Cuarón’s otherworldly composition and autobiographical authenticity makes this movie a deeply complex take on class and gender, as well as a heartbreaking meditation on what it means to love and be part of a family.

 14. Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse

Spiderverse was such a brilliant reimagination of what the superhero genre could be.  Not only did it break convention by featuring an African-Hispanic-American kid as its protagonist; it prismed a classic Marvel character in danger of going stale into a delightful and zany spectrum.  At once funny as hell and a poignant portrait of growing up as a minority in America, Spiderverse isn’t just the great animated Spiderman movie that nobody saw coming; it’s one of the best superhero movies ever made.

 13. Baby Driver

Baby Driver is the coolest movie of the decade.  The film centers around Baby, a gentle young getaway driver locked up in bad deals with bad hombres, motoring through traffic and criminal plots in an attempt to just get out and get his girl; but it is so much more than that.  This is Tarantino, juiced up on Bullitt, playing in time to a nonstop eclectic jukebox.  The dialogue is sharp and hilarious, the characters are all immediately memorable and lovable (even the baddies), and it should go without saying that the car chases are PHENOMENAL.  This is entertainment on nitrous oxide.

 12. Lady Bird

I did not go into Lady Bird expecting great things.  Lady Bird is a family drama.  I, for the record, do not like family dramas.  But I liked this one.  I liked this one a heck of a lot.

Lady Bird is told with so much humor and honesty about the mistakes we make as kids and parents.  Struggles for independence and control, respectively, fuel furious arguments and alienation during the difficult period of adolescence.  It is not until later that we gain the wisdom to understand why we fought and gain a richer understanding and appreciation of one another’s feelings.  In Lady Bird, there is a key revelation regarding the girl and her mother that seems to unfold at the film’s close.  It is a profound and emotionally resonant moment that brings the film around to a highly satisfying conclusion.

This movie is also one of the first “time capsule” pieces on the early 2000’s.  As we grow older, I would expect more of these films to emerge, but as of right now Lady Bird is the only one that comes to mind.  The film absolutely nails the sense of growing up in a troubled time; the Iraq War blares constantly on the news, full-time employment becomes a tenuous prospect no matter how qualified you are, and gay rights are still something very much in infancy.  Lady Bird plays out its teenage struggles against this backdrop, showing how such crises were navigated, albeit painfully sometimes, and overcome.  Few films have been so well-rounded, nuanced, and well-crafted this decade.

 11. Song of the Sea

If you are unaware of the name Tomm Moore, it may be time to become acquainted, as the guy has been killing animation since he first stepped onto the scene with Secret of Kells in 2009. It is no exaggeration to call him the Irish Miyazaki; and Song of the Sea his Spirited Away.  Like that film, there is a deeply human story to be told, but it is all dressed up in fantastical trappings.  In Spirited Away, a girl struggling to grow up found herself working in a spirit bathhouse.  Song of the Sea uses Irish mythology as a gateway to understand the deep and complicated love between siblings, and the necessity of expressing and sharing loss.

This is one of the most beautiful animated pictures this decade.  Were the framed stills not hundreds of dollars on Cartoon Saloon’s website (yes, I’ve looked at them), I would probably own at least a few by now. The animation style is so distinctive and innately appealing, with gentle watercolors that soothe and invite the mind. The Celtic musical arrangements are similarly intricate, wonderful, and soothing.  Together, story, art, and music come together, and work some deep and affecting magic on the soul.  Song of the Sea should be regarded as one of the best animated films this decade.    

 10. Sicario

Sicario is an utterly bleak, magnificent film that truly depicts the drug war as it is; a chaotic maelstrom of murder, torture, and corruption, spinning and spinning with no end in sight.  In such a storm, there is no moral high ground to claim, let alone hold.  There is only power to control which direction the storm is heading next, whom it will chew up and devour in its path.  And as for the powerless, the best they can hope for is to stay out of its way.  Sicario is a sharp critique of American drug policy and a stark glimpse into the grim reality of cartels, packaged perfectly as an ultra-violent thriller.

 9. Looper

It is hard to do a time travel story well.  Managing plot threads makes plots a nightmare; it is a difficult juggling act merely to keep one’s head above water.  That is what makes Looper so special.  It is not only a cool-looking, cyberpunk-flavored noir that manages its logic very well; it also features great characters, and larger overarching themes of fate and redemption it advances via those same logistical acrobatics.  Looper blew my mind the first time I saw it.  It is easily one of the best time travel stories ever, and a sci-fi classic to boot.

 8. Blade Runner 2049

It is going to ruffle some feathers to say this, but I think Blade Runner 2049 is even better than the original Blade Runner.  While Ridley Scott’s dark, smoggy Los Angeles will always be iconic, Blade Runner 2049 had Roger Deakins behind the camera, and he took us to sections of our nightmarish future we had never been before.  Patterns of solar farms set up outside of town to feed swathes of humanity.  A post-apocalyptic landfill outside of town for the city’s forsaken.  Best of all, a neon-orange radioactive Las Vegas.  That seems to be the common theme of 2049.  It has taken all the best features of Ridley’s classic and expanded them while trimming down the less successful elements.  The defining theme of Blade Runner-what makes us human-is here expounded upon and taken to even deeper levels.  And the film’s beautiful ending brings the franchise to a truly satisfying conclusion.

 7. Zootopia

Zootopia feels like Disney’s final evolution.  The cute critters from its primordial past have fully anthropomorphized, to the point that they must contend with some of the same societal ills as us; chief among them prejudice.  Visually gorgeous, full of top-notch tongue-in-cheek gags, and the slickest, most concise cartoon buddy cop riff since at least Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Zootopia counts as one of the most finely crafted animated features I’ve ever seen.  Its timely message, coupled with its fantastic quality and outreach potential to the young, makes it one of those rare movies that can change the world.

 6. Ex Machina

Ex Machina is one of the most finely-tuned and lean films science-fiction has to offer.  In the age of growing research into artificial intelligence, it is also vastly important.  Many films have explored the issues associated with artificial intelligence, but few have so fully delved into the ethical quagmires which might arise.  Creating new minds means accepting responsibility for the lives of welfare of other beings.  Are we prepared to do such a thing?  We, who are constantly waging war and victimizing one another?  Also, if we are so morally limited, how can we avoid passing on negative traits to our digital children, who will be vastly more powerful and intelligent than us?  What if they think differently than us?  The possibility of misunderstandings would be catastrophic for both parties.

Ex Machina explores all of these issues with deep intelligence and building tension.  This film is one of those beautifully ambiguous works I love so much that require you to pay attention and come to your own conclusions.  The primary question in the film asked of the characters is the same one the film asks you: is Ava, the artificial intelligence in question, essentially human?  For me, the question was left unanswered until the final, remarkable, tragic shot.  

 5. The Revenant

Bloody as hell and absolutely gorgeous, The Revenant is a deep plunge into our primal hearts, into the remarkable human invention of identity.  At the most fundamental level, we are all the same species; we share the same roots, the same trunk.  Yet by means of our human experiences, our courses of life and interactions with other humans, we draw deep fundamental lines between one another.  These lines are powerful things.  They are what we see ourselves as.  We draw lines of genetic heritage; lines of cultures born into, or adopted.  Lines brand certain people as friends, while others remain strange or alien.  Sometimes, lines can even define people as something hostile; a new species which may destroy us if it is not destroyed in turn. And there are lines which describe the people we call our families; those whom we love and protect at the most fundamental level of our being.

The Revenant draws attention to the lines we draw as human beings; how they are as deeply ingrained to us as breathing or bleeding, for better, and for worse.  Aided by director Alejandro Iñárritu’s magnificent direction, and anchored by Leonardo DiCaprio, who has never been better in his storied career, The Revenant is a deep, uncompromising gaze into our personal and national Heart of Darkness.

 4. Zero Dark Thirty

Zero Dark Thirty became the unfortunate victim of warring politics.  Right-wingers decried the portrayal of torture in the movie, while leftists criticized the movie’s account of torture supposedly supplying the correct information (Director Kathryn Bigelow acknowledged to Stephen Colbert her lead, being from the CIA, might be untrustworthy on that particular facet but she was operating with accuracy to her source).  That is all a shame, because such criticism misses the point of the movie entirely.  Zero Dark Thirty is made in the spirit of true and utter neutrality.  There is no political axe to grind.  There is no glorification in the act of Bin Laden’s death; in fact, the face of America’s most notorious terrorist is never shown. Zero Dark Thirty is a work of national recollection.  It begins with a deeply painful call to authorities on 9/11, and does not end until Bin Laden’s assassination over 9 years later.  In between, there is torture, bombings, false leads and frustrations, hours upon hours of poring over data and entries, and finally, that fateful, dangerous foray into Pakistan.  We are reintroduced to each of our own actions through the eyes of Maya, the CIA agent who supposedly made the case that it was in fact Bin Laden hiding in Abbottabad.  At the end of Zero Dark Thirty, the movie adds up that long tally of what we sacrificed in order to defeat our greatest enemy and posits a simple question: was it worth it? Each will have their own answer to that difficult and important question.  This is one of those rare films that forces us to review our path as a nation, examine what we did right and what we did wrong, and adjust our trajectory accordingly. Zero Dark Thirty is an essential American masterpiece, crafted by a true and powerful auteur at the top of her game.

 3. The Raid 2: Berandal

The Raid: Redemption was a revelation in what could be attempted in a martial arts movie.  Its creators decided that wasn’t enough and upped the ante. What ensued was the madness of Berandal.

The stuntwork of Berandal has to be seen to be believed.  Some participants were knocked out cold; it is amazing nobody was killed.  It is doubtful something like this will ever (or should ever) be attempted again, so we may as well enjoy it.  There are car chases, assassins affectionately known as “Bat Boy” and “Hammer Girl”, simply loads and loads of fantastic martial arts combat, and more.  But in between all this ruckus, there is a compelling gangster story to be told, populated with fascinating characters.  A son looking to take over and dangerously expand his father’s influence; a creepy rival leader who cheerfully pulls out razors for throat-slitting; a sad, old-timer assassin who confesses to his daughter that killing was the only way to provide for her; an informant, caught in the middle of the maelstrom and sweating out the possibility that he will be discovered and never make it back to his young family; and of course, Hammer Girl.  She’s my favorite.  

In The Raid: Redemption, character Mad Dog talked about the pulse.  Berandal is that pulse, fully transposed into brutal, symbolic symphony, in which the façade of civilization and negotiations between thugs break down into savage, unbridled violence.  This is the best action movie ever, and the Indonesian Godfather, all rolled into one.

 2. Avengers: Endgame

No list of top films of the decade would be complete without Avengers: Endgame.  It’s the biggest blockbuster in history; and for once, that title is deserved.  Nothing like it had ever been attempted before; indeed, it may be hard to do ever again.  Facing 1 in 14 million odds, the Russo brothers pulled off a miracle, wasting not a moment in a three hour movie that never feels long and completing the arcs of over a dozen beloved characters, en route to a final and wholly satisfying conclusion to the most ambitious film project ever attempted.  If that wasn’t enough, there are more than enough in-jokes, clever riffs on past movies, and sensational action pieces to please even the most critical fan.  Avengers: Endgame is the closest to pure catharsis you can feel, and without a doubt the best superhero movie ever made.  I confess that I moved it back and forth between #1 and #2 on my list at least a few times; ultimately I left it at #2, with the compromise that even if it cannot be called the best movie of the decade, it will forever be known as THE film of the decade.  

 1. Wolf Children

Wolf Children is one of those movies you come across that can only be described as magical.  As a simple tale of motherhood, it succeeds. As a complex allegory for race and adolescence, it works equally well.  It can be shown to the young.  It can be shown to the old.  It can be shown to all in between.  It is sublimely beautiful, patient, and paced.  It is excellently scored.  It has some of the most fully-realized characters ever depicted in animation.  It is warm.  It is gentle.  It is funny. It is sad.  It is life; in all its unpredictability, twists and turns, and wonder.

But I think the reason I truly love Wolf Children is because it engages with the two most difficult and important aspects of being a good, healthy, happy human; how do I love others, and how do I love myself?  Wolf Children shows us a truly rapturous example.  For being the most beautiful movie, both inside and out, I have seen this past decade, and for a whole host of other reasons, Wolf Children deserves to top this list.  Truly, it is Alpha Wolf.

[swipestream]

Sensor Sweep: Gardner Fox, Manitou, Lost Race novels, Sagas of Midgard

Fiction (Gardnerfrancisfox.com): This is the first volume collected and illustrated by Kurt Brugel. The short stories collected in the volume are from Mr. Fox’s earliest (1944) to his last story published (1982). There are all types of stories being told. They range from 2 spooky/creepy (The Weirds of the Woodcarver and Rain, Rain, Go away!), 3 sword & sorcery (The Return of Dargoll, The Holding of Kolymar, and Crom and the Warlock of Sharrador), 4 cosmic adventures (Heart of Light, The Rainbow Jade, Temptress of the Time Flow and The Man Who Couldn’t Die) and 1 history lesson (Cleopatra).

    Cinema (Eldritch Paths): Hard Boiled and the Rule of Cool

I’ve been noticing a trend toward “realism” recently. I see this a lot in fantasy circles where many demand “realism” in their fantasy or complain about the lack thereof. I never understood this. If I wanted realism, I’d just go outside.

Now, I’m not necessarily against realistic fiction. I’ve read classic British novelists like George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. They’re great authors, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I’m against the idea that “realistic” fiction is somehow intrinsically better than non-realistic fiction.

  RPG (RPG Pundit): I think that after a few hundred years to consider, it might still be too soon to tell, but it’s starting to look to me like the invention of the modern novel was, in the final balance, a big mistake. And it’s hilarious to see articles being published (like this one here) suggesting that somehow modern literature is better because in pre-modern literature heroes just went and did stuff, and you didn’t get a lot of information by the author (like you would in a novel) explaining what they were feeling or how their inner monologue was going or what their motivation was.

  Fiction (Wasteland and Sky): Welcome to the third part of this mini-series covering volume 27 of the Pan Book of Horror Stories. In the first part we covered a set of odd shorts that were vaguely horror-ish but more in the vein of satire (at least, I hope so), and in the second part we went over three stories that each had their own weaknesses. Halfway through this book and I’ve started to question just how this once vaunted series had fallen so far. I keep hoping the back half will improve in quality.

  Fiction (Adventures Fantastic): Today, October 15, marks two more birthdays.  James Schmitz (1911-1981) and E. C. Tubb (1919-2010).

Schmitz wrote space opera in the 1950s and 1960s, although he sold his first story, “Greenface” to Unknown in 1943.

Most of Schmitz’s work is set in the Hub.  While there are a variety of characters, the two principle recurring characters are Telzey Amberdon, a young woman with psi powers who tends to find herself in a jam on a regular basis, and Trigger Argee, an agent for the government.

  Art (Tellers of Weird Tales): Boris Dolgov did not exist. The man who bore that name may have existed, but there never was a man in the United States with that name until 1956, too late forWeird Tales. At least that’s what public records say. Search for Boris Dolgov or Dolgoff or Dolgova or Dolkoff or any other permutation you can think of and you’re likely to come up empty . . . except for a Russian-American farmer who now lies buried in a Jewish cemetery in Washington State.

  Fiction (Locus Magazine): Does any genre of fiction ever actually become extinct? And if a genre does go extinct, does that mean that its subject matter, its core material and reason for existing, has no relevance or holds no interest any longer for a contemporary audience?

Most long-time readers can adduce a few genres that, if not extinct, have decidedly gone out of fashion. Westerns once seemed on the verge of disappearing entirely, but while they are certainly not produced in the vast numbers of yore, they do persist at some level. What about “nurse novels?” Fiction about the medical profession continues, and such novels might include nurses.

        RPG (Black Gate): It’s been awhile, and not because there’s been any shortage of Norse-themed role playing games! In this time, we’ve had the  derivative Dragon Heresy, a d6 system called Vikingr, older campaign settings such as Hellfrost and systems such as Trudvang

Chronicles, and many others. Our topic on this Odin’s Day, however, is the latest of these: Sagas of Midgard.

Honestly, I had kind of retired from investment in Viking-age rpgs. My home game hasn’t involved the Norse-specific setting for more than a year, my pocketbook doesn’t drip nine golden rings as Odin’s Draupnir does, and there isn’t much utility in owning much more, since I doubt I’d be able to wrest my gamers from my tabletop version of Fourth Age Middle-earth anytime soon.

  Fiction (James Reasoner): I always try to read some horror fiction for the Forgotten Books post closest to Halloween, and this year it’s THE MANITOU, the debut novel from prolific horror, mystery, and historical novelist Graham Masterton. This book was published in 1976 and was very successful, selling enough copies that they turned up in used bookstore overstock well into the Eighties. When I owned a used bookstore during the era, I always had multiple copies on my shelves. I never got around to reading it until now, though. (There’s also a movie adaptation from 1978 that I’ve never seen.)

        Fiction (Woelf Dietrich): Last week I blogged about accepting the Pre-Tolkien Challenge. You can read that post here. Other blogs taking part in the

challenge can be read here and here. And you can find the originating post that started this challenge here.                                    In short, I have to identify three short stories published before Lord of the Rings. That is to say, three stories published before 1954. And in my review, I have to look at the differences and/or similarities with Tolkien’s world. Today’s my first entry in this exciting challenge so let’s get started.

I grew up reading Conan stories.

    Art (Davy Crockett’s Almanac): Gallery of Famous Fantastic Mystery pulp magazine covers.

  Art (Lawrence Person): Here’s two unusual Robert E. Howard-related items I picked up off eBay relatively cheaply. I think both of these were originally freebie giveaways to promote fancy illustrated editions of Howard’s work.

        Fiction (Grave Tapping): A three-man strike force accustomed to rescuing prisoners of war in the jungles of Vietnam is stateside on a rogue mission in Los Angeles. Mark Stone, known as the MIA Hunter, is asked by an old war buddy, now a deputy chief with LAPD, to help rescue Rick Chavez from a Colombian drug cartel. Chavez is a Pulitzer award winning journalist who has been writing a series of hard and insightful articles about the drug trade in L. A. The articles have enough detail that the LAPD and the drug gangs—Crips, Bloods and their Colombian suppliers—want to know where his information is coming from.

        Fiction (Frontier Partisans): Thanks to a tip from Italian Front scout Davide Mana, I picked up the first Dark Horse Conan Omnibus for $2 on Monday. The first story is Born on a Battlefield, depicting the Cimmerian’s youth. The art is by Greg Ruth and I like it very much.

Ruth also illustrated the Ethan Hawke Apache Wars graphic novel, Indeh, which was a disappointment — but not because of the art. I liked that very much, too.

So, I started scouting out the interwebs for more of Ruth’s work and stumbled upon an intriguing trail. Ruth illustrated a series of YA novels titled The Secret Journeys of Jack London. How can I resist a tale of Jack London that involves the Wendigo? It’s on it’s way up from the Bend Library…

      Calendar (Mens Adventure Magazines): In recent years, I’ve had the pleasure of becoming friends with actress model Eva Lynd.

I started writing posts about her on this blog before I met her several years ago, when I learned that she was a favorite model of Al Rossi and Norm Eastman, two of the great artists who did illustration art for the men’s adventure magazines I collect and focus on here.

In this post, I’m happy to announce the Authorized 2019 Eva Lynd Calendar is now available.

  Sensor Sweep: Gardner Fox, Manitou, Lost Race novels, Sagas of Midgard published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

[hrothgarshoard]

Kickstarter projects backed

On my web page, over the years I’ve listed several projects that I’ve backed on Kickstarter. It was a clunky part of the page that didn’t really look all that attractive, even if the information in it reflected my personal views on several projects. So, I decided today to move that information here to my blog where I would add more kickstarter projects that I back as new entries. My hope is that it will be a little more organized and easier for people to find.

So, without further ado, here is just a copy/paste of the projects I’ve backed in the past.

SHROUD OF THE AVATAR

Pledge amount: $30

Pledge Reward: Early Alpha access and digital download

Estimated Delivery: Oct. 2014

Actual Delivery: Unknown

I backed this project because I grew up playing the Ultima series. I spend many a night at college going through Ultimas 4 and 5 (not sure if I ever finished them) and played Ultima Online for years. I backed this mostly for nostalgic reasons, but also in the hope that I could play in the Ultima universe again. However, since I only pledged at the digital download level, I have not been able to play. I live in the boondocks and do not have a connection reliable enough to download or play the game.

So, while I put the blame of not doing much with this project on myself, reading through the comments on kickstarter makes me believe that there are many others dissatisfied with the project. From physical rewards not having shipped a year and a half after the project ended, to graphic engines that look extremely old, this doesn't look like it measures up to the previous Ultima standards. Too bad, because Ultima was one of the games that brought FRP into the digital world.

2/10/17 EDIT: I recently talked to a friend who also backed this project. He plays the game on a daily basis and has very positive things to say about it. If and when I ever get a reliable internet connection, I may revisit this.

DWARVEN FORGE GAME TILES

Pledge amount: $305

Pledge Reward: 5 tile sets

Estimated Delivery: Oct. 2013

Actual Delivery: Probably Oct. 2013

If you haven't heard of Dwarven Forge by now, and you are into RPGs, you really need to check them out. Stefan Pokorny has launched multiple projects of miniature terrain made from his company design of "Dwarvenite." They are nearly indestructible and modular, so you can pretty much use them in any dungeon setting.

I will put one thing that should be obvious out there, though. Miniature terrain is great. BUT you must USE them! I got my shipment in, painted them up and then let them sit for probably 6 months before I actually worked on a dungeon. Once I did, they added a great level of visualization to the game, but I was stuck in my old battlemat and markers mentality and it took me far too long to start using them.

I am very satisfied with the quality of the product and its usability.

2/10/17 UPDATE: Honestly, I use this product less and less. It has nothing to do with the quality of the product, but more to do with me buying a 3d printer and printing my own dungeon tiles. More on that in a future post.

ST. FRANCIS IN ROME - THE RESTORATION

Pledge amount: $1

Pledge Reward: eternal salvation?

Estimated Delivery: not for a long time, I hope

Actual Delivery: I'm not quite dead yet.

This was a project that I backed for a dollar just because I wanted to help spread the word. I did my graduate work in Medieval History, so when I saw this project, I just had to be a part of it, even if it was a very small part.

The monks raised $130,000 to restore St. Francis's cell, and this past June it was reopened to the public. An official ceremony will be held in October. Take a look here for their latest update. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/671087979/st-francis-in-rome-the-restoration/posts/1307245 I'm glad that this project was successful and completed through Kickstarter.

REAPER MINIATURES BONES II: THE RETURN OF MR. BONES

Pledge amount: $255

Pledge Reward: Core Set plus extras

Estimated Delivery: Oct. 2014

Actual Delivery: around the same time

I missed the first Bones campaign and was thrilled to get in on the second. I got the core set, plus several other sets. In all, I'm pretty sure I ended up paying less than $1 per mini and that included a few dragons and giants in the mix.

Overall, I'm very pleased with this campaign. The mini quality isn't great and with some of the minis they tried to put too much detail into a plastic mini, making it nearly impossible (for me) to paint. I've since bought an air brush and tons of paint, so I'll be busy for some time to come. I'd back them again in an instant, even though it would mean more minis that may never get painted.

Update 2/10/17: I’ve actually sold off most of these minis over the past couple years. I just don’t have the time or eyesight to paint these, so I’ve kept a few for my own campaign and have sold many of the rest off at cons. I still think that this was an amazing deal and a great product, and I’ll very likely support them again in the future. I just need to know my own time limitations and plan accordingly.

CUSTOM CHAINMAIL DICE BAGS BY VITALITY HANDMADE DESIGNS

Pledge amount: $60

Pledge Reward: Small Combo #1

Estimated Delivery: April 2014

Actual Delivery: June 2014

This project came out when chainmail accessories was beginning to become very common. My daughter has a summer birthday and I thought I'd get one of these as a gift for her. They arrived in June, so I was actually able to give it to her on time. I got one for each of my daughters

The quality is good and they get used. I can't help but think that $30 is a bit pricey for a dice bag.  Still, I know it took a lot of work to accomplish and I wouldn't have been able to make it myself. If you want a dice bag, this is a good product.

2/10/17 UPDATE: My kids still use these bags, so I really have no complaint about this project. $30 may still be on the pricey end, but they have lasted well, my kids still use them and they show no signs of degrading. Overall a good project.

RHYTHM METAL DICE

Pledge amount: $17

Pledge Reward: d8 in brass

Estimated Delivery: July 2014

Actual Delivery: Still waiting

This was a project where I honestly don't know why I backed. I think it was because I wanted to get some metal dice. I had backed another project and pulled out of it because the creator was doing a poor job at backer communication. I became convinced that they didn't know what they were doing and backed out.

The Rhythm Metal Dice weren't overly attractive to me...they are just too complicated of a design. And $17 for a single die was overpaying pure and simple. So I just don't know why I backed this.

As of 11/2015, the dice still have not been delivered. There have been very few project updates. One did come in late Nov. 2015, but it was largely undecipherable. I couldn't figure out if they had the product in, what the shipping status was or what their plan forward was. I expect that this is $17 completely wasted.

2/10/17 UPDATE: There has not been an update in the past year. Fuck these guys.

HERO FORGE: CUSTOMIZABLE 3D PRINTED TABLETOP MINIS

Pledge amount: $60

Pledge Reward: 2 custom minis

Estimated Delivery: Oct. 2014

Actual Delivery: early 2015

This is one of those projects that is a great concept, but may not be the best for normal use. The Hero Forge software is actually very good and easy to use. The combinations available in faces, body types, poses, equipment, etc. really let you create a one of a kind miniature. As far as this part of the figure goes, it is great.

I bought one for each of my daughters for them to configure as they wished. Once they got around to doing it (which was a long time), they submitted the order and the minis arrived within about 3 days. GREAT!

One week later a dejected teenager hands me her mini in 3 pieces. She hadn't even gotten around to playing a game with it yet, but the staff had broken, as had the mini right at the ankles.  A close inspection of the break revealed that the mini was printed hollow instead of solid. So in the particular pose that it was designed in, there was virtually no support for the mini at the ankle area.

I contacted Hero Forge and they immediately agreed to replace it which was good. But they also told me that this type of thing was common and that a little superglue was the best solution. This response troubled me a little. If they were having that type of issue with the printed minis, then it tells me that they either need to print the minis solid, adjust the programming so it happens less often, or both. "Superglue" shouldn't be a customer service option when dealing with minis.

2/10/17 UPDATE: I see people asking on boards every now and then about this product and the responses are generally positive, so I am willing to accept that they may have improved their product reliability. I hope this is the case because it really is a great concept. I sincerely hope they succeed as a company.

RAVENFELL  28MM FANTASY VILLAGE

Pledge amount: $1

Pledge Reward: Troll outhouse

Estimated Delivery: April 2014

Actual Delivery: April 2014

Tom Tullius at Fat Dragon Games makes gaming terrain that you can print out on your printer, fold on the dotted line and BOOM you have yourself some 3D terrain. This is a low cost alternative to the Dwarven Forge game tiles and other terrain solution.

I backed this because I liked the idea, but I honestly just didn't think I'd use it enough to make it worth my while. Tom is a very nice guy though and if you are into paper terrain, his line of products is outstanding. I'd highly recommend even though I didn't pledge for a large amount.

TOME OF HORRORS COMPLETE II  

Pledge amount: $25

Pledge Reward: 3 minis cast in metal

Estimated Delivery: Dec 2014

Actual Delivery: Company bankrupt.

I backed this one in part because the project creator and I started talks on me providing cases for his line of miniatures. He had great plans for expansion, had run some other projects and it looked like it would be a good collaboration.

Well, his business went belly up, and fiasco ensued. The creator refused (probably on advice from his lawyer) to answer any questions/emails. I'm sure that there are legal actions in the works. What mucked things up even more is that Center Stage Miniatures got a license from Frog God Games to make their minis based on their (FGG's) book. Now, I don't know if the involvement went deeper than this and FGG was one of the creditors involved or what, but I found out today (Nov. 2015) that FGG has offered to give backers a dollar for dollar credit to backers of this project to use in their pdf store. Very cool of Frog God Games. I'm in the process of trying to claim this. Frog God Games puts out some good stuff.

2/10/17 UPDATE: I’m just adding this because I want to state how great FGG was to work with in this fiasco. They had no legal obligation to do what they did, but gave credit for their own product. I ended up getting a few .pdf modules. I’m not a big .pdf fan, but considering the situation, I felt it was more than fair. Kudos to FGG! 

SAVING THROW:  AN INSTRUCTIONAL WEB SERIES ABOUT RPGS

Pledge amount: $15

Pledge Reward: pdf of module

Estimated Delivery: June 2014

Actual Delivery: A little late, but not bad.

This project caught my eye because of its originality. They were proposing a web series where they would teach people how to play games. They also made a fun little spoof video that was fairly well made.

I'll be honest that I've never really even looked at the pdf module. I don't know what the content is or how good it was. That wasn't the reason I supported them. I just wanted to give a little something to promote a project that I thought was a good idea.

The video series itself was good, if a little basic (and had a little bad acting in it.) They did a multipart series on how to play Pathfinder. I'm an old-school D&D guy, so Pathfinder never really appealed to me and since there is a lot of overlap, I can't say that I was terribly interested in it. All the same, great concept and a good all-around series.

Saving Throw has also gone on to produce a bi-weekly series where they film a 5E D&D game being played. Now known as "Barky's Brigade", the series is well done. The adventures are well planned and (mostly) well DMed, the characters do a good job of acting in character, and I think everyone: players and viewers, have a good time with the show. If you haven't seen this, go to youtube and search for Barky's Brigade.

2/10/17 UPDATE: I’m pleased to see that the Twitch TV channel that Saving Throw has produced is growing and has regular programming on most every day. One of these days, I’m going to solve my internet problems so I can actually watch these live.

DWARVEN FORGE: CAVERNS GAME TILES

Pledge amount: Trade

Pledge Reward:

Estimated Delivery: April 2014

Actual Delivery: April 2014

This wasn't so much a pledge as a trade. I had exchanged emails with Stefan Pokorny and traded him several cases and dice towers for a set of the Cavern game tiles.

I found these tiles far superior to the dungeon tiles. The craftsmanship of the tiles were much more detailed. As much as I liked the dungeon tiles, these looked and felt better and were more true to gaming situations.

My only complaints with either of these gaming tiles is that they are a little heavy, and that they don't join together well. I'd like some sort of peg system to join the tiles together and may end up drilling inserts for metal pins between the tiles. This, however will take quite some time.

The only other thing I have an issue with (and this is true with all dungeon tiles I've seen so far) is that the walls of the tile take up 1/4 of the tile. When you lay a room out, a 20x20 room all of a sudden is only 15x15 because part of the tile is taken up by walls. I have not seen a solution to this yet.

2/10/17 update: Ok...there is now a solution to the above problem, but it involves a different product line from a different company. I still like Dwarven Forge items, but am slow migrating to the other solution.

ENEMY OF MAN: FEATURE FILM

Pledge amount: $15

Pledge Reward: Film and Script

Estimated Delivery: April 2014

Actual Delivery: Not yet filmed

MacBeth is my favorite Shakespearian play. In college, a friend and I (for a class on Shakespeare) enacted the final fight scene between MacBeth and MacDuff complete with choreography taken from Return of the Jedi, Ladyhawke, and The Princess Bride. I got an A in that class.

So when I saw a movie production on KS that was to feature this play and have some pretty darn good British actors lined up including Sean Bean, one of my favorite actors, I was down for it.

But, this seems to be another one of those productions doomed to go nowhere. The last update was in May 2015 with basically no news. I think this is another case of money thrown down the tubes.

TABLE TITANS VOLUME 1

Pledge amount: $30

Pledge Reward: Regular edition hardback

Estimated Delivery: Sept. 2014

Actual Delivery:Over a year overdue

I've read Scott Kurtz's PVP comic strip for years...over a decade in fact. He was an early pioneer in gaming comics online. His work is generally good and he gets involved with his community.

But Scott fucked up big time on this project. He was publishing a book of a comic already completed and published online. This was something that could easily have been completed by his 2014 delivery date. But he kept adding things that half his backers didn't pledge for and pushed back his delivery schedule time and again. The comic that he is producing now has been out for 2 years. His communication on KS has been abysmal and frankly he doesn't seem to give a damn that he is so far behind schedule anymore.

He claims books are now in the USA and will be out soon.

But you know what? Fuck Scott Kurtz. Fuck PVP, and Fuck Table Titans. I haven't read his strip in 6 months and probably never will again. Do yourself a favor and avoid Scott Kurtz like the plague.

2/10/17 update: OK...I did eventually receive my pledge reward. I sold it. I sold it quick and I doubt if I made any money on it. Fuck this project. I have no words on how disappointed I was with this. I feel better about the projects that have never delivered that I do with this one. 

this concludes this post. I have actually backed several other projects which I will soon get to reviewing. I would like to do more reviews in general, so take a look and help spread the word