#marvel has one of the largest fanbases in the world

[lokiiied]

thinking about loki’s 400 year long stare at mobius when he says, “it’s about who”

and then how he looks at sylvie and says, “i can rewrite the story” and how she has her own story - without romance. how she told him to “write his own story” and how he’s now canonically god of stories/storytelling.

thinking about how if they make lokius canon, marvel’s first major canonically queer character will have “rewritten” the cishet centred narrative that a major audience is expecting and just how powerful that would be.

because, as much as i like the bisexual “confirmation” scene - it was very easy to look over if you’re a homophobic viewer or don’t know what bisexuality is. because they never had either of them say the words, “i am bisexual”. that and how they “dealt” with loki’s genderfluidity.

but a major gay couple?? with the healthiest and most intimate relationship i’ve EVER seen marvel write?? that would not be so easy to ignore. especially when you go back and see that it’s been there the whole time. if you knew what to look for. which, is honestly probably the queer vision in a nutshell. because cishets will be blind to anything if they see a man + woman option. they need “undeniable” proof. marvel knows that & it’s why they’ve gotten away with this. why they’re still “safe” for most of their anti-queer audience.

but just imagine, if loki fixes all this, get his friends back, and shows mobius know how he really feels and basically says “this has been the love story the whole time” THAT will be his legacy. in all the glorious i’m a god and i’ve been bad and i’m good and i’m queer and i have inherent worth just like everybody else and i don’t give a fuck loki fashion. and i hope to gods we get to see that.

that’s the story i want to see.

because if they turn around and give us sylki — (and in doing so say here’s a perfect example of a healthy gay relationship but instead we’re gonna give you a toxic genderbent selfcest romance) regardless of the fact we know they are both queer — that is not what a homophobic audience is going to see. they’re going to be satisfied that they didn’t see two men kissing on their screen and call it another win. and marvel would be continuing to encourage the idea that us queer fans are delusional - despite the clearly intentional writing.

not to mention the exhausting, intrinsically homophobic harassment & clowning lokius shippers have endured would actually not be for nothing if lokius were canon and marvel were to decide btw queer people are real and so are their stories and so is their love.

if the show about the genderfluid bisexual god of stories can’t accomplish that after all this character development then. idk.

[gradecy]

Comparing Collectible Toy Brands: Which Brands Are Making Waves in the Collectibles Scene?

Collecting action figures, designer toys, and collectible figurines has become a passion for many enthusiasts around the world. With a plethora of brands producing these captivating collectibles, it's essential to explore which ones are making a significant impact in the world of collecting. In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at some of the most noteworthy collectible toy brands that have captured the hearts of collectors everywhere.

**1. Funko Pop!

It's impossible to discuss collectible toy brands without mentioning Funko Pop!. This Washington-based company has revolutionized the world of pop culture collectibles. Known for their distinctive, big-headed vinyl figures featuring characters from movies, TV shows, comics, and more, Funko Pop! has a massive following. With an ever-expanding catalog that covers virtually every corner of pop culture, Funko Pop! figures have become a staple for collectors of all ages.

**2. Hot Toys

When it comes to high-end collectible action figures, Hot Toys stands head and shoulders above the rest. Based in Hong Kong, Hot Toys is renowned for its incredibly detailed and lifelike figures based on characters from Marvel, Star Wars, DC Comics, and many other franchises. These figures are often considered works of art, meticulously crafted with astonishing attention to detail. While they may come at a premium price, the quality and craftsmanship of Hot Toys figures are second to none.

**3. NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association)

NECA specializes in action figures and collectibles inspired by iconic characters from movies, video games, and comics. They're especially known for their outstanding work in the horror genre, producing figures based on classic horror movie characters like Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees. NECA's commitment to delivering screen-accurate details and accessories has earned them a dedicated fanbase.

**4. Sideshow Collectibles

Sideshow Collectibles is synonymous with premium statues and busts. Based in California, they create incredibly detailed, hand-painted collectibles that cater to serious collectors. With licenses covering Marvel, Star Wars, and more, Sideshow's pieces are often limited editions, making them highly sought after by collectors looking for something truly special to adorn their shelves.

**5. Medicom Toy

Hailing from Japan, Medicom Toy is famous for its "Real Action Heroes" (RAH) line of action figures. These figures are highly articulated and known for their exceptional quality. Medicom Toy has a diverse range of licenses, including characters from anime, manga, and Hollywood blockbusters. Collectors appreciate their commitment to producing figures that capture the essence of the characters they represent.

**6. Bandai

As one of Japan's largest toy manufacturers, Bandai has an extensive lineup of collectible toy brands. They are well-known for their "S.H. Figuarts" line, which features highly poseable action figures based on popular characters from franchises like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, and more. Bandai's figures are prized for their poseability and attention to detail.

**7. McFarlane Toys

Spawned from the mind of renowned comic book artist Todd McFarlane, McFarlane Toys has made a name for itself with its action figures and construction sets. With licenses encompassing everything from sports to video games to pop culture icons, McFarlane Toys is a favorite among collectors who appreciate their detailed sculpts and diverse range of offerings.

In conclusion, the world of collectible toys is vast and diverse, with numerous brands catering to the varied tastes of collectors. Whether you're into stylized vinyl figures, highly detailed statues, or articulated action figures, there's a brand out there that's creating collectibles that will speak to your inner collector. These seven brands mentioned here have consistently delivered quality and innovation, earning them their place in the spotlight of the collectibles scene. So, whether you're a seasoned collector or just getting started, keep an eye on these brands for your next prized addition to your collection.

[irinapaleolog]

May the 4th be with you!

This clever pun has inspired one of our favorite days of the year at Cape & Castle—National Star Wars Day! To celebrate, we are highlighting the journey of Ben Solo, everyone’s favorite dark prince of the galaxy.

Adam Driver’s portrayal of the duality of Kylo Ren/Ben Solo is without question one of the best things to come out of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. His raw performance of the character makes me think he should be cast as every Byronic hero from now on.

Considering Driver said the reason he hesitated to sign onto Star Wars was that he was afraid of ruining the franchise, it’s ironic that he produced arguably the best character and acting performance in the entire saga. A weaker actor would have portrayed Kylo Ren as a one-dimensional villain, but Driver fought for us to have some compassion for the character.

The most tantalizing acting choice by Driver is his understanding of Kylo’s face as a mask. Outside of an occasional trembling of the lip, Kylo Ren does not emote with his mouth or facial expressions.

The deadness of Kylo’s face paints the dark side as miserable and joyless. Kylo is trapped in deep distress, cut off from his emotions. There was something about Kylo’s eyes that seemed so tortured, without moving his face at all. They were the cracks in the mask that let his pained soul shine through.

Even though Ben’s redemption was rushed, Adam Driver convinced us. In a matter of seconds, the shift from Kylo to Ben is so black and white that it’s like watching two entirely different characters.

In his final scenes, Ben emotes freely, and his eyes are filled with purpose and love. Driver trusts the audience to understand his character, and his subtlety proves that showing rather than saying is often a more effective storytelling method.

Not only does Ben Solo have a different personality and energy, but he also has a different fighting style than Kylo Ren. There is a distinct difference between the physicality of Kylo Ren and Ben Solo. Kylo was stiff and constrained in battle, but Ben moves like a dancer, free from the rage that burdened him before.

In The Last Jedi, Ben wanted to be with Rey, but he didn’t believe he had the strength to come back to the light. Electing to stay in a morally grey area of leaving both the Sith and the Jedi behind, he wanted Rey to accept him without healing from his misdeeds and the pain of his past.

His final line of the movie (“ow”) and only line as Ben Solo while partially for laughs, captures this character development well. A heavily accented theme in Ben’s journey is pain. In The Force Awakens, Ben harnessed pain to fuel his power. Deceived by the mantra that pain strengthens dark side users, he pounded his blaster wound on Starkiller Base.

In The Rise of Skywalker, Ben is no longer manually creating pain. The fuel behind his strength is not pain, but love, and he is not using pain to carry out his mission but carrying out the mission despite the pain.

Ben Solo was always there. The symbolism of Ben Solo’s good boy sweater is off the charts. Not only does its loose fit symbolize his freedom from his bottled up past he refused to reconcile with, but it was underneath his tunic the whole time. Ben was trapped beneath layers of anger and pain, only freed by reconciling with the cause of his inner wounds.

“Let the past die” Kylo Ren is not forgetting his painful past but reconciling with it. The wound must be healed by the means that dealt it, which is why Han Solo returning was a memory was a perfect plot beat that helped heal the character as well as the audience.

The moment he showed up on Exegol he was no longer the Supreme Leader. Ben realized that power could get him everything in the world except for the one thing he wanted most—love.

Running into danger with only a blaster and an overflowing heart, Ben risked it all for Rey. Throwing away your lightsaber and planning to take on the most powerful Sith Lord with only a blaster and a prayer has huge Han Solo energy—because the real power of the Solo’s is their love. They are crowned with no prophetic destiny but will run into hell to save the ones they care about.

He had Anakin’s power with Han Solo’s heart, instantly making him one of the coolest characters in the Star Wars saga. We were only blessed with Ben Solo for a few minutes, but in those moments, he shook the stars.

The beauty in Ben’s arrival on Exegol isn’t that he is necessarily fighting Rey’s battles for her, but offering himself as emotional support to bring her hope. Rey needed the person she loved the most there with her, and he came. Sometimes in life, knowing that there are people who are willing to run into danger for us even if they cannot help us at that moment is more powerful than them fighting for us.

The moment that Kylo Ren first took his mask off, his redemption was inevitable. Humanized as a victim of abuse and manipulation, Kylo strangled soul was trying to show us something. Once you overcome the initial reaction of “this guy is bad, he must be defeated” and analyze the conflict of the character, you begin to yourself in him, if you are honest.

The recent wake of cancel culture has tried to push back against characters who lose their way, but real-world ethics cannot be used to judge fictional storylines where they don’t apply. Despite the backlash, characters like Ben Solo and Marvel’s Loki continue to draw the largest fanbases—because we need them.

Lessons on the human condition like the Star Wars mythology have a gravitational effect on us. We relate to sympathetic villains and want redemption for them because we see certain darkness within ourselves and hope that we can change to become better people. Ben is the hope in the Star Wars story.

Starving humanity of stories of the return of villains after redemption is to starve us of symbolic stories that represent renewal and healing from real-life experiences like grief, mistakes and anguish.

Ben makes mistakes on a grand scale but labeling him as a true villain is the worst interpretation of the character. People need to be told they have the capacity for both good and evil. Deep down, we are all the monsters we fear. Characters like Ben Solo encourage us to look inwardly and heal ourselves from our demons that haunt us.

Kathleen Kennedy captured this best when she said that “[c]haracters like Finn and Rey are great examples of choosing right. But you have to speak to the lost kids too, if you want them to come home.”

No one is ever really gone.

[huffleniffle]

Week 9: Fandom

What is Fandom?

Fandom is a community where individuals share common interests categories like celebrities, pop culture, games, sports, movies and so on. Where fans come together to share a mutual bond over the interest of such categories in the Internet and social media platforms.

Types of fandoms

There is a huge diversity of types of fandoms all over the world. Examples would be person fandoms, where fandoms usually follow a singer, actor, Youtuber, influencer or celebrities like Taylor Swift or Kanye West. Musical/ Band fandoms, where they follow multiple people instead of just a solo artist like BlackPink or BTS. Video game fandoms, where fandoms follow video games like Animal Crossing or Monster Hunter. Movie fandoms, fandoms would go all out for loving a movie or character from a movie like the Marvel franchise. Where they would also tend to keep up with the actors they love from the movie. Lastly would be lifestyle fandoms, where they don't follow a certain thing but mostly a culture or way of life. For example minimalist lifestyle, or veganism, or maybe even furry fandom.

What is BTS?

Today's fandom area that we are gonna cover is BTS! So what is BTS? It's a 7 member boy band that originates from South Korea. BTS stands for Bangtan Sonyeondan, which is Bulletproof Boy Scouts when translated into English. Unlike most boy band groups in Korea where they rely on TV for popularity, BTS heavily realised the use of social media platforms to reach out and communicate with fans all over the world rather than focusing on TV appearances that focus solely on Korean fans only. Where they would often live-streamed their band practices and interact directly with their fanbase also known as Army.

'The K-pop fandom culture has developed into a mostly respectful environment where fans can educate and communicate with each other' (Feind, K. 2020) As there a huge range of people from different ethnicity and races as K-pop fans.

Fan Page

There are numerous reasons why ARMY fans create fan pages and fan groups. The main objectives would be to meet new people with mutual interests and topics, understand the K-pop group, and even more, deepen the connection with the K-pop group by sheer numbers. As data-oriented accounts dedicated to everything from calling for fan votes to tracking the band’s position on music charts (Moon 2020). Fan accounts run by ARMY member Jiye Kim runs one of the largest Twitter fan translation accounts that translates everything related to BTS @doyou_bangtan, with more than 270,000 followers with the mission to deepen the understanding and connecting of the K-pop group among existing fans and introduce BTS to new audiences (Moon 2020). A college student living in New Orleans, Claire Min runs a Twitter account as well, @btstranslation7 with up to 350,000 followers in early 2018. As she specializes in translating live video streams from BTS members for non-Korean speaking fans (Moon 2020).

While K-pop fans are slowly taking over the world, they also take over every social media platform which includes Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, TikTok, Youtube and so on. These social media platforms are where they communicate with one another and share their opinions. It is also where they help their idols in whichever way possible, from promoting their music, restream their album, setting record history, and social activism like the Black Lives Matter movement.

Charities

In June, BTS Army has collected and raised over $1 million for Black Lives Matter. This particular effort was organized by a fan group called One in an ARMY. They are the ones who coordinate charitable efforts and fundraisers.

Conclusion The K-pop industry is a highly manufactured industry. BTS is one of the most popular K-pop groups in the world and most of its success is thanks to the highly devoted fans. BTS army has been known for spreading the message of positivity, self-love, inclusivity and youth strugglers.

References

Bruner, R., 2020. How K-pop fandom operates as a force for political activism. Time. Available at: https://time.com/5866955/k-pop-political/ [Accessed November 20, 2021].

Corey Cesare 25 mins ago et al., 2020. Why is BTS so successful in America? finally explained. Talent Recap. Available at: https://talentrecap.com/why-is-bts-so-successful-in-america-finally-explained/ [Accessed November 20, 2021].

[scarlettjiang430]

"The Matrix Resurrections" Cleared for China Release

The fourth sequel The Matrix: Resurrections from the highly anticipated franchise has been cleared for release in China, though the exact date is yet to be confirmed.

China has been recently taking a pass on many potential hits from Hollywood- especially Marvel movies which accounts a large fanbase amongst the local audiences. Even movies that are passed and approved by the censorship committee are made available with a lag time and are released after the film is already greatly available elsewhere.

Matrix 4 is currently the only Hollywood movie that is queued on China's release schedule for the rest of 2021. With this said, this comes as great news for Chinese moviegoers as it would be one of the few Hollywood titles being officially released in China this year.

From this, it can be speculated that China does not need the potential box office money made from Hollywood titles as its domestic releases have reflected great amount of success. However, it is essential for them to secure Hollywood productions in order to sustain as the world's largest film market.

Earlier this month, China's Film Administration reported its 14th “Five-Year Plan” for the development of Chinese films. This essentially include plans to increase the number of movie screens in the country to 100,000 by 2025. Along with that, there will be 10 domestic tentpoles promoted each year in China.

[felipesmithart]

NPOC Creator of the Week: Felipe Smith

By Andrea Merodeadora of Nerdy POC

Felipe Smith is a rarity in the comic world. Not just because he’s a Latino who started his career in manga (which is rare enough) but because honestly, his style is refreshingly weird as hell. Born in Ohio but raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina; Felipe graduated from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and with a professional career that’s taken him from Los Angeles to Tokyo, the Jamaican-Argentinian artist and writer has always had an unique vision and highly personal style. His stories, from the autobiographical MBQ to Marvel’s All-New Ghost Rider, all combine a sort of ‘slice of life’ narrative full of character insight and incisive commentary alongside over-the-top action and fantasy elements- all without missing a beat. In an interview with Comics Alliance, Felipe explains that, because his work “wasn’t geared towards kids or a core fan base of a certain genre” he initially saw nothing but rejections from publishers. 

So Smith turned to manga, attracted by the creative freedom of the genre, and decided to teach himself Japanese so he’d be able to enter the market. In the span of a couple years, all while working restaurant jobs, drawing, and learning a whole new language, Smith won second place in a manga contest, which allowed him to publish his three-volume semi-autobiographical comic MBQ. The story follows an aspiring LA illustrator who works minimum wage and struggles under the weight of college debt while trying to get published in an industry that’s not very welcoming to originality. Comixology’s review of MBQ takes an in-depth look into how it shines for its realism, its uniqueness and its great narrative pacing.

Even though, as Smith himself puts it, “at the time people were saying that [he] didn’t know what [he] was talking about — that the kind of work that [he] did was not manga, and it didn’t look like anything they considered manga from Japan — ” the buzz surrounding MBQ reached a publishing agent who put Felipe in touch with the Japanese publishing company Kodansha.

Felipe moved to Tokyo, where he wrote, translated, illustrated, colored and shaded his three-volumes graphic novel Peepo Choo with the aid of only one assistant. He then went on to become the first Western creator to have his manga published in Japan, in Japanese, before getting an English edition. That’s no small feat for anyone, but for an Afro-Latino creator at the beginning of his career to break this barrier with a comic like Peepo Choo was a milestone never seen before.

Peepo Choo is no ordinary manga either. Felipe’s work broke stylistic, narrative and even thematic boundaries. Like MBQ, Peepo Choo has a self-referential element of sorts in its protagonist, Milton, a Black American kid in love with manga and animé. The story revolves around the conflict between manga and comics, as well as a juxtaposition between Yakuza and Chicago gangs. All these elements eventually form an often unseen critique of the Western fetishization of Japanese culture, and its resulting “weeaboo” fanbases.

Smith returned to the United States to work as a character designer for Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 2012. In his time back, however, he was called upon by Marvel to spearhead their new Ghost Rider concept. He was wary at first, as he “didn’t think [a lot of the stuff that had been done with the Ghost Rider in the past] was the best out there”- but Marvel only had two conditions for his story: the new Ghost Rider had to be under thirty, and he had to drive a car instead of a bike.

So Felipe introduced Robbie Reyes, a Mexican-American high schooler from Los Angeles who was raising his younger brother Gabe on his own. Like his previous works, Smith wanted to ground the story in reality. Talking with The Marvel Report, he explained that he developed Robbie based on his own experiences and what made the most sense in the cultural setting of LA. He knew that growing up in a Latin American country and speaking Spanish would allow him to write a more believable Latinx character, and “since the largest Latino demographic in LA is Mexican, it made more than perfect sense for Robbie Reyes to be Mexican-American.”

All-New Ghost Rider took the Ghost Rider into a completely new direction (and, let’s be real, made the mantle cool again). Smith moved the anti-hero to the other end of the country, reinvented the inner workings of his powers, and even got him on the cover of Lowrider Magazine. Felipe’s run was praised for its compelling characters, its portrayal of disability, its excellent story, and for Trad Moore’s bold art style.

All-New Ghost Rider’s run wasn’t as long as it deserved to be, but Marvel and Smith agreed on him coming back for another book, a crossover event titled Ghost Racers. There, with Argentinian illustrator Juan Gedeon taking lead on the art and Smith on the story, Robbie Reyes got to meet Johnny Blaze, one of Felipe’s favorite characters as a teenager. Soon after, less than two years after his print-debut, Robbie Reyes was adapted for the small screen in season 4 of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (portrayed by Gabriel Luna).

Now, after two collaborative projects for Marvel Comics, Smith goes back to what he does best, and what he does best is whatever he wants. “That’s why I got to writing in the first place”, he said at Long Beach Comic Con, explaining that he “realized that the kinda stories that [he] wanted to draw were not being written by anybody.”

Felipe is currently developing an action/ horror graphic novel about zombie cops (or cop zombies, It’s really confusing.) Set in LA, Death Metal Zombie Cop follows two police officers navigating a corrupt institution, and an increasingly supernatural string of crimes.

After a successful kickstarter, DMZC should be available for pre-order soon. Until then, we recommend picking up his previous works, and following him on twitter for future updates.

[raptorific]

i've been scrolling through your blog for a bit and i just wanna say that i think that D.C. went through a rough stage a while back and marvel took full advantage of that shit and it sucks like DC could make the superhero movie of the century and people would be like :/ it's D.C. tho n not marvel while marvel can crank out some ass shit that they wrote in three days and as long as it has some "cool" actor people will praise that shit like it's fucking jesus himself in movie form n just ughhhhhh

I mean, I honestly don’t think DC’s had much of a rough stage since the unspeakably bad Burton-Schumacher Batman films of the 80s and 90s. Their film studio was just about dead after that and they tried to make a few other things happen but they just sorta fizzled at best and crashed and burned at worst. “Batman Begins” frankly revitalized the superhero genre and the Nolan series maintained relative consistency in terms of tone and story for the seven years it spanned. 

The Nolan Batman movies were a catalyst for change in the genre for a couple of reasons, but the largest of them is that suddenly superhero movies were actually viewed as, like, legit movies and not just shallow popcorn films. DC and Marvel took two very different approaches to this. 

DC doubled down on the Nolan series’ more grounded, human, artistic take on the superhero genre and tried to showcase their superheroes as flawed and vulnerable, which is great because it’s kind of their comics’ strong suit. Marvel went in the exact opposite direction and created movies that were outlandish fantasies-- and this is not a dig, outlandish fantasy is a hell of a lot of fun and it was necessary for them to establish a distinct identity that plays more to their comics’ strengths. 

See, DC is more character-oriented and Marvel is more story-oriented. It’s why DC can basically have a whole graphic novel where Batman just sits around introspecting and have it be good, and why Marvel can tell a more compelling story about characters nobody’s ever heard of. When they try to take on the other’s strengths, you end up with something unwatchably bad, which brings me back to the subject of DC’s supposed “rough patch” and the quality double standard where DC delivering anything short of absolute perfection is marked as a miserable failure while Marvel can phone it in and still have people rave about their movies:

DC’s films, since the Nolan trilogy revived their film studio from the brink, has had exactly one major misstep, and it happened because they tried to emulate the success of Marvel’s smash success “Iron Man” in tone with the Ryan Reynolds Green Lantern film. Believe it or not, Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman, and Suicide Squad were all relatively successful films commercially and were enjoyed by most of their audience. The people who hated them were much louder and more obnoxious about it, but DC’s movies actually do have a passionate fanbase and they’re really only gaining more fans with each movie they release. Their one major flop was “Green Lantern” and the main problem with that is that most people aren’t gonna enjoy a faithful adaptation of Green Lantern comics because Green Lantern comics are by and large inaccessible

Marvel, on the other hand, produces more Misses than Hits. They’ve got some amazing films (Iron Man 1, Captain America, CA:TWS, Avengers 1) but they’ve also got a whole bunch of films that are bland and mediocre at best and soul-crushingly unwatchable at worst (Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3, Civil War, Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy, the list goes on but so many of their movies have been so forgettable I can’t be bothered)

So this sounds like I’m refuting your point, but I think it really says something that DC’s films are considered to have had a “rough patch” of one movie whose biggest fault is that it was mediocre compared to the more recent superhero fare of Iron Man 1 and The Dark Knight, while Marvel can produce hours upon hours of tangled inaccessible shlock that’s led to people being so fatigued by their universe that the most exciting thing a Marvel trailer can contain at this point is "indications that they’re finally going Off Brand”

Anyway yeah you’re right on most counts, specifically that Marvel’s early successes largely came from an attempt to distinguish themselves from DC’s most popular superhero films, which were very insulated in terms of continuity (Batman Begins and Superman Returns, for example, don’t reference taking place in the same world as one another) and people really liked Marvel’s movies having clear crossovers building to a team-up (Fury mentions the Avengers in “Iron Man,” Tony shows up in “Incredible Hulk,” Tony’s dad is in Cap 1, Natasha shows up in Iron Man 2, etc.) and there was a really satisfying payoff to that in “The Avengers”

The problem is that now every movie just tries to up the ante on that payoff and we get diminishing returns. Do you know how many superheroes need to be in a Captain America movie at all? One. Do you know how many superheroes played a major role in the plot of Cap 3? I count eleven off the top of my head, and that’s for a solo movie! By contrast, Avengers 1, a team movie with an ensemble cast, had seven superheroes playing a major role if you count Fury as a superhero (which IMO you should). And instead of trying to deliver something new in other films, they just keep trying to double down on “look how much continuity!” to the point where I’m honestly fatigued just looking at the poster for “Infinity War” because at my last count there were over two dozen main characters and ScarJo has threatened us with even more cameos and crossovers than that. 

That’s one of the (many) reasons I’m looking forward to Black Panther. You know who I didn’t see in that trailer? Anyone from any other goddamn marvel movie other than Black Panther. It looks like they’re finally trying to deliver something new instead of just trying to deliver something that’s The Same But Louder.

Anyway point is you’re right that Marvel spent their first five years setting up a payoff and have spent the five years since delivering that payoff trying in vain to get lightning to strike a second time, and unfortunately their formula is treated as the scientific standard for superhero films to the point that making a movie that doesn’t adhere to that formula is seen as a failure for some ungodly reason

[popcornandkeyboards]

Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 Review

           Waiting for “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2” was more difficult than I could have imagined. Not only did the trailers and advance word of mouth excite me, but I realized that one of my closest friends, whose favorite movie is the original film, would not be able to see it opening weekend. We had already decided that we would not see this sequel without each other, and life decided to test our resolve. We both had final exams, other friends in our group saw the film without us, and I had multiple offers to see it on my end.

           Somehow, both of us not only held out on seeing it, but we even managed to avoid spoilers. Yet, when the day came, we both had the realization “Oh shit, we’re about to see Guardians 2.” Despite our months of waiting and the levels of hype we had expressed to each other, the fact that we would actually see a sequel to one of the best Marvel films had slipped our minds until the last second. And, I feel this moment expresses the largest issue with “Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2,” it’s a sequel.

           What I mean is that this new film not only has to continue the story and characters from the previous film, but it has to take these characters to new places, do new things that weren’t seen in the previous installment, all while maintaining the same tone and feeling as the first film. Even worse, “Guardians: Vol. 2” has to meet the immeasurable expectations of the fanbase who were wowed by the original film. This sequel doesn’t have the element of surprise, so it has to do something else, and Gunn’s decisions are surprising in the least noticeable way, at least not consciously noticeable.

           Instead of maintaining the “Star Wars” space-opera theme of the first film, this one decides to focus in on the characters and their personal struggles. Instead of putting the crew in even larger, visually explosive action set-pieces, the film instead goes more personal and small-scale, only taking place in a small number of locations. In fact, there are only a few action scenes, and while they are impressively realized, they’re aren’t the focus.

           “Guardians: Vol. 2” follows the crew shortly after saving the galaxy, and how they’re handling new pressures on the team. For starters, Peter Quill meets his estranged alien father, Ego. Gomorrah recaptures her sister Nebula, which sparks a sibling rivalry based on years of emotional and physical abuse. Lastly, Rocket is trying to understand not only his place within the team, but his place in the universe and what his worth is to the galaxy.

           None of these topics are especially light-hearted or seem perfect for comedy, but luckily, James Gunn’s brand of goofy yet dark humor accomplishes this perfectly. The man is a master of dialogue and joke-timing, somehow finding a balance between sincere and impactful character moments and hilarious comedy bits. This is mostly due to the characters, who are just as strong as ever, and the actors seem to effortlessly fall back into their roles to play off each other beautifully.

           Of course, the soundtrack is just as good as the first film. While the songs may not be as easily recognizable as “Awesome Mix: Vol. 1”, the songs tie better with the plot, heightening certain scenes. There is an especially powerful use of Fleetwood Mac’s “The Chain” that whenever I think back on, sends a chill down my spine.

           While limited, the action scenes are not exciting, but unique and impressive. Instead of just having the characters fight hand-to-hand or in spaceships, Gunn takes advantage of the wacky world of intergalactic alien technology to create some truly memorable scenes. Even more impressive is how these sequences never feel forced, they’re always in service of the story and the development of the characters. This is especially true of the climatic final battle, which while the stakes are on the same “universe destroying” level as the first film, the sequence itself does a great job at weaving the climaxes of each character’s story arcs into the smaller-scale fights.

           In general, “Guardians: Vol. 2” is an emotional film not often seen in Marvel films or blockbusters. Most of the Guardians crew have personal demons, past trauma, and complex feelings that they need to deal with it, and Gunn and company do an excellent job at exploring these broken characters. Yet, it never forgets the light-hearted tone and jokes, mixing them with the sadder moments in satisfying ways.      

           This smaller scale is why I think Guardians hasn’t had as big of an impact as I thought it would have. It’s a simple film, one that’s fairly straightforward and never loses sight of what it’s trying to do. When the credits were over, my mind wasn’t blown and I didn’t feel pumped up our excited by the whole experience. My friend and I looked at each other and agreed it was a “good” movie, but thinking on the experience as a whole, “Guardians: Vol. 2” was never meant to blow you away, it was meant to stick with you, make you think, and make you feel. In that respect, it accomplished its goal, and I can’t help but recommend this film to fans of the original, just be prepared to step back for a moment, and think about this experience before you make any judgements.

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[biofunmy]

American YouTubers Are Making Videos Reacting To Indian Pop Culture To Go Viral

In January 2019, Rick Segall and Korbin Miles’ YouTube channel, Our Stupid Reactions, had 1,800 subscribers. The two Los Angeles–based actors had started a channel in which they reacted to popular Hollywood movie and TV show trailers  —  already a popular genre on YouTube  —  last September, but nearly four months in, it was sputtering along at best. Their videos reacting to trailers of films like Captain Marvel, Creed II, Aladdin, and Bird Box were getting anywhere between a few hundred to a couple of thousand views. Then, one of their subscribers requested their reaction to the trailer of Gully Boy, a hotly anticipated Bollywood movie about a street rapper in Mumbai.

“I had no idea what it was,” said Miles. They started recording and hit play on Gully Boy. The two head-banged through the trailer’s catchy soundtrack and laughed out loud during its funny moments; it was fun, though not mind-blowingly so. Yet within 24 hours, their Gully Boy trailer reaction had 50,000 views; the comments flooded in with Indian viewers cheering them on. The response was surprising — and addictive. “We would love to do more reactions to movies from India, any recommendations???” they posted to fans in the comments section. Hundreds of requests immediately poured in.

“Brace yourself,” someone posted. “Indian subscribers are coming!!!”

Five months later, Our Stupid Reactions’ Gully Boy trailer reaction had over half a million views, and the channel, which now posts videos of Miles and Segall reacting exclusively to all things Indian, has over 230,000 subscribers  — 70% of whom are from India, and 30% of whom are Indians living around the world, according to Miles.

It’s not just American companies that want a slice of India’s more than 500 million internet users anymore — individual American YouTubers are now looking for their shot there too. Inexpensive data and cheap smartphones have helped bring YouTube more than 265 million users, making India the platform’s largest and fastest-growing market in the world. There will be plenty more as 500 million additional people are eventually expected to come online in India.

There’s not necessarily a lot of money in it — the money earned per thousand views through advertisements, the metric digital marketers use to value online content, is substantially lower with views from India than from the US — but it’s a views-and-subscribers growth hack fueled by India’s video explosion that, for now, seems to be working. Once you have a sizable audience and brand, there are all sorts of ways to try to monetize it besides ads. Just ask any successful YouTuber or influencer.

Indians say they find Americans watching videos about their culture validating. “Finally, the rest of the world is seeing us for who we really are,” said Abhishek Sapre, an Indian engineer who lives in Sydney and watches Our Stupid Reactions and other reaction channels. “Most Americans don’t know anything about India or Bollywood or our culture at all … [This genre] really helps breaks the image of India as a poor country propagated by films like Slumdog Millionaire.”

“Indians want the rest of the world to finally hear their voice and recognize them as world players at every level,” said Segall. “It’s being affirmed by global superpowers, and the global superpowers have always been Great Britain and the United States.”

Dozens of American reaction channels on YouTube — the Reel Rejects, the Tide Pool, and ReactoPhile, among others — have found big audiences reacting to Indian movies, trailers, commercials, stand-up comedy clips, music videos, speeches by Indian politicians, and pretty much everything with an Indian connection.

Typically, a channel posts a video reacting, for instance, to a Bollywood trailer, and YouTube’s aggressive and frighteningly effective recommendation algorithm targets it to millions of Indians, the demographic most likely to click it. More views leads to more engagement, with hundreds of viewers lobbing in their react requests in the comments section. Keep honoring these requests and, with some luck, the channel’s numbers snowball.

One of the most well-known YouTubers in this genre is California-based filmmaker Jaby Koay, whose videos regularly get hundreds of thousands of views each from Indians. In March, Koay’s channel crossed a million subscribers. To mark the milestone, Koay, uploaded a dance video of himself set to a popular Bollywood song, which got more than 740,000 views. In 2017 and 2018, he traveled to India and uploaded a series of vlogs from the country to his channel that showed him frolicking around New Delhi and meeting with his fans in the country. Then earlier this year, Dharma Productions, one of India’s largest movie production companies, posted a clip of Koay’s reaction to the trailer of one of its upcoming big-budget productions to its Instagram. Koay did not respond to BuzzFeed News’ requests for comment, and it’s unclear if Dharma Productions compensated Koay in any way for this.

“He’s extremely genuine and his reactions are heartfelt,” said Aniruddha Gokhale, a financial consultant in the Indian city of Pune who has been watching Koay’s videos for the last two years.

Scientists have attempted to explain the popularity of reaction videos on YouTube by saying that they tap into human empathy and our innate desire to form social bonds by trying to understand people’s emotions. Reaction videos “allow us, at the time of increasing cultural difference, the comforting universality of human nature,” writer Sam Anderson observed in the New York Times.

Segall said, “To have outsiders like us with no connection to India to say to Indians, ‘You know what, everything you feel about your country, we feel it too,’ is pretty deep.”

But there’s a bigger reason why so many Indians seem to be hooked on Americans’ reactions to all things related to their culture: a sense of global validation. At its heart, it’s an Indian desire for white validation, a Colonial-era hangover, and something that still plays out in the country .

You can see traces of this in the requests people leave for the YouTubers in the comments sections. One of the most common is to react to a video called “15 Things You Didn’t Know About India,” which features positive, nationalistic facts about the country (India invented shampoo, thorium-based nuclear power, the number zero, yoga, and plastic surgery, it claims). Another is to react to a witty, powerful speech by Indian politician Shashi Tharoor about how Britain owes reparations to India for hundreds of years of colonization.

“I feel proud that these people are learning about my culture,” said Rakesh Kamble, a data entry operator who lives in the Indian town of Nashik. “We’re rich culturally, and I’d like them to learn about it.”

When Life Meets Family, a Georgia-based YouTube channel, uploaded its reaction to the “15 Things You Didn’t Know About India” video on Jan. 26, India’s Republic Day, it racked up a million views.

The channel is run by 38-year-old Dan, his 36-year-old wife Erin, and their three children, ages 7, 10, and 11. The couple — who declined to give their last names for this story and live in the predominantly white town of Flowery Branch, where Asians, including Indians, account for just 1.6% of the residents — said that they didn’t really know much about India until they started doing these videos. “We have a close friend who is Indian,” said Erin. “Aside from that though…” she trails off. Today their channel has more than 300,000 subscribers, 80% of whom are from India, and 20% of whom are Indians living mostly in Canada, Dan told BuzzFeed News.

“Indians are a proud people,” Dan said. “I think some of what they request may be to sort of gain acceptance with the white man. I take it as, ‘Look, America is the leader there, we are the leader here.’”

One of the most common requests from their viewers? To react to a video of Indians who lead Fortune 500 companies. “We got a lot of requests to do that one,” said Dan.

Still, as these American YouTubers grow their audiences in India off of Indian content, it’s tough to shake off the skepticism around how much of their interest in India is genuine and how much of it is a convenient grab for a billion eyeballs.

Ever since Our Stupid Reactions blew up, Segall and Miles have been overtly catering to their core fanbase: Segall posted a photo of himself wearing a traditional Indian kurta on Instagram and dropped a “Jai Hind!” —  Hindi for “Hail India!” —  in a reaction video. Last month, the duo played cricket with Indian fans in Los Angeles. Segall also got a large Hindi tattoo with the iconic line “Apna time aayega” (“My time will come”) from Gully Boy, the film that catapulted their channel to fame, across the inside of his left arm all the way from the wrist to the elbow. “I’ve got six tattoos and every one of them is something that has changed me and had a permanent impact on me,” he said. When India beat Pakistan in the Cricket World Cup on Sunday, Segall posted a picture of Indian vice-captain Rohit Sharma with a caption that (again) said “Jai…feeaking…hind.”

Yet Segall and Miles of Our Stupid Reactions, and Dan and Erin of Life Meets Family, all insist that their channels’ growth has been entirely organic, driven solely out of their love for all things Indian and a desire to cater to their subscribers’ needs.

“The skepticism is valid,” said Miles. “But if I wasn’t enjoying this, the channel wouldn’t be happening.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, but we wouldn’t sell our souls for views,” Segall said.

The YouTubers also pointed out that having millions of views and subscribers doesn’t necessarily translate to lots of money. While Life Meets Family monetizes using YouTube’s pre-roll ads, they said the money isn’t enough to cover the cost of their cameras and internet.

When the channel was an American family blog with viewers who were mostly from the US, he said, the family made $6 for every thousand views, compared to just $1.23 for a thousand views from India. “A thousand views from India are not the same as a thousand views from North America,” Dan said.

The creators are now thinking of other ways to make money. Dan and Erin are in talks with an Indian chat app to run targeted sponsored content. And Segall and Miles are currently seeking funds from their Indian fans on Patreon to fund a trip to India.

“Hopefully,” said Dan, “as more Indians come online and things grow, there will be more companies willing to sponsor us, and maybe the price per thousand views will go up. I’d like to do this as a living.”

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[gamingtipsandtrickshacks]

A call to arms for the UK fighting game community • Eurogamer.net

Deputy Editor's note: A year ago I reported on Hypespotting 5, one of the UK's biggest fighting game tournaments, after it suffered a raft of technical issues and disappointed some fans. After we ran the article I was contacted by a number of people embedded within the UK fighting game community who defended the scene and called for a deeper look. I thought now, with Hypespotting 6 taking place, it was a great time to do just that and investigate the state of the UK fighting game community.

Below is a feature from Ryan Esler, a freelance writer who has been a part of the UK fighting game community since the release of Street Fighter 4 in 2009. He has competed in Scottish tournaments in both Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Tekken and founded the Tekken group W3D. Photos courtesy of Stephanie Lindgren.

Easter. For some, it's a religious experience. For others, it's a chance to bargain hunt. But for the UK fighting game community, it might just be the most important time of the year.

Once a year, and for five of the past six years, several hundred fighting game players embark on a pilgrimage to Glasgow to compete at Hypespotting, the crowning achievement for the Scottish fighting game community. And being there is a site to behold.

The atmosphere is electric and as the weekend runs on, tensions run high. I see familiar faces, those who attend every year, and a few professional players. Stoic in their appearance, the likes of Ryan Hart, Olivier "Louffy" Hay and many more look on with intent. They analyse every fight, note every move. Behind them sits the more casual players, those who didn't make it out of pools and those who narrowly missed out on a top eight finish. They support the surviving players who push on towards first place. Cheers ring out as Ireland's Chris "Coblecog" McEntee narrowly clutches out round after round with his impressive Cammy. This is why over 400 players travelled across the country and Europe - for moments like this.

:: Resident Evil 7 Not a Hero walkthrough

Cobelcog moves on.

To understand why this sense of community is so important to the UK fighting game scene, you need to look at where it's at. Many, if not most, of the players can be found in one of the UK's many fighting game Facebook groups, groups that, unfortunately, thrive on negativity.

And Street Fighter 5 is a game that fuels division. It has been embroiled in controversy since it came out in early 2016, with its disastrous launch hampering sales and dominating the online discourse. Since then, Capcom has worked to improve matters, but for many the damage has already been done. Divisive balance patches, a lack of communication from Capcom and delayed DLC characters have done little to turn the debate around. Is Street Fighter 5, then, dead?

These Facebook groups are often the place where the first interaction with the UK FGC occurs, and to put it lightly, it often isn't an affirming one. Esmond "MBA Ez" Fong, co-founder of Northwest UK fighting gaming community MBA Gaming, is no stranger to this kind of negativity. "They feel the need to vent on social media and demand change," he says. It's true, time and time again we see players complain about balance and match-ups, but often with no real discussion. Slowly, these groups descend into anarchy as more players weigh in.

Complaining on social media has become part of the norm when it comes to Street Fighter 5, but it isn't the first game in the series to face such judgement. Justin Xavier, the tournament organizer of VS Fighting, reckons it's "normal for part of the older player base to dislike a new game", which is something Matthew Edwards, community manager at Capcom UK, describes as "unavoidable". Yet, in spite of all the complaints and online furor, over 160 people entered the Street Fighter 5 tournament at Hypespotting. This is nearly 100 down on what Street Fighter 5 pulled in in 2016 (the year the game came out), but it's clear Street Fighter 5 is far from dead.

Just like every other fighting game, Street Fighter 5 has a dedicated fanbase and thanks to events like the Capcom Pro Tour, it's not going anywhere. According to Edwards, Capcom wants to "give Street Fighter players from all over the world a chance to compete and meet their heroes". Players did indeed get the chance to meet their heroes at Hypespotting. Some of these competitors were even lucky enough to beat their heroes in Top 32 - in front of a massive audience.

Street Fighter 5 wasn't the only game to draw big numbers. Tekken 7 filled its available entrant positions and kicked off the Tekken 7 UK Championship with a bang, and it's clear publisher Bandai Namco wants to stay on the right side of the community. Edwin "Mr E" Chuah, Bandai Namco Games UK community chief, says the UK Championship was a response to the community "voicing their demand for more events in the UK prior to the game's release". The lack of events in the UK for Tekken 7 has been a concern for many competitive players as the game has been playable in Asia for two years, and there have been many North American tournaments throughout its development.

The proof of the pudding is in the eating, of course. Thankfully, Namco showed its commitment to the Tekken scene during the tournament itself. During Hypespotting there were a few minor delays that would have resulted in top Tekken players missing their flights home. But Namco stepped in, offering to pay for new flights for these players to ensure they were at their best and free from the worry of potentially missing a flight.

One of these players, Kane "KaneandTrench" Hartfield, went on to win the tournament and retain his crown as the current UK champion for Tekken 7 while solidifying his position at the Grand Finals of the Tekken 7 UK Championship at MCM Comicon London later in May. But is Tekken 7 on the rise in the UK?

One of the issues facing the Tekken community in the UK is that it is disparate. Many Tekken players remain active within their own smaller online communities, such as The Snake Pit and one of the FGC's last remaining forums, Tekken Zaibatsu. But there is hope. "The UK Tekken community that exists now can work together to shape Tekken 7 into one of the biggest fighting game titles out there," Hartfield says, and I agree. If it can pull more players in from the disenfranchised community that exists online, Tekken 7 could become something great.

Tekken 7 isn't the only game struggling to gain recognition. Nintendo's Smash Bros. scene is another community that has established itself outside the general populace of the UK FGC. The scene has split off from the main scene so much that Melee was removed from this year's Hypespotting line-up, and Smash Wii U saw a smaller number of entrants than the previous year.

To understand this cataclysmic shift in attendance, you need to understand the Smash community as a whole. The fighting game community has for years looked down its nose at the Smash community, and every so often the debate around whether Smash is a "real fighting game" crops up in groups and forums.

Alan "Afro Smash" Gardner, a top three UK Smash player, sees an insular side to the community he calls home. "Taking care of yourself probably became ingrained in the mindset of the Smash community," he admits. It's a worrisome quote for a scene on the brink. At Hypespotting 5, over 120 entered the Smash tournament. Hypespotting 6 struggled to reach 50.

"Nintendo has very limited to no involvement in the Smash scene," Gardner says, suggesting a possible explanation for the dip in numbers. Certainly compared to the support the likes of Capcom, Bandai Namco and NetherRealm Studios offers their communities, Nintendo's effort is disappointing. But there may be another explanation: the Smash community is divided between two games, to an even greater extent than the Street Fighter community is divided between Street Fighter 5 and Street Fighter 4.

It's not all doom and gloom. David "Gimble" Barrett, one of the tournament organisers, says that while "the majority of people playing Smash only seem interested in playing their game", there is growth. Barrett says UK Smash events such as Albion and Heir can sustain the community. "Heir could potentially be the biggest fighting game event in the UK," he says. So, perhaps the Smash community is perfectly happy with where it is, independent from the larger UK FGC and established in its own right.

The Smash community is divided between those who play Melee and those who play on Wii U.

Other scenes have gone for a best of both worlds approach. The NetherRealm Studios community is one such example. These players have established themselves in their own right, creating groups such as Outworld Fighters UK on Facebook, and setting up websites such as Test Your Might.

And much like the Smash community, the NRS community has suffered from elitism. Professional esports commentator and competitor Ryan "Ketchup" Neal has seen this himself. "The type of person that judges a game based on what others say is always counterproductive," Neal says. Perhaps that's why the UK scene has grown "incredibly close". This was borne out by the small number of Mortal Kombat XL entrants at Hypespotting, who banded together to play through the weekend. In their own small section of the venue, I saw happy faces. Players had travelled far and wide to compete, to give Mortal Kombat XL a proper send off as Injustice 2 looms large over the horizon.

The NRS community is certainly looking forward to Injustice 2, and while it didn't turn up at Hypespotting this year , it was playable down at iSeries - the largest PC LAN event in the UK. "Injustice 2 will give us a much needed kick-start," UK NRS community member Justin Xavier says. The NRS community has already established itself, with regular streams and online tournaments supported by esports organisation ESL, but it exists online. Jake "Mustard" Neal, the other half of ESL's 'Ketchup & Mustard' commentary duo, wants the NRS community to get out and about, to "support their local scenes".

This, they already do, to an extent. There hasn't been a year when Mortal Kombat X hasn't had somebody representing it at their local scene. And every player I spoke to at Hypespotting about Mortal Kombat and the wider NRS scene was not only excited about the future, but had faith in NetherRealm's vision for community support.

Even old fighting games still enjoy a community.

What of the smaller games, some of which came out over a decade ago? Games such as Street Fighter 3: Third Strike, Street Fighter 2: Turbo, Darkstalkers, Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Killer Instinct. There are still dedicated scenes that show up and represent at tournaments. The fires still burns brightly.

Christopher "The Janitor" Johnston, a member of the VS staff and organiser of the Killer Instinct and UMVC3 tournaments at Hypespotting 6, helps to keep these communities going by dedicating space to the games. Many of these games were housed in an offshoot room called Affro's Arcade. "It's inspiring to see all these people with a love for the same types of games pull together to create a community," Johnston says.

That, to me, is the UK FGC at its heart. It is a community. Many of these games left their prime behind long ago. Some declare them dead. But if you look hard enough, you will find a community, and if you don't, well, create it. This is, after all, how all fighting game tournaments began - a group of dedicated friends with a handful of monitors and consoles. Ryan "Ketchup" Neal remembers the days when fighting game fans fought in bars. The current scene is "a far cry from the small bars and locations we all used to play in".

Events such as Hypespotting are a chrysalis for what the scene can become. Even smaller games still have much going for them. Marvel, which was cast aside from the main event in its last year, still brings the hype and draws a very respectable crowd for its age. I can't help but feel proud of the UK FGC.

It's easy to get bogged down by negativity online, especially when it appears that a community is unhappy. But the reality is far removed from this mentality. The UK FGC is one big family. And like all families, the FGC has its ups and downs, its arguments and its tantrums. But it continues to support its members through thick and thin and, crucially, it continues to grow year upon year. Today we have many big events that host fighting game tournaments - Hypespotting, VSFighting, Rival Scenes and of course EGX.

Ireland's Cobelcog faces off against France's Louffy in the Street Fighter 5 Grand Final.

Where to next? I would love the UK FGC to find its feet on the playing fields of professional esports, but I fear that will never be achieved with such a fractured community split across so many games. To truly be the best it can be, the UK FGC needs to put aside its petty bickering and stop projecting the wrong image to newcomers. Each year players and organisers break their backs to put on grassroots tournaments, and with events such as the E-League and Red Bull Kumite coming to the fore, there is now a clear path for fighting games to take toward big-budget esports. 2017 is an opportunity to embrace a new outlook, take on the new games and put them on the biggest and best pedestal possible.

Hypespotting is my local major. It is where I cut my teeth six years ago. Now I know half of the 400 entrants. Now, I sit at the back and enjoy watching so many excited players cheer on their favourites. I enjoy the whoops as Coblecog scores another round. I enjoy the tension between rounds. So why not bite the bullet? Suck up your tournament nerves and dive right in. The worst that can happen is you go out without a win, much like I did in Marvel, but at an event like this there's always somebody who'll pat you on your back and give you the encouragement you need to fight on.