Ask Me About My Broken Fandom

A few days ago while I was at home burning through some of my remaining vacation days there was a giant ass shit storm on comics twitter over Mockingbird #8, Chelsea Cain and comics fandom. If you want the full professional blogging experience just google it, since you're here though I assume you're not looking for any of that. Long story short Chelsea Cain noted novelist wrote a short comic book series about Mockingbird (as seen on Agents of Shield). When the last issue came out (it was canceled a little bit ago) she quit twitter and said something to the effect of comic books fans can be really awful. She specifically called out comic book fans saying she has been a bestselling author and never had to block anyone on twitter before writing Mockingbird.

Once she deleted her account that's when the real fun started. Any website with any sort of nerd leaning coverage picked up on the story. A hashtag on twitter was created in her support and it was one of the top trending tags for at least a day. Very quickly some in the comic book community started to push back. They wanted to see screen shots of the harassment or it didn't happen. They also wanted to remind you that Mockingbird was terrible and if you liked it you should feel ashamed. Also the last issue deals a bit with Mockingbird's history of sexual assault in (what I found to be) an awkward manner so if you did like the issue guess what? YOU ARE THE SEXIST NOW.

This story dominated comics twitter for about 48 hours. Most comic book professionals were very supportive of Chelsea Cain but a few wanted to make sure everyone knows the reason Mockingbird was canceled was because of low sales and you can't complain about a book being canceled if you're not buying it. One noted professional who is not new to controversy like this chose his words pretty poorly (again this is my opinion) by saying something to the effect of "hey, at least the trolls buy comics". It was sort of an admission no one wanted to hear while this was going on. Like when Tom Brady is in court because he may or may not be tampering with the footballs you don't need Bill Simmons telling you "say what you will about him cheating, but all Tom Brady does is win Superbowls!"

Yes, comic books are a business but no one wants to hear that Marvel is in anyway catering to the worst of their fan base.

Twitter and comment sections were filled with guys like my man Ry here who thinks that comics aren't for everyone. If memory serves me correctly he follows this up with some tweets about how comics were made for the male gaze and should be filled with hot ladies, not ladies who are hot to rage against the patriarchy.


I mean if I had a nickel for every time I've read SJW this last week I'd have like 20 Nickels, because after about 20 times I bailed on reading more about this and just focused on Overwatch. I don't know what to do about people being shitheels to each other, I'm just some schlub on the internet that thinks there should be all kinds of comic books for all kinds or people. When I read a comic I don't like I don't @ the author. I might say on-line why I didn't like it but I'm not here to try and make people feel bad for their work. What do people gain from that? And why are people so insane when it comes to characters and comics they don't own? You don't own Thor. You don't write Thor. You don't get to decided if Thor is a man or a woman. If you don't like it don't buy it, if someone else is liking it and you're not it doesn't mean one of you is wrong. Two different people can like two different things without it meaning anything.

Maybe we should invent a time machine and go back and warn Al Gore not to invent the internet. Or maybe we can hurry up the deal that will sell the internet to the Chinese my dad was telling me about. I cringe thinking about how my kids are going to handle stuff like this. The first time some slobbery gatekeeper tells my daughter that comics are for boys I hope she punches him right in the neck. BOOM NECK PUNCH! Don't worry honey, I'll bail you out of jail if I have to.

Skylanders Imaginators: The Quick Review

So this last weekend I made a deal with my son. If he slept through the night we would celebrate his birthday on Sunday as opposed to later this Wednesday. He hadn't slept through the night in about 5 days. On tuesday he got up at 3:30am and on Saturday he got up at 4:30. I had to pick him up early from school twice because he had fallen asleep. I'm telling you, desperate time and desperate measures.

Long story shortish, he slept through the night so we went to Toys R Us Sunday morning to pick up the newest Skylanders game, Skylanders Imaginators. It is a very fun game, one of my favorite in the series. Every year Activision rolls out a new Skylanders game with a different gimmick and this might be my favorite so far. The "Imaginator" crystals you can buy (because of course you have to buy everything) allow you to create your own custom character, a pretty big departure for one of these "toys to life" games.

The custom character elements transform the game into a sort of Skyrim-light. You're able to create your own character, decide his fighting class and outfit him with a bunch of unlockable items. As you play the game and level up you get access to new items and abilities depending on your fighting class, there's even special armor sets you can find like Diablo. Sure there are still character you can buy, Sensei's that power up certain fighting classes but overall I feel like you get a lot of value with just the toys included in the box. Just to be on the safe side I bought an extra creator crystal so my son and I could each have our own custom character.

None of the puzzles are too difficult and most of the boss battles just involve avoiding a telegraphed attack and then mashing your buttons but considering this is a kids game I'm impressed with the amount of depth to the story and the amount of customization. It helps that you're rewarded with loot multiple times throughout a level, I'm a sucker for any sort of game that rewards you the more you play.

I used to feel like these Toys to Life games were a huge rip-off. Most starter packs for a new game are right around $75.00 but with most AAA titles costing $59.99 when they launch you're only talking about a $15.00 difference. In that context I'd say the Skylander games offer pretty good value. There's a lot of replay and if you really want to go whole hog and buy a boat load of toys you could put 100 hours into a single game no problem. I wasn't a huge fan of the last Skylanders game (it had a really poor racing gimmick) but heck, I'm already thinking of ways I can make my custom guy better and which new battle classes I want to try out. I swear if my kid beats this one without me I'm going to be torqued.

It's Pumpkin Dance Time!

Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple days. I took a couple days off work while my wife was away on business and things went a bit off the rails. My son has decided sleeping is for jerks and is getting up 5 to 6 times a night. It's like having a newborn again. I am completely exhausted. I've had to pick him up early from school twice because he fell asleep. Who does that? Hopefully we get this figured out quickly, I hate the idea of having to take him to the doctor over a sleep issue.

Anyway, here's that guy from that TV station doing that dance. He's like the OG David S Pumpkins.

Cooking in the Forest: Best Carbonara Ever

Have you ever seen one of these Almazan Kitchen videos? I'm no foodie or chef or anything but these things are kind of amazing. In this one the guy makes Carbonara from skratch, including the noodles, while out camping at some lake. Last time I went camping we stayed in a cabin at a campground on the coast. We ate fried chicken and frozen pizza. Clearly I'm doing something wrong.

David S Pumpkins for President

This Haunted Elevator sketch from this weekend's SNL is one of the funniest things I've ever seen. This is like Waikiki Hockey levels of funny. Tom Hanks really is a national treasure. He's a great "actor" but would it kill him to throw us a comedy bone every couple years. Maybe a Joe Versus The Volcano 2?

I should also note that the last three Saturday Night Lives have all been really really good. Sure the election is helping, all the cold opens have been money but the rest of the show is really good too. I don't really know how they do in the ratings anymore but it's quickly become appointment watching for me. Meaning I watch it through Weekend Update and then go to bed.

Aw Yea!

First Look at the Nintendo Switch

It is no big secret here that I'm not a big fan of the current consoles. I wouldn't say I hate them or anything, I just don't have any need for them. Other than to play Red Dead Redemption 2 (shakes fist at the sky). There's nothing either the PS4 or the Xbox One do that I can't already do with my computer and frankly my computer does it better. Yes, it's frustrating when I miss out on a few exclusive games but I can wipe away my tears with Overwatch at 1080p and 60fps.

Now with all that being said, throw my logical reasons out the window and let me tell you all about how much I love my Nintendo Wii U. It has family friendly games that are exciting and challenging that you can't find on any other system. Games like Super Mario 3d World, Captain Toad's Adventure, or Pokken Tournament. There's even a few grown up games like Bayonetta 2 of Xenoblade that snuck in there for when the kids have gone to bed. I love the goofy ass controller with the touchscreen, you have no idea how much I play this thing without even turning on the TV or while letting my kids watch crap cartoons.

The only bad thing about the Wii U is that I got it for my Birthday this summer. So of course here's the new Nintendo hotness the Nintendo Switch. I think this thing is brilliant. Like I said before I play the Wii U with just the screen built in all the time but the range from the home base is only about 20 or 30 feet. With the Switch all the processing power is in the screen so you can take it anywhere you want. When you get back home, you pop the screen in it's base and you can use your regular controller or the weird ass hybrid controller the Switch comes with.

Now, while I believe this thing is a thousand times more innovative than either the Xbone or the PS$, a lot is going to be riding on just how easy that transition from portable to home machine is. Also that controller doesn't look like the most comfortable thing in the world and what about 3rd party support? 4K? DRM? A lot of the things "hardcore super gamers" complained about when the Xbox One had its first couple reveals absolutely apply to this thing.

Just a couple paragraphs ago I took an indirect shot at Sony and Microsoft because they can't keep up with my $200 video card, there's ZERO way this little piece of magic is able to keep up with it. Nintendo hit a huge homerun with the Wii by appealing to a market beyond the "traditional gamer" it will be interesting to see if they can replicate that same sort of success with the Switch. I imagine that a lot of mobile gamers will just stick with their phone, since it's easier to carry just one device. But if you regularly carry around a tablet which tablet would you rather carry around, the one that costs $600 just so you can play Candy Crush and browse the web or the one that lets you play Mario Kart 9?

Logan: Official Trailer

Lots of good movie trailers being released this week. Yesterday it was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 and today it's Wolverine 3 Logan. There's not a ton to the trailer, although I'm sure there's a half dozen youtubers searching for easter eggs right now. It's mostly tonal in nature, showing you Wolverine and Professor X as old men. There's a guy with a robot hand, a little girl and Professor X says all the mutants are "gone".

Really they could have showed Hugh Jackman washing his car and as long as they set it to Hurt by Johnny Cash it would feel super dramatic and important. Man that's a great song. If I was ever going to be an MMA fighter, that's the song I'd come to the ring to.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 - Official Sneak Peek

I don't have sound on my computer at work so I haven't actually watched this Teaser/Trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 yet. I'm waiting until I can get to a computer or tablet with actual sound to watch it. Tell me, it's fantastic isn't it?

Progressive Links

Bill Belichick hates the NFL’s tablets so much he ranted about them for over 5 minutes. It's unfortunate for Microsoft that their name has been featured prominently in most of the articles and tweets I've seen about this. If these were iPads the great Grumblelord Belicheck would still hate them. I mean look at this guy, you know he still has a Thomas map in his car because Siri gave him the wrong directions once. I guess that's the chance you take when you make a big splashy product placement deal, it's great when everything is working but the second something goes wrong every sees it.

5 Bizarre Realities Of Video Game Universes We Just Accept. A couple days ago I mentioned that Rockstar was teasing a Red Dead Redemption sequel. Well they made it official with a release date of (to lazy to look it up) sometime next year. They confirmed it will be available on the PS4 and the Xbox One and.... yeah, there's no PC port. Sons of bitches.

There's a Bizarre Reality I can't accept.

The Weirdest, Most Disturbing 'Sexy' Costumes of 2016. I don't know. Call me old fashioned but the Sexy Hamilton costume is hot. Maybe it's just that I appreciate the theater (not true) more than the fine folks at Gizmodo.

Marvel Has Been Ignoring Fans Telling Them to Stop Being So Progressive Since Forever. Every once in a while Marvel does something that people read as being very political and a certain segment of readers get all bent out of shape. Sometimes it's something big and flashy like a gay wedding or a new POC Spider-Man, sometimes it's something I think is fairly innocuous like having a superhero battle a hate group (they look like trump supporters!). I always think its funny when I read these protests, like have these people never read an X-Men comic? Marvel has been political pretty much from the get go. The earliest Fantastic Four comics were blatantly anti-nuclear power and often very anti-war, two big political issues in the 60s.

I could understand how someone that's really conservative could bristle at the idea that most comic book creators lean heavily towards the left but I refuse to believe their supposed shock. You're surprised that people who gravitate towards the arts are liberal? Have you ever met any human beings?

Anyway, somehow last week I got slightly drug into this "SJW are ruining comics" debate by responding to a tweet from a relatively famous comic book artists. He claimed that Danny Rand (Iron Fist in the upcoming Netflix series) had to be white because being white was central to his character. I quickly (and I thought very politely) mentioned that I believe you could tell a similar Iron Fist story with a non white Danny Rand. I'll admit it wouldn't be the same but I think it wouldn't stray too far from the heart of the character AND it could still be compelling TV. Turns out there are a lot of comic book readers that are NOT ok with changing the race of a character for the big screen. From now on I'm ending all my hot twitter takes with "don't @ me".

Who is Alex Trebek?

Last week something happened on Jeopardy that I haven't gotten around to talking about yet. In one of those awkward Alex Trebek gets to know the contestants segments Susan Cole professed her love of Nerdcore Hip Hop (swoon). After describing what Nerdcore was and who it was for Alex Trebek called everyone involved losers. Or maybe he just called the rappers losers, I don't know, sort of seems like splitting hairs.

Susan Cole and Trebek shared a chuckle and the earth kept on turning. There were a couple short think pieces on the internet and a bunch of tweets of the "what the hell Trebek?" variety, but my guess is if you're not actively following the Nerdcore scene you might have missed all the hubbub.

Luckily for you I'm very much actively following the Nerdcore scene. Over the weekend MC Frontalot, Schaffer the Darklord, Beefy, MC Hawking, Richie Branson, Mikal kHill, Sammus, YTCracker, Dual Core, Jesse Dangerously, MC Lars, Mega Ran, & Dr. Awkward put together the best diss track you'll ever hear. Or at least it's the best diss track directed squarely at an elderly Canadian trivia show host. It's incredibly catchy.

Also whatever Hotel YTCracker is staying at looks dope. I want to go on vacation. Spending a three day weekend in the Tri-Cities doesn't count.

Red Dead Redemption 2 ALMOST CONFIRMED

pic.twitter.com/iuwxwyL2cX

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 17, 2016

Rockstar tweeted this image earlier today and most people see it as a "soft" confirmation that we're getting a new Red Dead Redemption game. Red Dead Redemption is actual a sequel to Red Dead Revolver so this new game will probably be called something else. Red Dead Revolution, Red Dead Resolution, Red Dead Rubby Baby Buggy Bumpers... I don't know. Lots of words star with the letter R.

I'm pretty excited. Red Dead Redemption is one of my favorite games of all time, in fact I think the last time I actually tried to sit down and make a list it was number one. HOWEVER, I have one big worry and that's that this thing is only going to be available on console. Rockstar doesn't port all of their games to PC and when they do sometimes it can take years. I'm not buying an XBox One or a PS4 just for this game. If I'm going to spend $300 on something fun for the basement I'm buying a large format scanner. Oh man you know how nice it would be to scan comic pages without having to do three individual scans and stitching them together in photoshop? Living the dream man.

Joe Exotic For President

If you're undecided on who to vote for this year, what's wrong with you? Yes all the candidates for president are terribly flawed this year but what's the hold up? If you identify as a democrat or are left leaning in general, you pretty much have to vote for Hillary? What's your other option the guy that wants to build a wall to keep China out? If you're conservative or a republican, you're stuck with Trump doesn't matter how much pussy he grabs. Remember those supreme court nominations?

What about a third part candidate? Sure throw your vote away! And as long as you're doing that might I suggest throwing your vote away towards Joe Exotic. His Pro-Tiger, Pro-Fringe platform is very appealing. He doesn't have the same kind of money Trump and Hillary have but with the internet everything is possible. Remember how we got Kony a couple years ago? Lets make American mullet again.

Twirling, Twirling, Twirling Toward Freedom

I've had this picture of Kang and Kodos on my desktop for a couple weeks now just looking for an excuse to post it, so here we are.

When did it become accepted fact that Bill Clinton is a rapist? I listen to way to much right wing radio and if you listen for more than like 10 minutes to any station you'll find out that Bill Clinton is not just a molester but a straight up rapist. It's like the whole Indian shooting the star on the Tootsie Pop wrapper gets you a free Tootsie pop thing, if you repeat anything enough people will just start assuming it's true.

Kind of funny how Trump is in the position of saying "don't listen to these women, all these accusations all false" when just last week he was trotting out Juanita Broaddrick at the debate. I really wonder if Anthony Weiner is looking at all of this thinking "I haven't done half of what Trump has, there's still a chance for me!"

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer #2

Hey there second trailer for Rogue One, how you doing?

I'm not sure that this trailer is "as good" as the first trailer, there's a disturbing lack of Stormtroopers on a tropical beach, but it does give us a bit more on the main character. Also we get to see more cool things like the new U-Wing, K-2SO and Forest Whitaker's robot feet. Save the date for Dec 16th, you're definitely going to want to check out what's going on with those robot feet before the internet spoils it for you.

Rocket Fuel Malt Liquor DAAMN!!!

Man I could really use some rocket fuel this morning. My daughter woke up like 3 times last night and I had already made the incredibly poor decision to go to bed at 1am. Plus I have Friday off so I'm trying to cram 5 days of work into 4 days... Maybe for lunch I'll head down to the local Piggly Wiggly and see if I can get some. DAAMN!!

I Have So Many Books

Welcome to Overwatch Halloween Terror

Hey kids, Blizzard just dropped a bunch of spooky new loot for Halloween. Good for them, I've been looking for an excuse to buy some loot boxes for a while.

For those of you not in the cult of Overwatch, it has a system where every time you level up you get a loot box. The loot boxes can be filled with new characters skins or poses or snappy banter the characters say. They almost never have the exact thing you're looking for in them. If you're too impatient to just earn them you can buy them for like a dollar a piece or something. It's kind of ingenious, el-cheapos like myself feel like they're getting something new and cool to keep them playing and obsessives will spend hundreds of dollars trying to get that really cool new Reaper skin.

I mean I guess it's not great for the obsessives but it's not like anyone is forcing them to buy the loot boxes. It's like the people who spend thousands of dollars on candy crush, that ish is on you my friend.

Ikea Arcade Stick V2: Overview

I'm incredibly close to just saying screw it to all my adult responsibilities and building a mame cabinet of some sort. I'm relatively handy, I can follow directions, I have a garage full of tools, my Dad is a really gifted woodworker in case I get over my head, how hard could it be?

I guess if I was smart I'd start off small with one of these Ikea Arcade Sticks (the instructions on building one can be found here) and go from there. I mean I'm already staying up until 1am every night and getting up at 6:30 every morning. If I just cut out like 2 more hours of sleep every night think of all the things I could get accomplished!

Also I really like the idea of one putting together one of these arcade sticks because as much fun as my RetroPi is the knock off snes controllers aren't that great for playing stuff like Street Fighter or Mortal Combat. I don't know, should I do this or should I sorry about replacing the fan in out master bathroom that sound like a lawnmower? Sure I use the fan every day but think about all the missed hadoukens.

Adaptation

Garbage Bags Full of Links

The Best And Worst X-Men Video Games of All Time. This isn't a bad list, there are a couple games I'd place a little higher and I think it's cheating picking Marvel v Capcom 2, but overall not bad. It really makes me want to go back and play X-Men Legends. As long as I'm firing up the N64 for some WCW/NWO Revenge maybe I should plug in my PS2 while I'm at it.

On a slightly related note, I'm worried my PS2 won't stand the test of time. I remember right before I got a 360 it wasn't playing a lot of DVDs and games took an unusually long time to load. I can't imagine it's gotten any better sitting in a box in my garage for the last 10 years. That would be a shame, there were some really great games on that thing. Frankly I'm interested in how all my old machines are going to stand the test of time. I feel pretty confident that my SNES and N64 are made of adamantium but I fear for anything disc based. I might have to have a real funeral if my Dreamcast ever dies.

The Diamond Rio PMP300: Can this classic 18-year-old MP3 player still cut it? Speaking of old technology, the guys at ARS take a look at a nearly 20 year old MP3 player. I'm one of like 10 people that still uses a stand along mp3 player. I like taking it to work and listening to it through a small stereo I have in my office. I also like having it when I'm drawing. Using my phone as an MP3 player is annoying, you have to hit a side button to wake the phone THEN tap something on the screen to skip a song. With the ultra cheap mp3 player I bought on Amazon I just have to hit the forward button and boom I'm on to the next song, I don't even have to look at the thing.

The only thing I don't like about my china direct mp3 player is that it's so incredibly small and light. Like it ways a half an ounce. I'm always misplacing it and because it feels so light I'm always afraid I'm going to crush it in my hands accidentally.

AFFLECK'S BATMAN Solo Movie Title Confirmed. It's THE BATMAN. Now you know.

Stars Getting Rich Off Fan Conventions: How to Take Home "Garbage Bags Full of $20s". Have I talked to you about Comic Book conventions lately? It's interesting I'm part of two convention groups on Facebook, one for Emerald City Comicon and one for Rose City Comic Con. The ECCC one is full of people that are absolutely SALTY over the lack of "quality" stars and last years convention. They want the entire cast of Star Trek, Doctor Who and The Hunger Games there signing autographs and taking pictures. They absolutely can not wait to spend $100 for a picture with Worf and Riker.

But there's a small group of people just under the surface grumbling about how the stars are greedy. $100 for a picture is too much, the convention costs too much because of all of the guest. Then there's vendors at the conventions that are afraid with all the money going to celebs there's not enough going to their tables. The grumbling isn't always loud but it's there.

At a certain point the bubble is going to burst. Soon enough a one day ticket to ECCC is going to cost $100 and people are going to get priced out. Vendors aren't able to get back the cost of their tables the vendors are going to stop paying for those tables. Your large comic book convention is built on a rather unsteady foundation and it wouldn't take much to topple it. Right now the convention scene is still on the grow, but at a certain point just like everything else we're going to see some contraction. It'll be very interesting when that finally happens.

Sting Sprite Commercial

This commercial where 1999 WCW Champion Sting destroys some kid right after he drinks a Sprite is incredibly effective. It makes me want to both drink a sprite and plug the N64 back in so I can play a few rounds of WCW/NWO Revenge.

BrickCon 2016!

You know what I love almost as much as a good Comic Book Convention? A good Lego Convention. Luckily for us we have a great one right here in our backyard, BrickCon. Every October master builders from across the country fly out to show off some of their amazing original creations. This is my 3rd BrickCon in the last 4 years and it was probably the best one. There weren't as many huge show stopper pieces as I've seen in the past (not that there weren't a few) but the originality of the builds and the sheer number of them was really off the charts this year. I took about 70 pictures so as opposed to posting them all here I've linked to an imgur album of all my photos.



The nice thing about BrickCon is that it's pretty cheap. Tickets at the door were $10, I paid more for parking than I had to pay for our tickets (thanks for taking away all the free parking near the Seattle Center Obama). As usual there were some very impressive space ships, the Normandy from Mass Effect was particularly beautiful but this year it felt like Castles Ruled the roost. Given the response this album has generated on reddit, Lego really needs to bring back the Castle line. The people are thirsty for castles.



Logan and I walked away with a cool Lego Atlantis Board Game, which I felt was a steal at $20, and a Lego Harry Potter minifigure (free with purchase!). There were a lot of vendors there of course, and while the prices weren't great they weren't gouging too bad. If you're looking for a deal at a convention you want to keep your eye out for the discontinued and hard to find sets. If you're buying the same Star Wars set you can get at Walmart you're going to pay too much. That's why I was happy to pick up the Lego Board game, they don't make those anymore and are hard to find out in the wild. I keep telling my wife that I'm pretty sure I could put Logan through college buying Lego sets and hoarding them until they go out of print and selling them on e-bay. Someone was asking $2,800 for the Ultimate Collector Series Millennium Falcon, which originally sold for about $400. That's a pretty good return on investment. It's not quite Scrooge McDuck money were talking about but that's like a weeks stay at Legoland.

Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton Debate Cold Open - SNL

This cold open from last weekends Saturday Night Live is one of the funniest things I've seen on the show since Chris Parnell was rapping about cupcakes. I almost woke up the entire house when Balldwin/Trump said "The problem with the blacks is..." Man, I can really imagine Trump saying that. Worst is you know his poll numbers would probably go up.

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales

What is this like the 5th or 6th Pirates of the Caribbean movie? At this point it's kind of like Transformers for me. I enjoyed the first one but the next couple were terrible so I stopped watching them and I have no idea where they are in the series. Still I bet this makes like a Billion dollars. Johnny Depp wasn't in the trailer but they say Jack Sparrow, he's still in these right? Or is he busy making more Alice in Wonderland movies? They made two of those didn't they? I don't even know anymore, I'm too busy waiting for my torrent of Ash vs Evil Dead Season 2 to download. I'm really bummed Dish didn't do a Starz free preview weekend. They really need to do that for every big cable premiere.

Is Keira Knightley still in these? If not, what's the point?