Something odd has been happening to me over the past few weeks, and, as the title of this entry suggests, it is movie-related.
I have been going to the movies a LOT.
I’m not saying that I have seen a lot of movies in my life (which I have), but my movie visits have been more frequent than usual. This month alone was my highest movie count, with me seeing more than one movie a week, and I love it! I have even become more adventurous with my movies by participating in “mystery screenings” at both Regal and AMC with my girlfriend, and we have been lucky with our flicks. Through Regal, we watched the rom-com gone wrong, Oh, Hi!, and through AMC, the suspenseful horror, The Home.
As well as these two movies, I have also watched F1, Jurassic World: Rebirth, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and Superman (TWICE), which brings it to a total of seven theater visits so far! There has also been some flick activity at the Museum of the Moving Image with a viewing of The Outsiders as well, that brings me to eight, actually. You’re probably wondering how I, a broke college student with a slightly well-paying job, could afford tickets to all of these movies, especially with the rising prices from this shit fuck of an economy. It was all made easy through AMC A-List. At first I was like, “I don’t even go to the fucking movies all the time, why should I pay $27 bucks a month for this?” Then I was like, “These movies are bangers after bangers, perhaps I treated A-List too harshly”.
I’ll tell you guys, some of these ticket prices are absolutely insane, like over $20 for just a regular showing. Hell, the most money I spent on a movie ticket recently was $35 to see Superman in IMAX 3D, and I know I could have seen a regular version of the film, but I wanted to treat myself to something special, and it was worth it. My girlfriend then convinced me to get A-List so I can see these movies for free, which was definitely the right move, especially when I found out that the free movie perk applies to IMAX movies! I have already made my initial $27 subscription fee back by just seeing two movies, so I call it a win to abuse the hell out of A-List!
Not having to pay for my tickets has put my wallet at ease, with my only concern being buying food at the theater, which is equally atrocious, but you win some and lose some. My main praise for this is that I found the joy in the cinema again, and I get to spend more time in the theater with my friends and my loved ones. Actually, one of the cutest I have discovered during this movie mania is that my gf and I are a movie couple. We have a fun habit of watching old movies in theaters, and it has progressed into us seeing so many new things together. It has brought me a sense of joy I didn’t know I could feel. We don’t see every movie together, but the films we do watch together feel extra precious to me. I’m happy that I found someone I can share my love for movies with, and who wants to be as adventurous as me (and also challenge me to be more daring).
Not having to pay for my tickets has put my wallet at ease, with my only concern being buying food at the theater, which is equally atrocious, but you win some and lose some. My main praise for this is that I found the joy in the cinema again, and I get to spend more time in the theater with my friends and my loved ones. Actually, one of the cutest discoveries I made during this movie mania is that my gf and I are a movie couple. We have a fun habit of watching old movies in theaters, and it has progressed into us seeing so many new films together as well as being A-Listers together. Going out on our movie dates sense of joy I didn’t know I could feel. We don’t see every movie together, but the films we do watch together feel extra precious to me, and it’s even more special when we both analyze the movies after watching them. I love listening to her talk about the many layers of storytelling, the actor performances, the little references to real events/other films. It’s euphoric to listen to her. I’m happy that I found someone I can share my love for movies with, and someone who wants to be as adventurous as me (and also challenge me to be more daring).
That’s all I have for you today. I hope you enjoyed reading my rambles while I get ready for my next movie, to which I know will be absolutely fantastic.
Since the amazing Star Wars series, Andor, ended on Disney+, there has been a new Rebellion within the gaming community. As the Helldivers are rushing to protect Super Earth, veterans of Star Wars: Battlefront 2 have teamed up with new players to bring life back to Battlefront 2 to make their demands to Disney heard. I am one of these veterans, and I stand with the movement and demands the gamers are making.
WE DEMAND BATTLEFRONT 3!
Captured via my PS5
I can remember spending many sleepless summer nights online with the boys battling it out against clankers and Stormtroopers during Sumpermacy matches, Galactic Assault, Starship Battles, and Heroes vs Villains matches, and they were some of the best nights of my life. There was a real sense of community during these matches, and there were many unspoken rules that we all abided by for the sake of honor and loyalty to a franchise that was all mighty. When I first heard of this resurgence in gaming, I didn’t pay mind to it at first because this sort of thing happens once a year, but this feels different. Something has changed with the fans.
Could it be that we are getting fed up with the lack of good Star Wars content through Disney (aside from Andor, a magical show)? Are we upset about the Star Wars celebration Fortnite is getting, which is blunt proof that a Battlefront 3 game is possible? Is it that we are still upset that EA cut live support for Battlefront 2 five years ago? Could it be all the above? I don’t know, but what I do know is that we are back with a vengeance!
via Steam
Steam has reported a massive uptake in player count, similar to what we had in 2021, and it seems to be steadily growing with Star Wars content creators such as Bombastic joining our cause to bring about Battlefront 3. This Rebellion may appear to be fruitless and “annoying” for some, but our voice must be getting attention, as reports state that one of the original devs for Battlefront 2, Mats Helge Holm, has replied to a r/StarWarsBattlefront about the possibility of a sequel game, and he has this to say:
HOPE STILL LIVES!
We all deserve a new game, and this little glimmer has reinforced our drive to Battlefront 3! If we can manage to get GTA VI an official date, then maybe if we keep fighting, flooding the Battlefront 2 servers, we can get what we desire! We can all help the cause by commenting #Battlefront3 everywhere on social media (it doesn’t have to be on Star Wars posts), and if you are able, GET TO THE BATTLEFRONT!!! WE NEED YOU!!!
Captured via my PS5
If you enjoyed this blog, be sure to like and subscribe to receive updates on the next post. As always, this is your friendly neighborhood merc saying goodbye, and see you next time!
It’s been quite some time since I have last wrote something on this blog site, and I know this blog is a passion project of mine, but the truth is….I have not been feeling the passion this past year.
I have been so swamped and burned out from work and college that I have been neglecting this great Hall of Mercs, and it’s not fair to you. It’s not fair to me either! This place is meant to be a fun space for me to rave and rant about the pop culture and news scene, but I am failing at it. It is as if I can’t pull myself to continue writing. Can I only chalk it up to feeling burnt out, or can I route it to most new movies and TV shows being so terrible that they are not worth reviewing? I wrestle with these thoughts every night, and I always come out…
EMPTY.
I promised myself that I was going to return to this site, but nothing has been interesting to me. Then it hit me. Maybe I don’t always need to review a movie or TV show just to write a blog. I remember first starting “The Darkest Timeline” sub-group to write about social media and news headlines, and those blogs were fun because they felt more “me”. True opinions for more abstract ideas. So I decided going forward that at least once a week, I will write a blog called “Real Talk” where I will talk about…. me. Weekly check-ins where I talk about work, maybe chat about something online, maybe write about some goofy shenanigans I get up to with my friends, cosplay plans, or even chat about my girlfriend. Oh yes, since I’ve been gone, I got involved in a badass relationship.
I will still do my best to write my review blogs, but I think these new “Real Talks” might be a step in the right direction. This is something new and exciting for me, and I’m excited to have you, my faithful readers, read all about it. Cheers to the new era for this blog! This is your friendly neighborhood poolguy saying goodbye, and see you next time.
*THIS BLOG CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE*
I know I have been gone for a long time, but with being busy with my day job and being completely un-inspired by the current state of entertainment media, I honestly considered shutting this blog down. That all changed on July 26th when my faith in good storytelling was restored with the film that may have single-handedly saved the MCU, Deadpool & Wolverine!
The recent decline in Marvel’s shows, movies, comic series (especially Spider-Man comics) has become increasingly worse, leaving Marvel fans with zero hope for something good to feast their eyes on, but then came the announcement of a movie starring both Deadpool and Wolverine, the two saviors of R-Rated superhero movies. There was a lot riding on the success of the movie with it being not only the first R-Rated movie from the MCU, but the first big movie utilizing the Fox Studios X-People to usher in the new age of mutants. After watching this film three times, I can say that the future is looking bright if Disney continues what they started with Deadpool & Wolverine and make movies with people who actually care about the project. Speaking of projects that people really care about, let’s talk about what happened in the film!
The Plot
This tale starts with our favorite merc defile the grave and corpse of the dearly departed Logan from Logan (2017), while using said adamantium corpse to murderize a squad of TVA agents (from Disney+’s original series, Loki) and grooving to some NSYNC, which suddenly get halted for some backstory. We go back a few years to see that Deadpool attempted to use Cable’s time slider to travel to the Sacred Timeline to join the Avengers, which fails because Happy Hogan sees Wade as someone who just can’t make the cut. We fast forward six years to find Wade working with Peter (yes, that sugar bear) at a used car dealership, completely giving up everything Deadpool-related. Peter feels that Wade should get himself back out there to lift his spirits, but he denies he needs that “zest” again.
Peter walks Deadpool home, a one-bedroom apartment he shares with Blind Al, and he is shocked to see his friends there to throwing him a surprise birthday party. As we watch Wade catch up with his friends, we learn that him and Vanessa have broken up, which was disheartening to hear, but we can’t dwell on that because three miniutes after that, Wade gets abducted by the TVA. He is brought forward to Agent Paradox, who informs him that he has been selected to officially join the Sacred Timeline, which Wade then refers to himself as the savior for Marvel:
Wade get a new suit, new swords and guns, and is given a new lease on life to be a hero again (he also saw a spoiler involving Thor crying over his broken body), but all that is cut short when Paradox tells him none of his friends can’t come with him…..oh, and his universe was dying. Paradox explains that the anchor being, an entity of great importance, from Wade’s universe has died, causing the entire universe to collapse. That anchor being who passed was the Logan we saw die at the end of Logan. So, in normal Deadpool fashion, Wade steals a TemPad from Paradox and runs to find Logan, who he believes is still alive because comic book characters can’t seem to:
STAY DEAD!
Unfortunately for Wade, Logan was actually dead. Wade was doomed. There was no hope in saving his universe, whose collapse was accelerated by Paradox using a bomb called a Time Ripper, but not to worry because Wade did the next best thing. Travel the multiverse in search of a Wolverine to replace the one his Earth lost, and in true multiverse fashion, he did this all in a sleek montage. It was jaw-dropping and hilarious to see Deadpool meet with different variants of Wolverine who were each referencing iconic Wolverine-centered comics (all were played by Hugh except for one special Wolvie). Wade eventually finds a drunk Logan who will just have to do and he brings him back to the TVA.
Paradox is baffled and acknowledges that this variant of Logan is considered as the “worst Wolverine”, and he decides to send the duo to the Void, a land at the end of time where the TVA sends the multiverse’s mistakes. An angry Wolverine starts a fight with Deadpool, a badass fight I must add, to which ends with Wade cutting a deal with Logan to work together to return to the TVA to not only save Wade’s universe, but so they can make the TVA fix Logan’s universe (which is pretty shitty because of him). Logan agrees, but they are both captured by villains from previous X-Men movies who got stranded in the Void, and we’re greeted with the return of an amazing and almost forgotten hero, Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch:
Though his return is short lived since he is killed a few scenes later by the movie’s big bad, Cassandra Nova, the twin sister of Charles Xavier. She rules over the Void and reveals that Johnny is part of a band of rebels she has been hunting. After some weird mind tricks, Wade and Logan escape and find themselves in the Borderlands, where they encounter a Deadpool variant, Nicepool and his pet, Dogpool.
Nicepool offers them directions to where they might find the rebels, and he offers his Honda Odyssey for transport. The duo leave the weirdly kind Deadpool and his furry companion and set off to find the rebels, which is cut short when Wade accidentally outs himself as a liar to Logan when he revealed he didn’t know if the TVA could fix the now angry Wolverine’s timeline. Wolverine doesn’t even try to kill Wade, but he stabs his heart and soul with harsh words that every Deadpool has heard before, “Your can’t take anything seriously, and you’re a joke. The even bigger joke is that you can’t die, but that joke is on the rest of us”. This leads Deadpool to kick Wolverine’s ass, turning the Honda Odyssey into the elevators from The Shining, and both of them pass out from the blood loss.
When they awake, they find themselves in some kind of base, which is where they meet the rebel fighters Johnny was part of. If you thought the Human Torch was the biggest legacy cameo the movie had, then wait until you see the rebels:
Elektra, Blade, Gambit (played by Channing Tatum), and Laura (aka X-23 from Logan) represent the forgotten universes and universes that never existed (such as the canceled Gambit movie starring Tatum), but Deadpool inspires hope in these heroes to storm Cassandra Nova’s stronghold, and stop her while also helping Deadpool return home so he can carry on their legacy. Before the raid, Laura has a heart-to-heart with Logan, where Logan reveals that the reason he is the “worst Logan ” is because he never wanted to be a hero and he let the X-Men die, and he has lived with that regret ever since. Laura then shares that her Logan didn’t want to be the hero either, but he knew when to rise up when the people needed him. She even remarked that neither this Logan nor her Logan were the “right person for the job”, but they were both the one who were needed.
The next day, the heroes storm the stronghold, overpower Cassandra Nova and force her to send Deadpool and Wolverine out of the Void. Cassandra manically refuses, and in a twist is shot by her soldier, Pyro. Wolverine convinces Deadpool to help her because that’s what Charles Xavier would do for her, which pulls Cassandra out of her hatred for a moment and helps the duo escape the Void (by using a sling ring possessing both the time and reality infinity stones).
Wade and Logan literally drop in on Peter at his job upon arrival, and the duo rush to stop Paradox from using the Time Ripper. They are both unfortunately stopped by Cassandra again, who forces Paradox to activate the bomb so she can absorb its power so she can erase the entire multiverse, with only the Void being left. Deadpool and Wolverine would have stopped her quickly, but Cassandra enlisted help from the Deadpool Corps.
It was cathartic to see so many Deadpool variants in one place, all of them with murderous intent just like in the comics. Unfortunately before the fight started, Nicepool gets killed when our Deadpool uses him as a human shield, unknown to him that Nicepool had no powers, but his death was not in vain! Deadpool and Wolverine charged into battle to avenge Nicepool (not really), and together they killed all the Deadpool variants (except Babypool, she’s too cute). Unlike Nicepool, the other Deadpools had a healing factor and got back up like nothing. It wasn’t until the mighty Peter rode into battle in his Deadpool suit, dubbing himself Peterpool, to save Wade and Logan. All the Deadpools were starstruck to see Peter (as they should), with the Deadpools revealing that Peter is a legend in every universe.
While the Deadpool Corp fan-girl over Peterpool, Deadpool and Wolverine rush to stop the bomb, but Paradox reveals that shutting down the bomb’s power core would have to involve one of them sacrificing themselves, and their healing factor would not save them. Wolverine agreed to sacrifice himself to save Deadpool’s world, but at the last second, Deadpool throws himself in harm’s way to save Wolverine. Deadpool was about to shut down the bomb that would end his life, but Wolverine forces himself into the core room and they both shut down the bomb, killing Cassandra Nova.
It all ends on a happy note; Paradox got arrested by the TVA for going rogue by using a Time Ripper to destroy a universe, Deadpool and Wolverine survive the bomb shutdown, and the leader of the TVA, B-15 (from Loki), recognizes the duo’s heroism and restoration of their universe and allows Wolverine to live there. B-15 finds new homes for the rebels (shown by having Laura live in Wade’s universe), Wade gets to keep Dogpool as his companion, and there is a glimmer of hope that Vanessa and him may have another chance together.
My Thoughts
First off, I lost my shit when Logan FINALLY wore the mask! WITH WHITE EYES TOO!!! (I should have worn my white pants.)
Nothing brings me more joy when the live action variants look like they were ripped right out of a comic panel, and that’s not just for Logan. I was in shock and awe seeing Channing Tatum as Gambit, and his cajun accent was pretty damn good based on the videos I’ve seen about cajun accents. Oh, and freaking Blade and Elektra were fantastic, and I enjoyed the little dig that Blade made at Disney for saying that “There only ever will be one Blade”, due to the new Blade reboot’s script getting rewritten for the past few years.
Speaking of these cameos, I understand they were used for the “wow factor”, but they honestly did the plot more justice. It was a clever idea to bring in discontinued movie characters as citizens of the Void instead of just traveling to each of their universes, a major improvement over what we witnessed in Multiverse of Madness.
The plot did feel incredibly meta, which is usually a recipe for disaster, unless you’re Deadpool. The meta-humor worked effectively well when you understand that Ryan Reynolds and Shawn Levy both knew how much freedom Disney was giving them just out of desperation because the recent movies from the MCU have been quite lame since Avengers: Endgame, so it was hilarious as a Deadpool fan to see that Mickey Mouse essentially take “back shots” from the merc with a mouth to save the company.
Overall, this might be my new favorite Marvel film of all time. I’d give this a 10/10, with an additional 5 points awarded for the Fox Studios tribute that played during the credits. If you have not seen this film yet, I strongly urge you to wreck your wallet and go watch it, and maybe treat yourself and see it in 4DX. With the success this film is bringing in, I can only hope that this will welcome in the new age of X-Men movies for the MCU, with my only hope being that those IPs are treated with the respect they deserve. Perhaps this movie has taught Marvel Studios that a movie doesn’t need to rely on star power alone to make money, but they can only truly thrive with a good story. If they just spend enough time building up new characters and new stories, instead of just re-using popular actors just for views, maybe they can make something fantastic.
I know I usually save this blog to write about the latest news in social media and entertainment, but to be frank with you, it’s getting more difficult to enjoy this current wave of content, and it’s been a pain in the ass to write lately. Ever since I started my new job last year, I have found so little time to focus on this grand “hall of mercs”, and I want to apologize for that, but my lack of blogging has solely been due to new entertainment sucking.
It’s almost as if nothing here in the western world is booming with passion anymore. The last thing I saw that was remotely amazing (and generated amazing memes) was the new Spider-Man movie, Across the Spider-Verse. A full review of that will be ready soon, I can promise you that, but other stuff has been pretty boring.
Take the final season of CW’s The Flash for example. The introduction of the Red Death villain was a rushed mess and didn’t exactly fit the show. The Red Death, in the comics, is an evil variant of Batman from a universe where he forcefully fused with Barry Allen to become a murderous speedster, who helped lead a group of other evil Batpeople (and Batcreatures) to conquer the multiverse. They were meant to be this intimidating force of nature, but CW gave left us with this:
Some “Dollar General” Power Ranger who acted more like a brat than a villain, who was played by an actress from a canceled show. Javicia Leslie did a good job as Ryan Wilder in Batwoman, but her performance here was severely sub-par.
Not only that, but after her short-lived villian arc, we were paraded with obnoxious filler episodes that made zero sense to the overall plot, with the one diamond-filler in the rough being the return of Oliver Queen to help fight Bloodwork. The final season didn’t get remotely entertaining until the final four episodes when they ressurected Eddie Thawne as Cobalt Blue, a villian I’ve been dreaming of being on the show.
Little backstory, Cobalt Blue was originally the twin brother of Barry Allen, Malcolm, who was separated at birth, and he was raised by the Thawne’s. The Thawne family had this artifact called the “blue flame”, which granted the user magical powers, one of the powers being Speed Force absorption. When Malcolm Thawne learned the truth about his heritage, he developed a major hatred for Barry because he felt that Barry’s life was meant to be his, and to make matters worse he knew that Barry was the Flash. He became Cobalt Blue to torment the Flash.
In the Arrowverse, Eddie Thawne killed himself in season one in order to erase Eobard Thawne from existence (which didn’t exactly work), but the final season revealed that the Negative Speed Force resurrected him to become its new avatar. The Nega Speed Force filled Eddie’s head with dark thoughts, convincing him that Barry stole a life with Iris that was meant for him, and promised that he’ll get that life back if he helps the Nega Speed Force kill the Flash Family. On the surface, this sounds like an epic story arc, and it went so far that the show even brought back the Reverse Flash, Zoom, Savitar, and Godspeed. Unfortunately, this arc also felt rushed. All of these villains were defeated so easily as if they were just henchmen, and Cobalt Blue was defeated by the power of friendship. It was such a sappy ending.
Now the ending could have worked if this arc was a few episodes longer. You could’ve easily cut out three of the fillers and dedicate the newer episodes to build up the looming threat of Cobalt Blue by sending in the past evil speedsters to haunt Team Flash. We also could’ve had more interactions between the villains, such as an open-dialogue between Zoom and Savitar, which was revealed by Grant Gustin that a confrontation between the two speedsters was going to happen before it got cut. Why it got cut is beyond me, but it’s decisions like those that make me realize that studios would rather “phone it in” than put actual effort into their content.
No effort into premiere content leaves it—-soulless. Without passion and drive, a show and movie can only be described as “meh”. I hate how tv shows, movies, and comic books that I loved growing up are becoming so dull and corpo, it just makes it harder to find something to write about. I hate having slacked off on this blog, and I hate how I haven’t been posting more on my Instagram and TikTok.
What am I saying?
Maybe I’m falling victim to a creativity block due to the current wave of entertainment, or maybe I’m just feeling too strained from my new job to put in the effort to make content. Perhaps it’s a little bit of both, I’m not sure anymore.
Whatever this funk is, I’m forcing myself out of it starting now. I’m coming in hot with new vigor! I’m back and reloaded, so be expecting more of me on all my socials! This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying goodbye, and see you next time.
Welcome back, my loyal readers! If you can’t tell, I’m in an incredibly happy mood today because the greatest fighting game of all time is making a triumphant return to the gaming screen! Yes, I am referring to the return of Mortal Kombat with its newest title: Mortal Kombat 1.
Now for those who are confused as to why Netherrealm Studios is going from Mortal Kombat 11 to Mortal Kombat 1, you’ll have to look back at the ending to MK11 and the “Aftermath” DLC for your answer. Answer that I will quickly provide:
The Story So Far
MK11 follows a timeline-bending story of Kronika, a titan/mother of Shinnok, who forms a deadly alliance with all the villains of Mortal Kombat with the goal of re-writing the timeline to make it so that her son never dies at the hands of Raiden. Simply put, this game contained a lot of fights between past and future versions of each character (or mirror matches), which paved the way for nostalgic returns of heroes before they were twisted into chaotic villains. Through fast-paced chapters, the main game ends with Raiden sacrificing his godhood to save Liu Kang, turning him into a fire god, and using his newfound power to kill Kronika and save the timeline. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the case in the “Aftermath” DLC.
“Aftermath” reveals that in defeating Kronika, they destroyed her crown, which acted as a controller for a cosmic hourglass that could reshape timeline. This brought the return of the long dead Shang Tsung to offer his help in retrieving the crown to help save the timeline before all of existence collapses. Of course knowing Shang Tsung’s history, he had ulterior motives of using the crown to kill Liu Kang and rewrite the timeline in his image, which leads to a final showdown between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, the two kombatants who started this whole saga.
The final fight is triggered by the player’s choice of who they want to play as between Liu Kang and Shang Tsung, but it seems Mortal Kombat 1 is going with the Liu Kang ending with him rebooting the timeline, hence the name Mortal Kombat 1. What his new “era” contains is still a mystery, but the reveal trailer still has some clues on who remains in this new era.
The Trailer Clues
So the first two characters revealed for the new game are a human Raiden (first image) and Kung Lao (second image), who seem to be the new Shaolin duo with Raiden replacing Liu Kang previous role of Kung Lao’s rival. I can assume that this new Raiden will have a completely different move set since mortals can’t exactly wield the power of lightning (but anything is possible MK), and one of my biggest hopes is to see Kung Lao transition to becoming the front man for the new game. There have been quite a few moments of Kung Lao disrespect in the past few games (and in a recent movie), and it would make sense for him to be the new champion for Earthrealm in Liu Kang’s new era. Liu needs to seriously help a bro out.
The next new pair of characters revealed are the twin sisters, Kitana (first image) and Mileena (second image), who appear to be honored as nobles in an unknown realm. One would say they’re in Outworld given their shared history, but I would gamble that this happy-looking realm could be Edenia, Kitana birth realm. These images could imply that Outworld never conquered Edenia in this new era, and both Kitana and Mileena have become sibling rivals instead of vengeful enemies.
Now this wouldn’t be Mortal Kombat without the appearance of the two flagship characters, Scorpion (left) and Sub-Zero (right)! Two fighters whose hatred for each other spanned over 30 years are heading into uncharted waters in this new era. Brief update, Scorpion and Sub-Zero were able to bury the hatchet in Mortal Kombat X after discovering that Quan Chi was behind the murder of Scorpion’s clan and family. During their intro scene, Liu Kang says “You can face each other as sworn enemies, or united as brothers,” which leaves the two ninjas’ current relations ambiguous. Did Liu Kang prevent the death of Scorpion’s family in this era, or do these two hate each other for new reasons?
The one certainty we do have is the return of Shang Tsung, which came as a small shock. I would think Liu Kang could do without Shang Tsung in his new era, but the fire god’s reason for keeping him could be to bring balance between good and evil. It’s also a theme that if you kill one villain, a worse one will take their place, so this may be an easier way for Liu Kang to keep evil in check if he just resurrects his old enemies that he knows the new champions can defeat. Unfortunately, it won’t be an easy fight:
The gore keeps getting bloodier and bloodier with each sequel. With the game rumored to be using the Unreal Engine 5, we can only imagine the new fatalities the kombatants will be performing on each other, and what new “x-ray moves” or “fatal blows” Netherrealm Studios has in store for us.
What kind of game modes, the full roster, or what the story will be about are still a mystery, but I do know that this game will definitely reach peak levels of awesome! First we have Street Fighter 6,Tekken 8, and now Mortal Kombat 1?! 2023 is starting to become the year for fighting games.
That’s all I have for you today, I hope you all enjoyed this blog. Are you excited about the new MK game? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and as always, be sure to leave a like and subscribe. This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayers saying goodbye, and see you next time.
It’s been awhile Pool-Fans, but I’m back in action. So instead of talking about what I’ve been up to the last few months, let’s chat about Marvel’s recent addition to the MCU, Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania. There was a lot of hype surrounding this movie with Kang taking the stage as the main villain, M.O.D.O.K. being introduced to the live-action medium, and expanding upon the lore of the Quantum Realm. Unfortunately, the movie didn’t live up to the hype it generated, and it at some points felt like a rushed piece of meh. Let me explain.
The Plot
The movie pretty much jumps into the action with Scott, Hope, Cassie, Hank, and Janet getting sucked into the Quantum Realm by Kang after Cassie creates this “Quantum GPS” that sends to signals to the Quantum Realm (it was like they door-dashed without the actual dashing). Everyone gets separated when they enter the Quantum Realm (Scott and Cassie are Group A, while Hope and her parents are Group B), creating a few sub-plots to follow. We learn through Janet about who Kang is and that she knows him since they were both trapped in the Quantum Realm. She tells us that this variant of Kang destroys timelines and was exiled from his group (the Council of Kangs) because he was considered to be too dangerous (he gives Thanos a run for his money). Janet also tells us that she destroyed Kang’s only escape from the Quantum Realm, which makes her and her family wanted fugitives in the Quantum Realm.
Whole Group B is busy searching for Group A, Scott and Cassie are captured by Kang’s forces while trying to aid some rebels who want to stop Kang’s rule. This is when we are introduced to M.O.D.O.K., to which it is revealed that he is actually Darren Cross (aka Yellowjacket) from the first Ant-Man movie. M.O.D.O.K. tells Scott that he was saved by Kang after Scott “banished” him to the Quantum Realm when he short-circuited the Yellowjacket suit. M.O.D.O.K. then brings Scott and Cassie to meet Kang, who demands Scott to help him retrieve his ship’s power core so he can leave the Quantum Realm (the power core was altered by Pym Particles used by Janet when she attempted to destroy it). Scott doesn’t want to do it, then Kang threatens to kill Cassie, then Scott agrees and retrieves the core, Kang takes the core with Cassie and Janet as hostage, there’s a big CGI fight scene between Kang’s army and the same rebellion that Scott and Cassie met up with earlier, Scott and Cassie are reunited, M.O.D.O.K. has a little redemption moment when Cassie makes him realize that doesn’t have to be, and this was actually said, a “dick” for the rest of his life, and he dies trying to fight Kang.
After the big fight with Kang, Scott and the others open a portal to send them home, but Scott gets pulled back by Kang for a final battle, they both trade blows, Hope comes in to save Scott and they kill Kang together, peace is restored in the Quantum Realm, and everyone lives happily ever after…..for now. Scott is left with a haunting threat from Kang saying that the “others” will come for his world if he dies, and Scott wonders if he did the right thing in beating Kang. Ofcourse, shit does go sideways in the most colossal way when the first of two post credit scenes play.
The first end credit scene showcases the Council of Kangs meeting up to plan their next move against the MCU since Kang the Conqueror was killed by two of their heroes. This is a proper build to the Avengers: The Kang Dynasty movie that is set to come out in a few years since the Kangs will have to go to war with the main MCU timeline since they deem them too dangerous. The scene as a concept is badass, but the actual execution was a little weird that it looked more like a Kang inspired cosplay meet-up at Comic-Con. Although it’s still cool seeing the MCU branch out into the multiverse territory.
The second end credits features Loki and Mobius finding a Kang variant by the name of Victor Timely, who in the comics is a Kang who escaped to the early 1900s after a defeat by the Avengers to become the pioneer of robotics and other inventions (one of which might be time travel or multiverse travel). This scene is basically a teaser for what’s to come in Loki season 2, which we can expect to be about Loki exploring the multiverse with a Mobius variant trying to find/stop Kang before he unleashes hell on the entire multiverse. This scene left me with high hopes for what’s to come in the future for Loki, and I just hope they don’t fuck up his character again like they did in season 1.
I also hope that in whatever future project Ant-Man is involved, he gets more character development than what he had in this whole movie. For all the world-building Quantumania showcased, I felt like nothing really happened to Scott. There were no stakes, nobody died (I don’t Kang the Conqueror is really dead), and the ending was kinda meh. It’s unfortunate for me to admit, but there are quite a few issues I’ve had with this movie.
THE BAD
The whole plot of this flick felt like a rushed college essay that was written from scratch the night it was due by a sleep-deprived student (which I have written and gotten better scores than the current RT scores from the movie). The scene cuts and transitions were sloppy, the cgi could’ve been better, and some of the characters were a tad dull, almost like they were just “phoning in” their performances. Hell, I didn’t even like what they did to my boy M.O.D.O.K. in this movie. Making Darren M.O.D.O.K. from a storytelling perspective makes sense, but him acting like dork/dick didn’t sit well with me. M.O.D.O.K. is supposed to be a formidable foe who can go toe-to-toe to heroes like Hulk, Thor, and he’s even fatally wounded Captain Marvel on several occasions. Hell, the dude is in-charge of A.I.M., one of the most dangerous villain corps along with Hydra and H.A.M.M.E.R.! And what kind of design is this:
M.O.D.O.K. is supposed to look like some ugly robotic nightmare, not some zoomed in CGI face! This looks more comedic than intimidating. What makes this design even funnier is that he looks like he can pass on as a cousin of Mr. Electric from the Sharkboy and Lavagirl movie:
Damn….now that I think about it, with all the CGI, goofy character designs, and childish plot, Ant-Man 3 is very similar to the Sharkboy and Lavagirl flick. Very strange if I do say so myself. Now I didn’t hate this movie entirely, there was a few things I liked it about. One of them being Johnathan Majors’ performance as Kang the Conqueror.
THE GOOD
Kang was a fucking beast during the entire movie. You can hear the anger and hatred in each line Kang delivers, and the dude shows zero remorse for anything he does. His suit looks freaking awesome, he fights like a killer, and his arrogance is uncanny. He’s exactly what I envisioned for a live action Kang, and I worry for the hell the Council of Kangs is going to give to the new Avengers team in the future. He is going to mop the floor with them, especially since Earth has lost most of their heavy hitters.
The fights in the movie were also badass, major improvement for some of the more recent MCU content (She-Hulk, I’m referring to you), and I also liked how this movie gave Hank Pym some of the spotlight with him leading an army of super intelligent ants to save the day. Also Janet got some good action shots in, and it made me wonder which Ant-Man and Wasp duo is this movie for.
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, if this movie’s main goal was to set up Kang and his variants as the big bads for this new Saga, then this movie succeeded. Though I still expected more from this movie. I wanted more danger and stakes, like I went into the theater expecting that Scott was either going to die or get stranded with Hope in the Quantum Realm when she traveled back to save him, which might’ve been the original ending since it was reported that reshoots for the ending were made a few months before the movies premiere. Having Scott and Janet trapped in the Quantum Realm, with Cassie figuring out how to free them while also being a hero in the absence of Ant-Man and Wasp would have been a better fit for the ongoing theme of new heroes continuing on the legacy of their predecessors (Kate Bishop Hawkeye, Yelena Black Widow, She-Hulk, and Ms. Marvel). I also would’ve had M.O.D.O.K. escape from the Quantum Realm and takeover A.I.M., which would’ve paved the way for new movies and shows with them as recurring villains. Despite all that, this movie wasn’t the worst thing the MCU has done. It’s just decent at best. I would give it a 7/10, which is being generous by my standards.
Anyway, that’s all I have for you today for my triumphant return to the blog scene. I hope you all enjoyed the read, and if you made it this far, be sure to comment your thoughts on the movie (or my blog) below. As always, this is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying goodbye, and see you next time.
“Grand Theft Auto 6” has been in the works for over 10 years, with some fans speculating that it’s all a hoax and it’ll never be made. We’ve seen hundreds of Youtubers trying to cover every bit of news and clues surrounding the enigma that is GTA 6, and some have downright trolled people by saying they have exclusive gameplay. With all the crazy shit that’s been happening these past few years, and the general disappointments in how Rockstar is treating their loyal fans, we finally have a win. About 72 hours ago on Twitter, gameplay from the fabled GTA 6 was leaked!
A mysterious hacker uploaded a zip file containing pre-alpha gameplay from GTA 6 along with its source code onto a GTA Forums site, and the fans took action and started to spread the word that GTA 6 is real and it looks pretty damn good. Unfortunately, I was only able to save a few screenshots before Rockstar started to take them down, but I can still tell you what we know so far.
Protagonists and Plot
JasonLucia
There will be two playable protagonists, Jason and Lucia, with multiple in-game conversations implying that these two are a couple meaning this could be a “Bonnie and Clyde” inspired story. This game is also said to take place in a modern-day Vice City, which brings me joy since my first intro to GTA was Vice City.
IN-GAMEREAL-WORLD
More proof that this game will be set in Vice City is the real-world comparisons between some in-game locations and places in Miami found on the Google street view. This all we know about the plot at the time of the leak, but thankfully we have more info on the gameplay.
Gameplay
With the way Lucia looks in this pic, I wouldn’t be surprised if the shooting mechanics are similar to Red Dead Redemption. Both Red Dead games have realistic gun handling/shootouts and a limited weapon inventory (the rest of your weapons were left on your horse, so I can see it adapting to leaving weapons in your car as a possibility), so bringing that into a GTA setting would prompt players to strategize before missions instead of going in guns blazing (which is pointless since I’ll rushing in no matter what).
Another interesting development was the idea that cops will recognize your car model and/or plate number even after you lose your wanted level. This NPC behavior was first introduced in Red Dead Redemption 2 when the police of towns you committed crimes in will recognize you if you’re wearing the same outfit you committed the crime in, which is why it was important to always change your clothes. So now we know that stealing cars will have an even greater importance than in previous games, which is great since the game is literally called “Grand Theft Auto”.
That’s pretty much all I know from the leaks, but I think the best part of all this is the praise GTA 6 is getting from the gamining community.
Public Reception
These leaks have everyone so hyped for the game, and even though Rockstar is kicking themself in the butt for letting this happen, they have to realize they kinda deserved it for taking so DAMN long to even give us a trailer for GTA 6! Rockstar kept shifting their efforts to continue updating “GTA Online ” and making that horrendous GTA Trilogy remaster, they have forgotten to prepare for the future! The people like what GTA 6 has to offer, and they need to capitalize on it while the iron is still hot. The least they can give us is a trailer for the game, or maybe a poster, but we need something to quench our thirst for GTA.
Fans everywhere are happy to see that GTA 6 is real and is truly in-development, and some are even remarking that this pre-alpha footage is better than the new Saints Row game that came out recently (to be honest, any game looks better than that dumpster fire). The memes about this are hilarious, all the gamers are toasting to this grand achievement of leaks, it’s good vibes all around. It’s nice to finally get some good news during these bizarre times.
That’s all I have for you today, so be sure to like and comment your thoughts on the GTA 6 leaks below. Also if you haven’t already, subscribe to the blog to be emailed updates on my latest blog postings. This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying good-bye, and see you next time.
Let me be the first to say that Thor: Love and Thunder was a big step-up from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and that’s not saying much if you remember how Doctor Strange 2 played out. If you enjoyed Thor: Ragnarok, then I’m pretty sure you’re going to like this flick as well. The action scenes were amazing, the cinematography was masterful, the special effects were good (and questionable), and the comedy was amusing while also being a tad forced, but this was a good movie nonetheless. Let’s go into detail, shall we?
The story opens with the origin of Gorr the God Butcher, the main villain of this movie, where we see him and his daughter wandering through a desert in search of shelter. Unfortunately Gorr’s daughter dies of starvation and dehydration, and Gorr is left to wander alone until he here’s an ominous voice calling him. He follows the voice to an oasis where the god he worshiped is chilling, and Gorr begs him for help, but the god just laughs at him. The god was in a chipper mood because he just killed the previous wielder of the Necrosword, a god killing weapon, and in a fit of rage Gorr uses the sword to kill the god he once worshiped. The sword curses Gorr with dark magic, and he sets off on his quest to kill all the gods.
Next we get some narration from Korg telling the story of Thor, which was pretty much a goofy summary of everything Thor has been up to till this point, and then we cut to Thor helping the Guardians of the Galaxy fight these fuzzy aliens who are trying to conquer a planet of peaceful aliens. The battle is over in seconds when Thor arrives, and when the Guardians were prepping to leave, they see thousands of distress calls from across the galaxy saying a “God Butcher” is killing all their gods. The heroes are confused until Thor see one of the distress calls coming from Lady Sif, so Korg and him quickly leave the Guardians to help Sif, but it was too late. Gorr already killed the god Sif was protecting and she lost an arm.
They travel to New Asgard, which has become Earth’s greatest tourist attraction, only to find it’s being invaded by shadow demons. Thor and Korg rush in to help Valkyrie battle these monsters, and Thor sees that New Asgard got a new warrior with the same powers as himself. He finds this new warrior on the battlefield to be none other than his old flame, Dr. Jane Foster, wielding a repaired Mjölnir.
So a little backstory, Jane has stage four cancer while also being born with a mutation that made her body resistant to the cancer treatment, so she had to look for a more “unique” form of treatment. Similar to how the Necrosword called to Gorr, Mjölnir called out to Jane to become the Mighty Thor. The hammer’s connection to Jane is hinted in a Korg narrated flashback of the love story of Thor and Jane, in it Thor tells Mjölnir to promise to always protect her (which is a step up from the comic’s explanation). Jane is just as strong and invincible as Thor when she’s in her god form, but her cancer worsens every time she reverts to her human form, so unfortunately old nordic magic is a temporary remedy.
After the battle is done, Gorr kidnaps all the children of New Asgard, which prones Thor to form a rescue team with Jane, Valkyrie, and Korg to save them and kill Gorr. This sends them on a journey to Omnipotence City, a meeting ground for all the gods, to gather other gods to help them fight Gorr. This does not go as planned since the head honcho of the city, Zeus (yes, the one from Greek myth), refused to help Thor because he didn’t want to start a panic amongst the other gods. This disagreement erupts into a huge fight, Korg’s body gets destroyed by Zeus’ Thunderbolt (reducing him to a talking head), Thor “kills” Zeus with the Thunderbolt, and the team make a run for it while stealing said Thunderbolt.
The third act is pretty straightforward. The team travel to fight Gorr on his home turf, they get their asses handed to them, Stormbreaker gets stolen by Gorr so he can use it to find the all-powerful Eternity to wish for all gods to be killed, Jane’s cancer worsens till the point where if she uses her god form again it’ll kill her, Thor ventures to fight Gorr and save the kids alone, Jane uses the hammer one more time to help Thor, Thor and Jane save the kids and destroy the Necrosword, but they fail to stop Gorr from meeting Eternity. The three of them get sucked into a dimension outside of the multiverse, and Gorr starts to make his wish. Thor tells Gorr that killing the gods won’t fill the void in his heart, and Gorr tries to justify himself by saying the gods took the love of his life from him, in which Thor says to just wish for them back. Gorr ends up wishing for his daughter to be resurrected, and as Gorr is dying (the sword was keeping him alive) he makes Thor promise to look after her, and Thor accepts. Both Gorr and Jane die in this scene, and Jane is remembered by the people of new Asgard as the Mighty Thor, the hero gave her life to save the innocent, while Thor is off saving the galaxy while raising Gorr’s daughter (who has some cosmic powers of her own), and the movie ends on a note that everything is going to be alright.
The two end credit scenes did hold some promise for interesting future movies. The first is with Zeus healing from his wounds while vowing revenge on Thor and the Asgardians with the help of his son, Hercules. The second scene has Jane being greeted by Heimdall at the gates of Valhalla, welcoming her to the afterlife for warriors. I will add that characters who ascend to Valhalla do have the tendency to come back to life, just putting that out there, but enough of plot talk, let’s get to the pros and cons.
The Pros
The fight sequences were fucking spectacular when edited with the correct use of CGI. The different worlds we got to explore in the movie were stunning, and this movie opened up new horizons for future movies who want to dive into a more mythical theme. The introduction of the other gods opens the playing field for more diversity since Marvel can now include more religions and mythologies to create new heroes and stories. We got the first glimpse of this in Moon Knight when we learned of the existence of the egyptian gods, and there was also a cameo of the Wakandan panther god, Bast, in Thor 4 during the gather of gods (Bast is sitting below Jane):
Another pro for this movie were the scenes between Thor and Jane, and I especially enjoyed the flashbacks of their happy times together. This movie also showed us that Thor becoming an Avenger and Jane becoming a world renowned scientist caused them to drift apart and eventually breaking up (kind of a dick move that Jane dumped Thor with a letter), but I’m glad that the love they once had for each other was still prevalent throughout the movie (we get a smooch scene and a “I love you” scene).
Valkyrie was still a badass as usual, Jane and her shared some good chemistry. Korg was more involved in this movie than he was in Thor 3, and it was nice to see him hook-up with another Kronan to make a rock baby (did find it funny that Kronans procreate by holding hands inside of a mountain for a few months). Christian Bale did a great job as Gorr, he really made the character his own, and his performance paved the way for new sigma male/American Psycho memes for the internet to enjoy. The movie was pretty good, but it did have more issues that outweighed the good.
The Cons
I said before that Christan Bale did great as Gorr, but my one issue with Gorr was that he was barely in the movie. For a movie with a villain labeled as “The God Butcher ”, we didn’t see a lot of god butchering. The first two acts of the movie made Gorr look like an afterthought rather than an imposing threat. I know he kidnapped a bunch of kids, but most of the audience knew he wasn’t going to hurt or kill any of them since we saw earlier that he’s a grieving father. More Gorr scenes would’ve made my viewing experience more enjoyable, and there are a lot of fans who agree with this sentiment. Gorr was one of Thor’s most vicious enemies in the comics, and I don’t think this movie did him any justice.
There was also a lot of forced comedy in this movie, which I guess can be blamed on us because MCU fans enjoyed the hell out of Thor 3 because of the comedy, so predictably the studio and Taika Waititi focused more on the comedic aspect during the writing process. I was one of the people who loved Thor 3 for the comedy, but the humor was too much in this one. Hell, there were even some moments where the plot felt rushed and still trying to figure out what kind of movie it was trying to be. Also let’s not forget the CGI:
There were more than a few moments when the CGI looked like shit, and this movie had a $250 million budget for fucksake! A bunch of fans and myself are starting to notice that most of the new Phase 4 movies and tv shows are showing a significant decline in CGI quality as of late, and with that came the news stories about VFX workers claiming that Marvel Studios was a terrible work environment with bad pay and outrageous deadlines to meet. Almost every media outlet is talking about the grievances VFX artists are sharing from their time working at Marvel, thus explaining the decline of CGI. I might further explore the situation in another blog, but here’s link to a video explaining what we currently know: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jaC4yh3RbM
Final Thoughts
This movie was an entertaining watch, but it unfortunately fell flat in a lot of areas that can’t be overlooked. This is not to say that Thor: Love and Thunder was a terrible movie, but it could’ve been better. Just like with Doctor Strange 2, I had high expectations for Thor 4 simply because we were getting the live action debut of Gorr, but the fact that Taika Waititi focused on making a “family-friendly” movie instead of a balance between seriousness and comedy like he did with Thor: Ragnarok was disappointing, so I give this a 7.5/10. Hopefully Thor 5 will be better if it gets greenlit.
What did you all think of Thor: Love and Thunder? Did you love it or hate? Is this the best Thor movie to date, or do you think this movie could’ve been better? Let me know in the comments below, I would love to hear some feedback from my readers. Anyway that’s all I have for you today, so be sure to leave a like and subscribe if you haven’ yet to get notified when I upload new blogs. This is your friendly neighborhood cosplayer saying goodbye, and see you next time.
Jesus Christ, CAN ANYBODY HAVE AN OPINION WITHOUT GETTING FUCKING BULLIED ONLINE!!! Shit, there’s always something stupid happening in the Star Wars fandom that gets blown way out of proportion, such as opinions about the Sequel Trilogy. Let me explain…..
Earlier today on Twitter, I noticed that the user, Star Wars Theory (SWT), was trending because he was being harassed by a multitude of users for his tweet regarding the Sequel Trilogy and the current Star Wars fanbase that defends everything Disney Star Wars creates (Sequel Trilogy included). Look at his tweet here:
screenshot off Twitter
Unfortunatley, I couldn’t find what SWT’s tweet was responding to, but I would suspect that it had something to do with the recent situation involving a cancel attack on a user for tweeting “Don’t make Star Wars poltical” in response to the offical Star Wars Twitter presenting a new issue of Star Wars Bounty Hunters for Pride month, which had a queer couple on the cover. Twitter user @Dataracer117 was able to document the hate through this set of images. Check this out:
The original tweet seemed pretty harmless at first, and normally I would defend someone saying something harmless, but this isn’t the case. I believe the person who made the first tweet might be a bot account because at the user only followed 2 accounts and had no followers at the time the relpy was first made. The user has not made any stand-alone tweets, just replies to other people in the same Star Wars thread (a little suspicious). I have reason to be believe that the account was controlled by a Disney employee to rile up the Twitter Puritans to validate the creative direction Star Wars is going in, very similar to when Star Wars tried to gaslight the media by calling their audience racist if they hate on Reva from Kenobi. I will admit that every fandom does have it’s share of racist/homophobic assholes, but the issue rises when the corpo giants start to support the bullying tactics of the Puritians because they think it’s going to make them more money.
The only reason I bring up that previous situation is because it’s happening again with Star Wars Theory. SWT is being called out as a racist and homophobe just because he called the Sequel Lovers (or as I call them, Sequel Simps) toxic people, which they ironically proved his by bullying him and calling him a racist/homophone. What’s even MORE ironic is that he made a video response to the Reva hate, defending Moses Ingram saying that the fans should leave the actress alone and just keep the hate on the CHARACTER. SWT has been an advocate for trying to keep the Star Wars fandom a civilized place for fans to discuss content with each other. His tweet was directed at the Disney Star Wars fans, and I stand with him. He did nothing wrong, and the hate he’s getting is utter bullshit. I’m happy that myself and other Star Wars fans are defending him, one of them being the popular Youtuber ThatStarWarsGirl who posted her take in her recent video:
You can find more tweets giving hate and support to SWT by searching up Star Wars Theory on Twitter, and most of these tweets are hilarious and pathetic. You can also look me up at @Legendpool616 to see some of my tweets against Disney Star Wars for allowing their fan-mob to bully anyone who has a different opinion about the new content.
This brave new world is so bizarre. The Puritans can’t let anyone have fun anymore, and it makes me wonder how they enjoy themselves if they get “triggered” by everything. It’s bizarre and sad that something I loved as a kid is being turned into a symbol for virtue signaling. This might escalate with the finale for Kenobi dropping tomorrow, so who knows what that’s going to bring to social media.
Anyway that’s all I have for you today, thank you for reading. Be sure to click that like button at the bottom and leave a comment telling me your thoughts on this mess. This is your common sense Star Wars fan saying goodbye, and see you next time.
Hall of Mercs 