Deck of the WEEK - IZZET-SCRY

Could use some advice on this deck build folks.
 Blue / Red Scry / IZZET

 The Theros set appealed to the Greek Mythology geek in me so much. I wanted to make a deck that followed that and was fun to play. Then I met Flamespeaker Adept. Oh yeah, almost had a nerdgasm. So I built this deck around that card. I looked for ways to scry to boost him, and there were plenty of red and blue ways.  I also wanted to capitalize on the instants and sorceries I would be casting to boost Flamespeaker Adept, so I went with IZZET and thought Guttersnipe and Prescient Chimera. While those are the focal points,  I thought putting in the Red God Purphoros  and Young Pyromancer could be interesting as well. 

Still, I found that my biggest issue when deckbuilding is "that I be doin' too much" (my math students say that to me all the time). I guess I try to make a jack of all trades / Batman's utility belt deck that doesn't focus on doing one or two things well.

Check out the link on tappedout.net and let me know what you think. Any advice is welcome.

http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/blue-red-scry-2/



Thanks.

My FNM Guildpact

My FNM Guildpact

For the past several months now I've been going to FNM (Friday Night Magic). I was always intimidated by the level of competition and multitude of Magic the Gathering deck combinations. Still after I started this blog and the corresponding vlog, I decided to venture a little out of my comfort zone. When I decided I would start attending, the Return to Ravnica block had just started and I'd become nearly obsessed with the guilds... The 10 duel color themes that was the Ravnica and Return to Ravnica theme. This infatuation led me to challenge myself with playing all 10 guilds at Friday Night Magic.

My intent was to write a series of articles chronicling each of my guild decks and how the game went. I feel a little short (got lazy). While I keep notes, I didn't quite manage to write articles corresponding to each of my Ravnica guild deck games.

Fast Forward to now...I've currently played 8 of the 10 guilds. I've been going to Friday Night Magic once or twice a month now. My schedule (or wife) won't allow for me to get there every Friday. I also managed to take a few students from Job Corps  (I'm a math teacher) to FNM with me.  So here is the long overdue commentary on my FNM adventures with the Ravnica guilds...

I also want to preface this by saying I've been playing FNM at a small and at the time relatively new venue. It started having 4 rounds for FNM and has grown to require 5 rounds. I also tried to not spend a lot of money on my decks. I've been pooling resources with friends and students to try and make the best decks without spending a lot.

My first Friday Night Magic I played Gruul.

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/gruul-was-standard-then/

I actually had not decided to play all ten guilds at this point. As I was (and still am) a rookie, I wanted to go with something kind of simple. Bloodrush, Racor, Fling and Burning Tree Emissary all screamed that to me. This deck had lots of speed. My goal was to attack, bloodrush, and after damage to fling for the win or at flyers. I did not however put the Flinthoof Boar in the deck. At the time it was great...the new hotness but I thought I'd be "net-decking" if I added that so I stepped away from it. I did ok my first time around, went 2wins-2losses. Of course my 2 wins came from the friends that accompanied me ...


Next I played Simic

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/simic-was-standard-then/

By now I decided I was going to play all ten guilds. As I was out to have fun more than win, I tried to use the Biovisionary as my win condition while playing evolve. I never did get it to work, but I did go 2wins-2 losses again. It was fun moving multiple counters around. And this time I didn't just beat my companions.



3rd time I played Izzet

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/izzet-was-standard-then/

Its rather funny as Blue/Red are probably my favorite color combination but this guild just failed to impress me. I really tried to like it too. I liked playing the guild, but had a terrible time trying to find a win condition. One of my students clued me in on the Nivix Cyclops/Fluzcharger/Unblockable combo. It seemed rather cheesy to me, but I wanted to play the guild so I built a deck around it. Let's just say it didn't work for me. I believe I was 1win-3losses....it might have been 1win-4losses...I can't quite remember, I believe I've blocked that out. I did have fun with the Burning Earth enchantment on all the dual land players.

Next I played Dimir

 

 http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/dimir-was-standard-then/

 

 

While Blue/Black aren't necessarily my favorite colors, Dimir is my favorite guild. The guild of thieves and assassins...Love it! Unfortunately I had about as much luck with Dimir as I did with Izzet. I didn't have a strong win condition; mostly mill with a few Consuming Abberrations. I had to play this deck then as the Innistrad block was moving out of standard play. This was my last chance to play Invisible Stalkers (what's more Dimir than Invisible Stalkers?). I didn't get a single win, still I had a reasonable amount of fun with this deck.

 

 

Next on the list was Boros

 

 http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/boros-standard-with-theros/

This was the first deck I played using cards from the Theors set. Its creature heavy and played into Battalion. I didn't really have an answer for board wipe, but I didn't face any. The deck did ok against amateur players, but more experienced players beat it down. I ended up 3wins-2losses. I ended up miss using Pithing Needle; thought I could use it on a instant/sorcery to stop it from working.
Next on the list was Rakdos

 

 

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/standard-rakdos/

 

 

I had a lot of fun with this deck. Its quick and a little mean. Desecration Demon has almost become a staple for any time I play black. Its just mean, cost effective, and arguably one of the best cards in standard in my opinion. This deck is semi quick. Went 3wins-2losses although I almost made it to 4 wins. I had the same issue I always seem to have which is mana. I couldn't draw the second black mana I needed for Hero's Downfall and a Boros Reckoner (after killing 2 others) got me. I played some of my best games with this deck, also I did have a little help on one game that I should've lost though as well. 

 

 

 

 

To continue, I went with Selesnya next

 

 

 

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/standard-selesnya/

 

In truth, I didn't have much of a strategy with this deck. I know I wanted to use the populate mechanic along with the Voice of Resurgence, Fleecemane Lion, and Advent of the Worm I pulled. That was it. There was a little life gain in there as well. I did ok; but when I faced a deck with a definite win condition, I didn't have a snowball's chance in Florida. Still it was kind of fun populating and using the Centaur and Worm tokens. Didn't get a chance to make any soldiers with Precinct Captain though. I went 3wins-2losses.

 

 

Next go around was with Orzhov



 

http://www.mtgvault.com/icewater74/decks/orzhov-standard/

I had fun with this deck! Sticking with the theme, this deck uses extort and pseudo extort thanks to black devotion and Gray Merchant. The Triad of Fates allows me to pop the Merchant in and out for continued pseudo extort.  The deck worked except my first game was against a deck full of planeswalkers and I got owed. I'm not complaining though, I had a blast! I ended up with 4wins-1loss, got 3rd place. That's a first for me.

I got 2 decks left and I'm open to suggestions...

 

 

Freebie Friday 11-15-13

Every other Friday is going to be Blerdwords FREEBIE FRIDAYS! 

This Freebie Friday (11/15/13) we're giving out a copy of the DC Deck-Building Game by Cryptozoic. Its an awesome game! If you like superheroes, you'll like it! Check out the YouTube video connected with the contest if you want to see the game played. Good luck to all!

DC Deck-Building Game by Cryptozoic ($40 value)

Exclusive Martian Manhunter card for DC Deck-Building ($12 value)

Click the link below to enter:

FREEBIE FRIDAY Rafflecopter giveaway

The last Freebie Friday (10/11/13) we gave out some RARE and MYTHIC RARE cards from the Magic the Gathering expansion THEROS. Congratulations to the winners!

Four FOIL cards including the RARE Ember Swallower

WINNER - Kevin Chang

MYTHIC RARE PlanesWalker Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

WINNER - Glenn Wilson

Two Japanese RARE cards, Soldier of the Patheon & Agent of the Fates

WINNER - Ryan Norris

The RARE Prognostic Sphinx
WINNER - Jessica Muro

The RARE Spear of Heliod
WINNER - Michelle Loney

The RARE Whip of Erebos
WINNER - Justine Mcintyre

What cosplay costume do I want to make for COMIC-CON 2014?

 NIGHT THRASHER!

 

 

 

http://www.pinterest.com/icewater74/my-cosplay-plans/

MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE

They are among us. Hiding in plain sight.

FREEBIE FRIDAY OCTOBER 11th 2013 - THEROS

Howdee folks!

Every other Friday is going to be Blerdwords FREEBIE FRIDAYS! 

This Freebie Friday (10/11/13) we're going to take it up a notch and give out some RARE and MYTHIC RARE cards from the latest Magic the Gathering expansion THEROS. Theros is a set that has a Greek Mythology theme. The following cards below are part of the giveaway. Good luck to all!

 

Four FOIL cards including the RARE Ember Swallower

MYTHIC RARE PlanesWalker Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver

Two Japanese RARE cards, Soldier of the Patheon & Agent of the Fates

The RARE Prognostic Sphinx

The RARE Spear of Heliod

The RARE Whip of Erebos

Click the link below to enter:

FREEBIE FRIDAY Rafflecopter giveaway


 

The last Freebie Friday we gave out M13 Booster Battle Packs. These are a perfect starting point for someone who is interested in trying Magic the Gathering.

 

Agents of SHIELD First episode Easter Eggs

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD Easter Eggs

    
     Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. premiere aired on September 24th on ABC and the nerd fires have been lit. When this show was announced I was ecstatic! The show has a lot of talented people working on it and such a nice pool of plot devices from the Marvel comic movies as well as comics in general to pull from. I've enjoyed watching all of the episodes so far. The one thing I found I love most about this show are the constant references to comic-book themes and/or scenes from Marvel superhero movies.

    

     Below is a list of "Easter Eggs" I noticed after watching the premiere episode several times. This list includes spoilers, but honestly, who hasn't seen the first episode? If you see something I missed, please leave a comment; otherwise enjoy....
SPOILER ALERT!

In the opening scene, Stark Tower/Avengers Tower is in the background (Stark Tower/Avengers Tower is featured in the Avengers Movie and in various Avengers comics).

Also in the opening sequence, narrated by Skye, there are flashes of Thor's hammer, Captain America's shield, Iron Man flying, a Chitauri soldier's face, and a shadowy figure that is referenced as the Hulk (These are references directly from the Avengers movie and/or Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man movies).

We see Michael Peterson, a fired factory worker who volunteers and receives super powers through an experiment (Joss Whedon often employs actors that he’s used in other projects, J. August Richards, played Charles Gunn in Joss Whedon’s Angel series).

When Maria Hill interviews Agent Ward before assigning him to Agent Coulson's team, they talk about a Chitauri Neural Link, a billionaire in a flying metal suit, how the battle of New York has changed the world (Cobie Smulders reprises her role as Maria Hill she appears in comics and the Avengers movie, much of what her and Ward talk about are direct references from the Avengers movie. The Chitauri are the alien army that invaded New York in the Avengers movie).

Maria Hill talks to Coulson about his return. Agent Coulson makes mention of being stabbed by Asgardian Mussolini (He was stabbed and apparently killed by Loki in the Avengers movie).

When Agent Coulson is reading Agent Ward's assessment, he mentions in espionage he has the highest marks since Romonoff (Natasha Romonoff is the Black Widow).

Actor Ron Glass appears as a Medical doctor who clears Agent Coulson for duty (Joss Whedon often employs actors that he’s used in other projects, Ron Glass played Sheppard Book in Joss Whedon’s Firefly series and Serenity movie).

Maria Hill and the doctor share a secret “He can never know” (Speaking of how Agent Coulson returned after being ‘killed’ in the Avengers movie).

Skye talks to Michael Peterson, the hooded hero, and says “With great power comes…a ton of weird crap you’re not ready to deal with (This comes from the classic line from Spider-Man, with great power comes great responsibility).

Agent Simmons asks Agent Ward if he's "excited to be coming on our Journey into mystery" (Journey into Mystery is the Marvel comic title that Thor first appeared and starred in).

Agent Fitz analyzing robots are named after the 7 dwarves.

When Skye is being interrogated by Agents Coulson and Ward, she mentions the Project Pegasus cover-up (Project Pegasus was a fictional scientific base in Marvel comics created to find alternative energy sources and later was used as a prison for super villains. Project Pegasus was also mentioned in Iron Man 2 movie).

When Simmons is analyzing the alien technology and says "its dripping with gamma radiation" (gamma radiation is the source of the Hulk's powers).

Agent Coulson says "Extremis, its new and completely unstable" (This is a direct reference from the Iron Man 3 movie).

Agent Coulson says " I've seen giants upclose and that privilege cost me" (Referencing his appearance and apparent death in the Avengers movie).

Lola is revealed to be a SHIELD hovercar (In the comics, SHIELD hovercars were "standard issue" and originally designed by Anthony Stark. In the Captain America: the first avenger movie, Anthony Stark debuted his prototype hovercar).

Did I miss something? Post a comment...

Beware the Batman Show Review

Beware the Batman Cartoon Network animated review. 

      I love superheroes and a superhero cartoon would have to be pretty bad for me not to watch it. Well this show almost meets the criteria. To be fair, Beware the Batman already has two strikes with me as it replaced one of my favorite animated shows of all time, Young Justice. I know some folks would say, Young Justice is gone and to get over it, but I say then NAY and never even! I got that out, I feel better now, so lets move on.

      The first question I have to ask is did we really need another animated Batman show? After watching several episodes of Beware the Batman, I don't think we needed this one.

      In my mind, and many others I'm sure, Kevin Conroy is the definitive voice of Batman. Well the voice of THIS Batman almost sounds nasal to me. What's worse is there isn't a vocal distinction between Bruce Wayne and Batman. The voice just doesn't excite me.

     Alfred...**sigh**...where do I start. I have always envisioned Alfred as the British gentleman who's looks are deceiving. An innocent looking older man who has more tricks up his sleeve that in Batman's utility belt. And I picture him with hair. Well the Alfred of this show had neither any hair or that innocent look I've come to expect. He looks "leathery" and weathered like a bald Clint Eastwood; when what I'd come to expect is Sean Connery I understand that Alfred's back-story involves a past as a soldier; but that's not what I get from his look or mannerisms. I see a MI6 agent who is one vacation, not retired. I just don't like the guy, and I've always liked Alfred; from the cartoons of the 60's, to the live action 70's, to the animated series of the 90's. and the movies with Micheal Keaton to Christian Bale. 

    If that isn't enough, there's the villains. The 70's live action show had villains I could laugh at. The animated series of the 90's had villains I felt sorry for. This show has villains that I don't care about or care to see. Professor Pyg, Magpie, Humpty Dumpty, Silver Monkey, Anarky, Cyber. NO SPOILERS... But none of those villains make me care or laugh. Batman's villains has always been one of the reasons I've liked him sp much. They have a complexity that's just awesome. The villains from Beware the Batman are simply not interesting. They're have the complexity of a Rubik's cube that's all one color. No matter how you look at it or turn it; there is nothing there. A friend watched the show and thought Magpie was Catwoman redone. while that speaks load of his character and issues, it says to me that Magpie had/has no depth.

   After watching a few episodes with my wife, we both say the computer animation as lackluster. The backgrounds were too dark and stagnate. I know it's Gotham mind you, but there's dark and then there's dark! The animation doesn't look smooth, in fact it looks choppy in some parts and the action got hard to follow in some instances.

    With all this hate that I've dishing out, I do have to say that having Katana as a Robin of sorts is a rather interesting. Not interesting enough I'm afraid. 

      I realize that this is a retelling and a different prospective on the idea of the Batman mythos, but from what I've seen, it's just not a good one.

    C- grade for Beware the Batman

Once more another cosplay cut

Guess who else I'm not dressing up as... T'Challa the Black Panther



T'Challa is the ruler of the African nation of Wakanda. The ruler also inherits the title of the Black Panther (although it still has to be earned). Wakanda is the main and only source of the metal Vibranium. The thought of outsiders exploiting Wakanda for it's valuable and rare metal, lead to Wakanda closing itself off. T'Challa traveled to the US to learn about other perceived threats to his homeland by joining the Avengers.

T'Challa, like other Black Panthers before him took a mystical herb that grants him Olympic level strength, speed, stamina, and agility and super human senses. This was due to a mystical connection to a Panther entity. Several times this connection was broken and the Black Panther lost his enhanced abilities. Besides his physical abilities, as the ruler of Wakanda, T'Challa has access to an enormous amount of resources; financial and technological. This outfit is made of a Vibranium mesh. Probably his most deadly asset is his mind. T'Challa is a genius that has a Ph.D from Oxford, as well as a skilled hunter, fighter, scientist, and strategist.

He first appeared in Fantastic Four #52 The new Mutants (July 1966), and was created by Stan "the man" Lee and Jack Kirby..

No need to cosplay as the following were done so well:

   

Who else gets kicked from the list of Comic Con 2014 cosplay options? This guy...

Who else gets kicked from the list? This guy...Sunspot aka Reignfire



Roberto "Bobby" de Casta is a Brazilian young man who happens to be a mutant. After his power manifested during a soccer game, he was recruited by Professor Charles Xavier as one of his "New Mutants" Bobby comes from a wealthy family and he inherited membership to the Hellfire club when his father died. Portrayed as a ladies man, Bobby has been always been cocky and headstrong.

Roberto has the ability to absorb solar energy and convert it into physical strength and stamina. When using his powers, Bobby's would be covered in a black aura outlined by various black spots. This was said to be the result of his power's reaction to air and dust particles. Early on, his powers mainly dealt with increased strength. Many times have I read "For all Bobby's strength, he's just as vulnerable as we are" or lines similar to that. Later in his appearances due to the result of a few different story-lines, Roberto could use the solar energy he absorbed to fly and project concussive blasts.

He first appeared in Marvel Graphic Novel #4 The new Mutants (April 1982), and was created by Chris Claremont  and Bob McCloud.

Happy Birthday CJ

Putting superheroes to the side in favor of my little princess to say...

Happy Birthday to Candice Joyette Ferguson

She is four years old today!

Daddy loves you princess!

Phineas and Ferb Mission Marvel Easter Eggs

Phineas and Ferb Mission Marvel Easter Eggs

    
     Since I love Marvel comics and I love Phineas and Ferb, loving Mission Marvel was a no brainer.

     I think the best part of Phineas and Ferb is that my wife and daughter love the show as well. Its awesome "geeking" out as a family and sitting down together and watch an episode. Or after we put the kids to bed, my wife and I watching episodes on demand...DEFINE AWESOME (geeking out with your wife)! This was no different.

     Here is a list of "Easter Eggs" I noticed after watching Mission Marvel for the 4th time (this time I had a notepad). If you see something I missed, please leave a comment; otherwise enjoy....
SPOILER ALERT!

In the title sequence, Spider-Man tells Aunt May about what Phineas and Ferb are doing a la Candace and mom.

The gang starts the episode surfing in space...possible homage to Silver Surfer...

The gang then talks about how they powered their boards with Cosmic Rays...the source of the Fantastic Four's powers...

Stan Lee first cameo: He is selling Hot Dogs at his Excelsior Hot Dog stand.

After the heroes lose their powers, Nick Fury says "Yes, yes I have" ... the "Yes, yes I..." comment used constantly on the show.

After Doofenshmirtz takes away the heroes' powers, he updates his L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. blog ... L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N. is an acronym for League Of Villainous Evildoers Maniacally United For Frightening Investments in Naughtiness which was introduced in the Nerdy Dancing episode of Phineas and Ferb ‏

Red Skull comments about that Doofenshmirtz sounds Drusselsteinian and he has a Drusselsteinian relative. ...So the Red Skull has a relative from Doofenshmirtz's hometown.

Spider-Man asks Phineas "Aren't you a little young to be stealing superhero's powers?" ...the question "Aren't you a little young to be..." is constantly asked of Phineas.

Nick Fury, Red Skull, and Venom comment about Agent P not having powers: Is he some kind of super platypus with super platypus powers? Does he have a super platypus exoskeleton? Is he super-soldier platypus like Captain America? Was he was bitten by a radioactive platypus, like Spider-Man?

Doofenshmirtz askes if Red Skull's head might burst into flames ... a Ghost Rider reference

The heroes and Phineas and Ferb go to a small shed-like building called the Secret Hideout for Emergency Defects (or S.H.E.D. for short) ... a play on S.H.I.E.L.D. OR a play on TARDIS from Dr. Who ‏

After entering the S.H.E.D. , the inside looks bigger than the outside and Ferb makes a comment about it "just a little British sci-fi technology." A Dr. Who and Tardis reference

Thor makes a comment about Iron Man's armory ... making reference to the Beak 2.0 armor ‏

Candace geeks out and asks the heroes to read her fan-fiction, Spider-Man refuses since they are not allowed to accept unsolicited material

During Doofenshmirtz "Evil Buddies and Me" number, a giant floating baby head passes by MODOK

Venom steals hotdogs from Stan Lee

As the heroes face the villains with their restored powers switched, a frustrated Thor refers to talking to Iron Man like talking to a bilgesnipe ...he refereed to this mythical beast in the Avengers movie

After the heroes are rescued by Agent P, Spiderman asks if that was Howard the Duck

After making Phineas mad, Candice walks off while a piano plays something awfully close to the closing theme of the live action Incredible Hulk TV series and Buford makes a reference to not making Phineas angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry ... homage to a popular line from show

Major Monogram is seen on Agent P's communicator wearing an eye patch and a goatee a la Nick Fury (calls it a face mullet)

The Red Skull traps Doofenshmirtz and Agent P in traps similar to what Doofenshmirtz uses every episode

Doofenshmirtz continues to talk about the Red Skull's accent; suggesting he get a speech therapist

Buford talks down Hulkjeet and causes him to transform back to normal a la the Hulk movie and Betty Ross talking the Hulk into turning back to normal

The villains use the Power Draininator to disintegrate Stan Lee's hot dog cart

A falling Iron Man is saved by Hulkjeet a la the Hulk saving Iron Man in the Avengers movie.
After being saved, Iron Man says "We have a Baljeet" a la "We have a Hulk" line from the Avengers movie

Doofenshmirtz uses his Waffleinator against the villains ...this was unveiled at D23 Expo in real life
After the heroes regain their powers, Thor's hammer has a bunch of parking tickets and a boot on it.

With their powers restored, the heroes and Agent P stand ready as the camera rotates around them. ...Homage to the rotating scene in the Avengers movie as the heroes stand back to back
A grade for Mission Marvel! Would've gotten an A+ if it had featured Black Widow...LOL

Did I miss something? A full transcript of the episode is available here at Phineas_and_Ferb:_Mission_Marvel Transcript

Comic Con 2014 and who I'm NOT dressing up as

On my quest to Comic Con 2014, I am NOT going to dress as this guy!



This is Olympic gold medalist Jefferson Pierce, he was born with the meta-gene (DC comics version of mutants). He donned the costume and called himself Black Lightning to battle local thugs that were threatening his neighborhood. Later he joined Batman when he formed the Outsiders and still later he joined the Justice League.

He has the ability to generate and magnify electromagnetism. Black Lightning uses this ability to fire bolts, generate force fields, among other effects. He suppressed this ability for most of his life.

He first appeared in Black Lightning #1 (April 1977), and was created by Tony Isabella and Trevor Von Eeden.

Does the black guy live? Movie reviews...Pacific Rim

Pacific Rim Quick review

     If you needed your Godzilla, Johnny Sokko and his Flying Robot, or even Power Ranger itch scratched, then Pacific Rim does the trick.
     Monsters and giant robots are the subject for this movie.
     I saw this movie utilizing the D-Box vibration chair. It didn't add anything to the movie. it was like watching the movie while sitting in a broken massage chair that would cut on and off.
Does the black guy live?
SPOILER ALERT!

Nope. He lasts for a while, but he has a good death.

The premise of the movie is a dimensional rift opens in the Pacific Ocean and gigantic monsters (we name them Kaiju) emerge from it to terrorize humanity. Giant robots called Jaegars (Japanese for hunter) are constructed to fight the threat. Who doesn't love giant robots? The robots prove to be too much for one person to pilot. So dual pilots are used.

The story has lots of giant robot action as well as political machinations. Governments shut down the Jaegars program in favor of building a wall. The wall proves to be ineffective. So a military commander takes a few of the remaining robots in a last ditch effort to end the threat.

The special effects were spot on and impressive. I may see the movie again in I-max. The fights were for the most part dynamic although at times a little hard to follow as the battle scenes were usually very dark.

Ron Perlman played a small but extremely awesome roll as a criminal that dealt in black market Kaiju body parts (oh yeah there's a huge market). His gold tipped shoes were what sealed the deal.

The story wasn't bad although it did have several cliches. Our main character was a hot shot who burned out after the death of his brother in combat. And of course he's sought out as he's "wasting" his potential. There is also the cocky pilot who needs to be taken down a peg and he ends up respecting the main character and the tragic hero who is dying as a result of his being an early Jaegur pilot. The plot also mimics Independence Day as aliens are trying to take over Earth and there's a ton of destruction. Still with all that, it was a good movie.

A- grade for Pacifc Rim!

Does the black guy live? Movie Reviews This week... LONE RANGER

Lone Ranger movie review

First, I need to say a few things. The Lone Ranger and I have a little history. I've always been a fan of the Lone Ranger, whether it was the cartoons or the 80's movie Legend of the Lone Ranger. There were a few reasons why I wanted to see this film. Sorry, gotta take you through some back story...
I grew up in Flint,Michigan and as a young black boy unfortunately Mother/Father homes weren't the norm. Well I was blessed with one (not saying if you had a single parent home you weren't blessed). And as a family, my father, mother, sister, and I would go to the movies. I remember going to see The Legend of the Lone Ranger as a family. It is one of my fondest memories. Today, parents are so busy either working, or not caring, that family activities seem to be a rarity. Now as an adult, I treasure those times when my family did things together.

My daughters are too young to sit through a movie, but I plan to do things with them when they're older.

Plus, I'm a huge Johnny Depp fan.

Does the black guy live?
SPOILER ALERT!

Yes and no.

Its probably not a coincidence that the Lone Ranger and the Green Hornet were created by the same guy(s). Because both movies had a similar premise, put a lot of emphasis on their mode of transportation (Silver the horse and the car Black Beauty respectively), both movies bombed at the box office and unfortunately for me...I liked both movies. Yes, I cry a little on the inside when I think about it.

Already going in, I figured that this was going to be the Tonto show. Johnny Depp is the headliner and he's playing Tonto. Still my love for the basic concept of the Lone Ranger and Depp let me look past it. Just as in the Green Hornet movie with Seth Rogen, in The Lone Ranger, we see the sidekick doing most of the heavy lifting. While our title character bumbles through things. I honestly like that to a certain extent. Still you can't have a headlining hero that bumbles through the whole movie. And for these 2 movies that was pretty much the case.

Let's swing our focus back to the Lone Ranger. I did love Tonto's character. This treatment of the Lone Ranger gave Tonto's character depth, something that I've never seen done. We see Tonto as a tragic hero who is an outcast due to a mistake that he made as a young brave. You could almost call the story the Lone Ranger and the Lone Brave. The story dabbled in Native American mysticism; calling the Lone Ranger a spirit walker, calling the bad guy of the story a Wendigo and needing a silver bullet to kill him. I really liked and appreciated the Wendigo turned out to be something that Tonto made up as a child to make sense of the mistake he made and the evil of men. Red as the one legged madam was awesome! She walked around with her artificial leg made of ivory that also was a shotgun. Red was too cool. The special effects were done well.
Now onto what I didn't like. Our Lone bumbling Ranger has multiple opportunities to take out the bad guy and doesn't because of his overactive moral compass. It takes him most of the movie to discover that fighting fair and the law isn't going to work, so he becomes an outlaw. This was fine, but it took most of the movie for him to find this out. I understand tis is the origin story, but we lose a lot of time waiting for John Reid to become the Lone Ranger. While I appreciated the fact that John Reid wanted to stop the "war" between Native Americans and the White man's army, I didn't like the futility of their fight or watching all of them getting mowed down by the gatling guns. But I do understand the argument that some might make that it was neccessary. Tonto saved the two white men who wold ultimately massacre his village. I'd like to think that it would take more than two white men to kill that many Native Americans, but the movie didn't go into how they did it, so it might have been implied that they got help. For all the time it took our hero to make his journey from laywer to outlaw, you'd think there would've been time for a training montage. I would've appreciated it.

The movie was campy, draw out, and in some parts badly written. And I loved it. Still while I loved it, I am not blind to the fact that it had a lot of issues and thus it was a box office disaster.

The after credit scene was a little funny, but didn't add anything!
C grade for Lone Ranger!

Avengers Assemble Animated Show Review

Avengers Assemble Disney XD animated review. 

      As much as I love superheroes, this show would have to be pretty bad for me not to watch it. Although I have an issue or two with this show, that is not the case. After watching the first four episodes, there's no reason why I won't be watching every other episode. 
     Avengers Assemble takes up where the Avengers movie left off. We see our six heroes get back together to face all kinds of new threats. And we also have a new member, Sam Wilson aka Falcon.  

      This is the second Avengers cartoon to air on Disney XD channel and frankly I have to say that I liked the first one Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes better. Allow me to explain by doing a little comparison.

      Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes was more comic based as opposed to following the movie. This gave the series a rich history to draw from as well as a bigger cast of characters. We're given Ant-Man and Wasp from the start and we later get the Black Panther, Ms. Marvel, and Vision. Seeing the Masters of Evil, Yellow Jacket, and the Scott Lang Ant-man was cool.  The show was drawn well and had excellent voice acting. As I watched the series, I enjoyed the action as well as the multiple and dangling plotlines.  The Skrull invasion was extremely well done and fun to watch.

     The current series Avengers Assemble is as I said more of a follow up to the Avengers movie. So we get the limited cast of Cap, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Hulk, Iron-Man and the rookie Falcon. My only real issue with the show is the non serious nature of the show. I don't mind comedy in my action, but I think this show goes a little too far. The third episode starts the team arguing over cookies that Falcon brings to their HQ. After the villian(s) are defeated, Hulk finds a single cookie left and the episode fades out with the Avengers arguing over who gets the last cookie. While that is a little funny, the first show gave me drama, mystery, and intrigue. I tend to only see a multitude of punch lines from the newer series. There is no sense of urgency with the team. Everyone is so cocky that I never feel that the world is in peril or that anything is at stake. Although it's only one issue, it's a pretty big issue.  

    The current series has nice animation and I like Falcon. He comes in as this rookie who is in awe of the Avengers. Falcon is the rookie of the team. He even speaks about geeking out being with them. I like his character. Adrian Pasdar does a good job bringing Iron-Man to life as well. 

    Its still early in the series; it has a solid base but there's still room for improvement. If I didn't have Avengers, Earth's Mightiest Heroes to compare it to, I'd probably wouldn't be so critical of the current series. Only time will tell if Avengers Assemble will last or not.

    B+ grade for Avengers Assembly

The road to Comic Con 2014 continues...

On my quest to Comic Con 2014, I am not going to dress as this guy!



This is Augustus Freeman IV aka Arnus aka ICON
He is an alien a la Kal-El that came to Earth in 1839 and he was raised by African-American slaves. His ship conformed his appearance to look like the first life-form that discovered him. Unlike Superman, his world wasn't destroyed, and he's been stranded on Earth. He's was waiting until Earth's technology could allow him to return home.

Icon has an array of powers that rival those of the Man of Steel. In fact DC comics had a crossover and they fought. Although he is not as strong as Superman, Superman did comment about hard hard Icon hit him.

First Appearance Icon #1 (in Milestone Comics which later was merged into DC) and he was created in part by the late Dwayne McDuffie.


I found these pics online of someone that 
already did a pretty good job with an Icon costume.

Now time for a little shameless self promotion...

 

I'm trying my hand at vlogging, and I need your vote. Check out my first YouTube episode and vote for me if you like it. Thanks...

http://geekandsundry.com/vlogger/kyle-t.-ferguson

Happy Birthday Ava

Putting superheroes and fantastical warriors to the side to say...

Happy Birthday to Ava Lee Ferguson

She is one year old today!

Daddy loves you sweetie!

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