Home Blog Page 118

LFCC Looms Large

With San Diego Comic Con shortly to arrive across the Atlantic, those of us here in the UK could be left feeling a little left out. That is, if we weren’t aware of the impending opening of this year’s Showmasters London Film and Comic Con, taking over the Olympia from Friday the 17th of July to Sunday the 19th. The event is set to bring some serious weight in terms of both guests and the bevy of events built around them, including photo shoots, panels, autograph sessions and hundreds of stalls full of TV and Film memorabilia.

The guest list is, well, extensive is putting it lightly. If you want just a small taster check out the myriad tags below. But, as with anything, there are definitely a few highlights as some serious heavy hitters in the field come to London. Namely, Sigourney Weaver and Michael J. Fox. Those two are far from alone in the big leagues (other guests include Michael Gambon, Jonathan Pryce, Christoper Lloyd and Charles Dance) but this pair certainly stood out to me, if nothing else as the heads of two of the biggest classic film franchises there are.

Film is not all there is to see however, as stars from all walks converge on the Olympia. Books, comics and TV are all bringing some serious reputation to bear with everyone from Darren Shan to John Wagner to Rey Mysterio showing up. Yes, Rey Mysterio the wrestler. I too was surprised that wrestling has a contingent brought to bear but, not unpleasantly so. There have been some unfortunate cancellations (Emily Kinney, Natalia Tena and Jonathan Frakes stand out to me) but those attending far outweigh those not. As such, Geek Pride also plans to be attending in force, hoping to see a fair few of you out there on the floor.

And just in case the guest list wasn’t enough to convince you (and if not WHY? BOBA GODDAMN FETT IS GONNA BE THERE), then a few goodies may do the job. Not only have LFCC arranged for an exclusive pair of Toonstars figures (There will be two exclusive variants sets of Marty McFly and Doc Brown vinyl figures on sale at LFCC – a 1985 set and a 2015 set. These sets are not available anywhere else and will only be sold at London Film & Comic Con!), but, in partnership with Gibson, you could win a Les Paul guitar signed by the cast of Game of Thrones. Gibson also just happen to be premiering, exclusively, a Throne of Guitars at the con so, you know, if you’re a guitar/Thrones fan, there’s some pretty sweet deals on offer here.

There’s obviously a lot going on and far too much for me to cover here but, if you want more information, you can head over to the Con’s official site here: http://www.londonfilmandcomiccon.com/index.php

We hope to see you there for what’s sure to be a hell of an event but you best buy tickets fast, looks like we’re not the only one excited to see the woman who single-handedly took down an Alien Queen.

maxresdefault

Dominion: Deck-Builder Extraordinaire

0

Dominion is a deck-building card game produced by Rio Grande games in 2008. Over the next couple of years it won a boatload of awards, sold over a million copies, was translated into eighteen languages, spawned half a dozen expansions and you can even get a mobile version in the App Store. That is a bloody impressive list of achievements. However, I was given it around 2012 and, after losing a couple of games, I pretty much ignored it for two years until I met a special someone who shared my liking for board games and I dug it out once more.

To be fair, I also bought the Game of Thrones Board Game. Takes longer to play than it does to watch a full series.

It’s been our go-to game ever since. We’ve played it on rainy afternoons, out in the garden on sunny days, and just to fill half an hour before we need to catch a train. We played it solidly for a year, three or four games, every couple of weeks, working through the rule book’s suggested game setups and then shuffling the cards to randomly generate our own.

It falls into the German-Style category of board games; easier to pick up for a new player than Chess or a wargame, but requiring more planning and setup than “party games” like Cards Against Humanity or Trivial Pursuit. You know the types: Settlers of Catan, Carcassone, Ticket to Ride, all that business. It hits my favourite game criteria, across all platforms, of “easy to learn, hard to master”. Anyone can come into the game and see that “Village” is a good card, but to play with “Gardens” properly, you need to have been through a few decks.

If you’re the type to put a story behind things (I know I am) then you’ll be pleased to hear that Dominion sets you up with a bare bones narrative: you are the inheritor of a small and pleasant kingdom, but you’re way more ambitious than your parents. You want more land, bigger estates, shinier things and flunkier flunkies. That’s the appetiser, now here’s the main course.

Warning: Cards are *not* Food.

The core mechanic of the game is drawing a hand of five cards at the beginning of your turn, and discarding them at the end, shuffling your deck when you run out of fresh cards to begin anew. You start off with ten cards: seven Copper-type Treasure Cards used to buy Action or Victory Cards, and three Estate-type Victory Cards, which have no playable use in the game turns, but are needed to win once the game ends – whoever has the highest points in Victory Cards is the winner.

During a turn you may first play an Action Card if you have one. These cards are the bread and butter of the game (sorry for all the food metaphors), and may either give you more Actions, let you draw more Cards from your deck, or interact with other players at the table, either by stealing money from their deck, forcing them to discard part of their hand or inflicting a Curse Card upon their deck – negative Victory Points. Those more attack-based actions can by blocked or have their negative effects eventually removed by other cards.

Once the Action phase is over, you may buy additional cards with the Treasure you have in your hand. Gaining a new Copper Card is free, but buying up to Silver and Gold is something of an investment – Gold being worth three Coppers, but requiring a total of six Treasure to purchase. Purchasing too many Victory Cards will glut your deck with unplayable cards, so you have to balance getting all the Victory Cards before your opponents, against weakening your overall buying power for the end-game land-grab.

Such Intrigue, much cards, what birthdays were made for. Wow.

The game features many expansion sets which add new cards and strategies, blending together Action and Victory Cards to make them more useful, introducing new Action Cards that stay in play outside of the turn, and as recently as April 2015 they brought out the “Adventures” expansion. Only “Intrigue”, pictured above, doesn’t require the base game to play, but you’ll need it for the rest of them. Bear in mind I’ve yet to play them yet when I say that I think the price point for some of the expansions – equal to the base game – is a bit high, especially when they can’t be played as standalone. But that’s just my gut feeling and Yorkshire thriftiness.

In summary, Dominion is an ace game and well deserving of its accolades. If I were to scratch for a negative thing to say about it, then I’d really have to dig deep. After the amount of play I’ve gotten from this game it is no surprise that the edges of the Treasure cards are looking a little rougher, but you should take that as an endorsement – you’ll play it into the ground.

Fan Creates Constantine Credits in the Style of Joss Whedon’s Angel

0

A good credits sequence on a TV show can, and will, become seared into your memory if good enough; the artistic credits sequence of HBO’s Game Of Thrones or Marvel’s Daredevil being just two modern examples. But 90’s TV shows had a different approach and talented Youtuber / Constantine fan, RydiaXizos, had this in mind when he created an entirely new credits sequence for the show Constantine, in the style of Joss Whedon and David Greenwalt’s Angel.

Incorporating both the memorable theme music, by Darling Violetta, and the same montage style; it works brilliantly.

Check it out and let us know what you think.

Calling all Buffy Fans!

key_art_buffy_the_vampire_slayer

“In every generation there is a chosen one, she alone will stand against the vampire’s, the demon’s and the force’s of darkness, she is the slayer!” 

Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been off our TV screens for 15 years. 15 years since we last visited Sunnydale and joined the Scooby gang on one of their mishap escapades. Joss Whedon’s creation lasted 7 seasons and 2 American networks, The WB and UPN. With the wittiest and sarcastic of the shows writers (including Whedon and Steven S. DeKnight), the series soon became a cult classic and a massive following began.

Each week fans from across the globe tuned in to watch Buffy Summers, the chosen one, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar fight off evil of all forms with her trusted watcher and mentor Rupert Giles played by Anthony Stewart Head (he’s the famous coffee bloke for Nescafe, trust me your mum knows him). Accompanied by a brilliant supporting cast featuring Allison Hannigan as Willow,  Nicholas Brendan as Xander and David Boreanaz as Angel.

During the seasons, cast members left or were killed off, on screen and new characters were brought in. One character in particular who was introduced in season 2, has to this day a huge fan Base and following, his name, Spike. Played by James Marsters, Spike was a mix of Johnny Rotten and Sid Vicious and even though Spike was a villain he brought a touch of added humour to the show. His popularity got so much that his character turned into an Anti-hero in the 3 seasons leading up to the shows finale.

BTVS had such a vast fan base, not just because it kept you entertained but it touched on a lot of taboo things at the time of airing. One such episode was titled “The Body” where Buffy comes home to find her mother Joyce, dead on the couch due to a brain aneurysm. The other thing that got some people’s knickers in a bunch was the discovery of a main character’s gay relationship. Willow and Tara’s – played by Amber Benson – relationship caused a lot of waves but it also received overwhelming support from the fans, which proved to the network (the WB at the time) that the fans had well and truly spoken.

We even had our very own High School Musical Episode titled “Once More With Feeling!”, by far my favourite of all the series. It was all singing all dancing and extremely fun to watch. unfortunately all good things must come to an end, as did Buffy the Vampire Slayer with its 7th and final season. During that time we’ve had many conventions, lots of meet and greets, including the party/convention dedicated to Buffy for the fans by the Fans, The BTVS Posting Board Party. Held every year in L.A where cast and crew and fans from all over the world would come, mingle, share stories and buy memorabilia that was auctioned off for the BTVS chosen charity “Make a wish foundation”, but alas there hasn’t been a con dedicated to Buffy in some time………until now!

Thanks to the people at Rogue Events, next year, fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and it’s spin off, Angel, will get the chance to relive good ‘ol times in Sunnydale. Rogue Events is holding this Convention named “Prophecy” at the NEC Hilton Birmingham on the 17th of June till the 19th 2016. More information can be found on their website which I will link at the bottom.

I hope to see you all there but until then, keep the stakes sharp and your holy water holy.

All seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer are now showing on Netflix.

https://rogueevent.co.uk/wordpress/prophecy/

 

Dread – Hardcore Jenga RPG

0

Recently, my regular tabletop gaming group finished its 5th Edition D&D Campaign, which started as a 3.5E game about five years ago, went on hiatus, got cancelled, and eventually rebooted during the 5th Edition Playtesting period. We’re working up some Star Wars: Edge of the Empire characters for our next big thing, but until then, we’ve got time to kill. Now, we’ve done our fair share of one-off gaming sessions before; Fate, Iron Edda, Call/Trail of Cthulhu…but never anything like Dread. As the name suggests, things can get quite tense. I’m not sure if it was brought to the table because Wil Wheaton had it on his show not too long ago, but if this article tickles your interest, head over there and check it out.

Dread RPG is a game well suited to the one-shot, I don’t see how you could get a years-long campaign out of it, though I’m told some people like all that diceless malarkey. We tried it with Lords of Gossamer & Shadow and hated it to the point its now a table in-joke. Instead of the aforementioned rolling plastics, conflict and challenge in the game is resolved by playing Jenga (other tower-based block games are available).

How does this work? In a nutshell, if you want a clue, a story point or a bit of self-defence to go your way, you’re going to need to pull one or more blocks from the tower. Decline to pull, and bad things happen – usually survivable, but they might haunt you later. If the tower comes down when you pull, then you’re dead (or at least, die at the most thematically appropriate juncture). The more risk you’re taking, the more pulls you need. Our GM was astounded it took is so long to start dying, but he didn’t count on everyone at the table being a world-class Jenga player.

Childhood innocence or a serial-murder waiting to happen?

This “game outside the game” serves as Dread’s primary tension building mechanic, and while you’re acutely aware of this artificial worry at the time, it still works – as its then reinforced by the story; which in our case was a classic Teen Slasher flick. Our American High-schoolers, from the Jock to the Slacker, go to a cabin in the woods for a party, where guests are picked off one by one. I won’t spoil the ending, but if you paid attention during Character Creation, you might see it coming. There are other scenarios in the rulebook which I doubt are as easy to puzzle out, but on the strength of the “Beneath the Mask” scenario alone, I’d recommend picking this game up. Since its very free-form and collaborative-story, you could copy the plot of your favourite horror just off the top of your head and it’d translate well into the game.

Speaking of Character Creation, Dread goes about it in a Fate-esque fashion, serving not only to help you understand your character, establish the odd skill or two and give you something to doodle on, but also giving the GM ammunition to mess with you. It’s done in a questionnaire style, with several of the questions being linked across each character – The Nerd having a crush on The Cheerleader, for example, with the Rich Kid having a plot to set them up, which in our game, was by splitting the Jock and Cheerleader up with some planted photos of the Cheerleader’s best friend (one of several NPCs at the party before they were all killed).

Two hours in and nobody had died, though the occasional choice not to pull led to modest hysteria. Which was groovy.

Dread would work well as a Cthulhu Mythos game. The tension I felt in Dread was way more than anything I felt in Call or Trail of Cthulhu, separating the numbers from the character and leaving the game stripped down to tense block-pulling and the sheer relief of survival…aside from the Jenga, its what every Mythos game shoots for. The ending too, is very bleak. Nobody is expected to survive in a game of Dread, and the conclusion of a session are supposed to be like the most unsettling of horror movie endings – the killer appears behind the survivor just before the fade to black, or its unclear if the monster is still out there, that sort of deal. I won’t spoilt the ending to our game, but it was satisfying, even if you half-expected it to happen.

In summary, I made it to the end of the article without making a Judge Dredd pun. Also; Dread is a bargain for the price you can pick up the PDF for, and while you could probably play it without the rulebook, I’d want to give it a few games before I felt comfortable enough writing a story or adapting a movie for it. The Character Creation questionnaires are a novel idea and really work, as does the Jenga-tension, despite it being about as subtle as a sledgehammer to a Cheerleader. As we put it at the table, “Top Kek, 10/10, would die again” – but you’re going to have to judge Dread for yourself.

…oh, damn.

I Got Love For You if You Are Based on The ’80s

0

Hands up who remembers the 80s?

No? Me neither, considering I was only born in ’86.

But if the cinema of that era has taught me anything, it’s that it was a decade filled with explosions, montages, excessive shoulder pads and outrageous hairstyles.

I’m Craig, one of the newbies here at GP, and I’d like you to grab your wingmen and aviators, get your flux capacitors…fluxing and if someone asks if you’re a god, you say yes!

Why? Because something has caught our interest here at GPHQ.
Take a look at this:

 

No, you haven’t been hacked.

Those were Nazi zombies riding on giant flying sharks.

This is cheesy, b-movie goodness at its best/worst. It’s mindless, makes no sense and it doesn’t necessarily have the best budget, graphics or even plot and acting but let’s be honest, that hasn’t stopped Michael Bay from making movies.

This is different however. Sky Sharks knows it’s going to be a bad movie so it makes no allusions otherwise. It harkens back to simpler times in cinema, much like the beloved action movies of the ‘80s. Now, while not ‘80s themed in nature, Sky Sharks did remind me of two other films that have been circling their way around the internet like Jaws around a swimmer’s legs.

The first of these is Kung Fury, another Kickstarter funded film which was released not too long ago.This film was so ‘80s its heart beats like a Depeche Mode drum machine.You might have heard of this short film as it rode triumphantly on the back of a T-Rex and straight to our neon hearts with a soundtrack by The Hoff himself. Again, this one features Nazi zombies, but it also has Vikings, dinosaurs and kung-fu.

The other film currently doing the rounds goes by the name of Turbo Kid. Think Mad Max (any incarnation, they’re all good) but instead of grizzled former cop turned wasteland survivor you have nerdy orphan who reads comic books. Oh, and instead of the “Last of the V8s”, this kid rides around on a BMX. Aside from that, all of the tropes are there; wasteland gangs, cartoony, graphic violence with squirty blood packs aplenty, cheesy one liners, explosions. It has everything.

So what is it about the ‘80s that made us fall in love with its corny, invincible action heroes? Why are we so ready to accept the poor storylines and plot holes and just sit, entertained by the explosions and the infinite ammo machine guns?

Look at larger budget film releases such as The Expendables franchise. Do we give it a pass because of its nostalgia value and having all of our old ‘80s favourites having their last acting hurrah? (I tried so hard to not write Last Action Hero)

It is true that we have come to expect more from cinema these days. They have ridiculously larger budgets which allows for better, more realistic special effects, arguably better actors (though let’s be honest here, some are still terrible) and overall, there is a standard of expected realism, or at least believability to a movie these days. In a modern sci-fi movie, yes mass space travel is still implausible by modern standards, but if the future laid out in the film seems as though it is an obtainable future then a modern audience is more inclined to believe its setting and principles.

Perhaps the cinema of the ‘80s had much more in the way of freedom. There were more original ideas that writers could run with. There was less fear of what an audience expected or wanted. Writers and Directors had fun and that is reflected in the cinema of the decade.

Maybe this is why we’re now seeing this head-nod back to simpler, more enjoyable times in films and I for one fully encourage this movement, even if it does only remain on the independent circuits.

I’ve been and shall remain Craig.

If you haven’t already, please check out Kung Fury here and Turbo Kid here, as well as Sky Sharks.

Please drop me a comment with your thoughts and maybe some of your favourite movies from the ‘80s.

In the meantime, to keep this ball of film references going, I’ll be back!

It’s Morphing Time?

The-Rangers-mighty-morphin-power-rangers-23879058-1024-768

In 2013 it was 20 years since the command “recruit a team of teenagers with attitude” was uttered by a 10,000 year old inter-dimensional being trapped in a time warp, Yeah that’s a line I thought I would never repeat.

Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers premièred on August 28, 1993 on Fox Kids and became an instant hit with youngsters. The music and theme song of the show was so catchy it had you humming for hours Go Go Power rangers! Even now you’ve started hearing it in the back of your head, powerful stuff and the company behind them Saban international knew it.

Zordon of Eltar and his trusted assistant Alpha 5 lead the superhuman fighting force against the forces of evil, evil that had one hell of a hair do.

Jason the Tyranno Red Ranger, Zack the Mastodon Black Ranger, Kimberly the Pterodactyl Pink Ranger, Trini the Sabre-toothed tiger Yellow Ranger and Billy the Triceratops Blue Ranger. Later on in the series we would be introduced to the most iconic of all the rangers,  Tommy the green Dragon Ranger.

With such unique characters and brilliant memorable names like Lord Zedd, Rita Repulsa and everyone’s favourite bullies Bulk and Skull, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers ran for 3 seasons until 1996 when a new series was brought out called Power Rangers Zeo. This would happen every year,  a new series with new rangers, new powers and even worse villains but recently the show has got fans asking have the Power rangers still got it?

ritas-gang

Saban International basically take the Super Sentai series in Japan and turn it into the rangers we know and love. They dish out great toys and memorabilia and hold their own convention for fans by fans affectionately called “Powermorphicon” which is held every year in Anaheim.  Now fans of the Sentai series and the American counter part have started to favor the Sentai series more than what Saban have recently dished out.

Power Rangers Super Megaforce was the latest rendition based on the Pirate Sentai Gokaiger. A year earlier we had PR Megaforce, with no imagination they just put a “super” in front and voilà a new series. Same cast just a new mega mode and to me, as a fan of the gokaiger variation, it was abysmal and lacked story with a lot of the fun that originally made Gokaiger a pleasure to watch was gone. This has had a lot of fans asking, has Saban lost its ideas? Has it lost its passion for Power Rangers?!

The toys have gotten worse and more expensive,  while the Sentai gear always stays the best of the best, yes it’s a bit more but you get what you pay for. With new young fans and older fans, Saban has its work cut out for them. With new series Dino Charge on the Nickelodeon Network, Let’s just hope the power protects them or we may just lose Power rangers in the Morphing Grid forever.

For now though, I’m off to watch me some classic episodes “It’s Morphing Time!”

Who The Hell Is Tom Holland?

1

For a little while during Marvel Studios’ search for the next Spider-Man, once they’d announced they were going for a Peter Parker rather than a Miles Morales (Who could ONLY be played by Donald Glover now anyway), it seemed as if every white male of the right age, height and weight was being herded through the studio, with Kevin Feige roughly examining their teeth and groping their muscles like the slave trader in Gladiator.

And now at last we have our Spider-Man, and my reaction, and possibly many of yours, was, ‘Who the hell is that? Why do we need this infant taking on the role?’

I’m biased, I don’t think Andrew Garfield got a fair crack of the whip. The films he was in couldn’t quite escape from their origins as a soulless cash-in, or their desperate need to retell Spider-Man’s origin again (please god not a third time!), but Garfield himself was an outstanding Peter Parker and he found himself to be mercifully free of that unfortunate affliction, Maguireface.

maguireface
The struggle is real.

Would it really have hurt to let him carry on the role? Appearing in Civil War could have been a nice leg-up for the next movie in that particular Spider-trilogy.

Instead we’re starting again, again. That’s three incarnations of the same character in little more than a dozen years. The X-Men series that started two years before is still going, and that’s had a more than a few wobbles, but Fox stuck it out and they’ve reaped the rewards.

Still, the deal is done now and Spider-Man has been (sort of) brought into the Marvel Studios fold, which is probably for the best, but who is this kid who’ll be playing Marvel’s biggest hero for at least a couple of films?

I’ll tell you,

It’s this kid…

The-Impossible-Naomi-Watts-Tom-Holland
The one in the middle.

He’s Lucas from 2012’s weepie-disaster-porn The Impossible, the heroic kid who basically saves the life of his gravely wounded mother (Naomi Watts) after the Boxing Day Tsunami. He also had a supporting role more recently in the excellent Wolf Hall, but we’ll focus on the role of Lucas for now.

After the tsunami totally messes up their holiday, Lucas and his mother have to journey across the wrecked landscape to find help and medical attention. Over the course of the film, visibly, Lucas learns for the first time that his parents are mortal, his mother may well die, and he has to grow up fast to save her. This is subtly and superbly acted by young Holland, and for me this kind of emotional core is pure Spider-Man, a young man forced to man up and be the hero, while at heart he’s still a kid. We know from comments made by Marvel that they want to focus more on Peter Parker juggling high school and super heroics, so I reckon this coming-of-age-under-duress stuff may have contributed to him landing the role, and fills me with some confidence that he might do a decent job. Though, as poor Andrew Garfield has proved, this is not always enough to stop your franchise being dropped down the memory hole and rebooted.

In short, Tom Holland: He’ll do.

Don’t let me down kid!

TABLED Eps#3 – WH40K Necrons Vs Spacewolves

0

Well Eps# 3 of Tabled is up!

This episode is a 3K point battle, Necrons vs Spacewolves (or Dire wolves as my chapter is)

Doesn’t go so well for Matt, as you will see.

Make sure to stick around until the end for Matts round up and Battle summary.

 

 

Alien Encounter Halloween

alien7
This Halloween, it’s war!

On 31st October, the National Space Centre in Leicester opens its doors for the Colonial Marines, in a mission that will change your world (and your underwear) forever.

Basic entry includes full access to the National Space Centre (including 3D simulator ride), entry into the Aliens Exhibition of original props and costumes from the movie and a chance to meet Colonial Marine armourer Terry English and see his stunning exhibition.

There will also be Q&A sessions with Terry English, as well as Aliens actor Trevor Steedman (Private Wierzbowski) and Aliens expert Harry Harris.

Also included will be:

  • The firing range and Marine Corps training camp
  • The Ultimate Alien Quiz (with prizes)
  • Screening of the documentary The Beast Within: The Making of Alien
  • Harry Harris’s exhibition of original props and costumes
  • The UK Colonial Marines will be on guard throughout the event in case of any xenomorph incursion.trevor

You can add to the basic level entry, to brave the live-action Alien Encounter and watch Aliens in the Planetarium (a midnight showing of Aliens is the coolest way to experience Halloween, anyway).

The Alien Encounter is a tour through the Weyland Yutani sponsored Bio-Research Facility at the National Space Centre, home to the latest studies on the newly discovered life-form from LV-426. The tour includes an introduction into the research programme, unprecedented access to the control room, where all the activities in the restricted lower floors can be safely viewed, and an opportunity to see how Weyland Yutani really is making safer worlds.

Please note, the facility will be under the protection of the Colonial Marines and the Xenomorph containment systems are secure and there will be nothing to worry about.

Both the Alien Encounter and Aliens film have limited numbers, and will cost an extra £5, but are well worth the experience.  Tickets for the event can be booked here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNE0dlHcmgA