Back in the Sands of time, when Geek Pride was but a few months old, I had the chance to talk to a gent about his journey to restore the iconic Lars Homestead in Tunisia (INTERVIEW HERE). 4 years on and I cant get rid of the guy!
Always talking to me about awesome things he’s doing, people he’s met, signatures he’s got for his posters from 3 rd stormtrooper on the right in death star scene 4 and making me feel DIY useless when he posts up pictures of all the awesome stuff he makes… JEEZ MARK… I GET IT!
You live an awesome Star Wars filled life while I sit here and write about people who have awesome Star Wars filled lives…all the while, weeping into my Star Wars mug **sob**
In all seriousness though, my good friend and Star Wars fiend, Mark Cox, has brought me to the attention of a great, and worth while new project, he is a part of, called: The Biker Scout Helmet Project.
In short, RS Studios have sent out 35 Helmets to artists and Prop makes around the world to customise as they see fit, and all for free. with the aim to auction them off for charity; how awesome is that?!
Check out some more of the costume helmets and the Full Press Release below; and make sure to check them out, in person, at this years Star Wars Celebration, at Excel London.
You can also see more at their Facebook Page and Twitter:
We are pleased to announce that The Biker Scout Helmet Project is Coming to Star Wars Celebration London from July 14th until July 17th 2016
After previous and very successful Charity Helmet Projects like the “As you Wish” Helmet project, this year you will get to see the iconic Biker Scout Helmet from Return of the Jedi as you’ve never seen it before !!
35 Biker Scout Helmets donated by RS Studios have been sent to various Artists and prop makers around the world with the instruction to customise the helmet as they please, the artists giving up their free time then donate their finished designs back the Project for a Charity Auction.
Exceptional Artists with extraordinary talents like Tom Spina Designs, Mars Visions, FBFX studios, Order66 Creature and Designs along with a whole host of other equally talented artists have come together to create a display that has never been seen at a UK convention before.
Endorsed by Lucas Film Ltd and The Replica Prop Forum, supporting the Charity initiative Star Wars Force For Change, the Biker Scout Helmet Project will be auctioning these stunning one of kind custom helmets for Make-A-Wish UK during and after Star Wars Celebration London, everyone is free to bid on their favourite design.
Be Sure to pop along to our Stand at Star Wars Celebration, Excel Centre London to view the helmets and meet some of the artists you will be amazed at some of these creations that have been built and to top it off, some of the Helmets have Celebrity Endorsements attached to them too.
We look forward to continuing our great relationships with sponsors, Artists, press, and all of our fans—and with only 64 days until show time, our staff has kicked into full gear. We are committed to making this year’s Unique Charity Helmet Project one to remember
“You are no longer students, forget everything your teacher or your mom and dad ever taught you, from now on; you are X-men!”
Inspiring words said by Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique; but a pity they come too late in the film to give you any hope for the end credit scene.
I’ve been staring at my screen for the better half of an hour now, trying to find some way of giving this film the best review I could possibly give; unbiased, honest and without sounding too much like a whiney purist, or fanboy on the X-men gravy train. So here goes…
Ever since the designs of Apocalypse hit the net, I have been worried about this film and its portrayal of one of the most devastating villains in the X-men mythos. Power Ranger fans jumped in and commented that he looked more like “Ivan Ooze” than Apocalypse; and the problem is – they were right.
I’m a huge X-men fan, especially Magneto, but X-men Apocalypse has left this geek wondering what Bryan Singer wanted to do with the film and also hoping 20th Century Fox might now let the franchise go home to Marvel Studios, where they belong and not subject us to another poorly thought out film.
The story laid out is a simple one and extremely bland for a villain such as En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse. He rules ancient Egypt until betrayed by his worshipers; who entomb him alive, in his pyramid. En Sabah Nur’s loyal followers, the Four Horsemen, die protecting and preserving him.
Awakening in 1983 and believing that without his presence humanity has lost its way, En Sabah Nur decides to destroy the world and remake it in his image. Charles Xavier and the rest of his X-men, decide that this is something they cannot idly stand back and watch from the safety of the Xavier Institute, so with the help of Mystique, Quicksilver and a few new faces (Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Jean Grey) the X-men have a WrestleMania-esque standoff with the big bad Apocalypse.
This is the ninth instalment in the X-Men film series. Directed by Bryan Singer, with a screenplay by Simon Kinberg and from a story conceived by Singer, Kinberg, Michael Dougherty and Dan Harris. The film features an ensemble cast; welcoming back James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Nicholas Hoult, and Rose Byrne with newcomers, Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner, Olivia Munn, Lucas Till and introducing Oscar Isaac as En Sabah Nur/Apocalypse.
Now even though I found many faults with the story and portrayal of Apocalypse, there were some great scenes and laugh out loud moments. Quicksilver once again steals the show with another outrageous slow motion/time freeze sequence that was on par with the ‘Days of Future Past’ scene, the transformation of angels feathered wings into the armoured ones we know from the comic books, Nightcrawler coming out of his shell with a traditional “BAMF!”, Logan being seen for the first time in his ‘Weapon X’ Wolverine origin helmet (It was straight out of the comic books!); to the final scene of the X-men in their “classic” ‘blue team’ suits and a very bald (finally) Professor X.
I have to say I quite liked the ‘will they won’t they’ relationship between Jean and Scott, though it was frustrating to see it watered down so much. This being said, Sophie Turner (sorry GOT fans, she’s ours now) played the part well and with elegance – but I couldn’t quite help feel that it became a bit of a race to the finish line to get the ’Phoenix Force’ story out.
Scott Summers, aka Cyclops, is a welcome sight and he’s not the wet blanket we had with James Marsden. Brought in by big brother Alex “Havok” Summers (there’s a switch) to the Xavier Institute after a little optic mishap in his local school, the attraction towards Jean in their first scene is there and its quite sweet, in a ‘pulling the hair of the girl you like in school’, sort of way.
As older characters go, we welcome back Rose Byrne as CIA agent Moira Mactaggert, from First Class, and she somewhat ruffles Charles’ feathers, who obviously has feelings for the woman who has no memory of him, other than what she has read, – having had her memory wiped by Charles at the end of XMFC.
On top of this (and one of the best characters in the movie, in my humble opinion) we also have our favourite speedster; Peter Maximoff aka Quicksilver to help out his fellow mutants. This time rocking his slow-mo scene to the Eurythmics ‘Sweet Dreams’ in a very climactic moment in the film.
And hey! We actually find out he’s Magneto’s son!
Characters and good parts aside here comes the hard part.
The death scene of Erik’s daughter and wife, despite being quite emotionally charged left me very uncomfortable (I have a young daughter too, so this hit a note with me) and I cant help but think; was it needed? Especially as for such a powerful moment his entire role in the film felt, well, non-existent.
Storm and Psylockewere basically shoved in our face and then nothing much was done or said about them; the same was done with Warren Worthington aka Angel/Archangel. The technology surrounding Apocalypse in the beginning is never explained ( left behind by the deity-like aliens known as Celestials) and the whole “He’s the first mutant!” was a poor choice on behalf of the writers when En Sabah Nur has one hell of a story line that could have easily been done. Probably not going as far as introducing Kang the Conqueror into the mix but something other than the raw deal we got.
The design of him as well was laughable. I compared pictures of cosplayers on a budget and found them producing far better designs and costumes than a multi million pound Hollywood design studio punching out what can only be described as “Ivan Ooze 2.0”. His abilities also are toned down too, to just ‘what he’s obtained’ through his millennia of existence and increasing the powers of other mutants.
For example : the ability to grow to gargantuan size in the psychic battle is actually just one of his mutant powers that could have been done in the ‘real’ world but was passed over.
All in all it’s X-men. It’s Bryan Singer’s vision and if you enjoyed the rest of the films, then I think you will enjoy this… But if you’re a die hard fan of the comic books and are expecting more from the villain, then I think you might be slightly let down and it will be up to you to establish if this transition from comic to film and the alterations it has made are acceptable or not.
For me, I couldn’t quite get my head around some of the changes, especially as, from what I mentioned earlier, it seems to have been done on a whim and not because it made any cinematographical sense but – as is with a lot of things, I have what they call… the burden of knowledge and prefer the comic book version a lot more; which in turn has diluted my feelings for this.
In conclusion, X-men Apocalypse is an enjoyable film, with some brilliant and even poignant moments but it’s a film that, in my humble opinion, failed to live up to the lofty heights of its comic book forebears.
Over the past year or so, there has been a veritable panoply of “Idle” games released. In this exceedingly crowded Idle Game market, it is rare to find a game that stands out for its simplicity and its addictiveness. Tap Heroes, however, is one such game.
Tap Heroes, like many such Idle games revolves around you, the player, clicking on enemies in order to progress. Or, you can leave your “Heroes” to battle the enemies themselves.
What is interesting about Tap Heroes is that there is a “Healing” system in place. Unlike many other games of this type, your Hero takes damage from the monsters he battles. Taking too much damage can quickly see you in some serious trouble. You have the option of clicking frantically on your hero to heal him, or, hiring a Mage to automatically heal your Hero.
As the game progresses the enemies become even harder and do more damage to your heroes. Luckily, defeating an enemy gets you loot. You get to spend this loot on upgrading your heroes to deal more damage or take more damage, or on upgrading your own clicking power to also deal more damage or heal damage inflicted upon your Hero.
Tap Heroes has a beautiful, retro, 8-bit graphical style for the characters and is a real pleasure to watch. The animations flow smoothly, and seeing the monsters wince in pain when they are hit is a real joy.
There are more than 70 different monsters and bosses in the game, spread across 10 distinct regions. This, combined with a veritable plethora of achievements and Trading Cards unlockable exclusively on Steam make Tap Heroes a potentially limitless game.
In all, if you enjoy “Idle” type games, I would heartily recommend Tap Heroes. It is simple, fun, good to look at and a nice way to pass the time whilst waiting for your guild to log on to steam so you can all go on your next raid.
Developed by VaragtP, Tap Heroes is available via Ad Supported Flash releases on various Flash Gaming sites, or available via Steam Here.
(Heads up. Whilst this article contains no plot spoilers it gives details of characters and new technology that will be featured.)
The creative process of any new Star Wars project has always been shrouded in mystery; part of the lore is building the expectation and excitement for some of the most demanding fans on the planet.
However details of the upcoming Rogue One A Star Wars Story are being previewed months in advance as part of the official Visual Story Guide by Media Lab Books which is being set for release on 24th January 2017 which is ready for pre-order here.
The images offer a tantalising look at the visual look of the movie which takes place in-between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope evoking nostalgia stirring design nods to the original movies that we all know and love with some interesting modifications and never before seen on screen additions.
The book lists the main protags and gives a brief synopsis of their role in the plot.
“Felicity Jones plays Jyn Erso, a highly skilled soldier and warrior.
Diego Luna plays Captain Cassian Andor, an officer in the Rebel Alliance.
Jiang Wen plays Baze, a freelance assassin
Alan Tudyk plays K-250, an enforcer droid.
Riz Ahmed plays Bodhi, a rebel soldier.
Uknown plays Pao, an alien who is described as a “fierce warrior”. Another CGI character.
Donnie Yen plays Chirrut, who is described as “a spiritual warrior.”
Unknown plays Bistan, another CG-looking alien who is also described as “fierce warrior”.”
The main villain is Director Krennic (Ben Mendelson) who appears to be a high ranking military official for the Empire. His appearance evokes other powerful Imperials such as Grand Moff Tarkin and Admrial Thrawn from the now defunct Expanded Universe.
Aside from the familiar TIE Fighters and X Wings Rouge One is introducing two new spacecraft on both sides; the Imperial TIE Striker and the Rebel U-Wing.
As well as the iconic AT-AT’s, Stormtroopers now have a Hovertank to protect them from their enemies who have better aim than them.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be released in cinemas on 16th December 2016.
I recently won an advance copy of this, the first book in a new series that is a prequel to The Looking Glass Wars, the New York Times Best-Selling series from Frank Beddor. This time around, the focus is on the titular Hatter Madigan’s younger days as a teenager in Milliner Academy, beginning his training as a guardian and protector of Wonderland in a bit of a retelling of the classic stories from Lewis Carroll.
Madigan, along with several other students at the academy, train and learn together to not only be better students, but to prepare themselves for their duties guarding Wonderland, but not everything at the academy is as it seems. Thanks to Arlo, a combat hologram come to life inside the school, Madigan and his friends uncover a takeover plot going on literally under their feet, as a machine is currently stealing the souls of children across Wonderland and placing them in new cadets (or “Caps”) in an attempted takeover of the academy by a shady figure known only as “The Man in Black”.
A lot of people over the years have tried their hand doing a retelling of the Wonderland adventures Alice had with varying degrees of success, but no one has committed to it as much as Frank Beddor, and the result is a very interesting and lighthearted steampunk-esque mythos. References to the classic stories abound, but they are minor compared to the fresh and unique characters Beddor has created from the ground up, resulting in the world of Wonderland and its colorful characters really being turned into Beddor’s own baby. With a successful novel series as well as comic and graphic novel spinoffs, this new series just adds to the world and, quite honestly, adds more to an established property than was ever laid out by the original author.
Not only is the book well-written by a talented author, but it has the potential for widespread appeal, despite the fact that it skews toward a younger audience (junior high, to be precise). Easy enough for younger audiences to read, but still complex that an older crowd (such as myself) can find plenty to enjoy. It also doesn’t hurt that Beddor’s style is very quick, cutting out unnecessary detail in favor of character development and solid storytelling.
The end result is a book that, despite being nearly 400 pages, is an absolute breeze to read. I knocked it out in just a couple of days, generally putting in 70-80 pages at a time. The short chapters also help the book move at a brisk pace, with the longest only coming in at about 15 pages (the rest are 10 or less). While the stories of Hatter Madigan and his adventures might not appeal to everyone, they are ideal for fantasy fans. If you’ve never read any of The Looking Glass Wars, you’ll still be in good shape. Although Hatter Madigan is already established in those books, this being a prequel makes the character seem new and fresh, and a perfect jumping off point for new audiences.
The Uncharted series first debuted in November 2007 and by June 2015 the hit action adventure series had already sold over 21 million copies worldwide. Now the introduction of the final installation of the franchise, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End has been released and it’s already scoring high across all boards.
Visually it’s as stunning as anticipated, attention to detail hasn’t been spared and there’s plenty of detail and work that have gone into every part of the graphics; including beautiful vistas that you can stop and admire a long the way. On top of this the diversity in the games many locations mean that each environment bring with it a different challenge; some areas were visually obscured by natural forces in the form of hurricanes and snow storms, whilst others by human intervention and adaptation, all giving you some nice depth and realism,
Something made all the more, well, realistic by the way the games main character, Nathan Drake, interacts with his environment in a more pronounced way than in the previous titles, talking to NPC’s whilst he walks through a crowd or traversing across environments leads to a more natural experience for the player and at points seems almost life like. This fluidity is also visible during combat situations which can escalate quickly after braking cover from the varied stealth locations.
Drake’s persona, although a little dampened was still as witty and charming as ever, through dialogue and interaction with other NPC’s you can see how a normal(ish) life away from the adventure has affected the character which further develops throughout the game.
As previously discussed by the games Sony Owned developer Naughty Dog, the Uncharted 4 features a new character in the form of Nathan’s older brother Sam, who comes across as an all American version of Harry Flynn from Uncharted 2: Amongst thieves. Occasionally witty with an air of deceit the game is based around the ‘resurrection’ of Sam who needs help to pay off a long standing life threatening debt. Other key characters from the franchise’s previous games also appear during certain chapters to aid the story into it’s final descent.
The prologue introduces the two main characters at an early age on the run from an orphanage, leading to Nathan picking up some of his famous treasure hunting skills from his older brother. The young brothers are re visited later on where they continue their previous mission to retrieve their mothers lost journals, who are being held by an elderly female adventurer, leading to the acquisition of the brothers legendary name and their first taste of real adventure and future lives.
For all uncharted veterans there’s still the good old fashioned features such as ancient clues and puzzles, sneaking around testing environments and an on-going treasure hunt; Although I found at points throughout that some areas were maybe unnecessarily too big for this, a lot of time was wasted skirting the edges of the map searching for missing notes and treasures only to have wasted time and returned to the main campaign empty handed.
The main storyline follows Nathan and his brother on a quest which was laid out for them by their own mother decades before, to retrieve the fortune of a lost Pirate ‘civilisation’ which has been the subject of intense greed and deceit, following on with the franchises previous on-going theme of adventure and exploration.
Being the final game in the Uncharted series there’s treasures, trophies and memories which are linked to Drake’s previous encounters that can be found throughout the game, providing an emotional reminder of how the characters story development has unfolded over the years.
With Nolan North lending his voice over skills to the character that made him iconic and he deliverers an emotional,yet witty, end to the franchise, supported by veteran voice actor Troy Baker (The Last Of Us & Bioshock). But is that the last we will hear / see from him? Well in a recent interview he said this:
‘depending on how much money this game makes, Sony might want to do another one with another studio and I would certainly come back’,
although during the same interview Neil Druckmann the Creative Director of the Uncharted series stated that
‘there won’t be an Uncharted 5, at least not from us’.
I guess that is the end of the line for the Uncharted Series but it has been one wild ride and at least we know that if they do decide to do another, or someone takes on the mantle, Nolan will be there to voice act the shit out of it!
Overall the final chapter in Uncharted franchise delivered a powerful ending to a great series, bringing a satisfying mix of action and adventure with a twist of humour and wit, which will no doubt leave, unfortunately, both new and old fans wanting more.
After an extremely successful show last year, we’re back again at the Hilton NEC in Birmingham for round 2 of Fast paced Vigilante gritty Fandom from the cast of The CW shows THE FLASH, ARROW and GOTHAM. Cast stars which include Stephen Amell, John Barrowman, Jason Momoa, Brandon Routh, Tom Cavanagh, Sean Pertwee, Emily BettRickards and Danielle Panabaker will meet their fans for this amazing weekend.
After a very long journey from Swansea to Birmingham filled with numerous delays (don’t know why I’m paying so much money for this train ride) I arrived to what can only be a well-oiled machine of organization. Within an hour I had my passes and photoshoot tokens, stylish lanyard, wristband all from the Vox Mall at the NEC and made my way over to my hotel to meet my buddy. Now taking into consideration this event has sold tickets into the 1000’s, an hour is impressive to say the least.
After the rumored chaos of “Asylum” last week, i was pleasantly surprised at how really organised it all was, then i was reminded that over 3000 attendees flocked to the Vox for registration nearly all on one day, so i understood where the fears of Rogue events comes from.
The first night ran smoothly with a “90’s video game” themed disco for all us Friday Con goers, lots of cosplayers took to the dance floor to strut their funky stuff while others who had paid extra for the “meet and greet” evening enjoyed meeting a select few of the cast from this weekend; from what the stewards informed me everyone enjoyed and the Cast were made to feel welcome and right at home with no problems raised.
After a long day of travel and registration, I turned in for the night ready for tomorrow’s adventure.
Saturday morning 7am, or as I’ve come to call it “The Revenge”. Saturday hit me like a forth wall break, this geek did not expect the onslaught of fans that bombarded the registration hall at such an early hour, but thinking ahead I did all my registering on the Friday and bought all my photoshoots because my “Spidey sense” told me ‘there was a storm coming’.
The hotel had been turned into a haven for all FLASH, ARROW and GOTHAM fans, every hall was clearly sign posted, flagged and had a steward or volunteer at hand ready to help with any question you had. The day ran rather smoothly and I was able to get what I wanted to do in the time frame that Rogue had planned out; even though I was in the “O” group I found that with only a fraction of waiting time I was into the autograph hall and out again in an hour.
Tom Cavanagh was the highlight of my trip as I’m a huge ‘REVERSE FLASH‘fan, he was engaging, friendly and I was even able to get a little chat out of him while he signed my poster and vinyl Pop figure; afterwards he even remembered me when it came time to have my photo done with him, rather star struck I might say but was made to feel relaxed and very welcome.
There were a few complaints on the day but this was due to people actually not reading the signs and timetable that was clearly posted more than the London underground. The vendors room was intimate, to say the least, with only a few merchandise stalls and I have to say I was surprised as some didn’t even have any Flash or Arrow merchandise.
Each star talk was packed out, John Barrowman being ever the showman on stage gave a brilliant talk with his flamboyant presence and answered as many questions from the crowd as he could in the allotted time frame, StephenAmell and Tom Cavanagh also had a full house for their talks; Stephen more so with screaming girl fans from all over wanting to see “the arrow” himself.
4pm came around and I was finally gonna get my hug from Danielle Panabaker who plays ‘Caitlin Snow/ Killer Frost” in The FLASH; once it was my turn in the photo-shoot I calmly walked up to her and to my surprise she remembered my name from the autograph session and had her arms out ready for hug, the camera man counted down 1, 2, 3 and I have my hug from Danielle immortalized on a 16×12 photo, huzzah and yahoo!
The Disco that night was a classic “MARVEL vs DC” with many of the Hilton guests and attendees donning their favorite cosplay and strutting their stuff on the floor once again this time with multiple photos being taken by everyone, I was even pleasantly surprised to see Michelangelo from the TMNT show up, well he is a party dude! Yes, even I, your humble king of geeks, dressed as my marvel counterpart “Magneto” for the evening and thoroughly enjoyed myself. Thus ended my Saturday at City of Heroes, let’s see what Sunday has instore.
Sunday, 7am Day 3. OH MY GOD! Someone call 911, somebody call the Ghostbusters, where’s the Thunderbirds at? Chaos, where did all these people come from I’ll never know. Like gremlins they had multiplied with water amd from breakfast to brunch the hordes didn’t stop. I will say this though, the professionalism of the rogue crew was second to none and handled it like a dressed parade platoon.
Single file queue system was in effect and they were able to get everyone in and out in record time with little to no aggravation, both autograph halls were full and the steady stream of fans waited patiently yet giddy for their photo ops with the other cast while Jason Momoa once again bringing the biggest Crowd to his session.
All sounds like it went swimmingly you might say, but you heard differently?
Well there has been a lot of hear say and speculation floating around about how much a shambles it was and the issues with photo printing. Well I witnessed the owner and head of Rogue Events, Wayne Munn, go above and beyond the call of duty the entire weekend. From helping with lost E tickets on Friday (i was one of them) to frantically running around and setting up electric fans in the autograph halls due to the air con not being on and to answering a hell of a lot of questions and dealing with so many complaints that stemmed from people just not wanting to Que and wait their turn.
Granted there were technical problems, but these happen and it doesn’t matter how prepared you are before, its sods law. The fact that people are complaining about photos they want printed and sent to them and saying things like “i spent all this money and now i have to print it out myself” blah blah blah; here’s the irony. You’re griping over a 99p print from BOOTS when you’ve spent hundreds at the con; makes little sense to me.
Don’t listen to hear say or speculation and never assume anything, i was there, i saw what went on, from this geeks mouth….
My thanks to Wayne, Jenni and all the crew who were more than welcoming and helpful to me, I had so much fun this weekend and can’t wait till next years, if none of you fellow geeks have ever done a Rogue event, head on over to their Website at www.rogueevents.co.uk , you can also find them on twitter @rogueevents. They cover and cater to wide range of fandoms from Supernatural, Once Upon a Time, The Vampire Diary’s, IZombie, FLASH, ARROW and now Buffy the Vampire Slayer. So no matter what your poison is, there is something for everyone.
Further Warning: This review has been identified to potentially trigger rage in people with ‘All Caps Sensitivity’. Reader discretion advised.
Each week before I watch Game of Thrones, I go through all the good things I want to happen to the characters in the coming episode and then imagine the opposite will happen. Using this technique, I guess correctly pretty often.
My main predictions for last night were that Sansa and Jon would miss one another at Castle Black, with him leaving as she arrives. Dany would be stuck doing pretty much nothing in the Dothraki equivalent of an old folks home, whilst Rickon and Osha would be flayed alive by Ramsay Snow.
Amazingly however, episode 4, ‘Book of the Stranger’, defied pretty much all Game of Thrones convention and was (possibly) the happiest episode I’ve seen in the entire series (and that’s even with a character I really liked dying).
And it all starts off with the Stark reunion we’d been hoping for. I began shouting at my TV the moment the doors open to Castle Black and you see Sansa ride in with Brienne and Pod. Jon comes down the stairs and you don’t even know what is happening because this is Game of Thrones and there are tears in your eyes because GOOD THINGS DON’T HAPPEN TO THE STARKS!
What the f*** is going on?
We know from early episodes how close Jon and Arya were, but Sansa was mostly disdainful of her ‘Bastard’ half-brother, something I’m sure she was taught by her mother, Catelyn. So to see them changed like this and together, is frankly wonderful. You can really see how far their characters have come from season one‘s surly Jon and his idealistic, haughty half-sister.
Season one Sansa wouldn’t have hugged Jon like that. Season one Sansa wouldn’t have apologised to him for her treatment of him either. The writers take this even further when they have her be the one to bolster her half-brother as he doubts himself. She is the one pushing action and revenge, and I absolutely love it.
Seriously though, what the f*** is going on???
We’ve had glimpses of this (Darth) Sansa at times, and especially since she fell into Littlefinger’s care, but it seems she’s really beginning to grow as a character now. She is emerging as a player in the Game of Thrones as opposed to simply a pawn for others around her.
“Winterfell is our home. It’s ours. And Arya’s and Bran’s and Rickon’s, wherever they are. It belongs to our family. We have to fight for it”. – Sansa, Episode 4 ‘Book of the Stranger’
I also have to mention that this happened…
(I ship it)
And I can’t even begin to process why all these amazing things are happening in this episode. It’s like we’re in an AU version of the show where characters actually have agency and good things happen (until next week of course, where everything will be extra rapey and murdery to make up for it). But for now, I will just enjoy the fact that we may get Tormund of Tarth, and it will be everlasting, eye-fucking, sandwich-eating gloriousness.
It’s also worth mentioning that there are a few other interesting developments at Castle Black too. Melissandre now plans to serve Jon, who she completely believes is the ‘Prince that was Promised‘ and Brienne reveals that she executed Stannis at the Battle of Winterfell version 1.0. We see Davos visibly shaken by this news (because it was off-screen and usually when deaths happen off-screen they didn’t happen at all), and I can’t help but wonder what he will do if he finds out what happened to Shireen. Oh sweet Onion Knight, please avenge your princess!
Still too soon 🙁
Next we go to the Vale and it’s a welcome return for Littlefinger, who we can only assume has been busy teleporting all over Westeros for the last few episodes to set up his next coup de grace. It’s a brilliant scene though, showing Baelish at his most manipulative as he easily manoeuvres Sweet Robin and Yohn Royce like moving chess pieces across a board. By the end of the scene, Littlefinger has brought the Vale into the fray as it begins to look more and more likely that they will ally themselves with Stark loyalists to reclaim the North,
10/10 for machiavellian plotting good Sir
We’re with Tyrion next and it’s good to see him attempt to resolve the issues between Meereen and the Masters without resorting to threats, shouting and violence (take note Dany). Tyrion is a master politician and I want to believe that he has a handle on things, but as Missandei and Grey Worm point out, he doesn’t know their culture. He is still doing things the way he would have in King’s Landing and I’m concerned that this arrogance will be his downfall. Tyrion has some pretty thick plot armour so I doubt he’s going to be killed any time soon, but he may need saving in a few episodes or at the very least, he’ll need to learn to ride one of those dragons pretty sharpish.
Next we follow Daario and Jorah who feel like this season’s Jaime and Bronn but with less bromance, and more Daario saying mean things (not cool, bro). The two men are on their way to rescue their Khaleesi, but by the time they make it to her she already has a plan to rescue herself.
Dany has had about enough of the Dothraki Home for Retired Khaleesi(s?) as I have
In King’s Landing the High Sparrow reveals his sordid past of smelly cobbler orgies to Margaery who does her best I’m sure not to laugh out loud, and is granted a visit to her brother Loras who she has been asking to see. Echoing Sansa’s scene with Jon, we get another sister trying to give her broken brother a much needed pep talk, but Loras looks too far gone for my liking. He isn’t just worn down, he looks physically and mentally broken and far from his image as The Knight of Flowers. We don’t find out this episode, but this scene and those with the Lannisters have both me and Lady Olenna worried for Margaery’s safety.
Diana Rigg acting the shit out of every episode she’s in <3
The tensions with the Faith Militant seem to be coming to a head, and it appears as though the Tyrell’s have been manipulated into being the ones to instigate it in order to save Loras (the heir) and Margaery. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Cercei takes the opportunity to remove Margaery from play amidst the coming civil war via Zombie Mountain. We will have to wait and see, but I don’t think it’s going to go well for either the Tyrells or the Lannisters, with significant casualties on both sides.
Next we see Theon’s return home, and he barely looks the shadow of the man who was here last. Yara (another sister!) reprimands her brother for failing her and their family, but she is soon placated when Theon pledges his support for her to rule the Iron Islands. The Kingsmoot is coming and I know that there are plenty of Book Fans out there that love the Greyjoys, but this to me was one of the most boring storylines in the novels. Fortunately, with the pace Season 6 episodes seem to be going at the moment, I’m hoping we’ll at least get to the bottom of why anyone should care about the Greyjoys soon, or some sort of redemption arc for Theon.
And now to the the low point of the episode, well, subjectively low anyway. On one hand we have Osha who is a brilliant character in her own right, killed by Ramsay who has reached ridiculous levels of plot imperviousness.
Tonks Death PTSD trigger warning
On the other hand, it could have been so, so much worse. I think that being stabbed in the neck is like the second best outcome Osha could have hoped for. The first being killing Ramsay and escaping with Rickon, the second being a quick death that doesn’t involve torture, rape or being flayed alive. I am so beyond hating Ramsay right now.
Oh wait, no I’m not
Back at The Wall, we finally get the ‘Pink Letter‘ and the revelation that Rickon has been captured and Ramsay wants his ‘wife‘ back. Jon finally gives in after encouragement from Sansa, and decides to go South with the Wildings to rally the Northerners against the Boltons, Karstarks and Umbers. It’s the Battle for Winterfell version 2.0 and what most of the internet is affectionately calling The Bastard Bowl. Call it what you want, all I know is that there is a hype train coming through and that I have a first class ticket.
All aboard!!
And at last we reach our final segment back with the Mother of Dragons, The Unburnt, The Breaker of Chains, the Stormborn etc etc whose fate is being decided at the annual corporate Khal event (I’m sure they called it something different on the show but nevermind). Daenerys has other ideas about her future and puts her fire imperviousness to good use by setting the building ablaze and having Jorah and Daario barricade the doors with her rivals inside.
This girl is on fiyyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhh
Again, this completely goes against Game of Thrones logic. Surely Dany should be stuck in Dosh Khaleen until episode 9 when she is saved by Drogon and Jorah/Daario/Tyrion? But no, this episode full of women being total badasses culminates with the Queen doing what she does best: burning stuff, not being burned, smug stares, important speeches, destroying her enemies and basically being worshipped as the potential God that she is.
Dany = Azor Ahai ??
YAS QWEEN!!
And because I’ve read a lot of arguments about whether Daenerys is fire proof or not, it’s worth mentioning that D&D and the other writers are far too busy trying to get her to Westeros before the White Walkers kill everyone to be bothered about sticking to something GRRM said a few years back. Books = books and show = show. Keep them separate and you’ll have a lot more fun watching the series.
Plantera is a small click based farming simulator where you progress through the game in order to unlock new things to decorate your farm with.
You start off with the basics planting carrots and pretty soon you are planting trees and fending off birds with scare crows. As you progress you are rewarded with gold to spend on either more foliage or upgrades to auto collect whilst your away or to increase the amount of gold you collect for each gathering.
The game throws wildlife after you in an attempt to hinder your progress as they steal your food.
The game is very small and whilst it was fun while it lasted it got old after about 30 minutes. It seems much better suited to a mobile platform as there really wasn’t a great deal to keep me engage once I surpassed level 10.
I would give this title a 2/10, not because I didn’t enjoy it but because there really isn’t a great deal of content for the price.
There is an emerging genre currently being referred to as “hero shooters”, essentially a combination of FPS style combat with MOBA influenced hero design. Two of the biggest games currently being placed in this bracket at the moment are Blizzard’s Overwatch and Gearbox’s Battleborn. Both use FPS mechanics and both feature hero type characters, fighters that utilise a wide range of abilities while fitting into certain class models (support, tank, assassin etc.). If you’re actively aware of the gaming world there’s a good chance you’ve heard of both but there’s an even stronger chance that, particularly with its recent open beta, Overwatch is the one that is dominating your consciousness of the “hero shooter” genre. There’s a pretty solid chance that Overwatch is going to be crowned the winner of said genre and that Battleborn may well lose out on audience to it. Here’s the problem. Battleborn is not Overwatch.
When I say this, I’m not making some sassy remark about quality. I’m saying that these two games should not be being grouped together because they are two definitively different breeds. Overwatch is an excellent game and by all means you should play it. It is in fact, perhaps the truer of the two when it comes to defining a hero shooter. There are objectives within the game modes but the focus lies very heavily on the sheer combat, the constant propulsion of fighting to keep the game going. To play Overwatch is to see how Team Fortress 2, arguably the primogenitor of the hero shooter genre, would be done if it were made today. It certainly incorporates the MOBA hero design elements that lend themselves to the hero shooter genre, but in its gameplay it is a far cry from any sort of MOBA. Instead it zooms in purely on fast paced, multiplayer matches designed to revolve around dynamic, team combat.
By contrast, Battleborn is a game that more fully embraces its MOBa-like qualities. There are certainly shared similarities between it and Overwatch in terms of the FPS dynamics they employ but Gearbox’s offering has a certain something else, perhaps an understanding more of an understanding of the hero in hero shooter. Overwatch wants you to simply switch out your character to fit a situation, to swap in and out as required. It’s a great mechanic, one of the several they owe to TF2. But Battleborn doesn’t want you swapping out, it wants you committed. Battleborn wants you, just like its full-blooded MOBA brethren, to build your character from the ground up. Perhaps somewhat bizarrely, Battleborn almost has more in common with another Blizzard offering. Namely, Heroes of the Storm. Like Heroes of the Storm, Battleborn enables you to develop your character as you level not by simply upgrading the stats of an ability but, through the game’s Helix Tree, speccing those abilities into different directions, much in the same way as Heroes of the Storm uses talents.
If Overwatch is like Blizzard does Team Fortress 2 in 2016, Battleborn is the hyperactive child that Borderlands had with Heroes of the Storm. I have a bit of a soft spot for Gearbox, the Borderlands series being up there among my favourite games, and while Overwatch is certainly a thing of beauty, Battleborn is wondrous piece of madness. Combining Gearbox’s now well-established combination of absurd humour and almost comic book artwork, Battleborn delivers an experience that is very much its own thing, if only in that it is perhaps the most manic game I have ever played. Honestly, if I knew what was going on in that game even 10% more of the time I’m pretty sure I’d reach some kind of enlightenment.
On a base level, yes, there are certain common threads between the two games. They are both FPS, hero-centric, with team based battle. Within that model however, there is a wild array of possibility that sees the two games go down very different paths. Overwatch is purely multiplayer and uses four game modes: Escort (essentially Payload from TF2), Assault (teams take turns attacking and defending capture points), Hybrid (start with Assault, end with Escort) and Control (essentially King of the Hill). Battleborn combines a single-player campaign (which can also be played co-op, as with Borderlands) with three multiplayer game modes: Incursion (classic MOBA style, try and get your minions to the enemy base while defending your own), Capture (battle to control objective points) and Meltdown. Meltdown is a weird one. To quote the Battleborn site: “Teams of heroes must guide their minions as they march to their death at the center of the map. Points are scored for every minion who throws themselves into the incinerator, and the team with the most points wins”.
Beyond game modes, there is the matter of progression. As previously mentioned, the Helix Tree in Battleborn provides in-game progression while, on a broader spectrum, you variously level up as a player and individual heroes. And on top of all of this you have gear, which is earned through a variety of means and can be used during multiplayer matches using in-match currency. Finally, rather than having all the characters instantly available to you, you instead start with a small base group that is then expanded upon by completing the campaign missions. On the other hand, Overwatch devotes itself just to player levelling, with no in-game progression. By levelling, the player can unlock aesthetic extras but nothing that changes the gameplay itself.
In part, the positions that Overwatch and Battleborn have found themselves in can be attributed to marketing perceptions. I’ve been enjoying Battleborn a lot and knowing that it came from Gearbox sold me on it in advance. But in terms of its advertising, its been pretty weak, in fact perhaps surprisingly so considering the superb trailers that Borderlands produced. By comparison, Blizzard have masterfully built the hype for Overwatch, in no small part aided by the fact that, great as it is, Battleborn is a somewhat more confused sell. Overwatch is polished, its pristine and its simple to understand how it works. Battleborn however has a lot of really good and interesting parts but the way in which those parts all fit together and interact can be somewhat…obscure. I like the game but, right now, I cannot profess to fully understand it.
Ultimately, I don’t want you to discount either of these games. They’re both excellent. I simply think it would be a shame for people to miss out on a very solid game, with a lot of interesting stuff going for it, to be discounted not because of its own actual features, but because the broad public perception has misrepresented it. The hero shooter genre is one that is still very much emerging, one that is still being defined and moulded. When we’re in these early stages, it would be a sincere pity to miss out on anything due to a lack of, or mistelling of, information regarding these games.
Tell us what you think though. Will you be picking up Battleborn? Overwatch? Both? Let us know in the comments and check out our review of Battleborn here.
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In all, if you enjoy “Idle” type games, I would heartily recommend Tap Heroes. It is simple, fun, good to look at and a nice way to pass the time whilst waiting for your guild to log on to steam so you can all go on your next raid.
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