Spiders

I've decided that giant spiders are my least favorite enemies in video games. Most of them aren't that hard to beat, but they're just annoying. In Skyrim, frostbite spiders are my least favorite minor enemies because of the annoying sound they make when they walk, plus they shoot poison at you that adds a greenish tint to the screen, which also bothers me. Darksiders also had a level where you fight a bunch of different types of spiders. The smallest ones weren't that annoying but they still were just because of their numbers and the fact that they jump onto you, but the big ones were way worse. There were four micro-bosses that you had to pull their outer shell off with a grappling hook, and they still just took way too long to die, then there was the mini-boss, an even bigger spider that it took me half an hour to figure out how to kill it, and finally the boss, who I knew how to kill, but it kept teleporting. Corpsers from Gears of War are also one of the tougher enemy types, so they annoy me just with their sheer hardtokillness. Giant Spiders from Castlevania: Lords of Shadow are also bothersome because they're fairly tough, but also they keep jumping around and can trap you if you're not careful. Then there are robot spiders. They're typically relatively small, like Dwarven spiders in Skyrim. They're not that hard to kill, but when you do they explode in a ball of lightning stuff that hurts you. In the Amazing Spider-Man game, there are robot spiders with force fields protecting them. Those are a pain to take down. In War for Cybertron, there are little spiders that crawl around in large numbers and try to surround you. Not all robot spiders are small though. One War for Cybertron boss was a giant robot spider. And Spider-Man also had a huge robotic spider type thing with lasers and missiles and stuff. I hate spiders.

Guardians of the Galaxy Movie

In my last post, I said that an Ant-Man movie isn't a total shock to me. Guardians of the Galaxy is. I would never have expected them to get a movie. I didn't think the original Guardians of the Galaxy were that cool, but I did like the newer incarnation that they'll be making a movie of. I'm pretty shocked that they want to expand their movies into the cosmic side of Marvel, but even more surprised that to do it, they're using a title that wasn't very popular and was cancelled relatively soon after it began. I would've expected them to start with a movie introducing one or two cosmic heroes and work their way up to a whole team. It would be hard to do Nova or Quasar without looking like a Green Lantern knockoff, so I'm not sure who they could start with. Not that I'm complaining. I liked Annihilation Conquest and thought the Guardians were a cool team for the most part. I just never would've expected to see Groot or Rocket Raccoon in a movie, so if they're in it, that'll be pretty cool. The only problem I can see is that Marvel has been trying to do the whole "fun for the whole family" thing (it's all Disney's fault; they must be stopped, no matter the cost. Assemble at their headquarters next Guy Fawkes Day), which I'm worried might force them to diminish the quality of some characters like the talking raccoon. They might modify him to appeal more to younger audiences, which I think is a bad idea. He's always been kind of a comic relief character, but I think they should modify him the other way and make him a little more mature. The biggest surprise of all though is that I heard they're making Guardians to set up a Thanos Imperative to introduce Thanos, so when he comes on the screen in Avengers 2, even the non comic book readers will all say "Oh ****! It's Thanos!". That makes sense to me, but as much as I liked it, the Thanos Imperative just seems waaaaay too out there to make into a movie. It has the Shi'ar, the Inhumans, Adam Magus, Nova, a whole new universe that requires extensive knowledge of the mainstream universe to understand, and a whole bunch of other stuff that makes it seem to me like one of those titles that will never be a movie, but apparently, I was wrong. The only thing about that that bothers me is that they'll have to kill off Starlord in only the second movie he's been in, just like how in the comic books they killed him off just a short time after he started being cool. And Nova a slightly longer but still short time after his coolness got a major boost. Right now, it's too early to tell what my feelings on Marvel movies going cosmic are. I've never thought any interstellar story arcs could translate well to the big screen, but I could be wrong. If they do this right, it'll be pure awesomeness.

Ant-Man Movie

Apparently, Marvel plans on giving Ant-Man a movie. That's not a total shock to me since I think it would've been nice if his movie had come before the  Avengers so then he could be a founding member like he should be. But I also thought they might not introduce him into the Marvel movie universe since some people might not think he's very cool. They would be wrong of course, but some people would think that. I actually thought they would skip Ant-Man, Giant-Man, etc. and go right to Yellowjacket. But that's assuming they use Hank Pym, who, from what I hear won't be the main character. He'll be in it, but mostly for the purpose of passing down the mantle to Scott Lang. Personally, I have nothing against Scott Lang; he can be pretty cool. But for me, the real Ant-Man will always be Hank Pym. From what I've heard, they've decided against Hank being the protagonist because of a couple chapters in his history that would prevent it from being as family friendly as they want. I guess beating the Wasp and being indirectly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of people because of the robot he created is a little dark. Plus, they probably thought it would be harder to support a man who once beat his wife. Understandable, but they didn't have to put that in the movie. And I don't think that makes him a bad person. He was insane at the time, and should be considered a good person who, while insane, did one really bad thing. Moving on, I think Ultron would've be a great villain for the movie if they were willing to make it a little darker and  about the original Ant-Man. But they're not. Mind you, I like Scott Lang, but I just think Pym could use a movie. At least if they put Lang in Avengers 2, which they'd better do, he's not a founding Avenger, so Lang joining later stays consistent with the comic books. And who knows, maybe they'll put Ultron in there too. Even if the Ant-Man movie won't be the way I would make it, I'm still excited since I think both Ant-Men are underrated and awesome.

Marvel Now

Warning: I don't consider myself an angry nerd, but this will be an angry post. Now that I've warned you, let's get into it:

I recently heard that Marvel is going to do their own version of the New 52. I don't have all the facts yet, so I don't know whether to be angry or glad. If they still plan on continuing the already existing Marvel universe, and simply making another one to start fresh, I'm glad. That means they'll get more new readers without driving any away, which means they'll make more money and be able to make more cool stuff. If they plan on replacing the current Marvel universe that's been going since the 40's, then I should be the director of SHIELD, because I am Fury (that wasn't my best pun, but I'm still proud of it). The Marvel universe is quite possibly the longest continuous story in the history of mankind, and if they plan on just ending it and starting a new one, well, that's just not ok with me. To me, that sounds like Marvel saying "Oh yeah, all those comic books you bought in your years of devotion? Those are the past now. If you want to stay a respectable Marvel fan, you have to support our decision to abandon that continuity you love so much"..... I may be overreacting. Especially since I'm not 100% sure that's what's happening. Then again, I may not be. About 97% of the titles I read are from the Big 2. When DC announced their plans for the New 52, I thought: "Well, at least I'll still have Marvel for the beloved complexity that only a true fan can understand". Right? Wrong. If Marvel ends and restarts their mainstream universe, then WHAT DO I HAVE NOW?!! TELL ME THAT, MARVEL!!!! Sorry, that happens to me sometimes. And is it just me, or does this idea remind you of numerous evil plots to destroy human civilization and start again in order to mold it to the plotter's liking? For example, Centrius, the High Evolutionary, the dude from Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, the dude from Mission Impossible 4, kind of the Doomsday Killer from Dexter, etc. Plus, unless they get Stan The Man to write A LOT of their new material, they'll be nullifying his works, and they can't exactly get King Kirby to do any art for their new titles,  since he's kinda dead. Which is really too bad, since Stan Lee is probably the coolest person in the comic book industry, and with some more modern art techniques, I'd love to see what Jack Kirby would do. Without The King and The Man, how can they begin a proper Marvel universe? I'm sure they have a lot of smart people over there, so why can't they come up with some other way to boost their popularity? There's always another way! WHY DID IT HAVE TO COME TO THIS?!!! Now that I've released all that... whatever that was, I'll end by saying that Marvel has done tons of things I liked and a couple I didn't (Brand New Day, anyone?), but discontinuing their decades-long continuity would be, in my eyes, their worst decision yet.

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron

I picked up Fall of Cybertron earlier, and it's more than worth every cent. In a lot of interviews, Matt Tieger of High Moon Studios said that he was excited for gamers, Transformers fans or not, to get to play this game. Now I know why that is: IT'S A FREAKIN' AWESOME GAME! He also reiterated that in the end, it's all about how the game feels under your thumb, and playing this game feels terrific. I only played a little of the campaign, but I felt like Bumblebee and Optimus Prime, who on an unrelated note, I've decided is one of the best characters from anything. He's just awesome, and you can feel that awesomeness when you play as him, more so than in War For Cybertron. Fall plays similarly to War, so if you have War, you'll already know the basics, but it's different enough to be well worth your money. Especially the multiplayer. There are a few things that take some getting used to, but once you do, most of them are improvements. One thing that pleasantly surprised me was the ability to sprint in robot mode with any character. Same with the fact that instead of being an available ability to fill one of the two slots, dash is always LB, or whatever the equivalent is on PS3 and PC. I thought that might bother me, but it really doesn't, since they've improved the dash, and in War, I kept trying to dash even if I didn't have the ability. And double jump has been replaced with one bigger jump, which surprisingly doesn't bother me either. There are some things I'm neutral on, like some abilities being turned into guns and vice versa. Like the Drain ability has been replaced by a gun called the energon harvester, which is harder to use, but more effective. There are also some things that I wouldn't describe as awesome, but they really add to the game, like parts of some levels that don't involve any shooting or fighting, such as Optimus Prime walking through a section of Iacon that turns out to be Metroplex. Things like that. And then there are the things that I would describe as awesome. Some of the playable characters in the campaign are just epic. Like Grimlock and Bruticus. And as Optimus Prime, you can call in Metroplex to destroy a group of enemies, and there's one part where you're controlling a HUGE artillery gun and taking out whole squads of enemies with one shot. More than just the campaign though, the multiplayer customization is awesome. You pick the chest, which also decides the vehicle form, and pick any shoulders, arms, head, legs and wheels/wings/tank barrels. Each part costs some XP, but I think that's a good thing. It keeps things interesting, plus now XP is actually useful for something. In War, once I maxed out my classes' levels, I just said "Ok, I just got a ton of XP, but what am I gonna do with it?" And the answer was nothing, since there was nothing you could do with it, but now they changed that, and for that I'm happy. As for what I was hoping for, some of it happened and some didn't. I was hoping to play as Wheeljack, but I'm pretty sure he's not in the campaign, but I think you can play as him in escalation. You can get his parts for multiplayer customization, but it costs real money, so I seriously doubt I'll ever do that. I'm pretty sure Shockwave is in escalation too, but you can use his parts for custom characters, and I do a lot more team deathmatch than escalation, so even if there are no Shockwave levels, I guess that's enough for me. It doesn't look like we'll see any cassetticon gameplay, but that's ok; I never really expected that to happen, I just thought it would be cool. Hound and Ultra Magnus made an appearance in the G1 Retro Pack trailer, and Ultra Magnus is the same as Wheeljack in terms of playability, but I have no clue about Hound. But even if none of the things I said I wanted to see were in this game, I would still be more than happy with it, and highly recommend it, even if you're not a Transformers fan. And if you are, I very highly recommend it. 'Till all are one!

Ras Al Ghul

This guy has the coolest job in the world. He's immortal and is the leader of a ninja assassin group. I guess around 600 years is enough for him, but if I were in his position, I wouldn't want to die. This dude has everything! Wealth, power, sufficient martial arts skills to kill almost anything, and freakin' immortality. But he just wants to give it all away. And to one of his enemies. Personally, I think it would be a cool story arc if for a short time, Batman did become the leader of the League of Shadows/League of Assassins. Call it whichever you prefer, but for now I'm just going to say Shadows. Anyway though, it would be an interesting story, but I don't think he should ever take that job permanently. Especially since what would he call himself after that? Still Batman? It seems to me that he would need to change it up a little. To be honest, I kind of like the sound of Bruce Al Ghul, but it doesn't make a ton of sense. I don't speak Arabic, but I'm pretty sure that would translate to The Demon's Bruce. Or there's a chance it could be The Bruce's Head, which would make even less sense. Plus, it would give away his first name. He could use some Arabic phrase about demons and bats, but I still don't think it would work. If it was me though, I think I would seriously consider becoming "Arabic Phrase About Bats and Demons". And if I did, I would modify the Batsuit to include a tunic or something, then grow some weird-in-an-awesome-way facial hair. The only part of it that I'm not quite sold on is marrying Talia. She's just a little bit evil. Not completely evil like in the movie. If you only know her from there, then I'll give you a little background. In the comic books, Ras wants Batman to kill and replace him, then marry Talia, and she's totally fine with that idea, which scares a little bit. It's not like in the movie where it was all a setup with all that slow knife stuff. She has genuine feelings for Bruce. More importantly though, even if he wanted you to, killing a guy, taking his job, then marrying his daughter is just, well, awkward.

Deadpool 2013

Well, it looks like the Merc With A Mouth is finally getting what he deserves. A video game starring him. And it's about time. Since they ruined him in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he needs redemption, and I think this is it. Plus, everyone loves Deadpool in the games he's already in, so it's time he got his own. High Moon Studios is releasing it next year, and I think they'll do a great job with it. I've already expressed my admiration of War For Cybertron and my excitement for Fall of Cybertron, and now they're making another game I'm looking forward to. What I like about their work on Transformers is that they put a little bit of their own spin on the source material, while still remaining very true to it. Even the way they announced it just screams Deadpool; if you haven't heard, they announced it at the SDCC Marvel games panel by having Deadpool himself (no, not some actor or voice actor) come in and talk about his new game, then show a trailer. Everything he said and did was just so Deadpoolish. Same with the trailer. Here: watch it.
See what I mean? And here's him crashing the panel:

Rumble and Frenzy

One of the greatest debates of the Transformers universe is which of these otherwise identical Decepticons is blue and which one is red. In the G1 cartoon, Rumble was blue, but according to the toy line, he was red. He was also red in the Alternators series. But in War for Cybertron, he was blue. I think a lot of lines that include them sell them in a two pack now to avoid people disagreeing with their naming of each twin. There's too much confusion. I can't get no relief. Hasbro and Takara have contradicted themselves so many times on this subject though, that personally, I consider it a matter of opinion. To me, Rumble will always be blue and Frenzy will always be red. I doubt I'll ever be able to look at the red one and think Rumble. If you call the blue one Frenzy, I disagree with you, but I respect that. I think it's a matter of individual opinion, and you have the right to your own. However, if it's not the same as mine, you are wrong (I'm pretty sure I'm joking). Whatever you call him though, I think the blue one is my favorite cassetticon. When I did a post on Soundwave, I said Ravage was my favorite, but I've changed my mind since then. In case you're wondering, my favorite cassetticons are: the one I call Rumble, Laserbeak, Ravage, the one I call Frenzy, Ratbat, Overkill, Beastbox, Slugfest and Squawktalk in that order. I'm not going to go into Blaster and his cassettes, since I don't not like Blaster, but he always reminds me of Soundwave's abilities and Jazz's personality with Cliffjumper's head. I know he doesn't look that much like Cliffjumper and there are differences between him and Jazz, but I'm pretty sure if you combined those three characters, you'd get Blaster.  Back to Ruble and Frenzy though, whatever you think of them, you have to agree: No one calls Soundwave uncrazzimatic! If you ask me, Soundwave is very crazzimatic.

Some Monsters Are People, Some Aren't

When I watch movies with vampires or werewolves or stuff like that, it annoys me when the humans refer to them as "it" instead of "he" or "she". How do they think the vampires and werewolves feel about that? No wonder humans are always getting mauled or fed on. The excuse they give is always something along the lines of "Look at it. It's not a human being." While it's true that they're not human, I think that they should be considered nonhuman persons. I kind of understand that attitude toward werewolves, since they turn into animalistic beasts, which I do not think count as people, but still, most werewolves are more often than not in human form. They look like us, speak like us, interact with each other the same way we do; they're people. Many of them are evil people and should be hunted down by Death Dealers or Van Helsing or someone like that, but they're still people. That same statement is also true of vampires. The majority of them are evil, but they're evil people, and not just creatures that look like humans. But what's our excuse for that? They don't even have a beast form. They're people 24/7! Those two bother me, but the one that bothers me by far the most is zombies. Did the zombie apocalypse have a side effect of making everyone dumb?! It always takes way too long for people to realise that zombies are no longer the people they were. That person is dead and gone, and what they see is that person's corpse walking around. Sure, that's pretty messed up when you think about it, but get over it! There is no way to cure that person or bring them back because THERE IS NO CURE FOR DEATH! Honestly, the best thing you can do for that person is "kill" the zombie that was once their body.