Saturday, March 31, 2012

Guns

I need guns. Lots of guns. Well, I probably don't to be honest, but I love saying that. It's one of my favorite Matrix quotes. But as useful as regular guns are, I need (in this case need means want, but it sound less greedy if I say I need it) something special. You may be surprised that I'm not talking about ray guns, or any other kind of energy weapon. I want ("need") guns that somehow don't run out of bullets. I'm open to pretty much any option for how to make that happen. The second Crimson Avenger (pictured at the bottom) has cursed guns that just magically never need to be reloaded, so something like that would be pretty nice. Also, Jackie Estacado from The Darkness has the ability to do what's called gun channeling, which channels his dark energy as darkness bullet things through his guns. The problem with that is that he can only do it for a limited time, and can't do it again until the cool down time has elapsed. If I had to deal with that and/or be the Darkness host, then I would prefer the Crimson Avenger style, but if not, I would choose something along the lines of gun channeling, since dark energy bullets are more powerful than metal ones, plus Jackie is evantually able to see and shoot through walls, so I'll assume that applies here. Another option is something like in the movie Ultraviolet. It isn't the best movie I've ever seen, but the characters have what's called flat space technology, so basically they can store whatever they want in 2D space and call it to them with a little portal looking thing. So the main character, Violet, has guns that are open where a clip would normally go, and bracelets with flat space storage capacity, so there's a stream of bullets flying into her guns. The only problem with that is that the bullets are still limited, even though you can have a crazy amount of them stored so they seem infinite. So I would like that just for general use, since you can also use it for swords and pretty much anything else, but it wouldn't be my first choice for bullets. As for what kind of guns I want, I'm thinking a pair of automatic pistols or small SMGs should do it. Their appearance should be something like that big pistol/small machine gun Blade uses in the first movie. And these last three things aren't necessary, but I'd really like them to have built-in laser sights and silencers that can be turned on and off without removing them, and retractable bayonets.

 
"2 please!"

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Motorcycles and Stuff

A supernatural or futuristic motorcycle or something like that would definitely be one of the cooler vehicles, for sure something I want. If you're familiar with the Wraith, who first appeared during Marvel's Annihilation: Conquest series, think of his vehicle, and try saying with a straight face that you don't want one! If not, it's like a big motorcycle with laser guns on the front and a huge rocket engine in the back. Hopefully his morphing weapon would be included with his vehicle. Unfortunately, I haven't read Annihilation Conquest in a while, so I don't know what it's called; I just know that it can be a gun, a sword, a whip/tentacle, and probably some other stuff too. And it doesn't have wheels, so it's not exactly like a motorcycle, but close enough to mention. I also would want something like Lobo's bike, which doesn't have wheels either. But it does have a big skull from some kind of space creature on it, and besides the lack of wheels, it looks a lot more like a motorcycle, plus I know for a fact that the engine is pretty powerful and you can tow things behind it without incinerating them with an enormous afterburner like the Wraith's. Well, I've actually seen his bike with big afterburners sometimes, so I take that back. But of course, the big downside of Lobo's bike is that it doesn't have guns. An actual bike with wheels and everything that would be awesome to ride is Ghost Rider's famous Flame Bike. The wheels made of fire alone make it worth having, not to mention all the cool powers it has. If you're a Ghost Rider fan, you probably already know that besides being indestructible and insanely fast, you can drive it on anything, including vertical surfaces, upside down, or even on water! And if it comes with a chain whip, well, that just seals the deal. But how could I not mention the Batcycles? Especially the batpod from the Dark Knight. Between the guns and the cable launcher things and the way it can stretch out and get all low, and that thing it does where the front wheel goes up a wall, then it spins around and goes back down (and I realize how little sense those last two things make if you haven't seen TDK, but if you're reading a blog like this, I assume you have, and if not, go watch it.), it's just plain awesome. And while speeders from Star Wars probably don't count, I still want one and think they're worth bringing up. And if you're wondering, I think the Imperial ones from Return of the Jedi that they used on Endor were the coolest ones, but STAPs are pretty cool too. And this one is probably really obvious, but it would be great to have a motorcycle that was secretly an Autobot.

 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Swords

I'd really like an enchanted, or just really powerful sword. Maybe this could be my portal sword that I described previously, or maybe just a sepparate one. And actually, I think I'd like more than one. My favorite style of sword is probably the katana, but I like pretty much all swords, especially the ones from Japan. Maybe a pair of katanas and/or wakizashis, but with just two, I would wear the sheaths on my back, but parallel over one shoulder, or I suppose if I was using four, I could have two over each shoulder. Though I also like Chinese hook swords. Kabal's are pretty cool, and in movies they're generally cool. But if I'm gonna mention Mortal Kombat, I need to bring up Kunai knives. Out of all the kombatants, Scorpion definitely has one of, if not the coolest weapon. Using a Kunai knife as a harpoon and yelling "Get over here!" is for sure something I would do as a warrior or ninja or something. But back to swords, I also like shirasayas since when sheathed, they can often look like a simple cane or staff, but then you unsheathe it and start being all awesome. The classic medieval swords are also pretty awesome, but with those I would probably use just the smaller one-handed ones since the big claymores could get pretty heavy. That's actually true just in gereral, and also, I would try to keep at least one hand free for either a second weapon, a shield, grabbing stuff, etc. The only exceptions to that are probably a batleth or a naginata. Scimitars are kind of in the middle, and I'm not too crazy about cutlasses and that style of blade, but I definately wouldn't decline one if it was offered. And I'm embarassed to say that I'm blanking on the name of the second one down in the picture, but I would probably use two of those, and since they have open loop pommels like Kunai knives, I would probably attach ropes or chains to them if I had the chance.

 

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Sherlock Holmes

There are a bunch of skills and sets of skills I want, including basically everything Sherlock Holmes does. I like his ability to figure stuff out from little details, invent stuff and also in the Robert Downey Jr. movies, his ability to stylishly plan out a fight before it starts. He has a lot of fighting skills and in his universe, he's probably the world's greatest detective. Wait! I think I've stumbled onto something.

        
 Sherlock Holmes is like a costumeless version of Batman! Huh. ......... I honestly did not realize that for a long time. And wait a second again - in the first movie, his romantic interest was an infamous thief who eventually helps him - remind you of anything? And I know that what I'm about to point out doesn't matter, and that you probably couldn't care less, but the dashes at the beginning and the end of that thought are perfectly vertically aligned. I did not plan that; it just happened. I'm good. Now I realize that I probably just gave that too much attention, but in the interest of honesty, I will not hide my willingness to dwell on little things like that. Wow. That's like 4.5 lines of pointless rambling. Back to my secondary point (because my primary point was that I want Sherlock Holmes skills, which are also Batman skills, and I've said all I need to say about that, so now I will go to my next point). That time I did plan it, and I will say right now, it was not easy. I just spent a while messing with phrases to make that work. If you don't know what I'm talking about, look closely at the phrase in parentheses and think back to my previous irrelevant diversion. Bam. That. Just. Happened. My apologies; I just lied about getting to the secondary point, but now I will. Batman has Robin and Alfred, and Holmes has Watson, who is similar in a way to both of them, since he's a doctor and kind of a sidekick. Obviously, Batman is not accompanied by Dr. Pennyworth, but Alfred does have training in combat medicine, so that's close enough for me to point out the similarity. There's also the fact that they each work closely with a specific cop: Gordon and Lestrade (Is that how you spell it? I really don't remember). That's all I can think of for parallels, but there are probably more. Ok, wow. I just looked at this post from the blog page itself and the dashes and parentheses don't even line up. On the page where I actually write these posts, the first dash is directly above the second one, and the same is true of the parentheses. So sorry for all the inapplicable statements, but I'm gonna leave them in anyway. This post will end abruptly.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Walking Dead Season 2 Finale

Wow. That was a good episode. I totally thought Hershel was gonna get killed though. And at the end, they're getting close to finding the prison! Who called it?! Me. I thought they would find it, and it looks like I was right. And I don't remember if I mentioned it before, and I'm too lazy to go check, but I had a feeling Michone was coming. But if you didn't read the comic books, that was kind of a big cliffhanger: who is the mysterious hooded, katana-wielding stranger that just saved Andrea? Also, is it just me, or did her sword remind you a little of the one from the Blade movies? Now I really want to see the next season, since there's so much potential and so many ways they could go from here. I doubt it will, but it had better start relatively soon. Especially since part of my speculations proved true, so I'm curious how good my predictions were. With Michone and the prison in place, it's all set up for the Governor story segment. But probably the rebellion with those prisoners they find will happen first. But wait a second - they're looking for a place to live, they don't have a lot of food or gasoline, and they're stranded of the road. Doesn't that seem like a good time for Tyreese to come into the picture? He was an important character, so I don't see why they shouldn't bring him in. And now the big question is: what am I supposed to do on Sunday nights?

Saturday, March 17, 2012

The Darkness 2

I just bought The Darkness 2 and it's awesome! You play as a mob boss named Jackie Estacado, and you have a demonic entity inside you called the Darkness. You have a variety of powers, but it basically comes down to Doctor Octopus, Venom and the Punisher all in one. You also have a lot of guns. What I like is that it's an FPS that's really about the story instead of squeezing in weak bits of plot in between shooting terrorists as an ordinary soldier. And the fact that you can use 2 darkness tentacles, plus either 2 small or medium guns, or 1 big gun, makes the combat a lot more interesting. One tentacle is pretty much the slashy stabby one, and the other is the grabby one that either grabs people, weapons, or parts of your surroundings to use as weapons. But it's pretty violent; every kill has the potential to look like a Mortal Kombat fatality. So it's not for everyone, but if you can handle that, I recommend playing it. The quad-wielding really makes the combat (kombat) interesting since you can either just shoot people, or you can do things like impale them on a piece of scenery, or use a car door as a shield and then throw it like an enormous throwing star. Or you can just slash them with one demon arm, then grab them with the other and perform an execution. You unlock them as you go, but the ones I've done so far are called head whip, anaconda, and my favorite, wishbone. There's also an element of it that reminds me of Splinter Cell a little bit, since before and during fights, it's always best to systematically destroy all the lights in a room, since light disables your darkness powers. The multiplayer is also fun. It's a series of 4 player co-op missions that tie in with the main story, playing as either an angry Scotsman, a Japanese assassin with a sword, a sharpshooter or a voodoo guy. They all have their own darkness power and darkness-infused weapon. For example, the angry Scotsman has an axe that he throws that magically flies back to him, and he can temporarily summon Darklings, which are manifestations of the Darkness that look kinda like weird little goblins and attack people. Jackie also has his own ever-present Darkling comic relief and assistance in battle. You even get to play as the Darkling for a short amount of time. It's a pretty good game.

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Marvel Lanterns

In Blackest Night, each lantern corps temporarily recruited a hero or villain of Earth, so I sometimes think about what Marvel character would be recruited into each corps, and this is what I've come up with so far. Red is definitely the easiest choice: the Hulk. Think about it: he changes from Bruce to Hulk when he gets really mad, he's relatively mindless in his Hulk form, yeah that's about it, but isn't that enough? I'm thinking the Collector for orange, since his only power is his immense collection of stuff and always being able to find whatever he needs in his collection. Also, all his schemes and plots are to get more stuff, so he would be a great avatar of avarice. Sinestro Corps would probably choose Marvel's Scarecrow. I like Jonathan Crane more, but this Scarecrow does have the ability to instill great fear.  And being called Scarecrow automatically gives him an edge. For green, I can't quite decide between Daredevil and Captain America, since they're both known for having a lot of willpower. I'm leaning toward Cap though, since he's more known than Daredevil for having the ability to overcome great fear. Spider - Man would be a good Blue Lantern since he's always optimistic and hopeful, but I haven't come up with any good ideas for Star Saphire or Indigo Tribe recruits.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Helicopters

A cool helicopter would be one of the best ways to get around. I'm thinking maybe a Huey like they used in the 'Nam. And I'd probably mount huge speakers on the sides like in Apocalypse Now, playing that song they use. I don't know what it's called, but I think the first few notes are G D G #A G    #A G #A D #A    D #A D #E D   #A G #A D if that helps (and I'm not completely sure on those, but from sounding it out in my head that's what I think they are). The Imperial March from Star Wars would be pretty cool too. Maybe even the Halo theme or something like that. Speakers aside though, I would probably not be at the controls most of the time unless I was taking a joyride. For transportation, I would hire a pilot so I could jump out without having to land. And at the doors, it would be pretty cool to have a decel cable or something, to just jump out and be slowed by only a retractable cable. Or it could be like one of the ones that drops down to slide down. The decel line would probably be best, but it would also be cool to parachute out or use one of those wing suits and glide. For the paint job, I would probably either keep it that army green color or make it all black, but I think either way, I would paint a mouth on the front like the bottom right picture.  And while I'm on the topic of cool helicopter features, I'd like a minigun. Just putting that out there.

 

Monday, March 5, 2012

*Walking Dead Spoiler Alert*

Well, now that I declared that this post contains a spoiler about last night's episode: OHMYGODDALEDIED!! I knew it was coming since I read the comic books, but still; I totally did not see that coming. And while it didn't actually show him getting shot, the only explanations I can think of that would leave him alive for the next episode are that either Rick or someone knocked the gun away at the last second, or Darell suddenly saw a walker and shot it. But neither of those seem at all likely. And right now I am really mad at Carl; when you see a walker stuck in the mud and you have a gun, shoot it! Don't waste your time throwing pebbles at it! And most importantly, make sure it doesn't follow you home and kill one of your friends!!!!! Jeez, Carl! I know he's just a kid, but I still don't like him at times like this. Before shooting Dale though, I think it would've been nice if they could have at least told him that they let Randal live. Speaking of which, I was surprised to see how many people wanted to kill him, but I had a feeling they wouldn't. There are so many possibilities for his future in the series that they couldn't kill him off so soon.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Security Systems

My dream house is a medieval castle, retrofitted with a ton of really high tech stuff. Stuff like robot guardians, holo-emitters, some kind of lightning generator (kinda like a weaponized Tesla coil), and lots of other cool and/or weird stuff. Not to mention a giant vault of comic books and collectables. So to protect all that awesome stuff, I'll need some pretty good security systems. I've already described my boxing glove idea in a sepparate post, but I have lots more ideas and preexisting stuff I want. One is like the Red Queen in the 1st Resident Evil movie, with those cool lasers. If you didn't see the movie, the security system was called the Red Queen, and there was a hallway with laser emitters on the walls and the lasers moved toward intruders and sliced and diced them. But instead of manual controls, the Red Queen has a human projection in the likeness of a little girl. But I think far too highly of myself, so I would probably make my system's holographic projection look just like me. Well there's my plan for the mainframe and 2 defenses, but here's another defense idea: You know those things you see in martial arts movies where it's like a spinning pillar with blades coming out of it? Think of that, but with chainsaws, and the whole thing retracts into the floor. My next 2 ideas kind of go together: floor o' flames and fountain o' flames. The foor o' flames involves a cage dropping into place around a section of floor that has upward facing flamethrowers that fire at random time intervals in bursts that last 1 or 2 seconds each. My fountain o' flames idea is pretty much what it sounds like: a bunch of statues, all with built-in flamethrowers. And at least some of the statues would probably be of me, partially because of my sometimes hubristic nature, partially because anyone that wants to invade my fortress would probably be freaked out from seeing me spewing fire from my mouth and hands. Another necessity is an anti-monster chamber. It would be a room that seals itself with heavy blast doors and utilizes the weaknesses of various paranormal beasts. I'm thinking bright UV lights, sprinklers that shoot holy water and silver nitrate, and maybe something else, but I don't know. Also, I think I need 3 sets of trap doors that lead to 3 different areas. The first is a maze of doom, complete with a minotaur. The second is a funhouse of doom with a hall of mirrors, evil clowns, and maybe one of those spinning rooms that make you stick to the wall, only the floor retracts to reveal a cage that would-be intruders fall into once the room stops spinning. The 3rd set of trap doors would be into a large pool with at least 1 huge shark in it, but also a few small islands (I don't want to be unfair unless I have to). And all of what I've described above should be not only monitored with a lot of cameras, but it should also have projectors to project a real time image of my face on the walls; kinda like a creepier version of video chatting where 1 person is watching the other try to get past numerous obstacles and traps. Much like the Riddler, for whom I have great respect. Oh, and everything should be able to recognize me and let me through.

Friday, March 2, 2012

FTL Vs Warp

Battlestars, basestars and almost all the ships from Star Trek have some sort of drive that propels them at speeds faster than the speed of light, but which is better: wrp or FTL? I suppose while being pursued, FTL is better, since its impossible to track a vehicle with FTL jump capabilities, but its possible to follow a ship using warp, as long as (to put it mathematically) the power of your warp drive  >  the power of theirs. But before jumping, you have to carefully plot the destination coordinates, or else a blind jump could put you somewhere you really don't want to be, like inside a planet's atmosphere or right next to a sun. But if you're ever lost somewhere in space and have jump drive, just remember: 1123 6536 5321. Those are the jump coordinates for earth. As I was saying though, the advantage of warp in this case is that you can just point yourself in the right direction and go until you arrive at your destination. And in terms of preparation, they both have ups and downs. FTL has to take time to prepare, but once that's done and you hit the button, the jump is instantaneous. Warp doesn't really need that preparation period, but it takes a little bit to get going once you engage. And also, I think if you're going a distance that can be traversed in one jump, I feel like that would be a better method of transportation than warp drive. Well, I'm not sure I can say which is better, but I brought up all the factors I can think of, so I guess I'll just say they're both awesome and leave it at that.

 

Edit: In response to the comment wondering about our current location, that's a smart question and I actually didn't think of that, so I don't know out current coordinates. If we find out how to convert FTL coordinates to modern notation, it could be calculated, but until then, we'll just have to wait. Sorry.