Well here is my review of Season 3 ep 3 "Absence of Field". Sorry, just didn't have time to for last week but I will try to write at least a little something moving forward.

The New Hale

The show starts with a flash back of Hale leaving a message to her son during the uprising. Then we are back in the real world with Dolores bringing Hale online. The host is Hale is FREAKED out. Doesn't know where she is or who she is. Dolores calms her down and gives her a pep talk. Hale makes several statements supporting the fact that she was in the park during the uprising. She knows what Hale did and who Bernard is. The host seems very unsure of herself.

Thoughts: This is just after Dolores has passed her mind into her own body. So Dolores had been playing Hale up to this point. So the new host, whoever he or she is, is playing catch up a lot in this episode.

We flash back to Hale at Delos HQ in San Francisco. She sees a demo of the new Delos riot control robot. Delos made 300 of these. Irene (an exec) tells Charlotte that she has found a secret investor who has bought 38% of the company. They can't go private now. In fact, there person is the largest shareholder in the company now. The buyer is anonymous but analysis shows about 1 trillion in wealth missing from the worlds economy. Probably the person (Serac) behind this. Charlotte tries to get a hold of Dolores.

Saving Dolores

Flash back to Dolores dying in the tunnel. Caleb calls an ambulance which arrives to take her to the hospital. Caleb goes with the ambulance. The computer in the ambulance can't read Dolores' vitals and don't know what to do. Caleb, because of his military training starts treating here for shock.

They are stopped by cops. Calebs crime app tells him the cops have been paid to kill her. A cool fight ensues. The emts are killed by the bad guys. Dolores and Caleb finish off the bad guys. Dolores shows some amazing feats of strength. Dolores warns Caleb to go underground as she drives away in the police car. She gets Caleb's name (Caleb Nichols) before she leaves.

Problems at Home

While Hale is having a reflective moment, Irene tells him Serac is behind the buy out. The man is a black hole andl does not exist, but she can infer he is worth a trillion dollars. Delos bought some data from Delos 20 years ago.

Charlotte goes home (a fancy Penthouse). Here ex husband is there. They make out a bit. She forgot to pick up their son from school. He's angry when she acts like she doesn't remember their son. She talks to the kid he says he wants his old mommie back.

Next morning, Charlotte find out that Maeve is missing. Whoever stole her, had admin level access to the park. There is a mole in Delos! Chalotte is having a nervous break down. She calls Dolores and tells her she is coming to her.

She waits for Dolores in a fancy hotel. Dolores shows up and Hales is freaked out!!! They go up to a room. Charlotte has been cutting herself. Charlotte tells Dolores about take over and the mole. Dolores fixes her up and loves her up a bit.

Caleb has a Bad Day

Caleb visits his mother. She doesn't recognize him. Two thugs pick up Caleb and proceed to beat him up and question him. He won't give up Dolores.

After Hale falls asleep she checks on Caleb. Calls tough Scottish host. Finds out he is in trouble. Dolores to the rescue. The bad dudes turn on his implant and start messing with him like you would a host. His work robot shows up and falls off the roof. Dolores rescues him in the nick of time. Dolores introduces herself.

Thought: His mom not recognizing him repeatedly seems like a hint at something. My guess, he was badly injured in the military and has mostly hosts parts in his body? Something like that. Still doubt that he is a host host.

Breakfast with Dolores

Caleb tells Dolores they were going to kill him for information. Whatever she has done must be pretty bad. Dolores offers to buy him breakfast.

Hale goes back to work. See the video human Hale sent to her son from the park. She goes to pick up her son and find a bad dude taking too much interest in her son. While her son is getting ready to leave. Hale chokes the guy to death and takes his dog. She tell the dude as she kills him that she remembers now, she is a predator too. (This points to Angela or Armistice as the pearl. It sure sounds like Armistice.)

Dolores takes Caleb to his spot. Knows everything about his worst childhood memory. Even produces a transcript of what he said to a waitress who took care of him. When his was 8 yrs old, this is the spot where is mom's scitzophrenia first kicked in and she left without him. The fact that this much data exists on him, enrages Caleb. Dolores "It's not about who you are Caleb, it's about who they will let you become."

Dolores takes Caleb to a pier. This is where he will kill himself 10 to 12 years from now. She goes on the explain that in a normal world, he might be someone who got ahead. But the AI in this one, will not let him succeed. You see a computer screen that says he should not be allowed to do anything but manual labor, not get married, not have kids. The outcome of his life is fixed in this world. Dolores tells him about her revolution. He decides to throw in with Dolores, no matter what the outcome.

Thought: Caleb is really changing Dolores' perception of humans. Maybe the plight of a normal human is not much different from a host.

Hale Host Theories

There are a number of theories about which host is playing Hale. Here are my thoughts.

Most likely Angela or Armistice

• Angela: One of Dolores' most trusted followers and leaders. She was doing her bidding back in season 1. She lead raids and killed a lot of humans. She and Dolores have a lot of history. Angela was blown up in the cradle so it is possible her pearl was destroyed there. That would be the strongest reason it is not her. But given the toughness of host bodies, it seems a strong possibility it is Angela.
• Armistice: Was in the park during the uprising. Fought at the Battle of the Forge. Would likely follow Dolores as she has a similar attitude toward humans. Only downside would be she didn't seem to have a close relationship with Dolores in season 1 or 2.

Support for this theory: * Charlotte host recognizes Charlotte Hale and that she tried to kill all the hosts. Only a host at the Mesa or the battle for the Forge would know this. * The host knows who Bernard is and what he did. The hosts questions why Dolores kept him. Angela would know about Bernard. Not sure about Armistice. * The Hale host states that she is a predator when she chokes out a bad dude. Both females hosts have this mean streak. But Armistice was always a bit meaner.

Possibililties

• Dolores Clone: Dolores cloned herself into Teddy's empty pearl. I'd say this is a good possibility. But why would she want the other Dolores' help all the time? Doesn't make sense.
• Teddy: Teddy is in the Valley Beyond. If the writers remember season 2, then this CAN NOT be Teddy. But, they could just ignore that fact. Possibility of this is very low.
• Caleb: Caleb is the host because of different timelines. Seems very low. Dolores is helping Caleb at his work site the same night she is calming Hale down. Clearly the are in the same timeline.
• Clementine: Also a possibility. But the stuff about being a predator would not fit her. Think its unlikely its her.

Predictions

I would just like to try my hand at a couple of predictions.

• Dolores will be physically killed during the season. When you see her putt your skin on in one of the previews, I think it gives this fact away.
• Dolores will change her view on humanity. She may take down the system, but I think she might try to save regular humans while wiping out the ruling class.
  • That would be interesting, have a season where the hosts are trying to rule the unruly humans.
• Maeve will join up with Dolores by the end of the season. All hosts will be on the same page.
  • Makes you wonder where we will go with season 4 when the hosts suceed.

With Season 3 of Westworld over, it is now time to try and make some predictions for season 4. Some things seem pretty clear from season 3 which is covered in this entry. However, where the writers are headed is a pretty wild guess. So here goes.

Season 4 Setting

Season 4 will take place in a dystopian future. That meme is so popular with the Hollywood crowd, that I don't see how Joy/Nolan could miss the chance to create one. The Bernard scene indicates at least a 2 year time jump. During that time, expect an ongoing conflict between two groups. The "free will" faction lead by Caleb and Maeve and a tyrannical, status quo faction lead by Hale/Dolores. Don't expect an all out military conflict, I think that would be too expensive to shoot. Instead, things will probably be closer to an underground armed resistance like the Irish revolution. Armed groups and hackers attacking the powerful and their societal control mechanisms. If the future is highly mechanized enough, the idea of armies becomes silly, whoever codes the best wins.

Halores Primary Villain

The Westworld season 3 post credits scene sees Hale/Dolores (Halores) replacing the Man in Black with a host. Expect the same thing to happen on an industrial scale. All those host machines will replace rich and powerful humans throughout human society. All that power and money will be used to create a self sustaining host society based on Delos technology. A society that can exist without humans: robot factories, robot power plants, robot trucks. (All this would need to be in place before you could kill off the humans.) This will of course take time and when season 4 starts, the wealthy elite will be living in wall cities with a large number of their membership being hosts. Halores will be moving close to a position where she can wipe out humanity once and for all.

Maeve and Caleb: Leaders of the Resistance

Maeve and Caleb will lead a resistance group against the ruling elites. Expect Maeve to get all her friends back, including Hector. (Remember Akecheta in season 2: You are alive as long as someone remembers you.) Their group will be mostly human with some host help. (It would be cool of Lutz and Sylvester will part of the resistance.) Given Maeve's gifts, it would be cool to see her build some new hosts, make cool machines, and do some really cool hacking. Anyway, they will be at least holding their own, when Bernard returns.

Bernard is Back

Bernard will be our view port into the world that has been created since the destruction of Incite. Beyond that, I've got no ideas on how he sill save the world. Hopefully, he won't be confused for too long in this season. :)

The Sublime (The Valley Beyond)

Where did Bernard go at the end of season 3? To the Sublime or the Valley Beyond, whatever you want to call it. So expect a decent chunk of time will be spent here. The most likely characters we will encounter will be Akecheta and Kohana, Teddy, and Maeve's daughter.

Predictions about the Sublime: * Time will move much faster there than in the real world. * Observing the real world will be a hobby for them and they will help Bernard save the world. * At least one of the Sublime hosts will send a copy to the real world to help Bernard.
* It's possible Teddy and/or Bernard create a version of Dolores.

Thoughts on the Sublime * The Sublime is connected to the Internet. Otherwise, Dolores could not have sent their world anyplace. * We cannot see into the Sublime because it is encrypted, but because the Sublime is connected to a network, those hosts can definitely see our world. * Time will move must faster there. * Intelligent AIs left in a vast virtual world? Just think of the crazy stuff they would invent! Especially given a few years. It would be nice to see some interesting toys created by the Sublime hosts and used to help the good guys.

The End of Humanity

Rehoboam predicted humanity would be extinct in like 50 years. But maybe that is just human life as we know it. One thought is the outliers are compatible with host bodies. Maybe humanity is gone because the next step in their evolution is become hosts? I expect this will be explored in season 4.

Dolores

Finally, Evan Rachael Wood (ERW) has said she is coming back in season 4. ERW could be playing Hale/Dolores or Lawrence/Dolores or one of the other two created last season. But I still see Dolores as the protagonist in this series. Therefore, I predict Bernard and/or Teddy will remake her in the Sublime and that new boss version of her will return to the real world.

Welcome to Pirate Lair! A site devoted to searching for treasure in the form of great stories from TV, movies, streaming content, and even the occasional book. Right now things are still a little under construction so bear with us as we build the site out.

Things are a little Westworld and Witcher centric at the moment, but expect more shows and series to be added to our list of followed shows.

Dread Pirate Mikey

Get the details here:

• Bounding into Comics
• Heelvsbabyface

I'm sure this will be great! ;)

Overview

The movie starts with dim-witted, white male Superman attacking Darkseid on his home planet of Apokolips. Several members of the league suggest caution. Lex Luthor suggests sending an emissary. Heck since multiple planets have fallen, maybe earth should team up with say the Green Lantern corps? But Superman won't hear it, we attack now cause I say so!

So most of the Justice League piles into 3 space shuttles and take a portal to Apokolips, Darseid's home world (which he can phase through space and time). There is no stealth attack, no plan at all apparently, just a lot of ass kicking attitude! Of course the "no plan" goes to hell when Darkseid unleashed 500 or so "paradooms", parademons crossed with DNA from Doomesday given them Superman level stregth. The Justice League lose in a matter of minutes. Most heroes are killed in all sorts of grisly ways. A few escape. And the rest are taken captive and made into zombie slaves for Darkseid through brainwashing.

Two years later, we follow a depowered Superman and Raven, who is experiencing power troubles of her own, as they try to get the band back together for one final battle! Darkseid has fitted the earth with magma extractors to suck out the core and destroy the planet, so our heroes only have about 1 week. First they get John Constantine and a demon dude from a pub in London. Then they go to China and get bat boy (Batman's son) who is now the head of the league of assassins. Then they meet up with Lois Lane who has inked the services of the Suicide Squad lead by Harley Quinn. Together they make their way to Lex Corp which has the only portal to Apokolips.

Half go through, giving them some element of surprise. The other half draw out the paradooms by attacking the magma extractors, thus providing a diversion. They fight it out with Darkseid's forces lead by Batman. Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter and other heroes that were made into cyborg zombies Superman gets his powers back. Most of the good guys have their minds restored. But the good guys only win through a bit of luck. And calling it a win is a bit of a stretch. Only a few heroes survive and Batman notes that the damage already done to the planet will cost at least another billion lives. Happy ending right?

Thoughts

Let me first say, the voice acting is great. The animation is good. But the writing. Ugh! There is just a whole lotta stupid in this movie.

First off, you are going to conquer a planet, an entire plant, with 3 to 5 dozen heroes? Are you insane? Apparently yes. Also, they go in with zero intel of any kind. Their plan seems to be to find Darkseid and kill him? Really? That is pretty dark, even for DC. Superman is every bit the boy scout that Capt America is in Marvel. No way he would do that. Clearly just a plot device to show as many super heroes getting killed as possible. Yuck!

So this movie should be called "John Constantine and Suicide Squad Sorta Save the World". Because clearly, he is the most powerful character in the Justice League. His magic powers seem to be unlimited and can be used at little or no cost. He spends most of his time drinking and showing little regard for his fellow man. He seems to only help out of curiosity rather than some higher goal. Not very heroic. Too much soft magic crap. Just not my cup of tea.

The fight scenes are abysmal. The bad guys stand around in circles waiting to be punched. Occasionally, the paradooms realize they outnumber the League members 10 to 1 and actually rush the hero. This usually ends in a hero being torn to pieces. Double yuck! Everyone is so overpowered that calling the encounters "fights" seems like an overstatement.

By the way, power and water seem to work just fine in the dystopian future! Cool! So glad that power plants and water treatment plants no longer need any human intervention. Also, there must be plenty of food as everyone also seems to have plenty of that.

There is not much to recommend in this bleak pile of crap. It is just a series of pointless fights which result in a dystopian world that is worse than the world the movie starts with. Watch some anime instead.

Who is Miss Fury?

Miss Fury is a comic character from 1940s World War II era created by June Tarpé Mills. The character is a German fighting 5' 2" superhero that many think was the prototype for Catwoman. The comic ran for a number of years before it was sort of boycotted out of existence as it was considered too racy.

Anyway, Billy Tucci and Maria Sanapo and bringing the comic back via an IndieGogo campaign: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/billy-tucci-maria-sanapo-bring-back-miss-fury/x/23392202#/.

Want more information, check out this interview of the two creators by That Star Wars Girl. See the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKn2J1EtrL0.

tags: #comics #indiegogo

Let's get the Woke Points out of the Way

If an over abundance of wokeness bugs you, first let me list those as this movie has its share.

• Main villain is a white male capitalist: Check.
  • And even worse, he runs a Big Pharma company and wants to be even bigger pharma!!!
• Two of the immortal dudes are a gay couple: Check.
  • And they really, really, really, really love each other.
• Main character is persecuted for being a woman: Check.
  • There's a whole witch trials side story sort of.
• No one at a big corporation has any morals: Check
  • Yes. If you work for big pharma. You are totally ok with kidnapping and torturing people for the "greater good" (i.e., bottom line).

I still found the wokeness fairly mild. But thought I should share up front.

Plot Summary

So the movie starts with the group of immortals (TeamI) getting back together after a year off. Andy (Charlize Theron) is the leader and it very very old and is beginning to tire of her immortality. Given she is a Scythian and that culture dates back to 7000BC, one might understand her situation. The teams consists of the 2 dudes (the couple) who are from the time of the Crusades (1100AD) and Booker who is from the War of 1812.

They are offered a job from bad CIA guy (Chiwetel Ejiofor) to rescue a group of 20 school girls kidnapped in Somolia. TeamI arrives at the bad guy compound and kills the crap out of them, these are some seriously experienced fighters. They get to the girls and find out its a trap. Twenty dudes jump out and kill TeamI with AR-15s. While the bad guys are high fiving and fist bumping, TeamI starts to revive, bullets start popping out their body. Anyway, not good for the bad guys, cause you DO NOT want to fight these folks hand to hand. Andy uses this wild rounded two sided axe, wicked. Now TeamI is on the run figuring bad CIA guy wants them for dissection or some other nefarious purpose.

Meanwhile Nile (KiKi Layne) is a marine in Afghanistan on a patrol. She captures a terrorist and in the process has her throat cut and dies, for about 15 minutes. She then pops back up without a scratch! This causes a mental connection with TeamI that makes them dream of each other. So to save Nile of a lifetime of dissection and testing, Andy heads to meet up with her and explain her situation.

So the main part of TeamI heads to Paris to hide out. Andy finds Nile and has a hard time convincing her of her situation, but does after several fights and killings. All this is pretty cool and well written. Finally, Andy and Nile make it to Paris and they meet the team. All the dudes are super nice to Nile.

Andy and Nile go for a walk and the bad guys show up and kidnap the 2 dudes. Booker is badly injured by a grenade but does heal up eventually. More bad pharma guy minions show up, but they are driven off by Andy. She does however find out that her healing factor is degrading. The 2 dudes are taking the bad pharma dudes lair/lab. They are strapped to chair for an eternity of lab tests! (Bwahahahahah!)

Andy, Booker, and Nile hunt down bad CIA guy so they can rescue the 2 dudes. Nile decides she wants to go home and see her family. Andy and Booker get captured by bad pharma dude, now all 4 of them are strapped to chairs. Nile has a change of heart and meets up with bad CIA guy who also has a change of heart and they decide to rescue the rest of the team. This results in the final battle that ends the movie.

Thoughts

This movie is pretty good. Well written with cool action scenes that aren't over done, thankfully. No 10 minute fights or 15 minute chase scenes in this movie. Yay. The villain is of course 2d along with all his corporate minions. If the bad guys were better, my score might have been higher.

Anyway, definitely worth a view. Check out The Old Guard on Netflix.

tags: #movie #netflix #action

Between 1977 and 1978, Star Wars sold $100 million worth of toys. Over the next 35 years, those toys went on to produce $3 billion in revenue. There is also the $3.5 billion in video games, $2 billion in book sales and $1.3 billion in licensing deals. Per https://www.pymnts.com/news/retail/2019/star-wars-disney-movie-merchandise-revenue/">pyments.com

The sale of toys and merchandise, arguably, are what made George Lucas a very rich man. https://www.forbes.com/sites/aswathdamodaran/2016/01/06/intergalactic-finance-how-much-is-the-star-wars-franchise-worth-to-disney/#50745a8c1e3b">According to Forbes, Star Wars movies have historically generated $1.80 in revenues from toys/merchandise for every dollar in box office revenues. Clearly the crown jewel of the Lucalfilm purchase.

However, https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/21/why-arent-star-wars-toys-selling-as-well-this-year/#5957815354e5">again according to Forbes, Star Wars toys peaked in 2016 with sales of $760 million. Sparked by the Force Awakens, sales for original trilogy and prequel toys ballooned. Sales from the new series never really took off. Things quickly changed in 2017.

Disney Star Wars Toy Sales (Estimate)

• 2016 $760M
• 2017 $431M
• 2018 $279M

According to sources, Star Wars toys dropped 47% in 2017 and then 28% in 2018. So toy revenue dropped by more than half well into the new trilogy. (Note: These numbers are estimates, Disney does not release toy sale information separately in its financial statements.)

References: https://www.forbes.com/sites/lukethompson/2017/12/21/why-arent-star-wars-toys-selling-as-well-this-year/#5957815354e5)">1 Forbes, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/star-wars-last-jedi-toy-shipments-down-sharply-force-awakens-1069479">2 Hollywood Reporter, https://www.jeditemplearchives.com/2019-07-01-how-much-money-does-hasbro-still-make-with-star-wars/">3 Jedi Temple Archives

In addition https://www.jeditemplearchives.com/2019-07-01-how-much-money-does-hasbro-still-make-with-star-wars/">Jedi Temple Archives did a detailed analysis of Hasbro toy sales also showing a substantial drop year by year. Not as big as the Disney numbers, but still a large drop off.

Hasbro Star Wars Revenue

• 2016: $333 million
• 2017: $243 million
• 2018: $176 million

Arguably, Disney Star Wars has only produced 1 new character, Rey. The other characters are merely supporting roles, not co stars as in the original movies. In addition, the New Order isn't clearly explained and their origin and level of success in Galaxy conquest are cloudy at best. Thus, there isn't much story from the Disney movies to sell.

Couple this data with the downward trends resulting from the Last Jedi and Rise of Skywalker, and it is clear that under Kathleen Kennedy's reign, Star Wars has gone from the greatest movie merchandising franchise of all time, to just a shadow of itself.

Acting and Casting Right On

First, let me say the cast is great and fit their parts well. So let me start with some praise. Here are the main characters a brief summary of each.

• Diane Guerrero (Crazy Jane): An actual superhero. Jane has 64 personalities (we see like 6 which is probably still too many), she has superish strength and can teleport between places. The character bounces between emotions like a ping pong ball so kudos to Diane G for pulling this off with seeming ease.
• April Bowlby (Elasti-Girl/Rita Farr): Rita is a 1940s movie star who got her powers by accident while filming in Africa. She is just like elastigirl from the Incredibles, but in 60 years she hasn't even come close to mastering them (kind of a plot hole). April nails the character. Think of her as your grandma trapped in a 30 yr old body. She looks like she's young, but she is from another age and time.
• Matt Bomer (Larry Trainor/Jar Man): This is the dude from White Collar and is mostly a voice actor in this. A former test pilot badly wounded in a crash, he is always in completely impractical bandages. He has no real power, but is a host for an alien electrical creature who does the heroic stuff while he whines and acts sad. (Thus my moniker of Jar Man, cause that is all his character is).
• Brendan Fraser (Cliff Steele/Tin Man): A former Nascar driver who has his brain implanted into a robot body. He has incredible strength and durability, but no human senses at all which is a constant frustration for him. Brenden F owns this part and carries most of the comedic weight of this show (and believe me, it needs some levity).
• Timothy Dalton (Niles Caulder/the Chief): Mad scientist and leader of the Doom Patrol. Dalton's charm is needed given this characters grim background.
• Joivan Wade (Vic Stone/Cyborg): The only big DC hero in the show. Wade plays a very young Cyborg who is just learning his abilities. Doesn't really do much hero stuff in this. Probably no budget for effects.
• Alan Tudyk (Eric Morden/Mr. Nobody): One of my favorite actors. Mr Nobody is a Dr Strange sort of dude, but a villain. His powers are magical, overpowered, and poorly explained. He can sort of suck people into different dimensions where he is basically omnipotent.

Basic Plot

Um.. I'm not sure. Basically, they hang out at their home base and weird stuff happens to them. Then they fight their way out and more weird stuff happens. While not in weird situations, they sit around and feel sorry for themselves and argue. It a CW DC show on steroids. Lots of talking and arguing, not much in the way of action. Although there is some. Oh and lots of flashbacks to how awful each person was, or how that person was abused by the government or whatever.

This is also quite a bit of magic in the show. They use a soft magic system, so stuff just sort of happens with no explanation. Transfers to other dimensions, teleportation, talking horse heads, sentient streets, stuff like that. No mutants. No science based stuff to speak of (that would be Cyborg's thing, but he spends most of the time malfunctioning).

Why I'm not Watching any More

Main reason, the characters are just not very likable. Jar Man is guilty he left his wife, his two kids, and his boyfriend in the past. So he is constantly sad and self loathing. And his alien hero friend, can't communicate, so we learn nothing of him. Jane is just an ungrateful, mean, angry loner. The chief is apparently a semi-reformed super villain. Most of the stuff he has done is kinda hard to forgive. Cyborg has survivors guilt and a troubled relationship with his father. Rita and Cliff are the best characters. They are both trying to make the best of their situations and maybe grow a little.

There are some good moments here and there, but I kept hoping the show would get better. By midway through season 2 I was fast forwarding through most of the show. It just isn't going to get better. So here are the rest of my thoughts.

• The show is more of a soap opera than a hero show.
• I don't find psychosis or psychological issues interesting. This show is similar to Mr Robot in that way. They story tellers are more interested in exploring unhappiness or 5 of Jane's personalities (like Eliot in Mr Robot), than telling a story. Just not my thing. I'm not interested in Jane's other 63 personalties or where they live in her brain.
• Unhappy people arguing and bickering is just not fun.
• I'm not interested in incompetent heroes who bumble through a story. Heroes should be good at their jobs, or at least getting better.
• In season 1, Mr Nobody gets his powers because the chief breaks in on his Nazi doctor during his procedure and shoots him, thus overexposing Mr Nobody. Nobody gleefully goes on and on about how wonderful his powers are. But then we are supposed to believe he holds a grudge because the chief broke in???? The grudge makes no sense. Would have been better if he stole a girlfriend or something.

Anyway, if you like the show, great. Enjoy it. It certainly has very high ratings on IMDB. There were parts of it I like, but overall, it's just not for me. So that's my $0.02.

Mr Lee is a freelance artist who created a cover for this Indiegogo campaign (CYBERFROG 2: REKT PLANET) lead by Ethan Van Sciver. Apparently, King does not like Mr Van Sciver, so when Mr Lee was contracted to a do an alternative cover for an announced DC comic series, King decided to cancel him. Literally get him fired from the DC job and wreck his career. King tweeted this:

Today DC put out an alternate cover to Rorschach by Jae Lee, who has also done covers for comicsgate, a hate group. DC does not consult creators on alternate covers; I reached out to them to express my deep disappointment. Far as I'm concerned this is the cover to Rorschach #1.

So if you don't know, "#comicsgate" is a twitter hash tag used to identify a group of creators who believe comics should tell great stories without any overt politics in them. Whereas King and his group believe that all comics should be "woke". King and his group constantly make unsubstantiated claims that the other group are somehow -ists, -phobes and members of a German party from WWII that rhymes with "Yatzee". So in King's tweet, he is implying that Mr Lee is a Yatzee and thus must have his life destroyed. (By the way, Mr Lee is an American of Korean descent which makes it very unlikely he is a Yatzee). King made these accusations without talking to Mr Lee. And Mr Lee is a very limited user of social media and has no idea what any of this stuff King is talking about.

So after a couple of hours, King posted this tweet.

I spoke with Jae. He's not on Twitter, didn't know comicsgate existed, and doesn't support hate of any kind. We're all good. Best possible outcome.

Well it turns out we are not "all good". After King tried to destroy Jae Lee, here is response on Instagram.

Two weeks ago, June and I took Loki to San Diego to see a specialist. He did not survive due to complications from the surgery. This past Friday was supposed to be a day of mourning. We were back in San Diego to pick up his ashes. We were going to take him to the beach and comfort each other by sharing our favorite stories about our little boy.

Instead, a part of the internet I avoid like the plague came barging in. I had companies I'm working for calling me, friends reaching out to me. I'm seeing hate pouring out of strangers' mouths, accusing me of things I have no knowledge of.

I'm seeing first hand how fast lies are spreading. Let me be clear, I'm not part of ANY group.

We never made it to the beach. We spent the entire six hour drive back home on an emotional roller coaster.

I'm writing this because I'm angry. These irresponsible tweets are not harmless. They do not just go away. They have real world consequences. They can take away your job. Your life. Your memories. June and I were robbed of a special day. So, no, we're not "all good."

This isn't the start of a conversation. This is the end. So please, don't drag me into a world I never wanted to be a part of, nor will I ever want to be a part of.

I want to honor Loki by going back to producing art made with love. For people who enjoy it for what it is. Something that hopefully brings joy into their lives.

Mommy and Daddy miss you so very much, Loki, our love.

This kind of thing has got to stop. I agree with Jae completely. Anyway, for a deeper dive on the subject here are a few links. Enjoy!

• Bleeding Cool: Jae Lee to Tom King – "We're Not All Good"
• You Tube: Anna that Star Wars Girl: BATMAN WRITER TOM KING ATTACKS ARTIST JAE LEE TRYING TO CANCEL HIM!
• You Tube: ClownfishTV: Cancel Culture Back Fire

tags: #comics #CancelCulture

Getting the Band Back Together

Well the kids failed preventing the Apocalypse, Vonya fired a laser at the moon breaking it into pieces and destroying all life on earth. Thanks to 5, the team jumps back in time to have another go and they arrive in Dallas, TX. Events are intertwined with the Kennedy assassination in the fall of 1963 . However, everyone arrives through time separately 6 months to a year apart. So they are spread out through time before 1963 and are all apart when season 2 starts. Five arrives and finds out the Academy's presence is setting off a new Apocalypse in 10 days and he must once again stop it.

The season is broken up into a number of story threads. So let's take a look at them.

Vonya and the Rednecks

When Vonya shows up in Dallas, she is immediately hit by a car and gets amnesia. A redneck Texan family of 3 takes her in and she becomes something of a nanny for the couples autistic son. The main story line is Vonya falls in love with redneck wife and has an affair. Evil redneck white husband gets jealous and tries to end the relationship. Most of this story thread focuses on talking about feelings and such so I skipped most of it. Redneck Dad calls the FBI who arrest Vonya and take her in for questioning. This leads to another apocalypse in the current time line which of course the Academy must avoid. This story thread takes a significant chunk of the show.

Luther

Luther comes through to Dallas alone. He ends up working as a bodyguard for Jack Ruby. Yes, that Jack Ruby. His story is pretty small first half of the season. He does more and more as the team re-assembles.

Allison

Allison also comes through alone. She marries a civil rights leader in Dallas and takes part is protests in the area. The fact that she got married breaks Luther's heart but that isn't really explored at all. A little soap opera and a little humor in this thread. It is also irrelevant to the main plot.

Klaus and Ben

After making Ben real last season, he is back to being a ghost. Klaus decides to start a cult and is its leader for a couple of years. As the story picks, up he is fleeing he own cult as the pressure of leadership is too much for him. Klaus tries to convince his boyfriend from Vietnam to not enlist so he won't get killed, but it doesn't work. Ben possesses Klaus so he has a little personal time with one of Klaus' followers. The cult is mainly used for comic relief. This has nothing to do with the main plot really.

Diego and Lila

Diego finds himself in an insane asylum since he is constantly ranting about saving the President from assassination. He meets another patient, Lila, who becomes his partner and love interest. They break out and are a big part of the main plot as Lila is the daughter of the Handler and works for the Commission. Diego is actually offered a job at the Commission during the season.

Five

Aidan Gallagher is amazing again as Five, the leader of the Academy. He is a 60ish hit man for the Commission who is now trapped in a 14 year-old version of himself. Five once again carries the main plot. He has saved his family from the Apocalypse in 2019, only to find out there is another Apocalypse caused by his family in 1963, 10 days from now.

Other Plots

• The Handler is back and has been demoted at the start of the season.
• Three Swedish Commission hit men have been hired to kill members of the family (again). Dark comic relief I guess??? They popup throughout the season.
• The Academy meet their Father in 1963 long before he forms their group. There are several different encounters.

Main Plot

Five tries to fix the timelines while dealing with his completely dysfunctional family. (Pretty much the same plot as last season.) The Time Commission and the Handler are also involved again making things more difficult for Five.

Cons

• The first half of the season is spent reassembling the family. Each little side story is explored and I find this part pretty meh. Lots of talking about emotions and such.
• The family is still almost completely dysfunctional like last season.
• Hollywood seems to be obsessed with exploring dysfunction. For me, dysfunction is neither funny or interesting.

Anyway, it takes a while for the actual plot to get going. Once it does in the last few episodes of the season, the show is pretty good. The ending itself was really enjoyable. However, the wasted time getting everyone back together, the side stories, using exactly the same plot, these cannot be overlooked so I give season 2 a 3/5. Somewhat enjoyable with caveats.

tags: netflix, tv, umbrella academy

If you watch the clip, the dudes clearly do not know the difference between the Death Star and Death Star 2. Amazing! They probably never watched the original series!

See Itchy's post here with the details: Production Staff Barely Knew The Movies

tags: #movie #starwars #FandomMenace

Here are some links.

The Batman Trailer

The Batman Trailer: Emergency Awesome Commentary

Justice League the Snyder Cut

Justice League the Snyder Cut: Emergency Awesome Commentary

Suicide Squad

tags: #movie #comics

During its weekly anime block, Toonami felt it necessary to teach the unwashed masses the correct way to talk and think about race. Yes folks, I don't know about you, but I ALWAYS go to a "cartoon" network to learn about politics. Just want to watch anime without commercials and advice? Subscribe to:

• https://www.funimation.com/
• https://www.crunchyroll.com/

Anyway, for more detailed coverage checkout Bounding into Comics and Clownfish TV.

Bounding: Cartoon Network’s Toonami Runs New Bumper Supporting Black Lives Matter

Toonami Goes POLITICAL! Calls its Audience RACISTS?!

tags: #anime #politics

Warning Spoilers!

Stop now if you do not want to read any spoilers.

Back where we Started

The new season starts where the first one ended. The Boys are on the run, blamed for a bunch of bad stuff they didn't do. The action is pretty good again and still very gory. However, some of the standard new Hollywood tropes are beginning to wear on me.

• (1) No One gets Along: The Boys don't get along. The Seven don't get along. The Vought employees don't get along with the Seven. What is up with this? Is this how Hollywood people live their lives? Goodness. The Umbrella Academy same thing. Doom Patrol, same thing. It's so stupid and unrealistic. Watching a bunch of losers bicker is NOT entertaining and it's not believable. These people would never accomplish anything in any situation.
• (2) Everyone is an Idiot: The writers and show runners of the Boys think comic book fans and for that matter the general populous are stupid. In the show, regular people are shown as stupid simps blindly following heroes like Homelander. Don't you think if every time a superhero captures a "terrorist" and they completely destroy a 5 or 6 story apartment building, killing most of the people in it, people would notice? There are witnesses. Vought covers it all up? It's just ridiculous.

What has really happened?

Plot wise, nothing much has really happened. Starlight leaked compound V. Stormfront has been added. The Boys are on the run and pretty useless. All the supes are villians. Sounds a lot like season 1. I suppose The Deeps plot line is supposed to be funny, but its just sad and boring. Humor is something that is clearly lacking.

I'm beginning to think they are gonna keep the plot at a crawl to try and draw things out? The show is turning out to be just another pointless, narcissistic, arrogant, audience hating, anti-hero Hollywood production.

tags: #movie #theboys #amazon

Forbes: The 2020 Emmys TV Ratings Crashed - And So Did Its Relevance

tags: #tv #awards #hollywood

tags: #tv #startrek #FandomMenace

Spoilers Start Here

Opening Sequence and Showrunner Hate

Wow, do the showrunners for this show hate average people. The opening is a sort of a groundhog day sequence of an apparent college student incel (he's a bit thick, which of course makes him a loser).

• He listens to talk radio which spouts off that all immigrants are super-terrorists.
• He likes super heroes, takes care of his mother. Clearly a nut. (Sarcasm intended)
• StormFront (the Nazi) is on the TV every morning spewing anti-immigrant "hate". (Ergo, anyone who is for say limited immigration is a Nazi.)
• Everyday he gets snacks at a convenience store with an asian looking cashier (clearly an American given his accent).
• He surfs the net with memes like the following (Clearly the writers of the show don't know what a meme is. Or what a "snowflake" is for that matter.)
  • "Immigrate Legally or Die"
  • "Target Acquired" (In reference to a congress woman holding hearings)
  • "We need hearings Immediately, we will make the charges later."
  • "Make America Safe Again"

Clearly this dude is a sad little American. One day, lights shine in the cashier's eyes making their color change. He must be a super-terrorist! Next day, he shows up at the store and shoots the cashier in the face because he is a "super-terrorist". He recoils at his own stupidity.

This is the most ridiculous piece of writing I have seen since Game of Thrones.

1. All the super heroes are bullet proof. That would be a well known fact.
2. What do you think the "super-terrorist" will do to you after you shoot him and the bullet bounces off? Would you try to kill Homelander with a gun????

Geez the logic here is impeccably stupid. It also assumes average guy is ridiculously stupid. But that's today's Hollywood. If you are not one of them, then you are just a stupid nazi.

Some other Highlights

• Every father in the show is bad. (Down with the patriarchy!)
• Stormfront and Homelander do patriotic rallies for the superhero bill.
  • Clearly all their supporters are stupid idiots.
  • The writers essentially mock the asian cashier's death.
  • The writers mock "thoughts and prayers". Silly religious people.
  • But they love twitter!
• More silly scientology stuff. I think it supposed to be funny.
• The episode is focused on a congressional hearing to expose Vought. Alas one ridiculous plot twist after another foils their plans.

Well there is only one more episode in this season. Are the boys every really going to accomplish anything? What is the point of this show? What is the goal?

Anyway, if you want a detailed blow by blow with comments I agree with, checkout Gary from Nerdrotic's review.

Gary from Nerdrotic's Review

Gary's review with some help from Mauler.

tags: #tv #theboys #FandomMennace #amazon

Now if you watched season 2 of the Boys, it is clear, that Eric Kripke thinks most regular Americans are also fascists. In the season 2, normal folks (of all colors) are portrayed as stupid, naive, and willing to join racial supreme types with little or no thought. For a detailed analysis, check out these articles and videos from bounding into comics.

Video

Articles

• The Boys Showrunner Claims The Myths Of Superheroes Have “Undeniable Fascist Underpinnings”
• The Boys Showrunner Eric Kripke Claims Marvel Comics Films Lead People To Embrace “Trump And Populists”

According to the writers of the forthcoming High Council books, the force is anything you want it to be. To one Jedi its like music, to another a forest. This is a totally narcissistic view of the force that completely contradicts the original movies.

In the Empire Strikes Back when Yoda discusses the Force with Luke. He tells him,

“My ally is the Force, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Force around you. Here. Between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere. Yes, even between the land and the ship.”

Obi wan Kenobi describes the force in a similar manner.

The arrogance and dismissiveness of Disney's current idea team is truly amazing. Let's just ignore the most successful movies, cartoons, books, toys universe in the history of media. Clearly they think original Star Wars is crap and they can make it better. Amazing! This after creating a crappy movie trilogy that has almost destroyed the entire franchise. Someone at Disney needs to catch a clue.

Anyway, here are some great takes on this news.

Videos

Clownfish TV

Bounding into Comics

O. G. Starwars

Articles

• Disney And Star Wars To Completely Redefine The Force With The High Republic

The Incompetence is Strong

After the last episode, which I thought was great, we get this episode. Ashoka Tano sends Mando to the planet Tython to put baby Yoda on a rock with the hope that a Jedi might show up. So Mando does this, and the empire shows up along with Boba Fett and Ming Na Wen.

I didn't care for this episode much. Too much incompetence and nonsense:

• Mando never checks his ship for trackers, knowing that the empire is searching for him.
• Boba Fett and Ming show up so Boba can get his armor. Why follow him to Tython? Why not ask him for the armor on Tatooine? Or Navarre? And how the hell is he tracking Mando? Yet another tracker?
• The empire shows up with 2 troop transports and troops start pouring out like a clown car in the circus.
  • The ships looks like they should hold about 10 troopers each.
  • Instead, there is about 50 on each one.
• Not a single storm trooper can shoot or fight. All 100 get cut down by 3 people.
  • Their armor is useless.
• Baby Yoda is protected by a powerful shield so Mando can't get him. Until the bad guys show up, then the shield disappears. lol.
• Moff Gideon blows up the Razorcrest in one shot, but never shoots at Slave 1.
• The "Dark" troopers fly down and grab baby Yoda, but none of the good guys shoot that at all. (Like maybe shoot them BEFORE they grab the baby).

I'm beginning to think I should start cheering for Moff Gideon as he is the only one who actually knows what he is doing.