RWBY Episode 7: Emerald Forest Pt.2
The episode starts with Glenda Goodwitch observing the team pairings with her tablet that somehow remotely watches the students and makes various observations, including that Jaune is nowhere near ready to be in the big leagues. Yeah, I have to agree with her. Jaune’s not going to make it to the end of the series at this rate.
Ozpin, however, is focused on Ruby. She and her teammate are having their first fight and Weiss comes out looking far worse for it by claiming she seeks perfection and is miles ahead of Ruby, while Ruby comes out slightly more childish. Blake and Yang have arrived at the temple with little trouble and seem to be getting along for the most part. Jaune and Phyrra are at the entrance of a cave, which he fails to notice has the depictions of a giant scorpion on it.
Blake and Yang retrieve their relic in the shape of a knight chess piece when they hear a little girl screaming. It turns out to be Jaune, who has awoken a giant scorpion that tosses him deep into the forest and will probably go hunting in a bit for him. The end has Blake staring into the air, which his shortly filled by Ruby flying towards them somehow.
This episode established a few things:
- Glenda and Ozpin have a means of observing the students without them being aware. Privacy is non-existent.
- Weiss is a perfectionist and has more control issues than I thought, family issues I’m willing to bet.
- Jaune’s transcript was apparently better than what we’ve seen, hence how he got into Beacon and answering my question from last week. Ether he’s a savant or someone did some forgery on it.
- Blake seems to have enhanced hearing considering she looked towards the sky well before we knew Ruby was coming, indicating she may be a Faune. Then again her motif is supposedly Beauty and the Beast, so I shouldn’t be surprised.
Overall, the episode felt like a set-up for a fight against the giant scorpion that Jaune has let loose upon the world. Not much character development, so much as rehashing what we already know. I’m going to have to go for a 4 out of 5.
Ultimate Comics All-New Spider-man #26 Review
First day back in the mask and already captured.
Okay, this review follows the latest issue of Miles journey as Spider-Man and he’s back in the black outfit.
The issue starts with a flashback of Lana’s mother, which is Lori and somehow they mixed up the names, being taken from prison in exchange for being a lab rat for Roxxon. Lana herself has escaped from the two who captured her somehow and looks for her boyfriend (Poey, according to the phone) to take her in, but my guess is that she hasn’t been guarding her secret identity well since he knows about her power and essentially cuts her off. Time to update the facebook status.
Miles and Jessica come to offer her some help, but considering that Spider-Man and Spider-Woman put her and her mother in a jail cell, you can imagine her first instinct was to flee. Miles tries to web her, but he’s out of practice and gets teased by Jessica and later Lana. Back in the past we have the Roxxon Scientist insulting Lori’s intelligence at being a High-School dropout as they give her a superhuman drug, before we skip to Cloak and Dagger, who have no one they can turn to and believe that their parents sold them out. They have some kind of list that has the names of people Roxxon has screwed over and decide to make sure they can’t do it ever again.
At Roxxon, one guy is flipping out because he fears this can be traced back to him, while the scientists tell him that they did what he wanted and made super-humans that they really should retrieve. To that end, they hire a guy called the Taskmaster. We then flashback to when Lori found out about her powers and the fact that she was pregnant. How exactly that happened when she was in either prison or a lab leaves a lot of questions unanswered, unless Lana is a baby born from her power somehow…anyway, she promptly escapes like Cloak and Dagger did, proving that they needed better security back then and now.
In the present Lana is being questioned about being a mutant but denies it, saying she got her powers from her mother. Technically speaking, Lana is a mutant as she was born with altered DNA that allows her to use her powers. Even if her mother had been the one altered by an experiment, she’s a mutant. Anyway, their Spider-Sense goes off and rather than move they stand there and get taken out by a shock puck or something and Taskmaster got all three of them.
I like the issue and the art was gorgeous as always, but I feel that the ending was pathetic as we’ve seen all of them take far more damage than a little taser disk should have put out and react far more quickly when under fire. The flashbacks were okay, but Roxxon is shaping up to be behind everything. The next thing you know it’ll be them who created the mutants and not the U.S. Government.
Now, if you’ve followed the latest news on the series, you’ll know that Miles is scheduled for a trip to the 616 universe soon and that they may end the Ultimate Universe. I doubt it, since there is money to be made, but here’s hoping Marvel doesn’t do anything stupid.
This issue gets a 3.5 out of 5.
Uncanny X-Men #11 Review
Finally, a cover that’s accurate.
It’s Wednesday, meaning it’s comic day, and we’ll start with the Revolutionary Team and Cyclops.
Now, Sentinel attacks are nothing new in the X-Men universe. Chances are there will be one outside your window if any of the X-Men are nearby. So it comes as no surprise that they have one trying to kill them after mere minutes at a Pro-mutant rally, which is something that’s pretty rare considering he’s labeled a terrorist.
Cyclops monologues in his head about how there’s always a coward sending the Sentinels, when it tries to vaporize him. Luckily Magik is there to save his skin and the battle begins. Hijack quickly learns that his powers don’t work on the Sentinel, because heaven forbid the technopath ends the battle with a sentence, and then the Sentinel tries to blast him. Tempus steps in and time freezes the blast while Cyclops curses his powers.
The Stepford Sisters reach into what serves as its mind, or try, and discovers its not a biological or mechanical, something in-between like a cyborg I guess. Some civilians are injured and Triage comes to the rescue to heal them. Then Fabio steps up and the result is pure awesome.
Yeah, he said it.
Fabio accepts his mutant name as Goldballs, which is still stupid, but the badass moment makes up for it until he gets hit by his own balls. Magik follows up and cleaves the thing in half but, much like the Nimrods, the thing has adaptive technology and moves to kill the Eva. Cyclops says it nicely that they’re screwed.
Back on SHIELD’s Helicarrier, Maria Hill is swearing up a storm at the Sentinel attack and the fact that none of her agents are close enough to do something about it. We then cut to Mystique, who is checking on Madripoor after she tried to buy it in All-New X-Men. Hydra and the Hand get into a power struggle and start shooting at each other, which she is looking giddy about.
Back to Cyclops, he’s starting to have a breakdown and going back into the Martyr role, but Hijack makes up by his past failure by throwing a bus at it. And it still didn’t work. Then came Magneto, broken powers and all, and put it the fuck down before it’s called back by its master and the team helps the civilians.
Now, it was a great battle and the new team is coming along nicely. On top of that we came to learn something about who was sending the Sentinels and we’ve seen Mystique. All plot lines are progressing and my guess about it being a set-up seems to be wrong for once. I’m actually happy with everything before Battle of the Atom begins, so it gets a full 5 out of 5 even if the art still disturbs me.
RWBY Episode 6: Emerald Forest
The latest episode of RWBY establishes the pairings that have been advertised so far.
Yang, who relies on her gauntlets and seems to have no reservation when it comes to blowing ammo, is partnered with Blake, the ninja by any other name. The hotheaded and cool girls seem to be complete opposites and would cover one another well and without too many problems. It’s a good pairing.
Weiss, who is the series Red Mage, is partnered with Ruby. These two need a lot of work, but their pairing covers the weakness they both seem to have. Weiss actually took the time to try and get in position to kill a single Beowolf when she was surrounded, meaning enough of them would steamroll her. We’ve seen Ruby handle far more at once but lacks the teamwork to inform her partner where she was, leading to her nearly being hit by friendly fire.
On the other end, Jaune would have been screwed without Pyrrha since he doesn’t know how to activate his Ki (well, Aura) to survive. That catapult launch alone would have killed him and she’s the only one who seems to be willing to teach him without any complications or judgement. He’s a nice kid, but he really isn’t fit to survive and leaves me to wonder how the hell he got into Beacon.
Lie Ren was used as the visual aspect of Pyrrha’s speech in that he was actually less dangerous with his guns than without. He stoic and reserved with Nora to balance it out, a silent and deadly martial artist who has earned my respect in the way he approaches combat. The ass-whupping that he bestowed on that giant pair of snakes was downright awesome.
Overall it was a good episode that balanced the team pairings and explain why they have superhuman abilities without boring me. If I had to rate it, I would give it a 5 out of 5 more or less.
Superior Spider-Man #16 Review
Well, in a way this is exactly what happened…
The latest issue of Superior Spider-Man is the conclusion of the “Run, Goblin, Run” arc.
With his identity exposed, Phil Urich is screwed and he knows it. Naturally, like most people in a familiar situation, he snaps when Spider-Man arrives and takes his girlfriend, Nora Winters, hostage. At the same time this is going on, the writers used television shows to give insight into not only Phil Urich’s past attempts at being a heroic Green Goblin, but the public’s opinion on the current situation and stating whether or not publicly unmasking him like that was the right thing to do. Also, we have the police captain doing the vigilante thing and interrogating one of his men to trace the money back to an offshore account.
Anyway, back with Phil, the girl he takes hostage proves to be more than dead weight by knocking him away. Finally, a damsel who can get herself out of distress. Phil then uses a sonic attack, only to stop when he got his uncle caught up in the attack and Otto detonated those nanotracers under his skin. Fridge horror kicks in when you realize that if those things had gotten deeper or were slightly bigger, he would have essentially blown the man to pieces.
Phil realizes he’s beaten and surrenders, leaving Otto contemplating killing him (in public and in front of his uncle) when Captain America calls and reminds him he’s on probation, which I thought was settled in Superior Spider-Man Team-Up but apparently not. At this point you would think Captain America would have Tony or Pym go over those brain scans or realize that he doesn’t really care about being on probation. But he spares him and leaves Phil to the police and the Goblin sees the opportunity to do some recruiting and has one of his agents rescue him.
Now, because Phil had been turning in stories with Nora Winters, she has to be let go and his uncle has to take some time off since it is too public, which is a consequence of Otto’s taking over the airwaves. To rub salt into the wound, Otto goes on air about him escaping and calls him a minor threat after ruining his life and leaving him with nothing to lose and he vows to bring the Green Goblin his head as his new Goblin Knight.
Congratulations Otto, you have just created your own supervillain after having gained a new love-interest…I’m sad that I’ve gotten attached to her.
Now, the art here was fantastic and there’s nothing like watching Otto dig his own grave. On top of that we see that the plot is moving forward and the net is closing on our Superior Spider-Man. Not to mention that Spider-Man 2099’s Miguel O’Hara is coming next issue, which is something I am looking forward to. Overall, this issue gets a 5 out of 5.
B.O.P out!
RWBY Episodes 1 – 5
A bit late to the party, but I wanted to let everyone who visits know about a great new web animation from the people at Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum, the guy behind Dead Fantasy.
RWBY (pronounced “Ruby”) is an Animesque CGI production from Rooster Teeth, animated by Monty Oum.
Mankind lived in peace until the arrival of “The Grim”, malevolent creatures who emerged from the darkness to attack humanity. To fight back, mankind created a magical energy source known as “Dust” and used its power to not only drive back the Grim but catalyze the growth of civilization across the planet. In the present day, “Hunters” are trained in special schools to harness the Dust and become protectors of the peace.
One such trainee, an idealistic girl named Ruby Rose, is scouted by the elite Beacon Academy and allowed to skip two years worth of training to attend. Once there, she is placed into a team with three other students: Yang Xiao Long, her boisterous big sister; Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company; and Blake Belladonna, a mysterious and aloof girl. Though initial tensions are high, the forces of darkness are preparing to return and the four girls must learn to work together to have any chance of surviving.
The episodes are released every Thursday with five out at the time of the posting.
Superior Spider-man Team Up 2 & Scarlet Spider 20
Twice the Spider-Man, hold the responsibility.
This review encompasses two different comics I enjoy crossing over: Superior Spider-Man & Scarlet Spider.
For those of you who don’t know, the Scarlet Spider series follows Peter Parker’s surviving clone, Kaine. He, like Otto, was a villain who murdered and killed for profit and other reasons. When Peter stopped his original cell degradation, he stole a stealth suit from him and disappeared so that he wouldn’t be arrested by the Avengers until he ended up in Houston and robbed some human traffickers of their money.
Since then he’s fought primordial beings, a guy who can make flames snakes, and Carnage, been killed by werewolves and resurrected by the Other, given an evil side that considers just about everything other than him prey, and fought alongside Wolverine to kill a bunch of assassins by assassinating them. He was basically the predecessor to the Superior Spider-man, with his tagline being “All of the Power, None of the Responsibility” and so far he’s ridden with guilt that he shouldn’t be alive as a clone and a murderer.
In the first part of the arc, Kaine comes to find out why Peter is acting like…well, him. Seeing as he’s Peter’s clone, the spider-sense doesn’t work on Kaine and Kaine doesn’t have his spider-sense anymore. Otto, remembering the fact that he got beat down and killed by Kaine, decides to repay the favor and they fight.
Kaine is stronger that Peter and soon overpowers him, but then comes the clones. Lots of fighting and Kaine saving Otto later, Jackal comes in with his clones and they pair get captured.
Jackal was the one who made the clones and sees Kaine as a disappointment, while Kaine wants to kill him. He breaks free of the chains made specifically to hold him, kicks some ass, and frees Otto. Otto then causes an explosion to prevent his DNA from being used to create more clones, which he was a hatred for, and leaves Kaine to die. Kaine escapes, lectures him, and tells him to start acting like a hero.
To this arc I say, despite being a firm supporter of Otto, FUCK YOU, OTTO! CLONES ARE PEOPLE TOO!
Otto is a fucking hypocrite to call him out on pretending to be a hero when he’s been doing the same thing. They both have a supervillain body count and dark past that is nothing to scoff about. Considering Otto actually stole Peter Parker’s life and derailed it, this makes him arguably worse. And for him to hate clones, isn’t he cloning the Sinister Six to form his new team?
Unlike Otto, Kaine actually makes an effort to redeem himself without going for glory after rescuing a girl called Aracely, who was at the human trafficking robbery, left to die among corpses from people who were smuggled into the country inside a storage container. Also she may have a Mayan God stuck inside of her, seeing as a cartel wants her dead to unleash it.
When it comes down to it I like Kaine more because you don’t hear about wanting to leave his own legacy behind, just a guy trying to atone for his past and live up to Peter’s legacy. Kaine has suffered for being the good guy compared to Otto so far, he’s died because of it twice and gotten himself a monster inside of him because of it the second time. Otto disappointed me here.
And, Marvel help me, if I find out he’s the one who kicked started Kaine’s degradation again, I’m rooting for Peter to come back. Personal feelings aside, these issues get 5 out of 5.
Uncanny X-Men #10 Review
Covers Always Lie
Okay, I’ll get straight into my review since there wasn’t much to go off of this issue.
It starts with Cyclops’ team training in their winter wonderland, with Emma and him having a small tiff. Namely Emma think he’s smug considering their powers are broken and he’s excited because his team is coming together. There’s no doubt that some days have been passing and I’ll bet their Danger Room is being worked out pretty often.
Magneto, on the other hand, is in his room and silently reflecting on his glory days, before his powers were broken while waiting to hear back from Maria Hill. Remember, he’s playing both sides to an extent. They text in code and she wants a meeting.
However, things take a turn for the interesting when Eva and Magik are sparring and her powers act differently when she catches Magik’s foot during a kick, halting it and presumably her in time I’m assuming. With the art it’s difficult to tell. This gathers everyone’s attention and Magik decides to kick it up a notch, which makes Eva panic and she places her teacher in a Time Bubble. When she tries to remove it, the bubble and Magik disappear.
Scott and Emma discuss going to Reed Richards to find her, who is aligned with Stark, who broke the Phoenix in the first place and is aligned with the Avengers, and Eva panics again. Luckily Magik pops up a minute later and continues where she let off speaking, indicating she was displaced in time for about a minute. Turns out Eva doesn’t just freeze time but has some decent potential to traverse it and it freaks her the Hell out because her powers.
Anyway, back with Magneto, he and Hill are discussing this cloak and dagger situation with her. I’m not going to lie, it seems almost like a couple arguing about breaking up. She’s letting Dazzler handle the go-between, who is actually Mystique so that will bite them all in the ass soon. He seems to cut a deal in the end and the scene switches to a Pro–mutant rally.
This screams set-up to Emma and I agree with her, but Scott, after some prodding from Magneto, decides to attend and speak to them about the true enemy of mutants. Not a minute into it, a new type of Sentinel shows up called a Blockbuster and the issue ends.
Things were going good for Scott right up to the end, but overall this was a breather issue that set up a battle in the next one. I like Eva and while I do feel that Time Manipulation within her bubbles are a natural evolution to her powers or even a different layer, it came on too quickly. She’s going to be a walking Deus Ex Machina at this rate, but considering Magik can traverse time in her stepping disks she might be able to teach her a thing or two.
Overall, 3.5 out of 5 because the art is meh and I like action.
B.O.P out!
Fanfic Recommendations 15
Fanfics that I have found interesting and have recently been updated:
A Naruto Fanfic
Summary: A woman arrives in Konoha with children she claims are Itachi’s. Sasuke struggles with suspicion. Sakura struggles with Sasuke. As Hokage, Naruto must decide the future of the village. OCs! Developed.
An SAO Fanfic
Summary: What if Akihiko Kayaba had created the Death Game of Alfheim Online rather than the floating castle of Aincrad—a world in which the nine player races are in competition to escape the game, and player killing was not a crime but rather a predictable product of human nature and tribalism in the face of mutually exclusive goals? AU reboot of the SAO universe.
Poké Wars: The Defervescence 6
A Pokemon Fanfic
Summary: Humanity’s genocide is at hand, but the road to utopia won’t be an easy one. Unforeseen consequences have forced me to remove those unfit for my paradise. By the end of the day the world will never be the same, and those remaining exist because I will it. Sequel to Poké Wars: The Incipience.
A Naruto Fanfic
Summary: Being ignored and gazed at with hatred can lead someone to become a boisterous and loud orange-wearing shinobi, but it can also drive him to become a silent and invisible introvert. Of the two, Naruto takes the logical choice for a future in the Ninja World. Team Sai-Naruto-Sakura. No pairings. Future of bloodshed and grittiness assured.
A FSN Fanfic
Summary: How does the Grail choose a Master or a Servant? Fact of the matter is, it knows the difference between want and need. Masters of the Fourth Holy Grail War know they want a strong Servant, but the Grail knows the Servants they need.
Superior Spider-Man #15 Review
Otto once relished the life of Peter Parker compared to his previous life. Now he can’t wait to get rid of it. Shame on you Otto.
This issue of Superior Spiderman follows up with his destruction of Shadowland. Otto is feeling cocky, a combination of his ego and multiple successes. So when the Hobgoblin is actually managing to sneak past his security drones because of the Goblin Protocol courtesy of the Green Goblin, he takes it personally. When he takes it personally, someone is going to be hunted down like a dog, hence Hobgoblin is screwed.
On the other end it shows that in his obsession to catch the guy, he’s been ignoring Peter Parker’s life and loved ones. The fact that MJ has, yet again, noticed he wasn’t acting like himself while Carlie has decided on acting by following the money can only mean that he’s eventually going to get outed some time soon. It takes a call from his new love interest to get his tail to come out of his cave and, wouldn’t you know it, that’s when the Hobgoblin is spotted.
Otto doesn’t just track him down, he completely shuts down the man’s life by outing his secret identity on television after hacking every single television he could find. I’m pretty sure that’s illegal, but he’s a semi-reformed villain with his own base and henchmen. And the mayor is in his pocket, so he’ll get away with it.
Now, I’m rooting for Otto, but he did steal his nemesis’ life and the least he could do is try and maintain it somewhat. He’s trying to be a SUPERIOR Spiderman, but in his blind obsession in leaving behind a legacy, he will ruin everything. Considering that there’s a green goblin running around, I doubt it’ll be long before we have another Gwen Stacy incident.
Not to mention outing someone’s secret identity on television is a bit of a dick move, even on villains considering this one was basically an evil Peter Parker.
The issue gets a 4 out of 5.
Twilit Dreams Circle 