Fanboys Anonymous

Which video games am I playing right now? What games have I already finished recently that I never gave my opinions on?

Welcome back to another edition of NOW CONSUMING—a segment here at Fanboys Anonymous that allows me to recap what I've been missing out on talking about.

As previously mentioned, I've not only not had the time to dedicate myself much to this brand for a while, but I've also been lacking the support from the audience. If you're a fan of this type of content, I need to know through either Patreon donations, YouTube channel memberships, or at the very least, clicks and shares and comments. If the engagement or monetary incentive isn't there, my attention has to be focused elsewhere.

Video games have never been my personal forte even from the start of this site. In previous eras, Fanboys Anonymous had much more gaming content from others who were more qualified to talk about that and were more active in that space. I've always been more of the movie guy. However, I do dabble in games from time to time, and it's been a long while since I've documented anything in this category. Frankly, I have quite a bit to follow up on.

So without further ado, just like I did with theatre performances and television shows, I present to you this microdose "quick fix" collection of thoughts to recap where I'm at in the fandom of video games as of April 2026.

Nintendo Switch 1

The last thing that I remember mentioning on this site that I was playing was Pokemon Legends ZA. I finished that game and gave my thoughts on it with this review. Since then, I've not picked it up a single time—not even to start the DLC that I paid for. After seeing some clips of the DLC, it looked boring and more like a monotonous chore than something I would actually have fun with. At some point, I'll give it a try, but I haven't been motivated in MONTHS.

I still have a few other games I've never finished, like Mario Odyssey, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Moving Out, and It Takes Two. Those are all games I play with my wife. The latter of them is one I just don't really like all that much, the more that we play it. But overall, we simply enjoyed Overcooked way more than the others, so for a good year plus, that was our go-to game to play for a bit on a Friday or Saturday night. We haven't touched any of those games in a little while, but that's predominantly because we started to get into some of the Lego games.

DC Lego Super-Villains was our first outing. We picked that up, along with Marvel 1 and 2 at a major discount and figured we'd probably enjoy the villain one the best. For anyone curious, my wife's preference of characters was very much Raven over everyone else, though she did grow to like playing as Joker, too. My created character was dubbed "Dr. F.U." because I couldn't think of anything else at the moment and that made my wife chuckle, so mission accomplished. Overall, my favorite character to use was the Lex Luthor in the Superman suit, by far. Before I unlocked that, I was swapping between Livewire, Zatanna, Superman, Booster Gold, and a few others. I experimented a lot more than she did, partially because I wanted a very specific moveset (I liked Livewire's big jump blast, the ability to fly, and the ranged attacks) and because I wanted to test out all these characters that I have a much deeper connection to than she does.

We beat that game and moved on to the first Marvel one, which we're probably about halfway through. That one hasn't been quite as fun, and I would say that's partially since it's older and the mechanics aren't quite as tuned, but also because we haven't found any characters we really like playing as best. My favorite has mostly been Jean Grey. She tends to like Iron Man or Hulk.

But we stopped playing that once we bought a PlayStation 5, which we had been saving up for...

PlayStation 5

Marvel's Spider-Man was fucking phenomenal, so much so that I already also beat the Miles Morales game and I'm 30% or so through Spider-Man 2. These are easily some of the best games I've ever played in my entire life. I'm a little peeved that I don't have my web blossom attack from the first game in the other two, since I liked that so much, but for the most part, everything just keeps upgrading. The suit variety is amazing. Web swinging is so fluid and natural and fun that I could just do that for long stretches and enjoy myself. The stories are fantastic, too. I love how much they very clearly did their research and are true fans of the franchise with all of their Easter eggs and their ability to throw in references both big and small. There's dramatic weight to the stories, but never losing the trademark Spider-Man sense of humor, either. Doctor Octopus being slowly built up over the course of the story was great, as has been the story of Harry Osborn along the way. Making Tinkerer a young girl who is friends with Miles wasn't something I saw coming, but I think it works in its own way. Maybe I would have just used one of the female versions of Beetle for that role instead of Tinkerer, though. Those big dudes are consistently tough for me, but maaaaan were Hammerhead's warehouses just the worst!

I could go on and on about those games and dive into the specifics, like how my favorite suit to use for Peter in Spider-Man 2 is the black/red/white version of the advanced suit (which may actually be my favorite Spider-Man suit of all time in ANY media, if I'm being honest) or how it's balanced so well from my own personal tastes in being able to let me free roam with a variety of missions while also having a legitimately interesting story mode. Something that I wanted to highlight that I don't think many people would talk about is how at age 38, having not played many games for a long while, I think the puzzles in this game are a benefit to my own mental health. Growing up in the late 80s and throughout the 90s meant that I was able to troubleshoot a lot of brain development through NES, SNES, N64, and PlayStation differences with how games forced me to have to think my way through problems. It feels like things are too easy for kids these days, so I didn't want to skip any of the puzzles, and even when I got frustrated with the few that tripped me up for a minute or so, I'm better off for having the patience to go through them and figure it out. It reminded me of the past.

For anyone curious, my wife played and beat Resident Evil 2 and is playing Assassin's Creed Shadows, which she adores. As an observer, RE2 seemed very short, but she liked it and that's what is most important. It's not my thing. AC Shadows is a beautiful game. Possibly the best graphics I've ever seen, personally. I'm not much of a gamer, so you can probably find examples which are better, but for my money, this is pretty gorgeous. She's not much of a stealth person, but she loves the game despite that. On top of the core gameplay, she's a big fan of how you get to learn about the culture and the history, that you get to pet the animals, and of course, the scenery. 

On the Horizon

I'm still working my way through Spider-Man 2. By the time I'm done with that, 007: First Light will be out, which I've already pre-ordered. If you've followed this site for a while, you know I'm a massive James Bond fan, absolutely starved for content, so I'm excited for that. Whenever Wolverine and more Marvel follow-ups come out, I'll be sure to get those, too.

I don't have plans to get a Nintendo Switch 2, largely due to the price, but if that becomes an option, I'm sure I'll get Pokemon Winds & Waves. Frankly, I don't like any of the starters, which are the only things we've seen so far, so I'm not thrilled about it, but it'll be hard not to have a new Pokemon generation out and not feel like I should save up the money to get it. Hell, if I live to be 40 in this crazy world, don't I want to know what Gen 10 is like?

What games are you playing right now? Any thoughts on the ones I've mentioned here? Do you have any suggestions of games you think I'd enjoy based on this? Drop a comment below!

Which television shows am I watching right now? What programs have I been viewing recently?

Welcome back to another edition of NOW CONSUMING, which is a check-in segment to fill you in on what I haven't had a chance to talk about. Since my attention has been diverted elsewhere for far too long, I've neglected talking about so many TV shows over the years that I would have normally done full scale reviews or seasonal breakdowns for.

Unfortunately, I can't remember everything from every show I've watched over the past few years. However, I'd like to get back into the swing of things if possible, so Now Consuming gives you a microdose review as a quick fix for my thoughts.

Previously, I mentioned the theatre performances recap, so now, I wanted to shift my focus to the realm of television.

Previously on...

Admittedly, I've not kept track of the television shows I've been watching for a looooong time. There are entire series that I've seen and you would have no idea because there isn't a blip of a mention on this site. Unfortunately, I don't even remember some of them, and I don't have my handy lists like I do with movies for me to go back and check for comparison. Apologies for the gaps. Something like The Paper, I did write up about, so you can find my thoughts there.

Something like Batman: Caped Crusader, you would think would be the subject of a bunch of articles and podcasts (especially given my Batman Blueprint), but I didn't have anything to say about it until well past the point that it was out of the zeitgeist. For the most part, I wasn't impressed, to be honest. None of the show was what I would want out of it.

Peacemaker season 2 was pretty great. I had a lot of fun with this season and enjoyed it even more than the first. If they don't get a third season, I'll be disappointed.

Keeping up with some of the comic book stuff, X-Men '97 was a blast. I'm SO glad they knocked that out of the park. Since I've been eagerly awaiting the next season and I know that they're shuffling the deck with the creative team, I'm concerned this next round won't be quite as good, but I hope I'm proven wrong.

Harley Quinn is perpetually great, always funny, and I can't get enough of that show. My Adventures with Superman isn't as amazing, but I still liked it. It works better as a binge watch to me.

Did I mention anything about how Penguin was one of the best shows I had seen in a long while and I am so glad it was recognized with some awards?

Gen V and The Boys continue to be fun treats. I'm sad the show is ending, but I'm hoping they will go out with a bang.

More comic book stuff, starting to venture out a bit, The Sandman was a great finale. That season was phenomenal. I wish Dead Boy Detectives and other things in this universe were still around. For that matter, when the hell does Good Omens return?!

Interview with the Vampire is one of my favorite shows going. Talamasca was a fun side story to hold me over, but I didn't like it anywhere near as much. Lestat is going to be great, I'm sure. While I'm bummed that it didn't release yet like it was supposed to already, I hope that's for the better.

Also on the horror side of things, From is a show that my wife and I (who watches about 95% of these shows with me) binged all the seasons of. Awesome. I'm counting down the days until that comes back, too.

It: Welcome to Derry was amazing. I actually liked that better than both the television adaptation (which was meh) and the recent film reboot. Frankly, I enjoyed this maybe more than anything in that universe. I don't know how they're going to do another season, but I trust them to pull it off. On the strengths of that, we watched the first season of Castle Rock as well. Comparing the two, Welcome to Derry was better, but I still liked Castle Rock. It was cool to revisit Shawshank and to play around in that world some more. I've yet to watch season 2, partially because there are just so many other shows going on right now, but I'm sure I'll get around to it eventually.

Alien: Earth was on a similar wavelength, where I really enjoyed it and I'm looking forward to the next season, even though I'm not as crazy over the franchise like I am with the comic book side of things. Full transparency, I've only ever seen Alien, Aliens, and Alien: Romulus. I've never even seen AVP. It feels like with those three films and this television series, I've watched all the good stuff.

Yellowjackets doesn't have quite the punch it used to, and I think it's good that they're wrapping things up. I still liked the last season, but I'm going to need a refresher for certain parts of it that I'll have forgotten by the next time they're back. Speaking of which, Severance is consistently great, but I do feel like the last season ended in a way that they might be milking this and stretching it out too long for its own good. I don't like having to wait so many years between seasons all the time, and I'm not sure where they go from that end point. Then again, why should I second guess such a great show?

Stranger Things ending isn't something I spoke about on here, but I happened to really like the vast majority of the season. It didn't end exactly as I would have done it, but I was happy with the outcome for the most part and would just nitpick certain things. I never once thought that we were getting more episodes. Conformity Gate was ridiculous.

Squid Game ending the way it did was good, and I was sad to see that show leave, but I was even more sad to see the reality show was so terrible with season 2 that I couldn't make it past the first episode. It's become far too over the top scripted. If you're curious about any other reality shows that I've watched, The Mole is something I wish would return.

On the animated comedy side of things, I've not particularly loved Futurama and South Park as much lately. While I still appreciate them, I just haven't been laughing as much. When it comes to Futurama, it's starting to have that same downturn in quality that The Simpsons and Family Guy eventually fell victim to. Regarding South Park, as much as I want as much criticism of MAGA as possible, because that political ideology is nothing but pure evil, I'm so inundated with that on a daily basis that I want to escape from it. I can't open up TikTok without seeing terrible things those idiots are doing, and I have a hard time laughing about our world turning to shit and a good portion of the population losing their goddamn minds. This past season of South Park is something I've almost entirely skipped, as I just don't have the stomach for it right now.

English Teacher was something I really wish wouldn't have gotten cancelled. It's rare these days for me to get into this type of sitcom anymore (even though I used to love a lot of them), and it's even rarer for my wife to be interested, let alone legitimately like a comedy like this. Thumbs down on how this all ended, as I wanted more seasons.

Sadly, I have to give a thumbs down to It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at the moment. This past season had such a weak opening that I didn't feel any motivation to keep watching. With so many other things taking up my time, I've completely let that sit on the sidelines and I have no itch to check out those episodes I've missed. Maybe I'm skipping out on some gold, but since nobody has told me anything about any of those episodes, I have a feeling it's probably all on the weaker side compared to how brilliant it used to be.

Black Mirror is also not as great as it once was, but I'll keep watching anything they put out there.

Silo, on the other hand, is a show that I struggled with for the first season and got halfway through season 2 before I threw in the towel. I just couldn't connect with any of the characters and I got tired of the visuals and the tone.

The Last of Us was much better in the first season. Season 2 was fine, but I'm not as thrilled about the third season as I was to get into season 2. Also on the video game adaptation side of things, Twisted Metal isn't a GOOD show in the sense that I find it gripping and award-worthy, but it's an entertaining one that I can't help but to check out as a guilty pleasure. It's honestly better than I anticipated from the start, and I liked the most recent season more than the first one. Fallout is something I'm behind on. I haven't started the second season yet. Other things have been more of a priority.

Currently Watching

Had I written this article a week ago, I would still be watching Wonder Man, but I finished that before publishing this. Overall, not my favorite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe television shows so far, but I did like it. I'm only one episode into Daredevil: Born Again's second season and I'm sad to say this feels like a downgrade from the previous season. I hope the second episode and onward turns things around. 

Invincible is always rad. Since I'm not as aware of the source material as I am with Marvel and DC things, each new twist is something that wows me. That in and of itself is a refreshing change of pace, and I love how both serious and silly this series can get. I most recently watched the Hell episode, which was weird, but interesting as a side plot.

Scrubs is great. I was so worried they were going to drop the ball with this follow-up series, but it's SO good. Somehow, they were able to capture the magic from the original series without dating it in a way that makes it cringe. They avoided the pitfalls of trying to do something different purely for the sake of it, and thusly alienating the whole reason why anyone would want to reengage with a show they used to love, as well as the trap that many shows fall into where they just carbon copy everything and it feels like a hollow retread. New characters fill in previous roles very well. I like the new cast, and I like how they're progressing as supporting players who will take on bigger spots as the show evolves. 

Traitors is a show that has finished, but I haven't finished the season. I'm on the final episode, so I still have that and the finale recap to check out. This cast wasn't my favorite by any means, and very early on, they knocked out some of the people I was rooting for (like Ian) and made it harder for me to get invested in the people I had never heard of and wasn't loving.

I'm behind on Survivor. I haven't finished season 49, let alone started season 50. There's no sense of urgency. I'll get around to it at some point.

School Spirits is also something I'm currently sitting on. We're juggling too many shows at the moment, so some things have had to be on the back burner, like how I mentioned Fallout is still just sitting in my queue. Since they've been renewed for a fourth season, I'm hoping that's a good sign that season 3 is solid, and I've liked the previous two.

I'm also sitting on starting season two of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. I started to watch the first episode, realized I had forgotten where we left off, and I'm waiting to eventually watch a recap on something like New Rockstars before picking this back up.

Something I'm even more excited to start watching is Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat. That's something I feel might work better as a binge watch, so I'm holding off until all the episodes have been released. The same for Love on the Spectrum, which is back today. Those 7 episodes are definitely going to be a quick watch. I perpetually say that show is the most wholesome thing I watch and I just love it.

Next Time, on...

Naturally, I'm looking forward to some of these shows returning. Everything listed above is something I plan on revisiting.

From is back soon, The Boys starts next week, Stranger Things: Tales from '85 is right around the corner, and holy shit, American Gladiators is also coming out this month, finally. Hell yeah.

In May, I know I have Spider-Noir and the Marvel special presentation to look forward to, and my god, how am I going to finish everything on my plate as well as take on the rest of these?!

I've also been interested in eventually (somehow) checking out Sunny, The Studio, Shrinking, The Institute, and Disclaimer, as well as a few other shows I've heard good things about, but unless I figured out how to extend 1 day to 1 week, I don't know if I'll ever get around to them. Plus, who knows what else will randomly pop up on the horizon that will be so tempting to watch that I'll have to add it to the list? 

What are you watching right now? Have you seen these shows? Drop a comment below and let me know what television has caught your eye lately! 

It's been a while, fanboys and fangirls—and even longer when it comes to talking about something in the realm of theatre, which was never a huge part of Fanboys Anonymous even from the start. But first, an apology.

With the way the world has worked the past few years, it's been increasingly more difficult for me to put out virtually any content, let alone the volume that I would want to be doing if I had more time and energy for. My apologies, but my priorities have had to be on other things, making it difficult for me to find the time to write up all the articles I've wanted to do and the podcasts and YouTube videos I wanted to dive into. If you could see the notes of projects started but not finished, you'd be amazed.

One of the things I've been disregarding is reviewing or otherwise commenting on the broadway shows that I've been seeing here and there. Living in New York City has presented itself the opportunity to go to a bunch of these over the years, and though I've mentioned things in passing on various podcasts, I haven't ever actually put my thoughts on them down in any editorial sense.

The same actually applies to plenty video games and television shows as well, which got me thinking about doing a little "microdose" segment here and there where you'd get a "quick fix" shorter review of some things whenever possible. However, that also meant doing a recap of other things.

I'm debuting a new segment here called NOW CONSUMING, which will essentially mean a "catching up" sort of overview. The idea in mind is to put one of these out every once in a while to just post updates on what I'm currently entertaining myself with as of late. To keep up the AA puns, you're essentially "checking in" with me to see what I'm checking out.

Before getting into the video games and the television shows, though, let's start off with the theatre side of things, as of the end of March 2026. 

Thoughts on Broadway Shows & Other Theatre Performances Prior to 2026

As I said, I've never really talked about any of the shows I've seen over the past few years, which is a shame, as I would have had a lot to say about most of them—especially if I would have recorded the discussions I had with my wife, who was with me for all of them. Podcast in the future, if anyone is interested? Let me know.

Nevertheless, here is a speed round of thoughts of what I can remember. 

The Book of Mormon was the first broadway show I can talk about here (January 30, 2022 to be exact), which was phenomenal. It remains one of my favorite shows I've seen on this entire list. I was in stitches.

Phantom of the Opera was somewhere in the mix, but I don't remember exactly when. What I do remember, though, was that this was also tremendous. I had long loved the music from it, having never watched the play itself, so I already knew that going in. This was such a fantastic show and I'm so glad I got to see it before it went away.

I don't remember when I had seen Beetlejuice, but as a fan of it when I was a kid, I was super disappointed with this. Part of it was the cast, but part of it was also just the overall plot and the execution of the concept. I don't think they pulled it off.

In 2023, at some point, we had seen a performance of Drunk Shakespeare doing Macbeth, which was hilarious. We went back on Halloween the next year (October 31, 2024) for their performance of Drunk Dracula, which was also a great time. If we get the opportunity, I'm sure we'll go see more performances in the future.

Back to 2023, two other off-broadway theatre shows that we checked off were The Grey House (May 27) and Covenant (December 10). To be honest, I don't remember all that much about The Grey House. If I remember correctly, I was disappointed and just thought it was okay. Covenant was a very tiny show, but it was very well acted.

I don't remember when we had seen Aladdin, but I loved that. The Genie and Iago were the best parts who stole the show, for sure. When you do the movie that is tied for my #1 favorite Disney film with music that I love, it's hard not to love it.

I also don't remember when we had seen Moulin Rouge, but that was really good. It doesn't stand up there in my top 5 from this entire list, but it's close. We also saw a Dita Von Teese show somewhere in the mix of 2023 and 2024, which doesn't super appeal to me, but it was something to do and a fun enough date night.

There were three shows we saw in 2025, starting with Hades Town (February 6). I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as my wife, who is still obsessed with some of the songs, but I did like it. I wasn't the biggest fan of the performance of the female lead that night, and I felt like it just overall pales in comparison to some other shows.

Glengarry Glen Ross (April 24) was pretty awesome. I still prefer the movie, easily, but I think this cast was VERY good in their respective roles. In particular, Kieran Culkin, Bob Odenkirk, and Bill Burr killed it. This wasn't my wife's thing, but she knew that it wouldn't be going into it, and she still thought the performances were good even though the content itself didn't resonate with her.

Stranger Things: The First Shadow (June 29) was another one of my more favorite experiences, even though I don't think the overall play as a standalone was particularly great. The visuals were stunning and it was fun to dive more into that series before the final season (which I seemed to like more than most people, it seems). I don't know if it would really mean anything to see it now that the show is over.

Death Becomes Her - January 22, 2026

We had heard good things about this and decided on a whim to just give it a shot. Neither of us could remember too much of the movie from when we were younger. I'm not sure if that was a good or a bad thing going into this, as it means I can't really draw any comparisons to the original, but it also meant the story was entirely fresh for me. All I could remember was the poster and VHS tape box art.

This was fun, but it wasn't my favorite. It actually took a little while for me to warm up to it, and there were times where it came across a little too loud, in the sense that it was a lot of shrieking and over-the-top yelling and performances that felt like they were trying to be more grandiose. I'm not a big fan of that performative style of boisterous being necessary, as it usually takes me out of the setting and reminds me I'm watching a play.

Still, I chuckled, and I'm glad we went. I just wouldn't really recommend it over a lot of other things. 

The Lion King - January 29, 2026

This was phenomenal. Absolutely stunning, with killer music and some great performances. Everyone is extremely talented and it's no surprise why this is THE show on broadway and has been for so long, while still having every room packed.

This is the other movie tied with Aladdin for my top Disney spot, for anyone curious. Between the two shows, this is better, and I think if you're ever going to NYC for a show, it should arguably be this one above all others. 

Oedipus - February 5, 2026

Obviously, this was a big difference in scale compared to The Lion King, but that allowed for more intimacy, which was appreciated in this particular show's atmosphere.

I'm sad to say that I wasn't the biggest fan of this. I get what they were going for, and it's a show that if I thought someone would enjoy, I would recommend, but I wasn't as engaged as I wanted to be.

I feel like most of the characters are just flat and under-written, and while I was impressed by the ticking time and how they pulled off syncing that up so well, I actually found myself at times looking at the clock and hoping it would be over soon. That sounds harsh, but I just wasn't feeling it during certain scenes.

Bug - February 12, 2026

This was an even smaller venue for an even more intimate play that takes place entirely in one room. Carrie Coon was really good, but I couldn't get hooked. I was surprised that this was something that has been around for decades. It didn't resonate with me.

Entirely from Memory: The Shawshank Redemption - March 19, 2026

Back to a small show, the Entirely from Memory improv comedy troupe is something that just got on our radar, and since The Shawshank Redemption is what I consider to be the greatest film ever made (not my favorite movie, mind you, though it's certainly somewhere on that list as well), we had to go to this.

Suffice it to say, we immediately were bummed that we didn't find them sooner and had missed out on their version of Twilight, and that we wouldn't be able to see their upcoming Toy Story performance. I'm sure Twilight was awesome, and I'm sure Toy Story will be hilarious as well.

This was obviously a different type of animal compared to these grandiose broadway spectacles, but I wanted to mention it and other things like the Drunk Shakespeare crew because those are gems in their own rights. Just because they aren't as big doesn't mean they don't have just as much value packed into their tickets, if not more bang for your buck.

Go support them. These comedians were so much fun. 

Coming Up

Today, I was supposed to see Dog Day Afternoon. We unfortunately missed the show due to traffic completely botching us for both the train delays for a long while and a taxi going 5 blocks in the span of 25 minutes, so that is why I was waiting to publish this until today. We're going to try to get tickets to see it another time after WrestleMania season is over with, as you know I'll be doing even more work over at Smark Out Moment to occupy too much of my time.

We do have Rocky Horror Picture Show coming up on April 9th, though, and that is something I am not at all looking forward to, if I'm being honest. I've always thought that I would hate it, and it doesn't appeal to me at all, but we'll see if I'm wrong. Hopefully, I end up thinking it is fantastic. We'll see.

In the meantime, if you've seen any of these shows, let me know your thoughts about them in the comments below. Also, if you'd like to see more content like this or in some other format, chime in about that, too!