Fanboys Anonymous

Zelda, Link, and Lana - Image from Zelda.com/HyruleWarriors

Late last night, there was a Nintendo Direct for Hyrule Warriors—the upcoming Zelda and Dynasty Warriors mash-up. I was pretty pleased with the information revealed. The presentation was short, a very fast 26 minutes, but full of goodness. There were character reveals, features unveiled, play modes explained, and more. So let's jump in.

The presentation started with Yosuke Hayashi, producer at Team Ninja, explaining battle progression. When you start a stage, you will have objectives and a victory condition. Just like in Dynasty Warriors, completing objectives will give you favor in battle—for example, defeating a keep guard will create a new spawn point for allies to appear. Your victory condition, on the other hand, is a task that must be fulfilled to complete the stage. As you move across the map to complete your objectives, you will be beating down hordes of enemies using signature moves of each character. In doing so, objectives and victory conditions can change.

True to form in Zelda games, you will come across chests on the map where you can possibly find

King Dodongo - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com

usable items. In the demo, Link finds the bombs. These bombs can not only be used to blow away enemies, but they can also be used to clear away obstacles such as boulders. These items also play a pivotal part in boss fights. In the onscreen demo, Link faces off against a fire breathing dino named King Dodongo. Using normal attacks versus bosses yields little damage, however, by tossing the bomb into the enemy's mouth, Link was able to perform a cinematic attack which yield significant damage. The same happens with he fights a ghoma (giant eye with legs) boss, and he shoots it in the eye with the bow and arrow to create an opening. Other items revealed during the presentation were: the bow and arrow, hook shot, and boomerang.

The screen then swaps to Eiji Aonuma, group manager for Nintendo EAD. In this segment he speaks of the cuccoo (chicken) and how when you smack it enough times in past games, it would get pissed off and you'd get ambushed by it and its friends. Same concept exists in Hyrule Warriors. From the video, it seems they can randomly be there amongst enemies, so you'd have to be careful when you attack or bait your enemies and have the cuccoos do your bidding.

Yosuke Hayashi comes back for some character confirmations and reveals. It's a no brainer that Link would be there with his one handed sword and shield. As usual, he has some nice combos, decent speed, and defense—a well rounded character. Then, we have Zelda whose actually going to cast away that damsel in distress act and slice up some enemies with her rapier. She can also shoot her arrows of light.

Other recent character reveals were shown as well. Impa, the Sheikah advisor to Zelda, joins the fray with a giant sword with wide sweeping attacks. This rendition of her has samurai influence in both design and mannerisms. Sheik, the quick and mysterious, plays a dirge for her opponents with her harp before she takes them out with her deadly marital arts. Midna, the twilight princess, whips her hair back and forth to dominate the battlefield. Agatha, self-proclaimed princess of the insect kingdom, calls upon the power of her critter friends to creep out foes. Darunia, patriarch of the Goron, bashes through enemies with his giant hammer.

Impa - Image from Zelda.com/HyruleWarriors

Fi, the Goddess Blade, dances over the corpses of her enemies and transforms into a sword to all those who stand in her way. Ruto, Princess of the Zora, uses the power of water keep foes at bay. Unique to Hyrule Warriors, Lana, the white sorceress, uses her book of sorcery to construct objects made of light to crush her enemies or to use as explosives.

Fi - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com

 
In addition to these heroes, it was revealed that some enemies would be playable as well. Demon Lord Ghirahim with his demon blade was confirmed to be playable. Alongside him, players will be able to control Zant to brutally swing his scimitars and summon horrific things.

Ghirahim - Image from Zelda.Wikia.com

After these awesome character reveals, it was explained that characters will be able to gain new weapons which will significantly change their play style. We've already seen videos of Link and the magic rod and gauntlet, Zelda and wind breaker and Impa with the Naginata. But, also revealed was a spear with the power of the Deku Tree (video below) and a summoning gate for Lana. I'm not certain if it's an exclusive weapon or a usable item but, there was a clip of Link flailing Chainchomp around in battle too!


The video enters the final stretch by talking about some pretty nice features. Combat-wise, there's level progression. Each character begins with certain stats. By attacking enemies you level up and gain access to slots that can be filled with badges. Badges can be crafted by picking up materials dropped by defeated enemies. These badges can increase stats, increase potion usage and even add attacks to combo strings. Speaking of stats and crafting, similar to other Koei warriors games, weapons can come with stat boosts or abilities and can be combined to strengthen them. Hyrule Warriors will also have an adventure mode. It starts out looking like one of the 2D games on a grid assembled map. Each cell is an area and has its own victory conditions. Once a cell is selected, you will be brought into the 3D game to battle and win the cell. This will unlock adjacent cells and has the chance to get you prizes. In this mode, you can unlock characters and some weapons can only be gained here. Another cool feature is that like Ocarina of Time, there will be skulltulas (spiders with a skill on their abdomen). Collecting these also yields unlocks. In the demo, an illustration piece was unlocked. Finally, we were told about the local two-player coop. The WiiU hardware will be utilized so that screen splitting will not be necessary. Though resolution drops slightly to accommodate the strain, first player will use the game pad to view the screen while the second player will use the television. As the presentation was seeming coming to an end, there was one last surprise—a character reveal! None other than the Great King of Evil rides in on a horse with a glorious mane. By mane, I'm not talking about the horse. Ganondorf's new design sports a long Dragon Ball Z Super Saiyan 3 looking hairstyle wielding not one but two great swords and his signature evil magic.


Following the character reveal were pre-order bonus reveals which are costume packs from Ocarina of Time, Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword. Those who register the game with Nintendo club also get a Demon King costume for Ganondorf.

I was hype for this game before this Nintendo Direct but now this game is a must have. Were you going to get the game before the direct? Have these new reveals made you want the game more? Let me know in the comments below.

Yeah, I'm being really nerdy with this one, but geeks are entitled to geek out whenever we want. My wife puts up with it, so it's all good. I'm a big comic book fan (surprise) and ever since watching The Avengers, I've been fascinated with their individual powers and who is the strongest among them. Perhaps this is because I'm a sports fan and it's fun to rank various teams during the season in "power rankings" or something, I don't know.

While this subject is certainly a matter of opinion and rife with a slew of factors, I want to simplify things and make this an imaginary straight up, one-on-one fight between the individual members of the Avengers. First, this will be only the six main characters from the films, in particular Marvel's The Avengers, and only in their strongest forms. So, Tony Stark only in his suit and no Bruce Banner. Plus, it's only their physical power I am imagining, not their overall ability to cause mayhem/destruction, so Tony Stark's intellect and money have no play here.

In my mind, there is no question that the Hulk is the strongest and Thor is second place. Hulk is arguably the most powerful comic book character in history, counting both Marvel and DC. There is an ongoing argument about who wins between Hulk and Superman and, as a Marvel guy, you know whom I'd choose. It's almost not fair; Hulk never weakens, only gets stronger as he gets mad. What's great about this team is that Thor is no slacker either. He's almost a god, as Black Widow described him to Captain America, and represents a nice segue from the ultra powerful Hulk down to the "regular" humans.

Chris Helmworth's Thor gave as good as he got in the film fighting Hulk toe-to-toe. However, I think there's little doubt what would happen if Hulk went full out against the God of Thunder. You could say Thor and his adopted brother Loki are about equal in strength and Hulk beat Loki like a red headed step-child. Man, that scene was hilarious! "Puny god." The first time I saw the movie in the theater I didn't even hear the line, because people were laughing so loud I didn't catch it.

Then who would be third? Here's where it gets tricky and I can definitely understand opposing views. I say it's Captain America trumping Iron Man. Like Hulk and Thor, Captain America is a meta-human, he's physically beyond a normal person. Sure, Iron Man has firepower and all his technology with the suit, but underneath he's only a man. Stark is a brilliant, innovative, very skilled man but, in the end, Cap's next level strength and agility and toughness would win out. We saw some of this in the scene in the woods with the trio fighting; Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America. It seems to be pretty even, but there are too many things that could go wrong for Iron Man in a straight up fight. His suit could malfunction, run out of energy, etc. Captain America's entire body is a weapon and his next level endurance and battle strategies would top Iron Man, who might rely too much on the suit's strengths.

That leaves Black Widow and Hawkeye, another tough one to decide. They are "just humans" but incredibly skilled ones. In the film, they show Black Widow taking out the brainwashed Hawk with her fists and feet. One could conclude she wins this battle on that evidence alone, but that is a little unfair. First, that outcome could be based more needed story point than a straight fight between them as Whedon simply needed him to come back to the team and she was the one to do it. Secondly, because Hawkeye's skills lie in long range attacks, Black Widow has an obvious advantage here. If they started out far away, he could shoot her down, right? Still, I gotta give her the nod here. Most fights wind up in close quarters for this kind of thing (comic books) and also on the ground. She's got mad skills and would take him down. 

So here is my final ranking:

Hulk
Thor
Captain America
Iron Man
Black Widow
Hawkeye

Am I wrong somewhere? Where would you place them all? Should Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury be on the list or even Agent Coulson? Sound off below.

What is up, Fanboys Anonymous nation? The Dace Man here bringing you some of the latest in gaming news!

Big news coming out of the 2K camp this morning! The video game distributor teased that one of the all time favorite franchise launchers BioShock will be available on the iOS platform…soon. The game looks to remain faithful to the 2007 original, with the exception of it now being portable. 2K says the game is to be released this summer, and Fanboys and Fangirls alike have blown up social media over its announcement! Check out the preview below by AppSpy!

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a iOS platform—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!


Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | Nerd Court | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime

What is up, Fanboys Anonymous nation? The Dace Man here bringing you some of the latest Hollywood news! After a lengthy time at the table negotiating, Warner Bros. has worked out a deal with their top three stars from the CBS hit sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, and Kaley Cuoco came to terms on a new deal that will see them return to the beloved TV series for the duration of its inked deal of 3 years.

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a contract extension—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!


Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | Nerd Court | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime

It's time to kick ass and chew bubble gum.... and I'm all outta gum. 

John Carpenter is one of the greatest directors of all time. Yet many people either don't know who he is or fail to recognize his genius. It's too bad because the guy deserves much more praise for his skills as both a storyteller and filmmaker. The fact that so many of his films have bombed at the box office is perplexing and the fact they have enjoyed success as "cult" films, ones that find their fandom outside of the mainstream, is heartening. Once people discover something like They Live, they get it; they understand how amazing Carpenter is.

Got any bubble gum?

Since I mentioned it already, let's begin with They Live, a little sci-fi conspiracy thriller starring the great "Rowdy" Roddy Piper of pro wrestling fame. I love this movie! The great things you can expect with a Carpenter film are the great music, the straight forward storytelling, and the absolute disregard for his character's well-being. Based on a short story about the pratfalls of greed, brainwashing techniques, and the paranoia surrounding a possible alien invasion, They Live is a very deep film. Themes include subliminal messages, resistance against the status quo, and the influence of the mass media. I suppose these heavy themes are part of why it failed to produce much revenue upon release. Among the more glitzy action films of the 80's, this gem failed to make an impression. This is crazy, because it features one of the best fight scenes in movie history between Piper and Keith David.

Another under-the-radar, mega-awesome film of Carpenter's is The Thing. It has grown to almost legendary status now, but at theaters it fizzled and faded fast. It's dark and depressing, so I get why movie goers maybe didn't go for it. Plus, it had to compete with the likes of E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial and that's impossible. It was criticized for being technically brilliant, but excessively gory. That wouldn't happen today; it looks tame compared to most horror films of the 21st Century. The Thing is a masterpiece of terror and story construction. The alien creature is one of the most frightening creatures ever put on film. This is one of the best sci-fi horror films ever made.

Kurt Russell, versatile actor as he is, would go on to do four other films with John Carpenter, including one of top ten favorite films ever, Big Trouble in Little China. This is another cult classic and one of the wildest, craziest thrill rides of all action movies. It combines elements of kung-fu and comedy in equal measure. I think this may be why it failed to take off at the box office. It was just so hard to market something like this. What is it? An action comedy? A kung fu film? Science fiction, horror, fantasy, what? It's all of that and more. This is both why it's so great and why it failed, at least initially, to connect with audiences.

Big Trouble in Little China is my second most watched film behind This is Spinal Tap; I've seen it at least 40-50 times and it never gets old. It's funny, exciting, thrilling, a tad scary, and just so super cool. I could watch it every week and still enjoy it. In fact, I used to watch it every Friday night years ago. It was like a nice treat for the weekend. Something to look forward to. I did that for months at a time. Jack Burton, Russell's character, is like an old buddy of mine, he almost feels like family. Man, I need to get a life! But you know what ol' Jack Burton always says at a time like this... have you paid your dues? Yeah, I paid my dues, the check is in the mail. Big Trouble is also a gorgeous looking film with a great score.

Carpenter also does his own music in his films and even sings at times! What other director can say that? Is anyone else a huge fan? What other films of his are cult classics or deserve to be? Sound off below.

What is up Dacetacular Nation! Chris "The Dace Man" Dace was out on assignment this week, but managed to call in a little later. However, in his absence, Frank Ward and Gibby kicked off the show and led us into the future this week on The Dace Man Show!

The gang covered the unusual on The Dace Man Show!!

::SPORTS NEWS::

::WEIRD NEWS WITH GIBBY:: 

::FRANK'S CORNER::

::CELEB NEWS::

Plus HUGE announcements were made about upcoming episodes in August!! All that and more only on The Dace Man Show!




Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | Nerd Court | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime

I don't mind aging myself here a bit, because this is a topic of deep love. The role playing games (RPGs) of the mid '90s and those in particular that enjoyed success on the first PlayStation (PS1) platform were some of the best games ever made. Final Fantasy VII (FF7) made the PS1 what it was to become, the breakout gaming platform of the century. Everything changed after that game came out. It had innovative graphics requiring a ridiculous three discs of space because the amount of information was so huge, and it was a giant story that could take an average player up to 100 hours to finish. Even if you rushed through it, you couldn't expect to get done before at least 50 hours went by, it was that deep. It's such a great journey, however, that it is worth the effort, no matter how long it takes.

FF7 was a massive hit critically and financially. That was the RPG to own for PS1 owners and probably pushed more units of the console than anything else except maybe Resident Evil. Where to start with this gloriously addictive, sprawling, massively epic game? There were tons of great characters, a level of interactivity, and such gameplay mechanics that it's hard to really narrow it down to what made it so great. I think it was the combination of storytelling, deeply drawn characters, and the large scale that made it so incredible. FF7 had Cloud Strife leading a small band of freedom fighters against the powers that be, and it really felt like you were there with him all along. FF7 was a watershed moment and the greatest video game RPG of all time.

Another that comes to mind is Breath of Fire 3 (BoF3), where you take the role of a tiny dragon boy named Ryu and fulfill your destiny as hero of the world. What I loved about this game was the immaturity of the characters (they are all kids, basically) and the ability to customize both your characters through mentors and the different dragon gems you could find, giving you a plethora of different dragons to fight with in battles. This was a really fun game that allowed players to explore the world and had tons of fun side quests/games as well; I particularly loved the fishing game. BoF3 was well rounded, had a great story with some neat twists, and and had strong replay value as well.

One that I recently dusted off and started playing again is Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete. It's actually an updated version of an older Sega CD game. The graphics are dated, for sure, especially during the battle scenes, but it's got a great story, a fully fleshed out world to explore, and some of the greatest anime cut scenes ever produced for video games. It's worth it for this reason alone. The main quest, where you play Alex, the soon-to-be Dragon Master, is pretty much fantasy cliché, but it works well enough. The fun is in the journey.

Lunar has some great voice acting as well to go along with the cool cut scenes and some nice music. Admittedly, the music is a bit quirky and silly at times, but that's anime, isn't it? It's all so much fun you don't mind it. Some of the innovations with this game included the ability to run past enemy critters instead of getting slammed randomly while crawling through a dungeon. Remember that? You're just scrolling along through a evil forest or something and bang! You get hit by the bad guys. It's not so bad when you are leveling up, but when you have to get across the room to the next section, it's annoying. Lunar also had a sequel called Lunar: Eternal Blue that took place 1,000 years after the events of the first game. If you liked the first, you'll like this one.

So what are some of your favorites of this game type from this era? What do you consider an all time best RPG? Sound off below.

George R.R. Martin has gotten lazy. There, I said it. This is what many fans of the "American Tolkien" fantasy author believe. Some are brave enough to voice this opinion, calling him out on not finishing volumes of the A Song of Fire and Ice series in a timely manner. They are right, too, because ever since the release of the third volume in the vaulted fantasy series, A Storm of Swords, Martin has gotten distracted.

Worse than that, the story has gotten out of control, with the author churning out passage after passage of meaningless prose that makes Stephen King look streamlined. Back before A Feast for Crows, the fourth in the series, was released in 2006, Martin seemed unstoppable. When I read A Storm of Swords it was impossible to put down. I literally read the entire 1100+ pages all day non-stop, even in the shower, and it took me less than 3 days to finish it. It's that good.

Then we had a massive time gap before the next one, A Feast for Crows, was released. Five. Long. Years. That's bad enough but when you read it, NOTHING HAPPENS! Now, I know that's a bit of hyperbole, but not really. It's a stretched-out, thinly plotted book, with only half the characters of Westeros participating in the proceedings. See, the plan was to write one book, A Dance with Dragons, and that's it. As the manuscript's size spiraled out of control, however, Martin decided to split it into two volumes and then release the actual A Dance with Dragons separately, another 6 years later.

Even more frustrating is that many of the cliffhangers set up in Feast are not resolved yet. Compounding this further is the fact that the author refuses to continue the story with any semblance of proper pacing. This happens to us all, Marty, it's called story bloat and you must have the discipline to trim and omit needless words. The Bard himself said, "Brevity is the soul of wit." There's no more soul or wit in this series; it's characters walking around and eating and screwing and peeing.

What does this mean for the HBO series Game of Thrones? What it means is that the TV show will overtake the written series pretty fast, around the time the sixth season is scheduled to air, in 2016. Once they complete the fifth season there is no more original material from Martin, but the good thing is, show runners David Benioff and D. B. Weiss don't give a damn. Good for them. They refuse to let the series' momentum fade because the books aren't finished.

The series will overtake the books; it's almost guaranteed, and that's really too bad. Who would want to read a book about a movie after the movie comes out and you've seen it? Imagine if this happened to Harry Potter. Rowling was still writing the final books in the series when the movies were already being made. In fact, she had only written four of them when the first film came out yet she managed to knuckle down and finish them all. She's a real writer.

Yeah, I'm a Fanboy and I'm mad. When you find something so good, and the first 3 books of A Song of Fire and Ice and portions of the next 2 are very, very good, it upsets you when it goes downhill (here's looking at you, Lost) and you want so much for it to be great again.

I'm turning my attention to the TV series because the books are finished in my eyes; I won't waste anymore time on them. I don't care how Martin ends it because the show runners will do it better and have an actual ending that makes sense based on the spirit of the story. If the author wants to wait until the next decade to finish the novels, that's fine because season 5 of Game of Thrones is right around the corner.

Am I being too harsh? Do people still care about and read the novels? Sound off below.

On episode 4 of the Fanboys Anonymous Reviewpoint podcast, the panel reviews the latest installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 2, entitled Guardians of the Galaxy and breaks down not only what worked in the film (Hit) as well as what didn't (Miss).

Hosted by Tony Mango along with Chris Dace, Gina D'Angelo, Nikki Diaz-Mills, Sam Lascio, and Ronnie Brown.

You can check out the podcast below on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe!

Well, I gotta hand it to 'em. I wanted a challenge, and I certainly got one. Blizzard really tightened their grip around players' necks this time around. The second wing, the Plague Quarter, was quite a trip—and had me humbly searching the Internet for a way to defeat the two final bosses on Heroic.

It's not that it was incredibly difficult. There are certain gimmicks one can figure out with particular bosses. Once you try out a certain deck appropriately set up to handle, let's say, Raise Dead (as is Noth the Plaguebringer's Hero Power) it should be quite easy.

Only it isn't; there's certain timing and some specific key cards that make a world of difference. I attempted Noth the Plaguebringer with my cool mage deck and figured out that minions is not the way to go. The best is either a paladin with an avalanche of Divine Shields and Equality/Consecration combos along with heals or a spells mage. Noth's Raise Dead spell is quite annoying, for every time one of your minions dies, he gains a 1/1 Skeleton; 5/5 on Heroic.Yikes!

Needless to say, I had some trouble, and my mage didn't cut it. I had to use my warrior, and it worked. Noth, two attempts. Heigan the Unclean came next.

That Elven Archer is not a good idea versus Noth in Heroic mode...

This is where it got interesting, and if it wasn't for Deathwing, I would have perished. His Eruption Hero Power is the most challenging yet (until I got to heroic Loatheb, that is). It deals 2 damage to your leftmost minion. On normal mode however, I managed to get by with Deathwing. Good thing I silenced some of his Voidcallers.

Loatheb is the most fun I've had in a game since Tetris, or level 30 in Doom 2 with God mode, or Minecraft. He can cast two spells: Sporeburst and Deathbloom that will summon a Spore. Once this spore dies… all of your minions receive +8 attack. Needless to say, it was fun. I thought he would be a huge challenge, given his starting health at 75, but that wasn't the case.

Next, were the equally fun Hero challenges: hunter and mage!

The hunter is a pure gimmick and fun deck; all you have are Webspinners! Their deathrattle? Summons a random beast to your hand. Fun! Loatheb's Spores made it quite quick though. Aw.

The hunter class challenge is just plain fun

The next challenge was the mage. This was purely academic, to instruct one on how to use the Duplicate secret spell. One of your minions died? No problem, two of them will appear in your hand It is now a permanent addition do my mage deck. Especially useful with Mana Wyrms and Kirin Tor Mages.

So we enter Heroic mode. Noth was only defeated with my spells-only mage and a lucky draw. The 5/5 Skeleton minions mean one thing: if you play a minion, let it be a powerful one, that will compensate its Deathrattle and the appearance of a 5/5 enemy.

Defeated Heigan in Heroic with this Warlock deck

Loatheb-killer deck

Now, this is the part where I thank the Hearthstone community for sharing some deck info. It took me an enormous amount of tries with a variety of heroes and an assortment of Deathrattle minions. Heigan's Hero Power now dealt 3 damage. Sure, only one damage in difference from the normal mode, but it was enough to have me wuss out and seek help. I found a warlock deck that worked wonders and defeated him in one try.

Loatheb though, was the hardest yet. His Hero Power deals 3 damage to your hero, and he starts out with a Fen Creeper hanging around his side of the board, and a Spore, which is a hint to this puzzle-boss. So, if on his first turn he lays down a Deathcharger, you're looking at 8 damage by your second turn. That's just insane. Needless to say, I tried many Priest and Warrior decks, since those are the ones that can heal and raise shield… to no avail.

I finally found a decent warrior deck online and tried it 4 times until I finally buried Loatheb. Once you have board control, it's all good. Just keep raising shield and have some minions on your side, and you'll only be dealt 1 damage due to his Hero Power. Pacing and luck is everything with this boss, as I drew Inner Rage and Execute in my starting hand, successfully destroying his Fen Creeper.

And that's it for the Plague Quarter! It was the most fun and challenging yet, and I'm also glad the hero challenges were fun and useful too. The only thing I'll add is that the class challenges should have you build a randomized deck, like The Arena makes you do. That way you have to figure out the synergy for the new class-specific cards.

Adios! See you in the Military Quarter! Comment below and list your winning decks against Loatheb and Heigan.

Loatheb in Heroic mode is just plain pain

Batman: Assault on Arkham - Directed by Jay Oliva and Ethan Spaulding. Written by Heath Corson. Starring Neal McDonough (Deadshot), Giancarlo Esposito (Black Spider), Hynden Walch (Harley Quinn), Kevin Conroy (Batman), Jennifer Hale (Killer Frost), Greg Ellis (Captain Boomerang), John DiMaggio (King Shark), Matthew Gray Gubler (Riddler), Troy Baker (The Joker), CCH Pounder (Amanda Waller) and Nolan North (Penguin).

Batman: Assault on Arkham INTRODUCTION.

It's time for another REVIEWPOINT as we break down the film's hits and misses.


As always, let's start with the bad news first.


1. LONG INTRO

How many minutes were wasted in showcasing the members of Task Force X being cutesy for an introduction? This is made all the more frustrating when one of them is murdered in the next scene and none of them have any personality after the fact except for Harley Quinn and to an extent, Deadshot.

2. ANNOYING MUSIC

Separately, the music is probably not bad. I might even like some of the songs, for that matter. But in this film, it felt so out of place that I probably had an uncomfortable look on my face while watching it.

3. DIRECTORIAL TONE

Very, very rarely am I ever a fan of an arthouse project. Quantum of Solace was an attempt by Marc Forster to add his own personal director's spin on the James Bond franchise and it just came off like he didn't want to make a 007 movie. Ang Lee's Hulk tried too hard to look and feel like a comic book movie with the editing process and cutaway panels, so everyone laughed at it rather than along with it. This had a similar problem. I previously praised The Amazing Spider-Man 2 for feeling like a comic book brought to life in a positive way and this felt more like that concept done wrong. Pizzazz that's disjointed is not endearing.

4. BARE BONES PLOT

Batman is Batman doing Batman. The Suicide Squad likes to argue with each other and fight people. The Joker's got a bomb. Amanda Waller is a bitch to everyone and really fat. The end. There's no real characterization here. You can argue that there's some charm to the idea that everyone is a horrible person, so they can't really grow into heroes, but that just makes for a more flat story that is less interesting overall in my mind.


1. VOICE ACTING

Everyone has their own idea of what the real Batman is. For some, their Batman is Adam West. Many kids now identify Christian Bale with the role. From my perspective, Kevin Conroy is Batman, so it was great to hear his voice again. He always nails the part, since he has the character down pat from all of his experience dating back to Batman: The Animated Series. CCH Pounder's Amanda Waller, Hynden Walch's Harley Quinn and Troy Baker's Joker are all fantastic returning members to the cast. With the right actors, you can very quickly forget you're watching an animated film and just start imagining that these are the characters themselves talking as if they would if they were real. These actors pull that off and it's impossible not to embrace that while watching the movie.

2. ADULT THEMES

It was a bit of a breath of fresh air to see something darker. I'm not the type of person that always loves this, but every so often, it's interesting to watch a movie that shows that even in the world of superheroes, things aren't always so chipper. Multiple heads explode in this movie. Harley Quinn—a character who is just as popular for her infectious personality as she is her sex appeal—is given a legitimate sex scene that is done in a fun way, with Deadshot turning her down at first and then finally admitting "eh, what the hell" and going through with it.


Only to the right audience. As a fan of DC, I was going to watch this no matter what, and most other fans will probably do the same. However, this is nothing special. It's essentially the same as watching one longer episode of a TV show instead of a movie. If you have an hour, sit down and watch it. If you want that hour to be really worth something, you'd be better off checking out two episodes of Justice League Unlimited.

What's up, Fanboys and Fangirls? Chris "The Dace Man" Dace here to bring you some news coming out of Hollywood.

Lionsgate is looking to most likely take a huge hit to the wallet on when their latest installment of The Expendables hits theaters August 15th. On July 24th a leaked copy of The Expendables 3 hit the Internet and reportedly has had a million views already. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lionsgate moved forward by filing a lawsuit on July 31st against "John Does 1-10."

Expendables 3 sees the return of action stars such as Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, and Terry Crews. The original team will be joined by Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, and Wesley Snipes, among others, in the latest installment! Below is the final trailer for the film.

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a good lawyer—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!


Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | Nerd Court | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime

Prepare for the brutal, colorful, over the top and often comical carnage that is Super Smash Bros! With only 2 months left until the scheduled release (October 3rd, 2014) of Super Smash Bros 3DS, I thought it proper to compile some information on its exclusive Smash Run mode and share some hands-on  experience I had with it.

First off, Nintendo has been doing a really good job building the hype. Between character reveals, screen shots, tournaments, and video events, they've almost become omnipresent; they're showing up everywhere! The game currently totes 36 individual characters, and it's almost certain this isn't all of them. This is panning out to be the largest roster yet. In a sense, it already surpasses Brawl's 35 (since Zelda/Sheik, Samus/Zero Suit, and Pokemon Trainer/Squirtle/Bulbasaur/Charizard each act as a single entity). Let's be real; within the 36 are a few characters with highly similar move sets: Link/Young Link, Marth/Lucina. Each brand new character is featured in a short introduction video. Some of these are really freaking creative. They're what initially got me riding the hype train!

Power-up types - Image from SmashBros.com

The new Super Smash Bros. introduces features we've never seen before. I'm going to focus on Smash Run, a mode is exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS version. The basic idea of Smash Run is that you blaze through a huge labyrinth-like area, completely decimating everything in your path, to rip power ups from your enemies' corpses in a 5-minute period. This culminates into a single free-for-all match against opponents who have been powering up as well.

Smash Run Item Helpers - Image from SmashBros.com

When you begin, you start in a random area of the huge map. Your opponents are on the same map but a large distance away. There is no set path to take, all you have to worry about is taking out as many grunts as you can, as fast as you can. Keep in mind that you still have your percentage bar. Hits from grunts will send you flying and ricocheting off walls, eating up your precious time. Don't be too discouraged, though; while in the 5-minute phase, there are certain helper items to help you out (accessed on the touch screen). These can reduce your percentage, make you invincible, and shoot lasers to damage enemies.

Amped Up Event Begins - Image from SmashBros.com

Within the 5 minutes there will also be mini events that impact the entire map. We were able to witness this during San Diego Comic Con (SDCC). During a game play, there was a mini-event where there was an influx of a certain type of enemy. While it's good that there are more grunts to take out, it's also dangerous because they'll raise your percentage faster and you'll go flying easier. This is no Dynasty Warriors–type beat 'em up where you meet minor resistance from grunts. Be forewarned.

That's not all though, there are also special doors where challenges lurk. For example, in the SDCC game play, there was a room that was filled with huge crystals. Breaking them all within a short time limit would give a slew of large bonuses. There are also bosses behind these doors with the same concept.

I first played Smash Run while in line at the Best Buy E3 event. I was shocked and relieved it was there, because the line for the Wii-U version was wrapped around the store (and I arrived 40 minutes early!). I will admit, I was skeptical about the idea of Smash on 3DS. It's a smaller screen, a less powerful system, and a different controller. I suspected that playing would take getting used to, there wouldn't be enough detail to keep me immersed, and the game would slow when there was too much action on screen.

Greninja Posin' - Image from SmashBros.com

It was much different when I actually played. I chose to play as Greninja (because being a ninja frog is sick). The outlining of the character, although odd to me at first, added a nice touch to the graphic style. It made it feel like a blend between a 3D game and a comic book. The detail of the textures was done very well. There were visible anti-aliasing issues, but it didn't bother me. Overall, I enjoyed the aesthetic (keep in mind I was on a 3DS XL).

I was more surprised at how responsive it was. Smash Run is an extremely intense 5 minutes. There is no rest; there are no calm areas; it is complete and utter chaos. Death and destruction is everywhere. Throughout all of this, the system did not slow down. As I progressed, it became quite obvious how these power-ups were impacting me. Greninja is already a fast character, but with all the speed-ups I grabbed, he was dramatically faster, to the point of being difficult to control. Paired with the special attack bonuses I grabbed, it started to remind me of a Dragon Ball Z episode.

Pikachu in the Fray - Image from SmashBros.com

When the final match began, I was tense. There's a screen that shows the power-ups your opponents nabbed, and everyone was powerful. Two seconds into the match and it was down to 3 of us. I didn't even notice how the NPC was taken out. It soon became a ballet of dodges and attempted smash attacks. Before the time hit 12 seconds, the match was done, and I was victorious.

This was still an early beta, so I'm really excited to see how the game will turn out. Although I really like Smash Run, it doesn't feel like a complete replacement for a story/campaign mode. Considering it's the handheld version, I guess I could cope with it. Without a campaign, I'd see the 3DS version more for nonstop battle while away from your console system.

What do you think? Is Smash Run enough to replace a full campaign? Also, if you saw the 3DS tournament from SDCC, what did you think of the game?

What is up Dacetacular Nation! As if The Dace Man didn't have enough shows and segments as is, he went and developed another one. The D-List is a weekly top 10 count down with The Dace Man as he runs down his top 10 picks! Join The Dace Man in the inaugural episode as he gives you his top 10 Pokemon! He will sound off on the top ten Pokemon within the 151 that he is aware of. He doesn't really dive into the newer generation stuff, partly because he's really old. Indigo league all the way, Fanboys and FanGirls. So kick back and enjoy The D-List  for the week of July 28th!

As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and, of course, the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case a list—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!


Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | Nerd Court | Sports Talk Weekly | Addicted to Anime

Bam! Pow! Splat!

With a recent announcement that the 1966 Batman TV show will finally be getting a DVD/BD release, Batmania will once again grip the world. The show, spanning a mere three seasons, but a whopping 120 episodes, is a prime example of camp done right. It's often mistakenly referred to as a parody of the Batman character, but this is not true. A parody is a humorous imitation of something else, which could be, in a loose definition, what Batman '66 is, but it doesn't go far enough.

Camp is the celebration of the excess of ridiculousness of a situation. With this show, it is its own thing, not a funny copy of Batman. Classifying it as a parody is missing the point. If someone made a film called Fatman, this could be a parody of Batman. We would see Batman with a pot belly, for example. The Batman TV show starring Adam West and Burt Ward is the same Batman character created by Bob Kane and first appearing in 1939; it's simply a different spin on the Caped Crusader. Clear?

For many years, this show was left out in the cold in regards to getting a home video release. It was never available on DVD or VHS or anything. If you looked hard enough you could find it on the grey market, taped from TV I assume, on certain websites out there. Why? There are a number of issues keeping it from being released and I'll leave it to you to research. It's too much for here. It doesn't matter any longer, because it's coming out this November on both DVD and Blu-ray! Yes!

I remember reading years ago that it wasn't being released because Warner Bros. feared that the campy nature of the show would interfere with the rebooted universe of Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. It's a bit conspiratorial, but makes sense in a way. The epic failure of Batman and Robin from Joel Schumacher still hangs thick and nasty in the air and no one wants to revisit that nonsense. That film is an example of bad camp.

Batman is dark and gritty now and probably forever. I can't see them returning to the more light hearted campy Batman of the '66 show. That doesn't stop us Fanboys from enjoying those 120 episodes, plus there's the movie. Batman: The Movie is the first time the Dark Knight ever appeared in a theatrically released feature film. What's great about it is that it fully encapsulates every aspect of the TV series; It has the four biggest villains: Joke, Penguin, Catwoman, and Riddler. It also has other vehicles, in addition to the Batmobile, showcasing the full capabilities of the show. It's severely underrated.

The show was extremely popular during its first two seasons, but slowly became overexposed once they decided to air episodes night after night and increase the output. The second season alone is 60 episodes! That's more than many shows ever have. Faced with declining ratings they wound up "jumping the shark" with the introduction of Batgirl and things went down hill in a hurry. They were soon cancelled and Batman went into a pop culture coma until Tim Burton and Michael Keaton resurrected him in a big way with 1989's Batman.

It would have been nice to see the show continue, but oh well. Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb. Er, I mean some days you just have to accept things and move on. Long live Batmania!


Anyone else excited about the release in November? Is anyone buying the complete collection or waiting for the individual seasons? Sound off below.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Directed by James Gunn. Written by James Gunn, Nicole Perlman, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning. Starring Chris Pratt (Peter Quill), Zoe Saldana (Gamora), Dave Bautista (Drax), Vin Diesel (voice of Groot), Bradley Cooper (voice of Rocket), Lee Pace (Ronan), Michael Rooker (Yondu Udonta), Karen Gillan (Nebula), Djimon Hounsou (Korath), John C. Reilly (Corpsman Dey), Glenn Close (Nova Prime), and Benicio Del Toro (The Collector).

Guardians of the Galaxy is the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise of connected movies in Phase 2 that will build toward Avengers: Age of Ultron. It is the story of thief Peter Quill and a band of misfit outlaws who join forces to help save the galaxy from the threat of Ronan the Accuser, a Kree warmonger with a big-ass hammer and ties to the Mad Titan himself, Thanos.

Going into this film, I thought that it was going to be quite bad. The whole concept was something that I frowned upon from the very beginning. After all, one of the best parts of what kicked off this whole series was the realism behind Iron Man, and here we are watching a tree and a raccoon fight in space? Give me a break. I was never a fan of the comic series that spawned this and assumed that at the very best, this would just be a tolerable stepping stone in the middle of two better films.

So was I proven right or wrong with my assumptions?

It's time for another REVIEWPOINT as we break down the film's hits and misses.


As always, let's start with the bad news first.


1. DRAX THE DESTROYER

For those who are unaware, one of the other branches off A Mango Tree is Smark Out Moment, which is dedicated to professional wrestling. Despite how I am a fan of professional wrestling, I do not actually support the idea of wrestlers being cast in roles unless they are particularly impressive. I'd rather see a good actor develop an impressive physique rather than take the easy way out. Dave Bautista isn't one of my favorites, and unfortunately, the same carried on here. While his character has some development, it isn't much, and Dave's acting was the weakest point in the whole film as far as main characters go. It also doesn't help that the amount of times he gets his ass handed to him sort of went against the idea of him being The Destroyer who could whoop everyone.

2. NOVA CORPS

Why was Glenn Close in this movie? Why was John C. Reilly in it? To look awkward, out of place, and deliver some pithy dialogue that really didn't contribute all that much to the story? The Nova Corps is Marvel's answer to the Green Lantern Corps, but without any badassery at all in this film. They're a bunch of jokester chumps who die or don't get involved in the action—like that one woman who can't seem to look at anything but her iPad.

3. VILLAINS

None of the villains in this film impressed me. Yes, that includes Thanos. They just didn't feel all that intimidating. The first introduction of Thanos at the end of The Avengers was epic, but this one just jumped right into it and felt too lighthearted for my tastes. Ronan was pretty one-note. Why does he want to commit genocide? Essentially, because BOOM POW LOL JOKE and nothing else. Nebula doesn't have much of a character, either. The Collector is like the Liberace of space who has been in only two scenes so far in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, where he just sort of stands there awkwardly and seems like a joke. Yondu was just Michael Rooker in blue paint.

4. CREDIT SEQUENCES

Marvel has really dropped the ball with the credit sequences in Phase 2. The original films teased amazing things, but outside of the end of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, everything else has been more of a pointless laugh. Did I really need to see Bruce Banner falling asleep in Iron Man 3? What about the rampaging monster from Thor: The Dark World? In this one, while it may be kind of cute, Groot dancing and Howard the Duck aren't going to give me goosebumps that make me want to watch them again.

5. NO ANTICIPATION TO AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

To some extent, this has to deal with the credit scenes, but that's not necessarily where it stops. This whole film in general just felt more like a side project rather than something building up to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Outside of the Infinity Stone that was introduced (by the way, which one was that?), nothing else seems to have any effect on the upcoming film. Because of that, none of it got me psyched up for it.


1. GROOT

Groot is the man. Well, he's the tree. Nuff said, right? 

2. MUSIC

The music in this movie was so important and such a huge part of the core structure that if it had failed, it would have ruined the entire thing. Thankfully, I feel like they pulled this off. I'm not personally a huge lover of all of these songs, but I could put that aside to enjoy their placement in the film. To be perfectly honest, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is something that I feel is incredibly overrated, but I felt a nice calm sense of resolution when it came on at the end. 

3. HUMOR

Is it too humorous? Possibly. The tone of the film having that mentality that a lot of it doesn't really matter all that much is a downside. Yet the alternative way to look at things is that the jokes themselves are actually funny, for the most part. Drax's humor sometimes falls flat, but Rocket Raccoon is charming as the primary source of comic relief. Peter Quill has his fair share of moments as well. Marvel is really playing it dangerously by amping up the humor in their films as of late, and I think this is the absolute maximum that should ever happen in any of these, but for what it's worth, I did laugh.

4. CELESTIALS

Forgive me for taking this to a total fanboy-esque level, but they showed the goddamn motherfucking Celestials!!!?!?!?!!!? WOW. I laughed at Howard the Duck and Cosmo, since I love cameos in these kind of movies, but that one just floored me. I never expected to see Celestials referenced and shown like that in any capacity. 
 


This is one of those situations where I would recommend the film, but I don't necessarily want to praise it all that much. If the rest of the MCU films are on par with this, it will be serviceable, but not admirable. We need more that are as good as The Winter Soldier and less that are of the quality of The Dark World. On its own, this is more than fine for a fun movie to go see. Will I ever watch it again? I'm not sure. If I do, it will be while I'm trying to get ready to see Age of Ultron and really nothing else. I can pop in The Avengers at pretty much any time of the day and enjoy it, but this movie isn't necessarily the case.