Posted by
Eddie Siqueira
- Sunday, August 10, 2014
The Military Quarter is perhaps the most fun I've had with Naxxramas yet. I mean, Loatheb and the hunter Class Challenge were like popping bubble wrap (an analogy I only managed to triumphantly score yesterday). However, this time around it felt like a pleasant Tetris game. The mechanics of the Hero Power and specific cards on the following three foes were something that really made me review my decks.
This time, there wasn't a single enemy I managed to beat on my first try. Instructor Razuvious was a cool fight - his Massive Runeblade (haha, no pun intended) is quite something: a 5/2 weapon. Ok, not that terrible—only it deals twice as much damage to the player hero than to minions. I had to modify my warrior deck with some Acidic Swamp Oozes and Bloodsail Corsairs after my first defeat, but it wasn't too difficult afterwards. Blizzard kinda hands this one to you as you get a free Mind Control Crystal in your hand, which steals his two 0/7 taunts for you right on the opening turn (even on heroic!). Regardless, having such comfort is quite pleasing. Kinda like stacking blocks on level 1 in Tetris and allowing that one long block through the corner hole. Ahhh.
 |
| That was a close call. Like, really close! |
The next challenge was quite something, and I had to cook up a few variations of a Paladin deck to take advantage of the tricky Spectrals you're 'rewarded' with after killing certain minions. Gothik the Harvester will unload tons of Unrelenting Trainees, Warriors, and Riders, whose death-rattles release spectral versions of themselves to your side and deal 1 damage to your hero at the beginning of your turn. Clearly, some Blessing of Kings and Blessing of Mights are in order, since these 'gifted' minions are 0/2, 0/4, and 0/6 respectively. Buff them up and attack other minions with them to speed up their demise.
 |
Needless to say, those Acidic Swamp
Oozes made an appearance. |
The last boss in the Military Quarter is Baron Rivendare, who was actually easy. The Baron acts as the hero, while three 1/7 minions with the ability to render the enemy hero invincible stand ground: Lady Blaumeux, Sir Zeliek, and Thane Korth'azz. Together, they form Voltron! Well, OK, just The Four Horsemen. Unlike the Metallica song, this quartet is quite mellow (yes, even in Heroic) since it's a gimmick-y deck. By silencing the minions, you render Baron Rivendare vulnerable and can charge against him. Another cool trick is to execute them with the warrior spell. Have no fear for minions against this foe: the Baron only has spells. The trick is that his Runeblade, normally a 1/3, becomes 3/3 when the Horsemen are dead. Also, he has a +1/1 for minions and weapon spell, which isn't fun if you allow things to escalate. With a modified warrior deck, it was an easy game. Silencing the Horsemen is the way to go unless you rush the Baron after they're gone.
The Class Challenges this time are shaman and warlock. Nothing much to report, other than I lost my first Class Challenge game against Gothik.
Oops.
Well, shaman was never my forte, but still, something must be said for the awesome card that you're rewarded from the challenge: Reincarnate, which is perfect for triggering death-rattles.
Next was the warlock challenge. It was somewhat uneventful. The only advice: don't use Jaraxxus— Baron Rivendare has Sacrifical Pact cards, and can nail you from there. Instead, let Jaraxxus be placed on the field with one of your Voidcaller death-rattles.
Ah, Heroic. Where would the world (of Warcraft) be without Heroic? Since my last beatings in the Plague Quarter, I chose to go backwards and started with the last boss first, just for kicks. Baron Rivendare is not much even in Heroic: his Runeblade is now 2/3, and when the Horsemen are dead, becomes 6/3 (this is why it's important to silence them rather than straight kill). The Horsemen merely gained one attack and thus 2/7. Rivendare himself is only up to 14 health, so after about two tries, I nailed it, but not before painfully learning that the Paladin's Equality is useless. Thanks Kel'thuzad.
 |
Perhaps the best way to
vanquish Heroic Gothik. |
Heroic Razuvious was a little tougher. His Massive Runeblade is now a 'humble' 10/2, which still deals twice as much damage to the player hero. Acidic Swamp Ooze x 2, Bloodsail Corsair x 2, Harrison Jones x 1 plus a few taunts. Doesn't hurt to be cautious.
Gothik was a whole other level. His Hero Power now cost 1 mana (naturally making it compulsory), and drew 2 cards… and added a mana to his tray. So by turn 5, he was placing minions like crazy. I had to do some snooping on Hearthpwn to find a proper deck, and modified it until I managed to defeat him after around 7 tries. Not as tough as Maexxna, Loatheb, or Heigen, but right up there on the challenge notch.
You can view the decks I used to defeat each of them above.
 |
| Oh, that's just cheap, Kel'thuzad. |
For some reason, the Military Quarter was the most entertaining. Maybe it was the change of pace from one enemy to the next with completely different strategies, or maybe I like the evil undertone this particular wing had over the past couple.
How did you guys cope with the Heroic enemies this time around? Are you warrior buffs like me, or did you play out a different strategy? Comment and stay tuned for the Construct Quarter!
Posted by
Anthony Mango
- Saturday, August 9, 2014
On episode 5 of the Fanboys Anonymous Reviewpoint podcast, the panel reviews the new rebooted version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise, breaking down not only what worked in the film (Hit) as well as what didn't (Miss).
Hosted by Tony Mango along with Mike Paden and Sam Lascio.
You can check out the podcast below on YouTube, iTunes and Stitcher. Make sure to subscribe!
Posted by
Unknown
- Friday, August 8, 2014
Last year, I set out in search of inspiration. I needed something, anything to help me overcome this huge case of writer's block. I was sick of listening to music that felt, for lack of a better word, industrialized. Everything on my playlist sounded the same—all engineered in the same pretty package.
 |
| Left to Right: Keller, Antelman, Camacho. (Credit: Dirk Mai) |
After a random search online, I came across "Back to Bed," a song off of Lydia's latest album entitled Devil. It was love at first note; each song has its own style with soulful lyrics and influential music. It's safe to say that my writer's block became non-existent after that album.
Indie rock band Lydia consists of members Leighton Antelman, Matt Keller, and Justin Camacho. Though the members have been shaken up a bit over the years, the band has actually been around since 2003. Each one of their releases is uniquely diverse. Which I love because it shows that the group can explore their creativity without complying to certain molds. I recently had the pleasure of interviewing their front man, Antelman, with some pretty off-the-wall Fangirl questions as well as finding out what the band has planned for the upcoming year.
Fanboys Anonymous: You're going to be on tour in the UK later this year. Excited? In the movie, The World's End, the characters go on this pub crawl called "The Golden Mile." Any plans on creating your own golden mile while visiting?
Antelman: Sure, I'd love to. I've never seen that movie but how can you go wrong with a pub crawl?
FA: Would you rather have a wand or light saber?
Antelman: Never was much of a Star Wars fan and haven't seen any of the Harry Potter movies. I guess I'm a horrible person.
(No, not horrible, but the Trekkies may be looking to recruit you now.)
FA: It's been over a year since Devil came out, and I heard you were working on a new album. What can fans expect? Anything different—a new sound perhaps?
Antelman: Si, we are in fact writing a new album at the moment. To be honest, I'm not sure what to expect. Turns out better that way. You shouldn't go in trying to write a certain sound or song.
FA: Do you consider yourself a Fanboy of anything?
Antelman: I'm a pretty big fan of Black Jack + Whiskey.
FA: What is the most interesting thing you have learned while touring other countries?
Antelman: Australians are nuts! In a good way.
FA: Do you have any other projects outside of Lydia right now?
Antelman: I am releasing my second album with the project I sing on called The Cinema this summer. We have been working on it for almost 2 years now off-and-on, and I'm really excited to finally get it out.
FA: What is your favorite TV show of all time?
Antelman: I think it's got to either be Breaking Bad or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
FA: Do you play any video games? If so, what are you playing right now?
Antelman: I've just recently got into playing online with a a friend of mine on the other side of the US. You can go through levels and blow shit up with someone 3,000 miles away, it's remarkable. I've never been much of a gamer but it's quite fun. We been playing Army of Two as of late.
FA: If you could sum up your entire music career with just one song, what song would you pick?
Antelman: I'm not sure if you mean a song of my own or just a song in general…but let's go with in general. I'd say off the top my head "Tiny Dancer" by Elton John.
FA: On a perfect day, you would like to be found…
Antelman: Being happy somewhere. The method doesn't matter.
I was super excited to get to ask him my questions, and I can't wait until their new album! I hope you all will check out Lydia's music, and if you are in the United Kingdom be sure to check out a show. Be looking out for my next interview with a cast member Studio C. Please take a moment to share your thoughts with Fanboys Anonymous in the comments section.What do you think of their music?
Posted by
Unknown
- Thursday, August 7, 2014
The 80s was the best decade ever for pop culture media. The fact that we've had a bunch of remakes from some of the best films of the decade occur recently is proof of its enduring popularity. The latest one that was set to be unleashed upon the 21st Century is The Monster Squad. When I first heard about this I was excited because it is one of my favorite comedy horror films of all time.
The problem is, this intended remake is now dead and buried, much like the Frankenstein's Monster that starred in the original. Platinum Dunes' producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller recently announced they are no longer working on remaking The Monster Squad for a new generation. Bummer. Yet this same company is planning another entry in The Friday the 13th series. I like that franchise but the remake from '09 was crap.
So why the change in plans? I have no idea. Form and Fuller didn't say. I'm disappointed in this news because I love The Monster Squad so much. It's a fun, light hearted homage to the classic monsters of Universal's run during the 30s, 40s, and 50s. It was a smart film too, combining the comedy and horror well while updating the classic stories for an 80s audience. I love the interactions with the characters. The cop father and his partner were great together, they had a smooth chemistry and the overall simplicity of the story was well done; a bunch of kids have to band together to stop monsters invading their town. That's it. It was pitched as Ghostbusters meets The Goonies and fits that well.
What made it so fun for me as a kid was the idea that these kids, who created their club of monster fighters, were just like me. I imagined myself in their place, battling with Dracula and kicking Wolfman in the nards. They were also smart enough to place Frankenstein in the role of a tragic hero, since that was present in the original novel, and he becomes a very sympathetic character in this film. This is a fine movie and could have been a great remake.
I suppose maybe Platinum Dunes believes today's world is not the right environment for this kind of story anymore because it's not dark and gritty enough. The Monster Squad did not do well at the box office upon release, but like many cult films, it found a home on cable outlets and home video, building an audience of fans all over the world. Maybe once Universal's plans to reboot their stable of monsters come into being this remake will come back into focus.
So was anyone looking forward to this? Was anyone even aware of the possibility of a Monster Squad remake? Sound off below.
Posted by
Jeff Penner
- Wednesday, August 6, 2014
Want to know what happened the past few days in nerd culture? WEEK IN GEEK is your quick fix to catch up with the rest of the Fanboys out there.
MOVIES
DC Has 10 Movie Release Dates.
My take: This is hot off the press today, so I don't have a lot of details. DC seems to be calling everyone's bluff and now has movie release dates booked through 2020. Launching into a series of films was something Marvel was able to do only after the huge success of Iron Man, and DC hasn't had that yet. Man of Steel was met with a lukewarm reaction and only the hype of its so-called sequel is driving their plans forward. If this movie doesn't turn things around, DC/WB will be stuck with a movie franchise in need of another reboot before it's even truly begun. Speaking of which....
Sony Announces Female Superhero Movies.
My take: Over at Marvel, they're getting a lot of heat for taking so long to feature Black Widow in her own film. With excuse after excuse, Sony is jumping on the bandwagon of public shaming. They technically have access to other Spider-related characters, such as Spider-Woman and The Black Cat, and have announced their intentions to give them their own movies. This is bad news for fans of The Amazing Spider-Man franchise as their plans continue to zig-zag on just which direction to go. That being said, I'm far more excited for female-lead films than I am for The Sinister Six and Venom.
Guardians of the Galaxy is a Hit.
My take: Most of us saw this coming a mile away. Without the same story restrictions as other Marvel films, this was destined to be a fun movie. It has passed $100million and has an approximate 44% female fanbase.
The Fantastic Four is in Pre-Production.
My take: Sony is already planning a sequel to this upcoming reboot and I couldn't be less excited. As these movies continue to be made by studios that aren't Marvel, we're losing out on some great stories and character interaction. Although I'm curious to see what they've done, these movies will always feel limited when compared to the full world that Marvel is creating.
TELEVISION
The Office Movie.
My take: Ricky Gervais will be doing a movie follow-up to the original UK series set 15 years after the final, special episode. The fans of the UK and US versions are split, but I certainly appreciate the UK series, both for it being the original series, and also for knowing when to quit.
Scream TV?
My take: I wasn't aware this film franchise was coming to MTV as a series, but I'm sure not interested. I liked the first film and hated every sequel they offered. Is this series going to be tongue-in-cheek comedy or is MTV looking for its own True Detective?
Young Justice / Teen Titans Go! Crossover?
My take: With DC constantly playing with alternate universe ideas with their huge push on the multiverse, I guess it should come as no surprise when it creeps into animation. I'm not sure exactly how they're going to pull off a believable mix of the drama-focused teens with the comedy-focused teens but it will certainly get my eyeballs.
VIDEO GAMES
Destiny Limited Edition Pre-Order Sold Out.
My take: Copies are showing up on Ebay for up to $1000, and this game had better deliver on the hype. After the huge sales numbers for recent games like Titanfall and Grand Theft Auto V, I think video game release days will soon make movie premieres seem like childish events. I think this game looks way too much like Mass Effect, so it had better have some pretty unique weapons, gameplay, and backstory to impress this old curmudgeon.
Grand Theft Auto V Sales Continue.
My take: Speaking of which, this game just passed 34 million copies and it hasn't even come out on PC, PS4 or Xbox One yet. It came out last September and keeps on selling. The sales numbers, if you do the math, surpass those of the biggest movie blockbusters: Easily in the billion dollar zone after less than a year. As awesome as the recent rash of superhero movies has been, someone (possibly DC) is going to take over this industry soon in that market. If Marvel owns the theatres, DC should look at owning the console wars.
CELEBRITIES
In a campaign I can really get behind, visit the petition page to have Weird Al Yankovic headline the Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show. His recent album Mandatory Fun hit #1 on Billboard and he deserves this time in the spotlight. He's gained popularity in recent years, and you may not realize he's been doing this since the early '80s. I have several of his original cassette tapes, because yes, I'm that old.
Watch out for this segment each and every Wednesday. We'll see you next week!
Did we miss something? What are your thoughts on these topics?
Leave us a comment below!
Posted by
Kym Pressley
- Tuesday, August 5, 2014
 |
| 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.
.png "Legend of Zelda Fi") |
| 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.
.png "Ghirahim from Zelda") |
| 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.
Posted by
Unknown
- Monday, August 4, 2014
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.
The Class Challenges this time are shaman and warlock. Nothing much to report, other than I lost my first Class Challenge game against Gothik.
.png "Legend of Zelda Fi")
.png "Ghirahim from Zelda")
