Time Travel and Time travellers.

Today I am going to mention some of my favourite time travelers, or series with time travelling in of some sort.















Back to the Future.

What I like about it: good characters, one of the coolest cars ever and some cool stuff as well as funny moments and changes shown over the course of time.




















Next: Dragonball, which has a story arc about time travel.

What I like about it: Trunks sent from the future to save the past, and there's lots of fighting with stronger and stronger opponents. Time travel, battle shounen manga style!




Dr. Who.

What I like about it: The Doctor (because he is such a legend!)












And The Master, or Missy as she now calls herself, because she's hilarious, and a necessary counter to the Doctor.




Yu-Gi-Oh.

What I like about it: time travel with Egyptian mythology.




Captain Marvel.

What I like about it: Kelly Sue DeConnick's story about Captain Marvel and the Kree psyche-magnetron.




Sailor Moon.

What I like about it: The Moon Kingdom.




The Terminator.

What I like about it: Arnie as a baddie, then a goodie. Also the whole prevent the dystopian future and evil tech corporation thing.




The X-men.

What I like about it: all the different versions, but particularly Apocalypse, Bishop and Cable.




Stein;s Gate.

What I like about it: the technology was quite interesting, and the characters varied.




Runaways.

What I like about it: this image above.




Zelda.

What I like about this. The ocarina and all the gorgeous music.


Now over to you Norman Osborn!

My thanks, Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Molly Hayes punching The Punisher.

Justice League International (volume 1)

Recently I read the first volume of Justice League International (1987). This volume was written by J M DeMatteis, a writer who also wrote the highly acclaimed Spiderman story arcs: Kraven's Last Hunt and Maximum Carnage.

What is the volume about then?

Well, essentially in the late 1980's the Justice League series wasn't doing so well. Most of the fan favourite league members such as Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman and the Flash were elsewhere.

DeMatteis brought an unusual approach which revitalised the series. DeMatteis created a sitcom style story with good measure of action added.

The Justice League was re-formed and showed the charm of each of it's new members in a light hearted yet problem solving group.

Highlights of the story in general (spoiler free)

• The action is fun and exciting
• A nice touch with the sprinkling of international politics and situations
• Some interesting media style comic panels (the events from the perspective of TV news footage)

Highlights in terms of characterisation (spoiler free)

• The characterisation is good, I enjoyed the representation of characters, some of whom I didn't know very well prior to reading this volume.

Batman

One of my favourite DC superheroes. He makes an awesome team leader, managing to utilise the various abilities and personalities of his team members.

Shazam

I know a little bit about him, and I liked how this volume appreciated his backstory.

Martian Manhunter

In this context he functions as the Superman in the team, in that role as an alien who at times can be more human (as in compassionate and reasonable) than most humans are. He also acts like Superman in that he is an enromously powered being who is capable of considerable self-restraint.

Black Canary

A character I have a little bit of exposure to previously through some other DC comics like Birds of Prey, Green Arrow and Batman. She's just as badass in this volume as she is in those other series. Also she will tolerate no misogyny. I love her approach to such behavior.

Guy Gardner

I couldn't not mention the Green Lantern of the Justice League! His general rage and cockiness creates some hilarious tension within the team.

Mister Miracle

This volume is the first time I've read something with him in. I liked his dedication to the team.

Oberon

First time I encountered him was in this volume. He's more a behind the scenes member of the team, but he was interesting in that capacity.

Doctor Light

Another new character for me. I enjoyed her powerset and also her strong personality.

Blue Beetle

I knew of him before this through wider reading. I love how down to earth he is.

Booster Gold

A measure of good writing is to give the reader a character just as new to a world as they are. Booster Gold is that character in Justice League International.

Dr. Fate

I loved the characterisation in this volume, particularly of Dr. Fate who was yet another new to me character. I would describe him as a cross between Dr. Manhattan from Watchmen (in his logical personality) and Marvel's Dr. Strange (in his fantastic cosmological mysticism).

Maxwell Lord

There is another member of the team, all I can really say about Maxwel Lord is that there is something quite familiar to me about him.

Wouldn't you agree, my regular guest Norman Osborn?

Yes Geordie Green Lantern. That is a bit unsettling. Anyway, today I approve of Justice League International, superhero situational comedies and fantastic cosmological mysticism.

The Boy Who Lived

It has been seven years since the final Harry Potter book was released and there were seven books released. Seven is widely believed to be a magical number. In honour of this belief, I return to this blog as tribute to one of my favourite series ever.

I recently decided to have a marathon of the 8 Harry Potter films, because I never gave the films much of a chance before that. I thought them terribly inferior to the books, which are filled with the glory of fantastic detail and coloured brilliantly with imagination.

In fairness, the films are inferior to the books BUT they have their own charms. Let's look at what I liked about the films.

In general

Alan Rickman- he is such an interesting actor, that even when I am rereading the books in my mind now he is permanently Professor Snape.

Snape no jutsu

Snaaaaaaaape!

I don't think you're ready for this jelly

I don't think you're ready for this intellectual jelly

Stop, in the name of love!

Florist Snape

Unamused Snape

 

 

 

Amused Snape

 

 





 



Chamber of Secrets

Tom Riddle was cast just about right.

Prisoner of Azkaban

Timothy Spall made a very good Peter Pettigrew.

Goblet of Fire

David Tenant as Barty Crouch Jr.

Order of the Phoenix

The letter from the ministry was an eye catching effect.

Half Blood Prince

Sectumsempra is the most badass Harry Potter spell still. The quick pooling of blood in the film may have been more violent than my imagination. Well done film version!

Deathly Hallows Part 1

Get in, Bill Nighy!

Deathly Hallows Part 2

Badass Maggy Smith

On that note as usual I leave you to my guest: Norman Osborn.

My thanks Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of Harry Potter and in particular Mr. Alan Rickman as Professor Severus Snape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm Apollo Justice, and I'm alreet!

"I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine!" is the new catchphrase of the lawyer Apollo Justice in Phoenix Wright 5 (Dual Destinies). I had been waiting 5 whole years for this game and in that time have been through 3 girlfriends, graduated uni and  lived what has felt like a few regenerations. 

But enough of me! Was it worth the wait? Even including the 2 weeks I had to wait between the release of the main game and the dlc case? Absolutely. Was it better than Trials and Tribulations? (Phoenix Wright 3, by far the best in a brilliant series).  Of course not, that's like saying any Zelda was better than Ocarina of Time (except Majora's Mask which I consider the dark world of OOT therefore the same game). 

But it was amazingly good! 

What made the game so amazing then? The usual things that make the Phoenix Wright series amazing: awesome and varied characters, good designs as ever Capcom, a lot of humour but also a lot of depth and feeling for characters and situations, interesting cases and of course the brilliance of the courtroom dynamic. 

Let's start with characters who stuck out for me first.

Juniper Woods- an old friend of Apollo's and she looks very much like she could be a Studio Ghibli character!

Bobby Fullbright- a copper with the catchphrase In justice we trust!

Simon Blackquill- the new prosecutor and a convict

                                                                              

Athena Cykes- newest member of the Wright Anything Agency, she's a lawyer!

                                                                           

                                                                             

Apollo Justice- returns with a badass new jacket!

                                                                       

Phoenix Wright- it's been a long time, welcome back to law Feenie! And how dapper you look! XD

I can't really go into the depth of the plot or anything because this is a spoiler free blog entry. So now let's get to the cases themselves. As ever the cases in phoenix Wright 5 are varied. We get a courtroom bombing, a village of people who believe in yokai, a legal college drama set in a legal academy, a space station and my personal favourite: an aquarium, where you meet an orca who you have to defend in court! 

So it's a great game, but does it add something new to famed courtroom dynamics the series is known and loved for? Yes! There is the obvious 3d effect which is quite fun. I wouldn't play it entirely in 3d again, I just did it to immerse myself. You can no longer click on random things when in an investigation section, which is a shame given that was part of the appeal of the games being able to click on things and get entertainment from the comments. However that is compensated with moving details here and there.

On top of the 3d effect, there is something else, used only in the courtroom sections: the mood matrix. This is an extra element brought in by the new lawyer Athena Cykes who can use a technology which can detect emotions of people on the stand in order to get truth from them.

The Mood Matrix

That's all I have to say about the brilliant game because 

Now for my regular guest, Norman Osborn!

Thank you very much Geordie Green Lantern. Today I approve of: Apollo Justice being alreet!

The "My Doctor" theory/ trope: a blog entry on Weekly Shounen Jump manga

I mentioned in my last blog entry (The Wonder Woman special), something I described as "The "My" Doctor trope". Basically, to clarify, the trope refers to the point in a series where somebody really gets into it, or where a series has various versions (for example Dr. Who and each individual Doctor being someone's "My Doctor", hence the trope name).

My next few blog entries will be variants on this theme. In this blog entry I will be looking at some of the Shounen Jump manga I have read, regardless of if I still like them or NOT cough Naruto and Bleach cough. This is about the points at which I began to love them. 

Ah Naruto, how much I used to love this series! My interest spiked when a friend of mine lent me his English subtitled dvds of the series years ago. I really started to like it pretty much at the exact point Jiraiya appeared, and from then on became a hardcore fan. At this point in time in the series Naruto was given the power to control his fox chakra so the first time he first got a handle of his real strength, rather than when Orochimaru weakened him by messing up the seal on his stomach.

Bleach is well known for starting to hit its peak of awesomeness during the Soul Society story arc. Personally within that arc I really started getting into Bleach when Kenpachi first appeared, as shown in the panel above. Most shinigami don't seem to have an aura of death even though they are death gods, but Kenpachi certainly does! 

Oh Tommyrod, you creepy fucker! I was a fan of Toriko at the first chapter, a brilliant series in concept and as an actual series. However it really started to show its potential in my opinion when Tommyrod appears and fights Toriko during the Century Soup arc. He is in personality and appearance kind of a cross between Cell from Dragonball and Hisoka from Hunter X Hunter, which makes him a fantastic villain!  

D.Gray man became more than just great and into an amazing series quite early on,  the appearance of the Noa Tikki Mykk (the one in the very middle of the image above holding the butterfly) was the earliest point it started to approach my so called gods tier. My gods tier is the level at which where a series starts to go beyond the realms of 10 out of 10 into the 11 out of 10 range. The series either became truly great at that volume he appeared, or soon after when the Noah Family gathered for the first time in the manga soon after. 

Oraoraoraoraora! The famous battle cry of the third generation Joestar from Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Jotaro Kujo. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is one of my favourite manga ever, but Part 3 (the introduction of Jotaro) is where it really gets awesome, when Stands are introduced. 

If Yu-Gi-Oh had been more like this and like it was during Millennium World arc, YGO would easily be in my joint first favourite #1 manga alongside One Piece, Hunter X Hunter and Dragonball. However it still was awesome enough that I had to have One Piece and Hunter X Hunter share the number one spot with Dragonball, I changed my whole ranking system just so YGO will always remain my second favourite manga!

Yami Bakura is the greatest tactician I have found in manga so far. The other YGO villains, great though they are, seem petty in comparison. 

Here is the Genei Ryodan.

This is them again but looking more mysterious. 

And there's the chibi cover volume of them, volume 12 of Hunter X Hunter. I love the Genei Ryodan. They are in part what makes Hunter X Hunter such an amazing manga and anime. They are my personal favourite criminal organisation in manga and anime, and that means something since anime and manga have great examples of excellent "evil organisations".

 I used the word criminal rather than evil in this case as an exception. Why? Because most criminal organisations in anime and manga are portrayed as just evil, but badass collections of people in a group to further their own goals. 

With a certain exception, the Ryodan are ultimately all about the collective goal. Yes they are a bunch of murdering thieves, but they are more than that. If they were in Eastenders, they may say "It's all abaaaaht the faaaaaaamly." They are a family, a band of people who formed bonds because they survived together. They played a massive role in helping HxH become my joint favourite manga and even joint first with my top anime. Might even blog about that after this series. 

I love battle shounen manga, but this battle is one of my favourite battles of all time, never mind just in One Piece. It's where One Piece really starts to show itself as one of the greatest manga series ever. On top of that, Arlong has a formidable flag. 

Pretty awesome AND badass. But that just makes Luffy even more awesome!

Now the best for last. My original number one ranked manga. Here is where it became the first number 1. Let the image speak for itself, and if it does not I might have to come back to it as a separate blog entry. Dragonball. 

With that I conclude this entry on the "My Doctor" theory/ trope series of blog entries. I will pass you over to my regular guest now. As Shenron said in the Dragonball dub: fare thee well!

Thank you Geordie Green Lantern! Today I approve of Weekly Shounen Jump manga.