My 5 favourite badasses with scarves

Now I love a scarf. I have one scarf which is practical in the cold, it is my travelling scarf. Coincidentally it is the same colour and looks a lot like the one worn by one of the characters below, (actually 2 now that I've checked) but which two! I also have a scarf which is one I only wear on my best occasions, such as Paperjam or meeting my Grandparents.

Mia Fey- the mentor of Phoenix Wright

Lana Skye- the mentor of Miles Edgeworth

Greninja, the water ninja Pokémon!

Monkey D Dragon- the legendary revolutionary of One Piece!

Killer B, a legendary swordsman from the Village of Clouds

So now over to you Norman Osborn!

Many thanks Geordie Green Lantern! Today I approve of your 5 favourite badasses with scarves!

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!