QUICKIE -- Heroes Reborn - (Premiere) "Brave New World"

I'm going to talk about this briefly as I have a few friends who wanted to hear what I thought about the premiere, so I'm going to give this a shot. Keep in mind that I haven't watched nor followed Heroes since the first/second seasons whenever the writers' strike occurred that caused everything to go downhill, so a lot of this stuff that they are referring to from the previous series is a bit over my head. I will comment on what I did and didn't like about this show so far.

The Verdict:

Introduction

As soon as they started to referring powered people in this show as "Evos" my mind went towards thinking about Generator Rex where people marked with bizarre abilities thanks to the power of malevolent nanomachines were referred to the same title. Plus, I couldn't help but laugh after the "mysterious" explosion during the peace conference that showed shades of a similar event in both X-Men: Destiny and Wolverine and the X-Men. From just the first few minutes, this show wasn't leaving a positive mark on me in terms of writing.

Katana Girl

Out of the new powers introduced by this revived series, I have to admit that this one was the most intriguing. The ability to transfer oneself into a video game and acquire the combat prowess and skills of that avatar is definitely original unless there's someone who wants to point out that it's essentially being the One from The Matrix.

Much like just about almost everything in this premiere, the whole subplot of "rescue my kidnapped father" seems a little cliched to the point that you would expect in a bad karate movie. My biggest complaint during this subplot was that the computer-generated effects looked like something you would see in the late 90's to early 2000s (circa: original PlayStation) video games instead of present day. If NBC were going that route, you would think that they would bother with a bigger budget to make the "game" look a little more top notch.

The Troubled Teenager

Out of the new "heroes" introduced in this premiere episode, I think the kid was the easiest to relate to. The creators were wise to go with a grounded background story here. I'm anxious to see where this goes with his cheerleader crush, the football jock with the abusive step-dad (isn't that cliched enough in media nowadays?), and the mysterious (possible pedophile...) old man that's following him around mind-erasing people without the means of the Men in Black.

I thought his power ranks second behind Katana Girl's in terms of creativity and originality, even though it's almost identical to Hiro's power in the original series. Instead of mere teleportation, the teen's power seems to be a clever "remote transporter" power, similar to Nightcrawler from X-Men.

The Luchador Vigilante

Now this was a treat. One thing that was heavily criticized in the original series before the boom period of the superhero genre in present day media was the lack of proper costumes for these heroes. Here, we get the first glimpse of a costume hero for this series and it looked pretty bad ass. I hope his successor adopts something similar or puts his own spin to the costume.

The Anti-Evo Bonnie & Clyde

The couple that slaughters the group of Evos meeting in secret within a church that the troubled teen was called away from prematurely are the most captivating actors out of the newcomers and are natural villains in this premiere. Sadly, they lack Skylar's sheer terrorizing presence, but I think that will come in due time. Out of all of the characters introduced in this premiere, they have already bleed over into multiple subplots involving the other characters. I think they will be the bridge that links all of these subplots together into the one universal plot over the course of this mini-series.

Noah Bennett

One of the only returning main characters (so far) from the previous series finds himself living a pretty average life throughout the course of this premiere until discovering that his memories have been tampered with after the "death" of his daughter. I thought the entire premise of the original series was "Save the Cheerleader, Save the World"? Sounds like this world is screwed right off the bat already.

Watch it or Don't Bother?

If you liked the original Heroes or just want something else on your plate within the superhero genre (like you don't have enough to watch already...) then give this a shot. This mini-series is only going to stick around for 13 episodes and that's more than enough time that I'm willing to give this show. There were moments where I was looking at the clock wondering when they were going to wrap this first episode up, but I'm trying to be optimistic that this series is straight-forward and to the point instead of dragging along at a sluggish pace like the original Heroes series was notorious for.

REVIEW -- Supergirl (2015 TV series) - Pilot

Supergirl is an upcoming American television series developed by writer/producers Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, Sarah Shechter, and Andrew Kreisberg, set to air on CBS. It is based on the DC Comics character Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), created by Otto Binder and Al Plastino. Supergirl is a costumed superhero who is the biological cousin to Superman and one of the last surviving Kryptonians. The series will take place in the same television DC Comics Universe currently shared by Arrow and The Flash.

The series was officially picked up on May 6, 2015 after receiving a series commitment in September 2014, and will debut on October 26, 2015...

But if you're like me, you happened to stumble onto the leak of the Supergirl pilot episode earlier this year.

Cast:

Main

Melissa Benoist as Kara Zor-El / Kara Danvers / Supergirl
Mehcad Brooks as James Olsen
Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant
David Harewood as Hank Henshaw
Chyler Leigh as Alex Danvers

Recurring

Laura Benanti as Alura Zor-El

Guest

Jeremy Jordan as Winslow "Winn" Schott
Helen Slater as Eliza Danvers. Slater portrayed Supergirl in the 1984 film.
Dean Cain as Jeremiah Danvers. Cain portrayed Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.
Faran Tahir as The Commander
Owain Yeoman as Vartox
Peter Facinelli as Maxwell Lord

The characters Reactron, Livewire and Lucy Lane will also appear on the series.

Premise:

SUPERGIRL is an action-adventure drama based on the DC Comics character Kara Zor-El (Melissa Benoist), Superman’s (Kal-El) cousin who, after 12 years of keeping her powers a secret on Earth, decides to finally embrace her superhuman abilities and be the hero she was always meant to be. Twelve-year-old Kara escaped the doomed planet Krypton with her parents’ help at the same time as the infant Kal-El. Protected and raised on Earth by her foster family, the Danvers, Kara grew up in the shadow of her foster sister, Alex (Chyler Leigh), and learned to conceal the phenomenal powers she shares with her famous cousin in order to keep her identity a secret. Years later at 24, Kara lives in National City assisting media mogul and fierce taskmaster Cat Grant (Golden Globe Award winner Calista Flockhart), who just hired the Daily Planet’s former photographer, James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks), as her new art director. However, Kara’s days of keeping her talents a secret are over when Hank Henshaw (David Harewood), head of a super-secret agency where her sister also works, enlists her to help them protect the citizens of National City from sinister threats. Though Kara will need to find a way to manage her newfound empowerment with her very human relationships, her heart soars as she takes to the skies as Supergirl to fight crime.

The Verdict:

I remember after the reveal trailers got out I didn't have high hopes for this show and after seeing this pilot episode, that opinion hasn't changed. The series isn't set to debut on CBS until the end of October, but after a pretty big leak on their part, you won't have too much trouble finding this full episode online.

A good friend of mine who is a loyal reader of this blog supplied me with the episode to watch but I didn't get a chance to watch until I had a chance to do so with my older sister, who I regularly weigh in on the female prospective on viewing the superhero genre as of late since we both grew up discussing this stuff for years and finally having the chance to see it in fruition in our adolescent years.

Here's the thing this is tough to watch for BOTH of us - first for my sister who was literally embarrassed at how bad the writing for this pilot just to appeal and cater to a female audience and for me as a comic book fan who's throwing my hands up every few minutes at how absurd all of this is. I was skeptical at The Flash at first and I grew to enjoy that for the most part - up until the season finale but that's a discussion for another day, I suppose.

Speaking of The Flash, let's go ahead and talk about my #1 issue with how Supergirl's pilot is laid out. It's set up essentially JUST like the pilot for The Flash. The adolescent gets (or in this case, is born with them) superpowers and wants to help people with them. Some random bullshit happens that conveniently creates supervillains all over the city that the said hero wants to protect. In The Flash's case it was the Particle Accelerator blowing up and creating metahumans all over Central City, in Supergirl it's her arrival to Earth 23 years later after Superman's arrival that unleashes all of this crazy criminals from Krypton's top security prison in the Phantom Zone (Fort Ross) that she has to locate and recapture in National City. (Sighs) It sounds like the writers were watching episodes of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo when they were brainstorming the plots for this episode. For those who don't know, the plot for that short-lived cartoon series had Scooby Doo, Scrappy Doo, Shaggy, Daphne and their new found allies scrambling to recapture the 13 ghosts that they accidentally released from the Chest of Demons. Why does all of these DC Comics related superhero dramas on television have to have that same "Gotta Catch 'Em All" Pokémon style plot? To be quite honest, they have been recycling and rehashing this formula since Smallville on the CW.

The narrative sets an already adolescent Kara up to be Kal-El's protector as he is an infant sent from the dying Krypton to follow him to Earth. Shit happens and she finds herself frozen in time as she's trapped in the Phantom Zone for 23 years. Superman (the grown up Kal-El) finds her after she somehow escapes the Phantom Zone and has her taken in by the Danvers family. This flashback occurs in a span of the first 2-3 minutes of this episode before returning to present day. Due to licensing and cheap storytelling, it's obvious that CBS can't say nor mention Superman by name. Kara happens to work for a news conglomerate, ran by the prima donna Cat Grant.

I can't help but see Cat Grant as a female version of Spider-Man's own J. Jonah Jameson as The Flash was littered with Spider-Man comparisons from top to bottom throughout that first season. It's that teen angst stuff that keeps the CW's DC Comics' fans happens so that's who they are catering to. Whatever floats your boat in my book.

The narrative follows Kara as she struggles with keeping her powers a secret and enduring the challenges of being "normal" when she knows that she could offer the world something more much like her cousin Kal-El/Superman has done for the world (well in that licensed world of Metropolis that they obviously don't have access towards mentioning). Fast forward to after one bad day at work and even worse blind date, where Kara opts to use her powers to save her surrogate sister Alex Danvers from a plane crash. Ironically, Supergirl took this EXACT same concept from the Superman: The Animated Series pilot (which took that concept from the Superman comics) along with the same one that Dean Cain (who just happens to be playing Kara's foster father in this series) starred in. I'm all for tributes or homages to past iterations but this shows a complete lack of originality.

After exposing the world to another super-powered alien, the world is aware that there's a Supergirl in their midst. Kara is excited to jump into this double life and ability to show-off the abilities and powers that she's had to kept hidden for so long. I will give them some bit of credit here - Kara wants to be a hero. She wasn't forced into it unwillingly by some strange chance of dumb luck or fate. Instead, she chooses this destiny for herself as she finds "normal" life is the thing being forced on her. It's an interesting reverse psychology twist on the common superhero trope. Every other superhero out there is forced into this profession. Kara willingly goes into business for herself as it's her opportunity to be her "true" self instead of hiding underneath a mask in her "normal" day to day life. This layer of depth is comparable to Batman's Bruce Wayne where he is truly himself when he's wearing the mask and costume of Batman. The entire persona of Bruce Wayne is an illusion and clever mask to deter people from knowing who he really is deep down.

I have to say that the special effects and fight scenes are almost comical to an extent. I've seen better choreographed fights on Power Rangers than in this crap. This looks worse than most of the misc. live-action fantasy TV shows during the boom period of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess in the late '90s and early 2000s. CBS must either have a pretty low budget with this show are really cutting some corners in terms of production costs. I mean, c'mon, the first few episodes of Agents of SHIELD didn't look this bad in terms of effects.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

If you're giddy with joy with just about everything else in the Arrowverse, then this will definitely be your cup of tea since you're used to this type of teen angst drama storytelling. Everyone else might not be as accepting to this new take on the Man of Steel's cousin... This looks as bad as that upcoming live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms...

Who knows, this could end up getting better over the course of the first season, but I wouldn't waste my precious time watching and hoping for that. It didn't bother me to miss out on Gotham and I can pass from watching this.

QUICKIE -- Killer Is Dead

Killer Is Dead is a 2013 action video game developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Kadokawa Shoten in Japan, XSEED Games in North America and Deep Silver in Europe.

This is a game that I have had a review done for a while now, but I don't know why I haven't published this article already. I suppose it's because this isn't the run of the mill type of game, so I had to approach this topic a tad differently.

First of all, let's look back at the awesome reveal teaser for this game from a few years back.

The Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

Killer Is Dead includes such technology as lunar tourism and cybernetic enhancements. The main character is an executioner named Mondo Zappa (voiced by Ryotaro Okiayu in the Japanese version and Patrick Seitz in the Western version) who receives jobs from the Bryan Execution Firm. This firm, run by a cyborg named Bryan Roses, tasks Mondo with killing dangerous criminals and assassins from around the world. Mondo wields a sword with his right hand but his cybernetic left arm can be converted into many different weapons, including guns, drills, and other objects.Although Mondo travels the world as part of the game, Suda calls it a "personal story" of "a man who doesn't show himself much in the public world but still worms his way into society and mercilessly eliminates the evil dispersed in it"."Love and execution" and "how far can you protect someone" are also central themes of the story.

The game begins following a deranged former executioner named Tokio who has kidnapped a girl and is being hunted by a katana-wielding man who looks like Mondo. Tokio calls him "the darkness" right before he is killed. It then flashes forward two years to the modern day where Mondo is accepted into Bryan's execution agency following his assassination of the former executioner in his place, who had also been taken over by a dark force and was deemed unfit for his job. This man, Damon, warns Mondo about the perils of the job and that he may also fall to the dark side.

Mondo then kills many strange, monstrous beings known as Wires, eventually killing a woman named Alice who was transformed into a grotesque crustacean-like monster following her trip to the Moon. She blames a strange man named David for causing her to become a monster. Subsequently, they are visited by a woman named Moon River, who asks them to assassinate David. Mondo agrees and travels to David's moon palace on the dark side of the moon, though he is unable to kill the ostentatious and eccentric David despite a pitched battle.

While a strange dark force from the moon starts turning people and even inanimate objects into monsters, Mondo learns that Moon River was once the ruler of the Moon, until she was overthrown by David and her race transformed into Wires by the Dark Matter. David has gained control of the moon's Dark Matter and is using it to take over the world, creating Wires as his minions. Meanwhile, Mondo exhibits intense pain from his artificial arm every time he kills a monster.

Eventually, Dolly, a psychic who serves David, attempts to enter the mind of Mondo's assistant Mika to kill him. Mondo uses a sleeping drug to fight her, but in the process dredges up all his memories. He realizes that David is his brother and he lost his arm due to David's attempt to kill him. David was also a former assassin working for Bryan, and after rescuing Mika, the kidnapped girl in the first mission, he brainwashed her and used her to spy on Mondo before going rogue. Bryan gave Mondo his artificial arm in order for him to fight David, though its capability to absorb Dark Matter means that Mondo is vulnerable to becoming corrupted like Tokio and Damon. He decides to head to the Moon yet again to settle the score and stop David's evil rampage.

Mondo fights David in his castle yet again, but during the battle both of them are changed by the Dark Matter into super-powered Wires, after which they fight as equals in their assassin's garb. In the end, Mondo is able to defeat David and stop him from harnessing the full power of Dark Matter. However, Mondo himself is then possessed by the darkness and rebuilds David's castle. Moon River requests that he be assassinated as well, much to the surprise of the Bryan Execution Firm. The game's ending is open-ended, but suggests that Mondo has become the ruler of the moon in David's place.

Mondo and David's names are likely based on David and Goliath. Mondo, in English slang, is another word for large.

The Verdict: 

The game's narrative is without a shadow of a doubt a confusing mess of events that won't make sense even after the revelation near the end of the game - it's a tale that is still up to speculation and debate by fans.

My take? It's a Suda51 game. It's supposed to be weird, otherwise his games would be boring. You're an assassin for hire - simple as that. Don't dwell on the messier details and enjoy the gameplay.

I personally feel like this is the spiritual successor to No More Heroes in terms of gameplay. Any fan of No More Heroes will feel right back at home the second you see Mondo use Travis Touchdown's Shadow Step style evasion (Guard Burst) and katana skills to boot. The difference here in Killer is Dead compared to No More Heroes is that you have ranged attacks, along with multiple subweapons, to keep things interesting. Also, you can actually block and parry with precise timing. Guard breaks and Guard Bursts are satisfying to pull off each and every time that you execute them. Juggle combos are possible but the enemy AI will quickly try to interrupt you doing these combos as they will kill most normal foes in the game.

Keep in mind that you are NOT going to buy all of the upgrades and costumes on your first playthrough unless you do some hardcore and unnecessary grinding for in-game cash and points for upgrades. That's what New Game+ and post-game are for. You should have all of the cash that you need for items and upgrades as long as you play through the side-missions between main missions and keep Mondo's girlfriends happy.

Sidemissions spice things up from themes in main missions and often reward you well for the trouble. The Gigolo/Dating side-missions offer Mondo a break from work, but don't dismiss this mini-game. If you complete the mission and get the girl to take Mondo home with her, you will be rewarded with a new subweapon. Each one of the girls off a new subweapon, but continue to play these missions to acquire more in-game cash and upgrade points. Do these missions frequently to reap the rewards or the girls will annoy you for no end during main missions. The date is over when you either run out of gifts before the end of the date, run out time, or you get caught for oogling her too long to the point that your date slaps Mondo senseless. I personally thought it was a perverted mechanic for no real payoff other than eye candy, but I thought it was pretty cool that the game actually rewards you for guiding Mondo successfully through these dates.

Scarlett (look for her hidden throughout missions in numerous locations) is unique as she won't date Mondo until you complete a number of her special mission challenges to fill her heart guage up to maximum. She rewards you with her glasses that fills up the blood guage on Gigolo Missions faster during dates and it allows Mondo to see through his dates' clothing with X-Ray vision. Keep in mind that if you fail one of these missions while wearing those glasses, they will break.

Overall, the game isn't as bad as early reviews criticized it for at launch for being - combat doesn't really pick up until you purchase a few upgrades to improve Mondo's skills by roughly Episode 4 to 6.

Buy it, Rent it, or Don't Bother?

I suggest buying it for that mature gamer in your life, since this is definitely not a game I wouldn't let my kids play. Even the Collector's Edition with the extra mission and costume DLC, artbook, and official soundtrack goes for less than $10 brand new in most retailers. At launch, I can understand the skepticism paying for a game like this for $59.99 but now, when it's cheaper - not so much.

Suda51 fans will find a lot to enjoy here - especially fans of No More Heroes, Lollipop Chainsaw (Juliet Starling has a cameo in the bonus DLC mission), and Shadows of the Damned, while most other gamers will find something to enjoy here too. Don't allow the dating sidemissions/mini-game deter you from giving this game a fair chance. The combat more than makes up for the little bit of time you have to sacrifice your dignity earning the bonus subweapons from those missions.

QUICKIE -- Darksiders

Darksiders is an action role-playing hack and slash video game developed by Vigil Games and published by THQ (now by Nordic Games). The game takes its inspiration from the apocalypse, with the player taking the role of War, one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The game was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on January 5, 2010 in North America, January 7, 2010 in Australia, January 8, 2010 in Europe and March 18, 2010 in Japan.

This is one of the titles that I have recently completed on my gaming backlog, so I felt that I owe you guys a review even if it's a rather short one.

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

Since the beginning of time, the Kingdoms of Heaven and Hell have waged war, with neither side ever being able to gain an advantage over the other. Thus, in time, a mediator group named "The Charred Council", arose to maintain order and balance; to this end, they created a brotherhood, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (War, Death, Strife and Fury) to intervene and enforce their laws where and when necessary. Amidst the conflict, humanity emerged. Foreseeing that humans would be integral and contribute to the balance's stability, the council declared them a third Kingdom, the "Kingdom of Man". The Council brokered a truce between Heaven and Hell: the Seven Seals were created to be broken when the Kingdom of Man was ready for the Endwar.

In the present day, War (Liam O'Brien) arrives on earth where the final battle appears to have begun. Confronting Abaddon(Troy Baker), the general of Heaven's army, War discovers that the other Horsemen have not arrived and the Seventh seal has not been broken. Surprised by War's presence Abaddon is killed by the demon Straga (Troy Baker). War battles Straga and is defeated, but is saved from death by the Charred Council (Fred Tatasciore). The council accuses War of destroying the balance by bringing about the Apocalypse prematurely, aiding in the destruction of Mankind, and siding with the forces of Hell. War protests his innocence and demands a chance to find the real culprits. The Council agrees on two conditions; he lose his former power and be bound to one of their servants, The Watcher (Mark Hamill), who has the power to kill him if he strays from his mission.

War returns to Earth, where a century has passed since the forces of Hell, led by "The Destroyer" annihilated humanity and the armies of Heaven. What remains of Heaven's armies have been stranded on Earth and formed into a meager resistance led by Uriel (Moon Bloodgood). War greets the demon merchant Vulgrim (Phil LaMarr), who tells him that the Black Tower is The Destroyer's lair, and advises War to seek out Samael (Vernon Wells), a once powerful demon lord, for assistance. Samael explains that four demons called "The Chosen" guard the Black Tower, and asks War to slay them and bring him their hearts in exchange for gaining access to the Tower. While doing so, War meets Ulthane (J. B. Blanc), a skilled blacksmith from a race called "The Makers". Initially fighting each other, they are forced to defend themselves from Uriel and her Hellguard who hold War responsible for Abaddon's death and their defeat. Confronting the last guardian, War discovers that The Chosen were not meant to defend the tower, but to prevent Samael's return. Regardless, War brings Samael their hearts and the restored demon honors their deal, sending him to the tower, saying they will meet again.

Inside the tower War finds Azrael (Keith Szarabajka), the Angel of Death, imprisoned. Azrael confesses that he and Abaddon conspired to bring about the Apocalypse early, fearing a delay would risk Heaven's defeat. However, Abaddon's death ruined the plan. Having found the proof he needs, War decides his mission is complete but The Watcher decides otherwise, citing the Destroyer must die for balance to be restored. War obliges, facing and slaying Straga to free Azrael.

Freed, Azrael saves War as the Tower collapses, and takes him to the Garden of Eden. Heeding his advice, War visits the Tree of Knowledge to see how to defeat the Destroyer. The Tree gives war a vision. After dying, Abaddon was sent to hell and offered a choice by an unknown entity: to serve in Heaven or rule in Hell; choosing the latter, he becomes the Destroyer, and now guards the unbroken Seventh Seal. The Destroyer plans to lay siege to Heaven. Uriel leads the Angels against him and is defeated. The charred Council is shown to have been aware of the conspiracy, but knew the Horsemen would not act without proof. Thus, the Council allowed the Apocalypse to start early, summoning War themselves, knowing he would track down and kill the conspirators to clear his name. Finally, War sees himself being taunted by The Watcher and fatally stabbed in the back with a sword. Azrael deduces the sword is the Armageddon Blade, a weapon capable of slaying the Destroyer, and tasks War to find the shards of the blade and take them to Ulthane to reforge it.

Uriel confronts War a second time, challenging him. War is victorious but spares her, and reveals the Destroyer's true identity. Grief-stricken and enraged by this knowledge, Uriel leaves to prepare the angels for battle. Collecting all of the sword fragments, War returns them to Ulthane who reforges the Blade. Meanwhile, Uriel and the Hellguard attack the Destroyer and fall as predicted. In the aftermath, War confronts the Destroyer and is given the option to join him. War refuses, battles the Destroyer and emerges victorious after killing him.

War retrieves the Seventh Seal, but is subdued by The Watcher who takes it to prevent him from returning to his full power, knowing he will turn on the Council for their betrayal. Uriel intervenes, taking the Armageddon Blade and stabbing War in the back as predicted, fulfilling the oath of their earlier duel, and breaks the Seventh Seal. The shattering of the Seventh Seal restores War to his original power, and frees him from the Council's control. The Watcher threatens that Heaven, Hell, and the Council will chase him before War kills him. Uriel is grateful to War, saying his actions have repaid any harm he caused the angels but warns that her duty will likely require her to fight him once again. Consequently, she warns War that he cannot stand alone against the armies of both Heaven and Hell to which War replies by saying that he is not alone and three riders are seen in the sky headed toward him as the game ends.

The Verdict:

Darksiders is VERY God of War-esque but the game doesn't hold your hand as much as that game series does in terms of combat. You have a bit more freedom in terms of your creativity in combat. Darksiders is a mature-themed Legend of Zelda-style game and experience with players undertaking in part in a battle between Heaven and Hell on a Biblical scale. Don't let the religious influence deter you, as Darksiders isn't one of those games that shoves it's religious beliefs down your throat.

That being said, the controls are very limited and awkward while riding Ruin (War's horse that you get towards the end of the game). I wish there more actions were possible other than your pistol and basic sword strikes from Chaoseater.

I personally found that the secondary weapons were borderline useless and found myself relying entirely on Chaoseater in combat. The Tremor Gloves were too slow, but hits hard when you do manage to find an adversary that would stand sit long enough for you to hit them with them. The Scythe was great for crowd control but pretty weak overall. Your best option in combat was to launch enemies into the air and juggle them to death. Magic and the Chaos Reaper form are cool but they aren't enough to rely on due to the mana cost to use consistently. As a result, combat becomes really redundant pretty fast.

The game makes backtracking, especially during the game's finale a total bore/chore without any clear distinctions on what you're looking for. The Vulgrim Holes help somewhat but you still spend a lot of time roaming in circles than you should have to.

The in-game map shows a general direction where you should head, but it's not always right nor precise. I HIGHLY suggest downloading a simple walkthrough guide online to guide you in the right direction.

I personally found that the boss fights were the best part of Darksiders, but the last two encounters were extremely underwhelming, especially War's final confrontation with the Destroyer. I thought it was rather odd that the early boss fights were better and more nerve-raking than the last few boss encounters.

Buy It, Rent it, or Don't Bother?

It's dirt cheap now so why not? I say go with buy it. You can't really go wrong here. This game is a splendid mash-up between The Legend of Zelda, Devil May Cry, and God of War franchises into one new gaming experience. It's something great to tide you over as you wait around for that "Definitive Edition" of Darksiders II that's coming to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in the near future.

COLLECTOR'S CORNER -- TRIAL & ERROR VOLUME ONE: The Struggles of Being a Pop Culture Toy Collector (Especially if you live in South Carolina)

Originally, I was split between posting this article here, or on my more wrestling-focused blog, Let's Talk Wrestling, as majority of this article will be a chronicle of my search for WWE figures and other misc. wrestling figures that I want for my collection, while occasionally checking out Marvel Legends, Amiibos, and other misc. collectibles in my travels throughout the Carolinas this past summer. 

There's going to be a some laughs here, especially with some of the knockoffs and other misplaced items that I've seen (and taken pictures of) in various outlets, but it should be a good read for my fellow collectors or for those of you intrigued on getting into collecting yourself.

To those of you who follow me on Twitter via Let's Talk Wrestling's account (@LetsTalkWrestle) should already know that I have been collecting wrestling figures for quite some time, but I didn't pick up the habit hardcore until over the course of the last few years when a lot of my long-time favorites have began to drop out of the picture, so I started on a quest to preserve the memories the best way that I could - by having replicas of all of my favorites. Plus, this is a bit of revisiting my childhood since I'm able to acquire some of the stuff that I never got when I was a kid.

Playing the Field

Like most of my fellow geeks, I threw caution to the wind and gave that whole Loot Crate thing a try. There's TONS of them now to suit anyone's taste, ranging from moviegoers, gamers, to even comic book fans. I got one free of charge (if you want to call it free...) along with the Mega Man X tee I ordered. Outside of the Drax Funko POP! figure, I really didn't care for it. A waste of money if you ask me, but who am I to tell you to do with your $20 every month?

I personally adore Marvel's Legends line of highly detailed action figures, but they are $20 a pop, much like the DC Direct figures. I own some figures from both lines (Star Lord, Star Sapphire, Zatanna, Batman, Sinestro Corps Batman, Mr. Miracle, ScarJo Black Widow, Black Cat, and Hellcat, to name a few...) but unlike most comic book fans, I'm not trying to have the ENTIRE line in my collection. I just want my favorite heroes and heroines.

In both figure lines from DC and Marvel, you get a part of another figure. If you get all of the figures in a particular set/series, you have access to an exclusive "bonus" figure. That's another reason why I don't get caught up in trying to hunt down all of these figures. Currently, Ultron and Thanos are bonus figures in two particular sets, while other misc. heroes and villains have been featured, such as the Abomination, Odin, and MODOK.

If these figures are too pricey for your budget, I humbly suggest picking up those Marvel Universe figures instead. They are half the size and you don't have to worry about the drama of the "bonus" figure parts either.

Out of all of the stores I have been to throughout the summer, I've ONLY seen this "variant" of Ant-Man in Walgreens. That same Walgreens had like ten of that Agent Venom Marvel Legends figure that everyone wanted last year too. Now you can find them at any Walgreens and they are worthless. I know those guys who bought Agent Venom in bulk feel stupid now...

From left to right: Winter Soldier (from the MCU film of the same name), Scarlet Spider, and White Tiger (the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon version - I hear there's a male variant too) 

I think Spider-Man has had more Marvel Legends-themed figures than any other Marvel super hero to date - yeah even more than the Avengers. I'm surprised that Miles Morales hasn't popped up yet as they've already covered Amazing Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2099, Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Anti-Venom, Agent Venom, majority of Spider-Man's friends, allies, and even all of the Sinister Six (Chameleon and Rhino are in the most recent line).

 

I love the current line of "Combiner Wars" Transformers toys, but they are VERY expensive. I just tend to love looking at them in the stores. Every now and then, you'll run into something awesome like these Adam West-era Batman themed figures. Someday I want to own the entire set for nostalgia.

Pro Wrestling Action Figures

Most of the time when you go into your local Walmarts or K-Mart in this case, you run into the wrestling figure section looking like this. All of local scalpers (AKA your competition in terms of collecting) have already raided everything good and left just about nothing but trash/common finds on the shelf.

When I started searching for Paige's debut WWE Elite figure earlier this year, that's just about what I ran into in EVERY store for about 4-6 months straight until I honestly gave up for awhile as it seemed like here in the Carolinas (at least SC anyway...) we weren't EVER going to get any new stock of figures. I was adamant in my quest for this figure as sellers online was selling it for WELL over $100. Now since Summerslam (FYI WWE has had a special display set in Wal-Marts around the country to promote the event...), I'm seeing the damn thing left and right in every other Wal-Mart. It's times like this that really makes me have a love and hate relationship with collecting.

A FULLY stocked Toys R Us... 

ALL of this in one TRU, when it was a ghost town in comparison to the other
in another city...

I tend to prioritize buying Diva (women) figures over Superstars because they are a LOT more rare on the market. I humbly suggest that even if you don't even like that particular Diva, you might want to pick her up anyway as chances are someone else might want to pay top dollar to buy her out of your hands online. I have a personal pet peeve that I don't like buying figures that I necessarily don't like the character it's based on or its design aesthetically - sue me, I used to be an art student so I'm REALLY nit-picky on this stuff as you can see when we get to the Marvel Legends figures mentioned later.

As you can see above, that there's more than enough Paige's here for collectors. I didn't stumble onto this treasure until rough SIX months later after most collectors already got theirs for their collections and were offering the figure online for inflated prices. I'm SOOO glad that I didn't cave to those prices. WWE Elite figures retail for roughly $15-25 (depends on where you get them from) while most outlets online want $30 to $70 (double that price for this figure, plus shipping & handling since it was rare until now). I would've gotten two but I try not to be a douche in terms of being considerate to someone else who is collecting as well. I TRY to leave an extra on the shelf as I know that pain and joy of hunting this stuff down, especially when you don't know someone in these stores who's "hooking you up" with tips on when they are getting new shipments and all of that.

I ended up only leaving the store that day with just the Rusev/Lana Battle Pack as
I keep seeing Sami Zayn and Summer Rae everywhere. I would've gotten Summer
but I'm still bummed that her debut figure wasn't in her NXT ring gear instead of
her "Fandangoing" attire.

I ran into a similar incident with these figures. While I was eagerly looking for Paige, I didn't expect to find these figures last month shortly before Summerslam. Normally, the Carolinas are last to get the "newest" lines of figures and we got these like ASAP - despite being behind on every line to date.

The ONLY one on the shelf when I happened to find the figures in the previous
photo. As a collector, you HATE these moments when you run into something
that you REALLY want when you're not even trying to buy anything
 or even looking hard at all.

So glad that I've FINALLY found this chick and have her in my collection.
Now to get this signed by the real deal. I think I'll get a second just to open
and have loose. 

Apparently the hunt is going to be on again as Paige reportedly is getting ANOTHER figure in her NXT ring gear. Ugh...

So far, I've only seen these at select Target retailers. I've seen it retail between $49.99 to $59.99 and that's a bit steep for some toys. Regardless, I feel like I'm going to cave eventually and buy these out of nostalgia. Even my own dad thought this was freakin' cool. I do agree with his suggestion - it should come with a ring playset where they all wail on Dusty Rhodes in.

Don't Be Fooled - Defects and Poor Repackaging

Sometimes, you see something you REALLY want as a collector, and you see shit like this. Yeah, that's the box has a broken seal. It'll piss you off even more when that's the last or ONLY figure of that kind on the shelf and you don't feel like going through the drama of trying to hunt this particular figure down again. It's supposed to be one of the Wrecking Crew inside of that box (to the left) but someone obviously repackaged the figure themselves.

Up next, we have a first edition Seth Rollins (Shield attire) repackaged with Wade Barrett/Bad News Barrett. To be fair, I can't tell the difference between this WWE Basic figure and the actual Wade Barrett/Bad News Barrett figure outside of the repainted hair so it might actually be legit. Seriously... most people don't even notice that the Shield members' first edition figures were repaints of other WWE Basics by Mattel. Mattel are notorious for cutting corners on production of figures and saves them the time from doing new headscans for newer wrestlers. That's one reason why almost EVERY Diva and Superstar figure has the same body and build.

Then again, this is more likely a cheap repackaging as you can see the cheap glue that someone used to seal the packaging back up. Either way, some poor fool is going to buy this thinking that it's the real deal and will be sorely disappointed.

I wasn't aware that CM Punk was a Latino...

This is just BEYOND fucked up and so wrong
on SOOO many levels...

I'm not even going to even talk about these two fuck-ups in the photos above...

Last but not least we have an interesting case. I really like these three ladies from Marvel Comics - Captain (formerly Ms.) Marvel (Carol Danvers), Wasp (Janet Van Dyne), and Misty Knight. I didn't pick up Danvers as I'm not too crazy about that costume while Wasp and Misty BOTH have a cosmetic difference that prevented me from buying them. Look closer at the closer photo of Misty Knight and you'll see that her eyes are crooked. Ugh, c'mon... How does something like that get past production? At $20 a pop for these figures, I'm expecting these Marvel Legends figures to be FLAWLESS. 

Bonus lesson... before you purchase ANY collectible, inspect the packaging and you might see damaged goods or tampered packaging like this. I've been running into a LOT of this here in the Carolinas, so beware as it could be where you are in the world as well.

A Glimpse of Some of My Acquisitions this Year

Some flea market and local comic book shop finds. The wrestling figures are from TNA/Impact Wrestling's original line of action figures, back when the same folks who currently make the Marvel Legends figures did them. The dead giveaway to that fact is how the joints are positioned on these figures. That's one thing I'll always admit about TNA's figures over WWE's. They don't EVER cut corners, even with Jakks on board for TNA's current line of figures.

Above is a rough summary of everything I happened to pick up over the course of the summer. I don't even watch nor read Game of Thrones but I couldn't pass up a Daenerys for less than $5 at a Books-A-Million in one shopping mall I happened to pass through in Florence, SC one weekend. I told you guys the story how I found the Rusev/Lana Battle Pack, Stephanie McMahon, Sami Zayn, and Summer Rae all in one sweep. To be quite honest, old school WWE Legends like Roddy Piper ($9) were on my bottom tier list of priorities when it comes to wrestling figures as I knew they would be harder to find, but I made an exception when he passed away to get his figure the next chance that I saw it. Of course, the local scalpers were raiding the shelves for selling on eBay as his figures went from near worthless to selling for hundreds after his untimely demise. Trust me, the EXACT same thing happened after Dusty Rhodes passed away. His WWE Legends figure was less than $5 on Amazon and most online retailers. Then the second he kicked the bucket everyone wanted like $200-500 for his figures that were near-worthless the day before. The Halo (Master Chief; Cortana not pictured) and Assassin's Creed (Liberation's Aveline De Grandpre) were clearance pick-ups from various Gamestop outlets. Even though I RARELY buy anything from Gamestop nowadays as I do most of my gaming purchases online nowadays, I've started going into various ones and just digging through their clearance and bargain bins, especially now that they started carrying pop culture collectibles. Since most stores have different setups, you'll never know what you'll end up finding. Hell, those figures only cost me $4 for Aveline and $3 for Master Chief. Mr. Majestic (in the baggie on the top left) is one of the last few WildCATs figures that I covered in the first edition of Collector's Corner.

That's all for now, folks. HAPPY HUNTING!