On November 24th 2013, Brian the Dog
was brutally and mercilessly run over by an unknown driver in one of “Family
Guy’s” most shocking episodes, leading to a large, anger filled outcry by the
show’s fans to creator Seth MacFarlane through social networking sites like
Facebook and Twitter and online petitions to bring the character back.
I was also shocked and angered towards
Macfarlane for making this drastic decision to take out one of his original characters
for just another joke, in the form of a new dog called Vinnie voiced by Tony
Sirico from “The Sopranos”. The new character has even replaced Brian in the
opening of the series.
But why am I so upset about a cartoon
character dying? It’s just a cartoon, right? This got me thinking about all the
other cartoon characters I have seen die on-screen over the years.
In 2003 when I was 11 years old, I was
given a DVD of “Transformers: The Movie”, the first and only Transformers
animated movie that came out in 1989. In the mid-climax of the film, Optimus
Prime finally defeats his arch-nemesis Megatron, leaving the two both fatally
injured. After being carried away to safety, Optimus Prime passes on The Matrix
of Leadership to a new Autobot called Ultra Magnus and in his last breath
utters the words “Till All Are One”. His once colourful red and blue body fades
to a dark grey and his blue, glowing eyes blink out.
And what was the purpose of killing off
my favourite Transformer?! For brand new toys! For money! Hasbro had assassinated
their most popular franchise, just to collect the bounty on its head.
In April 2000, I forced my mother to
take me to see “Pokémon: The First Movie” in the cinema. In the film, two
powerful Pokémon called Mewtwo and Mew fight and Ash Ketchum, who is trying to
stop the fighting, gets caught in the middle of an energy blast by the two
Pokémon and is turned to stone. The cinema was in complete silence as Ash’s
Pikachu starts crying and as I looked up to my mother in complete shock, I saw
that my mother was in tears. I shouted out “Why are you crying mum? It’s only a
cartoon!”
Even at 8 years old, I could understand
that Ash wouldn’t stay dead and would be brought back to life as he is the show’s
main character and shortly after his death in the movie, he is brought back to
life by the Pokémon’s tears by some unexplained reason. The same was for
Optimus Prime, who was brought back a few years after his death by the power of
fan-demand.
And the same fan-demand was used to try
and bring back Brian after his death, with an online petition created with over
120,000 signatures before it was closed.
The reason that so many people were
upset about the death of Brian was because we each had a connection to him, a
history with him as we watched him age and mature. The same can be said for Optimus
Prime and even Ash Ketchum.
Brian began as a character of one-liners
of jokes on dog behaviour, the consumption of alcohol and that he was smarter
than his owner, but later became a character that was the source for some of
the deep, intellectual discussions the series offered the causal, TV watching
audience.
And that audience wants to know why he
had to die. To try out new material? To boost ratings of the show? To shock
their audience to show that they are able to change up their regular story-lines?
In
my previous blog post detailing my first time at the London MCM Comic Con this
year, I talked about the dedication that the fans who went to the convention had. One dedicated fan who I met whilst leaving the convention was a fursuit cosplayer dressed in an incredible
furry costume as the Pokémon Entei.
Cosplay
is defined by Wikipedia as being short for "costume play", where convention
attendees create their own costume and role-play as their favourite manga,
anime, comic book, video game or film character. There are other forms of
cosplaying such as furries and fursuits, in which a cosplayer creates an animal
costume out of various materials that range from tails and ears to full
costumes. Fursuits are mostly associated with the furry fandom, who are devoted
to anthropomorphic animal characters which allow the wearer to adopt another
personality whilst in costume.
I
recently had the opportunity to talk to Sophie, who prefers to go by Thunderon
or ThoronWild, who created and cosplayed in the Entei costume this year at the
convention. Sophie is 16 years old and has been unknowingly cosplaying since a
young age “I only discovered what cosplay was when my friend Dawnkestrel from
Furafinity and DeviantART explained it to me and encouraged me to make more
suits, after seeing my fursuit for the character Amaterasu from the video game
Okami I made for Halloween back in 2009”.
The
first fursuit she created was the character Red XII from “Final Fantasy VII”,
which took her three weeks to make “My first convention was the London MCM Expo
in May 2010 where I cosplayed in my Red XIII quadsuit. My most lasting memory
is meeting other fursuiters for the first time in public and finding out that
others actually did the same craft as me, which was fantastic and new!”
Sophie
decides what costume to make next by being asked to cosplay in a group of other
cosplayers that decide what character she should make/be, or by looking for
characters that she likes and if they would be possible to make.
She
chose to create and cosplay as the Pokémon Entei at this year’s London Comic
Con because “me and two other friends wished to do a group cosplay for a
masquerade performance. There were three of us, so we decided to do the three
legendary dogs from Pokémon. I chose Entei because he was my favourite out of
the three and I would also have fun making him as he has a long pelt.”
When
I asked her why she liked cosplaying, she said that it’s the feeling she gets
that “nobody knows I am ‘human’ underneath a four legged, illusion costume. It
grants great confidence and magic as some people at conventions generally believe
it’s a robot or an actual animal as it is so unusual. The feeling of hiding
behind a mask is a huge confidence boost. I’m personally a nervous person, but
I have no problem approaching anyone inside a costume because I don't feel I
will be judged as a person, but as the character or the creature which is a
wonderful freedom-like feeling.”
Her
favourite experience from this year’s London Comic Con was meeting all of her
online friends in person and in their different cosplays, doing what they all
love and will be doing it all again next year. “I shall be attending London MCM
Expo October 2014 with a huge Princess Mononoke puppetry group. I will be cosplaying
as Ashitaka myself, but also crafting the large puppets such as making a huge,
two person wolf costume for the character Moro and the heads for other puppets and quads such as
the Wolf pups and Yakul; not forgetting San herself.”
I personally cannot wait to see her next creation and cannot wait to see her
costumes for her Princess Mononoke puppets!
You
can find ThoronWild on Facebook via her Facebook page and on her Furafinity
page. Go and check out her amazing costume designing skills by clicking the
links below:
Dressed in my geekiest of clothing such as a
Spider-Man t-shirt and my Ash Ketchum Pokémon Hat as pictured above, I attended
my first ever comic con at the MCM London Comic Con on October 27th 2013.
Having always wanted to go to one of the
famous comic cons of the US such as the San Diego Comic Con or E3 (Electronics
Entertainment Expo), the MCM London Comic Con was my closet and best chance of
ever experiencing a convention so this year, with my friend Jamie, I attended
my first ever comic con.
The fan convention held at the ExCeL London
International Convention Centre is dedicated to Japanese anime, manga, video
games, cosplay and other popular media such as movies and famous YouTube
creators and artists from the internet and around the world.
Jamie and I arrived at the convention by
midday, after travelling on the DLR and then bus from Greenwich.
We had already
ran into a lot of cosplayers (people dressed as characters from various
cartoons, video games, anime and movies for you non-nerds) whilst travelling,
almost getting into a Pokémon battle with an Ash Ketchum cosplayer due to
wearing the same hat as he was. The fight was broken up by Link from the Legend
of Zelda as we disembarked the DLR.
Queuing for walk-in tickets didn’t take long
at all and before we knew it we were walking down the main hallway for the
convention, with 8 large halls being used for the convention with each hall
dedicated to a certain aspect from cosplaying to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading card
game tournament.
We made our way to one of the main halls and
began walking around and taking in all the expo had to offer, from all the
stalls selling various merchandise to the fan artist section.
One of the first stalls we went to was the
TomSka stall where we got to meet the famous YouTube celebrity Tom Ridgewell
and have a photo with him. Jamie’s photo with him came out fine, but of course
due to my luck, my photo came out blurry and shadowed.
As we left the stall, Tom went to give us
both the “Horns of the Devil” sign with his hands as saying thanks for stopping
by, but instead flipped the bird at us. It was hilarious so we let it pass.
Afterwards, me and Jamie did some more
walking around and eventually came across the video game section of one of the
halls where we played some Nintendo video games such as the un-released Mario
Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World.
On our way out of the booth, after getting
beaten by a 9 year old on Mario Kart, we decided to get some food. Realising I
had no cash on me, I decided to go to the cash machine at the convention.
Everything had a cue at the convention. Even the cash machine.
After grabbing a hot dog, Jamie and I
continued to walk around the convention, running into even more cosplayers from
tons of our favourite anime, games and cartoons.
The one cosplay that caught my eye was this
Transformers family, made up of Mum Arcee, Dad Soundwave and sons Rumble and a
baby Optimus Prime. After taking a photo of them, Mum Arcee told me that
Optimus had to transform and roll out into a fresh diaper.
I turned around a corner of a row of booths
in one of the halls and was pushed aside with the Force by Darth Vader and let
him pass. He was closely followed by 20 Storm Troopers, who all turned their
heads and stared at me as they walked past.
I ran into a lot more cosplayers, such as a Pikachu who I posed with and a Jedi Lynx with a lightsabre. I didn’t question it and walked on. As we were leaving the convention, I ran into a wild Entei from Pokemon, so I decided to try and catch it. After a tough battle, I decided to let it go. The Entei told me her name was Sarah and that her costume took 3 months to make. Incredible!
And that is what I loved about my time at the convention. That the convention was a place where any fan of anime, video games, cartoons or cosplaying can come and just be themselves, rather than hiding themselves away from the world in their bedroom where no-one could ridicule them. I used to feel that way, but since coming to the convention, I have learnt that I shouldn’t be ashamed of who I am, but proud of who I am. At the convention, I truly felt like myself. At the MCM London Comic Con, the nerd culture’s talents are celebrated and praised in a place where people of all ages and races can come together to enjoy and talk about what they love with other people who all feel the same way; and no matter what other people say about them or laugh about them behind their backs, they are dedicated to loving and being a part of a great culture of people who stand up for one another. I’m a proud nerd and this was my rant!
In
my last blog post, I talked about the Superman 75th Anniversary animation
released by Warner Bros and that the untitled sequel to this summer’s “Man of
Steel” would also begin filming.
For this blog post, I will review “Man of Steel” before its Blu-Ray and DVD release on
November 12th in the US and December 2nd in the UK.
Hope
is a word and theme used throughout “Man of Steel” to describe the concept of
Superman, that he is a hope for all mankind who will lead us and show us how we
can all make ourselves better.
And
when “Man of Steel” was announced back in April 2011, we were all hoping that
producer Christopher Nolan, who worked with writer David S. Goyer on the Batman
Trilogy, and new director Zack Snyder (“Watchmen” and “300”) would not let us
down in rebooting the Superman film franchise.
But
did the “S” for “Man of Steel” stand for hope, or did it stand for a hopeless
attempt at making Superman cool again?
The
first 19 minutes of the film are used as exposition to tell the origin of
Supes, quite literally as the first scene depicts the birth of Jor-El and
Lara’s infamous son Kal-El on the eve of Krypton’s imminent destruction.
Jor-El
warns the Council of Krypton of the planet’s doom and that they should
evacuate, but all hell breaks loose as General Zod stages a revolution to try
and save Krypton in his own way, which is by killing anyone who stands in his
way of controlling the bloodlines of Krypton by use of the Codex, a skull which
contains the DNA for the entire Kryptonian race.
Jor-El
escapes with the Codex and infuses it within his new-born son, placing him within
a rocket and jettisoning it from the planet just in time to escape Zod’s
clutches and the planet’s own destruction.
Kal-El
is sent across the universe to Earth, where he becomes Clark Kent, the adopted
son of Jonathan and Martha Kent. We are then treated to another 28 minutes of
flashbacks and exposition as we see Clark growing up on Earth, learning to deal
with his powers and try to keep them a secret from the public, fearing that
society would not be ready for him.
An
adult Clark lives a nomadic lifestyle, working different jobs under false names
to cover his tracks and hide his identity whilst trying to save people. He
eventually discovers a Kryptonian scout ship whose technology allows him to
communicate with the consciousness of Jor-El, which is also discovered by Lois
Lane, a young journalist from the Daily Planet who is rescued by Clark when she
is injured.
Detecting
the scout ship, Zod travels to Earth where he demands that Kal-El surrender to
him and reveals that he intends to use a terraforming "world engine"
in conjunction with his own spaceship to transform Earth into a more
Krypton-like planet and eradicate the human population, then use the codex
within Clark to repopulate the planet with genetically-engineered Kryptonians.
Leaving it up to Supes to save the entire Earth, but also with the risk that in the
process it may lead to the end of his entire race.
“Man
of Steel” combines the best out of the 1970’s first two Superman films,
familiarizing the average movie-going audience with the story of Superman
whilst also modernizing it, doing what Christopher Nolan’s Batman Trilogy did
for 1989's “Batman”. The grand and epic nature of the first Superman film
also remains in “Man of Steel”’s booming, orchestral soundtrack, with Hans
Zimmer’s newly created Superman theme becoming as memorable and popular as the
John Williams original.
The
CGI in the film is truly spectacular, giving us a greater look at the planet
Krypton than we ever have before, with Zack Snyder trying to ground the Kryptonian race in reality and give the possibility that Krypton could have existed,
rather than the jagged and cold crystal version we got in the original Superman
film. The
flying sequences when Clark finally suits up in the red and blue spandex and
cape finally give the film that much needed sense of wonder and amazement of
seeing a man flying, again like when it was first done in the first Superman
film.
The
film’s climatic fight sequences between Supes and the villains as he takes on
huge, robotic lasers with mechanical tentacles and goes toe-to-toe with Zod
truly capture that comic book feel as the two smash through building after
building, leaving a lot of destruction in their wake, but as you would imagine
if two titans would battle in the middle of a city like Metropolis.
The
performances by the cast varies from great to forgetting they were even in the
movie.
Russell
Crowe understands his role as the expositional father of Superman Jor-El,
explaining to his son his backstory but also to the audience what the symbol
of Superman is in some of the film’s greatest speeches: “What if a child
dreamed of becoming something other than what society had intended? What if a
child aspired to something greater?” The few scenes he does appear in approve greatly with his presence and his voice-over's.
Henry
Cavill portrays a great Superman who throughout the film is just trying to find
his place in the world, what kind of person he should be and what he can do to
benefit mankind. By seeing Kal-El grow up from being a tiny and helpless infant
into the Man of Steel, the 2 hour running time for the film gives us enough to
be re-introduced to the character and to see character development we’ve never
seen from Superman before.
Michael
Shannon also plays a great villain in the character of General Zod, a warmonger
bent on doing things his way or face death, much like his depiction by Terence
Stamp in 1980’s Superman 2. But we are also shown the other side of Zod, that
all he was doing was just trying to save his people, although he was doing it
in the wrong way. Come the films end, I will admit I even felt sympathy for the
character and that his final punishment at the hands of Superman (which I will
get around to soon) was entirely unfitting, for both the character and the
film.
But
other characters such as Kal-El’s mother Lara (Ayelet Zurer), Jonathan Kent
(Kevin Costner), Perry White (Laurence Fishburne) and even Superman’s leading
lady Lois Lane (Amy Adams) are barely remember-able due to their actor’s giving
lackluster performances. If you are not making me care for Lois Lane but
instead for Zod in a Superman film, you know you are doing something
wrong.
Which
brings me to my favourite part of my review, what was wrong with the movie.
Much
like Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins” did for Batman, “Man of Steel” focuses
heavily on what the theme and symbol of Superman is. This worked for a
character such as Batman as it allowed for great character development, but I
found that after a while I became rather fed up of hearing how Superman is
hope, the answer, sent here for a reason, standing proud for humanity,
something greater, a man who he wants to be and that will change the world.
But
what displeased me the most about the explanation on the symbol of Superman was
by literally comparing him to Jesus Christ. Throughout the entire film,
dialogue and shots of the film shoves thoughts and ideas into the average
movie-goer’s head that Superman is a modern day allusion to the Son of God with
lines such as “he’ll be a god to them”, “what Clark did was an act of God”,
“you’re the answer”, “sent here for a reason”, “another father”, “ideal to
strive towards” and “join you in the sun”.
There
are even shots in the film that directly show Christianity symbolism, from
Clark lying submerged in water with his arms out after saving people from a
burning oil rig like Jesus Christ being nailed to a cross after sacrificing
himself for humanity, to a shot where Clark sits in front of a stained glass
window of Jesus Christ in a church to ask a priest for advice when Zod first
appears. Instead of going to his father, who knows all about Zod, he chooses a
random Christian priest for advice.
The
film was literally rubbing these scenes in my face and stuffing these ideas and
thoughts down my throat and I didn’t like the taste.
There
is talking about the symbolism of Superman that by being truthful, acting in
justice and doing good not for yourself but for others who are in need, and there
is forcing people to believe through images and speeches that Superman can be
compared to the son of God.
And
to top it all off, the film ends with Superman (SPOILERS!!!) breaking the neck
of Zod in order to save a human family that had got caught in their battle,
because Zod refused to stop killing the one thing Superman cares for which is
humanity.
Rule
One of Superman: HE NEVER KILLS ANYONE! For how can he be someone to look up to
as a saviour, as a hero, as someone to strive to be like…by ending someone’s
life?
True,
Zod would not have stopped killing as he was enraged by the destruction of his
own people, but Superman could have found a way to take him down without having
to resort to killing him, if the writer’s for this film were more competent and
we’re not instead just trying to make Superman as dark and edgy as the Batman.
Superman was never meant to be dark and edgy, that was why we had the Batman.
The
only upside to the death of Zod was Superman giving a muted scream, kneeling
over the body of Zod, in one shot portraying the emotion of the character for
realising that he was responsible for ending his own race, making him the last of his kind.
The
film ends with a time jump forward, with Superman having gotten over the death
of his entire race very quickly, getting a job at the Daily Planet as the persona of Clark Kent with everyone, not even Lois Lane, recognizing him or
REMEMBERING ANYTHING?!
So
to sum up, Man of Steel is not a Superman film…but it is. The character is
taken to new heights and depth with character development and the realism of
the world, from explaining how a man is possible to fly without any means of
propulsion, giving a history to the short-lived on-screen planet Krypton and is supported by great visuals and a fantastic musical score, but not by a great script.
Whilst
some actors do their best with what they are given, others fail to get me
excited and involved with their character, making me forget them completely by
the film’s end with the only image in my head that I just saw film where
Superman kills a guy and be compared to Jesus Christ. But when it comes down to it, you cannot do a dark, gritty and realistic Superman film because that isn't what the character is about. Superman is supposed to not be taken seriously as a character that can do amazing feats that us normal men and women are unable to achieve such as having invulnerable skin or the ability to fly through the sky by holding our arms upward or is super strong. He is supposed to be a lighthearted and fun character that teaches us that human imagination is our real superpower.
If
you are a fan of Superman, you will probably check this film out as it does it’s
best to make Superman cool and popular again with some great acting and
visuals. But if you are looking for something a little less symbol story driven
and more men dressed like bats, wait for "Superman/Batman" in 2015!
On Tuesday, DC Comics released an animated
short on their YouTube channel celebrating 75 years of Superman, from his
original comic to this summer’s "Man of Steel", with its sequel "Superman/Batman" to begin filming this weekend at the East Los Angeles College Weingart stadium in the US.
Superman was created by writers Jerry Siegel
and artist Joe Shuster, two high school students living in Cleveland, Ohio in
1933. They sold their concept and character to Detective Comics in 1938 and on
April 18th that same year, Action Comics #1 introduced the world to a man who
wore a blue outfit, red cape and red shorts with a yellow and red S symbol
emblazoned on his chest who stood for truth, justice and the American way.
It is Action Comics #1 where the 2 minute
animated short begins. The short highlights some of Superman’s famous stories
spanning his 75 years in comics, his early TV and film appearances and ends
with his latest interpretation in DC comics and the 2013 film reboot "Man of
Steel". The director of "Man of Steel" Zack Snyder also directed this animated
short along with the DC animated universe boss, Bruce Timm.
"The idea was to start with Siegel and
Shuster and end with Henry Cavill, stopping at all the high points and iconic
moments in between," the creator of Batman’s and Superman’s animated
series said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Timm told of how it was Zack Snyder’s idea
to do the entire history of Superman in a minute “But we said, 'Okay...whoooo.'
We started working and quickly realized there was no way to do it, even in a
minute”, leading to the 2 minute run-time and that other
actors who played Superman like Dean Cain from “Lois and
Clark: The New Adventures of Superman” and Brandon Routh from “Superman Returns” to be cut out.
Speaking of Zack Snyder, principal filming
for “Superman/Batman”
begins this weekend.
In a report given out to students of the East
Los Angeles College in their online campus newspaper it states that “Warner Bros. Pictures new untitled
Superman/Batman project comes to film at East Los Angeles College Weingart
stadium during halftime of the Oct. 19 Husky football game”. Filming will be for “a football game
between Gotham City University and rival Metropolis State University”, the
home towns of Batman and Superman respectively. 2000 students have been asked
to be extras in the crowd that will be given special t-shirts designed by
Snyder himself.
But
what is my thoughts on the superhero that can be defeated by a tiny green rock from his home planet that has lasted 75 years I hear you ask?
Well,
to be honest, I have never really been into Superman. For a superhero, he was
too super. He has so many powers that it’s hard to keep track of sometimes,
from one minute being able to move an entire planet to being so fast he is able to go back in time to save the woman he loves.
But
if anything, the superhero genre wouldn’t be what is today without the man who
wears his underpants on the outside.
Without
Superman selling so well on news stands by fascinating people with his stories of
heroism against imaginable odds, for the oppressed and his ability to do what no mere human can
do, we wouldn't have Batman or any other superheroes we know and love
today who were created to match or beat the popularity of Superman and DC comics.
And to this very day, Superman continues to grow in popularity with thanks to each re-interpretation of the character DC creates, such as his New 52 reboot in the comics and in films such as “Man of Steel” and “Superman/Batman”; retelling the story of an
orphan boy from a far away and destroyed planet who came to Earth and found his
calling to be our planet’s protector. To be the best man he could be. To be, a Superman.
With
the release of Pokémon X and Y only 2 days away, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for the days when I too wanted to catch 'em all, playing the original Pokémon Red and Blue 14 years ago. But now that I am 20 years old, 13 years older than the game's target demographic of 7 years old, why do I keep coming back to Pokémon?
When I was young, I lived in a family controlled
by my 3 older sisters. To keep me occupied whilst my parents dealt
with them, my mother bought me a yellow Nintendo Game Boy Colour and a copy of Pokémon
Blue. In that one simple act, I was transported from a world of my annoying, older sisters to the world of Pokémon created by Satoshi Tajiri.
Satoshi
Tajiri
When
he was a kid, Satoshi Tajiri loved nothing more than collecting insects,
hunting for them in ponds, fields and forests, constantly looking for new
insects and coming up with new ways to catch them.
In
the 1990's, after being hired by Nintendo and creating Game Freak, he saw two
kids playing with their Game Boys and a link cable connecting them together. He
imagined bugs crawling up and down the cable and wanted to give future
generations that same experience he had when he was a kid of hunting, catching
and trading creatures.
On
June 10th 1999, Pokémon Red and Blue were released in the UK.
The core concept of the series tasked players with leaving their hometown to journey across the Pokémon World in order to collect every single Pokémon and become a Pokémon Master, learning the art of battling with the monsters categorised by different types, with each Pokémon able to wield a different element such as Fire, Water and Grass. Kind of like Rock, Paper, Scissors but instead with dragons, large turtles with water cannons in their shells and dinosaurs with plants growing out of their back. 5 series of Pokémon games, a trading card game, merchandise and a hit TV
series later, Pokémon X and Y are about to capture the minds of a whole new
generation of kids who want to have the honour of saying to their friends that
“I caught them all!”.
The Kalos Region of Pokémon X and Y is based
on France. Ou la la!
In X and Y, players start from their
hometown in the new Kalos region, populated with brand new, never-before-seen
Pokémon for them to capture, trade and evolve them into more powerful Pokémon.
Their ultimate team of six Pokémon will then be used to fight against other Pokémon Trainers. But this time, players can unlock a hidden power by using Mega Stones
to Mega Evolve their Pokémon into far more powerful forms.
When I started my copy of Pokémon Blue, I was
given the choice of Bulbasaur, Squritle or Charmander as my starter Pokémon. I
chose Squirtle as it evolved into Blastoise, the Pokémon on the cover for Pokémon
Blue.
Blastoise
and Mega Blastoise
In X and Y, a whole new generation of kids will be able to choose the same
starter I did 14 years ago with new players given not just one, brand new starter Pokémon to choose from, but two by choosing Bulbasaur,
Squirtle or Charmander, whose evolved forms can now Mega Evolve into Mega
Venusaur, Mega Charizard and Mega Blastoise.
Just
like in Red and Blue, X and Y will have you tasked with going to 8 Pokémon Gyms
across the Kalos region to collect 8 Badges, allowing you to face the game's
most powerful Pokémon Trainers to claim the title of a Pokémon Champion.
One of the reasons I keep coming back to Pokémon is to feel that same great
sense of accomplishment I had when I was a kid when I became a Pokémon
Champion. Spending months on building up my team to be the strongest
they can be, capturing every Pokémon I could and battling with my friends to
show off my skills with the game, proving I knew more about the game than anyone.
Nowadays,
I continue to play Pokémon for the nostalgia factor. To go back and feel the
same emotions and experiences I did when I played Pokémon for the first
time as a kid, experiencing a rich and vibrant world that now thanks to the power of the Nintendo 3DS, can be rendered in 3D
graphics, truly bringing the world of Pokémon to life than ever before.
I
maybe 20 years old, but inside I’m still that little kid wanting to be the best, like no-one
ever was. To catch them is my real test, to train them is my cause. I'll travel across the land, searching far and wide. Each Pokémon to understand, their power that's inside.
I'll
be picking up a copy of Pokémon X and Y when they release world-wide on October
12th!
Yesterday saw the release of the teaser trailer for J.J
Abram’s ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ and the fan speculation for the plot of the
film has begun.
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ is the sequel to J.J Abrams’
2009 reboot of the film/TV franchise which sees the crew of the Starship
Enterprise come under attack from a unstoppable enemy bent on their destruction
in the form of Benedict Cumberbatch’s as of yet unnamed character.
Lead by returning stars Chris Pine as Captain Kirk and
Zachary Quinto as Spock, the crew of the Enterprise begins a manhunt to a
war-zone world to capture Cumberbatch’s character who is a one man weapon of
mass destruction. An epic chess game of life and death ensues where love will
be challenged, friendships will be torn apart, and sacrifices must be made for
the only family Kirk has left: his crew.
As the title of this blog post suggests, very little is
known about the character being played by Cumberbatch. Many rumours have led to
speculations that the character is in fact a re-imagining of Khan from ‘Star
Trek : Wrath of Khan’, whilst other’s suggest a different character called Gary
Mitchell from the episode ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’ from the original
television series.
At this moment, we are living in a “need to know now”
society, demanding to know everything as soon as it is revealed. When a comic
book film is announced, the fans demand to know everything about the film
before its release so they can tell if their favourite comic book is being done
justice. Many examples include films such as Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman’
trilogy and Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’. Fans want to make sure that before these
films are released that the source material is properly acknowledged and is
done right instead of wrong, like Warner Brothers’ ‘Green Lantern’ or 20th
Century Fox’s ‘DragonBall: Evolution’.
3 recent films to come under this "need to
know now" society is Warner’s Brothers’ Superman reboot ‘Man of Steel,
Guillermo del Toro’s ‘Pacific Rim’ and J.J Abram’s ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’.
We have received teaser trailers for ‘Man of Steel’ and ‘Star Trek Into Darkness’,
but not for ‘Pacific Rim’, with the only known information being that it is a
sci-fi film where soldiers pilot giant
robots to battle against giant monsters which have mysteriously risen from
beneath the ocean. That is it. No videos have been leaked besides two, short
viral videos and some concept art.
In hindsight, we can see that we are receiving very
little information about the films because it is a marketing technique to get
us interested in the film. By teasing us with teaser trailers and small amounts
of information, we strive to want to know more about the film until we have no
choice but to accept that to find out everything about the film, we have to go
and see it for ourselves in the cinema.
