Showing posts with label supers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label supers. Show all posts

Sunday, July 24, 2016

It's A Great Time to be a Geek!

If I could send one page of my blog back in time to my younger self, it would be one where I list the dates all the major tech companies had their IPO...but  the second page I would send would be this one.  Two DC movies, four DC TV shows (more if you count Lucifer, Gotham, I Zombie and Preacher), Doctor Strange and a new Blair Witch movie.  Was Comic Con going on or something? ;)

Here are all the goodies...tip o' the hat to Tim Knight at Hero Press for most of these.




This is so good! And Etta Candy!



Aquaman looks like a bad-ass, plus a double dose of Wonder Woman?  Yes please!





Flashpoint!



Justice Society!



Not a fan of the ship design, but if it is pre-Kirk then I can live with it.


Been waiting for this one for YEARS!




Not to mention great things already out like Stranger Things, Star Trek and the new Ghostbusters.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

Zatannurday: Justice League Movie

In case you have been living in a bunker in Mojave, here is the trailer for the newest movie in the DC Cinematic Universe.

I think it looks great.  First up the sneak peek.



I am going to say....dream sequence or Bruce worrying about a future where Superman has gone rogue, but not something that actually happens.

Now the trailer.  There is more than just a little bit of fan service in this.


So I am going to call it. Ben Affleck is going to rock as Batman.  He already seems to have Bruce Wayne down and his voice is not Christian Bale's gargling with battery acid and gravel voice.

But seriously.  Let's take a moment and marvel how FREAKING AWESOME Gal Gadot is looking as Wonder Woman.   I am even enjoying Jesse Eisenberg as Lex.  I LOVE Bruce's reaction when he says "Lex"...he has nothing but contempt for him.

And....Doomsday.

Yeah.

Is it 2016 yet?

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Zatannurday: Spider-Gwen and Batgirl

I have mentioned earlier this summer about my love for Spider-Gwen and more times than I care to think about about my love for Batgirl.

Well here they are together.  Personally I would like to think that super-smart Barbara and super-smart Gwen Stacy would be BFFs, if in a sort of rival-ly way.   So here they are together.


















Saturday, August 22, 2015

Zatannurday: Tribute to Yvonne Craig

On Wednesday August 19 we learned that Yvonne Craig, TVs first Batgirl, had passed away at the age of 78.

You can read a word from her family here and her official obituary here.

Of course she had a varied and distinguished career. She was well loved y her family and friends.  But it is her role as Batgirl that interests me today.

I have mentioned before how Yvonne Craig's Batgirl was one of my first crushes as a child.
What was not to love really?  She was smart, she kicked ass, and she was able to do everything Batman could do.   I thought she was cool as hell and she left a pretty deep impression in my young mind.  I would be later when I made one of my first witch characters that I would realize that I was unconsciously rebuilding Batgirl in many of my PCs.   That first witch had red hair, wore a lot of purple and had began life as a librarian for my wizard character.  So yes she even started out with a secret identity.

Batgirl was great and Yvonne Craig was part of that reason. In the 60s she showed us that not only could a super heroine could do what a super hero could, but an actress could do do what an actor could do.

One thing I always knew about Yvonne Craig was she grew up in near-by (near by to me at the time) Taylorville, IL.  It is always nice when a local kid does good.

There is a lot I could say about Yvonne Craig, but honestly the best tribute came from comic writer Gail Simone.  http://www.playboy.com/articles/remembering-the-revelatory-yvonne-craig-by-batgirl-writer-gail-simone









Let's not forget she was also Marta, the Orion Slave Girl, who was working with Garth of Izar in "Whom the Gods Destroy"


Wednesday, August 19, 2015

RPG a Day 2015, Day 19

Day 19: Favorite Supers RPG

There have been a few over the years. Marvel Super Heroes, Villains and Vigilantes and DC Heroes.
But the title of favorite has to go to Mutants & Masterminds and of course it's close cousin DC Adventures.

The rules have always just jelled right with me and the way I like to play supers games.





Plus my supers games tend to be fairly DC focused or DC influenced so having one system that works for everything I want to do is great for me.



Saturday, August 15, 2015

Zatannurday: Constantine is Back!

Sort of.

Here is Constantine star actor Matt Ryan explaining.





Constantine is coming to the CW's Arrow, which for season 4 I have heard will be called "Green Arrow".

Here is another link, http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/matt-ryan-constantine-arrow-814661

I am mostly avoiding spoilers, but this looks like it will be awesome and it is something that Stephen Amell, Oliver Queen himself, has wanted for a while now.   Adding John to the mix, even for one episode, changes or rather broadens Arrow's world.  We got super-science in season 2 and some magic in season 3.  Looks like season 4 might embrace the wakiness that is the DC Universe's magical realms.

Of course I have to ask...When will Zatanna be on?



Saturday, July 11, 2015

Zatannurday: League of Extraordinary Ladies

Introducing the League of Extraordinary Ladies!

I have posted some of these pics in the past, but really it is time for me to pull them all together.

If you can, please stop by Michael Dooney's Deviant Art page for more.
http://michaeldooney.deviantart.com/gallery/33431300

The premise is the same as that other League, only gathered this time are powerful women. I am going to alter backgrounds a bit to better suit the time and the place.

Overtly these are for Leagues of Adventure, but I think I can safely mix in some Space: 1889 as well.  I am also using the magic systems found in Secrets of the Surface World and Mysteries of the Hollow Earth.

In this case I am doing a more straightforward conversion of my Cinematic Unisystem version of Zatanna.

Zatanna Zatara

Archetype: Occultist
Motivation: Justice/To help others


Health 9
Style 5

Primary Attributes
Body 3
Dexterity 4
Strength 2
Charisma 4
Intelligence 4
Willpower 6

Secondary Attributes
Size 0
Move 7
Perception 10
Initiative 8
Defense 7
Stun 4

Skills (levels only)
Academics, Philosophy 7
Academics, Religion 7
Animal Handling 5
Archery 3
Athletics 2
Con 6
Drive 2
Firearms 3
Investigation 5
Larceny 6
Linguistics 8 (English, Italian, Latin, Greek, Egyptian, Backwards talk)
Medicine 2
Melee 2
Performance 6
Ride 2
Stealth 4
Streetwise 4
Sorcery (Homo magi) 9 (Willpower based)*

Talents
Attractive
Danger Sense
Headstrong
Magical Aptitude (Homo Magi race)
Psychic Ability (ESP, precognition, TK)
Well Connected

Resources
Ally 3 (John Constantine)
Contacts (the Justice League) 4
Contacts (Supernatural) 5
Fame 4 (well known Stage Magician)
Wealth 4

Flaws
Mental (Fear of Commitment)
Obsession (protect others)
Weirdness Magnet

* While Sorcery is Charisma based in Secrets of the Surface World, I am going with Willpower Based here since this is a straighter point-for-point conversion.  I want to play around with different bases for Sorcery.
I might make Witchcraft Charisma based and High Magic Intelligence based.
Zatanna can choose any spell, but she must be able to speak backwards.


Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Review: Better Mousetrap 3e

Taking a break right now from D&D related things.  My next "Order of the Platinum Dragon" game is not till Gen Con and I don't have anything yet for the "Dragonslayers".  So I wanted to go back to another idea I was playing around with; my limited run Supers game. I pretty much know what I want to do, vampires and what system I would like to use; M&M3/DC Adventures.  My choice would be to use Dracula, but I want someone or something that is far more of a threat.  Maybe not Darkseid or Mordru level threats, but close.   But in any case something stronger is needed.

Thankfully I have a copy of Better Mousetrap 3e.

Described as "the most extensive, largest third-party rules supplement for ... Mutants & Masterminds" this book lives up to the hype. At 293 pages (covers, ogl, and toc still leave this at 289 pages of solid content) calling it "supplement" undersells it.  Personally I prefer to think of it as "The Villain's Handbook".  Everything you need to create a super-villain (not just a villain), their lair, plenty of skills and gadgets and of course powers.   There is so much here really.

Chapter 1 covers skills.  Plenty of new uses for old skills.  Reading it over it seemed obvious that a lot of skill uses for ancient or immortal characters/villains/heroes.  So perfect for your Vandal Savage types or old vampires like Dracula.  There are some new skills as well.  Brainwashing is a nice one. But there are lot of good ones.  All in all about 25 pages worth of skills.

Chapter 2 gives us new Advantages. Ace is a nice one but there plenty here, including some Minion Advantages.  This is actually really nice.  I tend to gloss over minions.  Maybe all those years of watching the "Adam West" Batman series.  There are also Organization Advantages.

Chapter 3 has all the new Powers. And there are a lot here. There are new Power Effects and new  Power Builds.  There are also plenty of new Flaws. Needed for bad guys really.

Chapter 4 covers new rules.  This chapter is more utilitarian.  There are some car chase/combat rules and some mounted combat rules.  There are some limited Mecha rules too.

Chapter 5 gets into what I consider the meat of the book and the reason I like it; Making a Better Bad Guy.  This is what you need to make your villains into super-villains.  Some of this chapter covers the motivation of villains and (the best parts) their evil plans.  Some motivations are given ("The World Shall Be Mine!" and "The Voices Told Me to Do It" among others) which discusses why villains do what they do.   Motivations are also discussed based on when the villain got their start. For example A Silver Age Villain does things differently than a Golden-Age or Modern-Age Villain.
It is often said that a hero is only as good as their enemies.  Well this takes the opposite take, a villain is only as good as their enemies are evil. There is a good section on anti-heroes and even Arch-Enemies.  Every hero needs a good arch-enemy.
Several new villain archetypes are presented.  Many should be familiar since they pull on some strong archetypes or at least stereotypes, but that is perfect really.  Any of these can be filled out to a full blown villain.   Once you do that there are plenty of rank and file minions; brutes, troopers, pilots, infiltrators and cyber versions of all of them.

Chapter 6 includes Gadgets and Gear. This includes melee weapons and archaic weapons.  Again for our old immortal villains.  There are also plenty of guns and vehicles for the minions.

Chapter 7 is the Many Faces of Evil. This covers not just villains, but their organizations.
Chapter 8 covers Headquarters.  This covers where those organizations and villains will hide
out.   There is quite a lot of material here too.

Chapter 9, Evil to the Utmost, talks about how to use evil and villains.  There are even some villains detailed here.

All in all a really good product.  If you need to detail your villain and evil organization then this is the book you need.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Zatannurday: Spider-Gwen

I have a confession.   I love Spider-Gwen.

I have not read a Marvel Comic in years, decades even.  When I was reading it my favorite was Spider-Man.  Spider-Man was really only 2nd to Batman in my mind.
So I have REALLY been enjoying the new take on the Spider-Man story in the form of Spider-Gwen.

So here is some Spider-Gwen (I know properly "Spider-Woman") art.



Spider-Gwen Portrait by Protokitty on DeviantArt


Spidey-Gwen by Forty-Fathoms on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen by diabolumberto on DeviantArt


I miss you Spider... by Jonny5Alves on DeviantArt


Spider-Gwen by dwaynebiddixart on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen by UltimateTattts on DeviantArt


Spider-Gwen by Harpokrates on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen by J-Skipper on DeviantArt


Spider girl Gwen Stacy by Daikokun on DeviantArt


Cosplay Spider Gwen VII by ReaverSkill on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen cosplay III by ReaverSkill on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen by phamoz on DeviantArt


Spider-Gwen by MirkAnd89 on DeviantArt


Spider-Women by edCOM02 on DeviantArt


Spider Gwen by J.Scott Campbell by tony058 on DeviantArt


New Spidewoman Original by Artgerm on DeviantArt


And this one.  This is what sold me that this was going to be awesome.



They were not made into a love interest for each other despite their past. Maybe because of it.

Now I understand that she is being added to the "core" Marvel-verse.  That's pretty cool.

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Zatannurday: Supergirl Pilot

It is quickly becoming "Supergirl Saturday" here at the Other Side! I can't help it I am quite excited about this new show.

I have seen the Supergirl pilot, as I am sure I was supposed to.  I am quite certain this was leaked to build up buzz.  Well I am adding to the buzz then!

Not linking the pilot, but it is out there if you care to look.  Also I am going to be as spoiler free as possible.

I guess the biggest issue to address up front is that is a pilot. There is a lot of back story to cover. Who is Kara/Supergirl? How is she related to Superman?  Why is she here? Who are the Danvers? Cat Grant? Is that Jimmy Olsen? Wait was that Hank Henshaw?

Ok. Not really a dumb questions even if you are familiar in Supergirl lore.  In fact the more familiar you are the more likely you are going to ask "Which Supergirl?"



Ok. So this is Kara Zor-El. She is Superman's cousin. She was sent to be his babysitter since he was an infant and she was a pre-teen  But her own escape from Kryptonhad issues and she ended up on Earth several years after Superman had already been here as an adult. Superman sets her up with the Danvers with wonderful cameos by Dean Cain (Superman from the "Lois and Clark" show) and Helen Slater (Supergirl from the 1984 movie). The scenes of Krypton are closer to the Richard Donner "Superman" film than the Zack Snyder "Man of Steel" one, though Kara's eventual outfit is closer to the Man of Steel one.

There are a lot of nice nods to Supergirl/Superman lore here too.  Supergirl saves an airplane her first time out. Superman welcomes Kara's spacepod when it lands and helps her out. Even more, but spoilers.

Melissa Benoist is fantastic in this role. She mixes a great blend of youthful exuberance, panic, ennui and naiveté and yet still excitement. Really she is spot on. Supergirl has always been about enjoying her powers and just being super. She does a great job of this.  I liked her in Glee and I love her in this.  The scenes where she is trying on various versions of her costume, well for the long time Supergirl fan that is a treat.  How many elements from the above picture can you spot?

Like Greg Berlanti's other series, The Flash, it is great to see a super that enjoys being super so much.


Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant will be FANTASTIC.  Let's not forget that there was a time when Calista Flockhart and her on screen persona Ally McBeal were on top of the world. Millions of people (not just female people) tuned in to watch her.  Well what if everything Ally McBeal wanted professionally went her way, but her personal life tanked?  We might get her version of Cat Grant.  If you know the comics Cat was always there to be adversarial to Clark and Lois.  This Cat Grant will be Kara's.  But this is not an adversary she can punch or zap with her heat vision.  I see some great tension and story telling coming from this.  If you didn't like the "Devil Wears Prada" bits of the trailer, never fear; that was pretty much all of them in pilot.

You know.  I want to repeat this because I really believe it.
Calista Flockhart as Cat Grant will be FANTASTIC.

One of the original ideas behind Supergirl was to give Jimmy Olsen a super girlfriend.  Well they kind of elude to that here, but Kara's awkwardness around him has less to do with love but more to do with handsome man that happened to win a Pulitzer prize because he knows her cousin.  I like how Jimmy, or rather now James, seems to be the only one not scared of Cat.  In fact I like it a lot.
This does bring up a good point.  In the Man of Steel movie "Jimmy" is a woman.  Here James is a black man.  So obviously not the same universe.

In Kara's other life with Hank Hensaw. Director of the DEO.  Yeah that is all I want to say about that really.  I expect something big with him by season's end.

Alex Danvers is new.  She doesn't come from the comics, not even from Supergirl's weird history.  Frankly I like the fact that a super hero has a sibling. Especially an older one.  In a lesser writer's hand I could see Alex getting killed off. I do not expect that here.

I am also thinking we are going to see more of the Danvers and young Kara and Alex.  Flashbacks seem to be the in thing.  But totally worth it to see Helen Slater and Dean Cain in this universe again.

The pilot was exciting and fun.  We watched it as a family and we are excited. We can't wait for it to start in the fall.