SLC Comic Con FanX 2016

Salt Lake City Comic Con Fan Experience was this last weekend at the Salt Palace. It began with the Press Conference and (for me) it ended with the Matt Smith photo op. A lot happened, but I'll just give you some of my highlights and favorite tidbits.

Press Conference selfie with the Doctor

Press Conference: I got to ask Sylvester McCoy and Peter Davison a couple questions each. Super awesome experience! My hand wouldn't stop shaking when I met Peter Davison. From the questions I learned that both of them would count Patrick Troughton as their favorite Doctor, other than themselves, Sylvester would have liked for Ace to become Prime Minister after leaving the TARDIS (I'm not sure how I'd feel about that with all of Ace's explosives), and Peter's daughter was offered the role of Miss Foster from "Partners in Crime" before being offered the role of Jenny.

Asking my question to Peter Davison

Peter Davison Panel: I'll just go bullet-point-style on this one.

•   He regrets killing off Adric

•   Behind the scenes, he once dressed as Teegan

•   He dropped Peri during the filming of "The Caves of Androzani"

•   Big Finish Audio Dramas saved Doctor Who in the 90s.

•   He has an autobiography coming out soon.

•   His daughter auditioned for the role of Rose.

•   "When David Tennant asks you to go to the theater, you say yes."

•   He loves "The Empty Child"

•   He'd have "Time-Flight" redone

•   He'd take a cameo, like Tom Baker as the Curator, "in a shot!" He also commented that if the Curator is the Doctor, that means the rest of them are still in there too. (That one was my question)

Sylvester McCoy's interactive panel

Sylvester McCoy Panel: He got up and walked around the crowd. He has amazing comedic timing. Just a super fun and unique panel. Also, he'd also be up for a cameo in a Doctor Who, like the Curator.

Disneyland--Sixty Years of Magic: Biggest thing I got is SLOW DOWN. Don't worry so much about doing everything. Worry about absorbing the magic.

Captain America Panel: I was expecting more about the MCU. I wasn't expecting to get inspired to read the comics. I think I learned that one reason I love Cap is because he's such an inspirational character.

Ultimate Doctor Who Experience!

Ultimate Doctor Who Experience: Panel with Sylvester McCoy, Peter Davison, Alex Kingston, and Matt Smith. So... Bullet points again.

•   Alex Kingston would love to be the next regeneration of Missy.

•   My question: Which classic companions would theyhave back? Sylvester said Ace, Peter said Teegan, Alex said Jo, and Matt said K9.

•   Matt: "Physics are cool."

•   The things that made Matt, Peter, and Sylvester truly feel like the Doctor were facing the Daleks and running down corridors.

"Hello Sweetie"

Alex Kingston Panel: I'm just gonna go for bullets again.

•   She also got offered the part of Miss Foster, the Adipose nanny.

•   She cried when she first read "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", which is what convinced her to take the role.

•   She thinks River is Moffat's ideal woman.

•   She liked Capaldi's TARDIS best.

•   No one knew she was Amy and Rory's daughter until they were shooting, except for her.

Jason Isaacs Panel: I came in late, but I did note that he didn't know what curse he was using on Harry at the end of The Chamber of Secrets. It was just a spell that a crew member knew.

 

Hawkeye's in town

Jeremy Renner Panel: Someone asked a question about the rumor that had gone around Facebook about a Netflix series about Hawkeye. He said he hadn't been approached about it, but he wouldn't be opposed to it. I managed to get a question in for this one as well. I asked him if him and Black Widow being on opposing sides would affect things between them in Civil War. I felt accomplished in the fact that he had to actively walk around giving any spoilers for that.

Avengers Assemble!!!

Now for my other favorite part of Comic Con: Cosplayers! I love seeing the creativity of people. This time I went as Russell (from Up) on Thursday, Captain America (with my roommate David as Hawkeye and fellow Mormon Geek Adam as Thor) on Friday, and the 11th Doctor (with Adam as the 10th Doctor) on Saturday. To say it made my day would be an understatement, but I had a little girl ask me how I out together my Russell costume and how I made it and such. She'd recognized me from last fall! Anyway, it's just great! I'm really just a big kid playing dress up. It gives me a chance to be creative and I can't wait to see what cosplay I'll come up with for Comic Con this fall.

 

One of my favorite cosplays: Romana II!

I love seeing the more unique costumes. The Doctors, Batmans, Deadpools, and other common cosplays are great, but I love seeing the unique but easily recognizable characters. Some that I noted this time included Kuzco and Pacha (from Emperor’s New Groove), Jack and Chase Young (from Xialion Showdown), Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable (one of those had a Rufus too), Meg, Hercules, and Hades (from Hercules), Quailman (from Doug), Dr. New Cortez (from Crash Bandicoot), and Romana II (from Classic Doctor Who).

That's all I've got for now. What awesome cosplays did you see at Comic Con? Any suggestions for cosplays I should do for next Comic Con? In the meantime, look forward to another Marvel Cinematic Universe post next week. 

I managed to get him to wear the fez, ever so briefly

How I Stay Engaged During General Conference

 Attending all three days of Salt Lake Comic Con's FanXperience last weekend was a blast for me. As I has always been the case when going to Comic Con or FanX, I had a lot of fun. And like Spencer, I will share about all the exciting things I experienced at FanX in my blog post next week.

As I'm sure you're aware, General Conference is this weekend. And as Conference approaches, I'm looking forward to hearing spiritually uplifting messages from our leaders in the Church.

The First Presidency

If you're like me, and have a fairly short attention span (or perhaps have children that do), staying focused on eight to ten hours of talks over the course of two days can be challenging, even when looking forward to hearing these messages.

For the last couple of years, on the Saturday of General Conference, I have gotten together with some of my other friends who also happen to be Mormons and geeks, and we have had a Conference Game Day.

Before you question the appropriateness of combining spiritual messages from our prophet and the apostles, hear me out.

Basically what is involved in a Conference Game Day is getting friends or family together to play games (preferably those that don't detract from the spirit of Conference) before, between, and after the Conference sessions, and then during the sessions playing Conference Bingo.

At this point, you might be asking, “What is Conference Bingo?”

Conference Bingo is much like regular Bingo, except that instead of having a card filled with numbers, each person starts with a blank Bingo card.

My blank Bingo card

Each person then fills in each space with words that they expect to hear during the session of conference. Common words, such as “the,” “a” “and,” “or,” “for” or “of” are not allowed. The words have to be related to Church or Conference themes, such as “temple” or “family” or “Savior.”

My Bingo card after I've filled words in all the boxes.

Then, while watching the session of General Conference, listen for the words you wrote on your card during the talks.

While you can play to just getting five in a row, I recommend playing blackout (i.e. every space on your card must be checked), as it is far more likely to take nearly the whole session to complete.

The winner then gets some sort of prize, such as choosing a game to play between sessions, or choosing where to go for lunch or something else similar.

I have found that I have come to look forward to these Conference Game Days, and to Conference Bingo in particular. Not only does it help me to pay closer attention to what the speakers are saying, and more likely to remember what the talk was about later, it adds an element of fun to it.

A Session of General Conference inside the Conference Center

What are some of the things that you use to help you better focus on the messages of General Conference? Is there anything you do to add some additional fun to it?

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas for how to make General Conference more engaging and fun.

SafeUT

Salt Lake Comic Com Fan Experience was this past weekend. It was super fun and I got lots of great tidbits of trivia from Doctor Who actors, Harry Potter actors, and other smaller panels. I'll save that for next week though. This week I want to talk about something that was brought up in the press conference on Thursday.

One of the leading causes of death in Utah is suicide. Bullying and prejudice are epidemics in Utah and the rest of the country. I was bullied, throughout elementary school and into my early years of high school. My brand of bullying was being excluded and forgotten. Only occasionally was I bullied to my face. I wasn't ever suicidal, but my experience growing up has shaped how I view myself and others.

It's because of this epidemic and because of the experiences of people who had it worse than me, that SafeUT was mentioned at the press conference. It's an app with capabilities to call in a crisis or submit a tip to the authorities of an incident. It's perfect because in a moment of crisis, you can call and talk to a trained social worker or therapist. If you aren't in a situation where that's not plausible, you can also text for help through the app.

So if you live in Utah, please go download the app. It could save your life. It could save someone else's. This is a way to be a real super hero.

Now, this was a bit heavier than my usual posts. Please be safe and share this with someone who needs it. I'll be back next week with somelighter stuff about FanX.

PS: Here’s the link for the app on the iTunes App Store https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/safeut/id1052510262?mt=8

Light-hearted FanX coverage coming next week

Fezzes Are Cool

One of the many iconic things and running jokes of the 11th Doctor era was his love of headwear. None did he love more than the fez.  I mean, come on, fezzes are cool! However, the 11th Doctor was not the first Doctor to wear a fez. Take a look at this.

In the 2nd Doctor chapter of the multi-Doctor comic story “Prisoners of Time”, the Doctor is shown admiring a fez at a hat shop at the Frenko Bazaar. He didn’t buy it or wear it, but he is definitely looking at it.

Some wonderful timing passing by the fez

In the 7th Doctor story "Silver Nemesis" he and Ace end up in a storage rea, where the Doctor finds a little red hat: his first fez (as far as we know). First thing he does, of course, is try it on. He may have looked older back then, but the 7th Doctor still had a childish side.

The Seventh Doctor with a fez and a mop. Foreshadowing?

The 8th Doctor also wore a fez in a comic story called “Doctor Who and the Nightmare Game”. He’d intended to land in Egypt, but instead landed in 1977 at a soccer match. I haven't read it, so I can't really tell you much about it, but here's the 8th Doctor wearing a fez.

Nope. Not Egypt.

Chronologically the next time the Doctor handles a fez, even if he didn't remember it, as the War Doctor finding the fez that his future incarnation had thrown through a time fissure into the lonely barn on Gallifrey, before traveling to his future incarnations (in the past) to return the fez.

The Doctor returning the fez to himself... and himself.

Not too long before that, the 10th Doctor found that same fez (wibbly wobbly timey wimey) in 16th century England, while wooing Queen Elizabeth (or her Zygon counterpart... It gets confusing), moments before his next incarnation dives through a time fissure to find his beloved fez. Even if it's just momentary, it was a beautiful moment to see the 10th Doctor wearing the fez.

"Anything could happen! ... For instance a fez."

Of course the 11th Doctor has a more extensive history with the fez. He found his first shortly before Big Bang 2, only for it to get destroyed by his future/already wife, River Song. However that works..... Anyway, he wears another fez along with Kazrin on Christmas Day in the 44th Centuary. Later he found another fez in his wardrobe, as he was de-monking himself for Clara Oswald. My favorite one though was when he took the fez from the under-gallery resulting in his War and 10th incarnations finding it shortly thereafter. (“One day, you could just walk past a fez.” “Never gonna happen.”)

"What in the name of sanity do you have on your head?"
"It's a fez. I wear a fez now. Fezzes are cool."

Now the question will be for Peter Capaldi: can he just walk past a fez? If he ever does, that might be heartbreaking. In the meantime, however, I'm just planning on having Matt Smith wear my fez for our photo op (hopefully he gives it back.......). Anyway, looking forward to seeing you this weekend at Comic Con FanX. Feel free to stop me to say hi if you see me.

SLC Comic Con last fall
See you at FanX this weekend!

Souvenirs at Salt Lake Comic Con (and FanX)

The third annual Salt Lake FanXperience is next weekend, and if you haven't already guessed, I'm really looking forward to it. Every time I go to Salt Lake Comic Con or FanX, there are many fun and memorable things to see and do.

I'm looking forward to seeing many of these celebrity guests next week.

Even before I started writing for Mormon Geeks, one of the ways I remembered the experience of attending Salt Lake Comic Con or Fan X was through sharing about it on social media. Of course, once I became one of Mormon Geeks' contributing writers, setting aside a blog post or two for sharing about my favorite experiences has helped even more to create lasting memories.

But for those who don't write for blogs or are not into posting about their experiences attending the conventions on Facebook or Twitter, there are plenty of other ways to remember the experience.

Arguably, one of the things I have enjoyed most about attending Salt Lake Comic Con and FanX has been having things to take home with me to remember the experience. There is no shortage of souvenirs at these types of conventions. And you don't necessarily have to break the bank to get souvenirs. In fact, beyond the entry price of the convention, some of these souvenirs don't cost anything at all.

From fan art to autographs to pictures of (or with) cos-players to photo ops, there is a way for everyone to preserve the memories of the convention.

Photo Ops

Photo Ops (short for opportunities) with celebrity guests is what I would generally consider the most expensive of the souvenirs at the con (though I'm sure there are exceptions). As such, the last few times I've attended, getting a photo op with a celebrity of whom I'm a fan has been my “big” souvenir to remember the convention.

Depending on the celebrity, prices at Salt Lake Comic Con for a photo op can range anywhere from $40 (often for those who play smaller roles or are in lesser known fandoms) to over $200 (for photo ops with multiple celebrity guests from the same franchise). The cost includes a print of the photo, and for a little more, you can also get a vinyl case for the print and a digital copy.

Rory at a photo op with Stan Lee at the inaugural Salt Lake Comic Con.

Not everyone sees the value of photo ops, and if it's not your thing, or not worth the price, I don't blame you. But for me, having the opportunity to meet someone who portrays a character or characters that I love, and having a photo to remember that moment, is worth spending a bit of extra money on. That's not to say I go complete fanboy and splurge by getting a photo op with everyone with whom I'm even the slightest fan. But each convention, I'll choose one celebrity that I love to get a picture with, and whose photo op is also reasonably priced, and get a picture with him or her.

Me at a photo op with Brandon Routh at FanX last year.

Another way to save money on a photo op is to go with a friend or friends who are also fans of the same celebrity. At Salt Lake Comic Con and FanX, up to four people can be in the picture with the celebrity at no extra cost, which could bring a $40 photo op down to an affordable $10 per person, and a $200 photo op down to a much more reasonable cost of $50 per person.

Spencer and David at a photo op with Billie Piper last year.

Autographs

While not as expensive as photo ops, celebrity autographs are still one of the more expensive souvenirs. And unlike photo ops, which can be shared digitally and reprinted, autographs are a bit more difficult to share.

But a couple of the benefits of celebrity autographs is that often the celebrity will personalize the autograph and there is more time to speak with and interact with the celebrity than the 15 or 20 seconds of being rushed through the photo op. My friends and I have had the opportunity to speak with Denise Crosby about her life since Star Trek and what projects she's working on now, and I had the chance to fist bump with Michael Rosenbaum and let him know what a fan I was of his work in Smallville.

My personalized autograph from Michael Rosenbaum

Most celebrity autographs start around $20 to $30, though if you look around, you may find some that don't charge at all, as I discovered was the case last year with the actors from Studio C. And if you're a fan of an author that is in attendance, you can bring your favorite work of his or hers and have it signed, as many of them do book signings at no cost.

Fan Art from Vendors

By far, fan art is the most common of the souvenirs that I've collected from attending cons. There are so many vendors displaying and selling their art from nearly every genre and fandom in geek culture. I have purchased far more than I could put on display on the walls of my home, but I've decided that's what albums and portfolios are for.

My fan art from Salt Lake Comic Con last year.
Or we could go with my alternate caption:
"My name is Adam, and I'm addicted to fan art."

Fan art can cost as low as $5 (and possibly even less than that) depending on the artist and the size of the print. Many will also sign the print on request at no extra charge, and many will also offer deals for buying multiple prints at the same time.

One of the best times to buy fan art may be towards the end of the convention, when the vendors are eager to sell as much of what they have left in stock as they can, and will offer even better deals to do so. Though of course, the risk of waiting until the very end of the convention to buy prints is that the one print that you knew you had to have as soon as you saw it (but held off on buying either because you were busy when you first saw it or were hoping to get a better deal later) may have sold out by the time you come back yo buy it.

Toys & Other Items from Vendors

If fan art isn't really your thing, there are vendors selling nearly everything else you could imagine as well. From action figures to bobble heads to comic books to magnets to t-shirts to novels, if you can name it, you will probably be able to find it.

"Baby Superman" is just one example of a potential souvenir.

I have added several t-shirts to my collection last year. I find that t-shirts and other apparel makes for a great way for me to express my interests. And nothing says, “I'm a geek, and I'm not afraid to let you know it,” like wearing a t-shirt with a close-up of David Tennant, a weeping angel, and the TARDIS.

You can see the t-shirt I just mentioned on the bottom in the middle.

Pictures with Cos-players

Though I don't do this one very often (unless I actually know the cos-player), this is one of the best  free ways to collect souvenirs. Whether it's with Scorpion from Mortal Kombat or Elsa from Frozen or Aang from Avatar: the Last Air-Bender, there's nothing like getting a picture taken with one of your favorite characters from one of your favorite fandoms.

Me with Paul, who was cos-playing as Avatar Aang.

All you have to do is bring a phone or a camera, take the initiative to ask others if you can get a picture with them, and before you know it, you'll have a large collection of pictures to keep the memories fresh.

Though this wasn't at Comic Con, it's a great example of a group of friends cos-playing.

It's also fun to be on the other end of that if you're cos-playing with a really great costume of a popular character. When I cos-played as Thor last year, I lost track of how many people asked for pictures with me (including several while I was walking through City Creek Mall to go home).

But I digress.

Pictures with Iconic Props

And one more option for souvenirs is getting pictures with iconic props. Whether it's standing in the doorway of the TARDIS, looking in awe at the Back to the Future Delorean, sitting on the Iron Throne or posing with Gollum, there are no shortage of props to get pictures in.

Me looking out the doorway of the TARDIS prop.

While some of the props do do have a fee to get a picture with it, many of them are also free. Though be prepared to wait in line for some of the more popular ones.

*  *  *

So if you're planning on attending FanX next week, or any comic book convention in the future, now you know of may of the options for souvenirs, and if you watch for it, you'll be sure to find the souvenir that's right for you.

If you have any additional suggestions for souvenirs that you think I may have missed, or if you'd like to share about a great souvenir that you've found, feel free to comment and share about it.

And if you do see me or any of my fellow Mormon Geeks writers at FanX next weekend, if we haven't met before, please introduce yourself. And if we have met, please say hi (even if it means yelling and waving over a crowd of hundreds of people).

I hope to see many of you at FanX next week!

DC Super Hero Girls

I didn't think this thing would honestly make it, but since the official premier of DC Superhero Girls is showing at Fan X in a couple weeks, I think it's time we take a look at the latest Monster High knock-off.

As an outspoken fan of Monster High, DC Comics and particularly Harley Quinn, I should be all over this show. So then why after watching the clips already on YouTube am I not all that impressed?

Well... Okay kinda impressed.... I did buy a Harley Quinn doll...

I have to say that I do like how the super heroes in the show do have more conservative outfits than any of their comic book counterparts. I'd rather see little kids cosplaying as a Wonder Woman with pants than Frankie Stein in a miniskirt. The characters themselves are pretty well rounded as well, so far no chasing after boys but focusing on their schoolwork and their friendships, which I see as a major plus. We haven't even seen a shopping montage at the mall, so there is some hope.

Okay so here's the real problem: Consistency. I know comics rarely worry about making a lot of sense, but this one takes the prize.

DC Superhero Girls is about a private high school to teach heroes how to be heroes. The stories are mainly focused on the girls going to class and trying to learn how to be real heroes by learning how to fly, fight, and rescue people.

The word "Hero" is thrown around pretty loosely though, as the main characters include Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. These aren't even the children or sidekicks of our favorite heroes, they're just the heroes all in some weird high school with dorms learning how to be heroes. This worked with Monster High and Ever After High because we were talking about the weird offspring of our favorite monsters and fairy tale folks. And Disney's Descendants line has the same concept only focusing on villains. But here it's just a nonsensical mess.

Some might say that this is just another way to sell toys to kids and to not over-analyze it, but frankly I can't let this one go. One of the reasons I like Monster High so much is that it's empowering. While occasionally delving into boys fashion and Facebook, the show also teaches individuality, acceptance and how to deal with bullies, while still having a clever premise. DC could've made the premise make sense, since all female super hero teams exist in cannon like the Gotham City Sirens or the Birds of Prey, or they could've made up their own team of super hero women teamed up to take on crime, so why use this clunky high school setting? Why dispose of 80 some odd years of canon?

Frankly I find it insulting. young girls can understand other situations besides high school. There's an unhealthy fixation in media to try and glamorize the high school setting into some sort of perfect Saved By The Bell-High School Musical-everything's perfect and fun and easy concept. It's story writer short hand for "We don't know how to write for women so we're going to do what's always been done instead".

I still have hope for this. Like I said, I like the characters in general, even enough to add Harley Quinn to my doll collection, but the actual episodes will have to do a lot to impress.

What do you think?

-JOE

Cosplaying on a Budget

SLC Comic Con Fan Experience is coming up quick! I'm super excited, because this will be my first convention as part of the Mormon Geeks team. One of my favorite parts of the Comic Cons I've attended has been the costumes. I've been cosplaying for a few years now and it's pretty fun. It can get expensive though, especially as a student, so I wanted to share a few tips that I've learned over the years about how to cosplay without emptying your wallet.

David and I at FanX last year

1.    Thrift stores are your friends: Thrift stores have saved me tons of money with my costumes. Granted, it's somewhat luck of the draw to be able to find what I need for my costume at Savers or at DI, but sometimes I do get lucky. My red shirt for my Mario costume, my tweed jacket and red /striped shirt for my 11th Doctor costume, my boots for my Hook costume, and my hat and shoes for my Russell costume all came from second-hand stores.

2.    Check Amazon for deals: Amazon has some great deals! I found my Mario hat and my 11thDoctor fez relatively cheap online. And especially if you have Amazon Prime, it can really save you some money.

3.    Utilize other inexpensive stores: Ross has been a store that I've used for my costumes as well. My 11th Doctor bow tie was from Ross for only about $11. I also got a black shirt for my Hook costume for only $16 from H&M.

4.    Use what you have: In almost every costume I have, I've used pieces of clothing that I already owned. I used my dress shoes for my Mario costume and my 11th Doctor costume, my vest for my Hook costume, and my yellow shirt for my Russell costume. In addition, when David dressed as the 9th Doctor, he used my leather jacket and a v-neck that he already owned. I was also able to use that same leather jacket (which I've had for years) for my Storybrooke variation of my Hook costume.

5.    Reuse what you have: If you already bought a piece of a costume that you need for a costume you've already done, why waste money on an extra costume? That's why when David dressed up as Carl, we just reused by 11th Doctor tweed jacket.

6.    Ask around for help: Especially in the LDS community, you'll find lots of people willing to lend their help. After asking, I've been able to borrow a scout sash from my Bishop for my Russell costume, I got a couple different people on separate occasions to do my makeup for my Hook costume (and once for my Mario mustache), and I was able to get someone to hem my pants for my Hook costume.

7.    Allow some leeway: Sometimes it does get expensive, despite our best efforts. As hard as I tried, I couldn't find a pair of overalls for my Mario costume that were under $30. And it's kind of hard to find cheap parts for the costume I'll be debuting this Con. That being said, I've still spent less money on them than I would have otherwise, so it's all about prioritizing and having some leeway in my budget.

8.    It doesn't have to be perfect: I am all for perfection and excellence in cosplaying, but excellence doesn't mean you have to look exactly like the character does on the television. For example, Hook wears a lot of leather on Once Upon a Time. A LOT. That would be crazy expensive (and crazy hot) to track down a leather trench coat and leather pants. Instead of having all leather, I got a costume, vinyl trench coat and a pair of black jeans. It's not leather, but my Hook costume still looks great, for a small percentage of the cost.

9.    Have fun: If you're not having fun with your costume, then why bother? That's the whole point. Also, remember who you're dressing up for. If you're dressing up for the crowds, you may be disappointed. If you dress up for you, you'll have fun. Especially with more subtle costumes, like the 9th Doctor or Agent Coulson. You may not be recognized by everyone, but those are awesome costumes! Just enjoy the convention and have fun!

And again at Comic Con last fall

For anyone interested in cosplaying, make sure you check out the various cosplaying panels that will be at FanX. Make sure you check out the full panel schedule.

Marvel Cinematic Universe: Part 1

I've been a bit MIA because of school and work and just general craziness, but I'm back and I'm here to talk a little about the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I'm not claiming to be any sort of Marvel expert (I leave that to my older brother) but I do have some thoughts, so I'm gonna share those in a series of posts as I watch the movies/shows through again chronologically... So spoiler alert, since I'm giving short summaries of each movie.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Not counting flashbacks and such, this is where the series starts chronologically (it could be argued that the whole movie is just one long flashback, but I'm gonna put it here anyway). World War II and some scrawny kid named Steve Rogers wants to kill some Nazis. However, he's kinda not qualified, because of his long list of medical problems. Meanwhile, a German scientist, Schmidt, is trying to use a weird blue cube (called the Tesseract) that has some origin in Norse mythology to create weapons for the war. Back to America, Steve gets picked as a subject for the Super Soldier Serum experiment. Bibbity bobbity boo. Suddenly, Steve is strong, tall, muscular and basically had the body I wish I had. He even has suddenly gained the interest of the beautiful Agent Peggy Carter with his new pecs.

Fast forward through some embarrassing stage performances, Steve has been named Captain America (for publicity sake) and with the help of Agent Carter, Howard Stark, Bucky, and a select group of soldiers help take down Hydra bases, fighting the evil Red Skull along the way. After a SWEET fight scene, Red Skull accidentally kills himself (or so it appears) by touching the Tesseract. In a last ditch effort to save everyone from the explosives in the plane, Cap crashes the plane in the Arctic Ocean while having a super sad goodbye with Agent Carter. Fast forward 70ish years, and Cap has been found in the Arctic and he's been revived by SHIELD. Yikes. What now? Well, the Avengers.

Random Trivia/Connections:

·         Howard Stark is obviously Tony Stark’s father, having previously been featured (though by different actor) in Iron Man 2.

·         Jenna Coleman, better known for playing Clara Oswald in Doctor Who, briefly appears in this movie as Bucky’s date at the expo. Gotta say that Bucky has good taste in women. Personally, I have a little head canon connecting Doctor Who and Captain America here, but to avoid minor Doctor Who spoilers, I won’t post it here (message me and I’ll be happy to share it though).

·         Captain America had been hinted at for a bit. A prototype of his shield had been seen in Iron Man (when Tony is taking off his suit) and in Iron Man 2 (when Agent Coulson was talking to Tony).

·         Tony held the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2, obviously based off what his father did here.

·         Howard Stark shows a flying car here that closely resembles Lola, Phil Coulson’s flying car from Agents of SHIELD.

Thoughts:

            I’ve heard some criticisms of this movie, especially in comparison to The Winter Soldier (odd that a sequel is better liked than the original), but I’ve gotta give some credit to this movie. As far as I’m concerned, it did a great job of setting up Cap’s character and bringing him into our time period. His heartfelt goodbye to Peggy is beautiful and it fits his character well, that he puts humanity ahead of his own “happily ever after” with Peggy. (Spoiler alert) I am very glad that he got to reunite with her in Winter Soldier.

Agent Carter

Last year ABC started a series about Agent Peggy Carter, originally introduced in Captain America: The First Avenger. I don’t have a lot to say on this, but that’s mostly because I haven’t had a chance to watch it. If anyone knows a place online that I can watch it (preferably legally and preferably for free) please let me know.

Iron Man

Billionaire playboy. Not one of my favorite superheroes, but he’s had some character development over the years and I can’t exactly be too upset that he’s the one who got this whole Marvel Cinematic Universe started. This was the first movie in production order for the Cinematic Universe, telling the origin story of Tony Stark, who became Iron Man.

Tony Stark inherited the empire of his father, Howard Stark. While demonstrating some of their weapons in the Middle East, he’s captured. Made out of necessity, Tony Stark made the original Iron Man suit to escape capture of terrorists. Clunky and likely awkward, it’s a far cry from the Iron Man suit we see in later movies, but he didn’t exactly have a lot to work with. After returning home from the Middle East, Tony is preoccupied with perfecting his Arc Reactor to provide clean energy and making a new Iron Man suit.

Throughout all of this, Tony’s assistant, Pepper Potts, stumbles upon some evidence on the computer of Tony’s right-hand man, Obadiah Stane, showing her that he has been selling weapons to terrorists and he set Tony up to get captured. With his own suit, Obadiah and Tony end up fighting, but with Pepper’s help, Tony is able to stop him. In the aftermath, despite Agent Coulson’s recommendation, Tony outs himself in front of a room of reporters as this “Iron Man”.

Random Trivia/Connections:

·         As mentioned before, Captain America was foreshadowed here, when we get a glimpse of Cap’s shield (or at least a prototype of it) when Tony took off his suit. It would be a few more years until we got Captain America: The First Avenger.

·         Also, as mentioned above, Howard Stark, Tony’s father, is seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, working with the US army.

·         The actor for Rhodey changed between Iron Man and Iron Man 2. Maybe someone more versed with Iron Man can tell me why, but I thought it was worth noting. Ever since Iron Man 2, we’ve had the same Rhodey.

Thoughts:

            I’m not the biggest fan of Iron Man, but watching this the other month made him grow on me. I definitely disapprove of his morals, but I find his character development interesting. He changes his values in a way, but keeps the same snarky, obnoxious personality… but with a more humanitarian outlook. I enjoyed his relationship with Pepper, which was one of my favorite things about Iron Man 2 (but more on that later).

Alright, that’s all for the Marvel Cinematic Universe for now. Next time I write about the MCU, it’ll be Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, andThor (which all chronologically take place within a week of each other).

A Review of the Series Premiere of DC's Legends of Tomorrow

 Last month, DC's latest TV series, Legends of Tomorrow, premiered. This new series, which is a spin-off from both Arrow and The Flash, has the distinction of being the first TV show in the Arrowverse to feature a large team.

Title Card for Legends of Tomorrow

The premise is that Rip Hunter (Arthur Darvill), a Time Master who is from East London of 2166, has traveled to our time to assemble a team to stop an immortal villain, Vandal Savage, from conquering the entire Earth in his time. What makes this team unique is that it consists of both heroes and villains. As Hunter gathers his team, he informs them that in the future, they are not just considered heroes, but legends (which inspires the name of the show).

Rip Hunter, played by Arthur Darvill

The roster of Hunter's team includes: “The Atom”, Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh); “The White Canary”, Sara Lance ( Caty Lotz); “Hawkgirl”, Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee); “Hawkman”, Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel); “Captain Cold”, Leonard Snart (Wentworth Miller); “Heat Wave”, Mick Rory (Dominic Purcell); and “Firestorm”, who is composed of Martin Stein (Victor Garber) and Jefferson Jackson (Franz Drameh).

Unlike Arrow and the Flash, the Pilot of Legends consisted of two parts. While both episodes do serve to introduce the cast and are definitely serial, each does consist of a distinct story line, and could easily function as a stand-alone episode.

With the exception of Rip Hunter, all of the characters have been previously introduced in either Arrow or The Flash. For me, having already had time to get to know some of the characters, such as Ray Palmer, Sara Lance, Martin Stein and Leonard Snart, I began the series more invested in them than I might be otherwise.

However, while one of the strength of this series is bringing in characters that have already been established and are fan favorites, having so many characters featured is also one of the weaknesses. While Rip Hunter is obviously the leader of this team, each of the other characters seems to be vying for attention. The problems is, most of these characters would make a good lead character on their own, and the result seems to be that each of them gets a little attention, but none of them gets enough; the result being that the pilot episodes feel bogged down with all the characters.

While the series does follow most of the themes set up in the original trailer for the series (see my previous post about the trailer if you need a refresher) a couple of important elements were missing. For one, the team was introduced to Rip Hunter by the Arrow and the Flash in the trailer, while the Flash is completely absent from the pilot episodes, and Green Arrow, who has little more than a cameo appearance, knows nothing of Rip Hunter.

The Arrow and the Flash as they appeared in the first trailer

The trailer also has Martin Stein referring to himself as “half a hero,” at least implying that while he was on the team, his other half as Firestorm was not (though Firestorm does appear in at least one of the action scenes).

I can easily forgive the fact that Hawkman is absent from the trailer, as this does little to change the set up. And everything else, from Captain Cold mocking the suggestion that he could be thought of as a hero to the main mission of stopping Vandal Savage from taking over the world at some future time to the team being considered “Legends,” are all there.

I was pleased with most of the special effects, which were up to par with those seen in Arrow and The Flash. The one exception to this was with the Atom. His regular flying and fight scenes were up to standard, though I found most of the scenes showing him changing size to be low quality and unrealistic looking compared to the other special effects.

The chmistry between Hawkman (played by Falk Hentschel) and 

Hawkgirl (Ciara Renee) is further explored in the Pilot 

I did enjoy the chemistry between Hawkgirl and Hawkman, which continued smoothly from their introduction to one another in this season's Arrow/Flash cross-over. I also found Martin Stein, Captain Cold and Heat Wave to be very true to their characters as they had been established on The Flash. I especially like the way that villains Captain Cold and Heat Wave initially clash with the heroes of the team, and I hope that this is carried out longer, rather than being too quickly resolved.

Villains Captain Cold (Wentworth Miller) and Heat Wave (Dominic Purcell)
add an interesting dynamic to the team.

I was uncertain about how true to form White Canary's characterization was. She seemed different than the way I remembered her when she was a recurring character in the second season of Arrow, though I will grant that her death and subsequent resurrection may have had quite some effect on her personality.

White Canary (Caty Lotz) seems different than she was in Arrow,
though she has been through a lot.

I found myself disappointed, however, in how the Atom was characterized. For the most part, the humorous, happy-go-lucky billionaire scientist/inventor seemed to be missing. Granted, he has gone through his own drama, having been missing and presumed dead for six months. But if he was able to remain optimistic after the murder of his fiance (as was depicted in Arrow), I don't believe his six month imprisonment by Damien Darhk would do that much more to get him down.

The Atom (Brandon Routh) seems to have lost much
of his humor and cheerful attitude we saw in Arrow.

Without giving them away, I will say that there were a couple of plot twists (one in each episode of the Pilot) that I did not see coming. While the first one I think would have been better served by being built up for at least a few episodes, I found myself both shocked and impressed with the second one. Despite having mixed feelings about it, I do see it as something that definitely has the potential to strengthen the series.

I do have to admit that the Pilot episodes of Legends of Tomorrow did not have me hooked in the same way that the pilots of Arrow and The Flash did. And I think part of it may be that it was so hyped up and had so much build up in the current seasons of Arrow and The Flash that it may have set the bar higher than they could realistically reach.

The Legends team definitely holds a lot of potential

I will definitely still be following this series, and I have hopes that the quality improves as we see the team get more established and as the characters begin to gel. This series definitely has a lot of potential, and although it didn't deliver quite as well as they could have with the Pilot, I have hope that the series will get better as the season goes on.

Once Upon a Loose End

I've been a fan of Once Upon a Time since about episode four of season one. I love all the little nods to Disney movies and I think they've done a clever job of telling these fairytales in a fresh way. That being said, I will be the first to admit that the writers often bite off more than they can chew and end up with some loose ends. So today I'm going to address ten loose ends that I'd like resolved (my list goes longer than ten, but we'll start here).

1.    Maleficent and Briar Rose: Season 4B resurrected Maleficent and we got to see her reunite with her long lost daughter and we got to see in flashback how she and Regina became friends. However, I'm still questioning why she cursed Briar Rose (Aurora's mother) in the first place. Is it because she wasn't invited to a party? Or is there some deeper reason? I'd like to know why and with Maleficent still in Storybrooke, I'm hoping that we'll find out at some point.

2.    Will Scarlet in Storybrooke: Season 4 made Will Scarlet (aka the Knave of Hearts) from the Wonderland spin-off a main character. They promised to explain why he was there after his happy ending with Anastasia in the finale of the spin-off and yet all I got from him being in Storybrooke was him being a petty thief, a drunk, a replace to for Little John, and a rebound boyfriend for Belle. I was sorely disappointed with his use (or lack thereof) since I loved his character in Wonderland. He's so clever and witty and they missed out on properly using him. What happened to Anastasia? How did Will get back to Storybrooke? I'd like to know.

3.    Tinkerbell in Neverland: In Season 3A we saw Tinkerbell helping Regina in the Enchanted Forest and then we have a gap in her timeline until she encounters Hook in Neverland in the mid-season finale flashback. How did she get to Neverland? What did she do for Pan? We didn't really get much there other than a bunch of vague implications. Unfortunately, the actress who plays Tink is busy, so we won't likely get to that one any time soon.

4.    Ursula, sea witch or teen drama queen: Season 4B gave us Ursula the Sea Witch, who was apparently evil enough to match wits with Maleficent and Cruella. However, all we really saw of her past as a villain before becoming one of the Queens of Darkness was being rebellious and running away from home. Does turning herself into a squid and running away from her helicopter parent of a father really qualify her to be considered "evil"? I'm sure there's more to it, but I'd like to see why exactly we were supposed to fear her.

5.    The Red King forgotten: So it's from the spin-off, but I'd like to see what happened to the Red King. Last we saw of him, he was marrying Anastasia (who had just agreed to learn magic from Cora, the Queen of Hearts). There were implications that something would happen to him, but the next thing to happen with Anastasia chronologically was that she was working with Jafar to capture Cyrus. Did Anastasia do him in? Did Cora crush his heart?

6.    Cruella DeVil in the Enchanted Forest: I have several questions about Cruella. First off, how did she get to the Enchanted Forest? Somehow between killing her mother (and her dogs) and forming the Queens of Darkness, she got from 1920s England to the Enchanted Forest. My best guess is that Rumplestiltskin sent Jefferson to retrieve her shortly before the flashbacks in the Season 4B mid-season premiere.

7.    Cruella the Grieved Villain: In the Season 4A mid-season finale, we see that the Queens of Darkness are sick of losing. I've already addressed that we know next to nothing about Ursula's past, but what about Cruella? Last we saw of her before meeting her new girlfriends, she was pretty victorious, having manipulated Isaac into giving her magic and subsequently killing her mother. Was losing her ability to kill really that big of a deal to her that she'd consider herself among the villains who were sick of losing to heroes? I get that she's crazy, but she's clever enough to manipulate people into doing the killing for her. Was that really not satisfying enough for her or did something else happen to get her to that place?

8.    Queen of Hearts and her Ex: At some point before Regina manipulated Jefferson into taking her to Wonderland to rescue her father, Cora captured Henry and held him hostage. We know she wasn't in love with him, so the purpose of that capture is kind of ambiguous (Regina claimed the Queen of Hearts saw her as a threat, but Regina was a compulsive liar, so I'll take that with a grain of salt). Why did Cora kidnap Henry? Under what circumstances? Was she trying to keep him hostage in order to use him as leverage to get back to the Enchanted Forest?

9.    The Lady of the Lake: Towards the end of Season 5A, we saw Lancelot leave Camelot to seek help from his mother, the Lady of the Lake. Presumably this meant he, like the people of DunBroch, were not caught up in the curse. That being said, I'd be really disappointed if it was simply a throwaway line to get Lancelot away from the curse. It just seems like it'd be a waste.

10.  King Arthur of Camelot: In Season 5A we saw Arthur and his kingdom of Camelot brought to Storybrooke by Hook's curse. Arthur gave our heroes some trouble, but last we saw of him, he was locked up in jail. The writers have said (if I remember correctly) that we'll see more of them and that we'll get Camelot resolved more later. However, they also promised that with Will Scarlet, so we'll see. Just seems like a waste in a way to have brought them to Storybrooke. That being said, that's kind of how I feel about Season 5A in general. We seem to be right back where we started before Emma became the Dark One. But that's a rant for another time.

Like I said, I'm sure there are more loose ends that I could come up with, but those are the first ten that come to mind. I'm probably awfully pessimistic in that I don't expect them to tie these all up. However, they'd all require the right opportunity and the right circumstances to resolve and based on what these writers did with Lost, it's not likely they'll tie everything up (and I was actually fine with how Lost ended). Still, I can hope that they'll address some of these at least. I think the writers think they can do more than they can (like biting off more than they could chew with the Queens of Darkness), but hopefully they can keep the show alive long enough to give us a good conclusion to the story.