Wait, there's a new Supergirl movie?

I would like to point everyone to the DC Women Kickin' Ass entry regarding the newest "Superman/Batman" movie. Which, by the way, is actually about Supergirl.

Read the entry here.

I know DC has issues with how they market/treat female characters, but this is ridiculous. Because Wonder Woman sales weren't up to par, they chose to market this movie with Superman/Batman in the title.

So what. If Green Lantern didn't do 'as well as expected,' what were they going to do? Stop marketing with white males in the forefront? Doubtful. Not only is it money grubbing, but incredibly sexist and offensive to the female readers that DC seems to forget that it has.

And if I remember correctly, these "poor" Wonder Woman sales are also the reason they shelved Batgirl: Year One.

I call bullshit, DC. Stop perpetuating this idea that no one wants to read comics/see comic movies about females unless they are "skanky."

a public service announcement you should all listen to from zp and the vgvn.

Hey, American gamers: check out this special psa from Zero Punctuation.



Now click on the shiny link and do your part.

bioshock infinite: gameplay video.

MARVEL WITH ME, ROMANCERS.

Catwoman: Damsel in Distress?

Okay. Let's talk about Catwoman for a moment, shall we? The solicit for GSC #17 reads:

Catwoman’s been kidnapped, and now Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn must team up with Talia al Ghul and Zatanna to free her before she gives up her most valuable secret – a secret that will force Talia to desperate measures.

Selina kidnapped again? Is it just me, or has Selina been written a lot less stronger than normal (with the exception of maybe some guest starring roles in other Bat-books).

I know she got kidnapped in Heart of Hush, and okay. I can deal with that. But again? Not to mention in World's Finest, she got chained up and then LEFT by Batgirl (and they supposedly have a decent relationship).

Then they did that whole weird arc in Sirens with her sister (in which one of the covers showed her beaten with a chain around her neck).

I always viewed Selina as extremely cunning and capable, and it seems to me that that aspect has been toned down a lot lately. Remember in the villains special when she totally one-up'd Hush? THAT'S the Selina I remember.

A friend said "There's only so many times you can screw over the same character." We're both hoping maybe this solicit is just DRAMA and things turn around and she ends up saving herself. Please?

bioshock stuffs.

It's been about a literal month since we last posted, so here I am, proving that once again the second I start a project nothing actually ever comes up until everyone's forgotten. XD

But today, it's all about BIOSHOCK.

First, the Protector Trials review.

Basically, it's just a bunch of challenges with limited load-outs that you can't change for little art bits and bobs that'll interest people like me (art-freaks, or Deco people) but has absolutely nothing to do with the story and isn't actually a reward. All of the challenges are fun but wildly easy to pass, whether or not you get all the ADAM possible, and quite often it'll wait until you've either been lulled into a sense of self-accomplishment for being such a badass or are so far up shit creek that not even a paddle will save you before royally destroying you and sending three or four Alpha series your way. It's RIDICULOUSLY unbalanced but it did help my game and I found it fun, so it's really just a "ymmv" moment.

I'd say go get it if you've ever wanted to just wantonly destroy shit without any remorse, but be away that sometimes it's brutal and sometimes it's too easy.

NOW ONTO THE SMASHING NEWS OF TODAY:

Watch this trailer in HD. SERIOUSLY. It's amazing. Full-screen it, too. Totally worth it. :3



I am pretty fucking excited about Columbia, I'm not going to lie. It looks refreshing and interesting and original, and for something in an already established series? That's fantastic. Not to mention, the graphics are *beautiful*, and it's not destroying Rapture any further.

review: the last airbender

The poster was actually pretty cool. I especially love Aang's airbending curling up his staff like smoke.

I'm doing this with as little spoilers as possible, but there's the possibility something small slips out. If you're worried about it, you've been warned. Otherwise, you should be fine.

I also want to say that I walked into this movie fully prepared to like it for what it was. Don't blame me for bias - I'm one of those people who likes both Wonka movies for what they are, regardless of how badass Wilder is as Wonka.

Now, it's no secret that I'm a huge Avatar: The Last Airbender fan irl. I love the animation, the characters, the themes, and the fact that a children's show is so deep and meaningful, especially towards the end. SO, if you're not an Avatar fan, let me sum it up for you:

It's a movie about a world where there are four types of "Benders" - Earth, Water, Fire, Air - and one bender who is capable of bending all four at once. He's the Avatar, and he's there to keep balance in the world. Throughout the movie, the Airbender Aang, the last one due to some serious douchery from the Firebenders (who've started a war) and an accidental SNAFU, begins learning to bend Water and goes to the North Pole to stop it from getting destroyed (in said war).

From a purely movie-going standpoint, the fight scenes are freaking cool (especially during the Blue Spirit and North Pole sequences), HOWEVER: the writing is *atrocious*, some of the cinematography is groan-inducing, the actors are ill-fitted to their parts (with only two exceptions) and everyone keeps pronouncing "Avatar" "AHvatar", which is really off-putting. From a purely movie-going standpoint, this movie is atrocious.

From a fan of the series, however, this movie is BEYOND atrocious. It's the sort of movie you cringe all the way through because it's just so painful. First off, the butchering of the races of the world is horrible enough in its own right, but I'll leave Racebending here for the truly curious on hearing this argument right (seriously. They're awesome. Check it out).

The worst offense, to me, about this movie? How Katara was portrayed.

In the cartoon, Katara is a strong, motherly girl of 15 who comes into her own as a Waterbending Master throughout the series and who would do anything to stand up for what she believed in. She was annoying at times, but she was also a motherfucking BADASS when it came to bending. She was fast and vicious when she needed to be, and she was a master in the truest sense of the word.


Kudos to the artist. See? She's freaking amazing.

In the movie, she's a complete and utter waste of space.


Yeah, not so much.

Not only is she a gray blob completely devoid of any form of fight or spark or personality, she's a completely useless bender. There's a fight where a Firebender (avoiding to say who as to avoid spoilers, but know they're good) is standing in front of her with a fire in front of him (for M. Night changed it that Firebenders had to have fire nearby to bend, which is fair enough and worked in context) and she is SURROUNDED by water. She's in an OASIS. And she doesn't put out the fire. Not only does she avoid putting out the fire, but she totally fails at bending as a whole and can't even block a simple switch-around.

Compared to the show, this fight? Goes on for nearly an hour in the show. (Not all seen, obviously, but still.) And she gives damn near better than she gets. She only loses because the moon (which, for non-fans, strengthens Waterbending) disappears and the Firebender she's fighting can stop her before she can get used to it again.

What.

The hell.

All of the characters have been given an entirely hideous down-grade in character, which is absolutely horrible for a movie based on a show completely driven by strong characters. The only two anywhere near their based characters are Aang (who was AMAZING, actually) and Iroh. There were moments where Sokka (who was actually named Sohka in the movie, and Aang was Ahng. I know, right? Also, Sokka was horribly cast, but that's nothing new for this film) -and I mean actual SOKKA, from the show - would shine through, but then the actor would go back to being as bland as possible. The Firebenders were a JOKE, completely destroying that sense of faceless fear one would feel when they saw the silhouette of the Firelord by giving him a completely bland face.

It was, all in all, a tragedy.

Don't waste your money on this movie. Please. It's really not worth it.

Will the star spangled panties be missed?

So by now, news has spread that Wonder Woman is getting a new look. Whether it's just for this new story arc or not has yet to be determined... but what we CAN see is that is has caused quite a stir.

My opinion? I like a lot (especially those kick ass gloves). I do appreciate the iconic blue panties for what they are worth, I even own a pair, but this is something new and fresh... and from what I've seen? Wondy needs it. With everything that's been going on in Batman's world (Batman RIP all the way to RoBW) and the new events going on with Supes (New Krypton, War of the Supermen), Wonder Woman has kind of been pushed under the radar. She needs her time in spotlight, and this may be it.

However, a lot of people are pissed that DC would get rid of something so iconic, but I kind of agree with what Jim Lee has to say on the whole ordeal:

“When these characters become so branded that you can’t change things, they become ossified.” (NYTimes.com)

Do you really want your comic characters staying exactly the same for 70 years? That's boring. I mean, they should retain their basic character, yes. But it's how these characters roll with the changes that make them interesting (providing they are handled by decent writers). And, besides on novelty items and t-shirts, where has Wondy been the last few years? Sure, she had an animated feature, which I'm sure delighted fans... but in the comic world? Wondy's new author, J. Michael Straczynski, put it bluntly:

"[...]for the last few years, the book has been in free-fall despite some really good storytelling from Gail. The character was big, but the world got small around her, if that makes any sense...insular, confining her more than the bracelets. So much time had been spent on her supporting characters and the mythos that it kind of backed her into a corner, to the point that the only way to get her out of the corner was to dynamite the wall behind her. So the challenge was, could I take her up to the sales she deserved to receive, and give her a world that could showcase her strengths?" (ign.com)

I couldn't agree more. Wonder Woman needs something new and fresh to get people caring about her again. Even if you don't like the costume? This has got people's attention. Maybe enough to get people reading her more (with the exception of jaded fanboys/girls who won't even give it a chance... because GOD FORBID you read something without Wonder Woman in spankies).

Whether the story will be good or not and whether this is still the Diana we know or just a new character DC is "calling" Wonder Woman? Well, I guess we'll see. But that's an entirely different blogpost.

.......And were people this pissed off when Robin lost the short shorts?

(Quotes taken from The NY TIMES and an IGN.com interview)