Things I’m Geeking Out On – Top Ten Edition

There is so much going on in the geek circles this week that I’m just going to make this entirely a “Things I’m Geeking Out On” list. We’ll do it list style since we just did a list for Topless Robot this week on the new Daredevil series so my mind is in total Top Ten mode. (By the way, when you are done here, you can totally go read that over here – if you don’t mind spoilers, or have already seen it.)

Top Ten Things I’m Geeking Out On This Week

1. The new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer – I didn’t think I was THAT excited about it yesterday when everyone was losing their minds over it, but now that I’ve watched it a couple of times, it really is pretty exciting. I found myself excitedly chatting up to one of my co-workers after she mentioned her dog is named Mara Jade. Apparently none of her friends are cool because she didn’t know the new trailer had dropped, nor did she know Celebrations was happening RIGHT NOW, 20 minutes away from our office! (I live for moments like this, I really do.) Anyways, it does look like it’s going to be hella cool, so you win this round J.J.
2. Batman V Superman – Not in the sense that I’m excited about it, because I’m expecting it to be a hot mess at this point, but more in that I’ve been nerd raging about it since that insulting excuse for a teaser trailer dropped yesterday. Then the news that you had to get tickets to see the trailer in select theaters? After the giant pile of MEH that was Man of Steel, I feel like the Warner Bros marketing team needs to earn my excitement, not act like they are doing the fans a favor. I mean, COME ON, the movie was pushed back A YEAR. That can’t possibly be a good sign. (If this movie isn’t another Suckerpunch, I’ll be amazed.)
3. Mad Max: Fury Road – That new trailer is amazing. I cannot wait for this movie to be out. What a lovely day indeed.
4. Fast and Furious 7 – Two of my favorite categories of movies are car movies (see above) and caper movies – F&F is pretty much the best of both worlds. The only reason we haven’t seen this already is because of Daredevil, but that will be fixed on Saturday! I need my car chase fix!
5. Convergence: JLA – I was pretty skeptical of Convergence because I’m getting pretty tired of the seemingly endless DC comic crossover events, BUT give me the 90s versions of my favorite comic characters from my favorite era of comic collecting and I forgive surprisingly quick. In JLA, they doubled down and gave me not only some characters I’ve been really missing, like the green skinned Jade, Type A Speedster Jesse Quick, and Queen of the Sea Mara (Aquaman’s lady who is a force to be reckoned with herself), but gave us a girl power super group that I instantly fell in love with. If they turned this comic into a regular series I would lose my mind and subscribe in a heartbeat. The issue was pitch perfect – the art was beautiful, the ladies were tough, but also felt like real women, and the part where they taught some grabby dudes a lesson in manners was priceless. Also, a great reminder that DC has some pretty amazing super ladies BESIDES the way overdone Wonder Woman. In this case, we got Supergirl, Jesse Quick, Mara, Jade, and a very gothy take on Zatanna. This would be an amazing TV show – you hear me DC!?
6. Convergence: Superboy – Speaking of characters I really miss, the Convergence version of Superboy was a total throwback to my favorite Superboy; the one with the leather jacket and the 90s haircut and the attitude. Team Cadmus is also back and excellently written (and reminded me more than a little of another certain science team on some show called Flash. Coincidence?). I felt like I was reading a lost issue from the late 90s. It made me miss it. Can we get this version back, please?
7. Harley Quinn – Ok, I’m pretty much always geeking out on the Harley series, but this whole Team Harley storyline is pretty amazing. I love how the creators just single handedly exploded the number of female minority characters (and even added one possibly gay dude?) in the DCU. Also, those uniforms are like a gift to cosplayers everywhere. I want to see some cosplay group take this on. The humorous nods to Mad Max and 50 Shades of Grey via Harley and Ivy’s trip to the movies were also pretty delightful. Harley and Ivy’s BFF/FWB relationship has been pretty fun to watch play out.
8. Daredevil – I liked it. I didn’t LOVE it, like some people seem to. It was very well executed and surprisingly meaty for a superhero show. My takeaway quip was that it was the Breaking Bad of superhero TV Shows. That didn’t make it into the article, but that would be my one sentence summary. If you liked Breaking Bad, you will probably like Daredevil. If you did not (I wasn’t a huge fan), you might find it’s serious approach a little much. Although, in fairness, this is the show Gotham should have been. A hard hitting crime drama with occasional super hero elements. Why didn’t I love it then? I felt like the Kingpin was not handled very well – it seemed like Wesley was in charge of everything most of the show, with the Kingpin seeming more like an idealistic figure head he was indulging, and Wesley seemed way more evil than the Kingpin would ever be capable of. Also, it was just really… dark. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but it’s mainly a circumstantial evidence thing. See, we’ve binge watched A LOT of shows at this point. When something is really good, really grabs us – Battlestar Galactica, Lost, the first 5 seasons of the modern Doctor Who – you cannot drag us away from the TV. We will reschedule everything to squeeze in just one more episode. With Daredevil we found excuses to take frequent breaks, rarely able to sit through more than two episodes without suddenly needing to make a coffee run, go to the pool, or deciding to go out to dinner with friends. That’s not a great sign to me that I’m enjoying something. Would I watch a second season? Yes. Would I watch it all in one weekend again? Nope.
9. Witcher III: The Wild Hunt – I was not expecting to geek out on this one, but we watched the trailer last night and this video game looks AMAZING. I’ve been waiting for someone to give me a Skyrim sequel for years now, and while this isn’t exactly that, it looks pretty damn close. Close enough for me to be super excited to play it!
10. Community – I don’t know why it took me this long to watch this show, but I finally started it three weeks ago and… I’m already caught up. You see what I mean about devouring a show if I really like it? I think I literally watched all of Season 5 in one day. (Ok, it’s only 13 episodes at 22 minutes each, but still, I have a day job!) The show is really funny, and has that absurdist, pop culture aware sense of humor that I’ve loved since The Young Ones or The State, and currently love on Archer. If you are fan of either of those shows, or have ever been back to college as an adult (which I have), or just love geeky absurdist comedy that would make Weird Al proud, you should totally catch up on Hulu or Amazon, and then check out the new season happening on Yahoo.

Women of Action

Sometimes the fun in playing an RPG is the chance to really immerse yourself in a totally different world, personality, life situation, etc. There is tremendous fun in escapism. However, there is also something very emotionally satisfying about using the game as a chance to explore actual issues in a safe fictional space. Which is a roundabout way of saying things got real in my VtR game this past Saturday. I threw my players into a situation of non-stop action, and they were more than up to the task. I also couldn’t resist throwing in one of my infamous magnificent bastard NPCs to mess with one of my PCs who, to his credit, took the situation and ran with it. It was a good game.

I am less happy with the DC television universe as of late. They started out strong, but Gotham continues to slide from amusing absurdity to total hot mess. Which is a shame because all the actors on the show are awesome and fun. But the writing is, honestly, just awful. It’s getting painful to watch. It is totally confusing to me that Gotham not only got a back 9, but got a second season, while Constantine, which is far superior, got cut off at 13 episodes and is now in production limbo. No justice in ratings, I suppose. Constantine is my new Firefly.

I’m also disappointed with the female characters on the main DC shows. (I exempt Constantine because Zed is awesome and they have not given in to doing some stupid romance plot with her… yet.) But over on Arrow, Flash, and Gotham, the treatment of the female characters has been incredibly frustrating. With the huge exception of Thea Queen (who probably has the best story arc and character development of ANYONE on any of these shows, male or female), the female characters on these shows seem to be all portrayed as crazy or broken or just under developed. There are characters in these shows that are amazing strong female superheroes in the comics, but then the writers just totally screw them up on screen. Black Canary is dead/a defensive alcoholic who can’t fight worth a damn, Selina Kyle seems to solely exist to be Bruce Wayne’s love interest, Barbara Kane (who I thought was going to totally be Batwoman) is having a nervous breakdown and a super creepy relationship with two teenage girls, Future Poison Ivy is the most amazing example of a lamp character ever, Montoya is just… missing for some reason, and Flash fails the Bechdel test on such an epic level it’s cringe worthy. There are tons more examples, but seriously, I don’t even consider myself a feminist and I find this offensive. Hopefully, iZombie will balance out the scales a bit.

Way over on the side of the spectrum, Harley Quinn #15 was amazing and brought diversity to the DCU on a massive scale. So much girl power. You should be reading this book. And it deserves a Netflix show. It could be like Daredevil meets Orange is the New Black. But only if the writers don’t totally screw it up.

Thing I’m geeking out on: ETSY, but specifically Mythica Metalworks

When I attend a Strategicon, I always make a it a point to visit this one booth in the dealer room that sells these awesome handmade goods from crochet cephalopods to arm warmers to really neat chain mail jewelry. This last trip I acquired a stretchy chain mail bracelet that I love. I love it so much, and have received so many nice comments on it, that I tracked down the maker – Mythica Metalworks – and have requested a few more. You can keep your Tiffany baubles – give me personalized commissioned art pieces any day. Check out her online shop, order some things, she is amazing.