Ghost #1 & Midas Flesh #1

A combination of a hectic work schedule and the usual holiday insanity caused me to be a little late in picking up this weeks comics, but I finally got to sit down and start reading them. Better late than never, I guess..

I like Ghost, but honestly, it's nothing really that fantastic. As you might have guessed, Ghost is about a ghost. Specifically, the ghost of interpret young reporter Elisa Cameron, who's come back from the dead to fight the demons who killed her because she'd uncovered whatever it is the demons were up to. Sounds like that would have been a hell of a scoop. Kelly DeConnick's writing has improved since the earlier Ghost: In the Smoke and Din and the story has definitely picked up. On the down side, Phil Noto has been replaced by Ryan Sook as the book's artist. Don't get me wrong, Sook is talented, but I really prefer Noto's work. If your taste in comics leans to the paranormal and mystery, it's worth checking out.

I picked this up because, fucking dinosaurs in space. You can't go wrong with that, right? Well, maybe. I'm on the fence about Midas Flesh. A reinterpretation of the old King Midas' touch fable, the earth and everything on it was turned into solid gold. Flash forward to the year 3900 or so, and some kids in a rocket ship have come back to explore golden earth. Uh, if everything on the earth was turned to gold in 700 BCE by King Midas, how are there still humans to come back and explore. Meh.

Onell Designs: Gendrone Rebellion

I wasn't expecting to do another toy post right after reviewing my 481 Universe haul, let alone two of Onell Design stuff in less than a month, but when I saw the Gendrone Rebellion pieces in the final wave of 2013 releases, I couldn't help myself. I mean, just look at that pearly red metallic color and tell me you don't want one? These dudes are the Buildman Argen MK VIII and Neo Sincroid, which are very similar to the models I got the last order; some slight variances like a little more arm articulation and additional piece of armour. As rad as they are, they're no match for the Armorvor:

FUCKING LOOK AT THIS BEAST. LOOK AT IT. 

My only regret is that I didn't have more money on had so I could score a few more pieces. Ideally I would have also gotten a Phaseon, Crayboth, hub set, and some extra axis joints and customized them out like crazy. Oh well. Anyhow, if you like what you see jump on that, the Buildman and Armorvor have already sold out and it looks like most of the rest of the Gendrone Rebellion stuff is headed that way.

481 Universe: First purchase

The picture I took doesn't do these dudes justice. A selection of three custom colored figures from the non-articulated Anomalies series, these cost a little more than if I'd gotten a standard pack and I only got half as many, but it was well worth it. The gold Adaman with the metallic paint job looks like some ridiculous bootleg C-3P0 and the rainbow Strugg has a psychedelic space-warrior vibe going on, but my favorite is the two-tone crystalline Laion. It's just entirely alien and gnarly. The other cool thing about these is the height. They may look like kinkeshi, but actually their more to size with Starcom and Air Raiders figures.






A little swag thrown into the order, I got a loose Seg Construct from the Hemic color series. Maybe it's just me, but I couldn't help seeing some resemblance to the Cifal from the old Fiend Folio. I won't even get into what a shit-ass monster that was, but if I'm ever in a situation to toss one into a game, I'm glad I have this wicked dude to tower above 25mm lead minis. Rad.

A picture of the Outlander figure is actually what brought me to the 481 Universe store and when I saw the Zeta Force variant I knew I wanted it, but upon it's arrival, I found myself pretty disappointed. Proportionally, the figure shifts from being super slender to comically bulky. It has trouble standing, as it is top heavy and the legs are slightly uneven. The articulation at the arms is weird, making a 45 degree bend above the elbow. Oh, and the face is all mashed up. Pretty big bummer, actually. For 10 bucks, I feel a little stiffed. Oh well, I'll still hit up 481 for their Anomalies stuff.

This week in video games

As a little kid, Space Invaders and Galaga were easily my favorite arcade games.  There was something about their sci-fi theme and the nature of shoot 'em up game play that just clicked for me at that age. I was hit with a wave of nostalgia recently and snatched two sci-fi vertical scrollers of eBay.

Jaguar Bomber 

Platform: Watara SuperVision
Publisher: Watara Industries Limited
Developer: Bon Treasure
Release Date: 1992


The title is a bit of a misnomer in that there are neither jaguars nor bombs in the game. So, if you were hoping for a game that let you strafe the rainforest, boming majestic felines onto the Endangered Species list, you are out of luck. A more accurate name would be something along the lines of “Slow Moving Alien Fighter,” but that's decidedly less cool sounding than “Jaguar Bomber”. A vertical scroller, the first thing you'll notice is the sloth-like speed of your ship. Then there's the total lack of power ups. You do get an extra life every 20,000 points, but still, it's be nice to have some shields, auto-fire, a mega bomb, or something. It's a fairly challenging game, with the exception of the level bosses. Strangely, they are one of the easier elements; the first level boss doesn't move or change the direction of his shots, you just position yourself between his weapons and leisurely blast him into oblivion. Between the Watara's grayscale lcd and the game's unsophisticated graphics, there are some visibility issues, but it isn't that big of a deal. What is a major problem is the lack of a grace period when respawning; your new ship flies onto the screen and can instantly crash into an enemy or be shot down before you have a chance to move. Nothing new or revolutionary here, but still a fun little shoot 'em up, especially if you like things simple and a little unpolished..

Zarlor Mercenary

Platform: Atari Lynx

Publisher: Epyx
Developer: Epyx
Release Date: 1990

If Jaguar Bomber is on one end of the vertical shooter spectrum, Zarlor Mercenary is at the other. The game is rich with power ups, the bosses are a pain, the graphics are fantastic, and even the name makes sense; your a mercenary for Zarlor. This has the faster ship movement of the two, but the game feels far more sluggish than Jaguar Bomber. A large part of that is due to the the attack waves of 15 to 50 enemies, which reduces your mobility and forces you to repetitively blast away at one area. The slow rate of play and level of difficulty make the replay value fairly low. It's fun at first, then still kinda fun when you play with the cheat codes, but finally begins to feel like a chore to blast your way through the levels. This isn't a bad game, but it could have been so much more.

Black Science #1

As soon as I saw Black Science's rad cover art, I knew I had to check it out. That reminded you too a little of Frazetta's Barsoom pieces?  I was figuring this would be a pulp science-fantasy romp, but not so. It appears anarchist scientists have punched through the multiverse and are now trying to find their way home across the infinite parallel universes. Don't be afraid this is Sliders on mescaline; solid writing and beautiful art manage to make this an engaging read rather than some campy sci-fi shtick. Check it out.

Falling

The premise behind this card game is fantastic; everyone is falling from the sky and the winner is the last person to hit the ground. While that may pique one's interest into playing, it is Falling's combination of simple rules, a fast pace, and a large player group that make it such a great game. Even those who aren't gaming aficionados will find themselves enjoying this.

I've actually had a deck of Falling for quite some time. When I originally bought the game and sat down to read the rules, I couldn't wrap my head around it's turnless structure and real-time play. I ended up tossing it on a bookshelf, resolving to figure it out someday. Well, that day came this past weekend. Rereading the rules, it didn't seem as daunting as it did back then and I couldn't believe I'd procrastinated so long on learning how to play.

With a group that shifted from 5 to 8 people who ran the gamut of gaming experience, it took about 3 to 5 games before everyone started to feel comfortable with the rules and the gameplay style. Once things got going, the consensus was they were liking it. The combination of sort game length and large group involvement made it ideal for causal game, especially while knocking a few back. It's well worth tracking down a copy.

New toys...

So, these guys arrived in the mail yesterday from Onell Design. It's been a while since I've had any interest in toys, but recently I've had the casual desire to buy some to accessories my horrible, monotone-beige cubicle. After stumbling upon the Onell site, I knew I had to have a few. For those curious, from left to right these are: Neo Gatekeeper Reverse Glyan, Standard Crayboth MK II, and Stealth Buildman MK II. As rad as they all are, the Crayboth is my favorite. The orange with burnt pink accents is just a gnarly color scheme and then there's the sweet robotic, chitinous exoskeleton design. Gotta love it.

I do have one small complaint about these though; the lack of knee and elbow articulation. It's actually not that big an issue with the Crayboth due to it being smaller than the other two, but it bugged me with the Gylan and Buildman. There are apparently swing and axis joint additions you can get to add the extra articulation, but they make the figures look a little weird and bulky, I think.  Also, it's like another $8 per figure, which seems a tad steep. That aside, these dudes rule. I'm thinking about buying a small army of the Crayboth so I can arrange epic anachronistic battles against WWII green soldiers on my desk.

*pewpewpew*