#complete monster throwdown

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Complete Monster Throwdown!

The show where we take two Pure Evil Monsters and make them kill each other!

This Week's Monsters...

Darkseid vs YHVH!

Conditions:

True Form Darkseid vs True Self YHVH.

Scenario:

YHVH wants to enslave the DC Multiverse. Darkseid called dibs.

Analysis: Darkseid

There came a time when the Old Gods died. When their existence culminated in bloody, glorious battle that split their world in half, leaving two halves of a planetary corpse to drift apart through space. These two halves would become the utopian New Genesis and the tyrannical Apokolips.

Uxas was born as the Prince of this new rotting world, until he absorbed the power of the infinite Omega Force and was transformed forever. What emerged was far worse than any tyrant, more than a villain and more that just a god. What Uxas became could only be described as Tyranny itself, fascism incarnate, the antithesis to life, hope, and free will. The thing that emerged was the greatest villain of the entire DC Multiverse, the ultimate evil known only as Darkseid.

Darkseid is at eternal war with the rest of existence, vying to claim every throne the DC Multiverse can offer him and erase all free will into his own. From his nemesis on New Genesis, Highfather, to the Justice League on Earth, every hero in every timeline on every planet and across every reboot knows amd fears the name Darkseid.

As the literal, physical embodiment of Evil and Fascism, Darkseid is a reality altering Juggernaut. He has continually fought and defeated the entire Justice League at once, altered matter to turn people into babies and back again, telepathically dominated entire planets full of people with Superman's powers, and telekinetically created storms with ease. Though Darkseid hardly bothers with any of that when he can simply blast you with his homing eye lasers, his Omega Beams.

Erase someone from existence? Omega Beams! Teleport someone to a different planet? Omega Beams! Send someone across time and space? Omega Beams! Get it now or eternal suffering in the slave pits of Apokolips for you! It has been explained that Darkseid's Omega Beams comes from the reality erasing Omega Force absorbed within him, erasing people into "less than nothing" before recreating them when and where Darkseid wishes as a means of teleporting you across time and space. He can erase you down to less than nothing and bring you back at will.

That's not even scratching the surface. For as much as Darkseid resembles a typical supervillain, a close examination of his powers shows he's moreso a reality breaking eldritch monstrosity. He can alter time at will, stopping and fast forwarding it, open Boom Tubes, holes on space time, with a thought, and come back from the dead in an instant simply because he's necessary for reality to keep existing. Even lesser Avatars of himself or just his weaker son Desaad pretending to be him, have performed physics breaking feats. Like that time Desaad pretending to be Darkseid punched a crack in reality in the realm of Order and Chaos.

Darkseid has shown to be an acausal being, unaffected by alterations to space time across the entire multiverse. He was unaffected by the Anti-Moniter devouring reality and Superboy Prime punching shockwaves in time, even as they reset and retconned entire timelines. Darkseid has even fought the Anti-Monitor before and has absorbed the powers of Gods so thoroughly that they've been driven mad and reduced to mindless babbling. Darkseid has consumed universes, manipulated the Source Wall itself, and speed blitzed beings like Flash and Superman, who can outrun time itself.

Darkseid can, and will, make you regret having ever been born, before showing the mercy of killing you. If you're lucky. Ir he could simply banish you to the Omega Sanctum, so you can experience death without end, each on torturously, infinitely worse than the last.

All of this is because Darkseid is something... more than just the tyrant of Apokolips. More than even just a God. Darkseid is tyranny itself across the entire multiverse, transcending reality completely.

Darkseid resides within the Sphere of the Gods, an abstract, dimensionless realm where ideas, thoughts, and dreams become reality and sentient concepts reign supreme over all reality. To vastly simplify, the main DC Multiverse contains infinite spacial dimensions within itself. This is infinitely transcended by the Bleed, which is infinitely transcended by the Speed Force, which is infinitely transcended by the Green, which is infinitely transcended by the Sphere of the Gods. Five layers of infinity.

Hell. Even by the standards of the Gods who reside at that layer, Darkseid is immeasurably powerful.

During final crisis, Darkseid was dying from exposure to Radion, an element that kills abstract concepts, and so as a final "fuck you" decided to fall on top of reality, dragging everything into a black hole where all is Darkseid. He enslaved mankind, even those completely immune to mind control like Wonder Woman, with the Anti-Life Equation, erasing free will completely. loneliness + alienation + fear + despair + self-worth ÷ mockery ÷ condemnation ÷ misunderstanding × guilt × shame × failure × judgment n=y where y=hope and n=folly, love=lies, life=death, self=dark side. Life under fascism, under tyranny, under evil, under Darkseid is the complete antithesis of life as a concept.

To end this madness, the Justice League threw everything they had at him. Batman shot him with a Radion Bullet, the Flash lead the concept of Death itself right to Darkseid do it could claim his soul, and finally, Superman sang a song of Hope to shatter Darkseid's soul completely.

Even all this, in rapid succession, did not work. Darkseid's fragmented essance was sealed away, from which he managed to continue to create Avatars and Eminations, terrorizing reality even still. Darkseid has come back by putting his fractured true form back together, possessing people and devouring their souls from the inside out, simply willing himself back to life as a necessary part of reality, and creating new bodies for himself on a whim. Even sealed away within the Source Wall, beyond existence itself, Darkseid reigned in Avatars and eventually returned by manipulating Superman to free him.

Simply put, Darkseid cannot be stopped. Only fought. Only slowed. Because he's more than a simple enemy.

Darkseid is every nightmare you've ever had. He's every bad thought in your head. Every selfish impulse. Every act of cruelty. Every life taken, thing stolen, prejudice spread, and pinch of hate felt is Darkseid. Darkseid is bigotry and ignorance and fascism on a scale that simply transcends you or I. Every genocide, every war crime, every drop of bloodshed...

That is what Darkseid is.

Analysis: YHVH

The name of God. The most sacred word. The name you cannot speak. It is one of the seven sacred names of God in the Old Testament and speaking it can cause miracles to happen. To throw that name around lightly is Blasphemy. And greater Blasphemy can there be than taking that name as a badge, wearing it as a mask, and using it to justify atrocities.

The God of Law will claim that name is His. He will claim every sacred name as His. He will wear the mask of God and justify every atrocity in its name. But, deep down, in His darkest moments, when faced by Heroes He wishes to destroy with no one else around... the demon that calls Himself YHVH will admit that that is not really His name.

He is not God. And He knows it. The God of Law is simply fascism wearing the asthetics of Christianity, Judaism, and monotheistic culture as a mask, having gutted them of all culture and history to justify his atrocities.

Shin Megami Tensei's multiverse was created by humans. They observed reality, came to conclusions about its nature, and thus, that nature became true. Reality was given shape by the power of Human Observation. But, before that, humanity was created by God. The actual God. The Great Reason, or the Axiom. All Gods of all mythologies are just fragments of this one being, shaped into unique beings by the human power of Observation.

The God of Law preaches to be this being, but even he knows that is a lie. He us merely a fragment of the real deal. So, he uses God's name as a way to steal prayer. A loophole to put himself above all other gods and religions and make himself the Supreme Being. With his power now absolute, the God of Law cursed all Gods who wouldn't submit into being nothing more than lowly demons, turning Gods like Baal into demons like Beelzebub. Those that did submit, like Thor, were Christianized into his servants as enforcers of Law. Thor himself was Law's chosen pawn to manipulate mankind inti nuclear war so that the God of Law could rebuild civilization in his own name.

If you aren't getting it yet, the God of Law is, both in universe and out, the physical manifest of Abrahamic Myth as used as a justification for human atrocities. Thor as a servant of Law calls back to how heavily Christianized our records of Norse Mythology are and how much of the original myths were destroyed in its wake. The demonization of Baal calls back to the persecution of other religions under the justification of their Gods being Demons. The God of Law wears the skin of God, but with none of the actual philosophical teachings or understanding underneath.

In other words, even in universe, this guy is the ultimate embodiment of blasphemy.

Now, the only threat left to the Law faction was humanity itself. So, the God of Law sought to destroy the free will of mankind or wipe humanity out completely as need be so that humans could never observe him as anything less than omnipotent.

To that end, the God of Law is easily one of the most powerful and devastating threats in the entire SMT setting. His nature as a Demon, an abstract being only given form when a human observes him, makes all conventional laws of physics and causality completely irrelevant. Just as myths change over time and discard their prior continuity, the Gods can change on a dime according to the perceptions of mankind. He can distort space and time, create and destroy entire universes, and give life to countless angels with every breath he takes. He can seal gods away into physical mortal forms, turn humans into angels, will you into centuries of sleep, and destroy the free will of nearly every human in the world with just his song.

Among the God of Law's most devastating abilities are his Almighty attacks. A special, non-elemental effect that completely ignores any and all resistances you might have against his powers. The artifacts like the Omnipotent Orb, which warps reality as to make you immune to all forms of damage, do nothing to stop these attacks.

The God of Law typically opperates through the use of Avatars, so as to prevent exposure to pesky human Observation. These entities include Kagutsuchi, a universe destroyer who controls the flow of all human souls across all of creation. He is used to destroy worlds and make the survivors brutally war amongst themselves to create the next reality, with the hope of convincing them to create a universe with no free will in the next cycle. Or Yaldabaoth, the administrator of the Collective Unconscious whose mere presence was controlling everyone in Tokyo.

The God of Law can erase you from existence and reduce you to primordial clumps of information, curse you into a lesser demonic mockery of your real self, and banish you to the depths of Hell. He is practically unstoppable and unkillable. He has come back from his true form being ripped to shreds and reduced to nothing but mere Avatars, fought against physical embodiments of Death, and been teamed up against by eight different Godslayers at once.

Even when finally robbed of all divinity by the humans he so desperately sought to lord over, the God of Law would eventually return, effectively returning him from being erased from existence. For as long fascism and tyranny wore the skin of other cultures to justify its brutality, he would always return to enslave mankind.

Throwdown Theme:

Throwdown Breakdown:

Well, this is a special occasion, folks. These two quite easily mark the most powerful and evil beings that have ever set foot on this vs show. And they are very evenly matched.

In terms of raw trading of abilities, both of these guys can honestly take a lot of what the other throws at them. While the God of Law can mess with Darkseid's concept, Darkseid has endured and come back from concept killing attacks before, while the God of Law has come back from being erased from existence completely. Existence erasure, soul manipulation, universal destruction, space and time alteration, they've both seen and done it before. As these two battle above reality in the realm of abstract concepts, their avatars would war across timelines, destroying and enslaving entire universes against each others.

So, how do we break the tie? It's time to play our favorite game....

My infinity is bigger than yours!!

We've already put Darkseid at five layers into Outerversal, so how does Mr. Blasphemy stack up?

Atziluth, the dimensionless, archetypal world where the true forms gods dwell as nothing but abstract thoughts has three Sefirot layers within it. That's three right there. The Expanse above that contains the entirety of the Tree of Life, including Atziluth as it's highest layer. And the God of Law himself transcends that, having created all of it.

That's.... five layers. Same as Darkseid.

....huh.

This is a genuine headscratcher. Existence erasure? Both can do it and both can survive it. Mind control that completely erases free will? Both have it and both basically embody that very concept. Time manipulation? Both are beyond cause and effect and are unaffected by retroactive time fuckery. Possession? Both can do it, worst case they just switch bodies. Almighty attacks? Darkseid absorbs the energy and copies the ability. Observation? Why would Darkseid think a lowly mortal human could help him kill a God? Omega Sanction? Banishment? Both of these characters are omnipresent, where could you banish them to? Darkseid is all of the evil in the world and the God of Law is one with everything because humanity believes he's one with everything thereby making it true. If the God of Law were to nerf Darkseid into a mere demon, rather than a God, Darkseid would just absorb some of the God of Law's power and bring himself back up to an equal level. That's how he became Darkseid in the first place.

These two are damn near the same character just channeled in different ways. The God of Law is fascism dressed up with scripture and jargon, while Darkseid is fascism without the mask.

This would be another of SMT's forever wars, a stalemate only broken when whatever protagonist comes along and picks a side. Darkseid would be another subfaction of law, waring with the God of Law for control, while the Justice League adds "mechanical angels" to its "villain of the month list".

Everything that these two can throw at each other, every atrocity that they have committed, and every death to their name is something that their opponent simply is.

So, where does it end? When everyone is dead.

Darkseid does not need the life beneath him to keep existing. The God of Change does. So, the answer is simple. Let their war destroy reality.

Let the blood flow. Let it drown the schools and rot the ground beneath it. Let the Darkness destroy worlds until every light in creation dies. Darkseid would simply let their bloodshed play out, allow the God of Law destroy countless of his own worlds to keep them from Darkseid's hands, and wait to see who is left standing.

When the multiverse runs empty and Law starved without worshippers to give him form, Darkseid will laugh throughout the void. The God of Law will fade away, reabsorbed into the Axiom, and the real God will create the world anew.

That's fine. Another multiverse for Darkseid to rule. Another multiverse to burn.

This Throwdown's Winner is...

Darkseid!

[crusherthedoctor]

For the top 5 prompt: Top 5 Eggman boss battles.

This is yet another list that probably shifts depending on the day, because there's a lot of good ones.

5.

An underrated one. Like Rush Adventure in general.

There's no deep reason, I just think it's a neat fight, and since it uses the Jeweled Scepter, that grants it a plethora of unique magical attacks that you don't often see in an Eggman battle.

4.

I couldn't decide between these two, so fuck it, they're both here. Can you blame me? They're both well-known, and for good reason.

The Egg Walker marks the end of Tails' story, and it follows up the race to the missile in the city. The battle itself is fine, if perhaps a bit easy, but Eggman's tranquil fury in the cutscene prior really sells the mood. Shame he's rarely been given opportunities to show that side of himself since then. But that's where Stellar comes in. Either way, between that and Tails standing his ground, it's a great moment for both characters.

As for the Viper, we all love the obvious meme, but like the Walker, the fight is also fun in itself, and is reasonably tricky for a final boss. But as weird as it might be to say, the ending is what really makes it for me. The way the music stops the instant you get the last hit in, the way Tikal warns you about his kamikaze dive, the way the lonely sound and visuals of the explosion lingers before culminating with what could be mistaken for a volcanic eruption... awesome.

3.

It's an awesome mech. It's an awesome battle. It's an awesome moment for both the hero and the villain. Capped off with descending towards the center of the earth. As someone who considers Unleashed flawed in ways that I can't ignore, even I can't deny that this is one of the game's standout moments, and it deserves all its praise. I'd argue it's a better final boss than the actual final boss, and I'm not just saying that because the latter is another giant monster... okay, maybe that's part of it.

Shout out to the Generations version, because I really enjoy that one in its own right.

2.

Oh boy, here comes the controversial one. How dare I put anything from Forces on a top five that isn't derogatory, amirite.

In all seriousness... look, say what you will about the fight itself. I think it's alright, but I get why it might be considered perhaps a little anti-climactic compared to what it could have been as far as gameplay goes. And you guys know that I always consider gameplay to come first and foremost, no matter how good or bad the story of the game in question is, so it's not like I'm ignoring that part. And of course, there's the Nega-Wisp Armor reskin aspect that everyone complains about, which caused Twitter to throw the baby out with the bathwater and consider Eggman's position as the final boss to be the true problem. Which is probably why the final boss of Frontiers ended up being a talking ballsack. Thanks, everyone.

Anyway, all that said, I think there are certain elements that elevate it in spite of its ultimately okay status. There's the music, but that goes without saying for a Sonic game that isn't Chronicles. But another factor is the combination of the seriously underrated sound design, with the complete and utter silence on Eggman's part, which like @skaruresonic, I interpret it as the doctor being too focused on killing your ass that he disregards his usual banter, and like the Egg Walker cutscene in SA1, I think the effect really works, regardless of the actual intent or reason behind it.

So yes, I'm putting it as #2 for these overlooked attributes. I'm not sorry.

1.

The finale of S3&K will always be particularly special to me. There have been many great Eggman throwdowns, but this one illustrates how the doctor's high octane levels of pure determination rival Sonic's own; perfect for an arch-nemesis. There have been godlike figures who go down after a single fight, meanwhile this mortal man belts out a bonanza, because the mere concept of giving up the Master Emerald does not compute.

The build-up also goes a long way: S3&K as a whole establishes and maintains this aspect of Eggman's character throughout. He's going to get the Death Egg back up and running, and nothing is going to stop him. His robots set the jungle on fire. He himself destroys the ruins in Marble Garden, in the hopes that Sonic will get killed in the process. He's not even phased when the Death Egg falls smack dab into a volcano; his dedication never wavers. Then come the endgame, where he finally fucks off with the Master Emerald after telling Knuckles it was Nothing Personnel Kid, which is followed up with a dramatic chase through the crumbling Sky Sanctuary, which then culminates in the final showdown aboard the eponymous vessel... and then continues even after it blows up.

It's iconic, it's fun, it's climactic, and Eggman's ridiculously exaggerated refusal to quit being on full display cements it as one of my favourite Eggman portrayals, despite hailing from a 2D game with no dialogue.

Honorable mentions (that currently come to mind):

Death Egg Robot, cause c'mon, it's a classic. This mostly refers to the original Sonic 2 version as well as the variations in Generations and Mania.

Egg Shrimp (Sonic Advance 2), for being petty enough to abduct Vanilla after his plan's been foiled, and for the badass moment afterwards in which Sonic narrowly saves Vanilla.

Egg Emperor, because I don't care if it's Metal Sonic, it's an Eggman mech, he's trying to mimic Eggman, shut the fuck up or I'll do a in-depth Shadow the Hedgehog level tier list. The design is rad as hell, and it has the iconic TAKE THI-TAKE THIS, TAKE THI-TAKE THIS.

Egg Salamander (Sonic Rush), for capping off the dynamic between Sonic and Blaze... and because Wrapped in Black.

Nega-Wisp Armor, because the fight is fun despite its simplicity, and it's noteworthy because Eggman finally got to be the true final boss of a 3D mainline installment for the first time. And it only took a decade...

The endgame for Mania, in which Eggman menacingly jumps around in a Pokeball and then holds his own in a three-way standoff instead of being tactlessly upstaged like he's nothing.'

The one in IDW that doesn't exist.

[makeste]

If you don't mind, could you please explain what's going on in Bakugo's head in ch285? I've gone over it god knows how many times but I still don't quite understand, sadly. 😞

I have a post that goes into it here if you're interested, anon! but to rehash,

he sees Deku going all out against TomurAFO and destroying his body in the process, and that fear/worry/anxiety that he's had for Deku ever since this shit with OFA got real starts to crop up again.

and yet despite that anxiety, he also reflects on how OFA is the catalyst that brought him and Deku back together at U.A., and gave Deku the ability to fulfill his dreams and become a hero. and so in that sense, even if it is a "cursed" power, he's also grateful for it. especially since it took him so long to get his head out of his ass and start trying to make things right himself. having OFA gave Izuku the confidence and means to finally stand up to him in the meantime, and in hindsight he's grateful for as well.

after his combo attack with Endeavor and Shouto fails, he then sees that AFO's attack is going to hit Deku before Deku can get out of the way.

he then quickly flashes back to a number of milestones in his and Deku's relationship, with emphasis on:

his bullying

the time Deku saved him from the sludge monster

their therapy throwdown at Ground Beta

the way their relationship tentatively began to change after that

and him finally learning the importance of Win and Save.

all of this happens so quickly that he doesn't consciously have time to process any of it. hence him saying "there were no thoughts in my head." the implication is that these flashback panels aren't meant to represent thoughts, but rather emotions. guilt over hurting Deku. protectiveness towards Deku. attachment to Deku. gratitude towards Deku. and a burning, pressing need to preserve all of that. this fragile relationship which he almost completely fucked up and which they then started to rebuild from practically nothing, and which he now realizes he can't afford to lose again under any circumstance.

and even as he's thinking -- or rather, feeling -- all of this, his body is already moving "on its own", propelling itself forward with an urgency he's never experienced before, which he later describes as feeling so desperate that it's akin to "being on death's door."

and then, [shish kebab sounds].

and then bonus, immediately after he's stabbed, once he realizes he might be about to die (oops), the only thing he can think about afterwards is apologizing to Deku because shit, he might not ever get another opportunity. as he later explains, when he starts in with the whole "stop trying to do this own your own" before he passes out, he's not just trying to lecture Deku there -- that's actually the preamble to his apology which he finally gets to finish up in chapter 322.

so to summarize, anon, in answer to your question "what is going on in his head", the answer is basically Deku, Deku, and more Deku. complex shounen rival feels for days. just the way my overanalyzing self likes it lol.

[maxwell-grant]

The crossover fic + learning he's a favorite of yours has me curious: do you think it would be possible to tell a satisfactory Shadow vs. Mr. Mxyzptlk story? I think he'd fit surprisingly well in that milieu as a credible threat: he's something of an older, mistier, shadowy world, kin to fairies and elves and imps, pixies and sprites and genies, bound by old laws and dressed like a parody of 20s/30s class, beyond The Shadow's usual powers and yet...THAT. There a thematic in to this throwdown?

I had never actually thought of Mxy in that light, even though it's very much in line with what he is, because Mxy is one of those characters I don't tend to think about much. He's one of those ready-made perfect villains who pretty much guarantees a fun and creative time whenever he pops up uninvented. Like The Ventriloquist for Batman, he is so uniquely a product of how Superman works and what his stories allow for, that I can't say I ever thought of taking him for a spin outside of them. But there's definitely stuff to work with in putting him and The Shadow together.

Come to think of it, if there's a Superman villain I think Walter Gibson would have liked to play around with, it would be Mxyzptlk. Mxy stories are fundamentally about Superman being thrust into a position where his only way out is to solve puzzles and turn the tables using nothing but his wits, and Gibson spent the majority of his career before and after The Shadow as a writer of books on magic and puzzles, both of which show up a lot in The Shadow stories. You see it even in several covers which contained clues for the stories within.

To an extent, you could argue that The Shadow might figure out quicker a way to trick Mxy, because The Shadow's already has to utilize a constant amount of trickery and deceit and puzzle-solving in his daily adventures, it comprises almost the majority of what his stories are about under Gibson. The usual Mxyzptlk narrative is one that's well within The Shadow's domain.

But on the other hand, it's definitely some extremely unusual territory for The Shadow, villain-wise. A villain who eclipses his powers and scope to such an extent is completely unheard of. The one time I can think of where he fought a villain this weird and who he was completely powerless against was when he met Suven The Clown King of Venus (who's definitely a character that could show up in this meeting), and even then Suven was just a weird alien who looked gigantic next to the shrunken Shadow. Even on the few occasions where The Shadow encountered other aliens or eldritch monsters, he was able to find a way to stop the threat for the moment or even kill it, which is definitely not happening here, because Mxy is a whole other level.

Superman has the strength and endurance and superpowers to roll with whatever mayhem Mxy throws his way. If Mxy decides that The Shadow’s looking too pale so he's gonna give him a tan by throwing him in the sun, what the hell is he gonna do to stop him? I imagine that Mxy would likely take a different approach to messing with The Shadow, since he can't tank nukes like Supes and he's not really a good sport about the game. 

Fine, whatever, Mxy's a creative sort, he's got a couple of ideas for messing around with Mr Grim-n-Serious over there, show him what an Eldritch Monster looks like past the squid monsters and dragons he may have met.

The idea I'm getting here is, on one hand, Mxy attacking The Shadow with the usual goofiness he brings with him. And on the other, him realizing that messing with The Shadow's dignity isn't as fun as he thought he'd be, so he instead goes full SCP Foundation/Awful Hospital/Ice Cream Man on The Shadow until he's stopped, trapping him in amusing and horrifying eldritch nightmares and situations that he has absolutely no way to escape until he solves the puzzle. 

I mean, he's not fighting Superman here, he can kill this guy with a blink, even just stopping his heart with a thought. No fun in that. He's gotta beat the "Master of Darkness" at his own game. He's got a point to prove.

I imagine that much of the story would play out of The Shadow having to piece together what exactly has gone topsy-turvy in his reality, whether it's Commissioner Weston eating spiders for breakfest or the entirety of Manhattan sans him going blind and all lights going out across the country. And when Mxy comes out with that shrill SURPROISE!!!, assuming The Shadow already knows what he needs to do, then he falls for whatever gambit The Shadow's had to cook up to trick him. 

At the end, Mxy is an arrogant bully who lords power over those that can't fight back, and The Shadow's a master of beating those by turning their arrogance against them. It's Duck Amuck, except Bugs is a mind-breaking sadist and Daffy has to fight back.

I imagine something akin to a particularly funny scene from a story called Face of Doom, where a gangster traps The Shadow in a room surrounded by armed henchman so he can enlist him into taking down the city's leading criminal, The Face. The Shadow unmasks himself as Cranston to gain his trust, and the two proceed to talk plans. I'll post the sequence below

Calmly, The Shadow was removing his slouch hat. His arms spread, the black cloak began to drop from his shoulders. Clipper's nervousness changed to elation. If ever a criminal fooled himself, Clipper did so at that moment.

Though The Shadow voiced no agreement to Clipper's offer, the crook was confident that it was sealed. The Shadow was taking a step that no other criminal had ever witnessed.

When Clipper's squinty eyes saw the hawkish features of Lamont Cranston, the crook displayed another of his downward grins. There wasn't any question about the prisoner really being The Shadow.

"A ritzy mug, ain't you?" voiced Clipper. "Well, that makes you the real McCoy. One thing we'd all figured, Shadow — we guessed you was a high-hat guy.

"'You don't get out of here until The Face is croaked! Say, though — maybe one of your ritzy friends could put up a good front with The Face."

"There are others, who might serve. I have agents, you know."

A shrewd gleam brought new ugliness to Clipper's eyes. He had heard of The Shadow's agents. It would be smart stuff—using them to get The Face, then disposing of them afterward. Clipper couldn't hide the eagerness that betrayed his new scheme.

"Good stuff," agreed Clipper. "But how am I going to reach those guys and get them to work with me? They only take orders from you, don't they?"

In reply, Clipper saw Cranston pick up the black cloak and hat. He handed the garments to the crook. For the moment, Clipper was puzzled; then he saw Cranston's hand extend the discarded gloves.

"I get it," chuckled Clipper. "You want me to rig up like I was you. Then the guys that work for you will listen to me. How do you handle them—with some password?"

"Usually," replied The Shadow. "Try on the cloak and hat first, Clipper. I must study the appearance that you make."

It seemed like a give-away of The Shadow's game. Any one could stage this Shadow stuff. All he had to do was masquerade in black, spring a shivery laugh, and shoot quick with his guns. If Cranston could pull it, Clipper could.

The Shadow spends a couple of paragraphs calmly walking Clipper through the steps necessary to pull off a convincing Shadow performance, almost like he's directing him. And then this happens:

The back of Clipper's neck was exposed. Though The Shadow's voice was still the leisurely tone of Cranston, his left hand had lost its laziness. Behind Clipper's back, that fist whipped an automatic from a shoulder holster. Clipper didn't scent the move until the muzzle of the .45 iced his neck.

"It won't work, Shadow," rasped Clipper. "You know it as well as I do! One pop from that gat of yours, the mob will pile in and croak you! There's a wicket in that door; they'll use it!"

The Shadow had shifted low behind Clipper's back. The crook could no longer observe the reflection of Cranston's face. He could still feel the pressure of the gun muzzle on his flesh. "Climb off my neck, Shadow," warned Clipper. "It ain't getting you nowhere!"

It was getting The Shadow further than Clipper guessed. The gun muzzle was actually gone from Clipper's neck. His impression that it rested there was merely an after effect, from former pressure.

Crouched low, The Shadow had now reached the door. Before Clipper guessed what was up, The Shadow twisted the door knob. Wrenching the door inward, he pulled himself behind it.

At the same moment, The Shadow snapped a quick command, in a rasp that resembled Clipper's own harsh tone:

"The Shadow's yours, gang! Croak him!"

It ends for Clipper about as well as you'd expect.

One of the things I like most about Mxy is that you can't take shortcuts with him. It's not like how it is with Riddler stories, where you can half-ass the riddles because you know Batman's gonna win once he touches Riddler and the story's gonna end in a punch-up, Mxyzptlk is completely invincible unless you solve the puzzle he presents, and you'd think of course that, surely, he can't fall for it this time.

He's a wise guy, see, he's seen all of Superman's tricks by now, and what's that dumb old Shadow gonna do that he can't see a mile away? This is almost too easy.

It's so easy, in fact, that The Shadow even agrees, he's lost it completely, and the way he could possibly beat Mxyzptlk is by calling one of his agents to save him, and he's prepared a list of some of his smartest, cleverest agents for this moment. But, no, he wouldn't dare put them in such danger against this invincible, immortal genius, someone has to take this list from him and run, but ZOINKS, Mxy's taken the list. So he's gonna start seeing who is it that the Shadda thinks is smart enough to take him.

Clyde BurKe? Like some dimestore journalist's gonna have a shot, just cause he solves crossword puzzles. Lamont Cranston, yeah, more like, LAMEONT CRANSTON. Harry VincenT, who, the dumb kid who tried jumping off a bridge once? Come on, you gotta give me a hand here, Shadda! Let's see, Pietro, what, some cook? Ya kidding? Moe ShrevnitZ...actually, Shrevy's allright, scratch that one. ShrevY, hey, come on, that's cheating, ya just put Shrevnitz's name again, ya dum-dum. Mr Xanadu, hmm, catchy name but probably not a real guy. And Margo Lane. Yeah, smart dame that one, she could probably figger something out. And ya keep writing everyone's name's weird - WAIT

I KNOW WHAT YER TRYING TO DO HERE.

I KNOW YOU GOT SOME CLEVER SCHEME HERE, I'D SEEN THIS BEFORE, IT'S AN OLD TRICK.

YOU EMPHASIZED THE LETTERS SO THE REAL SMARTEST GUY YOU KNOW WOULD BE HIDDEN WITHIN THEM, SO THAT SOMEONE ELSE COULD FIND HIM.

HAH, THAT'S RICH. THAT'S KID'S PLAY. WHAT, YOU THINK I CAN'T FIND THIS

KLTPZYXM

BY MYSELF?

.

.

.

aw crickets...

[dappercritter]

Godzilla vs Kong: Brutally Honest Thoughts

(Took me long enough, eh? Depending on home video releases be like that.)

So first things first, I have a confession to make: I spoiled the movie before I watched it. I was impatient and they had only announced an HBO Max premiere in the states and a theatrical run in Canada at the time. Afterward, I got heads-up from a friend and immersed myself in the opinions of those lucky enough to see it early. I’m just saying that I have some preconceived opinions that I’m sticking to.

That said, Godzilla vs Kong turned out to be more fun than I expected! But you already knew that. Everyone did. The two kings of movie monsters had their rematch and this time it was with glorious Hollywood SFX powering it this time.

The human story was fun but it’s clear they stopped trying at this point. Team Kong stole my heart, especially Jia. Team Godzilla (although the Conspiracy Crew would be a more fitting term since they spend more time chasing down mysteries than trying to back or understand Godzilla) was more fun than I expected and their dynamic was surprisingly enjoyable. Bernie is actually kind of funny, it's nice to see Madison acting more assertive, and Josh was fine--he was the only sane man of the bunch but he was also the butt of the jokes. Still, all the hardcore conspiracy jokes got old fast and it feels off seeing the daughter of two scientists turn into an edgy conspiracy crackpot. Why not an edgy science major?

Team Apex are fun villains, especially Walter Simmons who's a great megalomaniacal CEO type, but Ren Serizawa is a joke. I like his actor's performance but he's just another footnote. Nobody bats an eye at his last name, although the only heroes he interacts with are Nathan Lind and he just misses Team Godzilla. He really could have just been any other villain, but instead, they had to sully Serizawa’s legacy further while robbing a good actor of some interesting material. (As is, it turns out he was just an egotistical jerk with daddy issues--an easy puzzle to solve on day one--after all...)

However, I still cannot and will not approve of the fact that somebody thought it would be a good idea to make the heroes of a sci-fi story into hardcore conspiracy theorists in this day and age. Likewise, I’m not a huge fan of how they essentially made the Hollow Earth into its own universe complete with a crazy portal and an environment with its own laws of physics, nor am I totally crazy about the huge leap in technology that was made between this and KOTM, or G’14 for that matter.

The monsters as awesome as they are, are the biggest mixed bag in the show.

Kong is at his best in ages, and while I am all for the new heroic warrior character that Legendary have crafted and I acknowledge that making him a worthy opponent for their god-tier Godzilla was going to be a hurdle, I think they did a splendid job. Seeing Kong using agility and acrobatics was a glorious sight to behold, and something about Kong becoming a tool-user and weapon wielder just feels right. It’s a far better demonstration of Kong as a “thinking animal” (*wink, wink*).

I’m much less thrilled about their treatment of his greatest opponent ever. After everything they’ve done to build up Godzilla as the incredible force of neutral good fighting to maintain balance and all the build up to ancient rivalry debating back to a great Titan war--even going as far as putting his name in front Kong’s this time!-- they’ve reduced Godzilla back to glorified bully for Kong. He only gets the minimum amount of sympathy from the cast of his movie before they go off to deal with the conspiracy plot or focus on Kong and the Hollow Earth. Worse still, he is somehow more powerful and more aggressive than ever for a good chunk of the movie which leads to an outcome I’m sorry to say we all saw coming. Somehow, I suspect that the reason behind this was how Wingard cited Godzilla vs. Mothra, vs. Destoryah, and Shin-Godzilla as influences for the monsters scale and story, which while cool and all, are all movies where he was played up as a mostly stoic antagonist rather than a three-dimensional character like Kong. (Though ironically vs. Destoroyah and Shin did a better job of making Godzilla feel more sympathetic and in both of them he was a walking nuclear reactor meltdown.)

Due to the unfortunate time constraints of the three-way deal between Toho, WB, and Universal at the time this was in production, Kong was unable to secure a proper sequel that could develop his skillset like Godzilla’s did. Nevermind the fact the filmmakers completely surrendered to the “nothing matters but the monsters” mentality that a chunk of the fanbase has been spouting since this universe unofficially kicked off almost 10 years ago. (Sidenote: Oh god, I’m turning in an old fart already.) As a result, the movie trips over itself trying to set up Godzilla and Kong’s rivalry as well as building up Kong as a worthy opponent to Godzilla while expanding on their shared lore, and as a result countless plot points set up in in the previous movie and tie-in movie are thrown out the window. I’m sorry to say but in spite of all hopes and illusions of grandeur, it’s safe to this damn thing is a Kong movie with Godzilla as the bad guy.

...at least until HE shows up. Yup, Mechagodzilla. The biggest spoiled twist of the centuries steals the show so the movie can pull a Dawn of Justice. But! It does it much better than the fractured DCEU’s most controversial entry ever could. Mechagodzilla’s inclusion gets a decent amount of build up thanks to Team Godzilla/the Conspiracy Crew, and when he shows up, does he make an impression! At first, I wasn’t sure how to feel about his inclusion or his design, but I’ve come to like this one. He’s basically a kaiju terminator built in Godzilla’s image made purely out of heavy machinery piloted by the best Ghidorah head. It’s a jarring change of pace compared to previous MechaG’s but it grows on you after a while. With the abundance of weaponry stuffed into him, he feels like a fitting update of the original killing machine, and even if his inclusion feels like an easy way out of the big showdown, it’s fun to see him played as a literal colossal heel for the kings to team up against. Not to mention he looks shockingly good with those red highlights. However, one still can’t help but wonder how and why he was made in this universe, or how he feels like pure heavy machinery one minute and then an extra-large Ultron unit the next.

As for the the big throwdowns we’ve all been waiting for... well, we’re still in the mixed bag deparment. While the fights are all exciting and excellently choreographed, and benefit from some more eclectic lighting and cinematograph, I’m sorry to say that as far as the rematch of the century goes they dropped the ball on this one.

Don’t get me wrong, the fights are all great in their own ways, but there’s a drastic change in the feeling of weight and power with the monsters. Godzilla, Kong, and even Mechagodzilla all feel strangely floaty in most of their fights. One moments they feel like true behemoths shaking the very earth with every movement and then it’s like they’re in Godzilla Unleashed, running, jumping, and throwing each other around with speed that feels that almost makes you wonder if the Hollow Earth’s gravity inversion stuff is leaking out into the world. While it’s all perfectly cool, you can’t help but wonder how Kong is able to leap between aircraft carriers and buildings, when Godzilla got the ability to blow a hole through the Earth itself, or how a colossal machine is able to move so nimbly or why it has to be flashing blue all the time.

It’s fascinating and fun but you just can’t help but wonder how we got from almost posthuman disaster and war movies exploring how we’re at the mercy of the ancient almost mythical forces beyond our comprehension, we’ve found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Bayformers meets Jurassic World levels of Hollywood absurdity where anything and everything can and will happen in the name of getting to the monster fights. Although I can’t say I’m surprised given the director’s take on Death Note made some questionable choices with it’s take on the infamous cast while still coming up with some genuinely inspired choices. Still, all things considered we could have gotten worse compared to ther cinematic universes made by WB and Universal.

As for some misc. thoughts to close up this rambling mess:

-The soundtrack is fantastic. A great continuation of the feel of Skull Island’s mixtape with some truly wonderful picks. Special mention goes to the opening and ending songs, and they GOT AN ELVIS PRESLEY SONG IN HERE! YES!!! The three kings of pop culture together at last!

-While this movie didn’t need to be any more overstuffed, it would have been nice if the rest of the Titans didn’t disappear entirely from this movie. I get that Godzilla: Dominion already explained what happened to them all more or less, but it really is a missed oppurtunity that we never got to see another Titan war. Or Rodan attacking Kong to avenge his pterosaur bretheren from days long past. Speaking of which...

-“Save Mothra” jokes be damned, Mothra would have been a welcome gues star, not just to help break up the big fight, but to show off Godzilla’s softer, more protective side. And yes, I want more Mothzilla. Shut up, we deserve it.

-Boy, Monarch sure does a whole lot of nothing up-top, huh?

-The cinematography is a great update but there’s a little too much neon lighting, especially in the Apex HQ and the Hollow Earth throne room. It feels like they’re trying just a little too hard to sell the more futuristic, Hollywood sci-fi feel.

-The score is... great but not that great. Of course, I’ve always had mixed feelings about Tom Holkenburg (AKA Junkie XL)’s music. I liked Kong’s themes, but they REALLY dropped the ball with Godzilla’s theme. Mechagodzilla’s works really well as long you ignore that it’s just Godzilla’s theme in this movie with an ominious choir added in.

-The new Hollow Earth creatures are all perfectly fine. Actually, I thought they were another highlight! Especially the Warbats, Hellhawks, and Doug the Titanus Foetodon Man.

-I want to do a release the extended cut campaign but I don’t think any of us have the energy for that s**t anymore.

[blackhakumen]

Mini Fanfic #803: Bus Tour (Super Smash Bros Ultimate x Persona 5)

11:56 a.m. at Isle Defino's Tour Bus......

Purple Female Pianta: (Points at the Giant Pianta Statue Behind Her) And here, ladies and gentlemen, is where we see the statue of the greatest hero our town has to offer. His brave, peaceful heroism has been an inspiration to us over the years and we will never forget the sacrifice he made for our home. (Sees a Hand Raising Up) Yes, Girl with the curly hair?

Haru: (Lowers Her Hand) Pardon the sudden interruption....(Pulls Out a Mini Book From her Purse) But I just finished reading a chapter about that man from the History Books you've given us yesterday. Is it really true that he was ambused and killed inside a cave?

Purple Female Pianta: I'm afraid so, my dear. He was given an letter from an unknown source to come by that very cave. (Turns Away in a Overly Dramatic Like Fashion) And much to everyone's surprise and shock, it was all a merciless trap. Those vile, heartless, monsters ambushed that poor, beautiful man and left him there alone in his last, dying breath! Once the rest of the tribe venture their way to the cave two days later, it was all too late.

Morgana: So.....He didn't bother bringing any weapons with him? Or have bodyguards and reinforcement come along the cave with him at the time?

Purple Female Pianta: I can't say that he have. He thought he was invited into a peace talk. He was more of a lover than he was a fighter.

Morgana: But that was still a stupid move on his part! How could someone just walked into a deep, dark cave with no weapons for protection and defense, no reinforcements, and all without noticing something was up from getgo?

Futuba: Yeah. And what kind of sane person would host a peace talking inside a literal cave to begin with. If that's not an immediate red flag of something's up, then I don't know what is.

Morgana: Right!?

Purple Purple Pianta: That's right. That wonderful man gave those criminals a benefit of a doubt. Only to walked into a trap that cost him his life..... It's quite ironic once you thing think about it.

Lavenza: No it isn't.

Purple Female Pianta: (Turns to Lavenza Who is Seating Next to Morgana) Hm?

Lavenza: (Smiles Softly at the Pianta) That is not at all what an irony is. I believe that the turn events, you described, would be classified as painfully expected.

Purple Female Pianta: (Couldn't Believe What She is Hearing) B-B-But.... what exactly are talking about, little girl!?

Lavenza: The word Irony is a noun that is also known to be a state of affairs or an event that seems too liberally contrary to what one expects and it's mostly amusing as a result. For example, your former hero was known as brave and resourceful. Yet his careless and naive belief in peace has ultimately gotten the better of him in the end.

Purple Female Pianta: (Eyes Widened in Complete Shock) ('GASPS')

Futuba: (Giggles Softly) Holy crap, Lavvy-chan! That was amazing! We should totally get you a tiny microphone to drop for Christmas this year.

Haru: (Gasps While Blushing) Oh my goodness. That would be adorable!~

Lavenza: A microphone would be nice gift for the occasion. (Turns to Morgana) We should share it together, Mona-Chan.

Morgana: (Smiles Brightly) Not really that much of a singer, but yeah. I'm wouldn't mind sharing it with you.

Lavenza: (Smiles Brightly) Splendid!~

Purple Female Pianta: (Immediately Glares at the Girl in Blue) How DARE you insult the name of our lord and savior!? He was GREATEST, most BRAVEST man that this island has EVER KNOWN!!

Lavenza: Statistically speaking, that says more about you than it does about him.

Morgana: ('Scoffs') Yeah. Considering the fact that you guys still blame Mario for something he didn't do to be begin with. And even after he risked his life to save this Island from any threats afterwards.

Purple Female Pianta: (Stomps her Feet at the Ground) You wanna take this outside of this bus, you little twerps!? I can throwdown with a child and her dumb alley cat! DOESN'T HURT MY FEELINGS IN THE SLIGHTEST!?

Haru: Lay a finger on my babies, and I will tear that fucking statue down to ground myself. Along with you and everyone else on this bus.

Futuba: I'd listen to her if I were you. Saw her kill an evil monster once with an axe. ('Clicking Tongue') Not a pretty sight if you ask me....

Purple Female Pianta: (Immediately Gets Scared Shitless by Haru's Threat Fair Warning) ............D-Duly noted? L-Let's move on to our next destination, shall we?

Pichu: (Shivers in Fear While Sitting on Sephiroth's Lap) P-Pia-Pi......

Sephiroth: (Rubbing the Top of Pichu's Head While Watching Everything That's Been Going On in the Back) I agree, Pichu. That girl seems more intimidating than I originally thought. I suppose her title as "Noir" has more meaning after all. ('Sigh') Regardless, It's best that we stay clear of her fore the foreseeable future.

Pichu: (Nodded in Agreement) Pichu.

@keyenuta

@princekirijo

@cyber-wildcat

@caleb13frede

@26shann

@ma-lemons

@albion-93

[aion-rsa]

HBO Max New Releases: April 2021

https://ift.tt/3kO4gS2

Fresh off the long-awaited arrival of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (a.k.a. the fabled Snyder Cut), HBO Max has no need to appease fandom culture in April 2021. But the streaming service is gonna do it anyway!

The most notable new release for HBO Max this month is the HBO series The Nevers. This show, created by Joss Whedon, is set in a 19th century steampunk London and finds a sizable portion of the population (predominantly women) having been “Touched” by mysterious paranormal powers. There’s an interesting bit of irony at play here, as HBO Max is following up the Snyder Cut with a show created by his original Justice League replacement. Or at least there could have been an interesting bit of irony here, if Whedon had not bowed out from the show and been enthusiastically left out of the marketing material by HBO.

Read more

Movies

From Man of Steel to Zack Snyder’s Justice League: A Complete DCEU Timeline

By Aaron Sagers

TV

Fandoms Roil Online as Joss Whedon Suddenly Quits His New HBO Show The Nevers

By Kirsten Howard

Aside from the awkward showrunning situation at The Nevers, HBO Max has quite a few other irons in the fire for April. The well-earned Infinity Train season 4 premieres on April 15. That will be followed up by the Kate Winslet-starring HBO miniseries Mare of Easttown on April 18. Not to be ignored is the movie side of things, with Mortal Kombat continuing WarnerMedia’s policy of releasing all 2021 films to HBO Max.

Meanwhile, The New Mutants will take a turn in the HBO Max library on April 10…for some reason. And the streaming services continue their game of Dark Knight Rises hot potato when the film premieres on HBO Max on April 17. Now all three Christopher Nolan’s Batman films can be streamed in their entirety. It will just take both Netflix and HBO Max subscriptions.

HBO Max New Releases – April 2021

April 1 A Shock To The System, 1990 (HBO) Abandon, 2002 (HBO) Adam’s Rib, 1949 All Is Lost, 2013 (HBO) Assume the Position with Mr. Wuhl Barbarosa, 1982 (HBO) Black Dynamite, 2009 Blindness, 2008 (HBO) The Bodyguard, 1992 Boogie Nights, 1997 Bringing Up Baby, 1938 The Butcher’s Wife, 1991 (HBO) Caddyshack, 1980 The Collection, 2012 (HBO) The Color Purple, 1985 Dante’s Peak, 1997 (HBO) Dark Shadows, 2012 (HBO) Dead Silence, 2007 (HBO) Dirty Harry, 1971 The Eagle Has Landed, 1977 (HBO) Early Man, 2018 (HBO) Easy Rider, 1969 Ella Enchanted, 2004 (HBO) The Evil That Men Do, 1984 (HBO) Eye For An Eye, 1996 (HBO) Fear, 1996 (HBO) genera+ion, Season 1 Part One Finale Ghost Rider, 2007 Goodfellas, 1990 The Great Pottery Throwdown, Max Original Season 4 Premiere Green Lantern, 2011 Hardball, 2001 (HBO) Happy Endings Haywire, 2012 (HBO) In & Out, 1997 (HBO) Kicking & Screaming, 2005 (HBO) King Arthur: Legend Of The Sword, 2017 (HBO) Lassiter, 1984 (HBO) Leatherface Texas Chainsaw Massacre III, 1990 (HBO) Let’s Go To Prison, 2006 (HBO) The Longest Yard, 1974 (HBO) Made for Love, Max Original Series Premiere Man Up, 2015 (HBO) The Mask of Zorro, 1998 The Man With The Iron Fists, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO) Missing In Action 2 – The Beginning, 1985 (HBO) Missing In Action, 1984 (HBO) My Super Ex-Girlfriend, 2006 (HBO) The Nanny The Natural, 1984 Now, Voyager, 1942 One Day, 2011 (HBO) Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment, 1985 (HBO) Police Academy 3: Back In Training, 1986 (HBO) Police Academy 4: Citizens On Patrol, 1987 (HBO) Police Academy 5: Assignment: Miami Beach, 1988 (HBO) Police Academy 6: City Under Siege, 1989 (HBO) Police Academy: Mission To Moscow, 1994 (HBO) Primal Fear, 1996 (HBO) Reasonable Doubt, 2014 (HBO) Red Dawn, 1984 (HBO) The Return, 2006 (HBO) Risky Business, 1983 (HBO) Roger & Me, 1989 Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, 1939 Sneakers, 1992 (HBO) Space Jam, 1996 Speed 2 Cruise Control, 1997 (HBO) Spellbound, 2003 (HBO) Stuart Little, 1999 The Shack, 2017 (HBO) The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family, 2011 Wanderlust, 2012 (HBO) The Warriors, 1979 (Director’s Cut) (HBO) The Watch, 2012 (HBO) White Noise, 2005 (HBO) The Wild Life, 2016 (HBO) Within, 2016 (HBO) Wolves At The Door, 2017 (HBO)

April 2 On the Spectrum

April 3 Ted, 2012 (Unrated Version) (HBO)

April 4 Q: Into The Storm, Documentary Series Finale (HBO)

April 5 Hard, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 6 Genndy Tartokovksy’s Primal, Season 1B

April 7 Exterminate All the Brutes, Documentary Series Premiere (HBO) South Side, Season 1

April 9 Intemperie (AKA Out in the Open), 2019 (HBO) The Other Two, Season 1 A Tiny Audience, Season 2 Finale (HBO)

April 10 The New Mutants, 2020 (HBO)

April 11 The Nevers, Series Premiere (HBO)

April 13 Our Towns, Documentary Premiere (HBO)

April 15 Infinity Train, Max Original Season 4 Premiere

April 16 Mortal Kombat, Warner Bros. Film Premiere, 2021

April 17 The Dark Knight Rises, 2012 (HBO)

April 18 Mare of Easttown, Limited Series Premiere (HBO)

April 20 Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel (HBO)

April 22 1,2,3, All Eyes On Me, 2020 (HBO) First Ladies, 2020 Princess Cut, 2020 (HBO) Rizo, 2020 (HBO)

April 23 A Black Lady Sketch Show, Season 2 Premiere (HBO) El Robo Del Siglo (AKA Heist of the Century) (HBO)

April 24 Dreamgirls, 2006 (HBO)

April 26 The Artist, 2011

April 29 Looney Tunes Cartoons, Season 1D

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

Leaving HBO Max – April 2021

April 11 Reservoir Dogs, 1992

April 15 Lego DC Shazam: Magic And Monsters!, 2020

April 30 3 Godfathers, 1949 9½ Weeks, 1986 Above The Rim, 1994 (HBO) The Adventures Of Robin Hood, 1938 Adventures Of Tom Thumb And Thumbelina, 2002 (HBO) After Hours, 1985 An American Werewolf In London,1981 (HBO) Beasts Of The Southern Wild, 2012 (HBO) Being There, 1979 Bullitt, 1968 Bundle Of Joy, 1956 Can’t Buy Me Love, 1987 (HBO) The Candidate, 1972 Cast Away, 2000 (HBO) Catwoman, 2004 Chasing Liberty, 2004 Cheyenne Autumn, 1964 Cimarron, 1960 Critters 2, 1988 Critters 4, 1992 Dead Man Walking, 1995 (HBO) Diner, 1982 Dirt, 2017 The Exorcist, 1973 Femme Fatale, 2002 (HBO) Fool’s Gold, 2008 Get Carter, 1971 Godzilla: King Of The Monsters, 2019 (HBO) Godzilla Vs. Kong , 2021 Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, 2011 The Green Mile, 1999 Grumpier Old Men, 1995 Grumpy Old Men, 1993 The Hangover Part II, 2011 (HBO) A Hidden Life, 2019 (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes II, 2007 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hills Have Eyes, 2006 (Extended Version) (HBO) The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012 Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies, The, 2014 Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug, The, 2013 How The West Was Won, 1962 I Am Sam, 2002 The Invisible Man, 2020 (HBO) Jojo Rabbit, 2019 (HBO) Jonny Quest, 1964 Josie And The Pussycats In Outer Space, 1972 Josie And The Pussycats, 1970 Just Mercy, 2019 (HBO) The Looney Tunes Show, 2011 Looney Tunes: Back In Action, 2003 Lying And Stealing, 2019 (HBO) Ma, 2019 (HBO) The Man Who Would Be King, 1975 Marvin’s Room, 1996 (HBO) Mildred Pierce, 1945 Mister Roberts, 1955 My Blue Heaven, 1990 My Dog Skip, 2000 My Favorite Year, 1982 National Lampoon’s European Vacation, 1985 National Lampoon’s Vacation, 1983 The Neverending Story, 1984 New Jack City, 1991 New Looney Tunes, 2015 New York Minute, 2004 Of Mice And Men, 1992 (HBO) Open Water 2: Adrift, 2006 (HBO) Open Water, 2004 (HBO) Paddington Bear, 1989 Patriots Day, 2016 Presumed Innocent, 1990 Pride And Prejudice, 1940 Private Benjamin, 1980 Red Tails, 2012 (HBO) Reversal Of Fortune, 1990 Rio Bravo, 1959 Rise Of The Guardians, 2012 (HBO) School Of Rock, 2003 (HBO) Scooby-Doo And Scrappy-Doo, 1981 The Scooby-Doo Show, 1976 Scooby-Doo Where Are You!, 1969 The Secret Garden, 1993 She’s All That, 1999 Snakes On A Plane, 2006 Son Of The Mask, 2005 Space Cowboys, 2000 Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries, 1995 Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, 2005 Tom And Jerry (Classic), 1967 Tower Heist, 2011 (HBO) Under Siege, 1992 Viva Las Vegas, 1964 We Bought A Zoo, 2011 (HBO) What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, 1962 (HBO) Where The Wild Things Are, 2009 The Wild Bunch, 1969 The Wind And The Lion, 1975 The Yogi Bear Show, 1988

The post HBO Max New Releases: April 2021 appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3u65prI

[haikyuu-scenarios-drabbles]

anonymous asked:  How would you feel about an Avatar AU? I’d love to see what element, or if a character is a non-bender, you feel would match your favourite characters in HQ!

oh-HO. i am unsure if you know that Avatar is one of my all-time favorite shows so when i saw this ask i was pumped!!! without further ado: i finally had some inspiration. i took this a bit farther than just my fav characters (i did as many as i could think of) and although i say in my rules i don’t do hc’s i felt this ask was best answered in that format so i did my best! i hope you enjoy 😁 im nervous as hell about headcanons 😬 some i have reasons for (serious or funny) and others i just...have a feeling 

special shoutout to my discord fam that i love so dearly and especially to @animelake13 and @justoverseas for helping me out 💕💕

Karasuno:

Daichi:

Alright with those thighs and that dependability?? Earthbender through and through

He is a rock solid, all-around player that holds Karasuno all together

he is their BASE, stable as fuck

he didn’t get those thighs from nothing he got them kicking around some boulders

didnt get those arms from nothing either, punching rocks out of mountainsides

Suga:

Waterbender for sure

Hello? Mr. Refreshing

Very calm and level-headed, but like Katara: DO NOT. FUCK WITH HIM.

He’ll fuck you up

again like Katara, mom friend, supporting the whole team, caring a lot about them and getting ready to fight and ready to jump in and help at a moments notice

Asahi: (Thanks Louie!)

ok so this boy was hard to decide bc, he’s a nervous bean but also the motherfuckin ace so he ain’t playin around

so i decided on earthbender because, he’s a big boi; a powerful and all-around player that has the respect of his teammates

and although he’s nervous, so maybe he doesn’t use earthbending to the extent of other benders but when he needs to, he will

and when he does it has impact and he is a pretty strong earthbender to boot

he can move fucking mountains when he wants to

member of the white lotus bc he only uses his immense power when he absolutely has to

noya: “asahi!! show us your bending”

asahi: “oh im not much of a bender”

MOVES A CONTINENT

Noya:

While my first instinct was firebender

the more i thought about it the more airbender made sense

air is the element of freedom and Noya is the definition of wild and free

not only that but his position too! airbending is almost purely defensive

sounds like our guardian diety to me

also can u imagine

Noya and Hinata racing like maniacs on air scooters

Daichi throwing up barriers all over the place to stop them but they just nyoom around them like obstacles

airbending is all about circles too and roooooolllliiiinnnng (hehe) thunder!!!

Tanaka:

alrighty well here is Karasuno’s firebender

Firebending is known for its intense and aggressive attacking style and literally

Tanaka yells like a maniac anytime he goes in for a spike

and firebenders can be hotheaded (dont have to be, Iroh for example) BUT say anything about Kiyoko, Karasuno or really anything and he’s ready to throw down

it might be all talk but he still gets fucking triggered

he fires up two flames in his palms and makes that face “ehhh what did you say about our lovely Kiyoko-san?!?”

Enno:

airbender

he has such patience and probably mediates or something 

or else he’d go crazy from Tanaka and Noya doing stupid airbender/firebender shit and burning down the entire town 

deals it out when he needs to, sometimes blowing Tanaka and Noya to opposite sides of the room and pinning them there until they calm the fuck down

anytime Tanaka gets too heated, Enno just shows up and blows out his fire 

Hinata:

ok so i kinda spoiled earlier

but airbender

i know airbending is defensive and Hinata sucks at that aspect, but his personality man, airbender all the way

again imagine him and Noya zooming on air scooters around

they would be a MENANCE

but also in the same sense, airbending is all about finding a way around the “normal” way of fighting (they refuse to harm anything is what i mean)

Hinata had to find his own way of fighting in volleyball and yeah…airbender  

possibly bc he’s a bit of an airhead too  

Kageyama:

WATERBENDER BUT WITH BLOODBENDING BACKGROUND

ok hear me out

he used to want to control people and make them do what he wants, otherwise get rid of them bc they’re useless and who needs ‘em

but then he meets this stupid, bounce off the walls, airbender who he doesn’t need to control bc this kid already does what he couldnt find in anyone else

and he slowly learns to stop using bloodbending, sometimes slips and lapses, but for the most part has left that part of him behind

also water is the element of change and Kageyama certainly goes through a major change in character throughout Haikyuu

everytime Hina and him fight, they make a snowstorm that nobody can stop and it pisses Tsukki off bc he can’t do anything about it

Tsukki: (props to Lake for this one)

tsukki why are you an enigma

nonbender and is a sword master 

with his ability to analyze and control, he would heckin destroy 

sword fights are a lot about watching your opponent and being able to make a quick decision to block or counter attack 

he can definitely make decisions at the drop of a hat and his strategies work and work well 

Yamaguchi:

THIS BOY

IS A WATERBENDER BUT SPECIALIZES IN HEALING

when Karasuno needs him most!!! he’s there!! ready to help and get his team back on his feet, in this sense by healing them

and also like Suga, mirroring Katara, don’t fuck with him. especially when it comes to Tsukki

AGAIN like Katara/Suga, mom friend, there to support all the time and bust in and help when needed

More teams under the cut!

Aoba Johsai:

Oikawa:

so there’s a bit of a trend here i see

but Oikawa would also be a waterbender, i guess it’s a setter thing

water is the element of change and Oikawa adjusts his setting style and approach for each of his team members to bring out the best of them

waterbenders let their defense become their offense turning their opponents own forces against them which i think fits Oikawa to a T

can make ice spikes he can throw long distances with scary accurate precision

like, one can just zip past your ear, and you dont see him anywhere where tf is he?!

Iwaizumi: 

i couldn’t decide between firebender and earthbender

so i went with the lovely mix, lavabender 

just like Toph, Iwa shows his affection through some sort of violence, but thats just cause he cares a lot

oikawa has mastered the art of distinguishing flaming hunks of smoldering rock thrown at his face

also stubborn unmoving like a rock

and when he gets heated, he is fired up

and finally, arms. where did he get ‘em? throwing boulders around. 

Shiratorizawa:

Ushijima:

metalbender, bc he’s definitely an earth bender but there’s something special about him

he’s a little dense (ok maybe not a little)

Earthbenders are generally muscular, tough and direct AND HELLO. thats Ushijima in a nutshell 

Tendou:

our guess monster is definitely a non-bender

like ty lee specializes in chi-blocking 

he can disrupt someones chi pretty easily making them completely helpless 

sometimes he does it to be funny 

like make Ushi’s right arm useless for a day 

and Ushi is like “Tendou. I don’t use that arm anyways.” 

“i knoooooooow Wakatoshi thats the point!”

which for some reason Tendou thinks is hilarious cause now he really cant use it 

Semi:

firebender

mainly bc of his hotheaded and competitive behavior 

his desire to show his abilities in his words is “uncontainable” and that kind of made me think of Azula 

wants to show off and be the best 

Shirabu:

so although Shirabu is also extremely hot-headed, he hits me as a waterbender too 

maybe just because every single setter so far has been a waterbender but its just my gut feeling 🤷

Nekoma:

Kuroo:

firebender but can lightning bend

dont ask me why it just seems right

he has the concentration and flow it takes to lightning bend, i mean he has that whole speech he gives to his team before every game 

“We're like the blood in our veins. We must flow without stopping. Keep the oxygen moving and your mind working.” 

and while this may lead to possibly thinking he could be a waterbender, he uses his knack for fluid motion and deceptive strength for a different purpose

not only can he lightning bend, he can redirect lightning which takes an immense amount of skill and is drawn from waterbending techniques

maybe its also the hair cause it looks like he got hit by lightning

Kenma:

ill be honest, i dont think Kenma would be a bender

what he would be ilike is Sokka, super smart, the strategizer, the man with the plan

who people look to for the next step, the brain of the operation

and i dont think he’d necessarily have a speciality besides overwhelming ability to observe and make decisions

so basically…he’d be the same LOL

Yaku:

earthbender

being small (dont kick me Yaku) means nothing (uhh have you seen Toph?)

super dependable and not gunna take anyone’s shit

Yamamoto:

Tanaka’s counterpart

his homeboy

his fellow firebender

both ready to throwdown at a moments notice

Fukurodani: (wow i suck i dont know anyone well enough but these two)

Bokuto:

did someone say airbender??

i just keep imagining he was the one to teach Hinata the air scooter and they fuckin zoom around while Bokuto is hollering at the top of his lungs

his hair already looks winblown, like he just stepped off his glider and doesn’t bother to fix it

also im cackling bc airbenders prefer evasive manuevers and…i keep thinking about that time he ran away from a block and Akaashi called him out for it

Akaashi: (ily Lake for helping)

so apparently setters are waterbenders

bc this boy is definitely one

he has nice fingers (weird i know) but i can see him just making these beautiful hand motions to bend water and hnngg yes

ok but in a more real way, waterbenders have strong fluid motion and understand those around them, they believe in very strong connections between individuals 

so even when Bo is out of the game, Fukurodani doesn’t fall apart because they have strong connections and can survive without him 

[autisticsupervillain]

It's Complete Monster Throwdown!

The show where we take two Pure Evil Monsters and make them kill each other!

This Week's Monsters...

Darkseid vs YHVH!

Darkseid:

Darkseid is the ultimate embodiment of tyranny and evil within the DC Multiverse, the ruler of Apokalypse, and the cruelest of the New Gods. Beginning his fall to evil by murdering his mother, Darkseid keeps his planet held in the grip of fear, brutally punishing even his family members for the slightest failure or push back. With his cruelty ranging from petty to grand scales on a whim, Darkseid has mind controlled Superman and Big Barda into raping each other, enslaved all of Earth 2 to use it as a living battery, destroyed countless entire universes by himself, murdered his own son Orion, and sending Batman back in time as a living time bomb to destroy the Multiverse. As a being that transcends time, Darkseid remains the same tyrant he always across all reboots and continues his search for the Anti-Life Equation to destroy all free will in existence. Even to his bitter end, Darkseid vows to take reality down with him, letting his true form's body fall down atop the multiverse as a spiteful last gesture to make reality die with him.

YHVH:

YHVH, The Great Will, is the physical embodiment of Law and Order, as well as one of the cruelest incarnations of the Christian Lord Almighty in fiction. Kicking the series off by manipulating humanity into nuclear armageddon in the first game before rebuilding civilization into a cult that worships His name. Deciding this still isn't enough worship for Him, God decides to destroy the planet anyways, turning even His most loyal servants against Him in disgust. As the leader of the Law faction, YHVH orders countless atrocities across countless universes, from manipulating the rise of near dictator Masayoshi Shido and attempting to enslave the will of the entire Persona timeline as Yaldabaoth to erasing entire universes from existence and forcing their survivors to fight to the death to create a new one as Kagutsuchi. Known to erase even universes bent to His will for not worshipping Him enough, YHVH has trapped countless universes in eternal war with His forces, returning from death time and again through humanity's belief in Him and vowing to bring an eternity of suffering on every hero He faces for daring to defy Him.

Conditions:

True Form Darkseid vs True Self YHVH.

Scenario:

YHVH wants to conquer the DC Multiverse. Darkseid called dibs.

[eggoreviews]

My Top 15 Bosses in Games

Bosses are fun and great, most of the time. And often, they can make or break a game for me, which means my favourite games often have the most entertaining, impactful boss battles with high emotional stakes or just pure spectacle. Because I couldn’t pick just 10, here’s my top 15 bosses that really left a mark on me. Enjoy!

This list is probably gonna be a little weird, because it’s purely my opinion. Also, spoilers below for all the games I mention.

15. Donkey Kong (Super Mario Odyssey)

Admittedly, this is stretching the definition of the term ‘boss’, but if DK from back in the 80s can be counted as a boss, then so can this. For me, this was the best moment in all of Odyssey, which in itself seemed to be a love letter to the legacy of both 2D and 3D Mario. This retro throwback, complete with the classic 2D run-and-jump platforming from the original Donkey Kong, is amazing with the huge Metro Kingdom festival in the background and the soaring Jump Up, Superstar accompanying it. This seamless marrying of old and new proved to be my favourite part of this game, and made Odyssey one of my favourite platformers in general.

14. Void Termina (Kirby Star Allies)

I know this is a really unpopular opinion, but I personally loved Kirby Star Allies for a lot of reasons. I loved the graphics, the characters, the smooth, simple and fun gameplay, how polished and unique each section of the game was, not least the huge space section at the game’s conclusion and of course the free updates adding a wealth of new content and characters. And at the very end, you take on this thing, Void Termina, in a massive space arena. Above everything else, this is just dizzy, colourful fun and is a great culmination of everything the game’s been building up to since the first level. You spend the fight switching between firing wildly at Void Termina from your rainbow ship thing and fighting parts of the monster from the inside. As I’ve said, this made for a satisfying conclusion to an amazing platformer for me and more than earns its spot on my list.

13. Mirelurk Queen (Fallout 4)

I remember the pure shock I felt for a hot second the moment the Mirelurk Queen decided to rear its head for the first time. For the record, I’m talking specifically about the Queen that shows up when taking the Castle for the Minutemen. Seeing this hulking thing looming even above the castle walls is something that genuinely intimidated me, especially as early into my playthrough as I was, and it took a lot of my supplies (and a lot of attempts) to finally pump enough bullets into it to kill it. The frantic panic of sprinting around the ruins of the Castle trying to avoid the giant Mirelurk’s blasts of acid and keeping enough distance to stay safe balanced a good amount of difficulty with spectacle and stayed with me long after I put the game down.

12. Griffin (The Witcher III: Wild Hunt)

I’ve made it clear on my blog before that I didn’t have a standout experience with The Witcher III as a whole, but to say it didn’t have some spectacular moments is pretty much an insult. In particular, Geralt’s first throwdown with the massive griffin terrorising White Orchard was a brilliantly intense and strategic fight that greatly utilised the game’s smooth combat system and made full use of Geralt’s many abilities. I find that the game really shone most of all while in combat, maintaining a great level of intensity with balanced difficulty and a soaring soundtrack that always makes the battle experience even more memorable. Plus, look how awesome this thing looks.

11. El Luchador (Rayman Legends)

The end boss of a world in my favourite platformer of all time based entirely on the Mexican tradition of the Day of the Dead, this particular boss fight encapsulates everything I adore about this game. Fun, tight platforming, colourful and memorable design, a great soundtrack and controls that function perfectly. You spend this boss fight finding new and creative ways to bounce on this giant wrestler’s head in front of an audience of cheering skeletons as the manic soundtrack intensifies with each round of the fight. This fight, and this entire game, combines fun and creativity masterfully and I’d urge basically anyone to play it.

10. The Archdemon (Dragon Age: Origins)

Part of what makes the climactic battle with the Archdemon so memorable is how perfectly the game pulls off the intense build-up that lasts the entire plot and then still delivers an epic payoff. The Archdemon is almost straight away set up as a genuine threat that looms over everything you do in Origins and the success of your eventual showdown with the Archdemon is based entirely on your strategies and choices throughout the game. Who you manage to recruit, what races you have fighting on your side and, most importantly, which companions you take with you into the finale will all have a huge impact on your fight. And oh boy, the Archdemon is just as hulking and terrifying when you finally get to take him on. This fight is probably the most universally recognised great on my list and still stands out as one of the best RPG finales to date.

9. Marguerite (Resident Evil VII: Biohazard)

Resident Evil 7 is a truly terrifying, if fairly brief, foray into horror that Capcom haven’t quite managed since the series’ fourth entry. And I felt that the main fight with the Baker family’s deranged mother Marguerite deserves a place on this list for the raw terror it creates alone. Just when you think you’re getting used to the horrors of the Baker estate, the game ushers you into a claustrophobic greenhouse and locks the door behind you. After a jumpscare that will make you lose your shit, you’ve got to somehow dispatch this horrifying, unhinged bug woman who’s screaming obscenities and crawling on the walls and ceilings to pounce on you and spawning endless poisonous insects from the weird egg sac between her legs. As if that wasn’t awful enough, most of the time, you don’t even know where the hell she is, as she has a rather unsavory habit of crawling off into little alcoves and into walls, out of your sight, so you’re forced to frantically search around in the darkness in an attempt to spot her before she jumps on you. No other boss fight has elicited this kind of fear from me, so on that merit alone, it’s earned its spot.

8. Daud (Dishonored)

The climactic clash with the man that killed your character’s love interest, the empress, and was directly involved in framing you for her murder is just as brilliantly satisfying as you’d expect. For the first time in the game, the protector turned assassin Corvo is finally forced to take on someone who can wield the same supernatural powers he can, which makes a battle with high emotional stakes that really allows you to see the glaring similarities between Corvo and Daud. On top of this, with Daud being voiced by Michael Madsen, his provocative, yet thoughtful dialogue throughout the battle makes you think while you fight and gives you a much deeper insight into Daud’s character and helps you decide whether you’ll choose to show him mercy or not, especially during his eloquent plea for mercy at the fight’s end. As for the fight itself, it’s fast-paced and intense, while encouraging you to make full use of Corvo’s arsenal of weapons and powers to beat him back. But most impressive is the sheer difference in experience depending on whether you’ve chosen the path of merciful low chaos or murderous high chaos throughout the game, with Daud in low chaos being much more willing to offer a fair fight rather than sending his goons out after you. In a game full of changes to the world and story depending on your choices, some huge and some extremely subtle, this fight with the empress’ assassin is a truly standout moment in a brilliant game. Oh, and if you end up playing the DLCs where you take control of Daud, another emotional layer is added when you realise just how much Daud has done to save the empress’ daughter, even when on the surface he seems to be just another of Dishonored’s many despicable villains.

7. Stained Glass Demon (MediEvil: Resurrection)

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge MediEvil fan, specifically the oddly maligned PSP version that I personally think is amazing. For me, this charmingly gothic action platformer has a hell of a lot of high points, but the fight early on the game with the Stained Glass Demon in particular is as cool as it sounds. The game totally embraces its gothic atmosphere in this section, with the protagonist Sir Daniel Fortesque being trapped within a textbook creepy mausoleum full of undead things, and something in the giant stained glass window that seems to be very alive. Eventually fighting this thing really tests you on what you’ve learned up to this point, meaning that full use of the weapons you’ve gathered is basically essential if you want to beat this weird demon that uses glass as its main attack. By merit of how uniquely amazing this boss fight is, as well as the game it hails from, this particular demon is one of my absolute favourite boss fights.

6. David (The Last of Us)

While this isn’t a boss fight in the traditional sense, it is a gritty, tense face off with the game’s only real central villain. You play as the hardened but still terrified Ellie as you carefully navigate a restaurant while David searches for you with very murderous intent, his monologues only serving to make the experience even more chilling. With each strategic hit you manage to land, David becomes more and more enraged, searching the restaurant with more fervor with each hit you deal, eventually setting the building on fire. The tension that’s been building through the whole encounter reaches boiling point as you watch the fire slowly begin to envelop the whole room and Ellie finally catches him offguard long enough to brutally kill the deranged man with his own machete. Everybody knows how amazing this game is, and this unorthodox fight in particular stood out as a great character display and a masterclass in building tension, to only then be immediately followed by Joel and Ellie’s emotional reunion that definitely tugs at your emotions. The Last of Us has always been a must-play and this moment serves as one of many reminders that it definitely still is.

5. Xaldin (Kingdom Hearts II)

Probably the hardest boss fight on this list and also that I’ve ever had to do in general (yes that means I’ve never played Dark Souls), I initially wrote this whole fight off as total bullshit, as I figured there was no way outside of blind luck to finish this with any sort of skill. And admittedly, luck is a factor here, with Xaldin’s constant and dizzying attacks taking a hell of a long time to work out the patterns for than most other fights in the game. He’s pretty much constantly in your face, knocking off huge chunks of your health bar in one go, so it quickly becomes a mad dash for survival as you run around the castle courtyard trying desperately to find an opening. One thing I’ve always loved about Kingdom Hearts, despite how needlessly complicated most of its entire concept is, is the consistently smooth, fun combat system, that allows for many different styles of play and rewards experimentation with different abilities and magic. Nowhere does this come out more in one of the game’s many creative boss fights, most notably for me the clash with this particular member of Organization 13.

4. Morag (Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies)

This is probably my weirdest pick on the list, as in reality Morag is a fairly inconsequential boss fight in a game that most people regard as one of the worst in the Dragon Quest series. But DQ9 is one of my absolute favourite games of all time, and this boss fight in particular is tied to one of the most emotionally charged storylines I’ve experienced in an RPG. Towards the start of the game, you’re tasked with killing the Wight Knight, a supposedly evil knight that’s been terrorising a local town, specifically the town’s princess. Upon beating him, you discover that he was cursed by the witch Morag to remain with her in the ruined town of Brigadoom after falling in love with him. The princess that the knight had fallen for died in the intervening 500 years, leading his grief to cloud his judgment and he began to pursue the princess of a different town that looked almost exactly like her. In order to put his spirit to rest, the princess of the town realises who and what the knight is, and comes to Brigadoom to give him the dance he never got to have with the woman he knew 500 years ago. Okay, might be a little cliche, but this really oofed me and I thought this whole plotline was brilliantly executed, much like every other emotional moment that this game is packed with. As a whole, this boss fight, while inconsequential, is intrinsically linked to a heavily emotional subplot and is a hidden gem in an often overlooked, but amazing RPG.

3. Goro Akechi (Persona 5)

I almost gave this spot to the ever satisfying takedown of Kamoshida, but this fight just beats him out for pure emotional stakes alone. Goro Akechi is a tragic character who was horribly mistreated throughout much of his life, but at some point in his life, he made a conscious choice to become what he was. While the phantom thieves sympathise with his plight and the people that aided in him becoming the murderer that he was, they know they can’t get through to him and their only choice is to fight him off. The boss fight itself is suitably epic, with the now clearly unhinged Akechi throwing his full might at your party, but there’s still a part of you that doesn’t want to keep fighting. And that’s what makes this whole section so interesting, as your main character begins to understand that Akechi in reality is a twisted reflection of the thieves and what they could very easily become should they lose their way. And Akechi’s eventual realisation that this is the case then prompts him to make the ultimate sacrifice in the end, as his loyalties waver when he realises his father never planned to keep him around anyway. There’s a lot to unpack in this particular fight and has a lot more emotional layering to it than most other fights in the game, and it’s very rare to say that about any boss fight. Persona 5 is a spectacular experience from start to end and the effect Akechi’s final stand had was one of its most memorable moments.

2. Asriel Dreemurr (Undertale)

A once underrated indie gem that has since basically become a gaming icon in the years since, how much I absolutely love Undertale still hasn’t wavered. And in a game with a wonderfully creative combat system and therefore full of great bosses, the pacifist route’s final fight takes the crown for me. It’s the perfect culmination of everything you’ve experienced throughout Undertale, giving you a brilliant soundtrack and the opportunity to save each and everyone of the friends you’ve made along the way, followed by Asriel himself. The story of Asriel and the first human who fell into the underground is a deeply tragic one, and Asriel himself is a character stricken with grief that has distorted into anger and an obsessive desire to wield godlike power and all of this combines to make you really feel for who you’re fighting, which makes it all the more satisfying to help him come to his senses at the very end. This incredibly intense, but endlessly satisfying battle ends off with an emotional sequence of the real Asriel realising the hate in his actions and redeeming his actions by opening the barrier while he’s still himself to let monsters go free. This ending gets me everytime and there’s some wonderful themes buried in here somewhere, so the significance of this particular character and his final showdown can’t be understated.

Before I cry talking about my top pick, here’s (a lot) more I really love:

Master Hand (Super Smash Bros. series)

Lord Fredrik (Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze)

Yuga (The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds)

Yellow Devil (Mega Man)

Gohma (The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time)

Delilah Copperspoon (Dishonored 2)

Xion (Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days)

Bebuzzu (Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales)

Zinyak (Saints Row IV)

Alduin (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim)

Bowser (Super Mario Bros. 3)

1. Calamity Ganon/Dark Beast Ganon (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild)

It probably stands to reason that my favourite boss fight came out of my favourite game. Much like the rest of Breath of the Wild, this finale left a huge impact on me and I absolutely adored all of it. After fighting your way through the ruined Hyrule Castle (which, as a sidenote, is also awesome), you finally see the horrible monstrosity you’ve been building up to fighting for the entire game and it looks as freaky as it should. Before the fight kicks off, each champion you’ve rescued makes a cameo to help you out and then, you’ve got to fend for yourself. This spectacular boss fight does everything a boss should do; it tests you on everything you’ve learned and gathered throughout the entire game, maintains a great level of emotional stakes and, most importantly, gives you a fitting finale to arguably the best adventure game ever made. Everything is topped off with a horseback battle with a giant creature form of Ganon that covers the whole of Hyrule Field (which at that point, honestly does intimidate you) in one final push to seal Ganon away. You truly feel that this is what your grand adventure has been leading up to and the sense of genuine accomplishment you feel when Ganon falls and Link finally reunites with Zelda in real life after spending all this time regaining his treasured memories of her combines that sense of accomplishment with vast emotional depth. Everything about Breath of the Wild absolutely blew me away and this wonderful ending really could not have been better. The long awaited final battle against Ganon, after experiencing everything that happened to Link and the champions after losing so tragically to Ganon a century ago, as well as the brilliantly handled subtle romance between Link and Zelda, makes this my absolute favourite boss fight, and game ending in general, of all time.

So that’s my list! Hope you agreed with at least some of my picks, or at the very least could sort of see where I was coming from. Got any great boss fights of your own that top your list? Let me know! And big thank you for reading. Have a gr8 day.

[incorrectsmashbrosquotes]

how ironic would it be if it was Link using the full triforce to grant Dark Samus her ultimate desire rather than Ganondorf's lies (the pic i sent) and she turns on Ganondorf and pulls Link into a hug, smothering him in her chest while Bayonetta has to hold Samus back.

Dr. Mario spread his arms out, blocking him from leaving the infirmary. “No. You Only woke up an hour ago. You are in no state to do fighting of any kind.” said the doctor sternly.

Link, who was adjusting his bracers, glanced up at him. “You know that T-Posing is a dead meme right?” he asked.

“Dammnit Link!” snapped Dr. Mario, storming forward. “This is serious! You’ve only just recovered from extreme Dark Phazon Poisoning! I know you’re worried about Samus, but she’s a big girl. She can take care of herself.” he declared.

Link shook his head. “That’s not what this is about. She’s about to make a huge mistake. I need to help both of them.” he said, slinging his shield over his shoulder. He then turned to face Dr. Mario. “So, are you gonna get out of my way, or do I have to get serious?” he asked, steel in his voice.

Dr. Mario gave a long sigh. “I can’t keep you here. You know I can’t. But I’m begging you Link. You’re not ready.”

Link nodded and pushed past him. “I know Doc. But no one ever is.” he said, heading towards the door.

———————————————————————————————————–

Samus’s armored fist crashed into Dark Link’s face, sending him skidding down the street. With a banshee-like scream of fury, Dark Samus made to swoop in on her, but was blocked b Pikachu’s Iron Tail.

The throwdown going down in New Donk City was turning into the stuff of legends as Samus, and Pikachu battled the dark reflections of their friends. Local law enforcement had already evacuated the area, and in Samus’s humble opinion things like buildings and cars were nice and all, but were inconvenient when it came to vengeance.

Speaking of, Dark Samus wrenched the door off of a large pickup and hurled it at Samus. Samus dodged, countering with a blast at Dark Samus. It was, however, not to be, as Dark Link deflected it with his shield.

“Great.” she growled to herself. “Supervillains with synergy. My favorite. Why can’t they all go back to hating each other?”

“Pika-pi!” offered Pikachu.

“You’re right bud. Divide and conquer.” she said with a grin. “You take my boyfriend’s less hot clone.”

“Hey!” said Dark Link, offended.

“I’ll go for the bitch.” said Samus, glaring at Dark Samus from beneath her helmet.

“Pika!” cried Pikachu, and immediately charged at Dark Link, prepping to blast him.

Dark Samus charged up her suit with Dark Phazon, but Samus wasn’t going to let her get that far.

“No one messes with my idiot and gets away with it.” snarled Samus, producing her “Ace in the Hole”.

A Smash Ball.

Samus crushed it in her hand, feeling the power blast through her veins. Under her helmet she grinned ferally. This… she never got tired of it. The power of the Smash Bros. Her family’s power.

“Au re-fucking-voir bitch!” she cried, aiming her Zero Canon at Dark Samus. However, as she fired, something strange happened. An unknown figure slammed into her side, sending her flying, and her Zero Canon went way off course. It did, however, zap an EA Office Building, so no major loss.

As her suit dissolved away, she felt the stranger on top of her, pinning her down. Except… it wasn’t a stranger.

“Link?” she asked, to bewildered to be angry.

Her boyfriend had a wild look in his eyes. “Samus. Look, I know you’re angry, but I’m begging you to trust me. Please. She doesn’t have to be our enemy.” he said.

Oh, now that got her temper flaring. “What? What?! Do you know what that bitch has done!? What she is?!” she snarled.

Link nodded. “Yes. When she hit me with the Dark Phazon… I saw. I saw through her eyes. Samus, she doesn’t know any better. She’s like a child that never grew up. She can’t do good because she has no concept of it But I can help her. I know I can.” he said, practically begging.

“She’s a monster!” yelled Samus,

“Only because she doesn’t know how not to be one!” implored Link. “Please, Samus. One chance. That’s all I’m asking. If it doesn’t work, we’ll do things your way. But just let me try. Please, you’ve got to let me try.” he begged. “But… I know how much she’s hurt you. And if you don’t think she deserves that chance, then I’ll stand down.” he said. And with that he let her go and took a step backward.

Samus stared at him for a long time, never breaking eye-contact as she stood. Green eyes met blue as she saw the desperation in her. And it occurred to her that this was from Dark Samus, not Link. This was her desperation he was feeling. He fear. Her anger.

Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. “You are such an idiot.” she said after breaking the contact. But after a moment she backed away. “If she tries anything, I’m ending the bitch.”

Link nodded and hopped over the rubble that had been their cover. Samus looked over it to see that Dark Link was being pinned down by Fox and Falco, who Link seemed to have dragged with him. Dark Samus swung towards Link, but he held up his hands, showing he was not here to fight.

“Hi. It’s me, Link. You, uh, probably remember me.” he said gently. Dark Samus said nothing, merely leveled her arm canon at him. In response Samus reached for her pistol, but Link gave a subtle shake of his hand, teeling her to stand down.  

“Trust your man dearie.” said Bayonetta, appearing beside her. Samus jumped and glanced at the witch who smiled at her. “Yes, I’ve been dragged into this too. But he’s right. He can help her.

“Look, I know what’s wrong. all you life… you’ve been looking through a keyhole. You’ve seen the light through it, but you’ve never seen anything else.” said Link gently as he approached her. “You want to live, and you think that if you infect enough of the universe with Dark Phazon you’ll be alive. But you won’t That’s not the way.” he said.

Dark Samus said nothing, but she made no move to attack either. “Ganondorf won’t help you either.” said Link. “He’s lying. That’s what he does best. He lies, he twists, he manipulates. He’s done it to me and Zelda enough. Believe me. Whatever he promised you, whatever he offered, he will never give it to you.” said Link

“No… choice.” growled out Dark Samus. “Only chance.” she said.

“I know it feels that way, said Link, now within arm’s reach of her. “But it’s not. I can help you. Just let me.” he said. Gently, he pushed down her arm canon. She made no move to resist. He then reached forward and placed his hands on her helmet. She gave the barest perception of a nod, and Link removed it.

Samus felt like hurling when she was the unholy ruin of her dark counterpart’s face. She though she saw Fox actually vomit, and Bayonetta winced. “The poor dear.” she said quietly.

But Link didn’t flinch away instead he reached forward and touched her head with both his hands. The triforce on his palm began to glow with blinding light, brighter than the sun, ans he touched her. “Life. Given freely.” said Link.

“Mother! No!” cried Dark Link as he strained against Fox and Falco. Falco, however, pistol whipped him.

When Link pulled his hands away, Dark Samus had changed.

Her hair was a pale white, and her skin a matching shade, but in all other matters she was a spitting image of Samus. She was completely still for a moment, inhaling air through an actual mouth for the first time. She quickly shed her suit, her hands touching her face. He atual face. Not simply a construct of Phazon.

“I… I am… i am alive.” she saidquietly, tears running down her cheeks. “I am… ALIVE! I AM ALIVE!” she screamed in joy, her mind bursting with pleasure at having finally, after so long, being granted life.

“Um… should we let her know that she’s…” asked Fox, keeping himself from looking.

“Naked? No, let her enjoy the moment.” said Falco, looking down at the ground himself.

Bayonetta merely hmmed. “Well, I suppose it makes sense that she wouldn’t be wearing a Zero Suit. She’s never needed one before now.

Samus couldn’t speak. She couldn’t say anything. She could only stare in mounting mortification.

Unfortunately, Dark Samus chose that moment to wrap Link in a hug, shoving his head directly into her… assets.

“Hooray, she’s alive. Now she dies.” said Samus emotionlessly as she grabbed her pistol. Bayonetta grabbed her as she howled and thrashed, demanding that she be allowed to kill Dark Samus.

Link did not hear this. He had fainted, dead away.

[pixelgrotto]

D&D With My Bro: The Case of the Grandmotherly Ghost

Last weekend my brother and I concluded our second homebrew Dungeons & Dragons campaign starring Lester LeFoe and Claudia Copperhoof, two private detectives from Tartec, a setting that my bro created for his fantasy series The Thirteenth Hour. I called it The Case of the Grandmotherly Ghost, and it was quite different in scope from its predecessor, The Case of the Almost Assassination. That first adventure was based entirely within a city and focused on our heroes preventing a political assassination, and it was much more of a Holmesian urban investigation inspired by the Professor Layton and Ace Attorney games. In contrast, the theme of this second campaign was “the great outdoors,” and I wanted to create something that gave me an excuse to use a more traditional D&D framework - that of adventurers going to a quiet village and solving problems for townsfolk. You can watch the whole adventure on YouTube here (along with our first), and I’ll highlight a few of my influences in this post, since I think it might be an interesting thought process for anyone working on their own campaign. 

The hook getting Lester and Claudia to leave the capital city was the titular “grandmotherly ghost” haunting Aquaria, a small farming community. It turned out that the ghost was actually the former headmistress of the town orphanage, and she was simply trying to warn residents that the new orphanage master was a shady fellow with magic at his disposal who had secretly been brainwashing children and selling them to the barbarians of the Wild Lands, an uncharted grasslands region full of deadly beasts. And despite their seeming acceptance of slavery, the barbarians weren’t exactly bad guys either - they were more like a disenfranchised minority trying to maintain a tenuous peace with the Tartec king while fighting against a vicious sea serpent named Ungar who had recently invaded their turf. The only reason they needed the kids was to power an old steampunk robot known as the Clockwork Dragon which was the only thing capable of killing Ungar, and this gizmo had been created by a quirky wizard who loved children and made constructs that could only be used by orphans. 

So in other words, there were a whole lot of twists in the plot, which started as a ghost hunt in a village but quickly ballooned into a full-out exploration of the Wild Lands and the uncovering of a conspiracy. I’ve always felt that small, so-called “idyllic” towns actually hide a lot of creepy secrets behind an illusion of peace, and my character, Claudia, even comments on this at one point, talking about how cities are places where people are more likely to stab you in the open, but little villages are places where people are more likely to stab you in your sleep. Stephen King, one of my favorite authors, also subscribes to this notion, which is why he sets most of his works in weird Maine suburbs rather than cities. In interviews for Salem’s Lot, his book about vampires infesting a town, he actually mentions that if Dracula came back in this day and age and tried to take over New York City, he’d probably get run over by a car before making it very far. But a sleepy village in the middle of nowhere? He’d conquer that sort of place slowly but surely, and that’s the reasoning I kept remembering while designing both the town of Aquaria and Albertus Alright, the new orphanage master and probably the only real “villain” in our campaign, aside from Ungar the sea serpent herself. 

Speaking of villains, I mentioned earlier that the barbarians who play such a large role in this story weren’t exactly bad guys. This was an important thing that I wanted to develop, because real life rarely has the mustache-twirling baddies of fiction - just people who are often radically intent on accomplishing their goals. Around the time when I was brainstorming this adventure, I was reading Scalped, which is a great comic series by Jason Aaron and R. M. Guéra about life on a South Dakota Native American reservation. It highlights the crime, corruption, poverty and preservation of cultural identity that many of these reservations grapple with, and I found this to be inspiring stuff when designing the barbarians and their Wild Land home. I basically tried to portray them as natives who’d been abused and quarantined off in a tiny area by a larger, more powerful government, which is frankly what’s happened to most aboriginal peoples across the globe, not just in the United States. Within the fantasy setting of the campaign, the big government power was the Tartec empire of King Darian IV, and there was a small segment of the barbarians - the Clawrunner tribe - who resented this oppression and ended up getting their hands on the Clockwork Dragon, a weapon that could’ve given them the upper hand against the Tartec forces if they’d wanted to use it in such a way. Luckily, they were more focused on killing the sea serpent razing their homeland, and Lester and Claudia essentially served as neutral go-betweens, encouraging them to not engage in terrorism or cause a war that would’ve quickly gotten out of hand. If only real life could have such quick ‘n easy resolutions!

On the topic of sea serpents and mecha dragons, one of the other main tropes of traditional D&D that I wanted to inject into this quest was that of the monster. Aside from a crocodile and some snakes in the sewers, the last campaign I’d played through with my brother had mostly featured human enemies, simply because there aren’t many deadly creatures to be found within a city. (Though you could probably argue that humans are the worst monsters of all!) Venturing into the wilderness gave me the excuse to go through the Monster Manual and pull out some of the beasties that make tabletop RPGs fun, though since my brother’s world isn’t the sort of place that has humanoids like orcs, goblinkin or mind flayers, I decided to focus on the more animal-esque D&D creatures that are naturally found in forests and grasslands - stuff like the owlbear (one of my faves), the griffon, the bulette and a few mutated, more powerful versions of mammals found in our world, like rhinos and wolves. When I was designing the Wild Lands section of the adventure I also became aware of the Baby Bestiary - a wonderful series of third party D&D supplements by Metal Weave Games that provides details on younger versions of classic creatures - and I was so enamored of the concept that I wrote a turning point where Lester and Claudia can choose to adopt either an infant griffon or an infant owlbear. My brother went with the griffon, naming it Sparky, and it’ll hopefully grown to be a strong companion (Pokemon style) in future adventures. 

I had one more thing I wanted to pull off with monsters in this campaign - a throwdown in the finale between the Clockwork Dragon, which could be powered by Lester, Claudia and the orphans like a medieval Voltron, and the sea serpent Ungar. This was inspired by a phase I went through about two years ago where I watched nearly all of the Godzilla movies in a row. When I finished, I kept trying to figure out how to implement kaiju battles into a tabletop RPG, because surprisingly nobody’s really done this successfully yet, though board games like King of Tokyo have come close. I finally decided that the best way to do it would be to give relatively low level playable characters temporary control of a giant beast with high level stats. So Lester and Claudia, two seventh level characters, got to choose from abilities meant for a Challenge Rating 14 dragon, giving them access to stuff like Legendary Actions and rechargeable fire breath. Their opponent was also a high level dragon with similar capabilities, and the resulting combat went better than I expected and communicated (as best as you can in a tabletop RPG, anyway) the scale and power that comes with the best big monster fights. I’ll probably end up recycling the idea again for another D&D group - in this one DM + one player game, it was just my brother controlling all of the Clockwork Dragon’s actions, but I think it would be fun with a larger group to have one player control the movement, one control the attacks, one the Legendary Actions, etc. 

All in all, The Case of the Grandmotherly Ghost took about 11 sessions and 24 hours to complete, which is roughly on par with The Case of the Almost Assassination. 20-30 hours seems to be the amount of content that I subconsciously end up creating when I design a campaign, which is interesting, because about four years ago on this blog I wrote (in a poorly written fashion, I now find) a post about how 30-ish hours is probably my ideal length for a gaming experience. The next adventure my bro and I will be embarking upon with Lester and Claudia - The Case of the Troubled Territory - might end up hitting that mark as well, though I do plan to experiment and hopefully make it more open-ended than this past one, which checked off most of my bullet points but was slightly too linear at moments.

At any rate, now that we’ve conquered the great outdoors, the theme for the next quest will be “Arabian Nights!” Who knows what future rolls lie in store for our heroes? Expect another campaign deconstruction in…five or six months time, hopefully!

[buenosairesnews]

Brace yourself for Godzilla Vs. Kong Vs. A Cute Cat

Next month, big angry lizard Godzilla will once again face off against big angry monkey King Kong. For most of us, the prospect of watching the clash of these two skyscraper-sized monsters is exciting enough on its own. For JKK Films, though, a kaiju throwdown isn’t complete until it also features the destructive…

Read more...

[howtohero]

#067 The Press

A lot of the time superheroes end up becoming high-profile individuals. When you punch a monster through a building or spin your arms around really fast to stop a tsunami, people tend to notice. We once likened superheroes to celebrities who are complete blank slates. Simultaneously universally known and yet complete mysteries to the general public. Their Wikipedia articles are often cluttered with conflicting and unsourced information because nobody knows which pieces of info are true. This is exactly the kind of image you want to cultivate as a superhero. Part of protecting your secret identity is, essentially, constantly misleading the public and hiding any and all real, personal, information. And if you’re going to be able to do that, you need to learn how to deal with the press.

When you’re a superhero just about everything you do while in costume is going to be newsworthy. Members of the press are going to show up every time you get into a fight, every time you save a life, every time you call a press conference, it’s like they’re always there. Depending on how prominent you are in the city you operate in, there may even be a specific reporter or team of reporters that is assigned to just covering stories about you. Like the White House press corps, except you’re not constitutionally obligated to answer any of their questions. Still, I’d encourage you to develop a rapport with at least one or two reporters (your rapporters if you will). If you become somewhat friendly with a reporter they’re more likely to allow you some control of the narrative they are telling about you, and much more likely to believe you when you feed them blatant lies about your background.

Lying is an incredibly important skill for a superhero to master when dealing with the press. You should avoid giving interviews whenever you can (some good excuses for avoid interviews include “I think I accidentally left my super-stove on,” or “According to statistics reported by the FBI, a super-crime is committed every 26.3 seconds, I don’t have time to even complete this sen-,” and then just fly {or walk} away) but when a diligent reporter turns into an invasive stalker you need to give them something. And not a restraining order, we’ve already discussed how ridiculous (and potentially identity revealing, which is exactly what we’re trying to avoid here,) it’d be for a superhero to go to court. So you should prepare a fake backstory to tell reporters who ask enough times (if you tell your fake story to every single person who asks people are going to assume it’s fake. You need to make them fight for it.)

Which isn’t to say that everything you ever say to a reporter should be a lie, because it shouldn’t. The only thing you should ever lie about to the press as a superhero is personal information. If you’re asked about how you got your powers or where you’re from originally or which pizza store in Manhattan is your favorite, then you make something up or deflect the question. But for matters pertaining the activities of super-criminals or other superhero-type activities you may be involved in that affect the general public you should be completely honest and forthcoming. Superheroes require the trust of the public to operate effectively and in order to secure you that, you need to be honest. This might require you to actually go out of your way to contact the press in order to use them as a vehicle (not literally) to reach the public. If you overhear a prophecy about an upcoming apocalypse, you should tell the public about it. If you receive an email from yourself in the future that contains the details of several future supervillain attacks, you should tell the public. If you have a really bad dream that you’re certain portends something horrible, you should talk to an expert on such matters and then if they agree with your prognosis of the situation, you should tell the public.

While we recommend being on relatively good terms with members of the press we’re going to have to strongly discourage becoming romantically involved with them. In either of your identities. Definitely don’t go dating an investigative reporter in your superhero identity though. You shouldn’t even really be dating anybody in your superhero identity. Your superhero identity is strictly for saving worlds, lives, days and attending the occasional superhero hoedown throwdown which is almost certainly a thing. It is not for dating. It is especially not for dating people who are hell-bent on uncovering your secret identity so they can win a Pulitzer or become king of the newsroom or whatever. Like come on, use your head. This rule doesn’t just apply to reporters; it goes for anybody who might want to uncover your secret identity. Detectives, police officers, conspiracy theorists, literal supervillains, don’t date any of them. Especially not in your superhero identity.

As we said before, the press, even if you’re not dating them, are going to show up at a lot of superhero fights. This puts them in danger quite frequently. Be on the lookout for that. If you can, give the reporters that you frequently run into at super-battles some tips and pointers about how to protect themselves. Send the associated press dossiers about various villains who often cause media-attracting chaos. These dossiers should include the villains’ powers, usual modus operandi (that’s Latin for MO), and tips for how to get them to not murder you until a superhero can swoop in and save the day.

The press and the media are valuable, if not intrinsic, parts of society. They keep powerful people in check and keep the general public informed. You should always be helpful and cooperative when you can but not to the extent that you jeopardize your carefully cultivated secret identity. And definitely, under no circumstances, should you date a reporter, even if you are also a reporter. Even more so if you’re also a reporter. Don’t date within the office man, that just makes everything so complicated for everyone.

[gamerszone2019-blog]

10 Things to Do to Prepare for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/10-things-to-do-to-prepare-for-monster-hunter-world-iceborne/

10 Things to Do to Prepare for Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Monster Hunter: World alone has hundreds of hours of content (yes, really!) but don’t worry, you don’t have to put that much time into it to be prepared for the massive expansion, Iceborne, even though its Master Rank will be a good difficulty jump from High Rank.Now is a better time than ever to prepare since all of the Event Quests are back, too! This video is a quick look at what you should do, whether you’re new, Hunter Rank 50, or beyond. There’s a lot to cover, so if you need more details about any of it, make sure to check our comprehensive IGN Monster Hunter: World Wiki! Nearly every link in this article is to a guide, so click on anything you want more explanation for. Let’s begin!

1. Beat the Game!

Technically, rolling credits is the only thing you need to do in Monster Hunter: World to be able to access Iceborne’s storyline. If you rush, you can probably get through Monster Hunter: World’s story quests in about 40 hours, give or take. If you need help getting started, check out our Monster Hunter: World Beginner’s Guide!

But, Iceborne’s Master Rank—like previous Monster Hunter’s G-rank—s no joke. You’ll probably want to prepare more not only to shake off the cobwebs, but so the difficulty spike doesn’t feel like a brick wall. Expect the jump into Master Rank to feel similar to how it felt transitioning into High Rank from Low Rank. If you had the best Low Rank armor, you probably felt fine going into High Rank, while you likely had a tougher time if you started High Rank with early-game gear.

Make sure stock up on items so you’re prepared for quests. Here’s a list of recommended items to bring on quests in Monster Hunter: World

2. Master at Least One Weapon

Practice really does make perfect in a game like Monster Hunter: World, where skill is just about as important, if not more, as equipment. Completely master at least one weapon, two if you want to be prepared for anything! I switch based on the challenge at hand. For example, I learned the Bow because Bazelgeuse originally gave me a tough time when using my go-to, the Sword and Shield.

3. Become a True Armorsmith

Not every weapon and every playstyle goes well with just one armor set—and a set of pieces all from the same monster is rarely the best way to go. Choose Armor Skills that complement your playstyle and weapon and upgrade that armor set, and you’ll probably have a much easier time.

Personally, my favorite go-to set for Sword and Shield is built with a mix of defensive and offensive skills, like Health Boost, Evade Window, Weakness Exploit, Crit Boost, and a few more! For a support set, I run Wide-Range. You’ll want to collect Armor Decorations to help round out sets!

Try making a set to counter a specific monster if you’re having a tough time! Or, if you generally feel like you’re not doing enough damage, build for Affinity.

4. Collect Every Palico Gadget

You’ll earn Palico Gadgets by befriending the Grimalkynes in each Locale—or Gajalaka in Elder’s Recess. These are incredibly useful and can be leveled up, so get to finding Grimalkyne doodle’s to collect them all. The Palico Gadget Guide explains how to get them all.

5. Learn How Food Works

Yeah, getting the Chef’s Choice is tempting, but it’s not the best way to go. Collecting Canteen ingredients will open up a plethora of new food skills you can access for the Custom Platter. Find some skills you especially like, and save meal sets based off them. Or, at minimum, eat for the stat you need—like Elemental Resistance against Kirin. Make up for the lack of health with items like Max Potions!

If you’ve done all of your optional and delivery quests, but are still missing ingredients, that means you haven’t collected them all out in the wild. Try going on Investigations with an Upsurge on gathering spots, and gather at spots that sparkle. For example, when there’s an Upsurge: Conch Shells in the Coral Highlands, head through the small cave in the southeastern part of Sector 9 to find a spot to gather Violent Abalone, which will unlock a fish ingredient in the Resilience category. Perfect for getting a large Defense Boost and Felyne Moxie, which prevents fainting one time!

To be honest, I’ve only collected the Canteen ingredients for the skills I use a lot. I am a slacker.

6. Do Your Optional Quests!

Now we’re into the sort of, should do, but don’t really need to do category on the path to Iceborne. Every so often, an NPC will have an exclamation mark above their head, which probably means they have a quest to give out! Make sure to complete these Optional Quests (marked by a speech bubble in the quest list) to gain Canteen ingredients, hunter tools, access to new monsters, and more. And don’t forget to turn in Deliveries at the Resource Center for more important rewards as well – like the Iceproof mantle, which will obviously come in handy for Iceborne!

7. Collect Every Mantle and Booster

Note: This video is missing mantles that released after the game launched! See How to Unlock Every Mantle and Booster in Monster Hunter: World for guides for each.

Speaking of mantles, try to collect all hunter tools available which are useful for myriad reasons. One of the most useful ones—he Rocksteady Mantle—can’t be earned until you reach HR50! But, at the very least, unlock the Temporal Mantle, which grants near invulnerability for 90 seconds and only requires HR16.

First, complete the Special Assignment The Food Chain Dominator—which will unlock the Dragonproof Mantle—and then more on to the line of Special Assignments that begins with The Blazing Sun. This will also unlock the Lunastra, an Elder Dragon whose weapons are the bomb. They have Blast element (hah), skills baked into them, and decoration slots! They’re some of my very favorite weapons.

Our Deputy Reviews Editor, Tom Marks, reached this point at HR38 in 56 hours over the course of two and a half weeks—minus the tools locked behind a higher HR. You can do it too, especially if you have some help!

8. Unlock Augmentation

We’re not sure how exactly this will work in Iceborne, but Augmentation is a huge part of World’s current endgame. It involves reaching HR29 and then earning a rare Warrior’s Streamstone by completing Threat Level 2 Tempered Monster investigations. This will allow you to finally use the more common Streamstones you’ve probably collected along the way, giving you the ability to upgrade your armor’s defense even more. The Warrior’s and Hero’s Streamstones are strictly for adding special skills to your weapons, and are rare and weapon-specific.

9. Challenge Yourself

Are you still with me? Good! There are plenty of other challenges to conquer too, like the Final Fantasy XIV and Witcher 3 collaborations, which both, although greatly challenging, grant amazing rewards. Defeating Final Fantasy XIV’s Behemoth (which is no small feat (see the Behemoth Strategy Guide) will give you access to the amazing Drachen Armor. Want to cheese it? Head into the battle with just one friend and Palico equipped with the Plunderblade. Cut off the tail and break the horns (run Partbreaker), then return from the quest, and repeat.

The Witcher’s Special Assignment is solo-only, and has special side-quests that reward an Attack Jewel and more help from Gajalaka! You can also craft Witcher’s Silver Sword, an amazing SnS. You’ll have to take on the Ancient Leshen to upgrade it, which requires HR50, and is one of the most difficult fights in the game along with Extreme Behemoth. Ancient Leshen materials are also used for Zirael Dual Blades (Ciri’s weapons!).

Once you’re beyond Hunter Rank 50, you’ll then have access to the extremely challenging Event Quest-only Arch Tempered Elder Dragons and the new armor sets that come with them. If you’re going to defeat one of them, though—hunt the massive Kulve Taroth, which only requires HR16. Defeating her rewards incredible new Gold and White Gold weapons.

10. Do Event Quests

Best of all, all of these Arch Tempered Elder Dragons are around as Event Quests in Monster Hunter: World until August 29, 2019—along with most previous Event Quests. Here are the ones we recommend, listed under required Hunter Rank.

HR15 and Below:

Greeting the Gluttons

Vouchers that guarantee food skill activation

Every Hunter’s Dream

Wyvern Ignition Greatsword (it’s really good)

Triple Threat Throwdown

Armor Decorations. Wear Bandit Mantles in a full party for extra cash. Skip this if you can do HR50 quest The Greatest Jagras instead.

Wiggle Me This

The hilarious Wiggler Head

Mosswinin’ and Dinin (8/07 – 8/09 only)

For Golden Eggs, Armor Spheres, Faux Tickets for layered armor sets, and more. Note: Giant Mosswine will one-shot you, but are very weak to status effects, like stun. I had success using the Bow’s Arc Shot.

Rollin’ with the Uragaan

Armor Sphere+ and Advanced Armor Spheres

HR16

The Fury of El Dorado

Accept in the Gathering Hub for Kulve Taroth armor, tons of extra loot to sell for cash, and some of the best weapons in the game. See the Kulve Taroth Siege Guide for tips!

HR30 A Nose for an Eye / Snow and Cherry Blossoms / No Tomorrow for Usurpers

Large boost to Hunter Rank. Mainly just to get to HR50 so you can take advantage of The Greatest Jagras and The Name’s Lavasioth quests,

A Simple Task

Collect Tempered Monster tracks to unlock Tempered investigations

HR50

The Thronetaker and Relish the Moment

Sullied and Shining Streamstones

Tracking the Delivery

Collect Tempered Elder Dragon tracks to unlock Tempered Elder Dragon Investigations

The Greatest Jagras – (7/25 to 8/08) Best to farm BOXES of Armor Decorations – look at this image! This is normal!

The Name’s Lavasioth – ( 8/08 to 8/29) Also to farm boxes of Armor Decorations! Not quite as good as the Greatest Jagras though, so get to it.

Really, that’s it /s! Remember, for complete guides to everything mentioned, click on the links for helpful pages from our Monster Hunter: World: Wiki Guide! For even more game help, here are video playlists of every Monster Hunter: World Game Help stream (aka Monster Hunter Bootcamp) and Monster Hunter: World monster strategy guide videos (aka Monster of the Week) the writer of this article has done.

New Monsters in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

For more on Monster Hunter: World, check out these 9 Quality of Life Improvements in Iceborne, Gameplay and Impressions of Three New Iceborne Subspecies, and 34 New Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Impressions.

Casey DeFreitas is an Editor on the wikis team at IGN who loves monster hunting, slaying, and catching. Catch her on Twitter @ShinyCaseyD.

Source : IGN

[supermanliveson]

I’m completely fine with Oliver turning out to be alive and having one last epic throwdown as Green Arrow before he retires and goes to live out his life with his wife and children, letting the world believe he’s dead. It’s a nice nod to The Dark Knight Rises, which far too many people condemned for giving its hero a happy ending and a fresh start with the love of his life (that right there tells you all you need to know about pretentious edgelords), and it’s a nod to a comics storyline where Oliver faked his death and went into hiding with his family. Oh, and it proves those who think Olicity is somehow “ruined forever” are wrong.

As for Moira and Emiko, I don’t pretend to guess what’s going on there. Your explanation works for me; seeing a version of Emiko who never became that bitter, delusional, self-righteous monster would be a nice middle finger to the failures of Season Seven, and maybe help explain what’s going on with the Ninth Circle in this reborn universe. Personally, I’m just glad to see both Roy and Thea back; hopefully they reconcile at last, thus proving the Bad Future is gone forever. And, of course, Felicity is back where she belongs, at last.

Arrow | Fadeout Promotional Pictures