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A timeline of the #ZoeQuinn situation. If you're not familiar with it, this should shed some light on it, in order of when the events occurred.  #quinngate #zoegate #quinnspiracy

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Arrow (TV show) Review - Season 1

WHAT I LIKE

The main character, Ollie, is close to his comic book character. I love that. But, he sometimes kills, and is pretty narrowly focused on his dad's goals. 

I like the reference to Black Canary hidden in the name of Dinah's business: CNRI. 

Huntress was featured in like two episodes. She's one of my all time favorites, and I've been very fascinated by the Huntress-Power Girl team up (sort of a mirror of Batman-Superman). Unfortunately, they only had her in two episodes. She was a much more interesting female lead than Dinah (at least in Arrow). 

WHAT I DON'T LIKE

I HATE Speedy. First of all, I understand not having a Speedy, but Roy Harper is such a great character in the comics. Single father, struggling to balance a daughter and super hero work... I love that. Speedy in Arrow is a whiny rich teenager with no reason for anyone to care for her other than "you're my sister". One episode features her being arrested for a DUI. She also at one point argues with Ollie that he may have been through hell on the island, but she went through hell there. Yeah. Her mansion and wealth must have been the exact same thing as Ollie's torture and abuse /sarcasm.

Deathstroke's helmet. It's crap. It looks so stupid. I'm glad that they change it later.

Black Can... I mean, Dinah, is SOOOOO BORING. I can't stand her constant preachiness to Ollie and her Lois Lane stature in the show. I wouldn't mind her if she was the daughter of the previous Black Canary and trained with Wildcat to be a fighter... but no. This version of her has her as a lawyer with a dumb father, stupid boyfriend, and idiotic boring normal life.

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Overall, the show is decent so far. Season one features elements of the DC mythos I like. I just wish they would do more with it. I hate that they eliminate the supernatural and the superhuman, because that's what makes superheroes interesting. Despite that, Ollie has proven to be an entertaining lead, despite how boring the flashbacks to the island have been (what is this, Lost?). 

I would recommend this show based on the first season, but I don't recommend binge watching it. Take your time and enjoy it. 

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Frank Gamer runs a YouTube channel. Subscribe to him to hear him talk about video games, anime, and other stuff!

Also, check out my review of Guardians of the Galaxy, or my ideas for DC Comics' cinematic universe.

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Creating Likable Characters in Anime

I have separated my "Creating Likable Characters" ideas into several sections. The first section is this first post: "Creating Likable Characters in Anime" in which we explore how characters are made to be likable in Japanese animation. Let's talk about Naruto first. I did a review of Naruto on my First Episode Anime Review show. In it, I mentioned several characteristics of the character that made him likable right away. I think a few of these are important. Remember, we are always talking about how an audience feels about a character. First, there is the sympathetic characteristics. Naruto is an orphan and nobody likes him.

He's just a poor boy, from a poor family...

The thing is, audiences feel for him because of those aspects. This is easier explained in comics, so I'll hold off on the BEST sympathetic character, but sympathy is a powerful weapon to make a character likable. Second, we have the relatability of the character. Naruto is relatable because he's a class clown. He isn't perfect and messes up a bunch. People get mad at him, and he can't pass certain classes.  Readers/viewers understand such thigns and relate to him because of it. You can see this in Bleach also. Ichigo may be an awesome fighter and a cool guy, but he's relatable because he has friends who talk to him and joke with him. He goes to high school, studies, gets mad at people. These make him human and we understand him because of it. Third, we have the idolization of the character.

In this case, it's the idolization of the audience for the character. He want to be him because he can do cool ninja things, in Naruto's case. Other characters better exemplify this characteristic, but mostly in the shojo side of things. Typically you have the guy or girl you want to go on a date with because they're so perfect. The ideal person to idolize, in many cases. Fourth, we have the ideals of the character. Understand what I mean. Ideals in this case mean what a character holds to as being his or her goals in life that are fairly unrealistic. Naruto has a child-like mind who wishes to be Hokage one day, despite being a talentless orphan from the hood. Unrealistic? Yeah. Idealistic? Absolutely. Ichigo doesn't fall into this category. Neither do many anime characters. Some, like Blue Exorcist's Rin, have something to prove and must strive to prove it, despite difficulty.

Anime has a very lazy way of making a likable character, also... Fifth, we have a normal perverted Japanese boy. This person is bland beyond belief and has no characterization. You see this guy in harem anime more than anything, and it is mind numbingly horrifying. Why do all the girls like this normal guy who has absolutely nothing going for him? Because now normal guys watching it can say "that's me." This differs innately from the relatability thing because you aren't supposed to relate to him, you're supposed to BE him. He's what the anime director and writers think you are: bland, perverted, boring, and somewhat stupid. It's an insult, really. Yeah, this isn't an exhaustive list. I may have missed some ideas. If you know of a technique for anime that makes you like a character, please comment and let me know! ________________________________ Frank Gamer hosts the YouTube channel Frank Gamer. Please subscribe!

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Watch Dogs' Aiden Pearce Screws Around - Frank Gamer

Aiden Pearce is a cool guy... when he actually does stuff.

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How DC Comics Can Make a Cinematic Universe

I've been thinking a lot like this, and there are only three points I came up with for how DC can possibly make a comic book cinematic universe. There are two major things every great epic, from The Iliad to The Lord of the Rings has: a world with a history, and an event that causes everything in the story. So what can DC do to have those two elements in their cinematic universe? 1. Legacy Characters

These are your characters like The Flash, who took over the mantle of The Flash from the previous character. This makes the DC universe have a history, makes superheroes interesting and developed, and gives people that wink that comic book movies are supposed to have. 2. The Justice Society of America

The predecessor to the Justice League ought to be older superheroes who aren't that well known, and have all but retired. Thus establishing something the DC universe has a vast supply of in comics: history. Having the older Green Lantern, Flash, and others retired by the time Superman arrives on the scene makes Superman's arrival the change that causes the Amazons and the Atlanteans to contact the world of men. 3. Black Canary

I kid you not, she is the key to all of this! Black Canary took over for her mother, the previous Black Canary. She trained with the JSA's Wildcat, becoming a skilled fighter. For a short while she actually did lead the Justice League. Black Canary is an interesting character because she is a skilled fighter despite having a minor superpower. All that to say, I think the DC universe needs one more thing in order for it to be a viable franchise: fun. I had no fun watching Man of Steel. I actually liked it, but it wasn't what it should have been. A realistic and gritty superman will not work in the same world as Plastic Man. However, after watching Guardians of the Galaxy (click here to see my review), I realized DC has no hope of competing if they don't start having fun with their movies. ______________________ Frank Gamer runs the YouTube channel Frank Gamer. Check it out and subscribe today!

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Guardians of the Galaxy Review (in Text)

To start, Guardians of the Galaxy was one of the best movies I've ever seen. It was a spectacle unlike anything I've ever experienced at the box office, and honestly one of the best experiences I've ever had in the movie theater.

That being said, I will go through and review it if you really want me to. There will be spoilers, so if you want to skip that skip the spoilers tag and go past that whole section. SPOILERS-------------- Plot Recap: So the movie begins with our hero, whose name I never really got. I think it was Peter. Yeah! Peter. He's a child and his mother is dying int he eighties. Some great character building occurs here. He sees her dying, but refuses to hold her hand as she passes, despite her asking. She gives him a gift, which he also doesn't open. Then, he runs outside in grief and is picked up by aliens. A clear human element is present in the movie, even in the non-human CGI characters. From this beginning scene, the entirety of the movie is set, tonally. Themes of death and relationships are explored from then on. We skip ahead and Peter is older, a criminal in the galaxy calling himself Star Lord. It's a crappy name, but we learn later why he was called that. He explores some planet and we see he listens to a mixtape his mother gave him while wandering the planet. Eventually, he comes across a spherical object that he grabs, excitedly. Someone commissioned him to find it. He is caught by some other humanoid aliens who warn him to drop the object. He complies, for a brief second, until blasting them with his weapons, showing he is a competent combatist. As he escapes, several details are setup: he can remove his helmet, he uses jets attached to his boots that are also removable, and someone named Ronan wants the sphere he's found. Skipping ahead, he finds the buyer on Xandar, the planet of the Nova Corp. The guy hears about Ronan and immediately wants no part in it. Peter is forced outside. In the meantime, a woman is dispatched to get the sphere, a green woman named Gamora. She assaults him outside the shop, stealing the sphere, but he trips her and a back-and-forth ensues. However, two bounty hunters named Rocket (a racoon) and Groot (a large tree person) attempt to catch Peter for the bounty a blue Merle Dix put on him. They're caught by the Nova Corp, and one of the cops knows Peter and jokes around with him while arresting him. They're thrown in prison, and the plan is hatched to escape and take the sphere to a buyer that Gamora had setup to betray Ronan, who, she says, wants to destroy Xandar with the "Infinity Stone". It's a convoluted mess to explain, but works out on screen. Rocket and Groot develop as characters, and Gamora is almost killed by a guy named Drax, who befriends them to kill Ronan (who had killed his family). They initiate an escape plan thanks to Rocket, who gets them all coordinated and moving together. However, Groot grabs the last thing they needed first and sets off an alarm, forcing them to escape quickly. The prison scenes develop a LOT of character elements. I can't do it justice here, so let me highlight a few things: Rocket is scene changing by Peter, and you can clearly see he was tested on scientifically. Groot shows he is extremely strong, but is a generally nice person, if not a bit slow (he only ever says "I am Groot"). Peter also shows that he really wants his walkman and items that remind him of his mother, thus establishing his character. Gamora, who is honestly the least developed character, explains her background as Thanos' adopted daughter after he killed her people. There's a scene between Ronan and Thanos that could be easily summed up with "I am evil and strong", "no I am evil and more strong". Ronan's motivation is the only thing lacking in the movie! I never know why he really cares so much about killing the planet Xandar. They escape the prison and flee to Knowhere, a city built inside a floating skull of some dead space giant. It's actually a very interesting concept. Rocket gets drunk and is upset that Drax made fun of him. He says he didn't ask to be made, and realizes he's an odd one, but he is still a person. A sad scene, and you really feel for Rocket throughout the movie. Also, Peter tries to get Gamora to dance, and almost seduces her, but she's too smart. Then they meet the Collector, who is supposed to buy the "Infinity Stone", but his servant tries to use it to kill him and is destroyed, levelling half the block. It is explained that one person must be extremely strong to hold one Infinity Stone, but a group of monks had previously done well holding one together. The party leaves, but Drax called Ronan to finally confront him and kill kim. Ronan's ship arrives and a battle ensues. Ronan easily beats Drax, who is later saved by Groot and Rocket. Then, Gamora is almost killed by being thrown in the thin atmosphere outside Knowhere, but Peter removes his helmet for her to live (a mechanism established earlier in the movie). Ronan gets the Infinity Stone. They are then picked up by Merle Dixon (I don't remember his name in the movie), who makes up with Peter after a brief discussion. They attempt to get the Infinity Stone from Ronan to sell it. They attack his ship while warning the Nova Corp of Ronan's attack. They at first are hesitant to believe him, but the guard Peter was joking with earlier vouches for him. As the battle ensues, a lot happens in terms of action, but it is complicated and I can't remember too many specifics. Other than that Groot sacrifices himself to save the group, saying "We are Groot" to Rocket's grief. Gamora opens a door to Ronan's room and they group fires their moon-destroying weapon directly at him, but the Infinity Stone has made him too powerful. They crash on the planet. Ronan jokes on Peter and the group, calling them the Guardians of the Galaxy, mockingly. Ronan is about to destroy the planet but Peter starts singing and dancing in front of Ronan. He is confused by this, and Peter explains he was being a decoy so Rocket could launch a weapon at Ronan. Then, Peter grabs the Infinity Stone and surprisingly lasts a short time before beginning to tear apart. Then, in an amazing scene, Peter sees Gamora hold her hand out for him to grab, and is reminded of his mother doing the same on her death bed. This makes him reach for her. Gamora grabs his hand and takes part of the burden as well. Then Drax. Then Rocket. Together, they can manage the pain and are able to destroy Ronan once and for all. They put the stone in a sphere for safe keeping and Peter puts it in his bag. Merle Dixon arrives and asks for the stone, so he throws him the sphere, obviously a fake. However, the criminal can't check because it is extremely dangerous, so he leaves with what he thinks is his biggest score. In reality, they give the stone to the Nova Corp to guard with high security. The guard who vouched for Peter thanks him, saying he saved his family. A heartfelt scene later depicts him returning from work and meeting his pink-skinned wife and pink daughter. The group stays together, and Rocket has a plant-pot with a tiny Groot shoot in it. The movie ends with Peter deciding to open his mom's present, in which he discovers a second mixtape. He is ecstatic, and the group decides to do whatever Peter wants, so he says "some good, some bad". ---------------------END OF SPOILERS The tone of the movie is light-hearted and the genre is obviously a space adventure. Themes, as I said, include life and loss, love and friendship. It's a great tale relatable to any person with feelings watching it. The directing is standard, not too great, but the storytelling is phenomenal. In one scene, Groot gives a little girl a flower from his trunk, establishing in the audience's mind that he has a good heart, despite him never really talking. Rocket, on the other hand, is probably one of the most likeable characters. This is in spite of how hated racoons are in the United States. However, in some scenes, he does remind me of a fat, fluffly cat I knew, so there's that. Peter is, of course, the most developed character. We know how he feels, how he's a funny guy with a few quick quips, and a fairly good person, if not a little selfish. He has a good heart, and still grieves over the loss of his mother. Not having a mother, it makes sense why he stuck with blue Merle Dixon for as long as he did. It is a perfect movie in every way, minus two things: the villain is poorly developed and the character Gamora is missing some development as well. Other than those MINOR nitpicks, this is one movie I highly recommend. Please, please, please, go see it. ____________________ Frank Gamer is the host of the youtube channel Frank Gamer, in which he reviews and jokes about anime, video games, and movies. Check it out and subscribe today!

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Star Trek and Tradition

In Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry painted a picture of humanity that was positive and forward-thinking. It was very much a humanist idea.

However, there is one thing I want to talk about in this post.

I was watching The Next Generation, when I saw an episode named "First Contact" in the fourth season. It was very negative towards ideas of tradition and exceptionalism. Very contradictory to my own perceptions of political science. 

Tradition was painted as bad, and exceptionalism was painted as foolish.

However, exceptionalism can push a people, a nation specifically, to perform better. It pushes them to exceed their own idea of how great their society is. Tradition, too, has a place in society. It is not, always, a bad thing.

(Morality is also based in such traditions. Without such morality we are setup to fail as a species.)

Anyways, the big problem I have is the "all or nothing" approach it seems to be advocating. All tradition becomes bad, and all "progress" becomes good. The problem is, how do you define those two things?

If all tradition is bad, then what of the tradition of personal property, intellectual property, and individual rights? If all progress is good, then what about eugenics, cybernetic implants, and democracy?

This is further explored in later episodes, making this one seemingly incomplete.

What I mean is that I think this episode clearly contradicts the very idea of the Borg as vying for perfection. If the Borg see themselves as perfect and individualistic organic species as imperfect, then the idea that progress is always good would seem to support them. How much better to be a collective, than an individual!

To me, this just seems out of place. I think that when such series get preachy, they lose focus on the overall truth that extremes are usually bad, even extremes towards progress.

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Hey, I made a video about Ayn Rand in BioShock, and how I think it doesn't make sense to say Andrew Ryan was Objectivist. Check it out, if you haven't! And if you still haven't, please subscribe to my YouTube channel!

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Time to Read

As I get older I find I have less time to read. I used to be devoted to fiction, then in college I found nonfiction to be more interesting. Philosophy and the classics dominated my time, but then I started playing Unreal Tournament and that was that.

Video games are not a waste of time, at least, not more than reading fiction is. Why would reading words on a page make your more intelligent than delving into the political and sociological world of Bioshock? Now, nonfiction is about as useful as documentary film. I don't know why people value books more than other mediums of information, but I do that as well. My wife often comments on the fact that I own far too many copies of books, having entire shelves for no reason but to collect. Part of it is my children. I want them to have access to books, not just the internet. Something about it being printed makes it seem more real than a wiki. But on the other hand, I want to have the books the websites use as references. If only I could find time to read anymore.

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Tabletop Gaming

I have found some fun in playing Pathfinder in the past. My family would come over and we'd all get together, all five of us, and play a good game. Being the GM, I had a blast making sure everything ran smoothly, and the players had fun solving mysteries and fighting with swords and sorcery.

The only problem is, life goes on. As time weathered on our lives, we gained more responsibilities and more events were scheduled. Now it is completely impossible to find time for all of us to actually get together. Children, work, school, meetings, and life in general has a way of offsetting time otherwise devoted to a couple hours of imagination and papers with numbers on them. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a thing none the less. I love my daughter and my son who has yet to be born. Do I blame them? No. Not at all! I blame no one, but I do find it sad for some reason, that time changes all things.

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Why is there Religion in Halo?

A valid question, considering the polarizing effect religion has on many people.

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A lot has been going on

My wife and I are moving, she's pregnant with our second child, and I start at a new school in a month. It's been an interesting transition period. But, needless to say, YouTube videos have suffered as a result. Not a big deal, but whatever.

I feel the same kind of gratification from making a good YouTube video that I used to get from creating a painting or drawing. It's like I poured my soul into something I enjoy, and I love the result. I hope to provide you guys with more content as time goes on. Check out my channel Frank Gamer.

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Coming Soon from Frank Gamer

From my channel Frank Gamer, a new series of videos is coming...

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Drawn to RPG's

I mentioned this on my Twitter account (@FrankGamerShow please follow me if you haven't!) but I realized the other day that of my 14 PS3 games, 9 of them are RPG's.

That's a large majority.

But why did it end up like that? What about RPG's is so attractive to us?

I was considering making this a video, delving into psychological studies and research done on the subject, but I haven't fonud much.

Maybe it just says more about me than gamers in general?

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What Happened to Strategy Games?

I loved the Command and Conquer games, going so far as to play over dial-up. Red Alert, Supreme Commander, WarCraft, StarCraft, and the like are all great RTS' from the past. Where did they all go? Why aren't there any RTS' anymore? I mean, there's StarCraft II, but that's about it! So with that in mind, here's my video:

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Upcoming YouTube Content from Frank Gamer

So there are several things I have been working on in the last few days. Normally, I keep things hidden in order to surprise people, but I have a lot planned, so why bother? Consider this a type of survey. If there's something you're interested in, please let me know.

Frank Gamer Content: This is stuff I'm working on at my main page, Frank Gamer on YouTube. If you haven't subscribed, please do! I will be uploading new content as often as possible. Here's some of what I'm working on: Strategy Games: [Insert Video Game Company] This is a series I'm starting to write about great business strategies in the history of video games, and great moves to conquer the market. I think I'll start with Atari and move on to Nintendo for the next episode. AI in Games This series is something I came up with on this blog, actually. I'm going to explore advances in AI in video games, first exploring definitions of what we're talking about, and then exploring the actual games themselves and their interesting AI. Should be awesome. I'm looking forward to my Pac-Man one, most, though! Why [Insert Game Name] Sucks This is an interesting one. I got a lot of interest from my Why Halo 4 Sucks video, so I thought I'd continue that trend with an explanation of why other games suck. I recently bought Duke Nukem Forever for PS3, so I might review that game. These will count as game reviews for me, so I don't have to come back to retro game reviews anytime soon. WePlayGames! Content: The following is content I'm working at on WePlayGames! If you haven't subscribed to WPG, they are a coalition of gaming YouTubers who do great work. I highly recommend subscribing for great videos in the future! Just click on the link right above. Level Design  This series is a WPG series I started to explore level design in retro video games. This is my video on early games, and my next video should be done this week! Most Disappointing Games This is a series I'm getting started at WPG as well. I hope to talk about games people panned, even though they expected great things out of them. I'm trying to stick with modern and fairly well-known games. This differs from "Why X Sucks" in that this isn't necessarily about bad games, just poorly received ones. Maybe games whose hype exceeded their actual content?

Why is there a picture of Peter Molyneux here?

Frank Gamer Plays Content: Then, I have a Let's Play channel I started called Frank Gamer Plays. Kind of weak right now, and I'm still findnig out how to be funny and interesting. For now, it is a little boring. I just finished a Super Mario World let's play, but Nintendo flagged it for copyrighted content, so... yeah... Real-Time Strategy Games I'm hoping to let's play on some RTS'. To be honest, it's my favorite genre on PC, so I'm trying some things out to make it interesting, but it's so hard! These games can last a while without any real interesting things happening... so we'll see how it works. Some games I'm considering are Command and Conquer: Red Alert, Supreme Commander, and StarCraft II. Let me know if you're interested.

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So... why am I telegraphing all this? Wouldn't someone steal my ideas? This stuff is all documented here, now, so if you want to steal my idea know I have this timestamped and will produce something I'm proud of regardless. It's not like these are new ideas. For example,  Extra Credits beat me to a level design video on Super Mario Bros.

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Ayn Rand in Bioshock?

Bioshock was a cool game, but was Ayn Rand's philosophy properly represented in Andrew Ryan?

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Why Halo 4 Sucks

So I didn't like Halo 4 very much. Here's why: