Sitting in my kitchen drinking my coffee this morning, I was thinking about the announcement that the new Spider-Man movie would be titled No Way Home (while also having a tweet Coy Jandreau posted bouncing in my head) and suddenly I had an ever expanding theory that I think is extensive enough to share. We already suspect the multiverse will play a big part in this phase between WandaVision (don’t worry, no spoilers on that here from me) and the Doctor Strange film being titled Multiverse of Madness. What if Peter (and possibly some Spidey villains) end up being pulled into the multiverse and leave the MCU to become part of the Sony-verse we seem to be building. It would be an interesting way to build their sinister six and keep Tom Holland as Spider-Man for a different studio. Maybe it’s not even an accident. Maybe Peter needs to escape (we know the last movie ended with him being hunted) and sees this as the only way to protect his family and continue being a hero. Maybe we get a new Spider-Man (Miles Morales even?) also via the Multiverse. In which case any planned Spider-man 4 would be introducing Miles (or Gwen or whoever) into our universe. The MCU has already changed how storytelling works. I would not be surprised to see them have a big surprise like this up their sleeve. They have shown us there are no limits other than your imagination.
What do you think? Any other wild theories about the future of our Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man? Just looking forward to seeing movies in theaters again? Let’s keep the convo going in the comments.
(cw: topics include unemployment and COVID; there’s a positive message at the end though, if you can stick it out)
Well, we’ve finally come to the end of the year that didn’t exist. It would be easy to say it was awful and we’re glad it’s over, but 2020 was a life changer for me.
In March of this year we hit Depression level unemployment rates as the country shutdown to try to keep COVID rates down. I, being in the entertainment industry, was one of those people (and probably won’t go back to work until spring or summer of this year after the vaccine is more wildly distributed). With an unknown amount of free time ahead of me, I did what I always do…. found a new project to keep myself occupied.
It started by resurrecting my YouTube channel. It had previously been a place to showcase live music videos, but had been collecting dust for 5 years. I figured I would find things to talk about amongst my many hobbies. Eventually I settled on doing recaps of the d&d games my boyfriend would run for myself and some friends via Facebook Messenger. Over time it would also include react videos to certain moments on Critical Role and shouting about Dragon Age.
While I was slowly building my YouTube empire, I had also been watching a friend stream on Twitch. We’d talk about how I should stream too, and after a couple months I finally got myself a headset and had my first stream: playing Civ 5 for what I assume was one or two people. I never imagined it would become my whole life for the rest of the year.
I have now been streaming for 6 months, made affiliate after 3 months, and have more of a community than I ever imagined I would. I found some great streamers who helped me get where I am (and will list some of them at the end of this post so you can go check them out). Beyond that, I made lasting friendships with random people on the internet who, in some ways, I’m closer with than my IRL friends now. What was meant to be a way to fill time and maybe make a few dollars while out of work turned into an important part of my life that I plan on keeping even when things “go back to normal”. I even got to participate in Stream Around the World for Dragon Age Day this year, and became part of the DA streaming community. So, as much as I understand wishing this year never existed, I can’t help but be grateful that it did. I hope you can also find a little joy in this darkest of years, and that we all have a much better go of it in 2021.
There are too many great, supportive people I have met on this journey, but these folks helped me the most to make affiliate: wordfangirl (and the humans at Jabroni TV), Cafe 3G, SmexyBuu & the Gaming Fool crew; special shoutout to NerdiNik, who is one of the first DA streamers I ever followed and introduced me to a great community of humans.
There’s a saying: better late than never. This is what I tell myself every time I give myself a deadline that I miss, and it applies to the following words I have regarding episode 107 of Critical Role: specifically regarding a certain conversation between Jester and the Traveler towards the end. I pulled some choice quotes for my own reference, but in general this conversation is everything I wanted from them. I love how sincere it is but still has the jovial nature their relationship is based on. Most importantly, between this and the actions the Traveler makes in the next episode, I think I can say without a doubt that, while he might be an agent of chaos and a troublemaker, he is not looking to hurt anyone. At least not in a malicious way, and especially not Jester or her friends. If you want a sense of his motivations, you simply have to listen to what he says. Never forget that Archfey can’t lie. They choose their words very carefully, and Matt is a calculated enough DM who plans far enough ahead that I believe everything you need to know about Artagan is in what he says to Jester in their moments alone. Especially two lines in particular:
“As much as I’ve guided you through the years, don’t think you haven’t guided me”
“I don’t want to hurt anyone, not intentionally”
I pulled far more than this from their conversation, but these two lines give you everything you need to know about him. 1) Jester has changed him since we first met him back in campaign 1, and 2) He is not malicious in his intent. I think Artagan truly thought dropping people on an island where they would forget about him was his way of setting them free and fixing his mistake. I don’t think he saw it as endangering anyone. I also don’t think he expected Jester to ever be in real danger, either because he trusted in her ability to take care of herself, or because he was prepared to save her if needed.
There is another saying: actions speak louder than words. And since I waited an extra week to write this, we got some real clear signals that Artagan cares about Jester, as he was not prepared for her to risk her life to save him. He accepted the mistakes he made and was prepared to deal with the consequences on his own. I am very glad Jester managed to use her words to save him, and that they don’t have to separate. I know a lot of people asked “what happens next” but I don’t see much changing between them, other than Jester now knows that whatever spark the Traveler gave her was a boost. He lit the spark, but she grew into the person she is now all on her own. I look forward to see her continue to grow as a person, and see how much more influence she has on Artagan’s arc. I appreciate her friends and fans ready to thrown down to protect her, but ultimately I just want her to be happy. Right now, the Mighty Nein and Artagan both make her happy. I want to see them continue on their journey, and let chaos reign.
This past Friday, Sept 4th, The NPCs released another of their socially distanced videos to the masses. 56 musicians participated in this massive project, plus there was a fun cameo at the end to coincide with a certain video game that released…
Per the video description:
What do you get when you take a bunch of musicians from all over the world, mixed with the release of one of the greatest video games of all time? You get a 56 person cover of Superman!
The video game in question might not be my personal preference, but I do like a good cover song every now and then and particularly enjoyed this one. Mixed with some of my favorite people and this video was quite a treat.
Don’t take my word for it. Jump on over to the YouTube to see for yourself.
Backyard Superheroes debuted a new song and video last night during the 7+ hour Supernova Ska Festival: Quarantine Edition. There have been a lot of socially distanced music videos popping up during quarantine, and I have loved seeing what people come up with to make up for the fact they can’t be in a room together. This one was no exception.
First off, I love how it starts with the introduction proclaiming them “the 7th best ska band in New Jersey”. I also love all the background items and in general getting a tase of members’ individual styles. From a Captain America shield on one wall to another wall covered in Funkos, there’s lots of fun nerd stuff to spot. (The tiny Devils helmet was my personal favorite, as I’m originally from NJ and am a huge Devils fan).
I would be remiss if I focused too much on the video and didn’t talk about the song itself. At just over 3 minutes it’s a fast-paced number about all the things they miss in quarantine – but especially their friends. It’s a sentiment I think we can all understand, packaged in a song I could easily listen to on repeat a few times.
The video closes with the announcer proclaiming, “Wasn’t that something with the horns and the beards”
Yes, sir, It was quite something.
Most of All is available to purchase on their Bandcamp. All proceeds are being donated to the ACLU.
Today would’ve been Free Comic Book Day, and a lot of us comic fans would’ve spent the day picking up their free books and supporting their favorite local comic shops. I know I have a ritual that involves going to 2-3 stores and then bringing the haul home and reading all night. Since we were unable to do that, I thought I’d recommend some free webcomics to hold you over while we wait for our fix.
I read a lot of things on Webtoons that range from D&D-esque stories, to sci-fi, to romance, so I thought I’d highlight some of my favorites to give you some new, free reading material.
A runaway werewolf (Lumine) meets a boy named Kody and is hired to be his body guard. Their relationship isn’t great at first but they slowly build a friendship as they learn about each other. Great if you like fantasy series.
Based on Rosencrantz & Guildenstern from Hamlet but Guildenstern is a girl and they travel through time. It gets dark in places but is mostly a comedy. Each episode is pretty short so you should be able to catch up quick.
You follow the characters in a WoW type fantasy game, but eventually learn about the people behind the avatars. Another great fantasy series with episodes short enough you can catch up fairly quickly.
This one follows the artist’s d&d game. It gets mildly raunchy but nothing that’ll make you blush too hard. Has comedic and fantasy elements so it’s good for all types of humans.
The people in this comic are all participating in a game where losing means death but winning gets you a big reward. The game targets people with nothing left to lose. Another great fantasy series with some of the best art I’ve seen in a webcomic.
This is where I divert from my usual fantasy-land. It’s a comedy series that follows Gwendolyn, a princess who is mistakenly given an invitation to the Cursed Princess Club. She swears despite her looks she hasn’t been cursed but they let her stay in the club, and she grows a lot as a person thanks to their friendly advice.
This one is hard to pin into a genre. It follows a woman in the police force who has the ability to detect lies and the assassin she teams up with to fight an evil organization. The art and story are both fantastic, which is why they landed on my list.
If you’re looking for a comedy/fantasy series that speaks to your gay or lesbian heart, this is the one for you. Mylora is a mage who is trying to win the demon queen’s heart, while all the other adventurers are trying to kill said queen. It’s funny and sweet and sometimes serious, but overall it makes me gleeful to read. Episodes for this one are pretty short and they’re on hiatus so you should have no trouble catching up.
There are plenty of others I could recommend, but I don’t want this post to turn into a novel. If you’re looking for more traditional comics, Comixology and Marvel both have monthly subscriptions that are reasonably priced with plenty of reading options included. I personally use Comixology a lot and could recommend a ton of books from there if you’re interested. Leave a comment with your requests and I’ll share my thoughts. Also let everyone know what you’re currently reading to keep the conversation going.
I’ve been thinking about how different industries are going to be able to shift with the times as the country slowly reopens, and one of my top concerns is movie theaters and shifting release schedules. Some movies can and have been given online releases, but others have to be seen for the first time on the big screen. Not only does it contribute to our enjoyment of the films, it also keeps movie theaters going. If it weren’t for Endgame, independent films wouldn’t have a chance. They don’t make enough to keep a movie theater open, but they can take a chance on one for a few weeks while Endgame rakes in the billions. Marvel always schedules their movies in phases, and phase 4 would have been starting up right around now if we were living in normal times. They recently released their new schedule (which is obviously subject to change), and I have some thoughts. First, let’s look at the new dates. (This will include some Sony movies since the Spider-verse or whatever we’re calling it loosely ties in to everything)
Black Widow: Nov 6, 2020
Eternals: Feb 21, 2021
Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings: March 7, 2021
Morbius: March 19, 2021
Venom 2: June 25, 2021
Spider-Man 3: Nov 5, 2021
Thor Love and Thunder: Feb 11, 2022
Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness: March 25, 2022
Black Panther 2: May 6, 2022
Captain Marvel 2: July 8, 2022
Spider Man Into the Spider-Verse Sequel: October 7, 2022
There’s also Ant-Man 3, Blade, Guardians of the Galaxy 3 and an untitled movie that was scheduled for the new Spider-Verse date. Plus we assume that they had plans to eventually bring the X-Men and Fantastic Four into the universe (probably in 2023) and assumedly there will be a Deadpool 3. That’s a lot of movies to look forward to in the next 2-3 years.
If you look closely at the above release dates, they’re all pretty damn close together. There’s two movies in March of next year alone and the rest are anywhere between 3-5 months apart. Some of them are even less than that! Plus Marvel plans on tying in the Disney Plus shows and probably will have a different one out pretty regularly over the course of the next year or two. We’re gonna be eating, sleeping, and breathing comic adaptations for the next couple years!
All this sounds exciting, but I’m also worried that people don’t have the money to afford going to the movies more than a couple times a year. Or maybe it’s not a money issue, but where do we find the time to watch the Disney shows in time for the next movie? I hope all this content is the thing that keeps movie theaters from closing after having to probably shut down most if not all of the summer, but people are going to still be recovering from an economy that hasn’t just slowed, it’s come screeching to a halt. If anyone can survive and make this crazy schedule work, I believe it’s Marvel. I just hope their gamble pays off.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the matter. Do you plan to watch all these movies in theaters? Which ones will you prioritize? Shout it in the comments, and let’s keep the conversation going both here and on Twitter. (@News_on_Shuffle)
I’m going to combine my post on the last two parts of Crisis into one super post, since both episodes aired back-to-back. As always, there will be spoilers ahead for the entire crossover and speculations on the future of some of the shows. Read at your own risk.
We start with Arrow, as we also take our beginning steps towards saying goodbye to the series that started it all. (More on that later). It begins with an introduction to the Monitor and how he caused the eventual crisis through his time travel experiments. We then show how our heroes at Vanishing Point are doing as well as Oliver, who is now Spectre and still in Purgatory. There’s a moment where the group says that Flash is missing, which briefly calls back to the headline and dread that it has still come true, but he has only been gone for moments (to him) looking for the Speed Force. To the rest of the group it has been months, and with that we know some time has passed since we last saw our heroes a month ago in real time. Spectre joins them at Vanishing Point and gives them instructions how to fix the universe.
At first I wasn’t sure how I felt about killing Oliver and turning him into Spectre as the end of his story, but the moment he asks the group, “Do you trust me?” before the big battle, and Barry responds, “With every cell in my body” I knew this was the only way to give him a proper ending. He has been saving his city for 8 seasons, and now he gets to go out by saving the whole universe. They even let him use the signature line one last time, but with a twist, “You have failed this universe”.
I’m glad Oliver’s last heroic act and final moments were actually on Arrow. I’m glad he gets to be with Barry and Sara when it happens. I’m sorry Felicity and the rest of his team don’t get a good final moment with him, but it’s a comic book show with two episodes left. I suspect they’ll find a way to close that open wound before they take their final bows. I’m going to try to keep up the blogging and give Arrow a final farewell on there. It started a whole universe of television programming that I have dedicated a lot of time towards watching, so I think it deserves it’s due.
Quick side note before moving on to part 5 – loved the Flash cameo we got from the DC movies. Always fun when Barry meets a new version of himself.
With that we come to the final chapter of this year’s crossover event – Legends of Tomorrow. Can I just say for starters how perfect this show is tone-wise to not only follow up the sad goodbye to Oliver in the previous hour, but also introduce us to our new universe in a fun and quirky way. Also, I love how self-referential and third-wall-breaking Legends is with the crossovers they’ve participated in.
We start with Supergirl waking up to a new world… one where Lex Luthor is getting the Nobel Peace Prize and is apparently one of the best humans ever. I look forward to seeing the progression of that story as Supergirl continues it’s season.
The rest of the episode is about the Anti-Monitor coming back to kill the Paragons and his eventual downfall (almost literally, as he shrinks into nothingness). The day is saved, and as I wonder what they could possibly set up as the next crossover, they give me the perfect finale I didn’t know I wanted until it happened.
The eulogy for Oliver given by the president to the people of her country felt like it was really from the network to us, the viewers. From the moment she calls him “the first of our heroes” my heart stopped. That and the moment of silence was a nice note added at the end, as was letting Oliver do the voiceover telling the story of how the new universe was formed and created a new multiverse over time as we see flashes of many other heroes, including some from the DC Universe streaming service.
As the group says their final goodbye and memorializes Green Arrow, with the lighting of the flame and reveal of the table, the moment of realization that this was the beginning of the formation of the Justice League gave me my answer as to what comes next. With that there are infinite stories they can tell, and they don’t even need to be earth shattering events now that it’s established it’s more common these heroes all work together. Every once in awhile something will be just big enough to ask a friend for help. They may even do some smaller crossover events, like just Flash and Supergirl working together. As a note, I’m assuming we’re doing Justice League but the shot of the cage at the end that says “Gleek” might mean Super Friends instead, as that’s the show he’s associated with. Does this mean we’re also getting the Wonder Twins in the next crossover? Guess we’ll have to wait to find out.
Thus concludes the giant CW crossover event for this season. I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m pretty pleased with how everything went down. Barry survived, Oliver got a heroes death, and we have a Justice League/Super Friends team-up to look forward to. Plus I might finally have been inspired to give Black Lightning a try now that everyone is all part of one universe, and he’s probably going to be making future appearances. But that’s just one humble bloggers opinion. What were your likes and dislikes for this event? Did you guess all the twists and turns, or were there a few surprises as well? Leave a comment and keep the convo going.
Yada yada yada, there continue to be spoilers in all of my Crisis posts. Read at your own risk.
The Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover continues with part 3 on The Flash. Things that were told come to pass, but not in the way you expected. Also, more cameos! Including the very beginning where we get the Birds of Prey cameo we were promised, although it is far too short in my opinion. Poor Huntress gets dusted almost immediately, along with her entire Earth. Still, it’s been nice using this multiverse story to do these short little cameos.
The other big cameo we got was Lucifer, who helps Constantine and Co get to purgatory in their quest to save Oliver Queen. This was one cameo I figured would be a background appearance that ended up having a short but major part to play. I don’t watch Lucifer, but the few moments we got with him were delicious. I especially loved seeing him trade words with Constantine.
As for the fate of our Green Arrow, things take an unexpected turn, but one that makes total sense when you think about it. Just as the group is about to take Oliver out of Purgatory they are visited by The Spectre, who tells Oliver he must become the new host for him. I know, comics get confusing. The Spectre is supposed to be a Spectre of Vengeance, but I think Oliver will transform into more of a Spectre of Justice, just as he’s made that transformation himself throughout the entire Arrow series. He himself might’ve wanted vengeance at first, but now fights for justice. I’m interested to see what happens next in his story, which I assume happens during Arrow.
The major storyline that finally came to its conclusion was the fate of Flash. We’ve spent the entire season and then some worrying about our Barry Allen dying to save his friends. We finally got to see that a Barry Allen sacrificed themself to save the world, but not our version. I was very satisfied with the way they got themselves out of killing the main character of one of the anchors of the Arrowverse, and I was especially pleased we actually concluded this part of the story on The Flash. Past crossovers have had major deaths happen outside of that characters show, and it always feels a little wrong. It was nice for Flash fans to get a satisfying end to one of their deepest worries of the series.
Of course now ironically Flash is one of the only people in the multiverse, while Iris and most of his friends have, at least for now, vanished from existence. The Paragons are stranded at Vanishing Point after Harbinger betrays them all and Pariah saves a few key members in the last moments. We’ll have to wait a month to see how they fix this mess, and I’m sure not everyone will survive in the end. Obviously they have to at least undo some of it though, unless they’re scrapping the entire Arrowverse (which we’ve already had two new shows announced so doubtful). The wait is going to be long, but I’m sure it will be worth it.
It should go without saying, but there continue to be spoilers for the CW crossover event in this and all my Crisis posts. Read at your own risk!
Part 2 of Crisis jumps between finding the versions of Superman and Batman who are supposed to be Paragons to aid in the Crisis, while Flash, Mia, Sara, and Constantine try to bring Ollie back and Lex tries to kill every Superman in the multiverse. That’s a lot to pack into an hour of television! We also got a couple more fun guest appearances peppered in.
We start the adventure introducing the idea of the Paragons. My favorite line in the episode happens here, when Kate Kane asks everyone, “Who wants to meet Batman?” I promptly shouted at my tv, “I do! I do!”
A lot of this episode held the theme “things aren’t what they seem”. For one, the Batman reveal was not what I expected in a lot of ways. Broken in body and spirit, this version of Bruce has become the opposite of what Batman stood for when he started his journey. I’m also kinda disappointed that he was just a means of helping Kate on her journey to being a Paragon, as it would’ve been cool to see them fight together at least once. Even still, it was nice getting to see Kevin Conroy play Batman in a live action thing, after years of voicing the character in cartoons and video games.
The other thing that didn’t go as I expected was Lex Luthor’s role in everything. I was very surprised to see the Monitor bring him back for the Crisis, but assumed we needed him for his superior intellect. There was always a part of me, however, that wondered why Lena couldn’t fill that role. Now we see that Lex’s job was to be his usual, evil self. In his mission to kill every Superman in existence, he inadvertently helps our Superman and Louis find the version of Superman they need to be the Paragon of Truth. It also gave us a cool Superman vs Superman fight. (Side note: I love that they actual make jokes about how this version of Superman looks just like Ray Palmer, since they are played by the same actor.)
Some other fun surprises in this episode were the guest appearances. We knew Tom Welling would be appearing at some point, but I was surprised to see that he was living a quiet life on a farm with his Louis and had given up his powers to have a family with her. Again, disappointed we didn’t use his and Kevin Conroy’s guest appearances for more than the one episode, but it’s still cool to see them at all.
The other guest appearance which I don’t think we saw coming was Jonah Hex. It only lasted a few moments, but it was a fun surprise. Always good to see him and Sara on screen together, even for a short time.
We end the episode with Harbinger getting transported to Anti-Monitor’s location. It looks like he has plans for her, similar to the comics. We’ll have to wait till the next chapter to see that part of the story unfold.
With everything that has happened so far, I’m wondering if Ollie’s storyline changing means Flash doesn’t have to die after all. The Monitor has said multiple times that things are not unfolding as predicted. I feel like sacrifices have to be made, but maybe we’ve been totally mislead as to who that will be. Guess we’ll just have to keep watching to find out…
