Distractions and Reminders

I didn't mean to start collecting comics when I was a kid. I always had this or that lying around but until the mid-80s, I read them rather than collect them. 

Then I found this one: 

As you can see, I read it until the cover fell off. It was a fantastic story of loss and grief. I was all about the X-Men. I had tons of them plus every tangential story. And when Marvel started to add Wolverine to every title, I had those two. 

But I actually read them. 

In 1999, I got a job at Mattel. This is where I met the rabid collectors of crap. Barbie, Hot Wheels, Matchbox cars. People were nuts. I knew more than ever, that I didn't want to collect something for the sake of simply having it. 

When my kids were born, I knew that I wanted them to read and comics were a great place to start. Giving a toddler a comic probably isn't a great idea so I waited a bit longer. The X-Men films were also not child appropriate, so more waiting. But in 2014, I took the family to see Guardians of the Galaxy. 

My wife hates superhero movies, but she sat through any number of them for the kids. "This is their Star Wars," she said. 

Funny true story: Just the other day, my daughter and I were talking about Thor: Ragnorok. 

Me: Catherine. We should make your mom watch Ragnarok.
Kitty: Sure.
Me and Catherine: What?
Kitty: I really like that show.
Me and Catherine: ...

25 minutes later.

Kitty: Are we going to start watching the show? I don't really like superhero movies.
Me: What do you mean? You said, "I really like Thor: Ragnarok."
Kitty: Oh... I thought you said "Fraggle Rock".
Catherine: Thank God! I thought I was going crazy.

Now it's just me and the kids going to the movies. 

But it all started with comics. 

This weekend we had a little flooding in the basement which forced me to again rescue what I have left. As I found this or that in the piles, I ran them upstairs for the kids to read. 

Good times. 

You'll notice that my son Paul is absent from the picture. He is away right now, on deployment to god knows where. As much as I miss him on this Memorial Day, I know that he will be home in a few weeks thanks to the efforts of those who did not come home at all. I believe that because so many gave all they had so that the rest of us could have a better world. 

And will we take some time to enjoy a comic or a movie together and it will be Good Times again. 

Obi-Wan Kenobi Episode Wan Review

 The title card says it all. 

It's 45 years later and the story is again riding on Obi-Wan Kenobi and friends. When Star Wars first came out, it was groundbreaking and unlike anything that had been done before. So unlike prior films, it was accidentally planted in the realm of science fiction, like that other groundbreaking series, Star Trek. 

Well, it's never been science fiction. It's pure fantasy in a technological world. Which is very different. 

This time out, we get to see Obi-Wan and the Empire at odds with each other when both are at their worst. The time periods in Star Wars have always been shakey to me. Rather than think in years, it's better to just run with "this show is before Star Wars and after the prequels". Nailing down years in a galaxy far far away and a long time ago is rather difficult and really the series does not suffer for it. However, there are a pair of very obvious clocks in this series in the form of characters. 

Since this is before Star Wars, we get to see a different type of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sir Alec Guinness made Old Ben the stately figure we all grew up with. He hated every moment of it, no matter how much we loved him for it. Back in the prequel years, Ewan McGregor was forced into the mold of what Sir Guinness gave us and I really enjoyed his interpretation of what this old war hero was all about. But it wasn't exactly what I expected of Ewan McGregor. He seem hemmed in by what had gone before. 

With this new series, we see a new, new side to Old Ben. It will be no spoiler for the reader to talk about the prequels. With just under 7 hours of content, the prequels covered a lot of ground. It introduced a younger Obi-Wan and the Jedi Council then ripped them away as the Republic shifted to the Empire and the Sith destroyed the Jedi Council.  

The next 7 hours of film, the original 3 films, give the viewer the old washed-up version of the Jedi which has faded into legend and myth. To this, we can add some unusual choices for bridging material. Three cartoon series have filled in the gaps to some extent: The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Bad Batch plus two live-action features, Solo and Rogue One which ducked away from Jedi story entirely. The viewer should be very aware of what the Empire has been up to all this time. It's quite a lot really and all of it is bad. 

This series should answer the questions we do not know the answers to, where has Obi-Wan been all this time? 

The last time we saw Obi-Wan, he had delivered Leia and Luke to adoptive parents with an uncharacteristic smile. It was very strange to see Obi-Wan's world completely destroyed and his only hope in the hands of two children he would not see as prospects for change for many decades. That unnerving smile at the end of the prequels didn't seem reasonable but in light of what was happening to Obi-Wan in the series, it could have been either a complete mask of his true disgust or indicative of being on the horrible end of a complete breakdown. 

After seeing the first episode of this new series, I think perhaps that it is the second. Obi-Wan has suffered a very real breakdown and the smile was merely an indication of how broken he was at the end of those stories. This new series starts with a very slow slog through Old Ben's life as he performs the most mechanical and boring duty: survive on a wasteland planet and hope that nothing bad happens to Luke. Of course, that is not where the episode ends. There are some important evolutions to Ben's duties and outlook on life in those 50 minutes. 

Rather than tell you about this or that plot point and spoil it for the reader, I will merely point out which aspects of the show I enjoyed. First, the first episode was written by Stuart Beattie and Hossein Amini of Pirates of the Caribbean and Gangs of New York fame. Respectively, of course. I cannot stress how far away from the laughs of Captain Jack Sparrow Ben is, and I can happily report that Obi-Wan Kenobi is not nearly as gritty as Gangs of New York was. Thank the Maker!

With this material to work with, the series director could deliver the typical rich setting that Lucas was known for in the first three Star Wars films. However, rather than CGI the crap out of everything, there are a lot of practical effects which reminded me of both the original three movies and TV shows like Dr. Who. A lot is done with very little, which is nice to see in a Disney production. As much as I like Disney, there is something to be said about economy in storytelling.  

Being made for the small screen, the scope and extent of the stages needed to be limited. I am pretty certain that there is CGI I couldn't see in every scene, but hey, that's the best type of CGI. The story is a limited one from Ben's point of view and the nature of made-for-TV actually hints at far wider vistas than what the show delivers. The viewer's impression is that the edges of the screen simply lose details. There is not a cast of 1000s, a lot of scenes are filmed top down so as to hide the edge of the stage. and sometimes, the detail simply peters out at the edges. 

That's actually great. 

It calls back the original movies while also having a psychological purpose. Ben is so burned out at this point that he is far beyond kiting checks Big Lebowski style for trivial amounts. His world has collapsed to just what the viewer can see. 

Actually, it's less. 

As the first episode progresses, the viewer receives a very different rendition of the character than McGregor gave 20 years ago and a wildly out-of-character performance relative to what Sir Alex Guinness gave us 45 years ago. It's not surprising that this would happen, because Ben is neither one of those characters in this series. What will be fascinating to see is the transition between old and new Obi-Wan and how that comes to be. 

I look forward to episode two. 

Building a Better Shelfie - Part 3

This is the halfway point. Shelf four is all business. 

There are pencils, dice, scissors, and a stapler next to my glasses and some dice I find handy. The cup holds all of my loose change. 

The books on the left are either favorites I like to reread or stuff I need to read. 2010, Sanctuary, How to Make War, and Project Hail Mary are current favorites. The others are things I need to read. On the right are my glasses and a copy of Chainmail which was POD at DriveThruRPG. For less than $8, it was a steal. Under that is a copy of  A Billion Suns by Osprey. I had no idea Osprey made games. Hmm. 

Under that is the book, City by David Macaulay. This is a fascinating read and look, Macaulay's artwork is amazing. I hope to do a review of every one of his books. Back in the 1994, it was made into a 5 show series on PBS. You can buy a copy or watch on PBS or Youtube. 

PBS decided to rename it Roman City. Fair enough, it's about a fictional Roman city. It also improves upon the book by giving a larger scope to Rome's mythology and history. 

Building a Better Shelfie - Part 2

I expected to be done unpacking a while ago. If you've ever moved three times in a 12-month period, you'll understand why it isn't done yet. That and the lilacs are in bloom, the sage, thyme and dill is running wild in the garden, and I've spent a lot of quality time with the family. 

Here is shelf 5, 6, and 7. 

The fifth shelf is at eye level which is why I started with it last time.  I'll hop up to shelf 7 because it has the smallest number of items then move on to shelf 6. 

Like shelf 5, it has some family remembrances. The popcorn buckets are from Spider-Man: No Way Home. I took Paul, Nathan, and Catherine to see it back in December. It was the first time we went on a family-fun outing since COVID started. My wife, Kitty, elected to stay home which has its own story. 

The short version is that my wife sent us out to see it twice because they kept giving us a free bucket of popcorn when we left. She doesn't like superhero movies but enjoyed No Way Home best. 

The clock is nothing special, other than I like blue and coffee. The T.I.E. Fighter was put together when I had to hang out at the house on an especially cold day while waiting for the gas company. Click the link for the assembly gallery. 

Shelf six has some great stuff on it. 

On the right is the game Talisman: Kingdom Hearts edition. I have to review this one someday. 

Kingdom Hearts has a special place in our hearts as a family. It was THE GAME all three of my children played. Kitty is a Disney nut and this totally won her over on gameplay for children. 

Three days after Christmas in 2018, we scored an opportunity to play a pre-release version of Kingdom Hearts 3 in Disney Springs. We got several tries at Toy Story and Olympus each. They had a virtual queue and all kinds of merchandise. 

The KH characters apparently don't appear in Disney World. However, you can have a bit of fun with them. At Be Our Guest, my daughter asked if the Kingdom Hearts characters ever appeared in the park. Belle put her hand on my daughter's shoulder and whispered, "Kairi's sleeping, dear." 

Anyway, the rest of this shelf is full of stuff I have reviewed, other items I want to review, and a few items I will never review. The list of "never review" is short: all of the e1 AD&D books. There is really nothing I could say about them that hasn't already been better said by someone else. Since they were the first thing I wanted to replace, obviously they are a favorite. When I speak of D&D, e1 is probably injected into those comments without even meaning to do so. 

I want to review The Basilisk Hills Ultimate, Knight Hawks, and The Castle Guide. 

Surprisingly, I have reviewed The White Box game prototyping set, Into the Wild, Battletech Compendium, 2000's Star Wars, Serenity, Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn, and Cepheus Light. I can't believe how many games I reviewed last year. 

Strangely, Star Wars and Battletech are tied for my favorite rule sets. Star Wars is d20 or 3 point something D&D with a cool HP system. Battletech is a fast and frantic system that is easy and fun.  

Cepheus Light has my mind and heart for having the coolest name. 

Anyway, I have a couple of more shelves to fill. 

Abandoned Project Circa 1988

Back in 1980s, Battle Tech was my favorite tabletop game. It was quick and easy to play. However, I was baffled by the plot line and story. I'd make up my own stories that covered the bases. 

What I really enjoyed was Robotech, I totally understood that plotline. At some point, I collected all of the Palladium game books. However, I was baffled by the difficulty in using the rules. It could take hours to kill one opponent. 

Then it hit me. I could use Battle Tech to play Robotech themed battles. Back then, the Unseen were common mechs between Battle Tech and Robotech. They had the Veritechs, they had the Maurader which was an Office's Battlepod. 

But what they were lacking was a standard Battlepod. If I could mash up Battle Tech and Robotech, and devise my own stories, I could certainly make a Battlepod. 

Yeah... I'd kitbashed some models together, but whipping up a figurine from scratch was beyond me. 

I dug through my models and stuff, trying to come up with something. Legs were easy, I used the Maurader model for those. The hips need to be reworked out of wood. Sculpting the engines were simply two U-shaped pieces of balsam. The feet were plastic beads. 

But what about the body? 

I found a skull ring that was about the right size. I shave it down on the sides and bulked up the chin with that green fill used for models. The central eye was a wheel from an airplane model, 1:144 scale. The guns were antennae and wheels from helicopters. 

I had done it!

Given it had taken me hours and hours to build the thing, I realized I could have exactly one. The bottleneck was the skull ring, something I got from a vending machine. Where Robotech depicts odds of 50 Battlepods to each Veritech, I had the opposite. 

How unsatisfying. 

A friend came to my rescue with a handful of bullets and a can of air vulcanizing rubber. It didn't go smoothly. The rubber reacted with some of the plastics and while it took the shape I needed, it melted the original. 

Tonight, I found the results of my experiment. There were a lot of blowouts. Sometimes it was the small details like guns. Other times, it was in the hip/leg joints.  

For the life of me, I cannot remember why I abandoned this. Unfortunately, half of the mold is missing. 

But I do have two useable models to start again. Maybe someday.