Runaways, the much beloved Marvel comic book series from 2003, was created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona. It was a wonderful series that gained a ravenous following through trade sales which saved the series from cancellation in 2005.

The comic series followed the exploits of six kids who find out their parents are a cabal of super villains who commit  ritualistic murder in the name of a trio of elder gods. As you can imagine, much hilarity ensued. Well, a lot of coming-of-age stories, character development, heel turns, deaths and comedic shenanigans ensued and I thoroughly loved it.

When I heard Hulu would be adapting the show; I was intrigued because the base story is pretty simple and the team of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage are no strangers to teen dramas (both having involvement in both The O.C. and Gossip Girl) so how did this ten-episode first season fair?

I really enjoyed it. It was engaging, well presented, and a unique Marvel TV outing that wasn’t mired in the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s eccentricities and missteps so what worked and what didn’t?

Well, first up, I have to applaud the cast. Mixing well established actors with fresh faces, the show does a great job of letting both the parents and the kids breath and they all give good-to-great performances and the dynamics between them are both complex and believable.

But while spending time with the kids is part and parcel of Runaways, we spend almost as much time exploring the parents and this gets into one of my biggest gripes about the show; making the bad guys relatable. While I did enjoy this predatory PTA group and their plot lines, the series makes them too likeable. The show spends a lot of time almost walking back all of their bad deeds and that’s just not the right move as it messes with the pacing something chronic.

The kids need to run away. They’re Runaways. You can’t do that when the parents are just so… nice. Barring the habitual homicide, naturally. You feel bad for them, you care about what they have going on and what they stand to lose but they’re the bad guys and why-oh-why does this show make me love the Yorkes so much?

Most of this comes for my love of the comics and the fact that The Pride was a ruthlessly efficient criminal group, consolidating every disparate criminal element of the Marvel universe. The Wilders were both gangsters, the Yorkes were time-travellers (not hippy bio-engineers), the Steins were mad scientists (half right, I suppose), the Minorus were wizards (again, half-right), the Deans were aliens (close enough) and the Hayes family (renamed to Hernandez in the show) were mutants.

It was a clever idea to completely bypass the mutant issue by killing off Molly’s parents before the show started and leave it ambiguous as to where Molly’s powers come from. Not a bad idea, at all! But then the other PRIDE members are only partly related to their origins or worse – not at all. You could say that they’re trying to keep the show grounded but that idea goes out the window when the dinosaur shows up. That said, the changes aren’t too obtrusive and, for the uninitiated, I can appreciate this will give you more if you don’t care for the kids too much.
Which is pretty easy to do because the early episodes can turn you off some characters. I mean, the kids do act like kids and that means they can be irrational and shitty to each other for almost no reason but this does feed into the overall arc they all go through; as a distant group of friends reunited under stressful circumstances.

But it can be grating, especially when Gert is being a cow or Alex is doing nothing. Because that’s all he does. I feel sorry for Rhenzy Feliz because Alex is the one non-powered/non-equipped character in the group and is mostly defined by two things; being in a relationship with Nico and a plot development that will probably come about in the second season but it’s good to see there is some subtle building to that in this one.

Shame about the Nico/Karolina relationship though. While there are instances in the comic of a shared attraction between the two, Nico ultimately doesn’t get off the pot and Karolina ends up with two of the best queer characters in comics. I dunno if we’ll ever see them given the rabid reaction to this pairing though…

The Chase/Gert pairing is pretty solid though and their dynamic matches the comic pretty closely. Almost as closely as the connection between Gert and Old Lace, the genetically-engineered Deinonychus.

This was the hardest sell to me as the Marvel TV productions have some pretty bad CGI but Old Lace is rendered brilliantly in a combination of practical puppetry and computer generated effects. I was surprised at how emotive she was and the mix of effects served the show well.

Molly was another point of contention to me since she’s noticeably older to the pre-teen powerhouse of the books but ageing her up to being only 1-2 years younger than the rest was a good move and Allegra Acosta does a fantastic job of portraying one of my favourite Marvel mutants. To paraphrase Chase: She’s genuinely nice, I can’t think of a bad thing to say about her.

So yeah, I enjoyed Runaways. It was certainly nice to see something a little different from Marvel and it gives me hope for the likes of Cloak & Dagger and New Warriors but what does that mean for Runaways? Well the series has been warmly received and been greenlit for a second season and with the kids now on the run for a crime they didn’t commit, this could lead to the introduction of some of the other comic book characters though how they’d adapt a 100 year-old vampire, the son of Ultron, a gender-fluid Skrull love interest for Karolina, and a chlorokinetic child bride from 1907. Those are all real, I promise.

I think the immediate questions that need to be answered are how are the kids going to clear their names, what-or-who is buried under Los Angeles and who is Jonah? I can’t wait to find out! If you have any thoughts on Runaways, please be sure to post them in the comments!

Within the canon of Marvel Comics, there’s many kinds of enhanced individuals but those born with innate abilities tend to fall into two distinct but similar categories: Inhumans and Mutants. Both gain their powers from traumatic experiences, both are maligned by baseline humans and both have television shows currently airing so I figured I should compare the two for funsies. Don’t worry, no spoilers here!

I’ll be judging both Marvel’s Inhumans and Fox’s The Gifted based on three categories: Story, Characters, and Production Quality. Fairly simple, right? We’ll see!

Inhumans – Story

After the Royal Family of Inhumans is splintered by a military coup, they barely escape to Hawaii where their surprising interactions with the lush world and humanity around them may prove to not only save them, but Earth itself.

It’s Space Game of Space Thrones, essentially, except with shoddy acting and sterile sets. While this shouldn’t be too bad as a concept, we’re thrust into the lives of these extraterrestrial beings with only a fleeting mention of a connection to the Terrigen contaminant we’ve seen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. so unfortunately the audience can be kind of lost on initial viewing without prior knowledge of the characters.

The Inhuman Royal Family will be spending the majority of this 8 episode run on the stunning island of Hawaii and the unique cityscape and surrounding nature makes for a nice change of pace to the usual stock sets used in other Marvel productions.

With the cast splintered, we’ll be seeing lots of unique experiences for the relative aliens and maybe some good character development, all culminating in one final show with the main antagonist, Maximus.

The Gifted – Story

Two ordinary parents take their family on the run from the government when they discover that their children have mutant abilities, and join an underground community of mutants who have to fight to survive.

It’s your basic X-Men plot but not one that the Fox X-Men movies have tackled at all and with such a tight focus on two distinct groups of characters, this series aims to put a spotlight on all of the social commentary and allegorical story-telling ideas that X-Men stories are lauded for and in the current social climate, that’s a great thing.

With a Government-backed black-ops group intent on hunting them, the strife that the Struckers and the members of the Mutant Underground find themselves in definitely has echoes of The Underground Railroad or The French Resistance and this will lead to some fascinating character dynamics and some great set-pieces over it’s 10 episode run.

Inhumans – Characters

Let me give it to you straight, there’s only a couple of decent actors and, sadly, one of them isn’t Iwan “Barry Bolton” Rheon. Maximus’s actor struggles to act and put on his ropey American accent and his performance sadly suffers for it. Isabelle Cornish as Crystal is vacuous, uninteresting and your visual bathroom break cue. Eme Ikwuakor and Ken Leung provide decent performances as powerhouse Gorgon and calculating Karnak, respectively.

Rounding out the main cast are Anson Mount and Serinda Swan as Black Bolt and Medusa, the king and queen of Attilan. Serinda Swan is a little stiff in the first episode (much like her hair!) but as we see her adapt to her new situation and act proactively to reunite with her peers, we see that she’s got a little more depth than we first see. Interestingly, she appeared twice in Smallville as Zatanna Zatarra, which is neat. Anson Mount’s stoic Black Bolt portrayal is bang on and I have to admire his dedication to the role, creating a unique set of Inhuman signs to communicate (he hopes to create a functioning fictional language like Klingon or Dothraki). Between that and his quite comical expressions in the second episode, I think he was a brilliant choice for the role.

Of course, the actual best character is the 2,000 pound CGI teleporting doggo, Lockjaw! He’s adorable and he’s the only reason I wanted to see the show in the first place so I’m thankful that VFX company Double Negative did a fantastic job of rendering him, even if he doesn’t exactly fit into most scenes well.

The Gifted – Characters

The characters of this show can generally fall into three categories: the Strucker family, the Mutant Underground, and the jobbers du jour, the Sentinel Services officers.

The Struckers (no relation) are your typical family unit but with the added twist of the father being a prosecutor that specialises in putting mutants in jail but this doesn’t go the way you expect. The Mutant Underground are a motley bunch of B-List X-Men, Morlocks and new creations with a nice diverse cast and unique array of powers. Special mention goes to the adorable Jamie Chung (Blink) who is best known as Chi-Chi in the awful Dragonball Evolution and as the voice of GoGo Tomago in Big Hero 6.

From the pilot episode, I feel much more connected to most of these characters than any of the Inhumans cast and I think that’s down to the more grounded storytelling of The Gifted.

Inhumans – Production Quality

As I’ve said before, all the scenes shot in Hawaii are utterly gorgeous and very foreign from what we usually expect whereas Attilan, the Inhuman City on the moon, splits between barren royal accommodation to barren peasant-caste mine areas. Attilan feels sparce, sterile and lifeless. Even the Inhuman haven in AoS had more character to it!

Not only that but the use of Inhuman abilities is very limited. Every one of the Royal Family gets their moment to exhibit them but that’s about it and they’re all mostly underwhelming, lacking the punch I was expecting. The costume designs are a little weird too but I can chalk that up to space fashion.

The Gifted – Production Quality

The Gifted has a more subdued colour palette but more variety in it’s atmosphere than Inhumans does. The night-time opening has harsh neon glows while the suburban family life has a muted sepia feel and the cold blues of the industrial complex and prison facilities all add to the atmosphere in the show and giving it a more film-like quality overall. In terms of powers, The Gifted does not hold back; with each character using their powers offensively, defensively and even in fun/mundane ways!

The show oozes quality on par with it’s kooky cousin Legion and can easily stand up to any Marvel show on visuals alone.

Verdict:

This is purely down to my personal taste and I’ll give my best reasoning for which show I recommend but know that while I enjoyed both shows to an extent, one was clearly superior and that show was The Gifted.

The Gifted feels very much in line with it’s universe and it’s predecessors while Inhumans feels the most disconnected of the Marvel shows so far, mostly due to it’s bizarre subject matter. Not only that but while The Gifted has a lot going for it, Inhumans necked itself out of the gate by being a mediocre TV pilot that was shown on IMAX screens; further highlighting its flaws and thus gaining the infamous criticism that it’s garnered.

I highly recommend The Gifted if you’re a fan of the X-Men, the movie franchise, Legion or all of the above and I cannot do the same with Marvel’s Inhumans.

Re:CREATORS is a 22-episode original series that comes to us from the minds of Ei Aoki and Rei Hiroe of the animation studio, Troyca. It’s currently available on Amazon’s video streaming service and, in my mind, is one of those anime series that comes along rarely and changes the game in some way. Neon Genesis Evangelion and Gurren Lagann reinvented, then reinvented again, the mecha genre. Puella Magi Madoka Magica recontextualized what it means to be a ‘magic girl’ and this series is no different.

Re:CREATORS takes a more meta approach to it’s message and asks important questions I myself have wondered while writing: What if the characters you created could take you to task for the world you built around them? Would they hate you? Would they want to change it? How far would they go to achieve their happy ending? Even the show’s title is a double entendre; being read as both recreators and as regarding: creators.

The story from the outset is a bit of a mystery as a young woman tragically commits suicide before hardcutting to the show’s ‘protagonist’, Sota Mizushino. I say ‘protagonist’ because once the story kicks into gear, he’s not really part of the plot. He has moments here and there but, for the most part, the series is about the relationships between the Creations that have suddenly appeared in the real world and their Creators and the ongoing battle to stop the mysterious Altair from unravelling the very fabric of reality.

Consider this your SPOILER WARNING because I’ll be getting into story and plot details from here on out and while I’m not going to outright give away the ending, I will be talking about how I think the show cleverly uses the tropes of anime to subvert your expectations.

Like I said before, the key to the show’s engagement with me was the relationships between Creations and Creators and how it’s unique for each character. Selesia and Matsubara act like father and daughter, arguing constantly but with an underlying affection for one another, to the point where Matsubara will defend Selesia against anyone who considers her ‘unreal’.

Meteora’s creator sadly died shortly after finishing her game and struggles with that information before playing her own game and sees how much love and dedication was put into her world. Magane Chikujoin seemingly kills her creator because she’s both an agent of chaos and a delightful scamp. There’s a few others but those are couple highlights to give you an idea.

We see other characters struggle with how different their worlds are in comparison to the world of their Creators and wonder how one ‘god’ can create the magical girl Mamika, an avatar of sweetness and naivety and another can create Aliceteria, a battle-hardened warrior from an unforgiving world of carnage. Seeing these two interact and how their tragic stories unfold, especially given their contrasting personalities, is one of the most impactful relationships in the show.

And then we come to Altair; a Creation born of tragedy and revenge. Her Creator is/was Setsuna Shimazaki and was never given a backstory or an established power set but is somehow incredibly adept at reality manipulation, with a wide variety of abilities that no one can understand how she got them. Her plan is to bring more and more Creations into the world of the Creators/Gods and the resulting backlash of causality will destroy Earth and all of the story worlds created from it.

I focus on her because she’s an interesting cautionary tale for Mary Sue character types. An author insert character in any story can too easily become the epitome of cool badassery that everyone loves and this is especially true for Altair who was essentially given all her power by people on the internet creating various works for this abandoned character.

Audience engagement is how she grows more powerful and why the Creations we meet were chosen. They’re popular, beloved and because of that investment, it creates more reality backlash when they suddenly appear in the real world with their magic and giant robots intact.

Naturally, other concerns are explored like rewriting character descriptions with varying degrees of success, which ends up becoming a key part of the endgame with Altair as the Creations and Creators rally for a cross-media event on levels only the Japanese can pull off. It helps that the animation is absolutely stunning as well.

I said I won’t give away the ending but suffice to say that there’s action, heartbreak, emotional whiplash, and more than it’s fair share of hype moments that keep you as engaged in the outcome as the audience in the show.

Special shout-out to the series composer Hiroyuki Sawano for the excellent theme songs “gravityWall” and “sh0ut” and for the incidental tracks in the show itself. His work on Attack on Titan and Kill La Kill were fantastic and he brings an industrial electronica vibe to the tracks for this show.

I hope my gushing has piqued your interest in this show because I believe this is a show for writers and creators to enjoy, both for it’s meta-narrative but for it’s genuinely engaging and emotional story. You can find Re:CREATORS on Amazon.com’s video streaming section. If you’d like to see more anime reviews on DOOM, let me know in the comments and I’ll catch you guys next time!

Hi guys, and welcome to Game Box; a new series where I look at some of the games I’ve been playing recently since I finally have a console again. First up, I’m coming to be talking about the recent Open Beta for Gazillion Entertainment’s Marvel Heroes Omega.

Marvel Heroes Omega assembles one of the largest gatherings of iconic Super Heroes, Super Villains, and locations from the Marvel Universe in gaming history for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, and Mac.

Set in the iconic Marvel Universe, Marvel Heroes Omega combines the core game-play style of Action RPGs and MMOs with the expansive library of heroes from the Marvel Universe. In the game, players can collect and play as their favorite Marvel Super Heroes (including Iron Man, Thor, Wolverine, Hulk, Spider-Man, Captain America and many others).

Team up with friends and try to stop Doctor Doom from devastating the world with the power of the Cosmic Cube in a story written by Marvel comic super-scribe Brian Michael Bendis.

From moment one, you’re given a gorgeous introduction sequence featuring some pretty good 3D models and 2D animated sections retelling the origins of the more famous Marvel Heroes. A fair few of the cut scenes in-game follow a more motion comic style and while the blend of styles is a little jarring at first, I give the creators credit for trying something different.

The tutorial drops you in the middle of a mission with Captain America and allows you the time to figure out your buttons before setting you against Ultron and his minions. Each of your attacks is assigned to one of the four face buttons and you can bring up a secondary menu by holding L2. It’s an intuitive system to help console players easily access their full range of abilities that’s a staple of MMOs on consoles.

Throughout the tutorial, you’re given the ability to play as Cap, Black Widow and Hulk before they allow you to access the launch roster of heroes. It’s a right Who’s Who of MCU characters alongside more established characters. You get all the ones you know and then you get the likes of Wiccan, Squirrel Girl and Angela, which is cool. Given this is a Free-To-Play game, you’re given the opportunity to try before you buy any of these characters before Level 10 when you have to pick your starter character.

I eventually chose She-Hulk and upon entering the game proper, I noticed a cute quirk this game has. Depending on the characters in the vicinity, there are unique snippets of dialogue from both your character and those of other players. This gives the world a little more connectivity and hearing Shulkie interact with Gambit in the moments in the mission worlds or at the HQ is pretty fun. The voice cast for this game is exhaustive too, bringing in all the voices you’d associate with these characters from various animated shows as well as bringing in actors such as Clark Gregg and Keith David, voicing Agent Coulson and Nick Fury, respectively.

Being a FTP game, more heroes are unlocked through Founder’s Packs of various price points, by using Eternity Splinters or by accumulating the specfic in-game currency to buy them or unlock additional costumes. You can get an additional hero for nothing though, by downloading Daredevil for free and the additional Man Without Fear costume for free if you are a PS Plus member.

You can customise your heroes with character-specific loot drops for defeating enemies and augment their abilities through levelling or attaching Medallions from defeated super villains.

Given the amount of FTP MMO games on consoles at the moment, you could be forgiven for thinking this is just another but the game plays like the X-Men Legends and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance games, taking an isometric view of the action but adds the MMO component and the whole package feels a little like that Avengers Alliance game for its breadth of characters and customisation potential.

If you’re looking for a quick and fun MMO to get into or are jonesing for a Marvel game that isn’t on mobile (that’s me) then I recommend giving this game a shot. Marvel Heroes Omega is currently available for Open Beta on Playstation 4 and will be officially released on June 4 2017. For more details and updates, head over to the official website and be sure to follow the game’s Twitter.

– You Retain The Right To Party

It’s interesting that so much of the set-up in the trailer is based around Jessica being in trouble. The story seems to be more Daredevil/Iron Fist centric with its villains. I wonder how she’ll be included.

– Iron Jaw

I don’t know if we’ll ever get the Heroes For Hire pairing of Danny & Luke that we all love but this is a pretty fun moment.

– Orange Is The New… Wait

This is no flashback. The latest Power Man & Iron Fist comic dealt with Luke breaking into prison to get Danny out, I wonder if this will have a similar reasoning.

– She’s Back

No-one stays dead in the comics, but I am surprised Elektra returns in The Defenders. She is seen fighting our heroes in some quick clips of the trailer but then seen walking calmly behind them in the corridor scene too, so who knows.

– Sigourney Freakin Weaver

She is listed only as “Alexandra” on IMDB. I have no idea how she connects to everything. A head of The Hand? I don’t know. I’m in for it, though.

– Nom Nom Nom

If this isn’t a sly reference to The Avengers eating shawarma, then I’ll eat my hat. Also, how awful is Finn Jones? He delivers this line like a high school theatre actor.

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OVERALL: Problems with Finn Jones aside, this looks great. I’m excited, I don’t know an awful lot, and I know it will be out in August. Everything a trailer needs to do, really.

It’s my fourth year doing Wrestlemania predictions and if I’ve learned anything from my time doing these it’s that the more wrong I am about results, the less people tend to enjoy the show. I’m not saying it’s because of my influence (ha! could you imagine?) but it has been interesting to see how the more unpredictable WWE’s booking gets, the less satisfied the audience can be. Especially in an age when WWE is constantly accused of being too predictable it seems it also has an equally large problem of booking which makes no sense. Anyway, this is just a side-tangent. Lets get guessing!

2017 Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

This is always pot-luck. The natural inclination is to assume Big Show will win, especially as he has announced that his retirement is approaching. The problem is Vince McMahon has whatever the opposite of sentimentality is running through his bones. He also loves throwing in a surprise winner (see Zack Ryder from last year). I’m gonna go out on a limb for this one and say that this might be where our newest beast-on-the-block gets a chance to shine.

PREDICTION: Samoa Joe

WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville vs. Austin Aries

Aries is a recent addition to the WWE roster (remember, they pretend NXT doesn’t exist) and a veteran in his position is often used to get younger talent over. On the other hand they’ve been handing around that Cruiserweight belt like it’s candy. Vince loves Neville, I’m gonna stick with him.

PREDICTION: Neville

SmackDown Women’s Championship Match

Hometown girl, returning from injury, back to claim the title she had to give up. If it’s not Naomi, they’ve lost their damn mind. The only chance of me being wrong, I think, is a certain Japanese destroyer showing up.

PREDICTION: Naomi

Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Cesaro & Sheamus

Ladder matches are another type of match that could let anyone win but I’d hope that The Club retains, just to make them bigger bad guys. It would also work better for future title matches with other teams *coughNewDaycough*.

PREDICTION: The Club

Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Baron Corbin

I keep forgetting this match is happening. I think it’s the match I have the least interest in. I don’t know, lets say…

PREDICTION: Ambrose

John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse

The build up to this fight has been a lot of fun but I wonder how intense of a match it will feel with the inter-gender element. Often tagging can slow things down as both sides have to change competitors and its been a long time since I’ve seen Maryse wrestle so who knows where her skills are at. Either way, a Cena/Bella win and a marriage proposal seems pretty nailed on.

PREDICTION: John Cena & Nikki Bella

United States Champion Chris Jericho vs. Kevin Owens

Big contender for what will be match of the night. It has a title on the line but more importantly friendship as we know it. That’s right, if Owens wins, friendships the world over will crumble. With Jericho notoriously due to leave for a musical interlude, it’s bad news for friends.

PREDICTION: Owens

Raw Women’s Champion Bayley vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax (Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match)

The story seems to be leaning towards Sasha turning heel very soon. If that happens at Mania, there can be only one winner.

PREDICTION: Sasha Banks

Shane McMahon vs. AJ Styles

Whoever wins, gravity loses. But dear god, please let it be AJ. Even WWE aren’t dumb enough to put a non-wrestler over one of their biggest stars, right? RIGHT?!

PREDICTION: AJ Styles

The Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns

Or as I like to call it, pee-break. I actually hate that this match is happening but if I have to choose, I hope big Roman puts a fist through the heart of The Undertaker and finally puts us all out of our misery. Men in their 50s should not be wrestling anymore.

PREDICTION: Reigns

Seth Rollins vs. Triple H (Non-Sanctioned Match)

The meat in our sandwich of old-men-versus-younger-men matches is going to be quite likely the only good one to watch. HHH can still go and hopefully Seth will be able to as well. Don’t be surprised if this turns into a run-in fiesta.

PREDICTION: Rollins via shenanigans

Universal Champion Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar

Oy vey. The only redeeming feature of this match is that it will most likely be short and logically can only be one winner. I think.

PREDICTION: Lesnar

WWE Champion Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton

Surprisingly this is probably the hardest one for me to pick a logical winner. Bray could win, but if so what was the point of Orton’s betrayal? And if Orton wins then what is he? A Heel or Face champion? AJ has to come for the winner in the following weeks and a battle with Bray would be much more interesting but sadly I don’t think WWE are thinking that far ahead.

PREDICTION: Orton

Marvel just released its second trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming. A title so wink-wink nudge-nudge that you would swear Deadpool was explaining the joke to you through the fourth wall.

I want this movie to be good. Logan was, after so many bad attempts, the movie Wolverine deserved. I want this movie to be that for Spidey. So know this before I crap all over the following trailer…

– Confusing Daddy Issues

I don’t understand this relationship at all. Tony Stark gave this kid a crazy special suit to go fight crime and then tells him not to fight crime with it. He takes the kid half-way around the world to beat up Captain America but tells him that stopping guys with guns or saving a ship is out of his league. WHAT?! That makes no god damn sense.

– Are You Trying To Seduce Him?

Why does it look like Aunt May is going to “Mrs Robinson” Peter? Maybe I’ve been watching too much Riverdale on Netflix but this looks sexual. And who decided Aunt May needed to be younger and hot? Like, what does that achieve apart from continuing Hollywood’s dismissal of older women in its movies?

– Who Are You? Who, Who? Who, Who?

What version of The Vulture is this? “I’ll do anything to protect my family”, what? Is this Hawkeye all over again, when a character is given a family just so that we can relate to him? The Jury is out on this villain.

– Not The Face!

Oh goody, looks like they found a way for Spider-Man not to have a mask on for the entirety of the final battle. Yay.

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OVERALL: I am so disappointed by this trailer. It gives away pretty much the whole plot of the movie and shows us that Marvel haven’t really learned from the mistakes of Sony in adapting Spider-Man to the big screen. Weird changes to the source-material and an over-reliance on “star” power means this is looking to be nothing but a standard Hollywood film. I hope I’m proven wrong but this trailer was trash.

The Mass Effect franchise holds a special place in my heart. It was the first X-Box 360 game I bought for the fledgling system back in 2008 and I bought the subsequent sequels on release day. I played Mass Effect 2 at least 8 times through (clocking in at an average of 40 hours per play through) and even played Mass Effect 3 a few times through; rounding out a trilogy that, overall, I will remember fondly. But now, after nearly ten years, it feels like we’ve come full circle.

Mass Effect: Andromeda released in the UK on the 23rd of March and after having spent roughly 33 hours exploring, fighting, and conversing my way through the brave new world that Bioware Montreal has created; I’m feeling less enthused and more indoctrinated.

Despite the early reviews and videos showing some very questionable facial animations and a rather plagiaristic plot line, I was excited for the newest instalment of Mass Effect and eagerly spent my money to pick it up day and date. The early hours showcased a lot of the bizarre facial expressions that I had come to expect and I pushed on and begin to enjoy myself.

The combat flowed nicely enough, the dialogue was engaging and this new universe was full of potential and wonder. And then it set in. The creeping realisation that, despite paying for a Bioware game, I was actually playing an Ubisoft game in Shepard’s clothing.

Unlocking towers to further story and unlock segments of the map? Check. Waves upon waves of palette-swapped enemies with little distinction between them? Check. Character’s faces melting off or outright disappearing from conversations? BIG CHECK. Turns out I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed this entire time!

I cannot fathom what the Quality Assurance for this game must have been like but I can only assume the producers ignored any and all reports given to them because I have never played a game with so much polish and this many bugs, glitches and frame drops.

It’s a gorgeous game, there’s no denying that. The new Frostbite engine makes each of the playable worlds (a sadly small number) look uniquely stunning and is a large, expansive sandbox for Ryder and company to run around in but holy crap do the graphics start to become a problem when you get in close.

For one thing, did no one on the team pay attention to the dialogue sections of The Witcher III? Or even Mass Effect 2 and 3? Because the level of interaction is sub-Mass Effect 1, with characters standing stock-still, staring wall-eyed at each other like everyone is being held at gunpoint! No character emotes with their bodies, expresses an emotion besides mild befuddlement and don’t even get me started on Ryder’s head swivelling 180° to face the other way. Or characters will be embedded up to their shoulders in the floor. Or ten feet in the air. None of these issues should ever have made it past testing and the entire product is lesser for it.

Your new squad members, while an eclectic bunch of weirdoes, outcasts, and criminals, can be sadly mired in the trappings of the previous games vis-à-vis their gameplay roles. That said, it’s genuinely cool to enter a room on the Tempest and see your crew talking to each other, either about missions, politics or even race relations. Special mention goes to new Andromeda alien crew member Jaal (beautifully voiced by Nyasha Hatendi) and his place amongst the team. We’ve seen, and partnered, with so many aliens in the past that it’s refreshing to see a character taking the outsider’s perspective.

Now, it’s not all negative, as my love of Jaal shows, and a lot of the good in this game can be found in it’s gameplay. Eschewing cover shooting for a more run-and-gun style, battles can shift quickly and often, giving some of the more monotonous encounters some new ways to surprise you.

The Nomad is also a huge improvement on previous games’ exploration mechanics, leaning towards ME1’s Mako like it’s copying it’s homework; which isn’t a bad thing. Bombing around planets in the Nomad gives the adventurous feeling I was looking for and the multiple in-car conversations between squad-mates make it worth the trip rather than fast travelling.

I wish that flying between systems and planets was a little less loading screen intensive or was worth it most of the time (I’ve encountered three systems with little-to-nothing in terms of reason to be there) but once you’re there, it’s pretty fun, with multiple missions and tasks to be accomplished.

There’s a good game here. Yes, it’s taking a lot of cues from the original trilogy’s story and executing it with less style and the dialogue, character models and faces can be jankier than an Eastern European indie game but between fun gunplay, vehicle sections that are an absolute blast and crew members that can give you a genuine chuckle in between missions, I think there’s potential here.

As of time of writing, I’m nowhere near finished but if this is going to spin out into an all new trilogy then, in the spirit of the original Mass Effect and this wild new frontier, I can only hope that the hardships now lead to a better future.

1) The New Day

Champions for almost the entirety of the year Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston, and Big E Langston have managed to revive and reign over the tag-team division of both the WWE and RAW. One of the few wrestlers who might actually be hurt by the brand split because their limited competition have now been separated from them, they still managed to be a highlight every week and continue to keep us on our toes.

2) Kevin Owens

When he wasn’t Universal champion this year he was Intercontinental champion. Whether alone or with his best friend Chris Jericho, Owens has been tickling me all year with his outlandish heel antics. But he’s not just great on the mic but legitimately one of the best performers in the ring too. More moves than you can count and actually makes me delight in a chin-lock.

3) Samoa Joe

In my eyes, the two best wrestling rivalries this year were Joe vs Finn Balor and Joe vs Shinsuke Nakamura. This could only have happened because of both NXT’s excellent booking and Samoa Joe being the type of performer who is always a credible threat. Intimidating in every way; size, demeanour, skills. I can’t think of another competitor (outside of Lesnar) who I think is seen as dangerous as him.

4) Bobby Roode

While he hasn’t been around for a full year quite yet, I don’t think I could have made a list of my favourite anything right now without including Bobby Roode. Put his stunning entrance aside for a moment and you still have a veteran worker with oodles of charisma and a great look. He was born to be a top class wrestler. Do I love egomaniac heels? Sure, that doesn’t hurt either.

5) AJ Styles

2016 feels like a year when wrestlers who have been overlooked on the main stage finally got their due. Few embody this as much as AJ Styles. A true veteran of world wrestling, he has been ready for the spotlight for a long time. From his debut at The Royal Rumble to ending the year as WWE champion he has been wowing everyone along the way. Chances are, your favourite match this year featured him.

And competing for a place…

Chris Jericho: From popping up time to time and making you think “oh yeah, Jericho”, to being a staple of every episode of RAW; 2016 has been a wild year for Y2J. Despite his list, he didn’t quite make mine.

Asuka: “Nobody is ready for Asuka”. She’s right. It’s a shame too because I think she could have used another greta rivalry this year. I’ll watch her kick the crap out of people any day of the week.

Charlotte and Sasha: You can’t mention one without the other this year. Both have been great and their rivalry has eclipsed everyone. Unfortunately it also may have eclipsed them individually too.

Tye Dillinger: Not in my Fave Five but this scrappy Canadian would be perfect for my top ten. Ten. Get it? Alright, I’ll stop…

The movie is directed by a relative newcomer, Jon Watts, who has mainly directed TheOnion.com videos. It’s co-written by John Francis Daley and if you’re wondering why that name is familiar, he was the main kid in Freaks & Geeks. But don’t worry, he’s one of 6 people who are credited as writing the screenplay. Have I made you nervous yet?

Ok, lets see our first trailer.

– The Ultimate Bait and Switch

If you believe everything you read on the internet, IMDB would have you know that popular young actress Zendaya is playing a character named Michelle. Sure. I personally think she bares a resemblance to a certain red-head from the Ultimate Spider-Man universe.

But hey, Aaron, that’s the Ultimate universe. What has that got to do with…

– C’mon guys

Well here is where I’m a little confused and very annoyed. This chubby best friend of Spider-Man, who loves Lego, is listed as… Ned Leeds?! Are you kidding me?

I’m supposed to think this guy is going to turn into the Hobgoblin at some point? No. He is CLEARLY Ganke Lee from the Ultimate Spider-Man comics (and now 616). Either Marvel is playing real hard to get with details or it doesn’t know what it is doing. I’m really hoping for the former based on track-record. But if this was Fox or Warner Bros I’d be spitting venom right now.

– Death From Above

Welcome to our big bad guy for the movie, The Vulture. It will be interesting if they play with any of the age stuff in The Vulture’s lore but either way he’s played by Michael Keaton so that’s pretty damn cool.

He has gone from playing Batman to Birdman and now a bird… man.

– Web Armpits!

It’s the first time we see them in live-action form and I, for one, am jazzed about it.

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OVERALL: Honestly, I have to admit I expected a trailer that would get me more excited. It revealed lots of character stuff, like how Peter is being treated like a child by Tony Stark and being mentored slightly, and who his friends are etc. But I’ve seen enough of RDJ at this stage and the characters aren’t who they say they are so… meh?
I still want to see the film, I’m excited for Tom Holland in the roll, but if I knew nothing before this trailer I don’t think I’d go to see Spider-Man: Homecoming based on this footage alone.