I Know. I'm Ridiculous. (#213)

(This post was written like two months ago, around September when I was playing Ace Attorney 6.)

Guess who's back? Sigh... I know. You must all hate me. For the second time in under a year, I have officially ended this blog and then come back to it several months (or, in this case, mere weeks) later to simply say 'hey guys, what's happening, it's me and I'm making posts again'. Keep in mind that as I write this it's around 10pm (on a school night, no less, and I should really be in bed) and this is just one of those stupid, spontaneous, mind-bogglingly crazy ideas that genuinely just sprang into my head. I was kind of inspired by myself (as egocentric as that sounds).

Recently, due to the release of Phoenix Wright: Spirit of Justice, I have been getting back into the Ace Attorney series after not playing any of the games for nearly a year. In fact, I remember talking about playing Professor Layton VS Phoenix Wright on this blog around a year ago, a little bit after my hundredth post. I was feeling really nostalgic for last Summer when I played all of the games for the first time (apart from Dai Gyakuten Saiban, which is only in Japan and by the way has just had a sequel announced) and as with LvW I wrote on here about a lot of my experiences with the series. In fact, the third post I ever made was right when I started the first game, which feels like an eternity ago and I barely remember the incredible way I felt as I first started this objection-filled adventure. As I said, I was feeling nostalgic so was reading on here around posts #90-#100 when I was talking about my top ten favourite cases in the series. And I just felt inspired. As seen in my posts before I ended this recently I'd been feeling pretty unmotivated and lazy in life sadly but looking at some of the things I wrote a year ago really reminded me of the interesting, descriptive paragraphs I may still be capable of writing if I can only rediscover that lost passion.

How I have missed the feeling of a cold whip to the neck.

This probably sounds stupid to many people but one main reason I ended this in August was because I said I wanted to focus on my YouTube channel and it's extremely draining and stuff to do both a dedicated blog and channel. I still stick by those words and now realise that perhaps YouTube isn't my speciality and although I may occasionally upload videos I probably won't be doing Let's Plays (apart from maybe a short game or two once in a while). I did actually pause my Mario 64 LP halfway through and I do want to finish that at sometime in the future, but I won't push myself or it'll end up forced and crappy. So what I'm saying is, after possibly making the wrong choice in which of the two I want to really dedicate myself to... I am now correcting myself, and choosing this blog. I mean, I've written over 200 posts which is probably one of the most productive things I've ever done honestly (some are pretty damn big too) and the blog just hit 11,000 pageviews... that may be nothing to some people but it means a lot to me. So yes, I'm not deleting my YouTube channel or any of the videos on it or anything... but well, I'll just see what happens with that in the future.

As with post #151, I'm planning to make a post not long after this detailing some of the things I've been interested in during the past two months or so that I neglected to mention even before I stopped posting last month. However, I believe that the only way this will properly work is if I feel no pressure to post frequently and stuff so from now if I don't post for an extremely long period of time it just means I'm having a bit of writer's block or really don't have time (I am in my last year of high school now in the UK so, y'know, exams suck n'all that).

If anything, maybe this will get me to try and write more in English class. Besides... 212 posts is an ugly, random number to just suddenly end a blog at... right?

Thomas (I need to sleep now.)

Moving On (#212)

Hey. So, last November I made a post about how I was deciding to end this blog since it was becoming a bit much for me to spend time writing long posts about things and how I often could barely think of things to say. However, after about four months of no posts, I decided to come back to this and write about news again, and more often my life in general, even though I often couldn't find the motivation to write posts.

Well, as you've probably noticed, that's been happening really badly recently. It's been over two weeks since I made a post, and even though I was on holiday for a week, that's the longest I've ever gone without making one apart from when I ended the blog. And that's not very good. I really, really, genuinely hate to say this, but... maybe it's time for me to say goodbye again. I know that sounds really bad, especially considering that I promised that I would try my best to work harder this time, especially with the really great amount of views I've gotten on here (over 10,000) but I have to admit something and be totally honest with you here. Like I said, I just struggle so much with finding the effort to write posts, even small ones that shouldn't take that much time, but I just keep putting it off and not wanting to. I'm really not sure why but it's just a major problem for me. I think part of it may be that whenever something important related to video games or movies that I'm interested in is announced, I instantly feel the need to make a post about it, but again I just can't motivate myself and then I end up never doing it. Some example of posts I've wanted to make in the past month or so that I just never could get myself to write include my plans for playing the Final Fantasy series which I talked about a little in post #211, how much I've been deeply enjoying the Kingdom Hearts series recently, the Justice League and Wonder Woman trailers that came out weeks ago (which are basically old news now anyway) as well as the Rogue One trailer that came out a couple days ago, the fact that last week I watched the original Ghostbusters 1 and 2 for the first time, the fact that I've really gotten into DC comics lately, and loads of other stuff.

But, for now, I think I should just officially end this blog again because making no posts in nearly three weeks is just ridiculous, and I have to apologise for that. Perhaps, like last time, I will return to this blog in the future. This definitely does NOT have to be a be-all end-all. I just feel it's better this way, especially since sometimes I'll be playing a video game I'm really enjoying and then remember that, oh crap, I haven't posted in way too long but I just can't find the effort to. It's like a vicious cycle.

However! This part is very important. This does not have to necessarily be the complete end of it all. I've talked before about my YouTube channel which I started making videos for a couple months ago, and now that I no longer have to focus on this blog, that is going to be my main priority. But since I'm not going to be using this blog, I do have plans to possibly make some videos in the future about the types of things that I've talked about on here before. My main ideas include top 10 lists, maybe some kind of reviews or just videos talking about video games/movies, stuff like that. I also have plans for a video that will come out at the end of this year if I decide to make it, about all the video games I own, which will be like a better version of the fiftieth post on this blog that I made over a year ago. I also have completed short let's plays on my channel and am nearly halfway through a playthrough of Super Mario 64. There are quite a lot of other games I'd like to make on there in the future as well. If you're reading this, and you're into video games at all, or if you've just enjoyed this blog in general, I would really appreciate if you would continue to support me by checking out my channel right here. I don't mean to turn this into some sort of massive advertisement, it's just that one of the reasons I'm deciding to move on from my blog is so that can get more attention and if it doesn't become at least a little successful then ending this will have partially been for nothing.

Anyway, whether you continue to follow me through my YouTube channel or if you'd rather not, I deeply thank you for reading this far into this post. Everybody who has every visited this site has my deepest thanks, and like I said, this blog has become a little popular. I think one of the first things that comes up on Google when you type in 'Official Nintendo Magazine Tribute' is one of my posts, so that's really cool.

Thank you all so much!

Thomas

Be Back In A Week: The Sequel (#211)

The title is a reference to a post I made around this time last year. So yeah, tomorrow I'm actually going on holiday for one week. Maybe it will be good, maybe it won't. Who knows? But anyway, I'm leaving tomorrow and I should be arriving back next Saturday, on August 6th. This means that unfortunately I will be missing Comic Con, since in the city where I live Comic Con is the 30th and 31st of July which is tomorrow and Sunday. I am pretty sad about this but I suppose there always is a next year. Actually, wasn't the world supposed to end today or something? Oh, who cares. If you're interested, I uploaded a video on my YouTube channel about my little 'break', which you can watch here. It's only a minute or so long.

Since I've not made too many posts lately and I won't be making any for at least a week now, I guess I should use this opportunity to talk about some games I got today! Me and one of my friends have been going to town a lot in the past couple months, mainly to get comic books. We also visit CeX a lot. Last time we were there I saw a copy of New Super Mario Bros for £18, which I think I've mentioned before, but New Super Mario Bros was the first game I ever remember playing, and definitely the first I ever owned, over 8 years ago. I didn't have any money on me at the time but since I had some left over from savings, I went there today by myself because I wanted to get NSMB to play on the car journey and to keep me entertained since I won't have much else to do. Also, I lost the game a good few years ago (I think I had two copies of it for some reason but I guess I lost both) so I wanted to get it again for the pure nostalgia. I went to CeX and unfortunately they didn't have the game. I had lots to spend though and I did find The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass for DS! I've been interested in playing that for a while now since it's kind of a sequel to Wind Waker and since I wanted something to play on DS while I'm on holiday, I'm pretty satisfied. Also I can use my mobile data for a guide since I like to use those for Zelda games.

I got three other games as well. For Gamecube, I got Billy Hatcher and the Giant Egg, a game that seems extremely random but my friend recommended it to me if I ever saw it in a store because apparently it's a good game even though it's not known very well (also it's made by SEGA, specifically Sonic Team so good enough for me). Also, for PS3, I got Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster and Final Fantasy XIII-2. I've never mentioned Final Fantasy on this channel before, and I'm just getting into it now. See, lately I've been wanting to try some big RPG adventure style games, and I've always had a bit of a curious interest in the series. Also, I've been playing Kingdom Hearts 2.5 which I got a few weeks ago, and Kingdom Hearts is kind of a spin-off of the FF series. Last time I was at CeX I got FF XIII, and although I haven't played it yet, I plan to soon, and I also got Batman: Arkham Asylum for PS3 since my friend recommended it and I read a comic related to the more recent Batman: Arkham Knight. So, apart from Phantom Hourglass which I'll start tonight, I have a load of good games to play over the next month, which means I'll have stuff to play for the rest of my Summer holidays and most likely the rest of the year since I'm pretty sure the FF games are pretty damn big.

Anyway, when I get back, I'm planning to make a post about my plans for the FF series and how I'm going to play it. But I should probably actually play one of the games first :) Below I've included a photo of the seven games I talked about in the paragraph above.

My gaming life is lookin' good!

Also I plan to take a big paperback book of the Amazing Spider-Man: Brand New Day comic book arc that I got recently. It has around 20 issues of Spider-Man to read! And I might take Luigi's Mansion 2 for 3DS. I played through the original again recently with my friend and I've been playing the 3DS sequel quite a bit too.

Sorry for the weird camera angle!

Wait, last thing! I saw this masterpiece at CeX today.

You're not a true gamer if you haven't played this
magnificent piece of art.

Okay guys, see you in a while!

Thomas

Sonic 25th: TWO NEW SONIC GAMES! (#210)

Two days ago, on the 22nd of July, Sega held a four hour livestream celebrating Sonic's 25th anniversary, as a tribute to the greatest hedgehog in gaming who has now been around for a quarter of a century. Sega have been hinting for a long time now that there would be some kind of major Sonic news in the livestream; I know because I follow them on Facebook and Twitter, and they post lots of memes. Seriously. However, I was unable to watch the livestream because I'm pretty sure the time that it started here in the UK was like midnight and I didn't want to stay until like 4am, so I just decided it would be best to wait until the next morning. Well I was so excited to find out that during the stream two new major Sonic games were announced, and they look so great!

First of all is Sonic Mania. It's basically a game in the style of the old Genesis Sonic games like Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic and Knuckles, and Sonic CD for the Sega CD. I think some famous zones from these games will be returning, as we can see a little of Green Hill Zone in the trailer, but there will also be completely new zones! I like to think that this will be the true Sonic 4. Not that the official Sonic 4 was that bad but I feel like the physics in that game were weird and this will be much more like the old games. There's also a new move called the drop dash. Sonic Mania will release Spring 2017 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One. I'm planning to get a PS4 for Christmas so I can play Kingdom Hearts 2.8 and Kingdom Hearts 3, so I'm good. Check out the trailer here!

The second of the two games is simply titled Project Sonic 2017 as of right now. In the trailer, Sonic is standing in a burning city surrounded by massive robots which I'm assuming Dr Eggman is controlling (but who knows, maybe they'll surprise us?) and Sonic is about to be hit by falling debris when none other than Classic Sonic swoops in to save him! That's right! It's an actual sequel to Sonic Generations, one of my favourite Sonic games! We don't know much so far, but it looks like you'll be able to play as both again in their own levels unless maybe Sega could merge their gameplay and have them play together in levels? This game will release for PC, PS4, Xbox One and the Nintendo NX. Watch the trailer right here.

Also, although I'm not getting LEGO Dimensions, it was still awesome to see a trailer for Sonic's appearance in LEGO Dimensions! Click here to see.

Personally, I'm very excited for both new games because it seems that Sega finally know what us fans want in new Sonic games. I think I'm most excited for Project Sonic 2017 though.

Thomas

Captain America HYDRA Twist Explained (#209)

I have to apologise for uploading posts so rarely in the past few weeks. I know it's kinda ridiculous that there were times when I was uploading several posts a day and now I seem to be struggling to post even every two weeks, it's just that I have had a lot of stuff to do lately as usual and obviously I am focusing a lot on my YouTube channel since I'm really into that now and I've uploaded over 50 videos.

Anyway, this post is basically an answer to the post I made like a month ago about the possibility of Captain America being an agent of HYDRA. So, a couple weeks ago, the second issue of Captain America: Steve Rogers released, and I got it the day it was released because, of course, the first issue got me deeply invested into the series, and I was very interested in how Marvel were going to explain this snake-headed twist. Spoilers, obviously.

So, first of all I want to say, I WAS RIGHT. Kind of. The explanation was that a sentient cosmic cube called Kubik, in the form of a young human girl, was tainted and taught by the Red Skull that HYDRA is basically perfection. Of course, she is a naive child so that would explain why she believes the Red Skull's ideals and doesn't really question the idea that HYDRA is good and the way that things should be. Recently in the comics Steve Rogers' youth was restored by Kubik just before the Captain America: Steve Rogers series started, I believe. Now, when Kubik was restoring Cap's youth and power, since she believed that HYDRA is perfection, she made Cap a HYDRA agent by making it so that all of of Cap's memories involved him being a prominent and faithful member of the terrorist organisation. So this is where it gets a bit confusing; Cap technically isn't an agent since he didn't originally follow HYDRA, but technically he is because he believes himself to have always been a follower and is continuing this lifestyle. It's a little hard for me to explain, but Digital Spy explains it well here. So how do you feel about this, do you think of Cap as an agent or not? I'll definitely be getting the next issue, #3, when it comes out... next week, is it? Wow that went pretty fast.

Also, I know I said this would be probably uploaded in the next three days... oops...

Thomas

My Flowey Impression (#208)

So yesterday/very early this morning I uploaded a voice impression of Flowey from Undertale who is basically the (kinda spoilers?) main antagonist of the game. Anyway, I just wanted to share it with you guys so you could possibly check it out if you have time. Also, don't think that I'm now only using the blog to advertise my YouTube channel; I know I haven't uploaded for nearly two weeks but I am planning another post in the next three or so days hopefully that will be a kind of sequel to my Captain America HYDRA post. Anyway, click here to see my Flowey impression. If you click here you can also see a Papyrus one I made.

Golly!

Thomas

Wreck-It-Ralph 2 Officially Announced! (#207)

In some rather wonderful news yesterday, Disney's amazing Wreck-It-Ralph is finally getting an official sequel, coming out in 2018! The first Wreck-It-Ralph released in late 2012 (although I'm pretty sure it was February 2013 here in the UK, and I remember going to watch it with my friend) and was an animated movie about video games, basically. It's one of my all-time favourite animated movies and I remember wishing for a sequel as soon as I watched it, and now Wreck-It-Ralph 2 will officially be releasing in theatres on March 9th 2018. Hopefully the film will not be delayed by about three months here like with the original, but that may happen. It seems to happen a lot with animated movies, like how Finding Dory will be released by the end of July here whilst its already been out several weeks in the USA. Ralph 2 is supposedly going to explore more modern ideas such as online gaming whereas the original was set in a much more retro arcade environment, and could hopefully feature Mario in a major role. I would really like that. The film will be set six years after the first, which is pretty much the amount of time since numero uno released.

Sonic, Eggman and Bowser actually had cameos in the film. Nice.

You can actually read a review of Wreck-It-Ralph that I wrote right when the original came out. Click here.

Thomas

25 Years of Sonic - Video (#206)

Continuing on with the Sonic 25th Anniversary posts I suppose; a couple days ago Sega released a short 1 and a half minute video chronicling a little journey through all of Sonic's major video game appearances since his debut in 1991. It's a cool little video and it shows that Sega has no problem with poking fun at itself, especially when the video gets to Sonic 06 and simply shows a 'now loading' screen. Oddly enough though, some games that I count as major instalments in the series weren't in the video, such as Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic and the Secret Rings and Sonic and the Black Knight weren't in the video, although to be fair they weren't considered as very good games by a majority of people. I think the weirdest part is that Sonic Lost World didn't appear, mainly since the music playing in the video is actually the main theme of that game, but whatever, it's an awesome little video nonetheless. The end also teases a game celebrating Sonic's 25th... I'm hoping that'll be announced next month :D

Check out the video here.

All of the main games in the Sonic franchise.

Thomas

Sonic 25th Anniversary Announcement? (#205)

A while ago, at the Sonic 25th Anniversary Panel at SXSW, Sega didn't announce any new Sonic games, but instead informed the public that they are planning to release news regarding an important Sonic event during San Diego Comic Con, next month on July 22nd. Sega has also promised that Crush 40 will be performing there, who are the band behind pretty much all of the rock songs in Sonic games, which to be honest, I love. There will also apparently be some kind of 'special guests' there, as well as exclusive merchandise. Many fans are speculating that Sega could finally announce Sonic Adventure 3, which many Sonic fans have been longing for well over a decade now, or even some kind of HD remake of a classic Sonic game. If that happened, I would personally love Sonic 3 & Knuckles to be remade in the style of modern 3D Sonic games like Generations, Colours and Unleashed. But who knows? We'll see what Sega announces. Hopefully it will be satisfying.

Thomas

E3 2016: New Zelda Trailer! (#204)

In case you didn't know, June is one of the best times of the year for gamers. The Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, has just started in the past week or so, and Nintendo's presentation has been running very recently. Although I haven't been catching up with Nintendo's announcements and stuff lately since I feel that they haven't been offering stuff that interests me so far this year, I was really excited today to hear that the upcoming main 3D Zelda game which will likely release next year for both Wii U and NX has finally been given a name, and a brand new trailer showing off some more gameplay. The game looks beautiful. The game's official name will be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and you can watch the E3 trailer right here. God it looks so good.

Link is fired.

Thomas

What Does The Scouter Say? (#203)

I'm almost certain I made a joke about this in a post in the past, and I was probably joking about the possibility, but... this blog hit over 9000 pageviews. 

No, but I'm not even joking. Look at the picture below.

*Insert overused internet meme here*

Like I said, I think I made a promise to share with you guys when I got that many views, and well, here we are. Geeeeeeeez! Nearly 10000 pageviews! This is actually crazy! Are half of these just me or something?

Thomas

Planet Hulk in Thor 3? (#202)

If you didn't already know, it has been known to the public for a while now that the Hulk will be making an appearance in Thor: Ragnarok, which releases next year. More recently, there have been several rumours that Hulk's role in the film will be based on the Planet Hulk storyline, which was a plot in the Hulk's comic books a few years ago that ran for about a few months, maybe even up to a year. I own the story in hardback but I don't think I've ever read the whole thing, though I would definitely like to in the future. Anyway, since Thor 3 will reportedly take place primarily off Earth, it would make sense for the Hulk to show up somewhere in space after he flew off into that direction at the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Although apparently in that film Nick Fury tells Black Widow that the helijet landed near Hela, so who knows? I think a solo Planet Hulk film would have been more awesome though.

Thor: Ragnarok releases November 3rd 2017 and as usual here in the UK we get it a week earlier, October 27th. Nice.

Thomas

Captain America: HYDRA Agent?! (#201)

I'm quite late in talking about this since the news has been well known for over a week now, but a massive (and somewhat unpopular) plot twist has been revealed in recent Marvel comics. Last Wednesday, on May 25th, issue 1 of a new comic book series called Captain America: Steve Rogers was released. If you haven't read it, plan to read it and somehow have managed to avoid the incredibly large amount of posts regarding the reveal at the end of the issue, don't read beyond this point because spoilers.

At the end of the issue, Captain America gets into a plane where Erik Selvig had been kidnapped and tied up, I believe, by Baron Zemo. Cap does something that he has never said before; he utters words that nobody ever expected him to say. 'Hail Hydra.' That's right, Captain America himself, the symbol of the USA, freedom and everything that the United States stands for, is saluting a group that he has fought against for decades and decades. And that's the main thing that everybody has been talking about recently.

I actually went to buy some comic books on Saturday 28th May, and I decided to buy the issue because I really wanted to read it myself. I was lucky; I got the last copy in stock! There was the Hydra part of course which was the main reason I got the issue but apart from that I actually just really loved the story itself and I'm going to buy future issues for sure. I don't think issue 2 is out until June 29th though.

I have a few ideas on what will become of this massive twist. First of all, as a big Marvel fan, and I think most of you agree with me, I am almost certain that there is no chance of Cap actually being a HYDRA agent. I believe that this is, of course, mainly something to confuse people or get people to keep buying future issues to find out the truth (not that there's anything wrong with that, I'm really excited about this series now and I can't wait to find out what's going on). But I think that either Steve is being brainwashed, or that this Steve is somehow a fake. Maybe an android or even a clone. However, I think that my most realistic and probable idea is this: maybe HYDRA has changed and now represents a good cause that Captain America can agree with. In fact, I'm almost certain that somebody in the issue mentions something about there being a new HYDRA lately. After all, S.H.I.E.L.D. could be seen as unreliable after recent times when they have been betrayed from within, like in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (even though that's part of the movies and not the comics). This new HYDRA's non-evil motives could be kept secret to protect their operations, and Cap could be one of only a few who know this. My final theory is that Cap could just be pretending to be a HYDRA agent to somebody who we haven't seen yet. Who knows, maybe somebody who believes that he is HYDRA is communicating with him on the plane he's inside and the truth could be revealed next issue.

Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the beloved American hero we've known for 75 years has actually always been fighting on the side of those whom he pretends to stand against. Either way, I'm sure the truth will be told in future issues, which I most definitely plan to pick up. What do you think of this HYDRA development? Real or fake?

Thomas

One Year Anniversary (#200)

WOAH! Yes, this is actually happening! Welcome to my two-hundredth post on my blog, Awesome Fantasy News. Two hundred! Do you know how many hundreds that is?! Two! And, to top it all off, today is June 2nd 2016. Is there anything significant of this date to you? Nothing that stands out about the fact that today is the second day in the sixth month of the two thousand and sixteenth year since the year 0 A.D.? Well, I'm disappointed. You should know how important this particular date is. Let's have a quick little gander at the picture below...

You can read more on my blog. *hinthintnudgenudge*

That's correct, it's the first post I ever published on this blog, back when I was a wee lil' scrub when it came to mastering the art that is blog writing (I still am though let's be completely honest lol). And, if we look closely at the date that I uploaded it...

CONSPIRACY INTENSIFIES

Yep! As well as having today be my 200th post, it's also been exactly one year since I uploaded the first post on this blog! Boy, let me tell you that it took a lot of planning ahead to get that to coincide... in fact, it's the main reason why I've been posting so much for the last month or two, even when it wasn't necessary. See, in order for this post to be made on the exact date of the one year anniversary, I had to make a lot more posts than I usually would. I know it's not like I had to and it would have been fine if it didn't, but I'm really glad that it did because it's kinda... perfect.

Anyway, geeeeeeez, the big two-double-oh! I've said these exact kind of things in my one hundreth post back in September, but I can't believe that this random little idea became some sort of success and actually worked out. I mean, all the other time I've tried blogs, the highest number of posts I made was about eight or ten, so you may be able to see that I've tried really really hard to get this to work and to put motivation into this even when I've really not felt like it. Just look at what happened a couple months ago; I basically ended the blog after post #150 and was unsure if I was ever going to come back to it but a random burst of inspiration came to me and, voila, here we are. I will say that this is going to be a lot shorter than post #100 because that was ridiculously long. Not in a bad way though, it's one of those posts I look at when I want to be reminded why I started this in the first place and why I should continue and start typing up the next post.

So thank you to everybody that reads this blog. In September I practically ended it but I'm very glad that I brought it back again in March. Also, just a heads up, posts will be going up less often now because I've been posting very frequently so that this would would be both my 200th post and my 1 year anniversary. I'll still be updating often, but maybe just once a week, because I have to record a lot of YouTube videos (speaking of which, I started uploading on there again) and also I still have a lot of stuff that I need to study for.

Thanks to everybody reading this right now, I couldn't have found the effort to get this far without you.

Thomas

My Thoughts On: X-Men Apocalypse (#199)

So it's been over a week now since I saw X-Men: Apocalypse, and even though I'm not going to say loads about it (I know I always say that but I really mean it this time) I will start by saying that, like Batman V Superman, I think it is a lot better than all the reviews say. I will agree that BvS was a little boring at times and sometimes the plot really confused me but with Apocalypse I felt very satisfied and psyched after walking out of the cinema and was actually very surprised to find out that the film had been received negatively, especially since I think all the X-Men films have been really great since First Class. Yes, I really like the Wolverine, and I don't get why so many people dislike it. I'll talk about Apocalypse below, so as per usual, spoilers.

As I said this isn't going to be very long. I just want to talk about my favourite parts and some other things. So as I actually spoke about in a recent post concerning Quicksilver, one of my favourite scenes from Days of Future Past was when time slows down as Quicksilver runs around a prison room causing mayhem, while the quaint song 'Time in a Bottle' plays. I was really hoping that there's be another one of those in this film, and to my delight, there was! Quicksilver runs around the X-Mansion saving lots of the students as it explodes. I'm pretty sure those are the details anyway, it's been over a week since I've watched it and I've forgotten a fair bit of the events that happen but I'm hopefully gonna watch it again in a few weeks. During this Quicksilver scene, a song plays, like in DOFP. The song is called 'Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), and it is FRICKIN' AWESOME. Seriously, I don't know what it is about that song but my friend and I are addicted to it. We downloaded it after finding out its name when we got home from the cinema last Saturday and have both listened to it at least once a day since.

Wolverine's cameo as teased in one of the trailers was also really nice. See, the film was set in the 1980s I think, and in X-Men 2, we learn that in the past Wolverine was kept captive at a Weapon X base by William Stryker. Well, in the film our main characters also end up at this same facility, where Wolverine is set free by Jean Grey in a really touching little scene. Also, something quite funny is when Cyclops says something like 'Hope we never see that guy again', which is a bit of dramatic irony paired with the fact that Scott and Logan become tense rivals over Jean in the future. Well maybe, the X-Men timeline is kinda messed up now but I think it's for the best because the recent films are better than the old ones in several ways I think.

When the film ended and the credits were rolling by, a lot of people left the cinema. As you know, films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe always have at least one post/mid credits scene, but the X-Men films are made by Fox and not Marvel Studios. However, we stayed until the very end just in case, especially since I remembered that the Wolverine, Deadpool and DOFP all had credits scenes, and thankfully, we were right to stay. There was a scene where some people in business suits went to the Weapon X facility and I think took some blood samples (I could be remembering wrong). Now, there was a company shown here with the name 'Essex Corp'. I first I was really confused until it snapped in my head; there's a guy from the comic books called Nathaniel Essex, A.K.A. the villain Mr Sinister. So he'll probably be in Wolverine 3 or the next main X-Men movie if they're making one. In fact I also think Sinister is one of Apocalypse's followers or something, so it makes sense.

Anyway those are my main thoughts on the movie. What about you? It only came out two days ago in America but do you hate it like a lot of the critics or are you confused over the dislike?

Thomas

P.S: The next post is number two hundred!

Nintendo Goes To Hollywood (#198)

In an unexpected but very exciting twist of news, Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima has discussed how the company would have interest in actually making movies in the future, based off of their various popular game series. The major Nintendo movie that everybody probably remembers is 1993's attempt to take Super Mario Bros into the world of cinema, which, quite frankly, failed horribly. I've never watched that film but I just don't know what they were thinking. However, it's looking like Nintendo could bring some good content to the big screen in the following years, as Kimishima has said that they would most likely make animated films instead of live action. He also said that the films would be made with more direct input from Nintendo themselves instead of leaving it to other creators. So that's a relief...

This is an actual screenshot from that Mario movie. I'm pretty
sure those two guys at the back are supposed to be koopas.
Seriously, why does this exist?

Which Nintendo franchise would you most love to see as a film? I think Zelda and Metroid would work well, although I would love a proper attempt at Mario.

Thomas

Carrie-Anne Moss in Iron Fist (#197)

Hey everyone. It's been officially confirmed that Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Jeri Hogarth in Marvel's Jessica Jones Netflix series, will be starring in Iron Fist, which is the fourth in the line of these Netflix series, releasing sometime after Luke Cage in September but before the Defenders team-up series, which will feature Luke Cage, Iron Fist, JJ and Daredevil, whose second season released just over two months ago. She will most likely act as a connection between Jessica Jones and Iron Fist, further setting up the Defenders, and let's not forget that (Daredevil spoilers) Foggy Nelson from Daredevil joined her law firm at the end of season 2. Also, interesting fact: in the comic books, Jeri Hogarth is actually a male lawyer, called Jeryn Hogarth. I guess they gender-swapped her in JJ for plot details or to put a twist on things. But Jeryn Hogarth is apparently a character that first appeared in the Iron Fist comics and has made numerous appearances in them since, so it would make sense for Jeri to be in Iron Fist.

Carrie-Anne with your business...

Thomas

Who Is The Best Quicksilver? (#196)

Well now, the last few days have been pretty busy for me. I had two real, non-mock GCSE exams on Tuesday and Thursday and despite some last minute panic revising I think I've done pretty good on both papers. Anyway, in more exciting, less education-y news, my friend Jamie has booked tickets for us to go watch X-Men: Apocalypse on Saturday! I'm very excited to watch it. The seats are, of course, the middle area of the back row because that's the best place to sit in my opinion, and the film is set to start at 14:00 on Saturday afternoon. Well, let's be honest, it'll be about 15:00 because there's always around half an hour of adverts and trailers, but that's okay. Anyway, I'll talk about it a little afterwards, but it'll probably be at least a good few days afterwards because those review/reaction posts always take me a crap load of creativity and days of procrastination to write.

It's gonna be awesome seeing Quicksilver in IMAX 3D. I'm talking about the Quicksilver played by Evan Peters, of course, who everybody including myself thinks is a lot cooler than the one from Avengers: Age of Ultron. Seriously, nothing against Aaron Taylor-Johnson or anything, I think he played Quicksilver well in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I just think Evan Peters portrays Quicksilver as a much funnier and carefree character (I'm sure anybody who's watched X-Men: Days of Future Past is a big fan of that Quicksilver scene in the prison... you'll know which one I'm talking about), although that looks like it could change in Apocalypse since things are becoming serious and a more darker, meaning ol' 'Silva could have to mature a little. Ew, maturing sucks.

Evan Peters

Aaron Taylor-Johnson

Also, funny story, back when Days of Future Past was in cinema in May 2014, me and my friend went out to watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier (it was right when we were properly getting into the MCU). However, the film had been out for about two months and there were barely any cinemas left where it was still showing. The cinema we went to, ODEON, weren't showing Cap 2 anymore but DOFP had just come out and we were actually going to watch that instead (even though I hadn't watched any X-Men films; I starting watching those around the end of that year). One of the guys working there directed us to another cinema nearby that were still showing The Winter Soldier though. So Apocalypse will be the first X-Men film I've watched in cinema, and also the first in IMAX. Well, actually now that I think about, there's Deadpool, which is technically part of the X-Men film franchise. But if you don't count that, then this is the first one. Plus I didn't see DP in IMAX.

But alas. Who do you think the best Quicksilver is?

Thomas

Exams and the Apocalypse (#195)

Just sayin', my first of the three major GCSE exams I have this month is on the 17th of May, which, oh hey, is tomorrow. So I need to do a lot of revision tonight and make sure I've remembered all of the hard stuff. The one tomorrow is Chemistry, then I'll be revising a ton for the one on Thursday which is Chemistry, and then next week I have the Physics exam on Wednesday. Hopefully I should be watching X-Men Apocalypse on Saturday though.

Thomas

A Short Rant On Spoilers (#194)

I started watching Arrow and the Flash again a few weeks ago, and I've been enjoying it a lot. I've not really been watching any at weekends but I've mainly been watching an episode of either show before I go to school in the morning on weekdays. I've watched the first five episodes of both Arrow Season
3 and the Flash Season 1, and I'm intending to watch more this week (although I might use that time more for revision instead... nah, let's face it, probably not). But recently a lot of the people at my school who are more up to date on both shows, particularly the Flash, have been spoiling things by talking about recent events in these shows to people in a voice that is more than loud enough for me to hear. And when I say recent events, I mean deaths, relationships, new characters, etc, which means I now already know about a lot of future major events on both shows which puts me off watching them a little bit since I know what's going to happen. The thing is, a lot of the time people know that I've only just started watching but don't seem to care enough to talk about massive spoilers a bit more quietly. I guess spoilers just bother me a lot more than most other people especially since fiction (eg. TV shows, video games and movies) is pretty much one of the most important things to me in life. I don't dislike or hold grudges against people who spoil things like this (at least when it's accidental or not on purpose to ruin things for me) but still, people could just be a little more considerate, please...? :P

Sometimes it'd be nice if people could stick these
over their mouths. Just out of courtesy, of politeness.

I completed Sonic Generations on PS3 today. It only took me a day because the story is short, but I'm actually considering getting 100% on it, just so I can unlock all the great music from all the Sonic games. I also went to watch Civil War again with Jamie in 2D. It was a very nice day.

Thomas

Free Comic Book Day 2016! (#193)

So here in the UK and in the US (and I'm pretty sure it's in a lot of other places too) we have this thing called Free Comic Book Day. I'd never actually been to one before but I'd heard of it a few times. It's always the first Saturday in May every year, so this year it was May 7th. The night before, my friend Jamie (I've mentioned him before in post #151 as 'The Ginger') messaged me and asked me if I wanted to go to our local comic shop in the city and get some comics the next day and I said sure, because, well, they're free. Well, there were also some other things that we bought with our money, but yeah. We went together to my first Free Comic Book Day and I loved it so much.

There were two main comic book shops in the city and they were really close to each other. We went to both a couple times and Jamie got a nice little selection of comic books, several of which were Star Wars issues. I got a nice little mixture: as for the free comic books, I got a Marvel Civil War II prologue issue, a copy of FCBD Captain America #1, and some free comics for some of my friends, including two copies of a Legend of Korra comic, a One Punch Man manga comic, and a DC Superhero Girls comic for one of my friends' younger sister (she loved it). I also took a lot of money I saved up so I was able to get three Zelda manga books (Ocarina of Time Part 1, Majora's Mask and the Minish Cap) as well as the first volume of a Kingdom Hearts Final Mix manga, which is actually quite a bit longer than your average manga volume. I'm going to start reading it after I've properly started Kingdom Hearts 1.5 for PS3, which won't be for about a week or so since I'm starting Sonic Generations this weekend. I also was really happy to find a copy of Sonic the Hedgehog #280. I've known about the Sonic comic for years but never actually seen one in a store before, but I got a copy of that. The story arc at the moment is actually based off Sonic Unleashed which I only completed two days ago. I also got a copy of its sister comic, Sonic Universe #83. I've decided that I'm gonna try to start collecting both comics, but since I haven't read all the previous issues, I'm gonna read them online then read the issues that I get physical copies of in the next few months, if you understand.

My haul from the day. The Iron Man thing in the
top left is something I got a few days before.

Free Comic Book Day was such a great time. I definitely wanna go with a friend again next year.

Thomas

Gone In A Flash (#192)

After procrastinating doing it for like over a month because I didn't really feel like watching, I finally started watching season 3 of Arrow and the first season of The Flash TV show. It's pretty cool so far; at the time of writing, I've only watched the first three episodes so I'm way behind everybody else, but then again I had a late start to DC. I guess you could say I need to... catch up! Geddit?! Because running?! Eh?! Ehhhhhhhhh?! It's funny! Ahem, well anyway, yeah, I really like Barry Allen himself and I know there's at least like one or two other Flashes. I would have watched more episodes by now but I've been watching one episode a day and since there's a certain exact order in which you're supposed to alternate between watching episodes of The Flash and Arrow, I've been watching either one episode of Arrow or one of the Flash. I think I enjoy Flash more than Arrow (not that I dislike Arrow, that's also great) because the Flash is kinda like Sonic except even faster. Anyway, I'll probably talk about my opinions more when I finish season 1, but for now, adios.

Oh, actually, not adios. I meant to say I finished Sonic '06 on Sunday morning and right now I'm playing the final boss of Sonic Unleashed. Okay, now adios.

Thomas

The Bat And The Hedgehog (#191)

Just another one of those posts talking about games and movies I've played/watched recently. Now, for some reason I forgot to mention this, but on Monday last week I watched the third film in the Batman trilogy, the Dark Knight Rises. I talked briefly in post #186 about how I watched The Dark Knight on Friday the 29th of April, and said how the Joker was a brilliant villain. Well, I think the villains from the Dark Knight trilogy are some of my favourites from any superhero movie, because they're all so threatening and diverse, and Bane in the Dark Knight Rises was also fantastic. He was pretty different than I had imagined he would be, but I thought he was really cool and I liked his kinda humorous yet evil attitude. There were also a few plot twists towards the end that I definitely wasn't expecting. The Dark Knight Rises came out in 2012, and I actually remember when I went to watch the first Avengers film in cinema four years ago (before I even really knew and understood what the Marvel Cinematic Universe was) there were a few TV screens hanging from the ceiling at the cinema I go to and I saw a trailer for TDKR. Obviously I didn't have any interest in it back then but now I can add the Dark Knight trilogy to the list of film series I have watched. In related news, X-Men Apocalypse is out this month. I think I'll be watching it three years ago (edit: I meant to say three weeks today. Oh my god, 'three years ago'... xD). And I just realised that Avengers 1 is nearly five years old... geez...

I spoke in a few posts in the past two weeks about how I got Sonic '06 for PS3, but it wasn't working so I had to get a refund. I then bought the game again and it arrived on Wednesday, and thankfully, it works fine. I was actually playing through Sonic Unleashed but have decided to pause that for now while I complete Sonic '06, and by the way, I'm not far off. I've already completed Sonic and Shadow's stories and I'm about 80% through Silver's. After that there's the last story and then I'll be done, and then I'll resume Unleashed before moving onto Sonic Generations, which I'm really, really excited for since I've wanted to play through it on PS3 since it came out five years ago.

Thomas

My Thoughts On: Captain America 3 (#190)

So, it's been almost a week since I watched Captain America: Civil War on Saturday last week, and I'm sure those of you who read this blog might be wondering why I haven't mentioned it yet. It's mainly since I've had quite a few other posts that I've wanted to make, so yeah. Also, this won't be an enormous 'My Thoughts On' like with Batman V. Superman, but I will still be talking deeply about the movie's plot details, so seriously, if you haven't watched Captain America 3, stop reading now. I repeat: If you haven't watched the new Captain America film and care about spoilers, stop reading now.

So, like I said, this probably isn't going to be a massive My Thoughts On, so don't expect like a giant review or anything, just some of the things that I thought about the film. I want to start with what I think my (and pretty much all of my friends') favourite moment/scene of the movie was: the airport scene. Yes, I'm talking about that awesome scene from the trailers where Cap's team and Iron Man's team finally get to face off in close combat, and it was just so fantastic in the film. The thing that really made it special was the fact that, since the Marvel Cinematic Universe started eight years ago in 2008, we've come so far since that original Iron Man film. I mean, with Civil War, we're already starting phase 3 of the MCU, and the airport scene is just so great because of all the different characters. On Tony's team we have Iron Man, War Machine, Black Panther, Black Widow, Vision and Spider-Man, whereas on Steve's team we've got Captain America, The Winter Soldier (AKA Bucky), Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Ant-Man. All these amazing Marvel superheroes, straight from the comics, and they're all here fighting together on the big screen. Plus, characters like the Guardians of the Galaxy, Thor and Hulk aren't even in this, yet there's still such a wide cast of superheroes.

Speaking of Ant-Man, possibly the most memorable part of the whole scene involved good ol' Scott Lang. Scott started talking about how he had been testing some kind of new ability in his lab (or something like that, I can't remember the exact quote, of course) and then Ant-Man, just like that, grew massively in size to become Giant Man. It was a big surprise for me (haw haw haw unintentional pun), especially since I really wasn't expecting it and I thought that if Ant-Man was to become Giant Man in the MCU it would be in his upcoming sequel film, Ant-Man and the Wasp. But nah, it was right there in Cap 3, and to be honest, I'm really glad about it. They kept adding such fresh and new ideas during that whole scene and I loved it. It only got better when Spider-Man started fighting Giant Man, and made a Star Wars reference. Spidey used his webs to tie up the legs of the formidable giant, and said something along the lines of, "You remember that film, Empire Strikes Back? Remember the part where they tied together the legs of those giant walking things?" Pete was of course referring to the AT-ATs on Hoth, and as you'll remember from Star Wars Episode V if you've seen it, one of the X-Wing fliers (I think it might have been Luke) uses a grappling rope to tangle the AT-AT's legs together, making it fall. And that's exactly what Spidey does with Giant Man.

I made this picture extra large so that it would accurately reflect the person featured in it. Also I need to make this caption long to fully fit the length of the pic. :)

The main villain of the film that was pulling some strings behind the scenes while the heroes were duking it out was Baron Zemo (basically like Lex Luthor in Batman V. Superman, but, well, cooler and better in the film). I've heard of Baron Zemo from the comics, but not very much and I don't really remember ever reading any comics with Zemo in them. Plus, since I wanted to keep all of the main events as secret as possible to me before watching Civil War, I tried my best to avoid any news or information about the film online, so all I really knew was that I'd heard Zemo would be in the film. However, Zemo really made things tense between Cap, Iron Man and Bucky when he used a video to reveal that Bucky, in December 1991, when being forced to do things unwillingly as the Winter Soldier, was actually the one who had killed Tony's parents, Howard and Maria Stark. I have to say, I thought for sure one of the trio would die here, and I thought it could be any of the three considering the situation. In fact, when Cap shoved his shield into Iron Man's chest in the final moments of that last fight scene, I actually thought Tony might have died. He didn't however, which makes sense considering that Steve would never kill anybody, let alone one of his former close friends (although I thought maybe he could kill Tony by accident). Then again, I forgot that Iron Man has been confirmed to appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming, so that kinda confirmed that Tony wouldn't die in Civil War. Still, I definitely thought Cap or Bucky would die, but nope, apart from a few minor characters, there were no deaths in the movie. I thought Rhodes had died after seeing that one part in the trailer when Tony was holding his unconscious body in a field, but nah. He kinda can't walk now though. Not without crutches, I think. I'm kind of glad that no main heroes died though; I want them to save that for around Infinity War Part 1 and 2. It would make the most sence since Thanos can easily swoop into the scene and obliterate them, and I think it's much, much better to say farewell to characters like Iron Man, Cap, Thor, Hulk, and all of the main Avengers really, in the last proper films in the Avengers series. I think a lot of people would agree with me there.

Baron-ster to the Z, played by Daniel Brühl.

Anyway thanks for reading this post, I told you it wouldn't be very long, just a couple highlights. If you haven't already seen the film, go watch it now, even if you don't really like Marvel. Then again, if you haven't already seen the film, why would you be reading this far down after the spoiler warning? Could it be that you haven't seen the film but still don't care about spoiling the whole thing? You sicken me.

Joking, but c'mon, man.

Thomas

Happy Star Wars Day 2016! (#189)

This is going to be a very short post, because the day is almost over and I only just realised that it's Star Wars Day. I mean, don't get me wrong, people have been talking about it at school and on the internet all day, but for some crazy reason, it just slipped my mind that I should make a post about Star Wars Day on a blog with Star Wars in the description... damn. Anyway, yes. I suppose all I can really think to do as a little celebration is make up a few quick Star Wars puns. These are guaranteed to be 100% unfunny or 100% hilarious depending on your opinion of puns. Some of them actually contain spoilers by the way.

'You are an enormous Star Wars fan.'
'Am not.'
'R2!'

What is Chewbacca's favourite cereal?
Wookiee Crisp.

How does the princess of Alderaan stay warm in the Winter?
She wears an extra Leia of clothing.

What's the weather forecast on Coruscant today?
Mace Windy.

What happened to the protocol droid after its eye circuits got damaged?
It could no longer C-3PO.

Where do the Sith shop for new clothes?
At the Darth Mall.

What do you get when you add happiness to Han Solo's son?
Smile-o Ren.

How did the conversation go between Anakin and his Jedi master when he saved him from trouble?
'I owe you one, Anakin.'
'Yes, you Obi-Wan.'

Obi-Wan's mentor made some foolish mistakes. But you know what they say; let Qui-Gons be Qui-Gons.

What do you get when you cross Daisy Ridley with the Sun?
A Rey of Light.

What country is a rebellious Stormtrooper from?
Finn-land.

Well there you go. After those, I'm sure you all either love me or hate me now. Maybe you've heard some of them before, but I made them up on the spot and I didn't Google any.

May the 4th be with you ;)
Thomas

Sonic '06: A Refund (#188)

So in a post a few days ago I spoke about how I got a PS3 but the copy of Sonic '06 wasn't working. Sonic '06 is widely regarded as a terrible game and pretty much the worst Sonic game, but because I'm crazy and I wanna play all the main Sonic games, I wanted to play it anyway. I actually played through the whole thing in hospital about three years ago on Xbox 360, but I forgot most of what happened and I wanna play through it again. Besides, I don't hate it as much as other people, I just think the glitches and loading screens are annoying. It was the first HD Sonic game so the graphics look great, but whatever. Anyway, so yes, I bought it last week, but as I said, the copy was broken and just got stuck on the first loading screen, which means I didn't even get to the title screen, lol. Maybe it's a sign from a higher power that I shouldn't play the game. However, I took the bus on Sunday to a CeX nearby, since I bought the game from them online and at the store that I went to I found out they HD one copy in stock, which was rare. Luckily, I got a full refund for the game, but I didn't get the copy that they had there because apparently it was scratched and the woman working there didn't want to give it to me because it probably wouldn't work, which is good, because I'd rather not take the chance of a second copy being broken. Since I got a full refund, I ordered the game again from CeX online, and hopefully it should be good this time. Last time they had like 3 or 4 copies when I ordered, but this time they had like 143, no joke. So there's a bigger chance that it should work, I think.

I'm almost certain that this is a Mario reference.

Thomas

YouTube/Blog Update - 02/05/16 (#187)

Hey guys, just wanted to make a quick little update regarding my blog and YouTube channel. Basically, and unfortunately, in the next few weeks I have a few major GCSE exams at school. On May 17th I have a Biology exam, on May 19th I have a Chemistry exam, and on May 25th I have a Physics exam. I haven't properly started revising yet, and considering that my teacher has been telling my class to revise since Jaunary, it's safe to say I am pretty damn screwed. So, to avoid the probability of working in a fast food chain restaurant in the near future, I need to start revising a little. I won't be making any YouTube videos in the next few weeks until May 28th, since I finish school for a week then and the exams will be finished. However, since they usually take less time to make, I plan to still be frequently making blog posts on here. They'll probably just be shorter than usual, but I still want to make a lot so that a certain post next month will be released on a certain date if you get what I'm saying. Thanks for hopefully understanding.

Thomas

A Wonderful End To April (#186)

So I got the Playstation 3 yesterday, and when I got home I put it together straight away. I also got 3 PS3 games for me to play as soon as I wanted to, which included Sonic Unleashed, Sonic Generations and Kingdom Hearts: HD 1.5 ReMIX (plus I already got Sonic 06 a couple days ago). I think I've mentioned it before but I do actually have Kingdom Hearts 1 for PS2. However, despite the fact that I've started playing through the game quite a few times, I've never actually fully completed it, so since I have the HD remake now, I definitely want to play through the whole thing. Anyway, so yes, I got home and put the system together, but my fears were confirmed when I found out that there was a big problem: the cable connecting the controller to the console (try saying that five times fast) wasn't working (and also it was extremely short, which would mean that I wouldn't be able to play the PS3 while the controller was charging because the wire wouldn't reach). This made me really depressed and disappointed, especially since I would probably have to return the console or at least get a new wire which I wouldn't be able to until around Tuesday, when I go back to school after this 4-day weekend. However, I remembered my friend, Christmas Guy, who I mentioned in post #151, has a PS3 that he doesn't really use anymore since he got a PS4. So I called him and asked him if I could borrow one of his USB cables, since the one I had bought wasn't working. Christmas Guy's birthday is December 25th, and let me say, in this situation he really was Jesus. He had a few spare cables, and came on over to mine to give me one of his. The console worked fine, and the controller finally connected.

Sadly, there was another problem. As you might know, Sonic 06 is known for its terribly long loading screens, and since that was the first game chronologically out of the three Sonic games I bought, I had decided to play that first. However, I'm not sure if its the copy of the game I bought glitching out or if its something else, but the game wouldn't load past the first loading screen, which meant I couldn't even get to the title screen. I tried a few things like turning the console off and on and cleaning the disc, but it didn't seem to work, even though the disc didn't really have any major smudges or scratches. The game was second hand though, so I dunno. Anyway, I'm probably going to have to return it to CeX or attempt to get a refund since I bought it from them online. After I gave up on this though, I tried Sonic Unleashed, and that works fine. I've been playing it loads since last night and it's awesome. I actually own Unleashed for Wii, but I haven't played it for a few years. I think it's actually broken, plus the Wii/PS2 version is a lot different to the more next-gen (at least when it came out) PS3/Xbox 360 versions, so I decided to get it for PS3. There are more daytime stages and quite a lot of differences between the two versions. I actually think Sonic Unleashed is one of my favourite Sonic games. Not only was it my first 3D Sonic game and the second Wii game I ever played, giving it a special place in my heart, but this PS3 version is just really amazing, and I love both hedgehog and werehog stages.

I can't talk/type for much longer now since I'm about to go and watch Captain America: Civil War. I'm extremely excited and, by the way, I watched The Dark Knight yesterday. I loved it, it was a fantastic film and Heath Ledger as the Joker was an incredible performance. I will watch The Dark Knight Rises soon.

Oh, and my neck feels fine now.

Thomas

Civil War Countdown (#185)

It's incredible to be finally saying this, and it's almost impossible to believe, but Captain America: Civil War releases here in the UK in just a matter of hours. I just really want to say how excited I am, even though I won't be watching the film tomorrow but on the day after. It's been absolutely ages since our last Marvel Cinematic Universe film, which was Ant-Man in July 2015 (I made a review about it!), but after a crap ton of waiting, it's time for phase 3 to start. I'll obviously make a post after I watch it. It probably won't be a proper review, maybe just a short summary of the film and stuff, but we'll see. It's really, really close now!

Anyway, I should be getting the PS3 tomorrow. My neck still aches after yesterday but it's definitely feeling much better. Sonic 06 already arrived, so I'll have that to play straight away when I get home, and then of course there's Civil War the very next day. Also, I won't need the Blu-Ray player in my room much longer, since I'm pretty sure that PS3s play Blu-Ray disks. And also, after watching Batman Begins yesterday, I may watch The Dark Knight, which is the second in the series, later today. Possibly.

Thomas

PS3: Earlier Than Expected (#184)

This gonna be one of those posts where I just say a few small things, so it'll be mostly random stuff. Firstly, as the title says, I should hopefully be getting a Playstation 3 earlier than expected! I said about two weeks ago that I would hopefully be getting a PS3 around the end of May, but instead, since my birthday was on Monday and I've saved up a lot of money from that, the plan is to get the PS3 this Friday, April 29th! I've already ordered the first Sonic game that I want to play on the system (Sonic 06, stop judging) and that should arrive by the time I have the PS3, which means I'll be able to start playing games on it straight away.

Speaking of April 29th though, that's the day Captain America: Civil War comes out in cinemas here in the UK. Only two days left! I'll be watching it on Saturday at 14:00 (roughly 73 hours after this post goes up), so three days left for me. IMAX, of course.

Next, I got the Dark Knight trilogy on Blu-Ray for my birthday, and I just started watching the first fo three three films, Batman Begins, today. I'm about 40 minutes in, and it's actually really great so far. There are some elements that I recognise from Arrow, which makes a lot of sense since they're both DC and all. I haven't actually started Arrow Season 3/Flash Season 1 yet. I will soon though.

Finally, I was actually off school today. I woke up with intense pain in my neck and I've just had to go to the doctor's and get some medicine and stuff. They said it'll just get better over the next few days, but it hurts so much when I turn my head to the right and oh God it's so horrible. I just hope it's okay by the end of tomorrow because, y'know, PS3 and Civil War. Oh yeah, I'm off on Friday as well because of some thing with my school, and I'm off Monday because of a bank holiday. I get a four day weekend, which means I get lots of time to play Sonic 06 (that would sound like punishment to a lot of other people). If I'm off tomorrow because of this neck/shoulder pain then that would mean I'd be off for 6 days straight, but I'd rather just be at school tomorrow because there are lessons I don't wanna miss and I'd rather just not be in such pain.

Thomas

Birthday Post: Old Video Game Drawings! (#183)

Okay, so I forget which one exactly, but in a post a few weeks ago I think I mentioned something about some old drawings of Sonic that I made a few years ago, when I was like 10 or 11. I actually still have them dotted around my bedroom (in fact, a few of them are still up on my wall) and I also remembered that I have other drawings that aren't just of Sonic, I think I made one or two Pokemon pictures as well when I binge-watched the anime when I was younger for some reason. I know I definitely have the Sonic ones, but I'm gonna have a quick look around, see if I can find any of the others that I know I have somewhere. Since today is my birthday, I think it would be nice to post them here as a little celebration or something. Anyway, let me look around.

Okay, so I found the Pokemon pictures, plus some other Sonic ones I had completely forgotten about. I'll post all the drawings below. Keep in mind that these aren't all very good, and I was like 10, but I want to post them here, not only so you guys can see this but also so that if anything was to ever happen to these drawings I'd still have photos of them on here so they wouldn't be completely lost. Annoyingly, many of the photos are upside down so you might have to tilt your head more than a little.

Sonic

Tails

Knuckles, the first one I drew. I actually took a
picture when I was drawing it, dated 29/08/2011.

Amy Rose

Cream and Cheese

Shadow

Silver

Blaze

The next pictures are some other random Sonic ones I found.

I didn't finish drawing Sonic's shoes apparently
:)

Now for some drawings from my Pokemon obsession. 

Ash and Pikachu

Pikachu, Snivy and Tepig

Charmander looks as if he's about to devour the other two.

Bulbasaur

The three Unova starter Pokemon.

Oh, and then there's this crazy crapfest of video game references. I'm not sure what half of these little doodles mean. 

????????????

Well, that's all I could salvage from the deep depths of my cluttered belongings. However, while searching for these, I did actually find some other cool stuff that I'd like to post on here in the future. One of them's a little thing I wrote about the Legend of Zelda, the other is a little comic thing, and there's something to do with Super Smash Bros. But that's for later. For now, hope you enjoyed these pics. Happy birthday to moi.

Thomas