My First Order From Palladium Books in YEARS Part One

Tonight, I did something I have not done in years. About a decade, I believe.


Remember back in December when I blogged about the very first Digital Palladium Books Digital Christmas Grab Bag? Well, there were other sales occurring as well. Among those sales were half off on Robotech RPG books (the post 2000s). Missed the Robotech sale. Oh well, maybe next sale. After all, the books were published years ago. Not like I was playing the RPG anyway. Then, would miss both the physical and digital Christmas Grab Bag because I couldn't remember my how to log into my old store account. Weirdly enough I could log into the message boards...


Flash forward to the beginning of the month and the news began to trickle in. Robotech RPG Tactics didn't go the way everyone thought it would. Doubted I did. But I thought it would just be typical Palladium delays. Not the cluster it actually became. However, the sordid tale of Robotech RPG Tactics is best told by others. What's even worse was that once again Palladium Books lost the rights to Robotech.


Robotech is among my favorite anime. Okay, Americanized anime. Big fan of the old line of RPG books Palladium released years ago (late 80s to mid 90s). During New Year, New Game on Drive Thru RPG, I purchased PDFs of all the old Robotech RPG books despite having access to the physical copies.


With the news the Robotech license expires at the end of the month and Palladium liquidating the Robotech RPGs books of the relaunch, the time to buy was now.


So I visit the site and suddenly my old log in pops into my mind. Yes, the same log in that eluded me back during the X-Mas grab bag. Eluded me for hours before giving. The very same log in dawns on me in a Eureka moment and I am greeted by a familiar account name.


Yes, after years. Maybe a decade. Not since I ordered the manga edition of the Robotech: Shadow Chronicles RPG and a couple years of grab bags, did I place an order with Palladium Books. Whatever Robotech RPG (not Tactics - still too rich for me) book from the relaunch (pretty much all of them) I ordered.


Overall, Palladium's "new" storefront is much more intuitive than the old one. Although, it appears everything needs to be manually re-entered with each order like the old store front. Won't know until I order again.


Since today's order is my first order from Palladium Books in years, it feels like I am ordering for the first time. As such I dub this part one. Will blog about how everything works out.


Next time.

Follow-up to Vintage Marvel Animated on Hulu along with Marvel's Inhumans First Impressions

Friday the 13th is winding down and I figured I cap the day with... a non-Halloween/horror post. Cause it's not just Friday the 13th, today is three days after the supposed expiration of vintage (okay 1990s vintage, sheesh!) Marvel Animated shows on Hulu along with the third week (and fourth episode) of Marvel's Inhumans.


First off, everyone such as myself who had those old Marvel animated shows (Fox Spider-Man, X-Men, Spider-Man Unlimited, X-Men Evolution, Iron Man Armored Avenger) at the bottom of their queue can relax. After the 10th when I logged onto Hulu to check to see if those shows expired, not only had they not expired but Hulu treated them as brand new shows! Don't know why but it certainly provides more time to watch them. Right? Hoping this doesn't mean they are "new" shows for a couple months and then expire.


Second, speaking of Marvel shows of more recent vintage, today marks the initial broadcast of the fourth episode and third week of Marvel's Inhumans.


Now, I understand Marvel's Inhumans didn't start with the best acclaim. I suppose much of that had to due with the first two episodes being shown on IMAX first. Got to say, those first two episodes are be-yoo-ti-ful. Much glossier than the more recent two. Folks also paid money to see it; and the IMAX showing didn't contain a couple exposition scenes the television debut had. While I felt the first two episodes were stellar, I did watch them on the television. As a movie that I paid money for, I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much. Plus, the bad press could be because the Inhumans are new and unfair comparisons with the X-Men are being made.


Okay, I am not a fan of Maximus terragenesis on the show being transformed into a human and not a super-genius who's very, very off his rocker. Well, Maximus does come across as both very bright and high on the megalomania scale on the show though. Perhaps, the lack of Kirby tech is glaring omission?


While watching the first couple episodes, I got a Basilisk vibe when each of the characters demonstrated their Inhuman power as each power was deployed to strategic effect in a surprising manner. Much like the ninjas in that anime/manga demonstrate their unique gifts. Black Bolt and Medusa's romantic relationship, although much less tragic, along with the "dueling" families also contribute to that impression. Okay, I am kind of reading into that comparison a little too much. Haha! The body count is much, much less than Basilisk.


For the first time, I fully understand why Black Bolt doesn't and will not kill Maximus. The difference between watching on screen versus a static page.


Next time.

Geek Culture Sure Relies on the Net Quite a Bit

A blog entry or two I mentioned that I was finally able to watch wrestling again. Why? I didn't have cable; and the internet was subject to data caps. Sure, I could watch a wrestling match now and then. However, my available data would be significantly less. Rationing internet use isn't fun at all. Curiously, the amount of data consumed for what would be considered the simplest things, not talking watching wrestling matches here, would become more and more over the years...


Ah, what does this have to do with geek culture as I ascribe within the title, you may ask? Wrestling fans are geeks of sort as one does not just simply watch one or two hours of wrestling a week. Following geek culture requires quite a bit of data. Just think of how much one streams a week! From trailers to television shows to movies, not to mention video games, the internet is the realm of the geek. Thus to follow geek culture one must use the internet quite a bit. Besides, I frequently said I would explain my absence from wrestling one day. Here it is.


Instead of following wrestling bit by bit on social media, I can watch shows on Hulu, Netflix, or the WWE Network (or insert wrestling promotion). Also don't need to stock up on wrestling DVDs although there are some I'll still pick up.


Speaking of DVDs, remember when one can walk into a brick and mortar store and see aisles brimming with quite a variety? Yeah, not so much now. Nowadays, one is lucky if one can find a show past a certain season! Has Marvel's Agents of SHIELD had more than one season available on DVD? If it has I must have missed it.


You know where I can find seasons of Marvel's Agents of SHIELD? Netflix. While I waited what seems like years, cause it has, for Daredevil Season One to come out on DVD, I can watch both seasons plus all the other Netflix Marvel shows as well. Without hoping for a long, long time that it will soon arrive on DVD. Can also watch the new Voltron, Inspector Gadget, and Danger Mouse as well. So without the internet, reliable, non-rationed high speed internet, one simply does not have access to segments of geek culture.


Sometimes I wait quite a long time before watching a show. Too long. Plus, it's nice if my viewing of show attracts attention similar to a Nielsen family. That's what Hulu is for. Legion is great adaptation inspired by the X-men character Legion. The show does a terrific job reflection the unstable nature of the main character's mental state as each episode shifts in tone from one episode to the next. Although I think there's one character that's more Morrison than Claremont. Furthermore, Legion is very dark compared to all the other comic book based shows on the air in a very sophisticated fashion. Don't have cable so I couldn't have watched it. Plus thanks to Hulu the powers-that-be have another measurement of support. Same goes true for the NBC show Timeless. While I DVR'd Timeless, I fell behind that I eventually gave up and deleted my recordings. However, I was able to watch the show about a time travel show that illustrates how much one act can have profound effect on the timeline. All under the backdrop where the black hats aren't necessarily black hats. Really enjoy. While I may not like how Hulu goes about expiring shows, it does motivate me to watch it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have marathoned Timeless and discovered how much I greatly enjoyed it.


Video games - in the age of DRM do people actually truly own their video game? And it's a complete game? Nope. Heck, PC games are rarer in stores than DVDs! After years, Steam finally stopped working for me. Steam works again now.


The role-playing game industry is almost as bad. As much as I championed 4th edition D&D, WOTC's ill-advised 4th ed version of the OGL, the GSL (?), practically killed any variety of the RPG market in stores. As such, many RPG product are generally available primarily in ebook form. Plus there's software support and gaming via online.


Went from being avid anime watcher to barely watching any anime. Anime is too expensive for me to buy it completely unseen. So once I could watch anime on Hulu once more, I watched the anime Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation. Yeah, that was another reason I had hankering to play some Phantasy Star when I downloaded Phantasy Star 2 for my phone... Great series. Not my Phantasy Star but it had enough Phantasy Star elements. Kind of wish the game would become available to play here in the States after watching it... Heck, I've even started watching a couple 'new' series that are airing on Hulu, Chronos Ruler and In Another World with My Smartphone. Been a very long time since I last watched an anime series on a weekly basis and not had the option to binge it. Heck, it's nice to watch anime regularly again!


So there you go. My rather long-winded account on how I can now fully experience geek culture (while arguing why the internet is necessary) as my internet experience is no longer constrained.


Next time

Halloween '16: Samhain/All Saints' Day Reading

After last night's blogging, I spent the rest of Samhain/All Saint's Day reading. In addition to a couple comics, a Punisher story and a manga story, I read a bunch of nonfiction on Halloween, All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, and archaeology related to them. Alas, I didn't finish reading all the comics I wanted to but tomorrow, which is All Souls' Day - and the final Day of the Dead in Mexico - is another day. Bear with me, the comic reviews are saved of last!


From archaeological perspective, there are studies examing the roots of Halloween in Ireland. In the November/December 2016 issues of Archaeology magazine, there's an excellent article by Erin Mullally called Samhain Revival. Starting in 2014, there have digs in the Hill of Ward, once known as Tlachtga, where there is evidence that ancient Samhain festivals may have been held there for centuries. More of primer article but if one can find it, I heavily recommend reading it. Further studies await and we may even learn Halloween traditions may date back as far as the Neolithic Age at the Hill of Ward! Okay, that last part is pure conjecture at this point but there's evidence of feasting, burning, and one or two burials already. Samhain Revival covers it much, much better than I can. I'd provide the link but I own a deadtree version of the issue in question.


On the topic of links, I did do a little research on All Saints' Day, All Souls' Day, and relation to Halloween. So for those interested in more reference material here they are: (Note: some of them contain video clips for the data-conscious...) A primer on All Souls' Day can found HERE. An excellent primer on All Saints' Day can be found HERE. A third piece from the same Catholic Online site does a great job distinguishing between Halloween, All Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day. You can read it HERE. Turns out there's quite a difference... Finally, I came upon a source discussing how All Saints' Day is celebrated Poland HERE rather interesting particularly with the candles and how similar it is to Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration. There was talk about how nice weather on All Saints' Day serving as an excellent omen for the upcoming year. Speaking of nice weather, the excellent weather today played a significant role in impending my planned comic book reading for the day. Even saw a flock of turkeys!


Speaking of comic reviews here they are:


I am going to only provide a vague outline but some may still consider them Spoilers.








Punisher Annual #1
Writer: Gerry Conway
Artist: Feliz Ruiz
Color Artist: Lee Loughride
Cover Artist: I'm assuming its not the variant - Rahzzah. An excellent cover that drew me in of a scarecrow with jack o'lantern for a head wearing a punisher shirt!


Story: One of the Punisher's creators (!) Gerry Conway wrote this story that occurs on Halloween. The Punisher is more a force of nature in this story as the narrator is the lens in which this story of revenge unfolds. Absolutely loved the Halloween nods such as street punks wearing masks, a Masked Ball conducted by the gentry, and some good old-fashioned trick or treating. Alas, the kids trick or treating were tricked! A very topical story includes references to police behavior, racial purity groups, and refugees/cultural inclusion. One could even say it's a story of moral identity!


Overall: One of the Punisher's creators helped craft an excellent Halloween story that is so much more than that as well as a Punisher story that is much, much more than that. 5 out of 5 stars.


Tomie (Halloween Comicfest edition)
by Junji Ito
"Mansion"


Story: A girl is lured to a mansion where all is not what is supposed to be, discovers horror Japanese-style, and manages to escape. I'd explain more but that would ruin it! Let's just say there's some... unexpected disguises and the female demon has very unusual way of projecting some of her abilities...


Overall: An excellent done-in-one, which I am sure will collected in manga format at some point, that does a stellar job in presenting the manga horror series Tomie. Can't say that it was an excellent horror manga enough 5 out of 5 stars.


With that is my All Saints' Day entry.

Open Source Animation Dawns and RIP DC You, Meet DC Rebirth

Within the last couple months, two major announcements were made in the comics and animation industry. One, Studio Ghibli's animation software will become open source. The other is that DC's DC You initiative ends to be replaced by Rebirth. Just recently, DC released some teasers pertaining to its Rebirth event.


The announcement that Studio Ghibli's animation software becoming open source is major news. You can read an article discussing the news announcement here. Granted, there a premium version of Toonz will be marketed towards professionals. However, I believe an open source version of Toonz will be great for animation, animation studios, and aspiring animators. More people will be able try their hands at animation and develop their craft. Small studios can operate on lower overhead. More animators and more studios equates to more creators producing more animation. A brand new era of animation may be upon us.


Meanwhile a month ago, DC announced that it is ending its DC You publishing initiative and replaces it with the line-wide Rebirth. You can read the initial coverage here. I absolutely love that the price point will once again be $2.99. Lack of consistency in price points did cause headaches from a sticker shock point of view. Plus is a Superman comic really worth a dollar more than a Hellblazer comic?


While we don't know who the creators will be, the diverse nature of the Rebirth line pales in comparison of DC You. Heck, the New 52 line wide event blows the offerings of Rebirth out of the water. Rebirth seems confined to the Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Justice League, and Titans mythos. Earth 2, Blue Beetle, Suicide Squad and John Constantine are the only titles that break that hold. Perhaps only Justice League and Titans titles made DC's market requirements? I don't know. I am reminded of the DC Explosion and DC Implosion market occurrence. So I am saddened by that. I certainly have plenty of fodder for my Cancelled/On the Bubble feature as every title but Action Comics and Detective Comics is being restarted - and thus ending. I do like how both Action and Detective resume their original numbering. That tickles my nostalgia and historic fancy.


The Rebirth one-shot debuting in May reminds me of the Countdown one shot that pre-saged Infinite Crisis. Remains to be seen whether Rebirth will match that endeavor. Will certainly purchase that along with each of the Rebirth one-shots. I hope that the creative teams match with the creative teams of the respective on-goings. One reason I jumped on the DC You bandwagon was the 8-pages stories that provided a sample of the feel of the new offerings. Would be nice if the Rebirth one-shots matches that endeavor. Speaking of the DC You sample stories, I never got around to reviewing them as I simply couldn't match the pace. By the time I was ready to review the sample stories, the actual comics had hit the stands! So that's something I may remedy in the future.


I'm rather lukewarm to twice-a-month shipping titles. Monthly titles are almost too frequent for me to keep up with. By the time DC You ended, I had started collecting all the New 52 Justice Leaguer solo titles sans Cyborg. Since all of those titles will now ship two times a month, I may end that collecting endeavor. I will probably gravitate towards the once-a-month books. Then again, who knows? I bought much more Marvel ANAD titles than I thought I would.


Recently, DC released nine-second teaser trailers for Rebirth - go here if you want to watch them and read the explanations. Not going to lie if CBR hadn't provided stills the trailer moves too fast for me to see the characters. I am rather excited that DC found a way to incorporate the Bob Haney Super-Sons concept into mainstream continuity. Haven't kept up with Johns's Justice League so the Power Ring revelation as a GL doesn't excite me one or the other. With the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, the Harley Quinn and Killer Croc teaser seems a given. So one 'yay', a maybe, and a 'meh'.

Thanksgiving 2015

Since I did a series of Halloween posts, its only fitting that I blog about Thanksgiving. Unlike my ode to Halloween, this will be only commentary on several Thanksgiving-related shows. Helps that there were no Thanksgiving comics that I was aware of. Fret not, I did have some RPG-related ideas!


Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - Ever since I was a child, I'd watch the Macy's parade keeping an eye out for the Spider-Man balloon or any other comics-related float. Didn't see Spidey in this year's parade. Did see a Pikachu balloon though. That was rather neat. There was the obligatory Snoopy balloon although this particular balloon depicted Snoopy flying through the air Superman style. Absolutely loved the 50 year anniversary homage float to A Charlie Brown Christmas!


SNL Thanksgiving - a collection of Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving skits. While I found many of skits to be a chuckle at best there were a few gems. Loved Eddie Murphy in Mister Robinson's Neighborhood. Don Cheadle's (War Machine in the MCU) Ladies Man was a hoot. Akroyd-Belushi-Murray were amusing in an absurd manner. While I was familiar with Martin Short's character solely from a Saturday Morning cartoon from years ago, that was hilarious. In contrast, The Bears fans and crystal clear gravy invoked nostalgia chuckles - as did the Jordon Gordon-Levitt (third installment of the Nolan Batman trilogy and hopefully producer of the Sandman film) skit.


In contrast I found the Scream Queens Thanksgiving episode an absolute laugh riot. Watched a recording on Thanksgiving Day; and I was thankful for the smile it brought to my face. Scream Queens was a casualty of comic book show Tuesday; however, I found this episode to be fairly accessible despite not having watched in quite some time. An excellent Thanksgiving-oriented episode. A shame that shows rarely do Thanksgiving episode much nowadays - that I am aware of.  Hope they do release Screams Queens on DVD some day. Not everyone has Netflix.


Charlie Brown Thanksgiving - don't recall why I didn't watch Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown but I took advantage of the lax television schedule to watch this gem. Charlie Brown Thanksgiving still has its magical charm after all these years. Finally occurred to me how disturbing it is seeing Woodstock eating turkey. Woodstock must be a big fan of bush meat... The subsequent telling of the pilgrim story albeit Peanuts-style is a nice attempt. Probably the major achievement is that it includes Lucy in a Thanksgiving special and uses her fairly well. Gets the Miles Standish bit wrong which anyone who has seen the following show will know...


The Pilgrims: American Experience - Miles Standish was the hired muscle. The requisite fighter-type in almost any RPG. Miles Standish aside, The Pilgrims: American Experience is an outstanding documentary! I learned more about the Pilgrims than I ever did in any history class. Some interesting tidbits were the pilgrims digging through Indian graves, propping the dying up on trees with musket in hand to fool the nearby Indians, and planting corn atop the recent dead - although the latter two are more historical conjecture. I heartily recommend this documentary for any GM that runs either a historical campaign or campaign influenced heavily by history. Vampire, Wraith, Werewolf, and Call of the Cthulhu gamers may find this of particular interest. Heck, I can imagine players of the Solomon Kane setting for Savage Worlds could get some mileage out of the history of the pilgrims. On a more somber note: this was among Roger Rees's last roles. He played the Sheriff in Mel Brook's Robin Hood: Men In Tights. Rees does an excellent job portraying William Bradford's various soliloquy - based on Bradford's writings.


Secrets of the Dead: Jamestown's Dark Winter - Another excellent documentary. Whereas the Pilgrims were a success story, Jamestown was a place where one hoped they survived the experience. It became more of a charnel house during its dark winter when the surrounding Indians laid siege to the colonialist trapping them inside the walls of the fort as disease and famine runs rampant. That's just the background to the documentary! What it the documentary examines is the fate of a young girl and why her remains were found in the state they were. Quite simply, it was like a reverse zombie-ism! Instead of the dead rising to eat the living, the living grave dug to feast. Yep, a confirmed case, albeit one or three, of a cannibalism at Jamestown. I can imagine quite the RPG scenarios that a GM can devise from this! Certainly, New World of Darkness Gamers could use this an example of Morality rules. Various games such as Call of the Cthulhu could use this an example of insanity caused by more mortal hands. The old World of Darkness fan in me envisions hordes of wraiths and banes swirling around the area where the fort once stood.

RIP Carl Macek

As a kid, I remember watching Robotech cartoons. In many ways, shows such as Robotech are the reason why I'm a fan of anime as well as english dubbed and edited anime today. Recently, the man who created Robotech, Carl Macek, passed away. This blog post is my tribute to Carl Macek.

A ton of Anime currently on Hulu

Just want to mention that right now, Hulu has added many new anime shows within the last couple of weeks. Honestly, there's more anime on that site than I have seen before which is one reason why I'm mentioning it. Another reason is that as a not-quite casual, not-quite otaku I am excited that at the moment many anime shows are readily available. Its also good news for anyone on a budget. So some anime reviews/thoughts will come.

Been watching anime

A week passed without any posts on this blog. Heck, my participation/lurking on other blogs has not been very much this last week. Why? Most of my 'blogging' time has been spent watching anime. My local My TV station has Funimation programming late at night. Since Basilisk got me back into anime and manga, I have been watching more and more. Lately, I have started watching an hour and a half almost every night. Right now I watch Black Cat, Aquarion, and Buso Renkin (sp?). One of these days I'll compose my thoughts on them.