Video Game Round-Up

In the last post, I mentioned that video games I usually like playing don't really excite me anymore. It's not like I stopped playing video games, but I certainly don't play them as much. Which is interesting, because I'm not exactly sure why. So I thought I'd do a rundown of the games I've played this year, with a 5 point rating system. Because people like to assign numbers to things!

Minecraft: This really is a heck of a game. It's basically Legos with monsters, and flexes the ol' creativity muscles. The only problem I have is the way the multiplayer servers are handled. I think my crowning achievements were the giant twin statues I made. One peed water, the other pooped lava. 5 out of 5.

Catherine: I really wanted to like this game. It's a puzzle game with a role-playing angle. It's not role-playing in the manipulating of stats and skill sets, but in the decisions you make, choosing between two different women. It's cell-shaded anime-style, like Valkyria Chronicles was, so it looks nice. But it's BOOOORRRRING. Sorry, but block puzzles do not hold my interest. They're repetitive and bland looking. The non-puzzle parts were also boring. I don't want to walk around a diner and talk to uninteresting people. The conversations don;t hold my interest like, say, the ones in Mass Effect do. And I couldn't get invested in the story because like a lot of protagonists in animes, the guy you play as is a COMPLETE FUCKING PUTZ. I hate the guy! The way he "accidentally" cheats on his girlfriend is just stupid, and his "uahh"s and "ummm"s that go with his indecisiveness are annoying as all hell. I appreciate game developers trying something different for once, but you have to make it more fun. 2 out of 5.

Portal 2: I demand you to play it. After playing the first one. My only grievance is that my roommate didn't want to play co-op with me, and played with someone else (the jerk), so I still haven't finished the cooperative mode. But that's not the game's fault.   5 out of 5.

Batman: Arkham City: I loved Arkham Asylum. It set the bar high for super-hero games. But something seemed off to me about its' sequel. The first game's story was tight and the game flowed well. The story in the sequel is just as good, but the flow isn't there. I think that's because of the sandbox-style gameplay. The first game I was getting distracted by Riddler trophies, and this game adds on to it with the addition of side-missions. I'm not as invested in the story because of these distractions. But playing as Batman is fun, and the game is still solid. 4 out of 5.

Battlefield 3: I was a huge fan of the original game, and a bigger fan of Battlefield 2. The Bad Company series never really sit well with me, so I was excited to hear the series was going back to its' roots with this one. The single player campaign is boring, so don't bother with it. This game is all about the multiplayer, and it's fun as hell. But the game has a few small but annoying issues, like how easy it is to steal the enemy team's helicopters. Get those ironed out, and the game is perfect. 4 out of 5.

Call of Duty 8: Modern Warfare 3: I wasn't impressed with Modern Warfare 2, with it's way-beyond-stupid-and-nonsensical campaign story and unbalanced multiplayer, but Black Ops came along and showed me I can have fun playing a CoD game again. So I had high hopes for CoD8:MW3. The story still makes NO SENSE, and the campaign is waaay too short, but it was enjoyable. (Except the ending, where, like the last Modern Warfare, it turns into a quick-time event jamboree.) The multiplayer, however, doesn't do it for me. After the exciting and nicely-paced multiplayer of Battlefield 3, CoD8's multiplayer is just frustrating. It's almost too fast. Pretty much it's spawn, run for about 3 seconds, shoot some bullets, die, repeat. I can't enjoy that. I'll stick with Battlefield 3, thank you. 3 out of 5.

X-Men Destiny: This game had a lot of potential. Choose from 3 different original characters, and 3 different mutant powers, and choose to help the X-Men or the Brotherhood. It had a good story too. But unfortunately it was made by Silicon Knights. What do they make? Oh yeah: SHIT. Ever since they made Eternal Darkness for the Gamecube, which is one of my favorite games, they've been phoning it in, heading downhill with each new release. But back to the game. The gameplay is repetitive and the graphics/physics are bad. But I like that they didn't make you play as a known X-Man, and spotlighted lesser known characters like Northstar and Pixie. (BUUUT they gave Pixie a stereotype teenie-bopper American voice instead of a Welsh accent. Do your research, voice director!) And Wolverine is barely in it, and Cyclops gets the bad-ass cutscene! Because of that, 5 out of 5! Naah just kidding. 3 out of 5.

That's all I can think of for now. Agree/Disagree? Lemme know. Till next time.

Getting Back To It

Okay, I've had a few beers so I decided to post again on this neglected blog. First off, sorry for the long delay in..well..everything. You see, I lost my job a few months ago so things haven't exactly been going smoothly. No, I didn't get fired for stealing or running around naked at work. The company I worked for went out of business. I didn't think much of it at first, because I didn't feel too strongly about the job itself. But after a while it was getting to me. Food didn't taste as good as it used to, video games I usually like playing don't excite me anymore, and I realized that I just have too much stuff. I stopped going to the gym because I didn't feel motivated anymore. Even the people around me were getting more intolerable.

Even comics, my usual cheerer-upper, had lost its' luster. My favorite comic line, the DC Universe, decided to reboot itself. Some of my favorite titles were cancelled and replaced with books either telling the same stories I've already read, or featuring characters I don't recognize anymore. Really the only two characters I've found worth reading about that are generally unchanged are Booster Gold and Nightwing. THAT'S IT. And Marvel? I don't know what the hell they think they're doing. Seriously, when comics don't do it for me, I know something is wrong. Obviously, there is no way I can create an episode of Super Pat Quest in such a condition. So that explains that.

Luckily I still had my second job, which eventually became my full-time job. I'm very fortunate to have such generous bosses and co-workers. If I didn't have them I'm not sure where I'd be now. And thinking about that made me realize I need to stop whining so God damn much. There are people out there in much worse situations than me. Who aren't as lucky as I am to have so many great things around me. Great roommates, great friends, great family, and the bestest friend a guy could ever ask for.

So what I'm saying is, I'm sorry I've been neglecting Super Pat Quest, both in video and blog form. I'm in much better shape than I was these past few months, and I'm ready to get back to work. I've been going to the gym again, football season is in full swing, and I'm out there socializing once more. Okay, video games still don't excite me the way they used to, and I cut back drastically on my comics, but I don't see any downside in that at all.

Look for some updates in the next few weeks, where I'll try to explain my problem with video games, talk about football a bit, as well as the status of the next episode of SPQ.

Oh, another thing that helped me these past few months is this video here. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Eve of Destruction Cyclops Custom Action Figure

After making the Super Pat action figure, my interest in making custom action figures had returned. The reason I started all those years ago in the first place was to fill out my Cyclops collection. I would make the figures the toy companies didn't, so eventually I'd have a representation of every costume Cyclops wore in 6 inch scale. I started out with two of them, made a third (that apparently I never posted. I thought I did, but I can't find it) and then I lost interest. Then a couple of years later I made two more, never posted them, then lost interest again. Then a couple more years go by, I make Super Pat, and here I am now, back at it. So for the past month I've been making new customs, to eventually round out my collection. Over the next week or so I'm going to post them here so I can share them. Because it's my blog and I can do whatever I want!

First up is one of those figures I made a few years ago but never posted: "Eve of Destruction" Cyclops

Around 1998 or so Cyclops merged with Apocalypse and effectively "died." In 2001 he came back, and it was clear he had changed since being bonded with an embodiment of evil. To reflect this new darker attitude, he had a new bad-ass costume.

Once I saw this costume I knew I had to try and make it into a figure. It started out as an Ant-Man figure but I replaced the original head with the head of a Gambit figure.

I sculpted the visor and the details on the gloves. I also added some more hair to try and give it that Tom Cruise look he had at the time. I took the straps that came with another Cyclops figure, repainted the red X, and glued them on. I was going to repaint the straps to make it more comic-accurate, but to be honest I liked the way they looked already. A little brown never hurt anybody.

 He only wore this costume for a couple of months, but it's one of my favorites. Looking at it now I could improve on a few things, so I may retry this one at a later date. But I'm happy with it enough to move on to other versions of the character.

Drew affectionately calls him "Flock of Seagulls" Cyclops. It's also worth noting that this is my second attempt at this costume. The first attempt was that figure I mentioned before, the one I thought I posted but apparently never did. I wasn't happy with how that one turned out so I made this one as a replacement.

I hope you're looking forward to more custom Cyclops figures, because I've got 'em! I also added a "Custom Action Figures" tag to the right so you can find all my customs with ease. Until next time!

Super Pat Custom Action Figure

Many years ago I started dabbling into making my own custom action figures. A lot of people (nerds) do it so I thought I'd give it a shot. My first figure was one of my favorite persons: me. After some sculpting and painting, I turned a Mr. Fantastic figure into a spitting image of me. Well maybe not so spitting. It was rough around the edges but I was satisfied enough with it and moved on to making different figures. Eventually I stopped making figures and moved on to other things.

When I pulled Action Pat out of storage for use in the latest episode of Super Pat Quest, I realized just how crummy he was. The joints were loose, the paint was chipping, he couldn't stand up by himself. He got old, just like I did. So I decided to make an update. It wasn't a huge priority or anything, I'd just keep a look out for an opportunity to give Action Pat an upgrade.

Well last week an opportunity presented itself, and I'm proud to reveal the NEW Super Pat Action Figure!!

While walking in a random store I spotted a Tim Hunter action figure with an uncanny likeness to Yours Truly. I thought it would make a perfect head for the new Pat. It even had glasses, which I wear more often nowadays, and it's rare to find an action figure with glasses that isn't Harry Potter. So I popped the head off the figure and put it on Thomas Jane's body. From a Punisher movie figure of course.

Recipe for success... what's with the owl?

Sorry I had to cut your head off, Tom. Anyway under that long black trench coat is basically a guy wearing a t-shirt and pants, so it works as everyday clothing. I sanded down the ammo packs and straps on the legs and repainted everything. I cut pieces off of the trench coat, trimmed it down, and glued a painted rubber band to it to make my trademark jacket. I felt like adding the jacket really made this a Pat figure, not just some nerd in a Punisher t-shirt. I painted over the Punisher symbol though. I haven't worn a Punisher shirt in years.

Yeah I've been working out.

Originally I left the t-shirt black to match the older figure, but I decided to make it gray to add some variety with the black jacket. I didn't paint a thick coat on the pants because I felt the bits of black underneath made it look more like jeans. 

 I've never looked this bad-ass.

I guess I could've kept the original Tim Hunter body because it looks more like my actual posture, but I wanted a more articulated figure. That and the figure couldn't hold stuff with its closed fists.

What about Fifth Column?

 The head sculpt from the Tim Hunter figure was almost too perfect. The hair was similar to mine and the goatee was already there so the only thing I had to do was paint the eyes green. No sculpting needed! 

So will I get back into making custom action figures? Maybe. There are some holes in my Cyclops collection, and if the toy companies won't make them, I guess I have to. Still, I have a lot of things on my plate, including making awesome videos for you guys to enjoy. 

Overall I'm very happy with how Super Pat turned out. Maybe I'll make a Drew figure for him to punch. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the pictures.

The Blue, the Gold, and the..uhh..Pale?

 Who's next?!?

Thank You, Smallville.

As most of you know, Smallville's series finale was this past Friday. Also as most of you know, I'm a huge fan of Superman. He's my favorite superhero. What? Oh, I see..some of you seem confused. Sure I may rant and rave and have awesome logos designed for the blog about Cyclops, and some others may have heard me babble on about Booster Gold, but to me there was never any doubt about who my favorite superhero is. Only the best.

So when it was announced over ten years ago that there was a TV series in the works depicting the early years of Clark Kent, I was very excited. So I tuned in...for ten seasons. TEN SEASONS! It's remarkable that a TV show can stay on the air for ten years, let alone a show about a comic book character. But it all came to an end on Friday night. So what follows next in this post are my thoughts. I may delve into spoiler territory here so if you haven't seen it and plan on watching it, stop reading now.

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GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST IT WAS AMAZING!!!!

::ahem::

Okay now that that's out, I'll be a little more specific. The finale delivered on everything I wanted it to. It was well written, beautifully acted, and just damn made me feel good.

During this final episode, Lois and Clark were due to be married, but both of them began having doubts...until they read each others' vows. The vows were beautiful and pretty much summed up why Lois and Clark belong together. Lana? Lana who?? And because Lois' father couldn't be at the wedding (I guess Michael Ironside was busy), Lois was going to walk herself down the aisle. But Clark wouldn't have that! No, he surprised her at the last second and walked her down the aisle himself. Very touching. Paul, stop calling me a girl.

Also, Clark was having trouble letting go of the past to become the hero he needs to be. But as his mother and the late Jonathan Kent helped him realize, it's the past and all he's learned from it that makes him who he is. If he gives up on it, he misses the point entirely. The scenes with Clark and his father were among the best in the episode. Pa Kent died a few seasons ago, and his presence as a ghost in this episode isn't really explained, but really, it doesn't need to be. He's there to help his son, it's as simple as that.

Oh, and Lex Luthor has returned. He's been dead for the past few years and he was sorely missed. Lex was one of the best parts of Smallville's early seasons and his scenes with Clark really stand out. So when he and Clark were reunited in this finale, it was awesome. It sets up Lex's role in the mythos quite nicely, with one of the best written scenes that's ever been in the show.

The season arc has been about this seemingly unstoppable bad guy (Darkseid for those who care) bringing Apokolips (uhh..Hell) to Earth, "tagging" people who succumb to their dark urges and doubts. Things come to a head, and it's up to Clark to stop it. Before he goes off to fight, the episode delivers one final wonderful scene with Clark and his parents in the barn that he grew up in. He then confronts the bad guy, and during the fight, his Kryptonian father, Jor-El, reminds Clark of all the good he's accomplished. This results in a little trip down memory lane, as they show quick snippets of the best scenes of the entire show. It reminded me of how awesome this show has been over the years. After the flashes to the past, Clark is back in the fight...and he's FLYING. I'd been waiting ten years for this to happen and it was finally happening right before my eyes. Nerdgasm!

This leads to what we've all been waiting for. Clark heads to the Fortress where Jor-El tells him he's proud of his son, and says it may be his Kryptonian heritage that gives him his powers, but it's his time in Smallville, and the upbringing of the Kents, that made him the hero he is. And with that, Jonathan Kent gives Clark the blue and red tights. "Remember Smallville," he says. And Clark takes off, changes into his new suit, to save the day.

He saves Lois (who is on board Air Force One), and has a small moment where they smile at each other through the plane window. Nice touch! Then it's off to stop the big planet that's about to crash into Earth! Oh did I mention? Apokolips is a planet. Anyway, he does, as the whole world watches, bringing hope to all those who have been "tagged" and officially "untagging" them.

We then flash to seven years later, in the Daily Planet. Lois! Jimmy Olsen! Perry White! Clark! GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST! What's that? A bomb in an elevator across town? Clark goes to the roof. Wait, what's that music? Is that...? YES! It's the John Williams theme!!! Nerdgasm again! I'm literally at the edge of my seat at this point. As that fantastic theme plays, as does the last scene in Smallville. And it's what I've always wanted the last scene in Smallville to be. Clark takes off his glasses, runs toward the camera, and rips open his shirt to reveal that all too familiar "S" on his chest.

And that was Smallville's series finale. I've watched it twice now, both times taking in every minute, getting goosebumps, becoming a bit teary-eyed (shut up Paul!), and loving every bit. My ten years of faithfully watching: rewarded.

The series as a whole was pretty good. It changed over the years, starting out as a story about a boy growing up in a small American town, falling for a girl, while coming to terms with the fact that he's not like anyone else. Then it became about a man trying to figure out his place in the world, and over the past few seasons it became a straight-up superhero show. It had its' ups (the Justice League!! YAY!) and downs (Lana posessed by the spirit of a 19th century French witch? What???), but it was satisfying overall. And I'll miss it.

So thank you, Smallville. Thank you for entertaining this comic book nerd for ten wonderful years.

No Need to Fear, Super Pat is (still) Here!

Hey Super Pat Quest-a-ronies! Sorry for the lack of updates again. Not to make excuses, but I've been a little busy with real life stuff. And sometimes I forget that I don't have to post a video to let you guys know what's going on. And with that awesome new logo that Jesse made for me (above!), this blog deserves to be updated more often. With that said...

I plan to update this blog at least once a week, maybe even twice a week, from here on out.

I may have promised this before. Actually, I'm sure I did. But I'm not about to look through the six years of posts to see how many times I actually said I would update more often. By my best guess it's probably around seven...

Anyway!! Look forward to more updates. I'll be talking about several things that's been on my mind lately, from serious stuff to just plain no-one-really-cares stuff. Including updating my comic book pull list on the right there. I've dropped a few titles since then, more on that later.

And as for the next SPQ video, it's planned and in the works. Very little filming has been done so far, but it will be worth it when it's done. Timetable: 3 weeks. Let's get this done!

Super Pat Quest: Episode Nine: One Point Two

The wait is over! In this episode, Phil delivers a brand new theme song for Super Pat Quest! Also, what's Super Pat been up to since the previous episode? And what's this about being mistaken for someone else?



Thanks to everyone for their help (and patience) with this episode. Tell me what you think!