013: State of the Fandom Address #2

The tumultuous 2019 is rapidly coming to a close and it seems like a good time for another State of the Fandom Address. Just in case you don't recall, these Addresses are my way of giving you short bite-sized chunks of delicious pop culture goodness without the meal-spoiling fullness of a regular sized post. (Hmm, I just *may* be hungry...) As I mentioned in my first Clone Wars post, I don't feel confident enough for a full-on review of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, but I figure I can manage a brief, spoiler-free review since Cocoa and I just went and saw it this morning and my mind is still buzzing from the end of the saga. I can also talk about a couple of other things while we're at it. Here we go!

My watch list is much bigger nowadays.

Disney+

One of the biggest things to come out of the last few months is the new streaming service, Disney+. This was long-awaited, since it's going to be a rival for Netflix and will be the home for all things Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars. And National Geographic, in case you like furry things that aren't Ewoks.

Well, after months and months of building anticipation, Disney+ finally launched. And no one could log in. Those that could log in couldn't watch anything. Oops. Well, that was cleared up, but I would think they'd do more extensive testing to make sure their servers could handle the load. Anyway, that aside, I managed to get on later on during the launch day and I was pleased with what I found. There was a much larger selection of shows and movies than I expected for launch.

The first thing I did on there was go through everything and add things to my watch list. In doing so I discovered a wealth of old Marvel cartoons, including the campy 1967 Spider-Man cartoon! It should come as no surprise to anyone that that's the first thing I watched on Disney+. The second was The Mandalorian, and then I moved on to The Clone Wars. They have a great selection, including some Star Wars short cartoons I have never heard of. I hope someday they get the Star Wars Holiday Special and the bizarre Ewok television movies. The Ewok and Droid 80's cartoons would be interesting to revisit too. I'm thinking they probably won't do any of those because they're not technically canon. Oh well.

There are two new live action Star Wars series on the way, a brand new season of The Clone Wars, and a TON of Marvel shows in the pipeline. The future is bright, content-wise. But how does it perform?

As a service, I feel like it's very solid. As mentioned, the selection is huge. I do like the interface and ease of use. But the PS4 app is a tad glitchy. (That's the only app I've tried so far.) Sometimes it will let log in fine but then when I try to play a show it will claim I have no internet connection. (Come on... I have fiber internet. Always connected and reliable.) Sometimes when rewinding, it will skip me ahead on the show, which is very irritating. It holds your last position in the episode or movie, but there is no indication how far into it you are. Most streaming services have a progress bar along the bottom of the thumbnail. My biggest issue is that there isn't a "watched" indicator to show you that you've seen that episode. It makes it more difficult to get through a season when you have to stop and think about if you watched that episode or not. It would also be nice to allow us to reorder our watch list. The oldest items added are at the bottom of the list. Sure, you can remove and readd to get them up at the top, but that's a pain. But they did just get a “recently watched” category, and I use that all the time on Netflix, so that will help.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the service and I feel it has a lot of potential. The past month I've found myself spending more time on there than on Netflix. Once the Marvel shows hit next year, it's going to be even more of a time investment. Overall, I give the streaming service 20,000 midichlorians. The app gets three out of five maclunkys.

Moon Knight is brutal. (Credit: Marvel Comics, Art: Jacen Burrows and Mat Lopes.)

Moon Knight

Moon Knight is one of my favorite Marvel non-spider super heroes. Created in 1975 by Doug Moench and Don Perlin, Moon Knight is not particularly well-known. He’s currently is in between comic volumes, which doesn’t help his visibility. He's a really unconventional hero... sort of Marvel's answer to Batman, but with a supernatural twist. Mercenary Marc Spector died in Egypt and was resurrected by the God Khonshu to be the God’s avatar on Earth. Or… maybe not? No one really knows for sure if that's what happened or if Marc is simply crazy.

Because, honestly, Marc is batshit crazy. He has all sorts of problems, including multiple personalities. He also has no qualms about killing the bad guys in very brutal ways. He's an anti-hero in the same vein as Punisher. (Just with more sharp objects.)

All that said, I was very much surprised by the announcement that Moon Knight would get his own MCU series on Disney+. I really have no idea how that's going to work unless they severely tone down the violence and killing. Anyone who's stumbled upon Moon Knight comics-- especially the 2016 run-- know that blood and gore are baked into the DNA of this property and things get pretty twisted. So unless they're going to focus more on the psychological aspects of the character and downplay the body count, I'm not sure how Disney+ is the right home for him.

We'll see what they do. Jeremy Slater, the writer of The Umbrella Academy show is at the helm, so it may turn out okay. I'll wait for the first trailer before I decide on my level of excitement. Don’t get me wrong, I want to be excited for this. Moon Knight is a creative property with lots of potential. I just hope the show lives up to that potential.

Grudge match. (Credit: Legendary Pictures)

Godzilla Vs Kong

A bit of sad news for me came with the recent announcement that Godzilla Vs Kong has been delayed until November 20th. This news is a mixed bag. For one thing, we need to wait longer to see the movie. We already had to go through this when King of the Monsters was delayed. On the other hand, the studio has more time to polish the end product and make it even better. And make no mistake, the end product is going to be awesome.

For me, it's just more time to worry that my hero may get beat up by a smelly monkey. Ah well. I have faith in Godzilla.

Poor, poor kid. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Art: Steven Cummings)

Miles Morales: An Open Letter

Dear Marvel,

Please leave poor Miles Morales alone. You've given him a hell of a year, between seeing one of his best friends Ms. Marvel die (Champions Vol 2 #2), making a deal with the devil to bring her back to life only to see an innocent person die in her place; a fact which devastated him with guilt, being tortured extensively for several days by (I think?) aliens, (Miles Morales Spider-Man# 8-9), and then falling victim to a super-charged demon-possessed Carnage (Absolute Carnage: Miles Morales#1). And that was all in 2019.

Come on Marvel, don't you think our friend Miles has been through enough? I mean, this was a kid who took on the mantle of Spider-Man when the Spidey he looked up to was brutally murdered. His first foray into heroism resulted in the crowd berating him and he threw up from the stress. And then shortly after that he learned the uncle he idolized was a super villain who wanted to use him for his own nefarious purposes and then saw that uncle die by electrocution. His dad walked out on him after finding out he was Spider-Man. His mother was shot and killed protecting him and then his ENTIRE FREAKING UNIVERSE was vaporized, never to return.

See how jacked up the kid is? (Credit: Marvel Comics. Art: Javier Garron)

For god's sake Marvel, Miles Morales has been through enough. Give him a break in 2020, for all that is holy. Let the kid have a steady girlfriend, at least. (Especially if that girlfriend is Gwen Stacey. They are adorable together. I’m not alone in this opinion.) Anyway, we love Miles and we miss the quirky, cheerful, sensitive young man webbing around. No one wants to see him literally tortured.

Sincerely, SoraRabbit

So many Pokemons. (Credit: Nintendo)

New Video Games

A lot of great video games are coming out. Pokemon Sword and Shield and Jedi Fallen Order came out very recently. Both of which I've seen my brothers play. Both games look incredible. Next year I'm looking forward to Square Enix's Avengers (May 15th 2020) Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot (January 17th), and the DLC for Kingdom Hearts III in January. We're also getting the remakes of Final Fantasy 7 in March and Final Fantasy 8 and 9 remasters (already out). Although I would much rather we get a Final Fantasy Part 16. What's the hold up Square Enix? We need a new main, non-online title already. Oh, and a third Steven Universe game just hit, but as far as I know there's no Switch port for it yet, so I'll wait. I don't know what Apple Arcade is, and I don't care to find out unless I have to.

I'm so far behind on my gaming that it will be a long time before I get to any of these titles. I'm going to try to stay focused on finishing my unfinished games in the coming year with as few distractions as possible. (Aside from Kingdom Hearts III: reMind of course.) But then again, next year will also see the release of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. (Maaaybe I can make time for that one.)

I'm never going to catch up, am I?

Shiiiiiny. (Credit: Disney)

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

One of the bigger events this year is the long-awaited end of the Skywalker Saga portion of Star Wars. Part Nine in the main series, this film ends a 42 year saga. Just a reminder, this will be a spoiler-free review, so no worries if you haven't yet seen the film.

As I mentioned in my post on The Clone Wars, I'm very open-minded when it comes to the Star Wars series. Out of all the movies, my favorites (in no particular order) are Attack of the Clones, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi. And now this one has been added to the list.

Yes, this movie was worth the wait. I had some concerns going in, but most of that was worrying that the film would be too busy finishing the entire saga that the newer characters that we’ve gotten invested in would be left behind or not get satisfying conclusions for their story arcs. Without getting into it deeply, I’ll just say those concerns were unfounded. Everyone got ample screen time and focus. We got new and old characters. We got all the fast-paced action and planet hopping that Star Wars is known for. And one of my many theories turned out to be true.

This was one of those movies that was very emotional and engaging for me. It brought a tear to my eye at times. As soon as it was over I wanted to see it again. I’m going to find a chance to go back while it’s still in the theaters. (I don’t go in for second showings often. The last time was Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse.) For anyone who loves Star Wars and is enjoying the new trilogy, this is an enjoyable, well-crafted movie. Pretty much perfect. I have zero complaints. An unquestioning 10 out of 10.

So there’s my review… I’ve never done a spoiler-free review before, so I know I was a little vague. Hopefully I did all right. Thank you for reading my second Fandom Address. See you soon!