Ep 86: Making Cosplay Discussion

1 Feb 2021 · Nerd Tutorial Podcast

02:08:37

Topic: Cosplay Making

This week, I wanted to talk to Mom about some of the Ideas I’ve had for cosplay, and such. Any good nerd has wanted to dress up as their favorite characters. And a lot like any good addition, it just takes the one time to get hooked. But at a certain point, you might have to just make it yourself because it doesn’t exist anywhere out there.

Personal projects

Work Wizard Hat

This is a hat for work. Intend to be kind of like Gandalf’s wizard hat. The major difference being that the front and back will have stitched Lettering appropriate for work. I also intend to hide a pocket into the top of the hat in order to hide stuff for fun.

Magic Book

The idea here is to make a sort of magical tome, that when you open it up, it lights up and shoots out light from it, giving the impression that fantastical magic would come out. Ideally, you’d hollow out large book, something maybe the size of 2 phonebooks stacked on top, and then, have the middle pages with a sort of sheet paper with cut outs for the various glyphs and such. Underneath, in the hollowed out section, you’d have a series of lights that shined in an order to give it that impression.

Piranha Plant Puppet (Super Mario Bros)

This originally started as a Chain Chomp from Mario Bros, but I’ve since re-imagined it as a Piranha Plant. The idea is a roughly 2 foot in diameter Ball, constructed like a beach ball, but with one of the 6 sizes missing. The missing space is the mouth, which will open and close with teeth and a tongue. The intent here is for myself to be Mario, but my right hand is the Piranha plant. I’m going to gimic my right arm and have my actual right arm in all black. My arm is in the Piranha Plant head, and the fake arm is holding a potted plant with the Piranha plant stem coming out. The real hard part for this is coming up with the pattern so I’m consistent with the shape of the ball shape, then from there, creating the fake arm. I imagine the sewing of the white spots on the plan will add some challenge too.

Lakatu Puppet

This is the one for shooting the moon. The idea is a puppet that looks like Lakatu, the Turtle in the cloud that follows you. The idea was to have a full puppet, and have it riding on an actual cloud, filled by a beach ball for simplicity and weight concerns. From there, Lakatu would also have a fishing pole, and it would suspend stuff from it. One object being a small camera that I could actually take pictures with. This one is more logistics and putting it together, but it will take time.

Skills for making Cosplay

Sewing

Foam Work

Gluing

Wood working

Repurposing Junk

Browsing Goodwill/Second Hand shops

Painting

Understanding materials

Lots of Creativity

Cosplays I want to do:

Doctor (Arknights)

Arknights the game is fairly big still, and while it is still big, I figured a costume of the Doctor would be good. The character itself doesn’t talk, and their face is obstructed, so I would do the same, and carry around a bunch of gimic stuff as well, just to have fun with it. Never talking ever!

Warlock Tier 2 (World of Warcraft)

Making the costume will be a bitch, especially because it’s a flowing robes, and the shoulders and helm are so big. I’d want the helm and shoulders to either light up and create a smoke effect, but my skills are well out of that range. I need to get MUCH better and working with rigid foam for that. Plus, I kind of want to have smaller Imps hanging off me, as though I’ve summoned too many. These would be MUCH harder to make, considering I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how. There’s a person who HAS made them previously, but is charging a lot for them. There’s that and the staff…

Draenei Paladin Tier 6 (World of Warcraft)

This is one of those costumes that if I figure out Foam, I’ll be in business. Just lots of foam… It’s the notion of making armor, a weapon, and figuring out a latex sort of prosthetic for my face. These are blue people with tendrils. The fun part might also be figuring out the hoofed feet too, but there are furries that do horses I can mimic. It would be a fun thing to do, especially the spectacle, but gotta figure out foam first.

Gilgamesh/Archer (Fate/Stay Night)

Another one that’s mostly revolving around foam. The bigger concern is his sword, Ea, which has three segmented blade bits that turn count to one another. I can imagine a gear and spindle in my head moving, but I’d need to make a good template to see if it’s do able. I really do think it can be done, but this is also something I’d love to get a 3d Printer to actually make it too.

Boo Ghost (Mario Brothers)

This one is very technical. The idea is not too dissimilar to the Parana Plant Puppet, but instead of actually being a moving puppet, it’s a projected Puppet. What I’d do is buy a small little hand held projector, and then suspend it inside a clear ball with theatre fabric, for the light to bleed through. The intention is to have the projector display an animated Face for the puppet. The fun part will be switching between the ghost looking normal, and then animating to hiding. The sequence would go like this:

Normal Idle animationTransition to Hiding AnimationHiding Idle AnimationTransition to Normal animationMaybe something silly? Like a tongue lick or such? Animation.

It would work the best if run off a smart phone, WHICH I have a spare one. The only trick is programming a custom app to run the animations from, and if you could get a simple clicker or something to transition, even better. There might be other ideas here that would best with it, but this is a matter of researching technology and working through it.

Bowsette Kimono (Mario Brothers)

I had an Idea, after the initial Bowsette Cosplay, was to come back in a Japanese Kimono. The intention was an all Black Kimono, with a green Obi-sash(For the turtle shell), with a yellow Haneri (inner cloth). What would make it unique is that there would be stitched in Mario Style flowers, but drawn/done in the style of an ukiyo-e painting (Traditional Japanese Art). The flowers would start at the hem and kind of crawl up the kimono till just above the knee and on to the sleeves. I wanted to do the longer sleeve, the kind that draped down to like the knee or such. And then, the real kicker was that the sleeve on the inside, showed a Mario 1 style castle and flag pole on the left sleeve, and a set of stairs with Mario on the right sleeve. This way when you fanned them out, you’d get the image. My only real concern with this cosplay is partly the Japanese style Mario flowers, I don’t know how to ART that, but I know a person with a stitching machine, but it would be LOTS of colors. And then there’s also the concern over taking a Kimono and making a joke out of it with Mario stuff. I’ve seen people make Yukatas, a simple summer style Kimono which are very laid back, and made with various printed cloths, but I would feel strange about mimicking and making a Kimono, especially as I’d do it in drag too.

Japanese style Bowser / Dr Robotnic

Unlike Bowsette, a Japanese inspired Bowser or Dr Robotnic would probably be cool. I’d probably go with Dr Robotnic, and get a navy blue Yukata, pair it with a yellow sash, and then a Red Hori coat, and switch in the Eggman symbol on to the back. If I could as well, I’d love to make FAKE tattoos, along my arm and chest, give the impression of a Yakuza.

Ursula (Little Mermaid)

Okay, this one would be a Drag performance, but I figured that if I have the Big Black Dress from Bowsette two years ago, and I could make the tail, I could probably make octopus legs as well. My thought here would be to get a bunch of strings and connect them to my wrists, so when I moved my arms, the legs would move as well. I figured this for making the eels hangs on my in a similar fashion maybe. The only issue with the octopus legs would be their weight and having them come out of the body evenly. Plus this has already been done before, so I wouldn’t be new to the party.

Doctor Strange (Marvel)

Okay hear me out, this was a really COOL costume from the Marvel Movies. What to add to it, there’s a spinning LED light board, and from there, you can program it to do the Doctor Strange magic circles. It would look really cool , especially if I could get a light up necklace as well, even better.

Foam Sword

This would be the first project I’d do with Foam really. Making a sword, because I’ve had a few different designs that I’d love to actually just create.

Peace Bond Armor + Sword

Okay, this one takes some explaining.

Peace Bond itself is when you wrap a strap around your sword to keep it secure in its scabbard. The intention was that if you were there for peace, you’d never need to draw your sword. Whether this is a real element or just a story, this is the idea atleast behind our Modern con verion.

Peace Bonds for Conventions are these colorful Zip ties that you put on Prop Weapons so that Con Staff know it’s an approved item to bring in to Cons. This way no one gets hurt from a sword, an actual gun, or such. I want to make an entire sword and armor out of these colorful Zip Ties. And especially as it’s a joke, you need to have the armor/clothing made out of very commonly found items at a Con. I figure FF7’s buster sword, maybe a One Piece Hat, and then some other commonly seen stuff at cons. It’s that or just make a really big Buster Sword(Comically Large swords), and some armor/cape, maybe a gauntlet and gladiator skirt. Something silly and stupid, which would be a Joke for the Con itself regardless. This one would take LOTS of Zip Ties and figuring out how to layer them in such a way that makes it look like stuff. Another example of foam coming into help on this one.

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Episodes

Ep 103: The Legend of Zelda Review
10 Sep 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Other Games
Hyrule Warriors (2014) Wii U, Switch, 3DS
A spinoff of the Dynasty Warrior game series from Koei Tecmo, the series follows several well known Zelda Characters in their efforts to push back the evil forces. While the story is loose, the major draw of this game is the Dynasty Warrior game play, which sees hundreds of enemies being defeated by a singular individual over a large battlefield with ever changing objectives.
CD-I Games
In 1989, Nintendo and Sony partnered together to create a CD based addon for their upcoming Super Nintendo System, set to release sometime in 1991 or 1992. Prior to the announcement however in 1991, Nintendo decided to dump the contract with Sony and instead went with Phillips to develop their CD based addon. The sudden announcement from Nintendo just prior to Sony’s announcement eventually led to the Playstation system in 1994. Nintendo however, seeing the poor launch and reception of the Sega CD, pulled out of the agreement with Phillips for a CD based SNES Addon. However, with the agreement desolved, Nintendo agreed to allow Phillips to develop games based off the Nintendo Licenses, which included Mario and Zelda.
As a result, three games were created by Phillips for their CD-I machine:
Link: The Faces of Evil
Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon
Zelda's Adventure
All three games are largely Action Adventure titles and not consider canon within the Zelda Timeline. Both Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon were released at the same time, featuring Russian animation that universally hated by the fans. Zelda’s Adventure, released 8 months after the first set of game, featured a top down perspective, and replaced the animation with live action, which is still considered horrible by today’s standards. All three games are largely unplayable in the sense that they are not fun and are frustrating to play.
In Other Media
The Legend of Zelda Cartoon
During the height of Mario Craze, there was The Super Mario Bros: Super Show, which aired during day time syndication in 1989. A part of the original run was a series of Super Mario Cartoons, referencing at the time Super Mario Bros 1 and 2, with Super Bros 3 episodes later pushed to a 2nd season. The cartoons themselves were only about 12-14 minutes long, and were inner spliced with Live Action Mario and Luigi, played by Lou Albano and Danny Wells respectively. The Mario Cartoons ran from Monday through Thursday, but on Friday, was a Legend of Zelda Cartoon instead.
The Legend of Zelda cartoon, much like the Mario cartoon, last only about 12-14 minutes, and a collection of thirteen were created for the series. The events of the series largely related around the time between The Legend of Zelda and The Adventures of Link, and often related to Link battling the remaining forces of Ganon to defend the land. The series was not without its comic attributes, as Link was constantly trying to get a Kiss from Zelda, along with the Tagline, “Excuse Me, Princess.” with the word ‘excuse’ exaggerated for comic effect, usually used when ever Link was sarcastically apologizing to Princess Zelda. Contrary to most princesses as well, Zelda was actually very capable on her own right, often being engaged and participating in the action.
The series is mostly well known for Link’s Catchphrase, but was often a big interest among kids of their era, mostly due to the fact that it only happened once a week, and due to this, the episodes rarely looped upon themselves, so if you missed it, you wouldn’t get the chance to see it again for 3 months.
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Ep 102: Legend of Zelda Tutorial
10 Sep 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Legend of Zelda
What is it?
Nintendo’s Big Three, as of NES days, consisted of Super Mario, Metroid, and The Legend of Zelda. Taking place in a fantasy world of goblins, monsters, castles, and princesses, this series had transformed some of the landscape of videogames and being a bench mark for many later games and series, with some hallmarks that continue to this day.
Development
During initial development of the Famicom(Family Computer, also known to the west as the Nintendo Entertainment System(NES)) addon, known as the Famicom Disk System, two major games were being developed. The First was Super Mario, while the second was Legend of Zelda, however their creator, Shigeru Miyamoto, didn’t know how either game would shape up. During the planning process, the two games were created in tandem, with Super Mario coming out first due it’s more linear nature, and Zelda coming out afterwards. Ideas when developing the games were split between the two games, with some ideas being more favorable for Mario over Zelda. Zelda’s design necessitated less linear game play and forced players to think about what to do next.
Elements of the initial story were taken heavily from J R R Tolken’s Lord of the Rings, primarily the setting and world in which the antagonist lived in. The initially hero, dubbed ‘Link’ was meant to be a time traveler, along with the plot device, the Tri-force, being made up to circuits/electronics, thus Link would be a Hyper-Link, or a Link to the Past, Present, and Future.
Released on the Famicom Disk System, The Legend of Zelda was a huge success. With the Disk System, save states could be created, which acted as back ups for your progress. Along with new weapons/items, additional armor, and various secrets waiting to be found, the game was a block buster upon release. Due to the North American market not having the Disk System for their NES, the game was ported instead to a standard game cartridge of the time, with new chips being created to hold the majority of the game on. US released copies featured a Gold game cartridge over the typical gray that was offered with all other games.
After the success of the first Zelda, a second follow up went in to work. Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link, took a different turn in the game play, offering a top down map for which to explore, but offered a 2d platform style action that Link would fight in. Released 2 years after the first, gaming critics cited it as a masterpiece, with many western audiences feeling somewhat indifferent to the game at the time.
With the coming of the next generation, the Super Famicom and Super Nintendo saw their own version of Zelda coming out, returning to the original Legend of Zelda roots, but also added a feature that would eventually become a staple of many Zelda game, a Light and Dark World. Initially, the Super Nintendo games held an initial allotment of half a Megabyte, but Zelda began the trend with a full Megabyte to incorporate all the features. In The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, a Light and Dark world exist, where Link can travel between the two to gain new weapons, powers, and transverse the world in ways other than the initial ways. Released in 1991, the game was a classic and is to this day, still highly rated, and one of the best selling games for the Super Nintendo.
Following the success of Zelda as a generational Title, a new Zelda game has come out for every Generation of Nintendo’s consoles, including the Mainline Home Console and Hand-held Console. In 1998, The Legend of Zelda saw game series move in to 3d, just as Mario had done a year earlier. Even during the Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess was a launch title, instead of a traditional Mario title.
Initial Story
The initial story of the Legend of Zelda is not very straight-forward or linear at all. Described as a multi-timeline series, the main series had an initial timeline, before branching off in to various timelines. The characters of Link, Zelda, and bad guy Ganon are not even the original individuals, but reincarnations of the classic characters years into the future, sometime even hundreds of years later, often still playing the exact same roles as before.
Rather than develop the games in the released order, in order to explain the time line, we’ll explain them in order of their placement on the timeline:
Skyword Sword (2011) Wii U
Skyword Sword starts the Zelda timeline, set in a world where humans primarily live in the sky and travel around on giant Sky birds. Zelda, a reincarnation of the Goddess Hylia, who is charged with watching over the Tri-Force, is whisked away to the surface world, where she learns of her purpose and intends on safeguarding the world from Demise. Link goes about saving her and puts an end to Demise, but not before he can make his own reincarnation. This is also the creation of the Master Sword, as the sword was originally a part of Hylia prior to giving up her divinity.
The Minish Cap (2004) GBA
As the GBA had a long life span, this incarnation is notable for introducing the Minish Cap, a replacement hat for Link, not unlike Mario Hat from Super Mario Odyssey. Much like many features of Zelda there is a obvious world, and a hidden world. In this case, the Minish Cap allows Link to shrink to Minish proportions (Small), in order to navigate and transverse secrets of the world. This adventure for Link sets up the Four Sword and the main antagonist of the next game Vaati.
Four Swords (2002) GBA
Released alongside a release of A Link to the Past, Four Swords tells of how Link used the Four Sword and transformed into four copies of himself. This story primarily focuses upon Vaati’s return and Link utilizing the Four Sword to defeat him. The true feature of this game was the 4 player co-op nature, which was later revisited on the Game Cube.
Ocarina of Time (1998) N64
Credited as landmark title that brought Zelda to 3d. The story tells of a very young boy link saving Princess Zelda, but traveling back and forth from time, which causes him transform in to the Adult Link. This game introduced 3d, but also a music system, with special songs, capable of summoning effects or allowing used to progress through the story. The game was the first time the story fleshed out more of Ganondorf’s back story, along with other notable races, including the Gerudo, Goron, Kokori, & Zora.
DEVIATION IN TIME
Based on the events of Ocarina of Time, one of Three Timeline get created:
Child Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to a child to finish out the rest of his life.
Adult Timeline – Where at the end of Ocarina of Time, Zelda returns the Master Sword to the pedestal, and Link is said to have disappeared following his return to the past.
Fallen Hero Timeline – Where as Link was failed to defeat Ganondorf, and he is instead sealed by the Seven Sages and locked away.
Child Timeline:
Following the defeat of Ganondork, Link returns the Master Sword to the pedestal and reverts to his child form to live out the rest of his life.
Majora’s Mask (2000) N64
Created using the original Ocarina of Time engine and many of the same assets, Majora’s Mask is very much a sequel to the Ocarina of Time. In this version, Link stays a child, but gains additional powers in the form of masks, which alter his shape and abilities. The main events of Majora’s Mask resolve around Link in search of Navi, his fairy from the first game. He meets the mysterious Skull Kid, who is wearing the possessed Majora’s Mask. Skull Kid, via Majora’s Mask, aims to destroy the town of Termina by having the moon crash in to it. Link has only 3 days in which to stop the apocalypse, but learns can go back in time by playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina, giving him unlimited tries to save the world.
Twilight Princess (2006) Wii
Following the events of Ocarina of Time, Ganondorf is stopped and due to having the Triforce of Power, can’t be killed. As a result, he is banished to the Twilight Realm, where he eventually takes it over and corrupts it to his own purpose. During the events, he usurps Midna, the Twilight Princess, and during his invasion back into the world of Light, plunges the world into twilight. Midna recruits Link, who in twilight infused areas, is able to transform into a wolf the Midna rides, and the two aim to save both the world of Light and the world of Twilight.
Four Swords Adventure (2004) Game Cube
Revisiting the GBA Four Sword’s multiplay gameplay, the game utilizes the GBA link Cable to link various GBAs together to play all at the same time. While Ganondorf has been defeated for hundreds of years, his sudden resurrection forced the Link of the time to draw the Four Sword once again. This releases Vaati, which Ganondorf uses to his advantage to distract Link. Eventually, Link is able to defeat Vaati once and for all, and seals Ganondorf within the Four Sword.
Adult Timeline:
Following the events Ocarina of Time, Link disappears following the defeat of Ganondorf and his sealing away in the Sacred Realm. Ganondorf continue to own his Tri-Force of power, as does Zelda with her Triforce of Wisdom, however, Link’s disappearance, shatters the Tri-Force of courage in to 8 pieces.
The Wind Waker (2002) Game Cube
A major departure in style, Wind Waker and all games in the Adult Timeline follow a very cartoony, cell-shaded look. While a prominent style in the games, and a departure from a more realistic looking Link promised in trailers, the look had grown on players and has its own unique charm, with lot of personality in Link.
Wind Waker tells of how Ganon returns from his seal in the Sacred Realm, and in order to save the world, the Gods decide to flood the world, sealing away Hyrule and Ganon at the same time. Follow flood, people move to the top of mountains that become islands. Link is set in to action as Ganondorf returns to the surface and is kidnapping young girls with pointy ears, in search of Zelda. Link traverses this world on the King of red Lions, a boat sent by the gods, in which Link must use the power of the Wind Waker to cause winds to help pilot the boat.
Phantom Hourglass (2007) DS
Following the events of Wind Waker, Tetra(Reincarnation of Zelda) and Link travel the world in search of a new continent to call home. Tetra is kidnapped and Link must travel around to save her. He receives the Phantom Hourglass, which is necessary for exploring various dungeons. Much like the last game, the gameplay is largely split in two major features, sailing between islands, and fighting in a similar top-down form as previous classic era games.
Spirit Tracks (2009) DS
Following the Events of Phantom Hourglass, the new kingdom of Hyrule is established. Hundreds of years pass, and a new Link and Zelda are reborn. Zelda is concerned about her advisor, Chancellor Cole, who reveals himself to be a demon initially sealed way on the new Hyrule Kingdom long before they arrived. He steals Zelda’s body, but her spirit remains with Link, who together must navigate the mysterious Spirit Tracks and find the sacred Spirit Temples that original banished the Demon.
Fallen Hero Timeline:
Unfortunately, Link was unable to defeat Ganondorf, who succeeded in claiming the Tri-Force of Courage and the Tri-Force of Wisdom. Before he could use the full Tri-Force, he was sealed away by the Seven Sages into the Sacred Realm, where Ganondorf continued to create his armies. Following initial seal’s breaking, Hyrule launched an invasion on the Sarcred Realm in order defeat Ganon. Despite the Kingdom of Hyrule successfully banishing Ganon in the realm once again, it left the country impoverished and without many resources, including money and its people.
A Link to the Past (1991) SNES
The first game to feature a duality Light and Dark world system, Link to the Past is a classic and one of the best selling SNES games of all time. Hundreds of years after Ganon’s defeat, a Wizard named Agahnim was able to stop a number of mysterious events plaguing the kingdom. Naming him the priest of Hyrule and top advisor, Agahnim brainwashed the guards and makes the six maidens, descendants of the Seven Sages, disappear in to the Dark World. Zelda, the last maiden, telepathically calles out to Link to rescue her. He saves her and begin searching for the tools needed to defeat Agahnim, who wants to resurrect Ganon. Link eventually goes to Stop Agahnim, but not before being banished to the Dark World, where he eventually found the six maidens and is able to find the TriForce.
Link’s Awakening (1993) Game Boy / Switch
Initially, a pet project by a few game creators to try and remake the first Zelda for the Game Boy, the project eventually caught the attention of other developers who wanted to add to it. Eventually, the higher ups found out about the game and decided to fund it in earnest. Following the Events of A Link to the Past, Link sets off to find new training, in case of the next disaster. His ship wrecks on Koholint island, which is populated by individuals that remind him Hyrule. He learns, in order to leave the island, he must collect 8 sacred instruments, and wake up the Wind Fish in order to leave the island.
Oracle of Seasons & Oracles of Ages (2001) GBC
Originally starting as a trio of games that would use passwords to link the three games together, the result ended in just two games, with Seasons being more action oriented and Ages being more puzzle oriented. The main story focuses on two witches, collectively known as Twinrova, attempting to resurrect Ganon. Link from A Link to the Past is summoned by the TriForce and sent to stop them.
A Link Between Worlds (2013) 3DS
Centuries after Ganon’s Defeat, a mysterious wizard named Yugo appears and kidnaps the Seven Sages, and Zelda, storing them in Paintings until needed. Link travels after them into the world of Lorule, which is similar to his own. Link is unable to stop Yugo from summoning Ganon and takes it into himself. Link is nearly killed, if not for the Dark Counterpart to Zelda in this world, Hilda. Eventually it is revealed that Lorule had its own TriForce, but constant warring and fighting forced them to destroy it; however, this allowed monsters and demons to rise up, which destroyed their Kingdom. Hilda brought all the elements of Link and Zelda’s world to hers in order to gain a Tri-Force of their own and save their world. Link eventually defeat Yugo and convinces Hilda that their world needs the Tri-Force as well. Upon returning to their world, Link wishes upon the Tri-Force and it creates a sister version in Lorule, restoring peace to the dark world.
Tri-Force Heroes (2015) 3DS
A new adventure for Link, who travels to Hytopia. Here, the evil witch Maud has forced Princess Styla into an irremovable brown Jumpsuit, which she forces her to hide away in her castle. Using two other Link look-a-likes, they must collect the Lady’s Ensemble and defeat the evil Witch Maud. Similar to 4 swords, this utilizes multiplayer to play and complete, and feature different outfits link can wear to utilize different abilities.
The Legend of Zelda (1986) NES
At some point, the Tri-Force of Courage is hidden by the King of Hyrule, suspecting his son, the Prince of Hyrule, won’t be a worthy person. As a result, the Prince questions Princess Zelda, who knows the true location, but refuses to tell her brother. Now put in an eternal slumber, the Kingdom falls into decline to due not having the full power of the Tri-Force. Ganon returns and gains control of the Tri-Force of Power; the next Princess Zelda hide the Tri-Force of Wisdom in eight dungeons in order to safeguard it. Link is tasked with saving Princess Zelda, who has now been imprisoned by Ganon, and is dubbed the Hero of Hyrule.
The Adventure of Link (1988) NES
6 years following the events of The Legend of Zelda, Link had a glowing mark on his hand, which imprints the boy who will be able to wield the Tri-Force of Courage. Tasked with visiting several locations to prove his worth, Link is able to successful collect the Tri-Force of Courage, and return to the eternal slumber Zelda, awaking her with the full power of the Tri-Force.
Great Calamity Timeline
Though not a part of the official timeline just yet, developers state that this timeline is the end of all timeline, marking the end to major timeline. While it’s unsure which time line this falls into, it’s a future in which an advanced civilization named the Sheikah Tribe, helped install various technologies into Hyrule, causing it to prosper. In preparation for Ganon’s return, they created various Guardians and Divine Beasts to fight Ganon upon his return, now known as Calamity Ganon.
Breath of the Wild (2016) Switch
The next princess, named Zelda, notices that Ganon is nearly upon them and goes about claiming the Divine Beasts, giving them to four capable pilots, and finding Link, a knight who can successful wield the Master Sword. While Zelda is initially unable to awaken her sealing powers, the Day of Calamity occurs, causing all the guardians and Divine Beasts to go malfunction and turn against the populous. Now with Zelda and Link alone, Link is fatally injured and forced to be healed in the Shrine of Resurrection. Zelda herself, went to seal away Calamity Ganon, successful, but not without sealing herself away too. 100 Years have passed since the Day of Calamity, and Link, partly with Amnesia, sets out to save the Princess Zelda.
Breath of the Wild Sequel (2022) Switch
Characters
Princess Zelda
Named after Zelda Fitzgerald, mother to Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda is the Princess of Hyrule, and titular character of the Legend of Zelda Series. The reincarnation of Hylia, the Goddess that protected the Tri-Force from Demise, she is the individual that started the reincarnation process for the Zelda line of individuals. While the Princess and defacto ruler of Hyrule, she is also known to be the keeper of the Tri-Force of Wisdom. She depicted slightly differently from game to game, but is usually a Blonde woman in her late teen to early 20s, depicted in flowing princess robes and possessing mannerism of a Princess. Her weapon of choice is typically a Bow, which shoots light based Arrows, and is known for her ability to seal away evil. While she is often the Damsel in Distress, there are some games that show to have more agency.
Link
The main Playable Character in the series, Link is presented as an everyman, just going about his life, until the call to be a Hero calls upon him. He is the keeper of the Tri-Force of Courage, and generally depicted as a sword and shield using adventurer, in his typical Green tunic and hat. Link can wield the Master Sword, a legendary sword, considered the final weapon in the game, and usually depicted as utilizing it in his left hand, while his right hand carries his shield. Link has had several titles in various games, including:
Hero of Time (Ocarina of Time)
Legendary Hero (Link’s Awakening)
Hero of Winds (Wind Waker)
Hero of Twilight (Twilight Princess)
Hero Chosen by the Ocean King (Phantom Hourglass)
Hero of the Skies (Skyward Sword)
Hero of the Wild (Breath of the Wild)
Hero of Hyrule
Ganon / Ganondorf
While interchangeable, Ganon and Ganondorf are the same person. The main villain of every mainline Zelda Game, Ganon is known for wielding the Tri-Force of Power and leading various villainous armies against the Hero. Initially a reincarnation of Demise, the evil from Skyward Sword, Ganondorf has reappeared time and time again, always with aims to claim the Tri-Force for himself. While starting as Ganondorf, a dark-skinned Gerudo, Ganondork eventually can be transfigured and warped in to Ganon, which is more akin to a boar or pig like man, as seen in later incarnations of the character. Ganon/Ganondorf is always the final villain and main antagonist of all major Zelda games on home console.
Impa
Princess Zelda’s caretaker and chamber maid. Impa does not always play a major factor in the story, and as such, is depicted in various forms. She is sometimes an old woman on the verge of death, to a skilled fighter in her 30s to 40s. She is always there to assist and lead Zelda on the right path, and has even led Link on the right path in some games.
Sages
Derived from the original Seven Sages from Ocarina of Time, the term Sage is meant for individuals with wisdom and great power. While much of their lore is not known, it’s whispered in legend that they created the Master Sword and even the Temple of Time. Maidens are similar in line with Sages, as they are either reincarnations or descendants of Sages. The initial sages seen in Ocarina of Time, which later sages are either descendants or reincarnations, include:
Rauru - Sage of Light
Saria - Forest Sage
Darunia - Sage of Fire
Ruto - Sage of Water
Impa - Sage of Shadow
Nabooru - Sage of Spirit
Zelda - Leader of the Sages, and presumed Sage of Time
Homework
Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
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Ep 101: Falcon and the Winter Soldier Review
25 Aug 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Falcon and the Winter Soldier Review
New Characters
Jonathan F. "John" Walker – Captain America / US Agent – Protrayed by Wyatt Russell
In the comics, at one point in time, Steve Rogers gives up the title of Captain America a number of missions that seem corrupt to Steve, including being called upon for the ‘Commission on Superhuman Activities’. The US appointed John Walker as the new Captain America for a period of time, embodying the spirit of a more militant and conservative America, in contrast to Steve Roger who was seen as been more progressive for the time. The stress of being Captain America however becomes too much for John Walker, which forces Steve Roger, who has been known as just ‘Captain’, to take back the Captain America role.
John Walker later takes on the identity of the US Agent, donning a similar costume to Captain America, and is appointed by the US Government to various teams and mission, acting as heads of the West Coast Avengers and other teams. He’s described as a loose cannon version of Steve Rogers, but still a relatively good guys in many cases.
Similar to Captain America, he was experimented on by a character known as the Power Broker, which gave him super strength, to match his Olympic level athletic skills. He is similar trained as Steve Rogers, and possesses similar skills and abilities.
Lemar Hoskins – Battlestar - Clé Bennett
The Bucky to John Walker’s Captain America.
Karli Morgenthau – Flag Smasher - Erin Kellyman
In the comics, Karl Morgenthau was the son of a wealthy Banker turn Diplomat, and even dreamed of becoming a Diplomat himself, until his father was killed in a riot. He believed that nationalism made people they were superior to others unnecessarily, and that removing nations would make everyone happier, removing the unnecessary barriers between everyone. He was a frequent villain of Captain America.
In the MCU, this is the 9th character to be gender-swapped. Others include The Ancient One, Mar-vell, and Morgan Stark.
Isaiah Bradley - Carl Lumbly
Elijah "Eli" Bradley - Elijah Richardson
In the comics, following the events of Dr. Erskine’s death, the secrets of the Super Soldier formula were lost, and only within Captain America. Still wanting the army of Super Soldiers, in the 1940s, they forcibly recruited 300 black men and began experimenting on them with a new Super Soldier formula. Only a few men survived, and were placed on the front line in WWII. On his last mission, after learning he was the sole survivor and meant to go on a suicide mission, Isaiah stole a Captain America Costume and shield, and then went in to battle. Though his mission was successful, he was captured, but eventually freed by German revolutionaries. Upon his return to America, he was imprisoned for life, and placed in solitary confinement for 17 years, prior to a presidential pardon. After leaving prison, he led a relatively quiet life, though met with several notable Black Civil Rights members, aiding them. His grandson, Elijah, in the comics, goes on to become Patriot, a young Captain America, after he partly inherited the flawed Super Soldier Formula.
The story is an allegory for the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where black men were forcibly experimented on to develop a cure for Syphilis.
Baron Zemo – Previously of Captain America Civil War - Daniel Brühl
Sharon Carter – Evil? - Emily VanCamp
In the Comics, Sharon Carter is also known as Agent 13, where she often has dubious moral leanings that can affect various parties. While usually on the good guy side, her lack of morality that don’t otherwise affect her tend to get individuals either hurt or tend to hind her on opposite sides of heroes.
Valentina Allegra de Fontaine - Julia Louis-Dreyfus
In the comics, she was a SHIELD agent, who was in many cases a double or triple Spy for organizations. She ultimately, rose to deputy director of SHIELD under Nick Fury, before falling back to be a spy once again.
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Ep 100: Falcon and the Winter Soldier Tutorial
25 Aug 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Falcon & The Winter Soldier Tutorial
We begin our Discussion on the Newest Marvel Show, Falcon & The Winter Soldier, which is our newest Marvel series. Does it live up to Wanda Vision, check out next episode to find out.
Who is The Falcon?
Comic History
First introduced in 1969, Samuel Wilson was rescued by Steve Rogers, Captain America, from a Caribbean island where the Red Skull had planned on experimenting on Sam. After fighting the Red Skull, Sam would go on to continue working with Captain America. It was during this first outing that he was given the power to telepathically communicate with Birds, especially a falcon her name Redwing, but the Red Skull and a Cosmic Cube. It wasn’t until 5 years later that he was given a pair of wings by Black Panther that allowed him to fly.
Falcon remained a loyal partner to Steve Roger, even helping train his replacements during time in which Steve stepped down as Captain America. During this time, Falcon learned to command other birds beyond Redwing, and became capable of command multiple types of birds. Falcon was also of the people to Steve Roger’s Secret Avengers, opposing the Super-Human Registration Act, the main catalyst of the Civil War in the comics.
A major turning point in the character came in 2014, when Steve Roger has his Super Soldier serum neutralized, causing him to rapidly age to the age of 90. Without the power of the serum, same passed on the shield and mantle of Captain America to the Falcon. Falcon would go on to act as Captain America, utilizing the wings of Falcon and the Shield of Captain America. His numerous adventures led to a new Avengers team, along with for a time, leaving SHIELD due to their work on a New Cosmic Cube.
SHIELD would eventually make their new Comic Cube, which took on the vestige of a young girl named Kobik. During these eventually the original Captain America was dying, but Kobik revitalized Steve Rogers, allowing him to retake the title of Captain America. This version of Steve Rogers however was a fascist version that was actually a sleeper agent for Hydra. While Falcon’s faith in American Government had wavered, he return the title of Captain America to Steve Rogers(Fascist), and departed the country to help elsewhere.
Upon Falcon’s return, he learned that Steve Rogers(F) had taken up the mantle as the leader of Hydra. Falcon returned to being Captain America once again, and assisted the Avengers in rebuilding the Cosmic Cube to help Kobik, who actually had the real Steve Rogers inside her. Completing the Cube, freed Steve Rogers, and allowed him to beat the Steve Rogers(F). Understanding that Steve Rogers could do more benefit as Captain American than he could, he returned the Mantle of Steve Roger, and returned to being just the Falcon. Falcon, then working for a Veteran’s Assistance group came across Bucky Barnes, and aided him in helping find soldiers that had gone missing.
Powers
Avian Telepathy – Ability to communicate and commands birds.
Master Martial Artist – After having trained with Steve Rogers, Falcon became a proficient fighter in various fighting styles and forms.
Peak Human Condition – Including peak strength and endurance.
Master Aerialist – As a flying hero, he is an amazing fighter in the air, some would say better than Ironman or Captain Marvel.
Falcon Wings – A Set of Wakandan created Wings that give Falcon the power of flight.
Captain America Shield + Uniform – Former
MCU Version
The MCU version of Falcon Finds him as a former Rescue Paratrooper, who upon returning home find himself working the VA until he volunteers to help Steve Rogers during the events of Winter Soldier Movie. He continues as an Avenger post Age of Ultron, and is the first to be on Steve Rogers side during the events of Civil War. He is snapped out of existence at the end of Infinity War, only to return at end of Endgame.
Who is The Winter Soldier?
Comic History
First introduced in 1940 as the young sidekick of Steve Rogers as Captain America, the James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes was the Teenage hero working alongside Steve Rogers during World War II. Toward the end of the war in 1945, Captain America and Bucky were on the hunt for a bad guy, then the plane they were on was plummeting in to the Atlantic Ocean. Both men attempted to escape, but Bucky’s costume was snagged on the plan upon exiting, causing the plan to crash in to the ocean and for him to be presumed dead. Captain America attempted to save his companion, but was sent into suspended animation, being frozen in the waters of the Atlantic.
In 1946, the Soviets were attempting to find Captain America, instead found Bucky, who had survived the crash, but who had lost his left arm and put in to a similar suspended animation like this mentor. Though at the peak of human conditioning due to working and training alongside Captain America, Bucky survived and was reprogrammed by the Soviets to become their personal Assassin, the Winter Soldier.
As the Winter Soldier, he carried out the bulk of secret, and famous, Assassinations across the world for many years. His left arm replaced with a new cybernetic arm when ever advancements in technology would allow. He would at one point become the teacher and trainer for a young Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, while she training. They two developed a romantic relationship, but after a failed assassination mission, Bucky was deemed too unstable, and his mind was wiped after each mission, and placed in Suspended Animation until a mission was needed.
During an event in 2004, where the Winter Soldier was activated to steal the Red Skull’s new Cosmic Cube, he met and fought with Captain America, who later learned that the Winter Soldier had been his best friend this entire time. Using the power of the newly created Cosmic Cube, Captain America restored Bucky’s memories, but the sudden rush of emotions and remorse over the life he had led caused Bucky to destroy the newly created Cosmic Cube, transporting him elsewhere in the process.
For the next few years, Bucky began hunting his captors, eliminating them and becoming a SHIELD secret agent for Nick Fury. Following the Events of Civil War, Bucky blamed Tony Stark and Red Skull for killing Steve Rogers. Bucky would eventually confront both men, but lost to the Red Skull. And when confronting Tony Stark, Stark passed along Steve Roger’s final wish for Bucky, that he save Bucky from his decent to violence and madness. Tony Stark believing the best way to do this, was for Bucky to become the New Captain America. Bucky accepted, but wanted the mental implants removed, and that he answered to no one, not SHIELD or Tony Stark.
For the next few years, Bucky acted as Captain America, eventually winning over the Avengers and the US Government, on his way to reforming his life; he even rekindled his romance with Black Widow. Even when Steve Rogers was revived and was capable of taking back the mantle of Captain America, he continued to let Bucky carry on the title, believing that he was the better individual to carry on that legacy, and that the world didn’t need Two Captain Americas.
During the Fear Itself event, a villain powered by a similar Hammer to Thor’s beat Bucky to within an inch of his life during an attack on Washington DC, saved by a Nick Fury and his ‘Infinity Formula’. Steve Rogers took back up the mantle of Captain America after his friend seemingly thought dead, with Bucky believing it was better that he return to his Winter Soldier title instead. Winter Soldier would continue to work behind the scene of super heroics, though seemingly out of the picture for a majority of the major events.
Bucky was a part of the team that went in to a Villains prison, in order to rescue the newly created Cosmic Cube, Kobik, and was seemingly there when Steve Rogers (F), was revived. Years later, upon learning that the revived Steve Rogers was actually a Fascist version, he worked along side the Avengers to find the real Steve Rogers. After helping complete the cube, he shrunk down in size with Ant Man and rescued the real Steve Rogers from the cube.
Powers
Master Martial Artist – After having trained with Steve Rogers, Falcon became a proficient fighter in various fighting styles and forms.
Peak Human Condition – Including peak strength and endurance.
Infinity Formula – a diluted version of the Elixir of Life, it slows down the aging process and seemingly give the user peak physical conditions. However, unlike Steve Roger’s Super Soldier Serum, this Formula must be taken regularly once a year in order to stay in peak condition. Prior to receiving it, Bucky had already been at Peak Human Condition, which only added to his skills.
Cybernetic Arm – Replacing his missing left arm that was lost during World War II, his arm is improved with new technology over the years.
MCU Version
The MCU Version follows very similar to Comics, aging up Bucky to be a similar age to Steve Rogers during World War II. Bucky, unlike his Comics version, did receive an experimental version of the Super Soldier Serum, turning him into a Super Soldier in the process, though seemingly not to the point that it was noticeable by others. Rather than being lost in the Ocean similar to Steve Rogers, he was instead lost over a ravine, only to be rescued by Hydra and turned in to the Winter Soldier. Following the event of the Winter Soldier, Bucky left Hydra and began seeking out who he was, only to be blamed for an attack on Wakanda leader, King T'Chaka. During the events of Civil War, Steve Roger protected Bucky, as he realized Bucky wasn’t the enemy, only doing the bidding of programming by Hydra agents. Bucky lost his initial cybernetic arm, but was rescued by Steve Rogers, who escaped to Wakanda with the help of the Black Panther. While in Wakanda, he was deprogrammed and the mental implants were removed. During the events of Infinity War, he aided Steve Rogers and other heroes in protecting Vision while the Mind Stone was being removed, receiving a new Vibranium Arm to replace his lost cybernetic arm. He was snapped Away by Thanos, just like the Falcon, but returned during the Events of Endgame.
Cosmic Cube
Cosmic Cubes are cube objects that allow for reality manipulation, control over matter and energy, and basically answers to the sentient being owning them, often being considered omni-wish granting devices. Their creation is generally a well guarded secret and very difficult, but by opening up a portal to a universe inhabited by ‘Beyonders’, you can suck out some of the energy in that universe and contain it in a cube.
The Cosmic Cube typically get created and wielded by individuals without any spectacular super powers, like the Red Skull. They’re a common source of conflict within Captain America stories, as they’re the common focus and creation by those seeking more power. While on a similar level to Infinity Stones, they’re not nearly as powerful and omnipotent, as they can’t effect time or the soul.
In the MCU, the Tesseract was considered a Cosmic Cube, before it was determined that it was the Space Stone in hiding.
Where are we at in the Marvel Timeline?
Prior to the Events of Endgame, half of all life in the universe was snapped away, both Sam and Bucky included. While Endgame only shows a tiny bit of the life returning to normal, Bucky went on to work with the US Government as a deep cover agent, working to root out Hydra agents, and trying to make amends for the damage he did. Falcon continued working alongside the Military, continuing his work as an Avenger.
As a part of re-intergrating those lost by the Snap, and returned during the Blip, the Global Repatriation Council was created to aid those returning from the Blip. As a part of their work, they reinstated country boundaries and aimed to return those snapped away back to their old lives. However, any refugees from other countries ended up buying or moving in to new homes and places left behind by those who were Snapped away, and upon the return of original owners, many of those refugees were forcibly removed by the owner or local governments from their new homes, and placed into resettlement camps. Many in these camps resent the GRC, as they are poor infrastructure and lack of supplies necessary for those that were displaced. As of recent the GRC, in an effort to return to the world of 5 years prior to the snap, has begun implementing deportation for refugees to their original countries of origin, which has only increased anger and tensions of the Refugees.
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Ep 99: A Nerdy Move
5 Jul 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
A Nerdy Move
It’s out with the old, and in with the new place. I spent probably 2 months looking for the right place, and I found a pretty good one, and so after setting up the place, Mom and Me talk about moving and the trials and tribulations regarding it.
Before Moving:
Take pictures of your collections
If you have a display or set up you like already, taking a picture of it will ensure you can return to that display sometime in the future.Pictures can also help keep track of what things you might be missing later on.
Boxing Collectables
Bubble wrap is your friend.Try to keep stuff together of similar genre/display.If you have small parts, box them up and keep them with your other items.If you have pieces with parts that can fall off in a move, make sure package them up with all the parts taken off.Tupperware can be your friend for keeping small parts together and organized.
Boxing DVDs & Books
Consider your collection and pack according to your groupsConsider if you have duplicate or stuff you no longer enjoy that you might want to get rid ofBooks are heavy, so don’t put them into big boxes, smaller boxes are your friends on this one
Boxing Costumes/Props
If you’re costumes can fit in a Space Saver Bag, it might be an easier way to travel with yours stuff.Box your props comfortably in boxes.Weapons and sword are best left in boxes. If you have the original packaging, all the better.
Getting rid of stuff
Consider where you’re moving, and if you have stuff you no longer enjoy/use. If you have things in your closet you never use or show off, consider getting rid of them. Craig’s List, Facebook Market, and eBay can be your friends.
Consider Personal Transportation
If you’re using a moving company or traveling far, if you have things that are awkward or unusually sized, or considered too valuable, put them in your own vehicle.If you can’t afford to pack your personal vehicle, make sure each item get boxed by you to ensure its safety.
Consider Blue Painter’s Tape
Because it’s intended to be a very temporary solution to problems, I found it invaluable when wrapping stuff and keeping it organized, especially as I could write on it.
The Move:
Take careful account of your items and where you put them
If you have movers coming to get your stuff, make sure you track where stuff is being put and where stuff is at the end of the day.If you’re doing your own move, make sure you label stuff well.Nothing sucks more than missing a vital part of your home and then not finding it for a few days.
If you are moving close
If you’re move is close, and you have the ability to move some stuff over early, DO IT. This can be very valuable for props and other collectables that you want to keep from getting damaged in a move.
Plan for where you are moving to
If you’re moving closer to the ocean or more inland, consider the climate you’re moving to and how it might affect your collectables. Some things may not react will to be chilled in the winter, or baked in the summer.If it’s a long move, presume you won’t have access to your stuff for a while. Pack spare clothes, expect most of your entertainment to come from podcasts or other media.
Unboxing:
Get stuff in place
Decide where furniture is going to go first. Once you start putting stuff on bookshelves or desks, those items aren’t moving any time soon.Make sure you know what each box contains so you can decide where you want to start first.
Have a spare table/work space
As you’re unboxing, you may need to rest stuff on to other places temporarily.Get a folding table, or some temporary table to prop stuff on to, so you can organize it before you put it up.
Have a System for Boxes/waste
Having a system for all your boxes and where you’ll put them/collapse them is importantHaving set locations for where garbage and stuffKnow where your garbage bins are.Cut handles in to your boxes, it will honestly help a bunch
My Hardware store runs:
PVC piping to hang the puppets‘S’ hooks to hang bags/backpacksNew Shower HeadFloating ShelfPicture hanging hooksCleaning Supplies
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Ep 98:Godzilla vs Kong
11 Jun 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Godzilla vs. Kong Review
This week, we return once again to review the colossal thrown down, the greatest ironman match, the titan clashing against each other, the… greatest fight ever? Godzilla vs Kong was a fun romp, not as good as Kong on Skull Island, but I think it’s still a great movie none the less. Come find out what we thought!
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Ep 97: King Kong Tutorial
26 May 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: King Kong
The move is over, and we’re back with new episodes. And we pick ourselves back up with one of our more recent topic, on our way to their epic faceoff, we’re studying King Kong, The Eighth Wonder of the World. Unlike his nemesis, Godzilla, King Kong has a far smaller collection of movies by comparison, but his impact on American pop culture and history and certainly been around in America just as long as his Japanese Counter Part. And as we await their epic battle, we learn a bit about the massive ape, and study his movies to see what we can gleam off the future encounter.
Creation
Created by Merian C. Cooper for his title movie, King Kong (1933), young Cooper was fascinated with primates. Upon growing older, he eventually started working in the motion picture industry and after production finished on The Four Feathers(1929), he started thinking his next picture would be something to do with Primates.
A year later, he found himself at RKO, a major movie studio, and Cooper began development on what would be King Kong, deciding that his primate would be giant sized. He had actually decided the ending of the film first, liking the idea of his giant primate fighting war planes atop of the New York Insurance Building. Famously, Cooper liked the idea of pitting a giant primate against a dinosaur, but decided to focus on one main character instead.
The name for King Kong took some development however. Cooper originally like names that started with a K, but found himself having a difficult time coming something that sounded mysterious and catchy. In original scripts, the title monster was only referred to as ‘The Beast’, but the studio did not like the generic name. Eventually, after notes from the studio, Cooper landed on the name ‘Kong’, but in worried it would sound like a docudrama instead, like other one word films at the time. He added ‘King’ to differentiate it, thus became King Kong.
Fictional History
King Kong is a massive Monster Primate, who originates from ‘Skull Island’, a mysterious island that King Kong lives with other prehistoric mammals and creatures. The island is thus named due to the skull shaped mountain that lies at the center of the island. The island is also home to the ancestors of a once highly civilized nation that previously built a wall to keep in the monsters on the island. Though the name was never used in the original 1933 film, the name was featured in the novelization that came out two months prior to the movie, and has since stuck.
Though described as prehistoric Ape, King Kong has a number of human like qualities, notably, his ability to walk upright in an anthropomorphic manner. He is described as being upwards of 40-50 feet tall, he was later rescaled to be 18-25 feet tall in the original 1933 film. In most initial western versions, King Kong is roughly 25 feet tall, however in later Japanese versions, he was scaled in size to be similar to Godzilla. Most recently, in the 2017 film, he was 104 feet tall, and finally 337 feet tall to fight against Godzilla in 2021.
In most early versions of the character, King Kong is a villain, however, in more recent films, he’s given a sympathetic story, and is even the hero in some of these movies.
History
While a major film icon in the west, the character’s intellectual property owners have been split between various parties through history, making the character a difficult character to track. Initially, the rights were thought to belong with Cooper, but in 1962, when the character was licensed to Toho to make King Kong vs Godzilla (1962), Cooper sued RKO. Even though there was quite a number of evidence in Cooper’s favor, some key documents were lost between his time in the military and his return home, which the courts found that RKO owned the character.
Eventually, concern over the rights would come up again in 1975 when Universal Studios were trying to make a King Kong Film. Eventually Universal Studios went to court, arguing that the King Kong novelization and serialization were now in the public domain, but that Universal couldn’t infringe on the original 1933 film. A later ruling affirmed that the Cooper estate has owned the rights to King Kong’s name, story, and character, which were later sold to universal in 1976.
The character himself has appeared in less than a dozen films over the last 88 years.
King Kong & Son Of Kong (1933)
The initial films released by RKO, with the success of the initial King Kong movie, a subsequent film was released later in the year.
King Kong vs Godzilla (1962)
After the success of Godzilla in Japan, they looked to make further movies in the franchise. This moving being the 3rd movie in the Godzilla franchise, it was also the first time either character was portrayed in a color film, showing what they would look like in color. This King Kong was different from its original western counter part, which included:
Coming from Faro island instead of Skull IslandBeing able to absorb electricityBeing same relative size as Godzilla, (100 feet)
The film is famous for having to two creatures attacking different parts of Japan, before getting together on the summit of Mount Fuji and fighting each other. In the end, both tumble in to the ocean, with only King Kong rising up from the depths and swimming back to Faro Island.
King Kong Escapes (1967)
In another first, predating Mecha-Godzilla, this 1967 film offered a Mecha-King Kong, a similar mechanical version of the title character. The film sees a mechanical King Kong digging for a mysterious element, but the robot goes haywire, which results in our heroes capturing King Kong and taking him to Mecha-King Kong to finish each other off. They eventually can’t do it, and instead somehow get to Tokyo from the North Pole, and recreate the famous ending of the 1933 film, this time using the Tokyo Tower instead. After defeating Mecha-King Kong, King Kong swims back to his island, never to be heard again. This is also the version time King Kong seems to have a handler so sorts, as there is a woman who has the ability to control King Kong.
King Kong (1976)
A modern remake of the original 1933 film. This film was what started the law suits with Universal Pictures, as Paramount Pictures and Dino De Laurentiis were attempting to remake the original film, and bought the rights from RKO-General. The film is a largely faithful remake, but take places in 1976 instead of the original 1933 time frame.
King Kong Lives (1986)
A sequel to the 1976 film, King Kong had been alive the entire time, but is currently dying. In order to save him, they need to transfuse blood from a similar creature, which is where introduce a ‘Lady Kong’, and another similarly sized King Kong primate who helps save King Kong. The film sees King Kong die after the events to save Lady Kong, but Lady Kong gives birth to their son, and returns to Borneo to live peacefully with their son.
King Kong (2005)
This is the Peter Jackson film that took 3 hour to watch. A retelling of the 1933 film from a 1933 perspective, it focuses on a film maker, who hires a crew to get footage of the amazing creature, before bringing it back to New York. The film was well received and earned top marks for its special effects and acting. It was also the first live action film in nearly 20 years.
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
As a part of Legendary’s MonsterVerse, which focuses on King Kong and Godzilla movies created in the west. The movie take places in the same world as Legendary’s other 2014 and 2019 Godzilla movies. The film follows Monarch, as it searches to map out the various ‘Titan’ monsters around the world. The Film does a good job of introducing other monsters and setting up the world, and stars Tom Hiddleston and Samuel L. Jackson. The movie also teases Godzilla vs King Ghidorah, which was the next major movie to come out.
Godzilla vs Kong (2021)
The newest feature, which is a sequel to the 2017 film and 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters.
King Kong in Pop Culture
There have been multiple illusions to King Kong in various media over the last 88 years, ranging from parodies and humorous references, to near duplication. Famously, scenes have been reference and re-used in various cartoons, such as the Simpsons, Futurama, The Muppets, and more. Other movies have references scenes from King Kong as well, including the Nutty Professor, Lego Batman: The Movie, and even Jurassic Park’s dinosaurs were based off the films.
Donkey Kong Franchise
The 1981 Nintendo franchise about hero trying to save his girl friend from the title character. The fact that you travel up buildings that and face off against a large ape were clear illusions, as Nintendo wanted to make a King Kong game. The character himself would continue on as something much different as the 90s moved on, moving in to a hero role, and being re-imagined as a primate family that fought to save their island. He was named Donkey Kong, to mean ‘Stubborn Gorilla’.
Rampage Franchise
An 1986 arcade classic sees three Kaiju sized monsters destroying a city. These monsters include a Godzilla/Ymir analog in Lizzie, a giant werewolf in Ralph, and a King Kong like gorilla names George. The series has several remakes over the years, usually coinciding with new video game hardware and platforms at they came out. It was adapted in to a film in 2018, which include the Rock leads a rare Albino-Western-Lowland Gorilla that knows sign language, and eventually grows to city-toppling proportions.
Homework:
Kong: Skull Island (2017): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OULoar_y7H4
Godzilla vs Kong (2021): Available on HBO Max and in Theaters
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Ep 96: The Future that Never Happened
8 May 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Movies and Franchises about the Future
This week, we’re looking at a collection of media about the future that either has yet to happen or never happened in our lifetimes. In a lot of this, we really talked about what we all thought the future would be, and how quickly we thought it would happen. Would you agree that the progress of the future is slowing down, or would you say we were just too unrealistic with the future?
Futures that Should have Happened:
Star Trek
Tells of a war between 1992 to 1996 about the Eugenic War; a war where genetically altered humans attempted to take over humanity, causing nearly 37 Millions deaths. This is the same Eugenics Wars as Kahn Noonien Singh. 2053 - World War 3 ends after a nuclear exchange2063 - We develop the First Major warp ship, which gets the attentions of the Vulcans and begins the early foundations of the federation and exploration.2103 - Mars is colonized.
Thundarr the Barbarian
1994 – Premise tells of a runaway planet that drifts between the Earth and Moon, unleashing cosmic destruction and radically changing the Earth’s climate and geography
A Clockwork Orange
1995 – A future Britain is laden in crime, and a new technique that reforms prisoners with aversion therapy.
V for Vendetta
1995 - 1996 – In the Comic Version: Series of events highlight how a nuclear war year in the 1980 that leaves much of Africa and Europe devastated. While Britain is not bombed itself, it feels the effects and the corporations and fascist groups take over the country, leading to the series of events.2025 – 2026 – In the Film Version: As a result of the United State’s Second Civil War, a worldwide disease began to spread. Britain is taken over by a neo-fascist, police state government which rounds up undesirable individuals, including political opponents, immigrants, Jews, Muslims, atheists, homosexuals, and others to be imprisoned and executed.
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1997 – Tells that an AI will take over all computers and cause a war, leading to the near end of humanity.
Escape from New York
1997 – Humanity’s crime rose by 400% in 1988, and forced Manhattan island to be turned into a massive
Lost in Space
1997 - Jupiter 2 was said to launch due to overpopulation of the world.
Demolition man
1996 – Cryogenic freezing of Criminals is established2010 – A great Earthquake merged parts of Northern and Southern California2032 - San Angeles, a merging of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara is a major megalopolis, and a utopia for the setting.
Knight Rider 2000
2000 – Predicts a future with Sonic Pistols, and talking Cars
2001: A Space Odyssey
2000 – Space travel itself is common place, with advanced AIs that help manage all the functions of these ships and people.
Mega Man Franchise
200X to 20XX – Stories tell of a Robotic evolution and development that replaces a lot of common jobs and functions with robots, leading to a peaceful future. Mega Man battles with Dr Wily and his rogue Robots, which are often reprogrammed from their original function order and turned to terrorism.21XX – Later version of the game sees X, the successor to Mega Man, being used to create the first series of Reploids(Replicated Androids) that have human feelings and personalities. X fights against Mavericks Reploids, Reploids who have turned to crime or been infected with a virus, in order to protect humanity.
Time Cop
2004 – Time Travel exists as a means of stopping Crime.
Transformers: The Movie
2005 – The Autobots, giant transforming robots that turn into various vehicles and devices, have helped advanced human’s technology to the point of being similar to the Autobots.
Bicentennial Man
2005-2020 – Androids have become sophisticated butlers and house hold tools.
Freejack
2009 – The super wealthy have figured out immortality, by traveling back in time to just before a person dies and using their bodies as substitutes. This is due to most of the population being on drugs and poor environment.
I Am Legend
2009 – 2012 - The film predicted an outbreak of a re-engineered measles virus in 2009 that kills 94% of the populace and mutates 5% into zombie-like "Darkseekers"
2012
2012 – Predicts that a solar flares from the sun will cause rising sea levels and rampant tsunami around the world, leading to various governments building Arks to protect up to 100,000 of humanity.
The Postman
2013 – Tells of a future after an unspecified apocalyptic events in 1997 that started a trend of militias leading hate crimes and other racially motivated attacks.2043 – Due to the actions of the postman and the movement he started, the United States is rebuilt and much better afterwards
Back to the Future 2
2015 – Film travels to the future, where Marty must stop his son from ruining his life. It predicts lots of various technology, most notably, Flying Cars.
Neon Genesis Evangelion
2000 – A worldwide event known as ‘Second Impact’ sees a meteor crash into Antarctica and devastates the populous, killing 2 billion people and raising the sea level2015 – Majority of the story takes place, telling of a futuristic city of Tokyo 3 which has 26 story tall robots called Evangelions that protect humanity from the alien Angels sent to wipe out humanity.
Rollerball
2018 – In a future where corporations have taken over the government, a new sport, Rollerball is now the most popular Sport, with people being forced to watch it at home.
Blade Runner
2019 – Interstellar travel has been developed and becoming common place, with synthetic humans employed as labor.
The Running Man
2017 - The United States has become a totalitarian police state following a worldwide economic collapse. The government pacifies the populace through The Running Man, a broadcast game show, where criminals fight for their lives as "runners", fleeing from armed mercenaries named the "stalkers", to earn a state pardon.
Akira
1982 (1992 in English Adaptation) – Sees Tokyo destroyed by a nuclear bomb, starting World War 32019 (2030 in English Adaptation) – Tokyo is rebuilt as Neo-Tokyo on the artificial island in Tokyo Bay. Although the home of the 32nd Olympic games, the city is gripped with Anti-Government protestors and gang violence.
Pacific Rim
2013 – Kaiju monsters start appearing from the ocean and destroying humanity.2020 – Humanity has developed giant Robots piloted by 2 individuals in order to combat the Kaiju.
Edge of Tomorrow
2015 – An asteroid falls in Germany, carrying aliens that quickly take over Europe.2020 – A small victory gives humanity hope an invasion of France is planned to retake the earth. It’s discovered that the aliens use a system similar to ‘Goundhogs Day’ to return their memories to their past selves and alter events so that they go in their favor.
Johnny Mnemonic
2021 - "Mnemonic couriers" carry sensitive information in their brains; the world is dominated by megacorporations.
Futures potentially to be
Soylent Green
2022 - The effects of overpopulation, pollution, and climate catastrophe have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing. Soylent Industries controls the world's food supply, with their latest product, Soylent Green being various health and full of protein.
Repo Men
2025 – Advancements in prosthetics develop bio-organs, allowing the replacement of various internal organs. They are sold by ‘The Union’, a corporation that sends out ‘Repo Men’ to repossess these bio-organs from people who are unable or unwilling to pay for them.
Children of Men
2027 – Humanity hasn’t had any children in 18 years, leading to various wars and global depression, which puts humanity on the brink of extinction. This has led Britain, one of the few remaining governments to become a police state, but also a haven for refugees.
Hotel Artemis
2028 – Water Privatization causes riots in Los Angeles, which leads to bank robbers getting injured and running to Hotel Artemis, a hospital/hotel for criminals. There are robots doing surgery and also 3d printed transplant organs.
Ghost in the Shell
2029 – By this time, cyberization is common place, and humans have their brains protected with ‘Cyber Brains’ which allow interfacing with electronics and other tools. There are fully cyberized people who are entirely artificial, save for their brains incased in ‘Cyber Brains’.
I, Robot
2035 – Humanity has developed humanoid robots within the last 10 years that have taken over various jobs throughout the world. The newest model and AI to run it run rampant as a result of the AI believing it is in the best interest of Humanity if robots ruled over humans in order to keep them from killing themselves.
The Martian
2035 – Manned missions to Mars is in their 3rd wave, with humans living on Mars for roughly 36 days at a time, exploring and beginning the work of future colonization. Mark Watney is left behind after an emergency exit from the planet following a storm, and is forced to live on Mars for over a year on his own.
Moon
2035 – The moon is being mined for a rare mineral that is needed for new super conductor electronics on Earth. It’s ran by a singular clone and an advanced AI.
Meet the Robinsons
2037 – Major advancements in technology allow nearly anything to be real. This includes flying vehicles, talking frogs, advances robotics and AI, and so much more.
Ready Player One
2045 – The world is plagued by an energy crisis and global warming, leading to economic collapse and widespread social problems. The only release/haven for escapism is the OASIS, a MMORPG/Social Community online that actually have the most stable economy in the world at the moment.
Event Horizon
2047 – Space travel is normalized and not unusual, with the main Ship, the Event Horizon, testing a radical new engine designed to travel through time-space rifts, and it brings back something it didn’t intend on bringing back.
Minority Report
2054 – Pre-cognition humans exist and are used to tell the events of future murders, which allows Pre-cog Police to arrest people before murders can take place.
Interstellar
2063 – Humanity’s crops and food supply is devastated, with people growing corn and major dust bowls coming to cause havoc on a daily basis. Children are taught that space travel doesn’t even exist, in an effort to focus on survival instead of exploration. Humanity/NASA sends one last manned mission in space to find a suitable new home for humans.
Oblivion
2077 – Humanity was invaded by Aliens 60 years ago, and as a result of the human using nuclear weapons to defeat the aliens, the few humans living on Earth are there maintaining drones that harvest the sea water for fuel sources. Remaining humans now live on other planet, with the fuel being used to power their ships.
Total Recall
2084 – Mars has been colonized and humans have the ability to take vacations via implanted memories of having adventures/vacations via a place called ‘ReKall’.
The Jetsons
2100s – A future where flying cars, apartments/homes in the sky exist, and humanity lives in almost pure luxury in the sky.
AI
2101 – Advanced robotics and AI end up creating androids that feel and fall in love. One such example is an android child, that can replace a child in the home, giving the experiences of being a parent. It can actually Fall in Love with a person, or atleast simulate it.
WALL-E
2105 - Humanity was devastated by over population/consumption, with too much trash. This forced humans to leave the planet on cruise, vessels, while robots were meant to clean up the planet afterwards. Humans never returned as the company ‘Buy n’ Large’ terminated the program to clean Earth as it felt it couldn’t sustain any life on the planet.2805 – Humanity begins its return to Earth as life is discovered back on Earth, hoping to make it hospitable again.
Alien
2122 - Space transportation is typical and the crew of the Nostromo discover a distress beacon that leads to a horrifying end.
The Black hole
2130 – Space travel is typical, with a crew returning to Earth, only to find a lone ship near a Black Hole, who is somehow immune to its gravitational constant.
Judge Dredd
2139 – Humanity has been forced in to Mega-Cities as much of the world has become a wasteland. Humanity lives in these cities and are protected by the ‘Judges’, who act as both Police, Judges, Juries, and Executioners of the law.
The Matrix
2199 – Humanity created robots, and the robots, being advanced AI, develop sentience causing a revolt with humans. Because the robots are powered by solar energy, Humans blot out the sun with dangerous black clouds. The robots, eventually enslave humanity, forcing them to be born like crops and using them as batteries for their own powers, all while humanity is tucked away in a virtual landscape known as the Matrix.
Fifth Element
2263 – In a future with interstellar travel is typical, humanity had degraded to large high rise cities, with flying cars, and even genetic recreation of humans in a matter of minutes, potentially bring people back from the dead or from serious wounds.
Zardoz
2293 - Following a nanite plague that left most of the world uninhabitable, the human population is divided into the immortal "Eternals" and mortal "Brutals." The Brutals live in an irradiated wasteland, growing food for the Eternals, who live apart in "the Vortex," leading a luxurious but aimless existence on the grounds of a country estate. The connection between the two groups is through Brutal Exterminators, who kill and terrorize other "Brutals" at the orders of a huge flying stone head called Zardoz, which supplies them with weapons in exchange for the food they collect.
Logan’s Run
2274 - The remnants of human civilization live in geodesic domes, a utopia run by a computer that takes care of all aspects of life, including reproduction. The citizens live a hedonistic lifestyle but, to prevent overpopulation, everyone must undergo the rite of "Carrousel" when they reach the age of 30. There, they are killed under the guise of being "renewed”. To track this, each person is implanted at birth with a "life-clock" crystal in the palm of the hand that changes color as they get older and begins blinking as they approach their "Last Day.” Most residents accept this chance for rebirth, but those who do not and attempt to flee the city are known as "Runners”. An elite team of policemen known as "Sandmen”, outfitted in predominantly black uniforms and serving in an agency of the city called "Deep Sleep”, are assigned to pursue and terminate Runners as they try to escape.
Starship Troopers
23 Century – Humanity has colonized various planets in the solar system, and developed interstellar travel. However, they meet a race of non-technological aliens, later called the Arachnids, or ‘Bugs’, which humanity presumably provokes and causes an all out interstellar war. The Bugs are led by super intelligent bugs that eat human brains to gain further intelligence.
Idiocracy
2505 – Over the course of many years, intelligent people chose not to have children, worrying about over population, while less intelligent people continue to reproduce indiscriminately, leading to a dumber and dumber society that over relied on corporations and automation. As a result, laws and rules in place have no human oversight, and most humans are blindly ignorant of how the world actual works, with most automation being place to basically keep humans alive.
Planet of the Apes
2015 – A drug that repairs and enhances neural links in the brain is tested on chimps, with one young chimp Ceasar developing with humans and gaining insights and human knowledge. The development leads to a new drug that makes Chimps and other primates smarter, but causes a world wide pandemic. 2025 – Only 1 in 500 are immune to the pandemic, but in San Francisco, the Chimps lead by Ceasar rule over the forests and cities, with humans trying to reestablish their civilization has it’s been taken over by intelligent primates.3978 – Human astronauts from 1972 find themselves warped to the future and discover that Primates have evolved similar to humans, and now rule over the planet.
Movies with no Set Times
Mad Max
Gattaca
Eugenics is common and widely used, with those human not genetically altered limited from certain careers and opportunities, acting as second class citizens, forcing them to menial labor. Biometrics can quickly determine if someone has been genetically altered and what qualities of the alterations they have.
Mortal Engines
Following a war using an impossible destructive weapon, mobile cities have been developed that travel across the world, eating up other cities that help fuel their existence and survival, with technology of the past being relegated to history.
Source/reference assistance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_stories_set_in_a_future_now_past
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Ep 95: Robot Review
23 Apr 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Robots Review
So Mom and me are back talking about robots, and all the strange tangents we can come up with. Admittingly, this is more of rant podcast as we take LOTs of tangents in this episode, so while not entirely robot driven, it certainly was a fun diversion in to some other topics.
Big Hero 6 (2014)
Scott Adsit - Baymax
Ryan Potter - Hiro
Daniel Henney - Tadashi
T.J. Miller - Fred
Jamie Chung - Go Go
Damon Wayans Jr. - Wasabi
Genesis Rodriguez - Honey Lemon
James Cromwell - Robert Callaghan
Bicentennial Man (1999)
Robin Williams - Andrew
Embeth Davidtz - Little Miss / Portia
Sam Neill - Sir
Oliver Platt - Rupert Burns
Kiersten Warren - Galatea
Wendy Crewson - Ma'am
Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
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Ep 94: Robot Tutorial
11 Apr 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Robots
We Love them, Crave them, and occasionally, Fear them. The week, we dive in to the topic of Robots, both what they mean to us in Fiction, but also in real life, and perhaps where does the fact and fiction blend together or doesn’t? Robots are really cool though.
How Define a Robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer— capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. Typically, Robots can appear human in nature, but come in many shapes and forms. We almost always see them as tools, rarely as individuals and almost never as people. In our real world, they’re basically machines that do specialized mechanical tasks, as opposed to calculations or executables like a computer; but we expect these machines to be piloted by a computer, or atleast act based off one, but can also be piloted/controlled by humans directly.
Robots in Real Life
In our modern world, we adore and want Robots. The ideal for modern society is to have Robots do all the hard and difficult physical tasks for us, while we do either less, or nothing at all. It’s a dream world, as I’m certain we’ll still very much be a part of interacting and being a part of the world, but it will take some time to get even close to it.
As it is now, our common modern days Robots can be found in a number of places:
Our Home – Rombas and other vacuum robots
Hospitals – there are some robotic surgery machines
Food Service – There are some robots that actually make your good, while others clean dishes
Farming – There are some robots and automation in the Farming Sector
Warehouse and Factories – For years, we’ve been simplify tasks for robots to do for us that would otherwise be too dangerous, to difficult, or too slow for a human to do. But in a number of our warehouses, it’s robots that managing the inventory, stacking and putting it away as necessary.
Military – Various Drones and bomb disposal robots exist to aid the military and keep humans out of harm’s way.
Uncanny Valley
The Idea of the Uncanny Valley is this notion that as things, particularly robots, are particularly less human, we tend to like them a lot more, but as time goes on, and the Robots become more human in quality and nature, we tend to like them a lot less, to the point of down right hating them. But as time continues, and robots get more sophisticated and advanced, our like for them begins to rise once again. The low point, when humans actually start dislike and are disgusted by the robot is like a valley, and thus where the term comes from.
The notion as to why we like them when they aren’t that human, is that their human like qualities stand out much easier, and we tend to imprint ourselves on to the robots, allowing us to empathize with them. It’s why R2D2 is one of the most popular Robots in fiction, despite having very little human characteristics in form and shape. This is why Robots tend to look simple in nature in cartoons, and early robots aren’t too human on any particular level.
Conversely, when we try to make human like robots, we tend to dislike them, and are even hateful of them. The reason for this is that when we get to more human looking robots, as humans, we’re able to see the difference and able to notice when something isn’t quite right. It could be the way they move, the texture of their skin, their little gestures, and potentially even their eyes. It looks off and we can’t put our finger on it. When it’s less human looking, we’re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, even see its positives more than its negatives. Its why I think some models and actors look too good, and it’s off setting to me, like they look too good.
Eventually, as the robots get more life-like and sophisticated, the elements that once made us hate the robots begins to disappear, as the boundary begin to disappear and the human qualities are like our own.
This Uncanny Valley is also seen in a lot of early Computer Generated Graphics and Video Games, as the graphics attempted to catch up with technology, they got to a period where they didn’t look quite right, and even when they look good, they still don’t feel right, and don’t quite look like they belong. Compositing, along with the artists making said graphics, have gotten a lot better over time, so that in some cases, it’s hard to tell what’s read and what’s not.
Robots in Fiction
Robots in fiction come in lot of different stories, but typically always come in one of a few flavors. They’re almost always in Science Fiction, though they can appear in other fantasy settings, though usually portrayed as a Golem or some sort of fictional machine. Typically, Robots get broken down in story to a hand full of different stories, usually based on how human to how robotic they are:
Robots, but fundamentally human – These are robots that can have an advanced AI that lets them think and feel, even learn and come to love/empathize. They have almost all the characteristics of a human, save that they are a robot at the end of the day. Top Tier AIs – These are robots that have super sophisticated AI, but aren’t exactly human, or still have cold/logical thinking. They’re often portrayed as not being human, and thus are subservient to humans, rarely showing true emotion, or emotions they shouldn’t have been able to develop. A mix of Human and Machine – they are robots that can display some human qualities, but are typically only mimicking the natures of Humans for the sake of humans. They still think cold and logically, but can process the world around them to some extent. They tend to lack more human qualities, save for what the writer wants to imbue the character with. Total Robot – Pure robots at the end of the day, without an ounce of humanity built in to them. These robots tend to be villains, like Hal9000 from a Space Odyssey . While not always evil, they are typically the antagonist.
Famous Robots:
R2D2 (Star Wars)Bender (Futurama)Bishop (Aliens)Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)The Terminator (Terminator)HAL 9000 (2001 A Space Odyssey)Optimus Prime (Transformers)B-9 (Lost in Space)Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet)Rosie (The Jetsons)Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)WALL-E (WALL-E)Sonny (I, Robot)Vision (Marvel Comics)Baymax (Big Hero 6)Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Pitfalls and Triumphs of Robots
Robot AI vs Sentience – At what point are Robots truly sentient beings, and at what point are they robots? It’s a question that gets asked a lot of Robots. Most popularly in Ghost in the Shell, an anime franchise that asks if you’re a fully cyber person, are you actually a human, or were you ever actually a human to begin with? Robot Racism – Typically, there is a disgust for Robots, not being seen as humans and merely as tools, but because of their human qualities and potential characteristics, they can be conflated for actual humans, and thus you get to an issue of ‘Coding’. Coding is the notion that you’ll graft on qualities of humans or society on to something else, whether intentional or not. Thus you can look at something and see that it’s coding for something else, because it helps either ground your world or paints a picture for you quickly. In the case of robots, Robots aren’t human, as where humans are, so when people are racists against robots, it’s because they’re lacking certain human characteristics, which tells us that the writer or directors believe that these are qualities that make up what humans are. Thus when you look for allegories in modern society, you can code that behavior, or lack of it, on to another person/race/people.
Homework:
Big Hero 6
Bicentennial Man
Lego Robot
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08BXHZCBW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Ep 93: WandaVision Review
2 Apr 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Wanda Vision review
So, there’s this show about a magical woman and he robot husband… and it take place in 1950s… no wait 1960s…. or was it the 90s? This was a very strange series to watch, but one that was very much a desired fleshing out for the Scarlet Witch, and also for Vision. And we both has a blast watching it.
Spoilers – This show will spoil elements and Episodes of Wanda Vision, so you have been warned.
Wanda Maximoff – Elizabeth Olsen
An avenger who was previously altered by the Mind Stone, increasing her latent magical powers. Officially now known as the Scarlet Witch, a moniker for the type of witch that can use chaos magic. Wanda is initially not entirely aware that she created this reality, but has slowly figured out that she has. She depart at the end of the series, but it rumored to return during Dr. Strange’s next movie, possibly as a villain. It is revealed that the reason her altered reality mimics sitcoms is because she loved them as a child, watching them with her family. The character’s growth however has been mostly resolved around her repeated losses of a family, either her parents, Pietro, Vision, and now her altered reality family.
Vision – Paul Bettany
An android and former Avenger. He is fact not the actual Vision, but a creation of Wanda’s magic within her reality. A later nod to the white Vision, or ‘The Vision’, later appears and they duke it out, but in the aftermath, the second vision disappears and is unknown where he is. Paul Bettany sited his performance was based off Dick Van Dyke and Hugh Laurie.
Billy and Tommy Maximoff – Julian hilliard & Jett Klyne
Manifestations of Wanda’s imagination and powers within the ‘Hex’. They twins are similar representations as first seen in the comic when they were made up of both Wanda’s magic and the Marvel Satan/Devil: Mephisto. Similar to their comic origins, both boys have the powers of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, mimicking their comic book origins. In the comics, both boys come back at Wiccan and Speed, whose souls are the same Billy and Tommy, and though not brothers, share a familiar bond. Both children’s soul may continue to exist in some form, something which may motivate Wanda in the future.
Monica Rambeau – Teyonah Parris
Character was last seen in Captain Marvel, as the daughter of Captain Marvel’s best friend. As a cause of going through the ‘Hex’ barrier, she has absorbed some level of powers, which gives her super powers. Which ones are unknown, though in the comics, she has the ability to change in to energy of any kind, which grants her some abilities, but which is unknown and haven’t been properly explored. The character will return in Captain Marvel 2.
Jimmy Woo - Randall Park
An FBI agent who happens to be the first to report to the ‘Hex’. He was last seen in Ant Man and the Wasp (Ant Man 2), previously as Scott Lang’s parole officer. One joke returning his time during Ant Man is the card trick he first displays for Monica Rambeau when they first meet.
Darcy Lewis – Kat Dennings
An astrophysicist previously seen in both Thor and Thor 2, originally an intern following around Jane Foster for student credits. She has since upgraded to a full on Astrophysicist in the many years and is now a full time scientist with her own qualifications. She is the first to discover the TV show hidden in the background radiation.
Ralph Bohner/Pietro Maximoff – Evan Peters
Initially appearing as the twin brother to Wanda, Evan Peters was the X-men version of Quicksilver, who was cast and portrayed as Peter Maximoff/Quicksilver in X-men: Days of Future Past. It’s interesting for him to be cast as this version’s Pietro, as a wink-and-nod to how sitcoms would recast character without any storyline reason for them changing all the sudden. It is eventually revealed that he was given his powers by Agatha Harkness and mind controlled in believing he was Wanda’s brother.
Agnes/Agatha Harkness – Kathryn Hahn
Originally portraying captured resident Agnes, the nosy neighbor, she is eventually revealed ot be Agatha Harkness, another witch with similar powers to Wanda, but with the ability to absorb magical powers from other witches. Though different from the comics, as Agatha Harkness is a much older witch in the series, she retains some of the mentor like qualities from her original comic version. She is the one who informs Wanda of who she is and what kind of powers she really has, as well as giving her early lessons on magic of Witches.
Illusions to TV Sitcoms
Episode 1 – Dick Van Dyke Show and other ‘American Dream’ style Sitcoms of the 1950s
Episode 2 – Bewitched and other fantasy-sitcoms of the 1960s
Episode 4 – The Brady Bunch and other American Family Sitcoms of the 1970s
Episode 5 – Family Ties & Growing Pains, and other American Family sitcoms of the 1980s.
Episode 6 – Malcom in the Middle and other sitcoms of the later 90s and early 2000s.
Episode 7 – Modern Family & the Office, and other sitcoms of the 2000s and 2010s.
S.W.O.R.D. (Sentient Weapon Observation and Response Division)
A new organization that has replaced S.H.I.E.L.D. as an American peace keeping force meant to deal with superheroes and such. While S.H.I.E.L.D. does continue to exist, it is considered under the radar and not officially funded by the United States. S.W.O.R.D. was originally build with the intent of combating and researching extraterrestrial operations and activity, mainly anything happening outside of the Earth Sphere. In the comics, the organization is an Arm of S.H.I.E.L.D, with its purpose being very similar.
Infinity Stones continuing role
While they may have been destroyed, the Infinity Stones continue to play a role the story, speaking to the various strangeness of character. It’s theorized that the individual stones don’t actually give the powers their most known for to people in which it imbues powers to. IE:
Wanda’s powers mimic/mirror the Reality Stone more so than Mind Stone, even in the visual language as her powers are red, not yellow.QuickSilver’s power mimic the Space Stone more than the Mind Stone, even in the visual language as being Blue in color.Weapons created by Hydra using the Space Stone mimic the Power Stone at the end of the day.Same for Captain Marvel, whose powers seem to mimic the Power Stone more so than the Space Stone.
Theory holds that more powered Super Heroes, rather than through technology or science, will be powered due to radiation given off by those who were previously enhanced by the Infinity Stones. This includes potentially the Fantastic Four.
Trivia
Each Episode reportedly cost around $25 Million dollars, making it the most expensive tv series per episode.Wanda’s voice saying “Previously on WandaVision” get progressively less cheerful as episodes progress.Each of the first 7 episodes are roughly 20-30 minutes long, mirroring classic sitcom episode lengths, with the 8th and 9th episodes being around 40 minutes long.
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Ep 92: WandaVision Tutorial
20 Mar 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: WandaVision Tutorial
With the much anticipated return of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the next major collection of material for the universe is scheduled to be TV shows, primarily featuring the other Avengers, and not the main set. And having missed out on Black Widow, which has been very patiently waiting since the summer of 2020, the first new installment in the Phase 4 is a TV series about Wanda and Vision. So lets get mom up to speed.
Where did we leave off?
Last major production was Spiderman Far From Home, set a few weeks in theory after the end of Avengers: Endgame. At the end of Endgame, everyone originally blinked out of existence by Thanos, known as the ‘Blip’ or the ‘Snap’, returns and the world is going through the process of healing and getting back to normal as nearly half the population returns from a five year absence.
In the case of Wanda, she had only recently returned from being blinked out of existence, fighting with Thanos and memorializing Tony Stark after his death. Her exact whereabouts after the events of End Game are a mystery.
In the case of Vision, Vision is considered dead at the end of Avengers: Infinity Wars, having first been up in the devastation left behind when Wanda Destroyed the Mind Stone, only for Thanos to reverse time, bring vision back, and kill him a second time in front of Wanda when he ripping the Mind Stone out of his head. Its presumed that his pieces were picked up in Wakanda and transported to the Avenger’s facilities for safe keeping.
Mutants in MCU
To really walk about Wanda is also to talk about Mutants and the X-men in the MCU. During the late 90s, Marvel was actually in a fairly bad position, having filed for Bankruptcy protection in 1997. It was during this time, that marvel began selling the rights for their character to other movie studios, in an effort to infuse cash in to their holdings. This led to movies such as Blade (1998), X-men (2000), Spiderman (2002), and The Hulk (2003). As a part of the deal, X-men franchise’s TV and Film rights were sold to FOX, but not just the X-men, but the concept of Mutants as well. This meant that any character that was a Mutant was considered fair game for FOX to make movies out of.
Enter 2006, and Marvel Studios begins preproduction on Ironman (2008), their first solo Superhero flim, and the kick off what we know today as the MCU. During the this time, X-men movies were still coming out, but the juggernaut of what Ironman started in 2008 couldn’t be fully realized. Numerous film rights began returning to Marvel, however, mutants were not among them. By 2015, Avengers Age of Ultron (2015), there was an agreement that both Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch were shared characters with Fox and could be in the MCU, denoting that they weren’t mutants, but were instead, individuals whose powers were given by the Mind Stone.
By 2009, Disney had purchased Marvel outright, the Film/Television side was put under different management from the Comic Book/Print side. For the next few years, the Comic Book side began to deemphasize the X-men and Mutants, focusing more on characters they owned out right. There was a push for ‘Inhumans’, a variation on mutants, for a while, along with most major stories only including a few major Mutant characters that were main stream. This culminated it a number of major storylines, including House of M, and even with the death of several major X-men, including Wolverine, Cyclops, and Professor X.
By 2015, the leadership of the Comic Book/Print side of the business was ousted and all major developments from all of Marvel were in the hands of Kevin Feige, who has been leading the Film/Television side of the business. And now as of 2019, with Disney now owning FOX media, the rights to the X-men and Mutants are owned once again by Marvel. Fan expectation is that either Marvel will make their own outright X-men movies, or potentially add them in to the MCU in some way.
Wanda Maximoff (The Scarlet Witch)
Born of Max Eisenhardt, better known as Magneto, alongside her twin brother Petro(Peter) Maximoff, the two are mutants who have been seen throughout the Marvel Universe. She and her brother were raised as Ophans and Gypsies, famously by a Cow-woman named Bolva. A young age, her magical powers began to blossom, and she was trained by one of the most powerful magic users in the world, Agatha Harkness.
Wanda and her brother joined their Father, Magneto, for a period of time with the brotherhood of mutants, before eventually joining the Avengers, and being long standing members of it. At some point, she met and fell in love with Vision, with the two being married for a period of time. Though initially unable to have children, through the use of Magic, Wanda gave birth to two sons, Tommy and Billy, but due to shenanigans from the Marvel Devil, Mephisto, the two taken away and their existence nullified.
Wanda’s big story primarily revolves around ‘House of M’. At one point, Wanda’s powers became too powerful for her to control, which caused her to lash out uncontrollably in a fit of rage over the mention of her former children. This uncontrolled power eventually warped Vision, who later attacked the Avengers, before being killed by She-Hulk. In the aftermath, Wanda was taken by her Father Magneto to Professor X to get help. The concern however was whether to Kill Wanda or not, as her powers were out of control, which eventually led to the reality bending ‘House of M’, where mutants replaced humans as the dominate species on earth.
‘House of M’ saw many mutants and humans leading happy and ideal lives for themselves, with Magneto ruling over the world, but some individuals still remembered. Eventually, it was discovered that Quicksilver had convinced Wanda to warp reality, and upon Magneto and other heroes regaining their memory, they confronted Quicksilver over what happened, culminated in Quicksilver’s death. Wanda would bring him back to life, but shocked that her Father and Professor X would be willing to kill her, she changed reality back, but said three words, “No More Mutants.”
As a result of ‘House of M’, reality was changed back to normal, but 90% of the mutants were depowered and the mutant gene was now dormant and was not suppose to exist in any new children being born. This made mutants more an endangered species on the planet, and moved hundreds of mutant heroes from activity. Eventually, the mutant x gene began reappearing in children, and with some mutants getting their powers back.
In later rewrites to the character, Wanda is revealed to just be an Orphan, not a mutant and not the daughter of Magneto, but having lived near a mountain that radiates energy and improved her already dormant magical abilities. This is the version of Wanda we know from the MCU.
Powers
Wanda’s powers were originally thought to be telekinesis as a mutant, but have since been reconned as being magic. Her original stem from her ability to warp reality, originally it was at the disfavor of those she attacked, causing them to have bad results for actions they took. Later this was evolved in to full reality manipulation, allowing her to warp the very nature and reality around her, not unlike the Reality Stone. She is capable of various other magical schools associates with Magical Crafts performed by Dr Strange and the like. Her main claim to fame relates her ‘Chaos Magic’, which allows her to shape reality as a whole.
In the MCU, her powers stem from the Mind Stone, imbuing her with telekinesis and telepathy abilities. For all extensive purposes, they have not been fully explored in the MCU.
Vision
A ‘Synthezoid’, a special type of Android that contains all living tissues and body parts of a human, plus the ‘Horton Cells’, which provides strength, durability, and resistance. He was built by Ultron, using parts from another state of the art android call the ‘Human Torch’(Not the same character), and with a special gem called the ‘Solar Gem’, which operates much like a human, but hundreds of times faster. This gem is similar placed as the Mind Stone for the MCU version of Vision.
Originally, Vision was created by Ultron with the intent of being a double agent. But realizing that he didn’t want to fight human, he changed sides and has been a leading member of the Avengers since. Vision would take part in multiple stories, even having a relationship with Wanda for a while. At one point, Vision was kidnapped and dismantled by a bad guy. He was eventually rebuilt by Tony Stark, but minus the synthetic red skin he previously had, revealing a white, neutral exterior, and also minus his emotions. This second Vision continued his relationship with Wanda, but after due the events prior to ‘House of M’ he was ripped apart by the She-Hulk after Vision spawned a bunch of mini-Ultrons from him. A third Vision was built some time later, using the parts from the last, and it was this version that eventually built his own family of Visions, attempting to learn more about the human condition and emotions, he started his own family as a result.
Powers:
As a Synthezoid made from the android Human Torch and using the Solar Gem, Vision’s body allows him to project solar rays as beams of energy at his targets. As well, due to the ‘Horton Cells’ in his body, he can modulate his density, allowing him to pass through walls and people, but also to strength himself and make him super strong and super durable.
What to Expect?
Speculation about the series presumes that the series will likely have something to do with reality manipulation. The series may also launch new super heroes and provide knowledge on what happened to vision.
There is a concern that the events will be a mixture of House of M and Visions, the former as far an ideal life for Wanda and the later in the sense that Vision started a family in the suburbs.
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EP 91: Godzilla Movies Review
13 Mar 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Godzilla Movies Review
This week, we watched a giant Lizard smash a building… lots of buildings in fact. And lots of Lizards too. I think a few had wings even… so many monsters, so little time. But a fun time at that, lots of it! And both mom and me would agree that they’re a lot of fun. So we’re back with two American Godzilla, and the most recent live action Godzilla from Japan.
Godzilla (2014)
Directed by: Gareth EdwardsStarring:Aaron Taylor-Johnson as U.S. Navy EOD LT Ford BrodyKen Watanabe as Dr. Ishirō SerizawaElizabeth Olsen as Elle BrodyJuliette Binoche as Sandra BrodySally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne GrahamDavid Strathairn as Admiral William StenzBryan Cranston as Joe BrodyMonsters:GodzillaMuto (Male)Muto (Female)This movie felt like a proper disaster movie, but at times, it doesn’t feel like a movie, more like we were following a narrative and series of unfortunate events. Almost like a found footage piece.Depictions of Japan, of the fictional city Janjira, were very comical. Rather than looking like a suburb of Japan, it looks like an American suburb with Japanese aesthetics. They even driver cars on the left side of the car, which is typical of America. While Aaron Taylor-Johnson may be a decent actor, he felt very disposable in the film.At the time of Casting, Elizabeth Olsen hadn’t been cast as the Scarlet Witch in the MCU yet, but her role felt fairly disposable as well. Looking at the role now, she’s only memorable because this was what she was in prior to the Marvel movies.Ken Watanabe always adds gravitas to a film he’s in, especially in this case of Godzilla.Godzilla is talked about and seen sporadically in the film, but major brunt of destruction is from the Muto monsters. Godzilla has a proper fight at the end of the movie.While critics praised the tone and direction, many criticized the under developed characters, lack of thematic depth, turning Godzilla into a secondary character, and insufficient screen time for the title character.Japanese critics liked the film, but felt the same way. Toho liked the film so much, they decided to reboot the series with Shin Godzilla.
Godzilla: King of Monsters (2019)
Directed by: Michael DoughertyStarring:Kyle Chandler as Dr. Mark RussellVera Farmiga as Dr. Emma RussellMillie Bobby Brown as Madison RussellBradley Whitford as Dr. Rick StantonSally Hawkins as Dr. Vivienne GrahamCharles Dance as Alan JonahThomas Middleditch as Sam ColemanAisha Hinds as Colonel Diane FosterO'Shea Jackson Jr. as Jackson BarnesDavid Strathairn as Admiral William StenzKen Watanabe as Dr. Ishirō SerizawaZhang Ziyi as Dr. Ilene ChenMonsters:GodzillaMothraRodanKing GhidorahAnd many more, including King KongUnlike the 2014 Film, this one felt more like a Movie than the last. Perhaps it’s the bigger sets and more sightings of Godzilla.It was nice to see some of the cast from the 2014 Godzilla return.It’s a shame Ken Watanabe’s character was killed as the film leave the possibility of a third Godzilla movie in the near future.Nice to see Bradley Whitford in work.American Critics were not impressed by the film, remarking that the script was ‘laughable’, the monster battles were either too numerous or boring, and that the film was paper thin with no real drama.
Shin Godzilla
Directed by: Hideaki Anno and Shinji HiguchiStarring:Hiroki Hasegawa as Rando Yaguchi, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary.Yutaka Takenouchi as Hideki Akasaka, Aide to Prime Minister.Satomi Ishihara as Kayoco Anne Patterson, Special Envoy for the President of the United States.Film used the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake/Tsunami & Fukushima Daiichi nuclear Disaster as inspiration.Film is considered political, mostly in the sense that it’s a scathing depiction of Japanese bureaucracy and its politicians. Often seen as trying to manage the in pending fall out, rather than trying to manage the actual situation, and tied up in various meetings.Did very well in Japan, winning 7 Japanese Academy Prize, including Picture of the Year and Director of the Year.Laughed at multiple points from hearing the ‘Decisive Battle’ illusions being made during the planning phases. The song is from Evangelion (1995) anime, directed and created by Hideki Anno, is used at multiple points throughout the film.Can see lots of allusions to Evangelion, though as a Evangelion fan, I might be more hyper aware than most.
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Ep 90: Godzilla Tutorial
6 Mar 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Godzilla
A giant sea creature, that walks on its back legs, shoot radioactive breath/laser from its mouth, and vaguely looks like a dinosaur, and no I’m not talking about mom. We begin our talk on Godzilla, and learning about the nearly 50 year old King of the Monsters. Another series mom may have a greater affinity for than even me.
Kaiju – Literally meaning “Strange Beast”, the term originated for just about any mythological creature or monster from Japanese legends, but after opening up its boarders to the west, the term has also meant any legendary creatures that exist outside of Japan as well.
In Modern terms, we use the term Kaiju to reflect creatures of science fiction or fantasy that are relatively the size of Godzilla, multiple stories tall creatures. Western example can include King Kong, Monsters from Power Ranges, namely and inspirationally, from Pacific Rim. Even Steven Spielberg got inspiration for Jurassic Park from Godzilla and other Kaiju movies.
Godzilla is considered the first Kaiju movie.
History
Debuting in 1954, and created by Toho, in his own self title film, Godzilla has been a fixture of Japanese and American media for nearly 70s years. Though no official individual is the one that birthed the creation of the creature, he was initially intended to be an allegory for Nuclear Weapons as seen by the Japanese. Others have likened Godzilla to the United States, as a terrible beast awakes from its slumber to take vengeance on Japan.
Despite his first film of being the villain, later films would actually see him being an Anti-hero and possibly a protector of humanity, along with being a less serious and more campy. As time has gone on, Godzilla has faces other kaiju and had a rotation collection of villains and enemies in which were trying to destroy humanity.
Toho Co, the company that created Godzilla, is previously well known for Kaiju and Tokusatsu(Japanese special effect films) films, but also release many directed by Akira Kurosawa, along with the anime films of Studio Ghibli. They also work with other anime companies to get their movies released in to theaters.
Eiji Tsuburaya, the individual in charge of special effects for the first Godzilla film, developed the technique that would be called ‘Suitmation’. This was the act of creating latex/rubber suits for actors to wear and become the monsters. This was further developed by shrinking the sets down to miniatures, to give the scale to the actors in the suits. The camera was then placed low to the ground and filmed at double speed, to get the aspect of the Monsters as being huge, but also create smooth movement as the actors moved slowly in their costumes. Special Effects were then substituted with Puppetry or other models to give the effect of swinging tails or mouth movements. Even as CGI has become more prevalent in the Japan, Suitmation is continuing to be used on certain levels, with the suit actors doing motion capture to film the actions and translate them to CGI.
Characteristics
Original Japanese name was Gojira, from combining the two words Gorira (Gorilla) and Kujira (Whale) in Japanese. It later Romanized into Godzilla upon appearing in the west.
Inspired by Ray Harryhausen’s film ‘The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms’, Godzilla was conceived as a reptilian, sea creature, loosely based on the concept of dinosaur. He has various spiked plates along his back, which is the source of his power in some films. His body’s texture is said to be based off Keloid scars that were often seen on survivors form Hiroshima. While initial seen as green in comics, cartoons, and on movie posters, Godzilla is actually charcoal grey.
Godzilla’s signature weapon is his Atomic Breath, a beam of nuclear energy shot out like a laser from Godzilla’s mouth. Godzilla is also known for his physical strength and muscularity, along with being amphibious. He is shown to shrug off conventional weaponry thanks to his rugged hide and his regenerative abilities that allow him to heal from injuries quickly. As a result of his strength, the only things that can otherwise hurt Godzilla are creatures of similar stats/quality to Godzilla.
Originally, Godzilla was portrayed as being 165ft tall in the original Japanese version, which would have made it so it could peer over the tallest building in Japan. It was later rescaled higher in American dub of the film, up to 400ft tall, to give it proper size according to the American Producers. It was later scaled up to 330ft in Japan, which was to continue the intention of making it so he wouldn’t be dwarfed by Japanese high rise buildings of the time. His size would continue to grow as later movies in the 2010 started to come out, with the creature eventually becoming 985ft tall in ‘Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters’(2017).
Films
Godzilla has appeared in 32 Japanese films, dating back to 1954.
Showa Era (1954 – 1975)
His initial 1954 appearance portrayed Godzilla as an invading force of nature. However, later films in the era would portray him in a more comical and slapstick light, as the films were largely aimed at families and children. Still, this period ended up spawning additional movies for some of Godzilla’s featured rivals and allies, leading to more movies that weren’t necessarily staring Godzilla. This is where we see Godzilla fight:
RodanVaranMothraKing GhidorahMecha-Godzilla
Heisei Era (1984 – 1995)
The series took a break from 1975 until 1984, but returned with ‘The Return of Godzilla’. The reboot tended away from the Showa Era, and instead made Godzilla a force of destructive nature once again. The new series kept a singular timeline of events between its movies, acting as a direct sequel to each other. Many of the earlier villains were brought back once again. In 1995, the character was killed, seemingly ending the Godzilla Franchise.
American Godzilla (1998)
In 1992, TriStar Pictures acquired the rights to Godzilla, with the intent on creating a trilogy of films based off the Japanese creature. The original script would have stayed true to the Japanese origin of the creature, as a monster mutated by atomic bombs. However, disagreements over the budget of the film caused the original director to leave, with Roland Emmerich coming in to direct. Fresh off of Independence Day (1994), Emmerich wanted total creative freedom, as he wanted to ditch a lot of the origins of the Japanese Godzilla. Oddly, the budget for the film would be about the same as the original pitch’s budget. Emmerich moved away from a Dinosaur being bombard with nuclear energy and instead turned it into an iguana instead. The film was widely panned by critics and fans, who has come to see the original version and not the Emmerich version of the character. The following two planed films were canceled, and instead developed in to an animated series, which held up much better with fans than the film.
Millennium Era (1999 – 2004)
Largely seen as the backlash against the American Godzilla(1998), the Millennium Era of Godzilla sought to bring back the character to glory and show the Americans how it’s done. Unlike the Heisei series, each film is considered stand alone film, with no direct relation to one another, outside of the original 1954 film. Sadly, outside of the first film in the Era, most of the films were not well received, as the Godzilla formula was becoming stale and old to Japanese and American markets. After the 2004 film, Godzilla: Final Wars, which saw the return of various monsters from the Showa Era, which capped off 50 years of Godzilla, the character was quietly put on hibernation.
Godzilla (2014)
Initially set to be a short 40 minute film, Legendary Pictures decided to create a full film instead, barrowing much more of original Godzilla canon, and differentiating it from the 1998 film. Much of the original 2014 American film deals with two other Kaiju, and purposefully leaves Godzilla out of much of film until the very end, in order to build up hype. The film was very well received, which prompted a sequel ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’ (2019) and Godzilla vs. Kong set to come out in March 2021.
Reiwa Era (2016 to present)
After an early screening of Godzilla(2014) to its Japanese creators, Toho praised the American Godzilla, and sited it as the reason to bring Godzilla back to Japanese media. To bring back Godzilla, they brought in Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuichi, the creators and mastermind of Neon Genesis Evangelion(1995) anime, to create the film. With Anno creating the screen play and script, and Higuichi coming on as special effects director.
The new series entitled Shin Godzilla, would focus more on the recent natural disasters of Japan, rather than the atomic bombing of its earlier films, and also focused on the failure of the Japanese government, which was a concern amongst Japanese after the 2011 Tsunami. The film was a success and later films are slated for release, but due to the shared nature of the series with Legendary Pictures, plans have been put on hold for any new film. Three additional CGI films were later produced between 2017 and 2018 feature Godzilla, and were exclusive to Netflix.
Major Antagonists
King Ghidorah – Considered Godzilla’s archrival.
Rodan – not too dissimilar from a pterodactyls, he serves as one of Godzilla enemies, and in comes cases, ally.
Mothra – Basically a giant Butterfly
King Kong – the third movie was based off their fight.
Mecha-Godzilla – A mechanical version of Godzilla, in one case, made from the Skeleton of Godzilla.
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Ep 89: Star Wars - The Mandalorian Season 2 Review
27 Feb 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Mandalorian Season 2 Review
We’re back at it for the second season of the Mandalorian, as things get crazy. Mom enjoyed this, and we had quite a bit to talk about regardless, what with Breaking News from the Week! But Yeah, the Space Western Rides again!
Updated News:
On February 10th, LucasFilm announced that Gina Carano, former MMA fighter who played Cara Dune, was no longer employed by the company and would no longer appear in any future Star Wars projects. LucasFlim decided not to work with Carano on any further projects after posts on social media that related American Conservatives with Jews in Nazi Germany. This comes on the tails of earlier posts, where the actress ridiculed COVID-19 Mask mandates, falsely suggested that the 2020 US Presidential Elections had widespread Voter Fraud, disparaged the Black Lives Matter movement, and was accused of transphobia for her mocking of the preferred gender pronouns by transgender individuals and their allies. At the time of writing, conflicting information suggest that Cara Dune was not intended to appear in the 3rd Season of The Mandalorian, but was instead to star in Rangers of the New Republic.
In the wake of Lucasfilm deciding to remove Carano from future productions, many of the conservative voices in America have demanded that Pedro Pascal also be removed the show, due to him having written disparaging things about conservatives and right wing media figures/events. The #canceldisneyplus has also begun trending on twitter, with those upset about the removal of Carano from future Star Wars projects asking people to cancel their subscriptions to Disney+.
As of writing, Season 3 of The Mandalorian is in pre-production, with no release date confirmed.
New Characters
Giancarlo Esposito - Moff Gideon
One the remaining high ranking Imperial officers left after the fall of the Empire, he leads his own squad of Imperial Remnants. He participated in the Great Purge that wiped out the Mandalorians from the planet of Mandalore and scattered the remaining survivors to the stars. He is also the wielder of the Dark Saber, a weapon he presumably claimed during the Purge through unknown means.
Temuera Morrison - Boba Fett
The original Actor for Jango Fett returns to play Boba Fett, his cloned son. It’s fitting as the actor was an unaltered clone, and by the time of the Mandalorian, Boba Fett would be in his early 40s, though the actor is in his 60s. Presumed the Cloning process isn’t perfect. Boba Fett in the series does not consider himself a Mandalorian, and never has, with the name of his armor being ‘Mandalorian Armor’, thus where the title and name presumably comes from.
Mercedes Varnado - Koska Reeves
Also known as Sasha Banks in the WWE. The character is a member of Bo-Katan’s Nite Owls, a primarily Female group of Mandalorians, former members of Death Watch, who are seeking to reclaim Mandalore. The wrestler purposefully chose a hair style that could be mimicked in Cosplay, and preformed most of her own stunts, including some Wrestling moves.
Katee Sackhoff - Bo-Katan Kryze
Last known wielder of the Dark Saber prior to the events of the Great Purge of Mandalore, she leads her Nite Owls in dismantling Imperial targets and collecting weapons/resources for her team, in the efforts to reclaim Mandalore. Her former sister, Sabine Kryze, was the ruler of Mandalore prior to Death Watch’s interference and political coup of the government. Katee Sackhoff is no stranger to Sci-fi series, having previously played Kara "Starbuck" Thrace in the series Battlestar Galactica. She has also previously voiced the character of Bo-Katan in the Clone Wars tv series.
Rosario Dawson - Ahsoka Tano
Original debuting in the CG animated Clone Wars, she is the former padawan to Anakin Skywalker, who left the Jedi Order after she was framed for a crime she didn’t commit. Though it was later discovered that she was framed, she left the Jedi Order, feeling that it had lost its purpose and sought to find her own way through the force.
She would next be seen in Rebels, roughly 5 years before the events of Episode 4, as an aid to the crew of the Ghost who act as a terrorist cell for the Rebellion. Ahsoka Tano aids the former padawan, turned full Jedi, Kanan Jarrus and his new student, Ezra Bridger, in the ways of the Force, along with aiding their missions. Ahsoka is presumed dead upon a fight with Darth Vader during the attempt to find a Sith Holocron, but is eventually saved from death by Ezra in the ‘World between Worlds’. Ahsoka, though saved, did not continue with the Rebellion, instead choosing to follow a spiritual path, as she had been saved from death.
By end of the events of Rebels, she and Sabine Wren(Former wielder of the Dark Saber), set out to find Ezra Bridger, who save the Ghost crew at the end of Rebels, but has been mysteriously lost in Space via Hyperspace whales. In the episode, she is hunting Grand Admiral Thrawn, who presumably knows the last known whereabouts of Ezra Bridger.
Ming-Na Wen - Fennec Shand
Originally thought to be killed in the version season, episode five. She was approached by an unknown individual, later revealed to be Boba Fett, who patches her up with some cybernetics. She is then a body guard and associates of Boba Fett going forward.
“This is the Way…”
There is no hard and fast rule about Mandalorians not taking off their helmets and not being seen by others. A key fact is that prior to The Mandalorian, previous Mandalorians took their helmets off and showed their faces all the time. The particular Sect of Mandalorians that Din Djarin follows is known as ‘Children of the Watch’, a faith/religion that was previously followed on Mandalore known as the ‘Way’, but fell out of favor over the centuries in Mandalorian culture. Din Djarin is initially unaware of any other way for Mandalorians to operate, due to having grown up in the ‘Children of the Watch’ and believing that this was the way Mandalorians operated. Also, due to Mandalorians not being a common fixture of the galaxy for some time, very little is properly known about the individuals known as Mandalorians, so there were few who could correct or enlighten Din Djarin.
Announced Spinoffs
Three Spinoffs were announced in December 2020 at the end of the 2nd season. All three series are intended to follow up on The Mandalorian timeline, continuing in the same settings and potentially interweaving and participating in each other’s properties. The move would be similar to Marvel and Netflix’s arrangement for The Defenders, a series of 4 individual Netflix TV shows set in the MCU and following the events of The Avengers(2012), where all 4 series eventually’s main star would team up in a TV series. Disney, having owned Marvel at the time prior to Disney+, is looking to do the same for its Star Wars TV series.
The Book of Boba Fett
Set for December 2021, the series follow Boba Fett, presumably after event Season 2 of the Mandalorian.
Rangers of the New Republic
Announced in December 2020, the series is set to follow some of the individuals of the New Republic as they keep the Outer Rim safe. Originally set for Gina Carano to reprise her role as Cara Dune and her own vehicle, it was later announced that she would no longer have any more roles in Star Wars properties. The series presumably is still production, though little is known of its plot or cast.
Ahsoka
Announced in December 2020, this would continue to see Rosario Dawson reprise her Role as Ahsoka Tano, presumably as an adult version, and continue to have her traveling the Galaxy doing Jedi things, without being a Jedi.
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Ep 88: Star Wars – The Mandalorian Season 1 Review
19 Feb 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Star Wars – The Mandalorian Season 1 Review
Is it really a Western form the 1950s and 60s? Yes, Yes it is. Mom explains in details why that’s the case.
Setting
9 ABY(After Battle of Yavin)(Episode 4). For context, Luke Skywalker was born on 19 BBY(Before Battle of Yavin), and the Battle of Endor on 4 ABY(Episode 6). 5 years after the death of The Emperor, the Galaxy is slowly returning to order with the New Republic, however, the outer rim is like the wild west. Republic Officals/Law exists, but isn’t common and vastly under manned, and those seeking to hide from the New Republic. Many Imperial officers and outposts exists in the Outer Rim as the Empire was seeking to control the entire Galaxy. As a result, most Imperial Officals are attempting to gain power and influence, in order to say they are the next leader of the Empire after Darth Sidious. The Outer Rim is also home to a number of other races and factions biding for control over their own territories, including bounty hunters. Famously, the original Trilogy of Star Wars (Episode 4-6) take places within the Outer Rim, including Tatooine(4 & 6), Endor(6), Hoth(5), and Dagobah(5).
Creator:
Jon Favreau
A mainstay of the film industry, he stared and featured in various movies including Rudy (1993) & Chef (2014). He’s arguably one of the major players in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), having directed Ironman(2008) and Ironman 2 (2010), and Executive Producer for nearly all movies dealing with Ironman and Spiderman, and acted alongside as Happy Hogan. He’s directed a number of movies, including Elf(2003), Chef(2014), The Jungle Book(2016), and The Lion King(2019). He serves at the creator, one of the executive producers, and director of The Mandalorian.
Cast:
Pedro Pascal The Mandalorian / Mando / Din Djarin
Famously in a number of roles, including Kingsman The Golden Circle (Agent Whiskey), Wonder Woman 1984 (Maxwell Lord), Game of Thrones (Oberyn Martell), & Narcos (Javier Pena). While Pedro Pascal primarily voices the character and does a fair amount of scenes as him, a bulk of the stunt work is done by stunt actors. He prepared for the role by watching Akira Kurosawa's samurai films and Eastwood's Spaghetti Westerns.
The Child / The Kid / Baby Yoda
The character is fan named ‘Baby Yoda’ to better describe the character, as he has no known name. Yoda Species is never specifically called any such name, and only the fan derived name for the species of Yoda and other characters that appear like Yoda. The character is largely created using puppetry, with some CGI used to accent. Famously, in order to preserve the character’s appearance and not give away their existence, Disney did not prepare toys or other merchandise for the character. The lack of Toys and other merchandise for the 2019 Christmas season was a potential loss of 2.7 million dollars for Disney, but the decision was supported by Bob Iger, Disney CEO, who believed the company was a story making company first and foremost, and supported John Favreau’s decision.
Carl Weathers Greef Karga
Apollo Creed
Werner Herzog The Client
Famous Director, known for his movies featuring ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unique talents in obscure fields, or individuals who are in conflict with nature.
Omid Abtahi Dr. Pershing
The Doctor is an interesting character for a number of reasons. Firstly is that his outfit and actions in the series depict that may be from the planet of Kamino, where clones are created, seemingly setting up the notion that he is out to clone The Child. Secondly that he is wearing glasses.
Nick Nolte Kuiil
An Ugnaught male, seen previously in Cloud City, as the little guys that were trying scavenging C3PO and seen during the freezing of Han Solo.
Taika Waititi IG-11
These are a series of Droids that were initially developed during the Clone Wars, but later rebelled against their creators and disappeared in to the Galaxy. They operate similar to a hive mind and work as bounty hunters across the galaxy. Taika Waititi is famous for being the director of the 3rd Thor Movie, and bring more comedy to the character. He would also direct some of the episodes of The Mandalorian, and voice IG-11. He’s been announced to be the director and co-writer for an upcoming Live-Action Star Wars film.
Gina Carano Cara Dune
Gina Carano is a former MMA fighter, and gained muscle for the show.
Emily Swallow The Armorer
Emily is known for her television roles, including Kim Fischer on The Mentalist.
Amy Sedaris Peli Motto
Amy is a Pixie of a woman, but basically unrecognizable in this role. Famously in West Wing.
Bill Burr Migs Mayfeld
Famously, the actor was not a fan of Star Wars and would mock the series. He suggested the role by Favreau as his casting would be amusing. Burr would later state he was impressed with filming, along with praising the writing for the show.
501st Legion
Played the Storm Troopers in the series, famously bringing their own costumes and gear with them for the final episode that demanded lots of Storm Troopers. Previously, the movie Gettysburg brought on civil war re-in-actors for the hundreds of extras necessary for the filming of that movie, as they brought period piece costumes, props, and experience to the roles. This is similar how the 501st Legion brought their experience in to their roles as Storm Troopers.
501st Legion is a group of Cosplayers that primarily portray the bad guys from Star Wars. Started in South Carolina, it’s a purely volunteer group that focuses the construction and screen accurate bad guy gear in Star Wars. They are unaffiliated with Lucasfilms LLC or Walt Disney Company, but are the preferred Imperial Costuming Organization, and are mostly seen at Casual, Promoation and Charitable events, often at the request of Lucasfilm. Joining requires being atleast 18 years old and a high quality costume from a Star Wars Villain. Their sister group, the Rebel Legion, primarily consists of Good Guys from Star Wars, and The Galactic Academy, is for children under 18 years old, with no strict costuming rules, and meant for children and teenagers to share their love of Star Wars and costuming.
Mandalorian Filming Set
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufp8weYYDE8
George Lucas Rule on Glasses
George Lucas wanted his world to seem like something fantastical and unique, so his live action films never had anyone wearing glasses. Characters could wear goggles, Shades or other items, but could not wear typical Eye Wear. George Lucas rationalized that with how futuristic the world was, they would have eliminated the need for glasses by correcting your vision, and as a result, the art of making glasses would have disappeared. George Lucas also made a point of saying there were no Buttons or Zippers on costumes, and that there is no underwear in the Star Wars either, famously trying to convince Carrie Fisher to go braless while in costumes.
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Ep 87: Star Wars: The Mandalorian Tutorial
11 Feb 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Star Wars: The Mandalorian Tutorial
This week, Per Mom’s request, we begin the topic of The Mandalorian . It’s a series that has been touted some years ago, but has morphed over time in to something completely different, and we’re going to do something different as well. Instead of start from the past and going forward, we need to instead, start from the end and get to the beginning of Mandalorian lore and culture. To better understand our topic.
Boba Fett
To truly understand why the Mandalorian even exists, is really to begin back at the beginning with the original Bounty Hunter and what spawned the Series, Boba Fett.
Boba Fett first seen in ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’, a two hour special that came out during Christmas, and seen as an animated character during one of the segments. His next appearance was in Star Wars V, Empire Strikes Back, as among various other Bounty Hunters sent to hunt down the Millennium Falcon. He appears in only a hand full of scenes, less than 10, and spoke only 4 times in total:
“As you Wish.”
“He’s no good to me Dead.”
“What if he doesn’t survive? He’s worth to me.”
“Put Captain Solo in the Cargo Hold.”
By the time of Star Wars VI, Return of the Jedi, where is first actually named by another character, he was even fewer scene and never said anything, outside of a scream upon his famous death of falling into the Sarlacc Pit.
Despite the character’s apparent death, he seemingly survived and made his way to various ‘Legend’ media, including books, comics, and video game series, where he continued to be an anti-hero and occasional villain depending on the story. The character’s cult like following, despite the limited time on film, that lasts less than 5 minutes in total, has him a fan favorite, and is what spawned the Mandalorian name and concept.
Originally, Mandalorian was just the name of his armor, which was set to be a Commando style all white trooper, known as a Super Trooper, alongside Storm Troopers. The idea eventually became a bounty hunter and a single individual, named Boba Fett. Additional Lore Element began being developed in media, which included the world of Manadolore, the world of the Mandalorian s, which were now a race of people.
Jango Fett
The next seen Mandalorian is Jango Fett, Boba’s father. Boba himself is an unmodified clone of Jango Fett, with Jango Fett being the genetic template for what would be the Clone Trooper, and be the name for the eponymous Clone Wars. Despite being in only one film, he has far more scene than his son Boba, and is considered a major antagonist during Star Wars Clone War.
Behind the scenes, the fan favorite nature of the character led to his inclusion in the second Prequel movie. Boba Fett’s armor comes from his father, who after dying, is taken up by Boba in memory of his father, albeit, recolored in to the green and red armor instead of the steel and blue accent look.
Extended Media, Legends
With Disney purchasing Lucas Films, they rebranded all created material in the Star Wars extended media as being non-canonical, eliminating hundreds of authors work that has shaped the Star Wars universe and the stories in this world. All new material was dubbed ‘Legends’. While most of this became non-canonical, some of the history and world building has bled in to the new canon of the Star Wars franchise.
From this Legends content, it included that
Clone Wars
A good portion of lore and world building outside of the Legends series was developed during the Clone War Tv Show. Clone Wars, not be confused with the movie, was a CG Tv Show that took place between the when Episode 2 and 3, which followed Obi-wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and Ahsoka Tano, the padawan(Apprentice) to Anakin Skywalker, during the intervening years of the war. The TV show spent a good bit of time, following the Republic and developing the world.
Because the TV Show came out between 2008 and 2014, much of the lore regarding Mandalore and the Mandalorian s were pieced together from the now Legends material, and fleshed out by the show’s creators. Upon purchase, Disney moved anything that wasn’t directly produced by Lucas Arts as Legends material, with Clone Wars being considered Canon, including all the content regarding the Mandalorian. A follow up TV Show called Rebels, continued the stories from Clone Wars, with a young Mandalorian warrior name Sabine Wren being a part of the main cast.
Mandalorian Lore:
Mandalorians are a group of warriors, namely hailing from the Planet of Mandalore. Their people were feared as some of the most skilled and powerful warriors in the galaxy, outside of Jedi. Starting from their homework, they eventually took over other neighboring planets and their prowess and renown spread from the Outer Rim of planet and eventually to the Inner Rim of Planet, with many Mandalorians becoming mercenaries and bounty hunters.
Upon reaching the Inner Rim of planets, the Mandalorians found the Jedi, who gave them their first major challenge in centuries. In order best the Jedi, they developed new weapons and created their now famous armor that they are known for. Now with the ability to fight the Jedi, Madalorians became even more feared through the galaxy, including by Jedi, and the two participated in various wars in the galaxy over the next few millennia.
However, the Jedi and Mandalorians were not always enemies. One example is Tarre Vizsla, a child of Mandalore that was taken as a child to become a Jedi. As a Jedi Tarre Vizsla was taught the ways of the Force, but continued to distinguish himself by creating his own variant of the Lightsaber, the ‘Darksaber’. At some point, Tarre Vizsla was given the title of “Mand’alor”, the sole ruler of Mandalore and a renowned figured in their society. After his death, family members would eventually take up the Darksaber and unite the various clans of Mandalore into one proper state, led by House Vizsla.
Despite unifying the various clans of Mandalore, various Mandalorian Warlords appears and continued fighting their own enemies, along with themselves in a bid for supremacy. Eventually, the long wars with the Jedi ended when fighting on Mandalore triggered a cataclysmic event that transformed much of the planet’s lush forests and oceans in to a sea of white deserts, forcing Mandalorians to constructed domed cities to live in. Devastated by their loss, the Mandalorians retreated to their home sector, and ended much of their conquests, as they sought to rebuild their homeworld.
Just prior to the events of Episode 1, a Civil War would break out on Mandalore, with one group of Mandalorians seeking unity and pacifism, led by Duchess Satine Kryze, while another wanted to return to their old ways of conquest, dubbing themselves Old Mandalorians. Eventually those seeking pacifism won out, exiling the Old Mandalorians to a local moon. Mandalore would develop in to a peaceful society, and eventually even joined the Galactic Republic in between then and the events of Clone Wars. By the time of the Clone Wars, Mandalore, along with 1500 other systems banded together, with Satine, to create the Council of Neutral Systems, a coalition that sought to stay out of the conflict and take a neutral stance on the fighting between the Republic and the Separatists.
Unknown to Satine and Mandalore, the Old Mandalorians was revised in to Death Watch by their leader Pre Vizsla. He wanted to bring Mandalorians back to their original glory and worked together with the Separatists and Count Dooku to do so. Death Watch launched various attacks on Galactic Republic strong holds, and event attack Mandalore itself, believing that their actions would spark a resurgence in Mandalorian ways. Following attacks by Count Dooku’s forces, Death Watch appeared and offered the Mandalorian people new leadership and protection from the invading Separatists, which led to Satine Kryze being imprisoned and Pre Vizsla taking over Mandalore. What followed was a series of stories in Clone Wars that saw Darth Maul return and take control over Death Watch, which led to Maul killing Satine, and eventually leading to Darth Sidious to visiting Mandalore to collect his former apprentice.
With Darth Maul taking control over Death Watch, a separatist movement, led by the sister of Satine Kryze, Bo-Katan Kryze, sought to remove Death Watch from leadership of Mandalore, calling the Galactic Republic for aid. This eventually led to the Siege of Mandalore, capturing Darth Maul and ending the rule by Death Watch. While Bo-Katan was named Regent for the planet, under the new rule of the Galactic Empire, she refused to do the Empire’s bidding and was exiled from Mandalore. Following this, the planet became a training ground for new military cadets.
By the time of Rebels, Mandalore is fully controlled by the Empire, with Mandalore developing troops and weapons to be used against those opposing the Republic. Rebels would follow the exploits of a Resistance cell, aided by one Ahsoka Tano, as the liberated Mandalore and returned leadership to Bo-Katan. However, by the end of the series, the Empire began a Purge of Mandalore, killing most of the Mandalorian populous and melting their famed Beskar armor into ingots. Few clans escaped the plans and spread themselves amongst the galaxy, hiding and trying to just survive.
Mandalorian Armor
All Mandalorians are best known by the armor they wear, which strikes fear amongst the galaxy. Known for their T-shaped visors on their helmets that obscure their face, the armor itself was outfitted with various built in features, including darts, flame throwers, and even Jet Packs. Most Mandalorians further armed themselves with additional blasters, such as rifles, heavy repeater blasters, and simple pistols.
The armor itself was made from a material known as Beskar, a nearly indestructible metal that could deflect blaster bolts and even stop a light saber from cutting through it. While Beskar was available for Mandalorians prior to the Purge of Mandalore, it’s since become a rare and valuable commodity in the galaxy.
Darksaber
The lightsaber created by Tarre Vizsla, it’s unusual in the sense that the blade itself is black and glassy in color, and is projected as a straight blade, similar to a Katana, unlike the rounded blade of a lightsaber. The saber is considered a prized possession of the Mandalorians, and its owner is considered the rightful ruler of Mandalore, bestowing the title of Mand’alor on to the anyone who holds it. Mandalorian custom says that you must defeat the current owner in combat in order for ownership to pass to you. Any other form of acquiring the saber would be considered illegitimate, and unrecognized by the Mandalorian people.
After Tarre Vizsla’s death, the saber was returned to the Jedi Archives, before being stolen by house Vizsla and returned to Mandalore. The saber would continue to be held by the leader of House Vizsla until Pre Vizsla was defeated by Darth Maul, who then became its owner. After Darth Maul fled Mandalore in order to help his mother, the Dark Saber was hidden on Dathomir, before being found by Sabine Wren and used during by herself during the events of Rebels. The saber would eventually given by Bo-Katan, in memory of her sister. Bo-Katan would lose the saber during the events of the Mandalore Purge, where its fate remains unknown.
Time Setting for The Mandalorian
When watching The Mandalorian, the point in Star Wars time is roughly 5 years after the events of Episode 6. Remnants of Empire still exist, as former leaders, programmed Storm Troopers, and various hardware still exist in the universe, with each Leader trying to carve out their leadership over the remains of the Empire. They are in hiding for the most, but are being snuffed out by the New Republic, as they attempt to secure the galaxy following the Empire’s and Emperor’s defeat.
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Ep 86: Making Cosplay Discussion
1 Feb 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Cosplay Making
This week, I wanted to talk to Mom about some of the Ideas I’ve had for cosplay, and such. Any good nerd has wanted to dress up as their favorite characters. And a lot like any good addition, it just takes the one time to get hooked. But at a certain point, you might have to just make it yourself because it doesn’t exist anywhere out there.
Personal projects
Work Wizard Hat
This is a hat for work. Intend to be kind of like Gandalf’s wizard hat. The major difference being that the front and back will have stitched Lettering appropriate for work. I also intend to hide a pocket into the top of the hat in order to hide stuff for fun.
Magic Book
The idea here is to make a sort of magical tome, that when you open it up, it lights up and shoots out light from it, giving the impression that fantastical magic would come out. Ideally, you’d hollow out large book, something maybe the size of 2 phonebooks stacked on top, and then, have the middle pages with a sort of sheet paper with cut outs for the various glyphs and such. Underneath, in the hollowed out section, you’d have a series of lights that shined in an order to give it that impression.
Piranha Plant Puppet (Super Mario Bros)
This originally started as a Chain Chomp from Mario Bros, but I’ve since re-imagined it as a Piranha Plant. The idea is a roughly 2 foot in diameter Ball, constructed like a beach ball, but with one of the 6 sizes missing. The missing space is the mouth, which will open and close with teeth and a tongue. The intent here is for myself to be Mario, but my right hand is the Piranha plant. I’m going to gimic my right arm and have my actual right arm in all black. My arm is in the Piranha Plant head, and the fake arm is holding a potted plant with the Piranha plant stem coming out. The real hard part for this is coming up with the pattern so I’m consistent with the shape of the ball shape, then from there, creating the fake arm. I imagine the sewing of the white spots on the plan will add some challenge too.
Lakatu Puppet
This is the one for shooting the moon. The idea is a puppet that looks like Lakatu, the Turtle in the cloud that follows you. The idea was to have a full puppet, and have it riding on an actual cloud, filled by a beach ball for simplicity and weight concerns. From there, Lakatu would also have a fishing pole, and it would suspend stuff from it. One object being a small camera that I could actually take pictures with. This one is more logistics and putting it together, but it will take time.
Skills for making Cosplay
Sewing
Foam Work
Gluing
Wood working
Repurposing Junk
Browsing Goodwill/Second Hand shops
Painting
Understanding materials
Lots of Creativity
Cosplays I want to do:
Doctor (Arknights)
Arknights the game is fairly big still, and while it is still big, I figured a costume of the Doctor would be good. The character itself doesn’t talk, and their face is obstructed, so I would do the same, and carry around a bunch of gimic stuff as well, just to have fun with it. Never talking ever!
Warlock Tier 2 (World of Warcraft)
Making the costume will be a bitch, especially because it’s a flowing robes, and the shoulders and helm are so big. I’d want the helm and shoulders to either light up and create a smoke effect, but my skills are well out of that range. I need to get MUCH better and working with rigid foam for that. Plus, I kind of want to have smaller Imps hanging off me, as though I’ve summoned too many. These would be MUCH harder to make, considering I wouldn’t have the faintest idea how. There’s a person who HAS made them previously, but is charging a lot for them. There’s that and the staff…
Draenei Paladin Tier 6 (World of Warcraft)
This is one of those costumes that if I figure out Foam, I’ll be in business. Just lots of foam… It’s the notion of making armor, a weapon, and figuring out a latex sort of prosthetic for my face. These are blue people with tendrils. The fun part might also be figuring out the hoofed feet too, but there are furries that do horses I can mimic. It would be a fun thing to do, especially the spectacle, but gotta figure out foam first.
Gilgamesh/Archer (Fate/Stay Night)
Another one that’s mostly revolving around foam. The bigger concern is his sword, Ea, which has three segmented blade bits that turn count to one another. I can imagine a gear and spindle in my head moving, but I’d need to make a good template to see if it’s do able. I really do think it can be done, but this is also something I’d love to get a 3d Printer to actually make it too.
Boo Ghost (Mario Brothers)
This one is very technical. The idea is not too dissimilar to the Parana Plant Puppet, but instead of actually being a moving puppet, it’s a projected Puppet. What I’d do is buy a small little hand held projector, and then suspend it inside a clear ball with theatre fabric, for the light to bleed through. The intention is to have the projector display an animated Face for the puppet. The fun part will be switching between the ghost looking normal, and then animating to hiding. The sequence would go like this:
Normal Idle animationTransition to Hiding AnimationHiding Idle AnimationTransition to Normal animationMaybe something silly? Like a tongue lick or such? Animation.
It would work the best if run off a smart phone, WHICH I have a spare one. The only trick is programming a custom app to run the animations from, and if you could get a simple clicker or something to transition, even better. There might be other ideas here that would best with it, but this is a matter of researching technology and working through it.
Bowsette Kimono (Mario Brothers)
I had an Idea, after the initial Bowsette Cosplay, was to come back in a Japanese Kimono. The intention was an all Black Kimono, with a green Obi-sash(For the turtle shell), with a yellow Haneri (inner cloth). What would make it unique is that there would be stitched in Mario Style flowers, but drawn/done in the style of an ukiyo-e painting (Traditional Japanese Art). The flowers would start at the hem and kind of crawl up the kimono till just above the knee and on to the sleeves. I wanted to do the longer sleeve, the kind that draped down to like the knee or such. And then, the real kicker was that the sleeve on the inside, showed a Mario 1 style castle and flag pole on the left sleeve, and a set of stairs with Mario on the right sleeve. This way when you fanned them out, you’d get the image. My only real concern with this cosplay is partly the Japanese style Mario flowers, I don’t know how to ART that, but I know a person with a stitching machine, but it would be LOTS of colors. And then there’s also the concern over taking a Kimono and making a joke out of it with Mario stuff. I’ve seen people make Yukatas, a simple summer style Kimono which are very laid back, and made with various printed cloths, but I would feel strange about mimicking and making a Kimono, especially as I’d do it in drag too.
Japanese style Bowser / Dr Robotnic
Unlike Bowsette, a Japanese inspired Bowser or Dr Robotnic would probably be cool. I’d probably go with Dr Robotnic, and get a navy blue Yukata, pair it with a yellow sash, and then a Red Hori coat, and switch in the Eggman symbol on to the back. If I could as well, I’d love to make FAKE tattoos, along my arm and chest, give the impression of a Yakuza.
Ursula (Little Mermaid)
Okay, this one would be a Drag performance, but I figured that if I have the Big Black Dress from Bowsette two years ago, and I could make the tail, I could probably make octopus legs as well. My thought here would be to get a bunch of strings and connect them to my wrists, so when I moved my arms, the legs would move as well. I figured this for making the eels hangs on my in a similar fashion maybe. The only issue with the octopus legs would be their weight and having them come out of the body evenly. Plus this has already been done before, so I wouldn’t be new to the party.
Doctor Strange (Marvel)
Okay hear me out, this was a really COOL costume from the Marvel Movies. What to add to it, there’s a spinning LED light board, and from there, you can program it to do the Doctor Strange magic circles. It would look really cool , especially if I could get a light up necklace as well, even better.
Foam Sword
This would be the first project I’d do with Foam really. Making a sword, because I’ve had a few different designs that I’d love to actually just create.
Peace Bond Armor + Sword
Okay, this one takes some explaining.
Peace Bond itself is when you wrap a strap around your sword to keep it secure in its scabbard. The intention was that if you were there for peace, you’d never need to draw your sword. Whether this is a real element or just a story, this is the idea atleast behind our Modern con verion.
Peace Bonds for Conventions are these colorful Zip ties that you put on Prop Weapons so that Con Staff know it’s an approved item to bring in to Cons. This way no one gets hurt from a sword, an actual gun, or such. I want to make an entire sword and armor out of these colorful Zip Ties. And especially as it’s a joke, you need to have the armor/clothing made out of very commonly found items at a Con. I figure FF7’s buster sword, maybe a One Piece Hat, and then some other commonly seen stuff at cons. It’s that or just make a really big Buster Sword(Comically Large swords), and some armor/cape, maybe a gauntlet and gladiator skirt. Something silly and stupid, which would be a Joke for the Con itself regardless. This one would take LOTS of Zip Ties and figuring out how to layer them in such a way that makes it look like stuff. Another example of foam coming into help on this one.
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Ep 85: Wonder Woman 1984 Review
23 Jan 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Wonder Woman 1984 Review
Mom and me both had concerns over the movie, but not that we couldn’t agree that some stuff in it was great, and other stuff wasn’t. It’s an interesting movie none the less, especially when you look at some of the aspects that we thought were lacking.
Patty Jenkins - Director
Gal Gadot – Diana Prince / Wonder Woman
Chris Pine – Steve Trevor
Kristen Wiig – Barbara Minerva / Cheetah
Barbara Minerva is the 3rd known Cheetah in the Comics. Movie Presents the powers as being the Apex Preditor, which happens to be a Cheetah, vs in the Comics, was due to an Ancient Plant God Urzkartaga.
Pedro Pascal – Maxwell Lord
As depicted in the Comics, Maxwell Lord IV is a powerful business magnate and eventual manager of the Justice League International. In the comics, he eventually gains mind control powers due to a gene bomb granted non-powered humans super powers. He’s been a major bad guy in DC Comics as the guy who kicked off the events of Infinite Crisis by killing the Blue Beatle, infecting people with a cyborg virus, and eventually mind controlling Superman to beat up Wonder Woman and Batman. Maxwell was eventually killed by Wonder Woman in order to save Superman from mind control, but not before a satellite called ‘Big Brother’ showed Wonder Woman killing him, a move that ostracized Wonder Woman for a time. He was eventually resurrected during the Blackest Night event, and permanently resurrected during the events of Brightest Day.
Pascal claimed he was going for a Gordon Geko by ways of Gene Hackman’s portrayal of Lex Luthor. Comes off more like Donald Trump.
Tangent
Blackest Night (2009)
This was an event in DC Comics which was meant to explain why Super Heroes and Villains kept coming back from the dead. In DC Lore, Green Lanterns are merely one of 7 various Lantern Corps that operate around the universe, with each having various focuses and based off feels, IE Love, Willpower, Fear, so forth. DC Rationalized that there was an 8th Lantern Corps, a Black Lantern Corps which controlled death, led by a bad guy named Nekron, who secretly allowed Super Heroes and Villains to keep coming back from the dead. The intention was to seed the world with sleeper agents and activate them, turning anyone who HAD previously died in to a bad guys, including individuals like Superman, Green Lantern, and other Heroes and Villains. This led to various non-previously-diseased super heroes taking up various other Lantern Corps in order to defeat them.
Brightest Day (2010)
After all Super Heroes dawn White Lantern Rings and join the White Lantern Corps, the following events post Brightest Day deal with the fallout from Blackest Night, partly dealing with resurrected individuals who had been dead for some time. This also included Maxwell Lord, who goes about wiping his existence from everyone in the world, only to settle back in to his life of monitoring Super Humans and trying to keep them in check.
Release
Wonder Woman was originally slated for November/December of 2019, but was moved in order to avoid competing with Star Wars Episode 9, before being moved to June 2020 after seeing how well the first film did in the summer. This also had an added effect of giving the studio more time to tweek and edit the film, but also to see it going head to head against Black Widow, another super hero movie. The film would later be delayed multiple times due COVID 19 shutting down movie theaters: first moved to August 2020, then to October 2020, and then finally released in Theaters and Home Media via HBO Max in late December.
Concern over Re-writes/edits
There’s been plenty of Rumors regarding the editing, re-writing, and changes made by the Film Studio producing the film. The Film itself was shot back in 2018, and spent time between then and release, making various edits to the film. The true scope isn’t fully known at this time, but it’s presumed that heavy editing changed the nature of the film.
Another concern for the Film comes in the fact that Warner Bros doesn’t seem to have any concrete or established plans for its DC Extended Universe, so the movie can’t necessarily do all the things the Marvel movies do, like setting up world building and dropping hints about comic references, nor can it develop the characters or point them in a direction for growth.
Trivia
Dream Stone was made from Citrine, a gem long representing wealth and prosperity, also known as a ‘Merchant Stone’ or ‘Money Stone’.The Dream Stone was to originally belong to a character name Sandman, the God of Dreams, another super hero. So when Maxwell Lord uses it to become the Dreamstone, it bursts into sand, which is meant to be a homage to the character. At the time, a Sandman film was being floated and early production had started, and this might have been a tie in to it. When Barbara appears later in the movie wearing furs and clothing made from the skin of animals or animal print, this is a homage to the First Cheetah in the comics, Priscilla Rich, who enjoyed wearing animal furs, and wore a magical cheetah costume.Diana’s wardrobe through out the film is based off Brooke Shield’s attire from the 1980s, since both were all and had similar physiques.This was Padro Pascal’s second Wonder Woman project, after having previously appeared on the Wonder Woman Tv Pilot in 2011.Patty Jenkins has gone on to describe the film as a standalone film, similar in the lines to James Bond or Indiana Jones.
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Ep 84: Wonder Woman Tutorial
16 Jan 2021· Nerd Tutorial Podcast
Topic: Wonder Woman Tutorial
In route to discussing Wonder Woman 1984, we need to do a Tutorial on Wonder Woman herself. And her creation is amazing! I was surprised by it and so was Mom. You have to listen just to find that part out.
Creator:
Created in 1941 by William Moulton Marston, pen name: Charles Moulton.
Marston was a unique individual, a Harvard PhD psychologist who also helped created the lie detector. He believed that Comics had ‘great educational potential’, and was hired by All-American Publications as an educational consultant. The Publication would late merge with another company creating DC Comics.
He lived with his wife Elizabeth Marston and also Ms. Olive Byrne, of which they had a consenting polyamorous life together. Marston’s research and stuff focused heavily on gender, with him at one point studying all Female communities, ie observing the rituals and behaviors of Sororities. It led him to believe that women were the superior gender, but was only being held back from power due to the difficulties of giving birth and raising children, but also housework. He eventually theorized that eventually both child rearing and housework would get easier, allowing women to get educated, gain power, and take their rightful spots as leaders of the world.
When he set out to make Wonder Woman, he did so consciously, deciding to create a female super hero in a male dominated landscape. Marston would later write:
"Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power. Not wanting to be girls, they don't want to be tender, submissive, peace-loving as good women are. Women's strong qualities have become despised because of their weakness. The obvious remedy is to create a feminine character with all the strength of Superman plus all the allure of a good and beautiful woman.
Wonder Woman is also loosely based off Elizabeth and Olive, with Elizabeth inspiring her attitude, and Olive inspiring her appearance. Apparently Wonder Woman’s bracelets was inspired because Olive liked to wear big bracelets.
Comic History:
Since staring All Star Comic #8 in 1941, Wonder Woman has had her own on going Comic Book ever since then. Marston would initially write for the series, with H.G. Peter doing the artwork until his death in 1947 at the age of 54. Later writers would pick up the character and run with it. Early stories focused on feminist agenda, and for the times, push a radical, progressive women’s agenda.
After Marston’s Death, new writers toned down some of the Wonder Woman elements from earlier comics. This included the remove of more bondage related elements, toned down some of the radical feminist agenda, and eventually adding Hellenic and mythological elements and roots to the character.
By the late 1960s, Wonder Woman lost her powers, owning to stay in the world of man, and for a time, picked up martial arts and weapons combat, and gave up being a super hero for owning a boutique. She participated in various story lines that focused more on espionage and mythology. Eventually, due to the 1970s TV show, Wonder Woman was repowered into a super hero. However, by 1985, Wonder Woman’s comic was losing popularity and the character was written out.
During the Crisis of infinite Earth, Wonder Woman was depicted as originating on Earth Two, a second Earth to the main DC Continuity. As a result of the event that wiped out the Multiverse and all other Earths, Wonder Woman was to be written out. However, at the end of the series, Wonder Woman was given a new origin story, as an ambassador from her home land of Themyscira. This is how she would be portrayed in the modern age.
By the end of Flash Point event, the New 52 reimagines Wonder Woman again, this time also carrying her now iconic sword and shield in to battle. The character was redesigned again in 2016, bring her more in line with her original creation.
Crisis Events
DC has major cross over events subjected in to Crisis Events, typically with the intent of retconing, shaking up, or revamping the entire comic landscape. This is often done to streamline continuities or characters, change up dynamics of the world and/or characters, or re-introduce new elements back in to the series. The events offer huge crossovers events for various books, characters, and stories, with the finality of the decisions that get made due to it. These Stories include:
Crisis on Infinite Earths (1985)
This event resulted in the collapse of the Multiverse, the notion that there are various worlds with similar or mirror characters that live similar or mirror lives due to the nature of possibility. As a result of losing the multiversity, several characters migrated to the main continuity, while other characters were killed off, like Super Girl.
Zero Hour, Crisis in Time! (1994)
This event saw the original Green Lantern become a bad guy and attempt to recreate the universe in his own image. The true purpose was to streamline the dates of events that happened, making it so that most character had been around for only 10 or so years, along with fixing the continuity issues plaguing various characters and their introduction from the previous Crisis on Infinite Earths storyline.
Infinite Crisis (2005)
This Crossover saw the reintroduction of the Multiverse, and redid the timeline and events once more. As a result of some character leaving to a pocket dimension in the First Crisis event, they see how dark the universe has gotten and decided they need to recreate Earth Two and Destroy Earth One. Eventually though, the Multiverse gets recreated as a result.
Final Crisis (2008)
The event sees a Super Man Villain, Dark Sied, taking over Earth using a formula designed to ensnare people to his will. Because Earth is the cornerstone of the Multiverse, and controlling it give the power to control over Multiverses, Dark Sied was capable of controlling the entire Multiverse. The comic in theory kills both Dark Sied and Batman, though both would return through weirdness.
Flash Point (2011)
Flash Point sees the Flash use his super speed ability to go back in time and save his mother. As a result of saving his mother, but at the cost of changing the entire universe, including depowering the Flash. In the end, Flash is able to get his powers back, and restore the events that led to the correct universe. However, while initially intended as a contained story, the events led to the ‘New 52’ Timeline. New 52 was a company-wide relaunch of all their series, simplifying and revamping many characters and time lines.
Convergence (2015)
Considered one of the worse Crisis Events, it saw a bad guy trying to battle the various DC cities against one another. And this meant from any continuity, any property, and almost any franchise was on the table. While everything eventually returned back to normal, and set in motion a removing continuity from DC Comics. The DC You initiative wanted to focus more on stories than continuity, however, this was widely hated by fans, and quietly swept under the rug.
Dark Nights Metal (2017)
The most recent Crisis Event depicts a bad guy, named Barbados, who seeks to leave a dark Multiverse dimension via Batman. Upon escaping, he brings with him various other murderous and evil Batmans, led by the Batman who laughs and kicks the butts out of the regular Multiverse characters. Eventually the Multiverse heroes beat the Dark Multiverse. This series is the first to not have any major shake-ups in the universe necessarily.
Character History:
Depending on which timeline, revamp, or relaunch, the character’s history has been changed countless times to suit the needs of the writers and runners of the comic books.
The most common origin stories for Diana include:
She was born of clay and brought to life as a golem by the godsShe was a blessing from the godsShe is the daughter of Zeus, and thus a demi-god.
All stories start with Diana being raised on Paradise Island, later renamed Themyscira, and being trained by the Amazons of the island. She meets with Captain Steve Trevor and is brought to the world of man, either to protect it, or to act as an Emissary for Themyscira.
Diana Prince is her alias, otherwise she is Diana of Themyscira, when not known as Wonder Woman. She is depicted as being among the best woman in the world. Strong and powerful, but delicate and kind, smart and heroic, embodying all the greatest qualities of womanhood.
Beyond that, she is considered a part of the Holy Trinity of DC Comics, which include Superman, Batman, and herself. She is also the first of the Three to join the Justice League, later retconed as her, Superman, and Batman creating the league together.
Her Powers include:
Super Strength
Super Durability
Super Speed
Super Agility
Healing Factor
Flight (Post Crisis on infinite Earths)
Beyond her Super powers she is a:
Master Tactician
Master Combatant
Multi-Lingual
Expert Pilot
Possessing Great Wisdom
Equipment:
Bracelets of Submission – Crafted from Zeus’s legendary Aegis Shield, Wonder Woman’s iconic bracelets act as Bracers on her arms, allowing her to deflect bullets and projectiles,including energy blasts.
Lasso of Truth – a powerful rope that is capable of retraining the universes strongest beings, including Superman. The lasso also compels people to be truthful. The lasso has also shown healing and anti-magic properties.
Golden Tiara – Wonder Woman’s headband has doubled as a boomerang on occasions, depicted as being super strong and sharp.
Invisible Jet – Wonder Woman’s original mode of transportation prior to her ability to fly. It is meant to be based on a Pegasus, but has changed from a propeller plane to a jet plane over time and publications.
Sword and Shield – Since the New 52 continuity, Wonder Woman has also carried a Sword and Shield, reminiscent of gladiators in Roman times. They’re depicted as being of similar metal to her Tiara and costume, having been crafted by the Amazonians.
Costume:
Depending on the depiction, Wonder Woman’s costume has been relatively consistent over time, mirroring similar elements over the time. Most notable changes over time have included the bottom portion going from a skirt with stars to high-cut briefs with stars, her red, strapless top depicting an eagle, later her Wonder Woman logo over the cups of the breasts. In 2010, they decided to change her look up and gave her pants and a leather jacket. The original look would alter return a year later in 2011, and by 2016, her look was resigned to look more gladiatorial, with an over the shoulder strap for her sword and shield, along with her a gladiatorial skirt in the form of leather strips, not unlike Xena, Warrior Princess. This was also the version used for the Live Action movies.
Villains:
Wonder Woman’s Rogue Gallery consists of a lot of Greek Gods and Mythology creatures, though has some unique villains too. Though they all share a common element that they are all intelligent and/or doctors in some field.
Giganta – a woman who is capable of changing her shape and size, while still retaining her intelligence.
Cheetah – a woman, occasionally a man, who dresses like a Cheetah to fight Wonder Woman. Modern takes on Cheetah have her Cheetah like characteristics and powers gifted by the plant god Urzkartaga.
Doctor Psycho – can control minds. He’s notable for being created partly based off Marston’s college professors who opposed women’s suffrage and feminism.
Doctor Poison – a woman who uses poison to control minds, along with other effects.
Ares – The God of War, who is in direct opposition to Wonder Woman, who strives for peace around the world.
The First Born – Daughter of Hera and Zeus, he is destined to sit on Zeus’s throne. He fights with Wonder Woman who aims to stop him.
Circe – A Sorceress with various god like powers, including mind control, creating energy blasts, teleportation, and transforming objects. She’s all known for her siren’s call that lures men to their death.
Medusa – the Gorgon with snake like hair and can turn people in to stone.
In Media:
Beyond the original Comic Books, Wonder Woman has been a pop Icon for the last 80 years. As a result, she’s been depicted in various media outside of her comic origin.
It was the famous 1975 Wonder Woman Tv Show which reintroduced Wonder Woman’s powers in the comics. Protrayed by Lynda Carter.
Wonder Woman has been a mainstay of various animated DC properties. Most Notably in the Super Friends Cartoons from the 70s and 80s and the DC Animated Universe cartoons that aired throughout the late 90s and early 2000s. She’s also been a part of major Justice League Direct to Video features.
In Film, She is portrayed by Gal Gadot in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, Wonder Woman, and Wonder Woman 1984.
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