It’s been a while since I’ve written for the blog so I thought I’d start a little simple before adding some new articles or continuing some of the reviews I’ve left hanging.
STARSHIP HULK
In 2021 Donny Cates started writing the Hulk, with the tough act of following Al Ewing’s Immortal Hulk. He dealt with the concept of a “Starship Hulk”-where Banner would “pilot” the Hulk’s body via a “Mind palace”(Acting as a “Star Trek” style bridge, but the Hulk’s rage being the engine) through space and the multiverse, with the help of AIM tech.
The Hulk-his savage incarnation, that is-would supply the rage with Banner giving him endless mental fights against various enemies. Among them, a giant Wolverine, wearing the outfit from his first fight with Hulk (and also his very first appearance).
However, this version-which deal with a world full of gamma beings not once but twice, battled Thor and Iron Man in a crossover event, didn’t find peace either, thanks in large part to…
TITAN HULK
A parasitic being who came from behind the Green Door and then was utilized by the being D’spayre, this “Hulk’s Hulk” has basically volcanic skin and shoulders. First possessing Banner’s body in a bar in El Paso, it showed up several times during the “Starship Hulk” era, until with the help of Dr. Strange and Doc Sasquatch (Doc Samson in the body of Sasquatch, which happened during the Immortal Hulk era), the Titan was defeated and left a corpse in Banner’s mind…although a strange Leader-like being grabbed the parasite at the end….
Now, Banner is back on Earth, for the next Hulk volume by Phillip Kennedy Johnson who will return “Incredible” to the title. This next run promises to bring back some of the horror elements of Immortal Hulk, and also the Hulk (Rumored to be the “Green scar” incarnation) wanting control of their mutual body….what will happen? We’ll find out in July….
After his conversation with Felix, Bond’s car is broken down so he accepts a ride from a woman who was eying him at the bar. She identifies herself as Naomi, who has a thing for “old wrecks” (Some kind of “Skyfall”ish dialogue here, and like Skyfall we also have a Bond who’s pretty much off the grid and hasn’t done a lot of agent stuff again, although for a different reason). Also Bond seems to think this is some kind of romantic rendezvous, kind of makes you wonder if he’s been doing his usual Bond thing with ladies or has sworn it off since Madeline (The movie doesn’t really answer either way).
Turns out Nomi isn’t here for a fling, but she’s a 00 sent by M to make sure Bond doesn’t interfere in the Valdo case. More Skyfallish “Past your prime” dialogue here, with Nomi also implying that Bond’s knees aren’t working too great either (and she’ll put a bullet in the one that does if he interferes). Also she now has the 007 moniker, since Bond has been inactive. (This caused some confusion during the very, very long time, as 007 is considered synonymous with Bond himself, however it’s not a name. In the original continuity for example, there are at least two 00s who are replaced by people with the same numbers once they die or in active-002 and 009. it’s also possible James was not the first 007.)
Meanwhile, back at MI6 they’re trying to figure out Valdo’s computer with the help of Q, but have noticed many files seem to be missing. Also this is the only point in the film you’ll see the new Aston Martin Valhalla. While there’s three others including the DB5 already seen, this one just sits next to a giant fan for some reason.
Expecting a call from the PM, M instead gets a call from Bond, who questions M about his connections to Valdo, and the new 00, and also SPECTRE. M picks up that Bond probably got the info from the CIA, of course, but does a quick check on Blofeld, who seems to be endlessly muttering in his cell (In fact, he seems to be dictating or practicing his “birthday” speech later in the movie, if you listen closely).
After a quick look at the water (Which was misleading in the trailers and music videos, thinking he was musing about Madeline), Bond is in with the CIA mission-and headed to Cuba to meet with Paloma (Ana De Armas)
Craig of course worked with Armas before in the mystery/dark comedy “Knives Out” where they both played considerably different characters, although Paloma initially comes off as nervous and inexperienced here….at first
She helps Bond dress in of course his more signature tux look. And we get the classic line to go: “Shaken, not stirred”. Now, they’re off to a party….
Bond is in Jamacia, but it seems like the past has caught up to him in a few ways. He’s collected newspaper clippings about Blofeld, although otherwise he’s fishing and enjoying a somewhat lower profile life. Until he gets a cigar-a Delectado from Cuba. Some say this might be a reference to Die Another Day, as the same cigar was smoked during Cuba during Bond’s visit there, and was part of a code to awaken a sleeper agent, but as Felix smoked in “Quantum of Solace” and I have absolutely no idea as to Jamaica’s tobacco trade with Cuba, I’ll treat this as a “maybe” reference (Although Cuba figures into things a bit later0. Bond-kind of off the grid a bit-journeys into town, although he catches the eyes of a certain someone before meeting the eyes of Felix and Logan Ash, his “partner” who has kind of a weird transition from meeting Bond in the jeep to a later gathering at the nightclub.
Bond and Felix play a game involving coins for a bit before getting down to business-in general, this scene seems a bit more like the much warmer relationship Bond and Felix mostly had in the old Bond continuity than their limited interaction in Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace. Then again, it’s been implied in video games and of course there’s a lengthy gap between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall that implies some alternate form of the missions in the earlier Bond films (Well, probably without the SPECTRE or at least Blofeld stuff) happened in a more modernized way between those films (Same approach seems to be taken by some of the comics, which recently had a new take on Goldfinger, for example). Logan tries to sweeten the deal by bringing SPECTRE into it.
It might be coincidence, or it might be intentional, but in the original continuity Bond first met Felix in a Jamacian bar as well, or at least, it’s stockroom, way back in Dr.No.
It’s been a while, but here’s part 2. After the title sequence, which evokes On Her Majesty’s Secret Service with hour glasses, tridents and shields (the last two symbols of Britain) and a “Five years later” card (Makes sense since SPECTRE came out in 2015 and the film was originally meant to come out in 2020) we’re given a SPECTRE infiltration of a British bioweapons lab, and introduced to a semi-henchman, Valdo Obrechev. Like many others over the years, he is a scientist whose invention is a threat, but does not pose a physical threat to Bond. With the slight-if untasteful-comic relief he provides, especially with his fake accent and office jokes, he seems a bit similar to Boris from GOLDENEYE. Also like Boris, he’s kind of “in” on what’s going to happen, but working as a sort of “triple” agent, like some others later on-whereas Boris was kind of just a double-as the film’s villain, Safin-no fan of SPECTRE-asks him to swallow a hard drive before the SPECTRE commandos arrive.
He’s extracted and the lab is destroyed in a disturbing but not quite as destructive as GOLDENEYE fashion (especially since it’s in London, instead of an isolated Artic location). However, of course it’s noted by M, who is upset by the incident, but says it’s a gas leak (ironically, the same thing that happened to the former MI6 HQ in SKYFALL, although orchestrated by Silva, who was also doing the work of SPECTRE, according to that film-guess Blofeld Ok’d that plan since it was obviously would mess Bond up).
As for Bond, he’s decided to retire in Jamaica after he assumed Madeline betrayed him, although it might’ve seemed more practical that Bond would’ve moved to another country in Europe after his latest betrayal (In Skyfall he remained in Turkey after he was presumed dead-the beach where he moved was there) This location has a lot of history with Bond. It was Ian Fleming’s main holiday retreat and his home there was named “Goldeneye”, which of course inspired the Bond film of the same name (also inspired by Fleming’s OSS time). Also, his novels of “Dr.No” and “Live and Let Die” were set there. While the Dr.No movie-the first Bond movie-also featured Jamaica, the “Live and Let Die” movie decided to create a fictional island, although the son of Bond’s Jamaican ally in that film-Quarrel Jr.-was an ally.
In the Doctor’s last few adventures, she learned that she was (probably) the Timeless Child-a mysterious child-perhaps from another universe-who could regenerate his/her body; and that the ancient Time Lords-led by a pioneer named Tectuen who was also the Doctor’s foster mother-reverse-engineered that trait to their whole species-allowing them extra long lives, and the time to build a time-travelling civilization. She also learned of a covert Gallifreyan agency-the Division-and that she had possibly hundreds of other incarnations before the “First” Doctor-some of whom were involved in the Division, including a Doctor who had hid from them by using the Chameleon arch disguised as a human named Ruth.
The Doctor’s quest for answers brings her to the Lupari Karvanista, who instead captures the Doctor and puts her in Yaz in a rather uncomfortable situation before departing for the “final days of Earth”. The Doctor and Yaz escape…barely. Also, the TARDIS is acting weird, leaking ooze and it’s doors are having major issues.
Meanwhile on Earth, Dan Lewis-Who lives in Liverpool (Also serving as an enthusiastic but unauthorized museum tour guide)-is trying to arrange a date with Di, a Museum worker.
In addition to all this a weird blue skull-like alien called Swarm escapes from a Division prison by disintegrating his captors and using their energy to effectively regenerate, and sends this as a message to the Doctor. He also journeys to the artic and collects his sister Azure, who had been disguised-presumably by the Division-as a human woman. Finally, he and Azure kidnap Diane and imprison her before her date with Dan.
Back on Earth, Karvanista kidnaps Dan and reveals the Lupari-and their fleet-are not there to invade or destroy Earth but in fact to save it and it’s people from a deadly destructive way called the Flux. They also meet a woman called Claire, who is quickly sent back in time by Weeping Angels who are also around.
This also causes a man running a space station, Vinder, to evacuate.
As the Flux begins to wreck havoc across the universe, the Doctor tries to get in it’s way with the TARDIS and use it’s time energy, while the Lupari fleet-whose ships are equipped with Flux-proof technology, attempt to keep it in engulfing Earth. The TARDIS doesn’t do too much and is about to be destroyed itself (cliffhanger) although the Lupari defense holds….but not before it appears the Doctor’s old enemies, the Sontarans, have managed to sneak in…. (and sporting a redesign not dissimilar, but obviously higher budget-than their classic look instead of the more colorful armor and smoother skin of their previous Nuwho appearences)…oh yeah, and also this might all be connected to the reason Joseph Williamson built weird tunnels in the 19th century in Liverpool as well.
Next: The Sontarans engage on two fronts-The Crimean war and the present, and the Doctor and Dan are all that stands against them. Also Swarm & The Flux wreck further havoc.
After six years- a bit longer than expected-James Bond has returned, as it’s always been promised at the end of many Bond movies (including this one….although as I’ll elaborate, he might quite be the same the next time around.)
NO TIME TO DIE, unconventionally, doesn’t quite start with Bond in the middle of a mission-even the Gunbarrell forsakes it’s usual blood drip-as instead we open in 1990’s Norway, complete with Tamagotchi and Wallace and Gromit-and a somewhat spooky opening scene that introduces to Safin. The genesis of this scene is actually based on a scene from SPECTRE where Madeline recounted how a man came to her house to kill her father (Mr. White). Kind of funny how this one scene pretty much became the basic setup for this whole movie. Then again, I’m not sure anybody watching Casino Royale in 2006 would foresee that Mr. White would pretty much be the connective tissue of Craig’s entire run, arguably.
Safin kills Madeline’s mother, and Madeline uses her father’s gun to shoot him, but he survives (Probably wearing body armor) when she tries to dispose of his body in the mostly iced lake nearby. Lil’ Madeline falls under the radiply icing water, perhaps a callback to Bond’s similar predicament in Skyfall, but Safin shoots the ice to save her-although the act is not directly seen, it’s pretty much implied as we cut to adult Madeline swimming in Italy.
Here we switch to Matera, Italy. Italy itself has been a frequent location in Bond movies, although the Craig films have perhaps been there more frequently than most, especially in “Casino Royale” which made extensive use of Lake Como (Which also doubled for the planet Naboo in the Star Wars prequels) and, of course, Venice. Rome was also used for the last film, “Spectre” as well.
It’s also here where the first publicity photos for the film were taken as well.
Madeline encourages Bond to visit Vesper’s tomb nearby, especially since it’s a night where people are trying to burn their sins away. He also decides to do the same, with a “forgive me” note to her. But it turns out SPECTRE has also left a note, with their signature Octopus insignia. Uh oh.
Not only that there’s a bomb in the tomb, which goes off and disorients Bond, and the audience as well (Some during the film might wonder if there’s something up with the audio). Bond quickly finds himself pursued by SPECTRE agents, including the boy who led him to the tomb, and the new henchman, Primo, AKA Cyclops, who tells him it’s all Madeline’s doing.
After some struggle, including a spectacular leap, Bond makes it back to the hotel, where we have a bit of dialogue where the concierge says “Your wife has already prepared your luggage” (or something like that)-which makes one wonder, did Bond marry her, or was it simply the man’s assumption? Or just some kind of fake out like the fake marriage in You Only Live Twice, or Rosie Carver’s “Mrs. Bond” in Live and Let Die? Unfortunately it’s never really brought up again.
Madeline says she wants to tell Bond something, but that something is never really followed as he rushes her into his familiar DB5, she gets a phonecall from Blofeld letting her know “Her father would be proud of her” and we get a car chase where the DB5 gets to show off it’s arsenal for perhaps the most since ‘Goldfinger.” Of course other Bond cars-including other Aston Martins- have done plenty of stuff in the films since, but not quite the DB5.
There’s quite a tense scene where Bond is surrounded with Madeline begging him to do something-the bullet protection of the windshields are starting to crack-and he hesitates, perhaps trying to see how far she’s willing to go since he’s convinced he’s been portrayed again. However, eventually he relents, and lets the Gatling guns and smoke go loose. Eventually, they reach a train station. They embrace, but Bond isn’t willing to give her a chance to say this whole thing wasn’t her fault, he’s been burned before with Vesper and he isn’t going to risk that again. And after roughly half an hour, the usual Bond opening credits begin…(No Time To Die is the longest Bond pre-credits sequence, eclipsing 1999’s Brosnan film, The World Is Not Enough, by about ten minutes, give or take).
More installments to follow. I think 🙂 I’ll admit I haven’t updated things lately as much as usual.
“In a land far, far away, lies the Kingdom of Fiore, a small peaceful nation of 17 million, and a place filled with magic! Found in every home, bought and sold in every marketplace, for most, magic is merely a tool, a mundane part of everyday life. For some, however, magic is an art, and they have devoted their lives to its practice. These are the mages. Banded together into magical guilds they apply their skills in search of fame and fortune. Many such guilds dot the landscape of Fiore. But there is a certain guild in a certain town that soars high above the rest, one from which countless legends have been born… a guide that will no doubt continue to create legends well into the future. Its name… is Fairy Tail.”
“Fair Tail” was one of the most popular longer-running manga/anime franchises of the past decade (In fact, in a sense it’s still going on, with the 100 Years Quest manga which, although not directly written and pencilled by creator Hiro Mashima, still has his input).
As the intro suggests, Fairy Tail is about a popular, but quirky, group of wizards who take jobs at the Fairy Tail guild, mainly based in the town of Magnolia. Within the first few episodes, the core group is introduced-Natsu, who has fire magic, claims to have been raised by a dragon, suffers from vehicular motion sickness, and is often is called by the nickname “Salamander”; his blue flying cat friend, Happy; Gray, the somewhat more moody Ice wizard who has a tendency to take his shirt off; Erza, the tough but somewhat uninhibited warrior lady whose “requip” magic gives her access to tons of armors and weapons, and newcomer Lucy, a rich girl who wants to leave her pampered life to join the Guild, and who posesses Celestial spirit magic, allowing her to use a set of keys to summon beings from another dimension who can help out in a fight.
A few sagas down the road, they also add to the ‘main cast’ Wendy Heartfilla, who has wind powers, and like Natsu is a “dragon slayer” (raised by a dragon, with dragon-slaying abilities) with a feline companion, Carle/Charlie (depending on your translation).
Of course there are many, many side characters who are part of or later join the guild, all of whom pretty much get a spotlight series in the series although they’re not quite the “big five”. Among them, Gajeel, another Dragon Slayer, but whose skills involve metal; as well as his cat Lily (who joins in another arc) and who comes from a rival guild, Water-manipulating Juvia, also from the same rival guild but who forms a somewhat unrequited attachment to Gray; The siblings Elfman, Mirajana and Strauss who can turn into forms of creatures; hard-drinking Cana who has card abilities, Lightning Laxus and his group who form a rival Fairy Tail faction at one point, their master Makarov, Macao, and Gildarts (Who has a connection to Cana) who are some of the more senior members….as well as members of other guilds, such as the vainglorious but actually very competent and heroic Blue Pegasus, Lamia Scale, who are formerly led by Gray’s rival Lyon but eventually come to the rescue, the all-female Mermaid heel, and Crime Sorciere, a group of former series villains and dark guilds seeking redemption. (Think of them as the equavilent to comic book groups like the Marvel’s Thunderbolts or DC’s Suicide Squad), led by Erza’s main romantic interest, Jellal. Last but not least, there’s the somewhat brutal (at first ) Sabretooth, which includes two Dragon Slayers, Sting and Rogue.
Although Fairy Tail might seem episodic and goofy at first this soon changes, as there are more to each of the core members that really meets the eye, as well as the “B-teams”. This is especially true during the “Tenrou Island” arc, in which a competition within the team soon turns out to be much more complex as a dark guild infiltrates the tournament-including one member who has been pulling the strings of the first few arcs, who has a connection to Gray’s master.
Here, we’re properly introduced to the Dark sorcerer Zeref, First master Mavis, and the dragon Acoledgia, who play a major part in the series going forward (well, except for maybe one or two ‘filler arc’) This is all part of a very complex backstory involving dragons, Fairy Tail’s origins, and the mysterious origins of Natsu and his fellow Dragon slayers, as well as a by-gone age of Dragons. It’s a bit like “Skyrim” meets “Harry Potter”. There’s even an element of time travel too! Even the *cats* have a story arc devoted to their origins, although in their case it’s not quite as important to the overall story and is more akin to Star Trek’s Mirror Universe.
For a long running series, FT has it’s ups and downs here and there. Animation can sometimes be inconsistent (In fact the show shifted animation studios a few times)-sometimes really fluid, sometimes somewhat lazy (Then again this is a fairly long-running anime TV show at 328 episodes so there’s certainly a bit of a need for limited animation to save money). However, it’s always colorful and the backgrounds are especially well done. Also, since it’s a series based on a manga-which for the most part was running at the same time-some of the arcs are a bit drawn out (although not quite to Dragonball Z length, and there’s often enough characters to allow for some variety to the ‘fights’ more often)…and of course there’s plenty of filler, including several story arcs which really don’t add that much to the overall story and were not based on the manga. Also, although it has a lot of action and drama, it’s also a comedy with often absurd moments and character reactions (such as the running joke of Natsu’s motion sickness), and also a fair amount of nudity/sex jokes which might not be for everyone.
It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. A half-century has passed since Earth began moving its burgeoning population into gigantic orbiting space colonies. A new home for mankind, where people are born and raised. And die. 9 months ago, the cluster of colonies furthest from the Earth, called Side 3, proclaimed itself the Principality of Zeon and launched a war of independence against the Earth Federation. Initial fighting lasted over one month and saw both sides lose half their respective populations. People were horrified by the indescribable atrocities that had been committed in the name of independence. Eight months had passed since the rebellion began. They were at a stalemate.
And so begins the first intro of Mobile Suit Gundam. While it describes much of the war, it only visually introduces the Mobile Suits- but this is the main advantage Zeon has in the war-The Mobile suits, in particular, the Zaku. Mobile Suits are basically giant robots, with the Zaku in particular looking like a cross between a tank and a soldier wearing a gas mask. The Federation can only really counter with basic military units like infantry, tanks and fighters…until now.
The Federation is quickly developing it’s own prototype counter to Zeon’s advantage-The Gundam, as well as it’s supports suits the Guncannon and Guntank. Not only is it intended to counter the Zaku, but to surpass it in every way-with a wide variety of weapons including “beam” sabers and rifles (as oppossed to Zeon tech which uses heated blades and giant ammo), head cannons, and heavy armor as well as many other attachments. This is operation V, being developed at a Side 7 colony. An Earth Federation carrier, the White Base, arrives to pick up the Gundam and the other suits.
However, things go wrong when the Zeon find out about this operation, and in a (partially unauthorized) strike, kills or badly wounds most of White Base’s senior crew, and damages the colony, leading to a group of civilians not only having to take shelter aboard the White Base, to serve as it’s crew as well.
The Gundam in particular winds up in the hands of teen Amuro Ray-son of the Gundam’s designer-before he can board, and he quickly-and almost intuitively-figures out at least some of it’s functions and eliminates two of the invading Zakus, trying to cover White Base’s escape from the colony. Amuro’s experience and reckless nature conflict with the more disciplined, by-the-book Ensign Bright Noah, who has assumed command of White base with the proper crew mostly incapacitated, dead, or not having the same place in the chain of command.
However, the commander of the Zeon mission-Char Aznable-a mysterious masked ace pilot-faces off against Amuro, in the first of many skirmishes between the two, a rivalry that will last throughout multiple series and movies. Char is not only distinctive because of his mask, but also his red colored Mobile suits.
However, Char has his own ambitions. In a twist on the Duchess Anastasia myth, Char-real name Casval Deikun-is actually the son of Zeon Zum Daikun, who started the Zeon independence movement in the first place, but was assassinated by his own second-in-command, Degwin Zabi, who then installed his family as the head of Zeon, who warped Daikun’s ideals into a military dictatorship which led, in part, to the war. Char’s primary motive in becoming an ace Zeon pilot is to get revenge on the Zabis, one by one. Complicating things is that Char/Casval’s sister, Artesia (under the pseudonym Sayla Mass), is among White Base’s improvised crew, having been separated from her brother at a young age when he started his guest for vengeance. Initially serving as White Base’s comms officer, she eventually becomes the pilot of the Gundam support unit the G-armor (or in some versions, the core booster).
Eventually, the crew-who despite being a sort of weird mix and being armed with invaluable prototype technology-eventually join the war on the Federation’s side on Earth and space as a sort of unorthodox unit with a major ace in the hole with the form of the Gundam (and also the Guncannon and Guntank, piloted by Side 7 refugees Kai and Hayato; also eventually joined by Sayla in her G-armor/Core booster). As they fight the war while mostly cut off from the front lines, they develop a sort of bond, and have plenty of heartbreak as well-as this is a war which will claim it’s share of casualties. Plus Char-as well as later aces such as Ranba Ral, the Black Tri-stars and others-are a constant thorn in their side, as are Zeon’s own Mobile suits and giant vehicles called Mobile Armors which outnumber the Gundam in quantity if not in quality,and of course Char’s own agenda complicates things. In addition to Char’s vendetta against the Zabi family, the Zabi family also plots against each other (Which, in a few ways, make’s Char’s task slightly easier).
As Amuro grows more experienced, he starts to exhibit even more extraordinary piloting skills and a sense of new awareness and a sixth sense, in a way somewhat similar to the “force” in Star Wars, but instead of some energy field it’s more of an evolutionary step for mankind and for the most part, does not involve telekinesis. He becomes a “Newtype”, as do other members of White Base’s crew (Char is also a Newtype as well).
Things become even more complicated when Amuro finds a soul mate of sorts with the enigmatic Lalah Sun. Problem is, she’s Char’s soul mate as well….and this will have ramifications going into further series.
The original Gundam of course is not for everyone. The animation is somewhat outdated being over 40 years old on TV, and of course being an older anime there’s a lot of ‘filler’ (One was even removed from most overseas broadcasts due to poor animation and story, so Gundam sort of has a “lost” episode!). Howerver, the story itself is pretty timeless, and while some of the “mecha” animation might be sloppy at times (although the basic designs hold up and are still used in Gundam productions), the character designs in particular, although very seventies, definitely stand out and are somewhat less generic than current Gundan anime. For instance, when I’ve watched Gundam Seed it’s kind of hard to tell Athrun, Kira and Shinn apart sometimes. But nobody’s going to mistake the three guys on the right here-Kai, Hayato and Ryu with each other.
A lot of the goofier aspects of the series-Many of the Mobile armors (especially a weird, yellow one called the Zakarello) and the G-armor-were cut or re-animated for a set of three compilation movies, which shorten the series length down about 1/3rd but still contain many of the important things, although some of the good stuff is cut too.
After being manipulated by the Leader, Bruce Banner is captured and the Devil Hulk “killed” in a sort of Gamma hell, leaving the Savage Hulk and Joe Fixit the dominant personas. Joe emerges as Banner with a mustache and longer hair, and remains the ‘human’ form. He even has a Coney Island hot dog and beer with the Thing.
Joe can transform into the Savage Hulk, however only a severely emaciated and powered down form.
Joe’s relationship with the Savage version has also changed to more of a protective older brother, which is far different from their original relationship, where they were fighting for dominance as the Hulk.
However, Joe and Savage are “killed” by the U-foes, and once again taken to Gamma hell where the Leader-who has melded with the Demonic One Below All-intends to possess them. However, in the real world, Hulk’s corpse is pelted by the U-Foes’s X-ray in order to keep him from coming back to life, which has an unexpected side effect-Joe absorbs the cosmic energy and becomes a “red” Hulk, taking Savage and fleeing through a “Red door” (The opposite of the Green door which leads to and from the gamma hell).
Hulk’s corpse begins to re-animate, but in a largely different form. He’s no longer emaciated, he talks like Joe and has a Green-Grey hue, plus veins bulging with cosmic energy….
Well, this one’s a bit of a doozy. Cyberpunk 2077 was a highly anticipated game for many years, as it was developed by CD Projeckt Red, who had worked on the WITCHER series of games, and based on a popular tabletop RPG, spent many years being worked on (including before and alongside Witcher) so no problem when it would get released, right?
The December 10th, 2020 release unfortunately was plagued with multiple glitches, performance issues, and many, many other problems. Despite that-and thanks to a few patches although the game is *still* buggy-I managed to complete at least one of the multiple endings.
But apart from that, let’s get to content. In Cyberpunk-basically a dystopia not that different from “Blade Runner” although maybe with some better color and weather, you play as “V”, who starts on a sort of career path that can influence at least some of your decisions and dialogue choices in the game, but basically you mostly become a mercenary who quickly becomes friends with fellow merc Jackie Welles, and you do a few jobs together.
Unfortunately one job goes to crap when you try to steal an item known as the “relic” from the Arasaka Corporation, and also witness the son of the company’s leader kill his father. Jackie also is fatally wounded and you’re forced to put the ‘relic’ into your own cybernetic head. Said relic turns out to be the uploaded soul of Johnny Silverhand, an anarchist Rockstar with his own beef with Arasaka after they uploaded his girlfriend into their network-before he met the same fate (Think the “Matrix” except the VR isn’t a replica of 20th’s Earth and the body is left mindless/braindead after being dumped in the program). And he’s played and obviously based on the likeness of Keanu Reeves.
Unfortunately, the relic has contaminated you already, leaving V as the reluctant companion of Silverhand as a sort of ghostly apparition who often has snide comments and induces seizures or even total body takeovers at inappropriate times . However, despite this, the two form a bond (or at least they did in my playthrough). The main quest is to find out how to get each other out of your head. What happens to Silverhand, V etc. is of course up to the player-but not every ending will be satisfactory, even if it looks like it is. This is a dystopia after all.
Like many games these days, Cyberpunk uses an equipment system, one that’s fairly similar to the Witcher 3-there’s a crafting option of course as well. There’s also many, many side missions which help build up the story and might help with the endgame you choose. The combat is first person (although driving can be switched to third person, as well as the photo mode-similar to recent “Far Cry” games)-but if you’re used to that style it should work out fine. There’s also a driving system, which has quite a few bugs unfortunately. It’s a bit easier to use the motorcycles than the cars in this one, although if you choose a certain path in the game, you do get something that’s kind of a tank.
There’s also of course a skill tree, and to a degree, a ‘detective mode” of sorts, although this one consists mainly of “braindancing” where you replay a memory and use different filters to scan for clues. There’s also a more conventional ‘second sight’ as well that can be used for spotting objects and enemies, and hacking cameras and even enemies, causing them to malfunction or turn against each other.
There are many different factions in Cyberpunk, and teaming with some of them might influence your ending. I personally went with the Abrecados, a gang that lives mainly in the desert outside the City (Like Grand Theft Auto V, and Cyberpunk’s inspiration Blade Runner, Night City is is patterned somewhat after L.A) . Although it’s quite a crew, your main ally is Panam, who is in a bit of a leadership struggle with the ‘Cados leader Saul. There are also many other options, including making deals with factions within Arasaka itself, or even joining Johnny’s old friends and bandmates, who are mostly still around. You can also help the local police from time to time, although be careful not to hurt regular civilians (or run them over) or you’ll get on their bad side of course.
Overall, Cyberpunk is a heavily flawed, but still overall OK, game, mainly for it’s interesting setting and characters, a decently-sized open world, even if it’s heavily glitched and doesn’t offer too much that’s revolutionary unlike Witcher 3.
![Spoilers] "I'm the Hulk! You hear me? The Hulk! The worst Hulk of 'em all!" (Immortal Hulk #45) : comicbooks](https://preview.redd.it/jaiz74iwnpr61.png?auto=webp&s=0bfe8764679a8fc198f1b40a00ddd79c9fa142e2)
Chrism227's Blog 