Moar Ramblings About Impact

The following is a transcript of a segment from Episode #70 of the DTM-Cast, slightly adjusted for text format.

A couple weeks ago, Impact Wrestling has finally dumped the much-maligned TNA moniker and pretty much dumped the prior management for its idiotic decision-making and things of that nature. So what we’re going to get from here on out is a new product that’s pretty much the same as the old product. A Global Force of wrestling, if you wheel… or actually, don’t wheel. It’s not worth it.

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A Mouse Of Needles And Not (Sonic Mania, Force, Disney Collection, and Stuff)

The following is a transcript of a segment from Episode #70 of the DTM-Cast, slightly adjusted for text format.

So let’s touch on some video game stuff because we haven’t had that in a while. A couple quick news bits that I want to comment on quickly

You’ll remember a few months back when Sega announced two upcoming Sonic games. One is Sonic Mania, the return-to-form 2D throwback title from Christian Whitehead, who was the guy who brought the mobile ports of Sonic 1, 2, and CD. And that game is due this summer. Was supposed to be out in spring, but they’re holding it back a few months and that’s fine, I suppose. I can wait.

The other game that they announced was codenamed Project Sonic 2017 or that sort of thing; it was going to be similar to Sonic Generations in that it features Modern Sonic and even Classic Sonic and they’re in a warzone of sorts… that project now has a name: Sonic Forces. It’ll be running off the Hedgehog Engine 2, which is an update of the engine that powered Sonic Generations, Sonic Colors, that initial wave of Sonic titles after ’06. And it looks like the game will be of a similar vein to those titles, which I’m pleased to see. Out of the various 3D Sonics over the years, I really enjoyed the Colors and Generations model the most which was more based on speed-running, occasional platforming, that sort of gameplay which fits like a glove for a character like Sonic whose main gimmick is his fast speed. So that’s something I’m somewhat looking forward. Obviously, not enough is known at the moment, but there’s always time for that.

Another thing was recently announced from Digital Eclipse and Capcom – and this is actually a nice little surprise if I do say so myself – this coming April will see the release of the Disney Afternoon Collection. And this collection comprise six classic NES games; Ducktales, Ducktales 2, Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers 1 and 2, Talespin, and Darkwing Duck. Aside from the enhanced emulation (1080p HD, that sort of thing), there’s going to be additional boss rush modes, time trials, and a rewind feature that lets you rewind gameplay so that you can save yourself from doing something stupid or something. And of course, there’ll be the gallery of material and never before seen content, so that’ll something.

But, yeah, this is a nice little surprise. I’d imagine this is a bit of a bonus for Capcom, considering they got the rights to do another Marvel Vs. Capcom fighting game, but honestly, I’m not going to complain. When it comes to third-party licensed games on the NES, you could pretty much do no wrong with the Capcom-developed Disney games and what you got here is the best of the best, pretty much. Ducktales is a classic game, Darkwing Duck is a fantastic game, Chip N’ Dale… straightforward titles, Talespin… is fucking Talespin. It’s a nice little package especially for those who missed on these games back in the day, especially something like Ducktales 2 which was a late NES release and these days is pretty damn expensive.

So six classic Disney titles from the NES days by Capcom… I’d imagine it’ll be the same price as the Mega Man Legacy Collection that they released a couple years, but regardless, this should be fun. And it’s something I’m looking forward to without question.

Ramblemania 32

So… here we are again.

With Wrestlemania 33 looming just around the corner, I figure the time has come to revisit this particular edition of Wrestlemania from last year. The one that broke WWE attendance records with an alleged 105,000… some have said it’s closer to 97, but none the less, an impressive number. And so you’d figure with the largest Wrestlemania attendance ever, you’d expect it to be one extremely memorable card… and yet I barely remember a damn thing about the show. I remember it being really, really, REALLY long… but as far as the matches, the moments, the results? My mind’s a blank. And when I go back and review the match listing for the show, it’s not hard to see why this is such an unmemorable show.

Context needs to be somewhat applied here. Seth Rollins, the guy who won the WWE World title the previous year, went out with an injury. John Cena was on the inactive list around the same time and wasn’t on the card. WWE’s continued efforts in trying to make Roman Reigns a beloved hero and the next face of the company did no favors to anyone. And nothing on paper seemed anything close to being worthy of the Wrestlemania name.

Not that it really matters; the event sold out, a new WWE attendence record was set, and the company celebrated by holding an outright mediocre card. If anything, Wrestlemania 32 is living proof that the brand sells on name recognization alone rather than anything booked on the card itself. Your Wrestlemania main event could be a triple threat match between the Shockmaster, the Gobbledy Gooker, and the Brooklyn Brawler and it’ll still sell out. Anyone telling you that the card is important is lying, because it really isn’t.

But I digress. Let’s get on with the show and see how much of it is worth remembering.

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The Abridged Book Of Ninja Fighting

In Season 3 of Mighty Morphin, the Power Rangers get new power coins that draw the power of NINJA! This means they get cool ninja suits and cool ninja powers. Yeah, that’s awesome, right?

But isn’t the ninja supposed to be a stealthy figure?

In the old days, ninjas were spies and assassins who would use stealth to get in, do their thing, and get out without anyone noticing. The art of invincibility, as it were. It was a thing with the Ninja Turtles whenever they needed to do something stealthy; they went in, did their thing, and got out without anyone noticing. Not just because of their appearance differing from the humans, but because they were NINJA. That’s what they’re supposed to do; it’s what they were trained to do. Sometimes, they make noise, but for the most part, they’re supposed to stay in the shadows and they usually do that.

So why is it that whenever we have Ninja Rangers, they’re out in the open and not doing anything that is remotely ninja-y? They make loud noises, they taunt, they don’t do anything remotely stealthy, they have ninja magic… but they don’t use stealth or anything. What kind of ninjas are they?

The ones that apparently study from the Abridged Book Of Ninja Fighting.

Yes, I Have Seen It…

Due to it being a short work day last night, I was able to catch a screening of the new Power Rangers movie before heading off home. And while I will reserve my full thoughts on the film for a later time, I will say that the movie far exceeded my admittedly low expectations.

I really liked the film. While there were some bits that I found odd or questionable, it was a really smooth, easy going film that hit that fine balance between a grounded mature approach and just upfront silly fun that seems to be lacking in a lot of these “uber-serious” reboots. The action bits were well done, the characters were decent, and the whole thing was an easy watch with very few dull moments.
All in all, perfectly fine film. I enjoyed it a lot.