Goodbye 2017. Begone!

So within a few more hours 2017 will finally be over (well, in Australia at least) and good riddance I say. I know lots of people really bagged out 2016, but for me 2016 was not that bad. No, for me 2017 was one of the worst years I've had in a while and that is an understatement.

I won't deny that this year still had its good moments (I know I've done my best to talk about them previously on this site over all the negative things that have happened), but both my health and personal life have gone through hell this year (I'll spare you details) and to be honest, 2018 ain't looking much better, but I guess I can go into it in some vain 'hope for the best' attitude.

Now that I have gotten that out of my system, I hope you all have a Happy New Year and a great start to your 2018 year.

Short Review: Armello (PC)

Ah yes, this is one of those games I love but haven't talked about much. Armello is described as a board game style game with strategic and role-playing elements involved. Taking place in a the fantasy land of Armello which is a land populated by anthropomorphic animals that a more animal in appearance who act more human-like (yes, there are several styles of anthropomorphic creatures and this is just one style). The King Lion (because of course a Lion would be King, most series always have Lions as Kings) has begun acting rather strange and aggressive, drawing the attention of the four prominent Clans: The Wolf, The Rabbit, The Rat and The Bear. These Clans investigation leads to the discovery that the King is being corrupted by a dark power known as Rot. As the Rot gets work, the King's madness becomes more apparent and despite slowly dying from it, the damage being done is throwing the land into chaos. Now Heroes are setting fourth to defeat the King, claim the crown and restore order to a land inflicted by madness.

Twiss from the Bandit DLC is my fav to play.

The game is easy enough to learn, the prologue helping to introduce players on how to play the game, though achieving some of the victories can be rather problematic. First off, you start by selecting your Hero. Despite some being from the same Clan, it really is every Hero for themselves, though in games with friends you could role-play by helping each other out (though you'd probably end up screwing each other over in the end). Each Hero has a set of stats which are Fight, Body, Wits and Spirit. Fight is related to combat combat, Body is the amount of health you have, Wits determine card numbers and dice for Perils tests and Spirit is related to magic Perils tests. Each Hero also has a special ability unique to them. Once you have selected your character, you then get to choose a ring from your selected Clan with their own abilities. Most are locked and you unlock them by simply playing games with Heroes from that Clan. Finally you select an amulet which tend to be limited to a stat boost, but you later unlock other ones from either winning certain types of victories, playing with each hero, playing games and playing online games. DLC character packs also have rings and amulets added to the list for use.

Once you start the game you get some cards, gold and magic to start you off and then you select a quest, which will show you on the map where you need to go to do it. Each quest has a stat symbol on it and the number on your stat is what percent chance of success you to acquire the reward. You also get that stat buffed just doing the quest, so you can either focus on buffing your strengths or helping your flaws. After doing a number of quests you will eventually get a quest that will grant you free access to the palace. Otherwise, the only other way into the palace is to break in, which requires using up all your actions and passing either a Wits or Spirit peril (depending on which side of the castle you enter) and failure will cost you health and kick you out, so only high Wits/Spirit character have any real chance of breaking in, though you can always get lucky (or smart about it). For the most part, you'll be doing quests, equipping items and followers, setting perils on tiles, casting spells, attacking/defending against other Heroes/Palace Guards/Banes (Banes are Raven/Crow like creatures born of Rot) all in the hopes of winning the game. You have three actions which are used to either move or attack, while cards can be used in any players turn so long as you have the requirements and any player you plan to use it on isn't busy.

Cards are another important part of the game. Most are earned at the start of turns, but some can be acquired through quests, treasure hunts and other events. There are four types of cards: Item (both normal and treasures), Followers, Magic and Trickery. Most have money or magic costs, though some can cost Prestige or increase your Rot level. Most Item cards can be attached to a character to give them combat or map effects, but some are one use items to restore things like health or a turns worth of effects. Followers can be attached to grant additional effects too. A Hero can only have three Item and three Followers attached to them at one time. Magic has can be cast on yourself to give you positive effects or cast on enemies for negative effects, just remember that you can buff other Heroes with your spells so take note or you may end up buffing then accidentally just before they attack you. Finally there is Trickery, which can be use to form packs with other Heroes, grant you a bonus, set up perils to slow enemies and generally screw around with everyone.

Combat involves an attacker and a defender and which one you are tends to make a difference when it comes to abilities and items. So for instance, the Heavy Flail item states 'In Battle, when Attacking, +2 Swords or the Tower Shield item which says 'In Battle, +1 Shield. When Defending, gain an additional +1 Shield'. When starting combat, both fighters start with dice based on Fight stat, which then gets modified by things like abilities and items. Rot can also effect the number of dice as the combatant with the higher Rot level gains additional dice based on the opponent's lower Rot level (those without Rot are unaffected by this). The game then adds the effects of items, spells and abilities in, leaving the rest of the dice for you to roll. At this point you can burn cards, as each card has a symbol you can see in the top right-hand corner. You can sacrifice the card to turn one of your dice into that symbol. Once you have done all that (or time runs out), the dice are rolled and tallied up into attack and defense. Swords are attack, Shields are defense, Sun and Moon count as attack depending if it is day or night (otherwise they don't work), Wyld (Tree) symbols explode, adding to your attack and giving an additional dice roll while the Rot (Worm) ones fail, though if a character becomes Corrupted by the Rot, then they switch places and Rot gives the bonus and Wyld fails. Then each side attacks and defends, with the winner forcing the looser back one tile and moving forward (if both survive), the attacker taking the tile of the slain defender, staying where they are if a tie or attacker lost or the defender killing the attacker (who still remains on their tile). Killing another Hero or Bane grants one Prestige while killing a Palace Guard will cost you one Prestige.

The King himself is the main goal of the game. At Dawn the King looses one health, while at Dusk the King gains one Rot, thus adding a turn limit before the game finally ends. Your goal of winning comes from one of four victories. The first is Prestige which is earned by completing quests, killing other Heroes and Banes and some come from card effects. If no one kills the King before he naturally dies, then the Hero with the highest Prestige (the Prestige leader) becomes the winner. The second way is to cure the King by collecting four Spirit Stones, enter the palace and use them on the King (same as attacking but a different effect will take place). Kingslayer is simply to enter the palace and kill the King without falling to the King in the same combat. Finally there is Rot victory, which is the same as Kingslayer, but you have to be strongly corrupted by Rot when you do so. Most of these victories can prove difficult when everyone is trying to screw you over, though most usually end in a Prestige victory.

Personally, I really like this game. It has all the charm of a great board game, the art style definitely gives it that feel, while the game itself is accessible on most consoles and PC. The music is very much how I'd expect it to go in this sort of fantasy setting and I do enjoy listening to the soundtrack at times when I want to get that feel while doing something creative (or even just relaxing to it). The art and animation on the cards is great and really helps give them personality and character, making me want to learn more about this realm and it's inhabitants. I have had a game or two with my Brother to show him the basics with a few A.I. added in and it was enjoyable (even in a not talking game like this, I'm still too anxious to play with random people, so I'm sorry if I can't tell you what multiplayer is actually like). Bug wise, I've never experienced any yet, but some reviews do mention them (then again, most talk about them when a player disconnects during a multiplayer game, so maybe that's why I haven't seen any).

I feel what gets me is just how much they can expand on this IP. I mean, it isn't a simple little world of fuzzy animals with minor problems that can be resolved in some fun adventure, this is full on combat. The Squire card states that when you would be killed, the Squire is killed instead and even the trailers show scenes with implied murder and bloodshed. Personally, this could make for an interest animated show or movie, given how more mature animation is becoming a stronger thing these days. Certainly merchandise could easily expanded on, from novels, art, dice, display pieces or heck, even an actual miniatures board game. There is so much more they could do, though I would also love them to add perhaps a lore section to the game, with character profiles and maybe some more information about minor characters and locations perhaps.

But back on topic, I really enjoy this game and while I am unsure about whether or not the DLC or micro-transactions are reasonably priced (then again, character skins are much cheaper compared to games like Heroes of the Storm, just not as plentiful though Mercurio with a mustache just sounds hilarious). The character DLC tends to add more Heroes and ring options (and so long as the main host in multiplayer has them, other players without them can still try these Heroes out in that match), while the seasons one just adds spring and autumn textures and weather effects to the board, but only the purchaser sees them. Still, even if you don't pick any of these up it is still a great time, so check out some gameplay footage and decide if it's the right game for you.

A look at The Midnight Stalker

So I got myself The Midnight Stalker miniature for my Outcast crew, purely based on how great the character looks (seriously, I'd love a costume like that). Oh course, I know nothing about the character or his rules, but from what I can tell he's a serial killer who has a code of conduct.

This is clearly shown in his rules. Respect for the Art states he cannot target enemy models if they have already activated that turn (probably wanting to give them a chance). That said, he has a nice counter as his Polite and Well-Mannered rule means if he has not yet activated, enemy models get a double negative to Attack duels targeting him. On top of his DF/WP of 6, means he is incredible difficult to attack if he has not activated, though he only has 6 wounds. So you have to decide do you activate him first or last in a turn.

He can ignore intervening models during his walk or charge actions, he gains fast when on his opponent's half of the board and to top it all off, at the beginning of each turn he heals all damage and can be placed within 8 inches of it's current position. On top of that he has a 0 tactical action that grants him a condition where if he deals damage that turn, anyone targeting him must pass a TN 14 WP duel or that action fails, but still cost the AP that was spent on it.

Finally, there is his combat. He has no range, but has a decent MI 6 attack with a 2 inch range and does decent damage with the ram critical strike trigger available (but not built in). He also has a 1 AP tactical action which adds an extra ram to the total for every enemy model it's engaged with, with it's own tomes trigger (not built in) which forces an enemy model that's within it's engagement range to take a TN 11 Horror duel, which could help keep others off his back.

Overall, I really love this characters rules and I look forward to eventually using him. As for the miniature, it was really good spur, making it easy to assemble compared to some other of Wyrd's products. Probably limited for a paint scheme, but I still look forward to working on him.

So......Malign Portents eh?

This is one of those cases where I don't know what to think or if I should say anything. Simply put, I feel like talking about it might hype myself up, only to be struck down by disappointment. What do I mean, well Games-Workshop is slowly showing off new miniatures for some upcoming Age of Sigmar product called Malign Portents. What is Malign Portents? Haven't a clue as it is extremely vague to the point I can't tell what kind of an event it will be, if you need to by a book just to use these miniatures or if they'll add them to a White Dwarf, let alone what it will be about. So why get interested then? Well, I'm liking the look at some of the new miniatures.

First of we have the Death factions character called the Knight of Shrouds, which while not matching my Skeleton/Vamp Bat theme Death forces, does really add to the style of many Death armies. Could see many Nighthaunt armies taking this one.

The next one they have up is the Darkoath Warqueen, who I just love as for a massive mortal force that has both male and female warriors, we rarely have female miniatures and I imagine the rules for this character will be fairly badass. I do feel like this is a miniature I could definitely add to my Chaos faction.

Now on to the final one they currently have up and this one I feel is simply amazing. The Fungoid Cave-Shaman is one of those miniatures I feel someone like my Glibbins character would have eventually evolve into. Perhaps I should re-consider doing a small AoS Skirmish force based around this guy (though am still disappointed that Squigs, Chiefs and Shamans from the Moonclan Grots were never added to Skirmish. That game really needs an expansion).

Overall, I do like these new miniatures. Whether I'll ever get any to paint is something else entirely, but they still look great.

So that's what I did wrong...

...and I feel very, very stupid for not figuring it out.

In my time doing photography I have learned much from online courses and Internet tutorials, so imagine my surprise today when I learned something new that I should have known a some time ago. It was actually from the most recent White Dwarf article which drew my attention on how to photograph miniatures, something I've been wanting to improve as it has been a frustrating problem I've been facing recently (one of the main reasons I haven't uploaded anything in a while).

See, it involves what they called the 'f-stop' and it was something I knew what it did, but had difficulty in using it, mostly cause I assumed it was automatic on my camera as I never found how to alter it. That ended today as not only did I learn more about it from the article, but found a short passage on a site that told me how to work it. Needless to say, this, along with the meeting I had today, has made it a positive day (despite the heat causing me to feel somewhat ill. Yeah, I live in Queensland, its Summer and I struggle with the heat. Fun times).

All I need is some slightly dimmer light bulbs for the two lamps I have and I believe I can start getting the miniatures photographed again (the bulbs I have a bright, great for green screening, not good for miniature photography).

Health & Projects Update

Throwing out just a quick update on situations. Health is still bad, but at least I still have some support out there. Never realized just how bad the health system can be until you actually need it the most. Still, trying to stay positive, though have become a little over frustrated and paranoid as of late. Not sure if its just the situation or the medication, but we'll see what happens over the holiday period.

Now on to the more important stuff, the projects. As such, both Wilma and Maurice are now completed (completed feels inaccurate of a term, perhaps more like 'Well, I'm done"). I've also completed the Gremlin depleted one which I have now named Franky The Depleted, though he has earned the nickname of Mr. Tickles, mostly because of the tendril arms.

The Thalarian Queller is giving me more trouble though as there really isn't any full art of her that I could find and searching for completed models has lead to s single low res version, so I haven't much to go by in painting her and my frustration in doing so is through the roof. I want to finish her off so I can get right into the Jakob Lynch Brilliance crew. While I previously did finish the Hungering Darkness, I am thinking of repainting him as I feel purples are a better colour and using blues to highlight the energy effects might prove to be a better choice.

It's strange, but when I'm creating/converting characters, I feel odd. Not in a negative way, but certainly something that could be described as more positive. I'm not sure what to make of it.

Anyway, perhaps I'll get some shots uploaded soon. We'll see.

Pig Painter

If there is one thing I've learned from painting Maurice's pig companion Wilma, is that painting pigs isn't as problematic as I thought. Actually, it is rather fun. All it requires is just the layering of more human flesh colours, before blending them in with a mixture of the first layer flesh paint watered down mixed with a red wash to add a sort or red/pink colour to darken it. This wash mix was done over the model once, with a second and possible third wash done over areas that were a little too bright to blend them in more (the lightness between the middle layer and the highlight layer tends to be much brighter with the paints I have). Flesh colour mixed with a redish colour is then added to the snout to help give it a darker touch. Now all I need is lots of mud.

Wilma so far, still needs some highlights and more mud work.

I am quite happy with how it's turning out so far and so naturally my attention has turned to looking at Ulix and having a pig focused crew, perhaps as a future project sometime next year. I do love the idea of doing a 25 Soul Stone henchman lead crew, with Old Major leading his pig crew of say two Wild Boars, one Swine-cursed (he's spent so much time in pig form he's now come to love it) and a Piglet.

Little Nightmares DLC 2 - Looking into the Story (Spoilers)

So Little Nightmares has been one of those interesting games that has come out as of late and one of the things that has grabbed my interest in it is its story and lore. This game doesn't use vocal or written dialog to tell it, but more through visual clues and actions, which tends to require a bit more creativity to pull it off right. For me, this is one of those games that does it very well.

So why bring up this DLC then? Well, I have searched other playthroughs to see the reactions of a few Youtuber's upon seeing what I saw, yet so far no one I've watched has. I've certainly heard complaints about the lack of a new monster, but once you realize what this story is about, the one they chose makes more sense. The part I'm referring to takes place in the second last spot and involves the Nomes standing in front of a small furnace. Those I've watched tend to be confused by why this is there or what the connection is between the Nomes and the light/fire. However, if you look harder, the answer to this whole DLC is right in front of you.

This is what I love about such games, when the answers lay in front of you, yet it is set in such simple detail that you could easily miss it. The whole 'Nomes are the Maws child victims' was something that makes sense to me, mostly due to the way they act in the game. The monster being the Janitor also makes sense, as he was the main monster in the children's quarters and was responsible for bagging them and sending them to the kitchen area.

This kind of deep. yet simple story telling is something that tends to get missed by some in games, often playing the games through and expecting the story to be explained to them by the game itself in a straight forward manner, simply cause they don't want to waist time looking for details. I admit, I can understand where they are coming from as there have been a few games where I have become confused about the story, mostly due to some important detail I missed or wasn't put in, likely waiting for a sequel to explain it. That said, I feel this game is definitely one of those that does have good pay offs for those who spend just a little time looking around.

A Killer Christmas

So as far as Twisted Alternative box sets go for Malifaux, I really like this one. I admit, I am no fan of the whole 'Krampus' thing, but I do love the look of the snowmen, presents and the christmas tree. Definitely feels like a nightmare set to me and suits the horror aspect of Malifaux. The level of creative ideas for these alternative sets always seem to surprise me, though I would be curious to see what they would do with a Gremlins box set.

Apparently the tree guy was added due to an issue with the Rasputina mold and was put in to increase the box size as a means to apologize because of delays as a result. While purchasing the box now will cost more (due to the extra miniature), those who already purchased it will get it at no additional cost, a gesture that I do like.

Broken Promises Choice Upgrades

So looking over the new upgrades for the Masters from the Broken Promises release that I do own and I just wanted to point out a couple that I really liked.

Jakob Lynch

Burn Out
So I talked about this one in the Gremlin post a few days ago, but I do like this one. It is the more expensive out of his two upgrades, but allows you to summon a The Depleted model in base contact with an enemy model that is killed withing a 6 inch range of Jakob or Hungering Darkness if they had the Brilliance condition by discarding two cards. They do take some damage and gain slow (taking additional damage for any Aces discarded), but with the right crew, upgrades and cards, it would make a pretty interesting scenario (though honestly, I just love the idea of old HD draining his opponents before turning them into crazed madmen).

Cheating Bastard
This limited upgrade allows those within a 6 inch aura of Jakob or old HD to cheat fate second, even if they are loosing the duel. This would mean your opponent is forced to decide if they want to cheat or not, granting Jakob's crew the advantage.

OK, so just to add more clarity to this part, Malifaux is played with a 52 card deck and you draw a hand of six cards which you can use to cheat fate (its sorta like re-rolls with dice, but you know what your putting down). Now in combat both players flip a card and add it to their relevant attack and defense stat, with cheating done after the flips are made. So lets say for this example that the attacker has an attack with a stat number 5 and the defender (who is part of the Lynch crew) has a defense stat of 5. The attacker flips a 7 (5+7= total of 12) and the defender flips a 4 (5+4 = total of 9). The defender has the lowest number and gets to cheat first, but if we reversed that and the attacker flips a 4 (so total 9) and the defender flips a 7 (total 12) then the attacker has the lowest number and gets to cheat first.

As such, the way this upgrade works is in relation to this example is the attacker gets the higher number and in that situation instead of the Lynch crew defender cheating first, the attacker has to decide if they will cheat it higher or let it pass and hope the defender doesn't cheat it. So the opponent could ignore it and the defender cheats it higher and thus the attack is stopped or the attacker cheats it from say, a 7 to a 9 (making it a total of 14), so the defender could either cheat in a 10 or more to bring it up to a 15 and thus stop the attack, or simply leave it and let the attacker waste a card.

He can also reveal a number of cards when he activates and for each Mask revealed this way, there are bonuses given (up to three Masks). This means your opponent might know some of your cards, but you get bonuses for taking that risk. This feels very much in character of the gambling man that is Jakob Lynch.
 
Viktoria of Ashes

Sisterly Bonds
All Sister models get an effect where when the enemy gives them a condition, they get a healing flip. On top of that, Vik also gets a (0) tactical action to give a minion model in 6 inches the Sister characteristic until the end of the turn. Personally, I like the cards and abilities that work with Sisters as I feel it adds more unity to the crew. Speaking of which....

Mah Tucket

Manifest Destiny
Finally, an effect that works with the Bayou Bushwhackers. This allows the use of the ability 'Get Off My Land!' at the start of every turn, not just the first. Plus, you can cross the Centerline with it on the second turn onwards, which means more movement for the crew. Not only that, but it also adds +1 range to Mah's melee actions (which is already quite nasty as I learned when I last used her) and when she discards a card outside of a duel, she can then draw one. Overall, this upgrade improves the effectiveness of the Mah Tucket crew boxset.

Pit Traps
Mah runs around dropping pit traps, forcing enemies who begin activation within 3 inches of one to discard a card or become slow. You do start with three on the board just by taking this upgrade (you just can't place them in enemy deployment zone nor within 3" of a marker or model) and the ability is a 1AP tactical action, with some restriction on where you can place it (though cannot be done while engaged). Effective at draining a persons hand or dishing out slow.

Colette

Audience Participation
So friendly Showgirl minion models that activate within an 8 inch aura of Colette gain the focus +1 condition. Given at least half her crew will most likely be showgirl minions, this could prove very effective in helping them out (and they certainly need it). It also grants her a tactical action targeting an unactivated enemy minion within 3" of a scheme marker, so when they activate you can use up 1 AP for them. While this is a 0 AP cost, it does require a high Tomes to cast, but given Colette's abilities with soul stones and cards, that shouldn't be too much trouble.

Extra:

Ulix

Pig Midwife
OK, so I don't own Ulix, but I have realized that I do enjoy painting the pigs and I am looking for my third Gremlin master, so he is definitely looking to be high on the list.

Anyway, I do like the idea of a Pig breeding crew and this upgrade goes will with his Husbandry upgrade. While that upgrade is expensive, this one is cheaper, thus making it a must have to go with it. It allows Pig models summoned within a 3 inch aura of him to not get the slow condition from being summoned, something that works well for a summoning crew. It also has an ability where if a friendly Pig is killed or sacrificed within an 8 inch aura of Ulix, then a friendly Pig that was within 3 inches of the killed/sacrificed Pig may heal 2 damage. Not only would this be great for a force throwing lots of Piglet models into the fray, but teamed up with a Taxidermist and his ability to also get a Stuffed Piglet from corpse markers, and you have a good set of usable bodies to sacrifice to keep the stronger Pigs healed. Would take some smart tactics to pull off, but it could be done by a skilled enough player (which clearly is not myself given my win/loss ratio with my Gremlins).


There are more with the other Masters I have, but I am still not as familiar with their play styles enough for me to comment on them. I am curious to try them out, but for now I think I'll remain focused on getting more painted first.

Thoughts On: The Nut Job Movie Series

Oh boy, this one is going to cost me a few points among the animation community, but whatever. So I've now seen both The Nut Job and The Nub Job 2: Nutty By Nature several times along with seeing a number of Youtuber reviews of both movies and I have now come to my own conclusions in regards to where I stand on this. I actually think they are alright.

Yes, I didn't mind them at all. I think people are a little too harsh on them and while I do agree that there are issues with both movies, I think the hate for them is really unnecessary. Sure, they don't compare to most recent animated movie releases like Disney have brought out, but the second movie stood out better then those brought out recently by other animation studios this year. In fact, I really liked the second one far more then the first one, so I guess the best way to explain why is to talk about some of the things I liked and didn't like in them. As I've pointed out before, I'm not critic and am simply a individual with personal opinions, so as such it isn't going to be some deep in-depth analysis and is just my opinion and thoughts. As such, let's get the negatives out of the way first.

The Negatives

I feel that there are a couple of reasons that people dislike the movies, one of the big complaints being the use of licensed music. I guess this might be due to the fact that when it comes down to music in animated features, you can never tell how the audience will react to the vocal songs. Sure you might end up with a big hit like Frozen, but more often then not, most will find it out of place or irritating. One example would be in the second one where the first use of 'Born To Be Wild' when they were attacking the workmen and 'Tick Tick Boom' during the second assault on the Fair felt completely off and I would have preferred more original action music pieces, though the the end use of 'Born To Be Wild' with the final destruction felt better used (and no, I didn't think the whole 'Gangnam Style' end credits part of the first movie was that bad either). It probably also costs more to have an original piece produced then it is to just license some well known songs just for the movie and they don't have to pay extra to pay for licensing them in the soundtrack. Then again, I don't know much about how movie budgets work with music and while I can't speak for what the reasons for their inclusion were (because frankly, I have no bloody idea how music is acquired for movies), I felt that it worked about 50/50, but that could be cause many of the other included vocal songs completely went over my head I guess. I'm happy to admit if I'm wrong on this and easily understand why people would hate their inclusion in this movie over, say, original music. Would more original songs have improved them? I honestly don't know.

Personally, I felt that the bigger flaws to the movies come down to two things: Writing and Villains. That may not sound like much at first, but it does tend to have a big impact on the overall product. I felt like some of the story and scenes (mostly in the first movie) were either unnecessary or needed to be reworked. I feel that this did improve in the second movie, though the complexity of the story was simplified to 'nature verse greedy developer', but for a movie about park animals I can look past that. This can also be seen in the humor with a neat joke here and there, such as with how Andie just bursts out in song (making fun of movies in which characters just break out in song for whatever reason) as opposed to things like the fart jokes in the first movie. My opinion is that while there is still more work that could be done in the story and joke telling, it's an improvement. There does appear to be some confusion as to what from the first movie is still considered cannon in the second movie. I say this mostly cause of scenes like when Andie and Surly are having a conversation and Surly mentions starving, Andie points out that they won't starve and that animals survived long before there were nut shops. I point this one out in particular because what was the purpose of the first movie? The animals were are risk of starving (even before the food was destroyed) and they needed to raid the nut shop for food, which seems to somewhat contradict what is being said (they even miss the chance for Surly to point this one fact out), so I do have some concerns over continuity along with some big plot holes (like what happened to Grayson or why didn't Lana take Precious with her when the Nut Shop went out of business?). Character wise has the second movie also being an improvement over the first. The second movie seems to improve the status between Surly and the rest of the animals and we even got a back story on how Surly meet Buddy (still doesn't explain why he was mean to him in the first movie, but I have my thoughts on that). Some of the characters have been improved, though I can't tell if Mole's personality got a down grade.

The same can be said about the Villains, though this might be because they tried to cut back a bit and simplify them. My issue with the first movie is that there were basically two bad guys competing to be the central villain, which grew irritating sometimes as it felt like they were trying to tell two different major stories at the same time. One was Squirrel vs Crime Gang in nut heist and the other was Squirrel vs Racoon for control and reputation. Both seem to work well on their own, but were constantly competing for dominance in a single tale. The second movie seem to be more focused on the Mayor as the main villain with both his selfish daughter Heather and the Animal Control Officer Gunther acting more like the cartoon henchmen/goons role associated with the main antagonist (as far as their threat as bad guys go). Of course, they came off as less complicated and more straight up cartoon-like compared to the villains in the first movie which I felt worked better, though I am unsure how it will go about in a third movie (yeah, spoilers - Racoon looks to be returning, so he would most likely be the central villain for a third movie.......wait, hold up a sec. It appears at least a minimum of a year has passed between the end of the first movie and the end of the second one, so was Racoon just sitting there on that buoy the whole time?).

The Positives

I actually do like the characters a lot. Those of Surly, Buddy and Andie are probably my favourite. Buddy is great and works very well as a silent character, relying on facial expressions and actions to speak for him. He tends to flip-flop on his intellectual level, but when it comes to a supporting character, he does that very well. He tends to have some great moments and his backstory gives us nice emotional piece and an explanation as to why he is Surly's best friend and has stayed by his side for the most part. He does take some abuse from Surly during the first movie, which does have an impact (though only a minor one in my opinion), but it's his impact in the second movie that shows off the friendship better in my opinion.

Surly and Andie are a bit more complicated (or not, depending where you stand I guess). It's clear in the first movie that something has happened between Surly and the other animals (most likely manipulated by Racoon at times for his own benefit) as he is very much the social outcast, being a rather self-centered & independent type. I get the feeling that whatever has happened over those years, it changed Surly to be more like that and making him take a more harder and colder stance, affecting his relationship with those around him, including Buddy. That said, it's hard to paint him as being selfish and greedy at times when its quite clear things are honestly against him. That one scene in the first movie when he goes to the roof to let off his frustration cause he's helping the animals get nuts and yet they are still praising Racoon over him, not appreciating what he's doing for them is understandable. Then Andie has the nerve to be annoyed with Surly's 'I'm doing this for myself' reaction after she just told him that Racoon was going to betray Surly once it was done and that all the animals (herself included) are all in on this. So from his point of view is everyone is just using him and that no one, not even Andie, stood up for him when Racoon planned his betrayal. In his situation, I would totally understand that being a response. I mean, you just told him everyone was going to betray him after all his hard work, that you were in on it too and that your the one trying to make him feel bad just because he reacts like most would, never considering his point of view or feelings (wait, wasn't I suppose to be talking about the positive things?). Surly does have moments when he is a real jerk for no reason, but by the end of the first movie Surly is more positive & respectful and going into the second movie he is respected and looked up too by the other animals, but that leads to them looking to him for answers and results when things go wrong, which proves harder for Surly to solve. He certainly still has his moments when he is grumpy, sarcastic and just showing off, keeping some of that personality from the first movie, but he is also more likely to jump into protecting the park and animals compared to the first.

Andie on the other hand is the central female character and tends to be focused more on the main goal, which can lead to her sometimes missing the finer details or Surly's feelings in the process. It's clear that she has a thing for Surly early on, being one of the few who struggles with her feelings when the other animals are straight up on board with trashing Surly. I feel there is a back story with these two that could be told (perhaps in a third movie) as there clearly seems to be something there as they would have known each other from when they were young. Her opinion of Surly seems to be that she believes he is capable of great things as he certainly has the skills and capability to do them, but can't understand why he doesn't, usually trying to throw things back on him as a result. I feel she's trying to get him to be the Squirrel she wants him to be, but in pushing him so, tends to miss his side of the story or feelings. Her push in the second movie is in keeping with nature, that animals need to work hard and not take the easy way, thus placing the conflict with Surly. She certainly uses his own ego against him, but also try's to show him the positives of her side (which doesn't work as well as she'd hoped for). Of course, both Surly and Andie have their moments when their plans go wrong and they realise that perhaps the other side might have a point or two, leading to a compromise both are quite happy with in the end (and yes, I do like them as a couple).

As for the other characters, I did enjoy the antics of the Groundhogs more in the second movie, though I do wonder what is up between Mole and Jamie. This was something that sort of popped up in the first movie (Mole was clearly trying something like a poor attempt at getting Jamie's attention, but she clearly wasn't taking it), but never really had much done in the second which was a shame as it could have been used for more comical moments, something like Mole's bad attempts at flirting with Jamie perhaps. Most of the others are there as background support who are generally one shot personalities. Grayson from the first movie was definitely the ego, but scared at times type who is confused as a hero by most due to dumb luck (though he does have moments when he does take action) and Mr Fang (hell yeah, its Jackie Chan, who I think is just amazing) is the dark and strong type who is introduced well enough in the second movie so when they are used later on it makes more sense. Both have their rolls in their respective movies, though I do wish they had addressed the missing Grayson issue in the story. I'm not sure is it was a story decision or if Brendan Fraser couldn't/wouldn't do it, (mostly cause there is absolutely no information on the net about this) but whatever the reason they still could have addressed this one given how prominent a standing he had among the animals in the first movie.

Moving away from character personalities, I do like their designs as they do look like their respective animals while still giving off that cartoon feel that's enjoyable to watch. I also love the animation and feel it suits this style well. Oh sure it might not be Zootopia quality, but I still enjoy the feels of its visuals. It flows smooth and fast that I found it enjoyable and tends to get the emotional moments off quite well. Some have said it feels strange watching this style as it can't tell just how cartoon it is with it's slapstick (moments where the characters must be rubber like to survive being crushed by bricks, but they never stretch or squish like one should for that sort of thing) and that it feels more like a direct-to-video animation. Personally, I disagree with the latter (I would love to see a proper discussion about what levels of quality of animation has to be to be considered 'Cinematic' and 'Direct-to-video') but honestly don't mind its style as every animated world has its own rules and that just seems to be the way that world works. I can certainly respect the effort that went into animating these movies (I know after doing my own visual effects course, I learned the difficulties of pulling off 3D animation and have a better appreciation for it).

I feel the voice acting is very good and the cast chosen to represent the characters does a fantastic job of creating personality for them with their voices, which works well for some characters over others (I definitely enjoyed Will Arnett as Surly and Katherine Heigl as Andie). Having seen a lot of behind-the-scenes sessions from various animated movies, I wonder which option works better, actors doing their sessions solo or doing them in a group. I understand they all cant be in the same place due to things like locations, times, etc. but I would really like to know if such chemistry would better reflect through voice (This question has nothing to do with the movies, this was just something that occurred to me as I was typing this, but I would really like to know which one do voice actors prefer).

I also don't mind the soundtrack either, though I do preference the second movies one over the first (there appears to be a running theme here). I guess this is down to two theme pieces they use in a number of moments that I find catchy enough that it feels like this movie does have music that could be considered catchy 'theme song' music material (music pieces that you hear and instantly recognize as being that franchise). I think Heitor Pereira did a great job in this and am now looking into his other works to see what else I can find from his range that I might like. As for the vocal stuff, I made my opinions above so no point wasting time talking any more on it.

Overall

I'm sure I have a lot more to say and perhaps in time I'll get around to saying it. I do understand a number of the issues people had with these movies and I do agree with a number of them (seriously though, the nut puns were few and far between, so stop groaning about them). I personally feel the second movie didn't deserve the low ratings that it got, but hey, if people still feel that then this is a case when I will happily add this to my list of movies I love that everyone else hates. I'm not here to say your wrong or forcefully change anyone's opinions of it, I'm just wanting to point out a few personal opinions here and there and poorly explain why I enjoyed them (though, mostly the second movie then the first). I could see this franchise going further with a bit more investment (and by that I'm not just talking about money) much like Dreamworks did with T.V series spinoffs of their movies, but feel that without the original voice actors it wouldn't work as well (well, compared to Dreamworks Dragons series anyway). Maybe as shorts, who knows, but other animation companies have proven that even after a trilogy is made there are still many stories you can tell without them being a movie. While I would look forward to a third movie, there would still need to be some work in areas like story and writing, but I could still see it working out (then again, I have my own story ideas which would probably put mine at odds with whatever they did).

As such, this was just my simple opinion looking at this movie series and as such I will enjoy coming back to this discussing these movies in the future, for some reason or another (or you know, to fix up the writing. Definitely could write this up better, but you get the idea). Certainly gave me an idea for a new character to create at least and that's always a positive for me.

Slight Blog Changes

Just making a visual change or two. Mostly removing the background (until I can find or make are more suitable one) and altering a few colours. Slow start, but its a start.

Fun With Gremlins

So there are times when I get some energy and a burst of inspiration, during which I've slowly got work done on my Gremlin conversions. As a reminder, these pics are not the best as I am still working out the set-up for photo shoots and these were just quick shots anyway.

First off, I recently updated the Dimitri Benois page with the started conversion, but I'll throw up the shot just for this post. Still lots of work to do green stuff wise, but that will be for another time.

Also mentioned in said article was the Boozer character of Maurice. Well, work has started on him, using a Hog Whisperer model as the base and head, with the fist arms from a Bayou Gremlin I had (honestly, I rarely use more then one or two, so I could spare a model for use). I am mixing and matching parts of the two models, with the Banjonista hat to round him off. Still some wire (I use as rope) and green stuff work to go, but liking him so far.

Of Course, the Hog Whisperer comes with a Piglet model and after going over all my Gremlin books from the RPG game, I felt like one would make a good companion for Maurice. I'd imagine him getting one as a prize or reward and at first thinking about making it into a meal, before it got into his booze and got drunk. Finding it hilarious, Maurice would keep it, call her Wilma and she would not only carry his brewing materials, but be his drinking partner (most likely leading to some humorous moments, but probably also causing some trouble too). An Empire bottle and two of a three pack Space Marine pouch was also used (the third pouch is on Maurice) with a sort of green stuff pack saddle.

Finally, having looked over the Broken Promises upgrades for Jacob Lynch in which if you kill an opponent who has the Brilliance condition (within a short range of Jacob or Hungering Darkness), you can discard two cards to summon a The Depleted model (who takes damage and gets the Slow condition) where the enemy was. Given I usually play Gremlins and that I had some Gremlin parts and Illuminated/Depleted parts left over, I decided to convert a simple Gremlin Depleted (tentacle arms). Not overly great (a chance to repaint its crappy paint job though), but it's silly and I love it.

Also, as a side note, I am working on both Big Jake for my Outcasts and the female Thalarian Queller for The Wild Ones crew (her look just seems to match the theme I'm going for) along with these miniatures.

Election Day.....Hooray?

Queensland election day and the one thing I've learned is that the real issue is that we need a referendum on opening the voting booths from 8am to 7am. Seriously, some of the people you have to stand next too in the waiting cue makes me wonder just what the hell am I doing there.

Sorry, lack of sleep and the depression hitting back with a vengeance is really kicking me down. With luck my next few posts will have a more positive spin to them.

Collecting the Classics

While I'm still struggling at the moment, it's always nice to get a few positive things. Today I got a few classic movies from my own youth. Cheap yes, but still good. My only complaint was just how difficult it is to find a copy of Young Einstein in Australia. An Australian classic and it's almost impossible to find, unless you have US iTunes (go figure). I get the feeling that it is getting harder to find Australian made movies and shows unless you live in America and I would love to know why (my guess it that it probably has something to to with company control and distribution rights).

Could a One Player Miniatures Game Work?

So here was one I stumbled onto just recently, a discussion among miniature wargamers as to whether or not a one player miniatures game could work. After thinking about this (when I could think anyway), I do believe it could indeed work and the reason I feel this comes down to one game. That game is Games-Workshop's own Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower/Shadows Over Hammerhal. Let me explain.

From the games I've seen played with it, each quest has a set of rooms that a randomly generated through flipping cards and that rolls determine what event/encounter takes place. This works perfectly for a single-player game, a randomly generated style adventure, featuring enemies, encounters, allies and treasures. The tiles/rooms that get used is a perfect example of how to make the random style dungeon work, as they are all different and some have multiple doors, allowing for more options.

I imagine a set of miniatures that a player could pick from that appeals to them, before picking a class from a collection of options. This way, a player can play a mini they like, while playing them in a class style they like. From here, each class has a small deck of skills they can earn through doing missions and earn special items from treasures collected. The treasures would perhaps be one use items (either one use only or one game only), so as to ensure the player isn't too over powered, but also have extra rules to help ramp up the difficulty if the player felt they were having it too easy. Of course, there are plenty of options for expansions, but also co-op and multiplayer (as an option should players want too or as an add-on if the game got popular enough).

With a general rule set and various options, it could work regardless of the setting. The world could just be humans, a fantasy one with creatures like Elves and Dwarfs, a sci-fi one with aliens and mutants or even a world of anthropomorphic animals or mechanical objects. If you think about it, depending on the franchise, you could set up two types of games. If you were to take a single franchise (so let's say, Dr Who for example), then you could run with a scenery style game (games like the DC/Marvel ones for example) or go with a Shadespire like one which uses two boards and you just move them about to alter the grid. You could have the starters set and add additional miniatures and rules in expansions. On the other hand, if you had various movable game tiles to create random playing fields, you could take a multi-franchise option (so let's say Disney as the example) with an initial starters game and multiple miniature releases like Heroes and Villians from their various franchises.

So is there a market for this type of game? Well, yes. I could certainly see myself and many others playing such a thing. My only concern is more about things like the marketing and demographic. See, as mentioned above, I used a Games-Workshop product. Games-Workshop is a big company and they have both lore and other games to back it up. Take their Shadespire game. I've seen it played and it doesn't really grab me, but it's miniatures look nice (the Skeleton ones look particularly great) and they have rules to be used in Age of Sigmar. As such, it doesn't matter too much if it doesn't really take off as they will still sell based on the miniatures and their compatibility with their other game. However, most other companies or even a kickstarter may have some trouble promoting it and getting it out to those who would be interested. It would also have to have some nice looking miniatures (to help sell it to players who like to paint or those who want to convert, plus they might play it and enjoy it too), but also make it affordable enough, as this is a one player game first and doesn't have the kind of expansive options that other games have, like events and tournaments (as in, justifying the spending of money in a large miniature gaming marketplace). One could expand their game and lore into these areas, but the original game still needs to succeed for this to work.

That said, depending on the games look/feel, I do believe that there is a market for such a game and if you can reach such a product to those players, then it could work.

The Joy of New Medication (Updated)

AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

My body can't stay still, my mind is racing at a million miles an hour and there are times where I feel like I can't seem to control myself.

Give a week or two and things should be back to where they were (I am so on edge right now). That's the problem with changing over to a new medication for depression/anxiety, it can take a few weeks for the body to adjust. Until then, you just do what you can (there are a number of things, whether they work is still up for debate) to try and not loose it & let the emotions take over.

Update 26/11/2017:

Nope, the side effects may have calm down but the depression and anxiety are back to their irritating levels. Until I can get a grip on all this (and a few other problems that have left me in limbo at the moment and don't forget the heat), most of my projects will be put on hold. Hell, I haven't even done an Animated Reflection in a while and that just makes me more disappointed with myself. That doesn't mean I won't be working on things (see more recent posts), but it means things will probably be here and there for a while.

A Great Day for Australia

Today has been a great day for Australia. The morning was filled with celebration as the marriage equality survey came back as a Yes result, moving us one step closer to getting it legalised (the footage of Penny Wong's reaction to the results and how the non-Labor senators supported her made even me emotional) and tonight was the sounds of celebration as the Socceroos won 3-1 to get us into the World Cup in Russia (I watched the second half and it was wonderful to feel the excitement). I admit I'm not a sports person, but things with big stakes sometimes get my attention (the last time I watched a sport game was the final of the Asian Cup, which we won).

Good times.

Wyrd's Latest Preview - Armored Whelks

So the latest preview for The Other Side and I really do like the look of this one. I think it might be the creatures face I love the most with things like the eyes, teeth and just the general shape of the face itself. I'm really liking these Gibbering Hordes.

Zootopia Case Dismissed

So catching up on Leonard French (our favourite copyright attorney), I saw the update on the Zootopia case and it went much like I thought it would. To make a long story short, the two works were detailed and when compared to each other, it was concluded that Disney's version had very little in common with Goldman's version. As a result the case was dismissed.

With that out of the way, can we please get a sequel now?

Anxiety and Supanova

So this one is a little late, but that's nothing new. Anyway, Supanova was on the weekend and just like last year I went to this one too. However, this was the first time I had to go it alone (my brother decided not to go this time round) so facing this prospect given the way my anxiety was going this year was something of a problem. Now at this point I would have just skipped it, but that changed when I learned that CrikeyDave was going to be there. This artist was the one who I have commissioned a number of pieces from in the past and I really wanted to thank him personally for doing them for me, which I got to do (it was a very inspirational encounter, though I always feel like I make a fool of myself thanks to the anxiety).

The thing is, I have created a number of characters over the years, but I'm not a very good drawer and as such it is disheartening to not be able to draw these characters. So when someone does do that for you, it helps pick your spirits up and gives you that joy of finally seeing them in various poses and scenes. Yes, even if you commissioned it, it is still a great joy and a wonderful feeling as the artist is putting in great effort into bring a creation of yours to life. For that, I can never truly express my gratitude enough.

I admit, because of the anxiety I barely stayed for an hour and so had to go. I didn't bring my camera, but there were plenty of great Cosplayers and it's always great to see the effort that gets put in, but also seeing them just having fun with it (I hope to one day do something like it too). Unfortunately, the event was too much and by the end of the day I was crippled with stomach pain and a headache (the running side effects of this blasted condition) and ended up in bed.

Strangely, I was still smiling threw it all and not the general mask smile you put on to hide what your really feeling, but a genuine one. Thinking back, it was probably the most positive and inspiration day I've had in a while even with the negatives thrown in. These kind of days are rare, but when you get them, you tend to appreciate them much more. I'll leave it on that positive note.

Preview Pics

So while I'm still in the process of figuring out how to get decent pictures of the miniatures (you can see from these shots that I do have one out of the two planned lights working. Still having issues on how to get the best focus, so perhaps a light grey background could help as the white reflects too much light and makes it difficult to edit the photo right), I thought I'd just throw up a pic or two to show some things being worked on.

This classic Chaos Spawn has been sitting around for years and was a conversion done for my old Cult of Slannesh. It was originally just a light flesh colour with a purple ink wash and a pink tail with purple spots and looked really bad. I feel the fleshy look adds a more accurate feel to how I'd imagine they'd look (I threw in some blue blend to show its dedication to its new master, Tzeentch).

While still in the painting process, this is just one of the miniatures that has had a slight conversion to help add a more Skryre feel to this Skaven Blood Bowl player. I plan for a number of them to have mutations or tech conversions, with more mutation looks for the Goblin players on the team. I had thought of re-painting the team colours to have a darker purple, but have decided to just re-design the team icon/logo.

Slowly Moving Forward

So another update. Health wise, it's very slow, nuff said there.

Projects are also slow, but moving at least. I am still waiting on parts to finish one of two Gremlin conversions, while the other still needs Green Stuff to complete. Same goes for one of my brother's Ten Thunders base constructions.

Age of Sigmar stuff has so far consisted of slowly re-basing five Skeletal Horse Archers, re-basing my ten rat Stormvermin squad I had from that one time I did them up and entered them in the Golden Daemon thing years ago, getting bases to re-base my two Heralds of Tzeentch and Flamers I did, looking into my old Chaos Ogres and turning them into Chaos Ogors and of course, taking that old Chaos Spawn of Slannesh I did a long time ago and updating it into one more suiting a fleshy creature of Chaos.

Perhaps over the next month or so I'll get around to getting photos of them and uploading them along with slowly working on both the Blog's visual update and those other projects I had planned a while back. It's been hard and I've realised that I am far more susceptible to things like panic attacks now, but I'm trying my best to slowly get things here back on track.

Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Skirmish Book

So after so many months, the book finally arrived (a computer error misplaced the order, but now it's all resolved) and I've had a chance to finally look over it, see some games played and am ready to give my own personal thoughts on it.

The Rules

Fairly simple, they use the normal Age of Sigmar rules with a few alterations. These include treating each model as being it's own unit (though any banner or musician effects only work for those same warscroll models if they are within a 6 inch radius), being only able to select the Grand Alliance allegiance for the warbands allegiance abilities, units cannot be summoned or destroyed units cannot return to the field (so a skeleton banner that returns D6 models doesn't work in Skirmish), the warband takes the battleshock test and some altered options for the General. Overall, a good foundation for a skirmish game.

There are six scenarios in the book, each with their own mission objectives. The rules can even be altered a little to use other scenarios in other books or you could just change a few things in the ones in the book to add in new challenges. The overall message seems to be focus on just tailoring your games to be enjoyable.

The Campaign

So to help flesh out what you can do in AoS Skirmish, there is a campaign thrown in to show how you can set up your own games. Looking at it now, the Shadespire campaign makes the new Shadespire boardgame feel less original as far as expanding the AoS universe goes. Still, it has a great set of lore for the location and rules to grow your warband and reap the rewards. It's no Mordheim, but it's still set out for you to have some fun with your collection and models.

The Warbands

So this section I do have some issues with section. First off, no site pdf with options for adding other units from the Bretts or Tomb Kings? Really? Plus there are a few models that I feel might cause some players problems if they are not prepared to face them. One example are Nurglings, as with a fairly average point cost, the problem comes from having five wounds and if you don't waste it in a single turn, it is restored to full health. Given that each model is its own unit, I can see some players being put in a situation where that could prove to be a very difficult situation to over come.

There also seems to be a big gap for the number of unit options available to some factions. Death gets at least half a page worth of options, with Destruction getting around a full pages worth. Chaos gets slightly under two pages while Order gets somewhat over two pages of options. As such, it wouldn't be too hard to see players from the Death and Destruction factions being somewhat annoyed at this, given that things like Tomb Kings and even the various Moonclan Grots (Squigs in particular) are very limited. Perhaps an updated list later on could help, but so far nothing has happened beyond the release.

Conclusion

I'll give this, it certainly lays down a good foundation for a future game. Personally, I'd love them to expand upon this to really create an expansive experience. Fans have already taking these rules and expanded upon them with an almost Mordheim style game and GW should look at expanding this game type to follow something similar. Throw in a pdf with the other factions mentioned above and you could start having some real warband fights. An Age of Sigmar version of Mordheim is not impossible and would certainly help make the series more accessible to future players. As for the book, it is still very much available to everyone and makes dusting off the old models in your collection and giving them life a viable option. It is also a great starting point into building an army (with obviously Path to Glory being the next step up with the General's Handbook being the top of the army collection path).

As a person who likes these style of games, it suits me quite fine. While Malifaux is clearly the more strategic and more exciting game, the dumb fun to be had in this is clearly something you want to play if your just having something more casual to muck about with. Heck, it even works with Triumph & Treachery so you can play their scenarios with multiple players, making a real mess of the battlefield for extra fun.

That said, if you don't like small skirmish games, you'll probably skip this, but if you do like them or are just getting into Age of Sigmar, then this is a great little book to have (that and it is fairly cheap too).

The Unfortunate Update

So I haven't done much on here (or anywhere for that matter) for the last week or so. This is the unfortunate effect of suffering a real depression low. It's been so bad it has limited my ability to do many things and drained me of any real motivation. I have begun a series of steps to help improve this (I hope at least) and trying to write again is one of them. Unfortunately all I can do is write this apology update as trying to think of anything else to write at the moment has left me rather blank and I'd rather not go on about depression as it just brings this Blog (and myself) down.

Will try to get more positive stuff up in the future, but if you don't see many updates over the next month or so, this is probably why.

Mr Sanderstone's First Project

So I've begun work on the first of a series of incredibly dumb ideas I have for Mr Sanderstone. Given I don't have a good video recording camera (my DSLR camera needs an upgrade as I've noticed it has some problems with what it actually focuses on.....that or it's just me....which is a possibility), I have no real idea how it will turn out.

I have the recorded footage, gone to bensound.com for some music and now all I have to do is the editing. Problem is that Total War: Warhammer 2 is coming out and to top it all off the next few days will be a terrible heat wave, so I have no idea as to how long it'll take. That said, the first one will be silly commentary on reaction videos, but I am looking to do a series of political election parody as Mr Sanderstone runs for parliament. As stupid as these are, they are meant more to help bring my recording and editing skills back up to scratch.

I also learned from doing this that I can't actually use footage from Parliament Question Time. Despite our laws regarding the use of footage for parody/comedy, Question Time actually states you can't use its footage for it. I have no idea why, as it is by far one of the most pointless things the Government does (and so easy a target for comedy). Someone asks a question and the response is to avoid answering it, say how great your side is and blame the opposition for something that happened in the past.

Then again, it is called Question Time, not Question and Answer Time, so maybe they take its name too literally.

Update: So the footage I had of the political speech was corrupted (thanks mostly due to the poor streaming capabilities of Australian Internet), but was able to find segments of the conference speech. While it didn't have the part I wanted to use, I was able to find another part that would work well. On another note, the phrase 'Queensland produces most of the gas on the East Coast' has led me to film another scene as a bit of a joke and will be a separate video. There is no time frame as to when they will be done, due mostly to my poor motivation.

Update 2: So one of the problems I'm encountering is that on the moments I get motivated and start working on it, I have problems with the software. See, I can't actually afford Adobe After Effects at the moment (the program I've actually been trained to use) and instead have to rely on Hitfilm Express. The problem is that there are times when either effects refuse to work on imported footage with sound has issues syncing the sound with the footage and due to the way Hitfilm works, I have issues manually fixing it up (the original footage is fine, but when it is imported the sound becomes out of sync with the footage). As such, problems like this are frustrating and I very demotivating.

Is it Spring or Summer?

Just saw the weather report for the next week and I swear the temperatures look to be worse then we got last Summer.........and it's only Spring!

I know I use this image in my Animated Reflections post, but it feels more appropriate then ever now.

The Hunt for Crocadoo

So as part of doing Animated Reflections, I have to try and remember every animated show/movie I have ever seen and then look them up for watching and reviewing (though if they have a current DVD release, that would be so much better). Unfortunately, time never favours those who reflect and this is an excellent example as to why. I did recently stumble upon a series of show introductions and found one for Crocadoo, an Australian cartoon series that was on Channel 9 back in the 90's. Looking for the episodes to review however has become a massive pain.

See, apart from the first episode, the rest simply don't exist. Well, when I say that, they do appear to be available online, but for some reason one channel on Youtube has about ten of them but they are locked from my country and the series seems to be on a paid subscription site called Oznoz, which is apparently an American site with a bunch of Australian content which appears to be locked from every other country (except America), including Australia. You can imagine my irritation that as an Australian, I can't even review Australian shows cause they are locked off from my own damn country. Seriously, this just comes off as completely ridiculous.

To make matters more confusing, the only two other main pieces of information I could find on the series was a lawsuit from someone (who was a writer on the 1992 Blinky Bill movie) who had apparently had a contract that if the show got picked up then he'd be the sole writer on it and he had a hand in creating the concepts for the show? I'm not sure on what the details were exactly, but there was a lawsuit and given where some of the funding for shows comes from, there is a 2002 document in which a representative for the minister from the arts was asked about it in regards to it as a fraud case. Beyond that, I'm completely stumped as to what happened after that as I am unable to find the results of that lawsuit beyond seeing if I could obtain the legal documents and I am not going that far (Why write the article about the case and never follow up article on the results?). Another site says the trademark for it has lapsed and apart from some wiki text, all I have to go on is the first episode.

I do remember that the series did alter from season 1 to season 2, much like Blazing Dragons did, but what all the differences are I couldn't say (beyond cutting out some of the background Crocodiles I think). I do wonder if any of this stuff is even archived is some film and entertainment library, but given I can't find anything on that, I feel not having such a thing is a real disappointment.

A shame really, but what can you do?

Portfolio Update

The portfolio section has been updated with my final assessment from the Diploma course I did. While I admit I had mixed feelings on the final result, I still came out alright. I am uncertain what other videos I will be able to place here, as some of my gag ones may be too simple to classify as any real skill, but we'll see.

I will probably talk more about my green screening experience in the future, probably with a guide on how to do it on a budget.

Disney Afternoon Vinyl Figures

Oh heck yes. So want to get the Rescue Rangers ones first (big Chip n Dale & Rescue Rangers fan), probably followed by Darkwing Duck. I do enjoy when they release collectable pieces based on shows from my youth like this, though all it does is make me want more classic stuff released (just look at the shows I look at for Animated Reflections as my starting point).

Thoughts on General's Handbook and my own Collection

So going through General's Handbook 2017, it was no surprise that I'd look over it and the Warscroll PDF releases and compare them to what I have in my miniature collection (painted and unpainted).

Taking into account all the Empire models from whats completed to what I'm still working on, it would actually be a legal 2,000pt Order Allegiance (well, 1,990pts, but close enough). As such, I may consider re-basing the lot, but if I do that it may be some time off. As for adding anything extra, that is still up for debate. I would still like to know if a Huntmarshal was Free Peoples, cuase I would like one of them in my army if it was to go AoS (that and I would need to convert a bunch of command characters for the various units).

As for Death, well my Skeleton Horsemen from the old Tomb Kings range does count as a Battleline, but I would need to add things like Skeleton Warriors, probably some Dire Wolves to get enough Battlelines for a legal faction. Would be a Death Allegiance too, as I have far too many mixed options. Would continue to add more Skeleton variants, lots of Bat and Bat-like models as well.

Destruction is just out. Apart from four Man-eaters and a Night Goblin or two, I have no other miniatures in this range, so I'm just going to call that done.

Finally Chaos. Now I have enough easily for a 1,000pt Chaos Allegiance, which is mostly due to me not wanting to re-base my original Skaven army (still holding out to see what happens. Well, that's the advice I've been given anyway), but if they were taken into account, 3,000pts or more that'd be (but I'm not counting them, so it's 1,000pts). As such, I can't field a Skryre theme as it requires a minimum of two Battlelines alone and even if I was to convert my old Globadiers (Skryre Acolytes now) they only number seven, so I'd need at least three more for a minimum 1,000pt force. Stormfiends are right out as they alone cost $99 and that is well out of my price range. As such, even a Skaven themed force would still need some more miniatures. Until they re-package/re-sculpt the Acolytes, I may hold off on adding too much more (well, maybe a weapon team here and there). I feel they'll probably do that when they release the Skryre book, as given what the so-called 'Sky Dwarfs' got, they'll probably release a few crazy Skryre contraptions too.

As for my Chaos/Tzeentch stuff, for the Deamons I can re-base both my Heralds, I do have an old Changeling miniature, a unit of ten Horrors that I'm just using to mess around with in colour and pattern (I consider them the visage of madness and the whole purpose anyway was to paint something without worrying what it looks like) and my old unit of three Flamers I could re-base. Mortals I have a variety of hero options (a bunch still to convert, plus some Games Day ones), a ten man unit of Chaos Warriors of Tzeentch and an old Chaos Spawn which I could re-base and re-paint to be Tzeentch themed (given now that Chaos Spawns have a Tzeentch name). As for allies, well I do have an almost completed unit of three Chaos Ogors, that old project I could re-base and finish and would act as a great Tzeentch themed ally in a Tzeentch Allegiance. They have a good variety in that range, so I could pick up a miniature here and there to add to it (the Tzaangor Skyfires look interesting and perhaps a unit of Tzaangors as another Battleline).

So I'd have either a Skith/Xzark alliance or two factions, Skith's Skryre Skaven and Xzark's Tzeentch (which reminds me, I should get back into finishing the Xzark conversion. Forgotten how many years that's been needing to be finished).

Animated Reflections: The Dreamstone

I was originally going to cover Season 2 of Blazing Dragons, but I accidentally discovered this gem and felt the need to talk about it. I can honestly say my younger self was both intrigued and confused by this show, though I do remember enjoying the characters (I believed I watched season 1 and 2 at the time). Sadly, a number of the episodes (mostly season 1) are difficult, if not impossible to find (even in bad VHS quality), which is a major shame in my opinion. However, more can be discussed by delving into:

The Dreamstone is a slightly different version of the battle between good and evil. On the Dream Planet (actually, from what I can gather it never says the name of the planet, it's just what I got from some released map drawings) the world is split into two places, separated by the Myst of Limbo, which circles around the planet like a fluffy purple hoop. On one side is the Land of Nightmares, on the other is the Land of Dreams. So put simply, one side bad, the other side good. Both sides have key locations where the stories take place and crossing between them is done mostly over the sea section of the world, called the Sea of Destruction.

On the side of good we have our main protagonist, a young Noop called Rufus. Well, the first few episodes have him as the main protagonist, though he tends to share the spotlight with his good friend Amberley. Heck, it's hard to call his the main character of the show, but we'll get to that later on. He is introduced as someone who has a good heart, but tends not to consider the consequences of his actions has has a bad habit of daydreaming all the time. This costs him his work early on and when Amberley tells him to try being apprentice to the Dream Maker, he gives it a shot. This starts the shows episodic theme of the Dreamstone being stolen and Rufus & Co trying to get it back (most of the episodes anyway). I personally find him to be a very likeable character.

Amberley is Rufus' best friend and possible romantic interest? (it is hinted at a few times, plus there was that unused song). She is much more grounded in reality then Rufus and tends to be more aware of whats going on around her, which leads to her trying to keep Rufus focused too. The first few episodes certainly have her with a short temper and she does fight back, but this tends to be reduced quite a bit later on, mostly just to a few moments here and there.. While I'm not sure why, I guess each fan will probably have their opinions on this. She also works along side Rufus, though from what some of the episodes imply is that she is more of an assistant, where as Rufus is an apprentice.

Then we have the Dream Maker and his dogfish Albert. It would appear the Dream Maker is very old, well over a thousand years, though I can't say if he is immortal or not (at least when it comes to age related death). He is apparently very powerful and takes great joy in bringing dreams to everyone, using his dream potions and the Dreamstone to do so. Albert acts much like a dog, but one with average human intelligence. He can only talk like a dog, but he understands everything and has to try and use actions to explain things to others at times.

Finally there are the Wuts, forest creatures who act like the defenders of the Land of Dreams. The Wuts are tall and thin, tend to fly around on leaves and are well spoken. The main ones are Pildit (a.k.a Pildit VIII) who is the leader of the Wuts, Wildit who is Pildit's grandmother (and a bit of a wild character) and finally Mr. Blossom, who is the Dream Makers gardener and specialises in the art of moaning and complaining. Oh yes, there is also Spildit, who is Wildit's niece, who is very much the active kid who brags about how she can do things, but is very polite about it (she tends to treat Blob, Nug and Frizz nicely too it seems).

Beneath the red planet of Doom. Beneath the black mountain of Viltheed, a servant of evil stirs. Zordrak, Lord of Nightmares. That is how the first episode describes him and after your first introduction to him, you would think he was a power to contend with. As we see however, by around season two he tends to be less of a threat and more of a sit-down couch villain. Once a member of the Council of Dream Makers, he was cast out for, well. being evil. He has a great look and an amazing voice, but somehow along the way I feel something was lost with this guy. Still knows how to throw a party though. His Argorrible minions are purple mist monsters which are responsible for bringing nightmares to everyone, only being held off thanks to the power of the Dreamstone (which is why Zordrak wants it so much). He also tends to have his own comedic moments, which I feel makes him an enjoyable villain.

Then there are the Urpneys. These guys are the bumbling servants to Zordrak, either screwing up somehow or succeeding through shear luck, before loosing because of their silly nature. The Urpneys are very much the comedy of the show (most of the slapstick comedy is performed by them), which I feel ultimately made them the focus of the show. Nearly every episode starts with and ends with the Urpneys. There are two types. The first is Urpgor, a green Urpney who is the scientific inventor who creates all of the mechanical devices that are used in missions to capture the Dreamstone. Has a huge opinion of himself and tends to spit and splatter a lot when he talks. He also has some of the most elastic animation compared to every other character in the show, which helps to show off just how much of a mad scientist he is. He grows the most in the sense that when in season one he seems more limited, more structured and more quiet, but by season two onwards he gets louder, more vocal and more growth in character and personality, becoming the nutter he is loved for being.

Then there are the Soldiers of the Urpney army. Here we find the shows main focus, Sergeant Blob and his two man crack team of Frizz and Nug. Sgt. Blob is a large individual who acts like a stereotypical drill Sergeant. Frizz is short, is prone to panic attacks and emotional outbursts and would do anything, so long as it doesn't involve getting hurt, abused or stressed. Nug on the other hand is just as cowardly as Frizz, but his attitude at times seems more calm, though is more straight forward in stating how grim a situation can be, which usually upsets Frizz more often then not. The three tend to get seriously punished in the early seasons, but tend to fair better in the later ones (which is just as well as they are quite enjoyable characters to watch).

It's difficult to judge the animation quality, mostly cause nearly all the episodes I've found tend to be of bad VHS recordings. From what I have seen, the animation seems colourful and smooth and the character designs work well, though seasons 2 to 4 were done by a different animation company, which is noticable. What is amazing is the shows music. The whole thing is was done by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and it is simply a magical experience. Composed and Conducted by Mike Batt, there are two soundtrack versions. One you really need to look for, but is located on Youtube, but I do recommend that if you are a fan of it, then you can actually find another version on iTunes called The Mike Batt Archive Series: The Dreamstone / Rapid Eye Movements. Part of a two pack, the first set contains the Dreamstone songs:

1. More then a Dream - (Vocal Version) The shows main theme song/ end credits song.

2. The Warsong of the Urpneys - (Vocal Version) Instrumental usually heard during the Urpney sequences.

3. Dreamdance - A short and edited version (without sound clips) of the original Dreamdance.

4. Into the Sunset - (Vocal Ver) Apparently the shows love song that was never used (from what I could find it's suggested to be Rufus & Amberley).

Tracks 5 - 9: Dreamstone Overtunes 1 to 5 - Orchestrated music parts from the show.

Personally, I have listened to both and I really do just love this music. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the music is just so appealing to me. The Warsong of the Urpneys for instants is one of those things that from the moment you start listening to it gives you the feeling of marching and singing (The military marching song certainly makes them sound far more competent and deadly then they actually are). Music like this feels almost like some long lost art form in animated shows. Orchestrated soundtracks like this make me feel like I'm watching a movie, not some twenty minute cartoon. Simply amazing.

Story wise, it tends to have a set standard. Starts off with the Urpneys doing something, then a plan is hatched, we visit our heroes to see what their story part is, then its back and forth between the two until the plan is foiled in which we return to the villains before credits. You get use to it fairly quickly, but along the way I got the feeling that so much more could be added. Straight off the bat I can honestly say that I feel that the heroes themselves don't get much in the way of personal advancement, particularly with Rufus and Amberley. It might just be me, but I felt more could have been done with them as far as character growth. Likewise, there seems to be more focus on the Urpneys then on the two Noops. Granted, they are the strong comedic element of the show, but you get the feeling that the show is more about them and their task to get the Dreamstone then on the protagonists. This tends to kick in after the first season and while they do expand some of the locations and characters, I feel that it comes at a cost. Several times I've often wondered while watching episodes 'What happens next?' with the heroes. What happens when they get back? Was what they did successful? You never know cause it tends to go straight to the Urpneys before the episode ends, leaving some questions unanswered. I wonder if this would work better if they had more time to tell the stories.

Then again, given how the character act in some episodes compared to other episodes, I have to wonder what the plan was for the Noops. It seems that in some episodes they act a little out of, what is, a pre-established character and I feel that given they are set-up as the main protagonists (well, the first few episodes establish Rufus as anyways), something feels like it was scrapped or cut back. This could be down to decisions beyond shows control, which I understand, but it was something that certainly bugged me when watching through these episodes again. I felt more progress and progression for them as characters was needed (they began to feel like side characters in some episodes when they were being active protagonists), but I guess that's just me wanting to see where these two Noops could have gone as far as personal stories  and character growth went.

To be fair to the Urpneys, it wasn't surprising they were given more center stage. Just watching the first episode is an excellent example of how enjoyable they are to watch. The best one to point out is when they first use the Whirlyped, from its takeoff to them flying through the mist. Gags such as the 'You'll have noticed I have turned on the hang on to your seat like never before sign' in which even the stick figure Urpney wants out and the 'You'll look back on this someday and laugh', with Blob then getting struck by lightning and Nug and Frizz laughing before Blob yells out "I said Someday, not now". As such, I can't blame the focus for being on the Urpneys when they are the ones who usually are the comedic focus. They certainly got laughs out of me, so if that was the goal they definitely succeeded.

There is also feels like a magic vs technology feel to the series too. The Dream Maker is always using magic and the Wuts fly on magic leaves and Wut globes also act like a magical device. The Urpneys on the other hand are nearly always using some kind of technological device built by Urpgor. Most of the time these fail due to the incompetence of the user, but when used correctly they tend to do their job perfectly. This feels slightly odd when compared to Zordrak, who himself uses magic. Indeed, in the episode Horrible Argorrible, we see Zordrak actually has a book called The Book of Evil Principles and is used to make one of his Argorribles corporeal, stating he should read more often. This implies that he hasn't really read through the book much, which you'd think for a villain who is hundreds of years old and has been at war with the Dream Maker for some time, he would have exhausted his magic spells in the book before turning to relying on Urpgor's technology. Perhaps he has his reasons, but we may never know.

That said, don't let these little annoyances of mine put you off. I do recommend checking the series out, even if its just the first two episodes (the two part introduction) as it alone is an enjoyable watch which introduces everyone and shows off Zordrak at his finest. You can even find the original 1985 pitch and see what was originally pitched compared to what eventually got off the ground (sort of like a movie pitch which seems more re-worked into a television series). In comparison, as a massive fan of Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, I found so many of this shows aspects so appealing to me and the music really feels so involved in the story telling. The cast of characters are enjoyable, there are so many great moments and while I feel I wanted more from it, I consider that a good thing (being invested is what creates a fan and builds a community). Much like a number of these animated shows I look at, I really want a DVD set of these. Why do so many of these shows not have a DVD collection, it's really frustrating. So do go check it out and remember, if you do end up having some horrible nightmare, you now know who to blame for it:

Zordrak, Lord of....

....Nightmares?

 

Update:

 

So there is an official Dreamstone channel on Youtube: HERE

Here you will find a majority of the episodes (some are missing, I believed they were removed due to sound issues). Not only that, but there are also messages from those who worked on the show, now promoting the channel. Go check it out.

 

But that's not all. While searching for miniature games based on franchises, I stumbled upon The Dreamstone miniatures boardgame and RPG: HERE

There designs are done through classic sculpting methods (compared to the 3D computer generated ones) and have the old forces of good vs the forces of evil. Even better, the RPG itself has a rather nice twist to it. Seems others share my opinion about the Urpneys are the real stars, because in this game there is one Dreammaker (the GM in regular RPGs) and the players create Urpney elite soldiers where in each game is like an episode of the show and you are sent on a mission, usually to steal the Dreamstone. Of course, even if you are successful the good guys will just get it back in the end and your party leader will need to give a good excuse to Zordrak to avoid serious punishment. So if you are a serious fan of the show, then give it a look.