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01.01.2021
Friday |
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Bioman
by
Adrian J. Watts
Episodes
31-34 are intense! The Big Three and some
of the Beastnoids get upgrades, and the Biomen
need to upgrade their own suits and powers in order
to keep up - and it isn't easy for the heroes.
Mason's upgrades are amazing, especially the Mason
Vulcan he now wields. Psygorn looks much cooler, and
his new ability - Horror Kinesis - is terrifying and
wonderful. Farrah turns up the feminine charms
(especially in the chest area... sigh... they
literally show some close-up shots to make sure we
all notice) and Mettzler takes a leaf out of Mr
Fantastic's book.
Monster's
upgrades are... less subtle! And Juo's are barely
noticeable, but given his fate in episode thirty-one,
I guess being functional at all is an upgrade.
What
really makes the episodes exceptional is how well
they are put together. With only two exceptions, they
are pretty much flawless. It really felt like they
were all done together as one solid block. Monster is
absent for an episode without explanation, but the
reason is clear if you know what to look for in the
next episopde - a level of subtlety often lacking in
Toei tokusatsu of this era. The ending credits go
through a few changes to show that the status quo has
changed and that we have not yet arrived at the
new status quo. It's almost like a movie broken
into four distinct chunks!
The
only things which didn't make a lot of sense was how
the Biomen were ultimately able to transform in
episode thirty-four (they couldn't, then just could
all of a sudden) or how the Super Maser was upgraded.
Nothing happened to power up the Super Maser - could
it always do its new finisher, and they just never
thought to use it before?
I'm
wracking my eyes looking for visual changes to the
Bioman outfits but can't see any. Psygorn, Mettzler
and Mason got amazing upgrades, though, and they are
clearly visible. Only Farrah Cat remains unchanged...
Absolutely
amazing, one of the best arcs I've ever seen in Super
Sentai.
Series
progress:
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22.12.2020
Tuesday |
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Jet
Powers (and Space Ace)
by
Adrian J. Watts
I
just finished reading the Jet Powers series
by Magazine Enterprises, from 1951 and 1952. Jet
Powers featured a back-up called Space Ace -
with #5, Jet Powers was renamed Space
Ace, but featured entirely different characters.
Jet
Powers was a weird series (and character), as it
destroyed its own world very early on! There is still
a lot of potential for the character, as his last
stories ended with him on Mars, I believe. Space Ace
had some potential, too - I'd be tempted to team up
with Jacob Milnestein on a Jet Powers VS Space
Ace one-shot one day!
As Jet
Powers and the Space Ace back-up are
now public domain, I might be tempted to make them
readily-accessible somewhere. They're neat, fun
stories, well worth a read!
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11.12.2020
Friday |
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Bioman
by
Adrian J. Watts
Past
the halfway mark, with the movie and the two-part
revelations about Doctor Man's origin now done.
There
were a couple of things which bothered me about the
two-parter. In episode twenty-five, how did Mason get
Koichi's watch? I double-checked, and Koichi clearly
still had it on right up until the point it was
thrown back down to him. In episode twenty-six...
what was with the happy resolution? Koichi is still
alone - where was he going? Was he just catching a
train to school? Who are these people who will
protect him? It clearly didn't mean the Biomen,
because he responded to the comment by saying that he
knows they will also protect him... I hope
this means it isn't the last we've seen of him!
Series
progress:
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09.12.2020
Wednesday |
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Bioman
Movie
by
Adrian J. Watts
The Choudenshi
Bioman summer movie was epic. It was
far longer than most Super Sentai summer
movies and it did feel like it was beginning to drag
at around the halfway mark (about the runtime of a
regular episode) but then almost immediately picked
up again. Loved it.
Yellow
Four II has now totally solidified her status in my
mind as one of the great Yellows. I still kinda see
her as an impostor, but she's wonderful. She stole
the show - but that said, she got a lot of
screen time compared to Green Two and Blue Three in
particular.
I
loved it when the Beastnoids did their own version of
the Bioman roll call, but I did not care at all for
the Cat Army. Farrah Cat is amazing, but Cat One, Cat
Two and Cat Three simply were not and I hope they
don't return.
I
felt it was a bit rough that the Biomen would
basically sacrifice Tokyo to the aerial raid by
Mirage Fighters just to save Hisao, and I also wonder
why Gear doesn't just try to catch the boys again in
order to find Bio Base. Doctor Man is normally more
clever than that - just look at Mechaclone Hisao!
American
Flagg! Vol.2: Southern Comfort
by
Adrian J. Watts
As
much as I loved Vol.1 (#s 1-3), Vol.2 was a really
hard read. Hard to follow, and I even found myself
having to Google who some characters were! Maybe my
instant love for the series came a bit too soon...! I
still have Vol.3 to go, but not sure that I'll hunt
down the rest of the series after that. We'll see how
things go.
Maccadam
Build-a-Figure
by
Adrian J. Watts
I
was finally able to put together the Transformers
Cyberverse build-a-figure Maccadam. I'm not sure
what I expected... but I am a little bit disappointed
- he certainly wasn't worth the $232 I effectively
paid (each of the Deluxe figures which included his
parts was $29, and there were eight). I do like the
Thunderhowl Deluxe figure, I suppose, and I might be
able to gift Hot Rod to someone, I suppose!
As
for Maccadam himself... he's OK. It's great to have a
toy of an obscure comics character, even if he is not
micro-sized. It's a shame he isn't compatible
with any of the Cyberverse or War for
Cybertron gimmicks, though.
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07.12.2020
Monday |
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Bioman
Movie Trailer
by
Adrian J. Watts
The
trailer for the Choudenshi Bioman summer
movie is interesting... in that it is entirely
uninteresting. I don't think it included any footage
which wasn't already in the show; in fact, I don't
think it included any footage which wasn't from
the opening credits! The voiceover was new, but
didn't say much at all. I guess if, like me, you
already like the show, then you don't need to be sold
on the movie... but what about luring in the folks
who were not already fans?
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03.12.2020
Thursday |
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Climate
Types in Australia
by
Adrian J. Watts
Earlier
this year I quickly put together a multimodal text
called Climate Types in Australia. There
were several motivations behind it. One was to
introduce work colleagues to the science content
itself (e.g. the difference between weather and
climate) and to frontload how to present and analyse
data. Another was to model creating a multimodal
information report as a digital text. It isn't
complete, as I would more than likely have added
sound - it was purely to illustrate the concept for
colleagues.
I
feel it still has some merit, especially over the
summer break; it has questions and prompts for kids
in Grade 3 and 4 to use to explore the content, so
I'm putting it up in case anyone finds use in it.
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02.12.2020
Wednesday |
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The
Prometheans
by
Adrian J. Watts
It's
been twenty-seven years since the Energy took off
from the launch platform on the planet Prometheus and
set off the events which would lead to the
destruction of half the universe. Now, the
Prometheans are ready to launch again in their new
ship, the Battle Base. This time, things are
different, though. They've learned from their past
mistakes and have only a team of guardians on board -
in fact, two teams.
Team
1 consists of Orion, a new leader; Stronger, his
lieutenant; Hornet, his lieutenant in training;
Sider, a trainee leader; and Firestorm, Sider's
sidekick. Team 2 consists of Sentinel, an advisor to
Orion for his first mission as leader; Caesar,
Sentinel's lieutenant; and Steelclaw, Sentinel's own
lieutenant in training.
However,
all is not quite as it seems. Will the crew of the
Battle Base be able to prove that space travel is
within the Prometheans' grasp, or will history repeat
itself?
The
Prometheans #1 will be available 01 January
2021.
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01.12.2020
Tuesday |
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Bioman
by
Adrian J. Watts
I've
been trying, when I can, to watch Choudenshi
Bioman, the Super Sentai series
from 1984 - the year I was born! It started off
fairly slow and unimpressive; I didn't even really
take note of characters' names, other than Yellow
Four (the first one, anyway). By episode twenty,
though, it has become really amazing - and intense!
Prince and Grotesque Canth were quite menacing! If
Prince had lasted longer, he'd be up there with Kamen
Rider Ouja among the villains who give me
nightmares...
I'm
really digging the show now, just a matter of being
able to watch it! I was surprised it took nineteen
episodes for Blue Three to finally get a focus, but
with having to deal with the Yellows it is somewhat
understandable - Jun needed a couple of extra
episodes to get established, I guess.
Series
progress:
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28.11.2020
Saturday |
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Under
Construction
by
Adrian J. Watts
As
you may have noticed, I am now going through the
process of updating the site. It's quite a major
overhaul. Right now I am only updating this index;
what happens next will be a bit ad hoc as I
experiment with different things. I'm still going to
be sticking with a very Web 1.0 interface, static
HTML, etc. as it has unending benefits... we shall
see.
Hopefully
this index will be fully revised and ready for 01
December 2020, at which point I'll begin updating a
bit differently. No promises!
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