BW Computer Update

My computers are still down. My friend is currently working on the main BW computer so I can resume main operations, with the laptop to follow. So there’s no Jake & Leon this week. If it looks like I’ll be relegated to my dad’s computer again I may go back to the pen and paper so I can keep making comics at least. I’m also going to try to get at least the comics that ended on a cliffhanger–the Iron Man/Fantastic Four team-up, the Robotech prequel War Of The Believers arc, and The Fourth Doctor fighting the Dalek’s werewolf army–reviewed, with the others if I can, so we’ll be out of order if they go up at all.

Meanwhile we have a personal tragedy. My uncle passed away a few months ago and now his grandson, my cousin’s son, was killed in a motorcycle accident. He’s the same one who had suffered life-threatening injuries to the skull the same year I was in the hospital, only that was a swimming accident. Please keep my cousin, her husband, and their remaining son in your prayers and well wishes. Meanwhile my other cousin’s son on the other side of the family is about to enter the Coast Guard. It’s a weird balance.

If I miss a day or two between this and computers I hope you understand. Hopefully things will be back to normal here at the Spotlight soon.

Saturday Night Showcase: Transformers Cyberverse

Transformers Cyberverse is the next Transformers cartoon, based on the upcoming (or maybe it’s out…I don’t get to the toy section much these days) kids toy line. (They also have a new version of Rescue Bots for the younger kids and I think Power Of The Primes is wrapping up for adult collectors.) Instead of doing the smart thing and bringing it back to Discovery Family, who already pays more respect to the ended Transformers shows of the aligned continuity than Cartoon Network did with Robots In Disguise, they’ve left the show in the hands of the network that poorly aired the previous show. That’s not a good start.

Add in the fact that no CN show outside of the anime on Toonami has an episode that lasts longer than 11 minutes and it’s an even worse sign. The woman running the network right now seems to think the future is in streaming, I get that. But the only reason other shows are shorter than your average 22+ minute (not counting ads) cartoon is budgetary. Most cartoons made for YouTube don’t have the budget for a full-length show because they aren’t on a major network like, oh I don’t know, Cartoon Network? Shows on Netflix are full-length episodes, right? I don’t have Netflix so I don’t know.

What I do know is that the first two episodes, which only combined is a full episode, were posted to Hasbro’s YouTube channel so I can show you them free and legal for as long as they’re up. That’s why this ended up on Saturday Night Showcase instead of just a pilot review. So do they make up for the run time? Well….

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Star Trek: The Next Story Bible–Script Formatting

Even if you actually clicked onto this article you may be thinking that this isn’t going to be that interesting a section, but if you wanted to know a little behind the scenes as to the purpose of logs or how to actually translate a stardate, you just might be interested.

As I expected this will be a short one and as I’m not sure how much time I have since my dad would like to use his own computer but lets me use it while mine are still down this is actually beneficial to me. However I would have skipped over it if it wasn’t of any interest, at least to any writers out there. Whether you’re hoping to write for an actual episode, comic, video game, novel, or even just fanfic and want to be as authentic as you can, this little section may be of interest to you.

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Didio’s Fight To Restore The New 52

Sorry there was no posting yesterday. I couldn’t get to my dad’s computer, my computers are still inaccessible, and trying to use even the external keyboard for my tablet is a chore.

While you can find fans for almost anything, just some harder to find than others, the consensus in the circles I travel in is that the New 52 was a bad idea. While a few good stories came out of it it was at the cost of beloved characters and much of what made the DC Universe more interesting than the Marvel Universe for many of us. Linkara’s video in the “Jimquisition” style pretty much says it all.

But I want to focus on another video by Professor Geek. Via Bendis’ destruction of Superman, G. Willow Wilson’s take on Wonder Woman, and a recent DC Nation magazine that may indicate that Dan Didio not only hasn’t given up on the darker Marvelesque style of the New 52 (while Marvel is slowly ditching the superhero concept and “hero’s journey”) but is actively working to bring it back.

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She-Ra 2000 Trailer Reaction

She-Ra And The Princesses Of Power is the re-imagination of She-Ra: Princess Of Power, the spin-off of He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe. The Princess Of Power toyline is the girls version of Masters Of The Universe, although Mattel took that a bit too far, as Free Comic Inside has noted.

Now I’ve discussed what’s come out about Dreamworks’s new take and I’ve had mixed feelings on it. It could be good, but will it be such a poor adaptation that they might as well not have bothered? As an experiment I recorded a live reaction via my tablet (since the computers are still down) and here are my thoughts, but first let me show you the actual trailer so you can follow along.

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Chapter By Chapter: The Death And Life Of Superman ch. 23

Chapter by Chapter features me reading one chapter of the selected book at the time and reviewing it as if I were reviewing an episode of a TV show or an issue of a comic. There will be spoilers if you haven’t read to the point I have, and if you’ve read further I ask that you don’t spoil anything further into the book. Think of it as read-along book club.

Despite my current technical difficulties I’m going to try to at least to get the feature article up when I can access my dad’s computer. (I can’t do anything with the tablet. Even watching YouTube is a chore.) And I don’t want this book to go through the same long hiatus I had with 2016’s review of Star Wars: Shadows Of The Empire.

I also read the chapter before writing this intro rather than after like usual because it was easier under the circumstances. So I know this one actually has a fight between two of the Supermen, and yet another addition to the roster. So far we’ve had The Kryptonian, Cyborg Superman, Man Of Steel, Don’t Call Me Superboy, and Bibbo. This last one is probably the one me most anticipated, but his introduction was kind of done wrong.

Chapter 23: Reign Of The Supermen part 5

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Technical Difficulties

If you’re seeing this it means my return has hit a new snag. My computer refuses to turn on. So I don’t even know if I’m going to be able to put stuff out for awhile unless I can access my dad’s computer like I’m doing now. I’m not sure when I can resume but I’ll be back as soon as I can, even if it’s only a partial comeback. Of course both computers (including the laptop) are down now.