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My 6 Favorite Things of 2024
Welp, the world keeps spinning and we’ve reached the end of another year. It was a crap year full of mostly crap entertainment, and I’m coming up empty in terms of empathy and interest. Following the presidential election, I’m opting to be more cynical these days as a coping mechanism. This was also the year I took a back seat on posting all the time. This was a year.
In good news, I finally started my own original comic — Cover Bard — and am halfway done with the first issue. I need to make a big post about it. And the second volume of Gamer Girl & Vixen is complete and headed to the printers, to be distributed and available for sale early next year. So those were some good things that happened. We also had a ton of great TV shows, but not a lot of great movies or video games. It was a weird year.
But I like putting together a list like this, so join me after the jump for my favorite bits and pieces of pop culture from 2024! And feel free to share your own in the comments below.
Read the rest of this entryBehold, the LEGO X-Mansion
Finally, at long last, the LEGO X-Mansion set has been officially revealed. It has been rumored for the past year, and I’ve already seen all these pictures because they were leaked over the past week. But it’s official now. It’s up on the LEGO website. We can check this baby out in all its glory!
If I’m being totally honest, I don’t think it’s great. I don’t usually like building sets from LEGO. I’m more of a vehicles guy. But this X-Mansion appears to be based directly on the one from the Animated Series, so I’m a little more open to it. I guess I just thought it would be grander somehow…but I do like that Sentinel. Nice addition.
The mini-figures are OK. I like the inclusion of Iceman, despite him not being a part of the cartoon (yet). I haven’t bought any other X-Men sets, so none of these will be repeats for me…though they are missing the Beast that was included in those blind packs last year. I’ll have to pick him up separately.
Honestly, I dig it and I bet it will grow on me. And hopefully it’s the start of many more X-Men sets to come.
The LEGO X-Mansion will release on Nov. 4. I have a LEGO store near me, so I might go camp out and try to get it on Day One…except now I’m seeing that it’s a Monday. Dang. May have to wait until the weekend. We’ll see. At the very least, it’s finally revealed, we can all look at that beautiful thing. And we can all hope and imagine we get many more X-Men figures and sets in the future!
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6 Things I Want To See in the Second Season of X-Men ’97
The first season of X-Men ’97 was a masterpiece. It was perfect from beginning to end. And one of the best parts of the series was how it took multiple storylines from the comics and condensed and reworked them to fit the show’s own, largely original storyline. It was brilliantly done. I gave the show a perfect 10/10 score in my review last week. Loved it!
So what about season 2?
X-Men ’97 has already been confirmed for a second and third season. In fact, season 2 is already in production. Showrunner Beau DeMayo has been fired by Marvel for reasons that have not yet been revealed, but he wrote a lot of the scripts for season 2, so there should be some quality assured. But aside from Apocalypse being a main focus, season 2 could feature pretty much anything and anyone. Season 1 was also filled to the brim with cameos and Easter Egg character appearances. Anyone could appear from anywhere in the franchise.
I did a List of Six years ago about characters and concepts I hoped to see in X-Men ’97. Nothing on that list came to pass. Now that we know what we can expect from this show, I’ve put together a new list specifically for what I’d like to see in season 2! And expect FULL SPOILERS for season 1 in this list as I discuss what I’d like to see happen next!
Read the rest of this entryStrong Guy Watch: Didn’t See This Coming!
There was a super surprise Strong Guy appearance this week and I need to tell somebody! I’ve been following random Strong Guy appearances for years now, just because it’s fun. He’s a great character and doesn’t appear very often. And now he’s had one of his greatest appearances of all time.
But I won’t spoil it here. You’re going to have to join me after the jump for the big Strong Guy reveal! I warn you, only click this link if your love of Strong Guy outweighs your concerns about spoilers, and if you’re fully up to speed on X-Men projects.
There will only be light spoilers.
Read the rest of this entryCartoon Trailer Monday!
Last week was a great week for cartoon trailers. And if I was more on my game, I should have posted about these last week. That’s on me. I’m sure everybody’s already seen these trailers, but you haven’t heard my thoughts on them yet!
First up is the big one, X-Men ’97. Everybody’s been talking about this all weekend, and of course I’m excited for this show. I lived off of the original X-Men animated series, so I am here for this!
Looks wonky but manageable. Not sure bringing back the same voice cast was the best idea. Not sure whatever they’re doing with the animation was the best idea. But their heart seems to be in the right place. Seems like they’ve got some solid stories lined up, and that Daily Bugle flapping in the breeze at the start of the trailer showed Maggott and Stacy X, and if those two characters appear for real in this show, then I’m going to automatically consider it a success.
Also, I am 110% behind everything they’re doing with Morph. Making them nonbinary is a great idea. And I love their new blank face/AoA Morph look. The Morph serialized story from the original show was always really impressive to me, and I’m excited to see them as a solid member of the team now.
X-Men ’97 comes to Disney+ on March 20.
Next up is the trailer for the second half of season two of Invincible. Loved everything so far, love the comic series, so bring it on!
Looks great! I recognize some of the storylines and characters from the comics, and then there’s stuff I’ve forgotten about. I’m confident that the people behind Invincible know exactly what they’re doing and they’re going to pull it off splendidly. So everybody just keep up the good work and get it done!
Invincible returns to Amazon Prime on March 14.
Lastly, our first look at Tales of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! I loved Mutant Mayhem as much as the next person, so I’m on board with those show.
Looks fun. Looks a little cheaply animated, but I can live with that. I don’t actually know if I’ll watch this show. I haven’t watched an ongoing Ninja Turtles cartoon in a very long time. They’re mostly for kids for real. And that’s how it should be! Let kids enjoy the Ninja Turtles. But if it’s as good as the movie, I might try this out.
Tales of the TMNT comes to Paramount+ this summer.
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