A Certain Point of View

George Lucas has gotten a lot of flack for his writing, some of it much deserved.  It was pretty obvious, no matter what he said, that he didn't have the full story arc and Skywalker clan  plotted out when Star Wars first hit the screen in 1977.  Over the course of three movies we learn that Luke's father is in fact Darth Vader, and that he had a hidden twin sister. Oh, and if you bitch about spoilers you've been living in a cave for close to 40 years. Suck it up and deal.

In A New Hope Obi-Wan tells Luke that Vader was his pupil, that he was seduced by the Dark Side, and that he betrayed and murdered his father.  In Return of the Jedi he tells Luke that what he said was true, from a certain point of view.

Let's play a game of what if.  What if Obi-Wan had told Luke exactly what had happened.

Luke: "How did my father die?"

Obi-Wan: "Oh, your father is still alive, young Luke. Many years ago I was tasked with teaching young Anakin Skywalker the ways of the Force. We fought in the Clone Wars in many battles. Under my watch your father was seduced by the Dark Side of the Force, became a Sith Lord, took the mantle of Darth Vader,  and slaughtered many Jedi. He even went to the great Jedi Temple and murdered some thirty Jedi Younglings with that very light saber you hold.

"I confronted him, fought him, ended up cutting off his arms and legs, and left him for dead. Despite the atrocious acts he had committed I could not bring myself to kill him, to end his suffering. Because of my second bout of extreme negligence the Emperor was able to save the burned Vader and encase him in a cyborg body. In that body Vader executed the Emperor's will, serving up death and destruction throughout the galaxy."

Luke: "Oh look at the time. I think I left the oven on. Droids, let's go!"

Now, I'm not saying that this was the best way to tell the story. However, even if Lucas had planned this all out from the start I'm not sure that telling Luke that his father had become one of the most feared monsters in the Galaxy would be the best idea some thirty minutes after their first, real meeting. Not to mention Obi-Wan wanting Luke to learn the ways of the Force after telling him how his own father, under the guidance of Obi-Wan, fell to the Dark Side.

What do you all think?

And the Geek Shall Inherit the Earth

I'm sure my tale is going to resound with a lot of older folks.  Growing up being a geek or nerd was something that a lot of people hid. Comic books. Gaming. Reading. Science Fiction. Fantasy.  All of those things were not "cool" and to be avoided. Oft times once you were labeled a geek that was it. Game over man, game over.  A lot has changed in that time.

Today it is chic to be geek. And I love it!  Comic books, gaming, sci-fi, and fantasy are all main stream.  No longer do you have to hide your geekiness or be shunned by society. You can go to a gaming store and see a wide variety of people all there to share their love of whatever game. I've seen intense conversations about comic book origin stories and story arcs between a wide variety of people, not just the uncool kids on lunch.

I was thinking and comic books are the Soap Opera for the geek world. You have over the top characters, way crazy story lines, and no one truly dies if you have a good writer. In comic books you had two types of dead. You had dead - which means the character might have been a Skrull clone, an LMD, or raised from the dead by some cosmic entity. And then you had "Bucky dead" which meant you were dead dead. Worm food, no coming back. That was at least until Bucky Barnes was revived. You have love triangles, romances, epic battle. In Professional Wrestling terms Faces can become Heels and vice versa. Magneto was the X-men's greatest foe and then at some point he led them.

I think one of the biggest things to help is the movie industry, CGI specifically. A movie can now show the effects of super powers without being too cheesy.  I think the original X-men was a prime example. All the mutants had powers but they were shown in a - hate to use the word - near realistic display.  It makes it easier to suspend your belief if it looks cool on screen.

TV is getting in on the action with Arrow, the Flash, Agents of SHIELD, and new stuff in production and coming out. DareDevil on Netflix.  Oh yes,  I foresee a lot of binge watching.


Star Trek has helped lead to many generations of engineers.  The modern cell phone was created because some dude wanted a Star Trek communicator. Many terms have entered the lexicon. All this from Wagon Train to the Stars.

That person who walks down the street in the Star Trek uniform might garner some odd looks but there will also be a lot of people who will get a picture and give a thumbs up. Comic-con is the Mecca of the geek world.

For me it is an exciting time to live especially as the next series of Star Wars movies gets closer to release. I'm chomping at the bit for Avengers - Age of Ultron.

I came out of the Geek closet early on. I didn't care. I remember looking at a gaming book in class one day and some guy asked how much it cost. I told him twenty bucks - which was quite a bit in the early 90's. He frowned and mentioned that for twenty bucks how much beer he could have gotten. Oh the thrills of underaged drinking. I brought up the fact that when he was done with all that beer he had a hangover and a empty beer cans. I still have the book, find uses for it, and still own it today.

I'm sure we all have stories about being made fun of, shunned, or ignored for our hobbies. It didn't take me long to say fuck 'em because I liked it and I didn't care. I found a group of like minded folks and we formed our own group. It is even easier today with the internet to find people who share the same interest.

Never be afraid of who you are. If someone wont' accept you for who and what you are then prune them.  They aren't worth it.

Go forth and Geek Out!

Dropzone Commander - Not sold on Fast Movers

There are many moving parts in the machine that is Dropzone Commander.  One of those parts is the Fast Mover. The fluff describes Fast Movers as that critical airstrike that takes out a vehicle, building, or hard hitting unit behind enemy lines.  The theory is that the fast mover comes on, strafes the target and obliterates it, then flies off the table and then circles back for another round.  So far I have not seen the Fast Mover worth the points paid.

Fast Movers have some gorgeous models. Above are a pair of UCM Archangels. I didn't paint them - those are shamelessly borrowed from Hawk's website. The idea is when they are activated they will fly on and rain death on other aircraft or soft targets. However there are a few considerations.

1) In all battles I've seen they start in reserve. Translation - while ground units start on readiness and can come onto the board upon their activation. With units in reserve you have to roll on the Reserve Table.  Chances are this unit will not make it onto the table until turn 3 or 4 unless you are very lucky.

2) Even if you do make the Reserves roll you have to check and see if the Fast Mover is ready. Another die roll - and a roll of a 1 and the pilots are joyriding around, having a smoke and a drink, something.  Still more points sitting off the table.

3) If you do make your reserve roll AND you make the readiness check you still have to paint the target (so to speak) set your entry and exit point, and make the run.  If you are against a PHR player they have some nasty AA units. They'll hit on a 4 (and that is with the Reaction fire) and destroy you on a 3.  One Damage Point is pretty flimsy.  Oh, and they have a 24" range so unless you are skimming at 2" and not the normal 6" you have a pretty decent chance of being shot down before you even reach your target. The gun on the Archangel has a 12" range and without the ability to pre-measure you really are pressing your luck.

The PHR Athena - still not painted by me!

I guess some tricks to use are to try and get the enemy AA to fire before you try to activate your Fast Mover but a savvy opponent will leave one ready to blast you out of the sky unless there is an opportunity or reason they cannot.

In the two times I have attempted to use the Fast Movers they have not paid for themselves.  I've seen a couple of games with them used - and even when they were not shot down they did not do much. I've seen a lot of battle reports and the general mantra is "They look great but usually die a gruesome death."

I'll have to check out the Forward Observer rules but so far I am underwhelmed by this aspect of the game.  I NEARLY picked up some archangels until  I actually proxied a pair.  More work will have to be done to get me to commit my hard earned cash to add them to my current army.

What are your thoughts on the Fast Movers?  Have you had any better luck? Any strategies I should try? Hawk took the time to design and write rules for them, I hate to leave them off the table.

Spoiler Alert?!

Maybe it is a sign of me getting older but I am no longer wanting to know everything about a movie or a show before it comes out. With the advent of the internet, digital photos, and the rest it is now all too easy to sneak pictures or script shots off the set. I enjoy the surprise, the mystery, the secret, the unknown of a new movie or show.

Why will you drop $7 to $15 or more to see a movie that you know all the plot points and probably have seen a good chunk of the footage from a spoiler website? What is left to enjoy?  If you spend the entire time waiting for that one scene that you know is coming how much can you truly enjoy the movie?

I guess I'm tired of avoiding so many articles because of the dreaded "Spoiler Alert" that seems to fill so many articles. At least they are courteous enough to put in there. I know it is big business to leak this to the masses, and if there wasn't a market for it then it wouldn't be so rampant. Hell, I've avoided reading the sample chapters that Martin has posted for the next A Song of Fire and Ice novel.

It is a lot easier since I don't have cable. I am not bombarded with commercials or TMZ style shows that blurt out some breaking news.  I also keep my headphones on at work so I miss a lot of the chatter from my fellow geeks who do keep in the know.

Don't get me wrong, I was ecstatic when I heard there will be new Star Wars movies. I am also thrilled that JJ Abrams is going to be helming at least first one because of his sense of secrecy.  He's kept a lot of the new Trek movie close to his vest. Some stills were released, characters, but even the trailers have left you wondering just what the hell is going on. I have also purposely ignored articles that leak script ideas.  I want to go into this fresh, not knowing much, and with as few preconceived notions as I can.

Some things have been revealed.   A lot of the original cast will be back if the reports are correct.  They are known commodities, Luke, Leah, Han. My hope is that they are now in positions of authority and that they are there to hand the reins to a new group of younger smugglers, Jedi, and heroes. I plan to remain as ignorant as I can about it until I see the Star Wars logo and hopefully John Williams Fanfare blaring.

I have nothing against the masses who do want every spoiler that comes out.  I just ask that you don't blurt them out and if you post about them warn those of us who still want a little magic when we go to the movies.

Battlestar Galactica - Blood and Chrome

Blood and Chrome is the upcoming Syfy telemovie.  It is being broken up into ten webisodes viewable through Youtube. Two episodes have been posted so far. This is all based off the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica.

Blood and Chrome  picks after the show Caprica, ten years into the Cylon war. In it we find a young William "Husker" Adama, fresh out of the Academy, and now assigned to his first post - the Battlestar Galactica. He is a hotshot pilot who is eager to fly a Viper and clash with the enemy of the Colonies - the Cylons.  Of course the life in the academy and the realities of war are two different things.

The first mini-episode introduces us to the young Ensign Adama, his copilot Coker. Instead of the Viper he was planning on taking to war  Adama is instead put into the cockpit of a Raptor, one of the reconnaissance and rescue vehicle. Where Adama is eager to prove himself in the war Coker, on the other hand, is a veteran who has seen more than his share.   He has seen the horrors of the war. Coker plans to muster out after his second mandatory tour. Together they are assigned a milk run, a simple pick up and delivery. Naturally this  run  turns out to be a bit more than either planned for.

The cast is a mix of youthful faces who have bought into the propaganda of the war and are ready to kill toasters and those who have actually been in the war and know better. I found the story engaging and fast moving. There was not a lot of build up, you are dropped into the middle of the war. The virtual sets are top notch and the exterior space shots are amazing. I did grow a bit tired of the quick pan shots as well as the lens flares.  I enjoyed the music, especially the homage to the original Stu Philips score for the original show.

I am eagerly looking forward to future installments.  These can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/machinima