Anime RE-Claimed: Dragonball Super

Ya know, if years ago you'd have told me there was going to be another "Dragonball" series I'd have rolled my eyes and said "What?! Really?!" but in this day and age of things coming back ("24", "Prison Break", "Heroes: Reborn", "Fuller House" and I'm pretty sure I'm missing something) "Dragonball" was the LAST thing I'd expect to make a come back. But Akira Toriyama wasn't done and in 2016 came out with "Battle Of The Gods" and introduced us to Beerus and Whis, 2 divine powers that pushed Goku to a new level Super Saiyajin God. After the movie was a success, it was announced that Dragonball would get a NEW series a legit sequel (unlike "Dragonball GT") named "Dragonball Super" and now here we are and here's what I think!

Art Woes

Can I get personal, guys? I guess I can, it's my blog, right? Right. And that means I can talk about whatever I want. Guys, I gotta confession to make, you ready? I'm obsessed with women. Sounds creepy? Of course it does, I'm obsessed with women because I CAN'T DRAW WOMEN! I've said this before in another blog but I haven't been able to draw women for a LONG TIME. I've only been drawing women since the early 2000s but now I'm feeling discouraged, why? Let's get to it.

STRANGE LOG: Are We There Yet?

VICTORY IS MINE!! So I got thew new job, no longer at my old job and it is glorious!! I'm now working at a gaming store which specializes in Xbox Ones, board games, Magic The Gathering etc. etc. Needless to say this change has me in better spirits, but with a new job comes a new schedule that my wife and son are currently getting adjusted to and I'll admit, it's a struggle. At the moment I'm starting the slow death slog to pay day (the 20th) because food is getting low. That being said, let's get to what's going on thus far and things I wanna comment on. Let's dive in.

My Thoughts On The REAL "The Last Jedi" Trailer

These trailers keep coming out later and later, nice way to start speculation but MAN, I already shared my thoughts on the 1st "Last Jedi" Trailer but I guess I should've waited now that we have more images in this one. So let's get to the play by play and see what we see.

Project Canceled: Mortal Kombat: Conquest

Holy crap! This is one of those SUPER 90s shows from back in the day! During the rise of "Hercules: The Legendary Journey", "Xena: Warrior Princess", "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" was the epitome of the 90s! From here on out I'll call it "Conquest" for short. "Conquest" came out in in the fall of 1998 after "Mortal Kombat 4", before "Mortal Kombat: Gold" and (more importantly) AFTER "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation". "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" being completely generous was a box-office bomb, Ed Boon going so far as to say the film was "the worst moment in the franchise's history.". To be completely honest, I enjoy "Mortal Kombat: Annihilation" as an unintentional comedy but I digress. With 2 films under it's belt, a TV show was more than the obvious next step and thus "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" was born.

Prior to "Conquest", "Mortal Kombat" enjoyed a brief foray in the animated realm with the series "Mortal Kombat: Defenders Of The Realms". While I never watched the show completely, I do remember catching an episode here and there, and one of the most notable things about this series (at least to me) is that this show features the first and (only time) where Rain is seen without his mask. "Defenders Of The Realms" lasted for 13 episodes before being canceled. "Defenders Of The Realms" wasn't well received considering the show was animated for children and while having a large child fan base (after all I was 8 when I played "Mortal Kombat"), "Mortal Kombat" is NOT meant for children. The brutal nature of the game could never be reflected in a Saturday morning cartoon style.

"Conquest" was live action and instead of being about Liu Kang and the story we're familiar with, "Conquest" would tell the story of The Great Kung Lao, Kung Lao's ancestor and his journey to become the 1st Earth Realmer to win Mortal Kombat. "Conquest" aired on TNT and was featured after WCW Monday Nitro. "Conquest" oddly enough did enjoy popularity despite in latter years being called a "wire-fu disaster". TNT ultimately made the decision to pull the plug on "Conquest" and from research it looks like it was primarily for budget reasons rather than the over all quality of the show. There are very few things I can speak on authoritatively, "Dragonball Z", Writing, Quentin Tarantino and a few others but "Mortal Kombat" is definitely on that list. I've seen a few episodes here and there but never watched it entirely.

One of my main reasons for avoiding this series is the fear of the brain aneurysm I'd have with the glaring continuity errors of the series fall out of sync with the actual "Mortal Kombat" timeline. As an example, there is an episode titled "Noob Saibot", however we know Noob Saibot wasn't created until the current Mortal Kombat timeline as he was the 1st Sub-Zero, Bi-Han. Bi-Han fought in the tournament during Liu Kang's time and was turned into Noob Saibot after his defeat. The series takes place a good 500 years BEFORE Liu Kang, which would either mean that Bi-Han was never Sub-Zero and always Noob Saibot or that Bi-Han managed to die as Noob Saibot, come back as Sub Zero and then die and become Noob Saibot again. Both are dumb.

Likewise characters like Scorpion are mentioned and while on the surface it may seem like that's no big deal considering Scorpion's a specter, what you're missing is the fact that Bi-Han was a grown man prior to killing Scorpion, which would mean Bi-Han would have to be upwards of about 600 years old for Scorpion to have been killed 500 years prior to Liu Kang. In Mortal Kombat Scorpion's been dead for roughly 2 years before the tournament. So while his being in the series is nice fan service, in actual continuity this makes absolutely NO sense by anyone's imagination. But you see the level of care I have for "Mortal Kombat" so no need to press that further.

 "Conquest" lasted for 1 Season of 22 episodes (a full order) and enjoyed more success in The U.K. & Australia, which is odd considering Australia bans "Mortal Kombat"...and "Power Rangers" for that matter. So for Project Canceled we're gonna dive into the entire series of "Mortal Kombat: Conquest" and see what's what.

Let's Talk Star Wars, Rey, Mary Sues & Gary Stus

Let's talk "Star Wars", and I wanted shy away from discussing the topic but seeing as how the entertainment news cycle (at least the entertainment news that I give a crap about it) is slow, let's talk about this. What is the "this" I'm referring to? This discussion of Rey as a Mary Sue. I don't have a stake in this discussion as I'm of the opinion that WE STILL HAVE 2 MOVIES to get through so let's chill on the "Mary Sue" talk for now. But nonetheless, enough people have re-stated this opinion over and over and I really wanted to sit down and discuss my thoughts on the topic at hand. So let's dive in.