In Defense of Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

    For those who haven't seen the Indiana Jones movies, stop reading now and watch them. For those who have, you probably like Raiders of the Lost Ark the most. It's a valid opinion, but not the correct one. To set the record straight; my favorite is The Last Crusade because of its perfectly polished storyline, amazing acting and delivery, historical """realism""" to the environment at the time, and the monumentally important relationship between father and son which would serve as the basis for the Young Indiana Jones Chronicles TV show.

    That said, I don't think Lost Ark is the second best. I give that to Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Why? Let's take a deeper look into the movies. Raiders of the Lost Ark was the first attempt at this franchise, and the first use of 1930s Han Solo. It was a great movie, with an incredibly strong plot and concept. However, it was clearly the first. Some of the depictions would change and become streamlined over time (even visible by Temple of Doom, another fan-favorite), and the goal of realism would become stronger.

    This is why Kingdom of the Crystal Skull beats it out for me. Playing off the iconic father-son relationship in The Last Crusade, it depicts Indy as a man who ended up becoming exactly like his father. This is realistic, and adds a depth to the character that goes beyond the womanizing, academic adventurer. It's subtle in some ways, and overt in others. My personal favorite is the motorcycle sequence, where Indy's interaction with Mutt is an exact 180 of his interaction with his father during The Last Crusade while escaping the Austrian castle.

    The movie also benefits from depicting Indy as an American spy against the evil Soviets, which was a very real and very important social depiction during the Cold War. This is unlike Lost Ark or The Last Crusade, where the villains are Nazis who search for ancient treasure to use as weapons. That isn't a bad villain concept, but it leaves out the whole "war" part. Of course, the TV show returns some of this by depicting Indy's experience in the Belgian army during WWI, but who's actually watched that?

    By depicting Indy as one country, and pitting him against the soldiers of another, the movie personifies the political atmosphere at the time. Ironically, he's once again going against a sect of the army that looks for mystical artifacts. This is a limitation of the premise beyond Indiana Jones, but still doesn't outdo his fight against Dracula in terms of ridiculousness.

    That's most of my spiel, but it is true. I really enjoy Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and I think it was a great movie. Unlike most modern sequels of 80s franchises, it wasn't the soulless cash-grab remake. Instead, it was a fresh look continuing the same story, written by the same people, playing off of the content of the original movies while writing new content to depict the different world the film is set in.

COVID-19

    Don't let the title scare you, I don't intend to talk in length about the pandemic. I just wanted to let y'all on the blog know that I got it and I've been a bit sick, so that might account for a lack in activity, compounded with school work. I'll try to keep this place up to date, since I won't have much else to do while stuck in quarantine for over a week. I'd like like to watch The Adventures of Tin Tin, a show I watched as a younger child and would love to see again.

Pharaoh's Quest: A forgotten gem of 2010

    I'm gonna take this opportunity to talk about the most underrated LEGO theme of all time. Pharaoh's Quest is from that strange series of early 2010s LEGO themes that only had one above-average size wave and almost no story. Monster Fighters is another example. However, like Monster Fighters, this was a strong wave, playing off of the ancient Egypt plot that Adventures had tried in the 90s, though with a bit more fantasy. Half the sets were 1920s-styled adventurers pitted against giant stone statues (Anubis minifigure!), and the other half against revived mummies. It's all the good stuff from The Mummy (1999) with the bright colors and imagination Denmark has become known for.

    Like all good things, unfortunately, it didn't last very long. Of course, it was only intended for one wave. However, it also had virtually no long-term legacy. The recent Creator Haunted Mansion set is a manor for Baron von Barron of Lego Adventures, so hopefully LEGO has shifted its eyes back towards the desert. I've still gotta pick that set up, and plan to do so if I can get some more things sold soon!

(image pulled from Brickset)

Who to go to for 1/12

    It's by far the most popular scale in modern toy collecting; the primary scale of McFarlane, Hasbro, Jazwares (kind of), Mezco, Figuarts, and Mafex. However, the quality is all across the board. McFarlane has been doing pretty well lately, but Marvel Legends is really not great. Figuarts is of course fantastic, but they've become extremely expensive. Mafex and Mezco are kind of in the same boat, but with more QC problems. This just leaves the Fortnite God-King Jazwares, which has somehow surpassed the market in terms of extra accessories, paint, and design. It's a really wild change of pace from the typical Legends and LC figures, since these really feel like a human designed them rather than a cold Ti-84 calculator. I'm a Jazwares guy, personally, but I'd also recommend checking out Figuarts if you can find them for cheap. Just, no Figuart is worth more than $70.

Analog Radio

    A brief change of pace, but I'd suggest getting an analog radio if you have the opportunity. It's a pretty liberating feeling not to have to sign onto a computer just to get news. Since all of my class material is online, I'm on the internet too much as is. I'm looking forward to this being over, but it's very unfortunate how dependent on the internet we've become for simple assignments.

Distribution

    I see people complain about this enough that I figured I might as well share my own thoughts: what the hell is Mattel doing with their MOTU Origins distribution? Obviously, you should just preorder from BBTS if you desperately want something and are willing to wait. Unfortunately, some releases are out of stock but I doubt they won't get restocked soon. As far as brick and mortar stores go, though, forget about it. I've only seen Masters of the WWE Universe in Walmart once, and it doesn't look like distribution has gotten ANY better. It's pretty unfortunate that Walmart has become such a well-known carrier for exclusives, since their stocking is inconsistent at best. The Lanard Alien toys are a pretty solid example of this. Hopefully this will be a Rainmakers 3-pack situation where a couple years later BBTS gets a case for retail. In the meantime, I don't hold out hope for Mattel, though.

Where to go with superheroes?

    You all know the drill: a superhero movie is announced, and it has the same plot as half the others. I got some kicks from the MCU, but it was a lot of the same past Iron Man and Cap's origin stories. And now, they just try to shove crossovers everywhere as though it'll improve the quality.

    As much as I love that the Joker actually says the line, it isn't good content. Where now? Obviously these companies have to keep superheroes in the popular conscience; comic book collecting is finally considered a "trendy" hobby. To forsake that market would be like buying into GME, so we know they'll go somewhere.

    We've seen some info for new movies. The new Spider-man looks fun, but I want to focus on the lesser-known characters, announced or otherwise. We know there's a theoretical Moon Knight show that's theoretically in production: what should we expect from it? Will it be like Daredevil, and appropriately violent to match the character? Or, will it be like Iron Man, which a dark side to a lighthearted, family friendly series?

    It better be the former. Moon Knight is an impossibly dark character, considering he's from Marvel (yeah, I said it). Despite being completely insane on multiple levels, he also just isn't supposed to be simplified and made to appeal to casual stream-goers. Moon Knight's tragedy is the question of whether what's in his head is real, and thankfully a show will help convey that.

    As for other characters, I'd like to see a DC show for The Question. Since he has no superpowers, he's a pretty easy character to work into a plot. The original comics were just about a reporter solving conspiracies, who doesn't like a good detective show? Add in some of the quirky personality and hot Italian girlfriend from JLU, and you have a pretty marketable character.