Blackest Night Starter

Blackest Night is NECA's first starter set since taking over HeroClix as well as their first release that they've entirely designed inhouse. While I've enjoyed Hammer of Thor and the Brave and the Bold, they obviously were working with mostly leftover product from when Topps owned Wizkids. While the Blackest Night release on a whole suffers from many of the quality control problems that have plagued NECA so far (I'm not even going to get into that map), when it comes down the actual 7 pieces, this release is an absolute home run.

This is the first release entirely composed of digital sculpts, and they look great. The set is bright, colorful, and fun to look at right out of the package. When you take the time to appreciate the little details it's really impressive. I had some reservations that switching entirely to digital sculpts moving forward would take some of the "human" element of sculpting the miniatures, but now that I can see these in hand I'm not concerned either way. These sculpts have just as much texture and depth as their hand crafted brethren. I do like that the upcoming Web of Spider-Man release will be a mix of the "green stuff" sculpts as well as digitals though. The only criticism for Blackest Night on this front is that the scale for Green Lantern is way off. This is one of the problems I think they'd be able to eliminate by going digital, but Hal still ended up looking like Kid Lantern. Put him next to Wonder Woman and it just looks silly.

MERA
The only piece I haven't played or had played against me as of yet, so I'll keep my review of her short and sweet. She's puking out red lantern powered plasma margaritas. Outstanding. Her defensive stats and powers are modest but her dial is designed for her to take damage. Her Red Rage special power is a cool concept and I'm looking forward to fielding her. Her sculpt makes her the honorary mascot of my clixing ka-tet Team Scumbag's style of play.

LEX LUTHOR
I've played Lex and had him played against me. He worked great for me and not so well for my opponent. He's tricky because he's the second most expensive piece in the starter in terms of point cost, but he's a bit of a finesse piece. He doesn't get damage reducers until the 3rd-6th clicks, and he only has two clicks with higher than 2 damage. Sexy Lexy has a lot of fun tricks he can pull off though. The most obvious is his Orange Greed special that can allow you to steal some of the more brutal powers in the game, such as Hypersonic Speed, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Exploit Weakness, Perplex or Probability Control, and use them against your opponent for the turn. He also has plenty of Poison to keep your opponents at bay (especially considering all the Outwit), and you can get creative with his Telekinesis, Mind Control and Pulse Wave. I think he's a fun piece but he's not cheap and he's going to require a lot of thought to use him to the best of his abilities.

SCARECROW
Hands down the best sculpt of the set, Scarecrow's dial is one of the more modest in Blackest Night. It is useful, and really the best possible representation the character could ever hope to have in HeroClix, but he's not going to do much without a strong team around him. As a supporting piece he creates a nice threat from range and can Perplex your team or himself up as he runs and guns. His Yellow Fear special power perfectly captures what you would hope Scarecrow would bring to the game. I would have liked to see another click or two of Poison, but otherwise this piece is exactly what he should be.



















GREEN LANTERN
Little Hal might not have been the most popular choice since we got a pretty good representation of him not so long ago in Crisis. There are a few other Green Lanterns that could have used this spot more (Kilowog, John Stewart), or had been more deserving with the deputized lantern theme (Ganthet). Add that to his wee little sculpt and regardless of his dial this Green Lantern is probably my least favorite piece of the starter. That said he's still stupid good if you can keep him on his first 3 clicks. With his Green Willpower special that lets him heal when he pushes instead of taking damage, that shouldn't be too hard. After that though he can go down pretty hard, as he has a bit of the always dreaded glass jaw.

THE FLASH
Maybe my second most favorite sculpt of the starter after Scarecrow, Blue Flash's pose is exactly what we've come to expect out of speedsters, but he looks damn good none the less. He becomes one of the nastier Hypersonic Speed pieces in the game right away, with 5 straight clicks of a 10 or better attack. He is also a great support piece with plenty of Enhancement, Defend, and late dial Prob. Keeping in mind that this is the Flash armed with a power ring, he is every bit as good as he should be. Fun, useful, not overpowered, which is true of pretty much all 7 of these pieces.

THE ATOM
Instantly the best medic in the game. The Atom is the only guy in the set who might be too good for his points. He's a pain in the ass to kill but if you don't take him out he'll ruin all the hard work you put into killing his teammates. Plus he has late dial Outwit as if he wasn't enough of a little bastard. It's interesting that he starts off on a click that doesn't feature his Indigo Compassion special power, so if you want to use him for his real purpose (Support), you've got to push him off of a click that features a 20 defense from range with Shape Change. It probably seems like a no-brainer to do it and be able to heal almost any piece on your team, but it might be harder to make the decision when push (ha) comes to shove in an actual game and your impossible to hit Atom is Incapacitating and Phasing/Teleporting anywhere he pleases.

WONDER WOMAN
Well I might have to take that back, as good as the Atom is for his points, Wonder Woman can be absolutely crushing even at the highest point cost in the starter. The thing is, even with her super deep dial and terrifying damage output, her defense never goes above 17. If you can cut through her non-stop reducers, you can deal big damage to her early and often. Unfortunately until you kill her she can still ruin your day on most clicks. Combine that with the fact that she's Indomitable and she's well worth her 215 points even before you rummage around her toolbox of tricks (hubba hubba). Probability Control, Telekinesis, and 5 straight clicks of Mind Control?? Why does she even have 2 clicks of Incapacitate when she can deal 5 damage?! Yikes. She's too much woman to handle. Speaking of which, her sculpt looked a bit mannish in the previews, but the finished product is a glimmering violet beacon of Amazon goodness.

I forget how much I even ordered this starter for, but it was well worth the price, whatever it was. Keep up the great work NECAkids!

Iron Man 2

My opinion changes pretty often on the subject, but on any given day I might tell you the first Iron Man was the best comic book movie ever made. It was extremely well done all around, but let's be honest- there's one reason the movie was so good, and that reason was Robert Downey Jr. There was a huge wow factor that basically lasted the entire movie that they could cast and portray the character of Tony Stark perfectly. That is not hyperbole and I don't use the word perfect often. But there was not a single thing even remotely off about the adaptation of Stark's character in Iron Man. This time around, we don't have the benefit of being amazed all over again. Downey Jr is note perfect again, and if anything has more gravitas to bring to this story. But as an audience we aren't going to sit there and think "I can't believe they got Iron Man SO right!" for an entire movie again. I think because some of that luster is gone, people are mistaking Iron Man 2 as being a lesser movie than its predecessor. I'm here to tell you it's not. It's every bit as good as the first. In some areas it's even stronger, and some of the weak areas are still weak, but overall it fills the big iron boots successfully.

Let's get the negative out of the way right off the bat. There are only three major action scenes, and this movie is long. Many of the criticisms I've read concern the pacing of the movie, accusing it of dragging and not mixing in enough action. I can see being put off by this when you're going into a superhero movie and expecting plenty of explosions and big metal suits. The thing to keep in mind is that when this movie rewards you, it rewards you big time. The action scenes are stellar, even better than the first, with some real imaginative uses of both suits. The animation is some of the best I've ever seen in this style. The only time there's a disconnect because of all the CGI is when they inter-splice a lot of interior head shots of Downey Jr and Cheadle when they're in the suits. It works much better when they have their helmets open and we can see their faces, but obviously in a fight scene there aren't many logical reasons to open your helmet (and they push the boundaries on that front as it is). For me the movie never felt like it dragged, but I will concede that it could have used one smaller action sequence somewhere in the second act to help move things along.

That said, if there's a reason that the movie doesn't drag despite being 2+ hours long without a lot of action, it's because the script and cast are awesome. This movie introduces a lot of new faces but it also goes a long way in fleshing out the returning characters. Justin Theroux, the actor turned writer who penned Tropic Thunder, does a great job with this script giving each character just enough to shine, without stealing the spotlight from the rest of the cast. As for the dialogue itself I'd give him credit if it was due, but according to interviews with the cast the majority of the dialogue was improvised. This was also the case in the first movie (which supposedly didn't even have much of a script to begin with) and was one of the reasons why it felt so fresh and spontaneous. They nailed that feel with the dialogue once again and every performance delivers. Scarlett Johansson is maybe the weak link, but we know she's not really there for her acting chops, and she does perform admirably in the fight scenes. Her performance isn't bad either, just not on the level of her colleagues, particularly Gwyneth Paltrow who absolutely thrives with more material this time around.

The reason this movie works so well is because Tony Stark's support group (specifically Paltrow, Johansson, Favreau, Cheadle and Downey Jr himself) portray such a convincing level of compassion for each other. They are all centered around Tony and will do whatever it takes to hopefully see him through to the end of this. This is a man who is his own worst enemy, but those close to him undoubtedly love him even when he's wrecking their lives, and they know he's worth fighting to save. I think this comes across because of the level of chemistry the cast has with each other off the screen just as much as they do on. Enough can't be said about Favreau's directing to cultivate this level of quality and give his cast the freedom that he does.

Just as in the first movie, the villains are secondary to Tony dealing with his own issues, and that's for the best. Rourke and Rockwell do an impressive job with what they're given, and Rockwell in particular even manages to steal a few scenes away from Downey Jr (no small task). Speaking of the freedom that Favreau gives his cast, Rourke did a great job bringing depth to Vanko's character, making him a bird enthusiast, covering him in prison tattoos, buying his own grill to brighten up his smile, and so on. He also nails portraying the dualism of Vanko being a beast of a man physically but also a genius level engineer.

Speaking of engineering, one thing that this series continues to do extremely well is bad ass engineering scenes. Unlike in the Spider-Man movies where Peter Parker is a cool superhero who happens to be smart, Tony Stark is cool because he's a genius (and an alcoholic). Some of his scientific discoveries in this movie should be hard to swallow, but they have invested so much time and energy covering Tony's intellectual prowess that it comes off fairly convincing. Though I do question his aim when using laser beams in his lab.

Iron Man 2 delivers on all the promise of the first movie. It fine tunes all of its best qualities while still suffering from a few of the same very small blemishes. The villains aren't the most terrifying and the pacing might not be perfect. Otherwise, if this isn't one of those days that I'm telling you the first Iron Man is the best comic book movie ever made, then I could very well be telling you Iron Man 2 is the new king of geek mountain.

EVOLVE 2

Like many fans who tried to make the trip, I was not able to get into Rahway to see this show due to flooding. A sad twist of fate for a young company like EVOLVE, as it seems like at least 2/3rds of the audience were turned away. The remaining crowd is small but vocal, and the show doesn't suffer too much from it.


-EVOLVE is still using clear DVD cases, which I really like and helps set their DVD apart
-Box art is better than EVOLVE 1, with some more color and a nice cover playing up the size difference between Hero and Hidaka

-The DVD menu features new music, which helps maintain a better identity than sharing DGUSA's.
-A new EVOLVE intro graphic adds a nice touch.
-Backstage interviews have graphics now as well, featuring the names, which are a welcome addition.

-Bobby Fish gets things started with a strong interview. The sit down confessional style suits the promotion well.

-Aeroform and Chuck Taylor cut decent short interviews.
-They go to a promo video with highlights from the first show. Seems a little premature to do a video like this after just one show, but it's done fairly well.
-The "documentary crew" happens to catch a candid moment where Hero talks to Claudio about Allen calling him out. Funny moment when Hero thinks it was Brad Bradley and not Brad Allen. The set up to this was still awkward and while the documentary girl is cute, the whole documentary angle feels unnecessary at this point. There are probably some organic ways to work it in but they haven't found out how yet.

-The show is shot entirely with two handheld cameras and no steadycam, most likely to cover up for the small crowd. The video quality is good and they use some great angles, but the lack of a steady wide shot is a little disorienting.

-Brad Allen VS Chris Dickinson. This was nowhere near as good of an opener as O'Reilly/Fish from the first show. They tried to do too much, Dickinson shouldn't be throwing out half nelson suplexes in the opener. Dickinson was very... excited to wrestle in this match. There's an obvious joke to make here with his last name, I'll try to take the high road. Allen has a lot of ability but doesn't seem to focus enough on pacing and projecting himself to the crowd.

-We go to a backstage segment with Johnny Gargano, the unnamed fat blond kid and his cronies, and eventually Jimmy Jacobs. Not bad. Jacobs brings it as usual.

-Brodie Lee VS Gran Akuma. Back to back matches with half nelson suplexes to start the show. Terrible. With such a big roster and so many matches per show, EVOLVE could really use some backstage vets to play the role of road agent and try to prevent this from happening. The match itself was okay, with Lee clearly outshining Akuma. Akuma feels like he gets pushed just by virtue of being on the indies for so long now, but he's never really improved at all. Lee has a distinct look and raw talent, but I'm not sure if he's the right fit for EVOLVE.

-Areoform VS Up In Smoke. This was mediocre. Up In Smoke feel like a fun 90s WWF jobber team at their best, and a pair of sloppy indy spot monkeys at their worst. They weren't at their best here. Cheech in particular looked rather awkward. Both teams hit some nice double team offense. Okay for what it was.

-Tony Kozina talkes to Kyle O'Reilly about Richards leaving and how Kyle needs to get focused on the here and now. Decent segment, short and to the point, had the potential to be much better though. I like O'Reilly a lot in the ring, but he feels uncomfortable during promos.

-Kenn Doane VS Caleb Konley. This is my first time seeing Konley and he looked decent. This was a slower match like Doane tends to work and it did a nice job of telling a simple story and sucking the crowd in. I'm just starting to like what Doane brings to EVOLVE but then he cuts a promo after the match implying he might leave.

-Kyle O'Reilly VS Hallowicked. This was one of the matches I was most looking forward to aside from the main event and I wasn't disappointed. Nothing great but a very solid match that stands out but doesn't try to do too much. O'Reilly is a good whitebread babyface and it was smart to pair Kozina as his manager/trainer to give him a bit more personality. Hallowicked seems like he purposefully bulked up a year or two back, which I liked at the time because it set him apart from the rest of Chikara. He was never able to cut down though and these days just looks doughy. Not trying to knock the guy because I think he's a solid wrestler. But whatever he's doing in the gym, he needs to step it up or try a new approach. O'Reilly works in a lot of kicks and submission spots. I get that he's kind of doing an MMA gimmick but I'd like to see him be a bit more focused with the submissions, instead of just running through them.

-Another Gargano/Jacobs backstage segment with the fat blond kid. They're doing a good job of building this match without much history. Gargano is goofy but seems to have a real chip on his shoulder. I agree with Jacobs that wacky doesn't sell tickets but I think Gargano has the potential to be more than just an ironic 90s reference. Unlike...

-Chuck Taylor VS Ricochet. I loathe Taylor but I know he's worked Ricochet a million times and they have good chemistry, so I'm trying to be fair to this match. I like Ricochet more each time I see him. Which is to say I went from not liking him to being mildly into him. He still has a ways to go but he's constantly improving, which is awesome to see for someone with the natural physical ability he has. His gear and look have come a long way as well, and he should definitely stick with his hair tied back like he did for this match. This was not one of their better matches as it featured Taylor in control for the majority and Ricochet didn't hit anything particularly impressive by his standards.

-Bobby Fish VS Claudio Castagnoli. Other than the main and O'Reilly/Hallowicked this was the only other match I was actively seeking out on this DVD. Man did it deliver! Unlike O'Reilly/Fish from the first show, which was a shorter uptempo match, this had a bit more length and was worked at a deliberate pace that plays to Claudio's strengths. Lots of dead lifts, throws, and tosses in this one. I didn't envision it before his debut, but EVOLVE could be a federation where Claudio makes it as the top dog. His promos won't be as important, he can strip down his offense to his most physical stuff, and the guy flat out looks like a beast these days. He should stick to the short tights in this fed as his look was perfect here, right down to the beard.

Not to take anything away from Fish, who once again has a great showing. He is one of the wrestlers that EVOLVE needs to use for their foundation, along with O'Reilly and TJP. He's the full package for a promotion like EVOLVE and his involvement in MMA adds a nice element of credibility (especially if he can keep a winning record). One thing I particularly liked about this match was the use of the 10 count to tease knock outs, which I expected to be a common thing in EVOLVE matches but hasn't been used much (if at all) up to this point. I also liked how Claudio has started throwing a crushing lariat that simply looks great. They need to protect this as his move in EVOLVE as I don't believe anyone else on the roster uses a lariat as a signature spot. They do something neat post match and have the winner put on some attire from a sponsor, like in MMA. This match was very good and is worth going out of your way to see.

-They do an angle in front of the crowd where Dickinson comes out to say something, and the fat blond kid and his cronies come out and start to heckle him. Dickinson loses his temper and is ready to throw down but Tony Kozina cools him off. Not a bad segment, and it's good to see they have something in mind for Dickinson to build to. He's a long ways off but I think he has the potential to be a solid midcarder for this promotion.

-Mercedes Martinez VS Sumie Sakai. This starts off with the fat blond kid's crew heckling the women. They get some legitimate heat from the crowd. This "stable" (I guess?) is an odd angle that is not what people expected from a fed like EVOLVE. It reminds me a bit of the early angles Gabe tried in ROH though and while it's a bit strange, it's doing a good job of giving a few different parts of the roster some focus. Martinez has a more competitive match this time around, as Sakai uses some interesting offense to work over her arm. Building the women's division around Martinez was a smart move for EVOLVE. It breaks up the card and Martinez fits the promotion like a glove with her no-nonsense attitude. She cuts a good intense promo after the match. I'm looking forward to seeing what else they do with Martinez. Yet another match with SDR seems inevitable, and I mean that in the best way possible.

-Jimmy Jacobs VS Johnny Gargano. These two work a good creative match where both pull out some stuff I've never seen before. They do enough to deliver a good match and please the crowd, but leave enough where there's plenty of room for a rematch. I wouldn't mind seeing that at all as everything involving the build to this match was fun and effective.

-Bobby Fish is being taped during a phone conversation unbeknown to him. We can't tell if the conversation is with a loved one or a colleague or what. He notices the camera and leaves. Good segment that makes better use of the documentary crew, but once again doesn't actually require we see the crew documenting it.

-Chikara 4 Way Elimination Tag. This was better than the Chikara multiman match from the first show, but I still don't like the way Chikara has been used for these tags. In Dragon Gate USA these types of matches fit the promotion perfectly and are a great way to break up the card. In EVOLVE it's a styles clash that feels like an exhibition, especially with the focus on the standings here. This was a little less sloppy than the 6 man on EVOLVE 1 and had more dynamic personalities thanks to Osirian Portal. There were some good spots but no real psychology to speak of. I would much rather see something like O'Reilly/Hallowicked or mixing the Chikara tags in with Aeroform or Dark City Fight Club than keeping them isolated like they have so far.

-Chris Hero VS Ikuto Hidaka. This was the match that made me attempt the trip to Rahway to see this show. Ikuto Hidaka has been a personal favorite of mine for a long time and I would have loved to have a chance to see him live. This was a treat for the fans that were able to make it and I regret not being there to see it myself. They work a large portion of the match on the mat which both guys do very well. They also get into some hard strikes and some great nearfalls. There are a few awkward moments not surprisingly considering the size difference and language barrier, but overall this is a very good, borderline great match. It probably won't go down as a MOTY or anything, but it will be one of the matches I look back most fondly on from 2010. I feel bad for Hidaka, when he came to ROH previously it was to a rather small crowd, and then the weather ruins the attendance for this show. I hope that EVOLVE brings him back if he's willing, because there's still a lot they could do with him.

-The show closes with another Jacobs/Gargano segment. Jacobs brings the best out of Gargano and I hope they keep them involved in some sort of angle for a while.

Like EVOLVE 1 this is a strong show that's an easy watch start to finish. There are some weaker matches but nothing that drags the show down. The promotion keeps a good pace, generally keeps their matches short and to the point (in a good way), and has used a varied enough roster thus far to keep the show fresh. There is very little dead weight on this roster, with my only issues being with the Chikara guys and Chuck Taylor. The potential is there to mix at least part of the Chikara roster in effectively, the key will be to make them feel like members of EVOLVE and not just Chikara exhibition matches. They are still in the process of bringing new guys in as well, like Jon Moxley, Drake Younger and Sami Callahan, which is a good thing. The key to EVOLVE will be booking fresh matches with a unique presentation, as they've done with O'Reilly/Fish, TJP/Sawa, Claudio/Fish and Hero/Hidaka. They are still figuring out the backstage stuff and the overall hierarchy of the roster, but if and when they can get those aspects worked out, EVOLVE could become something special.

Welcome To Young Lions

This is the first post that I'm going to put up and keep up for my new blog Young Lions. This is a blog that I've attempted to launch multiple times but have never felt was ready. A few different incarnations have been published, but this time I am going to start fresh with a review of EVOLVE 2 that will go up this week. Right now I think the Northeast wrestling scene can use all the discussion it can get, as a lot of the places online people used to talk about local feds are either gone or are not what they used to be. I make no promises about the format of Young Lions or how often it will be updated. I may make posts about any number of topics, from pro wrestling, to movies, television, music, maybe even tabletop gaming. One thing I know for sure is I want to review this DVD while it's fresh in my memory and help EVOLVE with the little promotion I can give it. I'll also say right off the bat that I never give away results or major spoilers in my reviews.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy.