Then & Now

Kids are great...especially when they're your own.
While I'll freely and openly admit that my kids can be a rambunctious lot and at times difficult to handle, I'll also confess my unconditional love for them. More often than not, they're fun to be with and they can make me cry with laughter without even trying to be funny.

One of the things I love about being a parent is sharing with my children the things that I loved as a child. I saved most of the toys I had growing up including all my Hotwheels cars, He-Man figures (and both Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain playsets) and G.I. Joes (although I haven't let them play with any of those yet).

It's fun to watch them find joy in the things that I once did.

Most recently, I ordered the Cloak & Dagger DVD from Columbia House and when it arrived, I was eager to play it for the kids. I loved this movie as a kid and thought they would enjoy it as well.



As expected, both Cosette and Scott were glued to the screen throughout almost the entire duration of the film. While it's not overtly frightening, there are some moments of intrigue and suspense, during which Cosette would excitedly begin asking questions. "What's going to happen? Who's that? Are they going to kill him?"

My wife had never seen the movie before so she could only give "I don't know" answers, and I only issued my now typical response of "Just watch and see."

It's such a treat to help my children find joy and wonder in the things of the not-so-distant past.

The Punisher on PS2

As a hopeless geek, it is one of my goals to own and defeat any and all superhero video games that are produced for the PS2 platform. I haven't made much progress towards that goal, however, since there are several games I have yet to purchase, and the ones I do own, I have yet to even finish.
My latest attempt is with The Punisher.


As with most games, it takes a few missions to really get the hang of the controls, and The Punisher was no exception. I wasn't sure I'd be able to punch all the buttons correctly in order to help Frank Castle wage his one man war on organized [digital] crime. But now, after several missions, I can successfully employ the ex-Marine's combat tactics against foes such as Bushwacker, Ma Gnucchi, or The Russian (who was somehow resurrected after his death in the movie...maybe Ra's Al Ghul dragged his body to a Lazarus Pit or something).



While the nonstop action quickens the heart, the Special Interrogations, Special Kill Regions and the character cameos are the best features of the game. So far, I've teamed up with the Black Widow and Nick Fury in my quest to rid the world of the criminal element.

I'm just wondering where Microchip is.

Mystics and Mythics

I know I'm bringing up an already stale issue, but I wanted to make those of our gaming group aware of my decision concerning custom Heroclix figures and their team abilities.

The issue is my ongoing concern about Mythological gods like Thor and Hercules who are lacking team abilites that I feel would best represent them and their abilites on the battlefield. Of course the Avengers TA is applicable to the God of Thunder and the Champion of the Greek Gods, but what of the other gods of the Marvel U? They're getting jipped out of what should rightfully be theirs.



In my conversations with Psycho, we thought it would be good to assign a Marvel version of Mystic Team Ability which has proven to be extremely valuable in any game. He suggested we call it the "Mythic" TA and I thought the logo could be a small pic of Mjolnir or a lightning bolt.

However, after printing up some test logos, I wasn't very happy with how they looked. Since the ankh, which is used for the Mystic TA is linked to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, it just seemed a logical choice to stick with that.



Having said all that, be prepared to see some custom god figures armed with the Mystic TA in some future games. I have designs for LE Hercules (much stronger than the ridiculous version of him from the Infinity Challenge set) and my custom LE Thor (in his female form...all thanks to Loki, that rat bastard.)

Party on Wayne!
Party on Garth!