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Extra G33k Fall 2017 Issue

Welcome back!

Intro Letter by Argyl

Hello, ladies and gents, welcome to the second issue of our digital magazine, Extra G33k! In this issue, we’ll have all our writing ‘talent’ providing you with plenty of our standard geeky goodness including Overwatch, Death Note, Rick and Morty, as well as some extra bits here and there. There’s been a lot happening in the nerd world recently and we’ll be here to break it all down, as well as give you some interesting new content where we look at some movie conspiracies, and a lot more. Before you take enter the mythical world of this issue, remember that Extra G33k is viewed best on a tablet or mobile device! Keep reading and keep it G33k!

What Has The Team Been Up To?

Art by Discordia (2017)
  • Discordia (Content Director/Movies and TV Writer): This month, Discordia has been playing a lot of different games, but mainly Hitman and Overwatch. Although if he had to pick a favourite it would be Hitman. His favourite thing he watched recently was Bojack Horseman Season 4.
  • Argyl (Content Director/Games Writer): This month, Argyl has been playing, yep you guessed it, primarily Overwatch, especially due to his current participation in the current Overwatch Univeristy online league. As well as this , he's playing Half-Life again, and some CSGO, two old favourites of his he enjoys. His favourite watch was the movie IT (you can find more thoughts on that in his review), and despite not being a horror fan he believed it was very well done.
  • ZeroAni (Anime and Comics Writer): Our resident weeb has been spending much of this month playing the Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy. His pick for the best thing he watched recently is the hit anime My Hero Academia!

The LFCC 2017 Disaster

By Discordia

Photo by Discordia (2017)

Back in August, ZeroAni and I headed off to visit what was once my favourite convention, the annual London Film and Comic Con. I have been going to this event for years and have high expectations for it. However, this event was, without a doubt, the single worst convention I have ever been to.

From the unclean floors to the creepy lack of any vendors, this event was utterly appalling. It felt like they had taken everything that would make a convention good, and ignored it. The main selling point, obviously, was the guests and the possibility of getting an autograph from them. However, the convention made it clear that it was targeting those 40 something year old men, with seemingly infinite money wanting to buy autographs. Because when you're paying £80 for a scribble on a bit of paper, I start to question the value of the event.

Cosplay was pretty much non existent at the event, because if all you're doing at an event is standing in a line waiting for a piece of paper, why would you bother dressing up? Another issue I had was with the fact that there was only one exit, and guards prevented you from leaving through any of the other gates, making the event claustrophobic and feeling like a trap. On top of that, the staff were so unfriendly that after only a few hours in the event, we actually left.

LFCC has had such a fall from grace, as just last year it was on top of it's game and was one of the standout conventions of the year, but right now, I honestly hope it gets cancelled so that the far better YALC (operating from one floor of the convention) can thrive and take it's place. Out with the old, in with the new I say.

The Weirdest Questions We Have for Popular Movies

By Argyl, Discordia and ZeroAni

Movies are great, they are a huge part of our culture, but sometimes movies throw us curveballs with totally out there plots and confusing twists. Fans often come up with theories to try and explain these odd movie moments, so we decided to combine mad twists with insane theories to bring you the weirdest questions each of us could think of for these popular movies, and we try to explain them.

Lego people in the world of Toy Story, when you take them apart, do they feel pain? If you pulled off one's head, would it die? (Discordia)
When a Transformer turns into a robot from a car, why do we never see the seats? You don't see Optimus Prime with a seat-belt across his head, do you? (ZeroAni)
Now I'm really not into things like Movie conspiracies, I've thought they can be interesting but I've never viewed films in that way, however, after doing some reason I did find one that made me think a little. That is the conspiracy that Alec Baldwin's Obi-Wan Kenobi, is actually a clone of Ewan McGregors Obi-wan from the previous films, made to fight in the clone wars, then assuming the identity of Ben Kenobi on Tatooine. Obi-Wan = OB-1, it's interesting to think about, although there is much evidence I know of unfortunately. (Argyl)

A Masterclass In Failing: Netflix's Death Note Review (Spoilers)

By ZeroAni

In August, Netflix released their long-anticipated (for better or for worse) live-action take on the cult anime classic, Death Note. Death Note is considered by many anime fans and manga fans to be a modern masterpiece and for good reason, the characters are interesting, the story is one of the most well written in anime and battle of morality really makes you think about the very concept of justice. However, Netflix's American take on it discards all that and replaces it with an action thriller with little to no substance to it, and that is the topic I'll be discussing.

The million dollar question first, was the adaptation bad? No, it wasn't, in fact, I enjoyed watching almost every second of it, my major problem with it is that instead of using the source material as a guideline for the movie and make it its own thing while maintaining all the aspects of the original that made it appealing in the first place, they threw almost everything, apart from some of the character's names and the Death Note itself. For starters, the most obvious change (apart from the setting now being in Seattle), is Light's character, at the beginning of the movie he is shown to be highly intelligent, selling maths homework to his classmates and such, however, he somehow manages to lose all that great intellect of his and become an easily manipulated love struck teen. He spends most of the movie being manipulated or straight up outsmarted by his cheerleader girlfriend, Mia (because Misa was way too hard to pronounce), he never actually even develops his psychotic personality, Mia does it for him, thus making Light only a vessel for the notebook.

This leads straight into my next issue, Mia. It seems that Light and Mia's (Misa) personality completely flipped she was more manipulative while Light was love-struck, she used Light for her own gain and died a meaningless death by the end of the movie, while that holds true, Mia did not make a good enough Light, she was too brash, had no plans for the actions she took, had no moral compass whatsoever and appeared to only want the Death Note for herself, she was also clearly intellectually inferior to the original Light Yagami as she killed the people in her way and leaving behind enough evidence for L to find them without needing to confront Light at all. Her character, while being better written than Light Turner, was simply not up to par with Light Yagami, she had too many flaws in both her ideological and moral values as well as her reasons for doing what she did (she had none apart from really wanting the notebook).

The next victim is L, while he was probably the most well-written character in this movie, he was far from a good adaptation of the true L. The way he behaved talked and sat like L were on point, his acting was the best of the movie, although there was a fatal flaw with the way he was written, L had no consistency as a character throughout the movie, this is no fault of the actor, however, he did his best to work with what he had and did an excellent job at it, the problem was the writing, L would constantly change from his usual cool and calm persona to raging at everyone in a room. His temper was out of balance which made him less of a quirky super detective, and more human instead. Now some of you may think that making a character seem more human is a good thing, but not in L's case, his character is supposed to feel almost like an alien, his personality is supposed to be ever calm and his speech always monotone and his composure strange, while some of the behaviour aspects of L was perfectly done, his emotional side was too present in the movie, his anger would constantly overwhelm him.

Overall the movie was enjoyable enough as a standalone work, but if for some reason you're living under a rock and haven't seen it yet, then don't expect it to be anything like the anime or the manga, they share similarities but that's as far as it goes and don't expect it to an example crime drama either, this movie was made mostly as a passion project and a way to get people who were never anime fans introduced to it if not to simply attract a broader audience.

Discordia VS r/RickAndMorty: My Greatest Critics

By Discordia (with help from r/RickAndMorty)

As many of you know, over the last few weeks, I have been reviewing new episodes of Adult Swim's adult sci fi animated series, Rick and Morty, as they air. This has garnered me a healthy following in the Rick and Morty fandom, and not all of it has been very positive. So I decided to highlight some truly amazing messages I have received since starting to review these episodes.

"Justin Roiland is a genius and he will never let us down. Saying that the show is running out of ideas is kind of a rushed opinion. Consider this one as a filler episode which is not cause its just general information for the Rick and Morty universe and Im sure this episode will come in handy on another season maybe. Maybe Rick dies at the end of the show and Morty is going use the memory erasing device to make everyone in the family forget about their beloved Rick." (Drek98)
"I disagree with your review" (IDRESSUPLIKEDUTCHGIRLS)
"I loved it. I appreciate how the show isn't just trying to be funny, but rather it's willing to also explore philosophical ideas which I haven't seen embodied in a TV show before. To me this elevates its status as a comedy as opposed to diminishing it." (lemontreezy)

Wonderful insight from the wonderful people of r/RickAndMorty. I sure do adore the Rick and Morty fandom!

"Scared The 'IT' Outta Me" My Thoughts on 'IT'

By Argyl

Hello readers, while this definitely is not my standard field of expertise, I recently saw the new IT movie for my college course on horror, and I thought I’d give my thoughts on it here!

Stephen King’s classic horror novel/film IT, was remastered and re-released a few weeks ago more accustomed to modern day audiences with a more shiny, polished modern look. But has any of the modern filmmaking techniques and talent helped it at all?

Released earlier this year on 8th September 2017 (UK), IT was directed by Andres Muschietti, on a small budget of 35 Million USD, based off of the 1986 Stephen King novel, and also the 1990 miniseries/movie of the same title. (IMDb, 2017). Featuring a cast of mainly child actors, the story focuses a lot more on the story of the children who IT stalks and terrorises, as they try to conquer their fears over the course of the film.

Being released 27 years after the original Movie release (1990), there’s even a touch of horror in the release date of 2017, as the main evil of Pennywise awakens every 27 years to wreak havoc. While this does come across as a gimmick, it could mean more than this, almost like the movie re-awakening 27 years later to scare another generation, which is just like what happens when Pennywise appears again. While this may seem like a gimmick of sorts, a lot of the horror within the film is very well portrayed, with the main antagonist of Pennywise taking on multiple forms and using multiple different tricks and tactics to try and scare not only his victims, but the audience too, some people may not be terrified by a certain part, but they may be scared by something else, from this you can really tell that the film did a great job of reaching out to many different Demo/Psychographics to really shock their audience and also give the product more reach to appeal to different kinds of horror fans. As well as this, they did a great job creating some good iconography for the film, in particular the balloon that follow’s Pennywises victims when they’re about to encounter him, or another danger, this creates a theme and an object that people can easily recognise and associate with the movie and character of Pennywise, which can give the audience a good indication of what’s going to happen when it appears, making them tense and anxious. But as well as this, the use of the balloon in the marketing of IT was very clever also, using the balloon and using this iconography to create a sinister theme around the film, showing that something so innocent and childish could be so harmful to the characters, we also saw this within Pennywises character as well, which not only terrifies the person watching, but creates a theme and style for the film which can be used to market it.

Being brutally honest, thinking about it, there are not that many things that come to my mind when I think of negative points to make about IT, despite not being a horror film fan I can’t think of many bad things to say. However, going in to the cinema to watch this film I thought that I knew what to expect from IT, especially from the film being a horror. While watching I felt like, although a lot of the horror was well-done, most of the fear factor actually just came down to jump-scares in some parts, which are of course effective in some areas, and were in IT, but also felt quite easily predictable for me, and a lot of the time I seemed to know when it was coming, although this didn’t detract too much from the overall scare of the scenes where this happened. I will say however, that the style of the film in general was quite odd, I expected just a straight up horror, but IT seemed to merge heavy elements of horror with the style of a “coming of age” type story. By this I mean that the story of the central cast rising up, being the underdogs and bottom of the pile within their normal social lives at school, and then banding together to try and take down a common enemy, as well as few school bullies along the way, felt a bit cliché, and was not what I expected when I came in to see this film. Personally I don’t see this as too much of a negative, however it came across as quite a surprise to me, and perhaps it would do the same to some other viewers as well.

Overall though, despite not being a big horror fan, I really think that IT is one of the better horror movies I’ve seen, I think that the cast of characters were great, Bill Skarsgard did an amazing job as Pennywises character, and a lot of the horror was well-done and varied to the point where it would scare a wide variety of horror fans and appeal to a large audience, which was very effective. Also the storyline of the film was enjoyable, despite not being what I’d usually expect I’m happy about that, I’m happy that IT wasn’t just another generic horror filled with jump-scares and a poor, predictable plot where the characters don’t develop or go anywhere, I think it was a very well thought-out and cleverly-made film that really lives up to the legacy created by the novel and previous version.

The Five Best Shinigami In Bleach (Spoilers)

By ZeroAni

As you all probably know by now, Bleach is my favourite anime out of the “Big 3” but you may ponder about which of the many shinigamis in bleach are among the best? Well question no more, today I will be counting down some of my favourite shinigami in the Bleach universe. I will judge them not only in terms of power, but also personality, wisdom, role in the plot and rank. Be ready for some minor spoilers, but then again, if you haven’t watched Bleach, why would you be interested in this list anyway?

Gin Ichimaru

While coming off as a bit of a snob at first, some may even consider him to be arrogant a first, Gin Ichimaru, in my opinion was immensely underused in both the manga and the anime, he was kept as a side character who’s only necessity was to create mild suspense with Aizen. Though in the end he proved to be helping the shinigami from within Aizen’s inner circle, Ichimaru’s plan to kill Aizen himself ultimately failed but as an example of an underrated power, he exceeds any other.

Kenpachi Zaraki

Now this one is an example of raw uncontrollable power, having been able to go Bankai during the final chapters of the Bleach manga, he became a sort of demon, red with rage and full of raw strength, however, Kenpachi was able to go throughout the most part of the anime and manga without even knowing his Shikai and was just as powerful as many other shinigami captains at their full power (Bankai). While the manga ended with no real measure of the power he acquired and was incredibly unstable when he first activated it, it’s left for us fans to speculate what his true power is like.

Yoruichi Shihoin

Yoruichi is by far one of the best female characters in a popular shonen, she’s both strong and intelligent. One of the most notable aspects of her, is that she doesn’t carry a Zanpakuto, even though it’s confirmed that she did own one at some point during her time as captain, even though she’s at such a disadvantage when it comes to melee, her kido powers are amazing, having invented a way to fuse both Hakuda and Kido into an ability named the shunko surrounding her body with pressurized kido in the form of lightning.

Byakuya Kuchiki

While he acts an aristocrat, Byakuya does have a heart, having promised his late wife to search for her abandoned little sister, he carries out this promise and finds Rukia and takes her under his wing. Byakuya’s Zanpakuto, Senbonzakura, has the ability to split into a thousand tiny blades that when reflected by the light, look like cherry blossom petals and when in it’s Bankai form, the amount of deadly scattered blades is even bigger.

Kisuke Urahara

Don’t let his looks fool you, this laid back and optimistic hippie is actually on the most powerful shinigami ever and certainly the smartest, being the founder of the research department, he also invented many greatly powerful items such as the Hogyoku, Gigai technology, Reiatsu concealing cloak and one of the most notable, Hollowfication, the process in which Ichigo went through in order to regain his shinigami powers. His Zanpakuto, Benihime is among some of the most powerful ever with immense destructive power, while his Bankai has the power to restore anything it touches or split them open.

Hope you guys enjoyed this list, Bleach is one of my favourite anime and I had a great time making this list! And remember to check out our website for more G33k related articles!

Overwatch Contenders Season 1 Roundup

By Argyl

Recently we saw the end of Overwatch Contenders Season 1, the real starting point for teams trying to make it into the Overwatch League. After weeks of online competition, the top 4 teams from North America and Europe have been decided in some amazing games, they will advance to the playoffs stage in Los Angeles, allowing us to finally see a big western LAN event for Overwatch. Once at the playoffs, the top 4 teams will play against their regional rivals, before going on the face the Top dog from their neighbours across the pond, in an amazing final. Playoffs go on from October 7th – 8th, as the teams battle it out for their share of $100,000 (per region).

Overwatch Contenders Season 1 (regular season) finished a few days ago, after a set of amazing final matches (Especially Renegades vs FNRGFE) we finally got to see who made Top 4 in their respective regions and from that we’ll see who goes to the playoffs in the new LA Blizzard Arena. In North America, EnVyUs unsurprisingly have remained at the top all season, looking superb all round, going 7-0 in matches with a map score of 25w, 4l shows they really look to be contenders for the final. A bold claim to make some will say, but due to their amazing form in this tournament and their LAN experience at big events, dating all the way back from the ESL Atlantic Showdown, ELEAGUE Overwatch Open and MLG Las Vegas, to Seasons 1-3 of Apex in Korea, will really help them pull through on LAN at the playoffs. FaZe Clan, Envision and FNRGFE have been looking strong all season also, perhaps not the favourites, but they have shown that they can really play some good Overwatch and they will be completing the list of Top 4 NA teams going to playoffs. It’s a sad story for the Detroit Renegades at the bottom of the table, currently at 0-7 in matches, however, that last match VS FNRGFE (if FNRGFE lost Rogue would go to playoffs instead), and after hearing on Twitter that Renegades had actually won a map (they had won 2 maps all season before this match) I rushed onto the twitch stream and it was one of the best series of Contenders I’ve seen if not the best. The hyped casters, underdog storyline and incredibly close final game really did have me tense and excited, it was nice to see Renegades step up their game.

Over in EU, we didn’t see many surprises in Misfits topping the leaderboards at 1st place, followed by the Finnish Team Gigantti, and then Season Zero finalists 123, with the new (and some might say improved) Cloud9 EU coming in 4th. Except for Eunited’s unexpected slump and ultimate disbanding after the World Cup groups over the summer, there weren’t too many surprises within this group, the new squads put out by Gigantti, Misfits and also C9 looked strong originally but no one could tell what would happen, they definitely delivered. Also, GamersOrigin, a somewhat unheard of French team, used to competing in ESL weekly’s and online leagues, was a really fun team to watch, who almost took the playoffs spot away from C9, although, it’s safe to say their success was not expected coming into this event.

There’s no doubt we saw some amazing games in Season 1, and while I have to admit, the performance of Eunited kind of annoyed me over the season, there definitely were some great, interesting results, and of course, the best is yet to come, as in a few weeks we’ll be seeing it all from the Blizzard Arena in LA, as Overwatch esports finally gets the engine running.

See You In December!

Afterword by Discordia

Thank you for reading this issue of Extra G33k! We really hope you enjoyed reading this as much as we enjoyed making it. The next issue will release a little earlier than normal, so you can expect to see that on December 18th, including stuff from MCM October, Sp00k P0p, Star Wars and more! So until then, keep it G33k!

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Photo Credits

  • Cover Photo by ZeroAni
  • LFCC Photo by Discordia

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Cover Photo by ZeroAni

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