Spoilers for Superman Below

I remember watching Man of Steel the summer after my first year of college. I didn’t mind the movie, but a common critique I saw online was that Man of Steel didn’t feel like a Superman movie. There were discussions about the tone of the film and how Henry Cavill’s suit was darker than the usual bright blue and red suit from the comics. As a comics fan, I like how each era of superhero films has its own take on the characters, and Man of Steel’s take was a grittier, more realistic superhero if Superman were to exist in the real world. James Gunn’s Superman film was under considerable pressure. If this film were bad, it would be a terrible way to launch his DC movie universe. It’s safe to say that Superman was a delightful take on the character, and I’d ride or die for Krypto specifically.

Superman (played by David Corenswet) revealed himself to the world three years ago. During a fight, Superman is defeated and crash-lands near the Fortress of Solitude. Saved by Krypto, Krypto drags him to the Fortress, where he’s exposed to the sun and is partially healed. Meanwhile, Lex Luthor (played by Nicholas Hoult) discovers the Fortress and gathers additional information about Superman that he can use to take him down. A video is revealed where Superman’s parents tell Superman to take over Earth. Superman feels he has no choice but to give himself up to Lex. Lex imprisons Superman in a pocket dimension where his true intentions are revealed, including helping to start a war in another country to make a profit and defeating Superman.

For the most part, I never had any doubts over the casting choices for this film. David Corenswet has the look of Superman, and I found he had natural chemistry with Lois Lane (played by Rachel Brosnahan). The only casting choice I was a little torn over was Nicholas Hoult. Granted, I thought Jesse Eisenberg was a mis-cast for Lex, so that set me up to be a little more picky this time around. With that said, Nicholas Hoult was phenomenal, and as soon as he threatened to kill Krypto, the whole theater gasped. How dare he kill Krypto. Nathan Fillion played Guy Gardner, and that bowl cut is horrendous, even though it’s comic book accurate. Mister Terrific (played by Edi Gathegi) played a huge role in this film and is instrumental in breaking Superman out of the pocket dimension. The cast made the movie as great as it was.

Let’s talk about Krypto. Krypto acts how you would think any dog with superpowers would act. During the climax of the film, there’s a scene where Krypto breaks into a pet food store and is eating biscuits and treats. How cute is that? There’s another scene where Krypto viciously attacks Lex, and Superman tells him to put him down. To be fair, Lex did imprison Krypto, karma is a bitch. It reminded me of the scene from The Avengers where The Hulk smashes Loki around. Krypto’s look is really scrappy. He isn’t this perfectly manicured dog; he looks like a dog you would adopt from a shelter. I like that a lot. Krypto is so well-loved that there was a 500% surge in dog adoption interest after the movie was released. Krypto was a highlight of this movie.

There were a few cameos throughout the movie that were fun. Peacemaker (played by John Cena) was being interviewed on TV. Rick Flag Sr. (played by Frank Grillo) is one of the political players that Lex talks to when trying to get approval to attack Superman. For those who haven’t watched Creature Commandos, Rick Flag was animated, but not seen in live-action. I think the most surprising or least expected was the appearance of Supergirl (played by Milly Alcock). James Gunn is working on the Supergirl film now, and I think Milly was a good choice to play the character. I love how she’s off partying in outer space, and Krypto is misbehaving because of that. It also means that Krypto could appear in her movie too, and I’m here for it.

Another thing I read online was how some people hated Superman because they felt it was “too woke”. First of all, I think it’s perfectly fine if some people (like myself) liked this movie and some didn’t. That’s a part of being a fan of anything. With that said, comics are political. I hate to break it to you, but comics have always had political messaging throughout. Captain America punching Nazis. The X-Men are fighting for mutant rights. Superman is an immigrant. I always laugh whenever I see this pop up again in various fandom spaces. Comics have always been political; hell, Star Wars has been political. If you didn’t notice the message, that’s on you because it’s always been there.

I would not want to be James Gunn. The amount of stress of trying to relaunch a movie franchise sounds awful. With that said, Superman was a solid start, and I thought it was worth it to see in theaters. It gives me hope that DC can finally have a successful and solid film franchise.

I have been watching various Vampire: The Masquerade live plays. I am currently watching Private Nightmares, which is Alexander Ward’s chronicle of Thin Blood vampires. As far as podcasts, I have been loving The All Night Society. It was a go-to podcast to listen to while driving to and from South Dakota last weekend. On top of all that, I have been listening to the World of Darkness live-plays featuring Jason Carl as the storyteller. I finished NY By Night, and it was so good, I have to talk about it.

NY By Night is a two-season web series featuring voice actors playing Vampire: The Masquerade. The first season features an Anarch coterie, while the second season is a coterie devoted to the Camarilla. As a quick definition, Anarchs are a type of faction within Vampire where these vampires don’t want to play into the political system run by the Camarilla. The Camarilla coterie is more loyal to the vampire political system in New York. Each season focuses on the players interacting with each other’s story points Ny By Night is unlike any Vampire chronicle I have watched.

Both seasons are solid within their own right, but I think I preferred the Anarch coterie in season #1. The characters all seemed to get along and respect each other. Rey (played by Joey Rassool) was fascinating to watch. Rey was an Anarch, but wanted to get back with the Camarilla, much to the other player’s chagrin. This led to some back-and-forth conversations between Rey and the other characters. Margo (played by Aabria Iyengar) was a classic Ventrue. Both Alexander Ward and Mayanna Beren did a great job of bringing their characters to life, especially Mayanna. Before Ny By Night, she had never played Vampire before, and I wouldn’t have thought that when watching her portions on the series.

The second season was diabolical and chaotic. While the first coterie got along, the second coterie was ruthless to each other. While Margo was charming, Khalida was manipulative in a way that Margo wasn’t. Noura Abrahim (who played Khalida) was riveting. Cynthia Marie played Coco, and this was the first live play I watched where someone played a Lasombra. I want to play one now. Oh Brawn. Brawn was such a sweetie and was taken advantage of by the other members of the coterie. It’s funny because the Camarilla is seen as the “right” choice in Vampire, but this coterie proved how evil the Camarilla can be.

Another cool thing about this series is how it connects to the Vampire video games, such as Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York and Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York. Characters from the video games appeared, played by other players. I played the video games first before watching this series. I want to go back and play them now, knowing the lore that I know now. I’d love to see more of this in World of Darkness and now White Wolf. With the upcoming release of Bloodlines 2, it would be awesome to see Jason Carl storytell a series that plays into that game.

I’m watching out of order because now I’m watching LA By Night for the first time. In theory, I should have watched LA before NY, but too late for that now. If anyone has any Vampire: The Masquerade podcasts or live stream recommendations, let me know in the comments! I always need new things to watch or listen to.

Major spoilers for Thunderbolts* Below

Thunderbolts* was a Marvel movie that I was looking forward to. I read some of the Thunderbolts comics as single issues last year to help prepare for the movie. Another thing that I was looking forward to was seeing both Bucky and Yelena in one movie. If that wasn’t enough, I like how this is a less intense version of DC’s Suicide Squad. Thunderbolts* held up to the hype and adds a lot of good themes and commentary about a variety of topics.

Thunderbolts* focuses on Yelena Belova (played by Florence Pugh) as she struggles to find purpose in her life. She has been doing paid work for Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (played by Julia Louis-Dreyfus), but the jobs only give her the money she needs to survive and nothing else. Yelena wants out, so Valentina says if she does one last job, she will be free to walk. Yelena is tasked with finding a thief who’s attempting to break into one of Valentina’s storage facilities. When she gets there, she meets John Walker (played by Wyatt Russell), Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen), and Taskmaster (played by Olga Kurylenko). They were all sent to capture a thief and quickly realized that Valentina had set them up to kill each other. After fighting each other, they realize they have to escape with help from a new friend, Bob (played by Lewis Pullman). Bob has powers, which means he has use to Valentina. The group, naming themselves Thunderbolts, has to stop Valentina and expose her illegal activities.

Okay, but can we stop bringing characters back only to kill them? Taskmaster was brought back, which was cool, only to be shot in the head by Ghost. Why bother? I’m fine with Marvel tying up loose characters from all of these films, but not if they are going to be killed. Both my husband and I thought this was a waste of the character. Olga deserved much more than this.

Going into this film, I thought Bucky would be the star of the show, but this is clearly Yelena’s movie. I’m perfectly fine with that. Yelena fills the void left by Natasha’s death. I like her as a character and how her grief is explored. Yelena confronts Hawkeye in Hawkeye, but it doesn’t give her the closure she needs. Yelena feels alone in the world, and while Red Guardian (played by David Harbour) shows up later, he could have shown up earlier. There’s good dialogue between Yelena and Red Guardian where he apologizes for not being there for her, but wants to be there for her now, and it’s really sweet.

While this is Yelena’s movie, Bucky does show up with a grand entrance. In his position within the government, he’s also investigating Valentina’s activities, which coincides with Bucky aligning with the team. He attacks several convoys, and it was the entrance that Bucky deserved in the movie. I think it’s clear that Bucky wants to make a difference as a politician, but maybe that’s not the place he needs to be.

Thunderbolts* has excellent commentary on mental illness, grief, and how heavy loneliness can feel. Bob’s powers are unlocked thanks to Valentina manipulating him. After beating the Thunderbolts, Bob is betrayed by Valentina. This darkness washes over him, and he starts to cloak New York in shadow. Yelena is the first to help by entering the darkness to find Bob. Bob is a victim as he agreed to undergo medical testing to rise above his addiction and his trauma. There’s a moment where Yelena runs to Bob and tells him she’s here for him, which empowers Bob to put away the darkness. Thinking of all the characters within Thunderbolts, they have had tragic back stories in which they are stronger together. This movie didn’t have an epic hand-to-hand combat finale; instead, this movie had a softer approach in the latter half, which I thought fit the characters within this team.

Thunderbolts* was worth the hype. I’m looking forward to seeing these characters pop up in future Marvel projects.

When I think about my love for movies, I can’t help but think about my mom. Growing up, I was exposed to a lot of different movies. I grew up on Harrison Ford action films, the Bond films, and dramas. I wouldn’t be the moviegoer I am today without my mom. When I think about my favorite genre, it would have to be action films. My mom had wanted to see The Amateur, an action film that came out in April of this year. The Amateur was a solid and entertaining movie.

The Amateur focuses on Charles “Charlie” Heller (played by Rami Malek) as he gets ready to go to work. He kisses his wife, Sara (played by Rachel Brosnahan), as she is leaving overseas for a work trip. Charlie works for the CIA as a cryptographer. Charlie is called into his director’s office as he is told that Sara was killed in London during a terrorist attack. Charlie is heartbroken and angry and researches who killed Sara. When he brings this information to his director, he’s told that they will handle it, but they clearly have their own agenda versus bringing in his wife’s killers. Charlie can push back and get specialized training from Robert Henderson (played by Lawrence Fishburne). Charlie is forced to go on the run as everything he’s doing isn’t sanctioned by the government. He plans on taking out his wife’s killers once and for all.

The draw for this movie is that Charlie isn’t built to be a killer. His area of expertise is computers, tech, and putting together explosives. The government dismisses Charlie and doesn’t think he’s capable of doing what he does. In one scene, Charlie kills a man by causing the glass pool to break, sending the man crashing down several stories. There’s an element of creativity to what Charlie does because he doesn’t have the experience of killing anyone. I wouldn’t say that this makes the film unique, but I think it makes the viewer want to root for Charlie.

The cast in this movie is great. I have been a fan of Rami Malek for some time. I think he’s great in anything he’s in. This can be said about Lawrence Fishburne and Rachel Brosnahan, although Rachel is barely in the film. In these action films, the cast is important. Casting actors who have a big following will bring interest in wanting to see this film in theaters.

The Amateur was a solid action film. It was entertaining from start to finish.

While I was at the Critical Role live show in Chicago, they had recently announced a two-part horror series titled Thesher. Thresher uses the rules of Candela Obscura with a completely different setting. The world of Thresher was developed by Matt Linton and Jacqueline Emerson. If any of those names ring a bell, Jacqueline Emerson played Foxface in The Hunger Games. The game features a cast of talented actors, including Noshir Dalal (whom I have talked about extensively on the blog), Jacqueline Emerson, Jane Douglas, Mark / Mara Hulmes, and Abubakar Salim. Jasper William Cartwright was the GM for this series and I have been a big fan of his podcast, Three Black Halflings. I watched Thresher as soon as both episodes were released and this series was fabulous.

In the first episode, it sets the stage for the story. The five characters are sent to investigate a distress signal sent by Admiral Anders. Each character has their own reason for being there. For example, Betty (played by Mark / Mara Hulmes), is looking for her long lost brother. The other character’s motives are murky as horror tabletop tends to be. When the characters arrive to the station, they learn that only one person survived, a mysterious Dr. Blackwell. After encountering mysterious fish like entities, they realize how truly in danger they are and question how they plan on making it out.

I loved every bit of this. I liked how each episode wasn’t too long. I find that, even when I watch Critical Role, my attention span starts to wane. Having episodes at two and a half hours or less, I can pay attention to what’s going on. I like how Candela Obscura is used in a completely different setting. If someone wanted to play Candela, but didn’t like the already pre-created world, this proves that you can take the system and modify it into your setting. I liked how the characters had to make rolls to determine if they would panic and lose oxygen. It added to the high stakes of the adventure and it made it realistic. If I were diving deep underwater and there was darkness all around me, I’d panic too.

As horror tabletop often does, shit hits the fan in the second episode. Without providing spoilers, there is one character that’s working against the group and the reveal of that was epic. My jaw dropped as I’m listening to the episode because I assumed that everyone would be working together without ill intent. This was not true. There were other reveals made about another character potentially lying about their identity and that reveal was also well-done. Thresher pulled me in and that is fully due to the cast of the show.

Immediately after finishing Thresher, I watched the cooldown to both episodes. The cooldown is exclusive to Beacon members and it lets the cast talk about what happened and how things went down. It was interesting listening to the cast because there were little nuggets of information that would foreshadow what happened at the end. I missed these, but I’d love to rewatch Thresher knowing what I know now.

Thresher is a perfect example of why I love horror tabletop. It’s setting the stakes high from the get-go and allowing the cast to get creative as to how they are going to try and escape. If I ever become a GM or a gamemaster, horror would be my jam. I’m not sure if I will ever have the time to learn a game system and write my story, but Thresher has inspired me to do so.

I’m halfway through The Mighty Nein, Critical Role’s second campaign. I started watching The Mighty Nein in 2023 shortly after finishing Vox Machina. I had a slower start since The Mighty Nein is very different from Vox Machina, and I had trouble getting into it. On top of that, Critical Role isn’t the only thing I watch, so in between watching other shows or movies, that’s slowed down how quickly I can get through each episode. With that said, I’m committed to trying to finish the campaign before the end of the year. Since I’m halfway through, I thought I would summarize my favorite moments thus far in the campaign.

Character Personalities

Some of the moments I distinctly remember are when the characters’ personalities begin to shine. There’s Jester (played by Laura Bailey), who carries baked goods with her, but not a healer’s kit. Beau (played by Marisha Ray) is a bit abrasive. Beau’s mentor, Dairon, becomes a critical NPC in the story and helps to shape Beau beyond her tough personality. There’s Fjord (played by Travis Willingham) with his mysterious visions and his pirate background. I have talked extensively about Fjord already, as he’s one of my favorite characters from this campaign. There are so many moments from the earlier episodes where each character starts to stand out from the other that I think have been great to watch.

Meeting Kiri + The Other Animal Companions

This campaign introduces more furry companions that seem to pop up. I think this adds levity to the campaign, especially in darker moments. There’s Frumpkin, Caleb’s familiar, who, for the most part, appears as an orange kitty. There’s Kiri, a bird creature that The Mighty Nein saved in the swamp. Finally, there are the animals the crew buys, including Nugget, Sprinkle, and Professor Thaddeus. These moments are cute, especially when they rescue Kiri. When I think back to the first 70 episodes of The Mighty Nein, the animals instantly pop into my head as a memorable moment.

Introducing Caduceus

In the first 26 episodes, Mollymauk (played by Taliesin Jaffe) was a part of The Mighty Nein until they were killed in combat. Shortly after, Taliesin brought a new character, Caduceus, to the group. I believe Caduceus is a much better fit with the other characters than Mollymauk was. Caduceus heals more often than Jester does, leaving Jester to do what she wants whenever she wants. Caduceus has a calmer demeanor, and I have loved Caduceus’s bond with Fjord. Caduceus has been a standout character to me, and while Molly was the character that was created initially, I like Caduceus so much more.

Fjord’s Pirate Arc

I have written extensively about Fjord’s pirate arc, so I won’t go into too much detail now. Avantika is one of the best NPCs in this campaign.

The Orphanmaker

Yasha (played by Ashley Johnson) isn’t around for most of this campaign as she was filming Blindspot in New York. While Yasha hasn’t been around, there’s a brief moment where Ashley is back for a few episodes. During a combat encounter, an enemy called Yasha “Orphanmaker,” much to the surprise of the other players. As they investigate, Yasha appears mind-controlled, and The Mighty Nein are forced to leave her behind. That was a tough episode as the group tries to get Yasha to come with them, but to no avail. I know things work out in the end, but not sure how that plays out. While I have had some things spoiled for this campaign, this is not one of them.

I’m glad I powered through watching this campaign. I can understand why this campaign is considered the fan favorite. I’m currently at episode #78 and have been making real progress. I’m curious to see how the rest of the campaign plays out.

I occasionally like to watch reality TV. When I was younger, I remember watching Survivor and American Idol. When I was in high school, my friends and I would watch Jersey Shore. One of my friends had mentioned The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives several months ago, but didn’t think much of it. I needed something new to watch, and I figured I’d watch an episode or two. I ended up watching all eight episodes back to back. My husband popped in and would watch a clip or two, and I would explain all the drama he’s missing out on. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is dramatic, and I can’t wait for the second season.

The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives follows eight Mormon women who live around Salt Lake City. The wives are a part of a community they call “MomTok”, a group of moms who create social media content and TikToks about their lives in the Mormon church and being moms. Before the series aired, one of the women, Taylor, made a TikTok about how she tried swinging. Some moms were offended that Taylor revealed this because they weren’t a part of swinging, but got grouped in with her. The show picks up after that controversy.

As I mentioned, there are eight women that the show follows. Some of the women fade into the background, and some of the women are at the center of the show. Starting with Taylor, Taylor is divorced after the swinging scandal and is dating Dakota. Taylor discovers she’s pregnant with Dakota’s baby after only a few months of dating. She ends up having an Ectopic pregnancy and is arrested for domestic assault. One year after that, she’s pregnant again with Dakota’s baby. Whitney is another mom on the show. If you remember, there was a woman who danced in front of her baby when the baby was in the ICU, and everyone was upset about it; that was Whitney who caught flak for that. Whitney reveals in the first episode that her marriage was rocky because she discovered her husband had been messaging other people on Tinder. This was all revealed in the first episode.

While Taylor and Whitney carry most of the drama, they aren’t the only ones. In one of the episodes, Jen, another woman on the show, goes to Las Vegas. She goes to a Chippendales show, which wasn’t what she was comfortable with. Her husband blew up at her and threatened to take her kids away. What in the actual fuck? That episode made me super uncomfortable because the way Jen’s husband was talking to her was uncalled for. Jen didn’t even want to go to the show; she went because it was supposed to be a surprise, but didn’t realize it would be a Chippendales show. I feel for Jen. She wants to be a good partner to her husband, but the way he treated her was appalling. The other women: Mayci, Demi, Mikayla, Jessi, and Layla are around, but I would say the main three are Taylor, Whitney, and Jen.

I think what makes this show more interesting is learning more about Mormonism. Most Mormons don’t drink alcohol or coffee, get married at a young age, and have children. I think about someone like Taylor, who parties quite a bit, and I wonder if she started her family later in her life, would she still be the way she is? I couldn’t imagine having kids in my 20s. I feel like I needed that time to become the woman I am today. Some of the women on the show are pretty strict, whereas Jessi speaks out the most about how damaging Mormonism is for women. I appreciate her perspective on things because it seems like she’s the one who will take the pieces from religion that work for her and abandon the rest.

If you’re looking for a new reality TV show to watch, look no further than The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. The second season airs on May 15th, and I’m looking forward to it.

I am always looking for new Vampire: The Masquerade live plays or podcasts to listen to. One of the most watched or infamous live plays out there is LA By Night which streamed on Geek & Sundry. LA By Night’s popularity, led to the creation of NY By Night. Both LA By Night and NY By Night feature Jason Carl as the storyteller / DM. I could listen to all the things that Jason Carl does. The way he tells a Vampire story is enthralling. I finished listening to the first season of NY By Night and it was so good. I have already started watching season #2.

NY By Night’s first season features an Anarch coterie. For context, Anarchs are a group of vampires who don’t want to live by the rules. They want to be able to live, feed, and not be watched by the Camarilla, the governing group of vampires. The four players in this Anarch coterie are Issac Brooks (played by Alexander Ward), Serif (played by Mayanna Berin), Fuego Walker (played by Aabria Iyengar), and Rey (played by Joey Rassool). The coterie is forced to work together and in the first episode, they have to find someone who owes money to a very powerful enemy.

Alexander Ward appears in both Ny By Night and LA By Night as one of the main characters. His portrayal of Issac is unsettling in the sense that he’s polite, but the gestures he makes, it make it difficult to predict what he will do next. I loved Aabria’s portrayal of Fuego. She’s a classic Ventrue and there are times when Aabria is vibing to the music in a way that’s natural to her clan. Rey’s story is interesting as he has more of a bond with the Camarilla than the others do which comes out throughout the story. Serif is also an interesting character and I would have liked to learn more about her relationship with her mom and her sire. Each episode in this series would fly by and a lot of that has to do with the actors and of course, Jason Carl being the storyteller.

Another interesting thing about NY By Night specifically is how this campaign ties into the other Vampire: The Masquerade video games. There are appearances by characters in this campaign that specifically show up in Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York and Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York. I was not expecting that and it makes me want to replay these games after watching this series.

There are two seasons of NY By Night. The second season features a Camarilla coterie with an all-new cast. There was supposed to be a third season, but it never happened. Once I finish with NY By Night, I’m tempted to watch LA By Night. I probably should have started with LA By Night since that would have been in chronological order. If you’re looking for a live play series that focuses more on roleplay and less on combat, NY By Night is one I would recommend.

Captain America: Brave New World was released on Valentine’s Day. I watched The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+ so I was hyped for this movie. This was supposed to be the movie that would establish Sam Wilson as the new Captain America setting the stage for the future of the MCU. Captain America Brave New World was so underwhelming and Anthony Mackie deserved a better debut movie than whatever this movie was trying to be.

Sam Wilson (played by Anthony Mackie) and Joaquin Torres (played by Danny Ramirez) are sent to Mexico to retrieve an item that’s being sold to a mercenary group. After successfully retrieving the item, Sam and Joaquin are invited to The White House. Sam asks Isaiah Bradley (played by Carl Lumbly) to accompany him even though Isaiah has mixed feelings about coming along. During a presentation, Isaiah attacks President Thaddeus Ross (played by Harrison Ford) which is uncharacteristic of Isaiah. Although stopped by Sam, Isaiah is arrested and is protesting his innocence. He doesn’t remember attacking the president and Sam is determined to uncover what’s going on and how Isaiah got looped into this.

When I think back to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, that movie is centered on Captain America. He has his allies which are obviously Black Widow and eventually, Sam Wilson. In Captain America: Brave New World, I felt Sam Wilson wasn’t the star of his own movie. There’s so much build-up linking all these events together. I wish this movie focused more on Sam’s relationships with his allies. Sam being a mentor to Joaquin, how did they meet? Why did Sam feel connected to him? I would have loved to see more moments with Sam and Isaiah or Isaiah specifically teaching Joaquin a thing or two. Instead, Isaiah is in prison for the majority of the movie. It feels like a waste since Sam feels protective over Isaiah and deeply cares for him. If Captain America: Brave New World followed the pattern set in The Winter Soldier, I think this movie would have been excellent.

Another critique I had for Captain America: Brave New World is the movie was slow. This should be exciting! Sam has military training and excels at hand-to-hand combat, so why did I feel bored while watching this? I would have liked to see more from Joaquin. Aside from one hand-to-hand combat in an underground bunker and him in the air, that’s about it. He has earned the title of Falcon, so let’s see why! I think injuring him in the latter half of the movie was a mistake. He could have shown up at the end when Red Hulk started trashing The White House.

Captain America: Brave New World made some questionable choices. This movie relies on viewers to have seen The Incredible Hulk and Eternals. Why would you link to a movie that everyone pretends doesn’t exist? That was a choice. This is what I mean by the build-up. Since it’s been a bit since The Incredible Hulk’s release, there is a lot that has to be explained, so instead of giving Sam Wilson more screen time, you have to link these things together. It bogged down the movie and wasn’t satisfying. Instead, I think Captain America: Brave New World should have centered on Sidewinder (played by Giancarlo Esposito) and have Sam and all his allies go after him. This way, you can have an action-packed movie while building the relationships that Sam has.

It sounds like I hated the movie. I didn’t. It’s like the classic parent line, “I’m not mad, I’m disappointed”. That’s how I feel towards Captain America: Brave New World. The MCU is capable of making great films and this was not one of them.

At one point in time, Critical Role had one of the most successful Kickstarter projects of all time. The Legend of Vox Machina began as a Kickstarter campaign which Critical Role advertised during their live stream. The campaign was immensely successful leading to the show launching on Amazon Prime. I started watching the show by myself, but my husband became interested and I ended up restarting season #1 and watched the series with him. The Legend of Vox Machina is an exciting rendition of the popular campaign.

The Legend of Vox Machina follows the seven members of Vox Machina. Each member is voiced by the same player that portrayed them in the campaign. There’s Vex (played by Laura Bailey), Vax (played by Liam O’Brien), Percy Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III (played by Taliesin Jaffe), Pike Trickfoot (played by Ashley Johnson), Keyleth of the Air Ashari (played by Marisha Ray), Scanlan Shorthalt (played by Sam Riegel), and Grog Strongjaw (played by Travis Willingham). Each character has their own back story that comes into play throughout the seasons. Vox Machina teams up to take on several powerful enemies including The Briarwoods and The Chroma Conclave. Exandria needs Vox Machina, but are they ready to embrace becoming heroes?

The Legend of Vox Machina is such a delight to watch. It felt like I was reliving the campaign all over again. I felt the characters personalities were on point with who they were in the campaign. Grog’s humor comes out from some of the lighthearted statements he makes. Keyleth’s insecurities and being afraid to embrace her role as an Ashari. As someone who watched the campaign and the show, it felt like they were one in the same.

I can’t talk about the show without talking about all the enemies. The Briarwoods are one of my favorite adversaries that came out of Critical Role’s first campaign. I remember watching Taliesin’s reaction on the livestream when Matt mentions them. As a TTRPG player, I have been there! The shock when something is relevant to your character is presented in game. I get it. The Briarwoods having a full season dedicated to them was much needed. The Chroma Conclave pops up in the later seasons and they are scary. The amount of damage they did to Exandria is surreal to watch. I loved seeing all of this come to life.

With all adaptations, there will be changes. The first change I thought was interesting were the romances. In the show, it felt that Vex and Percy’s relationship developed quickly while Keyleth and Vax’s relationship was a slow burn. In the campaign, that’s the opposite. I thought that was interesting. I could see why this was changed as it helped provide the revenge arc of Vex taking on Anna Ripley and it helps to develop Vex’s feelings for Percy to sell this portion of the story. Vex and Percy’s relationship was so beautiful because it took the time to develop. While those changes were made, the original Vex and Percy moments are faithful to the campaign. Vex opening her door completely naked is exactly what Laura Bailey did to Taliesin. I believe someone clipped side by side of the campaign versus the show and it’s worth it to watch because they are identical.

The second change that I feel is not talked about enough is Kash. Kashaw (played by Will Friedle both in the campaign and the show) appears with Vox Machina at pivotal moments throughout the series. In the campaign, Kashaw lives to the end. However, in the show, Kashaw is killed by Thordak and accepts his death by going to The Raven Queen. I was so unprepared for this because it was drastically different. I understand things have to change, but this feels like a huge change. I’d hate to see other NPCs get killed off if they were left living in the original campaign.

The Legend of Vox Machina was a joy to watch and I’m looking forward to what will be adapted in later seasons. It feels like I’m rewatching the original campaign that made me a fan of Critical Role to begin with.