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.

I remember Blue Beetle being released in theaters, but missed my chance to go. The DCU was kind of a mess with James Gunn trying to figure out what was canon or not. Blue Beetle, I felt got lost in that shuffle. When me and my husband were deciding what we wanted to watch, he encouraged me to watch Blue Beetle with him because he really enjoyed it. Blue Beetle was a solid movie from DC and I’d love to see Blue Beetle pop up in future DCU movies.

Blue Beetle follows Jaime Reyes (played by Xolo Maridueña) as he flies home to see family after graduating college. He gets a job cleaning a rich mansion belonging to Victoria Kord (played by Susan Sarandon). Jaime overhears an argument between Victoria and Jenny Kord (played by Bruna Marquezine). After standing up for Jenny, Jaime and his sister, Milagro (played by Belissa Escobedo) are fired from the job. Jenny promises Jaime she can get him a job at her father’s company, Kord Industries. Jaime arrives at Kord the next day where he bumps into an anxiety-ridden Jenny. She gives Jaime an enclosed package and tells him not to open it. Jaime shows it to his family revealing that he has a blue scarab. The scarab attaches to Jaime which freaks out his family. Victoria realizes the scarab is gone and will do everything to retrieve it.

The DCU’s track record is not great, so it’s nice that Blue Beetle is a good movie. I liked Xolo as Jaime Reyes. I think he embodies the character and brings a Spider-Man-youth to the role. Jaime’s family is easily the best part of the film. George Lopez plays Jaime’s Uncle Rudy and is hilarious. There’s a scene where Uncle Rudy explores the original Blue Beetle’s stuff and he is thrilled. Nana, played by Adriana Barraza, has her time to shine and shows up to protect her grandson. Jaime’s connection to his culture and family is a core feature of this film.

Regarding the villain, I think it’s easy to say that Susan Sarandon is not a memorable villain. However, I think Victoria has her moments. She is shown through flashbacks of going to foreign countries and how the weapons she helped create would destroy countries. Her righthand man, Carpax (played by Raoul Max Trujillo) is a victim. He was saved but forced to participate in Victoria’s experiments. Victoria violates many human rights violations, but because she’s rich, she gets away with it. Victoria being a villain is almost too real. She may not be able to go hand in hand with Jaime, but I’d argue that what Victoria does is even scarier.

The real question worth addressing is whether Blue Beetle is canon in James Gunn’s DCU? According to a quick internet search, the answer is yes. Although, it’s not clear how Blue Beetle as a character will fit into his future projects. It would be a dream to see Blue Beetle show up in a live adaptation of Young Justice as that was my first introduction to Blue Beetle as a character.

Blue Beetle is well worth the watch. I thought the movie has character and life to it which is something the DCU needs.

Critical Role uploaded their “State of the Role” in which they share what’s coming up next. In this State of the Role, Critical Role made some big announcements specifically the end of Campaign #3 (also known as Bells Hells) and a new series that will air after the Campaign #3 finale. While I’m behind on Bells Hells as I’m still watching Mighty Nein, this is still big as it leaves a question unanswered, what will Critical Role’s fourth campaign be? I wanted to break down everything that was revealed in the State of the Role in more detail.

Campaign #3 Finale on February 6th

Bells Hells will conclude on Thursday, February 6th. The finale will be over eight hours in length. In the State of the Role video, there was a discussion that filming had to conclude temporarily due to the fires in California. As a side note, the California fires are devastating, to say the least. My heart goes out to anyone impacted or who lost their homes in the fires.

I’m curious as to how Bells Hells will wrap. While I have fallen behind, it’s clear from what I have read about the campaign, that this might be world-ending which could impact the previous campaigns and the fate of those characters. I would be sad if the ending of campaign #3 were to kill off Vox Machina for example in an apocalypse type of event.

I would like to see campaign #4 taking place hundreds of years in the future. It would be nice for fans to get a fresh start and to be able to follow along without having to watch the other campaigns.

Exandria Unlimited: Divergence

After the finale airs, Critical Role’s next mini-series will be called Exandira Unlimited: Divergence. Brennan Lee Mulligan is the DM with Matthew Mercer, Liam O’Brien, Jasmine Don, Alex Ward, and Celia Rose. Alex Ward is coming back to Critical Role!! I could not be more excited. Alex Ward is one of my favorite TTRPG players in this space. He specifically is in Vampire: The Masquerade live plays and I like that Alex brings focus to other TTRPG systems. I will watch the heck out of this series even if I have not seen or watched any of the other Exandria short series. I may not understand everything, but I will be here for it. This was easily the most exciting thing that came out of State of the Role.

Campaign #4 Predictions

This leads me to the final discussion point, what will Critical Role’s 4th campaign be? The big question is whether Critical Role will do another Dungeons & Dragons campaign or will they highlight their system, Daggerheart? I would watch campaign #4 regardless of the TTRPG system. If Critical Role were to use Daggerheart, I think it would be smart from a business perspective. TTRPGs remind me of trading card games in the sense that for them to be successful, you need players to play them regularly. If players aren’t playing Daggerheart, books won’t be bought and the system could fade into obscurity. However, if Critical Role does use Daggerheart, will they isolate fans who aren’t interested in Daggerheart at all?

As mentioned, I would watch Critical Role whether they use Dungeons & Dragons or Daggerheart. I like the chemistry of the cast and I want to put my Beacon subscription to good use. As a side note, whatever happened to Candela Obscura? I’d love another Circle or Candela mini-series. If I had to predict, I think Critical Role would utilize Dungeons & Dragons still, but I could see Daggerheart popping up again as it gets closer to its full release and Gen Con specifically.

I’m curious to see what happens and how everything unfolds. I will be waiting for Exandria Unlimited: Divergence to drop on Beacon in the wake of Bells Hells and their choices made in the grand finale.

CW: Death of Children (will be referenced, but I won’t go into detail. It’s featured in one episode). In my opinion, that episode is difficult to watch.

My husband has been following DC and their TV and film schedule. James Gunn is at the helm and I’m curious about his projects and how they will be received by fans. The DC film universe has always been disorganized, which is a shame because there’s so much potential. One of the first projects in James Gunn’s schedule is an animated show called Creature Commandos. My husband watched it, so he encouraged me to do the same. We watched the show together last weekend. Without knowing anything about Creature Commandos, I thought the show did an excellent job showcasing the characters in only seven episodes.

Creature Commandos takes place after The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. Amanda Waller (voiced by Viola Davis) has to change tactics after her daughter revealed to the public about Suicide Squad’s existence. Amanda decides to form a new superhero group called Creature Commandos and since they aren’t human beings, there’s no way she’s violating any human rights laws, right? Amanda tasks Rick Flag Sr. (voiced by Frank Grillo) to lead the group. The group consists of The Bride (voiced by Indira Varma), G.I. Robot, Weasel (both G.I. Robot and Weasel are voiced by Sean Gunn), Doctor Phosphorus (voiced by Alan Tudyk), and Nina Mazursky (voiced by Zoë Chao). Creature Commando’s first mission is to protect a princess from an assassination attempt.

I enjoyed this show more than I thought I would. To be fair, I didn’t know much about the show before watching it. G.I. Robot is a Nazi-killing robot who needs to be protected at all costs. The way G.I. Robot smiles when Rick Flag tells him the enemies are Nazis, it was adorable. I liked the friendship that was formed between Bride and Nina. The characters worked well together and all had their own reasons as to why they ended up on this team.

Before watching Creature Commandos, I’d recommend reading the episode description for episode #4 ahead of time. The content warning I posted above is for this episode. The fourth episode details Weasel’s back story and my husband warned me about this episode before I watched it. The episode involves the death of children and I SOBBED. James Gunn, how could you do this to me? I was sobbing so hard that my husband had to stop the show and ask if I was okay to continue, which I was, but he had to promise me that nothing else bad was going to happen. I did not expect this episode to get to me as much as it had, but it was so upsetting. This episode is worth watching because it provides more backstory to Weasel who is in The Suicide Squad movie. Be prepared to have a tissue box nearby.

Creature Commandos is a strong start for the DC universe. I would be open to watching another season of Creature Commandos if renewed for season #2. I want to dive into the Creature Commandos comics and learn more about this team. I love The Suicide Squad, so I’d love this ragtag anti-hero team.

Since being a part of a regular Vampire: The Masquerade game, I have fully dived into all things World of Darkness. I had started watching a live play on the World of Darkness YouTube channel called New York By Night. I fell off from watching the rest of the episodes consistently, but have now gotten back into a rhythm with watching thirty minutes or so at a time. It was around this time that I saw this video called Project Ghostlight pop up on my social media. I follow Alexander Ward on various social media platforms as he’s a TTRPG player and actor who appears in New York By Night. In this announcement, he is going to be the storyteller for a new chronicle and live play series, Project Ghostlight.

Alexander Ward is one of my favorite TTRPG players to watch. In New York By Night specifically, he is so unsettling. It goes beyond roleplaying a character. His mannerisms with his vampire, Issac are creepy. He smiles abnormally wide which fits the character he’s trying to portray. I have watched bits and pieces of LA By Night which Alexander Ward is also in. I haven’t finished the series, but in the twenty minutes I watched, he acts differently as Nosferatu vampire, Jasper. If that wasn’t enough, Alexander was also a guest on Critical Role’s Candela Obscura series and his circle is one of my favorites. To hear that he will be the storyteller this time instead of a player in Project Ghostlight, I’m excited. I’m curious to see what type of story he will weave.

I have been struggling to find Vampire: The Masquerade live plays and podcasts still producing new content. I have been listening to Canada By Night which I adore, but I’m always looking for other options. I like seeing what other players do in their stories and what types of characters they create. Project Ghostlight has the potential to bring Vampire: The Masquerade more mainstream. I’d love to see more players get exposed to this game that I love so much.

I haven’t subscribed to Project Ghostlight’s Patreon yet. My hope is they will drop the episodes on YouTube as well. If they don’t, I would be open to subscribing as I don’t want to miss out on this new chronicle. If you have any Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse or Hunter: The Reckoning live play recommendations, I’d love to hear them in the comments below.

I remember hearing about Hunters back when it aired on Amazon Prime in 2020. I thought the concept was interesting, I mean who doesn’t want to watch Nazis getting murdered by a vigilante group? I seemingly forgot about the show until recently. I was looking for a new show to watch and Hunters popped up on my radar. I went into watching Hunters with little to no expectations and I’m happy to say that Hunters is one of my favorite shows I watched this year.

Hunters opens with Jonah Heidelbaum (played by Logan Lerman) as he lives in New York with his grandmother, Ruth (played by Jeannie Berlin). In the middle of the night, Jonah goes downstairs and hears Ruth talking with someone and before Jonah can figure out who, Ruth is shot and killed. Jonah originally believes it was a robbery until after the funeral when he goes through Ruth’s personal belongings. It’s revealed that Ruth was partnering with a group of Nazi Hunters led by Meyer Offerman (played by Al Pacino). While Ruth wanted to protect Jonah from the Hunters, Jonah wants in. He’s quickly recruited and while he’s skeptical, he begins to realize that Nazis have been escaping justice for far too long.

I like how Hunters blends history with fiction. Simon Wiesenthal, who was an actual Nazi Hunter, appears in the show. The show references Operation Paperclip which was the secretive US government operation that brought German scientists and engineers to the US. I couldn’t imagine how difficult that would be to find out that the US recruited Nazis to work with them. It’s vile. These are war criminals who aided and abeded the Nazi party and they get a free pass to live in the US because they are smart? In the second season of Hunters, most of the season takes place in South America and when I looked up some of the Nazis that were brought to justice in history, a lot of them hid in South America. I thought it made the series more compelling that it pulled from actual history even though yes, a lot of this is still fictional.

Another thing I liked about Hunters was it had this comic book feel to the show. The hunters feel like a superhero team even though they don’t have superpowers. The intro to the show shows the characters as action figures on a chessboard moving to get in front of the Nazis. I don’t normally look up interviews with the cast or the producers, but I found myself curious as to the inspiration behind the show. In an interview with creator, David Weil, he mentions being inspired by his grandmother being a holocaust survivor and the lack of representation of Jewish superheroes. When I think about this, I don’t know any superheroes who are Jewish in comics or if there are Jewish superheroes, this isn’t highlighted much. When I read this interview by David, I felt it made a lot of sense as to why Hunters was made the way it was.

You know when you watch a show and there’s a character who is awful and evil? I think Cersei from Game of Thrones comes to mind. In Hunters that character is Travis Leich (played by Greg Austin). Travis is a white supremacist who gets recruited into helping the Nazis in the US. He was THE WORST. He’s a Nazi, so this is a given, but everything he did, it sent a shiver down my spine. There were times where he was unhinged and some of the scenes that he was in were hard to watch. This show had a great cast and I found each hunter stood out to me with their own back story and what motivates them to hunt Nazis. The Markowitz’s (played by Saul Rubinek and Carol Kane) are a married couple in the Hunters and their back story episode, I was crying. For a show that only has 18 episodes, I felt it was easy to get attached to them.

Hunters was a show I was compelled to keep watching. I don’t normally watch multiple episodes of a show for hours on end, but Hunters was the exception. I’m sad that this show doesn’t have more seasons. Hunters can be streamed on Amazon Prime.