New ‘The Walking Dead’ And ‘Rogue One’ Funko Pop! Vinyls Announced

They’re the figures taking the world by storm. Possessing collectors and casual fans alike. Now Funko is adding a slew of new Pop! Vinyls to their collection, from arguably two of the worlds biggest franchises, ‘The Walking Dead’ and ‘Star Wars’.

I haven’t latched on to this particular craze yet, the number of characters and franchises on offer make it difficult to know where to begin, yet ‘The Walking Dead’ figures have been appealing to me more and more. With this latest line I figure I might just cave in. Adding four new characters to the lineup, and two alternate/updated ones, these latest additions bring some fan favourites to the series. The new figures include Rosita, Father Gabriel, Negan and Jesus, whilst the alternate figures include Carl Grimes (Walker Disguise) and Daryl Dixon (With RPG Launcher).

The new additions mean that most of the main characters from the show now have a figure, with the only ones left to go being Eugene, Sasha and Tara. Hopefully then we don’t have to wait much longer for these other characters, and I imagine there will be some potential additions from the upcoming 7th Season too.

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Also announced were a series of ‘Star Wars: Rogue One’ figures. This series includes 9 completely new characters, in addition to several variants. Given ‘Rogue One’ is set to be one of the biggest film releases of the year, it’s no wonder Funko has jumped at the opportunity to develop the figures, though I expect they’ll sell better once the film actually releases and people hone in on their favourite characters. In the US, several of the figures are store exclusives, so be sure to watch for that.

The figures announced were Jyn Erso, Captain Cassian Andor, K-2SO, Chirrut Imwe, Baze Malbus, Saw Gerrera, Director Orson Krennic, Scarif Stormtrooper, Imperial Death Trooper and C2-B5.

The updated and alternate versions announced were Darth Vader, Darth Vader (Force Grip), Imperial Death Trooper (Chrome), Scarif Stormtrooper (Striped), Captain Cassian Andor (Brown Jacket), Jyn Erso (Hooded) and Jyn Erso (Imperial Disguise).

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That’s plenty to go at then. Not to mention 3 more ‘Rogue One’ figures will be released into the new ‘Wobbler’ line, that Funko have said “Combine the style of contemporary vinyl figures with the traditional collectability of bobbleheads!” These include Jyn Erso, Captain Cassian and Scarif Stormtrooper.

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So if you’re out to collect all the Funko Pops out there then I certainly do apologise to you, as these latest releases might just break the bank. At the end of the day though they look awesome, so it’s money well spent.

The figures are all expected to be released toward the end of September.

Sony Not Allowing Mods For Fallout 4 Or Skyrim On PS4

It’s common knowledge that Bethesda, the videogame studio behind such fan favourites as the Fallout and Elder Scrolls Series (special shout out to Wayne Gretzky Hockey, the obvious pinnacle of gaming), ships their games with obvious bugs and missing features. As a result, the modding scene around the games has become almost as famous as the games themselves. With dedicated fans working hard to improve where Bethesda themselves may have fallen short. It has even become so big that Bethesda now offers full mod support for select games.

The breadth of user generated content is known well to PC gamers. Having just entered that rabbit hole myself, the amount of mods on offer can be just as overwhelming as the games they’re trying to improve, but ultimately they can enhance gameplay so much. Well either that or add something hilariously insane, like this mod that adds Teddy Bear Nukes into the game. Yes you read that right.

Teddy. Bear. Nukes.

Unfortunately whilst PC gamers have a seemingly unlimited number of mods to play with, and Xbox One owners a slightly more limited number, Playstation 4 owners aren’t going to be able to use mods at all. Bethesda wrote a message to fans, explaining the reasoning behind the decision:

“After months of discussion with Sony, we regret to say that while we have long been ready to offer mod support on PlayStation 4, Sony has informed us they will not approve user mods the way they should work: where users can do anything they want for either Fallout 4 or Skyrim: Special Edition.

“Like you, we are disappointed by Sony’s decision given the considerable time and effort we have put into this project, and the amount of time our fans have waited for mod support to arrive. We consider this an important initiative and we hope to find other ways user mods can be available for our PlayStation audience. However, until Sony will allow us to offer proper mod support for PS4, that content for Fallout 4 and Skyrim on PlayStation 4 will not be available.”

The blame is definitely pointed in Sony’s direction then, but though it’s understandable for Bethesda to be annoyed, Sony likely has some valid concerns. Letting users make mods for whatever they want poses some serious problems when it comes to infringing on other companies IP. There are mods out there adding all sorts of things, from Thomas the Tank Engine to Toy Story, so it’s possible Sony is worried about this. That being said, rules are currently in place on the Xbox One version of Fallout 4, and the soon to be released Skyrim: Special Edition that prevent these kinds of infringements, so Sony’s stance here, coupled with their lack of clarification, is baffling.

This will only go towards damaging Sony’s image. Since the lackluster announcement of the PS4Pro, the domination Sony has held on the console scene seems to be wavering, something Microsoft was more than happy to capitalise on.

4K streaming & Blu-Ray ✅
HDR gaming ✅
Greatest games ✅
40% smaller ✅
Xbox One S from $299: https://t.co/GzguOUfMeV pic.twitter.com/vWb6r1x9PD

— Xbox (@Xbox) September 7, 2016

Bethesda ended their statement with an ominous “We will provide an update if and when this situation changes.” Not exactly hopeful then, but there’s always a chance it could turn around. In the meantime though, enjoy this video of nuclear teddy bears.

The Goldbergs Season 4 Premiere Info

One of the best comedies on television is about to return for its 4th Season, and ABC is preparing us to delve right back into the colourful history of 1980-something. ‘The Goldbergs’ Season 4 premiere entitled: Breakfast Club will pay homage to the movie of the same name, continuing ‘The Goldbergs’ tradition of celebrating the great cinema of the 80’s in their trademark hilarious and heartfelt fashion.

Adam works on his new persona for the first day of high school that he hopes will up his coolness level. Meanwhile, Beverly gets her teaching certification to become a substitute teacher. But when she is demoted to sub-janitor, she sends the Goldberg kids to a Saturday detention, but it is Principal Ball who must oversee the kids. Later, Murray arrives and takes over where he gives an important lesson.

The premiere looks set to kickstart some running storylines through the season, as we get to see Adam cope with High School, and everyone cope with Beverly becoming a teacher. ABC also released a myriad of new pictures from the episode, giving us an idea of the ‘Breakfast Club’ persona each character will undertake.

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Photo Credit: ABC

In addition to all of this, ABC also released a mock Music Video for the song ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me)’ which is famous for being played during the opening and closing credits of ‘The Breakfast Club’. It seems they’re going all out with this episode, and it could be one of the best tributes yet.

 

 

‘The Goldbergs’ Season 4 premieres Wednesday, September 21st 8pm on ABC.

The Flash Season 3 ‘Time Strikes Back’ Trailer

A new TV season is fast approaching and networks are releasing pictures and promos left, right and centre. The latest to do so is The CW with a new look at ‘The Flash’. Just to get you back up to speed, ‘The Flash’ Season 2 ended with Barry travelling back in time to save his mother, effectively erasing everything that had happened since the show began, and creating the ‘Flashpoint’ paradox that fans are so hyped for; that The CW is using to drive the promotion behind this latest series.

 

What’s interesting about this latest trailer is that it seems Barry wastes no time in revealing this is not the timeline he’s used to. Those behind the show have said that ‘Flashpoint’ would not last long, but it seems the weight of Barry’s actions have him in a great rush to fix the damage he’s caused.

The trailer further hints at how characters have changed, with Cisco in particular an all together different character. What’s interesting is that it appears he owns Star Labs. Given Dr Wells shouldn’t be dead in this timeline it will be intriguing to see how this plays out. Generally with time travel in TV shows though, it’s best not to try to make sense of things too much. You’re just asking for a headache otherwise.

‘The Flash’ Season 3 premieres Tuesday, October 4th 8pm on The CW.

The Walking Dead Season 7 ‘Negan’ Trailer And Promo Pictures

A new trailer for ‘The Walking Dead’ focused completely on Negan (a.k.a the sadistic psychopath set to make all our lives a misery this October) has been released by AMC.

The trailer offers a few snippets of new footage, giving us short glimpses at how the Saviours are going to operate, as well as their base ‘The Sanctuary’. The trailer reinforces the idea that Negan is revered by his followers, with shots of Saviours kneeling down as he walked by. There were also a few shots of the Kingdom crew in there, currently incorporating Carol and Morgan, suggesting it might not be long before the two factions go up against each other.

Whilst it didn’t show us much, the trailer certainly helped further sell Negan as a significant threat going into this new season. The particularly ominous line “I am everywhere” should be enough to give anyone chills, and we can be sure our heroes aren’t gonna get any rest from this guy any time soon.

As well as this new trailer, AMC also released a slew of new promo pictures for the show. Again they don’t tell us much, but they tell us enough. There will be plenty of new locations in this upcoming season, as we get to know more about the inhabitants of The Kingdom, The Sanctuary and even The Hilltop. They even gave us a gruesome look at how The Saviours enjoy decorating their base.

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Photo Credit: AMC

So it’s clear the wait is almost over, but given we’re about to lose a beloved character i’m not sure I want it to be.

‘The Walking Dead’ Season 7 premieres Sunday, October 23rd 10pm on AMC, then one day after in the UK on Monday, October 24th 9pm on Fox.

Nintendo Announces ‘Super Mario Run’ For IOS

Apple’s annual news event is currently ongoing and it seems Nintendo fans have a big reason to pay attention. Stepping to the stage, Shigeru Miyamoto, creator of such big name franchises as Mario and The Legend of Zelda, announced Nintendo’s latest mobile game ‘Super Mario Run’.

This isn’t Nintendo’s first foray into mobile gaming. They released the game/app ‘Miitomo’ earlier this year to initial excitement which soon petered out. Also, contrary to popular belief, Nintendo did not play any part in the making of ‘Pokemon Go’, though it’s fair to say they benefitted greatly from it. In any case ‘Super Mario Run’ looks set to be a much more exciting experience than ‘Miitomo’ with clear gameplay present.

The game is billed as an ‘auto-runner’, meaning Mario will be continuously running across the screen, whilst it’s the player’s job to tap in order to make him jump, avoiding obstacles and collecting coins as you do so.

The game doesn’t release until December, however there is already a page up on the app store where you can opt in to be notified when the game releases. This page holds some interesting information about the game, including details of three separate game modes:

• The first mode features challenging courses for you to complete.
• In the second mode you challenge the play data of other people’s completed courses. You compete to see who can finish the course with the most style!
• In the third mode you can create your own Mushroom Kingdom using coins collected by playing the first two game modes.

The game will also offer in app purchases, however will release at an as yet unknown set price. Because of this, the in app purchases are likely to be cosmetic only.

Nintendo also said that their two other mobile games in the works, based on the ‘Animal Crossing’ and ‘Fire Emblem’ series, would now be releasing after ‘Super Mario Run’ but before March 2017.

‘Super Mario Run’ releases on the app store for iPhone and iPad December 2016. Plans for a release on Android devices are currently unknown.

Agents Of SHIELD: Season 4 Premiere Pictures And Info

We are less than two weeks away now until the Season 4 premiere of ‘Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD’ and in lieu of an actual trailer, ABC has begun releasing a steady stream of information. The latest is the official press release and pictures for the episode, which reveal some interesting tidbits of information.

In light of the Sokovia Accords, and with Hydra obliterated, S.H.I.E.L.D. has been legitimatized again and no longer needs to operate in the shadows. Since the world presumes that Coulson is dead, the organization needed a new Director to be the face of the organization. Coulson finds himself back in the role as an agent and teamed with Mack, and together they are tasked with tracking down and confirming the presence of Enhanced people, aka Inhumans. Agent May is tasked with training specialist strike teams, and Fitz and Simmons have taken a big step forward in their relationship.

In the season premiere episode, “The Ghost,” Ghost Rider is coming, and S.H.I.E.L.D will never be the same.

Guest starring are Natalia Cordova-Buckley as Elena “Yo-Yo” Rodriguez, Gabriel Luna as Robbie Reyes, Mallory Jansen as Aida, Lorenzo James Henrie as Gabe, Briana Venskus as Agent Piper, Max Osinski as Agent Red, Ricardo Walker as Agent Prince.

As well as confirming that Ghost Rider will be appearing in the first episode, the Guest Star list notes some interesting new and returning players. It’s great to know Natalia Cordova Buckley will return as ‘Yo-Yo’ hopefully with an expanded role, whilst some of the Agents listed have appeared before, and hopefully point to the show expanding on existing characters. We also have confirmation that Mallory Jansen as ‘Aida’ will be appearing early on, whilst Lorenzo Henrie (Fear The Walking Dead) is set to appear as Robbie’s brother ‘Gabe’, signalling the family dynamic Marvel is so excited about with this character will be there from the off.

ABC also released several promo images from the episode featuring Ming Na Wen as ‘Agent May’, Henry Simmons as ‘Alphonso Mackenzie’, Gabriel Luna as ‘Robbie Reyes’ and John Hannah returning as ‘Doctor Radcliffe’. This last one is the most interesting as he isn’t listed under the guest stars. Is it possible he’ll be bumped up to series regular this season? Given how brilliant the character is, I certainly hope so.

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‘Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD’ Season 4 premieres Tuesday, September 20th 10pm on ABC.

Black Panther Movie To Be “Grittier” Than Previous Marvel Films

It’s common knowledge that Marvel’s superhero outings are much lighter in tone compared to DC’s, however it appears the upcoming ‘Black Panther’ movie could be a bit of a break from tradition. Now plenty of Marvel’s films have a significant dose of drama, this year’s ‘Captain America: Civil War’ was packed full of it, but none have ever been too dark, so it’ll be interesting to see what approach ‘Black Panther’ will take.

In an interview with CBR, Black Panther actor Chadwick Boseman explained the difference between his superhero and the others:

“For me, most of the time the darker superhero movies are the ones that I gravitate towards, that I love the most. I’m glad that the tone of Black Panther may be a little grittier. I just wanted to establish that from the beginning, that that’s what we were doing. That that’s what I intend to do. I feel like we’ll end up in a place that I’ve always wanted to be when I look at superhero movies. Those are the ones I like the most. It’s exciting to do that.”

Given the different direction ‘Black Panther’ is going compared to Marvel’s other films, Director Ryan Coogler spoke to EW about how he would be keeping it in line with the wider Marvel Universe:

“It’s a specific challenge. What Marvel’s doing, and what you see a lot of studios doing now that Marvel has done it so successfully, is making content that exists in a particular universe, where the characters tie in and crossover.

I think that’s a great creative challenge to me–to make this movie as personal as possible. It’s going to be my most personal movie to date, which is crazy to say, but it’s completely the case. I’m obsessed with this character and this story right now, and I think it’s going to be very unique and still fit into the overall narrative that they’re establishing.”

Each Marvel film tends to tackle a different genre, tone or style, and it will certainly be exciting to see how Black Panther differentiates itself from the rest. The character was already given a warm welcome in ‘Civil War’ and definitely stood out from the rest, so his solo film is set to be interesting indeed.

Black Panther will release in cinemas July 6, 2018.

‘Doctor Who’ Series 10: Start Date Revealed?

It’s been a dark year for ‘Doctor Who’ fans. Outside the annual Christmas special there has been promise of no new series of the show until 2017. Thanks to a slip of the tongue from Peter Capaldi however, we might just have a more solid date for the show’s start.

In talking to fans on set whilst filming Series 10, Capaldi said that it would probably be airing in April.

“We’ll be on at Christmas, and then it starts again in April, I think,”

This aligns with the BBC’s comments that the show would likely air in the Spring, and would see a shift back to the airing patterns adopted by much of the revived series. Up until series six the show aired from late March/early April to June or July, before recently moving towards later timeslots. Series 9 began airing in September, and due to the BBC’s major winter show ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ often lasting hours, kept getting pushed back later into the night.

This saw a decline in ratings for the show, with many parents in particular unhappy that their children would not be able to watch during the later times. It is telling then that last year’s Christmas Special aired at 5:15pm, the exact same time as when the show began in 1963, and much earlier than any episode in the show’s history for years.

Hopefully a move back to Spring will see ratings rise again. I for one enjoyed watching ‘Doctor Who’ in its Autumn/Winter timeslot as it feels more effective at that dark time of the year, and had it been aired prior to ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ could have likely done well. Still, last series saw the tone darken significantly, which was a storytelling treat, but it’s all about finding that balance between the content and when it’s appropriate to air said content. This is after all a show initially aimed at kids.

If Peter Capaldi is to be believed though, that means we only have 7 months until the show returns. With spinoff ‘Class’ set to debut in the meantime, and a Christmas Special on the way, that wait doesn’t seem so bad at all.

Fear The Walking Dead SN2 EP10- ‘Do Not Disturb’

An oddly structured episode gave us some of the series best moments yet.

For anyone who gave up on ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ early on, and let’s face it there were many who quite fairly did, now would certainly be the time to jump back into it. A six episode first season isn’t a brilliant amount of time to establish a good show and characters. It had the existing ‘Walking Dead’ brand to draw from, and an exciting premise, but not much else beyond that. Each passing episode since the beginning however has become progressively better. I feel like I say this every week, and I probably have, but I feel it’s important to say. So often nowadays people are too quick to dismiss things straight away, especially if they don’t meet their ridiculously high expectations. ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ was always going to be compared to the main series, which wasn’t necessarily fair, but I feel the show has finally reached a point where it’s good enough to stand up to these comparisons, and that is an exciting prospect indeed.

This episode was a shining example of just how tense the show can be. We split the time between two different groups this week. Chris and Travis alongside some newfound ‘friends’, and Alicia alongside a brutal hotel manager. Honing in on said manager for a beat, she was introduced with a significantly dark past. Given the whole premise of ‘Fear The Walking Dead’ was to show the beginning of the outbreak, it felt both wonderful and hurtful when we were presented with a flashback to this moment for the hotel. We’d seen the remnants of a wedding party in last week’s episode and all signs pointed towards things not ending well. I was pleasantly surprised then to see the breakdown of that whole soiree this episode. They didn’t veer away from the sheer horror of it all either. The father of the bride dies, bites the face off his own daughter who’s attempting to give him CPR, before the aforementioned manager and her nephew lock all the guests in the room with Walker Dad. This is the kind of thing the show should have been doing from the start, and I’m worried that that scene was just about as much as we’ll ever get.

If this manager character sticks around for any length of time though, it’ll be interesting to see how she copes psychologically with what she’s done. We already saw her have a partial breakdown when confessing to Alicia, and these are the kinds of conflicts that breed good stories. Will this survival instinct of hers get stronger? Will she buckle under the guilt of what she’s done? Will Alicia keep trusting her now that she knows this isn’t a very trustworthy person? All intriguing possibilities, so I’m just hoping they don’t kill her off straight away.

Speaking of Alicia, this episode continued to build on her badass within. We’ve seen the actress (Alycia Debnam Carey) perform brilliantly as a powerful leader over on The 100, and it’s the kind of character I want to see her become on this show. She’s probably the character with the least amount of baggage and is essentially a blank canvas to work on, so the writers have a real and increasingly likely chance to make her the star of the show. There are very few characters that people root for on this show, but to have at least one that’s truly awesome would be a treat indeed.

The odd thing about the structure of this episode was that Alicia’s part was solely focused on what she was doing. Last week’s episode ended on a cliff-hanger, with Ofelia missing and Maddison and Strand surrounded by Walkers. It was odd then for the show to skip over these things to show us Maddison and Strand alive and hiding at the end of the episode. It looks as though we’ll get to witness their great escape next episode, but tricks like this somewhat cheapen the effect of the show’s major drawing point, death. These stunts have been pulled on ‘The Walking Dead’, wherein a main character is thought to be dead, and we get to run into a walker that just so happens to look extremely similar to them, clothing and all. I’m certainly not a fan of these moments, but when they did this with Maddison last night I actually thought for a moment they could have actually killed her. This speaks to how tense the episode was, making me fear for just about everyone’s safety.

Elsewhere the episode finally saw us catch up with Travis and Chris. Their interactions were more of the same. Chris showing some eerily adept killing skills, and Travis trying to squash these down in fear of losing his son. It was enjoyable to see the father-son dynamic play out through the early parts of the episode as both were having fun in each other’s company, Travis even teaching Chris how to drive. It was with the introduction of a trio of new character’s that things started to go further downhill for the pair. The show did a brilliant job of making us want to trust these guys, but not quite doing so. They didn’t seem bad per se, just their intentions were never clear.

Chris certainly warmed to them though, as he took a big step to becoming either the best survivor on the show, or its newest villain. Maybe both? After finding an isolated farm and attempting to corral its Chickens, the group soon found they were in the company of a gun wielding farmer. I was shocked by how this scene played out. I didn’t expect the farmer to make it out of there alive, but I certainly didn’t expect Chris to be the one to pull the trigger. Not yet anyway. Seems he’s further up Mt Crazy than we thought.

This was a truly action packed episode, so other highlights include:

• I’ve been wanting to do a ‘Zombie Kill Of The Week’ but there hasn’t been much opportunity to do so. I’m confident now however that every episode will feature at least one Walker kill, so here goes:

Zombie Kill of the Week: ‘Are you my Mummy?’- Alicia, Maddison lookalike walker.

 

• That elevator sequence was brilliantly shot. It perfectly captured the sense of chaos that would be present in such a situation, and it gets double points for being a kind of action sequence we’ve not really seen before on either show.

• It was initially jarring when it was night time when we first cut to Alicia, given we last saw her during the day, but it also makes a lot of sense. TV often speeds situations up to move the story along, but it makes sense that Alicia’s problems wouldn’t be resolved in a matter of minutes. It also further improved her stock as a great survivalist, as she demonstrated brilliant planning in escaping the Walkers.

• There are still so many questions looming after this episode. Where is Ofelia? Given we now know there are other guests in the hotel, perhaps she’s been held hostage by one. Also, what was that look on Maddison’s face after Alicia made it to her? It didn’t seem like the relieved face of a parent to me. Perhaps something has happened to her…

Overall another great episode then for ‘Fear The Walking Dead’. The structure was a bit off, with the decision not to show what happened to Maddison and Strand to instead employ cheap tricks an extremely questionable one. Nevertheless, this episode was high on action and gave us some truly character defining moments. We’re now faced with a murderous Chris. A Travis unsure what to do about said murderous Chris. And an evolving Alicia who just might be in line to become the next Rick Grimes. In any case I’m sure at least some of this will be addressed in next week’s episode, whilst giving us plenty more to think about as well.