Finally! Factory Entertainment is getting back to creating props based on Star Trek: The Next Generation. This time, the company is returning to the series’ early days with the earlier version of the Type-2 Phase.
The $499.99 replica of the pistol-grip Phaser is also functional in a legal way. It features light effects and sounds. The prop’s body is made from metal and was “designed to capture the best elements from all variants in a single blended execution.”
The Phaser will require (2) AAA batteries, which FE has included. The prop itself measures 8.25″ X 3″ X 1.75″. The display box is 11″ X 6.25″ X 3.5″. Although listed as a limited edition item, the number of produced replicas is not mentioned. Expect these to ship out this June.
The Type-2 Phaser, also known as the Dust Buster, proceeds to the more commonly seen Phaser in Star Trek shows around 2374. The nickname, though pretty obvious, is due to the prop looking like a 1980’s compact handheld vacuum by the same name. Oddly, Dust Busters (the real ones) are still around today, even though Back to the Future promised us they’d be considered defunct thanks to dust-proof coverings!
Like the TNG medical kit Factory Entertainment released a couple of years ago, the Type-2 Phaser comes in a wooden display case with the Starfleet emblem etched on the glass.
When can we get a Tricorder? With the advancements in small LED screens, you’d think more companies would jump on creating one of Star Trek’s most iconic pieces of scientific equipment. However, if you don’t want to wait for a licensed replica to reappear, many prop builders on Etsy and other sites make them.
Maeve may be out of The 7, but she’s still attempting to be stunning and brave in the collectibles market. The key word here is “attempting.” We came across a new Queen Maeve 1:6 scale figure on Sideshow and noticed something was slightly off.
For a $349 action figure, this thing doesn’t look like it’s on the same level as something from Hot Toys. It captures some of Dominique McElligott’s fantastic face, but the eyes are creepy. Maybe they’re too blue or too wide?
The detailing on Maeve’s costume also leaves a lot to be desired. I applaud Star Ace Toys for using a seamless body for the figure, but I’d be hard-pressed to spend that much money on something like this when there are other collectibles with superior craftsmanship and a lower price.
She’s expected to ship during the Summer. If you do decide to pre-order Maeve, here’s what you’ll get:
Sixth scale Seamless body (approximately 30 cm tall) with over 30 points of articulation
Fully realized authentic likeness of Dominique McElligott as Queen Maeve in the Amazon Prime TV show “The Boys” (2021)
The portraits are specially hand painted and feature detailed skin texture and accurate facial expressions
Head
– One (1) portrait with normal expression with rooted hair
Body
– One (1) Seamless Body with over 30 points of articulation
Hands
– One (1) pair of open hands
– One (1) pair of fist han
– One (1) pair of sword hands
– One (1) rude gesture hand
Costume
– One (1) Queen Maeve uniform with printed detail
– One (1) set of forearm bracers
– One (1) Queen Maeve emblem
– One (1) arm band
– One (1) Pair of Boots
Accessories
– One (1) sword
– One (1) martini glass
– One (1) mobile phone
– One (1) hairband
One (1) Diorama with Queen Maeve logo and 4 removeable rods with flash effects
Figure Stand
Dominique McElligott’s Queen Maeve is quite different than her comic book counterpart. For one, she’s alive but now powerless thanks to Soldier Boy’s explosive Compound V-sapping ability; what will the former superhero do with her time?
The Boys’ second and third seasons tried to balance social commentary about corporations using sexual and racial identities as marketing ploys. Sometimes it worked; sometimes, it fell flat. Hopefully, Amazon will move past this in the fourth season, but the writers want to drive home that annoying MAGA angle with Homelander.
The 2023 second season of the Viking epic anime ‘Vinland Saga’ has made its way to fans after the Japanese animation studio MAPPA took over production after a four-year hiatus since the first season ended. After the premiere, Crunchyroll announced that they would be releasing the English dub.
“Young Thorfinn grew up listening to the stories of old sailors that had traveled the ocean and reached the place of legend, Vinland. It’s said to be warm and fertile, a place where there would be no need for fighting—not at all like the frozen village in Iceland where he was born, and certainly not like his current life as a mercenary. War is his home now. Though his father once told him, “You have no enemies, nobody does. There is nobody who it’s okay to hurt,” as he grew, Thorfinn knew that nothing was further from the truth.
The war between England and the Danes grows worse with each passing year. Death has become commonplace, and the viking mercenaries are loving every moment of it. Allying with either side will cause a massive swing in the balance of power, and the vikings are happy to make names for themselves and take any spoils they earn along the way. Among the chaos, Thorfinn must take his revenge and kill Askeladd, the man who murdered his father. The only paradise for the vikings, it seems, is the era of war and death that rages on.”
Sentai Filmworks also produced an English dub of the first season with Wit Studios producing the animation of all twenty-six episodes.
On Superbowl Sunday, Tubi will be premiering its first-ever original cooking competition show titled ‘Kitchen Commandos.’ The show was created by Gordon Ramsay’s entertainment company Studio Ramsay Global and Fox Entertainment. The series will feature Former US Army Master Sergeant and White House Chef, Chef Andre Rush as the host.
Tubi’s Chief Content Officer Adam Lewinson expressed his excitement for the new series saying in a press release, “We couldn’t be more excited to introduce our very first unscripted original cooking series from icon and CEO Gordon Ramsay and Studio Ramsay Global.”
“Chef Rush, a man whose military and culinary experience commands respect and attention, makes KITCHEN COMMANDO entertaining, compelling and heartfelt television,” he added.
The TV show will follow Chef Rush as he visits several struggling restaurants in the Washington DC area with the pilot showing him taking on a seafood restaurant with several issues.
Gordon Ramsay said in a statement, “I’m so thrilled to bring KITCHEN COMMANDO to Tubi viewers.”
“Spending time with Chef Rush, I know firsthand his dedication to the food world, and his story is an inspiration to any chef. And trust me, his arms are no joke,” he continued.
The first episode will feature ten episodes.
“KITCHEN COMMANDO is executive produced by Gordon Ramsay, Robert Twilley and Matthew Hobin, with Natalie Ebnet serving as co-executive producer. KITCHEN COMMANDO is a production of FOX Alternative Entertainment and Studio Ramsay Global, LLC,” the statement noted.
Gordon Ramsay formed Studio Ramsay Global with Fox Entertainment in 2021. They have since produced ‘Next Level Chef,’ ‘Hell’s Kitchen,’ ‘Masterchef,’ ‘Masterchef Junior,’ ‘Gordon Ramsay’s American Road Trip’ special, and the upcoming ‘Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.’
Tubi will also be giving Ramsay a dedicated channel that will feature several of his shows including ‘Ramsay’s Best Restaurant,’ ‘Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Cookery Course,’ ‘Gordon’s Great Escape,’ ‘The F Word,’ and ‘Ramsay in 10.’
A shortage of artists in the animation industry could lead studios to seek out AI companies for a solution. But, according to PC Mag, Netflix is already taking steps toward plugging that labor hole.
The animated work in question is a Netflix Japan short called Dog & Boy. Attack on Titan’s Wit Studio employed Rinna, an AI character and scenario company, to create the backgrounds for the anime in question.
Netflix Japan admitted in a blog post that this project was an experiment. The company wanted to challenge Rinna and Wit Studio to create something with new tools available while the labor market was dry.
Upon my first viewing of the short, I could not tell that the landscape artwork was created by artificial intelligence. However, what could this mean for animators, artists, and the already low-pay / high-stress environments they already operate in?
Dog & Boy’s producer Daiki Sakurai believes the process could open up the industry to more variety, “If creators can choose a production method suitable for their work without being bound by a fixed production method, they will have a wider range of expression. By providing creators with a variety of choices, I would like to contribute to the evolution of the animation industry into a freer and stronger one.”
Photo Credit: Netflix Japan
Netflix Japan does not address the issues that other animators have expressed. Instead, the streaming company offers empty corporate speak that isn’t exactly comforting, “As a studio, Netflix focuses on supporting creators in the creation of works on a daily basis. As the shortage of human resources in the animation industry is seen as an issue, we hope that this initiative will contribute to the realization of a flexible animation production process through appropriate support for creators using the latest technology.”
What do you think of studios using AI to generate art, characters, or backgrounds? Let us know below.
In an exclusive interview for ClownFish TV and CultureScape, my podcast and YouTube channel; I, your friendly neighborhood journalist, got to speak at length with Indiana “Froskurinn” Black; the person most blamed for sailing the G4TV reboot into an iceberg last year with her rant about sexism in gaming. What she revealed to me during the interview is shocking. Not only did Frosk make the case that she is almost entirely innocent of the demise of G4, but that In its handling of G4TV, Comcast Spectacor, the Comcast subsidiary run by Comcast CEO Tucker Roberts, which was responsible for reviving the long-dead gaming media brand; might not just have sullied a cherished games legacy; but if she is to be believed, may have perpetuated criminality.
Me: Did they (Comcast) understand what kind of Fallout was going to come your way?
Frosk: “No absolutely not. If they had asked me, I would have been like, do not clip that. Did I mean everything I said, yeah. But that’s in a context of like, I know that only 2000 People are watching and like, I can look directly at the Twitch chat.”
“They clip it, they put it obviously like G4 rides like the high of like, the internal of one’s like, ah, you know, good job, we really stand behind you. And then as soon as like the backlash comes, and it gets caught up in the YouTube algorithm, then obviously, like all of the harassment comes and G4 just hard bales that are like ‘we are really supporting you.’ But like way over here.”
Broken from the word Go:
From the very start of G4TV, everything went wrong. Black previously had been a successful e-sports caster for League of Legends and, in 2019, had decided to take a break. Her agent, in talks with Comcast already, offered to have her be brought on for her talents and experience in e-sports, which was a central focus of the network, with promises from CS leadership that she would be given the leeway and support for whatever projects she thought would be best for the new G4TV.
However, not long after production began and the new staff moved into their professional studio building, Black and other employees were constantly undermined by middle management. Nothing would be simple. Trying to figure out what format would work for the reboot, Frosk, and her team proposed a seemingly endless amount of pitch decks and verticals to CS to no avail. Among the killed ideas were game-specific e-sports shows, ala a League of Legends show or a CSGO show, or to host exhibitions that covered more popular “arena” party games like Mario Kart or Smash Bros. Frosk balked at the idea of treating all e-sports as one giant blob; instead as she observed that e-sports fans generally gravitate towards their favorite game over others and most potential audience members would be more interested in the games that they were familiar with.
For this, executives disagreed; they wanted Frosk to host a show like a primetime news network meets a variety show, supposedly in an attempt to get clips to go viral. When Frosk told management that she or the other staff had any experience doing comedy, nor would that be something their audience would be into, they were again ignored. When she started working with production to put the approved shows together, she assumed that as it’s a news show, she could use clips of video games and e-sports for G4’s headlining e-sports show; for which she was loudly shouted down.
— Peter Pischke-Friendly Neighborhood Journo (@HappyWarriorP) January 31, 2023
As Frosk shared and as recently alluded to by Adam Sessler in an interview on the podcastthe Biggest Problem in the Universe, a common difficulty lay in the lack of a clear organizational structure and clear lines of leadership between Comcast Spectacor and G4. Whenever Frosk and other G4TV staff proposed ideas to executive production, those ideas had to be funneled to a shadowy amorphous middle management. If staff received a response from the executives, they would never know who gave it, if that person had the authority to give it, nor would they find out why the idea was declined.
This led to much confusion, and the company rarely took advantage of the experience and knowledge of talent and production. Though Black had over a decade in e-sports, and Jirard Khalil, a very successful YouTuber, knew the YouTube platform exceptionally well, in neither case was they given much control in the direction of their productions. Communications got so bad that to deal with this lackluster response, talent would bring in people from outside the company to help, as Khalil did when he brought on his own social media analysts and thumbnail creators, which significantly improved G4’s YouTube traffic.
Everything on G4TV looked expensive, and it was all a lie. For those of us on the outside, it looked like CS had given the G4 production teams every advantage in terms of finance and talent. However, nothing could be further from the truth. While at times there were indeed generous budgets set aside for productions; those rarely ended up going far enough to meet the production demands; either because the costs were underestimated; the budget had been blown through quickly on celebrity spots; or strange ‘friend-of-a-friend’ social media company sponsorships or; while nothing concrete could be pointed to; what seemed to some G4 employees as potential theft.
Nothing at G4 was as it was presented. Their coveted G4TV YouTube channel with over half a million subscribers and the rest of the old G4TV inherited social media apparatus, which seemed like a win to observers, was less a blessing and more a curse. Many things at the G4 Studios in Burbank were like that. Beneath that fancy chic architectural facade, if one pays attention to the video walkthroughs, you might notice there is only one production stage area, a long hall-like room with a dozen separate stages, which, if you are trying to run a single television channel, isn’t a problem. Still, if you are running a media company with multiple co-runningproductions, it most certainly is.
Though it’s not as if getting permission to use equipment or assets at the G4TV headquarters in Burbank was easy, Entire areas of the building went virtually unused. A room decked out with gaming pcs went nigh untouched. Sometimes these restrictions were just sheer incompetence, like the outrageously expensive designer sitting steps, with a dedicated projector screen for things like Tournaments, which couldn’t be used during the day as the room had a large skylight for the ceiling. Funnily enough, while the company did not let talent host a tournament for production, they would allow professional e-sports teams to borrow those facilities.
Frosk: “My favorite thing was that there’s a giant skylight in that room. And so they have the sitting step, because theoretically, there’s a big projector that comes down. And so you could have like, you know, big auditorium meetings there. At some point, I was like, why don’t we use this space for like a like a Smash Brothers eSports tournament.”
“There’s an eSports hub; It’s like a PC Bang. And there’s like just a bunch of computers. And at one point, we actually have the Tlon valorant team playing their tournaments from that space, because of the wired connection in the studio. And they didn’t have a practice room for whatever reason that was their temporary stopover. And I was like we should actually be using this more. And we never used that space.”
“But there was a skylight in the ceiling that you couldn’t cover it all, which meant during the day in Los Angeles, you couldn’t use the projector at any point, because the skylight would just mean that you couldn’t see anything on the projecter screen. “
Another major problem was that Comcast Spectacor had signed up G4TV staff to produce content for each show and have content made for five different platforms. They were expected to create content for Twitch and YouTube, plus two linear -traditional cable and satellite- and, later on, one more channel for streaming devices like Roku. This meant that for any one week, it was possible that Frosk and her small team of 8 people for just one of her three shows were being asked to produce as much as 15 hours of mint-fresh broadcast-quality entertainment. While the original X-Play did 3 to 5-minute reviews and focused on tight segments, the new X-Play would feature 30-minute reviews for decade-old titles and long-winded “table discussions.”
Frosk describes Live DnD RolePlaying:
"Cringiest, weirdest thing we ever did" while working at G4TV
— Peter Pischke-Friendly Neighborhood Journo (@HappyWarriorP) January 31, 2023
To meet this enormous demand, G4 often dumped talent into the hours-long segments to talk about subjects they had no knowledge of or interest in. There were also issues with scheduling as some talent, like Adam Sessler; didn’t live in the LA area, so CS would have him fly him to Burbank to record many different overly-long segments back to back. Hence, we got the clip of Frosk not knowing what Xbox titles consoles exclusives were because she had been told to prep a discussion of Starfield, not Xbox, and a dazed-looking Sessler worn out from five one-hour-long discussions.
Frosk: “And just the thing that I kept seeing in G4 for from so many different areas is everyone playing like this political game of clown cars where no one like really is saying what they are meaning and they’re trying to like align themselves with like certain producers or certain teams and there was like the in team fighting like the Attack of the Show team apparently didn’t want the X-Play team to succeed and anytime they attacked a show team failed and like the apparently they X-Play team is supposed to like happy about it. And like this is just like so toxic, just very strange and very toxic. And it was all from upper management people.”
As you can imagine, working at G4TV was highly chaotic, with uncertain management and multiple counter orders and demands from CS to G4. In one memorable example, Frosk’s e-sports team members -as in the same employees- were fired on three different occasions. This was typical at the company; there would be endless political office games that executive management inflicted on production; trying to antagonize staff against each other, as they would feed rumors that the X-Play team hated the Attack of the Show team; even though they all shared the same workspace and many of the same staff.
Worse yet, and highly illegal, management would routinely not uphold contracts and dangle possible continuation of employment as a carrot to get more underpaid to no-pay overtime from employees.
The Rant:
But what about that speech; you know the one.
Admittedly there were many problems at G4TV long before Froskurrin complained that gamers found her less bangable. It’s likely the venture was already doomed way before January 2022. But as I’ve reported previously, the rant put out any ignition sparks for the G4TV media brand to take off as that became the only thing the public associated with the new G4. However, contrary to the image of not being self-aware, Frosk admits it damaged the company.
In context, I believe Froskurrin is the wrong person to blame. As described above, she was constantly expected to churn out new content, never able to think long-term or know if what she was working on would be allowed to go on-air. The plan for that January afternoon was to do another throw-away droning segment, this time on “gaming grievances” -she originally was going to talk about Rock Star neglecting Red Dead Online – and have the talent give their soapbox speech to their 2,000-strong audience on Twitch, and then forever be forgotten.
It’s always seemed curious that when I talk with former G4 employees, I will get different, equally persuasive answers to whether Frosk had permission to give the speech. Adam Sessler says no; Frosk says yes. A likely reason for this discrepancy, as explained by Frosk, is that by design, the producers that day encouraged talent not to tell each other what they would be saying, with only two producers, a report to executive management, and possibly the teleprompter guy knowing about it. Plus there is the issue of post-production. Also, Frosk wasn’t the only one that planned to do an “attack gamers” type speech, as Jirard’s speech got canceled as the producers felt it was too similar to Froskurrins.
Frosk tells me about how her time at Riot Games inspired her Sexism in gaming rant🕹️
— Peter Pischke-Friendly Neighborhood Journo (@HappyWarriorP) January 31, 2023
What transformed the throw-away speech from just another Tuesday on January 11th, 2022, was that management and marketing came up with the bright idea of blowing up the speech to be as big as they possibly could make it on social media. As far as Frosk and others I’ve spoken to could tell, there was no plan past getting a clip of G4 to go viral, and especially no thought on how it might affect Frosk or start an avalanche of negativity against the G4 brand.
What is funny about former G4 fans attacking Frosk is that Frosk was against making the clip go viral. That while Frosk does believe in what she said, she only meant those remarks for the audience on Twitch she would engage with daily, and also was a reflection of her time working for Riot on League of Legends as a caster, which by the way after she left, Riot Games would lose a 100 million dollar lawsuit for gender discrimination.
At first, when the speech was made, Frosk was treated as a hero inside the company; but as soon as the interest in the topic from the mainstream and gaming press waned; the angry audience remained, and CS tried to hide her under the proverbial “blame her” rug. Many of you will remember announcements of Frosk possibly going on shows like the Quartering at this time, only to withdraw. As I can tell you, working in media, this is strange behavior, as it’s expected when you have a viral moment; you capitalize on it with as many appearances as possible.
Looks like the @Froskurinn interview is still on. Details early next week.
Frosk was open to going on shows; she petitioned management to know what strategy she should take for her social media and appearances. The problem was that Comcast Spectacor operated G4TV through fear by two sets of rules; one on paper, another in practice. So, G4TV contractually had no control over her social media nor could do anything about it if she went on the interview circuit. But as she would be eventually told to shut up by then-CEO Russel Aron; the company could make her life very difficult if she did something they didn’t like; and the company didn’t like their employees to know what that was.
Frosk: “Comcast was like, kind of low key threatening, I got called into like, a meeting because again, like, on the surface of everything, everything that was like, put into writing, they were like, very positive about and then it like, very suddenly shifted, where I was suddenly having like a meeting with Russell Aaron (then CEO of Comcast Spectacor),
She took me for a walk. And she was like, you know, I was there at EA when that when the active shooter was there, and I realized how things can get out of hand, I just want to make sure that you’re safe. I’m like, why are you telling? Like, why are you freaking me out. What is happening. And then I got called into an office by I think she was head of programming. And she was just like, this is a safe space, I just want you to know, they want you to stop talking.”
And it’s not as if Frosk was trying to feed the flames; when contacted by Kotaku for an interview, Frosk politely declined, telling them: “a Kotaku article is the last thing I need right now.”
— Peter Pischke-Friendly Neighborhood Journo (@HappyWarriorP) January 31, 2023
Here is my mea culpa. As you can tell from just this summary of a short piece of the interview I’ve shared here, this discussion from Frosk was chock full of vulnerable information. It took courage on her part to share it, and I hope you will take the opportunity to watch or listen. Against perhaps her better judgment, she trusted me to tell her story, someone that’s been one of her fiercest critics.
Yes, she can be blunt and foul-mouthed, which she owns up to. But instead of what most assume about her being unapologetic, she is very sorry for how things turned out. She apologized to me profusely, with her wife sitting in the same room, several times for having hurt her coworker’s feelings for the “I survived” lizard tweet. She’s funny, sarcastic, and sometimes sardonic, but she is also sincere in a way that the media machine usually tears out from humans. While she claims not to have followed any of the YouTube trends about him, she told me she is happy when she hears that people like Jeremy Hambly are making money because of her.
Frosk: “Kotaku reached out to me like, immediately after it happened, and I literally responded, I was like, the last thing I want is a Kotaku article right now.“
That denial of an interview with Kotaku is not abnormal for her. Frosk may self-describe as a “500-foot lesbian” and a progressive. Yet, she told me she doesn’t want to be another member of the culture war, telling me she doesn’t want to be the problem.
She is more like her ardent critics and less like her friends in the gaming press than anyone is comfortable admitting; for instance, in her way believes in ethics in games journalism, refusing to review games on-air that she hasn’t played. When she does review a game, she demands that she play it at the default setting instead of the easy mode, like so many others.
On CultureScape:👾 Frosk reveals G4TVs deepest, darkest secret🦎
— Peter Pischke-Friendly Neighborhood Journo (@HappyWarriorP) January 31, 2023
Having got to spend time with Frosk, I genuinely like her, and it bothers me how wrong I might have gotten her story before now. We come from very different cultural and political backgrounds. However, I’ve never had a guest treat me with more respect or be more open. She gains no advantage for taking this interview, not for money, politics, or attention. She could come under massive consequences for rocking the boat, yet here she is.
Writing this, I know I will be called a simp. I’ve always believed that as a journalist, I must tell the truth and live by the spirit of it especially when it is unpopular. By examining the facts as we have them, hearing the case of those involved, and using context, try to get as close to the truth as possible. Considering how dishonest media companies like those in the gaming press or working at Comcast sometimes are, nerds should be familiar with the idea that the image being sold to us on our phone screens does not reflect the reality of the people involved.
Frosk told me she prides herself on believing that if she met any of her critics in person, she could hang out with them and get along just fine. I, for one, believe her. Those who strive for a better, more truthful culture should hear her out and consider doing the same.
Clownfish TV.com is an independent, opinionated pop culture news site. We strive to be apolitical, balanced and based, and are fans who cover media for other fans. We talk about video games, comic books, anime, animation, movies, television, tabletop games and more. Opinions expressed by contributors and partners do not necessarily reflect the views of the site owners, our affiliates or our sponsors.
In early 2022, we reported that Sony believed the PlayStation 5 shortage would last into 2023. Thankfully, the once impossible-to-find consoles appear to now be showing up in retailers at a reasonably normal rate.
As covered by PC Mag, Sony stated in a blog post that the company believes PS5 consoles should be more readily available moving forward. Apparently, the supply chain issues and chip shortages that have plagued the manufacturing process since the next-gen system launched in 2020 have been solved.
In the post, Sony’s vice president of Brand, Hardware, and Peripherals thanked customers for their patience “as we navigated unprecedented demand for the PS5 console amid global challenges. As a result, if you’re looking to purchase a PS5 console, you should now have a much easier time finding one at retailers globally.”
To see for myself, I looked at a couple of online retailers. Best Buy has a God of War: Ragnarök Bundle available right now to ship. This PS5 includes the disc drive and is priced at $559.99. A quick check of Facebook Marketplace shows scalpers are still trying to sell PS5s (digital and w/drives) between $400-$550. My, how times have changed.
If Best Buy isn’t your preferred big box store, Target also has the bundle for the same price. Heck, there’s even one available by me ready for pickup. Of course, you could always buy a PlayStation 5 directly from Sony.
If you have recently picked up a PlayStation 5, check out our recent article about vertical-standing Sony consoles possibly being susceptible to liquid metal leakage. This issue does not appear widespread, but if your new console starts randomly shutting off, you’ll know one of the possible issues to look out for.
Did you pick up a PS5 during launch? Or did you have to pay a premium price to a scalper? Let us know in the comments section below.
Today is the final day of Funko Fair 2023, and we now have the release of Star Wars VI Return of the Jedi 40th Anniversary figures to share with you. (It’s been 40 years already?) There are several exclusives as well as open figures.
I will list the exclusives first and then I will list some of the open figures I found.
Many more DCEU-based video games may be on the way now that James Gunn and Peter Safran are at the helm. However, according to Comicbook.com, the dynamic duo could be bucking tradition regarding the typical video game tie-ins.
James Gunn wants to stray from the typical direct movie tie-in we used to see all the time with superhero games. The new co-CEO of DC explained the new direction as “it’s not like we’re going to have Superman come out and then have the Superman game come out. “It’s more like we have the Superman come out and then two years later we have Supergirl coming out, so what’s the story in between there? Is there a Krypto game that we can play that comes in between, that’s still set in the world with these characters, but that is its own thing?”
Gunn’s idea sounds great on paper, but how much space will DC leave between each video game, show, and movie? A giant connected multimedia universe like this must be carefully coordinated. Game development is both costly and time-consuming. If TV shows and movie releases are in rapid succession, the odds are that the quality of the games would be less than AAA.
Then again, if DC were to rely more on the mobile gaming market for this, it could work. For example, collectible card games or small-scale RPGs might offer enough flexibility to tell, as Gunn puts it, to tell an in-between story “that’s still set in the world with these characters, but that is its own thing.”
I can already hear the PC and console gamers groan about mobile gaming. Trust me, I sympathize. However, I’d rather have a few excellent AAA titles that connect to the new DCEU than a plethora of by-the-numbers phone games.
What are your thoughts on the new direction James Gunn and Peter Safran want to take the world of Detective Comics in? Let us know in the comments section below.
GKids is bringing the CGI animated film ‘New Gods: Yang Jian’ from director Zhao Ji to North America for a home video release with the help of Shout Factory. The movie will head to digital platforms on April 11, 2023, while the Blu-ray and DVD releases will happen on April 25, 2023.
Bonus features will include interviews with the director, discussions with the original Chinese actors, an art gallery, and a culture spotlight.
“Fans of the spellbinding anime can enjoy New Gods: Yang Jian in its original Mandarin language version as well as in an all-new English language dub with this Blu-Ray™ + DVD release, which is currently available for pre-order on GKIDS.com. The initial run of the Blu-Ray™ + DVD release will also include a beautiful 11 x 18 limited edition poster inside,” GKids said on their website. “The latest feature from powerhouse Chinese animation studio Light Chaser Animation (White Snake, New Gods: Nezha Reborn), the film presents a timeless, high-flying adventure featuring one of the most legendary mythic figures.”
You can watch the trailer below:
The Chinese cast includes Wang Kai as Yang Jian, JI Guanlin as Wanluo, LI Lihong as Master Yuding, LI Lanling as Chenxiang. and Zhao Yi as Shen Gongbao.
The English dub cast includes Nicholas Andrew Louie as Yang Jian, Christine Lin as Wanluo, Parry Shen as Master Yuding, Luke Naphat Sath as Chenxiang, and James Sie as Shen Gongbao.
GKids describes the synopsis as follows,
“Thirteen years after Yang Jian imprisoned his sister, the once-powerful hero also known as Erlang Shen now scrapes by as a poor bounty hunter. When a mysterious woman hires him, Yang Jian soon finds himself chasing down a familiar figure. He must stop Chenxiang, his long-lost nephew, who searches for a powerful, but dangerous artifact. As Yang Jian confronts his past, he must face treacherous vigilantes seeking to bring catastrophic destruction.”
The movie is the second part of the “New Gods” trilogy.
