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Patron’s Choice: Guide to Emma Frost, The White Queen

February 7, 2023 by krisis

Today I’m here with a Patron’s Choice guide for all Patrons of CK that I originally intended to launch back in September, before life got in the way. I always love a deep dive into an X-Men character’s history, and after reading 40+ years and over 1,200 issues of this queen of the X-Men franchise I love her even more than before! I’m happy to share the February 2023 Patron’s Choice: Guide to Emma Frost, The White Queen!

Guide to Emma Frost, The White Queen

This Emma Frost Guide was unique for me to put together in a way few other guides will ever be.

That’s because I knew Emma Frost as a villain – or, at least, an antagonist – from my initial comic reading years that ended in 1996. But, at the time I never had access to all of her exploits beyond the Dark Phoenix Saga since back issues were so pricey. I more knew her by reputation – and, of course, from fighting her in the classic X-Men arcade game!

Later, I knew about her as an X-Men from my return to reading Astonishing X-Men in the 00s before diving full-time back into X-Men in 2010 starting from Grant Morrison’s New X-Men. But, I remained ignorant of anything that happened with her in the five years from 1996 to 2005.

That meant my White Queen knowledge was sort of a figure-eight-shaped, with a pair of big holes in the 80s and the latter half of the 90s. And, those are two periods that were huge for Emma Frost!

Marvel United: Multiverse wages World War Hulk as their final expansion! (Plus: a BIG all-in pledge reward)

February 6, 2023 by krisis

CMON’s Marvel United: Multiverse Kickstarter campaign just announced final expansion box, and while the theme wasn’t a surprise some of the contents are: Marvel United Multiverse – World War Hulk!

My prediction for a Gamma-oriented box from World War Hulk or one of the subsequent 00s Hulk storylines has been rising in the odds in every update I’ve made on this campaign. However, the surprise is that this box actually covers two events in one in terms of characters, as it includes two of the predicted anchors of my #1 pick for a Siege expansion: anti-heroes Ares and Sentry/Void.

The total contents of World War Hulk are Gladiator Hulk, Hulkbuster Iron Man, Hercules, Ares, and Sentry/Void. This box will be available at retail, but it has a Kickstarter Exclusive figure of Doc Samson.

Clearly this departure from a pure Gamma-focused box that would include The Leader, Skaar, A-Bomb, Thundra, and Red She-Hulk. I ultimately think it was a good idea to get Hulkbuster into the action in lieu of some of those more-obscure Gamma characters, since a Gladiator Hulk vs. Hulkbuster set will have terrific character recognition at retail. Also, this is a perfect chance to introduce Hercules, since he took over Hulk’s title just after this period!

However, I’m slightly disappointed by this all-male group of characters when Thundra or Red She-Hulk could have easily been pulled in from a subsequent storyline to round out the box.

(Using Ares and Sentry here doesn’t erase the chances of a Thunderbolts box in a future campaign, so I’m happy we snuck them in! However, if we see Moonstone as a late stretch goal, the gig is up for the Thunderbolts.)

In my last set of Marvel United: Multiverse predictions, I had Siege ranked #1 with 60% odds and World War Hulk ranked #3 with 40% odds, so I’d say I did pretty well! I’m disappointed that we won’t see a proper Secret Wars expansion for a “Multiverse” campaign, but “Secret Wars” is a big enough deal that it could be the entire campaign theme for a fourth season.

(Want to play Marvel United right now? Grab either the Marvel United or Marvel United X-Men core boxes right now. They are fun cooperative games that are fun to play with adults and kids alike.)

With this box comes the announcement of the all-in “Omniverse” pledge that includes all of the new gameplay elements in this campaign – which means every new expansion, card deck, and stretch goal figure (but, not plastic tokens, cardboard locations, game mats, reprinted expansions, or past campaign stretch goal boxes).

The all-in offers a $50 discount over getting everything individually, which is more than one expansion free – a pretty good deal. If you had pledged for everything so far, this will be $15 cheaper and you won’t have to up your pledge for the new Marvel United Multiverse World War Hulks expansion box.

Not only is the all-in Omniverse pledge cheaper than buying everything separately, it comes with a HUGE bonus character: FIN FANG FOOM! [Read more…] about Marvel United: Multiverse wages World War Hulk as their final expansion! (Plus: a BIG all-in pledge reward)

Drag Race Belgique Season 1 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Ranking

February 5, 2023 by krisis

It’s time for the second Drag Race season of 2023 – in a new country, but fronted by a familiar face: Drag Race Belgique Season 1 hosted by two-time Canada finalist Rita Baga! The show premieres on February 16, so it’s time to check out this inaugural cast of 10 Belgian drag queens for my pre-season Power Ranking.

I write these Power Rankings not to judge these queens and their drag, but to have fun trying to predict what their drag and their editing says about their placement on the show. Part of that is 15 years of examples of what aspects of drag do well on Drag Race, but a lot of it is the amount of confidence, experience, and adaptability artists bring to the show.

Or, said another way, we’re looking closely at their Charisma, Uniquness, Nerve, and Talent.

My typical pre-season rules apply: I’ll spend two minutes looking at these artists’ social media feeds, examine their promo looks, and then watch their “Meet The Queens” segment twice (with the subtitles on, of course!).

That’s it! Then, I’ll make my totally blind, no-spoilers try at ranking their chances to win the show.

Part of what I love about Drag Race‘s worldwide franchises is that they often exist outside of the the homogenizing effect the US franchise has on drag. Queens all over the world have access to the same social media, but in other countries what will bring fans out to bars and clubs differs greatly from the states. Even after four Ru-hosted seasons of Drag Race UK, its queens do not feel as “same-y” as most of a brand new US cast can often feel.

I know very little about Belgium and its culture – and, especially nothing about it’s queer culture! I’m excited to listen and learn as I respond to the show, but I also invite those of you who are more familiar to point me towards facts or resources so I can study up!

Just from checking out the Instagram’s of these ten queens, it seems like we might be in for the most gender-bending, androgynous series of Drag Race. There’s a lot of playing with gender signifiers from this cast, and not all of them “erase their face” the way queens are often expected to do in the states.

I have a certain predisposition for drag art that has that slight edge of androgyny to it form growing up on things like David Bowie and Priscilla Queen of the Desert. It will be interesting to see how that plays with the judges, especially Rita Baga as head judge.

Also, trend alert: thin brows!

(Another cultural difference I noticed: outside the US, people still use Facebook a lot more, so public figures still have active Facebooks and don’t tend to use LinkTrees as much! That’s true in NZ as well.)

Between that, the fact that this is another French-speaking season (I’ll be able to understand some stuff!), and what might be the most-gorgeous promo videos of all of Drag Race herstory, I am so ready dig into this season when it debuts on February 16. If you want to watch Drag Race Belgique you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises. (Note that if you’re in the US you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see the US Franchise.)

Lecteurs, start your engines. Et, que la meilleure Drag Queen gagne!

RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 6 – “Old Friends Gold” Girl Groups Challenge, Review & Power Ranking

February 4, 2023 by krisis

Welcome to my review, recap, and power rankings of the sixth episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 – “Old Friends Gold,” a girl group challenge with the twist of playing elderly Golden Girls singing in unlikely genres.

I found it hard to react to this episode because there was barely anything to react to. While we did get some recording footage of the queens, their runways were five seconds each and we still haven’t seen any of the judges’ private deliberations.

What we did see was a cast of queens who did a perfectly fine job at playing old ladies, with one or two obvious standouts. I’m sure some of the singing queens like Luxx, Marcia, and Salina felt put-out that the perennial Girl Groups challenge went a comedy route (though I’m sure it pleased Loosey). We wound up with a surprising winner, a shocking performance from the runner up, and two queens who have been invisible in the edit lip syncing to see who will be invisible for another week before being dismissed.

Did this cramped episode edit shake up my Power Rankings after last weeks’ “House of Fashion” design challenge? Absolutely! We’ve got some jostling in the top ranks as well as some shuffling in the bottom. We’re five challenges into this season with at least seven more to go, but right now it feels like there are only four queens in serious contention for the crown. Can anyone else break through?

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best drag queen win! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15, Episode 6 – “Old Friends Gold” Girl Groups Challenge, Review & Power Ranking

Marvel United: Multiverse adds Maximum Carnage to the campaign! (Plus, the High Evolutionary!)

February 3, 2023 by krisis

CMON’s Marvel United: Multiverse Kickstarter campaign announced a sixth new expansion box today, and it was a major shocker to me (though it did not contain Shocker): Marvel United Multiverse – Maximum Carnage!

Why was this box such a surprise for me? I had it marked as “Not Likely” on my list of 20 possible predictions because we already have Carnage in the game. Plus, it felt like the cast didn’t contain enough possible symbiote villains or potential heroes compared to a later event like Absolute Carnage or King in Black.

It turns out, 90s nostalgia can always find a way! The Maximum Carnage box is anchored by an alternate “Dark Carnage,” who is explicitly from the much more recent recent Absolute Carnage event. (You can tell from the little swirl on his forehead.)

It also includes a “New Sinister Six” comprised of Scream, Shriek, Scorpion, Demogoblin, Doppelganger, and Morbius, which… I am fairly certain is not a thing.

(It may be a nod to a single issue reference to the “Sinister Sixty,” which included all of these characters – especially since it comes with a KS-Exclusive “Build your Own Sinister Six” play mode. Again, this concept is from the past few years – decades after Maximum Carnage.)

I have no objections to CMON being inventive in order to get an interesting group of characters together into an expansion. However, I find this particular selection puzzling considering they created a modern Carnage without Knull (one of the biggest villains of the past decade), skipped the chance for a re-do on Venom (or adding Agent Venom), and passed on several different “New Sinister Six” line-ups in the comics that include characters we’re lacking – like Lizard, Boomerang, Shocker, Beetle, and Tombstone.

If we’re being honest, I’m probably never going to touch Demogoblin or Doppelganger, but we got an Anti-Hero Morbius plus Scream, so I suppose all’s well that ends well.

I’m much more excited about one of today’s stretch goals, even if it means crossing off a possible expansion from my list: High Evolutionary!

High Evolutionary is a quintessential Marvel Villain with connections to many different characters and franchises. His sculpt looks perfect and he brings some interesting gameplay – including threat cards that double as master plan cards!

(Want to play Marvel United right now? Grab either the Marvel United or Marvel United X-Men core boxes right now. They are fun cooperative games that are fun to play with adults and kids alike.)

Suddenly, my predictive psychic powers aren’t looking so powerful. In my last post, I updated my list of 20 Marvel events and franchises that might merit an expansion box of their own. Now that we’re down to just 1-2 remaining expansion boxes in this Kickstarter campaign, will any of my 19 remaining guesses make the cut? Keep reading for the full list with tweaked odds on what we might see in the final days of the Marvel United: Multiverse Kickstarter campaign.