Sonic Bad Guys as well as Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America
The last issue of the Bad Guys mini-series was a surprisingly great entry that did a lot to move the plot forward and develop these characters which needless to say means that there’s a lot to live up to in this one! Starline remains one of the better characters in this series and it seems like IDW is heading in an interesting direction with him, but we’ve been down this road before with this character and he’s never quite lived up to his potential even at his best moments. The same more or less holds true for the rest of the cast here as they all certainly proved themselves to be more interesting in here than in their earlier appearances, but can Ian Flynn carry this story to a satisfying conclusion or did he use his best ideas in the last issue? Let’s find out!!
The issue begins with Dr. Starline in the dead of night; accessing his personal computer and recording a video diary to catalog his mischievous machinations. I’m not sure why he would bother to keep a record of how he plans to screw over his villainous posse, especially within earshot of anyone still awake and grabbing a snack from the fridge, but then again I imagine Starline is the kind of guy who plans to sell his life story for a book deal and five part movie franchise. Also, it all turns out to be moot because SURPRISE; it’s not actually Starline! Mimic, with the help of Zavok, somehow managed to crack all of Starline’s security systems and know every last detail of Starline’s plan. I can only assume that this bit of tricky with the video diary is to fabricate further evidence of his ACTUAL wrongdoing and send it to Eggman when all is said and done, but for now (and with a bit of coaxing from Zavok), they’re going to let his scheme play out until the moment they get what they want.
“You’re not going to need his body once we’re through with this, right Zavok?” “…what?” “Yeah, I figured if I gutted him and stuffed him, he’d make a great mantel piece back home!” “You do you, buddy.”
AEW Dynamite is owned by All Elite Wrestling, Tony Khan, Shahid Khan, and TNT
They’ve been saying for weeks now that Winter is Coming, but today’s the day that Winter has come, and it’s here to kick some serious butt! We’ve got Jon Moxley Vs. Kenny Omega in the main event for the AEW World Championship which has been bubbling in the background for MONTHS now, and on top of that they’ve got the Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale to try and make this the biggest show of the year! Does this live up to all the potential (and the expectations) that AEW has worked to build up, or has AEW squandered all the hype for their biggest match of the year on a show that just doesn’t come together? Let’s find out!!
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Dynamite Diamond Battle Royale
MJF, Wardlow, Sammy Guevara, Miro, Kip Sabian, Orange Cassidy, John Silver, Alex Reynolds, Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, Matt Hardy, Shawn Spears, Scorpio Sky, Matt Sydal, Serpentico, Luther, Joey Janela, Jungle Boy, Lee Johnson, and Hangman Adam Page
So just like last year’s match there are actually TWO winners here as the last two in the ring will have a match next week, and ALSO just like last year I had no idea this was the case while watching it. I mean they go to the trouble of having Justin Roberts SAY as much before the match begins, but I usually don’t expect pertenant information I don’t already know from the guy and it’s very rare that you see a Battle Royael where there’s more than one winner. Heck, the one time it happened to John Cena and Batista at the Royal Rumble was such a botch that it broke both of Vince McMahon’s legs! In any case, the point of this match is less about who makes it to the end than it is about keeping the pot boiling on all of their various subplots throughout the company.
First Elimination – Isaiah Kassidy is trying to throw Silver over the ropes, but Matt Hardy comes from behind and tries to toss them both. Silver manages to hold on, but Kassidy is eliminated.
See, right off the bat we’ve got Private Party’s supposed mentor tossing one of them out of the ring! Perhaps this new Matt Hardy persona we’ve been seeing recently (Huckster Matt as I like to call him) is no longer interested in helping these boys succeed!
Second Elimination – Silver and Reynolds do that AWESOME Stunner/German Suplex combination on Serpentico, and while the man/serpent is trying to recover, the Hangman comes in and Buckshot lariats his out of ring.
Third Elimination – Luther is on the ropes and Silver and Reynolds encourage Hangman to knock him off. He hits him once but Luther is still holding on, so he takes another shot and Luther falls to the ground.
Silver and Page’s match last week was a DEFINITE highlight of the show and I’m glad that we’re seeing that story advance here as The Dark Order continues to try and woo him to their side; something we’ll see even more of as the match continues.
Fourth Elimination – After hemming and hawing about getting in the ring, Shawn Spears finally jumps in and tosses Matt Sydal over the ropes onto the ramp. I didn’t realize the ramp counted, but I guess it does and Sydal is eliminated.
Fifth Elimination – Scorpio Sky comes up from behind to grab Spears and tosses him over the ropes to the ACTUAL ground and not the ramp.
Sixth Elimination – Not to take such offense lightly, Spears gets the metal slug from Tully Blanchard and jumps on the apron to bash Sky on the back with it. In immense pain after taking that hit, Sky is prompted eliminated when Wardlow tosses him over the ropes.
Seventh Elimination – Once again, we’ve got a member of Private Party (This time Marq Quen) trying to take out a member of the Dark Order (This time Alex Reynolds) when Matt Hardy comes from behind and tries to dump them both. BOTH of them manage to hold on this time though, but Matt Hardy tosses Silver into Reynolds which knocks him out of the ring.
Eighth Elimination – Silver tries to get revenge for Reynolds and Gorilla Presses Marq Quen to try and throw him over the ropes, but, but Quen wriggles out and manages to push Silver forward who then falls over the ropes that Matt Hardy is pulling down.
Again, we see Matt Hardy being a huge jerk to his boys, but somehow Quen hasn’t caught on yet and hasn’t tried to eliminate Hardy himself. I hope there are some serious consequences for all this soon, but we’ll have to wait and see. Sadly The Dark Order will not be taking home the Dynamite Diamond Ring this year, but perhaps they’ll walk away with an even bigger prize!
Happiest Season and all the images you see in this review are owned by Hulu
Directed by Clea DuVall
It’s been a while since I’ve sat down and watched a new movie, hasn’t it? Okay, at THIS point it’s not exactly a new movie as it’s been out for over a week now, but it’s been harder to keep up with what’s coming out and which films are worth seeking which is a far cry from the very structured way I used to do them when they came out in theaters, but we ten months into this nightmare and we all need to find new ways to work with the new normal. In any case, I heard murmurings about this about a week before it came out which is usually a good sign to check it out, and the premise at least looked like it had SOMETHING worth talking about to separate it from all the other Christmas movies that come out each year. Now that I’ve finally seen it, does it live up to the modicum of hype it built for itself, or did Hulu trick me into watching something that otherwise should have been on the Hallmark channel sandwiched between A Shoe Addict’s Christmas and Fir Crazy? Let’s find out!!
Abbey Holland (Kristen Stewart) is in a wonderful relationship with her girlfriend Harper Caldwell (Mackenzie Davis) and after spending the better part of a year together she thinks she’s ready to ask her to marry her! Fate has other ideas in mind however as it’s Christmas time and on a whim Harper asks her to join her family for Christmas which SEEMS innocuous enough… but just as they’re about to pull into the drive way Harper tells Abbey that her family has NO IDEA she’s a lesbian and that they have to pretend to just be friends. Seems like a red flag big enough to see from space, but Harper assures her that she’ll tell her parents AFTER Christmas and so Abbey begrudgingly goes along with it. From there it’s what you’d expect as the family members each have their own eccentricities and barely concealed hatreds for one another which Abbey just sits back and enjoys, but keeping this secret proves to be harder than it looks; especially when Harper’s mom (Mary Steenburgen) tries to set her up with an old boyfriend (Jake McDorman), and her dad (Victor Garber) is a politician which means they are under a microscope whenever they leave the house. Fortunately there’s a ray of light in this town in the form of Riley (Aubrey Plaza) who was Harper’s first girlfriend and seems to know what Abbey is going through, and if all else fails Abbey’s got a Gay Best FriendTM back home named John (Dan Levy) who’s watching her pets and is always ready to dispense sassy advise when needed! Can Abbey survive being in this awkward situation, and will her relationship with Harper fall apart in the process? What is it about her family that has made Harper so paranoid about them finding out she’s a lesbian, and can any of justify what she’s having her girlfriend go through? Then again, if it’s THIS easy to fool her parents, maybe this is just a warm up to some big heist or something!
Sonic the Hedgehog (the comic book series) and all the images you see in this recap are owned by IDW and SEGA of America
The last issue may or may not have been the start of a new arc (only time will tell on that front), but it did give us an interesting new set up that’s rife with potential! No more zombots, no more world conquering jerks, just good ol’ fashion greed as Rouge and company are here to outwit the big wig running these Chao races! Sonic IDW has finally acknowledged that Capitalism is the root of all evil (right after zombot viruses) and I’m very interested to see where it’s headed! Do they continue to take this story into interesting and new directions as a refreshing break from the nonstop action, or was the last issue just there to set me up for disappointment? Let’s find out!!
We begin our story of calculated lies and dangerous spy craft in the lovely dining area of the White Park Chateau where Rose is eating some sort of chocolate chip parfait and Cream has barely touched her very square waffles. See, that’s the kind of quality you expect when you go to the White Park Chateau; waffles you could set a protractor to! So why is she ignoring her delicious and structurally sound breakfast? Well Rouge didn’t come back last night after meeting with Clutch, and if she’s not around to be a bad influence on her, then how else is she going to learn to be a jewel thief!?
“Don’t forget! You promised to teach me how to use a lock pick today!” “To unlock doors or to jab into a man’s eyeball?” “Hopefully both!”
The Reviewers Unite 