I know the DC super heroes movies directed and produced by Zack Snyder weren't the blockbuster sensations that Warner Bros had hoped for and have received mixed reviews with a fair share of both lovers and haters of this comic book inspired cinematic universe. To be honest, I enjoyed Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman as well as the Aquaman and Wonder Woman spin-off films. It was really disappointing what a mess the Justice League turned into when Joss Whedon took over the reins of making that movie from Zack Snyder and how that effort sunk what could have been a very promising trilogy of DC Comics motion pictures.
I find it really exciting that Zack Snyder's original vision for Justice League has actually become a reality. Popcorn popped and I'm ready to have a super time watching Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max. Plus I'm donning my Superman t-shirt from TV Store Online to enjoy the moment!
Wearing shirts from TV Store Online is a great way to immerse yourself in your favorite shows. Get your favorite Sheldon Cooper t-shirts from The Big Bang, Dunder Mifflin gear from The Office and a numerous assortment of other products associated with your favorite television series and movies. The Superman logo performance wear shirt I'm sporting is only $5 at tvstoreonline.com!
Whether you are viewing a DC Comics inspired television episode or movie, there are plenty of selections to choose from to make watching shows an extra fun experience. Which hero would you rep from the Justice League? Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Cyborg, or Aquaman?
At TV Store Online you can get a shirt that looks like wearing Batman's costume or one that highlights your favorite hero's crest or logo. They also have shirts displaying impressive artwork depicting your favorite super heroes. Whether you are looking for something subtle or splashy there is something for everyone's tastes at tvstoreonline.com.
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Author Jules Verne (1828 - 1905) set the foundation for the action adventures and science fiction stories enjoyed today by writing novels such as Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. He explored technological themes when many of these topics were fantasies rather than the reality we know today. To his credit many of Jules Verne's stories are still amazing to read even though they are more than a hundred years old and I've encouraged my kids to pickup some of his titles when selecting library books to bring home. Captain Nemo isn't just the name of my favorite sub shop, he is an incredible literary figure created by Jules Verne.
Stopping by my local comic book store to look for something new and interesting to read, I discovered LIGHTHOUSE by Image Comics. This comic book is a reimagining of a lesser known Jules Verne novel "The Lighthouse at the End of the World." It takes an adventurous tale set in a time on Earth filled with wooden sailing ships and pirates and retells it with a science fiction twist featuring rocket ships in outer space.
Jules Verne's "Lighthouse" is set in the 1850s in a time before the Panama Canal when rickety sailing ships from Europe and the East Coast of the United States must make a hazardous voyage around South America's Cape Horn to get to the West Coast of America and Asia. To try and make the voyage safer a lighthouse is built along the ocean coast of Argentina to assist passing ships in navigating treacherous waters. A small skeleton crew maintains this lighthouse built at the "End of the World" and is relieved by new staff to maintain the facility via a supply ship which visits every three months.
The story begins with head lighthouse keeper Vasquez along with helpers Moriz and Felipe beginning their shift in this out of the way local. Shortly after the supply ship departs though there is a new arrival at the lighthouse ... Pirates! They plan to utilize the lighthouse to wreck ships instead of guide them. The pirates will then scavenge the wrecks for booty.
The pirates quickly dispatch Moriz and Felipe but Vasquez escapes into the wilderness surrounding the lighthouse. Vasquez then struggles to stay alive while also circumventing the pirates efforts to utilize the lighthouse to misguide passing ships into crashing their vessels. Can Vasquez hold out until the supply ship arrives with help?
Image Comics "Lighthouse" takes the plot of the 1850s era Jules Verne novel and sets it in a distant future sci fi setting. This lighthouse is a giant super computer on a space station in a far off corner of the galaxy that assists space ships in navigating transit through wormholes which allow mankind to travel millions of light years in short periods of time. Without this space station to guide ships traveling via wormholes is very tricky and dangerous. The lighthouse though has made traveling throughout outer space almost routine.At the edge of the galaxy, there is a giant supercomputer known as the Lighthouse. The only brain powerful enough to navigate ships through a sargasso of naturally occurring wormholes, potentially cutting months or even years off a spaceship’s journey. Three humans, one alien, and a nanny bot have manned the remote station for years in relative peace until the arrival of Captain Kongre and his band of cutthroat pirates threatens the future of civilization and reveals that each of the Lighthouse crew has been hiding a shocking secret.
Like in Jules Verne's original story, the small crew maintaining this remote space station finds itself highjacked by pirates. Why try and take over ships when they can just crash them into asteroids and scavenge the wrecks with help from the Lighthouse. This comic book adaption of the Jules Verne "Lighthouse at the End of the World" adds a sci fi twist to the plot and takes the story off in a few different directions from the original novel adding some originality to the inspiration material.
Image Comics' first issue in a 5-part mini series is on comic shop shelves now. Featuring captivating artwork by Brian Haberlin and a fun science fiction spin on a classic adventure tale with this adaption written by David Hine, I'm enjoying reading the first installment of Image Comics Lighthouse which starts off the mini-series with a double-sized issue. I'm geeked to keep reading the rest of the Lighthouse story from Image Comics!
Everyone gets anxious from time to time, but if you find yourself feeling anxious more often than not, you should take some steps to address the situation. For those who suffer with anxiety throughout their lives, it can be really debilitating so this is a condition that should be taken very seriously. Sometimes anxiety is a short term symptom of stress in your life and other times it is a much more complicated mental health matter. For those people who just occasionally feel the onset of symptoms here are three simple ways in which you can manage your anxiety better.
Remove Uncertainty
Wherever you can, you might want to think about removing uncertainty in your life. There are many places where this can be important, but the main thing is to bear in mind that you are always going to have some level of uncertainty. However, doing away with it as much as you can is worth looking into. That might include simple tech hacks like reverse phone lookup so you know who’s calling you - definitely check it out if that is a common issue for you - as well as simply planning your life out in a way which limits uncertainty. All of that will help you to manage your anxiety a lot more effectively in the long run.
Set Aside Worry Time
You are probably going to worry a certain amount anyway, but one way to make it easier to manage is to give yourself some worry time each day. You simply set aside some time during which you are going to allow yourself to worry about whatever is concerning you - but the rest of the time, you will simply get on with your daily life. That might sound impossible at first, but a lot of people with severe anxiety use this method to great effect, so it’s something that you might want to think about trying out. Having that dedicated worry time can have a way of allowing you to keep moving, even while needing to think things through as you normally do as an anxious person.
Meditate
A lot of anxious people feel that they can’t sit still long enough to meditate properly - but that is exactly why you should give it a go. Once you get a habit of meditating every day, you are going to find it so much easier to simply allow your thoughts to come and go without worrying over them. At the very least, this stops that unfortunate cycle of thoughts where you are worrying about your own worry! It’s definitely worth taking a course in meditation and seeing what it might do for you, and you might find it is the best thing you have ever done to help soothe your anxiety and worry.
Seek Help
If these calming methods aren't working in reducing anxiety in your life, you may want to seek professional help. Call the United States Department of Health & Human Services SAMHSA National Hotline1-800-662-HELP for free, confidential counseling and treatment referrals available 24 hours a day / 365 days a year.
Marvel United brings the action of comic book adventures to tabletops with this game created in partnership with CMON and Spin Master Games. We had a family game night bringing together the heroes from Netflix's Defenders television show to try and stop the villainous master plan of the Kingpin. This bout used the core rules of Marvel United with characters from the Kickstarter exclusive expansion pack.
The game started off by selecting and setting up our main villain...the Kingpin. Since he is facing off against four Marvel comics inspired heroes (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Lucas Cage, and Iron Fist) Kingpin is awarded 11 health points. The Defender's though can't reduce his health points though until they accomplish some tasks involving defeating his thugs, eliminating various threats and rescuing civilians from danger. That doesn't prevent Kingpin and his main henchman Bullseye from inflicting damage on our heroes though based upon how the villain's master plan cards are drawn out in the game's storyline.
Kingpin starts off the game in the location clockwise adjacent to where the villain's master plan deck is placed. drawing from the face down cards in his master plan deck and it is placed in play. Locations are shuffled and randomly placed clockwise around the game board. Plan tokens are also randomly placed on each location. If Kingpin obtains each of these tokens or plays all his master plan cards he wins the game! For our heroes to defeat him they must work cooperatively to get his health points down to zero thus thwarting his dastardly master plan.
This Marvel United match starts off Kingpin on the grounds of the Avengers mansion. Players now place the characters they are roleplaying at wherever this wish within the six locations on the gameboard and determine the order in which they are going to engage in their turns. Luke Cage begins the game at SHIELD headquarters, Jessica Jones in Times Square, Daredevil in Central Park and Iron Fist within Stark Labs. Each hero draws three cards from their deck to be an their up hand to use during turns. The game will commence with a card from the Kingpin's master plan deck being drawn and played out.
BAM! Kingpin advances his master plan by moving to the location with the lowest-number plan token on it. That happens to be in Times Square where Daredevil is. This triggers a lost card due to damage done by Kingpin attacking him. Each player starts out with three cards in hand and now Daredevil discards one into the bottom of his deck leaving him with two cards in hand. A character loses cards each time they are attached by a villain or henchman. This leaves Daredevil with two cards in his hand.
Kingpin's henchman Bullseye can attack the heroes though too each time a master plan card is played that has a BAM! effect. Bullseye can do one card damage to any heroes in the same or adjacent space to his location. BAM! BAM! Iron Fist is in a space next to Bullseye's location. Iron Fist loses a card too so he now has two.
If a hero is left with no cards in their hand, the character is knocked out. When this occurs Kingpin gets to immediately play another master plan card getting back-to-back turns. After Kingpin's turns are resolved, the knocked out character gets to draw three new cards from their hero deck and the normal rotation goes back into effect. The regular rotation of cards which is villain ... hero ... hero ... hero ... villain ... hero ... hero ... hero ... villain ..hero ... hero ... hero ... villain .... hero ... hero ... hero ... villain and so on.
Luke Cage kicks off the action for the heroes! He draws a card from his hero deck then plays one from his hand. Cards show symbols that relate to actions a player can take. They could have an arrow symbol that lets them move to another location, a star that lets them rescue civilians or eliminate threats or fist which lets them attack evildoers like thugs, henchmen and the main villain or wildcard which lets them choose which of the three other moves they would like to make. Plus the moves allowed on their card and also be used by the next player in during their turn as well.
With two wild cards, Luke Cage goes into attack mode to take out two thugs within the space he is in. Unfortunately the threat card for this location dictates that until three heroic actions are used any thugs defeated don't apply towards the unlocking the mission card which allows for Kingpin to begin taking damage. Next it is Jessica Jones turn.
Jessica joins Luke Cage at SHIELD HQ then uses her attack move to take out the last thug there. Finally she uses his two wildcard symbols to do heroic actions towards eliminating the threat card for that spot. They need to one more heroic action there to disrupt the threat at this spot which also prevented dispatched thugs from being counted toward the team completing its missions so that they can tackle the Kingpin directly.
Next Daredevil uses a card that allows him to use two heroic actions towards the three needed to alleviate the threat in Times Square. To move forward in being able to take on the Kingpin directly there are three missions for the heroes to complete. First they need to clear four locations from threats, defeat nine thugs, and rescue nine civilians. A number of the threats associated with locations prevent the thugs being defeated in those spots from being counted against the heroes mission tally. So clearing the threats has been determined a top priority by the Defenders. They have one threat down with three more to go!
Kingpin is back up for another move which takes him to Avengers Mansion and gains him another plot token. None of the Defenders is on that spot with him so he doesn't take any hero cards. On the other hand Bullseye can do damage to heroes adjacent to where he is located. Daredevil and Iron Fist are in locations on either side of the Police Headquarters where the henchman is staked out. Both heroes lose a card from their hand having it discarded at the bottom of their decks.
It is Iron Fist's turn. He takes out two thugs and uses Daredevil's forwarded heroic actions towards resolving the threat danger at his location. Trying to get some positive momentum going versus the Kingpin.
Luke Cage then uses a heroic action passed on from Iron Fist to unlock another threat at his site. The heroes now have two out of the four required threats resolved to potentially unlock one of the three mission cards. Plus this is now another location where they can get credit for defeating thugs to add to their mission cards as well. Things are moving in a positive direction for Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil and Iron Fist!
Jessica Jones uses a card with a special action on it. This lets her flip the top card on the villain's master plan deck so the heroes have advance notice of the next move Kingpin will make. The special action also lets her move to any location in the game. She jumps over to Stark Labs to lend Iron Fist a hand by punching out a thug. The Defenders are on the offensive!
Daredevil goes next. He moves a space and uses Jessica Jones wild cards that were passed on to him to clear the threat card on this spot. They now have three of four threats cleared and six out of nine thugs defeated. They've made some progress towards being able to disrupt the master plan but haven't made any damage to Bullseye or Kingpin yet.
Oh no! In the excitement of the game there should have been a Kingpin turn between Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Playing the villain every fourth turn can easy to be lost track of when playing with more than three players. Oops!
A card is drawn for Kingpin's turn. Ugh! He is directed to land where Daredevil is. The villain gets another plan token giving him three out of six and Daredevil loses a card from his hand. Then BAM! Bullseye who is in an adjacent spot does a distance attack taking another card from Daredevil. The hero is KO'd. The knockout allows Kingpin to take another turn right away.
Kingpin moves to SHIELD Headquarters taking another plan token as well as a hero card from Luke Cage. This also triggers Bullseye to take cards from Jessica Jones, Iron Fit and a rejuvenated Daredevil. Kingpin's move also adds more thugs to the spot where Iron Fist is. This triggers an overflow penalty which deals damage to Iron Fist. He loses another card and is knocked out.
Iron Fist knock out gives Kingpin another turn right away. He moves to a new location getting his fifth out of six mission tokens. Kingpin only needs one more token to complete his master plan and leave the Defenders in defeat!
Kingpin's move to the Police Station doesn't do any direct damage to the heroes because none of them are in that space. But it does trigger Bullseye to start tossing his knives about. Jessica Jones is hit and loses her last card. KO!
That triggers Kingpin getting another consecutive move. He picks up the last plan token. Kingpin wins the game.
The Big Apple is in turmoil. The Kingpin has solidified his control of its seedy criminal underworld. The Defenders were defeated in thwarting his evil master plan.
While Marvel United doesn't have complex rules it can still be challenging to play. Knowing that each game isn't a guaranteed win adds excitement and really makes teammates work together. Yes we were KO'd by the Kingpin but it was a fun family game night and we'll be back for another match.
We've been having some great family game nights playing Marvel United but I have to admit the figures used in it looked kinda blah. So I decided to add some color to a few of the figures that came in the Marvel United exclusive Kickstarter bundle. The game provided all the heroes in blue plastic and villains in red. It was time to do something about that and add some more color to our gameplay.
Being that I haven't done any hobby painting before, I started with some of the expansion pack figures so in case my paint job ended looking really bad the core box set wouldn't look like crap. We decided our next game night match would be inspired by the Netflix Marvel superhero shows so my first round of painting involved detailing Daredevil, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, and Iron Fist along with Bullseye and Kingpin. It was time to bring The Defenders to our Marvel United tabletop gaming adventures.
First thing I did was cover each of the figures with primer. This makes sure acrylic paint adheres to miniature figures and models. There are some fancy (and pricey) primers you can purchase specifically for wargaming and board game pieces but I just went with a flat grey Rust-oleum primer from my local Ace Hardware. It provided a nice coating without obscuring any of the figures' details. Some experienced painters recommended just going with Rust-oleum and it seems to have worked out well.
Now it was time to start painting. I'd bought some paints through Kickstarter from Scale75 that were promoted as miracle paints for gamers that would provide an awesome look without having to monkey around with diluting and texturing your colors. That turned out to be an expensive mistake! The colors I initially used were too watery, runny and flowed all over the place. I decided to stop using Scale75 after a few mishaps. The lessons you learn when starting to do new things for the first time. Live and learn!
I had bought some paint sets for the Star Wars Legion wargame that I haven't gotten around to unboxing and playing around with yet. I have to say these Fantasy Flight Games paints were easy to use and I though looked really good too. So these Star Wars paints have what I've been primarily working with on these Marvel United figures.
My Star Wars paints haven't contained all the colors though I needed so have made a few visits to the local hobby store to get some Army Painter and Citadel Colour. I used Army Painter Barbarian Flesh for skin coloring and some Citadel Nuln Oil for doing some shading. These are the three brands I'm probably going to stick with going forward.
Starting out using a Size 1 brush was just not working out. There were too many intricate details that this size brush though small was too big to pinpoint spots with. I purchased some size 0 - 0(5x) brushes and things got a lot easier once I began using them. Though you can still see some overpaints.
My hand-eye coordination and eyesight just aren't that great so honestly there were some areas where I struggled in painting. Specifically, the circles on Bullseye's costume had a lot of difficulty with. I'm not very happy with how Bullseye turned out but don't have an unlimited amount of time to work on one figure so it is what it is. Anyhow my focus is to make the figures more attractive to play with not works of art so at some point taking in mind there will be wear and tear for use some of these figures just need to be good enough. I'm dreading painting Captain America though after the tough time had with Bullseye.
Luke Cage's face gave me some difficulties too. I'm going to have to work on the shading for darker skin tones because the coloring was so dark it began covering up some of the facial details. Need to do some experimenting with mixing color tones to improve on that.
Also coloring eyes were a real pain! I'm not sure if I have the dexterity to do these nicely. Even using a 00000 brush was struggling on trying to paint detailed eyes on such a small space. I've seen some people do an amazing job on this aspect of miniature's face but right now don't have the skill or expertise to get it done to look really nice. Maybe I'll just keep the whole face skin tone with some wash on details like the eyes and mouth? If anyone has any tips when it comes to eyes let me know!
Now that I've tried tabletop gaming miniature painting for the first time feel more comfortable moving forward with some more projects. I have learned a lot about dos and don'ts plus know there is a lot more for me to learn about moving forward. Plenty of room for improvement but for the first time dipping my brush into hobby painting don't think they turned out too bad.
Stay tuned for more updates as I have a whole lot more Marvel United characters to paint.
These are the stamps you are looking for! The United States Postal Service is releasing on May the Fourth Star Wars themed Forever Stamps featuring droids from a galaxy far far away. Designed by Greg Breeding with William Gicker serving as art director, the collection will be available on a pane of 20 stamps and feature droids from both film and animation, including IG-11, R2-D2, K-2SO, D-O, L3-37, BB-8, C-3PO, a Gonk droid, 2-1B surgical droid, and Chopper. You can wait until May 4, 2021 to purchase these fantastic stamps from your local post office or pre-order them now online by clicking here.
Each 55¢ stamp has a Forever classification meaning as postage prices go up the value will always be that of a regular first-class 1-ounce mailing. The stamps are being sold though in a bundle of 20 stamps rather than individually costing $11 plus shipping and handling if you purchase them online. Situated in a pane with four rows of five, the stamps vary in height based upon the proportions of the various droids shapes.
Because these are the price of regular stamps you won't feel guilty actually using them. I'm going to get some to add some Star Wars flair to some of my personal correspondence as well as a panel for a collectible keepsake. I'm absolutely in when it comes to buying some of these Star Wars droid stamps.
With the post office involved in political and financial turmoil purchasing these stamps is a nice way to show support for the postal service while enjoying being a Star Wars fan. Did you know that while the U.S. Postal Service is considered a government entity it receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. If you value having the post office as a part of our society show your support with a Star Wars stamp. I'll step off my soap box now.
In addition to releasing these stamps on May the Fourth as a way to make the day special, these Star Wars stamps celebrate Lucasfilm's 50th anniversary and are part of a campaign to promote tech as cool with kids by Disney to hype STEM education and careers being attractive to today's youth.
I'm geeked about these stamps! Another fun way to make May the Fourth stand out as Star Wars Day. What do you think of them?
The other day some "old" Star Wars content showed up out of the blue on Disney Plus. My family watched some made-for-tv Star Wars movies that I hadn't seen since being the age my kids are now. Disney Plus has created a Vintage Star Wars viewing category where you can now stream the live action movies EWOKS: CARAVAN OF COURAGE and EWOKS: THE BATTLE FOR ENDOR. These shows were cheesy when they were made and they still are now but both movies were fun to watch.
Hold on tight like Han Solo navigating an asteroid field in the Millennium Falcon for hopefully some Star Wars excitement! There is a rumor circulating that Disney Plus may have a special Star Wars Day surprise by adding a new "old" television series which was produced but never aired to this vintage section of the streaming.
Star Wars: Detours is an animated comedy produced by Robot Chicken creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich bringing silly hijinks to a galaxy far far away. The animated series was announced in 2012 and 39 episodes were fully created prior to the project being cancelled in 2013 with the acquisition of the Star Wars brand by Disney from George Lucas.
Yes there are never before shown Star Wars tv episodes waiting in a vault to be shown someday. Maybe that someday will be May the Fourth. May the force be with us that this rumor is true and this Star Wars tv show's detour finally ends with it being streamed on Disney Plus.
Would you be geeked by a May the Fourth surprise of Star Wars: Detours arriving on Disney Plus? Seems like a perfect addition to the Vintage Star Wars section!
