Iron Man 2 and purchases I probably shouldn't have made but did (Guy Gardner related, of course)
This is the last of my backlogged posts (i.e., posts I meant to make ages ago and then never did). At least for now!
Despite the budgetary limitations I've put on myself since April 5th, I went to see Iron Man 2 at the midnight showing on opening night with tartary_lamb and maiea. Budget or not, I wasn't going to miss that! My thoughts are non-spoilery, I promise.
maiea threw together a super-quick last minute Black Widow costume for the occasion. (Pics here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/163303763/) I was very sad to discover, on arrival, that she was the only one in costume. For shame, fellow geeks! Although, to be fair, I guess Iron Man is a hard title to do costumes for. Anyway, despite the lack of visible geekiness (even tartary_lamb and I forgot that we could have worn our Stark Expo '74 t-shirts), it was a good crowd. The laughed and cheered in the right spots and the energy was generally positive and enthused. The final test of a sufficiently geeky crowd is, imho, whether or not they stay for the after-the-credits bit. I swear, only about two dozen people got up to leave. Everyone else stayed. \o/
As for the movie itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've seen a lot of critiques online about the scattered nature of the plot and a couple posts regarding gender and race fail, though I haven't read those reviews in detail because I didn't want to spoil my own squee, and... Well, to be blunt, I didn't go to Iron Man 2 for creative and social excellence. *grins* I went for shit blowing up, awesome sexy armor, Tony Stark being hot, Tony Stark being an ass, and comics in jokes. I got all of those things, in spades, and so for me the movie totally delivered on what I felt I was promised in the previews. I'm a happy camper.
I was particularly impressed with the Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo fusion character of of Ivan Vanko because, lets face it, comics!Whiplash is a totally fail character, and the comics!Crimson Dynamo is only a bit better. Comics!Tony has a lot of fail villains. Anyway, so I was impressed, because he was actually really cool and scary and I actually bought him as a challenge for Tony.
I was also pleased that, although they had to depart from comics canon a lot further in this movie than they did in the first one, it still felt right. At least to me. There were some merges and substitutions and such, but I felt it got the tone right.
So yeah, I was happy.
*** Wednesday before last ***
Every Wednesday, tartary_lamb, angstbunny, and I meet up at a comic shop before going out for dinner. For the past year and a half I haven't been buying comics or anything. We meet there because tartary_lamb still has comics to get and because it's a convenient and familiar rendezvous spot. Usually we meet at this one shop that only carries comics and books, no toys.
Wednesday before last, as my Green Lantern (and particularly Guy Gardner) fannishness was getting intense, we met at a different comic shop. Where they had toys. After checking the shelves, I thought I was safe. But then I idly shuffled through the discount bin...and found a Guy Gardner figure. *facepalm* With my resolve already weakened, I ended up buying a trade of I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League as well. If I hadn't, I'd already be back on budget. But at the time I'd been good for five weeks and I had two weeks to go and I wanted a treat, damn it. So I went for it.
The figure I got is this one: http://www.joeacevedo.com/images/figurezone/dcinfiniteheroes/guy-gardner.jpg (DC Universe: Infinite Heroes line)
He sports the dreaded bowl cut, but really, is there a Guy Gardner figure that doesn't? Heck, how many Guy Gardner figures are there, period? I was reading up on this once, and I think there have been six. Period. Three of which are really expensive statues and one of which has a hideously bad face. So, finding him in the discount bin? Definite win.
Despite the budgetary limitations I've put on myself since April 5th, I went to see Iron Man 2 at the midnight showing on opening night with tartary_lamb and maiea. Budget or not, I wasn't going to miss that! My thoughts are non-spoilery, I promise.
maiea threw together a super-quick last minute Black Widow costume for the occasion. (Pics here: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/163303763/) I was very sad to discover, on arrival, that she was the only one in costume. For shame, fellow geeks! Although, to be fair, I guess Iron Man is a hard title to do costumes for. Anyway, despite the lack of visible geekiness (even tartary_lamb and I forgot that we could have worn our Stark Expo '74 t-shirts), it was a good crowd. The laughed and cheered in the right spots and the energy was generally positive and enthused. The final test of a sufficiently geeky crowd is, imho, whether or not they stay for the after-the-credits bit. I swear, only about two dozen people got up to leave. Everyone else stayed. \o/
As for the movie itself, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I've seen a lot of critiques online about the scattered nature of the plot and a couple posts regarding gender and race fail, though I haven't read those reviews in detail because I didn't want to spoil my own squee, and... Well, to be blunt, I didn't go to Iron Man 2 for creative and social excellence. *grins* I went for shit blowing up, awesome sexy armor, Tony Stark being hot, Tony Stark being an ass, and comics in jokes. I got all of those things, in spades, and so for me the movie totally delivered on what I felt I was promised in the previews. I'm a happy camper.
I was particularly impressed with the Whiplash/Crimson Dynamo fusion character of of Ivan Vanko because, lets face it, comics!Whiplash is a totally fail character, and the comics!Crimson Dynamo is only a bit better. Comics!Tony has a lot of fail villains. Anyway, so I was impressed, because he was actually really cool and scary and I actually bought him as a challenge for Tony.
I was also pleased that, although they had to depart from comics canon a lot further in this movie than they did in the first one, it still felt right. At least to me. There were some merges and substitutions and such, but I felt it got the tone right.
So yeah, I was happy.
*** Wednesday before last ***
Every Wednesday, tartary_lamb, angstbunny, and I meet up at a comic shop before going out for dinner. For the past year and a half I haven't been buying comics or anything. We meet there because tartary_lamb still has comics to get and because it's a convenient and familiar rendezvous spot. Usually we meet at this one shop that only carries comics and books, no toys.
Wednesday before last, as my Green Lantern (and particularly Guy Gardner) fannishness was getting intense, we met at a different comic shop. Where they had toys. After checking the shelves, I thought I was safe. But then I idly shuffled through the discount bin...and found a Guy Gardner figure. *facepalm* With my resolve already weakened, I ended up buying a trade of I Can't Believe It's Not the Justice League as well. If I hadn't, I'd already be back on budget. But at the time I'd been good for five weeks and I had two weeks to go and I wanted a treat, damn it. So I went for it.
The figure I got is this one: http://www.joeacevedo.com/images/figurezone/dcinfiniteheroes/guy-gardner.jpg (DC Universe: Infinite Heroes line)
He sports the dreaded bowl cut, but really, is there a Guy Gardner figure that doesn't? Heck, how many Guy Gardner figures are there, period? I was reading up on this once, and I think there have been six. Period. Three of which are really expensive statues and one of which has a hideously bad face. So, finding him in the discount bin? Definite win.