Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

 By Mark Rodriguez While the 80's cartoon led to Turtlemania in the 80's, it also served as a vehicle to promote the Playmates toyline. Characters like Chrome Dome, Slash, Mondo Gecko, Metalhead and many others had action figures and they would appear on the show. Likewise vehicles like the Cheapskates, Footskis the Sewer Tubes, and Retrocatapult would make cartoon appearances just in time for them to hit the toy aisles. However with Playmates bringing in more and more characters, not everybody made it to the cartoon, the Archie comics or videogames. Panda Khan was one such character that never made past his action figure and re-releases. Until now. Let's check it out.   "Black and White and Rad all over" opens with Irma being mugged and wondering why there isn't a ninja around to rescue her whenever  she's  in trouble. The thief is low enough to even want to steal her pastrami sandwich. Just then someone leaps out from the shadows to rescue her. Later on...

 By Mark Rodriguez We swung by to Third Eye to grab whatever was piling up in the ol' pullbox and had a bit of a scare. I also got some comics in the mail to help complete some missing issues.   X-Men 97 Second Season # 1- Similar to the earlier X-Men 97 issues, this is a story somewhere between the 2 seasons. This time we'll get a better understanding of what's going on since we've seen all of season 1 and what is available of season 2 so far. X-Men 97 Second Season # 2- Based on the cover, it seems to be based on Cable's X-Force line-up from the second episode of season 2. Jubilee kicked so much ass in that one. Venom # 259- MJ's Venom has taken a brand new and more personal form. Barbara Gordon Breakout # 3- Barbara continues her plan to take on criminals from the inside.  Batman # 11 - Batman encounters Ojo while Minotaur encounters the Penguin!  Sonic the Hedgehog One-Shot- The IDW Sonic series has reached numbers rivaling those of the original Archie r...

 By Mark Rodriguez   This is just a quick update and I don't intend to make similar articles for NiCO and Tamaki since that would be redundant. Kasumi's new costumes, the 'Combat Ready Ninja' bundle just hit... and it confirmed it's going to continue the trend that started with Marie Rose the previous week. Despite the different costume names (Kikyo, Sakura, Nadeshiko and Yuri), they are all just color variations of the same costume.   So you're basically paying $20.99 for a costume with 4 color variations... or $7.99 for a costume color. They just have different names so that Koei Tecmo can say "the Kikyo and Yuri costumes are completely different!". I'm going to assume the same thing will happen with NiCO and Tamaki's costumes, and then Ayane and Honoka's costumes when their turn comes. I also imagine with so many fans already upset that this game is pretty much the original DOA6 except now you have to purchase Mai and Kula again, this wi...

 By Mark Rodriguez Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is already out and a lot of people (I assume the ones that bought the first game) are not happy. Other than different-colored life bars and new lighting for one stage, it is literally the same game as before. Those that still didn't get the memo were angry that they had to pay for Mai and Kula, the SNK guest characters, a second time. Like I said before, you can just download your previously purchased copy of DOA6 onto your PS5 and you pretty much already own Last Round. Even worse news comes to PC gamers, as the original DOA6 is now de-listed and it sounds like none of the previous DLC outfits will transfer over. So while the console gamers can transfer over the swimsuit, maid, pirate and schoolgirl outfits over to Last Round just fine.... PC gamers are stuck having to re-buy every last costume all... over... again. Considering they probably spent quite a bit the first time around, it's costly to double-dip. So we finally got some ...

 By Mark Rodriguez This time around Wendy hit up Alpha Comics to catch up on some of the comics piling up since my last visit. I'll have to check to make sure I'm not missing an issue from the MegaMan X series. Special thanks to Wendy for scooping these up while running errands. Darkstalkers X Street Fighter- Queen's Shadow # 1- The Lords of the Makai saga continues. I do wonder exactly how long this crossover is going to last. Saturday Morning Adventures TMNT # 38- Casey Jones needs some help from the Turtles and Hun has arrived in the series. To top of it, he's also mutated and stronger than ever. Spider-Man Long Way Home # 1- This one might tie in with the recent Avengers Armageddon story.  Megaman X # 4- The story continues. My only problem is, I'm not sure if I have number 2 or not. I'll have to go through my recent purchases. Spider-Man Brand New Day # 2- Now the Punisher is getting involved. He's been messing with the Spider-people a lot lately. ...

 By Mark Rodriguez For those that don't know, EVO is an annual fighting game tournament hosting several games, held in Las Vegas during the summer. Lately being featured at Evo has become a make-or-break for a game's popularity. Some examples were Capcom rushing Street Fighter 5 out in a bare-bones state just so it would be available in time for that year's EVO, or Marvel VS Capcom Infinite getting the snub by the fans as EVO excluded it from the line-up (and also cause the game was downgrade from MVC3).  Aside from the gaming, the show also has trailers of upcoming games or new DLC characters for existing games. This time around we got DLC reveals for new characters being added to Guilty Gear Strive (Robo-Ky) and Tekken 8 (Bob), and Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star finally became available for Fatal Fury City of the Wolves right after the Finals for that game ended. The most surprising thing this time around were trailers for new DLC characters.... being added to old g...

 By Mark Rodriguez So Dead or Alive 6 Last Round is finally out! And they did what they should have led with from the start. The first all-new character has been announced!  For those that missed out, Dead or Alive 6 has returned with a Last Round upgrade. However the new version barely has anything new if you compare how DOA5 Last Round was an upgrade to DOA5 Ultimate. Everything is mostly the same except for the new OBORO system that improves the lighting and details for the Lost Paradise stage with it being included in later stages down the line, and a new camera system. Kasumi, Ayane, Honoka, Marie Rose and NiCo will be getting a new costume each and there is a pre-order bonus costume for Marie Rose.     The main downside is the cost of Koei Tecmo having to pay for the SNK license to use Mai and Kula a second time. As a result, those two are not available in the base Last Round game and have to be paid for a second time. Luckily the other DLC characters, Nyotengu...