Mark's Epic Blog of Randomness

By Mark Rodriguez I'm a little late to the party, but since I spent so much time complaining about the horrible design Sonic was going to have in his upcoming live action movie, I might as well talk about the response to the random. In a surprising twist where it seems nowadays most studios have a 'don't like it, don't watch it' or a 'this movie isn't for you' attitude towards their fans, the people behind the Sonic movie basically said "whoops, our bad" and actually fixed the design. Now Sonic the Hedgehog quite literally looks like Sonic the Hedgehog. There are a few minor differences here and there, but they make sense for bringing an alien talking hedgehog to our world. His arms and legs are still blue and furry (quilly?) instead of the shaved look from the games, and his eyes are still separate, but it makes more sense than whatever the hell the videogame Sonic's eyes are. His eyes are bigger and rounder though, and combine...

By Mark Rodriguez It's been about 4 months since we started using LBRY to start a whole new video series. For those that don't know, LBRY is another video streaming service that allows for more freedom of content as well as a stronger sense of community that isn't forced to cater to what corporations and advertisers want. It's gone through several updates which are worth checking out. LBRY works by installing the app onto your computer or phone and signing up for the service. As you start creating videos or earn rewards, you can earn crypto-currency called LBC (LBRY Credits) as well as helping others by tipping them. You can also earn LBC by joining the Discord and helping out the best you can, there is a lot of support and they allow you to advertise your channel and videos. You can also choose to link your pre-existing Youtube channel (or channels) to LBRY and earn a lot of LBC depending on how many videos are brought over in one fell swoop. While I am not the e...

By Mark Rodriguez So Season 2 has come and gone for Dead or Alive 6 to go with the summer season. For those new to the game, Dead or Alive 6 is the latest fighting game in a series known for its lethal lovely ladies and their seemingly endless supply of DLC outfits. New to the game were the Break Blows, which are cinematic attacks that end with a close up sock to the face or mid-section, as well as new characters Diego and NiCo. The first season of DLC brought in wedding costumes, pirate costumes, the deluxe costumes which were once only available for pre-order, and the SNK crossover characters, Mai Shiranui and Kula Diamond. Let's see what Season 2 entails. Christie shows off her color-changing ninja outfit The season 2 pass did cost around 80 bucks, not quite the 90 that first pass did. It includes a bunch of costumes, some new background music tracks and exclusive outfits for Marie Rose and Honoka... which are just grey re-colors of their basic outfits. Many felt this wa...

By Mark Rodriguez While I didn't read Captain America's run as a HYDRA agent, I did find out that Black Widow died somewhere during the story arc before Steve got back to normal. While Black Widow's fate seems much more permanent in the movies, in the comics any time a hero dies it's basically an extended vacation. In this case, she has returned in the form of a clone with implanted memories. Natasha Romanoff returns and here's what she's up to. The story opens in New York as an elegantly dressed woman walks into a fancy dinner party. As she takes a glass of wine, she sees Mr. Stark speaking with a Walter Sobol and asks him for a dance. Mr. Stark takes her up on the offer. As they dance, Stark notices the woman is Natasha and tells her she doesn't need to disguise herself for this charity event. She says old habits die hard. Stark says it's been a while since they last danced and he asks her if she remembers their first dance. Natasha remembers h...

By Mark Rodriguez The Riddler is out to steal a rare and valuable gem but it looks like someone put him up to this. Batman's search for the classic foe led him to finding that Deathstroke has been hired to take down the Dark Knight. As Batman and Deathstroke fight, Riddler makes a run a for it but it stopped by Green Arrow! Batman and Green Arrow watch the Riddler as he throws out one of his lamest riddles. The Riddler vents his frustration on how Batman always finds him, even when he escapes all he way to Amsterdam. The police show up and Riddler makes a break for it again. As the heroes give chase, Arrow explains he's also after the buyer for the stolen gem. Riddler leaves behind a trail of Riddler cards and Arrow says this is why everyone hates Batman's villains. Batman says they lead to a trap and if they run the other way it will be a trap as well so they head to the roof. The Riddler flies by on his cane with helicopter blades and the heroes subdue him. As Ba...

By Mark Rodriguez Batman has set up a team led by Black Lightning to rescue Sofia from being captured by the forces of Rah's Al Ghul. With Duke having his personal issues with trust in the team after an encounter with a villain named Karma, Batman sets up a little exercise to have him gain trust in the team. Elsewhere, Rah's trains Sofia to become a member of the League of Assassins. Some days before though, he gets a deal from Lex Luthor that led him to this path. Lesser Gods Part 4 opens with Rah's Al Ghul telling Sofia that she is the demon's flame and with violence she will earn her new name. Sofia suits up and is now a full fledged member of the League of Assassins. In Gotham, Cassandra approaches Duke as he's playing basketball. Duke wonders if she came to see if he's broken and Batman wants him off the team. Cass says she can help him. She says she knows fear and what it does. Duke doesn't want to become her problem but she says he would do ...

By Mark Rodriguez The Turtles come home in time to see Kitsune and Alopex killing the Foot! Not only that but Kitsune stabs Master Splinter!! The issue opens in ancient Japan as a retainer who served the Governor of Kai ran into a multi-tailed fox on his way home. He shot at it with a noisemaker arrow to scare is away but it struck it in the back of the leg. As the man tried to get another arrow, the fox returned in front of him. Before he could shoot again, the fox suddenly vanished. When the man was a short distance from his home, he saw the fox again, now running with a burning branch in its mouth. The retainer gave chase and saw the fox turn into a woman and set his house on fire. Before the man could fire an arrow, the woman turned back into a fox and ran off. The house burned down. The Turtles witness Splinter get stabbed by Kistune. Splinter is still alive but before Kistune could do more damage, Mike tosses his grappling hook around her neck and pulls her ba...

By Mark Rodriguez So it wasn't long ago that I heard many complaints towards Lootcrate, the subscription box service that pretty much started the whole subscription box craze. Boxes from April were arriving as late as August, and due to the nature of auto-renew, customers were still getting charged for the months in between with no boxes in sight. And to make it worse, by the time they got their box, they were missing items. Not just one thing, but sometimes half the box's worth of items! Even the shirt, which for many people is the main selling point of the box! So for those that don't know, Lootcrate is (or maybe, was) a monthly subscription box with different items and themes. The main box would be around overall geeky goodies, things related to Star Trek, Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Marvel superheroes, Rick and Morty and whatever else. The themed boxes would be things like LootAnime, LootGaming, and LootFear with things related to their namesakes...

By Mark Rodriguez After an adventure featuring Leatherhead, Traag and Granitor, Don stays behind on Planet Burnow to help the Fugitoid and the Utroms. Meanwhile Leo, Raph and Mikey return home just in time to see Kitsune and Alopex attacking Splinter! The comic starts up some time before. Splinter goes to visit Jennika, who she put in charge of guarding Shredder's remains. She asks why set a tomb for someone that did so much harm to his family. Splinter still honors the man Oroku Saki once was. Splinter talks to Kitsune and asks about the game she's playing with the other immortals and what the real stakes are behind it. She says it's only to live to die, to play or be played. Splinter asks if Shredder was one of the players, or the one being played. Kistune says Shredder understood that were no room for cowardice and weakness in the game, only victors and vanquished. Angel and April discuss Casey and the current problems in their relationship. Angel ...

By Mark Rodriguez The Turtles meet Leatherhead and try to awaken the Utroms trapped in stasis in the Technodrome. Someone slaughtered several Utroms and Fugitoid and Leatherhead leads Leo and Raph to where the culprits might be. Fugitoid is salvaged but is in a coma. The Utroms ask Donatello why they haven't revived Ch'Rell. Meanwile, Leo and Raph run into Traag and Granitor, who they blame for the murders, but they know nothing about it. Suddenly Leatherhead attacks Traag and reveals that he was the culprit all along. Now what will happen? Donatello tells the Utroms that Ch'Rell was kept in stasis since he was considered a war criminal by the Fugitoid. The Utroms are offended by this and declare him a war hero. Donnie wishes to speak to Ma'Riell in private. Don explains that the reason the Utroms can breathe just fine in this new environment was because Krang managed to terraform the island they're on, and he was stopped before he could terraform...

By Mark Rodriguez The Turtles finally reunite in the Technodrome and meet Leatherhead, the one who helped save Donatello's body back when his consciousness was still inside Metalhead. He offers to help the Turtles and Fugitoid revive the Utrom race out of cryo-sleep in exchange of taking him with them so he has a new world to live in. However, Fugitoid discovered several dead Utroms, and before he could alert anybody he was mauled into pieces. Was this Leatherhead's doing? Let's find out. The issue opens with some of the revived Utroms, along with the Turtles, discovered their fellow Utroms murdered alongside what's left of Fugitoid. Mikey arrives and is shocked at what he sees. The Utroms say they can probably repair the machine, and Donnie snaps at them saying that Fugitoid is a person and is responsible for bringing them out of stasis. The Utroms ask who they are, where they are, and what happened to General Krang. Donnie says Krang is unavailable...