The Time of the Doctor

In the 2007 short Time Crash, the Tenth Doctor met with the Fifth Doctor through some wibbily-wobbly timey-wimey stuff. In the episode, after a beat near the end when Ten (played by David Tennant) has acted starstruck and gushed effusively about meeting his predecessor (Peter Davison), he said to Five, "You were my Doctor."

I understood that the line referred both to the fact that Ten had enjoyed being Five, "...dashing about and playing cricket" (Davison was less stodgy and authoritative than his precursors), as well as the fact that the Fifth Doctor was the one on the air when Tennant was a boy. He would have been about 9 or 10 years old at the time Davison began his run. What I didn't comprehend at the time was the emotion that Tennant displayed when he said that line. However when I watched Matt Smith say farewell as number Eleven in The Time of the Doctor earlier, something dawned on me.

Eleven just isn't my Doctor.

Movies to Look Forward to in 2014

So every year, I go online and take a look at sites like RottenTomatoes, IMDB, and IMPAwards to see what's coming up next year so I know what I'm supposed to be geeking out about and when. It's every geek's conscientious duty to follow notables in their specific fandom and plan their days off to coincide with the various activities involving said subjects. Ticket line camp outs, midnight showings, crowded conventions, the occasional 72 hour gaming marathon, etc.

2014 looks like it's going to be a great year for cinema fans (especially for science fiction addicts), with some promising new titles, franchise reboots, and studio tent poles spread out through the seasons. Here are some of the ones I'm looking forward to, in order of announced release date.

S.H. Figuarts Iron Man and War Machine

S.H. Figuarts figures are a new thing for me. Japanese imports are toys that I've found I have to police myself away from. If I didn't, I'd be blowing every paycheck on this or that Revoltech, Figma, or Playarts toy that came out. They're generally more detailed, better built, and more nicely designed than their American counterparts, and aside from characters from Japanese characters, companies like Bandai, Max Factory, and Kaiyodo all take on the occasional American property.

Case in point: S.H. Figuarts' Iron Man 2 figures.

Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I've been hearing that the reception for Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't been as great as when it was premiered at the San Diego Comic Con back in July, but since its regular run on ABC started in September, I haven't had the chance to actually see for myself. There have been ten episodes aired so far, so I thought I'd be set until the series comes back from break on January 7, 2014. Today I decided to give it a chance despite all the stuff I've been hearing. Here's what I found out:

This show is boring as shit.

Thor: The Dark World

In the interest of full disclosure, I need to admit that the Kenneth Branagh's 2011 Thor was my favorite Marvel movie, surpassing my like of Whedon's Avengers. I realize that for most, that movie wasn't the best, but like Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk, I found that the film's focus on the characters as opposed to the action really made me pay more attention. Thor's relationship with both Loki, his brother, and Odin, his father, made him vulnerable. It was, for me, the perfect approach to a story about a god.

The Rise of the Guardians Happy Meal

One of the movies back in 2012 that I enjoyed was Rise of the Guardians. It wasn't really one of the films that was on my radar early on because the design of the characters looked a little too “Dreamworks” (oh, wait...) for me. The trailer didn't really help improve my outlook since it seemed to be a lot of “wow, lookit!”, which I've found usually means there won’t be much to the movie but visuals.

I was wrong.

Yotsuba To: Danboard Mini Model Kit

It's been almost four years since I bought my Revoltech Danboard. Ever since then, I've been wanting to make my own Gestalt Danboard, but since 2009, the price on the RT Danboards have skyrocketed. When I first got mine, I got a quote for 6 pieces and it was something like Php 6,000. Nowadays that would run you well into Php 15,000 for the same quantity, depending on which version you got. Even the RT Danboard Minis were too expensive for my blood.

Along comes Kotobukiya's Yotsuba To: Danboard Mini Model Kit. At Php 600 each at WasabiToys, they're a steal! Of course I pre-ordered mine back in October and it looks like they've run out of stock, but good news is there's another pre-order up for the same price.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation

Back in June of 2012, when Paramount first announced that they were going to be delaying the release of the sequel to 2009's G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, I have to say that I feared the worst. The original film hadn't really done all that well in the domestic box office and I doubt that anyone really believed that malarkey that the studio wanted the extra time to convert the film to 3D. Throw in a director known for his hip-hop dance movies and (gasp!) a Justin Bieber bio-pic, and it's not looking to good for our "Real American Heroes".

But color me red, white, and blue, I was completely wrong. This installment is far better than its predecessor and definitely worth a trip to the cinema. If Jon M. Chu can do this with material like G.I. Joe, I wish him all the best and hope we see more of him in the geeksphere. It almost makes me want to go out and take a look at his previous films.

Almost.

Marvel Legends Archangel

It's ridiculous how much I paid for this toy, but let me tell you right up front, that I don't care. The near perfectness of its design just kills all regret for me. I just look at this thing on my desk and I don't care that it was marked up to more than 200% of its retail price.

That's how good Hasbro's version of the character is. You just marvel at it and ask, "Why can't all toys be this pretty?"

Hasbro's Masterpiece Optimus Prime

Okay, so I started a new job and find myself with a lot less "disposable" income than I had before. I've had to cut back on my vices in order to, well, eat. To celebrate my new found sense of fiscal responsibility, let's take a look at something that cost me more than I should have probably spent: Hasbro's version of the MP-10, otherwise known as Masterpiece Optimus Prime.

What I'm Watching in 2013

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.