So How Bad Was the New Ninja Turtles?

A few weeks ago, the geek world fell into despair. Guardians of the Galaxy, far and away the best movie of the summer, had been beaten in its second weekend by a movie everyone had been dreading - the Michael Bay-produced adaptation of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And with good reason - everything we'd seen in the trailers showed us a bland, humorless world of Bayformers style explosions and giant robots.

This weekend, given two hours or so to see a movie and not able to see Guardians for the fourth time, I finally gave in a purchased a ticket to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Was it bad? Was it really bad? Was it Revenge of the Fallen bad? All these questions and more will be answered, as you read on.

The Glory of "Ninja Warrior" by Mike Fatum

The clock slowly ticks down as the man stares at the path in front of him. He rubs his hands to wipe the sweat from them, then dusts them in chalk. There's no time to think. He runs, plants his feet on a tiny trampoline, and soars through the air. His arms and legs fire out like pistons, smashing into the walls on either side, holding him in place. Without hesitation or planning, he fires forward, pushing himself across the wall. On the other side, he jumps through, narrowly missing a plummet into icy water below. He lands, but only for a moment before standing up and running forward. There are still ten more obstacles to go. This is Ninja Warrior.


It's a silly name, especially when you tag the "American" onto it. "American Ninja Warrior" sounds like one of the straight to DVD flicks that you find on Netflix in the middle of the night, about a white guy who's, for some reason, better at Karate than all of Japan. But in reality, American Ninja Warrior is a competition with a rich background and history, and one that is only this year finally getting its due in the United States.

Rocksteady’s Journey: Inside a cosplayer’s head while making and remaking a costume. by John Garcia

(That's it for Rocksteady 2.0 for now.  Rocksteady 3.0 will hopefully come out soon)

 

Looking back, I’ve been wearing my Rocksteady costume for a while, around 2 years, but I have never really stopped working on it.  I went through two versions of the Rhinoceros head so far, and I’m still working on it.  

Usually, I start an elaborate costume in time for Fall conventions like Comikaze, Pacific Media Expo, or Long Beach Comic Con.  I sometimes start another one for Spring conventions like Wondercon, the Long Beach Expo, or the Renaissance Faire, then continue improving both when summer begins, so I can have at least two tested and improved costumes by the time San Diego Comic Con rolls around - and sometimes even for Anime Expo before that.