PinoyAvenger Assembles!

And there came a day. A day in Oct. 2000. When I found myself getting my first issue of the Avengers as a birthday gift to myself. On that day, the biggest Filipino fan of the Avengers was born. To collect the comics, the toys, the movies and shows, the books, and everything Avengers no single fan can deny!

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LEGO MARVEL AVENGERS IS THE ULTIMATE AVENGERS GAME!

Yes, there are a lot of Avengers-branded games out there, particularly on mobile - but honestly they were less about the Avengers and more about the general Marvel universe. Or they’re about the MCU.

Which is fine if that’s your thing.

But I would like to have less mutants, spider-centric characters, guardians of the galaxy, thank you very much.

And give me obscure characters that only every Avenger fan would love.

And that’s exactly what I got with Lego Marvel Avengers.

I don’t why it took me this long to finally play the PC version (I played the 3DS version but it was a slightly different experience) but I’m glad I finally did because I’ve had the best experience ever.

Right off the bat, it’s a Lego game so the gameplay is what one would expect from such game so I have nothing more to say about it other than it’s fun to smash and build staff virtually (that’s something one can say about any Lego game).

As an Avengers fan, what really had me going was that the game allowed me to unlock and play as characters like Crystal, Firebird, THUNDERSTRIKE, The Initiative recruits, Avengers Academy, the Young Avengers, villains like The Grim Reaper, and even Fin Fang Foom and Devil Dinosaur!

Like, are you kidding me?!

I get giddy every time I encounter and unlock these characters. I wonder if this is the same joy that players of Pokemon and Pokemon Go feel whenever they unlock them pocket creatures.

It was also much fun to replay the Age of Ultron levels as Wiccan and Speed instead of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver or as Falcon Cap and Jane FosThor. Or have Mockingbird replace the Black Widow!

My only complaint I guess was the omission of Hercules and Monica Rambeau. And, yes, while there were no mutants or spider-people (as requested), I wouldn’t have minded the Beast and Spider-Woman.

(Yes, I know there’s another Marvel Avengers game right now but I’m not as excited about it as I was with this game)

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Just finished Avengers Assemble Season 5: Black Panther’s Quest.

And I actually liked it.

Obviously, there’s a lot less Avengering involved because it focused on Black Panther and his universe. My guess is it’s because of the Black Panther movie that came out the same year.

So we got to see more of Wakanda than in previous seasons of the show - but we also got to visit Atlantis and Attilan, which I appreciated. The designs for all three nations were really fantastic. I think this is, by far, the best I’ve seen of Wakanda, Atlantis, and Attilan in all animated versions of the Marvel Universe. 

The Avengers here are relegated to side characters, which I surprisingly didn’t find disappointing at all. Maybe because I’ve always enjoyed the Black Panther as a character so seeing him front and center was a joy.

Though I suspect I enjoyed it more because of the writing. I actually feel it’s superior to previous seasons of the show - perhaps because of the more focused storyline. 

My only gripe, I guess, is that I wish it had more Captain Marvel. Or even better: I wish the show had been renewed for a sixth season with focus on her and her universe the same way they did this show. That would’ve been awesome, I think.

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REVIEW: Empyre - Justice for the Cotati!

Late to the party but I just got my copy and read 2020′s big Avengers/Fantastic Four crossover event. I was pretty hyped up about the whole thing (finally an Avengers-centric crossover) and I was so looking forward to picking up the issues every month (as well as a few tie-ins) - but then the pandemic happened.

Now that I’ve finally read it, I gotta say: I am underwhelmed.

Not because of anything story-wise but because I actually followed all the news while the storyline was happening a few months back.

I know that - despite how the whole thing was marketed - the big bad of the storyline wasn’t the Kree-Skrull Alliance. I know how the whole thing was going to be resolved.

So there were very few surprises left for me to uncover.

And while that may be so, there were a few unexpected things that I discovered while I was reading through it.

First: While it was written by Al Ewing and Dan Slott - two of Marvel’s most comic-y writers, they managed to avoid a lot of the tropes that I somehow expected from a popcorn story like this.

There was no Avengers vs Fantastic Four brawl - despite the setup for such occurring on the prelude issues.

There was barely a Cotati vs Kree-Skrull Alliance battle (I mean, it was there but that wasn’t even the core conflict of the series).

And there was no showdown between Quoi the Celestial Messiah and Emperor Dorrek VIII (aka Hulkling).

It’s like the writers deliberately avoided all the battles that fans expected to see in a storyline like this, subverting tropes along the way.

Second: I don’t know what the writers are trying to say (if, at all) with this storyline but if it’s that villains can come from even the most pacifist of peoples, then mission accomplished?

I suppose it makes sense for a repressed people like the Cotati to want to retaliate against their oppressors (and their enablers) but to give them a heel turn just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

But here’s the thing: For decades, the Kree and Skrull have been painted as villains, the Cotati as victims. With Empyre, they flipped that around. There were heroes and villains on both sides and I like that. Unlike with the Kree-Skrull War or even Operation: Galactic Storm, where it was impossible to root for or even empathize with the Kree, with Empyre, not everything is so cut and dry.

I still do feel sorry for Quoi and the Cotati though. I hope a redemption arc is in the works somewhere in the future.

Third and this is more of an annoying observation: All throughout the story, the characters keep mentioning two characters that appeared in the prelude comic “Incoming”. The characters even book-ended the series

I was like “WHAT THE HELL?” If the incident that happened on “Incoming” was so integral to the series, I don’t understand why it didn’t just become part of the main storyline. 

Full disclosure: I got a trade paperback of the main series along with an issue of “Road To Empyre”, which is also a prelude comic that had no direct connection with the main series. So I kinda felt cheated that I wasn’t getting the full story.

So anyway, Empyre is a solid story IMHO. it definitely felt like an Avengers epic. I don’t rank it as highly as my favorite storylines like Operation: Galactic Storm, The Kang Dynasty, or even (more recently) No Surrender.

It is as enjoyable as another space-centric Avengers event: Maximum Security.

Though I can’t help but think maybe I would’ve enjoyed it more if I hadn’t followed the news and spoiled myself ahead of reading it.

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The Best Avengers Story I’ve Read In Recent Years

I just finished "Avengers: No Surrender" and wow, I may have found my top three favorite storylines after "Operation: Galactic Storm" and "Kang Dynasty".

The classic Avengers fandom has been unanimous in praising this 16-issue storyline from Mark Waid, Al Ewing, and Jim Zub, which ran weekly across all Avengers books running at the time, including the main title, Uncanny Avengers, USAvengers, and Occupy Avengers.

And late to the party that I am, I'm still adding my voice to theirs.

It is awesome.

It is epic.

And most importantly, it is an Avengers story.

Granted, my misgivings about picking up this story is that it came at a time when the current roster vaguely resembles the team that I loved.

Granted I wish more of the classic characters I knew featured in the book rather more mutants and new characters I don't recognize or cared for.

BUT I am glad that most of the POV characters who really upped drama and action here were from the old guard. I really enjoyed seeing The Wasp, Hawkeye (in his classic costume no less), Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Vision, Wonder Man, the Beast, Falcon, and FREAKING JARVIS AND LIVING LIGHTNING IN A CENTRAL ROLE!

I loved that aside from just saving the world, the story also explored what it meant to be an Avenger and even delved into Avengers history.

It really spoke to me as a fan of the classic stories. It's really the kind of crossover storyline I've been wanting to read for so long and I just wished it had happened in a different time, like maybe during the Heroic Age. It would've been glorious, I think, with the kind of line-up we had then.

But I digress. I really enjoyed this so much and wouldn't mind reading it over and over again. ❤️

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Avengers Mansion Custom Playset

I took some more shots of my hand painted Marvel Legends Avengers Mansion since I finally found where I had my good doll furniture squirreled away.

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I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!

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Thank you, Chadwick Boseman. #WakandaForever #AvengersAssemble #Excelsior https://www.instagram.com/p/CEdPyBrHOWw/?igshid=1ijqdiiqayfyo

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Avengers by Alex Ross from the Marvel Ross Hardcover Art Book

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Empyre Propaganda Posters

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Apparently the 90s East Coast and West Coast rosters made an appearance on Chris Claremont’s X-Men Forever.

Art by Tom Grummett

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I love these teasers because they really show that Empyre is an Avengers-centric event by tying in two classic storylines: The Kree-Skrull War and the Celestial Madonna!

Which makes me wonder about Wolverine.

He wasn’t involved in anything!

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Avengers and Fantastic Four Empyre Prologues

Empyre: Avengers No. 0

Empyre: Fantastic Four No. 0

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EMPYRE: AVENGERS #1, by Jim Zub and Carlos Magno

I love this line-up (I just hope they’re the ones actually featured in the book).

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Spider-Woman variant covers for Avengers #32 and 33.

I love that they divided the roster between the two covers. I just wished she would join the cast (even if just for those two issues).

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X-Men vs Brotherhood https://www.instagram.com/p/B6FP0V3HVCf/?igshid=1ng7u4jy0wign

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Defenders / Marvel Knights vs Purple Man. https://www.instagram.com/p/B5zUfd0niQP/?igshid=19d7kua4l884d

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LEGO AVENGERS 2020 SETS

They look inspired by Endgame but more rooted in the comics. I wonder if they’ll release more sets in this vein. Because those redesigned AIM Agents are calling me!

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These Civil War playsets were from a totally different toyline but the scale works with the Minimates, so now I can place them in these nice little set pieces. :-) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3R9A9wh3W1/?igshid=1lfdbdll4xjof