The Mandalorian season 3

 Mando and Grogu are back, in a quest for Din to redeem himself of being forced to take of his helmet.

And so Noshi and me sat behind our Disney+ and decided to have a look for more baby Yoda adventures...

 

But do note, in order to follow the story adn why Grogu is back with mando after leaving with Luke Skywalker in the previous season's finale, you must watch The Book of Boba Fett first before starting season 3!

A journey that will require Din and his little friend to travel to the destroyed planet of Mandalore, uninhabitable according to one, but Bo-Katan claims the world still has some kind of liveable conditions. He seeks out the help of old friends and acquintances, but instead of getting IG-11 restored, he is sold an astromech, R5-D4, with whom he travels to his ancestral planet.  

Here, he is attacked and captured by a cyborg, but Grogu goes to Bo-Katan who goes to his rescue.  He finds the Living Waters, but as he drops in a sinkhole, Bo-Katan going after him.  On their way back up, No-Katan sees a Mythosaurus, a beast of legend that is the model for the Mandalorian crest.  But Bo-Katan withholds this sighting from the then unconcious Djarin.  As they return, Bo-Katan's castle is bombed by TIE fighters, and they are forced to retreat.

On Coruscant, Dr Pershing has become a part of a reintegration program, but also finds Elia Kane there, the former communications officer of Moff Gideon.  She agrees to help him in his cloning work, outlawed by the Republic, and go to an old star destroyer for a lab.  She betrays him though to the authorities and sabotages his mind wipe procedure to make him forget everything.  Meanwhile, Djarin and Bo-Katan arrive at the secret Mandalorian hide-out, where she is welcomed because like Djarin, she also bathed in the Living Waters of Mandalore.

When one of the younglings is captured by a Raptor bird at the enclave, Bo-Katan leads the rescue and earns the clan's respect.  On Nevarro, a pirate captain is reigning terror, but Mano and Bo-Katan come to the rescue together with the other Mandalorians, and earn a piece of land for themselves as thanks.  After travelling to Plazir-15 (in a famous people and easter egg filled episode) they also bring Bo-Katan's former troops back in her fold, and the Armourer appoints her as the uniter of the clans, as Djarin returns the Darksaber back to her.

Deciding to reclaim Mandalore, the Mandalorians find resistance there in the form of a returned Moff Gideon and his upgraded, Beskar armoured troops.  He will destroy the remnants of the Mandalore people, as such claiming the Great Purge completed and (easter eggs again) pave the way for both Grand Admiral Thrawn, but also for General Hux's (yep, that guy from the sequel series) project Necromancer.  Which we know is the return of a cloned Emperor, but funnily enough Hux is also the New Republic spy, so why would he want to bring Palpatine back???

But even though they loose a lot of their number, Grogu, Djarin and Bo-Katan finally defeat Moff Gideon as he perishes in the blast of a crashing cruiser, while Grogu protects the others with a Force shield.  The Great Forge is restarted, as Djarin now adopts Grogu as his true son, moving to the outskirts of Nevarro to make Grogu versed in the ways of the universe.

So this was a good season, and Mandalore is back on the rise as so many times in their long history.  So as the series is starting to connect the dots between about anything Star Wars related on television, I still can`t wait for the next (and supposedly final?) season to come out...

Unboxing the Mist Hashira

 The latest figure that is joining our "mutual" collection of Noshi and me, it is the Mist Hashira, Muichiro Tokito.

Seen in action in the recent Demon Slayer Swordsmith Village Arc, this silent and hazed warrior had some impressive fighting skills.

Noshi liked him so much actually, I went out and grabbed him on TokyoCatch, though personally I liked "Lord Flashy" from season 2 more hehe.

 

But without further ado, let's crack open the box and have a look at the figure: 

So a fairly standard pose figure, but a nice representation of the character for a prize figure, as this whole line has decent quality models.

And it makes Noshi happy, so that is a big bonus...

 

 

The Haul Report 370

 My Archonia box came a bit earlier this month, as I opted for the send it now option.

Because otherwise, it would be send out when I am on holiday, and now I can even take the manga along for reading.

Not that I haven't gotten like 50 still to read lying around, but heck...

Anyways, that is not all the loot this week.

Last week I got my new phone, now it was time to receive my custom made cover.

And what better art then showing your true, decadelong allegiance to Hashut!

And now, off to pack the bags and leave on holidays in a few days with the little man!

On the Painting Desk 244

 So the target set for this week was to have the complete first layer on the levies done.

And how far did we actually manage to go?

That is something you can check out in this little video...

Next week I won`t be posting a new episode, as we will be on holidays with little Thorin, so any further progress on the tournament army will be for in a fortnight.

Be sure to check back then!

Unboxing Ichika Nakano

 One of the recent wins from Tokyocatch, it's Ichika, my favorite Quintuplet.

And as such, let's have a look at this sitting figure!

Now, looking at the box, I hope I will be pleasantly suprised, because the eyes don`t look that awesome at all on the box...

So let's find out:

All in all, not bad, but definitly not the best Ichika I have.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga

 Ah, Will Ferell is back in this comedy that was supposed to tie in with the Eurovision Song Contest of 2020, but then Covid happened and the festival was cancelled.

Instead we got this great fun movie, which received mixed reviews from critics but great appreciation by Eurosong fans (like myself) about Iceland and it's attempt to win the contest.

In the small Icelandic village of Husavik, Lars and his childhood friend Sigrit have a band called Fire Saga, and his dream is to one day win the Eurosong.  But at the local bar, they only want them to sing Ja Ja Ding Dong though.  While the band isn`t taken seriously, nor appreciated by both Lars's father nor Sigrit's mother, they persist and by luck of the draw they are drafted as a filler for the Iceland preselection, which was a done deal with Katiana going to represent them.

Being terrible, they end last but as the ship of the afterparty explodes, Fire Saga suddenly find themselves send to the Eurovision contest.  At the contest, they meet the russian candidate Alexandre Lemtov, who is the favorite to win that years competition.  He invites them to a party in his house (including a song-a-long with a lot of former Eurosong winners like Loreen, Conchita Wurst and Netta), but it ends in a stain on their relationship as they both spend the night (without anything happening) together with someone else.  Lars with the greek participant Mita, Sigrit with Lemtov who wants her to join him as a duo.

Their semi-final is going great until Sigrit's scarf gets caught in the hamsterwheel, but never the less they are voted to the final.  Lars however, desillusioned, has already flown back to Iceland, and does not know this.  He decides to start a life as a fisherman like his father, when he finds out on the boat he needs to perform at the Eurovision.  He rushes back, but not before being assaulted by the treasurer of the Iceland commitee who doesn`t want to country to win, as they don`t have the money to organise the festival.  But luckily, Lars is saved by the elves, something half the country still believes in.

He manages to get right on time on the stage, disrupting the broadcast (ah, Graham Norton was superb as the commentor for the festival in this movie, like he is in real life festival broadcasts) and though they know they will be disqualified, performs a song Sigrit wrote instead of their entry.  This allows Sigrit to find her inner best notes, the mythical Speorg note.  

They start their relationship at last, returning to Husavik, where they and their newborn baby still perform at the local pub.  To make manners more complicating, their father and mother are now married, but still Ja Ja Ding Dong is the song that has to be brought time and time over...

Okay, so this was a fun movie, and the songs and acts created for this movie gave of a great Eurosong feel, making it feel like a sort of Eurosong night in a way.  So if you like kitsch and the Eurosong, watch this film, it's on Netflix for the moment!

Unboxing Marin Kitagawa

 Yessss, I got myself a Marin, the ultimate girl otaku!

Well, she will be joined near the end of the year when the large scale figure comes out, but for now she is already a welcome addition to the collection.

Produced by Sega, this prize figure was caught over at TokyoCatch, and arrived near the end of july in my mailbox.

So let's have a look at this lovely lady and crack open the box:

 

 

 

A great figure for a prize scaled model, and a welcome addition to the collection!

The newest D & D at 10% off at Wayland Games

 The new expansions for Dungeons and Dragons are about to be released, and Wayland Games is taking pre-orders at minimally 10% off

So head over there, if you want to be so kind by using the affiliate banner on top of this blog, and take a look around.

Or even place an order with them and help this little geek out a little...

Moonhaven

 And the backlog work-away during painting sessions continues, now with the 6-episode counting series Moonhaven.

Dystopian sci-fi, so let's see how this unfolds for my tastes, as I`m usually not into that sort of sci-fi form.  Bar Blade Runner, but that is cult classic stuff...

 

Well, at least is has Merry in it... and a pretty awesome opening on how (part of) the Moon has been terraformed.  Earth is dying, and three generations later of the first settlers on the moon, a colony has been established that teaches the ways of saving Earth thanks to an AI called IO.  

One of the supply run pilots, Bella Sway, finds her there when a murder has happened.  This turns out to be her supposed sister, and together with the local detectives Paul and Arlo she must look into this case.  When she is attacked aboard her ship by the envoy's bodyguard Tomm, it turns out there is more happening on Lune then meets the eye.

The younger generation, who is the first wave to return to Earth, isn`t all convinced the Bridge is a good idea, and they fear they will be killed when they arrive on Earth.  To that end, they try to sabotage the project and make Lune independant and on itself.  Maite, the council chair and defacto ruler of Lune, is about to be removed when she threatens the envoy of revealing what has been transpiring, which could destabilise the whole project.

As Bella and Paul investigate deeper, they find it is a whole conspiracy, learning from a hologram of her murdered sister that the Bridge must be stopped at all costs, and that Earth was never meant to be saved. As Bella confesses the events to the Envoy, and that she is in truth hired to smuggle Singer, a drug fabricated on the moon.   

When Maite refuses in a session with the Envoy to allow the Earth ships to land in Lune's atmosphere, this causes chaos in the council.  Arlo's investigation leads to the discovery of a Compass rose, and a healed Tomm tries to take it from him.  Maite and Bella have a talk in Bella's mother old house, with Maite hinting that on the failed old colony site of Primo, now a wilderness, contact has been made with an alien life form years ago, and that her mother isn't dead but has returned to them.

The envoy asks to kill Maite, so that her IO key would transfer to her second and together they can then land the ships.  Together with Paul she heads out to a crater, of which she saw a drawing at her mother's house, and believe Maite went there.  In the meantime, Arlo arrives at the place the compass rose leads too, a place that contains a forgotten weakness of the Mooners.  They find a dead tree that suddenly starts glowing, and it reveals the bloodlines of those living on the moon, information only IO should possess.  But Tomm and his group arrive, shooting most of Arlo's team down in order to destroy the tree and allow a new generation to claim Moonhaven.

Paul and Bella wake up in the woods, finding Maite looking at them and asking them to follow.  When she reveals to bella that she kept her mother on the moon while she wanted to return to Earth, Bella attacks her, causing Maite to throw herself of a cliff.  Blu, Arlo's apprentice, arrives telling them the others where attacked and killed.  They notice the Earth ships are landing, which would mean Maite is dead as well.

As Paul goes to look for Arlo, he finds him alive, seemingly saved by IO, and they agree the tree needs to be hidden from the other Mooners.  With the bloodlines now known, this would mean the collapse of Moonhaven and the project.  But in the meantime, the First Wave is preparing to leave to Earth, and the envoy will say and do anything to save Earth, going as far as lying and covering events up.  Bella learns from Tomm thatb the envoy is rounding up his army, and he believes the Mooners will revolt in any case, no matter what the envoy says.  

At the tree, they block it off with the officers to give people time to think about the choice they can make.  Maite didn`t die as she returns, but as she fell outside IO's juristiction she lost control of her key.  With the First wave now en route back to Earth, Tomm claims everyone is now trapped on the moon.  With no way to reach the First wave, they learn it is the intention that once they land they will be ambushed and killed as the landing spots have been leaked.  Using her connections as a smuggler, Bella tries to get a message to the ships, and it succeeds as the ships are diverting from their planned landing courses.  Tomm and his army try to stop it, but as they fail he is confronted and told the plan fell apart.  

Bella decides to go to Primo and find Maite, seeing if she has found something that can stabilise the turmoil on Lune.... and then unfortunatly the season ends.  

Now, this wasn`t a bad series at all, an original story, not to full of itself, and it was announced that a second season would be made, only to have AMC+ recall that decision some months later sadly.