The Legend of The Five

 Time for an australian made family fantasy flick this afternoon, and so we selected The Legend of The Five.

 

Now, this movie only seems to score around 50% on most rating sites, so it might be a hidden gem or a railway disaster, let's find out! 

 

So basically this is your average, thirteen in a dozen teenage fantasy movie.  Five high school students, all with their varied character traits (the jock, the nerd, the beauty,... you know the tropes) go on a school trip and end up in a fantasy world due to twiddling with some artifact.

 

In their, they are bestowed with powerful elemental abilities and recruited by an ancient tree spirit to save the world from the Sorceress, an ancient evil.  However, this Sorceress turns out to be their teacher and she gains the assistance of the lead character, Zoe, misguiding her to bring down the barriers.  She nearly succeeds in this, but by the power of friendship is stopped in the end...

 

Nothing to fancy there as such, means we are getting that sort of amusing but not standing out sunday afternoon family movie.   The acting and the effects aren't to bad considering the budget on these sorts of films, but it brings like totally nothing new or innovative to the movie table.

 

Does this warrant it's low rating?  Probably for a large part, though it is not because the movie is bad, it's just, well, "there". 

Foundation season 2

 Time for the second season of the acclaimed science-fiction series Apple is producing at the moment, and I really enjoyed the first one so of we go.

 

Now, take into account, it is "based" on the books by Isaac Asimov, but in truth diverges ever further from them with every episode, let alone season.

 

Think of it a bit like the Rings of Power, take away the Tolkien monniker and you have a very enjoyable fantasy series, and the same goes for this series in my opinion.  It has the names and the basic concept, but that is about it in the end...

 

Now, the second season keeps jumping places and times as the first one did, at times resulting in a bit of disorientation for the viewer.  What is more, having multiple copies of Harry Seldon running around doesn't make it any easier to know which one knows what.  The plan is veering of course, and Gaal and Salvor are trying to put it back together as the events of a "second crisis" are starting to unfold.  In the meantime, Emperor Day is planning to add the genetic heritage by wedding Queen Sarteh, a monarch who blames him for killing her whole family.

 

From then on, the plan takes the course of founding a Second Foundation, which will be crucial for the first to survive, as clerics of a faith that formed on the first are trying to bring outlier planets into the folds of Foundation themselves after the Vault on Terminus has reopened.   In the meantime, a vision from Gaal reveals someone called The Mule will rise in 150 years and that he is the source of the impeding darkness and accelerated fall of Empire.  Empire in the meantime is confronted with the knowledge that not only Terminus survived a solar flare, but is technologically outdevelopping them, the Whisper ships being the best proof of that with their enhanced jump technology.  

 

From there onwards, the story splits into three main lines: Gaal and Salvor trying to found a second Foundation on a planet of mentats, but their leader has other plans.  She wants Gaal to become her newest host body for her mental consciousness, and this results ultimately in the death of Salvor and Gaal and Harry overcoming her, starting a cycle to help found the Second Foundation.  On Terminus, Empire arrives to destroy the Foundation, seemingly succeeding.  But it will cost him his entire fleet and his own life, while the inhabitants have been saved unknowingly by the Vault and Harry Seldon, bringing about the rapid fall of the Empire, but also the destruction of Terminus itself as Invictus is crashed into the planet by the fleet.  The third arc unravels the secrets of Demerzel, and while this will end the current brother Dusk and the exile of Dawn together with Sareth with whom he is having child, it once more weakens the position of the genetic heritage to the public, Demerzel who has now a copy of the Prime Radiant realizing Empire is inevitably doomed...

 

So there was once more a lot going on this season, but it felt less disorganised like the first season for sure.  The second Foundation, The Mule and the fall of Empire have been set up, and will likely start happening in the third season.

 

Which I'll be watching pretty soon after this one for sure.... 

Studio Bergstrom Battlestar Galactica

 In between all the Frostgrave and Chaos Dwarf painting, one must do some other things in between to keep his sanity.

 

And to that end, I painted up the Battlestar Galactica.

 

This metal model, about the length of a Hyperion from Babylon 5 A Call to Arms range, is produced by american company Studio Bergstrom.  Andrew has a nice range of models (and some more will be ordered pretty soon, as he made an upgraded Pegasus) at prices that make the import taxes feasible.  That is after all something he can do nothing about, so a choice we all must make for ourselves.

 

Now to get to the paint desk and line up some Vipers to go with the venerable ship, in order to bring the Galactica to some games of One Page Rules in the future.

 

Galactica actual... JUMP! 

The Haul Report 439

 Happy birthday to meeeeee, as that day to remind me it has been even longer since I was 20 has passed by in this period.

 

And the shirt that will carry me to glory at the Worlds in Barcelona has arrived, a gift from my dear Noshi!

 

Well, not glory, but at least the Glorious Word of Hashut will be carried forward!!! 

Mortal Kombat Legends: Cage Match

 Sometimes all you need on a rainy saturday afternoon is some good violent animated fun.

 

And what is more gory, violent and hilariously over the top then Mortal Kombat?

 

From the animated Legends series, comes Cage Match, which follows the adventures of our beloved movie star Johnny Cage.  In this movie, Johnny, still a C-list actor at that point, tries to save his co-star Jennifer Grey (voiced by herself) from a secret society plotting the destruction of Earthrealm.  He unknowingly becomes involved in one of the conflicts between a protector of Earthrealm, Ashrah, who was send by Lord Raiden, and Kia, a demonic follower of Shinnok.  Johnny kills the later hilariously with a tour bus he hijacked by the way...

 

It soon turns out there might be more to it all then a simple kidnapping, and he decides to infiltrate the Magical Mansion for a gathering, where he and Ashrah are attacked by Jataaka, the second of three assassins send to Earthrealm by Shinnok, with Jennifer actually being the final one.  As Cage possesses the blood of Gods, they want to sacrifice him, but he escapes.  Unfortunatly, enough of his blood had been spilled, bringing Shinnok into our world, and Johnny needs to face him.  He unleashes his inner mystical powers, and manages to banish Shinnok back to Netherrealm.  His career soares and declines, but is then seen packing up to go make a new film on a remote island...

 

This was so much fun in a simple way.  The humour is great, the animation is okay and the gory deaths are just that what MK is all about: sheer insane over the top violent fun.  

 

Definitly worth the watch! 

Helsmiths of Hashut Dominator Engine with Immolation Cannon

 The next unit painted for my Helsmiths of Hashut force, and my entry for the most recent Artisan Contest on Chaos Dwarfs Online.

 

And as the theme is "war machines" for this round, this was a suitable candidate. 

 

Of course, it was painted in the same colours as my whole force, but I changed the gold and blue around, making the first now the dominant colour.  That way, it gives more of a mechanical look to it.

 

As I'm not a fan of the greenish demonic fires GW uses on their models, I opted for regular flames instead, which also goes nicely with the colourscheme after all, tying it well together.

 

While not my favorite model of the re-envisaged line for the Chaos Dwarfs, it is a lovely lumbering brute to put along your lines of warriors and missile troops for certain.

 

And another step closer to bringing them to the battlefield! 

Babylon 5 Delphi Advanced Scout

 A fresh vessel of the paint desk for my Earth Alliance fleet, this one is from the Crusade era section.

 

Basically, the advanced ships post the television series.

 

The Delphi scout is a far more advanced, better armed and better armoured scout vessel to replace the aging Oracle from the earlier two era lists.  And comes in the dark grey and black colour scheme instead of the grey and blue of the earlier lists.

 

As an added bonus, it also has a hangar bay in the A Call to Arms ruleset that carries a single flight of the excellent Aurora starfury, probably the best fighter ingame after the Minbari fighter.

 

The model itself, made by Agents of Gaming for Mongoose Publishing back in the day, is cast in metal, and about 7cm in length, so not really a big ship.  It's length comes close to the Hyperion cruiser, but it is far, far less bulkier then the old workhorse of the fleet.

 

But a sleek looking stealth ship and a nice addition to the revamped fleet so far. 

Kiki's Delivery Service

 One of the few Studio Ghibli movies I somehow hadn't watched before, as it would unlock a special badge on MAL for summer viewing, I sat down behind Netflix and watched it with Thorin on a lazy saturday afternoon.

 

You know, those daddy / son moments that are just enjoyable, slouching against each other and watching a colourful movie. 

 

Made all the way back in 1989, based on a 1985 novel.  The story revolves around Kiki, who has come at the age of 13, meaning she will set out into the world as a witch to learn responsibilities and taking care of herself during a year of training.  Together with her black cat Jiji, she travels to a big city near the ocean.  here she finds lodgings at a bakery, and starts a magical delivery service from there.  

 

She befriends other people, like Tombo and Ursula, as well as an elderly lady during these courier routes, but when Kiki becomes depressed she can no longer understand Jiji and loses her ability to fly.  During a weekend stay with Ursula, Ursula deducts she has the equivalent of artist's block and advises her to get a fresh purpose to open her powers again.

 

When a dirigible accident brings Tombo in grave danger, she rushes to his aid.  She manages to unlock her powers again and saves him, and afterwards restarts her courier service, letting her parents know all is going well and that she and Jiji are happy.

 

This is a really feel goed Studio Ghibli movie about the struggle of growing up and learning responsibility, and it was a great joy to watch, including the reason stated at the beginning.  So if you want to see some enjoyable "Japan's own Disney" style movie with the kids, put this one on, it's fantastic!

Stargate Atlantis Puddle Jumpers

 Next out of spacedock here, are some nice little Puddle Jumpers from Stargate Atlantis.

 

Produced by Studio Bergstrom, these little  shuttles are cast in metal, and about 1.5cm in length.

 

In the series, these are their main forms of space and air transport, and they are armed with a type of highly destructive drone missiles.  And they actually looked quite cool, but have this very difficult to paint colour. 

 

Is it gold, is it green?   Sometimes it even looked differently in a single episode, so I opted for a bit of both.  I painted up the vessels in a golden colour, and then to add a bronzish look to them, used a green wash over the metallic hull to give it that "this or this" look.

 

In games, I'll be using them as bigger types of shuttles, like bomber squadrons in Warfleets by One Page Rules for example, and as such based them in single numbers on a 25mm round base, my favorite base size to create fighter stands with.

 

Time to add some capital vessels and F302's to make that T'auri / Lantean fleet ready for action!