VRYKERION

  • This Sounds Odd

    Lately, I’ve been toying with the idea of doing something different here on the ol’ blog.  Too many of my posts have become huge rambling walls of texts with not enough funny in them for my liking.  Take the Thundercats post.  There’s like… nothing funny in it.  Why read it?  So you know that Thundercats are awesome? You already know that!

    However, these long and ranty posts are often just text versions of my very long real life rants.  So I asked myself, “Vry, why are you essentially ranting twice and spending all this time writing out these rants and depriving your goodly readers of t3h funniez?”  I thought I had a good point.  “Also Vry, you should stop talking to yourself.”  Shut up, brain.

    That’s when I recalled several comments people would give me when I went on one of my long winded rants in college.  They would simply look at me in wide eyed fear and wonder and say “Why don’t you have a talk show?”  A TALK SHOW! Of course!  Why not simply record my rants, and thus not have to transcribe them! Genius!  So I got the idea to do…  a podcast!

    Even better, I could include my friends in the podcast in ways I could never do in the text posts.  Heck, my friend and I once had a 90 minutes conversation on how we would “Fix” the ending of the Harry Potter series (We subsequently ended up re-doing the entire second half of the series), but imagine listening to that conversation!  It was epic, I assure you.

    Ultimately, I would be able to get more down to smaller, crazier and hopefully funnier posts while keeping the insane rantings of a mad man parsed out to those who want to listen to them.

    But in the end of the day it comes down to you, my loyal and goodly readers, to decide.  It’s gonna cost me $50 to get a decent headset to record with, so it does have some investment.  So vote now!

  • Thundercats: A Purr-Fect Reinterpretation?

    Who remembers Thundercats?  I imagine a lot of people do.  The show was quite popular when I was a kid, and the popularity has only grown as nostalgia sets in.  Heck, you can probably find some random middle school kid who wasn’t even alive when the show was on sporting some Thundercats t-shirt (Don’t hate.  They might be legitimate fans.  Easy to do in this age of DVD and the internet!)  However, much like other classic shows, I often wonder how many people actually REMEMBER Thundercats.  As in what actually happened in the show, not just that it existed and the basic premise.  A few years ago I dug up my old VHS tape of Voltron and I was shocked at finding plot points I never recalled or the fact that the characters would routinely change outfits mid-conversation for no reason.  So when I think back to Thundercats, I often find gaps in my memory.  Even when the last time I watched it was as recent as when it ran on Toonami (which was ’96 – ’98 I think, barely over a decade ago!) I find huge gaps in my memory of how things happened, especially in the later episode.  I remember Lynx-O, Pumyra and Bengali but I don’t have the slightest memory of how they came to be part of the cast.  The New Thundara storyline? Complete blank.  Oh sure, I can look it up online.  There’s wikis abound about old cartoons.  However, it’s the memory that most people go off of and that is what informs the opinion.  After all, if they made a new Superman movie where he couldn’t fly, just jump really high, would the average person going to see the flick remember that once the extent of Superman’s abilities was just to “leap large buildings in a single bound”?  No! They remember Superman flying. So if Superman isn’t flying, they’re going to be bothered by it.

    The Cuteness, man! THE CUTENESS!

    If you’re a fan of the original the first thing that is going to hit you is the striking difference from the original.  When I say ‘striking’ I mean ‘resembles absolutely nothing in relation to the original show’.  The Thundercats are not Superman substitutes fleeing the doomed planet Thundera before it blows up.  Lion-o is not a little kid that grows old due to a stasis problem.  Snarf doesn’t talk (Thank Jaga, he doesn’t talk).  In fact, Thundera is a kingdom on what I can only assume is supposed to be the same Third Earth.  It is the dominant kingdom that united all the other animal kingdoms under it (If you read between the lines, it’s kind of a disturbing thought that our heroes essentially conquered all the competition and now keep them under their boot).  Lion-o is older by default, judging from his attitude and demeanor probably late teens or early 20’s and Tygra is now his adopted older brother (There’s some resentment there as Tygra is favored by both their father and the people to be the next king, but he can’t because he doesn’t share the bloodline) and Cheetara is a cleric under the very much not dead after four episodes Jaga.

    The show in and of itself is structured very differently than how I expected as well.  By the end of the two-part premiere, the team consists of Lion-o, Tygra, and Cheetara.  That’s it.  Oh we see Wily-Kit and Kat (who are street urchins, stealing their way through life in hopes of reaching the fabled lost city of treasure) and Panthro is mentioned (to be more precise, he is mentioned to be dead.) In fact, the full team isn’t assembled until the end of the fourth episode.  I was expecting the usual ‘Series premiere is spent setting up the premise, establish the villain and assemble the team’.  In this regard, we get a brief glimpse of the real villain (Mumm-ra appears but is stopped just before he transforms into his true form) and we focus mainly on his sub-ordinates the Lizard Army, the team is not fully assembled by the end, but it does do a fair job of establishing the situation by the end of the premiere.

    Even after four episodes, the show has completely seperated itself from its predecessor.  The characters are only the same in name and rough appearance and for what it’s worth, I’m loving it!  The characters are interesting and there is honest to goodness conflict in and between them.  Lion-o is thrust into position of leadership when he’s clearly emotionally not ready for it, Tygra constantly gives him grief for not being more like their father, and Cheetara attempts to comfort him.  Snarf, Kit and Kat thus far are mostly for comedic relief, but thankfully they are not annoying in the least.  I actually enjoy watching their antics.  The villains aren’t blithering idiots and can actually formulate a plan.  All in all, this show is good.  Simply in structure, tone and narrative pacing.  It’s not rushing itself to arbitrary goals, and actually has the feeling of being a more cinematic experience.  While there are some nods to the original material, it’s not needed to understand the show and actually if you were two separate the two in your mind completely, it might help with enjoying the experience.

    Four episodes in and all you see is the silhouette of this thing… HEY! It comes with a Snarf figure!

    Speaking of that vehicle, this is another showed that has peaked by interest in terms of the ever-present debate of the role of technology in fiction.  You see, Lion-o is obsessed with mythical fairy tales of his youth about this thing called “technology”.  No one else believes it exists despite Lion-o routinely making his way to Thundera’s black market to purchase supposed pieces of this tech from beyond the city walls.  Ultimately – Spoiler! – it turns out to exist, and is used to bring down Thundera.  However, because of Lion-o’s insistence in its existence, he finds a way to use to his advantage and almost saves the day with it.  Technology, although mostly used by the villains, is not portrayed as an inherently good or evil thing.  It’s a tool.  Which is precisely what it is in real life too.  It’s nice to see that when a lot of shows and movies are more than willing to easily splatter the narrative brush around to paint technology as bad and nature is good.  That’s a theme I could without.  It drives me nuts.  Technology and civilization are not diametrically opposed to nature in any way.  To simplify them as such does disservice to supporters of both.  Case in point: Fern-#$%&ing-gully.  So to see technology portrayed in such a neutral light made me really happy.  I hope they continue to explore the idea as the show progresses.

    So the big question remains, should you watch it?  I’d say that if you made it to this point without shouting “You gottta be [Expletive Deleted] kidding me!” that yes, you should check it out.  If anything it is the beginning a potentially epic series of good vs evil with some interesting races and side stories thrown in and that is what I remember Thundercats being.  Lot of weird creatures, good vs. evil, and cool machines.  They hit all of my bases in my book and did a solid job world building a brand new interpretation of all the elements.  Is it exactly the same?  No.  In my opinion, they tossed out a lot of the goofier unnecessary elements (Did the Thundercats need to be aliens from a dying planet?) and reworked them into something simpler while tying them into the overall plot.  I’d recommend it to anyone willing to see a different version of an old cartoon.

  • In Defense of Tirion Fordring (Part I)

    Tirion Fordring. Source: WoW TCG“I need you to know that what I did, I did for honor’s sake. Honor is an important part of what makes us men, Taelan. Our words and deeds must count for something in this world.”
    – Tirion Fordring, Of Blood and Honor

    There are some figures in the World of Warcraft people love to hate.  Garrosh Hellscream, Varian Wrynn, and Rhonin Redhair are the just some of them, and for the most part it is fairly easy to see the aspects of these characters people don’t like.  There must be some people out there who like them though.  At least one or two.  They are probably reading all the rants and jokes about these characters and wondering exactly why people don’t like them.  Why don’t they see them the same way you do?  That’s the way I always feel about Tirion Fordring.

    Tirion is a character I have long admired and I was ecstatic when he was included as a central figure in Wrath of the Lich King.  Yet people found him arrogant, stupid, and pointless.  They asked why he got to have the Ashbringer, why he gets statues of him everywhere, and why in the world would he be stupid enough to set up a tournament at the glacial edge of Icecrown?  Well, as is my role in finding ways to explain things that are otherwise unexplainable, I will try to answer these questions and more before we are though.

    However, opinions are a hard thing to change.  People stand by them rigidly and then get offended if you try to change their mind.  They shout “You should respect my opinion!” and then throw things at me.  It’s happened more often than I can recall (on account of all the concussions I get from having things thrown at me.)  For that reason, I’m assuming that I won’t be changing any opinions.  I’m not even going to go into any elaborate arguments.  I’m going to tell you about Tirion, why I respect him, and my own views on why things happened the way they did.  If you agree with me, that’s wonderful.  If you don’t, what can you do.  Maybe you’ll find something interesting along the way and see things a bit differently and still not come to the same conclusion as me.  I have no idea, and I make no promises.

    Originally, this was going to be one very large post.  However, I decided to split it up.  Part one will mostly be dealing with the back story for Tirion Fordring.  What he has accomplished and how he became the man he is.  The ideas presented in this part one, and my views of this man, will form the basis of part two, in which I explain my views on the events of Wrath of the Lich King and Cataclysm.

    The Man With The Silver Hand

    If we are to speak of Tirion Fordring, than we should start at the beginning, or at least the earliest records we can find.  I have heard people often wonder exactly what about Tirion could command such respect from organizations like the Argent Dawn, the Kirin Tor, or even the Knights of the Ebon Blade.  That Tirion hasn’t done anything to command this respect from people.  Yet, without hesitation, people will stand up and defend the name of Uther the Lightbringer.  Even sworn, die-hard members of the Horde will honor the name the Lightbringer (Okay, not so much the Forsaken.  They are actually more so fond of desecrating the memory of Uther.)  One of the reasons that Uther was such a prominent and well-respected figure was that he was one of the first paladins in the Knights of the Silver Hand, trained by Archbishop Alonsus Faol along the other original members of the order like Saidan Dathrohan (Dead), Gavinrad the Dire (Dead), Turalyon (No one has a clue where he is) and Tirion Fordring.

    Yes, you read that right, Tirion Fordring was one of the original founding members of the Knights of the Silver Hand, and the only one alive and present.  Which is probably why he garners as much respect as he does from the NPCs.  He is a legend, like Uther, only not dead.  So, like a living legend.  Of course, Tirion wasn’t part of the defense of Lordaeron during the Third War with Uther, Saidan, and Gavinrad.  There were complications in that matter due to a small incident that happened a few years before the Cult of the Damned began sinking their talons into the Eastern Kingdoms.

    Of Politics and Honor

    The Knights of the Silver Hand were founded after the First War, and by the end of the Second War they were renown across Lordaeron.  Tirion Fordring became a lord of the lands of Hearthglen, and was much-loved by the residents there.  However, upon an unfortunate happening, he stumbled across a lone elderly orc named Eitrigg that lived in an abandoned tower.  As a paladin, he naturally engaged the orc in combat until a chunk of the tower collapsed on him.  Tirion awoke later back at home and safe.  The monstrous orc, a soul-less devil of a creature from another world, had saved his life. Realizing this he sought out Eitrigg again and confronted him.  Eitrigg explained that he was not part of the Horde. He abandoned it after he became disillusioned by how obsessed they had become with dark magics and demons.  Eitrigg explained that the Horde used to have a rich heritage steeped in shamanism and honor. Tirion could see that the old orc was honest and had no hostile intent.  Eitrigg simply wanted to live out his remaining years in quiet isolation.  Tirion swore on his honor that in exchange for saving his life, he would help to save Eitrigg’s, and would keep his secret safe.

    Of course, honor has no place in politics.  Tirion’s second, an ambitious and sordid paladin named Barthilas (Yes, THAT Barthilas) wasn’t convinced by Tirion’s story that the orc had been dealt with.  Barthilas hated orcs, and much like the larger portion of the human population after two whole wars, saw them as brutish bloodthirsty beasts and nothing else.  His opinion was fueled by his own personal tragedy.  He had lost both parents to an orc attack during the Second War.  However, Barthilas was only ordained as a paladin at the very end of that war and never actually saw battle.  You could say the whole situation left him angry, prideful, and with a slightly skewed view on the entire situation.

    Barthilas called in Saidan Dathrohan to investigate the whole situation.  As another one of the founding members of the Silver Hand, he was straight with Tirion and told him that he trusted him.  They were friends after all.  However, rumors of a new Horde stirring in the south (led by some escaped orc slave) had forced his hand, and he couldn’t overlook such a potential threat.  Dathrohan and his men went out into the woods to investigate along with Barthilas, and naturally found Eitrigg alive and well.  They attempted to detain him, when Tirion intervened.  Tirion, who swore to protect Eitrigg on his honor, did the unthinkable and attacked Dathrohan and his men, committing treason to save the life of an orc.

    Tirion was to put on trial, presided over by some of the most powerful figures in the Alliance:  Admiral Daelin Proudmoore, Arch-Mage Antonidas, Archbishop Alonsus Faol, and Prince Arthas Menethil.  Before the trial began, Tirion’s best friend and captain of Hearthglen’s guard, Arden, and his wife, Karanda, begged and pleaded for Tirion to renounce any oath he had sworn to Eitrigg for the sake of his people, for the love of his life, and his son: Taelan.  Tirion refused.  He would not sacrifice his honor and break the oath.  Arden was disheartened and Karanda furious, and all that Tirion could do was apologize.  The trial itself drew a crowd.  This was not a simple criminal trial.  Tirion was a well-known war hero or the Alliance, a legendary paladin, and a lord of a principality being tried for treason.  It created even a greater uproar when Tirion began the trial with pleading guilty.

    As the trial proceeded, both Dathrohan and Barthilas gave their testimony.  Barthilas’ being openly mocking of Tirion’s status and calling him a filthy traitor.  In the end, Uther the Lightbringer offered Tirion a choice.  A full pardon for Tirion to disavow his oath to Eitrigg and reaffirm his loyalty to the Alliance.  Tirion was tempted.  It would be easy.  Just abandon the orc to its fate and he could go home happily with his wife and son.  However, living without honor is something Tirion could not do.  He told Uther and the court that he would gladly reaffirm his loyalty to the Alliance, because the Alliance always had his loyalty, but he would not disavow his oath to Eitrigg.  Those in attendance were enraged, they wanted blood, but the court would not have it.  While Eitrigg was sentenced to death without trial, Tirion would not share his fate.  Tirion was to be stripped of title and his lands (Lordship of Hearthglen was passed to an ecstatic Barthilas) and was to be exiled from Lordaeron for all time.  On top of that, Tirion was going to be excommunicated.

    Excommunication is a harsh punishment used by the Church of the Holy Light to strip that person of all their light given powers and abilities.  It essentially severs you from the Holy Light.  It is also a point of contestation between me and a few other lore nuts like Rades of Orcish Army Knife.  See Rades and others have debated with me that excommunication doesn’t actually have any real power over the person’s connection with the Light.  That it’s just a ceremony that strips one of their confidence to contact the Light and thus unable to use its power.  However, the text describes Tirion as set in his way and sure he was in the right until his connection from the Light is severed and he feels that darkness falls over him.  After he loses that power, then he despairs.  If you go by the text as written, Tirion is cut off from the Light, and as excommunication is described as a rare ritual that every paladin lives in fear of, I imagine it’s fairly serious.  Anything else is a fan theory.  Maybe solid fan theory, but still fan theory, until Blizz states otherwise. (Which they might.  Who knows with Blizz, right?)

    The reason that discussion is important is because after Tirion was excommunicated and exiled, he came back to save Eitrigg who was slated to be executed in Stratholme.  Although Tirion has been exiled, and could face serious punishment for this, he rides into Stratholme and facing Barthilas and others in order to try to save Eitrigg’s life or die trying.  I honestly wouldn’t be too surprised if Tirion was expecting to die in his attempt.  However,  at the same time a large force of orcs arrive in Stratholme.  Led by that same escaped slave, Thrall, they too have come to free Eitrigg.  Thanks to the distraction, Tirion manages to get Eitrigg out of the city, but Eitrigg suffers a mortal wound during the escape.  To save Eitrigg, Tirion begs and pleads to the Holy Light for the power to save this orc.  At first it doesn’t work.  He doesn’t feel the Light’s warmth filling him.  However, as he continues to try, he begins to feel it, and ultimately heals Eitrigg’s wound.

    This is where Rades’ point about confidence comes in.  That Tirion must dig deep within himself to call upon the Light’s power, and obviously excommunication cannot actually sever the connection.  However, Tirion is the only person we have any record of this happening with.  We are told that excommunication is rare, but not that it had never been used before.  If they ever regained their powers, I assume someone in the Church would have heard of it.  Maybe?  The only actual canon example we can point to of another character losing their connection to the Holy Light is Nobundo in ‘Unbroken’.  He loses his connection after being attacked by Grom Hellscream during the fall of Shattrath.  It is unclear whether it is some demonic power used by Grom that caused it, or whatever foul red mist had settled over the battlefield (which was probably demonic in nature as well) but one thing is for certain, Nobundo never regains his ability to connect with the Holy Light.  Fortunately, he becomes the first draenei shaman (okay, he was a Broken at that point).

    Really, it’s up to interpretation.  There is nothing that strictly invalidates Rades’ theory, but if you go by the text as written (which is all we have), it does take some interpretation to reach that end.  If you strictly go by what we are told, Tirion overcame excommunication by some means.  Even if it was simply an issue of confidence, it is an extraordinary feat that we canonically have not seen or been told has ever been repeated.  That’s saying something in my opinion.

    The Father and the Son

    Now let’s skip ahead a few years and one war later, Lordaeron has fallen and is either under the rule of the Forsaken, the Scourge or, in the case of Tirion’s old home in Hearthglen, the Scarlet Crusade.  Even more interesting to dear old Tirion (who has fallen on hard times and is now living in a shack down by the river), is that the Highlord of the Scarlet Crusade’s operation in Hearthglen is Taelan Fordring – Tirion’s son.  It’s safe to assume that Taelan had a bit of a strange relationship with his father.  Especially, since Karanda told their son that his father died after Tirion was exiled.  All that young Taelan had to remember his father by was the hammer Tirion gave him and a letter.  The letter in question was left to Taelan after Tirion was sentenced and contained the quote at the beginning of this post.  I will not hesitate to tell you that I, Vrykerion, will cry every time I read that part of the story.  Tirion tries to explain to Taelan that he will hear about the terrible things his father did, that his father was a traitor, but in the end Tirion wants his son to know that he did it as a matter of honor.  Because while you can have your lands, titles, rank and wealth taken – only you can take away your own honor.  He ends the letter by saying that Taelan’s actions will be Tirion’s redemption, and that he will always love his son.

    Perhaps that is why when the irrational Prince of Lordaeron disbanded the Silver Hand, and the situation with the scourge grew more dire, that Taelan decided to join the Scarlet Crusade.  To anyone who did not know of the madness that dwelt in the heart of the Crusade’s hierarchy, they seemed to be doing the right thing (at least in the beginning) and trying to defend Lordaeron from the threat of the undead.  After all, his old teacher Isillien (now Grand Inquisitor Isillien) was part of the central core of the Scarlet Crusade and Taelan trusted him, how could this organization devoted to saving his homeland not be the right route to take?

    Tirion however (in his shack DOWN BY THE RIVER! Sorry, that joke is really funny to me.) had seen a completely different side of what the Scarlet Crusade was up to.  He found adventurers that would help find three items for him: The hammer he gave Taelan as a present that was laid in Tirion’s false grave, the standard of the Order of the Silver Hand that Taelan threw down during his last stand at Northdale when he renounced everything he held dear, and finally a painting made of Tirion, Karanda and Taelan at Caer Darrow where they used to spend their vacations.  After the heroes reclaimed these items, Tirion arranged a deal with Myranda the Hag to cast an illusion on the heroes so they could infiltrate Hearthglen, give Taelan the acquired items and tell him the truth – that his father is alive and waiting for him to come home.

    Taelan, realizing that much of what he had been told through his life and especially by the Crusade had been a lie, decided to follow the heroes out of Hearthglen.  However, as he proceeded on the road out-of-town he was attacked by Grand Inquisitor Isillien who claimed that he had glorious plans for Taelan but the failure of the Fordring bloodline was bound to catch up to him sooner or later.  They battled as the heroes kept additional Scarlet reinforcements from joining the fray but ultimately, Isillien was the victor and Taelan Fordring was dead.  That is when Tirion arrives.  Seeing his son laying dead at Isillien feet, he attacked the Grand Inquisitor and killed him.  Taking the body of his son in his hands, Tirion swore an oath just as he did to Eitrigg all those years ago:

    “Too long have I sat idle, gripped in this haze… this malaise, lamenting what could have been… what should have been. Your death will not have been in vain, Taelan. A new Order is born on this day… an Order which will dedicate itself to extinguishing the evil that plagues this world. An evil that cannot hide behind politics and pleasantries. This I promise… this I vow…” (Source)

    On that day the ground work was laid on what would be known as the Argent Crusade, and the long march to Icecrown Citadel began…

    (This post is dedicated in memory to a batch of burnt cookies.)

  • Weirdness Ensues! Alien Abductions in Uldum?!

    Uldum Residents Reported this Odd Event to the Gnomish paper, Weekly Word Gnews, but only the Land of Odd took the tip seriously! Wait… Really?

    ULDUM, Kalimdor, July 2nd – People along the southern coast of Uldum were treated to a strange sight today.  A possible case for extraterrestrial life visiting this small blue marble called Azeroth that may or may not take place in the same universe as Starcraft.  After another routine visit from the Aspect of Death himself, witnesses spotted a strange occurrence of fire apparently levitating the air amongst the destruction.  Is this proof that aliens that can actual fly their spacecraft correctly are visiting Azeroth?  Or is this just Vrykerion’s extremely stretched attempt at making a bad pun about an old science fiction film while he stalls for a bigger post that he hopes to have up later this week?  You decide!

  • Ironman Challenge: Level 20 achieved.

    Ironkerion at level 20
    Ironkerion has a magic demon pony. devil-bro-hooves yo!

    So I got a chance to work on Ironkerion this past weekend and push his way all the way through Silverpine Forest and up to level 21.  I must say that compared to things I’ve been hearing from my fellow challenger over at The Tome of the Ancient I’m thinking that a warlock has been definitely a boon to Ironkerion’s success.  After completing the Tirisfal quest line to completion (though the final quest with Ms. Voss bugged out on me and I got disconnected. Quest still got completed, but the paternal slaughter? Definitely missed.), I ventured down south into the Silverpine Forest to meet up with the Banshee Queen.

    I’ve done the Silverpine questline in whole about 3 times now and I must say, it really does quite a bit in terms of making the Forsaken seem justified in their actions.  Granted, most of Hillsbrad undoes that, but I find myself hard pressed to find a reason that the Alliance should have a stake in Lordaeron.  Oh I’m sure there are reasons.  They always have reasons, but when lined up to the Forsaken’s reasons… eh, I’ve got to agree with the forsaken.  However, in regards to Gilneas – Gilneas is not part of Lordaeron.  Heck, neither is Hillsbrad, Alterac, or Arathor for that matter.  They were part of the Alliance of Lordaeron, but that’s like saying every country in the United Nations is part of America because their club house is in New York.  If Sylvanas is referring to the entire continent of Lordaeron… then no, sorry, that doesn’t belong to the Forsaken by default.  In fact, I’m sure your Sin’dorei relatives would probably take issue with that statement too, since Quel’thalas is part of the continent of Lordaeron.  However, since the fall of the Seven Kingdoms between the scourge and the Third War (and that little incident with Deathwing probably didn’t help matters), the entire continent has been more or less a state of nature.  In fact the only reason Gilneas and Kul Tiras survived was due to their seperationist tendencies, and now that they wall is open… sorry Greymane, a new challenger has appeared.

    Ironkerion Covers for Ironmary
    Because I promised to try to smooth things out…

    Questing in Silverpine on Ironkerion wasn’t really that difficult until the end.  Once you get to the point where you are sent into Gilneas to assist the front lines, that’s when things started to get a little hairy.  My voidwalker, while easily keeping threat, didn’t have the health to stand up to two 7th Legion soldiers at once.  I died many times attempting to penetrate Gilneas City and peer through its ridiculously oversized telescope.  I was able to kill the completely optional elite Ettin that wandered the Gilnean countryside though.  I simply dotted him with everything I could and health funneled my blueberry.  When the blueberry eventually died, it was just a matter of fearing the ettin away long enough to soul burn summon another voidwalker for immediate disposal (They hate me soooo much. I just know it.)  Using this process, I eventually killed the ettin and claimed the start-a-quest item he drops for a fabulous new ring that I sold to some random forsaken vendor (I can only imagine that they find this mildly insulting.  I’m wearing whites and vendor trash and keep selling all the nice rewards they give me.  And yet I’m still revered with them.)

    The Original Wolfoids from Penny Arcade
    That was my reaction as well.

    The other place that was tricky was penetrating the Kirin Tor bubble (oh god that sounds dirty).  While the elementals that patrol the non-phased bubble, and the mages around the crater, were spaced out far enough that there weren’t issues, the phased bubble was a pink, sparkley death trap of doom.  The mages were so packed in places, I was pulling 2-3 at every turn and I will not hesitate to tell you I died a few times trying to get out of their town hall.  Once I reached the witchaloks, it was much easier.  They summoned wolfoids but luckily I was prepared because I read ‘Lord of the God-Kings‘ before venturing into mage territory.  Did I have three wand-claws bursting from each of my hands? No. I am a warlock. I have warlock stuff.  Warlock stuff instantly beats any mage stuff.  The internet told me so.  However, I did jack one of their dresses.

    Those were the two biggest problem areas really.  Other than that the mobs were sparse enough that I only had one at a time on my voidwalker, and if they hit too hard I could always funnel him up.  Ironkerion himself can’t take too many hits.  Maybe 10 direct smacks and he’s down.  Thank the nether that I have a tank-in-a-box.

    Oh, also this:

    Double Lord Godfrey
    Double Lord Godfrey! What does this MEAN?!

    Next up: Hillsbrad.  I try to not murder Johnny Awesome, and attempt to justify playing a forsaken some more.  Wish Ironkerion luck!

  • The Dread Spy James Bond?

    “He explained that the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear.” – Wesley, the Princess Bride

    There is always something trecherous in discussing a character with a long continuity.  Like dipping into a pool of sharks with laser beams attached to their head, it can prove be a fascinating but dangerous experience.  So when I say that I have a theory that would fix the continuously growing amount of confusion (at least on my part) surrounding the continouity and mythos of one specific British secret agent, I do so with no doubt that this may cost me a good deal of time sorting through the endless amounts of angry comments demanding that I confess that I don’t know anything about James Bond.

    So in an effort to spare my eyes the laborous task of sorting through nearly 60 years of muddled history and contradictory statements regarding background and various fan wankery about how it all fits together, as well as the aforementioned onslaught of angry emails and comments, let’s just begin this post by clarifying that my knowledge of James Bond is limited to the films, the information I’ve been able to gleam from those films, and I’ll be discussing my issues with those films.

    In other words, I don’t give two stirred martinis about the continuity, history or information presented in the novels.  I have never read them.  I’m sure they’re lovely, but this post pertains wholly to the context of the films.  Thank you, and good day.

    Back to the topic at hand,  I have had a long running issue with the Bond series.  From the changing actors to the shifting of the character’s age, there are a lot of inconsistencies with James Bond.  In 2006, they attempted to “reboot” the series in a modern-day setting with Casino Royale.  We have modern technology, a female M (played by the same actress, causing much head scratching on my part), and a suave new 21st century setting.  Essentially tossing out Bonds #1-20 out the window, to the point where I’m not sure why they are still numbering in this fashion (Maybe because it’s one of the only movie series that has more installments than the Land Before Time).

    Not taking into account many of my own personal complaints with Casino Royale.  I felt the need to reboot the entire franchise unnecessary because there was a simple way to give Bond a fresh start, maintain continuity, and even patch a couple of potential plot holes along the way. The solution in my eyes is a very simple one: Make ‘James Bond’ a pseudonym.  A fake name that comes with holding the dubious title of being Agent 007.  When a former 007 retires (or dies), MI6 scouts a new one and they take their predecessor’s position and name.  They become the new James Bond.

    Let’s go back and re-examine the beginning of Casino Royale. In a modern-day setting, we see a new agent become the new 007 and the new James Bond from M, played by the same actress as the previous four films.  Old M, new Bond. Well, that’s slightly less confusing.  There’s no Q, because Q sadly passed away back in The World is Not Enough and no witty banter with any form of Moneypenny because this new Bond is brand new and thus is not familiar with (possibly never has met) Moneypenny.  You get the new start, the emotionally fragile new Bond, and the new gadgets and with one small alteration you have not informed the fans of the previous 20 Bond films that their old favorites are now irrelevant.

    This does more than fix some of my issues with Casino Royale though.  What about agent 006 – Alec Trevelyan?  One of Bond’s dearest friends from MI6 that has somehow never been mentioned until the events of GoldenEye. Well maybe because only the Pierce Brosnan Bond knew Alec and not the entire line of Bonds.  How about how Q continued to age while Bond roughly remained the same age from incarnation to incarnation?  And of course, James Bond isn’t the only alias the agent goes under.  After all, if the guy looking to kill you knows that you usually go under the name ‘Nigel Tinkerfleet’ you will probably be telling the hotel clerk that your name is ‘Horton Gagglesbrook’.

    Though you must admit, the idea does hold some degree of weight.  Nor would it have been difficult to implement (heck, they still can in Bond 23 due out in 2012 supposedly), an additional scene or a few extra lines of dialogue to establish that the current James Bond is in a line of Bonds.  Something like “You may wish to familiarize yourself with the accomplishments of your predecessors” and flop! M tosses down a folder marked ‘007: James Bond’ with some photos in reference to previous Bond films.

    Is this idea totally air tight? No, of course not, because I highly doubt it was ever intentional.  Ian Flemming’s novels clearly all portray the same man. The idea was to do the same with the films. There are likely several points where one Bond refers to something a different Bond did as personal experience, and then of course there’s the issue of Tracy, Bond’s deceased wife (To be fair, she is only in one film, and while the subtext can be interpreted that Bond might be thinking of or referring to Tracy, it’s never explicit.)  However, we are knocking of the 50th anniversary of Sean Connery’s debut performance in Dr. No and with all this talk of creating a grittier, darker Bond, and wanting to ‘reboot’ the entire franchise with these newest films, is changing this detail really such an out-there idea? Because honestly, I would take a retcon over a reboot any day.

  • Presenting the Iron Man…

    So after posting the rules and guidelines for the Ironman Challenge, I opened up a poll to decide what race and class I should play for this.  Declaring that I couldn’t trust myself to make it too easy or too hard, I figured my loyal and always appreciated readers should decide what I should play and what they would read about.

    The poll was set to go until Saturday, but seeing as how we got 28 votes already and the Warchief Elections ran a better part of a month and only got like 110 votes, I’m gonna say this was about all we were going to get.  Especially after votes were turned into a trickle of once every4-5 hours after this afternoon’s rush of about 10 votes.  I decided to end the poll early and sent the call out on twitter (if you are upset by this and didn’t hear about, well…  maybe you should follow me on twitter. 😛 ) And after all was said and done, I am happy to present to you the reader voted on winner of the Ironman Toon poll:

    He is Ironkerion (get it?) an Undead Warlock.  I’m a bit shocked that one came out on top.  I figured people would pick a hard class for me to do this with (okay, the runner up was warrior. But warlock just barely beat it.  Okay fine there’s an uproar about it, I can switch.)  So a pet class it is.  I’m actually a bit intrigued, I haven’t played a warlock since early WotLK, and that toon was mostly leveled during Burning Crusade (My first max level toon actually).  So this is semi nostalgic for me.  He’s currently level 5, dressed in the all white gear you can find off of the Deathknell cloth armor vendor, and just setting off into the great big world.

    I really don’t expect much a difference from levels 5-10 anyway.  I seem to recall pre-Cata there wasn’t an abundance of green gear to be had in the 1-10 areas (heck, I remember everyone going to Ghostlands because that’s where you got the “best” 10-20 gear compared to Silverpine and the Barrens.)

    In case you want to follow along or see if I’m around to say hi or anything, Ironkerion is on the horde side (duh) of the Zangarmarsh realm – US.  So all you folks in <It Came From The Blog> better say hello. 😉  He’s currently my only toon on that realm, so it’s definitely a “no financial aid” situation.  My imp is named Grobham or something like that.  It seems oddly fitting.  I too enjoy grob and ham.  Often with a side of hathuun and rice.  Expect many a joke about demon names folks.  This is what you voted for.

    Speaking of votes, here is a quick breakdown of how it all turned out:

    RACE:
    Forsaken: 7 votes.
    Gnome: 5 votes.
    Tauren: 4 votes.
    Night Elf, Dwarf, Orc and Goblin: 2 votes.
    Human, Draenei, Worgen, Blood Elf: 1 vote.
    Troll: 0 votes.

    CLASS:
    Warlock: 6 votes.
    Warrior: 5 votes.
    Shaman: 4 votes.
    Priest and Mage: 3 votes.
    Druid, Paladin and Hunter: 2 votes.
    Rogue: 1 vote.
    I was kinda rooting for gnome myself, but what the hey, I got like 3 gnomes alts and only 1 undead alt already.  Plus I get cannibalize out of this, so there’s a perk.  I’ll keep ya posted on the progress of old Ironkerion here, and anyone you out there daring enough to try this whole thing out for yourself – Here’s the rules, and please keep me and Psynister happily updated on your progress as we do with ours. 😀

    LET THE IRONMAN BEGIN-ETH!

     (Like that -eth suffix? Makes it more medievally in my opinion. Which in metal terms makes it instantly like 3-4 times more bad ass.)

  • The WoW Ironman Challenge

    Ironman is clearly a Paladin. A Chaotic Neutral Paladin. But a Paladin nonetheless.

    WoW is total EZ Mode now!

    …How many times have we heard that statement?  How many times must we listen to how the World of Warcraft is no longer and will never be “hardcore” ever again.  Personally I’m tired of the argument myself.  Call me old-fashioned, but I’m nearly thirty so I’m entitled to my first old man rant now, dangit.  Back in my day (which considering people still do it, I guess that means…  Now?) if a game wasn’t hard enough, you didn’t complain on the forums. You MADE the game harder: time trials, pacifist clerics, and need we forget Final Fantasy white mage soloing?

    This line of thinking sparked a single focused thought: “How far could you get in WoW without using  green or better items and not spending talent points?”  I was actually surprised when the whole thing started to build into a full-blown discussion between several people, including Psynister. Each contributing ideas of how to flesh out this concept.

    The idea became to evolve and take form in what Psynister coined, “The WoW Ironman Challenge.”  The rules are simple:

    1. Use only white/grey items.

    2. No spending talent points.  No specialization at level 10. (Regular skill training is fine.)

    2. No Primary or Secondary Professions other than First Aid.

    3. No means of XP boosting (No Recruit-A-Friend, No Guild, and obviously no Heirlooms)

    4. No consumable bonuses (food, potions, elixirs, etc) – Rogue Poisons are Okay.

    5. No enchants.

    6. No Groups. (Since clarification was requested: That means no dungeons, no Dungeon Finder, no battlegrounds, no anything that puts you in a group and no grouping up with people to quest or anything.)

    7. No Death Knights.

    8. No Glyphs

    That only leaves the matter of what race and what class.  Naturally, one would choose the path of least resistance (maybe a troll hunter or something) or perhaps stretch to find the most difficult combination possible (Gnome warrior?) but instead I’ve decided to let you, the readers, decide who I will play in this contest of chutzpah.

    POLLS ARE CLOSED!

    In the case of a Class/Race incompatibility, preference will go to the class and the race will be the one with the most votes that can take that class.  The polls will close on Saturday afternoon (12pm PST) Thursday Night (9pm PST) (EDIT: I changed the time because 1. I think we got most of the votes we were gonna get based on last years Warchief Election, and 2. I really really REALLY want to get started on this project), so make your voice heard.  Will you make me suffer through utter brutality?  Will you let me slip down easy street?  Is there a class you really want to see this done with?  This is your chance.

    I also want to make it clear that this is not a race.  I for one only play WoW some of the time.  I do have a job, and a life (and by life I mean many other video games to play), so I’m not going to barrel through this and pull my hair out.  This is simply a challenge mode to see how far this will go.  Will I make it to 85?  Will it become impossible to kill something by level 20? We will see, and you can expect to see updates of progress here on the Land of Odd as well.If you want to take the challenge yourself I encourage you to do so! Feel free to keep me updated with your own progress as I’m updating mine to you! 😀

    UPDATE: In further discussion, I realize some details got left out. So here’s some extra details:  Yes, rogues can use poisons. They are a class specific thing.  No, you can’t use glyphs. 😛

  • Pyroarachnophobia? Tips & Tricks for King of the Spider-Hill

    I have often wondered if something like arachnophobia extends into more specialized forms.  Like ice spiders, giant mutated alien spiders, clown monsters that look like spiders but are not actually arachnids, or in the far more relevant to today’s post – fire spiders.  So you’ve done your three days of duty on the slopes of Mount Hyjal and gathered up enough Marks of the World Tree to plant the seed of the Sentinel Tree in the Molten Front.  You have access to a whole new zone for epic daily questing (and believe me, I am shocked at how much more epic this place feels than Quel’Danas.  Quel’Danas definitely had the feeling of battle in the early stages, but this feels like an all out war!)  So what do you do first?  Why go and try to grab some achievements first!  Because patch 4.2 is the solo achievement hunters dream!

    There’s a couple of achievements that can be easily and quickly done in the Molten Front without touching a single quest.  The first and by far the easiest is Flawless Victory. The Behemoths are wandering around just north of the hub, and all you have to do is run away from them when they cast their stomps and stay out of the shadow of the flying boulder.  Honestly, I would just run in, hit them 2-3 times, and then run behind them to avoid the next stop (which were almost always back to back to back).  I don’t think they hit very hard beyond those two abilities, so keep at it and they’ll eventually go down.

    The trickier one that took me a few tries to find a path was King of the Spider-Hill.  This has try to get to the top of the giant rocky hill in the middle of the Widow’s Clutch (NE of the quest hub).  If you’re like me and don’t bother reading online how the heck you’re supposed to do this, you’ll probably find just as I did that the rocks are too big to hop from one to another.  So how do you get up there?  You attack the spiders on the cliffs.  As soon as you start fighting them, they’ll death grip you with their webs up to the ledge their on.  Just like that, you’re much closer to the end goal!  However, there is some tricks to this.  Not every path will lead you to the top.  You can quite often end up in spots where no other spiders are within line of sight to attack.  So what follows is the path I took to get to the top.

    Click for Larger Version

    Step 1 is essentially the ground.  This spot is around the south-east corner of the hill. From there you just follow the numbering patterns.  I did this on a paladin using just my Judgement, so making sure I had line of sight was important to getting up the hill.  This pattern successfully got me half way up the hill without a single incident of having to backtrack because I couldn’t find another spider to smack.  However, be warned, if there are a few people doing this at once these spiders take a while to respawn.  Also keep in mind that if someone is chilling in one spot and repeatedly killing a spider to ensure you can’t progress that it is griefing. Report them.

    Click for Larger Version

    I would also avoid using AOE or multi-target spells that can grab multiple spiders on different levels.  They’ll start pulling you back and forth and you risk the chance of being left on a lower level than you intended.  Avenger’s Shield was not my friend for this.  That happened to me on the second image (spots 6-7) and I was left down in spot 6 waiting for 7 to respawn again before I could finally get to the top peak.  However, if you can do area spells that can reach places that normally you wouldn’t be able to hit because of LoS, (Blizzard, Rain of Fire, Death & Decay) or even engineering bombs, you can get up this hill much easier. Just drop it on some ledge where there’s a spider and it will yank you up.  For everyone else, this path is a proven and tested one.  Provided you don’t get yanked around or get stuck on respawns, you’ll have your achievement in no time at all.

    And when all is said and done, you will have your achievement (if it doesn’t pop as soon as the final spider grips you up to the top, don’t panic.  Just walk around a bit at the top and it’ll come up.)  Take this chance to enjoy the excellent view of the Molten Front from this hill.  Looks kinda like Hellfire Penninsula after I told it to die in a fire, actually.  Good thing it’s way more fun than Hellfire.  I’ll probably come up with some more tips and tricks for different Molten Front achievements if I come across any that look like a helping hand would be appreciated (or someone asks me for one I suppose.)  Enjoy!

  • Generator Rex: Waging War Against Luddites?

    Time to lay my cards on the table for this one.  Luddites (that’s folk who don’t like technology) and I do not get along.  Never have.  Which is unfortunate that my college major (creative writing) was so chock full of anti-technology people who I couldn’t go a single semester without one major showdown of the rest of the class vs. me over the issue of the ever-growing integration of technology in modern society.  These are the people who would drudge up the most pessimistic possible view of things if you were ever to utter the word “zeitgeist” (a word that you will never hear or use outside of college) that you would you actively fear that these poor souls are the future because some of them would see the annihilation of all humanity as a “step up”.

    What does any of this have to do with Generator Rex?  During those trying years I found a word that will stay with me for as long as I live: Transhumanist.  Those who believe in, and I quote (from Wikipedia), “the possibility and desirability of fundamentally transforming the human condition by developing and making widely available technologies to stop or slow aging and to greatly enhance human intellectual, physical, and psychological capacities.”  In other words the fusing of man and machine, sometimes through little things called nanites.  Nanites are the very heart and soul of the plot behind the hit Cartoon Network show, Generator Rex.

    The story goes like this: a few years before the show starts there was a massive explosion at a test facility that launched nanites into the atmosphere, ultimately infecting everyone on the planet.  The nanites were designed originally to be things that helped people – curing diseases, treating injuries, and eliminate hunger – but they the explosion released them before they could be finished.  Now anyone who carries nanites in them can be unwillingly be transformed into an EVO (Exponentially Varigated Organism), a monstrous creature that may or may not preserve their human minds.  Anyone being everyone.  Everyone except White Knight.

    White Knight is the leader of Providence, an organization devoted to the elimination of all EVOs, and is the only human being in the world that does not have nanites due to an (un)fortunate accident that sealed him in a decontamination chamber before the start of the series (It’s shown as a flashback to when the show’s protagonist, Rex, first joins Providence).  White Knight is a ruthless man who is willing to go to any length to stop the EVO menace – send his soldiers to their deaths, has a magnet that will rip the nanites right out of your body and kill you, and on more than one occasion just says #$%* it and tries to nuke’m.  (And he’s one of the good guys!)

    White Knight firmly believes that despite his track record of doing anything to get the job done – which rarely actually goes well I might add, including dropping a nuke on a rampaging zerg swarm of EVO bugs that just causes them to rapidly multiply – he is the only one in the world that can be trusted to run Providence.  Why?  Because he can’t go EVO due to his lack of nanites.  Because he hasn’t been exposed to the machines, he is the only one to be trusted to never betray anyone.  Need I mention that this revelation comes in an episode where he is actively trying to beat up and possibly kill Rex – WHO IS ONE OF HIS SUBORDINATES?

    The White Knight represents the luddite.  Who despite discoveries like Rex having a more finalized version of the nanites that can actually be used to cure some EVOs of their mutations, still doesn’t trust him and would rather see him dead (He kinda warms up to Rex in season two.  Still doesn’t trust him.)  He sees anyone and everything affected by the nanites as untrustworthy and corrupted.  It’s an extreme viewpoint that is firmly rooted in the ‘Science is Evil’ camp.  Nanites are evil, regardless of their intent. Trying to find a cure is a waste of time. Why use science when you can just kill them?

    There is also a rogue AI named ZAG-RS that is devoted to stopping the nanite problem, usually through some means of destroying them and, coincidentally, their hosts along with them (ZAG is very clear that this is just a side effect of its goal, and is not actively malicious.)  So we have a human that wants to destroy EVOs, an AI that wants to destroy every living thing (except White Knight I guess) – can’t we just throw this one in the typical Anti-Science sci-fi box and move on?  Not yet.

    This picture doesn't really have anything to do with the article other than the show is worth watching JUST for Bobo Haha, the gun-toting, eye-patch-wearing, fez-sporting talking monkey. (technically an ape, but monkey is so much more fun to say)

    The difference between this and almost every single movie based on a Michael Crichton novel is that science is not blindly considered a bad thing.  Case and point being the show’s protagonist: Rex.  Rex is an EVO that was gifted with a unique set of nanites that were not part of the batch that was showered down on the rest of the world.  His were more a more advanced version that were much closer to their intent goal.  While not perfect, Rex’s nanites allow him several capabilities that other EVOs do not have.  Including a human appearance and the ability to “cure” some EVOs by absorbing their nanites into himself and revert people and animals back into their original forms.  He fights off enemies and dangerous EVOs alike using massive bio-mechanical constructs that he forms with his body like a cyborg Green Lantern.  In this sense, science becomes the cure to other scientific ills.  A concept that is strangely foreign to some in both the show and in real life (We can’t use science to help stop global warming! Science caused global warming!)

    The best part of the entire show is that there isn’t a single right answer (However, I would consider ZAG-RS’ plan of “kill everything” a definite WRONG answer) there is merit presented in both White Knight and Rex’s argument.  After all, Rex’s nanites can’t cure everything (Yet.  His powers have grown over time.  He originally could only cure people, but over time his abilities have expanded to curing animals as well. So it’s not out of question that he might be able to eventually cure even the “incurables” who have their nanites immune to Rex’s absorption/healing abilities.)

    So maybe stating that the show is waging war against Luddites is a bit much (does make for a great headline though.) Still, this show has generated a lot of debate about the ethics of technology and its uses.  I’m always firmly rooted in the camp that while science can cause problems, science can also fix many more problems, while others sometimes fall firmly in the “it’s not worth the risk” camp of Michael Crichton and White Knight.  At least it generates more discussion than your average episode of Spongebob (even though I will admittedly say that Spongebob Squarepants has generated many laughs and the occasional philosophical or ethical debate among me and my friends.)  The show is definitely worth checking out, even if it’s just for the awesome music.  Seriously.  Love that theme song.