Author: Julian Cannon

AMC Network Announces The Walking Dead NYCC Panel

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AMC today released new unit and behind-the-scenes photography from the highly-anticipated new season of The Walking Dead, premiering Sunday, October 7 at 9/8c.

In addition, select cast and producers from the show will be at New York Comic Con for a panel, moderated by Chris Hardwick (Talking Dead), at the Theater at Madison Square Garden on Saturday, October 6th and 8/7c.

Cast members including Andrew Lincoln, Norman Reedus, Danai Gurira, Melissa McBride and Jeffrey Dean Morgan join Executive Producer and Showrunner Angela Kang, Executive Producer and Chief Content Officer Scott M. Gimple, Executive Producers Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd and Dave Alpert and Special Effects Makeup Supervisor and Executive Producer Greg Nicotero to discuss the show’s exciting new chapter and what’s to come in Season 9.

The Walking Dead returns Sunday, October 7 at 9/8c.

Keystone Comic Con Cosplay Contest Highlights

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Keystone Comic Con is here for the weekend in Philadelphia which is so far a great show. The cosplayers are a huge part of the show and it showed on huge display during the costume contest that happened later that day. The costume contest had four judges which were Sharon Rose, Tessa Netting, Lee Anna Vamp, and Marie Anna Chiment and the host was very entertaining during the show. It was broken down to different categories for each themed costume. This contest was very fun to watch and to see the cosplayers take the time to make those costumes and hearing about how it was made is very informative. Here are the photos below and the winner which was Necromancer.

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Fear The Walking Dead Season 4 Episode 13 “Blackjack” thoughts

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This week on Fear the Walking Dead, we were all over the place. With only 3 episodes left we are winding down to the end. We got to see all our survivors separately. Then miraculously finding one another like always. The episode jumped all over, but I’ll break it down per group.

First we see John, and Strand. They are Stranded on a small island surrounded by water. The water has risen quiet high because of the storm. John is making a raft to get across and find the others, while Strand is, well Strand. After trying the raft out alone, because Strand was staying behind, John got a big surprise in the form of a huge gator. This thing was massive! Jumping back to shore John loses hope of getting across, and an I told you so from Strand. While cutting branches John sees a truck with a bed cover and enlists Strand to get it, pulling the your people shot me card. Once up there, Strand seen a bottle of liquor on the floor, but also a zombie in the driver’s seat. The truck was on a horrid angle. Hopping on the side of truck Strand leans in for the bottle and down goes the truck, flipping down the hill it was on top of. Luckily the zombie gets a branch to the head, Strand gets his drink, and John gets his Truck bed cover. Rigging the battery to the car horn, John hopes to bring the dead to them, keeping the Gator occupied whilst they slip by in the raft. Convincing Strand to join him, they start-up the horn and take off. Everything is working great until the horn dies, the dead turn around, and the gator starts attacking their makeshift raft, causing a leak. Panicking John shoots off his gun to call the dead back and they swim back to where they started, both defeated.

Lucy is looking for Charlie and spots a library. Knowing she loves books she checks there to no avail. Waking outside, she finds a gravely injured man in a car. While trying to help him, they realize the car crushing him is what is keeping him alive. He tells Lucy all he wants is one last beer, so she sets off to find one. Looking everywhere, she has no luck and eventually radios in to tell him she was sorry. He tells her she will help people on her journey, even though she couldn’t help him. That’s when she finds a box left by Morgan and co, with a single beer. She also grabs an ice pack out of a first aid kit and puts them both in her pack, heading back to the old man. He is so happy to have his last beer he gives her some journals. Turns out the man is the Truck driver that owned the truck Morgan is in. On the box was a radio channel to call for when of needing help. She calls and it’s Morgan.

Morgan and Co are still looking for the elusive Quinn, when they find the crazy ladies old walker. Then get a call from her on the radio. She tells them to stop leaving supplies, because it is making people weak, then she has to make them strong again by killing them. I don’t know either, she is insane, clearly. She tells them that Quinn is dead, so they pack up and head off to find the others, still leaving things in boxes. They are looking for John, Strand, Lucy, Alicia, And Charlie. Eventually while driving they get that call from Lucy, who they find and pick up, and Alicia and Charlie, who they don’t make it too. The reason being is miss psycho in Al’s van found them and shot up the truck, ending the episode.

So we only see Alicia and Charlie very briefly in this episode at the end, Strand and John are still not even close to being found, and the truck has been shot up by psychopath. Can’t wait for next week!

This episode was entertaining, but a little slow. I definitely enjoyed watching non the less.

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Keystone Comic Con Is Next Week!

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INAUGURAL KEYSTONE COMIC CON HEADS TO PHILADELPHIA CONVENTION CENTER ON SEPTEMBER 14-16

Celebration of Entertainment and Pop Culture to Feature Blockbuster Talent, Special Guests, Tremendous Cosplayers and More!

**Great Photo/Video Opportunities**

 

WHAT: Keystone Comic Con, an event combining the best of pop culture and entertainment is heading to Philadelphia for its inaugural show! The event will bring together an outstanding lineup of comic, entertainment and musical guests with a twist that will be unique to the Keystone state.

Over the 3-day event, fans will get to experience multiple panels, autographing sessions, Keystone Champions of Cosplay and so much more. This year’s confirmed blockbuster talent includes: Angela Kinsey, Brian Baumgartner, Oscar Nuñez, and Creed Bratton with Leslie David Baker, Stephen Moyer, Anna Paquin, Joe Manganiello, WWE® Superstars The Bella Twins™, AJ Styles™ and Daniel Bryan and More!

 

WHEN:Friday, September 14-Sunday, September 16

 

WHERE: Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia PA

MARVEL Entertainment Takes Over New York Comic Con

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MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT TAKES OVER NEW YORK COMIC CON

WITH EXCLUSIVE PANELS, ADVANCE SCREENINGS, LIVE-STREAMING COVERAGE FROM MARVEL.COM, THE HOTTEST GAMES, AND AN AMAZING LINE-UP OF TELEVISION AND COMIC CELEBRITY INTERVIEWS, FAN ACTIVITIES AND STAGE EVENTS AT THE MARVEL BOOTH

 

Visit Marvel Booth (#1354) for Autograph Signings, Exclusive New York Comic Con Giveaways and More

 

Los Angeles, CA (September 5, 2018) – Marvel Entertainment is descending onto New York Comic Con in full force! Join us for a robust lineup of fun events from Marvel Television, Marvel New Media, Marvel Animation, Marvel Comics, Marvel Games and Marvel Themed Entertainment. With exclusive first-look videos, star-studded signings, and incredible fan experiences at the Marvel booth, this Comic Con is guaranteed to bring you loads of unexpected surprises you won’t want to miss – all starting Thursday, October 4 through Sunday, October 7.

 

Fans at New York Comic Con will be the very first to witness the highly-anticipated return of Marvel’s Daredevil, Marvel’s first Super Hero on Netflix, and the critically acclaimed Marvel’s Runaways, both on-stage at Madison Square Garden for the first time ever!

 

Join the cast and producers of The Gifted at the Javits Center where they return to New York Comic Con with an exclusive first look at an all-new episode from the second season of the series.

 

The always fun Marvel Animation will present a star-studded Marvel Rising panel, and the annual Marvel Animation Presents panel returns with exciting news from Marvel Animated projects and a special screening of the television film, Marvel Rising: Secret Warriors.

 

Marvel Comics will be returning to the con with surprise guests, panels, giveaways, and more! Fans will be able to hear from Marvel’s top writers, artists, and editors as they talk about fan-favorite characters and the thrilling stories in the Marvel Universe today – along with a sneak peek at what’s next!

 

Marvel fans at home can tune-in as Marvel New Media brings fans four days of streaming coverage from New York Comic Con on Marvel.com, and Marvel social media channels. From hosting This Week In Marvel and Women Of Marvel panels, to live episodes of Earth’s Mightiest Show, Marvel New Media’s coverage of NYCC 2018 is not one to be missed!

 

Marvel Games will be bringing some of the hottest games to the con including Marvel Contest of Champions, Marvel Puzzle Quest, and MARVEL Battle Lines. Follow @MarvelGames on Twitter for more information coming soon.

 

The fan-favorite Marvel booth (#1354) will once again return with a full lineup of Events touching all points of the Marvel Universe! Fans will be able to attend signings with their favorite Marvel stars, participate in special costume contests, and much, much more. The booth will be jam-packed with giveaways and exclusive Marvel merchandise, so get there early!

 

For more exciting Marvel highlights and news during New York Comic Con 2018, tune in to the Marvel Livestream at Marvel.com starting Thursday, October 4th. Join the conversation using #MarvelNYCC, and stay tuned to www.marvel.com for all the breaking news from Marvel Television at New York Comic Con. Follow @Marvel on Twitter and “like” Marvel on Facebook for minute-by-minute updates on all things in the MCU.

The Walking Dead News: Sons Of Anarchy Alum Ryan Hurst Joins The Cast

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One of the best casting choices in the universe of The Walking Dead since Jeffrey Dean Morgan was revealed this week and his name is Ryan Hurst. Ryan was on the hit TV series Sons Of Anarchy on FX as one of the fan favorites Opie. His character received a brutal death during season 5 and since then, he has appeared in Bates Motel and Outsider. He will now appear on the 9th season of The Walking Dead as one of the whisperers but not just one of them, he will play as Alpha’s right hand man, Beta. You most likely want to know who is Beta would you? I will give you the rundown.

 

Beta made his first appearance on issue #154 (4th part of volume 26: Call To Arms) in the comic series as Negan encountered him after he escaped from jail. He is very tall and wields two large knives. After Negan’s encounter with him, Beta orders the rest of The Whisperers to take Negan back to their camp. When Michonne and Aaron tries to look for Negan in the woods, Beta and The Whisperers attacks them until Dwight stops it. That is all I can say now about his debut in the comic series. Fans have anticipated if Beta will appear at all in the upcoming season since Alpha and The Whisperers debuted long before him in the comic series. Ryan Hurst and Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s interactions on the show should be very interesting so we will have to wait until we see.

 

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20 Years Ago This Week: The Ultimate Warrior’s WCW Debut

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This week, I went to a time machine on the WWE Network to revisit WCW Nitro. Nitro was the Monday night show for WCW and at the time, it aired on the same time as WWE’s Raw Is War and you would have to change the channels back and forth between USA Network and TNT. We did not have the option to watch it on a live stream 20 years ago and the only way if you can watch both shows is if you put two screens in the same room, or if you tape the other show on VHS and watch it later. Technology was different 20 years ago and i lived through it. On the August 17th, 1998 edition of Nitro, Warrior made his WCW debut. But before that, Eddie Guerrero cut his “worked shoot” promo towards then WCW boss Eric Bischoff as he was disappointed with the direction of his character along with him feeling like he (and more wrestlers that worked with WCW) was being held back for main event pushes that were already given to the bigger stars of the company at the time. This got overshadowed later that night when Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff went to the ring to cut a promo on Diamond Dallas Page.

After a few minutes, Warrior appeared on the stage to a thunderous reaction from the crowd and Mike Tenay on commentary even sounded very thrilled that he is there in WCW for the first time. This was not The Renegade at all as it was the real deal. The fans were shocked and the huge ovation lasted for a few more minutes. And then, that long promo from him begun as he talked and talked for almost 10 uninterrupted minutes. It went from a decent promo 3 minutes in, to a disaster for the rest of the promo. In fact, one of the lines are the following:

“Different than you wanna make people believe, I never received an invitation. I showed up on my own accord. And let me tell you, Mr. Eric Bischoff, if you stick your nose in my business, you will only very quickly prepare for your own demise. Furthermore, when I get done with my business here, I’m gonna be sending you a bill. I suggest you pay it. I have…waited…patiently. The WARRIORS have waited all too patiently. Now…NOW…the virtue of justice unties my hands so that I can continue to fulfill a destiny set in motion on that memorable day years ago. A destiny at the next level. A destiny beckoning the next superhero.There really is no sadder sight than when a grown man fears the challenges in his life so much that he rationalizes adolescent behavior to the point where he carries out heinous and self-indulgent actions. Your evilness, an evilness you embodied and portray, is intolerable. I am the one that has the power to destroy you. In sorts, Hogan, the truth is inexhaustible. I come here, not to beat you up tonight, Hogan. Beating you means nothing anymore, everybody already has.”

If you read that part of the transcript of the promo, ask yourself if you understood what he was trying to say and what was he trying to accomplish with this promo. He went on and off topic for most of it and as the promo went on and on, the fans started to turn on him and boo him. While this was going on, Hogan and Bischoff just stood there and took every word he said from start to finish. The promo was only supposed to go for 6 minutes, but that along with the rest of the segment went for a whopping 18 minutes which suffered for the rest of the show since everything after this had to be re-arranged. You would think that if the viewers changed the channel when this happened but only a small amount of viewers did as Nitro did an 4.97 on that hour as Raw pulled in an 4.40 on the same hour. While this was going on also, Raw on this hour had The Nation vs. DX street fight, Bradshaw vs. Draz (Brawl For All), and Val Venis vs. Kaientai. All of this was better than seeing an 18 minute long segment that was supposed to go for 6 minutes. When it is all said and done, That episode of Nitro pulled in an 4.9 rating as Raw pulled in a 4.2 rating overall that night. That promo was a time waster even though it had Warrior’s first appearance in WCW. The plan was for Warrior to come in WCW so that way Hogan can get his win back which he did on Pay Per View a few months later at Halloween Havoc. The match was horrendous as Wrestling Journalist Dave Meltzer gave the match a -5 stars.

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WWE 2K19’s Showcase Mode Is Putting The Spotlight On The Career Of Daniel Bryan

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WWE 2K19 will see the return of Showcase Mode this year (which was missing for the last two games) and this time, we will get to relive the career of WWE Superstar Daniel Bryan. I think that this choice is a good one since he came out of retirement earlier this year and has had matches on the main roster ever since. He has reunited with his former tag team partner Kane and has had feuds this year raging from Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Big Cass, Harper and Rowan, to now The Miz which has been building up since Bryan was the General Manager of Smackdown over two years ago. Daniel Bryan and The Miz will finally have a match on this year’s Summerslam. So far, his year is shaping up to be a very good one for him and the fans are happy that he is back wrestling once again. Now it is time to dive down to the news that came out today.

 

While he has been back in the ring to create new stories and memories for fans to remember, 2K Games took the time to revisit his best feuds and matches from the past. There is said to be about 11 matches on this mode and some of them features his first WWE match ever with John Cena on an episode of WWE Velocity way back in 2003, his tag team title win against Kofi Kingston and R-Truth back in 2012, His street fight match against Randy Orton on Raw in 2013, and his WrestleMania 30 match with Triple H along with the triple threat match later that night that included Batista and Randy Orton which was also the height of the “Yes” movement. We do not know yet of the other matches, but there will also be a “surprise match” on this mode that was not shown yet so everyone including myself can guess on which match that will be.

I would like to point out that CM Punk was also in WWE during Bryan’s career and with the controversy that surrounded him after he quit WWE a few years ago, many fans wonder if his [Daniel Bryan] matches with Punk will be featured as well. Another person that is not currently under contract with WWE as well is AJ Lee and she was involved with the feuds between Bryan and Punk along with Bryan’s feud with Sheamus. Only time will tell before we know if those particular matches will be included of the 11 matches. In fact, what if one of the matches i just explained is the “surprise match”. Other notable superstars that were there while he was there are Ryback, Wade Barrett, Justin Gabriel, and John Morrison as they were all also involved with his run in WWE in the early 2010’s. We will know very soon as the video game is released this October on Playstation 4, PC and Xbox One and there is a collector’s edition with bonus material that features WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair.

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Fear The Walking Dead News: Will Morgan Return to Alexandria?

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The second half of the fourth season of Fear The Walking Dead has arrived at AMC, and has revealed the odd unknown. Among them, we could know the desire of Morgan (Lennie James) to return to Alexandria, and has asked allies to follow him in his mission

After having been visiting the different survivors of Fear The Walking Dead, Morgan decides that it is best to return with his original group of friends to provide the necessary help. At the request to be followed, only seems to agree Al (Maggie Grace), who agrees to take him there. But, will there finally be another ‘crossover’?

Everything seems to indicate that no. Or, at least, for now. In response to the recent production decision to renew Fear The Walking Dead for a fifth season, the fact that both zombie titles merge into one is a probability that, in the short term, is not contemplated. This should not mean a resounding ‘no’ to Morgan’s return, as he could leave and remain in his origin series. But here lies the big problem:

The ninth season of The Walking Dead raises a temporary leap of no less than a year and a half, so it would be very difficult to make the two chronological lines come together. Also, Scott Gimple has indicated that there are no plans for a new ‘crossover’ soon. Of course, this does not close the door to occur in the future, but it is something that we can discard right now:

“No [excludes more crosses] That’s all I have to say, it does not, but I would not wait for it all the time, things could happen, you never know who could appear in Fear The Walking Dead. The Walking Dead and potentially to people in the past of ‘Fear the Walking Dead “.

However, an existing option is that the protagonists of The Walking Dead do march to Fear with the intention of following this plot in its corresponding timeline. However, it seems an unlikely option.

The ninth season of The Walking Dead will arrive at AMC on October 7th.

 

Top 10 WWE Games Changes That Nobody Asked For

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The WWE Games series has come a very long way. From the days of the NES to now the current generation of video game consoles and PC, it is not going away soon. I enjoyed WWE video games for years especially the early years of the Smackdown! and Smackdown vs. Raw series along with cult classics such as WWF No Mercy, WCW/NWO Revenge, and WCW World Tour. I loved them and at this time, each series improved over another in great ways, but there are some changes that i myself including many fans did not like. I am here to count down the top 10 changes in WWE video games that nobody asked for.

 

10. Ridiculous Camera Angles (Smackdown vs. Raw 2009)

I start this list with a decent entry to the series even though there were a few major flaws. Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 was built around the new tag team engine but that did not stop them for having a good idea with poor execution. One of those ideas were the outside the ring camera angles. This feature made the game play irritating on where to locate the superstars and even though I liked that they wanted to have a visual presentation to what it looks like in real life, the results were not the same when that feature was implemented into this game. Have they saw other games with poor camera angles before deciding to go with this?

9. Removing GM Mode for Career Mode (Smackdown vs. Raw 2009)

General Manager Mode is a popular mode among Smackdown vs. Raw veterans. Although today’s Universe Mode is good, it is not as in-depth as General Manager mode so when fans found out that this mode is going to be removed in Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, the entire community was very angry. What they did was added a Career Mode and trust me, it is very dull. You chose a brand, your superstar, your match of the week and try to build attribute points and repeat. This mode was so repetitive that you will get bored with this mode after one hour.

8. Promo Engine (WWE 2K17)

We all thought that this engine would change WWE Universe Mode in this game but we were so wrong. Want to have Bray Wyatt say something like “i will defeat you at the next show” or “me and my friend John Cena will team up tonight”? Well that is the promo engine for you. Every character has their own way of cutting promos on television in real life. In this game on the other hand, it is as robotic as a Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar match. There is no life to these promos and it was a huge waste of time trying to create segments with the superstars too. Did i forget to add that the promos are in on screen text instead of voice overs?

7. Fighting Styles (Smackdown vs. Raw 2008)

This game is considered the worst of the Smackdown vs. Raw era and it shows the moment you play this game. There was a new feature that included fighting styles and your superstar had a choice of having two out of eight different styles. This decision was very poorly received because this game had far too less moves and limited down how many moves a superstar can do. Good thing that this feature was removed in next year’s game and turned those styles into a variety of abilities that your superstar can have.

6. Removing 2K Showcase Mode (WWE 2K17)

The 2K Showcase mode goes way back to The Attitude Era mode way back in WWE ‘13 and to see it being removed in 2K17 is a huge mistake. The only way you can play this mode is by DLC but in 2K18, this mode was not brought back. You cannot sell a video game with no base story with it.

5. Not Including Many WCW/ECW Superstars (Smackdown! Just Bring It)

Lets keep this in mind that i said “many” because this game was released at the height of the WCW/ECW Invasion storyline. The likes of Rob Van Dam, Booker T, Hurricane Helms, Mike Awesome, Tommy Dreamer, DDP, Lance Storm and many more huge names were absent from this game. It is the first WWF game on the PlayStation 2, but it was a disappointment by fans despite the fact that the game actually looked great. The roster was extremely outdated and there was no excuse for this since Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role had a very stacked roster a year before.

4. Very Minimum Content (WWE 2K15)

2K15 was a graphical improvement since it was running on PS4/XBOX ONE hardware and that is all it was. Removing many content such as multiple match types, the ability to create custom soundtracks, Create a Superstar, Match Creator, Entrance Video and other content was just very jarring for a WWE Video Game. You would think that you would have multiple options and decisions in this game when it is first announced but I along with many other fans learned the hard way and that is, when there is not much announced before a release date, then there is something that they are hiding that does not want to come to light and this game is a prime example of that. The last WWE video game I have enjoyed was 2K14 and that is almost 5 years ago now.

3. Character Models (WWE ‘12)

This game has some of the worst modern character models for a WWE video game at the time and it was a shame to see the downgrade of graphics compared to the previous game’s graphics engine. I will say no more other than Look at Booker T in this game compared to others.

2. Merging GM Mode With Season Mode (Smackdown vs. Raw 2008)

“Why did they do this” comes to my mind when i first tried it out at a comic book store when i was still in high school back in 2007. This is another idea that sounded good on paper, but bad when you see it. The ratings system is extremely broken, your selected superstar burns out quick within a few matches, the ECW Brand would lose every time and so on. There is more to be said badly about this decision and I am glad that they never did this again. The last game to have a good GM mode was Smackdown vs. Raw 2007.

1. Adding Loot-crates (WWE 2K18)

In the age of Loot-crates and micro-transactions, this one takes my number one spot because when gamers hear those words, there is trouble to come. Of course you cannot use real world money to buy those crates in this game, but i have a bad feeling that it will happen in the next game since 2K Games did it to a few of their game lines such as NBA last year. Loot-crates are for My Career only, but nobody should have to rely on randomized boxes to increase stats and etc. We saw how this damaged EA’s and Bungie’s reputation and i have a bad feeling that 2K will get that reception too on this year’s game. This is a feature in every game that NOBODY asked for and that is my main reason why this takes the number 1 spot.

 

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