Second Geekhood | Category Archives: Our Opinions And We’re Sticking To ‘Em!

Youtube Video Of The Week: My Little Pony Season 5 Animatic

Posted on August 13, 2015 by madwomanwithabox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiZ7E1HvT7c

My Little Pony takes Comic Con by storm! This year, one of the pieces shown at the panel was this animatic from the upcoming episode 5.24 entitled “The Mane Attraction,” featuring a wonderful new song sung by Tony Award winning Lena Hall. While the identity of the pony singing is as yet unknown, I’ve heard speculation that she’s a member of the Apple family, since we’ve already been told there will be an episode featuring the Apple family in Season 5. I think it’s a safe bet: for one thing, the theater is shaped like an apple! Plus, that could be a gingham collar on the pianist’s dress, the Cutie Mark Crusaders are featured prominently (one of whom is Apple Jack’s baby sister, Apple Bloom), and I’m pretty sure that’s Apple Jack herself getting emotional in the audience!

This episode features the work of writer Amy Keating Rogers, and was her last episode for the show before she went to work for Disney. Get yourselves to Equestria LA coming up, and you can ask her all about it: she’s scheduled as a guest at the convention!

There’s only one thing I want more than to know the name of this song and this pony, and that’s to see the finished project! Especially with those unicorn horns glowing in the crowd instead of lighters.

~MadWomanWithABox

JEM & THE HOLOGRAMS Movie: Show’s Over, Synergy

Posted on July 6, 2015 by madwomanwithabox

Posted in Diary Of A Mad Woman, Geek Rant, Our Opinions And We're Sticking To 'Em! 1 Comment

Everyone knows that geeks share one vital trait in common, regardless of fandom flavor: we’re all very detail-oriented. Whether it’s getting the right color and texture of fabric for that steampunk cosplay, or reciting the correct episode order for the entire first season of Steven Universe, or memorizing Tony Stark’s autobiography…for us, the love is in the details, be it proof of our devotion or laboring tirelessly to ensure that perfection in all our fannish endeavors is achieved.

That said, it’s inevitable that when a remake, spinoff, or reimagining of a beloved media property comes along, there’s going to be naysayers. Some tiny detail just isn’t right, some little piece of the original is missing.

In the end, there are always dissenters…but then there’s the 2015 Jem and the Holograms movie being released by Universal Pictures later this year. The movie is based on the Hasbro toy line and Saturday morning cartoon of the same name, which centered around one Jerrica Benton, heiress to Starlight Music and the holographic supercomputer known as Synergy. With Synergy’s help, Jerrica moonlights as singing sensation, Jem, and her band the Holograms. Each week, the group takes on the antagonistic Misfits and survives various high risk situations to maintain Jem’s secret, meet their obligations as a group, and execute the charitable work Jerrica does in the form of fostering a group of troubled youth known as the Starlight Girls.

The new movie? Well…take a look and tell me how much of that you see here.

A spoiler warning: I’m fairly disgusted with this trailer. However, I will give credit where it’s due: the fan in the know will see that they did get at least a few details right. Too often, editorials and reviews will default to complete and remorseless defamation when something isn’t right, and geeks can be the most guilty of this given how hot our passion runs for the things we love, and how focused we can be on details. However, when something like this comes along, where so much is wrong and so many good things about a property that was ahead of its time are stripped away in the name of marketing to a new audience…it’s important to be fair and impartial and take note of the good things to weigh against the bad.

The relationships in the band appear to remain much the same: Jerrica has her little sister, Kimber, and best friends Aja & Shana, both of whom are the Benton girls’ foster sisters in the cartoon, and foster children to their aunt in the movie. Eric Raymond, the antagonistic record executive, has been genderswapped to become Erica Raymond, and Rico Pacheco is still the band’s manager and confidant. He may still even become a love interest to Jerrica, a fact the trailer makes unclear.

These aspects of the film, I will give credit to Universal for…because there’s nothing else about this trailer that I recognize as belonging to Jem & the Holograms.

While the movie’s producer, Jason Blum, and Stefanie Scott, the actress playing Kimber Benton, have gone on record encouraging fans to give the film a chance because the trailer holds back a lot, I have to respectfully disagree. In this trailer, I see a teenage nobody achieving overnight stardom, ditching her friends, and learning a lesson about being true to herself. In the cartoon, Jerrica Benton was a powerful and independent woman running her own company and commanding the stage as the beautiful and charismatic Jem. The use of sophisticated holographic microprojectors in her trademark earrings and the AI of Synergy lent a great science fiction bent to the show as well, and the exciting double life Jerrica led was never perfect. She struggled with her boyfriend fighting his feelings for Jem, never realizing she was Jerrica’s alter ego, and she did more than run around being chased by bad guys: she honored her father’s memory by continuing his philanthropic work. Just as he took in Aja and Shana, Jerrica takes care of her own wayward kids in the Starlight Girls, treating them as family.

Where do we see even a glimpse of that in this trailer? A ham-handed reference to Jerrica’s activation phrase for her microprojectors by having Jerrica play with her earring and declare “Showtime, Synergy?”

Where is the creativity? Where is the strong female character equaling her peers in a male-dominated industry? Where the hell is the woman with friends who overcame their past to enjoy a fruitful and prosperous future, aiding Jem in bettering young children who were just like them?

This is either a case of horribly deceptive marketing, or a film that’s no different than its predecessors, like Josie and the Pussycats. “Homegrown Girl Makes Good” is a story we’ve heard before, and the music in this trailer is an entirely different, equally disappointing story given that Jem and the Holograms were rock musicians. Either way, I truly hope that Scott and Blum are correct: that there’s more to see beyond the two minute trailer.

Because if there isn’t? Show’s over, Universal.

Liv and let Liv Unliv

Posted on May 31, 2015 by afolhusband

Posted in Our Opinions And We're Sticking To 'Em! Leave a comment

Hold on there, Geekateers! How can we let Zombie Awareness Month go by without mentioning my favorite, and the cutest, of all zombies, Olivia “Liv” Moore from the CW’s iZombie? Death is not the handicap it use to be, but it does force Liv to leave a promising medical career to get a job in the King County morgue. There, she can get all the brains she can eat while her boss and only confidant, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, tries to find a cure for her zombieness.

Liv is a good zombie, the same way Angel was a good vampire. When she eats a murder victim’s brain, she gets visions of their lives. She uses these visions as clues to figure out how the victim was murdered. She then shares these visions with Detective Clive Babineaux, who doesn’t know she’s a zombie, but thinks she’s a psychic. She also takes on traits of the person whose brain she eats. This is sometimes good and sometimes bad.

There are other pitfalls to being a zombie as well: when she became one, she broke off her engagement to Major Lilywhite. She still loves Major, but she doesn’t want to infect him and turn him into a zombie…and she hasn’t told him about what she is. Between you and me? If I was Major, I’d undie for her.

Of course, just like there are good zombies, such as Liv, there are also bad zombies. One such animal is Blaine “The Candy Man” Debeers, who kills homeless teens and sells their brains to other zombies. With only two episodes left to go, a big showdown is about to happen…and I can’t wait!

I’m not into this whole zombie thing, but I do enjoy this show, which has been renewed for a second season. If you would like to learn more about the zombie lifestyle–or just more about iZombie, check out Wikipedia for more information.

The AFOL Husband

My Little Pony: What’s in a Name?

Posted on May 29, 2015 by afolhusband

Posted in Horsing around with My Little Pony, Our Opinions And We're Sticking To 'Em! Leave a comment

In the recent Bronies React review of the My Little Pony Season 5 premier, one of the bronies went on about how a pony’s personality seems to be tied to their cutie mark. For example, when Pinkie Pie has her cutie mark taken away, she stops being funny and energetic. But wait a minute, let’s analyze this a step further. As we heard Applejack say in “Bloom and Gloom”, a cutie mark reflects what’s inside you. So can what’s inside you be taken away as well? But then that begs the question, how did what’s inside you get inside you? A cutie mark may show what you are meant to do, but, perhaps, the real question is how much power does the name given you have?

Think about it. AJ’s parents named their first two kids Macintosh and Apple Jack – and they end up with apples on their plots. And we’re all expecting the same for Apple Bloom. Two other ponies named their daughter Fluttershy. She flutters (as opposed to high-speed flying like Rainbow Dash) and is shy. Rainbow Dash dashes around in the sky. Rarity has gems on her plot, which are rare and beautiful, which segways into fashion. So do cutie marks really show their destiny, or was their destiny set by what their parents named them?

And if that is the case, are pony parents aware of what they are doing? Do they set their foals destiny on purpose? Did AJ’s parents (when they we still around) name their three kids Macintosh, Apple Jack and Apple Bloom so they would always stay on the farm to run it? Did the Cakes name their kids Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake so some day they would take over Sugar Cube Corner? Did Fluttershy’s parents want her to be shy? Why would they want that?

Which makes you wonder, what were some parents thinking? Snips and Snails? Did Snips’ parents want…what, a barber in the family? And Snails…did his parents want him to be slow? Did Filthy Rich name his daughter Diamond Tiara so she would be a snooty prima donna? Was Trixie destined to a life of low-level magic that would amount to no more than some parlor tricks? No wonder she doesn’t like Twilight. She must be as jealous as Tartarus. And if this line of thinking is correct, aren’t you just asking for trouble if you name your twin sons Flim and Flam?

And then there’s Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer. Is there something inherently magical about a “sparkly” name? Can you give you foal a name like this if they are not a unicorn? Or will the name police come down from Canterlot and arrest you while you’re filling out the birth certificate?

Is this all some cultural phenomena that nopony is even aware of, or is it a deep, dark secret that no pony speaks of? I don’t have the answer. But if I were a pony living in Equestria, I’d stay away from any pony named Kill Joy, Buzz Kill, World Wrecker or Sun Snuffer.

~The AFOL Husband

Geek Cred: What Is It, And How Do You Get It?

Posted on May 26, 2015 by madwomanwithabox

Posted in Diary Of A Mad Woman, Our Opinions And We're Sticking To 'Em! 1 Comment

How many episodes of MY LITTLE PONY are on your DVR? Where were you when THOR 2: THE DARK WORLD premiered? How many video games, sonic screwdrivers, or original props from STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION do you own? In a world where ‘geek is chic,’ the debate never ends when it comes to proving your mettle as a true geek or nerd. It even extends to more serious subjects such as feminism, where the accusation of being a ‘fake geek girl’ has become a gatekeeping insult from male geeks to females of the species.

Gender equality, however, is not what I’m discussing here today. I’m speaking to the people out there that are geeks after my own heart. I’m talking to the MCU fans that have never picked up a comic book. I’m talking to the STAR TREK nerds that are just discovering the original series thanks to the thrilling scripts and epic lens flares of JJ Abrams. I’m here to talk to the gamers who, like me, are playing DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS for the first time and helplessly romancing Alistair for the 19th time while the rest of the geek world has devolved into a DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION-inspired Cullenmancing trash party.

To the neophytes of the geek world, little fishes standing in awe of those who have seen STAR WARS a hundred and twenty nine times, who gawk at the sages that own an actual Vulcan lute, who dream of being as geeky as the folks that have been given fashion advice by Catwoman herself, Julie Newmar, I say to you: there is a way to earn your stripes. In a world full of those who were there when fandom life began, long before the advent of Tumblr and AO3, there is a way to find your place among the big shots.

Seven words is all it takes…say them with me…

“I’m a geek…and proud of it!”

Being a nerd may be cool these days, but none of us are in it to be cool…that’s the point of being a geek! We capslock in forums and squeal in the presence of friends because we all have one thing in common: we are giant, hopeless, vibrating masses of bone, tissue, and passion. We love what we love because there are geniuses among us with ideas so vibrant and gorgeous and just plain crazy that we can’t help but be enchanted! They thrill us, amuse us, and when we’re very lucky, they inspire us to go out and do something just as vibrant, just as gorgeous…and probably just as plain crazy.

The proof? It’s not just in this story, it’s in the very existence of this website! Every example here is based on a real person. The “Cullenmancing trash party?” That would be my best friend, whom you can find on Tumblr under that very username. The legend with Star Trek props and a Vulcan lute? That would be Krypton Radio founder, Gene Turnbow.

And the woman who saw STAR WARS a hundred and twenty nine times? Well, she’s the reason for the season–I mean, the website. Now in the happy throes of her Second Geekhood, if you listen very closely, you can just about hear the sounds of a TimeSiren arming her light saber and squeeing at the words that now have every fan’s heart going pitter-pat: “Chewie? We’re home.”

They’re all geeks, every last one of them, and that’s just three of the people I have described in this article…but it’s not the video game hours, or the movie viewings or the props that make them what they are. Once upon a time, they were all the same as me, just getting their footing as they entered their first geekhood. They hadn’t done anything cool, or acquired any precious relics back then. They began life as geeks with those same seven words, and that is what made them what they are.

So, as I publish my first story on this site? I’m going to make my own Second Geekhood official by showing off a little of my geek cred.

I’m a geek, and proud of it!