X the Unknowable - Marvel Monster

December 9, 2016, 4:17 pm

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Who is X the Unknowable

X is a monster that appeared in early Marvel comics in the early 1960s. . This post is part of the Toylab Marvel Monster series that focuses on old Marvel Monsters in preparation for the 2017 Marvel Comic event Monsters Unleashed.

Name/Alias: X the Unknowable, The Thing that Lived



First Appearance: Tales to Astonish #20

Other Appearances: Alpha Flight #17 Vol 2




Gigantus - News:

• Monsters Unleashed - 2017 Marvel event to feature Marvel Monsters

Bio:


A comic book writer, Charles Bentley is typing up a script for a new monster story on a type writer.  The type writer he working on happens to have a magical enchantment on it that can bring to life anything written on it.  Charles is utterly terrified when he realizes the monster X, he was writing about actually came alive.  He breaks the type writer which seemingly destroys X.

Alpha Flight / Big Hero Six
In Japan, X goes on a rampage in an amusement park called Cool World.  This is the head quarters for the super hero team Big Hero Six.  X's sudden appearance in Japan after seemingly being destroyed is when they find a child with a comic that seemed to foretell X's actions.  Big Hero Six recieves assistance from Alpha Flight to battle X.   They use the comic story to lure X to Mount Fuji where they seal him.

X has not appeared since being sealed in Mount Fuji, however he may appear in the upcoming Marvel event Monsters Unleashed.


Powers:

• Super Strong - Not sure how strong relative to other monsters or heroes but was shown to have strength far surpassing a normal human.
• Super Durable - 
• Can change shape and seemingly mass
• Can seemingly appear magically from mystic items like a comicbook / type writer.  His existence seems tied to these items.  Once the items are destroyed he seems to be destroyed as well.

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Monsters Unleashed - 2017 


Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

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Who is Man-Thing?

December 9, 2016, 4:24 pm

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Man-Thing is such a sexy character

Who is Man-Thing?

Man-Thing is a Marvel character that is very similar to the DC character Swamp thing.  One difference with the character is that his touch is acidic while Swampthing's touch is not.  Man-Thing has appeared in a horror film however he has never appeared in the MCU.  Man-Thing has been mentioned in various ways in the MCU even being name dropped in Agents of SHIELD (See Manthing Easter Eggs post below).

Real Name: Dr. Theodore "Ted" Sallis

Alias: Man-Thing, Vorgornus Koth

First Appearance: Savage Tales #1

Man-Thing Store:
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Man-Thing News

• Manthing Easter Eggs in Ironman 3 and Agents of SHIELD

Man-Thing 2017
In March, 2017 a new Man-Thing will be a new 5 issue solo series written by famed horror writer R.L. Stine.  The idea is for a talking Man-Thing to go home to California to work on film deals.  Each comic will feature a 2nd story written by R.L. Stine.  Stine has said that Man-Thing will show more personality in this series telling the New York Times that Man-Thing, "can talk and he’s very sarcastic,”
Stine went on to credit reading comics like the Tales from the Crypt as a major influence on his writing style.  Marvel offered various characters to write for Stine and he quickly selected Man-Thing.  He says he has long held a fondness for Swamp Monsters.

The series is said to be a dark, horror tale aimed at teenagers or older but will have elements of humor added in.


Man-Thing - Multi-Media:
Coming soon



Biography:


Ted Sallis is working on Project Gladiator in the Everglades.  Project Gladiator is an experiment involving the Superhuman Serum that transformed Captain America.  Learning that AIM is operating in the area, Sallis breaks into his lab with his lover Ellen Brandt.  He begins to destroy his already memorized notes.  Unfortunately, Brandt betrayed Sallis and agents appear.  Sallis escapes with his serum that he injects himself with right before crashing his car into the swamp.
His body merges with murky water around him and he emerges as the dim red eyed monster Man-Thing with only faint memories of Ted Sallis.  He then attacks Ellen Brandt scaring her face, then shambles off into a new existence living in the Swamp.

Man-Thing becomes a protector of the Nexus of All Realities an important location within the Ever Glades.

2017 ManThing


Man-Thing leaves the swamp and goes back to his original home of Burbank, California.  He seeks to learn why there have been no films made about him.

Swamp Thing and Man-Thing
Yes Swamp Thing and Man-Thing are similar and yes there is a reason for that.
The two characters appeared at around the same time and the two writers involved with the characters were also roommates at the time.  Gerry Conway writer of (Man-Thing) lived with Len Wein (Swamp Thing) writer, Len refused to alter the origin of Swamp Thing to make him more different. Marvel may have considered Legal action against DC but in the end nothing official occurred.

Man-Thing is generally considered to be good.  He has effectively lost his conscious human mind and only retains bits of his old self.  The lack of full understanding make him dangerous to everyone around him.  He basically reacts to others emotions.  If others emotions are violent he will in turn react violently, if others emotions or benevolent then he in turn will act benevolent.


Powers:
Man-Thing is made up of vegetable/swamp matter held together through the serum injected in him.

• Sense emotions
• Super strength, speed,
• Very high level of durability, nearly invulnerable
• Acid that kills almost everyone it touches
• Poisonous chemical odor that forces others to fear it
• Immortality

2005 Film and MCU:


Man-Thing: The Nature of Fear is an American / Australian Horror film by Lionsgate Films this film is not set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  The film was not a financial or critical success.  The Film released in some international markets and on Sci Fi Channel is said to have grossed less than a million dollars after costing more than $30 million to make.  The film is also thought to be critical failure and has been mentioned as both the worst horror film and worst Marvel film of all time.   Since being released Lionsgate has sold the rights of Manthing back Marvel.  While Man-Thing has been hinted at in the MCU he has yet to officially appear.

The film premiered on the US Sci Fi Channel on April 30, 2005.  An uncut version of the film was released on DVD June 14, 2015.

While not a Marvel film, Marvel did release a prequel comic series to go with the film.  The prequel comics cover the adventure of a claims adjuster whose research brings him into contact with Man-Thing.



Trailer:




Synopsis:
A new sheriff is brought in to investigate a series of disappearances and murders in a Louisiana swamp.  The swamp had recently been sold from a Native American tribe to an Oil Company and the company had been suffering a series of both vandalism and murders.  Many of the locals blame a mysterious monster for the deaths.  Sheriff quickly finds himself kneck deep in a conspiracy and is hunted by both criminals and a monster alike.

What Happened to Man-Thing?
While the plot of the film is not very good some of the visuals in the film are cool.  Generally, I think the way Man-Thing looks is pretty awesome.  The film had fairly good special effects for a horror film. Many of the actors like Rachel Taylor in the film went on to have fairly good film careers.

Director Brett Leonard who has also done films like The Lawn Mowerman was interviewed by William Bibbiani from Blummhouse.com on making the film.  In the interview Leonard explains that the initial script had a strong father son relationship between the sheriff and Man-Thing.  Effectively, a boy sees his father murdered where spirits turn the father into a avenging nature monster.  This initial script gives the Sherrif a reason for coming into town as he is basically looking for answers to what happened to his father.  According to Leonard the negative response toward the father son relationship in Ang Lee's Hulk caused the "Power that Be" to remove that aspect from the film.   Not enough was added to the Sheriff's arc though to flesh out his story arc so in the actual film all of the characters just appear to be stuck in the swamp.  Generally, these changes caused the film's story to not work.
The Director also says he wanted a dark, edgier ending in which all of the characters but Man-Thing were killed.  He feels this would have been a more satisfying ending than the relatively happy ending of actual film.








Related:
Manthing Easter Eggs in Ironman 3 and Agents of SHIELD

Compilation of Suicide Squad reviews

December 12, 2016, 12:49 pm

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A film that all of the Toylab Bloggers have been looking forward to is Suicide Squad.  The film looked to be DC's answer to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.  A fun, violent romp through the DC universe that might avoid some of the dour tonal pitfalls of the previous DC films.

With that said it seems that Warner Brothers has heavily re-shot the film after fearing that it was trending down the path uber darkness path of Batman vs Superman:Dawn of Justice.  It has also been rumored that early production of the film may have been rushed.   These rumors while potentially true say little about the end result of the film however.  Sometimes films with troubled beginnings become great.  They do however say to the film audience press pause and perhaps keep your expectations in check.

Suicide Squad Rebirth vs Suicide Squad Film


Suicide Squad Rebirth is one of the relaunched comics from DC that has occurred after the Suicide Squad film. The comic is heavily inspired by the film with all of the characters taking some ques from the appearances of the characters in the film. However I can't shake the feeling that the comic is actually delivering the Suicide Squad that fans expected to get from the trailer. The Suicide Squad trailer was brilliant it showed a dark DC universe that was being balanced out with vibrant hints of neon. It showed characters that looked like fun, interacting with each other in ways that promised to be exciting. The actual film did not deliver on this it felt weighted down and generally discombobulated. The Joker that was teased to be a major feature of the film ended up barely being in the film at all.  The comic thus far has not mentioned the Joker and its working without him.

The comic though has Jim Lees art and the team coming together much more quickly. The comic series does have some of the exposition of the film. In each of the comics the back of the comic features Waller going through one of the Squad's back story. The character that really shines in these is Waller. Waller pokes through each of members own BS and extracts out excruciating nuggets of truth that the squad members themselves have been ignoring. I also really like how beefy Jim Lee draws Waller, she is just a mean no nonsense woman and I love it.  I do worry that comic's main plot line is going to end up moving too slow because of this back part of the comic being taken up by exposition.  That said I found when you save up 2 of these books and read them together you get fulfilling story.  The main plot line moves and the back parts provide interesting observations on the characters.

I won't say that Suicide Squad Rebirth is the best Rebirth comics. There have just been too many awesome Rebirth books. Batman and Teen Titans have blown me away. That said this comic does capture what that initial Suicide Squad trailer promised this is the fun, wonky, Neon light in the darkness action packed extravaganza that was promised. So if you feel a longing to see that film and were disappointed you might try this book. This time you won't be disappointed.



Reviews:

Reviews pouring on the film are decidedly mixed with some liking the film and others hating it.  Some DC fans have petitioned to try to get the film removed from Rotten Tomatoes because they are unhappy with the reviews of the film.

The stars from the Film are now responding to some of the film's bad reviews:  My gut tells me that the comic world is still hungry for a good DC film and that the Suicide Squad trailer is so good that the overall hype may help overcome the negative reviews.  Also it helps that some of the reviews are good leading to a somewhat mixed reaction.

Will Smith says:  "I'm excited for the fans to get to vote"

DC Cinematic Universe - Hurt
Here is a video that highlights the DC Universe roll outs continued bad fortune.  All the way through the Suicide Squad's present dismal Rotten Tomatoes rating:
Its poking a little fun at the DC universe, at the DC universes expense but I think its also good to see how all of these films have done, their expectations, and the result.




Negative Reviews:

Rotten Tomatoes Score:
Updated on: August 3, 2016
The film currently has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 34% which is lower than almost all other films in the theaters currently.


Groucho Reviews: -

2 stars

The result is a novel but muddled supervillain action movie, decidedly not for kids and not very fun for adults. The decades-spanning anthology of tough-guy (and gal) songs on the soundtrack is another sign of a filmmaking team that knows its film need some artificial respiration. Some comic-book fans will lap it up, but Suicide Squad is all sauce and no meat.

Thought this review was likely fair.  It sounds pretty consistent that the plot of Suicide Squad is muddled.

Vanity Fair: - Critic Richard Lawson:

It’s simply a dull chore steeped in flaccid machismo, a shapeless, poorly edited trudge that adds some mildly appalling sexism and even a soupçon of racism to its abundant, hideously timed gun worship. But, perhaps worst of all, Suicide Squad is ultimately too shoddy and forgettable to even register as revolting. At least revolting would have been something.

One thing that Richard Lawson picks on throughout his critique that I find utterly bizarre is that Suicide Squad has guns in it.  With the list of characters included in the film it was going to have lots of guns.  It is an action movie.  I don't see how political decisions on guns change a perception of the movie.  There has always been violence in the world and art should reflect that.  Not sure what his point is here.  If you are thinking this politically when going to see an action movie, much less a super hero action movie you are thinking too much.  Leave that stuff at the door dude.

He later goes on to say that the portrayal of Killer Croc is racist.  I'm not sure what to make of this comment as I have not seen the film.  I know Croc is played by an African American actor but I also know the character is covered in scales.

There have been positive reviews of the film as well though:

Positive Reviews:

USA Today: - Brian Truitt

Like The Dirty Dozen for the Hot Topic generation, the team gets in-your-face introductions and things just grow more mental from there. But compared to its ilk,Suicide Squad is an excellently quirky, proudly raised middle finger to the staid superhero-movie establishment.

See more Suicide Squad news at:

DC Movie Hub

Read the thoughts from Toylab's resident Film Critic Sir Kent

More Sir Kent Said!

Shocker - Spider-Man Villain

December 13, 2016, 10:11 am

≫ Next: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have new parents...They are no longer mutants

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Who is the Shocker?

The Shocker is a Marvel villain known for his battles with Spider-Man.  He is generally considered to be on the lower tiers of Spider-Man villains and is often used as powered muscle by other villains.  The Shocker is set to appear in Spider-Man Homecoming he will be played by actor Bokeem Woodbine.

Real Name:  Herman Schultz

Aliases:  The Shocker

First Appearance:  Amazing Spider-Man #46

Teams: Sinister Six, Sinister Seven, Sinister Twelve,  Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts, Sinister Syndicate, and Villains for Hire


Shocker News:


Shocker Multi-Media:



Bio:

Herman Schultz was a brilliant child though he never applied himself in school.  As a high school drop out he turned to crime as a profession.  He used his intelligence to become a burglar and expert safe cracker.  His initial criminal career did not last long and he was caught and incarcerated.  While in jail he invents and creates gauntlets that emit high powered bursts of air and that vibrate at high frequency.  He immediately uses the gauntlets to escape from jail and adopts the super villain persona of the Shocker.  His call to fame is his gauntlets.

Spider-Man confronts the Shocker after a robbery and is beaten.  Spider-Man was at a severe disadvantage in this initial encounter though as he had just fought the Lizard and had sprained one arm in the previous battle.  Once recovered he fought the Shocker again and this time easily beat him.  Thus begins the first of many Spider-Man beat downs of the Shocker.

The Shocker has been invited to join many super villain teams and has been hired as a body guard at times by other criminals.

In one major plot the Shocker began blacking blocks of the city powergrid in a pattern to spell his name.  He then demanded ransom from the city before he would allow the grid to go back up.


In Marvel Now the Shocker saved the lives of hundred of gangsters by defeating the Punisher who had come to take them out.

The Shocker does not get caught up in vengeance he remains constant in his pursuit of money.



Power:


The Shocker wears gauntlets of his own design called "Vibro Smashers" using them he can:

Throw high impact vibration enhanced punches
Fire high impact power blasts - blasts can be small or go out over a wide area
Super jumping by using blasts to enhance jumps

The Shocker designed a special suit to alleviate reverb from using his gauntlets.



MCU:



The Shocker is set to appear in Spider-Man Homecoming he will be played by actor Bokeem Woodbine.

The images of the suit show that he wears a similar suit and gauntlets.  The mask itself is a little different than the comic version.

Bokeem Woodbine can be seen caring the Shocker Gauntlets in a clip from the international trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming.  He does not appear to be wearing the Shocker mask but he as the gauntlet and is wearing the electric proof suit.








Spider-Man Store:





Don't go anywhere there is more SPIDER-MAN!

Who is Spider-Man? 
 

Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have new parents...They are no longer mutants

December 14, 2016, 2:06 pm

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In Uncanny Avengers the story has come to light that Magneto is not the father of Scarlet Witch or Quicksilver.  Instead,.....

The twin now have new parents and specifically non-mutant parents?

 Marvel's reasoning for this story seems pretty simple.  This is realigning two of the characters they have in the MCU away from their mutant origins.  As Marvel has film rights to them, but not to the rest of the mutants this move move will provide more stories that can be used in their film universe.  It will also deprive Fox's mutant films from gaining new story material from comics.

So who are these new parents?


.....Spoilers.....





The parents of the twins are the High Evolutionary himself!

Now keep in mind that the High Evolutionary was a big part of the initial origins so this is not coming out of no where.  In initial story the twins mom was Magda the wife of Magneto.  When the twins are born she seeks refuge with the High Evolutionary.
Now it seems like the twins were a kind of science experiment gone wrong.  An early attempt for the High Evolutionary (Marvel's Dr Moreau) at perfecting a new species.  It does not seem like their new father is any better than their last one. The High Evolutionary seems almost entirely indifferent to them, what a jerk.

What do you think of the change?


Scarlet Witch a villain or hero?


Quicksilver a villain or hero?

X-Men Days of Future Past Quicksilver Scene

December 14, 2016, 3:06 pm

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Prior to X-Men Days of Future Past coming out one of the promotion features Quicksilver.  This Quicksilver had longer hair than the comic version and in some sense just looked silly.  Fans reacted very poorly to the new look and many feared that the rancor could doom the film.  However, when fans watched the film there was a special scene featuring Quicksilver that turned out to be climatic moment in the film.  People loved it, and they loved this version of Quicksilver.

Stupid looking Quicksilver

I was one of those fan boys who complained.  I will also admit to be wrong and Quicksilver working out great in the film.  One of the most funny parts about it is that I still think the promo pictures for Quicksilver look insanely stupid. However, in film, it worked, it beyond worked it was awesome.

Here is the Quicksilver scene what did you think of the early promo pictures and of the scene itself?

The Quicksilver Scene:





Related:
Who is Quicksilver? 

X-Men Film Hub - All news, trailers, pictures, and reviews

Marvel's lost market share to DC in 2016 - Black Octopus Team Report

December 14, 2016, 12:24 pm

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There has been a lot of talk about Marvel losing sales to DC.  Marvel has been doing a variety of things with their comic line that have caused controversy recently.  Fans of either side of these issues have been very passionate   Rather than debate we decided to sort out the facts of what is happening and look at sales data.  The data used was from Chomiccron.com which houses comic sales data of all the Diamond Distributor retailers going back for many years.  We then tasked the Toylab data team aka The Black Octopus team with analyzing the data.

We wanted Facts and.... we got them!


What is the Black Octopus Team
Toylab has built up a group of our bloggers who happen to be data and marketing analyst wizards.  They routinely go out into the market place and analyze data to find trends.  If you find the Black Octopus team finding interesting or want to join the team you can subscribe to their newsletter on the bottom of the page.


The Top 20 Comics Sales Study:
The Black Octopus Team analyzed November Sales on a unit sales basis.   The team decided to focus on the Top 20 sold books as these tend to be the biggest indicator of sales for each company.  These are the 20 books that comic community is focusing on in a given month.  The Black Octopus team found that Marvel had lost significant market share in this group over the past 5 years.

While it is hard to say that a trend is forming the team did conclude that 2016 marked a low point for Marvel over the 5 year period of analyzed data.  While Marvel is still selling well it clearly is not dominating the market place as it has done in years past.  In every metric tested DC has risen in to the leading position.  This is significant because Marvel had led all categories tested in the previous years and typically by a wide margin.


2016 Ugly Marvel Milestones
Marvel Milestones in the 2016 period were all negative.

• Lowest Sales - Over the period analyzed 2016 marked Marvel's lowest unit sales.  
• Lowest Market Share Position -This was the first November of the 5 period where Marvel had lower market share of the top 20 than DC.
• Lowest # of Top 20 Titles - The number of Marvel titles in the top 20 hit a low point of 8.  The previous low point was 2013 at 9.  In 2015, Marvel had 17 Top 20 tiles meaning that the year over year drop in this category was 9 titles.

2016 Beautiful DC Milestones
DC Milestones in the 2016 period were all positive.

• Highest Sales - Over period analyzed 2016 marked highest unit sales by DC.
• Highest Market Share Position - First November over period where DC had higher market share than Marvel.
• Highest number of Top 20 Titles - DC reached a peak of 10 Top 20 Titles over the period analyzed

Note: Overall units sold were on the low side but not too much below average indicating that DC is picking up at least part of the sales that Marvel is losing.  There does appear to be a significant decline in sales from 2015 showing that some sales are being lost from the comic industry as whole.


Percentage of units sold in the top 20 by Marvel vs DC.

Marvel has lost significant market share of the top 20 books sold in 2016.

Marvel held a major lead in this category through the 5 year period right up until 2016.  Marvel's biggest lead was in 2015 which coincided with Secret Wars and major Star Wars books that helped the company completely dominate the top 20.  In 2016, DC greatly climbed and Marvel shrunk to its lowest point.


Unit Sales:
DC hit a high of 867k units sold in the Top 20 titles while as Marvel hit a low of 712k units sold.  2016 marked the highest point for DC and lowest point for Marvel.  Marvel had over a million in sales in the top 20 for 3 of the 5 years analyzed.  DC has by far its highest sales in 2016 but did not crack the 1 million mark in any of the 5 years analyzed.

Number of Titles in Top 20:
Marvel reached a dramatic peak in having 17 of the top 20 comics in Nov of 2015.  In Nov 2016 the company's fortunes have dramatically inversesd with its lowest showing in the period analyzed of 8.

DC had been sliding downward on this scale while hitting a low in 2015.  This trend was reversed in 2016 with the company's highest showing of 10 titles in the Top 20.

Why has Marvel lost market share?

There have been a few reasons cited for the loss of market share and they include:

1)  The Inhumans Agenda  - There has been a major pushing out characters that Marvel does not own film rights to.  This includes the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men some of the biggest flagships Marvel has traditionally had.

2) Diversity Agenda - Replacement of major characters with other characters to increase diversity.  To many this is a good thing or even necessary but combined with the Inhumans Agenda this has made it impossible to find stories with the classic Marvel characters.

3) Seasonal Event format- Marvel has begun rebooting its universe multiple times a year  and even equating it to the seasons of a TV program.  The seasonal format is meant to hype titles with each "season" theme but some fans say it leads to fatigue and feeling that stories are gimmiks.  This has also made continuity a total mess to explain.
Many Marvel fans tell me they are enjoying series that are outside of the events like Black Panther.

4) DC Rebirth - DC rebooted its universe from the New 52 and into DC Rebirth.  During Rebirth the company changed a number of items that had given its fans consternation, DC managed to keep some of the aspects from New 52 that had been popular, while merging it with some classic DC elements.  These moves have generally been met with positive acclaim at both Comic Conventions and in stores.  While Rebirth is effecting the numbers in this analysis it should also be noted that Rebirth began in May and its new #1s are not effecting the November numbers. In fact none of the DC titles featured a number #1 in Novemeber.  Marvel though benefited from the release of #1s and 6 of its 8 titles were #1.  Comic Fans tend to buy more #1 of a title than they do of other numbers and it should disturb Marvel that its poor showing would have likely been even poorer if it had not released so many #1 titles.  Another disturbing feature of Marvel sales is that Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, Unworthy Thor, IVX and Civil War II are not ongoing titles.  Also the current Amazing Spider-Man event the Clone Conspiracy was able to crack the top 20 when normally Spider-Man event sales are in the top 10.  DC numbers from the past 2 months not analyzed were even more dominating than the November numbers.

Which of these did it?
We do not have any empirical evidence of which of these reasons are driving sales lower for Marvel but it seems likely that all of these in conjunction  are weighing down sales.  Generally, Marvel feels complicated, and unstable it is hard to invest in storyline and characters when they are going to disappear completely in a couple of months.  All the items above have increased this instability.

The drive to increase diversity at Marvel has often been cited as a positive reason for previous years sales growth.  However, the company has hit an inflection point where it no longer has any of the traditional characters left.  This has left many longtime fans of the company feeling disillusioned.  It has also made it harder for new fans to walk in and buy the book they want.  Numerous retailers have complained that children are coming to stores hoping to buy a book of their favorite hero and are not finding them on the shelf.

To illustrate how far Marvel has gone in changing characters consider that right now in Marvel:

• Thor - Is not Thor
• Iron Man - Is not Tony Stark
• Hulk - Is not Bruce Banner
• Spider-Man - Is Peter Parker in some titles but not all
• Captain America - Is not Steve Rogers
• Vision - Is not the Vision
• Wolverine - Is not Logan
• Fantastic Four - Are Dead or something who knows anymore
• Ghost Rider- Is not Johnny Blaze
• X-Men - Are a confusing mess
• Hawkeye - Is not Clint Barton

Anyone of things alone is not a problem but consider when all of these are done at once.  Its chaos.

If a person came to the comic book store hoping to buy a comic about the heroes they see in film or from cartoons they would find themselves completely and utterly lost.  While doing some of these changes can be good, doing it all once has made Marvel books unrecognizable.  The whole sale change feels forced and agenda driven.  Even fans that were for increasing diversity have begun to buy DC comics in the hopes of finding more stability.

I do not take this data to mean that Marvel should give up on stories with diverse characters.

Marvel has successfully done numerous books recently with diverse characters that include Black Panther's phenomenal series a Nation Under Our Feet, and also Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.  These series have sold well and have also earned the company critical acclaim.  One thing to note though is that these series are not replacements of original characters.

The company has also had great success with Kamala Khan and her mantle of Ms Marvel.  While Kamala did replace Carol Danvers, Carol herself moved on to a different mantle of Captain Marvel. This has not been the case when other characters are replaced.  In some cases the replacements have rendered the old characters dead, missing, old, evil or otherwise unrecognizable.

While the company should be commended for increasing the diversity of its characters in order to maintain sales I think they will need to find a way to achieve better balance.  Getting rid of all the classic characters does not seem feasible  over the long-term status quo.  Marvel needs to find a sense of balance.

One thing Marvel really needs to think about is where should a new reader start.  The continuity escapades of a character like Steve Rogers are a complete and total mess.  I could explain 40 years of Captain America  history better than I could explain his last 5.  Moreover, Marvel's .1s that are supposedly been designed for new readers are not good at explaining anything.  They are seen by Marvel fans as cash grabs, because they are.

There is a bright spot on the horizon for Marvel is that in January they will be launching a new event called Monsters Unleashed that really looks exciting and may help them revive themselves.  It should worry Marvel some though that there are no plans for any of the major pillar characters to star in the series.



Data:
Here are the Top 20s going back through 2012:
You can find this data at: http://www.comichron.com/monthlycomicssales.html

2016
	Comic-book Title	Issue	Price	Publisher	Est. sales
1	Batman	10	$2.99	DC	120,901
2	Batman	11	$2.99	DC	116,690
3	Civil War II	7	$4.99	Marvel	116,447
4	All Star Batman	4	$4.99	DC	99,064
5	Invincible Iron Man	1	$3.99	Marvel	97,713
6	Amazing Spider-Man Renew Your Vows	1	$4.99	Marvel	96,111
7	Batman Annual	1	$4.99	DC	91,033
8	Venom	1	$3.99	Marvel	90,138
9	Walking Dead	160	$2.99	Image	88,367
10	IVX	0	$4.99	Marvel	84,181
11	Avengers	1	$4.99	Marvel	81,885
12	Justice League	8	$2.99	DC	80,696
13	Justice League	9	$2.99	DC	77,905
14	Batman TMNT Adventures	1*	$3.99	IDW	75,974
15	Star Wars	25	$4.99	Marvel	75,234
16	Detective Comics	944	$2.99	DC	71,923
17	Flash	10	$2.99	DC	70,681
18	Unworthy Thor	1	$3.99	Marvel	70,424
19	Detective Comics	945	$2.99	DC	69,942
20	Flash	11	$2.99	DC	68,304
2015
	Comic-book Title	Issue	Price	Publisher	Est. sales
1	Dark Knight III Master Race	1	$5.99	DC	440,234
2	Star Wars Vader Down	1	$4.99	Marvel	384,969
3	Deadpool	1	$4.99	Marvel	180,565
4	Secret Wars	7	$3.99	Marvel	177,019
5	Extraordinary X-Men	1	$4.99	Marvel	133,716
6	All New All Different Avengers	1	$4.99	Marvel	128,570
7	Star Wars	11	$3.99	Marvel	126,780
8	Uncanny X-Men	600	$5.99	Marvel	126,447
9	Star Wars	12	$3.99	Marvel	123,133
10	All New Wolverine	1	$4.99	Marvel	119,786
11	Darth Vader	13	$3.99	Marvel	113,448
12	Mighty Thor	1	$4.99	Marvel	112,053
13	Batman	46	$3.99	DC	106,989
14	Amazing Spider-Man	3	$3.99	Marvel	93,848
15	Deadpool	2	$3.99	Marvel	92,008
16	Darth Vader	12	$3.99	Marvel	90,077
17	Batman Europa	1	$4.99	DC	80,721
18	Ms. Marvel	1	$4.99	Marvel	79,222
19	Carnage	1	$3.99	Marvel	69,773
20	All New Hawkeye	1	$3.99	Marvel	68,933
2014
	Comic-book Title	Issue	Price	Publisher	Est. sales
1	Amazing Spider-Man	9	$4.99	Marvel	135,280
2	All New Captain America	1	$3.99	Marvel	120,500
3	Batman	36	$3.99	DC	115,183
4	Amazing Spider-Man	10	$3.99	Marvel	100,899
5	Spider-Woman	1	$3.99	Marvel	93,723
6	Thor	2	$3.99	Marvel	89,131
7	Superior Iron Man	1	$3.99	Marvel	83,994
8	Avengers and X-Men Axis	4	$3.99	Marvel	79,068
9	Avengers and X-Men Axis	5	$3.99	Marvel	74,928
10	Justice League	36	$3.99	DC	74,796
11	Avengers and X-Men Axis	6	$3.99	Marvel	73,824
12	Harley Quinn	12	$2.99	DC	71,245
13	Spider-Verse	1	$4.99	Marvel	71,232
14	Walking Dead	134	$2.99	Image	68,093
15	Superman Unchained	9	$4.99	DC	65,478
16	Guardians of Galaxy	21	$3.99	Marvel	62,387
17	Captain America and Mighty Avengers	1	$3.99	Marvel	60,206
18	Wonder Woman	36	$2.99	DC	58,965
19	Wytches	2*	$2.99	Image	58,345
20	Detective Comics	36	$3.99	DC	58,171
2013
	Comic-book Title	Issue	Price	Publisher	Est. sales
1	Batman	25	$4.99	DC	125,602
2	Harley Quinn	0	$2.99	DC	114,212
3	Amazing X-Men	1	$3.99	Marvel	112,337
4	Superman Unchained	4	$3.99	DC	110,611
5	Forever Evil	3	$3.99	DC	105,755
6	Infinity	6	$5.99	Marvel	100,292
7	All New X-Men	18	$3.99	Marvel	82,365
8	Superior Spider-Man	22	$3.99	Marvel	81,250
9	Batman Superman	5	$3.99	DC	77,198
10	Superior Spider-Man	21	$3.99	Marvel	74,940
11	All New X-Men	19	$3.99	Marvel	71,044
12	Justice League of America	9	$3.99	DC	71,008
13	Walking Dead	116	$2.99	Image	69,913
14	Walking Dead	117	$2.99	Image	68,818
15	Avengers	23	$3.99	Marvel	66,501
16	Uncanny X-Men	14	$3.99	Marvel	65,655
17	Detective Comics	25	$3.99	DC	64,392
18	Superior Spider-Man Annual	1	$4.99	Marvel	63,595
19	Uncanny Avengers	14	$3.99	Marvel	60,750
20	Superman Wonder Woman	2	$3.99	DC	60,185
2012
	Comic-book Title	Issue	Price	Publisher	Est. sales
1	All New X-Men	1	$3.99	Marvel	181,693
2	Batman	14	$3.99	DC	159,729
3	Captain America	1	$3.99	Marvel	123,667
4	Deadpool	1	$2.99	Marvel	118,976
5	Indestructible Hulk	1	$3.99	Marvel	118,200
6	Iron Man	1	$3.99	Marvel	116,529
7	Fantastic Four	1	$2.99	Marvel	114,532
8	Uncanny Avengers	2	$3.99	Marvel	114,257
9	Justice League	14	$3.99	DC	113,094
10	Thor God of Thunder	1	$3.99	Marvel	110,443
11	All New X-Men	2	$3.99	Marvel	96,436
12	X-Men Legacy	1	$2.99	Marvel	87,081
13	Amazing Spider-Man	698	$3.99	Marvel	81,342
14	FF	1	$2.99	Marvel	80,701
15	My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic	1	$3.99	IDW	80,128
16	Green Lantern	14	$2.99	DC	78,499
17	Batgirl	14	$2.99	DC	77,468
18	Batman And Robin	14	$2.99	DC	75,543
19	Detective Comics	14	$3.99	DC	74,560
20	Iron Man	2	$3.99	Marvel	72,902

Marvel Store:





Don't go anywhere there is more SPIDER-MAN!



Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

Colleen Wing - Marvel Hero

December 14, 2016, 4:43 pm

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Who is the Colleen Wing?





Colleen Wing is a Marvel hero known for being a martial artist, detective and agent.  She is often a member or ally of the the super hero team Heroes for Hire. Jessica Henwick plays Colleen Wing in the Marvel Netflix series Iron Fist.  It is also possible that she will appear in the Defenders or other Marvel Netflix shows.


Name: Colleen Wing

Affliliations: Daughters of the Dragon, The Nail, Nightwing Restorations, Heroes for Hire

First Appearance: Marvel Premiere #19


Quotes:

We never should have been heroes for hire, Misty. We should have just been heroes. (Colleen Wing to Misty Knight)

Toylab Kung Fu Store:




Bio:


Colleen is one of the first friends made by Danny Rand / Iron Fist when he returns to Earth from the mystical city of Kun Lun.  The father of Colleen Wing is a Professor of Asian Studies who learns from monk that a great warrior named Iron Fist was coming from Kun Lun to seek vengaence.  Curious to meet the warrior Professor Wing and his daughter seek him out.  They help Iron Fist on many of his first adventures.

Colleen's family down her maternal side were Samurai. When her mother died, her maternal grandfather trained her in the ways of the Samurai so that she could pass down the skills as a family legacy.  She became highly trained in martial arts and especially in the sword fighting styles of samurai.

The Cult of Kara Kai was one of the first adversaries set upon by Iron Fist and Colleen Wing.

After being caught up in a gun battle between locals gangs, Colleen is befriended by Police Detective Misty Knight.  Later Misty Knight would get her blown off by an explosive device and fall into a deep depression.  Colleen came to Misty's side as a friend and encouraged her to become a Detective despite losing her arm.  The two friends went on to open up a Private Detective business called Nightwing Restorations Ltd.  Due to their martial arts fighting styles the pair was often referred to as the "The Daughters of the Dragon."

Colleen was captured and mentally brainwashed by the Iron Fist villain Master Khan.  Master Khan hoped to use her as a weapon to destroy Iron Fist.  She battled Iron Fist but in the end Iron Fist was able to use his chi to meld their minds and free her from the brain washing.  As the result of this Colleen gains some of the Chi manipulation powers and kung fu skills of Iron Fist.

Another villain Emil Vachon captured Colleen and used drugs (heroin) to control her.  Misty Knight freed her and worked with her through rehab to get her clean.

She is a listed member of the initiative during Civil War.

During the Shadowland story Colleen begins to lead an offshoot of the Hand called the Nail.  In the end she betrays the group and is forced to battle her way free from the other members.


 Powers and Skills:

Powers:
Colleen has the ability to finely control her Chi in a manner similar to Iron Fist.  This came from when she brain washed into being an immortal weapon by Master Khan and Iron Fist had meld with her mind to free her.  This event gave her many of Iron Fist's skills and powers.  Through her Chi powers she gains a variety of abilities:

• Healing
• Additional Strength
• Additional durability

Colleen is a highly skilled martial artist and detective

Skills:

• Hand to hand combat
• Swords
• Spying / Stealth

MCU:




Jessica Henwick plays Colleen Wing in the Marvel Netflix series Iron Fist.  It is also possible that she will appear in the Defenders or other Marvel Netflix shows.

Flyers for a martial arts school appear in the series Luke Cage.  These flyers are likely for classes being taught by Colleen Wing.  Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) grabs one of the flyers.  Claire Temple has appeared in all of the Netflix shows and is set to appear in Iron Fist.

Pictures from IGN released of Iron Fist:





More Fun Stuff to check out:

More - Iron Fist


Defenders Saga News and Casting HUB 
 


Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

---

Pokemon Go Christmas Event - With new POKEMON!

December 15, 2016, 9:51 am

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≪ Previous: Colleen Wing - Marvel Hero

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Pokemon Go Christmas Event is beginning!

Pokemon Go is using the Christmas Event to release some new Pokemon.  Many hoped that Niantic would release either a Legendary Pokemon or all of the Gen 2 Pokemon and this does not seem to be the case.  The game released about 8 Pokemon that all need to caught by hatching them eggs.

There is also a special Pikachu that has a Christmas hat on.  There are supposedly more normal Pikachus spawning during the Holiday season as well.  The Pikachu with hat does not have any special abilities or anything like that he just is extra cute.





Message from Niantic on the event

Published on Dec 12, 2016

Professor Willow has discovered Togepi and Pichu hatching from Eggs! Starting later today, Trainers will have the opportunity to hatch these and several other Pokémon that were originally discovered in the Johto Region in Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver video games. These are the first of more Pokémon coming to Pokémon GO over the next few months.

The Appearance of baby Pokemon!


The Pokemon Go is unveiling the first set of Gen 2 Pokemon.  In total Gen 2 is expected to be around a 100 new Pokemon but only 5-7 new Pokemon are expected to have been released so far.  The Pokemon released are the baby Pokemon that evolve into the normal types of Pokemon that are known in Gen 1.  These baby Pokemon were initially released in the game Pokemon Gold and Silver.

The Pokemon released are believed to be.

• Togepi - 
• Pichu - Evolves into Pikachu
• Tyrogue - Evolves into Hitmonchan/Hitmonlee/Hitmontop
• Smoochum -Evolves into Jynx
• Cleffa -Evolves into Clefairy
• Igglypuff -Evolves Jigglypuff
• Elekid -Evolves Electabuzz
• Magby -Evolves Magmar

These Pokemon are not available to be captured in the wild but must be hatched in eggs.  This means that players need to buy some incubators and go out walking.  Its been pretty cold in a lot of places recently so its hard to say how much enthusiasm for the game this will gin up.


Announcement Video:




Pokemon Go Trainer Tips Video:






The Poke fun has just begun...Also See!


More Pokemon GO! Tips, Tricks and More!

Beauty and the Beast live action Info, Previews, Art and Trailers

December 15, 2016, 9:58 am

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A live action Beauty and the Beast film staring Emma Watson as Belle is set to come out in March 2017.


Toylab Synopsis Summary Description
The Beauty and the Beast (2017) is a live action adaptation of the hit 1991 Disney cartoon by the same name.  The story is of a strong woman Belle, who is forced to live in an enchanted castle by a monstrous Beast.  In the castle she is welcomed a milieu of kind servants who have been cursed to live as house hold objects. Over time she learns that their is more to the Beast than she initially believed and slowly falls in love with him.  The Beast's secret of being cursed slowly come to light as Belle offers hope of a future without the curse.  The Beast's plan to lift the curse come into conflict when Gaston a narcissistic hunter invades the castle attempting to rescue Belle and slay the Beast for good.

Release Date: March 2017

Cast and Crew
All of the main characters from the original 1991 film are set to reappear in the live action version of the film.

Bill Condon - Director

• Dan Stevens - Beast / Prince Adam
• Emma Watson - Belle
• Luke Evans - Gaston
• Ewan McGregor - Lumiere
• Gugu Mbatha-Raw - Plumette
• Emma Thompson - Mrs. Potts
• Ian McKellan - Cogsworth
• Stanley Tucci - Cadenza
• Hattie Morahan - Agathe
• Josh Gad - Le Fou
• Kevin Kline - Maurice
• Sonoya Mizuno - Debutante
• Henry Garrett - The King
• Audra McDonald - Garderobe
• Nathan Mack - Chip

Official Trailer:
The Beauty and the Beast Official Trailer was released by Disney on November 14, 2016.

Deals on Beauty and the Beast on Amazon
Toylab is an Amazon Affiliate website lets look and see what Amazon has for the Beauty and the Beast.  The classic cartoon is available that you may want to show your kids before seeing the film it is based on.




Here are other products recommended for you by Amazon:





Pictures from Theater Standee:









Pictures of characters:









Other things that might interest you.




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Thanos - Marvel villain

December 15, 2016, 9:57 pm

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Who is Thanos?

Thanos is a major villain in the Marvel Universe.  He is bent on the destruction and end of all things.  He is closely associated with an item called the infinity of gauntlet that grants its user near omnipotent powers.  He is hunted down and opposed by the hero Drax the Destroyer.

First Appearance:  Iron Man #55

Thanos News:
Celebrate your favorite Marvel bad guys in Marvel Villains Week! 
Tivan Corp Infinity Gem Tracker

Thanos Multimedia:
Thanos art and cosplay
Thanos Toys

Bio:
There is Big, there is Bad and then there is Thanos...




Thanos the name in Greek means either Death or Eternal depending on who I ask.  Either is an appropriate description of the character Thanos.

Thanos is the biggest of the big bads that Marvel has.   While other villains want to get rich, or conquer the world, Thanos wants to literally end existence in a bid to get Mistress Death to give him attention.

 He is super strong, intelligent, ruthless, telepathic and powerful and a master of variety of scientific and mystical arts that make him one of toughest warriors in the Marvel Universe.  To get to the powerlevel of destroying life Thanos seeks out the infinity gems.

Thanos fellow Titans realize the threat Thanos poses to existence and so create a hero whose sole purpose is to oppose and destroy Thanos.  Thanos's father, Mentor takes the soul of a victim of Thanos and creates Drax the Destroyer.  Drax is given a powerful body and desires only vengeance on Thanos.  Unknown to Drax mentor also saved his daughter and raised her Titan, she later emerges  as the hero, Moondragon.



Thanos wipes the race known as the Zen Whoberi.  He takes the last offspring of the species names her Gamora and raises her as a daughter.  He is not a kind father but instead trains Gamora to be tough and ruthless.  Working for her father as an assassin she gains the reputation of the most dangerous woman in the galaxy.  She later betrays Thanos and becomes one of his most stalwart enemies.

His search, battle and eventual getting the God like power of the infinity gauntlet were the story of a few major Marvel events.  Thanos has been killed a few times, only to be brought back.

During Thanos Imperative the Guardians of the Galaxy actually bring him back to life so as an avatar of Death he can face off against an evil world where they is only life.



Relatives:

• Mentor - Father
• Gamora - Adopted daughter
• Nebula - Claims to be biological daughter in the comics (disputed by Thanos).  She is an adopted daughter of Thanos in the MCU.
  

Creation:
Thanos is one of the creations of comic writer Jim Starlin.  Jim Starlin was taking psychology courses at the time and conceived of Drax the Destroyer and Thanos.  Thanos being a villain infatuated with death and Drax being character created to destroy him.   Given a chance to write for Ironman he threw both characters into the story.  Initially, Thanos was somewhat skinny, Starlin had based his design of him off of Metron one of the new gods at DC.  Editor Roy Thomas looked at the design and suggested he beef up Thanos and copy the better new god Dark Siege.  For this reason Thanos and Darkseid are both similar looking and serve a similar role as the super bad and power villain.  The similarity is pretty well known.  During one universe cross over event the similarity is even referenced with Darkseid finds the infinity gauntlet.  Lucky for everyone he is unable to use it.  Apparently, its powers are isolated to the Marvel Universe,which was good from everyone.



Powerlevel
Thanos's power level is very high.  He can pretty take on any character in the Marvel Universe and with the infinity gauntlets has literally taken on every character in the universe.

Powers:
Super strength
Super durability
Longevity - approaching immortality
Genuis level intelligence

Sometimes Thanos has been shown to use:
Telekinesis
Teleportation
Energy projection and manipulation

Thanos Marvel Cinematic Universe
Thanos will be played by Josh Brolin.  I am still not clear if he will only lend his voice to a CGI created Thanos or if he will be in a costume.


The Thanos of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is still somewhat of a mystery.  It is unclear if his motivations will be the same as his comic counterpart.
What is known is that he will be the main villain featured in Avengers 3, and he will show up in Guardians of the Galaxy.
He made a brief appearance in the after credit scene of the Avengers.  Thanos provided Loki with the Chitauri Scepter with Mind Infinity Gem attached.  It was also one of his armies that invaded Earth at the behest of Loki.
Did Loki have the Mind Infinity Gem in the Avengers?

In Marvel Prelude #1 we see a Thanos more focused on Strength and ridding oneself of weakness than a focus on Death.
Review of Guardians of the Galaxy Prelude #1


Related:
Celebrate your favorite Marvel bad guys in Marvel Villains Week! 
Tivan Corp Infinity Gem Tracker
Guardians of the Galaxy Character Hub 
Who is Rocket Raccoon?
Who is Drax the Destroyer? 
Who is Moondragon? 
Guardians of the Galaxy Easter Eggs

Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

Marvel Character Bio List

December 15, 2016, 11:36 pm

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Marvel Character Bios ( A to Z)
Welcome to the heart of the Toylab Marvel Wiki the Marvel Character bio list.  This page lists all of the profiles alphabetically. Certain Marvel places and races may appear as characters if they act as a character in stories.
Each Bio serves as a hub for extra information on a character including, news, art and video. 

A)
 Who is Abigail Brand?
 Who is the Absorbing Man?
Who is Achebe? (Black Panther villain)
 Who is Adam Warlock?
Who is Agent 33? 
Who is Agent Carter? 
Who is AIDA? 
Who is Ajax (Francis) - Deadpool Villain 
Who is Angel Dust?
Who is Ant-Man? 
 Antoinne Triplett: Bio, News    
Who is Whiplash? Anton Vanko 
Who is Apocalypse 
 Who is Arkon?
 What is Attilan? 
Who is Ayesha?

B)
 Who is Blackbolt? Why is he so powerful?
Who is Baron Mordo? Strange's Arch Nemesis 
Who is Baron Von Strucker?
Who is Baron Zemo? (Helmut) 
Who is Baron Zemo? (Heinrich) 
Who is Ben Grimm aka the Thing? 
Who is Black Mariah? 
Who is the Black Panther? 
Who is Black Widow - Natasha Romanoff 
Who is Blade (Eric Brooks)? 
Who is Blade (Fallon Grey)?  
 Who is Blizzard?
Bride of Nine Spiders - Marvel hero / villain
Who is Brock Rumlow AKA Crossbones? 
Who is Bruce Banner - Hulk?
Who is Budo - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Bullseye?

C)


Who is Captain America aka Sam Wilson
Who is Captain America / Steve Rogers 
Who is Calvin Zabo AKA Mister Hyde? 
Who is Carina - The Collector's Daughter 
Who is Carol Danvers? Ms Marvel/Captain Marvel
Who are the Celestials
Who are the Chaste? 
Who is Chemistro?
Who is Cheshire Cat?
Who is Clea? - Doctor Strange love interest 
Who is Clint Barton aka Hawkeye? 
Who is Cloak?
Who is Cock Roach Hamilton?
Who is the Collector
Colleen Wing - Marvel Hero
Who is Colossus? 
Who is Comanche?
Who is Copycat? 
Who is Cornell Cottonmouth? 
Who is Cosmo the space dog? 
Who is Crossbones? 
Who is Crystal?

D)
Who is Daisy Johnson aka Quake?
Who is Lord Daito - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Dante AKA Inferno? 
 Who is Daredevil?
Who is Deacon Frost? 
Who is Deadpool? 
 Who is Deathlok?
Who is Devil Dinosaur? 
Doctor Doom! Bio and History 
Who is Doctor Minerva? 
 Who is Doctor Strange?
Who is Doka - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Dominic Fortune?
 Who is Dormammu?
Who is Dracula?  
 Who is Drax?

E)
Who is Eden Fesi aka Manifold
Who is Eldrac the Door?
 Who is Elektra?
Who is the Enchantress? 
Who is Ennilux Capo? 
Who is Enteki - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Ego the Living Planet?
Who is Eric Brooks aka Blade? 
Who is Eric O'Grady aka Ant-Man?  


F)
Who is th Falcon aka Sam Wilson
Who are the Faltine? 
Who is Fallon Grey aka Blade?  
Who is Fandral? 
Who is Fantomex?  
Fat Cobra - Marvel hero
Who is Feruze - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Finn Fang Foom - Marvel Monster
Who is Finn Cooley?
Who is Flint?
Who is Francis (Ajax) - Deadpool Villain 
Who is Franken Castle? -(Punisher turned into Frankenstein) 
Who is Frank McGee / Nur 

G)
 Who is Gamora?
Who is Genkotsu - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Ghost-Maker - Hand/Snakeroot/Russian KGB
Ghost Rider
Who is Gideon Mallick? (Agents of SHIELD) 
Who is Gigantus / Goliath? - Marvel Monster
Who is Gladiator aka Melvin Potter? 
Goomgam - Marvel Monster
Gorgilla - Marvel Monster
Who is Gorgon (Inhuman)? 
 Grant Ward: Bio, News     
Who is Graviton? 
Who is Griffin?
Who is Groot?
Who is Grove? (Lor Tribe Inhuman)


H)


Who is the Hand?
Who is Hank Pym? (Ant-Man, Giantman, Yellow Jacket) 
Who is Hawkeye? 
Who is Hela? -Thor Villain
Who is Heimdall? 
Who is Hellcat?
Who is Hellfire? 
 Who is Henry Hayes ie Deathlok?
Who is Hogun? 
Who is Hope Van Dyne? 
Who is Hulk?
Who is the Human Torch? 

I)
Who are the Inhumans?
Who is Inferno AKA Dante 
Who is the Invisible Woman?
Who is Iron Fist? 
Ironheart / Riri Williams
Who is Iron Man? 
Isabelle Hartley: Bio, News

J)
Who is the Janet van Dyne AKA Wasp? 
Jemma Simmons: Bio, News
Who is Jessica Jones?
Who is the Johnny Storm / Human Torch?  
Who is J'son of Spartax - StarLord's Father?
JT Taylor AKA Hellfire 

K)
Who is Kacy? (Lor Tribe Inhuman) 
Who is Kamala Khan aka Ms Marvel? 
Who is Karnak?
Who is Keep? 
 Who is the Kingpin?
Who is Kirigi? of the Hand 
Who is Kismit?
Who is Klaw? Why is he central to the Black Panther Mythos? 
 Who is Korath the Pursuer?
Who is Kraken?
Who is Kraven the Hunter?
 
L)
Lance Hunter: Bio, News
Who is Lash? 
Who is Leland Owlsley aka The Owl 
Leo Fitz: Bio, News
Who is Lilith (vampire)? 
Who is Lilith (Mother of Demons)? 
Who is Lincoln on Agents of SHIELD 
Who is Lineage? 
Living Statue - Marvel Monsters
Who is Loki? 
Who is Lord Daito - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Luke Cage? Powerman?
Who is Luther Manning ie Deathlok?

M)
Who is Madame Mask? 
Who is Malekith the Accursed?
Who is Man Ape? 
Who is Manifold aka Eden Fesi
Who is Mantis?
Who is Mar Vel? 
Who is Marie Laveau?
Who is Whiplash? Mark Scarlotti 
Who is Master Izo? of the Chaste 
Who is Master Pandemonium?
Who is Max (Punisher's guard dog) 
Who is Maximus the Mad? 
Who is Medusa?
Melinda May: Bio, News
Who is Melvin Potter aka Gladiator? 
Who is Mephisto? 
Who is Michael Collins ie Deathlok?
Who is Michael Peterson ie Deathlok?  
Who are the Midnight Angels? (Black Panther Villain) 
Who is Miles Morales - Spider-Man? 
Who is Minn-Erva - Doctor Minerva?  
Who is Mister Fantastic?
Who is Mister Hyde?  
Who is Mister Sinister?
Who is Misty Knight? 
Who is Mockingbird?
Who is Moon-Boy?
Who is Moondragon? 
Who is Moon-Girl? 
Who is Mother Bones? (Lor Tribe Inhuman)
Who is Morlun?
Who is Morgana Blessing - Doctor Strange love interest 
Who is Moses Magnum? 
Who is Mr. Fish?
Who is Ms Marvel aka Kamala Khan? 
Mummex - Marvel Monster
Who is Mysterio? 


N)
Who is Naja? 
Who is Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow?
Who is Nebula
Who is Negasonic Teenage Warhead? 
Who is Nightshade? 
Who is Nova?
Who is Nur / Frank McGee? 

O)
Who is Odin? 
Who is Osaku - Hand/Snakeroot/ Russian KGB
Who is The Owl aka Leland Owlsley 

P)
Who is Patsy Walker aka Hellcat?
Who is Paragon?
Who is Peter Parker / Spider-Man?
Who is Peggy Carter?   
Who is Pennance? 
Phil Coulson: Bio, News  
Who is Phobos?
Who is Phyla Vell?
Who is Powerman AKA Luke Cage?
Who is the Punisher (Frank Castle)? 
Who is the Purple Man?
Who is the Prowler?

Q)
Who is Quake aka Daisy Johnson?
Who is Quicksilver? 

R)
Who is Red Wolf? 
Who is Reader? 
Who is Reed Richards - Mister Fantastic?
Who is Rhodey Rhodes - War Machine? 
Who is Rich Rider - Nova?
Riri Williams / Ironheart
Who is Robbie Baldwin aka Speedball / Penance? 
Who is Rocket Raccoon?

Who is Ronan the Accuser? 

S)
Who is th Sam Wilson aka The Falcon
Who is Santa Claus
 Who is Scarlet Witch   
Who is Scott Lang aka Ant-Man? 
 Who is Shades?
Who is Shaft? of the Chaste 
Shang Chi - Marvel Hero
Who is Shocker? Spider-Man Villain
Who is Sif? 
Who is Silk? 
Who is Silver Dagger? 
Who is Skurge the Executioner? 
 Skye: Bio, News
Who is Slingshot aka Yo-Yo Rodriguez? 
Who is Spear?
Who is Speedball? 
Who is Spider-Man? 
Who is Miles Morales - Spider-Man? 
Who is Spider-Woman? 
Who is Star Hawk?
Who is Starlord?
Who is Steel Serpent?
Who is Steve Rogers / Captain America? 
 Who is Stick?
Who is Stilt-Man?  
Who is Stone? of the Chaste 
Who is Storm? 
 Who is Sue Richards (Storm) the Invisible Woman?
Who is the Supreme Intelligence (Kree)? 
Who is Supremor?
Who is Surtur? 

T)
Who is Taserface?
Who is Thanos?
Who is Tekagi - Hand/Snakeroot
Who is Tetu? (Black Panther)
Titano - Marvel Monster
Who is the Thing? 
Who is Thor? 
Who is Ti Asha Ra
Who is Tiger's Beautiful Daughter
Who is Tombstone?
Who is Tony Stark / Iron Man?  
Who is Triton?
Trull the Inhuman - Marvel Monster
Who is Tullk?


U)
Who is Ultron
Who is Umar? 
Who is the Universal Church of Truth? 

V)
Vandoom - Marvel Monster
Who is Vance Astro AKA Major Victory?
Who is Varnae? (The Oldest Vampire in Marvel universe) 
Who is Victor Strange aka Baron Blood? 
Who is Vision? 
Who is Volstagg? 
Who is the Vulture?

W)
Who is War Machine? Rhodey Rhodes 
Who are the Warriors Three? 
Who is the Wasp AKA Janet van Dyne? 
Who is Werner Von Strucker? 
Who is Whiplash?  
Who is Willis Stryker AKA Diamondback?
Who is Wilbur Day aka Stilt-Man?
Who is White Wolf?
Who is Wolverine?  
Who is Wonder Man?

X)
X the Unknowable - Marvel Monster

Y)
Who is Yellow Jacket? 
Who is Yo-Yo Rodriguez aka Slingshot? 

Z)
Who is Zenzi (Black Panther villain)
Who is the Zodiac Group? 
  

Shang-Chi - Marvel hero

December 16, 2016, 8:17 am

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Who is the Shang-Chi?





Shang-Chi is a Marvel hero known for being one of the world's best martial artists. Shang-Chi has been able to defeat numerous super powered individuals despite not having super powers.  He has also helped train numerous heroes including Spider-Man.  Shang-Chi has not yet appeared or been mentioned in the MCU.

Name: Shang-Chi

Affiliations: Secret Avengers, MI-6, Heroes for Hire, Freelance Restorations, Avengers

First Appearance: Special Marvel Edition #15 (1973)

Fun Fact: Shang-Chi in Chinese means; "Rising of the spirit"


Quotes:

Before I train the Spider, First I must train the Man. (Shang Chi to Spider-Man)

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Bio:


Born in the Hu'nan province of the People's Republic of China, Shang-Chi is the son of master mind villain Fu Manchu.  Fu Manchu was a villain who sought through various devious plots to conquer the world.  Shang-Chi.was trained by a variety of the best martial arts instructors including his father.  Fu Manchu saw his son as both a deadly weapon to be used against his enemies as well as an eventual successor to his empire.  While living with Fu Manchu, Shang-Chi believed his father was a good person and was happy to serve his father in whatever he needed.

Fu Manchu sent Shang Chi to kill his Dr Petrie.  However, before Shang-Chi could kill Dr. Petrie he encountered Sir Denis Nayland Smith and learned the truth about his father.  He learned his father was evil and obssessed with power.  Shang-Chi then left control of his father and joined with Sir Denis Nayland Smith to oppose him.

Fu Manchu sent his adopted son and friend of Shang Chi, M'Nai aka Midnight to kill Shang-Chi.  The two highly trained martial artists battle fierecly while Shang-Chi pleads for Midnight to see that Fu Manchu is evil.   Midnight mocks Shang-Chi's attempts and states that after seeing his family killed as boy his heart had been filled with nothing but hatred toward humanity.  Shang-Chi then kicked Midnight off the roof to his apparent demise (Later revealed that he was saved by Kang The Conqueror).

Shang-Chi joined with Black Jack Tarr and Clive Reston to take down various threats to the world.  He also encountered various super heroes including Man Thing, Spider-Man, the Cat, Rom the Space Knight, White Tiger, Jack of Hearts, and Iron Fist.  During this time he also met and became smitten by female agent, Leiko Wu.
He would go on to battle super powered martial art agents like Razor Fist, Carlton Velcro,Mordillo, Brynocki, Shockwave, Viper, Silver Samurai, Fah Lo Suee, the Dire Wraiths, and Boomerrang.

On a mission with Freelance Restoration, Shang-Chi saw his father die.  Feeling great peace knowing his father was not going to hurt anyone else Shang-Chi retired from his life as an adventurer and moved to a remote fishing village in China to live as a fisherman.

Shang-Chi's friend and love interest Leiko Wu was captured by a group of terrorists called Argus who chopped off her hand as a message to Shang-Chi.  He left retirement and aggressively took down the organization and saved Wu from their clutches.  During the battle he was poisoned but he saved himself by using an elixir of his father's creation called the elixir vitae.

Shang-Chi joined with Spider-Man to battle the Hand during the Shadowland event.

Captain America recruited Shang Chi to help stop the rise of the Shadow Council.  The Council had resurrected Shang-Chi's grandfather Zheng Zu and his assassins the Hai Dai.  Working with the Secret Avengers Shang-Chi was able to stop his grand father.

Madame Web brought Shang-Chi to New York where he helped retrain Spider-Man how to fight.  Spider-Man had lost his spidersense and was lost in how to maintain his superhero career.

During the incursions event that led to Secret Wars, Shang-Chi was exposed to cosmic radiation that gave him the power to create duplicates of himself.  He was worked on an Avenger team led by Sun Spot in an effort to stop the incursions.


Training of other Super Heroes:



At different times Shang-Chi has been sought out by some of the best fighters in the Marvel Universe.

Spider-Man lost his spider-sense power that had allowed him foresee and react to oncoming attacks.  Without the spider sense power Spider-Man was lost and found that he had difficulty dodging attacks and even web swinging.  Shang-Chi came to help Spider-Man develop his own fighting style that did not require the use of the spider sense.  Shang Chi felt that Spider-Man had overly relied on spider sense and had made into a liability that could be exploited.

Wolverine sought out Shang-Chi for advice on how to fight Sabretooth.  This is significant because Logan's own martial arts background is extensive.


Powers and Skills:

Powers:
Shang-Chi has had a few super powers over the years but generally he is known for relying on his martial arts skills.  Shang-Chi does have a high control of his Chi which he can use to increase his athletic ability and healing though this generally is pushing him to a level just beyond peak human fitness.

• Some Healing
• Additional Strength
• Additional durability

Mister Negative Powers:
During the Shadowland story Shang-Chi briefly had the powers of Mister Negative before being restored to normal by Spider-Man.

Duplication Power:
During the incursions in Marvel Now Shang Chi was exposed to cosmic radiation and gained the ability to create duplicates of himself.  This powers limits have not been fully explored but it seems to work in a similar way as the Multiple Man.

Skills:
Shang Chi is considered to be the best empty handed Kung Fu practitioner alive.  Whether due to fitness, skills or his chi mastery he has managed to dodge gun fire and a sniper bullets.  He has managed to defeat super humans of far greater strength relying on his skills.

• Master of Hand to hand combat
• Master of wide variety of weaponry (Mostly hand to hand)
• Stealth
• Bracers - Shang-Chi has used metal bracers to deflect bullets

MCU:
As of Dec, 2016, Shang-Chi has not been mentioned or appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.






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The Code-A-Pillar expansion packs which is best?

December 16, 2016, 2:55 pm

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Coding Caterpillar or Code-A-Pillar by Fisher Price is Toylab's Top Christmas Toy of 2016

Toylab bloggers love the Code-A-Pillar the fun toy that teaches kids the art of sequencing that is a crucial part in learning how to build computer program aka to Code.  Coding is getting hot for good reason as its a critical skill for the next generation.


Click Here for our Review of the Code-A-Pillar



The main Code-A-Pillar set comes with a set of group of moves it can do but your toddler may quickly want it to do a little more.  This is where Fisher Price smartly added expansion packs.

There are 3 different expansion packs so far and we are going to review each one and let you know which ones we like the best.



Think and Learn Basic Expansion Pack
This pack adds a forward, left turn and right turn segments.  I really like this one because it just give your toddler a few more pieces that are easy to understand.  To me the fun part of the Code-A-Pillar is making it move along a course or from spot A to spot B.  It allows the toddler to solve just a little more complicated of a problem and increases the variability making it more fun.  While this makes the Code-A-Pillar more fun I also don't see it making it overwhelming.  If anything providing these pieces make the Code-A-Pillar easier to use.  Some might even argue that this expansion should have come with the Base Set.

Bottom line I really like this expansion and highly recommend getting it with the base set.

Fisher Price Description:

Code-a-pillar™ inspires little learners to be big thinkers! Preschoolers can develop important skills—like problem solving, planning & sequencing, and critical thinking—as they arrange (and rearrange!) these additional, easy-to-connect segments to send Code-a-pillar™ on all sorts of different paths. Add Go Forward, turn right 90 degrees, and turn left 90 degrees ... your wish is his command with this Code-a-pillar™ expansion pack!

Make the Code-a-Pillar™ grow and go!
This pack contains 3 easy-to-connect command segments with unique actions:

• Forward—Add this piece and Code-a- pillar™ moves straight ahead!
• 90° right turn— This piece makes Code-a-pillar™ turn right.
• 90° left turn-- Add this piece for Code-a-pillar™ to make a left turn.
• Each pack sold separately and subject to availability

Think and Learn Silly Sounds & Lights Expansion Pack

This set I tend to overlook because when my toddler plays the game is normally trying to get the Code-A-Pillar to go somewhere along or through something.    This pack does not provide any segments that help the Code-A-Pillar move instead these make the Code-A-Pillar make different noises.  That said I can see how making the Code-A-Pillar go to sleep or act goofy could be a lot of fun for a kid.

One warning to parents on this one is that the Code-A-Pillar has no mute button.  If you buy these sounds you might be listening to them.......A LOT!

Fisher Price Description:

Add these to Code-a-pillar™ to make him grow and go!
Code-a-pillar™ inspires little learners to be big thinkers! Preschoolers can arrange these additional easy-to-connect segments in endless combinations to send Code-a-Pillar™ on its path. This encourages experimentation while developing important skills including problem solving, planning and sequencing, and critical thinking. Your wish is Code-a-Pillar™’s command with this zany expansion pack! 

Features:
Make the Code-a-Pillar™ grow and go!
This pack contain 3 easy-to-connect command segments with unique actions:

• Sleepy Zzzs - Awww...this piece's soft sound & light makes you want to take care of Code-a-pillar™
• Wacky - Ready to make him go "wacky"? Add this piece & he'll stop & make silly sounds while his eyes "blink" in a zany light pattern
• Happy - Adding this piece will make him stop & play upbeat music while his eyes "blink" in a fun light pattern

Think and Learn Master Moves Expansion Pack

The master Moves comes with a 45 degree turn, a 180 degree turn and the a repeat segment.  The repeat segment is pretty cool but may baffle toddlers at first.  Basically you flip a switch on it between 1 and 5 and the Code-A-Pillar will repeat the action the repeat segment is attached to the number of times you have set.  Its pretty cool but will likely be overlooked at first.  I like how they named this one the Master set because I think that is how this set is best used.  Let your kids figure out the basic moves and do some things.  Then add this in later.

Fisher Price Description:

Code-a-pillar inspires little learners to be big thinkers! Preschoolers can arrange these additional easy-to-connect segments in endless combinations to send Code-a-Pillar on its path. This encourages experimentation while developing important skills including problem solving, planning and sequencing, and critical thinking. Add sound and light effects … repeat previous actions … turn right 45 degrees or turn left 180 degrees … your wish is Code-a-Pillar’s command with this assortment of expansion kits!

• Make the Code-a-Pillar grow and go
• This pack contain 3 easy-to-connect
• Features command segments with unique actions
• 90° turn-- Add a piece for Code-a-pillar to make a left turn
• Each pack sold separately and subject to availability

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Toylab is an Amazon Affiliate website lets look and see what Amazon has for the Coding Caterpillar.
Below we have found a great deal on the Coding Cadipillar that is 10 under market price.





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Click Here for our Review of the Code-A-Pillar


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Top 10 fighters in the Marvel Universe

December 16, 2016, 3:53 pm

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There are many power rankings in Marvel for this one I want to focus on the very best fighters and martial artists in the Marvel Universe.   For this ranking I wanted to eliminate the effect of powers and focus purely on each characters martial arts skills.  This changes the ranking of many of the characters often considered to be the best fighters.  I will tell you that three heroes often considered to be the top fighters of Marvel did not even make the list.  That is right Captain America, Daredevil and Spider-Man do not have as much fighting skill as those on this list.

To be clear on factors on this list I looked for training in martial styles and for heroes who have beaten powered heroes with very little powers themselves.

These are the best fighting heroes without: Super Strength, Super Durability, Super Speed, Mental Powers, or Chi Powers.  Also no suits, no gadgets, and scientific/detective problem solving

Weapons wise no skills with fire arms are considered.

These are heroes fighting within natural normal human athletic parameters.


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Now for the list


10)  Wolverine
Many want to put Wolverine in the top of the list but keep in mind in this ranking he has no healing factor or mutant claws to aid in his fights here.  Wolverine does keep however multiple life times of fighting, hunting and military skills.  As an adept student of fighting arts and developer of his own unique berserker fighting style he makes the list though just barely.


Martial Accolades:

• Combat fighting styles - Wolverine has fought in multiple wars 
• Martial Arts - It has been suggested that Wolverine has mastered nearly all fighting styles available.  He has studied fighting in both Japan, with the X-Men and the Avengers.
• Wolverine has intensely studied physiology for the purposes of causing pain, injury and death.  As such he knows weaknesses and pressure points in the body of humans, animals and aliens.
• His skills are such that he has managed some bouts to take on and even Shang-Chi and Captain America.

To learn more about Wolverine click HERE

9) Bullseye
Many may be surprised by this addition but they shouldn't be.  Bullseye has no super powers and has managed to kill a very good fighter Elektra in hand to hand combat.  He has also fought and nearly beaten Daredevil (Who has powers).  He has gone toe to toe with many super heroes and even filled in as Hawkeye on the Dark Avengers.  Often considered to be one of the most deadly men on the planet his speed and accuracy give opponents fits of terror.

Bullseye has been beaten by Deadpool and Daredevil numerous times but it should be noted that both of these adversaries have super powers.

Bullseye is known for intensely studying his opponents and has used the knowledge of them to anticipate their moves and attacks.

Martial Accolades:

• Prodigious accuracy, reflexes and agility
• Killed Elektra, Andrea Von Strucker and Morgana La Fey in hand to hand combat
• He has nearly killed Moon Stone twice
• Intensive student of opponents and fighting styles
• Highly lethal killer
• Has fought super powered heroes like Daredevil and held his own
• Once single handed took down a Hulkbuster robot by killing its pilot.
• No moral limits - Bullseye is totally ruthless
• Has defeated the Punisher despite the Punisher's use of fire arms

To learn more about Bullseye click HERE





8) Ghost Maker
Ghost Maker is highly trained martial artist who has been trained both by Russian military services, and by the Hand.  Does not rely on super powers but on martial skills and is still capable of fighting the toughest fighters in the Marvel Universe.

Martial Accolades:

• Fought Shang-Chi close to a stand still before being beaten
• Rose to be one of the top assassins of the hand
• Battled Elektra, Daredevil and Shang Chi at once

To learn more about the Ghost Maker click HERE






7) Hawkeye
Hawkeye is very much like Bullseye but has a couple of added feathers in his cap.  For one has beaten Bullseye in one on one battle.  He has also served as an Avenger in two different roles both as Hawkeye and Ronin.  In each role he used a different fighting style but still managed to hold his own against super powered opponents.

Despite not having super powers Hawkeye has led Avengers teams like the West Coast Avengers.

Hawkeye was highly trained in fighting with Avengers in a variety of fighting styles.  He also boasts a deadly skill of accuracy that has allowed him to fight above his weight.

Martial Accolades:

• Trained in numerous fighting styles
• Prodigious accuracy and reflexes
• Defeated numerous villains with super powers
• Highly skilled acrobat, fencer and marksman
• Naturally very strong - some super villains have found themselves unable to use his bow
• While generally against killing he has killed Bruce Banner, and the Scarlet Witch
• Has defeated Bullseye, Trickshot, Javelyn, Deathbird, Mister Fear, Egghead and Viper in single combat and numerous others on teams.

To learn more about Hawkeye click HERE




6) Steel Serpent (Davos)
Davos has closely battled and even beaten Danny Rand one of the best martial artists in the world.  He also destroyed Tiger's Beautiful Daughter another 7 City Champion in the Tournament of The Heavenly Cities.  He was eventually beaten in that tournament by the Prince of Orphans.  The Prince of Orphans however used an advanced mist power to overwhelm and defeat Davos.

Martial Accolades:

• Defeated Tiger's Beautiful Daughter, and on some occasions Iron Fist
• 7 City Champion as Steel Phoenix
• Train from birth in martial arts including the mystic arts of Kun Lun
• For much of his career he had no true super powers

To learn more about Steel Serpent click HERE




5) Black Panther (T'Challa)
T'Challa has been trained from birth in a wide variety of fighting styles including Wakanda styles that are forbidden to be taught outside of Wakanda.  He has beaten the individual members of the Fantastic Four in one on one battles, beaten Wolverine, and Captain America.  He did do these things with the use of his suit and from enhanced powers from the heart shape herb.  I do feel like generally Black Panther uses more skill than power in most of his confrontations which is in part why he ranks so high on this list.

Martial Accolades:

• Defeated each member of Fantastic Four, Wolverine and Captain America
• Has felt numerous cosmic threats such as Thanos
• Trained from birth in all of the worlds martial arts including secret arts of Wakanda.  Has also trained with the Avengers.

For more on Black Panther click HERE





4) Moon Dragon
While not a popular character Moon Dragon has easily defeated both Mantis and Captain America in hand to hand combat.

Moon Dragon is mentally strong to the point where she can control the organs of her body.  She is trained in highly advanced martial arts of the planet Titan that are unknown on Earth.

For more on Moon Dragon click HERE



3) Fat Cobra
Fat Cobra's natural strength and speed are considerable.  He once punched a man through a wall killing him.  He did this before he was even trained in combat.
Fat Cobra has beaten Iron Fist in combat though it was implied that Iron Fist may have thrown the fight or held back.  He is still

Martial Accolades:

• Has defeated Iron Fist in combat
• Fought in numerous wars
• Master of numerous fighting styles
• Is naturally very strong and quick

To learn more about Fat Cobra click HERE






2) Iron Fist
Iron Fist is heavily trained in martial arts and has proven his skills against the very best in the Marvel universe.  He defeated Davos in Kun Lun for the rights to become Iron Fist.

Martial Accolades:

• Was the greatest warrior out of Kun Lun a highly competitive martial arts city.
• His super power is considerable but not off charts making most of his achievements to be acts of skill rather than outright power.  
• He has defeated numerous super-villains including many powerful villains and also many martial arts villains.
• Has beaten Davos, Mister X, and Fat Cobra

To learn more about Iron Fist click HERE




1) Shang-Chi
Shang-Chi has long been thought of as the best fighter by the best fighters.  Numerous heroes have sought him out for fighting advice including Wolverine, Spider-Man and Captain America.  Shang-Chi's super hero career has largely been done without the use of super powers making all of his achievements that much more impressive.

Martial Accolades

• He has defeated Ghost Maker in single combat
• He is said to be a master of all martial arts, and is capable of coming up with new styles on the fly and to improvise tactics and moves based off of the situation.
• Super hero career done all without super powers

To learn more about Shang-Chi click HERE






Other characters considered:
Moon Knight, Kirigi, Batroc, Captain America, Zartan, Prince of Orphans, Black Widow, Silver Sable, Thor, Luke Cage, Spider-Man, Karnak, Kraven the Hunter, Man Ape, Mantis, Erik Killmonger, Melinda May, The Cat, Fu Manchu, Dog Brother Number One, Bride of Nine Spiders, Tiger's Beautiful Daughter and the Task Master






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Marvel - News, Characters, Reviews, Movies, and Comics 

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Chloe Bennet's butt

December 13, 2016, 3:51 pm

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I know you saw my butt

Its Time to chat about Chloe Bennet's butt.

Kids time to sit down on the couch and have an awkward conversation.  We are all fans of Agents of SHIELD but kids, it is time for the proverbial "TALK".  You know that akward "TALK" every poor young soul must sit through with one of their elders on a subject that makes both parties feel icky afterwards.  I think you all saw something in the last episode of Agents of SHIELD. (Episode 1 of Season 4). I saw it, you saw it, lets all admit it, WE SAW IT.  Lets all be honest and stand up to discuss this, even if its a bit......awkward. Yes my friends its time to have a chat about Chloe Bennet's butt.

Chloe Bennet is the actress that plays Skye, Daisy Johnson, Quake the character of many names but of only one butt.  This post is about her BUTT.

For Season 4, Agents of SHIELD moved to a later time slot.  The reason for the time slot shift was in part for the series to take on a darker and more adult tone.  Many comparisons have been drawn to the tone shifting toward something like the Netflix Daredevil series.  It also made sense because Season 4 is going to introduce the character of Ghost Rider.  Ghost Rider is tonally a dark character,  whose stories focus on battling evil demons, ghosts and even the devil.  It all made sense.

As I prepared to watch the premiere I sharpened my pencil and laid out my note pad. I was going to take notes on things that seemed a little more mature.than in previous seasons.  Mature things like deaths and scary dudes with flaming skulls.  I thought the change toward the mature would be interesting blog fodder.  Oh boy oh boy was it going to get interesting.  I popped open a coke, sat down on my cunfy sofa chair and turned on Agents of SHIELD.  I was filled with anticipation. Then almost immediately, just 20 seconds in.......I SAW IT.......the first sign of the mature tonal shift.......I SAW........Chloe Bennet's bootay.  

It also wasn't like a subtle build up.  The show just starts and is like BOOM! BUTT!  The scene was also not like at a distance, the camera was decidedly up close and all like BOOM! BUTT!  I have nothing against butts, and certainly nothing against Chloe's butt.  She has a decidedly nice Butt.  Still the power of that Butt just nailed me.  It was like I was momentarily tackled by a butt.  I guess normally one has time to prepare and orient oneself for butts.  But not this Butt it was just like BAM BOOM BUTT.

I'm thinking that Butt shot was more important that other butt shots.  That Butt shot was designed to say something about the show.  It was like BOOM BUTT yeah you weren't ready for that were yah.  Yeah Agents of SHIELD is changing and we are more intense and you better get ready because we are going to throw stuff at you Ghosts, Death and when your not ready for it ...... BUTTs!

My jaw oriented itself and I coolly recovered.  I didn't want anyone to see me get messed up over a butt after all.  I calmly took out my pencil and wrote down my first item on the list of mature Agents of SHIELD signs.........I wrote

Chloe Bennet's Butt

The show went on and I wrote a couple more things down. Ghost Rider appears he is a bit scary. Ghost rider brutally kills people. There is a ghost that comes out of a box. At the top of the list though there remained a bit of an outlier,.. Chloe Bennet's butt.

I have written about many things. Lots of things. food, ghosts, hikes, characters, stories yada yada but I have never written something about a butt before.  How does one write and analyze a butt anyways? So like a smart blogger I kind of perused around. I looked at twitter, and articles and was looking to see if Chloe Bennet's butt effected anyone else. Surely someone would write something about the Butt shot, but alas no one did.  Well dog gone it, if no one else is going to talk about it, I AM.  Am I the most qualified person to discuss butts?  Nope.  But the rest of the blogging world dropped the ball so its up to me.

What does that scintillating little scene mean for the show?  I think the show is trying to make the same point Miley Cyrus did riding half naked on a wrecking ball and that is.....We are growing up, we are getting serious and SH'BEEP is about to get real.

So real, that we might even show some butts.

I think that is what the Butt meant.

But I might be reading too much into it.  Freud once said sometimes a Butt is just a Butt or something to such an effect.  I have feeling though that the Butt was important.  It was thought out and it meant something.

Holy cow i just wrote a whole post about a butt.  Where is Sir Mix A Lot I bet I just joined some kind of a club.

By Marvel Blogger at Toylab

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Star Wars Rogue One film - News, Art, Trailers and Casting

December 17, 2016, 9:31 am

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Star Wars Rogue One film - News, Art, Trailers and Casting

Rogue One is a stand alone film set in the Star Wars universe that focuses on a group of rebels who steal the plans for the Deathstar.  The film is said to have a darker and more militarized tone than its Star Wars peers.  The film is a one shot and does not have any planned sequels.

Rogue One: Gillete Commerical
This commerical is pretty cool.  Its like is own little micro story.



Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Trailer #2

This really feels like a Sam Adams rebellion fomenting movie and I dig it.



Trailer 2 released at 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio:



Despite whatever issues have caused reshoots to happen the film's trailers are showing no problems.  Many are saying they like the Rogue One trailer more than the Force Awakens trailer.

This trailer highlights many more of the ragtag band like Donnie Yen's character Chirrut Imwe.  Chirrut is a blind warrior who seems to be able to feel the Force.   There are scenes that focus on Diego Luna's and Forrest Whitaker's character.   Also a general reveal of the time with the empire expanding all over the galaxy.

What will likely cause the most tongues to wag though is a brief glimpse of Darth Vader.  Another international version of the Trailer was also released.





Official Synopsis:
From Lucasfilm comes the first of the Star Wars standalone films, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, an all-new epic adventure. In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This key event in the Star Wars timeline brings together ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and in doing so, become part of something greater than themselves.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is directed by Gareth Edwards and stars Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Riz Ahmed, with Jiang Wen and Forest Whitaker. Kathleen Kennedy, Allison Shearmur and Simon Emanuel are producing, with John Knoll and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story opens in U.S. theaters on December 16, 2016.


A further description is provided in a press release by Kathleen Kennedy

“Rogue One takes place before the events of Star Wars: A New Hope and will be a departure from the saga films but have elements that are familiar to the Star Wars universe,”...  “It goes into new territory, exploring the galactic struggle from a ground-war perspective while maintaining that essential Star Wars feel that fans have come to know. Gareth Edwards is such an innovative director and I’m so excited to be working with him and the extraordinary ensemble cast he’s selected for Rogue One.”

Cast:
Felicity Jones
Diego Luna
Ben Mendelsohn
Donnie Yen
Jiang Wen
Forest Whitaker
Mads Mikkelsen
Alan Tudyk
Riz Ahmed

Problems and Reshoots:
6-7-2016 Latino Review has revealed that the film is undergoing extensive reshoots with a new director.   The studio initially said that the reshoots were to add in scenes surrounding a major character.   However, sources for Latino Review state that up to 50 percent of the film could be up for reshots an extremely large amount of film given its release date in 6 months.

Is interesting that director Gareth Edwards is not involved with the reshoots.  Unconfirmed rumors have said he is livid about the reshoots.

This could simply be Disney being extremely protective of its Star wars license and not want anything less than the best to be released.   For many fans though there is a worry that the film will plagued by similar issues as those that befell the distarous Fantastic Four.

One report from a reddit user named KeepR1dark claims to have inside information and says reshoots are because Disney feels the film is too dark and scary for children.   The primary reshoots according KeepR1dark are from a scene where Darth Vader brutally terrors through a Rebel unit.   The scene was meant to horror elements to emphasize Vaders badness.

KeepR1dark Quote-

In a night scene Vader absolutely lays waste to a Rebel ground Squad.  Unfortunately this is one of the scenes we need to water down.   We made it like something from the old slasher/horror films.    Rebel soldiers who joked about a boogie man with magical powers and then minutes later are absolutely wasted.

There is actually a scene much like this in the comic Vader Down.   I'm not sure I'd either influenced the other but it is possible.  The Vader Down comic chronologically takes place at a different time after New Hope IV.


Trailer:



Star Wars Store:





First Pictures:











More Star Wars!
 Star Wars - Alpha 1 Hub of all things Star Wars related!


Who is Finn?
Who is Rey? 
Who is Captain Phasma? 
What is the First Order?

Who is Cock Roach Hamilton?

December 18, 2016, 7:45 pm

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Who is Cock Roach Hamilton?

Cock Roach is a villain of Luke Cage known for using a customized and powerful shotgun capable of hurting super heroes.

Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton is a hitman in New York City, known for using a large powerful shot gun.

Confrontation with Luke Cage
Cockroach working for a crimelord named Piranha Jones.  The two become entangled with Luke Cage when they try to steal a shipment from the Adonis Chemical Company.  The company knows that an employee named Wentworth is selling information and hires Luke Cage to track him and find out who he is selling it to.  Luke Cage witnesses Cockroach kill Wentworth.  He then engages him.

To Cage's surprise a blash from Cockroach's gun is powerful to dislocate his arm.  None-the-less

One the next meeting Cockroach blasts Cage with a gas bullet that puts him to sleep.  He then ties Cage to a bridge that he believes will rip the hero to hire apart.  Luke Cage escapes and eventually puts a stop to both Piranha Jones and Cockroach.

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Skills and Powers and Josh

Cockroach made a large and powerful 6 barreled shotgun that he calls Josh.  Josh can fire conventional weaponry as well as gas bombs.
A blast from Josh is powerful to blow Luke Cage backwards and cause him injuries.



Flashmob
Cockroach shows as a member of the Flashmob on a mission to get revenge on Powerman.  He is stopped by Powerman and the Heroes for Hire.



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Chansey - Gym Prestige Trick in Pokemon Go

December 19, 2016, 8:25 am

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Did you catch a Chansey?  It likely had a really low CP value and you may be tempted to transfer it.

So just in case you are getting ready to transfer it let me clearly say....DO NOT TRANSFER IT.

Chansey is a very Rare Pokemon and has some amazing quirks that make it one of the most special Pokemon in all of Pokemon Go. So now you are looking at this Cute maybe a little weird looking dude and your saying ok what the heck do I do with a Chansey.

The Chansey Prestige Quirk:

Lets get one thing straight Chansey is a freak of the Pokemon world in that it really is a one of a kind.  What make Chansey freaky?  Its his HP.  Chansey has MASSIVE amounts of HP that do not count toward its CP value. This means that Chansey is able to battle far beyond its CP value. Often a 400 CP Chansey can take on a 800+ CP Pokemon. Where this discrepancy becomes important is how Prestige is added to gyms.

Prestige is the factor that determines a gyms level.  The higher the gym's prestige the higher its level.  The higher the gym's level the more Guardian Pokemon can be housed their to guard the gym.  Prestige is awarded by beating Pokemon in the gym.  If you beat a gym controlled by your team then beating a Guardian Pokemon will increase that gym's Prestige.  If you beat a gym controlled by another team then beating a Guardian Pokemon will lower that gym's prestige.  The amount of Prestige that is gained/lost by the gym has to do with CP of the defeated Guardian Pokemon against that of an Attacker.    In other words: If you attack a gym with a high CP Pokemon that is higher than the Guardians the amount of Prestige effected will be low, but if you can attack and defeat a high CP Pokemon with a low CP Pokemon then you can create a HUGE Prestige swing.

Creating huge swings in Prestige with only a few battles offers a few big advantages
1) You can take over, or build up a gym VERY QUICKLY.
2) By doing less battles you will use less potions/revives

The general strategy employed by people without Chansey is to use Bubble Pokemon.  A Bubble Pokemon is installed in a gym.  It has high CP but a bad move set or a glaring weakness.  Typically my favorite Bubble Pokemon has been a high CP Parasect and I have used a low CP Pigeot to destroy him.  This takes advantage of Pigeot Type advantage of Flying over Parasect's Bug Type




What Chansey does is offer a tool that can be used for this type of thing regardless of the types at the gym.  Its high CP allows it to destroy many of the low level guardians of the gym and rack up massive amounts of Prestige.  One thing to note is that if you take over a gym with a friend you can still install a bubble Pokemon for Chansey.  There are a few people who have dropped in high CP Magicarps that are pretty ineffective in battle.  Chansey rocking on a high CP Magicarp will cause a gym's prestige to skyrocket very quickly.

There is one problem with using Bubble Pokemon though.  When you use a Bubble Pokemon you are basically giving your own gym a weakness then exploiting it.  However, once your gym is leveled up that weakness still exists.  A smart gym attacker will exploit the same Bubble Pokemon to take down your gym just the way you used it to build it up.  The other problem with Bubble Pokemon is that you need a friend or a team to install tougher Pokemon once the level is raised.  Otherwise your Bubble Guardian will simply get knocked down and another team will take over.  Your gym is definitely at high risk when all it has is a bubble Pokemon.  If you are in a high traffic area a Bubble Pokemon may not even be an option.

Chansey does not have this issue.  You can still a pretty threatening Pokemon as the starter Guardian Pokemon.  This means your gym will be safer and you can still earn a massive amount of Prestige.

Chansey also makes a descent gym Guardian if its at a high CP because Prestige earned on it will tend to be so low.  Effectively a Chansey Guardian is like the opposite of a bubble Pokemon.  I would not recommend putting Chansey in as the first Pokemon of a gym because it would be very hard to build up that gym but as a 2nd defender he could make a lot of sense.  A Chansey gym would also be funny to watch as people attack and are startled by how tough a 400 CP Chansey is.

Chansey Post Update:
There is a new update that allows you to take 6 Pokemon to take on a gym.  The Prestige seems to be based off the highest CP Pokemon.  You can still do the Chansey trick just take 5 low CP Ratattas on your team along with the Chansey.


The Chansey Castle - ULTRA defender Trick


Ok in truth this trick could be really annoying so I hesitate to recommend it.  However, I think it is also really effective.  90% of defending a gym is to intimidate attackers to the point that they deem a gym not worth attacking.  Well one way to do this is to fill a gym full of Chanseys.  This is actually not a very easy to think to do it would take a lot of time and coordination with players who all have Chanseys but once complete the gym would be extremely hard to take down.

I call a gym made up of all Chanseys a Chansey Castle and in order to work it must be heavely made up of Chanseys.

Chanseys will effect the attackers in two ways:
First Chanseys are pretty difficult to battle and have few weaknesses
Second Chanseys TAKE FOREVER TO TAKE DOWN this means that time that would need to be invested to take down a Chansey castle is much higher than other gyms.

Players will look at the gym see the Chanseys and almost universally decide that it will take too long to take down the gym and go else where.

Weakness of the Chansey Castle:
The biggest weakeness of the Chansey Castle is for members of the same team to come in and install their higher CP but weaker Pokemon in the gym and bump out the Chanseys.  This is possible because Chanseys tend to have low CP.  I could see this happening a lot to Chansey Castles made by Team Mystic players.  There are so many Team Mystic Players that they end up becoming their own enemy.  However, this would be a great way for Team Instinct to build up a small but difficult to take down gym.
Maybe Team Instinct should make their mascot a Chansey for now on.



Video Of Chansey Battle:

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Toylab's Pokemon Go Guide - See Tips, Tricks, How to Beat

Who are the Sakaarans

December 19, 2016, 8:07 pm

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Sakaaran Native

 

Who are the Sakaarans

The Sakaarans were introduced during the storyline Planet Hulk.  Hulk is shot out into space by a group of Earth heroes cslling themselves the Illuminati because they fear that there is no way to stop him if he goes on a rampage.  He lands on the planet Sakaar.  There he is faced with a fairly primitive but powerful people.  

Location:  

Planet:  Sakaar

Star System: Tayo 

Galaxy: Fornax

Races: 

Sakaarans include multiple races.  Primarily there are the Imperials, Shadow People, and The Natives

Imperials- Sakaaran Imperials dominate the government and form up the bulk of the empire cities or as farmers in the countryside.

Shadow People – Have grey skin.  Their race once crisscrossed the galaxy but the Old Power a force they depended upon had grown unstable.  They seeded the galaxy with their race trying to undue the damage the Old Power had done.  They now have Priests that can channel the old power making themselves super strong and durable.  Most shadow people live in villages outside of the major cities.

Natives- Primitive, buglike, humanoids

Government:  Monarchy Imperialistic – Sakaar is controlled by an Empire whose Imperialistic force stretches across the planet.  The Emperor has the title Sakaarson and rules with absolute power.

Emperors:

Red King

Father Emperor – Angmo – Original Leader who united the world under the empire. Was born with a trait called the Imperial Prime that gave him vast power.

Red King- Angmo-Asan – Spoiled son of Angmo who lacked his Imperial Prime.  The original Angmo attempted to have him killed when he was child but the Assassin Hiroim the Shamed refused to kill a child.  Eventually took control of the Empire.  Built himself a power suit that made him powerful like his father.  Brutalized the populace but manipulated the stories to make himself seem like a hero.  Eventually, he is beaten by the Hulk in the Arena and loses control of the planet.  He managed to survive though is now more machine than flesh.

The Hulk- Takes control of the planet after being stranded there.  Eventually, leads a war party of Sakaarans to Earth to take revenge on the Illumati for sending him there and for blowing up the shuttle that killed his Sakaaran family.

Cariera the Old Strong - Former guardian of the Red King, later part of Hulk's warbound pack. 

Cariera Old Strong

Red Queen of Sakaar –Omaka– Red Kings Daughter

Culture:

The culture of the Sakaarans is similar to the ancient Romans.  They are fond of arena gladiatorial combat.

Technology:
The Sakaaran's themselves do not have advanced technology.  However, there is a portal on their planet that spits out advanced wrecked space ships.  They salvage out advanced forms of technology and integrate it into their society.

Movie:
Sakaaran Soldiers will make up the bulk of Thanos's forces in the upcoming movie the Guardians of the Galaxy

Potentially an Imperial Sakaaran on GotG movie

Korath accompanied two Sakaaran soldiers

Sakaaran Soldier

Toys:
Sakaaran Soldiers will be in included in the Guardians of the Galaxy Lego sets.
Lego Mini - Sakaaran Soldier on far right


Hasbro Sakaaran soldier action figure

 

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