The SmackDown Files: The F5 From Outta Nowhere Edition (8-2-2016)

By: Keila Cash 

Hello everyone and welcome to another edition of The SmackDown Files. Tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live! emanated from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN. Last week’s show got off to a shaky start in terms of excitement, but I had hope that things would get better as SD Live! finds its identity to make it different from its red counterpart. Did the creative forces behind the blue brand rise to the occasion or did they crumble under the pressure for a second week in a row? The answer to this pressing question can be found throughout this blog. Without further ado let’s dissect tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live! in no particular order.

·         Daniel Bryan committed a rare faux pas when he mistakenly called Apollo Crews Apollo Creed. I guess he had Rocky on the brain.

·         A Spirit Squad reference. How quaint.

·         The opening segment of SmackDown Live was really good. Dean Ambrose was fantastic as he spelled out his case as to why Dolph Ziggler has never reached the pinnacle of success in WWE. Ambrose chalked it up to Ziggler complaining about everything instead of showing it in the ring. Instead of being a highlight reel who manages to steal the show with nothing to show for it, he should be focused on winning instead of a being a footnote in history. If Ziggler was on trial, he would be found guilty on all the charges The Lunatic Fringe leveled against him. It was a masterful performance that had me beaming from ear to ear.

·         Ziggler managed to come up with a good rebuttal saying that he has been chasing his wrestling dream since he was five years old. He went on to become a champion on the collegiate level at Kent State which fed his hunger even more to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. Ziggler talked about how management undervalued his worth because he was not good enough or too damn good to break through the noise. He vowed to burn Brooklyn to the ground and defeat Ambrose to capture the WWE Title at SummerSlam. Ambrose dismissed Ziggler and said that he wasn’t good enough to beat him and left the ring.

·         Afterwards, the lights went out inside the arena only for them to come back on with Bray Wyatt dropping Ziggler with Sister Abigail in the middle of the ring. Wyatt challenged Ziggler to a match with the winner moving on to SummerSlam to face Ambrose for the WWE Title.

·         Ziggler approached Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon backstage and asked for the match with his title shot on the line. He wanted to prove the naysayers wrong and defeating Wyatt would go a long way towards doing just that.

·         The Triple Threat Match between Apollo Crews, Kalisto, and Baron Corbin to determine the number one contender for Miz’s Intercontinental Championship was fun while it lasted. I thought all three guys managed to do some creative things to make the match stand out. The crowd was enthusiastic and I was a little disappointed that it ended so quickly. Apollo Crews rolled up Kalisto for the win and will go on to face Miz for the IC Title at a later date.

·         Corbin decided to pounce on Kalisto some more. Crews made the save which allowed Miz to attack Crews from behind by laying him out with the Skull Crashing Finale. However, Miz was on Corbin’s shit list as well as he nailed him with The End of Days to cement his lone wolf status on the SmackDown roster.

·         This was a surprisingly hot segment that actually could have went longer. I don’t know if it was a timing issue, but this might have been the time to loosen the reigns a bit and let the guys go crazy. Within reason, of course.

·         Eva Marie “injured” herself during her ring entrance and was unable to face Becky Lynch in a one-on-one match. I smell a red rat. At least we were spared from seeing Eva wrestle live if she is not ready for primetime. If that’s the case, why was she drafted in the first place? Just saying…

·         American Alpha had a very nice debut on SD Live! as they made short work of The Vaudevillians. The crowd could have been a bit livelier, but it is important to note that certain acts are over in some markets than others because all fans do not follow NXT. The causals need to be eased into things and that’s okay. The work rate and personalities will translate on the big stage in due time. It will take patience, but it can be done. As long as WWE stays the course, these new acts should get over. Fingers crossed!

·         John Cena vs. AJ Styles II is officially taking place at SummerSlam. The promo exchange leading up to the announcement was pretty damn good. I have to give Styles major props for shutting down the worn-out “What?” chants by shaming the families in the audience for supporting John Cena. Cena had an awesome comeback as he talked about his love for WWE and how he will always call the company home despite achieving mainstream success over the past couple of years. When Cena is in the zone, he is one of the best talkers in the business. He hit Styles below the belt by almost chastising him for being a good wrestler who could set up shop somewhere else if things didn’t work out in WWE. I have a problem with that mentality because success can be found outside the biggest wresting organization in the world. Making WWE money is great, but it doesn’t mean a damn thing if you’re not happy. There is life outside of the machine, but I guess the company doesn’t want to clue people in on that fact.

·         That quibble aside, I really enjoyed the segment. Styles and Cena should tear the house down at SummerSlam in a few weeks.

·         Brock Lesnar cashed in his receipt on Randy Orton as he dropped The Viper with a F5. The inter-promotional feud continues to heat up as both men are crossing enemy territory in order to make a statement. I don’t know if this game of tit for tat is going to last until SummerSlam, but it should be fun to see how it all plays out.

·         Rhyno has a thing for Goring Heath Slater. And he gets to do it again next week in an actual match. Poor Slater…

·         Dolph Ziggler is still the number one contender for Dean Ambrose’s WWE Championship as he defeated Bray Wyatt with a Superkick after he rammed Wyatt’s head into the exposed turnbuckle. Wyatt was trying to take the same short cut, but Ziggler beat him at his own game. The match was good and had a nice amount of heat as the crowd was split down the middle in favor of both men.

·         However, Ziggler’s celebration didn’t last long as Erick Rowan attacked him from behind. Ambrose tried to make the save, but he was taken out of the equation quickly. Wyatt nailed Ziggler with Sister Abigail and did his signature pose and “Follow the Buzzards” catchphrase as SD Live! went off the air.

·         We can assume that next week’s main event will feature Wyatt and Rowan vs. Ambrose and Ziggler with the latter butting heads. Call it intuition or WWE Booking 101.

·         I thought that Ziggler showed good fire throughout the show by trying to prove his haters wrong. He has a chip on his shoulder and it’s going to be interesting to see if he’s going to continue to bitch and moan his way through life or let his actions speak louder than words.

·         Wyatt is a wild card as he is someone who wants to be in the WWE Title picture. He’s a menace and will continue to play spoiler until it’s his turn at bat. Rowan serving as his backup makes sense because they have a long history together. Add in the imminent return of Luke Harper and we could have a full-on Wyatt Family reunion on our hands. SD Live! needs a little mayhem in order to make it stand out from Raw. A re-energized Wyatt Family might do the trick.

·         As for Ziggler and Ambrose, their feud is already heating up and I am pleasantly surprised to see how it is playing out. Both men were given juicy material to work with which made me care about their match at SummerSlam. There is still room to grow, but progress has been made in making Ziggler look like an actual threat even though Ambrose doesn’t view him as such. We still have a few weeks to go, but the first chapter of their story was highly entertaining.

·         Overall, I thought tonight’s episode of SmackDown Live! was solid. This was a much better show than last week. The promos carried the broadcast more so than the actual in-ring action, but the show had a clear sense of purpose which gave fans a reason to care from start to finish.

·         The pacing of the show could use a little tweaking. The broadcast still feels a bit rushed as WWE is trying to cram two hours of content without running out of time. The show never dragged, but some matches that had room to build to a meaningful conclusion were hurt by commercials. SD Live! has one less hour to worry about, but it’s vital that they maximize the two hours they do have by making sure everything runs smoothly. It’s still a work in progress, but I can give them some leeway because going from taped to live is not easy. Hopefully, the production crew will work out the kinks and make the viewing experience from home fully enjoyable in the weeks to come.

·         The promos from Ambrose, Ziggler, Styles and Cena definitely carried the show this week. Everyone had a chance to shine on the mic and storylines were forwarded in a way that had me anticipating their respective matches at SummerSlam in a few weeks.

·         The mid-card scene still needs some help in the depth department, but that will come once the Women and Tag Team Titles for SD are introduced. Let’s hope that the people holding the new belts are over with the crowd and that those titles are seen as equal to the ones on Raw. Some parity on both shows would be nice.

On that note, this wraps up another installment of The SmackDown Files. I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back next week with a brand new edition of The Raw Exposé. See you later, boys and girls!

Characters We Love: Harley Quinn

Characters We Love: Harley Quinn

Submitted by: Theresa Stier, Comic News Writer

2 August 2016

Background

Suicide Squad comes out Thursday night and we cannot be more excited for this movie! There are many different DC characters in this movie, but one of my favorites has finally gotten her time on screen: Harley Quinn! Harley was first introduced to us through one of the best cartoons of all time, Batman: The Animated Series. Since her appearance,  Harley has been included  in DC comics and video games.

Before she became Harley Quinn, she was Dr. Harleen Quinzel. Harleen seems to be a normal college student. She does well in school, is a dedicated gymnast, and wants to become a psychiatrist. That all changes when she starts to work in Arkham Asylum, Gotham's famous home for the criminally insane. This is where she meets The Joker and she becomes interested in crazed criminals. The Joker recognizes this newly found interest and is able to manipulate her. She falls in love with him and breaks him out of Arkham. From that moment on, she devotes her life to making him happy and works with him to take over Gotham. She is willing to do anything for her “Puddin'”, even through all the abuse (both mental and physical) to which he subjects her. 

One of the more memorable comics that explores their relationship is "Mad Love," written by Paul Dini (This was also turned into an episode of The New Adventures of Batman). This one-shot comic takes the reader into Harley's life, where she met The Joker in Arkham Asylum, after she has been kicked out of their hideout by The Joker. At Arkham, interviews him, finding out that he was abused by his alcoholic father, and believes that Batman is the source of The Joker's anger. Remembering this, makes her believe that the only way that Mr. J could love her back is if she kills Batman....which she tries to until Batman distracts her by telling her that The Joker has been using her from the start and his childhood stories were lies. 

Harley insists that he's wrong, so Batman tells her to call him, so he can see her kill Batman. When he arrives, The Joker is anything but happy with Harley. He is angry that she would try to kill Batman herself and knocks her out the window. She is found by police and escorted off to Arkham Asylum. She is severely injured and wants to focus on getting better, so she can leave Arkham for good. She wants Mr. J out of her life.....but that changes when she finds out that he sent her flowers and a get well soon card.

Besides teaming up with The Joker, she's also seen with Poison Ivy in both the comics and the animated series. There are many series that cover the relationship between Harley and Ivy. However, in all of them, Ivy seems to be the only one that has Harley's back and is a friend to her. In some instances, Ivy takes Harley to her lair and injects her with a serum, which gives Harley immunity to various toxins.

The first time we see these two together in the animated series is in the episode, “Harley & Ivy”. The Joker throws Harley out of their hideout, after saying that she might be a better crook than him. From there, she decides to put her original plan in action and rob Gotham’s Museum of Natural History. Harley is able to get in without the alarms going off, but she soon realizes she has company when the Ivy sets off the alarms. When the two are cornered, by police,  they work together to escape. As they speed away, Ivy says, “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” 
 

Then of course, there's Suicide Squad. In one version, she's in jail due to murdering one of the prosecutors that put The Joker behind bars. This is when Amanda Waller inducts her into the Suicide Squad. Despite not having super powers, she is a valuable asset to the team…..even though Deathstroke has described her as “cuckoo for coco puffs.” We can’t deny that Harley is a bit “cuckoo”, but that’s what makes Harley’s character.

Why We Love Her:

1. She's funny. Even though The Joker is the master of jokes, Harley definitely has her moments where she has made us laugh. Here's a video of some of Harley's funniest scenes from Batman the Animated Series, The New Batman Adventures, and Gotham Girls.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_YtM1Lbi2w
2. Her loyalty. Even though she has tried to kill her “Puddin'” many times, she's loyal to him. She loves him and we can't see Harley or The Joker being without the other. 
3. She's pretty badass. Don't underestimate Harley. Even though she's a bubbly character, she can kick some ass and you don't want to be on her bad side.
4. She's a strong female character. Harley is strong (both mentally and physically), brave, and she doesn't need The Joker in order to rescue her or get what she wants. She's definitely a strong female in the comic book universe and has helped bring in more of those strong females. 
5. She walks to the beat of her own drum. Even though The Joker is manipulative, if Harley doesn’t want to do something, she’s not doing it. She doesn’t need to have The Joker come and save her when she’s in trouble and even though they’re a team, she’s independent. 
6. You never know what she’s going to do. She doesn’t follow the rules, she’s smart, and thinks quickly. Those three elements make you unaware of what is exactly up Harley’s sleeve and that’s what makes it exciting to read or to watch.

My Videogame Club- Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars

By: Patrick Hawes-DeFrias

Each week, I meet up with a group of friends to play a game. Sometimes it’s just once a week, sometimes more if our time permits. We continue to meet up until the game is completed, at which point we discuss our thoughts on the game, and then decide what the next game will be.

Our criteria for what we play is very simple- in fact, there’s only 2 requirements that a game needs for it to be considered:

1. The game must have a narrative structure of some kind. We like games that have a plot, or at least a semblance of one that we can fill in with our imaginations later. For example- Journey (PS3/PS4) doesn’t have a plot in the traditional sense. Nobody talks, and there are only a handful of characters. But, there’s a logical beginning, middle, and end, and upon reaching the end, the game is complete, and additionally, what little plot there is contains just enough detail for the player to get an idea of what could be happening.
2. At least one of us must NOT have finished the game before, ever. In this way, we ensure that no matter what game we play, at least one person gets to see the full experience of the game for the first time. This is the goal- to get new gaming experiences. This means we have a fairly broad range of games we play- Retro games, Indie games, new releases, even the occasional Romhack/Fangame.

Whenever my group finishes a game, I’ll post some of my thoughts of the game here. But without further ado, let’s jump right into Super Mario RPG!

(SPOILERS may apply, stop reading if you intend to ever play this game.)

Right off the bat I liked how much the game feels like a Mario game. The game looks like… well, if you put a Mario game in an isometric perspective. The colors are generally basic, but very vibrant, and the sound design is great. Every sound effect could easily fit right in from Super Mario World. In fact, I’m pretty sure at least a few of them did. Yeah, there’s a bit of borrowing going on here, but that adds to the game’s identity as a Mario game. Speaking of sound, I really enjoyed the game’s soundtrack. In fact, I’m listening to it as I’m writing this right now! It’s got quite a bit of instrumentation to it, but other than a few specific tracks (I’ll get to them later) they all feel very “Nintendo”. In fact, on the surface it’s pretty hard to tell that Square Enix (still Squaresoft at the time) developed it.

That changes the second a battle starts up, however. With how logical and well-designed the combat is, it’s easy to tell that a developer that was well-versed in the art of making a Roleplaying Game was behind it. Especially with how simple it is. What do I mean? Well, as I said earlier, this game seems to be an intro to RPG’s, and RPG 101 as it were. That’s easy to see with the decision to make it a Mario game, of course- anyone with at least tertiary knowledge about gaming knows who Mario is, and having the player play the role of a familiar character makes it easy to get into the game. But it goes beyond that- as an introductory game to the genre, it’s important that it be simple to play without being boring. They couldn’t have too many status effects in combat, and characters couldn’t have very big move pools, or else new players might get confused and frustrated. Every character needed to be simple to play, and have a very specific role in fights. But these modifications to the Final Fantasy formula on their own would make for a fairly boring game. So what did Squaresoft do? They pioneered the “action command” style of turned-based RPG’s, a method that continued throughout nearly every single Mario-based Roleplaying game ever since, including the Paper Mario games and the Mario and Luigi games. By requiring the player to use good timing to block, do more damage, etc. drives player engagement, makes it more “gamey”. In fact, other than straight-up Action RPG’s, like Kingdom Hearts or recent offerings from Bethesda, I like this form of RPG combat the most.

Speaking of Paper Mario, as well as Mario and Luigi, it’s clear that this game is the progenitor of all those games in ways beyond combat. The writing and characterization is particularly remarkable in this regard. The humor, the fact that Mario is a silent protagonist, how recurring characters such as Peach and Bowser act, all of that can be traced back to this game.

And on the subject of characters, we come to my favorite character in the game- Bowser. Bowser in these Roleplaying Mario games continues to be one of my favorite characters. He’s this big tough guy, who is always scheming, but is a bit of a bumbler. He is careful about his image as an evil king, and isn’t nearly as dumb as you might think. The best example of this comes from this very game, when the party confronts some of the main villain’s underlings, and Bowser jumps out to intimidate the henchmen. They proceed to ignore Bowser, saying something along the lines of “You’ll never reach the boss, Mario!” This leaves Bowser emotionally distraught. After the battle, I kid you not, Bowser busts out a haiku.

Like the moon over

The day, my genius and brawn

Are lost on these fools

After this, Mario consoles him by patting him on the back. That’s amazing.

So what else did I like and find interesting about the game? Lots of small things, really, like the plot. Now you may be wondering, how can the plot be a small point in an RPG? Well, keep in mind- this is Super MARIO RPG. The Mario franchise has never really been well-known for a gripping storyline (How many times has Peach been kidnapped?). And of course, Square wanted to keep things simple, so no grand overarching plots spanning an entire world, whole civilizations to interact with, etc. like a Final Fantasy game. The plot itself is ridiculous, involving a gang of sentient weapons invading the Mushroom Kingdom by impaling a giant talking sword into Bowser’s castle, and the stars send an emissary, who possesses a toy called Geno to serve as a body, down to collect the fragments of the star road because if the road isn’t repaired then wishes will never come true again, and I’ve already lost you haven’t I? This plot is an excuse to go through a bunch of strange, vibrant locations and meet a bunch of wacky characters. But what characters there are! There’s the aforementioned Geno, whose mannerisms and speech make me imagine him sounding like Clint Eastwood despite the fact that he’s basically a puppet whose hands turn into popguns. Then there’s Malo who’s secretly the prince of the clouds, but is really dumb and causes a rainstorm whenever he cries. There’s a sentient longbow called Bowyer who is insane and has googly eyes, commanding a platoon of googly-eyed arrows, and a goomba you meet in the latter half of the game who, somehow, has started up his own convenience store and begun a family in the week or so since he left Bowser’s army in the beginning of the game. If you can’t get engrossed in a world with a cast like that, I have no idea what to tell you.

Beyond the plot and characters, the game’s full of fun little moments. At one point Mario turns into his 8-bit self, and Birdo from Mario 2 shows up for no reason. All the points where Mario explains what’s going on, through a combination of pantomime and shapeshifting, are fun, and help to get past the ‘ol “fade to black… and now you know everything” trope present in many games. There’s several references to other Nintendo properties throughout the game- on 2 shelves, you can see little statues of various things such as an Arwing and some F-Zero racers, and you even get to meet both Link and Samus Aran! Attention to detail is one of my most-appreciated qualities in a developer. Lastly… okay, I’ve held up enough. Culex. Everyone who’s heard of this game by now knows about him. He’s this side-boss you can fight who’s incredibly tough, and is basically ripped right out of a Final Fantasy game- all the way down to, for this battle only, the fight music being the boss theme of Final Fantasy IV, and the win music being the traditional Final Fantasy victory fanfare. It’s a great moment, and it gets a bit meta- as Culex departs to… wherever he came from I guess, he says to Mario “In another game, we may have been mortal enemies… Let us part as comrades in arms.” Moments like this, where game developers poke fun at themselves, are great, and I always laugh at them.

With all these bizarre moments, crazy characters, fun details, and very, VERY solid gameplay, I think that Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars can be best summed up thusly- This game is like a theme park. There’s all kinds of wacky attractions that, while not exactly cohesive, are incredibly fun to go through. Since it’s on the Virtual Console now, might as well hop on some roller coasters and enjoy the ride!

Links:

http://www.mariowiki.com/

The Raw Exposé: The RKO Outta Nowhere Edition (8-1-2016)

By: Keila Cash

Hello everyone and welcome to another installment of The Raw Exposé. Tonight’s episode of Raw emanated from the Philips Arena in Atlanta, GA. I am a proud ATLien who is not ashamed to admit that the hometown crowd tends to lack energy at times. Some fans think they are watching the opera or ballet which kills the overall vibe of the show. However, Raw was a pretty damn good show last week and that positive energy could easily translate in Atlanta to keep the hot streak going. Or did it flame out like an ember erasing all the goodwill the red brand’s creative team built? The answer to this pressing question can be found throughout this blog. Without further ado, let’s dissect tonight’s episode of Raw in no particular order.

·         What the hell is growing on Chris Jericho’s face?

·         It was refreshing to see Sasha Banks and Charlotte kick off Raw. They threw a few verbal barbs at each other that made the crowd ooh and ah, but things got weird when Jericho and Enzo Amore got involved. Enzo is always golden on the microphone and tonight was no different. Jericho was pompous and annoying as usual. I just felt that the segment went too long until Mick Foley came out to book a mixed tag team match between Charlotte and Jericho vs. Enzo and Banks. Besides that minor hiccup, I thought it was a good way to start the show.

·         Quick Tip to Sasha Banks: I love her to pieces, but she needs to improve on enunciating her words. Banks has a slight case of mush mouth where certain phrases are jumbled which messes up the cadence in her promos. It will leave a crowd deader than dead if she keeps this up in a live setting. I am guilty of having a slight stutter when it comes to talking too fast. Nerves is the usual culprit, but it can be corrected with practice. Maybe Enzo can give her some tips so she can be a complete boss in the verbalization department as well.

·         I am not a huge fan of seeing a newly crowned champion pinned so quickly during his or her title reign, but Banks gets the out due to Dana Brooke interfering on Charlotte’s behalf. Banks and Charlotte traded a couple of rollups which kept the match alive until Banks lost her focus and slapped Jericho which allowed Charlotte to nail Sasha with a kick to the leg from behind followed by Natural Selection to pick up the win. The match was decent while it lasted, but everyone was holding back a bit which is understandable.

·         Big Cass came out to save Enzo from Jericho which plays into a storyline that took place between the two of them a few months ago. Cass was supposed to face Jericho on an episode of Raw, but it never happened. Therefore, logic was used to play into their quasi feud which is a miracle. If not, it’s pure happenstance. Either way, I am glad that small detail was acknowledged.

·         Dear, sweet Evan...At least he can take comfort in the fact that he made $1,000 in one minute by getting destroyed at the hands of Braun Stroman. It’s noble and idiotic at the same time.

 

·         Stroman and his ponytail...No comment.

·         Mark Henry is fighting his demotion until the bitter end. I admire his passion. He is totally going to fail in his quest to win the United States Championship from Rusev, but it’s the effort that counts. Right? Right?!?

·         The Shining Stars win and no one cares. Literally.

·         This Pokémon Go gag involving the Golden Truth is getting on my nerves now. I know they are playing it for laughs, but I am not seeing the humor in it at all. They are a joke tag team who will continue being perceived as such until they take themselves more seriously. This sophomoric crap is not going to carry over into the tag team title scene if the creative team vaults them into that position in the immediate future. I like both men as individuals, but their talent is being wasted by doing silly stuff like this.

·         Seth Rollins gets instant heel brownie points by saying that the Atlanta Braves suck. He’s not lying. No amount of tomahawking is going to change that. For now, at least.

·         Finn Balor and Seth Rollins had a nice promo exchange to kick off the second hour of the show. Balor held his own on the mic while Rollins was at his wormy best. When Balor vows to kick someone’s ass, he sounds so proper and classy. Rollins got a quick demonstration of that when Balor countered his sneak attack with a series of kicks followed by a Pele Kick to shoo Rollins away.

·         I am looking forward to seeing Rollins later tonight as he faces Sami Zayn. If they are given enough time, that match should be great.

·         The Redemption of Roman Reigns is in full effect. Reigns is temporarily out of the main event scene, but that doesn’t mean he’s shut out of the upper card as he embarks on a feud against Rusev. If WWE wants Reigns to get unanimous cheers, this is the way to do it. If both men can cut loose, they should have one hell of a fight. A down and dirty brawl at SummerSlam can definitely help both guys. If fans still want to boo Reigns, so be it. I am going to enjoy myself nonetheless. I am sucker for smash mouth wrestling. Plus, the United States Championship needs some much needed shine. It’s a win-win.

·         Titus O’Neil is a shady Florida Gator by questioning Darren Young’s greatness. He has a valid point, though...

·         Titus, Titus, Titus. He pulled Young’s tights to pick up the tainted win. I am shocked. If they are trying to re-create the Young-O’Neil feud from a few years ago, I hope it is not a giant pile of suck this time around.

·         Mick Foley using draft board strategy to explain why Cesaro and Sheamus were drafted so low a couple of weeks ago made complete sense. Cesaro’s bum shoulder would be a major cause for concern when it comes to positioning him as a top tier talent if he’s susceptible to injury. Sheamus has been stale for quite some time and he needs to find something to get him back on track. Therefore, Foley booked them in a match against each other with the winner receiving a title shot in the near future. That seems fair enough. And it makes SENSE. WWE using logic twice in one night is a little jarring.

·         Thanks for coming, Ariel Monroe! Nia Jax claims another victim. Short and sweet.

·         The sexual double entendre of the banana and the ball shaped nectarines by The New Day was positively filthy, yet nutritious at the same time.

·         The New Day might have won the match, but Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows won the war by kicking their asses. Big E. got nailed with two Boots of Doom. Xavier Woods tried to make the save, but he got his head kicked off as well. Figuratively, of course.

·         To add insult to injury, The Club pulled Big E’s legs and rammed his family jewels into the ring post to end the segment. Anderson and Gallows sent a message that they are after the tag team titles. The New Day can’t joke their way out of this one. It’s time for the two- time tag team champs to take their opponents seriously for a change.

·         Cesaro is in line for a title shot by defeating Sheamus in an entertaining match. They were slotted in the 10:00 p.m. lull period of death, but Cesaro and Sheamus managed to wake the crowd up down the stretch. Here’s hoping that Cesaro can build on this win. More importantly, let’s hope that the Celtic Warrior can find a meaningful sense of direction as well. He’s been swimming in mid-card hell for a few years now. It’s mainly due to injuries, but Sheamus has not been able to recapture what made him special in 2011 and 2012. He needs to find that fire and set it ablaze for the world to see. He has it in him. Some semblance of creative direction wouldn’t hurt him either.

·         It looks like Heath Slater is trying to reform 3MB by recruiting Jinder Mahal.

·         So much for the reformation of 2MB. Mahal’s Employment > Mahal’s Friendship with Slater. It’s basic mathematics.

·         Y2J and Kevin Owens teaming up to take on Big Cass and Enzo sounds like a summertime treat. The buildup leading up to their presumed match at SummerSlam should be fun.

·         I would personally like to thank Sami Zayn and Seth Rollins for waking up the sleepy Atlanta crowd. Their match kicked into second gear after the commercial break. Zayn had a couple of hope spots, but the outcome was never really in question. Rollins picked up the win with a pedigree to build momentum towards SummerSlam. Simple, but effective.

·         Oh my damn...Randy Orton hit Brock Lesnar with an RKO out of nowhere.

·         Paul Heyman was great as he talked about how Lesnar was going to beat Orton’s ass at SummerSlam and drag him to Suplex City in the process. I figured that he was laying it on a bit too thick as Orton had an answer for The Beast right away. It was a great moment that sent fans into an absolute frenzy inside Philips Arena. Stephanie McMahon and Mick Foley came out to diffuse the situation, but Orton already ran into the crowd to soak in the moment shirtless as Raw went off the air.

·         This was a hot way to end the show and one can only assume that Lesnar will be paying a visit to SmackDown Live! in the very near future to cash in his receipt on Orton with an F5. Let the games begin, ladies and gentleman!

·         Overall, I thought tonight’s episode of Raw was decent at best. There were a few moments that captured the crowd’s attention, but the biggest area of concern is the lower mid-card scene. The crowd was dead for a few segments because some wrestlers are cold as ice. They need to be revamped in order for fans to invest in the action unfolding in the ring. Otherwise, I thought the show didn’t fall off the rails for the most part. WWE scored big check marks with Rollins-Balor, Reigns-Rusev, and Lesnar-Orton. These feuds have been doused with some hot sauce which will only get even hotter in the weeks to come. The secondary titles have been spotlighted in a meaningful way as well. This is shaping up to be a stacked SummerSlam card and WWE is playing with house money if they don’t screw things up. Raw is not going to be a blockbuster show every week. If they mix in enough good segments to placate fans, the boring stuff will be negated. They need a long-term fix to ensure that these three hour shows won’t drag, but I get the feeling that the Cruiserweight Division will fill that void in due time. Fingers crossed!

On that note, this wraps up another edition of The Raw Exposé. I hope you enjoyed it and I will be back tomorrow night with brand new installment of The SmackDown Files. See you later, boys and girls! 

The Thrill of the Con!

Have you ever wished you were someone else? That you could just fly off to Neverland and never come back? I know I personally wish I could run away to Hogwarts and have Professor McGonagall place the Sorting Hat on my head. I can hear the Hat’s whispers, telling me I would do well in Ravenclaw as I silently beg to be placed in Gryffindor, all the while just wishing I could find somewhere I belong. At times like these, I am exceptionally glad to have discovered cosplay.

 

I can still remember the first convention I ever attended. It was my first semester of college and my roommate told me about this convention she’d found online called AWA. For those of you not familiar with AWA, it stands for Anime Weekend Atlanta and is one of the biggest conventions in Georgia. It takes place every September at the Cob Galleria in Smyrna and hosts a wide variety of events and panels which appeal to numerous different genres, from anime and manga to comics and video games. When we pulled up to the Cobb Galleria, we didn’t know exactly what to expect. We’d both thrown together two easy cosplays; I was dressed as Final Form Sora from Kingdom Hearts II, and Amber as Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist. We had no idea what we were doing, but we were excited to try it out. We barely made it in the door before someone recognized Amber’s cosplay and rushed forward to hug her. I could tell she had no clue who this person was as her expression became plagued with anxiety. However, as soon as she was released, we started talking to the girl and soon enough, we’d made a new friend!

 

To say we were shocked by this encounter would be an understatement. However, we soon found that most people in attendance exuded this same friendly, cheerful attitude. Everyone was there to have a good time, and soon I had made several friends who I’m still close with today.  I admit that before we arrived, I feared my cosplay would not be good enough and that people would laugh. That was far from the case. Though I was truly amazed by the level of detail put into other cosplays, no one made me feel inferior in my simpler one. And while this first convention, I was too hesitant to ask these amazing cosplayers for their picture, I soon found at later cons that people were more than happy to get their picture taken, even welcoming it. They were even more willing to talk about how they made their cosplays, sharing tips and stories about how they had crafted a particular item and what they would do differently if they could do it again.

My friend and I took our time perusing the Dealer’s Room and Artist Alley, taking in everything with wide, curious eyes. Having grown up in a small town in North Georgia, I had never seen so many geeky items at once in my entire life. There were mountains of plushies, cases filled to the brim with collectible figurines of all our favorite anime characters, and several libraries of manga, video games, and DVDs – including several series I didn’t think were available yet. I was immediately drawn to the case of Dragonball Z characters; my eyes wide with amazement as I took in the exquisite details of each figurine. I could almost hear each little Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Krillin, and Gohan’s cries as they powered up for their next attack and I immediately wished I could take every single one home with me.  I felt like I had come home after a long journey, instantly revitalized as my stress evaporated away. The entire building seemed to exude talent, creativity, and a passion unlike anything I’d seen before. To see so many talented artists bringing my favorite characters to life through cosplay and art was almost overwhelming, and when it was finally time to say goodbye and go home, I was filled with a renewed sense of creativity.

Now, almost ten years later, I have my own cosplay page on Facebook called Mei Faolan Cosplay and I attend several cons a year –even joining in a few Artist Alleys with my own table, where I focus on making geeky crocheted items such as Harry Potter scarves and Triforce gloves (see It’s Crochet on Facebook for more details). I have so many friends I have met over the years that have become like family. I know I can turn to them whenever I need them, be it for tips on how to make my newest prop or simply to geek out about which cosplays we want to do next. I love planning out how to get the precise effect I’m looking for in a particular item, especially if I get to crochet it. And every time I return to a convention, I am still filled with that same sense of wonder and of finally coming home. There is simply nothing like a con. 

 Also featured in this article the amazingly talented Amber Satterfield as Gingerly Cosplay!