How Do You Feel About Plans Coming Together?

So, yeah, that happened. Moral imperative. They took longer than expected to ship because, well, the B.A. Baracus Pop wasn't gettin' on no plane.

Yes, Faceman is about as generic a Pop as I'm willing to buy, but since I have Starbuck, this means I have two Dirk Benedict Pops, which means I have EVERY POSSIBLE DIRK BENEDICT POP.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wrouindup (SD Live(

No, really, this was the highlight.

So, there's this after-show now, Talking Smack, on the WWE Network. And over the last month, they've started working more and more story angles into it above and beyond the usual kayfabe in WWE talk show settings. And last week, The Miz and Daniel Bryan went at it in a promo that is easily the best thing The Miz has done in years, if not ever. The gist of it is that The Miz wants respect from Bryan, Bryan calls The Miz a soft, cowardly wrestler, and The Miz tees off on Bryan's forced retirement.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (Raw)

Two Great tastes that go great together!

After last week's downer of a show, this week's Raw was pretty solid, arranged entirely around the four-way for the Universal Championship, about which more later, but ultimately, how things work out will depend on what the ending meant, and where it's leading.

Hatewatch: Terminator: Genisys

All you need to know, really.

Hey, did you know the most recent Terminator movie has been on Amazon Prime for a few months now? Neither did I. Well, until I went looking for something else, spotted it, and decided it was time for a good old-fashioned hatewatch. So here's the running commentary as I "enjoyed" the latest time-bending, logic-bending entry into a series that should have stopped after the second one.

SEGA Saturday: Panzer Dragoon Saga

When it comes to Sega music of the late 90's, the single best score from an unironic standpoint has got to be Panzer Dragoon Saga, the Sega Saturn RPG based on the earlier Panzer Dragoon rail shooters. Also, the game itself was pretty much the only reason to own a Sega Saturn.

And from that entire score, the closing credits song. I couldn't find a version that shows the actual closing credits, but trust me, you'd sit through a lot of Japanese programmer names just to listen to the whole thing.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (NXT/CWC)

Dudes hurling dudes through the air.

NXT this week was a nothing show filled with Takeover recaps and a couple decent matches filmed before the PPV, but CWC brought the fire with three very distinct, solid matches.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (SD Live

A pretty strong Smackdown this week. It helps that it's focused largely on the better wrestlers on their roster, and finally getting to build their own title scene. Should be a pretty decent couple of weeks before their Backlash PPV, but eventually Orton, Miz, Corbin, etc. will be back to prominence.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup! (Raw)

HOORAY!

Well, goddammit.

Finn Balor tore his labrum mid-match at Summerslam and will be out six months and has to drop the Universal Championship. He's out to give an emotional speech, and the "knows NXT" part of the crowd appreciates him. You know, I like Seth Rollins, but that's two Bucklebomb related injuries to date.

Summerslam 2016

One of the many things I didn't see coming.

Summerslam! Thirteen matches! Six hours, including the pre-show! Because this is the WWE, where pacing is for suckers. Speaking of which, one of the sponsors is Jolly Rancher, which was probably a rejected WWE gimmick in the early 90's, too. Anyone thinking I'm some kind of wrestling Nostradamus after going five for six at Takeover is in for a bumpy ride.

@midnight Power Rankings (Aug 14-18)

It's a tournament week themed around the Olympics, which means four days of exciting hair cosplay from Chris Hardwick, a bevy of stars ostensibly from various nations, and lots of jokes about how they can't use the word "Olympics" or the rings. This is one of those rare weeks where nearly all the scores and decisions represented what I actually thought, although on points I think Flula Borg edged out Milana Vayntrub. But I don't begrudge her the gold medal in the slightest. Kudos to. Yakov Smirnoff for leaving Branson, MO and performing exactly how you'd expect.

SEGA Saturday: Burning Rangers

For those of you who are sick of wrestling, now's a good time for me to start Sega Saturdays, where we look back at Sega in the late 90's and early 2000's. Because that was a glorious time, when there was a ton of money to make music and intro videos and they were all GLORIOUS and over the top and insane.



For example, Burning Rangers. Never played it, but oh, that theme song. This isn't even the full version of the theme song. But it's out there if this makes you wanna hear it. And then there's the opening theme in English, which is so much worse it may be better.

NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II

Not even a wrestler, and this guy stole the show.

Like most sequels, Brooklyn II didn't live up to the original. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad show. It was a very good show. Frequently a great show. But for only a few moments was it a special show. There was a lot of solid work by veterans, a lot of great work by established mainstays, and some surprisingly effective work by newbies. But most of this show had me saying "Heh, that was funny", when I wanted to be laughing.

Oh, The Metahumanity! (More Streaming!)

Classic Tick Gag!

OK. Luke Cage and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. return September 20, Flash and Arrow come back  two weeks later. Which means I've got until then to watch the last episodes of Powers. But man, oh man, do I wish I could be kept from watching more powers by a full season of The Tick.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (NXT&CWC)

Seriously, how awesome is this?

A bit of a weird Wednesday - the NXT before Takeover is full of unrelated matches and the show's only really promoted on video. Meanwhile, the second round of the Cruiserweight Classic features some weird highs and some surprising lows.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (SDLive)W

WEIRD DYNAMIC

Smackdown has four matches to Raw's six going into Summerslam, so the 3:2 ration is being maintained. Smackdown's lead-in to the PPV is mostly boring and pointless, but had a couple of nifty things and one very, very offputting moment.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wrouindup (RAW)

Summerslam is Sunday, and the Monday Night Raw leading up to it is almost entirely inexplicable.

I Have Too Many Funkoing Pops

Yeah, I'm part of the problem.

I actually got into the super-deformed vinyl thing with Mighty Muggs, which I still prefer the look of. But you can't argue with what Funko has done with Pops. They've hit a sweet spot in terms of price point, diversity, and sheer quanitity that lets nerds collect a multiverse of figures all in roughly the same scale and form factor. There's a joy in that.

@midnight Power Rankings (Aug 8-11)

A week off did a world of good for @midnight, apparently, as they came back with a pair of very strong shows and then a pair of OK ones. Beth Stelling killed it and a half on Monday's show to win the week.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundups (NXT & CWC)

And now for the Wednesday shows. A perfectly passable NXT and an off-the-charts CWC.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

Seriously, people. Even when you skip the wrestling posts, watch this trailer and tell me that's not fucking awesome. I DARE OU.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundups (SDLive 8/9)

The build to Summerslam continues with a weird, boring Smackdown Live. I won't even get into the vignettes with The Miz making out with his wife on a giant table and confronting Scooby Doo.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundups! (Raw 8/8)

Right - in the interest of timeliness, I'll be splitting the WWW into days - Raw, Smackdown, and NXT/CWC. We start with Raw, which dropped all the turds in all the punchbowls this week.

Monthly Free Games (Aug 2016)

One big standout for me this week, plus a handful of solid niche titles and a few duds. Really, overall, a pretty solid month.a

Oh, The Metahumanity! (Preacher Finale Edition)

And that's the end of Preacher. And also the end of Powers, as it's been cancelled and there will be no Season 3. Michael Madsen can go back to wearing loose-fitting shirts. I decided to save what I'd written about the penultimate Preacher and just post it with the finale, which is why the prediction of his plan ended up being a bit off.

Weekly Wrasslin' Wroundup (Aug 1-4)

The New Era enters week two, and Raw slacks off while Smackdown steps up... a bit.