While I do think and feel life did get better (for me at the minimum) this year, that doesn't mean we didn't encounter some rough patches along the journey. I totally understand how, for some out there, 2016 has been perhaps one of the most frustrating years on record. Putting my own struggles aside, from the copious amount of celebrity deaths, to the absolutely insane election cycle (and its fallout) to just current affairs in the world generally, there is good reason for many to not be satisfied with how this year unfolded.
I'm going to make it a point with this piece though to not dwell on such things (because it's not what I want to talk about here on the blog) nor am I going to bog the pace down with a unnecessarily prolonged intro of me grousing about how my life has changed over the course of the new millennium, like I did for last year's retrospective. There were actually plenty of fantastic elements that came about in 2016, and I want to utilize this platform to shed some light on those, so let's just hop right into it! Without any further delay, this is my...
!!!2016 YEAR-END RETROSPECTIVE!!!
Roan's Launch and the Convention Cavalcade
Once again I've found myself being a bit too busy (due to my regular work schedule) to make good on doing the proper convention write-ups I had promised for Bronycon and Otakon this year. In my defense I can say at the very least that I did have write-ups for Magfest, Katsucon, and Awesome Con, so you can check those out if you feel so inclined. If anything else I'll make the pledge to try and do better in 2017, seeing how that's going to open up with Magfest almost immediately after ringing in the New Year.Easily the most elevating thing to happen on the convention scene this year was seeing my friend Rob (Clear Skies) finally realizing his dream of creating/releasing a game at Bronycon. For as long as I've known him, Rob has always been a game enthusiast/designer first, and everything else second. Getting to see his expression light up as he held the Roan RPG book in his hands for the first time was nothing short of heart-warming, and I couldn't be happier for him achieving a long-term goal like this if I tried.
From struggling through the early rough start of Roan, to the chaos of the kickstarter, to the day of release, Rob has worked continuously to make what was once a dream a reality. If anything else, I want to take this moment here to tip my hat to a great friend, and simply say Congratulations! You've earned this sir. I know first-hand how this was a long road, but you made it through the journey having only your sheer will and determination to push you some days. Seeing you manifest Roan, inspires me to do the same with my dreams.
As for the convention itself, I would say it was a fairly good time, made better mostly due to the fact that I was simply hanging out with friends in a laid-back yet fun place. Getting to meet Baron Engel was an honor, and it was nice to see how much we had in common when it came to our philosophies and techniques about artwork. Having spent an entire weekend sharing a table with the man made me come to hold him in higher regard than I had before. If nothing else, just getting to witness Roan's proper launch justified my being there in the end.
Unfortunately I wasn't really able to snag any pictures during Bronycon, ultimately because I was too busy behind the Roan booth selling merch, and doing commissions. Thankfully I did manage to take this one shot of some exceptionally kick-ass Timberwolf cosplayers.
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| Watch out for Timberwolves! |
Of course every yin has its yang, and this year's con season was no exception. While nothing truly/objectively bad actually happened, there was a certain melancholia attached to this year's Otakon. 2016 marked the last time Otakon would be scheduled to be in Baltimore for the indefinite future, and it's because of that very fact that Otakon seemed like a long good-bye equivalent to that of Snoopy Come Home. I know I wasn't the only one who was feeling it, as several con-goers told me they had the exact same sensation.
It pains me to admit, but time is the apex predator of all things. Despite my resolve to continue going to conventions for as long as I can, the thought of how experiences like Otakon (or conventions in general) are finite was something I couldn't shake.. How much longer can these events sustain? How many more will I attend? Regardless of the decade I've had at conventions, it all still feels so brief. For a majority of Otakon 2016 I felt aware of how this could all vanish one day from my life. The finality of a good-bye can have that affect I suppose.
Despite the deep well of emotions everyone was seemingly stuck in, it didn't stop a lot of us from giving Otakon a fond farewell from Baltimore. Although I didn't think it was going to happen, at the last minute I somehow lucked out on acquiring a table in the Artist Alley, and sat along side my friends Crybringer, Shonuff44, and Duck Draws. I gave Krazy Krow (creator of the incredible webcomic Spinerette) one of the better pieces of art I feel I made this year, as well as do an art trade with the phenomenal Edwin Huang (the artist to Skull Kickers) and perhaps most important of all, I got to split a table with one of my art heroes, John Staton!
For as long as I've been going to conventions, I've always been a huge fan of Mr. Staton's work, and I've considered him to be an inspiration to me on multiple occasions, so being able to have him sit at a table, right next to me, was like teaming up with Han Solo to fly the Millennium Falcon and fight The Empire! It was a great moment is essentially what I'm driving at here folks.
I also got far more cosplay photos at Otakon, thanks in part that our table was stationed remarkably close to the front entrance of the alley.
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| Stupendous Puma Twins Cosplay |
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| John Staton with a Ghostbuster |
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| Picture perfect rendition of The Boss. |
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| A Monster Hunter in full plate. |
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| I don't know who this guy is, but he's cool. |
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| Gotta have some Baccano cosplay. |
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| A delightful Super Sonico. |
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| I haven't seen a Ryokki copay in years. |
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| A posh Rarity if there ever was. |
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| A killer Android 18! |
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| Kamina is the man! |
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| Gremilin Diva is too much fun. |
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| The excellence of Karin Kanzuki cosplay. |
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| Judy Hopps reports for duty. |
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| Fantastic Lancer from Fate/Grand Order. |
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| Cinderella makes Otakon more magical. |
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| A tempting Poison. |
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| Doom Guy, need I say more? |
While Rob and I did attend Baltimore Comic Con, it was only for one day, so there frankly just wasn't much that we did there that could justify a full write-up. On the other hand, I did meet up with other artists such as K. Lynn Smith (creator of the webcomic Plume) one of my favorite pin-up artist Elias Chatzoudis, Frank Cho, and Ed McGuinness (who I got to have an at length conversation about pro-wrestling with) so overall I'd say it was good day to come out.
Yet again though I wasn't really able to get any notable amount of photos beyond my buddy Nina (of A Sound of Thunder fame) dressed as a more classic version of Wonder Woman, a pretty good New 52 version of Superman, and a totally sweet gender-swapped Aquaman.
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| Nina as a classic Wonder Woman. |
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| Amazing Aqua... Woman I guess? |
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| Pretty good Superman if I do say so myself. |
Hello TV, I Missed You
2016 will fondly live on in my memory as the year I finally felt the compulsion to come back to watching television regularly. Long have I yearned for the days where I could invest myself into a series. Where I could find myself being excited to watch the next episode of something (let alone for multiple series) and finally, after all this time, I have been able to do exactly that once again.It's been a dry ten years guys, but now the drought has ended, and oh boy did we ever get showered!
Game of Thrones (one of the few series I have been watching consistently) completed its sixth season, and stands as one of the best from the show to date. Daredevil had an absolutely incredible second season that was more than a worthy followup to its preceding installment, and Luke Cage far exceeded my admittedly low expectations. Ash vs. Evil Dead continued into its second season, and continued to be one of the most entertaining shows I've seen in a long long time. The Flash had its second season, and maintains its status as the Flashiest Flash show that ever Flashed while Flashing. The new season of Supergirl improved by leaps and bounds over its admittedly rough start opening.
For someone like me who has had little reason to see what's on the ol' boob-tube, having several shows of this caliber all currently airing is nothing short of a veritable smorgasbord of godly ambrosia. What's even more amusing is that I haven't even touched on the anime series that I picked up this year, such as the immensely awesome Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress, Thunderbolt Fantasy, Tales of Zestiria: The X, or any of the shows I listed off in my 2016 Autumn Anime Preview.
With a good portion of those animes all closing out their respective first seasons, I can say that almost all of them were gratifying upon completion, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing where some of these shows will go. Not to mention that we already have the full-blown series production of Little Witch Academia right around the corner for the winter anime season, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say that I was greatly looking forward to watching that.
You won't hear any major complaints about the current state of entertainment on television from this retrospective. As far as I'm concerned, I got what I've been wanting for what feels like a lifetime in 2016. The airwaves are full with amazing shows once more, and this one geek couldn't be happier about it. Here's hoping that 2017 can maintain the trend.
Superb Celluloid
I predicted in last year's retrospective that 2016 would shape up to be a damn good year to be a geek in film, and guess what? It turned out to be a pretty damn good year for geeks who love movies. In fact there were so many of them that I had practically no time in between them (along with my somewhat costly work schedule) to write proper reviews like I usually do.Worry not fans, because the regular reviews will be making a comeback in 2017, so let's cross our fingers and hope for another solid year.
Now as for what were some of the gems in the pile this time around, I'd say I almost don't know where to start. We kicked things off with the likes of Deadpool, and that bad boy essentially set the gold-standard for everything else set to come. I don't think anyone (myself included) anticipated Deadpool would be as great as it was, and I'm gonna be frank and say that it may well be the best of the 2016 bunch.
Of course that's not to say flicks like Captain America: Civil War weren't an absolute blast. In fact I would go so far as to proclaim that because it featured the likes of Black Panther and Spiderman being involved in one of the greatest superhero throw-downs to be made yet, elevated this movie to outright legendary status. No other film came even as remotely close to being on the same level of spectacle that Civil War provided, and no other film brought as many of my friends together to watch it. Civil War was hands-down the film event of 2016.
I know in my heart I would be the granddaddy of all liars if I didn't mention Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and my profound love for it. This one lone tale may go down as one of the best examples of how to do a prequel film I think I've ever seen. Director Gareth Edwards knew exactly what to bring to the table here, and made what I could only describe as the kind of Star Wars story I would have told. While I will concede that it isn't flawless, Rogue One is exactly the kind of material I want to see come out of the franchise going forward.
Outside of all those heavy hitters, there was also some really fun (albeit flawed) ones offered in 2016 such as the highly infectious Zootopia, Kung-fu Panda 3, Hardcore Henry, X-Men: Apocalypse, Warcraft, Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Suicide Squad, The Magnificent Seven, Doctor Strange, Moana, and Assassin's Creed. In a day and age where everyone feels a film has to be either perfect or garbage, I felt these flicks were serviceable and enjoyable enough. In a lot of ways I miss the times of the middle market, when a movie didn't have to be perfect, groundbreaking, or some other overblown adjective in order to simply be accepted by an audience.
That isn't me championing mediocrity by the way, it's just... when did we forget that sometimes all a film really needs to be at the end of the day is fun, and somewhat memorable? Now it's so "all or nothing" that it's killing the middle ground where honestly the most potential lies in movies. Remember, some of our greatest successes in cinema came from what we refer to as the "B-Movie" scene. Maybe it has a lot to do with how we market these things today, but not every flick that pops up on the silver screen needs to be a pristine polished blockbuster hit that garners a billion dollars in revenue just to be considered "good", let alone entertaining. Don't get me wrong here people, the hits (when they're good) are certainly appreciated, but it's not a necessity for a movie to win over a crowd.
To be fair, there were some notably bad stinkers, seeing how not all of them could be winners. I do agree with the majority of fans that Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice was a huge letdown, and Independence Day: Resurgence was a bad joke played on us the viewer. Out of all of them though, the worst may have actually been Ghostbusters, but I'll admit that had a lot to do with my own personal history with the franchise. To see one of my favorite films of all-time be so haphazardly handled was heartbreaking to say the least.
Regardless of reviews and box office returns, I've come out of 2016 feeling that we had far more decent films than bad ones. My concern going into 2017 is that I won't have much to pull me out to the local theater, but if the film listings are any indication, that's not a problem.
The Gaming Corner
Nowhere has my entertainment been more consuming than videogames. In last year's retrospective I detailed how I was yet to acquire a PS4, but was on the verge of getting one, upon the release of several titles that had my attention and interests.Well, here we are in 2016, and I have a PS4, and I'm playing more games now than I have in the last three years. This has been one hell of a holiday season for me, as just getting to sit down and play tons and tons of games is something I haven't done since my last days in high-school. I've been able to finally pick up some of the titles I've been meaning play such as Mortal Kombat X and Dragon Quest Heroes, but this year's releases are the ones that really put me over.
Gravity Rush: Remastered, Uncharted 4: A Theif's End, Earth Defense Force 4.1, Grand Kingdom, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir, Digimon: Cyber Sleuth, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva X, Earth's Dawn, Shantae: 1/2 Genie Hero, King of Fighters XIV, and Final Fantasy XV have all been consuming my gaming soul for the last days of 2016, and those are just the PS4 titles.
There was also some immensely fun games on the Wii U and the 3DS such as Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Final Fantasy Explorers, Zero Time Dilemma, and (who could forget) Pokemon Sun and Moon. While I would have liked to have played more on my Nintendo consoles, the games I did get were still fun as hell, and I'm hoping the Nintendo Switch will bring with it even more enjoyable experiences.
PC gaming has probably been my weakest area, but I would attribute that mostly to the fact I've always been a console gamer at heart. Still that doesn't mean there wasn't titles worth playing on the PC. The new Doom blew everyone out of the water, and may be the best FPS I've played in close to a decade. Mother Russia Bleeds is perhaps one of the only other most viscerally engaging titles to come out on the platform next to Doom, never mind that Mother Russia Bleeds also stands as one of the best beat-em ups I've played in years outside of Dragon's Crown on the PS3. I've been getting my licks in with some of the fighting games popping up on Steam like Melty Blood: Actress Again Current Code, Under Night: In Birth, Blade Arcus from Shining, and season 3 of Killer Instinct. This is the kind of stuff that pulls a guy like me right back into the madness that is the fighting game fray with their sheer fun and quality of gameplay.
Just like my situation with TV, videogames came back into full force with me this year, and I feel I have very little to legitimately complain about in terms of quality or enjoyment. If the measure of a game is simply how much you enjoy playing it, then I'm having a 10 out of 10 time with a vast majority of these titles. 2017 looks to be just as strong of a year too, seeing how we're kicking things off with the likes of Gravity Rush 2, Digimon World: Next Order, and Tales of Berseria. That's not even counting Persona 5, Ni No Kuni II, or Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There's a lot to look forward to, and I'm pretty damn optimistic that all these games are going to deliver where it counts.
Tragically, while my videogaming life has risen like a phoenix from the ashes, my tabletop gaming somewhat waned for 2016. Granted, we did play a short campaign in Roan, being GM'ed by Rob himself, but outside of that my gaming group hasn't done much. We've played a few sessions of World Wide Wrestling: The Roleplaying Game, and while those session have been absolutely hilarious and fun, they've not been all that consistent. Honestly it's just a facet of regular life that we can't get together as much as we'd like, and thankfully the group is still together and still wanting to game, so I guess that's a win in and of itself.
Wrestling Wrap Up
Much like last year, the WWE wrestling Pay Per Views were an event that consistently brought my friends and I together on a monthly basis. Much to our chagrin though, the WWE did another "brand split" this year and literally doubled their amount of PPV's. As much as we're all wrestling fans, and we'd love to be able to gather and watch them all, it's just too much I'm afraid, especially when everyone involved has work schedules and other matters to attend to.Hence forth we've now relegated our gatherings to be only for the major PPV's such as Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania, Summer Slam, and Survivor Series. It sucks that we don't get together nearly as much now, but it does make the ones we do attend all the more magical.
Speaking of which, this year's Survivor Series was actually a pretty good event, although if I had to say anything was worth while for 2016 it was easily the Cruiser-weight Classic, along with almost any of the NXT PPV's.
Overall I can say that I've enjoyed some of WWE's recent booking decisions, such as making Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose World Champions, along with putting AJ Styles right up into the main event. While I feel the WWE is still missing the magic that made the Attitude Era such a blast to watch, I personally feel they're getting better with it as the year has gone.
In regards to other promotions, Lucha Underground continues to be the best damn wrestling show hitting the airwaves, and the latest season's Aztec Warfare was wrestling glory in a can! I can only dream of how awesome Lucha Underground will get in 2017, but if nothing else I'm just glad to have it existing right alongside the unbridled beast that is New Japan Pro Wrestling. I have absolutely no shame or reservations in admitting how hyped I am for Wrestle Kingdom 11 come January 4th! It's going to be so friggin' boss dude!
Blood Code Radio and Other Future Projects
Even though I was somewhat lax on making it a reality, I finally got my radio show Blood Code Radio off the ground for people's listening pleasure. It was certainly a challenge to get everything set up for it, and while I'm not exactly where I'd like to be at with the show, just knowing that it exists has been gratifying enough for me.There were plans to do a holiday installment, but it didn't manifest in time for the 2016 season. All the same, you can bet that there will be more to come with BCR, and I'll be doing more socially to help promote it too. That means you're gonna want to keep an eye open for a N8Dogg5k Twitter page, a possible Tumblr page, and even a possible Youtube page. I've made it known previously that I'm also seriously considering doing a weekly art stream for those who want to see how I go about with drawing, along with a potential Twitch channel for those who want to watch my friends and I game. These ideas and aspirations fundamentally all lead me to planing a possible Patreon launch come early 2017, as I do want to be able to grow my productions in a more meaningful way, but I need capital for that to happen.
At the risk of sounding perhaps a little too self-congratulatory, I do want to say that I'm proud of the body of work I've done so far in 2016, and while it may not have been the absolutely most productive I probably could be, I can only hope that 2017 will yield even better results!
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