045: The SoraRabbit Update #1

Welcome to a (sort of) new feature. Those who have been reading my blog for any length of time will know that I like to do short in-between posts filled with items I wanted to talk about that don’t fit into their own posts. This has gone through a few iterations. I started off with The State of the Fandom Address, but I got bored with that and stopped liking the name. Because of those factors, the feature morphed into Down the Rabbit Hole. This was an experiment where whatever I was rambling about would lead to the next topic and so on. In retrospect, I don’t feel this worked as well as I had hoped it would (and I stopped liking the name). Both of these series lasted three posts. I had some more items built up and really didn’t feel like doing another Rabbit Hole post, so here is the third incarnation of the concept. (And maybe the last? Hard to tell with me.)

I love Dragonball memes. (Credit: Akira Toriyama)

I’m not saying I hated the previous two series. I think there were things I did right in each series, so for this one I’m going for a combination of the two approaches. Rather than being long and rambling like with Rabbit Hole, I’ll try to stay reined in and separate the items into sections like in the Fandom posts. And I won’t just talk about pop culture, I’ll also discuss what I’m working on and what you can expect from me. I won’t be constricted with the conceptual structure of the previous posts and I can just let each installment of this new series become what it’s going to become.

The big test will be to see if this one lasts to its 4th installment!

Anniversary Take Two!

First off, this is the first post of Year Two of The SoraRabbit Hole! I didn’t do a big celebratory post this time because I didn’t really feel it was necessary. (One year is a bigger milestone than two in my mind.) And also things have just been too busy. Looking back at the year I feel I didn’t get nearly as much done as I had planned (especially on the YouTube front) but really it wasn’t too bad. I did 18 full posts, 6 Short Hops, 4 Video Game posts, and put up my first Guest Post. So, yes, less than what I got out last year, but many of my posts were very involved and required much more research and planning than what I’d done in the past. I also have several posts in the pipeline that I’ve been working on for months. (In fact, the very next post will be one I’ve referenced many times over the past two years. I am finally getting to it!)

One of my biggest regrets this year is not maintaining a regular schedule. I don’t like having even one month without a post, and this year I went over that multiple times. You’ve heard all the excuses before. Things got busy, I ran into hitches in my posts, low motivation, blah blah blah. I don’t want to be one of those content creators that comes back every couple of months with new excuses. Things come up, life gets busy, we’re all human. I want to get to a point were things are running more smoothly than they have been so I can post things more regularly. One of my goals for the upcoming year is to get my blog in front of more eyes and have enough of a following to justify launching a Patreon. And I can’t do that without more content, varied content. Good, quality content. One of my main ways of trying to attain this goal is to slow down and focus on one post at a time. I have too many draft posts on my site. Too many pages of notes. Too many projects going at once muddies the waters and makes it harder to focus. To give you an idea of the workload I’m under, I currently have the next seven full posts started in one form or another, and the next two of both my Short Hops and Video Game Blogs. (Not to mention about three dozen other post ideas I have notes on.) Starting with this post, I will strive to work on one post at a time, putting all my energy and work into that single post until I hit publish on it. That way I can hopefully get through my backlog by the end of the year.

Doing this should also give me more time and energy to work on my YouTube channel. I’ve always said that the channel will not detract from the blog or take my focus away from these posts. It will be supplemental to this site and a new format to provide content to you all. Having fewer posts stacked up in varying stages of completion will help me get the channel off the ground. We’ll see how it goes.

This image is painful to me. (Credit: Marvel, Sony)

The Big Spider-Man Rant

Okay, those of you who have been reading my posts for a while or follow me on Twitter should have seen this one coming. This part of the post is about the chosen direction for Spider-Man: No Way Home. I didn’t want to do this and I know you all don’t want to read this again, but at this point I feel like I have to do it. If I already had my YouTube channel up, I’m sure it would have been worse, because I would have impulsively posted a long, ranting, angry geek-style video . . . But since I don’t have that format yet (and it would go against the intentions of my channel) I’ve decided to do this in a more constructive way. Calmly, analytically. This post is not to bitch about the upcoming Spider-Man movie . . . it’s to change my own mind about it.

If you’ve already read my two previous mini-rants about this (here and here) or any of my venting on Twitter, this may seem a bit repetitive. But don’t worry, I won’t take up too much space with this. For those of you not familiar with what’s going on and my heated opinions about it, here it is in brief: Marvel and Sony have been tight-lipped about the next Spider-Man movie and stalled way past what was reasonable in releasing the first trailer. Internet leaks and fan rumors abounded, flooding us all with increasingly crazy rumors about what’s going to happen in the movie. It was revealed Jamie Foxx would reprise his role as Electro from Amazing Spider-Man 2. And then Alfred Molina admitted he was going to be returning as the Doctor Octopus from Spider-Man 2. (Note these are two completely different movies that are in no way connected to the MCU and were fully produced by Sony.) The rumors kept going, stating everyone from the previous two Spider-Men to Green Goblin and even Daredevil would be in the film. The amount of content people were suspecting to be in the film would have either made it four hours long or more crowded then Spider-Man 3 and Amazing Spider-Man 2 combined. (Both of which were painfully overstuffed.)

All of this was very upsetting to me. Never mind that I was suspecting (with the ending of Far From Home and the hints in the end credits scene of Homecoming) that this movie would bring in Kraven the Hunter and some form of the Sinister Six… It just seemed obvious to me with the appearance of the Scorpion and the reveal of Spidey’s secret identity. Or maybe JJ gets discredited and sends out the Spider Slayers or funds Scorpion’s creation like in the comics. I don’t know. There were possibilities. Spider-Man has a rich history that they can draw on. I’ve loved the previous two Tom Holland Spider-Man movies and so I was willing to go with whatever they chose to put in the next movie. Or so I thought.

These rumors upset me for months. I had lots of problems with it. I can’t stand Garfield’s version of Spider-Man. I felt it was unfair of the producers to throw all these elements into Spidey’s movie and crowd out any sort of satisfying story or conclusion to his arc. Above all else I hated the idea that they were attaching these non-MCU movies into the MCU. I’ve said it repeatedly, but the MCU is carefully crafted and a singular vision. Letting these other movies from outside that vision into the bubble could cause it to lose integrity. Next they’ll bring in all the Fox X-Men, eliminating any possibility of them doing anything new and fresh with the characters. (And making some terrible X-Men movies canon to the MCU. Bleh.) Not to mention now the MCU has no reason to make their own Green Goblin or Doc Ock. The other thing that nagged at me was that I felt like I was the only one upset by all this. It’s very lonely to feel like I’m the only one who is reacting this way. Everywhere I see people speculating and thrilled about these creative choices. My anxiety and dread for this movie has just been increasing…. which is sad because I truly love the franchise and was very excited for the previous two films. I can’t muster anywhere near the same enthusiasm for the third installment. And that’s the saddest thing of all for me.

So that’s the nutshell version of it. I could go on and on, but I think you have the picture. Movie is bad so SoraRabbit is sad.

So many Spidies. (Credit: Marvel Comics. Art: Art Adams)

But here’s the thing: I don’t want to feel this way. It kind of goes against everything I believe in. I pride myself on my ability to be positive, to find things of value in things I initially see no value in. Cocoashade has praised me many times about that trait. If she’s negative about something, I can show her the other side of it. So why can’t I do that with this? I think I just need to get over my block. I’m not negative about Spider-Man NWH because it wasn’t what I expected. It’s more because I think it’s a bad move for Marvel and the franchise and the MCU as a whole. The roller coaster of rumors and fan reaction was beyond aggravating and soured me on the whole thing. But if I take a step back from all that and look at it objectively, maybe it makes sense.

Multiple Spider-Men is nothing new. I love Miles Morales and Spider Gwen just as much as original flavor Spidey. Spider Ham is awesome. The Spiderverse arc in the comics was one of the things that brought me back to reading Amazing Spider-Man. Spidergeddon was fantastic too. And Into the Spider Verse is one of my favorite movies of all time. Those things involve multiple versions of Spider-Man. And Peter Parker/Spider-Man can seem like a different character depending on who is writing him anyway. The Toei Spider-Man is nothing like the American version, but I love Supaidaman. Different interpretations are fine. Welcome, even, because they bring freshness to the character and new outlooks.

So that’s not so bad. Leaving aside all the annoyance the delayed reveal and rumor mill caused, that leaves me with the idea that bringing outside elements into the MCU is dangerous and could taint the whole thing. And logically I know that’s probably not super likely. Comic books have a long history of crossovers, even between companies. I have a comic book crossover between Batman and Spider-Man. That was pretty entertaining, although of questionable canonicity. (Joker and Carnage teamed up, which is funny considering that’s who Carnage was originally based on.) I’ve got other crossovers too. (Spawn vs Batman twice, Cerebus meets the Turtles and Spawn, Turtles meet Usagi Yojimbo, Turtles meet Ghostbusters and Power Rangers. The Turtles really like their crossovers.) Hell, Miles is only in the Marvel Universe after crossing over from the Ultimate Universe to meet the original Spider-Man. Crossovers are tradition and they can be fun, if done in the spirit of the characters involved. It happens in the comics all the time and doesn’t break the Marvel Universe. So maybe this will be okay. And it does follow with the whole multiverse angle Phase 4 is taking.

As much as I would like Tom Holland to have his own story where he doesn’t play off a mentor and can use his own abilities . . . as much as I would like the see the MCU be creative and come up with their own Doctor Octopus and Green Goblin and maybe even Electro . . . this is the path they’ve chosen for good or bad. Bitching about it will only ensure I won’t enjoy the movie. Bottom line is that I can’t be that guy. You know the one I’m talking about. I can’t tear down something without seeing it first just based on my biased opinions. It could turn out to be really good and I would just be cheating myself by going into it with a closed mind. (Or not going into it at all.) Stressing and complaining is not productive and won’t change anything but wearing myself down and sapping my energy and mood. I need to chill, basically.

Spider-Mans.

I love Spider-Man. I do. He’s one of my favorite comic book heroes. The movie adaptions have been a mixed bag for me, but I enjoyed most of them. (Mostly the Raimi trilogy.) Shutting myself off from this movie before I even see it from my preconceived judgement and what should or shouldn’t work is doing myself a disservice. One thing that has always served me well in my life is to expect the worst. I find that when I expect the worst, the reality is never nearly as bad. Maybe that’s not healthy, but it works for me. (Well, except for in the case of the Dark Tower movie. That was way worse than I could have imagined.) The Tom Holland Spider-Man films have their problems too . . . I don’t like that he uses a high tech suit that he didn’t design himself. I don’t like that they avoid mention of Uncle Ben at all costs. I really don’t like that his guest stars take the focus off him in his own movies. (First Iron Man, then Fury, and now Strange.) I don’t like that they took two full movies to introduce JJ Jameson, who is vital to the Spider-Man mythos. I don’t like that Donald Glover’s Prowler never suited up to fight Spidey and was relegated to a brief cameo. But it’s all good. The movies are what they are, and I love them. I want to love the third one too. Maybe I will . . . maybe I won’t. But I will go into it with a painfully open mind, not pick it apart, and give it a fair chance. Then I’ll decide fairly if it redeemed itself or failed. It’s not going to be easy, but I believe I can do it.

I think this helped. I can’t say I’m excited for the movie, but at least I’ve stopped dreading it. I still have misgivings, but I’m willing to give it a try now, see what happens. The MCU hasn’t steered me wrong yet, so maybe it will be okay. We’ll see. When I do see it, I’ll give you all an update on what I thought. I want it to be good, but if it’s not, it’s not the end of the world.

Just, Marvel, please don’t bring the freaking Fox X-Men in to the MCU. Let those retire, create your own interpretations of the Mutants. Trust me on this. If you saddle the MCU with that convoluted time paradox mess of a franchise, you won’t recover. And you’ll be cheating the viewers who are ready for something new and exciting.

BUT. If you want to bring back Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four, I am there for it. I will rent a theater and invite my friends and family opening night. Doooo it!

The only movie version of the Fantastic Four I accept as canon. (Credit: Roger Corman, New Horizons Pictures)

Haha, only sort of kidding. Anyway, thank you for reading my rant and bearing with me. Your bloggist needed some self therapy. Anyway, moving on…

The fantastic five! (Credit: Hajime Yatate, Funimation)

What I’ve Been Watching

Okay, on to happier stuff. Cocoa and I have been on a Yu-Gi-Oh playing binge and so we’re also back into watching Yu-Gi-Oh GX. It’s much more light-hearted than the first series, but still fun and chock full of overly-dramatic card playing. Speaking of anime, there’s been news lately that Crunchyroll and Funimation have merged. That’s kind of sad to me since I like Crunchyroll and I didn’t have the best experience with Funimation. I subscribed to them so we could watch Dragonball Super, but dropped it as soon as I could. Crunchyroll is free with ads, and they have a great selection, but the app is not the most stable on my PS4. It crashes some nights so we have to access it from my laptop. I really hope whatever app this merger births is more stable, still has a free with ads option, and above all still has the selection. I need access to my Yu-Gi-Oh and wanted to check out Doctor Stone. The app will always have happy memories for me since it was that app which introduced me to the wonders of both Bananya and Chargeman Ken.

Also in anime news, I finally convinced Cocoa to give Cowboy Bebop a try and she was instantly hooked. Score! Cowboy Bebop is one of my all-time favorites and I am psyched for the live action version coming out this year. I hope they do it right, but judging from the photos they’ve released so far, they seem to be on course. I’ve been ignoring the Faye debate . . . honestly I like the new costume and for me it adds to a show when the women are dressed reasonably. My favorite was Ed anyway, so that’ll make it or break it for me. I’m just waiting to see how they portray my girl Edward Wong Hau Pepelu Tivrusky IV.

Since my last update post, we’ve seen the last two Marvel movies, Black Widow and Shang Chi. They were a lot of fun. The most surprising part for me was seeing the trailer for Venom 2 and enjoying it. This is surprising because I’ve always been vocally against the Venom movies. Part of that is because I don’t like Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock and it feels like his mumbling line delivery would get on my nerves. Plus the idea of Venom without Spider-Man is strange and foreign to me. Spider-Man has always been core to Venom’s character and origin. Spidey is in his DNA. Venom cannot exist without Spider-Man, and his love/hate relationship with the wallcrawler. (Well, more like hate/grudging acceptance, but you know what I mean.) Still, the trailer was entertaining, and I love the design for Carnage. So because of that, and in the pursuit of the open-mindedness I mentioned earlier, I will watch both Venom movies and see if my mind can be changed and Venom can exist on his own merit. I’ve always loved the character of Carnage anyway. I’m hoping the third movie will be Maximum Carnage or an all-out war with the five Life Foundation Symbiotes culminating in them combining into Hybrid. (Although it will probably end up being an over-hyped crossover with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man don’t even get me started again I just calmed myself down.)

Aside from that, Marvel also released What If?, which so far is excellent. I hear Star Wars Visions is really good. I’m excited for it. I mean, come on. It’s Star Wars anime! Adventure Time has released the fourth episode of Distant Worlds and there are plans of a Fiona and Cake spin off. This makes me very happy. I love Adventure Time so much. The World of Ooo lives on! No spoilers here, but episode 3 of Distant Worlds was heartbreaking and so good.

In my second Doctor Who post I mentioned that I was taking a break before starting the third season. I instead am watching through the first Super Sentai series in hopes of doing a series of Short Hops about them. Himitsu Sentai Goranger has been very enjoyable and it should be a fun post when I get through all 84 episodes.

Yeesh, rude! (Credit: Toei Company)

I am also frantically finishing the latest season of the Simpsons before it leaves Hulu.

As a side note, if you’re one of those people who believes the Simpsons hasn’t been good in decades, you really should give the latest season a try. (Not to say it’s an invalid complaint, but I’ve noticed a lot of people who say that haven’t watched in years, if not decades and they still hate it unseen. It’s just something that’s “cool” to say.) I’ve never stopped loving the Simpsons, but I have to say— something about the latest episodes have recaptured something that’s been gone for a long time. It feels fresh again, and there are several laugh out loud moments per episode now. Season 32 has been fantastic. 706 episodes is nothing to scoff at… few have reached this milestone, and it deserves credit for longevity if nothing else. Think about it, if it was all crap, how would it have the viewership to go on for over three decades? Anyway, I think it’s worth a second watch if you’ve fallen out of touch with it. Plus we now have the origin story of one of my favorite characters, Comic Book Guy. (Although still not his name, of course.) This season taught us the best reason to have kids: To share your worthless pop culture trivia with them!

Ahh, geek love. (Credit: Matt Groening, 20th Century Fox, Disney)

What I’ve Been Reading

You may not guess it from that lengthy section about movies and television, but there’s actually been a lot of reading going on in the burrow. Aside from finishing up some partially-read books on my Kindle, I’ve been rushing to catch up on both Spawn and IDW’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. As mentioned on Twitter, I have read over 400 issues of Spawn and Spawn-adjacent comics in the past few months. As a series, it’s got its ups and downs, but overall I’ve enjoyed the journey. (There’s a huge retcon around Issue 250 that invalidates most of the previous issues, and I had a really hard time accepting that, but I’m pushing through.) I’m trying to get these back issues out of the way so I can enjoy the current issues on a monthly basis, and so I can make room in my reading schedule for other things. Including my reread of Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Cocoa is finally back to reading through those and I want to be able to discuss them with her.

Literature.

I also read a bit of my Jhonen Vasquez collections and picked up the Gorillaz almanac. I went on a bit of a manga kick, but have mostly read short series and one shots so far. Paru Itagaki’s short series Bota Bota was excellent. I did pick up a couple of Inio Asano’s collections. He’s one of my favorite mangakas due to the amazing series Oyasumi Punpun. I’ve cracked open Solanin, but haven’t devoted time to it yet. Just like with Punpun, it seems to be one of those stories that deserves full attention. So once I get done with some of the other things I’m reading, I’ll revisit it. Aside from those things, I’m reading a whole bunch of comic books for upcoming posts. (One of which is a Halloween post I’m very excited about. I can’t wait to get to work on that one!)

My champion beast. (Credit: Wizards of the Coast Art: Lius Lasahido)

In Closing

What else is there to say? Like I mentioned earlier, I’ve been playing a lot of Yu-Gi-Oh and building new fun decks. Once I get my schedule clear a little I should finally be able to do the Yu-Gi-Oh post I’ve been planning for ages. I got a Godzilla card for Magic the Gathering and hope to incorporate that into my beast deck. (I already have a giant ape in that deck that looks like King Kong, so Godzilla should feel at home.) I’m still plugging away at my video game list, but it’s looking less likely that I will complete it this year either. Oh well, I tried.

In closing I will leave you with photos of two of my production crew. That’s right, this isn’t a one bunny operation. I have a team of devoted helpers, working tirelessly to support me in bringing this blog out to you and making it the best it can be.

CeCe helps with the research and bites me when I get lazy.

Gobo is a fair but unforgiving editor.

Thank you all for reading this new(ish) feature. Let me know what you think— what worked, what didn’t. It’s always a work in progress, so I plan to keep tinkering with the formula. But I do enjoy these short update posts. I appreciate you all, and I’ll be back soon with more!