Awesome Con was supposed to take place this week in Washington, D.C. But due to the current situation of COVID19, Awesome Con had to postpone their show until December of this year. What will happen this weekend, is Awesome Con Online in which online visitors can explore, shop, and take a look at the live offerings that will be available for everyone to watch in the comfort of their own home. One of the features will be the virtual Q&A and it will be livestreamed via Facebook and Zoom and the celebrities that will participate, will be Shazam’s Zachary Levi, and The Walking Dead’s Ross Marquand.
Both Zachary and Ross were originally going to be special guests of Awesome Con before the COVID19 outbreak and their fans, and the attendees were worried of the current status of these two. But everyone has to worry no more as they will both be live in seperate times to anwser fan questions. This virtual Q&A will happen this Saturday afternoon!
There are both free and paid options to view and participate in this virtual Q&A. There will be a special Zoom link for you to click on in order to enter the Zoom and to be considered to ask a question. The link to the Zoom meeting, when it is made public on Saturday, will work for BOTH Q&A sessions and will not cut off in between sessions.
Remember, watching via Facebook Live will be VIEW ONLY. Questions submitted via Facebook will not be monitored.
Are you looking forward to hearing what Ross Marquand might talk about when the topic of The Walking Dead comes up? And what will Zachary will say about Shazam and the sequel that is planned to be released on November 4, 2022? We will all have to find out this Saturday.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
For the last ten years, Melissa McBride has graced our televisions with her performance as Carol on AMC’s The Walking Dead. We have seen her transformation from the start of the show, to the current season and I must say, her evolution has been a journey with ups and downs that has affected her, and everyone associated with her. There are good moments that I liked from Carol, and I am going to list my favorite badass Carol moments of The Walking Dead!
That time that she burned members of The Saviors
This was a satisfying moment that happened on “The Same Boat” as Carol and Maggie were the heroes of this episode. While they were both being held hostage by Paula (Alicia Witt) and other Saviors, Carol tricked them all to believe that something was wrong with them. This eventually lead to Carol trapping those Saviors in th room after she poured gasoline in that room. What she did next, was that she light her cigarette to burn those Saviors to death. I loved this! And she even burned more Saviors in season 9 after they took her wedding ring. Some of those Saviors were sleeping so they woke up with a rude awakening!
Killing Those Wolves
The Wolves were much different than the comic book series as in the comics, they were called The Scavengers. The Scavengers were killed before they could enter Alexandria in issue #78. On the show, The Wolves sneaked in Alexandria and started to murder members of the Safe Zone. Carol started her killing spree here, and it continued when she disguised herself as one of The Wolves and continued from there. Seeing Carol do this for most of the episode, had me glued to the screen and I will never forget this moment. Also, when will we ever get a Funko Pop of Carol as a Wolf?
Putting Down Ed
The minute I seen Ed for the first time with Carol, I wanted him to go. This was at season 1 at the start of the post apoclapsye world of The Walking Dead as Ed was the bad husband that abuses Carol. When he is near death on the the fifth episode, Carol takes a pikaxe, and smashes Ed’s head until he is no more. Trust me, nobody and I mean NOBODY was feeling sorry for Ed at all as we all felt for Carol at this moment.
Blowing up Terminus
This moment is awesome because not only that Carol saved the group before they were all killed and eaten by the Terminus Hunters by blowing up the place that was planned very well, Think of this, what would have happened if Carol did not show up at Terminus? Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and Bob would have been dead and slaughtered like cattle. The reunion between Carol and Daryl was also great to see as this moment and episode alone, made me look forward to the rest of the season.
Convincing Sam to do her a favor
When the group arrived at Alexandria during the second half of season 5, they were all affected by what they had to endure before meeting Aaron. so trusting them and everyone at Alexandria was going to take time. Carol took this time to befriend Sam. One night at Alexandria, Carol was in the weapons closet getting one of the guns for her to use (Keep in mind that at the time, they all had to turn in their weapons when they arrived). Sam found Carol. When Sam was about to alert his mom, Carol flipped this around to him as she made him a promise that she will make him a lot of cookies if he did not say a word. And if he did tell, a monster would come and get him. Of course, Sam listened! Carol put the fear to him in order for her to not have her cover blown. Smart move!
Telling Andrea to kill The Governor
I have to say this. If Andrea would have listened to Carol and took up on her idea from the start to the finish, then The Governor would be dead, and nobody at The Prison would be dead. Carol flat out told Andrea to kill The Governor in his sleep. When I seen this scene again for the first time in a few years, I thought to myself that Carol is starting to turn around at this time as her potential was really coming out. I know to others, this may not be a “badass” moment. But I thought it was due to the context of why she told Andrea to do it.
Her Attempt on Killing Alpha at The Border
Everything about this scene on this episode was awesome. Especially when Alpha was talking directly to Carol as she kept taunting her about killing Henry. Carol did not want to listen to anything Alpha said as she was not having it. So when Alpha taunted her again, Carol shot at Alpha, but Michonne smacks the gun off her hand as Alpha did not even flinch. This scene showed me that Carol is not scared to take Alpha down and although her plan to use Negan to kill Alpha took long, it is safe to say that her plan worked. I can watch this scene over and over again due to how much tension there was between these two.
I also reached out to the fans of The Walking Dead to see what were their favorite Carol moments. This is what they said.
When she blew up terminus with a firework! #OneWomanArmy
906 sneaking up to and burning exsaviors aliveand 613 killing Paula, Michelle and then faking to be them to lure more saviors in just to burn all of them alive. I also find 615 hilarious where she leaves Alexandria to avoid killing but has to kill several saviors immediately
Carol reuniting with Daryl after saving everyone at Terminus is the most heartwarming moment. Love all her one woman army moments. Saving Alexandria from the Wolves is another example. Or the time she concealed the gun under her jacket.
o so many moments.. wolves of course, i love episode "grove", when Carol saved Henry in season 8 scene on the border with Alpha and scene with hallucination with Alpha "The same boat"! Carol's 1st day in the Kingdom-very funny, meeting with Daryl at season 7 very emotional
311 When she asks Andrea to kill the Governor while he sleeps, 401 when she burns Karen and David in prison, 414 Lizzie's death, when she admits to Tyresse that she killed Karen, 501 Exploding Terminus, 513 When she threatens Sam with Cookies in Alexandria
S5 E1-saving Team Family is probably my favorite/most memorable. I had just binged the entire show for the first time/right before S5 started. It was was explosive-literally and figuratively! ??? #TheWalkingDead#Carol#TWDFamily
— gabbinichole ???????? ? (@gabbinichole_91) April 15, 2020
The moment that she learned from Rick that Lori died.? Also, when Carol rescued the group from Terminus.
all the moments she appears in are great, but in the last season Carol is seen like never before in the series so the scene where she shoots Alpha is one of my favorites from season 10 (I say one because it would put every second).
— Mika loves Queen Rowena and Queen Carol?? (@MelRuthMyQueens) April 15, 2020
When she talked to Daryl about Sophia a few episodes after her death. Or in the Barn, S5, when she reunites with the group.
Rise of the Duelist is set to dispel the dog days of Summer on August 7th, 2020!
Yugi’s Gaia the Dragon Champion strategy has been remastered for the modern age! Classic cards like Gaia the Fierce Knight, Catapult Turtle, and more take on new forms in service of a new form of Gaia the Dragon Champion that stacks an extra 2600 ATK on to itself every time it wins a battle and can expend exactly that much ATK to destroy any card on the field without a fight!
New Noble Knights rise from the pages of history! The “Infernoble Knights” are a fast Synchro Summoning strategy that burns through their Equip Spells for immediate benefits, then brings them back to the field and dares the opponent to destroy the monster they’re equipped to. “Infernoble Knight” monsters are also “Noble Knight” monsters, so you can use existing cards like Heritage of the Chalice to make your Deck even stronger! Don’t forget Infernoble Knight – Renaud and Infernoble Knight – Roland from Toon Chaos– you’ll need them if you want to maximize your firepower.
Many powerful Spell and Trap Cards! Unleash a new “Forbidden” Quick-Play Spell that can negate the effects of and halve the ATK of an entire field’s worth of monsters or a Normal Spell that lets you retaliate against your opponent’s disruptive monster effects by choosing from the effects of Pot of Greed, Change of Heart, or The Forceful Sentry.
On top of all that, you can even find:
A powerful new “Chaos” Synchro Monster
A brand-new anti-Extra Deck Spellcaster theme
New cards for the “Rikka” and “Adamancipator” themes from Secret Slayers
New cards for the “Mathmech” and “Dragonmaid” themes from Mystic Fighters
20 previously unavailable cards from overseas promotions, pack-ins, and more!
The Rise of the Duelist booster set contains 100 new cards:
There is something about Final Fantasy VII that has touched the hearts of the majority of the previous and current generation of gaming over twenty years ago, and now. It is considered one of the best video games of all time as FFVII brought JRPG’s to the mainstream level that we have never seen before. For years, many fans demanded a remake after the E3 2005 tech demo was shown to the world on what the visuals of that game would look like in a modern setting.
With the release of Advent Children, Chrisis Core, and the Dissidia series, the demand grew more. In 2015, We got the first trailer and the announcement that Final Fantasy VII Remake was in development. Five years later, we can now say that we have this game in our hands again. What do I think of the remake, I will tell you right now as I review Final Fantasy VII Remake.
The casting choices for the character’s voices are very good. I even had to listen to old clips of Steve Burton, Rachael Leigh Cook, and George Lewbin from previous entries to see if I notice a difference between them and the new voice actors, and there were minor differences. If you were to tell me that FF7R’s voice cast have never changed upon playing this as my first Final Fantasy video game, I would have noticed. I also liked that many of the minor characters such as Wedges and Biggs had their stories fleshed out more as they feel like they mattered to the overall plot. But a slight knock on this is that many of the conversations with many of the NCP’s and minor characters arepointless as they do nothing but introduce them for them to be forgotten about when you move on to the next quest since they will not serve any relevance to the main plot. You would think that they fleshed out the minor characters out for a good reason. But logically, it made zero sense.
There were times that I laughed more than I did when I played the original game because there are pivital scenes that translated well from the original game, to the remake, but also added more depth to those scenes and made them feel much more alive. The biggest example, is the Honey Bee Inn sequence as Cloud had to be a cross dresser for a while. There is also a dance minigame at that Inn too. The cutscenes were done really well, and it felt like at times that I was watching Advent Children as I was playing the game. The cinematogrophy really blew me away from the start to the finish visually.
The music did match the visual style of what we seen on screen, but I felt that the music is very over-orchestrated and I wish that we have an option to switch between the original music, and the current music. “Fight On!” is unrecognizable unless you are watching somebody else play. “Hurry Up” was totally removed from a part of the game. And they are throwing in too much of Sephiroth’s themes into the new arrangements, and in general it is a lot of noise with little substance.
When it was stated that the battle system would be revamped, they were not kidding. Even though there is a “Classic Mode” setting available, I would not recommend using it since this game’s combat relies on you to have full control of the character. The ground combat fixed all of the problems that Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 had, but there are some limitations. Not having to change your party’s A.I while you are controling your character is frusturating, but I had to get used to it.
When the air combat happens, the cameras are all over the place like it is a WWE Raw production especially when there are too many enemies on the screen. The boss battles is when the controls and camera angles are much more scaled and controled. Remember the sphere grid system from Final Fantasy X? Well, FF7R takes a slight inspiration from that system to level your characters and their weapons. The leveling grind is not as punishing as FFXV and that is a relief. Also, bonus points for the seamless loading times. I still have my original Playstation 4, and I experienced not one slowdown at all.
Knowing that this is going to be an episodic series of games, I was curious on how Midgar, which is the first area that can be completed in five hours in the oirginal game, was going to be handled. That five hours turned into 45 hours for me as there were more sidequests than I remembered counting the time on this remake. I see why they did this, but I felt that it was not needed as backtracking in this game is very incidential and time wasting. I even questioned myself why is the reunion being mentioned this early in the game? And also, why did Sephiroth appear within the first ten minutes of the game? Sephiroth was mysterious and he appeared when it mattered to flesh out who he is as he kept you guessing what his motive is during the first half of the game. Not in the first ten minutes.
Cloud and Tifa’s interractions were the best of the game in my eyes, but I cannot say the same for everyone else as the writing for each of the characters were all over the place and inconsistant at times. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing the non-major characters have a personality on this game that you can clearly tell instead of reading text, but the excution was very choppy. Speaking of the story, there are a lot of changes that I did not like. The time travel plot just completly ruined the canon as this remake feels like it has to tie in the other related media of the Final Fantasy VII franchise.
Those big changes also appear at the end of the game and I have a feeling that these changes will be very devisive among the community to the level of Star Wars: A New Hope Special Edition. This is not what I had in mind when I wanted the remake as it really forces the player to accept this new direction of the game without being mindful to how and why veteran players appreciated the story and timeline.
Overally, I enjoyed most of Final Fantasy VII Remake. The art, visual graphics, and all of the characters feeling larger than life more than ever. But I cannot ignore the flaws that came with it. The most recent remakes on other video games had minor changes that made the experience better. But Final Fantasy VII Remake, changed to make the overall experience apalling to veteran players including myself. Final Fantasy V, VI, VIII, and XII are my personal favorites and this is not a review for me to favor one game over the other, but I perfer the original game over the remake. I was more frustarated, than satisfied with this experience. The fact that we also do not know when part two of Final Fantasy VII Remake will be released has more questions in my head than I can answer. But to put it simply, This just doesn’t even feel that much like a JRPG. It feels like a AAA western cinematic action game that’s loosely based on the original game. If other people like that about it, then so be it. But for me, this just isn’t what I really wanted from a remake at all.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
Paola Lazaro as Princess- The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
The newest character to grace our screens on The Walking Dead is Juanita Sanchez, but she wants to be known as “The Princess.” Her cool personality, and her look has won over the fans of The Walking Dead community including myself. But behind The Princess’ pink coat, goggles, and heavy machine gun, is Paola Lazaro as she has many credits to her name such as Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Lethal Weapon, and SMILF. Now it is time for you to get to know more about her in this exclusive interview!
I would like to get to know more about you. What was your upbringing like with your parents and your two brothers? And what were some of your early career goals?
PL: “When I was a kid back in Puerto Rico, I used to write poetry. I would say around like seven years old. Then my mom used to make me perform it for the family on the weekends when they would come for dinner and stuff like that. I have always been writing and performing in a way. And I always knew that’s what I wanted to do. I wanted to be an astronaunt, but then I saw Apollo 13 and that vomit scene in the spacecraft and then I realized right there that I do not want to be an astronaut. I always wanted to perform!”
You have graduated from Columbia University with your master’s degree in play writing. How big of an accomplishment was this for you?
PL: “I never thought that I would graduate high school. I never thought that I would really be too much of anything because of the things that were told to me when I was a kid. So to able to have done all of those things is a blessing, but school and degrees is not what defines us. But the fact that I was able push through what was told to me that I couldn’t do. For me, it’s huge and it is the fire that keeps me going every day. Columbia University, is (laughs) Columbia University!”
Last fall, it was announced at New York Comic Con that you will play as The Princess. Do you remember how you prepared your audition for the role?
PL: “Oh yeah, I will never forget that. I did not leave my house for two weeks. I pretty much self-quarantined for this role. I had the script with me in the bathtub, next to me in my bed when I slept, and the couch. I had it everywhere. I just did not leave my house and kept studying. Something in me was like ‘I know this character. I’ve lived certain things that she’s lived. I can do this.’ I then went in for the audition, and did what I did, and it was awesome.”
The comic book series of The Walking Dead releases their covers three months in advance before the issue is on the shelves. The first time I have seen her on the cover at the time, I thought that she looked straight from the 1980’s. How did you react when you seen her on the cover of that issue (#171) and her scenes in that issue?
PL: “Oh I flipped out and I was so excited! I really bugged out and I just started screaming and jumping up and down. I was like ‘she’s so cool’ and I was very pumped to bring this comic book character to life on the television show!”
Khary Payton as Ezekiel, Eleanor Matsuura as Yumiko, Josh McDermitt as Dr. Eugene Porter, Paola Lazaro as Princess – The Walking Dead _ Season 10, Episode 15 – Photo Credit: Jace Downs/AMC
Did you include your own personality traits to The Princess since she has a great personality that shines very well on this episode?
PL: “Absolutely! The Princess is very similar to me, and to when I was a kid. All of this energy that I didn’t know where to put it and all this all this love for the world that I didn’t know how to convey along with all of this excitement and toughness and defensive mechanisms, is very similar to me.”
The Princess had to take a detour with Ezekiel, Yumiko, and Eugene to the minefield during this episode. How quickly have you bonded with Khary Payton, Josh McDermitt, and Elanor Matsuura? And what can you tell me about the day that episode was shot?
PL: “It was very awesome because the night before we shot anything, They all took me out to dinner. In fact, the whole cast took me out to dinner the night before to welcome me so that way, I didn’t feel like I was there to shoot twenty scenes and go. This connection that we had established that night I cherish in my heart and we’re so supportive of eachother. There is a true team there. Iv’e learned a lot from Khary, Josh, and Elanor and we support eachother. We are down to rehearse in between takes and scenes. Anybody that needs anything, or if we have to run some stuff down, and they are like ‘lets do it.’ Everyone is into it and I am thankful to have come in with them into this establish world. Now on the minefield, the first time it exploded, I jumped into Khary and Josh’s arms and cursed in spanish. It was hilarious and we broke out laughing so we had to reshoot it.”
Do you know how many times you all reshot that scene?
PL: “We shot it twice! We did good after we stopped laughing.”
One thing I was looking forwared to in the comics is The Princess meeting Negan. Since the comic book series finished last year, it might be possible to do this on screen. What do you think of the idea of The Princess and Negan in the same scene talking with eachother?
PL: “That would be exciting. That will be fun because, god knows what they would do together. I’m scared for the world and I’m scared for the apocalyptic world when these two people meet. They’re both pretty out there and they might get excited about eachother. Who knows what will happen to the world, but I hope that they do meet! I’ve watched Jeffrey Dean Morgan on the show and it would be great to work with him to bring these two characters together on the screen!”
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com
