Wizard World Philadelphia is usually their biggest show of the year and it showed during the four day convention. From the cosplay, to the gaming area, the guests, and the gaming area, there is plenty for everyone to do at the show over there at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. This year’s headliners were supposed to be Gotham stars Ben McKenzie and Morena Baccarin, but they cancelled one day before the show begun. You would think that the show would be greatly affected by this, but it was not. I will get to the guests that were there shortly as I begin my recap of Wizard World Philadelphia 2019.
Ted Danson was announced for the show as it was his first ever comic convention appearence. He had a panel in which he and George Wendty talked about Cheers and answered questions to the fans.
So with that out of the way, I covered the show for three of the four days and although the best of the best cosplay did not showed up until late Saturday, I barely seen any at all. I do not know why, but I expected many just like in years past. But the crowd was decent and even for a show. Friday was slower than usual, but the celebrity guest table lines were mostly full. I did not see it empty not once so it is great to see how many people came out to see them. Guests included Lisa Marie Varon, Devon Dudley, Sgt. Slaughter, Kevin Konroy, the cast of RWBY, Once Upon a Time, and much more. There was even a Super Smash Bros. Ultimate tournament that took place during the three days. I did actually qualify for this, but I got eliminated in the qualifying round. Also to note, These three are the best cosplay pictures I have taken during the weekend that I have taken many.
The other panels I have attended were Once Upon a Time and Kevin Conroy and John Glover’s. The Kevin Conroy one was interesting as he finally gave his thoughts of Robert Pattison being casted as Batman. He reacted very positively to the announcement as he wanted everyone to give him a chance since they all gave every other actor a chance. Right below, you can hear it from the man himself in his own words.
— Julian Cannon?@SDCC 2019 (@julianexcalibur) June 15, 2019
The next panel I attended was Once Upon a Time as Lana Parrilla, Rebecca Mader, and Jared Gilmore took the stage to talk about their best memories of the show since the show just finished its final season. Once Upon a Time has a huge fanbase and this panel was packed from the front to the back. It was very fun to watch live since I have always heard about the show. Lana even worn the Phillies baseball t-shirt at the panel that a fan given her as a gift at her table before the panel begun. You can check out the entire panel below.
My Interviews
Last but not least, I conducted interviews at the show. Kevin Conroy was my first one during the show as we talked about Batman, stories with Mark Hamill, and his future projects. I interviewed WWE Hall of Fame inductee Devon Dudley as we talked about his memories competing in TLC matches, a story about Vince McMahon, his take on the Bully Ray situation at the recent Ring of Honor show, and what would it take to be a road agent at WWE. And my final interview was with Kara Eberle of the hit anime series RWBY as her fun personality shined during this interview as we talked about the series and her recent appearence on Death Battle. You can check these interviews out below.
Photo Credit: Wizard World
Wizard World was fun this year and I know for the sure that the shows will keep getting bigger! I will be back next year for more coverage.
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This week’s episode saw the debut of Austin Amelio reprising his role as the former Savior lieutenant Dwight as he is the second major character to cross over from the main show. Did his debut episode deliver? Or did it fall like a walker after being put down. Here is my review of the third episode of the fifth season of Fear The Walking Dead titled “Humbug’s Glutch”.
The episode begins where the group are taking down walkers that are tied together like the ones that were seen on the previous episodes. We go back and forth in between the group clearing walkers, and Luciana marking X’s on the map from where they put down those walkers. John and June also do the same thing in a different area until an unseen shooter tries to shoot to kill them. They had a small shootout until John and June escaped with their van. John and June drives to an abandoned western style town. I must say, I love the scenery of this abandoned town as it fits John perfectly. John and June explore the place and they go to a locked cabinent. John was about to use his last bullet to open the cabinent, but June opened it. Once that happened, they find a large stash of guns and ammo and they took all of it.
Alycia Debnam-Carey as Alicia Clark, Danay Garcia as Luciana, Lennie James as Morgan Jones – Fear the Walking Dead _ Season 5, Episode 3 – Photo Credit: Ryan Green/AMC
Alicia and Luciana talks about what happened the previous night as they both apologized and wanted to move forward. While they are talking about the plane, Alicia lets Morgan know that they are coming back. The three kids intercepted the radio and Alicia responds to all three of them to let them know that they are looking for them. Back to John and June, a sandstorm is brewing at the abandoned town that they are in and June tries to contact Morgan. After the reception got messed up, John tells June the history of the place that they are in as he tried to play it off that he did not take part of the entertainment that used to happen there. While they are talking, the unseen shooter strikes again and then we get another shootout outside. John with his swift gun skills, shoots the shooter at the arm. He also shoots down two walkers until we find out that the unseen shooter is Dwight! Dwight asks John where is Sherry and before the conversation continues, June knocks him out. They take out his belongings from his pockets as they realize that he has been looking for her for a while. When Dwight wakes up, he angrily tells John to put his belongings down.
Back to Morgan and Alicia, they were on the radio trying to contact John until their car crashed off the road. They both get out the car to investigate what happened and they both noticed the that their tire was blown and they also see a spike car trap (like the ones the police use). John and June cannot stay at the place too long as they both talked back and forth on what to do and Dwight tells them both to take his car and leave him. John tells Dwight that they are in a similar path and he once shot a guy’s middle finger. Ouch!
After that, they finally introduce themselves and John gives Dwight’s gun back to him. For them to escape, they play music to attract walkers inside the place that they were in as John, Dwight, and June escape from the top window. Dwight decides to jump down (while he is still wounded may I add) and lands on the ground. He had a close call with a few walkers until John and June save him. As more walkers were coming, the three of them go to their opposite cars. At this point while they were talking back and forth on the radio, we learn that Dwight has been looking for Sherry for a year ever since Daryl exiled him. Dwight also said that she has left him notyes across the country for him and although some were dead ends, they all lead him to where he is now. He also has not found another note from her in months and he tried to kill John and June because he thought that they have done something to her. June tries to give him hope because John found her when they thought that they would never see eachother again.
Alicia contacts Dylan, Max, and Annie over the radio and then Morgan shows up and asks her if they responded. Alicisa tells the three that she lost her mom (Madison) and her brother (Nick) and that she knows how hard that they are hurting and that they do not want them to be alone. Alicia also wants the three of them to give them a chance as well. None of them respond. Back to John/June/Dwight as it is time to clear the walkers surrounding the car Dwight went inside before they separated. June’s gun gets jamed during the attempt and is almost taken out by a walker. Then, we get to see John’s badass revolver skills as he takes out walkers left and right. Then comes one of the coolest looking walker kills I have ever seen. John tells Dwight to hold up the hatchet with his injured arm as two walkers were approaching him. John then shoots his gun at the hatchet as the bullet splits from the hatchet to riccochet into the two walkers. Revolver Ocelot from the Metal Gear series would say “You’re Pretty Good” if he seen that because that was straight up awesome. John said that it was only the second time he has ever done that trick.
Later in the night, John tells Dwight that Sherry must still be out there and that the car is his due to the registry. Morgan and the rest meets up with John and June and it was right there that Morgan and Dwight reunites! The reunion did not last long as Max finally responded on the radio as he tells Alicia that they are on thyeir way to the truck stop. After they cleared out walkers, they go to a van to see Dylan covered in blood. It was here that we realize that Max and Annie trapped them as the episode ends.
Of the episodes I have seen so far, this is my all time favorite episode of Fear The Walking Dead. Although there were pacing issues with the three kids, the plot with John, June, and Dwight made up for this episode as most of this episode was dedicated to those three. This episode did not disappoint at all and John is the star of this episode. That bullet trick he did will have the world talking as it is one of the best scenes in the entire Walking Dead universe. I can also say that I compare John and June’ relationship to Maggie and Glenn at this point as their chemistry is very good and it shines the most on this episode. I want to also see more of Dwight on Fear so I am looking forward to the upcoming episodes.
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E3 2019 took place this week in Los Angelas, California and there were many big announcements that were made during the four day show. Many press conferences surprised the live audience and viewers around the world, while some have been a snooze fest. E3 for the last few years has been trying to get back to their roots especially with last year’s show that disappointed many. Has E3 2019 rised from the ashes of last year’s letdown, we shall see as I rank them from the best to the worst.
EA Play
Last year’s show of EA at E3 was a huge disaster. It felt like an investor meeting more than a presentation show. This year, was a change of pacde for the better as Greg Miller to take the stage to introduce the developers of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order along with a long trailer and gameplay video which surprised the fans as nobody thought that we would see gameplay from it this year. The game was recieved very well from the live audience and the viewers at home and knowing EA’s track record of the Star Wars franchise, many were spectable if they could actually deliver this time and so far, it seems like they are since this is a single player game. This game reminded me of The Force Unleashed games from a decade ago. Other games that were shown was new content for Apex Legends, Battlefield V, and The Sims 4 along with new footage of Madden NFL 20 and Fifa 20. This was a huge improvememnt of last year’s show as EA realized their mistakes from last year’s show and did not want to repeat them. Every game that was showcased from EA including for its EA Originals program felt like it mattered to the casual viewer and it was all about the games this year instead of the microtransactions, loot boxes, etc.
Final Grade: B
Bethesda
I have no idea if Bethesda paid the entire audience to clap at every announcement it sure looked like it did. With the way Fallout 76 was handled last fall along with the disatrous pre order bonuses that did not come as advertised, you would think that the crowd would have not give them a warm reception but they did when it was announced that a battle royal mode will be coming to Fallout 76 along with more DLC. But besides that, The Elder Scross were showcased which included DLC for Elder Scrolls Online, Blades, and Legends and more trailers for Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot, Wolfenstein Youngblood, Doom Eternal, and Ghostwire Tokyo. All of these trailers look great, but we did not see any gameplay from any of them. There were also some cringe moments during the conference as well, but not to the level of Ubisoft. Good conference, but I felt very underwhelmed with no major announcements from Bethesda.
Final Grade: C+
XBOX
Mocrosoft on Sunday saved the show so far especially after that miserable PC Gaming Show that felt longer than WrestleMania with Phantasy Star Online 2 finally coming to the west for the first time ever, Borderlands 3, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, Blair Witch, a new Battletoads game which surprised me, Minecraft Dungeons, and even an updated version of the Elite controller. I must say, XBOX’s controllers always felt great to use so I am for this decision to give it a complete overhaul. The bigger games that were showcased were Gears 5 (which was announced last year, but we finally know the release date), and Cyberpunk 2077 with Keanu Reeves making an appearence at the show to present the release date. The fans at the show ate this up as everyone cheered for him as he appeared. The biggest announcement is that the successor of Xbox One titled “Project Scarlett” will be coming in the fall of 2020 and we got little details of what the console will bring once it is in our hands. Also, Halo Infinite will be the launch title of this console just like the very first Halo was for the first Xbox 18 years ago. This presentation saved the show so far at this point even though we did not get any gameplay videos. But this presentation proved that Microsoft has come a long way since the ridicilous E3 2013 conference. They turned everything around year after year and their support from gamers has grown back to where it was before the Xbox One was first announced.
Final Grade: A-
Square Enix
Of all the conferences, Square Enix had the best presentation from the visuals, the announced games, and how they transitioned from one announcement to another. It was announced by different pictures on the wall of the screen each with the camera paning to the next game. It was an interesting idea and change and I think that it worked very well. Final Fantasy 7 Remake finally has a release date and it was showcased with a few cutscenes and the gameplay at Midgar. All of the characters looked very impressive and more brought to life than ever. However, this game will be episodic and Square Enix confirmed that they will release the first part of the game (Which is Midgar) at a full price and have the rest of the game released as different standalone games down the line. This has spawned a mixed reaction from the fanbase. The other announcements we have gotten was Life is Strange 2, Final Fantasy 8 Remaster, Dragon Quest XI, DLC for Kingdom Hearts 3, a new expansion to Final Fantasy XIV, and Marvel’s Avengers. The Avengers game does not look up to today’s gaming standards of visuals and graphics so I hope that it is changed from now until the release date. With those points aside, I enjoyed this conference more than any of the others at the entire E3 week and Square Enix delivered a conference that will be remembered for years.
Final Grade: A+
Ubisoft
I still do not know why in 2019 Just Dance is coming out for the Nintendo Wii. Yes, you just read that because that was part of this presentation. A dance off performance that we did not need just to announce the game. But the most interesting title is Watch Dogs Legion as this time around, you are also able to play as the NPC’s and I think that is an interesting twist in a video game I have not seen done before. Eqach NPC has different skillsets as well. We even seen Jon Bernthal present Ghost Recon Breakpoint as it is the newest entry of the series. That was a great way to introduce the game and to see him on stage with the dog. More announcements came to play as we were shown Rainbow Six Quarantine, Roller Champions which is a roller derby inspired video game and it is supposed to be in the same league as Rocket League. DLC was also announced for The Division 2 which will be released in the summer and fall of this year. The announcememnt of a subscription service called UPlay has spawned a mixed reception from the fans as we do not need another subscription servive on top of ones we are already paying for. Good conference, with more questions raised. But at least we got gameplay from most of the announcements.
Final Grade: C
Nintendo
Last but not least, Nintendo at E3 with their Nintendo Direct. It started with a new character announcement for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as The Hero from Dragon Quest was revealed. I never thought that anything from that series would make its way to Smash Bros. The different costumes of The Hero represent another game he has appeared in. We follow that up with Luigi’s Mansion 3, new footage of Link’s Awakening HD, The Witcher 3 coming to Switch as nobody seen this coming, Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Contra: Rogue Corps, Resident Evil 5 and 6, Mario and Sonic at the Tokyo Olympic Games, and Daemon X Machina. All of these announcements were absolutely great plus the others I have not mentioned. The biggest aqnnouncements were that Animal Crossing: New Horizons will be delayed (May I mention that you can finally sit down in the game!). Another great announcement is that Banjo Kazooie will be a DLC character in Smash Ultimate. This has been long awaited for many years now and I am happy to see it finally happen! Before the presentation finished, We got a glimpse of the sequel of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and I am totally looking forward to that. Nintendo usually goes all out for their E3 presentations on their Direct showcases. This was a must watch in my eyes.
Final Grade: A+
E3 this year was far much better than last year’s and 2017’s. It really felt like it was for the fans and gamers this time instead of investors and money.
Follow me on Instagram and Twitter @julianexcalibur for more content and subscribe to The Wrestling Court as we talk about the latest in pro wrestling, pop culture, and comics along with our live watch reactions to past matches. Contact me at julian@alternativemindz.com.
