Happy Saturday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Game Grind, the place where we talk about any and everything related to the video game industry and video game culture. Today’s article will focus on a game that has taken up way too much of my life recently and thousands of others’s. I’m speaking, of course, about Fallout 4.

Before I begin my review I should make it clear that I have not played any other Fallout game. So rather than comparing this entry into the series to the others, this review will critique the game based on it’s own merit and how it compares to other RPGs in general. Also, I have not beaten Fallout 4 yet. Given the scope of the game, it would be incredibly difficult to do this and still publish a timely review. However, I do feel that my thirty some hours of playing the game have given me a fair representation of it and it’s mechanics. If something happens over the course of me playing this game that does radically change my opinion of the game, I will be sure to write another post outlining why my views have shifted. With that out of the way, let’s talk about Fallout 4.

If you are on the fence about buying this game, buy it. If you do not want to buy this game, but have a console to play it on, but it. If you have never played a video game in your life, okay this probably isn’t the best game to enter into the world of video games with, but it is a damn good game. If you have the time, I highly recommend playing Fallout 4.

I hold this game in such high regard because it does a lot of things right. The first being that it quickly and easily establishes a sense of adventure. With in the first twenty minutes of the game (or longer depending on how long you spend designing your character), you are ushered into a more or less completely open world that you are free to explore however you wish. I’m relatively boring and generally don’t venture off trying to discover things without being prompted by a quest, but the idea that another person playing this game could be having a vastly different experience than my own is beautiful to me.

Combat in Fallout 4 is fantastic with a wide variety of enemies to discover and fight. I also appreciate that Bethesda, the studio that makes the Fallout and Elder Scrolls games, decided to remove some of the more tedious aspects that bogged down some of their previous titles, like weapon durability. So far Fallout 4 has done essentially everything that an RPG should do right and consistently makes me want to come back for more.

That being said, there are some things that it could improve on. For one, the game often makes you make decisions without explaining the impact of them. For example, you have to chose your starting stats spread, without really knowing what each stat does or how the perk system in Fallout 4 works. This can be especially problematic as early decisions like these have massive implications later in the game. Fallout 4 also really does not have much in the way of a narrative, but considering that RPGs rarely do, I can over look this.

The bottom line is that Fallout 4 is a great game and arguably one of the best in its genre. I highly encourage everybody reading this to go out and play the game. Trust me, you won’t regret it. I know I don’t.

Thanks so much for reading. If you enjoyed this post please leave a like and a comment down below. Also be sure to stop back on Monday for the next installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. Have a great weekend.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

 

Happy Thursday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture, uh, Thursday. I know this segment usually comes out on Wednesday, but I had an exam yesterday and couldn’t really justify working on this when I could instead use my time to study. Regardless, here it is, better late than never.

How have I not talked about this yeeeeeeeeeeet!!? Seriously, the graphic novel series by Bryan Lee O’Malley is one of my all time favorite franchises. I genuinely love everything about this property from the comics, to the movie, to the video game, to, last but not least, the music. Every aspect of this franchise is incredible and I believe that everyone should experience it in some form or another.

Alright, enough of me hyping it up. It’s time to get down to the details. The Story of Scott Pilgrim focuses on, you guessed it, Scott Pilgrim. He’s an early twenties slacker who spends most of his time playing video games and practicing with his band, Sex Bob-Omb (if you know what a Bob-Omb is, congratulations, I love you). Scott Pilgrim is not the brightest, the most talented, and he’s also kind of an asshole, but that’s why we love him. Scott Pilgrim is more or less a love story and it is immensely refreshing to have a main character in a love story that isn’t perfect.

The receiver, and mostly reciprocator, of Scott’s feelings is Ramona Flowers. A beautiful and mysterious Alt. girl who has lived just enough of life to be weary of romantic relationships and has way too much experience dealing with guys like Scott. Despite this, Scott convinces her to go on a date with him and they both realize super quickly that they are both way into each other.

This is where the story starts to get more complex. Both of these individuals have a ton of baggage that they both try to ignore, but nevertheless continuously bombard the both of them throughout the story. Without getting to spoiler-y, here are the bare bones. When Scott went on his date with Ramona, he was cheating on his girlfriend, Knives Chau. Knives is seventeen years old and CRAZY infatuated with Scott. Scott eventually breaks up with her, but she does not take it well. Ramona’s baggage consists of Seven Evil Exes. that Scott has to defeat in order to continue dating her.

That previous sentence actually sums up a lot of the charm that makes Scott Pilgrim such a great franchise. In every relationship, there are struggles and problems that the couple has to overcome. In most stories about relationships, these issues are usually presented as some vague, metaphors. In Scott Pilgrim, the main character literally has to go through seven boss battles to strengthen his relationship and work out his own baggage. The series also does not place romantic issues on a pedestal, like many other love stories. This story is also about Scott learning how to be an adult and how to stop letting his negative past experiences define him as a person.

These issues are also dealt with in a charming and original ways. For example, just as Scott is forced to talk to his ex-girlfriend in an attempt to gain closure, he laments the fact that he was not able to save before the encounter, as he expects it to go poorly and would appreciate the safety net of a do over. The entire world of Scott Pilgrim is filled with video game and nerd culture references. At times characters pull incredibly large weapons out of bags that have no logical business being able to hold them and, in other instances, characters complain about not being able to use certain items, like skateboards, because they they did not pick that skill set in grade five.

Scott Pilgrim not only tells an incredibly well written story about two people trying to make a relationship work and simultaneously deal with their own issues,  but also creates am incredibly interesting world that’s saturated with nerd culture, that I personally would love to live in. That being said, this franchise is not for everybody. However, I would venture that if you took the time read this article or anything I’ve written on BaddaBing BaddaBlog (for which you have my undying gratitude), you are going to like Scot Pilgrim and you should start reading it ASAP. Seriously, go buy a copy or order one from Amazon. Order the complete series from Amazon and then sit in front of your door waiting for them to deliver it. It’s totally worth it.

Alright guys, that just about raps up me gushing about the incredible Scott Pilgrim franchise. If you like this please denote that down below and leave a comment while you’re there. Also, if you wish to subscribe to this blog, you can do so in the upper right tab, via email. Alternatively, you can stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you guys have a great Thursday and be sure to come back here tomorrow for the latest installment of News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

 

Happy Saturday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! It has been a while since the last post, for which I’m sorry. Life got busy for me again. However, today I hope to redeem myself with the latest installment of Game Grind. Nintendo recently released a new video, affectionately titled Nintendo Direct, and there is a LOT of kickass stuff in it. This post will be dedicated to highlighting the most awesome stuff from this news release and why you should be as excited as I am over it. Let’s do this!!!

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

If you’re a Zelda fan, good news! Twilight Princess is getting and HD remaster for the Wii U. If you aren’t a Legend of Zelda fan…….get on that. This remaster will be coming out in March and will feature a brand new Wolf Link amiibo that will also work with the latest installment in the Zelda series, which is still slated for a 2016 release on the Wii U.

I personally have never played Twilight Princess and am looking foreword to playing it for the first time with improved graphics.

Rule 63 Link

For those of you who are unaware, there is a Rule 63 of the internet states that “For every fictional character, there exists artwork for that character as the alternate gender.” Nintendo just endorsed a cannon version of this rule with their character Link. The female Link is known as Linkle and will be in the upcoming game, Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Warriors Legends, for the 3DS

There she is looking badass with her twin crossbows. Congratulations Tumblr, you win.

Splatoon News

For those of you who play Splatoon, Nintendo’s wildly successful new IP and venture into the shooter genre, new maps and costumes for your characters are available now! More free updates will be available later and updates for the game are planed to continue into 2017. It was also announced that a new bundle for the Wii U featuring both Splatoon and Super Smash Bros. The Bundle will cost only $279 and seems to be Nintendo’s way of moving some more product as the holiday season draws closer.

Could Storms Into Battle

The last, and arguable most surprising, news that pertains to the Wii U is that the titular character from Final Fantasy 7, Cloud Strife, will be a playable character in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. This is incredibly surprising news as Final Fantasy 7 was released on the PlayStation platform and Cloud has never appeared on any major games for Nintendo consoles. The footage of him fighting looks awesome and a new stage featuring the FF7’s iconic city of Midgar will also be available for download. Cloud’s presence in Smash makes it clear that any character has the potential to come to the stellar fighting game.

Fire Emblem Fates 

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Switching to solely 3DS news, the release date for Fire Emblem Fates for the US was announced. The various versions of the game will be made available to American’s on February 19th. It was also announced that a special bundle of the two version of the game along with the third extra version will be available as a bundle for $80. As someone who enjoyed the hell out of the previous game, Fire Emblem: Awakening, I feel the Feburary cannot get here soon enough.

Dragon Quest VII and VIII On 3DS

It was also announced that the remastered versions of Dragon Quest 7 and 8 will be coming to the 3DS in the West. The remakes of the two incredible games will be available to westerns for the first time in 2016. I personally have never played a Dragon Quest game, but the JRPGs seem right up my alley and I will definitely pick them up.

Blast from the Pokemon Past

For the last bit of awesome Nintendo related news, it was announced that wireless enable versions of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Yellow will be coming to the 3DS eShop in February. This is very surprising news as Game Freak, the company directly responsible for making Pokemon games, has never re-released their older games for newer consoles without any technical alterations or updates.  As a massive Pokemon fan I am totally going to download at least on of these jems, but I am curious to see how much they charge for them and if they patch any of the glitches the games are notorious for.

Alright, that is more or less all of the important Nintendo news that has recently been announced. If you enjoyed learning about this news, please leave a like and a comment down below. You can also subscribe to 4B via email in the upper right tab. Alternatively, you can stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page, or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you guys enjoyed this post and that it makes up for the recent lack of activity. Also be sure to come back on Monday for the next installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday. Have a great weekend.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Sunday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Game Grind the place where we discuss and analyze anything relating to video games as both a medium and an art form. I’m terribly sorry for not having this up yesterday, I became crazy busy and was unable to find the time to make this post as great as it deserves to be. I know that’s a lame excuse, but it’s supposed to be more of an explanation. I promise to make article even more kick-ass to make up for the delay. Actually, that shouldn’t be too hard with Today’s topic.

Activision Blizzard is probably making a Call of Duty Movie 

Activision Blizzard recently announced that they had acquired a film and television studio and were planning on releasing a Skylanders TV show and a Call of Duty movie franchise. You can read more about the announcement and press conference itself over at Screen Rant. A Skylanders show actually makes a lot of sense for one of gaming’s largest company’s. It seems like Skylanders is for kids today what Pokemon (or Digimon, I guess) was for me as a kid. However, a Call of Duty movie is just, not even anywhere near good idea. This is because video game movies always, literally always, tank, there is very little to work with narratively, and there are so many other franchises that would make for better film adaptations.

There is no movie based on a video game that possesses a Rotten Tomatoes score higher than 36%. Seriously, there are a couple dozen video game movies and not one of them has broken 40% on RT. Sure, a couple of them have made money, like the Resident Evil movies, but video game movies are widely considered to hurt whatever property is being transferred to the new medium. So, not only do I not want a Call of Duty movie to be made, I don’t think fans or the creators should necessarily want on either.

The Call of Duty series doesn’t have a whole lot to adapt even. From a narrative perspective all of the games are very “meh” at best, with the original Black Ops. being the sole, but still lackluster, exception. There really is not anything they could put in the film to make it a Call of Duty movie, besides having that in the title. I suppose they could shoot the whole movie in POV……..but we all know that that’s not going to happen.

However, there are a LOT of games that do not have this narrative issue and would be able to transfer to film pretty easily. The Nathan Drake games immediately come to mind. It would be almost exactly like the Indiana Jones movies, but with more parkour.  I also think it is high time we try to redeem Mario’s name in the film industry by actually releasing a good film (or at least a mediocre one) that is related to that property. And don’t even get me started on Metal Gear Solid and how easily that series would transfer to film. Actually, if anyone in Hollywood want’s to get me started just a little bit, I’ve been sitting on a script for that movie for almost a year and could totally hook up anyone who’s looking.

Activision Blizzard is slowly becoming the biggest company in the gaming industry. That is definitely a mixed bag and their works transferring to other mediums is a microcosm of that. A Skylanders show would be brilliant and a Call of Duty movie would be the exact opposite. I hope to be proven wrong in a few years when the movie comes out, but I very much doubt I will be.

Alright guys, that just about wraps up this rare Sunday installment of Game Grind. If you enjoyed it please leave a like or comment down below and maybe even subscribe via email in the upper right tab. Also be sure to check out the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook page and follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. Have an awesome Sunday everybody and be sure to come back tomorrow for the next installment of Manga (And Also Anime) Monday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Friday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is News for the Mighty, News of the Week, the place where you can learn everything you need to know to seem knowledgeable to your friends and family over the weekend. It’s been a lighter news week so today’s article is going to be a bit shorter, and a lot more fun. Also it will be in English, the title is just a reference to get fanboys to read this. Hi DP fans! Thanks for reading. Alright, let’s dive in.

Deadpool, Super cool, he makes you drool, like a fool, ‘cus he’s Deadpool

For those of you who are unaware, the Marvel character Deadpool is basically the internet’s favorite superhero. He’s a carnage loving, psychotic anti-hero that constantly breaks the fourth wall, what’s not to love. Deadpool has a movie coming out in early 2016 that is going to be the first rated R superhero film, since the genre reached its current level of popularity. The actor Ryan Reynolds is going to be playing the merc’ with a mouth, which is being hailed as a fantastic decision by fans of the comics. This truly is one of the rare moments where and actor has been cast for a role they are almost indistinguishable from. Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool and Deadpool is Ryan Reynolds. Due to this stellar casting we have been graced with the following promotional material.

Is this news world changing? No. Is it awesome? You’re damn right it is and I would be remiss if I did not do everything in my power to share it with as many people as possible.

Trans Pacific Partnership Detail Revealed 

Thursday the official text for the controversial Trans Pacific Partnership were revealed. Why is this deal controversial, you may ask? Well, that’s because it would affect around 40 percent of the world’s economy and, until yesterday, the specifics of the agreement were largely unknown to the vast majority of people. Many of the specifics of the TPP are still unknown as the text is several thousand pages long and interns can only read and summarize so much in 24 hours. I will be sure to write about the specifics of the deal and my opinion on them once more information is uncovered, but I will say for now that this deal feels extremely rushed considering that the United States will have to vote on it in about eight months.

Dying Man Sees Star Wars Film

As someone who is currently trying to be successful on the internet, it warms my heart to see the internet be used to do something good. 32 year old Daniel Fleetwood is dying of a rare form of connective tissue cancer. He was told a month ago that he would most likely die withing two months. Daniel’s sole wish was to see the upcoming Star Wars movie before he passed, which was set to release about a month after his predicted passing. Daniel expressed his desire to see the film over social media and the internet was incredibly sympathetic to his cause. Daniel’s story spread rapidly over social media and quickly found its way some of The Force Awakens creators. They too were sympathetic to the terminally ill Star Wars fan and a private screening was set up for him and his wife Ashley. I love this story not only because it shows that the internet can be a tool used for indisputable good, but also because thousands, if not millions, of people came together to make the plot of the movie Fanboys happen. Side note, if you haven’t seen Fanboys you totally should. Seth Rogen plays both a pimp and a Trecky and they fight each other. It’s a riot.

That wraps up this week in news, you are not prepared to impress your friends, family, and potential significant others. If you enjoyed this post please like it down below and leave a comment. If you wan to stay up to date with 4B, you can subscribe in the upper right tab via email. Alternatively you can like the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or follow me, @LucasDeRuyter on Twitter. I hope you guys have a great weekend and be sure to come back here tomorrow for the latest installment of Game Grind.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Humpday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where we talk about the various nuances and properties in media. Today will focus on a web comic strip that has risen to incredible amounts of both fame and infamy, Cyanide and Happiness.

Cyanide and Happiness was originally a webcomic series that began releasing content daily in January, 2005. The original writers and illustrators consisted of Rob DenBleyker, Kris Wilson, Dave McElfatrick, and Matt Melvin. Matt Melvin would later leave the project. The show quickly gained popularity via social media websites like, MySpace, LiveJournal, Quora, and Facebook. If you are too young to recognize all but one of those sites, you’re lucky, the first three kinda sucked. The strip’s website, Explosm.net, is also heavily trafficked.

The strip became popular enough that they were able to start creating YouTube videos.

The videos are currently being created biweekly on their channel, ExplosmEntertainment. Videos are also uploaded a few days in advance on their Vessel page. The videos have also increased C&H’s popularity enough that in 2009 Explosm was able to successfully crowdfund a book consisting of what the creators deemed to be their best comics. Since then, four other books consisting of collections or entirely new material have been released.

The Cyanide and Happiness Show furthered the project’s success when it was released last year. The show features much of the same humor as every other iteration of the work, but is in a longer 15-20 minute format and has more running gags than the other versions of C&H. Fans are eagerly awaiting the shows next season, dubbed Season TOO (Dumb and Dumber logic, I guess), which will be released sometime in early 2016.

If I had to describe the allure and humor of Cyanide and Happiness, I would call it anti jokes on crack. Every one of the jokes is some combination of dark, disturbed, or some kind of misdirect. I always feel a slight pang of guilt for laughing at a C&H joke, and that’s why it’s so popular and addictive. Not only is it funny, but it also dances playfully on the line between funny, offensive, and inappropriate. This masterfully crafted combination always leaves me wanting for more.

If you would like to experience the awesomeness that is Cyanide and Happiness, here are the links to their various websites.

C&H YouTube Channel

Explosm.net

I hope you enjoyed learning about this online awesomeness. If you did, please like this post and leave a comment down below. You can also subscribe to this blog via email using the upper right tab. Alternatively, you can stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope everyone has a great Wednesday and be sure to come back here on Friday for News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Monday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Manga (And Also Anime) Monday, the recurring segment where we talk about anything to do with either of those fantastic mediums. Today’s topic has transcended any for of cultural status and has become a fond childhood memory to many world wide. Yup, I’m writing about Dragon Ball. About time, right?

I wrote about this a little bit, waaaaaaaaaaay back (like 3 or so months ago) when BaddaBing BaddaBlog had just started that Dragon Ball Z was getting a squeal. This sequel is fully canonical, with involvement from the original creator of Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama, being involved in this new series. This makes the very lack lust series Dragon Ball GT (Giant Turd) no longer truly a part of the Dragon Ball timeline. Fans reacted incredibly well to the announcement of this new series, titled Dragon Ball Super, and have continued to enjoy it so far into its run. Here’s what’s been going on in the show if you have a desire to start watching it, but are turned of by the pilling backlog of episodes.

The first episodes of Dragon Ball Super begin by reintroducing the audience to their favorite characters. Not surprisingly they are largely unchanged from Dragon Ball Z. I’m pretty sure they included this just to show that the characters are different from how they were depicted in GT (Giant Turd). Two new characters are also introduced, Beerus the God of Destruction and Whis. Beerus is more or less going to be a frenemy this episode and Whis is going to be a pretty neutral character, bot seem interesting though. Beerus, looking to get into a fun fight, seeks out the fabled Super Saiyan God, which means he fights Goku and Vegeta. The fights are pretty standard, but Vegeta’s does have this great character building moment.

Just as one would expect, Goku powers up to Super Saiyan God and manages to successfully fight Beerus. He doesn’t beat the God of Destruction, but he puts on a good enough fight that the God decides not to blow up the planet. Super Saiyan God looks pretty cool, I like how it resembles Goku’s original kaioken power-up.

In the next story arc Frieza is wished back to life through the power of the Dragon Balls. He wants revenge on Goku for killing him, because he’s still evil and stuff, and decides that he’s going to actually give a damn and train for his fight against him. This allows him to take a form that fans are affectionately referring to as Golden Frieza.

I know it seems kinda lame, but I’m just glad we get more Frieza. A bunch of fighting ensues, which allows the side characters to get some action for a change.

Goku and Vegeta arrive from the training after a bit and use their new form to kill Frieza.

Originally this form called Super Sayian God Super Sayian, but is shortened to Super Sayian Blue, because mouthfull. The two Sayians then leave to go train with Whis more and in the process they discover that there are alternate universes and that a fighting competition is going to be held between their universe and another.

And that’s where the story currently rests, you’re now fully prepared to jump back into this beloved franchise. If you enjoyed this post please like in and leave a comment down below. If you would like to stay up to date with BaddaBing BaddaBlog you can subscribe via email in the upper right tab. alternatively you could like the official Facebook Page or follow me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. I hope you all have a great week and be sure to come back here for Pop Culture Wednesday.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye

Happy Halloween BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Game Grind, the place where we examine the various aspects of videos games both as an industry as well as an art form. I wish today’s topic was a little more festive, but today’s topic really needs to be addressed so I’m going to forgo that seasonal hook. Nintendo, you’ve got to step it up.

I know that this is a weird time for you guys. You’re trying to restructure yourself so that you are more competitive in a more diverse society. That’s totally fine. I’m stocked that you are going to be embracing mobile games and I’m sure that you guys can do extremely well in that market, but not with what you’ve announced.

Miitomo is an interesting idea, but nobody was asking for this as your first mobile game. It is great that you are expanding the concept of Miis to be more involved with social gaming, but your first venture into the mobile world needed to be way cooler than this. Do you remember how much everyone freaked out when Pokemon GO was announced? That’s what you need to do, take your preexisting properties and convert them to work with the unique functions of the mobile platform. Alternatively, you could release official mobile versions of your classic games, because they are currently being emulated the hell out of. Either of these routes would have made fanboys and fangirls scream, this “Nintendo Facebook Game” pretty much just gets a collective “meh”.

While we are one the topic of games, you need to be making more of them. You have five games that are going to be released in what’s left of 2015, and not one of them is a major title. That’s really going to hurt in the holiday season. You also have a bunch of incredible games planned for 2016, but none of them have specific release dates. Is Bravely Second, the squeal to the crazy well received and well selling Bravely Default, coming in January or do I have to wait until April? With the holiday’s upcoming you really have to drop some kind of big announcement to get people excited about Nintendo again or, at the very least, give some kind of acknowledgement that you care about the games that your audience loves.

I know that your headquarters must be scrambling right now. That’s totally understandable. Iwata’s passing probably could not have come at a worse time and you are probably trying to figure out how to expand your horizons while still holding true to what made you great in the first place. My advice, don’t freak out. You’re Nintendo! You are the most well known video game company in the world. Do you remember when Sega tried to move in on your turf? You kicked there ass across multiple console and bought them out. You won the original console wars by embracing new ideas, making great games, and by putting out new properties while also making sure to release games for your oldest IPs. Video games may be changing, and you definitely need to change along with it, but it really does seem like you can win this console war the same way you won the last one.

Alright, glad I got that out of my system. If you enjoyed this post please be sure to like it and leave a comment down below. As always, you can subscribe to 4B via the upper right tab using your email. You can also stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter on Twitter. Have a great Halloween everybody and remember to be safe.

BaddaBing BaddaBye

Happy Wednesday BaddaBing BaddaBlog readers! This is Pop Culture Wednesday, the place where we talk about anything and everything related to western media. Today’s article is going to be about a television show who’s twenty-three episodes my roommate and I binged in two weeks. If you couldn’t figure it out from the title, I’m talking about The Flash. 

Those of you who have kept up with 4B know that I am pretty open with my love of DC Comics. That’s why, after entering my usual post-midterm existential crisis, I decided to start watching The Flash on Netflix. I will try to keep this review as spoiler free as possible, but inevitable some aspects of the show are going to have to be delved into. With that in mind dear reader, let’s hit the ground running. Also yes, this article is going to be riddled with speed and running jokes, enjoy!

The Flash is the story of twenty-five year old Berry Allen who is struck by lightening during a storm caused by a dark matter accelerator. The lightening puts him into a coma and, when he wakes up in nine months, he finds out that it also gave him super speed. After some convincing from his new scientist friends, he decides to use his speed to fight crime and also combat other individuals who gained various powers due to the dark matter accelerator going haywire. Berry, who eventually becomes more wildly known by his alias The Flash, also reserves himself to using his new found speed to solve the mystery of his mother’s murder. Fourteen years ago his mother was killed by a man dressed in yellow inside of a ball of lightening. His father was wrongly convicted of the crime and Berry vows to find the true killer and get his father out of prison.

I personally think the set up here is actually pretty good. It gives the main character both a motivator and is more unique than something as bland as Batman’s origin story. I also appreciate how much the show embraces the weirdness of its source material. Bizarre science-fiction concepts are embraced by the characters almost immediately, all of the bad guys are given super villain names, and generally everyone seems to be having a fun time fighting crime and having super powers.

The show is also very well written. Not only does it have great uses of foreshadowing, but it also manages to keep the standard super hero formula interesting from episode to episode. My only real gripe about the writing is that if you read the comics, you pretty much know how the entire season is going to play out with the over-arching villains. Although, if you are a fan of the comics, you are probably too busy loving how some awesome comic book characters are brought to the small screen to complain.

The biggest flaw with the show is that it took a while for it to reach its stride. Seriously. The first three or four episodes of The Flash have some pretty heavy handed writing and acting. I know that the writers wanted to really establish what made each of the characters unique and what motivated, but there is little to no subtitle in explaining this. Each character pretty much says “I’m like this because _______”. After those first few episodes things get better almost inhumanly quickly and by the end of the season I really didn’t mind those first few episodes, but I still had a poor aftertaste in my mouth.

In short, watch The Flash. If you are a fan of comic books you are going to be a fan of this. If you aren’t a fan of comics: a) What’s wrong with you? and b) You’ll still probably like it anyway. Is it the best thing on T.V.? I don’t think so, but it is still a damn good show that embraces it’s roots and is unapologetically weird and unique.

Alright, that just about does it for this review of the CW show, The Flash. If you enjoyed this please be sure to like it and leave a comment down below. As always, you can recieve notifications as to when new posts are made here by subscribing via email in the upper right tab. You can also stay up to date by liking the official BaddaBing BaddaBlog Facebook Page or by following me, @LucasDeRuyter, on Twitter. Have a great day everybody and be sure to come back on Friday for News for the Mighty, News of the Week.

BaddaBing, BaddaBye