Craig H

Additional Expedition 33 thought… Here’s my biggest gripe with and game and it’s so minor and nit picky. I have a real hard hearing Charlie Cox’s voice come out of a character that looks almost exactly like Robert Pattinson (and depending on the hair style you chose maybe there’s a little bit of a Timothy Chalamet look too). The voice acting is great, the expressions are great, but there is something really weird to this Charlie Cox/Robert Pattinson mashup. I’m inclined to look online just to see if I’m not alone, but the last thing I want is for something to be spoiled.

I will say that the Ozcutter normally happens out of nowhere like the RKO. It’s a surprise big move like Okada’s dropkick.

I don’t think this is a spoiler, but the secret fight club in Expedition 33 is really confounding in that they’re giving you a really easy and fast way to gain levels. I stopped doing it after a bit because I felt like it would make the game too easy.

They would because those aren’t the only money makers for them and they basically wasted the Star Wars license, which is funny because Battlefront 2 has seen a big influx of players and it doesn’t really mean anything for EA now. But EA still has BioWare, Dice, Playdemic for mobile stuff, Respawn, Motive, etc. EA may fuck up a lot, but they still own a ton of studios that make them a lot of money.

Turning on the Outcasts...A really, really long payoff that would require weekly watching and a good memory for all of the Degrassi High or The Challenge-esque drama and storylines that play out in AEW. Yeah, that is definitely going to happen. People may as well get their bitching in ahead of time. Meanwhile, me, the guy who has watched Lost 7 times and watches the Challenge is sitting there like the Jack Nicholson gif from Anger Manager.

Man, that music fucking rules. Holy shit. I think my dinger moved listening to that. That's another difference between AEW and WWE that feels weirdly ironic given that HHH is in charge of WWE. AEW is the more metal promotion and WWE is the more pop/shit hop promotion.

This show fucking ruled. There was such a long holding period with them DR stuff and in the last month or so they've really dialed up meaningful wrestlers taking them on. Hangman and Swerve is the gift that keeps on giving. Both of these guys are the most interesting dudes in wrestling and honestly, Will as the third wheel trying to get these guys to come to their senses works very well too. It's crazy that you have Hangman, Swerve, Will, and Moxley all at the top in a promotion that also has Kenny, Okada, MJF, and a bunch of other guys I'm forgetting. Like, guys on the come up like Fletcher, Ricochet, hell, even Speedball are all being used well. The booking isn't perfect, but my god it has been the best shit in wrestling for a long while now. I'm trying to think of anything I enjoy as much and it's basically Jacob Fatu and Bron? Cody is back, but WWE is a promotion of wet farts with Cena, the never ending Punk and Rollins feud, Bron is the little brother to Rollins and now with Bronson Reed in the mix it feels like Bron has even less of a voice, the goodwill or joy from Jey winning the title is gone and it's just sort of waiting to see who he loses the title to. WWE is still wildly better than it was under Vince, but man it feels like a year of them spinning their wheels. Say whatever you want about Punk, but at least in AEW he was having fresh matches and programs. In WWE they're wasting his last years on this fucking boring horseshit. Punk came back, what, almost 2 years ago now and it feels like it has been a nonstop feud against either Drew Mac or Rollins. Drew is another one where he should be doing so much more than he is. And I don't even know what the women are doing. I don't watch TNA, I've been out on NJPW for forever now (I barely watched leading up to WK, I watched WK, and then haven't watched anything since), and I don't have the time to check in with Noah, Stardom, or Marigold.

I have a few friends that haven't played the game and don't intend on watching season 3. I thought this was bad. You had a really long production time for 7 episodes and a budget that ballooned and the end product was something where you can't even see where that budget went. Infected were far less prevalent this season compared to last. There is also so much happens on a green screen. One of those friends that didn't play the game and is a working actor doesn't see how HBO lets this go on to a 4th season unless S3 viewership is through the roof. I'm inclined to agree with him and we'll probably end up getting a Deadwood-esque ending. Myself? I don't think I bother with S3. I gave it a fair shot even after episodes 2 and 3, but worse than the game, which just made me mad, this makes me feel nothing. I'd rather this series create a debate among people than just leaving them empty. I also thought that if HBO was going to give a Sony game such a huge budget then it would have been better spent towards something like God of War. Just go balls to the wall and make a metal as fuck series about Kratos seeking to kill one god after another.

So…I may have dozed off during all of Okada vs Speedball. I remember Speedball’s entrance and then Okada had won. Stupid ADHD medicine (Jornay PM) thatthat makes me crash at the same time every day. So I need to go back and watch that and probably AITA too because there were a bunch of times were I was looking at my phone and chatting on the DVDVR Discord.

TK, yeah, to echo Niners, if you're still reading this, if anyone on your staff reads this, thank you, thank you, thank you. Up until 6 years ago I was basically nearly down to just NJPW. AEW hasn't always been perfect, but man, it sure is a lot of fucking fun and it has delivered some very emotional moments. Not only that, but man, thank you for giving credit to Dean and the folks here who have kept this place running for all of us knuckleheads who went from being young and stupid and fighting and talking shit to now just old and crotchety and just too fucking lazy and tired to bother talking shit. I was howling watching Toni Storm break during the scrum and for looking completely unhinged with her makeup and asking for Luther to bring her the meth. Hanger came out and didn't stay long but showed some very real emotion while couching things in kayfabe. I'm glad he's where he's at. This PPV was such a fucking blast and so much fun. I honestly think the thing I liked the least was the DCF vs Paragon. And then, for a brief moment motherfuckin Brody comes out with Ishii, I get nearly jumping out of my seat...and then their third guy was Tanahashi and the joy just got sucked right out of me. Aside from that, stellar fucking show. Finish the job, Hangman.

I fucking love Hangman so much. Pro wrestling fucking rules. I’m spent from that main event.

Just have to state this again, but why does a game over world feel so fucking good again? Expedition 33 rules.

That’s super helpful. My other concern is that I boned myself on my various points or that I used them all and I’m going to get more teammates and have no improvement points for them. I have avoided basically all build guides so I don’t know how many more people will join me but my one friend who is really into it said there will definitely be more people on my team. Oh yeah, I just tried on hard mode and man, that’s punishing.

Hey! Here I was just coming to talk about Expedition 33. Fantastic game. Probably the most fun I've had with a turn based RPG in forever. The parry and dodge mechanics are great. Plus, holy shit, an overworld in a video game in 2025! And it's great! Man, note to game devs, figure out a way to use game overworlds again! I have two issues though, the first doesn't need to be spoilered. When you go into an area or zone, you really should have access to a map. There have been so many times I've backtracked over and over and over again not knowing where the fuck to go. Second issue...the story starts out by making sense and then quickly turns into nonsense. It's just fucking weird. Even worse, it's confusing as fuck. Here's the part I'll put in spoilers because I need someone to explain some things to me...

The Cubs are so fucking ridiculous that I don't even know what to think.

My Final Reckoning thoughts without spoilers: Best in the franchise including a moment where I think I stopped breathing and my heart dropped into my stomach. This was an Endgame level movie. Completely stuck the landing. I fucking love this franchise so fucking much. Probably the best stunt in the franchise’s history, but I think there are some things M:I Fallout did better. Even still, it’s incredible and the only other movie aside from Endgame where 3 hours flies by. Going to see it again next weekend. I can’t wait. Fallout still has the better score and I still like Solomon Lane (the main villain from Rogue Nation and Fallout) as the biggest bogeyman in this series, but Esai Morales as Gabriel is still really fucking good.

It’s still so early in each conference final that I’m not close to counting the Knicks or Timberwolves out, but if we do get Pacers and OKC then I wonder what that series even looks like and if Indiana learned anything from losing to OKC a few months ago. The Pacers have been the hottest team in basketball, but the Thunder were the one or maybe one of two teams that overmatched Indiana. And Indiana didn’t have an answer for SGA, but not many do. Small sample size of one game though.

Oh I know it's already filming. Even still, they only just started filming a little bit ago. If they stuck with the May date then a little more than a year of runway isn't nearly enough for a movie the size and scope of what Doomsday should be. I'm surprised they didn't set this as the release date earlier on. Basically, every single thing would have to go perfectly for everyone involved to finish the film on time.

I figured it would have to happen, but Doomsday was pushed back to 12/18/2026 and Secret Wars was pushed back to 12/17/2027. I kept thinking there was no way they were going to get Doomsday out by May of next year unless it was like 90 minutes long. I wonder what this does for the rumored Doctor Strange/Time Runs Out movie.

If I didn't grow up as a Bulls fan then I'd certainly would be a Pacers fan. I always liked Reggie Miller, but some of that may have been because of basketball video games when I was younger. I'm happy they're doing well, but I have never been able to get into them or get behind them. It would be fucking rad if they won it all this year and took a big shit on the NBA's and ESPN's desires for a big market team winning the Finals this year.

Not going to lie - I got teary eyed during the Hangman and Ospreay promo, more so for what Hanger was saying. It’s pretty rare that I’ll do that for wrestling. Last time was probably for Cody winning the title. Hangman just connects with crowds and people in a way no other wrestler does. He’s cutting a promo, but he also feels very genuine and relatable. And Ospreay did a great job too. More and more I think they need to go with the idea I think Dolfan had a few weeks ago. Hangman and Ospreay go to a draw and you do the WM X thing where Hangman takes on Swerve or someone else to open All In followed by Moxley vs Ospreay, or reverse the order of those two matches, and then Hangman vs the winner of Ospreay vs Mox (likely Mox) in the All In main event. Ospreay has Hangman’s back in the main event, Hangman grants Ospreay a title match at Forbidden Door, and so on.

Are they still making the TLOU multiplayer game?

This is the lamest and most limp dicked revenge hellride ever. It was a good/great episode that highlighted the glaring weaknesses with the game and the tv series. Everything is just so uneven and narratively out of order. And because I’m dumb and watched the preview for next week I’m extra confused about next week because it looks like they speedrun to the theater, Lev, and the end of the game to where it makes me wonder if S3 is all Abby. I’m beginning to even wonder if…

I don't buy that. They had a mountain of evidence that the Empire was acquiring massive amounts of exotic materials that would only be used for energy and weaponry and both. You don't go through the hassle they did on Ghorman to just acquire another power source. You don't stockpile and acquire all of the kyber for nothing. They also had more than one source saying the empire was building a super weapon. They didn't know it was a planet killer, but there was too much evidence and too many voices pointing towards the Empire plotting something very cataclysmic. I would accept the Alliance taking everything at face value and then being skeptical of what the weapon is and if it would even work. Hell, I just watched Rogue One and even Tarkin, the Emperor, and others were skeptical if such a weapon could actually work until they test fired it using only one reactor. I think the wording used was something along the lines of that they needed proof of concept and weren't at the stage of sending a message just yet. It took Jedha and a significant portion of the planet being destroyed for the leadership of the Alliance to say, oh, ok, yeah, they're making a super weapon. Like, no shit. What else were they doing? Manufacturing a shit ton of lightsabers and creating a power source for the galaxy and not for their own nefarious purposes? And that stupidity continued to trickle on down even after the second Death Star and the Emperor were killed. Despite the Empire having a large presence throughout the galaxy, they decided to disarm or rather have a reduction in arms because they thought their work was done. As dumb as JJ's entries into canon were, something like Starkiller Base isn't created in secret and the formation of the First Order doesn't happen in secret. I mean, how are you going to disregard what Leia, a general, is saying to you? Even if some of the dumber parts of the sequel trilogy don't happen, leadership would have to know just how metastasized the Empire was throughout the galaxy, Thrawn was lurking out in exile, and the wealthy were selling weaponry to both the Republic and someone else. Who would they think that someone else was. PRIMARY MON MOTHMA! If anything, the First Order did the entire galaxy a favor by wiping out the seat of the Republic and a bunch of other planets. Sorry, me disagreeing turned into a long rant about some of the idiocy of the writing for Star Wars.

And K-2SO still rules.