Friday 30 September 2016

E14 Toybox #3: Putting A Team Together

In today's edition of The E14 Toybox, Rob Wade is looking at putting a team together for a Heroclix game! Enjoy watching the display of the team, and even hear an update about how the game itself went!


Friday 23 September 2016

E14 Toybox #2: The Quest Constantinues...

In this edition of the E14 Toybox, intrepid host Rob Wade explores a premise:

Does the change in format with the new Toybox brand improve his luck at all? The best way, as always, is to open a Trinity War booster and to find out if John Constantine turns up! Why not let's do that then?

For a bit of additional fun, during the video, Rob uses the Starfighter52 scoring system, made famous by this channel:

Starfighter52 on Youtube

The scoring system works thusly:


Rules for this challenge:

Chases are worth 10pts
Super rares are worth 5pts
Primes are 3pts
Extra pieces (Clix FX, attachable piece, etc) is 2pts
Each trait is worth .25pts or 1/4 pts


Booster score: 7 1/4 (1 Super Rare, 1 Relic, 1 trait)


Rob Wade blogs about stuff he likes. Whether it's video games or geek media for Emotionally14 or writing about speculative theories for future films on Talk Star Wars, the focus is always on the stuff that brings the most pleasure to his life within media. Rob is the host of the E14 podcasts "The Crazy Train" and "The E14 Gamecast", as well as the host of The E14 Toybox on E14's Youtube channel. He also appears on the Talk Star Wars podcasts.


Rob Wade on Twitter

Wednesday 21 September 2016

Where No Fan Has Gone Before #2

All my life, I've been a Star Wars fan. I've never gotten into Star Trek. As I approached my mid-thirties, I realised that I should probably actually have a proper go of this "Trek" thing. So, here is my ongoing mission: to view, consume and report back on Star Trek...the whole shebang.

I mean, how long can that take, right?

Where No Man Has Gone Before

This episode starts with the USS Enterprise doing what it normally does - drifting through space seemingly without mission, in the absence of a solitary doctor to give a medical check-up to. Fortunately for all concerned, but most especially the audience, a damaged ship's recorder of the SS McGuffin, an Earth spaceship lost two hundred years earlier, is found. Its recordings are incomplete, which is a little annoying, as it's a fucking recorder...but it reveals that the Valiant had been swept from its path by a "magnetic space storm," and that the crew had frantically searched for information about ESP in the ship's library computer. The recording ends with the captain of the Valiant apparently giving a self-destruct order.

So, this looks like the episode might be a little more space-fantasy that hard sci-fi. With my Warsian background, I'm more than okay with that.

Kirk decides that they need to know what happened to the SS McGuffin, and the Enterprise crosses the edge of the galaxy where it encounters a strange, wobbly-wibbly, pulsing, purple barrier which damages both the ship's systems and warp drive, forcing them to retreat. At the same time, Redshirts #2-#10 are killed (offscreen, to add insult to injury) and both helmsman Gary Mitchell and ship's psychiatrist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner are knocked unconscious by the barrier's effect. When he awakens, Mitchell's eyes glow silver, and he begins to display remarkable psychic powers.

Watching this episode I noticed a few odd things - the absence of Bones and Rand, the extra characters...and even that Sulu seemed to have a different job on board the ship (check me out, this "Trekkie" thing is easy!), so I suspected (correctly, as it turned out) that this was a pilot episode. There's not much that flat-out contradicts the other episodes, but it definitely felt a little like a rough-draft.

The story is...okay. There were no surprises along the way, I was pretty sure I knew how it was going to progress as it went along. I think the most grating thing was that it was just a little bit too similar to Charlie X, the preceding episode in the series. Had these two stories been a little further apart, I'm not sure I'd have noticed the similarities, but as it stands it's not very satisfying. Production wise it's fine. The cast are obviously all finding their feet, but that's understandable. It's a pretty forgettable story, but it's not a bad one; although a better conclusion would have been nice.

Where No Man Has Gone Before - Grade: B-

The Naked Time

If that title doesn't fill you with apprehension and visions of a naked Sulu running amok, then you should probably schedule a CAT scan, because it really should.

On stardate plifty-point-plifty, the Enterprise arrives in orbit around the dying planet Psi 2000, which is presumably the planet where they make tyre gauges. Though their mission is to observe and document the planet's (presumably acrimonious) breakup, they have also been tasked to locate a research team on the planet that had not been in communication with Starfleet for several months. A landing party led by Mr. Spock beams down, finding the life support system of the researchers' observation post shut down and the team frozen to death in bizarre situations, such as fully clothed in a shower, seated at a control console as if nothing was wrong, as well as one woman who was strangled. I thought for a moment we were looking at an Outpost #31 type scenario, but apparently not.

One Enterprise crewman, Redshirt #11, removes his environmental suit glove to scratch his nose, breaking all number of HAZMAT procedures and regulations, and comes in contact with a strange red liquid. The landing party is beamed back to the ship and quarantined by Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy. McCoy finds no medical issues with them and allows them to return to duty.

After returning to the Enterprise, going through decontamination and being cleared by Dr. McCoy, McDontbother begins to exhibit depression symptoms, prompting Mr. Spock to observe that he has a higher than normal quotient of self-doubt. He acts irrationally, expressing hostility towards other crew members in a crew lounge, ultimately threatening Sulu and Redshirt #12 with a knife.

Man, this is a weird-arse episode. I really wanted to like it, but so many parts of it just felt so disjointed that I just really struggled to bear with it all the way through. The main villain of the piece isn't actively malicious, he's just affected by the red liquid and thrust into the circumstances. The ending is also terribly rushed, and sputters to a finish.

There were some fun parts, George Takei, in particular, is brilliant in this episode, and Leonard Nimoy is similarly impressive. It's just a shame that when you pull it all together is just kind of goes limp and spurts out the sides like a fistful of play-dough.

The Naked Time - Grade: C

Want to share thoughts on this episodes? Tell me what to look forward to? Want me to cover some of the books, audiodramas, comics or anything? Hit me up on Twitter @realbradhb, and I promise to get back to you.

Brad Harmer-Barnes is a contributor to various gaming publications, as well the editor of Suppressing Fire. He can be followed on Instagram and Twitter @realbradhb

Friday 16 September 2016

E14 Toybox #1: August "Invasion" Zbox!

In the inaugural edition of the all-new E14 Toybox, Rob tackles the August edition of the Zavvi Zbox, themed "Invasion".

Zboxes, for those unfamiliar, are Zavvi's answer to a subscription box like Lootcrate. For a fixed price every month, they will send you a box of geek-friendly goodies! Ranging from puzzles to Pop! Vinyl figures to books, and even throwing a T-shirt in for good measure (and they do measure them well, they're a lovely fit), subscription boxes have become somewhat of a staple for those looking to retain some mystery in their purchasing.

What will Rob find in this month's Zbox? There's only one way to find out!

Well, there are several, but watching the video is the best! Rob really liked the contents of this month's box, so hopefully you'll enjoy watching it just as much!

If you like the box, why not check out Zavvi's subscription boxes online?

About The Zbox


Rob Wade blogs about stuff he likes. Whether it's video games or geek media for Emotionally14 or writing about speculative theories for future films on Talk Star Wars, the focus is always on the stuff that brings the most pleasure to his life within media. Rob is the host of the E14 podcasts "The Crazy Train" and "The E14 Gamecast", as well as the host of The E14 Toybox on E14's Youtube channel. He also appears on the Talk Star Wars podcasts.


Rob Wade on Twitter


Friday 9 September 2016

Introducing...The E14 Toybox!

About a week ago, at the time of recording, I put up a poll on the Emotionally14 Twitter page (which you can follow @emotionally14) asking if there were too many shows on the Emotionally14 YouTube channel. It might surprise you to know that we have a significant number!

  • The Crazy Train, our flagship podcast
  • The E14 Gamecast, our gaming-centric podcast
  • Emotionally14 Plays, our place for video game play on YouTube
  • Man-Baby Power Hour, a show about Heroclix unboxing where I look for particular figures in a brick
  • Blind Bag Battle, an unboxing show which pits two gladiators in a one-on-one contest using Heroclix Gravity feeds
  • Rob Unboxes A Zbox, a show where I...unbox a Zbox.

We've also had one-off videos which don't fit in any of those categories, and highlight videos from the podcasts which also add up to the point where we already have 9 distinct playlists on the channel, and that's assuming it stays at 9!

To me, that feels like a lot to maintain, so I can only imagine how difficult it is for you, the fine viewing public, to find what you're looking for on the Emotionally14 YouTube channel.

I have, therefore, come up with a solution which I think will make life easier. Over the coming videos, several of the Emotionally14 YouTube projects will be brought together under a more common banner...Presenting...The E14 Toybox.

The E14 Toybox

The E14 Toybox will incorporate anything where we're acquiring or enthusing about fun stuff, and at its core will combine the Man-Baby Power Hour, Blind Bag Battle and Rob Unboxes a Zbox. It's also got room to house other videos. For instance, if we'd had the Toybox back when we uploaded our very first video, opening LEGO minifigures, they could have gone in there.

The Toybox will also (hopefully) provide more frequent video updates, rather than the more sporadic stuff we've done in regards to these three video series. Ideally I'd like to put something up weekly, although I realise that's not always doable so I'm not saying definitely yes or no at this point.

So, the good news is that:

  • For those of you who thought there were too many shows to keep up with, you've got a more focused set of videos in fewer playlists.
  • For those of you who thought there wasn't enough stuff on the YouTube channel, we should hopefully be able to provide more frequent videos.
  • For those of you who thought the number of shows was about right, none of the content formats are going anywhere. There will still be unboxing of subscription boxes, there will still be unboxing of Heroclix and there will still be Blind Bag Battles!

So hopefully, everybody wins!

Look out for the first E14 Toybox video, which should most likely be the August Zbox (delivered a little later than hoped mainly due to this ongoing rethink of the video series) and let us know what you think of the change in the comments below, or by tweeting us @emotionally14 - you can also tweet me @RobWadeVision! Whether you love the name or not, rest assured that Emotionally14 is still keen to remain the home of content For the Permanently Teenaged.

Rob


Wednesday 7 September 2016

Where No Fan Has Gone Before #1

All my life, I've been a Star Wars fan. By "fan", I mean I quote the movies once a day, read almost all of the old "Expanded Universe" novels and a fair selection of the comics. I have GM'd a Star Wars RPG campaign, regularly play X-Wing, Armada and Imperial Assault, dig the hell out of the new movies, TV shows, books and comics. My Star Wars DVDs are covered in autographs I've collected, and I have a 7" long Star Wars tattoo. Star Wars is my thing. Always has been, and always will be.

I say this not to toot my own horn, proclaiming myself to be Best Fan: The Biggest Fan In All The Galaxy, but just as a bit of background. I'm also pretty into Middle-Earth and Marvel, but Star Wars is my Number One.

I've never gotten into Star Trek. I know that it's supposedly the big "rival" to The Wars, but we all know that that's not really the case. I've seen all the movies, and have probably caught a few episodes of the TV show as a kid (there's one where Kirk fights a Bossk looking monster called a "Gorn", I remember liking that one), but so long ago that I don't really remember them. I know the names of the crew of the original series, most of The Next Generation, and could probably name the captains for the others (Sisko, Janeway and...Bakula?). However, I am, for all intents and purposes, a Star Trek noob.

In the past I'd made throwaway gags of the Fanboys kind about Trekkies/Trekkers, but as I approached my mid-thirties I realised that I should probably actually have a proper go of this Trek thing. So, here is my ongoing mission: to view, consume and report back on Star Trek...the whole shebang.

I mean, how long can that take, right?

530+ hours, you say?

Spoiler Warning: I'll be doing my best to keep major plot points spoiler-free, but I am kind of reviewing these, so some details may be revealed. I may refer to earlier episodes/movies in the series with the assumption that you have seen them. In Star Wars terms, if I was reviewing Return of the Jedi, I wouldn't include spoilers for Return of the Jedi, but it could (and probably would) be written with the assumption you'd seen The Empire Strikes Back.

The Man Trap

So, my first proper voyage unto the frontier of finality...

The Man Trap is actually a pretty good intro to the series. The Enterprise rocks up at a planet named M-113 to provide medical exams for a Professor Crater and his wife Nancy, who operate a research station there. Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy and Redshirt #1 transport to the surface as Kirk teases McCoy because he was totally knocking off the Professor's wife about ten years previously. When the lads from the Enterprise arrive at the research station, each of them sees Nancy differently: McCoy as she was when he first met her, Kirk as she should look accounting for her age, and Redshirt #1 as a totally different hot woman.

Kirk sends the spaced-out and easily hypnotised Redshirt #1 outside...but when Nancy goes out to fetch her husband, she beckons Redshirt #1 to follow her.

When Professor Crater arrives, he gets more than a little cantankerous, informing the crew that all they need is salt tablets. Before Dr McCoy can finish his medical tests, however, they hear a scream from outside. They find Redshirt #1 dead, with red ring-like mottling on his face and a plant root visible in his mouth...Nancy tells them that she was unable to stop Redshirt #1 from tasting the plant.

Back on board the Enterprise, Spock analyses the plant. He confirms that it is poisonous, but the mottling is not a symptom. McCoy conducts a medical exam, and together with Spock determines that Darnell died after all the salt was drained from his body.

Now obviously, all suspicions are directed at Nancy, who is - frankly - shady as fuck; but the Professor himself hasn't been all that friendly towards a crew who seem to be going to a lot of lengths to help him. I mean, there's an outpost in space - fine. It's manned only by one professor and his wife on the entire planet - not so fine, but I'm sure I can bear with it. The Federation sends an entire spaceship to go and give him a free medical check up, and they send down the Captain, the head doctor and...oh, I don't know...Ensign Geoff, because fuck it. All I'm saying is that Professor Crater (because the writer was looking for a spacey-planety name I assume) could do with not being the biggest entitled bitch this side of the Tumblr Nebula.

The rest of the story follows - to be honest - exactly what I was expecting Star Trek to be like. Beam down to a planet, bit of mystery solving, ruckus in a quarry, kill the monster. I was rather whelmed by the experience. I suppose I must have been hoping I would either be blown away or completely put off by the very first episode. There were lots of things I liked: the mystery did develop very well, the pacing was very good and...despite all the knockings Shatner's gotten over the years...I actually thought he was a pretty good actor in this - as was everyone, to be honest. My first proper experience of Star Trek is "not bad". Well...I guess a series tends to take a few episodes to get going, so let's see what's up next...

The Man Trap - Grade: C+

Charlie X

This episode starts with the Enterprise meeting the Antares (another ship, I think...maybe a space station...this is never clarified) to take charge of Charlie Evans, sole survivor of a transport ship that crashed on the planet Thasus. For fourteen years, Charlie grew up there alone, stranded in the wreckage, learning how to talk from the ship's computer systems which remained intact, which is obviously totally normal and hasn't made him a sociopath in any way.

He is to be transported to his nearest relatives on the colony Alpha V, because after the last episode where the entire ship was tasked with treating one fucking doctor, this time the ship which I can only assume would be consuming a truly massive amount of fuel is playing taxi for a single slightly bonkers teenager. I don't know who's in charge of the resource management at the Federation, but they need their head examined.

The crew members of the Antares are full of nothing by praise for Charlie, but seem pleased to have him removed from their ship. After the transfer, they bid the Enterprise an unusually hasty goodbye and depart.

Charlie undergoes a medical examination by Dr. McCoy. He tells the doctor the crew of the Antares didn't like him very much, and that all he wants is for people to like him.

When the Antares gets nearly out of sensor range, it transmits a warning message to the Enterprise, but the message gets cut off before it can give the warning. Shortly after, Spock reports back that the Antares has exploded.

Charlie very rapidly goes full-bell-end developing a bit of a pervy infatuation with Yeoman Janice Rand. He presents her with a bottle of perfume, which turns out to be her favorite scent, which is - obviously - a bit weird. She agrees to meet him in the rec room later, which is where things start to go south.

I really liked this episode. Charlie is a truly great character, as you're constantly torn between sympathising with him, because he's very good at reminding you what it was like to be a teenager...and yet in the next second you can find yourself hating him, because he's very good at reminding you what you used to be like as a teenager. The actor playing him (Robert Walker Jr) is simply superb.

There are some pacing problems, and a really weird bit in the cantina where Uhura and Spock have a bit of a jam on a weird lyre thing and some free-form shanties, because reasons; so it's not exactly perfect.

Contrary to how The Man Trap made me feel, I felt Charlie X was very different to what I was expecting from Star Trek. It was a much smarter, more thought-provoking kind of sci-fi, which moral dilemmas and tough character decisions throughout. And that ending? Wow. Really tugged at my emotions, that did. It would be truly unfair to dismiss Charlie as a bad guy considering what made him who he was; but even though he may not have been a bad guy, he was still a monster.

Charlie X - Grade: A-

Want to share thoughts on this episodes? Tell me what to look forward to? Want me to cover some of the books, audiodramas, comics or anything? Hit me up on Twitter @realbradhb, and I promise to get back to you.

Brad Harmer-Barnes is a contributor to various gaming publications, as well the editor of Suppressing Fire. He can be followed on Instagram and Twitter @realbradhb

Friday 2 September 2016

Marc vs Rob - Rocket League!

After getting his arse certifiably handed to him in our last Rocket League video, Marc "Spin Dash" Cummins was keen to salvage some pride from the day's recording session. The target of his desire: Rob Wade, a man who even by his own admission is not a very good gamer. Who will triumph in the second of our Best of 3 contests? The best way to find out is to watch the video, surely!

P.S - Stay tuned after the match for a short bonus feature!