03/12/2023: MCU

 Hello Internet,

I like Marvel movies.  For me, they are everything that I wanted comics to be.  They are fun, they are flashy, and when I started watching them I wasn't required to do hours of research to understand what the current plotline was.  The truth is that they are starting to get convoluted now that the first three phases are finished and Thanos has been snapped out of existance.  To that end, I am taking a break from Tower talk this week to announce a new project that I will or will not be working on: an MCU film review project!

The point of these reviews is to segment the MCU film catalogue into each individual, smaller franchise and create reviews of the myriad of trilogies and quadrilogies(is that a word?) that exist within the large supra-franchise.  So, for example, I am going to review Iron Man, Iron Man 2, and Iron Man 3 as if they were a separate trilogy independent of the larger MCU narrative and see how they hold up.

Now, I will not be a petty animal about this.  I do have rules. Firstly, I will acknowledge the Avengers as a larger existing superhero team within the franchise, but I will not excuse poor character development or dangling plot threads on account of that.

Secondly, I will count any development that takes place in Endgame as if it were a part of each individual franchise due to the size and scope of that project.  Based on the number of, "My friend has never seen an MCU movie, so watch them react to Endgame" videos there are on Youtube, I feel it is safe to say that even non-fans saw that movie.

To that end, however, I will not be counting post credit sequences at all, even if they do improve the narrative and story of the series I am reviewing.  Furthermore, I will not be including any Disney+ offering, and neither will I include any team-up movie that is not a part of the main story (ie, Avengers will be their own series, and Civil War will not include them, nor will any other series).

The point of this exercise is to look at how well each individual series can support itself in terms of quality storytelling, distinct visual style, and characterization and development across the films.  Furthermore, I want to look at the current argument that the MCU is getting too bloated with content (which has been a longheld complaint about comic book series) and see if that is true.  

My prediction is that the earlier movies in the franchise will hold up better under this sort of scrutiny than the newer films will.  Furthermore, I also predict that a lot of my favorite movies (Civil War and Infinity War) will suffer greatly from having a lot of their unspoken assumptions stripped from them.

I will try to update these projects as I move along and intend to watch an MCU film every Friday until the projects are finished, though that will definitely be subject to change.

I hope you look forward to it and...

Thanks for reading,

RWS

P.S.

Next time, on RWS: "RWS Talks About Their Towers For the Coming Month!! What Did They Finish? What Was Unfinished?!  Find out next time on RWS' blog!"

-Short Rest-

Schedule

1. Fullmetal Alchemist/Free Play/Critical Role: Campaign 3

2. One-Punch Man/Short/Outlaw Star

3. My Hero Academia/DnD5e (Dragon Age: Origins)/The Legend of Vox Machina

4. The Emperor and I/Replay/Seven Deadly Sins Season 1

5. My Hero Academia: Vigilantes/Naruto Shippuden: Ninja Storm 2/X-Men

6. Boruto: The Next Generation/Movie (Fullmetal Alchemist)/Young Justice

7. Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat/Persona 3 Portable/Dimension 20: Tiny Heist

Books

Tower: Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru

0. One Piece 100% New Chapters Every…

1. Sun: Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 5, Ch. 18: “The Value of Sincerity”—21 20% (2—5)

2. Mon: One-Punch Man Vol. 16, Punch 83: “Because I’m the Bald Cape?”—84 50% (4—6)

3. Tue: My Hero Academia Vol. 14, No. 123: “Unrivaled”—128 40% (5—10)

4. Wed: The Emperor and I Vol. 2, Ch. 13: “Emperor’s Achilles Heel”—18 38% (7—16)

5. Thu: My Hero Academia: Vigilantes Vol. 8, Ep. 70: “Nomura”—72 60% (7—10)

6. Fri: Boruto: The Next Generation Vol.8, No. 32: “Owed Debts”—31 100% (5—4)

7. Sat: Books

-Fiction: Pyramids by Terry Pratchett

-Library: Trans Medicine: The Emergence and Practice of Treating Gender by Stef M. Shuster

-YA: The Giver by Lois Lowry

-Fan Fiction: Final Fantasy: Fated to Ch. 50 by tinygaia Ch. 50—50, 100% 

-Nonfiction: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat 12% (54—440)

View from the Cheap Seats by Neil Gaiman 26% (130—502)

-DnD5e: Player’s Handbook by Wizards of the Coast 0% (?—??)

-Reread

Games

Tower: Final Fantasy X-2 HD Remaster

1. Stardew Valley

Final Fantasy XV: Royal Edition+

Kingdom Hearts Trophy Run

Persona 5 Royal+

2. Short/Crisis Core—Final Fantasy VII—Reunion 126% ((24/19hrs)10-11 Chapters 100%)

.hack//OUTBREAK 0% ((0/22hrs)56/78hrs)*

3. DnD5e/Dragon Age: Origins Kallian Tabris 60% (44/73)

Mass Effect 2 Jean Shepard Replay ??% (?/52hrs)

4. Replay/ Persona 5 Royal+

5. Long/Persona 3 Portable 27% (22/83hrs)

*Will begin in Spring.

Shows

Tower: Dimension 20: Unsleeping City

1. Critical Role: Campaign 3 Part I Ep. 2 “Trial by Firelight”—11 (Level Up to 5) 9% (2—11)

2. Anime: Outlaw Star 15% (5—26)

3. Online/Owned: The Legend of Vox Machina Season 1 25% (4—12)

Fulletal Alchemist 8% (3—26)

4. Netflix: Seven Deadly Sins Season 1 83% (21—24)

5. Disney+: Gargoyles Season 1 39% (6—13)

6. HBO: Young Justice Season 1 35% (10—26)

7. Dimension 20: Tiny Heist Ep. 4: “Breaking and Entering”—6 50% (4—6)

8. Movies: Fullmetal Alchemist 4% (3—51)

Firefly 29% Disc 2 (5—14)

MCU Series/Movie: Ms. Marvel 1—6

Disney/Bambi

HBOMax/My Neighbor Totoro

Star Wars/Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Owned/Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

Marvel/X2: X-Men United

Anime/.hack//LIMINALITY: “The Case of Yuki Aihara”

DCAU/Batman: Mask of the Phantasm*Started with Noodle