He always carried a hatchet on his belt, prominently displayed. He had a lot of problems in public, but he insisted it was a tool and nothing more. He had to get an open carry license, even though he didn’t own a gun, just the chopper. He only used it once, opening the locked door of a public restroom where a man was having a heart attack. His wife hugged him as they carried the man out. “He would’ve died if you hadn’t had that weapon on you.” “It’s not a weapon,” he replied. “It’s my small axe of kindness.”
Thanks for reading! For more Everyday Drabbles, Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the project on Ko-Fi!
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity Developed by Omega Force Published by Nintendo Played on Nintendo Switch
The Skinny: Breath of the Wild: The Champions’ Jukebox Musical
The follow-up to 2014’s Hyrule Warrirors, Age of Calamity rejects that game’s franchise-spanning scope to focus on the cataclysmic events that led up to Switch smash-hit The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The result is a story-focused game that refines the mechanics of the first game and delivers a high-stakes epic. While the -Warriors games have become a showcase for various tie-in properties, the series started out as an adaptation of Romance of the Three Kingdoms and AoC brings the game back to its mythical epic roots. Also, there’s time travel. The game is a lot of fun to play, and the smaller roster of characters feels really well tuned. This isn’t a game where you pick your favorite and main them through the whole campaign. Players are encouraged to keep characters leveled, and to play with all of them. And there are very few ‘bad’ characters in the game. Combat is intuitive and fun, and everyone gets their opportunity to smash wave after wave of monsters. Age of Calamity also does an excellent job of incorporating the engine and mechanics from Breath of the Wild. The music and sound effects bring the world of Hyrule to life, and it was almost comforting to be back in a world of paragliding, hunting for koroks, and dodging and countering giant Lynel sword-swipes again. But this gets into the flaw inherent to these nostalgia-driven -Warriors titles. Evoking a beloved, and in most cases better game makes me want to play that one instead of the one I’m in. Stomping whole armies of moblins in the Divine Beasts is great fun, but I’m getting a real craving to load up Breath of the Wild and sneak up on them with bomb arrows instead. Ultimately, a spin-off is always beholden to its parent property, and unable to surpass it. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is army-destroying fun in a charming, familiar world. While it evokes the spirit of Breath of the Wild without quite delivering on it, it is still a great time. It is available now for the Nintendo Switch.
Her father disappeared when she was very young. She remembered the day he left, and his last word to her before he rode out into the fog and vanished. She waited her whole childhood for his return, and when she was old enough, she went looking for him. Her journey took her all across the world. She chased leads and rumors for years, always one step behind him. She finally caught up to him in a mountaintop bar at the edge of the map. She reached across the table, tears in her eyes and grasped his hand. “Tag,” she whispered.
Thanks for reading! For more Everyday Drabbles, Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the project on Ko-Fi!
They came to his workshop and interviewed everyone, asking pointed questions about political affiliations, religious backgrounds, and ‘proclivities.’ As he was cleaning out his bench, he heard a machinist say, “You have to hand it to them.” He built the first prototype out of scrap wood. A giant hand, with articulated fingers. It was just a project to occupy himself, but he was not alone, and they caught on online. Soon, the hands were everywhere. They curled into middle-fingers at protests, and made victory signs at resistance marches. The regime quavered, and worried about when they would curl into fists.
Thanks for reading! For more Everyday Drabbles, Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the project on Ko-Fi!
The Union #1 Written by Paul Grist Drawn by Andrea Di Vito, Drew Geraci and Le Beau Underwood with Paul Grist Colored by Nolan Woodard Published by Marvel Comics
The Skinny: This comic feels a lot like Jack Staff, but that’s hardly a bad thing.
The Union, Marvel’s (mostly) new team of British superheroes debuts at a rocky time for the island nation, both in the real world and the Marvel universe. On our Earth, Brexit continues, while on Earth-616, their most prominent superhero, Captain Britain, has been replaced by his sister, Betsy Braddock, who is a mutant. While neither of these issues are explicitly addressed in the comic, both loom large over the book as it introduces a new government sponsored team lead by Britannia, a character who feels very familiar to the absent hero. The one familiar member of the team is Union Jack, who fills the role of a Captain America-like super-soldier on the team. Grist wrote a long-running indie comic Jack Staff, about a similar character who was based on a rejected pitch to Marvel. This opening chapter has a similar feel, and artist Andrea Di Vito literally has him holding onto a flag for most of the issue in a likely homage. The Union looks like the start of a clever superhero satire. Let’s just hope it can survive being tied-in to Marvel’s latest event, King in Black. You can download it digitally through Comixology, or pick up a print copy at your local comics shop.
Welcome to Nostalgia Pilots! This week, Spence, Jurd, Hugh and Jason discuss Gundam the 08th MS Team episode 10: The Shuddering Mountain Part One.
In tonight’s episode, Genias continues to be a terrible boss, The Federation mobile suits can’t escape gravity, and Eledore is at least competent. Plus, Norris has an awesome exit and Shiro wins the fight but loses the battle. Promo: Writing In Suburbia
The Skinny: A broken-up couple adventures through a muliversal furniture store on a desperate rescue mission.
Imagine an IKEA that goes on forever. In this retail hellscape, Ava and Jules find themselves on a quest to find a missing shopper that has gone missing not merely between aisles, but between realities. Even though they have just broken up and are avoiding each other, they have been sent by their manager to rescue a lost grandmother, with no hope of overtime, but if they can prevent any bad press or leakage from a dystopian parallel Earth, there might be a Pasta and Friends gift card for them when they get back. Cipri has pulled off something magnificent with this quirky novella. I’ve never seen the existential dread of modern retail work so elegantly expressed. They also set this story not at the beginning of a relationship, but at the fractious end, throwing together two humans who are still emotionally raw and wondering what comes next. They cover a huge amount of thematic issues in such a scant story, and they thread the needle beautifully, providing a moody, atmospheric story full of sympathetic characters. But Cipri’s compelling fantasy worlds will be what really draws you in. From a floating city of merchant ships to a forest of carnivorous furniture, Cipri creates a multiverse of dangers and wonders that is not to be missed. Finna is available in print and ebook from Tor.Com and all the usual retailers.
“Behold,” the mad scientist proclaimed. “My latest creation!” He pushed a lever and the cage door opened. A wolf padded out, tongue lolling, with a prodigious set of antlers on its head. The other supervillains glanced around nervously, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Surely it would do something cool, like unhinge its jaw and spit fire at any moment. Instead it spun around in a circle and lay down. “Uh, not to criticize, but what is the benefit of this experiment?” “I taught myself a good deal about genetic recombination and cloning techniques. And doesn’t he look majestic?”
Thanks for reading! For more Everyday Drabbles, Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the project on Ko-Fi!
The sword master spent years as an apprentice. He spent a decade traveling the world, plying his deadly trade and learning all the things they don’t tell you in a training hall. Once he had learned everything the world could teach him, he retreated to the high mountains, and spent another decade alone in meditation. He then announced that he had formulated his ultimate technique, and began taking on students. He spent the rest of his life training others in the way of the sword. He died of an infection from a paper cut he received while writing his memoirs.
Thanks for reading! For more Everyday Drabbles, Follow me on Facebook and Twitter, and you can support the project on Ko-Fi!
Kunai Developed by: TurtleBlaze Published by: The Arcade Crew Played on Nintendo Switch
The Skinny: Ninja Robot Tablet Action
In the distant future, a lone robot awakens to save mankind from the AI Apocalypse. With an energy draining sword and an emoji-displaying tablet for a head, he sets out to save the small band of human resistance fighters, along with the rest of the world. While its story is a bit thin, Kunai delivers a pleasant and fast-paced Metroidvania experience. In addition to the aforementioned sword, a variety of upgradable guns are also at your disposal as you traverse a variety of technology-infused forests, floating mountains, and futuristic cities. You travel on foot, with the ubiquitous double jumps, and with the games’s eponymous standout feature, the kunai, a pair of grappling hook-like knives that allow you to scale walls and swing along ceilings with ease. The game gives you a huge amount of freedom early in the game, delightfully disrupting the traditional gameplay loop of unreachable ledges and unjumpable pits. The controls are fun and intuitive, letting the player navigate quickly and easily.The game is presented in a faux gameboy pixel art style, with grayscale backgrounds. Enemies are painted red, while Tabby and his allies are blue. While it doesn’t have the flash of Ori and the Blind Forest or Hollow Knight, the sprites are easy to see, and charmingly designed. Backgrounds are surprisingly detailed and cleverly imagined. The game rarely slows down, except in a few sections which involve navigating courses consisting of hazards like bottomless pits and rooms full of spikes. These parts of the game feel separate, and a bit archaic. Fortunately, they are quite close to save sections, and the game gives a Super Meat Boy try try again feel. While Kunai doesn’t have the narrative weight or graphical artistry of some of the bigger Metroidvania titles, it is a fun and fast-pace game with plenty of charm, and is well worth your time. It is available on PC from Steam or on the Nintendo Switch from the Nintendo eShop.
Hugh J. O'Donnell 