I have a super-short #TableTopGails thread today, just five items!
HEY! It's SHORT!
But MAN, were these games fun!
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Okay, so this lovely company that makes a lot of family games and puzzles, @ThinkFun, saw that we love Escape Room and mystery games, and sent this big lovely box...and I really want to talk about two of them that we freaking LOVED.
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The games I want to talk about in particular are the COLD CASE games, but first, check out these ESCAPE THE ROOM games...we have played a few from other companies, but they were not this elaborate...these look incredible. Anyone played them?
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The boxes are filled with story, props, and puzzles, and you have to ‘escape’ a locked building in the story. We love these kinds of games, during lockdown they are very cathartic.
This one makes the box itself into a dollhouse, with paper doll characters! That is just cool!
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Okay, we haven’t played any of these, but I looked and they have a nice online component, with hints, difficulty settings, mood music and more, all on the thinkfun.com website.
Nifty...we might do one this weekend!
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Now, here are the ones we DID play...we made a last minute decision to drive up the beach on the Oregon coast and stay at a nice hotel for the first time since lockdown. We grabbed some games, including the first of these Cold Case games...
A Story To Die For.
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We were HOOKED. It’s a simple package, a box with a file full of relevant papers to a murder that happened years ago that was never solved. We couldn’t stop until we finished...it was SO FUN. You read witness interview, examine documents, check the autopsy...
We loved it.
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This is some of the interior, and you just really examine it all.
There are tricks and lies and red herrings, and when you actually solve it, it feels like a genuine triumph.
You check your answers in a online ‘database’ to see if you can get the case re-opened.
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We enjoyed it so much, that as soon as we got home, we opened the second Cold Case box and did THAT one.
This one was about a nice old man being killed on the day of a church fete. SUPER satisfying to find his killer!
This one is just released this month, I believe.
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This is a LOT of entertainment in a box for just $14.95, but be aware that you can only solve the mystery personally once. You can get the set to another true-crime loving friend as often as you like, though.
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We loved it, I have enjoyed many escape room boxes, I have never played a case file game like this.
We’re hooked, anyone know of any others? There are only two in the series so far from @ThinkFun games, but we’re in, definitely buying future editions. FUN!
All right, so this will take a bit, but this is a thread I have wanted to do for a while.
This is it, the X-MEN: FROM THE ASHES mega-thread!
Interested in the upcoming X-books but a little overwhelmed by the new characters, creative teams, and titles?
Well, I had an idea!
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In this thread, I am going to give an unapologetic personal opinion about each of the upcoming titles, starting with tomorrow's X-MEN #1.
I admit up front I am biased, okay? These are MY opinions, I have not consulted with the creative or editorial teams.
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I have read all the issues of all these books so far. They are all creative teams I like. They are all pushing for the best books they can. And I am on a bit of an X-Men high and don't deny my OBVIOUS enthusiasm.
I have a @jimlee story. Legendary comics writer John Ostrander needed eye surgery. A couple others and myself went all around SDCC to ask artists for an art donation to raise the funds to literally save not just his eyesight, but his eyes.
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It was for John Ostrander. And so I asked legendary artists that normally I would be intimidated just to talk to. We got pieces from Neil Adams, Matt Groening, and lots more.
Again, because it was for John, I worked myself up to ask the giants.
Everyone was lovely.
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But it was still intimidating. Asking legends whom I know get asked for stuff ALL THE TIME.
At the time, just as now, Jim was the biggest artist in comics. Not to mention…
DR. PHIL: Now, I’m just an impartial observer, okay?
PENNYWISE: Heh heh heh we all float slobber drool heh
DR.PHIL: You’re an entertainer, You do great work with kids.
PENNYWISE: come down into the sewers Georgie heh heh hee
DR. PHIL: You have a great smile, you know that?
DR. PHIL: I want to thank you for agreeing to an interview, but I warn you, I won’t be pulling ANY punches.
ZOMBIE: …
DR. PHIL: Zombie, why don’t people like you?
ZOMBIE: BRAINS
DR. PHIL: You have a thick skin.
ZOMBIE: SKIN YUM YUMMERS
DR. PHIL: Well, I’M sold.
DR. PHIL: Dr. Lecter, I’m just gonna say it. I think you got railroaded by a ‘woke’ court system and the lamestream media who focused on the word ‘cannibal,’ and—
LECTER: Excuse me.
DR. PHIL: Pardon?
LECTER: My agent set this up. You disgust me. (Leaves)
I have a Roger Corman story. It’s fun, but weird, as I am gathering most Roger Corman stories tend to be.
I was a fan of his movies and his legend and legacy.
At the very beginning of my comics career, his office contacted me.
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I was very new to writing professionally. I didn’t become a writer to make films, comics were not a stepping stone. And I had mostly been drafted, so my sense of value in myself as a writer was a bit shaky and tinged with a lot of, ‘how did I get here? What’s happening?’
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The idea that a legendary movie guy would contact me for anything made no sense. I still had my hair salon. I hadn’t even written very many comics, and I was pretty sure it was all going to go away very quickly.
I remind everyone of this each year, apologies for repeating myself.
This Saturday, May 4th, is @Freecomicbook Day! Please go and enjoy and have a wonderful time. Some great shops have sales, cosplay, events, guests, even treats planned for you, PLUS FREE COMICS!
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Howerer, this is just a gentle reminder that, unlike what many think, the stores DO have to pay for the comics they give away for free. They pay for them in bundles. This year there are dozens of individual comics being given away...imagine how much that might cost!
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But that's not all. They also pay (often outrageous) shipping on all those books.
Stores often pay for extra employees, decorations, advertising, cosplayers, guests, and lots more. It is EXPENSIVE.
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Here is my central core thought while writing Deadpool.
It is no secret that I don't like endlessly 'zany' Deadpool. He was described as 'serial killer Daffy Duck' to me early on, that's the version I don't care for.
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I also don't care for endlessly bleak, 'nothing matters,' kill everyone Deadpool.
I think that could be a thousand other characters, and it's far from the magic potion that makes Deadpool fun.
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So the Deadpool is a subverted version of both of those.
He is a goddamn loudmouth, whose humor comes from tragedy.
But he's so endlessly high energy that it saves him from being insufferable and dreary.
And ALSO so internally sad and broken that he's not a constant punchline.