Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

It's no secret that Conan the Destroyer (1984) is viewed as a convoluted mess. However, I think Hasbro still had a soft spot for it when they created Mesmira for Conan the Adventurer (1993) . The Conan mythos had various alternations from adaptation to adaptation or call it remake to remake. It's because each story is independent from different continuities like Marvel Comics, Dark Horse, and Robert E. Howard's original stories. One character that got lost in translation is the wizard Thoth-Amon. Thoth-Amon was a villain in "The Phoenix and the Sword". For some reason, later alternations of the Conan mythologies made Thoth-Amon from just another character (who never met Conan in earlier adaptations) that ascended to the level of the archenemy. Conan the Destroyer introduced a character named Thoth-Amon but played a VERY MINOR ROLE. The biggest antagonists were the mesmerizing Taramis (the Big Bad, though another Taramis from the novels was a good queen) and the fi...

Mortal Kombat II introduced three secret fights namely with Jade, Smoke, and Noob Saibot. Each one of them required ridiculous fights. Smoke required that ridiculous The Portal uppercut and press Up+Start. Smoke was just a powered-up version of Scorpion (and the same went for Noob Saibot for MKII ). Eventually, Smoke made his way into Mortal Kombat 3 (and all its updates) as a cyborg. The updates featured Human Smoke as a separate playable character - though the SAME character.  Smoke's storyline is that he's the close friend of Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang). Sub-Zero (Kuai Liang) was able to escape the cyber-initiative but not Smoke. That would explain why Smoke became a cyborg as an unlockable character for MK3 . The updates made Cyber Smoke readily available compared to Human Smoke. Mortal Kombat Trilogy had everyone unlocked. Human Smoke was just a modified Scorpion. The Cyber Smoke had a spear attack, a teleport punch like Sektor, and invisibility. The two-character variants were ...

Big Bad Toy Store As the year of the dragon approaches - I feel like addressing my favorite Mortal Kombat character's somehow unexplained ability. Sure, one can really say that you need to evade logic in certain areas of fiction. Liu Kang was shown to have the ability to become a DRAGON in some Mortal Kombat games. Sure, one might explain his fire ability to have learned it like Ryu learning the Hadoken from Street Fighter. However, the game still fails to explain how in the world Liu Kang could transform into a dragon when he's listed as HUMAN. Mortal Kombat II was the first time I showed an interest in the franchise when I was in ELEMENTARY. I felt the first game was too bland for my taste. The second game gained so much better reception than the first or even the third game. At that time, Liu Kang practically became my favorite. Maybe, it's because he's Chinese, or was it because of his cool dragon fatality? He quickly became my favorite character overall. Even when ...