I wrote this in response to an article on Salon here which explained why DC's approach to their "shared universe building" was more successful, at least in tone, than Marvel's. I wrote a response myself, but since Salon's website is shit, it wouldn't let me register my Facebook account and post the damn thing...

Since I spent so much time writing it, I though I would post it here. As a quick reference, the point I most took contention to was their reference to Marvel movies, exemplified in this quote:

“What Marvel, especially, is very good at doing is churning out product and keeping it just enough above the quality line that we’ll go back for more. That list of films above might as well be a list of fast-food hamburgers we’ll be eating for the rest of the decade.”

Here's my response:

I don't think it's fair to write off Marvel's movies as "just good enough." They're not necessarily Citizen Kane levels of timelessness, but they're more thoughtful and intelligent than a lot of the drivel that passes for summer blockbusters while simultaneously reveling in their source material rather than wearing it like a concrete block that they're afraid will drag them down to the bottom of the river (all the while revising just enough of that source material to bring it in line with more modern culture rather than blindly following what's come before simply as homage)

(incidentally, DC's television shows also follow the same philosophy)

I also wouldn't call DC's haphazard approach to their universe a strength.I do agree that the more serialized, episodic storytelling is probably a better way to approach comic book stories (I should say here that it is a more genuine way to do it that is in keeping with the style of the comic books that they represent, which is neither good nor bad), but there's no indication that they are succeeding BECAUSE they refuse to link their world. In fact, I'd venture that they're succeeding DESPITE it.

Also, also, I don't think DC's current approach to their non-comic book media ventures is particularly well planned at all. I think if they had their druthers (and weren't being hampered by terrible first attempts at movies like Superman Returns and Green Lantern), they would be VERY happy to be a carbon copy of Marvel (who wouldn't be?) with a shared movie universe and only token nods to television. I daresay the only reason they even created Arrow was as a way to buy time and keep relevance going so they could throw out Man of Steel in their wild attempt to do just that: copy Marvel.

Don't get me wrong, DC is succeeding in some regards. I LIKED Man of Steel, flaws and all (and there were plenty of flaws). It wasn't good enough to give me as much hope for their movie line as, say, the first Iron Man (as a start) or, later, the Avengers, but they've shown they can do it. And Arrow is good. Not great, but good. But Arrow itself shows that even they don't know what they're doing with their properties. I can just see the marketing meeting where someone pitched Green Arrow as a television show:

"We need a hero for a new TV show so people won't forget us while we work on our movies. Someone important but not iconic. Don't want to take anything away from the movies."

"How about Green Arrow? He's distinct, has a robust history and lots of lore to build off of. And very few people know about him so almost every story arc will be fresh."

"Well, that's ok I guess. But you know what would make Green Arrow better? IF HE WAS BATMAN!"

Characters that should really be in Super Smash Brothers #3 (, #4, #5)

Dat Wii U Smash reveal. Dat 8-man smash. Dat Mewtwo.

Nintendo still showin' people how it's done.

I was kind of wondering what was they were going to reveal to make the Wii U version relevant. I still think releasing Smash Brothers on 3DS was a mistake, but not quite as big a mistake as releasing the 3DS version first. This could have been a HUGE sales boost for the Wii U. Instead, it'll be a nominal bump at best. The reveals they showed last week were certainly a help, though. At least Ridley's IN the game in a more substantial role than a stage hazard, though honestly I'd rather he be an assist trophy.

But whatever. It was a nice shout out to Metroid to at least give the Wii U version a game mode based on the game. I still think they could do some interesting things with Ridley as a character (you wouldn't even have to shrink him THAT MUCH based on what I saw, and as I've said before, Bowser's size has wildly differed between his appearances. I don't think it would break anything to shrink Ridley by a head or two. Nintendo's a clever company. I'm sure they could make it work.

No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.

Unfortunately, I'm 99% sure that will never happen now. They wouldn't make this game mode heavily featuring Ridley if he was ever planned on being in the game (hell, if he was ever planned on being in the game they would have found a way by now).

Anyways, enough harping on Ridley. On to my next character that should really be in Smash Brothers. This time I'm going on a theme rather than a character. As such, I'm offering three options (or all three could be added! :D)

Image from tshirtgifter.com/

Image from finalfantasy.wikia

Image from finalfantasy.wikia

I mentioned this idea in my 50 characters that should be in Super Smash Brothers list, but I'd like to expound upon it here. Firstly, a little history since I'm guessing most young nerd-types will be all like "why on Earth would Final Fantasy characters ever be in a Nintendo-only game?" (ok, I'm sure most people know all this stuff, but let me at least pretend to be the smartest guy in the room just this once).

Back in the day, in the nascence of mine youth, Final Fantasy was the premier RPG game pretty much. And Final Fantasy could only be found on the Nintendo. If you owned a Sega, you were stuck with Phantasy Star. Y'scrubs. (ok, I like Phantasy Star a lot, but gotta keep up appearances). So really, when one thinks of the old NES days, the purists among us think of a few franchises: Mario (natch), Mega Man, Castlevania (next time!) and, yes, Final Fantasy. The original 1-6 were NES exclusives. Nintendo and Squenix had a falling out around the time FFVII was in production, but they seem to be on fair terms now, particularly when it comes to portable entries in the series (which is where Squenix shines anyways, when they get away from that gritty, brooding, convoluted garbage that passes for mainstream Final Fantasy games these days). Crystal Chronicles, Four Heroes of Light, Bravely Default (a Final Fantasy game in all but name), this is where Squenix hearkens back to their days of yore and where the charm and delight of their earlier entries in the series really shine through.

Hell, Black Mage and White Mage were included in Mario Hoops. Clearly Nintendo and Squenix are buddies again.

I loved the idea of Nintendo and Squenix continuing this relationship, especially with their earlier, simpler entries and games/characters of that ilk. So I would love to see a shout out to those old days. But how?

Well, my first idea was to have a character that could transform between the four best-known "Warriors of Light" (pictured above). Yeah, SSB doesn't want to do the whole "transforming characters" thing anymore, but just for the sake of argument, let's stick with that. Warrior would be a heavy character that hits hard and has a variety of heavy weapon attacks, thief would be quick and mobile, black mage would have ranged nuking special attacks, and white mage would be primarily about support and recovery (or you could cut out white mage altogether, I suppose). Barring that, you could just go back to what Nintendo did in Mario Hoops and have black mage and white mage be different characters altogether, which is a fair idea as well. Both are incredibly iconic to the series and would represent it well.

And with the Warriors of Light included, one would naturally need their antagonist: Garland. Not much needs be said about him except that his final smash could summon Chaos. Wouldn't that be sweet?

The reason I chose the Warriors of Light/Garland over, say, any of the other characters from Final Fantasy 2-6 (i.e. the named characters like Cecil and Terra and Locke and whatever) is that, when you open up that door, you just have too many options. Going back to Final Fantasy I is more iconic, more reminiscent to the series' roots, where it is inexorably bound to Nintendo, and where their bonds formed. Hence why we get old school Mega Man rather than Mega Man X or any of his other, more recent incarnations.

Alternately, what is more iconic to the Final Fantasy series than moogles? I chose Mog from Final Fantasy VI for the image above, but you could do pretty much anything with the moogle, even pair him up with a chocobo like the chocomog summon. Mog in Final Fantasy VI is just one of the only incarnations of a moogle that is playable.

Other ideas that could work, particularly if you were going to choose multiple characters for my much touted fantasy roster include cactaurs (I believe there was a cactaur in Mario Hoops as well), tonberries (God I would love to just waddle around shanking people) or, as I mentioned above, any of dozens of named characters from the NES era Final Fantasy games. One could even go really off the reservation and pick Chrono (if you're not sick of generic swordsmen yet), Frog (if you're not sick of generic swordsmen yet), Magus, or any of a dozen other characters from Chrono Trigger, which also fairly well defined the NES (SNES) era of JRPGs.

Whatever character is chosen, I would love to see Nintendo and Squenix get back together again. They produced the best stuff together :-(

Characters that really should be in Smash Brothers #2

I just read an interview with Sakurai himself explaining some of the criteria for choosing characters for the SSB Roster and this little gem showed up:

"There are a lot things to take into account when deciding [characters]." Sakurai wrote. "Does the character have something inherently unique about them? Can that be used to make Smash Bros. interesting? ... Basically, any character is accepted if I believe it works [in the game]. On the other hand, even if a character is unique, if they overlap with other characters and aren't unique as a fighter, they are rejected."

Now, it needs to be said that, overall, I think Sakurai and the team do a great job. They made Little Mac a character. They got Mega Man. And all the characters are (for the most part) well-designed and very fun to play.

Hell, one of the breakaway successes of the game for me so far is Pac-Man. F***ing Pac-Man.

But can you seriously tell me that Dr. Mario is unique and "doesn't overlap" with Mario? What about Dark Pitt and Pitt (admittedly I haven't played Dark Pitt to see how different he is, but he seems identical on first blush). Link and Toon Link. Lucina and Marth. How are these characters unique? I know in some cases they're slightly different, but only at the highest levels of play, in terms of stats, how hard they hit, their weight, their speed. I don't mind that they're there (well, except Dr. Mario. Just make him a color swap of Mario and be done with it), but don't go saying that Ridley isn't unique enough to put in the game but Dr. Mario is. 

No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.

Anyways, as much as I like to bitch, the roster in this game is very diverse and robust. I wouldn't have any complaints at all if it weren't for Dr. Mario, really (though I'm still not a fan of having Samus and Zero-Suit Samus or Zelda and Shiek being different characters, but at least they are different characters). So far, I've not disliked any character I've played except Palutena, and even then only because her playstyle didn't really match mine. Though it still irks me that Kid Icarus has three characters and Metroid has only one.

No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go.

Anyways, onto the next character: Wonder Red

(picture from the Wonderful 101 wiki)

So this guy's from the best game you've never played, the Wonderful 101. It's one of the most unique games to date. Brutally difficult and whimsically cutting, it deconstructs the Super Sentai formula and boils it down to its most basic parts...oh, and it has over 100 characters. Ok, to be fair only seven are really fleshed out (as much as anyone can be fleshed out in a game that basically boasts characters that are simple caricatures of common tropes), but it's a huge cluster-f*** and immensely fun.

Oh, did I mention it's brutally difficult?

Anyways, the premise of the game is that this team of Power Rangers-esque superheroes basically bond together to create objects comprised of human beings. Wonder Red, for instance, attacks with giant fists made of people. Sound silly? It is. Wonder Blue fights with a sword, Wonder Green with a gun (that fires people as bullets, natch), etc. 

Now, I forsee some problems with using the Wonderful Ones in Smash Brothers and largely it is a problem of scale. The objects they create are huge in the game setting. But I think scale can be futzed a bit (No, I'm not going to let this Ridley thing go), and the huge combination attacks would be specials anyways, so they wouldn't be on the screen long. And that would make the kit unique because they would essentially be melee attacks with immense range.

Anyways, Wonder Red would be difficult to work into the game, but it doesn't get much more "unique" than this, Sakurai. I'm sure they could make it work.

Characters that really should be in Smash Brothers #1

I know I did this before, but I thought I'd go into a bit more depth now that I've actually played the new game (for those of you who are wondering, I love it. Most fun I've had with my 3DS in ages). So I decided to do a more in-depth look at some of the characters I really feel would fit in well with the current Smash Brothers roster.

I'm going to start with a rather weird one: Sceptile.

(photo from Bulbapedia)

Ok, so I'm guessing most people are going to say "We have enough Pokemon!" And on some level, I agree. But I am also of the opinion that the cast of Smash Brothers should be hundreds-strong, so naturally every represented franchise could feasibly have dozens of representations. Quite a few Pokemon could be included, from Machamp to Gengar to Pancham to Bisharp to Lopunny...the list goes on and on. Dozens if not hundreds of Pokemon could be in the cast. So why Sceptile?

Firstly, the starter Pokemon are iconic. One might argue that some are moreso than others and maybe the generation three starters aren't necessarily the most recognizable, but ultimately there's a reason why one (arguably two) of the new additions to the roster in the newest game is a starter Pokemon. Sure, Charizard was already pretty well fleshed out because of the Pokemon Trainer (who I miss, by the by...what a great mechanic), but they easily could have left him out but didn't. That's because Charizard is recognizable and even Greninja, a relatively new Pokemon, represents the franchise in a way that other Pokemon don't.

So starter Pokemon are recognizable and represent their franchise exceptionally well. But why Sceptile specifically? Well, first of all, if Greninja was included because of Pokemon sixth generation's recent release (perhaps to build up awareness of the franchise), then what better time to also introduce a third generation starter to the roster? After all, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are coming out soon, how much more relevant can you get? But even beyond that, there are two perfectly good reasons to pick Sceptile over other starters. First off, the reason why I say Sceptile over say Blaziken or Swampert (though either would work very well as well) is because SSB2014 introduced Charizard and Greninja, a fire and water starter. Sceptile would complete the trifectum with a grass-type starter and would be pleasing symmetrically. Secondly, Sceptile is humanoid and would fit well with the SSB atmosphere. His whole aesthetic would be unique and interesting amidst the established cast and his kit practically writes itself with powerful leaping skills and razor-sharp leaves. Being grass-type, he would have access to a moveset that is not utilized in this installation of the series...and you could even recycle moves from the scrapped Ivysaur character from Brawl. He even has a mega evolution, like Charizard, that could be used as a final smash.

So as far as relevance goes, Sceptile is a pretty obvious pick. I'd say other franchises need better representation than Pokemon, which already has five characters (six if you count Mewtwo's previous appearance), but like I said before, if we're talking a dream roster, I'd say the sky's the limit. Go nuts!