VIDEO: Vintage VHS treatement for this new X-Men Apocalypse ad

This viral ad for X-Men: Apocalypse is an inspired piece of marketing. It appears as a warped VHS recording of "In the Footsteps Of..." a fictional supernatural TV documentary program, in the style of real ones like In Search Of--which I used to watch with rapt elation/horror/wonder as a kid. Heck, they even got George Takei as a stand-in narrator, a la Leonard Nimoy.

This one gives a glimpse to the background of the new film's main big-bad, Apocalypse himself, En Sabah Nur. 



Advertising can be a lot of fun, when cleverly done!

TRAILER: Doctor Strange brings magic to the Marvel Universe

For years--the better part of this decade--I've been DYING to see how Marvel would add the arcane elements of the Sorcerer Supreme to their cinematic universe. Doses of the scienc-y "magic" were dropped with the Thor movies and the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Avengers films had a pinch of that old Kirby Krackle, as well.

Strange even had a passing mention as a possible "threat" by SHIELD (we all know how that went!) In Captain America: Winter Soldier. The set up has been a loooong time coming.

And he's not just one of my favorites--he's long been one of Stan the Man's favorite characters.I was psyched way back in 2009 when Stan Lee said Strange was on Marvel Studios' radar to be made. I'm cannot properly communicate my elation at it finally happening!

By the look of this trailer Doctor Strange is gonna be serving up the MAIN COURSE! Finally we're going to experience the full-on comic book wonder that Marvel is famous for. I suppose instead of the Krackle, we'll be getting some "Ditko Dazzle!"

By the Eye of Agamotto, behold the psychedelic visions of Dr. Stephen Strange in this origin-focused teaser! Enjoy!

  
Doctor Strange hits US theaters November 4, 2016

More details:
If you're not up on your Strange lore, now's the time to dive in:

• Marvel's Doctor Strange listing
• IMDB listing
• Official movie site

Images and video courtesy Marvel and Disney

The Geeklet finds her first funny dice!

A week or so ago, I took my daughter -- who is two-and-a-half -- to the FLGS. Without prompting, she picked out this percentile ten-sider. I didn't intend to buy it for her, but she carried around and wouldn't put it down, so I took it as a sign.

She calls it her "Rollin' Ball." I think that bodes well for a dad who learned to play RPGs on d10 games like Marvel Super Heroes!



TRAILER: ROGUE ONE: A Star Wars Story

Scroll down for trailer

Rogue One is apparently the beautiful, beautiful love child of Star Wars roleplaying games, video games like Battlefront and Dark Forces, and those novels and comics that focus on background characters.

It's basically everything you've ever wanted in a Star Wars movie that didn't feature the Skywalkers.

• Criminals given a second chance to become heroes? CHECK!
• Swordplay and martial arts without Jedi powers? CHECK!
• Secret interstellar spy missions? CHECK!
• Black armor shadow troopers? CHECK! OMG, CHECK!
• MAN VS. AT-AT? Wait, WHAT? HOLY $#!% CHECK!

Where's Wedge?

So far it looks like they're sticking to their original premise of "Oceans Eleven steals the Death Star plans". I'd say there's even more of a Dirty Dozen influence. My guess is that they're going to do more character-focused trailers as the release date approaches.

And I SWEAR they time traveled back to 1983 to get the actress who played Mon Mothma--she's a ringer for sure! And Felicity Jones appears to have the double dose of Solo-style cockiness, plus the combat skills to back it up.

One thing I'm hoping for is some sort of space battle. After all, Rogue Squadron is the codename for the greatest starfighter team of the Rebellion! And if the opening crawl of A New Hope is any indication, there's, uh, hope that could actually be in store for R1. Here it is, with a little highlighting of the relevant part:

It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy....

Certainly sounds like we're going to see some sort of space chase--maybe leading right into Episode IV! What do you think? Sound off in the comments!

This all makes me want to get another look at the Star Wars WEG adventure we ran for Saturday Night Space Opera last year and give i t a fresh coat of bantha hair.


Without further adieu:

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story debuts December 16, 2016 in the US.

More info:
IMDB listing

Wanna hunt dinosaurs on Venus tomorrow?

Sounds like an April Fools gag, but no--we're serious! I mean, uh, kinda. I nearly forgot to get the word out about our first themed month for Saturday Night Space Opera. Throughout April we're winding the wayback machine to 19th century with some STEAMPUNK adventure!

Here's the first game, set for tomorrow night:

Note: Please be aware this is a BYO blunderbuss event.

Here's the mission brief from GM John Till:

ALL ABOARD: your ether flyer is now departing! Anyone can survive the Red Planet with its languid ancient cities and canals, but only the bravest and most adventurous (or foolhardy) head to the humid, prehistoric jungle hellworld of VENUS!

6:00 pm / Saturday, April 2

Source Comics + Games

 CREW WANTED:

• No previous experience with Ubiquity necessary
• Dice and character templates provided
• As always, this event is FREE

RSVP now and let us know you're coming!

You also can RSVP on the SNSO Google+ Community page. Click the image below:

All our steampunk adventures for April take place amidst the etherways of space. Check out the full schedule on the Saturday Night Space Opera site. So will you be joining us for some otherworldly, Victorian-era escapades?

A: INDUBITABLY.