End of Year Review 2018

Good day to you ladies and gents, so 2018 has come to an end and it is once again time for my annual END OF YEAR REVIEW! Now I think the year has been pretty good all things considered, I’ve had an interesting rollercoaster of highs and lows, but the pros have definitely outweighed the cons. As with previous entries, I will talk about the year as a whole from my perspective, break it down into sections and then conclude with a summary. You ready? Cool, let’s go!

Video Games

2018 was a great year for gaming and looking back on everything that was released this year and comparing it to last year, it really is hard to say which year had the better selection of games to play. The games industry has had a lot of dodgy and questionable stuff going on with the ongoing issues related to gambling and microtransactions to the poor PlayStation Classic to Nintendo’s bad online service to Metal Gear Survive to Bethesda and the never-ending dramas of Fallout 76. But I will say that my overall gaming experiences were better last year because I played a lot more, however, the 2018 games that I did will stay with me for a good while. This year I finally gave into the hype and tried out Fortnight and I dabbled for a little while and gave up because I just wasn’t into it haha. I also restarted Zelda: Breath of the Wild and got lost in that world again and good god that game is SO much fun, the exploration and traversal just put me in a good mood especially when you end up playing for a good few hours. Another game  I also bought Rocket League and discovered the joys and frustrations that come with that game, I also played a fair amount of Fallout Shelter and discovered the addictive nature that comes with micromanagement and expansion, and Pokemon Quest was another one of those games that ended up getting way more of my attention than I expected, like 10 plus! 😛 But here’s my top 4 games:

1. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
2. Spider-Man PS4
3. Sonic Mania Plus
4. Pokemon Let’s Go Pikachu
5. Dragon Ball FighterZ

Oh look Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is my game of the year, who would have guessed? Haha! 😛 But in all seriousness Smash is my everything, it is my favourite gaming franchise and after the E3 reveal I was all in and the game is pretty much everything I wanted. The game mechanics are as fun as ever, the music selection is AMAZING, the amount of characters to mess with is fabulous and World of Light and Classic Mode are very unique and lengthy, though the former gets a little tedious after a while and the CPU difficulty is a hell of a lot harder than before. When it comes to Spider-Man I think it would have been my game of the year if Smash hadn’t come out, I REALLY had a great time playing that game and I’m still annoyed I never reviewed it back in September. The game is best Spidey game so far with its incredible web-slinging and overall movement, the versatile combat, wonderful selection of suits and a story that takes so many wonderful aspects of Spidey’s source material and adaptations and crafts its own unique and beautiful story that’s up there will the best of the Spidey material. Thanks to the Plus DLC, I ended up revisiting Sonic Mania and fell in love again. And while I still haven’t played Encore mode yet to my shame, I did love messing around with Ray and Mighty’s new game mechanics. As for Pokemon Let’s Go I was surprised by how captivated I was for the first few days. After seeing some of the videos and positive word of mouth around the game when it released I caved in and bought the game. I loved the nostalgic feelings the game gave me from seeing the enhanced visuals to the wonderful soundtrack, and on top of that, the seeing Pokemon in the overworld was cool and the new catching mechanics being easy to do for the most part. Alas, the changes to some of the core mechanics of battling and level grinding and a lack of features from later generations meant that my engagement waned. And finally Dragon Ball FighterZ I only played for a little while but it left a really good impression on me, while I wasn’t very good at it due to its technical aspects similar to the Marvel Vs. Capcom games, but I loved the visuals, the attempt at a story mode and attention to detail when it comes to the voice acting and specific finishing attacks.

Films

For me, 2018 was a good time for films and while I didn’t watch as many films as last year, I feel like I saw most of the films that I wanted/needed to. I had a lot of fun, interesting and surprising experiences in the cinema this year but definitely tried to watch more films at home. Also for those who aren’t aware, I’m only counting films released in 2018, films originally released in 2017 that got a UK release this year DOESN’T COUNT! And with that out of the way, these are my favourite films of 2018:

Top 11 Films of 2018

1. Searching
2. Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse
3. Avengers: Infinity War
4. A Star Is Born
5. Annihilation
6. Crazy Rich Asians
7. Mission: Impossible – Fallout
8. Bumblebee
9. Whitney
10. Widows
11. A Silent Place

Honourable Mentions

• Bird Box 
• Incredibles 2
• Bad Times at the El Royale
• Overlord
• Creed 2
• Sorry To Bother You
• Blackkklasman
• First Man
• Black Panther
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Ready Player One

Top 4 Worst/Disappointing Films of 2018

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom
2. The Predator
3. Tomb Raider
4. Den of Thieves

Top 5 Surprising Films of 2018

• Crazy Rich Asians
• A Star Is Born
• Bumblebee
• Solo: A Star Wars Story
• Deadpool 2

Television

Man, my TV viewing experience for 2018 was a far cry from last year and it’s not because I’m getting bored or not interested in what’s available and more to do with the fact that I just haven’t had the bloody time to watch everything like I used to haha. 😛 That being said I was able to check out a good few shows here and there and I will say that most of them were worth watching. From finishing the super fun Tournament of Power arc in Dragon Ball Super to enjoying the second season of The Tick to really liking the direction of the first half of season 3 of Into the Badlands (which I hope comes back at some point). When it comes to new shows I liked Disenchantment with its weird sense of humour, world and ongoing storyline, I also liked Altered Carbon for its visual design, an interesting cast, and on Amazon, you had Jack Ryan which was quite captivating with its plot, cast and the concise number of episodes. Daredevil season 3 and Bojack Horseman season 5 have been my favourite TV from this year giving just wanted while also providing me with content I didn’t know that I’d love as well. And finally Lucifer‘s season 3 got really good towards the end, and for a little while my show was cancelled, but then Netflix gave us a miracle and picked it up for season 4, sweet!

Top 10 TV Shows

1. Daredevil (season 3)
2. Bojack Horseman (season 5)
3. Altered Carbon (season 1)
4. Lucifer (season 3)
5. Jack Ryan (season 1)
6. Into the Badlands (season 3)
7. The Tick (season 2)
8. Disenchantment (season 1)

Music

In 2018 I wasn’t as overly fussed about music as much as last year, there wasn’t much new music that caught my ears, however, there have a been a few new songs that have caught my ears from new and established artists which have made my year quite enjoyable. Interestingly enough a lot my favourite music hasn’t been from mainstream radio but more so from films in the cinema and other places. There have been a good few films with nice film scores from Avengers: Infinity War to Solo to Annihilation to Incredibles 2 and son. But it’s Ludwig Göransson’s score for Black Panther that I’ve remembered with “Wakanda” being my absolute favourite! Firstly there’s the return of Justin Timberlake with his Man of the Woods which was a nice album with a good variety of tracks and a catchy first single with “Filthy“. I’ve also been continuing to listen to SG Lewis and his EP, Dusk has been one of my favourite listening experiences this year with “Aura” being one of my favourite songs of the year. AFI came back with The Missing Man and I really liked that EP especially with the songs “Get Dark” and “Trash Bat“. Also, there’s the Eurovision Song Contest, I haven’t followed this event since 2010 or 2011, but this year had a good number of really good songs, but my favourite was “Dance You Off” by Benjamin Ingrosso, that song was SO catchy! And finally there’s Tee Lopes, crafter of the brilliant Sonic Mania soundtrack who released his debut album Youinverse which is wonderful, but my favourite song is awesome “Gray City Day“.

Favourite Songs

1. Ludwig Göransson – Wakanda
2. SG Lewis – Aura
3. Justin Timberlake – Filthy
4. AFI – Get Dark
5. Benjamin Ingrosso – Dance You Off
6. Tee Lopes – Gray City Day

My Experience

All things considered, 2018 was a pretty decent year and in a lot of ways has been my best year in quite some time just because, looking back on the year as a whole, I dealt with a fair amount of bullshit, but it wasn’t nearly as troublesome or time-consuming as previous years. As for the stuff I got up to, there weren’t as many crazy adventures but I did have some fun here and there and experienced some things for the first time. Firstly there was my trip to the MCM London Expo with my best friend for our 10 year anniversary since we went in 2008, I also gave blood for the first time after talking about doing it for around 5 years haha, I also attended my first hen do and first baby shower which were surreal and delightful experiences. And I also did my annual volunteering for the 5th year and it was just as fun as ever. But on top of that, I feel like I’ve started to find my creative side again with all the drawing and animation stuff I’ve been doing which has been way more than previous years. Plus my mental state of mind I think has gotten to a place where I’m stable and can live with myself and have a good outlook on life which has been great especially in the last few months.

There’s also a lot of stuff that happened in the world, too much to mention, from the ongoing fears and dramas surrounding Brexit to Theresa May and her weir “dancing skills” to the absurd amount of memes we went through from Ugandan Knuckles to Bowsette to the recent Bird Box film. And then there was the death of certain celebrities this year as well, but the main two that hurt me the most was the passing of Jon Schnepp and Stan Lee. Schnepp has been one of my favourite people to watch on AMC and then Collider because he was such a passionate nerd and taught me so much, also her Superman documentary was great and even met him 2015. So his passing just sucked. But then there was Stan Lee’s passing, that felt so surreal and unnatural. I always thought the guy would live forever and it still feels weird to talk about him in the past tense, but I sort of knew he would pass on at some point but I was not prepared at all. I am forever grateful for not only being able to meet him but for all of his creations that made me the person I am today.

Conclusion

In conclusion, this year was a good time, had some good and bad experiences, learnt some life lessons and yeah I don’t have nearly as much to complain about which can only be a good thing right? Well 2018, its been fun but its time to say goodbye, and hello to 2019 because it will be a year of big changes for me which I can’t wait to share in due time. 🙂

Well, thanks for reading. So how was your 2018? Leave your thoughts in the comment section below and finally, have a happy new year and I hope I’ll see ya in again in 2019. Laters! 😀

 

My Top 11 Films of 2018

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, how’s it going? So it is New Year’s Eve and 2018 is almost over, but before the year disappears I wanted to share with you my favourite films of the year via my podcast, Film Focus. But unlike previous years I’ve decided to do a top 11 because 1) After going through my list I just couldn’t leave the final number at ten and had to add one more. But more importantly, 2) Because I bloody feel like it and it’s my list! 😛 So if you know what kind of films that I like you may not be surprised by some of my entries, but I think there will be some that you won’t expect.

So join me as I go through some of the best films of the year that I believe you should have seen or should check out if you haven’t already.

P.S. During the Bumblebee segment I made a couple of mistakes where I meant to say a mixture of CGI and live-action instead of real life and live-action. And I also mentioned the High Moon Studios Transformers games which I meant to say were for the PS3 and Xbox 360, not the PS4.

Anyway check out my thoughts in the episode below:

As I mentioned before I’ll cover a different topic or review in each episode and since I don’t have much in the way of listeners or promotion, I’m here to spread the word about my podcast. 🙂

You can find my main site on Soundcloud here: https://soundcloud.com/film_focus

Or if you’re on iTunes subscribe and rate me on there: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/film-focus/id1114233892?mt=2

So if you have some spare time on your hands and would like to listen to the ramblings of a passionate/strange man then please check it out, and share it with your friends if you can. Also, you have any feedback or if you’d be interested in joining in future episodes be sure to let me know, until next time, laters! 😀

 

ONE PARAGRAPH REVIEW: Mary Poppins Returns

Howdy ladies and gents, for the first time in a while I’m doing a written review and I just wanted to share my quick thoughts on Mary Poppins Returns as I saw it today and wanted to talk about it. 🙂 So is this film a good watch or not? Well read on and find out! 😀

The plot can be summed up as the following: “Set in 1930s London, twenty-five years after the events of the original film, it sees Mary Poppins, the former nanny of Jane and Michael Banks, returning after a family tragedy.” So as someone who only saw the original Mary Poppins in full earlier on today (which held up fairly well I might add), I was very curious to see how this sequel would pan out, and I thought this was as a nice little sequel. The film certainly had a lot of similarities to the original in terms of the story structure and some of the problems that the main characters faced, and by the time the film concluded, a lot of the issues were resolved in quite an easy and familiar way. That being said the film did look very nice with great set design, clear, bright and distinctive visuals that call back but also expand upon the original. It was especially strange to see how much larger the exterior locations were from the original and the sense of realism due to the London locations. The soundtrack was nice and some of the new songs were pretty catchy, I also really liked the choreography of those dance scenes especially with the lamplighters who had some impressive stunt work. And the cast was solid with the performances from Emily Blunt, Ben Whishaw and Lin-Manuel Miranda being especially strong and memorable. Blunt is one of those women I will watch in anything and she did very well in this film, she emulated all of the core traits of the character from Julie Andrews nicely, Whishaw who I have liked since Skyfall is pretty good in most films and I think this may be my favourite performance because of how much emotional turmoil and struggle his character went through, and finally Miranda was essentially Bert from the first film, but he was very fun, charismatic and was probably my favourite person in the film. So in conclusion, while Mary Poppins Returns, isn’t as good as the original and felt a little too familiar to its predecessor when it worked, it worked quite well and as someone who isn’t overly keen on musicals, I enjoyed it.

So have you seen Mary Poppins Returns and if so what did you think of it? Leave your thoughts in the comments below and I’ll see ya in the next review, laters! 😀

 

A Brief Look Back At The Dragon Ball Z Films

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, it’s Christmas Eve and my present to you lot is another film-related topic that is ripe for discussion and today I’m sharing my thoughts on the 15 Dragon Ball Z films via my podcast, Film Focus.

Okay so here is a subject I’ve wanted to cover for a while, and after a few delays, I finally got around got around to discussing the Dragon Ball Z films. With Dragon Ball Super: Broly recently released in Japan and the western release in cinemas dropping in January, I thought it would be interesting to revisit all 15 of the Dragon Ball Z films and see how they held up. Now I love the Dragon Ball franchise, I grew up with DBZ and the films have are an interesting collection of material that ranges from pretty awesome to very bad, and I thought it would be fun to examine each of the films briefly and discuss:

1) The pros and cons.
2) The story, characters and presentation.
3) Whether the films have gotten better or worse after my recent viewings from a subjective point of view.

So join me on an epic journey through these series of films to see which of them hold up and which ones do not. 😀

P.S. I tried my best to be as thorough and objective as possible, but this episode does feature some minor mistakes, some biased opinions and some films that don’t get as much time as others due to certain films having more interesting elements than others. So if any of this stuff bothers you, apologies in advance.

Check out my review below:

So have you seen any of the Dragon Ball Z films and if so what did you think of it? Also, which one is your favourite and are you excited for the Broly film? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

DOUBLE REVIEW: Aquaman & Bumblebee

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, its review time once again and I’m back again with some new reviews in the form of Aquaman and Bumblebee via my podcast, Film Focus and I’ve shared the episode in this post for y’all to check out.

I was originally going to review both films individually but since I saw them on the same day I decided to put both reviews in the same episode. With Aquaman, I was curious about the film but trepidacious because the trailers didn’t wow me and with Bumblebee I was dubious but had hope because of Travis Knight’s direction and the good trailers. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some fun spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:07 Aquaman
18:45 Bumblebee

Check out my thoughts on both films in episode 65 below:

P.S. I didn’t have my entire notes properly collected for these reviews so apologies if my thoughts come across as a little loose. Also, I made a mistake in the Bumblebee review where I said Simple Plan when I meant to say Simple Minds haha.

So have you seen Aquaman and Bumblebee or both? And if so what did you think of them? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comments below and if you have some spare time check out my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

REVIEW: Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, after some time away I’m back with another review and today I get to share my thoughts on Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse via my podcast, Film Focus.

Since the first trailer, I was very hyped to see this Into The Spider-Verse and the recent early positive word of mouth only made me more excited. So in this episode, I will not only be talking about this new Spidey film, but I will also be sharing my brief thoughts on Creed II and Wreck-It Ralph 2 too, you will find timecodes below. So how did these films fare? Well, listen to this episode for some fun spoiler-free thoughts on both films! 😀

Timecodes:

02:36 Creed II Review
06:19 Wreck-It Ralph 2 Review
11:13 Into The Spider-Verse Review

Check out my review below:

So have you seen Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and if so what did you think of it? Also, how do you think it compares to the other Spider-Man films? I really want to hear your thoughts on this film so drop your thoughts in the comments below and if you have some spare time subscribe to my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

QUICK REVIEW: Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, its review time once again and today I watched Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us and I just had to share my thoughts on it so that’s why I’m giving you my review for this film via my podcast, Film Focus.

Now, this the newest Pokémon film in the series which has 21 films so far! It’s crazy that there’s been that many since 2000. Now I wasn’t planning on recording this episode next due to other things being prepped already, however, I found out about its existence within the last week and jumped at the chance to see another new Pokémon film in the cinema, and after watching, I decided an impromptu podcast review was in order. So I hope you enjoy this brief yet fun and unscripted discussion! 😀

Check out my thoughts on the film below:

So have you seen Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us and if so what did you think of it? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comments below and if you have some spare time check out my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

AUDIO REVIEW: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Howdy ladies and gents of the internet, its review time once again and last Friday I checked out Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and I some thoughts on it that I wanted to share, so today I’ll be giving you my review for this film via my podcast, Film Focus.

Now I wasn’t the biggest fan of the first Fantastic Beasts film in 2016 and so I wasn’t overly hyped for the sequel, however, the trailers actually got me intrigued to see where this new chapter would go. So after seeing it on opening night how it fare? Well, listen to this episode for some casual and fun spoiler-free discussion! 😀

P.S. I butcher a few names here and there so don’t bash me too much please and thank you haha.

Check out my thoughts on both films in episode 62 below:

So have you seen Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald and if so what did you think of it? Whatever your thoughts are, drop them in the comments below and if you have some spare time check out my podcast, Film Focus on Soundcloud and iTunes. Until next time, laters! 😀

 

QUICK THOUGHTS: Detective Pikachu Trailer

Good day to you ladies and gents, I’m back to give you some thoughts on a recent trailer in the form of the Detective Pikachu film that will be out next summer. Now I have been following this film on and off for a while now just because I thought that it was a little weird to have the first major live-action film based on the Pokemon franchise be adapted from the Nintendo 3DS game that only a handful of people would have played and probably would confuse those who have a casual knowledge of who Pikachu is. However, the first trailer has come out and wow, just wow. I was a little taken back by it yesterday, though, having had to time to watch it again and process it, I think I’m warming up to it.

Check it out the trailer below:

To put it simply, I find this fascinating.

The main that stands out beyond the fact that we have a Pikachu that’s voiced by Ryan Reynolds, is the fact that we have these super realistic Pokemon and it was freaking weird! Now I think any long-term Pokemon can understand where I’m coming from when I say that I know what Pokemon look like, even in the 3D, but to see so many of these classic Pokemon put into live-action with all this extra fur, detail and facial expressions that look better/normal in cartoon form to be given a realistic makeover is a little shocking. If taken out of context and just shown to you, you’d think these were creepy nightmare versions of those of these characters used for a Creepypasta or something. Pikachu’s dark eyes look a little freaky in some of the darker scenes, but alongside Justice Smith, he actually looks not too bad. Now this isn’t the first time Pokemon have had their designs changed up for a more realistic look, just look back to Pokken Tournament, though that game kept the characters looks a little more link their original designs, Bandai Namco did change things up where I’d say it was sort of halfway between this film and the original designs.

But this film does take it to another level, but at the same time it intrigues me, plus I love looking out for all the Pokemon I know. From Charmander and Dodrio to Bulbasaur and Jigglypuff to Psyduck and my boy Greninja, and of course, my favourite Charizard who looks so intense with the new scaly design. And I can not go on without mentioning Mr. Mine, I think that guy has been a bit of a joke character for a while, but here he’s this cross between creepy and funny, his design is probably the most accurate to the original, just with stranger/more realistic facial expressions. I just want to see more Pokemon and what their redesigns will be like.

What stands out to me is the tone of this film, it feels like what Pokemon would be like if westerners implemented their style of visuals, humour and action in only a way a Hollywood film can. I also like the inclusion of Ken Watanabe and Justice Smith, though he pissed me off SO much in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom with all that yelling, I do like him as an actor so I’ll be curious to see how his character’s story pans out. And finally there’s Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu, he wasn’t my first choice, but he’s growing on me. Though, when he speaks all I can hear is Ryan Reynolds or to a more notable degree, DEADPOOL! If Reynolds wasn’t already so well-known for playing Deadpool, then his voice wouldn’t feel so distracting here, but it does and I’m sure I’ll eventually get over it when the film comes out but for the time being, I can’t unhear it.

So to conclude, while I was initially sceptical about this film, I am getting more and more intrigued and dare I say excited just to see how it’ll pan out. As long as it is fun and not too creepy-looking with those Pokemon then I’ll totally down to watch this. Just no creepy Mimikyu, please. 😦

So what did you think of the first trailer for Detective Pikachu? Did like it, hate it or were you confused by it? Also, what do you think of the super realistic-looking Pokemon? Whatever your thoughts are be sure to drop them in the comments section below and I’ll see ya on the next video, laters! 😀

 

RIP Stan Lee

Good day to you ladies and gents, today I am writing a blog post that I hoped I wouldn’t have to write any time soon, but alas, Stan Lee, a legend in the world of comics and entertainment and beloved nerd and creator for many fans across the world unfortunately died yesterday and even now it feels so surreal. So today I just wanted to share my thoughts on what he meant to me and share my respects.

So every once in a while in life, there emerges an individual who goes on to become someone special and Stan’s one of those individuals. To have such an interesting life journey and career from being in the army to writing comic books and then having what you created reach so many people, and have those properties be taken on by new writers and artists for decades to come, and then, of course, have those creations get adapted into various animated and live-action TV shows and films… All that from one guy and his collaborators. It is truly incredible.

Stan Lee is a man who has fascinated me since childhood, and as I’ve gotten older and learnt more about him through research, written and video interviews and so on, I’ve only appreciated him more and more. I’ve always loved hearing the stories about how he created some of his most notable characters like the Fantastic Four or Spider-Man or the X-Men, how he had the knowledge and guts to tell stories about flawed/troubled individuals that made them relatable to the readers. It just shows that this guy was on the ball and perceptive.

But beyond the wonderful characters, stories and worlds he’s given us over the years, he had such a wonderful personality. Stan Lee always looked like he was having the time of his life in a lot of his old photos working at Marvel, he’s always smiling, and through articles and interviews he’s always come across as a sweet, cool and kind man who had time to pass on his knowledge and had great stories to tell. The guy was fantastic and every time I saw him in an interview he’d always make me smile and laugh because he was also quite funny.

But I think where a lot of people have gotten to know Stan from in recent times is through his cameo work in the Marvel Studios films. Now Stan is no stranger to being part of the properties he’s created. He’s narrated for TV shows and video games, made numerous appearances in live-action films going back to the first X-Men film from 2001, he’s made appearances in the cartoons and has been a playable character in games like Amazing Spider-Man 2 or Lego Marvel Superheroes. He’s been all over the place and I’ve always seen him pop up as it always brought joy to my soul.

And now I would like to share some of my favourites that aren’t from the MCU and probably aren’t as well known.

Spider-Man: The Animated Series

This Stan Lee appearance will always hold a special place in my heart. It was probably the first time I sort of got an idea of who Stan was as a kid. I remember being maybe 8, 9 or 10 years old when I first saw this episode and I thought it was hella cool that Stan Lee, the creator of Spider-Man, made an appearance in the 90’s cartoon show. And every time I saw it since it made me so happy. It is a short yet wonderful moment filled with fun, reflection and humour, and seeing Stan get left on the roof without any way to get down and hoping the Fantastic Four would give him a lift, priceless.

Spectacular Spider-Man

This is a small and probably insignificant cameo for most, but I remember watching Spectacular Spider-Man’s second season and just loving this cameo. Here Stan’s just a guy who states the stuff he hates and I think we can relate to that. But it is the line “Are we being punked? I hate that.” Haha. I’ve always loved it.

Spider-Man 3

This one has always stuck out for a number of people and I’d be inclined to agree, it is such a simple yet beautiful bit of dialogue that perfectly sums up Stan’s positivity and then work that Peter had done up to that point. And it is probably the highlight of that entire film really.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I almost forgot about this cameo until I saw it on my YouTube search. I remember watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. during season 1 and thought this was the greatest cameo just because it came out of nowhere and made me laugh so hard. It wasn’t enough that Simmons was giving Coulson a hard time with this fictional story that everyone on the train cart was paying attention to, but for Stan to step in, sympathise with her and then scold Coulson so hard was an incredible moment in time that I’ll never forget. 😛

But of course there are the Stan Lee cameos from the MCU and there are many to pick from, and while a lot of them were just minor appearances, some of them were quite funny and significant. So here are some my favourites:

• Thor: When he tried to pull Mjolnir out of the ground with his truck and failed.
• Avengers: “Superheroes in New York? Gimme a break.” Love that line.
• Guardians of the Galaxy 2: Seeing him hanging out with the Watchers was one of the best nerdiest things I’ve ever seen. 😀
• Spider-Man: Homecoming: When Spider-Man gets scolded by a bunch of people and Stan shouts at him from a window, great moment! 😀
• Avengers: Infinity War: “What’s the matter with you kids? You never seen a spaceship before?” I frigging loved that line, such a casual thing for an old bus drive to say. 😀 😛

Here’s an epic compilation to check out below:

Anyway, to conclude, Stan Lee, all I can say is thank you for everything that you’ve given me and many fans young and old throughout the many decades that you were with us. And like many I’d like to thank you and Ditko for Spider-Man, he’s one of my favourite characters in fiction and I’ve learnt so much from him and have loved all the heroes, villains and stories that you’ve given Spidey over the years and my life wouldn’t be the same without that character. And also it was an honour to be in your presence in for a moment in time, but meeting you in 2014 was one of my life goals that I never thought I’d get to do and it was one of the best experiences of my life that I will cherish forever.

RIP Stan Lee and thanks for everything. Excelsior!