Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Thor Ragnarok: WE HAVE A CODE GOLD PEOPLE, I REPEAT, CODE GOLD!

We've got full Goldblum people, this is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill!

Also, there are moments in this that are not suitable for younger readers or work. Nothing graphic, just words you might not want to talk about yet. Parents have been warned.

In order to recover from what many believe to be the worst of the Marvel Cinematic Universe so far, it would appear that not only did Thor need to be hacked to the bones, losing his mother, father, his hammer, his eye, half his cape, his friends and his home, but also the Shakespearean style to the Thor movies, and going the complete opposite, a Sci-fi space romp where most of the film is on a junk planet with a little bit of Roman gladiatorial combat. Look, this movie is weird, and its time to take the same drugs Taiko Waititi took when making the film, here's New Doug Ragnarok... I mean Thor Ragnarok.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Spider-Man Homecoming: Yes yes Marvel, very clever name, no one would have ever figured it out,

I don't know if I have the right to talk since this marathon is called MAYvel...

Though you have been getting rather risky with your story ideas. Do you have that much of an ego now that you're willing to put Batman into a Marvel movie while WB still owns the rights? Though to be fair this is the eighth movie with Peter Parker in it, and the third in the MCU (Remember that kid with the Iron Man mask in Iron Man 2? Apparently, that was a very young Peter Parker). Anyway, now that Peter is legally back with Marvel (under shared custody for now), it was only a matter of time before he got his own solo movie, and they did not waste the chance, though they did take every chance they could to separate this movie from the last five solo Spider-Man movies. Did it work though? One way to find out.

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition vs. Fire Emblem Warriors (Switch) vs. Hyrule Warriors Legends

As clickbaity as that sounds, that is basically what this post is going to be, it'll be hard not to compare the Switch release of Hyrule Warriors to the last Warriors game released for Switch (outside of the Japan eshop, no I haven't got any of them, I don't have a Japanese account and haven't looked into how to pay for them, but I will admit I am interested in Warriors Orochi 3), and the 3DS version of Hyrule Warriors (along with the WiiU release by extension). I'll try to keep my bias due to buying this game three times now out of the review though.

Instead of my usual format, I'm going to split this review up into categories and compare from there, starting with the Story (you can check my in-depth thoughts on the stories in my previous reviews of the games), putting the two head to head though, its a fifty-fifty split when you factor both the story, and the delivery of said story. Hyrule Warriors wins on story due to the wider variety of characters and locations at its disposal, and while I like the 2D drawing cutscenes, they're still not used often as the game bounces between CG cinematic cutscenes, narration over basically Jpegs, and narration over the animated 2D drawings. I wish they went for something more consistent. Fire Emblem Warriors though, while the longer, not as entertaining of a story does lose to HW (going forward, HW= Hyrule Warriors, HWL= Hyrule Warriors Legends, HWDE=Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition and FEW= Fire Emblem Warriors), it has the better delivery of the story thanks to sticking to Fire Emblem's way of delivering stories, CG cinematics and emoting character portraits talking with each other. Granted, most of the dialogue (in the main story, History mode is excluded) is forgettable, it's still more interesting than the narration in HW. So... point to both? Maybe more towards FEW because History Mode's story moments are a lot better in execution compared to the main story, even if there are moments like the mission to unlock Male Corrin, where to win over the trust of your brothers and sisters, you have to go to war with them.

On the subject of History Mode, we might as well go into History Mode from FEW vs Adventure Mode in HW. This is another fifty-fifty split as both have their pros and cons. First of all, to get it out of the way, HW's (the WiiU game) Adventure Mode is the worst of the lot, due to forcing all of the content into the one map, making the map more frustrating to navigate through. Legends had the advantage over the WiiU version due to being able to space the content out more, something that HWDE continues with. Now then, while I haven't finished the game (its been three days at the time of writing, and I've been working on all three), you do unlock the ability to play almost all the Adventure Mode maps as soon as you finish the first mission in Legend Mode. The one map missing being the Rewards Map, due to how you unlock missions in it. Each of the maps now has a difficulty marker on them that hints at the difficulty of the map. Adventure and Great Sea are easy, Master Quest and Master Wind Waker are normal, Twilight and Termina are Hard, and Koholint Island, Grand Travels and Lorule are Hero (hardest difficulty in the game). Alongside spacing out the weapons, the hero unlocks have been spaced out too. By default, you have Link, Impa, Shiek, Lana, Zelda, Ganondorf, Darunia, Ruto, Agitha, Midna, Zant, Fi, Girahim, Cia, Volga, Wizro, and Linkle unlocked. I have heard that you can unlock Toon Link, Tetra and (cause I cannot remember how to spell his last name to save my life), the King of Red Lions when you finish the Wind Waker Epilogue in Legend Mode. The remaining unlockables are split up as such

• Adventure: Young Link, Twili Midna, Skull Kid, Tingle (it also looks like you can unlock the remaining Level 1 weapons)
• Great Sea: Medli, Tetra, King Daphnes (along with the Level 2 weapons)
• Master Quest: Level 3 weapons
• Master Wind Waker: Based on the 3DS version, this will have Medli's Level 2, 3, and 4 Weapon
• Twilight: Level 4 weapons for Zelda, Lana, Agitha, Impa, Link, Ganondorf, Midna, Linkle, Zant, and some characters I haven't unlocked yet
• Termina: The remaining Level 4 weapons for the characters unlocked to this point
• Koholint Island: Marin, Linkle's Level 2, 3 and 4 Boots, and 4+ weapons (weapons introduced in HWL's DLC that have the same power as Level 4 weapons, but have two elements tied to them) for unlocked warriors
• Grand Travels: Toon Zelda, Toon Link's Level 2, 3 and 4 Sand Rod, and more Level 4+ weapons
• Lorule: Ravio, Yuga, and the remaining Level 4+ weapon

All of these maps and the Rewards map also have a series of costumes to unlock for all your warriors, fairy companions to find, Heart pieces/ Heart containers to give your characters more health, fairy clothing, fairy food, and Skulltulas which, based on Legend Mode so far, have not changed locations, but may have changed requirements. With the closest square I can get in Adventure Mode that has Skulltulas on it, the second Skulltula mission has had a requirement change from "Do *x* without losing 4 hearts" to "Do *x* without losing 40% of your health" a far easier challenge I assure you, but one I haven't done yet cause I always do Legend Mode before doing Adventure Mode (except to get my first Fairy). If anyone would be interested in a more detailed guide for the Adventure Mode, please let me know and I will get to work on it.

Why do I bring all of this up? It's because HWDE does beat out FEW in terms of this kind of content. While structurally, FEW does have a better way of handling the missions, because backtracking isn't required (although HWDE allows you to purchase item cards now to help minimize backtracking), the rewards you obtain in History Mode are, overall, not interesting. Most of the time you're getting materials needed to make your characters stronger, which in itself isn't as interesting as finding a Heart Container. What weapons you do get in History Mode I personally found almost useless, and only good for quick money. It's the main reason I never felt the need to finish FEW's History Mode. Score's now one each for the two games.

Characters and Movesets: This is another clear win to HW. Excluding the roster size difference, 31 for HWDE (as the Challenge Mode along with the missions where you play as Gannon and a giant Cucco are back) and 32-34 for FEW (depending on if you view the Male and Female variants on Robin and Corrin as alternate characters), the reason why HW has the advantage is in the weapons. Every single weapon type in Hyrule Warriors has a unique playstyle to it, which not only makes every character feel unique, but even unique when compared to themselves if they have two or more weapons. I said it before and I'll say it again, the biggest problem with FEW is the roster. Aside from it not being a strong representation of the entire Fire Emblem Franchise, a lot of characters share movesets with each other, and some of the unit potentials are locked behind DLC. Leo and Elise have the same moveset, Sakura and Takumi have the same moveset, Rowanand Lianna, I believe Chrom and Lucina share a moveset, Hinoka, Cordelia and Caeda feel like they have the same moveset, and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the DLC characters share movesets too. What's a problem as well is that there are not only missing classes from the game entirely, but characters like Oboro and Azura, the ONLY TWO LANCE USERS WHO DON'T HAVE A PEGASUS AND THEREFORE AREN'T ARCHER FODDER, are locked behind DLC. Armored Knights? Nope. More Creature Stone users other then Tiki? Nope. We don't even really have a bruiser Sword user, further making all the sword users feel similar in nature. Yes, some of the weapons in HW are dumb, I won't deny that for a moment, but its a kind of dumb that I welcome because of the sheer lunacy of it. Hate on the Great Fairy as a weapon all you want, your argument is invalidated by the fact that she can AIRDROP MAJORA'S MOON ONTO ENEMIES OVER AND OVER AGAIN! 2-1 for Hyrule Warriors.

Mechanics and controls. This is a clear win to FEW (when compared to HWDE), due to three things, control mapping, Infinite inventory (as far as I could tell, I never tested it), Bonus XP, and AI level ups. While yes, you can control more than one character in many parts of HWDE, when they aren't being controlled by you, they are as dumb as rocks. FEW has that problem too, but what helps alleviate it is that the AI controlled characters can still level up, be they on their own, or when paired up as a support. This did make character grinding a lot easier, because if you needed to power level, just have them as a support for one of your stronger characters for a while. This and being able to map controls are something I wish they added to HWDE because you need to do a lot more here and after spending hundreds of hours in HWL, it just feels clunky by comparison. Item swapping is a bit of a pace killer for me as in order to get to it, I need to stop moving, move my thumb down to the Directional buttons on the left Joycon, and swap between the items I need. The worse one though is how to use the Fairies. as that's now mapped to pressing the right Analogue stick, something that never feels natural for me, in any game. While there is a degree of customization in the controls, it's limited to two options that mostly change what the ABXY buttons do, I'd rather the option to customize my layout so that I can map things I use more often to easier to access buttons (like swapping Fairy magic and Guard around). Granted, I say all of that as someone who uses Joycon controls, not a Pro controller so your mileage may vary if you use a Pro Controller, but for what I use, it just feels clunky. I miss the touchscreen of HWL, point to FEW for two each.

In terms of looks and sounds, these games are pretty even, as it really just comes down to personal tastes. Both can run at a smooth 60 frames per second (if you so choose in the case of FEW), both games look really bright and vibrant (especially when comparing the WiiU and Switch versions of HW), and the soundtracks for both games are amazing rock covers of songs from each game. Some of my favorites from FEW being Conquest (Flames), Road Taken (Roar), Alight (Hoshidan Wind) and A Dark Fall (Fire). In regards to HW, Eclipse of the Moon, Hammer of Stones, Skyloft, Solidus Cave (Crystal Cave), Eclipse the Sun, Title and Dragon, Molgera, Tal Tal Heights, and the 8 bit inspired version of Overworld Adventure from Spirit Tracks. It comes down to which franchise you like more at the end of the day, so while I cannot objectively say "this game is better in visual appeal and music compared to this one", subjectively, I have more of an attachment to Legend of Zelda then I do Fire Emblem, so subjectively it goes to HW. I won't count it though so its still two apiece.

Finally, value for money, in terms of bang for your buck? When comparing their full prices, HWDE beats out FEW, FEW does still have the season pass after all, while HWDE doesn't. If you haven't played the previous versions of HW, then HWDE is a great way to play the game. THAT BEING SAID THOUGH, what about the people who are double or even triple dipping this game (like me)? Well, I don't think its worth the full price. While this is a way to play everything from the WiiU and 3DS versions of HW, there's not much on top of that so if you have bought the 3DS version and its Season Pass, the only thing you're getting out of this is better looking visuals, the return of Challenge Mode, and two new costumes (one for Link and one for Zelda, both based on Breath of the Wild). HWL had an easier sell, cause while you weren't getting Challenge Mode and the 8-bit weapons, you were getting 5 new characters in the base experience, a new adventure mode map, two new stages based on Wind Waker, including new enemies to fight, two new giant bosses, the Fairy system and other smaller tweaks. Here, its really just the smaller tweaks. While I don't need another Adventure Mode map, it would have been nice to see some more playable characters, or even more costumes. People want Groose and Linebeck in the game, I'd personally like to see Urbosa (the Gerudo Champion from Breath of the Wild), a new weapon and costume for Ruto to let you play as Mipha, a new costume for Darunia to let you play as Daruk, maybe a Revali costume and weapon for Medli. I would have liked a little more as a way of getting people who have played it before to pick it up again. While yes, the Switch version is the better version to get if you haven't played the game at all or since the WiiU version, if you have played the 3DS version, there's not much more on top of it, as such I can't really recommend it for someone who has.

With that said then, if you had to choose one, Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition is the better game between it and Fire Emblem Warriors, though it's not as one-sided as many like to claim it as. I hope this helps anyone still on the fence about it. If you want to see my reviews of the WiiU and 3DS versions of Hyrule Warriors, along with my review of Fire Emblem Warriors, you can find them here

Hyrule Warriors WiiU: https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/zelda-week-hyrule-warriors-strength-in.html
Hyrule Warriors 3DS: https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2016/05/addendum-review-hyrule-warriors-legends.html)
Fire Emblem Warriors: (https://mediaholicreviews.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/fire-emblem-warriors-it-was-successful.html)

I think that just about covers it. If I have missed anything, let me know, until then, I'll see you for the Spider-Man homecoming review.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: The word Ego is used 13 times in this review, for 3 different things

A movie where a bunch of assholes comes to grips with the fact that they are a bunch of assholes. That statement could probably sum up this movie, in albeit a vague way, pretty well. Many call this movie one of the best the MCU has so far, and while I can see where they're coming from, there is a big reason why I personally don't see it. Allow me to explain why, as MAYvel starts to come into the home stretch, where Marvel started putting out three movies a year, and this is the first one from last year.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1 (Maybe? Kinda?); Lego Marvel Superheroes 2: TT, we need to talk

I have a love-hate relationship with the Lego games. Two of my favorite games when growing up was Lego Star Wars Complete Saga, and Lego Batman 1, and motion sickness inducing camera aside, I do enjoy BIONICLE Heroes (though that's for another time). While simplistic, the games are still entertaining. However, things did change during the last generation of consoles. While it is a case by case situation, some of the changes made to the game since Lego Batman 2 turned me off of the games, and when I did try them again with Lego Dimensions, the flaws of the engine started to become really apparent to me. I got this game a few weeks ago as, encase it wasn't obvious, I've been on a marvel binge, and the game was heavily discounted. So I figured why not, and I'd even get the DLC because the two together was still cheaper than the normal retail price... See if you can guess where I'm going with this based on the title alone.

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Doctor Strange: Strange, isn't it?

Remember when there was no magic in the MCU? When all magic was just more advanced science? Well, now its time to backpedal on that, because we have a movie all about alternate dimensions, spirits exiting the body, cities being bent around themselves to the point where it looks like a Bayonetta arena is in between what could either be the same building 20 times or 20 buildings so close to each other that it looks like walls. Many have given this movie a somewhat valid comparison of "What if Iron Man was on a s@&* ton of drugs", but where are they coming from? One way to find out.

Star Wars; The Last Jedi: Is this better or worse then Ghostbusters 2016?

I mean that in terms of the political discussion around this film. No joke, the talk around this one has been extremely hostile ever since the movie came out. What makes it feel worse is the complete split of opinions. Critics love it, general audience members are overall mixed (unlike some people I see 50% as "meh, middle of the road", so 47% is "more people hated it, but its almost a 50/50 split"). I even know people who hated the movie, and some are calling the entire franchise dead because of this film. I think some people are even blaming these new films for the death of Toys R Us (that last one I completely disagree with for the record). Is it as bad as people say though?

Operation M.A.Y.V.E.L Phase 1; Captain America; Civil War: You can't run away from your problems Marvel!

One of the biggest problems leveled at Marvel has been the villains. From killing off a lot of the iconic villains in their debut movies to many of the villains being rather boring compared to the heroes. If I asked you to name three MCU villains that aren't named Loki, Thanos or Killmonger, would you be able to? In order to combat this, Marvel decided to turn a chunk of their heroes into villains for a story that really went to show how bad Batman in Black vs. Batman in Blue: Dawn of the Jesus Symbolism... yes I am still calling that movie Dawn of the Jesus Symbolism. It's friend against friend for this film though. To quote the marketing material for the film, are you Team Cap or Team Iron Man?