Fantastic Godzillas and Where to Find Them

Welcome to Week of the Geek! Not a whole ton of geek news this week — with SDCC coming up soon, the rumor mills might slow down a bit as the studios save the big announcements for the convention. Keep reading for what we did learn this week!

Television

Daenerys costume

First up, the ever-present Game of Thrones. As season 7 looms closer, HBO has released the titles for the first three episodes of the upcoming season. Personally I’m avoiding looking at them, but you can check it out here if you’re feeling brave with the spoilers.

The Godzilla anime we discussed a few weeks back now has its first trailer, albeit only in Japanese so far. The premise seems to be that kaiju have taken over the earth, and humanity is fighting back, with a protagonist who is out for vengeance after seeing his parents killed by Godzilla. The anime is expected to be released in the U.S. later this year.

If you were excited by the news of a Castlevania series coming to Netflix, your time has come — it’s here! The series dropped on Netflix on Friday, July 7th.

Speaking of Castlevania, the producer from that series made an exciting announcement this week — he’s working on an Assassin’s Creed anime that many expect will also find a home on Netflix. Adi Shankar made the announcement on his Facebook, but no further details are forthcoming at this time.

Movies

  • Spiderman: Homecoming is now in theaters and, by all accounts, doing incredibly well. We don’t have any official numbers coming in yet, but the film seems to be receiving rave reviews across the board.
  • The Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Themsequel began filming today, and Warner Brothers headed the rumor mill off at the pass by releasing an absolute ton of information about the upcoming film. For starters, Dumbledore will have a larger role than many fans previously assumed, as he will be teaming up with Newt Scamander. We’ve also learned that Leta Lestrange will make an appearance, as will a magical circus. There’s really too much information for me to cover here, so head on over to Nerdist’s fantastic breakdown of everything there is to know.

    Other Stuff

    The geek community has come together this week to send their heartfelt condolences to Marvel legend Stan Lee, who lost his wife of 69 years, Joan Lee, on Thursday morning. Stan Lee credited his wife for much of his success, as she encouraged him to write his first superhero hit, The Fantastic Four, which launched his and Marvel’s success. Joan made several appearances alongside Stan in Marvel movies , voiced a few Marvel cartoon characters later in life, and was much beloved by the comic book community.

    Don’t forget to check out the Labyrinth of Bones Indigogo for a great opportunity to order a copy of a fantastic indie comic while supporting indie writers and artists. As a bonus, there’s now a tier available that includes a special edition soap from Fandom Finery!

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    Captain America Zero Dawn

    Welcome to Week of the Geek! There’s surprisingly little news this week, especially considering this week was E3. Regardless, here’s what you need to know…

    Movies

    There’s been a lot of speculation over how much longer we’ll have Chris Evans as Captain America, but he has allayed our fears for a little longer in an interview with The Telegraph. Apparently his contract, originally for 6 movies, would technically have been finished after Avengers 3, but because the movie is being split into 2 parts, he agreed to stay on for Avengers 4, saying “it’s going to wrap everything up.” This means that either the studio will have to negotiate further films with Evans (who has been indicating for a while he’s ready to move on from the franchise), or we might see the end of Cap as we know him. Going by the comics, that may mean Bucky Barnes or Sam Wilson could step in as the new Captain America.

    Continuing with the Marvel news, there’s some conflicting information coming out of the Spiderman camp — Feige has previously stated that Homecoming, which comes out next month, will be as far as that series goes for now, but in an interview with Slash Film, Tom Holland indicated that there is already a trilogy in the works. Hopefully we’ll have some confirmation on this in the next few weeks.

    The E3 Breakdown:

    Since the majority of this week’s news is out of E3, this seemed like the easiest way to organize it. I’ll keep each mention short and sweet, with links to longer articles so you can go read about what interests you! Here we go…

    Horizon Zero Dawn has its first DLC coming — The Frozen Wilds. There’s no release date yet, but the new adventure featuring Aloy is now available for preorder.

    Life is Strange is getting a three-episode prequel called Before the Storm, though the biggest focus of this announcement has been the fact that Ashly Burch is not reprising her role as Chloe Price, due to the SAG-AFTRA strike.

    Minecraft has some cool new features coming, including a move to a new game engine that will allow most gaming platforms to play together on servers, a new graphics pack, and 4K resolution.

    While we still have no release date, E3 did yield some new information about Kingdom Hearts 3 — namely, that the storyline seems to focus on what many fans have been begging for, [WARNING, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS] Sora looking for a way to bring back Roxas.

    Several new Switch games are coming, including new titles in Mario, Metroid, Kirby, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Yoshi, and most importantly, a core Pokemon game!

    Bioware announced their new IP, Anthem, a shared-world MMO-style shooter. Despite beautiful graphics, Bioware fans have had an almost unanimous negative response to the trailer, seeing it as a move away from the choice- and relationship-focused games the company has done so well with in the past. Many are also claiming the game appears to be a ripoff of Destiny and Horizon Zero Dawn.

    Bethesda announced that Skyrim will be available on Playstation VR, much to the chagrin of most fans, who were hoping for a new game announcement.

    That’s all I have for this week! If you were following E3, was there any other news that excited you? Tell me about it in the comments below!

    If you would like to receive Week of the Geek in your inbox each Saturday, use the subscribe box in the top right of this screen, or underneath this post if you’re on mobile.

    The Wyrmwood Element

    Hello, and welcome to this Week of the Geek! My apologies for this one being a bit late, some unforeseen circumstances got in the way of my usual Saturday posting, so instead you get a Mother’s Day WOTG. Speaking of — Happy Mother’s Day to all whom that applies to in any capacity at all. Hope you had a fun day celebrating all you do!

    Lots of news to get through today, and down at the bottom, an extra cool treat you won’t want to miss. Our Geek Maker interview this week is Ed Maranville with Wyrmwood Gaming, who told us a little about how he and his friends turned their hobby into a full-time business (making gorgeous gaming products!).

    Movies

    As of this year, the sci-fi classic The Fifth Element has been thrilling fans for twenty years. To celebrate the anniversary, Mondo is releasing the soundtrack on vinyl for the first time. There will be two versions, one white with and orange stripe and one “Super Green” (only 500 copies available), but the artwork included and tracklist are all the same. Yes, it will definitely include the iconic “The Diva Dance” opera number, but sadly vinyl doesn’t include a ‘repeat’ function so we can be in awe of her voice for hours on end.

    Labyrinth coloring book

    Jareth, Sarah, Ludo, Hoggle, and more are back in a Labyrinth coloring book, set to be released in October of this year. The coloring book joins the ranks of a recent spate of Labyrinth releases, including a highly detailed Jareth figure and an LP.

    Remember last week when Ryan Gosling whet our appetites for Blade Runner 2049? Warner Bros. certainly delivered this week with the full trailer, featuring a lot more Jared Leto, and a rather determined Gosling. The visuals look amazing, and fans have responded well to the look of the movie so far.

    A new Spiderman: Homecoming gave a closer look at Peter Parker’s interactions with his friends outside of the spider suit, showing fans some of the humor they might expect from the movie. Fans seem to be pleased that the tone of the movie so far looks like it will fit in well with the rest of the MCU.

    A post shared by Paul McCartney (@paulmccartney) on

    Paul McCartney filmed a cameo for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and while we still don’t really know what his character will be, we got a look at him in full costume when he posted it on social media this weekend. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is out May 26.

    Television

    The latest comic book television adaptation to be announced is a fan favorite: Judge Dredd. At least, probably. We think. Basically, the show is in the early development stage, but no network is attached yet and we’ve heard nothing of actors who might be involved. Right now we just have a title — Judge Dredd: Mega-City One.

    Torchwood: Jack, Ianto, and Gwen

    Fans of Torchwood can rejoice… but don’t get your hopes up too much. Sadly, the series isn’t returning in television format, but we will be hearing more from Jack and Gwen in a new audio play series from Big Finish. The first part of the series will be released in August. One particular line from the press release has fans’ attention: “…including an appearance by someone who has to be, has to be dead…”. Could this be the return of Ianto, whose death prompted a fan protest that included mass amounts of coffee being sent to BBC offices? I, for one, certainly hope so.

    Other Stuff

    Fans of Harry Potter were aghast to learn this week that a rare prequel, hand-written on a notecard by J.K. Rowling, was stolen in a burglary. The police and Rowling are both appealing to the public, asking fans to not buy the story if offered and to turn in anyone who approaches them about it. The postcard was originally offered for auction to benefit a charity.

    Geek Makers: Wyrmwood Gaming

    This week I had the pleasure of speaking with Ed Maranville, co-founder of Wyrmwood Gaming, a company that creates high-quality gaming products including dice trays, dice towers, deck boxes, and more, for when a Crown Royal bag just isn’t cutting it anymore.

    What is your history in the geek community? How long have you been into tabletop gaming?

    Personally, I am a lifelong gamer, though I got more serious about tabletop in recent years. I started as most kids of the 80s did, by playing lots of video games. In middle school and high school I got introduced to Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons, among other games, but often had trouble finding people to play with. In the past 10 years or so, though, I’ve gotten heavily into board games & RPGs – and now I get to call it market research!

    Most of the people in our company are gamers of some stripe or another – whether that’s RPGs, board games, video games (both console and PC), and there’s a weekly game night (at least) right in the shop. We’re really fortunate to have a great staff that love what they’re doing, and we work to keep it that way.

    Can you tell me a little about how Wyrmwood got its start?

    We started the company as a bit of an experiment, after Douglas and I reconnected (we were childhood friends). He and his brother Ian, in the intervening years, had apprenticed as fine furniture makers, and we found the idea of taking that level of craftsmanship and applying it to our tabletop hobbies compelling. It made a lot of sense to us, as lifelong gamers, and we thought it might strike a chord with others, as well. We started an Etsy shop, and began offering Dice Trays and Deck Boxes. Our big breakthrough came with the Dice Vault, which was our first totally original product, as well as our first Kickstarter campaign. The demand greatly exceeded our expectations, but we still delivered on time – a point of personal pride for us today. The campaign marked the turning point where Wyrmwood went from a project we started to our actual jobs – it also allowed us to get into the con scene. That winter we attended our first show as exhibitors – PAX East. It was a nice moment, as I’d been an attendee of PAX East from the show’s beginnings, and when we started the company, wondered if maybe someday we’d exhibit there. Little did I know how soon that would happen!

    After that, we enlisted Eric Dupuis to help with the business side of things and round out our skill set, and the core of the company was complete. The next big turning point for us came in 2015, with our Dice Tower Kickstarter – that campaign allowed us to bring on employees, and move to a new space. We’re still there today, and our company has grown from three people to thirty.

    So that’s a quick overview of the history. But as far as what we believe and why we did it? The bottom line is that we take the hobby seriously, and we respect and share our clients love of games. Gaming has grown up, and so have gamers. The evidence is everywhere – D&D campaigns that have been running for decades, the explosive growth of serious board gaming, more conventions with a bigger focus on tabletop. But I doubt I have to prove it to any of your readers – no doubt when they look across a game board they find some of their most enduring friendships. We use our craft to honor that commitment. As gamers we spend countless hours investing in the hobby in one way or another – building, testing and playing Magic decks, painting an army of miniatures, running campaigns in D&D, or learning, playing and teaching the latest board games – or old favorites. When someone invests in a piece of our work, it’s a way of commemorating that dedication.​

    Ethical wood sourcing seems to be a huge focus at Wyrmwood. Why is this important to you, personally or as a company?

    ​It is indeed a priority for us, as it is for many people – the environment is increasingly a concern for people, and we respect and share that concern. Wyrmwood is intimately tied to the natural materials we utilize; since we don’t dye or stain our woods, the beauty of our products comes directly from the materials themselves. As such, we feel we have a responsibility to consider the ethics of how these materials come to us. To that end, we avoid critically endangered woods. In addition, we donate 5% of all sales of the most rare exotic woods we offer back to an organization called Rainforest Trust, which works to conserve these and other species. It is our hope that these trees survive and flourish for generations to come.

    I initially discovered Wyrmwood through Critical Role. Has sponsoring such a popular show in the gaming community had an impact on your business?

    Absolutely! Critical Role has been huge for us, and we’re very grateful to them for the exposure. We’re excited for their continued success, as well. It’s great to see the hobby have such traction that not only are more people than ever playing role playing games, but so many are tuning in to watch a group play. Granted, that certainly has a lot to do with the unique talents of the Critical Role cast, but it’s still amazing to see.

    Is there anything else you’d like people to know about Wyrmwood?

    There are a couple things we do like to highlight. First, that we’re very interested in feedback and suggestions. A lot of our products have happened as a direct result of suggestions from clients. In our first Kickstarter survey, we asked what we should do next. People overwhelmingly said they wanted us to make a dice tower… so that’s what we focused on. A GM Screen was also high on the list, and finally, this year, we launched that campaign as well.

    If there’s something you’d like to see us create, let us know! If enough people are on board, we’ll be happy to do it. And, if it’s a little too niche, that’s okay – we can always take it on as a custom commission.

    Our Craftsman’s Promise is also important to mention. We stand behind our work, and if it ever lets you down – whether by breaking, wearing out, or just not being up to your standards somehow – we want the opportunity to make it right. All you have to do is send us an email, and we’ll take care of you (and cover shipping). It doesn’t matter what happened – if it broke under normal use, or from being dropped. Whether the post office did it, you did it, or your dog did it – whether it happened the day you got it, a couple week later, or a couple years – just get in touch. We want everyone that owns our work to be thrilled. Our reputation is built on an uncompromising stance on customer satisfaction, and we take that extremely seriously.

    As a last note, we’re always working on something, so if you’re interested in hearing about us, please sign up for our mailing list. We announce things there, from new product launches or Kickstarter campaigns to upcoming convention appearances and more. And don’t worry, we don’t spam your inbox daily.​ You can also keep up with us on Facebook and Twitter.

    That’s it for this Week of the Geek! To get this weekly newsletter in your email to help you stay on top of geek happenings, look for the subscribe box in the top right corner of this page (or down below this paragraph, if you’re on mobile), and be sure to share with your friends. See you next week!