Author: Courtney

Fantastic Godzillas and Where to Find Them

Posted on by Courtney

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!

    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.

    Jumanji: Welcome to the Labyrinth

    Posted on by Courtney

    Welcome to this Week of the Geek! Lots of scool stuff to get to, so let’s dive right in.

    Movies

    The first trailer of the Jumanji sequel, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle came out this week, and was received a lot better than a lot of people (myself included, I’ll admit) expected. The movie follows four teenagers that are sucked into a video game, leading to some pretty amusing body-switching antics.

    Netflix released the first trailer for its highly anticipated Death Note movie this week. The reception to the trailer has been mixed — hardcore fans of the original manga in general aren’t excited with the more action-based premise that the movie seems to promise, but the argument has also been made that after multiple Japanese animated and live-action adaptations of the franchise, Netflix needed to do something with this one.

    Slight correction to a story from last week: in contrast to what multiple outlets were reporting, a sequel to Wonder Woman has not been confirmed. However, at this point, as successful as the movie was, we’re pretty hopeful.

    Television

    Marvel’s Inhumans premiered its first trailer this week, announcing that the television show will debut on Imax screens around the country on September 1st before settling on its home at ABC television on September 29th. While we’ve seen glimpses of the Inhumans on Mavel’s Agents of Shield, this trailer is our first time seeing the royal family, featuring Anson Mount and Iwan Rheon as contentious brothers.

    If you live in or around Washington DC, and you love Game of Thrones, you might want to check out the Westeros-themed pop-up bar. The bar is huge, featuring multiple regions from the fictional world as well as themed drinks.

    Other

    Scott Patterson of Gilmore Girls fame is working on establishing his own coffee brand, in an oddly parallel move to his character’s career choices. The actor has been working on developing the brand, Scotty P’s Big Mug Coffee, in his time off from acting.

    Remember the awesome Gene Hoyle, who gave Week of the Geek a fantastic interview a couple months ago? He’s back, with the crowdfunding kickoff for the Labyrinth of Bones, which we were given a preview of with his interview! Check out Labyrinth of Bones on Indiegogo to learn how you can support a fantastic indie comic author and get yourself a copy of his up and coming publication. Look below for another look at the preview we got to see with Gene’s interview.

    Recommends

    If you miss being a kid and enjoying the cool tones of LeVar Burton on Reading Rainbow, this podcast is perfect for you. LeVar Burton Reads is a 30- to 60-minute podcast featuring the actor reading short stories from a variety of genres. Check out the preview above!

    Jurassic World: Dream Daddy

    Posted on by Courtney

    Welcome to this Week of the Geek! This one’s short and sweet, but there’s definitely some cool stuff to read about, and some super exciting stuff at the end.

    Television

    One of the most anticipated upcoming shows this year is Star Trek: Discovery. This week, Entertainment Weekly debuted some of the first photos from the series, including the one above featuring Jason Isaacs as Captain Lorca, after it was announced that the show will debut September 24th of this year. The showrunners also announced that they would be throwing out what is often called “Roddenberry’s Box”, a rule the series creator established that severely limited the amount of conflict that could be shown between characters, as he hoped we’d have moved beyond that in the future.

    After years of begging by not only the fans but some of the actors involved, Supernatural has announced a spinoff focusing on some of the show’s key female characters. Wayward Sisters will star Kim Rhodes as Jody Mills, so there is much speculation that her fellow officer of the law Donna Hanscum, along with Jody’s two adopted daughters will feature heavily as well. Supernatural has attempted a spinoff before, but fans reacted poorly to the Bloodlines pilot and it was scrapped quickly. Wayward Sisters will feature a backdoor pilot during season 13 of Supernatural.

    Stephen Moffat and Mark Gatiss, of Doctor Who and Sherlock fame, have announced they will be creating and writing a show based on Dracula. While no real details have been released about the plot or setting, we do know that the series will be in a similar format as Sherlock, which ran in miniseries-like runs with feature-length episodes.

    Movies

    The title for the next movie in the Jurassic Park series has been announced: Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. With this announcement came the posted featured above. The movie is set to release June 22, 2018.

    In a surprising news out of the Star Wars world, the director duo for the Han Solo spinoff were fired, and replaced almost immediately with Ron Howard. The original directors were fired due to creative differences with the production team — namely, they wanted to inject more humor and improvisation into the script. The move is particularly surprising considering that there is only three weeks of filming left, along with five weeks of reshoots, though it’s too early to tell if that schedule will be altered in any way.

    In light of the first movie’s massive box office and critical success, Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Geoff Johns, one of the leaders of the DC film universe, are already working on a sequel. According to Johns, work is already underway on a treatment for the followup movie, though no details were provided about plans for the plot.

    Games

    Social media was flooded with people clamoring for Game Grump’s first game — a dating simulator. Even better, a dating simulator featuring dads. Even better, a dating simulator where you play a dad, dating other dads. Perfection on a screen, basically. The game, Dream Daddy, comes out July 13th on Steam.

    That’s all the geek news for today! Now for the exciting news: Fandom Finery is releasing a new product line! We’re going to be offering candles in almost all the scents we currently make soaps in. I’m currently working on packaging for shipping to protect the glass candleholders, so I need some guinea pigs! If you’d like to receive a FREE handmade candle, be one of the first three people to comment on this article down below. Good luck!

    Captain America Zero Dawn

    Posted on by Courtney

    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.

    Black Panther Bebop

    Posted on by Courtney

    Week of the Geek: 6/10/17

    Welcome to this Week of the Geek! There’s a few things to cover today along with the first and arguably most important…

    Movies

    BLACK PANTHER TRAILER! I try to cover all geek news with the same basic level of excitement but that’s useless here — I’ve waited for this trailer for what feels like forever. It’s beautiful, gorgeous, promises a fantastic movie, and I have nothing bad at all to say about it. Also: it opens with Bilbo interrogating Gollum, so good luck unseeing that.

    Entertainment Weekly’s upcoming issue is going to include the first photos coming out of the Mary Poppins sequel, and they look incredible. The movie, starring Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, is currently scheduled for release in December of 2018.

    Television

    Arguably the biggest geek news to come out of this week was the announcement of a live-action television series for Cowboy Bebop. The anime classic is set in the future and follows a crew of bounty hunters through space, and is considered by many to be one of the best anime series of all time. It certainly introduced anime to a whole new set of Western viewers, as it was the first anime ever broadcast on Adult Swim. Fans of the original series met the announcement with some skepticism, but many are excited to see how the new show will turn out. The new series is being co-produced by Sunrise Inc, the same company that made the anime, giving many hope that the remake will go well.

    If you watch a lot of British telly, chances are pretty good you’ve at least heard of Misfits, the cult hit about juvenile delinquents who gain superpowers. While the original British version has a large following, the announcement of the American remake a while back didn’t seem to excite fans; after all, American remakes of British shows have a history of not going well. However, the show seems to be moving forward with the announcement this week of casting of four of the five main characters. Ashleigh LaThrop, Tre Hall, Allie MacDonald, and Jake Cannavale were announced to be in the upcoming pilot. However, the part of Simon, originally played by Game of Throne’s Iwan Rheon, has not been announced — having seen the original, I can confirm whoever gets it will have some big (and creepy) shoes to fill.

    Games

    Pokemon is coming to the Nintendo Switch! Except it’s actually not. A ‘clerical error’ listed the upcoming game on the Nintendo page as coming to the Switch, sending fans into an excited frenzy. However, Nintendo soon followed up with what was basically ‘whoops, our bad’, saying “This listing on the Pokemon press site was made in error and is not indicative of future plans.” Many disappointed fans who have been asking for a console version of Pokemon for quite a while are angry with the company in the wake of the mistake.

    While there are next to no details available about the project yet, Variety broke this week that a Playstation VR experience about Breaking Bad is in the works. So far, we don’t have a release date or plot, only that Sony is working with Vince Gilligan, the show’s creator, to produce the project.

    On Wednesday Square Enix announced the upcoming Final Fantasy Dissidia NT, a “team-based brawler” that will include at least 20 playable characters from across the Final Fantasy franchise. The game is scheduled to be released in early 2018 on Playstation 4.

    Thanks to Ubisoft being leakier than the Titanic, we know a lot more about the upcoming Assassin’s Creed than we necessarily should. Past leaks have let fans know that the game will be taking place in Egypt and given glimpses of some of the merchandise we might expect, but the latest leak is a little more substantial: a release date. According to next month’s Game Informer cover story – which of course leaked – the game is set to come out this October.

    Other

    Adam West, best known as Batman from the iconic 1960s series, passed away Friday night. After a brief bout with leukemia, he passed away with his family by his side. West was a mainstay on the pop culture convention circuit for many years, and for many people, their first exposure to comic books.

    Thanks for joining me for this Week of the Geek! See you next week!

    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.

    Wonder Woman on the Orient Express

    Posted on by Courtney

    It’s time for Week of the Geek! Despite missing last week for MomoCon, this week’s newsletter is surprisingly short, as it’s been a quiet couple of weeks. Stick with me ’til the end for some great pics from the convention!

    Television

    Our first real look at the upcoming animated Castlevania series came in the form of a brief trailer last week. The animation is smooth and the art style has some fans feeling nostalgic for the anime of past years. It, so far, appears beautiful and perhaps a bit overdramatic, so right on par with the rest of the Castlevania series. The series drops on Netflix on July 7th.

    Fans of the Netflix series Sense8 are up in arms after it was announced this week that it would not have a third season. Season 2 ended on a cliffhanger (of course) and fans are somewhat baffled, as the series had great ratings and relatively high viewership. The series had been lauded as groundbreaking in terms of representation, so Netflix is taking some extra heat for cancelling the series on the first day of Pride month.

    Movies

    The first trailer for Murder on the Orient Express came out this week, showcasing it’s impressive cast, including Daisy Ridley, Josh Gad, Leslie Odom Jr., Dam Judi Dench, and Kenneth Brannaugh — and that’s not even half of the star-studded cast list. The frankly huge number of big-name stars combined with the unexpected music choices for the timeless novel’s adaptation has gained the movie some immediate popularity. The movie comes out November 10th of this year.

    Wonder Woman came out this weekend to pretty much unanimous rave reviews. Box office numbers aren’t available yet, but there isn’t any doubt it’ll come out on top.

    Other

    While Square Enix representatives at MomoCon told fans last weekend that they could expect a Kingdom Hearts 3 trailing to come out of upcoming E3, fans of the video game company received other, less exciting news this past week. Based on the company’s financial briefing, it would appear that neither Kingdom Hearts 3 or the long-awaited Final Fantasy 7 remake should be expected anytime soon; neither has a hard release date, and the company only plans on them happening “in the next three years”.

    While J.R.R. Tolkien sadly died in 1973, his writings were so prolific that we still get a new book every few years. The most recent came out this past week, Beren and Luthien. While a version of this story was initially published in The Silmarillion, this is the original, unedited text. The book can be found for purchase here, but I also encourage you to purchase from local booksellers if possible!

    Thanks for tuning in for this Week of the Geek! As an apology for missing last week, enjoy some of these pictures of the fabulous cosplayers and guests at MomoCon:

    The lovely @emm_elou as Pike from Critical Role

    Matthew Mercer
    Marisha Ray, as pseudo-Keyleth
    Marisha Ray and Taliesin Jaffe

    Where No Witcher Has Gone Before

    Posted on by Courtney

    Week of the Geek 5/20/17

    Welcome to Week of the Geek! There are quite a few cool new releases, trailers, and announcements to look at this week, so let’s get to it!

    Television

    The first trailer for the upcoming television series Star Trek: Discovery was released this week. The trailer Sonequa Martin-Green as Michael Burnham disagreeing with her commanding officer on how to deal with the hostile Klingon. This series differs from its predecessors in that the main character is the First Officer of the ship, rather than the captain. Star Trek: Discovery will premiere this fall on CBS before moving to the station’s subscription service for the remainder of the season.

    In an announcement that came seemingly out of nowhere, this week fans learned that The Witcher is getting a Netflix series. While most American fans are familiar with The Witcher as a series of fantastic video games, they are actually based on a Polish book series by Andrzej Sapkowski, who will also be serving as a creative consultant for the Netflix series. No release date has been set yet, and we’re also not sure if the series will be CGI or live-action.

    As if we weren’t excited enough for the Ducktales reboot, this week we found out that Lin-Manuel Miranda will be joining the cast as Gizmoduck. Miranda said in a press release that the character is being tweaked to have Latin roots, something he always wished to see on television as a child. Miranda joins David Tennant, Danny Pudi, and Bobby Moynihan in the show’s cast. The show doesn’t premiere til this summer, but has already been picked up for a second season.

    The Dark Crystal is returning as a Netflix series! Froud’s dark fantasy art came to life in the original movie thanks to Jim Henson, and the Henson Shop and Froud have teamed up with Netflix to make the magic again. The show will be called Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and will be a prequel to the original movie. No release date has been set yet, but fans seem to be excited, especially considering the teaser seems to show that Netflix intends to stay true to the puppetry showcased in the original.

    Snowpiercer is getting a television adaptation thanks to TNT, and we learned this week that the post-apocalyptic series will star Daveed Diggs of Hamilton fame. Diggs will play Layton Well, who lives in poverty in the back of the train while the rich upper class controls the front. There is no release date for the series yet, but the talent on board is pretty impressive; in addition to Diggs, Scott Derrickson (director of Doctor Strange) is Executive Producer and Josh Friedman of The Sarah Connor Chronicles is showrunner.

    Movies

    Sony announced Saturday that Tom Hardy will be the star of their upcoming Marvel movie, Venom. The movie has been in development for almost ten years, and many fans seem skeptical about how Sony will pull off the Spiderman-related movie now that the rights to Spiderman himself have shifted to Disney and the MCU. However, having a name and a main character — Eddie Brock — means the movie must at the very least finally be shifting out of development hell.

    Other

    Destiny 2 premiered its first gameplay trailer, revealing some really impressive-looking interactions and showcasing the ever-snarky Nathan Fillion as Cayde-6. Bungie also announced plenty of other information, including changes in gameplay and carry-over options. The game is set to release on September 8th of this year, but Beta signups are already filling up for early access.

    Big news, Doctor Who fans: Ten and Rose are back! Well, audibly. Remember last week, when Big Finish announced a new Torchwood drama? Turns out they’re also producing three new Doctor Who audio dramas starring David Tennant and Billie Piper. Sure, it’s not on-screen, but I’ll take what I can get! The three stories will be available in November.

    One last thing! I have the pleasure of going to Momocon next weekend, which means Week of the Geek will likely be delayed until Sunday or Monday. Sorry! On that note — if you’re going to Momocon and are a Geek Maker who would like to be featured in a future Week of the Geek, shoot me a message in the comments below!

    Thanks for joining me for this Week of the Geek! I don’t have a Geek Maker feature this week (though I highly recommend checking out last week’s with Wyrmwood Gaming if you missed it!) so I’ll leave you with this, in honor of that last story: the official Doctor Who Spotify account, including plenty of audio dramas!

    The Wyrmwood Element

    Posted on by Courtney

    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!

    Stranger Defenders

    Posted on by Courtney

    It’s Free Comic Book Day! Click here to find a participating shop near you, and get out to support your local comic book shops! I spent the morning waiting in line at my local comic book store (worth it!) so I apologize for this week’s newsletter being a bit late. Not a ton of news this week, but there’s some pretty exciting trailers to see!

    Movies

    The Dark Tower, an upcoming movie based on the series by Stephen King, dropped its first trailer this week, giving us a look at a grizzled Idris Elba and a menacing Matthew McConaughey. Fans of the book series seem disappointed by the lack of many of the series’ endearing secondary characters, but most seem unsurprised that a lot had to be cut to fit the book series into a movie. The movie hits theaters August 4th.

    Blade Runner 2049 released a 15-second trailer tease that sent fans into a frenzy this weekend. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford, and Robin Wright. The teaser is for a trailer that is scheduled to be released Monday. If you don’t see it before then, we’ll definitely have it in next week’s WOTG!

    Television

    The first trailer for The Defenders dropped today. The show will have Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist teaming up to, hopefully, save New York. Fans seem cautiously optimistic about the series after a lackluster Iron Fist series. The Defenders will be available on Netflix starting August 18th.

    The young cast of Stranger Things seems to be dropping hints that the show will be ramping up the horror in season 2. Details are scarce at the moment, but we do know that the second season will pick up in 1984, a year after the events of season 1. The show will be available on Netflix on Halloween of this year.

    Other Stuff

    Several years ago, J.K. Rowling started the tradition of apologizing for the death of one of her characters. Each year, she apologizes to fans on May 2nd, the anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts. Past apologies have included Fred Weasley and Remus Lupin. This year, the author apologized for the death of the much-debated character Severus Snape.

    I have some SUPER exciting Geek Maker interviews coming up soon, but none that were ready for this week. In its stead, enjoy these character playlists from the official Star Wars Spotify account!

    Just as a reminder, this week is Small Business Week, so to celebrate everyone who has supported my small business throughout the years, the coupon code SMBUZ17 will get you 15% off your entire order at Fandom Finery through tonight! Thanks so much for supporting me, and please continue to support small businesses online and in your community.

    That’s it for this Week of the Geek! If you want to stay on top of the latest geek and pop culture happenings, subscribe in the bar on the right (or down at the bottom, if you’re on mobile). See you next week!

    Jeff Goldblum!!! on Ice

    Posted on by Courtney

    Week of the Geek: 4/29/17

    Hello, and welcome to this Week of the Geek, where I break down all of this week’s geek news into easy-to-read, bite-sized segments. Subscribe in the bar to the right (or at the bottom, if you’re reading on mobile) and share with friends who need to keep up with geek news!

    Movies

    Justice League Pop Funko

    Can’t wait for the Justice League movie coming this November? No worries! Thanks to DC teaming up with Pop! Funko, you can fill the void with tiny, cute versions of the film’s stars starting in August. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Aquaman, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Superman will all be available (despite Superman’s appearance theoretically being a secret).

    Jareth and Sarah in Labyrinth

    The 30th anniversary of Labyrinth (which was actually last year) has given rise to a number of new collectibles, including a Jareth figure, a hardvover Visual History book, and an ongoing graphic novel series. Collectors can now add a vinyl record reissue to their vaults. The soundtrack includes 12 iconic songs from the movie (remastered, of course), a replica of the original sleeve, and images of Bowie from the movie. The album is available for pre-order and will ship on May 12th.

    Jeff Goldblum, uh… finds a way. That’s how the quote goes, right? He has, at the very least, found his way back to the dinosaurs, as he was announced earlier this week as being cast in the Jurassic World sequel. Dr. Ian Malcolm, a long-time fan favorite, is returning to the franchise, though there’s no word on if this will be a large role or just a cameo.

    Lucasfilm announced the release dates for films in two major franchises: Star Wars and Indiana Jones. Star Wars: Episode IX, the last in the new trilogy, is slated to be released May 24th, 2019. The next Indiana Jones movie, the 5th in the franchise, will come out the next year with a release date of July 10th, 2020. Harrison Ford and Steven Spielberg are both returning to the film; no word yet on Shia LeBeouf.

    The Kingsman sequel got its first full trailer this week, showing plenty of action and some surprise returns. Kingsman: The Golden Circle sees Taron Egerton as well as Colin Firth returning, joined by Channing Tatum, Julianne Moore, Jeff Bridges, Elton John, and Halle Berry.

    Television

    This is technically also movie news, but I’m sticking it down here since most people are familiar, at least right now, with Yuri!!! on Ice as a TV show. That could be about to change, though, as it was just announced today that the series will now be getting a movie. Because this news is so new (and was also announced in Japanese) I don’t have much information on it yet, but I will update you as I know more.

    Gaming

    It’s International Tabletop Day! Why are you reading this when you could be playing? Go roll some dice, we’ll still be here tomorrow! Click here to find games happening near you.

    Sailor Moon Crystal

    Speaking of tabletop games, Sailor Moon has two board games coming out later this year — and in English! The crowds of American geeks whose first exposure to anime was Sailor Moon experienced a childhood devoid of any good merchandise, but the Sailor Moon Crystal reboot has taken care of that problem.

    Other Stuff

    Ever heard of GISHWHES? If not, you should have! GISHWHES stands for the Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen, and it is true to its name. Founded and run by Supernatural star Misha Collins, GISHWHES is a week-long event celebrating art, kindness, and thinking outside the box. Signups opened up recently, and I highly recommend anyone who might be interested to check it out! I’ve participated for four years and can’t say enough good things about it. You’ll make friends, change lives, and have fun.

    Unfortunately I didn’t get to speak with a geek maker this week, so in its place I offer up another fun playlist. This playlist was inspired by Critical Role, a weekly show about voice actors playing D&D. It’s a lot more fun than it sounds like, I promise. Their shenanigans and drama spawned this playlist. If you love it, Geek and Sundry also has playlists developed by each actor for their character!

    Thanks for riding along with this Week of the Geek. Did you learn anything new and exciting, or did I miss something important? Tell me in the comments!