Monthly Archives: May 2019

The Knights of Ren Will Be In Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

The Knights of Ren, first teased in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, will make a full appearance in Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker.

As revealed in a new preview from Vanity Fair, the Knights of Ren have arrived on the scene for the final chapter of the Skywalker Saga. While the preview goes into no depth about why they have returned or how they’ll be woven into the plot, a single behind-the-scenes photograph shows director J.J. Abrams and stunt coordinated Eunice Huthart offering instruction to a team of six actors dressed in Knights of Ren costumes.

The photo’s caption describes them as “elite fearsome enforcers of Kylo Ren’s dark will”. The photo itself gives us a much better look at the knights than in their rain-soaked flashback from Episode VII; they wield a variety of weapons, including axes, swords, and mauls, and their armour designs appear to pull from many different sources of inspiration; one wears a helmet that looks a little Clone Trooper-like, while another is almost Shogun-style.

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5 Best Fantasy Comics to Scratch That Game of Thrones Itch

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Eight seasons of epic storytelling in Game of Thrones have finally come to an end, but that doesn’t have to mean it will be the last spellbinding fantasy saga in your life. To fill that King’s Landing-sized hole in your heart, we have recommendations for five comic book series you can start reading right now for much of the same glorious and grisly fantasy storytelling you loved in the HBO series.

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IGN’s Top 25 Favourite Kart Racers

Kart racers are a bit of an enigma. They’re easily the most suitable racing games to play amongst friends, but they’re also capable of rapidly ruining relationships. They seem so lean and simple compared to the colossal car-PGs that dominate the realistic end of the racing spectrum, and yet for every bona fide classic – or even every cute, half-decent distraction – there’s a fistful of fetid, phoned-in flops based on the cheapest licenses money can buy. It’s obviously not as easy to put together a good kart racer as it looks.

We’ve been speeding, sliding, and slinging weapons through kart racers on just about every bit of hardware conceived throughout the last quarter of a century. They’ve become a lot rarer these days, although this week sees the release of Sega’s Team Sonic Racing – and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled will be unleashed next month. Can either of this pair stand the test of time and make the cut next time around?

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Introducing FroStee – Australia’s Hearthstone Grandmaster

Hearthstone’s new 2019 esports program is in full swing now, and the first stop on the Masters Tour is coming up in Las Vegas on June 15 – June 17. That tournament is going to be unlike anything Hearthstone has done before, with 350+ people competing in two days of Swiss rounds to determine who will go through to the top eight playoffs on the third day. Not only is this is the first Blizzard-run tournament of this size, it will also be a showcase for the game’s new Specialist format, which sees competitors bringing multiple decks for a single class.

Most of the players in attendance will have earnt their spots through online Masters Qualifiers tournaments, but there will be 48 players who get an invite by default. These are Hearthstone’s Grandmasters: 16 players from North America, 16 from Europe and 16 from APAC, all of whom were invited to be Grandmasters based on factors like lifetime earnings or HCT points earnt during 2018.

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Huge Hearthstone News: Rogue Nerfs, Card Buffs for Every Class and Another Free Legendary!

It’s all happening in the world of Hearthstone right now. Yesterday, Blizzard’s Team 5 announced a number of nerfs designed to address the power level of Rogue, hitting Preparation, Raiding Party and EVIL Miscreant; three of the core cards in the current build of Tempo Rogue. These changes are a reflection of how many powerful cards the class has right now – changing a single card just wouldn’t cut it. While the adjustments are relatively minor on their own, cumulatively they should reduce the power level of the archetype, and promote more diversity within the class.

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Game of Thrones Writer Joins Lord of the Rings Project at Amazon

Amazon is reportedly getting veteran fantasy producer Bryan Cogman to consult for their upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

According to sources close to Variety, Cogman, who served as both a writer and an executive producer on Game of Thrones, has already signed on to consult for the show, although Amazon told IGN they have no comment at this time.

Cogman, whose most recent work includes writing for the second episode of Game of Thrones' final season, is also set to write for the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Sword in the Stone for Disney. Cogman was also tapped to write for a Game of Thrones spin-off series for HBO, but he told Variety the project was "not moving forward."

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Game of Thrones Writer Joins Lord of the Rings Project at Amazon

Amazon is reportedly getting veteran fantasy producer Bryan Cogman to consult for their upcoming Lord of the Rings series.

According to sources close to Variety, Cogman, who served as both a writer and an executive producer on Game of Thrones, has already signed on to consult for the show, although Amazon told IGN they have no comment at this time.

Cogman, whose most recent work includes writing for the second episode of Game of Thrones' final season, is also set to write for the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Sword in the Stone for Disney. Cogman was also tapped to write for a Game of Thrones spin-off series for HBO, but he told Variety the project was "not moving forward."

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Comics Industry Mourns Passing of Marvel Artist

The world of comics lost one of its most prominent artists on May 18, 2019 when Justin Ponsor died after a two-year long battle with cancer, according to a post made by his family on his professional Facebook page (via Newsarama).

Ponsor, known to friends as J-Po, has been working primarily as a colorist for Marvel Comics since 2005 where he was a common name on high-profile titles like New Avengers, Spider-Men, Infinity, and Death of Wolverine, not to mention it was his palette seen across Marvel’s Ultimate line including Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate Spider-Man.

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Comics Industry Mourns Passing of Marvel Artist

The world of comics lost one of its most prominent artists on May 18, 2019 when Justin Ponsor died after a two-year long battle with cancer, according to a post made by his family on his professional Facebook page (via Newsarama).

Ponsor, known to friends as J-Po, has been working primarily as a colorist for Marvel Comics since 2005 where he was a common name on high-profile titles like New Avengers, Spider-Men, Infinity, and Death of Wolverine, not to mention it was his palette seen across Marvel’s Ultimate line including Ultimate X-Men, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Ultimate Spider-Man.

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