Breaking Bad Review - Season Five, Episode Five: Dead Freight

By Geddy Cahoon

Wow. That's all I have to say coming off of last night's episode of Breaking Bad, Dead Freight. Going into it, I didn't know what to think because the previews indicated that it would primarily involve the three main guys robbing a train. Any part of me that was worried was countered with a part of me that reassured myself, "If any show can do this right, it's BB."

What we ended up getting was a fairly decent episode, with it's share of great scenes, a handful of flaws, and an amazing final fifteen minutes, ending with one of the most surprising and sickening things I've ever seen on any television show, ever.

Hit the jump to hear my in-depth thoughts on this week's episode of Breaking Bad, Dead Freight.

Figure Fraction: NECA Ninja Turtles - The Greatest Toy Line That Never Was?

Hey everybody, Geddy Cahoon here with my second Ninja Turtles related post in as many days. So I guess at this point, it's no secret that I'm going on a bit of a Ninja Turtles kick these days. And why shouldn't I be? What with the new cartoon coming out, the figures being cheaply available at all major retailers, and the sheer amount of love these guys receive from collectors and kids across the board, the TMNT one isn't a bad bandwagon to jump on.

Today however, I don't want to talk about Playmates' Ninja Turtles, or the new cartoon, or any of the new stuff. Instead, I want to talk about 2008. I want to talk about NECA, and Mirage Comics, and a fantastic toy line that died due to, effectively, corporate greed. Of course, I'm by no means an action figure authority. Me calling this the "Greatest toy line that never was" is obviously just a highly subjective opinion. And almost all serious action figure collectors have lamented about the failure of this line at one time or another. But in my current TMNT-Centric state, I felt compelled to write about it anyway.

Hit the jump to hear my extended thoughts on NECA's failed attempt at bringing collector-grade Ninja Turtles to the mass market.

NWC Figure Fraction: The New Villain Designs for TMNT - Too Retro?

Hey everybody, Geddy Cahoon with my second post of the day (I've been feeling extra-efficient). I figured I would update the Figure Fraction page with some concerns I have over the toyline I'm currently obsessing over.

Basically: There's a new Ninja Turtles cartoon debuting on Nickelodeon in September. The cartoon doesn't look fantastic, but I'll definitely be giving it a shot before I renounce it or anything. The toyline on the other hand? It's freaking awesome. I've already gotten Leonardo, Raphael, and Kraang, and I'll be snagging the rest of the turtles, April, Shredder and Splinter soon enough. That should really be a testament to the greatness of these things: I'm by no means a huge turtle fan, but I feel totally compelled to own the whole line. Mini-review real quick: They're awesome and cheap. Buy them.

However, as awesome as the figures are, there are some distinct issues with all of the figures in this line who are A. Villains and B. Not Turtles. The articulation on the Kraang figure sucks, as cool as the design is, and the Shredder is lacking in both aesthetic and articulation. The trend seemingly continues with these two newly announced villains (Two newly announced because the uncolored robot thing-y is a revamp of a retro character) that are coming up in September.

Hit the jump to here my detailed thoughts on the two newest members of the TMNT family, Dog Pound and Fish Face!

NOTE: I won't be talking about Metal Head at all in this post. The final figure may look wildly different than the one shown, and the one shown isn't even that bad and fits quite nicely into the new series' aesthetic.

Breaking Bad Review: Season 5, Episode 4 - "Fifty One"

By Geddy Cahoon

Hey everybody, Geddy Cahoon here with the first installment of what I hope will be a weekly feature here on Nerd World Country - A review of this week's episode of Breaking Bad. It's no secret that we love Breaking Bad here at NWC. It's a fantastic series, arguably the greatest ever, and it's something pretty much everyone should be watching. We discussed it in the first podcast, and I've been tossing around the idea of reviewing episodes on a weekly basis for a while now. I've finally decided to pull the trigger on after viewing last night's episode, Fifty One. It might seem a little dumb to start reviewing halfway through the season, but whatever. Sue me.

Hit the jump to read my thoughts on the most recent episode of Breaking Bad.

*NOTE: This review is obviously spoiler-heavy, and is of course written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with BB's characters, plot threads, and etc.

The Amazing Scott's Amazing Review of The... Not Terrible Spider-Man

by Scott Speegle

         I'm feeling pretty awesome these days. I'm drawing a lot, writing a lot, and the other day I revisited Chris Hardwick's book The Nerdist Way. In that book one of the sections that resonated most with me was the notion that, as human beings, our emotional responses to pretty much everything we encounter usually follow pretty predictable patterns based on our previous responses. In other words we feel the way we feel about things favorably if we feel favorable about things frequently and vice versa for negative feelings. 

Since my review of The Dark Knight Rises (which you can read in full here) I've been trying to make a concerted effort to 'see the good in things' as it were. The thing is, it's been working. The reason I'm choosing to precede my review with this anecdote is because it might have some degree of affect on the review itself, either way here's a picture of Spider-Man in swishy pants.

This has nothing to do with the review, I just think it's funny.

-hit the jump to read the full review! Note: This review contains spoilers and is written on the assumption that the reader has seen the film and is familiar with the characters involved.- 

The Dark Knight Rises... then Returns.

by Scott Speegle

Batman. The consensus over here is that we like him. A lot. The thing is though that these days just about everybody and their mother likes Batman. The nerds don't own him anymore. We lost whatever battle it was that decided he belonged to everyone and now we have to live with the fallout. This isn't all bad however in that, just like everything else, with greater exposure to a wider variety of creative people, properties like comic characters should see changes that increase their depth and add to what makes them interesting.
This has largely been the case with Batman thus far. What the promotional image above strongly implies and communicates are a wide variety of very serious promises with far reaching implications. As arguably one of the most anticipated films ever, The Dark Knight Rises has a lot of challenges in dealing with its choice of executing these promises or side stepping them entirely.

-hit the jump to read the full review. SPOILERS ABOUND. Also as a note: this review is written on the assumption that the reader has seen the film and is familiar with the characters involved.-

Scott's T-shirt design now up on We Love Fine!

As part of We Love Fine's Marvel villain shirt design contest Scott has submitted this original Thanos design. Check it out on We Love Fine's website via the link below and if you like it, rate it! There's cash prizes at stake and that shit can always help. Rate and leave a comment here and there might be some kind of original art give away incentive. The rating period opens soon so reminders will be flying.

We know damn well that you want this bitch on your nerdy little torso.

contest page