The information about new games in the main Pokémon series appeared last year, but so far fans of pocket monsters could only guess what’s going to come next. Now the new «Pokémon RPG 2019» has more details. What is interesting in the latest projects of the iconic franchise?
Sword and Shield
First of all, the «Pokémon RPG 2019» finally possessed a name. During the February video presentation Pokémon Direct, names of Pokémon Sword and Pokémon Shield games were revealed, they will be the eighth generation in the series.
As well as in previous generations, Sword and Shield will be separate games, and despite the similar story, the single setting and game mechanics are going to differ in the set of included pokemons. However, there is no need to buy every game at once: in order to catch them all, the owners of various versions are able to exchange their pocket monsters.
Brave New World
New generation — new region. This time, the game will take place in the region of Galar, which is going to be one of the biggest settings in the series with the great number of different zones. The Galar’s theme reminds of the undecided in its time period UK, which was the subject of rumors long before the game’s presentation.
The full map of the region of Galar
On the official map of the region posted on the teaser site of the game there are rural, urban and industrial zones, as well as various climatic biomes.
Railways and trains can also be noticed on the map. Apparently, they will serve as a means for rapid travelling in the region.
They’re not Pikachu!
In addition to the names and setting, three new initial pokémon were shown: Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble, which relate to grass, fire, and water types respectively. It is with one of them that players will begin their journey as a pokémon coach.
Initial pokemons of Sword/Shield Grookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble
In Sword and Shield the series will return to the system of Gyms and and icons instead of tests from the previous generation, Sun and Moon. it means that the main purpose of the games is again gaining the title of Champion, the best trainer of pokemon.
Some information about «Pokémon RPG 2019» appeared in the middle of 2018 for the first time. It was when The Pokémon Company announced the development of new games. The franchise itself was created by Satoshi Tajiri, a Japanese video game designer, in 1996, while the game’s production was managed by Game Freak studio. In addition to games, the franchise includes manga, anime, collectible card game and several full-length cartoons.
In may 2019, the big screens will also see the first feature film in the series — POKÉMON Detective Pikachu with Ryan Reynolds as Detective Pikachu. Pokémon Sword/Shield themselves will be released exclusively on Nintendo Switch in the end of 2019.
Sergey Lazarev will be representing Russia at the Eurovision at Tel Aviv for the second time. This Russian artist won the public vote, but based on the results of overall scoring he took the third place in 2016. The European audience was moved by his song «You Are The Only One» and the breathtaking performance with 3D projection. Now, everyone bode him the the success of another artist, Dima Bilan, who managed to win a Crystal microphone with the second attempt.
Which other artists from Russia achieved success and claimed the first place in the main European song contest?
Sergey Lazarev will be representing Russia at the Eurovision again
Alsou «Solo» (2000) — 2nd place
Alsou became the first Russian representative to take a prize place
The first one to have an impact on Europe was sixteen year old Alsou, the youngest contestant in the history of this show, with the song «Solo». Originally, «Solo» was made for male vocals, but the artist was so imbued with the song, so she choose it. The authors, Andrew Lane and Brandon Barnes, corrected the song for the young singer, and she went to thrill Europe. Alsou won the second place, what became a real triumph for Russia.
Tatu «Don’t believe, don’t be afraid, don’t ask» (2003) — 3rd place
Tatu believed in their victory until the end, but took only the third place
The third place was accepted with disappointment. In 2003 the duo actively transferred from Russia to Europe and held a leading position in the charts of many countries of the continent. So the girls were one of the favorite contestants on the show. Julia Volkova and Lena Katina wore shirts with number one, because they were sure in their victory. However, Tatu took the third place, lagging behind the leaders only by 1 and 3 points. Many people assume that their Russian song «Don’t believe, don’t be afraid, don’t ask» was not understood by the European audience.
Serebro «Song #1» (2007) — 3rd place
Serebro became a real discovery of Eurovision
The group’s debut with their «Song #1» took place at “Eurovision-2007”. The unknown trio of Maxim Fadeev was the winner of the national contest. People did not pin their hopes on inexperienced girls, but they brilliantly performed at the final and took the honorable third place.
Polina Gagarina «Million voices» (2015) — 2nd place
Polina Gagarina’s performance turned into a magic fairytale
Polina Gagarina was representing Russian at the Eurovision with the composition «Million voices» which was written by five authors from different countries. The song is about intolerance to the division of people, the importance of love and peace between them. The magnificent dress of the artist became a part of the projected starry sky. Her performance is considered one of the most memorable performances in the history of the Eurovision. During the show, Gagarina was a leader, but lost the victory to the Swedish representative in the final.
Dima Bilan «Never let you go» (2006), «Believe» (2008) — 2nd and 1st places
Dima Bilan brought Russia the only one victory at Eurovision
Dima Bilan was able to impress the Eurovision twice. The first time, in 2006, the artist with the song «Never let you go» took the second place, giving up the victory to a Finnish hard rock band «Lordi». Ballerinas took part in the performance, and one of them appeared in rose petals from the piano in the middle of the song. In his performance, Bilan did his signature jump for the first time, which became the singer’s hallmark.
Dima Bilan managed to win a Crystal microphone with the second attempt. He also brought Eurovision to Russia for the first time in the history of the show. Together with the figure skater Evgeni Plushenko and the violinist Edvin Marton, the artist created a performance for his song «Believe». Putting his health in danger, Bilan performed barefoot on ice while the famous skater could hurt the singer in any time. But the performance was impeccable and very sensual, which touched both the jury and the audience.The outcome was the first and so far the only Russian victory at Eurovision.
Robert McKee is one of the most sought after scriptwriters in the world. He has published several books and regularly holds seminars for those who want to learn storytelling. Students of his seminars participated in the creation of such films and TV series as Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, The Wolf of Wall Street and others.
The book “Story” as fully as possible reveals how to tell a story so that it finds its viewer. “History” is written in simple and accessible language, so it is not necessary to know the basics of drama: it will be useful for both beginners and followers.
Blake Snyder – “Save The Cat! The Last Book on Screenwriting You’ll Ever Need”
Blake Snyder “Save the Cat!”
Blake Snyder was a screenwriter, producer, and storytelling consultant. He created scripts and earned money by selling them.
The book “Save the cat!” is in first place in the top of the Amazon site in the “movie scripts” section and is very popular among screenwriters around the world. It is read in one breath. Blake Snyder describes the techniques for creating a memorable and vivid history, each item is illustrated clearly, this is a practical guide that will answer the most important questions.
The screenwriter offers his own classification of genres and his recipe for creating a potential masterpiece consisting of 15 ingredients.
Aristotle – “Poetics”
Aristotle – the ancient Greek philosopher, author of the treatise “Poetics”
The study of stories and characters began much earlier than the cinema era. Aristotle’s Poetics treatise was written in 335 BC, it reveals the fundamentals and proposes a theory of drama. The ancient Greek philosopher defines poetics as a whole, speaks about the main techniques of the tragedy, gives the character traits that the heroes of each story should possess.
“Poetics” and other works of Aristotle – an important stage in the study and classification of theories of drama.
Initially, the work consisted of two parts: the first reveals the principles and parts of the tragedy, the second – the comedy. Unfortunately, the second part did not reach modern readers.
The method gist implies: a human completely refuses not only any food but also water during 1-3 days. This is a gentle form. A harsh form of dry starvation is the prohibition of all water procedures, even washing and toothbrushing.
Dry starvation proponents say that due to the liquids scarcity an organism is forced to rapidly supply its lipid tissue. There are 100-120 billion of lipid cells in human body. Lipids are the hugest energetic and water depo as during lipolysis (fat digestion) water is being produced. This is endogenous, or internal moisture. It is presupposed that it will be enough for the first few days not to die from the dehydration.
Except weight lose this method, allegedly, aids to avoid edema and even exclude inflamed areas: microorganisms whereas they are viruses or microbes also need water for reproduction.
The idea is interesting and charming, yet the truth is that beneficials are not scientifically substantiated.
What world medical society says about dry starvation
Nothing. It prefers to ignore the existence of this method.
The consumers of the popular news source Reddit tried to argument profitability (or at least harmlessness) of dry diet and were able to find just several links on scientific researches. However, the existing ones are not allowed to consider as exhaustive and undeniable.
For instance, one group of scientists made a research of the influence of a five-day water abstinence on a person. It didn’t reflect negatively on a testee health. On the contrary, their bodies lost in volume, and kidneys work enhanced.
Nevertheless, only 10 grown-up, physically healthy people participated in the experiment. Its results are not applicable for all human beings.
Dry starvation was mentioned in the handbook for physicians published in the Ministry of Health and Social Development 14 years ago. it is claimed, in particular, that an organism easier overcomes waterless starvation then orthodox with maintenance of drinking. Besides, it aids when a person is intending to lose weight and cure some illnesses. Authors equate three days without water and food to the week of non-refuse of food and water. Unfortunately, their claims are disapproved, that is why it is not allowed to believe them.
What, in fact, happens when an organism is dehydrated
Weight is really wasted and rapidly enough. Frankly, you will not be happy for a long time: such fluctuations of the body mass are mainly connected with liquid loss, not lipid tissue, and after drinking recovery kilos will return again.
This ends up with nominal advantages of dry starvation and it is time to speak about minuses which are numeral.
It is significantly easier to find information about negative consequences of food refusal. metabolic rate unstoppably going in our organism and maintaining our life is impossible without food. Due to the water lack metabolism is being slowed down, and it, at first, effects brain work.
The following symptoms catching up in the first days:
dizziness
headache
unreasonable apatia
concentration loss
The further, the worst. Doctors warn: it is fraught with hypoxia, kidneys illnesses, crampings and pre-existing conditions due to the broken transfer of neural impulses.
Summing it up, it is essential to note that dry starvation transfer a person to the extremal for his life conditions. Its value is not proved and harm is.
During cold winter nights you can make mulled wine, dive into a blanket, and watch black and white movies. Those which characters of Sarah Jessica Parker and Chris Noth were watching in the second part of Sex in the City. true masterpieces keep thrilling and never get old. Their black-and-white aesthetics as well as acting still fascinate people.
All About Eve (1950)
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Plot: the competition between a Broadway legend Margo Channing (Bette Davis) and her fan, an amateur actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter). The audience can also see Marilyn Monroe in a small episodic role. For Marilyn it is one of the first roles in her career. The movie won six Academy Awards, including Best Film from any Source award. Half a century later, an eccentric Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar creates an allusion of the story in his All About My Mother film.
A shot from Everything abot Eve
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Director: Elia Kazan
It is an adaptation of Tennessee Williams‘s play of the same name which brings us to poor districts of New Orleans. An aging, but still beautiful Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) and her sister’s husband Stanley Kowalski (Marlon Brando) face the contradictions. The film won a lot of awards, including Vivien’s Academy Award nomination for Best Actress which, according to the actress led her to madness.
Vivien Leigh and Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire
Roman Holiday (1953)
Director: William Wyler
It is a light romantic comedy about a princess and an American journalist which touches more than one generation. The narrative is very simple, it tells the well-known story of love between a princess and a commoner. Audrey Hepburn won an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance. It happened eight years prior her most recognizable role of Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany’sfilm.
Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck in Roman Holiday
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Director: Billy Wilder
The film starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon which is often being called the best comedy in the movie history. The story of adventurers, hiding from gangsters, touring with the women’s orchestra, is known all over the world. The film won Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award and became a leading film not only in the US, but also in USSR.
Marilyn Monroe as Sugar Kane
Psycho (1960)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Those, who love being titillated, can watch a psychological horror film by Hitchcock. The film is construed as one of the key movies of all times. The principles of showing the subconscious fear of the characters, used by the director, influenced all subsequent horror films.
Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Director: Mike Nichols Elizabeth Taylor confessed in her memoirs that the role of Martha was the best in her career because during the whole shooting process she was Acting. A family drama about a relationship between loving and hating each other spouses caused a resonance among viewers and critics. The film built on conflicts and cursing which realistically shows family relationships. The film won five American Academy Awards, including one for Best Actress.
A frame from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Manhattan (1979)
Director: Woody Allen
One of the most popular Woody Allen’s film takes the viewer to his favorite city. Passions, doubts, and contradictions of the characters are imbued with the rhythm of Manhattan. Viewers, critics, and new Yorkers themselves agree that the director has created a cinematic anthem of the city.
According to critics, Manhattan is the best Allen’s film
Being on top of your game is very important, especially when you have a lot of deadlines. These couple of techniques will help organize your studying and working. They cannot give you extra hours in a day, but they are able to increase your productivity.
The Cornell Note-taking System
Cornell Notes example
Walter Pauk, a professor at Cornell University and the creator of this method, decided to walk away from a usual linear form of writing notes in the 1950s. He suggested to divide a piece of paper into several blocks to help organize different information. In an original variant these blocks are notes, keywords and comments, and summary. The main advantage of this technique is that it allows you to process and analyse the information while note taking. Psychologists Annie Piolat, Thierry Olive, and Ronald T. Kellogg conducted a study which proved that The Cornell Method actually helps to remember information faster and to be more productive. So arm yourself with pens and learn to make notes correctly.
Mind Maps
A mind map is a way of visualizing information based on radiant thinking. Simply put, it is a method of organizing data in which the facts are presented in the form of associations, starting from a Central Idea.
Mind map on time management
A lot of people know about mind maps, but not all of them understand why they are effective. Tony Buzan, a psychologist who created mind mapping, explained that nowadays a left hemisphere, responsible for logic, is dominating over a right hemisphere, responsible for creativity. This causes an imbalance which reduces productivity. Mind maps make both hemispheres work together because a written information combines with images. This method is helpful not only in studying, but also in planning. However, it is important to learn some rules first, so the technique can work efficiently.
The Eisenhower Matrix
Time is the most valuable resource, so it is essential to know how to use it correctly. The Eisenhower Matrix is a method of setting priorities. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States and the creator of this technique, was known as a well-disciplined and organized person. The Eisenhower Matrix consists of four squares in which you put your tasks depending on their urgency and importance.
Pomodoro Technique
When all notes are taken, mind maps are created, and tasks are prioritized, there is the one thing left – make yourself to do all planned and learn everything written. At this point, there are problems with self-organization because concentrating on one task can be very complicated. That is when you should use Pomodoro Technique.
A “tomato” as a remedy against procrastination
Its essence lies in the fact that the learning process is divided into periods of time, which are conventionally called “tomatoes”. One “tomato” is 30 minutes long: 25 minutes of work and 5 min rest. After 4 “tomatoes” you need to take a long break for 20-30 minutes. It is very important to time yourself not with a phone (so you won’t be distracted by notifications), but with a timer, as Francesco Chirillo, the author of the technique, did. Currently, there are multiple sites with Pomodoro timer.
From the ancient times people strive for expressing themselves via art, inventing more and more tools for this. Literature, fine arts, statuary, architecture, music, photography, cinema – all of these are media created in a result of technological progress and a drive for sharing new ideas.
Video games is a form of creativity as well, however, they are not construed as a real art yet. Although, a couple of examples can make people doubt in this statement.
Journey
Speaking of aesthetic qualities and audiovisual sequence of video games, we should look a little closer at Journey by thatgamecompany.
An exciting and meditative adventure is a common description for Journey
Journey tells us a story about a nameless figure in a vast desert, traveling towards a mountain in the distance where he expects to find something that he needs for some reason. The game lacks any kind of speech or dialogue what creates space for personal interpretation of the story. The game never tells anything directly, but the surrounding world gradually reveals the veil of secrecy around the place and our main character. All of these creates a unique magic atmosphere of journey where adventures await at every turn.
At the same time a meditative and exciting game Journey has conquered the hearts of most people and earned the recognition of critics.
Cuphead
Another example of a video game as an audiovisual piece of art is Cupheadby Studio MDHR Corp.
Even a promo cover sends us to the 1930s
A visual style of Max Fleischer’s animation of the 1930s, hand-drawn characters and backgrounds, and an unpretentious story about a cupheaded boy attach the feeling of an interactive cartoon to this game.
Cuphead is a synthesis of old-school creative techniques and up-to-date technologies. The game has been fully appreciated by players as well as by critics.
Stanley Parable
Not all of the games can boast a vivid and memorable visual image like previous ones. But the main distinctive feature of Stanley Parable game is its story, or, to be more precise, the absence of it.
The main screen of Stanley Parable
This game can be colloquially called a walking simulator. At first sight, the game is pretty obvious: nothing interesting is happening and the character can only wander around and interact with a short amount of objects. Nevertheless, this kind of games can be very surprising when it comes to a unique way of storytelling.
Stanley Parable’s main character is clearly Stanley, an ordinary office worker who does not have anything to do but pushing the buttons on his monitor. However, one day all his colleagues disappear and the flox of commands on his screen stops.
During the course of the game, speechless Stanley is being guided by a storyteller who voices over all character’s moves and gives him hints of what to do next. The player can either listen to the invisible narrator or disobey his suggestions, on which the guide will immediately react. The game encourages the players initiative to make their own decisions, giving them a control over situations and total freedom. To be completely honest, the reality is that every single step is already planned by creators of the game, but it only means the games plays chicken with people pretty well.
This is the Adventure Line at the beginning of the game. Although, you don’t have to follow it
Stanley Parable is hardly a first experiment with an interactive form of narrative, but it is one of the most successful and highly rated ones in this peculiar genre.
Papers, Please
Even the most seemingly boring professions turn inside out in video games. For instance, the Papers, Please game tells the story of a typical border crossing immigration officer.
Even by looking at logo of the game, we can find a lot of common features
The main character is an immigration officer in the fictional dystopian country of Arstotzka. His motivation is pretty simple: the more people he checks the higher his salary is. Every day the government introduces new rules and changes the list of necessary documents for which you have to closely monitor. If you make too many mistakes during checking you will get a fine.
Very soon there is going to be too many documents that it will be impossible not to miss something
Looking through the documents, the player gradually finds out more and more about Arstotzka and the surrounding world. Although, the work at border crossing post is not that easy as it might seem at first. One character forgets his or her documents at home, or has an important operation, but does not have a necessary pass, another might have all required documents, but he is a suspect in following people he wants to kill. These and many other moral dilemmas give Papers, Please a new depth.
What can be more lame that checking documents the whole day? But this dark, Kafkaian game immerses players into the story and does not let go until the very end.
There should be mentioned much more fascinating projects which go beyond these usual “shooters” and “puzzles”. But, as with any work of art, you better play these games once instead of hearing about them a hundred times.
Psychologists, sociologists and film critics were studying this paradox from various perspectives. However, they couldn’t definitely answer the question why it happened like that. Nevertheless, they elaborated several theories explaining this phenomenon.
Theory 1. Fire with fire
A scene from the «Anabelle», 2014
Fear is a protective reaction of any living being, which aids him to survive. However, if fear is not controlled or suppressed, it turns into the phobia. As a rule, phobia is connected to something unknown and unexplainable. Here one can remember plots of traditional horror movies. Ghosts, devils, damnations or maniacs, insane and cannibals – all of them are included into any horror and serve a particular function of phobia trigger. In other words, focal elements of a scary movie are external impeti which bring on fear. As the psychiatrist Roman Suleymanov said, the best way to overcome fear is to experience it. Therefore, horror movies give people an opportunity to tackle with their anxiety, even unconscious.
Theory 2. The cat’s out of the bag
A scene from the «Friday the 13th», 2009
A human is not only a social being but also biological one. It’s typical for him a tendency to violence which is explained by natural necessity to defend from enemies. Aggressive behaviour, as filosofer O.Spengler and zoophychologist K. Lorenc guess, helped a person to survive in the evolution process. However, nowadays people have no necessity to kill. Besides, harsh social boundaries restrict and suppress aggressive actions. Yet human nature works like that: it is complicated to suppress aggression, it is much easier to take it out. Subconsciously a spectator can associate himself to a killer. In that case scary movies become a «vaccine» against violence. They simulate situations which will hardly appear in reality, and, besides, they enable a person to «try on» a maniac role.
Theory 3. Just for fun
A scene from the «Saw 7», 2010
From science perspective, during the strong emotional troubles human brain oozes powerful neuromediators: oxytocin and dopamine – hormones requesting for the happiness and pleasure feelings. Horror movies is a peculiar emotional shock for the brain. That’s why a person might feel satisfaction after watching a scary film. Despite it sounds paradoxically, in that case horror movies is a kind of ride which is more likely to cheer you up then to scary.
Each year there appear more and more animation series with 18+ rating, discussing such themes as politics, relationships, sex, violence and etcetera. And these animated fictions are drastically different from good old Disney movies. The well-known The Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Futurama, American Dad! started releasing in early 2000s. Furthermore, over the past five years there were created new adult series, some of which are claiming to be construed as iconic.
The story (short parody film of Back to the Future) revolves around the adventures of an ordinary boy Morty Smith and his grandfather Rich, the crazy scientist, who possesses the cutting-edge technologies for space travel.
Shortly after its release, Rick and Morty became a new trending cartoon for adults along with epochal The Simpsons. The series is still one of the highest cartoons in ranking (97% on RottenTomatoes) and keeps pleasing the fans with new episodes about politics, science, and family relationship.
Meet BoJack Horseman – the washed-up sitcom star of the 1990s – 20 years later. Now he lives in Hollywood, drinks whisky, and plans his big return to celebrity relevance by writing memoirs.
The show was warmly welcomed by critics as well as by the audience for its realism: the main character deals with depression, psychological traumas, alcoholism, drugs addiction, self-deterioration – and all of these is peppered with black humor and sarcasm making fun of our society.
The comparison of people and animals frequently appears in culture and always does the trick of reflecting the real life with all its manifestations. In front of us is New York City – a concrete jungle the inhabitants of which are rats suffering from unrequited love, gay pigeons, and bedbugs with midlife crisis whose stories are being told in the series.
Overall, it is a very funny, slightly cynical, and extremely truthful animated fiction which may not brighten up your weekdays, but definitely will make you think.
2018: Disenchantment – a new Netflix release which did not turned out to be a disappointment
«Misadventure awaits»
The series is about an alcoholic princess Bean living in a medieval kingdom Dreamland. Obviously, the father-king wants to get his rebellious daughter married against her will. That is why Bean with the company of an elf and her destructive “personal demon” leaves the kingdom and travels the world meeting fantastic creatures and equally interesting people.
The series can be fairly called the feminine version of Bojack Horseman, but Disenchantment also has its own charm and story. Additionally, that Medieval atmosphere really helps the feeling of realism: of course, not princesses in magnificent dresses or magic creatures – but vikings, drunkards, criminals, and other tasteful attributes of middle ages.
2018: Super Drags– on the same page with social justice warriors
«Adults only, honey»
Three gay friends lead double lives as superhero drag queens, fighting crimes against the LGBT community.
The newest animated series from Netflix is actively discussed in social media: not a lot of people have seen it yet, but the idea itself is a whole reason for debates. We will find out the reaction of viewers later, but, for instance, Jason Fontelieu called the show a good sarcastic comedy, although, unfinished in terms of the narrative and made for a very limited audience.
Stan Lee, the legend created Marvel Comics, has passed away at the age of 95. The artist, writer, producer, actor, and neither more nor less than “a person who made comics cool” – that is how the millions will remember Stan Lee. People will love his worlds and heroes as much as they loved him. However, there are characters which were not as popular as Spider-Man and X-Men.
Stripperella
One of the most famous not-popular characters is Strippella – a stripper named Erotica Jones who is also a secret agent.
The DVD cover of Strippella
Besides the enhanced reflexes and senses, superhuman strength, and an astonishing intelligence, Erotica can boast “sexy” martial arts and the arsenal of high-technological devices of questionable usefulness.
In 2003, debuted the eponymous TV-series where the main character was played by Pamela Anderson who gave Strippella her appearance and voice. These superhero series created for adults were rather comic making fun of genre cliches and conditionalities.
Despite the overall success of the series, it was closed down after 13 episodes because of the dispute between Stan Lee and Pamela Anderson. Another reason for this cancellation was that the ex-stripper Janet Clover claimed that Stan Lee stole her idea of this character when she discussed it during a lap dance.
Lightspeed
The next superhero on our list is another secret agent Daniel Light, also known as Lightspeed.
The box-art of Lightspeed
Daniel Light is a government agent who has the ability of super-speed, but this superpower puts him under a risk of getting fatal metabolic damage. Lightspeed gained his powers after surviving a building collapse triggered by the half-man, half-snake terrorist, called Python.
The movie about Lightspeed was released in 2006, and, to put it mildly, it hardly got any responses. Neither the Stan Lee’s status nor Jason Connery starring as Daniel Light helped the motion picture to stand out.
Mosaic
The next superhero appearing under the Stan Lee Presents banner is Mosaic, also known as Maggie Nelson, aspiring young actress, who gained chameleon-like powers after some supernatural circumstances.
The box-art of Mosaic
Maggie was exposed to an electrical storm and a magic rune which her father, an Interpol agent, had planned to study. After getting under this ancient spell, she possessed the ability to change her appearance, to merge with the environment, and to speak the language of an ancient race Chameliel, the owners of the magic rune. Using her new powers, Maggie investigates series of murders with Chameliel’s involvement and the origin of ancient artifacts.
The eponymous cartoon film was released in January 2007. This time the audience’s reaction was way better than in case of Lightspeed movie.
The Condor
After less than four months, another animated film with an original superhero The Condor saw the light. This movie tells the story of Tony Valdez, a professional skateboarder by day and an avenger in mask by night.
The box-art of The Condor
During a dangerous zombie attack, caused by nano-technologies invented by Valdez family, Tony gets severely injured and loses both of his parents. However, his friend Sammi returns him the mobility with similar nano-technology. The action has its side effect which gives Tony superhuman abilities. After gaining his capability to walk, The Condor starts the investigation of his family’s murder, hoping to revenge the killer.
The Condor film was accepted better than Lightspeed, but comparably worse the Mosaic one. Overall, the audience took the film relatively well.
Chakra The Invincible
One of the most interesting characters is Chakra – an Indian superhero created in collaboration with Graphic India studio.
The cover of the third issue of Chakra: The Invincible
Raju Rai, Chakra The Invincible, is an ordinary boy from Mumbai conducting a research on chakra energy with the scientist Dr. Singh. Together they develop a technological suit that weaponizes all the Chakras in the body. Raju can fly, emit the energy beams and has superpowers. Using his superhuman abilities, he protects Mumbai from different scourges and dangerous villains.
Chakra The Invincible is one of the most successful Stan Lee’s original projects. The story turned into three animation films which were released in English and Hindi, series of comics, video games and toys.
Karakuridouji Ultimo
You would not expect the Stan Lee’s authorship behind the next story referring to Karakuridouji Ultimo. This character was created by Stan Lee and Hiroyuki Takei, a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of Shaman King.
The cover of the first issue of Karakuridouji Ultimo
This manga is about two robots, Ultimo and Vice, created in feudal Japan by Dr. Dunstan to be “perfect good” and “perfect evil”. Ultimo possesses the ability to transform into animal-like shapes, such as lions and cranes, and to manipulate time and space.
The pilot of Karakuridouji Ultimo was published in 2008, and it was positively met by the audience intrigued by a new shift in Stan Lee’s works.
Heroman
Another product of collaboration with Japanese manga artists is Heroman created by Stan Lee and Tamon Ohta.
A frame from Heroman. To the left – Joey, to the right – Heroman
Heroman, to be more precise, is actually two characters in one. On one hand, it is orphaned American boy Joey, from another — a robot Heroman which Joey fixed himself. Together they resist the alien attack caused by Joey’s school teacher.
Originally, Heroman was a broken toy that Joey repaired, but could not make work. However, a strange bolt of lightning brought Heroman to life, turned it into a giant robot, and gave Joey a special gauntlet. With its help, Joey could control Heroman.
For the first time Heroman was released as a manga in 2009 and has been publishing until 2012. Then, in 2010, the Bones studio produced an anime adaptation consisted of 26 episodes
