Baloo and Bagheera?

C'mon Baggy, get with the beat!

There are some insane deals on Disney Infinity figures right now.  Best Buy has some figures marked down to 5 dollars and most of the others down to 9.  In addition to that a lot of the discs are also half priced.  Toys R Us has buy one, get one for a dollar on all of there figures.  I had to get Baloo because Jungle Book is my favorite Disney movie.  As soon as my son saw Black Panther something clicked in his soul and he needed to have him.  When we got the two of them home I realized just how appropriate the paring was.

Disney Infinity 3.0: Marvel

Disney Infinity's 3.0 edition has been going strong with the Star Wars releases.  I haven't played the Force Awakens playset yet, but I can say that the Prequel playset is fun, the Original Trilogy playset is amazing, and the light up figures work better than imagined.  The Marvel news has been pretty quiet though.  We knew that there was a Marvel Battlegrounds playset coming out.  That it would allow up to four people to play and that one of the figures included would be an unmasked Captain America.  Unmasked if the perfect way to symbolize the movie universe because no one keeps their damn masks on, but that is a rant for another day.  But seriously, superheroes in movies and television need to keep their damn masks on.

The new Marvel lineup has been revealed even though many of the figures had already been teased or easily guessed by looking at Marvel's movie lineup.  An amazing looking Black Panther will be hitting the shelves along side Vision, Ant-Man, Black Suited Spiderman, and a pack of Power Discs.  Black Suited Spidey was a Vita exclusive for 2.0, but will finally be available to everyone.  The Power Disc pack includes The Tesseract, Nova Corps, Darkhawk, and Ghost Rider's Bike.  Which means everyone who buys that pack, really just buying it for that awesome motorcycle.

The other interesting thing to note is many of these packages have a wi-fi icon on them.  This is to let players know that these figures will require a software update on Disney Infinity to work.  Most consoles are connected to the internet but this an important fact for those who may have difficulty getting their game system online.

Disney Infinity 3.0

Last Christmas my son and I were gifted Disney Infinity 2.0 and it hit us as gently as a heroin addiction.  My house has an army of wonderfully sculpted plastic statues of Marvel, Pixar, and Disney characters.  I was able to make my own fun out of the game, but the 3 core play sets were very combat oriented and the game’s combat really wasn’t that fun.  Last Sunday Disney Infinity 3.0 launched with its new Star Wars theme.  The weeks before the launch were full of preview video and interviews talking about how much had changed.  The new information looked promising but how different would it really be?

I don’t believe 2.0 is a game I could recommend to someone.  3.0 looked like it would change that but I wasn’t sure.  The starter set is going to give you Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and the Twilight of the Republic play set.  Playstation users were able to order a special edition which comes with the Rise of the Empire set, Luke, Leia, and Boba Fett.  All of that content will be available later to all other versions.  I enjoyed the Clone Wars series so I was okay with waiting for the Classic stuff.  I ran through the tutorials and started the playset.  I’ve played enough to confidently form an opinion but I haven’t come close to doing everything that you can do.

First things first, the new combat is fantastic.  The Jedi pull or push enemies, send them flying into the air, and then slice them to ribbons with their lightsabers.  Thankfully the other new characters are just as impressive.  Sabine from Rebels has become one of my favorites as she leaps over enemies and sprays them down with her dual blasters.  On top of that there is also starship combat.  It’s a simple shooter but a lot of fun.  I’m looking forward to jumping into the X-Wings when I pick up the Classic stuff.

It isn’t just the combat that has improved though.  The driving also got overhauled.  In the previous versions jumping into a car felt floaty and handled odd. The new mechanics feel very familiar.  Even the little I’ve seen from the new playsets seem to do a good job mixing up the action with doses of platforming, exploring, and space combat.  There is a lot more coming out for the game too.  A speedway racing disc, a Force Awakens set, and new Marvel set have all been announced.  While I couldn’t recommend 2.0 I can recommend 3.0; just don’t buy it at full price.  Figures, playsets, and core boxes go on sale for this franchise all the time.  The figures can be a huge money sink and paying full price for them just doesn’t make sense.  During the launch week Target is running a 2 for 20 sale and Best Buy has buy 3 items get 1 free.

Marvel Infinity

The Skylanders model of toy + video game was a huge success.  So much so that Disney followed it up with their Infinity game.  Sure there are differences in what you can do with the games but the most basic concept is the same; put a toy on a reader and it does something in your game.  I grabbed the first Skylanders when it came out because I thought the concept was so interesting.  That and I could make a walking shark wear a pirate hat and punch things with brass knuckles. 

Despite really liking the blocky art style of Disney’s Infinity game I was okay with admiring them on the shelves and not jumping into that game.  Disney is ready to start talking Infinity 2.0 and that involves Marvel.  To start with we’ll be getting the Avengers cast.  There will be 20 playable figures released, so we can start speculating on who those will be.  Spiderman and the Guardians of the Galaxy both show up in the teaser video.  The characters keep the Infinity style and it works for most of them; I didn’t care for the Modok in the video.  I don’t know that I’ll be picking up the game but I’ll be watching the release closely.  Hopefully they’ll make an Iron Fist figure. 

The other  thing to remember is that Disney owns another big franchise that would do very well in an Infinity style game.  Seriously if they start making Star Wars Infinity I’ll probably have to sell my house. 

DuckTales Remastered

Yesterday a large portion of the gaming community went insane.  Capcom announced that they were releasing a remastered version of their 1989 DuckTales Nintendo game.  This summer it will be showing up on Xbox Live, Playstation Network, and the Wii U shop.  So why is everyone so excited about a video game based on a Disney cartoon that used to run on weekday afternoons?

DuckTales shared a lot of the same creative team as the Megaman games.  So you have non-linear game play, controls that were innovative at the time, and fantastic sound and graphics.  Again this was all for a game tied into a cartoon.  There is no doubt that nostalgia is coloring people’s excitement here, but make no mistake that DuckTales is a damn good game. 

That F’ing Monkey would like to apologize in advance.  We realize watching the above video once will have you singing the Ducktales theme song for the rest of the day.

Hangover Thursday: Food and Wine Beers

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? I did all my drinking early this week. I might still have an IV full of coffee plugged into my arm this morning, but that doesn’t have anything to do with having too much to drink. Sunday I was out at Epcot’s Food and Wine festival. Over the past few years the festival has started embracing the craft beer and you can find some interesting things there.

I’ll get this out of the way first. I don’t see Epcot’s Food and Wine festival as a good deal. It’s normal Epcot admission and then you end up paying around 4 dollars for every mouthful of food and around 5 or 6 dollars for every beer. If you can eat and drink a lot your total cost quickly skyrockets. I’d much rather take that money and go somewhere not crowded with tourists and get baked by the Florida sun. Your mileage may vary though. If you have a cheap way to get into the parks or something, it’s worth doing once.

I drank a couple beers while I was there. I had a Guinness, a Radeberger Pilsner, a Red Hook Pilsner, a Sam Adams Chocolate Bock, and a Kona Pipeline Porter. I will say the beer selection improves every year. The bock and the porter were beers I had never tried before so I’m going to focus on them. The Sam Adams Chocolate Bock was a good beer. I’d order one again but it wasn’t something I’d go out of my way for. The Kona Pipeline Porter was fantastic. Maybe it was too hot and humid and the Kona was my first beer of the day.  Maybe I just really like coffee and beer together.  Either way, I could have drank that all day and been happy.

Wreck-It Ralph

Having lived in the shadow of Cinderella’s castle for a long time, I can be very critical of Disney. There are times they do something so brilliant, fun, or touching that I can’t find any fault in it. It looks like their new movie Wreck-It Ralph is going to be one of those things.

The trailer tells the story better than I do, but you have an old school video game villain tired or being the bad guy. Because of this he decides to leave his own game and goes in search of something new. It looks like a good number of video game genres are going to be touched on here. There are glimpses of racing games and shooters, but I’m sure there will be more than that.

Disney has also gone the Roger Rabbit route and filled the movie with cameos by other video game characters. Pac Man ghosts, Q-bert, Doctor Robotnik, Bowser, M. Bison, and Zangief are just the ones you see in the scenes that have been previewed. You know they are holding onto a couple big surprises to get the really big laughs.

So far my favorite bit of marketing for the film is that Disney has released a flash game for Fix-it Felix Jr. This is the game that Wreck-It Ralph is the villain of and it is fully playable in all of its retro glory. You can check it out for yourself HERE. It’s pretty fantastic, but it lets you earn extra lives far easier than you could in the games actually created in the 80s.

Droid Factory

For years Disney has been coming out with different do-it-yourself toys. The first big success that I can remember is their Mr. Potato Head. There are huge bins of pieces and kids can fill up a container full of Potato body parts. They get to pick what pieces they want and as long as the lid closes on the box it sells for that price. A number of other items have followed since then, including build your own lightsabers. Now at Disney’s Hollywood Studios there will be an astromech building line called Droid Factory.

This is not the first time Star Wars has used the Droid Factory name and build-a-droid theme. A while back the Star Wars line got the great idea to do a Droid Factory promotion. What would happen is that when you purchased a figure, it would come with a piece of either an astromech or a more humanoid droid. There were also packs that included a figure, a droid, and a build-a-droid piece. Over 13 waves of figures created 10 astromechs and 10 other droids.

If you were buying large numbers of Star Wars figures it was great for you. I was still collecting Star Wars figures at the time, but only two types. I would buy any Rebel pilot or astromech that came out. The Droid Factory line is when I quit collecting Star Wars. I was okay going to ebay for a rare figure that came packed in with an overpriced starship; I didn’t want to have to hunt down separate legs and domes. I was pretty upset, which seems funny in hindsight. Collecting does strange things to you some time. Regardless, I haven’t bought a single Star Wars figure since then. Even before that rush of Droid Factory figures, I had over 20 different astromech droids.

So now Disney and Star Wars are at it again. There are bins full of droid parts. Kids get to choose a dome, a body, 3 legs, and a hat. A single droid costs 11.95 and a 2 pack will run you 18.95. The build a droid is launching during Star Wars Weekends, but will be around after that has ended. At this moment there are 71 different pieces, with new ones coming in August. It has already been announced an Indiana Jones fedora is going to be part of the April expansion.

Had I still been collecting this would probably have driven me into a frenzy. That need to have one of everything can be pretty crazy. Even in my Flash collecting I’m trying not to be like that anymore. The next time I go to the Hollywood Studios I’ll probably take one of these little guys home. It looks like there is a color scheme that is near and dear to my heart, but that is a post for another day.

Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom

This Sunday I got to test Disney’s newest activity in Walt Disney World, the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game. Before we get into this, I do want say that except for 4 years while I was active duty military, I’ve lived in the shadow of the mouse’s house since I was 8 years old. I can be very jaded when it comes to the Magic Kingdom. This will also be a pretty in depth write up, because I have a lot to say about this new game.

Hangover Thursday: Drinking Around the World

It’s Hangover Thursday, how’s your head? Today we’re going to be talking about Drinking Around the World. For those unfamiliar with the Disney setup here in Orlando, Disney actually has 4 theme parks (not including the water parks). One of those parks is Epcot. Epcot is split up into two sections; the back half of the park is called World Showcase and that is the one we’re talking about today. Drinking Around the World is when you walk around the World Showcase and get a drink at every stop. 12 stops, 12 drinks, it should be fairly easy. The past Saturday was my first attempt at this and while fun, it wasn’t a success.

So today is going to be a long one. I’m going to talk about what beer is available at each country, other drinks are available like Margaritas and such, but we’re focusing on the beer. Not only will I cover what is available but I’ll also make a note about where the F’ing Monkey team went wrong with our attempt.

Superhero Squad Cars

When Disney purchased Marvel Comics a ton of very talented people jumped to their drawing boards and started creating mash-ups involving the two company’s characters. Images of Mickey Mouse webslinging through the skyline were all over the place. But it was all in good fun, no one actually expected it to actually lead to anything. But it did lead to something. A mash-up I would have never expected in a million years. Disney is crossing Pixar’s Cars with Marvel’s Superhero Squad.

Now I’m not saying Cars 2 is going to have a Captain America cameo. Mater isn’t going to roll onto the next season of the Superhero Squad. As far as I can tell, this cross over is happening entirely in the toy isle. In that regard it makes certain sense. The Cars line has been incredibly popular. The Superhero Squad stuff has been around for a long time, but has really seen a boost due to the cartoon. So they’re taking two properties that are already strong sellers and smashing them together. Is it chocolate and peanut butter? I suppose you have to make that decision for yourself.

In a very odd way they kind of make sense. Sure, turning Silver Surfer into a talking car is strange. But when you think about it, does Spiderman need a Formula 1 race car with his face on it? Do you see Wolverine driving around in a bright blue tank with his name down the sides? There are cars made for Daredevil, I don’t care what his superpowers are, that’s scary. I’m more willing to believe there is an alternate dimension where everyone is cars than I’m willing to believe Iron Man will ever need to use a yellow and red bi-plane with his picture painted on the wings.

The first wave is full of Marvel marketing’s usual suspects. Iron Man, Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, Wolverine, Silver Surfer, Hulk, and Dr. Doom. The Thor car was really bothering me for some reason and it took me a while to figure out what I didn’t like about it. It’s all the flash color. Dr. Doom is the only other car to have it and he only has a tiny bit around the eyes. Thor looks more like someone pushed his head into a tiny car. Captain America actually looks pretty cool with the wings in the back.

The company that makes these guys is named Maisto and you can check out there website here. Follow the link and you can see all the stuff they have planned for this year. In addition to the Marvel cars they also have the traditional, check out this cool car with Spiderman painted on the side. So if you don’t like this mash-up and still need your superhero car fix you can still get a green van with the Hulk on it. I have no idea when these guys are going to start showing up on shelves, but I have a feeling they’ll sell pretty well. Hopefully they’ll do well enough that we’ll eventually get an Iron Fist.

Beer List Thoughts

With my beer list behind me I have been thinking about the trip it was and the things I”ve learned about my own personal tastes in beer. Everyone’s tastes are different and I try to take that into account when I say that I like or dislike something. I knew going into this that I did not like IPAs. After having like 10 pale, IPA, or double IPAs; that fact is now more firmly entrenched then ever.

It was not all a bad thing though. If it wasn’t for the beer list I might have never tried Session Lager and Session Black. Those tiny little bottles got me through the last Star Wars Celebration; I had filled my backpack full of them. Sure I clanked a bit while walking around, but I was always refreshed. And I got to spend the day mistaking it for Red Stripe. It is rare when I don’t have one of the two Session beers in my fridge now.

Brooklyn Lager, Brooklyn Brown? I love you. Throw the Winter Ale in there too. I’m not picky, I want you all. Seriously, the other highlight to my list is the Brooklyn brewery. Every time I see a new type of beer from them that I haven’t tried, it is an instant buy. I’ve yet to be disappointed. In fact the bar just got in a Brooklyn Chocolate Stout and I had a glass of it last night. It was very nice.

These were not the only beers I liked, some of the other ales and stouts were quite tasty, but they were the ones that really stayed with me. I think more then anything though the list really helped me get out of my comfort zone and I’m willing to try just about any beer once. This picture sucks, but my camera phone has no flash and the bar is dark.  The mug says Ken.O!

Since the beer list was a kind of journey, I’m looking to take another booze journey. I’m thinking of putting together a group to go “Drinking Around the World” over at Epcot. If you are in the area and want to go with me, leave a comment or drop me an email. I’m thinking late February (maybe the 26th). The entire trip will be documented for a Hangover Thursday. You’d have to supply your own ticket and buy your own booze; F’ing Monkey doesn’t have an expense account or anything.

Hey Domo....Kapow!

Hangover Thursday: The Text

I was going to be a good, responsible little monkey last night. I didn’t drink on an empty stomach. I cleaned up at trivia, scoring three free beers. I was even going to hit the road at 11. Then I got the text. “You still at the bar?” Now it is possible to reply back that you’re just about to leave, but I’ve never been able to do that. I get to drinking and I like to talk. I’ll wait around if there are new people coming to talk to. So the hangover is definitely here this morning, but it is nothing compared to last week’s brain aneurism.

The good news is I get my bar glass next week. They were getting them etched last night so it will be waiting for me. Expect my thoughts on completing my beer list next week with a picture of my prize. Instead of going over that today, we can talk about random booze news!

It is all over the news, so I’m a little late to the party on this one but Scottish Spirits Ltd. is selling Whisky in a Can. No joke, each can contains eight shots worth of whisky. You can’t buy it in the US so don’t go running to the liquor store just yet. But Scottish Spirits didn’t stop at Whisky in a Can, oh there is something far crazier that I haven’t seen any other media outlet reporting on. They make something called Arkay; it’s an alcohol free whisky. The website says it is for Muslims. Um…yeah moving on.

There was a study at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia to determine the best way to cure a hang over. Using ethanol Professor Michael Oshinsky gave rats headaches. He then tested numerous cures on them, finally coming to the conclusion that coffee and an aspirin are the best cure. These rats only had headaches though; it isn’t like they were throwing up in the bushes.

Walt Disney World is doing a giant make over to their Fantasy Land area. Included in that is what is described as a small eatery named Gaston’s Tavern. You’re missing the boat Disney. No one cares about Gaston, we want the Snuggly Duckling!! Best location in a Disney movie ever.  And actually serve beer! Beer and cupcakes.  It would be awesome.  A nice cold one would help all those heat exhausted tourists.

In the Magic Kingdom no one can hear you scream

My niece is staying with us for a few days. So my wife and I decided to take her to Disney World; or as my wife would correct me, the Magic Kingdom. See, my wife is a Disney fanatic. To her it brings back thoughts of yearly trips down from Chicago with her family. I’ve lived in the Orlando are most of my life, so when I think of Disney I usually think of long lines, screaming kids, arguing parents, and well you get the idea.

While there we saw the construction walls up for the new Fantasy Land upgrade. Apparently there will be separate areas for all the princesses. Fantasy Land is an overcrowded cluster the way things are now, so I see this as a good thing. My wife, who still yearns for the return of 20,000 Leagues and Mr. Toad, isn’t sold on the idea yet. Her reaction got me thinking of the one thing I truly miss at Disney. The one attraction that made me grin from ear to ear, the ExtraTERRORestrial Alien Encounter.

More TERROR after the break..