ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER SEASON OF SPOOP!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GREAT PUMPKIN! - I MEAN, HAPPY HALLOWEEN, BIC COMMUNITY!



This is my favorite holiday - Dress up, step into the role of your favorite characters, laugh, have drinks upon drinks, and just have fun!

Unfortunately, while I had a plan for a costume - I was gonna be Kaine Scarlet Spider! - but shipping delays left me no time to actually put it together!

So, for tonight's BIC stream (You're subscribed to our YouTube, right?!), all I could throw together was the world's LEAST wanted MTG Secret Lair crossover!



BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME!

IT'S HALLOWEEN! I WANNA HEAR FROM YOU!

WHAT'RE YOU:

WEARAN
PLAYAN
CANDAYAN
PRANKAN
WATCHAN

Finn Jones has aroused the curiosity of MCU fans again with his latest post of Martial arts training on Instagram with the Iron Man caption, suggesting he is probably coming back as Iron Fist. I understand —he wasn't exactly the best casting decision for the Defenders role —but his performance was serviceable, to say the least. However, I also think Iron Fist is the easiest to recast among the Defenders, since the power can always choose whoever it wants. If the MCU were to bring the show back, it would be better to recast it and correct the original mistake.
There is also speculation that he could return in some capacity in Daredevil: Born Again, which, I Think is great, considering how The Defenders series ended.

Everyone paints Superman’s villains as one-note evil, but characters like Zod, Bizarro, and even Brainiac think they’re doing the right thing, just in completely different ways.

Which Superman villain do you think gets misunderstood the most?

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The Witcher has finally wrapped filming its fifth season, with Liam Hemsworth having impressed in his first showing as Geralt of Rivia. According to the showrunner, the team is ready to step back after the fifth season, although he agrees there are a lot more stories to be told in the Universe. While I agree that it is wise, I believe the creators missed a huge opportunity to diversify the show and follow characters in different storylines rather than banking everything on Ciri.
Liam Hemsworth isn't nearly as good a Geralt as Henry Cavill, but I still look forward to seeing how the story concludes in the coming season.

Corporate banter really doesn't get this hilarious. David Ellison has made multiple offers to buy WB since the company was put on sale, only for them to be rebuffed. Netflix, which played it cool, even denying any interest in the deal, has suddenly become the frontrunner to buy the company. Reuters reports that the investment bank that helped Ellison buy Paramount (Moelis) is now working on Netflix's bid. It is not clear whether the streaming giant wants a portion or the whole of WB, but the possibility of Superman coming to Netflix now looks very real.

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David Ellisson apparently tried to make Taylor Sheridan feel at home with the new management at Paramount, but the two had a clash of egos. Taylor Sheridan and his friend David Glassner of 101 Studios were used to not being told what to do. Sheridan practically had the only say on the running of Paramount+, which I understand, because his shows drew most of the streamer's 80 million subscribers anyway. However, Sheridan had hit his peak and even I, a big fan of his, had started noticing a decline in his projects.
Paramount will now retain full control of Yellowstone and all its other IPs, and while it might seem like the end of the road for most of them, you should never underestimate what a new set of eyes can do with an old franchise, just look at ASOIAF at HBO and LOTR at Amazon!
Sheridan, on the other hand can launch his passion project, Empire of the Summer Moon, at NBC Universal. I believe it will be way bigger than Yellowstone. He is also getting a huge pay raise, which he deserves after all his struggles on the fringes of the industry

Taylor Sheridan And Peter Berg Team On Paramount And Activision’s ‘Call Of Duty’ Movie

Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg have boarded Paramount's 'Call of Duty' movie to co-write a script that Berg will direct.

deadline.com

After Minecraft topping the charts in 2025, it only madesense for Activision to line up a Call of Duty movie and they couldn't have landed better directors. According to Dealine, the film will be co-witten and directed by a collaboration between Peter Berg(Lone Survivor) and Taylor Sheridan (Yellowstone). These are both top performers as far as intense action is concerned and have worked together in the past on Hell or High Water which got an Oscar nomination.
Fans can therefore expect a slow burner set somewhere in the red country with the most brutal of realities. While Berg loves directness and intensity, Sheridan likes it brutally realistic, which could be the perfect combination for a shootout film.

Login to view embedded media The show will premiere Dec 5, but from the trailer, they seem to have captured everything we loved about the blood and sand in Spartacus. Nick Tarabay comes back as Ashur, but now he owns his own Ludus and is actually big enough to attract Rome's biggest names including Julius Caesar himself. Lucy Lawless also returns as Lucretia.
I never thought the franchise could come up with something better than its previus seasons, but House of Ashur now feels like Spartacus's posthumous revenge. We could actually see how a former gladiator plays a major role in putting a stop to the bloody industry and possibly striking a Blade at the very heart of Rome. I'm still conflicted about the dwarf gladiators though because I think it is historically incorrect and more of a marketing stunt

So Comcast has posted its Q3 revenues and the numbers overall look great. However, Peacock can't improve its subscriber base despite investing in some hit franchises recently. The streamer has reduced its losses from $436 million to $217 million which suggests profitability could be on the horizon.
I personally believe NBC Universal's deal with Taylor Sheridan could unlock the streamer's potential. Sheridan practically launched Paramount+ with his Yellowstone franchise. It now has over 79 million subscribers. His films will hit Peacock as early as next year, although viewers will have to wait until 2029 for his shows. If Sheridan finds a way to be relevant again, he could turn Peacock into the real deal for Westerns

Login to view embedded media Sydney and his daughter are taking on the masked killer in Scream 7 and the trailer does show a really scary film indeed. However, it is the same old story, stalker-killer is back, a damsel in distress, james-bond mom to the rescue, and so on. I fully understand that the franchise has earned a fair share of goodwill, but how long can it last when creativity is so scarce? The franchise is fully riding on nostalgia, and I think it is time someone took a shot at an original film that can dethrone Scream as America's scariest film franchise.

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According to this, Jeff Bezos is pushing for Sydney Sweeney to become the next female Bond, but is that really what the franchise needs? I do understand billionaires taking over franchises, but when did they start making casting decisions as well? If this becomes the trend, then auditions lose their meaning since every big role will go to the next face a billionaire likes.
Besides, who on Earth decided that the next Bond must be a female? Craig did a great job in the role co-starring alongside many females and the industry was happy?
Why not get a talented producer on board, write a befitting script, and then audition for it? I actually think Bond films would be perfectly served by having a rolling basis where every film has a new lead and not necessarily a predetermined face of the franchise

Login to view embedded media This week, Paramount Skydance commenced 1000 layoffs with thousands more expected in the coming weeks. This comes despite the company making large payments on expensive projects like the UFC and taking significant risks. Ellison hired the Duffer brothers, whose only track record is Stranger Things, for millions of dollars, money that could have been used to explore creative expansion from within its ranks. The same goes for $1.5 billion paid for South Park, which Paramount could have spent on better internal projects.
Amazon has now announced 14000 job cuts, which could lead to one of the largest mass layoffs in history. Amazon's layoffs are apparently caused by AI, although I still don't know which advanced AI they have acquired to replace all these people.
Now to my point, is corporate greed getting out of hand? Because none of them seems to be making people-friendly decisions anymore. I mean, when was the last time a major corporation announced a few thousand new jobs? At this rate, half the population will be rendered jobless!

Maybe it's cause I live in South East Asia, I never got the chance to play Magic the Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons when I was a kid and teen. Today we have our internet at home, and I think maybe it's time for me to find out about all the funs myself. Anyone want to help me break the games' ice for me on the fly?

I am considering to take pre-university exam next year, with Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and General Studies as my subjects. It's going to be really tough. So, because I'm also frequenting this forums, what better way than to integrate my journeys here with motivation pumping to study while I'm foruming. And so as such, let's have this space as discourse for these subjects. Thank you for any future kind gestures.

King of Hell (also known as Majeh) is a Korean manhwa that blends martial arts fantasy, supernatural lore, and slapstick comedy. It begins with Majeh, a cocky formiddable-swordsman-turned-envoy for the afterlife, sent intially to guide and ferry the souls of the deceased to hereafter, before he was tasked to capture escaped souls from limbo. The early arcs are full of energy and humor - chaotic duels, ghost missions, and over-the-top rivalries that make fun of typical wuxia tropes. Majeh’s sarcastic attitude and his interactions with sidekicks like Chung Poong and Dohwa Baek give the story a lighthearted charm despite all the death and demons swirling around. As the series progresses, the tone darkens and the scope expands.

The mid arcs dive into conflicts between martial clans and demonic realms, with rising tension and more complex power systems. While the humor remains, it begins to take a backseat to sprawling wars, moral dilemmas, and flashy supernatural battles. Still, it maintains a quirky edge - even the deadliest masters are portrayed with ridiculous pride and comic timing, keeping that distinct “Majeh-style” flavor alive amid the chaos.


Unfortunately, as much as I enjoyed this, the final arcs lose their spark. The pacing becomes bloated, new characters are introduced without resolution, and Majeh himself feels sidelined or inconsistently written. The once sharp mix of action and wit dissolves into endless fights and vague storytelling, leading to a rushed, hollow ending that leaves many plotlines - including the fate of the underworld, and Majeh’s true past - unresolved. It’s a disappointing finish for a series that started with so much attitude and flair, remembered fondly for its wild art and humor but also for how it stumbled right at the end.

I really don't even know how to open this post, so I guess I'll just start with: Halo: Campaign Evolved is EVERYTHING wrong with the modern video game industry.

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Like none of this feels 'good':

1. It feels desperate, because Halo Studios/343 Industries hasn't really made a good Halo game in the entire time they've been in charge of the series (Halo: Infinite's multiplayer being an admitted exception, that was a step in the right direction that they screwed up with irregular content updates.
2. Like MGS: Delta, all the intentional art direction choices taken by Bungie - barrier placements to force specific encounters, specifically timed music cues that rely on the Master Chief's single-walking speed, and the brutalist design of the Forerunner's architecture - are thrown out for 'le graphical updates', all of which amount to the 'Nintendo, hire this man' meme.
3. Every gameplay addition/change seen thus far really feels aimed at the lowest, broccoli-haired common denominator that currently obsesses over games like Fortnite or Apex Legends - for example the addition of a sprint mechanic, the ability to aim down the sights on every weapon, and the Needler being given a damn numeric ammo display when its entire design was built around the fact that its loaded bullets can be physically seen on its model.

I mean, not only does the OG Halo still hold-up all on its own, but the Anniversary remaster from the Master Chief Collection does too!

Seriously, rename this release 'Halo: Zoomer Edition'.

As a single male in the 18-45 demographic with no hope of escaping America's current economic enshitification, I collect A LOT of figures.

I'm sure I'm not alone, so fellow toy collectors, I wanna know what you've got coming down the pipeline!

I just had a bunch of pre-orders come in - Marvel Legends MvC series, the Evangelion and Hastune Miku Blockee models, and a 30 Minute Sister model kit - so my upcoming items are actually surprising scarce.

However, of note is the Square Enix FFVII Bring Arts Zack Fair (The last figure I need to complete the full set):


And perhaps the best little Miku figure ever made:



SO yeah, whatcha guys got on deck?!

One Punch Man is so good because it takes everything we know about traditional hero fiction - the noble archetypes, the grand struggles, the overblown power fantasies - and turns them all upside down with both humor and brilliance. Every hero in the series feels familiar because they’re deliberate exaggerations or parodies of the archetypes we’ve seen countless times in comics, anime, and games. There’s a ninja (Speed-o’-Sound Sonic) who embodies the flashy, prideful assassin trope; a cyborg (Genos) who represents the earnest yet vengeance-driven hero trying to surpass his limits; a scientist (Dr. Kuseno) who fits the classic mentor-engineer mold; a psychic (Tatsumaki) with the ego of a god-tier prodigy; and a martial artist (Bang) who stands for wisdom and discipline. Yet all of them - despite their power, design, and backstory - still exist beneath the shadow of Saitama, a plain, bald man whose strength has stripped his life of meaning.

That’s the core genius of One Punch Man: it gathers every heroic archetype from popular culture, gives them all their flashy spotlight moments, and then quietly asks, “What if being the strongest made everything boring?” The show and manga constantly balance parody and sincerity. It mocks shounen cliches - dramatic transformations, ultimate attacks, rivalries built on pride - but never in a way that disrespects them. Instead, it celebrates them. It shows how much we love these patterns, how thrilling it is to see them in motion, even while reminding us they’re often hollow.

Each “powerful hero” in the story is a mirror reflecting some piece of genre history - samurai, cyborg, alien warrior, super-soldier, psychic esper, noble knight. They all chase glory, fame, justice, or personal redemption. But Saitama stands outside of that narrative system. He’s the one person who’s already achieved every shōnen dream - infinite power - and finds only emptiness at the top. That tension between spectacle and simplicity, between myth and mundanity, is what gives One Punch Man its emotional and thematic depth.

And visually, it’s a feast: stunning action sequences, intricate designs, and kinetic energy that make every archetype feel both iconic and absurd. The ninja’s speed, the cyborg’s lasers, the psychic’s telekinetic storms - all of it builds a world that looks like every superhero and anime universe mashed together, but somehow coherent. In short, One Punch Man is brilliant because it’s not just about heroes - it’s about why we love heroes, and what happens when that love runs out. It celebrates the archetypes while quietly dismantling them, giving us a story that’s hilarious, existential, and deeply human all at once. I am just so glad that Yusuke Murata decided to work together with ONE on polishing this series aesthetically.

I'm not playing simply because of the price. 70 bucks for the base game with a purposely limited roster feels like a ripoff. I made the decision not to buy before hearing the criticism about graphics and overall crappy presentation.

The last one i played was scarlet and i was very disappointed in the presentation and performance. Which was an even bigger let down considering how beautiful and stylistic Arceus was.

Are you guys still keeping up with the franchise? If not what the last pokemon you've played?

I'm personally excited about the adventures of Egg and Ser Duncan the Tall. I actually think this show is the perfect bridge between House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones since it is set right in the middle of both. However, there are just too many changes with this one. First, the run time for each episode is just 30 minutes, with only 6 episodes in the first season which is just 3 hours of watch time. Surely, the attraction to the Game of Thrones world is the ability to binge, and 30 minutes just isn't long enough.

The brutality of life in Westeros is still on Display, but A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms really is just a comedy, so it doesn't bring out the same high stakes as its predecessors. I'm not sure three seasons, with that little time, will really bring out the level of transformation Egg undergoes before becoming a king. With so much likely to be lost, I think all these would have been perfectly wrapped in a film trilogy. Just imagine three feature-length films of Dunk and Egg traversing Westeros before he becomes king. That would have been HBO's LOTR right there

Hi friends. If you won't mind sharing a photo of you, OR a photo about you.

Guillermo Del Toro was speaking to NPR on his marketing tour of Frankenstein, and boy, did he sell it!

"I'm a huge fan of death. ... I think it's the metronome of our existence. Without rhythm, there is no melody, you know? It is the metronome of death that makes us value the compass of the beautiful music."

Click to expand...

He apparently wanted to make the film since he was 7, which explains why he has been so heavily invested in it. Having a film that shows the creature's point of view is the perfect next step for the franchise so I'm excited. I haven't watched the screening personally, but I hope it is worth the effort.
Del Toro further said he would rather die than use generative AI in his films. I think the industry is running out of creators like him, people who prioritize art over profits.

Bleach’s charm doesn’t come from being a straightforward action series; it comes from how it evolves - almost like peeling layers of an unseen world. The early episodes of Ichigo’s life as a substitute Soul Reaper feel deceptively small-scale - helping wandering spirits, fighting low-level Hollows, and learning the ropes of an invisible spiritual world overlapping the mundane human one. But that slow buildup serves a deep purpose: it grounds the supernatural in a relatable emotional reality. You start by seeing Ichigo as just a teenager doing part-time exorcisms - but the more you learn, the more you realize how vast, ancient, and hierarchically complex the Soul Society is. That jump - from local ghost stories to interdimensional politics, cosmic laws, and gods of death - feels earned because you walked there step by step.


When Bleach transitions into the Soul Society arc, it feels monumental precisely because of that contrast. It’s one of the best "power world expansion" arcs in shonen history. Suddenly, you go from back-alley Hollow hunts to massive spiritual cities, thirteen royal squads, ancient captains, personal codes of honor, and moral grayness behind the afterlife’s bureaucracy. The worldbuilding explodes - and it does so elegantly, because it builds on emotional stakes: rescuing Rukia. It’s not just about fighting; it’s about rebellion against a cosmic system out of loyalty and friendship. That’s why the Soul Society arc hits so hard - it feels like a war for the soul (literally and narratively) of the world itself.


Bleach could have been much longer, and many fans feel that its story was rushed, truncated, or unevenly developed, especially after the Aizen saga. The Fullbring and Thousand-Year Blood War arcs tried to rekindle that feeling of scale and myth, but by then, the pacing was hurt by editorial pressure, inconsistent serialization, and fatigue in both storytelling and production. What could’ve been a long, gradual mythological epic like One Piece - full of slow-burn arcs exploring every corner of the spiritual universe - was instead condensed into bursts of brilliance surrounded by abrupt transitions. Bleach’s universe - with the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, Hell, and the Royal Realm - had limitless potential. Imagine if Kubo had been allowed to explore the history of the Gotei 13, the rise of the Quincy, the ancient wars, the politics of the Royal Guard, or the daily lives of souls and reapers - that could easily sustain a thousand-chapter epic.

At its core, Naruto isn’t just about ninjas - it’s about loneliness, belonging, and the struggle to be recognized. Naruto starts off as a complete outcast, hated and ignored by his entire village, but he transforms that pain into relentless determination and empathy. That emotional journey - to turn trauma into strength and loneliness into connection - is what gives the story its universal appeal.

On top of that, Kishimoto built a world rich with philosophy and generational conflict. The shinobi world is morally gray - shaped by endless cycles of hatred and revenge. Through characters like Nagato (Pain), Itachi, Obito, and even Madara, the story explores the cost of peace and the repeating failures of humanity. Shippuden really shines in that way: it matures the story from a kid’s tale about becoming Hokage into a meditation on war, legacy, and destiny.
And emotionally? When Naruto lands a heartfelt moment, it really lands. The flashbacks, the swelling music, the bonds between teacher and student - from Jiraiya’s death to Itachi’s truth to the final handshake between Naruto and Sasuke - those are moments that stay with you for life.

But I still think Konoha 11 deserved way more development. Characters like Shino, Tenten, Kiba, and even Lee were brimming with potential that was never fully realized. Early Naruto did a great job making the world feel alive - every genin team had a distinct dynamic and purpose. Team 10 had the Ino–Shika–Cho legacy, Team 8 had the tracker ninjas, and Team Guy had raw physical power. But after the Chunin Exams, the story’s focus narrows heavily onto Naruto, Sasuke, and the Uchiha storyline. In Shippuden, the power scale skyrockets so fast that side characters become almost irrelevant. It’s not that they lacked depth - it’s that the narrative stopped giving them space to grow. Rock Lee, who once embodied hard work over talent, barely gets to fight after Gaara. Shino’s analytical genius? Forgotten. Tenten’s weapon mastery? Barely seen. Even Kiba’s rivalry with Naruto becomes a joke. That’s one of the series’ biggest missed opportunities - the world was rich enough to sustain parallel growth arcs. Imagine if Shino had become a strategist like Shikamaru, or if Hinata’s development wasn’t limited to her feelings for Naruto but her identity as a Hyuga.

What Naruto achieves, though, is a sense of emotional continuity. Even if side characters fade, their presence still feels there - you remember their bonds, their roles in Naruto’s life, their shared struggle as Leaf shinobi. The story focuses on Naruto’s journey, but it’s clear that he’s never truly alone anymore. The “Konoha 11” are symbolic of that - a network of people who finally see him, who fight beside him, who anchor the story emotionally even when they aren’t on screen. If Naruto had given the other Konoha 11 members the same narrative care as Naruto and Sasuke, it could’ve been one of the most balanced ensemble stories in anime history - closer to something like My Hero Academia’s class-wide focus. But even with that flaw, it remains a monumental story about endurance, compassion, and legacy - a tale that defined an entire generation of shonen fans.

Hi friends. What is your creative endeavour or favourite hobby? What inspires you to do that?
For me, it's game design and songwriting. Ever since playing Pokemon and Final Fantasy games when I was a kid, I've been a having burning desires to
make my own worlds. Usually because I want to fix "the incorrectness I saw in the games I played", one, and two, because I wanna express my adventure desires. On songwriting, I think I have natural flair to write songs. Although I'm still quite new to playing guitar acoustic...