Hello everyone
and welcome back to the long dormant (My count is just under THREE years since
the last update, not counting the “Bond-Tastic will return” teaser from last
week.) Bond-Tastic!! I guess this all begs the question “Why?” As in why no
updates or why even bring it back in the first place since its been gone for so
long? Well let’s get to those answers.
So why no
updates? I guess its easy to just say sometime along the lines of “Life got in
the way.” Which I guess is partially true but its not just that, you can also
blame changes of interest, not really having enough to say about any certain thing,
and yeah after it being left alone for so long a feeling that I should just
leave it be. Mostly though I was also going through a bad time in my life when
the last thing I wanted to do was worry about updating a blog and what to
update it with and since Bond-Tastic!! Was never supposed to be about me
putting my personal life out there for all to see the updates stopped.
As for why
bring it back? Well that’s simpler, because I wanted to. Because I do have
things to say again (More on that later.) Because it feels about right. Because
it is a great outlet to say stuff and its great to get my mind off the more
pressing matters in life if for only a short time allowing some relaxation
time. Bonus, it helps with my typing speed which is always great for someone
who supposedly has a career in Records and Information Management.
So what’s going
to happen with Bond-Tastic!!? Well there will be more of the same as well as
some new stuff altogether. If you look through the archives you may notice that
there is quite a bit missing. Namely ever movie review I posted on here has
been removed except for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory just because I
love that one. The reason for this is because I post movie reviews on
Letterboxed, so if you want to check those out you can just click here. Now
that is not to say I will never talk about movies on here, I very much well, in
fact you can look forward to my top ten movies of 2015 on here before to long.
What else will we be seeing? Well the wrestling content will continue but once
again I doubt there will be any reviews of any shows themselves save for maybe
a WrstleMania or something like that. Comic books topics will naturally still
be discussed. More so I will talk about the product and how I feel about it
with a list or two thrown in for good measure. There will be other stuff I have
never tackled before as well such as music, as of right now I plan to do a list
of my top ten personal favorite voices in music or top ten favorite Funko Pop
figures among other things. No worries though there will likely never be
anything to serious on here this is a place to have fun.
I know this all
sound positive and that there will be a ton of new content coming and yes,
there will be plenty of new content, in time. That is to say it will be on my
time. Sometimes there may be a couple updates a week other times there may be
nothing for a short period of time. What I’m saying is it will be update but it
will be sporadic so don’t expect that every single time you come here there
will be new updates as that likely wont be the case.
Well that’s about
it for now, Bond-Tastic!! Is officially back in business and very much looking
forward to bringing you some new content. Now lets get out there and spread the
word that its back and most importantly, lets have some fun.
* Before I start this I would just like to say that I don’t
intend to insult anyone here. If you sort your movies in one of the ways I
recommend you don’t, do not take offense. We are all different people with
different ways of sorting movies. Although I call this “The Essential Guide To Sorting Your Movie Collection,” if you have your own way of sorting that is
different from mine then by all means go ahead. I just typed this up mostly due
to boredom and thought it would be fun to share. So without any other warnings
let's just jump into it.
Keep it Alphabetical:
This is BY FAR the most important part of keeping your movie collection
organized. Sorting your movies from 'A' to 'Z' will keep your movies in a neat,
tidy order and most importantly, easy to find. Want to throw on Pulp Fiction?
No problem! There it is under the 'P'’s where it should be. Unfortunately, some
movie companies out there do not want to make it easy for you. Every now and
then there may be some exceptions. Yes, I know it sucks but I’m here to steer
you in the right direction; to let you know when it is acceptable to not go the
alphabetical route.
Movies that start with numbers:
There are two different ways you can go about
sorting movies that begin with a number. If you have movies like “28 Days
Later” or “300” there are two acceptable places to put them. First off, you can
put both under 'T', since both numbers start with a T, but I wouldn't recommend
it. My recommendation is to start off your collection with those titles and put
them all in numerical order, (obviously) before you get to “A”. Then you are
off to the races!
Ignore "The's" and "A's":
For movies that start with the words "The" or "A" then file them under whatever word starts next. "The Crow" should go under 'C' and "A Nightmare on Elm Street" should go under 'N'. If you put every movie you had that started with "The" under 'T' then your 'T' section would go on forever, it’s just foolish. Foolish I say!!
The Differently Named Sequel Problem:
Just about the worse thing in the world is
when a movie studio decides to fuck with the name of a series. Take The Evil
Dead series for example. You have The Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and then Army of
Darkness. Uh-oh! One of these things isn't like the other! So what do
we do with Army of Darkness? If we are going with our strict alphabetical order
then it goes under 'A' but then you are breaking up the series. Seems like
you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t. Well I believe
this is one of those rare cases when the alphabetical order rule has to be over
ridden. Army of Darkness should go under E after the first two Evil Dead
movies. The worse offender of this is the James Bond series. What do you do
with that one? Put each one alphabetical under its own name, in order of
release date under the number for 007, or under B for Bond? Well if I were you,
I would just avoid this entire mess, buy the box set to save you from the
stress! If you don’t want to own them all then I’d put them under 007 in the
order of release date. Still, if you buy a series in a box set then your work
is done for you... just put it where the box tells you. No need to worry about
how the hell you’re going to organize those troublesomely titled Rambo movies,
just keep them all in the box, put them under R and relax (which coincidentally
enough also starts with 'R').
Boxsets that are too big to fit on the shelf:
This can be a serious problem. If the box is the same height of your DVDs or
blu-rays, then you can put them where they should go in the alphabetical order
of things. On the other hand, if they are too tall then the only real solution
is to put them on top of the shelf in all their glory.
Do Not Mix Formats:
Let’s face it, as movie fans we all have movies showcased on various types of
formats (DVD, VHS, Blu-ray). Some movies simply haven’t made it to every
format. On top of that, if you have a big DVD collection then it is damn
expensive to replace it! This may result in some people mixing their DVDs with
their Blu-rays. There may even be some VHS in there as well. One of the
main points of putting your movies on a shelf is to keep them organized and
looking neat. How can this be accomplished when you have cases of various sizes
mixing with one another? It just doesn't work. Your DVDs should be
all together in one place, your Blu-rays together in another place, and your
VHS in another if you still have any of those lying around. The best idea for
those pesky VHS' that we all love too much to get rid of (we are all guilty of
this) is be placed on the bottom one or two rows of your shelf. Depending on
how many you have of course. There is no way that they get nearly as much play
as your DVDs or Blu-rays, if any, so keep them closer to the floor out of eye
level.
Movies and TV Series Should Not be Mixed:
Just like the title says, movies and TV shows should not mingle together. There
is nothing more annoying than looking through a movie collection and having to
skip through twenty seasons of "The Simpsons". Just like
with the alphabetical order, there is an exception for this, but only one. That
exception is when your TV series collection is small. Do you have 200 movies but
only own one TV Series? Well if so, then put that series in with the movies! No
harm no fowl and it is pointless to have a section just for TV if you only have
one or two different shows.
Do Not Organize by Genre:
Seriously don’t do this! If so, the organization of your collection is doomed
from the start! More people fall into this trap than any other, especially when
your collection is just starting out. It makes sense to divide your movies by
genre, who wouldn't want to keep all of their action movies together?
The big problem though is when you’re going into sub-genres or even worse, a
crossing of genres. First, the sub-genres. Look at horror, if you’re going the
sub-genre route you have slashers, zombies, vampires and any other number of
monster movie types. Giving all of those their little mini-sections in the
horror section is just tedious. Then you have the cross genre movies.
Where the hell do you put something like “Tremors”? It would be right at home
in either your horror or comedy sections. How about “Big Trouble In
Little China”? Action? Yes. Comedy? Yes. Fantasy? Yes. That’s three
different genres that you could conceivably put that movie! If your collection
is small and you don’t plan on expanding it, then go for it! Otherwise you’re just
splitting up your collection in a dozen or more different sections and
complicating the ease of finding that one movie you might want to watch.
Do not Organize by Director or Actor:
Okay. This takes the multiple genre problem and makes it even worse. Is sorting
by director really an option? I have one friend who seems to think so, but
where do you go from there? How do you sort the directors? By name? By
who you like the most? By who you have the most movies of? Once you have all
that figured out what do you do when you have a person visiting who isn't in
the know on which directors directed what? From someone on the outside looking
in, the collection just looks like one big unsorted mess. If you’re sorting by
actors you have all of those same problems you get with sorting by director
plus another very big problem. What actor or actress do you sort them
under? Take "The Expendables" for example. Where do you put
that? Under Stallone? Statham? Li? Okay well the obvious choice here is
Stallone, but you can understand my argument right? It is just a massive mess
waiting to happen and trust me, it won’t be a long wait either.
Do Not 'Not' Organize Your Movies:
Above all else this is the most important rule to go by. It sounds weird to say
do not 'not' organize your movie's, it’s a double negative but I’m sure you
understand. For this one I’m talking to you crazy ass backwards people
that have absolutely no organization whatsoever. You folks who take your movie
and put them down wherever they may lie in no order at all. Or even worse! The
people who don't match their cases with their movies!! For example, you open up
the "Inception" case and the "Fight Club" movie is sitting
in there! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!? Even if you can manage to find the case of
the movie you’re looking for, you will then be on a wild goose chase tracking
down case after case with the wrong movie in it.Twenty minutes later and you
are so frustrated that you don’t even want to watch a movie anymore. If you are
one of those people you have my sympathies and are unfortunately too far gone
to help.
So in Conclusion:
I know it sounds like there are too many
'do not’s' but trust me it is all for the best. Just go the alphabetical route.
Your collection and any guest will thank you for it. All that said, I know that
there are some of you out there who do indeed sort their collections in the
ways I say you shouldn't That works just fine for you and good for
you on making that work. I think my obsessive compulsive head would just
explode thinking about my collection in any other order than the way it
is.
This is not my collection but it sure is a thing of beauty isn't it?
There was no bigger winner in WWE in
the last year than CM Punk. Punk started
off 2012 as WWE Champion and ended it as WWE Champion without relinquishing it
once. The last person who could say that he did that was Hulk Hogan twenty-five
years ago. This year he has turned away challenges from Dolph Ziggler, Chris
Jericho, Kane, Daniel Bryan, John Cena, Ryback and more. He also went from one
of the most beloved figures in the company to the most hated. During all of
this CM Punk was also consistently putting on the best matches on the card and
restoring the credibility of the WWE Championship.
Sheamus:
While not as impressive as CM Punk’s
title dominance in 2012 the 210 day World Championship reign of Sheamus was
nothing to scoff at either. Sheamus started his title run with a win against
Daniel Bryan at Wrestlemania XVIII that took him all of eighteen seconds.
Sheamus followed that up with a match of the year candidate at the next month’s
Extreme Rules pay-per-view in a best two out of three falls match. He also
knocked back countless challenges from Dolph Ziggler and Alberto Del Rio.
Sheamus also stepped up his game having great matches all year long on Raw and
Smackdown! Before finally losing the title to The Big Show at Hell In A Cell.
The Big
Show:
The year started a little slowly for
The Big Show but the big man had one of the best years of his career this year
and stayed in the title picture pretty much the entire time. He finally got his
Wrestlemania moment this year winning the IntercontinentalChampionship
from Cody Rhodes and while he dropped that title back to Rhodes only a month
later in embarrassing fashion he rebounded pretty quickly by turning his back
on his fans and becoming the monster he should have been all along. By the end
of the year he regained The World Title and would hold it for the rest of the
year.
Ryback:
When it comes to the newcomers in WWE
this year no one made their presence felt more than Ryback. Debuting after
Wrestlemania Ryback had one dominant win after another, although in fairness
most of those wins came against local talent that had never been seen of before
or since. After a while he moved up to the regular jobbers of WWE like JTG,
Curt Hawkins, Tyler Reks and others. By the last half of the year though he was
squaring off against more seasoned talent like former WWE champion The Miz and
although he ended the year on a couple of pay-per-view loses each one was
against WWE Champion CM Punk and under dubious circumstances each time.
Dolph
Ziggler:
Even though Ziggler didn't win any
championship gold in 2012 he did win The Money in the Bank Briefcase which is
just as good. He also established himself as a proved grappler with amazing
performances in every one of his matches. Although he did find himself on the
losing end of more matches then he ever should of this year he did so while
looking like a huge star. He also ended the year with the biggest win of his
career when he retained his Money in the Bank Briefcase defeating John Cena in
a ladder match.
John Cena:
John Cena didn't really accomplish a
whole lot in the ring this year with his biggest win easily coming from his
match against Brock Lesnar back at Extreme Rules. Despite this Cena remained the
most popular star and face of WWE the entire year. Cena was also consistently at
the top of the card and main eventing every pay-per-view over WWE Champion CM
Punk. At the end of the year Cena proved his loses didn't hurt his popularity
with fans one bit by winning the Superstar of the Year Slammy for the third
time in four years. Cena's most impressive and admirable accomplishment in 2012
came outside of the ring though with his continued charity work including
granting his 300th wish for The Make-A-Wish Foundation, more than
anyone else in Make-A-Wishes wonderful history.
THE LOSERS:
Zack Ryder:
Was there a bigger loser in WWE this year than Zack Ryder? I don’t think
so. He ended 2011 on a roll after finally capturing the United States championship
from Dolph Zigger and it seemed like 2012 was going to be the year of The Long
Island Iced Z. Unfortunately it seemed like his roll dropped with that giant
ball in Times Square in New York on New Year’s Eve. It took only eighteen days
in 2012 before he dropped the United States title to Jack Swagger and it was
all downhill from there. He was constantly handed his ass to Kane on a weekly
basis to the point where a new cast was added to him every week until he was wearing
a body cast in a wheelchair. Thankfully his bones healed much quicker than Bob
Orton’s and he was back in no time being made a fool of by Eve the girl that he
had been head over heels for for months. He lost the match for his team at
Wrestlemania XXVIII. From there on out he lost pretty much every match he had
on TV whenever he appeared on TV which became less and less as the year wore
on. By the end of the year Ryder couldn’t
buy a win if he had Ted DiBiase's money and despite fan support was back to
hardly showing up on TV. As the final insult of the year when WWE flashed a “Did
you know” fact about the top five WWE Superstars who have the most followers on
Twitter he wasn't even on the list in favor of The Miz in the number five spot
even though Ryder had well over 100,000 more followers.
John Cena:
Yes John Cena was one of the biggest winners of the year in WWE but make
no doubt about it he was also one of the biggest losers of the year. Although
still the face of the company this is easily Cena’s most unsuccessful year yet competition
wise. After a yearlong build to his showdown with The Rock at Wrestlemania
XXVIII he came out on the losing end. After that he was Brock Lesnar’s bitch
for the next month until getting the win during their match at Extreme Rules,
and even that was after getting the crap beaten out of him the entire match making
his win that very much like a fluke.
After that Cena won the Money in the Bank Briefcase which he cashed in
on Raw 1000 only to lose to CM Punk and be the first person to come out on the
losing end after cashing in the briefcase. After that he chased CM Punk for the
title only to come out on the losing end every time. He was then sidelined with
an injury only to come back and challenge Dolph Ziggler for Ziggler's Money in
the Bank only to lose once again. For the first time in years Cena didn’t hold
a single championship.
Alberto Del
Rio:
It doesn't seem right to add Del Rio to this list but let’s face it he
does indeed belong here. Even though he spent several months feuding with
Sheamus over The World Title Del Rio could never win the title and never even
pulled off a single win in the feud that had any meaning to it whatsoever.
Instead Del Rio just looked like a complete non-threat to the champion and in
the end came off as a chump. 2013 may of
started off great for Del Rio but that doesn't erase the awful year he had in
2012.
Randy Orton:
For years Randy Orton has been neck and neck with John Cena as the face
of WWE but this year despite the losing ways of Cena, Randy Orton had it even
worse. Orton spend almost no time whatsoever this year in the main event of
2012 and instead has been regulated to one meaningless feud after the other. It
got even worse after Orton’s sixty day suspension from his second wellness
policy violation. Since then the company has been reluctant to do anything with
him. Add to the fact that Orton seems completely bored by being a hero that he
is just phoning it in night after night and has never been more bland and
boring than ever to the point that when he comes on my TV it usually singles a
good time to take my dogs out to poop.
The Miz:
Once one of the hottest heels in the company The Miz was one of the most
hated people on TV but like Orton he too has gotten incredibly boring and has
been beaten so many times in 2012 he has become nothing but a joke that no one
could ever take seriously as a threat and as just become annoying as possible.
Just when you thought he couldn't of gotten worse he became a hero for the
first time in his career in one of the worse and most uninspired face turns in
recent memory which should of freshen up his character but instead has only
made him even more bland and boring.
Tensai:
Lord Tensai made his big return to WWE this year after Wrestlemania with
a huge amount of hype and big push but he immediately failed to connect with
the fans with them chanting “Albert”, his last WWE persona, at him at every
turn. After a string of impressive wins it was clear that Lord Tensai was going
nowhere. The first change was in his name as he started going simply as Tensai
and lost his neat entrance gear. After that Tensai started losing more and more
frequently until he was losing every match to the likes of people like Santino
and started showing up on TV only every now and again and has become a comedy
figure. He may of returned with a lot of hype but by the time the year ended
very few could of fallen so far.
Jack
Swagger:
2012 started off with some promise for Jack Swagger has he won the
United States championship from the year’s biggest loser Zack Ryder only
sixteen days into the year and held it for the better part of two months before
losing it to Santino who hasn't been able to buy a win for himself for years in
WWE. After that it all went to hell for Swagger. He started teaming up with
Dolph Ziggler and failed to win the tag team titles at every turn. Soon enough Vickie
Guerrero kicked him to the curb in favor of Dolph Ziggler and rightfully so.
After that Swagger continued his losing ways even addressing the fact that he hadn't won a single match since losing the United States title. It got so bad
that there was seemingly nothing WWE could do to rehab Swagger anymore and had
him leave TV on the September 3rd episode of Raw saying that he
needed time off. Since then he has yet to return to TV. If not for missing from
TV for the rest of 2012 Swagger could of very easily been the biggest loser in
WWE for 2012 and the case can be made that he indeed is since he was written off
of TV for his losing ways but given how far Ryder fell since the very start of
the year beginning with his lost to Swagger I think Ryder just edges out
Swagger is suckyness for 2012.
So a few months back a comic collection called "Fearsome Fables" was released by Ink'd Well Comics for a charity called Child's Play. That trade paperback is a fantastic collection of short all ages spooky stories and turned out wonderfully. You can buy it HERE, through Ink'd Well Comics website. You can get a physical copy for $20 or a digital copy for a mere $10. If you haven't bought it yet then what are you waiting for? Do it up!
In that collection me and a good friend of mine, Ricky King, who's art blog full of his fantastic artwork called "From Earth" (Which can be seen HERE) teamed up to contribute our own little four page story to the cause. If you haven't seen it yet, well then your in luck because here is the whole thing in its entirety. Enjoy!
The 1990's were a pretty good time to be a comic book fan when it came to animated series. In fact some of the greatest cartoons ever based off of a comic book had their runs in the 1990's so I figured that I would sit down and make a list of my personal top 15 favorites. Granted with 15 we are really scrapping the bottom of the barrel at the end but that's why I choose to do 15 I wanted to show that the entire range of what the 1990's had to offer. That said, there are some shows at the bottom of this list that will have people saying how did THAT get on the list when something like The Incredible Hulk didn't? The quick and honest answer is also the most simple one. Because I never saw it. I have heard good things about The Hulk and there are some others that might be good that I also haven't seen but how can I rank something if I haven't seen it? With all of that out of the way lets just get right into it.
15 Avengers: United They Stand - 1999-2000
Sure this was far from the greatest super hero cartoon out there and when you compare it to Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes it looks even worse. The main problem with the show has to be the roster. Sure there are great Avengers like Hawkeye, Ant Man Wasp, Falcon, Vision and The Scarlet Witch but to round out the team we had heroes like Wonder Man, Tigra. hat might not seem like to bad of a roster of Avengers but the fact that the big three Captain America, Iron Man and Thor are not on the team really hurts the show. Hell Thor never even made an appearance on the show at least Captain America and Iron Man did at least that much.
14 Spider-Man Unlimited - 1999-2001
Anyone who has been coming to Bond-Tastic!! for a while should know by now how much I love Spider-Man so when this show came out I was super excited. It was after all a sequel of sorts to the Spider-Man animated series that ran from 1994-1998 so how could I not be all for it. Unfortunately like many other things to do with Spider-Man in the 1990's (The Clone Saga) this was a huge disappointment. Still it was Spider-Man so I stuck it out until the bitter end of its short 13 episode run. The really bad part about this show? Its on Netflix right now and I know as soon as I'm through r watching the other Spider-Man show I'll rewatch this one as well. Here's hoping its not as bad as I remember.
13 Iron Man 1994-1996
For a while every Saturday afternoon I got excited for the one two punch of Iron Man and Fantastic Four. Iron Man came on first and this show should by rights be up there with Spider-Man and X-Men from the 1990's since it too had the same style and followed the comics the same way but the problem is Iron Man was never as good as the other two up to this point, not even close. Adding to the problem with this show is the fact that although it only had two seasons it changed production studios after the first season causing a lot to change. The main selling point of this show for me though was that this was my first real introduction to Iron Man and the characters that surrounded him in his part of The Marvel Universe.
12 Silver Surfer - 1997
A lot of people make fun of this show for being pretty terrible, myself included. It didn't help that The Silver Surfer is a relatively unknown hero to non comic fans either, just think to those people The Silver Surfer is a naked silver guy who flies around space on a surfboard, you can understand why a lot of people wouldn't care about it. For shits and giggles I decided to rewatch this series on Netflix when it showed up a while back I figured that with only 13 episodes it wouldn't be that bad. I have to be honest although time hasn't been kind to the show with its very dated CGI that's spliced in with the traditional animation it was actually much better then I remembered. Still far from great but much better then I remembered. Also although the CGI is very dated now as I mentioned above it was pretty good and innovative for the time.
11 Wild C.A.T.s. - 1995-1996
When it came out Image Comics were still very new and the hottest thing in comics Jim Lee's Wild C.A.T.s. comic itself had only debuted two years earlier and was behind only Todd McFarlene's Spawn in popularity for the young company so when a children's cartoon was getting the green light from Image it was Wild C.A.T.s that would translate better then any of the other darker grittier comics that Image was putting out at the time. Still even in spite of this Wild C.A.T.s was the best choice it had the most colorful cast of characters and even had a loveable badass rogue in Grifter that all the cool kids would like. The show itself wasn't bad either and like in the comic world was a great although not always better third option to the animated series that Marvel and DC were putting out at the time. Not that such a thing would ever matter the the child audience that it was aimed at. All we ever cared about was that it brought on great super hero action, which it did.
10 Fantastic Four 1994-1996
The second half of the
other Marvel hour that came on Saturday Mornings in the 1990's following
Iron Man. Much like with Iron Man this was my first real introduction
to The Fantastic Four and I always thought that it deserved more
recognition then it ever got. The characters were spot on and its
followed the comic series in the same way that Spider-Man & The
X-Men. Maybe it was the fact that this show was taken a lot more of a
lighter feel then the others and made it less appealing to kids going into their teens the the others who knows. All I know is that I liked it.
9 Superman The Animated Series -1996-2000
With the huge success that was Batman: The Animated Series DC would of been morons not to capitalize on that with their flagship (debatable) character, Superman. Superman: The Animated Series enjoyed the same crisp animation and writing team that made Batman so great and it showed every step of the way. As far as Superman goes this is my second favorite thing he has ever been involved with outside of the comic books that he came from, number one being the first Superman movie staring Christopher Reeve who I must admit was always surprised never did the voice work for Clark Kent/Superman here. The most likely reason I can think of was that the show debuted only a year after Reeve's accident. That said though Tim Daly did a better job then Reeve himself could of done here with his voice work.
8 Men In Black - 1997-2001
The first Men In Black movie was great and very imaginitive and with that movie a animated series seemed like a must which was given to us by Kids' WB. The show had a great look, the characters looked like they did in the movie but distinct enough to be its own thing. More importantly the show had some great writing. It picks up where the first movie left us off with the big difference being that Agent K didn't retire. The show gave us lots of great imaginitve alien enemies for The Men In Black to face and some of the episodes were even much better then the second movie. Its to bad they didn't just take one of those episodes and made that part 2 instead.
7 The Maxx - 1995
With only 13 episodes clocking in at a mere 11 minutes each The Maxx proved you don't need to have a long run to be great. Airing late nights on MTV allowed The Maxx to be a little darker then most animated shows at the time as well as much more sophisticated. The animation style of The Maxx was truly something to behold as well with it looking as though it had been ripped from the pages of the comic and changing styles frequently from being very detailed to very cartoonist at other times. If you have never seen this show and have a two or three hours to spare then I highly suggest checking it out since you can pretty well watch the entire series in that short amount of time.
6 Batman Beyond - 1999-2002
Although this show most aired after the 1990's it did debut in 1999 making it eligible to be on this list to me. With its close ties to Batman: The Animated Series and being set in the future you knew that this had to be a good show. One of the most impressive things this show was able to do was not only have Batman being someone new but to pretty much haven an almost entirely new rogues gallery for Batman different from the villains Bruce Wayne fought. Yet in spite of this still manged to make this new Batman, under the guidance of Bruce Wayne, feel very much like Batman and the new villains also all seemed very Batman like and thus awesome. To accomplish that feat alone you would have consider this show a major success.
5 The Tick - 1994-1996
This show was my as well
as most peoples introduction to The Tick. This show was fantastic. Not
only was it a show about a super hero and the villains he fought but it
was also a great parody of the entire genre just like the comic book
that it was based on. The fact that the show never took itself to
seriously only helped make it more enduring then most other super hero
animated series since you knew that you would always be in for a good
time and a good laugh whenever The Tick came on.
4 X-Men - 1992-1997
The X-Men had been popular for years in comics but for the most part they were one of those unknown properties to most people who didn't read them. That all changed when The X-Men debuted on Fox in 1992. This show became incredibly successful in large part due to the fact that it was so loyal to its source material in the comics using its most popular story lines in the comics then 30 year history. Add to that the team had a great roster of the most popular X-Men at the time including Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Gambit, Beast Rogue and more. Other popular X-Men not on the team such as Colossus and Nightcrawler also had their moments as guest stars in more then one episode. All this and more leaves this X-Men cartoon #1 on many peoples lists of favorite Marvel animated series of all time.
3 Todd McFarlene's Spawn - 1997-1999
Spawn was arguably the most popular super hero of the 1990's. Things weren't all sunshine and rainbows for him nor should it given his dark origin. Todd McFarlene's Spawn was different from any other animated series based on a comic at the point it debuted and it is still pretty much still the only comic book animated series of its kind. It was incredibly dark, violent, gory and didn't shy away from nudity. The fact that the show was on HBO allowed it to do all of these things as it would of never flown on a Saturday morning like every other show on this list. It wasn't all dark, gritty and gory just for the hell of it though since everything served the story of one of comics more darker characters.
2 Spider-Man - 1994-1998
If this is a list about my favorite animated shows based on comics in the 1990' s then you can be sure that Spider-Man's animated 1994-1998 animated series would be on the list and ranked high. Taking a cue from the hugely popular X-Men animated series that debuted two years before Spider-Man was very loyal to its comic book origins. Sure somethings were changed around, we had The Hobgoblin terrorizing Spider-Man long before The Green Goblin showed up among other things but for the most part everything was spot on. This show was also one of the first to use CGI animation albeit very crude CGI animation that was saved mostly for buildings and vehicles. This show also featured some great voice work from the likes of Christopher Daniel Barnes as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and a very under rated performance of Ed Asner as J. Jonah Jameson. I loved the hell out of this show.
1 Batman: The Animated Series - 1992-1997
Is it really a surprise to anyone that my #1 animated show based on a comic book in the 1990's was Batman: The Animated Series? Despite my love of Spider-Man is there really any other option out there? Everything about this show was absolutely brilliant. From the opening theme song with the awesome music and intro which itself its a fantastic one minute Batman story. The animation style gave birth to an entire universe of DC animated shows including Superman, Batman Beyond and The Justice League. It also gave birth to fan favorite character Harley Quinn which in itself is enough to put it high on any lists. The voice work in this show is also some of the best that has been seen in any animated series, a fact proven to me by the fact that every time I read a Batman comic I hear the voices from this show. When I read Batman I hear Kevin Conroy, when I read The Joker I hear Mark Hamill and so forth and so forth. In short not only is Batman: The Animated Series my favorite animated show based on a comic book from the 1990's its one of my favorite SHOWS of all time animated or otherwise.
WWE's tag team division has been pretty bad for a very long time now but it seems like they are trying to make it better now although very, very slowly. So I have decided to take a look at the tag teams in WWE right now as well as a couple of people who could make decent tag teams.
Kofi Kingston & R-Truth: The Tag Team Champions and thus the cornerstone of the division. I'm not a fan of tag teams that have just been slapped together and its painfully obvious that what these guys are. WWE has transition Kofi to a tag team wrestler these days since before R-Truth he was teaming with Evan Bourne in Air Boom with the hope that they could revitalize the tag division. I think Kofi meshed much better with Bourne and they made a much better tag team, they even had half of the four things that ever tag team should have, a team name and matching attire, they still didn't have a team entrance theme or a team finisher though unless you counted Kofi hitting the Trouble In Paradise followed by Bourne's Air Bourne. How sad is it when your team feels so slapped together that all I can talk about is one of the partners old tag teams instead. Maybe if they keep Kofi and Truth together for a while after they lose the titles and they keep competing for them then I wouldn't feel as though they are so slapped together.
Darren Young & Titus O'Neil, The Prime Time Players: The possible future of the tag team division. The Prime Time Players have nearly everything you need to be a successful tag team, the only thing that's missing are those tag titles. WWE should put the titles on these guys ASAP and build the tag division around them as the dastardly team that cheats at every opportunity to keep the titles.
Jimmy & Jey Uso, The Uso's: The Uso's are the guys who SHOULD be the face of the tag team division in my opinion. Being twin brothers they have been a team their entire lives and work better together then anyone else on the roster. On top of that despite the fact that WWE has done them no favors at all since they first got on the roster in terms of building their credibility these guys are still over with the fans. When they come out and do their song and dance at the start of their entrance they always get the people going. One thing that can really push these guys over the top as huge fan favorites is if WWE would bring in their father Rikishi in a managerial role for them though that may not be something Rikishi wouldn't be interested since his wrestling days are still not behind him.
Epico & Primo: These two are another team that work very well together. WWE may be hesitant to put the tag titles back on them any time soon because they didn't seem to be all that over when they were champions but guess what happens when you don't put your champions on TV for weeks at a time, they don't get over. Epico & Primo are both great wrestlers and can put on a great match with any team in the division and I think they deserve another shot at the tag titles or at the very least a nice feud over the titles to get the fans behind them more. Rosa Mendes being in their corner only helps them as she is a perfect fit for the duo and fairly good mouth piece as well.
Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel: Kidd and Gabriel were a tag team that were just getting their footing a few months back before an injury sidelined Gabriel but in a shocking move by WWE's part once Gabriel returned they paired the two up again and they are once more finding their footing. These guys can really be a huge fan favorite team with their wrestling styles which compliment each others very nicely. They are also seeming to take the opportunity given to them and make a go for it as well since they have been asking fans on Twitter and Tout to suggest tag team names for the duo with them sending a Tout out themselves saying they may go with “International Airstrike.” It might not roll right off the tongue but hey its something at least. Also helping them out is the fact that both guys are experienced tag team wrestlers with both holding WWE tag team gold in the past, Kidd with DH Smith and Gabriel with Heath Slater.
Camacho & Hunico: These two have been paired together for a while now but haven't been much tag team and have seemingly yet to even consider going for the tag team titles. Why not? They aren't doing anything else and both guys are pretty decent wrestlers if nothing else they can be one more team that adds a bit of depth to the tag division with them challenging for the titles in triple threats or fatal four ways. Maybe they can be a team that another team has to face to become number one contenders. Hell why not make them number one contenders and give them a run for the titles, they have worked together well enough so far why not throw them in the thick of the tag division.
Now as I said before I am not a fan of two guys who have nothing else to do and are slapped together as a tag team. That said some times that scenario gives birth to great tag teams take for example The New Age Outlaws, Beer Money, The Rock -n- Sock Connection, The Hollywood Blondes, Booker T and Goldust, The Big Show and Chris Jericho or The Miz and John Morrison. Its something that has been proven to work before but it takes the right combination of guys to do it. Here are a couple of guys who I think could breath some new life in the tag team division and certainly their careers if they were teaming together including a few that we have already seen together in the past.
Michael McGillicutty & David Otunga: These guys have been a tag team that were slapped together before due to The Nexus ending and they worked pretty well with one another even if they weren't the most over with the crowd. After losing the tag titles they just simply went their own different ways. Why not bring them back together again? Since John Laurinaitis has been gone Otunga has been doing nothing and McGillicutty has been toiling away on NXT it will only help both men to get back together. One of the biggest problems with them before is that they were deeming boring by Jerry The King Lawler, well since then Otunga has really come into his own as an annoying heel that everyone hates while McGillicutty has been coming into his own as well on NXT having great matches. Put them back together and hide their weaknesses by having Otunga do most of the talking while McGillicutty does most of the wrestling.
Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins: These two broke into WWE as a tag team called The Major Brothers and later graduated to The Edgeheads, Edge's lackeys to help keep the world title around his waist. During this time they captured the tag team titles before going their separate ways. Once again like McGillicutty & Otunga these two didn't have a falling out when they split up. With Tyler Reks requesting and being granted his release that leaves Curt Hawkins without a tag team partner again. Zack Ryder has been struggling quite a bit as of late himself so why not pair the duo up once again. When they were a tag team before they were nobodies and although you can make the case that Hawkins still is a nobody they have both improved leaps and bounds from where they used to be and now both have their very own distinct personalities. Hawkins can get a bit of rub off of Ryder and they can be a nice addition to the tag team division. Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara: Mysterio and Sin Cara are very easy to pair up together and although Sin Cara has been labeled as a huge future superstar ever since he arrived in WWE he hasn't really done much of anything to prove himself. Putting him with the very well established and beloved Mysterio can do wonders for Cara. WWE has been talking about these two having a match at Wrestlemania to set a new record for most masks worn at any public event since last year until both men got sidelined for this this years Wrestlemania but if they can both stay injury free it seems like a it might be the way for them to go for next years Wresstlemania and if they are already a tag team, maybe even champions at the time it would be easy to make the match happen with them even saying they want to do so to set the record. Drew McIntyre & Jack Swagger: Here we have a classic case of two guys who aren't having anything done with them. Whenever McIntyre and Swagger are on TV you can be pretty sure that both are going to lose whatever match they are in, at the moment they are nothing but a couple of glorified jobbers. They were once so much more though and that is where these two can come together. Think about it Swagger was once a World Champion while McIntyre was a Intercontinental champion and pegged by Vince McMahon himself as the future of WWE. So what went so wrong for these guys? Both have complained as of late after loses that “they are better then this!!” so it seems like it would be easy to pair them off. They can both be put in an embarrassing match together with some other wrestlers and leave together citing they are better then this and just like that you have a new tag team who are out to prove they are indeed better then what they have been given.
Christian & Trent Barreta: This one may seem like it comes from out of nowhere and it kinda does but here's how I rationalize it. There is a old tried and true tradition of sticking a young wrestler with an experienced veteran in a tag team. Doing so gives the younger guy a huge rub instantly just by the association with the veteran. This is something that has worked time and again. As for why I picked these two here's why. Christian has always been a great tag team wrestler and has won the tag titles a total of nine times, seven with Edge, and once with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm. Trent Baretta was also in a pretty entertaining tag team with Caylen Croft before called The Dudebusters. Though they were entertaining they never really got a fair shake and Croft was soon released. It would be pretty easy to pair Baretta and Christian together as well since Baretta's current character can be compared with Christian's earlier in his career when he was more of a goofball teaming with Edge. Christian can just take Baretta under his wing saying that he sees a lot of himself in Baretta and we're off to the races with them.
Michael McGillicutty & Ted DiBiase: Dibiase and McGillicutty are a coulple of third generation wrestlers who really have nothing else going for them at the moment. Teaming them up seems like it could work pretty easily. The only thing I would change here would be having McGillicutty changing his name and going by his real name of Joe Hennig. WWE have said almost every time McGillicutty steps into the ring that he is the son of Mr. Perfect Curt Hennig and grandson of Larry “The Ax” Hennig so why they don't just have him going under his real name makes no sense to me, even if they keep the first name and call him Michael Hennig instead it wouldn't be so bad. They can recycle DiBiase and Cody Rhodes gimmick when they were Legacy of them thinking they are better then everyone else because of their pedigree and that they should be entitled to more then other because of it. I can easily see these two working well together and helping both men make it to the next step in their careers.
