Nice picks! I use to say I’d rather have Knuckles than Shadow, but with all the stuff in Shadow Generations I can definitely see Shadow being more unique now.

I would absolutely be up for just expanding on what’s in Ultimate. I don’t know how feasible that is with all the licenses for third-party characters, but I would love to just keep adding to that.

Last June there was a Secret Lair set. It wasn’t a huge thing like Final Fantasy. There were only seven unique cards, and some unique art for pre-existing cards.

I was playing a Vehicle deck with Tails as the commander. I managed to pop off and become a major threat in the mid-game, but Oscar’s played a board wipe and used an effect to pull one of my best vehicles into it.

I was using it to slay the dragons! 😡

Very nice. I get that a lot of decent artists and influencers have stayed on Twitter because it’s tied to their brand; it’s hard for some people to just chop off that major branch of outreach. But that makes me respect it all the more when an artist does take that step. So thank you.

I also think it’s fair to say they homogenized this to appeal to a wider audience. This show does feel very cynically tuned to make money off Funko Pops and product tie-ins. So don’t feel like you’re missing out if you’re not interested, but it was fun to watch what everyone’s watching for once.

And be seen some shows really trip over their last seasons, in a way that ruins any potential rewatches. But while overhyped, I think Stranger Things managed to wrap a neat bow on itself. Also I know there’s a play now that adds backstory, but I don’t think you need it to enjoy this.

I get the occasional laugh because I just like this gang. Dustin and Steve remain favorites. Everyone seems to get their moment, and while the ending is downright saccharine I think these characters have earned their happy endings. And there’s one punch they definitely didn’t pull.

There’s a “coming out of the closet” plotline that’s probably pretty divisive, but I dunno, I think it’s alright. Maybe overly optimistic for the 80s, but like with Lucas and the possible themes of racism, I didn’t really need to see friends be bigoted to each other. The show’s better for it.

The strength now is less in the plot and more in the characters. Good acting all-round, though some of the mainstays like Mike and Eleven don’t really interest me any more. They find some fun new character team-ups though; pairing Will with Robyn is very sweet.

Things never got too tense because at this point the show has proven unwilling to kill any of its major characters, and while it’s fun to see their plans hit snags, they get so many wins that things stay optimistic. If you can accept this borderline genre-shift, it’s a fun time.

Season 5 still doesn’t have the magic of the contained first season, but for what the show has become it’s a proper finale. I never really felt the horror this season: by this point we have a decent understanding what we’re up against and the heroes have become a well-oiled machine.

1. Stranger Things: Season 5

Starting off with the end of Netflix’s favorite property. I’ve had my ups and downs with this show. I think the first season is truly great. 2 and 3 fumble along, and by Season 4 it’s found new footing but has become more of a blockbuster than horror…

And that’s a wrap on 2025! I kind of slacked off on movies and books this year. Ali and I have settled into a routine of watching YouTube a lot which is fulfilling for us but maybe less exciting for the old media thread. Gonna try and get back into reading more though.

You’ll get rounds with crazy scores and rounds where you lean in too far and lose it all. So it’s gambling, with all the fun that entails and none of the financial debt. (I guess you COULD add your own ante system though…). It’s incredible how fun this is for how simple the rules are.

The trick is you don’t shuffle the discard pile back between rounds. The deck has exactly 12 12s, 11 11s and so on. So you’re encouraged to count cards and weigh your odds of busting. There’s also a few special cards that both cause chaos and kind of balance the game.

Basically it’s like Blackjack. You have a deck of numbered cards. You take turns pulling, and you’re trying to eventually accrue a score of 200. But if you draw doubles of any card, you bust and get no points that round. So each player decides when to bank their points and when to push their luck.