It’s almost 2013, which means that everyone and their brother are going to be releasing their top ‘whatever’ lists for the past year, and whether that be for movies, games, actors, books, etc. we all know what to expect.
I think each and every one of us can say that this was a great year to be a geek! We finished the Batman saga, got an Avengers movie and saw some truly unique and excellent video games and comics come out that will change the way we experience these mediums for the long term. Oh, and we got a green light on more Star Wars movies, which I think everyone is excited about! Along with all that excellence, we also had a few stinkers sneak through that deserve to be discussed – if only to make sure they get completely ignored.
Taking all of that into consideration, we here at BSR would like to focus on a few things in the geek world that really stood out in terms of awesomeness and quality to each one of us, along with maybe a few that just didn’t live up to the hype, or were a complete disappointment that the general public would be better off avoiding. Without further ado, here’s your 2012 wrap up from your favorite robots!
Scarlett RoBotica:
Best: I’ve said it a million times already, but my best “geek” moment was seeing John Williams in concert with Steven Spielberg. Second best was appearing as an extra in a popular movie franchise. I finally became a fan of Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica. Movies that I loved were The Hunger Games and The Avengers.
Worst: The Muppets lost a couple of members this year . . . beloved muppeteer Jerry Nelson passed away, and Kevin Clash quit under scandalous circumstances. We also lost talented swordmaster Bob Anderson. Brave disappointed me. While a beautiful film, something seemed to be missing from it.
Undecided: I’m still not sure what the future holds for Lucasfilm. I love Star Wars and I love Disney, but will the combination work? Only time will tell.
kmc1138:
What a year for Whedon fans! “The Avengers” is well on its way to being my favorite comic adaptation of all time, and “Cabin in the Woods” was a wild homage to classic horror that somehow managed to be something completely original. In comics, my favorite team up of Matt Fraction/David Aja returned with what might be the best book of the year – Hawkeye, and Marvel also scored a win with Captain Marvel. Kelly Sue DeConnick and rookie Dexter Soy have made an iconic character evolve and created a breathtaking book in the process.
The bittersweet? Sweet Tooth is coming to an end. Expect a full write up as soon as my tears have dried.
And the worst. The worst is so bad I hate to bring it up, because I feel the more we talk about it, the more it’s a thing. But MAN I am sick of the “fake geek” controversy, and more so its aim at women. Everyone was a noob at one time, and it doesn’t matter how you get into a fandom, it only matters that the being a fan brings you joy.
Strider-bot:
Best: Star Wars sale and Episode VII announcement topped the list, followed by The Dark Knight Rises, Prometheus, The Avengers, Halo 4, Assassin’s Creed 3, Angry Birds Star Wars, Star Wars: Darth Plagueis, Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2, Skyfall, The Hunger Games, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol Blu-ray and return of Darth Maul to Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Worst: The iPad 3 release being quickly followed by the iPad mini – stop the madness, Apple. Wrath of the Titans. No word yet on Joseph Gordon-Levitt getting his own Nightwing movie. Waiting another year for season 3 of Sherlock.
Undecided: 48 frames per second. The Hobbit was a solid, entertaining movie. But while some of the scenic vistas benefited from that ‘Man, it looks like I’m sitting right there on the set’ vibe, it made some of the special effects look a tad silly (think back to the original matte frames around the ships in the 1977 Star Wars release) and it actually made me miss the grain you get from shooting on film. It looked a little too much like a TV image for my cinematic sensibilities.
baldassbot:
Best – Kevin Smith at Celebration VI, The Avengers, Disney ruling the world of awesome, PS Plus
Worst – Entitled fans’ reaction to Mass Effect 3, The Dark Knight Rises
Looking Forward to in 2013 – Iron Man 3, new Superman movie, Disney’s next acquisition: Nintendo?
Wrath.o.Tron:
Just a few notes for me to expand on later:
Best games:
Borderlands 2
XCOM: Enemy Unknown
Soul Calibur V
Darksiders II
Dishonored
Best F2P?
Tribes: Ascend
League of Legends
Biggest surprises?
The Walking Dead Game
Natural Selection 2
Sithbot:
Movies: The Avengers which was not only a great comic book movie, but one of the best films of the year, and the best superhero movie of all time! As a long time Whedon fan, it was really good to see him finally getting his due as an excellent director and writer! Looper ended up being my favorite film of the year (so far, I have yet to see Django, Lincoln and Zero Dark Thirty), and Cabin in the Woods easily took the top spot of my favorite horror movie of all time. Oh yeah, and the announcement of new Star Wars, of course!
Video games: Stand out year for games as well! Dishonored, Far Cry 3, Assassin’s Creed 3, NintendoLand, Super Mario Bros. U, Mass Effect 3, and Darksiders 2 were all quite simply stunning and filled up a lot of my gaming time this year. They were all trumped, though, by Last Story (Wii), Journey (PSN) and The Walking Dead (Mac, PC, XBox, PSN) — namely because of the powerful, yet varied, storytelling that can be found in each individual title. If you haven’t checked out any of these yet, you’re missing out as they are the best video games have had to offer in years!
Comic Books: Return of the Joker in Batman, Saga, Crossed Badlands, Locke and Key, Hulk: Stay Angry, Dan Slott’s run on ASM, and Punk Rock Jesus.
One of the only somewhat disappointments this year was Avengers v. X-Men. It’s not that the story wasn’t enjoyable, just that it was full of WAY too much filler, led to an ‘important’ death that lacked any real emotion, and had the most anticlimactic ending I’ve come across in any medium since the end of the Twilight ‘saga’.
Oh, and Dark Knight Rises. Not a bad movie by any means, but it pales in comparison to the Dark Knight. It’s too bad that Nolan let the best film adaptation of Batman go out with a long and drawn out whimper considering how strong its second act was.
Onyxicon:
It’s so hard to go back and remember everything, but a start —
Best – “Puny God” moment in Avengers (really did make me believe Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk), watching Jem, She-Ra, Animaniacs and Batman on the Hub, TERA, Fairway Solitaire HD, anything and everything involving “Gangnam Style,” Pinterest, pivotal spoiler in The Dark Knight Rises, World of Tanks, re-runs of Big Bang Theory on TBS, Vegas Restorations show on History, The Amazing Spider-Man not sucking. Best movie of the year by a gunshot is Django Unchained.
Bad – free-to-play version of Star Wars The Old Republic, being sick at Dragon*Con, Dragon*Con crowds, this King of the Nerds crap on TBS, subsequent seasons of The Voice, Disney acquiring Lucasfilm (not that Disney can’t revamp it, I think the entire Star Wars franchise should be retired for risk of complete burnout), not ditching Bourne Series if it couldn’t use the book’s plot,
HyperZord:
Best: Ben Folds Five getting back together. “Sleepwalk with Me” Campaign. Cabin In The Woods. Ghost Rider turned into Crank 3. Breaking Bad. Earwolf podcasts. Lupin III: A Woman Named Fujiko. Kids on the Slope. HBOGO. Avatar The Legend of Korra. It’s Such a Beautiful Day.
Worst: Firing of Dan Harmon. Hunger Games movies. Guys With Kids.
And that’s a wrap! So what do you think about all that took place in geekdom over the past year? Were we pretty spot on, or did we completely miss out on what was the best (and worst) of 2012? Sound off in the comments below!