Purveyor of Nerdstalgia / Nerd & Geek Culture Representing Many Worlds. Many Fandoms. Many Genres. One Passion.
I’ve been making some great strides in likenesses over the past few weeks. There have also been a few steps backward, but that is all part of the process. They are all in order so you can view my progress and, in some cases, my regression. As a new bonus this new year, I have opened a RedBubble shop that will be slightly different from my TeePublic shop. I feel like Redbubble will be a better fit for my developing art style.
Amongst the embers of the continuous dumpster fire that was the year 2020 there were some bright spots that took my household’s focus off of the misery, isolation and loss we faced throughout the year. Not to mention the social upheaval that brought attention to deep underlying issues that still need to be fully addressed in our society.
These bright spots were found streaming to us from multiple, often competing , sources on the interwebs. There were shows we watched that were new to us, such as Victoria, which was an awesome watch but it didn’t make my list because all three seasons were pre-2020. I also finally watched the Punisher season 1 and was duly impressed with the depth of the story. This list is just the new shows from last year.
Seven: Upload
This was a joy to watch and very humorous. It deals with “life”, albeit a digital one, after death. Not all digital afterlives are coded equally, and we are treated to different levels of service by the “providers” of this afterlife.
Six: Picard
It was great to see Captain Picard, as well as some familiar faces from the past, back in action. The show had some “WTF” moments but overall it was very entertaining. I am unsure how I feel about the dark future that instore for the Federation, but it makes for some tense storytelling.
Five: Stargirl
Having been a fan of the Justice Society, since my first copy of an All-Star comics issue back in 1978, I was thrilled to see some live action love for not only the original characters but for their legacies.
Four: Transformers War for Cybertron: Siege
Although the feel of the show is a bit sparse, for something that is supposed to be a global conflict, the action and story are both pretty good. I would love to see more bots getting into the action but it is understandable that time and money limitations need to be adhered to when creating an animated show. This isn’t just another quaint retelling of the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons, this is a dark and violent look at the events that brought them to the exhaustive end of war for Cybertron.
Three: The Umbrella Academy
The first season was an incredible journey through the lives of these individuals that make up the family, with the second really twisting their worlds inside out. More “end of the world” hijinks ensue in this season and far more character development too. This season was the same as the first yet very different… there was this feel about it like this is new but very familiar.
Two: Warrior
This not only is a batshit crazy Kung Fu program, it highlights the struggles of immigrants who are attempting to make their way in 19th century America. There are very adult situations (hyper violent scenes and substance use). This is supposed to be based on a concept by Bruce Lee, which I feel like it is what he wanted “Kung Fu” the series to actually be about. There are good people doing bad things, bad people doing good things, and those who are in the gray area in-between who can go either way. Warrior is a compelling program that I will just binge when given the chance.
One: The Mandalorian
I adored season 1, season 2 didn’t fail to up the ante. While the rest of Disney+ was a disappointment due to the pandemic, The Mandalorian was on time and came out swinging. There was a ton of fan service in this season, more than its previous and I am here for that. Heck, a team of fans are creating this thing for the fans. The key to allowing fans to drive the bus is a strict quality control, which Dave Filoni brings to the table, and better than that are the way the other creators rely on him openly to keep things “correct”. I dig that George Lucas visits the set as well.
So much happened in this season, which only was another eight episodes, that I cannot believe that they were able to pack it so tightly without making it feel overwhelming.
The Mandalorian will return December 2021, which is only a month later than the two previous seasons that both premiered in the month of November. Just a one month delay with all this craziness going on? I’ll take that. It will be a while before I pay for Disney+ again, but next December seems like a great time to catch up with that service. The Book of Boba Fett will be coming out that month as well… I’m all in.
This is the way.
I would be remiss if I didn’t credit my favorite creators on YouTube with seeing us through this rough year as will. Head over to my YouTube Channel and check out some of my favorites.
Recently I’ve been sharing symmetrical portrait illustrations on various mindshare platforms. It is something that I picked up from an artist that I respect named T.N. Perkins. The last two that I’ve done, as of this blog entry, have been Lynda Carter and Carrie Fisher. My goal with these two illustrations were to create a more realistic representation of my subjects. I feel like my attempt with Lynda fell short, but I learned some lessons and applied what I had learned to my rendering of Carrie. I really think that I did a much better job on this last one by not hyper focusing on accuracy and leaning into creating an essence of the woman. The following have been my Pop Art Portrait series so far. I dig doing these and, while I will also be doing other style drawings, I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon.
So this last week we re-watched the Mandalorian on Disney Plus, which was our fourth run through of the first season. This evening we enjoyed the first episode of the second season, chapter nine, and it was incredible! Tatooine, Mandalorian armor, Tusken Raiders, Bantha, Krayt Dragons, Old faces, and so much more. This episode came out swinging, and had little in way of slow moments. I cannot go into any detail since anything I could write about would be a potential spoiler. Just know this… WOW!
I cannot wait until the next episode… although we may be without internet for a week or two. We signed up for the Disney service for the year, but we won’t be re-subscribing for that length. There hasn’t been much on the service that I don’t already have, and the lack of the content that was promised due to the pandemic has led to us not utilizing the service as much as I thought we would. I plan on a monthly basis, especially now since I don’t have full time employment any longer. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is the way.
In the beginning, well not the very beginning, the predecessor to this site was Quantum Multiverse. I used a Kenner Gonk Droid to represent the site in a very small role. The site tage was “Gonk Droid Approved”.
Just before my blogs downfall to a dead phone, and inability to access my two step verification that I had set up, I designed this logo that I was very happy with. I dropped the use of a mascot and went with turning the on/off symbol into the “Q” in Quantum. This is something that I still really dig, but I am happy that that I was forced to move on and rethink my approach.
Before I totally abandoned the Quantum Multiverse I toyed with creating a face for my new blog. Dr. Multiverse came into existence first as a Sam Jackson character, then as a Sentai-esque one. That shorthand version of my QM logo is still fun when I look at it..
Then Doctor Multiverse became a fully formed concept, if not a locked in style. Playing with my Micronaut to make a “real” version of the character. My tag-line was very inspired by Mego’s adaptation of Micro Man.
This one was used for a time, minus the 3D effect. It was something that I had created in Photoshop using shapes.
Now we get to something that I feel was an inspired design. Using toys from my past, I frankensteined together this version of the Doctor. This design consisted of A Kenner Boba Fett body, a Kenner maskatron head, a Hasbro Mike Powers the Atomic Man’s “hair”, Mego’s Captain America’s shield, and Mattel’s/Popy’s Great Mazinga’s fist & sword.
From there I remade the real toy parts using Photoshop shapes. I was very satisfied with how this shape rendered illustration turned out.
My next step was to embrace my comic book roots. While this only lasted four months in 2020, it was a fresh and clean look.
Here is the latest incarnation of Doctor Multiverse. I still am using the base body of that original Boba Fett, but then I went mad with a Kirby style sketch using my own hand as a model. As you can see I went back to a sentai style mask that I also rendered entirely in PS shapes. Ever since I saw Prince wear his stunning three lense shades, I’ve been stuck on that look. Anyhow, I hope that you’ve enjoyed this journey, I know I have.
The beauty of the Doctor Multiverse concept is that he/she/it can constantly change. To utilize a Bruce Lee-ism here, I use the branding of no branding.