Greetings all,
So 2020 will be my first full year here with the Gathering and I’ve got some big stuff planned both for my ongoing series as well as some new projects I’m looking forward to sharing with you all. I wanna go ahead and take this opportunity to peel back the curtain a little bit and give you, my dear and beloved readers, a quick little sneak peek at what you can expect to see from yours truly in this the first year of a brand new decade here on The Grand Geek Gathering. Do note that these are far from fully comprehensive lists and are more a small sampling of the content I am planning for the rest of the year.
I’d also like to somewhat better define the line between what I consider for an In Retrospect versus something like The Post-Mortem Review. The original intent was for the latter to focus primarily on newer releases during their most relevant period within the internet and public consciousness, something akin to what you’d see from other publications come release for games, movies, etc. Something more traditional. While In Retrospect was meant to put focus on older properties or otherwise focusing on nostalgia. However, there’s certain titles that I had either intended for review around their release or that I am getting to after the fact that I would still like to give proper reviews to, so rather than set some sort of hard cutoff point where “anything older than x” is no longer valid for a Post-Mortem review and “anything older than x” is going to be done as an In Retrospect article I feel that better defining the difference between the two would serve better here. In Retrospect is more nostalgia driven, as I have said, but they are also more of a free form sort of look at something, less rigid and defined, less about numbers and more feelings and less easy to define aspects. The Post-Mortem Review follows along the more traditional review path by breaking things down, getting (somewhat) more technical and dissecting things, peeling back the layers, it’s what you expect to see when you see the word “review” (well, at least when you see the word “review” and my name in the same sentence).
So while the intent is to primarily focus on newer releases with The Post-Mortem Review and older titles with In Retrospect, don’t take that to mean you won’t see a Post-Mortem on a game or movie or even a book from some years ago just as you may see a more casual and feels-y look at something that’s only a few years old featured in an In Retrospect article. I’m not necessarily sure how needed this clarification even is, but I do feel better for having it out there so here ya go. So far as scheduling goes, I’ve never really kept a set schedule for either of these and at this point in time I see them more as a “when I get one done” sort of thing. I may try and push out a Post-Mortem for a newer release that catches my eye as close to its release date as possible (keeping in mind that for games I like to actually finish them before reviewing them), whereas In Retrospects are just when it fancies me (some I may try and tie into a release if it is relevant, such as a look at a franchise when a new release is coming out or something along those lines).
The Pulse Top 10 remains as it has been, I’m still shooting for one list a week (generally on Mondays) unless something comes up necessitating a push to a later day or (and lord forbid) skipping the week entirely. The Pulse largely, as expected, deals with geek and popular culture and will continue to do so, though I am going to broaden that definition a tad to include things that may not necessarily be geek, should still be of some relevance to the brand. You’ll see what I mean.
That all said and aside, let’s take a look at what you can expect to see from me in 2020.
The Pulse Top 10 in 2020
My breakout series, if you will, originally starting back in October with my Halloween Haunt maze countdown, The Pulse Top 10 moves full speed ahead with new lists spanning a wide range of topics including but not limited to:
-The Top 10 Games of the Decade
-The Top 10 Rides at the Disneyland Resort
-The Top 10 Booties in Gaming
-The Top 10 Nicktoons
-The Top 10 Stephen King Novels
In Retrospect in 2020
My ongoing series of retro reviews and retrospectives will also be continuing this year and covering a broader scope of subjects than I did in 2019. As with The Pulse, this is not meant to be a full and comprehensive list of In Retrospects for the year, just a small sampling to get you guys hype:
-Shadow of the Colossus and The Last Guardian
-Transformers Animated
-John Carpenter’s The Thing
-Trick ‘r Treat
-The Wonder Years
The Post-Mortem Review in 2020
The more structured and proper review series, The Post-Mortem will be moving on strong into 2020 with detailed breakdowns and arbitrary ratings given out to all manner of books, games and movies from the hottest new releases to some older stuff I’ve been meaning to talk a bit more about:
-The Lighthouse (2019)
-Pokemon Sword and Shield
-Death Stranding
-FantasticLand
-Days Gone
Other Projects in 2020
In addition to my current ongoing article series..es, I have more standalone or experimental projects and mini-series that I’ll be bringing out this year. These will range from updates on my upcoming short fiction collection “Wide Asleep” to random opinion pieces or things I just couldn’t otherwise categorize. As always, this includes but is not limited to:
-Is Disney+ Worth It?
-Let’s Talk Toku: A Look at the Kamen Rider Franchise
-The Great Pokemon Ranking of 2020
-The Writer’s Block: Wide Asleep
-Plastic Crack: Transformers Studio Series Devastator
I am really excited for this year, I’ve got a lot of awesome stuff planned for you guys that I hope you all enjoy. Writing for The Gathering has been a bit of a dream come true for me and getting this content out for everyone to see has been a really awesome experience that I am so grateful to have the opportunity to share. I’ve something pretty big planned for the end of the year as well, so should everything come together, it’s gonna be pretty awesome.
As always, feel free to check out some of my previous work such as my world renowned ranking of Halloween Haunt mazes. Or my groundbreaking review of Deck13’s masterpiece The Surge 2 and my interview with Deck13’s very own Phil Pradel. If you’re feeling nostalgic then why not brush up on the history of everyone’s favorite virtual pet franchise, Digimon? Don’t forget the latest entry in The Pulse as well, where I countdown the Top 10 Games of 2019.