Music Monday - Cold Slither

I am a huge GI Joe fan. Not a franchise I talk about a lot, but it was one of my favorite cartoons and action figure lines growing up. To coincide with their SDCC exclusive Cold Slither action figures, Hasbro has teamed up with Reigning Phoenix Music Group to release actual music. If you aren't familiar with Cold Slither, in the 1980's series it was a Cobra scheme that saw the Dreadnoks pose as a hair mental band and use mind control technology to attempt to take over the world.

You can check out the band's official website here.

Official lyric video:

Here's the original episode:

Super Sentai Saturday - Santa Claus

To spread some holiday cheer I thought I'd spread this official Power Rangers Santa Claus art. Featured in the Power Rangers: Heroes of the Grid - Santa vs Heximas Pack, it seems that Saint Nick is a red ranger.

If you want to add his foe, Heximas and his Rocket Sleigh, to your Power Rangers game you can do so by downloading the free RPG pdf pack here.

Music Monday - 1980 Force

Apparently releasing Welcome to Cobra Island wasn't enough GI Joe love for Canadian rapper, Wordburglar. His newest video 1980 Force is a loving tribute/parody of our favorite o-ring action figure line.

Legend of the White Dragon Teaser Trailer

On November 19, 2022 Jason David Frank died. While I didn't always agree with his view points, I was a fan. JDF played Tommy Oliver int he Power Ranger franchise (in a few different series) and was a big part of my childhood. His final project, Legend of the White Dragon, is a gritty spin on the Power Rangers franchise. This is kind of ironic because Frank came out against the gritty fan film Power/Rangers because its adult centered content.

Though JDF has passed, the film will still be released. It's currently in post-production and is expected to release this year. 

Power/Rangers (2015 Fan Film)

Right now G.I. Joe is the only Essence20 game I have, but I definitely plan on picking up both Transformers and Power Rangers. I'm obsessing over media associated with the franchises. I shared the Joseph Kahn's gritty Power/Rangers fan film on here before, but the video I linked was taken down. Thought I'd repost it. 

While I don't plan on doing a super dark take on the Rangers like this, there are some ideas and things I really like about it. 

Enter The Collection Review

Enter the Collection was the 2021 Free RPG Day offering from Renegade Games Studios. The adventure uses their Essence20 system and was designed to be used for the Power Rangers, GI Joe, and Transformers RPGS. This is an interesting choice because this dropped in October 16, 2021 and the first of those games (Power Rangers) wasn't released until January 26th, 2022. That meant this adventure was basically useless for 3.5 months. 

The characters have a contact that ask them to look into a situation in the suburban community of Crystal Springs. A local professor has made a strange discovery and her colleague has gone missing. The culprits are a criminal organization called The Collection. They are dumping chemicals in the local lake and kidnapped the missing gentleman when he got too close.

Part I of the adventure is investigative.  The characters can search the missing man's house, avoiding nosy neighbors and potentially coming into conflict with suburban security guards and local police. They can then search the local lake. Day and night time search yield different results. During the night they can stumble across agents of The Collection. They can then engage these forces which may lead to Part II.

Part II is a late night chase. The different skill rolls needed are presented.

Party III of the adventure finds the characters coming up on abandoned airfield. They must make it past The Collection's guards The Keeper (commander of this group), a Vault (heavily armored soldier), pilot, and co-pilot await them. The Keeper then sets a bomb and seeks to escape. The players have a variety of tasks they can attempt: disarming the bomb, taking the hostage and running, stopping The Collection forces.

After the adventure the party have made enemies of The Collection, which can come back to bite them later. Additionally they've uncovered the truth of the chemical dumping and can a local politician to justice.

The adventure is generic enough that I can see how it is appropriate to all three settings. While primarily mundane, some of the foes do have access to an alien war drug, which add a sci-fi element. The adventure adds the following threats, which can be used in any of the games. They are:

• Longhall Homes Security Guard  - Threat Level 0
• Crystal Springs Police Officer  - Threat Level 1
• Collector Foot Soldier  - Threat Level 2
• Carry-All Halftrack (Land Vehicle)  - Threat Level 2
• Badger ATV (Land Vehicle)  - Threat Level 2
• Collection Stalker  - Threat Level 6
• Collection Keeper  - Threat Level 4
• Collection Vault  - Threat Level 6
• Sparrowhawk Stealth Jet (Air Vehicle) - Threat Level 3

In addition the Ajax Compound Inject and Camouflage Pop-Up are new pieces of equipment you can add to your game.

This seems like it a fun adventure and I will definitely use it when I finally get to run an Essence20 game. You can pick this one up on Ebay, Noble Knight, and other online retailers.

Music Monday - Rap-Viper

Since I recently picked up the G.I. Joe Roleplaying Game I figured I'd share this amazing G.I. Joe inspired track by Wordburglar. If you are a Joe fan you need to watch this video and listen to the album it's from, Welcome to Cobra Island. It's one of my all-time favorites. 

After I get a good handle on the sytem, I'll give Rap-Viper stats.