I went silent about TOG in the wake of jumping ship over to 9-1-1, but I’m happy that I’m making my way back.
There’s been a lot happening the world of The Old Guard. While there was not a “TOG Takeover” this time around (the mod running the account had some personal life things come up to keep them from doing a full event), the fans have been celebrating since the moment it hit midnight in the first time zone that made it July 10th (while I’m in one of the last, for context). It’s been a great day seeing fans and artists come out of the woodwork to celebrate this groundbreaking film. Heck, there’s going to be a massive fan watch later on today, which I’ll be unfortunately missing because of the time it’s starting (prior engagement).
On another note, fans have come flocking back because filming has started in Italy! This isn’t a rumor, it’s fact. Most of the cast has been seen on set, and the two that haven’t (Matthias Schoenaerts and new cast member Henry Golding) have been seen on social media either with the cast or in costume. (We think we saw Matthias as Booker in one shot, but there was a bag over the person’s head, so it can’t be confirmed.)
It’s been a long time since I really sat down and thought about this film. Not that I haven’t watched it (no, I literally watched it two weeks ago with Mom for the 80th time, it still holds up). But thinking about the world, about the comics, and everything that has come because of it. I’m even starting to work on fic for the film again, which may or may not pan out – it’s been over a year and fandom trends shift.
Because filming started on June 13th, it’s in the realm of possibility that by the time this day rolls around again next year, we might have a release date for the sequel, or a trailer, or (and this is a reach) the sequel itself! I’m keeping positive about the thought of it.
But in any event, it’s a great day to think about a great film!
It’s been a minute since I’ve said much of anything regarding The Old Guard, mostly because I got so burned out. I’m not even participating in this month’s TOG Takeover on Twitter, because I just really can’t anymore.
However, yesterday was the Hugo Awards.
If you don’t know what the Hugo Awards are, it’s okay. I didn’t for the longest time, until a few years ago. It’s a literary award for the best SciFi or Fantasy works of the year. They are always announced at Worldcon (formally known as the World Science Fiction Convention) in a special presentation. These awards go to the best Scifi/Fantasy Novel, Novella, Short Story, etc. They are considered very important awards to those in the literary world, or at least within the SciFi/Fantasy world.
The award I’m focusing on today is the Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Or, in layman’s terms, best film screenplay. The nominees are by and large major motion pictures, from some of the biggest studios in the world. Previous winners include Good Omens, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, The Martian, Guardians of the Galaxy, Inception, Game of Thrones (Season One), Lord of the Rings (which swept all three years it was nominated), and much more. That’s not even including the nominees that didn’t win.
And this year, the competition was really stiff. Tenet, Soul, Palm Springs, Eurovision Song Contest, and Birds of Prey were all nominees, all of which would have absolutely deserved this win, because they are so well written and well received in the writing department. But there are six nominees, not just the five listed here.
And the sixth? The Old Guard.
Who won.
This honestly came as a surprise to see. Not that the screenplay isn’t good (it is!), but against Birds of Prey? I figured we didn’t stand a chance.
But the film won.
This is the second win for a Netflix property, the first being Jessica Jones’ “AKA The Smile” in 2016. In fact, Netflix has only received five nominations total thus far. (In contrast, Marvel Studios is at sixteen nominations with three wins. And Harry Potter received seven nominations out of their eight films (Half Blood Prince being the lone exception) with no wins.)
Here’s the weird thing though. Normally, Netflix is all over announcing their various wins, regardless of the award. But this time, there hasn’t been a peep. It’s been over twenty four hours, and no post or tweet or reference. The writer and director have both made posts on Instagram regarding the win, but nothing from Netflix. Nor from Skydance, the producer of the film.
But who cares. The Old Guard won a major award.
Wonder if we will win for the sequel? Only time will tell!
At the beginning of the year, when I was still in the middle of The Old Guard fandom, I was ecstatic with the news of the new comics coming out. When we found out it was an anthology, I was pretty happy to hear it, because I wasn’t expecting anything until the final set of issues for the series released (which we still don’t have a date for).
So. This is how I’m going to review all six issues. I want to talk about the covers first, as I have have (to my knowledge) all the released covers. I’ll be discussing them in their sets (A, B, C, and exclusive variants). It’s only fair to do so this way. After that, I’m going to talk about each individual story, as there are twelve total. I’ll give the brief summary, and my take on it.
This won’t be a traditional review, because I normally don’t read traditional comics. I’m mostly in this for the story more than anything, because I still love the world that TOG created. I’m not giving each story or issue a grade, because each story was written by someone else. But I’ll try to be honest and fair.
The Covers
Each issue released in three variant covers (excluding the first issue, which had a total of five).
Cover A
The “A” covers are character covers. Each one features a main character in TOG, excluding Noriko/Quynh and including… Yitzhak? He’s on the 6th issue. He’s important to the plot going forward.
Cover B
The “B” covers are the most fun of the three covers. Each one features a moment from one of the two stories included in each issue. My personal favorite is the first issue, with Nicky and Joe in Berlin. Because… Reasons.
Cover C
The “C” covers are really cool, as they tell a story when laid out. Each cover tells a war story from a different time, adding characters as they are discovered as immortals. They’re done very well, IMO
Variant Covers
These are two variant covers for the first issue. The first was done for Out of the Vault by John Gallagher. I’m not too much of a fan of it, but I’m not really sure why. It just doesn’t do anything for me. The second was more widely available, designed by Santa Fung. If I don’t count the Berlin cover, this would be my favorite cover by far. I just love the superhero lineup.
The Stories
“My Mother’s Axe” – Story by Greg Rucka, Art by Leandro Fernandez (Issue 1A)
The story of Andy’s axe, from when Andy was a child, to where she is right now, training with Nile on the beach. The story is riddled with little moments of character history, mostly focusing on Andy. It’s a good backstory, but I felt that it was a bit slow, but also bloated.
“Zanzibar and Other Harbors” – Story by Andrew Wheeler, Art by Jacopo Camagni (Issue 1B)
Nicky and Joe are in Berlin right as the Nazi party has taken control, at one of the last few clubs that at one point were open to men to be together. After dancing in a park, they save a young woman from being raped by a Nazi. It’s probably one of my favorite stories, especially because of how powerful Joe and Nicky’s love comes across the pages. It’s worth it. (And I love this look for Joe and Nicky. I wish Camagni was the main artist, honestly.)
“Bonsai Shokunin” – Story by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Art by Valentine De Landro (Issue 2A)
This is a Noriko story. Or, at least it supposed to be. But really, it’s a moment in time for this unnamed Japanese soldier. And while I do love me some Noriko, this one just didn’t click for me. (Though I did love the art in this one.) The B variant cover is inspired by this story, BTW.
“Strong Medicine” – Story by Eric Trautmann, Art by Mike Henderson (Issue 2B)
It’s the Wild West for Booker, on his way to meet Andy in San Francisco. For Booker, he ends up getting on the wrong side of the local group of assholes in a dead end town, gets shot up, and then commits mass murder. It’s a whole thing. Oh and he saves a doctor, who goes on to be the grandfather or Merrick, the psycho jackass from the first series/movie. So there’s that. We get to see a bit of Booker’s mindset here. It’s fun. He can be just as brutal as Andy. No wonder the two of them are the same, but also foils.
“Passchendaele” – Story by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Michael Avon Oeming (Issue 3A)
Andy is a Mom! Kinda. Thanks to a flashback the conflict in Passchendaele, we discover that she saved a young boy who she basically raised as a son. Of course, she hasn’t seen him in years, and her stumbling into his restaurant was by happenstance, but still, it’s clear that there is love here. I’m not a fan of this art style, unfortunately, but it does pay homage to the 70’s, where the bulk of the story takes place. (Also, our first reference to Yitzhak!)
“Lacus Solitudinis” – Story by Robert Mackenzie & Dave Walker, Art by Justin Greenwood (Issue 3B)
Joe and Andy are in San Francisco (geez, they really like it there. Head for LA instead, we have the Dodgers, damnit), in a bar, watching the moon landing. Nicky and Booker are in Minnesota, facing down a homophobic cop who let a serial killer walk and continue his heinous queerphobic streak. Both have reasons to be separated, and are shown so passionately through the dialogue and art of this story. It’s powerful, and it hurts damnit.
“How to Make a Ghost Town” – Story by Matt Fraction, Art by Steve Lieber (Issue 4A)
Andy returns to the small town where she lived happily with one of her lovers Achilles. She’d left him to move on once he was an old man, by his insistence (in the second series). Unfortunately, soon after she left, the town burned down his home and killed him in cold blood. So, Andy returns to see him, discovers what happened, and kills everyone in the town, leaving ruins behind. While I wasn’t a fan of the introduction of Achilles in the earlier comics (mostly because I firmly believe that Noriko is Andy’s one true love), this piece is very powerful, and it actually made me cry. Reading it a second time for this review make it all that more.
“Love Letters” – Story by David F. Walker, Art by Matthew Clark (Issue 4B)
Nicky murders a ridiculous amount of Confederate racists. It’s violent, and full of the “bad guys” calling people the n-word, which I will not write out here. It’s a powerful piece, but made me vastly uncomfortable, so much so I don’t really want to think about it. (Oh, and why is Nicky drawn like an ape? Seriously, it’s uncomfortable-looking.)
“An Old Soul” – Story by Jason Aaron, Art by Rafael Albuquerque (Issue 5A)
1978 New York City, Booker ends up being “captured” by a group of radical nuns, hellbent on ridding the world of perversion and sin. They use Booker for training purposes (how to kill and whatnot)… oh, and totally as a sex object. Seriously, we have an orgy scene. Andy is not impressed. This is an odd story, because I’m so damn uncomfortable with it, but at the same time, Booker having an orgy with young nuns is hilarious.
“Never Gets Old” – Story by Alejandro Arbona, Art by Kano (Issue 5B)
Another Booker story, this time with him only a few years returned to France after his first death, and proving that his relationship with his son Philippe wasn’t always as strained. Before Philippe grows bitter of Booker’s immortality, they are thick as thieves, stopping a man in the middle of a very expensive restaurant from being a total dick. While I love having another story based on Booker… it’s feels so shortsighted. I’ll explain my thoughts in a moment.
“Many Happy Returns” – Story by Vita Ayala, Art by Nicola Scott (Issue 6A)
It’s Booker’s birthday, and because he is in exile, he’s drinking in excess and touring a museum in France that has artifacts that have survived the Napoleonic Wars, including a small stuffed doll given to him as a gift from his youngest son when Booker was sentenced to the army for forgery. In an effort to make him feel better, Nile and Andy stage an elaborate ruse to steal the doll back and give it to him. It’s done well, and really shows just how much Nile and Andy care for Booker. I’m not a total fan of the artwork, but it fits the style of the story.
“The Bear” – Story by Greg Rucka, Art by Leandro Fernandez (Issue 6B)
In which we are introduced to Yitzhak (or Isaac, anglicized). He’s a hermit in the north, only visiting the nearest town before winter. It’s clear that he’s build up a good repour with everyone in town. After he returns to his remote cabin, he goes hunting and is killed by a bear. They become friends. So… who is Yitzhak? Well, we can assume he is immortal, and that he has been or once was part of Andy’s team. And… that’s about it. We are left with this mystery as to who this immortal is, and why is he in isolation. I have thoughts on this.
Final Thoughts
I am of two minds with this anthology series. One, it’s been amazing to read through twelve short stories featuring the characters we know and love. But at the same time… we kinda got screwed in the character department. Let me quickly break it down.
Issue #1: Andy and Nile | Joe and Nicky
Issue #2: Noriko | Booker
Issue #3: Andy | Nicky and Booker, Andy and Joe
Issue #4: Andy | Nicky
Issue #5: Booker (feat Andy) | Booker
Issue #6: Andy and Nile (feat Booker) | Yitzhak
It’s very disproportionate. Andy and Booker take center stage, witch Nicky clocking one more appearance than Joe. Noriko gets one story and a few flashbacks. Nile (who I figured wouldn’t feature heavily as it was), was scene twice. And of course, the mysterious Yitzhak, who only had one major appearance.
The thing is, Joe and Nicky have become by far the most popular characters in the TOG universe. It’s weird the choices of stories, as at least one of Booker’s could probably have been cut to give Joe a solo story, or even one with Nicky. It’s just an odd choice to me to not be embracing what the fans seem to want. (But, considering how Netflix treats the TOG fandom… somehow I’m not entirely surprised.)
Leaving aside that, I very much enjoyed a vast majority of the stories. Yes, there were a few I wasn’t a fan of, but for the most part, they were great. Nothing can really top the Berlin story, mostly because it captures the love Joe and Nicky have so beautifully in the moonlight…
All in all, I’d give the collection a solid 4/5. If you’re a fan of The Old Guard, give this one a read. Especially because I have a feeling a good portion is going to tie into The Old Guard: Not Fade Away, the third and final part of the main series, to be released… in 2022 I think.
It’s taken 421 days. A bunch of unofficial announcements. A disappointing bait and switch during a weeklong press event. A twitter and tumblr takeover.
Yesterday, at 10:15 AM PST, Netflix finally officially announced the sequel.
I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t expected to hear anything until next month, as just yesterday Netflix announced a three hour fan event called Tudum. I’d assumed we’d hear something at that point. After all, The Old Guard was listed on the official list twice. And since Charlize Theron was in the teaser video as well, I had hope.
But I guess the Powers That Be finally heard us, and they teamed up with Deadline to officially announce the sequel… and something else.
So, within all the hype of the announcement, it took us fans a moment to notice something about the tweet. We have a new director. Seriously, I don’t think anyone actually noticed for like ten minutes.
Gina Prince-Bythewood has stepped aside to let someone else helm the sequel.
Now, I’m not pissed about this. Prince-Bythewood did such an amazing job with adapting the source material. She advocated for so much, including the van speech and also to give Nile her voice in the film. She pushed so hard every step of the way, including making sure that the post production team was more than 80% female, which is basically unheard of in Hollywood. It looks like there was a scheduling conflict that caused her to have to step back as director, though she still remains as a producer.
Victoria Mahoney has signed on to direct the sequel.
Up until yesterday, I only knew of her because of her making Star Wars history when she was handpicked by J.J. Abrams to direct the second unit on Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, making her the first woman to do so. She has directed episodes of some of the most popular and high profile shows on television, including Grey’s Anatomy and Lovecraft Country. But I’m okay with this. She seems to know her way around a camera, and how to direct for both the silver screen, and the small screen.
Prince-Bythewood seems to have been the one to handpick her replacement. Or, at least heavily recommend her.
And there’s this other thing. I’m not exactly worrying about this person taking over. A friend on Twitter happened to be looking back on some of her tweets (she’s friends with Ava DuVernay, so plus one) and discovered that she watched The Old Guard right after it premiered… and she got it. She got everything that the film was trying to say.
I think we’re in good hands.
On the flip side, we also got the news that the entire cast would be returning! I’m actually really excited about this. The cast has remained on friendly terms (at least from what we’ve seen from social media), and I’m hopeful that will continue.
The only real wonder any of us have right now is that we don’t exactly know when filming will start. The thing is, all of the cast is involved in multiple projects. Currently, production is scheduled to begin during the first quarter of 2022, which would make a realistic premier timeframe of winter 2022, or Spring 2023, depending on postproduction.
All in all, I’m very excited that finally, we have the confirmation from Netflix themselves that this is happening. And now the fans can cheer on the cast and crew every step of the way.
Quick note: for some reason this didn’t post yesterday, though it was scheduled to do so. My apologies for any confusion.
A year ago today, what has become on of my favorite films released onto Netflix with not that much fanfare. I certainly didn’t hear about it, and at the time I was watching films in all of the genres that The Old Guard was sectioned into. (I watched it like two weeks later thanks to Tumblr.)
I had been planning to do a rewatch and livetweet it, but today has been a pretty exhausting day (moving beds around, it’s a thing). So instead, I want to talk about it more generally.
Over on Twitter, TOGTakeover has been an event started by nicelytousled on Tumblr. Every day they have posted a prompt or question to the fans, who all answered in such spectacular fashion. I wanted to go ahead and go through some of my answers here, and also expand on them.
Day One: Favorite Character. So like many answers, this one was hard to answer because truthfully, I love them all in different ways. But for this I went with the complex, complicated character brought to life magnificently by Matthias Schoenaerts. Booker stole most of the scenes he was in (the others were taking by KiKi Layne). I love characters that make mistakes and have to atone for their actions. And Schoenaerts brought all sorts of emotion to the role, in a way that the comic just didn’t really do. At least in my opinion.
Day Two: Favorite Action Scene. I was late to answering this, so I had a snarky response. “Since answering ‘the whole damn movie gave me the sequel please’ wouldn’t be in the best taste…” Anyway, I went with the plane fight. There’s something about Nile’s raw anger and emotion verses Andy’s sarcastic smile that just does it for me every time. And I have to give the fight team and cinematographer credit. It really looks like they are making full contact, even though we all know they aren’t. Props to them.
Day Three: Favorite Relationship. I absolutely copped out on this one. Because my feed on Twitter was filled with posts about the two obvious relationships (Joe and Nicky’s romance of the ages and Andy and Quynh’s tortured romance), I decided to focus on a relationship that was a bit broader. I focused on the found family aspect of the film. Even though the team is broken several times (Lycon succumbing to his wounds in front of Andy and Quynh, Quynh being dragged away from Andy (and Joe and Nicky, though they weren’t with the two women at the time), Booker’s actions splitting the team, and then the team leaving Booker at the end of the film), there is very much a sense of family. Andy is the eldest sister, Joe and Nicky the older brothers (… don’t think too much into this metaphor, just go with it), Booker the younger brother, and Nile the new sister just finding her footing. It works for me.
(Also, like less than an hour after I posted that, we got the news from Charlize Theron about the sequel, so you can imagine how the event changed.)
Day Four: Favorite Domestic Scene. There aren’t really too many “domestic” scenes in the film, if you really think about it. At least not with more than two members present. But I absolutely have to go with the Marrakech meeting scene. The family is together, baklava is gambled on and Booker takes Nicky’s money, and of course plans are made. There’s such a good atmosphere in this scene that it really sets the tone for the entire film.
Day Five: Favorite Antagonist. I just couldn’t decide on who I wanted to focus on for this day. A lot of people used it to attack Booker, which, okay, fair. But I really detest the true villains in this one. So instead, I went for James Copley, the other turncoat in the film. If you really think about it, did he at least have good reason to do what he did? Okay, probably not. But his heart was in the right place.
Day Six: Favorite Quote. This film is beyond quotable, but one quote still stands out to me, so much so I want to hang it on my wall. “Just because we keep living, doesn’t mean we stop hurting.” Booker’s pain comes through so much during the campfire cave scene, and this quote is absolutely in my mind when I think about the film. It’s absolutely true in so many ways.
Day Seven: Favorite Outfit. Okay, look. Nile has the best wardrobe in the entire film, full stop. From her plane outfit, to that amazing green and white bomber jacket during the rescue, to her pub outfit. I want to shake her stylist’s hand please.
Day Eight: Favorite Moment from the Comics. Am I fully prepared to get yelled at for saying that I’m not a fan of the comics? Yes, yes I am. I just cannot take the art style of the main series. However… the first issue of the prequel/anthology comic Tales Through Time has a scene where Nicky and Joe dance in a park, and it’s just wonderful.
Day Nine: Favorite Cast Member. This is one of those questions where there is no wrong answer. The whole cast if perfect and priceless and wonderful and I cannot wait to see them again.
The true answer is that I would sell my soul to meet Matthias Schoenaerts. Fight me.
Day Ten: Favorite Song From the Soundtrack. So, I do this thing where when I wake up, I mess with this “daily playlist”. It usually just has ten songs on it, but I listen to it when I’m driving (if not listening to a podcast or the rare audiobook), when I’m in the shower, or when I’m trying to write. The Old Guard soundtrack has made almost permanent status on that list. The song on there the longest (because I checked)? “The World We Made” by Ruelle. It’s from the church fight, and it’s fire.
Bonus Question: Song to be Included in the Sequel? I don’t have a specific song that should be included. What I would love is to have songs that feature artists from whatever countries end up being in the film. It would put another “multicultural” spin on the series, which can only be made better at this point.
Day Eleven: Favorite Headcanon. So I had two for this prompt, but I only posted one because I honestly didn’t want to deal with some of the anti!Booker squad. Yes, they exist, and they annoy me.
The first headcanon is the one I posted. I think they collect degrees a la The Cullens. Between all of them, they have received a degree in pretty much every subject. At one of their more isolated and secure safehouses, they have every degree sorted by year and earner. They’ve also made a game out of it. If someone within a hundred years gets a duplicate degree to someone else, they have to by the alcohol for the original earner for a decade. Joe and Nicky do it all the time just to annoy Booker.
The second headcanon is something I’ve really thought about, and I even used it as a throwaway line in “The Genius Immortal”. Joe and Nicky weren’t angry at Booker for betraying them and letting them get captured. That was just annoying. No, they were more pissed because Andy lost her immortality, and they took out that anger on him. Once they completely cool down and whatever, he’ll be back with the team before the end of five years, give or take a month.
Day Twelve: One Thing You Want to See in a the Sequel. (The question was adjusted due to the sequel being officially announced by Charlize) For this one, I decided to ignore the “one thing” and run with it. So my original answer was, and I quote, “Booker Redemption. Family Feels. Nile finding her place in the team. More of the Immortal Husbands, and damnit give us that Andy/Quynh kiss. (And Joe’s shorts. I beg you.)” I’m not picky. Not at all.
Day Thirteen: What the Movie Means to You. I was brief on twitter, so here is where I’m going to expand my answer.
When I found The Old Guard in July, I wasn’t in the best place. I was depressed. I’d been out of work since April, thanks to their lackluster response to the pandemic. I was playing Lego games to try to stay sane, but that was honestly stressing me out. And I was coming off the disaster that was The Reading Rush (which was completely canceled this year, for obvious reasons). I was a mess.
I happened to go onto Tumblr, and I saw that some of my mutuals were posting about this Netflix film with good LGBT+ representation. And I was intrigued, you know? But I honestly didn’t put too much stock it what Tumblr said, because their suggestions had always been hit or miss with me. But after a few days and seeing that more mutuals were also loving the film, I took a chance. I turned it on. Two hours later I was a changed woman.
The community can be toxic sometimes. The battle lines can be drawn and redrawn a hundred different ways. But there’s something about this movie. I always see something different every time I watch it. Maybe a line hits differently, or I notice a slight gesture that I hadn’t seen before. There is always something.
This film changed my life. That’s why I can’t shut up about it.
Until next time!
(As a quick aside, it’s really surprising to see that Netflix and Skydance failed to even mention the film today, even though they have done so for other properties on their debut anniversaries. The fans are not exactly having it tonight.)
So, back at the end of January, Production Weekly announced that The Old Guard 2: Force Multiplied was in Active Development. The fandom went wild, because that was the first time we had some sort of confirmation.
Then, in April during an Instagram AMA, Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker) answered a fan question regarding whether there were plans for The Old Guard 2. His answer was a very big YES.
On June 15th, Greg Rucka, co-creator and writer of The Old Guard (both comic and film) said during an interview that the script was done and in the hands of Netflix. He also implied that there would be an announcement in a few weeks.
By the way, that interview came on the heels of the massively disappointing “Netflix Geeked Week”, which I did a write up on earlier this month. Basically Rucka just got the fans to put away their pitchforks because TOG had been in one of the press releases, and then never made an appearance during the week long live stream. We all now believe that contracts were being finished.
And that now leads to now.
On Monday, someone decided to start a movement called TOG Takeover. Each day, fans of The Old Guard would tweet an answer to a prompt, while also tagging Netflix and Skydance. It’s been pretty popular, and growing each day. I’ve been taking part, and keeping up with everything while I’ve been dying of my lovely sunburn (which is getting better, finally).
So there I was yesterday, standing in line at Michaels to buy a planner, when Twitter started to explode. Now, I was just expecting another slew of retweets of people’s responses to TOG Takeover. No, not five minutes prior, Variety.com published a blurb for their “Just for Variety” column.
The title was this: Charlize Theron Says ‘Old Guard’ Sequel Script Complete, Filming to Begin Early Next Year (EXCLUSIVE) (If anyone wants to see it in full, here is the link.)
You can probably imagine how Twitter reacted.
Yes, it’s been a damn party.
Like 99% of the posts from the hour after that little blurb came out were people screaming, thanking everyone and their personal God, and basically losing their collective minds. It was beautiful. It was also hilarious, but that’s just because of how many people said the same thing within seconds of each other.
Basically, we have had everyone except for Netflix confirm the damn sequel at this point. Two actors, the writer, and hell, a production announcement. Will we get an announcement? At this point, I’m not waiting for one. We’ll probably hear something at the end of 2021, or maybe before/as filming starts in 2022.
But suffice to say, TOG Takeover technically worked. Name another fandom that had a complete meltdown over sixty one words. (Then again, we all died over the 145 words in Joe’s “van speech”, so I shouldn’t be talking.
This past week, Netflix has hosted on their various social media sites a virtual con-like experience called “Geeked Week”. It was a celebration of all things geek on Netflix.
And, it was! There were a lot of announcements, and a good variety of chosen properties.
But that’s where my compliments end. You see, when they announced the show, the press release mentioned The Old Guard. For that reason, we expected something. Maybe not the official sequel announcement (mention in Production Weekly and Matthias’ IG story aside), but at least something. The blooper reel, the Church deleted scene (which we know exists), a discussion with the director, or with the writer. Just something.
We got nothing. Ok, well, that’s not technically true. During the sizzle reel that was used as a bumper between the main 40-ish minute show and the hour plus long post show, there was a quick shot of Andy and Nile’s fight scene on the plane that lasted just over a second.
And that’s it.
Unless I’m incorrect, which is totally possible because I’m picky and I don’t really watch a lot of Netflix originals, every other property in the sizzle reel was mentioned or talked about. In some way.
But not The Old Guard. Not this week. Especially not during Pride Month. (Added insult to injury).
So, for that reason alone, I’m fuming. But let me talk about the rest of the show before I completely lose my temper (again).
The show was structured between an approximately 40 minute main show with the two hosts, then a hour plus long post-show with an additional guest or two. The main show featured most of the announcements, while the post show was more of the deep dives and talks. It was also made more casual.
The main show was… a mess. There were a variety of announcements each day, each within a basic theme (main properties, sci-fi/fantasy, comics, animation, and video games), though there was some overlap. A good example is that Cobra Kai was talked about on the final day (gaming), but only in the post show. It would have fit in better earlier in the week.
The two hosts, who I will discuss later, would banter and set up each property, usually with some very awkward jokes that didn’t always land. It was especially obvious when there wasn’t a trailer to debut, because it seemed like vamping between storyboards or set photos just didn’t work. There was a weird focus on some shows, which could be over five-eight minutes (Captain Laserhawk from today was a near seven minutes, with very little to show for it). Other things that people were really excited about would barely get two minutes during the main show, including Shadow and Bone and The Witcher. You know, two of the biggest properties on Netflix right now.
The post show also wasn’t that good. The two hosts were joined by one person every day (except for Thursday, where there were two guests), and they went into a deep dive approach with what was shown during the main show. For Sweet Tooth, the main show gave us the blooper reel. The post show was two of the stars eating candy from around the world. Other times it was discussions with directors or actors or animators. All could have been well and good, but the format dragged on for too long. Each segment seemed to take longer and longer.
At some point, they would also do something interactive. One day was the hosts being quizzed on how to spell some fantasy words (I am not joking), hosted by the guy who created one of the languages in Game of Thornes. (No, I’m not looking up the name of the language. I don’t care that much). It… wasn’t pretty. Another day had them playing Pictionary with various Netflix titles, and two of the hosts kept drawing penises as the beginning of each drawing. Because nothing says humor more than drawing a dick. Yesterday, they were gifted new action figures from Masters of the Universe, and they opened them and played around. Because content. Then one of the hosts spent the rest of the time building a Gundam model kit, which made things awkward. They kept trying to include him into conversations, but he was too concentrated on building.
It just didn’t work. The two hosts, who I’m not naming on account that this really isn’t their fault, didn’t have much to work with. It was clear that the banter and jokes was prewritten, and it felt as though they hadn’t been able to over the script before going live. Especially the first two days, everything felt stilted and awkward. It also didn’t help that a good portion of what they were showing was more like announcements instead of trailers, with the images already on timers. If and when they sped through lines, they had to wait for the images to catch up, which led to a lot of dead air.
Honestly, it was a mess. Sure there were some announcements that I was generally excited for (Locke and Key confirmed for October), and a lot of the fandoms were happy with the Shadow and Bone season two announcement, but it felt like… pandering? I guess that’s the word I’m going with. 80% of what was shown could have easily been dropped onto Twitter or Youtube, with no one to be the wiser. Instead, a bloated and inconcieved show was brought to light, and it was clear that whoever was running it didn’t exactly know what they were doing.
What killed me (besides the lack of acknowledgement of TOG) was that the viewers were expecting more. Instead of release dates, it was a dripple of news that could have been tossed onto Twitter. Instead of a full trailer, there were teasers. And instead of new content, in several places there was the rerelease of trailers and whatnot that had already been out.
It’s here that I want to quickly point something out. Due to being teamed up with Summer Game Fest, Friday had to be the day for video game properties (which I would also say was the worst day). Geoff Keighley was a guest host. It just didn’t work. The dynamic that had been established between the original two hosts was thrown off, because Mr. Keighley was on the stage from the moment they went live, instead of just in the post show. Also, having the video game properties on Friday meant that one of the big fan favorite series would have to wait to have any information dropped until Friday. In layman’s terms, no one got any inofrmation on The Witcher until the end of the show. And it wasn’t a lot of info anyway.
In all honesty, this would have been better off as a one or two day event, even if it was tied into the Summer Game Fest. Stretching it to be 2-2.5 hours shows across five days just felt like a waste. There was a lot of wasted time, a lot of annoyed fans, and a lot of information left on the cutting room floor.
… Which brings me to now, nearly twelve hours after the final show wrapped up. Most of this has been written for days, only edited as the show went more downhill. I actually had to step away from the computer at one point, because I was getting so annoyed at the continued avoidance of all mention of TOG. Actually, here’s a fun thing: I got timed out of Twitch chat three times for mentioning TOG. And the first two times I was being respectful. (The last time I was snarky and I’m not sorry.) All day I’ve taken to commenting on the Netflix Geeked account, reminding them that TOG still exists and damn it, the one year anniversary is a month away, just make it official.
But I digress. In summary, Netflex done goofed with “Geeked Week”. It was not a success, and it only trended briefly. Over the course of the week. In contrast, Summer Game Fest was trending all day yesterday, and most of today. I wouldn’t be surprised if that continued throughout the entire E3 event.
Alas, this may come back. Hopefully not. I don’t think my stress can take it.
So, as I’ve talked about more often than frankly healthy, I fell in love with The Old Guard mid last year. I loved the story, liked the comics (though the art left something to be desired), and started really following the actors. I’ll be the first to say that it became a borderline obsession.
Hell, it even got me back on Tumblr! I’d been very on-and-off during the pandemic, but this movie really caught me, and I fell into the community. There was a strong writing side, the art side was amazing, and the research side was on point.
So… what happened?
Well. A couple of things.
Burnout is real, and so is honestly holding onto hope with no real news. Since the end of January, when we found out that TOG2 was in active development, we’ve heard exactly one thing from anyone involved. During a Instagram AMA, Matthias Schoenaerts (Booker) was asked if there was a sequel, which he answered “YES”. And… that’s it. That’s all. Nearly ten months from the first film dropping, and nothing else but a production magazine listing it in development and one of the actors confirming. And I’m sorry, but that’s just not enough proof.
My family has had ties to Hollywood. Not in a substantial way, but we have. My grandfather knew some of the Hollywood greats from the 50s and 60s. And during the 80s and 90s, my uncle was frequently a script delivery driver. He’s also made friends with people in the industry.
I won’t say that no news means trouble, because it could all just be tied up in the contract stage or the writing stage. You know, before the public get’s involved. But I still feel off, because every other day Netflix is announcing sequels to shows and movies released around the same time or after TOG, and yet we get radio silence.
But that’s not the only reason I’m kinda down.
When the film was released, the fans picked apart each scene. Because that’s what you do. Every scene, every frame, every line of dialogue. That’s how we saw Joe sleeping with his leg between Nicky’s legs, Joe and Nicky holding hands on the train while sleeping, Nicky’s little skip during their final assault on Merrick’s penthouse… It’s part of the fandom.
The problem is, as time went on, it seemed like everything took a turn. Suddenly, you couldn’t like Booker without being a horrible person. Nicky was a one point labeled a N*zi, simply because of how he talked to Joe in exactly one panel in Tales Through Time #1 (which, was bullshit anyways). Nile being in the military was labeled as extremely problematic.
Basically, a portion of the fanbase went from nitpicking the film for content and loving every second of it, to nitpicking the film for content and screaming about it.
Now, I’ll be clear, I stayed away from that group. But they got more vocal. If you didn’t like the Immortal Husbands (Joe/Nicky), you were homophobic. If you thought that having them have a threesome with Booker was a good idea, guess again. Or, hell, if you thought of giving Joe a wife before he left for the Crusades and met/was killed by Nicky, just don’t, because the self-imposed “saviors of canon” would come out of the woodwork. Heck, there was a time that if you liked Nicky more than Joe (for whatever reason), you were labeled as racist. Yeah, you read that right. It was frankly disgusting.
Honestly, what killed me the most was all the commentary about the military. Look, I know that the military has done bad things. I’m not excusing it. Hell, I can be vocal about it, too. However… I come from a military family. My father served in the Air Force during Operation Desert Storm. My other uncle (not the delivery driver, the one I don’t speak to), served during peace-time in Germany, including helping out with a volunteer fire department. My grandfather? WWII and Korea. He liberated two death camps. He saved more people I probably could ever name. During his tour in Korea, he saved the woman who would go on to be my grandmother, who worked at the US State Department in Seoul, Korea. And he was also involved in missions into North Korea, but none of us have the clearance to actually know what he did. And now? My mom worked for the Veterans Administration. And I’m trying to get in. I almost joined the military myself, but I have a debilitating fear of real guns (I can watch them on TV or in films, but being around them in the real world sends me into panic attacks. I can barely stand to see them in holsters the few times I’ve interacted with police.)
I understand the racial issues, which is what these people list as the main reason Nile joining the military is problematic. But… that’s not entirely accurate. She flat out says she joined to follow in her father’s footsteps. Yes, getting out of South Chicago, where there were “a million different ways we could have went left” was a factor. But I really think it’s called following her father. Honoring his sacrifice.
Every time I saw a post demeaning the military’s presence in the film, I felt a tiny part of me cry. Because honestly, it seemed like people missed the point. People missed why the military existed in the first place, and why it was in the film.
In the past few months, while I was writing my Febuwhump prompts, I noticed a major shift in the content being posted on Tumblr (where the majority of the fandom lives). There were so many “anti” posts that I didn’t want to check the tags. And I was only doing so when I needed inspiration for whatever prompt I was pulling myself into.
When the discord I’m on (The Immortal Disasters) started getting into 9-1-1, I honestly didn’t give it a second thought to jumping into that fandom. And while there is still discourse, it’s nowhere near as bad as people being accused of supporting n*zis and being racist for liking “insert character here” more than “second character”. (Anti-Ana is basically the real big issue right now, because while I like the actress, the writers have done here character dirty by giving her nothing to work with, no personality, and completely shoehorning her in with Eddie, where they have no chemistry. And also are making leaps in logic that are frankly terrifying considering they’re doing a season-spanning COVID storyline… And on the Lone Star, TK pushed Carlos in a fight and their apology was off screen and no one is happy about it. Though I think the scene was cut for time and a line was thrown in to cover for it.)
Anyway, so, yeah. At this point, I’ve completely stepped back. I’ll continue to work on my TOG/CM crossover, because I love it. But that’s about it, until we get sequel news. I’m stepping back for my mental health. No one deserves to be treated like above for having a favorite character, or for liking a pairing that isn’t mainstream, or for just liking a storyline choice.
Hopefully we get news soon. I think it’s about damn time.
On Tuesday, I woke up early, deciding to pull a joke while on stream. I took this lovely letter board sign I received from January’s Owlcrate and made a sign.
I’d planned to change the sign every stream, and make it something I would show off every stream. Because honestly, I was willing to do almost anything to get this film green lit.
Anyway, as I finished off the sign, the Old Guard discord I’m apart of (Immortal Disasters) started blowing up. And for a pretty good reason too.
A small entertainment news site called “The Illuminerdi” was reporting that The Old Guard sequel was confirmed.
Now, after we all celebrated for like ten minutes, someone on the Discord pointed out that the site wasn’t exactly the most reliable. So… it was probably fake. Which we all knew, of course. We’ve just been so desperate to have the sequel green lit that we’ve started celebrating whenever TOG gets a damn mention, forget about lies about the sequel.
After we all calmed down a bit, we all started scouring the internet for a reliable source. In fact, we spent the next 36 hours doing just that. I was even checking during my Tuesday stream, during cutscenes. I showed off my sign during the stream, in the fleeting hope that showing it off would tell the Powers That Be that we would love the damn sequel.
So. Wednesday.
It was mid-afternoon here in California. I was just minding my own business at about 4:30pm, trying to finish the post that went up way late for this blog, when my phone lit up with a message from discord. (I have my notifications set to pop only when it’s on certain channels, or when I’m pinged. Because otherwise, my phone would never stop lighting up.) So I took a five minute break and clicked on it.
Someone happened to be digging through a publication called Production Weekly. Not through the actual pages (which would have cost like $75), but through the summary that is publicly available. Basically, it just lists all projects listed inside the publication. They’d come across the issue dated for yesterday, January 28th.
And there it was, about three quarters of the way down the page. Right after Obi-Wan Kenobi. In plain, capital letters.
The Old Guard Chapter Two: Force Multiplied.
Hey guys, it’s a primary source. We all flipped.
So, yeah, it’s confirmed. And then someone was amazing enough to pay for the issue, so we got more information then just “Hey this exists!”
It is in ACTIVE DEVELOPMENT. By that, it means that all the contracts are signed and we’re in pre-production. Basically, that means that the script is being worked on, casting is commencing, and probably costuming and well, everything but actually shooting the film. Oh, and we got the quick summary (which is as expected). (We all still want the title to be 2 Old 2 Guard, but alas, stupid comic name title we get to deal with.)
The only thing we are honestly waiting for is Netflix or Skydance to post about it. In the industry, the film is confirmed. It’s in black and white. But they haven’t said anything. I figured we’d hear something via Twitter by today, but alas, as of 5PM, nothing. But that’s ok, because it will come.
(And TOG did got nominated for a GLADD award the other day, which Netflix and Gina, our director and new Co-Writer!)
But I am salty about one tiny little thing. Remember that sign idea? Well, I had already done day two’s when we got the word. So I changed it up.
And yes, I’ve shown that off on both Wednesday and Thursday’s streams. Because I’m ridiculous.
Ok, I’m off to make dinner and prep for tonight’s bonus stream to finish off Disneyland Adventures! Pop in if you want to, I promise I won’t bite.
(So this was supposed to go up on Monday, right after it happened, then got delayed to Wednesday, then was delayed because of the obvious reason. So, now I’m a week late with this one. Whoops!)
Once a month, I go inside the grocery store. Most of the time I use drive up pick up, as I find it safer because it minimizes the amount of potential contact with others to basically zero. But once a month, I have to go inside for a few things I need that I have to enter the store, as they are either brand specific or just not offered for pick up.
So, like I said, I planned on going into the store last Monday. I masked up and headed inside. Here’s what my mask looked like, because it is actually important to the damn story.
Please ignore the fact I look completely exhausted. I have anxiety, and it always ramps up when I have to go around crowds. (And yes, this comes from the girl that used to love to go to theme parks and conventions. It’s gonna be a nightmare when it’s safe to go back to Disneyland…)
Anyway, I was standing at the deli, waiting for the employee to finish with my order when I heard someone yelling. I wasn’t really paying attention, I was chatting on the Immortal Disasters Discord (which is the best Old Guard discord, if anyone is curious. Which you’re probably not. I’m stalling. Ignore this). And then I realized this lovely person, this woman, was yelling and focused on me.
So I turned my head and saw this woman standing about eight feet away, pointing at me. I gave her a glare and went to go back to my phone (the discord is too much fun I swear). She started shouting again, gesturing to my mask. I pulled out my headphones (which I totally forgot I had in, whoops).
She was screaming that I was an adult, and I should be wearing a plain mask. I’m not some stupid kid, how dare I wear something like that.
Guys, my mask isn’t vulgar. It’s the silhouette shot of the Old Guard before the Kill Floor scene. It’s basically plain. And it’s fun to support my favorite film of 2020.
I just glared and said, “Who hurt you? Go away.”
She got bitchier. How my mask is inappropriate, I should be setting an example for all the little kids around… Basically having a cow. I told her to go away. If she continued to bother me, I’d call the cops and report this as harassment. The store’s security, called by the deli employee, came up and told her to leave me alone.
All in all, it was a five minute waste of my time. And honestly, it shouldn’t even be worth thinking about it. We both had masks on, we were distanced enough, it should have never happened. But I guess wearing a mask from a film makes me a bad person? I don’t know anymore.
But honestly, with anxiety, the whole incident was a bit of a nightmare. I’m anxious whenever I leave the house these days. My town is filled with people who defy the mask order, and yet we’re right next door to Los Angelus County, which is currently topping the country in COVID-19 infections and deaths (unless Florida has overtaken us again).
It’s just an annoyance that left me feeling off the rest of the day. I honestly have never shopped faster, even though I had a large list. I don’t know why it made me shut down when I got home, but it did.
The best thing that came out of this was the reactions. My family thought it was hilarious (and said I should have told the woman to F Off). My friends on Discord thought it was hilarious, and also where did I get my mask, which was Redbubble if you’re curious. But the pièce de résistance was that I put a pic on Twitter and talked about what happened, and Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of The Old Guard, liked the tweet with fist bump.
Dude, if I ever run into this woman again, I’ll thank her for helping me get noticed by one of my favorite directors. Because I may have screamed. A lot.
So that’s what happened. A five minute encounter that both screwed my head, and set up my feelings for Wednesday’s nightmare, which I’m not going into. At least not right this moment.
I’m off to finish up some projects. I’ll see you all Wednesday!
