Video Game Tattoo Chronicles – Part 9 – Butt Stallion Says Hello

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I got my first tattoo which was Athena and now I’m onto my 9th session with my 7th tattoo to fill in my mash up of Borderlands and Mass Effect themed sleeve. I still have a long way to go, but sleeves take a while and it’s not like they can be done overnight or in one sitting no matter how well you sit. Anyway, last month was Claptrap, and you can read about my session for that here and this month was yet another Borderlands character.

For this month’s addition to my sleeve, it’s the one and only Butt Stallion. Handsome Jack’s diamond pony. There were some main points for me that had to be done when it came to this tattoo, which made my artist really have to work and see where this was going to go. While he didn’t want to do the whole horse, which was fine by me, the one thing that I wanted was for the whole purple mane to be included. This made it a little more difficult for him, not to mention the fact that I wanted Butt Stallion to have a rainbow around it, but not just any standard rainbow a water color / splashy type rainbow. I know, I know, I was very difficult this time, but as always my tattoo artist was able to oblige and was able to get it done. There were some compromises along the way, like we didn’t get to my elbow because he wanted something else there and not the rainbow and the shading on Butt Stallion was done a little darker so that it would hold up to the test of time a little better.

The final product though was amazing. It was hard this time around because I had to lay on my stomach the whole time and really had no idea what the hell he was doing as we watched some Game of Thrones, talked about what we thought was going to happen in Game of Thrones, and talked about some gaming. Every once in a while he would tell me where he was at as I laid there for three whole hours. This is no easy task as when he usually tattoo’s me I’m able to watch and see which directions he’s going in. This is where the trust part comes in because you really have to trust your artist. I trust mine and it paid off completely.

Getting Noticed Thank you Gearbox for taking notice of my tattoo and sending me a message via Twitter about it. I was wondering why my feed all of a sudden just blew up and it was because of this response that I got from them. This is always cool when a company gives you some kind of notice for getting a character of their creation inked on your body.

With my next appointment already scheduled, the layout on my arm has changed just a bit. Much to my tattoo artist’s disappointment, we won’t be doing a Mass Effect alien next month, but Miranda. Now this isn’t set in stone and it may change because while he wants to make this huge shoulder piece out of her, there are still some more characters that I want to add onto my sleeve. We’ll see how things go next month and as always, I’ll let you know how everything worked out.

Autograph Session – MegaCon 2017 – Brina Palencia

For Friday, my first autograph was from a category that I look forward to every year and that’s the voice actors. Being the huge gamer that I am, these autographs are some of the most important for me because you get to meet the person behind the voice. Sometimes you can play a video game for over 100 hours and it’s nice to actually meet that person and tell them how much you enjoyed his or her work. At that point it kind of shows that the whole voice acting maters thing is true. If some games didn’t have those characters that bring you back in every time would you really play them all that much? But this blog isn’t about that it’s about meeting one of those voice actors, so first on my list was Brina Palencia. I have to give her credit because she was there all four days, showed up on time and I don’t think there was a time when I passed by her booth and she wasn’t there. So major props to her. You guys probably know why I went to her if you read this blog. Obviously she’s Moxxi from Borderlands. And seriously, if you play Borderlands how could you not want to meet the voice behind Moxxi? While waiting in line, I didn’t use my VIP power this time around, I was schooled on how big of an anime voice actor she is by a crew member who then looked at me like I was a freak of nature when I said I was only there because of Borderlands. Luckily that conversation ended quick and it was my turn.

This time around I got two autographs because I wanted my Borderlands 2 poster signed along with a separate Moxxi print. This poster already has two signatures from Colleen Clinkenbeard and Jamie Marchi, and it’s my one day goal to have the whole cast sign it. How awesome would that be? Here’s what’s interesting though, the single Moxxie picture that I had signed is from the Borderlands 2 DLC Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage. It’s one of those many Moxxi pictures that you have to pick up off the floor if you want to get the trophy and it’s also the same picture that I hope to eventually add to my tattoo sleeve. Anyway, she personalized both autographs for me and when I told her how much I adored Moxxi she gave me her best Moxxi, “Why thank you Sugar,” which as you can imagine made my day. That say’s a lot because it was right at the beginning of the day, so once again for Friday, my expectations for the rest of the day became pretty high.

Video Game Tattoo Chronicles – Part 5 – A New Character

It’s been a while since I wrote one of these blogs, but the last time I went in for a session all that was really done was some background and then some touching up here and there to my current tattoo’s for my sleeve. I really didn’t feel like it was worthy of a blog by itself since it was just some scenery and stuff, but I did get some work done that added to my sleeve. Before we get into what happened this time, take a look at the added galaxy scenery and some more detail to FemShep.

I know that I’ve been keeping it a secret for a while what I was going to do as filler for the rest of my arm now that my two main characters were basically done, but the day has finally come for me to reveal my plans. On the back of my arm, near my elbow, my tattoo artist, who is great by the way, and I had decided to do a dying reaper to go with FemShep. This had been the plan for a while, but when it finally came down to it we decided to scrap this because I just basically thought it would look way to dark. Reapers are basically black and with the already existing galaxy background, I didn’t want something as dark to go in that area making the reaper not be able to stand out on it’s own.

Going in a new direction at the last minute, I wanted something that would blend into the Borderlands / Mass Effect mashup I have going and decided what would be better than a Borderlands psycho popping out over Femshep’s shoulder. My tattoo artist loved this idea and love the design of the Borderlands psycho and just ran with it. After a pretty long three hour session, this was the end result.

I can’t tell you enough how happy I am with the choice of adding this to the existing sleeve. I think it brightens up the sleeve as a whole and just looks pretty damn cool. It also gives the sleeve a more collage type feel to it and is just an awesome addition. As always the thanks goes to my awesome tattoo artist who is always willing to listen to my crazy ideas and then basically runs with them.

The bottom half of my sleeve is coming to an end though as we only have a few more spots to fill in with ink before moving upwards. My next appointment isn’t until December and as always I have it marked on my calendar and looking forward to it. To finish up, the plan is to cover up my crappy tattoo with the earth underneath FemShep completely and underneath Athea. There will be some more galaxy added to the empty spaces on the top and then some highlights along the rest of the tattoo to make it pop a little bit more. I’ll be able to give you a full 360 view of what the sleeve looks like after my last session.

Throwback Thursday Review – DLC Remix – Borderlands: Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

Many of you probably know the story of how I never really wanted to play Borderlands in the first place, who knew that this game would become one of my favorite games, but I was convinced by a former friend of mine. The convincing went beyond just the regular game itself, but also to the DLC. Knowing that I would have to play the DLC, I went out and bought the Game of the Year edition to spare me the extra money of having to spend it on the DLC. Out of all the DLC that came with this game, Zombie Island of Dr. Ned was up first.

In this DLC, you’ll head over to Jakob’s Cove in order to help “Dr. Ned”. Zombies and other things are running rampant in this region and it’s up to you, because you’re a total badass, to stop all of this and put an end to Dr. Ned once and for all.

Kudos: There are a bunch of pop culture references in this DLC as well as all of the humor you can expect from a Borderlands game. After playing this DLC “who knew” became an inside joke for me and my former friend for months and months. We would use it while playing other games making people question what the hell we were talking about and truth be told, I still use it from time to time even though no one usually knows what the hell I’m talking about.

As with most things Borderlands, I really enjoyed this DLC. It was my first Borderlands DLC experience and it was not disappointing at all. This is the DLC that showed what great things could come from DLC, especially Borderlands ones and even though I messed up with one of the missions and had to spend way more time in this area than I should of, I still had an absolute blast playing.

The playability of this game is the same as the main game. Because this DLC is a little difficult, not as difficult as the ones to follow, but still difficult, I would recommend playing with a character that you like playing and know how to play well. Other than that, everything worked as it should and there were no noticeable bugs or glitches that did anything game breaking.

The graphics for this are the same as the rest of the game so if you liked the style of the main game, then you’ll like the style of the DLC and for a PS3 game, these are pretty good. I will say that for me at least, they still hold up to standards and I have no problem going back to play this game on my PS3 over and over again.

There are a total of 5 new trophies you can get with this DLC. All of them are story based trophies that you’ll get by well completing the story. The only problem trophy is the Braaaaaaaaaaaains! trophy. This is a problem trophy, because it’s a collectible trophy. I think you know what you have to collect and because it’s based off of a side mission that you could totally miss and then have to go back and do all over again, that’s what’ makes it a problem trophy. The main goal is to collect 250 brains and this can take a hell of a lot of grinding in order to do so.

This is Borderlands and since it’s an expansion of the main game, of course there’s multiplayer. Borderlands is one of those games that encourages you to play with friends and random people. They do this so that you’ll get better loot and face harder enemies and to tell you the truth this game is fun to play with friends. Yes, I find myself playing solo these days, but when I did have someone to play with I had a really great time and so does everyone else that usually plays.

Overall I give this DLC a 4 out of 5

What’s Great:
+ A new area to explore and a fun story to go with it.
+ That same Borderlands humor is continued into the DLC making this a blast to play along with all of the pop culture references.

What’s Not So Great:
– You could totally miss one of the side missions and have to spend a lot of time collecting 250 brains because the side mission isn’t marked, but an Easter Egg. While it probably seemed clever at the time, it really wasn’t.

This is a great DLC and a great way to continue your Borderlands experience. If you don’t have this DLC, but you have Borderlands then you’re seriously missing out. Instead of getting each DLC individually though, I would suggest picking up the Game of the Year edition so that you can have all the DLC and not have to pay for each individual DLC.

Who knew that I actually completed so much DLC? Probably my wallet, but that’s besides the point. Moving on to the next DLC that I played and completed fully, next week’s Throwback Thursday Review – DLC Remix will be for Dragon Age: Origins: Warden’s Keep. I’ll let you know in advance that this game had a hell of a lot of DLC and that’s basically what you’ll be seeing in the upcoming weeks.

Video Game Tattoo Chronicles Part 2 – Athena Out!

It’s that time again, when I go for what I like to call my monthly therapy session.  That’s right, I consider my tattoo sessions my therapy for the month because it basically costs the same.  Anyway, keep reading to see the progress I made on my arm.

The last time I went to get work on my arm, this was what started to transform after my first session.

This most current session was about finishing up my Athena tattoo and basically discussing where we would go next since I’m looking to work on a full on sleeve on my left arm.  Four hours later, this is the end result and my completely finished Athena tattoo.

Not only did I leave extremely happy with the outcome, but I also left with a lot to think about.  There were a couple of things certain though that will come out of my next session.  While I was going to get the messed up paragon sign on my inner wrist fixed, I decided it would be better to cover it up completely, just because it’s really bad.  I know that in my last blog I talked about how much this tattoo had meant to me, and it still does which is why, while I regret having to so, it has to go because as great as my tattoo artist is, I really don’t think there is a way to fix it properly and give it the recognition that it needs.  The tattoo will make a reappearance though, I’m just not ready to reveal that yet.

So now the question of what to cover it up with.  I talked to my artist about doing a full on tribute sleeve to Borderlands with a couple of memorable characters featured on my arm along with the signature Borderlands logo to top it off on my shoulder.  While my artist thinks that’s a cool and workable idea, he also gave the suggestion of something different.

What he suggested was that since I already had my favorite Borderlands character permanently inked on my arm, why not make a collage of a bunch of different characters from a bunch of different games.  Each character will have its own background theme which will then merge with the other scenes on my arm.

Both ideas intrigue me.  I like the idea of doing a bunch of different characters with their own scenes and I also like having one solid theme on my arm.  I have some time to think about things since I’ll be skipping this month and instead going to a Convention, but I have a lot to think about.  My next session is in June and you’ll find out then what I decided to do.  Opinions are always welcomed so let me know what you think in the comments section.  Should I go with a full on Borderlands theme?  Or should I choose a bunch of different characters and and have them merge together? I’ll let you know that at this moment, I’m kinda thinking about how cool a bunch of different scenes would look all merged together and even have some ideas in my head. I guess you’ll just have to wait until June to see what’s going to happen.

Video Game Tattoo Chronicles Part 1

When it comes to tattoo’s most people, non gamers, scoff at the idea of having something video game related inked on their body for life.  Not me though, I’ve always known that one day, when the time was right, I would get my very own video game tattoo.  Of course though, just like video games, one isn’t enough.

I started my journey a few years ago with my Mass Effect Paragon tattoo on my left wrist.  At the moment it’s not complete and doesn’t look how it should, try not to get tattoos people at comic book conventions, it’ll get there some day thanks to my fabulous tattoo artist.  For me though, the tattoo has so much more meaning than just a symbol representing Mass Effect.  Just like in the game, the paragon symbol represents Shepard making good choices and my tattoo represents the good choices I’ve made in my life.

Now for my next  tattoo, I could have worked on fixing up my paragon symbol to how I wanted it, but I decided to go big.  Big meant getting an Athena (Borderlands) tattoo that covered my forearm.  So why this?  Mostly because I can relate to Athena.  Not the whole assassin thing, but the way people perceive her and the way she comes across to people.  Can I also relate to the fact that she is a prominent gay character in a huge video game, sure, but for me it’s so much more than that.

So as I take my journey on getting this tattoo, I welcome you to join me.  Below is the original outline of what my tattoo artist came up with.  I had a different idea in mind, but when I seen this image I just fell in love with it.  When things are right they just fall right in place you know? Pretty sweet right?  So far, this tattoo which covers my whole outer forearm will take two sessions to complete before we move onto the inside of my forearm.

I had my first session this past Saturday and my five hour session was no walk in the park.  My tattoo artist first worked on a thin outline of the whole image before going in and doing a heavier outline to highlight some of highlights of the tattoo itself.  After that came the shading.  While he was shading we came up with the idea of doing a space theme since my inner forearm was going to be dedicated to Mass Effect, which was where the background scenery to go with Athena came along.  When everything is done both images will blend together and white ink will be added to the darker areas as stars.  Take a look at what was done so far below.

My next session is next month and after that it will be fully colored in before moving on to the next design and getting my Paragon tattoo fixed.  I’ll let you know how things went next month.

Level Caps and Upgrade Packs

While I can understand why games have level caps, I mean there has to be some sort of stopping point, but what I don’t understand is this concept of upgrade packs that allow you to continue to level up after you already reached the max level. If you wanted to put a cap on the level why offer an upgrade pack a few months later so that players can continue to level up? Oh that’s right, you want more money.

Of course the whole thing with putting a cap on the level you can achieve in a game and then releasing upgrade packs so that you can continue to level up has to do with the game company making more money. To me this is just another way that gamers get ripped off. Unlike actual story based DLC, this is just offering you a way to continue to level up for a price. Maybe it comes with some extra content that you can take or leave, but other then that it doesn’t achieve anything. You’re not really getting anything else. Is there really a reason that you just have to level up to 72 in Borderlands 2 after you’ve already reached the original level cap of 50?

Using Borderlands 2 as an example, what is the benefit of leveling up to 72? Sure you get some new weapons that are level specific, but it’s really just the same as leveling up to the cap which is 50. Just think about it, when you’re level 50 and enemies are level 50, the game will be just as hard as if you’re level 72 and the enemies are level 72. This whole thing of the game getting more difficult because you’re a higher level or playing on the harder mode becomes sort of an illusion. An illusion that if you’re playing on the PS3 version will cost you an additional $9.98.

The only reason why I even purchased the upgrade packs, which was a waste of perfectly good money that could have been spent on something else, was because I have a friend who is obsessed with leveling up all of his Borderlands 2 characters to 72. When I asked him why all of his characters have to be level 72, he didn’t even really know why and to me it just seemed like a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy playing Borderlands 2 a hell of a lot, but I don’t need to level up to 72 in order to have fun. Part of the fun is starting from the very beginning and leveling up to 50, after that it just seems repetitive.

My suggestion would be to skip the upgrade packs. I find it just as fulfilling to replay a game with a new character and level up to the cap as it is to play the game on a harder mode with the same character to reach that new level cap. Unless these upgrade packs are included in some actual DLC that has some content to it, it’s really not worth the money. Just think all that money you save on buying upgrade packs will allow you to buy some really awesome games.

PAX East Impressions

To be honest, I didn’t even realize until the last minute that this past weekend was PAX East. Nevertheless I was still excited about it as I am for any video game based convention even if I’m not able to attend. During this time I do like to keep a watch on video game news just to see if anything ultra exciting happens. Although this show seemed a bit lackluster there were a couple of things that interested me.

Gearbox officially announced the next Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel DLC. Claptastic Voyage will be released on March 24, which I’m sure had nothing to do with The Handsome Collection coming out on the same day, and is supposed to connect Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel. I have to say that I didn’t think this DLC was going to be getting a release date this soon. Small details were given for this DLC at PAX South saying how huge it was and it’s going to be the biggest Borderlands DLC ever so I just thought this one wouldn’t be coming out until the summer at least. The final season pass DLC was also announced and it’s an upgrade pack that will increase the level cap to 70.

Atlas Mugged, the next installment of Tales from the Borderlands will be released on March 17. FINALLY! After months and months of waiting the long awaited second episode is finally coming out. I really hate that it’s taking this long for these episode based games to come out. It was revealed at PAX South that the new episode would include Scooter and that was about it. I expected a release date to be released a week or two after that but to have to wait this long is seriously ridiculous.

And that about wraps up what interested me at PAX East. I don’t know if it’s just me, but these shows are seeming a bit lackluster this year so far. I remember hearing about announcement after announcement in the years past, but this year it just seems like the announcements are coming from Gearbox and no one else. I was once again expecting something, anything, on the Dragon Age front but was disappointed to hear nothing. At this point I’m really hoping that E3 is going to be spectacular and show me something that I can’t stop talking about.

PAX South Impressions

This past weekend was the first ever PAX South. This is actually pretty cool because seriously what gamer doesn’t love a convention dedicated to gaming? Anyway, even though I wasn’t able to attend this year, there’s always next year, I was hoping to hear some pretty big news coming out of PAX South especially since this was the first one. Might as well start out with a bang right? Even though the weekend didn’t really turn out how I expected, not that much was really announced, here’s what did manage to catch my attention.

At the start of PAX South there were whispers that Borderlands 3 would be teased. Of course this made sense. There is no way that this franchise wouldn’t continue. It’s inevitable that there would be a Borderlands 3, even though I wasn’t really expecting one all that soon especially with the release of the Handsome Collection for PS4. I was thinking something along the lines of a screen shot or even a small trailer would be released, but I was wrong. So wrong. All that was announced was that they were looking for a team to create Borderlands 3. What happened to the old team? At the moment this game is just a thought in someone’s head. It was a huge let down to know that they’re not even working on a new Borderlands until they find this team of “Industry Badasses.”

DLC! I expected a lot of DLC information to be dropped this weekend especially with the overload of games that came out this past October and November. All I got though was some Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel DLC announcements. While I’m not really all that excited about the new character Lady Hammerlock, I’ve never been interested in buying character DLC’s. This is one of the things that I think should be included with the game to begin with. Don’t try to sell me extra characters after the game release. Anyway, I was interested in this major DLC that is supposed allow you to go inside the mind of Claptrap. Not that much was said about it, just that it was going to be the biggest DLC that they ever made. Hopefully it doesn’t come with a big DLC price tag.

There has been absolutely no information about Tales from the Borderlands since the initial release of episode one, but there was a small teaser this weekend that showed Scooter in the next episode. I was hoping for something more, like a release date, but oh well. I guess the next episode will be released when it’s going to be released teaching all of us to actually wait until all 5 episodes come out before purchasing the game.

While we’re on the topic of Borderlands…how about a Borderlands 1 remastered game? Sure, why not? While there’s no official news on the topic, it was said that there was a possibility of this game being remastered. I’m sure they’re just waiting to see how much this new Handsome Jack Collection makes before remastering the first game.

Now for something not Borderlands related, Dungeon Defenders 2! It was nice to hear that the game went back to its original roots. I was hoping for a release date for the PS4, but nothing was even said about the PS4 version. I have to say that I absolutely loved Dungeon Defenders and spent countless amounts of hours playing this game over and over again. It’s seriously sad that the servers were shut down and nothing was done about it.

Overall I have to say that I was just a little disappointed. I really expected the news stories to be overwhelming this weekend and filled with announcement after announcement. I know a lot of people were looking for some HUGE announcements like Mass Effect 4, Fallout 4, something Elder Scrolls related, and a couple of other biggies but I know that these will likely come during E3. What I was hoping for was some decent DLC announcements on the Dragon Age: Inquisition front. I think this would have been a great time for them to start announcing some big DLC’s for this games seeing as it came out last year, but I guess we’ll just have to keep waiting. Other then that I’m looking forward to the next gaming convention that will be coming up.

What Makes A Good Villain?

When it comes to video games, the villain is just as important as the main hero. Every good guy has to have a bad guy. It’s like an unspoken rule. What would be the point of being a good guy if there was no bad guy to want to at least try and stop? There are a bunch of different kinds of villain’s, but what truly makes a good one?

For me, a good villain is someone who was starting out on the right path, trying themselves to be the good guy, but then eventually got so twisted that they ended up the villain in the end. These villains are the best kinds of villain because they truly believe that they are doing something that’s still good no matter how far they took things. Sure, they’re the bad guy meaning that they had to have done some pretty horrible things on their journey, but they weren’t always the bad guy.

There are a ton of games that cater to this, a ton, but while some of them are cut and dry some of them you have to really dig to see that at one time they were trying to help. When it comes to the cut and dry good guy turned bad guy, my favorites are The Illusive Man (Mass Effect 2 and 3) and Knight Commander Meredith (Dragon Age 2).

You’re introduced to The Illusive Man at the beginning of Mass Effect 2 when he spends a ton of money to rebuild the only one who can stop the Reapers, Commander Shepard. He’s trying to do the right thing, funding scientists and trying to save the humans from being wiped out by this threat that no one will believe Shepard about. Sure Shepard doesn’t really trust him, but his intentions are good. No one else is doing anything to try and stop the Reapers, but The Illusive Man and Cerberus are. By the time Mass Effect 3 rolls around he’s done some pretty shitty things making him the true villain of Mass Effect 3. Forget the stupid space child or even the Reapers for that matter. The main goal of Mass Effect 3 is stopping The Illusive Man and Cerberus.

Kudos: By the end of Mass Effect 3 you can make The Illusive Man see where he went wrong. This is seriously one of the winning moments of Mass Effect 3, talking The Illusive Man down and having him finally realize that he went to far.

In Dragon Age 2, Knight Commander Meredith comes off as the bad guy right away. She’ll do anything she possibly can to stop the mages from terrorizing Kirkwall and she’ll use any means possible to do this, but it isn’t without reason. Even though she’s extreme if you support the Templars you’ll get to hear her side of the story, hear about how she’s doing all of this because of her sister. You’ll get to see her in a different view this way so that she isn’t just a horrible person who hates people because they’re different. She’s seen first hand what magic has done and thinks that she’s doing everything right by bringing down harsher restrictions on mages, but then she turns to Red Lyrium and goes bat shit crazy making her one of two villains in Dragon Age 2.

While these are my favorite cut and dry good guys that turn into bad guys, there are also some that you have to dig really deep to see that at one time they were good. As for those my favorites have to be Handsome Jack (Borderlands 2) and Sophia Lamb (BioShock 2).

You never get the chance to see Jack as the good guy at all in Borderlands 2. He’s bad right from the start no matter how you look at it. He’s using his own daughter to charge a Vault key! How much worse could you possibly get! Even though you can’t see it, he wasn’t always like that. In Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, you’ll see him as just someone who is trying to rise to the top of the Hyperion ladder. Sure he’s a little ruthless, but in that situation who isn’t? The events at the end of the Pre-Sequel will help you understand what made things change for him, what made him become even more ruthless, making him a badass bad guy.

Another favorite of mine is Sophia Lamb. You’re introduced to her in BioShock 2 and from the start she’s just the worst. She’s manipulative, ruthless, and just down right bad. You can’t possibly see her as anything else, but if you read BioShock Rapture, the in between book of BioShock 1 and BioShock 2, you won’t exactly see her that way. She wasn’t always the bad guy that she’s made out to be. She was brought to Rapture to help people after Andrew Ryan clearly failed at his little experiment. Rapture isn’t what it’s supposed to be, people aren’t living in the life of luxury they were promised. Sophia wants to change that, she strongly opposes Ryan and like every good villain takes it a little bit too far in turn making her the villain.

There are a ton of games that cater to this type of villain. I could go on and on naming countless other video games that have these, but these are my absolute favorite. All of these villains, while they need to be stopped like every other villain, are worthy adversaries for the chosen hero. They all believe strongly in what they’re doing no matter how twisted things got along the way. While some see it at the end others unfortunately don‘t, either way each story ends the same with the hero coming out on top and doing what a hero does.