Kick Ass Gift Guide 2015: Zach’s Picks

It’s that time of year again, the holidays, and your Everything Action crew has some ideas to either ask for yourself and give to the action fan/nerd in your life (Click the pictures to head over to Amazon).

Video Games

Batman: Arkham Knight: The epic conclusion of the Arkham series, arguably the story is not the best but it has the best version of the series’ brilliant fighting system and the new Batmobile is fun to use.  If you or the Batman fan in your life have not played this yet, it’s kind of a no brainer.

Transformers Devastation: The best Transformers game ever made, Platinum Games brings a lite version of the fighting system from Bayonetta or Metal Gear Rising to the world of the 80’s Transformers.  The voice cast is basically all back and you get to use Autobots like Optimus, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Grimlock against Megatron, Starscream, Devastator, Menasor and more.

Tales from the Borderlands: Even if you are not a fan of Borderlands (I’ve never played the proper series), Telltale’s Tales from the Borderlands is a fun and funny adventure where you control two different characters who are forced to team up for a con/heist that may lead to one of the legendary Vaults of the series. The game has incredible voice acting from Troy Baker, Ashley Johnson, Patrick Warburton and it is a nice breather from the relentless dread and death of the other big Telltale series, like Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.

Broforce: The game is officially out and anyone who reads or visits this site should own a copy since it’s the only game where you get to play as Rambo, John Matrix, John McClane, Connor McLeod, Neo, Judge Dredd and so many more to spread freedom throughout the world.

Movies/TV

Better Call Saul Season 1: Any fears that this spin-off wouldn’t live up to Breaking Bad where put aside during the brilliant first season that found Jimmy “Saul” McGill trying to scam his way to the big time in the legal world of Albuquerque while taking care of his brother, Chuck, who is “allergic” to electromagnetic fields.

Hannibal Season 3: The finale of the too brilliant for network television version of the story of Hannibal Lecter and Will Graham continued the show’s remix take on Thomas Harris’ novels, combining the beginning portion of Hannibal, where Dr. Lecter is in hiding in Italy, with the Red Dragon story of Francis Dolarhyde for the second half of the season, all leading to an insane, bloody final scene.

Mad Max: Fury Road: George Miller returned with a vengeance to the world of Mad Max, delivering not only the greatest action movie of the year, but possibly one of the greatest action movies of all time.  The imagination and spectacle on display in Fury Road puts pretty much every other movie to shame (2 words: Doof Warrior)

Marvel Phase 2 Collection: You could just get Avengers: Age of Ultron or Ant-Man separately but if someone somehow doesn’t have any of the Phase 2 MCU movies, this is the perfect addition to their collection, as it contains everything from Iron Man 3 to Ant-Man along with tons of assorted goodies and special features.

Justified Complete Series: One of the many shows that wrapped up this year, Justified was loved by those who knew about it and criminally ignored by everyone else.  Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins were one of the best antagonistic pairs ever and it’s equally on par with other crime dramas like Breaking Bad but with a slightly more western tone.

Books/Etc.

Armada by Ernest Cline: The author of Ready Player One is back with an homage to alien invasion sci-fi as a gamer finds out that his favorite game is actually a training program and the alien species of the game is really coming to destroy Earth.  It’s got lots of fun spaceship battles and lots of references to movies and music of the 80’s.

Console Wars: If you or someone you know is a 90’s kid, then you know the battle that was Nintendo vs Sega and this book details the entire story of Sega’s evolution from annoying thorn in the side to Nintendo to their legitimate rival and industry leader for a while. The book is actually becoming 2 movies, a documentary and a scripted movie, both from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and the author, Blake Harris, is also writing the incredible How Did This Get Made? entries on /Film.

The Martian: Although I wasn’t as big a fan of the movie version as seemingly everyone else, I still love the book and if someone hasn’t read it who has seen the movie, they should add it to their list because it dives into the wonderfully nerdy solutions to astronaut Mark Whatney’s various predicaments on Mars, instead of just doing a montage like the movie and it’s also extremely funny.

Archie vs Predator: The strangest cross-over possibly ever somehow works as the gang from Riverdale goes on spring break and somehow become the target of the galaxy’s greatest hunter. It’s super fun to see the Predator done in the Archie style and it features clever mix of the Archie corny humor and the Predator’s brutal violence.

Marvel Star Wars Vol. 1: Skywalker Strikes: Star Wars is back and bigger than ever and Marvel has been pumping out fantastic comics since acquiring the rights from Dark Horse. The main series features Luke, Han, Leia, Chewie, R2 and 3P0 as they continue their battle against Darth Vader and the Empire shortly after A New Hope. Jason Aaron, who writes the incredible Thor series for Marvel, is the writer on this series and captures the fun and adventure of the original trilogy.

Funko Pops: I defy you to think of a property and not find a Funko Pop for it.  They are super collectible, super affordable and there’s everything from Star Wars to DC to Marvel to Disney and every license in between.