My Favorite Things: Robots and Dragons Meet Canadian Rockers

Greetings and Salutations! You’ve found your way to My Favorite Things, a weekly column where we ladies geek out about our fannish finds in hopes that you might discover a new favorite too. This weeks edition brings you a sci-fi show that puts it’s own stamp on classics concepts, a free-to play shooter with DRAGONS, and a Canadian rock duo that’s bound to inspire the writer in you. Read on for more information.

Sherry’s Favorite Thing is… Humans: Season 1

I recently binged the first season of Humans. (Channel 4 in the UK, AMC in the US). The IMDB page describes the premise as “In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a ‘Synth’ – a highly-developed robotic servant that’s so similar to a real human it’s transforming the way we live.” The premise isn’t that unusual. We’ve seen it many times, going back at least to Issac Asimov. Indeed, Asimov’s three laws of robotics are the rules the Synth’s live by. What makes this show spectacular, is that it doesn’t focus solely on the human response and control of the Synths, it’s primary focus is the handful of Synths who have been given consciousness, and how *they* feel about it. Neither side has a clear-cut response, and it is that complexity that makes it such brilliant show. Can’t wait for season 2!

Whitney’s Favorite Thing is… Warframe!

My favorite thing can be summed up in one word: Warframe. Digital Extreme’s free-to-play cooperative third person shooter is the answer to hole in my life that Mass Effect 3’s online multiplayer mode left behind. Why is it my favorite thing? Imagine a world where you can don outrageously ornate armor made of solid rainbow while welding a sword made of space in one hand and vanquishing your enemies with a gun that shoots black holes in the other. Now add onto that image that you’re a goddamned dragon. And that is only a small piece of what makes Warframe so wonderful. Launched in 2013, the game is still a constant work in progress, with regular re-tooling and updates designed to create a better player experience based off user feedback, and is so rich with content that after 315 hours of gameplay the rabbit hole still goes deeper than I have managed to explore. Not only is it fun and playable both solo and co-op, it’s a free-to-play game that doesn’t abuse its players or rely on the frustrating pay-to-win motif that so dominates the gaming landscape. Now if you’ll pardon me, I need to go kill enemies with my shiny disco ball of hate.

Lane’s Favorite Thing is… July Talk!

There are a lot of albums where the songs are overtly fantastical, and I love them.  Albums like Poe’s Haunted, inextricable from her brother’s book House of Leaves or like the Kidneythieves’ The Invisible Plan which tells its own dystopic SF story.  Both awesome.  But then there are bands who have no overt fantasy elements in their songs yet stir all sorts of vivid fantasy thoughts in my head.  My current craze is one of those bands: July Talk, a strange dual-vocalist band out of Canada.  He’s got a voice like a young Tom Waits; she’s got a sharp ethereal sound.  They sing about relationships almost exclusively.  I can’t stop listening to them and I can’t stop thinking about fairies while I do.  The fairy queen hunting her human lover; the wild hunt moving through human populations.  Predator and prey, swapping back and forth.  They’re going to be a huge and delicious part of my background soundtrack for the fairy trilogy I have planned.

Keyes’s Favorite Thing is… Voltron Legendary Defender!

My love for giant robots knows no bounds. My love for giant TOY robots I can play…I mean pose…on my desk knows no bounds. My love for cheesy 80’s mecha anime knows no bounds. My love for cats knows…relatively few bounds (it would be none, but my cats determination that THEY MUST DIG A HOLE in one part of my carpet probably cost me my security deposit.) And while I was not a superfan, I quite enjoyed Avatar and Legend of Korra. Therefore, my joy at large chunks of the Avatar team rebooting Voltron–that 80’s mecha anime which had as its specific shtick a giant robot made of giant robot lions–is marred only by the fact that there does not yet appear to be a toy line that I can use to torment my coworkers with. It’s hilarious. It is action packed. It is touching. It understands that space explosions should be rendered as tiny little perfect reddish-orange circles. It is streaming now on Netflix and everybody should be watching it because its cliffhanger first season ending will TORTURE ME FOR LIFE if it does not get resolved by a second season.

What have you been geeking out about lately? Familiar with any of the topics above? Tell us about it in the comments.