Nerd News | Avengers: Infinity War official trailer

I'm not going to watch this¹ but I so badly want to.

I'm really not prepared for this movie. I've already bought tickets to see it two different times opening weekend, and I'm considering taking the following week off work to recover.

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Also of note:

• There's finally a trailer for the fifth season of The 100, and it unsurprisingly suggests that the season will be as fight-filled as the ones before it. CAN'T WAIT.
• There's a new Lara Croft/Tomb Raider video game releasing in September. I am a huge fan of the rebooted games, so this is exciting news. 
• Ava DuVernay (Wrinkle in Time) has joined the DCU and will direct a New Gods movie. I know nothing about the New Gods, but I'm hoping her hiring means that DC's realized that their lady directors are the ones who actually know what they're doing. (You know, 'cause the dudes keep giving us things like Justice League.)

1 I avoid anything more than the first teaser or two these days so that I'm not spoiled about the movie. Trailers tend to reveal more than I'd like.

Nerd News | Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer

Happy N7 Day, y'all! And a happy day it is, since the Bioware gods have gifted us this new trailer for Mass Effect: Andromeda:

I've written about this before, but Mass Effect means a lot to me. The original trilogy is the first video game series I've ever played all the way through. The story sucked me in from beginning to end—yes, even the damned Mako missions—and I'll always have a special place in my nerd heart for Commander Shepard and crew. So saying that I'm a little excited for a new visit to the ME universe is a bit of an understatement.

After Colt sent me the link to the trailer, I responded thusly (in green):

Also, please notice his excitement, too. We make an excellent pair.

Learn more about the game, and the Andromeda Initiative, here.

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Also of note:

• Beauty and the Beast is my favorite of all the Disney princess movies, and the recently released photos of the live action version has Younger Mandy feeling quite giddy.
• This new Wonder Woman trailer gives me hope.
• I hadn't heard of the new Ryan Gosling/Emma Stone movie La La Land until recently, but after seeing this trailer, I am so on board.
• Here's a trailer for John Wick 2, which also looks awesome. I loved the first movie—minus the incident that set John off in the first place, which still makes me choked up just thinking about it—and had hoped that we'd get to visit the the crazy, assassin-filled world again.

Nerd News | Mass Effect Andromeda play video

As a huge fan of the original Mass Effect trilogy—it's the first video game series I played all the way through, and I loved it so much I immortalized it in tattoo form—I am super excited about this:

I've known for a while that this was coming, but until yesterday¹ hadn't really seen what the game was going to look like. It doesn't really give much context as to what the larger story will be, of course, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to love it regardless.

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Also of interest:

• Older news, but: Alicia Vikander (Ex Machina, The Man from U.N.C.L.E.) will play Lara Croft in the upcoming video game adaptation.
• FX has ordered a new X-Men series, Legion. The series will focus on David Haller, Professor X's son.
• John Boyega has been cast as the lead—and Stacker Pentecost's (Idris Elba) son—in Pacific Rim 2.

¹Thanks, Colt!

Video Game Boyfriends | Forever Young Adult

In addition to writing for my day job, writing for this blog, and writing for the occasional other site/publication, I also write for Forever Young Adult (FYA), "a site for Young Adult (YA) readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A."

Each week, I write various posts for the site, from reviews of YA books to recaps of TV shows to responses to various pop culture news items.

I recently co-wrote a post for about my favorite video game boyfriends, and, if you're into that sort of thing,* I think you should check it out. (Click the image below to go directly to the post.)

*That sort of thing being talk about hot, CG menfolk and why they're so delightful. If you're not in to that wort of thing ... why not?

5 Fandom Friday | Five Fictional Vehicles I'd Love to Travel in

Considering that my tattoo features six spaceships* (and one other "method of travel,"), this prompt, seemingly, is right up my alley. But GUYS. There are so many awesome fictional vehicles. So many more than my six/seven.

Basically, what I'm saying is—this prompt was hard. I hate having to choose between the people vehicles I love. Four of the five I chose are included on my tattoo, however. I obviously picked them for a reason.

Five Fictional Vehicles I'd Love to Travel In

5 | Serenity, Firefly and Serenity

Although I occasionally might regret signing on to Captain Malcolm Reynold's crew when yet another something goes wrong with Serenity, I'd just have to think about the people I was working with to realize that I'd made a good decision.

4 | The Hogwarts Express, Harry Potter

There's definitely a theme to this list, and this pick stands out as the odd man in the bunch. But not only do I love traveling by train, I also would have loved to attend Hogwarts. I suppose I would have had to settle for visiting, being American and all. But perhaps there was some sort of study abroad program we just never read about?

3 | The Normandy, Mass Effect

In terms of space ships, the Normandy is a cut above the rest. But again, this is a ship I would love to travel on thanks mostly to the crew—or at least the crew that I collected as I played the Mass Effect series. But never, under any circumstance, would you have gotten me to go down to a planet's surface in the Mako. That thing is THE WORST.

2 | TARDIS, Doctor Who

Regardless of if you're a Whovian, I think the idea of having a vehicle that could take you to literally anywhere in all of time and space would be an appealing one. The fact that you get to hang out with the Doctor while doing so is just an added bonus.

*It's not exactly a spaceship, but it travels in space, so ...

1 | The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D), Star Trek: The Next Generation

I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation during a time in my life that I was easily influenced and majorly affected by pop culture: from around age 4 to the year I turned 11. The show made a lasting impact on my brain, and my heart, and there's no place I'd rather be (fictionally speaking) than walking the corridors of the Enterprise.

Learn more about 5 Fandom Friday and check out the prompts for July.

Nerd News | Mass Effect: Andromeda trailer

I didn't play video games growing up. In part because my parents never bought me a console*, and in part because I really wasn't all that interested. Even in college, when I had more access to video games in the dorms, I played on occasion, but nothing really held my attention for long. When the Mister and I moved in together, we eventually accumulated both an XBox 360 and a PS3. Even then, nothing really spoke to me.

Until, that is, I found Mass Effect. And Mass Effect 2. And Mass Effect 3.

The Mass Effect series is the first series I've ever beaten, and it holds a special place in my heart. (The main spaceship from the series, the Normandy, is even featured in my tattoo.) Therefore, the ending of Mass Effect 3 was bittersweet—and no, I'm not referring to the discontent with the actual content of the ending—I wanted to be able to continue playing in the ME 'verse forever.

When I heard that there would be another game released "at some point," I immediately got excited. And that game was officially announced yesterday at E3:

via @masseffect

I'm so excited. I just hope the game continues to be as awesome as the others, and gives me another opportunity to play a kickass female character like Commander Shepard**.

*No, they weren't the worst parents ever. Just particular about my entertainment, I suppose.
**Sure, Commander Shepard could also be a dude, but I never played the character as one, so I think of her as a female.