A pair of former bounty hunters turned planet development surveyors are about to receive a not-so-voluntary job offer to locate a woman named Tera and a fabled project called Icarus. On the plus side, it might happen to come with a side of revenge…
The Icarus Huntis one of my all time favorite books, and for over two decades it was a one book stand alone story.
In 2022 Timothy Zahn revisited the world of Jordan McKell with a sequel/spinoff series called The Icarus Saga. The Icarus Plot is book one of six.
I read this when it came out, but didn’t get a chance to continue with the rest as the series progressed. I remember liking it, but the details were fuzzy resulting in this reread before I continue on with the others.
Icarus Plot picks up several years after the events in Icarus Hunt, and while similarly in first person it features a different protagonist. There’s significant conceptual overlap and opportunity for familiar faces to pop up, but the point of view character is new and comes into the narrative from a different direction.
This is a fine start to the series and explains enough that a reader could jump in here, although there’s a lot more depth if familiar with the original book this spins off of.
That said it’s masterfully balanced to serve either kind of reader. Things that could be either foreshadowing or red herrings for those familiar with Icarus Hunt add intrigue but still convey enough information for new readers to get most of the payoff. Well done all around.
The original novel was a mystery in space, and this likewise has heavy mystery elements in a well developed sci-fi world with the kind of mix of adventure and intrigue common to Zahn’s writing.
Without getting into spoilers one of the main twists was pretty predictable, but it was still well executed and important to the framework of the rest of the series. This feels every bit of its first book status as it lays a lot of groundwork for future installments, but it still works really well on its own merits.
I enjoyed this quite a bit. It didn’t exactly reach the heights of Icarus Hunt, but it was a solid sequel with a good mix of new characters and familiar faces that set things up nicely for the rest of the series.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically as I am able.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Starlight Kid 10th Anniversary Show – October 20, 2025
Emi Sakura is approaching her 30th Anniversary show and has a number of anticipated matches across several companies in the couple weeks before it.
This trios match on Starlight Kid’s 10th Anniversary show is a cool mix of generations and has Sakura crossing paths with a couple extremely familiar faces.
Yuna Mizumori (Yunamon) was trained by Sakura, and has extensive history both feuding and teaming with her former mentor. Yunamon left Gatoh Move ( now ChocoPro ) for Stardom in 2022. She defeated Sakura in her second to last Gatoh match, her only ever singles win against her trainer. They have not crossed paths in any capacity since until this match.
Riho is the former ace of Gatoh Move. She left in 2019, and appeared in Stardom regularly until the end of 2020 including a High Speed Championship run. She and Sakura both work for AEW now, and they faced off last month in a tag match.
Ram Kaicho wrestled for a few years as a child, including several appearances in Emi Sakura’s promotion at the time Ice Ribbon, then essentially retired for a decade before returning in 2019. She’s been regularly wrestling since.
I’m not as familiar with Rina and Hina, Stardom’s actual twins, as the rest here. And they don’t have the history with Sakura the others do. But from what little I know about them they should fit in just fine.
Due to outage problems with the intended PPV service this show aired for free and is still currently available on Stardom’s YouTube channel.
Hina, Emi Sakura, & Yuna Mizumori vs Ram Kaicho, Riho & Rina
Four of the six wrestlers in this match debuted at age 11 or younger. The least experienced wrestler here has been wrestling for 7 years. Insane amount of talent in this one.
Riho being on Ram’s team makes sense, as does Sakura and her Beauty As Is teammate Yunamon reuniting, but even so alignment-wise Riho and Sakura look like they swapped places. Sakura even came out to her full heel AEW music. Riho’s probably going to have a much easier time going with the flow of her heel teammates than Sakura will have trying to play nice. Evil Riho rocks.
Riho’s leather jacket with sheer sleeves over her poofy entrance gown is fantastic.
Pre match Sakura slaps away Riho’s handshake offer. She’s already in full Her Highness mode and the match hasn’t started. This is going to be a blast.
Ram and Hina start. Collar and elbow tie-up leads to a Ram overhand wristlock. Hina counters into her own, which Ram rolls through and goes into a hammerlock. Headlock counter into a takedown by Hina is countered into a headscissors by Ram. Hina kips out, and it’s a stalemate. Nice bit of chain wrestling to get things going.
Hina with a kick to the midsection as Ram comes in for another lockup. Whip into the corner, but Ram counters Hina’s charge by … rapidly firing off imaginary shuriken. They’re devastating and Hina recoils back from the imaginary impacts to her stomach. Yunamon comes in and also falls victim to more shuriken. Still more get Sakura. And the ref must have looked at Ram funny so he gets some too. Ram’s carrying an awful lot of those on her.
Ram gloats to the crowd and all three of her opponents jump her from behind for her audacity. Riho and Rina come in to even the odds and throw Sakura and Yunamon out of the ring. Hina gets tied up and Ram, Rina, and Riho pose on the ropes while tormenting her. Riho’s kinda actually being the most disrespectful with her knee firmly planted in Hina’s face. The trio congratulate SLK then break the pose.
Back down to just Ram and Hina, Hina reverses a whip and scoops up Ram off the ropes for a big body slam. Tag to Sakura. She brings in Yunamon with a call of “hisashiburi” (“long time no see”) and gestures for a hug. But of course it’s Sakura so when Yunamon gets close Sakura boots her in the midsection, then hits the ropes and jumps on the stunned Yunamon’s back to force a splash onto Ram.
Sakura sets up and completes the Ay Oh sing along surfboard. With the awesome hard forced dismount after a few moments too. Ram gets up and screams a bit in defiance, then gets in Sakura’s face. The latter laughs, so Ram switches her taunts to Sakura’s real name. That gets Ram casually and deservedly slapped in the face.
Sakura hits the ropes but Ram’s completely collapsed from the slap and a confused Sakura pauses for a second. Then she approaches and Ram small packages her for 2. Facecrusher stuns Sakura and Ram tags out to Rina.
Rina goes up top for a shotgun missile dropkick. Big boot to Sakura draped across middle rope follows for 2. Sakura’s up quick though and a HARD chop sends Rina reeling to the ropes, portraying the pain across her face like she just ate a lemon.
Forearm from Rina. Sakura absolutely levels her with another chop in response. Crowd’s now firmly behind Rina. She fires up and lays in several forearms (although an odd camera angle choice leaves the viewers looking at Sakura’s back instead of the impact). Sakura rakes Rina’s eyes to stop her, but her follow up strike is blocked and Rina puts Her Highness down with a nice STO. Scoop slam attempt is countered by Sakura with a back rake then she goes right into Smash Mouth.
STOMP STOMP CLAP and the We Will Rock You singalong means it’s time for Sakura’s sweet corner crossbody. She then calls Hina over and they happily proclaim it’s tea time. Hina puts out a bent knee and Sakura butterfly busters Rina over it. Then Sakura and Hina enjoy their pantomime tea. Sakura definitely has a favored partner in this.Tag to Yunamon.
Shotgun dropkick sends Rina into her own corner and Riho tags in for an old school Gatoh Move showdown. Yunamon dodges a dropkick but gets arm dragged when she tries to pull Riho up. Riho dodges a charge but gets arm dragged herself by Yunamon as the latter rebounds. Shotgun dropkick by Yunamon. Riho bridges out of the cover at 1. They haven’t lost the slightest bit of chemistry.
Of the ropes Riho does a wheelbarrow rollup into the double stomp. She goes up to the top turnbuckle, but Sakura and Hina intercept. Yunamon comes over and the three march carry Riho out to the center of the ring, but Riho’s teammates save her and break up whatever triple team slam was intended.
The two teams line up for a simultaneous brawl. Well kind of, as Sakura and Ram are reversed and in the wrong lines. This leads to shots all around as people realize they’re next to opponents, which leads to Sakura nailing Yunamon with repeated forearms in the corner because Sakura is Sakura.
The respective teams clear out and Yunamon staggers to the center to the ring after taking the abuse from her own teammate where Riho lays in her own forearms. Yunamon eventually blocks one though and spins Riho around before landing a hard chop. Riho falls back up against the ropes and Yunamon charges in with a lariat. And another after getting momentum from hitting the opposite ropes. Tropical Yahho leg drop gets 2.
Yunamon hits the ropes again but Rina jumps her and Ram follows with a codebreaker. Ram then positions Yunamon for a top rope crossbody from Riho. Hina saves at 2.
Yunamon fights off a dragon suplex attempt then charges Riho. But Riho low bridges the ropes and Yuna goes over, yet holds on to the top rope and is hanging outside. Riho hits the far ropes presumably for a dropkick but runs right into a sweet judo throw from Hina.
Yunamon skins the cat back into the ring and she and Sakura sandwich lariat Riho. Yunamon hits the ropes and nails a gorgeous Supergirl pin attempt. Riho just barely rolls her shoulder up at 2.99.
Yunamon hits some shots on the prone Riho, then picks her up in a fireman’s carry. Riho counters a slam attempt from that position into a victory roll style pin for 2. Yunamon LEVELS Riho with a lariat and folds her in half on the pin to get another crazy close 2.
Apparently that was too close for Ram, who comes in to throw powder into Yunamon’s eyes. Rina’s H.A.T.E. stablemates have the ref distracted in the corner. Rina herself follows that up with a shot from her whip to Yunamon. Poor Yunamon’s laid out on the ropes and Ram hits the 619. Finally Riho’s crucifix spinning rollup gets 3.
Post match Riho assures the ref she has no idea what that powder all over the ring is and shows him her clean hands. I knew she’d fit right in with the heels eventually.
As the three celebrate, in the other corner Sakura of course takes exception to Yunamon losing and starts stomping away at her. Hina separates them but Sakura hits her too as they head to the back. Sakura heads off on her own while Hina and Yunamon bow to the crowd together.
This was a lot of fun. The antics were largely amusing and generally expected given the mix of wrestlers involved, and when the action picked up it was great. The Yunamon and Riho stuff down the stretch was awesome, and I’d love to see a singles match from them again someday given how much Yunamon has evolved since they last met. Rina and Hina were quite good. Would definitely like to see more from both.
Again the whole show is available on Stardom’s YouTube and well worth a watch.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. Derailments of Thought currently updates sporadically as I am able.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Match wits with the Riddler as Edward Nygma presents his personal puzzle box for you to solve.
The Riddler: Puzzle Box by Edward Nygma is made by McFarlane Toys, and as such expectedly looks fantastic. The 5-6 inches a side box has great detailing and largely looks like worn/distressed metal rather than the plastic it’s made of. It’s just plain cool to look at and play around with.
Solving puzzle boxes is often made more enticing by including a prize locked within, and the encased prize here is awesome. Solving each of the three sections is rewarded with a piece of a hefty metal “1:1” batarang replica. They went all out with this aspect of the box.
The website description claims the Riddler Box “features 4 challenging Batman themed puzzles.” To be perfectly blunt, this is not even remotely true. These are some of the easiest puzzles imaginable, made more difficult only by so-so implementation. One puzzle is solvable completely by accident. One I solved without the required tool, leaving me confused as to what that tool was for throughout the experience. One puzzle is a tad misleading on when the player should be trying to solve it, which led me to have the right solution but thinking it was wrong because I had to do something else first.
All that said I had a fun time with the box despite its imperfections. The puzzles are conceptually and thematically good even if easy, and I found it all interesting and engaging despite its flaws.
Which brings us to the puzzling aspect of this puzzle box as a purchase. The detail, inherent nature of making a puzzle box with hidden mechanisms, and high quality prize all add to the cost. But with a msrp of $100, which admittedly is entirely reasonable for what it is in total, people are likely to expect more from the actual puzzle box itself.
Now this has been out a while and at it’s currently available price (under $40) it’s *easily* worth it for Batman and/or puzzle box collectors. But to be completely fair with the review I’m not sure I’d have been as happy with it at full retail price.
Overall this is a great collectible containing an equally great collectible as a bonus prize, with an ok puzzle experience attached. Score one for Edward Nigma.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
“The toughest thing about a case is never the case.”
Sherlock Holmes who isn’t stumbles into a web of murder and political intrigue in early 20th Century San Fransisco.
I feel like I was peripherally aware of the series Detective Chinatown 1900 reimagines, but I’ve never actually seen any of it. And as this is a new take set in a different time period no prior knowledge is necessary.
The film is a blend of political commentary regarding a period of high racial tension and straight up comedy all tied together with a murder mystery central plot. It sounds like an absurd mix, but the melding of genres is really well done. It descends into complete farce at moments without ever having trouble reestablishing gravitas when the plot or themes need it.
The movie as I saw it in an NYC theater was presented with both English and Chinese subtitles. It’s a Chinese film largely set in San Fransisco and the dialog ends up being roughly half Chinese and half English, with some other languages mixed in. So a vast majority of viewers will need at least one of the sets of subtitles at times.
I’m a regular watcher of foreign films (usually in Japanese), so am used to reading subtitles. But even for me, the speed of the Chinese dialog and the resulting quickness that the subtitles flew by was a bit challenging at times. But key plot information was always presented somewhat slower (as it tended to land during dramatic moments) so I had no trouble following the story overall.
The mystery itself is reasonable and compelling, the humor juxtaposition masterfully done, and the societal commentary and historical aspects well presented and easily accessible even to those unfamiliar with the time period.
As far as criticism goes the film felt a little long in the tooth at times, a couple things strained credulity (beyond the things that were supposed to be absurd), and I’m not certain they completely stuck the landing. But I’m largely nitpicking here.
Overall I found Detective Chinatown 1900 to be a thoroughly engaging and entertaining movie. Definitely worth a watch.
Thanks to everyone who’s given this a read. 2024 was a sporadic return for this blog and I hope to have more regular updates going forward in 2025. Derailments of Thought currently updates on Wednesday and Saturday.
If you enjoy the blog any support is appreciated, including shares on social media and simply continuing to read. If you happened to be inclined and able to help out monetarily please see my Ko-fi page. Every little bit helps.
Time for everyone to don their thinking caps. Suspects follows early 20th century adventurer Claire Harper in playable classic style mysteries.
Suspects is a card based mystery game that involves visiting locations, speaking to suspects, and examining items to try to unravel the secrets behind a crime. Claire Harper Takes the Stage includes three separate cases.
Each case has a couple extra things to go with the deck of cards to help direct and unravel the mystery. There’s usually some type of list of suspects as well as a a map to show the locations you can look at which gives a nice mental image of the crime scene. Anyone and anything that can be investigated has a number next to it, and you can take the card of any visible number (unless a restriction tells you otherwise).
I really like the system. It’s a great way to handle a somewhat free investigation with a deck of cards. The production quality is excellent and the oversized cards are great for this type of game. Specific mechanics range from evidence links where lines on the various cards will line up if related to certain cards only being available if a set number of identical symbols has already been revealed. The former is great, the latter not so much. The idea’s interesting but which cards would reveal the symbols seemed arbitrary at times and as such was more of a stumbling block than something to puzzle out.
The goals are stated up front in the form of questions the players are trying to answer. The rules explain that there is some meta information in the questions, (for example: if it asks who the murder, singular, is there will be no accomplice) but for me this was a plus not drawback. It prevented things from being too ambiguous to solve. Which is good, because these were quite challenging.
Some of the questions were open ended with room for interpretation on whether answers are right “enough,” but it didn’t detract much from the experience.
The main hurdle in this cases is the overabundance of information. For a game based on what can be fit into a deck of cards, the stories are fully formed and well fleshed out. Numerous suspects have compelling motives, and it’s easy to be led astray by what feels like the strongest. There’s a need to focus on small contradictions and/or method conjecture in order to catch on to what actually happened.
I adore mysteries and am fairly good at these types of games, but didn’t completely solve any of these. I don’t feel cheated at all though. The game is difficult and requires reading things extremely carefully, but the cases are solvable. I left each wanting to do better in the next one, determined to be a little more thorough. Some of the clues and deductions to be made are extremely subtle, but the information is all there to be found.
Which leads to an aspect where I made things more challenging unknowingly: I played all three of these cases solo. While I usually enjoy this type of game equally on my own or with a few friends, this is one of the rare examples where I think it’d play much better with 2 or 3 people. A second set of eyes on cards and someone thinking differently to bounce ideas off of is almost necessary to fully solve the cases. That said, personally I still really enjoyed trying to puzzle these out and will probably attempt the second set solo as well.
There’s a solid, interesting scoring system based on the number of cards seen before answering each question correctly (although there’s a bit of thematic disconnect with the descriptions of the end game tiers – they’re a little more negative in outcome at times than seems appropriate). There’s luck involved in what the player chooses to investigate first, but there are often little hints that point at the most important stuff.
Claire is a decent point of view character for these cases. She has just enough backstory to drive things, but at the same time is enough of a cipher to feel like the player is the one doing the investigating.
The instructions recommend playing the cases in order. While one character does repeat in a later case it wouldn’t spoil much to play these in any order you choose. There really isn’t increasing difficulty across the cases or anything like that. They’re different but roughly equivalent in challenge. But while it’s not really necessary here to play the cases in order, there’s no reason not to either.
As is expected with “solve a mystery” type games there’s no real replayability here, but three cases is a good amount and the game’s fully resettable and can be passed on to others.
Overall I had a great time with Suspects and am looking forward to the subsequent games.
Derailments of Thought 