Potter Confessions

Earlier this week I made the statement that I like all things considered geeky. An exaggeration to be sure and now I have to come clean about one of the larger things in geekdom that I just don’t get. I don’t like Harry Potter. My wife is a huge Pot Head (Potter not weed) so I’ve tried the book and I’ve sat through all the movies multiple times. In fact with Universal opening the Wizarding World, I can’t really escape it right now. Not to mention last weekend all my wife had on the TV was the Potter Marathon.


I’ve tried to get into it. It is a highly detailed fantasy setting, I like those. But wow do I really dislike Harry, Ron too. Ron could get shot in the face for all I care (the character, not the actor, I’ve got nothing against him). A long time ago when discussing the Never Ending Story I made the statement; “Even as a kid I liked my fantasy with tits and swords.” I had seen Conan and the Beastmaster at an early age; maybe that is working against me in accepting other things.

But I have come to enjoy a few Potter related things. What are they? Check it out after the jump.

Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4.

I am a huge fan of Legos in general; I seriously have to restrain myself from buying them every time I go to a store. So the Lego video games are easy sells for me, especially because they are fun. I’ve played them all. But I like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman. Would I like a game if I didn’t like the property? Turns out, yes I will.

In fact, this is best game in the series so far. Removing the normal hubs and replacing them with Hogwarts and the Leaky Cauldron works great. There are so many areas and items to unlock in the castle it shames the old SW Cantina area. Each character is able to learn multiple spells or have multiple abilities, so it cuts down on the cycling through characters when you need to do something. The number of unlockable characters is huge. There are some hiccups; you really have to know the material to get some of the cut scenes. The game has locked up more then any of my other games combined. But it really is a fun game and worth the time.


Mad Eye Moody

Last week due to the movies being on over and over again, I have also come to love Mad Eye Moody. As I was watching the character I realized something about him though. Mad Eye Moody is Rooster Cogburn. Switch out a magic eye for an eye patch. Change US Marshal to Auror. Both are older and beat up from their years of service. Rooster was in the Civil War, Moody in the first Wizarding War. Rooster keeps a chamber in his revolver empty to not shoot himself in the foot, Moody won’t put a wand in his back pocket to protect his buttocks. Although authorized to use lethal force, Moody only killed when he had no choice. On the witness stand Cogburn says, “I never shot nobody I didn’t have to.”

So yeah, between the new Lego game and Mad Eye Moody I’ve finally found something about the Potterverse that I can enjoy. I still don’t like Harry or Ron though…