Bow Wow was in attendance at the BET Awards on Sunday (June 28), and he brought along his 15-year-old daughter, Shai Moss, to witness the evening of Black excellence.

                  RELATED: Growin’ Up! Bow Wow & Joie Chavis Celebrate Shai Moss’ 15th                                          Birthday With Designer Bags & Dinner Party (VIDEOS)

Bow Wow Shared Why He’s So Proud Of Shai With His Fans

Rapper Bow Wow arrived at the award show sporting a plum tuxedo paired with a black bow tie while his mini-me was decked out in a red dress, sparkly high heels, and a high ponytail.

The rapper, whose birth name is Shad Moss, told E! News on the red carpet that he is proud of Shai for learning how to drive.

“My daughter is driving,” said the rapper. “That’s a proud moment right there… Both of them, my son and my daughter, they know who dad is. They know what I do. The good thing is that now that they’re of age, I get to bring them along for these moments. Like, Shai is here. She’s in her own glam room…. My daughter’s about to come down here and hang out with dad.”

Fans React To Him Bringing Shai To The BET Awards

Bow Wow and Shai spoke with The Shade Room on the red carpet, and fans ate it up as the daddy-daughter duo joked around.

“What up? It’s Shai’s dad,” he said. “106 & Park,” added Shai.

“We steppin’ into The Shade Room, you know what I’m sayin’?”

Roomies were ecstatic to see the rapper with his daughter at the awards’ show, and the duo’s daddy-daughter banter did not go unnoticed. Fans also noticed that the teen is nearly grown and had no trouble walking in high heels.

Bow Wow Surprised Shai As She Celebrated Her 15th Birthday In April

Bow Wow popped up on Shai as she celebrated her 15th birthday at a restaurant in Dallas, Texas, last April. The artist had been on a tour stop in Memphis, Tennessee, and he shared a video of the moment he surprised his baby girl.

The rapper gifted Shai two Balenciaga handbags — one in black and one white — as well as a Louis Vuitton charm bracelet.

This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

Prime Video has increasingly embraced its identity as the streaming destination for swoon-worthy content. From Off Campus to Every Year After, the platform has been touting its lineup of sizzling summer YA and romance series and films as titles worth obsessing over, to the point that it even played host to its own in-person Obsessed Fest dedicated to the creatives, cast, books, and fandoms that have made these projects possible. At the top of its list of most-anticipated love stories, however, is undoubtedly The Love Hypothesis, the feature adaptation of Ali Hazelwood‘s surprisingly Star Wars-inspired novel following a Ph.D student whose faux relationship with an intimidating professor turns into something much more real. Prime Video is so confident they have a red-hot hit on their hands that, three months before its premiere, they’re doubling down on Hazelwood.

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According to a new report, the New York Times bestselling author’s follow-up novel, Love, Theoretically, is now also getting the feature treatement at the Amazon-owned streamer. It’s quite the romantic concoction, too, landing It Ends With Us author and all-around romance novel titan Colleen Hoover as a producer alongside her Heartbones Entertainment partner Lauren Levine and Magic Hour Entertainment duo Max Siemers and Tanner Anderson. Also on board is Sofia Alvarez, who will take the reins of the adaptation after spearheading Netflix’s take on Sarah Dessen‘s novel, Along for the Ride. She and Hazelwood both executive produce.

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Release Date

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September 23, 2026

Director

Claire Scanlon

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Writers

Sarah Rothschild

Producers

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Elizabeth Cantillon

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  Lili Reinhart

  Olive Smith

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  Tom Bateman

  Dr. Adam Carlsen

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This article covers a developing story. Continue to check back with us as we will be adding more information as it becomes available.

Hilary Duff may have just delivered the Disney Channel crossover moment that millennials never knew they needed. During a recent stop on her “Lucky Me” Tour, the former “Lizzie McGuire” star took the stage wearing a vintage-inspired Hannah Montana T-shirt, instantly sending fans into a nostalgic frenzy online. Photos from the performance quickly made their way across social media, where fans celebrated the unexpected nod to one of Disney Channel’s most beloved franchises.

While performing for fans during her latest tour stop, Duff appeared on stage in a Hannah Montana graphic tee featuring Miley Cyrus‘ iconic Disney alter ego. The playful fashion choice immediately caught the attention of concertgoers and social media users alike, many of whom grew up watching both “Lizzie McGuire” and “Hannah Montana” during Disney Channel’s golden era.

For many fans, seeing one Disney icon publicly embrace another felt like a full-circle moment. “Core memory unlocked! This is peak millennial happiness!” one person wrote. “My whole childhood,” another fan commented.

Others described the moment as “so iconic” and “everything,” while one fan summed up the collective reaction by writing, “What a time to be alive.”

Duff Previously Said She’d Be Open To A Disney Channel Crossover

Interestingly, Duff has already addressed the possibility of her Disney Channel world colliding with Miley Cyrus’ years ago. During a 2020 interview with Cosmopolitan, the actress and singer admitted that a crossover between Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana had never really crossed her mind, but she was completely on board with the idea.

Duff also had nothing but praise for Cyrus, revealing that the two had maintained a supportive relationship over the years. “I love Miley, I recently was on her show that she created during the quarantine, and she’s just awesome,” Duff said at the time. “She’s always showing me so much love and it kind of embarrasses me in a way. I’m like, come on, you’re like the epitome of cool, and it’s really sweet that she’s just so vocal about being a fan growing up with me and I love her.”

Hilary Duff Recently Addressed The Possibility Of Revisiting Lizzie McGuire

While Duff’s Hannah Montana shirt sent fans down memory lane, the singer and actress has also been looking toward the future of another beloved Disney character.

More recently, Duff thrilled fans by releasing “Luck… Or Something,” her first album in more than a decade. But during an appearance on Jay Shetty’s “On Purpose” podcast, she addressed a question that has remained at the forefront of many fans’ minds: whether she would ever return as Lizzie McGuire.

The actress revealed that she’s not completely ruling out another reboot, though it may not happen anytime soon. “I was really excited thinking about her at 30 and going through 30-year-old things, and now I can’t really see her at 40. Maybe I could start to see her around like 55, 60?” Duff explained.

The Beloved ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Reboot Ultimately Never Made It To Screen

The comments come years after a planned “Lizzie McGuire” revival was ultimately scrapped despite significant fan excitement. In 2020, Duff was set to reprise her breakout role, but the project was canceled amid behind-the-scenes creative disagreements.

Reflecting on the character’s impact, Duff has previously said she remains grateful for what Lizzie brought to her life and career. “I’ve been so honored to have the character Lizzie in my life,” she said at the time, noting that the role left a “lasting impact” on her.

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When announcing the reboot’s cancellation, Duff acknowledged the extensive efforts that went into trying to make it work. “I know the efforts and conversations have been everywhere trying to make a reboot work, but, sadly & despite everyone’s best efforts, it isn’t going to happen,” she wrote.

Hilary Duff Recently Mourned The Loss Of Her ‘Lizzie McGuire’ Dad

Duff’s reflections on “Lizzie McGuire” come just months after the actress paid an emotional tribute to one of her beloved co-stars.

Earlier this year, Robert Carradine, who portrayed Lizzie’s father, Sam McGuire, in the Disney Channel series and “The Lizzie McGuire Movie,” died at the age of 71. Carradine was also known for his work in films including “Revenge of the Nerds,” “The Cowboys,” and “Escape from L.A.”

Following news of his death, Duff shared a heartfelt message on social media alongside photos of Carradine and fellow Lizzie McGuire cast members Hallie Todd and Jake Thomas.

“This one hurts,” Duff wrote. “It’s really hard to face this reality about an old friend. There was so much warmth in the McGuire family, and I always felt so cared for by my on-screen parents. I’ll be forever grateful for that.”

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The actress went on to express her sadness over learning about Carradine’s health struggles in the years leading up to his death. “I’m deeply sad to learn Bobby was suffering. My heart aches for him, his family, and everyone who loved him.”

By Robert Scucci
| Published 1 minute ago

One of my favorite guilty pleasure movies is 2004’s Without a Paddle, starring Seth Green, Matthew Lillard, and Dax Shepard. The film follows the same kind of beats you’d find in any coming-of-age story, except it’s about a bunch of 30-year-olds having an early midlife crisis while hunting for a long-lost treasure their recently deceased friend spent his life trying to locate. It’s stupid, slapstick, and the furthest thing from what most people would call good cinema, but it’s entertaining, and I love it. 

A worthy spiritual successor to Without a Paddle, 2012’s Nature Calls offers a lot of the same kind of humor, but with an R-rating. That means more cussing, fighting, and even some good old-fashioned lost-in-the-wilderness nakedness to keep things interesting. It also doesn’t hurt that the cast is absolutely stacked with talent, including, but not limited to, Patton Oswalt, Johnny Knoxville, Rob Riggle, Patrice O’Neal, and Maura Tierney.

Everybody in Nature Calls reliably does what you know them to do, and their chemistry is exactly what you’d expect. I enjoyed watching it play out because I’m a fan of everybody involved. The story itself, though? There’s really not much going on, and you’ll soon realize the initial conflict is just a launching pad for joke after joke, some of which land better than others.

Watch This One For The Talent, Not The Plot

I’m not so much of a curmudgeon that I can’t appreciate a movie that doesn’t do much but still manages to be funny. But I’m still going to call Nature Calls what it is: a giant nothingburger.

Here’s the story: Randy Stevens (Patton Oswalt) is a loyal Boy Scout who wants to make his elderly father, a former troop leader now living in assisted living, proud. He wants to take all of the neighborhood kids on an epic camping trip, but his brother Kirk (Johnny Knoxville) is basically a tech bro who wouldn’t be caught dead camping in the woods. Randy, in a moment of passion, kidnaps all of the kids sleeping over at Kirk’s house and takes them camping anyway.

Kirk doesn’t want to go down without a fight, so he brings his trigger-happy security guard, Gentry (Rob Riggle), and Mr. Caldewell (Patrice O’Neal) to the campgrounds to collect the boys and bring them back to their sleepover party, complete with dozens of TVs and video games, at his McMansion. Hilarity ensues.

You Can Choose To Vibe With This One

The rest of Nature Calls involves Randy getting into a series of accidents despite his immense knowledge of the outdoors, Kirk getting his ass handed to him in ways only Johnny Knoxville can endure, Rob Riggle making that face he always makes before saying something he thinks is funny, and, my favorite part, Patrice O’Neal being highly inappropriate because he doesn’t know how to carry himself around kids.

The combination of funny people is enough to carry a movie like Nature Calls from start to finish, to the point that the setting and conflict barely matter. This could have taken place at a bowling alley or a theme park, or the characters could have been kidnapped and needed to escape. Anything, really. It just so happens they’re lost in the woods and braving the elements here.

I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing, but any movie with Patton Oswalt getting way in over his head despite his good intentions, Johnny Knoxville getting set on fire, Patrice O’Neal dropping F-bombs in front of innocent children, and Rob Riggle waving around a gun even though nobody feels threatened by him is going to get some laughs. It’s R-rated Little Giants humor, and it’s inherently funny if that’s exactly the kind of humor you’re looking for, regardless of the context. The problem is, I think they all knew this and decided that after the initial setup everybody could just do their thing.

If you’re a fan of the comedic talent found in Nature Calls, you’ll probably enjoy it more than you’d care to admit. Just be warned: there’s not much storytelling here, just a bunch of funny people working their schtick with varying levels of success.

As of this writing, you can stream Nature Calls for free on Tubi.

Nia Long‘s look for the 2026 BET Awards has social media users saying she’s “giving these young girls” a run for their money.

RELATED: She Gets It From Her Mama! Nia Long Shares Rare Photo & Video Of Her Mom Talita

More On Nia Long’s Look For The BET Awards

On Sunday, June 28, Nia Long appeared on the carpet for the 2026 BET Awards. Specifically, she graced the carpet donning a high ponytail, gold Chanel jewelry, and a brown, deep V-cut maxi dress.

See footage of her look below.

Nia Long’s Look For The BET Awards Has Social Media Users Saying She’s “Giving These Young Girls A Run For They Money”

Social media users slid into TSR’s comment section with reactions to Nia Long’s BET Awards look.

While Instagram user @therealmarcmendez added, “Giving these young girls a run for they money 😍”

Her Recent Repost Sparked Reactions

Before Nia Long popped out at the 2026 BET Awards, she already had the internet talking. As The Shade Room previously reported, earlier this month, Long took to Instagram and re-posted a message via her Story. Furthermore, the post read, “Call me old fashioned but I like my men without wives, girlfriends, or personality disorders”

The message prompted social media users to slide into TSR’s comment section with their thoughts.

RELATED: Say Less! Nia Long Gets Real About What She Won’t Tolerate From Men & The Internet Has Thoughts (PHOTO)

YouTuber Jack Doherty is once again making headlines after newly surfaced Ring camera footage appears to show him being struck in the face with a water bottle during a heated argument with girlfriend Katalina Cartmel. The footage reportedly captures a tense exchange between the couple before a water bottle appears to hit Doherty in the face. The circumstances leading up to the confrontation remain unclear, but the video has quickly sparked discussion across social media. The incident is the latest in a string of controversies surrounding the 22-year-old influencer.

According to TMZ, Ring camera footage shows Doherty and Cartmel engaged in what appears to be a heated argument outside a residence. During the exchange, a water bottle appears to be thrown, striking the YouTuber in the face.

The footage has generated significant attention online, with many fans weighing in on the apparent altercation between the social media personalities.

Neither Doherty nor Cartmel has publicly addressed the footage.

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The Incident Comes Weeks After Jack Doherty’s Arrest

The newly surfaced video arrives just weeks after Doherty was arrested in the Miami area on multiple charges. According to police documents cited by several outlets, the influencer was allegedly filming content while attempting to interact with police officers in the middle of a roadway, creating a traffic obstruction in the process.

Authorities ultimately detained Doherty and conducted a search that allegedly uncovered part of an orange pill believed to be a Schedule II amphetamine, along with three suspected cannabis cigarettes. The arrest quickly made headlines given Doherty’s massive online following and reputation for producing controversial content.

Jack Doherty Built His Brand On Provocative Content

Doherty first rose to fame through videos featuring pranks, public stunts, and confrontational interactions. Many of his most popular uploads center around provoking reactions from strangers, documenting chaotic situations, and pushing boundaries for views.

Over the years, his content has attracted millions of followers while also generating criticism from viewers who argue some of his stunts go too far. The influencer has continued to embrace controversy as a core part of his online brand, frequently turning real-life situations into content for his audience.

McKinley Richardson Previously Made Troubling Allegations About Their Relationship

The Ring camera footage also arrives months after Doherty’s ex-girlfriend, McKinley Richardson, publicly discussed what she described as a deeply unhealthy relationship.

During an appearance on friend Camilla Araujo’s podcast, Richardson alleged that Doherty frequently blurred the line between his real life and his online persona, leaving her feeling emotionally exhausted and isolated. According to Richardson, the emotional manipulation began gradually before escalating over time.

“He found it very attractive,” she said while recalling moments when she cried during arguments. “I would start crying in certain situations, and he’d say how beautiful and hot I am when I cry. That it’s sexy. But I didn’t feel sexy. I felt humiliated, especially when it was something he caused.”

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Richardson Claimed Her Pain Became Part Of The Content

Body cam footage of when police were called by Camilla Araujo to respond to a domestic violence situation involving Jack Doherty and his ex-girlfriend, McKinley Richardson after Jack allegedly threatened her 👀 pic.twitter.com/fZcR2b39wS

— FearBuck (@FearedBuck) March 29, 2025

Richardson further alleged that Doherty often sought emotional reactions that could later be incorporated into videos. “It’s like he was trying to get that out of me,” she said. “Every waking moment was filmed. I stopped knowing what was real.”

She also claimed Doherty would flirt with other women in front of her, encourage situations designed to embarrass her, and dismiss concerns by insisting things were different when the cameras were off. “He’d make me look stupid in front of people,” Richardson alleged. “He’d say, ‘It’s different off camera,’ but so much of it was filmed. So how much was ever real?”

The influencer said the experience ultimately left her feeling emotionally drained and unable to separate their actual relationship from the content being created around it. “Every day was content,” Richardson said. “Every waking moment was a performance. It broke me down completely.”

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With the newly surfaced Ring camera footage now circulating online, Doherty once again finds himself at the center of public scrutiny. The apparent altercation with Cartmel, combined with his recent arrest and Richardson’s previous allegations, has intensified attention on the influencer’s personal life and behavior off-camera.

Ashley Olsen rose to fame alongside twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen with roles in Full House, Passport to Paris, New York Minute and more — but she has since stepped back from acting.

The sisters got their start sharing the role of Michelle Tanner on Full House from 1987 to 1995. After the sitcom came to an end, Ashley and Mary-Kate went on to become household names with their own empire of movies, TV shows and brand deals.

As they got older, both Ashley and Mary-Kate chose to take a step back from the public eye.

“Being in the spotlight as little kids really seems to have impacted how Mary-Kate and Ashley live their adult lives,” one friend told Us Weekly for a July 2024 cover story, with a former nightlife promoter adding, “For being child stars, they have come out of [all] this pretty well. It could’ve been so much worse.”

Related: Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen Through the Years

Everywhere you look — its the Olsens! Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen have taken the fashion world by storm since their Michelle Tanner days on Full House. From TV to the red carpet, browse through photos of the twins from over the years.

Ashley has since shifted her focus to her fashion brand, The Row, which she runs alongside Mary-Kate. They have also been seen making rare appearances at fashion events and outings with their sister and fellow actress Elizabeth Olsen.

Keep scrolling for a breakdown of Ashley’s rise to fame — and a glimpse into her life now:

What Led to Ashley’s Departure From Hollywood?

Ashley and Mary-Kate both stepped back from acting in the mid 2000s after starting their fashion label, The Row. Ashley’s last appearances were in The Simpsons, New York Minute and Saturday Night Live. Mary-Kate, for her part, has since made some rare returns with roles in Beastly, Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf’s and more.

“We were raised to be discreet people,” Mary-Kate told i-D magazine in a June 2021 profile, with Ashley noting that they “have each other to lean on.”

“We definitely go by intuition and instinct and it can either confirm that feeling, or if we’re both not feeling right about something, for some reason, we just don’t do it,” Ashley explained at the time. “Our instincts are kind of the same. But I think what’s great is that we have each other to lean on.”

What Does Ashley’s Professional Life Look Like Now?

“Ashley and Mary-Kate run in some very high-end circles,” a source told Us in July 2024 about selling Ashley some art pieces at the Park Avenue Armory show for the pair’s London office. “Everyone they interacted with at the Armory show was a wealthy European. [They are] very well-versed in art, both historical and modern-day.”

Ashley has remained based in New York City while Mary-Kate splits her time between New York and L.A. The siblings both travel frequently to Europe for work and spend time in the Hamptons. When it comes to The Row, Mary-Kate is more involved with the creative, while Ashley spends more time on operations and finance.

“I think at some point, they wanted to prove something,” a former employee shared with Us about what drives Mary-Kate and Ashley to work so hard. “Because they were TV stars when they were kids, no one really took them seriously when they launched the collection. Now it’s really the only celebrity collection that’s relevant.”

Meanwhile, the former VP of Dualstar (the twins’ former media company), Judy Swartz told Us she’s absolutely not surprised by their success: “They are smart, talented businesswomen.”

When Was Ashley’s Last Public Appearance?

In 2024, Ashley was photographed at the Whitney Gala at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. She was also spotted hanging out with Mary-Kate and Elizabeth while enjoying a walk together. Mary-Kate and Ashley were spotted in a family photo shared via Instagram in June 2026, by Trent and his wife, Alexis, following their nuptials.

Related: ‘Full House’ Stars: Then and Now!

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You got it, dude! America fell in love with the Tanner family in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and fans celebrated when news broke that the cast would be reuniting for Netflix’s Fuller House — see then-and-now photos!

Where Is Ashley Now?

Ashley was previously linked to Matt Kaplan, Justin Bartha and Bennett Miller before finding love with artist Louis Eisner. The couple started dating in 2017 and made their red carpet debut four years later at the YES 20th Anniversary Celebration.

Ashley and Eisner tied the knot in December 2022 and welcomed their first baby less than a year later.

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Could There Be a Return to Acting?

“We’ve been there, we’ve done that, we started out that way,” Mary-Kate told Vogue in 2019 about her and Ashley returning to their roots. “This is the way we chose to move forward in our lives: to not be in the spotlight, to really have something that speaks for itself.”

Ashley chimed in, adding, “We didn’t want to be in front of it, we didn’t necessarily even want to let people know it was us. It was really about the product, to the point where we were like: Who could we get to front this so that we don’t have to?”

She continued: “We like working together and we like having that dialogue. I think it helps harden your ideas to be able to hear them out loud, to speak something through.”

Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) is a character always prepared to deliver the thesis of the show in some of the most memorable lines of dialogue. House of the Dragon Season 1 witnessed his now-iconic “pursuit of legacy” speech that distilled his perspective elegantly. The Master of Ships has returned in Season 3 with another line of dialogue to be remembered. After losing his wife and two children in this war, Corlys still embarks on the Battle of the Gullet with devastating results.

“If this be a victory,” Corlys says in Season 3, Episode 2, “I hope I never see another.” In this scene, Corlys is technically the winner of the battle as he defeats the Triarchy on the open sea. However, it came at the cost of the Crown Prince, Jacaerys Targaryen (Harry Collett), who was to succeed his mother, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy). It is Corlys’ only scene in the episode, and yet it defines not only the series but also makes a savage observation that differentiates it from the early days of Game of Thrones.

‘House of the Dragon’ Proves There Are No Winners in the Battle of the Gullet

Game of Thrones always seemed defined by the righteous characters poised against the usurpers. The Starks were unjustly killed off one by one, only for the crime of being honorable. They came against the Lannisters, who aligned themselves with their family no matter what the cost. No one would be caught saying that what the lion house was doing was “good” or “just,” but they did everything they did to protect one another. This good vs. evil narrative carried through the series, but House of the Dragon is another story.

If there is a war that is the most unjust, it is the Dance of the Dragons. Generational trauma pits Targaryen against Targaryen in one of the bloodiest conflicts of Westerosi’s history. This is communicated particularly with the Battle of the Gullet. Even with Jace’s death, there is no winning.

“This is a war of a family against itself, and at the end of that battle, that has not been resolved,” Steve Toussaint elegantly stated in Inside the Episode featurette. If and when Game of Thrones communicates the real cost of war, it is rarely to this degree. Great HBO episodes like the demise of Robb Stark (Richard Madden) are portrayed as tragedies and miscalculations.

House of the Dragon, by contrast, shows how fruitless war is. Corlys’ estimation functions as a sort of mission statement for the series. Game of Thrones features war, but its prequel shows exactly what that war costs. It isn’t just the death of one prince or two. The devastation of the Gullet is insurmountable, and as Harry Collett notes in the featurette, “There’s still a lot more to come.”

Even as Rhaenyra ascends the Iron Throne at the end of Episode 2, there are still battles being waged across Westeros. Villainous Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) still wage war in the Riverlands. They will not be throwing down their weapons when news comes that Rhaenyra flew to King’s Landing in their absence.

House of the Dragon ensures that viewers understand war is not something to be celebrated but something to be avoided. It is not easy rooting for either of these sides, and it shouldn’t be. There is carnage flying from all directions, and the prequel has cemented itself as the anti-war show. Fans may hope that characters such as Jon Snow (Kit Harington) win the Game of Thrones, but when it comes to the casualties of war, it should make viewers wonder if Rhaenyra’s reign is really worth it.

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Release Date

August 21, 2022

Network

HBO

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Showrunner

George R.R. Martin

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Directors

Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel

Writers

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Gabe Fonseca

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  Ser Criston Cole

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By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 55 seconds ago

Giant mechs are awesome. It’s why Pacific Rim was a hit, a little anime franchise you may have heard of called Gundam, and the Power Rangers wouldn’t be as popular if not for the Zords. In 1987, director Stuart Gordon shifted gears from low-budget horror to create Robot Jox, a movie all about giant mechs duking it out. It’s not the movie’s fault that it crashed and burned at the box office when it was finally released in 1990. Today you can catch the mech action for free on YouTube, Tubi, The Roku Channel, and Pluto TV.

Giant Mech Fights Are Awesome

Set 50 years after nuclear armageddon wiped out most of the planet the surviving nations have given up on war and instead resolve their differences through gladiatorial mech combat. The Market (America) and The Confederation (Russia) are set to have a duel for the rights to Alaska. Russia’s champion Alexander takes on Achilles from America, but when a fist-missile goes wild, Achilles is knocked into the stands and kills 300 spectators.The special effects for that scene have to be seen to be believed. The model for Achilles mech topples straight back into the set. 

Achilles then decides to retire from the life of a Robot Jox. The genetically enhanced Athena takes over for America, and this time, the American team keeps information confidential to stop a suspected Soviet spy. Now with the fight on equal footing, another giant mech duel takes place with lasers, fists, and even a brief trip to space. Let’s be honest, the plot isn’t important, it’s an excuse for the mech fight, and to that end, Robot Jox delivers.

Robot Jox Spent Years In Production Hell

Stuart Gordon was inspired by Transformers to make a giant mech live-action film, but no one thought he’d use a sci-fi version of The Illiad written by the author of The Forever War  Joe Haldeman to do so. By the time a script was finalized, and filming took palace, Robot Jox was held up in production hell due to Empire Pictures impending bankruptcy. Trolls and Terrorvision failed to light the box office on fire causing the low-budget production company to overspend picking up distribution rights for over 40 films, and a European castle. 

The failure of Robot Jox was a perfect storm of money problems and poor timing, since by 1990, Transformers wasn’t as hot as they were in 1986 and sic-fi in general had become a significantly harder sell. Rapid advances in CGI technology turned the special effect-filled mech fights into a quaint curiosity by comparison to what was already in theaters. And yet, the film made such an impression on those who managed to watch it, that Pacific Rim was compared to it nearly 30 years later. 

Audiences were robbed of a Robot Jox sequel which Gordon said would involve aliens. In fact, 2011’s Pacific Rim also never received a sequel, we don’t acknowledge Pacific Rim: Uprising, meaning it’s been over 15 years since we had a great live action giant mech movie. You can help fill the void by checking out Robot Jox on Tubi, The Roku Channel, YouTube, and Pluto TV.