2016 is the third year that Critical Blast has done our Best Of awards, but it's the first year that we've had a category for Best Video Game -- largely due to the inclusion of Game Jab as our partners in this (formerly) under-represented arena.

Now, normally, this is where we would tell straight up who the winner is, after telling you who all the other nominees were, as well as include a highly technical (and very scientific) pie chart, because nothing says statistical selection like a pie chart.

But the boys had a different idea. So click the play button below and setting in for the most anticipated awards show on the Internet! (Oscars, eat your heart out!) Because it's time for the...

TOP TEN VIDEO GAME OF 2016 COUNTDOWN

It seems like a long time ago that a television show was cancelled because executives didn't believe they could sell action figures to girls. Now, DC's Super Hero Girls have successfully pulled off something those execs never would've thought possible:

Winning "Action Figure Toy" of the year!

2016 was a great year for movies if you're into geek culture. Superheroes seemed to dominate, with DOCTOR STRANGE, CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR, BATMAN V. SUPERMAN, and SUICIDE SQUAD. Not counting the Marvel Cinematic Universe entries, Disney also gave us animated greats like ZOOTOPIA and MOANA, and Harry Potter fans got another helping of J.K.

Hullabaloo, a duo made up of Steve Denyes and Brendan Kremer, have been friends since kindergarten and have been successfully making children’s music for years. Now they have just released their 2nd greatest hits album, comprised of songs from five previous albums released from 2010 thru 2015.

Oddly, I found I was not familiar with their music prior to this release. I say 'oddly' because even though they play children’s music, they have sold over 30,000 records, so you would have thought I would have at least heard of them. Well that’s my bad, because after listening to it several times, the words that I found myself jotting down throughout listening to the songs that best sum up the music here are 'fun' and 'wholesome.'

This is the type of children’s music you don’t have to worry about whether it’s suitable or not...this is music for kids no matter how young.

For those of you excited to see Marvel's IRON FIST on Netflix on March 17th, but worried that once you binge the season there's nothing to hold you over, just breathe. There's some reading material being made available in March.

For a casual observer of Iron Fist, I've always been intrigued by the character. Having never picked up a comic book though, I've followed his legend more than the actual story. In March, Marvel is giving fans an opportunity to jump in on the ground floor with an exciting new series.

Not since M. Night Shyamalan's SIGNS has there been an alien encounter story as sedate as Denis Villeneuve's ARRIVAL. It's an apt comparison, because the audience is mislead by nonlinear storytelling, beginning before the arrival of the aliens and the film's leading lady's encounter with them.

Amy Adams plays Louis Banks, a master linguist who has helped the U.S. Army on past occassions with translations. When a dozen alien ships arrive and park themselves around the planet, the Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) brings her in to assist mathematician Ian Donnelly (JEREMY RENNER) to somehow communicate with these aliens so we can find out what they want.

In the previous episode, we ended with the arrival of Jesse Quick (VIOLETT BEANE) from Earth 2 with the message that her father, Harrison Wells (TOM CAVANAGH) had been kidnapped by Grodd and taken to Gorilla City. So now we know that Gorilla City is on Earth 2. He was invited there via a mathematical cryptogram (apparently Grodd is taking notes on how Team Flash recruits other Wellses from across the multiverse), but the team that accompanied him went missing, and all searchers found were their bones.

Continuing our series of announcements from our Best of 2016 Readers' Poll, we approach the Best Actor of 2016.

The nominees for this award included Tilda Swinton (DOCTOR STRAGE), Jesse Eisenberg (BATMAN V. SUPERMAN), Chris Evans (CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR), Kate McKinnon (GHOSTBUSTERS), Eddie Redmayne (FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM), Ben Affleck (BATMAN V. SUPERMAN), Jeff Bridges (HELL OR HIGH WATER), and Benedict Cumberbatch (DOCTOR STRANGE).

None of these heroes (or villains) however were able to surmount the huge turnout of reader ballots that lapdanced their way across the lap of that Merc with a Mouth, the unkillable killer, Deadpool, portrayed with perfect smartass attitude and comedic style by Ryan (Green Who?) Reynolds!

Zach is feeling a little down and depressed because he didn't make very much progress lately, and then along come this big mole who just won't die.

Zach get so angry.

Last night's episode of SUPERGIRL explored Valentine's Day through the eyes of many of it's characters. While the title villain Mr. Mxyzptlk sought Kara's hand in marriage, one former romantic interest was mysteriously missing.

The absence of James Olsen only confirms my thoughts that, while moving him into the role of 'Guardian', the show just isn't quite sure what to do with his character. That's not to say they haven't given him a lot to do, running Cat Co is quite a chore, but a lot of what he does takes him away from the central plot of the season.

Welcome back to Critical Blast’s weekly look at what new comics you should check out each week.   Just a warning, I make these picks pretty much a week BEFORE I actually get to read any of these comics, so if something is a stinker, I take no blame on that.  Let's get to it!

Comics shipping this week

A streak has been broken. While CW's THE FLASH has taken this award for 2014 and 2015, the so-called Fastest Man Alive gets beaten this year by a horde of shamblers.

When I saw the covers for Darkrose Studios' TREADWATER graphic novels, I knew exactly what I was getting into. Skin tight suits, strange flying crafts, mid-air explosions. Surely this was a space opera war along the lines of Michael Tierney's WILD STARS or Van Allen Plexico's LUCIAN.

I could not have been further off, at least in setting if not in flavor.

Continuing our series of announcements for all the Best of 2016, as voted on by the readers of CriticalBlast.com, we come to our Best Television Actor of 2016 award.

Among the nominees, the CW made a powerful, powerful showing. Nominated for this award were both Carlos Valdes and Grant Gustin for their roles on THE FLASH, Stephen Amell and Emily Bett Rickards for their work on ARROW, and last year's winner, Melissa Benoist, for SUPERGIRL. Also in the running this year were Kit Harrington for GAME OF THRONES, Thandie Newton for WESTWORLD, and -- Sweet Christms! -- LUKE CAGE made a last minute entry, garnering Mike Colter a nomination for that series!

The boys play BATMAN RETURNS for the SNES, and things get heated! No seriously: there's a level where you are surrounded by fire!
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Thanks for watching! Any view that we get is a shining moment for us but let us know how this episode made you feel because we are here to keep you entertained.

NBC's POWERLESS has coasted to it's third episode, where 'Da Boss' Van Wayne hopes to get Atlantis to sign an agreement with Wayne Securities after losing his firms biggest client Ace Chemicals.

In a very Michael Scott (THE OFFICE) way, Van Wayne continues his incompetence by dropping the ball with Ace Chemical company. When he forgot to forward an important email to Emily, they built something that Ace didn't want; this led them to take their business to LexCorp.

Not wanting to disappoint his father, Van taps Emily for advice. Meanwhile the team tries to figure out if the new guy, Alex, is actually a superhero in disguise.

Continuing our series of releases for the Best of 2016 Awards, we now come to the category for Best Novel of 2016. And, boy, did we have a selection of choices in titles and genres!

However, there were three standouts who topped the list, starting with THE CROWN by Keira Cass, which came in third, edged out by BORN A CRIME by Trevor Noah -- both really excellent books and neither one anything at all alike. That's just a taste of the kind of range faced by our readers who voted in this poll.

The boys continue another What If situation, while Zach struggles to keep Mario alive.
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Thanks for watching! Any view that we get is a shining moment for us but let us know how this episode made you feel because we are here to keep you entertained.

Today’s teens have it tough. There, I said it. Lots of times, kids hear “Well, when I was your age,” or “You think it’s bad these days.” As parents, we often lament that today’s kids are either lazy, or misdirected, or they are getting into all sorts of shenanigans that we could not have even dreamed of. And we are kind of right. Let’s look at some statistics, shall we?

1. Drugabuse.gov says that almost 5% of 12^th graders have used Ecstasy, also referred to as MDMA or Molly.

2. According to dosomething.org, 50% of high school seniors do not think it’s harmful to try crack or cocaine once or twice, and 40% believe it’s not harmful to use heroin once or twice.

Saw this posted on Star Wars Facebook feed and thought it was kind of cool.

Your first look at The Last Jedi product packaging dropping out of hyperspace on September 1 for Force Friday II