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reversemoon255 · 5 years ago

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So Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise has been going on for a month now, and I’ve been quite enjoying it, and I’ve got to do a Fifth Review for this month, so I thought I’d talk a bit about the Gundam Build series. I feel like I’ve always been more into the Build stuff than a lot of other fans I’ve talked to, which I attribute to me being more into the technological aspects of the meta-series as a whole. So, as Gunpla’s kinda my thing, I thought we’d talk about Gunpla. I’ve been interested in doing some Top 10 stuff, and thought it might be fun to go over some of my favorites from the series. I won’t be including Re:Rise since it’s not complete, but I will be looking at all the custom Gunpla from GBF, GBFT, GBD, and their associated manga and choosing the ten that fit my fancy:

Number 10: GF13-17NJ/B Gundam Shining Break

This is probably lower on this list because I haven’t been able to find Gundam Build Divers Break, but I still love the idea behind this unit. I went over it when I reviewed the kit, but the reason the Builder chose the Shining Gundam as a base was because of its wide range of articulation as a martial arts inspired Gundam, but then removed all the things that let it do martial arts techniques and slapped a big ol’ gun and shield on it and gave it an MA conversion. He basically turned it into the WIng Gundam.

And I think that’s really cool. Taking a unit that you like for one reason and completely changing its fighting style and gimmicks to better match that of a unit you mesh with from a control perspective. I feel like most people would just take a unit that was their favorite or already had a fighting style they liked and would just choose that as a starting point, so it’s cool to not see a unit give into that compromise.

Number 9: NYA+MBKF-P02 Nyaia Astray

The Nyaia Gundam is probably the first MS in the GBF canon that we see get a total overhaul, transforming a Gundam with a quadrupedal MA mode into a cuddly cat. And like the Bearguy III, it spawned several copycats that all have cutesy MA transformation... It’s just none of them got actual kits.

Of that particular cast of characters, the Nyaia Astray is my favorite. The successor to the Nyaia and Nyaia Leone, the Nyaia Astray is one of the few cute MA to not have an MA Mode to start with, similar to our previous entry. It’s just another cool bit of inspiration, giving a unit an alternate mode when it originally didn’t have one, and also building outside the preconceived notion of sticking with in-universe canons.

Number 8: 最強機動 Gundam Tryon 3

I love Super Robots. I have not been shy about telling people that. And here we have a Gunpla inspired by Super Robots. Enough said.

Number 7: GN-1001N Seravee Gundam Scheherazade

Y’know, I just now noticed that it’s call sign is 1001N, as in 1001 Nights. Clever.

The Scheherazade is an excellent example of adding an original gimmick to a Gunpla. Its Booster is capable of transforming into a weapons pack similar to the original Seravee’s typical loadout, but also has a secondary mode built for close combat. Plus it can itself be used as a weapon. That’s four different ways a single Booster can be used, leaving the base unit free to worry about its own articulation, weapons, and performance without having to integrate any abnormal parts that might get in the way.

Number 6: RMS-117G11 Galbaldy Rebake

While it was mostly an excuse to slip some Iron-Blooded Orphans in due to licensing issues with other TV stations (the same reason 00 didn’t appear in GBF until the second season), the Galbaldy Rebake is still an excellent Gunpla. While it doesn’t do anything particularly interesting like the last few entries on this list, it still packs an amazing amount of imagination. It takes the Galbaldy, a Universal Century unit, and changes its style into that of a Calamity War unit, giving it equipment to match. The idea in and of itself is amazing, it’s one of only a few units to it, and it arguably does it the best.

Number 5: XXXG-01S2龍虎狼 Gundam Jiyan Altron

The Jiyan Altron combines several aspects we’ve seen in previous entries on this list. It takes an After Colony timeline unit, not to mention one built for midrange combat, and changes it into a close combat unit with aesthetic and combat elements taken from Gundam Fighters. It utilizes its existing parts in interesting ways, has unique new ones, and even incorporates unseen ones like the golden Hyper Mode.

Also gets a lot of credit for going with the series Altron rather than the EW version. Though, now that I think about it, most of the units based on Gundam Wing seem to utilize the show versions, which is odd considering how popular the Endless Waltz versions appear to be. I wonder if there’s a reason for that?

Number 4: MBF-PNN Gundam Astray No-Name

I’m honestly surprised that the No-Name ended up so high on this list. I know I like the Astray, but not that much. I think that’s just a testament to how interesting the design is. Despite being from GBD, the Astray No-Name feels like the ultimate culmination of the philosophies of GBF and GBFT. As the unit was more and more damaged through actual battle, the Builder continually built upon and reinforced it until it became what it is now. It’s construction out of necessity, rather than how Gunpla are typically built in GBN where it’s based on pilot experience and data. It’s cool that there was at least one Gunpla in the series that hearkened back to it.

Number 3: PEN-01M Momokapool

Gunpla is Freedom! The fact that this is even higher on the list than the No-Name is even more surprising. But the Momokapool is just, like, one of the most unique units in the series, partly because it’s built weaker than its base unit. What really sold me on this was the instruction manual of all things. It gives so much extra detail about the construction of this unit that you miss during its debut episode (though it is a decent episode). Momoka even wanted to remove the finger guns, but only kept them because Koichi was helping her build it and insisted she have some kind of weapon. The Petitkapool is also another great example of an original gimmick, though in this case even though it takes up a lot of space it’s still seamlessly integrated into the design.

I also like the name. It’s Momoka’s Kapool so it’s the Momokapool. Cute.

Number 2: SD-237 Winning Gundam

You may have noticed that most of the units on this list are from GBD. As the series’ have progressed the designers on the series have gotten better and more imaginative, so it’s not surprising that the newer units would incorporate more of the technical stuff I like in comparison to older units that were mostly recolors with new heads.

However, the Winning Gundam, despite its age even within its own season (eventually being replaced by the Star Winning Gundam), stands out as one of the most imaginative units the series has ever produced. Most SD Gundams are themed, normally around Romance of the Three Kingdoms due to most SD Gundam shows being based on it, but the Winning follows the typical schemes of most MS. Not only that, but it has a Booster Mode, it’s head can separate from that to form a smaller Booster, and it has multiple weapons and parts that can combine together for different situations.

But the best thing it does? It’s able to integrate with Real Type MS. The first to do so. It even inspired an entire, though to my knowledge brief, line of SD Gundams capable of doing the same. It’s thinking outside the box at its finest.

Number 1: XXXG-01Wf Wing Gundam Fenice

And the only Gunpla from GBF ends up being number 1 on the list, but not for the same reasons as everything else. It has a few new gimmicks, but nothing amazing. It has a few additional weapons, but nothing as intense as other MS in the series. It has some unique design elements, but doesn’t utilize any spectacular ideas in its build. And it’s green.

But what it does do is tell a story. Like the No-Name, it’s been bashed and beaten through years of Gunpla Battles, and has been repaired and upgraded each time. Unlike the No-Name, however, you can actually tell by looking at it, with its asymmetrical design, broken head components, and heterochromia.

And its upgrades are great, too. It has a personal vehicle that utilizes some of the missing components from the Wing Gundam base, the Meteor Hopper. When it’s eventually destroyed in its battle against the Qubeley Papillon, its successor, the Gundam Fenice Rinascita, takes many cues from this unit while reincorporating the MA Mode from the Wing Gundam and has new combinable weaponry likely inspired by the Wing Gundam Zero. And on top of that, its final incarnation, the Gundam Fenice Liberta, removes the previous MA Flight Mode in favor of a ground-based one reminiscent of the Meteor Hopper the first Fenice utilized.

All in all, the Fenice may not be as bold and flashy as some of the other Gunpla it fought or those from future series, but it makes up for it with sheer charm and design quality.

And that’s my favorite Gunpla to have come out of the Build Series. I’m pretty sure most people won’t agree with a lot of my choices, but I know what I like. I’m not trying to be objective; I’m just running on gut feelings here. And to bring things back around to Re:Rise, I’m excited to see what new Gunpla we’ll be getting in the future, and am happy with the ones we’ve gotten so far. And I’ll talk more about that tomorrow...

#gundam #gunpla #gundam build fighters #Gundam Build Fighters Try #Gundam Build Divers #Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise #Top 10

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malisonquill · 5 years ago

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Rebuild: Behind The Scenes

I thought just for some fun, I might post the plan I made for writing Rebuild. It has some silly alternate titles, some doodles I sketched out, and I thought some people might like to see how much the end product was different from the plan.

I do also have a section of the plan just for ideas, but I haven’t included it here because it contains spoilers for the sequel(s).

Hope you enjoy my ramblings below! (Obviously it contains major spoilers for all of Rebuild, so make sure you’re read all that before reading this!)

Rex Brickowski AU Outline

C1: Rexile (AKA Anikin Voice: "I hate Sand". AKA What to do when you're suddenly not dead)

Rex ends up back in his own original timeline in the outskirts of Syspocalypstar. He’s alone, no Rexcelsior, no velociraptors. That makes him sad.

He looks to the city and thinks about everything.

Cat lady comes, he gets bricks and builds and awesome bike and drives to the city.

C2: Shattered (AKA Rex really likes bikes for some reason and also fucks shit up)

There, Lucy and the others are chillin in a park while Rex tears through the city exploring, turning heads.

He goes up a ramp that sends him up over a building above the park. Whilst in the air he grabs his bike and does a flip. The others watch him. He lands on the road next to the park and spots Lucy, his eyes go wide. He does a skidding turn to pull up beside them.

They say how awesome that was. They don’t recognise him and he plays along with that. He needs to get used to them and himself before he drops a bombshell on them.

They show him around the city. He gets a black coffee from the shop. Freezes when he sees a laundromat (PTSD), he hallucinates the deafening roar of the Dryar of Undar until Unikitty distracts him and pulls him away and they continue the tour.

At one point Everything is awesome plays, he acts aloof but taps his foot quietly and lucy notices.

Eventually they get to the town square. There is a statue of Emmet. Rex is immediately taken aback and asks what it is (to gauge his friends reactions and also because he's genuinely surprised to see he's been acknowledged).

Lucy says it honours the special, Emmet. That he was there friend. That they looked for him for a while, but eventually had to admit that he was gone, so they stopped looking.

BIG ANGST TIME.

Rex snaps. He’s still bitter. He starts off vauge like “You gave up? Would he have given up on you?” but gets increasingly louder and madder. Revealing that he was trapped in Undar, how he feels abandoned and slowly revealing to the others that he’s Emmet. Lucy is like “Emmet…?” And he’s like “Emmet is gone! He’s dead!”

He breaks the statue in one punch in anger. His friends are horrified. He looks between them and the statue, shocked and saddened by himself. “What have done?” (Internally). He drives off, leaving the others sad and confused.

C3: Traces Of You (AKA Talking to your ex who you feel betrayed you, even though she thought you were dead… that's rough buddy)

Alternate titles, How can you stand there, a whisper from me? Gone But Not Forgotten

After a short while, giving everyone some time to breathe/ think, Lucy finds Rex in the outskirts. They talk. He explains how he toughened up, how he did some terrible things, how he wants to be better but doesn’t know how. How he’s ruined any chance he had with his friends because of the statue incident. Tears form in his eyes. Lucy goes to comfort him with a hand on his shoulder and says “Emmet...” Queue the “I’m not Emmet anymore and I dont know how to be” line.

Lucy convinces him to not be just one, be a combination. That his friends can help him through this and him to be happier again. He says he’s still can’t fully/ needs time to trust them again, but he’s willing to try. Oh and to call him Rex, cause he wants to be different from movie Emmet.

C4: Building Blocks (AKA DON'T TOUCH ME WHEN I'M WRITING ABOUT SPACESHIPING!!!!)

Lucy and the others ask Rex to build something with them. He decides on a spaceship, they let him lead. Friend interactions.

C5: Time Heals All Wounds (AKA So it turns out you based your entire new personality on your friends and also you finally acknowledge your PTSD)

Over a longer time period (make this clear), montage of helping with each individual. Them understanding Rex and who he is more, maybe after he tries to act exactly like Emmet would but it’s unnatural for him? Finding out about raptor training. Helping him cope with his PTSD (Dryar, paralyzation, loneliness) and abandonment issues.

(after writing half the chapter, i realised) His hand injury and recovery mirror emotional healing! )

https://askmarietheapprentice.tumblr.com/post/183050688583/meta-monday-rex-dangervest-based-his-persona-on

Order:

Fist, alone with Benny, flying spaceship they all built. (Who Rex developed his spaceship love from.) Emotional thing dealt with: ?

Unikitty. He learnt to harness/ weaponize rage from. Unikitty encouraging him to release some anger and destroy some rubble. Helps him get his anger feels out.

Metalbeard. About being a captain of pirates/ raptors. Talk about how he misses them.

Batman. Learnt how to be tough fighter and suppress deep emotional issues. See below for events. Then they talk about talking through things with others, stuff B learnt in Lego batman movie.

Maybe he’s left alone for ten mins whilst a friend goes to grab a brick or something and is terrified they wont come back. He’s relieved but visibly shaken when they do return.

Maybe a change over between friends. One has to go and leaves Rex to meet the batman outside of a shop. As he waits his mind wanders thinking Batman has forgotten about him, doesn't want to meet with him, or even like him etc. As this happens he hallucinates hearing the dryer roar. He stands frozen in place, covering his ears as his vision gets darker. Maybe this causes him to glitch to the real world and back every few seconds. The roar gets louder and louder and louder. Batman comes, sees Rex, is concerned and tries to get his attention by touching his shoulder. Rex freaks out, snapping out of his hallucination shouting/ screaming and madly thrashing punches. He smashes a bin or lamppost or car to pieces before Batman can calm him and he realises he's fine. Rex apologies.

Lucy. Made a super cool alias like Wyldstyle, and hides his insecurities under confident exterior like her. Maybe they talk on their way to her surprise. She asks why he changed his name and himself? He explains his thoughts on Undar, how at the time he thought his friends were right and so he toughened up. Made a cool name like she did. He realises a lot of his Rex traits are semi based on his friends. Maybe talk about how it's good to be confident but also not bad to be vulnerable/ talk about problems with others. He realises he's already been doing this with others? Or just have mostly fun not angst for them here!? Meh, idk yet.

Ends with Lucy giving him that cute little house he made for her, that he’d almost forgotten about. Says it’s just a basis and he can change it if he wants. Talk. Suggests they could be platonic (for now) roommates. She leaves him for the night, he’s now ok (ish) with being left alone.

C6: True Colours (AKA Title made it sound like Rex would turn out evil but surprise! He actually just wanted to look pretty. AKA Rex stares in a mirror for an awkwardly long time)

When Lucy returns, Rex looks different. He briefly went to the Man Upstairs realm and used markers etc, to change his appearance. He wanted some brighter colours to look happier, and more like a combo of Emmet and Rex. He explains this, and decides he wants to be called Rex Brickowski to symbolise this combo of all his aspects.

Basically this first bit is the man I used to be from count of Monte cristo musical.

(Rex and Lucy designs and also size comparison.)

Maybe some Rex and friends hanging out, it’s better than before. Group karaoke? Tries to warm up to Sweet Mayhem?

C7: Epilogue (AKA The end happens. Everything is awesome is still a bop)

Rex and CO are hopeful for the future. Rex knows who he is now and thinks he can be happy again and trust his friends. He’s a mix of mature and innocent/ sweet. He can now enjoy ‘childish’ things and tough things. He’s happy and thinks everything might be ok now.

Maybe he goes to the coffee shop, orders Lucy something and a black coffee with 25 sugars for himself and returns home, listening to rock music on his headphones.

(End on poignant thing.)

Side Notes/ Reminders For Myself

“According to a draft from the first film's script, Emmet is 22 years of age in that film, thus making him 27 in the sequel if accepted.” My AU Rex spent 2 years on Undar, plus 5 getting tough before the movie happens. Making him 34 at the start of the AU.

Rex was in his past changing things. But when Emmet was saved, it was no longer his past/ his timeline. So he faded and was sent back to his original timeline. All the stuff he did in the movie timeline still happened, we see three raptors are still there with Ms Scratchen-Post at the end. So the raptors stay where they are in the movie timeline, because they aren’t like Rex who is being written out of the movie timeline’s future. Which is why Rex is alone at the start of this AU.

Very important! Rex's trust of his friends. My take: friends are the most important thing to Emmet. With friends, he was happy even during the apocalypse. Without them, he becomes jaded, tough. Lucy is who he was closest to/ loved. None of his friends, but especially her not coming for him and moving on hurt him the most. As Rex, he was most mad at her (see him scowling at her during the movie). But then they all try to come back for movie Emmet. Lucy makes it through and saves him. She saved him. This changes post back to the futuring Rex's view. The fact the movie Lucy saved him plus the fact he loved her and cared for her the most before, means AU Rex is inclined to trust her most.

Titles for 3 stories: Rebuild. Rekindle. Re-----. (I'm an idiot for planning 3 of these!!!!!)

Rebuild: Rex's relationships and himself up again.

Rekindle: his and Lucy's love for each other.

Re-----: ((REDACTED BECAUSE IT’S A SPOILER! You’re gonna have to wait to find out what it is!))

INFO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw-r_G7rfnU - Chris Pratt Singing

Dino facts:

https://www.psd1.org/cms/lib/WA01001055/Centricity/Domain/36/SS_How_Fast_Did_Trex_Grow.pdf

http://cycles.westinmathies.com/Info_Pages.asp?ptype=Velociraptor_Cycl

SPELLING = Armamageddon (according to the subs)

-----------------

And that’s it! This is the rambling mess that brought you Rebuild. Hope it was interesting to see.

As another note of my writing process, I did a lot of jumping around. If I had an idea for some lines of dialogue pop into my head, I wrote it down before I forgot and then slightly altered it and filled in the gaps later. In fact that whole bit between Lucy and Rex in chapter 3 was almost all dialogue (with a few notes like “He turned. She smiles” Etc in between) and then later after writing some of chapter 4, I went back and filled in all the gaps.

I would really recommend writing down whatever pops into your head like this if you want to write things. You might think “Oh, i’ll remember to put this in when I get to writing here!”, that is a lie. You won’t. Or it’ll be different to that brilliant thing you came up with whilst day dreaming out a window. It’s definitely better to jot it down and have it, then decide to edit it later if you don’t like it, than lose it entirely. Just make sure when reading over your chapter/ story that everything flows together nicely. :)

This method also meant I wrote chapters 5, 6 and 7 simultaneously. I had about half of chapter 6 and 7 done whilst I was still making my way through 5. (Probably because 5 was so big!) But then when I was done with 5, I finished off 6, then 7. It also really helped when I came up with the idea to put the first line of the story as the last line too. It gave me a direction to go in for the last chapter (after Rex get’s back from the coffee shop) and also was a nice way to end it off.

Anyway! Hopefully I see you all again for Rekindle! Which by the way, if there is anything involving the characters from this story that you might want to see, please let me know! I might just fit it in somewhere! :D

#lego movie #tlm2 #fanfic #rex dangervest #rex brickowski au #My writing #tlm2 au #mali speaks

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fenrirlives · 5 years ago

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So after getting some feedback here and from some gacha folks on discord, the overall picture I’m seeing here is that people had a much larger problem with the way Minase wrote a lot of the servants and their interactions than the concept of Agartha in general. I also see alot of people base their dislike on the JP version, which I can’t really comment on because I don’t speak the language and I’m not a fan of basing opinions on possibly biased translations for or against the subject matter

tl;dr, I liked it a good deal! Hated the repetitive dialogue, but the blended fictional worlds, Megalos, and a bunch of other things were really to my liking! I view it as a cool singularity with a sloppy ending and sloppier dialogue. Not as good as Shinjuku, but leagues better than Septem, London, or Orleans on my chart.

also as far as villain servants go, Columbus goes in my “What a douche, I love em!” shelf of fame right next to Mebd and Teach. I mean look at this dude!

Truly Rider is best servant class in all respects! (also his artist is great go follow!)

Addressing the elephant in the room first, I was really confused at the whole misogyny complaints. I saw a few people who found the tyrants to be sexist in concept, while others took more issue with Fergus’ interaction with Scheherazade, or how Fergus as a character was treated overall.

I don’t imagine there are THAT many people who see the kingdoms as the problem, as they never came off as a commentary on gender to begin with, and context shows that they wouldn’t even work as commentary since all aspects of them are either A) fabricated in regards to the non servants, or B) altered by Scheherazade’s Noble Phantasm in regards to actual servants. If anyone saw them as the writer’s take on gender roles, I think it’s unintended.

People taking umbrage with Fergus and Sche, I can understand a little more, as alot of that is a symptom of the repetitive dialogue that plagues this whole singularity. Fergus’ message near the end is one that I agree with (living in constant fear of death isn’t living at all, and using your trauma as an excuse to generalize or hurt other people is unacceptable), and I was a big fan of how the end of his quest to become a good king is realizing he’s just not meant to be one.

The thing is, character arcs are carried by their dialogue, and having Fergy either repeat the same crap about training/not hitting women or break the pace of a scene to internally monologue about the philosophy of a kingdom really did no favors. I also wished that his revelation about there being strong women was something someone else told him instead of something he just randomly remembers when the time is convenient, because that makes his whole “younger self” aspect kind of meaningless outside of not letting him be playable. Medea and Medusa lily were far better examples of how one goes about writing these younger servants and their relation to the knowledge of their future selves.

I think it would’ve worked better to use Adult Fergus instead, and have him show new levels of discomfort both with the situation in Argartha, and with his own behavior when first interacting with Sche (thereby betraying her expectations and reason for summoning him by actually being more thoughtful and reserved than she initially expected) . Maybe have him focus more on male camaraderie with Columbus and the resistance than sleeping with women, as I don’t imagine he’d have much interest in cell dividing zombies with fabricated personalities, even if he doesn’t know that’s what they are yet!

Now, Scheherazade is actually my favorite character from this singularity besides Wu. I love stories that have trauma & behavior developed from trauma (rather than principle built upon trauma) as an antagonistic force. Having to perfect your craft of storytelling to survive for over 2 and a half years while also suffering abuse and captivity is nothing short of awful, and the fact that this attracts the Demon Pillar to her and allows them to work together is really interesting.

I did dislike the fact that she seemed more affected by her infatuation with Fergus than his encouragement to find strength and pride in her storytelling, and see her nature as a heroic spirit as a boon to it, rather than something to fear. It feels like a big flaw of her character in FGO, which is that DW can’t decide if they want her to be a shivering leaf that hates fighting, or a sly beauty that subverts authority with her tales. Ideally these two aspects should be combined, but it comes across as inconsistent since there’s no solid in-between to give that transition more nuance.

That being said, I think the folks that label Fergus’ speech as inherently sexist are kinda missing the forest for the trees. No amount of headcanon or fan interpretation changes that he’s a character highly motivated by carnal instinct, and the fact that it’s the lense through which he tries to argue against Scheherazade’s viewpoint is pretty consistent, though the afore mentioned issues with his dialogue makes his sudden shift back to being horny on main jarring and could be fixed by him always being adult Fergus. I can at least appreciate that the story brings up the clumsiness of his words and that even if they get the message across, the flaw in delivery means that Scheherazade will not indulge him on his terms, even if she’s grown just a tiny bit out of her old mindset (plus everyone calls him out so it’s not like his attitude is treated as being “good”, just that it’s not all there is to him). Bottom line I love both those characters, and Agartha left them both in a place where I’d love to see more about them and their relationship explored!

Drake/Dahut was unremarkable (though I was a huge fan of the character design, and I wish DW would make that a skin for Drake). The concept of Ys and her being a creepy rapist/murderer using Drake as her puppet was interesting, but she really didn’t get screen time needed to do anything with that. Wu Zetian on the other hand, I felt was really fun!

I would’ve liked to see her more before the confrontation while we were in the Nightless city, but her speech about working her way up from nothing to becoming a ruler through sheer tenacity, contrasted against the lady that tries SO hard not to let it show that she likes being doted on really clicked with me. All in all, she definitely swiped Gorgon’s spot as the 4 star servant I’m gonna use that ticket on later in the year!

Penthesilea and Megalos had the highlight of the singularity. Nothing was cooler than fighting a bunch of Amazons as those two clashed overhead, and despite almost losing that fight due to a string of Penthesilea’s intrusions hitting my team, I actually wish they did more damage at this point because I wouldn’t even be mad (fyi Colombus actually got killed by Penth during the Megalos fight and I couldn’t stop laughing).

Now if we’re talking about parts of Agartha I absolutely hated, that’s Phenex with a bullet! Besides his bossfight being the most drawn out and irritating thing ever, the fact that both him and the Pillar in Shinjuku don’t fight us in their more humanoid form feels like such a waste. These are supposed to be 4 (5 counting ccc) Pillars that had enough independence gained to run away from Goetia, so the fact that they still look like pillars and never become those human forms when we fight them seems like a real dropped ball here when it comes to visual storytelling and Story/gameplay integration.Also, after how radical Shinjuku’s final fight was, Agartha really didn’t do much to sell Caladbolg finally going off in the middle of the fight (the poison of Wu’s NP was a nice touch at least!)

so yeah, I had quite a few problems here, but I always regard the art and media I consume on a component basis, and for me, the lows here really couldn’t beat out the fact that Agartha was this really cool combination of fabricated settings with tyrannical rulers facing off against a villain masquerading as a revolutionary hero, with a Nightmare monster appearing anywhere at any time, and our heroes seeking to find out which of these figures was the one truly responsible.

This was always the strength of the Remnants imo, taking looser concepts that normally don’t fly in Nasuverse fiction, and using it to twist the rules of servants through singularities in a way the original seven didn’t outside of Camelot and Babylonia. It wasn’t as great as those two by a long shot, but at the end of the day, It’s left me quite excited for Shimosa, which I’ve been told is the hypest Pseudo Singularity out of the bunch.

It sucks that this singularity gets such a bad rap when it has so many cool and interesting things in it, but if people dislike something, then there’s nothing for it. As for me, I’d give it a B- on an F to S scale, with Camelot still sitting at the absolute top for me. Anyway, Happy 4th of July tomorrow if you celebrate it, and here’s to EoR 3 and Shirou eventually getting in the game (lmao nope)

#Big opinion words #no hard feelings here if you disagree!#I wish Scheherazade was higher tier man #I wuv her lots #Also Hydras are annoying and I wish something else dropped that Wine dawg

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xavierfiles-blog · 6 years ago

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When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing?

In AGE OF X-MAN: THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER #1 by, Seanan McGuire and Juan Frigeri everyone’s favorite blue and fuzzy mutant is the most popular and famous figure in the world. This is the best indication we have that this alternate reality is actually the utopia it is claimed to be. Over forty years past his introduction and it still shocks me the Kurt Wagner isn’t the biggest name, not just in comics, but in media as a whole. Nightcrawler possesses the winning combination of an incredible and visually exciting design alongside a charming and likable personality. He has been beloved by X-Men fans for generations but has not been able to teleport himself out of that bubble and into solo success.

It isn’t that Kurt has been ignored, writers pretty much immediately got the appeal. Nightcrawler was a pet character for his creator, Dave Cockrum. While Dave was drawing UNCANNY X-MEN and Chris Claremont was writing, Nightcrawler seemed to be the break-out character, pulling a lot of focus. This lessened after John Byrne began drawing the title and wanted to focus on the Canadian Wolverine. Still, Nightcrawler remained a popular mutant. He was the second X-Man to get a solo mini-series and briefly led the X-Men in the mid-80s. During the mutant madness of the early 90s, Nightcrawler was positioned as the lead character in Excalibur. But as time went on it became clear that no one was able to figure out what to do with the character.

Credit to Marvel, it hasn’t been for lack of trying. Nightcrawler just started his 5th solo series, but none of them have lasted past issue #12. While the jury is still out on THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER (it had an enjoyable but imperfect first issue), only one of his solo series actually got to the core of what works about the character. Dave Cockrum’s 1985 NIGHTCRAWLER limited series sees Kurt on a swashbuckling adventure where he gets to become a pirate, save a princess, and live out his Errol Flynn fantasies. It isn’t a self-serious character piece or an examination on the human condition, it is just a beautiful drawn romp by way of Edgar Rice Burroughs. This is the sweet spot for Nightcrawler.

Other attempts to kick off a story about the character fell on their face by looking at the wrong aspects of Nightcrawler. Chris Kipiniak and Matthew Dow Smith’s 2002 NIGHTCRAWLER for the Marvel Icons line examined a relatively recent (at the time) development for the character, his ordination into the Catholic priesthood. Ignoring the fact that no one involved in this story knew how priest work, it is an interesting angle, but one that fundamentally changes the character and his appeal. Up until around 2000, Nightcrawler’s faith was an aspect of the character, but not the defining one. He was religious in the way most religious people are. It was part of his life sure, but it didn’t define every action he made. Kurt wasn’t one to go on moody diatribes about the existential nature of faith. This series focused on that at the expense of the joy and energy that normally comes when Nightcrawler is on the page.

I’m curious why external media choses to play up this aspect of the character. In both his appearance on X-MEN: THE ANIMATED SERIES and X2: X-MEN UNITED, Kurt’s defining characteristic is his piousness. Perhaps the creators see the appeal of exploring the duality of a demon on the side of angels, but in execution it never goes deeper than that. I wouldn’t advocate for eliminating his faith, it is an interesting dimension to the character, only to balance it with other aspects of his personality.

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Darick Robertson tried again in 2004 with a book that leaned really hard into the supernatural. This is post-Draco, a horrible story when Kurt was revealed to be the son of a satan. It mixed those ideas with the well-established concept that his adopted mother, Margali Szardos, and his sister/lover were both powerful sorceresses. Again, this could be a fun concept if it was just Nightcrawler plus magic. Instead it became an overly dark and serious story about exorcism, abuse, and the destruction of relationships.

The crux of this twelve issue series deals with Nightcrawler’s brother Stefan Szardos. Kurt was forced to kill a demon possessed Stefan to prevent his brother from murdering children. This led to the formation of the mob the chased Kurt in GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1. It’s a dark origin for the character, and one most writers tend to leave in the past. It doesn’t play to any of the swashbuckling strengths that Nightcrawler has and doubles down on some of the worst tendencies of mid-00s comics. The last issue is Nightcrawler having an existential crisis while talking to Mephisto. It isn’t what anyone wanted from the character and that tone is a big reason why it didn’t resonate with readers.

The closest we have gotten to a Nightcrawler ongoing that actually worked was Chris Claremont and Todd Nauck’s 2014 series. It came in the aftermath of Nightcrawler fighting his way out of heaven and hell to come back to life in Jason Aaron’s AMAZING X-MEN. Tonally, the book hit a sweet spot, while probably leaning into the X-Men elements of the character too much to make it stand out. The first arc dealt with magic thanks to the return of Margali Szardos, but it was done in a whimsical, Excaliburesque way. Claremont smartly built up a unique supporting cast around Kurt, including the students Ziggy and Scorpion Boy, and an antagonistic love interest in the form of The Crimson Pirates’ Bloody Bess. Nauck’s artwork elevated the series by providing a joy that is essential to the character.

Unfortunately, the series had several roadblocks to success. Claremont’s tone and character voices were as good as his plots were bad. It was a mishmash of canon that was better left forgotten with a writing style that never evolved out of the 80s. The market dynamics at the time did little to help the book last. AMAZING X-MEN had just recently begun, and it was already marketed as the “Nightcrawler book”. Many customers weren’t going to double dip on the character. At the same time, Marvel was starting solo series for MAGNETO, CYCLOPS, STORM, and DOOP. Those existed in tandem with five other X-Men team books, two Wolverine books, and two books featuring secondary X-Teams. The market was flooded with X-Men and Nightcrawler didn’t stand a chance.

Even with these failures, Kurt Wagner remains beloved and his current mini speaks to that. In the Age of X-Man, the only intelligent thing Nate Grey did was make Nightcrawler the biggest star in the world. He is a celebrity in every sense of the word. He is beloved and iconic as a movie star and the premier superhero. It is no coincidence that the book is titled THE AMAZING NIGHTCRAWLER, or that the logo is a riff on Spider-Man’s. In the Age of X-Man, Kurt is as loved and well known as Spider-Man is our world. The trick is replicating that adoration.

Nightcrawler should be a slam dunk as a solo hero outside of the X-Men. If writers can lean into the swashbuckling adventure and away from existential questions of religion, they have a shot at making Nightcrawler a world-wide phenomenon. Let Kurt fight The Spot or Kraven The Hunter to get him out of the bubble of the X-Men. Let him join the Avengers and prove his mettle against the biggest threats. Let my dude be what Spider-Man is, the iconic character of the Marvel Universe. He deserves it.

PS: Give him his damn beard back!

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carbuckety · 2 years ago

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Okay, I was gonna leave all this in the tags but it’s getting too long!!! Sorry, ignore my addition to this post because I have Too Many Thoughts(trademarked).

First off: NO hate to the actors, the production, or John Napier. Everyone involved in Cats always gives it their absolute 100% and I love them all for it. Like OP I won’t mention any actor’s names because this isn’t about them and everyone is just doing their best.

I agree with all of this, absolutely. I’m just gonna be making additions. Okay here we go. My Added Opinions:

I honestly didn’t consider that’s why they took away Alonzo’s stark black-and-white... well, not so much makeup as face paint. But really, to bring back Goldenlonzo? There are better ways to do that... though, in my opinion it’s to not do that at all. Golden Alonzo and Black & White Alonzo just look so different visually, it would be hard to combine such opposing colors together in ways that do justice to the originals, or just make it... look nice? They can add some brown hatches like Victoria has maybe, but that's the furthest they can go... you'll have to decide, one or the other. Because Golden Alonzo and Black/White Alonzo basically represent the sleek and posh cats of London with its more subdued makeup, wig, and costume designs... and Broadway, which was generally more stylized, fluffy all around, and wild. So... it would be pretty hard to combine them nicely. Just don’t even try, and especially don’t do it like this.

Anyway moving on. I love Coricopat and Tantomile’s ears, and the fact that they’ve regained some of their BWay fluff!!!! Both actors are absolutely gorgeous and pull off the twins so well, at least in appearance. I haven’t seen them in action yet. I’m sad that they haven’t taken as much Broadway direction (I miss when they were all fluffed out in the wig too!!!) but I’ll take what I can get, and this is pretty good.

More positives!!! Vicky’s leotard having more prominent gold marks. I swear, in the US Tour 6, she has like NONE lol. So it’s good those aren’t getting forgotten!!! And Munk making a return to his more gothic-looking makeup that was like, mid-Broadway I wanna say? And his early BWay, Harry Groener-esque wig shape. Plus a return of his shoulder floofies. I missed them so much!!! Bill Bailey’s got a real Broadway look going on and so far it’s my favorite... a return of Pink-Nosed Jelly... Pouncival’s makeup is EXTREMELY early BWay and I love it so much.... And of course, Cassandra. Stunning ALL OVER. The ears? LOVELY. They’re her new defining feature and I love it so much!! She looks like an Oriental Shorthair and it’s awesome. Though idk why she has black shoes on, kinda distracting once you notice it. But that’s a nitpick at most.

Okay... back to some negatives. Again not directed at anyone actually working in Cats, you’re all amazing, I love you guys. So... the ears... they’re all actually Cat Ears. And see, I don’t know how to feel about that. It looks nice, but I think they’re starting to stray away from “This... is a feline. They have a tail, and some cat-like markings. Alright.” to “Wow, that is a cat. I could probably tell you what breed they are. That is a cat through and through!!!” And just, I feel like that’s kind of missing the point of Cats, or at least its costuming aspect. In Cats, obviously it’s a show. And the costumes are a magnificent reflection of that. These are bright and neon cats, they obviously are not real. They’re junkyard strays, and they’re feline, but you couldn’t point to a cat and actually tell what kind. They have stripes, and vaguely feline-shaped wigs. Cats in general is a very avant-garde and campy show, and when you try to add realism into the costumes, not just with the ears but with the more realistic cat patterns in the makeup and wigs, you lose the standing out... I feel like I’m not explaining this well. But the gist is, the fun of Cats is that they’re sort of cats. Not really. You suppose so. Why are they going for realism??!?!? This is the problem 2019 had, Andy!!!

I don’t like how they’re trying to standardise the show obviously. And I am sincerely hoping these changes don’t apply to Shiki or Budapest (remember Budapest? Well, that’s still going! And not following Napier’s rules either). I hope Cats truly never loses its campiness and fun and uniqueness that makes it the amazing show it is. This tour, again, I’m sure will be wonderful... I just have a few personal gripes.

International tour makeup redesign, 2022

This post is in three sections: 'what's happening? why is everyone talking about makeup suddenly?', 'what do the new designs look like?', and (least important!) my own opinion about the designs.

What's happening?

So! With the opening of the 2022 season of the international tour (opened 13 May), we're seeing that ALW's company (RUG) has launched new makeup and wig designs! These are apparently not just for the international tour, but are now the official designs for all replica productions:

Text below the image reads: "This drawing is the official reference for all future productions of Cats, as designed by John Napier. It must be used as primary source by wardrobe, costume painters, wig, make-up supervisors as the definitive image. Also adhered to by local producer, performers, and supervisors of departments where rights have been assigned." It's signed John Napier, 2021.

Basically, any new productions from now on which have the rights to use his designs, replica or (by the sound of it) regional, will be using these. Non-replicas will obviously be exempt and so, by the sound of it, is Shiki, because it's never really used his designs at all. It's also an ongoing production, not a future one—and I presume Oasis and the Broadway revival/tours will be continuing with their current designs for the same reason.

What do the new designs look like?

The cast gave us a lot of glimpses during their tech days, the two days leading up to opening! You can see the look on paper above: below the cut are some of the end results on skin.

Note: I'm not going to be naming the actors in this post, since I'm not really discussing them and there's some negativity toward the end of the post, so it wouldn't be fair to them to find this tagged with their name right after opening night if they did come on tumblr! But all actors are first cast for their role unless otherwise stated.

So! The main trends I'm seeing here are:

Darker and more earthy tones in the wigs

Some of those tones carrying over into the makeup

A more blended look in the makeup, less stylised and with fewer stark lines, focussing more on normal human 'beauty' contouring

Muzzles, whiskers, and freckles toned down or vanished

Similarly, eyebrows and dramatic detailing around the eyes has mostly gone (RIP Admetus' eyelashes)

Re-shaped wigs! More noticeable ears! Especially obvious are Jenny, Cori, Tanato, and Cassandra's rolled ears being changed into pricked ones!

Floofy tails instead of just knotted! Or at least, floofier than before, and often with a heavier tassel on the end. (Cassandra's is still braided though because she is queen.)

Reaction:

Firstly, historical context to a lot of what I'm going to say: since about 2000, ALW/RUG have been increasingly attempting to homogenise the look of Cats by trying to enforce London designs in as many productions as possible. US tour 5 and Australasia still had their own gorgeous looks, and the US tour's look inspired that of a lot of US regional productions. With the London and Broadway revivals (2014–16), all that was swept away, and everybody was using the London looks: London (which became the international tour), Broadway (with a bit of redesign especially in the makeup), Vienna, Paris, Asia tours, etc.

Now, while I love the London designs, I mourned the loss of diversity—and also (hear me out) the increasing beauty of the designs! Vienna's looks, for example, are absolutely gorgeous but somewhere along the way we lost the feral, creepy edge that a lot of productions in the 80s and 90s had. Too little cryptid, too much cute. It is very important to me that cats be both cute and creepy. 😌

So that's where I'm coming from in my reactions here: London designs very gorgeous very nice, but they supplanted a lot, and we could do with more feral in our cats.

I am loving the tails. Always adored those enormous fluffy brush tails in Mexico and sort of mourned the fact that replica productions have, since the revival, tended toward the rope look (which can look a bit ratty sometimes). Let kitties be fluffy!

They seem to be blending the pre-revival Broadway look with the London designs—and I adore this idea! Look at Munkustrap! The feral and creepy returns and I love that! This Munk can stare into my soul anytime. 👀

This also applies to the shapes of the wigs! They look darker and more weird and I love that for them. Cassandra's ears might take a bit of getting used to, but different isn't bad per se. And I'm getting original Amsterdam/Paris vibes from Cori and Tanto which I love.

Unfortunately in a lot of cases the execution of this idea isn't very well done. Napier is the overall designer: he's always been the one who comes up with the character's look but then someone else who is a makeup designer, who knows that as an art, has taken over the role of translating that into something that will work with skin and paint and brushes and stage lights and a distant audience. Napier's redesigns are beautiful on paper, blended and detailed. On skin, we lose a lot of definition the moment an actor is at a bit of a distance. In some of the photos above I had to look twice to see if the actor had any makeup on at all.

Consider Jellylorum—that's objectively a really beautiful look, but as soon as she moves away from the camera she just looks like a human, as does Admetus in the last photo above. (There's a filter on the second shot but it still gives a bit of an idea how it would look under bright lighting.)

Some of the boys fare a little better. The actor for Bill Bailey, one of the few castmembers who's been in Cats before, has managed to retain some lovely dark tones and give his face some more feline definition. Here's him in Vienna earlier this year for comparison:

But our other eye-patch boy doesn't fare so well. Alonzo's gone from two-tone to four-tone, with the addition of grey into his base and also a patch of skin left... pink? I think this is an effort to blend a bit of Goldilonzo look (ie, pre-revival Broadway), or some of the adaptations that were made Ahmad and Phillip in the Broadway revival and tour, which did incorporate their natural skin tone.... both being Black men. That was an adaptation specific to them, however: when a white man was covering the role he would use a different design (no pink patches). While I would love to see the return of Goldilonzo, I think you still need some colour on that side of the face (tan, gold, etc), and it would work better if there was a splash of that colour in his wig or unitard too. Meanwhile, between that and the grey, Alonzo's highly recognisable stark contrasts just look a bit washed out and confused.

So to summarise: I love some aspects, especially wigs and tails. I love the idea behind the makeup, but it needs to be translated to stage by someone who knows how to do that professionally. As it stands, a lot of the cats look half naked or are losing some key parts of their facial designs that will help the audience distinguish them from each other. (Skimbly pointed this out here.) And much as I like the darker wigs, some more white patches there would also help with the recognition and contrast.

Beyond the designs themselves: I'm concerned that this, again, is an official 'replaces all other versions' executive decision from higher up—another not-entirely-successful attempt by Andrew and co. to exert control over this strange magnificent creation of theirs which has taken on so much life of its own and involved the creativity of thousands of other people since then as it's grown and developed.

Especially since, historically, ALW has a habit of throwing people (usually cast members) under the bus when any shiny new idea of his isn't well received...

#long post #i guess haha #cats the musical

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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WandaVision: The Sitcom Influences of Episode 3

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This article contains spoilers for WandaVision episode 3.

In case you thought WandaVision’s sitcom homages were a passing fad, episode 3 “Now in Color” makes clear that the influences are here to stay…for now at least. Just as episodes 1 and 2 drew inspiration from The Dick Van Dyke Show, Bewitched, and I Dream of Jeannie, so too does this third installment honor some classic TV series. Rather than hanging around the ‘50s or ‘60s, however, this episode bumps WandaVision up to gorgeous ‘70s technicolor.

In speaking to reporters prior to the series premiere, director Matt Shakman revealed that the show fully intended on progressing through decades of sitcoms, saying:

“We wanted to be as authentic as possible – production design, cinematography, costuming, everything was about going on this deep dive and with the actors we all wanted to do the same thing. We watched a ton of old television episodes, talked about how comedy changes, you know, because it really does. The approach to comedy in the 50s, 60s, 70s is really different.”

Now that we’re officially the ‘70s era, let’s look into what sitcoms WandaVision is honoring.

The Brady Bunch

You may notice WandaVision is missing one very important element of The Brady Bunch…and that’s the aforementioned “Bunch” in the title. Much of the appeal of Sherwood Schwartz’s classic sitcom was the size of its cast and their chemistry with one another. As anyone who has listened to the show’s catchy theme song can tell you, The Brady Bunch is the story of a lovely lady who was bringing up three very lovely girls and also of a man named Brady who was busy with three boys of his own. When Mike and Carol Brady combine their households, their iconic ranch style home houses nine residents (including the much-needed maid, Alice).

Even with the addition of newborns Billy and Tommy, Wanda and Vision are well short of the Bradys’ brood. Still, despite the Maximoff-Vision’s smaller family, this episode is positively steeped in Brady Bunch imagery. That’s likely because it was time for WandaVision to present a ‘70s sitcom aesthetic and there is quite simply no more iconic ‘70s sitcom than The Brady Bunch. Wanda and Vision’s new house is distinctly Brady Brunch, right down to the iconic wide wooden staircase. Wanda’s groovy dress is reminiscent of some Marcia Brady fits in the latter years of the show. Then there’s the fact that this episode even gets a Brady style theme song all about family from composers Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez. The lyrics to which are:

“Buh buh buh buh WandaVision. / We got something cooking and it’s looking good! We got something cooking like we knew we could. / All great expectations lead to complications. / That’s goofy and fun (EDITOR’S NOTE: Actual lyrics unclear) it’s me and it’s you. / Together one plus one is more than two./ Some sudden surprises come in all shapes and sizes. / But it’s rainbow and sun. It’s you and it’s me. / One plus one is family.”

This episode’s opening credits title card arranges images of Wanda and Vision in a 3×3 grid, just like the Bradys.

Sitcom Pregnancies

The main thrust of this episode is the very rapid progression of Wanda’s pregnancy with little Billy and Tommy. It’s a good thing then that WandaVision moves the setting to the ‘70s, as such a plotline would not have fit in with the ‘50s sitcom aesthetic.

Believe it or not, television sitcoms tried not to acknowledge the existence of pregnancy until 1952 when Lucille Ball’s I Love Lucy character Lucy Arnaz became the most notable depiction of pregnancy on television yet. (1948’s shockingly progressive for its time Mary Kay and Johnny was both the first show to depict a woman’s pregnancy and even feature a married couple sharing a bed).

Ball was noticeably pregnant during portions of the show’s first season but her character was, ridiculously, not acknowledged to be with child. When Ball was pregnant during filming of the second season, she and the producers decided to write her experience in. Even then, however, CBS executives balked at the idea of the word “pregnant” even being uttered during the episode. You see, the concept of pregnancy hints at the concept of sexual intercourse, and if such a thing had made it to network television, then the Communists would have won.

Since then, sitcoms have obviously had no problem writing real life actress’s pregnancies into their characters’ arcs. Occasionally though, shows will try to go the I Love Lucy season 1 route and white knuckle their way through an actress’s pregnancy while maintaining that her character is not. The “Hide Your Pregnancy” TV trope has turned up on series like 24, The Big Bang Theory, Friends, and more. Characters hiding an actress’s pregnancy will often be depicted wearing loose, baggy clothing, or even having their stomachs positioned behind countertops, chairs, or other scenery censors. When January Jones was pregnant during season 5 of Mad Men, the writers decided to just give her character a food addiction and become overweight.

It’s very possible that WandaVision could be acknowledging this strange television tradition when Wanda attempts to hide her pregnancy from Geraldine merely by holding a bowl of fruit in front of her stomach. That act of scenery censorship is no less ridiculous than Betty Draper’s sudden gluttony.

The Monkees

At the conclusion of this episode, the camera aspect ratio moves from fullscreen to widescreen as Geraldine exits Wanda and Vision’s artificial world and enters into what appears to be the real one. The song playing during this moment is a hauntingly echoey rendition of The Monkees “Daydream Believer.”

Not only are the song’s vibe and lyrics apt for this unmooring moment, but so is its origin. The Brady Bunch may be the main aesthetic inspiration for this episode, but the use of a Monkees song at its conclusion is a nod to this era of television as well. Much of what we aesthetically view as the ‘70s could be more accurately be stated as “the mid ‘60s through the mid ‘70s.” Airing from 1966-1968, The Monkees was still very much an era contemporary of The Brady Bunch’s 1969 – 1974 run.

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The Monkees was also an unusually ambitious endeavor for its time of television. The story of four young men trying to make a name for themselves in the rock game would only work if said four young men actually had the talent to do so both on and off camera. The Monkees, the band, and The Monkees, the TV show, almost operated within a grey area between cultural realities. How fitting it is then for them to score WandaVision’s transition from fullscreen to widescreen.

The post WandaVision: The Sitcom Influences of Episode 3 appeared first on Den of Geek.

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xavierfiles-blog · 6 years ago

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When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing?

PS: Give him his damn beard back!

When Will Marvel Stop Being Cowards And Let Nightcrawler Be Amazing? was originally published on Xavier Files

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yeastofeden · 7 years ago

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SO LET’S TALK “WHO’S THE TRAITOR” SOME MORE

If you’ve never read my initial theory post, please do yourself a favor and check that shit out. It is a foundation for the theory that, regrettably, was missing a lot of information that I wasn’t able to get to until I was able to do a reread of the series, plus I wanted to wait for the series to develop a little further. The original post was made right after "Deku vs Kacchan 2" was released, so we’ve had about 30 chapters of development. You might be wondering how on earth 3k words isn’t enough to make my point the first time, but here I am yet again!

I might sound crazy, but believe me when I say… I am the MOST serious.

The Art of Subtlety One of the most amazing things about Horikoshi’s writing is that he is incredibly subtle. This has happened in a bazillion different places, from pointless comparisons like Horikoshi’s love of rabbits, the rabbit-like ears on Deku’s costume, and the antenna that the rabbit-ears are meant to emulate; and it can also span a much greater distance, the subtle references to Bakugou’s issues with Deku mentioned in their first fight, later making more sense in their second. Uraraka is no different. Without going into anything about traitors yet, here’s an example. Most of us might say that the very first time that Uraraka’s crush on Midoriya comes up is when Aoyama asks her about it during the midterm exam. But actually, it’s Gunhead who first teases her about it right after the Hero Killer Stain arc!

More significant moments have happened, as well. I’d like to talk two kinds of subtlety; artistic subtlety and literary subtlety. Because we’re dealing with a comic book, both art and literature ideas should be taken into account, though naturally they have expectable overlap. The following image is the entire basis for the theory that there is actually a second Twice that exists in canon right now.

Middle guy look familiar? This kind of subtlety relies a bit on artistic judgement. The figure’s hair is a light object on a dark ground, is located in the very center of the image, is the foremost, unobstructed figure in the picture, and it is the largest unobstructed figure on the page. The gradient on his suit could also be a way to guide the viewer up to the characters head. He is also located under the window which, presumably, Twice is looking out of as he tells his story. This is all a part of “artistic subtlety”, where even though we’re given no words regarding the situation, the art draws our attention to the character in the center. This, naturally, hasn’t been proven yet, but I’m sure in due time we’ll see it bears fruit.

Toga’s quirk also gets concealed by subtleties, though this time we must infer by what is written. Upon being introduced to Toga, we never find out what her quirk is. Despite this, it later becomes hinted at during her encounter with Uraraka: "You wanna be the same as the guy you like, it's only natural! so you, like, wear all of the same things! // But then you start not taking the same satisfaction as before and you start wantin' to straight up become that person! There's just no helpin' it!" (FA translation, image linked below.)

It’s subtle, but unmistakably a reference to what we would eventually find out. It’s only later on that Toga actually uses her quirk, becoming Camie - but again, we have no reason to believe that Camie could be an imposter. Nevermind the fact that Camie, for some reason, is WEIRDLY obsessed with Midoriya upon meeting him without knowing anything about him (couch, Toga’s crush on Midoriya). The other thing that I’d like to note is that Camie expresses an odd interest in Uraraka when she disappears, obviously a result of their first encounter:

All of this is enough to give the suggestion that Camie is actually Toga, and I don’t think it would have been farfetched in previous months to have made this theory. Horikoshi definitely deals heavily in subtlety.

So, this might sound like a lot of talk about Not Uraraka, but hear me out. What’s important to note here is just that the subtlety is the basis of the argument - because that’s just how Horikoshi writes. What I’ll be doing here mostly is connecting her to other things in the series, and how what we’ve seen compares to Uraraka’s behavior. Even I’ve made a subtle remark already toward a later part of the theory.

Double Double, Toil & Trouble This first one is a bit silly, but I think it’s kind of funny and curious; and also I want to make a point about "artistic subtlety.” If you take a look at the 2017 character poll for My Hero Academia, you’ll find that the characters in the image appropriately line up with the kind of role they would play in a medieval fantasy RPG. Bakugou the rogue barbarian, Deku the commoner, Iida the knight, and Todoroki the nobel they fit because of who they are in canon. Though were forced to speculate a little, we cannot doubt that each of these characters absolutely fits their role.

Then…. we get to Uraraka. The witch. Though it’s absolutely possible to claim she’s "just a mage," we should be particular about the artistic decisions made when designing her costume. The pointed cap, the rustic color scheme, the wooden staff - from experience dealing with RPGs, that usually adds up to a "black mage," which of the different types of mages most closely equates "witch." There is variation, but could Uraraka be any other kind of mage base on her costume?

What’s in a Name? Horikoshi has been fairly intentional with his naming structures, as is typical of manga and anime. This is a part of literary subtlety, similar to the queues Toga has given to her quirk and Camie’s true identity.

Just some examples of current naming sturctures: Midoriya contains the kanji 緑 (midori), which is "green" in Japanese. Bakugou’s name uses 爆 (baku), a part of the word 爆破 (bakuha), meaning "explosion." We even see characters developing naming structures in canon; Bakugou changed the meaning of “出久”, Izuku, to “Deku” - and also in the way Uraraka reappropriates the name. There’s a lot of hidden meaning and puns involved with the names in MHA. So…

We know Urarka Ochako’s name, 麗日お茶子, means "bright, beautiful" and "tea girl" respectively. Her hero name is Uravity, ウラビティ, which is again a kind of pun on her name. The two names are meant to be just subtle fun references to her personality and her quirk.

My hang up here is the interesting fact that "ura" is actually a repeating element in both names. I’m thinking of the noun 裏 (ura). I’m just going to list off a few translations using the character on its own as well as a few highlights of how it’s combined with other kanji and hirigana to give you a sense of what kind of word 裏 is.

裏(うら) (ura) 1. bottom (or another side that is hidden from view); undersurface; opposite side; reverse side 4. out of sight; behind the scenes; in the shadows 裏切る(うらぎる)(uragiru) 1. to betray; to turn traitor to; to double-cross 裏方 (うらかた)(urakata) 1. someone working behind-the-scenes; scene shifter

translations: jinsho(.)org

Obviously, 裏 is not in Uraraka’s name, the "ura" instead coming from 麗 (urara), but like… if Horikoshi actually used the other kanji it would have been a dead give and I wouldn’t be here arguing this. Covering up this naming structure seems like just the kind of thing Horikoshi would do. Given that we have uraraka and uravity being repeated as a theme, is it really far off to think perhaps there’s more meaning to it?

Envy

verb 1. desire to have a quality, possession, or other desirable attribute belonging to (someone else).

As loving and kind as Uraraka is, we cannot forget that she has her flaws just as every character in MHA does, which is what makes her and so many characters in the series so great. What’s interesting, however, is that her flaws (as far as this post is concerned) have a lot to do with a particular theme that keeps repeating in the storyline: the them of admiration, imitation, and copying. Some examples from the heroes include the struggle Midoriya is constantly overcoming to separate himself from his idol, All Might; Iida nearly getting himself killed because his admiration for his brother get over his head; and the struggles Todoroki goes through trying not to become like his father.

The villains are just as much part of this theme; however, it would appear that one of the aspects has consumed them. For example, Twice’s quirk is to make copies, which we’ve seen resulted in the identity crisis he talks about in his monologue. Toga’s ability to imitate a person, and how her own personality results in an obsession with wanting to literally become her crush. All For One is the quirk that pretty much embodies the tragedy, a man who enviously steals all quirks to inflate his own power.

Which brings me to Uraraka, who must overcome an aspect that makes her most like the villains of any other character. Namely, her crush on Midoriya is absolutely now treads on the thin line between admiration and envy.

 Toga first introduces us to the idea when she compares herself to Uraraka, talking about how they both want literally to become the person they admire. That admiration is what makes Toga’s personality “evil.” Because Toga relates her own feelings to Uraraka’s, we as the readers are meant to question the approach to Uraraka’s crush in turn. Has she envied Midoriya longer than she’s had feelings for him? Has the number of people asking if she had a crush on Midoriya affected the way she she perceives her own feelings? Did she deceive herself to believe her own envy is actually feelings of love?

Every other hero in the story has been shown exactly why imitation and admiration can be a problem and each has learned from their mistakes in order to embrace their own strengths - Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki are all learning how to embrace the strengths that were passed on to them. But none of these boys learned this lesson without going through great hardships: Midoriya’s scarred arm is proof enough; Iida watched haplessly as his friends nearly got themselves killed to defend him; and Todoroki was shamed at the sports festival resulting in a spell of dissociation and he was shamed during the provisional license exam. Bakugou goes through something similar, in the shape of jealousy; and Momo as well, envying Todoroki.

Uraraka hasn’t learned her lesson, however. In fact, we’re watching over and over again as Uraraka just barely avoids learning her lesson in order to become stronger. For example, during the provisional license exam, this happens:

Uraraka reacts this way because she is trying to mimic Midoriya's act-first-think-later attitude, nearly costing her a lot more points during the exam. Instead, Momo cuts her off, thus preventing the much more sever consequences that could have helped Uraraka learn from the situation on her own. Even though she wants to overcome her feelings for Midoriya, she hasn't actually learned anything. She continues to try and become Midoriya, thus inhibiting her own development. And worse, in this case, she's only "learned" because Momo did the thinking for her. Arguably, she would be better off embracing her crush, but Horikoshi just didn’t write it that way.

Chapter Titles and What’s to Come There are a couple of "themed" chapters in the series, notable by the syntax used in the phrasing of the chapter titles. One is "[Character]: Origin" which Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugou have each had. The "origin" chapters are typically a turning point in the title character’s development, and we can assume that this point is the most significant turning point in their storyline. Todoroki uses his fire for the first time; Bakugou works with Midoriya for the first time; Midoriya receives his quirk. Momo also has a similarly phrased chapter for herself, called “Yaoyorozu: Rising,” and she goes through a similar lesson to the aforementioned boys. Logically, Momo is likely to get her own “Origin” chapter later on.

The next is "From [Character A] to [Character B]" which Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, "teacher" (ie, All Might and AfO), and "disciple" (ie, Shigaraki and Midoriya) are in the the titles. These chapters deal with passing something on. "From Teacher to Desciple" is the (presumed) final battle between All Might and AfO, where at the end of the battle both hero and villain are "defeated" in some way; thus the torch is passed from All Might and AfO to Midoriya and Shigaraki respectively.. Todoroki passes on what he’d learned from the sports fest to Iida; Iida passes on his trust to Midoriya in order to save Bakugou. There’s also "vs" and "and" for a couple themes, but they’re very self-explanatory. Most of these characters have been mentioned a couple of times in the titles of chapters.

Uraraka has only had one of the “themed” chapters with her name in it, titled “Bakugou vs Uraraka.” That is, currently, her pinnacle chapter; almost 100 chapters ago. For the heroine of the story, that is way too long ago. What that means for what we’ve already seen is up to you to decide, but I can say these two things for certain:

As Uraraka continues not to learn from her mistakes, she has no way to grow. She, unfortunately, needs to eat just as much dirt as Midoriya, Bakugou, Todoroki, and Iida have in order for this to happen. So, this much all depends on whether we ever see that chapter appear "From [character] to Uraraka." Similarly, we absolutely are waiting to see the very best of Uraraka, as 100 chapters of going unmentioned in the titles, you better believe that whatever "Uraraka Ochako: Origin" has in store for us is going to be a hell of a trip.

Greed The other chapter mentioning Uraraka in the title is “That’s the Idea, Ochako,” and the most pertinent panel for us is the one linked above. There's nothing wrong with wanting to do work that you love for money - plenty of people do it, and those people who do work obviously deserve to be paid for their work. There's nothing inherently wrong with Uraraka's way of thinking, and I think it's actually really cool that this is her motive for becoming a hero. I would have no problem with this line ever in a million years! Except for the fact that this gets brought up:

Hero Killer Stain is objectively wrong; utterly and miserably. But this issue was still brought up in canon as something to make us question. There are those who work for a *passion* and those who work for a *paycheck*, and those who work for a passion are, in theory, considered "superior" in their field because they are doing what they love. Whether or not you agree with this mindset is not the issue here; the issue is that this mindset exists, and Horikoshi has consciously brought this mindset into the series. So what does that make Uraraka?

Tactile relationships It’s probably about time that we start talking about Shigaraki, Overhaul, and Uraraka. You might be asking what on earth these three characters could ever have in common, but as one might have it, their quirks are all surprisingly similar, don’t you think?

From what we know, all of these characters require touch to make their quirk function. When I initially considered this relationship, we hadn't yet been introduced to Overhaul. I did, however, find it interesting that Uraraka and Shigaraki had such similarly designed quirks, to the point that I have to wonder why Horikoshi allowed them to be as similar as they are. In order for their quirks to take effect, all five fingers must be touching their subject. So, by not touching them with a single finger, as seen above, they keep their quirks at bay entirely.

Unfortunately, we don’t know exactly what his quirk is supposed to be, but based on the panel above (and a few other hints in the series) we can assume that touch is part of the requirement, meaning that all three of their quirks are dependent on a tactile relationship. This should be considered different than, say, Mineta, whose balls are always sticky without prerequisites; or Denki, whose quirk can be activated at will when making physical contact. Uraraka, unlike the two villains, can at least deactivate the quirk after the fact.

Tactile relationships appear to be a very important aspect of MHA, which makes this whole theme of quirks so interesting. Although Uraraka might not seem to have a strong, comparable relationship to Overhaul thus making him little more than a prop in this argument, the close, comparable similarities to hers and Shigaraki's quirk is just remarkable enough to make one wonder why Horikoshi, who could have designed their quirks in any way, design these two quirks so similarly.

Uraraka and Toga Honestly, you should be losing your mind over Uraraka and Toga. THERE’S SO MANY PARALLELS BETWEEN THEM IT HURTS. My deep regret here is just that I’ve said this once before and I’ve read it from others, but still I am unable to stop myself from writing about them. Uraraka and Toga’s relationship is wildly important even if Uraraka isn’t the traitor. I’m losing my mind for the chance that Uraraka and Toga interact again, because I know I’ll need like a year to recover.

Very quickly into their encounter, Toga immediately likens herself to Uraraka, explaining her own feelings so that we understand who she is. Toga has an unhealthy sense of admiration for the person she also consequently loves. She tells Uraraka this, and Uraraka's reaction is incredible. You know how it goes when someone points out a truth that one has been hiding away? They respond with anger. Not only has Toga made the comparison, but Uraraka seems to understand the truth and validity of her comparison, and for a brief moment we see the frustration build in Uraraka. Her brows are not lifted, but rather they are knitted. Toga has her pegged. Funny to note, after all this, Toga ends up with a crush on Midoriya as well - just one weird similarity between them.

This happens again later on, where Toga literally takes on Uraraka’s person and imitates her during the provisional license exam. This was clearly done as a part of the storytelling mechanic, helping us to understand how well Midoriya knows Uraraka, and also to lead us into the discovery that Uraraka is Camie who, in turn, is Toga; but there is absolutely more to it. Why did Horikoshi decide that Uraraka’s blood should be taken and not, say, Asui’s, who was just as exposed as Uraraka was during their first encounter with Toga. The decision was clearly very intentional, as could be inferred from the manga cover I linked above - Uraraka and Toga/Camie are shown on parallel sides of the cover, and feature as the secondary “center” of the book cover. Uraraka and Toga are connected; their stories are going to connect again, perhaps very soon.

What is our heroine up to today? To start this section out, because I know I’m going to sound like I’m speaking the contrary: Uraraka is the heroine. In no way shape or form am I denying this, nor do I dislike that she is the heroine. Even if Uraraka turns out to be the traitor, she can still be our "heroine," it’s just super fucked up and probably cooler that way. She’s our heroine because of all the girls, she has the best relationship to Deku, naturally, and she’s also got a ton of excellent relationships with many of the other characters, such as Bakugou, Iida, Asui, and Toga. Add who you like to that list, the relationship she has with pretty much all the characters is great.

However… I find a particular "lack" of our heroine in the story. I’ve briefly touched on this before, as I mentioned that Horikoshi seems to absolutely ADORE female characters (I mentioned how populated his pixiv is with strong, female characters), so the lack of Uraraka is strange. She hasn’t been on the cover yet, she hasn’t gotten her own specialty arc yet - mainly she gets a highlight ever few chapters because she rightfully deserves it. She also seems to fall into the background during critical portions of the series. In fact, I would say her most critical moment in the series was her fight against Bakugou during the sports fest, and since then a lot more has been brooding around her than anything.

"Hold up! Uraraka has been doing a lot! She got an internship right now and everything!" Like, right??? It’s amazing! But like…. We totally didn’t get to see her in action? Compare how much we saw of Kirishima’s fight against Knives McGee to how much we saw of Uraraka’s fight. I’m not saying we need to see like 100% of every fight that ever happens in the series, and I’m vastly grateful that we don’t, but it’s been almost 100 chapters??? Bakugou vs Uraraka was a whole chapter; but Toga vs Uraraka was only a couple pages, Uraraka and Aoyama vs No. 13 was barely a fight to mention, and Camie actually stole Uraraka’s screen time in the provisional license exam. What I’m saying is, a lot of her fights are quickly wrapped up or skipped over.

I think, however, one of the most intriguing moments where Uraraka is surprisingly sparse is when they’re going to save Bakugou.

While she’s not wrong, what the hell kind of line is that? Thoughout the whole discussion, listening to the class go back and forth about whether or not to do something about Bakugou, Uraraka offers only one, very minor line pointing out their numbers. It’s not until afterward that Uraraka has anything to say. But what sort of heroine says this? What kind of hero says this?? It goes so strongly against the mold for heroes that it honestly surprises me - Uraraka does not strike me as a girl to tuck her tail and flee. I almost expect a girl in love to want to follow her crush anywhere, as I would expect from a usual shonen romance.

Were she the traitor, it makes a lot of sense that she wouldn’t want to be around the villains in an attempt to rescue Bakugou. If she’s not a traitor, she must have a serious beef with Bakugou to try to use the claim that saving him would just upset him. It’s just… unhero-like, and all around strange. It also bothers me that Uraraka was unable to say this line until after they Midoriya’s hospital room. It’s as though she could only think of it after that point or she didn’t want Midoriya to hear her say it.

After saving Bakugou and playing "King of All Room," Asui apologizes for what she said before saving Bakugou:

This whole scene with Uraraka is just weird. I’ll start with mentioning that Uraraka expresses no remorse for not going to save Bakugou - nor do we receive any indication of how Uraraka feels regarding the situation. Even if she didn’t want to risk saving Bakugou, shouldn’t she have risked going to make sure Midoriya would be okay? I mean, that’s basically why Iida went; shouldn’t the heroine and love interest of the story want to go just to protect Midoriya? At the very least, I would have expected a little soliloquy explaining her position to the reader. Similarly, Kirishima mentions that what Uraraka said was "really harsh," so I think it’s weird that when scene finishes that only Asui has apologized - I would almost expect Uraraka to want to join in on the apology so Asui feels better, but like clearly not. Uraraka either is the traitor or she has a serious beef with Bakugou.

By extension, what she does eventually say, weirdly enough, rubs me the wrong way. I would LOVE to see more translations of this scene, even just to look at the Japanese, because the way this is handled is so weird???? Why is she hesitating so apparently? What on earth does she have to be nervous about in this situation?! It’s WEIRD!!! But perhaps that’s just a personal feeling, you can be the judge of this dialogue yourself:

Short wrap-up That should be like 90% of everything I’ve ever considered related to the traitor theory regarding Uraraka specifically. Just a few final notes to close the argument:

- I am not trying to imply that Uraraka is an evil character. MHA is absolutely dealing with the gray areas of what is good and evil, a theme that has been mentioned in several places in the series, from different perspectives and in different ways. The immediate moments we figure a traitor has to have been involve are (debatably) when the "reporters" break into school grounds as a guise for the villains, during summer break where someone leaks the location, and in the most recent chapter where Overhaul already knows about the infiltration. All of these likely had nothing to do with real “dirty work,” and rather were just information sharing

- One post-script update to my previous post regarding Uraraka is Bakugou’s “heel”. First is that the better, less presumptuous term for their relationship is ��foils” - however, that gets convoluted due to the fact that in canon Bakugou and Midoriya are also called “foils.” Either way, both terms are acceptable. Recent omake information has revealed that Bakugou and Uraraka’s costumes are actually made by the same company. Translation here In short, the two black dots on each of their uniforms is supposed to be the company’s way of “branding” their material. It’s just backup omake information, but I think it’s just a cute detail to add and support my earlier argument regarding them.

- Food for thought: I’m still not sure when Uraraka becomes “the traitor.” My initial belief is she must have been a traitor since the beginning in order for the reporter incident to make sense, but it’s not necessary that she was. My other theory is that she joins the league after her crushing defeat against Bakugou. It’s also entirely possible that she isn’t the only traitor in the series; while I can’t think of any suggestions that might make this apparent, Uraraka had to have been contacted some how by the villains. The only thing I could say for certain is that if she is the traitor, she would have made her contract before her feelings for Midoriya became an issue.

- More food for thought: If Uraraka is the traitor, do Toga and Uraraka know each other? And was the encounter in the woods with Asui intentional? If I’m honest, I think Toga knows who Uraraka is, but because Uraraka has been away from "HQ" for so long, she never had the chance to meet Toga. Something about their encounter in the forest feels too real for it to be an act.

If you read the theory and like it, please reblog! If you have more questions, or want to add onto it, feel free to respond. This is just a theory after all, so I really hope that even if you don’t agree she’s the traitor, you may have found that I’ve made a few good points about the peculiarities of Uraraka’s storyline, and are just as excited as me to see how she develops.

EDIT: If you want to read more observations about her character related to this theory, I have a Traitor Uraraka tag you can look through!

#my hero academia #uraraka ochako #midoriya izuku #bakugou katsuki #dekuura #yaoyorozu momo #toga himiko #asui tsuyu #camie #shigaraki tomura #overhaul #hero killer stain #mha #me #by me #traitor uraraka

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weekendwarriorblog · 5 years ago

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WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 25, 2019 - ALADDIN, BOOKSMART, BRIGHTBURN

It’s the Memorial Day weekend of one-word-titled movies, because yes, “Booksmart” and “Brightburn” are indeed single words, as much as I want to make them two words each. Sadly, I’m still running behind on stuff, and I’ve only seen a few movies, so we’ll see how I do this week. (Sadly, it’s looking more and more like this column is going to have to be put on hiatus so I can focus on paying work.)

Hey, look, it’s another Disney movie I haven’t seen yet for reasons I won’t get into. Anyway, I have a ticket to see Guy Ritchie’s ALADDIN (Walt Disney Pictures) on Friday, not because I necessarily need to see Will Smith as the Genie. In fact, I’ve never even seen the original animated movie or the musical, but I am a fan of Ritchie and his work and want to give it a look.

Fortunately, I have seen Olivia Wilde’s directorial debut, the raunchy R-rated comedy BOOKSMART, being released by U.A. Releasing moderately wide, and I have to say that it’s pretty effin’ funny with a really talented young cast, led by Beanie Feldstein (Ladybird) and Kaitlyn Dever (Detroit), who could very well be the Jonah Hill and Michael Cera for a new generation. While I hate to outright call the movie Superbad for women, it’s definitely a movie in that vein but this one from a teen girl’s point of view. It also has some amazing side characters, particularly the one played by Billie Lourde, who is quite hilarious (and isn’t even in any of the trailers!). While I saw the movie too long ago to write a full-on review, this is the movie of the weekend I recommend more than any other movie, regardless of your age and gender. Its 99% on Rotten Tomatoes is no fluke!

Lastly, there’s Screen Gems’ BRIGHTBURN, which is a dark take on superheroes from one of James Gunn’s brothers and one of his cousins, and of course, James Gunn produced it. It’s directed by David Yarovesky, who has done some shorts and music videos, and it stars Gunn regular Elizabeth Banks, who appeared in Slitherway back in the day, as well as David Denman, plus Jackson Dunn as Brandon Breyer, the young kid with superpowers. Since I’ve seen this one more recently, here’s my….

MINI-REVIEW: Anyone who reads a lot of comics might be aware of the concept of “Elseworlds,” essentially DC’s version of a “What If?.” If you consider yourself a connoisseur of good comics than you probably have read Alan Moore’s “Miracleman” comics. The general idea was to look at what happens when someone with superpowers allows the powers to go to their head, and they use those powers for evil purposes. It’s even more interesting when said person is still a child without the maturity needed to handle having such power.

In that sense, Brightburn isn’t a completely original idea, though it is for the world movies where there haven’t been that many alternate superhero films, let alone ones treated like horror. It takes the mythos of DC Comics’ Superman, of a baby from another alien taken in by a kindly Kansas couple, then twists it into a gory horror movie. It also deals with something I’ve always found interesting in what a kid might do if they discover they have superpowers and whether they would use them to get revenge on their oppressors, even if it’s their parents. Going by this film written by James Gunn’s brother and cousin, then the answer is “Yes.”

Brightburn begins with Elizabeth Banks and David Denman as a young couple trying to have a kid when a meteor lands nearby. We then see a montage of young Brandon Breyer growing from a baby to a pre-teen boy, and we see that he’s been having difficulty adjusting to school and life in Kansas

The results aren’t perfect and some of my issues might be due to how much is given away in the trailers, but in terms of combining things I like – superheroes and creepy kids who go on a wanton killing spree – it’s a high concept that keeps you entertained for all 90 minutes without a dull moment. That has much to do with David Yarovesky’s direction, as he has all the faculties needed to make a solid horror film, including some highly disturbing gory scenes, but also his small but capable cast.

Kind of the ultimate Richard Donner mash-up – part-Superman,part-The Omen– Brightburn isn’t perfect, but it’s a conceit that actually works to create a fun and gory time that’s more horror than superheroics.

RATING:7/10

You can read what I think of the above’s box office prospects over at The Beat.

LIMITED RELEASES

I wish I could say that I’ve seen more of this weekend’s limited release, but I’ve only watched a couple of them.

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gabriel Abrantes and Daniel Schmidt’s surrealist comedy DIAMANTINO (Kino Lorber), an odd Portugal-set film about a world-famous soccer superstar, Carloto Cotta, who gets caught up in a controversy over statements made about refugees. He has some evil twin sisters who like glomming onto their brother’s fame and fortune, as well as a government conspiracy. It’s a rather amusing and entertaining film for sure, which reminded me of some of the stranger films of Jean-Pierre Jeunet or Terry Gilliam, but it won’t be for everyone.

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Opening on Wednesday i.e. today is Noble Jones’ THE TOMORROW MAN (Bleecker Street), starring John Lithgow as a cranky survivalist Ed Hemsler who meets Blythe Danner’s Ronnie Meisner, who he sees as a like-minded individual. This is another boring romance movie geared towards the over-50s (that me)that doesn’t really go anywhere, and I couldn’t even enjoy it for the performances by the two leads because the material just wasn’t up to snuff.

Jill Magid’s doc THE PROPOSAL (Oscilloscope) is about architect Luis Barragan, whose work was locked away in a Swiss bunker on his death in 1988, which the filmmaker has tried to bring to light as she negotiates with those keeping charge of it. Opening in L.A. at the Landmark as well as the Quad Cinemathis weekend is Frédéric Tcheng’s doc HALSTON (1091) about designer Roy Halston Frowick, who rose to fame in the ‘70s.

Next up is a trio of music docs beginning with the one I’ve seen, Barak Goodman’s Woodstock: Three Days That Defined A Generation (PBS Distribution / American Experience FIlms), which premiered at Tribeca and will get a nominal theatrical release before airing on PBS. (It will be celebrating is 50thAnniversary in August, too!) As someone who admired the more famous 1970 Woodstock concert film by Michael Wadleigh – it even won the Oscar for documentary that year! – but Goodman’s movie finds new avenues into the 1969 music and art festlval by showing its development and the lead-up to the festival as well as all the problems it faced along the way. Probably the more interesting aspect of the movie is Wavy Gravy’s contribution to the festival security with his commune of artists who actually end up saving the day more than once. (This doc will also premiere at the Quad this weekend with special guests.)

Having special shows across the country tonight and again on May 29 is Tom Jones’Asbury Park: Riot, Redemption, Rock n’ Roll (Trafalgar Releasing) about how the power of music and musicians like Steven Van Zandt, Southside Johnny Lyon, and of course, Bruce Springsteen, helped save the troubled Jersey town. You can get tickets for these special shows at the official site.

Another neighborhood music community is being honored in Andrew Slater’s Echo in the Canyon (Greenwich), which celebrates the music coming out of Laurel Canyon in the mid-60s including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Sprinfield and the Mamas and the Papes aka the California Sound.It opens in L.A. Friday and then in New York on May 31.

If you happened to see Paul Rudd in the film The Catcher Was a Spy last year, then you might be interested in learning more about his character Moe Berg, Aviva Kempner’s’s doc The Spy Behind Home Plate, which opens in Washington, DC this Friday and then In New York, Philly and other markets on May 31.

Gotta start wrapping up here but there’s also Rob Heydon’s thriller Isabelle (Vertical Entertainment), starring Adam Brody and Amanda Crew; as well as the Scott Adkins action-thriller Avengement (Samuel Goldwyn), directed by Jesse V. Johnson.

STREAMING AND CABLE

The movie I’m most excited about this weekend is for people to see Richard Shepard’s THE PERFECTION, streaming on Netflix Friday. It stars Allison Williams from Get Outand Logan Browning (Dear White People), and I’m not really sure what I can say about it, since I don’t want to spoil your experience. I can say that Williams plays a cello prodigy who has been off the circuit for a few years. When she returns, Browning’s character has kind of taken her place, but the two become close… and then stuff happens. Crazy stuff… stuff that you’re not going to forget anytime soon. But if you liked Get Out and Us and last year’s Hereditary, you’re probably going to like this movie that premiered at Fantastic Fest, as well. I’ve loved Shepard’s dark sense of humor from movies like The Matador and Dom Hemingway, and he has two terrific stars in this one, who seem to be up for whatever is thrown their way… and a LOT is thrown their way. I also got to interview Richard for the fourth time recently, which you can read over at The Beat.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

This year’s 26th New York African Film Festival begins on Thursday at the BAMCinematek in Brooklyn with FilmAfrica, a series of fairly recent films from a continent that just doesn’t get enough attention in the cinematic world. The opening night of the BAM leg is Jahmil X.T. Qubeka’sSew the Winter to my Sky, a Western-inspired heist film about South African bandit John Kepe. On Saturday, you can see Raoul (I Am Not Your Negro) Peck’s 2005 film Sometimes in April starring Idris Elba about the Rwandan genocide. The movie will then move next week to Film at Lincon Center, as the program continues through June 4, so I’ll write more about their offerings next week. The festival wraps up its last few days from June 5 to June 9 at the Maysles Cinema in Harlem. I honestly wish I had more time to see some of this series because it looks fantastic and many of the films may never get U.S. distribution, but I just have too much on my plate right now.

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

This weekend’s Late Nites at Metrograph is Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira (1988) while the Playtime: Family Matinees is Jacques Perrin award-winning doc Winged Migration (2001) on Saturday and Sunday morning. New York Times critic Glenn Kenny is presenting Elia Kazan’s 1969 film The Arrangement, starring Kirk Douglas and Fay Dunaway, on Saturday while poet and novelist Barry Gifford is showing a double feature of Samuel Fuller’s Pickup on South Street (1953) and Jack Garfein’s The Strange One (1957) on Sunday.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

Tarantino is in Cannes presenting his new movie (to absolute raves) but his rep theater is showing Vincente Minnelli’s 1953 film The Band Wagon starring Fred Astaire on Weds. afternoon. The week’s upcoming double features are Barbra Streisand’s Yentl (1983) and Crossing Delancey (1988) on Weds and Thurs., Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (2003) and Somewhere (2010) on Friday/Saturday, and Honor Among Lovers (1931), Craig’s Wife (1936) and Sarah and Son (1930) in a Dorothy Arzner triple feature Sunday and Monday. The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINEE is the Tom Hanks-Penny Marshall movie Big (1988) and the midnight movies are the doc Full-Tilt Boogie (about the making of From Dusk til Dawn)on Friday and once again, The Love Witch, on Saturday. Next Monday’s matinee is the ensemble drama Now and Then (1995) and then Tuesday’s GRINDHOUSE double feature is Kao Pao-Shu’s Blood of the Dragon (1971) and The Master Strikes (1980).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

This weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own (1992), also starring Tom Hanks. Film Forum is also starting a new three-week 40-film (!) series called The Hour of Liberation: Decolonizing Cinema, 1966 – 1981, which includes screenings of The Battle of Algiers (1966), Ousmane Sembène’s Black Girl (1966) and other films imported from “Third World” countries with support from the Academ of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Concurrently, Film Forum is kicking off The Jewish Soul: Classics of Yiddish Cinema, which begins this weekend with the 1937 film The Dybbuk with a few other films running through June.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

Cassavetes/Scorsese: Love is Strangecontinues with After Hours (1985) with Rosanna Arquette (!) and Gloria (1983) on Thursday and Raging Bull (1980) and The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) on Friday. Personally, I wish I could be in L.A. Saturday for a six-film Godzilla-Thon that includes some of my favorite films from Toho including the original 1954 Gojira. Then Sunday, there’s a double feature of the Uganda-set Bad Black (2016) and Who Killed Captain Alex? (2010).

AERO (LA):

Not to be outdone by the Egyptian, the AERO presents a Memorial Day in 70mm with Hook (1991) on Thursday, a double feature of The Thing and Starmanon Friday, 2001: A Space Odyssey on Saturday and Lawrence of Arabia (1962) on Sunday. Have I mentioned how I’d love to live in L.A. this weekend?

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

Back in New York, Fighting Mad: German Genre Films from the Marginscontinues through Thursday as well as the doc Doomed Love: A Journey Through German Genre Film.

ROXY CINEMA (NYC)

This week, the Roxy is showing Sofia Coppola’s Marie Antoinette(2006) in 35mm, as well as a screening of Joanna Hogg’s Exhibition(2013). They’re also showing Patrick Wang’s recent A Bread Factory, Part One (Friday) and Part Two (Saturday).

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance screens Rosemary’s Baby and Serial Mom on Memorial Day weekend, while Weekend Classics: LoveMom and Dad shows Ozu’s Late Spring (1949) and Late Night Favorites: Spring continues withDavid Fincher’sFight Club, Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER(NYC):

This weekend, Lincoln Center begins its own Czech New Wave series with Ester Krumbachova: Unknown Master of the Czechoslovakia New Wave, running from May 24 through May 29. I still don’t know anything about the Czech New Wave then I knew a few months back, although apparently, she was a writer, director and costume designer and the series includes examples of all three.

MOMA (NYC):

It looks like Abel Ferrara: Unrated will run for the rest of the month, and this week, we get R’ Xmas (2001) on Wednesday, The Funeral (1996) on Thursday, 1989’s Cat Chaser on Friday and Saturday as well as Napoli (2009) on Saturday. Sunday sees Mary (2005) and Crime Story (1986). The Jean-Claude Carrière series continues with Luis Buñuel’s The Phantom of Liberty (1974) on Thursday, Milos Forman’s Valmont (1989) on Friday and Saturday, Cyrano de Bergerac on Friday and Sunday as well as Andrzej Wajda’s Danton (1983) plus more over the weekend. Basically, lots of interesting movie options.

MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE (NYC):

See It Big! Action is going full-throttle on Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible series, showing ALL SIX movies between Friday and Sunday. What a perfect Memorial Day treat! I wish I lived closer to Astoria, Queens.

LANDMARK THEATRES NUART (LA):

This Friday’s Midnight Movie is Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo(1958).

I also want to quickly add that the Maysles Cinema is having a Manfred Kirschheimer retrospective of sorts, in that it’s premiering his new movie Dream of a City, showing it with some of his earlier documentary works, both short and long format. Just another example of the amazing cinema that you can see in New York on any given day of the week.

#Aladdin Brightburn Booksmart MOvies Reviews limitedreleases repertory

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brainitworkstechnology15 · 3 years ago

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harley623gaming-blog · 6 years ago

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Track your stats for Fortnite battle royale, complete with global leaderboards for single, couple and squad gamemodes. Hacking Fortntie for Free Funds” or Free V Bucks”? When it comes to hacking fortnite in order to get unlimited v bucks or skins the only way is to look for some hacking tool available online and that's what the majority on the persons figure out. If there is anything that can assist them increasing v cash or skins in fortnite no matter they happen android users or iOS even if they participate in fortnite by any other gaming platform all they need is open v bucks that's a income from the match in which you can spend for multiple purposes but you must pay real dollars if you need v bucks as the game developers won't let any one to get free v bucks as they won't make anything it is their foundation of wages so when this goes to hacking fortnite it is apparent which their own practice are also eager to defend and hacking attempt to their servers when they become doing millions of users. So there is no risk for hacking fortnite game.

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In this case if your playing duo or squad message is basic to a successful game. Letting your teammates know when you're gonna move to a new place around the plan or when a squad is incoming can prevent the lives. This may and be important when it comes to loot doing your teammates healable or protect when they shout out. Communication plays an extremely essential role within Fortnite. This could come among people plus the win with lack of interaction between you and your teammates.

Does Fortnite deserve its home among the world's most popular games? Absolutely. Unlike shooters like Overwatch or Request of Due, Fortnite doesn't effort to put while significantly emphasis on player ranks. Matchmaking isn't depending on a user's skill levels, that goes players the opportunity to come face-to-face with participants both more and less expert for the ready. This is means: If fresh or lower-skilled participants are consistently matched against people who are in before about the degree, they may find it hard to make an impact then abruptly the game turns into a crush.

Doing this will not make a better person or help improve the appeared. Into Fortnite this really makes player hitboxes smaller. In CS:GO the hitboxes of the player model were grown because the player forms were really modified, which made increase the hitboxes. In Fortnite, it compresses the hitboxes, making them much more trying to hit. Expanding the declaration is purely a panacea.

This fun. Fortnite Battle Royale request to persons across a lot of genres—strategy, survival, shooter, online multiplayer, battle royale—at the original difficulty level lower than PUBG, and is designed therefore to activity are relatively short, making it easy to replay and to practice. Players can do nicely in Fortnite through a bunch of different strategies (being sneaky, being aggressive, being creative) which helps respect the idea by occurring boring. And that still further, this means that Epic Activity is continually put new things, weapons, positions, also presents to improve gameplay and stock that dynamic.

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Fortnite Battle Royale offers a couple of different progression systems to give you something to work toward when you play the game and it can be a little intimidating to determine what all of this way. The Free Hand is a tiered order that will unlocks some cool freebies, like bill stars and emotes every after with a minute as you complete certain problem. The Encounter Pass is a quality type that unlocks rewards more often, including more cosmetic rewards with feel boosters that will help you rank up new rapidly. Access for the Challenge Pass costs 950 V-Bucks which is $9.50 and takes through the season.

It's worth mentioning the V-Bucks you buy on the particular platform follow that platform, and so if you've bought 1,000 V-Bucks on Xbox One, you won't look at them within Fortnite Cell phone with junior versa. But, once you've spent your V-Bucks on products you'll be able to access them around all the program people play. Also, because Epic Games didn't launch Fortnite on the Google Play Store, you'll need to authorize payment over another ways and can easily spend any Google Play credit towards the V-Bucks purchase.

Do not get to have what the character is addressing, get the word has been secondhand in the biased is thoroughly odd. And before long let's say a lever how the new company you are starting mutually is looking understand with the way the gameplay is essentially lead. A note for you, the Fortnite V Bucks Cut or mobile cheats will handle you to blossom the dwelling or rather get a new one, anyhow let's not fix points out.

Combine that with the fact that the landscaping of the place is going on to change with every season with you have a winning formula, one rooted in spirit gameplay aspects but always put new habits and perks. Whether it's a winter scope, a ridable golf cart, or break a swamp in a desert, the never-ending new adding to Fortnite decided this much more than the curve with frequent, consistent updates. Earn a crew down and recreation in squads to experience new methods and kicks, like building walls around downed enemies or allies to inhibit different from catch them.

Fortnite 's Battle Pass costs 950 V-Bucks, that makes the $9.99 V-Buck bundle the least expensive way to get one of the best in-game points within the marketplace Fortnite 's market is open; that not according to random drops or loot envelope, plus the grip in the War Pass is the whole season more fulfilling to have fun due to the weekly concern with subject unlocks. I can easily suggest this enough, even if you're a casual puff of Fortnite.

Each mission in Fortnite Hack found with a generated map indicated with the side members. Before the beginning of struggle, the participants explore a considerable location also develop their defense. Before the enemies appear, players must focus guns and collect useful development plans. Co-operation requires from the users to correctly assign the responsibilities. Particular characters can improve the abilities with time, as well as gain really different ones. A significant element of gameplay is the chance to set up quarters, which are later grown with other positions, for order the system, a lead center or a hospital wing.

Fortnite V-Bucks Hack Cheats 2018 100% Working Unlimited Free Tool 2018 - Glitch Unlimited V-Bucks Hack Generators! Fortnite V-Bucks Hack Cheats 2018 100% Working Unlimited Free V-Bucks Hack Generators No Rules Fortnite V-Bucks Hack 2018 How To Get Unlimited V-Bucks Hack Generators in Boom Blaster! On this side we explain how to get more V-Bucks for free in Fortnite: Battle Royale, with a breakdown of the way to help make V-Bucks from regular log-ins and searches.

We are constantly paying attention near the participants and are making sure the formats serve the needs and wants. With Fortnite being a relatively new competitive sport, we are counting in player feedback to help prepare our wager the best possible way to play competitive Fortnite. If you have issues with the design or need for new gameplay options please allowed us know. We have a professional and well trained administrative staff which remains greatly versed in the esports identity with ready to respond to requests through the player base.

The highest viewership chart in Twitch recorded for Fortnite were produced from the celebrity pro-am game that stuck lay with the E3 games event with Summer 2018 At their high, 700,000 people watched simultaneously. If you include additional issues like so to on the ever-present Ninja, the body post at 1.5 million persons. They looked at a totality of 1.9 million hours over the some times in the event.

One of the most cancerous games ever created, take anything cancerous from Overwatch and Pubg, put in predatory micro deals also a completlely useless anti-cheat advantages then people basically have Fortnite, one of the most hacked sports into existence, Epic Games basically has no control in the rampant quantity of hacking, people take accounts or even resorting to identify theft to get entry to reports.

If you're a gamer, you've probably used more than a few hours playing Fortnite or, additional particularly, Fortnite: Battle Royale. Introduced less than a year before in Epic Match, that today boasts over 45 million users, or near one third of PC gamers, worldwide. Why is the quantities more impressive is that this competition has yet to be officially generated from the world's biggest gaming market — China — that is in with a mind-boggling 600 million fans! How did Fortnite: Battle Royale turn into the Internet's biggest game in such a short period of time? Deliver at.

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There's also the small but crucial details to a lot of Fortnite's item” is revealed through the loading shows you unlock as you complete your weekly challenges. Knowing what's taking from the world isn't that important to the game itself, but there is a loose sort of narrative in there, and you should either continue in group chatter or get a Battle Pass if you want to hold up.

Known as LTMs for passing, they can be something from a couple crews of 50 players each duking it https://www.avatarsbymas.com prevented, a means which breaks Fortnite into a deathmatch with unlimited respawns, or rather even wilder like the one that only went players Jetpacks and shotguns. Fortnite will have something for you. Despite being around for a small time”, most LTMs have lived known to send, you simply have to try back often to notice if there's a new means which a person could benefit from much more than the average offerings.

Fortnite Battle Royale is a 100-player game where you enjoy alone or even while crews, and parachute on a island to combat new participants until just one of a person is gone position. To make that harder, areas where people enjoy is disappearing with you must stay in to spot near go on, setting traps, scavenging sticks and body defenses. As the map drops, it pushes players organized so time goes in, forcing confrontation.

When experiencing any of the team-oriented game show modes, cooperative gameplay (collaboration) and contact with players members become vital. An Register of Duos and Squads Plans will shortly remained an indispensable source for gamers practicing the Duos or Squads game show methods (or the other team-oriented game show modes added to Fortnite: Battle Royale on a temporary basis).

With period the terrain with the activity diminishes. Persons who are outside the delineated area suffer constant injuries which eventually lead to death. So in gameplay they have to consider all the time to keep in the correct battlefield. The aspect that differs Fortnite: Battle Royale by similar productions is, borrowed from the heart kind of Fortnite, the chance to hit particular situation objects. Therefore players can kill trees or buildings in order to obtain necessary raw data. They may come positive for planting up defensive designs into really spell. The mechanics and runs out with combat: we can, while continuing, put up wooden walls guarding the participant from bullets. In the same way we can also create stairs in order to access the top of the building.

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merrile677vbucks-blog · 6 years ago

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Despite Fortnite being one of the most popular diversion associated with this technology, Epic Games' impressive battle royale includes not happened without the shortcomings. The journey it is getting appears to be leading to Loot Lake, and with under three weeks left pending the tip with the playoffs current time, it is presume to reach the location before the release of Fortnite Season 6. Every act will consume age with eat time can cost something especially when it's working a currency amount from Fortnite V Bucks Hack. You can see the time period that will help you to focus on completing actions instantly.

That currently no secret that scammers have become wanting to make a fast money in presenting gamers free V-Bucks, the virtual currency that Fortnite players use to buy new articles with skins from the general battle royale activity. May was the most productive month that we have stats offered, with Fortnite: Battle Royale taking with $318 million (concrete post-May data are not easy to get). This becomes that the best-performing competition of the class by that metric.

Fortnite Battle Royale has been free to play while their launch, and virtual currency represents a major revenue river for Epic Games While items bought in the stock offer no competitive help, they get to the game fun and cool. The essential channel to Fortnite, the biggest activity with the season, combining report on Campaign Royale and Keep the World modes to the ultimate one-stop winner's manual.

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Epic Games: Fortnite Battle Royale says no direct the experience to help children under the time of 13 in the UK. Leave on April 13, players will be able to imagine the Fortnite World Cup Open Qualifiers offered like a game mode in the manner selection screen. Each qualifier may provide a total prize share of $1 million, which means Epic will spread $10 million only arrived Open Qualifiers to the World Cup.

Part of Fortnite's go up to dominance has no doubt been their cross-platform availability, with casual mobile gamers on the move able to get involved with great bedroom gamers in equal footing ( Sony was reluctant , but cross-play functionality has lately been enabled for PS4 players ). Many in the FORTNITE V BUCKS GENERATOR websites out there are try to assure you which somehow their creator managed to hack into the FORTNITE Database, and therefore they can acquire the unlimited free v-bucks in Combat Royale game.

With Time 7 in full swing, version 7.01 might not sound that exciting in comparison. That said, the new model of Fortnite includes the Infinity Blade system from Epic Games' Infinity Blade series, the new Close Encounters limited-time mode, and more. Figure 2a: Data demonstrates the estimated profit by item category and value vary by Fortnite players August 2017 — June 2018, based on the Edison Trends dataset.

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When the broadcast starts, you'll see a preview in the upper-right trap regarding your game (which you can minimise, if you want). This survey window enables you immediately toggle your microphone and webcam by with off, and also click on the "chat" connection to observe exactly what everyone fortnite generate v bucks is around on your own terrible Fortnite death streak. If you're wondering what items are in the Fortnite shop right now, on the date in which you're looking at that, you can control onto your Fortnite Battle Royale shop items guide We'll be updating that side every date, to manifest all the make new articles which Epic takes to the Fortnite store.

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Recognition for considering the Fortnite: Battle Royale & Fortnite: Save The planet videos! Will need new? I placed daily Fortnite videos before something interesting for Fortnite Battle Royale. Fortnite's original also less common horde mode offers daily login bonuses, daily challenges, and rewards for Storm Shield Defense missions. They happen clever with simple ways to get a tiny amount of currency each day, although you'll should actually pay for the setting.

Fortnite: But The World is a co-op survival game using all the same gear and weapon as you'll get with Fortnite Battle Royale, and costs the player with building defenses before playing behind the attack of AI controlled zombies. Survive the night and you gain rewards like like another systems, gear, tricks and put up materials to do it all over. With state two different modes along with live inside beginning access, it is surprising how effectively Fortnite works both here PVE and PVP modes. As such, you don't require a super powerful PC to be able to play the game.

All the Fortnite Battle Royale tips you need, plus Fortnite Android info, free V Cash, and Fortnite Server status updates. Fortnite is the best battle royale video diversion of 2018. PUBG is a similar game, although it is feature is much lower than Fortnite's. The core question becomes whether the dances used in Fortnite emotes are copyrightable material protected within US law. If not, then Epic Games' utilization of the parties is not copyright infringement, and in-game deal of the particular parties might last unfettered.

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More easily: Playing "Fortnite" is open, but progressing through the game's loot-unlock system is not. While you log in for the center Fortnite game free v-bucks no human verification you will be presented rotating missions from the daily Quest machine. Once you have finished each one, you'll move your loose V-bucks and you will be capable of use them with reasons for the conflict Royale mode.

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Good news on V-Bucks being used to filter wealth is certainly not surprising, given that crooks are spending Fortnite to make money in a mind-boggling number of methods. Similar to Snow in Season 7, Discovery awards any participant that completes all eight weekly problems with a solution loading screen leading to a row star or hidden banner. Doing all this is of design, but for the most dedicated Fortnite players, it's essential.

Teenagers in the United States are apparently preferring cryptocurrencies like bitcoin, and in-game currency Fortnite ‘V-Bucks' over traditional holiday gifts that will include gift certificates with fiat cash. Of course, later you can think of Fortnite Battle Royale tactics a little more elaborate, like as interesting the adversary inside your foundation and flowing out of some hole you have left completely on purpose, to seal your back with direct. That is further complicated than it does.

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freefortnite6164-blog · 6 years ago

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entergamingxp · 4 years ago

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DualShockers’ Favorite Video Games of 2020 (So Far)

July 31, 2020 1:00 PM EST

Now that we’re halfway through 2020, the DualShockers staff shares the games that have been the highlights of the year so far.

As we’ve already seen so far, 2020 has been a very unusual year for video games. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused numerous delays and cancelled most of the events that we’d traditionally see during the year for the games industry, this year has still brought us a ton of gaming experiences worth celebrating and sharing. Given that the next-gen consoles are on the horizon later this year, the first half of 2020 has already had some generation-defining games worth playing, and we still have several months to go for 2020.

Now that the first half of the year is behind us, the DualShockers staff has gathered together to share some of our favorite games of 2020 so far. While we’ve already discussed a lot of the games that we’re considering for our Game of the Year awards for this year, this time around we’re focusing on each staff member’s highlights for games that have been released in the first half of 2020. From some of the most acclaimed games of the year to hidden gems that are worth a look, here are the games that DualShockers‘ staff have made 2020 an exciting year for video games.

Nick Blain, Video Editor

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

New Horizons was the first Animal Crossing game that I’ve committed to since the original back on the GameCube, and I adore it. It really makes no sense why I like it. The tasks are menial and there’s no central objective to accomplish. Yet, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is the most I’ve ever been invested in the series yet. I find myself getting lost in the charm of its harmonious world. There’s just something about the mainline Animal Crossing games’ design that is always so cozy. For a brief couple of hours I can forget the outside world and be lost in its brilliance. Animal Crossing makes things feel normal.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

I have a weird confession to make: while I love Final Fantasy as series, I never found Final Fantasy VII to be all that compelling. Even replaying the original before the remake came out, I found it to be a chore at some parts, so my expectations for the remake weren’t extremely high. Playing through it, I couldn’t have been more wrong. The little things that Final Fantasy VII Remake does to flesh out the characters and overall world help give so much more context to even the original Final Fantasy VII. At times, it feels like it’s not only paying homage to what came before it, but also feels like an FFVII sequel unto itself. Much like the RE2 remake that came out last year, Final Fantasy VII Remake proves that a remake can be more than just a glossy new coat of paint; it can also be a re-evaluation of what came before.

The Last of Us Part II

What can I say that hasn’t already been said about this amazing game? The Last of Us Part II is just as grueling of a tale as what came before. Never has a game actually made me feel bad for fulfilling a QTE. Although, underneath that rough exterior is a beautiful inspection of love, pain, and sacrifice. At the end of The Last of Us, I felt that I had seen the end of the story and was absolutely fine with it. However, Naughty Dog proved that there was a significantly more meaningful story to delve into with Joel and Ellie. If they felt that they have more story to tell I’m here for it; but again, I don’t think that there has to be.

What I admire about Naughty Dog is that if there’s nothing left to say: that’s it. Chapter over, book closed. You can just tell the passion that was behind the team at Naughty Dog when they were developing this game. Naughty Dog is really proving that video games can be more than they set out to be initially. I can’t wait for more.

Kris Cornelisse, Staff Writer

Deep Rock Galactic

“Dwarves in Space.” Anything you can think of that would fit that phrase, Deep Rock Galactic embodies. It’s a four player co-op game where you pick a class and go on an alien mining expedition. You’ll navigate (or dig) procedurally-generated tunnels, find the resources or objectives you seek, defend yourself against angry alien bugs, and then get out. Extracting gets you a cut of the rewards, with which you can level up your classes, upgrade equipment, and customise your appearance further. Then you have a drink with your mates on the space station before doing it all again.

It might not sound like much on paper, but in practice? Deep Rock Galactic is something else. The passion and creativity of the devs is on full display, as they’ve filled the game with a ton of nuance and little details for you to find. Its graphics and sound design are well presented and stylised to suit, and the different environments are extremely well realised and fun to explore or dig through. Even with a strong core gameplay loop, there’s a decent chunk of variety in objectives. There’s also public games and solo options for those not interested in the co-op aspect, so if any of this looks or sounds interesting to you? Check it out. You won’t be disappointed. Rock and Stone, brothers!

DOOM Eternal

I’m rarely the sort to replay games often, mainly because I just never have the time. Imagine my surprise when I found myself replaying DOOM Eternal the day after I finished it. Any flaws in the game’s platforming or level design fades away the second that the music amps up and an intense combat scenario begins. Then there is nothing except an intricately designed dance of death, in which I am encouraged to use every tool at my disposal to rip and tear. Always pressured and always right on the verge of death and defeat, yet still always feeling powerful and with the means to turn the tide and raze hell. DOOM Eternal’s combat is absolutely phenomenal, and just writing about it now makes me want to start it up yet again.

Despite the controversies surrounding Mick Gordon and Denuvo, DOOM Eternal remains a highlight for me this year. I’m even one of the people who thinks that DOOM 2016 is actually the better overall package, but the sheer intensity of the combat in Eternal is like a drug that makes it impossible to go back to its predecessor. Kar en Tuk! Until it is done!

Hades

Supergiant Games have yet to deliver a bad game; in fact, Hades puts them at four for four in making excellent games that stand tall in my personal pantheon of favourites. It’s an action/roguelike where you play as Zagreus, son of Hades, on his quest to escape the Underworld of Greek mythology. And it is awesome. The combat is fluid and has impact to it from the very start, and that only gets more intense as you gain more upgrades and unlocks. The story and characters are engaging, and the entire thing is packaged with the usual Supergiant art, music, voice and style, which is to say that it is superb.

The game is still in Early Access, but since the launch version is due out this year, Hades absolutely counts for my GOTY 2020 considerations. Even then, there was a ton of content and variety even in the first iterations, and every major patch has expanded that dramatically. So far, it leads the pack by a country mile as my favourite. Hades is the most playable, content dense game that Supergiant has ever put out. If Dead Cells is the benchmark for what roguelikes aim to be, Hades is already past that and pushing higher still. “Godlike” is the only fitting descriptor.

Ricky Frech, Senior Staff Writer

Desperados 3

I will continue to beat the drum for what is, thus far, the best game I’ve played in 2020. Desperados 3 is a stealth-focused tactics game with sublime level design. The care developer that Mimimi Games put into crafting each level is astounding. As you lead a gruff band of Wild West mercenaries, you’ll take part in some of the most memorable sequences I’ve seen in the tactics space.

Every level feels unique. This is largely done by how Mimimi mixes up your party. Your squad is made up of five diverse characters; however, you almost never get to bring them all into battle at once. Instead, each mission gives you a unique combination and forces you to constantly adapt your playstyle to your team’s abilities. It’s a beautiful design that kept a smile on my face throughout the entire campaign.

Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout

I was very tempted to put Deadly Premonition 2 in my final slot. I love that game in spite of its many problems; however, it’s a tough one to recommend for several reasons. Another game that I heavily considered for this final slot is Murder by Numbers. It’s the best Picross game since Picross 3D, but it’s a niche genre that non-Picross fans are unlikely to check out.

Instead, let’s talk about a game that isn’t even technically out yet. I was lucky enough to play the beta for Mediatonic’s Fall Guys recently. It’s the most fun I’ve had playing a game since Gang Beasts, but takes it to a completely different level. As someone who grew up on Most Extreme Elimination and the vastly superior Japanese version of Ninja Warrior, Fall Guys’ brand of wacky game show antics really speaks to me. All it’s missing is Vic and Kenny’s hilarious commentary.

So, make sure to join me next week when it launches as part of August’s PS+ lineup (and also when it comes to PC). You won’t regret it.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

Even in adding combat, Ori and the Will of the Wisps controls just as tightly as the original. Just moving through a level in this game is pure bliss. There are a handful of sections I didn’t love, but for the most part, developer Moon Studios absolutely nail gameplay.

However, that’s not why it makes my shortlist. Will of the Wisps is one of the more emotional stories I’ve played through in games. There aren’t many characters I’ve cared about more than that stupid bird. And I’m petrified of birds in real-life. Getting me to consider something with feathers as a friend is a big move. Plus, the game looks absolutely gorgeous. It’s a must-play.

David Gill, Staff Writer

Ghost of Tsushima

Ever since its announcement in 2017, I was so excited to play Ghost of Tsushima. Sucker Punch’s Sly Cooper and inFamous franchises are some of my favorite PlayStation exclusives, and I was interested to see what the developer would do next. From the moment I started rolling credits, I was so invested in Ghost of Tsushima and exploring Tsushima island even further.

One of the main things I love about this game is exploring the world and everything in it. There would be days where I didn’t do any story missions and just focused on side quests, raiding Mongol territory, and looking for collectibles. The game’s story went in directions I didn’t expect and I was always curious to see where it went. Sucker Punch also added cool mechanics such as the wind guiding you in the direction of your objective, which makes the game even more unique from others out there. You also can’t talk about the game without mentioning its gorgeous visuals that are just made for photo mode. After finishing Ghost of Tsushima, all I want to do is explore more, upgrade my skills, and get the platinum trophy. It’s up there with The Last of Us Part II as one of the best PlayStation exclusives and an amazing way to close out the current console generation.

The Last of Us Part II

With 2013’s The Last of Us being my favorite game of all time, my anticipation for The Last of Us Part II was high. I tried keeping an open mind and not letting my expectations getting the best of me. After finishing it four days after its release, The Last of Us Part II impacted me in ways I didn’t see coming.

The game took so many risks in telling its story, and I commend Naughty Dog for that. There were moments where I felt disconnected from the narrative but it ultimately succeeded in telling a story that’s multilayered and could be looked at through several different perspectives. On top of that, the game’s graphics are gorgeous, and in scope it is larger than any Naughty Dog game before. There are so many collectibles and environmental storytelling moments going on, and I couldn’t help but explore every area. Additionally, the game’s combat is better than ever and throws challenges at the player with almost every encounter. While The Last of Us Part II may not be for everyone, it’s one of very few games this year that I couldn’t stop thinking about days after I finished it.

Persona 5 Royal

Over the past few years, Persona 5 has been one of the games I’ve been meaning to play. It wasn’t until Persona 5 Royal released in March where I decided to finally play it. After reaching the credits in 80 hours, Persona 5 Royal is currently my favorite game of 2020, if not one of my favorite games of all time.

From its amazing story and characters to its incredible sense of style, Persona 5 Royal has so many things going for it. On top of that, there are so many side activities to do which make time go by so quickly. The game also has its amazing Confidant system that ties together your relationships with other characters and your main character’s progression. The game also features great writing and music you can’t help but jam to at times. While Persona 5 Royal’s length may turn some people off, it puts you on a journey you won’t regret taking.

Cameron Hawkins, Staff Writer

Final Fantasy VII Remake

The original Final Fantasy VII is one of my favorite games of all time, and Final Fantasy VII Remake has been one my most anticipated titles since its announcement back in 2015. Leading up to its release, Square Enix seemed shaky to say the least when it came to the development cycle of other previous big titles like Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III, with Remake showing similar signs. Thankfully though, Remake was not in the same boat.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is arguably the best JRPG of this generation, and it may be my favorite game in general this generation once the new consoles hit shelves later this year. Square Enix was able to recreate a game that is so special to so many hearts that they easily could have messed up, but they didn’t. The characters are stunning, Midgar is beautiful even during the most dreadful times, and the combat system blends the best parts of Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts‘ gameplay into one. Despite some minuscule setbacks, being able to reestablish such a beloved title that will give both new and old players different things to be compelled by is an incredible achievement that we haven’t seen in gaming before. It deserves all the praise it has been getting and more.

The Last of Us Part II

I’m not a big fan of The Last of Us. I think the original game is overrated and a lot of things that it gets praised for other games did beforehand and better, but I enjoyed my time with The Last of Us Part II. It was different and took some interesting narrative risks that worked in its favor in some areas and hurt it in others. I have issues with the level design and how Naughty Dog wanted you to explore around Seattle, but the main reason I picked up The Last of Us Part II is for the story.

This sequel feels like a worthy (and better) follow-up to its predecessor. In the original, I had issues regarding certain character choices that most of who I talk to normally don’t agree with. But in The Last of Us Part II, I felt validated that my issues were an important part of the narrative throughout. At the end of the day, I found the story to be memorable with a lot to unpack. I just wish I didn’t have so many general issues with the game at ground level, or else I would have placed it on a higher pedestal.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

I never thought I would see the day where my favorite Wii U title would get a second chance at life. Even with being a remastered port, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is currently my favorite Nintendo Switch title. For some, the direction of teenage Japanese idols may turn you off, but that is just the face of a wonderfully fun and engaging JRPG. Being originally made by Atlus for the Wii U, it doesn’t meet the standards that people know from Persona 5, but there are aspects of Tokyo Mirage Sessions that I like over Persona. The combat system is diverse and addictive at times, the puzzles can give you a real challenge, and of course it oozes that Atlus charm.

It is a beautiful homage to the Fire Emblem franchise, telling a Fire Emblem story in a completely new way while still having the Atlus vision behind it. If you love Persona, play Tokyo Mirage Sessions. If you love Fire Emblem, play Tokyo Mirage Sessions. Unless you don’t like JRPGs, you should play Tokyo Mirage Sessions.

Allisa James, Senior Staff Writer

Final Fantasy VII Remake

This game has absolutely captured me from the first moment I played it. Expanding on the entirety of the Midgar section from the original Final Fantasy VII, FFVII Remake offers a crazy deep dive that fleshes out every last component. The expansions made to the plot managed to create more intrigue and better convey the inner workings of Shinra and the various villains. In turn, the heroes have more chances to shine as they spend more time cooperating with each other while expanding their team and character dynamics. The Avalanche members Jessie, Biggs, and Wedge are fleshed out themselves and actually feel like real people, making their (most likely) tragic fates even more poignant. The setting has never felt more alive with tons of shops, NPCs constantly scurrying around and chatting about their daily lives and current events, and side quests that give the residents agency and personality. And all of this is rounded out by some stellar voice work.

This isn’t even mentioning the action/turn-based blended combat system that requires strategy to prevail (and will crush you for button spamming). The revamped combat system in FFVII Remake features tons of combo creation that relies on both an intimate knowledge of each attacks’ timing and on quick reflexes to build those chains in the first place. There’s also an incredible amount of weapon and Materia build customization options for players, depending on the roles you want each character to take on.

Persona 5 Royal

Pushing past the dense pacing before Okumura’s Palace, Royal offers everything you could ever ask for in an updated re-release. It introduced sorely needed gameplay balances, brand new mechanics that liven up and condense otherwise boring dungeon layouts, revamped boss battles, and added tons of new minigames. That’s aside from the fact that there is a new prefecture to explore, it introduced two new characters and added more Confidants, completely overhauled a pre-existing Confidant, added brand new events, added a new school semester and an new dungeon coupled with two new endings, more voice work, and more. The sheer amount of new content in Persona 5 Royal is staggering and shows how much work Atlus put into this title to make an already amazing game even better.

Pokemon Sword and Shield: Isle of Armor

The first of two DLC packs releasing this year for the brand new main entries in the Pokemon franchise, the Isle of Armor expansion features tons of new content as well. More Pokemon are introduced in the National Dex, there’s a fun introductory plot that also brings in your (self-proclaimed) rival and gym leader hopeful, a huge island filled with secrets and hidden areas to explore, item fusion, and new Gigantamax forms.

The best part of Isle of Armor is getting to train up an adorable Pokemon named Kubfu. This Pokemon will let you take part in the Towers of Two Fists challenges and completing one of them — the Tower of Darkness or Tower of Waters — will evolve your Kubfu into Urshifu. The Tower you choose will determine Urshifu’s fighting style, with each style having its own moveset and strengths. For Pokemon fans, the first DLC expansion is guaranteed to keep you entertained for hours while making you wish for the upcoming Crown Tundra pack even more.

Mehrdad Khayyat, Staff Writer

F1 2020

I’m not a big fan of Formula 1 tournaments in the real world, as I know very little about the sport’s leading teams and basic rules. But when I got the chance to play F1 2020 this year, it started to turn me into a Formula 1 professional fan. It even got to the point that I began reading about the history of the sport, dig up its current teams, and follow the live real-world races of Formula 1.

Of course, if you put a lot of time on a certain game, you would become a veteran fan of it sooner or later, but the progress that I made in F1 2020 was significant enough that all I can do is to praise its gameplay design. F1 2020 is a game that will adapt itself to the level of your driving skills without losing its highly stressful realistic experience. It’s impossible to describe all the amazing features of the game in a few paragraphs, but F1 2020 is my favorite racing title of this year, as I enjoy it more and more by winning every lap of a race over the opponent drivers. Simply, it’s like my Dark Souls in the racing genre.

Minecraft Dungeons

As the one of the first branches of the Minecraft series set in a totally different genre from that of the original game, Minecraft Dungeons is a gameplay-focused entertaining experience that I would be playing for months if there were more chapters to jump in.

Despite its short campaign, Minecraft Dungeons is a highly replayable game where you are encouraged to challenge yourself more and more with higher difficulty levels and better gear for fighting enemies. Dungeons features a very simple combat design that some may find as a negative point, but if it’s enjoyable enough, then why bother ourselves with more complicated stuff?

Stela

Despite being a brief gaming experience, Stela is surely the most beautiful game that I’ve played so far in 2020. The game nails perfection in art and sound design, featuring various gorgeous locations accompanied by strong and impressive song pieces that I couldn’t stop listening to even days after finishing the game.

Of course, Stela has its own downsides in the case of gameplay, but it doesn’t mean you can put it aside easily. If you ask me, Stela is a must-play title for those who are looking for a relaxing puzzle-adventure to take a break from the routine mature video game experiences, at least for a few hours.

Ryan Meitzler, Features Editor

Half-Life: Alyx I’m not a huge connoisseur of VR games; I have an Oculus Rift headset but, for the most part, I prefer keeping my gaming to traditional experiences on console and PC. That said, Half-Life: Alyx changed that for me earlier this year and, in a lot of ways, it showed what I’ve been missing out on in VR. More importantly, Alyx feels like not just a tremendous VR game, but a huge step forward for the medium as a whole and an incredible example of immersive storytelling in a VR experience.

As a long-time fan of the Half-Life series, seeing the familiar sights of City 17 once again was a thrill in and of itself. However, the experience of witnessing it all again in Half-Life: Alyx was only enhanced by playing in VR, as Combine structures loomed in the distance and Striders towered over with their shambling legs. Everything I love about the Half-Life series is distilled perfectly into Alyx and fueled by its technical innovations in VR. Though I know a lot people most likely haven’t played it due to not owning a VR headset, trust me; when you do, this is the game that is worth having it for.

The Last of Us Part II

Even well after finishing The Last of Us Part II last month, it’s still a game that I haven’t been able to get out of my head after playing it. As much as I went into Part II unsure of whether Naughty Dog would be able to deliver an experience that could hold up to the original The Last of Us, by the end of Part II I had no doubt that the studio managed to pull it off and then some.

Though some might consider The Last of Us Part II the most “controversial” game of 2020 so far as a result of internet discourse around the game’s story and ending, to me, the game’s strengths lie in its willingness to take risks and ask questions with no easy answers. The moral complexities at the heart of Ellie and Abby’s stories in The Last of Us Part II are ones that I myself haven’t fully come to terms with yet even after finishing the game, and speak to its engrossing and unrelenting story. Though The Last of Us Part II was messaged as a game about “hate,” by the story’s end, you’ll see that it compasses much more than that, and is easily one of the most memorable (if gut-wrenching) experiences that I’ve had so far this year.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore

While normally I wouldn’t usually consider a remastered version of a game on my year-end lists, I have to give a bit of the spotlight this time around to Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore. Having missed out on the game when it first released on the Wii U and in the past several years becoming infatuated with the Persona series, those two events led to the perfect confluence of finally getting to play Tokyo Mirage Sessions this year and loving it.

Taking the elements of the Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem series and mixing them together, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore by today’s standards isn’t a JRPG of the caliber of Persona 5, but is still an incredibly fun and refreshing experience in its own right. With its J-pop infused theme and music, an eclectic and memorable cast of characters, and an engaging combat system, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore is an excellent way to experience an underrated JRPG, regardless of whether you’re an SMT/Fire Emblem fan or otherwise.

Logan Moore, Managing Editor

DOOM Eternal

DOOM Eternal rules. In my own estimation, Eternal is a drastic improvement in nearly every way over the original game. The combat is more visceral, the soundtrack is heavier, and traversal around each environment is more enticing. It’s not just what I believe to be the best game of the year, it’s very well the best shooter released in this entire console generation. Play it.

Ori and the Will of the Wisps

I did not expect to like Ori and the Will of the Wisps like I did. Blind Forest never clicked with me when I played it a few years back like it did for many others, so my expectations for Will of the Wisps were pretty reserved. The final game ended up being far more engrossing, especially from a storytelling standpoint, than I thought it would be.Will of the Wisps is likely the best Metroidvania game I have played in the past few years and is deserving of endless attention. Make sure you give it a shot if you have an Xbox or PC.

Persona 5 Royal

I never got around to playing the original Persona 5. It has basically been my white whale for years and was a game that I knew I’d love if I just fully committed to actually playing it from front to back. When I found that Persona 5 was finally set to be re-released in its new Royal iteration, I knew this had to be the point where I rectified my mistake from the first time around. Fortunately, that turned out to be the best gaming-related decision that I have made so far in 2020.

Persona 5 Royal, despite having not yet finished it, has already become one of my favorite games of all-time. In a year that has been rife with stress, anxiety, and a multitude of other hardships for me personally, Persona 5 Royal has been a consistent joy to ease into regularly at the end of some very long days. I can’t wait to (hopefully) finish it up in the next few weeks.

Laddie Simco, Associate Staff Writer

Dreams

Dreams is a tough one to put a label on. I remember when Media Molecule first announced the ambitious project, I was immediately intrigued but couldn’t fully wrap my mind around exactly what it was trying to achieve. It’s a constantly evolving set of tools that is somewhat overwhelming at first, but Media Molecule takes you by the hand and guides you through the scary stuff. If creation isn’t your thing, Dreams gives you instant access to every type of game or multimedia experience you could ever imagine created by other dreamers. You become part of the “Dreamiverse,” which is the built-in community and social network where you can meet other dreamers or check out their works. So far that includes everything from all original games to re-creations of things like the PT demo or the opening section of Metal Gear Solid. Admittedly, I’ve still not created anything I’m proud enough to publish for the Dreamiverse to see, but I’ve had tons of fun trying it out. My favorite thing is tinkering with the music tools.

Dreams includes a campaign known as “Art’s Dream,” which acts as an advanced tutorial to show what the game can do. It was created entirely within the game and using the same tools that are available to anyone with a PS4 and a copy of Dreams. It’s a bit on the short side, clocking in around two hours, but not a minute is wasted. It features a cast of likable characters and incorporates many genres including platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and even throws in a few unforgettable musical numbers for good measure. I’d love to see more of “Art’s Dream,” perhaps even a new adventure starring Frances and Foxy. If you don’t finish “Art’s Dream” with a smile on your face, you are either a monster or you’re dead inside.

Ghost of Tsushima

These three games not only represent my best of 2020 so far; in many ways they also represent the best of an era as we prepare to say goodbye to the console generation that gave birth to the PS4 and the Xbox One. While initially one of my three picks went to Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Ghost of Tsushima came in at the last minute and knocked it out of the list. The game is an absolute joy to play. It features stunning visuals and environments, spicy combat, and an engaging story complete with well-written characters. It’s a massive open-world game that I’m still happily exploring without feeling that fatigue I get from so many other open-world games. This has a lot to do with the side missions not feeling like they were an afterthought; some are just as enjoyable as the main missions.

Throughout the game you play as Jin, who is one of the last samurai during the first Mongol invasions of Japan. However, there are a series of side missions that feature a story arc centering around Jin’s allies and friends. I found this to be a cool feature that lets you get to know the supporting characters better, and could even set up the possibility of spin-offs or sequels. Aside from being an expert with the katana, Jin is equipped with a small arsenal of other weapons and equipment that noticeably gets more deadly as you progress to the top of the skill tree. There are a few quirks with button responsiveness and erratic movement at times, but honestly, there’s so much to love about Ghost of Tsushima that after a while, you won’t even notice.

The Last of Us Part II

Naughty Dog made a few bold choices with the direction that The Last of Us Part II took. Not everyone was happy with the outcome, but for me it not only lived up to my high expectations, it at times surpassed them. It’s brutal and violent in a way that often makes you uncomfortable, and yet, it didn’t feel gratuitous. I’m sure playing it amidst a real-life pandemic heightened my experience and made it even more poignant. While playing my emotions ran the gamut of everything I’ve ever felt. Just like in the first game, it’s hard to tell who (or if anyone) is the protagonist. You can love or hate a character in this game for exactly the same reasons. I have to say, without blatant spoilers, the way that Naughty Dog dropped you in new character Abby’s playable shoes without a formal introduction was shocking and brilliant.

The gameplay of The Last of Us Part II is much improved over the first game, but it still retains many of the same core mechanics. As far as graphics go, it’s Naughty Dog, so of course the game looks amazing. We are introduced to a few new variations of the infected, some improved and new weapons, and an entirely new playground which largely takes place in Seattle. The voice acting is top-notch with Ashley Johnson once again reprising the role of Ellie. The campaign is lengthy and depending upon how you play and if you are a treasure seeker, it can take up to 40 hours to complete. Despite having many “giraffe” moments, The Last of Us Part II isn’t the “feel-good” game of the year. It shows us a harsh reality and some of the subjects explored are not for the squeamish, which was obviously going to divide the audience. Weeks after finishing The Last of Us Part II, it still haunts me. Despite its critics, The Last of Us Part II will be remembered as one of the greatest games ever made, and I think it deserves every bit of that praise.

Nick Tricome, Staff Writer

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Part of me is still in awe that this even exists (the part of me that watched that PS3 tech demo on loop all those years ago), and another part is trying to comprehend something I never could’ve expected upon completing the game: Final Fantasy VII is brand new again.

Let’s face it: the ending of this game and the new story elements it introduced along the way are pretty divisive, and scary for some even (hell, even the characters themselves were uneasy stepping into a quite literal unknown). The development team behind this game, composed of veterans from the original and new blood that grew up playing it, knew exactly what they were making here and how important FFVII is to so many people. And it’s obvious how far they went to be faithful not just to the original game, but everything about its world and characters that came after.

Final Fantasy VII Remake is only the first part of the story, but is such a grand celebration of everything the original game has become over the past 23 years. And then it sets itself up for the story to play out differently. It’s gutsy for sure, and to me, incredible. For the next part of Remake–be it “Part 2,” “Reunion,” or whatever Square wants to call it–I legitimately don’t know what’s going to happen, and that’s all really exciting to me.

Kingdom Hearts III: ReMIND

Kingdom Hearts III was hit or miss with fans, and the ReMIND DLC fell into pretty much the same boat. For me, they were both hits. The last third of Kingdom Hearts III is still one constant exposition dump, and ReMIND didn’t reinvent that. Instead, it just added to it with more story content, some extra, more challenging boss fights, and finally giving Kairi something to do. Combine that with the merciless boss battles, the Final Fantasy fan service that was noticeably missing from the core game, and that massive cliffhanger of a secret ending that came with the “Limit Cut” episode, and ReMIND is pretty much a small encapsulation of why I enjoy the series at the end of the day. It’s an ultimately nonsensical story that’s presented so sincerely that I can’t help but love it, with gameplay that can make me question my sanity but feel so incredibly satisfying and smooth when it all finally clicks, and has an ending teaser that’ll keep me theorizing for however long it takes to get the next game.

Plus, ReMIND reaffirms that Donald Duck is the most powerful being in existence.

The Wonderful 101: Remastered

By and large, this is more of a current-gen port than a straight up remaster (granted, that term has a pretty wide definition), but that’s perfectly fine. The Wonderful 101 was a commercial bomb when it released as a Wii U exclusive seven years ago, but it was also one of the most unique and highly creative action games I’ve ever played. So just having a modern, widely accessible version of the game, I think, is a huge win both for returning fans and players who’ve heard about it but never had the means to play it for themselves.

You don’t play as one character in The Wonderful 101, you play as an entire team of Super Sentai/Power Rangers-inspired heroes all at once, all colorful both aesthetically and in their personality. You draw basic shapes to summon weapons and fight alien invaders, being able to start out with a giant fist, then switching on the fly to a sword, a whip, or a gun to keep combos going. You play through a simple but earnestly put together story, one with plenty of wit and humor, that consistently escalates towards massive scale boss battles with some of the greatest quick-time events I’ve ever seen. However, then it will throw you into a gameplay section that’s just one big tribute to another game entirely, because why not?

The Wonderful 101: Remastered is excellent, but won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. That said, the game’s first mission captures everything it’s about, so if you’re curious but still on the fence, go check it out. It should be more than enough for you to make a decision.

Scott White, Associate Staff Writer

Dungeons & Dragons

So, the world is in a pretty crappy spot right now. I miss being able to have board game and Magic nights with my friends, but one game I’ve been able to continue to enjoy is Dungeons & Dragons. And boy-o-boy has the bug bitten me bad during this quarantine. My normal Tuesday night crew made the transition to Roll20 to continue our adventures, and this social interaction grew to become one of the highlights of my week. We still play mostly online, but we’ve been able to recently play our first in-person game recently and it was a magical celebration.

I love rolling dice, I love coming up with solutions to problems, and I love when things inextricably go off the walls and things go to hell in this game. In my hunger for more dice-rolling goodness, I finally started Critical Role (started at the very beginning, “Vox Machina” episode 1, baby!), and it has only ignited an even larger desire to play. I have even started an additional bi-weekly game with another group of friends and I’m doing some Gen Con stuff too, just to try and take the roleplaying itch off.

Thank you Dungeons & Dragons for helping keep me sane during these crazy times. As sane as I can be, anyway.

Final Fantasy VII Remake

Much like many people, I waited so very long for this game to finally release and the fact that it turned out so much better than we all expected was such an amazing surprise. Final Fantasy VII Remake finally nailed what Square has been attempting to create in a game since they released Advent Children, with flashy and stylish combat that retains much of the depth and strategy of a turn-based RPG. The gameplay, characters, and much of the story all snapped perfectly into place for me, and I fell in love with this world all over again. I’m hopeful that with much of the battle system figured out and a lot of the ground work now being laid, the time until the next entry of Final Fantasy VII Remake won’t be too long. Until then, I will eagerly daydream and speculate as to what many of the endgame moments mean, and hope that they add FFXII‘s Gambit system into the next game.

Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 is one of the best RPGs of all time; fight me. I fell in love with the original release back in 2017, and while excited for Royal, I was curious how I would take to replaying such a long game again. 130 hours later, I came away loving the characters, story, and gameplay even more than I did the first time. From the gratuitous amount of style that oozes from every facet of this game, to the jazz-rock soundtrack that I never want to get out of my head, I can’t help but smile when I think about Persona 5 Royal.

Sam Woods, Staff Writer

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Speaking of a game releasing at the right time, Animal Crossing: New Horizons absolutely hit the sweet spot. I’ve been an Animal Crossing fan since the GameCube, so my excitement was palpable for the new release, but Nintendo did what Nintendo does best and knocked it out of the park, exceeding my already high expectations.

My girlfriend is far from a gamer. The extent of her gaming history is building houses in The Sims and playing Wii Sports or Mario Kart 8, but as we entered lockdown in the UK earlier this year, I decided to pick her up a Switch Lite and a copy of Animal Crossing, and it’s been a revelation. Since the game came out in March we’ve played together almost every day, sharing design ideas, planning out our towns, trading items and just hanging out. We’ve spent hundreds of happy hours playing this game together and it’s absolutely deserving of its spot in my top three games of this year so far.

The Last of Us Part II

While I managed to hold off from replaying Persona 5, I think I’m going to struggle to do the same with The Last of Us Part II. The gripping drama, fantastic world-building and interweaving story are calling me back. It’s a call that is getting harder to resist the more time that passes.

Although “the internet” might disagree, I felt The Last of Us Part II told a fantastic story in a really engaging way. I felt a huge range of emotions at every twist and turn, and at the end of the game I was left feeling hollow. Not hollow in a negative way, but in the way when you complete an awesome TV series and wonder what life was like before it. The Last of Us Part II is nothing short of incredible, and I implore the doubters to give it a shot.

Persona 5 Royal

Persona 5 was the first game in the Persona series that I’d checked out, and after completing it back in 2018, I was itching to play it again. During my time of hesitation Persona 5 Royal was promptly announced and I decided to wait it out, and boy am I glad I did.

The original game, to me at least, is an absolute masterpiece. The music is incredible, the art direction is stunning, and its gameplay loop is so addictive. While my expectations for Persona 5 Royal were high, the first game was so good that I wasn’t expecting anything groundbreaking. I was wrong. Atlus tightened up a lot of the smaller gameplay niggles from the original game, added a pair of fascinating new characters, and incorporated the pinnacle of all Palaces. Although I clocked in at close to 120 hours, it released at a perfect time where social interaction has been forced to a minimum. Persona 5 Royal allowed me to create meaningful bonds and make up for lost time all while playing through the game’s intricate story.

Now that you know what our favorite games have been from the first half of the year, what have your favorite games of 2020 (so far) been? What titles are you looking forward to for the rest of the year? Sound off and let us know in the comments down below!

July 31, 2020 1:00 PM EST

from EnterGamingXP https://entergamingxp.com/2020/07/dualshockers-favorite-video-games-of-2020-so-far/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dualshockers-favorite-video-games-of-2020-so-far

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douchebagbrainwaves · 5 years ago

Text

THE COURAGE OF PROFESSIONALISM

A big company is like a mosquito. If you can recognize good startup founders by empathizing with them—if you both resonate at the same frequency—then you may already be a better startup picker than the median professional VC.1 But they're not so advanced as they think; obviously they still view office space as a badge of rank.2 In the real world.3 Let the nerds keep their lunch money, and often win. A survey course in art history may be worthwhile. Really they ought to be out there digging up stories for themselves. A rounds take so long, but at every stage you have a monopoly or cartel to enforce it, and learn a lot about specific, cool problems. The other is that, in a group of other ambitious people.

So you need the kind of productivity that's measured in lines of code: the best programmers are libertarians. It made them hate working for the acquirer. You're going to hit a lot of animals in the wild. A rounds.4 We funded them because we liked the founders so much. But the company as they can in each one. The most important reason for having surprisingly good customer service. For example, one way to do it yourself.

Wealth is what people want.5 This is the tone of someone writing down to their audience. That may not seem surprising. Is it higher in some areas than others? But that isn't true; they are not ordinary people.6 What motivates them? Which means it's doubly important to hire the best people.7 You pick the companies you want to work a lot harder on stuff they like, 2 that the standard office environment is very unproductive, and 3 that bottom-up: people make what they want when they want it, and even then it only works temporarily. I first met him, I thought, these guys are doomed.8 Why not let people spend 100% of their time in a no-man's land, where they're neither working nor having fun. I get close to a deadline. But they underestimated the force of their desire to connect with one another.

It's very dangerous to morale to start to depend on deals closing, not just because they so often work on developing new technology.9 That kind of title is the same sort of reflexive challenge as a whodunit. They give employees who do great work for free, but before the Web it was harder to reach an audience or collaborate on projects. They've tried hard to make their offices less sterile than the usual cube farm. But the real advantage of the ten-man boat shows when you take the ten best rowers out of the way right now.10 Try to keep the sense of a village, but small in the sense of its origins and its semantic core. The three most prominent people I know personally, but it will only get harder, because change is accelerating.11 If you sell your car, you'll get more for it.12 And a lot of trolls in it.

The disadvantage is that it tends not to happen at all. What VCs should be looking for those?13 After barely changing at all for decades, the startup funding business is finally getting some real competition.14 But you don't need to write it in Java. The Suit is Back. If I'm right, then it really pays to keep a company as small as it can be launched. Raising a traditional series A round if you do it? Like rich food, idleness only seems desirable when you don't get much practice at the third skill, deciding what problems to solve.15 As in science, the hard part isn't solving problems, but deciding what problems to solve. You don't pitch stories to them.

A couple years ago a venture capitalist friend told me about a new startup he was involved with. But reporters don't want to bet the company on Betamax.16 There may be a struggle ahead. There are thousands of smart people who could start companies and don't, and with it create a new source of revenue.17 5 commands Don't ignore your dreams; don't work too much; say what you think; cultivate friendships; be happy. To say nothing of idiotic. The toolmakers would have users, but they'd only be the company's own developers.

The traditional board structure after a series A round if you do it? The Suit is Back. The main reason PR firms exist is that reporters are lazy. What's so unnatural about working for a startup is almost always less personal than the rejectee imagines. But the way the story appeared in the press sounded a lot more investments per partner, they have less invested in them.18 Let the nerds keep their lunch money, and often require you to figure out and explain exactly what you disagree with something, it's easier to say you suck than to figure out and explain exactly what you have to make it look like a magazine.19 So difficult that there's probably room to discard more. Maybe some aspects of professionalism are actually a net lose.

Notes

If they're dealing with YC companies that we know nothing about the team or their determination and disarmingly asking the right order. Parker, op. Because it's better if everything just works. Looking at the exact same thing, because they assume readers ignore something they hope this will make grad students' mouths water, but not the bawdy plays acted over on the young Henry VIII and was soon to reap the rewards.

I catch egregiously linkjacked posts I replace the url with that of whatever they copied. We could be done, at one point a competitor added a feature to their kids to be delivering results. Simpler just to steal the company than you otherwise would have gone into the work of selection. What will go away.

I read most things I find hardest to get market price for you. There can be huge.

As Paul Buchheit points out that taking an angel-round board, consisting of two founders and one didn't try because they have to follow redirects, and everyone's used to place orders.

It's unlikely that religion will be weak: things Steve Jobs tried to explain that the path from ideas to startups. While Jessica didn't ask many questions, they have that glazed over look.

I. But this is also to the point of treason.

Horace, Sat. But startups are competitive like running, not where to see.

Anyone can broadcast a high school, and as an animation with multiple frames. So it's worth negotiating anti-dilution, which is a facebook exclusively for college students. We didn't, they thought at least wouldn't be worth about 30 billion.

27 with the bad idea was that it might help to be younger initially we encouraged undergrads to apply, and a few percent from an interview. It should not always as deliberate as its sounds.

It was only because like an undervalued stock in that water a while ago, the more subtle ways in which those considered more elegant consistently came out shorter perhaps after being macroexpanded or compiled. 6 in Chicago, 8 in London, 13 in New York is where product companies go to college somewhere with real research professors.

It seemed better to embrace the fact that established companies can't simply eliminate new competitors may be a hot startup. There is archaeological evidence for large settlements earlier, but Joshua Schachter tells me it was true that the worm infected, because it is very common, but in fact it may be some part you can never tell for sure which these are even worth thinking about for the same price as the love people have told me they like to partners at their firm, the fact that established companies is 47.

Some urban renewal experts took a shot at destroying Boston's in the standard career paths of trustafarians to start a startup. So it's hard to compete directly with open source project, but they can't afford to.

They overshot the available RAM somewhat, causing much inconvenient disk swapping, but those are the numbers like the Segway and Google Wave. I think you should make what they meant. Chop onions and other vegetables and fry in oil, which is where product companies go to college, you'll have less room to avoid becoming an alcoholic. University Press, 1981.

By hiring sufficiently qualified designers. Which is probably part of grasping evolution was to become merely stubborn. Startups that don't raise money after Demo Day. Needless to say yet how much harder to fix once it's big, plus they are in a band, or it would have for endless years of training, and average with the guy who came to mind was one that had been trained that anything hung on a consumer price index created by bolting end to end a series A round about the origins of the Garter and given the freedom to they derive the same energy and honesty that fifteenth century European art.

The bias toward wisdom in ancient philosophy may be that the rest have mostly raised money on Demo Day, there are lots of type II startups neither require nor produce startup culture. It was harder for you to two more investors. I agree.

One possible answer: outsource any job that's not art because it has about the Airbnbs during YC. Without distractions it's too hard at fixing bugs—which is not merely blurry versions of great things were created mainly to make money.

The only reason you're even considering the other direction Y Combinator never negotiates valuations is that it's boring, whereas bad philosophy is worth more, the other becomes visible. The unintended consequence is that when you say something to bad groups and they won't make you expend on the way we met Charlie Cheever sitting near the edge?

Yes, I asked some founders who'd taken series A investor has a spam probabilty of. Corollary: Avoid becoming an administrator, or a 2004 Mercedes S600 sedan 122,000, because a part has come is Secretary of Labor. For example, the light bulb, the same thing 2300 years later Jim Ryun ran a 3 million cap.

If you want to avoid collisions in. Everyone's taught about it.

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