#I had so much fun with this season but the overall plot makes my brain throw up question marks if I map it out or think about it too hard

[jq37]

FH Junior Year Post-Season Thoughts

With another season of Fantasy High in the books and my recaps all finished, I wanted to do an overview of my thoughts on the season as a whole. Even though I feel generally positive about my experience with the season, there are a few things I think maybe could have been done differently narratively or mechanically. This isn't to criticize the way the season went down or to backseat DM/Play. More my combined ten years of college for textual analysis and storytelling bleeding through, haha. 

I first want to start with the things I thought worked really well.

Fantasy High has "High" right in its title but, in past seasons (and especially Sophomore Year), not as much time as you'd think was spent actually at school and even if it was spent at school, there wasn't much time spent in class or engaging with the realities of being a student. This season really dug into the academic consequences of skipping your classes all the time and the realities of needing to do a ton of extra stuff to try for a scholarship and I think that was a refreshing thing to highlight for a change. Being more scared at flunking out than the dragon that's trying to eat you feels very emotionally resonant. Real "High School Is Killing Me" vibes for anyone who's a fan of NPMD. 

Even though Fantasy High is a show that has some deep emotional beats and strong character arcs, it's first and foremost a comedy show. From the jump, everyone was generating bit after bit that had me cracking up as usual. "Little girly dog collar" is one of the funniest combinations of words I can think of. I think it was Siobhan who said that this was the goofy season and, having seen it, I'd have to agree with her. It never failed to make me laugh and it was always a highlight of my week.  The cast just has great table chemistry that I love to watch no matter what they're doing. 

Watching some of these high level combat encounters is as close as I'll get to understanding people watching sports. Even though combat is generally my least fave part of D&D, I think the cast really killed it this season with how cleverly they played and Brennan came up with some really great combat encounters. Special shout outs to Baron's Game and The Last Stand for their unique mechanics.  

This is going to be one that's on the other list as well because my feelings are mixed, but I genuinely do like the downtime mechanic and how it forces hard choices. I think it's an interesting way to connect a mechanic to the story and cultivate stressful atmosphere for the season.

I have problems with the execution but I love the Rat Grinders in concept. I think as early as season 1 I was hoping that we'd meet a party that was like the Bizarro Bad Kids and the idea of a party that's farming XP instead of going on crazy adventures is a strong concept. Likewise, I think a character that's jealous because of your "cool" (read: tragic) backstory is also a fun trait for an unhinged antagonist in this kind of setting.

This is me absolutely showing my bias but I adored the Abernant Sisters content this season. I dunno if Siobhan specifically asked Brennan to not put her on a bus with the other beloved NPCs or what but I'm so glad she stuck around and we got the development we did. It was almost entirely ancillary to the plot but there was this clear pattern of Aelwyn getting softer and sweeter towards Adaine over the course of the season, from the guarded, "Enjoy the nemesis ward," to, full I love you's and, "I'd take them to get you." It was way more focus than I expected considering that Aelwyn completed the bulk of her arc last season and a lot of the time, a redemption arc basically ends after the big gesture (in this case, Aelwyn taking a magic blast for Adaine in Sophomore Year). So the fact that we got to see all of these sweet moments of them reestablishing their relationship outside of do or die moments was such a pleasant surprise. Again, I fully admit I am extremely biased, but this was my top wishlist item and the season overdelivered so there's a baseline happy I'm always gonna be with Junior Year. 

OK, so moving on to things I things I think could have been tweaked.

Even though I liked the downtime system and the pressures it created, it also squeezed out the chance for more casual PC to NPC interactions that would usually be more common because they were semi-locked behind the relationship track and there wasn't an obvious benefit to roll for Relationships (as opposed to something like Academics which was crucial for not flunking out). Making the mechanical benefit more clear would have helped that (even if it meant Brennan didn't get his reveal--which he ended up just telling them anyway so might as well do it early). The other thing is that the consequence of a rage token was so bad that of course they spent all season avoiding getting one. Things might have gone differently if the consequences had been a bit more obscured, like in Neverafter. And it could have been a nice parallel to the Rat Grinders to take this unknown resource that makes things easier for you but is also having this negative effect. Then it could be like dang we did the same thing they did unknowingly. 

I mentioned this in my recap but I'll talk about it again. It is a little confusing to me that we did the Ankarna subplot right after we did the very similar Cassandra subplot. It took up so much time this season which I don't think is an issue in and of itself, it's just that we literally just went through some extremely similar beats last season. Why double up on this same storyline when there's so much new ground to cover? Or if we're going to raise a god, why not make it a different kind of god? One theory I had early on was that the Rat Grinders were trying to raise their own god to one-up the Bad Kids but instead of raising a chill, misunderstood Cass type, they accidentally raised a god who was erased for a good reason and got in over their heads. 

It's fun for there to be connections between seasons but sometimes it's like, OK that's a *lot* of coincidences. Like the god who your rivals is trying to raise *happens* to be the wife of your cleric's god and also *happens* to be the god of the fiend trapped in your friend's mom's chest and that fiend *happens* to be the relative on your bard's dad's side which is *also* the reason she is randomly cursed? That's a LOT of red string connecting plot points. As unhinged as Kipperlilly is about coveting Riz's backstory if I saw that go down I'd be like you have *got* to be kidding me.  

The mystery elements didn't feel like they clicked as well as they did in other seasons. I think that's partially because Porter's plan was so convoluted (seriously, I made another post about how haphazard his plan was) and had all these moving parts and we didn't get clear answers for a lot of mechanical things like how the rage crystals actually work and when they were implanted and stuff. You had stuff like Devil's Honey which I think is super cool as a thing that exists in the world but ended up being an element that just led the players down the wrong path and had a relatively small payoff (that Porter was using it to lie to Ankarna). I think it's plausible that a forgotten god would be willing to listen to anyone saying the right things without introducing this element. (As opposed to, for instance, Ambrosia which has a very clear connection to what's going on and is a solid clue that someone is flirting with aspirations of godhood.) 

The Porter reveal came so late in the season that even though it was a fun/challenging fight, there wasn't a lot of emotional weight behind killing him. It was basically just dunking on a teacher Fig has always hated who was also mean to Gorgug so screw him. Which, valid of course. But the Bad Kids were never going to react as strongly to Porter as they were to the Rat Grinders so putting Porter in the prime villain spot isn't necessarily what I would have done if I wanted the fight to be more than just a brawl--especially since we've done "School admin with student minions" already in S1. I don't mind the full circle callback but it would have been nice to pick something else for the sake of variety. We haven't had a child mastermind yet and I think Kipperlilly could have been a great candidate for that. My friend suggested that it would have been fun if Kipperlilly was trying to become a god instead of just being Porter's underling and I agree. "I'm not anyone's chosen one so I'll choose myself," is still within her established jealousy and Type A tendencies. If we want to keep Porter involved since that was Brennan's gift to Emily, maybe have it be that instead of Kipperlilly working for him, he's working for her. Like Artemis Fowl vibes! And the Rat Grinders can be varying levels of on board--from true believe to redeemable. I don't think Brennan planned for the Bad Kids to ever redeem her so might as well go full megalomaniacal mastermind with her and make her The Villain if she's not gonna be nuanced anyway. If My Little Pony can do it and send a literal child to Tartarus for pony treason (or whatever Cozy Glow did), Fantasy High can too. 

Continuing from the above, if we have the Porter fight in place of the Grix fight (a la Daybreak) and don't use Ankarna, that gives way more time for the Bad Kids to investigate the Rat Grinders throughout the season and it would mean that they would have their personalities developed a lot more. With the limited downtime, they Bad Kids didn't have a lot of time to spend on these kids who were just hating on them for no good reason (valid). But if you cleared their plate of the god hunt stuff, they'd have more time for this. And if they weren't all rage zombies to varying degrees, it would be easier to see them as characters. Besides Kipperlilly (and, funnily enough, Mary Ann) we don't really have a good read on what these kids are actually like. The little time we spent with them all season was kind of a wash if them breaking out of rage means their personalities got laundered too. Anyway, regardless of how their loyalties ended up shaking out, it would have been fun for them to be more than the minions that they were in canon. As funny as it is for them to just kinda be XP farming losers, they did have the potential to be more interesting in their own right if they weren't just Porter's minions. And again, we've done adults forcing or coercing children into being minions in Freshman and Sophomore Year already. Lemme see some self-created child maniacs! (Or, peer pressured child maniacs. That's cool too. The Lucy/Kipperlilly dynamic is way more interesting to me if it's like girl, I would take a bullet for you but I CANNOT walk this path with you any further in response to *I* will be a god and you can be *MY* champion.)

Anyway, those are my thoughts! Like I said, I have my points that I think could have been tightened, but overall an enjoyable season and I will be glued to my screen if they decide to close out with Senior Year! 

[agerefandom]

A Good Omens S2 Review

Hello everyone! I lied and watched the new season of Good Omens and because I have thoughts on it, I thought I'd write a little review. This is from the perspective of someone who was a book fan for over a decade before the show came out, so it is quite critical of the show, so please keep that in mind! I expect that it's much more enjoyable for folks who didn't spend so long invested in a different version of the characters.

Short/Spoiler-Free: Season two was a fun time with excellent new characters, but the finale sets them up for a disastrous third season, and making Crowley and Aziraphale the main characters really does dilute the original message of the novel.

The rest of the review contains spoilers and is over 1,300 words because I was an English major in Uni. Carry on for those curious!

Let’s start off with the things that I liked about the show!

1.The actors for Crowley and Aziraphale are continuing to kill it with their performances: the physicality they bring to their characters is a delight, their timing in the comedy sections is impeccable, and I enjoy watching them do their thing.

2. Gabriel as a comedy relief character was amazing for me. I usually don’t enjoy comedy (and didn’t enjoy a single joke in the flashback scenes, but that’s entirely my fault probably for not liking humorous TV) but Gabriel really did tickle me.

3. Loved the terrifying Jane Austen ball where Aziraphale just messed around with everyone’s brains! Very chilling show of angelic power, potentially wasn’t played as horrific as it could have been, but still very nice! I like when Aziraphale is scary.

4. Muriel is my child and I love them with my entire heart. They were a delight of a character. Really brought new life to the show, and a new person to learn the message of the book (humanity as divinity). (Although the second season didn't really... carry that lesson for Muriel or for anyone else, so never mind that.)

5. The new human characters were also enjoyable and very sweet. Their dynamic was believable and real and that was good to see.

6. The writers really did just decide to make every side character gay and half of them use they/them pronouns. I have mixed opinions on it, but ultimately I did think it was a lovely little detail, especially with the angels/demons who are more separate from human genders.

Okay, now let’s get into the rest of things.

I think my overall conclusion from this season is that Crowley and Aziraphale were not, at all, made to be main characters. Even in the first season, I felt that they overemphasized them. In the book, the focus is split between them and the larger plot, with lots of little side vignettes to make sure the reader is kept grounded on Earth, with the humans, who are the emotional centre of the book. Aziraphale and Crowley play as foils to human nature in Adam and they are not the main characters, though they are, of course, the main marketing force.

Making them the main characters, especially in Season Two, meant dropping a lot of their character progress and giving them a lot more angst than they had in the novel. Both of them feel very young, where in the book they definitely seem more like they’ve been around for several millennia. I also feel that they aren’t totally allowed to be as fucked up as they were in the book? (Maybe that’s just a personal vendetta: I am furious that Season One took out the scene where Aziraphale kills his magician’s dove out of carelessness.)

Okay, two small things and then I’ll get to the finale.

First of all, interesting to get confirmation that Crowley was in the war on Heaven and actually took up arms? Feels contradictory to his ‘demon who sauntered vaguely downward’ description and also odd to his character that he would have fought directly against Heaven but I imagine that’s building to some other twist involving Crowley’s Fall in Season Three, so I’ll let it go for now. (I still think it makes show!Crowley very different from book!Crowley though)

Gabriel and Beelzebub were a very nice thing, although underdeveloped. It made me sad to see that they, as newly appointed side characters, can have a simple relationship, while Aziraphale and Crowley are now main characters and therefore need a more tumultuous and dynamic relationship that they didn’t have in the book, where they were actually relatively solid.

Now let’s go for finale time.

Ultimately, I absolutely hated two key things about the finale.

First of all, the kiss. I’m not sure if it was a direct response to the harassment about S1 being queerbaiting or if it was always the plan to have an explicitly physical relationship between the two, but I’m so mad about it either way. It just accepts the narrative that a physical relationship is the only stable one (ie. if Aziraphale had kissed Crowley back, it would have fixed everything and they could have been together). I also don’t really want my Good Omens show to be a religiously charged commentary on queer love, which it immediately became, especially with Aziraphale’s immediate response being “I forgive you,” which highlighted everything I didn’t want Good Omens to become.

Framing the kiss immediately as a sin is such a bad move, I don’t know what the writers were thinking??? Emphasizing that Aziraphale is an angel and however much he can want Crowley by his side, he can’t kiss him because he’s an angel and kissing is… something that needs to be forgiven?

However the line was supposed to be read, it really seemed like a religious condemnation and it hurt more than I care to admit. Aziraphale in the books is so comfortable with his perceived queerness, and his recoiling from it here with Crowley at the point where it becomes explicit… I didn’t care for it.

And secondly, the promotion.

That was so stupid on so many levels. My partner said that it wasn’t in character, since Aziraphale is not an ambitious angel and seems like someone who would turn tail and run from a promotion. I can’t say I remember his relationship with ambition in the books, but I respect and trust my partner’s opinion on that.

More importantly to me, it entirely muddies the message of the story and it reflects very darkly on what season three will involve.

Good Omens was never about ‘fixing’ Heaven or Hell. It was about honouring humanity as the truly divine mix of both, about not allowing them to end the Earth, and about finding a small place for yourself to live: a bookshop, a garden, a cottage, a town.

Aziraphale choosing to go and reform Heaven totally turns that on its head: now there is no ending for the show without either abandoning or fixing Heaven, and how is that going to work?? You can’t turn angels into an anarchy because it’s very clear they have no real natural inclination to ‘goodness’ but neither can you truly save Heaven, because what are you going to do? Declare that there’s no more cancer for young children? No more evil in the world? God has designed the world with evil in it, and there’s no rewriting that. Suddenly Good Omens has to grapple with what was once ineffable and almost unimportant to the lives of the characters: the true purpose of Heaven and Hell.

I have absolutely no faith in almost any TV show to tackle that question (The Good Place gets a minor pass), and no interest in watching the story be told through Aziraphale and Crowley, who have always been more grounded characters in a world of too much divine bureaucracy.

On the note of divine bureaucracy, I felt like it was lacking from the flashback scenes. While I enjoyed them overall and really appreciated some of my favourite book moments finally being adapted on-screen, they didn’t really address the paperwork they were covering for each other: seemed more like the two of them running around having almost random adventures, whereas in the novel they were often doing each other’s temptations and salvations in a much more ‘oh, check that off the list and write a progress report to the supervisor’ kind of way.

Again, this is because Aziraphale and Crowley have been made into Main Characters and their place as subordinates is now unimportant. They are making Big Decisions and causing changes in the world, and I truly don’t believe that’s what Aziraphale and Crowley were made to be. They were just an angel and a demon who tried to solve the apocalypse and didn’t end up doing anything because the anti-christ was a little too human for the whole plan to work in the first place.

And I miss them.

[far-side-skies]

Reworking Noob

Inspired by this post by @crossyyt. Saying what we're all thinking, Number One Fan was a lackluster episode despite the fact that it furthered what little overarching plot we managed to get out of the end of Season 2.

And it's because of this guy.

Gifs from this post by @atmosiacyclonia

Yeah, Noob. "The fan", and the writers' way of making jabs at both the fanbase and the industry as a whole apparently. Kind of entertaining on a first watch, especially over a decade after the show has ended, but looking at it critically...

He's just kind of a nothing character overall. We didn't need him to get involved in the quest for Warp crystals, he doesn't add anything to the story, he doesn't leave any meaningful impact on the story and yet he gets frozen in the prison crystal in Cyclonia Rising. Anyone could've been in his place and not much would've changed overall.

But I'm a believer that all characters have a use, you just need to find one for them. Noob didn't have much potential, but the potential that he did have feels wasted.

So let's see how he could've been put to better use.

TL;DR: I put him on the reserve team that was mentioned in Talon Academy and then never brought up again. Alternatively he could be a relative of Dark Ace.

Edit: I hit post on this too soon, added more thoughts as soon as I realised this wasn't in my drafts anymore.

First off: remove the meta commentary aspect. Poking fun at fans is bad form and commentary on real-life merch production in a fantasy setting like this is, in my opinion, nonsensical and makes my worldbuilding brain itch.

Second: Let's take a look at this kid's design.

When did y'all notice that Noob has black hair

and red eyes?

I only noticed a year ago.

Remind you of someone?

Allow me to freak out a bit, because

This can't have been an accident, right? What was the intent behind it? As far as I've noticed, these are the only two characters with this specific colouring. What was Nerd Corps trying to tell us??

Ok, freakout over. What are our options?

Noob and Dark Ace are related, and Noob's obsession with the Storm Hawks comes from knowing that he had a relative who was part of the old team.

Possible, but considering how quickly Noob bounced from being a Storm Hawks fan to an Absolute Zeroes fan, I don't think it's likely. If that is the case, then a rewrite of the episode would be needed to show a little bit more loyalty from Noob. I don't know about everyone else, but the jump from one fanbase to another feels like a pattern of behaviour in my opinion. He rotates through special interests on the regular. Nothing against that in a real-life context, but it feels like another mean-spirited jab at fans.

Meta commentary aside, Noob could be rewritten to be a fan of the original Storm Hawks because of this potential relation to them. It'd give us something close to a "real" origins episode if Noob was given a chance to infodump about his old idols. Maybe he dislikes the new team for being "inauthentic", or he doesn't care all that much about them, he's just interested in the Condor; a crucial piece of Storm Hawks history.

As for Dark Ace? Noob could either be unaware that the copilot he might be related to was a traitor (possibly indicating that the Sky Knights tried to cover up the traitor aspect), or he rejects the copilot out of disgust. He's just a traitorous Cyclonian after all and fodder for an identity crisis in Noob if he was anything close to a main character.

In short: Noob could've been used as an exposition device.

Option 2, and my personal take on how Noob can be made useful:

Rewrite him in full and give him a touch more screen time. Put him in Talon Academy for a scene or two, and then have him beg to join the reserve team that Aerrow suggested to Lynn. "Number One Fan" makes good on this suggestion and is about the whole reserve team, not just Noob.

I see this as a two birds, one stone solution. Noob gets to be useful, keeps his character trait as a mega-fan of the Storm Hawks, and that loose end from Talon Academy gets tied up somewhat. As much as I love the show, its episodic writing lead to quite a bit of disappointment. But it just means we get to play with all the elements like dolls.

Let him be an exposition piece for the world in regards to sky knight merchandise, but have it make sense in the context of Atmos. If he really is the only Storm Hawks fan out there (which I find doubtful), why are action figures of the team being made without the Hawks knowing? Either all his figures be handmade, or repurposed from existing figures of more popular teams like the Rex Guardians. Or hell, keep the joke that there aren't any Piper dolls in production, but have it be due to resource scarcity brought in by the war. Or Cyclonis bought every single Piper doll to use as target practise for whatever machine or weapon she's working on.

As I said above, let him be from the Talon Academy. Have him be so enamoured with the Hawks' takedown of this Cyclonian institution that he latched onto them as heroes and then got wrapped up in war propaganda in his efforts to become their number one fan. He's obviously a good few years younger than the team, so have his understanding of the war be incredibly shallow, and maybe give him an arc where he learns from that.

I was going to add more to this a lot more but a misclick or some kind of tumblr goof caused this to he published half-finished instead of saving it to my drafts, so eventually I'll make another post elaborating on these ideas. For now though I'm curious to see what everyone thinks, and their own takes on Noob. Is he a waste of screen time? Did you guys scrap him in your AUs? Did yall forget about him? Let me know.

[ryanthel0ser]

Care to share some stuff about Howls Moving Castle? I haven’t been able to fully comprehend Howls dynamic/style/personality yet.

FINALLY I CAN ANSWER THIS ASK (midterm season is awful)

While book and movie Howl are very different I do think they share a lot of core traits that define both as Howl instead of it being two different characters.

Both Howls have a level of mischievousness to them and like to have fun at times when everyone else is distressed. We don't get to see it as much in the movie but the two most prominent moments are when they escaped Suliman and when Howl takes down the ship in the flower garden. You can see him making fun out of the situation and causing trouble in a way that feels akin to someone who would pull pranks or tease. This is inline with his book counterpart who we see get to be a menace and constantly pester and annoy Sophie, doing various antics both plot relevant and "I just want to be a menace today."

Both Howl's also have a lot of heart and care for others, although book Howl does not show it as much like his movie counterpart. The whole reason the pact is made between Calcifer and Howl was because Howl pitied the shooting stars because they died upon impact with the ground, and we see him take in people from the street like Sophie and Markl (or Michael in the book). The movie though has Howl's affection being more open and clear to the audience because we don't get to spend time just with the characters like we do in the book, book Howl puts on the "I don't care I'm gonna go be a womanizer now" front but by the end of the book when it's revealed he is in love with Sophie and has been his actions become much more obvious.

In terms of vanity, Howl is a vain person when it comes to his own appearance. We only get to see it through his hair freak out and his fashion in the movie, but in the book we get a lot more of it especially when he's trying to be a womanizer. Book Sophie in the second book Castle in the Sky states "And he's sly and selfish and vain as a peacock and cowardly, and you can't pin him down to anything" (which she doesn't say out of malice for him in the moment, they're literally looking for Howl in this scene and her and Howl already have a kid) so in the book it's undeniable. However, in the movie, the Howl we see is much more noble (something the author even stated) and we only get that one moment when it came to Suliman that shows any level of cowardice from Howl.

Overall, the major difference between the movie and book Howl is that book Howl is very clearly a bad boy womanizer with a heart of gold while movie Howl is more of a mysterious guy who's a little bad but still has that heart of gold. I do think that we could've seen more of the Howl from the book if the movie was longer and we got those months Sophie was just living with them, but that probably would've killed the animators and Miyazaki movies don't tend to have moments like that in the film.

Both Howls are down bad for Sophie from the very early on though and I think it's safe to say he knew Sophie was the old woman in the movie from the start like he does in the book. In the movie, he's been looking for Sophie because of what she tells him when she goes back in time and I believe that not long after he starts to get to know her as old lady Sophie he falls for her (the scene where he watches her sleep literally has a track called "Unspoken Love" so he had to be falling by then). In the book, he sees her and thinks she's pretty when they first meet but it takes a bit for him to fall for her once she's old Sophie and then he falls hard and going back through the book it becomes very clear that he did when you look at his actions instead of his behavior with Sophie. Him and Sophie in the book have the "arguing is their love language" dynamic.

I hope this was sufficient, feel free to ask more, this was what I could pull from the top of my very exhausted brain but I know I could delve a little bit more into Howl himself, I just need some leading questions to get the gears going :]

[itsprjc]

Well, Season 2 of TDI Reloaded (TDI Rematch) has had its first four episodes out for about a week. I figured I’d share my thoughts about what we’ve gotten so far:

-The challenges are a little more fun than in Season 1. They have a good amount of variety and the often led to really fun moments between the characters. From the Skunks clogging the toilet slide, to basically all the Rat Faces being carried by Caleb, and of course the AB questions challenge. My girlfriend and I straight up paused the episode each question to try and guess the answers. (We got over half of them right.) As for my personal ranks on the challenges:

-Taking it to the Rim Reaper (Ep. 2): Memorable concept, without going too overboard with it. Also, I’m a bit of a simpleton sucker for the pratfalls.

-Choosin’ for a Bruisin’ (Ep. 4): Great challenge for both character insights and just playing along with it during a first-time viewing.

-You Poor Saps (Ep. 3): I technically prefer Ep.1’s challenge, but this one led to so many gold character moments.

-The Pink Painter Strikes Again (Ep.1): Solid start. Simple challenge, nothing too crazy.

-Animation is pretty much on the same level as Season 1. The facial expressions are GOLD! I’d argue some parts feel more dynamic than Season 1, like the slide moments in Episode 2, but overall, no complaints.

-The characters feel like they never left:

-Priya: I kinda get why she’d fall hard for Caleb, as keep in mind, she’s been stuck with this training with hardly any friends. This also explaining why she instantly jumped to befriending Millie when it seemed they got along. It’s clear that she does value the friendship as she was the only one to give Millie a chance after Episode 2. She also did work as an effective leader in the same episode, instantly taking advantage of the challenge’s slide order rule. Overall, I’m okay with Priya.

-Bowie: I dig his plot. Bowie made it clear at the end of Season 1 that he’s willing to bend the rules…and it’s clear that he probably cares about Raj more. Since people are more weary of him after the finale, it makes sense to have his conflict be more about whether he’d play dirty again. Also, this joker in Episode 4! As a captain (assuming those roles are official) I feel Priya’s more effective, though.

Millie: It’s clear she had alot more learning to do about being a good friend. (I still say both her and Damien could have taken the two-point slide together if they were both weary on the third.) Though her elimination was pretty anticlimactic, unfortunately. I do prefer her in Season 1, but I’m not against the plot they gave her.

Julia & MK: I’m putting them both together because they’re basically a package deal this time around. Overall, live their dynamic. It was a sudden jump from animosity to friendship, but that’s just because they know game when they see it. They have so much fun just being underhanded together, and it’s honestly a refreshing take on villain alliances. While I’d say MK is the breakout of the two, since she’s the brains of the whole alliance, Julia’s dialogue is so on point that it hurts. My hopes is that MK does succeed in backstabbing Julia, but she doesn’t even get mad. She just respects a player and roots for her to win…underhandedly, of course.

Emma: Compared to Millie…honestly not that mixed. I’m glad she cut the chord with Chase early and she got him booted in a clever way. The one thing that’s kinda backwards is how she ends up being a poor judge of character in Episode 4 when she basically red Chase like a book in Episode 2. But then again, I guess that’s just chalked down to being used to his sorry butt the most?

Chase: Everybody (including me) called that he’d be an early boot…and he was. I’m perfectly content with that, as it’s clear that character development was never the end-goal with Chase. And the moment he left, the Skunk Butts became the de facto best team. Props on his ballsy attempt to outrun the balloons in challenge 1, though.

Zee: All I wanted from Zee in Season 2 is for him to still be Zee…Good news, Zee is still Zee. I honestly got worried the “soda influencer” plot would be a cheap and easy way to make him an early boot…and they make him Papa Zee instead. I love this lanky boy.

Ripper: My one complaint on Ripper is that he feels like he’s really not there that much. In Episode 2, he disappears for a good while until the mid-end. And he doesn’t really get to interact with his new team that much. The only real time he interacts with the other skunks is when he asks about how to approach Axel. Let’s talk about Ripaxel…I honestly really wanna see what they do with it! It is a little sudden how it starts, but in its defense, so was Rajbow. Their interactions in Episode 3 were fun to watch, and that POEM. Hey, fanfic writers…Raj and Ripper having a poetry battle…think about it. Despite him disappearing sometimes, what we do get from him is enjoyable. Here’s to more!

Wayne and Raj: My boys are untouched! The one blessing is that they NEVER went for some stupid jealousy plot! (Wayne cares too much for Raj for petty stuff like that.) And they are arguably goofier than in Season 1. (Shoutouts to them wanting burgers after seeing the slides and the “Cyclone-Spin Cycle”) It is funny how many people (again, including me) wanted to see their mischievous side more, but instead the boys are even bigger boy scouts with their understandable disgust at cheating. While I still think one leaving earlier is more likely, I really, REALLY hope that they stick for a little. Imagine them against Julia and MK for at least an episode or two! And while I still would love a Damien VS. MK finale, Wayne or Raj VS. MK works great! Fair and honest player against a crafty cheater. It would be gold!

Damien: I’m really holding out for him since he’s pretty much jogging in place a bit. Sure, he wants to take more risks, but it’s not to a great extent. Then again, the season’s only gotten started. I just hope his crafty side comes out more later. He’s not too afraid anymore, so now he needs to push his brains to the forefront.

Scary Girl: I dig the “Lauren” design. Unfortunately, the “normal” bit wasn’t really used all that much, as she barely had a presence in Episode 1. She had some small scenes, but nothing outstanding until she got herself eliminated. Though given how she was enjoyable, but pretty one-note last season, I feel she works well as a first-boot. Will she return to stalk everyone? Who knows. Probably.

Nichelle: I dig her more confident attitude. Part of me wishes we saw her gaining that confidence DURING the season, rather than all that development being off-screen, though. It makes sense for her to train beforehand, but I would have just as easily liked her having a bit of fire in her and then training throughout the season. As she is, I like how she’s so done with her old Hollywood life. Hopefully she does interact with Damien more, as they seem to have a friendship growing.

Axel: Besides MK, Axel was the biggest relief of the S1 pre-mergers. She’s still hostile and hardcore, but I find her showings of care towards the team being well-needed additions. Examples being her helping Damien back to camp after the four-point slide, and her warning her team to be cautious about getting stuck with the sap. I already said my piece on Ripaxel, so my personal hope is that there is a survival or stealth challenge where the two have to work together. (Ala Hide and Be Sneaky, Eat, Puke, and be Wary, or Hurl and Go Seek if you wanna count the “zombie” thing.)

Caleb: Caleb was simple, and he still kinda is. I like how paranoid he was in Episode 1, but overall he’s just a more effective Justin. I do prefer him over Justin, as he can be a massive asset to the team, as shown in Episode 3. Like Zee, I’m fine with him as is, and can only wait and see what he does in later episodes. Will his alliance become genuine romance or just a tool for Caleb to outlast Priya? Probably the ladder, as he doesn’t seem to show any romantic interest in her that feels genuine.

And that’s Total Drama Island Rematch so far. Tomorrow should be the debuts of Episodes 5 and 6, so here’s to a great season. I was honestly shocked at how much I loved this cast, and how refreshing it felt seeing the show after a seven (eight if you ignore Ridonculous) year hiatus. I will be making sure to watch the series again when it comes to MAX in seventy years. As for whether or not I wanna see the Gen 4 cast again…I’ll probably be content with them stopping their run after Season 2. Reloaded and Rematch work as just two halves of a nice little package, and I really don’t want them to risk having this lovable cast go through what Gen 1 did. If we do get a new season, I’d be fine with them having a new cast. Fans will probably like them as much as they do with Gen 4.

[astro-can]

ranking anime pt 1

ranking a few of my favourite animes in terms of plot and characters

Bungo Stray Dogs (the manga) i'm actually a pretty new fan but its def the best mangas i've ever read. and notice how i say manga, not anime. the anime actually kind of sucks. the plot is very interesting and intriguing, and all the characters are very well-written. idk where asagiri got the idea of taking historical poets and authors and turning them into hot manga characters from, but i love it. its a very cool concept. you def need to read all the side stories to understand whats happening at times, but you can easily find the side stories on sus illegal websites or just buy them (or watch the anime adaptations). atsushi is a well-written main character and dazai's personality literally has my mind running in circles. this is a manga that makes you think a lot, but if you like literature, def give Bungo Stray Dogs a shot. you won't regret it!

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun (the manga) notice how i said manga again (the anime could do so much better). the art style for this book is AMAZING and the characters are SO WELLWRITTEN. like the title is a bit weird you I SWEAR YOU WONT REGRET IT IF YOU READ IT. its literally the best mixture of romance, comedy, horror, and mystery. its sort of a slowburn and i wish hanako's backstory will be revealed soon because im literally dying to know what ACTUALLy happened between him and tsukasa. and i want to know how nene and hanako's relationship grows!

Spy x Family this is the perfect comedy-action anime to watch with your family and friends. the concept is cool and its fun to see how anya, loid, and yor's relationship grows! I want to know what will happen at the end and if loid and yor actually stay together. its a very good anime and i highly recommend it.

Jujutsu Kaisen i'm a fairly new fan of jjk but i really love it! at first i had to read it a couple times because of all the fast explanations for cursed energy and stuff, but i think i've memorized it all now. yuji is a very interesting main character, and its nice to see his internal struggles with hosting the most evil cursed monster alive. his struggles of accepting his fate and his struggles of losing the people he loves is something that i like seeing (not in a sadistic way) because it accurately shows his character development. i love the strong female characters (shoko, maki, utahime, etc etc) and the subtle inclusion of the lgbtq community (kirara, mai, megumi, etc etc). the character developments in this series in CRAZYY like i actually love it so much. what i don't like is how some of the explanations are a little nonsensical and they pass over the important stuff too quickly. but overall, its a very good series and i recommend it!

Sk8 the Infinity i was so sad when season one of Sk8 ended, because it was really good. i hope they make season two soon. sk8 is so good because it shows reki's struggles, just like how gege shows itadori's struggles. the characters develop nicely, and the relationships between the characters are shown nicely. its a very fruity anime that i HOPE will end like yuri on ice (with reki and langa getting together BECAUSE I WOULD LOVE FOR IT TO BE CANON) its short but sweet and i highly recommend!

The Promised Neverland (the manga) i CANNOT express how much i DESPISE the anime. i HATE IT SO FCKING MUCH. anyways, the manga is pretty good. its another series that works your brain a lot, and it kinda makes me sad because there are literal eleven year olds being smarter than me 😭i personally really like isabella and yugo's characters, and i sort of dislike emma's desire to save the demons. like girliepop pulled the main character card and said "i wanna save everyone so no one has to suffer!" personally i would've gone with norman and ray's plan sooooooo....i also dislike how emma loses her memory at the end. i know it was really important, but i wish she could've gotten her memories back after reuniting with them again because in the canon manga, she CANT remember a SINGLE THING which means ALL THE THINGS SHE DID WITH HER FAMILY are just GONE. i actually screamed when i read that she never got her memory back. i also wish the author had maybe specified a bit more on isabella and ray's relationship as mother and son. anyways, a pretty decent story with good characters.

Demonslayer this is actually my favourite anime. I love it so much. ive read the manga over ten times and it has tanjiro, one of my all-time favourite anime characters. the reason its ranked so low is because of how simple the plot is and how it sort of repeats the action scenes. some of the characters could def be written better, but there was a lot of very good characters as well. tanjiro's character is written so well, and so is shinobu's. i wish we saw more of rengoku before he was killed off after like thirty minutes of screentime, and i wish the author hadn't killed off obanai and mitsuri at the end. that kind of made me mad. but they were reincarnated happily, so its ok! there are some nonsensical explanations and some random things here and there. people say its only because of the animation, and even though the animation is what makes it popular, i personally think that the story itself isn't that bad. its good, and i recommend.

Haikyuu haikyuu is like THE sport anime. its good and its actually taught me alot about volleyball. its also the reason i started playing volleyball. im the libero on my team 💪 its very exaggerated, but the characters are well written and the team's struggle as a whole is laid out well. i like the concept and the main character (hinata) is acc so funny like i love him so much. its the first anime i watched, and its def not the genre i would watch as a first choice, but for a sports anime, haikyuu is really wellmade. the reason its ranked low is because i'm not very interested in it anymore/not really my thing

My Hero Academia i was OBSESSED with this last year. like it was the literal reason i was living. but now that i go back to read it again, its sort of repetitive and deku has become WAYYYY too OP. it started off with a cool concept, but the author has been dragging it out for wayy too long. the fighting scenes are all the same and deku needs to put aside his "good side" and actually take actions that will be for the better, like KILLING OF SHIGARAKI INSTEAD OF WANTING TO 'SAVE HIM' LIKE WHAT?? i also hate how uraraka's whole personality has just become "i have a crush on deku" and i kinda hate how the author portrays uraraka's relationship with toga. i actually kind of despise this anime.

and yeah there you have it :)

[hjemne]

Ilsa, I’ve seen you posting a lot of Trigun and well I’m intrigued by it, to say the least. But just for giggles, would you try to convince me why should I watch it? 😆🤚🏻

AHHHHH!

I didn't think Trigun was going to worm its way into my brain so much but here we are. There is so much to love about it and I adore so many of the characters for a billion different ways. The character type of someone who is made into a killing machine and then is slowly convinced to accept love and forgiveness is my favourite and is all over trigun. So many characters see themselves as monstrous but choose to do what they see as right for the sake of / with the help of their friends. There are moments of silliness and of tragedy, all with an incredibly interesting setting which slowly gets revealed.

Because of the recent release of Trigun Stampede, the community is really active rn (esp on Tumblr!) and it's really cool to see so many incredible fanarts, comics, fanfics and discussions being made. It's very fun to be part of a very active fandom, but also one that is 25 years old and has fanworks that are older than I am.

I really love it, and I would recommend it, but unfortunately I also have some caveats which I gotta mention.

What you gotta know before getting into Trigun is that there are 4 different canon versions and each one has its problems. I wish I could recommend X version as the definitive and best, but that just doesn't exist which is very annoying.

1) Trigun Maximum: the manga

Good: incredible nuances to characters like Wolfwood, Knives, Livio/Razlo. Vashwood subtext is off the charts and their dynamic is incredibly fascinating and central. This is the most detailed and complex story of Trigun and has lots of themes, characters and plot points that don't exist in other versions. Has elements of sexism and sexual violence, but (imo) to show how shitty the world is, rather than to revel in the misogyny. The tone is tragic, with equal mix of hope and pain.

Bad: the female characters of Meryl and Milly get massively sidelined in comparison to their depictions elsewhere. It's a very long manga and has (imo) pacing issues that limit the impact of emotional moments. The art style is beautiful, but notoriously difficult to follow, especially in the many long fight scenes (particularly bad in volume 5). There's lots of disagreement about 'correct' translations and it can be hard to tell which character is doing/saying/thinking what at points which can make it confusing and frustrating to read at times.

Overall: 7/10, I would recommend but maybe not as your first bit of exposure to Trugun

2) 1998 anime Trigun

Good: the silliest of Triguns with some great voice acting. The friendships between Vash, Milly, Meryl and Wolfwood are very sweet and engaging (although it would have been nice to see more of the four of them together). It's a fun overview of the Trigun story and has a very entertaining mix of comedy and serious emotional moments. Lots of hijinks and lots of fights. Milly and Meryl are core characters and get time to shine (it is impossible not to love Milly). This is personal preference but the animation style is kinda goofy in the way it changes styles to exaggerate characters' feelings which I love. The first 12 ISH episodes are very Saturday morning cartoon vibes without being too inane and childish.

Bad: because it only had the first couple of volumes of the manga to adapt from, the mid-season tone shift and later fights feel rushed, a little confusing and ultimately lead to a less satisfying conclusion than in trimax. The misogyny is noticeable, especially in the first couple of episodes, though is limited to a couple of comments in some episodes and doesn't (I think) make it unwatchable. The antagonists are rushed through and it's hard to work out who the 'main' villain is. Tone change is quite abrupt. Wolfwood is a less developed character with a less intense (back)story, Livio/Razlo doesn't exist at all etc

Overall: 7/10, this is what I'd recommend you start with. It has pacing issues and uncomfortable sexist comments, but I think they're outweighed by the strengths of the main casts relationships and the pure entertainment value of it. Not the most satisfying ending, but they were constrained so :/

3) Badlands Rumble (film)

Good: animation is SO crisp. Wolfwood is at maximum chest exposure and actually his character is pretty interesting here. Milly and Meryl are back, but in limited roles. Some interesting world building and Vash and Wolfwood go thru their divorce arc TM which is dumb and funny and angsty.

Bad: Wolfwood is far too pale. The first half an hour is made almost unwatchable by the decision to make sexism and sexual harrassement a way to pad out the runtime. Vash is such a creep it just makes for uncomfortable watching.

4/10 don't watch if you're not already invested, and honestly do yourself a favour by watching the opening scene, then skipping to the 30 min ish mark and watch knowing that Vash has some very tough dried meat in his front coat pocket.

4) Trigun Stampede anime

Good: really cool 3D animation and music. Has Wolfwood's manga backstory and some manga characters like Livio and Crimsonnail, but with very different characterisations. I really liked the episode looking at the childhood of two orphans and how their love for each other was manipulated against them both. Much bigger focus on Knives than the original and more elaboration of his motivations and plans. Zazie is SO much better here than in the original anime. No uncomfortable sexism yay!

Bad: I... don't like tristamp very much. The characters are watered down from their manga versions and Knives is just kinda evil because he was en evil child, rather than the much more nuanced version in trimax. Milly doesn't exist (yet) and they added in a new character Roberto whose role in the story is (or at least was to me) obvious if you know the basics of the hero's journey structure. Everyone has been twinkified and Wolfwood doesn't even have his tits out smh. Vash just comes across as having less agency and his motivations feel weak. I really just dont like a lot of the character decision here BUT to be fair, that's because I'm comparing them to the manga. But also, a main plot point is someone taking over his brother's body so that his sisters can get pregnant and it definitely still feels weird in context. The focus on the two brothers makes other dynamics a little weaker, and has led to a lot of incest-y fandom things which is ehh.

5.5/10 there are some things it does very well and it's very popular for a reason but I personally think the characterisations are disappointing. It's trying to strike a weird balance between being its own, new thing and also nostalgia for original elements, leading to some questionable pacing and plot choices. It doesn't even have Midvalley the Hornfreak.

I would love to be able to talk about Trigun with you and be passionate about the elements of it I love, but also I don't want to recommend it without giving you a fair picture of the parts I'm more critical about. I genuinely love the world building and characters, which are expressed best in the less accessible form of the manga but are also found in the animes. What I'd recommend is watching the original anime first, but also you might need to give it the benefit of the doubt for the first couple episodes which is where the dodgy 90s sexism is most obvious. I'd be super interested in hearing your thoughts and reactions to it if you did watch it, and also please bear in mind that my complaints about tristamp are personal and there are many who love that version so don't take my negativity as fact.

[vermillion71401]

MY REVIEW ON PSYCHO PASS PROVIDENCE

Disclaimer: I’ve been Psycho Pass fans since (roughly) 9 years ago. I’ve never want to write any reviews on the series until now because I NEED THIS TO GET OUT OFF MY HEAD, and there’s some things I don’t understand. Still, I’m just a fan, this review is based on my opinion only. After I finish this so called essay, I found more question than answer, so if you don’t want extra headache, don’t read it. Also if you’re not Kouaka shipper, pass it, you’ll find me annoying.

Apologize beforehand if there’s any typo or any missed info. I hope you understand my write (English isn’t my first language, so I struggled a lot.)

This post consist on four part; review, my opinion on character, relationship, and my irregular thoughts throughout scene.

BEWARE OF THE SPOILERS.

..

STORY, CHARACTER

PPP occur after Kougami’s return to Japan. Shorty after, Peacebreaker make their way to steal Stronskaya Paper for their gain, terrorize everyone that blocked their plan. Akane can’t stay still after witnessing horrible acts of this group and their leader, determine to arrest them along with division 1 and SAD team.

Overall story is pretty straightforward, which I like. They make a new storyline and new interesting character and villain, makes it compelling. A new system like General is a fresh idea, rather than just stick with Sybil System. We actually can relate to villain, learn through his trauma and backstory, eventually we feel sympathy for him. Not to mention some cool stunt and action.

Aside from storyline, what makes this more interesting is we get to see relationship development between Kougami, Akane and Ginoza before S3. The three OG character since s1, and how they see each other now.

Akane, as a main character can finally have some development also in the end of the movie. I wish they explore it more.

MUSIC, VISUAL & ANIMATON

The music director did a good job on this. The music match with the atmosphere of the scene so well, so we, as an audience totally immerse in the story. Some soundtrack even take samples from season 1, create nostalgic feeling into it.

Production I.G did it again for visual animation! Texture detail, smooth animation and background image is top tier. I have no right to complain anything.

OVERALL CONCLUSION (7.5/10)

This is what movie should be. Action, good plot, good character development. I had so much fun than I expected to be and recommend to every anime fan to watch it.

..

MY OPINION ON CHARACTERS:

Kougami

Kougami being Kougami again. Ever since SS3, I think we truly knows what kind of person he is, and he’s never change. That might be the reason why he didn’t regret what he’s done. Some people care for his well being though, like Prof. Saiga and Akane, she’s concern he might be used as violence tool only, that’s why she actually wanted to bring him back to CID.

In this movie, aside from being agent, it’s refreshing to see him being a detective mode even for a little moment, like the scene he had with Shion, because apparently he has brain too :/

2. Akane

Some thing never change, Akane and her unshakeable trust to the system. Like I mention before, I wish they explore more the moment before she took the action.

Throughout the film, she seems more emotional than usual. Her explosive anger remind me of s2 Akane so much.

After the incident, I was speechless of how brave she is to let it all go. Imagine your flawless, peaceful, secure life suddenly take turns and now all people will label you as unhinged. She earn my respect.

3. Ginoza

He’s truly MVP, along with Sugo. He basically carried everyone, especially how he help Sugo and Frederica.

His interaction with Kougami at first is amusing and predictable. He only mad for awhile, before he finally accept him again. At the end, his face shown frustrated for Akane’s decision, leaving everything that she achieve so far. I wonder if he feel failed again to ‘save’ his friend.

4. Frederica

She’s the perfect example of good subordinate, I think. She’s the type who obedient to her boss, not judging or question Yabuki’s decision. The contrast between her and Akane in this aspect made me laugh and make me realize that Akane is such a rebel, (lol). But she wouldn’t rebel if Sybil wasn’t an asshole.

5. Akira

Sad tool to Yabuki and Shindo :’( Seriously, he remind me so much of Kougami. Akira is selfless, willing to sacrifice himself as undercover agent for MoFA. Not to mention he even beat Kougami and Sugo in close fight, state how strong he is. If it’s not because of his kindness to spare Kougami on that scene with Tonami possessing Yabuki, Kougami would be dead by now. I think that’s why Kougami make frustrated face when he die. Seriously, his death is such a shame. He also makes me think that Kougami wouldn’t end up like Tonami, but more like him, because until PP3, the man doesn’t have ambition.

..

RELATIONSHIP OPINION:

Kougami and Akane

Idk if some people see this relationship is sink, or whatever. For me it’s actually the opposite. Akane FINALLY understand Kougami a little more. Even inspired by him. I don’t know exactly what she see in Kougami that inspire her to shot Kasei, is it because despite his CC, he actually have conscience, and ‘certain’ reason to commit crime, thus leads to make people questions (and debate) his justice?

(I’m an idiot to not know this, lol).

Akane care for him. I know the official denied romance between them, but she clearly care for him. She doesn’t want him to work like a bloodthirst hound, and value his life. At the same time I can also see what writers planning to do with him since Desmond Rutaganda address him in PP movie. 

I also notice they cut down their screen time together, even some scene that usually involve in face zooming, now they don’t. They could make their reunion so much more friendly, but they choose not to. (My guess is because they’re main characters, they can’t become lovers, that could potentially mislead the genre.) Honestly, this is so sad. If they can’t make them canon, why bother making such a great dynamic between them. Male and female can’t be friends, if you ask me. It’s too late for sudden change between them.

It’s a shame because I miss them being a partner again. Fight side by side.

Anyway, probably the only person who support her deeds is just Kougami. Regarding the convo these 2 have after he shot Tonami will address later.

2. Ginoza and Akane

Ginoza intention to become shield for her is honestly so pure. His reasoning sounds like personal feelings rather than fulfilling his duty as enforcer. Other than that, I’m more curious about his feelings after the incident. From what I see through his frustrated face and kind of ‘resentment’ face in PP3, my guess he’s somewhat angry to her for sacrifice her life (and angry at himself). I wonder what kind of face he’d make if he knew Kougami inspired her (lol, rip Kougami.)

3. Kougami and Frederica

Not so much thought, beside Kougami actually look angry at her when he lied to the team and professor. Though only angry for a second, he quickly being professional again when Akane mad at Frederica. (and look at Akane face, she’s shock and somewhat feel distance because her ex-enforcer standing up to his new boss.) Poor choice of words, Kougami.

My thoughts and issues will have another post.

[isekai-crow]

Mashle: Magic and Muscle Season 1 Re-Cap + Season 2 - Episode 1

Other Episodes-> ep2 ep3 ep4 ep5

This anime shits all over JKR in the best way possible. Highly Recommended if you can make it through the 2nd half of Season 1.

Overall Rating So Far: 8/10 with hopes it will stay there.

For comparison, season 1 ended up 6/10. TToTT as to why...

I'm writing this while re-watching season one, and maaaaan what a strong start Season 1 had!! 9/10 for the first 4 episodes!!

How is this avoiding copyright? I don't know but I fully support it.

I LOVE MASH AND HIS REALISTIC TAKES.

The pacing got completely thrown off after episode 5. Did we really need those fight to be THAT long and drawn out?? No. I get that animation studios are limited in how far into the manga they can go in a given season, but I would have preferred anime original filler over 2 episodes of metal punch dude, and the whole "chamber of secrets" esque episodes...

Despite being sorely disappointed by the second half of season 1, I did finish it. Starting episode 1 of Season 2, I completely forgot where the last episode had left off and it hasn't even been that long!! I had to laugh at just how much my brain had tuned out by the end, which is sad, because this is such an amazing premise.

HOWEVER

SEASON 2 EPISODE 1 BROUGHT BACK THE DRIVE TO WATCH!!

The first episode of season 2 doubles down on poking ALL sorts of holes in the plot of Harry Potter and sidestepping any massive overlaps to avoid copyright. BUT IT'S SO OBVIOUS, I LOVE IT.

May I introduce you to...

"Harry Potter with just enough serial numbers filed off to avoid a lawsuit." - Capybara

Spoilers for Episode 1 Below the Cut

We started off with a small recap of the end of season 1 and honestly I don't remember most of it happening.

Woo they beat the Tom Riddle/Abel Walker, Woo they won tons of points for their dormitory, Woo Mash's super special "magic spell" the Suplex!!!

But oh no! There is a rumor that Mash can't use magic has gotten out! To be fair, it was only a matter of time. Bicep Smash Magic can only get you so far lolol.

The little celebration party is very cute, and suddenly Abel and Abyss show up, and Mash is just totally chill with them joining in their party. Abel even brought a deck of cards and they're playing bullshit of all games lmfao

Personally I want to know why Dot has his mouth and face all bandaged up, but I assume that's Lemon's doing for some reason or another lol

Let me just say, I love Abel and Abyss. Abel is terrifying and carrying around his creepy doll and freaking Finn out, and literally just wants to have fun with everyone. He's far more incompetent, or maybe just normal? than he seems. And cares about Abyss!! And Abyss is doing his best to take care of his master, and thanks Mash for stopping them both. And can't talk to women!!

We love a traumatized bishonen.

Mash gets called to the Bureau of Magic and basically gets called a Mudblood to his face for not having magic and is being sentenced to death.

AND DRACO MALFOY SHOWS UP TO SAVE HIM.

You cannot dissuade me that this isn't another Draco.

And of course, to counter Draco/Ryoh Grantz, we get Knock Off Harry Potter and gang!

Neville with a dragon? Snow girl is Luna? The one with the book is Hermione? Obviously these are also original characters and there is no one to one with characters, but it's fun to try and place them.

Fake Harry Potter / Orter Madel says the most Not Harry Potter thing ever, and its hilarious that a character known for going against the rules has a caricature doing exactly the opposite.

Fuckin' mood Mash. Where the hell did RON come from??? ah.. his only purpose is to narrate what's happening. Makes sense.

The magi-parasite shows up, mob deals with, and it should be a done deal, but Orter continues to push the issue as Ryoh tries to stop him.

Will Mash be taken away and executed? He's not budging. Will Draco and Harry fight? What will become of Mash now that Dumbledore and Finn's Big Bro have shown up?

Until Next Time..

What the fuck is this show I love it so much.

[accirax]

Disventure Camp All Stars Power Ranking (Round "5")

Hey everybody! So, I've recently gotten into Disventure Camp, just in time to catch the third season near its beginning. As it's been occupying a good chunk of my brain activity for the past couple of weeks, I've really wanted to write something about it just to let some of the brain worms out. Coincidentally, I also started watching Gordon Holmes' Survivor Power Ranking series as season 46 has been airing (although I've watched Survivor since I was a kid), and really enjoyed the format and the questions it incited. So, I figured, why not mash them up?

The Power Ranking format is essentially a way of ranking how well each player is doing in the game. So, in essence, this is a long form way of predicting who I think will be eliminated from the competition in the next episode. If that sounds interesting, I invite you to read on!

Alright, now that we've made it past the Read More, I'll explain the game in a bit more detail, given that this is the first time I'm posting a "theory" like this. (It's "Round 5" because this is off the heels of the 5th episode, but there are no power rankings prior to this one.) The way Gordon's Power Rankings work, you rank each player not based on how likely they are to win overall, but how likely they are to survive the next episode. For the sake of example, let's say I've ranked Kristal as #1 (least likely to go home), Derek as #2, Trevor as #3, Emily as #4, and Oliver as #5 (most likely to go home). When the next episode comes out, you go back and lock in the score of the person who was eliminated. So, back to our example, if it's Derek who winds up going home, then I get 2 points. Bigger scores are better, so, as you can see, it would have been better if I'd ranked Derek lower. Derek's score is the only one that matters for the week, so the rest of my placements don't factor into my score at all.

This format makes more sense when you can compare your score against someone else's (as what happens in Gordon's videos). But, I still think it's a fun format to use, and it'll be interesting to me to see if I perform better or worse than average at the end of the season. Also, if anyone wants to make their own version of the power ranking and fight me, I'd love to see that! (You don't have to write as much as I will, if you don't want to.) I'm actively trying to mansplain manipulate malewife my way into convincing people to watch this show, so the more the merrier in analysis land.

Although I will be making some of the same analytical remarks that Gordon and co. do for the Survivor season, I want to point out that I will be actively acknowledging that Disventure Camp is a work of fiction. Both Survivor and DC create an "edit" by budgeting their screen time towards specific characters and plot lines, so both can be analyzed in that way. However, Survivor is a story constructed in retrospect, based on the reality of who happened to win the game. DC has been a fictional story since the very beginning, and therefore an episode of the cartoon may be more... "controlled" than an episode of Reality TV. For instance, Survivor players irl might not manage to keep all of their tribes at roughly the same number of people, but Odd Nation Cartoons may have built the season in a way that doesn't eradicate one team of All Stars at the very start.

I bring this up because, for this week in particular, I think that a character originating from Season 1 will likely be packing their bags. We've had four eliminations so far, one from the Season 1 cast (Miriam) and three from the Season 2 cast (James, Lake, and Hunter). Given that both casts started out with 9 competitors, this means that 33% of the Season 2 cast is already gone. I don't think it's impossible that a Season 2 character could be eliminated this week, but I'm definitely inclined to believe that it'll be a season 1 character that bites the dust.

Also, as the contestants on Gordon's show are able to use the "Next Time on Survivor" segment in their analyses, I think that using the trailer for next episode is entirely fair game! Spoilers for the Episode 6 trailer, if you're trying to ignore that. I don't know how much I'm going to reference it, but it'll probably be at least a little bit.

With that out of the way, let's start with the character who I think is the least likely to go home!

#1: Tess

Tess is in a really good position right now as the Cyan Team's swing vote. Aiden will want to take out Ellie as a member of the villains alliance and the one behind Lake's elimination. While it's unknown how much stock Ellie will continue to place in the girls' alliance, she still sees Tess as her friend, and therefore the best option to reach out to for a third vote to take out Aiden or Tom. Therefore, neither Aiden and Tom nor Ellie and Gabby should be looking to eliminate her.

I also feel like they're going to want to have Tess reunite with Ally at the merge, which is another reason why she might stick around. Then again, I might've thought the same of Hunter, and we saw how that went for him last episode. Still, as both Tess and Ally's characterizations revolved around Hunter in Season 2, I at least have interest in seeing how the two girls would progress without their collective crush around.

And, on top of all that, Tess is a Season 2 character. I find it very hard to believe that Tess will be eliminated next episode.

#2: Aiden

Alright, this choice is definitely leaning more on the meta side than the gameplay side. Gameplay wise, if Tess decided to side with Ellie and Gabby, it could be very easy for Aiden to be the target of their votes. But, I just don't think that Odd Nation Cartoons would want to eliminate Aiden at this point in the competition. The man is a fan favorite!

Of course, that was true of James as well... but, that only furthers my point. Given that James and Lake have already been eliminated from the competition, getting rid of Aiden would wipe that entire friend group of characters out. In my opinion, it would be odd for Aiden to have that confessional about playing for James, Lake, and himself, only to be eliminated three episodes after Lake. Aiden is also still a major plot point in the Jake/Tom romance that I think they'll want to keep around for a little longer.

Also, if the theory that James will return to the competition at some point (because he hasn't had a "reading the patrons names" segment yet) turns out to be true, I suspect that they'd want Aiden to still be in the competition for his return. Aiden should be safe.

#3: Jake

You know who else is a part of the Jake/Tom plotline? Jake. I don't think our favorite(?) whiny idiot has his head on the chopping block right now, despite being a S1 character.

Although, Jake's safety is actually mostly not a meta read. I just straight up think that his elimination would be the most baffling on the Magenta Team. Ally could go home if the Jake/Ashley/Fiore alliance decides to finish what they started when they eliminated Hunter. Fiore could go home if, now that the couple has been split up, Jake and Ashley unite with Ally to take out one of the villains. Even if Ally and Fiore somehow had the power to band together and use a totem or something to send one of Jake or Ashley home... I still think it would be Ashley. That's partially based on meta logic of considering Jake a more important character than Ashley, but there are in-universe reasons why they might choose to eliminate Ashley over Jake, too. For Fiore's sake, Ashley has more of a vendetta against her specifically. Ashley is also an athletic and friendly person who could situate herself very well if she made the merge, whereas Jake (who's already demoralized at Miriam's exit) would likely only incite more conflict and use his vote in petty ways. (Sorry to Jake fans lol, I'm kinda slandering your boy.)

Anyways, any other Magenta elimination makes more sense to me than Jake, so I think he's pretty safe.

#4: Tom

Rounding out the Jake/Tom/Aiden love triangle, we have Tom at #4. It's a lot of what I've already covered with Jake and Aiden. There's so much drama yet to be had with this trio that knocking down one of its legs (specifically, the central leg) at this point feels like a loss. Also, I really don't understand why the Cyan girls would choose to eliminate Tom instead of Aiden, which means I'm basically predicting that both of the Cyan boys are safe. That includes Tom, so, good for him!

#5: Ally

And once again, we're looping back to a prior entry. For Tess to reunite with Ally at the merge, Ally has to make it there, too. So, despite her boyfriend's fate, I think Ally will be sticking around for a little while longer.

It's a bit counterintuitive, but I sort of think that Ally will stay because it would be too obvious if she went home. Jake, Ashley, and Fiore eliminating Ally in a 3-1 vote is exactly what you would predict would happen looking at the tribe on the surface. So, for the sake of intrigue, I feel like something would happen to prevent it. In the preview, we see her having one-on-one conversations with Ashley and Jake, so maybe they would feel bad for her and decide to flip on Fiore. Maybe Ally could pull an epic gamer move and find an idol to play on herself. That could be in conjunction with Fiore and her connections to the villains alliance, or it could not.

Tess, Aiden, Jake, and Tom I was pretty confident about, so Ally is the first entry where I'm a little worried putting her this high. But, I have faith in her (especially as a S2 character) to not get the boot in this upcoming episode.

#6: Fiore

This might just be the Fiore stan in me, but I don't think she'll be going home next episode. I mean, she's literally been blessed by the gods! What am I supposed to do against that?

Fiore is in a pretty decent position, being allied with Jake and Ashley while also being on pretty decent terms with Ally. She's also just, like, way smarter than the majority of the competition, so if she found herself in a tight spot, I could see her manipulating someone to weasel her way out of it. Fiore is also a potential winner pick of mine (again, I'm a Fiore stan), and her elimination at this stage could prevent her from making the deep run that would result in her return to the Final 2.

Despite all of this-- and this is a slight aside-- I actually think that Jake and Ashley may have made a mistake in eliminating Hunter over Fiore last episode? They said it was better for their strategy, but I don't think that's necessarily true. It would be a good move for their strategy if they could count on Fiore being a solid alliance member at the merge, but it's pretty obvious she has no allegiance to the S1 duo. She literally already has an alliance-- the villains alliance-- that she would most likely bail to if she makes it to the merge. If Jake, Ashley, Hunter, and Ally all voted to eliminate Fiore, they could diminish the threat of the villains alliance and put their own feud on pause. If Hunter is correct, and getting rid of Fiore prevents them from losing any more challenges, than the feud never has to be unpaused, and all four of them make the merge. The only way that Jake and Ashley could run into trouble is if Magenta does have to go back to Tribal as a foursome. Then, it could be problematic for them if they were forced to turn on each other at Hunter and Ally's whim, because the couple (who were already fighting with each other!!!) could be unwilling to turn on one another, preferring to leave things to chance.

It feels like the narrative has already saved Fiore twice-- once via Alec and once via Jake and Ashley's "strategy"-- so I believe that the narrative has greater plans for Fiore yet. It could be reuniting with Alec. Who knows? (Please be reuniting with Alec. Please be reuniting with Alec--)

#7: Ashley

Um... so I just straight up don't think that Magenta is headed back to Tribal next episode. Surprise!

Like I said, these predictions are just about the next episode. And, given that Magenta just went to Tribal and is low on numbers, I don't think that they'll be headed back there. Therefore, none of them would be next episode's boot.

It's not a given, as the Purple Tribe got pretty demolished in S1, but for an All Stars season, I don't think Odd Nation would want the eliminations to be so unfairly stacked in one direction. I could be making an incorrect call here, because, logically, I really don't know why the Magenta Team would be any good at the musical challenge that's shown in the preview...? I just believe in them, I guess. You can retroactively apply this same reasoning for bonus points on Jake, Ally, and Fiore's entries as well.

Anyways, Ashley! Out of the Magenta Team, I do feel like she's the most expendable, perhaps because she was the earliest elimination from S1, and came back without most of her allies from S1 (Will, Lill, Nick). We also already got the resolution to the fire plotline that was left dangling in S1, which means there aren't many more questions I have about her character.

On the other hand, why bring Ashley back if you didn't have bigger plans for her this time around? They've eliminated a lot of people who made it close to the end at the beginning this time, so it would stand to reason that some of the people who were eliminated closer to the beginning might make it closer to the end. The potential of Ashley bonding with some of the S2 competitors at the merge is great for bringing some new iconic relationships to life.

Even if I think Ashley may be the most expendable, I don't really think that any of the Magenta players are narratively expendable, which is why I placed them all so high. I'll be eating my words if they're headed to Tribal next time, so these guys had better rock on at the immunity challenge!

#8: Riya

And now, for Magenta's counterpart, a team composed of people that I feel like all have an argument for leaving sooner rather than later... the Yellow Team.

I don't remember if it was on YouTube or Tumblr, but I recall seeing someone theorize that Riya might be the next boot because of how much she's annoying her team. She's pushed Connor away, stirred up drama with Yul, and is shown hogging the team's shower in the episode preview. It would make sense if Riya's selfish and villainous actions led to her downfall, so, at first, I liked this logic, and planned to put Riya near the bottom.

However, when I actually started counting votes... I just didn't see it. Even if Connor and Riya's relationship is strained, I don't know if he would be willing to eliminate someone he cares about. Yul believes that Connor voted for him last time, so he'll probably be out to take revenge on Connor. Grett, at this point, would most likely vote with him. Alec too, as long as he lets his strategy of keeping the villains team in power beat out the friendship he's begun to form with Connor. Where are the Riya votes? I'm not really sure.

I think that the theorizer is on the right track with predicting that Riya's bad attitude will eventually lead to her elimination. However, I don't think she'll be off the Yellow Team just yet, so she lands at #8 for me.

#9: Connor

Counting votes made it seem like Connor would be the next boot from the Yellow Team... so why do I have him as the second least likely to go?

Well, much like Ally, I feel that Connor's elimination is so obvious that it wouldn't pan out that way if a Yellow Tribal actually happened. There are definite cracks in the seams that could lead to votes not going in an obvious direction-- with Miriam's blow to the alliance, Alec might see Connor as a better confidant than any of the villains, and/or Grett might see what a terrible boyfriend Yul is and decide to flip on the villains. We also don't know exactly how Riya feels. She certainly acts as if she doesn't care if Connor stays or goes, but the truth is that she hasn't actually been "forced" to vote for him yet by her alliance. If push came to shove, who knows what she'd choose?

Combined with the fact that he (and Riya) are S2 characters, I think Connor would manage to survive a vote if Yellow is headed to Tribal. I'm not that confident about it, though, so he lands at #9.

#10: Yul

And here's Yul, our lowest placed S2 competitor in this ranking. If a S2 character is headed home this week, I think it would probably be him. He was a terrible person in S2, and has continued to be a terrible person in All Stars, so it's easy to see why the players (and the audience) might want him out of the game. Grett, my beloved, please lead the charge in kicking this asshole off the tribe.

However... there's also evidence to suggest that Yul won't be going home so easily. Beyond just being a S2 character, the end of this episode (and part of the preview) established that Yul has some sort of connection with Emily, our mysterious new staff member. I don't know exactly what this relationship is-- my original guess was that Emily could be Yul's manager, but their interactions in Episode 1 (as well as Grett's interactions with Emily in Episode 1) make me feel like that wouldn't be the case. Regardless, there's something going on between him and Emily, which adds some intrigue to Yul's character.

I have also considered that this relationship with Emily might be a one-episode thing, an interaction that actually spells doom for Yul instead of longevity. However, as this is one of the first major things we've seen Emily do, I feel like her connection to Yul may be a major aspect of her character and even why she exists. If that's the case, Yul may be quite important to the season, and be set up to make a very deep run.

However, my uncertainty on why Emily has summoned Yul and belief that the Yellow Team has good reason to eliminate him prevents him from taking one of the top spots. ...There's still a good amount of space below him, though.

#11: Gabby

A good part of why Gabby is ranked this low is because she's a S1 character, I'm not gonna lie. But I do genuinely believe she could be in trouble next episode, and here's why.

As opposed to S1, in which she was a staunch defender of the environment, insecure and petty, and a little bit insane, Gabby's character in All Stars seems to have been simplified to "Ellie's peppy girlfriend." She did refuse to eat the chicken last episode, but I feel like S1 Gabby would have, like, threatened to take their heads off if they beheaded the chicken. The portion of the preview for next episode where Gabby has the crazy eyes makes me hopeful that that aspect of her character will be making a comeback, but we'll have to see what happens.

For now, her role has been pretty limited, which makes me think that she could be an early boot from the season. She doesn't seem to have any new plot threads introduced, new developments in her character as a result of what happened in S1, or important relationships, other than with Ellie. If she were eliminated next episode, that could be because Gabby is in little enough of the show that there wasn't enough time to give her a proper character arc.

The reasons behind why the Tribe (presumably minus Ellie) would unite to eliminate Gabby are a little fuzzy, but not completely implausible. If Gabby were to be eliminated, I think it would be as a blow to Ellie, getting rid of her closest ally. That could tie in to why so much of her characterization this season has been linked to Ellie-- if being in a relationship with Ellie is the reason why Gabby is eliminated, then that's all we need to know about her in All Stars.

#12: Alec

Oh Alec... I hope you make it out of this episode alive.

This may come as a surprise to some people, as I've seen speculations that Alec may be set up to be the season's main villain. However, I'm worried that his strong entrance may be a front intended to get him some screen time before he exits the competition shockingly early.

You see, while Alec is currently the mastermind of the Yellow Team, it's a rather precarious position to be in. The villains alliance seems to have remained stable enough to near-unanimously take out Miriam last time they went to Tribal (even though Riya didn't wind up voting for Miriam, she was conceptually fine with it). However, I doubt that Miriam's silver "Alec is untrustworthy" bullet will go unused. If Alec attempts to push his luck by trying to force people into votes they don't want to make, or if his friendship with Connor causes others on the team to suspect that he's playing both sides, the alliance could revolt against its leader.

I still think that Alec will probably survive until the merge, just so that we can see his relationship with Fiore evolve further. Who knows, maybe he really is the season's main villain, and will finally make it to the final 3 he feels he was robbed of in S1. However, I think that Alec's vote could be a reasonable blindside on the audience, which makes me worry that it's the right narrative move to take.

#13: Grett

Oh Grett... I'm even more worried about you than Alec. Clearly. Because you're directly beneath him.

Look, I really want to believe that Grett will be able to stand up for herself this season and absolutely demolish Yul, getting to play the rest of her game after his departure in whichever way she sees fit. However, sometimes the villains have to win in order to create stakes, and I could see a temporary Yul-over-Grett victory doing just that.

An unfortunate step in her journey to becoming a better person, Grett has totally tethered herself to Yul, a relationship in which she seems far more invested than he. As opposed to her bossy demeanor in S1, she's taken too many steps back, and seems to automatically yield to whatever Yul has to say. Her characterization this season is very linked to his presence, which makes me wonder what she would do if he left the show. She could go align with the villains alliance herself, but... is she really that much of a villain anymore without Yul?

And, that's part of the problem. I can very easily see a plot line where, next episode, Yul continues to put Grett down, and does so increasingly after Yellow loses the challenge. Grett finally musters some of her old courage and lashes back at Yul a little, saying that it's not her fault that they lost. Then, Yul reports to Alec and Riya that Grett tried to backstab him, and doesn't want to work with the villains anymore. Alec and Riya, who both didn't really want to vote for Connor anyways, agree to take out Grett to 1) split up a potentially problematic duo and 2) make their alliance look like it's weakened. Grett goes home with a broken heart, but has at least learned that she shouldn't stand by Yul any longer. Maybe she could get some revenge from beyond the grave later on in the season somehow, like cancelling him during the finale or something like that.

Really, the biggest flaw I can see is that... I don't know if Yellow is going to be losing the immunity challenge. Part of their performance was in the preview for next episode, and it looked pretty good! I feel like Odd Nation Cartoons wanted to show us something super cool to get us hyped for the next episode, so getting us really excited over the team that turns out to be the losers would be a little confusing. Who knows, maybe there could be some level of sabotage for the Yellow Team that causes their otherwise excellent performance to fail.

I don't know if I would have come to the conclusion of Grett being a possible boot if I didn't think a S1 character was going home... but now that I have, I'm afraid that I've seen the writing on the wall.

#14: Ellie

And yet, Grett is not in last place, because Ellie is.

Call it a gut feeling, but I kinda get the vibes that Ellie might be the season's next boot. It doesn't make sense, right? Ellie has strong relationships with so many characters, from Tess to Alec to Jake. She, too, could be in contention for the title of season villain. Why would they get rid of her so early?

Well, much like Alec, I fear she may have been too villainous too fast. Her negative connections to so many different characters leads to it making a lot of sense to vote Ellie for a lot of reasons. Does Tom want to get revenge for his and Jake's breakup last season? Vote Ellie. Does Aiden want to avenge Lake and keep himself and Tom in the game? Vote Ellie. Does Tess want to decrease the numbers of the villains alliance? Vote Ellie. That's three votes for Ellie, and Ellie is eliminated. I don't even think she would be saved by a totem, given that Ellie has already been saved by a totem once before, and it would be kind of repetitive for Gabby and Ellie to do that again.

Now, you could argue that eliminating Ellie here would cause the same problems for Gabby as it would eliminating Yul for Grett. I struggled to see what Grett would do in the game if Yul was eliminated. Wouldn't Gabby be the same, after I detailed why I thought her character had been simplified to be tied to Ellie?

Not exactly. A post-Yul Grett confuses me a little because I think that getting rid of Yul would uplift Grett. It would remove the struggles that her character is facing, and leave her characterization less complex for it. On the other hand, a post-Ellie Gabby makes sense because getting rid of Ellie would create more problems for Gabby. Once again, she would have been stabbed in the back by her tribemates (including Tom and Tess, who she considers friends), but not even have Ellie or a totem to lean back on this time. She might want to burn her tribemates to the ground, but if she acts up too much, she could be next in line. And despite her desire for revenge, she would have to wonder... who was really the bad guy in the elimination, her tribemates or her girlfriend?

I think it's possible that Gabby's character may have been simplified for now because the inciting incident of Gabby's All Stars characterization is Ellie's elimination. Prior to that episode, we establish how much Gabby cares about Ellie, so that when Ellie exits, we feel how much it hurts Gabby. We've seen how Ellie acts after Gabby was eliminated before, so I think it would be far more interesting to see the opposite in All Stars. Also, Ellie has made it to the final before-- twice, if you count the original "Adventure Camp" season-- so it would make sense if, this time, she was kicked out closer to the beginning.

Much like with Grett, the main issue I have here is that I don't know if the Cyan Team would lose this competition, either. They have a lot of artistic people on their team, which makes it seem like they would thrive. However, if Cyan isn't losing, and Yellow isn't losing, that would mean that Magenta is losing, and I've already said why I don't think Magenta is going to lose. So, maybe Cyan is overconfident in their performance, or maybe another team (Magenta?) tries to sabotage them so that the team can take out Ellie (or Aiden, if it's Jake's idea). Maybe the performance has to be a rock song, and the Cyan team is all really bad singers. (Okay I just learned that apparently Aiden's VA is a very talented singer. Maybe Aiden won't sing or something.) I don't have enough details yet.

And, that's the end! I've never done a power ranking before-- not even for Survivor, which I've been watching for years, as opposed to Disventure Camp's "less than one month"-- so I have no idea how well I'll do. Are my instincts good, or are my expectations and the writers' decisions worlds apart? I guess I'll have to see when the next episode airs, and create my round 6 predictions accordingly. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed this new project of mine!

[fast-moon]

Star Trek: Picard Season 1 Thoughts

So, after finishing and thoroughly enjoying Deep Space 9, I wanted to pick up a different Trek series because at this point I had gotten used to marathoning a few episodes every evening. I wasn't too eager to try watching Voyager all the way through due to the Maquis involvement (my second-to-least favorite recurring plot in DS9, with Mirror Universe being the least), but I read that Picard followed up on the ending of DS9 in season 3, so I figured, why not.

Gotta get through seasons 1 and 2 first, though.

So, first off, going from something made in 1993 to something made in 2020, was certainly a jolt. Widescreen format, CG everywhere, and no one's enunciating for the microphones anymore so you have to have the subtitles on to know half of what anyone's saying.

I'm not going to be doing an episode-by-episode recap of this like I did with DS9 due to it being in the "8 hour movie broken into chunks" format that's common with streaming shows nowadays, so the content of every episode kind of blurs together, anyway.

Right off the bat, I have a similar overall issue with this as I had with Harrison Ford coming back for the Star Wars sequels: He's just too old to be doing this anymore. He sounds so out of breath in every scene to the point that it's uncomfortable, and I just want him to sit down and take a nap.

I did like that the premise of Season 1 was basically "We're going to take the episode 'Measure of a Man' and then expand on that theme of whether androids have human rights or not." What I liked most about DS9 was its penchant for political allegory and devoting entire episodes to thought experiments and debating novel or morally grey legal concepts.

So Picard S1 set up two moral questions: "Do androids have human rights?", and "Are you obligated to aid the people of an enemy nation when they're facing an extinction-level event?"

And then proceeded to devote very little of its runtime to exploring either of those questions.

What it did devote most of its runtime to was "look at how cynical everyone is and how much baggage they have". Yes, characters need flaws and challenges to overcome, but they also need to be someone I can root for. What I liked about TNG and DS9 were that, even though they regularly got into emotionally heavy stuff, there was still this sense of adventure, optimism, and camaraderie among the crew. The whole theme of "Things suck now, but we can fix it and make it better, and everyone around you wants to help."

But now it's just fallen into that gritty, edgy sci-fi that makes it feel altogether generic. Where if they didn't say things like "Romulans" or "Federation" or "Borg", it would be unrecognizable as Star Trek.

The only real underlying sense of "fun" in this season was Rios's crew of holograms, which were the high point for me. We need campy silliness to endear us to characters so that we can actually care when bad things happen to them. If they're in a funk all the time, what makes this latest crisis worth special attention?

The other high point was the Riker family lodge, since it was another instance of "look at how happy and fun people are, and this is what we're trying to protect". And I was SO worried the series was going to make something terrible happen to them (although, there's still two more seasons). They brought Hugh back just to kill him off in a random pointless way, after all.

I was also pleasantly surprised to see Seven of Nine (pretty much the only character on Voyager I liked, and she didn't show up until that show was halfway done), although the "Coming up on Star Trek: Picard" reel at the end of episode 1 spoiled both her and Riker's appearances in the series, which bummed me out.

I found the season finale to be 50% heartwarming and 50% absolute bullshit. So, Picard at the beginning is stated to have a ticking time-bomb in his brain that will kill him eventually. Then at the end, he settles everything with a speech, but the stress causes his brain to go boom and he dies. But! Thankfully he just happened to be on the planet of artificial bodies and they just finished their procedure of transferring a human consciousness to one! So he died for a completely contrived reason, then was immediately brought back to no ill effect, to the point of why bother in the first place?

But, the heartwarming aspect of it was for him to be able to talk to the soul of Data, and hear Data's wish that his remaining consciousness be deactivated so he can die like a mortal. Very reminiscent of Vision's request in the Marvel comics, that he be allowed to die instead of constantly being rebuilt and reactivated, so that his life has meaning (and, side note, I read that the director for Picard Season 3 is heading up the Vision Quest D+ series, which was another reason I was curious to watch it and see what Vision's story might be in for).

So, all in all, I thought it was... okay. A bit too dark and cynical for what I want from Star Trek, and I hope in the subsequent seasons they can let themselves have more fun with it.

[destiny-smasher]

Stuff From 2023!

List of things of note I experienced in 2023! A few things didn't technically release in 2023, I'm sure, but yea. Will contain my 'Top 10 Games I Played in 2023' as well.

Firstly, something I played a lot of this year in bursts but doesn't quite crack my Top 10 is Vampire Survivors. Very addicting, did some very fun goofy shit that had me laughing and engaged in a lizard brain way. Appreciated the many Castlevania references and jokes, too.

A couple of games I played every weekend for a few hours across many weeks this year were Project Zomboid and Roots of Pacha, both in a group 4. We had lots of fun with those two, and I think they're both great co-op time-sink games. Zomboid is a zombie survival sim that has way more attention to detail than its graphics may imply. It's still in early access but the depth to its is honestly pretty dang impressive. Pacha iterates on the Stardew Valley formula in a ton of small but deliberate, thoughtful ways that make for a nice twist on that Harvest Moon style game.

REMAKES

There were so many great remakes this year, on top of just amazing games in general, I can't fit them all into my Top 10. So here's a segment dedicated to most of the remakes I loved this year.

The remake of Super Mario RPG was such a surprise, and turned out very damn well. That game, turns out, is very near and dear to my heart and I did not fully appreciate that until this remake was revealed. It comes just shy of cracking my Top 10 list and that's honestly only because I finished Mother 3 finally right at the tail end of the year. This game manages to still feel weirdly fresh even today just due to how fucking strange it is, and the remake speeds up the pacing a bit while also adding in some new mechanics and a chunk of new post-game content. Everything was handled so well. This is like the new gold standard of complete one-to-one remakes of sprite-based games imo. I will admit the artstyle is a bit 'off' in some ways but I think it's very clean looking and captures that 90's CGI spirit really well, all things considered. And the music, OOF, so damn good.

The remake of Dead Space I don't have much to talk about, but it's very well produced. It's remade so well, in fact, that it felt like my memories of the original, even though I know it's not an exact recreation. Very well done and still holds up as a great horror action game with these improvements.

The remaster of Metroid Prime is so impressive it feels like a remake, even if the game is identical to the original aside from presentation and some control changes. It's an iconic classic, and yet I have no patience to do the Chozo Artifact stuff, so I actually did not roll credits on this version BUT still thoroughly enjoyed reliving the game with a very nice new coat of paint. It makes me excited to see what Prime 4 will look like on, I expect, more powerful hardware.

SHOWS/MOVIES

The year started strong with a TV adaptation of The Last of Us. While I've come to have conflicted feelings with the franchise at large, mainly due to its leading boss man, I thoroughly enjoyed the first season of this series. Very well done adaptation that picked and chose what to keep and what to change and honestly makes for a better story as a whole if you ask me, while not really replacing the game's tactile interactive tensions. Cannot wait to see what they do with Part 2 tbqh. I loved that game more than the original but also felt it was worse as an overall game/experience/narrative. But a fresh take on that same plot could potentially address a lot of the issues I had with Part 2, while simultaneously not really 'replacing' it, either.

The Bear. If you haven't seen it, it's just. Very good television. Two seasons in and it's sitting up there chasing Mr. Robot and Better Call Saul as one of the best live action series I've ever seen. Season 2 did such a great job of giving us deeper dives on the various characters and building toward an organic and rewarding conclusion that still leaves room for another season to theoretically wrap things up. Nothing too crazy with this show, it's super down to earth, and it owns that very well with editing and pacing that varies per episode, kind of in line with the different character perspectives.

Super Mario Bros.: The Movie had me worried for a while, mainly due to the animation studio and casting. And while I'm still not 100% sold on this celebrity casting, I will admit it didn't weight the experience down -- even if it's still the second weakest element by far. The weakest element is the writing. It's not, like, offense -- it's loyal to the source material and works, it functions. But it's not doing anything beyond pushing us from set piece to set piece. If anything, the movie is a bit too short for all of the stuff it's cramming in. But on the upside, there is a lot of amazingly rendered visuals and music to take in. A real treat for fans of the franchise, and the most loyal gaming adaptation in movie form, I would say.

Across the Spiderverse is in essence the first half of a two part film. That makes it kind of difficult to talk about, especially when it's also a sequel, and the production sounds like it was marred with bad management and crunch. But the results they came up with actually met my hopes and expectations for a sequel, and that is saying something, as I had very high expectations. I completely adore this film's stupendous sense of style, editing, framing, writing, and the way it's making meta-commentary on multiple levels on top of just being an effective narrative on its own. This is animated storytelling running at full capacity in my opinion, and in general just film doing all of the kinds of things film can do. So it's no wonder that there's still a rub -- this is the first half of the story they planned. The editing, animation, framing, effects, acting, action sequences, music, writing, theming, just Farore's sake, this is SUCH a damn banger of a film and one of the best movies I've ever seen, which, again, is kind of insane given the circumstances. I can only hope they don't fuck up the conclusion.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off was quite the surprise announcement, and as it turns out, quite the surprise adaptation. I won't spoil much but I will say that by the end of the first episode, it becomes very apparent that this series is no mere by-the-books adaptation, and does something unique and edifying, even if it still maintains a certain surface-level depth I wish the franchise would push beyond. Either way, I enjoyed it way more than I expected to going in, and I think it makes for a great companion to the rest of the series. The animation style was super fun, as well, with some great action sequences.

But Blue Eye Samurai sucker-punched me, having released before I'd even known about it. This show is something else, something unlike any other animated show I've seen besides Arcane. And it's not like it's mimicking Arcane, it's just the closest I can think to compare it to: a quality, thoughtfully framed, thoughtfully written, made-for-adults animated series. It tows the line between fantasy and realism in a refreshing way, its protagonist is great, its cast is compelling, its plot goes to some neat places, and things just feel very well thought-out and well-executed. Slap this in second place behind Arcane as the TV series I am the most excited to see more of in the future, just ahead of The Bear.

Something I did near the end of the year was watch The Hunger Games movies, back to back over the course of like, a week. Have not read the books but man, watching these sure made me interested in doing so at some point. I totally get why people were so enamored with this franchise, and honestly, I think its themes and messages are more relevant now than they were when this franchise was at the peak of its popularity. The films certainly have glaring issues for my tastes but yea, I managed to really enjoy them as a whole despite my lack of mainstream sensibilities. Looking forward to reading the books eventually.

Another thing my wife shared with me was 花ざかりの君たちへ (often called 'Hana-Kimi' for short). Specifically, the 2007 version, as, uh, apparently there are multiple adaptations of this. It was a live action Japanese drama about a high schooler who was born female but transfers into an all-boys school, identifying as a boy while she is there. There's more to it than that, and I won't say it handles everything the best (it's from the mid 2000's) or concludes things in quite the way I'd have preferred. Not to mention it's kind of weird seeing many tropes I'm used to seeing in anime rendered by physical, real actors. BUT it was overall a really sweet, adorable, funny, heartfelt, and reached for pro-queer expression in a time and place when that wasn't mainstream yet (and honestly kinda still isn't depending on who you ask).

Good Omens Season 3 also dropped this year. I actually don't have much to say partly because I think a big element of it is just not knowing what to expect going into it! But it was also very good, very fun, pretty damn gay, I really enjoyed it and am crossing my fingers hard they get to wrap it up the way they want.

All right! Onto my personal top 10 GOTYs.

TOP 11 GAMES

(I played and finished in 2023)

11) Mother 3

The one entry on this list that did not actually come out this year -- in fact, it's never technically released outside of Japan. Originally release in 2007 on the Game Boy Advance, this quirky RPG has developed quite the reputation. I started playing the fan translation back in like 2020, and only got around to finally finishing it this year. While that likely did tarnish the experience a bit for me, so does the final third or so -- it kind of drags on a bit, and any old school format RPG that requires grinding to progress can become a bit of a chore.

Thankfully, Mother 3 did earn its hallowed reputation in my eyes now that I have experienced it. I totally get the passion for this game now, and I am a convert. It makes me want to finally finish Mother 2, aka Earthbound. But here's the biggest thing about Mother 3 I weirdly did not expect going in, yet smashed my face in like a hammer by the time I finished it:

without Mother 3, there is no way Undertale/deltarune would exist.

The DNA for Toby Fox's works is achingly obvious in its relation to this game, specifically. I won't spoil anything and I won't go into my long list of evidence like an Ace Attorney case, but trust me, there is ample evidence to make this claim.

And that also means that Mother 3 stands on its own merits as doing things that RPGs just plain were not doing in 2007, and in some ways still aren't today. Aside from some pacing issues further in, the characters in your party aren't as developed as much as I'd like. BUT the overall narrative it tells, especially in those opening chapters, have a rare kind of earnest, human magic to them that most games just don't let themselves fall into. And it concludes in ways I did not expect and yet offered clarity as to why it is so beloved, and how Toby Fox was so inspired to put his own mark on the gaming landscape.

I owe a great deal to Undertale, personally, and as such, I also owe a great deal to Mother 3. You don't need to have played others in the series to enjoy it, you'll just be missing some referential stuff here and there. It's quite playable and unique by today's standards and I strongly recommend it if you want an RPG that is heartfelt, funny, fun mechanically, and has some simple but hard-hitting things to say about the world we live in, and what we are doing to ourselves and that world.

10) Super Mario Bros. Wonder

What can be said that hasn't been said already? Nintendo knocked it out the park with this one. This was everything I've wanted in a 2D Mario for like 15 years. The only thing 'missing' from it is playable Rosalina, but hey, we finally got Daisy in a mainline Mario game, so I'll take it. After a decade or so of dragging their feet with low-effort but enjoyable 2D games, Super Mario Wonder finally, at long last, captures what makes Nintendo games great and with their best foot forward. They haven't done 2D Mario this well since World on the SNES in 1991. And they have never put this level of production into a 2D game since... ever?

This is one of the all-time best 2D platformers out there, and for once it finally feels like 2D Mario is running on all cylinders as a big budget passion project kind of game. You love to see it.

9) Scarlet Hollow

This game isn't technically finished yet, as it is episodic, and its developers wanted to release Slay the Princess in the interim, but that doesn't stop its quality from being good enough to make my list. This game is doing the kinds of things visual novels should be doing, the kinds of things I wish to do in a sense with my own visual novel development.

It's a horror themed experience but balances the high tension with actual real stakes very well against mostly down-to-earth conversations, with lots of great tricks and touches of presentation you don't typically see in indie visual novels, along with a fantastic art style, charming characters (my favorite character has turned out to be the one I immediately disliked at first, and that's rare for me), and meaningful choices.

I can't wait to see how this one wraps up but even as it stands it's one of the best things I experienced in 2023.

8) Xenoblade Chronicles: Future Redeemed

I will admit I skipped Xenoblade Chronicles 2 after giving it an honest go in like, 2019 or so. A few hours in and i couldn't stomach it, the tonal whiplash from Xenoblade 1 (one of the best RPGs I've ever played) was too much for me. But then Xenoblade 3 came out last year, and is also one of the best RPGs I've ever played, even better than the original for my tastes.

But I wasn't prepared for the DLC to drop a whole ass side-game on us, a self-contained prequel to 3 that serves as narrative cohesion to tie the whole trilogy together with a bow on top, complete with perfectly tuned fanservice (and not the sexy kind, although grown-up Rex and Shulk, well, yes) that really respects its fanbase for investing hundreds of hours in this franchise.

Matthew is easily one of my all-time fav RPG main characters, probably the favorite RPG main character when I think of it (as main characters specifically go, anyway), and his game is a fraction of the length of many RPGs out there. But as usual, the entire cast had their charms, the story was nicely paced, the gameplay and overall length was just about damn perfect for what I could want from the genre.

As an expansion to a pre-existing game, this is one of the top 3 best expansions/DLCs I've ever played. When taken as a side story to an overarching trilogy, I'm not even 100% in on the lore and I still enjoyed the hell out of it, it's just the kind of thing that hits a tone of 'damn, video games are a fucking unique medium that we can do specific narrative things with across years of telling a story.'

I don't know where Monolith Soft is going next, though the ending certainly offers some intriguing teasing, but I suspect I will be there day one to see it, and am looking forward to it.

7) Pikmin 4

Given the long wait (10 years!) one might understand fan concern over the state of Pikmin 4. Turns out, that extra time was spent making this game fucking good. It's not the largest, most impressive, most complex, most inspiring, most 'anything' game I played this year, and yet I can't help saying that this is a damned good video game. It really nailed what it set out to do as a sequel, incorporating just the right ideas to spice up the formula while bringing things back to how Pikmin 2 was, and improving on the series in basically every way -- including stuff to do!

This is easily the most Pikmin game... in a Pikmin game. I still haven't 100%'d it. Without giving away any details, I'll just say that when a game rolls credits and you're only like, halfway through its content, and it just keeps going, that's just kind of wild. It would've felt like a great game even then, but the breadth and depth it ends up going to in order to keep giving you ways to engage with its wonderfully detailed world and addictive mechanics, I love it.

I just want more of it. Give me DLC with more Dandori content, the formula and feel just works so well at this point.

6) Sea of Stars

How the hell I forgot to include this one on my list initially is boggling. Easily one of the best indie games I've ever experienced. The writing is nothing to, well, write home about, but it's not bad. And in fact the story has a lot of great things going on, from an interesting world to a very potent arc with the leading support character (who, let's face it, is kind of more the main character than your two main characters).

The game's art and music are phenomenal, capturing the essence of 90's era RPGs but clearly doing things not capable back then. Made even sweeter, the game is a prequel to the studio's prior work, The Messenger, which I also played and adored in tandem, kind of going back and forth between the two once I was partway into Sea of Stars. The way this RPG repurposes songs from Messenger as well as all kinds of seemingly superfluous elements but makes it feel cohesive is pretty great.

The game also trims a lot of the fat you'd find in older RPGs, as well as lets you customize your experience in a modern way using collectibles you can toggle on and off to grant all kinds of effects, like increasing or decreasing the difficulty in various ways.

The homage paid to classics like Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG is clear but it's not at all copy-cat-ing, instead wearing those inspirations proudly on its sleeves and forging its own path with its own ideas. A fantastic collection of party members, a wonderful world, amazing presentation, and environments and pacing that help it stand apart from the genre that inspired it. I wish we got to know the leads better, there is a lack of character growth in many ways, but that's me grasping at straws to critique, it's just a fantastic experience and the studio should be very proud of what they've accomplished.

5) Hi-Fi Rush

This is gonna be a running trend from here on out, but on any other year, Hi-Fi Rush would've been my GOTY, easy. From this point on, we're talking measures of inches rather than miles in terms of my love for these games.

Hi-Fi Rush finally delivered on something I have waited like 20 years for: a rhythm action adventure where playing the game in sync with the music felt fucking cool and gave me emotional resonance in a way only this medium can. The humor was charmng. The visual aesthetic is almost peak 'my taste.' The music was groovy with a few tracks I did not see coming but loved seeing how they were incorporated. The story was surprisingly fun! The characters were fantastic, I loved the entire main crew in a way I rarely ever do and would jump at the chance to spend more time with (and hey, there's a whole bunch of post-game I have yet to do, so I intend to in 2024).

The only real thing I could reasonably ask for from this game is a way to play as those other party members in post-game content or new-game plus or something. And who knows, maybe we get that some day. Even if we don't, what they came up with here is the next best thing besides. And what we got is one the most video-gamey video games I have ever played, a real classic and one I think will go down as one of my all-time favs. A passion project given meaningful time, budget, and creatives to bring it to life.

Had this game offered multiple playable characters, a bit more development in its story, and maybe a stronger climax, it'd be higher. I still love it to death and want more games like it regardless.

Hi-Fi Rush is exactly what kind of game we could have gotten more of if the Internet hadn't pushed gaming into a 'live service' direction. It is literally the spirit of a PS2/GameCube game given modern form. And either way, we did get it, at least, in that form, and it fucking rocks.

4) Resident Evil 4 (Remake)

This year was big for remakes and remasters, but one stands tall above the rest, if you ask me. The original RE4 has stood as my fav in the franchise, the one that got me into the franchise, the one that got me into M-rated games in the first place. Lots of nostalgia, but it's held up surprisingly well over the years despite some limitations of the time (mainly the controls) and some older-fashioned sensibilities ("with ballistics, too~").

But Capcom fucking nailed it with this reimagining. Like Final Fantasy VII: Remake, this game is not a remaster, or a one-to-one recreation. It is a brand new game, built from the ground up, reimagining the original entirely, complete with new mechanics and story. But unlike with FF7, this is also shockingly authentic and loyal to the original at the same time. It remixes elements from the original game, maintains most of the original's map design, adds in new stuff, removes some of the more goofy shit -- and even 90% of what feels 'removed' is revealed to be repurposed for the Ada side story DLC.

It looks great, it sounds great, the adjustments to characters and story are improvements across the board, (except for Hunnigan, RIP) the gameplay is improved in intensity and feel and action and replayability. And yet despite all of this, it balances that campy tone of the original just enough to still evoke what I loved about the original's tone. And it doesn't outright replace the original game, either. The two are now like different recipes of the same sandwich or something. There's reasons to revisit the original, though for me this has now replaced the remake of RE2 as my fav in the franchise.

I really don't know where they go from here but I will look forward to it, and regardless, they fucking nailed this one.

3) Street Fighter 6

Two Capcom games, back-to-back? They had a fucking good year in my eyes. The interesting thing about this particular entry is that unlike the others on this list, I will be continuing to play this one for hours and hours into 2024, especially with more fighters still planned. And in another year, this would've easily been my GOTY.

After all, Street Fighter 6 is the single-best traditional fighting game I think I've ever played. And while fighting games are my overall personal favorite genre, I'm more of a Smash player who also loves the hell out of Street Fighter and then dabbles in Tekken and whatever else releases. Street Fighter has always been one of my go-to top multiplayer games since I got into the franchise with SF4 in 2010. While I did enjoy SF5 well enough, it just didn't keep me hungry to come back for more like 4 did. SF6 has fixed that problem by way of a multitude of changes.

It has easily the most fun single player mode I've seen any fighting game have. Like, yea, The Subspace Emmisary (and even then, I don't love that mode like other folks do, I kinda think it's... fine?) but tbqh World Tour is just better in most every way. You get to build your own fighter, earn and mix and match different costumes and individual character special moves with each fighter's fight style. You get to just hang out with the SF characters, get to know them as people, their hobbies, their fears, their insecurities, their passions besides just beating the shit out of each other. On top of this, the realistic art style shift (a by-product of the RE Engine) seals the deal on what Street Fighter 6 is aiming to do: humanize its cast.

Is it still wacky as fuck? Is it still comical and weird and goofy? Hell yes, it is. Is the story mode deep in its narrative? Not in the slightest. But it's still stepping confidently in a direction fighting games should be trying to, not being too self-serious, but also being earnest.

And I haven't even touched on the mechanics! The Drive System alone is a brilliant addition that adds a sort of 'stamina' system that works so well to add an extra layer of decision making and tension. The game's not perfectly balance imo but for how much is here it is surprisingly damn well balanced, especially given they have insisted on not pushing out a single balance patch since it launched in June. For most any other competitive game, that would be like suicide for the scene, but the game seems to be thriving and selling extremely well for the franchise. And it's earned it.

I will absolutely be continuing my warrior's journey into 2024 and I can't wait to see what else Capcom has in store for this game.

2) Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Out of every game I played in 2023, Tears of the Kingdom is easily the most technically impressive. From a design standpoint, from a 'how in the hell is the Switch doing all of this without exploding' standpoint. From a 'holy hell how is there this much stuff in a single player game' standpoint. From a 'oh my goddesses that stupid batshit idea I had 100% worked because it actually did make sense' standpoint.

Where Breath of the Wild opened our minds as to what an open world game could be -- fully designed like one giant interconnected 'level' -- Tears of the Kingdom replied in much the way I expected: it pulled a Super Mario Galaxy 2. What I mean by that is that this is a direct sequel, building directly off the foundation of the original. You know. Like video game sequels almost always used to. And which many very successful ones still absolutely do.

But Tears of the Kingdom somehow managed to wow me all over again by adding to that open world's verticality in insane ways -- the Depths alone are probably my favorite 'mechanic' from any Zelda game ever besides the time loop of Majora's Mask (and what that did for the story and gameplay). But beyond the scale of the world basically doubling and then some (floating islands and caves on top of Depths), I was curious how this game could stand tall after Elden Ring, which is easily in my top 10 favorite games of all time at this point. Elden Ring was Fromsoft's reply to BOTW. And yet Tears of the Kingdom still managed to have something new to say in spite of that very strong reply.

Tears of the Kingdom opened the door to let players essentially create their own mechanics. By removing the abilities Link had to engage with the world before, and replacing them with a brand new toolset that includes abilities you just... don't see games give you, because they'd be 'overpowered,' TOTK designs its massive world in ways that invite you to use those 'overpowered' abilities however you see fit.

Being able to interact with the world and objects in this way, being able to fuse them together to create all kinds of effects, or new methods of transportation, even interacting with things not just spacially but in respect to time, it's nuts and fun and I've already poured like 130 hours with still so much I haven't done. And that's the thing: this game wasn't designed to be 100%'d. It was designed to just... be experienced, as much or as little as you want. And games on this level of scale/budget just do not have the guts to let so, so much 'content' be missed out on. And this game does.

It's a technical achievement and while I had my doubts with how strangely little Nintendo had to show, I am very glad that the experience itself manages to breathe new life into one of my all-time favorite games while improving on it in so many ways. It won't convert you if you didn't love the original -- this is a Super Mario Galaxy 2 style sequel, after all. But it's essentially replaced the original in ways I didn't think would be possible.

The story? Oof. Uh, not so much the story, let's ignore that part. That's what Nintendo wants you to usually do, anyway. But everything else, just. Din-damn.

It expands upon the first game's already fairly open-ended nature in an exponential way that I suspect developers will spend years to come trying to pin down, much like how they've spend the past 6 or 7 years trying to replicate BOTW's open world design.

For much of this year, I thought this was personal GOTY. And for many it will be, because it's just an extremely impressive video game.

Number 1...?

Going into this list, I kept telling myself, 'man, on any other year, this would be my GOTY. And if you know me personally you likely have already figured out what my GOTY is by omission. But the more I've thought about it, the more I've realized just how close these top 5 games are, it really is like centimeters instead of inches, and they each -- well, every game I've mentioned here, beyond the Top 10, as well -- offered something edifying that I was very satisfied with.

And no, it's not Baldur's Gate 3. While I have spent hours playing it in co-op and a little bit solo, that game's just not really for me, exactly. Like, I can enjoy it, and I have massive respect for the dev team and what they accomplished with it. But I don't much care for D&D, and the game just didn't do very much for me personally, I lack the motivation to finish it. Remove Karlach from the game and I have next to nothing to really attach myself to, personally. I definitely get why it's many people's favorite game of 2023, though, and I do think it's a bit of a wakeup call for what can be accomplished by just making a GAME instead of struggling to contort it into a service etc.

Street Fighter 6 is fucking fantastic but it could still use some more actual fighters and incentives to keep playing besides monetizing its players in weird ways. I love it, and it will be the game from 2023 I end up playing the most (it already is, I think). But if it ended as it is, I would be very satisfied.

Hi-Fi Rush is oozing with originality and style and I adore it to death, and when I finished it, I was very satisfied.

Resident Evil 4 kept me addicted for over 100 hours, had an amazing DLC expansion, oozes replaybility in the specific ways I like for a single player action game (rogue-likes besides). I am extremely satisfied by it.

Tears of the Kingdom is so massive and fun to just explore that I know I will continue to play more in the months to come. Will I ever revisit it entirely? I'm actually not sure! That massive length does lend some repetition, even if it's the kind I find therapeutic and satisfying.

And that's what made me realize something. My personal GOTY did not just satisfy me. It made me hungry. It filled me up in a way I didn't think was possible and yet I still hunger for more, because I enjoyed it that fucking much. I played through it twice and still hunger for more. I know I will play it a third time eventually, but mainly I just have not been to remove from my brain the particular ways it made me feel, ways that only a video game can. Nothing about it felt like it needed to be overlooked.

SF6 and RE4 had dubious monetization, TOTK had a story I found to be like 90% boring and it still maintains many of the flaws of the original. And Hi-Fi Rush, while amazing, just didn't scratch the particular itch this game did for me.

1) Lies of P

If you told me that Lies of P was a game developed by some sub-division of FromSoft, I'd believe you. Which is to say I would also believe that it was made by people who wanted to break free from some of the shackles of the now infamous 'soulslike' genre.

A narrative that actually makes sense by the end? Opening up options for the player without requiring specific stat levels? Encounters and boss fights that feel ravenously challenging without just feeling like cheap bullshit? Music that crosses borders beyond 'angry chorus, angrier orchestra'?

Lies of P doesn't quite eclipse Elden Ring, but that's an absolutely unfair comparison given the utter scope and scale and variety that game packs. But Lies of P improves at the FromSoft formula in specific ways, while making concessions in others, and as a result it's just an experience that seeped into my brain like no other game this year, not even Tears of the Kingdom, despite that I put half the hours into this one.

I love all of the games I have mentioned here, you could honestly swap around the order of this top 5 and I could mentally meander a way to justify why, no, actually, this one was my favorite game of 2023. In a year so awful for the people who make games, yet so amazing for games themselves, Lies of P is exactly the kind of game I needed. I needed someone to show me that you can make something directly inspired by someone else's work, yet fine tune it in all the right ways to make it stand just as tall in terms of quality and design. Lies of P made me feel things in ways only a handful of games ever do -- and I would actually count Hi-Fi Rush among those in a regard.

But Lies of P also told a story I found compelling. It had mystery, tension, buildup, it started off seeming like it would do the vague FromSoft schtick only to 100% come together, make sense, be rewarding, and offer a 'true ending' that I got on the first playthrough, organically, without looking things up, because it just... felt right. Not only is the game adapting FromSoft's formula into something its own, it's also doing that with the story of Pinocchio. The gameplay and the story congeal together not in the 'perfect' way that it does with games like Celeste or Undertale, but rather in a more... messy way, like a puppet aching to become a real boy.

The game is full of loss, in its world and for you as the player, who will die many times. But unlike much of FromSoft's catalogue, I never once felt like I died because of bullshit. Was I trolled? Sure, the game definitely 'trolls' you in classic FromSoft fashion, lulling you into a sense of security only to sweep you off your feet. But unlike how FromSoft does it, these circumstances can always be avoided if you're cautious. And if you're not? Hey, 'We got you! We gooottt youuu, haha' and you lose a couple minutes of progress, rather than like fifteen minutes and also an entire level's worth of souls because oh right, this section you just got through is kind of bullshit cheap.

Don't get me wrong, I love Dark Souls. But the thing is, Lies of P takes the parts I love about Dark Souls, admits it can't pull off quite the intricate web of level design, but then throws away everything I do not like about Dark Souls, improves on the things I already liked, and then pushes me to meet it on its level.

The satisfaction of being a boss you spend an hour, two hours on, cannot be understated. It's a feeling unlike any other, and one only this medium can provide. And Lies of P kept me motivated, like Sekiro before it, to keep improving, keep growing, keep trying. And unlike Sekiro, it gave me so many more tools to play with, to learn, to balance in an arsenal with intent. Enemies have elemental weaknesses if I so choose to exploit them, the moveset of one weapon's handle can be applied to a completely different blade, my robotic arm can leverage things in a pinch, or be the backbone to dealing with a boss. Mastery is rewarded with practice. A vicious boss that annihilates you in five seconds can be defeated without a single scratch if you practice enough. Mastery, creativity, quick thinking, and reacting are all rewarded here.

I am more than the hands pulling the strings, I am more than a puppet, I am human. And games like this can only be made by humans, who get that specific itch that only video games that challenge us can scratch. It's not an itch everyone has, but that's why it's my GOTY and not yours, innit?

With its unique setting, its wonderful music, its cozy hub area, its narrative that offers just enough to make me care, but not so much that I am bored or feel misled, its amazing boss designs, and its wonderfully tactile and engaging combat, Lies of P is a game I just can't stop feeling something about whenever I am reminded of it.

It epitomizes so much -- not all, but much -- of what I love about what video games can do, what adaptations can do, and much like how Toby Fox was inspired by Mother 3, what people can do when they are inspired by someone else's work.

As far as I can tell, this is developer Round8's debut game, and just. Holy hell, what a way to come out swinging. I haven't seen a debut game hit this hard since, I don't know, Bastion.

Close your eyes. Come to me. Feel all right.

I did, and I do, and given what you teased at the end of this game, I have extremely high hopes of what you come up with next. And in a landscape where things feel more difficult to get excited for with each passing year, much less new IP, it's so damn refreshing to have both Hi-Fi Rush and this game standing out as signals that, hey, some folks are still willing to invest bigger budgets into new games, new ideas.

Again, a battle of centimeters here and at this point I should wrap this up and go to bed.

But yea, Lies of P reminded me of what makes me, specifically, human, in a very particular way that only it has. And I honestly think out of all of single player games of 2023, I think it will actively stand out in my heart the most in the years to come.

[sunshinereddie]

8 shows to get to know me

thanks for the tag @jwilliambyers !! <3 sorry it took a little while for me to reply heheh but now that i’m back from my tumblr break let me answer!!

1) supernatural. i feel like this one is pretty obvious LOL this show…….. permanently changed my brain chemistry- for better or for worse who can truly tell,,, but seriously, i had SUCH an attachment to this show as a 13/14/15 year old and at the time it was like,, the only important thing in my life lmao. it was the best show in the world and i lived and breathed spn for many of my teenage years…. and even though now i do recognize that it’s not the best i still love rewatching spn, it brings me a sort of comfort that’s hard to explain! and when i was struggling with things as a young teenager, spn was what i always turned to to make me feel better :’) plus,,, it was my introduction to tumblr fandoms lmao so. you’ve all got spn to thank for this account i guess!!!

2) derry girls. i finally watched this show a few weeks ago and i binged it all in just a few days because everything about it was AMAZING!!! i loved all the characters so much and i loved how this show really embraced its silliness. i feel like we don’t have enough “silly” shows and derry girls is just the perfect example of an amazing silly show!!! i highly recommend it to everyone!!

3) how to get away with murder. this show was SO GOOD and so so intense,, like i was stressed out every single episode lmao. but in a good way! i loved all (well, most) of the characters and this show does such a good job of getting you very attached to certain characters……. and then breaking your heart bc of them :’) the amount of times i cried aahh!!! also, all the plot twists are super well done in my opinion!! such an insane show i was literally watching like 😨😨😨 90% of the time lmao. also, queer rep!!!!

4) gilmore girls. okay. i am both a gilmore girls lover AND a gilmore girls hater. there are certain parts of this show that i absolutely adore and that make it such a comfort show for me, but other parts (and characters…) that annoyed me so much that it actually made me stop watching the show for the while lmao. but overall i do really like gilmore girls, it’s both a comfort show and a hatewatching show to me hehehe. the vibes of season 1 in stars hollow is unmatched though!!!

5) great pretender. i think great pretender is probably my favourite anime! i love a good found family heist story so this really just hit all the marks for me hehehe and in case you couldn’t tell,,, im a very character-driven person with my media, so if there are good characters in a show, there is a 99% chance that i will just love that show regardless of the plot lmao. i love laurent and makoto and abby and cynthia so much ;-; i also just loved all the twists and turns that this anime took, it’s unlike any other anime i’ve watched and agh!!!!! it’s incredible :’)

6) mob psycho 100. mp100 is like the perfect mix of shounen with action and fighting and stuff (and all the fight scenes are AMAZING like the animation ???? it’s so good oh my god and im not even the biggest shounen fan) with like. just slice of life and it’s so perfect :’) it’s so fun to watch, but it’s such a well written and exciting story and of course. AMAZING CHARACTERS!!!!!

7) haikyuu. haikyuu was one of the first animes i ever watched back in like 2014! so again, it has a very special place in my heart :’) i never thought i could care this much about a volleyball team but i do!! also, the rewatchability of haikyuu is UNMATCHED,, i think i’ve rewatched season 2 at least 10 times because it just brings me so much joy!! and again, i don’t know if i’ve watched a show with characters i care as much about as the haikyuu characters!! each and every one of them are so well-written like it’s insane to me- they’re all so good i can’t even pick a favourite!! also fun fact: haikyuu is the fandom that i’ve written the most fanfiction for! i’ve never posted any of it, but i’ve got a LOT of little haikyuu drabbles and one shots and planned-out fics in my google docs lmao- more than all my reddie fics actually! maybe i’ll post some if anyone is interested :’)

8) our flag means death. last but certainly not least,, ofmd is such a special show to me!!! i always had a little interest in pirates growing up, so when i first heard about 1. this new pirate show and 2. this new QUEER pirate show, i knew that i had to watch it!!!! and im so glad that i did because it is spectacular :’) again i feel like this is a show that embraced its silliness, but also the serious moments and plot points were so well written and such an amazing contrast to the silliness. i love this show so much and i’m so excited for season 2!!!

thank you again anita for this tag!!! im going to tag @edskasbpraks @lemonleafloser @scrunchi @reddieswift and @transkasp and anyone else who wants to do it !!!! no pressure though :)

[galacticlamps]

actually ascension needs its own post since that's the one with the most details to speculate over and im starved for soho talk so i will talk to myself if need be

First the cover again, because I kinda can't get over it:

my only thing is that I had been hoping we might get Lizbeth on a cover again since she's never been on one of the boxsets before, despite being the 2nd person credited on all 4 of them (even if that's just alphabetical, still, she's the only one of the four main characters who never makes the cover)

But letting that go...

I know we already kinda knew the brief for this one but damn I didn't expect it to go quite this hard. Maybe that's just because the Parasite & Ashenden covers were (comparatively) similarish to each other and I was so pleased with Unbegotten's, and then got so used to it as the placeholder for Ascension while they kept postponing it, I wasn't expecting anything this colorful or detailed or with what I can't help but register as Fun New Outfits even though these are still like, pretty damn basic as far as costumes go. Still, it's a different vibe from everyone in suits and trenchcoats on every cover, technically. (Oh the woes of being an audio fan such that two characters owning sweaters actually does qualify as new information)

On top of just being visually delightful though, I know we knew religion was gonna be a fairly big part of this one, but I didn't actually expect to get quite this much of it - though I'm glad of it for a number of reasons. The BF twitter already made the ineffable joke so I don't have to, but also yeah I did very much spend all of season 2 episode 4 of good omens half convinced Samuel Barnett & Dervla Kirwan were about to pop up around any given corner (if you will go around being gay supernatural and horrible at your messy bureaucratic jobs in midcentury soho then I'm sorry, this is where my brain's gonna go) - so, fuel to that fire. But in terms of actual important things, at least one of my Soho wishes looks to be being granted because we have a Rev Edward Folgate on the cast list, which must mean we're finally meeting Norton's father, even if his mother & brother don't appear (which they could, technically, I've definitely seen BF not list all the doublings on their cast tabs before). Religion, domesticity, and the nuclear family are all things that absolutely fascinate me when it comes to Norton's character, so getting any amount of story involving his father & his church is something I've been actively hoping for for a long time now.

(I will say I'm a tiny bit bummed Saffron Coomber isn't on the cast list to play Mia again, but I kinda figured she wasn't going to be since Greg Austin's Armitage, who's making his first recurring appearance after originating in Unbegotten, was listed ever since the boxset was announced - presumably if she was also returning, that would've been handled in the same way. But since Unbegotten ended with Lizbeth and Mia going on a date, I still held out hope. Who knows though, maybe things did go well for them and Lizbeth just has a better work/life balance than Norton so she can date someone without them getting dragged into every scifi plot. I know that's not a very common accomplishment for any Torchwood agent, but a gal can hope)

At this point I know I'm completely in the realm of speculation & even wishful thinking, but I'm really really hoping we get some more clues as to Norton's overall timeline in this one, and I have a feeling that even if there's nothing as direct as dates given, the events of a plot like this one are going to heavily influence my personal interpretation of it.

To say that life & death are major themes for the soho crew feels wildly reductive, but even by Torchwood's standards and taking into account its origins as a piece of media with Jack Harkness & his newfound immortality at the heart of it, the living/dead status of this bunch has always been fantastically up in the air to me. Obviously Ghost Mission introduced Norton as kind of a ghost before revealing more obvious ghostly characters later on to which the title might have been referring, but his being from the past did beg the question of his survival into Torchwood's present era all the same, which Outbreak later alludes to much more directly, and his habit of showing up via hologram in multiple stories only further obfuscates any certainty we might have about where & when he definitely can be said to be alive and well. Then you've got Lizbeth and Gideon both being effectively 'brought back to life' via paradoxes that prevented them ever having died in the first place. Again, they are very very far from being the only Torcwhood characters this happens to (for a sprawling EU, it's really rather impressive how often & in how many different ways Torchwood as a whole manages to circle back to being about like. chaotic undead queers at the end of every day. though I suppose that consistency is part of why I keep falling in love with its different iterations again and again). That's without even getting into the question of Norton's dubious fate in God Among Us - and I say dubious because I know some people take that to be his ultimate death, but I personally think that reading something as vague as that as having any kind of finality rather goes against the spirit of this whole world/series, not just because I want him to live. (There are obviously other ways to make him survive/reappear, but I don't see this as a River Song scenario where we can safely assume one of his earlier-released adventures had to happen at the end of his personal timeline). But wherever God Among Us falls for him, he does very much meet God in it - or at least, a god, since the sentinel in Unbegotten is also described as a god of sorts, and even if he doesn't ultimately have the status of the god Jacqueline King is playing there, Unbegotten is still full to bursting with ghosts/undead/came back wrong/echo characters to continue underscoring that life/afterlife theme.

So all things considered, even allowing for the fact that we know Norton's twin hobbies are lying about himself and abusing time travel to suit his own ends/ever-shifting alliances, I find it difficult to believe we could get through a whole 6-part boxset about religion & death without something providing some kind of compelling evidence about where this adventure fits in among his other run-ins with apocalypses and gods and ghosts and dead-but-still-here characters/creatures, so I'm very much looking forward to any further exploration on that front.

And lastly, and least intellectually, I really want to know what the hell 20th-century Torchwood's obsession with Reginalds is. Reading through the cast list, I had to do two separate doubletakes over the character 'Sir Reginald Peebles' - firstly, because I had Reginald Rigsby on the brain, this being Soho (and the other Troughton brother being so active on BF's releases for this same month) - and secondly, because reading this in conjunction with the announcement for the July monthly adventure in which the new main Torchwood guy of the 20s is apparently called Sir Reginald Dellafield, there was a brief moment where I took that monthly release to be a tie-in with Ascension. I don't expect it to be, but damn. was it really so popular a name?

anyways, catch me thinking about those stained glass windows for the next couple months I guess (and knowing Torchwood Soho, for a long long time after it comes out as well lol)

[elapsed-spiral]

Okay, so I had a quiet/bad brain-y kinda day so I decided to blast through S2 of GO. There's some miscellaneous thoughts under the cut. Hopefully I've tagged this with all the right kinda spoiler tags but let me know if I've missed any people are using.

GO S2 SPOILERS AHEAD

I'll start by laying my cards on the table: I read and enjoyed the book a long time ago but I couldn't make it through season one, it just didn't grab me. My main motivation for watching S2 was knowing Finnemore was heavily involved, since I enjoyed Cabin Pressure back in the day.

The following points tend towards being critical so if you're not into reading that, please feel free to not read them. I'm not trying to say that people shouldn't enjoy the show, please enjoy away!

I think, overall, I enjoyed S2 more than S1. It's a tricky book to adapt so it felt good to get away from trying to capture all of that on screen. I'm not sure how Good Omens the book-y it felt, but I enjoyed it more.

I like John Hamm but then I've always liked John Hamm. I kinda wish there'd been more John, it felt like he got a bit forgotten/overlooked at times.

I liked Maggie and Nina, I think the actors made them impressively likeable and interesting characters given the screentime they got. That being said, they still felt like a fairly heavy handed and on the nose parallel to the main pair.

Really coulda done without the Nazi zombies. The laudanum scene also didn't really work for me, was too much of a tonal whiplash.

It was funnier than S1 but not as funny as I'd expected/hoped it would be with Finnemore at the helm, which was a shame.

I really enjoyed the bananas Austen ball scene, that felt original and fun.

I don't have much of a view about Gabriel and Beelzebub getting together as I didn't see much of Beelzebub in S1 before giving up on it. It did bug me how they felt the need to try and jokily acknowledge the change of actor so much, felt unnecessary/took me out of things.

Sheen is a very good actor but his performance grates on me a bit. I get that Aziraphale's intentionally got this level of affectation but it feels cartoonish at times.

I'm not Tenant's biggest fan but I liked him as much as I normally do in this.

It felt like Metatron came out of nowhere a bit (I don't know if he's in S1?). It felt like they could have worked him into the plot earlier.

I did really enjoy the end scene with Aziraphale and Crowley. It was nice and messy, and devastating. I understand some people think it reverses/undermines some of Aziraphale's characterisation from S1, which I can't comment on, but saying 'I forgive you' was a real gut punch and has been rattling around in my brain.

Final thing that came to me: did S1 establish that you can store memories inside a fly (what a sentence)? Because if not, that felt a bit of a ridiculous explanation for Gabriel's amnesia without more hints that that was where the plot was going ahead of the pub scene flashbacks in ep 6.

So yeah, just some thoughts wot I thought and that I've written down coz I can't sleep.

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

okay but what are the three nhthcth songs tho

So it’s important to note that Songs for me don’t always have a perfect correlation or fit with lyrics matching the story and is more based on the overall Vibe somehow clicking with what I want the story to be.

1. Bad Habits by The Federal Empire

This was the original Song and it was the background for the vast majority of plot creation. I listened to it so many times that skewed my Spotify wrapped to a ridiculous degree. It specifically became the Song because of Daisy and Jon’s relationship in nhthcth.

Like, when I build a plot, there’s a lot of jumping around and figuring out how it all fits together. It’s always a fun, pleasant surprise when my brain knits together the very separate parts and tells me how we get there. Which gives me a very distorted perspective of the story, because the order I get information in tends to be very different than the order y’all get information in.

nhthcth loosely went: initial Tommy bradstaff confrontation-> daisy and Jon buddy cop adventures-> horrible devastatingly sad backstory that got us there-> ohmygodisthatDannystoker-> rest of it

Bad Habits really had sort of off the cuff, mildly ill-advised and self-destructive, chaotic dynamic I wanted between Daisy and Jon. Like, I knew I wanted them to be really messy in this, because they were supposed to live in this sort of in-between in canon characterisations for them. They’d never had the buried, but they had to be past the point of “Daisy is hunt mad and wants to kill Jon in the woods.” They had to exist in this space where neither of them had progressed to the same point as they did in season 4 to stop feeding entirely and were in this sort of half-measure where they were trying to ignore the reality of their situation and make it work as best they can—and, you know, save the world while they went.

Like, I loved them so much. They committed so many crimes. Pov you’re spooky and you get brutalised in the woods by woman who looks like she kills people for the mob and man in cardigan who looks like he died last week. They were morally ambiguous and fucking hilarious. They weren’t allowed in France anymore. Dream team buddy cop between deeply violent woman and utterly exhausted man. I was obsessed. It was so fun and zany in my head.

Then I came up with the devastatingly sad parts and devastatingly sad ended up being the tone y’all got instead of fun and zany but it was too late the Song was set. Yes, Jon’s horrible traumatic past was created while listening to this fairly upbeat song. We get One Song per story it’s the rules of my brain.

But then it became so convoluted that it ended up getting more Songs, which was unprecedented.

2. Two Birds by Regina Spektor

The second song nhthcth, and I can’t say what part of the story it belongs to because we haven’t gotten to that part yet. I will say that it is a Song that belongs to Jon & Gerry.

3. Never Forget You by Noisettes

This is actually young Jon & Gerry’s Song. I really liked the fit for them because it sounds so upbeat and energetic with lyrics that are a little bittersweet.

Like, I can’t emphasize enough that Jon and Gerry were happy together. When they ran, they were genuinely happy kids who were glad to be alive for the first time in their own memories. They loved each other, they loved each and every adventure they went on, and even though they were in a completely shit situation, it was the happiest they had ever been. And even when they lost it, that period of their lives was always a sort of light they never let go of—and never stopped trying to get back.

This Song really had the jaunty, fun vibe that I wanted Gerry and Jon to have when they ran together, and there’s this overarching yearning and bittersweet reflection that I thought echoed how it ultimately would end in them being dragged back in the most painful way possible. It sort of acknowledged that it didn’t work out the way they hoped but it doesn’t diminish the joy and love that they had before it was lost.