#also this series is already so awesome I love this gimmick

[fence-time]

Do you ever feel like you’re being watched??

[momochanners]

After a good night's sleep, I think I can better solidify my thoughts in regards to the Dragon Age trailer.

First, let's start with the positives:

- Companion diversity: This has always been part of the series' DNA that has been clearly depicted with every iteration, so those who cry foul over "Asian & Black elves", prosthethics, etc etc...I really don't get that, because values and sensibilities evolve over time. Even the series itself has course corrected when needed, eg. Player character creation influencing the family ethnicity of the Couslands in DA:O vs the Hawkes in DA2.

- Unlocked romances: Letting players choose whoever they want to romance regardless of their sexuality and race has always been a positive for me. Allowing everyone to enjoy the experience equally is great (and I'm sure the nuances of player race & gender will be addressed through dialogue and banter). Moreover, CRPGs are long and time-consuming, so to be locked out of character romances mid-way through is never going to be a good time (from personal experience and observing fandom in the past).

Now the negatives:

- Maybe it's me being on the older side of the Bioware fandom (15 years in Dragon Age, 20 years if you count older games like KotOR and Jade Empire), but I cringed very hard watching the trailer. If you followed the development of this game in the past decade, the cancelled live service element that was to be DA4 in one of its iterations was so all over the way the companions were introduced that it brought out a visceral reaction in me. The tonal whiplash from how foreboding Dreadwolf was presented in the past to the patronising happy quippy MEET OUR LITTLE GUYS YOU'RE SURE TO LOVE also did not help as a first concrete look of what to expect after all this time (also poor anachronistic choice of soundtrack when you already have Trevor Morris' compositions right there). I was so dismayed when they went with a looter-shooter-esque lighthearted vibe when they could've leaned hard on the foreboding established mood and momentum they've already got going with Dreadwolf. 

- The branding switch this late in the game that comes with it, especially one as drastic as this will always come with questions and ambivalence. I feel that mitigating uncertainty from announced changes (party number, combat mechanics, setting and environment, etc) should've have been prioritised to reassure existing and lapsed fans before appealing to new ones in such a jarring way.

-  I'm simply baffled at the marketing suit who signed off on whatever this is to be their "best foot forward" at reintroducing the final form of this game? If only there were confident with the world they've already built instead of relying on trendy gimmicks, the amount of damage control I'm seeing prior to the gameplay reveal tonight was so avoidable. Controlling the narrative from the get go is so very important especially now as opinions can easily snowball overnight into behemoth-like proportions especially from bad faith actors. You would think that lessons were learned from DA:O's "THIS IS THE NEW SHIT" and DA2's "Press a button, something AWESOME happens" debacles.

(The thing is, despite it being my least favourite DA out of the three, imho Inquisition has the best marketing campaign in the franchise despite the developmental troubles going on in the background. So it has been pulled off successfully before!)

- I think the Bioware layoffs, especially the recent extensive gutting of senior staff in September 2023, significantly depleted my goodwill as a fan. To see Varric being paraded as a mascot in the trailer, game promotion and supplementary media while having his creator unceremoniously let go after years of building the franchise we love left me so very cold. And it's a me problem, but seeing many other fans barely acknowledging that save for few hollow words before getting back into the fun frustrated me so much. I get being excited to finally get something solid after years of false starts, but with what was lost along the way...I personally don't feel right to approach this installment without cynicism.

Idk, I'm just a bundle of conflicted feelings over this series I guess? When it's so good, it's really good and stays with you as memorable gaming experiences that stays with you for life, but when it stumbles and fumbles the bag...it hurts to see.

[flower-boi16]

King is my favorite character from The Owl House - Here's Why

So The Owl House is a show I quite like. While I don't think it's exactly perfect, it's a great show with good animation, an interesting fantasy world and magic system, great emotional beats, great characters, and great LGBT representation. It's definitely a great show. There's one thing I do like about The Owl House the most though, and that's the characters. Sure, most of them are very rough in season 1 but in seasons 2 and 3 they get quite well-written and compelling. From our main protagonist Luz, to Eda to Amity or Hunter, the show has some solid character writing. But which character is my favorite? Well you've already seen the title of this post so let's talk about this little guy:

In this post, I am going to explain why King is my favorite character in The Owl House, by talking about his arc throughout the series and his development. This post WILL contain spoilers for The Owl House, so you have been warned.

First talk about the smaller reasons I like King before I talk about his development. First, I like how King acts as sort of a little brother to Luz. Their dynamic is a super sweet sibling-like bond. And also, King is just very funny mainly in season 1. His whole gimmick of thinking he's a king of demons somehow never gets old and is very funny. Plus it sets up his development in season 2. Alright...now I'm done.

So...let's talk about the reason why I love King, that being his development throughout the series, more specifically his development in season 2. I don't have much to say about King in season 1 other than he's a funny and cute comic relief character in that season.

Season 2 however is when King became a great character, starting with episode 3: Echoes of the Past. In this episode, Luz, Lilith King and Hooty go to an island that King claims he came from so he could prove that he was the king of demons. While they explore the cave and look at a bunch of murals, King in this episode tells the others a bunch of stories of what he did as the King of demons, saying that he was cursed by someone into his current tiny form. They get chased down by this rock monster thingy and Eda comes to rescue them.

Eda then explains the reason why King always acted like he was some kind of overlord. Eight years ago, while Eda was looking to hide from the EC while it was boiling rain she went to this island when she was looking for shelter. She went into the cave and found King when he was just a little dogo. Also...

Can we appreciate how adorable Baby King is? Like, awww just look at him he's SO cute!!! Okay so erm, anyway, she took King from the cave because that monster in it was going to kill them both, and she took home with her. When they got home, King was building a bunch of stuff out of random objects, and after Eda makes a remark about him being a "king amongst his subjects", it makes King wonder what a king really was, and Eda tells King what a king really means and that's how he got the idea that he was some kind of overlord.

After that, King's entire worldview kinda of crumbles. He begins to realize that all this time his memories of being a king with feasts, subjects, and all that stuff were all just memories of him as a baby pretending to be a King. What I like here is how this episode takes what was once just some running gag throughout the first season and recontextualizes it in the second, adding some context to why King thinks he's some kind of ruler.

For years King thought that this fantasy that he was some kind of king of demons was real, and that he was the king of demons that lost his memory. And now that he knows it's all been a lie, he breaks down. It also shows that King is still a little kid, which is why he believed this fantasy for so long; he's a child who thinks that he was this awesome amazing ruler who was feared and respected by all, only for it to be a lie. Anyways, back to the episode, King runs away to somewhere and Eda Luz and Lilith all go to find him on the island.

Luz finds King sitting on a log and goes to talk to him, and he's still upset. There's one line here that stands out to me;

King: Eda was right wasn't she? I'm not a king, I'm a nobody

Earlier the episode showed that this fantasy that King was the king of demons was very important to him, as shown by how he reacted when Lilith mocked his stories earlier in the episode. This line implies that believing this fantasy that he was some all-powerful king made him feel special in a way, and now that he knows he was never really a king, he thinks he's a nobody.

Alex Hirsch also does a great job voicing King here, you can hear the emotion in his voice during this scene. Luz says that maybe some of King's memories were real, and King goes and tries to remember some of the memories that were real. King reluctantly agrees and they go rejoin the others and they go back to the cave. After avoiding the monster in the cave, Luz shoots some fire at the hole blocked off by the rocks and they go up to the hole.

There they find some rooms that King finds familiar. He gets some of his memories reawakened and it's revealed that the monster thingy was trying to protect King, as it stops when King orders it to. The memory is King hatching as wil ol baby and then crawling to open the door, the rock monster carries them and they fall down the hole as they hear a roar sound. King says that the roar meant "son", which means that it was his dad. King says that he wants to find out who his dad is and they go back to isle leaving the island. Thus, an arc for King is set up about finding out who his father is.

So this episode was great! Like I said earlier, it takes a running gag in season 1 and recontextualizes it in a way that's interesting. It also does a good job of setting up King's arc of self-discovery this season.

The next two episodes I'll talk about are Eda's Requiem and Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door. In Eda's Requiem King wants to win a race so he can record a message so his father can see it. They didn't win the race because King puked and they got 6th place. They do still record a message and post it online, and his dad does end up seeing it..or at least someone who looks like King's dad sees it. Before we continue...let's talk about this brilliant piece of subversion here.

See this guy? The first time you would see him you would instantly think that he is King's father. I mean, he looks a lot like King with the skull and general body shape, so it's very easy to assume that this is King's father. Buuuuuuut as we know now, he isn't King's father, he's a part of a certain group which I'll mention once I get to episode 17, Edge of the World. Anyway, the next episode I'll talk about is the one right after Eda's Requiem, Knock Knockin' on Hooty's Door.

This episode has Hooty trying to help Luz, King and Eda with some of their problems. Let's talk about the scenes with King, because...well this is a post talking about King lol. So here King really wants to know who his father is and Hooty tries to help King find out by trying to figure out what kind of demon he is.

After some funny scenes with Hooty trying (and failing) to figure out what kind of demon King is, he takes some of King's blood and runs a test. Turns out, Hooty still doesn't know what kind of demon King is and he says that King is "him". King is disappointed by this, and then King gets upset because he still can't know who his father is, as he's never responded to his message or wanted posters, and he thinks that maybe his dad is gone. He then gets upset that his dad was never there for him, that he supposedly disappeared and never talked to his son.

This scene definitely hits pretty hard as it shows King getting more desperate to find his father, and it's also when King ends up unlocking his powers. Basically, King shoots some yellow ring wave things whenever he roars or does the "weh" sound. And at the end of the episode we see this figure again and send a note to King, though Hooty eats it once he sees a bug on it.

This episode did a good job of continuing King's self-discovery arc and introducing his new powers. Now, let's skip to 9 episodes later in episode 17; Edge of the World. The episode's plot revolves around Luz, King and Hooty going to an island which transports them to the other side of the world to meet his dad. They do end up finding the same figure that sent the note to King, whose name is Tarak, though unfortunately, he isn't his dad. However, Tarak is one of the people in a village of Titan Hunters, witches who, as the name suggests, hunt titans. Later in the episode, Luz and Hooty meet the leader of the titan hunters, Bill. When Bill describes what a titan is, they realize that King is a titan, and that he is in big trouble.

They go to tell King that he is in danger, but when Bill finds out that King is a titan he sends a bird phone to tell Tarak about it and King gets taken to a ceremony where Bill almost kills him with a dagger. Luz and Hooty stop them before they could do that though and they run away. King gets enraged by this and says that the titan trappers weren't gonna hurt him. He also says that they "get him", and that they know how it feels to be left behind, and he also says that he knows that Luz is gonna go back to the human realm eventually, and that he is preparing for a life with them. Luz however tells King that he's a titan, and obviously, King is shocked by this revelation. The titan trappers eventually catch up to them but they end up escaping and destroying the way through. And the episode ends.

So this episode did a good job of concluding King's arc of self-discovery and wrapping it up. I like how King knows that Luz is going to leave the demon realm one day and go back to her mom, and that he's going to not be able to see her again, and King does care about Luz like an older sister so this would hit for him, and that the Titan Trappers would be his next family after Luz when she leaves. That gives more depth to King and I like that.

So, King is my favorite character in The Owl House. He's funny, he's cute, and his arc in the second season was great. There are other things I could talk about here, such as episode 19, but this post has gone on for long enough. Anyways, this is why I love King, so...bye.

[blackknightax]

We talked a fighting game that was a DLC character yesterday, lets do another. I wanna talk Tekken. I know Kazuya is, kinda sorta a controversial character to begin with, so adding more of him would make people, probably a little upset. But, it is a franchise already represented in Smash so we gotta talk about it. Tekken and I have a history, its my first non Smash fighting game I ever played. So i have a soft spot for the tekken series. I was happy to see a Tekken Character, just, i somehow have only played the Tekken games Kazuya wasn’t in, so I didn’t know him. I would’ve expected Jin Kazama. That being said.

As a fighting game franchise, there isn’t a short list of characters to potentially add. Just looking at the list of Tekken characters is mind boggling. So there’s that. This on top of so many cool fighting styles and such. And yet. The only characters people want in, are the Mishimas. I get it, they’re the characters the story is about, the main story is about them. But man, I don’t want another Mishima in the game. A Mishima adjacent character is Alisa, and she’d be fun and my wife would love her and she has amazing potential for a move set. And yet… i’m stupid. I’m biased. I have a favorite. He’s not relevant to the story at all, in fact he somehow has his own over arching story. He’s the one, the only,

Kiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing! Look, I love this character. This character alone made me love Tekken 3. King has and always will be my favorite Tekken character. I love this awesome wrestler man who somehow speaks in jaguar noises and gets understood. I know people are already saying, “wouldn’t this just be Incineroar?” But, uh, Incineroar first of all, is a heel, King is a face. Also Incineroar is a Pokémon, King is a man. So, let’s begin.

So first of all, obviously he’d have a Kazuya like move set but for the sake of time, I will only be discussing special moves.

For his Neutral B he will perform a roar that if it hits causes a pop up to allow follow ups

For his Up B he will suddenly summon ropes to jump off of. He will perform a body splash on the way down. He will do a wrestler taunt before jumping

For his side B he will perform a dashing grab, if it hits doing an input after decide what he does. Up causes a pile driver, down causes a body slam, forward will produce a lariat, back will be a suplex.

For his down B he will do a special taunt that is actually secretly a grab counter. If you hit him while he is doing this taunt he will instead dodge it and grab you to punish you.

As you can see, I kinda wanted to make him being a wrestler his whole gimmick. I hope that comes across as fun and interesting. I love king and I’d love to play him in smash.

[magyctale-official]

hi I just found this au today and it is choking me alive

you art is amazing and the au looks stunning and when I found out this is gonna be a series I screamed!!!

I just wanted to ask if you had like a character list or a description of what the au is about?

I really would love to jump on this hype train and all this has got me so excited!

AA THAT MAKES ME SO HAPPY OMG TYY <3<3<3

I do have a google sheet with a buncha characters written down but it has some spoilers in it so... 👀

But I can absolutely give a rundown!! Magyctale doesn't exactly have a solid "gimmick" (like Underswap or Underfell) but it's more like a rewrite of sorts? The characters act somewhat differentlyto their original counterparts and the main meat of the story is how their journey affects them and their relationships. :3

So for instance: Season 1 is for the most part a reimagining of Undertale, with a few original characters sprinkled alongside the AU cast. One of the biggest changes is that Frisk is older (they're about 17) so they have a lot more to say and there's a lot more room for them to express themself. Also I just prefer writing characters who aren't small childen XDD

After Season 1 is when it starts going into more stuff from my own noggin as opposed to being a retelling. So S1 is kinda like introducing all the characters and their dynamics before adding more stuff :3

By far my favorite arc is the one that incorperates elements from Deltarune- that's where my favorite boys come in and also is the arc with the most OCs!! Especially Mave- that's my horrible horrible son whom I adore with my entire heart and soul <3<3<3

I do have some character refs I can share!!

These are all from S1 (since that's what I'm focusing on planning right now) but I will take a short detour to talk about my awful little son just because I can <3

This is my vile little lad Mave :3

He started off as just my interpretation of The Knight from DR but now he is one of my most multi-faceted characters of all time I think. Funny how that worked out-

He is by far one of my favorite OCs of All Time and he's such a lil weirdo hehehe

I'm so sad he doesn't come in until much later in the story,,, I want him to be Real already XDD

I don't wanna give too too much away about him because,,,yknow,,,spoilers,,, but I've posted vaguely about his lore on this blog and my main (@bonetrix-arts) as well as over on my YouTube and TikTok accounts if you're curious!!! I simply love to vaguepost about my lore <3

If you have any more questions absolutely feel free to ask!!!! Also if you wanna ask something specific about a character- though I haven't posted about it in a while -I do have character asks open :3

I was posting em on my TikTok as well as here and I think Insta for a while n then I got side-tracked HNGSVDHCJ

I think I still had more art to finish up for the last one n that's why I never posted it,,

But anyways- feel free to do that if there's anything else you wanna know!!!! I need to draw these lil weirdos again n that'd be a nice way to kickstart my brain LMAO

Also I need to make a section for my AU in my Discord server,,, why haven't I done that yet?? RAHH I'm rambling!! Sory I just get so excited when people ask about my babies hehehe

I HOPE YOU HAVE AN AWESOME DAY!!! YOU ABSOLUTELY MADE MINE <3<3<3

[apowo16again]

I do like Wild Life I'm just putting it out there. Just to let people know. It's a very fun season. But I do have critical (critical meaning criticizing not important) thoughts on it that I do want to share so. have them.

I DON'T LIKE GIMMICKS OKAY THERE I SAID IT. I know the gimmicks are the point. I know what Wild Life is trying to be and it's succeeding at it with flying colors but it's also not something I particularly like. There are parts of Wild Life that I love- none of them have anything to do with the gimmicks. I love Scaridarity teamup. I love the toxic exes. I love Rendog. I love Jimmy having blood on his hands.

But I do have thoughts on the gimmicks so I'm going to break them up by session.

GIMMICKS AS A WHOLE: There are three big problems with the gimmicks. The first is that because they can't be tested, nobody knows how balanced they are until it's too late. This was especially a problem in session 3, but sessions 1 and 2 still had unforseen issues that both killed Pearl. The second problem is that they take away from the death game itself. Much like with Secret Life's tasks, every episode now revolves entirely around the gimmick, with little room for anything else. The only session that didn't get hit by this was 4, and yet again 3 was hit the worst.

The third problem is the advantage it gives Grian, or more accurately the disadvantage it gives everyone except Grian. Sure, Grian's already won, so he's not going to use his knowledge to win, but it still puts others behind. In session 5, Scar lost a life because Grian knew something about the gimmick that he didn't. I don't think it's unfair in that he has an advantage in winning, but he has an advantage in playing- he's much more of a threat, and it detracts from others' chances, especially since he's not very equal-opportunity in who he fucks over. iirc it's almost always the bamboozlers.

With that being said I can now criticize the gimmicks by session:

Session 1: No problems other than shifting not working. That should've maybe been vetted, I'm sure it would've been fixable.

Session 2: Besides the universal problem of the gimmicks taking up all the attention in an episode, this one was really good. No notes. Maybe the shuffling could've been toned down to give people more time to actually do things.

Session 3: Session 3 is Session 3. To trim it down: the snails were too complicated, multiple deaths were just unfair, and Grian had an advantage in knowing how they worked when nobody else did. You can really tell they weren't tested beforehand because they forced the session to end early. If I were the one deciding, they would've just been immortal snails that move at consistently half player walking speed, can climb up walls, and break blocks at diamond tool speed. No lunging, no instabroken blocks, no weird soulmate mechanic that only applies to the water. People didn't die to the snails because of their own failures, they died because of a failed gimmick.

Session 4: The gimmick affected very close to jack shit. On the one hand, this is a very big part of Session 4 being my favorite session, on the other hand, it was kind of boring for a series that's supposed to be all gimmick.

Session 5: There have already been posts about the unfortunate consequences of TriviaBot being made by fandom members. I agree with them, but I don't feel like repeating other people's words. All I'll say is that this was the most fandomy session out of any life series session ever, handcrafted to make shippers point at their screens and yell. On the other hand, that robot came down from the sky to ask Scar if he remembered who he got cucked by, and that was fucking awesome, so good session all around besides the whole Grian knowing it can turn into a snail and accidentally killing Scar with it thing.

[oniondip420]

Steam Review- Pro Philosopher 2: Governments & Grievances

(cross-posted from my published Steam Review)

TL;DR Highly recommend

Background: I originally played Socrates Jones back in high school (probably 2014) after seeing the playthrough that Philosophy Tube had done of it. At the time, I had never really played any sort of visual novel, especially Ace Attorney. I ended up getting into AA in like 2020, and have played most of the series (big fan). When the remaster of it came out on Steam last year, I replayed it, and was very excited to learn that Pro Philosopher 2 would be coming out. I have been following the game since then and was very hype to finally get a chance to play this.

Thoughts on the game itself: - In AA, (for the most part) you can only press a statement for more information, or present evidence to contradict it; Pro Philosopher has always had three different types of "press" functionality, in addition to the challenge statement one. This game works similarly to the first, and has already proven itself to feel like a much more dynamic and interesting argument process than in AA. I've always loved this aspect of the series and wish that AA did more stuff like this (instead of introducing bracelet and therapy gimmicks). I also think it's easier to not get stuck, I think I only had difficulty figuring out what to challenge in one case (compared to AA where its common for like 5 or 6 cross examinations to have statements you are meant to press on with evidence that you would have never thought of without a walkthrough). - The character sprites are SO much nicer than the first game. Their idle animations and more active movements in dialogue are really smooth and really make this feel much more like a real visual novel instead of a remastered quirky indie browser game (the first one is still charming ofc, but this is such a step up!) - This game is also so funny so far, like with Ari asking Confucius about his gender politics lmao, or Arbiter pretending to be a very vindictive Jenn or Fanon complaining about having to listen to the other philosophers in therapy lol - It would be nice if there was an auto-advance dialogue control for the cutscenes/dialogue outside of the arguments themselves. I want to be able to read the scenes while also eating fried rice lol. - The back-to-back debates with Rawls and Nozick were really awesome, both the way they cut into jab at each other (lol) and also the slide projector graphs that Nozick pulls out of nowhere (LMAO) - Pretty much every philosopher featured in this game I think both had a very well fleshed out personality, as well as representing their thought well (at least, to the best of my own amateur philosophy enthusiast knowledge!) - I saw that there was an update to Marx's arguments at some point, I might go back and play this all again once it stabilizes if there are more patch releases soon. It was really fun

Overall, HIGHLY recommend checking out

[thomas-jefferson-miku-binder]

the boys season one review

favorite characters: frenchie, hughie, kimiko, mm, madelyn, homelander, starlight and queen maeve (not on that order, but the top ones are very probably the first three)

the world-building in this shit is fucking insane holy fuck. it’s exactly what i would imagine would happen is superheroes were real. also the references to marvel are hilarious

characters i don’t like: the deep obviously and also not a super fan of butcher, don’t know, he just didn’t get to me, don’t find his storyline very compelling either

honestly was very surprised with stilwell's death, was not expecting it

boyfriend told me they call kimiko the female in the future and i took psyche damage

love the acting and the costume design (like fr) and the soundtrack and the acting as well as the special effects

HOMELANDER: his character is so intriguing. i love to hate him and at the same time i’m so fucking scared of him it’s almost palpable. he decays between victim and culprit and i find that the way it is portrayed it’s fucking magnificent

HUGHIE: i didn’t expect to like hughie as much as i do. he’s genuinely a very compelling character and feels very real despite all the insane shit that happens to and around him. my friend complained about how his motivation is a bit cliche like oh dead girlfriend oh no but i really don’t mind and found that it hits right in a sweet spot. it’s not only about robin, it’s about escaping the monotony that surrounding him and being something more. very very cool character

FRENCHIE: at the beginning i was like oh ok fine i guess but he grew a lot on me. his personality, his whole gimmick, his genuine care for kimiko… i still think s lot about the scene where he describes the first person he killed, the women in the elevator. amazing acting and a very well-written character

KIMIKO: i would literally die for her. such an interesting character and concept. she reminds me a lot of katana and cassandra cain (and my call of cthulhu character, maybe that’s why i’m biased). HONESTLY SO MANY PROPS TO KAREN FUKUHARA. the way she conveys emotion without having a single line the whole season is so impressive. the way she’s slowly healing is very very heartwarming too

MOTHER'S MILK: IT FEELS SO NICE TO HAVE AN EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENT CHARACTER HOLY FUCK. i appreciate him a lot and feel like he adds so much to the boys dynamic. it’s so satisfying to have someone who’s actually in touch with his feelings be such an important character and that participates s actively of the storyline. i love him a lot and how his actor portrays him too. also love his dynamic with frenchie

QUEEN MAEVE: honestly the plane scene is one of my favorites from the whole season. love her actress too. not much to say about the character but she has a lot of potential and i’m already very attached to her.

STARLIGHT: i have a love-indifferent relationship with starlight. there’re times where i think man that’s a great character and others where i couldn’t care less about her. right now i’m in the love phase tho. despite this mood swing, i really love her plotlines, they’re all very compelling. (and i love her powers too very cool stuff)

MADELYN STILLWELL: YES YES SHES A BITCH SHES AN OLD SINGLE MOTHER SHES A PSYCHO SHES EVERYTHINF IVE ASKED FOR AND MORE. really shocked with her death man i was really not expecting that. great great awesome character

to conclude i love how the series drops little pieces of lore throughout the show. how maeve is a recovering alcoholic, how the only reason the guys at the chinese restaurant didn’t kill kimiko was because they couldn’t… that kind of stuff. very cool

[patchun]

Kirby and the Forgotten Land Final Thoughts

Spoilers below, including pictures. These aren't really that well organized, sorry!

gameplay

So, wow, what a great game! As a diehard fan of the series, it satisfied everything I was looking for! And it seems like it would be a great starting point for people to get into the series. Spring Breeze mode seems like it'd be perfect for kids (idk you already know we play on Wild), and Wild Mode is a nice option for adults.

I mean, Wild Mode isn't exactly tough, even so - that is... until postgame. I found the postgame challenge super refreshing.

As far as abilities go, my favorite would have to be Meta Knight Sword. Morpho Knight sword is awesome, yes. Warping around, lifestealing, using your huge sword to just obliterate health bars - it feels wonderful and I love that you can play like that. But Meta Knight Sword, bro? The slide into upper slash into aerial combo into down slash? The bat particle effects? It's just so cool! I maxed out my Meta Knight Sword for that reason and it is my favorite way to play. Then would have to be Dragonfire, such a cool reference and great execution. Then Space Ranger, who I feel has the most interesting moveset outside of the Sword and Hammer abilities, with a surprising number of options. Speaking of Hammer, the final hammer is just broken as hell. Charge it up and destroy bosses. You may find yourself getting the world record on the True Arena by accident. Maximum upgrade Needle is also super cool.

The new dodge mechanic is really cool and very satisfying to use. I'm seeing some people deciding not to engage with it at all for challenge purposes, and if that's the way they enjoy the game, that's fine, but good luck with Meta Knight ex and Morpho Knight like that, LOL.

I was pretty nervous about the Mouthful Mode gimmick, but little did I realize that Mouthful Mode is possibly the best executed gimmick to date. Compared to Hypernova or Friend Train, it kept a lot of control in the player's hands, and found lots of little ways to keep the concepts interesting. I'm impressed.

lore and enemies

I was a bit disappointed with just how much of the full game was shown off during trailers, but I think the team REALLY wanted this game to perform well, and had to make sacrifices in their advertising to that end.

The real big thing is the final boss. Man, what an awesome ending. I was looking forward to something horrifying ever since I saw that it was rated "FEAR" in the UK, and the game delivered. In the Leongar fight when he's possessed and starts crunching towards you, that was pretty unsettling, and it was enough for me... but then Fecto Forgo shows up, and hot damn.

Then, not satisfied with a run sequence being the boss, Fecto Elfilis just has such a beautiful and badass design. I truly hope we see more of it in the future since Elfilin is now complete according to the Secret Ending.

Morpho Knight's canon appearance was wonderful, but that's what led me to make the previous comment that everything that happens in Kirby is kind of true. The fact that Morpho Knight appeared here implies that the secret ending of Star Allies was at least partially true, since that's where Morpho Knight came into existence in the first place. So basically, yes, Marx split apart and died. And also, Marx is still alive and a friend now. Both of those things are true. And I think that's great.

So my rating right now of the game is 8/10. It has flaws, but it still shines as a great game, and an even better Kirby game. Being familiar with Kirby lore could help people to appreciate certain things more... but it's not necessary.

This rating is likely due to change and go up whenever DLC drops. Super, super excited for the future of Kirby.

[itcamefromthetoybox]

He Has The Power!

Oh yeah, it’s a good time to be a He-Man fan! Lately, He-Man’s gotten four new toylines and two Netflix cartoons. I recently watched the new CGI He-Man series, “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” and I absolutely loved it! Great animation, fun writing, and, most importantly for me, a fantastic take on Skeletor! So I thought that this week, it’d be fun to take a look at one of the figures from the tie-in toyline to the CGI show, “Battle Armor He-Man.”

The new show’s pretty great and I don’t want to talk too much about it because I don’t want to give anything away. I’ll just say that it’s a fun reimagining of the story. It’s not the original He-Man and doesn’t try to be, and it does a great job standing on its own while also paying some tips of the hat to what has come before. Kids will love it, and it breaths fresh life into a franchise that, let’s be honest, needed it.

Most figures in the toyline for this series come in at about 5.5 inches, which is a good size. Battle Armor He-Man, however, comes in at a hulking 8.5 inches, towering above almost every other figure in the line. Between his height and his bulk, he feel massive. On the one hand, that’s really awesome. On the other hand, he’s really out of scale with the main line of figures. I’d hoped that Battle Armor He-Man would be the size of the regular He-Man, but instead, he looks like he could eat the regular He-Man. There will be a line of 8.5 inch figures on shelves soon, if they’re not already there (the ambiguity of merchandise arrivals in the age of Covid), so he’ll be in line with those.

He-Man or a supporting character in “Power Rangers:” You decide!

He-Man looks great. His armor is removable, and taking it off reveals that he has a version of his main costume from the show on under it, just in different colors to match the armor more. Between the face mask and the bracers on his wrists, the armor has a tiger theme, which fits with his backstory from the show. The armor, consisting of a chest plate, a mask, two shoulder pads, and two wrist bracers, is removable. The problem, though, is that none of it pegs on and is held on by friction and gravity. The bracers will get moved around and block the elbows a lot, the shoulder pieces will get knocked off with little effort, and the mask will eventually fall off if you pick He-Man up wrong. He-Man’s hair is a separate piece from his head, I should mention, and is made of a softer plastic, which means it actually helps hold the mask in place. The power sword also looks really good, and it can fit snugly in He-Man’s hands with no issue. It can also be stored on his back, where it pegs on firmly.

Equipping the full outfit gives He-Man bonuses on all his D&D rolls.

And now for what is honestly my favorite part of this toy: the gimmick. Back in the 80’s, the original He-Man toys had rubber bands in their waists that let you turn their waists so they would punch things. I’m pleased to say this toy, and most toys in the line, can do that as well. He-Man has a spring in connecting the two parts of his torso, which not only lets him do the classic punch action, but also lets him lean back to do a slash with his sword. It works really well on this figure.

Big torso, smaller legs: the perils of missing leg day.

All of the figures from the 2021 CGI He-Man toyline are Walmart exclusives, and Battle Armor He-Man goes for about $20, and is aimed at kids. Remember, his armor is removable and his mask is small, so keep that in mind. You or your kids will probably lose the mask or some other part in a month, and the main reason I haven’t is because I’m obsessive. Honestly, though, I would really recommend this toy for kids, especially if you find the soon to be released same-sized Skeletor for him to fight. It’s a fun toy kids will love. Anyways, I’m going to go get ready for bed, This is JL signing off and wishing you Happy Toy Hunting!

[crusherthedoctor]

Can we have some unpopular Sonic opinions?

I tried to cram in a lot, so I hope this satisfies you. :P I tried to stick to the ones that I haven't brought up quite as often, since by this point, we all know that I think IDW's storytelling is dire, SA2's story is overrated, X Eggman is an embarrassing portrayal (at least from season 2 onwards), Blaze shouldn't be handcuffed to Silver, Shadow's backstory had issues with or without the Black Arms, Neo Metal Sonic looks silly, etc. But anyway, here we go:

- Knuckles may be tricky to incorporate into plots that don't relate to Angel Island, but making him obsessed with his duties is no better than having him forget about Angel Island entirely.

- I like Marine, and never found her annoying. Oh, I understood what they were trying to do with her, but I honestly wasn't put off by her, and found her Aussie lingo more endearing if anything. Since her debut was during the period in my life where where I couldn't stand Sonic himself, I instead thought he was irritating (and hypocritical) for getting annoyed with her for doing shit he would often be guilty of.

- Silver is just as guilty of being shoehorned into games and plots as the Deadly Six are. Having more fans than the latter is irrelevant, since we're still talking about a character who constantly has to time travel in order to be present.

- Speaking of Silver, if he has to stick around, please do something different with him. They've pulled the doomed future routine multiple times now, and it's been boring every single time. I wasn't interested when it involved Iblis. I wasn't interested when it involved Knuckles drinking the edgy Kool Aid. I wasn't interested when it involved a council of dumbasses... give it a rest already.

- The Tails Doll can work as a mildly creepy thing, with maybe more to it than meets the eye when it's time for a boss fight or what have you. But the memes about him stealing your soul are just dumb, and I thought it was dumb even back in my teenage youth.

- “Eggman is supposed to be clownish!” Yeah, well he's also meant to be a genuine villain with a 300 IQ. These qualities don't have to be mutually exclusive.

- “Sonic is supposed to have attitude!” Yeah, well that's not the same thing as being an absolute cunt. Sonic was only ever meant to come off as having an edge compared to Mario. He was never meant to be a GTA-tier protagonist.

- Rouge is not a villain, and never was a villain. Literally the whole point of her role in SA2 was to reveal that she was working against Eggman and Shadow the whole time, albeit using sneakier tactics to do so. You'd think all those people who exult SA2's story would remember this, but apparently not. She barely even qualifies as an anti-hero, since aside from stealing the Master Emerald, she rarely does anything morally questionable otherwise. She's got a lot more good in her than people give her credit for.

- Captain Whisker is a better Eggman Nega than the actual Eggman Nega. And as far as robot characters in this franchise go, Johnny's design is pretty underrated.

- I don't like Iblis or Mephiles, but I DO like Solaris, and it annoys me that it was out of focus for most of the story due to all the time spent on its less interesting halves. Had they kept the backstory with the Duke and his experiments, and worked from there, I think they could have provided an interesting contrast with Chaos (since Solaris can also qualify as a monster with a sympathetic backstory) instead of recycling the surface level schtick.

- Black Doom may technically be just as bad as Mephiles, Nega, Scourge, Mimic, etc, since he's yet another villain with one-note characterization and fucked over Eggman. But because he never gained a disproportionate fandom, he doesn't annoy me to the same extent. It's easier to ignore him by comparison, and his Dr. Claw voice and face shaped like a lady's delicate part make him enjoyable to mock.

- Likewise, while Lyric is also on the same level as these other villains, it's easier to dismiss him because I was never invested in the Boom games anyway, and being an obvious alternate universe (compared to Sonic X or IDW, which retain the Modern designs and plot elements), it never had an effect on the main series. I also unironically like his design, and if nothing else, at least this snake didn't start a hypnotism fetish across the internet.

- Sally - and the rest of the Freedom Fighters for that matter - have had their importance in the franchise severely inflated. They may have been lucky to be the face of popular media (SatAM and Archie), but they're not these magnificent entities that the game characters are but a speck of dust in comparison to. Having a “legacy” doesn't make them more entitled to shit than any other character, old or new.

- Conceptually, the treasure hunting gameplay is one of the better alternate gameplay styles IMO. But it was let down in SA2 by its one track minded radar (the levels may have been big, but I don't think that would have been an issue on its own if the radar was better). If they brought it back and made it more like SA1's treasure hunting, I'd be all for it, although it would probably be better suited for a spinoff title.

- This goes for a lot of games, but when it comes to 2D, I prefer sprites over models. Not that the Rush models are bad (though the ones in Chronicles sure as fuck are), but the sprites in Mania and the Advance trilogy are just so charming and full of character.

- I actually like Marble Zone. Yeah, the level design is a bit blocky, but I love the concept of an underground temple prison, mixed with lava elements in a zone that otherwise isn't a traditional volcano level.

- I also like Sandopolis Zone. Again, completely understand why it's not the most popular zone around, but I've been a sucker for the Ancient Egyptian aesthetic since childhood (you can thank Crash 3 for that), and Act 1 is visually stunning.

- I prefer the JP soundtrack for Sonic CD over the US version overall... but I also prefer Sonic Boom over You Can Do Anything.

- SA2's soundtrack isn't bad by any means - I love Rouge's tracks, and The Last Scene is one of my favourite pieces of music - but as far as variety goes, it's a step down from SA1's soundtrack.

- If Sonic X-Treme had been released, it probably would have been unenjoyable and confusing. Whatever your thoughts on SA1, it was probably the better option between the two as far as Sonic's first legitimate translation into 3D goes.

- I have no qualms with Modern Sonic and the other Modern designs and characters, but I also fully acknowledge that changing gears from Adventure onwards - and doing it with a great amount of fanfare - was always going to create one of the biggest divides in the fandom, and fans shouldn't act surprised that this happened. The fact that they felt the need to hype up a new design and direction in the first place (compared to Mario, who has mostly been the same since the beginning, with only the occasional minor change with little fanfare) also indicates that they weren't confident enough in Sonic and his universe being the way it was, which often gets ignored by all the “SEGA have no confidence!!!” complaints you see with their recent games.

- Unleashed did not deserve the incredibly harsh reviews it received back in the day... but it doesn't deserve its current sacred cow status either. It had more effort put into it than '06 to be sure, and I can respect that, but much of it was misguided effort, and even if you like the Werehog, you have to admit that the idea came at the absolute worst time. The intro cutscene may be awesome, as is the Egg Dragoon fight, but 2% doesn't make up the entire game. Chip was also quite annoying, and I wasn't particularly sad when he pressed F in the chat at the end.

- On the other hand, while Colours definitely has its shortcomings, and people have every right to criticse those shortcomings, a lot of its most vocal detractors tend to have a stick up their arse about the game because people actually enjoyed it, and it had a gimmick that people actually liked. Yes, it may have been the first game to have those writers everyone hates, but then SA1 was the first game to give the characters alternate gameplay styles and have other villains upstage Eggman, so...

- Forces is absolutely not on the level of '06. It's nowhere close. A game being flawed does not make it the next '06, clickbait YouTubers. Or should I say, the game they want to retroactively apply '06's reception to, since they've been trying hard to magically retcon '06's own quality...

- To echo @beevean, ALL of the 3D stories have their issues. SA1 is probably the most well-rounded of them on the whole, but even that one isn't perfect.

- To echo another opinion, although I do love SA1, I'm not crazy over the idea of a remake, and would prefer them to just take Sonic's gameplay from SA1 and work from there. Because with a remake, you're stuck in a hard spot: Do you keep it the way it is bar the expected graphical upgrades, and risk accusations of not doing anything to actually improve the experience? Or do you try to address past criticisms, and risk the wrath of the fans who will inevitably go on a #NotMyAdventure crusade about it? What people fail to consider is that the Crash and Spyro remakes were accepted gracefully because their original iterations were still unanimously beloved for the most part, whereas SA1 - and especially SA2 - have always been divisive, and have only gotten moreso over the years.

- People take their preferences for the character's voice actors too seriously. I have my own favourites like anyone else, but I don't make a big deal out of it.

- And with fandom voice actors, they usually focus too much on doing a basic impression of their preferred official voice actor, and not enough on the acting. So you end up getting a lot of fan voices who sound like decent impressions of Ryan Drummond or Jason Griffith on the surface, but they sound utterly empty beyond that impression, because there's no oomph or depth to the actual emotions. They think about the actor rather than the character, when it should really be the other way around.

- The thing with Ian Flynn is that he is capable of telling a decent story, and he can portray some characters well. But he's proven time and time again that everything will go off the rails if he's given too much freedom (ironic, given how quick he is to point the finger at mandates when something goes wrong).

- Ian Flynn and Shiro Maekawa are not the only people in the world who are allowed to write for Sonic. I understand that one should be cautious when seeking out new writing talent, but for all the fandom's accusations of playing it safe, they sure aren't in a rush to experiment outside of their own comfort zone.

- And of course, the big one: You don't fix the franchise's current problems by crawling back to its previous problems. It's much more helpful and constructive to discuss the good and bad alike with each of the games. Less “THIS GOOD, MODERN BAD”, and more “This could work, but maybe without that part...”

[a-magical-artist]

Top Ten Favorite Doppels

Turned in less than five minutes before Halloween ends, but whatever:

10. Abigail

Hagumu is really just a scared kid despite being a Neo Magius stooge, and Abigail is a very good representation of that; Hagumu closes her eyes whenever she comes out, to which, same as Abigail is a very intimidating doppel filled with teeth and spikes. Her form’s listed as a “reversible shape” and she gives the impression of a torn up, straw-filled doll with a toothy mouth and spines/shards all throughout her inner lining. It’s also a good twist that since Hagumu’s magic makes her unusually strong against witches, Abigail is the opposite, being effective against magical girls. 

I really love the exterior on this one, it looks very pretty and ornate, and it does a nice job contrasting with the messy, shard-filled fiber underneath.

9. Gothel

I’m very close to unlocking Gothel (all I need are materials for Magia leveling), but I already love her design. She takes Yozuru’s wish and magnifies/projects it as many witches (or doppels) do, in her case, trying to find someone or something that can make Yozuru feel the emotions she wished away. She takes the form of a tower (name being a great Rapunzel reference) with exposed ribs she uses to drag in and crush whatever she sees, which is...fairly impressive as a doppel design without being too gory (a reason why Beatrice and Therisia aren’t here or in this slot). 

8. Clothette

I...really, really don’t like Suzune Magica, and I don’t like Suzune. I do however, have a grudging respect for her Doppel design. Clothette’s based around a gadfly, comes out of Suzune’s eye, has bells for eyes, and is constantly on fire. It’s a great design, but points off for coming from a character I can’t stand.

7. Gibdaughter

So, fun fact about hummingbirds for anyone who doesn’t know; they’re beautiful little birds...that have the worst tempers. I love them for that, and I’m happy to see one used as a base for a doppel design. Gibdaughter, as per usual, externalizes Kanae’s wish to be left in peace by using her very love of music. Her main attacks all revolve around the vibrations she gives off, adjusting them to resonate with her targets until they shatter. Given both the animal and the character of Kanae, this was an all too appropriate fit. The doppel’s mechanical appearance is pretty and both a nice reference to hummer feathers (they give off a metallic sheen when light hits them), and to Kanae’s aloof exterior.

6. Sylvie

Given how sweet and caring Ikumi is, this one was a surprise. Sylvie’s a very invasive doppel-moreso than Hevelius even-in that she’s not only formed from Ikumi’s lower half, but also seems to thread her way through her entire body given Ikumi’s eyes turn into glowing, barbed anchors. Definitely lines up with her nature, but...jesus. She gives the impression she’s based around one of those cymbal monkey toys, which is already creepy enough, but Sylvie’s “head” is just Ikumi, and also the gigantic screw jutting out of her upper back. The accordion midsection does not help in any of this and makes Sylvie’s movements look off, even for a doppel. Good but horrifying design, though the glowing eye anchors are a little over the top for me. 

5. Hund Balou

Hund Balou is one of the rare genuinely disturbing doppels; Hanna was already very close to being her by externalizing her curse on the world and those around her, so there’s not much for Hund to do except just. be destructive. Her form is creepy, her description’s creepy, everything about Hund is really screwed up. And Hanna, being spiteful, vindictive Hanna, loves her and thankfully, never got the opportunity to use her for some pretty obvious reasons. Hanna’s relationship with Hund is similar to Alina’s with Old Dorothy-both are in sync with their doppels and have the same goal, which is...horrifying given both characters. Hund is really cluttered and witch-like in appearance, being covered in leashes, chains, and buttons with a splattered green/purple/blue dress topping it all off. Her mixed media feel is pronounced, which is a good indication of how close Hanna is to her, and how messed up her implications really are.

4. Ein Roter Drache

This is the stupidest, and yet most awesome doppel I have ever seen; it’s a dragon that makes its entrance by riding on its hoard of treasure and smacks its targets with its tail. The tiny crown is a really funny touch for it and I will forever be sad that I can’t get Elisa outside of a support as of NA’s shutdown

Also love how it’s just Elisa’s bottom half to give the illusion she’s riding the doppel-that’s awesome and I love the creativity going into it

3. Oaji

*Insert the “What are you doing in my swamp” mere here*

Oaji takes the appearance of an entire swamp that lures people in, hinting at both the barrier of the witch and the witch herself possibly being similar to Zola, which is a cool concept. I love how simple she looks, and her coming out from behind Chiharu lines up with her misguided efforts to help her. She kind of gives off a similar vibe to Elsa Maria from the original series-even the branches bring the Sebastian familiars to mind. Also really love the lantern and the gray pool forming underneath Chiharu-the gold streaks just really top everything off here.

2. Marita

I love assassin bugs and so I love Marita. Instant number two for me

For real though, I didn’t expect these to be used as a doppel base, so I was very surprised when Sunao came out and her doppel had this as one. It looks appropriately creepy and very elegant, and I like the little necklaces hanging just below the head of the doppel. Marita also shares the needle/sewing aesthetic with Latria, and although there’s no blood, the giant one serving as a mouth is scary enough in implication. The crystal ball (that turns red during attacks) being the doppel’s abdomen’s also a nice touch. 

Honorable Mentions:

Old Dorothy: Old Dorothy in-game is described as witch-like, and that’s because unless the viewer knows where her core body is, she just looks like an unrecognizable mass of puffballs and paper flowers dipped in orange paint. With witches, you can never really tell what it is you’re looking at, so Old Dorothy gives off that same impression. She didn’t officially make it because of her weird little core body, but I do love her gimmick. 

Theresia: I do like Theresia, but I felt her design wouldn’t fit since I’m trying to avoid the more gory doppels. I do like how she’s literally just Sana’s ears, and how there’s two versions of her that have an equal chance of coming out (though this does present some complications when going competitive with Sana).

Poker Alice: Too much of what looks to be exposed muscle for me to feel comfortable putting her in, but I adore the skulls exploding outward behind the chair and the hands covering Yukika’s eyes. Speaking of, the eyes on this thing are both cool and nicely scary in contrast to the simplicity of the rocking chair. 

Gosirsa: Colorful and very beautiful, the wheels at the front make for a surreal touch, something that many doppels tend to lack due to being scaled down versions of the full witch. Didn’t make it because there’s too few slots and too many doppels to choose from, but definitely in my personal faves.

1. Campanella

Campanella’s just the right amount of dumb, elegant, and unsettling, hence her being here at the number one spot. Yachiyo’s training event also helped me warm up to her; while Yu Hong and Cyan were self-defeating and frustrated respectively, Camp was really, really mellow by contrast. She seemed willing to work with Yachiyo as long as she accepted and stopped rejecting her, which was, at the time, a very nice change from the usual (not that Camp doesn’t try to take over however-once Yachiyo implies she’s going to keep running from her, she goes on the attack). She takes the form of a ticket puncher holding a lantern, comes out of Yachiyo’s leg, and gives the overall impression of a scorpion, ridiculously oversized shoes and all. Her anime appearances are a nice representation of Yachiyo’s fears and it’s just really satisfying to find out  that they have enough of a relationship to where she can use her in fights. Doppels when it comes down to it are a sort of agreement/truce between the magical girl and their witch self; not only does it allow them to come back, it allows them to make peace with their insecurities and fears without the danger of turning into a witch. Campanella, both in-game and the anime, represents that relationship to its fullest, so she’s at the #1 spot. 

[muthaz-rapapa]

Let’s talk TroPreCure! (^∀^ 🌺)

i’m so stupidly proud of this dumb pun “tropurikyua~”, hahahahaha

Last post of the year and wow is there are lot to be excited for!

I even had to make a list for the stuff I want to talk about and I’m sure I already forgot one or two things but we’ll get to them as we continue to float~ along the wave to February 28th, mmkay? :)

Now for what has peaked my interest so far. And yes, we have to talk about the following first:

1) HealPre the shortest Precure season??

Unless they plan for double features in February (which I doubt but you never know), HealPre is likely going to reach only 45 episodes long instead of the usual 48~50 before TroPre I’m using this shortening of the title for now so if there’s a better alternative, tell me and I’ll switch out begins its broadcast.

Understandable because the producers probably want to get back to their normal scheduling as soon as possible (toy sales, y’know) and I suspect pushing the start of the new season back by a month is the most they’re willing to compromise.

As for me, I’m quite happy about this since HealPre’s lost its hold on my attention a while ago so the sooner TroPre gets here, the better. Though the downside might be a scrambled climax and a rushed, underwhelming ending for HealPre (I dunno if it’s January’s titles that feel a bit messy or if the hiatus is still throwing me off) but whatever. We’ll refresh ourselves with the new blood Cures so it’s all good.

2) Tropical movie announced for Autumn 2021, no All Stars??

(source)

First saw this mentioned on Youtube somewhere but it’s all over the fandom forums by now. I mean, HealPre’s movie is set for March, the usual time slot for All Stars release. If Toei intended for there to be an All Stars in 2021, there’s no way they would announce the seasonal movie before it so speculations of them skipping it this year are probably true.

To squeeze it somewhere between March and October-ish would force them to readjust their budgets as well and I don’t think even Toei wants to go through that extra hassle after all the trouble the pandemic’s caused for everyone already. It’s just easier to resume All Stars in 2022.

That, and I think Laura being a major character in TroPre despite not having a Cure title (yet) would make for an awkward situation when the three latest teams gather so perhaps that’s also one of the reasons. But I’ll get back to Laura in a bit.

3) Cure Summer is a RAINBOW Cure

So god help me if I see anyone calling her a Pink Cure.

Yes, she’s the lead Cure for this season. NO, she is not a Pink Cure.

Look, even the official website has a rainbow overlay for her profile pic and text font while everyone else’s respective theme colors are a solid hue:

Therefore, RAINBOW.

In promotional material and merchandising, they’re probably going to advertise her primarily with pink bah and at worst, she might occasionally be labeled as a White Cure with multiple subcolors (her outfit is not pink-dominant) but definitely NOT. PINK.

...also, this goes without saying but f***yea, we finally got a lead Cure practically and unabashedly wearing the LGBTQ flag and you cannot tell me otherwise, Toei!

Own up to it! Declare Manatsu/Cure Summer as the Precure queer icon!

I’m not gonna stop yellin’ until you do! 😠

4) Laura = obvious midseason Cure is obvious

First of all, Laura is a babe. I already love her the best and she’s not even Precure yet. <3

Anyways, the set-up is pretty much in the description. Important main character who’s not a mascot, stated to have a self-confident personality and just speaks her mind (oooh, I like~ :D), magical/foreign being from another world looking for Precure to save her home, possesses her own special item(s), has aspirations to become the next Queen (so she’s a princess-candidate or something to that effect, I suppose).

We’ve seen various combinations of these traits in past midseason (and a few starter) Cures so nobody should be surprised when we all guessed that one of the Cures would be a real live mermaid.

The only question is why not just make Laura a Cure from the get-go if she’s introduced to us at the beginning (like Hime or Lala) and having a team of five with no unnecessary extra add-ons later on (like Smile).

Well, there’s a simple answer for that: formula.

Toei is afraid that if they don’t spit out some new animation sequence at the halfway and third quarter points of the show, the kids will lose interest and abandon the series altogether. Which means failed toy sales. Oh nooo... [/sarcasm]

...Yea. 

And this way they can also have Laura available in the Cure lineup for the next All Stars in 2022 instead of making her sit the fight out if we were going to have one in 2021. I’m convinced that’s gotta be one of the reasons. *shrug*

But ok, whatever. Her debut is gonna be later, that’s all. She’s a delayed Cure.  Midseason Cure, same difference.

Moving along to the more important stuff now like what’s her Cure name gonna be, y/y?

Well, knowing Toei, a translation of the term “mermaid” into another language is the most predictable route even though we already have a Cure Mermaid. Not like that ever stopped them from repeating words before (ex. Cure Happy vs Cure Felice). Though if they do go down that road, I hope they opt for the Spanish/Italian “sirena” and not the French “sirène” because the latter sounds too close to how Cure Selene is pronounced in Japanese. And, putting it nicely, we all know Japanese pronunciation of foreign words is as off kilter as can be.

Hell, even the the Portuguese “sereia” sounds aesthetic as hell so it’d be nice if they can just remember there are other languages that exist out there besides Japanese, English and French when making the final decision at the writing table! *stomps foot* >:/

Alternatively, “nereid” or “naiad” are good choices too but they remind me too much of Greek myths and Laura’s from the Grand Ocean which covers more than just a couple of seas (Greece is surrounded by three, btw) so...

I dunno. But whatever it’s gonna be, she’s definitely got a strong association with water and her powers will probably be based on that.

As for theme color, since there’s noticeably no blue or green Cure in the starter lineup, it’s likely she will take up that spot when she debuts around ep 20.

Pink is also open since Cure Summer, again, is technically not a Pink Cure and Laura’s hair and tail fin are hot and light pink respectively but looking at Laura’s design and concept, does anyone seriously believe that?

Her upper torso consists of aquamarine while the body of her tail is definitely some shade of cyan, implying they’re aiming for somewhere around the middle of green and blue on the lighter spectrum.

And yea, I’m aware that green and blue are considered exchangeable in some perspectives with how close some of their shades are to each other but officially, I think Laura’s gonna be grouped with the Green Cures.

Cuz of the hair. If Laura’s gonna keep it the same or a similar shade after transforming, that is. The Blues have always had cool-colored hair so putting Laura in with them might disrupt that harmony whereas if you put her with the few Greens there are (including Parfait), she’d fit right in.

I mean, we’ll see but that makes the most sense, doesn’t it?

On another note, I just want to say that I love how they added frills to her arms instead of letting her elbows go bare naked. It definitely makes her look more like a genuine mermaid than if she didn’t have them (remember, half fish doesn’t mean half the body :P).

5) Magical Items

Frankly, I’m tired of seeing the transformation device being a compact again even though one of the main motifs is make-up this season. But at least, as far as Precure compacts goes, the Tropical one is my favorite cuz of how cute and delightfully colorful its toy version looks! So I guess I’m okay with it.

The Heart Rouge Rod, though? ...I dunno. I think it would’ve been fine without that...straw (?) jutting out at the top. It looks weird, doesn’t it look weird? :S

As for the collectible clip-ons, I can live without those for the rest of my life. Yeesh.

Laura’s items, the Aqua Pot and the Ocean Prism Mirror.

Again with the portable, travel-size housing. *sigh* 😩

Alright, I can let this year slide cuz Laura (I’m so soft for her, omg) probably won’t be getting legs for 20 weeks so she’s got to move about on land somehow. But unless they’re really thinking about turning this idea of carrying your apartment around in your bag/pocket/purse into a reality (cuz that would be effin’ awesome), please be more creative with your toys.

On the other hand, I’m much more interested in the Ocean Prism Mirror but from what Kusyami (the Precure merchandise reviews I follow on Youtube) said in his latest vid, this is the ED dance item so don’t know if it’ll actually have an relevance to the story or not. But I did hear him mention it having something to do with the Queen as well and since Laura wishes to become Queen, maybe it’ll be important after all? Maybe it’s her transformation device?

That’d be super cool. Let’s continue the trend of the midseason Cure having a different transformation item than the starters. Honestly, we should alternate every other year or two but we’ve gone three seasons with all of them using the same henshin gimmicks up till HealPre and I just want a break from that.

6) Fin sleeves??

These look so impractical for combat so maybe it’s exclusive to group attacks.

And/or a sort of precursor to the super forms?

*GASP* Does that mean they all eventually turn into mermaids? 🤩

7) Yui finally became Precure!! 😭

lol, it’s all crack from this point on so don’t take it too seriously but man, after Yuni’s deceptive braids, I thought I wasn’t gonna see anything that reminded me of Yui for a while and lo behold, Sango.

kehehehehehe xD;

Though Yui might be closer to Minori in terms of personal interests (fairytales and storybooks).

8) Akira, the actual Onee-chan version

I didn’t think this when I first saw her but once I read “Onee-san” in her profile, there’s no saving you now. Sorry, Asuka. 😅

Also, damn, do her sandals make her feet look big! Compare them to the heels she wears as Flamingo. Are they even the same?! lololol

9) ...this sounds awfully familiar...

Translation:

Tokimeku Tokonatsu! [Exciting/Thrilling Everlasting Summer!] Cure Summer! Kirameku Hoseki! [Sparkling Jewel!] Cure Coral!  Hirameku Fuurutsu! [Flashing Fruit!] Cure Papaya!

Japanese reiteration:

Mallow/Mao: Pink no tokimeki! Lillie: Blue no kirameki! Lana/Suiren: Yellow no kagayaki!

….........

@Toei 

Care to explain yourselves, punks?! 

୧(ʘ ∀ ʘ ╬)

[love-takes-work]

Steven Universe Comic #34 (2019) - Outline & Review

The thirty-fourth installment of the ongoing comic series for Steven Universe covers Lars and the Off Colors hanging out on a planet with a beach talking about what's so great about Earth. How can Lars really get it across to Fluorite, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins when everything seems pretty meaningless to them and they don't really know how to have fun?

Plot:

Lars is brooding on an alien beach, and his crew, now following him as their captain, wants to know what's troubling him. He begins to review for them what's awesome about Earth--including beaches, food, animals, sandcastles . . . but they're really not quite getting it because those things aren't really part of their lives.

The Off Colors freak out a little worrying that they've upset Lars, but as they discuss it among themselves, they decide maybe they can recreate a little of Earth for him in the ways he's described, and they figure out their own ways to do it even though they really don't understand it. Lars is confused as he thinks about Earth, thinking maybe he himself did not know why it was great until he didn't have it anymore.

His crew really comes through building him a ginormous sandcastle to remind him of home, even though they don't know what animals should go in the moat and don't know why you shouldn't make donuts out of fruit and couldn't get the sandcastle to be sturdy enough to hold anyone but Padparadscha. At first his emotional response confuses them because they think they did it wrong, but it turns out Lars loves their efforts--not only because they're right in their own way, but because the Off Colors had fun!

Lars does take the time to explain why each of the elements they gave him aren't quite Earth-issue standards, but no, of course that doesn't mean it's "wrong." Now all that remains is that they enjoy the fruits of their labor and have their own little party. So they do. The end!

Notable:

1. Okay, I'm so impressed that this writer really gets the Off Colors and writes them behaving how they do in the show, but also allows them some growth for the purposes of the comic's mini-plot! I love everything about how this was presented!

2. Fluorite's "gimmick" is talking slowly, and she does that in this story, but she's also so accepting and accommodating, and I loved seeing the way she tried to "eat" for Lars and figured this was just another adorable thing human Lars likes. Smushing fruit on your face, sure. I love her! She seems to be a quiet idea person, too, since she appears as a problem-solver in the show, and so it was very appropriate that the writer had her suggesting they take initiative to comfort Lars.

3. The Rutile Twins also have a speech "gimmick," which is how one will always repeat what the other said sort of rephrased. This is handled well in this comic, and I liked how they were the ones to lead Lars to the surprise (just like they were the ones to lead him to meet the group when they all first met!). They find a two-headed animal in the sea and enjoy seeing a creature like themselves!

4. Padparadscha's obvious character trait is her late predictions ("predicting the past"), but it's absolutely nailed in this issue. She "predicts" several things that already happened AND observes the central truth of them before others know what it is. When Lars is silent, struggling to figure out what to show her, she "predicts" that he won't know what to teach her. When the others don't know what Lars is feeling, Padparadscha proclaims that he's going to love their efforts. And of course she's so cute and joyous about the whole thing.

5. Rhodonite, my favorite Off Color, is a fraidy-cat, and I love how this comic doesn't just show her afraid of scary stuff (though it does do that). She's the most demonstrably nervous about whether Lars will react positively, and her expressions and dialogue are spot on here. It's so funny when she comments that they let LIONS run around on Earth and then points out that she didn't even know what a lion was. This comic also gets another thing right about her: She's cautiously CURIOUS.

6. Rhodonite was so upset when she heard about the sandcastles and it was adorable. She thought it must be a punishment or a terrible fate someone would make you do because such castles would surely fall apart. Poor Rhodonite always thinks the worst about things.

7. Lars uses the phrase "have you been living under a rock?" and then realizes they have literally been living under a rock. It was pretty clever.

8. When Lars thinks about what's great about Earth, he imagines Sadie, his ube roll, and . . . a zebra and a lion? Odd.

9. It was fun to see Padparadscha perched on that tower like a precious little princess. And Rhodonite was so happy that building the towers worked, and even compliments her looking good up there!

10. I wonder how Lars is charging his phone now. (He used it to play music at the end.) Steven could have brought him a charger but he wouldn't have something to plug it into. Maybe there's an easy Gem way to charge devices.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[popculturebuffet]

Darkwing Duck Quadruple Feature! (Beauty and the Beet, Whiffle While You Work, Jurassic Jumble, Something Fishy)

Welcome back! It’s been a bit since I visited St. Canard and my march to watching Just Us Justice Ducks by watching one episode, with the exception of Megavolt the first chronological appearances of, each member of the Justice Ducks and Fearsome Five. The Megavolt exception was so I could, by comission, cover the one and only appearance of the OTHER Negaduck if you were curious.So far besides Negsy and Volty, i’ve covered both of Morgana’s first chronological episodes, Liquidator’s and (SIgh) Gizmoducks. But with only 6 left to go.. I put the seires on hiatus to work on ride of the three cabs and my minty fresh retrospective of life and times. At the TIME it didn’t seem like a bad idea, I could get to this any time and what not.. but in hindsight.. yeah putting an almost finished project on hold till two much larger projects, that at the time of this review have 10 and 13 installments left, WHILE also starting two more projects... was not my best move, especially since I have a comission, and an episode needed to properly review that comission AND a valentine’s day episode to review.. all of which come AFTER Just Us Justice Ducks chronlogically and 2 of which involve Negaduck. So yeah I whiffed it bad on this one and this mini-marathon is my way of fixing that, finsihing up the last few episodes before the big event. The episode i’ve waited almost a decade to watch and one of the most loved in the series history: Just Us Justice DUcks, which is coming up next week. Then LIfe and Times will be right back where it was and I promise to get that out weekly. But yeah with logisitcs out of the way and 4 episodes to go, I don’t know how to go slow so let’s get dangerous shall we?

Beauty and the Beat:The Misplaced Batman the Animated Series Villian

We open with one of the first Darkwings I watched via my old Darkwing Duck DVDS, rewatched a while back and easily one of my faviorite episodes and the first apperance of my faviorite Darkwing Duck Villian, though Liquidator and now Quackerjack are giving him a run for his money. But yeah I love Reggie and part of it is he’s something far diffrent than what Darkwing normally fights. 

While he still fits in with the Rouges gallery: someone with either powers or a good gimmick whose intresting, engaging and most importantly to this show, Reggie is still diffrent in that he’s an inherently tragic figure. While the rest of the rouges have sympathetic qualities theier still not really good people: Quackerjack chose to lash out at what drove him out of buisness instead of starting over again, Megavolt is your standard wants money bad guy, and Liquidator was a massive asshole. And if you add in the other villians i’ve covered, Taurus Bulba was basically Marvel’s Kingpin as a bul and Splatter Phoenix while having a noble goal of funding her arts does so via framing an innocent child and stealing. They aren’t unsympathetic, some of them anyway, but they are still ruthless because they choose to be.  Reggie.. didn’t get that choice. We see from the start of this episode his life has just been being everyone elses punching bag: His boss dosen’t respect him, his cowowkers not only don’t respect him but actively bully him and only the newsest researcher has ever paid him the time of day much less told the two assholes, Gary and Larson, a nice shout out, to stop. And given I reviewed Wonder Woman 84 yesterday i’ts NICE to remember a version of a “geek becomes a supervillian’ story that’s.. actually good. This is basically the same sorry, a disrpsected scientest trnasforms and gets revenge.. just you know done right. 

And SOMEHOW Reggie’s life only gets worse as asshole one and asshole two sabotage his work, he gets fired and is forced to experiment on himself. While that’s a classic mad scientst and supervillian trope what’s notable is Reggie didn’t go immiedtly to world domination. He just wanted to cure world hunger and get some respect. He just wanted to be treated like a human being for once. Instead he got turned into a plant and despite this being a miracle.. he gets MOCKED by gary and larson and runs away, feeling like a freak. And since after that the transformation has clearly made his brain unstable.. he goes from a sweet, put upon guy who just wanted help to people.. to an obsessive plant monster.. who still just needs HELP. He needs therapy and a warm blanket and to turn his life around. And his motivation.. is just not being alone. While his kdinapping of the one scientest who liked him, and he assumes has feelings for him, is bad, and selfish.. it’s clear by that point Reggie is just not himself anymore. He’s Bushroot now. He’s lost himself and were this a diffrent show maybe he could’ve gotten the help he needed and some empathy.  But what adds to the tragedy is Darkwing himself. This episode really showcases one of Darkwing’s biggest weaknses: his inablity to see crime other than in black and white terms. To him it’s just a game of heroes and villians. Nothing more nothing less. Villians can become heroes, as he hopes for Morgana, but to him there’s just good guys ,him and bad guys, everyone breaking the law. For someone whose often seen as an outlaw himself.. he still can’t see things in any other terms. However instead of just being lazy writing... it’s a clever character quirk, at the center of this episode and our final one, as well as one that pops up a little in Stegmutt’s first apperance. It nicely parodies/deocnscruts the whole good guy badguy dynamic by making it clear that sometimes while the person may be doing bad things.. they have a reason for it and sometimes the law just dosen’t work. It’s something I do wish they’d dug into more but given this was more of a comedy, I get why they didn’t, but what they did with it is great and it adds to this episode tremendously: Darkwing just sees Reggie as another villian to stop and not as a very unstable man who needs his help, but also needs tobe stopped for his own good. It’s why this is such a good episode, besides some great comic set pieces: it has a really tragic and moving story that , with some tweaking woudln’t of been out of place in batman the animateds eires. It’s still a bit goofy in places, as it should be giving the show it’s in btu at i’ts heart it’s just a relaly godo really tragic supervillian origin story. 

Whiffle While You Work: The Saving Grace of an Okay Episode This one’s more of a mixed bag. For the good... Quackerjack is fucking awesome. While I already loved him from the comics, I hadn’t met his more lightehearted tv counterpart yet.. but boy was he a delight. From his it’s play time catch phrase which despite being repeated a LOT never got bored to his really invenitve use of toys. While a vilian with a toy gimmick is not new, Toyman has been around for.. 80 years? Damn. I should do some Superman TAS episodes this year to commemerate that. Point is between him and the joker the gimmick isn’t “New” but Quackerjack still feels unique from using actual jacks, to a motorized hula hoop, to a GIANT CRYING BABY DOLL TO FLOOD A CITY. Jackie is just a delight every minute he’s on screen, and his motivation is solid: wanting to get revenge at the Whiffle Boy video game and i’ts insuing phenmonin and merchandise deals for squeezing him out of buisness. It makes him mildly symathetic enough to be intresting but not enough to override his terrible actions. He’s just fun to watch, and Micheal Bell is phenominal in the roll. easily one of my faviorite vilians thus far and it’s easy to see why he showed up quite a bit. 

Sadly the rest of the episode.. is not very intresting. It starts with your standard “Adult gets child away from the video game only to play it” plot which is belivieble, my dad was a gamer back during my childhood and probably still plays games ocasionally to this day. He fucking loved Starcraft, Ultima ONline, Super Metroid, Warcraft II and III.. and swearing. He really loved swearing at the games. And the idea of the episode isn’t bad, Drake is jealous that Gosalyn is in the limelight for once.. the issue  being a grown man competing with his own daughter just makes Drake really unlikeable. He at one point tries to use his parental authority to take her out of the contest, lies about being in the competition, and dosen’t apologize or learn enough to make up for his being a dick about this. THe episode really suffers from Launchpad not being around to be a buffer between the two and as ssuch it’s just uncomfortable. Hell Gos threatens to reveal Drake’s identity to .. someone.. but she still comes off sympathetic as when Drake presses her on it.. it’s very clear she made the threat on the spur of the moment out of hurt. 

Also the whole Whiffle Boy game craize extending to a city is delightfully batshit, and plausable given i’m pretty sure if nintendo could afford their own city we’d have it over in japan and for a video game episode in the 90′s, this one isn’t all that bad. It actually seems to get games on SOME level, and seems based more on an arcade game, which drake plays whiffle boy on at one point and the 80′s arcade competition craze, and since arcade comeptitions were still a huge thing in the 90′s, it’s very clear this si written by people who actually know what a video game is and don’t just fear it as some strange doodad their kids are into. Trust me I’ve been around animation so long this plot has become tiresome. So not a BAD episode, just held back by drake being written even more dickishly than usual.  P.S. there’s apparently an ultima level to the game.. so either Lord British is finally putting Chuckles down or someone needs to know what’s a paladin. 

Jurassic Jumble: Two Great One Shot Characters that Taste Great Together Well okay Segmutt does get one more episode but this is still his only episode on his own just like Neptuina next, so I count it well enough. Point is this episode is pretty good. It does have some weaknsses: It starts with Drake not beliviing Honker’s theory about a recent theft of acountants, one he’s only on the scene for because he happens to really need help with his taxes because, contrary to what Wesley Snipes thought, Superheroes still need to pay taxes. He dosen’t belive it’s dinosaurs.. he dosen’t belivie it’s dinosaurs despite the foot prints, honker being smart and HAVING FOUGHT A DOG MADE ENTIRELY OF WATER. 

I just get annoyed when superheros in a superhero universe don’t hav ea logical reason for dismissing something.. or random citizens.. it was fine if reptitous in the stan lee days because it’d been 20 years, at the time, since superheros were active and people can be stupid but it gets grating when someone says somethin’gs not possible in a superhero universe. Given we’re currrently dealing with an outgoing president who refuses to accept an election is real and his followers who think masks are a polical issue i’ts not exactly unrelasitic, dosen’t mean it’s enjoyable to read or watch. 

Still it works here because it splits the plot nicely and Gosalyn’s disbleif is less grating as she just wants it to be martians and dosen’t bully her friend or anything over it, just makes a few snyde remarks. The episode also wasn’t helped at first by the fact there’s a really reptitive bit where Darkwing bungies down to investigate the crook he thinks is responsible, but is actually just chilling at his minium security prison. It’s just not funny and takes up too much of the episode. But the episode picks up towards the second half when we meet our dinosaur: Stegmutt, a dumb but kind and friendly child like former janitor turned stegasaurs, whose unwittingly kidnapping people for his “friend” Dr. Fossil, the professor who turned him, and genuinely is not a bad soul and likes gosalyn and honker. He’s just clumsy and destructive and working for someone he dosen’t know is evil.  Speaking of which.. Dr. Fossil is really damn awesome and i’ts a shame he never came back in the comics or cartoon and hopefully Frank does him better in the reboot. Seriously he’s enjoyable, a bit nebbish but delightfully insane, deciding to wipe out all non dino life because he’s tired of getting panicked screams in the street and of all the dino merchandise like those puzzles with the pieces missing. He’ sjust delightfully nutty, with his love of saying bin bang boom and his having to put up with Stegmutt’s antics, as well as the whole joke that he TURNED HIMSELF INTO A DINOSAUR, yet gripes about being a dinosaur and acts like it’s humanity’s fault , balking when Gosalyn suggests he just.. turn himself back. Plus Ptetrodacytl’s are awesome so tha’ts a bonus. Seriously his showing up turns the episode from okay to fucking amazing. Seriously bring him back for the reboot.. and get Rich Fulcher to voice him. Seirously Bob Fossil as Dr. Fossil... it’s too perfect NOT to do casting gag wise, and he frankly perfectly fits the charcter down to the nasily voice. Plus Rich does voice acting quite a bit, so he’s already likely in Frank’s Rolodex. 

Stegmutt himself is also not too shabby, your standard child like moron, but he’s got a sweetness and niceness to him and we get some good gags like his habit of breaking off handles, his opening sodas with his tail and Fossil getting rid of him by telilng him to check if he left the bathroom light on...

And the climax with Darkwing.. turning.. into this

I don’t get it either but i’ts still a fun climax. Also forgot to mention Dr. Fossil can do that blow you away by flapping his wings thing Storm Eagle can do. Neat. All in all while not the series BEST outing, it has some flaws holding it back, it’s a damn fun one and one I highly recommend. Okay one more. 

Something Fishy: The Better Submariner This is a simple but good one: St. Canard beach has gotten trashy.. literally there’s trash everywhere. And while Drake is ambilent to it, Gosalyn is taking up the crusade to take out the trash and the garbage people... and gets her dad beaten up over it by dumping trash on some guys head but frankly, he deserved it.  Things go up a notch though when some sea creatures invade and .. clean up the beach and beat up darkwing. And while they destroy some property.. they aren’t exactly wrong? This is where that flaw I mentioned comes in though. Drake just.. can’t see things in shades of grey and insits he must be the good guy and whoevers doing this must be stopped.  However it becomes clear when we meet the antagonist that while her methods are wayy to extreme.. she’s in the right. Neputina is an awesome character, easily one of the series best and esaily horribly underulitized. She was a simple fish who thought a toxic waste barrel was a new friend.. and learned the hard way by becoming a sexy fish woman. Yeah I said it. But her motive is understandable thanks to her origin and just how BAD it’s gottne, with piles of trash all underwater and the laws Drake cites agianst this sort of thing not doing squat. It’s a nice take on the old enviornmental message , something I dreaded going in as it makes a valid point; sometimes diong things the “right” way isn’t enough.. but it still dosen’t justify harming innocent people in the process, as Nep’s ultimate plan to flood the city would.  Launchpad ends up being the voice of Reason as drake is too caught in his games of good guy bad guy to get Neptuina ISN’T a bad person, just one fed up with people hurting those she cares about. Neptuina is a unique villan in that unlike Morgana, who while having a sympathetic motive was out for herself, Stegmutt, who didn’t reailze he was on the wrong side, and Gizmoduck.. wellll

Neptuina.. is just misguided. She has the right idea but the wrong methods and Darkwing’s too stubborn to admit it.. but he’s also seen as in the wrong with Launchpad realizing DW just.. isn’t the good guy this time, but in the best scene of the episode talking Neptuina down by pointing out innocent people will get hurt. It’s a good, nuanced episode about envrionmetnalism with a throughly charasmatic and intrersting, acted wonderfully by Sussan Silo, antagonist. Neptuina is a better version of Marvel’s namor the submariner: she goes against humanity.. but I don’t want to punch her and dosen’t have one of her constnat character traits as “I want to bank your wife richards BANG YOUR WIFEEEEE”

So overall.. a good batch of episodes. Only Wiffle While You Work was all that weak, and even it had it’s charms and Quackerjack. It shows the series overall quality: even the just okay episodes here are still really fun to watch. It’s just a solid show overall and whie not without flaws is a classic to this day for a reason. Next week we’ll wrap this up with JUST US JUSTICE DUCKS! Until then stay safe and goodbye, goodbye, goodbye. 

[keruworld]

Feelings about KR Saber till ep10 (without spoilers)

I’m happy to have waited till ep10 to vent why I’m truly enjoying KR Saber more than prev series. Saber is delivering exactly where prev series failed. So just let me throw it all:

-THEME: Books! There is something magical about books, libraries, books stores. I just love it. And the take of children books in the gimmick is a really win for me in a KIDS SHOW. I love POPUPS books, in fact I did one for my graduation project, I know how difficult is to make them. So watching a POPUP in Saber was just so exciting for me.

-PROTAGONIST: There is a lot to say about our protagonist, Kamiyama Touma! There is something magical about Touma, starting with his wardrobe, personality and his book store. His book store seems like a magical place for children, with an awesome big model in center, plushies around, childrenbooks, pictures. Have a big heartwarming feeling for me that I almost cry in the first ep. It was like: I could have loved a place like that when kid, I could have loved an adult like Touma when kid. In fact, Saber first ep made me feel like a kid again, something that no Kamen Rider series had done… not in the first ep at least.

-PROMISES: I think this was the first and most interesting Touma’s traits that I payed attention since his description. The first BIG deception that a kid will probably have is about promises. Adults don’t compromise with promises, they lie, they always lie and us as kids learn that quite fast. Touma taking promises at heart being an adult is probably something unrealistic, but it has a big and good message that I love.

-STORY: till ep10 we don’t know exactly Touma’s backstory. But it’s obvious since the preview of the series, that Touma’s memory is important, in fact, all Saber plot revolves around Touma’s memory. We can say that Saber story is Touma’s story. There’s a PROMISE that in some point we will know. And if till ep10 we don’t know all, is because they are building things, for make us emotional, for hit us when the time comes (exactly what Build did), and ep10 is like a taste of what will become so… is exciting. There is a feeling of RUSH in the show’s pace, but I feel is because the toys. Toei/Bandai needs to sell toys so all the gimmicks and upgrades and stuff get a lot of attention and time on the episodes, but till now I feel they have done a good job trying to tell a story and sell toys at the same time. In fact, Saber have WORLD BUILDING, and it’s quite awesome how they have managed to tell us about it while selling toys. They still have a lot of things to tell about the story, about the world of Saber… but with 10 eps… this is only the beginning.

-CHARACTERS: I have already talked about Touma, but Saber offers a varied cast, that seriously put a smile in my face. Rintaro is one of the most heartwarming second rider that exist, Mei is a so extroverted and happy going heroine that feels unreal but makes you smile every time she is in screen; she is like a little girl. Kento, Ren, Ogami san, Sophia, Daishinji san, the villains: Storius and company, Calibur, Desast, the narrator Tessel, even if we don’t know exactly much about them… their characters and roles are so well stablished in the story and they interact. Saber have characters for move around and that’s good (can be a double edge sword but that… only time will decide).

-SUITS: I wasn’t a fan of Saber suits at first. But I loved the visual with the Pop Up book in the background. Saber suits are heavy with a lot of things and details and bright colors… but when you watch them in movement… they are graceful and beautiful. Hands down to suits actors, action directors and suit designers. Now I’m really loving the suits, they are truly made for move with swords. And yeah here comes the comment: the suits feel SENTAI like with the bright colors and even with the red, blue and yellow for the main riders. But… really? Visually… there is no way that a Sentai could look like that; they have more simple designs. Also there this stigma that because the riders in Saber works as a team… they are Sentai like. TEAM WORK is not only exclusive of Sentai. Team work is how jobs works, and here in Saber world… being a Kamen Rider is like a job. Sword of Logos is the organization where they work and the other Riders are comrades. Im quite loving how they work together, it’s heartwarming. TTvTT

-MUSIC: For some reason I love the OP, I keep listen to it… is slow but peaceful and warming, the visuals put a smile in my face with the main characters following Touma’s lead in a Pop Up like background. The dancing ending… another thing that people say that is SENTAI LIKE, but really? that dancing is no way a child dace… the steps are difficult and I feel it’s perfect for the show. Also love the background music that feels like a medieval epic.

-3D BACKGROUNDS: Saber is a series to enjoy in HD, have alot of 3D backgrounds and bright colors...some people could not like it (in fact i think most of people hate it). But i seriously think it’s good, it adds a magical feeling to all the series aesthetic. In fact i feel the 3D in Saber is better than prev series.

-PHRASE: “I determine how this story end” I love how in this ep10 was changed to “We determine how his story ends”. Be it I or WE, the phrase it self have the feeling of resolve and positivity.

Loving the series so far, it’s magical, lighthearted, it have books, knights, friendship, cool suits and sword fights, characters that interact and have the heartwarming feeling of human touch.

I don’t know if Saber will end being a good series… but have a lot to deliver… and I hope it does till the end.

I think i will do this again by ep20 to see how the series is progressing.