#being in the motw one-shot group has helped a lot

[ragsy]

I really really love being a ttrpg GM but I really really don't have the motivation or interest to write my own homebrew campaigns these days but I also really really don't enjoy playing pre-written modules because I have a hard time sticking to what's on the page

Do you see my struggle

There's a hole in my bucket, dear Liza dear liza

[amysgiantbees]

Dead Boy Spoilers

Things I'd like to see in Dead Boy Detectives Season 2

Tragic Mick and Monty form an Animals with Complicated Feelings About Being Human at Some Point support group. Maybe the Cat King is there too.

Monty takes on Tragic Mick's "curse" and get's to be human again and Mick get's to be a walrus or at least get's to not be human anymore and is a crow. Monty could even take over his store!

Monty and the Cat King dealing with loneliness together. The Cat King has all the loneliness of being an immortal that Edwin's making him unpack (in particular he hangs out with cats all day like fuck they have even shorter life spans than people god he must have lost a lot of loved ones) and Monty deals with loosing his owner/master/mother/weird aunt figure who's probably been his whole world for better and worse up until he got turned human.

Whoever Monty is hanging out with I want to see him far too earnestly doing their star charts.

Boys and Crystal solving just fun random MOTW cases

The Night Nurse and Jenny tearing their hair out trying to keep the teens in check.

Night Nurse in particular having an aneurism every time the boys refuse to fill out a form, brake a rule, or run off without her.

Although alternatively Edwin getting VERY into the forms and learning how Hell and the afterlife works, and instead pestering her about it.

Jenny focusing more on Crystal - and Niko when she comes back.

Jenny learning she can care a bit more. The Night Nurse learning to relax and care a little less.

Jenny getting a good date. Loving her ship with Death but also I like the idea of them meeting a Cat Queen and her little comment about everyone in town being spinsters with cats comes round to instead be this ancient being who is a cat.

Crystal researching her ancestors and finding out more about them.

Crystal dealing with the demon in her brain hopefully before he does something irreparable to her tree.

Maybe they end up interrogating David about the "something worse" Edwin was sold to.

Crystal learning about her powers!

Crystal trying to repair some of her old friendships. Make amends to a couple of people.

Niko reforming the dandelion sprites and learning to lead/work with them. Helping them all find a way to feed without murdering people.

Nico dealing with needing attention to eat and live despite her coping mechanism when she's sad or scared specifically being avoiding people and hiding from others.

Niko figuring out her dandelion god powers. Doing god like things like blessing people who love, care for, and harvest dandelions. Granting wishes when dandelions are blown!

Niko marriage counseling Kingham & Litty (the dandelion sprites).

Either Crystal and Charles giving being together another shot now that David has been "dealt" with for the time being or Charles figuring out that maybe he's attracted to Edwin too. Or both!

I love that since Edwin is "living" through the modern day he can explore his sexuality finally. In a similar vein a lot of people also see him as autistic, and autism awareness has certainly come a long way from the Edwardian period and now could be a good time for his character to explore this too. Charles in turn could help him by talking about their shared neurodivergent experience as I firmly believe he has ADHD.

Charles opening up more about his parents.

Learning Edwin's family backstory

Cat King having Desire as a sort of absentee parental figure so literally the whole gang can have parental issues. Night Nurse I assume does not have parents so get's to be the mentally stable one in this regard and (try to) help everyone through it.

Niko checking in on her mum. Seeing how she's coping.

Edwin and Crystal bonding over doing magic and getting closer as friends. He maybe even initiates a hug!

Edwin getting to initiate a kiss with someone

Scooby Do episode! (I vote Charles is Daphney, Edwin is Velma, Niko is Shaggy and Cyrstal is Fred, maybe the Cat King or Monty is Scoob).

Despair shows up again.

Maybe now that the boys don't need to run from death they reverse it and actively try to seek her out and talk to her.

Crystal seeing her little ghost friend Emma from the first episode again.

Edwin reading Niko's yaoi. It could even be really funny and bittersweet where when they still think she's dead he's reading it and getting emotional and saying to himself "she really did love love" or "I wish I could read this with her" or something emotional like that and then he flicks to the next page and it's something explicit and he suddenly shuts the book and is like "Enough of that for now" XD

Either Edwin and the Cat King get together. Or become friends. Or Thomas makes friends or something with some other kind of immortal so he's not so lonely. I'm leaning towards them being friends because he would have no issues being the friend that explains what hand jobs and molly is to Edwin. Also since he presents himself in a very ambiguously gendered way I feel like he could get him to talk about why he likes disguising himself as a woman so much. Whether than be introducing him to concepts like gender queerness or drag. It's just honestly both Charles and Edwin are pretty repressed and I think now that the Cat King has started to grow he could continue to really push them in a less intense, healthier way.

Monty and Edwin staying friends. Monty and Charles actually getting to properly vibe.

Jenny figuring out now that the shop is dead if butchering is truly what she wants. Since she did it because she inherited the shop she can really explore her wants without any feeling of obligation to her dad. I love that she's a butcher but I just think it'd be interesting to explore her passion for it without so much baggage.

[thedeadflag]

So my work is super mind-numbing and soul-rending, and any time I can get a distraction from how shitty it is while I’m at work, I welcome it. I’m not, like, friend-friends with my coworkers, but there are some people I can talk with about stuff so that I can get a mental escape from the shittiness of my work.

Often, some sort of media’s brought up. One person at my work watches a lot of CW shows. A lot. It sometimes makes me wonder if some demonic bargain was struck once from their seeming undying devotion to watching the channel’s shows. We’ve talked about a lot of shows/movies over the time I’ve been there (my tenure at work far, far too long for my liking, but alas), and we’d kind of exhausted  all the common links of what we’ve both watched.

So, at my own peril, I decided to take a bit of a dive into a universe I had long, long since left in my rearview mirror: The Vampire Diaries Universe.

Or, well, I’ve still ditched the main show, but I was lured into giving the spin-offs a shot. 

Let’s just say that I was...a little surprised (more thoughts beneath the cut, because after two binge-watch sessions, I feel a need to at least arrange my thoughts so I’ll know what to say this week when my coworker brings up the shows)

I was told to watch the series in order, so I started with The Originals. This was my coworker’s favourite show of the trio from that universe, which had me hopeful that maybe it wouldn’t share some of TVD’s early missteps, since they could take what was hopefully learned and improved upon (I’m only speculating there, I never watched past mid-S2 and it never actually got better within that duration), and make a stronger, snappier pilot episode.

To say I was dismayed, but not surprised, would probably be pretty accurate. If you ever take the dive, get ready for a lot of Awkward Dramatic Poses, they’re overwhelmingly, relentlessly common in this show (especially with one of the mains, Elijah). 

I made it 5 episodes in, and none of the characters have any meat on their bones. They’re pretty much all cardboard cutouts, or so shallowly written that they may as well be. There’s the occasional bit of quality acting despite the writing (Charles Michael Davis, Joseph Morgan, and Daniella Pineda seem like the stronger actors at this point, everyone else is real meh). 

Overall, I was not impressed. Given the narrative pieces they were working with, I wanted to be intrigued and compelled to continue, but...it just didn’t grip me in the least. It’s not a horrible show, but those first five episodes didn’t really show much promise of it getting better, and they had plenty of time to manifest and nurture that tiny glimmer of hope I was looking for (pun intended). When the main characters are seemingly invincible, and the non-immortal pregnant main they’re protecting is also rendered immortal by the kid inside her, that kind of eliminates pretty much any real stakes involved outside of internal ones, and I didn’t see enough anything to suggest the show was up for handling that kind of character depth. I didn’t feel conflicted in the slightest from moving on after 5.

Legacies is the newest spin-off. Let me tell you, after five episodes of The Originals, I was not looking forward to this show. I came in with a bias, and it did not manage to change that with the pilot episode. In fact, I’d argue the pilot for Legacies was much worse. Almost laughably bad. Like, some of the worst writing I’ve seen on a CW show, and not in the ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ way that can sometimes be charming.

I could buy the whole “hybrid” thing in The Originals. It’s a bit much, and a little over the top in its state as a frustratingly predictable plot device in T.O., but I can understand the inclusion of it, lore-wise. It’s certainly not the first, and if I can tolerate it in those Kate Beckinsale-led movies I can’t recall the names of, then I could manage some tolerance there.

So I was stunned and frustrated as all hell that Legacies was seemingly centered around a supposed “Tribrid”. I couldn’t begin to imagine how annoying a character she would be. Y’all know I am generally a supporter of Mary Sue characters, but I’m not really one to appreciate characters who are so supremely powerful. It was tremendously difficult with T.O., and in the pilot, it was difficult there as well with Hope. Still, aside from her and the lead pasty dude, there was a cast of also-ran characters who seemed moderately compelling. The pilot is still one of the worst hours of television I’ve ever seen, but it could only go up from there.

And thank gosh it did. Monster-of-the-Week formatting really helped give time and space to develop the whole cast, and it also didn’t hurt that Hope’s tribrid perfection only ever showed up in minor, predictable ways. Usually in finishing the MotW, but as with any adventure, the journey is the point. There’s a bit of problem solving, a bit of character drama and development, a bit of foreshadowing of future issues and developments. It’s balanced. As for Hope, after the pilot, she’s largely allowed to just be a student at the school, and the show benefits greatly from that. Her being a ‘tribrid’ focuses less on how perfectly awesome she is, and more with how the headmaster’s favoritism for her (negatively) affects the rest of the school. She’s cast in the “I’m a loner, everyone who ever loved me is dead/gone” stereotype, but that’s largely framed as an internal perspective, and maybe the view from a few students rather than everyone (seriously, everyone seems to have a bit of a crush on her, while she seems woefully oblivious in general). 

She’s got attachment issues, but they’re handled with some semblance of nuance here, you’re not always blatantly hit over the head with them like in T.O, with Klaus looking a solid 200 episodes worth of development away from any believable semblance of real progress. With Hope, there’s little shifts here and there, steps forward and backward. She’s young and learning, and while she seems powerful, she appears anything but invincible, and the rest of the cast is definitely out of their depth a good chunk of the time. The show’s dialogue can be real clunky at times, but the character progression clearly has a defter touch to it. What I guess I’m trying to say is there’s hope for improvement, really. 

And maybe The Originals set a really low bar for comparison, but at least they’ve learned from some of the mistakes of that show, it seems. They’re not stretching a single narrative over 22 or whatever episodes. It’s a shorter order, and there’s a lot of other major stuff going on for the characters to sink their teeth into (pun intended), giving them plenty of room to breathe and show the viewer why they matter, why we should be invested. Even early on, you get glimpses of their inner workings and struggles, and you see them, even if only usually in minor ways, confront them. 

It’s a largely likable group. I like watching shows where I’ll have at least a handful of characters to cheer on. Even the characters that grind my gears are ones I predict I’ll end up appreci-hating. There’s the seeds of a found family trope here, and I’m always here for that, so that intrigues me. I feared the worst, that there’d be similarly brooding dudes in this show like in the other two, but it’s not the case so far. The main pasty dude is actually physically useless and has the composure of an anxiety-riddled hamster, and he’s a better character for it. He’s just an ordinary, regular idiot, and he’s allowed to be, so even if he can rub me the wrong way a bit, he’s a breath of fresh air in comparison to the majority of male leads in supernatural-themed shows. 

Even the main het ship of the show isn’t something that hogs the show’s spotlight, it doesn’t follow the ‘will they/won’t they’ struggle like a lot. The speed at which they get together’s a bit forced given the characterization involved, but at the same time, they’re pretty young, so I can see it happening at that kind of age where I wouldn’t if they were a decade older and in the same situation. Aside from them, the show does have some wlw stuff going on, and you all know I’m generally here for that, so that’s a bit of a draw, too.

It’s also a show that doesn’t take itself entirely seriously, and has a little fun with its occasional ridiculous campiness, and I appreciate that, given most other shows of its ilk don’t. It reminds me a little of early Supernatural in tone, and I liked early Supernatural. It might not rise to those levels of quality, it might not be a show I’d wholeheartedly consider ‘good’ just yet, but I’ll continue watching. I’m 8 episodes in, and feeling alright about it. 

[italicwatches]

Animal Sentai Zyuohger - Episode 01

That’s right, lords and ladies. It’s time. We have journeyed far and wide, we have seen many things…But at last, it is TIME, TO, DO A TOKUSATSU SERIES AGAIN! And we’re picking up right where we left off with 2016’s Super Sentai series, Zyuohger! It’s Animal Sentai Zyuohger, episode 01! Here we GO!

-40TH ANNIVERSARY

-Some educational stuff about how there are estimated to be as many as 8 million animal species on Earth, but only 1.2-ish have been discovered…Then into the woods, where one Kazakiri Yamato is leading a group of children and families in watching some animals…I mean, until his colleague Mario is sneaking around in a deer costume. And we get to see Yamato put an egg back into a nest way up in a tree to show he is a Good Guy.

-Oh no, his good luck charm fell out of his bag! And sends him flying down the side of the hill to try and retrieve it…Only for the odd cube to start to glow. And then there’s a massive one floating over the water, with an opening for his cube in turn! IN a flash, this giant thing spins, tumbles, and cracks open, sucking him in…!

-And spilling him out in front of a bunch of animal-headed people.

-…So the background animal folks are wearing those internet horse masks.

-I’m just gonna…I’m just gonna put that out there. So these four color coded noteworthy people are…Leo the lion, Sela the shark, Tusk the elephant, and Amu the tigress. Talking animal people! And that’s when Yamato realizes that all their structures are very cuboid. Is he in Minecraft?!

-Opening! ANIMAL SENTAI, ZYUOHGER!

-Man, I missed translated lyrics so much.

-Episode 01: Thrills in Animal Land!

-Cut to…A giant space station…That’s a bow and arrow.

-DAMN, these villains don’t fuck around. So we’ve got Genis, the man in charge, and then each of his generals…And they’re looking to Earth as their 100th conquest…Damn it’s just celebratory numbers all around.

-Meanwhile, Yamato is getting to see Zealand, the land of zyumans. And also that giant box gets the name the Link Cube. These four protect it. But without the Champion’s Symbol, they cannot open it…Ever since that symbol was stolen…And that’s when Yamato remembers. When he got his lucky charm…A figure put it into his hands when he was but a child…

-Which Tusk promptly pulls out, having plucked out of his things, to ask where the hell Yamato got it. But back on Earth, hey, it’s one of the villains! Who summons up mooks, called Moebas, and starts kicking up fire! Ohhh dear.

-Back in Zyuland, Leo is furious…When the Link Cube starts to react viciously! This is bad. This has to be bad. But Yamato, with no other options on the board, grabs his cube back and shoves it into the slot just as he did to end up here…

-Which sends him, and the four guardians, through the portal, where they find the forest being attacked and lit aflame…And the guardians feel the fury, the hate, deep in their bones. It locks them up, puts terror deep into them…While Yamato sees one of the kids from his tour group go down, and get cornered. His legs are moving before he can think, and he snatches the boy right out of the line of fire…

-And the monster introduces himself. They are the Deathgaliens, and this planet is the site of his people’s new Blood Game…He fires wildly, viciously, and one of his shots hits the Link Cube, damaging it! The guardians, faced with no choice, take up their remaining Champion’s Symbols…

-And they react to their will, ancient shells shattering to reveal incredibly toyetic transformation devices! Which even snap open to reveal phone screens! INSTINCTS AWAKENED! With a turn, they bring them to life, and are forged in armor!

-Champion of the surging waves, ZYUOH SHARK! Champion of the savannah, ZYUOH LION! Champion of the forest, ZYUOH ELEPHANT! Champion of the snowy drifts, ZYUOH TIGER! Animal Sentai, ZYUOHGER! Out go the mooks…

-And with roars, the four leap in, unleashing their wrath upon those who would threaten innocent life! Wrath sufficient to quickly kick something on…Namely, BEASTS UNLEASHED! A weapon born of their inherent power as zyumans. For Shark, a fin to cut through the air like water. For Lion and Tiger, claws as sharp as any blade. And for Elephant, mighty boots that can shatter the ground underfoot!

-Of course, we also have the Zyuoh Buster, the nifty combination sword/gun with toyetic gimmicks. You’re gonna hear that a lot here if you’ve never seen a Super Sentai series. And Yamato grabs up his own Champion’s Symbol, deciding he can’t let them fight alone…While a sixth is recovered by a hooded figure…

-Some of the Moebas have gotten up into the air on jetpacks, and they manage to throw enough chaos into the fray that the villain can blast all four Zyuohgers right in the chest…Until Yamato races in, grabbing his cannon and forcing it off-mark! He of course gets beaten for his trouble…But dammit, innocent people, innocent lives, are in danger. Humans, animals, there are lives at stake…And he doesn’t dare stand idly by while that’s happening!

-Please…Please, let him fight. Let this damn thing WORK! What’s the difference between a human and a zyuman?! Humans are but animals, evolved apes…

And that’s all they need to be. Yamato’s will reaches into the core of the Symbol, and it too breaks its shell, forming into his own transformation device…! With a turn, it activates, and grants him the power of the EAGLE! Just as the figure who granted it to him….INSTINCTS AWAKENED! Champion of the soaring sky, ZYUOH EAGLE!

-BEAST UNLEASHED! With crimson wings he soars, going after the airborne Moebas and carving them out of his skies! The power is overwhelming, like nothing he’s ever felt before…A freedom like none other.

-By the time he’s grounded, Eagle’s got his Eagle Riser, a classic Red-style extendomatic sword with some slick whip action. In seconds, he’s bound the villain, the monster of the week, unleashing a RISER SPINNING SLASH to cut him apart! He shatters into nothing but colorful squares and explosions, and Eagle has made his claim clear. The Earth, is under his protection.

-Back up in the ship, Genis has suddenly found himself intrigued. He cracks a Continue, and passes it to the one lady of the team, Naria. Go deliver this to him. See what he does with it.

-And indeed she arrives, popping the token in the slot…Aaand he gets big! In the first episode?! Jeez, we’re not fucking around. The Symbols react, and when given the go-ahead by the Zyuohgers, begin to glow, summoning massive cubes! ZYUOH CUBE! Cubes that unfurl into Minecraft-looking giant animals, with the Zyuohgers piloting them! CUBE EAGLE, CUBE SHARK, CUBE LION, CUBE ELEPHANT, CUBE TIGER!

-More and more arrowhead-ships come pouring out of the Big Bow, firing upon the Cube Animals…This whole fight is a new scale, as they have everything from disaster rescue to raw combat to worry about…Until three flaming portals appear, more strength from the Link Cube’s power. In go Eagle, Shark and Lion, hyper-charging their Cube Animals…For a three-way Animal Combination!

-EAGLE, SHARK, LION! The cubeslink…THREE, TWO, ONE! And a post is driven through their cores, as they unreal into a very minecraft-looking ZYUOH KING! Fuck yeah giant robots. Zyuoh King strides forth, no-selling everything this Monster of the Week-ass fucker can throw at them, until it’s blade versus cannon…And the cannon just doesn’t have enough to match up to a sword ablaze with three wills! They charge, and unleash the ZYUOH SLASH! One solid strike through the core, and this MotW falls!

-And when it’s over…Well, they still can’t go back to Zyuland. Because now a different Symbol is missing. So, Leo’s not happy. Like, at all. Yamato volunteers to try and help them figure out a plan…And Leo finally comes around to the guy.

-Oh, and they also have one more useful trick from their Symbols…A disguise. Human forms. Well, mostly human. Ignore the tails. …And then Tusk dramatically refuses Yamato’s help, not wanting to be in this human’s debt?! …Well shit, guess we got out first plot arc.

-Credits! Gather around, animals! Here on Mother Earth!

Ohhh man I missed this shit. Just big ol’ goofy melodrama and fun. Of course, any toku series is a big commitment, often around 50 episodes…So strap in for a long ride, my friends. We’re gonna be here a while. But first, we’ve got to make Tusk quit being such a prick, next time in episode TWO of Animal Sentai Zyuohger! Wait for it!

[furederiko]

The 2nd episode of Kyuranger paves way for an intriguing Duo of Thieves!

- Our episode opens with "The Space Shogunate, Jark Matter has designated the insurgent force Rebellion's Kyurangers..." Wow. Looks like the Shogunate is controlling the media as well, because the news comes up really quick. LOL at that bounty photos. Even Lucky is showing a "For real?" expression on his headshot. Hahaha. - As hinted last week, we get to see two more core characters of this show. Namely, the golden-colored robot(?) Balance (VA: Yuuki Ono, whose image song as Wen Yang in "Dynasty Warriors" series is to-die-for), and the silver-haired humanoid Naga Rei (Taiki Yamazaki) whose name might be derived from 'Nagareboshi' that means 'Shooting Star' in Japanese. Gold and Silver? Yep, that's a bit on-the-nose, eh? Both of them are already introduced in the opening, so not really a surprise. This duo is located in an industrial planet called Planet Jigama, and are inhibiting contrasting personalities. Hmmm... - Hooo... interesting! Raptor is briefing Lucky and Garu about the Jark Matter's... pyramid organizational structure! We actually always had this in past titles, but I think this is the first time it's been charted so... neatly. Above the cannon fodd... er I mean Combatants, there are Malisters (Daikaan in Japanese) who are essentially the MotWs. In higher rank, there are Menasters (Karo) who represents the 88 constellation systems (That's A LOT). And on top is Don Armage himself as the Shogun. I think the more important part would be that top-left part, the "Lecture by Raptor 283", because she IS acting like a lecturer. A strict one at that. I told you last week that her personality would clash with Hammy's, and well... it's happening already. LOL. We need more of this internal conflicts! By the way, Over-Time has changed Dorado Yellow's naming from Sparda into Spada (as well as Planet Jagama into Jigama, and Malicestrate into Menasters), which might be more appropriate. So I'll be following suit in my reviews. - Updated opening sequence! Lucky and Garu are in it now. Judging from the preview and the pattern so far, we're going to get the complete (9 Kyurangers) version come episode 5! Hey, I just noticed the sequence actually includes scenes from this episode too. Hope this trend continues. Oh, and yeah, the Lacerta Kyu Globe (Tokage/Lizard) has also debuted in this episode! During the CM that is (Kyuranger Choco!!!)... LOL. - Dumb Lucky is trusting people TOO easily. I'm considering to call him Dumb-Luck from now on. In case you're wondering why Balance and Naga call themselves as BN Thieves, that's simply their initials put together. All those colored-skinned aliens reminds me of "Guardians of the Galaxy", but this diner scene also easily reminds me of Star Wars' Mos Eisley. Does this mean the BN Thieves are nods to Han Solo (or should I say, Duo)? I used to think that way last week, in that Naga might be serving as a Han-esque figure, while Balance as his Chewbacca. But it seems I might have been inaccurate. In fact, Naga's lack of emotion might be a nod to a particular Marvel's movie character instead: Drax the Destroyer! Then again, he also has that lack of social knowledge, that makes him feels like... a robot? A clone? Okay, hold that thought. Turns out everyone in his silver-haired planet also LOOKS the same. Creepy. Like, "Children of the Corn"-level creepy. By the way, Naga's actor looks so MUCH better without that silver wig. It's amazing the effect of make up to people, right? - Dumb-Luck is also very naive, isn't he? Or perhaps, too... optimistic? But that's why I can't hate him, because he's basically acting like a little brat. Speaking of personality, Balance is VERY lively. And he's sleazy too. I LOVE HIM already LOL. He reminds me of Hondo Ohnaka from "Star Wars REBELS". The fansub might not reflect it, but he has a habit of spouting slang and/or making wordplay in his speech. Like that line "Nice to meetcha!"? In Japanese he actually uses the word 'Shiku-yoro' instead of the spelling-correct 'Yoroshiku'. Perhaps, this is his character's signature style? He makes a fun pair with Naga though. One half who doesn't know how to express emotions (and longs to obtain ones), the other is expressing a little too much (without caring for other's emotions). There's a hint that Balance is just using Naga though, so I can't help but wonder how the two of them get together in the first place? Hmmm... - We have a big cast, and that's a fact. Which is probably why, the transformation and stylish roll calls are incorporated in the battle. I like this approach. Of course, this goes for the Kyurangers who are not taking the spotlight. In this case, it's the other Kyurangers beside Lucky, who plot-wise, are put to the side. That's both the advantage and disadvantage of having a big cast. - Our MotW is Malistrate Gammetsui, who seems to be based on... a turtle? Salamander? He's the boss of Jigama, and he's interested about the Kyuranger's 50 million bounty. But the team is divided into two, so which one will he target? Lucky for him, it's Dumb-Luck's team. What about the other team? Eridron (who shoots arrows, obviously, since he's from Sagittarius) himself deals with Spada and the rest. This is just episode 2, but already a Menaster is on the front line? And forcing our heroes to run for their life? NICE. After all, it's 9 Kyurangers against... the galaxy *sigh*. - Great Gawd, Dumb-Luck triggers the alarm on purpose, and calls it LUCK *smh*. He sees the good in everything, doesn't he? Holy twist, Balance actually SELLS OUT Lucky to Gammetsui. That's 'GOI-SU'!! (FYI, 'Sugoi' means 'Awesome', but you've probably known that already). All for the sake of the blue-colored treasure he's trying to steal. Technically, he's acting like the episode's 2nd MotW, much to Naga's dismay. Hence, the part where Naga chooses to be a 'friend' for Lucky and betrays him, gives Balance the shock of his life. Worse that that, Lucky actually believes that all these are merely Balance's plan? He IS that naive, eh? Wait till he knows the truth... - Which won't happen. LOL. Of course, Balance's conscience wins over him, thus he chooses to rescue Naga. It seems they are connected with a bond that's stronger than... wait a sec?! Why do they remind me of... C3PO and R2D2?!! OvO... Anyways, thanks to this rescue, we get to know who, or WHAT exactly Balance is. He's a machine organism who has the ability to control other machines. Basically, like the antagonists of "Chouriki Sentai Ohranger". Hmm... it'd be great if he is from one, right? Because that would make both series canon. Naga on the other hand, has the ability to freeze enemies just by glaring at them with his glowing green eyes. A neat nod to Greek Myth's Medusa, perhaps? - Balance wants to team up with Lucky to get loots, and also emotions for Naga. So definitely NOT in this to play a hero. He blatantly says this goal outloud, and Lucky's okay with it! I think it's good that these 2 new members have their own 'selfish' goals to be part of the Rebellion. In fact, we need more heroes who function in grey-areas like these. And nothing's wrong with that, because hey, they have awaken their Libra and Ophiucus Kyu Globes JUST because of that. Random trivia: in the recent 13 Zodiacs concept, Ophiucus is also a horoscope sign just like Libra. It's closely aligned after Scorpio, which will have a representation in this show very soon. - Yep, Balance and Naga are the focus characters, so they have the rights for a full transformation and roll call sequence. #4 The Trick-Star Libra Gold and #6 The Silent Star Ophiucus Silver make their debut! Before you complain that Leo Red is tagging along, do remember one thing for the sake of being fair: he hasn't had the chance to do these properly last week! XD. And yes, though many might be annoyed with it, I'm loving Libra Gold's dandy atttitude and attention-seeker poses too. It makes him stands out and... unique. At least audience would be worried that Naga might be in some bad company! Hahaha. Also... LOL at that not-so-subtle Kyu the Weapon's sales promotion. But never mind that, because the cool group finisher "All-Star Crash" is genuinely cool. - First 'earth'-based mecha battle and also first shot of the enlargement method for the show's MotW. Looks like all Jark Matters have the ability to do this, with the help of that weird Empire's symbol. I'm liking how Libra Voyager and Ophiucus Voyager have two forms, the spaceship one and humanoid. And the way the two practically kicks Chamaeleon Green and Dorado Yellow out of Kyuren-Oh? LOL to that. They even have their own finisher, the yo-yo slam "Kyuren-Oh! Trick Break! Super Galaxy". Due to the limb-changing concept, looks like TOEI can't rely on stock footage for the mecha's transformation and final moves this season. I hope this means we'll be getting a variety of new combination every week. - Since they have officially joined the team, Naga wears the Rebellion's uniform, while Balance? He gets a new paint-job. The best part of this closing scene, is already we're seeing personality clashes. The easy friction between Hammy's manner of speech with Balance, or how Balance and Spada seems to be on the same 'dandy' page. Whoops, that's not the closing scene. We get a quick glimpse of the next Kyuranger. This mysterious man (seriously? XD) has an Orange Kyu Globe, but his pendulum looks like a Kyu Globe too, and it's colored... Blue? Hmmm... intriguing! - Ending sequence is obviously updated as well. The BN Thieves are now included, and put center stage. It looks even crowded now, and we still have two more! At least the dance is fun, right?

Overall: This episode introduced two more characters, and more importantly two more different types of personalities. It's going to be interesting to see how they interact with the previous six members (including Raptor). The dynamic of Balance and Naga Rei was more than just intriguing or fun to watch, it evoked questions and mysteries as well. These are great potentials that are prime to be explored in future episodes, and I sincerely hope that will indeed be the case. After all, opportunities to dish out and develop every characters are just too good to ignore. On a side note, we're only in episode 2, and we already have seven Kyurangers. Do you think the plot is moving too fast? I mean, they could've simply made the BN Thieves intro into a 2-parter, right? If the show gathers all its core heroes in just 5 episodes, I wonder how the story will play out in the episodes that follow? Hmmm... Next week: Meet the Dragon Commander! Also, beware the sting of... Dopplegangers?

Episode 02 Score: 8 out of 10

Visit THIS LINK to view a continuously updated listing of the Kyutama / Kyu Globes. Last Updated: February 19th, 2017 - Version 04. (WARNING: It might contain spoilers for future episodes)

All images are screencaptured from the series, provided by the FanSubber Over-Time. "Uchu Sentai Kyuranger" is produced by TOEI, and airs every Sunday on TV-Asahi. Credits and copyrights belong to their respective owners.