#but he's a twist villain so his design kinda ruins that | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

curry-and-casteliacones · 2 years

Text

Ok so, Orthworm titan has been defeated! I think, just as a little check in. Im going to talk about my opinions on the different characters. Because i'm sure some of them will change down the line and i'd like to be able to come back to this and see what i thought of them!

Warning for about mid game ish?? spoilers? Maybe? Im just talking about characters personalities so warning for that

Nemona- She's pretty fun. I like her energy a lot! But she isn't a favorite or anything. I feel like i haven't seen enough of her personality.

Arven- I adore him. At first he annoyed me, and then i was suspicious of him because of how he talked during the first titan about a "he". But when it was revealed he was trying to help the goodest of boys i actually teared up. If i hadn't been in a room with someone else i probably would have started crying. I absolutely adore Arven's personality. His path is probably my favorite because it feels like it has the most fun story. And you get to interect with miraidon more.

Penny- I don't have a ton to say about her. Mildly suspicious of her just because i don't know much, but i'm trying to see her in a neutral light so it doesn't cloud my judgement. I like her design a lot. BUT WHY DOES SHE NOT HAVE TO WEAR THE UNIFORM?? I wanna come to school in whatever i want >:(

Brassius- I was expecting moody and gloomy, but he's actually pretty cool. I like how much he cares about art. He also got a bunch of bonus points for shocking me with that windmill jump. I like the joke of his ace pokemon and over all he's a fun character. His design is REALLy cool and it's fun to see something that isn't just your basic flowery bright green grass gym leader. (not that i have anything against that, i love all the grass gyms)

Kofu- I couldn't pinpoint why but i did NOT like him at first. I tried so hard to work past it because i couldn't figure out why i didn't like him. But after the market and his battle i came to like him a lot. He's not my favorite by any means but he's a fun character.

Iono- I was already a fan when she was introduced. I love her design and her personality is hilarious. She's my favorite gym leader as of right now. Maybe even my favorite character in the game.

Clavell- Kinda spooky, kinda fun. He seems a bit annoying at times but that might be my distaste for authority. I keep flip flopping on whether i like him or not. I don't dislike his personality so far but he feels like he's hiding smth. Idk. I always am suspicious of characters i don't know enough about lol. Especially cuz i'm not sure if gamefreak is pulling a twist villain again or not.

Jaqc- He's fun :) I like him a lot. Doesn't stand out a ton but he's a cool character

Turo- hmmm he hasn't really done anything that interesting so far... kinda dislike him just because he isn't Sada lol. I liked her design more than his. But i got violet for Miraidon. Again, im wary of characters i don't know enough about....

At this point im too lazy to keep looking up their names and i have a horrible memory (just took all the midterms and the one singular question i got wrong was the language teachers name). So uh... classes only no names.

Math teach- In the first 5 seconds of meeting her i wanted to dislike her so bad. I HATED math as a kid and i still hate math. The only class i did well in was geometry and that's because it felt more like fun puzzles to me. But basic math? I can't do it. No matter how well i know a formula or how much i try and focus i always mess up something small that then ruins everything else. Every step could be correct but ill have gotten confused about how much of something there was cuz i misread the problem and all of a sudden its all messed up. I can somehow get 11 from 5 + 3. I never learned long division. I hate math with a burning passion. So i was ready to suffer at even math in a basic kids game. But she was so sweet. And the problems WERENT HARD. I was so scared it was gonna be basic addition or subtraction or smth and i would suffer. But i realized it was all math i had already been doing in the game already. Calculating damage based on weakness, or figuring out how many of different items i could buy. I wish i had a math teach at some point who had worked with me to make it interesting. And she's so sweet. I literally adore her so much

Art teach- This guy has not made an impact on me at all. He is like a paper lunch bag of a character next to a bunch of cool lunchboxes with fancy patterns. Not bad, gets the job done. But so much less cool. I always loved art tho so i guess he gets extra points for that.

Language teach- he speaks french i rest my case. The only worse thing he could do is be british. Cuz at least the french did wonderful things for cooking. But fr if there wasn't spanish sprinkled in i would be missing every question. At first i kinda disliked him but im kinda nuetral now. (im kidding about the french n british thing for the record. i just jokingly hate british ppl and i dislike french as a language cuz i find it just as stupid if not more stupid than english)

Home ec teach- I Adore him. He's great. I love cooking so much so of course when i saw a home ec class i was in love. I loved the idea of my in game character also being good at cooking(why yes, i am easily amused). At first i was kinda intimidated by him but i liked him still. After te interaction with him in the cafeteria w the pbj i was enamored w his character. he is my little meow meow i think hes so entertaining. I love him

Fighting? Uh battle smth?? teach- hasnt rlly stood out to me in any way. however the interactions w her being bad at cooking were funny and felt like they gave her more character, which made me like her more. I think shes pretty cool but def is overshadowed by other ppl.

History- Cannot figure out why but she kinda annoys me. maybe its the clothes lmao. But idk im trying to work past it cuz i cant figure out if i have a good reason or not yet. So basically nuetral leaning towards negative on her.

Nurse miriam? is that her name- couldnt tell you why but i like her. she just seems fun to hang out with. i like her a lot :)))

As a final note, i really like the little interactions w the diff characters throughout the school and maybe im just a nerd but i actually like going to the classes..... Its fun and i like seeing the characters personalities. (plus answering even the easiest of questions correctly make the happy chemicals go brrrr) Ive always love extra lil stuff that lets you interact w characters in any game, its so much fun.

#ink plays violet #pokemon spoilers #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlet and violet spoilers #pokemon scarvi spoliers

4 notes · View notes

slickbackdani · 4 years

Text

Batman Movie Villains Ranked from Worst to Best

Recently, a YouTuber I follow by the name of Mr. Rogues released a list of Batman villains ranked from worst to best. I have nothing but the utmost of respect for Mr. Rogues as a content creator, but I took issue with his list because his long-standing biases were often the deciding factor in many of his rankings. So, I decided to do a list of my own.

I’ll be going over every Batman villain to appear in the movies, briefly analyzing their portrayals and ranking them on a scale of 1 to 5. To prevent the list from being too cluttered, I’ll be separating the villains by which movie series they’re part of. Here we go!

Burton/Schumacher Tetralogy

Bane: Perhaps the only villain in this series I’d call “bad.” The calculating tactician of the comics is nowhere to be found here; instead, he’s reduced to a monosyllabic, brain-dead stooge for the other villains. Overall, he does nothing that couldn’t be done by a random henchman. 1/5

Two-Face: A deeply layered villain in the comics, Two-Face sadly gets upstaged by the other major rogue in the movie, but that’s not to say he doesn’t leave an impression. Tommy Lee Jones gives him a manic and mercurial demeanor that, combined with his colorful design, wouldn’t be out of place in the Adam West series. The size and scope of his criminal organization make him a genuine threat, and there’s something darkly fitting about Batman’s former ally being responsible for the creation of Robin. 3/5

Poison Ivy: Mr. Rogues for some reason ranked her as the worst Batman movie villain of all time, and frankly, I don’t see why. Like Tommy Lee Jones as Two-Face, Uma Thurman gives this character a delightfully over-the-top demeanor that combines with a colorful, comic-booky ensemble to make for another great “what-if-this-character-appeared-in-the-Adam-West-series” take. She does a good job juggling the differing facets of Ivy’s character: she’s the put-upon cynic, the craven opportunist, the radical eco-terrorist, and the suave seductress all in one package. 3.5/5

The Penguin: Fuck the Razzies. Danny DeVito made this role his own and set the stage for the character for years to come. He’s a bit of a departure, but a welcome one: far from the refined gentleman of crime Burgess Meredith portrayed, this Penguin is an animalistic thug warped by a lifetime of anger and hatred of the society who rejected him due to his deformities. His signature wardrobe, trick umbrellas, and Penguin gimmick are all there, but DeVito sells the role by showing amazing versatility: he can go from a comical and pitiable weirdo to a terrifying sociopath at the drop of a stovepipe hat. 4/5

Mr. Freeze: I honestly can’t say much about this character that my mutual @wonderfulworldofmichaelford hasn’t already. Arnold Schwarzenegger perfectly encapsulates both popular versions of this character: the flamboyant, pun-loving criminal genius from the Adam West series and the Animated Series’ traumatized scientist desperate to cure his loving wife of her terminal illness. Sure, the puns and hammy one-liners are what this version character is known for, but Ahnold definitely knows when to apply the brakes and give a greatly emotional performance as he tries desperately to cure his wife. 4.5/5

Max Shreck: Probably the only time you’ll see a movie-exclusive character on this list, and deservedly so. Corrupt businessmen are dime-a-dozen in Batman stories, and most of them have little personality outside of being greedy scumbags who either get defeated by the hero or betrayed by the other villains. Shreck, however, is different. Not only does he have an eye-catching fashion sense on par with any of Batman’s famous rogues, but Christopher Walken brings his signature manic intensity to the role, creating a character that’s as wicked and sinister as he is cool and stylish. You totally buy that the general public sees him as the good guy. His warm relationship with his son is also a delight to watch. 4.5/5

Catwoman: Michelle Pfeiffer does a lot to really make the character her own. She gets a lot of genuinely badass moments, but underneath all of her coolness lies the undercurrent that she’s a broken, traumatized character lashing out at the people who abused her and took her for granted. Even when she takes these ideals to unreasonable extremes, you never stop feeling like the retribution she brings on her enemies is at least a little warranted. Also, she has amazing romantic chemistry with Batman and her costume is fucking metal. 5/5

The Ridder: It’s Jim Carrey. 5/5

The Joker: This role is perhaps the one that set the standard for future Jokers to follow: Jack Nicholson’s humorous yet unnerving performance signaled to audiences early on that this would not be the goofy trickster of the Silver Age, but a different beast entirely. This Joker is a film noir gangster on crack: a disfigured mob hitman who quickly takes the entire criminal underworld by storm and unleashes his special brand of chaos and destruction across Gotham. He’s an artist, a showman, a charismatic leader, and the man responsible for ruining Bruce Wayne’s life. 5/5

Christopher Nolan Trilogy

Talia al Ghul: You know that recent trend in Disney movies where a side character we thought was harmless and inconsequential turned out to have been the villain all along in a twist with no buildup or foreshadowing with the reveal happening too late in the movie for this character to really do anything cool or impressive before being unceremoniously defeated? That’s Talia. DKR is the weakest of the three Nolan films, and I feel like it would’ve been much better received without this twist villain contrivedly shoehorned in. Also, while I could kinda forgive the trilogy’s whitewashing of other villains like Ra’s al Ghul and Bane due to the talent their actors display, Marion Cotillard doesn’t get a pass because she just doesn’t have the charisma or screen presence needed to pull it off. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: While the idea of redefining Zsasz as an over enthusiastic mob hitman instead of a serial killer is very interesting, it’s ruined by the fact that he barely even appears in the movie and doesn’t really do or say much of anything despite the buildup he gets. 1.5/5

Two-Face: Aaron Eckhart portrays Harvey Dent as a character of tragedy in a slightly different way than other tragic villains in superhero movies: he’s lashing out at a society he feels wronged him, but instead of being a lifelong outcast or put-upon loser, he was a handsome, successful crusader for the common good who lost everything he once held dear all in one fell swoop. You really feel for him even as he does horrible things. If I had to nitpick, though, I am slightly bothered by the fact that he plays some comic book movie cliches straight (i.e. they never call him by his alias and he dies at the end,) but it’s a solid performance overall. 3/5

Scarecrow: I’ll be upfront and admit that I’m more than a little annoyed that certain facets of the character had been changed in the name of “realism” — once again, they never call him by his villain name and he never wears a comic-accurate costume — but other than that, I can’t complain. Cillian Murphy plays the character with a smarmy, eerie charm that really makes his scenes stand out, his willingness to ally himself with other villains suits his character well, and the fact that he appears in three consecutive films with a different evil scheme in each really helps tie the movies together. 3.5/5

Catwoman: Much like other secondary villains in this trilogy, she really doesn’t get a chance to shine compared to the main antagonist — and, once again, it pisses me off a little that they do the whole “never refer to her as Catwoman but vaguely hint at it” thing — but she’s everything a modern Catwoman should be. She’s sly, manipulative, really holds her own in a fight, has great chemistry with Bruce Wayne... it’s all there. It’s also great to see Anne Hathaway break away from her usual type casting to play a role this dynamic. 4/5

Ra’s al Ghul: He’s a character that was in desperate need of mainstream exposure, and by God that’s what he got. Making him Bruce Wayne’s mentor adds a layer of personal tragedy to the climax where our hero has to stop the man who made him who he is from destroying Gotham with his admittedly brilliant plan. Add in a strong, captivating performance from Liam Neeson before we found out he was a racist asshole, and we’ve got one hell of an overarching villain. 4.5/5

The Joker: Everybody’s already discussed this version of the character to hell and back and likely will for years to come, so I’ll keep it very brief. He’s funny, he’s badass, he’s terrifying, he has great dialogue, it sucks that Heath Ledger didn’t live to see his performance reach the audience it got, and he basically makes the entire film. 5/5

Bane: Mr. Rogues actually ranked Bane higher than Joker on his list, and keeping it 100, I actually agree with him here. Finally, after decades of being dumbed down and misrepresented outside of comics, Bane is finally portrayed as the tactical genius from the comics. Tom Hardy plays Bane to perfection, being very believable as the peak of human physical and mental achievement, the man who broke Batman physically and emotionally. His design is iconic, his every line is quotable, his voice is weirdly fitting, and the memes are funny. 5/5

DC Extended Universe

KGBeast: Another point where I agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Rogues. He is absolutely wasted in BVS, being nothing but a generic henchman for Lex Luthor. He doesn’t wear his costume from the comics, he’s never referred to by his alias, he doesn’t have his signature cybernetic enhancements, and he never does or says anything noteworthy. 1/5

The Joker: Ugh. I don’t know what’s worst: the tacky clothes, the stupid tattoos, the weird Richard Nixon impression that passes as his voice, the fact that promotional material hyped him up as a “beautiful tragedy” of a character even though he’s only in the movie for like 10 minutes and barely does anything, Jared Leto’s toxic edgelord behavior on set done with the flimsy pretense of “getting into character,” or the fact that he’s just trying to copy Heath Ledger instead of making the role his own. 1/5

Victor Zsasz: Chris Messina proves undoubtedly that Zsasz CAN work as a secondary villain in a Batman movie. He’s once again a mob assassin who enjoys his job a little too much, but unlike Batman Begins, he really gets time to shine. He’s just as sadistic and depraved as in the comics, but he also has this disarming, casual demeanor about him like he’s just indulging a hobby instead of slicing innocent people’s faces off. His close friendship with his boss Black Mask adds some depth to the character as well. 3/5

Killer Croc: Sadly, he doesn’t get much time in the spotlight, but he’s pretty cool nonetheless. The makeup and prosthetics used to create him look amazing, and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje’s deep voice and imposing body language make him really stand out as an intimidating presence. He’s often in the background, which fits his role as an outcast by choice and a man of few words, but whenever he does get focus, he has everyone’s attention. It really would be a shame if this character’s only appearance was in a mediocre schlock action movie, but he makes the most of what he has. 3.5/5

Deadshot: Another highlight of what would otherwise be a forgettable film, Deadshot is just as cool and competent as he’s always been in other media, but this portrayal stands out for one simple reason. Will Smith was a very odd choice to play the role, but it worked out for the best here because you get the sense he truly understands the characters. He’s ruthless and pragmatic, but has just as enough charm and depth to make him likable. 4/5

Black Mask: I, like many, was skeptical when I saw early trailers depicting Roman Sionis as a foppish weirdo who doesn’t wear his signature mask, but upon seeing the final movie, I really feel like he has the high ground over other DCEU villains. Ewan McGregor is endlessly captivating in the role, portraying him as a swaggering dandy who is nevertheless dangerous due to his boundless narcissism and explosive temper. Sure, those who deal in absolutes would be put off from the differences with his comic counterpart — who is far more cold and humorless — but from a certain point of view, this flamboyant take on the character isn’t so much a departure as it is an addition to make him stand out while keeping his role the same. Black Mask has always been a middleman between the traditional mobsters of yesteryear and the colorful rogues that plague Gotham today, and this portrayal perfectly encapsulates that. He works in the shadows, but isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty; he flies off the handle and gets reckless at times, but there’s no question that the whole operation was his idea. 5/5

Harley Quinn: Margot Robbie owns this role. She’s unbelievably dazzling as a badass, funny, sexy antihero who deals greatly with tragedy and proves that there’s always been more to her than her initial role as the Joker’s sidekick. Again, not much to say, but she’s almost perfect. 5/5

#dc villains #batman #batman villains #dark knight #dc extended universe #batman movie

34 notes · View notes

gregorygrim · 4 years

Text

Dragon Prince Hot Takes

!!! Full Spoiler For “The Dragon Prince” Seasons 1-3!!!

So I finally got around to watching The Dragon Prince. Timely, I know, but better late than never i guess. I’m not completely caught up yet as I only got as far as S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” in this first sitting. Considering I haven’t binged any series in almost two years, I think that’s pretty respectable. This means I won’t discuss the last few episodes here, except for a couple of things I was unfortunately spoiled for already, hence full spoilers.

These are basically my first thoughts and opinions after the binge and a good night’s sleep. It’s gonna be a lot so if you don’t care or don’t want spoilers…

TL;DR: 7½/10. Generally enjoyable, there are some aspects I’m not exactly fan of, but no dealbreakers

Firstly to everyone who told me that this was the new ATLA: you all need to rewatch Avatar stat! Like seriously. There are definitely parallels and given the cast and crew I think that’s what they were going for too (which is why I think it’s fair to compare the two), but still, no.

Secondly I love most of the worldbuilding and love that the series at least tries to give it to us in a bit of a non-linear fashion, even if it is kind of clumsy at times. I know some people are put off by expository dialogue and flashbacks, but I’m an epic fantasy nerd, I need that sweet, sweet lore to live as much as you mortals need food.

I like that there was clearly an effort made to integrate the worldbuilding in more subtle ways. For example you may initially find it kind of weird that all these different human ethnicities are existing perfectly integrated in what looks like a medieval society, until you remember from the opening monologue that the Human Kingdoms are the result of a massive diaspora following the human exodus from Xadia, so obviously people got all mixed up everywhere. It’s representation with an excellent in-world reason and that just brings me joy.

I also love the magic system(s) even though we haven’t really gone into that just yet. it really feels like there was a genuine effort made to create underlying mechanics for the magic rather than just making each spell a vaguely elemental themed ability. I really hope we’ll dive deeper into that in coming seasons.

I also like the little nods to other works of fantasy: Ezran’s ability to talk with animals is a reference to Tolkien’s world where some royal bloodlines had the ability to speak with animals, specifically birds; Primal Magic and its spells being cast with Ancient Draconic runes and words might be reminiscent of the Ancient Language from the Inheritance Cycle etc.

Thirdly the main cast is great. Callum, Ezran and Rayla are all interesting and relatable characters in their own right and as a group. I’m not going into each of them individually here, but while I think the series as a whole falls short of ATLA, as protagonist parties go I dare say this one is nearly on nearly on par with the gAang.¹

And yes, I love Bait, which I really did not expect following the first few episodes. I love his weird pug-toad-chameleon design, I love that he works like a flashbang whenever somebody says a quote from Scarface (I wish they hadn’t dropped that later on) and I love how done he is with everything and everyone at all times. I’ve only had him for 25 episodes, but if anything happened to him I would kill all of my followers and then myself.

On top of that, and speaking as someone who god knows is really not into shipping, I love Rayla and Callum’s relationship. It’s believable, it’s refreshing and it brings out the best in both characters without changing basically anything about them. Just two good friends who fell in love. A++, maybe even S tier.

Unfortunately though I can’t sing the same kind of praises about the villains. None of them are terrible (as in terribly written, most of them are pretty awful people), but with one exception they just don’t stand up to the protagonists in quality.

I could simply not take Viren seriously. Even now that is probably the single most powerful magic user in the world, he just has such strong Karen energy, every time he finishes a speech I am overcome with the urge to say “Sir, this is a Wendy’s” and it does not help the mood. I’m not even sure why. It might’ve been the voice because the guy who did Viren (Jason Simpson) also does a lot of kinda slimy characters in various anime dubs, it might be that over-the-top walking stick, idk.

What I’m saying is that as a primary antagonist he simply did not work for me. Which is doubly a shame because this kind of tarnishes the real “Big Bad” of this story by proxy. Aaravos, even as an invisible ghost, with his voice coming out of a caterpillar and next to no info on his backstory, has more style and gravity than all the human antagonists combined. It helps that he is by far the best designed character and Erik Dellums has the voice of a young god, but I’d argue even without that unfair advantage he has the potential to be a top tier villain. While he is stuck as Viren’s “little bug-pal” though he is just being dragged down.

(I’m aware that as of the final episode the caterpillar familiar is undergoing metamorphosis, probably to create a new body for Aaravos’ spirit to inhabit outside of the magic mirror, so I’m definitely hyped for more of him in the coming seasons.)

As for Soren and Claudia, I’ve got mixed feelings. This was one more aspect of the show that a lot of people compared to Avatar and while I see the parallels to Zuko & Azula, they are still very different, at least where Claudia is concerned. I’d also just like to mention that a lot of people told me that they thought the direction in which their storylines went were really surprising and I can’t disagree more. I predicted that Soren would defect to the protagonists on episode 5 right after Viren told him to kill the princes and I knew Claudia was going to stick with her father from episode 12 onward. My point is, it didn’t feel like some kind of plot twist, the way some people made it out to be, and which I don’t think was the intent.

I definitely got the sense that Soren was at least a Zuko-type character, though still not a Zuko clone, and as with Zuko I was consistently able to empathise and sympathise with him and his predicaments. I also appreciated that his dilemma is the result of his convictions and not him being kind of dense, which would’ve been all to easy and probably would’ve ruined his character for me. As it stands he is extremely milktoast, but perfectly functional for his purpose in the story and I can definitely see him evolving further and getting more interesting as we go on.

Claudia is where it gets complicated. Again, I can see the Azula parallels. But unlike that character, who is her father’s animal 110%, Claudia doesn’t strike me as a victim of Viren’s manipulation the way Soren undoubtably is. The way she talks about and uses Dark Magic, how she talks down to Soren and how even Viren finds it difficult to communicate with her, tells me as an audience member that she is an independent person. Which tells me that the cruelty and enthusiasm for causing harm she regularly displays is her own will. And that was before she straight up leads Callum on to manipulate him.

On the other hand I can absolutely relate to her devotion to her family, her big sister role (even though she is younger than Soren) and the way both the separation of her parents before the story and Soren’s injury in episode 16 must’ve affected her because of this. I know that, if my brother had become paralysed from the neck down and I knew a way to heal him, I would not have hesitated to kill that fawn either. Then again her relationship with her father is very different from parental relationships I am familiar with, so I can’t really say I see why she is so devoted to him, other than she promised her mother to stay with him years ago? ¯\(o_Ō)/¯

So basically Claudia falls into an emotional grey space for me. I can’t really tell how to feel about her either way and I’ll just have to see where she goes from here, which, while fine, isn’t necessarily great for an end of season cliffhanger imo.

Seeing as I’ve already talked about some of the show’s shortcomings, I think it’s time to dive into some of the what I would consider flaws.

Firstly this show needed at least 12 episode seasons. I have never made a secret out of my dislike for the modern short seasons and while I recognise that in the current climate in the industry giving everything full 25 episode seasons isn’t really doable, the pacing of this show, especially for the first season is just outright bad at times. It works as of the second season, but the first season alternately feels like it’s either rushing through or crawling along the whole way through.

The believability of Rayla’s and the princes’ relationship really suffers from this the most. It comes a bit out of nowhere on the boat ride and is then taken for granted way to quickly. Like Callum, seriously, this girl tried to kill you and your brother not even a day ago and you are currently cut off from all allies you have ever had until now. A little skepticism isn’t misplaced here. I also wold’ve liked if we’d just gotten a bit more of a sense of movement with the characters. I get that this is not the kind of show where we can just make an entire episode about the characters travelling and camping, intercut with plots centred around a more expansive supporting cast, but still I really would’ve preferred if Xadia didn’t feel quite so around the corner.

Another issue is with setup and payoff, which I think is partially a consequence of the pacing as well. A lot of smaller plot points are set up within the same episode as the payoff just wreak havoc on the narrative structure. A good example is the episode where they ride down the river in a boat and Bait tires to go into the water, but is saved by Ezran, who then explains the story behind Glowtoads and how they are pefect bait for large water predators. Then Bait falls into the water and is attacked by a massive water monster. This happens within five minutes of one episode and never comes up again. To me that looks like sign of rushed editing, which is probably not entirely the crew’s fault, given that they are on a schedule from Netflix, but it’s still a point of critique.

It unfortunately also manifests in the occasional line of horribly forced dialogue, often for things we can literally see happening on screen. Again, this is mostly the case in the earlier episodes, but it never completely goes away.

Finally, and this is where i get into serious issues that made me want to write this, we gotta talk about representation in this show.

First: disabled representation, meaning Amaya. Why is Amaya deaf? Because it’s good to have disabled representation.

Why is Amaya deaf and a high-ranking military officer? Because they didn’t think it through.

I know this may be a contentious opinion, but it is my belief that the purpose of representation, particularly of disabilities characters may suffer from, in fiction is to, y’know, represent people as they are in life. That includes especially the struggles they face and have to overcome, sometimes their whole life. This is not just me talking out of my ass either. A couple years ago I discussed this with several people that are disabled, specifically blind or otherwise severely visually impaired, in a different context obviously, and the general consensus was that it’s better to have representation that shows their life and their abilities as they are, rather than how they might wish they could be.

A mute or deaf person cannot be a medieval fantasy army general, no matter how good they might be in melee combat or who’s sister they are, because at the end of the day, they’re not able to give commands while they are holding a sword and shield. That such a massive logical oversight, especially in comparison to the extremely well done example of representation I mentioned above, and has so little impact on the plot that it leads me to believe, this aspect of Amaya’s character was tacked on in the last minute without being given any thought for the sole reason of the story having a disabled person in it. All this does is necessitate the existence of two otherwise entirely unnecessary characters, Gren and Kazi, both of which achieve nothing, aside from sometimes being literal set dressing.

That is where representation ends and tokenism begins.

And unfortunately this generally lacklustre attitude also extends to the LGBT+ representation on the show.

As of S3E7 “Hearts of Cinder” we have had two onscreen gay couples on the show (onscreen in the sense that both partners were onscreen and they were somehow confirmed to be in a relationship on the show). One of these, the queens of Duren, literally die in the same flashback they are introduced in, which incidentally also features them invading a foreign nation to poach a rare animal and subsequently starting the conflict at the series’ core. Not a great look.

Aside from serving as a tragic backstory for their daughter, the most impact they had on my viewing experience was that they made wonder how the fuck royal succession works in Duren. (People who know me are rolling their eyes right now because I’m bringing anarchism into this Dragon Prince review, but I’m telling you, this why fantasy monarchies aren’t compatible with LGBT+ politics in the same setting. Dynastic governments are inherently bigoted, you can’t have it both ways.)

The other couple are Runaan and Ethari, Rayla’s caretakers, although if I’m being honest you wouldn’t be able tell based on Runaan’s treatment of Rayla in the first episode. By the time we actually meet Ethari and find out about their relationship with Rayla, Runaan is suffering “a fate worse than death” (direct quote from the show) trapped in a gold coin.

I mean come on. That’s about as “technically not ‘bury your gays’” as it gets.

I think I need to reiterate here that my point is not that this show or its creators are somehow malicious. As i stated in the TL;DR: I don’t think this is a dealbreaker for liking this show. But it does demonstrate that they are prone to slipping to some potentially harmful tropes and this needs to be criticised and pointed out to them.

In conclusion, I really love this show. It’s not ATLA, it never will be, nothing else will ever be ATLA no matter how badly (and terribly) Netflix tries. But it does and should not have to be.

What it has to do though is improve. A lot of the building blocks are already there, such as Aaravos or Claudia’s development, Callum’s father, the origin of Ezran’s ability, the purpose of the “Key of Aaravos”, the true fate of King Harrow (we all know his soul is in the bird, right?) etc. Some things like the treatment of Amaya’s disability unfortunately won’t be fixable as far as I can tell, but if they at least manage to fix the gay representation I can make my peace with that.

¹ I know I said I wouldn’t go into each of the characters individually, but a) you should never trust a stranger on the internet and b) I really want to talk a bit about Callum. Specifically the “mystery” of why the hell he is connected to the Sky Primal. I write “mystery” because I think it’s fairly obvious from whence this talent came: there is only one humanoid species we know of with innate access to the Sky Arcanum and one of Callum’s parent’s is unidentified, presumed dead. 2+2=4. Callum’s father was a Skywing Elf. That’s why he recognised Nyx’s boomerang weapon. He remembered one like it either from his very early childhood (remember that he has photographic memory) or Sarai kept one and he found it at some point.

On top of that the name “Callum” or at least the pronunciation is clearly derived from Latin “caelum” meaning “sky” or “weather” and I already mentioned that Ancient Draconic is just bad Latin. It’s not very subtle. Unless they pull a complete 180 concerning the lore about Primal Magic he’s definitely going to be a half-elf, which would also just so happen to make him the perfect mediator between the Human Kingdoms and Xadia. Hmm, it’s almost as if they are planning ahead.

My question: How the fuck did that happen? Or rather: how did that fuck happen? I don’t think even Harrow knew or he probably would’ve a) paid more attention when Sarai advised against poaching the Magma Titan, because obviously she’s gotten around Xadia more than him, if y’know what i’m sayin’ ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) or at least b) put it in his final letter to Callum. Unfortunately we know basically nothing about Sarai except that she was a soldier alongside Amaya and already had Callum before marrying Harrow. So does Amaya know? This is probably the most interesting plot thread in the whole story and as far as my friends told me it’s not going to be touched on anymore in the last two episodes than it already has thus far, which is basically not at all.

17 notes · View notes

wereh0gz · 3 years

Text

Ok so like I just came up with the BEST idea for a Sonic spinoff game

Gonna put it under the cut 'cause it's kinda long lol

Ok so like the game takes place in the future and it focuses on Silver. The story could be about Silver trying to save the world and how no matter what he does it always seems like his future will always be ruined by something. Maybe the villain could be Time Eater (and maybe Eggman Nega idk). The Time Stones could make a comeback as well, maybe they have the power to truly stop Time Eater and seal it away or something. So now Silver's traveling the world, trying to fix all the damage Time Eater has caused, close the genesis portals that started showing up everywhere (like the ones we see during his arc in the Archie comics), and get all the Time Stones to stop Time Eater. Shadow and Omega could show up since Shadow's immortal and Omega is a robot that can probably last long enough to be in Silver's future. They could help Silver on his quest to save the world.

The game could be a 2D platformer that focuses on exploration and puzzle solving, instead of getting to the end as fast as possible. Silver could use his psychokinesis to lift up platforms, move obstacles out of the way, stuff like that. He could also use it to float for a short period of time and destroy badniks. He has a meter that tells you how long he can use his power before getting tired, but you can eventually upgrade it so that it lasts longer.

There'd be different areas with a hub world and a set of 4 or 5 levels. Each level has a genesis portal at the end, some summoning badniks from other time periods, while others leading to a Time Stone. The ones leading to the Time Stones are bigger and at the final level of each area. The final boss with Time Eater would take place in a sort of time rift area, with glitchy and monochrome versions of the areas Silver has visited along with other recognizable places from previous Sonic games.

I think as a neat bonus you can actually look for the Chaos Emeralds and get Silver's Super form. There's a special ring in each stage and if you complete the special stage you get a Chaos Emerald, just like in previous games. They're not the main focus tho, just a little extra thing that may or may not unlock a different ending.

I think the graphics could be pixelated like classic games but with a modern twist. Kinda like Sonic Mania but with the modern designs. Idk I just really want a Modern Sonic game in a 2D style. I think it'd be really cool if the really important cutscenes like the opening and the ending were fully animated too.

And that's basically it! Silver really deserves his own game like seriously Sega where's my Silver The Hedgehog game. Where is it. Hand it over right now-

#ramblings #sonic #please sega i am begging #make this a real thing

7 notes · View notes

tsuki-sennin · 3 years

Text

Mina-san, bonne lecture~! (Tsuki recaps his feelings about Kamen Rider Saber, a personal essay.)

So, Saber... what a wild ride it's been, huh? Just a quick heads up, this is very long and rambling, and also contains spoilers for everything in Saber. It's fine if you don't wanna read all this, but I just wanted to get my thoughts out there.

TL:DR, Kamen Rider Saber's an undercooked hot mess I absolutely adore, warts and all.

Speaking as objectively as possible, it's a 6/10. Probably closer to a 5 than a 7... it's not great: All the different plot elements are cluttered and weirdly paced; character focus is disjointed and clearly biased toward certain characters, leaving great ones like Kento and Ogami, interesting ones like Kamijo and Hayato, and underdeveloped ones like Sophia and especially the Shindais in the dust; not to mention its balance of comedy and drama is off, and while both are very effective, there's a lot of mood whiplash that can take you out of the story. I also feel like a lot of the easily avoidable character conflict could've been easily resolved, even in universe, by simple conversations. Be careful Fukuda, I think Inoue might sue you if he finds out you've been biting his style and doing it worse.

Rider shows have a very frustrating tendency to drop cool form ideas and not do anything with them, and I don't think it's ever been more the case than with Saber. There's a similar argument to be made with the majority of Heisei Phase 2 after Gaim, but wow. The suits are expensive to make without just straight up recycling everything, I get that, but man, I really wanted to see more Wonder Rider forms. How come Touma got all the fun, eh? Of note are the Blades King of Arthur forms (which look amazing by the way), Espada's Jaaku Dragon forms (one of which I even drew last night), even the non-elemental random Wonder Ride Books all have awesome design elements that go tragically unused. Even if the other Swordsmen just kinda have the ones they do get to use slapped onto them, that's at least something. Touma also just straight up only uses Diago Speedy twice and never again. You have cool props guys, don't waste them like that!

Speaking of waste, Espada, goddamn. Since most of the Wonder Ride Books are Story Type and he needs one very specific Story Book to transform, he doesn't get much of... anything, really! No Wonder Rider forms like Blades, Lamp Do Cerberus being exclusive to Ganbarizing, only getting to use the Ride Gatriker like once, he even spends the second and third arcs as a completely different Rider, then once he comes back he doesn't get a King of Arthur-granted upgrade or even a Necrom Espada form. ...at least, not yet anyway. I'm holding out hope for Espada x Necrom and the eventual Saber V-Cinemas. Extra Rider stans, we will be well respected someday.

The Unreal Engine CGI used for fights in early Chapters was pretty good but wow it feels disconnected and they really drop it quick. I feel like if the animators had more freedom to use as many forms as they want, we'd have gotten a lot more mileage out of the books beyond... decoration basically. I actually really liked the CGI sequences, they felt creative and were fun to follow along with.

The soundtrack is pretty great on its own and conveys what it needs to, but they seriously overplay the orchestral themes. It honestly feels kind of... stock at times. I think my favorite parts of the score are when it winds down, since it feels a lot more natural and lets the cinematographers and actors speak for themselves.

As awesome as I think Falchion's design and the Mumeiken Kyomu are, The Phoenix Swordsman and the Book of Ruin comes up short as its own standalone thing. You'd think 30 or so minutes of non-stop action would be awesome, and it almost is? It's as good as a typical episode of the series with a higher action budget, but it kinda drags on a bit too long; and although I think Emotional Dragon looks cool, it feels a bit tacked on. Coming off of the incredible Zero-One REAL×TIME, it doesn't give you much room to breathe, which Rider films are typically great at handling. I also thought the resolution for the kid's subplot was kinda forced. He does an okay job at acting considering his age and doesn't overstay his welcome, but I really don't see how 20 minutes of violence and action is enough to convince him to be brave enough to go play with the other kids. 5/10, it's closer to a 4 than a 6 and I think that maybe Zero-One should've stood on its own if they really had to push back Kiramager Bee-Bop Dream because of the pandemic.

Alright, with all that said... As imperfect and undercooked Saber was, like Ghost I can consider it a personal favorite, 10/10. Call it a guilty pleasure if you want, but holy hell it's just the show I needed. Takuro Fukuda has a talent for creating fun, wonderful characters and utterly fascinating worldbuilding and concepts. It's a shame he doesn't utilize them fully, but hey!

The action and fight choreography are pretty top notch as usual. Lots of beautiful shot composition and set pieces, and plenty of great angles to help keep up with the extra busy action. I love watching the suit actors perform and they deserve all the respect in the world for their hard work in those hot, sweaty, and heavy costumes. Their visual design is also top notch, with lots of unique and fascinating forms and cool weapons I desperately want to play with despite being broke, all with spectacular finishers and hype jingles with the voice of Akio motherfucking Ohtsuka calling them out. A real feast for the eyes. Not a single bad suit among them, yeah I said it, fight me.

The crossover specials are soooo good too.

-I went over my feelings on the Zenkaiger crossover episodes in a separate post (good luck finding that btw), but to sum it up, they were great character moments for Zox and the Shindai siblings with lots of great screwball comedy and some good old fashioned meta humor.

-The Ghost crossovers are great little side stories all about how Daitenku Temple somehow had the Ghost Ijunroku Wonder Ride Book? I genuinely have no idea why it was there, or how Makoto had the Specter Gekikou Senki, and as far as I remember neither of their origins are explained. Did Luna or Tassel hand them off to them and told them to wait for a sword guy? And why do these generic French Revolution Gamma villains working for Danton get their asses handed to them so easily by Kanon, who literally just became a Rider? I thought that Makoto deciding to adopt all the Kanon clones into his family was both hilarious and adorable though; considering all the crap they went through, I think it was a good ending to this plot. Gimme Espada x Necrom already Toei/Bandai/Fukuda/whoever I need to yell at, give Kento things to do, I beg you.

-I haven't actually seen Super Hero Senki since it's not available for subbing yet, but apparently there's a Journey to the West plot starring the Taros and Ohma Zi-O and I want to see that so badly.

Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra? Yoohei Kawakami? A match made in heaven, that's what they are. All of their themes are absolute bangers. All of them. Almighty, Kamen Rider Saber, Sparks, Taju Rokou, all excellent and empowering pieces. Rewrite the Story, Will Save Us, and The Story Never Ends are all amazing inserts done by the cast, and it makes me wish we had even more of them to help break up the monotony of the score.

The characters are what easily make this show such a great watch though. For the most part, they have great personalities and chemistry, consistently fun and interesting scenes, well acted and... sometimes well-written development, and deeply investing personal stakes.

Narrating it all is the delightfully eccentric Tassel/Viktor, portrayed by Romanesque Ishitobi "TOBI" of the Paris-based Les Romanesques. I was utterly confused by his presence at first, wondering why there needed to be a narrator when the story would've been perfectly fine without it. He even got a special spot in the opening despite having no stake in the plot despite seeming to live in Wonderworld, who the hell is this guy? But then I thought "OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD". I thought it'd be some subversion of expectations, true form, "That Was His Mistake!" shit. Trust me, it made a lot more sense in my head. I'm very happy that they didn't do that, as I grew to love having male Yuuka Kazami as my narrator, and when he was shown to be actually important by being friends with Yuri my mind was blown. And doubly so when I realized just how deeply necessary to the plot he really is.

Rintaro/Blades is up there as one of my all time favorite secondary Riders, since his curiosity is always consistently funny and adorable, his forms are all gorgeous and impressively designed, his relationships with Mei and Touma are absolutely sweet and compelling to see unfold, and his arcs about becoming willing to call out those he views as family and coming to terms with his feelings of inadequacy and both moving past and using them to strengthen himself are always great lessons to pass on to kids. ...even if they took like 10 goddamn episodes to be conveyed in what could've been 5, but hey, Takaya Yamaguchi does a stand-up job all throughout. Rider veteran Eitoku's refined, almost logical movements with the Suiseiken Nagare absolutely beautiful to see in action, and his final form having the same white and blue color scheme as Zooous's base form is an amazing touch I don't see appreciated enough.

Mei Sudo's also absolutely wonderful, serving as the perfect emotional core of the story, responsible for most of the funniest lines, sweetest character moments, and some of the most deceptively compelling drama. Asuka Kawazu brings the perfect energy for such a dynamic and well rounded character, and absolutely nails her scenes of quiet turmoil. As much as I would've loved her to become a Rider, I don't think she really needed to. She's already done so much to help, and as cool as it would've been to see her pick up a sword and fight alongside them as Espada, Calibur, or Falchion she's already endeared herself to me as one of my favorite supporting characters in the whole franchise.

I can't get enough of my homeboy Kento Fukamiya/Espada. Like Rintaro and everyone else for that matter, he also suffers from Saber's pacing issues; and like his predecessor Valkyrie from Zero-One, he doesn't get a proper upgrade aside from his Wonder Combo, instead becoming an anti-villain using a completely different powerset and shifting the Raimeiken Ikazuchi out of focus for the Ankokuken Kurayami, and I feel there's a serious missed opportunity to see him use Jaaku Dragon with Alangina. However, Ryo Aoki's performance is probably among the most easily praiseworthy in the whole cast, managing to convey both Kento's kind and knightly stoicism as Espada and his emotionally unstable despair as Calibur perfectly, in conjunction with Yuji Nakata's experienced and expressive stuntwork.

Ren Akamichi/Kenzan's a dark horse favorite for sure. I remember back when Saber was first picking up, people hated this breezy mad lad for being such a simple character at first. Overly concerned with strength? Black and white world view? Annoyingly energetic? Agh, real-feeling character flaws, I hate them, get him away from me! But then y'all came crawling back. Eiji Togashi's apparently a bit of a rookie actor, and it really shows with some stilted delivery and the way he sometimes bobs his head when giving his lines, but man he improves dramatically as the series goes on. His inexperience ironically ends up really selling his character development, and his unexpectedly beautiful relationship with Desast is special evidence of that. The Fuusouken Hayate's three modes and Satoshi Fujita putting them to excellent use through his stellar acrobatic movements are also really cool.

Why did Luna have to be a child for so long? Does Wonderworld not age whoever inherits its power? Well since Luna randomly becomes an adult in Super Hero Senki and some of the final episodes, I guess so? Miku Okamoto does a fine job for a kid actor, but she's basically done all the heavy lifting for the whole series and doesn't give Mayuu Yokota enough time to get a feel for her character as an adult. How did she choose Touma to inherit the power anyway? Does she just subconsciously decide to trust him with it upon seeing how kind and passionate about storytelling he is? Well if that's the case, why didn't Kento get at least some of that power too? He's just as important to the merchan- I mean Luna-chan, isn't he? Why did Tassel pick her over someone who isn't a literal child who'd be understandably terrified about basically becoming an embodiment of storytelling?

Sophia also kinda suffers from the same problems. Rina Chinen's voice is very pleasant to listen to, but she doesn't really do much beyond serving as a source of exposition and support. I think her dynamic with Mei's adorable, and given her kindness I can certainly understand the respect Northern Base has for her, but she doesn't really contribute a whole lot. If she could use the Kurayami and become Calibur all this time, then why didn't she take it from Kento and Yuri and do so earlier when Kento decided to go back to being Espada? I know she's not much of a fighter and as the closet thing the Sword of Logos has to a leader after Isaac's death I'd understand not wanting to put her at risk, but considering Storious is destroying the world, and she's very evidently kicking a lot of ass in the first part of the final battle even in the basic Jaaku Dragon form, I think it would've helped a lot, just sayin'. Tassel at least has the excuse of being unable to interact with the real world, but Sophia obviously didn't just be put in charge of Northern Base just because she's a pawn in Isaac's plans right?

Ryou Ogami/Buster is also a victim of the disjointed character focus. I have no problem believing he's an excellent father and fighter thanks to Yuki Ikushima and Jiro Okamoto, respectively, but he feels a bit flat and simple in comparison. His rivalry with Desast is randomly dropped, his wife doesn't even show up until the final episodes, he's kinda sidelined in terms of action a whole lot. I imagine that must've sucked for the Rider Dads out there. He does get to star in his own manga, and that was pretty good, so I guess I can't be too mad.

Tetsuo Daishinji/Slash fares better though. Hiroaki Oka, being a Kamen Rider fanboy himself, manages to make him among the most relatable characters in the series. Not only are his hyperfixation on swordsmithing and anxiety played surprisingly believably, Hirotsugu Mori letting him cut loose is extremely cathartic and hilarious, and you really feel for him when the Onjuuken Suzune becomes the first victim of Calibur!Kento's sword sealing.

Yuri/Saikou's another dark horse favorite, for me at least. "Oh great, Avalon guy's got even more merchandise to sell, I wonder what his Sword of Light is- it's himself. Well... that's different." I admit, I didn't like him at first. He felt like he was there to fill out character dynamics in the absence of both Rintaro and Kento, I thought his gimmick was too silly even if his design and jingles were bangers, I didn't particularly care for his power set. But then XSwordman came around I totally got it. He's an endearing, hard-working man trying his best to catch up on all the cool shit he missed, unafraid of experimentation, ready to throw down at a moment's notice, serving as a wonderful bit of consistent support for our heroes, a truly knightly individual, an absolute Chad. and goddamn does he make me worry. Tomohiro Ichikawa, I salute you good sir.

Even if they fall short compared to the rest of the cast, the Shindai siblings are at least cool enough to not wanna write out entirely. They kinda devolve into comic relief after they become allies, something that villainous Riders from Chase onwards are very prone to doing, and it's especially awkward in their case because I think that they kinda get off scot-free for obeying the obviously sinister and crazy Isaac for so long, as well as driving a wedge between a lot of people and threatening children in Reika's case. I think their sibling dynamic is nice though, even if Fukuda recycled it from Makoto and Kanon and has some... questionable possessive undertones as a result. It's cool how they're basically foils to Touma and Rintaro though. The dispassionate and methodical Reika/Sabela is beautifully played by Angela Mei and her moments of emotional depth are fascinating to watch. Her Rider form is a thing of beauty, and its use of literal the Eneiken Noroshi's smokescreens and Yuki Miyazawa's precise and deadly stinging strikes are a joy to watch. And while Ken Shonozaki's not given the best direction as the undercooked plate of 7-Eleven fried fish that is Ryoga/Durendal, he manages to sell him as an experienced and hardened warrior with an awkward side that's especially evident in the Zenkaiger specials. His goddamn RWBY weapon that is the Jikokuken Kaiji is absolutely sick, I'm a sucker for transforming weapons and its combination of time and water powers is really cool, especially with Yasuhiko Amai's deliberate and forceful acting in the suit.

Daichi Kamijo/the Second Calibur, for as brief as his story was, was a pretty cool starter villain. Hiroyuki Hirayama brings this poor bastard to life in a genuinely touching way. I love how as Calibur he goes full force on his creative use of Wonder Ride Books for attacks, and his debut as Jaou Dragon got my blood pumping. His end is also deeply tragic, and I really felt for him when he realized just how badly he fucked up. Hayato Fukamiya also does wonders for the backstory, and while he also doesn't get much to work with, Mitsuru Karahashi makes his regrets and love for Kento feel genuine.

Legeiel and Zooous are both very intimidating and entertaining villains. On top of being just the right balance of goofy and threatening, Kairu Takano and Koji Saikawa's stage presences are both very strong, and their mixture of camaraderie and in-fighting is extremely believable. Zooous's rivalry with Rintaro feels incredible to see through to the end, and although Legeiel doesn't get quite the same treatment, Elemental Dragon had such a cool debut that it more than makes up for it. Their final fights are also absolute spectacles. I don't think their sympathetic angle works even close to as well as it does with MetsubouJinrai or even the Gamma, but I get it, power corrupts, and you probably feel a lot of sadness and regret for things you've done when you die unless you're a right bastard.

Isaac/Master Logos/Solomon is kinda generic. As wonderful as Keisuke Soma is, he doesn't get much dimension to work with. The result of that is while he nails being as smug and punchable as possible, he feels almost... comically generic. Genta Umemori from Shinkenger was full of personality! He was also basically some guy, but he was fun, he felt connected to the rest of the cast! Meanwhile the only real time we get to see Isaac's depth is when we see him crying over his failures. I almost appreciate him being unapologetically evil though, since I've seen way too many shows where redeemed villains get off scot free for way worse things, and some where they outright demand you to sympathize with them despite them doing nothing to warrant it.

Bahato/Falchion surprises me by not just being a movie villain whose actions affect the main plot, but also being a movie villain who actually gets to appear in series as a recurring threat! ...and it's not a particularly great showing on his part, sadly. Masashi Taniguchi does a wonderful job with what he's given, but his character feels like a retread of Eternal without any of what made Katsumi Daido a compelling and frightening villain. I'd like to believe Yuri when he says that he used to be a good person and a hero to the people, but I can only hear so many anime villain monologues about the pointlessness of life and the beauty of destruction before I can never take them seriously again. ...I think that's his biggest problem, actually. I thought he was an overall uninteresting and generic villain in the movie, and the cartoon nihilist he's shown to be in series is only a small step up. He still feels like filler. If only there were a far better written and much cooler villain who takes on the Mumeiken Kyomu after his de--

Desast is probably one of the finest anti-villains I've ever seen in recent years. On top of an absolutely badass character design and the excellent combination of Kazuya Okada/Danki Sakae's suit work and Koki Uchiyama's stellar voice acting, his story being so thoroughly intertwined with Ren's makes their shared journey and bromance a borderline Shakespearean tragedy. His struggle for identity despite Storious treating him as nothing more than a failed experiment and the Sword of Logos treating him as a mere monster really gripped me, and the way he uses what little time he has left to encourage Ren into blossoming on his own is absolutely beautiful. I think his enmity with Ogami is criminally underexplored in series, considering he killed several of the previous Riders and how Ogami's in desperate need of screentime.

Then there's our main villain, Kamen Rider Storious. Robin Furuya brings an incredible amount of charisma to this character, expertly portrayed as both a sinister, manipulative bastard , and as a lonely, tragic figure that arguably makes him feel even more villainous. Speaking as a struggling writer myself, it's easy to feel stuck in the idea of "fuck it, who cares, maybe everything is predestined", but I can't imagine what it's like to know that as the truth and carry it with you for all that time. All of your grand ideas have roots from your experiences, and you're not the only one who even could have those experiences. It's easy to just fall into despair and give up trying, but would that make you happy? Sure, Storious is sadistic, he may be fulfilling his goals, he may be ungodly powerful... but it's not enough for him, is it? All of his friends are gone, one of them even at his own hand, he probably doesn't have any idea what to do after he destroys all the world's stories, Touma even reached his full power before he did, and his downfall is so predictable that even a blind person could see it. He even seems to welcome it, what's up with that? But then I realized... OH MY GOD, HE'S THE MAIN VILLAIN USING TOUMA AS THE HERO IN HIS OWN TWISTED STORY, THE BASTARD. He's so far gone, he's so desperate to stick it to the Almighty Book, he's willing to twist the archetype of the Hero's Journey so hard, it snaps in two. What I think is interesting is that he's ironically trying to chase the trend of "edgy superhero story" that became super popular in the 21st century. The Boys, Brightburn, Kamen Rider Amazons, The Sentry, No More Heroes, Magical Girl Site, even mainstream comics from DC and Marvel... Surely Storious must've seen the cruelty and tragedy these stories are filled with, but he chooses to go through with trying to force the world into this direction anyway. Did they, along with seeing the ever-popular tragedies of legendary playwrights and bleak satire of the twentieth century fuel his despair?

And yet... there's one who stands in determination against his ideals.

Our hero, Touma Kamiyama, the titular Kamen Rider portrayed by Syuichiro Naito and Kousuke Asai, he speaks to me on a personal level. There're plenty of jokes to be made about his procrastination in early chapters, his godless fashion sense, and him doing the funny run up the slope, that's all fine and dandy, but I rarely feel so connected to a character the way I did Touma. The struggle to create, find companionship, live your life, reach out to others... these're things a lot of people struggle with, and of course you see them depicted a lot in media about creators, but Saber gets to the root of what the greatest thing about storytelling really is. Giving people hope, while using the pain of the past as fuel for the future. Sure, Storious may be right about how every story has been done as far back as human civilization gets, he may even be right about how any spin or creativity humanity has is outright predestined. It should be pointless to even try, right? That's where Touma Kamiyama disagrees. He didn't spend all that time fighting and creating just to give up at the idea of predestination. His novel writing-fueled creativity in his early training, his devotion to his friends that let him surpass Kamijo as Dragonic Knight, his compassion for the Primitive Dragon that let him combine their powers to destroy Legeiel as Elemental Dragon, his resolve that let Xross Saber dethrone Solomon, and his passion for the craft of storytelling that let our heroes channel their wishes into Wonder Almighty... all stemming from the belief imparted onto him by his predecessor that "Hope lies beyond your resolution." And that you decide how your story ends. He may not be the greatest Rider to some, he may be as lame as others think he is, he may not even be my favorite, but I have no issue calling Touma Kamiyama... Kamen Rider Saber, one of the all time greatest carriers of the Kamen Rider name.

The final chapter's definitely not as great as some other Rider finales, but goddamn. Primitive Dragon consciously choosing to save Touma is so sweet and such a great emotional payoff, I loved jamming out to the opening theme while our boys lay the smackdown on Storious. Wonder Almighty's a fitting final bit to close the main series out with, if not exactly a great one. I think the cover is great, and the book's body is a lovely shade of candy apple red, but I really don't like how its pages are just the covers of the other books copy-pasted onto onto the pages, that feels lazy. Maybe if it were a panorama of all the books' characters, I'd like it a lot more as a symbol of how unified the Swordsmen are, but eh, what can you do? On a related note, does this mean all the "last episode extra final forms" of the Reiwa Era are gonna be named after their series's opening? That's a neat idea.

I felt a lot of feelings seeing all those video messages of Rider fans all across Japan talking about their favorite stories, and how their passion and fond memories help reshape the world. Mei's monologue at the ceremony about is also really touching and- IS THAT A HUMAGEAR!? :O

Y-yeah dude, it is! Wow, where have you guys been for the past 48 episodes?! Are you guys doing okay? How come you're like... the only one here? Is the technology of Hiden Intelligence only really that prevalent in that very specific metropolitan part of Japan and they're just not coming around much over here? Is it like Dragon Ball where anthropomorphic animals are just vibin' with humans while the heroes are off kicking ass? Apparently he's played by Hasegawa Keiichi, who wrote this episode and had the award ceremony named after him. ...is Hasegawa Keiichi a HumaGear in this universe then? Did he set up this award ceremony in Touma's honor? If so, why is it named after him? Did reading one of Touma's books lead to his Singularity? I know this is just a cameo, but... god, I have so many questions that probably will never be satisfactorily answered.

Overall, if I had to compare Saber to anything, it'd probably be Sam Reimi's Spider-Man trilogy. It's awkward, stupid, overwrought, undercooked, illogically written, scattershot, cheesy as fuck, and has a tendency to squander its otherwise fine execution; but the sheer passion for storytelling, sense of spectacle, deeply fascinating characters, and belief in the ideals set forth by the cast, crew, and fans are absolutely admirable. Improvements would certainly make it an overall better experience, to be sure, but there's something deeply captivating about how wonky this series is. Seeing everybody get their happy ending after all they've been through felt extremely gratifying though, and I may have to wait another for the epilogue to and then wait for Revice, but... man. I'm hella proud of our awkwardly-emoting, fashion disaster novelist and all of his heavily flawed friends for carrying the Kamen Rider name on to the future. Here's hoping Revice will keep it going.

Alright, that's everything I wanted to talk about. Sorry this was so long and ramble-y, I had a lot to say. I'll probably be liveblogging Revice as episodes of that come out, so... look forward to that, I guess. See ya.

#kamen rider saber #long post #tsuki talks #personal #kamen rider #whew #ok bye have a nice day

2 notes · View notes

hirazuki · 4 years

Note

Ooo I'm curious about your hot takes on the Inuyasha reboot after reading your tags 👀

Ahaha, where to start XD Idk if they are hot takes, but here are my thoughts in bullet point form for coherency, I couldn’t figure out how else to organize them. Under a cut, as usual, because it got lengthy... as usual :D

We are 13 episodes in, and I still have no idea wtf is going on or what the series is actually about. And yes, I’m aware that we didn’t know of Naraku’s existence or of the overarching plot until at least episode 16 of that series either and Inuyasha was still very episodic in nature at that early point too, but here’s the thing: Inuyasha did not build upon a pre-existing series. For better or for worse, Yashahime has certain expectations to live up to that the original anime didn’t, by virtue of its being a sequel. Unfair? Maybe, but tough; that’s what happens when you make a sequel. Additionally, despite us not knowing The Main Plot™ of Inuyasha until later, the basic framework for it was laid out clearly by... episode 2? I think? Find and collect the Shikon Jewel shards. Boom, done. Were there distractions or fillers? Sure, but you never got the sense that the characters simply up and forgot about the shards. Even in fillers, the shards often made some kind of appearance. With Yashahime, there’s like three potential storylines going on: 1. The most obvious: most of our main cast from the OG is missing; where are they? Apparently no one in-story cares! :D Inuyasha, who’s that lol. I’m all for a sequel focusing on the new generation with cameos of the old crew; after all, they already had their own series. But this is like... no one cares about them? No one talks about them? And the more characters go about not mentioning them, the stronger their absence is felt. Like, for instance, Kaede knows Moroha is InuKag’s daughter. Moroha grew up on her own, doesn’t know her parents. Kaede doesn’t mention them to Moroha, doesn’t even spare a passing thought about them for the audience’s benefit, Moroha doesn’t ask. Kagome’s family in the present day meet Moroha, recognize her as Kagome’s daughter and... say nothing??? Souta shows Towa Kagome and Inuyasha’s old photos, but doesn’t say a word to Moroha?! Like. It makes no sense. By people not even acknowledging their existence, it makes the fact that they are nowhere to be found even weirder. Also the new gen girls don’t care about their parents or finding out who they were/are... like, okay, it would maybe be in character for one or two of them, but all three don’t give a fuck??? 2. Kirinmaru/the rainbow pearls: Idk how familiar you are with the story, but similar deal with Naraku and the shards here. Kirinmaru is being set up as the villain, still a mysterious figure; our new gen trio is supposed to collect the rainbow pearls that... some of his henchmen have? Or he is after them? Or is that Riku? Unclear. ANYWAY the new gen girls often forget all about the pearls’ existence :D 3. Setsuna’s memories: Setsuna’s dreams have been stolen by the dream butterfly and they need to get them back, because without her dreams she has no memories and is unable to sleep. Cool! Finally a solid, easy-to-follow plot line! Except wait! Towa, who supposedly made it her goal to get Setsuna’s sleep back, forgets all about it! All the time! Like, none of them make an effort to look into this other than being like “oh yeah, know anything about the dream butterfly?” to random folks every now and then. The Inugang back in the day was putting some grad school level research towards their goals, just saying. It just feels like everything’s all wishy-washy and there’s nothing really solid tying the series together. People just remember shit exists when it’s convenient.

Character development is MIA. I’m not expecting ground-breaking char dev in 13 episodes (though I do know 12 episode series that were phenomenal in that regard), but like... I do expect the series to focus on building the dynamics between the main three characters. So far, the series is more focused on teasing the audience with glimpses and promises of the OG cast instead. The creators are using nostalgia and bait (esp of a certain pairing) to drive interest in the series, rather than developing the new characters as fully-fledged characters for their own sakes.

Moroha is was the only thing I actually liked about the series. She is a little spitfire and you can somehow instantly see both Inuyasha and Kagome in her, while she also remains very uniquely herself; I have never seen such a successfully developed main pairing child in any series. She featured quite prominently in the first few episodes -- and unlike both her parents, she’s got a great memory and knowledge of lore -- where she balanced funny moments with badass fighting moments and being the token supernatural encyclopedia. It was great! And then... they’ve like... forgotten her. She’s been left behind so many times by the twins. She’s the butt of every joke. She’s become the type of comic relief that’s, well, insulting. More like a buffoon than anything else. And it’s basically all for the sake of giving the floor to Towa :/

Setsuna is okay. Not offensive, but unremarkable. She’s got her dad’s personality but like way toned down due to her different growing up circumstances, which is nice, but like... I feel she isn’t given any room to grow or breathe or anything. She’s also basically there as a device to enhance Towa’s development.

Towa... oy. I tried to like her, I really did, but she just doesn’t work for me. They set her up having a very Kurosaki Ichigo type deal with beating up bullies and getting into trouble at school and shit -- I’m fine with that. That’s cool. Esp if it’s linked to not feeling like she fits in bc she’s a hanyou? Awesome. Except once she travels back in time to the feudal era it’s all “Oh killing is bad you shouldn’t kill people” and “even though they attacked me I can’t possibly hurt them” and “you need to empathize and talk things out” and “friendship is magic” and shit. It feels like she had a personality transplant, it literally makes no sense. Her design is totally nonsensical too -- out of everyone at her school, she’s the only one dressed in a bright white suit? Do protags not wear the school uniform? Someone should tell Kagome lmao. She’s a pro at hand to hand, and she can absorb demons’ powers and fling them back at them like a personified Tessaiga, and she has a lightsaber sword, and she’s immune to miasma, and -- like... you get it. It’s too much. It’s way too OP for the type of universe that Inuyasha/Yashahime is set in. She’s hanyou for fuck’s sake; remember all the training Inuyasha had to go through? When he couldn’t lift his sword? When his sword attacked him? Sango, Miroku, Kagome, even Sesshomaru all had trouble with their weapons and had to work to become stronger. But Towa? Nope. Towa is straight out of the Yas Queen/Girl Boss manual, so she gets a free pass on everything.

UGH they are doing the VLD/bad writing thing where things happen (like, BIG THINGS) and none of the characters actually react to them. Or stuff happens and there are no consequences. No one ever talks about anything. It’s wild.

Everyone has amnesia!! :D People either don’t know or don’t remember anything or anyone. People who absolutely should know things all of a sudden magically don’t know them. Like, Kohaku -- traveled with an undead priestess, spent years in the company of demons, traveled with Sesshomaru... and yet had NO CLUE that Setsuna is Sesshomaru’s daughter or that she is hanyou, despite her living and working with his team of demon slayers all this time. Like... how, man. How. And Kaede! Don’t get me started. Since when does she perpetuate random demon-boogeyman type stories as facts? Demon children will kill each other in the nest so that only the strongest one will survive, therefore Setsuna must have killed Towa when they were infants. O_O What are they, sharks? Has she been hanging out with Kisame? Wtf?? And she’s speaking about Sess’s kids as though she doesn’t know him or anything about him, when she has had Rin under her roof all these years. It just makes. no. sense.

Things that happened in the original series are happening again now! Because that’s the best we’ve got, recycled plot elements wooo! No, but really, characters that died or things that were resolved in Inuyasha keep coming back. Why? What was the purpose of bringing back Kinka and Ginka? To have a foil for Towa and Setsuna as twins? Someone please tell Sunrise they can just create new characters. Like, it’s one thing to have call backs to the original or cameos, references, whatever. But like... this is entire (dead) characters and interactions.

No one knows how long it’s been since the original series ended. Fans initially heard 20 years from promo material, then “over 15″ and “10 years since” in-series regarding two different events, and now in a future episode summary we’ve gotten 18 years since Hosenki II gave Inuyasha the black pearl. But like, which black pearl? Because the one in Inuyasha’s eye doesn’t exist anymore, but Hosenki II had told Inuyasha that it would take 100 years for him to produce one. So, are we retconning that or where the fuck did it come from? Also, this doesn’t help one bit, it just confuses things even more. Back to the point, though, we have no coherent timeline or real frame of reference whatsoever, and I’m betting it’s in large part to keep the mystery of who is Sesshomaru’s wife going, as it keeps Rin’s age very vague. Everything is vague and mysterious in Yashahime, to the point where no one knows what’s going on, in fandom or in-story even. It’s kinda like how too much plot twist/shock reveal ruins a story, too much mystery does the same. It’s insane that both shippers and antis of that ship can lay equal claim that the “18 years since” announcement works in their favor.

tl;dr: Idk man, Yashahime is a clusterfuck of a series. Even if the mother of Sess’s twins is either of the characters I ship him with, I will still not like the series. There’s no saving this writing. Every episode feels like this:

#baked-hylian #i've been wanting to rant for a while about this series thanks for enabling me! :D #i'm actually not upset about this sequel which is amazing; i thought for sure it would impact my love for the OG but nope!#it is so wild and out there that my brain literally cannot comprehend it as part of the same material #i'm just watching it out of the kind of morbid curiosity you'd watch a horrifying experiment with #and watching the fandom drama too ofc #popcorn in hand #so it's a win-win all around ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#talk: yh

8 notes · View notes

needs-to-stop-looking-at-valves · 4 years

Text

Transformers RID2015 final review!!;

Oh boy. This was a long time coming. Let's go over what I gotta say about this show!

*pls note all these are my opinions, and may contain swearing/spoilers.

Pros!!;

Some bad guy designs. Take for example bots like Thunderhoof or Stockade, who genuinely look SO good? (I particularly like the rusty nail cigar detail on Stockade, THAT was some good shit).

The voice acting, on the whole, was VERY good. Yes there were a few bots who shook me (like Ped, that shit made me spit out tea), but honestly? I was impressed for the most part.

Sideswipe.

Minicons. No seriously, 97% of minicons in this show were ADORABLE! My only complaint is that they didn’t get more screen time, if anything.

The whole ‘camouflage’ thing they did? SO good, SO creative. They did other such creative stuff like this, (recalibrating optics, Springload’s acid skin, alloy hives, Uv lights, etc. cool shit).

How they made so many decepticons look like animals. Call me a furry, but I honestly like transformers designed to be animals. Thunderhoof, Steeljaw, Saberhorn, Stockade, and Zizza are particularly ones I enjoy.

Denny. I demand he be in the next dream daddy update immediately.

Bumblebee’s night off. Literally all of it.

The fact that NO bot is spared from stupidity/awkward moments. Decepticons, autobots, don’t matter, everyone’s fucking gay and stupid. Fucking great.

Bumblebee’s failed rallying cries. So cringy, and I feel like they REALLY signified his growth as a leader.

Battlemasks. Seriously, I LOVE how there’s more of them in this series. I just wished they had more, especially for the baddies. Bad guys deserve to look cool dammit.

Sideswipe’s OBVIOUS crush on Jazz. Fuck outta here with that Sideblade shit.

'Guilty as charged'.Literally everything about it. The twists, the background, the fact that they MADE AN AUTOBOT A BAD GUY. So fucking good of an episode.

Cons!!;

The constant references to tfp. The nods to tfp are few and far in between, but they do exist. One would think this is a plus, and the idea itself is, but RID focuses on all the wrong things. Like in the episode, ‘History lessons’, they bring up the base, but never really delve into the history of it, choosing to focus on the bad guys.

The character design. This isn't for ALL of them, but this show has an awful habit of making some characters too big. Take for example, Optimus. His thickness works against him, as it removes the lack of details that made him so GORGEOUS in tfp.

The re colors/clones. I get it, reusing some assets saves money. But the colors tend to be just awful, and most designs are VERY hit and miss. Aka Airachnid.

Bringing up tfp again. Now I'm not going to be like ‘oh tfp was first= better’, because the first isn't always better. What I hate is the fact that RID sort of ignores tfp for the most part, despite being only FIVE years apart. I feel like if they made this a separate continuity or MUCH later time wise, this wouldnt annoy me so much.

Episodes are honestly 90% filler. Like armada, it's very gimmicky, using a LOT of episodes to sell toys. The plot of the show is really just ‘catch decepticons’, vs tfp, where the challenge changed in pretty much every episode.

Speaking of decepticons, I hated how they made so many. Don't get me wrong, I love variety, but I feel like the designs of these random baddies took up WAY too much time, especially to just have them thrown out after one appearance.

Thunderhoof. I know, queen of hoof thirst, saying this. Let me explain. I LOVE him, but like many decepticons in this series, he was more or less ignored. Don’t get me wrong, he was given more time compared to most, and that I appreciate, but they gave him SUCH a background of a mafia boss, only to just demote him for the sake of Steeljaw. I was just honestly offended that they didn't do more with him when they could've (though DAMN he was hot in Decepticon Island Part 2, and his introduction episode).

Characters do not progress very much. Strongarm and Sideswipe somewhat did, Bumblebee as well, but I wasn't truly believing a character grew up for the most part.

Decepticon hunters. I just don’t understand them. At the beginning, they were neat tools, but combining them just suddenly made everyone way too OP. I don’t understand it, and I don’t really like it.

This brings me to the topic of weapons. In G1 they did the handheld weapons, and that worked, given it was G1, but this is canonically AFTER tfp, so removing those weapons doesn't make sense, and it’s honestly kinda fucking lame. This is a HUGE gripe for me tbh. It wasn’t even that they couldn't, bots like Fracture had built in blades and the like, so ultimately, what's the excuse?

Octopunch and Clampdown. Kill them with fire.

‘Even robots have nightmares’. Not the entire episode, just the fact that Chop shop’s moment of kindness in that episode wasn't really explored, and the missed opportunity there ACTUALLY upset me. Even bad guys deserve redemption.

Speaking of, I hate the fact that only Grimlock got redemption. Yes tfp also didn't have much luck in converting the baddies, but there were at least ATTEMPTS, and I feel like having those attempts turned the black white and sides onto a more gray area, and sort of showed the audience that no one was inherently BAD. If they had that in this series, I’d be MUCH more into this.

Minasaur. Was just such a waste of time. Decent design, but the character was shit. He apparently destroyed an actual solar system or some shit, and yet, he can't properly control his combined form for two seconds.

Stunticons. They were decent looking in design, I'll give them that, but they were wasted, and rushed. RID has enough bad guys that desperately needed attention, adding these new ones was a choice that really made this show a struggle to watch.

'Prisoners Principles'. The way they covered the legal rules of Prisoners wasn't too bad. What WAS bad was the normalized brutality of Clampdown. Now I hate the fuck, but he's a willing prisoner. Bots like Strongarm and Sideswipe willingly putting him in danger just REALLY seemed like boot kissing. Don't appreciate it.

The episode with Dropforge kinda made me realize something. That the whole situation with the government could've been covered a LOT sooner. If they were going to touch on it, at ALL, they should've done it properly. You could've literally scrapped the stunticons and replaced it with issues of Cybertron's justice system. It would have saved them money on voice actors, and the thought of collaboration between Cybertron and earth would've been GOOD shit. It would've been a good opportunity to bring in Dropforge, who was genuinely a cool character.

Ratchet meeting Optimus. Was so disappointing, so lackluster, and really, really undermined their relationship in tfp.

There was SO many musical talents for some fucking reason. Sideswipe, Jazz, Steeljaw, Thunderhoof- all VA's were singers, and they did NOTHING with that.

The way the council was handled. I couldn't remember a time where I've ever given less of a shit about their characters. You fucked up CYCLONUS. How the fuck you gonna ruin CYCLONUS.

There's a specific post talking about this shows villian problem (written by my buddy bae, give em a follow), and there's lots of points i agree with; https://baebeyza.tumblr.com/post/190875674229/robots-in-disguise-2015-and-the-villain-problem.

They also made this post that I think has some solid points; https://baebeyza.tumblr.com/post/621992774922797056/rid15-and-what-it-could-have-been-waited-foruys of the episode.

So all in, this show is....okay. I've seen it twice now, and both times, they have something in common; they're exhausting to go through. Don't get me wrong, it has some good moments, really does. But on the whole, this show wastes a LOT of your time. I don't think it's too much to say that you could cut at least 30% of content, and STILL get to the plot. For a show, that's a LOT. This is a show you should definitely NOT start this franchise with. Treat yourself, watch TFP or TFA. Maybe even beast wars. Just...not this.

Final verdict: 6/10.

#reviews #final #RID2015

46 notes · View notes

secondhand-trash · 4 years

Note

I really hate Dabi. His design is cool (I like it even better with the white hair and golden piercings) but aside from that, I just kinda find him bland? Like a stock edgy shounen villain who tries too hard to be cool because he's so violent and merciless, so that someone makes him a good character.

I'm ngl, the fans also ruined any hope I had of liking him. Like, they will bend over backwards to defend him and suck his gnarled bacon dick at any possible moment.

Ok but what if I said I agree hhhhhhh

I think... at least at first him being this person who sees another figure making headlines for defying the social rules (and now that we know his background, basically affirms his resentment in a more twisted way) and proceed to follow with it appeared to be a conscious character point to me? Like, was that actually his character or was that a purposeful decision to reflect the way he morphed his worldview around his trauma or perception of the world around him that made him want to be that type of archetype? If that makes sense. He has a tragic background yes but I think that you can’t completely justify what he or anyone else he works with does is a very important point about finding him interesting for me. So that point about people bending over to defend him? Perhaps this might get me into trouble but I do share a similar view lol I really like Dabi, btw, I would also love to suck his bacon dick too and this definitely isn’t shade to people who like him too but I also go *head tilt* towards people who thinks he does not wrong and is the true hero in the story.

(Tell me your most hated character/celeb and I’ll tell you if I hate them too or not)

#ask game #cadence rambles #tw: discourse

4 notes · View notes

inspector-montoya-fox · 4 years

Text

#9 - The Predator Awakes

Setting: green! like, dark, sappy, jungle green. it’s been a while since i posted my take on A Starry Eyed Encounter but, basically i theorized how that episode reflected Rajan’s low temper and his grand facade whereas The Predator Awakes shows the beast within - and boy, what a beast it is. the vines, the towering trees, the decrepit ruins: they all show how Rajan isn’t holding back anymore. after completely and utterly humiliating him at his own party, he’s ready to destroy anyone who comes in his way. the episode’s nature presents that. supporting this theory is the fact that any signs of grandeur are rotted down remnants of a forgotten time. Rajan has shed his faux majesty and thick vines have grown all over his once stable foundation. like his ancestral temple, he’s a fucking wreck. the jungle is an intricate mess. i’ve played the game i don’t even know how many times and i still don’t know my way around this level. but it’s beautiful. she’s serving some Cambodian palace, some long lost ruins of time - she’s really killing it on the runway! especially with the contrast between the stubborn lifelessness of the jungle, its aged disorganization and the motion of the rocking temple parts (that higher floor where you start Water Bug Run or the tower where Bentley hides out the operation). i would honestly go on a vacation to a place like this. the missions further establish the temple’s mysterious nature by having us explore its rooms in detail (all hidden behind trap doors, no less). Rajan’s office, that huge water room where half of the heart is being kept, and the spice grinding facility are all great examples. also, the way in which the main temple building is supposed to represent an elephant by having those huge tusks come out is genius. it’s the only structure that grabs the player’s attention because the rest blend in with the nature beautifully. even the safehouse (one of my favs) looks like a freakin’ tiger.

Characters: well, cordial Rajan’s gone. he’s in full-on beast mode now, kinda like the rabid animals in Zootopia. even so, the gang manages to spook him out and he spends most of the level MIA. it’s mainly because of Bentley, who invades the tiger’s private space by drugging him and stealing his blueprints. that mission still creeps me out like hell, i can’t imagine how Bentley felt approaching someone who could carve his little heart out in a second... yikes. but even though he spends most of the level in hiding, we get some really good lines out of Rajan towards the end of the episode when he goes all thunder god. he really showed us how he’s both brain and brawn by using half the Clockwerk heart to summon lightning. his plead for higher power on the other hand, shows how he’s either deeply religious or a complete lunatic. either way, Murray takes him down and proves Rajan wrong once and for all. The Predator Awakes also sees Neyla pulling off her second backstab (her first being going behind Carmelita’s back to help Sly and the gang). ooh, that must’ve really burned. i really wanted to see the good sis go on a date with Sly in Bombay but i guess the Clockwerk parts are far more important. talk about a memorable twist - her saying ‘Happy day’ will forever be engraved on my brain. although it comes right at the end, she pulls a 180 and double-crosses both the gang and Carmelita. it’s enough to make this episode amazing. the story really takes a huge turn from this point on, as the characters we thought we knew turn out to be faux. Rajan did show his might but got bested by Murray and spent most of the level cowering inside, and Neyla showed her true colours as a true villain. also, this is the first and only appearance of those hooded treasure dealers with the raspy voices. love them!

Themes: hmmm......... maybe like revelations? how A Starry Eyed Encounter had the masks theme, but now everything’s supposedly revealed, or at least starting to make sense. there’s a sense of a greater plot at play and we’re caught right in the middle of it. Neyla backstabs the gang and shit hits the fan after that. revelations could also refer to Rajan’s “spiritual” awakening. like i said, he’s shed his faux persona and is now true, as ugly and non-regal as that is. that’s how he manages to control thunder - he ain’t holding back. this episode is so setting and character-oriented so i’m scrambling to think about the themes. there’s definitely something to be said about the Clockwerk heart and how it helped ramp up spice production. a nature theme. of course, the episode’s nature is predominant as discussed in the Setting section. but i’m also thinking about how Clockwerk’s heart gave life to the dead temple. it gave it a heart (literally) and turned it from a “corpse”, a set of delapitated ruins into a living work environment for the spice production (it’s quite interesting how Rajan got the best parts btw, like maybe he was the leader of the Klaww Gang even though Arpeggio was the criminal genius. without a heart and wings, Clockwerk would be nothing. like who wanted the talons and the fucking tail feathers? lol). the nature theme also refers to Rajan’s primal state. he’s a wild animal, a vicious feline. it’s better represented by the setting, but it supports the theme nonetheless. also, a fear theme. there’s other episodes where the gang’s confrontation of its fears is better explained and shown (mainly, the next one) but that doesn’t invalidate it here. Bentley goes from a trembling coward at the disco to pickpocketting the main baddie, Rajan is lowkey a scaredy-cat, and Sly’s biggest fear comes true - getting caught and arrested. hell, most of the missions and especially the boss fight scarred me as a kid. this is definitely a new low for the gang. lastly, a water motif and how it’s connected to the revelations theme. how water showed the truth. the temple’s first secret entrance is hiding behind the waterfall, and then water is used to flood the area and show Neyla’s true self. water also forces Rajan to end his hiding and come out, so there you have it.

What I Like: this episode is great. i’m overall happy so let’s focus on the details i like the most. Rajan’s office is amazing. something straight out of an interior design magazine. and that view, big ooff. i also particularly like the Contessa showing up at the end. like, when does that usually happen? a future villain showing up somewhere apart from their own episode(s)? lastly, having the whole hub flood is so satisfying.

What I Don’t Like: maybe how we can’t enter the main temple building. i always wanted to enter that door under that red ruby. oh and getting all the clue bottles in this level was a bitch. climbing those vines for like the 100th time is infuriating.

Quote: when Rajan says Who's "The Murray"? All I see is a fat, pathetic weakling. and Murray replies I might be big and not as smart as the other guys... but one thing I'm not... is weak!

#she's baaaaaaackkkkk #guess who's back - back again - episode project's back - tell a friend #TWO ESSAYS IN ONE NIGHT #i'm spoilin' y'all #even though the apollo justice essay got like 0 love #:)#sly cooper #episode project

23 notes · View notes

atamascolily · 4 years

Text

Lily liveblogs: “The Rise of Skywalker,” part two

Neener, neener, world-building is for losers. Not to mention plot, character development, and general coherence.

(Or, fifty ideas in a trench coat pretending to be one movie.)

Look, you get ONE fetch quest per film, and we've already exceeded the limit here, please stop... [does not stop]

Poe literally has to ask to kiss Zorii because she's wearing a mask, lol. I mean, I like to think he would anyway, but... just saying.

They literally slot the medallion into the designated coin slot and that's it, it's over so fast, lololololol.

Like, the FO lets them in because they have a medallion and then only sends two troopers to investigate because Something Is Clearly Up? LOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Okay, they're just going to straight up assault the Star Destroyer. 10/10 for style. Refuge in audacity and all that. Fine, whatever.

Finn ought to have some idea about the layout of the place, didn't the FO teach him that stuff when he was a stormtrooper? Or at least enough to have a hint. Or are they just going to wander around without a clue and magically find the right spot??

Oh, Rey's mastered the mind-trick now, good to know. (*Legally Blonde voice* "What, like it's hard?")

Poe's question if Rey does that to him and Finn is 100% spot on and he is RIGHT to ask that because the mind trick is SUPER INVASIVE and can be badly misused.Given how recalcitrant Poe’s been, I’m sure she’s been tempted.

Rey is so concerned about Chewie until she gets distracted by the dagger, sigh... [Han Solo voice] Convenient. [/Han Solo voice.]

Why do they need the dagger macguffin if they already have the coordinates? What a stupid thing to get Rey alone so she and Kylo can have a moment.

Kylo searching through Kijimi for Rey like he's got no fucking clue, lololol. So much for their "Force bond" here.

Does Finn feel, like, anything for the troopers he's shooting? I mean, obviously not in the heat of battle, but like, ever? Considering that his friend's death on Jakku was what snapped him out of the FO brainwashing in the first place... so he knows it's possible for the others to change. So... what a wasted opportunity here.

Literally, all of the troopers are patrolling either in pairs or alone, that is so dumb if there's actually an alert out on the ship for them.

Is Poe having PTSD flashbacks to the last time he got captured by the FO? Because I would, if I were in his shoes.

Rey picks up the dagger and has flashbacks again PSYCHOMETRY PSYCHOMETRY PSYCHOMETRY PSYCHOMETRY

Okay, the FUCK is going on with this fight scene. Where is she, really? Is she Force projecting? How can she do that when it killed Luke? How can BOTH of them be in two places at once? Ie, it's not that Rey is suddenly having an out-of-body experience and fighting Kylo on a spiritual plane in Kijimi - she's also fighting in Kylo's room, and even though I could see her body moving in time with her mind, is Kylo projecting himself into his room with HER, too? What is happening?

I feel like this scene would be so much more powerful if we established some parameters for HOW THIS POWER FUCKING WORKS so I know what the stakes are. Wouldn't it be interesting if this moved used life force, for instance, the same way that healing did? What are the restrictions/limitations? Why is none of this ever explained? It just happens... waaaaaahhhhhhh

I really love it when this is an open question in works that are thematically ABOUT "is it a dream? is it real? is it a mindfuck?" [see: Inception] but that's NOT THE POINT OF THIS FILM, this is a side issue, so it SHOULDN'T BE A MYSTERY, it should be actually intelligible to me what is going on even if I don't understand all the intricacies.

It does look cool, though. I'll grant them that much. The aesthetics of a night fight in the falling stone are ON POINT. Too bad the fight doesn't really use much of its scenery to any advantage. This could be literally anywhere for all that the characters draw on their surroundings.

"Wherever you are, you are hard to find." So smooth, Kylo.

Rey VERY CLEARLY SAYS "I don't want this!" in response to Kylo's "I've been in your head". Because consent is for LOSERs, am I right? [/sarcasm] ugghhhhhhh

"Your parents are no one...." but turns out they were actually someone! Never mind we never get their names or backstory anywhere! That might make them... interesting! Or even RELEVANT.

Okay, so stuff from Kijimi is literally spilling into the star destroyer and vice versa, is that actually happening or is that just a visual metaphor/dream sequence, I really need to know wtf is going on here.

Kylo using his knowledge of/from Palpatine to manipulate Rey is terrible but actually something he would do... and kinda clever. I'll grant him that much.

Ochi looks just like a twisted version of Maz, except taller... does that mean anything? probably not!

We literally have no connection to these two random new characters so their fate does not resonate as much as it SHOULD HAVE. Which one was Palpatine's kid? How did he HAVE kids in the first place? What was said kid's life like? Why did they grow up to run away and defy their dad? How did they meet the other partner? How did all this, you know, HAPPEN??

And why did Palpatine send an agent to kill them instead of killing/tortuing them himself, since they clearly had info he was interested in? THE FUCK.

I was hoping the Vader mask would finally be destroyed, but NOOOOOOOOOOO.

Lol how Kylo's like "I'm gonna only tell you the rest of the story in person" as if they weren't already fighting face to face in some weird dream-reality hybrid thingy. Kylo, you are so desperate and so so so so dumb.

LOL, Hux being all dramatic here. "I'm the spy!"

This just gets funnier when you remember how Poe trolled the SHIT out of him at the beginning of TLJ, so Poe has NO CLUE (because the writers didn't either until just now, natch), AND why Poe's reaction when Hux says he's gonna "do it himself" (ie, murder Poe) is so on point.

I approve of Rey looting Kylo's room before running off. Too bad she doesn't smash the Vader mask and be done with it. At least Chewie gets his crossbow back.

"I don't care if you win. I need Kylo Ren to lose." 10/10, excellent character motivation, and I approve. Hux is such a bastard and Kylo totally deserves this betrayal. (also: the Imperial philosophy in a nutshell.)

I'm not averse per se to Rey Palpatine, but this way of handling it is total bullshit and an asspull, sigh.

Oh, no, here comes the Force dyad nonsense. "We have no choice but to be together because we're SOULMATES! I'm stalking you because I LOVE YOU and it's DESTINY, Rey!" </sarcasm>

Oh, the destroyer is still in the atmosphere over Kijimi and not in space, I see. getting bespin feels here. This should have happened in the second movie not halfway through the third.

Yup, there's the "join me and rule the galaxy" offer right on cue.

Taking off your mask does not help here, Kylo. No one cares about your puppy dog eyes, you fucking stalker.

yeah, she would have jumped if the Falcon hadn't shown up right at the last minute, lol.

[Honestly, I would have had her jump and land smack on the back of the Falcon, but that may just be my twisted sense of humor talking.]

love kylo's dismay as she gets away. EXCELLENT LEAP. And Finn is wearing an oxygen mask, which is a detail which I <3!

Hux just dies with no drama, which is too bad, but also soooo typical of Imperial/FO management style. Live by the sword, die by the sword. Good thing your pettiness lives on!

(Pryde is clearly the Real Villain now that Hux is Actually Good, I see what you did there.)

I hate how Rey literally shuts Finn out here, when he is TRYING TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND REMIND HER SHE'S A GOOD PERSON and Rey is so confused by Kylo's constant gaslighting that she ignores him. Like, psychologically understandable (and sad) but I fucking hate it. Finn deserves so much better than this.

Palpatine talks in Kylo's head... how? why? Why does Palps have this kind of connection with Kylo when he had to make hologram calls to Vader the old-fashioned way? (I know they established at the beginning of the film that they had this relationship, but it's still odd and inexplicable. Like the whole thing that was supposed to make Mara Jade special was that she could hear his voice anywhere in the galaxy... and Kylo's just... got that... for no reason? Because Palps targeted him since he was a kid???

(Keep in mind Kylo was concieved RIGHT AFTER ENDOR, so I dunno what Palps was up to or how long it would take him to get a body or LITERALLY ANY WAY IN WHICH THIS WOULD MAKE LOGISTICAL SENSE.)

It's a moon of Endor, but a DIFFERENT moon of Endor, fine, okay, and we're going to ignore the whole "How did the Death Star ruins get here, anyway?" because that's a world-building problem of an entirely different order of magnitude and just roll with it.

I do believe Rey is mentally running the numbers on Death Star scrap/value of kyber crystals on the open market here, because old habits die hard. And that is such a gorgeous shot, with the cliffs and the churning sea and the ruins.

Oh, I see, the wayfinder was on the moon because it was in the Death Star with Palps and somehow... didn't explode or get sucked out into the vacuum of space. That's a leap, but okay, whatever, fine.

using a macguffin to find another macguffin, wow.

I don't literally don't understand how this dagger is supposed to work as a compass, but fine, whatever. now we will never see it again.

Jannah looks great, I love her character design, but unfortunately, this movie is going to spend very little time exploring the world she lives in because we have to rush onto the next thing, sigh. And apparently, they know about the Resistance! Okay. And they know Babu Frik... or Babu Frik knows them enough to call in some favors...? WHAT.

So it's too dangerous to travel on the water because the waves are so big... which means some killer tides! That is actually interesting, but Rey just overrides everyone and goes anyway (alone!!) so I don't even know why this comes up as an obstacle if it is instantly resolved. This film keeps doing that, and it is not as cute as the director thinks it is.

Finn and Jannah bond over being ex-FO, and this film should spend wayyyy more time on this than it does. THEY BOTH HAD "FEELINGS" ABOUT WHAT WAS RIGHT AND THEY OVERCAME THEIR BRAINWASHING -- Finn is talking about the feeling and calling it "the Force," this is great, AND MY HEART IS DISSOLVING IN A MILLION FEELS AND I JUST... WANT THIS TO FREAKIN' MATTER... why is Finn so sure the Force is real? Faith? Or because he's actually a Jedi, too? (You already know which one I believe here. MAKE HIM A JEDI YOU COWARDS.)

Rey just fucks off and steals Jannah's boat? Where... was it? How did she find it? What... how does that even make sense??

too bad they don't have a working ship, they could just FLY over the ocean instead of surmounting the waves for extra unnecessary drama, lol.

Please keep in mind that Rey grew up in a fucking desert. That she cannot (despite what TLJ might have told you) swim. Yet she is on a boat in an ocean alone. This is a terrible idea. (I'm not going to say it's OOC, because Rey would, in fact, totally do this--just emphasizing how bad an idea this is.)

Finn says, "You have no idea what she's fighting" to Poe... who does know, actually. Kylo tortured him at the beginning of TFA, just like he tried to do later in that film to Rey. Surely Finn should... know this?

If Finn and Poe are going to fight here, fine, this is just a stupid argument. Finn says he and Leia know what Rey is up against and Poe says, I'm not Leia, YES WE NOTICED POE.

Whyyyy is Poe the Team Skeptic here and such a grouch?? not cool.

"That's for damn sure." OH SNAP. And also, actual profanity in Star Wars? Whoa!

Of course Finn is going to go after her.

I will say this: the Death Star ruins look hella cool. also, a nice callback to the beginning of TFA where Rey is exploring the Star Destroyer ruins.

my goodness, the upper arm strength required. I love this scene. they should have made Palpatine's ghost haunting the ruins so we could have the final boss fight here - that would make so much more since than him fucking off to Exegol of all places.

(the ruins are totally my aesthetic, tho.)

And the Sith wayfinder.. is just floating in midair. In the ruins of the Death Star that shouldn't exist. In some sort of chamber with no security whatsoever. wowwwwww. Oh, okay, it's in some sort of suspended chamber thingy, but still.... security measures??

Hey, Rey touches it, and experiences a creepy vision--PSYCHOMETRY, ANYONE? A security measure? Oh, no, just a crazy Force vision... maybe? I don't know anymore. I don't know why.

The double-bladed quarterstaff lightsaber is super cool, though.

Rey fighting her evil self in the crumbling tech ruins is TOTALLY MY AESTHETIC YESSSSSSSSS.

since Rey gets a vision when she touches the wayfinder and is released when she lets go of it, I honestly wonder what the other wayfinder said to Kylo, if he experienced anything when he touched it.

speaking of which, there's kylo! ughhhhh.

Like, literally Rey could have stolen the Sith wayfinder from Kylo if he had left it in his room, and she blew up at least one of his TIE fighters that had it so... I don't even know if Kylo has one anymore. Maybe he doesn't need it? WHATEVER.

Rey is not amused. GIVE ME MY MACGUFFIN!

This is, for the record, the THIRD FIGHT between Kylo and Rey in this film, please just kill him already.

Kylo trying to gaslight Rey about not being a Jedi and how she's proven she's not and she'll disappoint Leia. HOW THE HELL DO YOU THINK LEIA FEELS ABOUT YOU, KYLO??? PROJECTING MUCH???

"Like I can't [go back to Leia]." Ooooohhhhhhh, forced teaming there, way to make your move by claiming to show vulnerability. YOU CHOSE THIS. YOU CHOSE THAT PATH. SHE SENT HAN TO BRING YOU HOME AND YOU MURDERED HIM BECAUSE SNOKE TOLD YOU TO SO YOU COULD LEVEL UP IN HIS STUPID DEATH CULT AND SNOKE TURNED OUT TO BE A PUPPET SO IT WAS ALL FOR NAUGHT, YOU ASSHOLE, and NOW YOU'RE TRYING GASLIGHT REY BY PROJECTING YOUR FAILURES ONTO HER.

And he shatters the macguffin rather than let her have it because he's that much of an asshole.

He doesn't pull out his lightsaber until several seconds in, just moves around because he genuinely doesn't want to hurt her even though he just provoked her into losing her temper to prove a point.

It's raining back on Jungle Planet for ATMOSPHERE and Leia is having a Force Vision of DOOOOOOOM, this was oh so clearly supposed to be for Han's death in TFA, but noooooooooooo we're using it here.

(Also, how is it not raining on the tech, I think there are roofs, but it's so hard to tell.)

Maz is so dramatic about this. "Leia knows what must be done, Artoo." Yes, Kylo is going down.

The aesthetics of the ocean ruins fight scene are 100% my jam, not gonna lie, it looks very cool.

So, once again, the Supreme Leader went off on his own... without backup... not even his own private biker gang.... AGAIN. I just.... can't even... what an idiot. What an absolute idiot.

Good thing Finn and Jannah are here, though I doubt the narrative will actually let them do much. I wish Finn and/or Jannah would just shoot Kylo here once Rey gives them an opening, but no, they're just going to stand there helpless.

I get why Rey pushes them away so Kylo won't use them against her as hostages, but STILL. THERE ARE THREE OF YOU AND ONE OF HIM. USE THAT TO YOUR ADVANTAGE, REY.

drenched unhappy Kylo Ren is excellent, yesssss.

This is the first time I've seen anyone use the Force to halt the blade of a lightsaber... interesting.

Rey is treating her lightsaber like it's one-half of a quarterstaff, I LOVE it, but it also begs the question why didn't she just make a double-bladed saber (with, say, a split kyber crystal from TLJ?) in the first place instead of using a weapon that clearly doesn't work for her as well????

Leia could have reached out to her son at any moment, but she chose not to because she needed to save her strength... but Palps can talk to Kylo across the galaxy and he's fine?? And Kylo and Rey can be in two different places and be just fine (yeah okay, Force dyad soulmates whatever whatever)??? THIS MAKES NO SENSE.

Rey stabbing Kylo with his own damn blade is POETIC CINEMA and also justice. FINALLY.

I think if there were any questions about whether Rey has killed someone, the answer in this scene is no. I can't tell if she's crying for Leia, for shock, for relief, for grief and regret over murdering Kylo, or what.

WHY DOES SHE USE HER LIFE FORCE TO HEAL HIM? WHY? WHY? WHY??????????? (give me a motivation, I dont know what her motivation is here, I dont know why she makes this sacrifice to HIM of all people and I feel like I really should know for this scene to have emotional impact but it doesn't).

LEIA SACRIFICED HERSELF FOR YOU, REY, AND YOU'RE JUST GOING THROW IT AWAY LIKE THIS???

Now, if this movie were actually serious about Kylo and Rey being a Force dyad or two halves of the same whole, then we, the audience, would realize along with Rey that she can't let Kylo die without hurting herself... which I'm not sure I would enjoy, but would at least be COHERENT and fit into the ESTABLISHED WORLDBUILDING even if said worldbuilding is dumb and personally offensive to me. I'M JUST SAYING THERE ARE OPTIONS HERE, YOU TOTALLY HAD OPTIONS THAT WOULD HAVE MADE NARRATIVE SENSE SO I DIDN’T HAVE TO DO IT FOR YOU ON THE SPOT.

"I did want to take your hand. Ben's hand." We know that. That was the whole ending of TLJ. Why is this such a shock now??? She already said that at the end of the last movie, so what have we accomplished since? Absolutely nothing has changed on that front, Kylo!!

Also, Kylo--she saved your life when she didn't have to, and you can't even say Thank you? YOU UNGRATEFUL ASSHOLE.

{there's one hour left in this movie WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT how is that even possible}

lol, she just straight up steals his ship.... which is just perched on top of the ruins nearby and hasn't been damaged at all by spray... and which should ALSO have the wayfinder macguffin in it.... so she's going to Exegol, right? The thing she's been wanting to do for the whole movie? The thing that they only have what, four hours left before the attack or whatever?

NOPE. She goes to Ahch-To. Because of course she does.

I hate this fucking movie so much.

#star wars #WHY DISNEY WHY #lily liveblogs

6 notes · View notes

commenter2 · 4 years

Text

Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart trailer analysis

For those that haven’t heard yet, Insomniac Games has released a trailer for there new Ratchet & Clank game yesterday, called Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart

I don’t think I need to say how excited I am for it but I’m going to anyway. IM SO EXCITED FOR THIS GAME ! For those that haven’t heard about it yet, here is a link to a video showing the trailer for the game as well as gameplay of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsnG-3-r6-Q

The game looked so amazing that I did na analysis of the trailer last night and thought Id post it on my Tumblr page for anyone to read. HUGES spoilers ahead. Also I apologize or the spacing as for some reason I can't separate the paragraphs any longer then they are now.

First is the trailer

First off we get a shot of the amazing animation of the game till Ratchet & Clank drop in, literally, but did they just come out of a dimensional rift ? This has to mean the Dimensionator has to be involved in this somehow. We then see another amazing example of the games design and graphics of what looks like planet Sargasso (which would be cool to go to again) till Clank brings up how they need to get to something, the Dimensionator maybe ?, till he is distracted by an Antropod/Terratrope followed by another rift releasing robots shooting at them and though I’ve seen the trailer already, I quickly got a Dr. Nefarious vibe from them.

Then something unexpected happens as Ratchet RIDES the bug and uses it to take down the robots ! Now I haven’t played Spyro in years but that charging attack reminds me a bit of the charge attack Spyro uses in the games, did anyone else think that? If that was on purpose then its nice to see that Insomniac Games still remembers there roots which gives me comfort with them making awesome Spider Man games in the future without worrying about them ignoring there Ratchet & Clank fans.

After some animal handling gameplay, Ratchet and Clank are thrown into a rift and we see a series of shattered pink/purple glass images of places only for them to quickly grind and slide though two planets, maybe existing ones at the night one kinda looks like Veldin while the city one could be Metropolis or Meridian City, with Clank saying the dimensions are weakening which again backs up the idea of the Dimesinator being involved. I do want to say that during the quick grind rail segment, the Grind Boots looked much better in design compared to there previous appearances, which were kinda lazy in my opinion. I hope this means they and the Gravity Boots will be different in appearance instead of in color. I should also say it shown that you can DOUBLE JUMP while grinding, which is a cool small change for the iconic mechanic.

We then see Ratchet ride another animal, this time with wings, on planet Torren IV which though I’m not 100% sure I think I saw a Hoverboot boost pad. Could the Hoverboots be in the game ? Before I continue I want to say the idea of Ratchet riding and controlling animals is a really awesome idea, not only would this be an interesting twist to combat in the game but it would also be another interesting way to travel throughout the levels, which Id be ok with doing IF the Hoverboots aren’t in Rift Apart.

Either way this ends quickly as Ratchet & Clank hop to another planet, a new one according to them but again teleport to planet Ardolis where Ratchet fights robot pirates (AWESOME) who are dealing with a creature. I wonder if Captain Slag and Rusty Pete will be in the game ? During a fight we see Ratchet uses a new weapons, specifically a new BLASTER like weapon that has a rapid-fire feature, which I am thankful for cause I couldn’t take another game with the Combuster.

The fight quickly ends as the explosive barrel explodes and Clank gets thrown through a dimensional rift and is separated from Ratchet, NO ! but also AWESOME cause it gives a A Crack In Time like vibe. The hype is then taken up a notch where its revealed that Clank is on a planet run by none other then DR. NEFARIOUS, Clank saying they are to late, meaning those robots at the beginning WERE his and he is somehow causing all of this, maybe.

Speaking of which Im not sure how I feel about Dr. Nefarious being the main antagonist of ANOTHER game. Don't get me wrong he's still an awesome character but it would also be nice to face a new villain for a change, plus it makes me nervous that this could mean Nefarious could be defeated once and for all which could ruin a big part of the story of the R&C trilogy finale I made some time ago.

HOWEVER I think we can all agree that the biggest thing about this trailer is that while Clank is calling for Ratchet a blue and gray/white colored female Lombax with a robotic arm appears wondering who Clank is talking about, which again gives off A Crack In Time like vibes and…..she’s carrying a hammer ? A bit odd since Lombaxes are affiliated with wrenches but its still an amazing idea. Then we get the name of the game which though I hate to say, the text makes it looks a bit bad as its looks poorly rendered especially at the "and" section and what’s that thing between the words Rift and Apart ? Is that a dimensional rift ?

Other then that the trailer is amazing.

Now for the gameplay

So Marcus Smith does confirm some things about Rift Apart like how this will be a full length game and how those things teleporting Ratchet & Clank were dimensional rifts that will allow them to teleport form planet to planet which though cool its goanna be a bit sad not being able to use Aphelion in the game, I wish she could have more speaking roles in games as she IS one of the last few things from the Lombaxes.

He also says that the new graphic allows them to put something called ray trace reflections on Clank, which along with some other people I’ve seen, I agree makes him look really odd. Hopefully before the game comes out they fix this by toning it down and maybe add a bit of white in there like his older appearances. He then says that the planets are denser with new creatures and that Ratchet has a new arsenal, which sounds perfect to me. He then states that R&C is close to the company’s hearts and can’t wait to show more of it, which again gives comfort.

We get to the gameplay and immediately were introduced to a new mechanic where Ratchet uses a gadget called the Rift Tether to go through a yellow rift similar to that scene in Avenger: Infinity Wars where (spoilers) Thanos uses the stones to pull Dr. Strange closer to him, pulling the area around him towards him in the process. We then see Ratchet fight a Thug for Less enemy, which is cool but not surprising since there were many signs that this game would make references to there other games and this is confirmed seconds later where we see Ratchet fight some Sandsharks. We also get to see several new species of aliens here.

During the Sandshark section we do see a NEW comet strike as unlike in previous games the Omniwrench is thrown diagonally and it looks like it returns to your hand faster. I feel like this change was done for the new female Lombax as I feel like she can do the same thing but since her melee weapon is a a hammer, it wouldn’t really work (or make since) if thrown horizontally, and it would be confusing to have two character with two different ways of throwing there melee weapon. Though I’m not that big a fan of changes I don’t really mind it, heck maybe its a one time thing.

After some more chaos like a giant tentacle creature coming out of the portal, similar to the one in the trailer, and what looks like an Ultra-Mech Unlimited crashing through a walkway Ratchet and Clank were in we get some interesting content in the next cut. One is Ratchet saying something about “break reality” again telling reality is coming apart because of theses rifts, quickly followed by Clank saying Dr. Nefarious has come out of hiding after years of hiding to take over the universe again which means that this IS a post Into The Nexus game, as I’ve seen some people debate about if it is or not.

We get another new game mechanic during the fight with some thugs. It seems that Ratchet can now jump to his left or right in order to avoid incoming damage by using a thruster on his boots, could this mean the Hoverboots are really in the game but are damaged ? It would be cool if during the game Ratchet & Clank or Ratchet goes to Azimuths house on Torren IV to find something about the Dimensionator but also find a part needed to fix his hoverboots thus letting Ratchet use them to get around, especially if the part of the trailer of Ratchet and Clank getting separated IS true.

Were also introduced to new weapons here. One is called a Shatterbomb, the bomb glove weapon, The Enforcer a shotgun like weapon and the Burst Pistol which is the blaster shown in the trailer and would explain its rapid fire ability. The most interesting weapon shown so far is the Topiary Sprinkler, a weapon that when thrown forms into a sprinkler that can project plants around it and shoots out a stream of water that can stop enemies in there place, plus I bet the plants around it is a form of defense system to protect the sprinkler for a time.

The gameplay ends with Ratchet destroying some Robomutts and going though a hallway where a statue of Dr. Nefarious or a mech in his image can be seen but also there is a moment where a purple energy ways rushes through the surrounding areas, just like in another R&C game but that’s for another post, no spoilers now.

Wow that was a lot to write but that’s because there was SO MUCH going on in theses trailers and I’m pretty sure I missed some things. I’m already working on a theory on what’s going to happen in this game, which will most likely come out during the weekend so stay tuned for that.

What were your thoughts on the trailers ? What was your favorite moment in them, and did you noticed anything in them I didn’t talked about ?

#Ratchet & Clank #ratchet and clank #Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart #Dr. Nefarious #insomniac games #playstation #PS5 #playstation 5 #video games

7 notes · View notes

yellowfoot-06 · 4 years

Text

Why you should read Cucumber Quest

So it is currently 2 am in the morning and I decided to write an essay. I may put this in draft form and continue if I get too tired. This will probably be less me trying to convince you to read it and more me gushing about Cucumber Quest. This is also just me distracting myself from what is happening with it right now. There will be no pictures but just me referencing pages of it because I am on the computer so it is hard for me to put in pictures compared to Mobile. More under the cut if you care for this and link if I was somehow able to convince you to read this underrated comic.

https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

Main Details

This section is just a simple overview of the comic and I will elaborate more in the Character/Story section. The comic is about a little flat planet called Dreamside. The pancake planet is inhabited by bunny people and like, some pigs in one country/kingdom. An alien named Queen Cordelia has taken over the Donut kingdom and is trying to collect the Disaster stones to summon the Nightmare Knight, an ancient evil that used to destroy Dreamside 500,000 years ago (And the Dreamsiders somehow haven’t technologically advance in half a million years using the theming of two characters) Anyways, now it is up to Cucumber and his sister, Almond, along with two other characters to help defeat her and save dreamside! You should probably read Cucumber Quest and come back after reading the prologue and Chapter 0 (Also the beginning of chapter 1 for good measure) because there is some suspense there that is hard to not spoil when talking about the story and characters.

Art Work

Anyways, here is an entire section about the artwork and designs alone because of how beautiful it is. The artwork is probably all you need to know before reading the comic. Page 804 is probably a good non-spoilery example of the artwork. You can also see the gradual improvement in the artwork if you compare the artwork from prologue to (currently the latest chapter) chapter 5. It makes sense to see the artwork progress because it is 9 years old (since I’m writing this) and it is still going on. In the printed version (which only goes to chapter 3 for now) You might notice that the artist/author, Gigi D.G., Redrew some of the pages. The printed version also has some exclusive stuff in it if you want.

The character designs are another plus. Now they are very visually pleasing because of the colours used for them. They all have nice and soft colour schemes. Most of the characters also all are the same species say for the antagonists and some other characters. This kinda separates the villains from the protagonists (The antagonists also have different speech bubbles and some of them have this thing where the style slightly changes when they come on screen with the protagonists). The setting kinda makes everyone's designs unique yet fitting (There is literally a character that is just a giant black circle and she somehow fits). On the side note of unique character designs, even when the color schemes _and _outfits change on the characters change, you can still see that it is them based on the designs and personalities. Pages 346 and 349 are good examples of this yet slightly spoilery. Other good examples are basically the entirety of chapter 5.

Characters/ Story

I mashed both the characters and story section into one because the characters are the ones moving the story along and it is kinda hard talking about one without talking about the other. Anyways, let’s talk about the protagonists, Almond, Cucumber, Sir Carrot, and Nautilus. You can also put the antagonists in the protagonists territory because of how well written they are.

Cucumber is a great main protagonist because of his ideals. His character is slightly cliche, you know, the nerd preteen (At least I think he is that age range) has to now save the world and he doesn’t want to do it. Now there is no real “Oh, I don’t think he can do it” in there but he does have an idea of pacifying the antagonists and everyone thinks that is a silly Idea except for Nautilus. Now, Gigi puts a twist on the second part by making him slightly possessive of this idea. So much in fact that he kinda ignores the people around him. He tries to pacify the Nightmare Knight in chapter 3, it was working until Almond comes along and ruins it. Now, the Nightmare Knight scares them with a near-death experience. They talk about it now shook, and Cucumber now sees Almond crying and realizes that she was just trying to protect him. From the outside view, it seems like the antagonists are awful monsters, so it looks like Cucumber is needlessly endangering himself when the better answer would be to stab them all to death. I just love this twist and how he becomes more insensitive to others when trying to sympathetic to the antagonists. The end of chapter 5 is also a good part of Cucumber’s ark when he believes in an assumption and starting less to believe in his own cause.

Almond also has a great story ark in this comic. In the beginning, she is cocky and believes that saving the world is just gonna be a nice adventure like in the tv shows she watches. She is actually the main reason they are on the adventure, to begin with. Her stubbornness and cockiness starts to dilate the further she is on this adventure and when she sees the real danger that is happening. In chapter 4 this is brought up by Cucumber. She still has some of her beginning ark in her but now it seems like it is a mask that she puts on.

The other two protagonists are Princess Nautilus and Sir Carrot. Sir Carrot came into the story before Nautilus so I’ll talk about him first. Sir Carrot is just a simple knight that wanted to help two bakers out. He is not really interesting compared to the others. At the beginning of the story he was scared by everything but you can really see a reason begin to form in chapter 3 and onwards. He has a really interesting dynamic with the Nightmare Knight and with some other characters. The final protagonist in the group, and my personal favorite, is Princess Nautilus! She is probably the funniest and most comedic out of the three. Her comedic shenanigans make me laugh a whole lot. There are only two characters that make me happier when I see them. She hardly changes in the story, the only real changes that happen is that her comedy starts to dwindle as the story progressed. A big part of her ark is a little eel named Liquus. They have such a cute dynamic together that started to dwindle more after chapter 3.

Now, time for the most interesting characters, the antagonists. The first villains we see are Queen Cordelia and Peridot (pronounced Peridoh). They have a nice and cute familial connection. Cordelia is stubborn and confident. She is a cat from an alien planet that came to conquer Dreamside with the help of the Nightmare Knight. When Cordelia summoned the Nightmare Knight, her confidence starts to break as she sees his power. She seems to be a powerful conqueror with confidence in her actions, so seeing her in fear is a slight surprise as summoning the Nightmare Knight in the first place was her idea. When she interacts with Peridot, she is calm and motherly, another thing that separates her from her average personality. The Nightmare Knight is also very intriguing because he is basically stuck in a place he can’t escape from as both sides are antagonizing him and he has this cycle but it can’t keep going on forever and with fears of what happened before and-

Great, now that we got all the other characters off the plate (except for the side characters) now we can talk about the best characters (in my opinion) the Disaster Masters! This is where the gushing really begins! They are the most interesting when you think about the logistics of each character and the cycle they have been. I can’t talk about every character since there are 8 and this section is already extremely lengthy. So I am speeding through each of these. Splashmaster: adorable but not really interesting. Ya Boi: great and the first example to show that everything is not completely what it seems. Mutemaster: probably the most forgettable and gets over shined by Ya Boi. Rosemaster: Oh ho ho! This is where the story starts to turn darker and she is a really good character, her chapter might be one of the best. Thebestmaster: Name says it all, he is the best and if you say otherwise I will personally stab you through the screen. Quakemaster: Same as Splashmaster, except replace adorable with menacing. Mistmaster: Terrifying and even more so if you think about what happened to him. Glitchmaster: You know about the circle I talked about earlier? Yeah, that's her. She is a lot more spooky with context.

Woohoo! This is (hopefully) the last paragraph of the section! The side characters are where the comedy mainly lays on. These characters are very wide-ranged. You have characters such as psychopathic 10-year-old, realistic Rabbit, and a bunch of crabs. These characters are normally comedic and a great part of the story. Some characters are more important like Cosmo, the psychopathic 10-year-old. Other characters are just jerks jokes like Cucumber’s father. Even though some aren’t important, all of them are likable/enjoyable.

Final

Finally! If you read the entirety of this, then uhh, you read it! Here is a link to a Youtube video that is a lot shorter and more concise than this essay, and the link to the comic again:

Video: https://youtu.be/4uiO9ZKj2HE

Comic: https://cucumber.gigidigi.com

#Cucumber Quest #Original

12 notes · View notes