#especially its story bc it's genuinely one of the best in sonic

[wereh0gz]

I'm usually not very fond of the idea of remaking/remastering games when they still hold up today BUT I think Sonic Team should make a Sonic Unleashed definitive edition that takes the best parts from the HD and Wii/PS2 versions and puts them into one

Like keep the graphics, hub worlds, and daytime levels from the HD version and keep the Gaia Temples, medal collecting system, and nighttime levels from the Wii/PS2 version. Include the DLC levels, bug fixes, general quality of life improvements, and fine-tune the controls a bit too. Maybe even add some extra content that wasn't in the og games to make it even more worthwhile, like more animated shorts and artwork, extra side missions, stuff like that

Also make a pc version. Please for the love of god make a pc version

[wayblaze]

in no particular order, my top 10 favorite albums of all time:

1) turn on the bright lights - interpol (2002)

so yes I did just say in no particular order but this is absolutely my #1 favorite album of all time. this is just a masterfully constructed album, the flow from song to song is seamless in a vibes sense, and it's definitely better than the sum of its songs when listened to in order. honestly couldn't tell you what the album is about, bc I really think this is a sonic success more than anything else. interpol did not really receive widespread fame and acclaim the way similar bands of the era did, but this album has huge critical success nonetheless. it's really just a masterclass in writing a cohesive and exceptional album

2) yoshimi battles the pink robots - the flaming lips (2002)

now actually starting the no particular order, this awesome concepty-story album, coincidentally also from 2002. so I generally think it's true that a good album is better when it's listened to in order, but compared to the interpol album, I feel like each song on ybtpr stands alone a lot better. not to say the story of yoshimi and the pink robots isn't a good one, but each individual piece of music is also really good. the robot sounds and other effects in this one make it a really fun listen as well

3) the rise and fall of ziggy stardust and the spiders from mars - David Bowie (1972)

first off it is truly impossible to make a top 10 music list and not include David Bowie. this one I think beats out his other masterpieces because he's truly nailed the rise and fall. even just the opening song, five years, has such a great build that mirrors the whole album. it makes listening to Ziggy an immersive experience in a way that few artists can do

4) people who can eat people are the luckiest people in the world - ajj (2007)

moving away from rock albums, this is probably a controversial take but I think this is the best folk punk album out there. while it doesn't make the political and social statements that later ajj albums do, I think ajj's take on the world and what we owe the people around us and the importance of radical compassion is so beautiful. nothing makes me have more faith in my fellow man <3

5) in the aeroplane over the sea - neutral milk hotel (1998)

moving right back into non-controversial takes, up next is neutral milk hotels most famous and well loved album. this one is just an experience to listen to. absolutely insane lyrics and bizarre and discordant melodies make this one stand out to me as my favorite weird album. another band that has just nailed the album is better in order thing, especially with the way some songs will flow into each other

6) dengue fever presents electric cambodia - dengue fever, sinn sisamouth, ros serey sothea, pan ron (2010)

okay so this first off I think it's really important to clarify that dengue fever has remastered and compiled songs that were likely not to get any widespread reach, but the actual writer and singers of these are sinn sisamouth, ros serey sothea, and pan ron. sinn sisamouth was of the most prolific and successful singer-songwriters in cambodia in the 60s and 70s. he was pioneering an incredible blend of traditional cambodian sounds with the psychedelic rock music that was becoming very popular in the west for such an incredibly unique and beautiful sound. sinn sisamouth was killed during the cambodian genocide and between the khmer rouge efforts to keep cambodian works from spreading, writing non English songs, and just the passing of time, he never received the recognition and fame he deserved. this compilation barely scratches the surface, he wrote and recorded hundreds of songs that are getting released on Spotify genuinely monthly. absolutely check him out there's nothing else like it

7) funeral - arcade fire (2004)

this is an album that is definitely better listened to in order but omg are the songs themselves beautiful. I'm an especially big fan of neighborhood #1-4 and une annee sans lumiere. just beautiful piano and vocals but it still maintains the rock album vibe

8) hi this is flume (mixtape) - flume (2019)

moving starkly away from rock, up next is hi this is flume. I'm not nearly as big of an edm fan but this is just so fun to listen to. the songs all flow together in a way that feels like you're listening to a live dj, the featured artists are so awesome, and it just tickles my brain in such a good way

9) recomposed by max richter: vivaldi the four seasons - max richter (2014)

so this is definitively classical music. it's absolutely still recognizable as Vivaldi's four seasons but max richters spin is really what makes a classical album make the top 10. not only does he modernize the composition while still maintaining the source materials story and emotions, but the way he uses synthesizers and even like recordings of ambient noise it's just really cool and unique.

10) canyon candy - javelin (2011)

would be remiss not to include a country album but honestly this is way more an experimental conceptual album that happens to have a Western sound than anything. basically, the band found sound bites and snips from different and random vinyls and mixed all that together in the coolest sounding soundtracky western vibe. there's barely lyrics and it's only about 25 minutes long, but it really does manage to feel like a journey when you listen to it

[chaoxfix]

your ideas are so cool my pal! i especially love the themes you're exploring in your stories. i saw a text post you shared earlier about "youth adopting youth" and i had a big AHA moment. i was like, YOU'RE RIGHT. that's the exact type of flavoring in my sonic dynamics that make them SOO interesting. curious what u think of the movies? i find now that sonic has Actual Adoptive Human Parents, that part of his character where sonic is basically is tails' mom + dad + picket fence has no room in the narrative anymore.. which is a bit of a bummer? i mean it's wholesome i guess. but i think sonic was always about how found family can just be a speedy hedgehog, a two-tailed fox and friends, yknow

!! thank you so much!! i’m glad you’re enjoying my fics 🧡🧡🧡

ok first off —

so for those that enjoy the sonic movies— i did too! overall, i have a positive opinion and reception.

for those that love the movie, i really do enjoy the sonic elements to it. it’s fun, it’s cute, the voice acting was great. the writers really nailed it in a lot of areas.

but i have mixed and mostly negative feelings about the human elements of the movies.

i really did want more of a sonic movie. i don’t really… care? about the humans. i loved sonic OVA and other sonic media. i just don’t think we need a human focus or fish out of water storyline to excuse why we’re centering on a video game character. let sonic be the star of the show … in his world … (we even have a cool rock song about it lol)

so here’s my feelings about sonic having human parents vs my ‘youth adopting youth’ feelings:

you’re really right about it feeling like there’s no place for ‘you’re my mom & dad & picked fence’ relationships anymore. and i feel like we lost a lot by replacing youth adopting youth with adults adopting youth.

kids adopting kids is genuinely my favorite trope with sonic. that’s partly because i love adoption stories period… but the thing is, i already get my fill of adults adopting kids plenty with other fandoms. sonic is the only one that really scratches the itch i have for kids/teens looking after other younger kids.

so… my feelings towards the movies kinda reflect that. i’m not against a family storyline, but we already get that storyline in a lot of other non-sonic media. so it makes sonic unique for its found family, kids adopting kids story. the way sonic looks after tails in most sonic media is unique and sweet and super lowkey wholesome when well done. i really liked the stories they can tell and subtle touches they added in the games, sonic x, comics, etc, to show sonic cares about this kid and is in many ways his primary caretaker. its not the focus, sure, but it’s there and it means something to them both.

so by making movie sonic so young and irresponsible, and not making him really responsible for tails long term, instead making sonic’s … parents… responsible for sonic knuckles and tails — it loses the charm of ‘devil may care free spirit contrasted with really caring about his kid brother’. before, the care sonic shows his friends and lil brother added depth to sonics character. but now, well, sonic isn’t fully that carefree character. he’s got a defined family role as the child to two nuclear parents. he can’t just pack up and leave for whatever adventure he wants the way he can in the games, so no devil may care attitude anyway. and the depth of sonic looking after tails is especially lost as 1) sonic isn’t his primary caretaker bc tom and maddie now are, 2) sonic and tails have much more similar maturity levels bc sonic seems way closer in age to tails now, and 3) tails isn’t someone sonic makes a detour for his adventures to look out for as a contrast; there’s not really an ongoing adventure period? and he doesn’t have to slow down to look out for his kid brother if someone else is already doing it.

i also like the dynamic of ‘kids doing their best and still making mistakes’ … whereas tom and maddie are really perfect. in other sonic media and hopefully in my fics, critical analysis of sonics parenting/brothering/guardian style shows it isn’t the healthiest! bc sonic’s 15! duh! he’s gonna get stuff wrong, the important thing is yet he cares! i like the stories ‘kids parenting other kids’ can generate because its unique and fun and has a lot of built in growth and depth, as well as a fun mix of shenanigans and angst when played right.

plus. when you add adults as responsible guardians, characters usually look to them for guidance. whereas in the games… the kids were all the center of the stories. they got to be exclusively responsible for saving the world and all that comes with it, and responsible for each other in really cool and unique ways. sure tom and maddie step back a little in the movies to let their powerful alien kids do their thing, but they’re still central to getting the kids out of danger in a number of scenes.

maddie and tom seem like nice people. they really do! but by including them as parental figures, the teens and kids are no longer able to be their own authority figures. not all the way. and that’s part of what i miss, and part of what i love about other sonic media.

the story the movies tell is very generic kids movie plots meant to reinforce the idea that your parents/guardians should be there and love and support you, which is usually a good thing for kids to see on screen. but it doesn’t have the heart of sonic, because at his heart, sonic as a character is supposed to only be responsible for himself and anything he decides to be responsible for. he’s on his own and he likes it because he can chase adventure to his heart’s content. he loves running and he loves his friends and he loves chasing adrenaline highs.

movie sonic can’t do that if he has parents.

i think the problem kinda lies in one basic element of sonic 2 the movie.

the adventure kicks off while sonics home alone for the first time. after sonics adopted, the second adventure could only occur on this level (sonic can only leave and save the day and become more of a sonic movie and introduce other characters and sonic-esque plots…) because the writers found an excuse to ship maddie and tom off to a wedding and leave sonic alone. sonic doesn’t get to be sonic and go on adventures til they leave.

if the setup for the sonic themes have to only start by exiting the humans… well, maybe the humans don’t need to be there.

anyhow. i still like the movie for a lot of reasons, but at its heart, it only partly felt like a sonic movie. having parents for sonic (and making them primary caregivers for knuckles and tails) irreparably changes a LOT of what of what i love about other sonic media

[transgenderfox]

wait omg drop the elise essay king ‼️

IM ONLY 20 MINUTES INTO CUTSCENES SO EVERYONE IGNORE MY DUMBASS IF ANYTHING I SAY IS BLATANTLY WRONG AND WHATNOT

also this all probably makes no sense bc i wrote it all immediately upon waking up and its very disjointed . (did my best to clean it up for u bestie <3) but anyway

SO. basically i really dont like how elise is just something for sonic to chase after rescuing over and over and over. it feels like in trying to stop amy from being the damsel in distress they were like okay but now we need a NEW one. i dislike how she has such little agency.

my understanding of her backstory so far is her dad puts iblis in her as a kid and then dies because parents have no rights in this franchise. and this sounds !! like SUCH an interesting basis for her character. (again im not at that part yet so almost definitely im missing something but to seal iblis in her feels VERY shitty even if its nessacary for whatever reason, shes only a child.)

you could spin it to be a narrative about childhood abuse or trauma but again i dont have full context yet, if thats not at all where it goes then were i completely rewriting it id go with that personally !!

ANYWAY THE MAIN POINT I WAS GOING ON ABOUT IS WHAT I WANT TO SEE FROM HER:

so far it seems like the plot is just happening around her and to her. shes grabbed shes rescued she plays exposition fairy rinse wash repeat and i think this could actually be used well, as a starting point for her arc.

that line saying shes a good girl stuck out to me, as thats what you call children who dont cause problems. and well. what is a problem if not iblis. this heavy focus on being "good" and having to repress everything to keep iblis at bay will obviously weigh on someone, especially a child. this girl can bottle up so many dang emotions. she can be a true lesson in toxic positivity !! she also strikes me as very lonely (not uncommon with royal characters in sonic, like blaze)

so, shes a good (read: obedient) child who tells herself she has to always be happy for everyone elses sake. that her pain will harm others greatly.

mirroring how she had no control in the decision to harbour iblis, she allows herself to be pulled about by the plot for a while. (maybe acting independently doesnt even feel like an option to her, because she doesnt fully know what will awaken iblis, making her feel the best way to keep the world safe is to do nothing??? sacrificing herself for the worlds sake if you will.) shes been stripped of control her whole life so why would she act differently now?

she cannot be sad. so beneath everything, all of her sadness turns into anger that shes keeping at bay. why her?

i want her to have this unimaginable deeply repressed anger at her father and what he did. and i dont know what it would be, but i want something to act as a catalyst for her finally snapping, and she takes control of her story and chooses to set iblis free. she becomes the monster at her own volition. in "losing control" she finally gains it.

as i said to my best friend: i want a work of fiction where the woman is allowed to go really insane and be grotesque. where theres nothing pretty about her situation at all.

like i said, she strikes me as very lonely, and maybe the genuine bond she gained with sonic and co throughout the game is where her defeat will come from.

after all this isnt nessacarily her its her pain and her anguish. its something thats been mounting for years and years because of everything that happened to her. her whole life she has been her pain, all her actions (and lack thereof) for the sake of everyone else because she is the iblis trigger. but with sonic and everyone, for the first time in her life shes not that, shes elise, their friend. they love her genuinely and they want her to live life on her own terms.

THAT IS THE GENERAL GIST OF WHAT I THINK WOULD BE COOL ! if nothing else i think itd make for a neat au (villain au? though i dont really wanna see her stay a villain i iwant this to be more a metaphor for healing) but YA. im expected the timeline to now warp so this has always been true and everyone goes "wym this was litearlly the whole plot" wish me luck besties <3

[eggoreviews]

Smash Bros. Ultimate  FINAL ROSTER PREDICTIONS (Redux)

I already did this, but loadsss of stuff changed since then. As release day draws closer, I thought I’d sift through my predictions for characters. Have a read if u want, then if you disagree lemme know bc my hype hasn’t died down since it was announced i need help (and hey if u look at my old prediction post, I already predicted Simon, K. Rool and Dark Samus so I can’t be the worst, right?)

Okay so my predictions have changed A LOT since I started this blog a few months ago and I think I’ve narrowed it down a lil now. So to put it simply, I think we’re definitely getting one more Smash based direct in October/November. Considering the fact that they’ve got the Mystery Mode™, online play and a whole load of other modes/assists/a few characters we aren’t aware of yet, I reckon they’ll have plenty to talk about in it. My other prediction is that we’re getting 2 newcomers and 1 more echo MINIMUM. Could get maybe a couple more echoes or 1 or 2 standalone character reveals as a stretch but I think we can at least expect that much.

Characters (Base Roster)

Geno (Super Mario RPG)

This wooden eggo has been the only character that’s been a constant in my predictions since the get go, despite the fact that I know basically nothing about him. But he’s the character I’m most confident about getting in.

This newcomer cycle has had a big ol focus on fan appeal this time, most likely stemming from the ballot. This was kind of clear from the Ridley reveal, but the addition of King K. Rool kind of made this a lot more likely. And I would go as far as to say that Geno is probably the most highly requested Smash character since ever.

Sakurai has stated multiple times that he wanted Geno in Brawl and then in Smash 4, but the best he could get was a mii costume. But yeah, not a lot of characters can say that they not only have long standing fan demand, but also are wanted by Sakurai himself.

Considering that Square Enix were previously unwilling to play ball with Nintendo on Geno, but then they went and put arguably their most lucrative character in Cloud as DLC for Smash 4, I don’t think Square’s gonna be too bothered about handing over this character, especially since it’s a character they’re never going to do anything with (Don’t know about you but I’m not seeing a Mario RPG sequel in the pipeline)

And as much as I hate to allude to leakers in my predictions, you can’t deny the fact that Vergeben has not gotten a single thing wrong regarding Smash so far. And he has mentioned a new Square rep and I honestly don’t know who else that could be. Chrono? Lara Croft? But then there’s no way either of those beat Geno in the ballot.

Incineroar (Pokemon)

We’ve yet to receive a Pokemon in this game and really that’s reason enough in itself. Considering that we’ve had at least one new Pokemon rep in every game, I v much doubt they’ll break that tradition now

The two Big Guesses that everyone has been throwing out since day 1 have been Incineroar and Decidueye, both from Gen 7, as we know from Smash 4′s Greninja inclusion that Pokemon is the only franchise with the power to get a rep in before their game releases. And because of this, Pokemon reps are the only ones that are exceptions of my usual rule to discount any characters that released after the time Sakurai has stated he locked in the roster for this game in 2015/16 (looking at Spring Man and Rex & Pyra here, but I’m almost certain they will be DLC)

Yet again, calling on Vergeben here. He has explicitly said Incineroar is in over Decidueye. But hey, he’s not god so he could be wrong eventually. I’m still fairly convinced of Incineroar’s inclusion tho (as much as I’d prefer Decidueye)

Ken as a Ryu echo (Street Fighter)

Ken is the only echo I’m convinced is getting in. A lot of this is honestly, again, down to Vergeben’s leaks and a screenshot of Ken in a Smash Ultimate stage that has yet to be debunked. I don’t have a lot to say on this character purely because I don’t think there are many more people that need convincing.

Shadow the Hedgehog (Sonic series)

Shadow’s assist is missing and has been replaced out of nowhere with Knuckles, as you probably know. This is a huge notch in his favour, especially if you consider that Isabelle’s assist was replaced with Kapp’n in the August direct and now ta dah here she is. Honestly, with Shadow I think it’s only a matter of time, whether they release him as an echo alongside Ken in the final direct in the same way they did with Dark Samus and Chrom or they save him for DLC as a unique fighter (if Isabelle can be unique, Shadow definitely can).

These four are my picks for the most likely characters left to be revealed, but hey there’s some Hot Picks™  that I left out that u may be curious about so here’s why they’re not here. I guess you could call these my back ups, but they all have too much doubt around them for me to place them in my main predictions (a lot of this is pure speculation so I’m probably wrong but what the hell):

Isaac (Golden Sun) - Now don’t get me wrong, I know Isaac has his fans and he genuinely has a good shot of getting in to Ultimate, especially if you consider that the only new first party franchise we’ve had so far is Splatoon. But what’s holding him back in my mind is that the likes of Ridley and K. Rool are in, villains from huge franchises that have had endless support since forever. And while Isaac has some sense of seniority, I don’t think his place on the ballot matched that of those particular characters. And if the likes of Ashley and Shovel Knight have been assist’d, I can’t see Isaac placing any higher than them if you think about how niche Golden Sun is (but u know, look how ‘niche’ Mario RPG is and Geno’s way up on my list so don’t listen to me). The other thing is that, in the E3 presentation, it was revealed that there are ‘over 50′ assist trophies in this game. We’re currently aware of 40, a fair majority of which have returned from previous games. That doesn’t look good for characters like Isaac if we’re looking at another 12-15 assists to pop up in the next direct. So all I’m saying is, don’t be surprised if that happens. But I definitely think he’ll pop up in some form, whether that be assist or playable.

Skull Kid (Zelda series) - This is one I was uncertain about for a long while, as the fact that his assist is missing and replaced with the Moon from Majora’s Mask is a notch in his favour but I think I’ve settled on the idea that they may be saving Skull Kid for something else: Boss character. We’re all pretty much thinking that mysterious mode is probably gonna be a story mode by now and Ultimate is already filling its boots with iconic characters fitting in as bosses with the likes of Dracula and Rathalos being announced. And as much as I want Skull Kid in, I would say that he is the most iconic Zelda villain besides Ganondorf, which places him in a weird position where he would be v much suited to a character slot but would also make for a viable boss addition. So yeah, could go either way but for me, there’s too much doubt around him to count him as a dead cert for the roster.

Bandana Waddle Dee (Kirby series) - Another very very likely candidate for the roster, this cute lil squishball would complete the Kirby set™ and he’s v popular in Japan. But he’s in the same position as Isaac where I’m not sure he got as much attention as peeps like Ridley and K. Rool. But hey, with Kirby and this character being Sakurai’s babies, this could sway him otherwise (I rlly hope so, can u tell I want him in)

Chorus Kids (Rhythm Heaven) - As my final back up/unsure pick, the Chorus Kids take their spot alongside Isaac in the ‘first party franchises that really need Smash attention’ category. The other things that make me pick the Chorus Kids over others is the fact that people doin’ some digging a while back revealed that the Chorus Kids were a scrapped character from Smash 4 so it isn’t a stretch to say that Sakurai could’ve gone back to that idea and make it work. Plus, the Chorus Kids would tick another box we’ve yet to account for; this game’s ‘weird’ rep. Much like Pokemon, it’s pretty much tradition at this point for each Smash game to contain a newcomer or two from odd franchises that not many would expect (Ice Climbers and Game & Watch in Melee, R.O.B. in Brawl, Wii Fit Trainer and Duck Hunt in Smash 4) and this is yet another tradition I don’t see them abandoning for Ultimate. As well as ticking this box, Chorus Kids are also a v popular pick so I have them in mind as the most likely pick if Sakurai is keeping the usual ‘weird’ rep tradition alive. But really what’s keeping Chorus Kids out of my main predictions is the fact that we have no idea if we’ll even get a rep in that vein this time, especially since competition for roster slots is so intense this time around.

OKAY so that’s all my dudes. If u happened to read my last post, you will notice that my number 1 fave pick ever Rayman is now gone from my predictions. But that’s bc I think he’ll be DLC now. So there you go. Tune in at some point when I’ll probably do a DLC posty boi. Have a good day.

[theskyexists]

Revolution of the Daleks

im actually really happy with this, Yaz not being able to let go. Ryan and Graham having practice. i could wish a million things had happened with Ryan (!) and Graham before but this is as good as it’s gonna get from this point

i like the way they’re trying to imitate the Doctor explicitly

‘this is hard, innit?”

‘have you had work done?’ ‘you can talk!’ (that sounded so Nine and Jack!!! hahahaa) edit: it was litearlly Ten and Jack

reference!

DOCTOR AND JACK HUG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Leo......is a very cynical representation of an amoral scientist.

How the hell is Trump-analogue the sane one here lolololol. but he’s dumb enough to leave incinerating the thing to Leo.

what an idiot - opening the casing. im not really into how the narrative is basically like: trump is right about stupid scientists! hah...

the banter between jack and the doctor is so good? imitation of the original product clearly but still GOOD

love how the Doctor instantly goes - i need to go see the fam

she was in space jail for decades (she doesn’t mention the decades)

THAT MOMENT OF MATERIALISATION WAS SO GOOD

noooooooooooooooo OUCH - ouch! YAZ!

‘im sorreh’

SHE DOESN’T MENTION HOW SHE’S BEEN LOCKED IN PRISON FOR FUCKING DECADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my god Doctor. give them some perspective PLEASE

Jack’s ‘whoops’ is hilarious if you consider his history with teh Doctor

Ryan - god i love Ryan.

Actually didn’t like Graham’s response to Jack. narratively, homophobic

absolutely despise the orange lettering

this episode really goes to show that Chibnall thinks structurally extremely slowly. he picks threads up from ages ago. and then he does do something decent with it. does this mean that the longer he keeps on the better it will get?

i think it’s pretty fuckin hilariously sad though that the companions are once again relegated to couriers - they note that they can’t do stuff on their own (even though the season finale last time gave them ‘Doctor-like’ sequences even if they never managed to impact the story of the Doctor herself - so i guess we’ve gone backwards in this arc) and then they CAN’T do stuff on their own and the Doctor comes in

it’s not the Doctor OR the companions Chibs. and if these companions are just incapable - make that a point! that would be a wonderful contrast to Clara

Woah Jack fuckin infodump

aahahhaa

i do love Yaz’s response. this seems to build up to some final DESERVED - i need to know MORE doctor - now.

‘oh she’s good’ - that’s such a RTD thing to say. chibs just directly copy-pasting a lot here. this is acceptable if he can give it new meaning. inverse meaning

why even drop two people off - whats the Doctor gonna do - nothing?

i actually like the new dalek design very much. oh confront Robertsen? i still can’t get used to the explicit task division set-up - even if this time it was used for characterisation

i - adore. this talk between Jack and Yaz. because it’s Yaz accessing so much shit from the Doctor’s past suddenly. and then it becomes extra clear that Jack’s and the Doctor’s connection was kinda romantic in whatever way - and it’s directly paralleled with Yaz. that romantic tragic attachment - doomed to hurt. (i.e. my fav)

god mandip gill is yeeting this out of the park. I LOVE IT. i love these lines. ‘we’re the lucky ones yaz’ - graham also told her something like this in demons of the punjab.

‘the joy, is worth the pain’ - is it? Jack thinks so - still! my god.that’s so tragic - so beautiful. so much rtd feel here.

jezus chibnall - fuckin sonic gun even???? ‘thanks, that’s it??’ hahahahaha. ok you did good. nobody’s ever impressed at it. LOL DAMN YAZ

‘they’re growing daleks’ - this secondary reveal doesn’t matter bc no reveal would have been a genuine reveal anyway

the new prime minister givin her speech and the doctor explaining daleks should have had snappier editing - specifically the music should not have gone back to simple british empire horns or whatever- but should have had an undertone of dalek in there

really! ALIEN REFERENCES! MY GOD CHIBNALL!!! everybody was thinking it but you did it.... i guess it’s done now. sexual politics wise i’d say Robertsen might have been a much better choice.

guns and explosives will solve everything!!!!!! oh chibnall

i love this lil talk between Ryan and teh Doctor - because it goes to show that the Doctor actually really cared. it would be fitting if they all left now actually lol - that would be nice and dramatic. Jodie is doing great on the acting here - i can FEEL the warning messages in her brains going AAAAAAAAAAA im losing this one!!!!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Ryan - oh finally - finally this is coming out. calling her out, ‘how do you feel about that’‘  - the counsellor

‘things change, all the time, and they should, cos they have to’ - oh ffffff and ryan inverts things on her. oh i would have loved that if they’d done the extensive groundwork for it. now it just feels like a final death knell - the Doctor paternalised in classic Doctor words by her pseudo-son (but not really bc we never got it for real). couldn’t chibnall have left that for a dude actor ....

i love Jodie’s acting here my GOD. the mouth, the thin lips. The Doctor’s thinking - ah ive lost him - he doesn’t need me at all. ‘always’ this is Ryan’s motif actually. Yaz said the same thing about him.

LOL and Leo reveals himself only when the bombs have been planted and the Doctor’s arrived

lol ok that’s a pretty grisly reveal chibs, BUT would have been cooler if Yaz somehow found out herself and not through villain exposition. Robertsen really is VERY good comic relief here ‘this is a pr disaster’

that was actually a GOOD use of the Doctor going hmmm what’s wrong here and Yaz going well maybe this

ok but because chibnall has such dumb and obvious twists all the time it makes the Doctor always look dumb for slowly stumbling through a self-deprecating  explanation. the least authoritative doctor ever my god.... like she could feel the shock to her system coming and that’s why she was born so un-self-assured. hate that shit. not what i wanted

the recon dalek used ultra viiolet light to teleport. lol. but then the Doctor is too late to stop it. hmm a bit uh..........idk conflicted about all the poc getting exterminated at the border...is this irony???

so how is the Dalek electrocuting Leo with nothing but a shitty slime body? also don’t like that. especially because Robertsen is getting away scot free again probably

‘no weapons’ (what about the bombs - couldn’t jack have interjected with knowledge on that shit - before the daleks teleported mysteriously????) ‘no time to think’ - Doctor i thought it was established that you could think at 3000 miles per fraction of a second.

forget it. forget it forget it forget it. chibnall and I will never agree on this. if the Doctor hits rock bottom here - then it better be a companion that picks her back up. nope, she gets back up herself. best job they’ve done so far on that i admit but then they cut immediately to a leisurely discussion as people are getting gunned the fuck down in the streets.

ah, shes inviting the original fleet to destroy these daleks which are ‘corrupted’

why..................did they explain the whole plan before it happened. WHY. OH WHY! is Chibnall so structurally BORING!!!!!!!!!!!!

this would have WORKED as a GOOD twist if he’d made it an actual fucking TWIST. please chibs....let me at the scripts....please....

the stakes are also not well-established because none of the companions said: oh shit but we could barely get rid of ONE, now there’s thousands!

‘they shouldn’t know im here’ *materialises TARDIS right in front of hundreds of Daleks*

this whole scene between the two sets of Daleks would have been great if we hadn’t been spoiled

is................Robertsen gonna pay for his arrogance - ignoring the Doctor? or is the Doctor’s ineffective ‘get back here’ going to be the last we see of this. Betraying the Doctor?

Chibs if you dont make this guy pay i will give up

Ryan stepping up to save Earth. hmmhm.

Jack: w-wait are you okay with this?

Jack she’s been sending these idiots in without supervision for no reason for ages. she just did it with Yaz?? but its a nice era-contrast - even if the meaning is muddled

So i guess Jack’s just got hundreds of bombs on him? at all times?

who the fuck doctors the script

why............did Chibnall regress Graham’s and Ryan’s relationship into awkwardness in their final episode. that’s just plain sad.

inversely, NOW would have been good to know the second plan because then we would have known why the Daleks knowing about the Doctor is bad SPECIFICALLY

‘even if we blow up the ship, theres still SAS daleks marauding through earth’s skies’ she says, like she wasn’t supposed to have a plan to stop them ??????

‘right’ she said, walked off, and then didn’t think of a plan

‘orrr.... you’re gonna have to trust me on this one Yaz’

this is such a TERRIBLE and unsubtle and stupid way to segue into discussing the Doctor’s problems with disappearing

WHY IS CHIBNALL HAVING THEM SAVE ROBERTSEN - fuck this! FUCK THIS!

wow - that’s really shit of the Doctor - just telling a TARDIS to destroy itself completely......

really chibnall.....really you’re gonna let this man get away LIKE THIS. I’m done. i’m done. im sorry but this is not something to just PLAY with. letting a Trump guy get the better of the female Doctor not once, but twice? this makes me so sad. and im done. it’s just insult after insult. he just doesn’t GET it. this is too close to my heart. this is not a GAME. this is supposed to be a  fucking POWER FANTASY - and he can’t even fucking make it that. he can’t discuss the problems with power because he can’t even FATHOM the Doctor as a power fantasy in this form. fuck. this.

‘can you believe that’ - ‘yeah i can’

thanks - thanks for this political hopelessness on top of the real shit Chibnall. that’s not what Doctor Who is about - that’s the starting point - not the fucking end state

i know it’s supposed to be related to Ryan and how it’s quite subtly about making the world a better place politically bc it’s going to hell - and Robertsen is definitely coming back because chibnall just does that shit

but

if he wanted to do that he should have had Ryan and Robertsen have a confrontation this episode

a hug. a HUG. my god. so what was the absence of hugs all about then? now im grumpy about THAT. fck

this is good acting, good lines, good normal ending to Graham’s time in the TARDIS, it ties in just a little bit with his family arc. but it’s not particularly coherent - guess that;s life ?

‘it’s ok to be sad’ - cut to black. that was good

so the conclusion is that all they needed to be like the Doctor is a little gadget. this is deeply incoherent but it appeals to me anyway. and i dont really understand how Robertsen features into protecting the planet from aliens then

what is this weird Ryan speech lol. Tosin did incredibly good on making that seem halfway organic.

ok so Grace appearing made me tear up lol

[episodeshadow]

ok im still letting a lot of the game sink in and while i had a genuinely good time playing forces theres a couple things i just gotta get off my chest as criticisms.

spoilers under the cut

ok so gameplay wise, i liked it! especially custom hero and tag team stages. modern sonics stages were almost as good, but there were times when reactions wouldn’t happen, or trying to turn was less responsive, he just felt a little too loose and slippery, but still pretty good. the classic stages were alright but after playing some of mania they just felt kinda eh :/

ok

one thing that bothers me is how tails was written... he’s depicted as helpless and can’t fight back, completely ignoring how capable he is.  in sa2 when he thinks sonic is dead his reaction is to fight eggman more determined than ever because sonics not there so he has to act alone.  in forces.. well knuckles says that he lost it a little but its not really said what.. but he isnt helping the resistance.  tails would have been at the forefront of the war effort with knuckles amy and the rest but instead hes off doing god knows what because?? and i know if he really thought sonic was dead it would be a lot for him to handle but i dont think the way they portray him accurately represents that. he only comes back when he finds classic. and anytime he is approached by an enemy he only ever cowers away even though its established he is very capable of defending himself in a fight. i dont feel like this game did any favors for tails. :/

also.. why is classic there? like story wise it just didnt feel like his presence was a big point in the plot, overall tails and classics little side story felt like just that - a side story that didnt quite gel w the rest of the story.  he was added to appeal to the 2d sonic fans but i feel like that wasnt necessary.. we just got mania, and if they hadn’t tried to shoehorn him in the dev team couldve spent more time working on modern sonic and custom hero’s gameplay and really adding depth.  instead, we get classic gameplay that feels just a bit too lackluster and modern gameplay that, while enjoyable, felt a little too shallow.

and thats another point i wanna make, is time.  the whole game feels rushed, both plot-wise and game-play wise.  the game itself is not long, i cant remember how many hours it took but it was not many, the stages were all. pretty short. it would have been cool to see a few more locations maybe? and more variety of boss fights or at least showing up in the stage. like why add chaos in the game and then not use them at all.  shadow wasnt a boss fight but he got his dlc so. metal and zavoks fights were ok too. they just. couldve done more. theres only so much story/cutscenes, with the passage of time just shown as text.  it doesnt really let the player feel  the consequences.  oh sonic spent six months in prison? its fine tho here he is again five seconds and one cuscene later.  it wouldve been stronger if we got to see at least a little bit of what happened in those six months.  how battles were lost. its implied a lot of people died, and while they likely wouldnt have shown that, they could have depicted the struggle.  the heroes fighting against eggman but without sonic they find themselves outmatched and caught off guard for the first time, and they tell themselves its ok its just one battle.  But slowly, over time, they win less and less, they see more and more people in terror realizing that this man who they saw as just a ridiculous scientist whos always defeated is suddenly a much more real threat.  We are told that 99% of the world is conquered by Eggman, but I don’t know if it’s just me, but it’s kind of hard to see that.  I just think it would be easier to get emotionally invested and really feel the sense of danger and urgency if we could actually get to see what led up to the point they were at.  They were all inside one bunker.  How did the whole planet become under an iron grip of Eggman that there were hardly any safe places to group?  I also can’t help but feel like the world was “reclaimed” too quickly.. all you had to do was take out the base and the whole area was free again? was the base the only thing that eggman had there? sure you take out enemies in the area but somehow it doesnt feel quite so impactful.  Although i will admit they do acknowledge this during the end, how the effort isn’t over and theres still a lot or work to be done.

likewise, theres just a lot of elements in the game that seem like they are supposed to be dramatic but don’t carry a lot of weight because they were not given time to stew... sonic was thought to be dead for six months but we don’t see them struggle without him and he seems just fine when he comes out of the prison; he’s ready to jump right back into action.  you could have just said he went on a space vacation and the effect would be essentially the same.

then theres the episode shadow dlc, where infinites “backstory” comes up.  we are told that infinte is a mercenary and was working for eggman, as a part of his army?? he was defending eggmans base, the rest of his squad had already been taken out by shadow.  shadow beats up infinite, infinite gets pissy bc he lost and decides hes not gonna be weak anymore, wears a mask and has the ruby.  Why did he react like this? He yells out that he’s not weak, almost like a mantra, even though Shadow never specifically called him that, just worthless and pathetic (damn, Shadow, chill).  Had he been called weak before? A problem he was already dealing with and Shadow just drove him over the edge? We don’t know. Actually, there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know about Infinite. He’s a guy, he was weak but then he wasn’t, and ? That’s it, the game doesn’t divulge anything about the Jackal Squad, we don’t know where Infinite came from, and we don’t even get to see his face in-game.  Although it could be argued that they left his story vague on purpose so that we could all apply our own theories, but.. there’s just so little to go on.  It’s hard for me to come up with specific questions because there’s hardly anything there to ask about.  

that was the main issue with me, everything was rushed.  i think i was expecting the game to go a lot deeper than it did.  Forces seemed to just gloss over a lot of the kind of details that would have made the story so much more gripping and worth getting emotional over.  Instead it felt more like going over a bulleted list of events; the cover summary instead of the novel.  Maybe I was expecting too much but I do think that they had a lot of potential that just wasn’t used to the best it could have been.  The story was there, it just, needed to be fleshed out a lot more. I’m sure there’s some plot holes too but I can’t remember off the top of my head.  Basically, I was hoping there would be... more.

ok thats what i wanted to say, i know im forgetting things and i dont know that any of that made sense but i just wanted to express the things i felt could have been done better/ be improved... i enjoyed the game despite all these things though and now that i typed up this lil mini essay im free to focus on the positives! :)