#i got this really cute classic sonic hat

[ghostpebble]

CHAT MY FRIENDS KNOW ME SO WELL I GOT OUR GIFT EXCHANGE PRESENTS AND THEY ALL GOT ME SONIC STUFF

[bethanythebogwitch]

Digimon 2024 tier list

Like last year, I'm doing a tier list of how much I like each new Digimon released this year. My tiers will be A for Digimon I really like, B for Digimon I like but not as much, and C for Digimon I'm not enthusiastic about. There will also be one S-tier for my favorite of the year and one D-tier for my least favorite of the year. Also I covered Tlalocmon last year, so see that post for my thoughts and I'm not covering the Monster Hunter tie-in mons since they're not in the reference book.

Digimon Liberator has given us a flood of new Digimon so let's start with the mascot's line. Yolkmon, Fluffymon, Pteromon, Galemon, GrandGalemon, and Zephagamon. Yolkmon is my new favorite baby Digimon. A living egg yolk with an eggshell hat is brilliant and adorable. Fluffymon is also a good design. I find it hard to get invested in a lot of the baby Digimon because they're usually just bouncing heads, so having these two stick out of the pack is great. I'll give Yolkmon an A and Fluffymon a B

Pteromon is a great mascot Digimon. It's got that classic mascot look while also looking distinct from all the Agumon expys we tend to get. Archaeopteryx is a great inspiration and we finally get a theropod dinosaur Digimon with feathers, like the real raptors had. A-tier. I'm not as fond of Galemon (B-tier), but GrandGalemon is great. It's a great fusion of the bird/raptor elements and humanoid warrior elements. The armor and weapon look cool and it being one of the vortex warriors (which, as far as I know, were previously only ever mentioned in MedievalGallantmon's reference book entry) is a cool call-back and it even has an indirect connection to Witchelny. An Excellent Digimon deserving an A. Sadly, I can't say the same for Zephagamon. I can't fully explain why I don't really like it. Maybe it's the skinnier design that drops a lot of the bird elements, or its weapons not being as cool as Zephagamon's mace (swords are overdone), or just being tired of Digimon becoming armored humanoid warriors in their final stages, but I can't help but be a bit dissappointed by Zephagamon. The name is also not my favorite. Maybe they went with that to avoid dub name confusion with Zephyrmon/Shutumon. It's gonna be a C-tier.

Debuting alongside Pteromon's line is Shoemon's line. Shoemon is an amazingly adorable Digimon. A patchwork mouse plushy living in a shoe is a cute and very Digimon concept. I love how it uses a sewing needle as a weapon, too. A-tier. Too bad Shoeshoemon isn't as good. A roller-skating plush squirrel should be a fantastic Digimon, but I just don't like the way it looks. It honestly give me Sonic the Hedgehog vibes and I don't care for StH. The name is also really clunky, especially when Skatemon was right there. That being said, it would have been hilarious if each of Shoemon's evolutions just added an extra shoe to the name until we ended up with Shoeshoeshoeshoemon. C-tier.

While I don't care for Shoeshoemon, Chaperomon is another story. A violent little red riding hood doll with a knife, molotov cocktail, and basket-mounted minigun that hunts big bad wolves and turns them into shoes is not only an amazing concept, it is peak Digimon. It may be early in the list, but Chaperomon is my S-tier. Not only is this my favorite Digimon of the year, it is one of my favorite Digimon of all time. Cendrillmon is ok. I do like the design in a vacuum, but I don't really like it as a final form for Shoemon. It loses the patchwork plushy and doll appearance that I like so much and it doesn't really have shoes anymore. I do like the simple yet elegant design and the army of doll familiars. I think if Cendrillmon was introduced as an evolution for a different Digimon, I would like it a lot better. B-tier.

From the web novel side of things comes the new Impmon evolutions: Punkmon, Loudmon, and HeavyMetaldramon. Punk rock variants of the Guilmon line were not something I knew I needed in my life all. They're also a callback to the early planning stage of Digimon Tamers, where Impmon was planned to be the main partner Digimon. I also appreciate the final form being based on Megidramon instead of Gallantmon. Too many Digimon lines end up humanoid at the end. And wings made of electric guitars? Chef's kiss. A for all of them.

Last year, the D-Brigade got an upgrade after years of just being one evolution line, and this year the Royal Base got the same treatment. It was a good choice, too, as cyborg bees is a fantastic concept. ForgeBeemon the construction worker is a great interpretation of worker bees and Vespamon is a much-needed pre-evo to TigerVespamon. It's weird how many times we've gotten an XYmon years before getting a Ymon. Those both get A. QueenBeemon I'm not as fond of. She loses the cyborg elements and just becomes a woman in a bee costume. It's also weird that like half of her reference book entry is dunking on her like she was one of the bad evolution Digimon. The weaponized throne is a cool idea, but I can't give QueenBeemon higher than a B, which I suppose is appropriate.

PolarBearmon and Skadimon are really fun. I like them as a reminder that not all high-level Digimon have to be ferocious monsters, armored warriors, or women in their underwear. Some of them can be cute and friendly. For Frontier fans, am I wrong in thinking that PolarBearmon with its snowball artillery and being a bear looks way more like a proper unified spirit of ice than Daipenmon? Skadimon actually being a mech suit piloted by what looks like a YukimiBotamon is a fantastic design concept. A for both.

Dinomon kicks absolute ass. Dinosaurs are cool, fire is cool, so a dinosaur on fire is extra cool. This thing is the closest we have to a Digimon Godzilla and I love Godzilla. Plus a new mega for Tyrannomon that isn't DinoRexmon or RustTyrannomon is much appreciated. RustTyrannomon leans a bit evil for a heroic Tyrannomon and DinoRexmon looks too silly for my tastes with that giant claw. A-tier.

Elizamon is too cute not to love. A hot pink frilled lizard in a bowtie is adorable, and its contrast with the edgelord Owen Dreadnought is fantastic. Dimetromon is also really cool, being based on one of my favorite Permian animals, but I feel like it loses some of the frilly feminine traits that Elizamon has and the evolutions will have according to the shadowed shots we've seen of them in Liberator. I give Elizamon an A and Dimetromon a B.

MarineBullmon and Ryugumonbeing nudibranchs makes the marine biologist in me happy. I love nudibranchs and more people being exposed to these spectacular sea slugs is a great thing. Of the two, I definitely prefer Ryugumon more. It's elegant design and referencing Japanese mythology is inspired. I'm going to give MarineBullmon a B and Ryugumon an A.

Espimon has needed a full evolution line for a while. It was always weird that it never got an evolution based level 4 given that it technically is a main protagonist partner in Ghost Game. Oblivimon is a fantastic evolution, doubling down on the spaceship design of HoverEspimon and working in UFO stories with how it abducts Digimon to examine them before releasing them with memories modified. The Kuramon drones are also adorable. A-tier. Sadly, after the highs of Oblivimon, it all comes crashing down with Invisimon. Why, why, why did this line of UFO-themed Digimon have to end with a superhero? I am so tired of Digimon lines ending up as humanoids when the rest of the line isn't, and it's especially bad here. Invisimon sticks out like a sore thumb against the amorphous, spaceship-based, stealth and non-combat elements of the rest of the line. The stealth plane thing is neat at least. I get that Invisimon works with the Liberator Espimon's partner being superhero coded, but it fails as an evolution in any other context. If Invisimon wasn't supposed to be the final form of Espimon, it might be a C or B, but as is, this thing is my D-tier.

As for the new Sunarizamon evolutions, I'll admit that I initially didn't like Landramon, but it's grown on me. I really wanted Landramon to be the land counterpart to Airdramon and Seadramon as a serpentine dragon instead of the silly pile of sand. Once I got over that, I came to enjoy the silliness of Landramon and it is a very fitting Sunarizamon evolution. I'll give it a B. Proganomon is not my favorite and it's another case like Invisimon where I'd probably like it more if it was part of a different evolution line. It's just so out of place in the Sunarizamon line having no sand elements and using technology. I think it would work much better as a Tortomon evolution and a pre-evo to ElDoradimon or even JumboGamemon. I think I'll give it a C. I don't hate it, but I'm not all that impressed either. Pyramidimon, on the other hand, is amazing. It looks like a badass Yu-Gi-Oh monster from when the franchise was still themed around ancient Egypt. I can see it being a great fit with other Egyptian Digimon like Pharaohmon and Anubimon. Pyramidimon almost dethroned Chaperomon's place as my S-tier, putting it as an easy A.

The other big source of new Digimon this year was New Century and it's a crime that game hasn't been released outside of China yet. I covered Takutomon last year and wasn't impressed. I found it visually uninteresting and the armored human is an overused design. Takutomon Wrath Mode has a more interesting design, but I'm still not that interested in it. I think that humanoid armored warrior Digimon have to do something really interesting to stand out from the her and this one just doesn't. He also loses his little Appmon pet. Maybe that's why he's so angry. I'm also surprised that the reference book art is somehow better than the New Century art, which is angled so that most of its body is covered by its leg. C.

If a humanoid armored warrior Digimon has to do something interesting to stand out, Erlangmon does that well. The idea of the warrior fighting alongside a flying wolf head is very unique and fun. Plus, spears are underused as weapons, so it's nice to see one here. Erlangmon is also a shapeshifter, which could be a lot of fun to work with in stories. I have a fanfic in mind that I might use Erlangmon in. I give it an A. Unfortunately, while Erlangmon soars, Erlangmon Blast Mode crashes and burns. Turning the wolf head into a part of the armor loses that cool factor and makes it look so much more generic. Down to C with you.

Nezhamon is also fun. There's a lot of references to the original myth, like turning the wind fire wheel into tires on the ankles and having Nezhamon look young. The merging of the mythology with modern machienery makes for a very Digimon design. Plus, he has a spear and I'm a sucker for weapons where one part floats instead of being attached. I'll go A.

The last New Century Digimon is Jougamon and I like how this one is based on the same moon rabbit origins of Dianamon while still having a totally unique look. The gold coloration looks nice and I love the giant crescent moon blade and dancing fighting style. I'll put it as a strong B.

Our last new entry for the year is Cernumon. Well technically Callismon was added to the reference book this year, but that's not a new Digimon, it's an escapee from V-Tamer jail. Cernumon is such a creative design. A musical instrument, foresty deer god is both very fun and very Digimon. Cernumon comes from the horned Celtic god Cernunnos. Digimon had the opportunity to just make Cernumon a deer man and I'm very grad they decided to get more creative. A-tier.

Here's the final tier list. It's heavily weighted toward the A-tier, which is a good thing. I'm glad that the majority of new Digimon are so cool and likable.

S: Chaperomon

A: Yolkmon, GrandGalemon, Shoemon, Punkmon, Loudmon, HeavyMetaldramon, ForgeBeemon, Vespamon, PolarBearmon, Skadimon, Dinomon, Elizamon, Ryugumon, Oblivimon, Pyramidimon, Erlangmon, Nezhamon, Cernumon

B: Fluffymon, Galemon, Cendrillmon, QueenBeemon, Dimetromon, MarineBullmon, Landramon, Jougamon.

C: Zephagamon, Shoeshoemon, Proganomon, Takutomon Wrath Mode, Erlangmon Blast Mode.

D: Invisimon

[truebluewhocanoe]

assigning a Pokemon to every Doctor Who

Because I Want To(TM)

Gonna do this within the specific Pokemon/Doctor Who crossover AU framework of: 1. Pokemon exist everywhere in the universe and 2. The Doctor's partner Pokemon is actually connected to the TARDIS. It's like a little part of her personality that she sounds out to accompany the Doctor and help them out.

Also, I'm choosing first-stage Pokemon, mainly so that there isn't imbalances in strength between choices. Let's just say that this TARDIS partner Pokemon can evolve on the fly when needed but prefers to be small and cute.

Okay, with that out of the way, let's go!

First Doctor: Eevee It's a classic that's full of potential, not quite done cooking but already iconic.

Second Doctor: Zorua Crafty yet adorable. I can just picture Jamie and Zoe cooing over it and lapping up all the adoration. Illusions are very, very handy in a pinch!

Third Doctor: Pichu It can power his gadgets! It can nibble on wires to foil villains' plans! It matches the color scheme of his sonic screwdriver!

Four Doctor: Cottonee Extremely fluffy- I like to think it hides in his hair. Insert grass-type-weed joke here.

Fifth Doctor: Fomantis It rides around on his lapel instead of the celery! Also, its evolution Lurantis has matching baconpants.

Sixth Doctor: Litten It's a cat, it's a fire type, I shouldn't really need to explain this one. (It uses Sunny Day to help give Peri's plants sunlight!)

Seventh Doctor: Murkrow Clever, shady, and has a nice hat. (I also headcanon Ace with a Combusken, so Seven & Ace both have birds.)

Eighth Doctor: Litwick Ghostly candle matches his gothic edgelord vibes. Probably won't steal your soul.

War Doctor: Lucario Making an exemption to the first-stage rule because the Warrior doesn't have time to mess around. Despite joining the Warrior in full-on combat, Lucarios have an in-built sense of right and wrong. Proof, perhaps, that the Warrior hasn't entirely lost his way...

Ninth Doctor: Houndour A bit intimidating, a bit prickly, but deep down, it's still a good dog at the end of the day.

Tenth Doctor: Shinx Keeping with the canine themeing but this time upping the cuddly. Don't think too hard about how dangerous electricity can be.

Eleventh Doctor: Rowlet Okay, this one's just cuz it has a bowtie.

Twelfth Doctor: Noibat It's a living boombox! I like to think that the Noibat holds a guitar sound cord in its mouth to amplify the Doctor's guitar playing through its ears.

Thirteenth Doctor: Swablu Similar typing and evolution line to the previous, but this one takes the joyful exterior to the max. It even matches her color scheme!

That's all I've got for now, if you have different ideas for partner Pokemon, or for other Doctors that I didn't tackle, please tell me about them!

[goron-king-darunia]

Annon-Guy: How were the costumes for Sonic, Tails, Amy, Cream, Shadow, Rouge, Omega, Vector, Knuckles, Silver, Blaze and Mephiles?

Hope the IDW Halloween Special was to your liking.

Dropping the post here for anyone who missed it.

Jester Sonic is Serving Absolute Pomni TADC vibes and I dig it a lot, honestly.

Tails is always cute, but Knight Tails honestly serves his character so much. I know he gets pigeonholed as a coward or a geek a lot now, but Tails' inception was all about that "little brother trying to be the hero he sees in his big brother" energy and his main arc for a while was discovering that he could be the hero on his own, and a knight in shining armor costume sells that so well.

Fortune-teller/Tarot Amy is a nice callback to the retro Amy, and I do enjoy the bohemian style. But I do have to wonder if that's considered a caricature or not or if calling it bohemian at all is outdated or even racist at this point. Regardless, I have always enjoyed that style of flowing layers and bangles.

Drummer Cream seems a little out of left field to me, as does that green glove, but the glam rock aesthetic looks super cute on her and Cheese is absolutely adorable.

Shadow's look reads more to me as Kingdom Hearts or Hot Topic Scene rather than idol, but regardless, he absolutely pulls it off and I think it's one of the best aesthetics on display here.

The Valkyrie look on Rouge is stunning, and while that surcoat/long loincloth piece does have some erotic connotations with the whole fur bikini barbarian attire in a lot of fantasy armor, Rouge's silhouette is no longer a skin-tight latex bust suit, and I like that a lot.

Silver in the Cyber suit is a little on the nose, but styling it like his knight armor does give it pizazz.

Pyromancer Blaze is also a bit on the nose, but the classic purple on purple for her still looks great, and the way they styled that hood to maintain her silhouette is nice.

Treasure Hunter Knuckles is a classic. I'm still not sure why the cowboy hat got associated with the treasure-hunter look because if it's styled after Indiana Jones... Indie wears a Fedora, which is similar but not the same. Regardless, I to think it works just as well but I will forever wonder if that was a deliberate choice or if they got their hats confused when designing the look.

DJ Vector is, again, a little uncreative, but it IS a classic reference and I love that cheeky borderline SUPREME design with the Chaotix hoodie. I'm just never going to get over how the Sonic Characters wear headphones. It's hard enough for human beings to wear headphones but Vector has no external ears, so how do they not keep falling off?

Linebacker Omega doesn't quite make thematic sense, but it makes aesthetic sense. The pauldrons being the big padded shoulders really sell the silhouette and the green is quite a nice alternative to his usual red.

I'm not sure Mephiles screams Oni in the classical sense and reads more like a lich king to me, but it's a fitting style, regardless.

As for the comic dub, while the story was simple and a little childish, it does the plot well, and the voice acting is top tier, along with the use of the Pumpkin Hill Instrumental as a backing track.

[bluefirewrites]

Sky High Mall!AU Part 2

Hey this is another excerpt from the Sky High Zach x Magenta WIP that I never finished (hence WIP). 

It’s a Mall!AU where the characters are kids with summer jobs at the mall. No powers and it’s set around the time the movie came out- 2005. 

Part 1: https://bluefirewrites.tumblr.com/post/636284063233327104/sky-high-mallau

Would be Rated T and there’s excessive use of language throughout. 

This excerpt would be Zach’s perspective working at the music store at the mall. Enjoy!

_____________

Zach booked it down the mall, zooming past the crowd gathered at Sonic Boom, the music store

The music store he worked at.

The one he was supposed to be at right about now.

He pushed through the crowd, getting to the front where his coworker was working the register, seeming to throw the albums at the customers because it was that busy.

Zach loved his job... on any other day. He was a total musichead and he thought it was a long shot to even snag the job, considering it was common knowledge that it was run by Boomer who was a total hardass and pretty unforgiving to those who he deemed had shitty music taste.

He had seemed to wow him enough during the interview, which had been merely them talking about the music he listened to. Thank god, he had just enough of an eclectic music taste that he was able to keep up with whatever soft rock ‘80s classic question that Boomer threw his way.

The Black Eyed Peas album just dropped today and everyone had been clamoring to get in to grab it, so it meant all hands on deck. But only the hands that Boomer could afford to pay right now, so it was only Speed there at the moment.

Zach leapt over the counter, shedding his jacket to reveal his shirt already sporting his name tag, “Yo, is Boom here yet?”

“Cutting it close, freshie,” The senior looked like he wanted to throttle him for leaving him hanging longer than he should have. But it was only like 5 minutes, and Zach had been rushing from summer school to make it home, get ready, then come straight to the mall. He did the best he could.

“You know you can stick a hat on it right?” Speed ruffled his hair while tapping his own cap, messing up the gel that he had put in there before he came to the store and greasing up his hands in the process.

“Hey!” Zach cursed him out for deflating his hair as well as making him pick up the slack while Speed wipes off the hair gel.

Speed always pulled shit like this on him. He hated having shifts with a guy who loved to pick on him, and not in the friendly-joking way that he was used to.

For the next couple of minutes, the two of them were able to go ring up the crowd quickly, even shrunk down the amount of people in the store to half of its capacity. It was still busy, but it was more manageable than before that it actually freed up Speed to do his laps around the store, trying to quell the crowd and mitigate whatever problem came up that would have resulted in calling in the manager.

20 minutes later, they both had a lid on the situation. Only because they were pretty much no more copies of Monkey Business. Zach was about to check if they had more when he realized that the store was eerily quiet. He had just noticed that the TVs around the place were turned off and no music was playing in the store.

Zach went for the sound system dial towards the back of the store but Speed came from behind and beat him to it, “You snooze, you lose, freshie.” His coworker sliding in a Snoop Dogg CD he had snagged from earlier.

He groaned. Zach didn’t mind Snoop, but Speed would play it almost nonstop every time Zach can’t reach the dial fast enough. Speed had almost no taste, always playing chart toppers and whatever cute girls would request (which usually would be chart toppers).

Speed waltzed over to the records, getting high-fives from a couple of customers on the way over, “It’s what the people love!”

“Not Boomer,” Zach pointed out, whilst walking over to the main displays up front. The crowd had kept bumping to the table so he had to make it look tidy.

“But Boomer ain’t here. He’s never here,”

Zach looked up and caught a glimpse of his hair on the main monitor that was supposed to feature the Black Eyed Peas music videos. Shit.  It was sticking out in weird places and looked deflated in others. He ran his hair through it and tried to zhuzh it up with his fingers but nothing seemed to be staying.

“Aww.You’re still pissy about your hair? Did you a favor, dorkwad,”

Zach rolled his eyes. Normally, he would try to steer clear of Speed and try not to notice him. But his co-worker seemed to be in such a talkative mood today, “It was fine the way it was, Speed.” He finished resetting the table cloth and arranging the display how it was supposed to look before turning around to help a customer find a Celine Dion CD.

“Stop being such a tryhard,” Speed said to him as he passed with the customer, “The ladies like it when you’re chill.”

“How would you know that?” A new voice added. Once Zach successfully helped the customer, he whirled around to find his buddy, Will. He took notice of the blue shirt and gray khakis and figured he had work today at Champs. He barely saw Will anymore due to Zach having summer school and their schedules never seemed to match up.

“Shut the fuck up, Stronghold,” Speed sneered at the newcomer.

Will paid him no mind while he shook Zach’s hand before bringing him in for a quick hug, “Zach-Attack!”

“Will, like it’s not great to see you, cuz it is. Great. To see you, that is,” Zach kept on the lookout for Boomer while walking towards the register because Speed had left it unattended, “Kinda not a good time right now, man.”

Will greet a few other people he knew around the store. He scanned the big displays and the cardboard cutouts on the front, “BEP?”

“BEP,” The blonde confirmed, “And I’m already on Boomer’s bad side for fucking up with the Mariah Carey launch.”

His friend clicked his tongue, recalling that certain incident. Zach remembered that Will had been working his shift downstairs when he heard Boomer let him have it. He had heard Boomer all the way from down there- that was how bad it was.

“How were you supposed to stop a bunch of nimrods from defacing her cut out?”

Zach shuddered at the thought of all the obscene Sharpie marks all over Mariah Carey’s cardboard figure, “I swear, Speed had something to do with it. That guy has got it out for me ever since I started working this joint,” he whispered.

“It’s because out of everyone here, you’re the customers’ favorite. You actually know your shit,”

Zach figured that it was somewhat true. They would get regulars pretty often and they always seemed to gravitate towards him. Zach did enjoy making connections with everyone no matter what their music taste was.

One time, this one guy came in, all in orange, who had been tentative in asking where the classical music selection was. Luckily, Zach got to him first before Speed could roast him. And good thing too, because that guy became one of his favorite regulars. He might be working at Radio Shack, the last he heard from him.

“Thanks, man,” Zach really appreciated it. Sometimes he couldn’t help but get all up in his head at his job. He wanted to do really well and hopefully one day he would have worked enough hours to save up for a car. He had been getting real tired of having to rush on his bike everywhere and being constantly late.

“But seriously, scatter. Don’t make me have to kick you out.” he joked to his smaller friend.  

“Yeah, Stronghold. Go back to dealing with smelly feet all day,” Speed yelled from his side of the store.

“You’re just jealous because I got the job and you didn’t,”

Zach had to hold back a laugh seeing Speed getting worked up so quickly. He had heard Speed bitching about being passed over the job at Foot Locker constantly. The guy had been a total sneakerhead so it had been a crushing blow to his ego that a freshman got the position while he was stuck working for cantankerous Boomer.

“Whatever, man. You probably got it because you’re a Stronghold,”

Will shook his head, the jabs of his dad being the Mayor never really fazing him much anymore, “Remind me again, how did you get the name, Speed, again?”

The rotund bully growled. Everyone knew that there were two stories that could have explained how Speed got his infamous moniker. One was because  all the joyrides in his Jeep that resulted in property damage. The other well… had to do with distributing contraband. Bringing up either, was cause for a beatdown.

Speed advanced towards Will, ready to punch him square in the face, no matter how many onlookers in the store gathered around to watch the debacle. Zach had to vault over the counter, to get in between the two when all of the sudden a resounding yell broke through the clatter that made all parties involved wince and cover their ears.

“Ladies, enough!”

Boom strolled in, aviators perched on his crooked nose, commanding the attention of the room- as if his voice didn’t do that already. He came up beside Zach, poking at Will to step backwards until he was out of the store,“Shouldn’t you be downstairs, Stronghold?”

“Yes, Boomer,” He shouldered his bag before throwing a passing glance at Zach. Good luck, he seemed to emote.

Rightfully so because all of the sudden Boomer marched over to him, “Why if it isn’t Superstar, here to grace us with your presence,” His eyes landed on the BEP display and noted the dwindling number of albums, “Restock those will ya? And Speed” he turned to the older boy, “you’re relieved of your post.”

Speed looked up to the heavens, “Thank fuck.”

“Language!”

He straightened up, “Sorry, sir,” Then he ducked for the back, switching off Snoop Dogg as he did so. Zach followed suit to where they did inventory and found another box of the albums and hauled ass back out to replace the albums on the display.

“Now, get to that, will you,” Boomer ordered while counting up the till to see if everything was where it should be, “And if I see a hint of Sharpie on either of those cardboard figures, your ass is mine, kid.”

Zach almost let out a laugh but remembered it was Boomer. He meant everything to be a threat, “O-okay,” he managed to get out without laughing. Then he saw Boomer closing up the register and heading for the door, “Wait? You’re leaving already?”

“Yeah. I’m the owner. I can do what I want,”

“I mean, since I’m like the only guy here and it’s a pretty busy day- I thought-”

“You thought what? That you need help?” he seemed to project the full force of his voice at him that Zach cowered against his better judgement.

“Listen, I started this shop to fill it with music,” His boss went off, “Real music. Not what passes off as music these days. Those hip grinding degenerates are showing up by the boatloads today and I don’t wanna be here when they do.”

A little boy approached the man, tugging against his cargo shorts, “Excuse me, where are the Eminem CDs?”

Boomer looked at the kid with disgust and shimmied him off, “That’s my cue,” He scrounged his pockets for the keys and tossed them Zach’s way, “Here, you’re closing up today.”

“What the-?” Zach nearly fumbled with the keys, “Again?” He had been closing every night this week, despite not actually being allowed to, with him being 15 and all. But Boomer had an arrangement with Ron Wilson, security guard who patrols at night.

“Don’t mess this up for me, Blondie!” His boss yelled just an influx of people arrived at the store, hungrily grabbing the CDs off the display he had just finished restocking.

“I’ll try,” he responded, knowing full well that Boomer could not hear him. Speed sped by, sticking his tongue at him on his way to freedom. The line of people had started forming and Zach cracked his knuckles- no choice but to face them on his own.

[stealinghero]

So I just came back from the Sonic movie (Loved It!) and it got me thinking. What if the Lupin Gang + Zenigata found out their s/o was an alien but they looked human for the most part. The pupils in their eyes are a little different and they always kept the top of their head covered so no one could see their Vulcan ears and cute little antennas.

So cute!!! Little antennas??? N’Awwww! Cute!! With requests like this I think Zenigata is the only sane person in this universe. ô__o

Lupin:

- knew something was off, but couldn’t tell what it is, sometimes saw the antennas, but didn’t register them as something that didn’t belong there. One morning his s/o had forgotten their wig and Lupin greeted them normally, sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. He even complimented them on the nice colour of their antennas... sometimes he’s a bit too far away from this world

- he really discovers it, when he wants to join his s/o in the shower and suddenly there’s more ear to nibble on or a body part more than he expected

- wants to know all the tricks behind the masks his s/o wore in order to hide them being an alien, and will surely try to use his s/o to freak out Zenigata

- loves the eyes of his s/o the most and bluntly asks if all the aliens have their beautiful eyes

- loves his s/o even more because now they’re not only his special s/o, but a SPECIAL s/o no one else has. Needs his s/o to remind him, that it could be dangerous for him to go out and tell the world how special his s/o really is

Jigen:

- knew it from the start. He’s a skilled gunman and knows if someone is NOT a human

- if his s/o is 98% human, he doesn’t care much, but will need to know that there are no more secrets between them like a third leg or his s/o haveing an appetite for human flesh

- trusts that his s/o can cheat the other people about them being an alien, but when something happens that could expose them, Jigen will step in. Like when it rains and the normally fluffy hair that hides the small antennas fell down flat, he just puts his hat on them like nothing happened

- on a calm night, will want to know everything about his s/o, especially if they are together with him just for a test or something (is a bit paranoid about classical alien abductions)

Goemon:

- isn’t he a kind of an alien himself? I mean, he’s human, yes.... but what kind of one??

- what is an alien if not just a visitor from a far away place? It’s like calling an American in Japan an alien. So he doesn’t care how far the home of his s/o is away. It takes a bit for him to realize that a million lightyears is actually VERY FAR away.

- but if his s/o tells him they’re from a warrior race, it changes. He will want to fight them and learn about their fighting styles and skills

- isn’t a big fan of appearance, so it will take him some time to recognize his s/o isn’t actually a human. “What do you mean, huans don’t have antennas? They look so natural on them.”

- can and will defend his s/o from any harm and wishes his s/o wouldn’t wear any costumes/wigs/masks to hide their true nature

Zenigata:

- a huge shock!!

- an actual alien?! A real alien? Like E.T? Or any other slimy, grey creature with those big black eyes??? Will need his s/o to explain ANY anormaly to him.

- when he finally calmed down from shouting and freaking out (if it’s just the antennas) and gets to know his s/o is NOT dangerous to the human race, he will try to make a lame joke and try to use his radio set to comminicate with his s/o. It’s purely up to them if they laugh or kill him from annoyance.

- there will be a long time before he can be intimate with his s/o, actually feels a lot more insecure of his body if his s/o is from a tougher race

- the point of acceptance is when he asks them if he needs to change his cooking style for them, like leave out the pepper or anything that his s/o might be allergic to

[sonicfanj]

I’m a big fan of AUs and the freedom that fans have to explore Sonic or any fandom in ways that diverge from the source material, but with AUs and more recent Sonic stuff being what a lot of new fans brought in from the movie will see, the possibility of providing false information is far to high if we are not careful. That SEGA also spreads misinformation only makes matter worse and it is the heart of this particular post.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic that SEGA perpetrates both through retcons and from Sonic Generations onward is that Sonic before the Sonic Adventure (Adventure henceforth )rebranding back in 1998/1999 is that “Classic Sonic “ as he is dubbed these days is possessed of an age of around eleven and is even shorter than Sonic’s 1 meter/3′3″ height. The height can actually be sourced to a profile of Metal Sonic’s that lists him at around seventy something centimeters as well as Generations making him shorter to account for the difference in proportions. But the truth is, Sonic was always listed at 1 meter tall, both before and after the Adventure redesign.

[Character height chart for reference - http://info.sonicretro.org/images/9/99/Classic_character_heights.svg]

Age on the other hand is where things get really strange. Again, a retcon for Generations makes sense to an extent, especially when you consider that the characters had their ages shuffled around as it was with the Adventure redesign. Amy aged up from 8 to 12 and Knuckles aged up from 15 to 16. Tails remained the same but Sonic actually received a subtle change. Bios that listed Sonic’s age before Adventure typically listed him at 15 to 16 years old. That would actually make him the same age or older than his Adventure onward counterpart. But it gets even weirder. According to the Sonic Technical Files (currently hosted by Sonnic Fansite Sonic Retro here - http://info.sonicretro.org/Original_Story) Sonic was actually originally thought about to be even older, around 18 years old. Suddenly, Sonic from his typically dubbed Classic Era is actually definitively older than his modern counterpart, yet is portrayed as a younger bubbly child from Sonic Generations onward. And I assure you, this is a retcon.

If you grew up in the 90s like I did and were introduced to Sonic when he debuted back in 1991, then you will remember the western advertising over embracing his teenager with an attitude description. And it wasn’t just in game ads, it was in all Sonic media available in the west. The US cartoons, the Archie and Fleetway comics, and so on, portrayed Sonic as an uppity teenager with an attitude problem (some cases being far worse than others). That teenager of a high school age mentality was the backbone for why the Archie Sonic comics were littered with teenager romance drama, which would look rather distasteful if you think about it post retcons now. But they were not at fault for portraying Sonic based on being high school age. The material and information they were provided told them as such and so they based their interpretations off of that available information.

But it wasn’t just a western mistake either. If not for input from key members of SEGA of America (henceforth SoA) Sonic would be rather different and would even have had a human girlfriend by the name of Madona who was anything but a child.

[Pic here - https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/sonic/images/d/dc/Madonna.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090313035151]

Madonna was not the only time it happened either as one of the last pieces of pre-Adventure release Classic Sonic material is the Sonic OVA or Movie produced by Japanese animation studio Studio Peirrot where a catgirl (read human girl with cat ears and a tail) was the main love interest and whom even Eggman/Robotnik wanted to marry (it’s weird, I don’t argue that). But more importantly, two of Sonic’s primary creators, Yuji Naka and Naoto Oshima, were listed as Production Directors for the two episode Original Video Animation (OVA) and were rumored to be involved quite a bit with the film. You can typically find it on youtube though I recomend the subbed version, bad video quality and all, to get a better representation of the Japanese perspective. It’s really eye opening and was very nostalgic in when I first watched it post Sonic Generations release.

The thing is though, the OVA released in 1996, years before the Adventure rebranding, and is strongly believed to be how Naka and Oshima see the character. This is actually reflected in the Sonic Adventure redesign as Yuji Naka on record (a shame I can’t find the link) has stated that Sonic was redesigned to bring him closer to the original character idea and to erase the growing cute identity that he was developing due to marketing. He even goes on to say that Sonic was never intended to be cute and that being a cute mascot character would inevitably pit him against Hello Kitty which would not have ended well. Yet, SEGA retconned the Naka/Oshima Sonic into being a bubbly hyperactive kid who was much shorter and generally hyper cute compared to his more modern interpretation of the character. This retcon is only made even more complicated when SEGA decided they didn’t like their “New” Classic Sonic being treated as the same character as their Legacy Sonic and even retconned that come Sonic Forces to say that he was actually from a different dimension. Years after Sonic Forces release that decision still riles up many more dedicated fans as it breaks the series continuity. Arguably, it has too. After all, if Naka/Oshima Sonic is older than Legacy/Modern Sonic and has the same height yet New Classic Sonic is shorter and strangely mute then something had to be changed or it just starts to fall apart for a cohesive narrative. Of course Amy’s four year gain already threw things into question but on it’s own was fairly harmless considering her role in the franchise as the main female lead and primary love interest. But New Classic Sonic’s muteness is what this post will be carrying on from.

One of the biggest misconceptions of Sonic before the Adventure redesign is that he did not speak. The primary reason for this misconception I usually attributed to him not speaking in the classics. this is actually a false statement as Sonic speaks in Sonic the Hedgehog CD, SegaSonic the Hedgehog, and is quite the chatterbox in a Japanese only popcorn machine. Admittedly, these are all difficult to experience items, especially pre-Adventure, but by the time of Soinc Generations’ release a good deal of these could be researched and Sonic CD was readily available to the public again thanks in no small part to Christian Whitehead of Evening Star Studios. but even outside of the games SOnic was shown to talk quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Again both the western comics and cartoons and even numerous Japanese comics all showed him speaking quite a bit before the Adventure redesign. Of a more canonical nature however, the Japanese instruction manuals for most of the games from the original onward will show Sonic talking.

So, where did this misconception gain enough steam to become a retcon? It’s hard to say, but there are a lot factors that could lead to it. Major fan backlash was threatened when Generations was first revealed if they got Sonic’s voice wrong and hat it’d be better if he didn’t talk at all. SEGA is known for overreacting to negative feedback at odd and seemingly random times and this appears to me to be yet another case of it. But his muteness only got weirder when people started latching on to him being mute as a matter of shyness. I don’t know where that one originated from, but Sonic’s shyness is actually a trait of his, but it is specifically tied to how he feels about his self-proclaimed Amy Rose. When asked about, Yuji Naka once said that Sonic does likely like Amy deep down, but is too shy to act on those feelings. Naoto Oshima expands further on that stating that Sonic has a boyish immaturity in regards to his feelings and thus won’t act on them but should he mature in that regard he would end up with Amy. In other words, boyish immaturity and shyness are part of Sonic’s character, but they only reflect on certain facets of his character. His shyness and immaturity of his feelings for Amy though were instead stretched out to cover most of his character resulting in New Classic Sonic being a mute, when Naka/Oshima, Legacy/Modern, BOOM! (just to throw in another iteration where he is shy about his feelings for Amy), and even Movie Sonic are all rather talkative.

So that there is three misconceptions about pre-Adventure Sonic that are perpetuated officially by New Classic Sonic effectively being placed over Naka/Oshima Sonic. Again, I don’t aim to bash fanfics and AUs as I love them and the way they explore the characters in new ways, but for the sake of new fans not being overly confused, it should be noted if your Classic Sonic is New or Generations based, or the Naka/Oshima, pre-Adventure version. There are hugely massive differences between them with things like height, age, and talkativeness being hugely noticeable. Otherwise, keep writing, drawing and having fun, and may all of the movie’s fans who find their way into the fanbase enjoy themselves

[nodesiretogrowup]

it’s time for my play-by-play review (put some breaks in so it’s not a giant wall of text):

“Here in Duckburg, life is like...a hurricane?” Ha ha theme song reference.

El Pato is Spanish for the duck and that amuses me. Although we call our version of that storm system El Niño, so shouldn’t it have been El Patito?

Mr. Chunk’s EXTRA CHUNKY Chili Chunks

“Could you give us a hand?” *All laugh* In hindsight, he probably should have helped them instead of using the time tub again. He’d still get in trouble for stealing, but he probably would have gotten a less harsh punishment.

“We should have plenty of food we won’t get sick of.” “I said sick from and you know it.” Classic kid logic.

Are the chili dogs a Sonic reference, since Ben is playing him in the upcoming movie?

“Chili dogs put the ‘hooray’ in ‘hooraycane’ party.” That was an awful pun and we should all be mad at Della for it.

“And we all get scurvy. Again.” This is why they need Donald home.

“Is that your parenting strategy or did you get that off a bumper sticker?” Beakley keeps in real.

Beakley and Della have a great dynamic this episode. I honestly think Beakley sees a lot of herself in Della and is trying to teach Della what she wishes someone had taught her when she had her own kid(s).

Louie pushing Huey to the center of the room so that nobody notices him leaving, smart.

“My brother’s gonna be a professional nerd.” Hooray for supporting your brother!

Mary Poppins-CONFIRMED MEMBER OF THE MCDUCK CLAN.

The wooden cane reminds me of Hop Pop’s

“That boy’s up to something.” Crazy thought here but maybe you should be proactive about that and follow him YOURSELF.

Launchpad never ceases to amaze me. How did he nail wood to STAINED GLASS?

That’s coming out of his paycheck.

“You’ve got your own tub?! Lucky.” GET THIS MAN A TUB, STAT!

I hope we get more Louie and Launchpad stuff. The way they play off each other is great.

Louie’s little presentation is great and runs on kid logic.

Bubba is adorable.

BWAMP. Nice sound effect.

“Time Treasures, a subsidiary of Louie Inc. It’s not a crime if it’s lost to time.” Cute, but I doubt that would hold up in court. 

Also, did Louie’s plan/most of the episode remind anyone else of Bender’s Big Score? Bender pulled a similar scheme at the end, only his time traveling caused a rip in the fabric of space. So they got off lucky here?

I totally buy Launchpad keeping a shower cap and rubber ducky on his person at all times. I WANT HIM TO GET HIS BUBBLE BATH, DAMMIT!

“HEY COOL. A DEAD GUY!” Dewey, you really shouldn’t get that excited over corpses. I know Bubba is actually alive, but did they?

Webby, Bubba is taller and buffer than you. I don’t think he qualifies as a “little” guy.

I DEMAND to know about the times Scrooge was frozen in an iceberg! Is Webby counting the time he and Goldie were frozen together?

Metaphors and hypothetical situations don’t work on Della. Maybe it’s a pilot thing. 

“HISTORY IS ALIVE!” I LOVE MY NERD SON.

I love when people meet someone who doesn’t understand them/speaks a different language, they think talking louder will help.

“He’s got a hat like a person!” Is that racist?

Of COURSE Dewey turns the hat backwards.

“Your Funky Fresh ways” These kids have watched waaaay too much 90s media. The little hip shimmy was great.

Chili dogs>tree bark 

“Man, I am learning SO MUCH.” Me too, Webby. Me too.

Did the exchange between Louie and Launchpad about the ethical nature of Time Treasures remind anyone else of when Jim and Launchpad discussed Jim’s plan to get himself into the movie or am I seeing parallels where there aren’t any?

Louie went to the school of Katara. (Both agree it’s ok to steal from pirates)

NOTHING is ever 100% safe

Dewey reeeeeeally wants another sibling. I bet someone is gonna push his mom into the dating scene.

OG DUCKTALES REFERENCE FTW

Bubba-a lyrical genius

Launchpad looks SO LOST while all of this is going on. Though he seems pretty lost in the whole episode.

“At least make him wear a helmet.” Safety lessons!

“SHUT UBBA, MAN.”

“Don’t think about it too hard.” A rule of thumb when dealing w/ time travel.

Poor Launchpad is having an existential crisis.

 And THAT is why we leave time travel to the professionals, Louie. Next time just ask Uncle Scrooge.

How did they make a graphic for Timephoon so fast?

Roxanne is salty, but of course the source is McDuck Manor.

I DEMAND MORE FRANKLOON. Maybe Fenton could write a musical about him. Sidenote: I REALLY WANT a Ben Franklin musical. 

Bubba-an artistic MARVEL

Shimmy that board clean!

The little head stroke she gives Louie. MY HEART!

I...don’t think that is how to do math.

“I see how you turned this into a lesson in parenting and I’m impressed.” THAT’S HOW GRANDMAS ROLL.

Gyro-the most USELESS TWINK. I love him.

I love the way Bobby says “oh boy” for Louie.

“HE IS OFFENSIVE TO THE FIELD OF ANTHROPOLOGY!” Time travel in general is probably offensive to anthropology.

Is it wrong to enjoy Huey going FERAL AS FUCK? Because I thoroughly enjoy it.

Why would you listen to Dewey on research?

“Did you SEE that finger progression on that solo?” 

Bubba-MASTER MUSICIAN! Also, KEYTARS ROCK!

“COME HERE, YOU HISTORICAL ABOMINATION!” Not saying Huey’s killed a man, but he knows how to and how to cover it up.

 Pretty sure Webby and Dewey are trolling.

“Definitely not cloning an army.” I have SO MANY QUESTIONS. 

Louie’s in hoodie-ville.

“He could be anywhen!” Time travel jokes.

I like that they all assume it’s Gyro at first. WHAT CRIMES HAS THIS MAN COMMITTED?!

“It’s one of the kids.” “I’ll get Dewey.” I could see Dewey stealing the time tub, but he’d just try and change the name of things into Dewey puns.

Ninjas,worse than termites-Scrooge Mcduck, 2019 

MORE BEAKLEY/DELLA TEAM UPS PLZ

“Even good kids do dumb things.” And good adults. No one thinks Louie is a bad kid, but he was pretty dumb.

What was with the log?

SANTA TRAP

“Oh no, they may be French.” That line made me laugh.

Launchpad falling asleep when the tapestry was over his face-hilarious.

“Don’t ask.”

Launchpad-always asking the right questions.

“Thank you past and/or future me.” 

I love Huey trying to make sense of Bubba.

“I hate this.”

Poor Huey.

Bubba-an amazing animal tamer

I really like how much Della admires Beakley.

Webby shouting “GRANNY!” T_T

So is that picture of Scrooge, Donald, and Della fighting pirates a time travel related adventure?

Hi Woody and Jessie

“I’VE IMMEDIATELY FAILED YOU.” Mood

Launchpad is so wise. But I think time is more timey-wimey, wibbly-wobbly, right Scrooge?

Della’s angry mom voice

The fight is cool.

“AH, ME SCURVY!” BRICK JOKE FTW!

Not the time for time travel logic, Dewey. Plus they seem to be coming from different countries so anywhere would still work.

Bubba-A HERO

“GO, YOU FREAK OF HISTORY!”

#youtriedLaunchpad

“EVERYTHING WE DO HAS ALREADY HAPPENED!”

Della shouting “KIDS” and Louie shouting “MOOOM” really hit me in the gut.

Let’s pour one out for Bubba.

I PRAY TO GOD someone writes fics about what each character was doing in the time period they ended up in.

Della was giving me MAJOR Joan of Arc vibes in that armor.

Yeah, this scene hurt. But it needed to be done. Louie still seems to think that it was all a good idea. He hasn’t learned his lesson yet.

That scene also reminded me of Merida and Elinor’s fight in Brave. Both sides have a point, but both went too far.

I’m glad Louie didn’t instantly accept his mom. It’s more interesting that way and feels real.

I love that Launchpad looks around at everyone before he reacts. He most likely knows nothing about the Spear of Selene incident so he has no idea of how hurtful Louie’s comment was.

Gyro had NO REACTION to any of that fight.

That broke poor Della.

“I went to the future. I’ve seen how the world ends.*pause* It was neat! See you there soon!” 

I wonder why Launchpad was the only one who went forward in time. Could it play a role in stopping the invasion?

“Some people aren’t ready for the truth.” So wise.

Bubba-THE FIRST OF CLAN MCDUCK

[xb-squaredx]

B-Squared’s Top 10 Games of 2019!

2019 was a year full to the brim of GREAT games, and as is the custom at the end of the year, people love to rank their favorites, so…I’d like to do the same! Of course my own tastes might be different from yours so if you don’t see a thing on here that you liked, chances are I didn’t like it…or more likely, there’s just too many great games out this year, and I couldn’t get to everything. I’d like to stress to that the rankings don’t really matter all that much, especially the farther down we go. Everything on here is an easy recommendation. Without any further ado…let’s take a look at my Top 10 Games of 2019~

#10 - River City Girls

I love action games, but 2D beat-em-ups never really clicked for me. They were largely before my time and I was thinking that it’d be impossible to get me into one in the current era of gaming. And then I saw Marian’s redesign for River City Girls and bought the game. What can I say? Abs are a great sales pitch. But seriously, getting Wayforward on the helm of a beloved classic franchise is already a great way to pique my interest, and while there’s SOME aspects of this game that I don’t quite gel with, it’s a fun, colorful romp through a ridiculous universe that I’d LOVE to see more of down the line. Featuring a role-reversal, with the girlfriends saving the boyfriends this time, River City Girls has gorgeous pixel art, an AMAZING pop-synth soundtrack that’s worth the price alone, and it’s a game that clearly had fun with the concept and that fun rubs off on you. From the stylish animated boss intros, to the co-op fun that can be had with a friend, everything in this game is brimming with charm. Basic NPCs have great designs in their own right, being able to recruit enemies as assists is a neat idea, and it all adds up to a fun, bite-sized adventure with a bit of depth under the hood if you’re willing to give it a look. Can the character designers get a raise for this game, please? And let Megan McDuffie just do all the songs from now on. ALL OF THEM.

#9 - Astral Chain

Most people assumed if we were going to get a Switch exclusive game by Platinum this year, it’d be Bayonetta 3 but instead Nintendo surprised us with Astral Chain, the anime cop action game we didn’t know we wanted. The game boasts great visuals and is probably the most content-rich Platinum game ever made for starters, but for me the true draw is in the combat. Playing as your police officer in tandem with an alien creature known as a Legion, this tag-team action game is unlike pretty much anything else on the market. While the game starts off very simplistic, the Legion itself moving and attacking with no input from the player, over time more and more options unlock and things get considerably more complicated. By game’s end, you’re drowning in options, and once things clicked, combat was always a treat. With plenty of enemies to practice with, Legions to master and a gigantic post-game filled with challenging encounters, I had more fun with the combat in this game than I did with a lot of other games this year. That said, I do feel that Astral Chain could have benefitted from trimming some fat or rethinking its overall structure. For being a new IP with some bold ideas, I’m willing to accept these as kinks that can hopefully be ironed out in a sequel. Oh, and add Lappy to Smash already. You know you want to, Sakurai.

#8 - BABA IS YOU

Puzzle games are hard sells for me, since I don’t like the frustration that often comes from being stuck. You feel dumb, you get embarrassed and turn the game off in shame, or at least that’s my experience. But then sometimes you get a game so clever, so…weird, that you can’t help but be sucked into it. BABA IS YOU is a block-pushing puzzle game, with the twist being that the “rules” of a particular stage are often physically present in levels and are in fact blocks that can be pushed and manipulated by the player. ROCK is PUSH, WALL is STOP, FLAG is WIN and BABA is YOU. But what if you can’t touch the flag because the wall is in the way? Well, make it so WALL is PUSH to move it aside, or maybe make it so that BABA is WIN and you become the win condition itself. As the game goes on, more modifiers and rules are slowly introduced and absorbed into your own internal logic of the game, logic that increasingly has to be broken and remade to suit your needs. It’s a very empowering experience when the solution clicks and the results can often be hilarious and surprising. This game also GOES PLACES the further you go in, and I’d rather not ruin that surprise for anyone who might be looking into the game. Definitely one of the most innovated titles I’ve played in a LONG time. BABA is GOOD.

#7 - Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid

OK, so…hear me out. Power Rangers was a franchise I was obsessed with as a kid, and while I don’t follow it anymore, there’s still some love for it flowing in my veins. So when a small, no-name studio puts out a Power Ranger fighting game that takes the simplified controls of Smash Bros. and the tag-team craziness of Marvel vs. Capcom and slaps it all together for a cool twenty bucks or so? Well you got yourself a purchase and it ended up being WAY more fun than I expected. Power Rangers: Battle for the Grid is far from the best looking fighter on the market, it’s single-player content is lacking, and it’s roster, while interesting, isn’t as big as a lot of the competition, but damn if it isn’t fun to play. With characters taken from across the franchise’s long history, from the live-action movie reboot to the comic books, each choice has been inspired and resulted in an incredibly varied cast. With no crazy inputs for special moves, combined with a tagging system that lets you cycle through your three-Ranger team quickly, the game is the best kind of chaotic fun, but true masters can command that chaos and channel it into cool combos that make you want to say “Morphinominal!” Considering it’s a budget title, it’s also received a fair amount of updates throughout the year to pad out the roster with both free and paid DLC fighters, a full story mode and improvements to the netcode and overall presentation., so if you passed on it at launch, it’s much improved now. It’s not gonna be a fighting game on everyone’s radar, but I’d rather support it than the grind-heavy slog Mortal Kombat has become…Now just hurry up and add that monster that baked the Rangers into a pizza!

#6 - New Super Lucky’s Tale

If your name isn’t Mario or Sonic, 3D platformers are effectively dead. That said, there’s been a few up-and-comers in recent years that are trying to revive the genre. Hat Kid from A Hat in Time, the duo of Yooka-Laylee, and now Lucky from the folks at Playful Studios. The cute fox has quite the history, starting from the Oculus Rift title, Lucky’s Tale, to a full-fledged platformer on the Xbox One X, Super Lucky’s Tale and now the enhanced port/reimagining New Super Lucky’s Tale on Switch. Halfway between a full-blown sequel, and enhanced edition, the game takes assets from the Xbox original game, tweaking and refining everything from visuals to controls to level layouts. The result is a game that is incredibly well-polished. It looks great, Lucky is a treat to control as he moves from jumping, burrowing and sliding around fluidly, and the variety on display keeps things interesting. We’ve got full 3D levels, 2D levels, auto-runners, and even some marble maze levels and puzzles thrown in for good measure. It’s not a hard game, but it IS incredibly fun, and well made. We don’t get many 3D platformers these days, so cherish what little comes of the genre. I hope Playful and Nintendo continue to collaborate, as they really seem more at home here. Just…maybe don’t add more words to the title of the next game, guys.

#5 - Katana Zero

There’s no nice way to say it: there’s too many pixel-based, side-scrolling indie games out there, so the ones that DO stand out deserve to be celebrated. Katana Zero has a real ‘80s flair for starters, using bright neon, TV and VCR visual effects, and a synth soundtrack to give it some real style. When a game kicks off with you slowing down time and reflecting a bullet back at an enemy with your katana, you make a good first impression! Add in the trial-and-error that is planning the perfect route through a stage, the satisfying slicing and dicing of enemies, the unique, challenging boss encounters, and you have a game that was on my radar for a while, before I finally got into it at the end of the year. Its storyline is pretty interesting too, with some slight variances in how events unfold depending on your words and actions, though it ending on a bit of a cliffhanger is a bummer. That said, when a game leaves you wanting more, there’s worse problems to have. At the very least, there’s some DLC hinted at that might be interesting, as well as the implications that this is the merely the first in a trilogy, and at this point I’m game for whatever developer Askiisoft has in store.

#4 - Luigi’s Mansion 3

The GameCube was an odd era for Nintendo, as they attempted to innovate and try new ideas rather than rely purely on their old standbys. Case-in-point, rather than launch the console with a new Mario platformer, his second-banana brother Luigi got his first starring role in what would become the Luigi’s Mansion series. While not making QUITE as big of a splash as maybe Nintendo hoped, it’s garnered a decent fanbase, and when a sequel was announced for 3DS, people ate it up. Considering the gap between the first and second games, I think many people were surprised at the relatively quick turn-around for the third installment. I was also surprised at the overall quality and how much I enjoyed digging into it. For starters, Luigi’s Mansion 3 is easily one of the better-looking Switch titles, boasting some great lighting and particle effects, with some fun physics implemented for just about everything in the massive mansion. Luigi and company are animated with a lot of expressiveness that never gets old, and the music sets the tone perfectly too. From a gameplay standpoint, the toolset Luigi gains gives him ample options to poke at every nook and cranny, with the slimy doppelganger Gooigi being the clear stand-out. Some of the floors of the Last Resort hotel that Luigi must ascend are particularly massive and intricate too, some floors feeling like Legend of Zelda-style dungeons. While not a particularly challenging game, it’s still really satisfying to poke and prod at everything in sight, sucking in all the coins, gold bars and stacks of paper bills you can handle, not to mention slamming the ghosts around like the Hulk does to Loki. There’s also multiplayer! That I…haven’t really touched but…hey! More bang for your buck, surely!

#3 – Dragon Quest XI S

I don’t consider myself a huge fan of JRPGs. Or at least that’s what I thought before I tried out the Dragon Quest XI demo on Switch. I ended up falling for the game hard and bought the full release, carrying my demo data over and not stopping until I hit credits. Despite having never touched a Dragon Quest game before, outside of an hour or so of VIII, I was overcome with this feeling of nostalgia when it came to this game. That’s because Dragon Quest is THE quintessential JRPG game, the originator of all that we take for granted today. It was nice to feel right at home with a simple, effective combat system, rather than having to watch games re-invent the wheel in an attempt to stand out from the pack (sorry Xenoblade), and the story itself, while predictable and a little basic at times, was told well and told earnestly. It really nailed the feeling of going on a grand adventure, with enough twists on the formula to keep things interesting. The turn-based combat was elementary, but always presented me with fair challenges and lots of ways to solve the encounters laid before me, with enough quality-of-life features added in to minimize grind and make things more convenient. The Switch version of Dragon Quest XI featured a bunch of new content on top of a game that had more than enough going for it, and it’s clear a lot of work was done to make this port as faithful as could be, and it stands out not just as a great port on a system known for some shoddy ones, but as a title that’s brimming with as much polish and quality to rival first-party Switch titles. Don’t ban Hero in Smash and don’t miss out on this game if you haven’t taken the plunge already!

#2 – Devil May Cry 5

The Devil May Cry franchise has had its share of ups and downs over the years. For every game that’s considered a success, you have another game that doesn’t quite measure up. For years many thought the franchise was dead in the water after the attempted reboot, DMC: Devil May Cry failed to grow its audience, but when Microsoft’s E3 2018 show revealed to us a new installment, fans were ecstatic. Devil May Cry 5 boasts crisp visuals, deep combat and trims the fat, removing the wonky platforming and puzzles of earlier games to create a high-octane action experience that ultimately exceeded fan expectations. Its storyline firmly plants Devil May Cry 4’s Nero as a main character in his own right, wraps up the story of the Sparda brothers neatly, and if this ended up being the last title in the series, I think it’s that rare ending that ends up being totally satisfying. Combat is the real draw here though, the game giving players three distinct characters to learn and master. Nero’s robotic Devil Breaker arms allow him a decent amount of variety, while having a balanced, beginner-friendly combat style for new players. Dante remains the king of variety, having more weapons than ever before combined with his signature style switching, though the game is actually designed with all these options in mind so he doesn’t end up breaking the game like he did in 4. Newcomer V ends up being a breath of fresh air, controlling up to three demonic summons at once, forcing players to really think more strategically. The music is incredible too; Nero’s own theme, Devil Trigger, has been stuck in my head since last year and I don’t see it leaving any time soon. All things considered, Devil May Cry 5 might be the best game in the franchise, and a worthy contender for game of the year personally. Now if only we had a special edition with Vergil and the ladies playable…

#1 - Fire Emblem: Three Houses

I got into the Fire Emblem series with Awakening and really liked it a lot, however Fates, the next installment, left a bad taste in my mouth. I couldn’t really get into Echoes, itself a remake of the second game in the series, and I began to wonder if this franchise was really for me. I was willing to give Three Houses a shot, but I was not prepared for the game to blow past all my expectations. Fire Emblem: Three Houses isn’t just a good game, it’s a game that’s redeemed a franchise that’s stumbled a bit in recent years, and it likely cements Fire Emblem as a core Nintendo franchise for years to come. It has class, depth and real heart...with only minor creepy or pervy elements! Making a grand return to home consoles after more than a decade on handhelds, it goes big and it ultimately paid off, on track to become the best-selling entry in the series. The school setting might seem weird at first, and I wondered how well I’d adjust to it, but being able to instruct your units and influence their growth in battle was worth the learning curve. Things are introduced slowly enough that the flow of the game becomes relatively easy to manage, if a bit time-consuming overall. With four distinct storylines you can explore, TONS of character interactions and some interesting tweaks to the strategic gameplay the series is known for, I’m confident in saying that Three Houses is well-worth a purchase for newcomers to the franchise. Divine Pulse is a great quality-of-life addition that lets you undo mistakes, rather than force you to start over from scratch, and overall the UI and layout of the game gives you enough information to make informed decisions without overwhelming you. Makes me wonder how we survived before the games showed us who enemies would target on their turns before now. Admittedly, some aspects of the progression have some issues, especially at endgame, and visually the game really is not up to par most of the time, but these end up being tiny blemishes in the long run for me. They certainly weren’t bad enough to prevent me from starting a new path the instant I finished my first route. If I have one request…just make Claude a gay option. Give the people what they want, Nintendo!

Honorable Mentions

I’d like to add on some honorable mentions here before we close things out, though most of these are things I didn’t even get a chance to play, but they certainly might have made this list. For one, Resident Evil 2 Remake seems like a high-quality reinterpretation of the survival-horror classic, but I can’t do horror so I’ll likely pass it up. It’s also for that reason that I might not get to Control but I might try jumping out of my comfort zone for that one. The confusion surrounding both The Other Worlds AND The Outer Wilds is funny, but they’re both space-based games I’d be keen on getting to at some point down the line; the former is a great Western RPG by the folks who made the GOOD Fallout games, while the latter is an interesting space-faring puzzler with some interesting mechanics I’d rather not spoil for those not more in-the-know. Indie titles Sayonara Wild Hearts and GRIS definitely caught my attention with their great visuals, and in the case of the former, its soundtrack, even if the gameplay wasn’t quite there for me, and the weird fighting-game-but-kinda-RPG that is Indivisible demands my attention sooner or later. Bloodstained is the Castlevania follow-up I keep forgetting is out, and I hear great things about Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. The team behind the Yakuza series recently made a spin-off of sorts, Judgment that hit the West this year and while I like the Yakuza series for its quirky tone and fun combat, there’s still six other games I’d have to sift through, so going with Judgment, which is set to possibly begin a new franchise, seems like a good alternative. And how could I forget the likes of Shovel Knight as we finally receive the last expansion that’s been years in the making? I haven’t touched the King of Cards expansion yet, but I have the upmost faith in anything Yacht Club makes, so that’s surely a game of the year contender. 2019 was crazy good! Glad to close the year out with so much quality, and tons of great stuff to add to the ever-growing backlog.

Hope you had some good gaming memories made this year!

-B

[the-desolated-quill]

Okay, Enough With The Live Action/CGI Hybrids - Quill’s Scribbles

So the trailer for the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog movie came out...

Do I really need to say it? Everyone and their mums have already said it. Hell, you’re probably saying it right now.

Sigh. Okay. Fuck it. I’ll say it.

Who the fuck thought this was a good idea?!?!

The trailer itself is shockingly bad. It looks bland and generic with almost nothing in common with the games. The jokes are forced and painfully unfunny (why are the people in the airport more concerned that the ‘child’ in the bag isn’t James Marsden’s rather than that there’s a fucking child in the bag in the first place?!), Jim Carrey is being his usual obnoxious self and is plain and simply a terrible choice for Doctor Eggman (isn’t the whole point of Doctor Eggman that he’s supposed to, you know, look like an egg?), and the soundtrack is utterly cringeworthy (Gangsta’s Paradise? Really?!?!). But that all pales in comparison to by far and away the biggest problem with the trailer. And I think you can all guess what that is. 

Yes I’m of course referring to the noticeable absence of Team Chaotix. An artistic decision so despicable, it’s practically a hate crime. For shame! Everyone knows that Charmy Bee is the best character in the franchise and yet they don’t have the guts to put him in the movie! Fucking philistines!

...

Oh yeah, and Sonic the Hedgehog looks like a monstrous abomination concocted from the fever dreams of Doctor Frankenstein and Walt Disney.

It’s hard to know where to start when talking about just how grotesque and disgusting this CGI Sonic is. He looks like what your computer would produce if it caught pneumonia. What I especially don’t understand is why they veered away so heavily from the original, iconic design. I mean...

I don’t know about you, but I’d honestly have no problem if the movie just kept this look from the games. Hell, I think even giving him realistic fur would be pushing it. This is perfectly fine. I could totally see this design working in a movie. Instead we get the secret love child of Gollum and Papa Smurf.

He just looks so weird with human proportions. The leg muscles, the two eyes, the human looking teeth. Apparently the filmmakers wanted this Sonic to look as realistic as possible. Because when I pay to see a movie about an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog that can run at supersonic speeds, that’s my first thought. ‘Is it realistic?’

... Jesus Christ.

But of course the main problem with this live action Sonic movie is that it exists in the first place. When it was first announced, I assumed in my naivety that it would be an animated movie. Because that would make sense, right? There have been movie and TV adaptations before and they were all animated. Imagine a big budget computer animated Sonic movie. That would be really cool. But it was not to be. In Hollywood’s infinite wisdom, they decided to go the live action route because... Actually why did they choose to go the live action route? Well that’s what I hope to address in this very Scribble.

Live action adaptations and remakes are nothing new of course. Disney had tried it a few times in the past with movies like 101 Dalmations, there have been other live action versions of animated or illustrated characters such as the Grinch and the Cat In The Hat, Garfield, the Smurfs and Alvin and the Chipmunks, and there was of course the infamous Super Mario Bros movie, which answered the question of what it would be like if the Mushroom Kingdom took place in the same universe as Judge Dredd. But this is the first time live action/CGI hybrids have been huge money spinners. Disney struck gold back in 2010 when Tim Burton’s version of Alice In Wonderland made a billion dollars at the box office and now the company is mining through their back catalogue of Disney classics and giving all their movies the live action treatment. Initially I was okay with this because in the case of Alice In Wonderland and Maleficent they were at least trying to reinterpret the original films and put a new spin on them, but now they just seem to be copying the movies verbatim. Making live action remakes just for the sake of making live action remakes.

Now other studios are trying their hand at, the most notable being Pokemon: Detective Pikachu. Here’s a picture of the original Pikachu:

Cute, right?

Now here’s a picture of the live action Pikachu:

Can you see the problem here?

(also why the hell is Ryan Reynolds the voice of Pikachu? I honestly can’t think of anyone more inappropriate for the role. It’s like casting Samuel L. Jackson as a Powerpuff Girl)

The fact of the matter is some things just don’t work in live action. Sonic the Hedgehog and Pokemon work in their respective universes because they’re animated creatures in an animated world, and their anatomy and design fit that world. In the real world, it just doesn’t work. Pikachu looks strange and kind of creepy in the real world. The same is true of the other Pokemon. Jigglypuff looks utterly adorable in the games and animated show with its spherical body and cartoon eyes and you just want to take one to bed with you and cuddle them like a teddy bear, but in the real world it looks fucking scary!

I wouldn’t want to cuddle that thing! It looks like it would go for my throat given the opportunity!

The same is true of Sonic. Paramount’s attempts to make him look more ‘realistic’ just makes him look incredibly alien and out of place.

Another example I like to bring up is the film Christopher Robin. Now we all know Winnie the Pooh. Silly ol’ bear. Charming, cuddly and endearing, right? Just look at him.

How can you not fall in love with him?

Now here’s the live action version:

When I first saw the trailer, I was utterly creeped out. He looks like something out of a horror movie. Add to that that they got the original voice actor from the Disney cartoons to reprise the role, and Winnie the Pooh pretty much became the source of all my nightmares for the next couple of weeks. That lovable voice should not be coming out of that... thing.

It’s a pattern that repeats itself over and over again. Look:

Charming and lovable.

Weird and unsettling.

Creative and fun.

Photoshop disaster.

Sweet and likeable.

Fetch my crucifix and holy water.

Emotional and expressive.

So ‘realistic’ to the point where he looks like he has the emotional range of a teaspoon.

Now I recognise this largely comes down to subjective opinion. If you like these CGI redesigns, that’s great. More power to you. But I know for a fact I’m not the only one getting increasingly weirded out by these computer generated demons from Hell.

So why does Hollywood keep making these films. Well obviously in the case of Disney it’s because they’ve ran out of original ideas and want to make a quick buck by exploiting their audience’s nostalgia. (the same can be said of the Star Wars sequel trilogy). But what about other studios? Yes they’re financially motivated too, but there’s got to be more to it than that.

I think it’s largely down to the stigma of animated movies. Animation has become synonymous with children. When you hear the term ‘animated movie’, you automatically associate it with ‘kid’s film’. And ‘kid’s film’ is often used in a negative context. Like it’s somehow lesser than quote/unquote ‘proper’ movies. Live action suggests a certain pedigree. A sense of prestige. But that’s obviously bollocks. The quality of a film isn’t dictated by whether it’s live action or animated. It’s determined by the writing, directing and acting. There have been live action films made for kids and animated films made for adults. And I’m not talking about Sausage Party. I’m talking about Finding Nemo.

Now I know what you’re thinking. Finding Nemo? Isn’t that a kid’s film? No. It’s a family film. And that right there is the problem. You heard me say Finding Nemo, an animated film about talking fish, and you automatically associated it with a kids film. But the thing is Finding Nemo deals with some very dark and adult themes and its moral message of not being overprotective and allowing children to take risks is intended for the parents, not the kids. Obviously kids can still watch and enjoy Finding Nemo, but it’s the parents who are clearly the target here. The same is true of Toy Story 3. Children can still watch and enjoy it, but the film is clearly intended for people who watched the original Toy Story when they were a kid and are now grown up. When you stop and think about it, it’s really sad that family movies are associated with kids movies. Not that there’s anything wrong with kids movies obviously. But why do people assume that family movies are meant for kids? Why can’t they be adult stories that are also accessible to children? Books have done it. The Artemis Fowl series is kid friendly, but its tone, themes and style suggest the author has an older and more sophisticated target audience in mind. A Series Of Unfortunate Events is popular with kids, but it’s adults that get the full experience because of the way Lemony Snicket uses postmodern and meta-textual elements in the books, which would sail clean over the head of a kid reading it. The idea that a live action remake is somehow more ‘grown-up’ than an animated movie is just absurd. The original Lion King was very grown up, thank you very much. There are lots of bright colours and fun songs for the kids, but it also doesn’t sugarcoat the darker themes such as death, betrayal, corruption and abuse of power. Mufaser’s death isn’t going to be made any more impactful in live action. The animated version was more than heartbreaking.

Shifting the conversation back to Sonic, this is also intrinsically linked with another problem with Hollywood at the moment. Movie adaptations of video games. And again, it’s a similar problem. People, especially critics, view video games as being lesser than movies. Roger Ebert famously said that video games will never be considered art. But that’s nonsense. There have been loads of video games that could be and have been considered art. BioShock, for instance, which scrutinises and criticises both objectivism and capitalism. There’s the Mass Effect trilogy, which is often described as this generation’s Star Wars. The Last Of Us is widely considered to be a masterpiece by gamers and literacy scholars alike. Hell, the fact that Hollywood wants to make movie adaptations of video games at all suggests that games do in fact have some inherent artistic value after all. And it’s not as if I’m wholly against making movies based on video games. There are some games that could translate really well to films, Sonic being one of them. (I personally loved the Ratchet & Clank movie, for example. It’s just a shame nobody else fucking watched it due to the almost non-existent marketing). However there’s an inherent problem with translating video games to movies as opposed to, say, translating books to movies. In book to movies adaptations, studios are adding something. Visuals, sound, performance, etc. In video game to movie adaptations, they have to take things away. The most obvious is interactivity. Unlike movies where nothing is required of the audience other than to just dumbly stare at the screen, video games require the audience to actively control the story. Move the character, kill baddies, solve problems and stay alive. You are an active participant in the narrative. As a result, the emotional connection you feel with both the plot and the characters is often stronger than that in a movie because you have direct influence over what happens. 

Also video games have the luxury of being able to tell their stories over the course of eight to thirty to even a hundred hours of gameplay. There’s no way you could condense something like The Last Of Us down to a two and a half hour movie. There would just be too much lost. Important character moments and plot points that would have to be chucked in the bin. Yes things get lost in book to movie adaptations, but nowhere near at the scale of a game to movie adaptation. A possible workaround would be to make game to TV adaptations instead, but then we’re back to the interactivity problem again. And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that movies are better than books or that video games are better than movies. I’m just saying they’re each individually suited to tell their own kinds of stories in their own unique ways, therefore translating from one medium to the other is often difficult. The Last Of Us would never make a good movie, and that’s okay. The game is still amazing and the story is still amazing. Its artistic merit isn’t lessened because it can’t be translated to films, in the same way the merits of a bike aren’t lessened because it can’t fly. It’s just not designed to do that.

I guess the point I’m making is there’s no one way to tell a good story. There are an infinite number of ways it can be done. So lets stop Hollywood’s obsession with pigeonholing everything into one format and actually explore the possibilities, shall we?

[poppopopopopi]

Settos Top 10 GOTY 2017

Hey guys it’s your mostly inactive friend Setto here. It’s that time again and I’m here to swarm you with my terrible taste in videogames for 2017. SO STRAP YOURSELF IN FOR A LIST THAT’S PROBABLY BETTER THAN WATCHING JUSTICE LEAGUE.

10: Cuphead

A game years in the making, Cuphead brings a fluid and visual masterpiece onto the scene. A fast paced action game based around Boss fights and platforming stages, Cuphead is challenging in all the right ways. The hand drawn art style is a marvel to look at and it plays like a dream. I saw this game all those E3′s ago and never in my life would I imagine it would turn out as such an incredible feat of game design and animation. If you like your games about Cartoon cup men fighting Satan then BOY is this for you!.

9: Sonic Mania

Hey are you tired of SEGA’s fruitless attempts at making Sonic games?. I mean Colors and Generations were good but STILL. Handing a project to Christian Whitehead is the best decision SEGA has ever made. The game is filled with nostalgia from all walks of Sonics life. It has brilliant gameplay that almost perfects the classic Sonic formula and will have anyone smiling all the way through. The physics, the music, the BLAST PROCESSING. This game is the biggest love letter to Sonic that’s ever been produced and I urge you to pick it up even if you have never played a Sonic game before. 

8: Digimon World: Next Order

Did you guys ever play Digimon World 1 on the PS1 and think “Boy I wish they made a sequel to that game that improved on every aspect but kept the Digimon raising in real time”?. WELL GOOD NEWS, This game delivers on that front. It mixes in loads of new mechanics with the town building from the original. There’s a big world to explore with loads of side quests, loads of in depth mechanics for digivolving and LOADS of Digimon to collect. It has plenty of content to keep you playing even after you beat the game and is honestly some of the most fun I’ve had this year. If you want an engaging experience filled with plenty of cool as fuck monsters then get this game. 

7: Nier: Automata

Nier and Drakengard are one of my favorite series ever made. I love Yoko Taros insanity and design that he works into the franchise, I love the deep and complex stories with great characters, deep background lore and plenty of comedic moments. Nier Automata is no different except now platinum are behind the combat which has improved MASSIVELY since the original Nier.

I can’t really go into depth on the game and besides everything that needs to be said has been said already. I’m just gonna say that the game is an incredibly well written and engaging marvel. If you like emotionally devastating storylines that will make you think about what it means to be human then you need to pick up Nier: Asstomata.

6: A Hat In Time

An ADORABLE platformer with perfect controls, great settings, cute as hell characters and loads of the things that have made classic Gamecube platformers a staple in history. This game is just pure joy to play and is the second best Hat based platformer of the year. I’m not gonna go into detail because I don’t want to spoil how great every single stage of this game is since each one changes up the formula to the point where it’s like playing a whole new story. If you like collectathons and great writing then you deserve to treat yourself with this creation of absolute happiness.

5: Yakuza 0

I’ve written about how good Yakuza is like a million times. Yakuza 0 is probably the best entry in the franchise alongside Yakuza 5. While Kiwami also came out this year, it was 0 that came out on top for me. It’s got so much side content that kept me coming back for weeks.

With entire side missions dedicated to real estate and being a hostess manager, the game drags you back in to its great mechanics, satisfying combat and gripping storyline. Seeing the backstory of Majima is heartbreaking and Kazuma getting tangled in this new web of insanity is just as engaging as always. 

Yakuza 0 is probably one of the best games I’ve ever played and stands as a beacon of “THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A STORY, I’M LOOKING AT YOU HORIZON ZERO DAWN”.

4: Gravity Rush 2

The other cutest game of the year goes to Gravity Rush 2. One of the most creative and enjoyable franchises I’ve ever played. 

As Kat you shift gravity around yourself to explore an incredible world made up of floating islands. You fight off horrible and mysterious creatures called the Nevi all while doing dumb things for townspeople who can’t do shit themselves clearly. These things include marketing ice cream, delivering fast food, stopping the inevitable destruction of your entire planet...wait what?. 

There’s loads of costumes to get for Kat, loads of furniture for your tiny sewer house and plenty of fun gravity shifting to do.

There’s also some horrible abominations of mankind to fight against with an oppressive government.

Sony have basically sent this series to die and are shutting off the servers a year after launch, thanks sony. Guess it wasn’t as good as your terrible looking reboot of God of War.

3: Persona 5

A fucking visual masterpiece and a lesson in how to design something so good looking that it makes me look at myself in the mirror and consider why humans are capable of making such beauty. 

Persona 5 is an engaging and incredible RPG that has great characters, great combat, Amazing music and the style of The Fonz if he ascended to godhood.

Everyone has already said how amazing this game is and it’s a fucking SMT game that’s up for the actual GOTY awards nomination.

What else is there to say?. other than Kawakami is best girl.

2. Super Mario Odyssey

I don’t want to spoil a single thing in this game for anybody. I don’t want to show a single screenshot, talk about a single world or even mention any music.

The game is one of the best games I have ever had the pure joy of even touching. I haven’t been this happy playing a videogame in almost all of my life. This game oozes charm and deserves every single bit of attention it is given. 

There is nothing that can top this masterpiece of mechanically perfect happiness.....OR IS THERE?.

1: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

Look I know people have issues with this game, I know people have loads of weird nitpicks and bad opinions. That’s fine. But you don’t get what this game means to me.

After Wind Waker I haven’t purely enjoyed a Zelda game on the same level.

This game defied all expectations I had of it and not only set a standard for Zelda games but set a standard for all open world games.

Every single thing in this game made me realise why I hadn’t been enjoying any open world games in almost a decade. It takes all conventional ideas and turns them into something magical. I never wanted to stop exploring this world.

Every corner has something new, everywhere you go you will see something else you want to go to and I guarantee you something will be there.

Being able to climb any surface takes away all busy work of navigating around small cliff faces just to get somewhere, being able to glide takes away all busywork of having to work your way down. There is so much freedom of choice in this game that you can just go straight to the final boss if you want.

Never have I played something so non linear, so open and so purely incredible.

You can tell they put effort and love into the world they built, you can tell every single inch of this game was thought out to insane lengths. 

Horizon Zero Dawn came out the same week as this game and that game is the most by the numbers, basic ass open world games I’ve ever played. I have no goddamn idea why it’s so popular when it’s honestly a fucking wreck compared to this masterpiece. 

You can go anywhere without being restricted, you can do anything in any order, you can see something in the distance and just climb the fuck out of it. 

I love this game so much, it’s one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with games and something I will never forget.

That about does it for this year, I hope you guys tune in next year!.

[game84cube]

My Opinions on the Sonic Movie Trailer

Okay, I guess I better say something about this movie before I lose my credibility in the Sonic community. I saw the trailer at school and everyone was talking about how weird it was on campus. I loved it at first sight, since I thought Sonic was gonna look WAY worse. Anyway, let's go over the pros and cons.

Pros:

- The speed. They knew what they were doing with Sonic and his speed effects. I mean it makes sense, what with the people from Fast and Furious.

- That Spin Dash! Sonic's iconic move was displayed amazingly in that trailer and his strength was on full display. Also when he just plopped into his little hideout in the forest and he was that fuzzball, it looked great!

- Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. I get what they're doing. This is an origin story. Robotnik is gonna deteriorate into the classic crazy villain we all know him as. That ending shot proved it. But yeah. He was clearly not fat enough, but he isn't quite...egged out yet. Sort of a Kintobor thing before Robotnik/Eggman. My dad has issues with it, but I think it's fine. Plus he's got good material as well. Sassy and smart. That's how I like my Eggs.

- The acting. Marsala is giving it his all, and he sure has experience in this. I imagine he's gonna be a good focal point of the movie since title characters in these movies are NEVER the focus but are there to say that it is indeed a titled character's movie. I think Tim will be fine. A little snarky to play off of Sonic as well. Honestly I loved that bit with the "That's not your child in that bag?" This was also a good reminder that Sonic is a teenager. Good move. I forget who's playing Ann, but she seems fine. No comment yet. And then we have the Hedgehog himself. Ben Schwartz, I tip my blue spiky hat to you! You know just how to make Sonic sound like...well... SONIC! That cockiness is perfect. The voice is natural, and I want MORE! I'm sure they got some good lines for him (and some bad ones but that's inevitable sadly)

- The animation in general. Say what you will about the design, but in motion, everything looks awesome! It flows, it doesn't look cheap, and the mech designs look incredible. The effects are well integrated and seem like they're unintrusive on reality. I like it. And really, Sonic looks good in some shots, especially doing what he does best. I'm so happy they got Sonic looking cool when on the move. If they failed at that, the whole thing would be a complete failure.

-The Easter Eggs and nods! Listen to the voice of the Commander of the military again. Now imagine that voice saying something like... "Sonic Adventure 2, Hero Side Story: Farewell Sonic, Forever." Tell me that isnt the same guy! That's an amazing Easter Egg. Also I hear one of the guys in the meeting voiced Grounder in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog. Also cool! The pike of shoes in Sonic's hideout was a neat touch. He was looking for some good new shoes. Something tells me those Nikes ain't gonna last through the movie since they ain't frictionless. I also noticed something really cute they pulled off. When Sonic did that Fitbit joke? Looking at his wrist condescendingly? Sound familiar? Almost idle? Sonic 2 idle animation perhaps? All that's missing is him tapping his t- WAIT! Yep, that's another thing I think when I think Sonic. The classic impatient toe tap. They got his attitude DOWN and I love it! And! They remember something I'm so happy about! HE'S 90'S AS FUCK!!! Sonic listened to Gangsta's Paradise on a cassette tape! That song is from the 90's! They got it! Sonic is not a modern boi. He is so lost in the last decades and that's why I love him. That old fashioned nature? That's what makes him more timeless to me.

- Check that hair. They got his hair right. Good. That's it. Sonic is also very defined by the classic shape of his hair.

- The Ring. Okay, hear me out. Yes, we're more familiar with Rings being used as a shield to prevent Sonic from dying from a hit. Um, did y'all forget the Giant Ring at the end of the level in Sonic 1? Or the Flicky's Ring in 3D Blast/Flickies Island? It's just a portable version of that. I like the spin on it, okay? I'm sure it also protects Sonic like in the SatAM cartoon. Im just glad Rings are in the movie at all.

Cons:

- Elephant in the room, Sonic's overall design philosophy. I feel like there were two butting heads at the studio trying to decide how realistic to make Sonic look. They apparently compromised at "Make him anthropomorphic and give him human facial features including human teeth." Yeah, the teeth and eyes are my issue, and some coloring issues as well (I get that hedgehogs usually have white bellies, but Sonic has always had a tan belly, since he doesnt walk on all fours. Plus he needs to be a darker shade of blue.) The features all too human just kind of take away from what was meant to be more real. If they gave him sharper canine teeth, that would be an improvement, because that would be more animalistic. Also, I like how some people design Movie Sonic with a white tuft of fur between his eyes to make that classic illusion that his eyes are connected like the old days. (Actually looking back, I think Sonic's eyes were connected on accident before but they stuck with the design. Sort of an artist's idea of eye design in the old days. If he was to be created today, his eyes might be separated) I also need something to really come out of Sonic with his face. EXPRESSIONS AND PERSONALITY! You know, that thing Sonic was known for aside from his speed? That face is not very expressive and it leaves the emotions behind the delivery of the lines feeling flat. Perhaps a more defined brow for that redo, thanks. Otherwise, I have no complaints. The lack of gloves is odd, but again, this is most likely an origin story, so he doesnt have the gloves YET. I am glad that he has proper paws with the pads on his palms instead of creepy human hands. Also claws that he probably cuts/files/chews off himself so they're more like fingernails. Solid enough I guess. And the furriness of it all as well as the dropping quills? Eh, it makes sense. Plus it almost makes the rest of his body seem cuddly. I'm just not down with the rest of it.

-The music choice. Okay, I never heard Gangsta's Paradise in my life. From what I hear it makes no sense to have it have anything to do with Sonic. Now, maybe it was the only cassette he could find, since that boombox looks secondhand and so is the tape, obviously. However, if I were to choose a song for the trailer? I have one option. All I Want by Offspring! Think about it. The dates line up. It's a fast paced rock song. It's rebellious and against the system, like Sonic is in the movie apparently (yeah I didnt get that whole "delinquent" bullshit from the trailer, did you? He just seems like Sonic to me in terms of his actions,) and it was used in a SEGA game! It's from Crazy Taxi! Come on, that's PERFECT!

- the Flash lightning. Seriously? Is that the only thing Hollywood can think of when it comes to showing someone is fast? Come on, get your heads out of your asses. It's so easy. Modern Sonic has been more compared to the element of WIND! Tornadoes, Mach Cones, Sonic Wind, all that stuff. Sonic never really messed with electricity, so bleh.

- This isn't a pro or a con, but I really wanna know this. Will we see the Tornado? Don't forget that the Tornado is Sonic's plane. He just has Tails fly it when he wants to ride the wings. I feel like they could have had Sonic use the Tornado in a cool air battle scene but get shot down (because the Tornado kinda sucks since it always gets shot down, but it's iconic to me) since Sonic isn't exactly "a hell of a pilot" and THEN finds the Warp Ring inside. I dunno, thought it'd be cool. Look, Tim just met a 3 foot, blue, talking hedgehog that runs really fast and eats chili dogs. (please remember the chili dogs) Hedgehogs on planes wouldn't be that farfetched that day, would it?

- Some writing just felt off, but some can be explained. Let's start with everyone's FAVORITE scene...to wreck. The infamous "Uhhh...meow?" Here's my take. Yes, stupid, but what if he had no idea what to do? What if Sonic was just in his head going "What sounds do hedgehogs make? What sounds do hedgehogs make? Quick, say something, stupid!" And when he said it, probably something in his head was screaming "Dont say something stupid, stupid!" Also, I just didn't laugh at the "Smells like body spray and an old ham sandwich" line. I was like, Sonic, shut up. The joke was sold. Don't ruin it.

- Why is it the law where every live action movie with a CGI talking animal (that they didn't know about before you bring up Detective Pikachu, Christopher Robin, or even Peter Rabbit) must have the main character and the CGI character scream at each other? Sonic wouldn't freak out (unless he was more afraid of the gun and was kind of unsure how to react. Also great job dodging the tranq dart, oh Fastest Thing Alive)more than likely he'd be trying to talk his way out of this or just run away with a face like 😐😳 "I'm SO busted!" Just saying there was a better way to do that aside from the cliche.

- Robotnik, why did you try to taste the quill? You dont know where he's been. Yeah, yeah, I get it. Cool and Lickable. Lol. Pretty sure typos shouldn't be legitimized.

- Quicksilver? Not in my series he ain't. Oh... wait. Yeah. The whole stopping time thing. Eh, it's been done. Cool all the same, but again, done before. I appreciate Sonic's spin on it though, playing around like a teenager would. I dig it.

-Save your planet? Like...as in you're just an alien? I dunno, plus how do you know you have to save the planet? I'm chalking THAT up to "this is a trailer and probably wont appear in the final movie the same way."

- Did they REALLY have to make him say "Gotta go fast"? Again, probably just for the trailer, but really?

In conclusion, I have no hope for the movie. Can't be disappointed if you dont expect anything. Sort of my take on his design at first. I thought he was gonna look like COMPLETE garbage, but some shots look great, like when he was explaining that he had to save the planet? The lighting and such looked good for his face when the camera was on him. And again, the movie looks much better in motion. Yeah, I still have issues, but that's because I love Sonic. I love the characters and I want the best for the series. I care about the games that have been with me since my near infancy. They have fan service but it feels like you gotta be a crazy fan like myself to get the references, so it's lackluster because of it.

Sonic deserves a great movie! I just hope they impress me with something HUGE!

[johnmkenney]

Game of the Year 2017

You’ve likely heard it everywhere, but 2017 sure was a fantastic year for video games.  Nintendo released their latest system, Microsoft put their upgraded revision of their console out on the market, and an Early Access title took the world by storm.  All while this was happening, fantastic games were coming out at an unprecedented pace. Three of the games in my top 10 last came out within 10 days of each other early in the year, and two others came out on the same exact day later in the year.  There’s something to be said about years ending in 7 having good games, and this decade provided yet another stellar showing.

This was a year where almost the entirety of the top 10 could have ranked even higher in previous years.  That’s how good games were this year.  I also spent a lot of time ordering my top 3 when I put this together last weekend, as the line is so razor thin that any of them could have won it.  The end moral: what a year for games.

As always, the rules for inclusion are as follows:    

The game must have its final retail release in 2017.  Thus, anything in an alpha/beta state or Steam Early Access does not qualify.  Based on the way games are being developed, this will likely be the last year this rule is in place.

In the case of episodic games, they must have their final episode delivered in 2017 to make the list.

While this list is comprehensive, I haven’t played everything.  Games like A Night in the Woods, Hollow Knight, What Remains of Edith Finch, and Divinity: Original Sin 2 all seem great but are unfortunately all still on my backlog.

Most importantly: the game has to be really good.  No-brainer there.

Honorable mentions:

This was the hardest year yet to limit the list to ten games, but here are the last five cuts I made:

Destiny 2 - Bungie managed to take the positive momentum of the later years of the original Destiny to make a great experience in Destiny 2, but there are definitely still some aspects to be cleaned up. Sonic Mania - It’s the first truly great Sonic game in decades as Christian Whitehead nailed the essence of the Genesis-era games. Persona 5 - A fantastic entry in the series that provides another strong cast of characters, stellar RPG gameplay, and a wonderful soundtrack. Nioh - While often labeled a Souls-clone, the mission based structure and smart take on combat stances make this a unique experience. Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice - This is definitely an important title for exploring mental health, and the true shining star here is the audio design.  Definitely play this with headphones.

And now, here are my top 10 games of 2017:

10. Typeshift (Zach Gage - Mobile)

While many successful games this year focused on large, sweeping adventures, the one game I found myself launching daily was this clever word game.  TypeShift gives you a simple task: shift columns of letters vertically to make words until you’ve used every letter at least once.  While this sounds simple at first, the variety of different modes, including crossword-style clue challenges, help keep you coming back for puzzle after puzzle.  There’s also a free daily puzzle every day, so the replayability is infinite here.  This is the type of game that will stay installed on my phone for a long time to come, as it’s not something I see myself tiring of anytime soon.

9. The Sexy Brutale (Tequila Works - PC, PS4, XBO)

One of 2017’s most unique games: The Sexy Brutale is a Groundhog Day-esque murder mystery adventure.  Stuck in an infinite time loop, the player needs to witness party-goers at a mansion party get killed throughout the night.  Using the knowledge you’ve received as well as the ability to reset time by a few hours, you’re able to foil the attempts at their lives and slowly piece together the story and motives.  This isometric puzzler presents you with a simple objective but continues to use it in clever ways throughout the story to fill in all of the missing pieces in this adventure.  Figuring out how to save each character is a joy, and the setting and soundtrack help make this something that won’t soon be forgotten.

8. Horizon: Zero Dawn (Guerrilla Games - PS4)

After over a decade of developing Killzone games, Guerilla Games delivered a fresh and intriguing new world with Horizon.  In the developer’s self-described “post-post-apocalypse”, you’re given a beautiful open world filled with the remnants of civilization that went nearly extinct thousands of years prior.  Horizon does a good job painting a picture of new class structures and struggles as humans redevelop their societies, but the true spectacle comes within slowly learning more about what caused the downfall of humanity in the first place.  It’s a well-told tale that helps sets the table for more adventures to come in this universe in the future.  Combat and discovering the weaknesses of beasts in battle is a great hook, and the strong gameplay gives you reasons to stick with Aloy for dozens of hours.

7. Pyre (Supergiant Games - PC, PS4)

With its third entry, Supergiant created another enthralling universe to get lose within.  Pyre’s gameplay hook of “RPG meets NBA Jam” is a great way to get people into the door, but what’s more important here is the story that is told.  Half the game presents itself as a visual novel of sorts, where you spend time talking to various members of your party (as well as your opponents) to build a bigger sense of what being trapped in this underground is truly like.  Winning your matches is important, but if you lose, the game continues, as your loss hindered the team and is part of the story.  There are no do-overs in this world, and you must soldier on even if your failure caused members of your team their freedom.  This is one of the strongest aspects of the game, and the relationships you build with the multiple well developed characters in this game make you want to earn their freedom, even if it means you lose them for future matches.  The battles are fun every time, but the true reason to stick around this world is the characters.

6. Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus (Machine Games - PC, PS4, XBO)

Wolfenstein II is probably the game that features the worst gameplay on this list.  Why mention that and even put it on this list?  Well, that’s because tearing through this world and seeing the adventures of B.J. Blazkowicz and his resistance team is a sight to behold.  Set in an alternate reality a few decades after the Nazis won World War II, there isn’t much hope left in the world for those fighting back, and this is a story about starting a revolutions.  Words cannot even describe the twists and turns this story takes, as there are enough clever moments and setpieces that could fill a whole series instead of just a single game.  I found myself putting down the controller several times out of shock with a “did they really just do that?” thought throughout the adventure.  It’s quite alright to throw the settings to easy and tear through this adventure, as it isn’t something to be missed.

5. Cuphead (StudioMDHR - PC, XBO)

There’s one thing painfully obvious about Cuphead right off the bat: this 1930s cartoon inspired run-and-gun platformer is one of the most beautiful games you’ll see in motion.  The game is so faithful to its source material, straight down to the occasional tears in the film and garbled voice audio from some characters.  StudioMDHR went for an aesthetic, and they nailed it.  However, looks aren’t what make a game, and Cuphead’s true strength comes within its stellar gameplay and boss design.  It feels like you are playing a modern-day Gunstar Heroes while you tear through dragons, genies, haunted roller coasters, and so many more diverse villains.  While everything may look cute, this game provides a challenge that is not for the weak of heart, but it’s certainly worth surmounting.  The boss battles a true delight, and something as simple as a progress meter that shows how far you got during your failed attempt is a great touch to make you want to immediately hop back in to try to redeem your loss.  

4. Super Mario Odyssey (Nintendo EPD - Switch)

While Super Mario Galaxy 2 may be my favorite 3D Mario, there’s something to be said about Nintendo wanting to go back to the world-exploring approach seen in Super Mario 64.  What resulted is a fantastic journey through a dozen worlds with clever platforming and environments that reward you for searching every nook and cranny.  Almost every level brings fresh ideas and challenges that help present one of the most fun Mario adventures yet.  All of that being said, I haven’t even touched on the capture mechanic, which helped breath new life into this story.  Using Mario’s new hat companion, Cappy, you are able to possess a majority of enemies you come across to gain their abilities.  The foes you can overtake range from classics like Bullet Bills and Chain Chomps to new foes such as a giant T-Rex.  These traits help you look at your surroundings like you couldn’t before and uncover new secrets and objectives, leading to an absolute sense of wonder for the player.  From the New Donk City Festival to the Darker Side, the moments in this game will keep a smile on your face throughout.

3. NieR: Automata (Platinum Games - PC, PS4)

NieR took me a very long time to finally get through, as there were a few separate occasions early on where I fell off the game.  I decided to stick with it, and shortly after I came to a moment that I immediately intrigued me to keep pushing.  After finishing the game (aka Route A), I enjoyed it enough to see what the alternative routes would show me.  Immediately upon starting the second playthrough, I was hooked and the game wouldn’t let go until I saw the credits no less than six more times.  The twists and turns the story takes in NieR are unprecedented, and the beauty of is it in the way that the story itself is told. This is one of those experiences that wouldn’t have the same effect if shown in another type of medium. The answers are in front of you the whole time, but seeing the way that the game handles subjects such as loyalty, the human essence, and society as a whole are fascinating.  Characters are built so incredibly strong in this world that you want to see what happens to each one of them, even if the outcome isn’t usually the happiest.  It’s to the point where even the end credits have a moment that left me with a “wow, I can’t believe they did that” feeling.  It’s a hard game to discuss without spoiling some of the genius found within, so if you’re at all interested, it’s worth a look.  It’s been weeks since I’ve finished NieR, and I still can’t stop thinking about some of its themes and story.

2. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (Nintendo EPD - Switch, Wii U)

The crown jewel of Nintendo’s new platform is Link’s latest adventure.  It’s hard to think of an open-world created that is as stunning and provides the freedom to explore as the world found here.  2013’s handheld Zelda, A Link Between Worlds, toyed around with the idea of giving the player access to most abilities immediately and setting them loose in the world. Breath of the Wild took that concept and ran with it, as you spent the first few hours on a seperate plateau learning the mechanics and receiving all of the items that give Link his abilities in the game.  Once you have that, you’re turned free to go anywhere you want in the world.  I spent dozens of hours just exploring mountains, lakes, and deserts before even approaching the first story milestone of the game, as there was just so much to do by wandering.  Something as simple as giving Link the ability to climb instead of gating with invisible terrain presents the player with the ability to explore so much so quickly, and the world seems so vast thanks to it.  

Nintendo’s decisions to add challenge shrines, which were all mostly unique, in place of the typical heart piece search granted a new reason to try to uncover everything there was in the world.  The in-game physics also lead to so many moments of creating unique solutions to obstacles and combat that you won’t believe what you can pull off.  The newest Zelda also used one of the series core strengths, its music, in a novel way, as the world is more silent and songs are used more as ambiance to accompany Link in key moments, and it works.  It’s a world you’ll never want to leave, and the fact that Nintendo provided a Zelda adventure that can give you 100 hours a playtime if you choose is something truly special.  The one piece that was the deciding factor of keeping Breath of the Wild out of my top spot was the dungeons, as the focus on letting the player have access to all abilities led to all the dungeons and their bosses seemed sub-par compared to everything else.  Still, this is not an experience to be missed.

1. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG Corporation - PC, XBO)

As with most people, if you would have told me I would have been hooked by a full game version of one of those Battle Royale mods in 2017, I would have called you crazy.  However, here we are.  Very early in the year, I found myself watching a few PUBG streams on Twitch and decided to pick it up about two weeks after it launched in Early Access.  I mentioned at the start of this list how I consistently played TypeShift throughout the year, but 2017 was also the year that I was constantly drawn back into PUBG week after week.

The concept is simple: you and 99 other people are dropped onto an island with nothing.  The goal: be the last person standing.  This isn’t the first time this has been attempted, as I mentioned earlier how mods and other games have attempted this same idea.  However, this is the first time where it’s been streamlined in a way that makes it super easy to hop in and play.  There’s nothing overly complicated about it: as all you need to do is run around and loot weapons and recovery items to better prepare you for battles you’ll have on a fairly large map.  In one of the ways that makes PUBG so accessible, there’s always a circle slowly encroaching onto players to ensure games move quickly and that you cannot just hide in one spot.  Sure, you can hide in a bathtub and hope to get lucky with circle positioning, but it’s probably not going to happen.

No two games of PUBG are exactly alike, and there’s nothing that compares the heart-pounding experience of being one of the last 10 people alive, knowing your next move could win you the game or expose you to be easily killed by another opponent.  It’s a game that has already inspired developers to start working on adding similar concepts to their games, and this could very well be looked back at as a seminal title years down the line.  It’s been a fantastic year for video games, but nothing could compete with the thrill of trying to earn a chicken dinner in PUBG in 2017.

[geekade]

Time And Relative Dimension In Spoilers 10-03: Thin Ice

Welcome back inside the TARDIS! This week was a fairly standard adventure into the past, London 1814 to be exact. It had a monster of the week, some cute urchins, a dazzling Doctor, and a pretty cool conclusion. So let’s skate out onto “Thin Ice.”

I’m low key in love with Bill, the way she is with the TARDIS. It’s so nice to see a companion acknowledge her as a character and not have a contentious relationship with her. Bill’s pragmatism continues to shine through in little ways, as she concerns herself with “how not to get in trouble.” Sometimes I like to think about how certain companions would react to different incarnations of the Doctor and this exchange made me think of how mad she would think 11 was. I doubt she would’ve gone along with his childish antics. But I do like having a self-aware companion, one who points out that she lives in a world containing time travel stories gone wrong and has an appreciation for not wanting to repeat mistakes. It’s a refreshing take in (arguably) the mother of all time travel stories and it’s nice to see that idea not being ignored. (I’m looking at you, current season of The Flash.)

The sonic screwdriver featured heavily in the action this time. Are the sonic specs gone? Or did the Doctor just flag them as an anachronism and leave them on the TARDIS dash? (Maybe so, seeing as he did don an adorable, period-appropriate cravat and top hat combo.) If the show has indeed switched back to the screwdriver as the Doctor’s primary sonic tool, I find it an interesting choice. I’m glad to see them keeping with tradition, I just wonder, with fans clamoring for changes in so many areas of the show (primarily casting and writing), what drove this particular detail being changed back. At any rate, I really like the look of the Doctor’s new sonic, back to a proper TARDIS blue and mimicking some of its exterior design elements. This episode also did a good job of introducing this Doctor Who basic to the new companion.

The adventure itself was pretty typical, but that’s good sometimes. You don’t always need a big flashy plot when you’re trying to get a new Doctor/companion relationship up and running. The underwater effects, especially the audio (reminiscent of Firefly’s space audio effects) were especially cool. The plot echoed that of “The Beast Below” (S05E02), another test run for a new companion. The episodes share some elements, but went in different directions, which I think is down to a good job by the writers, taking what worked from a past episode but being careful to apply it to this relationship and not make it too same-y. I did also think that the girl Kitty who was saved was going to end up being Bill’s great-great-great grandmother or something, since Bill was so concerned with her impact on the past, but unless they’re going with a season-long arc about Bill’s journey through her own ancestry (please don’t), I think I’m wrong.

So, the key to this episode is the Doctor letting Bill make the decisions. He says “Your people, your planet,” and calls himself a servant of the human race, which is...true and not true. Of course he’s there to help, but I’m not so sure of his leaving the decisions in their hands. Never forget Rule One. Just because he tells you you’re in control, doesn’t mean you are. Also, he has a history of testing his companions’ morality (see “The Beast Below,” again). He didn’t explicitly state that’s what was going on, but I think the way the story played out, Bill passed the test, and I, for one, was glad to have the speechifying over the value of human life directed at the episode’s baddie, rather than at the audience, by way of their stand-in in the form of Bill.

And then we have that fascinating stinger with Nardole. Who. Is in. The Vault? I mean, we know the Master/Missy are coming back this season, so that’s an obvious choice, but even if it is him/her/them, it’s still fun to speculate about how he/she/they got in there. And if it’s not, it’s even more fun to think about who could be in there and why. Are they trapped for their own protection or ours? Did the Doctor put them in there or is he merely the guard? And is the Doctor being foolish about, scared of, or just bored by his guard duty, causing him to be lax with his vow about not leaving? Given his history, I think it’s a mix: he’s bored by being stuck in one place, drawn in by the excitement of traveling with Bill, and so sure of himself that he’s got it under control that he’s forgotten how dangerous the occupant of the vault is. Clearly, that’s going to bite him in the ass and I look forward to seeing what happens after that.

In the meantime, it looks likenext week we’ve got a classic spooky haunted house episode. I can only imagine how much trouble they’ll be in in that old house when they once again run into the problem that the sonic screwdriver doesn’t do wood. See you all again next week!

[crystalized-dreams]

So, Mark and I were able to check out the Nintendo Switch this afternoon (Saturday afternoon incase I end up not publishing this until Sunday :P) and while we didn’t really record too much (The one requirement is we needed to try and record hands in the shot which wasn’t always easy–especially if we were both playing), I still have a lot to talk about and a good amount of pictures too.

We managed to get there over an hour early, but a good amount of the line had already been formed. We were at least close to the front. It had started to snow quite a bit so I’m glad they let us in a bit early just to wait somewhere warm. Upon getting up the stairs, we were greeted by a really awesome Link statue:

First stop for us was right to Breath of the Wild. We couldn’t afford to go to E3 last year (though, even if we could I think it still would have been our first stop) so my husband has been dying to play it for so many reasons so of course I let him go for it.

There was a line throughout the entire event so I’m glad we got into the first group of people who were able to play.

Right next to it was Snipperclips so that was the next game we ended up playing. It really is so much fun and I wish we were able to play more before the demo ended.

I look forward to playing it in March–it’s definitely going to be a game we get pretty quickly if not at launch.

We then headed back towards the entrance to play Super Bomberman R. Having never played the classic Bomberman, I was so incredibly surprised I actually managed to win most of the rounds. I don’t think the other people we played against were too happy about it though. It really was a lot of fun though and while I think I still prefer the kind of battlefields the N64 version had, I definitely want to pick this game up soon at some point.

There were a few display set-ups showing the Switch as well: #gallery-0-9 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-9 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 50%; } #gallery-0-9 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-9 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

This is really the only time we got to see the Joy-cons connected to the Grip though. We never actually got to play with it like that in the games we tried.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe was next up and just, before I get into it, I want to just talk about the various set-ups they had. When they did something like this for the Wii U, it was mostly very sleek–everything was white and blue and it was generally smaller, but this place was so much bigger and just had all kinds of cool things set up. #gallery-0-10 { margin: auto; } #gallery-0-10 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-0-10 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-0-10 .gallery-caption { margin-left: 0; } /* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes/media.php */

The window is actually a video screen and clouds would float by. It was so cool. You could try Mario Kart 8 Deluxe here tabletop.

Probably one of my favorite set-ups. I just found it so cool.

Super Mario Odyssey wasn’t available to play, but they did have this video set up and even a photo op you could take with Mario and his hat.

This is a giant Pink Squid Amiibo that was near Splatoon 2 demos. There is no Pink Squid Amiibo. I would like a Pink Squid Amiibo, Nintendo.

I loved these so so so much. I kind of wish the Diner was actually serving special Mario-themed things just because it felt so authentic that I felt like it should have been, but it was just such a good display. Getting back onto the topic of Mario Kart 8, it’s SO nice to have a proper battle mode again. I was absolutely terrible at Bomb Rush because my aim continues to suck, but I still had fun. The game also easily runs a lot smoother. That said, I don’t personally feel it’s enough for me to want to rebuy the game and have to unlock everything again. I also just want to point out while I actually was okay with just using one Joy-con for Snipperclips, I actually found it pretty painful after a while in Mario Kart.

Next up was Street Fighter and before I get into the game itself, I just… want to talk about this a bit. So, most of the time my husband and I played together. I generally do not enjoy playing against people I don’t know for a lot of reasons unless I am also playing with someone I do know. Regardless, this guy wanted to play with someone so I ended up going up against him and just… do not assume and be a condescending jerk like this guy was. I picked Chun-Li and her color immediately and then he kept telling me how to choose my character and what button did what as if I’ve never played Street Fighter before, let alone a fighting game. I didn’t ask nor do I believe anything I said even came off that way. I’m pretty sure I even said I played the game before when the Nintendo Rep asked and the guy was already there at this point.

The reason the game didn’t continue? Because he actually hadn’t hit submit on his color not realizing the option was there. He just assumed that me, this girl in a cute sweater dress with a pink bag had no idea what I was doing and that it was my fault. And his response when he realized? “oops, it was me”. No apologies. No anything. So let me just say it was incredibly relieving to end up winning the match overall.

I did lose the first round (though, it was very close–it was down to one more hit on both sides), but won the next two even if the third it seemed he really wanted to be cheap with the projectiles. I don’t think he was happy that he was beaten by a girl who he essentially acted like she had never seen a game in her life. Just don’t act like this. If someone asks for help, that’s one thing, but don’t make all these assumptions and be a pompous jerk about it.

We then headed over to the other section and tried out Sonic Mania. I’ve mentioned before that Sonic is super important to me and while I love the 3D games more than the 2D ones, Sonic Mania was still really enjoyable. I played Tails so I mostly did nothing, but it was still pretty fun regardless.

Splatoon 2 was up next and I was super nervous as the gyro controls were on. We used pro-controllers, but I just do not do well with gyroscopes. Despite that, our first match I actually did the best with the most ink… well, inked, 8 kills, and 0 deaths. I did pretty well the second time too and both times our team won. I’m not sure how I feel on the new Roller special (the Super Jump Smash), but I still had fun. I’m definitely more interested in the story mode if anything, but I will probably pick this up in the Summer.

We decided to play Fast RMX next and I actually have never played an F-Zero Game so this was pretty new for me. My husband managed to get first place in our first race while I got third, but in our second race I got first and he got third. It was a really fun time and I think I actually had more fun with it than I did with Mario Kart. I think Mario Kart just had me permanently down due to the customization-stat things which I didn’t feel were in effect as much with Fast RMX.

The final game we played was ARMS. It’s pretty fun and I won each of the matches we did. I still don’t know if it’s my kind of game though. I feel like if someone asked, I’d play, but it’s not something I’d really pick up for myself to play as I’m just not super big into fighting games (even if I’m not that bad at them). It’s definitely a neat game though and I think it has a lot of potential so I’ll probably at least keep an eye on it.

When we left, we were given a cookie and a pin. Even though it wasn’t as much as the goodie bag we got at the Wii U event, it was still a nice surprise. The cookie was very tasty.

Overall thoughts: The Switch is really fun. I found the controllers easy to hold and lightweight, the games enjoyable, and just generally had a good time. All the Nintendo reps were great and time flew by even when we were just relaxing a bit. I would say the only negatives I can think of are my hand cramping a bit during Mario Kart and the Street Fighter issue I mentioned above (which has nothing against the game or system which were both fine). It was a great event and I’m so happy I got the opportunity to go. I’m so excited for March.

On getting to try the Nintendo Switch! #NintendoSwitch #Nintendo So, Mark and I were able to check out the Nintendo Switch this afternoon (Saturday afternoon incase I end up not publishing this until Sunday :P) and while we didn't really record too much (The one requirement is we needed to try and record hands in the shot which wasn't always easy--especially if we were both playing), I still have a lot to talk about and a good amount of pictures too.