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shihalyfie · 3 years ago

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Some fun talking about and analyzing the tri. stage play, and its relationship to Kizuna

The tri. stage play (full title: "Super Evolution Stage! Digimon Adventure tri. August 1st Adventure") is honestly quite an unusual entry in this franchise, even within Adventure standards. Nearly everything about its production is unusual -- the entire genre it's in is unexpected, the choice of time period to release something like this is unusual, and moreover, now that Kizuna’s out, a lot of people have noticed a lot of suspiciously similar themes and even language, most notably the key “we’ll always be together” line (phrased even exactly the same way in Japanese). In fact, despite ostensibly being a tri.-branded product, other than a few vague token nods to the anime series in the play itself, said stage play has very little to do with the actual anime sharing its name, so the similarity to Kizuna is even more striking in retrospect.

Perhaps another interesting thing about this play is that it’s a very good example of a standout work in the Adventure universe that didn’t have any original creator involvement (other than some minor tips from Seki). I think there’s often a tendency for people to think that in order for a sequel or spinoff to be true to the original, it has to have some member of original staff on there, especially since the Adventure (and 02) characters tend to be a bit overly complex and it helps to have the reassurance that someone who knows them is behind the wheel -- Kizuna used the presence of Seki and Yamatoya as an outright advertising point -- but this stage play’s director and writer had no experience with the franchise beforehand, not even as a fan, yet still made a very respectful product that has generally been received well by Adventure (and 02) fans and even got the original director’s approval, too. If anything, that makes it all the more impressive!

(Note that the below text spoils the story content of the play, but not Kizuna’s to any substantial degree.)

Some production background

Anime and video game stage tie-ins are fairly common -- much like this one, they tend to have very short runs and are targeted at a limited audience -- but they’re usually stereotyped as being for the otome crowd (i.e. predominantly female otaku audience), so works like this are generally associated with it. As a result, when this play was announced and released between tri. Parts 4 and 5, quite a few people were surprised, because this franchise originally came from products associated with shounen anime. In practice, this was a period where it was becoming increasingly clear that there was, in fact, a huge female audience for Digimon (especially Adventure universe), on top of the fact that (as noted by the performers in the final show) the audience for this show ended up being unusually mixed-gender, because Digimon really is universal -- but it did lead to the announcement of the play being initially received with heavy skepticism, partially because of the usual misogyny (stigma around things associated with female audiences, etc.), and partially because this was during a time where...well, saying that a very huge percentage of the fanbase, especially the Japanese side, was really pissed off at anything tri.-branded at the time is kind of an understatement. Ultimately, the play ended up very well-received with a small but dedicated following, and it’s currently referred to as “dejisute” (short for “Digimon Stage”) in Japanese fan shorthand. Bringing it up generally elicits positive critical feedback, even among those who were initially skeptical.

Some interesting things also surround the circumstances of its production as well. As some might know already, the tri. anime series and Kizuna share only one key member of staff: Kinoshita Yousuke, who was involved in tri. Parts 5 and 6, and eventually went on to become the producer for Kizuna and the upcoming 02-based movie. tri. was a work that (for some reason) had a huge number of producers on it, of which Kinoshita was only one; he seemed to have been replacing Arai Shuuhei, who left the project after Part 4. However, while Arai was formerly one of the most visible of tri.’s producers (he was the only one regularly brought up in interviews), how much degree of influence Kinoshita had with tri. is unknown, other than the fact he had no involvement in its story. Given that the decision to make Kizuna also seemed to have been made around Part 5, it seems that Kinoshita may have been brought on specifically for the purpose of observing and prepping for Kizuna, because his role on tri. seems to have been so minimal that the moment he was put in charge of Kizuna, the production philosophy ended up becoming completely different under his management. (When you think about it, tri. and Kizuna have very little in common, other than the rough premises of involving the older Adventure cast.)

The thing is, though, Part 5 isn’t actually the first tri. work Kinoshita is credited for, but this stage play is -- which is interesting to consider when taking into account the heavy amount of thematic parallels between this and Kizuna three years later, and in general the very unusual creative decision to make a stage play that suddenly popped up at exactly this time, making heavier tributes to Adventure (and even 02) than the actual anime it was branded with. Making things even more interesting was that the stage play’s director and writer, Tani Kenichi, was allegedly recruited by an unnamed producer impressed with his work (by the way, did I mention Kinoshita used to work in live-action before joining Toei?). Given all that, perhaps this stage play coming off unnervingly like a sort of Kizuna prototype isn’t all that surprising...

Unfortunately, right now we’re still kind of in a time period where official will get barraged with violently angry comments for even so much as putting the series on streaming services, so it’ll probably be a few more years (if ever) before official will be willing to be more open about what went on behind tri. production, and it’s probably a bit much to get too speculative about things like this when real people are involved. Nevertheless, one thing is apparent: the director and writer, Tani, was a newcomer to Digimon -- not even someone who’d been a fan beforehand -- but watched all of Adventure and 02 in preparation for it and stated openly that he was very, very emotionally touched by it. The work itself is obviously made with a lot of love and respect for the series, and one really cool thing about it is that you can also tell that it came from the perspective of an adult with no preconceived notions about it, therefore meaning it comes from someone analyzing the series without necessarily caving to fanbase mantras, and making some very cogent observations about the characters. It’s also just a fabulous work production-wise in general -- the puppet work and making the Digimon look convincing on stage is very well-done, especially when you consider that this play had only ten showings -- and you really gotta appreciate the fact that, even before Seki gave him a few pointers, he was so passionate about the importance of Digimon partners that he pushed for all eight to be represented despite the expenses.

Taking a look at the play itself

Despite ostensibly tying into the tri. anime series it's branded with, the play only really seems to loosely refer to some of its key elements as taking place at approximately the same time, such as Koushirou’s server, infected Digimon, setpieces like KNIFE OF DAY, and an eventual “reveal” that this seems to take place ostensibly around the rough time period of tri.’s Part 4. Look closely, however, and you’ll notice that a lot of things in the characterization and plot arena actually don’t track much with tri. at all -- for instance, in a very non-comprehensive list of things:

It’s implied that Yamato himself is embarrassed about the KNIFE OF DAY band name and is desperately trying to get through it with passion, which doesn’t quite line up with his attitude about it in the anime.

The timeline just really doesn’t line up; Mochizuki Meiko, Meicoomon, and the infections obviously exist, but you can’t have a time period in Part 4 where the kids recognize Meicoomon as being related to the distortions or infections while also being separated from Meiko. Moreover, the “reboot” just doesn’t seem to have happened at all (and to be fair, if you’re planning on making a two-hour tribute to Adventure, not having the Digimon with memories of said adventure would seriously limit the scope of your plot, so this kind of “leeway” was probably downright necessary).

The tri. anime series portrayed Takeru as having a very sharp shift in language, presumably under the implication he’s putting up a front as a flirtatious, aggressive playboy, and so his first-person pronoun was turned into the aggressive ore and his way of referring to Yamato aniki. In Adventure and 02, Takeru had used the polite boku and childish/cutesy onii-chan, and the boku was prominently used as a plot point to hint at Takeru’s identity as the series narrator. (Yes, these kinds of things are actually kind of a big deal in fiction.) Since even longtime fans generally agree that at some point Takeru would be likely to stop using onii-chan once he became old enough, the stage play likewise also prefers aniki over onii-chan, but, notably, it doesn’t even bother with ore in the slightest nor any of the implications that surround it, and Takeru comfortably uses boku for the entirety of the play. Considering that the use of aniki is still a bit unusual (both Diablomon Strikes Back and Kizuna prominently favor the slightly more polite nii-san instead), it seems that the play was made with an awareness that both aspects of Takeru’s language had changed, but a conscious decision to hold over only one from the anime.

And so on and so forth.

In general, the way you could describe this play’s handling of Adventure universe lore and characterization elements is that it’s a bit selective about which tri.-related elements it makes use of, particularly in regards to ones that might be too difficult to reconcile with the original Adventure (and 02). (This is basically the same attitude Kizuna roughly takes in regards to handling of tri. elements, although it’s less noticeable there partially because of the five-year gap between tri. and Kizuna.) Obviously, being completely incongruous with the tri. anime would be a pretty crude thing to do for a play that’s actually branded with it (and especially when said anime was still ongoing at the time, regardless of public opinion), but, regardless, the end result is that its actual relationship with the tri. anime’s version of canon is a bit tenuous.

The main reason for this is probably that, on the flip side, the stage play's references to Adventure -- as in, the specific series that aired in 1999-2000 and took place in the in-universe August 1 and 3, 1999 -- are incredibly aggressive. In fact, it’s actually far more aggressive in this respect than Kizuna is. For all Kizuna is branded as an Adventure movie and puts the original Adventure cast first and foremost in all of the advertising, if you watch the actual movie, in practice, it’s more of something that lies in the gap between Adventure and 02 and the two series together as a whole. Adventure was a series that practically revolved around a "trapped in another world" story and the specific impact its events had on the kids involved, but Kizuna focuses more on the “larger world”, including real world society (very much 02 things), with a lot of themes with suspicious pertinence to 02 and references to its epilogue looming over the plot; the specific Adventure references and even the Digital World don’t come into play until the climax. (And that’s before we get into the fact that the 02 quartet gets more screentime than a good chunk of their seniors.) Really, you can see it just by the fact that a majority of the primary key visuals line the 02 quartet up with everyone else; it’s a movie about both, not just Adventure.

So in other words, Kizuna is really about mixing Adventure and 02 elements, serving as a sort of stopgap work, and recasting the Adventure group in a lot of 02′s context. (And that’s by no means a bad thing; since Adventure wasn’t about that, the differing juxtaposition is a fresh perspective in its own way.) But in terms of revisiting what the actual series called Digimon Adventure was and how those events might have an influence on its relevant cast years later, this play (which actually has longer runtime than Kizuna, being around two hours) is a good place to go to if that’s what you’re looking for. The entire premise of the play revolves around copiously referencing that specific adventure back in 1999, and, more importantly, what impact it’s still continuing to have in this particular group’s memories, to the point where they’re starting to romanticize it and wish they could return to it forever...

Ah, right, that’s what this play has in common with Kizuna: the overall theme of unhealthy fixation on rose-colored nostalgia, and the need to move forward from it. (And, driving it home, “unhealthy fixation on the events of Adventure” as a symbol of that rose-colored nostalgia, to boot.)

The premise of the play itself is that the kids decide to hold a camping trip as tribute to the adventure in 1999, as part of a desire to "go back to those times" (and, as is eventually revealed, it’s actually part of a pocket universe their subconscious wishes had dreamed up as a desire to recreate the past, thanks to the power of the Digital World). So all of the references to Adventure are concrete and fleshed out in specific detail, ranging from everyone referencing specific events and how they impacted them (Jou very explicitly refers to his experiences in Adventure episodes 46-47 in terms of why it fuels his current desire to become a doctor) to even the most minor of references (direct reference to bananas on File Island, from Adventure episode 3).

As a brief aside, a positive side effect of centering the plot on this specific adventure is that it justifies the reason for why these eight are working together (at least prior to the endgame reveal that they’re still involved in tri.’s events); the eight of them weren’t portrayed as liable to do so without good reason, and while certain aspects and events from 02 are alluded to when they’re relevant, the absence of the actual quartet passing without note is completely justifiable because they simply were not on that adventure anyway. (They weren’t initially planned to be at the event in 02 episode 17, and knowing them, it’s likely they wouldn’t want to be at this kind of outright commemorative camping event, because they’d feel like they’d be intrusive in something they had nothing to do with.) So within the scope of the play in two hours, the narrative can be very neatly condensed to be mostly about Adventure itself.

Although this play and Kizuna both share the common theme of the existential crisis that comes with getting older and the tendency to romanticize one’s childhood, the underlying reasons are a bit different; Kizuna’s is very close to 02 in that it’s largely to do with societal pressures and expectations, especially since the question of "what you want to do with your career" is a driving motivation in it. In other words, the existential crisis comes from living up to other people’s expectations, or trying to fit into an arbitrary societal mold of an “adult” without necessarily knowing if that’s what you really want. In the case of this stage play, being set in everyone’s high school years where everyone’s relationship to “the world at large” is a bit more tenuous, the reason for the existential crisis is somewhat closer to Adventure’s: everyone’s started to think they might have been better people back then. More confident, less hesitant, more honest with their feelings. Adventure was a series about self-improvement and one’s relationship with oneself, so it’s understandable that a work meant to look back on that specific adventure will ask the question “well, did they become better people after all?” as a result.

But there’s two problems with this line of thinking: one, this is a very rose-colored evaluation of their former selves, because just because they might have been “more confident” back then doesn’t mean they didn’t have other problems going on (Hikari calls her past self out for being arguably “more honest”, but also somewhat of a dependent child), and two, being more hesitant doesn’t make one a weaker person, just one who’s dealing with a lot more problems and awareness and things to worry about because of how much the scope of their lives has increased. As Agumon says at the end, the old Taichi and the current Taichi are still the same person; it’s just that he’s dealing with more, so he’ll naturally worry about more, and taking on those extra burdens is actually his own way of “evolving”.

Particularly interesting is the position of Jou, the not-so-unsung hero of this story, who is explicitly identified as the person most clearly aware of his future dreams and proceeding without hesitation towards them, to the point of being somewhat immune to the effects of the dream world. (Somewhat, mainly because the ending establishes that he wasn’t entirely.) It's consistent in line with the fact that we actually saw, directly, the train of thought that led to his decision to become a doctor back in Adventure, and he even states it directly in this play himself: he doesn’t consider himself someone who wants to solve things through fighting, but rather someone who can prevent casualties and heal the injured if he pursues this line of study, and thus is determined to make it happen. Even from the very early points of the play, there are several hints at him being able to see a metaphorical “future” that the others cannot, and while he remains unfailingly loyal to his friends (there’s a long sequence of him constantly claiming he’ll leave them as per Koushirou’s request but constantly coming back because he just can’t bring himself to abandon them), he also is the first one to depart the camping trip to attend to a test -- that is to say, he treasures his past, but he has a strong enough dream for his future that he’s willing to move on better than the others can.

Jou’s also the one to personally advise Yamato about the difference in nuance between doing things because you feel you must, versus doing it because you yourself truly want to, a difference in nuance that also becomes very pertinent in Kizuna. Also pertinent to both works in common is the discussion of nuances between “staying trapped in one’s memories” and “violently cutting them all away” (the consequences of the latter being more extensively discussed in Kizuna), versus the ideal situation of reflecting on those memories and experiences from the past in order to productively move forward.

And in the end, rose-colored nostalgia is, indeed, rose-colored nostalgia. Because, sure, that adventure back in the day was great, and they grew a lot, but they also grew a lot because they were overcoming some very harsh, difficult troubles; omitting those parts is losing the substance. The re-invocation of the fun “camping trip” also means re-invoking all of the other things that came along with it, including all of the dangerous threats they’d faced back then. It’s a package deal, and you can’t just filter those out, because it misses the point of what you gained out of it in the first place.

In general, the character writing for this play is also very good; there are some differences between the characters here and them back in 02, but they’re all within the believable scope of positive progression within three years and general adherence to core tenets of their character (Koushirou is certainly more assertive, but emphasis continues to be placed on his deference to others, penchant for spotting details, and capability for being an organizational leader in his own sense). Also notably, this play manages to verbalize a lot of the subtleties in Adventure and 02 that the mainstream tends to gloss over (and don’t tend to get put in official profiles) but are well-known to those deeply familiar with the series. This is the kind of attention to detail usually associated with those who have been studying the series for years, so it’s refreshing to see these come out in words -- for instance, Koushirou stating outright that he was one of the closest people to Taichi for a long time (very true!), Hikari and Takeru actually commenting on each other from back in Adventure (something we never really got in 02, despite “them having known each other for a while” being part of their character arcs), and Sora explicitly admitting that she goes out of her way for others because it’s easier to work for others than it is to even think about herself.

Actually, the attention to detail in general is fantastic; other than a minor slip-up (Sora refers to having met Koushirou during the summer camp at the beginning of the play when she’d actually known him prior from the soccer club, a detail that’s very easy to miss because it’s only mentioned once in Adventure episode 16 and clarified further in the novels), a lot of things from Adventure and 02 are made use of and framed in very clever context; the choice of Etemon as the enemy for this play is well-placed for both his entertainment value and the fact that, as an enemy personally defeated by MetalGreymon in Adventure episode 20, it makes perfect sense that he would have a grudge against Taichi in particular. (It’s also explicitly mentioned that Hikari and Tailmon never met Etemon in person even once, and that Taichi never actually got to see MetalEtemon, so there’s a lot of attention paid to logistics like that.)

Also, while 02 is not really brought up within the scope of the story (and really shouldn’t be, not when this story so heavily centers around Adventure and its themes), its place in canon and its contributions to the worldbuilding are fully respected; a lot of the offhand references to family situations and background are elements that were originally introduced in 02, and many aspects of its Digital World lore are used to assist the plot premise (in particular, the idea of the Digital World being connected to something that can conjure up unconscious dreams wasn’t explicitly invoked until 02). Rather amusingly, at one point, Hikari uses the events of 02 episode 13 to tell a “scary story” to troll Mimi, and it’s interesting and rather refreshing to see the implication that Hikari’s been able to move past the incident enough to use it to troll someone else. There are also some latent epilogue references as well, with Hikari directly bringing up her goal of becoming a kindergarten teacher, Takeru making some really subtle references to wanting to be a novelist and chronicle their adventures (in true Takeru fashion, he never states it outright, but anyone familiar with the epilogue can figure it out), and Taichi alluding to an ultimate goal of humans coexisting alongside Digimon.

Finally, attention should be called to the play’s relationship writing in general. As stated before, the play does call attention to relationships between characters that often don’t get brought up by the mainstream but are somewhat more well-known to fans -- Koushirou and Taichi, Sora and Mimi, Jou and Yamato -- but even the well-known ones are treated with nuance endemic to that from Adventure and especially 02, given that Taichi and Yamato don’t actually have the stereotypical “cold rivals” atmosphere that shounen anime would usually suggest, and the two of them have an extended heart-to-heart in which Yamato actively tries to figure out what’s wrong with Taichi and treat him kindly. (Like in Adventure, the only time they break out in a fight is when Yamato gets emotionally compromised and starts worrying that Taichi isn’t doing enough for others’ welfare.) It’s also very consistent with how the two treat each other in Kizuna as well (the izakaya scene comes to mind, and has a lot of similarities to the awkward-but-ultimately-close conversation they have at night in this play).

And, of course, the centerpiece of the narrative overall: the human-partner relationship. Of course, a lot of this was probably helped by Seki lecturing Tani to not mess this part up, but it really is impressive to consider in light of the fact we’re working with a lot of puppets that have handlers clearly in plain view, so you have to have some massive suspension of disbelief to make this work. But not only are the movements well-done to make it convincing that you really are seeing these actors physically interacting with their partners on stage, the narrative also puts huge spotlights on them, making the Digimon outright be the ones to snap their partners out of their worst patterns of thinking (especially with Agumon and Taichi), and dedicating a long period of silence where literal stage spotlights are dedicated to each kid having some alone time with their partner. The intimacy is very convincing, and, truly, Tani’s insistence on making sure every single one of the main Digimon was represented in spite of the prohibitive budget paid off very well. The point is made: a Digimon partner has to be someone who knows you well and intimately and can call you out at your worst moments, and Taichi even spells it out: Agumon’s capable of seeing right through him.

Putting it next to Kizuna -- a movie dedicated entirely to examining the meaning of a partner relationship, what happens when it deteriorates, what that means for oneself, and what it takes to recover it again -- it’s perhaps unsurprising that this play ends on the same line that was used in all of Kizuna’s advertising and was central to its own plot: “We’ll always be together.”

#digimon #tri stage play #digimon adventure last evolution kizuna #shihameta

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duhragonball · 5 years ago

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Dragon Ball Z Movie 15: Resurrection F

“Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection F” premiered on April 18, 2015. Notably, it had a U.S. theatrical release only a few months later, in August. Movie 14 got a U.S. theatrical release, but it took a lot longer, and fans didn’t really have any reason to expect that much. In 2013, we were just waiting for Funimation to release it on home video. But I think it says a lot about how successful Movie 14 was. Not only did the sequel get made only a couple of years later, but the big shots in Japan who run all this stuff finally realized that there’s an international audience just as eager to pay for this stuff. I want to say the Broly movie got released in the U.S. even faster, but I’d have to look it up. And from what I understand, the Broly movie did even bigger business than Movies 14 and 15, so I think it’s safe to say that if they keep making more of these, we can count on a speedy localization.

Do we have Fox to thank for this? I mean, would any of this Dragon Ball revival have happened if “Dragon Ball Evolution” hadn’t bombed so badly? I mean, let’s say they did a good job and made DBE really kick ass, like the Thor movies. By now they probably would have made a nice little trilogy, starring a mostly whitewashed cast. Maybe the third one would be looked down upon, or they’d try to do a reboot like with the X-Men franchise, and people would write pointless thinkpiece articles asking stupid questions about “Dragon Ball fatigue”. Teenage Justin Chatwick stans would be blogging things like “OMG Did you know there was a Dragon Ball Evolution cartoon?!?!?” Maybe those live action movies would be better than Dragon Ball Super, but they’d probably also mark the end of the franchise. At least with things as they are, there’s no telling how much more Dragon Ball content we might be getting in the 20′s.

Gee, Toei, how come your mom lets you have two logos at the start of the movie?

I just found this out last night, but Res F has the distinction of being the first movie where Toriyama wrote the actual screenplay, as opposed to just coming up with the plot and story, as in Movie 14. I’m a fan of Toriyama’s work, obviously, but I’m don’t subscribe to the idea that anything he does is pure gold and everyone else who contributes to this franchise is ruining it somehow. There are GT apologists who would try to argue that GT was more legitimate because Toriyama had some vague influence on the production, and he drew SSJ4 Goku once, so that means it’s magically awesome. It just doesn’t work. Movie 14 is better than Movie 15, and I don’t think that’s because one screenplay was better than the other, but the point is that you can’t just add more Toriyama labor and guarantee a superior product.

So there’s three big problems I have with this movie, and when I rewatched it this morning, my opinion hasn’t budged since 2015.

First, the sole premise of this movie is that Frieza comes back to menace the good guys again. That’s a bad move, period. I find Frieza overrated to begin with, and they’ve already done handful of Frieza comebacks before this movie was ever conceived. Even if it was a good idea, it’s so obvious that it’s barely worth doing. When the DBS: Broly movie was first announced, I was worried that they were making the same mistake again, but then it turned out they had a bold twist on the character to justify the effort. And that’s what it takes. If you do something obvious and predictable, if you repeat an idea you’ve already used before, then you’d better have some sort of big twist to make it fresh. Movie 15 does not have this. It does an admirable job in spite of that flaw, but it’s a pretty serious flaw.

Second, the visuals are bland and unimpressive. The point of this movie is that Goku and Frieza are going to have a rematch of their epic showdown on Namek. I just went back in my archives and pulled up a still from the Frieza Saga, and it looks ten times cooler than anything in the movie. They were fighting on an exploding planet, surrounded by red skies, lightning, molten lava, and tornadoes. Movie 15 boasts the same guys, supposedly more powerful than ever, but they fight like they’re in a video game, and the background is just this dismal cloudy sky. They had 23 years to figure out how to raise the stakes, and all they could come up with was making Frieza yellow and Goku blue.

Third, everyone acts like an idiot in this movie. Like I said, we’ve done this dance before, but everyone just repeats the same mistakes and forgets that characters can do things that they’ve done in the past. Sometimes I can’t tell whether it’s an honest flub, or a deliberate callback to classic DBZ. All I know is that I remember how it went the first time, and you’d think the characters would too, since they lived it.

Now, in spite of those issues, this film does a pretty decent job working with what it has. It’s not nearly as bad as Movies 10 and 11, which commit these same three sins and puts the main characters on the sidelines. But it’s a step down from Movie 14, and around the same time, Dragon Ball Super was starting up on Japanese TV, and that show was just adapting the movies for the first 32 episodes, so I was pretty displeased with the state of the franchise in 2015.

All right, let’s get started. The movie opens in hell, which is pretty interesting, because up until now we’ve only ever seen Toei’s version of DBZ Hell. There’s a lot of inconsistencies, like whether or not you get to keep your physical body, and whether or not hell is even that bad a place to be. Since Toriyama wrote this thing, I have to assume this is his official version of DBZ’s Hell. Conveniently, we find that it’s got plenty of layers to it, including a scary looking realm full of bats, an ocean full of Pokemon fish, and underneath all of that we have an idyllic meadow with pink trees.

This is where Frieza’s being kept, and he just has to hang from the tree in some sort of testicle-looking thing. There’s angels and fairies and a stuffed animal marching band, and it’s pretty cute, but I can see where you’d get sick of it after a while.

And Frieza’s been here for a while. This movie is set in the year Age 779, and Frieza was killed by Future Trunks in Age 764, so he’s on Year Fifteen of his infinity-year sentence. Has he been stuck in this particular torment for the entire time? Who knows? I don’t know much about Japanese afterlife mythology, but my understanding is that it’s like an even more complex version of Dante’s Inferno, where there’s all these different ordeals you have to suffer through for extraordinarily long periods of time. Maybe they let him out part of the time so he can get beat up by Pikkon and watch Goku beat Majin Buu.

One touch I appreciate is that he’s still in his Mecha-Frieza form. Does it make sense for him to retain his cybernetic parts when Trunks chopped him up into so many pieces? I don’t know, but Mecha-Frieza is my favorite Frieza, so I like the nod to that moment.

Meanwhile, Frieza’s private army somehow still exists after all these years. This movie calls it the “Frieza Force”, which I’m not too wild about, but I’ll run with it. I think it’s kind of stupid to keep calling it that so long after Frieza’s death, but maybe it’s a bluff to anyone who doesn’t know Frieza’s dead. At this point, all they have left is the name. One of Frieza’s administrators, Sorbet, has taken charge of the whole thing, and I guess he’s done a fairly impressive job if he’s kept it going this long, but all he’s really accomplished is to oversee the slow dissolution of Frieza’s holdings.

Funimation made a lot out of the idea of Frieza as an emperor, suggesting he was a head of state and the planets he conquered were part of a vast interstellar nation. I think in the dub there was a comment about how the Frieza Force used to control like 70% of the known universe, but none of that’s in the Japanese version. The original premise of Frieza is that he just has a bunch of guys fighting his battles for him, and he buys and sells planets to finance all the wine and spaceships he goes through. I rather prefer that sort of aimlessness about his organization. If he were like a Roman Caesar, you could at least balance out his brutality with the semblance of authority he brings to his conquests. A Pax Friezae, if you will. But he’s not Diocletian, he’s a trust fund baby who just happens to be nigh invulnerable. He never cared what happened to anyone else, or how things would run after he was gone.

Anyway, Sorbet just doesn’t have the manpower to hold their territory, and all he can do is pull his soldiers out when uprisings get too intense. His only recourse is to wish Frieza back to life with the Dragon Balls, except he can’t find the Namekians’ new homeworld. There’s Dragon Balls on Earth, except that’s where all the Super Saiyans live, so it’s dangerous. But today, he’s decided there’s no other way. To be on the safe side, he leads an away team with just himself and his aid, Tagoma. That way there’s less chance of them being noticed by the ki-sensitive fighters on the planet.

Sigh... this is why I hate the fucking Frieza Force right here. It’s the same old spaceships, same old uniforms, same old plans. Their shuttlecraft just looks like their regular ship, only smaller. Frieza’s been dead for fifteen years, and after all this time, their biggest idea is to try to bring back LOWARD FUREEEZA SAWMA. If that was such a hot idea, then why did he get killed in the first place?

What annoys me is that there’s probably an interesting explanation for Sorbet’s strategy. You’d think he would be happier with Frieza gone. He runs this whole outfit, and even if their domain is smaller than it was under Frieza, it belongs to him, so he’s richer and more powerful than he’s ever been. But maybe he just can’t appreciate that, and he liked it better when he was a middle-manager for a big shot like Frieza. But that never gets explored in the movie. Sorbet just acts like he’s wishing back Frieza because he’s supposed to.

Anyway, it would be risky to try to go through Bulma to get the Dragon Balls, but Emperor Pilaf has a Dragon Radar of his own, so they strongarm him instead. I wonder where he got that thing. General Copper from the Red Ribbon Army had one that was never seen again, so maybe they stole it from him?

Meanwhile, here’s baby Pan. I thought Pan’s appearance in these later movies conflicted with the final three episodes of DBZ, but maybe not. The dub said she was three, but the subs said she was four. And those last three episodes took place in Age 784, while this movie shows her being newly born in Age 779, just five years earlier. So Pan could still be four years old when she fought Wild Tiger, and her birthday just hadn’t come along yet.

Anyway, Piccolo’s keeping an eye on her while her parents are shopping.

Then the sky gets dark, and Gohan and Piccolo know that someone’s wishing on the Dragon Balls, but they don’t know who or why. Oh, by the way, there’s a big statue of Mr. Satan here, and that’s his only appearance in this movie.

So Sorbet makes his big wish to have a resurrection... of F. Which stands for “Frieza.”

Just like the title of this cartoon!

But Shenron explains that it would be kind of dumb to do that. This was the thing I never understood when this movie was first announced. During the Frieza Saga, Shenron was used to wish back everyone killed by Frieza and his men, and Kami said that this would only work for those who had died within the past year. The implication being that Shenron can’t revive people who have been dead for a really long time.

But Toriyama seems to have taken that into account here. Shenron explains that he can revive Frieza, even after fifteen years, but he can’t restore all the damage to his body.

This leads to a quick flashback of Trunks killing him way back when. I’m glad they included this, since it’s worth explaining just how Frieza died in the first place. Trunks chopped him into pieces, then blasted the pieces. Apparently, after all this time, Shenron can only undo the blasting and the dying, but not the chopping.

However, the medical technology used by the Frieza Force has advanced somewhat since the Namek Saga, so Tagoma believes they could finish the job of putting Frieza back together. Sorbet decides it’s worth a shot, so we’re off to the races.

So Shenron plats along, and a bunch of Frieza chunks fall to the ground. I like the sound effects they make when they land.

Creepily, the pieces try to gather together again. I don’t know if this is Shenron’s power trying and failing to complete the resurrection, of if this is some function of Mecha-Frieza’s cybernetics. Either way, it doesn’t work.

But the pieces are all still alive, which is siiiick. Frieza’s eye even opens and looks at them, suggesting that he’s somehow still conscious in this state. See, this movie still has some cool stuff in it.

Then Shenron asks Sorbet what he wants for his second wish, and Sorbet had no idea that he would get more than one. He considers wishing back King Cold, but before he can decide...

... Shu wishes for cash, and gets it. Sorbet’s angry about this, but he has to hurry up and return to the ship before the Z-Fighters find him. The funny thing is that Shenron leaves after this second wish is granted, but in the Dragon Ball Super version, he grants a third wish, and Mai uses that one too. This is why I’ve spent the last 16 years confused over whether Buu-era Shenron grants two wishes or three. Apparently, the deal is that it’s three, unless you use one to wish a lot of people back to life at the same time. Then it’s two. So did Toriyama goof, or was the wish to bring back Frieza hard enough that it counts as two wishes? It doesn’t matter much, since Movies 10, 13, and 14 all played fast and loose with Shenron as well.

So now they have to load all the Frieza chunks into a big garbage can and haul them back to their ship.

They almost forget a piece, but Pilaf saves it for them. I wonder what would have happened if they left that eye behind?

So then they heal the pieces in their medical machine. I don’t know how this was supposed to work, but I assume they needed someone to stitch the pieces together, then they loaded him in the tank for a while, and then they had to take him out again, dress him up in his uniform, and put him back in to cure a while longer. Also, they have Japanese punk band Maximum the Hormone playing on the stereo the whole time they do this.

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“F” is a pretty good song, and I’m glad they put it in this movie, but I’d probably like it more if I liked Frieza more. The story goes that Akira Toriyama heard this song, probably because the band wrote it as a tribute to his character, and the song inspired him to create the story in this movie.

Anyway, Frieza breaks out of the tank and splashes green crap everywhere because he’s such a drama queen.

Sorbet explains everything that’s happened, and Frieza seems mostly bemused by it all. He’s displeased that he had to wait in hell for so long, but at least he’s out. Sorbet mentions that they plan to wish back King Cold next, but Frieza tells them not to bother, since he apparently doesn’t like his dad that much. This should be the tip to these idiots that this scheme will get them all killed.

Frieza kills a guy just to see how his skills are holding up, and he declares his intent to take revenge on the two Super Saiyans who defeated him. Remember, he still owes Goku for beating him up on Namek, but Trunks killed him before he could get to that point. And that’s my main problem with all of this. We already did a Frieza comeback, and it was Mecha-Frieza invading Earth in the Trunks Saga. He miraculously survived Namek, his soldiers spent months putting him back together, and then the very first thing he wanted to do was go to Earth and kill Super Saiyans. Does any of this sound familiar?

Besides that episode, we had several other stories that repeated the same theme. Movies 5 and 6 were basically the same idea, but with Frieza’s brother as a stand-in for Frieza himself. Episode 195 of the anime had Frieza come back as part of a revolut in hell. Movie 12 had Frieza come back, only to get killed again by Gohan. Dragon Ball GT had Frieza come back and fight Goku. I think Toriyama’s attitude is that he didn’t write those stories, so they don’t count, but it doesn’t change the fact that the audience still saw all of those. By the time this movie came along, “Frieza comes back for revenge” had been done several times.

Tagoma points out that maybe we shouldn’t rush back to Earth and get wiped out in a hopeless battle. Again. He suggests that it might be wiser to focus on rebuilding the Frieza Force, but Frieza kills him for his impudence, along with several other flunkies who just happened to be nearby.

At least Frieza has a reason for wanting to start with revenge. As far as he’s concerned, the Frieza Force can’t rebuild to its former glory, not if they have to hide from the Super Saiyans the whole time. Sorbet points out that Goku’s even stronger than he was before, citing his defeat of Majin Buu. Amazingly, Frieza’s heard of Majin Buu, since his father once told him that he should never mess with Buu or Beerus.

But this doesn’t worry Frieza much. He figured Goku would become stronger, and he thinks he can as well. Frieza was born with this unnaturally incredible power that he has, so he’s never needed to train or improve his strength. But now, he thinks that if he does train, he can surpass Goku after about four months. This is basically the Dragon Ball equivalent of “Why doesn’t Bluto eat some spinach and beat the hell out of Popeye?”

Here’s what blows my mind. In the subs, Frieza estimates that he’ll reach a power level of 1.3 million. I’m amazed that they’d even cite a power level this late in the franchise, let alone a number that low. Frieza claimed to be at one million in his second form, so I think everyone agrees that we passed 1,300,000 a long time ago. Hell, there aren’t any scouters able to measure that high anyway.

Seriously, is this official canon? It has to be right? Toriyama wrote that line himself. Is he saying eveyone from Second-form Frieza to Golden Frieza ranges from 1 million to 1.3 million? So like, Perfect Cell would be 1.1 million, I guess, and Majin Buu’s 1.2? That’s wild. I kind of like it.

What I don’t like is that it’s a little convenient that Frieza can catch up to Goku so easily. It took Gokue fifteen years to reach the level he’s at in this movie, and Frieza manages to tie him in just four months? If it was that easy, why didn’t he just do pushups for a week before he came to Earth the last time? He could have wiped out Trunks in an instant.

Moving on, a few months later, Jaco the Intergalactic Patrolman arrives on Earth to warn Bulma that Frieza is coming to Earth with a thousand soldiers.

I won’t get into Jaco’s whole deal, because I still haven’t read his manga yet, but baiscally he was friends with Bulma’s older sister back in the day, and Tights told him that Bulma knows the Super Saiyan who beat Frieza. The problem is that Goku and Vegeta aren’t on Earth right now, because they’re training with Whis on Beerus’ world. Bulma can contact Whis by holding up delicious food and calling out to him, but she doesn’t know if he’s listening. Also, Jaco waited until an hour before Frieza’s arrival to say anything, so now Bulma has to scramble to alert the others.

Here’s some bank robbers. I like this bit, because in the dub, they say “We’re as rich as rich guys!”

There’s just one problem...

Krillin’s a cop.

Then Bulma calls him and tells him the bad news. I feel like somewhere in the dub, Krillin observed that Majin Buu and Gohan could at least buy them some time, but then it turned out Buu was asleep the whole time, which was why he didn’t show up in this movie. I must be thinking of the DBS version. This is why I’m not big on Buu as a good guy, by the way. They have this insanely powerful good guy on their team, and then they never do anything with him. He slept through this crisis and the Tournament of Power, and I didn’t see him in the Broly movie either.

Anyway, Frieza killed Krillin the last time they met, but Krillin’s got big brass balls, so the first thing he does is suit up to fight his punk ass. 18 offers to go in his place, but he wants her to protect their kid while he’s gone.

Also, he asks her to shave his head, so he’ll look even cooler for this.

To be honest, I liked Krillin’s hairstyle in this movie, but yeah, bald Krillin is the way to go.

As he flies off into the face of certain doom, his big brass balls clanking as he goes, 18 thinks about how cool he is. Get you a lady who admires you half as much as 18 admires Krillin.

As Frieza returns to Earth, he goes over some details with Sorbet. In particular, no one could find the Super Saiyan who actually killed Frieza, and Sorbet speculates that he may have moved to some other planet or died while Frieza was in hell. Of course we know that Future Trunks returned to his own timeline, but Frieza doesn’t and never will. This loose end doesn’t seem to bother him much, and I don’t think that makes sense. Yes, from a dramatic standpoint, he ought to be more concerned about avenging his loss to Goku, but Trunks was the one to kill him, and I feel like Frieza doesn’t spend nearly enough time in this movie thinking about his own mortality.

Sorbet points out that even if Frieza kills Goku, he could just be wished back to life like Frieza was, right? But Frieza plans to destroy the Earth along with Goku, thereby eliminating the Dragon Balls and Earth’s hell. For some reason, Frieza seems to think that Earth has it’s own particular version of hell, and the only reason he ended up in that meadow of fairies is because he happened to die on that planet. So I guess he thinks that if he blows up the Earth, that hell will cease to exist as well? How does he know that?

Is that why he’s not worried about dying again? Does he think if he dies someplace else, he’ll end up in a more favorable afterlife? What happens if you die in outer space? What sort of hell is Tagoma in right now?

At any rate, Frieza thinks he has all the angles worked out, and he checks to make sure Sorbet is prepared for his “emergency plan” in case things don’t work out. This is as close as we ever get to any sort of character development for Frieza here. The last time he went to Earth, he didn’t have a plan B, and now he does.

Meanwhile, Goku is training with Vegeta and Whis, just as Bulma said. Recall that Whis is even stronger than Beerus, who dominated the boys in the last movie. So Whis can fight them both at once without any trouble at all.

But their training wakes up Beerus, so they have to explain how they pay Whis for his lessons with tasty food from Earth. Beerus is annoyed that Whis would eat this stuff without him but he’s awake now, so he can have some of the pizza they brought over.

Meanwhile, Frieza’s ship lands on Earth, and a bunch of his goons come out.

Then he blows up North City, which he calls his way of saying hello.

So it’s up to the Z-Fighters to hold the line until Goku and Vegeta check Whis’s voice mail. Unfortunately, they’re kind of light on guys. We have Piccolo, Tien, and Krillin, and Gohan’s here, but he hasn’t kept up with his training. That’s why he wore a tracksuit to this party, because he couldn’t find his gi after all this time. Tien told Chiaotzu and Yamcha to stay out of it, since this fight would be too much for them. Okay, but why? Frieza will blow up the Earth if he wins, so what difference does it make if they stay out of this? At least if they show up they can help.

On the other hand, Krillin brought Master Roshi along, He can’t even fly! Somehow, everyone involved in making this show decided that Roshi is cooler than Yamcha, which is stone cold, 100% false. Master Roshi belongs in jail, and it doesn’t even need to be a fancy jail with a roof because he can’t fly out anyway.

Then Bulma shows up with Jaco to tell the others that she couldn’t raise Goku and Vegeta. Also, she wants Jaco to help, even though he only planned to pass along the message and GTFO. Bulma trash-talks Frieza, because she figures they still have the upper hand. After all, Gohan’s strong enough to kill Frieza, right? But Gohan explains to her that Frieza’s much stronger than he was 15 years ago, so none of them stand a chance this time around.

She asks Frieza to wait for Goku, so he agrees to hold off for ten more seconds, and then he sics his army on the Z-Fighters. I bet she wishes she had told Goten and Trunks about this rumble.

People talk about this part as the highlight of the movie, and it’s definitely one of the better parts. It’s certainly fresher,since we normally don’t see six or seven guys battling a whole army like this. Also, I like the approach of limiting the cast to a manageable number. I think it’s tactically unwise to leave Yamcha, Gotenks, Buu, and Chiaotzu out of this battle, but leaving them out of the movie is worth it, if it gives Tien a chance to shine for a moment. I’m not saying I like Tien better than the others, but we’re in a situation now where they can’t all share the spotlight, so if we have to pick one, let’s make that decision and run with it, and hope Yamcha gets a turn in a later film.

The problem I have with a fight like this is that they have all these extras floating around in the background of almost every scene, so it’s like Piccolo will do some cool spot with five or six bad guys, while fifty more just sort of stand there and watch. The only explanation I can come up with is that the Z-Fighters are moving so fast that most of the bad guys simply cannot react fast enough to keep up.

For example, you have this scene, where Gohan zips through a whole bunch of guys and takes them all out while they look like they’re standing still. Also, it’s pointed out several times that the Frieza Force isn’t nearly as strong or as well-disciplined as they used to be. Hell, the next movie makes a plot point out of how hard it is for them to recruit good fighters.

Even Jaco makes these guys look like geeks, and he’s a comic relief guy.

But he’s clever, like when he tricks the bad guys into getting eaten by a giant fish. How did he know this thing lived on Earth?

At this point, Sisami enters the battle, and he’s at least strong enough to give Piccolo a hard time.

Also, his shorts are a size too small, but his slutty uniform is his only distinguishing feature, really.

But Gohan steps in and turns Super Saiyan to take him out. Not sure that was a smart play, since they’re trying to buy time for Goku to arrive. A drawn out battle with Piccolo might have been just the thing they needed. But I suspect this scene was intended to introduce the Super Saiyan concept to the audience.

To wit, Sorbet is horrified by how easily his best warrior went down, but Frieza isn’t surprised at all, since he’s the only one on his side who’s seen Super Saiyans in action. He didn’t know Gohan could turn into one, but it’s the same diff.

This blue guy tries to apologize to Frieza for their defeat, but Frieza blows them all up. I’m just pointing him out because this guy was voiced by Team Four Star’s Scott Frrerichs, which still blows my mind to this day. Also, for some reason, I thought he played Sisima--Shisami, Sashimi... the red horny guy.

Everyone agrees that they stand no chance against Frieza as he is now, and Frieza takes out Gohan first just to emphasize the point. I guess this is his meta-revenge for Movie 12.

Piccolo has to use a ki technique to restart Gohan’s heart, and a senzu bean helas him after that, but they only have one left, so that won’t last them much longer.

Finally, Whis checks his messages and Goku and Vegeta hear about Frieza. Whis can take them back to Earth, but it’s a 35-minute trip, so it’s up to Goku’s Instant Transmission.

All right, let’s get on with this. Frieza insists that he’s learned from their last fight, and he starts out with his “final” form, except it’s not his final form anymore, because he has a new one, so right off we see that he really hasn’t learned anything. He wants Goku to turn Super Saiyan, but Goku doesn’t need to, and they fight like this for a while. Does this really make sense. Frieza came here for revenge, so why is he bothering to play-fight like this?

Eventually Vegeta gets so bored with this part of the battle that he jumps in and starts attacking Goku. Frieza mistakes this for a show of loyalty to him, but in fact Vegeta’s just sick of Goku milking his turn.

They agree to put all their cards on the table, so Goku reveals his strongest form, which he calls a combination of classic Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan God form he used in the last movie. This eventually came to be known as “Super Saiyan Blue”, because duh, but for marketing purposes it’s still officially called “Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan” or “SSGSS” for short. I have no idea who thought that was a good name for this.

So Frieza shows Goku his new form, which is just his “final” form with a different color scheme. He says he “settled” on this color, implying that he could have made it look different if he wanted to. I like that idea, because it goes along with my contention that the Xenoverse games should let you customize transforms along with your character. If you want your guy to turn into a Super Saiyan Purple, you should be able to, or if you want your Frieza Race guy to have a Crimson form instead of Golden, you should get to have that too.

On the other hand, this is fucking stupid. It’s the same fight from 1990, except the characters are different colors. This is the sort of thing critics make fun of DBZ for, and Toriyama did it unironically. I mean, I get it, Super Saiyan 3 is just SSJ1 with longer hair and no eyebrows, but it’s the way the character is used in the story that sells the form as being more powerful.

The problem here is that both guys have new forms at the same time and they’re supposed to be stronger than almost every other character we’ve seen before. And yet this fight doesn’t look all that different from what they were doing a few minutes ago, before they transformed.

On top of that, we have these really shitty CGI animations that look like they were taken out of a PS3 game. I mean that literally, because when I watched this movie, I noticed it right away, because the way the characters move looks exactly like they do in the games I play all the time. I didn’t mind it so much on the first viewing, but now that I’m looking at screencaps of it, it just looks really awkward and bad. It’s fine in the games, because it’s interactive, and I can control what’s happening. But in a movie, it doesn’t work at all, because Goku has this blank expression on his face the whole time. Also, there’s no physics on the tails of his belt. He’s rushing Frieza here but they’re just hanging at his hip like he’s standing still.

Seriously, who thought this was a good idea? These shots aren’t even that long, and they don’t look that complicated, so I don’t understand why they didn’t just go ahead and use traditional animation. I mean, the Frieza soldiers from earlier were rendered this way too, and I get that, because there were literally a thousand of them, and they wanted to have hordes of them milling about in the background. but this is the main hero and villain in the forefront of the action. If the entire movie looked like this, I wouldn’t have a problem with it at all, really. It’s a “contract with the audience” thing. If the whole movie is CGI or 2D animation, we can accept the visuals we’re given, but once you start switching media unexpectedly, it becomes very jarring.

Then Beerus and Whis finally arrive to collect the dessert Bulma offered them. Wait, he said it would take 35 minutes to get here. Have Goku and Frieza been fighting for 35 minutes?

I get the joke here, that you’ve got this interplanetary grudge match playing out nearby, and these two dorks are more interested in eating ice cream, but it sort of undermines what little tension there was to this story. When Res F was first announced, lots of fans joked that Frieza would find himself completely outmatched by the Z-Fighters. Goten could kill him by himself. But Toriyama introduced Golden Frieza to get around that, which means at this point, Frieza has leapfrogged Cell and Majin Buu to become the strongest villain again, to the point where he might rival Beerus if he put his mind to it. Frieza’s a big deal again, except there doesn’t seem to be much concern over it. Everyone seems confident that Goku can handle it, and if he can’t then Vegeta can, and if things really got out of hand, Whis could kill everyone in one hit.

At one point, Frieza finally notices Beerus and asks him if he’s going to interfere in the battle, but Beerus insists that he’s just here for dessert, and he’s totally neutral in this.

And Frieza seems to think he’s winning, but then Goku informs him that this Golden Frieza form has a weakness. Frieza was so thrilled to have the new form that he rushed to Earth as soon as he discovered it, but he hasn’t learned to regulate his power at this level, so he’s going to tire out in a few minutes. Goku should know, because he ran into the same problem with Super Saiyan 3 a few years back, and the same thing happened to Frieza when he fought at 100% of his full power because FRIEZA HASN’T LEARNED A DAMN THING SINCE THE LAST TIME THEY FOUGHT. This movie is just so dumb. The fact that Goku has to explain this to him again is absurd.

Frieza thinks Goku’s bluffing, but this time the CGI battle shifts into Goku’s favor, and Frieza can’t hit the block button fast enough or break Goku’s combos.

Then they fight underwater, which is just as murky and grey as the sky, only there’s bubbles down here.

Finally, we reach the point where Frieza’s punches don’t even work, and Goku pokes him in the tittly and punches him.

So Goku tells him to get out of here, just like he did on Namek, and Frieza throws a fit, just like he did on Namek. This fight is the worst. I mean, it’s not Gohan vs. Dabura levels of bad, but at least Gohan and Dabura did original stuff while they were shitting the bed.

Then Frieza signals Sorbet while he’s crying, and Sorbet shoots Goku with a ray gun to take him out of the fight.

And this is dumb too, because it’s the same mistake Goku made on Namek, twice. Only this time, Frieza actually got the drop on him, which is dumb because he’s basically doing the same thing Piccolo did to Goku at the 23rd World Tournamnet. Whis even warned Goku about this overconfidence earlier in the movie. I mean, it was forteshadowing, which ought to be okay, except when everything else in this movie is a retread of Frieza’s other appearances, foreshadowing is kind of a bad move.

But Goku’s not the only dumbass in this movie. Frieza decides not to kill Goku while he has the chance, and instead invites Vegeta to do it for him. He even offers to make Vegeta his second-in-command, although his entire Frieza Force is dead except for Sorbet. Geets declines, which isn’t exactly a shock, since he’s hated Frieza for destroying Planet Vegeta. You know, the thing that happened forty-odd years ago that Frieza probably should considered before asking Vegeta to rejoin his team?

Instead, Vegeta tells Krillin to give Goku a senzu bean, and when Frieza tries to stop him, Vegeta deflects his attack so that it kills Sorbet instead.

In return, Vegeta demands to take over the fight, now that we’ve come to his favorite part, the “Frieza-murdering” part. Frieza mocks him for thinking he stands a chance, but Vegeta turns Super Saiyan Blue himself, and now Frieza realizes he’s totally screwed. I guess he figured Goku would be this strong, but he never imagined he’d have to fight Vegeta at the same level at the same time.

This is my favorite part of the movie, where Vegeta informs him that he learned to go Super Saiyan shortly after Frieza’s death. Then again, why didn’t Frieza know about any of this? Sorbet had been spying on the Earth for years, and he seemed to know just about everything else about what was going on. Why didn’t he tell Frieza that Vegeta was living on Earth and that he was about as strong as Goku? “Hey, look, I know you think you can handle Goku with this Golden form, but just understand that you’ll probably be fighting Vegeta at the same time, and he’ll be about the same level.”

For that matter, why did Frieza invade without checking to make sure Goku was on the planet first?

So it looks like everything’s coming up Vegeta in this movie, although this part of the fight is anticlimactic, becuase Goku had already softned Frieza up for him.

But then it turns out that Vegeta swallowed a bottle of idiot pills too, because when Frieza’s Golden Form wears off, he gets desperate and blows up the Earth to escape. You know, just like he did on Namek. At least I can sort of excuse Vegeta for this, because he wasn’t there the last time Frieza pulled this trick, except that Vegeta should have seen it coming, because he pulled the same stunt himself when he first came to Earth.

So yeah, the Earth explodes, again, which just makes the Dragon Ball Wiki that much harder to read, because they count both explosions as dates of death for every character. Goten died in Age 774 and Age 779 and whenever else he would have died naturally.

But all the main characters who were watching he fight are okay, because they were standing next to Beerus and Whis, who made a force field to protect them. Vegeta’s dead, though, because he suffocated when the planet blew. On the other hand, Frieza would have survived, because he doesn’t need air. On top of that, he took out the Dragon Balls, so there’s no way to undo this with a wish.

Then Whis reminds Goku that he has the power to rewind time by three minutes. Yeah, I forgot about this. Earlier, when Beerus woke up from his nap, Whis mentions how Beerus has a nasty habit of destroying things accidentally, so Whis has the power to rewind time and undo it if Beerus does anything especially stupid.

So now Goku has a chance to kill Frieza properly, which he should have just done in the first place.

KILLER QUEEN DAISAN NO BAKUDEN BITES THE DUST

So Frieza’s dead again... until they bring him back for the Tournament of Power, because for some reason fans want him to keep coming back for more of this crap.

Vegeta is understandably upset, because he thinks Goku just jumped in for no reason, but he calms down once he finds out Frieza was about to blow up the planet.

Bulma promises a big feast for Whis and Beerus for helping them, but she adds that it’ll have to wait for them to wish back everyone who died when Frieza destroyed North City. Well, that’ll take six months, because the Dragon Balls haven’t reset since the last wish, right?

Then Goku proposes that he can Vegeta actually practice working together, in case they need to really join forces next time. Vegeta’s like “nuts to that” and Goku’s like “same here”, so at least they have that much common ground.

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The end credits are accompanied by “Z no Chikai” or “Oath of Z”, by Momoiro Clover Z. This song rules, and it’s really much better than Movie 15 deserves.

In the post credits sequence, Frieza finds himself right back where he started, and the angels and fairies welcome him back to hell. Looks like Tagoma had the right idea after all, huh?

And I guess that about sums it up. I feel like this movie wasted an opportunity to do something truly interesting with Frieza. You have a guy who was invincible, then he got killed and spent 15 years in hell, only to get wished back to life by his desperate troops. This could have been a chance for him to ponder his own mortality and the futility of power and revenge. What good does it really do to kill Goku when they both know what awaits them on the other side? What difference does it make to escape the afterlife when you know you’ll just have to go back eventually? You could try to have Frieza answer those questions and have him become a much more desperate and complex villain. Instead, Toriyama just went right back to what he had already written in the Trunks Saga.

Sadly, this looks like the final entry under the Dragon Ball Z brand. Now that Dragon Ball Super is a thing, it looks like any new Dragon Ball stories, like the new Broly movie, will be produced under the DBS branding. I kind of wish DBZ could have closed out on a better note than this.

On the other hand, that Broly movie was a lot better, and even if it was officially titled “Dragon Ball Super: Broly”, I find that it’s hard for the Z to drop out of the public lexicon. When I went to see it in January, the theater had it listed as “Dragon Ball Z: Super Broly.” Old habits die hard, I guess. Maybe one of these years, we’ll see the end of the Z, but not yet.

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kurojishiyo · 6 years ago

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I just wanted to talk about Voltron Force in some way

You know what? I’m going to make a separate post for my actual opinions and “reasons to watch Voltron Force” BUT I’m not a good writer. I don’t know exactly how to articulate words well enough to really capture my opinion, but I can definitely throw in some research in that can give context and maybe some trivia for you to really appreciate the series.

I made this blog because I wanted to talk about weird quirky facts about the franchise because (to me, because I get hyperfixated on the stupidest shit) it’s actually quite interesting.

Before the show actually aired

So this all technically started way before 2011 when the series even aired. I can stretch this back to Voltron: The Third Dimension, but that’d be too much. I’ll start with the Devil’s Due comic which launched in 2003.

The Devil’s Due comics are significant. They are the first true reboot of the Defender of The Universe franchise, whereas Third Dimension (VTTD) before it served as a sequel to the 1984 show. The changes it did bring over evidently influenced future entries in the Voltron franchise.

One thing to thank the Devil’s Due comics is cementing that Keith is definitely not white. In the comics he’s Japanese and Chinese mixed, and even adopting his surname from his original Golion counterpart, Kogane, albeit mispronounced constantly. The Dynamite comics that came after would retain this, whereas Voltron Force would make him more ambiguous and give him darker skin.

Like many things in Voltron: Devil’s Due would be cut short, with its third arc being rushed, and having its final chapters only published in a mass omnibus (which got many pages out of order grrr). Though before the omnibus’ release, WEP (the IP owners of Voltron) would partner up with animation company Kickstart Productions to work on a new Voltron series as early as 2005. Kickstart would provide an animation test based on the Devil’s Due comics.

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Again, things get blurry from here in terms of how development actually rolled out. Between this time to when VF actually aired, Super Robot Wars W would have Golion make a debut in the game, where they clearly credit Toei as the copyright holder, and a year later there would be a legal dispute between WEP and Toei over the legal rights as the movie was in development (important). 2010 was when the rights were settled, and that marked just the right time to make a new show.

(From EJ Su’s DeviantART)

Kickstart was busy developing the series along with Classic Media’s help. The series was initially pitched as Panthera Force. Again, many characteristics of the Devil’s Due comics would leave their mark on VF, even having EJ Su, the main artist of the second volume of the comics (and his art still holds up really well to this day might I add), would help in developing concept art for the show.

Panthera Force was initially pitched to center on new pilots being the main focus of the show, with the original crew being the mentors. Of course, as we all know they only kept three of the proposed five characters, Daniel, Vince, and Larmina. The two that didn’t make it were Imam and Bruno, a reformed Drule and an actual fucking lion respectively. Again, we can only make guesses as to why they scrapped the other two new characters, maybe it would be a chore juggling five old pilots, five new pilots, and the villains all together. Maybe they had a personal attachment towards the original cast or they’re worried about the current fanbase that loves them. I wouldn’t know, I don’t work for WEP or Kickstart.

Oh also… here is where Mattel comes in.

Spoilers: Voltron Force got cancelled

Okay so we all know the story: Voltron Force only had one season and it was cancelled. The official reason is that they simply did not have the budget to continue it as a show, and instead continued the series through its comics… which were intended to release alongside a season 2 of the show.

But I’m here to talk about why there was no funding. I think it’s incredibly easy to simply pin the blame on the fact that it had to do with few people liking it thus low ratings. And yes, that does make up part of it, but I believe that it’s actually more of a symptom than an actual cause.

So remember when I said that WEP and Toei had a legal dispute over the franchise right because of the movie being in production? While multiple companies had a bidding war over who would get the production rights to the movie, Mattel would partner up with WEP for the Voltron toy license in anticipation of the movie being made.

And yes I know a lot of you don’t care about the toys, but we have to realize the nature of the relationship with toy sales and show funding. It’s an unfortunate model that has resulted in the demise of many shows not making it because of lackluster toy sales. But here’s the thing: Voltron Force is a toy commercial for toys… that don’t exist…

Mattel would test the waters with the Voltron license by making toys of the classic robot in their Matty Collector line to mixed reception. We do know that they made prototypes of Voltron Force toys but they sadly never came to be, as Mattel cancelled their partnership with WEP seeing as the movie was never made. There is no point in keeping a license that isn’t making you money, and no movie definitely cemented that. What could have been major funding for the TV show was now lost.

Now as for the ratings; again it would be extremely easy to blame it all on people just not liking it, and yeah that may be a factor, but I think something worth pointing out is what channel it aired on: Nicktoons. From what I’ve been told, Nicktoons has a reputation in which cartoons move from the main channel to there as a way of “killing them”. Certain shows would see that cycle where they would be moved over to Nicktoons shortly before they’re cancelled.

Voltron Force had a lot going against it, and even the actual show does have its budget restraints very visible. Having budget cuts and low viewership continued rubbing salt in the wound. We have to remember that this was before Dreamworks came into the picture. It would just make sense to scrap everything before and work on something new now that a reputable animation company is in charge.

However, Voltron Force would continue through its Viz comic line. To reiterate, these comics were intended to release while a second season would air. But an actual continuation to show’s cliffhanger would be in the 30th Anniversary book.

(for some reason the Voltron Force comics also keeps how the show inserts unfitting DOTU styled artwork in the background)

Final thoughts

There’s something very sad writing about this. Sure Voltron Force’s cancellation isn’t as scandalous as theorizing about what really happened with VLD’s production, but overall I can see that there was a lot of potential for what could have been. Of course there are a lot of things that aren’t executed in the best way, and the most visible is the art style which is the easiest to judge at a single glance.

But you really have to admire that there were people that really wanted to make a Voltron for the new generation, and we have to realize that many resources simply weren’t there for them to make that task easier. Sometimes I say that Voltron Force was simply made during a very difficult time, and as it went through an era of companies backing in and out on Voltron’s involvement, everything ironed out for VLD to come in to a bigger fanfare.

#voltron force #vforce11 #man i can not remember what tags i fucking use for this blog i am so sorry

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anthonybialy · 3 years ago

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Afghanistanabandon

Why did the CDC withdraw troops from Afghanistan? The agency that replaced three branches will swear they only ripped off landlords while the nominal executive let the Taliban lord over land. It's easier to let bureaucrats decree than obey some dumb Constitution.

Joe Biden wishes he could accuse someone else of doing his job. The part-time president dodging job tasks is the best hope for preserving the republic. He has nobody to demonize for letting humanity's biggest foe fill the void.

Delinquents committed to tearing down civilization are free to prey after the teachers bailed. The Taliban recaptured a very sad nation in less time than Fat Tony took to bring booze back to Springfield. White House officials recited that it'd take 72 hours to evacuate a totally stable embassy like it was scientific, but they didn't even get that long to stop the spread.

The quasi-president hopes to get away with playing hooky by making us endure the results of him showing up to work. The Taliban exploits the eviction moratorium. Whoever's commander-in-chief must be mortified.

Stop interrupting the slot car tournament. You Twitter generation people want everything instantly, like how you demand the guy who ran for and won this job take less than a week to address the Legion of Doom setting up a Kabul branch. Every chair is empty in a vapid White House. Biden has something in common with Afghanistan’s president: they both fled.

American soldiers were the only adults with authority. If you're concerned about endless war, I’ve got news about how many American military personnel stand in South Korea with barrels pointed northward. What next: we keep bases in Germany and Japan after that one world war?

Walking away while an opponent is punching doesn't end the fight. The real War on Women is about to recommence in Kabul. Someone tell Biden Islamist lunatics aren’t wearing masks to get him to care. Barbarians didn't present vaccine cards before taking seats.

Liberals should pretend the Taliban is outraged about vaccine shortages. They tried their hardest to convince everyone that regarding Cuba. Inflation in Kabul may not be temporary.

An Islamic terror sponsor offers distractions from other White House failures. Finding America's missing southern border doesn't seem like such an urgent priority anymore. At least Kabul didn't fall as quickly as the line demarcating southern Texas. The government finally does something fast, and everyone complains.

I wish Biden defended Kabul like his fans defend him. Shrieking that it's a previous president's fault is certainly a sign the war turned out well. Yes, Donald Trump sucks for thinking he could strike a deal with the Taliban as part of his endless shtick, especially considering his deft dealing turned out about as well as taking on the NFL. That failure despite boasting goes along with a million other overcompensation for personal insecurity with empty boasting. But the retired game show host also didn't order the military to dash away like Bill Clinton from a paternity test.

Presidents from each party can suck it. Next time, make sure there's at least one adult finalist for president, and not just by technical virtue of being born in the 1940s. One of the truly joyous parts about rabidly blind partisanship is how very calm cultists feel compelled to assign 100 percent fault to the other side.

Both the incumbent and previous presidents can be despicable, and you can even assign scolding unevenly. The victorious geezer gets a higher percentage of fault than he did of the vote. After all, he just lost an area renowned for hosting peril to a deranged death cult.

John Wayne Gacy wonders who stuffed corpses in the crawlspace. The Hot Dog Car sketch gets a workout as the Biden White House focuses on its top priority of finding someone to blame. The most embarrassing part for those who treat responsibility as communal for personal reasons is seeing direct consequences of actions.

Noticing what happens is despised by liberals who excuse criminals while showing how much they care about the poor by creating more of them. And forget what happens when victory is beaten by a desire for faux peace.

Biden was too busy waging war on free breathing. The tradition of Democrats loathing successful Americans more than American enemies is not a proud one. The White House's primary nemesis is Ron DeSantis. For someone the president loathes, he's sure making it easy for him to take his job.

September 11's 20th anniversary will be spent fearing terror attacks. The White House is deeply invested in helping people remember what being constantly scared of assaults by the wicked felt like. Did you want to forget, you anti-patriot? Letting Earth's most bloodthirsty fiends set up a clubhouse would be ominous enough if there weren't precedent for how much evil they can inflict with time and space to ponder.

Speaking of knowing better, the White House would like you to stop noticing how Kabul and Saigon are de facto sister cities. Fleeing embassies doesn't quite project power. Abandoning Vietnam would bring back memories for the president if he could recall what he had for breakfast.

Elderly imbecility is his best excuse. Decrepitude can't be used to explain unforgivable decisions almost half a century ago when then-Senator Biden did everything he could to ensure diabolical communists overtook Vietnamese desperate to avoid tyranny. Say what you want about the nasty putzing president, but at least he sticks to his principles.

The administration is baffled by how its awesome comity led to Earth's most diabolical theocracy getting a sequel. Even a country without reliable wifi like Afghanistan should've heard there's a cool ice-cream eating president by now. Kamala Harris is shocked the Taliban didn’t have to sleep with anyone to gain power.

As for the president in name only, it’s almost like he’s a prickly dolt who’s wrong about every last thing and has obviously never been in charge of anything. The probationary leader spent an indolent lifetime enabling mooching in the legislature instead of figuring out how useful people operate. An untrained 78-year-old never even learned how to do one of government's few jobs, namely not throwing away war gains.

Biden's doing great except for the part where he has no clue how the world works, from thinking government is swell at providing insurance to acting like walking away from a war is the same as winning it.

Seeing the world perfectly incorrectly makes it even more so. A ghastly regime that lets their BFF terrorists hang out getting a reboot thanks to the president's production is too perfect of an example. He's naturally and sadly harassing the wrong people. Biden wants to take your money and autonomy as he lets the Taliban take Afghanistan.

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atopfourthwall · 7 years ago

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State of the Wall: 12-2-17

New State of the Wall post! Lotsa stuff happening, so click under the cut to see what's happening!

Schedule of Upcoming Episodes 12/4 – Clive Barker’s Hellraiser Dark Holiday Special 12/11 – Sensation Comics #14: The Story of Fir Balsam 12/18 – Steam Wars Christmas Special 12/25 – Christmas with the Superheroes #2 1/1 – My Top 15 Favorite Episodes of AT4W 1/8 – PATREON: Legion of Superheroes: The Great Darkness Saga 1/15 – Patreon Viewers’ Choice (NFL SuperPro #2, Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos #3, or James Bond, Jr. #1) 1/22 – PATREON: JLA/Avengers 1/29 – PATREON: Homestuck, Act 2

As always, the schedule is subject to change for any number of reasons, I’m pretty locked down with these choices… aside from MAYBE my Top 15 Favorite Episodes. I keep waffling on it, but for now it’s what we’re going with.

The Road to 500… and the 10th Anniversary 2018 will mark the 10th Anniversary of Atop the Fourth Wall! Needless to say, it’s going to be a big year for the show. If everything goes according to plan, there will be two storylines within it – the Contest of Champions arc that began in October as well as a shorter 10th Anniversary storyline whose name I shall reveal once we get to it, likely ending October 29th (if not the 22nd to coincide with the 10th Anniversary episode).

To celebrate this momentous time, every review that is not a Patreon-sponsored episode will be a follow-up to something from the past ten years! This would include sequel episodes to previous material, like another issue of something covered previously, a thematic follow-up like, say, from the same creators as a popular episode or could be thought of as following the same ideas as that episode. However, thankfully some of the Patreon-sponsored episodes themselves will be follow-ups, as indicated by the January 29th episode being the second act of Homestuck (which should hopefully make the many Homestuck fans asking for me to cover the next act happy).

Along those same lines, we’ll be doing the second Patreon Viewers’ Choice episode! The official announcement for the poll on that one will likely come at the end of the Top 15 Favorite Episodes of AT4W, but I’m letting you see the choices now to start thinking about it. The choice will be between three goofy tie-in comics I’ve covered previously – another issue of NFL SuperPro, another issue of Chuck Norris Karate Kommandos, or going all the way back to James Bond, Jr.’s first issue. I did return to James Bond, Jr. for a live show that hasn’t been put up yet, but we haven’t seen it on the show proper since the end of 2009. A comment on that issue is the source of the infamous “You’ll never be as popular as the BeeGees!” comment that is now immortalized on the back of the second DVD.

But of course there’s even another big even happening in 2018 as part of the 10th Anniversary – we’re going to hit the 500th episode! I definitely want to do some special stuff this year for the 500th, most especially being another livestream like we had for the 300th. It’ll take some time to plan, but here’s a list of ideas I have currently for it: -More testimonials, trivia, and anecdotes like in the 300th -Showing some otherwise-DVD exclusive content from all my DVDs, including the Movie -Showing the previous “100th episodes” – Sonic Live #1, Spider-Man: One More day, Holy Terror, and Marvel Super Special #7: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band -A live showing of the conclusion to Pokémon Omicron, where we’ll take on the Elite 4 -Various Longbox of the Damned episodes -Special guests -Live-riffing some shorts

These are all just ideas for the time being, so if you have any of your own, feel free to let me know! We’ve got 5-6 months until the 500th and I’d love to know what people think!

Platform Change 4: The Revengeance of the Whils VidMe has announced that they are shutting down their services as of December 15th. As such, there are going to be some changes in how things are handled around here. This is the FOURTH time that a platform has failed and I have had enough. We hadn’t even really finished replacing the vidme embeds on the LAST embed player change, so screw it: we’re going all in on youtube. There might be an option for Vimeo down the road, but for now, here’s in the broad sense what’s going to happen: -All Atop the Fourth Wall videos, from here on, will be thumbnail images of the title card that you click through to go straight to youtube. -All Longbox of the Damned embeds will be made into youtube embeds. Next year’s Longbox videos are currently up in the air, but hey – we’ve got ten months to figure that out and maybe have a tried and tested system in place. For now, it makes more sense to make them youtube embeds because of people’s nature in marathon-viewing videos and Longbox videos are short enough as-is. -New videos like vlogs, side content, and Let’s Plays will follow the title card thumbnail process being used for Atop the Fourth Wall. Old videos are up in the air, but they will likely be embedded videos just to make life easier on us as we once again replace everything. -History of Power Rangers… well, that’s a bit of a beast all on its own. Refer to the History of Power Rangers section below for more details.

As always, I ask for patience during yet another period of transition. Plenty of videos will be unavailable during this time (including crossovers in particular), but we’ll try our damndest to get things back to working order as soon as possible.

History of Power Rangers I’m happy to report that FINALLY, all of History of Power Rangers is back up after so many months of being down due to ContentID striking many of them from VidMe. Minor edits have been made due to the lengths of certain clips used…

…And you can only enjoy them for another 13 days because VidMe is shutting down. Or rather you can DOWNLOAD them for another 13 days using a third-party downloader.

Simply put: I’ve had it. These videos were made for a different time, when Blip was the main video host and longer usage of video clips wasn’t an issue. The platforms have dwindled and it’s down to youtube and I’ve already tried to upload these videos to youtube once before and it didn’t end well. The audio quality of these videos isn’t that great compared to my current standards and many of them utilized low-quality pirated versions of episodes recorded off of TV. I own all of Power Rangers on DVD now and new Power Rangers content that I put out has to come from legitimate sources like DVDs anyway. I simply cannot make these older versions work anymore. Don’t bother trying to suggest another video host like Vimeo or DailyMotion. Aside from both having their own ContentID systems, I am tired of trying to accommodate an inferior product.

Work will begin anew on the revised History of Power Rangers videos. While I had wanted to work on them in order, it took forever just to get the SLIGHTLY-edited versions back on VidMe due to my busy schedule. As such, I’m going to release them on youtube out of order, starting with Overdrive through RPM (Samurai, Megaforce, and Dino Charge already exist on youtube) because of their already-decent audio quality. If you want the old versions (and sadly that will now include the SLIGHTLY-edited versions that I have put up more recently), feel free to download them however way you can, because I am no longer going to try to support it. Let it not be said that I didn’t TRY to keep them up after so many years of fighting with various platforms over them.

I had planned to announce that it was likely the In Space History of Power Rangers would be delayed as it is simply due to the busy schedules of others needed to work on the “Under Pressure” section, but, well, here we are. Hopefully we can see HOPR restored to something better than it was once the dust completely settles.

Let’s Play Pokémon Omicron As stated in the last State of the Wall, the Pokémon Omicron streams are on hiatus due to finally reaching the Elite 4. Due to the various things I’ve had do to these last few months (not the least of which being concluding a storyline, Longbox, AND getting married) I’ve had little to no time to work on Omicron videos. As I’ve said before, I’d like to do a major stream for the Elite 4. If you look above, I’ve suggested fighting the Elite 4 as part of the 500th AT4W Episode Celebration Live Show and would like to hear some feedback on that.

Storyline Compilations In case you haven’t been following the youtube channel (which you probably should be at this point given what’s going on with VidMe – link HERE), the Game Show Reviewer (who does a lot of the special effects for the show) has put together compilation videos of the AT4W storyline! They feature JUST the storyline segments and occasionally a clip or two from a review for context (or because he felt a joke was funny enough to include). At this time, everything through the “His Blue Soul” arc has been released. The other compilation videos are done and uploaded, but I’m currently waiting for some ContentID claims on the Royalty-Free music to pass before I release the rest. Otherwise, you can enjoy the compilations currently available thanks to this hand-dandy playlist.

DVDs and T-Shirts Sale In honor of the holiday season, IT’S SALE TIME! All INDIVIDUAL volumes of Atop the Fourth Wall DVDs have been reduced to ten dollars (until December 26th), including the most recent – Volume 3: Character Reboot. In addition, Shark Robot is still running their Black Friday sale through December 6th – just use the promo code “BLACKFRIDAY17” on the two Atop the Fourth Wall t-shirts – “I am a Man” and “Because Poor Literacy is KEWL!” You can find those shirts HERE!

I’m working on getting some other sales ready for both the Screenwave store and the T-shirts, so feel free to keep checking back here for any updates on additional sales!

Event Comics Month II The first Event Comics Month was such a big success we’re doing it again next year! As before, it’s a vote by patrons at any level picking two DC and two Marvel event comics! You can check it out HERE, become a Patron, and make your vote known about what you’d like to see reviewed next year!

Patreon As a reminder, the Patreon-sponsored review tier for Patreon is still closed for the moment, with details you can read HERE. While I still don’t have a date yet as to when I plan to reopen them, I’ve been taking your feedback about it into consideration. A common train of thought is that any non-comic review should at least be in some way linked to comics, be it about superheroes or, at the very least, linked to something I actually regularly do/am in some way interested in (for instance, the occasional sentai reviews are fine given History of Power Rangers, or video games could be Star Trek or Pokémon or the like). I don’t think that’s too unfair a compromise given what people are thinking, but I wouldn’t mind getting more feedback about it during this time, so feel free to make your feelings about it known if you haven’t already!

That’s all I’ve got for now! Feel free to let me know your thoughts/concerns/questions for everything going on!

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the-desolated-quill · 7 years ago

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Venom, Silver & Black, And The Sheer Incompetence Of Marvel And Sony - Quill’s Scribbles

I should warn you that Marvel fans are not going to like what I have to say, which is an opinion. It’s my opinion. It’s my subjective opinion. It’s an opinion. I’m very frustrated right now and I really need to vent it, so if you can’t handle a different opinion to your own, why don’t you toddle off to your private echo chamber and find somebody who does share your opinion instead of sending me your badly spelt death threats (although, to be fair, I’ve said a lot of mean things about Marvel over the years and I’ve received little to no grief from the MCU fandom. It’s the DCEU fandom where I normally get the death threats from, usually when I talk about how utterly rubbish Suicide Squad is. Oh yeah, because that movie is worth threatening someone’s life over).

Let’s start by playing a little game. We all love games, don’t we? Take a look at this GIF of the Marvel logo for me:

And while you’re doing that, play this music over it:

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Fun fact: That’s the new Marvel fanfare now.

You may have heard the news that Sony’s upcoming Venom and Black Cat/Silver Sable movies are going to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or ‘adjuncts’ to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as Sony exec Amy Pascal put it. Well of course we all got excited, didn’t we? I mean there were rumours that Sony were going to jump ship after Spider-Man Homecoming 2, but this suggests that Marvel Studios and Sony are going to be in an ongoing relationship. Plus this also means that Venom and Silver & Black are going to be the first R rated movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That sounds like fun, doesn’t it?

Except what Amy Pascal said completely contradicts what Kevin Feige said a few weeks ago about how Venom and Silver & Black are definitely not part of the MCU. Oh... well, maybe they’ve sorted it out since then. Maybe they had discussions and Feige realised that maybe this is a good idea after all. I mean there’s no way that Marvel or Sony would release this kind of information unless it’s been fully discussed and officially confirmed amongst themselves, right?

Well apparently not because in a recent interview with Pascal and Feige, where Pascal dropped the bombshell that the Sony Marvel Universe would be an adjunct to to the MCU, Feige looked somewhat taken aback:

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Yeah! It looks as though this is something they hadn’t even discussed prior to this interview! But how can this be? Surely this MUST have come up in discussions when they were negotiating the rights to Spider-Man within the MCU, right? Well, believe it or not, I do actually have a clip of those negotiations between Marvel and Sony:

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So yeah. Everybody is totally confused as to what the fuck is actually go on now and, at the time that I’m typing this, neither Marvel nor Sony have stepped in to offer clarification. Now of course all the Marvel and Spidey fanboys are pointing the finger solely at Sony and Amy Pascal, saying that she’s jumping the gun and trying to put pressure on Feige by putting him and Marvel into a situation they can’t possibly back out from.

Okay. Here’s the thing guys.

I agree that Sony deserve partial credit for this cock-up. And honestly, we shouldn’t be too surprised about this. I mean this is Sony for Christ sake! The same company that expected The Amazing Spider-Man 2 to make a billion dollars at the box office even though there was no precedent for a Spider-Man movie making that much money. It’s the same company that threw millions and millions of dollars at a big budget Ghostbusters reboot in the hopes of turning it into its own shared universe despite the fact that Ghostbusters has never been that profitable a franchise. The same company that want to make a 21 Jump Street and Men In Black crossover movie despite the fact that the two franchises have absolutely nothing in common. Sony are a bunch of dreamers and chancers. Amy Pascal going off script, as it were, and making unrealistic and potentially incorrect promises pretty much seems par for the course for the company.

It’s just... Are we really going to let Marvel and Kevin Feige off the hook? Because let’s be clear here, this is very much Marvel’s cock-up too. In fact I’d argue that Marvel and Feige deserve more of the blame than Sony does. I mean let’s talk about this ridiculous notion that Sony are putting pressure on Marvel. What fucking planet do these fanboys live on? Marvel are owned by Disney, one of the biggest mega corporations in the world. NOBODY puts pressure on them. They’re at the top of the food chain. When Marvel and Sony started negotiating, Marvel were the ones in the driving seat. So if Amy Pascal did go off on one and start making a bunch of statements about the Sony Marvel ‘adjunct’ Universe that weren’t true, then it’s Marvel’s fault because they didn’t make their position clear enough.

And again, we shouldn’t be surprised. It’s Marvel. The bloated, incompetent sequel factory. Say what you like about the DCEU (God knows I have), but at least they hired an actual filmmaker to overlook the franchise. An artist. A storyteller. Okay Zack Snyder may not be very good, but at least he has a basic understanding of how you structure an overarching story. Kevin Feige isn’t a filmmaker or a storyteller. He’s a businessman. Worse, he’s a businessman who clearly doesn’t know how to do business properly. If he did, there wouldn’t be all this confusion about Sony right now.

Another good example of Feige’s sheer incompetence is in regards to the Marvel TV shows. Feige has been talking for ages about one day integrating the TV and Netflix shows into the main body of the MCU, but to this day there has never been a mention of even their very existence within the movies. This has caused a lot of frustration both from Marvel fans and from within Marvel itself, most notably Chloe Bennet who plays Skye in Agents Of SHIELD. However Mike Colter (who plays Luke Cage and who appears to be the sole voice of sanity within the Marvel TV shows right now) has said that it’s unlikely that the movies and TV shows will ever mix due to logistical problems. In other words, due to scheduling and production conflicts, chances are that the Defenders and Agents of SHIELD and the billion other upcoming TV shows may never appear in the movies. Now I knew this. I’m sure anybody with a certain degree of common sense would have known this. But do you know who apparently doesn’t know this?

That’s right! Kevin Feige!

You know? The guy in charge of the bloody thing! Give me strength!

See a fish rots from the head downwards. When you put a filmmaker at the top of the chain, while it’s not a guarantee that it’ll be a good, you can at least trust that they’ll be putting the story and quality of the movies first. Feige is a businessman. And what’s the prime goal of any business? To make money in the most cost effective way possible. And that’s exactly what he’s been doing. And for the most part, that’s exactly how the MCU has been constructed. That’s why most of the Marvel movies in recent years have been so shallow and unchallenging, adhering to this cookie cutter formula. That’s why Feige has been adding more and more movies and TV shows to the franchise regardless of whether or not they’re actually wanted, necessary or even worth making. That’s why there has been little diversity in the MCU. Why take the risk of making a movie with an LGBT+ superhero or a POC superhero or even a female superhero when we know straight, white male superheroes sell perfectly well? That’s why, despite the fact that Deadpool and Logan were hugely successful and there’s clearly an appetite for more mature content, the MCU will never risk making an R rated movie. They’d rather play it safe, making the same formulaic PG-13 crap they always make. They don’t have to fit into a cohesive timeline. They don’t even have to be good. So long as they get bums in the seats, they’re considered a success.

That’s why, try as I might, I cannot get excited for Black Panther. And it feels so utterly wrong for me to say, doesn’t it? It’s the first big budget superhero movie to have a black actor as the lead, to have a predominantly black cast and to have a black filmmaker directing. This should represent a major landmark for this genre and despite my misgivings I really hope it does well, but I honestly can’t work up the energy to get excited about this. Why? Because it’s fucking Marvel. The same company that whitewashed the Ancient One in the Doctor Strange movie and homogenised the Asian culture because it was apparently too difficult to write an Asian character that wasn’t racist. The same company that cancelled the Black Panther And The Crew and Black Panther: World Of Wakanda comics just as the marketing for the Black Panther movie started. The same company that have deluded themselves into thinking that the reason people aren’t buying their comics is because readers don’t want diversity. The same company that looked at the Captain America comics and thought ‘Hey, I know what would be a good idea! Let’s make Cap a fucking NAZI!’

This whole situation with Marvel and Sony right now feels like I’m at a secondhand car dealers. No matter how many times the salesman tries to convince me that I’m looking at a Ferrari, it’s still a tired, rusty old banger. And frankly, I don’t trust the clowns at the fucking wheel.

#venom #silver & black #black cat #silver sable #anti marvel #anti sony #quill's scribbles

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furederiko · 8 years ago

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Sheeesh!!! It's happening again. All these huge news came out just a day after I posted the last Random-News-Digest. I could've included them in that post instead!!! Personal ranting aside, let's get right through the news then... PS: Yeah, this one arrives a little early than usual, because I have to go off the grid for a while. At least until I return from embarking another exploration to the far off galaxy this week... ;D

Disney Live Action

Guy Ritchie is doing the live action adaptation for "Aladdin"? I'm sure you've already heard about that. The movie is going to be an action musical with Middle Eastern leads who have natural talents in singing and dancing? You've heard this before early last month? Well, it's a first for me, but of course... hell yes! That's GREAT news. But did you know which actor Ritchie is currently approaching to play the magical Genie? The answer is... much to everyone's surprise: Will Smith!

Okay, this casting? I'm not too sure about. The last time we had an African-American as a geenie was Shaquille O'Neal in "Kazaam", and that was... uhm, how do I put it? ODD? Not saying I don't like the idea, or that Smith's a bad actor, nor that I'm being racist or anything. I guess I just can't see the "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" in this role. And if we're indeed going about race, why couldn't we get another Middle Eastern actor, or at least an Indian for the job? Someone who's more 'racially appropriate'. Of course Smith's appeal is understandable. He's an actual singer so he'll nail the musical part nicely, a natural Oscar-darling for dramatic moments, and has comedic chops that might rival the late Robin Williams. Even if I feel Williams is pretty much irreplacable in this role.

The problem with Smith however, is that he has turned down Tim Burton's "Dumbo" before. That was due to scheduling issue with "Bad Boys 3". That Michael Bay movie had just lost its director, thus putting it on an uncertain delay, yet Smith hasn't walked back to "Dumbo". Thus suggesting that he's probably just not 'keen on' the project. If that's any indication, could we even expect Smith to take a higher coveted role like the Genie instead? Many seems to doubt it. Beside, the current situation is, he's just in "early talks" for this role, and we know that in Hollywood, that means 'nothing is yet set in stone'. Or legal papers, if you prefer to be more modernly accurate. LOL.

If I have a voice in this movie's production, I say just let Genie become a fully CG character. You know, like those household members in "Beauty and the Beast"? Thus they can get practically anyone who's NOT Will Smith to voice the role. Someone who has strong comedic timing, and is equally masterful at singing. Hmmm... why am I suddenly reminded of Seth McFarlane? Perhaps, because he was a standout in Illumination's "Sing!" last year? He can even be a prolific Broadway actor. What about Jamie Fox, Hugh Jackman, Nathan Lane, or... LIN-MANUEL MIRANDA? I think those names are much better choices than Smith. Here's a completely random suggestion though: Timothy Omundson, or Ben Presley from "Galavant"!!! They live in UK, have worked with Alan Menken before, for a Disney's ABC series, and CAN totally sing. Anyway, we can expect confirmation to this pretty soon, because apparently the casting call explicitly stated that: "Rehearsals begin April 2017. Shooting July 2017-January 2018 in the UK.". And April is about to end pretty soon! LOL.

DC Films

Here's a quick one from Warner Bros and DC! Because as we all should understand by now, they won't ever let Marvel take the whole week of spotlight onto themselves, right? They just need to sneak a completely random news of development here and there. This time, it's from Joss Whedon, whose name has been kindly talked about recently thanks to Kevin Feige kindly mentioning him during Marvel Studios' open house. And this news came from a very ironic place too: The red carpet premiere of the new Guardians movie! LOL to that.

The news was, well, Whedon is NOT looking for a big name to fill in her lead actress for "Batgirl". He said clearly, "I don’t have my eye on anyone. I’m creating this character, I’m in a dialogue with her, and then we’ll see who joins that later on. I doubt it’ll be a name.", which means she can be anyone. Whedon had a soft spot for Oscar-nominee Saoirse Ronan before ended up going with Elizabeth Olsen for Wanda Maximoff in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". And his TV works have always involved a strong female lead, like Sarah Michelle-Gellar in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer". So he can practically choose any actress for the character, including a relatively unknown. The big question though, how does WB feel about this? And considering the studio's really BAD habbit of pointlessly putting reference, will this actress debuted in "The Batman" before her solo movie? Which means she needs to be cast right away. We'll have to wait and see how this develops.

Wait a sec... turns out this news didn't really come from WB after all. But due to Variety asking Whedon about the project, when they bumped into him at the premiere. So not WB's intentional spotlight-hogging trick this time around. LOL. Sorry WB, my bad. This is why you shouldn't do that to other studios, as people would easily assume you're doing it again and again eventhough you're guilty of charge. Ahahahaha... *sigh*.

Fast and Furious

"The Fate of the Furious", which is a dumb title albeit a nice little twist on 'F8', raced through the box office and conquered the winning lane ever since it debuted. It has even amassed a record breaking global opening of all time, beating 2015's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"! But with the franchise started getting a little... tiring, the question is, for how much longer it has the engine to keep on running? If the latest statement by producer Neal Moritz is to be believed, we're going to see this drug race-inspired movie - at least - up to "Fast and Furious 10". Which might be dumbly named "Fasten Your Seatbelt". Get it? LOL. That's already one more than the previously reported "Fast and Furious 9" by the way. Remember when Lucas Black was approached to do it until 9, but ended up a no-show in 8?

It certainly ain't stopping anytime soon though. Why? Because already, a plan is in motion for a... spinoff. Yikes! Yes, because apparently, due to the much publicized rift (is it real or fake? That has been settled though, I think... *sigh*) between lead actor Vin Diesel, and new regular Dwayne Johnson, it seems fans are now shipping Johnson's Luke Hobbs with Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw. Yep, the bad guy who killed Sung Kang's Han Seoul-Oh. Seriously, will Han's death ever be avenged? I haven't seen the eighth movie yet, but it sounded like Hobbs and big bro Shaw (while lil bro Shaw was singing his way in "Beauty and the Beast") actually had... great chemistry together?

It's currently 'in talks' stage for now, but I can already see it happening. Particularly considering The Rock would do any film, while Statham is in need of another franchise after his participation in "The Expendables 4" is put into question. Chris Morgan is expected to write, and the timeline would put it between the 8th and 9th movie. I'm not too sure about this idea, but perhaps, somewhere along the line we might be seeing a Han and Gal Gadot's Giselle "Mr & Mrs Smith"-esque movie along the way? Especially after Gadot's profile will get another significant boost following this year's "Wonder Woman". I'd certainly would watch that.

X-Men Universe

Now here's what I consider a rather 'dumb' report serving the headlines for "Deadpool 2". Actress Leslie Uggams is set to reprise her role as Blind Al in the sequel. Why is that dumb? Duh... because she's an important element of the first movie, stealing scene every single time she showed up. It would be a crime to not have her back! Not to mention, he's Wade's roommate. What I'm curious to know however, is whether Morena Baccarin will indeed reprise her role as Vanessa as well. I sure hope she will, otherwise it would mess up continuity... not that FOX have actually cared about it. Then again, Deadpool could've gotten away with it by turning it as a mockery excuse towards FOX. While at the same time, punching jabs towards Marvel Studios' case of Pepper Potts and Jane Foster. Ain't that a good idea, right?

Oh yeah, by the way, FOX has announced the official release date for the movie! Eventhough the first movie opened in February, its success has apparently warranted this sequel to change gears into a Summer movie. Yes, it will now open in June 1st, 2018. Which is a rather crowded spot, since Disney has "Han Solo: A Star Wars Movie" to open in the previous week, and the following week has WB's all-female "Ocean's 8" and Paramount's "Bumblebee" movie. Is this a wise move, then? I doubt. That's the way it is with FOX though, they don't give a damn about things like this. They've also set up Josh Boone's "New Mutants" to arrive on April 13th, 2018. Which is, a few months... AHEAD. Huh?

And a little movie called "X-Men: Dark Phoenix" that will arrive in November 2nd, 2018. Squaring off directly against Disney's "Mulan" live action revisit, this news just came in several hours ago (thank Jesus I can add it before this post goes up *sigh*)! Nope, don't be mistaken, it's not "X-Men: The Last Stand" that practically ruined the franchise the first time. It's a... reboot of said movie? Meaning it has the ultimate potential (same story, same WRITER) to do the same? LOL. Need I remind you, these are 3 different movies, set in an entirely 3 different timeline/universe, right? Once again, LOL to that.

Aaaaanyway. With the uncertainty of WB to produce any DC Films earlier than December's "Aquaman", looks like FOX is snatching all the empty superhero slots, eh? The only empty space is in January, March, and August to October, with SONY's "Venom" already dated in the last one. So NICE move to FOX....!!! I guess? *sigh*

Avatar

This is a direct follow up to the above paragraph. Remember the James Cameron's sequel that was supposed to open on December 2018, but got delayed and thus became occupied by "Aquaman"? Yep, I know what you're thinking. This whole release date business already sounds like a confusing game of chess! Well, brace yourself, because "Avatar 2", the sequel we never even asked, will now open on December 18th, 2020. Eeeeh? Not kidding. But what took Cameron so long to get one done? The answer is, because he's doing all FOUR sequels altogether. Yes, "Avatar 3" has been scheduled to open on December 17th, 2021, while "Avatar 4" and "Avatar 5" are coming in December 20th, 2024 and December 19th, 2025 respectively. Ain't that a mouthful to write! Those, if there's any among you, who are waiting for these... sequels, should be really happy to hear this news. You have 5 years of Avatar-time! You've got to hand it to Cameron though. This here is risky business. VERY risky. I can't even imagine what would happen if the 2nd movie is a bomb.

Marvel Studios

Let's start with the juiciest part! Just last week, I speculated that Marvel Studios will announce the female director for "Captain Marvel" when they return to Hall H of this year's San Diego Comic Con. Well, this is Marvel Studios, a studio known for catching people off guard, and they've done it again. Not just for one, but a double surprise at the same time.

Yes, the director for their first female-led female-centric movie has indeed been selected. And it's not one, but TWO of them! Marvel Studios officially announced (first reported by Variety) that Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck have been assigned to helm the project. So to you who wanted a female director, you get one. And those who prefer a male director, also get one. Fair and square!!! Intriguingly, their names weren't even part of the frontrunners list, so it certainly caught almost everyone by surprise. According to The Hollywood Reporter, apparently Marvel Studios met with several female directors since last summer; from Niki Caro (who has been hired to do "Mulan" instead), Lesli Linka Glatter, Lorene Scafaria, to Lucia Aniello, and Quicksilver's real life wife Sam Taylor-Johnson, with Jennifer Kent and Jennifer Yuh also in the early mix; before ultimately settling in on this "Mississippi Grind" duo. Turns out, they've managed to impress the studio with their vision for the movie, which put focus on elevating character's journey beneath all the spectacle. Sounds like something right up on Marvel Studios' alley, huh?

Just like the Russo Brothers, Boden and Fleck have done more TV based project, instead of big features. Does the similarity to Anthony and Joe feels more than mere coincidence? Clearly Marvel is taking their first female-led superhero VERY seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if Carol Danvers will be taking Steve Rogers' important role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe going forward. To be honest, I'm not at all familiar with the duo's work, not on movies ("It's Kind of a Funny Story", "Sugar", "Half Nelson"), nor TV ("The Affair", "Billions"). But I'm hearing good things about them, and considering Marvel Studios has a powerful knack in choosing who they partnered with (particularly ever since they no longer serve under Ike Perlmutter), I've completely put my trust in their decision. Lest we forget, people doubted that Joss Whedon, James Gunn, and also the Russos would deliver before. And now their movies are considered among MCU's best. With the smart and loveable Oscar-winner Brie Larson more than excited to front, a script currently in progress by Nicole Perlman and Meg LeFauve, and an official production targetting a February 2018 start, "Captain Marvel" will arrive on March 8th, 2019.

After debuting their first worldwide tour in Tokyo, Japan, the Los Angeles Red Carpet Premiere for "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" has been held on Friday. As always, the glamorous event took place at the El Capitan Theatre. Unlike previous movies, I couldn't catch the live stream of this premiere, because I'm running out of data charge on my internet! After all, when you're saving up money to watch the movie (tickets' pre-ordered by the way, yaaaay! XD), you have no choice but to wait until early next month to get it reinvigorated. Whoops, let's get back on track. Most of the cast attended the celebration. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, co-president Louis D'Esposito, VFX producer Victoria Alonso, and director James Gunn were obviously leading the pack. They were joined by returning actors Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Karen Gillan, Michael Rooker, and Sean Gunn, as well as new cast members Pom Klementieff, Chris Sullivan, Elizabeth Debicki, and Tommy Flanagan. Veteran actors Kurt Russel and Sylvester Stallone were also in attendance, with a surprise appearance of one David Hasselfhoff! Okay, I didn't even know he has a part in this movie. I thought his name in the recently released Original Soundtrack was just pure coincidence. By the way, said album's tracklist could potentially be considered spoilerish, so you might want to avoid it the way I do.

Another press junket was held following the premiere, and the folks behind this movie has been spilling additional details here and there. The kind of information that you would want to steer away and avoid, if like me, you don't want to be spoiled ahead of the game. This could range from the simplest bit like: - Various critics' reviews as well as the first accumulated RottenTomatoes score can be expected to arrive very soon. So check your favorite entertainment sites in the next 24 hours or more, to see what their journalists have to say about this movie. I'm personally avoiding the internet after this to avoid spoilers, and will get back once I've seen the movie. 3 days from now! YAAASSS!!! \(^o^)/ - The fact that the movie's core theme is about family. Sean Gerber of Modern Myth Media, even said that the movie was "pure love", and something that should be watched together with their family. Gunn even dedicated this movie to his parents during the LA premiere. - That baby Groot is the star of the movie! Even fellow Marvel Studios director Peyton Reed thought he could win an Oscar! - New official images released on Entertainment Weekly that hinted towards various plot points. - A supposed Nathan Fillion's cameo that got edited out. Complete with proof by the actor himself, that turned out to nothing but a... prank? LOL. Though it's possible he's indeed the actor that Gunn openly admitted had to cut during post production. - About "the collector’s museum"-level Easter-Eggs-filled scene that went out in the cutting room... and might not be available as the Deleted Scenes. - About a surprise pop star cameo. - To the more complex one, like the removal of one character by the name of... *drumrolls* Adam Warlock!

Yes, turns out the Warlock was originally a major part of "Vol. 2"! Confirming that it was indeed his cocoon we saw in the first movie, but was decided to be saved for later movies. Once again, Gunn has been pretty open about this before, as he said that the script originally had 'one other' member of the team that he unfortunately had to let go. Yes, he WAS talking about Warlock, as the decision to omit him was because "it was one character too many and I didn’t want to lose Mantis and Mantis was more organically part of the movie anyway. So I decided to save him for later.". Gunn expressed his love for him though, eventhough we also shouldn't expect to see Warlock in "Avengers: Infinity War" as well, much to fans dismay. Nevertheless, Feige gave assurance that we will definitely see this important cosmic being in future movies.

By future, I believe we can expect this important character to show up later in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3", or even earlier in the UNTITLED 2019's Avengers movie. As I've always said, Adam Warlock is an amazing character because he's basically serving as both protagonist and antagonist due to his alter-ego Magus. And the prospect of having him playing a crucial role in future Marvel cosmic universe is enough as an excuse for me. Gunn stated to EW, that the "the three movies work together as a whole, they’re going to tell one story,". Which is exactly the reason why he agreed and excited to continue with "Vol. 3". Don't forget, we're getting Warlock's comic-book's 'sister' Ayesha and her golden-skinned race in this second movie. It would be very obvious, if Warlock will indeed take the follow up spotlight on "Vol. 3". One more thing, Gunn's collaboration with Marvel Studios won't be stopping after "Vol. 3". Birth.Movies.Death speculated, that Gunn is basically the architect of Marvel Studios' future cosmic universe, and I'm inclined to agree on that. Which his role important going forward. After all, Feige himself stated that Gunn "could easily oversee additional stories beyond Vol. 3.". I honestly can't wait to see what we can expect next in the massive galactic side of MCU, considering some of its more popular properties like Galactus, or Silver Surfer, are owned by FOX.

With one movie of 2017 out of the way, when can we expect the 2nd one then? The Los Angeles premiere for "Spider-Man: Homecoming" has been set for June 28th, 2017. Similar to the case of "Vol. 2", we can expect first screening reactions, critics reviews, and all the information dump related to Tom Holland's solo movie, beginning on early June. Or perhaps, much earlier? Yep, L.A. Times shared a new official photo of Spidey inside a pipe, accompanied by a breakdown of what his VERY convenient suit can do. After all, it's Tony Stark's creation! LOL. There's another one from EW, included in an article that focused on director Jon Watts' and Holland's experience with the production, considering the two "were in the same boat". In case you forget, "Homecoming" is the only MCU movie this year that takes place on Earth! So in that sense, it could be considered an important movie, because it's one of two that will directly lead up towards "Infinity War".

The other one is of course, Ryan Coogler's "Black Panther" that will arrive February 16th next year. A movie that had just wrapped production in Atlanta, but already sounds stunningly promising in many delicate ways: first female cinematographer in Rachel Morrison, dashing 'tribal-modern fusion' costumes by Oscar nominee Ruth E. Carter, fully imaginative high-tech metropolitan Wakanda, and stellar supporting cast, among others. Both Holland's Peter Parker and Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa debuted in "Captain America: Civil War" to critical acclaimed last year. We know that the two has officially joined the MCU's shirtless club, that even the bigwigs at Marvel Studios thought as something brag-worthy (LOL!!!). Yet the biggest question for them, is whether their stand-alone features will perform as good, or even better as the hype. Whether the directorial visions of Watts and Coogler are the right ones to catapult each solo title into their own franchises. Because if they are, then they will be joining the likes of Peyton Reed and Scott Derrickson who are moving forward with their second MCU movie.

Meanwhile, production for "Infinity War" is still ongoing in Scotland. And the latest sighting will make fans of the comics glee with joy. Why? Actor Paul Bettany was seen filming a romantic scene with Elizabeth Olsen, confirming that the relationship of his Victor Sha... I mean Vision and her Wanda Maximoff actually have progressed significantly since their encounter in "Avengers: Age of Ultron". There's something more to the scene though, because Bettany is NOT in his thick Vision makeup! Thus many have been assuming this could be either a dream-scene, or an alternate reality caused by one of the Infinity Stones. In fact, it makes sense to be the movie's happy ending too.

Speaking of 'happy ending', don't assume that this scene is part of the 2019's UNTITLED Avengers movie. Why? Eventhough the Russos DID plan to film both movies concurrently, apparently what might have sounded possible in theory, didn't work out so well in practice. Feige revealed to Collider, that the studio has decided to change course, and film both movies as back-to-back but entirely separate productions. "It became too complicated to cross-board them like that, and we found ourselves—again, something would always pay the price", he admitted, which might point out various issues like technical requirements of making sure both movie would be different from one another, actor's scheduling, and others. Which means, every behind the scenes candid images we've seen so far, are all part of "Infinity War". Feige then confirmed that they expect filming for the first movie to wrap in July, before moving on with the next one in August. Think of it like how Peter Jackson worked on his "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit" trilogies.

Last but not least, Feige also teased that while they are focusing on the seven ongoing tasks at hand, the MCU might be 'evolving' into a different form/route beginning in Phase 4. If... it can even be called that way, of course. "Certainly as we get to Infinity War there is a sense of a climax if not a conclusion to, by the time we’re at untitled Avengers 4, the 22 movies that will have encompassed the first three phases of the MCU. And what happens after that will be very different. I don’t know if it’s Phase 4, it might be a new thing.", he openly said to Collider. Intriguing, because if we observe closer, two of the confirmed titles ("Vol. 3" and "Homecoming 2") have their own separate and unique timelines; one probably mere months apart, while the other taking the "Harry Potter" yearly approach. A third that has been unofficially confirmed, the next chapter to "Doctor Strange", isn't likely to be bound by time and space either. Feige summed up that after 2019's Avengers movie, the MCU is "gonna be very, very different.". Hmmm... let's just say, I won't be at all surprised if the official title for Avengers 4 is called... "AVENGERS: SECRET WARS"! *wink*

Marvel TV

As Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." closing in on its 4th season finale, the fate of this ABC network series remains a huge question. Will it be renewed for a 5th year? And will it serve as the final season, as Entertainment Weekly has predicted before? Fans of the show, however small and numbered it might be, are anxious to find out. But while we're waiting for the answer, Marvel TV isn't stopping anytime soon. Instead, they are moving forward with their two Freeform projects.

The first one is Marvel's "New Warriors", as the former ABC family network officially announced its main roster! As speculated, it's a combination of actual "New Warriors" members from the comics, as well as ones from "Great Lake Avengers". The characters were revealed last week, complete with a catchy comic book art to accompany the announcement. They are (in list, because I love one): - Doreen Green, or Squirrel Girl. Well, duh? Obviously she's part of the show! Because it's the character that Freeform has always wanted to get from the beginning. According to Freeform, Doreen is an empowered girl, and a natural leader. Fitting to her power of acrobatic, and as such, she is bouncy and energetic. She will be accompanied by her pet squirrel Tippy Toe, everywhere she goes. - Craig Hollis, or Mister Immortal. True to his superhero alias, he's practically unable to die. Problem is, the lazy guy hasn't made use of this ability at all, and tends to be cocky and grumpy instead. Freeform calls him as the team's troublemaker. Or as I would see it... the jerk whom I would easily hate. - Dwayne Taylor, or Night Thrasher. He doesn't have any super ability, but he's a... Youtube artist? Huh? Ain't that something that the millenials would dig, right? He's rich kid who's pretending he's not, because he's a local celebrity 'hero' who is... shamelessly full of himself. Wow, our first two guys both sound annoying already. - Robbie Baldwin, or Speedball. His ability is to launch kinetic balls of energy, which of course would require CG work. His character description is kind of important, because it confirms that the show takes place in the MCU. Yes, because he's a fan of the Avengers Tower. Unfortunately, he's "impulsive and immature people-pleaser with a misplaced sense of confidence". My oh my, why do all the guys are characterized like this? - Zack Smith, or Microbe. This guy might already be my favorite, because he's a shy and sweet big guy who... talks to germs? Huh? Yep, his ability practically turns him into some kind of telepath, as he can tell everything from the millions germs scattering in the planet. Considering the MCU has very few people who can be categorized as an actual telepath (Scarlet Witch, and Mantis?), this is a good excuse to make Zack be another one. Judging from the character design, it seems like an Asian-American is going to be cast for this character. - Deborah Fields, or Debrii. This lesbian African-American is proud, and has a sharp tongue. Always unafraid to say what she thinks, and calls out people on their BS. Sounds like an amazing frenemy to either Craig, Dwayne, or Robbie, right? She has the power of telekinesis, and also acts as some sort of trickster.

If you ask me, I think these characters are good, and also wise choices because they represent diversity. No actor has been announced just yet because the casting process is said to commence very soon. But considering how fast this show is moving forward since it was greenlit, I wouldn't be surprised if we're getting cast announcement next week! I'm still not sure if I can see this show, considering it's airing on Freeform, but the idea of a 30-minutes 10-episodes only live-action comedy is too good for me to miss out. Obviously, if there's one main concern I have for it, is whether they can nail the VFX for show or not. And how much practical effects that will be utilized. Like the case of Tippy Toe, will an actual squirrel plays the rodent? Or a completely CG character? Of course, having characters like Mister Immortal, Night Thrasher, and Microbe is a beneficial cheat, considering their abilities can all be done practically. Even Debrii's power can also be done through simple camera tricks. The biggest challenge would be Speedball's, and the appearance of Squirrel Girl. Let's hope showrunner Kevin Biegel, and Marvel TV can work these out. Marvel's "New Warriors" is expected to arrive in 2018, which means, plenty of time to get the VFX done.

The first trailer for Marvel's "Cloak and Dagger" has been released! I did NOT see this coming. After all, the series won't premiere until Winter 2018, right? Unless, that literally means January or February, since both months are still regarded as winter. Hmmmm. Anyway, as soon as I'm done with the trailer, I'm 100% certain that this show is NOT for me. Not saying it's bad, because the whole teenage romance thing is, well, certainly new for Marvel. So a 'good job' for them is at hand? I don't know why, it just doesn't work for me. The lack of special effects, perhaps (that practical one looks... weak, and fake)? Too soap-opera for my taste, probably? Or is it because a conservative soul like me and some others just couldn't get the charm of it. Maaaaan, I feel old *sigh*. As I said before, as much as I liked the characters in the comics, I'm going to give this series a pass. It's definitely a no go for me. The only thing I liked about this is the logo... and that's saying much.

I can't help but wonder if these lovers would somehow, in some way, have a crossover with the "New Warriors". Both are running in the same network, and the age gap between their characters aren't too big. Of course, we must not forget that "Cloak and Dagger" takes place in New Orleans, while "New Warriors" will be in... hold on, they haven't mentioned where the setting will be, huh? Character description for Speedball mentioned 'Avengers Tower' though, so it likely takes place in New York. If that's the case, now I'm wondering if Squirrel Girl and her friends will bump into any of the Defenders, or Doctor Strange, or even Spider-Man? Aaargh.... this whole #itsallconnected thing is confusing.

Netflix

Would you look at that! Marvel's "Luke Cage" has... begun production for its 2nd season? Wowzers... Marvel is certainly firing on all cylinders, attacking on all front last week, huh? However, just like Marvel's "Jessica Jones", this report didn't arrive from Marvel, who usually posted an official announcement for a start of production. Instead, this silently came into public's attention through some keen-eyed fans who spotted the working title of "Luke Cage" being set up in Port Washington, New York. Add to that, Simone Missick's tweet about her training for the new season, and many can easily come into the same deduction.

Intriguingly, assuming this report IS true, "Luke Cage" going into production at the same time as "Jessica Jones" feels a little suspicious, eh? If I recall correctly, "Jessica Jones" showrunner Melissa Rosenberg did teased about Mike Colter's Luke's appearance in the series. So I'm secretly wishing this is the case, because his presence did wonder in the 1st season. Don't forget, Colter was cast due to his chemistry with Krysten Ritter! As for "Luke Cage", we need to remember that showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker actually wanted to do a "Heroes for Hire" show. But we all know how it turned out right? He was hired to do the solo series instead. With Scott Buck being occupied with Marvel's "The Inhumans", and the uncertainty of his Marvel's "Iron Fist" getting another season (sad to say, it's Netflix and Marvel TV's worst-reviewed show so far), could we be seeing Finn Jones' Danny Rand and Jessica Henwick's Colleen Wing entering the world of Luke Cage instead? I certainly hope so, because that would be the WISEST decision for both series. Coker would get what he have always wanted, and Marvel fans can finally see these two lead characters turning into that charming best buddies we've always seen in various other medias. Not to mention, Missick's Misty Knight can pair up with Henwick's Colleen as well. Once again, just like in the comics! To be honest, I don't have any interest to see new season for both series at this moment, but a pleasant twist like that would totally alter said plan completely... XD

Of course, that's merely a random speculation on my part. And a wishful thinking too. If the recent exclusive on MCU Exchange is also true, then well, such fantastic crossover already sounds unlikely. Which means, there goes my excitement level...

As for Marvel's "The Punisher", Tyler Bates who has done work for James Gunn's MCU movies, will be lending his hand to score the series. Possibly hinting towards a more rock and roll, or heavy metal vibe to the music. One more thing, actress Rosario Dawson had openly stated that she won't be showing in the series. Not really a surprise, because her Claire Temple never really interacted with Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle before. I think her role will specifically be taken over by Deborah Ann Woll's Karen Page this time. She did remark that she would love to be in it, but scheduling conflict somehow prevented her from doing so. Marvel's "The Punisher" is expected to premiere this Fall.

Kamen Rider Shally

Tokusatsu scooper Dukemon, posted some reports regarding the next Kamen Rider season following "Kamen Rider Ex-Aid". According to him, the rumored title will be "Kamen Rider Shally", and as previously hinted before, is a SUSHI-themed. Shally will be using the Shally Driver, and Neta Units to transform. He added that Shally will have three forms, obtained through the Neta units: Maguro, Ika, and Tamago. These are all obviously named after variants of Sushi that uses tuna, squid, and roll-egg respectively. For now, we need to consider this rumor with a huge grain of salt. But Dukemon is reliable, as many report he posted ended up becoming a fact. So I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Persona

"Persona 5" is still taking the main attention of many Persona-fans until now, but it seems Atlus is already moving forward with new projects for the franchise. According to Gematsu, Ryu's Office, the company who worked with Atlus to register domain names, has submited several Persona-related ones on April 18th. These names include: P3D, P5AG, P5D, P5R, P5U, Persona-Dance, PQ2. Three more were submitted on April 4: Persona8, Persona9, and Persona10.

Since they have created a crossover title between "Persona 4" and "Persona 3" before in form of "Persona 4 Arena", it seems likely that one of said domain might be a continuation to said title. Perhaps, the P5U one stands for "Persona 5 Ultimax/Arena"? I hope that's the case, because the possibility of the Phantom Thieves of Heart crossing path with the Inaba Investigation Team is too good to ignore. The notion of a Persona title from 8 to 10 is also intriguing. I don't recall we have heard any rumble of a "Persona 6" just yet, but they already book the spot up to 10! That's... WOW, right? Nevertheless, if Atlus can continue building better and better game like what they have done with P5, I don't see why there can't be a "Persona 10" somewhere in the franchise's bright future...

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