#one of the nice things with 3d character animation is the characters are never standing still

[arcane-strangeness]

@flunkett you'd prob appreciate these

JINX | 1.06: WHEN THESE WALLS COME TUMBLING DOWN

[digitalagepulao]

My sincere Black Myth: Wukong review

Full disclosure! This is from a recent but earnest fan of JTTW as the original novel, as well as all the social, cultural and religious layers of it. I've seen my fair share of adaptations and derivative media, from shlocky to silly to grimdark to cutesy. I'm a bachelor in visual arts, with an interest in the field of game development since high school. I am also, white and brazillian, and have talked with other jttw fans, both Chinese and not, on this game. If any of these are for some reason motive to not read further, then fair enough. Hope you have fun and continue to enjoy the game, do not let me or my opinion stop you!

Now to the review proper <3

First things first, let the obvious not remain unsaid. This game, is supremely gorgeous. In every sense of the word, and I mean this fully, it's a work of art. The sound design, the character concepts and execution, the animations, the voice acting, the visual effects, the UI design, the cinematography, the 3D scanning of actual historical artofacts and heritage sites throughout China, and everything beyond and between, are phenomenal, full stop.

This was never a debate, I'm sure, but I don't think I can in good conscience not praise them for their work. It's no news that Asian talent, not just in China either, have been often hired to supplement projects on the West, and we can all agree it's about time they got to shine in their own AAA project. My issues with the international game industry notwithstanding, I hope this brings some much needed acknowledgment and appreciation for Chinese culture and arts, both traditional and modern!

Now, from this point on, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS, so proceed with caution!

(word count: +1.8k)

I also deeply enjoy their choices in arcs to revisit. Some like the Flaming Mountain arc are classic picks to adapt but still a very good match to the whole Six Senses throughline. I don't think you can do a JTTW 2 electric bogaloo without bringing up Niumowang and his family in some way (um, put a pin on that), but the other arcs like Yellowbrow or Black Wind Mountain aren't as explored imo, so it's nice to see them being given a bit of a spotlight.

(speaking of the Yellow Ridge arc, whoever made the executive decision of Lingji Bodhisattva being a Xaanxi singer is, genius!!)

I'm also kind of in love?? with Bajie's design and role in the story overall?? Gameplay wise he sticks around just enough to not feel lonely, but not too long to be a nuisance or overstay his welcome. He's no Atreus (GoW) or Ellie (TLoU) of course, but he doesn't need to be, and most importantly, he isn't trying to be, which I feel is admirable of the devs. Given the visible inspirations from the recent God of War games, it would have been easy to lean a bit too hard on it, but I'm glad they didn't overreach.

Him having a more complex love life is also a nice touch imo. It explores more his womanizer ways in an interesting way, and I appreciate it. I love when people complicate the pig! Also, the way he treats Xiaosheng (Destined One) like a nephew?? The scene on the Huaguoshan throne??? I'M GONNA CRY!!!

I think, I've run out of positive things to say.... time for the spicy takes.

I, kind of detest the premise by default. I'm not a big fan of "Superman is Dead" plots, cus it's usually either done for shock value, or taken so lightly that the weight is totally lost. I have such a love-hate situationship with the introduction cutscene because of this. On one hand, it's phenomenal cinema, and seeing Wukong stand up to the Heavenly armies in glorious 4K high fidelity graphics is delicious. On the other hand, the whole debate they are having has me going "?????", not because I don't get it but just, why?? Why did this have to be the premise?? (put another pin on that)

Also the set up and call to adventure is kind of blergh.

Now is as good a time as any to talk about the gameplay. It's, okay. If you enjoy trying to figure out the most stylish combos, or to mash buttons, then you'll definitely have fun. I was sorely disappointed that I pretty much have been going through the bosses rather easily. Chapter 1 it was mostly the struggle of learning the controls, but I never stuck to a boss for longer than seven tries (Whiteclad Noble, the snakeman that you are). Chapter 2 I only struggled on Tiger Vanguard, because I was sorely underleveled and had missed a pathway to explore before him. After that I second tried him. Chapter 3, I have and I'm not joking, gotten halfway through first or second trying every boss.

Mind you, this is not being some godtier gamer or whatever, I'm pretty average and only a recent player of soulslike games too (maybe playing Lies of P made too OP, but I sincerely doubt it lol). No, this is me saying that if you do explore the game and not rush through it, you won't struggle nearly as much as some people have and still are. Most of the final chapter bosses can be trivialized with the chapter's Obsession Realm gimmick artifact, which isn't in itself a bad thing, just feels like an odd choice personally.

Which leads me to, the level design. So far? Preeeeetty lame! It's very pretty and fancy, but so chockful of invisible walls that it feels stiffling and discourages exploration. I can never tell what is meant to be a path or just fancy scenery, and I never know when a jump will get walled or send me to my death by fall damage. When it's not being confusing, the level design is either a bunch of looping circles, or straight lines. And so far, besides a few interactables and loot, there is not much else to look at. That is, bad level design, plain and simple.

Also, the animations are glorious, but what is the point if I can't see the enemy?? That camera is my true nemesis, and I mean that. the fact that a boss can be beyond my field of vision at ANY POINT when I'm locked on and it strifes sideways, is dreadful. GameScience, FIX IT. It is also, very hard to tell what parts of a boss will damage me if I collide with them or not. The Kang-Jin Long fight was baffling on a design point of view, same for Captain Lotus-Vision. Some clearer hitboxes would be swell.

This is the point where I say my main issue with the game lies: it's very pretty, and adoringly crafted, but it lacks substance design wise. I feel like it needed to cook more, the level design polished more so I wouldn't get lost every five minutes, and clearer.... well, everything. Mechanic explanations, level progression, gimmicks, etc. It all needed to be less murky and convoluted to understand.

It also needed more meat in between bosses. I have yet to run into common enemies that give me actual trouble, so it ends up being just a jolly waltz from boss to boss. Boss rushes are fun and great, but not as the base game experience (for me at least). I had to stop one boss away from completing Chapter 1 cus I was just so exhausted. And I had been playing for like, an hour and a half?? That left a sour taste in my mouth, I'll be honest.

Okay, I'm gonna pick open those pins now.

#1 the Flaming Mountain Arc. I'm gonna be very real here chat, that was so cringe. What do you MEAN, Red Son wasn't Demon Bull King's biological son, and Princess Iron Fan was forced to drink from the Childbearing River??? And Red Son hates him????When I watched that cutscene, I had to pause and walk away for a moment, legitimately. This plotbeat is SO WILD to me, I got nothing to say. Just, why??Soooo bizarre. And that the Flaming Mountain Keeper has such a presence in Iron Fan's life is also, weird?? Not bad weird, just Weird, but that's like a nitpick more than an actual criticism. Ping Ping is fine though, I like that Bull has a daughter with Princess Fair Fox, that's cute and interesting. Wish she was in a better plot and adaptation but lol

And #2, the premise. Now we are getting to the meat of it all.

The underlying premise of the whole plot, including the true ending, is flawed by default. The premise runs on what is sometimes called as a "conspiracy theory plot", as in, "what if the gods were bad actually??". It's reddit movie theory content in very short terms, and while it had a place during the 00s grimdark years pre-Marvel, it's become quite a jaded and boring take nowadays. Now you may say that it comes from a genuine desire to show distrust and critique to insitutions and the powers than be, and I can see that.

There is a hiccup in that though.

In JTTW, Wukong is the Mind Monkey because of the religious text and subtext of the stories. Its interwoven in the whole thing, and makes it cohesive. It still offer critique and mockery to institutions, without entirely invalidating their foundations. Not only for genuine fear of prosecution, but because, shockingly, religion and belief is a major component of human society in general. But going back to my point, JTTW is *already* a critique of institutions and the power that be. Adding further layers into it feel like angst and edginess just for the sake of it, and that feels hollow to me.

To go further, this intent also clashes with their own plot. See, they bring up that Wukong's Mind, his Sixth Sense, died. Thus they need another Mind to guide his other senses and reform him, so that he may be reborn.

For one, that is such a convoluted way to do a reincarnation plot, it feels complicated just for novelty sake. Secondly, Wukong being the Mind Monkey, as I said, implies a tie to the underlying themes of the Journey as a person's path to enlightenment. If enlightenment itself is flawed because the gods are flawed/evil, then both themes are clashing. By making a "what if the gods were evil all along" plot while also going by the laws and order of said gods, then what are we even fighting against? What is the point of this whole rebellion between Erlang and Wukong??

my friend @ryin-silverfish said it best a while back, and I'm paraphrasing here (do pitch in or correct me if needed! <3), but the issue with these conspiracy narratives is the inherent anti-religion of them. They don't believe in anything, and thus they cannot properly retell the story of JTTW through a postmodern lense, because they refuse to engage with the religiosity that runs throughout the story.

It also leaves a sour taste in my mouth, because this game will likely be many people's first genuine experience with the JTTW mythos and story, and I tend to be concerned for how much this will "sour the pot" in the conversation. The novels are sadly innacessible enough as it is; the sheer size of them scare many people away, not even to mention the amount of underlying cultural context you'll miss out without proper footnotes and commentary. Most people will not engage with them directly, and certainly not most gamers.

While the narrative of someone embodying Wukong's spirit is not new in itself, I do find that it coexisting with such a poor premise and spin on it will be a sore first experience for new fans, and I can only hope that them meeting fans of the OG novels won't cause much friction in the fandom (we have enough as it is imo).

It also concerns me that, sadly, people and gamers in particular, get too swept up in the ooh-aah beauty of flashy sfx and highly detailed graphics, and fail to notice some of the underlying issues in game design. As I said, this game is a work of art, but it has flaws, and I don't think people are speaking of them enough. No, the issue is not "lack of diversity" or whatever the hell.

It runs deeper than that, and it's an issue I've come to see in recent movies as well. I'm aware it might just be different cultural expectations of the pacing and span of a story, and it may as well be! But I think if there was more care given to the bones of a media, it would bring much needed longevity and weight to these wonderful artworks.

All this said, I wanna see what acolades this game gets and see what the devs are cooking up with the DLCs (they said at one point the game was supposed to have 12 chapters and my god, that game would be TOO LONG. So glad it didn't get like that!), and further more see how this ripples in the eastern game dev scene. While this is a flawed game with a flawed story, it can be the first on a genuinely wonderful wave of new creations, not just by GameScience, and overall I'm hopeful for what might come next!

[otakween]

Digimon Frontier: Island of Lost Digimon

This was actually pretty fun! It wasn't the strongest Digimon movie by a long shot, but it was good as a Frontier side story. It was nice to see them revisit the whole "beast digimon vs. human digimon" conflict that they didn't do much with in the show. Also, I got to see my Digimon World 3 friends again! They were super cute.

Notes:

I enjoyed Izumi humming Funiculi Funicula in the intro to the movie. For a split second I thought it was Bolero and was about to throw hands lol.

What the HECK were they riding on in the opening? It wasn't really a Trailmon it was more like a Mike Wazowski themed rail cart. They, of course, never explained.

This movie's aesthetic was really weird. I don't know if it was necessarily higher quality animation. It kinda looked like they took the usual level of quality and put a "cinema" filter over it or something. Also some of the "shots" were weirdly cropped and almost blurry. IDK if that's just because there isn't a clean copy on the internet or if it was a stylistic choice. At least the characters are super on model, which is more than I can say for the show!

Speaking of animation quality, they were a little too obsessed with using CGI in this movie. It looked really bad and added nothing lol. Also, what was with the neon disco rave tanks? They felt extremely out of place.

Once again we get a lot of unnecessary focus on Izumi's butt...

So many new (or new-ish) background digimon! I kept being like "ooh, who's that?" I really liked the bunny-with-razors-for-ears design. It's funny how they debut new digimon in the movies and games, it almost feels like they're testing them out.

The original title is more like "The Revival of the Ancient Digimon." I can see why they would change that cuz it sort of feels like a big spoiler.

Kotemon and Bearmon were super cute. It was exciting to see their anime forms. They had really nice voices as well (in Japanese and English). Kinda wish I had watched this before DW3 instead of the other way around, whoops!

They used the exact same plot of "evil character encourages war to resurrect evil monster via the sacrifice of many" in the isekai series I'm Standing on a MIllion Lives. Makes me wonder how many fantasy series have used that. It must be a more common trope than I thought.

Why does this one digimon look like Impmon and My Melody had a baby?

The whole "beast vs. human" thing still feels silly when half of the "human" side doesn't actually look that human. I could totally see Dinohumon be considered a "beast" in a different series. (Maybe it's a metaphor for how racism is dumb and makes no logical sense).

The visual of digieggs flying and baby digimon being all over the place due to the ongoing war was interesting. I guess they couldn't go to the Village of Beginnings because the island is blocked off from the rest of the digital world?

One CGI scene literally looked like the 3D maze screensaver from Windows 98 lol

Kinda rolled my eyes when Bokomon said that Murmukusmon (what a mouthful) could turn into any digimon. What OP power will they think of next? Also, we only saw him digivolve into two digimon, so I'm not that impressed.

That final battle was pure chaos and I had a lot of trouble following wth was going on. I didn't know why AncientGreymon/AncientGarurumon were suddenly there so I googled it. Apparently it was due to "the power of Kotemon's sacrifice and Bearmon's tears"...riiiight. Shounen movie logic.

AncientGreymon looks amazing and AncientGarurumon looks..aight lol. I'm totally biased to prefer beast-like digimon

Kinda anticlimactic to have two "spirits" do the dirty work instead of our heroes, not gonna lie. Maybe if we had met AncientGreymon and AncientGarurumon before and had some level of emotional attachment to them it would have been more impactful.

The new mural with the Frontier MCs and Bearmon/Kotemon at the end was cute

[todomitoukei]

My Hero Academia: Animation Exhibition

Quickly rising from the grave to share some pictures from the My Hero Academia exhibition that is currently being held in Japan!

It's called My Hero Academia: ANIMATION, an exhibition that highlights some of the biggest moments from season 6 through various forms of art. 99.9% of the photos I took are villain only of course but obviously the exhibition features the heroes too. So if you would like to see them just keep reading!

Outside the exhibition were two posters to promote the exhibition. The photo on the left is the villain poster. The photo on the right is the ticket and a character sheet that everyone gets. The character you get is random so I was SO lucky that I got Toga!

Inside the exhibition, they start out with a compilation video of the season. Then, you get to the main part of the exhibition, where they have various ways of highlighting some of the most important scenes of the season.

They start out with a cardboard cutout of a few hero characters before having this screenshot compilation to have you be sad right away.

After that you turn a corner and look... I don't like him, but this was actually such a cool display! The feathers were hanging down on a string so they had actual movements!

Moving on we get to one of my favorite parts of the exhibition! They had a screen where they had a tribute to Twice and Toga, with a screen that played some of their shared scenes accompanied by sad music. Around it were panels of them and pieces of dialog they exchanged was hanging around the screen as well... (the second one reads "thank you for saving me"

I think after that they had some sketches from the season, but you're not allowed to take photos of those so skipping to the better part:

Fun fact: right after this they had the tank Shigaraki is in on the wall as a photo spot and one of the employees pointed at it and was offering to take a photo so I said thanks and quickly escaped to the next part lol. So you go to this small hallway and on the walls to the left and right they had these panels from little Tenko which was suuper cool. I was a big fan of the fact they had all these 3D (is that what you call this?) versions, which made it feel more real.

And going straight you walk right up to him.

Shortly after they had a screen showing Shigaraki fighting against the heroes. Right next to the screen they had cardboard cutouts of Deku and Endvr, and on the left they had cardboard cutouts of Shouto and Bakugou, with light effects choreographed in tune with the music of the fight! I had like a split second to take this shot.

They also had this panel and quote compilation afterwards:

Then, we get ✨the girls✨

And now... moving on to the one and only:

After this short scene introduction they had the COOLEST thing ever and I need to own this for personal reasons. It's a Touya cutout, with LED-lit light to really bring his flames to light. In the background it has the "the past never dies" quote and an image of each of his family members. The light was going dark and bright which was really cool and I took a video of that too but here are some photos:

I was really glad they also included Dadpress!

They had some moments from Touya's backstory highlighted as well, but I HAD to take a photo of this summary, because at the end it says that he is "standing up once more from Shouto and his family's words" - standing up is just not the word I would've used for the guy's pathetic reaction but suuuuure.

Anyway, that was it for the villain moments in the exhibition. At the very end they had this huge Deku figure and I had to take a photo because it looks like he's about to beat me up.

Fortunately, he didn't land a blow so I made it out safely, where I was walking up to see the gang:

And yes, they also had a merch section, where I got some nice stuff!

Overall, it was a fun little exhibition and I was happy to see the villains being included so much. Unfortunately, merch-wise it was mainly Shigaraki, Touya, and Toga but I got a villain washi tape, which has one screenshot of each LoV member so that's super cute!

That's it - hope you guys enjoyed the few photos. It was definitely cooler in person and it was difficult to edit some of the photos due to the lighting in the exhibition, but I hope this post somewhat conveys the atmosphere.

[zephyr-bazaar]

hello!! i hope ur having a nice day!!

i'm willow and i just started playing harvest moon! you seem to be really well-informed about harvest moon, so i hope it'd be okay if i asked you for some advice? :O if not, feel free to ignore this! (also, i emulate my games, so if you're uncomfortable with emulation i completely understand ^^)

i'd like to ask what ur favourite nds harvest moon is! yesterday i started playing tale of two towns and i've been seriously enjoying it haha. i'm now a little bit bored though (i've been playing it for the entire day now 😵‍💫) so i thought maybe i should try the other games, but there are just so many i'm not sure which i should try! the sad thing is that i'm only able to emulate nds games (3ds ones are definitely out sadly, and i tried to emulate the wii and gamecube ones but they didn't work unfortunatelyy) so i won't be able to enjoy trio of towns and more 😔

i really like the social aspect of the game (even though i haven't been able to get married to any of the bachelors ahaha) but i like the farming aspect too! do you have any game in mind? (or just your favourite one!) thank you so much! im so sorry if it's rude of me to suddenly ask you this. i hope you have a great week ahead!! 😊

(folds my hands together and leans in) you have come to the right place.

I actually was having a replay of ToTT before Mistria came out! It wasn’t one I was fond of, so getting a new perspective on it and finding things to like was nice, even if I do agree it’s on the boring side. (Side note Gombe is the best character in the entire series and I wish he moved in with you too if you marry Nori/Nana.)

As for my favorite DS game, well, (gestures to my username). Grand Bazaar is one of my favorites. It’s actually the first game Dirk was from and his older brother is my favorite bachelor in the series!! (I also think Dirk’s ToTT version is a LOT better if you’ve played GB; it’s very nice to see his character development between the games if you see any of his GB heart events.)

A lot of the mechanics are more on the simple side (Iirc it was meant to be a beginner’s game), and since you’ve played ToTT you’re familiar with the hell that is the freshness system. (GB and ToTT are the only games with it; in every other game things never go bad. One of those experimental things that didn’t stick, which the DS games had a LOT of.) GB also has a mechanic where if you step on your crops too much their quality will go down, but as long as you switch from running to walking while watering them for the day, you should be good!!

The biggest mechanic change, and the one the game is based around, is in the name itself; the bazaar! You don’t have shipping bins in this game, and instead you sell everything at a weekly bazaar on Saturday! You run a stand with all your items set up, and ring a bell to attract customers. Generally if you’re focused and stay for a while, you’ll sell all your stuff. (The game’s goal is to earn enough at bazaars that you’ll be able to have it keep growing and become more famous, which also helps a LOT in the selling regard as you’ll get more customers the higher your rank is.) I tend to save all my stuff for the end of the season and sell all of my crops at once.

This is also where you’ll be able to buy everything; while Raul runs the general store in town, Enrique sells animals at the bazaar, for example. As it grows you’ll even have stands with characters from Island of Happiness and Sunshine Islands setting up shop!!

It’s also MUCH easier to unlock makers than every other game in the series with them, including the games before it. The other gimmick is town has 3 Windmills, all of which are unlocked automatically in your first year. I’m not quiiiiiite sure how they work on emu because they involve blowing to speed up production time, but doing a quick search for people playing Professor Layton and Ace Attorney on Reddit says it’s doable to configure, it just depends on what emu you’re using.

I’m not toooo familiar with animals because I never keep any (seeing this in the first game in the series I ever played when I was 11 traumatized the FUCK out of me and now it stresses me out to have them in any of the games that aren’t AWL LMAO.) But looking it up it seems to be standard fare, with the barn actually attached to your house to make it easier to reach them. You can’t sell your animals unlike other games, but besides that they’re functionally the same but with much easier access in the morning.

I also ADORE the cast so, SO much. Like I said, my favorite bachelor in the series is in this game. The entire cast is very colorful and charming. Both the art style and designs are, overwhelmingly, the biggest influence on my (chibi) art and overall character designs- which says a LOT about the series that made me start drawing as a child in the first place. It’s absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have a number one favorite mayor in the series, but a tie between 3. You better believe Felix is one of them. He’s SO good. Especially when ToTT Rutger if you chose Bluebell is very generic as far as bokumono mayors go. (Luv Ina/Irusa though)

Also it introduced tea leaves to the series which was the most goated thing to ever happen. Tea leaves are the best crop. I love tea leaves.

TLDR Please play Grand Bazaar I love Grand Bazaar.

(I also hope you can get other emus to work! All 3 of the 3DS games are the best in the series, Imo, and the Wii games are classics. If you have Steam you can also get Friends of Mineral Town (the best starter game imo), and A Wonderful Life (it’s a black sheep in the series but a VERY VERY beloved black sheep and the original GameCube version was a LOT of people’s first game.) I’m olivetownhater199x though)

I hope you have a nice week as well!! :) I have job interviews tomorrow and Tuesday so fingers crossed 🤞🏻

EDIT OH MY GOD I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO SAY THIS. If you have trouble starting out Fogu’s Guides for the series are a godsend!! I still use them every time I play. (Even if she does also cover the bargain bin harvest moon games. Every game titled Harvest Moon from The Lost Valley onwards isn’t actually a part of the Bokujou Monogatari series, but rather games by the original localizers profiting off brand name when Marvelous switched to in house for translation.)

[ozziescribbler]

Hi! I feel like I share your opinions on hotel Transylvania and I would love to know your problems with the films, especially the "zing" concept.

Hey, I'd assume you found me via my recent tweets, because that's first time in ages I shat on Hotel Transylvania!

I am indeed a proud, card-carrying hater of the first movie (and whole franchise by extension, but never watched the sequels, only the reviews) and would talk about it whenever provoked.

I agree with you, @chinesegal, that the movies were underwhelming, cliché and too juvenile. Which would be fine for a movie intended for kids, provided the overall message was wholesome, or at least entirely harmless. Keyword: "would".

I checked and this seems to be the first instance of me talking about HT, 10,5 years ago, and I still stand by those words:

I watched Hotel Transylvania last month and the single thing I hated about it was "LOVE AT THE FIRST SIGHT THE ONLY ONE THAT COUNTS! GO FOR IT OR YOUR LIFE WILL BE RUINED FOREVER! ZING!" moral that popped up at the end. This movie literally just gives love at the first sight name "zing" and shoves how irreplaceable it is up the viewer's throat during the third act.

This is straight up toxic. How THE FUCK did they get away with legitimizing literal love at first sight in the year 2012? And how come so very few people talk at all how messed up this is?

I am still confused why audiences and reviewers were positive towards this. Writing is so bad: annoying characters (especially Mavis's garbage love interest), lackluster worldbuilding (monsters as fantasy racism metaphor is fine, but why waste vampires if they do nothing vampiric?), unfunny jokes.

And while the visuals are... okay, I suppose, neither design nor animation were anything to run home about. A friend with animation degree was always so confused why animation in HT is treated like it was extremely revolutionary. I would not know, but wasn't particularly impressed either. Madagascar and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs beat it to a punch in regards of using 2D design language in 3D animation. Also, early HT concept art was much more interesting than the bland final result (RIP DILF Dracula).

All in all, you want to see a shitty Adam Sandler movie that at least leans into the horror/monster humor, just watch Little Nicky. If you want to see nice animation from Genndy Tartakovsky, then watch pretty much anything he did other than Hotel Transylvania. There will be also much better writing. Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan and Primal are especially worth anybody's time.

[randomnameless]

Artbook stuff : more dev notes, this time about Nina, the mages and the knights of the rose!

Nina is introduced before Kitra, but I suppose Kitra was designed first as the "tiny girl with huge hammer" trope or "romanticism", so Nina followed.

I don't have a lot of thoughts about Nina since I always bench her quite fast, but fwiw, it's really nice to see how her ponytail sways with her movements, VW really put a lot of care in their animated sprites, and I can't help but compare with modern IPs who love their shitty 3D and I'm like... yeah.

Sprite work is VW's bread and butter, and it shows!

Yahna... Well, fwiw, in my first run I wasn't fond of her because I was introduced to her during the Alcina map and, well :/

AU where she had body armor - but the art looked meh so she removed some clothes. FWIW, in her progression she always wears more clothes, like she starts with nothing, then wears a dress, and in the artbook's cover her dress looks like stripperific than this one, which is, uh, a progression?

She betrays her ages at times in cutscenes (the stone tablets subquest!) and in rapport convos, which is fun to think about (basically her Hodrick and Joseph's supports) but the Alcina parallels in her Alain rapport convo... ugh.

Utility wise, much like in FE, Warp is busted, and her Gravity spell manages to control the map so..., I've never benched her at all lol.

Auch is a more traditional mage, when Yahna's class is actually more support oriented, in my actual run he stole Reimann's staff and equiped the accessory to counter at melee range, it's not a super sound strategic team, but damn that's fun.

His "wants to please my mother" thing only appeared in his rapport convos, and he was working for Zenoira so... bar the memes, I wonder what is basically his story, where they Cornian mages who jumped wagon with the Zenoiran invaders, or what?

He still makes the Mordon map winnable, so he's nice (and actually the second magic user we get!)

Selvie's actually quite tall in with the character heights revealed, and VW really outdid themselves with her various poses and crouching she does to cast magic (and the Selvie Kick (tm) ). I don't have a lot to say about her character (nerd with a kind heart when she talks about anything else than her research trope) but as the only named shaman unit...

She can't attack at all, but her debuffs are basically making a team survive or kill enemies, or not so yep, much like Yahna, she was never benched lol.

The Knights of the Rose's Team Mom, Miriam!

Acts as the leader of the group (or their caretaker), she indeed has a serious personality, watching over the members of their group and, when she joins, Virginia - even if, serious or not, she's also perfectly willing to participate in Virginia's suicide charge to take revenge for their fallen comrades.

IDK much about some "cuteness" but I'd say she has her own insecurities, complaining to Frau (not Kitra!) that seeing her and Virginia fight, she feels like she'll never be as good as them, or having the pressure to live up to her father's expectations. For a character who doesn't have a lot of lines and is part of a group, Miriam's fine as character, not specially a fave, but fine nontheless.

Fran! (@pandp-author fave!)

Dev notes are centered on her maiden ceremony, where we can see her stand without riding her griffin!

But indeed, mobility is her class's greatest advantage compared to other flying units, and in a game like UO with real-time elements mobility is really key to cheese maps!

Fran is also the only griffin rider in game with, uh, a modified bust size so she doesn't jiggle like the other ones, which is always a bonus point. Character wise, Fran is someone who worries about her comrades (hell in her ending, she gives up a leading position to remain with her friends on the battlefield?) but is also the one who's the proudest to be part of the Knights of the Rose : she's not a squire anymore who needs to be protected, she's a knight who can protect now.

Kitra here!

She got a Supreme forehead to give a "lively impression", but she first and foremost was designed with a hammer to join when Mordon wouldn't be available (if Alain picked the "kill him" choice?). Yeah, Google Trad failed here, there's no convo about "intimacy" with Mordon lol, but more like she's his apprentice and later learns how to repairstuff (to become a stonemason herself?).

She's "carefree" and brash, prone to get into trouble but her "dexterity" is both shown in how she repairs bridges and, in her Sharon rapport, smashes chicken to make them cross a river (without killing them, idk how this works).

Hammer people are really fun units, I prefer Mordon based on design alone, but Kitra's character - both as a member of the Knights of the Rose and outside of her group of friends - is fine enough, much like her fellow knights, with a small emphasis on being a sort of comic relief.

[yupuffin]

TL;DR Dan Heng (in 3D printed form 🤣) and I got up early to watch the Star Rail concert livestream!

More unnecessarily deep thoughts about it under the cut because it definitely made me emotional and stuck with me for a few hours after it was over.

I didn't know the concert was going to be a thing until yesterday when I watched the animated trailer, but I figured I'd give it a shot! Especially for the chance to see an orchestral rendition of Samudrartha. And I was not disappointed, to the point that it low-key felt like an early birthday present 🤣 Of course Take the Journey made me emotional, too, and interestingly placed right after the space station battle music, because I went straight from "stay alert, we're grinding" mode to "listening to the most relaxing song" mode 😂

(For reference, I first heard Samudrartha at like 6am in the Boston airport when I was playing Star Rail for like 3 hours while waiting for a delayed flight, and in the three months since then I've woken up to Samudrartha as my weekday alarm in addition to listening to it during the day and/or to fall asleep. So yeah, it's pretty special to me!)

I know the Genshin concert has come to the U.S. once, but only to Los Angeles and New York; Los Angeles isn't really a convenient distance from me, but after watching this concert, I'd seriously consider traveling to LA if a Genshin and/or Star Rail concert should I get the opportunity, even if it's not at the same scale as the one in Shanghai.

I got to thinking while/after I was watching it how this game already means so much to me after I've only been playing it for four months out of the entire year that it's been out. I thought back to the first time in-game I boarded the Astral Express (which, if I'm reading my screenshots right, was my third and/or fourth day of playing) -- I turned on "Take the Journey" on the phonograph, just because I thought it sounded nice, and then, without really thinking about it further, I proceeded to the archives to go see Dan Heng, and... there was something about standing next to him in the archives with Take the Journey playing in the background that just hit me all at once with this really secure, peaceful feeling that's pretty representative of the way I feel about Dan Heng in general and hence has never really gone away.

Genshin Impact also has a special place in my heart, of course. Genshin and Star Rail are both such attention-grabbing, time-consuming games that juggling them both is a struggle sometimes, but I manage. I don't think I could quit either game if I tried at this point.

While playing Genshin Impact was generally a smooth experience for me, there have been a few instances in the 134 days for which I've been playing Star Rail that I've considered quitting for various reasons -- frustration from grinding too much for a difficult boss, burning out while refusing to progress the main story, progressing the main story anyway and then feeling overwhelmed by the emotional impact -- and at one point I even uninstalled it... for a few hours. I could never stay away, because I wanted to keep coming back to see Dan Heng every day. It feels silly to me that the most accurate description I can come up with of my experience is that "being with Dan Heng just feels right," because that's how I've heard people describe their significant others, and you can't really be with an imaginary, fictional character.

So, yeah, I thought about that... and about how Genshin Impact, and later, Star Rail, are both games I was so determined not to get into, because I knew they would suck me in... and ultimately, they did, despite me telling many people multiple times, that no, I was not going to play that new game, because I couldn't resist the temptation after a certain point 🤣 But, given the chance, I don't think I would go back and change anything... Having just today discovered that they've previously made Dan Heng nendoroids that I have regrettably missed the boat on, I had the brief thought -- and not for the first time, either -- that, if anything, I wish I'd started Star Rail sooner.

(I've thought this before, because, probably due to the aforementioned peaceful feeling I get with Dan Heng, I've slept better since getting into Star Rail than I can remember sleeping for most of my adult life. Nowadays, I usually fall asleep pretty fast, I often stay asleep all night, and my anxiety-induced nausea that used to manifest at night once every few days ago has dwindled to basically nothing. The few bouts of insomnia I've experienced, which used to be pretty common and occur for no apparent reason, are ones I can directly trace to lingering emotional distress from earlier in the day. Sometimes I watch "Ichor of Two Dragons" to calm down before bed, and there was one time I watched on my phone when I was already in bed, and I was basically asleep right after I put my phone down.)

(But I digress.)

I don't know if I could have started Star Rail sooner, though, despite knowing it's existed since it came out; I only felt the flexibility to get into Star Rail because my interest in Genshin Impact has been dwindling recently, as disappointing as it sounds to phrase it that way. These days, I mostly only play it to complete my daily commissions in the morning, participate in limited events or main story content, and patrol my Serenitea Pot at bedtime to say good night to all of my characters. Aside from not feeling a particular drive to try to complete an endless backlog of quests, which comprises the primary activities I have left to do in the game, I felt that I hit a sort of "endgame" after pulling Neuvillette; for as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to be in love with a fictional character who's a dragon -- and I know there's a lot of good dragon characters out there, but I can't force myself to like a character a specific way; it has to happen more or less by chance. And I love aquatic things, so the fact that Neuvillette is a water dragon... basically made him the peak Genshin character for me. 😆 Which isn't to say there aren't future characters I'll be interested in, but I also don't feel particularly compelled to continuously save Primogems for the next greatest character when I already have Neuvillette, not to mention the assortment of other characters I'm also in love with. There's a lot of them.

So, anyway, part of the reason I figured I could give Star Rail a try when I did was because I wasn't regularly devoting multiple hours a day to Genshin Impact anymore.

I think the first time I felt a draw to Star Rail in particular was when they first released Imbibitor Lunae as a playable character back in August -- because you know me and Neuvillette, I love dragons -- but, as I did with Genshin Impact, I put off getting into it because I don't like making impulse decisions and I knew it'd suck me in. By the time a couple of months had passed, I had Neuvillette, I wasn't playing as much Genshin, and in December I happened to read a Tweet about how Neuvillette and Dan Heng (Imbibitor Lunae) are both water dragons. I wasn't aware until this point that Dan Heng was a water dragon, specifically, so now I was way more tempted to give it a try.

Anyway, I think where I was going with this was that I couldn't start Star Rail sooner, because the circumstances weren't right. And it worked out, because I'd saved up the 180 pulls needed for a limited character guarantee right as Imbibitor Lunae reran in February, right around when the Year of the Dragon started.

And the best part about my Star Rail experience that set it apart from my Genshin Impact experience... is that you start the game with Dan Heng in your party (albeit not in dragon form). With Genshin, I started the game just a bit too late to pull Xiao (the character I wanted, analogous to Dan Heng -- yes, I have a type) on his first banner, and I refused to impulse buy gacha pulls using real money, instead opting for delayed gratification by saving wishes I amassed in-game for however long it took for him to come back for a rerun, which ended up being eleven months. This whole process involved a lot of stuff like separation anxiety and my gay awakening that definitely shaped my identity over the past three years that's way too long and detailed to get into in a post that's supposed to be about Star Rail, but the idea is that Star Rail was a different experience -- partially because I was effectively a different person when I started playing Genshin than I was when I started playing Star Rail, and also because I've never played Star Rail without Dan Heng.

So now that I play both, I currently devote more time to Star Rail than to Genshin Impact, as I'm still building my characters and keeping up with the ongoing main story releases, and I was thinking about this while watching the Star Rail concert, because I never made a point of watching any of the Genshin concerts. It makes me kind of sad in the way that we tend to mourn our hyperfixations when we're not as hyperfixated on them anymore. I don't want to quit playing Genshin, and I don't think I have to for any reason, but now that I've come to terms with being gay and whatever else happened in the three years I've spent playing it, it feels in a way like it's run its course, like it's served its main purpose in my life, and, while I can continue to enjoy it on a daily basis, I think there's also something to be said for how special my Star Rail experience is to me and how it's currently serving its own function in my daily life, complementary to but also separate from Genshin Impact.

So, yeah, that's basically what I thought about. All of that.😅

Given how many paragraphs I spent talking about how I don't think I can quit either game, I'm hoping that they're either as immortal as Toontown is with Toontown Rewritten (still going strong 20+ years after the release of the original game), or that I've somehow developed a new hyperfixation with its own purpose in my personal narrative by the time these games end service. Either scenario is hard to imagine, but also not entirely impossible.

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Tell us about your fav show! What gets you hooked? What makes it special? - What are the good and bad points of the show? The plus and minus? Something that you like and don't like (if there's any). - And lastly, your first impressions and expectations (before watching the shows), and your thoughts as the show goes. Is it different than what you expect? Surprisingly good? Is it okay-ish or perhaps, worse? Is it actually way better?

Yooo thanks for the ask anon! :0 This one’s gonna be long again, sorry bout that ^^;

Ok, let’s see- assuming stuff like edutainment shows or a bunch of filler shorts for a single channel to fill the time they’re not broadcasting from 10pm-6am doesn’t count, and instead just actual shows with plots and episodes and stuff….There‘s two choices here, but to not bring videogames into this again I‘m gonna go with a cute little 12 episode anime called Wish Upon the Pleiades.

Just as a VERY big disclaimer: stuff I like ≠ stuff that’s qualitatively good. Especially with things I really like, they’re almost never things that’re objectively good in any way, and more usually than not, they’ve absolutely got flaws. It’s the vibe and sincerity of things that gets me to like them. That’s no different here. Objectively speaking, the anime is probably more mediocre or basic or 6-7/10 than anything, but I just. Kinda like the vibes a lot regardless >v<

It’s your standard magical girl anime, candyhaired protag stumbles upon a cute alien mascot and gets chosen to join 4 other girls to help it get back to its home. They do that by catching falling stars in space so it can be used as fuel for its spaceship.

Throughout the series, protag keeps opening normal doors only to end up in a big glass house full of plants, magic butterflies, and a single lone boy who’s got a sickness of some sort. So there’s a mystery going on here on the side with all of that.

Protag and one of the other girls actually used to be friends, but they drifted apart, and now that they’re basically forced to hang out together they get closer again.

I just really like the vibes, they feel very cozy. The main action comes from trying to be fast enough to catch the stars, and instead of an ensemble monster cast or battles, it’s really just a single demon guy standing in their way trying to catch them for his own mysterious purpose. The main focus is on the characters and their deal and stuff, which is nice. (Not that a good action scene like other shows do isn’t hype of course :3)

Also, the star theming! Protag has a telescope and loves gazing at space, greenhouse guy keeps giving metaphors, space is very important outside of the whole magical girl thing.

Main issue is, it’s ruuuushed. 12 eps. As much as I prefer short anime like these because they’re simply easier to watch, that’s just not a whole lot of time to develop characters or plot. Or decent pacing. Oh man the pacing.

Also it uses 3D at some times- The star fragments are actually really pretty, but the character models less so. Though they’re very good at hiding it, so it’s not as noticeable as most anime!

And man some of their problems are overdramatic lmao. One of em has abandonment issues from her parents lying about their divorce and taking her sibling with her, the other scribbled a music note into her dads‘ sheets and got so paranoid about it sounding bad she still gets scared listening to it 7 years later. Like girl.

Anyways, first impression gave off "flawed at times but very cute and enjoyable 6-7/10“, and it turned out to be just that :3 I actually really love media in the 6-7/10 range because they just…tend to feel more sincere, usually? Like, yea it’s flawed, but there’s an effort here and a more cozy and relaxed vibe that your 9-10/10 lack in comparison, as they tend to feel more…sanitized? That might also just be me being too used to Nintendo games which have been quite sanitized the past decade ...

TLDR it’s objectively got some flaws, there’s not much of a big plot and the more low-key vibes are absolutely not what people usually watch magical girl anime for but ITS REALLY CUTE AND ABOUT SPACE AND GREENHOUSE BOY DESERVES THE WORLD AND I JUST LIKE THE VIBES OK-

…

Anyways, aside from that anime, there’s also the Bomberman Jetters anime which iirc has a great first ep, goes into standard mediocre kids show monster of the week stuff for half the show, and then starts going waaaaayyy too hard on the plot and character development for something based on its source material. Both the cast and the antagonist. Why is this anime about a kid with two circles for a face throwing bombs at robots making me emotional, wth.

I can give ya a long answer to that one too if it’s wanted lol, just ask XD

[libramonthlyhoroscope1]

Best pokemon games on

Ranking the best Pokemon games in the core series is no easy task. With so many memorable adventures spanning generations, deciding on what entry takes the top spot will always divide opinion. After all, we all have strong feelings about the particular Pokemon adventures - whether that be because we grew up playing it, or one holds a special place in our hearts. While we've seen a host of memorable experiences outside of the main series -with the likes of Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Go, Pokemon: Let's Go, and recent remakes like Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - this list focuses solely on the core games that established each generation. 

Best pokemon games on

With the Pokemon series traditionally finding a happy home on Nintendo's handheld consoles, it's no wonder that so many entries have cemented their place among our top pick of games on particular machines - with Pokemon adventures among our selection of the best DS games, the best 3DS games, and the best GBA games of all time. 

With the upcoming release of Pokemom Scarlet and Violet later this year, there's never been a better time to look back on all the series has offered us. From the most recent additions like Pokemon Legends: Arceus and Pokemon Sword and Shield, to the series origins with Pokemon Red and Blue, here's our ranking of the best Pokemon games. Pokemon Sun and Moon is like going on a tropical Pokemon-themed holiday. It’s vibrant, bright, and offers a slightly different experience than you're used to. The Alola region was nice breath of fresh air for the series, since it really changed up the setting and reflected its theme in its unique Alolan Pokemon variants. But, isn't wasn't all sunshine and sand. Some of the Alolan designs are quite unforgettable, although we’re pretty sure everyone will remember the mighty Alolan Exeggutor for the rest of their days. 

The change from the typical gym battles was odd too, and made Sun and Moon felt a lot slower to get going than the earlier games. Plus, it's very light on the post-game content after you finish the main campaign. This doesn’t mean its a bad entry in the Pokemon series by any means, and it’s certainly more accessible for newcomers in certain respects - it just lacks the same feel. Pokemon Sun and Moon's lush world and interesting story are still worth working your way through, and it also has nice features that build on what was established in X and Y, including tons of character customisations options, and more of a social aspect.

Pokemon Black and White is a little bit of an odd duck in the main series. It often gets overshadowed by other entries thanks to its less memorable Pokemon designs, but it’s maturer tone and interesting plot still help it stand out in the line-up. As the only game to get a direct sequel with Black and White 2, the fifth generation of Pokemon puts more of an emphasis on its storytelling, and plays around with the concept of right and wrong. The antagonists in this one aren’t so clearly as nefarious as Team Rocket always seem to be with their tail cutting habits and treatment of Pokemon. Instead, Black and White features Team Plasma, a group that believe Pokemon should be allowed to roam free and not be tied down by a trainer. It throws up quite a compelling dilemma with no obvious cut and dry answers. This version also has some graphical enchantments over Diamond and Pearl, with more appealing sprite animations in battle.When you compare them with the other games in the series, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl didn’t do anything too groundbreaking to really shake things up. One notable thing it did do, however, was bring Pokemon trading into the modern age. Instead of using a cable link, it made use of the Nintendo DS' WiFi connectivity to trade Pokemon with other players. While some new features did come into play too, most of them built on those that were already introduced in Ruby and Sapphire. Before the enhanced Platinum version came along, the animations had a habit of slowing down the battle sequences, which made the pacing feel a bit off. It does also deserve some credit for its story: the evil Team Galactic conduct science experiments to try and take control of the Legendaries in the Sinnoh region in some rather weird ways, but it’s not as gripping as other stories we get to experience.

Pokemon X and Y took Pokemon into the world of 3D on the Nintendo 3DS and let us experience its universe like never before. It was a significant change from the other titles that came before it, and felt like it truly marked the start of a new era for the long-running franchise. The charming sprites of yesteryear turned into gorgeous 3D models on the handheld, which elevated the battle sequences to new animated heights. The Pokemon-Amie system was also introduced for the first time, which lets you interact with your Pokemon companions and form bonds with them. It was a welcome touch that finally let you pet and play with your favourite battling buddies.

X and Y also brought in a lot more customisation, allowing you to change the look and style of your trainer. While it is only cosmetic, it added to the role-playing element of the experience in a fun way. X and Y propelled the series forward and laid down the groundwork for what was to come in Sun and Moon. It also introduced yet more interesting Pokemon, including the addition of the fairy-type, as well as new social features. While it isn't quite as good as some of the earlier games, it’s one of the best looking entries in the franchise so far, and will always be notable for transitioning the main Pokemon series into the realm of 3D.

The newest entry in the main Pokemon series is as close as the franchise has gotten to a reboot in its storied history. It's the first game that really opens up the world, giving you chance upon chance to run into Pokemon the wild - just like you would if we did live in a world populated by the little pocket monsters. With an incredible story (that takes you back to a time in the world of Pokemon we'eve never seen before) and new gameplay elements that give the series a bit of a refresh, Pokemon Legends Arceus is a fantastic addition to the franchise that takes the tried-and-true formula and expands it outwards. If you love Pokemon, you'll love this.

Pokemon Sword and Shield was one of the most anticipated games of 2019, and with good reason. As the first entry in the core Pokemon series to land on Nintendo's hybrid console, Sword and Shield opened us up to the world of Pokemon like never before. The Galar Region made for a delightful setting based on the UK, and it's easy to sink several hours in its expansive Wild Area catching all the roaming Pokemon and uncovering everything it has to offer. The Galarian form designs also nodded to aspects of the UK, and getting to bond with all the critters using the new camp feature was a welcome touch. In our review we said it's a "Pokemon game for a new generation," thanks to some of the more accessible features it introduced, allowing new players to ease into the formula we know and love. While it might be a touch easier than other entries in the series, Sword and Shield offers a fantastically memorable experience with a cast of colourful characters and Pokemon. And it's easily the best-looking Pokemon game to date. 

While a lot of formula remained unchanged, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire took the series into a vibrant world of colour on the GameBoy Advance. The Pokemon sprites popped from screen like never before, and the magical start up screen is hard to forget. It was also the first Pokemon game to introduce a lot of elements and features that continued throughout the series. 2v2 double battles popped up for the first time, and Pokemon were also attributed with different Natures which affected their overall stats. 

An extensive list of new abilities were also first introduced in this entry, which were specific to different types - this really added more depth to the battles compared to the games that came before. Contests were also brought in to add new challenges to the gameplay. The Hoenn region was a great setting, and the Legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyogre - who could summon a specific weather element into battle - were very memorable. Since Ruby and Sapphire built upon what Silver and Gold established without veering off into any drastic new direction, it didn’t feel quite as special. 

Several years after its release in 2003, an updated edition followed in the shape of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. 

Going back to where it all began, Pokemon Red and Blue set us on the path to be the very best, like no one ever was, and we haven’t looked back since. The world of Kanto still feels just as magical as it ever did, and the original 151 Pokemon are the most memorable in the franchise’s history for their wonderful designs. Who can forget the classic starter Pokemon, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, and Charmander? The first games captured our imaginations and made us wish with every fibre of our being that we could really be trainers in the real world. Thankfully, Pokemon Go helped us get closer than ever to realising that dream, but you still can’t quite beat the classic Pokemon experience. The Gameboy graphics have a nostalgic charm you don’t quite get with the later entries, and it’s still very playable to this this day, which is a testament to just how good it is. While it established the long-running series we all know and love, it doesn’t quite make the top spot. 

The delightful Pikachu Edition Pokemon Yellow - that enhanced the classic games with everyone’s favourite electric mouse - was just the icing on the cake. 

After Pokemon Red and Blue put the world into a Pokemon frenzy, the sequel had some big shoes to fill. Fans everywhere for eager for more, and thankfully Silver and Gold delivered just that in the best way possible. Bigger and better than before, the second generation introduced 100 excellent and memorable additions to the Pokemon library, along with two new Pokemon types, and a whole host of new moves. It brought in some interesting new features that changed up the game in fun new ways. 

Introducing a day and night cycle added time-specific challenges, and brought in some Pokemon that could only be caught at certain times of day. Silver and Gold still had all the hallmarks that made the first games so enjoyable, but it expanded the experience to cement itself as the superior Pokemon game. And better yet, when you reach the end of the game, you get to unlock the Kanto region from Red and Blue which allows you to revisit all of the gyms and trainers. Silver and Gold was a giant leap forward for the franchise, and nothing has quite compared to it since.

Pokemon Crystal then came swooping in as a shiny enhanced remake of Silver and Gold, and it's especially notable since it was the first ever Pokemon title that let you decide whether you want to play as a boy or a girl. Thankfully this became a mainstay feature in every game that followed.

[woosh-floosh]

pokemon scarlet and violet leak talk...

LIke most people I'm finding myself leaning towards preferring scarlet paradox pokemon over violet.... which is surprising because I love robots!! And some of these designs look really cool and interesting but..... these god damn textures man. Maybe I would like them more if they weren't so fucking SHINY, so I guess I'll have to wait till the 2D artwork comes out to see how I really feel about them.

This isn't a pokemon thing or even just a nintendo thing but lots of 3D games seem to think the more detailed textures a model has, the better it will look. Which I don't think is always true, and in the case of pokemon makes a lot of them look worse. I remember there was post from when Soul came out criticizing the disney/pixar look, saying that the use of ultra realistic textures on very cartoony character designs created an uncanny feeling, and I definitely feel that with sv!!

I'm a big SWSH hater (never even played the game) but the cel shaded style looked good! Pokemon don't look realistic, they are cartoons, and look nice in cartoon textures.

Let's look at two mechgodzilla inspired pokemon, Duraludon and paradox Tyranitar (iron thorns)

Here's Duraludon in SWSH. It's got a nice outline that helps it's anime/cartoon aesthetic and all it's textures are simple flat colors and gradients. It helps the pokemon stand out a lot from the more "realistically" rendered background. You can still tell it's made of metal based on it's highlights, but it's subtle and not overpowering.

(forgive the low quality, this is the only image we have currently). Here's Paradox Tyranitar in SV, and wow!! that looks gaudy!! Gone is the nice outline that separated the pokemon from the background and nicely divided the pokemon so it wouldn't look like one huge blob. The metal texture is now "realistic" but it's really overpowering. Your eyes are naturally drawn towards the highlights and it's hard to view the pokemon as a whole. I know the quality of the photo is low, but I think even in higher quality this would still look like a mess that's hard to discern what you're even looking at...

Like I said, this isn't a pokemon only thing. Let's look at my friend, my pal, my boy, Metal Sonic.

This was his render from Sonic Forces. I would probably argue the metal texture it still a bit much, but he looks nice, coherent.

Here's his render for Team Sonic Racing

and, ugh. It's a bit much isn't it? There's so many reflections and highlight that it's hard to focus on. My eyes keep getting drawn to his crotch area because that's the section with the most color variation! It's busy and gaudy and a bit of a mess. It also creates that uncanny feeling I was talking about earlier. These super detailed reflective textures don't feel right on a character as cartoony as metal sonic!

It's a shame, a I really like a lot of the new pokemon designs, but they just look so gaudy and poor in the game. What's so bad about cel shading?

[sscoutregimentss]

i know we as a collective society believe in gamer! eren supremacy. and yes, this is a good take. however, may i introduce to you: normie/fuckboy/jock eren with gamer/nerd gf. thoughts under the cut (safe for work, pg-13, also slight snk spoilers for season 3 and up!)

see, eren isnt necessarily a fuckboy. in fact, hes very loyal! he doesnt really think that way about any girls or guys except you. but hes popular romantically and had a reputation for sleeping around before he met you (not that theres anything wrong with that but ya know word travels fast across campus). plus, cmon the dude is in a frat, super hot and has a tongue piercing. he cant blame anyone for thinking he is a fuckboy bc he exudes the energy.

you are kind of the complete opposite. you dont really enjoy parties and you keep to yourself. you're a total wreck when it comes to flirting and your kinda oblivious to whenever people like you. you dont have many friends and are a bigger fan of 2d people than 3d.

either way eren finds you so so so cute. he first approached you at one of his frat parties. your roommates convinced you to come after she said that someone (read: connie) had a dance dance revolution mat, but you kinda just stuck around in a corner staring at your cup once you lost them. he looks you up and down-- your outfit was pretty cute, a short plaid orange pleated skirt, dress shirt, orange cardigan and black beret laying neatly upon your head. and your face... he couldn't help himself but try to talk to you. you were really anxious because wahhh scary sports guy you dont know but he was kinda instantly comforting? in a way? and he was freaking pretty. he looked like a final fantasy character--long haired characters were your type. the rest was kind of history.

a lot of people are shocked when they find out your dating bc you two are so different (some people are surprise eren “dates” at all) but no one dares question your relationship when they see how much eren dotes on you. he has so many polaroids of you in his wallet-- from the many arcade dates you bring him on where you decimate him at almost every game, you awkwardly posing in the hentai section of bookstores, or just candids of you being intensely focused on a puzzle in a game. whenever you guys go out to eat and somethings wrong with your meal, he'll send it back (in a polite way, of course, but hes still assertive.) or if you buy like a figurine and its misisng something hes marching up to the cashier stand for you. he always has an arm around your waist or is holding is hand in yours. sometimes you just cling onto his arm and rest your head on it (hes comfy!!!!! and you are always tired) your both pretty clingy, but you get kinda awkward when you two are around people you know so he just kinda subtly holds you as to not make a scene. its nice. hes comfy.

youve got dual monitors, a pc you made yourself, rgb keyboard, the whole nine yards. all your consoles are up to date and you keep a handheld system on you at all times. you spend most your weekends watching anime and movies and tv shows and your shelves are piled high with books and comic books. eren literally does not understand any of it. when you told him you built your pc he goes "you made all those microchippy things? youre soooo smart babe". when you talk about some of your weirder or more complicated animes he nods along but honestly he gets so lost ("so like, lemme get this straight, the kids dad's wife ate his mom?" "yeah but like she was turned into a titan so she didn't realllllly know it was the dads wife, but like she literally walks past this titan shifter so i think she knew." "thats crazy.") and he will never understand the point of otome games when hes literally right there. he actually has a really bad habit of getting jealous of characters you have a crush on but you just find it funny. sometimes he gets an ego boost when they look like him because even if they look like him he is actually real so they can suck it.

hes rlly supportive tho. erens a rlly passionate person and he loves you a lot so he pours a lot of passion into what you do. if you are into esports/fps games hes cheers you on all the time and does all the raging for you ("BABE THAT GUY IS STREAM SNIPING! HES STREAM SNIPING YOU HEY ASSHOLE STOP CHEATING OFF MY GIRLFRIEND" "eren he cant stream snipe me because i dont stream" "oh i thought that just meant cheating"/"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL HER?" "eren its okay i can just report him" "NO NO LET ME AT HIM IF HE WANTS TO CALL YOU A BITCH I CAN CALL HIM MUCH WORSE" "um guys im gonna mute my mic for a second if you need me text chat") if youre into cozy games he likes to watch you play and gives you ideas on where to put things. like in minecraft he makes you put a second bed for him even though he doesnt play and he helps you name all your pets. you get a little less intense with cozy games so you sit on his lap and he lets his hair down puts his head on your shoulder and points at where you should place stuff. he still rages though? this is eren jaeger we are talking about. ("aw, she wont move to my island." "WHAT? who does that little ugly squirrel think she is? you think youre too good for MY y/n's island? i'll shave your unibrow off. then we'll see what island will want you" "leave hazel alone! shes cute!"/"dude that hamster guy with the glasses looks like armin" "graham? what? armin doesnt even wear glasses" "no no look at it more" "oh shit youre right") rpgs/otome games are kinda a wild card with how he acts. if its an otome game and the character looks like him he is more into helping you out because it reaffirms to him that you find him good looking but otherwise he is just sulking and calling them annoying ("princess y/n... i know im just a servant, but i want to be with you forever!" "pft. get a load of this guy. clingy much?" "its romantic! youre jealous.")

one of his favorite things to do with you is cuddle and watch anime. usually he lies his face on your thighs or chest while watching and you play with his hair or he holds you in his chest and you play with one of his hands while the other goes behind his head. he grew up on some of the classics like naruto sailor moon one piece pokemon and dbz but he never got super into it until he started dating you. you put him on to soooo many good shows (cartoons, anime, and live action) hes both a crier and he is a get-angrier(?). he gets mad on characters behalfs and you have to pause the show so he can rant about how annoying someone is or he feels so bad for someone so he has to take a minute because hes tearing up. he likes slice of life anime because the friendships <3 theyre so wholesome and they remind him of him armin and mikasa but he also likes shounen because it is entertaining to watch fights. he gets really into them actually. he also has this really bad habit of whenever there is a character with no parents or a dead mom he goes "oh same" or "welcome to the club buddy" under his breath. when theres a cute couple in an anime you both like guys get matching keychains of them unless one of them dies because he thinks its bad luck. his favorite animes are haikyuu, your lie in april and code geass.

you are equally supportive of erens volleyball career. you know all the rules because sports anime and you actually find yourself really liking it in 3d as well (it is lacking in bromance and screaming but you let it slide). you go to all his games and he always texts you before his practices. has a habit of kissing you before games and one day after he kisses you go "gg ez win" as a JOKE but then they like decimate their long time rival marley university and get into nationals (is that a thing for volleyball idk sports) so hes convinced its because you did your "gamer magic". now every time after getting his good luck kiss he interlocks your pinkies and you go "gg ez win" and he goes “yes.” because to this day he doesnt know what it means (he thinks googling it is like breaking the magic)

okay im gonna stop while im ahead BECAUSE I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS ALL DAY I MIGHT JUST GO AHEAD AND WRITE SOME ONESHOTS....

[crusherthedoctor]

Can you list anything you unironically like in the games (and cartoons and comics) that you don't like?

I won't bother mentioning music, since that goes without saying and is to be expected for a Sonic game... unless you're Chronicles.

Sonic Adventure 2 (mixed gameplay-wise, annoying story-wise) - While I prefer Sonic's SA1 levels for a number of reasons, I still think his and Shadow's gameplay in SA2 is fun on its own merit. I also don't mind the treasure hunting gameplay returning or how big the levels are this time around, since Knuckles and Rouge are still fast and not '06 levels of slow. It's mainly the gimped radar that creates the unfortunate domino effect of making them a problem.

- Introduced Rouge, one of my favourite characters for how playful she is and how she's a lot more nuanced and intelligent than you'd expect.

- Some genuinely good scenes, like Eggman's trap on the A.R.K and Sonic escaping from the G.U.N. helicopter.

- Had some good ideas going for it, like the Pyramid Base and the Biolizard as a scientific monster instead of an ancient one.

- Despite my thoughts on the backstory itself (or rather, its execution), Shadow has enough depth and subtle qualities and occasional unintended hilarity to stand out from the typical dark rival characters you see in media.

- The Last Scene's music in particular is one of my favourite cutscene tracks in the series.

Sonic Heroes (mixed gameplay-wise, loathed story-wise) - The gameplay is fun when you're not being screwed over by repetitive combat, overly long levels and/or ice physics.

- Boasts some of the most consistently Genesis-worthy environments in the 3D games, up there with SA1's and Colours'.

- The in-game dialogue that isn't the same tutorial drivel repeated ad nauseam can be interesting, funny, etc.

- Reintroduced the Chaotix, which provided me with another character I quite like in the form of Vector.

- Bringing Metal Sonic back in full force and front and center in the plot after a long absence (not counting cameos and the like) is a perfectly fine idea. Just... not like this.

Sonic Battle (decent yet repetitive gameplay, mixed story-wise) - Emerl's arc is compelling, and it earns the emotional weight of having to put him down at the end.

- While some characters are iffy (read: Amy), other characters are extremely well-handled. Shadow is probably the prime example.

- Gamma's belly dance healing animation is fucking hilarious.

- When I was young, and the game was first announced, I was really excited about being able to play as Chaos. This proved to be my downfall when it turned out he was arguably one of the worst characters in the game due to being slower than me during the writing process, but I still recall that excitement fondly.

Shadow the Hedgehog (comedy classic) - The sheer amount of legendary stupidity this game has going for it makes it practically impossible to actually hate. It helps that it's not quite as white-knighted on the same level as '06... usually. You know you're in for a unique experience when you hear a gunshot every time you click something in the menu.

- By extension, Black Doom never gained an unironic fanbase like Mephiles/Scourge/Eggman Nega did, which means I'm a lot more willing to take Doom's dumbass brand of villainy in stride. He even has a unique design... a terrible one that rips off Wizeman granted, but alas, even that is a step-up from Fridge Shadow and Bumblebee Eggman.

- Despite being... well, Shadow the Hedgehog, some of the environments would fit right in with any other Sonic game, like with Circus Park, Lava Shelter, and Digital Circuit. Even the Black Comet levels look pretty cool.

- This game understands amnesia better than IDW does.

Sonic '06 (what do you think?) - The obvious one: Shadow's character was handled pretty well, even if it came at the cost of everyone else being a dummy and being forced to interact with Mephiles.

- Like SA2, there are some good moments, like the Last Story ending sequence with Sonic and Elise.

- In the greatest form of irony ever, I like Solaris as a concept and design(s), and its backstory has potential to serve as a parallel with Chaos without being a complete ripoff. Iblis sucks, Mephiles sucks, but I'm fine with Solaris.

- Introduced legendary characters like Sonic Man, Pele the Beloved Dog, Hatsun the Pigeon, and Pacha from The Emperor's New Groove.

The Rivals duology (apathetic outside of Nega-related grumbling) - There were some cool zone ideas in both games that were sadly let down by the restrictive and limiting gameplay. I particularly like Colosseum Highway for thus far being the only full-on Roman level in the series instead of merely having a couple minor hints of Roman, and Meteor Base for the unique scenario of the space station being built into an asteroid. These level concepts and others deserve a second chance IMO. (At least Frontier Canyon got a second chance in the form of Mirage Saloon, amirite?)

- Ifrit has a better design than Iblis. Not saying it's amazing, but the Firebird motif it has going on is a lot more interesting for a fire monster than the Not-Chaos schtick they had with Iblis.

Sonic and the Secret Rings (a very frustrating gaming experience) - Erazor Djinn, A.K.A. Qui-Gon Djinn, A.K.A. Dr. N. Djinn, A.K.A. I'll Take It On The Djinn, A.K.A. Not From The Hairs On My Djinny Djinn Djinn, is one of the best villains not associated with Eggman in the series. He's a Mephiles-type character done right, and there's actual weight and reason to his actions, however sinister or petty.

- I don't have strong opinions either way on Shahra as a character, but the Sonic/Shahra friendship is sweet and well-handled.

- The ending is one of Sonic's greatest moments. The sheer contrast between how ruthlessly he deals with Erazor and how comforting he is towards Shahra speaks volumes... Still gonna make fun of the mountain of handkerchiefs though. (Before anyone lectures me, I understand the significance of it and can even appreciate it from that angle... doesn't mean I'm not allowed to poke fun at it. :P)

- Another game with some redeeming environments. I love the aesthetic of Night Palace, and Sand Oasis looks gorgeous too.

Sonic Chronicles (my personal least favourite game in the series) - Uh...

- Um...

- Er...

- I like Shade's design?

Sonic Unleashed (overrated game and story IMO) - The obvious two: the opening sequence and the Egg Dragoon fight deserve all the praise they get.

- Seeing Eggmanland come to life was an impressive moment to be sure. While part of me does feel it didn't quite measure up to what I had in mind (ironically, the Interstellar Amusement Park ended up being closer to what I had in mind), it still looks badass and works well for what it is. I also don't mind the idea of it being a one-level gauntlet... key word being idea.

- Obviously, the game looks great. Not a fan of the real world focus (real world inspiration is fine, but copy-pasting the real world and shoving loops in it is just unimaginative), but it can't be denied that the environments look good.

- This game pulled off dialogue options a lot better than Chronicles did, since they didn't rely on making Sonic OoC.

Sonic and the Black Knight (just kind of boring all around) - Despite my gripes with the story (Merlina wasn't nearly as fleshed out as her unique anti-villain status deserved, which ends up severely undermining the ambition of the plot in more ways than one, and the other characters go from being useless yes men for King Arthur to being useless yes men for Sonic), I will admit it provides interesting insight into Sonic's character.

- Like '06 and Secret Rings, the ending is very nice... well, aside from Amy being an unreasonable bitch ala Sonic X at the very end.

Sonic the Hedgehog 4 (apathetic) - The admittedly few new concepts sprinkled within had promise. They may not have been as fleshed out as they could have been, but level concepts like Sylvania Castle and White Park, bosses like Egg Serpentleaf and the Egg Heart, and story beats like the Death Egg mk.II being powered by Little Planet, all could have been brilliant had they been better executed.

SatAM (apathetic outside of SatAM Robotnik-related grumbling) - I'm not a fan of the environments on the whole due to them looking too bland or samey, but there are some exceptions that look pleasant or interesting, like the Void.

Sonic Underground (apathetic) - The character designs make me feel better about myself.

- Does "large quantities of unintentional meme material" count as a positive?

Sonic X (mostly apathetic outside of Eggman's handling) - Helen was a better human character and audience surrogate in her one focus episode than Chris was throughout his entire runtime.

- Actually, most of the human characters not named Chris were legitimately likable. Including everyone in Chris' own family not named Chris. Hilarious.

- Despite arguably having the most Chris in it, I actually don't mind the first season that much, partly due to slight nostalgia from seeing it on TV when it was new, but mostly because Eggman actually acted like a villain for the most part, and certain other characters weren't quite as flanderized yet. It's season 2 and onwards where things started going off the rails IMO. (Incidentally, Helen's episode was part of season 1...)

The Boom franchise (apathetic) - Along with Chronicles, the games provide yet more proof that just because someone isn't SEGA/Sonic Team, that doesn't mean they're automatically more qualified to handle the series.

- The show had some good episodes here and there, and Tails' characterization was probably the most consistently on-point out of the cast.

- Despite not exactly being favourite portrayals for either character, even I'll admit that many of Knuckles and Eggman's lines in the show on their own were genuinely funny.

Archie Sonic (pre-reboot is mostly terrible, post-reboot is mostly... bland) - Whenever I doubt myself as a writer, I think back to Ken Penders, and suddenly I'm filled with a lot more confidence.

Sonic the Comic (apathetic) - Fleetway isn't a comic I tend to recall much of aside from how much of a loathesome cunt Sonic is, but IIRC, Robotnik's portrayal is pretty good. Different, but good.

IDW Sonic (stop pissing me off, comic) - Putting their handling aside (and being too obviously "inspired" by MGS in the latter's case), Tangle and Whisper are good characters IMO.

- Same goes for Starline, before he was killed off-screen and replaced with Toothpaste Snively.

- Execution aside (noticing a pattern?), the zombot virus was a fine concept on its own and an interesting new scheme for Eggman.

- I get to remind myself that I've never drawn scat edits and posted them publicly on Twitter.

[strangemeatpie]

gonna document and give my thoughts on the lupin movies/specials ive seen in this post under the readmore because hyperfixation has me behaving most unwise. warning this is will get long

blood seal of the eternal mermaid (2011):

+ really lovely character designs especially for lupin he looked great

+ animation = good!!!

+ lupins dynamic with the maki was cute. i like seeing lupin in the cool big bro role

+ some gr8 zenigata moments

+ i liked those introspective moments with lupin questioning his identity and legacy

+ toonami dub cast. tony oliver lupin is just Right

- main plot wasnt super interesting to me tbh

- the rest of the gang kiiiinda felt sidelined? it felt very centric to lupin and i mean yeah he is the main character but i feel like theres usually a lot more gang shenanigans you know

bye bye lady liberty! (1989):

+ idk if everyone is gonna vibe with these 80s character designs but personally i loved them. it had a cartoony energy that felt fun. animation was nice too

+ silly :^) it made me smile a lot while watching

+ i felt like the whole cast was well utilized here. everyone got some good moments

+ moemon

~ tonally this movie is kind of.... bizarre. i wouldnt say thats totally a bad thing because personally i like bizarre tone but it might not be satisfying for those who prefer something more concrete or mature. this special almost feels like it could be something you could watch with your family with how goofy it is.... but then it will hit you with something that is clearly not family friendly

the castle of cagliostro (1979):

+ its a miyazaki movie. do i really have to elaborate. in the 1 hour in 40 minutes of this film you will have a wonderful time

+ pretty accessible for anyone to enjoy even if they dont know jack shit about lupin. i watched it with my gf who had never seen a lupin anime before and we both had a great time

+ i really gotta hand it to miyazaki for creating this kinder, gentler version of lupin. feel like this movie had to be pretty influential to future characterizations of lupin that have him as a lovable little rascal instead of a devastatingly horny morally bankrupt creature of chaos

+ fluffy jigen

+ peak zenigata design

+ badass fujiko

- id say the only real drawback of this film is that while it IS a great and accessible point for franchise beginners, they might get whiplash from moving from this pleasant gentleman thief lupin to a LESS gentlemanly thief lupin....

episode 0: the first contact (2002):

+ polycule: orgins

+ *pops voice* HAMBAARGAH?

+ jiglup my beloved..... seriously a jiglup essential. jigen is gay as hell in this special and i wouldnt have it any other way

+ the whole scene near the end where goemon chases lupin with zantetsuken

+ when lupin is briefly shown to have a whole wardrobe full of feminine clothes that would only really make sense for him to have if he wears them regularly. probably for disguises but i like that he seems so comfortable with it and its not made into a joke either. in fact in his very first scene he is disguised as a woman and was femme fataling for a heist and i honest to god thought he was fujiko at first

- .... not to say this or many other pieces of lupin media are progressive. ngl there were some parts i feel didnt age great particularly one horny lupin moment with fujiko that left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth

- artstyle is just kinda Bland. idk if i would go far enough to say its BAD but it didnt stand out to me

the first (2019): 

+ YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS THATS WHAT IM TALKING ABOUT BABYYYYYYY THATS THE GOOD SHIT THIS IS HOW YOU TRANSLATE 2D ANIMATED CHARACTERS TO 3D

+ i had so much fun watching this movie its a fucking blast. everything looks gorgeous

+ watched the dub and it was fantastic especially tony oliver doing a great job with lupin as always

- big cw for n*zis though and its unavoidable since they are the antagonists and its a big part of the plot

- besides that honestly i cant think of many complaints maybe the story isnt amazing but i feel like the primary objective of this film is to be fun and it succeeds at that 

the fuma conspiracy (1987):

+ cute!!!!! a fun lil movie thats an enjoyable watch

+ character designs and animation is great

+ i liked murasaki she was so good

+ terminally gay pops

+ opening song BANGS 

~ this movie somewhat notorious for not featuring the usual voice cast for the time because of budget reasons which is pretty weird but... ok? personally it didnt affect my enjoyment of the movie and these voice actors did a fine job but some may be off put by it

- no yuji ohno either 😔

the hemingway papers (1990):

+ jigens terrible taste in men

+ cute artstyle that is pretty much the same as bye bye liberty

+ i really enjoy jigen in this one. hes hung up over his Mysterious Gunslinger Past™️ and tries to be the lone ranger for a bit but in the end he cares about his silly polycule too muh

- gonna be honest this one kinda dragged for me a bit plot wise. there were a lot of cute moments but besides those and jigen’s ex sideplot it wasnt terribly interesting

- pops was definitely sidelined 😔

island of assassins/walther p38 (1997):

+ this is a great more action oriented special! if you are looking to watch something more serious but not quite koike levels serious this is a solid choice

+ i actually was pretty interested in the plot itself which is rare for lupin specials lol

+ amazing smooth animation and fight scenes!! it wasnt too shocking to find out that it had been worked by many well known talents in the industry like gainax/trigger’s hiroyuki imaishi

+ MY FUJIGOE CRUMBS

+ elen was a pretty cool original character

+ zenigata WAS kinda sidelined again but..... theres a scene where he literally resurrects himself from the brink of death right after his heart stops because someone in the room mentioned lupin. i think that makes up for it

- artstyle/character designs are kinda... idk if i would say BAD but they are very much a Generic 90s Action Anime style. not my favorite look

jigen’s gravestone (2014):

+ jiglup. i loved their relationship progression so much!!! it seems like they are still early in their partnership in this movie... work partners but not quite friends yet.... at first. you can really see the turning point where their relationship start evolving into something deeper and into the mutual trust we come to expect from them. its great im rotating them in my mind

+ animation is so so so so so great and sexy also

- time to address the elephant in the room... if you have seen jigen’s gravestone, or know anything about the plot, chances are you know what im talking about. fujiko’s narrative treatment is BAD bad and deeply disappointing even though i enjoyed the rest of the film a lot. really say what you will about twcfm but... sayo yamamoto would have never put fujiko in a scene like that, at least never at that level of gratuitousness. i heard these films do get better with fujiko and im still plenty of excited to watch more but yeah that was Yikes  

operation return the treasure! (2003):

+ this special was like. delightful. what a good goofy little experience. was laughing AND smiling

+ idk if it was just me but kanichi kurita seemed to be putting in effort to make lupin sound EXTRA silly. and i totally appreciate it because this lupin is so cute

+ animation was solid!

+ i thought the premise was great. the concept of the gang having to return a bunch of treasures instead of stealing them is so fun. the plot got a little strange with the alien stuff there at the end but hey its lupin its natural at this point

+ jigen :^) i love him being all like “this job is DUMB and im not doing it” at the beginning and then getting fully invested in the antics. this guy is way too weak for his partner

- Man in a Dress Joke :^/ for the most part the humor in this special is superb but understandably this one does not land great even if it is far from the worst of these jokes ive seen

prison of the past (2019):

+ must a lupin the third special be “good”? is it not enough to watch some entertaining stupid shit?

+ i really enjoyed watching this ngl the plot was not interesting but i enjoyed the character interactions enough that it made up for it

+ im glad yata was utilized in this special because his dynamic with zenigata is delightful. i hope they get to do more funny shit together in part 6

+ huge win for lupin/jigen/goemon enjoyers. it was really cute how goemon has a bit of reflection on why he decides to stay with these clowns and comes to the conclusion that he loves being part of this circus

+ jigens terrible taste in men: the return

- like i said the plot isnt interesting and i wouldn’t call it an Essential watch either but hey i came here to be entertained and i was entertained

tokyo crisis (1998):

+ finally time for pops to shine!! and he certainly does!

+ actual memorable original character!!!! bring back maria you cowards….

+ this is an ultimate jigoe special they are paired up for most of it and they are so goddamn funny

+ seriously this special is full of great gags

+ tho im more used to the toonami dub cast i saw the dub for this special recommended so i gave it a shot… and it Owns though i still prefer the toonami cast overall

+ animation is seriously top tier

- it might have been implied (in the dub at least) that zenigata had romantic interest in maria which is yknow a little weird since hes twice her age but ultimately its pretty low key and he gets firmly Father Figure Zoned by the end and nothing ever goes beyond that

[steve0discusses]

S5 Ep10: Kaiba Embarrasses Himself on International Television Again

We start off this duel by teasing us into believing that this is a part of a theme park:

The Kaiba theme park is a weird mix of actual horrorscapes and animal crossing cutesy stuff...you can really tell what parts were Mokuba and what parts were Seto in this park.

But Leon takes it well, just kinda standing there as he’s done this entire arc--being a general forgettable nice boy who just...doesn’t do anything. Like he gets up, he plays cards, he sits down. Having him on top of a rock with melodramatic Little Mermaid waves crashing at his feet is laughably the opposite of Leon’s whole vibe.

Leon just seems like the type that listens to coffee shop ambient Youtube videos when he wants to amp himself up. This kid appears to attend a private school...somewhere...I think, and just went to a dueling competition in his school outfit because he literally doesn’t have a style of his own hanging in his closet.

Like Yugi wears his school outfit, but he does that ironically, to off-set the amount of makeup and hair spray he has in his hair. Leon wears the school outfit maybe because he admires Yugi so much, but is like “time for my rogue bow I wear in my hair. That’ll scare my competition.” He completely missed the point of the 00′s alt school outfit scene.

I do way too much art to not see the imagery. I feel like this is half my job, and playing “where’s the hidden Freudian meaning?” is half the fun of going to any art museum.

(read more under the cut)

Anyway, Seto got tired of no one paying any attention to him, so he stepped out of his 14-monitor mancave, he very quickly pulled his Dragon outfit out of the (dirty) laundry, flicked a couple sea crabs out of his pockets, spritzed it with Febreeze and called it “good enough.”

Like, is it just me, or has dragon jacket greyed out a tad from last season? Like it’s starting to get a little...worn? Like what funk is coming off of Seto Kaiba right now?

Also notice that he brought his giant stash of cards to the duel. He’s going to put on this show as if he’s not going to pull out the giant stash of cards. But like...he’s going to pull out the giant stash of cards. Like Hell boring ass Leon is going to play his deck of Candyland characters again.

Leon is declared a winner on Technicality and it’s like.

Damn Seto, for reals?

So congrats, Leon, you did literally nothing, again, and yet you mystifyingly  persist on this show. Clearly you aren‘t going to grow a second head out of that ponytail like professor Quirrel in the last act of this arc.

That’s when Yugi’s hazy memory recalls something from the Before Times of “that time period before I was possessed by a needy ghost that eats up 3/4 of my memories and time.”

So Schroeder is Atari. Neat.

Also, this makes Zigfrieds outfits a hell ton more endearing when you realize he’s this Willy Wonka game company owner making toys for children. Kinda makes you wonder why Seto’s such a stick up the ass in comparison when it’s like--dude Kaiba, maybe you could learn a thing or two about whimsy. It could really help out your inconsistent park.

Anyway, Kaiba quickly realized who hacked the park and so, understandably, he asked Zigried to leave, which...backfired?

Y’all card culture is a lot. Everyone in the audience covered their faces in shame because they were so embarrassed by Seto Kaiba and I’m like...not sure why? Because he didn’t do a duel? Against this guy who snuck into his tourney not unlike Rex and Weevil? This asshole?

Recall that the last time Seto played a guy who had a fake name it was Marik freakin Ishtar and he killed a LOT of people (actually, it was Alister, pretending to be Pegasus, but he also killed a lot of people so that still tracks). Card culture can’t seem to learn from their mistakes, although Seto clearly sees the problem with dueling a professional hacker in a digital card game on a hologram that may or may not be able to murder you. At least its not a magic.

And so, tired of being humiliated on television, Seto decides to bust out the dueling gloves (well, not those gloves. You know what I meant) and use the equipment he BROUGHT WITH HIM and clearly never intended not to use in the first place.

(I hope you enjoy this dutch angle that wasn’t quite dutch enough, so it just looks like they’re lounging)

Roland patiently walks over from...somewhere? I don’t know where Roland comes from whenever he pops up, but he waltzed over to hold onto this suitcase as if that’s a formal part of his job.

I say this so often but like...I don’t know what Roland’s job is. He’s like a valet/butler/duel referee/duel cheerleader/CEO/and I will spend the rest of this series trying to understand it. Part of me is like...could Roland be a temp worker at an agency who just gets rehired for a different Kaiba Corp job every couple of weeks?

That weird ass fourthKaiba, I will never understand Roland.

Just one letter away from being a Zigfriend, Kaiba. Just one letter away. I know this because I misspell friend a LOT.

Zigfreind? Zigfriend? Damn it, both of them look the freakin same to me, this sucks! Why can’t I spell friend without autocorrect!?

Just the amount these two fight when Seto clearly barely even remembers who this guy even is.

Leon shows up in the seats, pretending that he’s totally cool about winning on a technicality right after Zigfried went on a rant about how shameful, irredeemable, and mortally embarrassing winning on technicalities are.

He seems to take it pretty well, smiling, sitting next to Rebecca, and then dissolving right into the background because this kid’s whole deal is being way too nice to exist on this show.

Y’all we just had that art meme where people were redrawing that “How to draw manga face” and guys...that’s what our anime used to look like.

I mean look at that uncomfortable chin there, that tapers in for some reason. Those eyes melting off of her face. The lack of any 3d sense. This was an anime ideal for a very, very long time.

Anyway, the “how to draw manga face” is a perfect masterpiece and never needs to change. (But it is fun to make fun of it although I guess the person that drew it was actually a kid, which makes sense from a publishing perspective to have a kid make a book about how to draw stuff for kids.)

We see a little flashback of Schroeder and why he hates Seto Kaiba, and can I just say, I kind of love this little outfit. Kind of a shame that it’s stuffed into a flashback.

Which is when we found out that Zigfried thinks Seto Kaiba did a plagiarism.

Which is hilarious because it was Gozaburo Kaiba who was plagiarizing Seto, so like...who did it first?

OK guys. Lets talk about this.

APPARENTLY, there was some sort of contest to work with Pegasus...kind of like an architecture contest (which is a thing, when a city is doing a big project, they send out a call, and big firms will compete to see who builds it) and I GOTTA know what Pegasus’ theme was.

Like did he say to all the little rich kid geniuses “I would like something that makes my cards ALIVE, can you do that?” Then when Pegasus got a hell ton of holograms and was he like “But ALIVE--it makes it alive, right boy?” And when he was shaking the hands of each stupid kid was he like “So if I hypothetically put my dead wife on a card and slapped it into the machine--could she EXIST. Like...enough? I just need her to legally exist is all, and not like..literally of course...but enough literally to be a sin against God, can you do that?”

I just want to know if Willy Wonka Wonderkid Von Schroeder had any idea he was creating a resurrection chamber for a dark wizard. Like he has no idea that he dodged getting his business bought straight from under him and his soul shoved into a card. And it’s not like Schroeder was going to abduct Yugi’s Grandpa and ensure that Yugi would be there to save him down the road. Like I’m pretty sure Schroeder would have been sacrificed waaay before that whole island contest even went down.

Zigfried got so freakin lucky. I can’t believe he’s mad. But then again...

...the man swims in milk pools so like...maybe his logic center is busted? Maybe he wanted to die in a horrific murder island? I don't know what Zigfried is into, but I do know that because Zigfried doesn’t have millennium rod powers linking him to the millennium eye--so would it have mattered? There’s destiny reasons that Pegasus chose Kaiba.

Course...we never found out where the scales ended up, have we? We think it’s Shadi, but have we seen Shadi bust those out since Season Zero?

Man that would be a good plot twist that will absolutely not happen.

Yo, make horse guy into a dark wizard, show, I dare you!

Anyway, that’s all for now, but if you want to read from the beginning, here’s the link:

https://steve0discusses.tumblr.com/tagged/yugioh/chrono

[hamatoclan76]

TMNT 2012 rewatch: "Trans-Dimensional Turtles"

I always enjoyed watching crossover episodes growing up. I remembered having fun Lilo & Stitch making crossovers with other Disney shows. When executed correctly, you can get very good results. You get to watch characters from franchises you like interact with each other.¨Trans-Dimensional Turtles¨ is good example of how to write a crossover.

One thing that makes this episode work so well it´s how straightforward it is: Tmnt 2012 turtles get transported to the 89´s series universe _ They have to deactivate to three anti-matter bombs that could destroy the dimensions_ They jump across dimensions and battle the Kraang. That´s it. 

Because the story is so simple, you get enough time to make the characters interact and play with each other. This is another aspect that the episode absolutely nails it: From Leonardo 2012 getting angry with Leonardo 89 for the battle scream ¨Turtle Power!¨ to the 89 going inside the tmnt 2012 lair. All it´s very funny. The episode always takes an oportunity to make a joke without interrumping the plot.

My favourite moments are the Mikeys playing soccer with Kraang, Leo getting jealous of 89 Leo stealing his spot of the leader, the turtles reacting to how their counterparts fighting style and the 89 turtles hanging out in the lair.

Another thing i love from this crossover is how the art style changes depending on the dimension they are in. In the 89, everything is colourful and animated in 2D. Meanwhile, the 2012 dimension is 3D animated. The characters also change their style too. The turtles comment on this art style shift with some funny like ¨My butt is completely flat¨.

¨Trans-Dimensional Turtles¨ makes reference to the original comics as well: The Donatellos´s jump to a dimension they call the ¨Prime dimension¨. Since it´s supposed to be comic, there is barely any sound and everything looks black and white. It’s very cool way to pay homenage to the origins of the franchise.

One scene that really stands out is the moment the tmnt 2012 turtles meet Splinter again after being separated for months. The brothers ran to their Sensei after not seeing him for so long. It´s a very sad and sweet moment in what is a mostly a very lighthearted episode. There is also a small second when Leo remembers Splinter being attacked by Shedder, implying it was a traumatic experience for him.

I could talk about how the 89 turtles are quite competent. They are able to keep up with their 2012 counterparts. They never feel weak or are dumbed down which is a nice detail. I read somewhere that the tmnt 2003 film ¨Turtles Forever¨ flanderized the 89 turtles and fans were dissapointed because of that.

My only compliant is that the crossover feels a bit short for all the things that happen in 22 minutes. It’s a little confusing but it’s very fun regardless. 

To sum up, Trans-Dimensional Turtles is a very solid episode. It’s entertaining, creative, has fun character interactons and is worth of rewatching. It doesn’t flanderize the tmnt 89′s turtles and they help a lot in the story. I think it’s a good example of how to write a good and fun crossover.