#originally i was gonna do a whole “animal with a mini-ecosystem on its back” but then i decided this thang just has water on it

[ggrimboy]

my submission for catmask and frogcroaks' monster mayhem contest!

i went with the desert oasis prompt and came up with a silly bearded dragon lookin thing that keeps water on its back by mixing it with some kinda mucus . idk . fish probably end up in there every now and then

[darkpoisonouslove]

Winx Club Season 7 Thoughts Part 2

 Part 1 can be found here.

7x14:

- Love how none of the other Winx’ animals were impressed with Bloom’s unicorn. And it got its butt handed to it as well. Poor Amarok, though.

- Why is Roxy the one training the animals and not Winx, who are literally bonded with them? I am so sick of them having these animals without being shown to take care of them or anything. Layla was tending to Squonk at first but she has abandoned that now as well. The rest never even bothered.

- Oh, of course, Bloom’s unicorn is even more special than the other fairy animals and has magic even though the rest don’t. Of course!

- Seriously? That’s the surprise? That’s more of a lesson or revelation than a surprise.

- They are the Guardians of the Ultimate Power? Weren’t Winx supposed to find the animal with the first color of the universe? What the hell happened to that? Please, tell me they didn’t just drop it.

- Oh, and they just got a new transformation without doing shit for it! They didn’t even try to work with their own fairy animals. But who cares? They get a transformation because they are just so special! And which commercial did the creators rip off for the Tynix transformation this time?

- Tynix is a bit... much. But the animals look kinda cool. I am just not sure why they become bigger in order to go into smaller worlds. How does that make sense?

- What do they even need from the mini worlds? The animal? The Ultimate Power? One leading to the other? Do the writers even know what they’re doing anymore?

- And what is Brafilius supposed to do when he can’t ride on Kalshara’s back and he can’t transform either?

- Beware the Dragon Council!

- Oh, so that’s what he’s supposed to do. Get a concussion!

- How is this not Pyros? This should have been Pyros. Not that I am thrilled about going there again but come on! It would have made so much sense and been a good throwback. Edit: It’s Pyros but it does not look like Pyros and everyone has confirmed that.

- So she made a fire eater? How did she “forge[d] a creature”? Wtf.

- Oh, damn! I forgot that getting Tynix didn’t mean that we were getting rid of Butterflix. *sigh* I was so ready to move on.

- At this point Kalshara should know that Brafilius doesn’t have that much and even using everything he has is just not going to be enough. She is failing them both by being so stubborn when it comes to their strategy.

- How did Brafilius made more of those creatures?

- The quips aren’t smart or creative. Winx just sound like overconfident idiots.

- Shiny really do be over here eating precious stones? And that is actually helping them win? Wow, okay.

- So what? The dragons die without the fire? Why did Kalshara tell them what she did so that they can find a way to fix everything?

- They’re really gonna fall for the “Do you have any other choice but to trust me thing?”

7x15:

- Why is this episode named “The Magic Stones”? How many more stones? What is up with this season and all the goddamn stones?

- The fairy animals really seem to be defeating the fire eater things that have the flames. They can just... use that in some way to release the fires back. Edit: Those are different creatures from the one Kalshara sent after the fire.

- So they actually redid the footage from season 3 and kept the original transformation BUT then they added something we have never seen and Bloom was wearing an outfit from season 4? What the hell? Also, Maia literally gave Bloom a necklace with the essence of Pyros to strengthen her powers implying that the essence of Pyros is very similar if not the same as the essence of the Dragon Fire. But now they decided that using the Dragon Fire would be too convenient because they wouldn’t get to show their Tynix powers. Great fucking logic!

- So that’s why they have Tynix warping time. So that they can just leave a battle whenever and just pop right back in a couple of seconds to not worry about losing. Bloom could have just gone on her own and left Winx behind to handle Kalshara but that would have been a too advanced strategy.

- Lucky that Shiny isn’t eating the whole mini world. But how did they get there when they were just fighting Brafilius? Of course, the time warping bullshit they pulled.

- So that’s why the animals got bigger - so that Winx can ride them. They have wings and could have been flying just fine.

- Their bonded animals being proud is what means that Winx have strength inside? What the hell?

- Why is there a song even though they should be rushing and can you see me skipping it? Because that is exactly what I’m doing.

- The vampire of fire? Wow, okay.

- They are gonna restore a volcano with techno magic? Makes perfect sense. And why are they surprised that the Tynix powers are working? They’re supposed to be working!

- The “vampire” looks like a dragon. That eats fire energy and then shoots back fire.

- Why does Squonk look like a completely different animal? (Yes, I noticed just now.)

- Really? Combining their powers is how they solved this? And the rest of Winx didn’t even join her? Bloom and Elas did all on their own? *eternal sigh*

- They asked for a spa day as payment? I am straight up not having a good time with this season.

7x16:

- They took Riven out of the show only to have Nex take his place as the competitive asshole of the group? Really? That was the big plan?

- The dolphins are so precious and perfect! They knocked both Sky and Nex off their surfs. XD And Layla rubbed their noses in it. That was actually nice (yes, I am going to be petty like that).

- They made that crab more menacing than the main villains of the season. And you’re telling me that Stella sensed the crab but did not notice the turtles burying her alive?

- Brandon getting hit with wild magic by those flowers he wanted to pick would have been way more interesting. And why are all the animals being assholes on purpose? That is not how animals would usually behave in the presence of people even if they are used to the tourists in Paradise Bay.

- Love how Helia is dissing Earth.

- Did I mention that I hate the fact that all the fairy animals can talk now?

- Oh, you mean that there’s gonna be an episode in this episode? And they are actually right where the danger is? Because that is not convenient at all. It’s like the writers don’t even want to send them to more places on Earth even if it actually exists and they don’t have to make stuff up.

- How convenient that the threat only showed up now that they have their Tynix.

- If you really feel so happy, Flora, then why don’t you stay there? Maybe that will bring you back to your old self when you weren’t being a bitch to an animal for no reason.

- Those monsters look like upgraded ants. Plant-mites? You mean termites but for leaves?

- Their spells are now tied to their home planets? Is it because they’re going to the mini worlds? So they’re bringing something from their own worlds?

- Wait. WAIT, WAIT, WAIT! Stella just called Brandon her fiance? FIANCE?!?!?!?!?! UM, YES??????????? THANK YOU FOR ACTUALLY CONFIRMING THAT THEY’RE ENGAGED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Oh, this time they have to fight the tiny creatures of the world because they thought they’re enemies? This is getting mildly interesting!

- Oh, come on! They have wings! Falling shouldn’t be a problem when they can fly!

- Please, just let Bloom get caught by the weeds! Flora got caught but Bloom is legit riding over the weeds???

7x17:

- The leaf creature is called Chloe?

- Winx really didn’t catch on to the fact that the creatures attacked them after Stella mentioned that Brandon gave her those flowers?

- Flora, in order for everyone to know Winx wouldn’t harm nature, everyone needs to know about Winx. And I doubt the creatures in the mini worlds care about who you are. They obviously don’t know you! I don’t know how to tell you this but popularity has gotten to your head.

- You’re telling me that picking just one flower destroys the whole balance? Do they forget that Tritanus spread pollution in Paradise Bay back in season 5? If what they’re saying is true, the whole bay should have died back then! Also, are you seriously telling me that the people we have seen go to Paradise Bay have never ever picked a flower? This is bullshit!

- Another mini world in this mini arc (though, that implies that there is plot)?

- Weee, water slides! Not like this is an important mission that has a bearing on the fate of an entire ecosystem!

- Wait, those are the real colors of nature? Can’t that help them figure out which is the first color of the universe so that they can find the animal with it more easily?

- I thought that they were in a hurry to save the Bay but they have wasted so much time and oh, that’s right! It doesn’t matter because time is what the writers want it to be in the mini worlds!

- These episodes are endless when they keep wasting so much time!

- Gems of light? Did I miss something? Are the seeds for the gems? I don’t care enough to go back and check.

- They really thought that it was gonna be that easy? And the writers really thought that a black globe is a good enough obstacle? And do they really only have one spell available each in the Tynix transformation?

- Tell me Bloom is gonna fly right into another globe blocking her way! (Of course, she won’t. If anyone will be fucking up like that, they’re gonna make it be Stella.)

- Oh, you mean that they actually got caught? All of them? But where the hell is Layla’s morphix? That could have helped. But what the hell? The fairy animals are now making bubbles of their own? AND it is because Squonk gets stronger due to Layla being the fairy of waves? Then why is she not stronger? This is ridiculous.

- Oh, the plants needed water? Huh, who would’ve thought, right? Not like Flora is the fairy of nature or anything!

- So... how did picking the flowers hurt the mini world when they actually needed to plant some seeds?

- Why did Stella go crazy on Brandon about the flowers when she could have just explained to him what happened?

7x18:

- Why are they... what are they... thinking with this competition against lemurs? What the hell?

- Aren’t raccoons supposed to be vicious little beasts and not the lemurs? Wtf.

- You know, Brafilius is annoying as hell but Kalshara is actually pissing me off more because there is much more that she can do and she just... doesn’t? Like, do you wanna get defeated? Also, no wonder your brother needs rest when you don’t since he’s the one doing everything. And did she just call him jellyfish? Because they’re soft and just drift around and don’t have brains? Wow, that’s so nice of you.

- The lemurs talk?????????????? Wtf?!

- Love how Kalshara doesn’t even bother remembering their group name. To her they’re just fairies like all other fairies. That is actually kinda funny.

- How did they not see Kalshara and Brafilius? It wasn’t like they were hiding!

- They are making... the bananas fight... Instead of, like, feeding the bananas to the lemurs and making them fight? They looked pretty vicious and that would have been a better strategy.

- Okay, how can they tell the trees are contaminated?! They just tried the spell on the fruits, not the trees themselves? And now they’re going in the past for bananas? Really?

- A giant lemur falling in love with Stella? EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! Why are they doing this to me? This season just got an awful lot worse and that is saying something.

- Wow, use bananas to lure the thing that eats bananas. What a complex plan. Why did it take them so long to figure it out?

- Okay, that dress from leaves is actually much better than some of Stella’s designs have been but doesn’t she notice that the lemur is preparing her for a wedding? Like, literally dressing her as a bride? And here I thought that this couldn’t get worse (Lmao @ Stella keeping her manners while being kidnapped by a gigantic lovesick lemur, though.)

- Oh, my god, the wedding march. That wouldn’t be composed for about a couple thousand years more! (Yes, I am focusing on logical failures because this is too much of a disaster.)

- It’s trying to kiss her... I really need Winx to show up at this point!... Good. But I won’t thank anyone for this because the creators should have never made this happen.

- Oh, come on! It followed them into the present and they’re having Brandon vs giant lemur and having Brandon losing?

- Finally the end to that. But will the giant lemur remain in the present? At least they got the goddamn bananas! Good because I am going bananas over here!

7x19:

- These guards look familiar... Oppositus? Yes, that is. They have the symbol of the planet on them.

- Isn’t there a better way to find the animal with the first color than just teleporting around and leaning on luck? Like, idk, research?

- Well done to what? The animals are still as chaotic as ever and seem to have gone back to being prickly to each other. Aaaaand, they’re fucking up the party.

- Okay, but to be fair, Critty told them not to touch and what did that woman do? She started petting her! Yeah, you had this coming, hon!

- Love how Marion and Oritel handled the situation, though! Real talent at dispersing the tension right there. I was looking forward to seeing them ever since the synopsis from last episode. At least they haven’t fucked up the two of them... yet.

- “[The fairy animals] aren’t used to formal settings” Then why did you bring them in a formal setting?????????????????????????????????

- Aren’t you on Oppositus? There opposites exist in harmony all the time! What is so weird about that?

- The creature of the rainbow mantle? Didn’t they have that in season 5 and the Winx had to save it from the Trix? Now they have to save it again? Also, don’t tell me that’s the one with the first color.

- Man, Butterflix is so fucking useless. How many battles have they won with it? Like, two? This is episode 19!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- They already know that this is Kalshara’s doing!!!!!!!!!!! And wasn’t the collar supposed to not have worked?????????????????

- Chaos in the rainbow? Awesome! I mean, we already know it because this season (and the previous... three (more or less)) have been a fucking disaster but it’s good that Rainbow is giving some meta on itself!

- Musa, you look like you’re gonna faint! How can you handle this?

- Poor kitty! Stop torturing the cat! Why did none of the others join them so that they could pull them out after they’re done in case they’re too weak? But the two of them harmonizing to keep out the disharmony from outside was actually a pretty cool idea! This season hasn’t failed completely yet.

- Can I ask why the royal family of Oppositus even had the collar made? Seems like a colossally dumb choice!

- Finally they found someone to ask... And they have a riddle now! Goodie!

7x20:

- I still can’t guess which animal is the one that is “close to fairy power” and it’s driving me insane! Obviously, it isn’t any of their bonded animals (we even know it’s not Squonk and Amarok). My first guess was actually Kalshara but a) she was a person that changed magically and b) she can turn in many animals so that is just not it. My other guess was Kiko but that seems highly unlikely because he literally hasn’t been important since, like, season 3 when Bloom stopped actually spending time with him. So... I have no idea which one they’re talking about.

- Lmaoooo, another animal cock-blocking (sort of). XD And it is Sky and Bloom. XDDD Good! And Bloom is calling him out on it! Even better! And she left to go after Elas! I am dying of laughter.

- Wait, that seal was Kalshara? And they were none the wiser? ...Okay.

- Oh, no! Not the kid thing! How did the stones make them kids? What is this? Avengers: Endgame? Instead of taking Winx through time the Stones took time through Winx? And why do they still have the same hair? We know Bloom had much shorter hair when she was little!

- And they know that they are children? But lmao, little Bloom yelling after the others to listen to her as they scatter is what her “leadership” should have looked like. XD

- The Specialists really can’t recognize their girlfriends even though a) they literally look the exact same way and b) this has already happened to Brandon before!

- Omg, Butterflix worked! I was actually hoping that it would because Sky’s realization that he fucked up is priceless!

- Well, of course the animals recognized them! They can probably catch their scent or something. But wow, Winx are having the upper hand even when they’re children.

- Skipping the clownery during the song.

- DId Sky just call the little Winx “pests”?

- Well, that was fast. Both Kalshara getting defeated and Sky and Elas becoming best buds. And of course, Elas can also restore Winx as they were before.

- Lmao, Roxy is right that Winx shouldn’t be left to their own devices.

7x21:

- Don’t tell me they’re hosting a dog show. A fairy animal show. *sigh* But it is surprisingly on topic since the season is all about the fairy animals.

- What is Brafilius’ guilt that his sister scared the other dog? Why should he get hit over the head? Come on!

- Why does Kalshara need to get into Alfea? She just needs to find a way to get the fairy animals.

- You know they have nothing to do in an episode when they show the full Butterflix transformation.

- And now there’s pixie clownery because they literally don’t have anything to put in this episode. Cherie sure seems to have it all under control. (Did they even say why the weather has gone crazy? I skipped, like, half of this episode already.)

- They are really saying that they can’t handle a blizzard? Not like they have fought Stormy for five seasons! Not like they’re supposed to be more powerful than the pixies. At least they said why the weather is acting up.

- This is definitely not the weirdest place you have been, Stella. At least Amentia’s kingdom and Havram top it.

- Why are there so many different kinds of animals in this mini world? Oh. OH! I actually love this idea! Different species of animals looking after the different seasons according to the sun of whichever season is up! That is awesome! I am less so a fan of the fact that they had to ask why the animals are fighting when it was obvious that the wild magic was influencing them!

- Love how they still haven’t realized how to recognize which animal is Kalshara. But why are they surprised that the “digmole” said Faragonda’s name? They know she used to take care of a digmole!

7x22:

- Wait! Flashback of footage that we haven’t actually seen? Are you calling this vague memories?

- Yeah, no shit that Alfea has the most fairy magic in the whole universe!

- Omg, the statue is actually going to be important! The same statue that Faragonda didn’t bother explaining even though Bloom made a remark about it. And she even found it in the hall of fairy animals (or whatever). And it was right there the whole time?????? God, I hate this!

- Okay, the green animals in the diamond mini world? So obviously stolen from Pokemon. And the floating cutlery is screaming Beauty and the Beast. It even moves in the same way.

- Why is it surprising that they eat diamonds? Shiny eats diamonds as well!

- Why do we care about the diamonds?

- Oh, because the ultimate power is a diamond... that the king and queen would rather die for than give away. Amazing!

- Okay, an orchard of diamonds. We get it! It’s not that impressive! It looks like a normal orchard but it is all shiny! Moving on!

- Wtf how is Flora’s magic working on these! Diamonds are not living nature. I am tired of this episode.

- Oh, did you expect the Ultimate Power to be easy to control instead of volatile?

- So now Flora’s magic isn’t working because the plants are only half natural and the diamonds are resistant to magic? They seemed to be very magic absorbing and malleable a few seconds ago!

- It just popped into Kalshara’s hands. And Faragonda isn’t going to do anything to stop her. She’s just gonna wait for Winx. She is just about as useful and smart as she was when she was young in this season which was not much.

- Ooh, Brafilius is actually standing up to Kalshara! I like that! Tbh I have a feeling that he can stir more chaos because of how incompetent he is. He will do something wrong and it will backfire so hard that it will blow up in all their faces.

- How DID the Trix get here? What, they found their bonded FAIRY animals in the Legendarium and the connection pulled them out? Wtf? Also, why did the audio disappear on the last few lines. I didn’t hear what they said! Love how even the writers realized that they can’t pull off a good finale with just Brafilius and Kalshara, though, and were like “Yep, time to bring back the Trix!”

7x23:

- Secret of Alfea? What secret?

- Oh, Kalshara knows about them? But most powerful witches of the universe? I know the Ancestral Witches were destroyed but still. And look! My theory about how they got out was spot-on! It was just too damn easy... and dumb!

- The ultimate power is supposed to be... ultimate, you know! If Brafilius has it, they shouldn’t be able to defeat him. But nah.

- We already know that the animals can find them wherever. It was established earlier.

- Stella, it’s not you that’s ruining the moment. It’s the shaking cave threatening to collapse on you that’s ruining it!

- Why are Flora’s powers working when no one’s powers wanted to work before that, even her own?

- Hey, wait a second! Tynix was supposed to warp time so that while they’re in the mini worlds barely any time passes in the normal world. But now time seems to be moving with the same speed at both places! Because it is convenient for the plot!

- If an animal is bonded to you, you should be able to tell that what you’re holding is an impostor! Because the impostor is not bonded to you! That was literally so fucking dumb!

- IT CAN ALWAYS GET WORSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- “Did you miss us?” “Oh, yes. But after today, we’ll get to miss you forever!” Oh, damn! That was a glorious comeback! I am glad the Trix are back especially after this dumpster fire of a season and with this smarter behavior. But that’s because it wasn’t them failing all season long.

- Lmao, of course, Darcy’s animal is fighting Critty! Love how the Trix’ animals are 3-4 times the size of the Winx’.

- You’re not telling me Alfea’s power comes from the fairy animals? But wait! Alfea mini world? That might be interesting!

- It’s the world of butterflies? I should have known! So Butterflix can only be won on the territory of Alfea?

- If I were the Trix, I would just attack the magical source of Alfea and be done with it! See what Winx would do then!

- Come on, Bloom! Brafilius literally had the face of a dog all along! It shouldn’t be so hard to grasp that!

- Darcy was just about to destroy all of Alfea singlehandedly! And it was so cool and so intense! I was getting really hyped... and then Stella kinda stabilized things for enough time to let them get away. Dammit! It would have been cool to see them more in danger.

- Golden butterfly? I was gonna say that that would be a great chance for it to be Roxy’s bonded animal. Or even more perfect - Daphne’s! But they said that it lived long ago... Oh, so not that long ago. Faragonda was a teen back then so Daphne could have been born at the time (since she also didn’t age for about 20 years and is older than she looks). The butterfly could still be her bonded animal (but it most probably won’t be.)

7x24:

- Why do you care about the barrier? The problem is in the mini world at the heart of Alfea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- DAPHNE!!!!!!!!!!!! WELCOME BACK!

- Can Roxy do anything about the Trix’ animals? She is the fairy of all animals, after all. She should be able to communicate with them at the very least. Not that she could talk sense into them but still.

- For all his snobbery in the beginning of the season, Wizgiz isn’t doing all that well.

- Well, you’d hope that your husband will come help you out when the universe is threatened! Though, you’d think that there would be a whole army of Specialists sent to Alfea considering the high stakes of the situation.

- What defenses? The other fairies are the defenses and they still have their magic so it doesn’t seem to be that bad. At least until they can fix it.

- How did Faragonda get so much better at magic when it seems like there hasn’t passed that much time since Mavilla still hasn’t cast the memory wipe spell? And why couldn’t the animals introduce themselves? They can talk now! Or have the writers forgotten?!

- Daphne has new spells even if she doesn’t have a new transformation. Honestly, she has already been more useful than Winx were the whole season.

- Icy, you know very well who has the other stones! It is obvious! Even more so by the fact that Winx aren’t there to fight you! I knew that the Trix would notice the Stone and Brafilius would spill the beans, though! They couldn’t miss the opportunity to fuck shit up in the past as well.

- Lmaoooo @ Griselda passing out at the thought of Faragonda being the Headmistress of Alfea! XDDD She’s gonna have a fun time living through the future. But ooh, imagine the Trix going back in time and telling Faragonda about her future in order to fuck it up! That would be cool!

- Faragonda really is an idiot of a klutz in the past (and in this season - in the present too (without the klutz part... I think)).

- Is this a different mini world? Shouldn’t there be only one mini world in Alfea?

- Bug bunnies? Do I have to say that I heard Bugs bunnies at first?

- So the golden butterfly is sucking out the energy around for her metamorphosis.

- Why are Winx surprised the Trix were in the mini world when they already fought them in Alfea’s mini world?

- If I were Icy, I would fuck up the butterfly but we can’t have that!

- Why did they spoil the cliffhanger in the synopsis for the next episode? Not that we didn’t know that Bloom wasn’t going to get impaled on the ice but still.

7x25:

- This scene reminds me of a Kim Possible episode. Except, Kim saved herself.

- Oh, so now Elas’ power evolved even more? Of course, it did! They need to be upgraded constantly because no one bother to improve through practice anymore.

- How did that attack not send Icy into oblivion?

- Oh! A Tynix spell that isn’t tied to one of their home worlds! Go, Tecna!

- Hatched? Does a cocoon hatch? I honestly don’t know when it comes to English. But the butterfly isn’t really that beautiful. It looks like something a child cut out from a sheet of paper. Golden paper but still paper.

- Wasn’t the butterfly supposed to work in their favor? How come its actions were what threw Brafilius back in the hands of the Trix?

- “Are we lost in some other when?” XDDD  But how tf did they get back without using the memory stones? Goddammit! At least keep the bare minimum of consistency!!!

- They won’t escape us, he says as if they didn’t just get defeated by the “they” that do no need escape because they have the power advantage.

- Don’t the other fairies learn History of Magic? They should know about the Trix and what their powers are at the very least so they don’t act so stupid against Darcy.

- Stormy’s Occula is the only one from the Trix’ animals whose name I can even hear!

- Daphne is beating Icy! But damn, she got defeated when Icy got help from her animal. See? This is why Daphne needed to have an animal bonded to her!

- Why is Faragonda sending Grsielda on roundup duty instead of using her in the battle? Griselda is one of her strongest fighters!

- I thought it would be Kalshara that snagged Brafilius away but nope! He just can’t shake the Trix and their animals!

- Oh, so Roxy can sense that that is the dgmole that is connected to Faragonda but Faragonda herself couldn’t? And she acts like she has never heard of an aura? Man, they really brought her down this season, didn’t they?

- Really? A party now? Man, there really isn’t much plot in this season, is there?

- Well, seeing Daphne and Thoren together is actually kinda cute. We don’t get to really see any of the married couples. Which is stupid because they legit act the same way that Winx and their boyfriends do. Like, Daphne and Thoren are literally doing the same things!

- Don’t tell me Stella is jealous because Brandon is dancing with Shiny. But aww @ Kiko and Tecna’s bunny eating so much stuff together. XD I like the idea of the two bunnies being friends and it kinda relates to Bloom and Tecna’s friendship (that we haven’t really seen since season 5 and we haven’t had a good scene since season 3).

- I knew Kalshara wasn’t coming for a fight. She couldn’t beat them alone even if she tried. Especially when Daphne is also with them.

- Oh, wow! The Trix are fighting something that isn’t Winx? And their animals having their backs is actually pretty cute, too!

- Don’t tell me that they actually believe Kalshara wants to save Brafilius. I mean, if it’s true, that would be the best twist they’ve had all season but I somehow can’t imagine it.

7x26:

- “Can we trust you?” What do you think that she’ll say? No? There is literally not a case in which she’s gonna say “no” which means that you can’t take her answer for an honest one. Wtf?! Please, tell me that they’ll be mindful at the very least and ready to be double crossed.

- Why, of course, Icy’s animal would be called Frostbite. I should have guessed.

- See? Brafilius is actually the smarter sibling! He knows better than to get mixed up with wild magic.

- I knew that they were gonna show the whole Butterflix transformation. For the last time. It still doesn’t mean that I’m watching it.

- Winx act like they haven’t seen the way Kalshara treats Brafilius. But it was still kinda cute how relieved he was to see her.

- Stella is right. The Trix have not looked worse... yet. But wasn’t Brafilius with Kalshara. How did the Trix get him back again?

- Cat!Darcy vs cat!Kalshara is actually kinda cool. And the Trix did turn into shapeshifting witches! But does Kalshara only have the handful of forms we have already seen? Can’t she transform in anything else?

- One last hug? Don’t tell me Winx will merge with their animals as well! But damn, this talk about Winx standing no chance is getting depressing.

- Don’t tell me that the animals will merge with each other to form the damn swan!!!!!!!!

- “rulers of nature”? Wow, really? The power has totally gone to your head and you need to calm down!

- What are they gonna do with the stones? Oh, trap Trix out of time? That’s actually... pretty smart... and intense.

- Man, I feel bad about the Trix. But what about Brafilius and Kalshara?

- Kalshara really thought that she was gonna get away with the ultimate power? But why do the wild magic animals care about manners and Brafilius? Oh, well, it’s cute that he actually has someone to like and accept him. It was actually Kalshara’s idea to even make him turn into a half animal. He didn’t want that. He just wanted her to love him.

- The goodbye of the fairy animals was actually pretty emotional! If the season had been done better, this could have been such a tearjerker! If they’d actually bothered to show how the animals bonded both with each other and with Winx but that really wasn’t driven home.

- Oh, no! Why did they bring back the band again?! We really didn’t need that.

Well, this season was annoying as hell at times but it actually had some really cool concepts... that, of course, failed upon execution. I kinda liked it better than season 6, though, and I am not even sure why. Maybe because I had less expectations and they were topped more often than my expectations were for season 6. Really, the Legendarium was a great concept that they just completely and utterly failed to utilize while there wasn’t that much potential with the fairy animals but from time to time, the writers really came up with some great idea. Brafilius’ “arc” had a surprisingly touching end and so did that of the fairy animals. I don’t think Winx learned shit this season and they were completely useless - but hey, not much more can be said about them in season 6 either so... What I’m saying is that this season wasn’t as bad as the posts I have seen floating around the fandom had made me believe it would be. Though, don’t get me wrong, there were a couple of moments that I wish I could erase forever.

[slade-neko]

Monster Hunter Rise ~ My Thoughts

Oh, man, Monster Hunter Rise, where to begin?! I guess I’ll start with the game itself in a nutshell is a BLAST! It’s not without a few issues I have with it personally, but I’ve been having a lot of fun playing it nonetheless. I want to take the time to mention I am a second generation hunter myself. Started playing Monster Hunter in 2008 with Freedom 2 on PSP at the tender age of 13. So its safe to say I’ve got a lot to say about this game! If you want to read the full thing then here it is. 

This review is MOSTLY spoiler-free! There isn’t a lot you can spoil in this game... I mention some endgame stuff and there is a screenshot that contains the final boss’s armor but not focused on it. Just a friendly warning if you are a die-hard spoiler avoider. 

The Weapon Types

I’ll start with the fact that the weapon types in MH Rise are all really fun to play and have very well polished movesets. I haven’t extensively played with all the weapon types, but I’d like to say a few things about the ones I have been using. Long Sword feels the best it has ever been in the entire series in my opinion, ironically this game starts you off with a Long Sword equipped too. 

I went ham with Long Sword throughout the main story, but now have swapped over to maining Light Bowgun. I was a big Heavy Bowgun main in MH World, but shield spreadshot builds don't feel the same for me as they did in World, but the Light Bowgun in this game shreds. Narga Piercing LBG for distance shooting and then Magnamalo Spread LBG for getting up close and personal. Evade Extender 3 makes zipping around the battlefield a breeze and next to impossible to get hit making it a very fun and rewarding playstyle. 

My brother on the other hand has been hitting hard with Long Sword and the new Hunting Horn. He misses the original note playing at times, but the damage on HH is insane and healing constantly with the Rampage Horn is a big plus too for a game with no health regen factors. He’s been building sets for nearly every weapon type, but LS and HH are his two mains. Both weapon types were introduced in 2nd Gen, where we started, so maining those two for him is a bit symbolic. Also the fact that LS has been heralded as the most used weapon-type and HH the least used as of recent games is a neat contrast to use both.

The Characters, Setting, and Story

I know Monster Hunter isn’t exactly known for it’s characters or story, heck most games hardly had a story until World came out. Typically Monster Hunter games follow the simple formula of big bad flagship monster causing problems with local village and ecosystem, hunt it, happy ending?, turns out bigger badder scarier secret boss monster was actually causing the problems, hunt it, true happy ending. Nothing wrong with that, I can roll with whatever story they make, majority of players are here for the gameplay. That said, I still enjoy and appreciate what story the devs put together no matter how it turns out. I liked what Rise offered, nothing too grand like World, more of a simple story following the old games formula. 

Surprisingly I haven’t seen many people talk about the characters in this game and the little fact that this is the first time in the ENTIRE SERIES (outside of MH Stories) characters have REAL names! Hinoa, Minoto, Fugen, Yomogi, Iori, Hamon, Rondine, Hojo, Utsushi, like honest to goodness actual NAMES, not “Blacksmith,” “Village Elder,” or “Fish Mongress.” The characters are fun though, nice and memorable, not really annoying. Also following World’s fully voice-acted characters is a nice touch. I sometimes miss the days of old when characters had simple grunts and you read everything, but I doubt that will ever come back now, just something lost to the classic MH games. 

Then there’s the super Asian-inspired ninja-like theme to the entire game. You’ll either love it, hate it, or maybe you don’t care about how the village is at all. I like the whole ninja aesthetic while it does work for this game in particular, but I will admit its a little bit weird in the entirety of Monster Hunter as a series.

The Hunts, Gameplay, and Everything Else

Ah yes, the gameplay, the heart of the Monster Hunter games... while yes I do think this game is a lot of fun overall, I do have a few complaints with it... I’m going to break this down into mini-sections because there is a lot to cover here.

Quest Preparations Maybe I’m just old school, but I feel like they took away a lot of the prep work for going on hunts. No cold/ hot drinks, access full inventory on quests, refill items, no longer eat for attack/ def buffs, monsters always visible on maps, no random spawning on High Rank quests, little things like that. In the old games you had to prepare for each hunt, it was part of the game. You go after a big monster, you make sure you got everything you need to win BEFORE you depart on the quest. It feels like they are double-downing more so on just the fighting itself. 

Tracking Monsters Monsters aren’t even tracked anymore, they’re always visible on your map. No having to run around and look for them like classic MH games... Though to be fair maybe that’s better off in the old games with the paintball tracking system and individual loaded areas than in a game with a fully open-world setting because I got headaches tracking monsters in MH World’s open-world especially the Ancient Forest. 

The Monsters The new monsters in this game a welcome addition. I don’t really have any problems with their designs or fights. Have to say Goss Horag has a very fun fight, but my favorite new monster is probably Rakna-Kadaki. A pelican spider is a dang neat idea for a monster and there aren’t a lot of Temnocerans. Would love to see the return of the Carapaceons though! This is literally the perfect game for Shen-Gaoren to come back with the new rampage system! Bring back my giant enemy crab, Capcom please!

Monster Behavior/ Minion Monsters/ Herbivores Added this subsection to talk specifically about the monsters’ behaviors in this game along with the minion monsters cause while not very important overall there are still some things to be said. 

Same thing in MH World, but the monsters act more like animals now. While yes, that is more realistic and is mostly a good thing, but it honestly gives me second thoughts about hunting them. In World most boss monsters wouldn’t attack you unless you attacked them first. That made me feel terrible walking up to a calm Teostra just chilling in the dunes and then I start smacking the heck outta it with a weapon... Old games the monsters saw you, the “something’s gonna getcha music starts playing” and then it charges you and your in the fight! Now its like you’re the monster killing a bunch of animals (exaggerating a bit, but still!)

What’s not exaggerated is the minions in this game. The old games had minions that were incredibly annoying and I wanted to kill them. This game however has the sweet little bullfangos, jagras, and other minions just lazing around sleeping. My brother and I were in need of Rhenoplos scalps for some gear, set out on a quest to slay some, find them peacefully sleeping by some rocks and I ask my brother, “Okay, so you gonna bash its skull in with your hammer and pop its eyes out or am I gonna fill it full of lead with my bowgun?” Needlessly violent example, I know, but it still makes the point that it feels more like animal cruelty when they aren’t bothering anyone. I’d rather the minions just start charging me and piss me off as a player, so I wouldn’t feel bad defending myself to take them out. 

Lastly, there’s the herbivores. Not a lot to say on the matter, but I feel like they could’ve given a few more herbivore types. Like no Aptonoth in this game? I thought they were kinda a staple of the series for herbivores. I also feel like the maps could feel a bit more lively with more herbivores placed around. Maybe Mosswines in the Shrine Ruins, especially when scaling the central mountain shrine with the mushroom colonies everywhere. Great spots for mushroom piggies! 

The Maps/ Locales I love them! Well for the most part. They are good and I don’t dislike any in particular. My only problems is that they sometimes feel too big, too open, and too empty. I know they have a lot of stuff in them, gathering points, spiribirds, relics, and many other things, but there is an odd sense of emptiness there. Like I mentioned earlier, I think perhaps adding in more scattered monsters might’ve helped that a bit. Only other thing to mention is that the new locales rely too heavily on the Palamutes to get around effectively. I personally like bringing my kitties with me on multiplayer quests, so I am at the mercy of wirebug zipping to get around and often left behind. 

Oh, last thing I will mention on maps is while its not in the base game, I pray they add back the Tower as a map. Preferably the 2nd Gen version where you start at base camp and scale the tower. A game that’s all about rising and verticality, the Tower is literally the PERFECT map to have in this game! 

Spiribirds Love em or hate them, there’s the Spiribirds. Cool concept, but I don’t think it works very well in my opinion. I don’t care about roaming the map to collect my bird buffs, I just want to eat for Attack Up large like old games and be done. I definitely try to grab them when I can, but I can’t be bothered to chase down all the birds each and every hunt just to get my full Attack up buff. 

Wirebugs On with the title of the game being Rise giving meaning to the new wirebugs feature. Wirebugs are fun to use, zip around the map, super attacks, and what-not, but I can’t help but feel its a little out of place in a Monster Hunter game. Feels like I’m Spider-Man or something. I know I praised this when I played the demo and I’m not dissing it now, I still enjoy using them, but I am also admitting that they do feel very outlandish for a Monster Hunter game. Still better than the slinger/ clutch claw though! Let’s never talk about those accursed items again. 

Silkbinds The Silkbind attacks though are fully great! I love having access to super attacks like Hunting Arts and things like that for my weapons, so I sincerely hope they keep some kind of super attack format in future games.

Mounting The mounting system in this game is weird, but pretty cool! Its a great way to let you control a monster for a change and beat the snot out of other monsters as a monster. I saw someone describe it is as “going full on Ratatouille with the monsters” and honestly there isn’t a better way to explain it than that. 

Palicoes/ Palamutes The Buddy System in this game is great! Palicoes still feel about the same as they did in World, maybe a little less powerful now since you can have two of them at once, still love them though and prefer to bring a Palico with me on my quests. 

Then there is the new doggies, the Palamutes! Super cute and cuddly, but also quite powerful! I love the doggos, but I wish the maps weren’t designed around them. I like to bring my cat with me on multiplayer quests, so I don’t get a dog to ride and the maps are HUGE, very wide-opened, lots of running... Wirebugs help, but still not quite as fast as the puppies. 

Oh and two little pet peeve of mine is you can’t see other players buddy names and you can’t change buddy comments! I want people to be able to see my buddies’ names and I need my Garfield cat’s comment to say “I hate Mondays.” and my Sonic dog to say “Gotta go fast!” and my Courage the Cowardly Dog dog to have “The things I do for love.” Unless there is a hidden menu somewhere where you can edit these, but alas I have yet to find it...

Voiced Hunters Hunters have always been the silent protagonists of the games with attack grunts, hurt sounds, and little to nothing more. Now they are full voiced for gestures and full hunting dialogue. I really like this, its funny to hear them shout things and stuff and having some familiar voice actors in the game is really cool to have them voice my characters. My brother rocking the Xander Mobus voice-type on his hunter is freakin’ cool and hilarious at the same time. I am tempted to make a Zentisu hunter, name him Zenitsu, give him the Zentisu voice-type, and go full Thunderclap maining a Thunder-type Long Sword just for the heck of it. Oh and also there’s the fact that CRISTINA VEE IS OFFICIALLY IN A MONSTER HUNTER GAME NOW AS A FEMALE VOICE OPTION! Still feels weird comparing it to previous games, but I’m okay with it because the fun factor in it outweighs the weird for me personally. Besides if you for some reason decided you hate fun you can just mute them in the options. 

Layered Armor (or lack-of) I love Layered Armor... and there is only two sets in this game. The Deluxe Edition’s “Kamurai” samurai looking layered armor and the Magnamalo amiibo “Sinister” layered set with a few head only layered pieces as DLC in the eShop. I was honestly expecting all armor to be layered and unlockable in the base game after the huge demand for layered armor in MH World and Transmog being a thing in the side team’s last game, MHXX/ MHGU. 

I think a mixed system of both Transmog and Layered Armor would be ideal. Transmog system for in-game armors and then additional bonus themed armor sets made as Layered Armors like the Kamurai set. That way players can be rewarded for crafting all the armors with use of a Transmog system even giving an incentive to make multiple sets twice to Transmog differently. While the devs could still make money off cool unique Layered sets as DLC in the eShop. Literally fixes both issues right there. Feel free to use that idea, Capcom, and you’re welcome.

Multiplayer/ Lobbies/ Scaling Four people lobbies are back! Not necessarily a good thing. I mean hey its not bad either, but I honestly preferred the larger lobbies like World had. Having more people doesn’t make it less social. All they need is to force people to do multiplayer quests in the Gathering Hub. I prefer large lobbies and have people do whatever they want and meet up in the Hub for socials. Mainly what I dislike about 4 player lobbies is everyone will be expected to help each other on their quests within the lobby. I just want to chill and do my own thing, but see and interact with other players in the village between quests. Oh, but the ability to join quests late is seriously great! Dropping into a lobby and seeing people already on a quest and being able to jump in with them is a godsend! 

Difficulty scaling is a very weird thing. It’s basically a double-edged sword. Its good to have because you can beat everything on your own, but that also defeats the purpose of multiplayer. In the past games, Hub quests were scaled higher for multiplayer, so getting more people to help only made it easier. Now, why bother with players when you could just do it yourself scaled to an easier single-player difficulty? I can usually get faster times when I solo things now. Multiplayer is there just for the social aspect to goof around with friends or if you just wanna do chill hunting with people. It’s no longer a requirement or an aid for beating the game. Like I said, its a weird thing, not bad, but not good either? I dunno, I just compare a lot of things to the classic MH games. In the past getting a second player to help makes it twice as easy compared to beating a Hub quest by yourself, while getting four players makes it where you’re effectively doing 4x more damage. Now its like you get 4-players and the monster gets 4x the health too. That might not be the exact scaling, but you get my point. 

One last thing I want to touch on which a lot of people have already mentioned is the fact multiplayer can get pretty chaotic. Especially when you have 4 players with 4 palamutes all smacking away at a monster. Hit effects are EVERYWHERE! Creates quite the mess and can be hard to tell what’s happening. 

Quest Difficulty/ Harder Monsters I don’t care too much about how hard the game is and I know this is a touchy subject, but I do like challenging monsters, without relying on gimmicky crap to fight them. MH World was filled with gimmicky fights like Behemoth, Leshen, even Alatreon and Fatalis to some degree. I still have Extreme Behemoth PTSD. I just want good clean fights, no damage checks, unavoidable one-hit kill moves, crap like that is not cool. I want to cart because I screwed up and made a wrong move and got punished by some wicked strong attack from a big bad boss monster. Not a stupid damage check telling me, “Oh, you not do enough damage, you die now.” To be fair, old Monster Hunter games had some gimmicky fights too though. MH4U with Apex Monsters and Wystones, MHGU with HP tank Hyper Monsters, heck even Freedom 2 was unintentionally gimmicky with outrageous hitboxes haha. Oh, that game was brutal! Deviants in MHGU were amazing though! Some really tough fights there, but incredibly rewarding to beat, that’s what I love!

The Endgame/ Secret Bosses (or lack-of) There is no Endgame, we are stuck in the Infinity War for now (or Affinity War as my brother calls it since the meta is all about those crits!) Okay, so that’s a bit harsh, all jokes aside there is an endgame, but its not exactly what I was expecting and leaves me wanting more. One of my favorite aspects of Monster Hunter games is the endgames and the secrets they hold, which this game had very few! They revealed nearly EVERY monster before this game launched. I get it, they want to sell their game, but leave some secrets please. Only monster that was secret was just the final boss. I love getting to the end of the game and unlocking new quests to fight the big scary endgame bosses. I guess World kinda suffered from that too a little bit. Mostly hanging on to old games like Freedom Unite unlocking Fatalis, MH3U getting Abyssal Lagiacrus, and Molten Tigrex in MH4U was very cool! Could just be the state of games these days like Smash Ultimate where they reveal everything before the game is out since data miners will just leak them anyways... kinda makes me sad. 

Updates and Future Content

I know this game has planned updates that will add a lot of content, but I can’t help but feel those “updates” were part of the game that’s been withheld to make the updates feel like so much more. Its like they ripped out the ending of the game and are passing it of as a big huge update to be released after launch. 

The real kick to this is the fact there is no Hunter Rank in the current game... I’ve done approximately 300 quests so far in my game, its going to hurt me very badly when I see the HR update come out and I don’t get any HR for the hunts I’ve done so far. I know some people could care less about HR and just see it as a number, but for me that number is a nice thing to see. I love seeing it go up as I do more quests and play more of the game. Going hard at launch has been a lot of fun, but less rewarding knowing I am quite possibly not getting any HR points for all my gameplay. 

Only reason I can see they would not want to allow a buildup of HR before this update is because this update will add a bunch of new endgame monsters most likely unlocked through getting high Hunter Rank. I pray for my boy Akantor to finally shine again, I know the side team loves him, so let’s please get him into Rise! AND Please don’t show them off in videos, Capcom! Just stealth drop a bunch of Elder Dragons and Endgame bosses into the game!

Final Thoughts

I’m probably just stuck in the old days some, I guess this is just how the games will be going forward, but a bit of that makes me sad. Feels like the game series I loved so much is losing some character and personality of what made is special and unique. This review might’ve got a bit ranty, but I like to critique a game series I am very passionate about. World was very similar to this. From everything I’ve said, by no means do I hate this game. I still love MH Rise and the entire series and I’ll keep playing it having a lot of fun along the way. Best way I can describe Monster Hunter Rise is it’s the Side Team’s Monster Hunter World. Its fresh, new, and very experimental! 

All in all this game is still great and I stand by what I said at the beginning of this entire post, its a blast to play! I hope everyone can enjoy it and remember, Happy Hunting!