#the thing being a kickass titan

[sigmaelxgr]

@caliblorn "Aah. Yes. Yes... they did that. Come further, Sunshine... We'll show you."

"This", the Ashlander said, "is the Unfinished Dolmen. It is located in southeast Wrothgar. It is the place, after days of researches, the Cult found the Veil to be the brittlier; ideal for the sorcerers to call Oblivion from. The rock around the plain was dark and cold, perfect to fuse with the magical effluviums of Oblivion that would echo from a megalith to another like doors to be opened. As they began to lift the stones, properly carved with the holy runes commanding Nirn to bend before Coldharbour, and as the sacrificial altars were finally in place, they found out they kept progressively disappearing when they would not take a deep care of them, days after days - one by one."

"It was quite a surprise, and quite something unusual. In fact, any living being that is a little receptive to magic, scents and auras flees instinctively the crafting areas - one of the reasons explaining why Worm Cultists were not that bothered during their toil. On most cases, stones were already carved when carried to the place they would be lifted on, but Wrothgar was an exception; the geography was not agreeing to permit this facility so they had to work on spot, quickly and efficiently. The stones disappearing... Was a disaster, and augured many torments. Such unfinished work is a shame in the eyes of both King and Prince, who dislike more than everything the lack of results coming from their subjects... But in truth, the Cultists found out that the magical tracks left by the stones during their removal lead to the new Orsinium and surroundings. They deducted that the Orsimer, reckless and oblivious of what was about to happen here, used them as basic material for bridges and walls, an innocence we personally find amusing. But, you know... Most of Worm Cultists are terrified of Bal's wrath. So terrified they would prefer throwing themselves into an endless labour and dying achieving it rather than admitting how vain -and pitiful- their entreprise was. And dying on it is what many chose to do. In fact, the disposition of the lifted stones and the presence of sacrificial altars already permitted the Cultists to reach Coldharbour - it was stuttering, yes, but enough to command a large two-winged Daedroth. Zandadunoz the Reborn is chained to this infant Dolmen by oath, protecting it with an unknown to most men and mer ferocity. Conjurate such a being is quite a miracle in itself, wouldn't you think ? Few mages ever happen to subdue a Titan in their life." They think for a few seconds... Then crack the fainting dawn of a smile, their eyes shutting with a prudish pride. "Thus, Sunshine, is why we would not call it a Failure."

Did You Know: No Dark Anchors fell in Orsinium? This is because the Orcs simply stole the stones the Worm Cult used for their dolmens and repurposed them for construction projects.  

[givemewallywestorgivemedeath]

I'm not sure if you've already said this but I'm asking anyway. Since you're the local Flashfam expert and also a PJO lover (you have no idea how happy I am that we like the same things), what godly parents would the Flashfam have? Like, all of the fam. Counting characters like Linda and Iris

And it'd also be cool if you assigned a cabin for the Titans and/or the Young Justice too-

I mean it has to be Hermes. It literally has to be Hermes for the speedsters. Like, maybe we throw in a Roman twist and say Mercury every once in a while, but that's just gotta be the answer.

Jay literally wears Hermes' helmet. Max named himself after Mercury. Barry wears Hermes' winged shoes and has wings on his head. Same with Wally. Jay is also literally given Hermes'/Mercury's powers on Earth-2.

And it makes sense, it really does. God of travellers? Check. The winged aesthetic? Check. God of messengers? Check! God of tricksters, liars and thieves? Look, the speedsters are all of the above just in a VERY chaotic good way. They don't rob people but also when Wally found out that the museum had the bones of a fallen soldier from another country without said countries permission or consent? HE STOLE THEM BACK. Bart has absolutely no qualms taking things, Max has been a thief in the past, Jay and Barry work by pirate rules aka 'if I defeat you, I get your stuff', ect. They don't do armed robbery and they don't like stealing from random citizens, but bad guys are free game.

Iris I have to go on the nose and say Iris because Iris is the goddess of messengers and rainbows, and Iris is literally a reporter? So her whole thing is spreading information? While looking stunning.

Linda is an Athena kid 125%. Linda writes books, she was a kickass investigative reporter, she went to med school, she knows more about speedster biology and how it works than literally anyone else in her home dimension, she regularly fights aliens with no powers and just whatever weapons she finds laying around. Linda is intelligent, she's cunning and witty and she will cut a bitch.

Joan is a Hestia kid. Just... family, love, warmth. Need I say more?

As for the Titans... well, Donna is already taken care of. Garth... is technically also taken care of I think?? Atlanteans exist in Greek mythology so Garth is just the same I think. Roy... fuck it, Ares. I said what I said come at me bro. For Dick I would want to go with a minor god or goddess, I like the idea of him being a child of Psyche (Goddess of the human soul) because he is very human and he understands people on a level that might be considered supernatural. Lilith would be the oracle. Karen would be a child of Hephaestus and Mal would 100% just be a guy who can see through the mist and has a shield.

Gar is the last son of Pan because that's cool AF. Raven would be the daughter of Tartarus I think. Vic would be a son of Apollo. I know it's really easy to go for Hephaestus for Vic but honestly, the key part of Vic's story to me isn't that he's a cyborg, it's that he's human. He's a survivor, who, against all odds, received bat shit crazy medical treatment from his father and survived a fatal accident. I like the idea that Apollo saw a guy doing crazy stuff to advance medical science and was like 'Hey there 😉😉😉😉'. Also pre accident Vic was a football player which has a lot to do with aim, so idk, I just like it. Starfire would be a demigod child of the sun deity on her home planet.

For Young Justice, Cassie and Bart are already covered. Kon would be a legacy of Nemesis (Lex) and a legacy of a deity from Krypton. Cissie would be a daughter of Ares and a legacy of Apollo. Greta would be a child of Morpheus. Tim would be the son of Lachesis. Slobo is Slobo. Anita.... Tbh I want to say she's a legacy of Aphrodite? Love is a huge part of her backstory and I dislike giving the non powered characters godly parentage that explains away their abilities. They worked hard for those skills!

[professoruber]

Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

[freddie-77-ao3]

a quick rundown on the hermes and kids relationships (those who were around for battle of manhattan specifically bc i keep confusing myself)

Chris: very bitter that he was in camp for YEARS (five before he left) without getting claimed. doesn't like hermes. may have rejoined olympian side, but only because of clarisse, silena, and charles.

Cecil: very go with the flow. frankly, prefers not thinking about it because he was a threesome baby and frankly he'd love to know what happened there, but overall, whatever. hermes is absentee but at least cecil got some kickass friends out of being a demigod.

Travis: angry at his dad. not enough to go to the titans-- just very pissed off because he was made counselor of thirty kids when he was TWELVE and that left a mark. the things he had to do left a mark, and yeah, he blames hermes.

Connor: likes their dad until after manhattan. that phase lasts like a week. after that, connor still loves hermes.

luke: ... his daddy issues are very canon i don't think they need explanation

(julia and alice joined AFTER battle of manhattan-- they were the girls in LA hermes mentioned)

[crimeronan]

Super indulgent too. The previous asks have awakened something feral.

But, what if Amity & Lilith do manage to get away with Hunter before Belos also offs him??? And maybe Luz stays longer in the in between with Papa Titan as they come up with a plan to destroy Belos. In that time, Belos brands Hunter, Amity, and Lilith as traitors and accuse them of having killed the princess. Then, Luz comes back epic style with titan powers, obliterates Belos, and takes back the throne. Now a grief stricken Hunter/Amity/Lilith see Luz with kickass titan powers and don’t think it’s her because OBVIOUSLY she died and they did see her dead. It’s only when she ends up saying something that only Hunter can know that they’re convinced and all like wtf happened. While at the same time Luz doesn’t want to reveal the grimwalker secret and Hunter can only keep guessing what happened to her while with Belos.

WOOOOO yeah sure. we can leave the characters crazed with grief for a little longer :)

the initial question is "where would they go," but given that lilith is with them, i think the Clear Answer is the owl house.

really i think the biggest obstacle here wouldn't even be the empire, it would just be hunter himself. he'd want to drag himself back to the castle and finish what he started. aka get himself killed. he has no expectation that he can Actually kill belos

i was trying to figure out what, if anything, could dissuade him from this path. and my main thought is that after a lot of exasperation on lilith's part and being corralled on hooty's, amity finally shouts, "she FUCKING DIED FOR YOU and you're just going to THROW IT AWAY???"

amity's sense of righteous fury is So Strong here. SHE wouldn't throw away a sacrifice like that. or at least she likes to think she wouldn't. that hunter doesn't seem to Care what luz did just makes the entire thing seem even more senseless.

and hunter just kind of. shatters. sinks onto the floor with his head in his hands like, "i can't do this, blight. i get it, i do, i'm hearing you, you think i have options but i'm telling you, i Can't Do This. i Have to keep moving or i--"

and then amity summons a weighted abomination blanket and goes over and wraps it around him. and he doesn't fight her or snap at her. despite his apparent determination not to stay still for more than, like, thirty seconds at a time.

& amity is just like, "okay. you can't do this. i hear you. but, also. you're Gonna Have To."

[ghost-bxrd]

How do you picture interactions between Talon Dick and Kory aka Starfire?

I’ve never actually read any comics where Kory and Dick interact! And I’ve only read a little of the RHatO comics, where her art style was beautiful but she was a little too over sexualized in those for my tastes. Still kickass tho, that woman is an icon.

Anyway yeah, so canon flies straight out the window for this ask. Just felt I should mention it 💚

Talon Dick wouldn’t really know how to handle her at first beyond some friendly banter and (depending on where in the timeline we are) some playful flirting.

Kory may or may not fall in love with Dick in this universe, but she wouldnt be able to understand how close (and codependent) Dick and Jason are and try to pull Dick away from him a little. Not out of any malicious intent of course, she just genuinely wants to spend some more time alone with him (or even together with the rest of the titans. Robin is younger than most of them, after all. And Dick should get to do normal teenager stuff without watching Jason all the time. All valid things if the situation was a little different, alas…)

Dick doesn’t take kindly to these attempts and pulls away, setting clear boundaries in this regard, and while Kory doesn’t understand, she accepts it without fuss.

After this initial hiccup they learn how to get along and deal with each other much better. Kory and Dick become very good friends and a true force of nature whenever they’re working together.

Kory is the one they always keep on standby when there’s a chance of temperature/cold related missions/accidents because she’s trained with Dick a lot to counteract his cold induced hibernation in the most efficient and fast manner possible.

Her and Dick don’t understand a lot of things about human culture, so they definitely bond over that. Dick because he was basically raised in a murder cult with no healthy human contact, and Kory because she’s an alien. So… yeah, throwing looks at each other when regular people do something totally normal that seems entirely outlandish to them is a bonding experience. (They totally sit down and quiz each other on civilian people things, like how “screaming bloody murder” is just a phrase for a really loud or crazed scream and no actual blood or murder is involved. And no, casually walking off being run over by a truck isn’t something normal people can do.)

So yeah, fun times! They’re friends 💚

[nitewrighter]

That bbrae ‘playing with genre’ ask got me thinking about Harvey Dent. Because up until acid gets splashed in his face, he’s basically living in a John Grisham novel as the crusading attorney with his own personal demons but continues to stick to his ideals.

Duela meanwhile is somewhere between a soap opera and a Saw Movie depending on how she’s being written.

"Turn Mr. Smith goes to Washington (1939) into Falling Down (1993) with this one neat trick!"

I think all the Robins kind of have their own genres. Dick, is the quintessential superhero genre because he basically grew up and matured with the genre, you have the early 20th century pulpy roots of him being a circus kid, the performance factor of him being a daredevil, and then as he splits apart from Batman and leads the Titans, you can see as he grows, he's able to adapt and refine Bruce's own goals of healing and mentorship to all the members of his team, no matter how weird their origin stories, no matter how alone they feel.

Post-Resurrection, Jason kind of takes on a lot of the aspects of edgy independent comics in the 90's, many of which would later get absorbed into DC--think Wildstorm.

Tim's solo stories I think most successfully adapt a classic Batman+Detective approach. He's not a clone of Bruce, per se, but the really interesting thing about Tim's stories, for me, is basically when he's figuring out when he will and won't take Bruce's approaches to things. He's also arguably able to keep believably high stakes in smaller scale stories than Bruce because Bruce's capabilities have obviously gone ridiculously astronomical just to make him keep up with the Justice League and be the Specialest Goth Boy in the room.

I think if you really want to do Stephanie well, you have to let her be a Kickass-style deconstruction of superheroes and vigilanteism, take the scrappy, homemade approach. (Spoiler >>>>> Batgirl). Arguably you could do the same with Carrie Kelley.

I like that with Damian's Robin we kind of see an earnest return to ridiculous and fantastical comic plots. He has a sword. He's got a pet gargoyle (Okay, Dragon Bat, yeesh). He's riding a pterodactyl. Bruce let him drive a tank through a swamp. He's kind of a return to Robin being a kid's fantasy, but now they're able to cherrypick from all over comics history to really enrich that fantasy.

[petitprincess1]

You make a post praising Helluva for usage of references, but Villainous gets shamed. I'm sensing some obv bias

There is no bias. It's simply how it is. The references used for the latest ep of Helluva make sense with the characters and the scene. Moxxie starts off telling his backstory with Chaz in an overly dramatic way, so it makes sense for him to end it the same, especially with that other reference to Titanic. Plus, their questioning if that stuff even happened since it was a reference, adds more to the joke. The second reference made was of Millie and Blitzo "pulling a Shrek", which is what they did. They stopped a forced marriage very dramatically with some kickass music behind it.

Plus, these are mainly meant for the audience to pick up on, rather than for the characters to realize they're even doing it. It's quick, it's in-character, and it makes sense to the scene. Also, Shrek and Titanic are fairly timeless and you rarely find someone around my age group that haven't watched them.

Meanwhile, Villainous used Jojo references because...Sexy BH and the others were ripped? Also, Flug saying "as the song goes...remember me" doesn't really work, especially knowing the context of Coco. It feels like they're mainly saying things and hoping for a chuckle. Not to say these things aren't relevant, esp on the internet, but it feels like they just fall back mainly onto references (whether it be in the foreground or background). And if it isn't pop culture references, they make references to LATAM media, which is fine. The problem is that if Alan really wants this to also be for American audiences, then they're going to feel fairly alienated with those jokes.

Not to mention Villainous heavily relies on other CN shows to make their jokes.

Also, the other jokes are what you would typically expect from those characters like BH being evil, Dem acting crazy or lustful for BH, Flug having breakdowns or getting easily angered or being a punching bag, and 505.....existing. And that isn't to say that Helluva doesn't do the same (like you expect something raunchy to come from Blitzo), but they still switch it up at times (like Blitzo being flustered over Striker bringing up his deal with Stolas, having to try his best to explain that he isnt Stolas' boyfriend, while the others are just smirking because....they know the truth lol). While Villainous hammers in those exact same jokes over and over again with the characters that it becomes slightly predictable.

If you don't find them funny in Helluva, that's perfectly fine, but I'm not being biased. Hell, the last ep had a whole joke of Blitzo being "Brandon Ragers" or whatever and I didn't care for it at all. It was too much and overdone. I'm just simply giving my thoughts tis all

[basedkikuenjoyer]

Eh, Thursday Afternoon Toriyama posting is fun for now. I'm surprised by how much I've thought about it lately. Not like I'm usually the type to dwell on celebrity deaths heavily, but Toriyama's taken up as much of my mind as when Prince & David Bowie passed close to each other or having the two windows I followed pro wrestling line up with Owen Hart's, Eddie Guerrero's, and Chris Benoit's sudden deaths. We'll touch on it in time but y'all saw Oda is taking a break because of it right? So far I've re-watched a huge chunk of Dragonball and binged the excellent review by Totally Not Mark for Z. I don't think a lot of anime fans, myself included, ever gave Toriyama a fair shake for how truly good DB could actually be.

Like...think about Meruem & Komugi in Hunter x Hunter. How lauded that story is. How much controversy but praise Oda generated by taking such a freewheeling goofy direction with such a late stage of his story. Both of those are just elements of the Majin Buu Saga. Meruem has Cell's design and Buu's arc. And Mr. Satan saving the day by being a good friend and mentor to the Majin? I've always loved that. My actual first exposure was that stretch of the story, staying at a friend's house while Cartoon Network ran a marathon. I liked Videl and we got to see this wonderfully epic clash of titans:

I remember going back to school in the fifth grade, telling some guy friends who liked the screaming and blowing up Earth shit all about how I finally saw DBZ and they were horrified by how much I loved this nonsense. Mr. Satan is a legend and Goten/Trunks pulling a Vincent Adultman is iconic. But...ma cherie. Android 18 is objectively the coolest thing to come out of that series. You may disagree but it's objective so that would make you wrong. I mean, the Androids alone are already cool as hell for being such a solid callback to the earlier Red Ribbon Army arc. Who could forget 8? Guy was classic. First we have a couple of goofy ones then BAM! kickass young sibling pair named Lapis & Lazuli which is a high watermark in a world with some truly weird names. Since I'll be on about another favorite pair likely somewhat inspired by them tomorrow might as well say it.

That's not exactly off the wall right? Kiku & Izo, Jodio & Dragona, that combat sibling pair of a sister that's feminine but fierce and a kinda fey brother you definitely shouldn't underestimate? Nothing new under the sun but the trope certainly echoes from the Cell Saga. And honestly, can't help but notice that side of Okiku I always want to come out more. Lazuli's best moment that made me love her so much:

I do like how when she recognizes Goten & Trunks she just takes them out via disqualification using Krillin's disk technique. But I adore the conclusion now as much as I did then. Knowing Mr. Satan was enough of a preening dickhead to pay her double for the glory of the win and throwing the fight. Same flavor as what makes me love Kiku and the Yokozuna as much as I do with a distinctly Nami blend. Tell me those two couldn't play good cop/bad cop to shake someone down.

Honestly a lot of the way I see contemporary One Piece makes sense through that lens, the way the Buu Saga took a different approach was bold and controversial but got the series back to its roots. I bet Toriyama had a lot of fun with it. And thank you for the archetype I love so much even if I didn't fully appreciate the Ur-pair until after I came to love their inspiration.

This is probably too much to get into today, but you can't divorce this from what we know about the Cell Saga, how there was so much editorial meddling when it came to the villains. The more meta elements of how I see Kiku & Yamato, how one is set to age like fine wine even if she wasn't the flashiest and the other will probably never be as popular as you were at the start even if you started white hot. The Android Pair vs. Cell are a great example. Fans as a collective sometimes don't really know what they want, I get why Eiichiro Oda opines about "authors becoming slaves to readers." Weekly serialization is a wonderland. And that wonderland gave us something really cool along the way to giving editors another Frieza.

[archer3-13]

in many ways i wanna say pokemon scarlet and violet are worth it solely for that last battle and story section with professor turo / sada. good build up, interesting fight, kickass music, and a nice ending bit of using a terra blast to kick your opponents ass.

on the otherhand the actual gameplay section leading up to the final battle is a dull hallway, and the process of getting to that final section [in overcoming the various paths of the game] feels undercooked by comparison.

its an arguable problem all open world games have in storytelling mind, but i do think there were ways it coulda been overcome so that the strong points of the endgame can shine throughout the entire game.

victory road feels the most obligatative of the paths, and considering its been in every mainline pokemon game i dont think you could cut it in good faith. what it did need was either more 'environmental exploration' elements present... or less.

more in the sense that well the gym challenges are more about interacting with the environment they dont push that concept hard enough in some cases.

or alternatively it should be less in the sense of streamlining the experience and leaving environmental exploration to the other paths well making the path about pokemon battles more about pokemon battles.

gyms in pokemon have always been this odd mix of obligation and actual excitement, self contained puzzles to avoid the main interactive mechanic of the pokemon game the battling. i think scarlet and violet really missed an opportunity to reinvent the concept of a gym in pokemon though by awkwardly hemming to tradition without the self contained gym environments to maximize the potential effectiveness of whatever puzzle [or challenge in this instance] they had in mind. especially since team star bases as self contained environment would have been much better suited to a puzzle challenge instead of the weird beatdown thing they did with team star bases.

SO! proposed solution here would be to 'divide the labour' so to speak. gyms instead of the ecliptic mess of minigames they are, are instead gonna be all modelled on larrys gym about exploring the immediate city of the gym to 'unlock' the gym battle itself. that way you can get a more natural understanding of the cities layouts through experience, the cities can be more intently designed to accommodate a gym challenge and battles can more easily serve as the centre piece attractions without having to share. all in all it can also just be more compact this way. titans are a let down because ya dont so much hunt them as ya do walk to their premarked locations. and i understand its going to be difficult for giant pokemon to hide, but it atleast would have been less of a let down if you had to more thoroughly explore the environment to drag them out of hiding. theres a lot of space in scarlet and violet that feels rather empty aside, and making ya have to more extensively track titan pokemon would help reduce that feeling of dead space. finally as noted the team star bases should have been more about infiltration and environmental puzzles then a straight up brawl. the poison star base for instance being ninja themed should have had a self contained stealth section, well for the fairy base ya have to draw the rich kid out through dirtying up his nice stuff or something.

finally area zero instead of being a hallway i think would have been better suited to being a kinda sprawling explorable environment that you map your way around to find all the research stations in. not a winding slide downwards but more of a bowl shape if that makes sense. that and maybe some unique megabosses guarding the stations that need all of your friends at once to take on [super titans or something, idk]

[awellboiledicicle]

As someone who did the whole college thing, Arven being a humanities student that has mmmm nowhere near enough credits to even ponder graduation yet is hilarious.

Not because of his age, because learning happens whenever.

No the funny is the mental image of him just taking cooking class after cooking class that don’t add to his degree... for the sake of making hella good sandwiches.

This is a man that will be in his 7th year of study and finally take a math class and the protag finds him slumped at a table in the library, forehead pressed to the math book, because he’s trying to osmosis basic algebra into his brain. Can he convert measurements from all over the world into one he can use? Yes. Can he probably make some kickass technical food? Yup. Can he remember the quadratic equation? No. No he cannot.

This is a man that asks the Gang for help doing his ‘how to calculate your pokemons health and level’ equation homework and ends up convinced Nemona is speaking Kantonian after the fifth time she goes on a tangent about how types effect how you calculate damage in attacks. 

This is a man that ropes his friends into making flashcards with him for History and feels confident only to promptly only remember the kind of tapas the gang had while studying. He passes on virtue of how much he’s read before the Titan adventure.

This is a guy that gets around to his other credits expressly because he realized his pals were getting closer to graduating and then has a crushing realization that he’s the only one that doesn’t have a set plan for post-graduation. Because Nemona has league stuff, and could well be working as a battle ambassador to other leagues or for more mundane stuff since she also does paperwork stuff. Penny’s going to be working cybersec for the League. Protag could do anything from league stuff, to working with the academy, to just straight up pokemon research given the pokedex. It’s not set, but it’s options. He’s just... the sandwich guy. The others point out he could be a chef, or keep traveling around with Mabosstiff.

I feel like he’d end up working with Kofu if only because i like to imagine Kofu taking him under his wing, which Arven would probably really appreciate.

[thealmightyemprex]

Top 10 shows shown on Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network was a huge part of my childhood so In honor of Cartoon Networks 30th anniversary ,I decided to do a top 10 list .Keep in mind these are my oppinions and I havent seen every show to ever air there

10.Tom and Jerry

Now I was split whether to put on Looney Tunes or Tom and Jerry to represent the classics.Truth is while I am a bigger Looney Tunes fan,I distinctly associate Tom and Jerry with Cartoon Network and recall seeing the cat and mouse foes duking it out whenever I got home from school

9.Dragon Ball Z

I was debating which anime to put on here :Cyborg 009,Kekiashi and Cowboy Bebop are all contenders......But I would be lying to myself if I didnt put on DBZ as I heavilly associate it with the Toonami block and its a show I really have grown to love

8.Powerpuff Girls

Funny,had kickass action aqnd a great rogues gallery.Also got mocked a few times for liking a girls show(Not by kids but by family members ) but didnt care this show was awesome

7.Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

Macabre kid,so the dark humor and horror vibes of this show really appealed to me and its one me and my brother qouted a lot

6.Justice League Unlimited

Proooooobably my favorite of the DCAU shows

5.Teen Titans

Putting the midocred final season aside ,this was a great show .I remmember actually being skeptical of it as a superhero show cause I didnt know who the Teen Titans were(Aside from Robin of course)and the show went on to be one of my fave Superhero showa

4.Courage the Cowardly Dog

One of my gateways into horror ,but there was humor,and heartwarming stuff along with the horror

3.Ed Edd N Eddy

As a kid this was my JAM . My absolute favorite show on Cartoon Network as a kid and it informed a lot of my sense of humor

2.Samurai Jack

Of the action shows this is hands down my favorite ,a brillaint use of visual story telling

1.Over The Garden Wall

REally the last thing I watched on Cartoon Newtwork.....And in my oppinion one of the best pieces of animation I have ever seen

@ariel-seagull-wings @metropolitan-mutant-of-ark @amalthea9 @filmcityworld1 @the-blue-fairie @themousefromfantasyland @angelixgutz @princesssarisa

[shinidamachu]

Okay, I was scrolling through your Tumblr and the mention of a Titanic inukag au!?!? I need to see that! (But it has to be a happy ending, I could not bear it one of them died) 😭😭😭 What other AU's would you be interested in seeing??

Good news about the Titanic AU: @swaggingtomboy has recommended this little gem. I haven't read it yet so I don't know if there's a happy ending, but come on! It's a Titanic AU!

Now, when it comes to Inuyasha, there are a lot of alternate universes I take interest in. Some of them I've been actually meaning to write one day, so I'll be keeping those out of this list. But here are the ones I would love to read, in no particular order:

1. SINBAD: THE LEGEND OF THE SEVEN SEAS

Sinbad and Marina are basically pirate!Inukag, let’s face it. I like pirate stories because I love the sea. Also the atmosphere of forbidden love, since Marina is engaged to Sinbad’s chldhood best friend, makes everything extra spicy. Their constant bickering and teasing, the way they’re always challengins each other and working together like a well oiled machine, how their journey start off with the wrong foot but they find balance in the end... those are just a few of the things that make me love them (and Inukag) the way I do. 

2. PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

Darcy and Inuyasha have so much in common. The nonexistent social skills. The lack of trust in people. The tendency to isolate themselves. The way they go to extreme lengths to protect those they care about without never taking credit for it. Constantly putting their foot on their mouths. The arrogance. The stubbornness. The absolute refusal to admit their feelings. And then Elizabeth and Kagome are smart, feisty and have the inherent ability to put men in their places. Just as wqually stubborn as their love interests. And let’s not forget they’re always being overlooked: Lizzie being outshined by Jane and Kagome by Kikyo. Inuyasha and Darcy are so similar and at the same time so different from Kagome and Elizabeth, that their chemistry it’s just off the charts. I love modern AU’s as much as the next person, but sometimes you gotta go vintage.

3. SHREK

Hear me out! You can’t look me in the eye and tell me Inuyasha wouldn’t have isolated himself in a swamp as well. Also, Kagome as a cursed princess such as Fiona would have been an absolute kickass. We don’t have enough of it. Shrek is a beautiful story with a wonderful message and the hardships the main couple finds along their journey really reminds me of Inukag. The prejudice they faced, the slowly built trust and even our main girls giving up something they loved in the end to be with their love interests, who just want them to be happy and would never think of themselves as worthy of such a sacrifice (even though they are). Plus, you know me. I love the fairytale vibes.

4. FRIENDS WITH BENEFITS

I know, I know. The title is self explanatory and it’s not like we have a lack of this trope in fanfictions, but let me sell it to you, okay? This movie is literally one of the best rom coms ever made. I’m talking about shy, never-left-the-monotony-of-his-hometown Inuyasha, who runs a pretty successful advertising website and headhunter Kagome, who manages to convince him into accepting a job at GQ.

Only he has to move out to New York to do it. And since she’s his first friend there, they grow pretty close. Bonding over their latest failed relationships and how long it has been since they had sex, they decide to become friends with benefits. Because this always works. Bonus points for their backgrounds. The parents issues really flesh out the characters and make everything way more emotional and exciting.

5. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG

What can I say? This movie is perfect! Kagome and Tiana are resilient, kind, persistent, stubborn and hard working as all hell. I also like the relationship Tiana had with her deceased father and I feel like exploring Kagome’s own relationship with her deceased father in the same way would have scratched an ever present itch I have on the matter. I love to read fanfics where this is addressed.

Also, there’s this amazing parallel between Inuyasha and Naveen, since they start their journey with a clear goal in mind. Inuyasha, to become a full demon by using the the Sacred Jewel and Naveen to marry a rich woman so he wouldn’t be broken anymore and wouldn’t have to work for the rest of his life. But after they met Kagome and Tiana, their dreams change, because they end up realizing it’s not what they truly wanted (it never was) and that they can so better than that. So they do.

6. HITCH

Not actually Inukag. I feel like Miroku and Sango fit this AU better. You know how the story goes: he is a "date doctor" who coaches other men in the art of wooing women into long term relationships. He gets hired by Albert (Inuyasha), a shy, socially akward guy who needs help acting on the crush he has on a client of his investment firm, celebrity Allegra Cole (Kagome).

In the meantime, Hitch (Miroku) meets and falls in love himself with Sara Melas (Sango), a workaholic journalist who is always chasing after the hottest gossip. As Miroku succeds in helping Inuyasha date Kagome, this becomes the talk of the town and the more Sango snoops around to find out how that happened, the more she gets closer to find out what Miroku’s job truly is.

7. JANE THE VIRGIN

Now, this is more about the premise than the characterization. Imagine Kagome has decided to save herself for marriage and due to a series of crazy ass events, she ends up accidently inseminated with Inuyasha’s sperm when she goes to her gynecologist for a simple check-up.

The kicker (if you even need one at this point)? She has met Inuyasha before. He had showed up one night when she was about to end her shift. They it it off, flirted for hours and shared the best kiss ever, but he never called her after that. Now she discovers that not only is he the father of her miraculous baby, but also the owner of the hotel she works in as a waitress and that the sample that was  accidently inseminated on her was his last chance to be a father.

In the original, the female main character, Jane, is engaged while the male love interest is in an unhappy marriage, but even though I did enjoy the love triangle(s), I also don’t see it as a mandatory thing. I feel like it works either way.

8. TARZAN

Everybody knows the story, don’t they? Talk about worlds colliding. Talk about Jane (Kasgome) showing Tarzan (Inuyasha) what love is. Being all of his firsts. Teaching him so much. Chasing his loneliness away. And talk about him protecting her with his life, showing her things she had only dreamed to see in person: beautiful places, wonderful creatures... Talk about her falling for him and his world so much that she chooses to stay by his side. Plus riding vines together like Kagome rode on Inuyasha’s back? Chef’s kiss.

9. LISBELA E O PRISIONEIRO (LISBELA  AND THE PRISONER)

I even wrote a little something about this a while ago. Leléu (Inuyasha) is a womanizer con man. For each city, a different name and a different way to get easy money. In one of those cities, he meets Inaura (Kikyo) and they have a passionate affair. The only problem? She is married to the abusive Frederico Evandro (Naraku), a hitman that catchs them in the act.

Inuyasha manages to run, but Naraku swears to find and kill him even if it’s the last thing he does. In search of a safe place to hide, Inuyasha arrives in a small town where he meets Kagome, a sweet, romantic lady that simply loves to watch american, silent, black and white romance movies on the theater (the story takes place in the 20th century).

They fall in love for the very first time, but there is just a little complication: she is engaged to Douglas (probably Koga), an arrogant prick that’s more interested in sex and in her looks than in Kagome herself. She breaks the engagement off to be with Inuyasha, even though her father (or maybe Grandpa Higurashi, in this case), who is the city’s deputy, thinks Koga is the best for her. But when they’re about to be officially together... In comes Kikyo, still in love with Inuyasha and insisting they should run together because her husband was too close of finding out where Inuyasha is.

Inuyasha feels obligated to go with Kikyo, which makes Kagome think he never truly loved her, so she and reconciles with Koga. Inuyasha comes back and risks his life to prevent the wedding from happening, getting arrested in the process. I won’t spoil the ending in case anyone want to watch it, but it’s a happy one. And even though Kikyo doesn’t end up with Inuyasha, the play she roles is very important, badass and satisfying. Trust me. 

10. DIRTY DANCING

Baby is innocent and naive. And idealist at heart. Johnny is more realist, cynical and mature. But even though she was a bit spoiled, she was kind enough to put her life on hold to help him (a “nobody”) and his friends to get out of a stinky situation. And even though he is skeptical about her at first, he ends up respecting and admiring her very much. The forbidden love vibes and all the dancing makes everything even hotter. A classic, just like Inuyasha.

Honorable mentions (because I love them but people has already talked about those AU’s to exhaustion): The Mummy, Atlantis and Beauty and the Beast (duh).

[breathings-of-the-heart]

hiiii, can i please request some levi ackerman headcannons where he has a badass girlfriend? she is shorter than him but she is literally so badass,, i see alot of stories with levi and a s/o who is really sweet and caring but never with someone who is cool, caring, badass, and can take care of herself,, thank you!!

Being Levi’s Badass Girlfriend would Include...

Growing up with Levi in the underground, both of you taking care of each other for as long as you can remember

Being a few years younger than Levi, running into him after desparately looking for somewhere to hide from the men you stole bread from

Finding him nearly starved and deciding to sharing your food, becoming inseperable ever since

Levi squeezing your hand when you’re nervous

You singing to him when he’s stressed but too prideful to admit it

Learning knife skills from Kenny when he took the two of you under his wing, and getting frustrated that you seemed to lack the Ackerman natural talent 

You compensating for it with your charming and, when you wanted, manipulative nature

Typically being underestimated for your smaller stature, but taking that as insentive to work twice as hard to prove people wrong

Reminding him that he wasn’t alone after Kenny abandoned you two

"We're going to get through this, Levi. We'll be okay, I promise."

"Stupid, I know that already."

Being one of the only people who could make Levi smile

Getting mugged quite often when you walked anywhere alone, to the point where Levi wouldn’t let you out at night without him

Becoming annoyed at this treatment and deciding to take up martial arts more seriously

Fighting people more than twice your size when needed, and coming out victoriously nearly every time

Living together, and having to follow Levi’s meticulous cleaning rules in whatever living space the two of you occupied 

Always being less closed off to others than Levi, despite being calloused by your hardships all the same

Your teen years going by barely scraping enough money to survive, 

You always trying to stay positive regardless 

Taking over jobs and caring for Levi on the rare occassion he got injured or sick, with him doing the same for you

Occassionally finding yourself blushing when you first realized he had started gaining muscle 

An overwhelming urge to scold him if he’s gone for too long, especially after taking on an extra dangerous gig 

Realistically, just being worried for Levi’s safety or being afraid that he had left you

Being proven over and over again the latter was never an option 

Him buying you small things on special occassions, like hair accessories or trinkets 

Chastising him for wasting money when he did

"I told you! There’s no point to having this kind of stuff. You should've used the money for something we need."

"Do you like it?"

"...yes."

"Then shut up. Happy birthday, (Y/N)."

Smiling and treasuring each gift with your whole heart

Building a reputation alongside Levi as a notorious power duo, with people just assuming you two were together

You handling the connections and networking aspects of business deals with your superior social skills

Levi insisting on taking you with him when me moved in with Farlan, making excuses that you’d probably be all dirty and unorganized by yourself 

"It's okay to just say you'd miss me, you know."

Being happy to add another person to your small family, and becoming fast friends with the dirty blonde

Laughing that Levi finally had someone else to pick on about their “unsatisfactory” cleaning habits

Being the one to negotiate for ODM gear, and learning how to use them suprisingly quickly

Sometimes flirting with men to get what you wanted, having learned how to use your feminity to your advantage as the years passed

That not always ending well

Having to save each others’ lives on multiple counts, some instances with you two just barely escaping

Holding Levi close on nights you nearly lost each other

Him wanting desperately to give you a better life

Viewing Isabel as the little sister you never had once you met, teaching her everything you’d come to know living in the underground as a fellow, smaller woman

Suprisingly, finding yourself having brief moments of contentment, despite the tough days

You being in on the deal to join the Survey Corps kill Erwin Smith in order to secure citizenship on the surface

Becoming emotional at the opportunity to go above ground, never thinking it was possible 

Grabbing Levi’s hand excitedly after breathing fresh air for the first time, missing the way he smiled softly as you pointed at the hundreds of things you’d never seen before

"Look, Levi!! Real clouds! And is that how tall trees are supposed to be?"

The happiness not lasting long

You trying to stay strong for Levi after the death of Isabel and Farlan, knowing he believed it was all his fault  

Still crying on days where no one was watching 

Getting through the loss together, just like everything else

Staying in the military and silently vowing to always be there for Levi, knowing you’d go wherever he did

Taking a while to adjust without your friends

Trying to be thankful that life had less hungry nights and unsafe circumstances

You and Levi becoming squad leaders fairly quickly, having proven your skill and loyalty tenfold

Having a titan kill count that rivalled his (which you’d nonchallantly remind him of, once or twice)

Quickly gaining the respect of your team

Your fellow comrades realizing that your pretty face and short height yet kickass persona were the epitome of how “looks can be deceiving”

Not being afraid to put recruits with egos in their place

Levi keeping an extra eye on you during missions whenever he could, even though he knew you could hold your own

Sneaking into his room when the nightmares became too much

"Just... wipe your feet before coming in, (Y/N)."

Late nights in his office ensuing where he listens to you reminisce about the past

And it hitting you suddenly, a few years later, that you were in love with Levi Ackerman

The affection being triggered by the simplest of things: him brushing those raven bangs out of his eyes mid-conversation 

Realizing you always felt this way, and you might have even realized it sooner if you both weren’t so busy trying to survive

Wondering for weeks if you should say something

Deciding he most likely didn’t feel the same way and pushing your feelings aside, falling back into the regular dynamic

You daydreaming about what a possible future together would look like

Levi kissing you for the first time before an expedition outside the walls, 

Him wanting you to know how he felt in case it was your last night together

Confessing that you’ve loved him your whole life, and telling him you think it was always meant to be that way

Fiercely taking on each task the Titans threw at you, empowered by the fact that you had something to live for

Him becoming more protective than ever, which although frustrating at times, you found endearing 

Drinking tea together on your breaks and stealing kisses across his desk

Levi Squad teasing their captain about his fondness for you, on days where they feel extra cheeky

Both of you planning to get married after the war

Just allowing yourself to be fully happy for the first time, basking in the fact that you get to spend the rest of your life with the man you adore

"I love you, Levi."

"I've only ever loved you."

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: Teen Titans Go! To the Movies

So a long time ago, I posted a review on here about some episodes of Teen Titans Go that I’d watched, and my opinion was so overwhelmingly negative, a fan angrily messaged me and told me to “tag my hate.” The show was a popular whipping post and I was just a voice in the crowd, honestly. But over time, I’ve kind of mellowed out on it. Sure, the show’s not at all what I want, and it started this awful trend of rebooting old shows in a chibi art style and turning them into irreverent wacky comedies, and it has some crappy episodes here and there, but the original voice cast is clearly having a blast, there are some cool episodes where they do interesting things with the comedy like have a kickass 80s animation homage or have Weird Al play Darkseid, and overall the show is pretty harmless. It’s not really worth getting too up in arms over, y’know?

All that being said, when I first saw the movie in theaters, I was a bit apprehensive, but I wanted to give it a fair shot and talk about it here on my blog… and then I forgot to. Well, 2022 is a year all about forgiveness for me, and so there’s no better time for a review where I forgive something I didn’t like, so here goes: Teen Titans Go! To the Movies is a genuinely hilarious meta comedy that takes the concepts of its main series and makes them work (for the most part).

Like, sure, there are some things I found annoying. Beast Boy is a bit too “pretty fly for a white (green?) guy” for my taste, and Starfire excessively referring to things as “The X” (as in, The Robin, The Batman, The Superman, etc) is incredibly annoying when it comes to verbal tics, meaning that whenever these two were talking there was a nonzero chance I wish they’d shut up. And yes, there is some really stupid, juvenile humor here too. We’ve got a prolonged fart joke at the start and a twerking naked baby Superman butt, the brows ain’t very high here. But my gripes with this film pretty much end there.

Here’s the thing with these characters: Even though they are annoying here, everyone around them finds them annoying to. The other superheroes don’t respect the Titans, and Ronin is constantly vexed in his quest to get a movie deal by his friend’s wacky antics. It makes their annoying moments a bit more palatable, because in-universe they’re supposed to be obnoxious. All of this adds into the whole amusing meta commentary angle the film goes for, where they lampoon superhero cinema, with the main goal of the proceedings being Robin wanting a film deal like all the big superheroes. This leads to all sorts of fun stuff, such as a jab at the infamous “Martha” scene, a background joke mocking the CGI hair removal of Josstice League, and… a Stan Lee cameo?

For the most part the humor actually does work, even some of the more juvenile stuff. I feel like it works at its best when it’s being ridiculously dark, such as in the montage sequence where they travel through time for the second time. The humor with the songs is also pretty fun, like Robin’s “I Want” song where he sings about his desire for a movie (and also for his ass to be in 3D) and the upbeat inspirational song about life played during the road trip called… “Upbeat Inspirational Song About Life.” That last one is doubly funny because it has Michael Bolton as a magical tiger singing it, because  as The Lonely Island proved, there is literally nothing funnier than Michael Bolton hamming it up in a song.

I don’t know, everything just works here in a way it usually doesn’t for the show in my opinion. It was definitely smart to save Slade for this instead of wasting him in a TV special, it was definitely good to have pretty much everyone be the straight men t the Titan’s antics, it was good to go with amusing self-deprecation instead of just making fun of people who don’t like the show�� This is just a really fun, funny movie. Yes, it’s still clearly for kids, there’s still toilet humor and butts and whatever, but I think there’s plenty of humor that even adults can vibe with here. It’s just a goofy superhero movie spoof with silly characters and fun songs, and I think the world could use more of that now and then. I’d say even if you don’t like the show, this might be worth checking out so long as you go in with an open mind and a desire to have fun. Because boy, is this movie fun if you let it be, and honestly? It might be one of the best theatrical DC movies of them all.

Really didn’t need to see baby Kal-El’s ass, though.

[daphnethebanjolover]

Thoughts on Mind Over Mutant

Finally, something that feels like a Crash game complete with spinning, TNT boxes, and SOME ACTUAL PLATFORMING. I like the timers on the TNT this time around. It's more interesting than just numbers.

Now with climbing and digging to spice things up! The digging music is actually pretty sick.

Then I saw the first titan and thought "Oh dear God." At least you can use the titans for platforming this time, and I like how they start black and then gain their color when you control them.

No N-Gin boss fight? Lame.

After Twinsanity and CotT, we finally have Coco content back! She's player 2 in multiplayer mode, appears in a lot of early cutscenes, and A BOSS FIGHT? I never saw it coming.

Speaking of the cutscenes, I really liked the animated cutscenes. The animation is really nice to look at, and the dialogue is on top as usual.

Too many tutorials. Aku-Aku's voice might be smoother than butter, but I have my limits.

Unlike most Crash games (Twinsanity being an exception), the levels all exist on a large map, which really gives you the sense of being in a place when you revisit an area.

Though I would have liked it better with less backtracking. The teleporters you unlock on Mount Grimly only sort of help.

You've seen my posts on Evil Public School and Cortex's announcements, right?

This game has the best version of Crunch. Yes, better than Wrath of Cortex, which was supposed to be his game. I'm just surprised they didn't forget about him after WoC.

Loading screens in weird-ass places.

SPOILERS AFTER THIS POINT:

If CotT is N. Gin's game, then this is N. Brio's. He appears so little that I forgot how good of a character he is. I don't remember which line, but there was one line in an early cutscene that made me think he was going to betray Cortex, but it never happened. The closest we got was him taking back credit for the Evolvo-Ray. You go, man.

That cutscene was my favorite, too. "Read your Bible. I wrote it" was an unexpectedly kickass line to come from a Crash game.

This final boss fight is a whole-ass journey. The first phase went by incredibly fast. Then I saw the star meter, and I was like "Ho...ly...shit." Somehow, controlling Cortex sort of completes the circle after seven games of bullshittery. I'd say this is the most interesting Cortex final boss fight. (Of course, I have the trilogy to compare it to, so it's not that hard to say.)

I give this game a solid 8/10. The only things really setting it back are the backtracking and Aku-Aku talking all the time. Next is Crash 4. I've heard a lot of great things about it!