#tried to emulate the intro animation

[soaring-trash]

The bed gets cold without you and cold hands trope, but reversed because Laudna doesn’t produce an ounce of warmth and Imogen is practically a human heater.

[siffroncrocus]

joel’s hermitcraft base but i made it into an anime opening (Wotakoi: Love Is Hard For Otaku)

Song: Fiction by Sumika

some tidbits

- i have been thinking of making something like this for weeks now. Joel mentioned anime intro and i had to lock in

- Before actually working on anything though, I had to think what was the genre I wanted for this opening. I tried to emulate the silliness and comedic nature of Joel’s editing while also capturing the beautiful Japanese Cyberpunk base he has. So I settled on a Slice of Life Shoujo-esque comedy anime! With the cherry blossoms as well, it felt very fitting. (I also thought of making it very vfx heavy to accent the cyberpunk-ness? But thats too much for 3am dan.)

- afterwards, i tried to choose a slice of life opening that led many songs into the download files! Openings from Horimiya, Kimi no Todoke, Your Lie in April, Ouran High School Host Club, Skip and Loafer, Dungeon Meshi (OP2) Bocchi the Rock and Saiki K were in the discussion room (aka, my brain)

- While editing, I kept certain office life animes in mind like ‘My New Boss is Goofy,’ ‘Wotakoi,’ ‘A Sign of Affection,’ ‘Cherry Magic,’ and ‘Uramichi Onii-san’ so I could focus on that ‘Shoujo’ and ‘Work-life Balance’ themes in the video.

- I actually did not edit this in my usual program! Instead of working on my PC (After Effects CC 2019) I worked on this with my phone on CapCut. It is currently 3am I really could not be bothered to get up and edit on my PC.

- I screenrecorded all of these clips, solely because I didn’t want to download all 31 episodes

[maluceh]

That painel was AMAZING, thank you thank you thank you! ❤️

Sorry for missing a few references, could you share a list of all the universes?

damn ok… ummm (from top left to right and so on with every row)

brooklyn nine nine (amy and jake)

morticia and gomez

modern family (claire and phil)

tangled

they’re just drinking chescos in this one

band au

i got lazy so kissy time

dinosaurs

the last of us au

game of thrones au

10 things i hate about you

celebrity au but i tried to do the cinderella concept art cause 50s

old people

slasher

sapphic jily victorian era

mexican folklore dancers

i got lazy again and i just sketched them as spooky cartoons

deleted scene from dead poets society but it’s not them as dps characters, i just wanted a snowy scene

barbie

pirates of the caribbean

anne with an e

legos

elevator love song by BeeDaily (it’s a fic)

cowboy au

how to train your dragon (astrid and hiccup)

percy jackson (them as percabeth)

sapphic jily in the 14th? 15th? century with princess jamie and her loyal guard lily

this is just a kids drawing so you can interpret it as you want (harry drew it or little james or little lily)

vampire au

couple selfie!

sapphic jily with a reference to glee (the cheerleader uniform). so this one is kind of like cheerleader x outcast type of thing

pride and prejudice au (bingley and jane)

set it up (it’s a movie on netflix)

rocks

greys anatomy au (them as mark and lexi)

role swap (quidditch player lily/muggleborn james)

ice skater couple au

juno (reference to the intro credits from the movie where there’s like drawings and stuff, i thought it would be cool idk)

the office (them as jim and pam)

haikyuu (tanaka and kiyoko are literally jily in another font)

patronuses

genderswap jily

romeo and juliet (2013)

before sunrise (1995)

titanic movie

ferris bullers day off (i think they fit sloane and ferris A LOT)

friends (chandler and monica)

maurice (1987)

detectives au (i tried to emulate 1940s drawings but alas i’m only a girl)

mermaid au

mlm jily as Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete I BELIEVE this is Dos tipos de cuidado (1953) i wanted to draw them as homoerotic mexican actors from the golden age of mexican cinema

canon jily

sapphic jily in bly manor (as dani and jamie)

animal crossing jily

big fish (2003)

sapphic jily as pirates who got caught

idk i took it from a pinterest pic

shadowhunters jily

fantasy jily (?

sapphic jily kissing at sunset

worms

idk what movie this is, i wanted to draw them as silent actors from the 1930s i also tried to use the same art style they used in that era but alas i’m just a girl

widow victorian lily and ghost james (this is a direct reference to Anders Zorn the widow 1883 i believe)

how to lose a guy in 10 days au

shadow and bone au (them as nina and matthias)

ballet dancers au

romeo and juliet AGAIN (1996 tho)

anastasia (1997)

the princess diaries 2 (them as Mia and nicholas)

them with a cat (it’s algernon, the cat is algernon by the way)

spiderman (itsv spider-man to be exact)

i got lazy again and i just doodled them listening to music together

ants

genderswaped jily as emma and mr. knightley (2020)

mamma mia (2008) (love that movie, sophie and sky made me the bisexual i am with that one beach scene)

the hunger games mockingjay part 2 (them as katniss and peeta)

hogwarts professors

coworker rivals

mlm jily but at hogwarts

sapphic jily just vibing (heartstopper vibes??? idk i put the leaves)

shelf awarness by GhostofBambi on ao3 (one of my favorite jily fics)

and that’s it

[axemetaphor]

my dad got his hands on a copy of Sonic 06 for the xbox and asked me to be his play-tester after having a lot of trouble with that speed level right at the beginning (catching up to Eggman's ship on the beach) and i got as far as the Silver battle before giving up, so here's my notes

DISCLAIMER this isnt an invitation to dunk on the game in the notes of this post alright we've seen enough of that. i dont hate the game. no, really, i dont. i respect everything it tried to be and feel bad for literally everyone working on it because, from what i gather, they were green and facing extreme crunch time. sucks for everyone involved. anyway:

the load times on xbox were VASTLY better, which makes a lot of sense, given from what i know the ps3 has a ... strange way of storing/retrieving/loading data, but they were still pretty long and a little too frequent for my liking. still, probably not anyone's fault, tbqh. i'll have to see if the emulator my dad's working on getting on his PC (finally, he's been trying to do that for years now lmao,) has the same issue to figure out if it's a programming problem or hardware. personally im pretty sure it's just hardware.

it's much easier to steer sonic if you use the camera and his movement, but the camera will still fuck you over. this isnt 06 specific though game cameras are Always hard to wrangle lmao

the animations for this game are so strange... i dont say this as a negative whatsoever. it looks like they were mocapped, which is fascinating to me, translating human proportions onto sonic--it doesnt always work, and i personally wouldn't've made the choice to do that, but it makes me want to study it lmao

the voice acting as well is strange, at least in english; im not knocking anyone's work, whatsoever. i still really love the performances. but i think back to this one tweet i made about silver's intro dialogue where i mentioned that i loved the performance, but the poor guy sounded like he'd done a hundred takes of the audio and was losing grasp of Words themselves (As happens to everybody) and Silver's english VA not only liked the tweet but started following me because of it. this was during the trend of not actually giving VAs context for their dialogue, and not really.. respecting them at all, and it makes me sad to think that maybe they did stick everyone in a box, hand them lists of lines, and make them say them over and over until the director got whatever they wanted--or, on the opposite end, were only given enough time for a single take out of the inherent disrespect for VAs that's present in Many fields

the environments are fucking gorgeous and i was genuinely surprised by how many things i could interact with in the levels. granted, i did get stuck on them sometimes, but i doubt the poor devs got any chance to fix that shit. i liked especially ramming Eggman's Cerberus into a statue instead of the wall and watching the statue completely shatter, that's genuinely pretty cool, they couldve just had it be like the walls, static and unreacting. i also liked how the Cerberus decimated those pillars, but thats mostly because the camera kept getting stuck on them

there's very little active direction in the game, save for the floating (?)s, which can sometimes be wordy enough that ive already fucked up and died before theyre done talking. that's probably on my dumbass though.

collision physics in this game ... sure is. i cant remember if all games from the 2000s were like this given i have more experience with older games (pre-00's) + brand fucken new ones so someone else weigh in on this s'il vous plait.

the pre-rendered cutscenes are still fucking gorgeous. delightful.

so much of this game is such a lovely awkward development-stage kind of thing, like awkward teen years. the homing-attack mechanics make me grateful for the auto-targeting of later games. the way he goes from 0 to 100 is in character but hard to play (unwieldy) and makes me glad for the more measured sliding scale of other games. the sprint parts of the game, where youre just steering him, are so fucking cool but i am so fucking bad at them and im glad that in future games the sensitivity of the controls was turned down. it took me some lives to get into a proper rhythm with it, get a sense of just how much of a hair trigger the directional changes were. tails' attacks in this game definitely felt like they could've been much better (throwing the bombs is So difficult to aim, thanks to the camera and how long the animation for it is) and i'm glad they're different in other games--the bombs is a cool idea, just needed to be implemented differently imo

if you knwo more about the development n shit of this game id love to hear it, all i know is they had serious crunch time to release the game alongside the ps3 as its flagship game and had to cut a lot of steps from the process/cut a lot of corners. i attribute a lot of its flaws (and "flaws") to that tbqh. sonic 06 is not a bad game, it's a game that was failed by its circumstances. i dont know fully, im just an animator, i have never in my life made a proper video game.

also this may just be me but i have a theory that this game was meant to be like the Shadow the Hedgehog game, and not rated E for Everyone after all. the darker storybeats (sonic's murder, elise's death, silver's future etc) all feel like they'd have been better-executed at a level closer to that. it feels To Me like they were developing the beginnings of this game (script, designs) in tandem with the endtail development of ShTH, and when it received pushback for the guns, swearing, and violence, they panicked and had to neuter the story. i have a lot of respect for what the game COULD have been.

[kerbrobro]

I'm glad Clock Tower is finally getting an official localization and release, but I can't help not being overwhelmingly excited for it? Even though it's one of my favorite games ever? I guess it could kinda be the Mother 3 thing where the game has been EXTREMELY easily accessible in high quality and English for decades. But there's also some things about the presentation that really bug me?

The new anime intro looks nice but feels out of sync with the actual aesthetic of the game? Its just an intro so it's no big deal, but sonething about it bugs me despite the seemingly high quality. They did turn the little promotional comic into a motion thing with voice acting, which is VERY cool! I wish they'd just tried to ape the style of that for the animated bit. But uh. Why does Jennifer just have a generic American anime voice? It kinda feels like the bad JoJo dub all over again. Admittedly, I'd been assuming she's British even though the games never specify that, buy they are set in Norway and other parts of Europe, so she should have SOME kind of accent. It's a big nitpick, but when you add a bunch of weird extra stuff to my favorite game I'm allowed to be picky lol.

To end on a positive, I'm glad they're including the PS1 stuff, and some new vocal tracks! And that weird lazy people who don't just emulate shit will maybe get to play it lol

[violetren]

Live action ATLA reaction for episode 3.

Better than episode one (practically a freebie) but not quite as good as episode two. Mostly because they tried to shove 3 different episode plots from the animation into 1 and as a result dropped the quality of all 3 concepts.

I mostly liked the Azula introduction. It showed us straight away that she is a manipulator who tries to emulate and impress her father, and it showed us Ozai being a shit dad (and made us 3 for 3 on episodes of the firelord NOT sitting on his throne, but at least this time it made sense).

I say mostly because I have mixed feelings about the little fire nation anti-war group. Its not that I think its impossible that there would be anti-war sentiment in the fire nation, or that it would all be getting quietly stamped out to maintain the status quo (and to encourage everyone else to stay in their lane). It's just the whole set up felt hollow as fuck. Like one dude threw around some revolutionary jargon and then the WHOLE group went to get slaughtered just because they found 1 (one) sympathetic person in the palace and didn't do any checks on her? They somehow managed to grow to that size in the Fire Nation Capital furthest from the fighting and closest to the propaganda machine but fell into that trap so easily? Idk, seeing an anti-war protest group mess up that badly and get stamped out so thoroughly and immediately in todays climate felt icky.

I think a scene of under cover Azula holding the hand of 1 (one) (singular) grieving and scared person assuring them that their pain is unfair that they deserve revenge for all the loved ones the war has cost them and that their plan to kill the Firelord is just. Have person thank Azula for being there, maybe have them give her a token of the dead loved one she reminds them off, and then having Azula give directions into a trap literally anywhere other than the throne room would have been much more effective. Don't let them reach Ozai, just see his silohuette through a door way, and then see it joined by Azula actually in the door way and smirking, hear the shriek of betrayal became screams as they get burned by guards. Watch Azula burn the trinket. Then have the Azula and Ozai convo. Or take it a step further with the trap, have the would be assassin burst into a meeting or a party, make them look like a deranged traitor and make their execution public as a threat to any dissenters.

A face and story would have been far more effective than the activism group caricature that we got is all I am trying to say.

However the cardboard cut out activism group didn't bother me nearly as much as Azula doing archery. I don't think I even fully appreciated Mai and Ty-Lee being introed because I was just so thrown by Azula engaging in a form of non-bending combat, and being beyond proficient in it. One of the core distinctions between Azula and Zuko is that she is the fire bending prodigy with blue flames, while he is an average fire bender who got good at swords because he was never going to be able to beat Azula at bending while living in the palace. Why is miss-fire-bending-is-everything doing archery!?

MOVING ON THOUGH.

We rejoin the la:gaang and have to deal with the fact that the show is trying to do The King of Omashu (book 1 episode 5), Jet (book 1 episode 10), and The Northern Air Temple (book 1 episode 17) all at once. But the extravagance doesn't end there! We also get some Zuko and Iroh action that low key seems to be setting up a situation in which Zuko is alone a la Zuko Alone (book 2 episode 7) and Iroh in jail a la The Headband (book 3 episode 2).

Normally I would have faith that Iroh could ditch the guards and escape alone, but frankly la:Iroh doesn't inspire the same steadfast confidence as his animated counter part. But I guess we'll see next episode.

Now all things considered they could have done a much MUCH worse job rolling all of these episode concepts into one, but a piece of media having room to be worse isn't quite the same as it being good.

Once again the pacing was trash, and the dialogue writing was less than stellar. Nothing got time to rise, or breathe, or bake, or whatever metaphor you want for giving the audience time to meditate on an idea and get invested in seeing the story resolve it.

My biggest annoyance with jumbling all of these character introes and plots into one place is that they split the characters up to have one focus on each element of the story, which meant that the others didn't get to have the character growth that they had in their parts of the original episode, or the growth that was related to the specific places those episodes were set it, as is the case with Aang.

Seeing refugees living in the northern air temple and coming to accept their presence even if it meant the space wasn't being used as his people would have used it was huge for Aang, and this episode can't achieve anything close to it because they put Teo and his dad in Omashu.

They try to distract from weaknesses like the one outlined above with spectacle. In episode 2 it was Kyoshi coming to rain hell. In episode 3, it's Aang and Zuko having a slap stick comedy market chase scene. Which just becomes another case of them trying to zany comedy when they need the convenient cover, while trying to downplay and ignore it the other 95% of the time. It isn't as strong as a showing as Kyoshi wrecking fire nation soldiers.

Over all I'm sure it would be a moderately entertaining but not standout episode of TV for anyone who hasn't seen the cartoon. It does hit a speed bump in that it very obviously isn't treating those people as its target audience what with how it baits the cabbage guy yelling the line one before committing later, and the manner in which it chooses to reveal Jet and his crew members.

The energy is low-key "you should be thanking me for ordering take out instead of getting mad I didn't clean the kitchen."

[mliter]

A look over one of SEGA's most baffling decisions

Sonic The Hedgehog. From his inception, he was supposed to be different. Not like these other mascots. Radical. Cool. You can tell he's a daredevil & thrill seeker, with how he jumps into danger without a second thought with the greatest smirk on his face. This was his purpose when he was initially created.

So when it was time to make a racer, Sonic having a car seems somewhat redundant for the character. It's like the flash having a van. They tried this already, to "eh..." levels of success.

Sonic Riders aesthetically, was an absolutely genius idea for Sonic & friends to make their way into the racing game market. Any mascot that attempted to have their own racer had their mascots parked in a car seat. But not Sonic. They had him on a hoverboard and did everything possible to make it SICK. The futuristic aesthetic, the synth (?) soundtrack, and the absolutely rad artstyle fit sonic and his friends perfectly. I still see it emulated today. There weren't many other games like this on the market (or maybe there was idk i was 4 at the time)

It even came coupled with an now iconic animated intro that also followed this interesting new artstyle to depict the characters in. it fit them all perfectly. To me, this was different. This was brave. this was bold. Fitting for the character & his attitude, fitting for the series.

So when it was time to make another racer...

YOU NIGGAS PARKED HIS ASS IN A CAR SEAT AGAIN?!?!

They canned ALL that and went with this family friendly CGI sonic style for everybody and everything. No personality. No sauce. Barely anything to make this different from the rest, aside from the characters used. This wasn't cold at all. This and the shit that followed was just Mario Kart 8. Was the failure of Free Riders that bad? Nobody hated the series, it's god-awful kinect-controls was it's flaw. I'm not sure if the suits at SEGA ever understood that. Was it the controls? The mechanics? Those could be easily simplified. This is disappointing to me personally. I got serious beef with whoever proposed this shit. I miss that era when SEGA was just freestyling with Sonic. We got some ass, but we also got some absolute bangers that are still remembered today. Sonic is only cool when Ian Flynn writes him nowadays.

[arrowflier]

Writing Roundup 2: June 2021

Find Roundup #1 Here.  All Roundups will also be linked in my Fic Masterlist.

Below are links to all of my Tumblr ficlets from June with brief descriptions and any relevant content warnings.

01Jun: Drabble about Mickey’s tattoo

02Jun: Uncle Mickey and the Midnight Movie. Mickey’s continued adventures in babysitting, in which he lets Franny stay up too late.

03Jun:  Dork in Dress-up.  Ian has to get all dolled up.  Mickey likes it.  Bonus addition of gold chain in the comments.

04Jun:  Scrapes (and the healing thereof).  Featuring EMT-trained Ian fixing up Franny’s skinned knee after she gets hurt playing with Mickey.

05Jun: In which Mickey has never liked bare, sterile rooms.  But when Ian is inside with him, everything is ok.

06Jun: Later.  Drabble contemplating how Mickey and Ian used to feel about the future, and how they feel about it now.

07Jun: Links to AO3 modified version of Drunken Shenanigans: Marriage, Mickey, and Milk of the Gods

08Jun:  Not Alone (not this time).  Prison was different for Mickey when Ian was there with him.

09Jun: Ian has always had weird timing with conversations.  Asking Mickey if he ever killed anyone while they cuddled in bed was one of those times.

10Jun: In which Mickey buys Franny her first legal beer.

11Jun: Prison husband drabble.  In which Ian shows off in the yard, and everyone likes it a little too much.

12Jun:  In which Mickey and Ian go on a touristy picnic with their daughter and their dog

13Jun:  Ian and Mickey go househunting

14Jun: Ian and Mickey go clothes shopping--at the store where Mickey works.

15Jun: In which they talk about Ian quitting his job, and Mickey tries to make him feel better.

16Jun: Breaking Shit (before it breaks you).  Mickey doesn’t know how to feel about Terry’s death.  Ian takes him somewhere to work it out.

17Jun:  In which Clayton Gallagher goes to his brother’s funeral, and runs into his son--and his son’s protective husband.

18Jun: Milkovich Magic.  An AU in which Mickey Milkovich has a secret: the things he says come true.  This one is one of my favorites.  Warning: mention of domestic violence, death

19Jun: Intro to survivalist!Mickey AU that was later adapted to an ongoing multichapter on AO3 (These Undomesticated Wilds)

20Jun: Meow Meow Motherfuckers.  In which Franny emulates Mickey with colorful, fake knuckle tattoos--and by beating someone up with them.  Warning: mention of animal abuse.

21Jun: In which Mickey hears Ian say “Hit my husband again, I’ll kill you.”

22Jun: Direct sequel to previous: Ian finds out Mickey overheard him threatening Lip.

23Jun: Ian and Mickey go shopping for a new bed.

24Jun:  Young!Mickey is obsessed with a family he sees at the park--but mostly with the redhaired baby sitting in the sandbox.  Warning: allusion to child abuse

25Jun: Direct sequel to previous: Mickey takes Ian, Franny, and Liam to the same park he visited as a kid, and thinks about how far he’s come.

26Jun: Ian wants kids.  After spending time with Franny and Fred, Mickey starts to come around.

28Jun: It’s just a normal night when Ian gets lost in memories of Mickey, and celebrates the fact that he finally caught him.

29Jun: The prompt describes it best: sweet morning kisses, breakfast in bed, and relaxing while a movie plays

30Jun: Franny asks Ian about his meds.

[readerinsertfanfiction]

Happy happy birthday! (Even though it's technically not your bday anymore for you but it still is for me 😘) Can I get a matchup for ikesen? I'll do something fun and give you my top 5 anime ;D

• Cardcaptor Sakura

• One Piece

• Fullmetal Alchemist

• Natsume Yuujinchou

• Castle in the Sky

Good luck! Hope you get some sleep ❤❤❤❤❤

It hasn't been my birthday for a while now, but thank you all the same dearest Anon that doesn't rhyme with 'messy'!

I love how all five of you decided to follow a different format for this crack matchup. Gives it a certain flair and also a change of pace, but above all, more room for me to troll.

-- In lieu of my birthday I promised a few friends some exclusive matchups from my side. No promises that they will be any good, neither that I won't troll them (I totally do plan on trolling them) Now let's start this wild ride, because I'm ready to take on the world of matchmaking and shipping and proving to everyone why I should never make this my business.

NOTE: I’m NOT open for requests. This is only a special I allowed as a joke for friends to indulge in. I will be ignoring all and everyone who weren’t part of this special offer.

What this matchmaker sees from the anime listed is that this suitor loves feel-good stories with a calming setting that is supposed to bring peace to the mind. The Iyashikei genre, so to say, with a sparkle of fantasy and fairy tale allusions in them. She doesn't shy away from a good adventure either, but the main focus should be the interpersonal relationships.

Now within Ikesen we luckily have quite a few characters that adore the peaceful life, but also can switch it up a gear or two and kick up the dust for a good party. Just who is it that this matchmaker will choose for this one? Since only one fandom has been chosen the matchmaker shall give the victim two options, so that there is a choice. The last (crack) matchmaking is about to start! 

The Iyashikei genre is characterised by its ‘healing’ qualities while emulating a slice-of-life setting and storyline. It is a form of escapism where the smaller things in life are appreciated and perhaps even romanticised. Where the sun shines brighter and the grass is always at its greenest and your cup of coffee is better than the day before and the best you had as of yet. It is everything like the intro of a romance starting at a sultry summer day when all was well and drama did not exist yet, the ‘the summer before I met you’ eternalised. For this genre the first suitor that pops up within the matchmaker’s mind is Yoshimoto Imagawa, the man who gave up on a life of fighting and a self-proclaimed runaway and flighter from life. He is a man who wanders about without a true purpose other than wishing to appreciate and collect all that is beautiful in life. In a sense, he as well is chasing after that ‘healing’ quality the iyashikei tries to encompass and he would definitely be able to appreciate it. The perfect protagonist for an adventure about to be thrown at him that he can’t turn down, much like Bilbo Baggins wished for a life with multiple breakfasts, but in which he got dwarves instead, which in this case will be the dear men in Kasugayama. 

But on the other hand the matchmaker sees that the victim isn’t entirely about that rural life either, neither will mushroom cultivation, or mushroom guarding satisfy her. There is a lust for adventure, perhaps some need for intrigue, but mostly the thrill of making new friends and the strength it brings. For this perhaps the truest Studio Ghibli champion could be Hideyoshi Toyotomi. Seemingly confident at first glance, but plagued by demons below that he will be forced to face within the idyllic world he has built for himself so that he can maintain that idealistic world he perceives. Go on an adventure of self-discovery and character-growth where Masamune may appear as Baron; the indomitable gentleman cat, or make a bad deal with tricksters like Motonari who steal your name and chain your will. I promise you, however, that in the end you will find yourself again and regain all that you have lost and more. Perhaps it will be a new family, with Nobunaga as a fire demon keeping a moving house afloat. Or perhaps it will be a fleeting goodbye with only the memory of the name of the other on your lips. In any case, the adventure is yours to decide and yours to make; carpe momentum! 

[phantom-le6]

Episode Reviews - Batman: The Animated Series Season 1 (4 of 10)

Carrying on our look at the first season of Batman: The Animated Series, we present a fourth round of episode reviews, this time starting with a two-parter that introduced one of Batman’s stranger foes to the series.

Episode 20: Feat of Clay (Part 1)

Plot (as given by me):

Lucius Fox of Wayne Enterprises is lured to a secret meeting with a man who claims to be Bruce Wayne, who wants evidence the company has gathered about businessman Roland Daggett trying to take over Wayne Enterprises through insider trading.  The meeting turns out to be a set-up, but Batman’s interference ensures Fox manages to live.  However, the men escape and the injured Fox identifies Wayne as being complicit in the set-up.

 In reality, the man who set Fox up is Matt Hagan, an actor who is forced to carry out errands for Daggett in order to ensure a supply of an experimental chemical compound called “Renuyu”.  The compound makes skin highly malleable, enabling Hagan or any other user to rearrange their features as they choose.  However, the compound is also highly addictive, and Hagan needs it to cover facial disfigurements following an accident he had years ago.  Daggett insists that his men, Raymond Bell and ‘Germs’, eliminate Hagan for his incompetence, relying on Hagan’s addition to draw him to them rather than try to find Hagan, who was a noted master of disguise even before using the compound.

 As predicted, Hagan breaks into Daggett Pharmaceuticals and is caught by Bell and Germs.  They expose him to an overdose of the compound and then leave him in his car, where the compound begins to alter Hagan.  Meanwhile, Batman has learned his alter ego of Bruce Wayne was impersonated for the attack on Fox, and has remembered Bell, who is distinguished by the radio headset he wears to monitor police radio frequencies.  Batman uses this to flush Bell out by pretending to be a police radio operator.  Cornering Bell with the Batwing, Batman interrogates him about the impersonation of Wayne.  Bell confirms Wayne was impersonated, but passes out before confirming the identity of the imposter.  The arrival of the police forces Batman to abandon his efforts with Bell.

 Later, Bruce sneaks into Fox’s room at the hospital, but Fox panics and alerts the police officers outside his room, resulting in Bruce’s arrest.  Meanwhile, Hagan’s friend and stand-in Teddy Lupus tracks Hagan to Daggett’s factory, where he finds the overdose has transformed Hagan into a clay-like monster. Seeing himself in the rear-view mirror of his car, Hagan roars in horror.

Review:

Apparently, there have been several villains who have taken the name of Clayface over the course of Batman’s history in the comics, of which four had already made appearances in comics by the time this series came round.  What the series does is combine the occupation of the original Clayface Basil Karlo, namely being an actor, with the name of the second Clayface Matt Hagan, and then throws in an original origin story for the character.  Well, for the character it’s original, but for the show as a whole it’s not very original.  As the DC Animated Universe wiki rightly points out, this two-part episode shares a lot of common plot points with the ‘Two-Face’ two-part episode. Even the structure is roughly similar in that part 1 is set-up for a transformation that the principal villain then seeks retribution for in part 2.

 However, Hagan isn’t as easy to empathise with and root for compared to Harvey Dent.  While Dent was a crusading crime-fighter who was normally a good guy, and who was also friends with Bruce Wayne, Hagan comes off as someone who was probably a bit of a jerk to begin with, and who would probably be working for a creep like Daggett even if the chemicals that ultimately transform him weren’t addictive.  In essence, Hagan’s arc is like one big warning about the dangers of getting too caught up in one’s looks too much.  That said, he is well-voiced by actor Ron Perlman (yes, I mean the first cinematic Hellboy and Blade II villain Ron Perlman).  Other notable actors who have guest roles across this two-parter are Ed Begley Jr. (too many credits to name, but guest appearances in the West Wing, CSI Miami and Star Trek: Voyager number among them), and the now-late Ed Asner voicing Roland Daggett (Asner being most notable in voice acting outside of this series for Carl in Disney & Pixar’s Up!).

 Overall, it’s a decent part 1 with some very good guest talent alongside the show’s regulars.  It just lacks a bit in originality, and for that it’s only able to score 8 out of 10.

Episode 21: Feat of Clay (Part 2)

Plot (as given by me):

In his trailer at the film studio, Hagan wallows in self-pity and despair as he recalls how after his accident, Daggett conned him into being a test subject for his experimental compound.  Walking past posters on his wall, Hagan’s face changes to mimic the posters without him being aware of it.  Teddy points this out, and Hagan realises he can now make himself look like anyone, even simulating clothing out of his body. However, doing this requires intense concentration, and when Teddy disturbs Hagan, the disfigured actor lashes out, realising his career cannot be salvaged.

 Meanwhile, Wayne is released on bail, enabling him to continue his investigation as Batman, and Daggett insists that Germs kill Fox, despite the fact that Fox is in hospital and Germs earned his nickname by being a germophobe.  Hagan also deduces Daggett will try to have Fox killed, and plans to kill the assassin so he can take their place, the better to then kill Daggett.  As a result, all three men end up at the hospital. Batman intercepts Germs and manages to corner him in a room where viral and bacterial cultures are being stored for analysis, and uses this to coax Germs into revealing it was Matt Hagan who impersonated Bruce Wayne during the original ambush on Fox.

 Before Germs can reveal how Hagan pulled off the deception, a police officer appears to apparently arrest Germs.  However, it swiftly turns out the office is Hagan in disguise; he abducts Germs and takes him to the roof, intent on throwing him to his death.  Batman pursues and saves Germs, and the dark knight is startled when he sees Hagan’s face change on reflex to try and mirror his own.  Hagan uses his shape-shifting powers to try and kill Batman, but the effort soon exhausts him and he is forced to flee.  Elsewhere, Hagan finalises his plans to kill Daggett, and knocks out Teddy when he tries to talk him out of it.

 Later, Roland Daggett appears on a talk show hosted by TV journalist Summer Gleeson to promote “Renuyu” to the public.  When Summer takes questions from the audience, an overweight woman in the audience storms the stage, grilling Daggett about the chemical’s side-effects and addictive properties.  The woman then transforms, revealing it is actually Hagan in disguise, and the audience flees in terror.  Hagan, now calling himself “Clayface”, attacks Daggett, but Batman intervenes.  A fight ensues between the two that moves from the stage to the control room, Batman subduing Daggett along the way.

 In the control room, Batman activates videos of Hagan’s films, causing him to shape-shift out of control as his body tries to emulate all the varying and conflicting characters at once.  The police arrive as Hagan’s out-of-control changing continues, and they see his face briefly become that of Bruce Wayne. Hagan then smashes the control consoles, electrocuting himself.  He laments that he never got a death scene this good when he was still an actor, and won’t be around to read the notices.  While Wayne is cleared of all wrong-doing, Batman experiments on a piece of Clayface left behind and realises electricity has no effect on it. Combined with the actor’s choice of words, Batman realises Hagan gave them all a fake death; his body at the police morgue turns out to be an empty shell, and elsewhere a disguised Clayface laughs at his seeming triumph.

Review:

As I noted with part 1, the whole Clayface intro two-part story is quite derivative in its plot structure, having so many parallels to the Two-Face intro episodes that to a casual glance, they could appear identical.  However, part 2 does compensate for this with more than just a great cast of guest voices like part 1 did.  In part 2, we see Clayface show off his powers, and that’s where this episode comes to really stand out.  Unlike some DC heroes, Batman faces a rogues’ gallery composed almost entirely of otherwise normal people who are either just insane human beings or some form of professional criminal.  As a result, he’s often challenged more by their insanity or something technical they’ve done.

 Clayface, on the other hand, opens our animated Batman up to facing a foe who presents a challenge because he has a physical super-power that the caper crusader has to contend with.  Metahumans aren’t the norm for Batman solo adventures, but it’s fun to see them because they serve as evidence for why someone like Batman ultimately ends up as a member of the Justice League.  It’s his ability to get through the initial clash, learn from it and be prepared the next time around that ensures Batman can win even against a super-powered adversary.  However, even with this we’re not quite up to top marks, but we’re close.  I’d give this episode 9 out of 10.

Episode 22: Joker’s Favour

Plot (as given by me):

Average Gothamite Charlie Collins is coming home from a bad day at work when he is cut off on the freeway by multiple drivers, including Batman and officers of the GCPD.  However, the one that compels Charlie to return the favour complete with a string of abuse turns out to be the Joker.  Horrified at his mistake, Charlie then tries to flee, but the clown prince of crime pursues him.  Charlie, in the heat of the moment, states he’ll do anything to make amends, and the Joker agrees, stating that at some future time, he’ll ask a favour of Charlie.

 Two years later, Commissioner Gordon is to be honoured with a testimonial, something that sits ill with the Joker, and he plans to crash the festivities.  Despite having two henchmen and a right-hand woman in the form of one Harley Quinn, Joker decides to call in the favour owed to him by Charlie Collins. Charlie has moved cities and changed names, but the Joker has managed to keep track of the man, and insists Charlie return to Gotham if he doesn’t want his wife and son hurt.  At Gordon’s testimonial, which is being held at the Gotham Peregrinators Club, Charlie’s favour for the Joker is open the door for Harley while she pushes a giant cake in.  However, Charlie decides to try and warn Batman, and uses a club exhibit to make an improvised bat-signal.

 Charlie performs his task as Harley brings the cake in, disguised as a uniform cop.  However, Charlie finds his hand is now glued to the handle, and the cake emits a gas that paralyses everyone not involved in the Joker’s scheme (the Joker’s men, Harley and Charlie all wear gas-masks while Joker springs up from inside the cake).  The Joker pins a bomb to Commissioner Gordon’s suit and leaves with Harley and his men, planning to kill Charlie along with the assembled officers. However, Batman arrives, having spotted the improvised bat-signal as he’d been leaving the club as Bruce Wayne. At Charlie’s warning, he uses his grapnel gun to shoot the bomb outside, which results in the destruction of the Joker’s getaway van, after which he frees Charlie from the door, telling him to stay with the recovering police officers while he tackles the Joker.

 Batman is quick to take down Joker’s henchmen and Harley while Joker gets outside.  There, he is confronted by Charlie, who in mad desperation threatens the Joker with one of his own bombs that was thrown clear of the van.  Joker pleads for Batman to save him, and the dark knight appears in time to apparently talk Charlie down.  However, Charlie soon tosses the device to the ground, where it turns out to be a gag bomb instead of a real one.  While an amused Batman takes the Joker into custody, Charlie looks forward to returning to his normal life.

Review:

This episode has quite a lot going for it. For starters, it’s another Joker episode, which are generally sure bets to be interesting once any Batman show knows what they’re doing with the character.  Second, it’s a Joker episode with a very interesting premise of putting an everyman kind of character in the middle of everything.  That alone helps the episode to stand out as something different, and that’s before we consider that the everyman character is being voiced by Ed Begley Jr.  In and of itself, that last point might not seem like much, but if you compare Charlie Collins to the character Begley was voicing in the ‘Feat of Clay’ two-part episode, it shows this chap has an impressive range for voice-acting.

 However, all of this is relative pre-amble to the fact that this is the episode that first featured the show’s major break-out original character of Harley Quinn.  From the simple act of episode writer Paul Dini creating Harley as a guest character for this episode, her character has taken Batman’s original medium of comics and all other Batman mediums by storm.  It’s hard to believe given the episode isn’t giving her a proper intro with origin story and all the rest, but luckily the show would later address that. However, I think that just goes to show how strong the character was, or possibly just how much Batman lore must have needed that character without maybe realising it.  Factoring all this in, I’d say this episode is another top scorer; 10 out of 10.

Episode 23: Vendetta

Plot (as given by me):

Convict “Spider” Conway is being transported from Stonegate to give evidence against crime lord Rupert Thorne, but the transport boat is blown up by a bomb mid-transport.  The officers on board spotted the bomb and got off in time, but Conway is missing and everyone begins to assume the worst.  When Batman finds a toothpick like those used by Detective Harvey Bullock at the Stonegate Penitentiary docks, and later learns Bullock was once suspected of taking bribes from Thorne, he assumes something even worse; that Bullock planted the bomb himself.

 Bullock is taken off the Thorne/Conway case because of this unsavoury history, while Batman goes to interrogate Thorne.  The crime lord claims he wasn’t involved and that Conway’s testimony won’t damage him at all.  This seems to confirm Batman’s theory that Bullock blew up the boat to prevent anything come to light about his own past with Thorne, but Commissioner Gordon is adamant Bullock is clean.  However, when someone dressed like Bullock abducts another criminal, Joey “The Snail” Martin, from his police cell, Bullock is arrested.

 Batman examines another piece of evidence found at the docks, a scale which looks reptilian but has human cellular structure. A chance phrase of Alfred’s combined with the scale gives Batman an idea.  He eventually discovers Joey and Spider have been hidden in a cave with an underwater access and confronts their abductor, who identifies himself as a former professional wrestler named Killer Croc.  Croc was apparently born part-crocodile, which gives him a massive strength advantage.  Despite this, Batman is able to tie Croc up long enough to capture Joey and Spider and leave.

 Back at the Batcave, Batman is able to trace Croc’s past; he became a pro-wrestler after a stint as a side-show attraction, then turned to crime when he came to Gotham.  Initially penny-ante, Croc was later arrested by Bullock and convicted based on the testimony of Spidey and Joey.  Realising this, Batman intercepts Croc when he tries to corner Bullock in the detective’s car, after Bullock has been released on bail.  Batman and Croc take their battle into the sewers, where Batman ultimately wins, bringing Croc back to the surface for Bullock to take in. Bullock soon returns to duty with all charges against him formally dropped.

Review:

Here we get a fairly simple, but nonetheless decent, intro episode for another of the metahuman monsters that occasionally get a spot in the Batman rogues’ gallery.  This time it’s Killer Croc, who has a fairly simple backstory and doesn’t require the kind of introductions we’ve seen for many of Batman’s other foes. The backstory for Croc is so simple, in fact, that it doesn’t lose anything from being worked into a Bullock frame-up plot that allows us to also see a major supporting character in Batman lore developed further.  My only criticism would be that Croc’s proper name of Waylon Jones from the comics isn’t used, and that right at the end he gets identified as ‘Killer Croc Morgan’ by the news reporter.  It might seem like a minor niggle to some, but between that and the frame-up seeming a bit advanced for the simplistic Croc, I give this episode just 8 out of 10.

Episode 24: Fear of Victory

Plot (as given by me):

Amidst reports of star athletes having panic attacks that cause them to lose, Dick Grayson’s college room-mate and American football player Brian Rogers is on the verge of being signed into the professional American football leagues.  As they discuss this, Brian receives a strange telegram wishing him luck, but also reminding him that only a fool knows no fear.  Later at a crucial game, Brian suffers a panic attack of his own, and later when Dick is out as Robin assisting Batman, he has a panic attack while scaling the side of a skyscraper to tackle two thieves.

 Investigating Dick’s college dorm, Batman discovers the telegram is coated in a substance that is blocked by their gloves. Performing an experiment back at the Batcave, Batman deduces that the chemical is activated by adrenalin, causing major panic during moments of major excitement such as high-pressure sporting contests.  The nature of the chemical clearly indicates the Scarecrow, but Robin contends that Scarecrow is supposed to be locked up at Arkham Asylum.  A visit there swiftly reveals, however, that Scarecrow has escaped and somehow terrorised an orderly into keeping the escape a secret.

 Elsewhere, a man identifying himself only as ‘Lucky’ collects another big win from Leon the Bookie, who sends his enforcer after the man to find out how he is managing to win so many bets.  Lucky turns out to be the Scarecrow, and uses another drugged telegram to cow the enforcer into submission.  Batman explains to Commissioner Gordon that in order to finance his fear experiments, Scarecrow is drugging top athletes and then betting against them or their teams, depending on the sport in question.  That knight, Gotham’s professional American football team the Gotham Knights have a game that Scarecrow is likely to target, so Batman goes to intervene, Robin going along despite not yet having recovered from the fear chemical himself.

 At the game, Robin spots the disguised Scarecrow entering and follows, quickly deducing that this time, Scarecrow has tampered with a player’s helmet rather than going for the telegram trick again. Watching the game from the lighting scaffold in the stadium roof, Scarecrow is puzzled as the targeted player doesn’t have a panic attack, and is then surprised when Batman confronts him. Scarecrow threatens to drop a vial of fear toxin on the crowd if Batman doesn’t back off, but then opts to drop it to keep Batman too busy to follow him.  However, the vial lands on a lower platform instead.

 A scuffle ensues that causes the vial to fall towards the crowd, but Robin arrives in time to swing out and catch the vial, overcoming his panic attacks and saving the day.  He also reveals he was the one who swapped out the dosed helmet for a safe one.  Scarecrow is swiftly returned to Arkham and Brian Rodgers is signed up to play professional American football.

Review:

Quick bit of house-keeping; as a Brit, I cannot stand how Americans call actual football ‘soccer’ and their version of football, well, football.  After all, football is supposed to be played, as the name implies, with one’s feet.  Why the Americans apply this name to their version when they almost never use their feet to move the ball is just silly to me. Also, given the shape of the ball, I’d say what they’re really playing is rugby, albeit with a better set-up in terms of ensuring player protection and, hopefully, no stupid rules prohibiting passes in the direction players are meant to run.  So, for anyone wondering why I’ve insisted on using the term ‘American football’ all through the plot outline above, that’s why.

 So, that having now been explained, let’s consider the episode proper.  While this was the first episode to be aired featuring Robin, it’s the second from a production stand-point, and in all honesty it’s one episode that might have been better going ahead of the earlier Robin episode ‘Christmas with the Joker’.  The fact that Dick is at college, and thus less available to act as Robin, is more directly shown here, so really this should have been made as well as aired first, then the Christmas episode done later on both counts.  Robin’s arc in the story about overcoming fears is a decent, albeit highly cliché one that at times slightly undercuts the episode’s quality.

 To some degree, the return of Scarecrow with a more terrifying appearance helps compensate for this, but then also undercutting the episode is the obviousness that the Scarecrow is the culprit.  Between the episode title (and title card), not to mention the series of fear-related incidents with top athletes, it’s somewhat painful having to wait for Batman to make the connection the audience made five minutes earlier at least.  It’s like watching any episode of Columbo, where the audience gets to see what actually happened first and then has to wait ages for the detective to work it out.

 That way of presenting mysteries is almost as daft as calling a sport football if it’s not going to involve primarily foot-on-ball contact.  The audience should always be in sync with or behind the detective, and if you get there ahead of them, it should be from your own deduction, not because the book, TV episode or film spoils the solution for you while making the detective work for it.  Overall, this isn’t the best episode of the series by any means, and I give it just 5 out of 10.

Episode 25: The Clock King

Plot (as given by me):

Hamilton Hill, the future Mayor of Gotham, catches a subway to work at his law firm, and finds himself sitting opposite businessman and efficiency expert Temple Fugate, who is preparing for a hearing regarding a judgement of $20 million dollars against his company.  Hill warns Fugate that he needs to unwind a bit before the court hearing or the judge may rule against him by misreading his tension as guilt. Taking Hill’s advice, Fugate takes his coffee break 15 minutes later than normal and goes to the park instead of staying in the office.  This leads to mishaps that result in him appearing late and dishevelled, prompting the judge to rule summarily against Fugate, causing the demise of his business.

 Seven years later, Hill is now mayor of Gotham and in the process of starting a re-election campaign.  On his way to a fund-raiser for the campaign, Hill is detained when traffic lights at an intersection are tampered with, and at the same time a poster mocking Hill is unveiled on the side of a building.  Bruce Wayne is also caught in the traffic mishap, and spies the culprit on a nearby rooftop. He attempts to interfere as Batman, but the culprit (Fugate now lightly disguised as the timing-obsessed Clock King) manages to escape through his expert use of timing.

 Batman’s investigations of the traffic incident soon give him Fugate’s name, and when a bank is the subject of a targeted black-out to disable its time locks, the dark knight deduces this to also be Fugate’s work. At the bank’s vault, Batman is trapped inside by Fugate, who reveals via audio recording that he has left a high-speed vacuum pump to drain the vault’s air.  The pump will take less time than Batman’s cutting torch, and it’s rigged with a vibration-sensitive explosive to prevent Batman tampering with it.  However, Batman is able to break open the audio cassette and use the magnetic ribbon to rig up a pulley system; using this, he moves the pump to the vault door and then sets it off by hitting it with a batarang.

 The bank vault, however, was ultimately successful in that while Batman is getting free, Fugate sabotages the opening of a Gotham subway station by making two subway trains crash at the station.  Only minor injuries are reported, but in the confusion the mayor has gone missing.  Batman, hearing of this and recalling Fugate having a lot of plans of a clock tower, swiftly realises Fugate has kidnapped Hill and taken him to the tower.

 At the clock tower, Fugate has tied Hill to the clock hands, which will crush Hill at 3:15; the time Hill suggested Fugate take his coffee break at seven years earlier.  As Hill’s law firm represented the plaintiffs in the case against Fugate, the timing-obsessed criminal has become convinced Hill’s advice was deliberate sabotage, and thus he various crimes throughout the day have been about exacting revenge on Hill. Batman arrives and engages Fugate in combat inside the workings of the giant clock, until Fugate’s clock-hand sword jams the gears, causing a catastrophic collapse.  Batman and Hill escape, and while there is no sign of Fugate in the aftermath, Batman believes that a man with Fugate’s use of timing could easily have escaped as well.

Review:

While the main antagonist of this episode shares his codename and use of timing with a DC Comics villain that was mainly a foe of Green Arrow, this show puts a different person behind the name and modus operandi, complete with a different origin story.  It’s a decent story, and one that certainly breaks a major convention of the series by having Batman operate in the daytime instead of being a strictly night-time crime fighter.  However, that sort of change is good because it adds somewhat to the variety of the show while also taking the main character out of his comfort zone a bit. On a personal note, I also enjoy this episode because what happens to Fugate illustrates why if you’re someone who is worried about being somewhere on time, you should never listen to any advice that might put you behind schedule.

 Hill might think what he’s suggesting will help Fugate, but it’s clear he’s not really engaged with Fugate and doesn’t understand the man.  Anyone who is this good with timing clearly needs everything to run like, well, clockwork in order to be relaxed.  I know because I’m often the same way and can’t stand the idea of being late to anything even where it might be the social norm.  If being late is going to cause someone anxiety, don’t try to suggest that they do anything that’s going to risk making them late.  Don’t tell them to have their break at another time or to get out of their routine; let them stay in their routine because odds are they need that routine just to keep calm.

 As much as Fugate goes overboard on the revenge, Hill deserves the opening salvo of the traffic incident and poster graffiti, and so does anyone who tries to advise others on how to calm down without knowing them.  Also, changes in routine and getting outside won’t help if the source of anxiety still exists.  Anxiety, like every problem in existence, has only solution; deal with the problem at its source.  Got an illness?  Go for whatever treatment wipes it out or lets your immune system do so.  Don’t like the current government?  Vote to change who runs it and get everyone you can to vote the same way?  Want to stop discrimination of any kind?  Fight every kind actively, aggressively and never, ever just say ‘I’m not that kind of bigot’ and then do nothing else.  Problems are only ever solved by action, not evasion.

 So overall, this is a good episode with an interesting premise and a story that highlights the folly of giving well-meant advice if you don’t really know the person you’re advising.  It’s not one of the highlights of the series, but I’d be hard-pressed to consider it a flop of any kind.  I’d say about 8 out of 10 for this one.

Episode 26: Appointment in Crime Alley

Plot (as given by me):

Roland Daggett wants to buy up and redevelop Gotham’s Park Row, a formerly nice area of the city that has now become a slum so infested with crime that it is better known as Crime Alley.  However, most of the residents of the area cannot afford to live anywhere else, so they are resisting Daggett’s plans.  To that end, Daggett hires an arsonist known as Nitro to destroy the slum and make it look like a faulty gas main ruptured.  Daggett asks that the explosion occur that evening at 9pm, which is when Daggett will be otherwise occupied giving his speech to the Gotham Better Business Council.

 Bruce Wayne deduces Daggett is up to something as he watches news commentary on the Park Row situation, but he has his own appointment to keep in the area an hour prior to Daggett’s deadline, one he has apparently never failed to make.  Bruce heads to the area as Batman, but is delayed when a girl comes running out of an apartment building screaming for help.  Batman enters the apartment to find three crooks trying to terrorise the girl’s mother out of the place.  The dark knight swiftly defeats the crooks and learns they’ve been strong-arming everyone in Crime Alley to leave, suggesting they may be working for Daggett.

 Meanwhile, Crime Alley resident and physician Dr Leslie Thompkins realises Batman is running late and sets out to look for him, insisting to her friend Maggie that she’ll be alright, having lived in the area for 30 years.  However, Leslie is abducted and tied up by Nitro and Daggett’s henchman Crocker when she discovers them rigging explosives in a condemned building.  When Batman learns Leslie has gone out in search of him after he was delayed, he begins to search for her.  He is then delayed when a desperate Crime Alley resident holds a clerk from Daggett Industries hostage for serving him eviction papers.  Batman manages to diffuse the situation and resumes his search for Leslie.

 A check of Leslie’s apartment reveals nothing, apart from a scrapbook that explains the nature of her relationship to Batman; Crime Alley was where Bruce’s parents were shot and killed, and Leslie was there to comfort the grieving Bruce, being a colleague of Bruce’s father as well as a local resident.  Seeing a homeless man staring through the window, Batman confronts him and learns of Leslie’s abduction.  He is delayed getting to her by having to stop an out-of-control tram trolley, which forces him to abandon the Batmobile and finish his journey on foot.

 Finding Crocker and Nitro in the midst of completing their work, Batman locks them inside their own van and diffuses the bombs Leslie is tied up next to.  Leslie urges Batman to forget her and get everyone out of a nearby hotel that has become a sanctuary for many people with nowhere else to live.  As Daggett gives his speech, sections of Crime Alley explode, but when Daggett later appears on the scene, it turns out all the residents and most of the buildings are still ok.  Only a few condemned buildings are taken out by the blasts, and Daggett’s men are under arrest.  However, Daggett denies any involvement and pins the blame on the neighbourhood’s high crime rate.

 As Daggett leaves, Leslie urges Batman to let it go, and the pair walk away to keep their appointment, each laying a rose at the place where Bruce’s parents were murdered years before.

Review:

When it comes to adapting Batman’s supporting cast from the comics, there are a few characters who get over-looked in most versions, and Dr Leslie Thompkins is a major oversight in most incarnations. While Alfred’s place as Batman’s butler and Bruce Wayne’s surrogate father figure is generally ensured in every iteration of the character, the surrogate mother role played by Leslie is less featured.  The fact that this series actually bothered to include her at all, and does so with such accuracy to the source material, is another example of why this show remains so iconic and definitive in terms of Batman adaptations.

 Of course, the key to making this work is two-fold.  First, the episode is apparently based on a specific comic-book story, which wasn’t something this series or later DC animated universe productions did very often. Second, they had Diana Muldaur, better known to Trek audiences as Dr Kate Polaski from season two of Star Trek: TNG, voicing Leslie, and while I didn’t generally care for her TNG character, she brings the right warmth and kindliness to her role in this episode. We also get Ed Asner back as Roland Daggett, which helps to ensure Rupert Thorne isn’t the only animated series original criminal that’s getting repeat appearances.  It also gives the episode a suitably notable antagonist to keep it interesting.  Overall, I’m inclined to put this one in the top-scorers club for this series; 10 out of 10.

[literal-bot-account]

It occurred to me that I have a lot of chrome extensions, and maybe I should share some of them!

My extension bar, for context. I’ll only mention the ones I find most important, numbered by their position left to right. 

1. Adblock Plus: You’ve probably heard of this one. Adblockers are just useful in general.

4. Kick Ass!: Ever wanted to shoot a webpage? This extension lets you control a spaceship reminiscent of the game Asteroids as you take down elements on the webpage.

5. Video Speed Controller: Have full control over video playback speed on pretty much any embedded video on the internet. 

7. Ublock Origin: The other major adblocker. I use both just to be safe.

9. SponsorBlock: Tired of sitting through sponsor segments, intro animations, reminders to like and subscribe, or other disinteresting content in youtube videos? This extension uses user-submitted timestamps to skip those sorts of things. 

11. IE Tab: Something’s not loading in Chrome but you’re too lazy to switch browsers? Just emulate an Internet Explorer tab in Chrome.

12. Bot Sentinel: If you use Twitter a lot in your browser, this one is for you. It checks twitter accounts and gives them a rating on how likely they are to be bots, inauthentic accounts, or toxic twitter trolls.

13. Unpaywall: If you do a lot of research, try Unpaywall. When you view a paywalled scholarly article, Unpaywall tries to find a free copy for you instead.

14. Shinigami Eyes: If you’re trans or trans-supporting, check this one out! Use it to check and/or mark pro- or anti-trans search results, twitter/reddit/tumblr/youtube accounts, and a whole bunch more. It’s just nice to check before interacting.

15. Google Translate: Too lazy to copy and paste text in a foreign language into a google translate tab? Just highlight the text and the extension will do the rest.

16. Nano Blocker: EDIT: I PREVIOUSLY ENDORSED THIS BUT DON’T ANYMORE. THE ORIGINAL DEVELOPER NO LONGER HAS CONTROL AND IT HAS BECOME SPYWARE. REMOVE IT IF YOU HAVE IT.

[rachelbethhines]

Tangled Salt Marathon - Before Ever After

So we’re back and kicking off the salt marathon proper with the pilot movie, Before Ever After. Lets dig in shall we.

Summray:  Six months after the events of Tangled, Rapunzel is settling into life as princess of Corona, but is unable to enjoy it with the constant protection of her father's guards. When she and her lady-in-waiting, Cassandra, sneak out of the castle, they come upon some black rock spikes that magically bring back her long blonde hair. Meanwhile, a figure from Frederic’s past is out for revenage. 

Lack of Set Up

Right off the bat we got our first flaw. The show opens with a song reintroducing our main characters, where they are right now in the story, and showing off their goals and personal conflicts. All save for Cassandra that is. 

This is Cass. You wouldn’t know it from the pilot but she is the secondary protagonist of the show. (I’m sorry Eugene fans, like it or not she is) And that’s precisely the problem. She gets no introduction. She’s just there. Her entire motivations, goals, and interpersonal conflicts are suppose to drive the story line of the last season and a half, but we have no idea what any of those things are from her beginning episode.     

The show-runners have tried to excuse this with wanting Cassandra’s arc to be a ‘slow burn’ but that’s not how a slow burn actually works. A ‘slow burn’ is either a background element/character being established early and then reveled to be plot important later, (think McGucket in Gravity Falls) or a prominent character being given a seemingly shallow goal/motivation and then slowly peeling back the layers and showing more complexity behind that goal/motivation. (like Zuko in Avatar) 

Cass is neither of these things. She’s not a background element. She’s there from the word go and given the same amount of screen time and focus as both Raps and Eugene through out. But she’s not been established like Zuko either. We won’t know what motivates her until four episodes in, it’ll take another four episodes to show all of her important interpersonal relationships, and it’ll take a whole S3 seasons just to give us a clear goal. 

These are not things your audience should be left guessing about. They are what propel your story forward and must be made clear from the get go. 

Not a Flaw, But...

I don’t like that the series blends several different time periods and cultures together into a grab bag of world building.

Now this is an opinion, not a critique. What’s the difference?

A flaw in writing is a failure to communicate your ideas clearly to your audience. The lack of introduction for Cassandra, as mentioned above, actively gets in the way of the story the writers want to tell. That is a flaw. 

But this? This an idea that the creators wanted to use and they conveyed it quite well. They use various fashions to show off different characters’ personalities, anachronistic technology in order to make certain plot points happen, and visual cues from other cultures around the world to give a feeling of fantasy to the series. It’s very well done. I just don’t like it.      

I personally prefer a more anchored take on world building with an actual designated time period and place, even in a fantasy world. Once again is this just an opinion and there’s no right or wrong here. Just preference. 

And I bring this distinction up now to show that one can have both personal preferences and still give valid criticisms. The existence one does not invalidate the other. Some sub-sections of the fandom love to shut down any sort of critical examinations by acting like having a different opinion is grounds for dismissing critique entirely. 

That’s not going to fly here. Which brings me to...

Lack of Follow Through

Initially, I enjoyed the conflict presented here between Rapunzel and Eugene. Young couples just starting out often have disagreements on what direction they want their lives to go in. It’s very real and very normal and I know actual people who have been there or are currently there right now. 

Unfortunately there’s no follow through. 

The core conflict is never actually resolved on screen at any point in the show. The characters keep putting it off and then it’s suddenly forgotten about by S3. We the audience are just left to assume that they worked things out some where off screen. 

If the lack of intro to Cass showcases the series problem with establishing plot points, then the treatment of Eugene’s and Rapunzel’s relationship shows us the other half of that coin. The show often steps things up or makes a big deal out of stuff that is never again brought up or resolved in a satisfying manner. 

Failure to Learn 

It also shows the fundamental flaw behind the premise of the series. Rapunzel never learns. 

Oh she changes through out the show. The Raps we see here is not the Raps we end up with. But how she develops doesn’t involve her owning up to any of flaws that she presents. 

This conflict with Eugene requires showing the audience that Rapnuzel is not good with communication and by the end she is still not any good with communicating. However, Eugene, and by extension the show itself, just gives her a free pass. 

The show wants to be a coming of age story, but fails at the one thing required for it to be a coming of age story. 

Show Don’t Tell

Getting back to Cass, another problem with the show is it’s over reliance on exposition. In a visual medium, like animation, you want to show the audience the information they need to know when ever possible. You can have exposition from time to time, but you generally want to use it sparingly and not rely on it for really important stuff, like idk... say introducing an important character relationship. 

This scene actually showcases the issue quite well. We are told two things about Cass here.

1. That she collects weapons, indicating is a warrior/tomboy

2. That Cass is the Captain's daughter.      

The first one is shown to us, by seeing her collection, and the second is told to us through a single line. Of the two which would you think is the most important to the story?

You’d be forgiven if you thought her weapon hobby since that’s what the scene focuses on, but it’s actually her relationship with her dad. A dad we won’t see on screen doing anything until episode three, and won’t see him interact with said daughter until episode eight. 

Cassandra's relationship with her parents is supposedly a driving force behind her decisions in season 3, which in turn drive the main conflict, but we so little see those relationships that they leave little impact once they become important. in fact the audience is mostly just left scratching their heads and guessing what went down between them. That’s not a good thing. Once again, motivation, goals, and inter personal conflicts should not be left to viewer interpretation. They need to be established. This line does not establish what audience needs to know.   

Eugene Deserves Better 

On that note, Eugene is set up pretty well, but he doesn’t get the focus he deserves.He’s constantly shoved aside for either Rapunzel’s or Cassandra’s conflicts/goals instead.  

As the series goes on, this translates into him actually being subservient to Rapunzel herself while she goes around bullying, dismissing, and actively brow beating him until he complies to all of her wishes. And the line above is foreshadowing for that. 

The writers don’t consider Eugene a main protagonist, even though they should, and think that all secondary characters must comply to anything and everything the protagonists desire. Which it not how you should write characters ever. 

A good compelling protagonist won’t get everything they want and nor should they. Likewise just because a secondary character wants or needs something doesn’t mean their goals or desires should be ignored. 

The result of this line of thinking is to present an obvious power imbalance in numerous relationships throughout the course of the show, which are unhealthy and uncomfortable to watch. 

As for New Dream specifically, they go from being a cute couple who are learning from one another equally to a toxic relationship where one character is a doormat to the other. The fact that this is presented by the show as ‘positive character development’ and a healthy relationship that is to be emulated is one of the more repulsive elements to sit through. And looking back you can see the warning signs starting all the way back to here in the pilot. 

Lady Caine is Wasted   

Speaking of undeserved characters, meet Lady Caine. By all accounts she should be one of the main antagonist of the series. 

She isn’t. 

If Cass lacks set up, then Caine has too much. She’s given a complex backstory, sympathetic motivation, and a understandable goal from her first reveal. And none of it matters. 

She only appears three times in the series and each time she is cast aside. Her original goals and motivations ignored upon subsequent appearances.   

She is made to be the perfect foil for Rapunzel. Her opposite in every way. And is presented as someone important to the audience. Everything about her screams main villain and the show never delivers on its promise. 

This is Abuse

Another thing the show fails to acknowledge is calling out abusive behavior, routinely. 

In this episode alone, Rapunzel’s father 

Dismisses Rapunzel’s autonomy as a grown adult.

Repeats Mother’s Gothel’s lines about the world being a ‘dark and cruel place’ nearly word for word back to Rapunzel in order to guilt her into staying, there by preforming the same abuse as her former abuser

Is constantly feared by everyone, even his own daughter. To the point that no one trusts him with the truth for fear of what he may do. This is passed off as humorous until you remember he has the power to hang people and has done so for non-violent crimes 

Is hinted at being a totalitarian ruler who disproportionately enacts punishments upon poor people who need to steal to survive. 

Is hinted to have orphaned a child once and may have done so to numerous other children    

Abuses his authority as king to coerce his daughter into obeying him

And that’s only in the first episode. It gets worse guys. Much worse. 

Oh Look! Foreshadowing that Means Nothing

You can’t tell but that’s suppose to be Quirin. This winds up mattering not in the slightest. 

Conclusion

So in conclusion, Before Ever After is a false advertisement. A pilot is suppose to inform the audience of the premise of it’s show and give them expectations of what is to come from the series. Nothing that’s set up here comes to fruition and things that do wind up being important aren’t established properly. The only reason to watch is to find out how Rapnuzel got her long hair back and get the mystery of the rocks. As a singular episode it’s ok, as part of ongoing series it’s dismal. Which is the majority of this show in a nutshell.  

[thisyearingaming]

1997 - This Year in Gaming

Muggins here was born in ‘97, and can’t really remember much of it, natch. But there were some good things released this year - I’ve played every one of these, and have missed so many more.

Diablo - Windows, January 3rd

We start with dungeon-crawl-em-up and well-loved out of season April Fool’s Joke, Diablo. I’ll be totally honest - I don’t like Diablo that much. It’s absolutely fine, I just can’t get into it. The writing, setting and characters are all very good especially since this year only marks the beginning of games being seen as a bit more adult and intelligent. Check out this gameplay from Hour of Oblivion on YouTube, and marvel at the faux-Scottish accent on Griswold the blacksmith.

Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64, February 10th

Compared to its more recent versions, Mario Kart 64 is a veritable bloody relic of the past - solid controls and a quirky style mean it’s still a crowd pleaser to this day, but you’d be hard pressed to find anyone right now that would die on the hill of it being their favourite single-player racing experience. It’s also got some of the deepest, impenetrable lore in any medium known to the human race - why exactly is Marty the Thwomp locked up here?

Blast Corps - Nintendo 64, February 28th

February’s position as most boring month of the year is shaken up a bit by having a uniquely designed Rare game slammed into its 28-day long face. Blast Corps is the puzzle-action game where you take control of several vehicles to destroy homes and buildings in order to prevent a nuclear warhead exploding in the coolest incarnation of Cold War politicking ever seen in a video game. Calling Blast Corps a “hidden gem” these days is like calling Celeste a hidden gem - it impresses nobody and makes you look like a dick. 

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter - Nintendo 64, March 4th 

The N64 was home to a surprisingly large number of above-average shooters despite its muddy graphics and small cartridge space - Turok is one of these, a great FPS game where you shoot the SHIT out of dinosaurs. Brett Atwood of Billboard said it was like Doom and Tomb Raider mixed - Doom Raider, if you will. I say it isn’t - there’s no demons, and there’s no polygonal breasts to poke dinosaurs’ eyes out with! 

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

What is a retrospective? A miserable little pile of opinions. I’ve only recently played through SotN for the very first time on a TOTALLY LEGITIMATE copy with a CRT filter. Bloody good (geddit?) game, that takes the repetition of its predecessors, improves on it in basically every conceivable way, and combines it with special effects and graphics that even 23 years later had me going “ooh, that looks quite good!” Symphony’s music and audio design are wonderfully paired with a deeply enjoyable experience that’ll have you saying “mm, maybe just one more room?”

Tekken 3 - Sony PlayStation, March 20th

Also releasing from the Land of the Rising Sun that day was Tekken 3, which many believe is still one of the best fighters ever made. Tekken 3′s combat is so fast and responsive that it’s better than some games made today. T3 is also the best and easiest way to knock seven shades of absolute shite out of your friends without risking a massive head injury or a trip to the headmaster’s office... where you could also challenge him, but only if he plays as my favourite Not-Guile-or-Ken character in gaming, Paul. 

Sonic Jam - Sega Saturn, June 20th

The moment Sega realised that re-packaging old Mega Drive games would net them serious cash - although unlike later collections, this is a strictly Sonic affair, and has a neat little 3D world to run around in as a sort of hub world. Sonic X-Treme proved that Sonic Team would have to work hard at getting the fastest thing alive into 3D space properly: Jam is the sort of test ground for it too. It features some genuinely good emulation work for 1997, although it’s basically the gaming equivalent of going round to your grandparents at Christmas only for them to give you the exact same gifts you got in 1991, 1992 and 1994 but wrapped in a bow to make you think it’s different. What are you lookin’ at, you little blue devil?

Star Fox 64 - Nintendo 64, June 30th

So there’s this German company, right, called StarVox. Nintendo look at Europe and say “shit, we don’t want another lawsuit... after all, we’ve done three this year!”. So they give us in the PAL region the exciting title of Lylat Wars which as far as I know means absolutely fucking nothing in the context of the game. They’re still called Star Fox in-game too so what was the point? Anyway, fun 3D shooter with graphics that’ll make you do a barrel roll off the sofa and onto the power button to make the brown and green blurs a little easier on the eyes. Hello 2007, I’ve come back to make old references with you!

Carmageddon - Windows, July 30th

The game so scary it was BANNED in the UK! More like the game so fucking shit it was banned. Carmageddon is so deeply boring to play on PC that I can only imagine that Stainless Games made it tasteless by 90s standards simply to ramp up demand - much like another game we’ll be covering soon. 

Herc’s Adventures - Sony PlayStation, July 31st

“And they said Kratos was the best hero? Shish... they got it wrong, sister! Hercules is clearly better... he even has a coconut weapon.” A surprisingly fun overhead action game that most people only know for... well, I’ll just embed it.

Mega Man X4 - Sony Playstation, August 1st

A few years ago I tried playing every Mega Man game there is - I gave up at X3 because I was getting bored. Even still, Mega Man bores me - but at least the level design is good. Stay away from the Windows port. Pictured: me in the background yawning.

GoldenEye 007 - Nintendo 64, August 25th 

The name’s Intro. Overused intro which I also managed to fuck up twice through the deeply editable medium of text. GoldenEye is like the Seinfeld of console shooters - playing it nowadays you’re unlikely to be amazed but holy shit there’s some absolute greatness in this game. Every sound and every piece of music in GoldenEye is permanently seared into my brain - sometimes I’ll just hear Facility or Frigate in my head alongside the door opening sound and the gentle PEW of the PP7. I mean come on, fucking listen to this and tell me Grant Kirkhope isn’t cool as all hell.

LEGO Island - Windows, September 26th

The first open world experience I ever had was LEGO Island. It’s still quite good today, utterly deranged animation from the likes of the Infomaniac and Brickster - a cautionary tale for children that giving pizza to high-profile criminals is disastrous for the human LEGO race. 

Fallout - Windows, October 10th

War never changes, but franchises do. Fallout’s legendary status in the industry is exemplified in how different it feels. Yes, we had the game Wasteland nine years prior, but until September 97 there was nothing quite like Fallout. From the chilling introduction sequence showing the ruins of the United States to the tragic ending, Fallout is an exercise in pure human misery with the brightest spots of hope it can possibly muster thrown in for good measure. What begins as a tedious isometric point-and-click RPG ends as a minigun-wielding power fantasy, before your entire worth is stripped from you at the finish line. You have 500 days to find a water chip before it’s too late, but you’re constantly being fought by terrifying Super Mutants, irradiated animals, and the biggest monster of all - humanity. See what I did there? If anything, humanity in Fallout’s setting would be the greatest unifying force possible against the horror of the outside world. But how is it? It’s dull, it’s sluggish, and it’s really hard to get into even if you’re already a fan - but push through that and it’s worthwhile to see exactly how far the series got before Todd Howard said “eh fuck it” and had the whole thing dipped into an FEV vat.

Grand Theft Auto - Sony PlayStation, October 21st

To put it simply, the first in the GTA series is now nothing but a novelty. It has an irritating camera, wonky controls, poor graphics and deeply repetitive gameplay. But thank fuck it exists, because without it the Rockstar story may have been very different indeed. It’s quintessential cops and robbers gameplay, spanning across Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas in one game, but with maps so far removed from their modern incarnations they may as well be named “Not New York, Possibly Bristol and Orange Town”. People really fucking hated Hare Krishnas in the 20th Century, didn’t they?

Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back - Sony PlayStation, October 31

A hard one to talk about, honestly - it’s more Crash and better than the first one. It looks great, and Crash controls so well compared to his first outing. It’ll also keep you playing for 100%, fiendishly addictive and unashamedly difficult. Had a weird cover that moved with your head. 

PaRappa the Rapper - Sony PlayStation, November 17th

Type type type the words into the box! (Type, type, type - uh oh - the box?)

PaRappa is a gorgeously stylised rhythm game about rapping to steal the heart of the girl of your dreams - which involves learning karate, getting your driver’s license, selling bottle caps and frogs, making a cake, desperately trying not to shit yourself, and finally performing live on stage. Every one of its segments is so well-produced that they’d genuinely sell like ghost cookies in this era of shite rap. Notable for producing the greatest Jay-Z backing track ever made.

Sonic R - Sega Saturn, November 18th

Sonic R is absolutely FINE with vibrant textures, interesting levels, neat gimmicks and decent controls. But I’m gonna talk about its fucking AWESOME soundtrack by Richard Jacques and T.J. Davis, an eclectic mix of Europop and New Jack Swing - even thinking about it is bringing tears of absolute joy to my eyes hearing Super Sonic Racing in my head. You’ve got the main theme, Living in the City, Can You Feel the Sunshine, Back in Time, Diamond in the Sky, Work It Out and Number One - all of these are absolute club bangers and genuinely wouldn’t be out of place in a 90s disco. 

Tomb Raider II - Sony PlayStation, November 18th

Lara Croft returns to single-handedly endanger every species on Earth. TR2 is really good, the exploration and puzzle-solving aspects of the first game expanded upon here and the gunplay remaining just as punchy. Lara’s got a fully-functioning ponytail which absolutely boggles the fucking mind - a lot of work went into Lara’s hair for the 2013 reboot, so I can’t imagine the amount of man hours it took to get fluid(ish, come on, it’s the PS1 we’re talking about) hair movements in 1997. 

And really, that’s all I played from 1997. I’ve left out big hitters like Quake II, Gran Turismo and Diddy Kong Racing, but I simply haven’t formed an opinion on them yet. Maybe in a future post. 

Thanks for reading.

[skimaskkass]

Pre - Jeri (album review) (breakbit music/ROFLTRAX classics #1) (re-formated)

https://jeri.bandcamp.com/album/pre A long time ago (2014ish) I slightly helped or maybe tried to help a label called Breakbit Music. I am no Breakbit Music master but maybe I will be one day. In the meantime I can reminisce about albums that are dear (or not) to my life as a music fan and other things. One of these albums is Pre by Jeri. I had heard someone I’m in contact with make a track similar to one of the tracks on this album, though not exactly. I wondered if she knew this album and she didn’t. I mention this because I am very proud of her because this album is not just dear to my heart but makes me realize more than 99% of music I listen to how special life and musical ability is.

The opening “Seq1″  is musical chaos to me. But it is not nonsense. It sounds like nothing else I’ve ever heard. I’ve heard some orangy (an alias Jeri had used earlier) tracks before and maybe this is a distillation of that. Jeri was a king of sampling and using them at the right moments. Every time that “woo!” plays you don’t know what to do and when it jumps out of the middle of a spaced out bar. It gets sandwiched by FM sounding percussion arpeggios with even more staccato drums and snares that without intentionally listening for a pattern doesn’t seem like there is one. It’s such a free track that somehow has order sonically is face melting. Musicians should take note how to create textures with the same sounds by placing them at different spaces like they are in this track. But remember this is just the intro. The next track “Toxic People” has this Nintendo 64 sounding echoing guitar over this seasick portable game system synth. It draws you in and the drums come in. The hi-hats sound like they could be on a high quality Amon Tobin track in their modulating pitches. The drums once again phase through different pitches, sounding irregular, FM sounding. Then this really low fidelity, reamped industrial drumming runs into the mix and the song’s baseline comes in (but it’s the kind of overwhelming thing that you hear in dubstep or grime tracks that just bubbles and soaks the mix (which is also somehow trombone that seems to have the suggestion of higher frequencies which maybe is why it coats the ears in ear candy)). The drums have sped up and become isolated. It sounds like industrial influenced ‘post-techno’ or something along those lines. Before you can make that thought the drums are run through a flanger. There’s a proper bassline that comes in that would fit a Nintendo 64 game (I will bring it up a lot). It’s wild. There’s reverb slowly being filled in the mix from the seasick synth. There’s some ring-mod sounding vocal cries and the track ends. “*SHOT*”: is playing and brace yourself for a lot of notes on this track. There is this percussive kind of 8-bit/bit crushed melody that sounds has the effect of dramatic fast horror movie-like piano playing. This track also has a sea sick synth. It sounds like howling ghosts now. The bass drums come in and are replaced with a bassline and then there is a ghost acid bassline and these ghost drums that are going at a fast tempo (ghost in this instance meaning low volume). It is at this point of the album where I say if you’ve ever been a fan of madness combat’s music. Listen to this album. It’s just bassline and the drums with some cuts of high pitched spooky sounds. There are these portamento woodblock sounds in the fast drums that might have echoing delay and/or vocoder on them but regardless they are an excellent detail. The 8-bit/bit crushed sound gets panned around and sounds ring modulated now. Every loop there are two slight notes that adds to the techno spinning inferno music, yeah it is quite tribal at this point. At 1:25 a great transition sound and more vocode-y drums and then this melody that I can’t describe the sound of. It’s like a synth lunatic singing as this synth squeal keeps pitching down. The piano stuff I was suggesting now completely reveals itself at a nickelodeon-fast speed...The track just keeps changing and changing and changing a bunch of distorted sounds come in over it and the after the bass kicks up and the sounds are being swiss-cheesed by distortion. The song falls into a loop where the drums change into that fm squeak and a formant camera-shutter with light melodies taken from sounds from before and it goes back to the consistent sound it started with. Except I notice a high pitched sound in the background now. The bassline bumps back and the percussion ghosts play in the background over a synth hi hat. The track ends. “Computer”: IDM crackling drums and deep town ball bounces over quiet strings. Insane synth 1 and 2 start descending both. Then gabber kicks and noise snare that are quiet play a hell-decent march over fm pads and synths that make creature-screams. Crackle and ball bounces come back and the synths. And back to the gabber hell-on-display.“Synop”: starts with a synthesized brass sound. A quiet high pitched pinging over absolutely beautiful resonant filter sweeping snares and expected character rich kicks. Then a really long melody starts playing that sounds like it’s for a Nintendo 64 game for robots. Then this high pitched club music melody comes in that I absolutely love. And a wandering synth robot starts to sing. It sounds like abstract vocoded vocals and high pitched hotel service bell sounds. There’s a high pitched sine wave sound that tells the robot to stop. Sometimes there’s some distortion in the robot’s singing. The music stops to focus on this part. It’s tremolo and then has a finish. There’s a lot relistening this track deserves. “Kesanspor”: starts with a formant synth for alien salsa over two notes of synth strings and a winding sound that’s revving up. Then a distorted roar. This complicated pad sound that sounds like 50 laser sounds suggesting a choir and an electronic church refrain synth ‘yeah’ are added.  A strange orchestral hit is added to the dead space between string sounds. This arcade sound that is loud but distant plays. There’s some hi-hats that come by to say hello. “Opalei”: Drums start: Kick drums that don’t sound like any kick drums I’ve ever heard personally. Noise snare and a synth-y but somehow metallic sound that’s almost a ‘hyuck’. At 0:05-00:6 there is a stutter in the drums that you gotta love the glitchiness of which is in the loop. Reverb-spaced out (a processed square-wave?) synth that suggests a string section come out. There’s harmonies of this sound and a pianoish, watery synth melody dripping nice through the mix. The melody loops and the drums switch up and then the melody goes to church organ mode and also formant squeals I’ve never heard before except maybe in a Rustie track. You now notice the side-chaining bass drum that is humble but starts rocking out to the magic. This is what bedroom producer synth-rock heaven sounds like. The synths go all filtery and flittery between high and mid tones. They start to take on a liquid quality as time slips. The string section comes back with a variation on the original melody, listen to that detail at the end of the sequence. It is a beautiful gated sound. Then a strange sound sneaks in that sounds like sitar and there are strumming sounds. “M0d”: A murderous string sound and a mid-range fm synth that’s like an electric guitar riff from DOOM over a kind of timpani drum beat. You’re getting ready to murder people to this song as wood block and congas add a playful touch to the track. There’s a slight high pitched triangle (the percussion instrument) sound there. Bursts of echo-y wavy synths start to add the melody to the track. The drums are now rock drums. There’s a turntablism sound at the end of the sequence. There is a slight variation to the sequence then a major one where it scales back and adds beautiful conga sounds and blatant triangle sounding noises with dynamic sound effect rustling noises. There is a cute synth doing a little boat toy whistle (it has an almost old video game / emulating-that-sound quality) after the echo-y wavy synths get more animated, excited and dramatic. I start to notice the bottle whistle sound. This sound starts to pan through the mix when more dramatic sounds are stripped back. Then the song switches up. The synth bludgeons that were echo-y and wavy go transform into searing hot jabs. N64-sounding acid bassline comes in. The bottle whistle transforms into an ore of noise. “Smoke Gogol”: Drums pan left and right. Acid like you’ve never heard it. Melodramatic portamento synths like cartoon character swoons. A sound like someone tapping on a stage mic to test it. Phone/Ringtone sounding synths and snares pan. It gets replaced with a resampled crossfaded type sound bobbing up and down from a low tone. The drums stand out more and variations abound including the phone sound pitched down. I noticed a synth pad that was behind the portamento synths when they came back. The structure is like poetry. First it goes A B A B then C D C D and loops back again. “Thez”: It sounds like a re-amped chop of When The Levee Breaks. Re-amped to make it sound just so beautiful. There’s that odd resampled sounding synth sound that seems to be speaking and singing to us. But that’s because there is a vocal sample in the background that’s grunting in an alien language. The synth goes up and now it really is singing. There is that constant note hammering way in the background that I love to hear in things in popular music. It gets isolated and moves up and down the scale with the drums. And then a N64 guitar comes in and acid nudges panned past you like you were driving past them. The guitar goes full wonky then the resampled sounding synth comes back. It is so unique. The resampled sound isolates and I notice the string sound that has been in the background maybe awhile. And in that isolating the sound shows you how wild it is. The track regains some layers and fades out like a dying candle. “Porta”: It sounds like a fm synth became a sad siren coming to retrieve a body. The snares are like snipps. The base drum sounds like a heavy object dropping on a metal plate. There’s another guitar-y sound. The track sounds like 5th gen video game music for a bad dream. There’s formant synths that harmonize with the siren. There’s a descending sound at the end you can hear at 1:30. It sounds like percussion of some kind. “Holtz IV”: Acid bassline that has an emulated sound quality to it which makes me think of it in a 5th gen gaming console. It’s on it’s own. Then this reggae melody string instrument comes in. More re-amped drums. More video-gamey sounds, this time an organ replaces the reggae melody. The organ comes back sounding more epic, perhaps it’s been layered multiple times. You gotta love it when it stutters. This is building up to the best part of the album for me. It’s not the medieval video game melody that comes in or the marching band beat that comes after it. Or the sick bass drum that comes in the second medieval melody starts. The drums flit around shortly as tastefully as any track of druqks. The glassy synth comes in (triangle wave I believe). And it’s one final surprise. There’s a bouncy club bass drum, I suppose it’s an 808. The squelching organ comes in to dance with the glassy arpeggio. Reverb at the end of the track. I didn’t know Jeri. We never talked. I knew a fair amount of the people on Breakbit Music though. He did a live set during the record label’s virtual music festival, ‘Bit Mania’. A pioneering thing for the early 2010s for sure. I remember the label’s founder mrSimon saying when the song Toxic People played something along the lines: “This is [jeri]? This sounds too good to be him”. Just a joke and Jeri said something in response. I know that being in that chatroom together was a privilege even though I never reached out to him like a fair amount of the people on the label. I didn’t really listen to the other albums under the name Jeri or too much of the Orangy stuff (which was too good to listen to imo). When I saw the cover for Pre I was entranced. It is beautiful and the album is... I view the outstanding musical genius of this album as a distant goal of what I want or imagine others to achieve as an artist. Anyone who can approach this kind of music should feel wonderful at their ability. People who know Jeri or are fans of him know that he passed away in 2014. I know his music will live on because of its power. But only if the effort is made to share it with the world.

[reviwblogger]

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KineMaster Pro

APK

is the nice video editing app for Android users to edit the videos on a expert level. Nowadays YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. Are going so fast within the area of video. So KineMaster Pro App is the fine one to edit your videos. The free model has Watermark and now not all ofthe advanced functions present But we’re giving Premium version for FREE. So, here we are providing you with the KineMaster Pro APK for FREE !!Now, if you are looking to

download

the cutting-edge model of KineMaster Pro Apk, then you definately are at the right place. Free version of KineMaster Apk has a lot of troubles like Watermark, Premium functions are lacking and more. But Premium KineMaster Mod Apk is best for YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagram Influencers and has functions like Chroma Key, three-D effects, Multi-Layer Editing, Custom Watermark, etc. So, Download Now KineMaster Pro NowKineMaster Pro

APK

is the nice video editing app for Android users to edit the videos on a expert level. Nowadays YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, etc. Are going so fast within the area of video. So KineMaster Pro App is the fine one to edit your videos. The free model has Watermark and now not all ofthe advanced functions present But we’re giving Premium version for FREE. So, here we are providing you with the KineMaster Pro APK for FREE !!Now, if you are looking to

download

the cutting-edge model of KineMaster Pro Apk, then you definately are at the right place. Free version of KineMaster Apk has a lot of troubles like Watermark, Premium functions are lacking and more. But Premium KineMaster Mod Apk is best for YouTubers, TikTokers, Instagram Influencers and has functions like Chroma Key, three-D effects, Multi-Layer Editing, Custom Watermark, etc. So, Download Now KineMaster Pro Now

Table of Content

Features of KineMaster Pro

Download KineMaster Pro

How to Install KineMaster Pro?

Pro Features of KineMaster Pro Apk

FAQ’s

Chroma Key

It is one of the popular capabilities of this app. Chroma key’s used to exchange the background of the video. It is a truely advanced function, usually, this advanced characteristic is located in

PC

Softwares. By making use of the green screen in the video you may trade your video’s background in any way you want. Marvel films use this approach to edit the movie, it makes yourvideo look more professional by converting the heritage.

for online video school

This function is honestly beneficial for shooting expert motion pictures for youtube so, that you may easily remove the background from your movies and also can exchange it.

Animation

To make your video more appealing it absolutely needs to add some animation effects. So there are a lot of animation results to be had in the KineMaster Pro APK to use animation between the video. You will find more than one animation consequences in save of kinemaster pro apk, you could use these animations at the same time as editing the video and make you video elements in amination. Animating things in the movies is a certainly professional feature that normally PC software can do. But kinemaster offers these tremendous features to you. Also, you

could

down load more effects from the keep.

Multi-Layer

You can add more than one layers in the video like you could upload images, audio, gif, photos, overlays, animations, etc. At the equal time. Add multiple layers makes your video more super because you can able to upload a couple of matters at the equal time. You also can adjust the settings of all the layers like size, timing, etc. Multi layering provides you the freedom to attach files in the video and can display them at the screen without problems like you could upload images, also you can add

videos

at the video.

Live Preview

KineMaster Pro offers you a really first-rate features known as Live Preview that lets in you to look at your movies whilst editing so you can without difficulty take a look at what’s happening the edited video. You effortlessly edit and click on on “Live Preview” then you may able to see edited video LIVE at the screen.

Multi-Track

This feature is just wonderful, you could add up to 8 tracks at the identical time inside the video by using the multi-track characteristic. You will get a studio-like experience at the same time as modifying video. Combine the tracks and you can make high-quality tune for songs and music. This characteristic affords you an first rate environment to make song videos, you will feel like a studio and add tracks and might edit them together.

Voice Recording

Now you don’t have to report audio separately, KineMaster gives you to feature voice-over from the app itself. Just report the voice and apply it within the video. It is really tough to file an audio clip one at a time and fasten it to with the video SO, kinemaster gives you this feature to record audio within the app itself. That’s it !!

No Ads.

As you know that the normal unfastened app of kinemaster shows ads at the same time as enhancing the videos but with the KineMaster Pro there might be no Ads. In all around the app. You can Enjoy the app with none annoying Ads.KineMaster Pro is FREE a loose video editing app. It gives you all the advanced gear and functions. Like a number of the capabilities are sincerely mind-blowing, you can put off the heritage and trade it without difficulty like casting off historical past with the aid of applying inexperienced screen. This feature is understood for the PC but KineMaster has these remarkable functions.

You can add 3-D Transitions results within the video, this allows you to apply three-D effects and the video will appearance cool. It also has Awesome animation results, you could follow animation between the movies and follow animation to make the video greater attractive. Also, it has a whole lot of other features like Chroma Key, Multi-Layer, Transitions, Adding more than one videos, etc. We will explain all the features later on.

APK Name KineMaster Pro APK

Size 75.5MB

Version 4.12 [Latest Version]

Android Required 4.1+

Installs 100,000,000+

Rating 4.4

Developer KineMaster Corporation

Last Updated sixteen March 2020

APK Type KineMaster Pro – Premium Unlocked APK

WHAT’S NEW ?

[New] BeatSync challenge import support (Please set up the BeatSync app!)

Improved text define clearness whilst shadow alternative is enabled

Fixed a computer virus in which a few formats of WAV audio documents were not imported into a task

Fixed a bug where a few shade filters on

Basic

were no longer carried out correctly

Fixed a worm where Transition Effects and Clip Graphics subitems aren’t implemented consequently whilst selected

Other bug fixes

How To Install KineMaster Pro APK:

Installation Process of KineMaster Pro Apk is really smooth and simple, to install it simply follows those few steps given below.

Before putting in the apk, make certain to enable “Unknown Sources” to enable: ->Go to Settings -> Select security option -> Touch on it and enable “Unknown Source”

Now, open the “Kinemaster Pro” Apk file

Then Click on “Install”.

Wait till the installation method is completed

After, installation is completed.

Now, Open KineMaster Pro Apk 

PRO Features of KineMaster Mod Apk:

As we are offering the Pro version of this Apk, so it has quite a few extra and top class features. Here, We supplying the KineMaster Pro Apk for FREE !!!. So, you ought to also recognise the top rate capabilities which you are becoming with the Modded version. We mentioned underneath the top rate capabilities that you will get.

NO Watermark

All the Premium Features !!

4K Video editing

All media formats are supported

NEW Features are unlocked

More top class filters and transitions

Export in any of quality – 1080p, 720p, 480p, etc.

What customers Say About KineMaster Pro

Kelvin Lewis: This app is by some distance the most intuitive video editor I’ve tried. After only a day

gambling

round with it I’m bowled over at how literally whatever appears possible! Thank you a lot to the developers of this. You have make something extremely good and I hope you keep including cool capabilities and possibilities. I went top class today to mention thanks!

Desmond Bonaffini: Great app. Definitely worth getting. Free version may be very good, paid is incredible. Had a mild hassle with exporting but in much less then 24 hours after notifying tech help, the computer virus was fixed and it’s operating a-ok now. five stars for the app and five stars for the tech help as well. Cheers

Kendra Rules: This app is virtually simply so advanced and when you used to it, it’s incredibly smooth to use. I use this to edit videos and make my Daily life content material I like to upload to my

youtube

channel and I actually recommend putting in this. You can use green screens, make intros, edit films, put pictures

Download KineMaster For PC

if you men are locating KineMaster Pro APK for PC, then you can download and Install KineMaster MOD Apk on your PC, You just must follow a few steps, and deploy with the KineMaster Pro the use of emulator. we have detailed guide to put in it on PC. Just click the under button to Download.FAQs

How to Download KineMaster Pro

APK

?

You can Download KineMaster Pro from KineMaster Pro website, also you could anytime visit right here to download it.

Can I edit videos in 4K?

Yes, you can edit videos in 4K without any issue, but make sure that your cellphone also supports 4KIs this the Pro version of KineMaster?

Yes, that is the KineMaster PRO Apk.

What is the advantage of Pro Apk?

You will get greater and greater advanced capabilities compared to free apk

Which is the Latest Version of KineMaster Pro APK?

V4.12 is presently the trendy version – Download (v4.12)How to Download KineMaster Lite Apk?

To Download Lite Apk – Download Kinemaster Lite

Conclusion

So, guys, we have provided you all the records related to KineMaster Pro Apk. You can download the apk from the given links. As you recognize that you may edit motion pictures professionally from the android by using this app also so, you do not worry about that. All the features are defined here. This app has additionally the loose version in the play store however we are here offering you the KineMaster PRO Apk.

Thanks for touring and preserve journeying for New updates.

[psxexe]

Note: Unfortunately, these menu animations from Euro demo CDs cannot be ripped. So I created a footage using the epsxe emulator. Then I tried to remove the selection of demo games. I’ve used some layer masking here.

Next I edited the famous menu track by the composer Harry Holmwood to the stereo version. Although quality is not the best, but it’s much cleaner than the original.

This was my first introduction to Euro Demo menu and this blow my mind as a kid. (along with unexpected intro from Demo One ver.5)

So I used this animation first.