#upcoming school franchise

[thankskenpenders]

Thoughts on Sonic 3!

On December 10th, 2018, I was on the last day of a trip to Milwaukee. The night before, I'd attended the wedding of one of my best friends, Jake, who I've known since high school. Even though half of us were sick the whole trip, it was a great time. Derek had asked the wedding DJ to play "One Week" as the first request of the night, and proceeded to lip sync the entire song on the dance floor. On that cold winter morning in a hotel room hundreds of miles from home, Derek and I groggily checked Twitter on our phones and saw the shocking news: Paramount had teased the design for Sonic from their upcoming live action film. Even in silhouette, the shape of his face and the realistic curvature of his limbs made him look like a grotesque little homunculus. This movie was going to suck.

Six years later, I've now seen the third entry in what's become a hugely successful Sonic film franchise. It features Keanu Reeves as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in a fairly faithful adaptation of his story from Sonic Adventure 2. At the time of writing, it currently sits at a whopping 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, vying for the title of the best-reviewed theatrically released video game movie of all time. Critics are saying nice things about the emotional journey of Shadow the Hedgehog. Never in a million years did I think I'd see this day.

I, too, have now seen this movie, and... yeah, it's pretty good.

I'm gonna get deep into spoilers here, so I'll just say up front that I liked the movie. It feels like just about the best possible execution of this version of Sonic. But that's also damning it with faint praise, depending on who you ask.

If you're a fan of the games who didn't like the second movie, you probably won't get much out of this one, either, unless you just really love Shadow so much that nothing else in the movie matters to you. It doesn't reinvent the wheel for this film series. It's still got a heaping helping of broad comedy, cheap pop culture references, bad one-liners, and characterization that diverges greatly from the source material. This is not high art, nor is it a direct adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2. If you're the kind of person who hates this portrayal of Sonic and Eggman, or a lore nerd who'll hate that they let Shadow do Chaos Control without an Emerald, then just don't bother with this.

On the other hand, if you did enjoy the last movie, then you'll probably have a fun time here, too. Shadow is very cool. The action is the best it's ever been. There's a bit more focus on characters from the games, and less on human characters invented for the movies—with the exception of Agent Stone, who's in this a lot because everyone likes him. There's a lot of SA2 fanservice. They even play "Live and Learn." It's a fun time! Be sure to stick around through the end credits.

And now, to dig deeper, let's get into the spoilers! I'm gonna jump around a lot and talk about different aspects of the movie, spoiling everything along the way.

Shadow and his reams of lore

Here's the main thing you came for: Shadow is great in this! They really did him justice. Keanu Reeves is extremely solid in the role. He can be a bit flat as an actor sometimes, but I think he did well here. He can be tough and menacing, but he can also be earnest and emotionally vulnerable. Good casting call. Excited at the prospect of seeing more of him in the future.

Really, as a Sonic Lore Nerd I'm most interested in discussing the changes they made to Shadow's backstory. I'm sure there will be many fans upset with the changes, but for the sake of streamlining a complicated backstory that was subject to a bunch of retcons and multiple layers of amnesia and fitting it into a 110-minute movie, I think they generally made smart choices.

For one, Gerald didn't create Shadow using Black Arms DNA, because Gerald didn't create Shadow at all! Instead, Shadow arrived on Earth inside a meteor, and Gerald was merely the prominent GUN scientist who studied him after he was captured. (That meteor does have very strong Black Arms vibes, though, so I wouldn't rule out the possibility of them exploring that stuff in the future.) This simplifies things a lot and allows Shadow to be a direct foil for Sonic, kind of a version of our hero who was treated as a lab rat and lost the only human he considered family instead of finding happiness like Sonic has. Then later Shadow hurts Tom and Sonic wants revenge, and it mirrors Shadow's feelings about Maria, and after they fight they can empathize with each other over this, Shadow sees the error of his ways and helps save the world, yada yada yada. You get it. People predicted 95% of this movie's plot from the trailers, but it's effective.

Likewise, all of the stuff about creating Shadow as the ultimate life form who's immune to all disease to cure Maria's illness is completely cut out. Shadow's still called the ultimate life form, but he's treated as more of an energy source than a genetic research project here, playing off of the stuff about Eggman wanting to harness Sonic's natural Chaos Energy in the movies. The original intent behind the ultimate life form project was always hard to explain in the games and doesn't even come up that much, so I don't blame them for cutting it.

Because Gerald isn't doing genetic experiments and creating artificial life, the Biolizard also doesn't exist. It does, however, appear in an old monster movie Shadow and Maria watch in a montage, with Shadow later commenting that he worries he's a monster like the one he saw in the movie. That's a clever way to include it, I think.

The ARK sort of exists. There was no space colony back in the '70s, all of the events of Shadow's flashbacks just took place at a secret GUN base on Earth. Fair enough for a version of the story ostensibly set in the real world. The big space laser in the third act of the film is obviously supposed to evoke the ARK, but it's referred to as simply the Eclipse Cannon. It's still not a full-blown space colony, just a weapon of mass destruction Gerald designed for GUN in exchange for his release (while also secretly planning to use it to blow up the planet in an act of revenge). I am, however, pleased to report that the Eclipse Cannon still has a giant Eggman face on it.

And as for Maria: I like her in this! She's obviously not going to get a ton of screentime, and she's always going to be a very straightforward character, but she's more playful and lively here. She teases Shadow for being grumpy and plays with him a lot. She feels less like this perfect embodiment of everything good and pure in the world and more like an actual kid. She's still not a complex character, but it works.

And the most important question: do they show a child getting shot and killed by the military? The answer is almost. In the flashback, GUN soldiers chase Maria, Shadow, and Gerald and ready their guns, but the young Commander Walters (who's in his 20s rather than being a kid) grabs them and tries to stop them from firing on a child. In the chaos, a soldier fires, missing Maria but hitting a generator that then blows up and kills Maria. So, y'know, close enough I suppose.

So, yes, many of the details change here, but they captured the gist of Shadow's story from SA2. The emotional core is there. I will say, though, I almost feel like Shadow isn't in this movie as much as I thought he'd be? I think he's used effectively in all of his scenes, and they make room for his backstory, and BOY does he get to kick ass in his fights, but for much of the middle part of the movie he's overshadowed by Ivo and Gerald. Though this might be a compromise to leave more screentime for...

Tails and Knuckles

I'm relieved to report that Tails and Knuckles both get a good amount of cool stuff to do in this! They don't feel like an afterthought.

I was worried that Tails in particular would completely fall by the wayside, since even his debut movie didn't entirely know what to do with him. But he's good here. He pretty much just feels like the Tails from the games at this point, especially since they dropped that fawning admiration he had for Sonic with that running gag of him going "Only Sonic the Hedgehog could do that!" He often chimes in as the one who wants Team Sonic to stick together when Sonic and Knuckles bicker. He particularly gets to shine in the Mission Impossible-inspired heist sequence at the GUN headquarters in London that serves as the climax of the second act, which feels like it was tailor made to let him shine as the tech guy of the team. He also gets several opportunities to swoop in and catch someone for a save in an action scene. He's good in this!

Knuckles is... fine. He's definitely fallen into the role of the comic relief dumb bruiser since joining the good guys, but he's at least a little better than he was in his own streaming show. The jokes lean more into him just being really brash about his strength and skill, rather than him being this archaic warrior who doesn't understand anything about the modern world. He also gets a few more serious bits in the back third of the movie where he gets to shine a little more, so overall it evens out to him being fine. They could've done way worse.

As for the relevance of the Knuckles show: Knuckles is now said to be the guardian of the Master Emerald, like in the games, though with no Angel Island this amounts to him hiding it somewhere for safekeeping. It's eventually revealed that he just gave it to Wade, who gets exactly one scene (sorry, Wade-heads) for a joke about him using the Master Emerald as a hockey puck. So, the miniseries explained why Knuckles has a connection with Wade. That's it! Also I think Knuckles might use the Flames of Disaster a bit in fights, but they never called the technique out by name, so I never really thought about it. So, yeah, the six-episode streaming miniseries about Wade bowling has zero meaningful relevance to the Shadow movie. Who could have seen this coming?

Miscellaneous humans

For that matter, the human supporting cast is MASSIVELY downplayed in this one. Tom and Maddie are there for two key sequences (the beginning of the movie and the GUN HQ heist), but otherwise they disappear for long stretches of the movie. They don't go to Japan in act I, nor do they go to space in act III, and there's no subplot for them during those periods, either. There's nothing like the wedding subplot in Sonic 2 where they'd constantly cut back to Hawaii for comic relief with the humans and only reveal why this was relevant to the plot near the end. (There's also no random dance battle in Siberia.) If a human character is here, it's because they have something to contribute to the plot right away. Most people will probably consider this an improvement, and I'd certainly say it makes for a much tighter script, though I have to remind everyone that I thought the wedding being a GUN sting operation was such a funny twist that I'm a defender of the Hawaii subplot.

On the subject of Tom, something funny I've noticed is that they've just completely downplayed the fact that Tom and Wade are cops. Tom being a cop never comes up once. Wade being a cop only gets referenced via the fact that he's practicing hockey on the roof of the police station in his one scene, but he's not in uniform or anything. They clearly got the memo that we don't want Sonic to hang out with cops.

Here's something else funny: Rachel and Randall got character posters, but they're actually not in the movie! Not technically, anyway. During the heist sequence at GUN HQ, Tom and Maddie use some gadgets Tails invented to holographically disguise themselves as those other characters. But the real Rachel and Randall never show up in the flesh. It's a very odd way to shoehorn the actors into the movie. (Jojo is also absent. They did not give her Amy's role of being the girl who reminds Shadow of Maria. Instead they just let Sonic have the big heart to heart with Shadow that makes him switch sides.)

You know who IS in this movie? Krysten Ritter. Not as the voice of Rouge, as the fandom once hoped, but as a director for GUN. She gets like three scenes and she feels completely checked out the whole time. Can't say I blame her! She's not really a character, just a plot necessity. Commander Walters dies in Japan but gives Sonic one of two keycards needed to activate the Eclipse Cannon, and then Ritter's character assumes Sonic stole it and labels him a bad guy. So that's why they have to break into GUN HQ in the second act instead of just talking things out with them. Still, I am at least relieved that Sonic doesn't work with GUN for most of the movie.

I gotta be honest: when Walters pulled a credit card-shaped object out of his pocket, I thought he was about to give Sonic another Olive Garden gift card as his final act before dying. Part of me wishes that happened.

The supporting human character in this who really gets to shine is Agent Stone, which I'm sure most fans will agree was the correct choice. There's a LOT of Agent Stone in this. He's good. I don't have much to say about him, but he's fun as usual.

But, of course, the ones who steal the show are Jim Carrey, and his costar Jim Carrey.

The Robotniks

I've gone back and forth on whether or not I can actually see movie Robotnik as Robotnik. I think with this third and final entry in the Jim Carrey Robotnik Trilogy, I've landed on... yeah, that's just Jim Carrey playing a Jim Carrey character. He's absolutely having fun with the role, and I enjoyed watching him, but I think a lot of that comes down to the fact that I'm a millennial who grew up watching Jim Carrey movies. If you didn't like him before, this movie will probably be nails on a chalkboard to you, because now there are two of him.

Ivo's arc here leans very heavily into the fact that he grew up as an orphan and never knew his family, a thing offhandedly mentioned in the first movie that's never been a thing for any other version of the character. Here, he learns that he has a living grandfather who's also a mad scientist, and it feels like a hole in his heart has been filled. It certainly makes sense for a place to take this version of the character, and it fits with the movie's themes of finding and losing family, but the cartoonish, childlike affection Ivo feels towards Gerald and all the scenes of them frolicking and dancing together have basically nothing to do with the characters from the games. He's a fun villain for this movie, but he's overwhelmingly used as comic relief this time rather than as a serious threat. He doesn't particularly feel like Sega's Dr. Ivo Robotnik, the arch nemesis of Sonic the Hedgehog who'd take over the world with an army of robots and a fleet of airships in the span of a day if Sonic wasn't around to stop him. He's a guy who lives in a big crab robot and has some drones. He has more in common with Carrey's depictions of the Grinch or the Riddler or Count Olaf than Dr. Eggman. Though he does, at least, finally get his outfit from the games by the end of the movie. So that's something. And also he's in a fat suit now. They only make jokes at the expense of his weight a little. Hooray...?

Gerald, meanwhile, is... largely the same character as movie Eggman, but older, so they can make jokes about him having saggy flesh and smelling funny and needing dentures. (Also, his voice kind of sounds like Homer Simpson sometimes?) To his credit, Carrey absolutely nails the handful of more serious scenes Gerald gets, whether it's Maria's death or his sinister turn when he reveals that he actually wants to destroy the Earth. But then it's right back to goofs about there being two of the same guy. Even the final battle features a lot of slapstick shenanigans with the two Robotniks fighting each other. I was able to enjoy the absurdity of it all, but if the humor doesn't land for you the dual Jim Carrey schtick is a hell of a lot of the movie. I wouldn't be surprised if there was more Gerald than Shadow in the movie, when you go and tally up their screentime. I was able to enjoy the sheer absurdity of it, but your mileage will vary.

I will, however, say that the split screen stuff they do with the two Carreys is EXTREMELY impressive, from a filmmaking perspective. They were absolutely flexing with their ability to pull the effect off. They don't rely on cheap tricks like cutting a lot, or having shot/reverse shot scenes where you're looking at the back of a body double's head. Instead they have a lot of long takes where the two Robotniks are talking to each other, you can see both of their faces, and they'll even hug and touch each other a lot, and the whole time the conversation maintains a natural pace like it really is two actors playing off of each other. It's really well done. It's an incredibly silly idea, but boy did they commit to it.

Sonic

I've hardly said anything about Sonic himself in all of this. It's his movie, isn't it! Well... I don't know, he's fine.

I feel like movie Sonic is a known quantity at this point, and either you like this take on the character or you don't. There was some speculation early on that this was supposed to be a younger Sonic who would grow into being the character we know from the games and comics, the one who's still got lots of quips but is also kind of aloof and cool, a free spirit who goes where the wind takes him, a figure the other characters look up to. And... no, that didn't happen. Once again he gets more serious as the stakes are raised, and he's totally badass when he goes Super, but the rest of the time he's still a little goober with tons of generic one-liners who learns schmaltzy lessons about the importance of family. He's still constantly going to undercut the tension of most scenes by cracking a pop culture reference that will make the average American parent go "haha I've heard of that." I don't think they're ever gonna change that. I think this just what the writers think Sonic is like.

And, again, for what it is, it's fine. He's a little annoying. You already know how you feel about movie Sonic. This third entry won't change that. But they do, at least, have him say "Talk about low budget flights, no food or movies... I'm outta here!" before jumping out of a helicopter. As my thoughts on the climax will show, I am not immune to fanservice.

The climax

God, the climax is SOOOOO fucking good. It's fantastic. Easily the best action these movies have ever done.

Rather than saving Super Shadow for the team-up with Sonic at the end, they have both of them go Super to fight each other first, and they just go full DBZ with it, fighting across the entire planet. It absolutely rules. I think this is the new coolest fight the two of them have had in anything ever. And then they have to stop the Eclipse Cannon together, and sure, there's no Biolizard. But Gerald DOES release a swarm of GUN Hunter robots, and the ensuing space battle turns into some Gundam shit. It's good! It's so good!!! The movie's flaws kind of melt away for me here when I'm watching Super Shadow take out an army of robots with Chaos Spears on the big screen. What a timeline we're living in.

And yes, they play "Live and Learn." They had to. They knew the assignment. They actually play a slight remix, but it's still got the original vocals, so it's perfectly recognizable. Actually, the tune of the song is used as a leitmotif for Shadow throughout the movie, first introduced via an acoustic guitar version played by Maria, and I really love that. I've been begging these movies to use more music from the games the whole time, and I'm glad they finally did so here. (They also use the traditional level clear jingle early in the film, and Eggman's theme from SA2 is very briefly used as a ringtone.)

... Anyway, uh, meanwhile Eggman, Tails, and Knuckles straight up just kill Gerald to save the world? They unceremoniously knock him into an energy field at the end of their slapstick fight aboard the Eclipse Cannon and he disintegrates like he hit a bugzapper. It's over in an instant. It's not graphic or anything, but it's, like... I didn't expect them to show it, or for it to be such a casual murder! Eggman has one quip about it and then immediately moves on.

Shortly after this, Eggman and Shadow sacrifice themselves to stop the Eclipse Cannon. Shadow's sacrifice doesn't stick, obviously (he's revealed to be alive by the end of the second stinger—pretend to be shocked), but Eggman's probably dead dead. I seriously doubt Jim Carrey's gonna come out of retirement for these movies again. His final moments before the big explosion are also SO dragged out and belabored. He has a dramatic final line like ten times in a row. It really just feels like the series saying goodbye to Carrey. And, again, it feels like a fitting enough end for this Eggman's arc, but it's an odd adaptation of the character from the games.

And so, that's what we're left with. This is far from Sonic Adventure 2: The Movie. It's not that, though there are many, many references made to that game in particular. It's a sequel to the film Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that has a similar tone and style, but Shadow and Gerald are in it, and Shadow gets some really cool fights, and there's a liiiiiittle more focus on stuff from the games than last time, and the script's a little tighter. If that sounds fun to you, you will have fun with this. I know I did. If it doesn't, you're probably better off waiting for them to inevitably do an animated reboot whenever this live action series runs out of steam.

It hasn't quite run out of steam yet, though...

The post-credits scenes, and the future

One of the big questions going into this was: what's next? How do they top a Shadow movie with heavy Sonic Adventure 2 overtones, in terms of hype for the fans? How do you fill Eggman's shoes after Carrey retires, for real this time? There are still more fan favorite rival characters to get through, but how many movies in a row can they introduce a furry foe for Sonic who inevitably turns good and helps him stop a larger threat by the end? And when the hell are we gonna see the girls?

Well, we now have our answer, and it's one I'm cautiously excited for: a whole army of Metal Sonics, and Amy!

Yes, Amy! Finally!! It's an absolute crime that we've gone three whole movies and a streaming miniseries without including the female lead of the series. I've complained about this ad nauseum (and also the fact that they cut Rouge from the story). But at least now they're finally doing something about it.

But now the question is, how will they characterize Amy? Sega's struggled with her for years, and there's a million different directions you can take her. Her one scene here has her smashing a bunch of Metal Sonics and wearing a cloak for the sake of a dramatic reveal, which gives her the vibes of a mysterious, badass action girl. This is, of course, completely different from how Sonic and Amy met in the games. What will her personality be like? She doesn't speak here, so who will they get to play her? Where did she come from? Will she even have a crush on Sonic? All of these have yet to be determined. So, like, I'm hyped to finally see Amy, a character who should've been in the movies from the start, but they could so easily end up playing it safe with an incredibly boring girlboss version of Amy who's no fun at all. We'll have to wait and see.

(My prediction: they're going to try to cast either Zendaya or Ariana as Amy.)

Metal Sonic, likewise, is very exciting, and he looks perfect. He looks just like the design from the games. But the question is: what will they do with this army of Metals? Will they be lead by one main Metal Sonic, perhaps Neo Metal Sonic, who gets to be a proper bad guy? Will they take some cues from Sonic CD, Heroes, and the OVA, or do something completely original? Where did they come from? Were they activated as a failsafe after Eggman died? Did they and Amy come from some sort of bad future, riffing on Sonic CD's time travel? Will they explore the fact that Metal wants to be the one and only Sonic? Or will they just be an army of disposable robot grunts for Sonic and friends to mow down like it's a Dynasty Warriors game, while some other villain takes center stage?

It could go so many different ways, and some prospects are more exciting than others. I mean, the Knuckles show had endless possibilities for what it could do with him, and none of the options on my bingo card were "Pachacamac's ghost tells him to help Wade win a bowling tournament." And while I'm a sicko who thinks it's funny that the Knuckles show is what it is, forgive me for keeping my hype about Amy and Metal Sonic in check here until we learn more.

Regardless of what they do, it'll still be hard to top the hype of Shadow, and it'll be hard to fill Jim Carrey's shoes for general audiences. So despite this clear statement of intent, I have no idea what the future of this film franchise holds. But regardless of what they do, I can say one thing for certain: the kids in my theater were hyped as hell for it. They popped off over Metal Sonic, and they were screaming their heads off with excitement over Amy. I heard a teenage girl on the opposite end of my row of seats say "finally!" over Amy's reveal, verbalizing my exact thoughts. She also said that this movie was "peak," though it diverged from the games, and she hoped they'd do a movie with Silver and Blaze someday.

The kids are gonna be okay.

[sailorfailures]

PGSM 20 Year Reunion Event!!

This is not a drill!! The five Sailor Guardians from Toei's 2003 live action adaptation of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon will be officially reuniting under the series's title for the show's 20-year anniversary on Christmas Day, 2023!

The five actresses - Miyuu Sawai (Moon), Rika Izumi (Mercury), Keiko Kitagawa (Mars), Mew Azama (Jupiter), and Ayaka Komatsu (Venus) - have each posted about the upcoming event on their social media, but the official Sailor Moon franchise website has posted this announcement:

2003年から2004年まで放送された、ドラマ『美少女戦士セーラームーン』。 その20周年を記念した特番「セーラー戦士 同窓会」の放送が決定しました！ドラマ『美少女戦士セーラームーン』を制作したCBCテレビ（愛知・岐阜・三重）で2023年12月25日（月）に放送予定です。 オーディションにおける裏話や中高生時代の5人が仲を深めるきっかけになった撮影秘話など、今だからこそ話せるお互いの関係性にまつわるエピソードが満載のトークバラエティ番組になっています。 放送情報などの詳細は後日発表いたします。続報をお楽しみに。 The TV drama "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" aired from 2003 to 2004. To commemorate that 20 year anniversary, there will be a special program broadcast: "Sailor Guardian Alumni Reunion"! The program is scheduled to be broadcast on Monday, December 25, 2023 on the station which produced the Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon drama series, CBC Television [Aichi | Gifu | Mie]. The episode is set to be a talk variety show covering behind-the-scenes conversations about the show's auditions, filming secrets about what sparked deeper friendships amongst the five then-middle and high-school-aged girls, and tales of their relationships that can only be talked about now. Broadcast details, etc will be announced at a later date. Stay tuned for more information.

[mychrysanthemumdiaries]

Women Behind the Lens : Nia DaCosta

Nia DaCosta is a 35 year old film director. She was born and raised in New York and would attend NYU School of Art. Growing up her mother was a singer and would be a part of making theme songs for. This was DeCosta's introduction to the industry when she was young. When she started out in the business she was production assistant for the docuseries about Kesha. She was not fulfilled with her work and was encouraged by her mother to write instead. Fortunately, she wrote her screenplay for Little Woods and it would be accepted by the Sundance Labs. Her career has taken off from there and she's already worked with major names. 

DaCosta is a filmmaker that needs more attention. She's been a part of big projects yet her name doesn't get included in the conversations of major female directors. She doesn't have a typical introduction to the industry with crazy connections like others do. She's an artist that has put in a lot of work to her craft and knows how to create something special. Women of color, especially Black women, already have a hard time making it in the industry. It’s even harder to do so behind the camera. Directing, writing, and producing are not often awarded to women of color and the opportunities for these jobs are slim. For that, she should be recognized and celebrated for the significant accomplishments she has reached. 

Her upcoming project is the highly anticipated second part horror sequel for the 28 Days Later franchise, 28 Years Later Part II: The Bone Temple. (Variety)

Notable Projects:

Little Woods (2018)

Candyman (2021)

The Marvels (2023)

For a deeper dive on Nia DaCosta you can check out her 2023 interview with Variety.

[eddieredmayneargentinablog]

New post: "Eddie Redmayne to reprise Fantastic Beasts role in new scenes for Universal experience tying Beasts to Harry Potter films".

EW has confirmed Redmayne filmed new scenes as Newt Scamander, while Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint also appeared in Universal Epic Universe’s preview.

Have you ever dreamed of traveling the Floo Network like your favorite Harry Potter stars? What about taming a fantastic beast (or several) with the flick of a wand in Paris? Universal Orlando's upcoming theme park, Universal Epic Universe, is set to cast a spell that will turn that fantasy into a reality when its new Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Ministry of Magic land opens in 2025.

Entertainment Weekly has confirmed through a source that franchise star Eddie Redmayne will reprise his Fantastic Beasts role as Newt Scamander in the new land, with his new, already-filmed scenes set to appear throughout. Ministry of Magic is touted as the most elaborate of the planned park's five new themed areas, fusing timelines from the eight main Harry Potter films with the three Fantastic Beasts movies. The narratives will converge on a massive plot of land spanning 1920s Paris and 1990s London as guests travel to and from both destinations using the Métro Floo transportation network to dart back and forth.

Partially set within the British Ministry of Magic, the land's marquee attraction will be Harry Potter and the Battle at the Ministry, which will take travelers on a first-of-its-kind adventure using new omnidirectional technology that allows ride vehicles to travel through sprawling environments in vessels that move up, down, forward, backward, and sideways along one of the company's "most impressive attractions to date," according to a press release.

The ride's story puts guests on a journey from Paris to the British Ministry of Magic for the trial of Dolores Umbridge (played by Imelda Staunton in the films). Visitors enter through the organization's grand atrium (as seen in the Harry Potter movies) ahead of the trial until things go wrong when Umbridge attempts to escape. Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron Weasley (Rupert Grint), Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), and a house elf named Higgledy eventually accompany riders along the pursuit of Umbridge. (EW has reached out to representatives for Radcliffe, Watson, Grint, and Redmayne for comment on their potential return.)

Outside of the main ride, the Ministry of Magic section will feature a live show, Le Cirque Arcanus, billed as a full-scale theater experience with live performers and aerialists, puppetry, special effects, and fantastic beats appearing throughout the production, which follows Ringmaster Skender after he steals Newt Scamander's suitcase.

Consistent with Universal's other Harry Potter-themed parklands, the Ministry of Magic section includes merchandise locations that sell wands and other franchise materials, namely the focal wand location Cosme Acajor Baguettes Magique. Here, attendees can purchase wands and then use them to interact with fantastic beasts sprinkled throughout the Parisian locale.

Harry Potter characters are also set to roam the land, including exchange students from Hogwarts and Ilvermorny schools, an Auror from the Ministère des Affaires Magiques de la France, and even talking portraits.

Dining locations include Café L'Air De La Sirène, Le Gobelet Noir, Bar Moonshine, and a Bièraubeeurre Cart (translation: this is where you can get Butterbeer) — all joined by other smaller shops like Les Galeries Mirifiques, a sweets shop cleverly named K. Rammelle, and Tour En Floo, a gift store inspired by the magic of the Floo Network.

📷 Eddie Redmayne, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Daniel Radcliffe in Universal Epic Universe preview. Universal Creative

[acquired-stardust]

Game Spotlight #16: Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories (2000)

Just in time to celebrate its upcoming release as part of Yu-Gi-Oh! The Early Years compilation, Ash takes a look at the very first title in the series released in the west with Dark Duel Stories, a quirky little game that remains surprisingly playable to this day. Come take a quick look at the game to know what you're in for when The Early Years releases later this year!

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a series that Larsa and I have a lot of affection and nostalgia for. Once upon a time we were even avid players of the physical card game (Larsa to much greater competitive success than I), and we've kept up with the series in all its various forms for most of our lives now. Binging the notoriously campy and hilarious English dub of the anime together was one of the first things we did as a couple, and when we started Acquired-Stardust it was a no-brainer to create some content in tribute to the series. That content even went on to become some of our most popular posts, so the series holds a special place in our hearts as well as in the history of the blog.

It's a fascinating series that has taken on a lot of different forms throughout the years and you might be surprised to learn that the iconic physical card game, now mostly known for its incredibly long first-turn combo plays that determine who wins and loses before you're even able to do much playing, wasn't even the original hook of the series. Yu-Gi-Oh! began life as a manga by the late Kazuki Takahashi, the story of a high school boy possessed by an ancient spirit that would punish Domino City's many bullies and thugs through the power of Shadow Games, dishing out Twilight Zone-esque ironic punishments to them, with the signature card game the series is so synonymous with only being played a total of twice in the first 60 chapters before becoming the main focus with the Duelest Kingdom arc which the anime most western fans are familiar is based on. It was a shockingly dark and violent manga especially compared to the camp that the series is more well known for.

Just as well, the physical real-world card game itself has undergone radical shifts in mechanics and formats over the years since its 1999 introduction, and the result is a series that means something different to everyone. If you poll a hundred people, odds are they'll all have a different bit of the franchise as their favorite and consider a different era to be its peak. Larsa and I are personally most fond of the early years of the series, and so playing some of the video games set in that awkward 'wild west, anything goes' time when they were learning and experimenting with exactly what they wanted the card game to be was a pretty intriguing prospect.

And make no mistake about it - Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories is very much in that early feeling-out period. So early in fact it released a mere two days before the Playstation classic Forbidden Memories and eleven days after the debut of the physical card game in America. Dark Duel Stories may have been the first Yu-Gi-Oh! game released in the west, but it's actually the third game in a Gameboy-specific series of Yu-Gi-Oh! titles (and has had its name swapped with its predecessor - whereas Dark Duel Stories is the name of the second title in Japan, this game was originally titled Tri-Holy God Advent in Japan). This series follows what I'll be calling the Gameboy Format for the game for the purpose of this piece, and for the most part it faithfully recreates the base mechanics of the physical card game (which we're assuming you have at least some level of familiarity with, but if not actually playing Dark Duel Stories yourself is a fine way to learn) with a number of key differences.

The first important difference in the Gameboy Format is its de-emphasis, but not total elimination, of Effect Monsters, Traps and Magic cards. Decks consist of a mandatory total of 40 cards, each with their own cost and level limit associated with them. Monster cards will make up the bulk of decks due to their low costs compared to the very costly Magic and Trap cards, necessitating clever usage of the game's largely weak lineup of Monster cards. Facilitating this is the biggest key difference between the traditional physical card game and the Gameboy Format in the much larger emphasis it places on the elemental typing of Monster cards, more inspired by the original manga's version of the card game. Each monster card in the game has an element associated with it (a total of eleven elements exist in the game), with the elements following a rock-paper-scissors sort of mechanic not unlike Pokemon that sees elements strong against one another (such as Water being strong against Fire) be able to inflict increased damage on their opposing element. Unlike Pokemon however, Yu-Gi-Oh's Gameboy Format sees Monster cards of an element weak to its diametrically opposed element outright destroyed before inflicting any potential lifepoint damage to players.

While this can (and will) lead to asinine scenarios in which the iconic Blue Eyes White Dragon card is destroyed by the meager Kuriboh, it adds an interesting layer of strategy to the game that goes beyond simply loading decks with the most powerful cards obtainable. It also stands in stark contrast to the physical card game in which setting up unbeatable scenarios with very little counterplay outside of hyper-specific scenarios on the first turn has become a hallmark.

Another aspect of the Gameboy Format that differs from the physical card game is the lack of Polymerization, a Magic card that enables the fusion of Monsters into a new and more powerful creature. While the Polymerization card is missing the fusion mechanic itself remains, relegated to an entirely unexplained process in which the player can attempt to combine any two monsters to potentially result in a successful fusion with getting the formula incorrect resulting in the first card being replaced by the second. It's small touches like this and the unique elemental system that promote a lot of experimentation and make sure that every Monster card has a potential use regardless of how weak they are statistically.

Players are given a deck of cards to start with and tasked with defeating three tiers of opponents, all of whom being an iconic characters from the manga and anime, five times each. Defeating opponents will earn the player more cards and card parts (more on this in a moment), as well as raising the deck level and cost limitations imposed on the player slowly but surely. There are a total of 800 obtainable cards in the game which can also be acquired through the usage of the Password system that allows players to add one of each card to their collection through entering the corresponding password associated with them. The Password system also allows players to unlock the game's hidden bosses as well as enabling additional post-duel drops indefinitely.

The game's main hook is its allowing of the player to create custom cards through combination of obtained card parts, with players able to combine top and bottom halves of original Monster cards in all sorts of ways that change their attack and defense values, elements, names and appearances. It's a small gimmick that the player is not necessarily required to interact with by any means but does help immerse you in the series by allowing you to create your own unique signature cards.

The end result of Dark Duel Stories' gameplay loop and format is a game that is perfectly suited for its handheld platform in all the best and worst ways. Its small, almost bite-sized duels go by rather quickly and painlessly but obtaining cards without the use of Passwords is a grind-heavy experience that leaves the player completely at the mercy of random chance. The costs associated with constructing decks can feel stifling at first but forces you to engage with the game and appreciate some of its eccentricities like the elemental system, and makes finally being able to include higher-value cards feel like the major upgrade in power that it really is.

It's a perfect fit with the Gameboy Color that allows you to sink however much time you want into it, grinding away to raise your level and cost limits or obtain cards on long road trips or just spending a few minutes beating Joey Wheeler or Seto Kaiba one more time.

Another strong aspect of the game is its art, faithfully adapting 800 cards from the game's early era to the Gameboy Color with a lot of success. Opposing duelists are also particularly strongly adapted, including a lot of (but unfortunately not all) the iconic characters one would expect to find in the game in impressive detail all without an over-reliance on digitizing existing artwork from the manga's original artist. The beautiful pixel art splash screens after selecting an opponent hold up extremely well and have my vote for some of the best visuals on the platform.

Not quite as strong is the sound, with songs being inoffensive and not super memorable but certainly serviceable - you won't be muting the game to protect your ears or anything, but turning on your own music instead might help with some of the grind if you're wanting to invest bigger chunks of time into obtaining Dark Duel Stories' large amount of cards or raising the limits imposed on your deck.

A small touch I greatly appreciated was the lack of manual saving, with Dark Duel Stories featuring a reliable autosave that happens after every duel, making rematching or putting the game down both a painless experience. One particular annoyance is the lack of a search function in the card library, so it's helpful to keep a guide on hand to reference individual card numbers you might be looking for rather than having to scroll through 800 cards manually.

While it's not a perfect game by any means, Dark Duel Stories remains a very fun and addictive time capsule of an era of the game now decades past and comes at an extremely early point in the existence of the physical card game and series at large. There's a lot of charm and a deceptive amount of depth to hook new and old players alike, and the gameplay remains smooth and fast all these years later despite obvious platform limitations.

It even allows players to link two Gameboy systems to duel or trade, though this will be less attractive a feature to people playing the game via emulation on PC which typically lacks the capabilities necessary for multiplayer functions. Original manga author Kazuki Takahashi constantly designed little games that appeared in the backs of compiled volumes of the manga, most often played with dice, and it's not surprising that he'd also come up with a very fun card game too even if this wasn't exactly the format we'd come to know in the years after the release of Dark Duel Stories.

A gem hidden among the stones, Yu-Gi-Oh! Dark Duel Stories is undoubtedly stardust.

-- Ash

[coweringnarcissus]

i posted about a select element of this concept beneath the general homelander tags a few days ago but walk with me for a minute.

a non-supe au in which john was adopted into an esteemed, affluent household (e.g., the vogelbaums) and, because of his publicized adoption, had the public eye on him from a young age. as conduct issues started manifesting in his childhood, while his family tried to manage things privately, a very public incident involving john occurred (e.g., him being violent with another child) and they quickly distanced him as far as they could from the spotlight. the remainder of his developmental years were spent privately with minimal public appearances while he attended school and therapy. these years were stable, but mainly, isolated. in young adulthood, he re-entered the spotlight and tried to find his footing within the social circles he was majorly excluded from, including nepo babies and other college students that were somewhat famous. as an adult, he established himself as a socialite and is trying to shift his reputation from a rich bachelor who fell into a variety of different odd, but noteworthy, jobs, to a serious author. 

one of these odd jobs involved receiving a call from a “friend” (e.g., kevin (the deep)) to join the production of an upcoming sci-fi show. while john had no interest in sci-fi whatsoever or any connection to the original material, he tried to work his way out of boredom by pushing forward bold adaptations and diversions from the source material as a producer. while some of these adaptations landed and resulted in good interview moments that improved his reputation in the industry, this project ultimately fell into the back of john’s mind as something that went fine years ago, but he would never do again because it wasn’t in line with the work he wants to be known for - he can do better than that…

while his work at bryman audio-visual keeps the lights on, hughie’s an aspiring commentary youtuber. a childhood fan of the sci-fi franchise john had worked on, his initial review of the series was extremely critical of the many diversions from his beloved canon, which john was ultimately responsible for. years after his initial upload, hughie revisited the show and uploaded a retrospective analysis where he rescinded his many scalding comments about john vogelbaum’s adaptations and bashfully acknolwedged, like many others in the community, that he was too nostalgically defensive of the era of the franchise he remembered from childhood to appreciate the show for what it was.

while john wasn’t attached enough to this project to keep tabs on feedback from the fans, he did care about his most recent book release, which was grittier and more macabre than anything he’d previously published (think american psycho if patrick bateman was his homelander. i’m so serious. i wish i wasn’t, but i am.) despite advice from his manager to sanitize this work of it’s darker elements, john was insistent on publishing it as it was written - to extremely mixed critical reviews.

it’s a dead, rainy shift at bryman. hughie recognized john’s face on one of the articles and skimmed through it behind the counter. while the mentions of gore threw him off, the story, itself, seemed interesting; and if he learned anything from revisiting the show, despite any personal skepticism, john showed he had good creative direction. he stops by a store after work to pick up a copy for a pretty penny. it can be one of his weekly uploads, and if he doesn’t like it, he can sell it second-hand to get some money back.

john started to monitor the public reception to his novel. ordinarily, he wouldn’t care about what the average reader has to say, but every review, every comment, about his work, means something. rotating between websites and filtering by the most recent additions, he comes across hughie’s review. he initially watched it on two-times speed to get the big idea of what he had to say, but hughie’s thoughtful, insightful, and accurate with his review. he gets it. john slows the video down and goes back to the beginning. instead of slandering his protagonist, hughie emphasizes with him - with a slap on the wrist for some of his worse moments, sure, but john could accept that. he finishes the video, and he watches it again; but this time, the words fade into the background. he watches hughie. he finishes the video again and pauses before it can transition into his outro. john stares at the screen. he waits. deciding, he moves his cursor to the top corner and makes an account with one of his old, otherwise forgotten email addresses. he searches up hughie’s review again to like the video and leave a somewhat cryptic, but kind, comment. he idly scrolls through the brief comment section and notices that hughie must make a conscious effort to respond to anyone who gives his content the time of day. john wonders what he will say to him.

[writing-with-yours-truly]

Christmas Baking With You. [Sonic/Knuckles franchise] Wade Whipple x Reader

Summary: Where you and your fiance Wade decide to bake for the holiday season, and Knuckles tags along.

-------

The holiday season was the time you and Wade typically got off from work. You worked as an elementary teacher, and Wade as a local police officer.

Since school was not in session for the next couple weeks, you mostly spent your days at home, occasionally prepping for the upcoming semester.

Other times, Wade was home, and you both spent your time snuggled in a blanket on the couch. Today was no different. You spent the morning doing nothing.

"I'm really glad you moved out of that apartment," You said mindlessly, watching the random Hallmark movie on TV. "It wasn't really spacious."

Wade hummed in response. "It still feels off. Me moving into your house. Shouldn't it be the other way around?"

You replied with a shrug. "I don't think it matters. As long as we're together, right?"

Wade looked down at your face, a few stray pieces of hair in the way of your eyes. "God, that was so cheesy," He snorted, moving the stray hair out of your face, pressing a kiss to your head.

"I know you're not trying to insult me, Wade."

"No, ma'am."

"What I thought," You laughed.

It was silent after that, you two enjoying each other's presence. That is until you came up with an idea.

"Wade! What if we made cookies?" You asked, pulling on his arm.

"Ouch. That's my arm," He replied, slightly pulling his arm back. "But that's not a bad idea, sweetheart."

"We could ask Knuckles if he wants to make cookies, too."

"I don't know about that."

"C'mon. We're like his cool aunt and uncle. I bet he's never had one of my world-famous cookies."

You pulled Wade up, causing the blanket to fall to the floor. "Now let's go."

-------------------

"Why sure, Knuckles would love to make cookies!" Maddie exclaimed through the phone. Wade has his arms wrapped around you. Your excess body heat is attracting him like a fly to honey.

"Great! Do you want us to pick him up or are you dropping him off?" You asked Maddie.

"I can have Tom drop him off on the way to the office."

"Great! Thanks Maddie!"

"Mhm! Bye bye!"

You set your phone down and Wade's head is in between your neck and shoulder. "Wade. I gotta get cleaned up for the morning." You giggled.

"Nope. You're too warm," He mumbled into your shoulder. You rolled your eyes. "Maybe you'd be warm too if you had a sweater and sweatpants on too, weirdo."

Eventually, you pried Wade off of you and made it into the shower to clean up.

You got out and dried your hair, throwing on an oversized sweater that smelled like Axe and the fall and some black sweatpants. Obviously it wasn't a sweater of yours.

By the time you were done getting ready for the day, Wade was talking to Tom, and Knuckles was sitting on your couch with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos.

"Hey, Tom," You greeted the sheriff sitting with Wade at the dining room table. He gave a wave in response.

You made a beeline to the couch, planting youself next to Knuckles.

"Hey, bud. You excited?" You asked him.

"What are we doing?" Knuckles asked in response.

"Making cookies! It's a type of dessert! You'll love them."

"Yum, dessert! But I only eat the Cool Ranch of Doritios and grapes."

You shake your head. "Doritos aren't usually in cookies. Grapes are sometimes. But they're usually dried out and called raisins."

"Oh. Then we shall make raisin cookies!" Knuckles commanded, marching into your kitchen. Wade was just saying goodbye to Tom. "So, what kind of cookies are we baking, Knux?" Wade asked the red echidna when he entered the kitchen.

"We are making raisin cookies." Wade shared a look with you as you shook your head.

-----

The cookies were made with love -and extra eggshells (blame Knuckles)- and finished within an hour. Knuckles ate almost an entire batch while watching "The Rookie". "Yum! I love desert. We shall make more!"

And as you turned to Wade, he shrugged.

"Hey, you said we're like his cool uncle and aunt pair, not me."

"Whatever, nerd."

The three of you spent the entire day in the kitchen making raisin cookies, making fond memories.

[chefbuck]

what are you doing new years?

wc: 1.7k, eddie's winter of abandonment on new year's, for @mayslipgloss

--

Eddie’s going to blame it on Sophia for putting on High School Musical. 

Look, it was a lovely party. It was no 118, but his aunt knew how to throw a New Year’s party, all things considered. Her house was all decked out with the cheesy decorations they’ve held onto since 2015. There were scattered headbands and sunglasses to celebrate the upcoming year with plastic “NEW YEAR!” and “HAPPY 2025” adorned across. Mole had been eaten, ponche had been drunk, and still there was enough food littering the table to send home for leftovers. Adriana’s laughter carried across the hall and family chatter was loud enough to make up for the months Eddie spent in a silent house. It’s good enough to feel like home. 

It should feel like home. Chris is here with his cousins, all of them insisting that they’re old enough now to stay up with the rest of them; they can make it. He’s been staying with Eddie in his apartment for a month now and they’ve been talking, really talking. It’s not back to normal, but Eddie’s started to make peace that maybe they’ll never get back to normal. Made peace with the fact that maybe that’s okay, better even. They’ve been talking and Eddie’s been squaring away his place here and back in LA. They’re set to move back within the next week, so Eddie should feel at home. 

There’s just a lot of talk. His family are a chatty bunch. Sophia would say Eddie fits right in with the gossip—Eddie wouldn’t call it gossip but rather keeping himself informed. And, okay, Eddie can admit his family likes to gossip, him excluded, but this time it’s not gossip. There’s just been a lot of talk from them about how nice it is to have Eddie and Chris back home, how lovely to have them around for Wednesday dinners, how it’s good for Chris to be with his cousins, with his family, how they’re all so excited for them to stick around. 

They are not sticking around. Chris has been adamant about that. He’s itching to move back to LA, back to their old house (he’s made sure many times Eddie didn’t sell the place), back to his old school, and back to his friends. Back to Buck. Chris can talk about Buck like it’s easy. Eddie can…

Eddie’s not making a big announcement about him moving. The right people know and he’s not exactly going to stand on a chair and shout at a New Year’s party, no matter how suffocating these people make him. Look, once upon a time El Paso was home. And it was. It’s where his baseball bat lived, where he and Sophia covered the scuff marks against the wall with a framed photo of Abuelo, where he first learned the lyrics to “Te Lo Pido por Favor”, where he first kissed Shannon against the side of his parents’ house. Then, one day, he’s not sure exactly when, it felt so suffocating to the point that if Eddie didn’t get out he wasn’t sure he would last another day alive. One day El Paso was home and another day it was the place he was from. 

He’s coping. It’s probably not up to the standards of his therapist’s desires (his new therapist, Dr. Rose, not Frank. Fuck Frank. Okay, no that’s a bit brash. Maybe not full fuck Frank, he did refer Eddie to this new therapist who is a much better fit. Sorry Frank.) But Eddie’s coping. He’s nodding along, eating Tía Luciana’s bacalao, making sympathetic smiles when necessary. He’s not letting himself mope and he’s certainly not biting any relatives hands off, even when he kind of almost wants to. 

But then, Sophia puts on High School Musical. She insists on it in fact, and it’s just enough to make him drop his composure. 

Eddie remembers it. He remembers his sisters’ obsession with the franchise, their comments here and there, them singing throughout the house, but that’s really the extent of his knowledge. He’s never seen the movies themselves, so he’s kind of thought whatever towards them. But now, as he’s heading to the kitchen to steal some more buñuelos, his eyes are pulled towards the tv. 

“What’s this?”

“High School Musical,” the kids respond, without tearing their eyes away.

The screen focuses on two characters, one guy with sandy hair that covers a good portion of his neck and face, and a girl with dark brown curly hair. Both look fairly young. They’re singing karaoke, of all things, and it seems to be the end of the song as they hold out their last notes, mics the only thing separating them from each other. But it’s not the singing that makes Eddie stop walking; it’s the look. They’re holding each others gaze like they’re the only two people in the world, like they’re communicating something that only their eyes can say, like they’re inventing something. 

Eddie knows that feeling, not the karaoke—he only remembers a disjointed montage of snippets of the night—but the look. He’s done that look. It makes his stomach fall far too fast. 

And there’s a new scene. They’ve made their way outside, making conversation that matches the youthful cringe of their age, but they can’t stop stumbling over each other’s words, too hungry to miss a beat. Then finally, a pause. A moment where they’re just making eye contact, but this time it’s both of them waiting for the other to say what they both want to be said. Until one of them breaks, and then there’s fireworks. 

It’s so ironic, they way the scene goes beat for beat with Eddie’s memory, even though the details are a bit different. (Ambulance bomb explosion doesn’t really look the same as fireworks, but semantics, really.) The kind of thing that lives in the back of his mind with the one person he can’t really talk about. Not that it matters; his absence further cements his presence. 

The scene changes again and the moment disappears. Eddie continues to the kitchen, but by now he’s dead on his feet. His shoes are by the door but every step still sounds like what’s the point? What’s the point? What’s the point in celebrating when he’s lonely at his Tía’s place, no one to make biting comments with that makes the night bearable? Eddie’s stopped turning his head to tell Buck something, forgetting he’s not here, but that doesn’t mean the feeling goes away.Christopher will fall asleep and Eddie will wait for five minutes till midnight to wake him up and Tío Alejandro will make them watch the ball drop. Chris will eat his twelve grapes before diverting back to his grumpy, tired self (although he might insist that he is not tired), and Eddie will give him a laugh because that is definitely his kid. Then, he’ll close his eyes while he leans against Eddie’s leg and Eddie can go back to pretending like something isn’t severely missing. 

-

Surprisingly, it’s Adriana who’s dragging him and Chris out to the front yard. The neighbors set off the fireworks, every year like clockwork, because it will never be done at a Diaz house. For every relative that might want to suggest it, there will be three to snap at you, “Don’t be stupid.” 

A good amount of the adults around him are coupled up, so they’re out here, kissing and proving to the moon how much they love each other. Because his brain hates him, it makes Eddie think of a conversation between him and Buck a few years back. 

Buck’s sliding in so fast next to Eddie on the couch that he almost sits on top of him. He’s got that puppy dog twinkle about him lately, the kind he gets whenever he’s in a relationship, because he loves the fact that someone wants him, no—that he belongs to someone. Even if that person happens to be Taylor Kelly. 

But whatever. Because Buck’s here. With Eddie. His partner, his work partner, but still his partner. Narrowly missing his lap for the couch, looking at him giddy at work where there’s no Taylor Kelly to be seen. Unfortunately, Eddie barely has time to be smug about it before Buck’s saying: 

“I kissed Taylor on New Year’s.” 

Eddie breathes normally. The most his face does is raise a singular eyebrow at Buck. 

To Buck’s credit, fair enough. He’s definitely done more with Taylor in the past, especially now that she’s his girlfriend. Not that Eddie’s heard more than the bare details, which probably isn’t great best friend behavior, but it stops him from saying his real opinion about her, so wouldn’t that really be a testament to Eddie’s best friendship? 

“Wow, moving fast, huh?” 

Buck whines. “Eddie, be serious.” 

“I am!” But Eddie’s smile says otherwise. 

“Come on, Eddie,” Buck nudges him with his elbow. “Don’t you know that superstition?” 

Eddie doesn’t even need to make the face for Buck to know his answer. 

“When you kiss someone on New Year’s, it’s for good luck. Because you want to spend the whole next year with them.”

Buck’s wish ended up coming true. Granted, they should have broken up around month eight and a half, but they lasted a few weeks shy of a year. Buck called it a pretty lousy year. 

Eddie’s never kissed Buck, and he’s certainly never kissed Buck on New Year’s. But they’ve been together for a solid seven years now, and they’ve been some of the best years of Eddie’s life. Of course, that was then. That was before Eddie pushed his son away and had to chase him back to his childhood home. That was before Eddie did what he does best and ruined the best things he could ever have. 

Meanwhile Buck stays in LA, probably at some bar in WeHo or celebrating New Year’s at the Han’s place. He’ll probably be kissing some new face that Eddie’s never met and they’ll spend a lovely new year together, and nothing about Eddie will matter because he’ll simply be too late. He doesn’t know. Lately, it seems like he’s only getting half of Buck’s life in his ears, missing out on anything worthwhile. Everything about Buck is worthwhile. 

There’s a poking in his side, one that hadn’t been there before. Eddie looks down and Chris is already looking up at him. He leans down and hums to let Chris know he’s listening. 

“I miss Buck,” Chris mumbles. 

Eddie sighs and rubs his son’s back unhelpfully. “Yeah. Me too, kiddo.” 

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Background Events: Persona Experimentation

Unethical experimentation on Persona Users has been happening since the beginning. But how has it evolved until now?

Warning: Some speculation will be involved.

TW: Human Experimentation

The Beginning

We don't have an exact date for when experiments related to Personas and the Collective Unconscious began. Phil and Nyarly's bet had been going for some time by the time IF took place. However, if we had to place a true beginning to the experiments, we would have to go with Stephen and the Demon Summoning Program. Along with Kyouji Kuzunoha, he's the only SMT character who's also canon to Persona. Makes sense, considering his weird transcendent nature. The tale may vary between franchises, but the Persona version goes like this:

By unknown means, Stephen managed to create the Terminal System to travel through computer networks. Since he's in a wheelchair in IF, then this Stephen also managed to connect to the Expanse (located in the Collective Unconscious) with the Terminal System. Since he didn't have a way to communicate with the demon who crossed and no Persona to defend himself, Stephen was was attacked and subsequentaly crippled. All of this had to have happened before 1996 for the timeline to make sense (Side Note: This also tells a lot about Stephen, since the incident had the perfect conditions for an Awakening).

The incident led Stephen to create the Demon Summoning Program, probably for personal use, since there was no upcoming war to prepare to (that Stephen could have known of). For some unknown reason, Stephen chose to upload the only copies of the program in the computers of Karukozaka High School. Was he an alumni? Did Stephen realize teens had more probability of connecting with the Expanse? Were Karu High's computers just that good? Who knows. Only Hazama and Tamaki took the program serious enough to use it, even if it was against each other. But that's a story for another time.

Like St. Hermelin would in a few months, Karu High briefly made the news before the entire incident was forgotten. That is highly suspicious on itself. My assumption is that there truly were some experimentation going on before this, amd they made sure to silence the press and make sure the students didn't snitch. Since Tamaki managed to hide among the student population as another victim (probably with Stephen's help), they never questioned her on her abilities nor disappeared her.

But who are they? Well...

SEBEC

The first formal organization seeking to gain a foothold in the Collective Unconscious was the Japanese branch of SEBEC, leadered by Takahisa Kandori. Their story goes like this:

When Kandori took over as head branch of SEBEC, they began to undertake the creation of a device capable of transporting matter from one place to another. Kind of like a portal. This had the main objective of helping to lower freight costs of imports and exports. Maybe even erasing them entirely. Key contributors were Setsuko Sonomura (an engineering specialist) and Dr. Nicholai (a scientist). Kandori kept the project so under wraps that those involved basically lived in the installations. Together they created the Dimension Variable Accelerator System, or DEVA System. However, they also pulled a Backrooms and accidentally connected to the Collective Unconscious.

It is probably at this point that Kandori awoke to his Persona, which was hijacked by the real Nyarlathotep. And thus, Kandori became a puppet in The Great Bet while believing he was achieving world domination or something like that. "But, Kati," I can hear you saying, "all of that was about the Collective Unconscious. Aside from Kandori, there were no Persona Users working with SEBEC".

Oh? OH? So quickly you forget about him?

Takeda. The man, the myth, the barely remembered NPC. All we know about him is that he is Kandori's right-hand man, the head of security at SEBEC and a Persona User. We don't even know what his Persona is, only that its couldn't handle the combined forces of the St. Hermelin students. His existence does imply something deeper: SEBEC is already employing Persona Users to their cause. They probably didn't know much about the phenomena (understandable, since they had just finished the DEVA System) and didn't have a definitive way of figuring out who could be a User and who couldn't. For all they knew this could be random. And so, a not-so-stellar security guard rose to become the second-hand man of the main antagonist. Just because he had the same power as him.

As we know, Kandori and SEBEC failed. But what was the fate of the staff that worked on the DEVA System? What about the little knowledge of the Collective Unconscious they had?

New World Order

Due to Nyarly's meddling, the NWO was founded in 1979 after they found Kiyotada Sumaru's head. They might have had supernatural advice from an ancient head and the backup of one of the most powerful beings in the Persona Universe, but no real Persona Users. Not one of those people had their shit together. The closest thing they had was Chizuru Ishigami, who was a sorcerer (most probable given true power by the Rumor Curse). When the time was right, we can assume Nyarly guided them to the remnants of Kandori's fuck up. The NWO revived Kandori and began their recruitment of the now-lost scientists and inventors. The NWO gave more freedom to their researchers than SEBEC did, which eventually led to the beginning of true human experimentation.

We don't see the worst of it unless you play Tatsuya's Scenario, where the hints they leave us are enough to call for a second Doctors' Trial.

Yikes. And this was only one known experiment.

Like SEBEC before them, the NWO also fell. But they weren't the only ones running supernatural and unethical experiments in 1999.

Kirijo Group

With the creation of the Dark Hour, demons shadows weren't only a danger of the Collective Unconscious anymore, at least, as far as the Kirijo Group knew. Now those in the know had to watch themselves every night to avoid being attacked by them. They couldn't always rely on the perfected version of the Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapons. That must have been the moment when they began to hear rumors of supernatural events in Sumaru City, which led them to the crumbling NWO.

As it turns out, the entire Death Incident a couple of months ago left a huge vacancy for their supernatural research division. And these guys seem like they have fresh ideas that might just solve their self-created problem! A secret scramble must have taken place where the Nanjo and Kirijo Groups tried to covet all the info and personnel that had anything to do with the NWO. Those who weren't important enough to know the truth behind Kiyotada Sumaru's head and their self-proclaimed high-class greatness could have become the precursors of the Conspiracy.

And so, the Kirijo Group now had better scientists, inventors and researchers than before, and more willing to dab on unethical territory. With the need for defense, the former NWO scientists must have suggested they try to create their own Persona Users, like the ones who kept barging into their labs back in Sumaru. Thing is, no one there knew how a Persona User came to be. They did seem to have the power to control a shadow to do their bidding... maybe all they had to do was link (whatever that meant) a human with a shadow. The survivors of these experiments would become bodyguards for the Kirijo Group's excursions to Tartarus. No one would last long, though.

Skip a couple of years and the unexpected happened:

A natural Persona Awakening.

Note was taken of the factors that had to do with the event: the User was a child and she had been in a highly stressful situation. This is how the Kirijo Group rounded up the 100 children they would experiment on to create Artificial Persona Users. All of them dying except for three: Takaya Sakaki, Jin Shirato and Chidori Yoshino (and Sho Minazuki). This violation to the Nuremberg Code probably fell to the side when Mitsuru found and recruited two natural Persona Users on her own. Nothing like flushing dozens of children's lives down the toilet.

We must remember that the Kirijo Group didn't know everything about Personas, and so believed that the stressful situation with a dash of fear of death was necessary every time the User wanted fo summon their Persona. And so Evokers were created. Better not think of the trial and error that led to those inventions. Nor the one that helped create Persona Suppressants.

Who cares if three failed lab rats ran away? Now the Kirijo Group had true Persona Users with them.

A lot happened after that, but that is a story for another day. What about the hypothetical precursors to the Conspiracy formed from the high-profile members of the NWO? The ones that fell through the cracks during the power vacuum?

The Antisocial Force

For once, this wasn't Nyarly's fault. The basic rich bitches would have remained basic rich bitches if it wasn't for Yaldabaoth. The creation of the Shadow Operatives and the less restrictive hold on Kirijo Group employees probably made all that Persona and Collective Unconscious experimentation more of an open secret in the science community. And like hypnosis, this is one secret that most didn't believe until they witnessed it themselves. Not all were skepticals, and those interested were recruited by Masayoshi Shido for the creation of the Antisocial Force.

They would be the new oppressive entity in this area, suppressing information and giving stitches to snitches. This wouldn't stop "Cognitice Psience" from becoming an increasingly popular field. Who knows what kind of experiments happened in and out of the Antisocial Force. They couldn't have been the only ones.

If there is one thing the new Kirijo Group managed to contain, was the knowledge of the creation of Persona Users. The Antisocial Force didn't even have the research from the original NWO scientists that would help them create Artificial Users. Yaldy had to put an already-Awakened Goro Akechi in Shido's path for them to have a User. And even with an actual User, they couldn't replicate the circumstances that could have helped create more. I doubt Akechi was very helpful with that, though. Can't have any potential substitutes for his job.

Nah, the Antisocial Force's forte would never be Persona Users, but rather humanity's cognition.

So, what was the order of events?

Stephen created the Terminal System and began working on the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC began working on the DEVA System.

Stephen completed the Demon Summoning Program.

SEBEC finished the DEVA System and, after Kandori's Awakening, began to recruit Persona Users (at least one other than Kandori).

After SEBEC's fall, the New World Order recruited the staff that worked in the DEVA System.

The NWO began to experiment with demons and humans.

The Kirijo Group hired all the scientists and inventors from the NWO.

The Kirijo Group began to create Artificial Persona Users.

After Mitsuru's Awakening, the Kirijo Group focused on children experimentation.

The Antisocial Force began to recruit experts in cognitive psience for personal experiments.

[flodaya]

those Instagram and tiktok Stans are annoying bc a key part of tomlore is he is soooo messy about Zendaya. It’s not my business bc she’s a private citizen, but I’d like to know his lore from the end of his long term high school relationship. How much did it have to do w distance vs. his impending celebrity vs. Zendaya 1. Like dating his coworker when he’s the lead of the movie and he knows he has to make 2 more and don’t live in the same country is CRAZY.

2. Dumping her bc they couldn’t find a career balance then immediately being spotted with a childhood family friend is CRAZY (why did it have to be his moms best friends daughter???). 3. He’s also rumored to be flying in an incredibly beautiful professional golfer (that’s now in the best f1 relationship); this one is not crazy I just believe the rumor.

4. What I would’ve done to be in the city of Cleveland in fall of 2019. CLEVELAND. He also followed his next gf during this time. 5. his ex - from the big movie franchise, is spotted with her new man going on the same dates the two of them went on together, so he freaks out and panic commits to his next gf

6. Less than 3 weeks into the new relationship he’s LIVING with his new gf

7. Posts new girlfriend hard launching. ONE day later his ex gets nominated for a big award. He reaches out. She likes his next Instagram post. He posts the new girlfriend again (as reassurance??). Less than a week later his new girlfriends mom unfollows him. The upcoming weeks his new girlfriend posts on Instagram like she’s single.

i thought i was going to be annoyed by this long "let me explain the history" ask but you had me laughing tears, tom was so messy, like you cannot tell me that man didn't see Zendaya at the audtion and was like "whelp it's her or no one i guess", that man has been in love with her for 8 years and i'm glad it's worked out for them for both their sanities

(dumping Z sounds so harsh lol as if it didnt take months for them to disentangle smh)

[andythecorsair]

Spoilery Deadpool and Wolverine Question

Which of those cameos--expected or unexpected--would you like to see followed up on elsewhere in the MCU?

Personally, I wouldn't hate seeing Gambit and X-23 again in the upcoming X-franchise. I know they're probably going to go younger and reestablish them for new audiences, but Channing Tatum was so good! And why can't we have a different set of mutants be the older generation, and a different gaggle as the younger? Tatum's only 44. He could land at the school from the Void, X-23 in tow, and meet Rogue as he's trying to acclimatise to a new life in a new universe.

Yeah, I know, it's not going to happen, though the MCU will be forced to do something different, as we've already seen kids being inducted into Xavier's school twice on the big screen. So what's going to be different this time? Krakoa? That'd be cool...

[sunshine-tattoo]

I wanna talk about the Harry Potter books for a second.

Picture this.

Its October 2003 and the HP books are at the height of their fame.

The 5th book came out a few months ago and everyone is excited for the upcoming 3rd film.

I am 9 years old and everyone i know is obsessed with these books.

All my friends are reading them and even some of the grownups I know.

I had not read them yet for two reasons:

1) I'm a little shit who hates anything popular

2) I had undiagnosed dyslexia and reading was not easy for me

But one day I start reading them.

(Probably because I was sick of not being able to play pretend games with my friends at recess since all they did was play Harry potter but whatever.)

I start reading and I am Transported.

For the first time in my life I am completely taken in by a story that wasn't being read to me or had pictures.

I loved this book.

In fact i loved it so much that my breaks between working on homework that weekend are to read!

I can still remember sitting out on my front yawn in the swing under the big maple tree, completely immersed in reading. The autumn leaves were falling and everything felt truly magical.

I finished that first book in a week, which is the fastest I had ever finished a book of any sort, much less a 223 page novel.

i immediately start on the second one, even reading under the covers with a flashlight after I was supposed to be asleep.

When I finished books 1-5, I started looking for more books to read and began with the first Eragon book.

I became a regular at both my school library and the public one.

My teachers and family were amazed that I had gone from someone who reads because she has to to a full on lover of books in only a few months.

I think The Simpsons said it best: JKR turned a generation of kids onto reading.

Which is why it breaks my heart so so much that she has become such a terrible person.

I'm 31 years old now and teach in upper elementary school.

I collect as many books as I can for my class collection so that maybe one of my kids will get excited about reading like I did at that age.

But it makes me so sad that I cannot in good consciousness recommend the books that made me love reading so much.

Because while I am a school teacher myself now, I am also a trans person.

And I can't encourage anyone to spend money on the harry potter franchise because i know exactly what it is funding.

Yes, there were less than positive aspects of the books themselves too.

And I will be the first one to say that I missed them entirely because I was an upper middle class white child and the books were written from the perspective of an upper middle class white child.

(Now as a grownup I can see why my classmates of color were less inclined to read them and why I stock my class book shelves with novels written by, and about, people of color. )

But even so. Never in a million years did I think that the author of the book series that made me love reading so would come to hate people like me this badly.

And while it infuriates me, it also just makes me very very sad.

I'm not entirely sure what I wanted to get out of this post.

Maybe just to create record and connect with others who feel this grief.

[gaykeithbilance]

honestly idgaf about the upcoming voltron movie. it will most likely be another reboot of the 80s cartoon and not related to legendary defender. the voltron movie will be a movie based on an existing franchise in our current media landscape of movies based on existing franchises because originality is scary. it will probably be mediocre nostalgia bait for people who grew up with various other voltron iterations, including us. look guys here's a movie about voltron you guys like voltron right? we have a popular actor. come watch our movie in theatres so we can make money. we want money and making a good film is secondary to that. if i'm outraged about this it's because i think this trend is annoying not because they chose voltron as their target. i'm simply not invested enough in the voltron brand. i just happened to like this one show when i was in middle school and developed an unshakable emotional attachment. even if it was based on the vld characters i would ignore it like i ignored netflix atla. i love not watching things it's so fun to not watch things everyone should try it i think.

[doamarierose-honoka]

Dream Productions being a prequel to Inside Out 2 adds a tragic layer to that animated film. Inside Out 2 reintroduces audiences to Riley a few years after the events of Inside Out. On the cusp of high school, Riley is thrown for an additional loop at hockey camp when she discovers her two best friends Grace and Bree are actually set to go to another high school. This sets off an internal conflict within Riley's emotions, which leads to the primary plot and emotional ending of Inside Out 2.

By contrast, Dream Productions is a more low-key storyline that focuses on the inner workings of Riley's sleep cycles. The show also specifically takes place between the events of the Inside Out films, which means Grace and Bree are more pronounced characters. This exploration of Riley's friends in the Inside Out franchise has a somewhat bittersweet and quietly tragic impact on Inside Out 2 and builds up that film's saddest elements.

Dream Productions Takes Place Before Inside Out 2

Dream Productions Being Set In Riley's Middle School Days Is Important

The presence of Grace and Bree in Dream Productions highlights the show's status as a prequel to Inside Out 2, which also amplifies the bittersweet elements of the latter film. Riley's life isn't given much focus in Dream Productions, although it is confirmed early in the show that she's still in middle school. This means she's still getting to hang out with her best friends Grace and Bree. Grace and Bree are consistent presences in Riley's life, with the three girls planning out the upcoming dance together and generally being reliable best friends.

Trying to impress them even plays into Riley's dreams, and fears of their embarrassment or scorn propel many of her nightmares. The story ends with Grace, Bree, and Riley performing their coordinated dance and winning over their peers, a sweet moment of affirmation for the trio and their friendship. However, this close-knit friendship adds a greater layer of bittersweet tragedy to Inside Out 2, as one of the big dramatic throughlines of that film is Riley discovering that Bree and Grace will be attending a different high school.

Dream Productions Highlights A Key Element Of Inside Out 2's Tragedy

The Loss Of Bree And Grace Hurting Riley So Much Makes More Sense After Dream Productions

A big part of Inside Out 2's Riley storyline deals with Riley confronting the emotional fallout of Bree and Grace going to a different school instead of the one she'll be attending. Because of the timeline between the two Inside Out films, there wasn't much time to actually show how much impact Bree and Grace had on Riley. However, Dream Productions is able to effectively delve into that aspect of Riley's life. This highlights just how important they were to Riley, establishing their group dynamic and why it hurts Riley so much to discover that it's going to be changing.

“This adds to the sense of bittersweet closure that Inside Out 2 has, proving why Dream Productions works best as a prequel to that film.”

Inside Out 2 did a good job of illustrating that bond in brief bursts, but the film's focus was Riley and her emotions. This kept the pair to the sidelines. While they remain in that supporting function in Dream Productions, the show does spend more time highlighting how the friendship works and why they were they were so close. This adds to the sense of bittersweet closure that Inside Out 2 has, proving why Dream Productions works best as a prequel to that film.

[sweetness-pop]

Hiya! 💗💋🍓🌸Sweetness*POP🌈🍭💀🌟 here!

I would love to share this idea to you PlayStation gamers!

I recently had been imagining what would it be like if in the mid or late 2020s there were to be an upcoming and unexpected Playstation crossover game starring 3 female characters:

Talwyn Apogee of Ratchet & Clank

Keira Hagai of Jak & Daxter

& Carmelita Fox of Sly Cooper

Either for the PS5 or upcoming PS6.

The 3 main voice actresses:

Ali Hillis as Talwyn Apogee

Hillis voiced Talwyn in Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus. Her other roles include Dr. Liara T'Soni of Mass Effect series, Audrey Gassenarl of Valkyria Chronicles II, Karin of Naruto Shippuuden, Andra Cressen of Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011), Presa of Tales of Xilla (2013), Dr. Ariel Hanson of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, Black Cat/Felicia Hardy of The Amazing Spider-Man Video Game (2012), and Lightning Farron of Final Fantasy series.

Erica Lindbeck as Keira Hagai

Imagine when J&D franchise makes surprising return, some of the characters will have new VAs. And Keira's 3rd VA will be Lindbeck. Her other roles include Sayaka Igarashi of Kategurui, Kaori Miyazono of Your Lie in April, Eli Ayase of Love Live! School Project, Futaba Sakura of Persona 5, Cassie Cage of Mortal Kombat 11, Daki of Demon Slayer (Kimetsu no Yaiba), Lady Nagant of My Hero Academia, Emira of The Owl House, and Loona of Helluva Boss.

& Alésia Glidewell as Carmelita Fox

Glidewell voiced Carmelita and Constable Neyla in Sly 2: Band of Thieves. Her other roles include Zoey of Left 4 Dead (2006), Sedna of Demigod (2009), Alma Wade of F.E.A.R. 2: Project & F.E.A.R. 3 (2009-2011), Chell of Portal, Krystal of Star Fox Assault, Metroid's main protagonist Samus Aran in Super Smash Bros series.

The rating of this game would be ESRB T (Teen) in North America, CERO C (Ages 15 and up) in Japan, and PEGI 12 (Suitable for ages 12 and up) or even PEGI 16 (For ages 16 and up) in Europe.

The content of the game:

Fantasy violence, Blood, Language, Suggestive themes, Mild use of drugs of alcohol, & Sexual themes. Oh yeah, there would be certain reasons why this game would be rated T/C/12(or 16) with this kind of content. Remember when Ratchet & Clank games use to be rated T and toned down to E10+? Or remember that Jak & Daxter was franchise for a teen audience? But do you remember how the Sly Cooper series was always rated E and E10+.

The game would be action/adventure filled with female empowerment.

Plus, a very interesting and sweet storyline were while being the unexpected ones to save and protect their worlds as some unknown force is what mixing their universes dangerously, the 3 heroines help each other out and blossom a close, strong, deep and loving bond together.

Do you all know what would also be cool? If Richard Steven Horvitz (roles include Daggert of The Angry Beaver, Zim of Invader Zim, Billy of The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Raz of Psychonauts, Kaos of Skylanders, and Moxxie of Helluva Boss) were to have a voice role the game either as a badass close ally/handler or one of the villains to the 3 heroines!

What if it will be a huge extremely, unexpected surprise that this game will turn out to sell really good around the globe?! It'll be the one crossover game that fans have never asked for! Plus, imagine in the one country, this upcoming PlayStation game will be selling even better. And that one country will be Japan! Japan would end up making lots of advertising with entertaining commercials and 3D digital billboards in Shibuya of Tokyo, and merchandise like figures and anime-style posters. Hell, there could even be a Japanese dub for the game too!

Imagine these brand new seiyuus (who are also singers) for the "PlayStation Move Heroines":

Marina Inoue as Talwyn Apogee

Inoue's roles include Armin Arlert of Attack on Titan, Yoko Littner of Gurren Lagann, Yumiko Miura of Oregairu (My Youth Romantic Comedy is Wrong as I expected), Rei Miyamoto of HighSchool of the Dead, Tohka Yatogami of Date A Live, Momo Yaoyorozu of My Hero Academia, and Mai Zenin of Jujutsu Kaisen.

Rie Takahashi as Keira Hagai

Takahashi's roles include Takagi of Karakai Jouzou no Takagi-San (Teasing Master Takagi-San), Emilia of Re:Zero Kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu, Megumin of KonoSuba, Tomo Aizawa of Tomo-Chan is a Girl!, Anzu Hoshino of Romantic Killer, and Ai Hoshino of Oshi no Ko.

& Yoko Hikasa as Carmelita Fox

Hikasa's roles include Rias Gremory of High School DXD, Emilia Justina of The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Hwaryun of Tower of God, Utahime Iori of Jujutsu Kaisen, Kyoko Kirigiri of Danganronpa, and Yoh Asakura of Shaman King (2021)

Our heroines would even have a special color to always represent them in their together crossover game. Talwyn-yellow💛, Keira-pink🩷, and Carmelita-light blue🩵. (Hehe just like idol groups☺✨)

💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛

🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵🩵

This ideal PS game could also give the 3 supporting characters who are the love interests of Ratchet (Talwyn), Jak (Keira) and Sly (Carmelita) the spotlight and recognition that they should deserve to have.

My question for all of you is that if Sony were to make this happen someday in the future, then should this be canon to the PlayStationVerse?

So what do you Playstation fans think? And 1 more thing, imagine seeing the first official image looking like this:

The 3 Playstation Femme Fatales standing next to each other. Talwyn in the center, Keira in the right, and Carmelita in the left. And they happen to be wearing what look like hooded black suits that are similar to the skydiving stealth suits of Deku (Izuku Midoriya), Dynamight (Katsuki Bakugou) and Shoto (Shoto Todoroki) from the movie My Hero Academia: World Heroes Mission, but only combined together with what looks like the black catsuit of Nancy Makuhari aka Miss Deep of Read or Die. Talwyn: black with yellow trim and black hoodie with yellow striped black lombax ears. Keira: black with pink trim and black hoodie with top pink/bottom black crystal horns (similar to the dark horns of Dark Eco Jak), and Carmelita: black with light blue trim and black hoodie with black raccoon tails as ears with sky blue ring stripes. Talwyn Apogee, Keira Hagai and Carmelita Fox looking like beautiful, hot, dangerous, sexy and badass Playstation ladies in the image.

Here is the post to my ideal concept for them to wear for the FINAL SHOWDOWN!

And this happens to be from my YouTube comment on a video showing PlayStation Move Heroes cutscenes. (I am TETSUSakura91)

Please share feel free to share your comments and opinions on this idea for a PlayStation crossover.

Thank you.😘

🔥✨🌹🩵💛🩷💋🔫😎

[numbuh-1507]

Some time ago, I made a journal (https://www.furaffinity.net/journal/10927368) stating how I’m getting worried about what might happen in the upcoming Jellystone! crossover special.

Basically, Joesanchez has told me that, due to the “mean-spirited” nature of the show, the episode might end with all of the 19 universes featured on it being erased from existence forever. It doesn’t help that 1. it’s named after a DC crossover event that did the same thing; 2. in real life Cartoon Network lost their studio and their website, so the special ending with all the classics being purged could be sort of a “Reality Subtext”.

Besides, DC already eliminated the 2003 Teen Titans series in the recent animated adaptation of Infinite Earths, so it’s not out of the question that Warner Bros is willing to greenlight this special not to celebrate Cartoon Network, but to tell everyone “Here, Robot Jones’ world is gone forever, which means we don’t have to make a sequel or reboot of it ever. Tough break.” This will be the ultimate “Torch the Franchise(s) and Run”.

The worst part is that the crappy CN shows such as Steven Universe and Gumball are not part of this special, which means they’ll get to survive even though they don’t deserve it. We will have to endure more of their beanmouth styles and crappy tumblr fanfiction writing that makes Hazbin Hotel look like a masterpiece in comparison. At least actually good shows were also spared like Generator Rex and Infinity Train… which isn’t saying much considering their real life fates.

Of course, there is the possibility that I’ll be proven wrong and the special has a decent ending (for Jellystone! standards anyway) that will do these characters justice, and I’ve wasted my time drawing this and writing this rant about your precious CalArts Style crap. But for now, it looks like it’s curtains for Dexter, Aron City, Cow and Chicken, Townsville, Peach Creek, the Time Squad, Samurai Jack, Robot Jones, Endsville, Bunny Island, Sector V, Foster’s, Camp Kidney, Charles Darwin Middle School, Ben Tennyson, Marzipan City, Stormalong Harbor, the Land of Ooo, the park and 18 years of continuity. It’s the Super Genesis Wave all over again, and this time is personal.

All of these belong to Warner Bros. Discovery. Art based off a panel of DC’s Infinite Crisis.

 “24 hours, 7 days a week, from now to the end of times”… which turned out to be 2024.

You must be wondering though, why is Yogi crying? You’ll see soon enough.