#whats your fave animated turtle version? did I do it justice

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All of my Out of Touch Turts-day for easy comparison 💕

Which one is your favourite?

[1987] [2003] [2007] [2012] [2018] [2019] [2023]

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Thoughts on Detective Pikachu (SPOILERS VERSION)

So in this post, I will be discussing (in this order) background Pokemon, the Greninjas, that scene from the trailers where the ground is going crazy, Bulbasaur march, Bill Nighy, Mewtwo, a huge plot twist, a spoiler character, and another huge plot twist.

So if you don’t want to go into the movie knowing anything about any of this, which i highly recommend, then DO NOT READ PAST THIS PAGE BREAK.  IF YOU ARE ON A WEB BROWSER THAT DOES NOT DO PAGE BREAKS, SCROLL AS FAST AS YOU CAN UNTIL YOU GET TO WHATEVER THE NET POST ON YOUR DASH IS.

I’d keep all this to myself until the movie’s been out longer, but I have to talk about it now or else I will explode.

Also keep in mind, I haven’t played the actual Detective Pikachu game, so if this stuff was in that game already and I’m talking about it like its so original and its annoying you, then I apologize beforehand.

Background Pokemon: basically, what you see in the trailers and promo spots is what there is.  I mean, there’s photos of others (like Totodile, who’s lookin reeeeally weird) and artistic representations (Geodude and Natu show up on an Ancient Egyptian-styled mural) and such.  But other than that, it’s just the same few critters over and over and over.  It gets ridiculous near the end of the movie, when there’s just, like, twenty Sneasels in one shot.  But you know what, the quality of the individual models more than makes up for the quantity, I suppose.

The Greninjas: these guys in the first trailer were what sold the movie concept for me, and I am so proud of my creepy drugged-up assassin frogs.  They were genuinely disturbing and threatening, and made for great minor antagonists.  Except...they’re barely in it.  Maybe for, like, five minutes.  They’re introduced (via jump scare), they’re released, they kidnap the news girl, they chase the main characters into the forest, they get beat up by Psyduck.  Not counting all their background scene appearances (yes, there’s good frogs in the movie as well, its just the bad frogs were the advertised ones), they’re barely there.  I feel cheated slightly.  Still, my fave starter made quite an impression and were friggin astounding.  Also, one of the best models in the movie.

Crazy Ground: so my prediction was that it would be one giant Torterra doing all that, ever since that one trailer that revealed Torterras model was revealed.  I was wrong.  It is seven giant Torterras in one of the most awe-inspiring visual sequences I have ever experienced in a movie theater.  I’m not exactly a fan of Sinnoh, but oh my gosh you guys are on to something them turtles are astounding.  And it took me a very long time to figure out how Pikachu got knocked out, basically he gets bumped in the chest by a rock and almost dies.  Makes no sense, until you remember Pikachus are weak to Ground.  Anyway, that leads to the Bulbasaurs.

Bulbasaur March: those angels.  Those beautiful puppies.  Those precious little creatures.  Were working for Mewtwo the whole time, which completely took me off guard cuz I was expecting the healer to be a Venusaur.

Bill Nighy and the Huge Plot Twist, Part 1: fitting that his Eevee evolved into a Flareon, which is now pretty much associated with being a False Prophet.  The kindly fellow turned out to be the bad guy, seeing Pokemon as the final evolution of human beings and wanting to heal not only his own frail body but everyone else’s.  Which then starts the third act, which is basically “Bill Nighy’s Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Self-Insert Fanfiction.”  Starring Bill Nighy as Mewtwo.  And you realize this when he transfers his brain to Mewtwo, who then grins.  Like, full-on slasher smile.  And then he talks.  Like, not psychically, he moves his friggin mouth and its the first time i have ever seen Mewtwo lip-synced and its honesty kind of uncanny and disturbing, but also very well animated and Bill Nighy’s power-trip voice acting is so good.  Bill Nighy just did so good as the main antagonist.

Huge Plot Twist, Part 2: but you know what, this might be one of my favorite plot twists ever put to family cinema.  In this current attitude of needing to subvert expectations, most directors miss the part where you need to replace that expectation with something better (not looking at anyone in particular, Rian Johnson, anyway).  The movie sets up the twist as Bill Nighy is the kindly old mentor who needs to stop his arrogant son from ruining everything.  Any normal family movie would just run with that.  But here, they subvert that twist by making the twist be that the kindly old mentor is actually a crazed power-mad furry megalomaniac.  THAT IS HOW YOU SUBVERT EXPECTATIONS.  YOU LOOK AT THE CONTEXT OF YOUR FILM AND YOUR AUDIENCE, AND YOU WRITE SOMETHING THAT THEY EXPECT, AND REPLACE IT WITH A MORE SATISFYING TWIST.

Mewtwo: he’s voiced by two people I had not heard of previously (Kotaro Watanabe, who apparently voiced him in XY according to IMDB?, and Rina Hoshiro).  Their voices are layered on each other, but mostly masculine, but also predominately aetherial, and its like ASMR just listening to him talk.  And the trailers and vectors do not do him justice, he is so friggin handsome in this film.  He is intimidating and mysterious, but patient and kind as well.  And he smiles.  Not Billtwo’s creepy slasher smile, no that’s not what I’m talking about here.  He smiles, so small but so sweetly.  And basically, my confused childhood crush on him is back but its not confusing any longer, I can’t deny it, I-frigin-fuc-I just-no-yes I-FRAG I fell in love with Mewtwo.  Thanks, Rob Letterman.  Also, my mom’s wise words sum him up here as well: “I always knew he was a good boy.”  Anyway, that rumor I heard about them considering making a Mewtwo movie better be true, I need that in my life.  Although he IS the same Mewtwo from the very first Pokemon movie, so I guess the remake that’s coming out is technically his movie?  But still, I want one with his design HERE.

The Spoiler Character: is Miss Norman, the dominatrix Ditto (also maybe Missingno, that’s a theory I read and I like it).  Now, Ditto technically was already spoiled in the TCG, but still.  It’s a creepy little brat, it can turn into any human or Pokemon whether said human or Pokemon is in its line of sight, and its a freak of nature even amongst Dittos.  And the Ditto eyes on humans?  Oh gosh get that away from meeeee.  The biggest downside is that she’s going to kick off a whole slew of fanart that I don’t know if I want to see, and considering I’m stating that after stating my crush on Mewtwo then that’s something.

The Other Big Plot Twist: You all called it.  Detective Pikachu is Tim’s dad.  And Ryan Reynolds just shows up at the end of the movie, he and Tim have rekindled their father/son relationship, but he doesn’t remember what all happened and the Pikachu can no longer speak.  So I have no idea how a Detective Pikachu 2 would even work at this point, but the ending was so sweet that I will just let this go.

AAAAAAND THATS IT FROM ME.  whew.  glad i didn’t explode.