#xros wars took like 30 episodes

[gwydionae]

I’m a Negative Nancy under the cut, wooooo!!

It has gotten to the point where I have to force myself to watch the new Digimon every week. My hopes of it building on the good stuff and shedding some of the bad have all kind of fizzled out. That’s not to say that nothing good ever happens or that it’s a terrible show, but these last two episodes kinda just confirmed a lot of my fears.

I am a staunch believer in there being a difference between “breather” episodes and “filler” episodes. “Breather” episodes still have an important function even if they aren’t really moving the plot along, whether it be nice character moments or even just allowing characters a chance to rest after stressful plot stuff. They are generally good for pacing and character development. “Filler” episodes are merely there to have a distinction between where Arc A ends and Arc B begins. The latest two episodes fall squarely into “filler” territory.

I am ok with this series having more action. Action is fun! But it shouldn’t come at the cost of character. These two episodes could have shown us these kids interacting outside of a high stress situation for once, and instead we got more technobabble from Koushiro and more yelling of other peoples’ names from Taichi, Yamato, and Takeru.

There were a lot of problems I had with these episodes specifically, but even if they were silly, even if they made no sense, even if they deus ex machina-ed the heck out of how to get these kids back together, I would have been fine with it if we had just gotten something from them as characters. Instead I am just left kind of bored, focusing on things like “how was Koushiro the only person on earth to figure out to send a distress signal that way” or “why didn’t they all flee further inland where the Seadramon couldn’t get them” or “how the heck did not even Leomon know that they were up in the sky, man, how did they even get there”. Because this show is not giving me a reason to focus on and thus care about the characters or why they are in this situation.

I mean, when even I, one of the biggest supporters of there being more familial love in fiction is starting to cringe every time I hear Takeru scream, “Onii-chan!!”, there’s a problem.

[1863-project]

I Watched The Steam Locomotive Episode of Digimon

I’m going to preface this by admitting that normally I don’t watch or play Digimon, and I just went in for the sake of seeing this one episode because, like Kichii, I was The Train Kid when I was younger and I get where he’s coming from. I went into this watching it from the perspective of someone who loves trains and especially loves steam locomotives, and from viewing it from that lens and not just a Digimon lens, it hits in a different way for me.

This episode comes from Digimon Xros Wars, a series that ran in 2011-2012 or so, and can be watched on Crunchyroll. In it, the main character finds out his classmate Kichii Funabashi is somehow traveling all over the world at night, and he’s getting very sleep deprived as a result. Kichii loves trains, and he offers to take the main character along on a trip to prove the photos are real. The protagonist agrees and meets him on what appears to be the roof of the school, where he’s picked up by Kichii, who shows up in the cab of a flying 2-8-4 Berkshire named Locomon (a Digimon, of course).

Kichii relates the story of how he and Locomon met, and in the flashback he manages to be one of the best depictions of being the Train Kid that I’ve ever seen:

He literally moves his arms as if they’re the drive rods of a steam locomotive. Honestly, he’s a mood.

But what really sold me was that Kichii clearly understands steam locomotives.

Kichii gets it - trains are a form of accessible travel and should be for everyone, not kept to oneself. He also understands that operating a steam locomotive isn’t ownership - it’s partnership.

I have driven a steam locomotive, Strasburg #90. I’d admired her for most of my life, and 30 years after I first saw her I got to step inside the cab and take my place at the throttle. I’ve driven many different vehicles before in my life, but never a steam locomotive, and it felt different from anything I’d ever operated before. I was attached to my first car, which I had for over a decade, to the point that I gave it a name, but I couldn’t feel a soul emanating from that car. When I climbed into 90′s cab, there was an internal sense of warmth I can’t quite describe. Sure, the firebox was giving off heat, but this came from within.

When I was a little kid, I rode horses for a couple of years (before realizing I was more of an Iron Horse Girl than a regular Horse Girl). Sitting down in the cab and getting settled in, I felt more like I did when I rode horses than I ever did driving a car. This machine felt almost alive, and she had a soul, and she was going to lend me her power for the next 30 minutes. I wasn’t in control, we were a team, and we had to work together. I opened the throttle and we took off, and I felt like I was supposed to be there. It was her job to keep me safe in the cab, and my job to keep her safe on the rails by making sure we were at the right speed and didn’t have anyone crossing the tracks in front of us. I helped her use her voice by blowing the whistle before crossings and when we were about to move forward or in reverse. By the end, I felt so comfortable in the cab that I didn’t want to leave, and I felt like if I needed to I could have kept going forever. For 30 minutes, my soul was entwined with 90′s soul, and we were a team.

When Kichii has to rescue Locomon at the climax of his episode, he invokes that same feeling. Locomon is a 2-8-4 Berkshire - locomotives that weren’t as fast as, say, Atlantics, Pacifics, or Hudsons, but were immensely strong and well-suited for freight work. Lima Locomotive Works made likely the most famous Berkshires, both Pere Marquette 1225 (the Polar Express locomotive) and the Nickel Plate Road Berkshires, a representative of which, 765, runs excursions to this day. NKP 765 maxes out at around 80 miles per hour - not slow by any means, but not as fast as some steam locomotives (Mallard, a Pacific, holds the official record at 126 mph) and certainly not as fast as modern high-speed rail in Japan. Locomon dreams of going faster, and this is exploited by an antagonist group for a time until Kichii manages to bring Locomon to his senses - by reminding him that they’re a team.

Kichii demonstrates he both understands Berkshires - known for their strength, not their speed - and steam locomotive operation in general. These machines feel like they have souls, and engineers speak of them as if they’re alive, with their own quirks - much like horses, or any other animal humans have partnered with to get things done. Kichii, in his little conductor uniform, single-handedly snaps Locomon out of it and brings him back to his senses by reminding him that they have a bond. Locomon runs on the smiles of his passengers, and he ultimately realizes making them happy and enjoying his friendship with Kichii is the most important thing. The protagonist and his partner Digimon are able to help rescue Locomon, the antagonists are beaten off for the time being, and Kichii and Locomon are officially reunited as a team.

At the end of the episode, the two of them are seen operating together, with Kichii offering the traditional Japanese railway employee salute to the protagonist as they pass by:

Whoever wrote this episode clearly also must love trains, because they nailed the way it feels to work with steam locomotives specifically so accurately through Kichii’s dialogue. It reminded me of my experience with 90, and how for that brief half hour we were a team, working together to do things neither of us could do alone. Steam locomotives are one of the closest things we’ve come to creating something truly alive - they have to be fed and given water, and they can “breathe.” We have to work with them, not against them. Kichii and Locomon are an excellent representation of how that actually feels to do, and it hit me squarely in the heart.

[alisonmanic]

So I was at Kitacon this weekend 18th to 20th August. I was happy to find out that an article I’d written for the con book made it in! (as pictured above). Now that the con is over and I’m home. Here is exactly what I wrote: It feels like only yesterday I would sit and watch the first Digimon (Digimon Adventure (Season 1) on CITV.  But Digimon did not start with the Animation. It started on the 26th June 1997 with the release of the Digimon V-Pet in Japan. Yup that's right, Digimon is now officialy 20 years old. Feeling old yet? I am lol as I was 14 at the time! You could raise Digimon like Agumon or even Devimon in the very first V-Pet. Ah if only I had been able to keep my original V-Pets and Digivices. Still, I have been very fortunate to get some of my collection back over the years and have recently ordered the 20th Anniversary from Japan. Digimon Adventure first started in Japan on the 6th of March 1999 and ran for 54 episodes into March 2000. The English dub started to air in America in August 99 to June 2000. We were introduced to the 'original' Chosen Children (Digidestined dub). I have keen memories of writing down the evolution lines while I was watching the dub and this drove me to start my own Digimon website (Digital Starlight) in 2001. Although it is no longer updated, the site still lives. Most of my favourite Digimon and cosplay have come from Adventure. I have cosplayed Vamdemon/Myotismon, Tailmon/Gatomon and Hikari Yagami/Kari Kamiya. I would one day like to cosplay Wizarmon/Wizardmon and PicoDevimon/DemiDevimon. Digimon Adventure Zero Two (02) first started in Japan on the 2nd April 2000 and ran for 50 episodes into March 2001. The dub started in America in August 2000 and ran to May 2001. The Chosen Children expanded a lot, we got new types of evolution (Jogress/DNA and Armour). I would like to cosplay the Digimon Kaiser at some point and was rather disappointed when there were no United Kingdom Chosen in the Digimon World Tour. Also it marked the return of my favourite Digimon villan – Vamdemon/Myotismon. It was towards the end of Season 2 that I was introduced into Real Media clips from Japan that took ages to download on 56k dial up! Digimon Tamers first started in Japan on the 1st April 2001 and ran for 51 episodes into March 2002. The dub started in America in September 2001 and ran to June 2002. We met new Digimon Tamers and their partners and this series was darker than the previous two. Digimon died and were not reborn like previous seasons. This was not expected and depression was tackled in youngsters. Afterall Juri/Jeri's Digimon Leomon died and sent her spiralling. For some, Tamers wasn't popular and for some they loved it. I'm more in the middle ground. Digimon Frontier first started in Japan on the 7th April 2002 and ran for 50 episodes into March 2003. The dub started in America in September 2002 and ran to March 2003. Digimon Frontier never aired in the UK and a friend in Australia ended up taping me the episodes from TV and sending me the VHS'! Digimon Frontier was very different. There were no Digimon partners, the children Spirit Evolved into their Digimon forms. Frontier was considered as 'the end' at one point. People did not like it didn't have partners or the drawn out Royal Knights story line. By  the time Frontier ended in Japan. There was no new Digimon show ready to take it's place. There was a hiatus, only broken by a Japanese Movie Digital Monster X-Evolution in January 2005. No humans, just a pure story about Digimon that got rather confusing at times. Then it was back to waiting until... Digimon Savers/Digimon Data Squad. Diginon Savers first started in Japan on the 2nd April 2006 and ran for 48 Episodes until March 2007. The dub, Digimon Data Squad, started in October 2007 and ran to November 2008. Data Squad was aired on an obscure channel called Kix at the time. Digimon Savers followed another new route with 'DATS – Digital Accident Tactics Squad' and the Humans partnered with Digimon were for the most part teenagers (Minus Ikuto/Keenan who was younger). Once again, this season was a little darker as it was shown how Digimon can be 'corrupted' with huamn thoughts' and even went so far to have a Nazi-esq evil human called Kurata who wanted to destroy all Digimon! We were also introduced to Yggdrasil (King Drasil) the god of the Digital World...and once again at set of Royal Knights. Some good..some not so good. Once again, we had another hiatus and paved the way to... Digimon Xros Wars/Digimon Fusion. Digimon Xros ran for 79 episodes in total and was in three different parts. It ran in Japan from 6th July 2010 to March 2012. The dub has only covered the first 54 episodes, Part 3 having not been dubbed. The dub Digimon Fusion started in America in September 2013 and ran to August 2015. Part 1 is just known as  Digimon Xros Wars and was 30 Episodes long. Digimon did not evolve as normal at first as they had to Xros using multiple Digimon to create Xrossed up Digimon (I.e Shoutmon X2, X3 X4 etc). Digimon levels as we knew them were thrown out of the window and things were somewhat war like. Part 2 is known as  Digimon Xros Wars The Evil Death Generals and the Seven Kingdom and covered Episodes 31 to 54. Bagramon had won and turned the Digital World into his own image and placed several of his Death Generals into the seven single zones. The Chosen having to fight each to re-take back over the Digital World. Part 3 originally wasn't meant to happen and was more of an off shoot of Digimon Xros. It is known as The Boy Hunters Who Leapt Through Time. While it had Taiki/Mikey and Yuu from Parts 1 and 2 it also featured a new set of Characters. Episodes 55 to 79 were covered and are generally considered 'they don't exist' by some fans. Hunters went so far as crossing over with the other Digimon series and bringing in the 'Goggle boys and several other chosen/Tamers cast members' fan service like...which honestly...didn't do it for me. Once again, we had another hiatus and paved the way to something that many Digimon fans were very excited for... Digimon Adventure tri. This is currently still ongoing, with Part 5 Symbiosis of Part 6 airing on 30th September 2017! Tri Part 1: Reunion  was released on the 21st November 2015. Part 2: Determination on 12th March 2016, Part 3 Confession on 24th September 2016 and Part 4 Loss on 25th February 2017. Each Episode was released the same day, subbed, in America and other places (sadly not UK) on Crunchyroll. The original eight chosen are back...with a new addition of Meiko and her partner Meicoomon! The Zero Two children (Minus Hikari and Takeru) are 'currently unknown' status. Digimon are getting infected, the infection is making them very strong and attacking the human world. The Chosen, 3 years older after the events of Zero Two, start to take the burden and responsibility of still being Chosen with the attacks happening in the real world. Part 1: Reunion Dub (Japanese Audio and Subs available as well) was released in the UK on DVD and Blu-Ray on 22nd May 2017. Part 2 Determination dub is due out in America on 15th August 2017. At the same time, we currently have... Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters. It started to air in Japan on 1st October 2016 and is still airing. There is currently no dub. It introduces another new casting characters and Digimon are known as Appmon. So far as writing this, there are no 'old school' Digimon. A being known as Leviathan is wanting to turn all Appmon evil and our heroes must stop him! I actually need to catch up on Applimon! It does feel strange that Digimon has, pardon the expression, evolved so much over the years. Not only does it have animation, it has several manga. My favourte of these manga being Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01. A different Taichi Yagami and his partner Zeromaru the V-Dramon must save the Digital World from Demon and his 'child' Arkadimon. There were also English Adaptations of Season 1 to 3 of the anime with Tokyopop. Digimon is still going strong over 20 years. I hope you have enjoyed the little overview of Digimon and here is to another 20 years! Now the Adventure Evolves. ~Vande~

[redspellbook]

i’m listening to tomo yo (ted’s character song) and i still find it really bizarre that ted got a character song (the only faudo arc character to do so) and yet zeon didn’t?? whatever

sorta related to how i’m in the process of rewatching digimon frontier with my brother right now and of course i’m hearing junko takeuchi’s ted voice as takuya kanbara’s... although obviously i’m mostly hearing her voice as her most iconic character: neyruto uzumaki (they all sound exactly the same really. although it’s also of note that she also voiced mars in ZB, so that’s kinda fun listening to her as a minor antagonist instead of a hot blooded protagonist)

when i’m done with frontier though, idk what i want to do... chronologically, it’d make most sense to jump into ZB? toei pushed out the first four digimon series back to back from 1999-2003, and from there ZB took its place until 2006, when digimon savers became a thing. (so at least savers had the save timeslot as previous digimon seasons to my knowledge because of how ZB kept its place. not so much by the time xros wars came around years later and had a shit 6:30 AM timeslot but that’s beside the point)

so basically i’m trying to figure out if i watch to just rewatch all of ZB with my brother or just come back later and rewatch savers first... there’s still other digimon stuff we need to watch too like we both need to catch up on appmon episodes past like 10 i think. and i’ve watched the latest tri part but he still hasn’t and we should probably get on that before the next part comes out soon... whoops

i’m just rambling about nonsense there’s not much of a point to this post