#SO HOW DOES THE SAIYAN CASTE SYSTEM WORK

[tigirl-and-co]

The hardcore sci-fi+ xenofiction parts of my brain are always on the lookout for literally anything I can use to extrapolate the culture of saiyans

I just hate how unreliable Vegeta technically is as anecdotal evidence bc he was only like 6 when his species disappeared so there's lots of stuff he wouldn't know bc it wasn't important either at his age or to someone in his position

What would a six year old prince need to know about child rearing. Nothing. Or the gathering of non-meat foods. He would have had people to do that (probably, but actually WE DON'T KNOW)

Ough. I would gladly write a saiyan culture textbook if I thought anybody would read it

Bring Nappa back so I can ask him about Saiyan courtship.

[comicaurora]

If you still have Sailor Moon on the brain, did watching it at all give you any options you wish to share about other magical girl esk media you wish existed or your own take on how you would create a story in that media space?

If not, then maybe, if you're inclined to, recount some interesting findings about the connections that exist between shojo and shonen media?

(If neither then please disregard, sorry for imposing)

It was interesting! I was surprised at how much it had in common with shonen action anime. Half the boss battles get resolved with a beam clash and the only difference between Super Saiyan and Neo Queen Serenity is whether the hair or the outfit changes.

The one part I found myself sliding off of - due to personal writing preference - is how Usagi is the defacto center of the universe and everyone else is very explicitly playing support. That's part of why I liked the Outer Senshi so much - because they've all got their own ludicrously OP stuff going on, they feel more like equals to Usagi than glorified bodyguards. The inner planet senshi get their own character arcs, which is excellent, but after a while it's pretty clear that none of them can ever finish a fight without Sailor Moon. And that's fine, that's the pretense of the story - their jobs are very explicitly to protect the turbopowerful demigoddess moon princess while she gets her act together enough to remember she can win - but I prefer writing an ensemble cast where everyone feels like the hero of their own story, not the support in someone else's, and that's pretty much antithetical to the core premise of the show.

It also has a lot of the hallmarks of a soft magic system that I personally struggle with - the old "you win by believing in yourself" thing basically means "you win when the plot demands it would be most interesting for you to win" - but again, they can get away with a lot by letting the actual core premise of the universe's power system be stuff like "a pure heart gives you strength" and "the power of love will legitimately make you more powerful." And I respect that the show doesn't just give people powerups whenever - one of the parts I found most emotionally impactful was in the finale of season 3, when Sailor Saturn is going to fight the big bad all by herself and will 100% definitely die in the process, and because Sailor Moon has sacrificed the season's macguffin, she can no longer transform into her powered-up form to help - which doesn't stop her from screaming the transformation phrase over and over, because she is desperate to save Sailor Saturn even if she's been told it can't possibly work. When she gets her The Most Purest Heart Ever powerup at the last possible second, that feels excellent because it's a profoundly impactful character moment that's being supported by the plot with a tangible powerup. It's pretty telling that we don't even see the final bossfight; it's not about the spectacle or the beam clash, it's about the character arcs that surround them. I think that's a really interesting way to handle it and to add depth to an otherwise basic "whose number is bigger" style struggle.

I'm also deeply fond of paragons, and as the seasons go on I really like how Usagi's ultimately kind personality drives her to constantly help, no matter the personal cost or how aggressively people try to dissuade her - and I like that she gets angry and frustrated and even says or does harsh things sometimes, but will ultimately always do what she thinks is right. It makes her feel like a real human being, and the "weaknesses" and flaws in her character - aka the parts that make her something more complicated than a perfectly stoic problem-solving machine - are a lot of fun to watch.

Personal preference, I'd like to see more magical girl stuff where the central pillar of the plot is not a constant will-they-won't-they het romance - but I also like how Sailor Moon as a series is legitimately aware that this is not actually the de facto most important relationship for everyone. Surprising multitude of gay characters aside, I recently caught a season 2 episode where Makoto donates blood to save a close friend, and explains to Usagi that she isn't in love with him, but they have an incredibly profound friendship that's more important to her than any boyfriend, a concept with startles and confuses Usagi. It seems to be a case where the heroine has a Foundational Romantic Subplot that defines the course of her life and the plot, but the rest of the characters get to have more complicated dynamics where their life goals aren't "omg boys", and I liked that a lot!

When comparing and contrasting it to shonen action anime, I think the magical girl genre manages to integrate the lower-stakes slice of life elements significantly more smoothly, and to great effect - the 90% of the show that's silly and ridiculous makes the 10% of it that's extremely serious and gutwrenching much more impactful. That's something that a lot of shonen series struggle with, where the tone goes from "moderately serious with the occasional goof" to "extremely serious with major character deaths." The magical girl genre going from "the dumbest episode premise you've ever heard" to "extremely serious with major character deaths" is a much more precipitous plunge into icy water, as it were.

When I think about how I would write a magical girl story, I basically just smack into the premise of Exalted. Its worldbuilding has exactly what I want - an interesting system of powerset-reincarnation into worthy hosts that allows for complex interpersonal dynamics through varying levels of memory preservation, several different flavors of magical transforming person including Evil Versions, and the one thing I prioritize in my own writing - a world that feels like it can have a lot of main characters and heroes of their own story. Everyone in Exalted has their own shit going on and their own past-life drama, including former friend groups/adventuring parties, soulmates (both regular and evil versions), and anyone who might've previously killed them. Most importantly for my preferences, there's no default main character of the universe. If I were to make an urban fantasy magical girl setting, I'd probably use an extremely similar premise because I find the ramifications of it unbelievably interesting in a way the system itself is not designed to explore.

[bepis-boii-art]

hihi!!!

gotta say while i love this whole au i love your chi-chi <3 are there any special names you've given for her moves? what are they based off of? also side note really weird to see goku not using kamehameha at all shfhdjkbndeiw

Thank you!! I love her too. I need to draw more of her if I'm being honest.

I haven't come up with any names for her special moves yet but I did base her overall fighting style from the same place Goku's fighting would've come from in the original series.

Since Goku's takes inspiration from certain styles of kung-fu (albeit fictional aka: "Turtle Sage Style") I felt it would be right to do the same for U13 Chi-Chi.

She takes inspiration from a specific form called Bull get it, cuz the Ox Princess? haha which falls under Tiger style. It's known for its emphasis on fist strikes, elbows and full-body collisions so I felt like that would fit her the most! While also adding some precise kicks here and there.

As for U13 Kakarot......... well, just to ramble for a bit. 🤭

I explained it briefly in the doc but since Kakarot grew up on Planet Vegeta, he would've never have gotten the training his U7 counterpart did as a child, so thus no Kamehameha. So I had to get a bit creative with my decisions.

I imagine that during his days in Nappa's crew working with the Cooler Force, he probably would've been their "support". He wasn't strong enough to get up close and personal for most enemies but he could act defensively by helping people get back up in the backline.

However that philosophy changes by the time he turns 23. (For reference, he's currently 28.) This would be post-kidnapping by Zarbon.

Kakarot's fighting style becomes more brutal, more tactical. (Think of canon Vegeta during the Saiyan Saga) He's no longer afraid to fight "dirty" if the result means that he's able to guarantee the safety of everyone he cares about.

The Goku we know, while aloof in a lot of aspects, is very intentional when it comes to the way he fights. But he's at least merciful.

Fighting, to him, is a conversation. He watches, he learns, then he unleashes his power little by little. But Kakarot does not care about that. Those details are semantics. If he deems someone a threat, then they are a threat that must be taken out as quickly as possible.

He cares about getting the job done, because if he didn't then dozens of people would die. Don't forget, the universe this guy came from literally went to through a civil war which turned intergalactic, all because his dad had killed one of the most powerful space tyrants known to man. Not to mention that you have a society full of people who have an entire caste system based on how strong you were at birth.

So yeah. The act of fighting for fun like Goku does would be a fucking luxury to him, all he cares about surviving.

Now as we're in Act Two, he is working to relearn how to undo this militaristic mindset but part of the issue comes with his lack of self-control, especially in regards to his anger. But that will come with time.

Anyways sorry for the rambling, I got wayyyy into this lol

[sourpatchbeast]

It's been years, and I think I finally know why I, along with some other people have some frustration towards the Universe 6 Saiyans. It's not ENTIRELY because of the powerscaling bullshit. But it's sorta because of powerscaling bullshit. Let me explain.

To be frank, Goten and Kid Trunks demeaned the value of Super Saiyan Status, like a long fucking time ago in the Buu Saga. They're two little snot noses brats who have only vague interest in training, Trunks having trained mostly independent of his father to the extent of only showing him Super Saiyan like, the day the Buu Saga started. Goten is so untrained as a martial artist compared the rest of the cast due to only really doing things with his normal martial artist level mother, he couldn't even fly at the start of Saga, yet was able go into this legendary transformation as a little kid. Its fucking stupid.

And I think they're fantastic and super funny.

Gotenks is even less less justified, having only had like a month of isolated mentorless training, and managing to get to fucking Super Saiyan 3. It's absolutely fucking ridiculous, that they reached the ability to scream so hard they tear through reality just by fucking around for a month.

And yet, I think they're even funnier then Trunks and Goten.

Have you seen that baller movie with the reboot version of Broly? He's is, monumentally worse then the kids if you really think about it. He was stranded on a this terrible fucking planet, mentally, physically and emotionally just starved ally while fighting off a bunch of horrific shit that realistically was incapable of actually hurting him. He was a planet buster when he was a baby, how the hell could anything on that planet make him stronger. And yet, he absolutely fucking thrashes Goku and Vegeta, people who have been trained by GODS that wipe out like, solar systems with a wave of their hand. It logically makes no sense.

But I don't give a flying fuck, because it was raw as hell.

So why do I struggle to like the Universe 6 Saiyans, when I like those guys?

It's for a simple reason really. It's all about design, and presentation. They do not have an angle that fully justifies their power in a satisfactory way like humor, and they don't have a design that lets me just shallowly just think they're cool to look at.

Let's look at Cabba first since he has the most screentime. Look at design for me for a second alright?

Does this look like a member of an alternate universe's version of a Saiyan warrior? One that is supposed to be notable enough the god of destruction choose him of all the people in his race, to be a member in his martial arts team? The introduction to how their universe's version of Saiyans work, as Heroes of Justice? Fuck no, he doesn't look like he's ever fought a day in his god damn life. I don't hate him or anything, but his appearance simply doesn't match the idea of what he's supposed to be. It's just lame. Lame as fuck. And it's not played as a joke either, you're supposed to take at face value this string bean motherfucker wearing this dollar store getup is the first Super Saiyan of his universe.

He should be significantly more built as someone that is diligently protecting people, and he should be wearing actual practical battle garments. He's an active warrior, who apparently has a great deal of authority and he looks like a malnourished baby. If you wanted him to look this way, change the story. If you wanted the story, change the appearance. As it stands, Cabba is underwhelming aesthetic wise and needs a redesign.

Let's move onto Caulifla and Kale. They're technically not as bad as Cabba, but they still suffer from the same issue and it's a lot more disappointing because they're better conceptually. Let's look at them now.

Does this look like the fearless leader of a gang of ruthless ruffian Sayians that are so skilled they get away with operating a largely successful business of thievery all while on a planet of fucking space cops? Does the girl besides her look like the shy, yet secretly obsessive 2nd in command that beneath the surface is the legendary Demon Saiyan, feared as a legend told in prophecy?

No, absolutely the fuck not. They only look that way in fanart that changes their appearance, don't lie to yourself.

Why does Caulfla, this bloodthirsty criminal who absolutely loves fighting and is pretty much outright stated to be the most like an Universe 7 Saiyan but is simply held back by her society, have no scars? Why is so skinny? She looks like she talks about fighting, but never got into a scrape. That's disappointing as hell.

Kale is a bit more understandable- she's supposed to look demure and sedated in her base form, yet wild and powerful when bulked up. But that lead to her looking ultimately rather plain, and poorly acts as a foil to Caulifla. And her outfit looks fucking stupid in her roided out transformation- she should have an outfit and feel that makes both forms believable. The old non-canon version would've been a great base to work off of. Make even her base form tall as hell, even if not particularly bulky. Make little hints to the idea she'd scary as hell if she made more proper use of her body. Have design with some foreshadowing to it.

I think it's just really heartbreaking this trio just failed in such an important department. Presentation is everything in entertainment, and they just dropped the ball. Its just tainted with this sense of unnecessary minimalism, when such a thing just undermines what's there.

[risingsouls]

[Okay, I’m going to share the thoughts I had about Nabooru’s and Raditz’s friendship because they were so damn wholesome.

So I was just thinking about their dynamic especially in the days when they’re serving Frieza. In bullets.

Even though she doesn’t have to, I imagine Nabs joins Raditz on scouting missions when they have to do them. It starts out because she thinks just standing around is boring and later because they have good conversations.

 It might take them a little bit, but I can see them both being open and willing to talk about their pasts, families, and lives in general. Raditz would definitely be curious about and ask about her people, and he would do the same. Raditz would tell her what he knows about Saiyan culture, his family, and the work he did before the planet was destroyed. Nabooru would tell him stories of her childhood and growing up, about the Gerudo in general, and about their trials with the rest of Hyrule.

Them just bonding over being comfortable enough to talk to each other is super wholesome and, especially for Raditz, would be a huge improvement considering how the other two treat him.

A lot of this comes because Nabooru was raised in a different society. Though Saiyans and Gerudo are similar in a lot of ways, the Gerudo lack the same strict caste system. In short, outside of the King (who does have to actually earn his crown to a degree), you can work up through the ranks through your own merit. Thus, she wouldn’t have quite the same disrespect toward Radtiz just because he’s weaker. She sees his talent and what he brings to the team regardless of his power level, which is super appreciated by Raditz.

While Raditz likes to flirt with her even when he knows it won’t go anywhere, there is a lot of mutual respect between the two of them that isn’t based in rank, power levels, or anything like that. Though they keep each other at arm’s length because of their job, they still have a pretty tight bond.]

[cynthiaandsamus]

Custom Toonami Block Week 76 Rundown

Code Geass: So we’ve come to this, been kind of avoiding this episode, part of the reason I did the Rebuild marathon last week was to put off this episode for as long as I could. Shirley’s death is fucking bullshit, the whole thing feels like a farce, she dies from trying to help him against someone that wasn’t even trying to kill him just because she triggered Rolo’s Yandere Simulator instincts. It’s a foregone conclusion that Shirley would die at some point, Lelouch is a tragic figure and having him be happy doesn’t really fit his character arc as the martyr that will save the world, like the Zero Requiem would be really fucked up if Shirley was still alive and had to watch Lelouch become Gundam Hitler and then get stabbed. But still the matter of fact nature of her death is so weird, like I feel like a lot of people originally knew this was coming and kind of braced themselves for it but it’s so weird and contrived and sad, Euphy’s death made me cry and this didn’t quite get there but I did get a bit weepy, like fuck this show man, it knows what it’s doing and pulls on the emotional manipulation hard.

Inuyasha: Another filler episode this time around, this one’s pretty funny though with Jaken doing all kinds of Team Rocket-esque hijinks to steal the Tessaiga, it’s some good character building for Jaken and Rin before Rin gets kidnapped leading to the actual canon part of this story and plus there’s a lot of cute fluff with Inuyasha’s group just kinda killing time, like they’re still traveling but they seem to be taking it easy and playing games and shit this time around. Also Kagome definitely saw Inuyasha’s junk in the hot spring so that’s a good reverse on that, we get basically no fanservice for the girls but Inuyasha gets splayed out and spends the climax shirtless so that’s some defying expectations right there.

Yu Yu Hakusho: The Black Black Club arc concludes with Yusuke and Kuwabara vs the Toguros. Honestly this fight does a really great job of subverting expectations since you think it’s going to be two on two but then Younger Toguro basically uses his brother as an Equip Spell Card and it’s essentially one on two. Kuwabara gets his flash of Yukina’s backstory and his Super Saiyan powerup which is pretty standard for how these arcs end but Toguro doesn’t seem that phased by it which is because he isn’t and this is all a ruse and Toguro fakes his loss so Sakyo can win his bet and get rid of Tarukane. The Black Black Club shenanigans have been in the background of this whole arc and spicing up the fights that are otherwise Yusuke and Kuwabara just plowing through mooks so it’s really neat that it ends this way so it can subvert how things are supposed to go and still give us a cool fight, it reminds me of how arcs tend to end in Hunter x Hunter where the climax is often undercut because of outside forces. I think I like this version better though because HxH tends to go for an anticlimax, this is a standard climax but it doesn’t mean what we think it means at first and that’s really kinda cool. Also Kuwabara tells Yukina to not give up on humans and Hiei saves her without telling her he’s his brother cause he thinks she’s better off this way.

Fate Zero: We take a detour from anything of importance to see how Baby Rin is doing, it’s pretty much completely unrelated to anything going on but it is pretty cute and gives some nice character stuff for her that puts her arc from UBW in a new light so that’s nice. Also Kariya shows his face again and reminds us that he’s really the only one who has any good reason for trying to get the Grail amongst all the child murderers, arrogant kids, arrogant adults and general war criminals in this fight. Everyone’s basically “I am a dick, gimme the grail” or “My family’s a dick, gimme the grail to shut them up” and while Kariya is in the latter camp, he’s also doing it to save Sakura and not just “Welp that’s life.” Given that Sakura’s still with the Matous in UBW and no one besides Kiritsugu and Kotomine and Waver are confirmed alive, we probably know how that went.

Konosuba: So the big showdown with the Mobile Fortress is here, I do kinda like how Konosuba peppers mentions of the big bad throughout the arc so it builds the hype when it finally shows up. Everyone gets serious and actually does shit to take down the Wild Wild West Spider Tank, unfortunately it’s not piloted by a racist old man in a wheelchair but a dead guy that didn’t know what the fuck he was doing. For building it on the cheap he sure made it sturdy at least, but Kazuma basically acts as a Mana Dumpster and gives the important people the energy they need to get rid of the core and blow up the carcass. This is Konosuba and our Protagonist is essentially a glorified battery. Also Kazuma’s insane luck betrayed him and threw the core into the Capital so now he’s a war criminal, oops I guess.

Sailor Moon Crystal: So everyone goes to the moon surprisingly easy and fights out from Usagi’s Fortress of Solitude Recording Mom all about how the moon was cool and shit but then everything changed when the humans attacked and the princess was such a little bitch that she gave up right after her man died and the queen had to do all the magic sealing and shit but that also destroyed the kingdom for some reason. Also the Four Kings are formerly Earth Knights also reincarnated like the Sailor Guardians and used to be less dicks and were even the guardians’ boyfriends which feels REALLY forced and even more gross and weird than Usagi’s reincarnation relationship just being told “Hey you love this guy now, you don’t get a say, past life shenanigans decided” and everyone decides that they can’t fight the people they love that they only just remembered so Usagi has to boomerang some bitches in the face and then there’s a four way Solar System Kamehameha to get the Four Kings to fuck off again. Now Beryl’s working on borrowed time since she had to re-brainwash her pawns so she’s gonna brainwash Tuxedo Mask to do it even though he doesn’t have powers and should be less effective than the kings but it’s really dramatic if Usagi has to fight her boyfriend so let’s go with that.

Durarara!!: Reporter Shuuji Niekawa is digging around Ikebukuro to find out about the crazy amount of tough customers the city has. The first half of the episode is the “fuck around” half where he talks to much of the main cast, and then as everyone knows, when you fuck around, that leads to the “find out” half where he is promptly stabbed and becomes a Saika kin and stalks Anri and Shizuo and wants to stab everyone before getting crushed behind a car door by Shizuo while thinking he can finally get his life back on track. RIP Reporter-chan, you fucked around and found out.

[itsclydebitches]

Whats your favorite power system in all of fiction? The simplicity of dbz's? Something more complex like nen? Something not from anime at all?

I generally steer towards hard magic/power systems: something with defined rules that allow for both limitations and VERY awesome victories if you can figure out how to twist the rules in your favor. That’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. That (parody-esque, highly analytical world of HP) takes those rules to their logical endpoints. If transfiguration has the hard, established rule of “No transfiguration will last forever” then you get to see how different characters grapple with that rule. Some will see it as a limitation - “Dammit. That means we can’t use transfiguration to solve world hunger” - and others an opportunity - “What if I turned something deadly into an apple, had an enemy eat it, and then waited until the transfiguration wore off?” You also open up the possibility that a Super Special Protagonist will someday break that rule in a moment of pure awesomeness. One of my favorite moments in that series is when Harry rattles off all the ways he can turn a normal classroom deadly and though it’s horrifying (it’s supposed to be), he’s also right. Characters who exist in worlds with established rules and who bother to learn those rules are poised to exploit them in wonderfully satisfying ways. 

This is partly why RWBY’s system doesn’t appeal to me. It’s largely dependent on what the writers want at any given moment, making the world feel continually shaky rather than a real, immersive thing that the audience can delve into. Weiss no longer uses her time ability... even though, as far as we know, she could. Ruby can suddenly slam through steel walls... even though we don’t understand how. Marrow doesn’t even attempt to use ‘Stay’ at the start of the fight... even though he, again, could. It’s those “How?” and “But they could have?” that interrupts the immersion. I think RWBY’s system is best described by Geico’s latest commercial: 

“Why don’t we just get into the running car??” and then they don’t because it’s much harder for the plot if they do, not because there’s a compelling, in-world reason for them to avoid it. Only RWBY’s system has the added complications of no one fully understanding how cars work (aura), or whether a character still has access to a car (abilities), if they possess enough gas to drive it (dust), and so on and so forth until you get an audience arguing over the supposed benefits/downsides of taking the car at all, if it exists, if it runs, if, if, ifs that no one is able to answer, rather than acknowledging that we should understand precisely how a car works and the show should have explained why the characters wouldn’t use it when it’s seemingly 100% available to them. 

It’s also why Witcher’s system works much better for me. There’s definitely wishy-washy elements to it, but on the whole it’s far more rule-grounded than RWBY’s is. Things like “Witchers can cast signs, but signs pale in comparison to the power a sorceress has” explain potential question such as, “Why do these characters call on dangerous magic users they don’t trust when they themselves can already do magic?” We’ve been told what the difference between these types of magic is and we understand one’s limitations. Witcher also takes the time to think through an OP character’s place in a rule-driven world: basically, give them rules as well. O’dimm is defeated not because Geralt randomly develops the ability to slay god-like creatures, or because O’dimm is made stupid and very conveniently just doesn’t use his own ability, he’s defeated because he too has rules attached to him. He will follow the rules that he creates. That allows him to remain staggeringly dangerous - he’ll always try to tip those rules in his favor - but rules, by default, are always capable of being bent in favor of the hero as well. So when O’dimm says, “If you can solve my riddle AND make it through my world AND find the object that serves as the answer... then yeah, I’ll leave.” So Geralt does. He follows the rules established, using his brain as well as his physical skills, and successfully tells O’dimm to get lost. Salem, in contrast, has no established rules and thus we get the endless conversations of, “WHY doesn’t she just destroy Atlas herself? WHY did she wait until the story started to actively seek out the relics? What’s stopping her?” If the story says “Nothing” yet Salem isn’t winning, that’s a problem. Rules not only keep the audience grounded but also present opportunities for great characterization: O’dimm is more compelling because he treats everything like a game that he’s capable of losing. A Salem with vulnerabilities or psychological limitations would, in turn, be more compelling too. 

So, to go back to your anime examples, anon, I don’t have one single story to point to, though I do prefer the more complicated systems. Just because they present far more opportunity for creativity while likewise allowing the audience to feel confident in their understanding of the world and the possibilities for how things might turn out (making a believable twist on the author’s part unbelievably EPIC). Even DBZ follows broad rules like “Saiyans get stronger when they lose” and “Intense emotion is capable of providing a powerup.” Indeed, we even see some villains making use of this rule: I want a stronger opponent, you need motivation, so I’ll kill someone you love to give you that boost. It’s simple, but it (mostly) hangs together. 

In contrast, power/magic systems that refuse to establish rules so that the authors are never forced to come up with creative solutions, or that keep/chuck rules based on what’s convenient, just end up being frustrating. To my mind that sort of ambiguity works best in horror: How the fuck does Night Vale work? Good question. Don’t right know. It’s that sense of “This world makes no sense” that adds to our discomfort, discomfort the genre actively wants to create. However, making your fantasy/action series nonsensical when you want viewers invested in the fights is a mistake. Your audience can’t get behind either the potential outcome or what the author eventually decides to write if there isn’t a common foundation to work from. You’re less likely to enjoy, say, a card game if you’re playing blind, or your opponent changes rules whenever they please. I need to understand what’s possible and be able to trust that we’re both using the same rulebook in order to get invested.  

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z 272

Last time, Majin Buu turned Vegito into candy, which means there’s no one left to fight him..... except Krillin and Yamcha.  See, King Kai had the same idea as King Yemma with Vegeta, and the Elder Kai had with Goku.  Except all King Kai has is Krillin and Yamcha, and no magic power-up items to let them use.  You’d think he would at least try to contact the Elder Kai and score some more Potara earrings. 

Failing that, what is Krillin supposed to do that he didn’t already try the first time he fought Buu?   That fight lasted like two seconds.

Hell, Yamcha didn’t even get to fight.  He got hit with the candy beam while trying to find cover.  Now that he’s dead, he just wants to chill out and train, and take a relaxing shower after his workout.  

As far as he’s concerned, life on the Grand Kai Planet is better than Earth anyway, so why bother fighting Buu?   His only complaint is that there’s no hot chicks on this planet, which irritates me.   There’s no girl warriors who got the honor of keeping their body to train on the Grand Kai Planet?  That’s not even true, because we saw a few in the crowd at the Otherworld Tournament.    Maybe none of them are Yamcha’s type.

Anyway, don’t count Vegito out just yet, because Buu seems to be having a little trouble following through on his plan to eat the guy.

Yeah, turns out VEGITO CAN STILL FIGHT IN CANDY FORM.    He can talk too, which is pretty messed up.

Everyone watching is like “Whaaaaa?“

Buu isn’t convinced that this is a problem.   Even if Vegito has all his original power, he can still eat the guy.  

Only, no, he can’t.   Turns out fighting Candy Vegito is like trying to swat a fly with all the powers of Vegito.   Buu can’t even catch the guy, while Vegito can zip around in any direction and slam into him like a bullet.

When Buu can’t grab hold of the thing, he can’t actually do anything to him, because Vegito’s strong enough to keep moving in spite of being in Buu’s grip.   You know, he should have just lured Vegito underwater, and hoped that the sea would dissolve him.   Then again, maybe that would turn Vegito into an ocean, and he’d be able to kick Buu’s ass even harder that way.

At one point, Vegito even flies straight into Buu’s mouth and shoots out the other side, shearing off his head tentacle again.  So even if Buu could get the thing in his mouth, how could he possibly swallow him?

So Buu does the only sensible thing and changes Vegito back to normal.   But it’s not like Vegito was any easier to beat this way.

This is the thing that always bugged me about the Candy Beam in the video games.   First, it’s only temporary, which I guess is a concession to the game mechanics, but okay.   But it seems to me that there should be a thing where if you use it on Vegito, he should damage the user instead.   I guess the same should apply to anyone as strong or stronger than Vegito. 

Anyway, Vegito does his Happy Dance, while the Elder Kai reaaaaaalllllly wishes Vegito would just hurry up and finish this fight.

Then we get this flashback to when King Yemma got Vegeta to agree to return to Earth to fight Buu.   The first time I saw this scene, I was grateful, because they kept talking about it for several episodes, but it seemed kind of convenient.  There’s some plot holes to some of these King Yemma scenes we’ve seen, because he probably would have been busy preparing Vegeta for this, but instead he was stressing out over all the paperwork for Buu’s victims.    

Anyway, the story isn’t all that complicated, and now that I know what happened, this scene seems a bit gratuitous, but no more so than any other filler.

In a nutshell, King Yemma isn’t supposed to give shady characters like Vegeta their bodies back, but he did it this time because he needs him to go down and help fight Buu.  Furthermore, he informs Vegeta that his self-destruct attack on Majin Buu failed, which means his death was meaningless, “no more than a dog’s death”. 

Then we have a flashback within a flashback, which is weird, but we probably needed this, since Episode 237 was a while ago. 

So this upsets Vegeta and he powers up-- I can’t tell if he’s Super Saiyan with this weird color palette-- but he wrecks the decor in Yemma’s room.   Nevertheless, he agrees to cooperate, but Vegeta probably would have done that anyway, so that crack about the “dog’s death” was probably overdoing it.

So this is another plot hole.  We’ve seen Yemma’s place a few times during the last thirty episodes, but this is the first time we’ve seen all this damage to the walls.  Yemma hopes that King Kai will help him out with the repair bills.   Wait, King Kai has money?   I doubt he’d share any, since he’s homeless and all.

Back on Earth, Buu still won’t admit he’s outclassed, so Vegito starts really laying into him.   Only now, Buu can’t pull himself back together as easily.

And he just keeps hitting him.   That really scary music from the OST plays.   Let me see if I can find it...

Okay, so turns out it’s from the Movie 11 score, which you can find on this track from the DBZ Complete BGM album, about 5:03 in. 

Anyway, Buu gets totalled here, and when he puts himself back together, he insists that it didn’t hurt....

Except he failed to regenerate the hole in his stomach on the first try. 

Vegito is satisfied that Buu’s regeneration powers have reached their limit.   From here, even if Buu continues fighting, he’ll just get weaker and weaker until he gives out completely.  So he declares that he’ll now put Buu out of his misery.

Buu objects, but Vegito shoves a Spirit Sword through his face.   Oh, okay, so that’s why this is his finisher in the video games.

Vegito announces that he’ll give Buu a ten-count before killing him.   That’ll give him time to pray or make peace with his demise or whatever.   If he wants to die sooner, Vegito invites him to attack him one more time.

So, to follow up on a reply from @mach13elephantexplosion back in Episode 268, I went back and checked, and Buu was indeed counting to five using the “hitotsu, futatsu, mittsu“ Japanese counting system.   Vegito, on the other hand, is using “ichi, ni, san...”  

In particular, Vegito’s  using the word “shi” for 4 and “shichi” for 7.   Those were the words I learned a long time ago whenever I learned to count to ten in Japanese, and it always frustrates me whenever I hear actual Japanese speakers use “yon” and “nanna” instead.  I mean, it’s their language, they can use it as they please, of course.   Really, what annoys me is that wherever I learned the words for Japanese numbers neglected to consider which words are actually used in regular speech.   The Japanese avoid “shi” because it’s a homonym for their word for “death”.    Same deal with “shichi” for 7, because it has “shi” in it.   Apparently “ku” for 9 is a similar issue, because it’s a homonym for “agony”, which I guess is how “kyu” became a thing.    But ku and kyu sound similar enough that I can’t pick up the difference.

The point I’m making here is that Vegito ain’t fuckin’ around.     “One!   Two!  Three!  DEATH!  Five!   Six!  DEATH-chi!  Eight!   AGONY!   Ten!”   This is CZW.

As Vegito counts, Buu realizes that his only chance is to absorb Vegito like he did with the others, but how can he do it without being noticed?   

Then he notices the head tentacle, which Vegito lopped off a few minutes ago.  

And as he mentally summons it to sneak up on Vegito, we see that this is exactly what Vegito was waiting for.   I think it’s safe to say that most of Vegito’s hot-dogging in this fight was for the sole purpose of forcing Buu to use up all of his other options until he had no choice but to try this.  

Even so, Vegito seems a bit nervous that his plan may not work.   

But the die is cast.  As Vegito reaches ten, Buu springs his trap...

And Vegito uses a ki force field to protect himself.

And that’s it.   Buu merges with the piece of himself, just like every other absorption, although he never actually changes appearance, like he did with the others.   But he’s so happy to be rid of Vegito that he doesn’t notice.

Mr. Satan barely understands what’s happened, while Dende is horrified.  With Goku and Vegeta gone, there’s no one left to save the Earth.

An observation shared by the Supreme Kais.

Meanwhile, Buu let’s Vegito know that he’s number one.

[slothcritic]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 7 Review

Humor that doesn't let up. This episode is non-stop, action-packed, and delivers on everything it tries to do.

The cold open for Saiyans? On My Planet? (It's More Likely Than You Think) has a continuation to the "are we there yet?" skit, capped off with the Saiyans collapsing a building and cratering into the concrete, thus finally arriving on Earth. It's simple dialogue but the pacing, the delivery and the fact that it closes off a running joke makes it a wonderfully effective opener.

[Title Sequence]

Most of this scene has comedic and plot-relevant heft to it. Nappa glasses a city because he hates awkward silences and we as viewers are reminded that the Saiyans are here for the Dragon Balls. The "epic foreshadowing" joke however just feels needless and clunky. I wouldn't say it's out of character, Vegeta constantly begrudges Nappa's idiocy, but perhaps this line should've been written with less flashing bells and alarm signals reading "HEY GUYS, WE'RE MAKING A JOKE OVER HERE."

After a brief back-and-forth with Gohan and Piccolo, Krillin shows up, and... goodness me his voice is squeaky. Let me take a timeout from discussing this episode in a self-contained context. I'll criticize the microphone quality or the writing or the weaker visual gags or the editing missteps, but it's important to point out that not all of the show's improvements have been made through technical means. The cast has also improved personally as voice actors over the years. These contrasts are most notable in characters like Vegeta, Krillin and King Kai. Their modern voices are rounded out much better on delivery, whereas from the outset they're scratchy, unrefined, or even muddled. This also matters partially in-context of the episode itself, because goodness did that voice take me out of my viewing experience.

Krillin and Gohan catch up on how their respective year of training has been. While Gohan has no qualms about his stay with Piccolo, we're treated to distant laughter and an ominous pair of eyes in the background while Krillin undergoes what I can only assume is a PTSD-induced flashback.

One Fight Club reference later, the Saiyans finally meet the main ensemble of Piccolo, Gohan and Krillin.

"Hi."

Appreciating Nappa's role in this series is not exactly an uncommon or niche opinion, but I don't feel the urge to dismiss his humor or succinct, faithful-to-character writing just for the sake of being a contrarian or trying to get a reaction out of people.

I can see it now - "Nappa's characterization as a bumbling oaf is wildly inconsistent with the idea that he would've been a Saiyan General, or one of the most respected military mights in the universe. Vegeta would've been well aware of his character and annoying tendencies from a very young age and would've gotten the hell out of dodge the second he was capable. This depiction is nothing but a transparent flanderization of an originally unremarkable character created for the sole purpose of having a quotable, marketable personality with viral potential in a show that has so far been 'mildly entertaining' at it's peak."

Let me be clear. This is a parody. It’s meant to be pointlessly funny about certain topics. It’s meant to breathe life into creative interpretations of characters for the sake of humor. If I don’t think it’s funny, I will be critical of that. But I see no point in disliking something that I think is funny purely because it is either “popular” or, dare I say it, a “mainstream” opinion.

Vegeta is the kind of person who needs a strong sidekick who's subservient, loyal, and doesn't question orders. Nappa checks most of those boxes across both the original series and this one. Additionally, unlike a lot of other jokes or attempts at humor in this series, Nappa's very simple writing has consistently been a hit. Aside from the Arlia montage with no music, I can't think of a single line of dialogue or joke that Nappa has said that was a complete, useless dud. If it works, it works.

"So, you guys are the Saiyans?" "No."

I want to put on the record that I paused the episode after Nappa said "Hi", wrote for ten minutes on that, then resumed the episode and this line played. I immediately had to pause it again because I was laughing. Just the sheer childishness or petty playfulness that constantly surrounds Nappa and his counter-play with Vegeta injects something completely new and wonderful into this series.

The jokes don't stop after this one. This skit continues with the rule of threes, a callback to Vegeta being a prison bitch, a nerd joke, a eunuch joke, and more. I don't want to talk about all of these individually or I'll be here all day, but let's put a bookend where Nappa reads their power levels. These are all excellent jokes that keep up with the consistently funny pace set by Nappa's introduction. Perhaps the weakest skit is the two Saiyans snickering at Piccolo. It would probably work better if redone now, but the delivery on the laughter isn't entirely convincing enough to flow like everything else does. That said, the joke that an asexual race wouldn't have genitals lands pretty neatly within Nappa's ballpark of humor.

The idea that the Saiyan's power levels are measured based on units of Raditz, and the notion that they can actually grow beings with the same power level as Raditz, is hilarious. Nappa's "Taa-daa" after the Saibamen are revealed is like icing on a very dramatic cake.

I've gotta say I'm with Tien on this one - As someone who grew up in the city where they filmed the Fraggles, I take offense to the implication that they're obscure!

"More bald people!" - I have no idea what Toriyama has against drawing hair (let alone facial hair), but this is a very recurring trend in his art style and I'm glad TFS made fun of it. A cameraman earlier had made the same joke, but it wasn't Nappa saying it, so it was automatically less funny.

Another extremely iconic scene, and at the time a complex visual gag for what the series has done so far, is when Nappa throws the Pokeball at Chiaotzu. The fact that Vegeta deals with so much of Nappa's annoying shit but plays along here just makes this scene so much better.

"That's because you have to damage it first."

This joke has questionable veracity with only Nappa and his “lul so random” take on Chiaotzu’s appearance, but these concerns are immediately dashed by Vegeta, and this is why the dynamic works - Nappa on his own would just be too much stupidity, but Vegeta's deadpan counterbalance provides a nice anchor to reality and solidifies this joke even if Nappa is the one carrying it.

I'm actually rather surprised they didn't draw any comparisons to the Saibamen being Pokemon either. There's six of them, they're all vaguely creature-like beings of adequately short stature, and could quite literally be described as pocket monsters because they can be grown by seeds you keep on your person.

Yamcha lands on the scene with his big damn hero speech, and then immediately one of the Saibaman uses Self Destruct on him. No fight scene, no escalation, just immediate death for you good sir. The scene lingers on Yamcha's corpse while Krillin sheepishly cheers in the background, and that's where the outro plays.

Conclusion

Holy hell this was a good episode, even in retrospect. Almost all of the jokes landed, the pacing and consistency was on point, and we finally have some dramatic gravitas with the Saiyans arriving on Earth. A lot of this episode disappears fast because of how much it draws you in with the interactions and back-and-forth between all of the characters. It's succinct, it's well-written, and the balance and coordination of different kinds of humor play into each other wonderfully here.

If I had to say anything negative about this episode at all, it might be that some scenes played out for too long. While the "humor floor" and "humor ceiling" are definitely a lot higher in this episode than in almost every other episode, there is some variation in joke quality. As I said, nearly every joke in this episode works, but how much does it work? We've reached the point where if the jokes were athletes in a 100m dash, they're no longer breaking both of their legs at the start, but someone still has to cross the finish line first and last. This is also a very dialogue-heavy episode. That can be a good thing, but there's little attention elsewhere in the production of this episode. Things like non-obligatory or joke-dependent sound design come to mind. The video quality is also rather poor. KaiserNeko does switch over to high quality footage for Season 2 and onward, but in Season 1 it's very easy to see the frames shaking or jerking as they spice entire scenes back and forth for their lip flaps. Everyone still has cheap mics.

With that said, I feel like this is a landmark episode for TFS finding their style and settling into a confident stride for the rest of the series.

Score: 80

Passing Thoughts

"You're a prince?" "No." "Fuck you Nappa."

"Oh my god, he blew up the cargo robot. AND THE CARGO WAS PEOPLE!"

"Those readings are useless." "You mean like YouTube friends?" - OOF. That was a great line in 2008, and I personally still think it is, but does YouTube even have a friend system anymore? Or did that get integrated by some other Google platform?

[knightofbalance-13]

Never seen the Simpsons have you?

http://dudeblade.tumblr.com/post/176715386180/one-last-rwde-post-before-i-move-my-rwde-stuffs

The problem with the rushed means of getting to the fall of Beacon.

Dudeblade, I swear to god if you say ‘make them do a One Piece’, I am gonna flip.

“You’re moving shop, huh? Can I ask why?”

Well, Stan, I’ll answer that when I get there. But for now, I just want to talk about why rushing to get to the fall of Beacon was a bad choice.

You know the drill Stan, let me take over.

Ahem-

More like “Why would you ditch the one thing anyone listens to you for?”

“Wait! I want to take a guess as to why! It’s because there wasn’t enough time developing the world and the relationships between characters, right?”

Yep. Like I said in a previous post, the big problem with Pyrrha’s death was the lack of characters that could be affected by her death. Due to this, Pyrrha’s death doesn’t quite hit as hard as most other deaths would.

More like-

“Because it’s something to bitch at the creators isn’t  it?”

“I see. Can you provide an example?”

Well, take Dragonball for example. The original series. Where Krillin dies.

We had journeyed with Krillin, and gotten to know him. He bonded with Goku, Master Roshi, and several other characters. We saw his relationship with Goku go from a rivalry to a genuine friendship between the two.

So when Krillin dies, Goku’s rage is all the more tangible. This wasn’t during the Z era either. Death wasn’t as cheap as it is now. We can feel the rage and sorrow that Goku felt when he went on his rampage.

Or take Pokémon: Mystery Dungeon. In almost all of those games, your player character ends up disappearing. It’s always a heart-wrenching scene. We saw this character grow from a confused human trying to figure out what was going on, to a proud and strong explorer who helped to save the world.

So your partner’s sadness is super relatable. You feel for his sorrow, and even in the fifth installment, where you’re on the other side of the disappearing into light trope, it’s still as heart-wrenching as it always is.

Due to Pyrrha’s lack of development with the rest of the cast, it’s hard to really feel for her when she died. And jaune just up and takes her stuff to upgrade himself. Pyrrha wasn’t just being treated as a prop. She was treated as jaune’s prop.

...

Dudeblade, you’re own examples backfire on you.

Let’s start with the Mystery Dunegon one since that one is the lesser of the two. No, people aren’t related to the parent because of that. We do it because we understand the pain and sorrow of losing someone close to us. And the thing is, if anything, we feel because of the PARTNER character. Really, I couldn’t care less what happened to my guy afterward considering he was being jerked around by me all the time.

Now for the big one:

Namek.

Remember THAT arc Dudeblade? The one where Krillin dies a second time? Thing is, that death is widely considered to be the more powerful of the two due to the struggles and the long ass battle against Freeza as well as the cruelty of Krillin’s death. That is why Goku’s rage is so potent there and why the first Super Saiyan transformation is the most iconic and well executed.

What’s my point in all this?

If you can’t even get your examples, why should we listen to you about a show you will constantly LIE about? Especially since you are comparing Dragon Ball and Pokémon, two juggernauts of human culture, to fucking RWBY, which will be at best a footnote.

Also, P.S. No one else sees Pyrrha as a prop except you people. Kind of goes to show how reductive your thinking is.

“Okay, what about the world though?”

The world is also hard to get attached to. We don’t really explore it. We get infodumps courtesy of the World of Remnant shorts. The little side-series that was made to explain things in the show that the show couldn’t explain by itself.

So is a shit ton of fantasy novels, including fucking Lord of the Rings. Your argument does not work. You don’t get attached to it because that requires some form of basic empathy.

“Well, don’t other series do that too?”

In a sense of things like stats, yes. But it’s like getting a travel brochure from a guy who probably doesn’t know what they’re talking about. At least, when Qrow is doing the narrating. When it’s Ozpin or Salem, there’s a bit of the Unreliable Narrator trope coming into play. We don’t know if the narrator for the Aura WoR was accurate or not, and considering that it said that aura was a passive shield only for the writers to say that you have to actively put it up in volume 5, it’s unlikely that it actually is.

And let me say something else: While yes, it is a smart move to have a character voice their opinions about a place, event, or other aspect of their world- that only applies for character development. In the scenario of wanting to inform the audience, that tactic fails. Take the episodes where Qrow takes over. He provides biased information, and isn’t exactly eloquent or decent information about the things he talks about. He says that a lizard faunus once grew back their tail, but how do we know he wasn’t drunk if/when that happened?

A. That doesn’t disprove anything dumbass. Why would Salem be lying or Ozpin lying? Hell, have either of those two every lied on screen?

B. PASSIVE does not equal SUBCONSCIOUS Dudeblade. I happen to know you are aware of this because you ARGUED this with the Tifa Vs. Yang death battle.

C. What bias is that? I don’t see any reason for Qrow, someone who is KNOWN for brute honesty, to lie or sugarcoat things.

And D. He said he needed a drink AFTERWARDSk, implying he was sober. For someone who claims to be criticial, you seem to miss a lot of little things.

“I see. So these episodes fail at building the world. How do you think it could have been fixed?”

Well, I remember a post that talked about how since the main characters are in a school, they could have done a report on dust to explain it. With Ruby talking about the combat uses, Weiss talking about how it’s mined, Blake talking about how the miners are treated (possibly having points deducted because the point was to research dust, not the workers), and Yang talking about practical uses.- Those aren’t necessarily the ideas reflected in the post I linked to, but I’d think that it would be interesting.

Using a similar idea, they could have also had done the same thing with grimm. With Ruby talking about certain weak points, Weiss talking about certain types, Blake talking about how they function, and Yang providing information on whatever the others missed.

Yeah as I have said:

A. That implies that Beacon’s school system is so fucked up that Beacon students are taught BASIC KNOWLEDGE. As in, shit JAUNE knew.

And B. There isn’t enough time or money. Unless YOU are gonna fund all that extra time out of your own pocket, why should they focus on that and not, say, deliver it to the audience in a cheaper, more entertaining way that doesn’t insult the intelligence of the audience?

“You seem to think that Yang is really smart. Do you want to elaborate on that, or…”

I’ll elaborate enough to point out why Yang is more informative here. She’s smarter than she looks. See, Ruby had to be skipped ahead two years, Weiss had tutors, Blake had to take the entrance exam, jaune cheated his way in, Nora also took the entrance exam, Pyrrha had fame and fortune, and Ren had to do the same as Nora.

See, Raven mentioned an entrance exam. Since she didn’t go to any combat schools of the sort, we can figure out that the entrance exam is there for people who didn’t attend a combat school. This means that Yang is literally the only one of her friends to make it into Beacon the normal way. By studying. I addressed this in a different post of mine actually. In fact, Yang’s grades and study habits are the only ones not to be a plot point (Addressed in this post that I have reblogged). Yang is smart. She could have also had done a project where she talks about the criminal underground, since she has an informant in the form of Junior. She provides some neat (and somber) exposition about Mountain Glenn. She’s a native to Vale. Why not explore the city near Beacon with her?- She could bring her friends too. It’s real easy to hate a character when she isn’t just a pretty face that’s funny apparently.

Yeah and considering you think Jaune is literally retarded and somehow passed himself off as having done it, it must not be hard by your logic.

Also, good job being smart. Bumrushing all your opponents without any strategy or tactic then ‘brute force’, even when one of your opponents will obviously kick your ass. Being smart requires you to actually USE those smarts, hence why I don’t think either one of is particularly smart.

And if you like Yang as who she is, why do you try to scope out anything that you think is like you? Because you don’t actually think Yang is smart, you think YOU’RE smart and Yang is basically the self insert you want.

Oh and this has nothing to do with the subject at hand. So uh, good job getting off topic.

“I have a feeling that Yang being treated as a dumb blonde is a sore spot for you.”

I said in a previous post that I see a lot of myself in her… And not in that way, perverts!

Dudeblade, considering you keep recommending lesbian slave harems as good fanfics, we already know you’re a perv.

And no, no one was thinking that. We know you meant it as ‘Yang must be 100% like me and thus the world must bend to her whim and anything that doesn’t is wrong because she’s my self insert.’

And again, off topic.

So when people insult a character, and reduce them to the baseline character traits, it becomes infuriating.

Blake isn’t a coward for leaving!- She did what anyone else in her position would do!

You mean like say, reducing a father figure down to a single joke?

Or perhaps an honest and well meaning but clumsy guy into a cardboard cutout?

Funny how you do the exact same thing you say is infuriating and yet act like it’s totally irrational.

And let’s get a counter going.

Off Topic: 3

“Dude! You’re getting off-track!- Remember. This is a post about how the worldbuilding was too rushed to make people care about the world.”

Right… Thanks man…

Anyways, another problem with the lack of worldbuilding is well… it’s right there on the tin.

We didn’t get to explore Vale that much. And due to that, it’s hard to sympathize with the city being destroyed. Sure, I feel bad for the people there, but as for their world?- This isn’t like real life, where you can research the city that was just destroyed and feel the sorrow that the people have. Not that I need to. Since Remnant isn’t a world I live in, it’s hard to know if Vale had any historic monuments or orphanages that would make me feel bad if they were destroyed.

Dude, you think anyone gives a shit about the buildings and shit being destroyed in a distaster?

No, they give a shit about the people who are hurt and damaged by it. The fact that you do not understand that concept kind of goes to show how many hoops you’re demanding RWBY jump through.

“Just because you didn’t see them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Though I’ll admit to being disappointed at not seeing more of the city.”

While that’s true, it’s hard to figure out where they fall when it comes to faunus equality. We know that Mistral isn’t a good place from their ‘No Faunus Allowed’ sign… And the White Fang somehow not being fired upon by the Mistral Police on-sight… We can deduce from Ilia’s backstory and Weiss’ retconned racism that Atlas isn’t much better is worse.

Vacuo is arguably the best place for a faunus to stay, since the WoR states that they only care about strength… Though that’s probably iffy since Qrow probably dislikes it since their philosophy is similar to Raven’s, and maybe has a bias. Or maybe he hated it to begin with, and projected Raven’s philosophy onto it.- It’s hard to say.

A. The Fanaus were FORCED onto Menagrie.

B. Qrow LIKES Vacuo for it’s way of life, seeing as it’s based off giving respect instead of demanding it like Raven.

And C. Has it not occurred to you someone can hate a place for factual reasons?

“So thanks to his bias, his description would differ from the actual thing, right?”

In theory. The writers were never known for their cleverness.

No, you’re just know for your irrational bias. They aren’t any more clever than your average writer but you’ll bang your head on a wall until your delusions look like reality.

“But if it did, then wouldn’t some viewers get confused that Qrow’s description is different than the actual thing?”

These are the same viewers that forgot that Miles explicitly said that jaune was based on his younger self when trying to argue against the “jaune is a self-insert” accusation. Some of them anyways. I have a bit more faith in them than that.

And you people are the ones who don’t understand how fucking voice acting works AND that Miles has gone on record hating his past self AND that both Barbara and Lindsay have said similar thing yet never call Ruby or Yang self inserts (despite both being treated better by canon than Jaune.).

I have no faith in you.

“You don’t show it that often.”

I’m a pessimist and a cynic. So far, I haven’t really been given a lot of proof that they acknowledge the retcons.

The lack of characters talking about their world hurts a lot too. And since we got rushed to the Fall of Beacon, we didn’t get to hear other characters’ opinions on the matter. We didn’t get to hear Weiss talk about Atlas, we didn’t get to hear Blake talk about Menagerie, we didn’t get to hear Sun talk about Vacuo or Mistral.

Dudeblade, I’m an optimist by nature and yet you people make me reach Guts levels of cynicism. Go fuck yourself.

As for theseL

Why does it matter? Wouldn’t THESE just be as biased as Qrow and thus be a waste of time according to you? or does it not count until it’s actually done because you just want to bitch.

“To be fair, it’s hard to do that when they didn’t have the time to- Ohhhh………”

Yep. The rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot’ makes it hard to learn about the world. Like… I can easily think of a reason why Junior didn’t call the cops on Yang: It’s because he’s a guy who works with criminals, and he doesn’t want to attract any unwanted attention. It’s not that hard. It would also serve as a means to develop Yang and Junior’s relationship more as well. But no. We can’t get that development for these characters. They have to get to that ‘big overarching plot’ as soon as possible. They didn’t want to create characters, they wanted to create fighting styles. They just wanted to make cool fight scenes, and this hurts the story because that focus made it harder to relate to the characters. You have to dig deep to figure out their characters.

Okay now you’ve pissed me off.

You are blaming Miles and Kerry for MONTY’S issue! You wanted to bitch about this? should have done it about three years ago. Now there is no fucking point other than beating and abusing innocent people.

Also who the fuck cares about Yang and Junior’s relationship? You bitch about Jaune existing for more than five seconds but you want to explore to the relationship with a character that has appeared TWICE in the entire show.

And that goes to show your issue, Dudeblade. If we listen to you, we’d basically still be in Volume 1 just with a bunch of meaningless bullshit and superifical details. All because you don’t know how to write.

People tend to boil characters down to their most basic character attributes.

Ruby is innocent.

Weiss is a tsundere.

Blake is a minority.

Yang is violent.

jaune is a strategist.

Nora is bubbly.

Pyrrha likes jaune.

Ren is quiet.

No detail. No real digging. Just boiling them down to these basic character traits because the writers didn’t bother to give them actual characteristics. And when they did, they chose to put more focus on jaune instead of the characters that the show is named after.

A. *flings him a shovel* Go take that up with Monty, 

B. Dudeblade,people do that because it’s easier to write about them and understand them. My proof: Your aftermath fanfic has ONE character just with about thirty different names. You boil them all down to character traits they may not even have: You don't know what you’re talking about.

And C. most of these are wrong

Ruby is childlike

Weiss is abitch

Yang is Barbara

Jaune is pathetic

Nora is violent

Pyrrha is passive

And Ren is stotic.

Only Blake is right and that’s because you people monopolized that.

Goes to show how LITTLE you actually know about the subject.

So combine a lack of worldbuilding,

Your fault for killing WOR.

a focus on fights instead of story,

*points six feet down.*

a lack of creating actual characters,

No, just a denial of them.

and a rush to get to the ‘big overarching plot,’

Which you would bitch about if they didn’t get to it because abuse.

and you get a mess.

No Dudeblade:

When you have three people with a total of three years writing experience between them with the least experienced and worst suited person in charge, you get RWBY.

And yet you consistently fail to criticize it.

[woodrowvivier43-blog]

The Slow Fatality Of The Manual Transmission

At Making quilts perfectly Below par, merely a few months ago In Mach 2017 I began a team for those people that are certainly not best in our quilting, or crafting. Especially for those who desire to make over their sleeping habits, completion from Sunshine Conserving Time can easily work as a sleep-centric New Year's settlement Starting today, incorporate an extra hr to your every night rest as well as enjoy these increases. As soon as an individual begins to establish gaps in his/her energy industry they are "vigorously at risk" meaning they possess energy overlooking off them which subsequently has actually caused all of them to be available vigorously to non-physical beings. The story goes back to 1902, the President was actually phoned Theodore through his family and friends, but people and the press all more popularly contacted him Teddy. You make me happy and also unfortunate together, however this is actually a good sort of misery, the kind where i understand someone else knows the horribleness of depression, which really isn't fantastic for you however it does create me believe less alone. Then they informed me that they have to direct a spell on him that will create him come back to me as well as the children, they casted the incantation as well as after 1 full week my other half phoned me and also he told me that i must forgive him, he began to apologize on phone and also stated that he still reside me that he did not know exactly what occur to him that he left me. it was the spell that he traditionalspellhospital appointed on him that create him revival to me today, me as well as my household are actually right now delighted once again today. The wardrobe sufficed area for 4 days well worth from garments as well as there was a secure in on one of the shelves to lock your useful in. The restroom was bigger than I anticipated however still tiny through some specifications, geared up with bathroom, stand up downpour, mirror and also sink. Their intentions excellent, but they regularly manage to rouse things up. Sometimes this believes that you can not get everything carried out when they are actually all around. The following survey is actually a bad instance due to the fact that the construct is unclear and also individuals could certainly not feel comfortable answering those personal" questions. 8. Where person possess you found out most in your life? However, there are actually a handful of individuals who may experience all of it. A bunch of folks invest hundreds of dollars and also many years spent seeking that without ever before obtaining a bountiful life. The customer service fella firmly insisted repetitively that Amazon had not gotten the check. Off a health care perspective when dealing with a common well-balanced adult, the majority of physicians will definitely concede that as long as the individual has water, they may reside as long as 8 weeks xerophagy. It's only CERTAINLY NOT mosting likely to happen - as well as there are actually numerous people out there that recognize why this misbehaves suggestion - regardless of exactly how safe and secure the Amazon web server is. So this is actually definitely baffling that Amazon have not put together a system, for a 30 2nd telephone call every six months or so, so as to fit some great clients. His strength towers Super Saiyan 3 Goku as well as maybe debated that he did have the energy to get rid of Super Buu however because of Buu's endurance, Gotenks' cockiness preventing him from completing the opportunity and the task limitation on each his Super Saiyan 3 energy and also blend time going out maintained him off triumph. She's devoted her lifestyle enlightening individuals on the value of health, wellness, perspective and psychological health and wellness. Today I was actually surprised to observe a coconut tree glucose covered in an incredibly market perfectly packed into 30 rupee packages - as I type this message I am actually consuming that.

These pages include call details please click for source Amazon.com, & clicked on for a call & my phone called promptly & the person was very wonderful & put a credit scores through & verified through e-mail - all within 3 moments. This was actually enabled by this business making use of real regular individuals committing a little of their money just about anything off ₤ 10- ₤ 2000 per person.

[slothcritic]

Dragon Ball Z Abridged - Episode 6 Review

Middling setup episode with inconsistent but mostly bad writing.

No One Ever Listens To The Magical Dragon starts off on a promising note with another reference to Popo's Pecking Order, but from there it's a long slide downhill.

The Saiyan scene inside of Kami's lookout is pretty weird and a rather unremarkable. There's a Hurricane Katrina joke that I didn't find terribly clever, but after Chiaotzu gets his butt kicked by a Protoss, Tien and Yamcha have some back and forth. And a lot of the connections made here become much more reminiscent and almost nostalgic when compared to later episodes of the show, but to analyze these decisions from their origin, some of them are very experimental and unfortunately lackluster.

I feel like Yamcha's "hah, gay" quip rests its full weight on Tien's delivery of the previous line. It's really unnecessary otherwise. I feel like most of the TFS cast looking at that dialogue on a script nowadays would cringe at the sight of it. I mean, if they were originally trying to paint Yamcha as someone who's an extremely immature jock, then that makes sense. But they definitely don't stick with this character decision for very long, even if they make callbacks to it - which I will speak on later, as they come up.

Yamcha is essentially a lesser Krillin. He's the reluctant hero who's the butt of a lot of jokes, and most of the time it's not without good reason. But I do want to stress that he is a hero. He jumps into danger even if he knows it'll kick his ass. Hey, not everyone can be Goku, but at least Krillin gets Android 18 in the end. Yamcha gets... Well, nothing. He has his friends but nothing improves for him. Perhaps this is karmic justice for being a massive pervert and tryhard ladykiller. Even his morals and general discipline in life are lesser to Krillin's.

But the line about Yamcha "actually getting pussy" to me seems either like lightning in a bottle or accidental genius. It's cringey, but I feel like, in retrospect at the very least, it really fits Yamcha's awkward, bumbling personality. He's someone who spends nearly his entire stay in this series treading a tightrope between bravado and humiliation. This characterization, this moment of his smart-aleck mouth or leap-before-you-look mindset backfiring on him ultimately becomes his destiny of character.

The only other noteworthy part after this is that Krillin has a great scream and the owned counter ticks up to four. After a montage of everyone dying, they return to the tower and Popo congratulates them. But he has some bad news.

"You're going back." "Wh... What?" "BYE."

This just felt fiendishly dark to me, and though I find overuse of the word "schadenfreude" to be pretentious, it does very well to describe how I feel when I’m watching this. This is honestly a wonderful punctuation to an otherwise below-average scene.

On King Kai's planet, I love the notion of Goku going smack-happy with the mallet like an unattended child, while King Kai just lets him get it out of his system. This isn't even part of his training, this is just Goku fuckin' around. He even smacks through the planet and dings Bojack, which gets another "Shut up, Bojack" from King Kai. Nothing to write home about but it's a scene with charm. Also, the Bardock reference was neat.

Back on Earth, oh hey! First use of the eponymous Dragon Balls in the series! Shenron suggests that instead of wishing Goku back to life, they should wish the Saiyans would fly into an asteroid field. I'm not sure how this would work in the series proper, or if it's even possible since Shenron wouldn't have the power to "make them go away" however you want to interpret that, but I'm ultimately tickled by the idea that in this series, such a thing is actually possible but the main ensemble is just too stupid to realize that. It's also kind of established that Shenron just does his own thing.

The episode ends with King Kai having taught Goku the Kaio-Ken and Spirit Bomb off-screen (which I have a lot to say about) and then booting Goku off his planet. He immediately realizes his mistake once he discovers that he's all alone again... except for Bubbles, Gregory and the main man Bojack himself, and promptly tells them all to SHUT UP! This gag doesn't have as much going for it the third time around, but it's the closer for the episode and the end of the "Training at King Kai's" mini-arc, so it still manages to hold potency.

Conclusion

I feel like that last episode might've spoiled people off of this one. Even if we go by the inevitable philosophy that there will always be highs and lows in any episodic medium, a lot of the negatives of this episode (and there are a lot) are due to just poor writing. Poor choices in dialogue, poor choices in jokes, questionable scene direction, and odd bits and ends that don't belong. I would've considered this a strong follow-up to Episode 1, but it's a sharp drop down from Episode 5.

Initially, I felt that gimping out on Goku learning the Kaio-Ken and Spirit Bomb cheapened this episode. After all, was it really necessary to abridge HFIL, but then not abridge Goku learning some of his most iconic moves in the series?

But to the credit of TFS, they do rectify this with their Make A Man Out Of You parody, which I feel is an appropriate and deserved representation or summary of the scene in question, so that alleviates my complaints about that entirely. 

Even though it’s not an actual episode, Make A Man Out Of You is treated as canon to the DBZA series. For that reason, I feel it amends the issue of the scene not being done justice. 

However, it does not fix this episode specifically, and does not change the fact that it is glossed over in this episode. If anything, the fact that Goku now just has these abilities is treated like it’s not important in this episode. Perhaps TFS were purposefully saving it for where they thought it would be better used, like in the musical number.

This creates a tough decision for me, since I have to be very distinct here.

If I say that the musical montage retroactively makes this episode better, that’s not fair to this episode as a self-contained product. 

But if I say that this episode should have included the Kaio-Ken/Spirit Bomb scenes, even though I feel it’s given a very satisfactory and deserved treatment in Make A Man Out Of You, that implies that I would’ve desired perhaps an inferior version of that same scene within this episode purely for semantic reasons, which ultimately feels hypocritical to me.

However, I must stick to my guns here and evaluate this episode solely based upon itself and nothing else. So even though Make A Man Out Of You does my complaints justice, it’s unfortunately too little too late, even if it was for a good reason. I purposefully want to avoid having my final scores consider retroactive decisions made after a product has been released, unless it specifically changes the product itself. This is more prevalent in remasters or games (bug fixes, patches, etc) instead of just making extraneous content like sequels.

Getting back to the rest of this episode, the high points of this episode were in fact good. I liked how they finally explored the other characters in this episode. Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, and Shenron all have their first spoken lines of dialogue in this episode. Of course, there was going to be no way around that if they wanted to do those two scenes at all. Necessary world-building elements take place with their own unique twists to show the progress of events and make the final result feel earned, but not much else to discuss. This episode was largely unremarkable, with maybe one or two moments that anyone would remember a week later.

Score: 49

Passing Thoughts

It's interesting to see how King Kai's voice has evolved over the series. In this episode, some of his lines are so nasally that I can hardly understand him.

"This can't possibly get any worse!" "Hi."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

I’m not going to review Make A Man Out Of You, but at a quick glance I would probably give it a score in the 70′s. The production is pretty good all things considered, and it still holds up even though it was made in 2008.