#funniest setting + character matchup

[spooky-dice]

highlight of glasgow quangle is HANDS DOWN weird uncle big barry syx and his horrid sickly little monster children. swirlie girlies!!!!!

[mr-magoriums-im-sorry-emporium]

yo hi your shawn spencer having aspd take is awesome, been looking for a 'popular' character that displays aspd better than dexter. if you ever wanna give more elaboration / possibly infodumping i will be in the audience standing and clapping

u sly dog u got my monolouging.... AIGHT HERE GOES!!

so i forgottt if i said so in the og post but i think henry ALSO has aspd and thats where shawn got it from, but to elaborate: i think that's why henry became a cop

FIRST OFF: wrt cops, i am operating on TV SHOW LOGIC, not real life logic. tv show cops and irl cops are VASTLY different in the kinds of morals each set has. rl cops are deeply unethical but in the world henry spencer inhabits, this is largely not the case. since he's In There and not Out Here, i go with the show's portrayal of cops and their morals and values, instead of real life's. everything i say about cops from here on is about the show's cops, aight? aight lets go

SO the thing about having aspd and knowing on some level that you have it and somethings Different about you is that at some point you HAVE to learn How To Live In A Society Without Immidiatley Getting Ostracized. a common tactic for this is to somehow aquire a set of morals and then just Do That. it's what i personally did, and a lot of those morals came feom whatever community i was in. i liked being here, they had some set of morals, and i just adopted those and treated it as truth. over the years this process has become a lot more refined but generally my morals align with the community i find myself in- namely, queer leftists. so a LOT of my moral beliefs come with interacting with queer leftists at length (because, since i was queer, and thus interacted w a lot of leftists) and going "yeah, that makes sense, this is now a moral standard for me"

so tldnr you need to find a community with some moral tenants that you generally agree with and also like, which sounds like a no brainer but its like. a bit different yk? for me PERSONALLY there really isnt much of an internal set of checks and balances that make me agree w my morals under all costs and i can like. turn it off if i need to

but back to the spencers: being a cop is really good for this. the moral set is easy- you're a cop. you care a lot about The Law. ergo your morals are just... the laws are good and breaking tbem is bad. short and simple and to the point

additionally, being a cop means you get to engage in risk taking behavior and get PAID for it! people dont think youre a crazy reckless thrill seeker, they think you're a HERO! and who needs remorse when you're dealing with criminals? you dont NEED to feel bad about power tripping or intimidating them, its totally fine. its fine. its fine

also relationship issues- henry's divorced, that's not uncommon for pwaspd in relationships. sometimes its poorly managed and/or they wont change and even if theyre stable enough not to be dangerous or abusive, it could be an unpleasant experience for a lot of different reasons- arguments being a massive problem when they happen (the remorse thing- good luck actually getting an apology outta them), worry over the risky behavior being met with flippiance, general lack of emotional vunerability. stuff like that

all this btw is based off my real relationship struggles between me and my fiance who does NOT have aspd (we r like... total opposites its so funny. top 10 funniest matchups of all time)

back to shawn. he is a lot like his father in many ways but the main reason i thought he had aspd is just... he treats EVERYTHING with flippiance and sarcasm. even when hes locking in and being serious, there's still an underlying feeling that he's Just Having Fun With This, no matter the situation. which, this isnt like an official criterion or whatever, but like... i know a LOT of guys with aspd. most of them talk like this. there's always a sense of emotional detachment from most things, because there is one, because they have aspd. i jokingly call this the "sociopath lilt" because theres also that sort of, up-and-down inflection (that shawn has!) that comes with it. its so funny it just makes other pwaspd instantly clockable to me. get thin sliced loser

but once i started thinking about it, more things add up... he's CALLED OUT on his risk taking behavior and flippiance towards serious subject matter IN THE SHOW! he's had a ton of jobs and while i can't prove why he kept leaving them, aspd and having a job... don't mix well. i keep getting fired because i keep beefing w my manager, and i can see the same thing happening to shawn, or maybe he broke a rule one too many times, or got caught in a restricted area, or broke something thru carelessness

and it IS played for comedy but he very often tends to not respect the wishes and autonomy of the people he interacts with, ESPECIALLY gus. he cares naught for anything gus has going on with his job and wether or not he'll get in trouble if he leaves early or does whatever scheme shawn cooked up, and generally sort of treats him not very kindly a lot- which isnt to say their friendship is BAD, its just a pattern of behavior yk?

thats all i can think of off the top of my head rn, but yeah imo shawn is a very realistic take on a guy with aspd whos just like. a regular guy with a mental illness thats to some degree managed, some degree not. very "adhd kid went thru some shit and developed aspd" coded (theres a link; if you abuse a kid with adhd theres a HUGE chance theyll develop conduct disorder and later aspd) (also i guess "some shit" for shawn was the divorce and also being raised by a guy with aspd and being influenced by how he thought a lot)

he's not like, dangerous or abusive or anything, he just has his quirks that can cause problems for him or give the people close to him grief, but its kind of like... an affectionate sort of grief, yk?he just reminds me of myself in a lot of ways. and i like that even in a hc theres SOME character out there that isnt like, a serial killer. imagine having a mental illness and all the characters with it are evil. like yeah theyre cool characters but can i have SOMETHING else for once PLEASE

also lassie has npd send tweet

[sethan-obsession]

one thing that doesn't come up very often when anything about Neco-Arc comes up is the characters' position in the actual games they're in

while Melty Blood isn't something that a lot of people are very versed in (especially amongst people that like the little =3 cat, myself included), outside of meme culture and story mode funnies within the series, the characters are almost entirely a nonsequitur

Neco-Arc and Neco-Arc Chaos (the latter abbreviated to NAC and the former abbreviated to usually "Neco", for later reference) typically occupy the bottom 2 position in whatever game they're in, approximately, between their 3 moons. moons are a "groove" system in melty blood similar to that found in CVS2, or otherwise it's similar to the differences between Shadow and Normal characters in Persona, essentially mixing around your characters' set of universal mechanics and general moveset, though especially strongly associated signature attacks are usually kept between all moons.

some specific characters are considered worse on their "bad moon(s)" than the Necos on their "good moons", but generally those characters' "good versions" outshine most anything any variant of the necos can do.

their general pros between them are "annoying" and "small and difficult to hit or combo, conditionally". they typically attempt to play a zoney, pixie-esque air focused game, but the common theme between much of the necos' kits are that they seldom function, and are a traditional hardcore style "joke character" like street fighter Alpha Dan.

i want to generally focus on NAC for this because i find them more interesting (and they look cute & unique, design and personality wise), the character generally deferred to as bottom 1 with the worst moon in the game amongst popular opinion.

on Mizuumi (for those unaware, a "poverty" FG wiki equivalent to sites like Supercombo and Dustloop), NAC's strongest moon in Crescent (shorthanded to C-NAC) has a wall of cons and a short burst of pros which sum up to "annoying" and "so bad that people don't have match experience to know the matchup".

even at their absolute best or with their most "complete" kit that forms the most functional gameplan, NAC is still marred with some of the funniest shit ever. check these green boxes out:

all of these are incredibly slow normals and mostly the only epitome of "range" NAC has, with other buttons literally extending a few pixels in front of their silly little cat sprite. they extend their gigantic hurtboxes before they're active and up until NAC is actionable again in most cases. only normal you can actually play footsies against in melty blood.

C-NAC focuses on specials that do passable zoning (though generally easily disrespected, and low reward). the other moons, however, are quite dire.

Half Moon Neco-Arc Chaos (H-NAC) can be generally surmised by the first thing at the top of their page, before even their normals:

it's no exaggeration, either. Skeleton is pretty much the only person who even has H-NAC games on record. there are a few here and there, mostly some locally recorded matches between friends, but in the modern day, this is your guru, and the only advice they have is "Please do not pick this character". splendid. extremely funny.

H-NAC generally suffers from losing out on important things that allow NAC to play as a "worse than almost everyone else but still almost functional Melty character", such as having a functional airdash or backdash, but hey, they've got a command throw in case someone's response to not knowing the NAC matchup is to hold downback instead of mashing (if you find an individual of such criteria, i'll give you ten dollars.)

F-NAC, however, is the worst it's ever been. take a gander at this:

lol

H-NAC lacks the ability to really do much of anything, and is blessed with an EX move which does *zero damage*, has a superflash as Melty EX moves do, and is -20 on what, on meterless variations, is meant to be a pressure reset special. in exchange, if you hit with it point blank (and i mean it, your pushboxes have to be touching in most cases) it can cause Circuit Break (no meter usage or gain for x amount of seconds) on the opponent, but that's meter you can spend on bad reversals instead, since your abare is terrible. if you don't hit with the Circuit Break point blank hitbox, it instead builds a ton of meter for the opponent on hit, drains yours, and does zero damage, leaving you in a bad oki situation after.

four hit jumping mid which has the same terrible hurtbox rules, isn't very active considering NAC's bad jump arc and airdash, and fails to combo into anything beyond that usually. good move.

[beelsari]

hello!! i wanted to do a little matchup since i stumbled across your profile todayyy

i would like a smut or fluff (whichever is finee) my hero academia one

i'd prefer a male character but anything is fine :')

i don't really have a preference for the characters so villains, heros, students anything is fine!

my description!: i am a 5 foot white passing latina woman and i really enjoy bakery foods :3 like muffins, donuts, etc. i tend to have a big sweet tooth! i enjoy things like dresses, sanrio, (cough leon kennedy) and anything pink! i make spongebob references that no one gets 💀 and one of my bad qualities is that i make jokes at really bad times (i pinky promise they're so funny tho)

(also if you needed a selfie photo i have sent one in messages!! just warning you so you don't think there's just a weirdo sending you a selfie)

I pair you with…

Denki Kaminari!

I read your description and immediately thought of denki but it was really set in stone when I saw your selfie. Immediately i knew that denki would be obsessed with you. He loves that you laugh at his “stupid” jokes and he thinks you’re the funniest girl alive! He’d constantly bring you sweet treats to show his affection, desperately trying to make you his. You two would get along so well, just watching a movie together and laughing the whole night! He’s also just utterly obsessed with you.

You and denki both work for the same hero agency, he’s training to take over while you’re a secretary. Every morning denki comes in for work he brings you a sweet pastry from your favorite cafe. You’re heart flutters at his gifts. You’re both so into each other but you’re both too scared to make the first move. Everyone else in the agency would assume you guys were married at first glance by the way you act around each other. You’re always 5 shades more red when your around denki and denki does anything he can for you. It’s so painfully obvious to everyone but the two of you. Until one day denki comes in with his usual pastry for you. As you unwrap your pastry, a little note falls out, “come over tonight for a movie? -denki” You immediately blush with a big smile. Butterflies in your stomach all day, waiting for the next time you see denki. As you’re packing up some of your stuff to go home denki comes up behind you “so whaddya say? come over tonight and i’ll make us food and a movie” he stutters, face red with his hand scratching his head in a nervous habit. You turn with a huge smile on your face “I’d love too!!”. Now you’re currently cuddling with denki on the couch eating takeout and sweets, as the food denki tried making almost instantly burnt. You are both in heaven. Denki looks down to see you’re beautiful face on his chest and he can’t help but get flustered and turned on. He’s so embarrassed at the bulge forming in his pants and he hopes you can’t feel it. As he gets harder, the more he needs you. He suddenly pulls your chin up and kisses you passionately. You are shocked but not upset as you kiss back just as fervently. He pulls you up on his lap, hands around your hips, and grinds you onto his bulge, causing you to squeak. “You’re so beautiful I just couldn’t stare at you without getting a boner” he giggles into your ear as you gasp and giggle back. He still can’t believe he has such a perfect girl whining for him. The night goes on with passionate love, and a new beginning for you and denki.

[jynxedshapeshifter]

nobody asked but i think this is the funniest possible set of (allegedly) randomized team matchups i've ever seen in team sonic racing. it's like the game said "let's put them on their default teams but knock off one of their teammates and add a random character"

[popculturebuffet]

Ducktales Reviews!: The Split Sword of Swanstatine! or Sometimes You Just Have to Punch Your Problems Away

The race for the missing mysteries takes Scrooge, the kids and a sorta hyjacked Lena and Violet to a mystical market to hunt down the pieces of the mythical sword of the warrior king swanstanine. Naturally a split artifact leads to a vignette episode as the kids pair up to find the pieces while Scrooge and Heron face off. Dewey and Webby face blindness, Louie and Violet face Louie’s reputation as an underworld kingpin, and Huey and Lena face Huey’s Feral Side. The race is on with full recap and spoilers under the cut. 

Not a lot of background here.. I was excited enough for this one as Steelbeak and Rockerduck came back, but I went from “This will be pretty good and oh look Flula Borg” to HOLY SHIT LENA AND VIOLET ARE BACK LET’S GO ALREADY. So yeah, there’s not a lot to get started here that can’t be done as we go, let’s get out there and talk about some ducktales.  We open in a vast marketplace whose name i’ve already forgotten.. it’s almost 4 in the morning here and I have terrible memory with name sometimes, I make no apologizes. Naturally given the big declaration at the end of the last episode the family is on the hunt for a missing mystery.. and Dewey is on the hunt for Street Meat, though Scrooge denies him any till they get the job done... I mean they can eat and go treasure hunting. They can do two things. Let him have some lamb dammit, spiced lamb is fucking delcious you monster! Or whatever that is the point is it’s larged, well seasoned and makes me hungry!  But starving his grandchildren aside, Scrooge has no doubt they can acomplish this as a family.. and then notices his future in laws are also there and his whole big speech game is thrown off by the question of why. To me it’s because we need more of them, quit old man your already 0-2 this episode, but turns out the explination is one of the funniest jokes of the season.. and this is a season that’s include “There now your susceptible to vampires”, “Yipiee Kai Yay Mr. Falcon!”, Darkwing’s Cookbook, Gene’s Soda Commerical, Gladstone having a mental breakdown over having to be a normal person, and Della trying to deflect the blame for traumatizing children. This bit is on par with that.  Violet explains that Scrooge told everyone to get on the plane. I assume Donald and Della are with their signifigant others, Beakly was getting some much needed therapy and Launchpad.. was flying the plane.. and also had Drake and Gosalyn with him because he double booked and had to take them with him to assist whatever ex of his is in trouble this week. Point is that bit’s freaking hilarious and Scrooge simply asks if they enjoy history and the answers are a predictable “Not really” from Lena, which given her own personal history is vast, terrible, and traumatizing up until the last year and her adoption by two gay men, relationship with a charming young lady, and gaining a beloved nerdy sister, that tracks. Violet of courser says it’s her life. Scrooge takes it: He’s used to having half his adventuring party either not caring about culture and history, the Saberwings just keep the average up. So Webby does the natural thing and tackle hugs her girlfriend and future sister in law while Scrooge smiles because why wouldn’t you. 

And I was happy about this: not just hte tackle hug, because that was precious, but Scrooge eagerly accepting them along for the ride. I was worried for half a second that as good as the gag was that’d be the episodes big underlying issue.. but nope, his confusion was more “Wait why are the extra children here”, than questions of worth and given their previous appearance had him willingly inviting them along, and Lena and Violet only opting out due to fears about her magic getting them all killed and to support her sister, it woudln’t of made any character sense for him not to, doubly so since their up against a shadowy organization of ruthless thugs. Granted Beakly likely sighed after returning from her midnight therapy and called the Saberwing parents by Ty and Indy are probably used to their daughter’s friends elderly Uncle taking them to strange places in the middle of the night by this point. I mean one of their daughters can turn bluper sayain now, the ship on normal behavior kind of sailed over a cliff a while ago. 

But Scrooge soon detects what he thinks is heron but is actually a woman who justifiably punches him. Turns out Heron was actually hiding in a stall though, and brought all her friends with her.. except Blot.. and while at first I was going to make a joke I realized they probably don’t want the guy who drains the magic out of everything near a magic artifact he’d probably destroy despite the consequences. So Bradford probably just sent him to murder the lucky charms leprechaun... he DOES have a life outside of trying to Murder scrooge... he can want to murder cereal mascots too. He’s a renascence evil mastermind. A sword fight ensues, with Scrooge telling the kids to pair up and go find the pieces while he keeps Heron busy. 

Cue Credits and cue the episode itself being split into three vignettes. I do love vignette episodes, episodes of half hour shows that split into 3 different stories taking place at the same time and break from the formula, with two of the best I can think of being the Avatar classic “Tales from Ba Sing Sei”, most famous for the really gutpunching bit with Iroh singing at his dead son’s grave.. jesus I teared up, not a joke or an exaggeration literally teared up, just thinking about it. On the opposite end we have the season 12 Simpson’s episode Trilogy of Error, which while during when the rot started to set in for the series is easily a classic on the sam tier as the first 10 seasons. It alfeatured an at the time young Daniel Radcliff as Lisa’s love interest, Marge getting accused of attempted murder after accidently chopping homer’s finger off, Bart and Milhouse turning informant ont he mob and  the tragic life of Linguo. It’s a classic. 

But yeah three pieces, three teams of two, and three story segments. So like last week I can easily divide the stories up and unlike last week I won’t be frontloading or forgetting anything since their divided up much more evenly and are played back to back to back rather than intercutting. So with that in mind...

Dewey and Webby: The Hidden Truths of Temporary Blindness and the Albino Snakes We Mistook for Cats Along the Way

The Dynamic Duo Returns! Seriously I did the legowork, I.e. went to google and despite the two’s dynamic being a sizeable part of season 1 and a plot point at the start of season 2, which also put the final nail in my shiping them coffin as it was very clear they were basically siblings in all but blood at this point and I wisely jumped off the ship and nuked it from orbit. But outside of Webby’s subplot with Dewey and Louie in “The Town Where Everyone Was Nice!”, it just.. hasn’t come up again. They’ve just had other dynamics to explore with the show and thus the two really haven’t interacted as much for the rest of the series thus far. They still interact, it’s just not really as a major part of any episodes plot till now. So while not a pairing I was expecting it was nice to have it back. For about ten seconds.  Yeah cards on the table this is the weakest of the three segements. While the other two have intresting settings, setups, and character dynamics we genuinely haven’t seen this one has.. a weird version of a dynamic we’ve seen done better, and an antagonist who feels oddly flat this go round. It’s just not THAT intresting despite some intresting moments but it’s best to just get into it to explain why. 

The basic setup is Webby is hoping to use bold de-ducktion to figure things out while flying under the radar while Dewey’s solution is naturally to ask everyone they meet, and then shout at Gandra when they do find the piece. This naturally gets a flashbang thrown at them, though we do get one great bit where Gandra asses their threat levels with Webby’s being high and Dewey’s being Eh, which tracks. And the thing that stings here is.. Gandra COULD’VE been an intresting opponent for Webby. While Huey and Violet, being fellow genuises as well as Huey’s personal stake in it for her hurting Fenton last year/season would be a better match, pitting Webby against someone just as focused and thought out in fighting, but who rather than use strength uses cybernetics and various gadgets would be really intresting, especially since the other two villian matchups are equally perfect. But instead.. it just feels like Gandra could’ve been replaced with a random fowl soldier. She just uses a flash grenade and some pakour, no real unique skills of hers or insight into her character or anything remotley intresting on her first Fenton-less outing just... “eh I use tech stuff because i’m the tech girl bleh”. The show can do better, and Jameela is given nothing to work with to the point I genuinely worried she’d been replaced.. she hadn’t, but it’s NEVER a good sign when you give an actor so little to do character wise I can wonder that. Also it’s a bit of a nitpick but it genuinely bothers me that Flula Borg, John Hodgman and Jason Mantzokus all got guest star credits.. but April Winchel and Jameela Jamil got nothing. And you could say April’s a long standing voice actor and all that.. but Tress Macneile also got a guest starring credit for next week’s episode solicit, so it’s clearly not that, and just comes off unintetionally sexist and obnoxious and has bothered me since the episode summaries came out. 

That out of the way the basic conflict is our heroes are flying blind, literally, with Dewey able to easily amble along, while Webby struggles as she can’t analize blind.. which comes off as bullshit to me. I HIGHLY doubt Beakly, paraoid mess she is, would not train her granddaughter to be able to fight without seeing. It’s one of the most basic training techniques in media. There’s a reason it pops up Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles a lot. To fight on instinct and with your other senses. And the instinct part is the lesson and insn’t a bad idea, it’s just the tool they use for it means they have to make Webby entirely helpless in a way that’s nonsensical to her character to make the plot work and it drags the bit down, thoguh we do get an utterly hilarious bit where Dewey mistakes a coiled white snake for a kitten. But our heroes make it through, Webby eventually saves Dewey with a leap of faith and Dewey has Webby hit a flash grenade back at Gandra which works somehow and blinds her optics despite you know.. someone who uses this kind of tech probably being smart enough to protect her own cybernetic eyes from flashbangs. But the kids have the piece.. and  a snake now even if it terrifies them. I wish one of them had taken it home a snake fits either of them and Webby’s dealt with worse.. which is the whole problem with this segment. That being said getting to see Dewey pull a hank venture and turn his normal near-suicidal reckleness into a strength was great I just with it was framed in a way that wasn’t “plannig and knowing things is stupid USE IMPULSE”. Thankfully we can move on.  Louie and Violet: The Silver Tongued Viper and The Violet Blade versus the Billion Dollar Man

Next up is Violet and Louie, a team up I didn’t expect at all but works well, and is a much better contrast. Webby and Dewey are similar enough, despite his rampant stupidity, that having a “one side teaches the other how to use something else and tap into their inner self”lesson didn’t work> Here it works perfectly: Someone who speaks frankly and seeks the truth through reason and research paired with someone whose greatest and most cherished talent is the ablility to lie and swindle. It’s a good contrast. Their headed for the underworld since, as I forgot to mention, each of the clues is framed as coming from the heavens (the first piece being on top of a statue), the underworld and the heart of the earth.

 Violet, and understandbly given her sister is magic and the general nonsense the duck family runs into, takes the underworld part literally taking an axe and some coins to pay the ferryman with her. Louie however figures it’s usually just a flowry way of putting a con..  and while he’s wrong about mythology given the ducks have met gods and the ENTIRE next episode (which likely features selene since i’ts now established they leave out guest stars if there’s more than three apparently) is about the gods they met... his instincts are not wrong and it is nice they aren’t. Sure some myths are real but sometimes a clue isn’t literal, and it’s clever that hte underworld here is the criminal underworld. 

Turns out center piece for the sword is an underground den for the criminal underworld focused around spice eating and general no goodnik shenanigans and Louie’s come prepared. In a bit of character stuff I REALLY love, Louie’s built up a rep as “The Silver Tounged Serpent”, with him bluffing that violet is his companion, having simply used a web of lies and word of mouth to build him up as the worst and most vile criminal imaginable. It’s not a bad plan and while Violet rightly points out he’ll have to live up to it eventually, and Louie naturally deflects that as “Future Louie’s” problem, not realizing in this case Future Louie is about 2 minutes from being present Louie, it’s not a bad scheme. Sure it’s risky as hell and he picked the worst place to use it.. but having an alias he can use to sneak into places like this where Scrooge would be made in an instant, and can easily come up with lies for the rest of his family minus Huey, whose useless not for being easily detectable but because he can’t lie to save his life and this very episode cements it. Most of his family is certified grade a badass, and can easily help him bluff or back up his claims or make him look like one. it’s just this time he happened to get Violet instead whose brutally honest and while badass, isn’t great at running con games nor pleased about any of this. That and Louie’s biggest weakness is forthought: While his brothers either don’t plan at all or overplan, Louie underplans: He has good ideas and good schemes and scams.. it’s just he has no real endgame for any of them and Violet sees right through that.  Still meeting the Spice Baron, played by Flula Borg who I mostly know from this song he did with Ninja Sex Party, though I also forgot he was in PItch Perfect 2...

Your welcome. But while he’d like to give our fake arch criminal his prize, someone else already offered him a literal, not figurative ton of cocaine.. I mean Gold. Got the wrong show there for a second. Unsurprisingly it’s Rockerduck whose done this and unlike the wasted opprotunity above this battle of wits is between the perfect opponents. Rockerduck is easily what Louie would become without his family: A shifty conman with a flair for lying, contacts in the criminal underworld and aversion to doing the hard work himself. He’s such a perfect opponent for Louie I don’t know why I never considered the two going head to head before, but it’s utterly fantastic. John Hodgman is also far and away the MVP of the episode guest villain wise, with some of the best lines too, my favorite being, after making a spice pun, demanding the assorted roughnecks “Laugh, LAUGH AT MY SPICE PUN”.. just the way he demands it with a mixture of karen and a whiny teenager is inspiried. But yeah, Rockerduck knowing who he’s dealing with challenges Louie to a spice duel, basically eating the hottest spices imaginable till one folds, winner takes all.  Naturally Louie’s ep included being a champion at this, and naturally his first instincts are to bail and when that fails, keep lying while Violet encourages him not to. I mean he’s ignored the pink and red angels on his shoulder telling him not to do bad things, why would the new purple one be any different. But Rockerduck has the edge as his taste buds were burned off in cryo.. though in another great line he laments he can never enjoy hard boiled eggs again. Which fair enough but.. you know two geniuses.. one of them can simulate taste buds. Regardless, Louie’s in trouble and his attempt to simply cheat his way out fails and the baron dosen’t tolerate Cheaters.. or Cheetahs.. or Cheating Cheetahs as seen in a great sight gag with a cheetah which requires the Baron to clarify it’s both. Point is Louie is screwed.. but Violet then downs all three, without a bead of sweat for reasons the episode explains at the end of this segment, but works since we don’t know violet well and the mystery of how she did it is a compelling question for a second. Our heroes have won but Rockerduck plays his trump card: that they aren’t who their saying they are.. but turns out the truth is even better than the lies Louie has, as Violet quickly spins Louie’s legend with the outright acomplishments he’s had, including defeating the bombie and defeating Scrooge’s entire Rogue’s gallery with a pen stroke.. both true. And unlike the last segement this bit of true strength feels earned: Louie’s other ablility besides lying is seeing all the angles.. and thus like Violet.. he sees the truth. He can see what a person feels, know them better than they may know themselves or the lies they might tell themselves simply through a keen eye. He can pick apart a million dollar defense system simply with a few glances as seen last episode. Louie’s lies may be useful.. but his biggest strength is inddeed his ablility to see the truth. Louie backs violet up as conquerer of the shadow realm (techincally true) and scourge of magica de spell (not even remotely true as Magica has the same problem with face blindess scrooge has with Darkwing and just Darkwing but with everyone). Rockerduck tries to complain but the crowd turns on him, our heroes escape, and Louie compliments violet. As for how she did it meditation, which fits her pefectly so I easily accept it, and a spice of the month club.. which is oddly specific but eh, this bit was really fun so i’ll give it to her. Plus her usualy steely demanor means she likely has a great poker face.. as seen by the fact sh’es soon guling a nearbye trough of water and screaming. Great.  As you can tell I liked this segment better, as it’s a clever duel that uses wit instead of strength ilke the others this episode, and forces Louie to find his real strength as his usual one backfires and really helps define Violet even more giving her a strong sense of truth, which fits her like a glove, and a nice dynamic with Louie. It was an odd pairing, but it worked wonders and brought the episode back to life after the last segment killed some of the momentum. And thankfully that momentum keeps rolling into the best segement:

Huey and Lena: Harnessing Your Inner Feral Goblin Child for the Greater Good

As you’d expect, our heroes are doing what they do best: Lena is trying to reign in a quirky nerd, and Huey is overthinking everything by trying to triangulate where the blade of the sword is. Naturally Lena just finds it as it’s embeeded in a compasss pattern on the earth, hence being part of the earth. Unsurprisingly Lena’s solution.. is to wack it free with a mallet... you know there’s a reson she’s one of my favorites and it’s nice to see two of my faviorites who haven’t interacted hardly at all have some time together. Naturally Huey objects to destroying the thing they came for and figures out how to remove it using the clues. Unfortunately for him, but happily for me, Steelbeak is back! 

I missed this feral asshole, and Jason while not getting a ton of lines sadly, does make the best of what he has, and is used less as himself on purpose. Also while he’s still kind of a moron, as I mentioned in my Tiff of the Titans review, this version is still CLEVER. He may not be book smart, but he can think on his feet and come up with plans and here.. his plan was the best of the three we’ve seen: Just wait for the ducks to come by and solve it for him and then beat them up and take it or as he puts it “Not the first time a nerd did my homework for me. “ Dumb dosen’t always mean incompetent, and he still has his classic self’s easy sense of planning.  Had Lena not been there he would’ve won his piece and been the ONLY member of his group to do so. But Lena is there and now fully trained, so she stops steelbeak by freezing time, Za Warudo! style. Though unlike DIO she can’t manipulate anything, or go get a steam roller though given her powers she can probably make something into one, so tha’ts still on the table. She instead enters someone’s mindscape and uses that to freeze time for a bit.. how .. I have no idea, but it’s an interesting concept and the white look of the void their in now is neat, with only steelbeak himself present in a black and white negative of himself.  Huey takes this as time to plan indeiftely till he finds one that works, shooting down actually fighting Steelbeak as “a cowardly brute’s way out”. We then get a great montage as Huey tries everything, from reasoning, to barganing, to crying, to a TON of hilarious and obviously ineffectual disgusies, to lying.. which as you’d expect is simply holding the massive sword blade behind his back and going “what sword.” It’s a really great montage that shows off two things: Danny Pudi’s talent, and that Huey.. can’t reason or trick his way out of this. He can’t plan his way out. And that’s why Steelbeak is the perfect foe to put him up against: Unlike Webby who faced something she could understand and Louie, who simply faced his evil counterpart, Huey faces his exact oppsotie: Huey thrives on logic and as we soon learns bury’s his emotions and impulses and dosen’t fight unless he HAS TO and even then it’s usually in a group. Steelbeak.. is a dumb, impulsive, thug who thinks out his plans on the fly, if at all, laughs at logic, and thinks the best solution to everything is punch it or blow it up. He can’t be reasoned with, Huey isn’t good enough at deception to trick him, and outrunning him was the first thing Huey tried and failed miserably. Steelbeak is made of huey’s blind spot, his inablaity to act without thinking. And he can’t fight it. 

While Lena’s humored him despite her annoyance with Huey’s stubborness, she finally breaks and tries to force him to admit he has to brute force his way out, with Huey refusing.. but his refusal brings out a door to “the duke of making a mess”. Naturally something this ominous and personal, and the fact they have no other options and she wants to prove a point, is catnip to Lena who lets the king out.. who turns out to be what you’d get if Bart Simpson’s evil deformed twin Hugo and the messed up Dipper Clone from Gravity Falls did a fusion dance. While also in a nice nod looking VERY similar, with his broad fangs and red eyes, to the evil version of mickey from runaway brain. It’s also somehow the SECOND TIME i’ve seen a child supress his negative emotions to the point they manifested into a person shoved deep inside our hero’s head. Lena naturally loves this feral goblin who Huey explains as all his impulses and emotoins, his spur of the moemnt ones anyway, funneled into one being so he can use logic and only logic.  So basically.. Huey is bruce banner.. get.. this kid.. some therapy. 

Point is Huey dosen’t want to embrace his wild side, while Lena points out he needs to, and that sh’es learned from experince being a part of ones self someone ignored entirely as Magica’s shadow he can’t just ignore this and hope it goes away. And given Bruce Banner eventually got several more split personalities which turn into hulking rage monsters, which are a sadist with a good core, a raging child and a las vega leg breaker, and that KO repressing TKO just lead to his other half killing everything he loved and only getting that snapped back thanks to god himself... yeah maybe Lena’s right. And this really brilliantly plays into Lena’s development: Her past two episodes have been entirely about her solving a problem, her nightmares and her wondering magic, that she’s been running from by facing it. She’s learned by now you can’t just ignore something and expect it to go away. Again, that’s how you get Hulks. You have to face your sometimes literal demons and yourself to get better and make things better. And now she’s learned that, it’s Huey’s turn. His entire problem has been that he functions entirely on reason and when reason can’t work, he falls apart. It’s something I honed in on last week and has come up again. The point Lena, and the episode, is making with this bit is that sometimes you just have to trust yourself and go with your gut.  Huey, reluctnatly lets the duke out who goes Donald on Steelbeak... seriously while the big team shot of the cousins and triplets at the end of season 2 showed Huey as Fethry.. he’s easily the most Donald of the group. He’s considerate, romantic, seriously the date he set up for Fenton really was sweet and Violet is in for some very nice evenings.. but also stubborn, prone to mental breakdowns, badly needs therapy (which donald IS getting so there’s hope), and when angry is a demon sent straight from hell. I REALLY hope this gets pointed out at some point.  However without focus the Duke is useless so Lena convinces Huey that he needs to not fight the duke as some evil demonic part of him but accept him: USE his rationality and strategy with his more violent and angry impulses. The two reunite with a hand shake, seriously i’m getting so many KO and TKO vibes this episode what the actual hell, and thei rmerged self easily beats steelbeak witha  wedgie and tied shoelaces. It’s beautiful to see and Lena is brought to tears.  Before we get to the finale, this was EASILY the best segment, using Lena’s character growth to faciltiate Huey’s that’s been going on all season: making him see he needs to step out of his comfort zone of logic and accept his own inner strenght, his complete self, to really function. It’s good well done stuff and the setting is really intresting.  THE FINALE: You are my Inner Strength

So naturally all the parts come together as Scrooge and Heron’s fight lands near Huey and Lena with Webby, Dewey, Violet and Louie all showing up soon after. Scrooge in a really nice moment is  utterly proud of the kids, having had the utmost faith in them to get the pieces, and having his faith validated. He may be a cynical, sometimes assholish, old man.. but he loves and believes in his kids and future kids in law, he trusts them more than himself and he’s come far enough to not doubt them when he needs them most. FOWL however has regrouped, and Scrooge.. just gives them the assembled sword. Unsurprisingly, if still awesomely this is a ploy: Heron tries using the sword.. but it flies out of her hand and into Scrooges. He out gambited them. Also getting JoJo’s Bizzare Adventure vibes this episode with all the planning and counter planning and I am loving it. As he explains the sword reponds to true inner strength,  while heron is all surface level: All malice and schemes and nothing beneath her character, as are the others. There 3 dimensional characters.. but their all pretty open with who they are and not really open to introspection, where as our heroes are and thus grew.. and Scrooge already knows his inner strength: The kids. THey helped him  become a better person, all of them except violet and she just joined the family give her time. They’ve all helped him let his walls down and let people in again after the tragedy of della destroyed him emotionally and put the walls up thick, with Lena being the one to finally get him to destroy them for good. They’ve all helped him be better and he’s helped them all be better in turn, giving them a live of adventure where there their best selves and becoming great kids who will become incredible adults. Their love for one another is what drives them. And thus activates the sword. FOWL seemingly decides to just book and our heroes have won.  Scrooge rewards his kids, new additons included, with some street meat cut byt he sword, and we get nice little shots of the lessons having sunk in with Huey knawing into his like a rabid wolf and Dewey and Webby sharing theirs blindly i’ts a sweet conclusion to a fun episode. But given we’re in the thick of the story arc now, FOWL naturally didn’t just book it for no reason.. this was all a setup. Heron calls back to Bradford with a mission accomplished and a lock of scrooge’s feathers. 

It’s genuinely impressive as there’s no way F.O.W.L. can loose here: They win the sword.. and they have both the feathers for whatever nightmare they have planned for the Ducks, and another Missing Mystery for their grand scheme. They loose.. and they likely already have a plan to get any mysteries the ducks gather, just like last time, and they still get what they want. Either way Scrooge and the audience are unaware of the real plan, and FOWL is still ahead. 

Dew-abolical! 

Final Thoughts for the Episode as a Whole:

While a bit weaker than the last two weeks, and almost entirely thanks to the first segment, this episode is still a fun ride and a great way to kick things off now the ducks and F.O.W.L. are both on the offensive. It was also a great way to bring the Saberwing Sisters back and give them some fresh dynamics outside of Webby for a change, bring back some old faviorite vilians and in general pack a fun, Barks and Rosa style adventure story into the myth arc while still dripping with the character progression and dynamics this show lives for. One dark spot aside this really is a great episode, and the other two segements are clever and fun enough to easily ignore that. This season continues to be the show at it’s absolute peak doing what it’s always done best: taking the past and making something fantastic with it.  Next Week: The kids, sadly minus my girls, audition to replace Zeus! Horay! Finally Zeus got MeTooed! It took long enough.. I mean they wrote entire sonets about his sex crimes. This isn’t a Bill Cosby situation where it suprised the general public, no one liked him since greek times to begin with. Also DAISY RETURNS! Horay! And so does the incredible storkules, MASTER OF COCKBLOCKING!  Also Horay! Seriously unlike the last two blocks of episodes there’s not a one i’m not excited about in the bunch.  Until then you can check my blogs for more reviews, and I plan to do the first episode this month and adjust my patreon rewards accordingly. You can follow said patreon at pateron dot com/popculturebuffet, comission reviews of other ducktales or cartoon episodes for 5 dollars an episode by shooting me an ask or message on here, and get out and vote tomorrow.. that’s not related to me but given how crucial this election is. Do it get out and vote. Until we meet again it’s been a pleasure. 

[svnarintaro]

congrats on 200 followers!! you deserve it! can i please get a matchup 💖 i'm 23, straight, female, 5'7", green eyes and have dyed red hair at the moment. i love to write, play video games, sing, and cook. i can't go without ice coffee and i love naps. i'm always making jokes, mostly sarcastic and am a very loyal person who cares a lot about my friends and their wellbeing. (1/2)

my favorite musicians are hozier, arctic monkeys and lord huron. i play way too much animal crossing and spent way too much time writing. i love to read but don’t do it as much as i’d love to. my favorite animes atm are my hero, demon slayer, and haikyuu. i love all animals especially cats. thank you so much and i hope you’re doing well and taking care of yourself🥰 (2/2)

~~~

ONE OF MY FIRST MUTUALS JFDKSFJKSL

OFC!!

~~~

from bnha i match you up with...

dabi !!

- feel like this boy would play super smash bros 

- his go to character is either ness or bowser

- he likes it cause he can bond with you and beat you at something

- he likes being the kitchen with you 

- he has minimal cooking experience in the kitchen but he can help

- KITCHEN PREP MASTER 

“hey you want me to chop up the vegetables?”

“i’ll get the water ready,”

“oh let me get some spices for you,”

- he can’t live without a monster

- he always goes to a convinience store to get some coffee and a purple monster

- he always says the funniest things to make you laugh when he comes through the door 

“chicken finger lickers~”

“suck my shlong.” 

“ding dong my will for life isn’t wrong,”

- sarcasm + sarcasm = chaos 

- but he finds it hot to be completely honest

- his favourite song of arctic monkeys is 505

- he likes how he can relate to the vibe

~~~

from hq i matchup with..

ukai keishin !!

- he likes cats 

- stray ones 

- he likes helping the underdogs all the time 

- he likes reading on new strategies for the team 

- he will often ask you for your input even if you know nothing about volleyball

“do you think we should do a fake out when the libero digs up the ball and sends it to kageyama should he motion for a hit but then sets it to the outside hitters,”

“i dont-”

“OH WE CAN SWITCH THE OPPOSITE HITTER WITH SOMEONE ELSE OF COURSE!”

- he likes animal crossing but he doesn’t care about his island all that much

- he complains about getting ugly villagers but refuses to let them go 

- he likes hozier too, he likes the song someone new

- he values loyalty and compassion in any relationship

[definitelynotobito]

Can I get a Matchup? Male or Female doesnt matter, Im Bi. About me: Im 5'9", Im a girl. Im pale and somewhat freckly and I have red/dark brown hair. Ive always had really long hair until this past week, I chopped it all off and its really short now. I'm a tech major and I love building and designing sets and costumes for film and stage. I also write and draw quite a lot in my spare time. I used to have really bad social anxiety and it sometimes flares up now and again. T-T1/2

People tell me Im really funny so someone with a good sense of humor would be much appreciated. I tend to overthink things if I get stuck on something for too long, I also get twitchy. I find emotional intelligence as irresistible as it is rare. I love studying world history, languages, and gardening. People also tell me I’m really good at working with kids and animals (and plants). I love storytelling and scifi. Please send me someone who snuggles and who will laugh at my jokes. T-T2/2

Your match is...

Yamato/Tenzo!

He will both snuggle with you and laugh at your jokes!

He isn't the funniest character ever, but I do think Yamato knows his way around a joke or two.

He tries to prevent you from overthinking and is supportive if your social anxiety randomly flares up.

He's definitely not the best with his emotions, but he is aware of them and can control them. That's 2/3 steps to emotional intelligence lol.

Pleasee tell him stories. He loves it.

[gaycey-sketchit]

(Gary anon) Whatever fits, I'm sure they'll figure out. It's sure to leave an impact. (After Friday's episode, I'm left wondering now more than ever what they plan to do with Gary's conclusion. *Gym Leader wasn't a definite, but I doubt they'll double-dip on the concept now) Speaking of whom, he mentioned Goh making it into Project Mew to Oak. I hope he's been watching something else too~. (We're likely to see Tracey soon. If we're lucky, it could be next week)

.

(Part 2) From the looks of the preview, he seems to have taken out at least one of Leon's Pokemon. (I hope Chesnaught gets a showcasing, XY basically ignored it.) Cool to see more of everyone's teams, though they're clearly holding back. (At least Hop won't seem like he'll be a one-off character) As I mentioned before, I have a lingering suspicious that something other than Project Mew might be brewing up for Gary. I just hope it's with Ash this time.

(Part 3) (Saw the subs: Paul didn't join the PWC because he doesn't festivities) Basically a similar explanation to what Yuko gave Gary deeming it "too crowded". (He was at Oak to study more about Pokemon{we know that's only half the reason}. His battle choices were to replicate who Ash will be facing and their techniques; as Goh points out. {Gyarados in particular resembling what Lance did to Leon} Hence why he asked Ash only to use what he's going to use in the tournament. *According)

(Part 4) (to Oak, Paul was asked to become a Gym Leader. {Which has not stopped some people from wondering if he took over Viridian :P} So yeah, I can see why they went with Paul to bring out the last push for power in Ash's Pokemon) The matchups have certainly caused reactions, probably the most mixed I've seen so far in JN. Besides Ash not using reserves; which was kinda set in stone for a while.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's a mystery I guess.

Ooh nice! Yeah, hopefully.

Hopefully soon! I miss him.

Good for him! Yeah, hopefully Chesnaught will get something.

Yeah! Should be interesting.

Yeah, hopefully something happens with Gary and Ash later. As fun as Gary's dynamic with Goh is, I want to see that.

Makes sense. One of my Twitter mutuals said Paul not participating in the PWC because he thinks it's beneath him is the funniest and most in character explanation they could've given. Also from what I saw on my Twitter feed yesterday, ComaShippers on Twitter are having a field day with the idea that Paul raised two pseudo-legendaries and a Magikarp specifically for this purpose.

On a tangentially related note, the premise of this episode keeps reminding me of a fanfic I read once that was written in like, 2012. FFNet user Vulpixi Misa predicted the future.

But anyway! Yeah, the fandom seems to have some mixed thoughts on M8 matchups for sure. Somebody pointed out that Ash vs Steven is a battle between the champions of tropical regions and I love that at least.

[seouldynasty]

Ryujehong All Access Pass AMA 2018

Translation by Danny Lim | Transcript by @nyoomyatta on Twitter

Q: What was it like meeting and playing with Jjonak, someone who apparently considers you a role model and Inspiration? RJH: I actually knew Jjonak thought of me as his role model before the season started- and it was really great to just play with him and go against him even though he's in a different team, it was just great seeing someone as talented as Jjonak considers me as a role model. Jehong to Jjonak: Jjonak, you're playing well, so just keep playing well- so lets see for how we do with Winston as well.”

Q: When switching from support to main tank, what gameplay aspect did you find the most difficult?  RJH: There's nothing that's too difficult from changing from Support to tank.  Q: So what's a good thing about this change?  RJH: One of the good things about being a MT, is that I can actually initiate and do more stuff in the frontline. 

Q: What is your favourite thing to do outside the OWL?  RJH: Other than playing games, I just sleep in. Q: What's your maximum sleeping time? RJH: I can't sleep for more than 10 hours 

Q: Your best tips to Quickscope Ana? RJH: I think this the case for anything with games, just putting the practice time. Just practicing with Ana is the best way to improve your quickscoping skills. 

Q: What separates good support players from GREAT support players?  RJH: You have to be mentally ready for anything- you have to have a strong mentality - makes or breaks being a great support player. 

Q: As you have a long history in Overwatch eSport, What is your favourite memory? RJH: The most memorable thing I remember was when I participating in APEX S2 when we got the winning 1st place title match.

Q: What advice would you give to improve my Zenyatta? RJH: Think about each gameplay- I'm not sure which direction you wanna improve your play- in a general sense,think about certain situations about how you can help your teammates or help the game as Zen.

Q: What’s your favourite American Food so far? RJH: Popeyes - I love the chicken and the burgers are really great to- so Popeyes would be my go to place. 

Q: What tips do you have for an Ana v Brigitte Matchup?  RJH: Honestly? If its 1on1- there's no tips because Brigitte is going to win. 

Q: What is a key aspect of leadership and how do you utilize it to lead your team? RJH: There's a lot of ways where a good leader can lead their team- but for me the most important thing as a leader is being friendly- it’s is your connection and friendship with your teammates. That’s one of the things that I truly focus on to get close to my teammates to listen to their concerns and everything and I use that to be a good leader for Seoul Dynasty. 

Q: What do you miss most about being away from home for so long? RJH: I miss home the most whenever I think about my parents, it’s been quite a time since I haven’t met them - and they’re still in Korea. So whenever I think of my parents, I want to go home.

Q: Why did you choose to use your real name as your player handle when most pro players choose an alias? RJH: In eSports/everywhere else online others make up a nickname use an alias for their IGN but I wanted to use my real name so I could be known to people. I just wanted everyone to know that it’s me. 

Q: What sensitivity do you play on and do you rec higher or lower sens for performance? RJH: My sensitivity is set so I'm comfy to play games with it...As for overwatch, I recommend a higher sensitivity. As for me, I play on a lower sensitivity because I’m used to playing on it. If I move to a higher sensitivity, I feel my accuracy isn’t as good. 

Q: Do you listen to K-Pop? If so, who is your favourite group(s)? RJH: I actually really like Black Pink - Playing with Fire  (Clip of this question - Danny tries to get Jehong to sing along) 

Q: Who do you think the funniest player on your team or in the Overwatch League is? RJH: Gido Q: Why? RJH: I’d have to go with him - there are certain reasons why I can’t say why now- but he’s the funniest person in the Overwatch League  

Q: Who was the hero you played/mained initially? - how has that changed as time has passed? RJH: So when Overwatch first started, I actually went with McCree. I had to change my main- instead of DPS I had to go with a tank hero, I went with Zarya. 

Q: What is your worst character to play and what's your favourite? RJH: My worst character to play has to be Genji. But my favourite character to play is… Genji. I feel like I like Genji because he can do a lot of stuff- and because he’s a ninja, he can climb and do a lot of stuff. 

Q: Does it mean a lot to you to be in the leadership for your team? RJH: I feel like leadership does have a lot of meaning to me- I like taking care of people- even in my play style, even for my teammates- I like playing games to gear towards my teammates needs and fulfilling that role. 

Q: What sort of Fashion DO you Like?  RJH: I'm not into fashion, or clothes in general- so.... I would have to choose our team jersey and sweatpants. 

Q: What’s your favourite Dessert Food? RJH: Ice cream! Q: Favourite type? RJH: Bumta   

Last Words from Jehong: “Thank you for all our fans who kept supporting us- and even for today’s gameplay (against SFS), we didn’t have the ultimate result, but I just want to say we’re really trying our best so please keep supporting us and loving us and thank you so much for tuning in.”  

 Other Seoul Dynasty / Ryujehong Q&As 

1. Seoul Dynasty - Ryujehong Interview by Overwatch Score 

2. Seoul Dynasty Viewing Party Live Video Call AMA - translated by @gatamchun on Twitter 

3. Ryujehong Sudden Q&A Session (In Stream)  

4. Ryujehong AMA (OWL) - 18052018

5. Seoul Dynasty ryujehong: "I believe my team's realistic goal is making it to playoffs." by Inven Global

[airspeedprime]

Some spoiler thoughts on The Dark Side of Dimensions

-Kaiba was written so well in this movie, it really was his film in so many ways. I loved his obsession with trying to bring Atem back and how in the end he found a way to challenge him while also over the course of the movie coming to accept that Yugi is also a worthy rival for him, that in the series yes Atem did most of the dueling, but it was mainly Yugi’s lack of confidence that held him back as a duelist. He has a lot of the funniest moments in the movie while also being the character who moves the plot along.The moment when he summons Obelisk was amazing.

-Yugi got some good development despite not really being the main character here. As I said above, finally seeing him really embrace his title of #1 duelist and stand up to Kaiba to the point where Kaiba gives in to him was a huge moment for him, he is no longer lacking in confidence and is becoming more and more like Atem. Some of his speeches were also very well done in terms of countering Aigami’s ideals.

-Aigami was a very well done villain, they gave him a full backstory that linked into the already established lore very well, connecting him to the other 7 millennium items, having Shadi be his mentor and saviour and having his hatred stem from the incident where Bakura became the host for Yami Bakura/Zorc was well done while also completing Bakura’s arc explaining how he got his item from the original series. 

-I really wished Joey got to duel in this movie. I get that this movie had the movie pack cards to hype and none of them were Red Eyes or Joey style cards, but I do feel that given that his plan for the future is to become a pro duelist you needed to have him duel to showcase this as a solid dream for the future especially given that in GX Pegasus rates Joey as his 3rd greatest Duelist of all time. I think you could have taken out the Kaiba vs Virtual Atem duel and had Joey winning a notable dueling tournament instead. He was fun as ever, but his big moment being the one to get out of the other dimension without losing himself felt like something that Tea or Tristan should have gone through, not Joey.

-With Tea she was not super focused on, though her leaving for America to become a dancer was the big ending moving on moment. She was used as she usually is in the show, though I felt they did lean more into her and Yugi being in a relationship with the blushing and their first meeting in this movie. I do wish they had committed to it more. I know Yugioh never really goes for romance and only hints, but I do wish they had made it clear. I really think that committing to a romance could make for an interesting dynamic in a yugioh show, Jaden and Alexis getting together could have made a lot of the season 3 and 4 stuff so much more impactful.  -Dimension dueling was a fun idea, but ultimately just felt like an easy way to make the duels more streamlined and didn’t work as well as the duels where they did things by the rules. Especially when the movie pack has so many cards that assist in summoning Dark Magician and Blue Eyes without slow tribute summoning, it felt unneeded.

-As for the quality of the duels, I felt the cubic archtype did not come across all that well from the movie because of Dimension dueling, again dimension dueling really felt like a way to just abandon the flow of the game and just have characters summon and attack whenever. Yugi and Kaiba’s new cards were fun, but it absolutely explains why there are SO MANY TRAP CARDS in the movie pack. It is funny because most actual yugioh decks run very few traps outside of certain decks which focus on them, so to see most of the duels have sometimes huge trap chains was quite funny. Yugi’s infinite loop combo was cool and makes me want to use those 3 cards, but so many of those cards are far far too specific to really be usable in the actual game. Yugi vs Kaiba was the best duel by far as that matchup often is.

-So overall I really enjoyed this movie, it is amazing how much better it was than Bonds Beyond Time. The animation was amazing, though I think they went a bit too cg heavy with some of the monsters, the voice acting was on point and I think most surprisingly the plot and character stuff was actually really good. Bonds Beyond Time was basically a bad plot written around the idea of Yugi, Jaden and Yusei dueling together, this was a well written story set after the anime that fits in with the lore and the character arcs and really further brings the arcs of these characters to a close.