#i really love the previous element masters... i have so much lore... guys.

[al-luviec]

my full artwork for the @ninjago-zine-of-elements !! of the previous master of sound 🎵

[corvid-case]

hello everyone :) I'm Corvid/Icarus/Shark, pronouns they/them!! Tone tags appreciated!!! Artist and writer, working on fics :D I don't have one main fandom I have FOUR do you like plastic ninja and turtle ninja and Minecraft block men because boy I do (Ninjago, ROTTMNT (I don't really know any other version I'm sorry guys), Life Series, Hermitcraft) I also really like Dreamzzz but I've just started that series so I have less feelings about it /lh Do YOU like silly little aus about Ninjago and Rise because I have many if you're interested I have a list I'll put them under the read more with their name, tags, and a short description :) ITS LONG IM SORRY LMAO Also yes there is shipping in some of these, not really in any of the Rise aus but in the Ninjago aus there's some, most of the time it doesn't really affect most of the story but I'll mention if it does

RISE OF THE TMNT

Initium Novum (#inau) Told from the perspective of an OC (lost turtle sibling called Masaccio (Acie)), takes place during the show and has a lot of other OCs in it if that's not your jam

What Do You Do When You Fall Into Heaven? (#fihau) Told from multiple perspectives, takes place during/after the movie and is a hurt/comfort. The same cast as Initium Novum, with some additions :) I really wanted to write the future guys man they all show up at some point

Who's That Hamato? (#wthau) Kind of an au of Initium Novum, it's what if Acie was also taken in by Splinter. Explores a different facet of them, explores how their relationships would be different in a different situation.

We Have Got To Stop Meeting New People Like This (#snpau) Another Initium Novum/WDYDWYFIH au but this one's Ninjago :) Similar to House of the Rising Sun (Shells) in that the Merge caused their world to join the Merged Realms, they all explore this new world and Acie gets to go nuts.

Boys of Summer (#bosau) Non-OC au, it's another separated au throw the confetti throw the sparkles- Leo focused, he's still with Splinter but Draxum is there as well and has been redeemed, the others found their own ways out of the lab and ended up in different places.

Rise from the Dead (#rftdau) Non-OC au, puts a ghostly spin on the story. The turtles are all ghosts that only April can see. There's no yokai and no mystics, but multiple yokai characters are still in the story, just as humans.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Critters (#tmncau) Sort of Minecraft au but not really, I just really really love the fanon Minecraft hybrids so I made the turtles into them :). They're mutants still but they've got distinctly Minecraft hybrid traits I've put sooo much thought into the traits for all the different hybrids it's so fun

Shell From Another Realm (#sfarau) A Rise/Ninjago crossover au, takes place post-Rise movie and post-Crystalized pre-Dragon's Rising. The turtles, April, and Casey end up in the world of Ninjago and try to find their way home while also trying to figure out this new world.

House of the Rising Sun (Shells) (#hotrsau) Another Rise/Ninjago crossover au, completely separate from the previous one in that this takes place during Dragon's Rising instead. When the Merge caused all the Realms to collide, Earth was one of them, and everyone ended up scattered across the Merged Realms. The Hamatos decide to settle in the Crossroads and meet some young faces.

NINJAGO

Some Assembly Required (#sarau) Completely rewrites the entire thing, based on the question "what if the bite from the Devourer didn't turn Garmadon evil and instead made him sick?" Garmadon is good and raising his children, the kids aren't really as in tune with their elemental powers, and I made a bunch of lore for it around the dragons and the other elemental masters please ask me about it please please /lh (has a couple ocs but not very many) (pretty shippy, a lot of poly relationships)

Web of Destiny (#wodau) Spiderman au, all six main ninja are a group of heroes, with Pixal as a vigilante. Other characters from the series feature as villains. The Dragons Rising cast also features.

The Dragon's Samurai (#tdsau) Crystalized ending rewrite, Pixal focused. Asking "what if their golden powers went haywire after they sent them to Lloyd, causing them to lose themselves? Also what if Nya got a golden form I'm so sad she didn't get one" Basically they get taken over by their powers and Pixal has to go talk some sense into them I lOVE PIXAL SO MUCH DO YOU UNDERST

Abnormal Reaction (#arau) DO YOU GUYS LIKE THE BIZARROS BECAUSE I DO this is entirely me wanting to have a Bizarro au they don't die after getting dusted they just regroup somewhere else and decide to go do their own thing after Garmadon gets defeated

A Different Vision of the Future (#advotfau) I'm lowkey embarrassed about this one lmAO it's a Genshin au,,,,, I probably won't write a fic for it like I will with the others but I wanted to draw it and explore the concept I don't even play Genshin anymore I'm crying

Ready Your Triforce, It's About To Have More Sides (#rytau) Do you guys like Breath of the Wild :) I like Breath of the Wild :) BotW/Ninjago crossover au besties they all end up in different points in time and get to interact with different pEOPLE lots of me messing around with dynamics

staring up at the sky (and hoping to see your face) (#suatsau) Veeeeery self indulgent self discovery au. Everyone but Lloyd is this almost godlike ruler of different concepts and they give him the chance to leave everything to come join them, and he has to make that decision.

Ninjas & Normies (#nanau) They're all just normal college students who like to play D&D, they each get a chance to run a campaign once they're taught how to play. Each campaign is based off a plot point or season from the show.

Departed and Service (#dasau) BASED ON Five Nights at Freddys NOT ACTUALLY A FNAF AU I don't know NEARLY enough about the fnaf lore to make an actual au with it but they're all animatronic characters from a very popular kid's TV show and Morro and Pixal are employees at their party place :) A bunch of side characters show up in this (Dragon's Rising cast also appears)

SPINJITZOON! (#spinau) It's a Splatoon au they're all having fun Ronin is basically Grizz he messes with their weapons and makes them more powerful (Dragon's Rising cast appears)

Pokemon Spin and Pokemon Whip (#pspwau) Pokemon au!!! There's two different parts to this, the first one starring Kai Nya and Lloyd, and the second starring Arin Sora Wyldfyre and Euphrasia! They all go on their adventures and in the second part Kai Nya and Lloyd see themselves in these kids and want to help them go farther

Adventures of the Dragon (#aotdau) Another D&D au but this one is them just living in a D&D fantasy style world :) silly things ensue this one's more just art than fully written story

Shapes and Colors (#sacau) Minecraft au! They're a group of friends who play on a server together and some of them are streamers and youtubers who record these sessions and put it out there for their fans, some of them do lore while some of them have no idea what's going on any of the time. Other elemental masters and Dragons Rising characters appear. (shippy, but mostly with their little characters that they made for the lore)

Lights, Camera, Action! (#lcaau) Silly actor au! Not much else to it

Song of the Sirens (#sotsau) Mermaid au, some of them are pirates and others are mermaids. Just some fun dynamics with some human/nonhuman shipping :)

Mobs of a Feather Flock Together (#moafftau) Another,, another Minecraft au this one is like Adventures of the Dragon in that they live in this world and also they're all different Minecraft hybrids I got really really into Minecraft hybrids man I just really like to draw them,,,, Dragons Rising cast is included

Ninjagoing Going Gone (#gggau) Sort of Scooby Doo-esque mystery au, kind of a blend between movieverse and showverse. Starring Arin, Sora, Wyldfyre, and Euphrasia, they're looking for the old heroes they used to hear about as kids who completely disappeared years ago. They find Lloyd and force him convince him to help them, even though he's not so sure he can.

These Problems Are Multi-Faceted (#tpamfau) Gem au! Like from Steven Universe! Except it's not a Steven Universe au, it doesn't follow the plot of the show at all. Super quick synopsis is Pink Diamond grew tired of the way things were on Homeworld and so rebelled, escaping with his fellow rebels to a planet already under his control. After lots of fighting and the establishment of a shaky truce, an Emerald and his crew are sent to the planet to try and bring Pink back.

[algernoninwonderland]

Miraculous, intertextuality and why referencing other works all the time isn’t necessarily a great idea

TL;DR: Miraculous loves itself some pop culture references, they’re in the show all the time for you to enjoy, especially if you’re a big nerd.

Only, making a list of references and trying to replicate what other works did before yours doesn’t make your show good by association, and when it comes to Miraculous, these references seldom do these original works justice. Instead, it makes comparing these other works with Miraculous really easy, and the comparison is rarely flattering.

Miraculous would be a much better show if it tried to be its own thing, a few scenes are just that and they are great. It’d be a wonderful show were they not so few and far between.

Miraculous is made by nerds, as is the case with most cartoons. The show itself lets you know that right away. It’s a pastiche of magical girl anime and Silver Age comics, it uses a lot of their visual languages, and references its other inspirations a lot, for instance:

The name of its fictional locations, (Françoise Dupont is a regular kid with a masked detective alter ego named Fantomette, Marinette’s address is a reference to a French illustrator who often drew a talking ladybird)

The way its characters look (Master Fu is both Mr Miyagi from the Karate Kid and Muten Roshi from Dragon Ball, when akumatised, Mme Couffaine becomes basically Captain Harlock and her houseboat becomes the Arcadia) 

Sometimes entire scenes are references to other works (Aurore’s akumatisation is straight out of Utena’s Dark Rose Saga, “Gorizilla” has a King Kong pastiche). 

You could fill an entire Wiki with all the references in Miraculous if you wanted to. If you paid me well, I’d do it myself.

Wearing your inspirations on your sleeves is a double-edged sword, really.

On the one hand, you showcase the things that inspired your creative process, a way to say, “hey, that show/film/book exists within a landscape, it’s the heir to such and such work”. You acknowledge that you owe a lot to your predecessors, you acknowledge that there’s no such thing as a 100% original thing. That’s a great act of humility. 

And intertextuality conveys meaning, too! Let’s take a very mainstream example. When you notice that ha! The pod-racing scene in Phantom Menace comes from the 1959 movie Ben-Hur for instance, you get the sense that you understand the cinematic masterpiece that is Episode 1 a bit more. It tells you that your movie about space wizards owes a lot to other genres, and that it transposes these genres to another setting, space! “It’s Ben-Hur, in that that slave kid is pod-racing for his freedom, but I gave it my own spin,” George Lucas tells you. “Look, the funny Gungan stepped into that space cow’s poop! Haha, sure hope I’ll sell lots of toys and buy myself some death sticks!”

You feel really smart when you get a reference, too! “Hey, that’s a Dezaki effect right there!” “Wow, is that a robot from Castle in the Sky in Age of Ultron?” Likewise, if you don’t recognise the work being referred to, you might get curious about it! References send back to other things and your knowledge of these things and when you get it, it feels nice. Lots of people discovered Utena thanks to Steven Universe and that’s really cool, and these references add to the meaning of the cartoon! Folks who casually got into RWBY but didn’t know Soul Eater and Cowboy Bebop heard about those shows and many others while discussing RWBY and I’m sure lots of them got into anime thanks to RWBY!

On the other hand, by being so open about your sources of inspiration, you expose yourself to criticism, especially in the case of your work being compared with what inspired it: it might be seen as derivative, or even worse, unable to do these previous pieces of media justice by only retaining and replicating their most superficial elements without a great understanding of what made them work, gratuitous fanservice for nerds.

And I’m not quite sure where Miraculous stands. Oftentimes, it feels more like a Spider-Man/Kamen Rider crossover with bits of outdated shoujo manga and superficial wuxia sprinkled in there than a show at least trying to be its own thing.

And the problem is, Sailor Moon is better at being Sailor Moon than Miraculous could ever be, as it uses its visual language better, and it has a tiny thing called “the main character having a group of friends who aren’t props and a plot you can follow” that is the very reason why people liked the manga and anime in the first place. Miraculous only retains the very superficial aspects of the manga/anime and of the genre. Marinette still trips over a cat in the opening. Because that’s how it happens in Sailor Moon. Her characterisation as a civilian screams “Usagi Tsukino but more stressed out”.

Spider-Man is better at splash pages than Miraculous because ML’s CGI is pretty meh when it’s not in motion, these weird filter effects don’t look great, that only works when you’re Into the Spiderverse and have comic-book aesthetics. Queen Wasp has a whole sequence that is just that scene in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 2 only this time Queen Bee sabotaged a metro on purpose to stop it. It’s not an awful scene, it carries its point across rather well (Chloé is a selfish nerd who thinks she can be like these comic book characters but truly isn’t fit to be a hero) but the original did it better, it was more impressive, there was more tension to that original scene, some really interesting camera and foley work that made you feel the weight of that train. It didn’t feel cheap the way that scene in “Queen Wasp” did.

Utena’s Black Rose Saga explores the psyche of some of its secondary characters the audience is already familiar with, with problems we could already identify within them. It offers an examination of the storyworld from another point of view, and helps build it further. There’s always a proper buildup before these characters have a mental breakdown in an moody elevator with a butterfly pinned on the wall that turns back into a chrysalis, because the characters are going through a kind of regression that makes them easier to manipulate and turn into “villains” while acting out their true desires in a twisted way. “Stormy Weather” has most of that, an elevator with dramatic lighting, a butterfly and a mental breakdown, but the character is all new to us so it’s just not that impactful. Often, that one secondary character who’ll get transformed has had spoken lines, yes, but that’s only minutes before they get akumatised.

“Kinda the same but a bit worse and missing some of the key aspects of what made the original thing so good” isn’t much of a tribute, is it?

In an earlier post, I stated that Animaestro was basically “I have watched a lot of animated shows and I know how to mimic them, the episode”. It told us nothing about animation as a medium except that it’s cool sometimes and that you get to imitate other people who are much better at the things they do than you are. 

It’s not a clever metacommentary, it’s just “me likey moving pictures”. Good for you, I guess… Did you really need an entire episode to make that point?

And then you’ve got all the bad outdated shoujo tropes with characters falling on top of each other, aggressive flirting (harassment, really) from Adrien portrayed as really sweet and romantic because it’s just like in the shoujo manga (which one?) you see… And that’s just not great, is it?

Miraculous is a much better cartoon when it doesn’t try (and fail) to emulate other shows and movies and comic books and manga. The only thing it tells us about these works is that That Guy and co really like them and that copy-pasting them is the best way they’ve found to show their love. Imitation and flattery and all of that I guess.

“Look, it’s like in that scene in the anime! Did you like the anime? It sure was a good anime, and if our show makes you think about it, then it’s also good, right?”

No, you guys, I’m sorry but no. If making references was all it took to be good, then gaming webcomics would be regarded as masterpieces. 

Very often, the show seems interested in being anything but itself. And it’s a shame, because there are lots of ideas the show kind of brings up but never quite touches. Marinette is interested in fashion design? That’s great, show us more of that! Make it an important part of her character, and by the same occasion, make her creations look not-laughable. Miraculous could be the first cartoon to explore what it’s like to be a biracial kid with a Chinese parent in France (would that work with a crew of almost strictly middle-aged white men is another question to which the answer is a resounding “no”). The show is set in Paris? Cool, how about exploring the city outside of its landmarks every tourist and their mom already knows?

Inexplicably, in the middle of an episode when you expect it the least, you get brilliant bits of directing that aren’t references to other works. Alya becoming Rena Rouge and her first steps as a superhero? Brilliant, really immersive, loved it, not a reference. The sad car scene in Puppeteer 2? It’s really really good, not a reference either. All the unexplored lore? It seemed really promising and having more of it would help us understand things a bit more!

People don’t just like your show because it reminds them of another show. Why watch it if you can watch that original work in the first place?

Trying to make a superficial mashup of all things you think are great in other works is not the way to do these works justice, nor is it the way to make your show interesting, let alone good. 

[parachutingkitten]

Season 5 Analysis

STANDARD DISCLAIMER: I am going to be applying the concept of criticism to a TV show you presumably love and adore as much as I do. If you do not want your idea that the show is immaculate to be challenged, I would not advise reading past this point.

Additional Disclaimer: This includes criticism of Nya’s arc, so if you’re the type of person to get catty about this subject, turn back now.

Mood for this season: It’s spoopy time.

You don’t need to, but if you are interested, and haven’t seen my analysis of past seasons, you can find those here:

Pilot - Season 1 - Season 2 - Season 3 - Season 4

You can also find all of these, and future installments, on my blog using the tag #analysis 

Hey everyone! I’m still doing these things! Let’s see, when was my last one? Over two years ago...? Yikes, I owe y’all an apology. I really didn’t mean to put these off that long. Anyway, get ready to hate me, cuz although (for the most part) this seems to be the fandom favorite season… I think it’s overhyped. I know, don’t kill me. I’ll explain myself. I don’t think it’s bad or anything, it’s very well structured, but I definitely wouldn’t rank it among my favorites. First, for a little context, I am making a one second of every ninjago episode video right now, so I’ve been binging the series and all it’s shorts back to back, so I think I’ll have a bit more to say about connective tissue between seasons, and hopefully you guys can look forward to more of these analyses between now and the new year when I’m releasing that video. I’m also officially a film major now so… sorry if I come of as extra pretentious or get too deep. Anyway, let’s jump into the thick of it, shall we? 

Plot

This is probably the area I have the fewest number of complaints about. This season has a breakneck pace and it keeps everyone busy. I think that’s why people like it. Everyone’s favorite has something to do. Which brings me to the question… which ninja’s season is this? Lloyd is on a lot of the promotional stuff, but he’s possessed and out of the picture for over half the season, so that can’t be right. Cole turns into a ghost, and the season is a ghost season, but that can’t be right cuz I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone claim it was his. Nya reaches her true potential, maybe it’s hers? Well, she does have a large b-plot, but she is consistently not a part of the a-plot. Kai has a whole thing with being protective of Lloyd, he has his fear of water, maybe it’s just another Kai season? Thing is, it’s no one’s. It is an ensemble season, and I think that’s a healthy thing for ninjago to keep doing. The more we label certain seasons for certain ninja, the more complaining we’ll get about who’s turn it is for screen time that we’ll miss out on telling a good story. Also, If the season is focused on a ninja you don’t like, you are less likely to like the season (see my next analysis for that can of worms). Again, this season tells it’s story really well. Morro directly ties into the ending of last season, and Nya’s getting water powers was foreshadowed the season before. That’s some cool connective tissue to start. The opening episode establishes the three different things the ninja will be looking for, and for once they’re actual tools instead of a series of weapons, blades, masks, whatever. I like that. Jay has some really good humor, Zane has his speech changes, Kai has his irrational fears and protective instincts, Cole has his ghost angst, Lloyd has to deal with his father’s passing, Nya is a new water ninja, Wu has a shop to run and a student to reconnect with, even Ronin has an arc about developing morals and gaining friends. There’s the mystery about how to deal with the ghosts, what the rules are, there’s the leader subplot, the ninja’s money situation, and lore of the different realms, they even worked in Skylor and Borg, there’s a lot of cool stuff going on. This is a tightly woven script that manages to include a lot of new concepts that you get pretty quick. I don’t feel like there’s even that much fat to cut. The opening is a little slow and strange, and the cloud kingdom episode feels a little unnecessary, but I do like the idea of visiting a different realm early in the season so the audience isn’t caught off guard in the climax. Again, the plot all works for me, it’s the other stuff I find myself pretty meh on.

Characters

Ronin

I’m pretty sure Ronin is the only new (non villain) character introduced. I like him a lot. Ninjago needed a true wildcard to shake things up and be unpredictable. I also think he’s pretty nicely woven into the action of the plot. I think his introduction is a bit strange. Like, the ninja already know him, but we’ve never seen him before? Just the way they talk about him sounds like they’re quickly recapping who this guy is for those who missed previous episodes. It’s fine if the ninja already know him but either 1) Introduce or foreshadow him a season earlier or 2) Introduce their dynamic to the audience before it becomes plot relevant. Maybe the ninja are grumbling about him being a nuisance while tea shenanigans are going on or something. Or maybe you have a scene of him stealing the scroll and making snarky remarks about the ninja while he does it. Idk. just something so his sudden plot relevance isn’t out of nowhere. Also, I don’t hate his and Nya’s dynamic, but I know a lot of people love it, and I’m just not totally here for it. Is he supposed to be a father figure for her? Mentor? Frienemy? Just plain friend? (love interest???) it’s not super clear and I could have used some clarification. I also like his use and tie to the next season, so overall, well integrated character.

Nya

I’m adding in Nya here cuz she goes through a major character change, and how she’s handled is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way about the season. A lot of people will probably disagree and/or hate me for this section of the analysis so… here we go! The thing she has to get past to reach her true potential is fear of failure (supposedly) and the solution to that is to just… not care as much? First of all, I know this isn’t supper important, but the fun thing about the ninjago elements is that every elemental master matched up personality wise with their element. Jay is the energetic master of lightning, Kai is the hothead master of fire, Zane is the calm and calculating master of ice, Cole is the strong and dependable master of earth, Lloyd is the literal child master of energy. This especially goes for all the new season 4 masters. So what qualities are often associated with water personalities? Well, serenity, control, flexibility, elegance, patience… calm. You know, like a Zane type character (the element directly adjacent to hers). These are things that Nya isn’t - or at the very least don’t define her. (there’s also something to be said about water and its ties to more feminine qualities, which Nya has been actively shown to reject, but I won’t go into that rant here.) She was designed as the fire master’s sister, and when you try to fit a fire personality into a water shaped character mold… it doesn’t exactly mesh well. It doesn’t make sense. But, like I said, whatever. Maybe that’s the point? Like she has to change her personality to be more in tune with water? Sure. But let’s talk about this fear of failure thing. Because that’s the stated thing that dialogue tells us she needs to overcome. But when has Nya ever been afraid of failure? Fear of failure means avoiding doing something because of fear. Nya is ridiculously persistent, always has been (you know, fire personality). She tries training when no one tells her to, she makes her own alter ego to try and be a hero and save the people who would constantly tell her she wasn’t ready. Wu says she only wants things that come easy, but that’s never been her character before now, she has carried the team with her tech, research, and covert ops that no one forced her to do, all things which are not easy. Fear of failure is usually characterized by what if questions. If Nya is so afraid of failure, why don’t we hear her saying stuff like “but what if I’m not strong enough, what if I can’t save them in time, or worse, what if I lose control of my power and end up hurting people?” Cole shows much more of a fear of failure this season surrounding his insecurity about being a ghost. He wants to sit out from missions because he’s not sure he’ll be able to do it - he’s afraid of failure. But whatever, the writing isn’t clear at expressing her true setbacks, but she does display a real problem that a lot of people have and I think could have been well done if set up correctly. She shows an undying persistence that gets her too close, and makes her increasingly incapable. She lets her frustration hinder her progress (again, fire personality trait), and I think that’s interesting because I don’t think ninjago has done this character arc yet. The supposed solution to this problem is that she just needs to… care less? And yes, I kind of see where they were going with this, we sometimes cloud our natural potential by thinking about it too much, but saying “you need to stop caring” is the absolute wrong way to word it. Caring is not her problem, the problem is her control over the emotions that come from her caring. Caring is a good thing, and teaching kids that if you’re ambivalent about your problems, they’ll go away is not a good message. What she needs to do is take a step back. She needs to take a break, stop to think, and look at the big picture instead of hyper focusing on the roadblock directly in front of her. The usual and much better wording of the moral I think they were going for is “stop overthinking things”. Teaching kids to look at a problem from a different angle and give themselves time to cool down is a great thing. And just think of it, in the climax she could have this ah-ha moment where she steps back and looks at the bigger picture - the whole town, surrounded by the ocean - and gets the idea to sink the preeminent into the water, you could even easily tie that back into the bucket exercise, and that’s what triggers her true potential rather than the current… I’m honestly not sure what. Random flashbacks and the end of the season approaching quickly. Alternatively, you could tie it more directly into samurai x, and make her struggle with letting go of the past and allowing yourself to give up something good in your life to progress to something better. Anyway, I don’t think this was a bad decision long term, she needed to be solidified on the team as a full fledged ninja, I just think this season doesn’t handle the transition that well. Anyway, whatever, I’ll be waiting for your hate comments in the notes.

Romance

Um… there’s none this season? Like there’s a few Wusako moments that are still as weird as they were in season 2, but they’re really not prevalent. There’s also the Jay seeing the future thing which has some weird implications next season (again, some interesting connective tissue between seasons), but that’s about it. Maybe that’s part of why I don’t love this season? Like where’s the pixane? Lol, I’m kidding. But maybe that’s why a lot of people do like it. If you don’t like the canon ships… this is a nice little safe haven for you. Rare for a majority of the series.

Villains

So Morro is a good idea… in theory. I know he’s the fandom’s favorite edgy boy, but idk I think the brand of angsty teen they ended up with was more of an angsty 13 year old than 17 year old. His voice is really grating and I always want to yell at him to just… go get some cough drops. Stop throat screaming, use your diaphragm man! Also, everyone goes on about his last minute redemption, but as far as season 5 goes, he has like half a second of a change of heart. Literally, when Wu comes over and he’s drowning, he’s still being a persistent little idiot like “you never cared about me nooooo!” and it’s only at the last possible second that gives him the crystal, and even that he does it kind of saltily. The preeminent is pretty cool, I like her concept, her design, all that. All the other ghosts are fine I guess. Nothing super memorable out of them, although their aesthetic, especially when there’s a bunch of them swarming around is pretty cool. One last thing was I never understood how Morro “becoming the green ninja” worked and what exactly it was that… did for him? Like he didn’t actually get the power of energy, right? I don’t remember him using it. Did just him defeating Lloyd make him the green ninja? How does that transfer work? And why did he need it to take over the world or realms or whatever? Like I get that it’s supposed to give him more power and what not but idk, it wasn’t super clear. That’s a minor thing though.

Climax

Pretty cool. I like the ATMOSPHERE. Green light is a hard thing to use and justify correctly, but it works really well here, especially with the dark kinda gray blue sky complimenting it. When the preeminent starts walking into the ocean, it’s genuinely terrifying, but you understand exactly how it works and why she’s strong enough to do it. Nya’s true potential is again a little out of left field and could have had some better motivation put behind it. Like what is it Nya learned in that instant? To not be afraid to protect people? She’s… been doing that. Idk. I’ve hit on that enough for now. Overall, there was good variety. I like the green ninja fake out, I like the realm hopping, I even like the little Garmadon visit and Lloyd getting the robe. I feel like we didn’t need a part one and two, you could have had different titles. I mean come on. But hey, now we know, if Pix had only been there, the whole climax would have been wrapped up in like 10 minutes apparently. Pix for the win.

Humor

Really good. Like I’m surprised how much I laughed. Jay wasn’t annoying humor, it was good stuff, there were some good running gags, there’s a solid fourth wall joke about who the lead ninja is at the beginning of the season. Overall, I am pretty impressed. My favorite joke was perhaps the bit where Jay is sarcastically positive, the voice acting is just really solid. Then again, there’s also the whole Borg scene where he roasts half the ninja, that’s solid stuff right there. There’s just some really solid character interaction this season and the humor feels a lot more natural and less forced.

Drama

Okay, we’ve got a lot this season. Y’all know how I feel about Nya’s arc by now. It does not work for me. Ronin’s relationship with her is alright, but kind of comes out of nowhere. Ronin’s solo plot about kinda working for the ghosts works. Cole’s ghost angst works for the most part, although I wish he would have actually skipped a mission and then gone in to help save his friends once they can’t do it without him. That was probably the most solid drama of the season. The other main thing we have this season is Kai’s whole… fear/protective streak. This also doesn’t really work for me. Like, I get that Lloyd and Kai are friends and stuff, like his whole true potential was centered around Lloyd. But like, why does it have to be framed so weirdly? Sometimes in trying to make it seem like Kai is protective of him, it seems like the other ninja just like… don’t care about him? Not all the time, but there are some weird vibes. Also, it doesn’t really go anywhere. No one learns anything about themselves from this subplot, nothing comes of it, there isn’t really a payoff. Also, Kai has yet another irrational fear, this time of water, which really comes right the hell out of nowhere. They try to explain it away like “Oh, Kai feels powerless and so water can get to him” but like… what? That’s the exact situation he was in at the end of season 2 and he seemed perfectly content to literally swim across the ocean (which um… what do you mean the sworn protector of ninjago can’t swim?). Where is this coming from?! Again, it doesn’t really go anywhere, there’s not a point where he has to learn to confront it or he grows because of it. It’s just pointless stuff added cuz the writers like giving Kai vague trails to try and develop him. The cloud kingdom is kinda cool. That last minute twist about them working with Morro is… stupid and unnecessary though. 

Spotlight Episode

I really like the Spinjitzu master tomb episode. Some cool riddles, I like the first two rooms a lot. I do think the third room is a bit strange. Like, the clue was “don’t look ahead” and the solution was to look beneath them, which is the exact same solution as the previous room. Like, you already have magic ice that shows the future, why not play into that? Don’t look ahead could maybe mean don’t look to the future, the opposite of that being the past. Maybe they have to draw on their past adventures to solve it somehow? Learning from the past is a good lesson, right? But overall, I really like it. Some real solid humor this episode. This episode has the sarcastic Jay optimism, Kai totally stalling for time, Zane dealing a pretty sick burn on Cole, just a lot of fun stuff. I like it. It just has great energy and nothing feels like it’s drawn out for too long.

Misc

The aesthetic this season… can be inconsistent, but the main ghost vibe displayed in the opening theme is really solid and I really like it

Speaking of the opening, Ghost wip is great and the opening in on par with last season’s (which is my fav) for sure

Ice age references… okay.

Chima references…. OKAY...

Okay, but like Deepstone can… kill ghosts? Or not? Is it just something ghosts can touch? It’s supposed to be like water in weapon form, right? Like that’s how I understood it when they first introduced it. Wouldn’t the deepstone bars kill Ghoultar then? And then like, Cole’s bike is made of deepstone. He uses it as a weapon. Wouldn’t it kill him? It kills other ghosts when they touch it. How… how does it work?! I need answers!!!

The captain of the steam boat says they’re going as fast as possible, but later Ronin comes in and cranks it up like twice as fast… that always bothered me like, why would he lie about that? Who is this captain and why is he so chill about everyone’s lives?! And then later Wu cranks it up yet again, like the ship had slowed down to it’s previous speed. What the hell is happening with the controls of this ship???

So pissed that the nasty CGI nightmare cloud monster that chases the ninja is named Nimbus. Totally forgot about that. I have an OC with a cat named Nimbus… I promise, there is not going to be a stupid twist bout the cat being the monster thing in Mists of Fate. That would be very stupid.

I was all excited that season 13 gave us minecart chases, but I totally forgot season 5 gave us one first. I really like the return to the caves of despair btw, good reuse of a known location.

How many times this season did we do the: 

Kai: Oh, I don’t like water, I can’t do it uwu  Cole: ...You serious?

Thanks for reading! And if you got this far… I don’t know. I would love to hear your thoughts if you have any! These are just my opinions, so don’t think too much of it if you disagree.

-Kitten

[probablyottrpgideas]

Tabletop Asks

In reference to the previous post: 1.) Game Master, Player or both? Why? 

I am currently lucky enough to be player in one game and DM in another (both 5e D&D), however ordinarily I am overwhelmingly the DM/GM. 

2.) When did you start role playing? How old were you? 

My first start with published tabletop adventures was actually quite late, in my second year of university when I was about 19, so 11 years ago now, with D&D 4e. However, I think my first freeform roleplaying experiences were with a mate of mine all the way back in primary school, where we had this quite extensive worldbuilding and characters. It was my first introduction to the idea that I wanted to be a writer.

3.) What was the first role playing book you ever owned? 

The 4e PHB, DMG and MM all at the same time. I had a job then, missed playing, decided “fuck it, I’ll start my own” and dived in.

4.) Describe the first game you ever ran or played in. 

A 4e Starters Box run on Keep on the Borderlands. I played a Dwarf Fighter out of the box, which I named Xzienne (which some of you know is my regular online handle). He was fun; in my oh-so-extra way, I kept my game notes as In-Character journal entries.

5.) Which system did you grow up with? 

D&D, all the way. Fourth edition and then Fifth, with a look at Third in between. But I’ve played about a dozen or two different systems all up.

6.) Which system do you play now? 

Predominantly 5e

7.) Longest campaign you’ve run or played in? 

My D&D “Empires Intelligence Services” campaign ran from 2016-2020.

8.) Where did you meet your current gaming group? 

I tend to throw my groups together from among various people I know from all over. My favourite group ever was the one formed entirely of cast members from our local theatre company production of Wicked.

9.) Strategic combat or dramatic plotlines? 

Does it need to be either/or? I feel like good drama gets you invested in the character’s outcomes, good combat (or puzzles or traps or whatever) gets you invested in the character’s actions. You want people to achieve their goals with emotional satisfaction but without just narrating to them; they need to feel involved in the process of making those goals come about. Challenges are not just there for the Power Gamers and the Slayers, they make the plotlines feel satisfying for everyone.

10.) Favorite RPG genre?

I love Science Fiction and I love Fantasy, and my own work so often smashes the two together. I write a lot of Contemporary/Urban Fantasy, and my D&D world is a magepunk magitech setting with spacefaring aircraft and so forth.

PLAYER CHARACTERS - Describe:

11.) Your first character. 

Xzienne the Dwarven Fighter, mentioned above. My first character I made though, on the other hand, not including NPCs, was much later. I think it was probably Tetsuo, my Shin-jin from a Dragonball RPG

12.) Your favorite character. 

Definitely Ortlinde. An Aasimar Witch who was the granddaughter of a Valkyrie, and was mad that the gods would be so callous as to bar her mother from Valhalla just because she wasn’t a warrior, and so tried to stage a coup against Asgard. Fuck she was cool.

13.) Your most ridiculous character. 

If not Ortlinde, then possibly Parian, my 13th Age Bard whose “One Unique Thing” (a 13th Age mechanic that I love) was that he could modify his spells on the fly by casting the verbal components as full poems, which I would write and perform in-session. I once got to add a Fear effect to a Thunderwave because I made it sound like the trumpets of judgement day, and I managed to cast Charm Person but with an allied player as the focus of the target’s charm by making the poem about their character.

14.) The best in-character line you’ve ever had. 

Not a lot of what other players have said have stuck with me, really. Possibly my favourite was Alice’s ranger in Castles and Crusades who said a whole lot of buckwild shit until my halfling begged her not to talk. 

Whereupon she shortly thereafter discovered a secret Dryad home inside a tree, and didn’t mention it to the party. When asked why?

“You told me not to talk.”

15.) Your most epic death. 

I haven’t died that often, to be honest. Probably the most memorable death was Parian, who got crushed in a moving wall trap and had to be scooped up in a bag and carried around as “bard soup” until a True Resurrection could be cast.

16.) Your most disappointing death. 

See above.

17.) Something that shouldn’t have worked, but did. 

Meliorn Metcalfe, Tiefling Spellbinder, orchestrating an ambush in a town square against the people who had been sending thugs to attack the party in their beds and stealing shit from the townsfolk. I set up traps (clay pots filled with caltrops and poison), used sunrods to blind the attackers while we had our backs to the light, and we greased the buildings around the area so that they couldn’t climb to safety. It went perfectly, even after they rocked up with a gargoyle.

18.) Something that went hilariously awry. 

Just recently I was playing in a Wildemount game which saw the party running Benny Hill style around an ancient lab from a Wight. In the process I got nearly killed by both flying knives and a very angry carpet.

19.) Your most memorable in-character moment. 

Ortlinde’s speech to Frigg, lambasting the Gods for their mistreatment of mortals. 

20.) The coolest item you ever got and how you came to possess it.

The Masque of Clavicus Vile, from the Elder Scrolls games, pulled from Niddhogr’s treasure hoard and buffing my Spell Save DC to 27 (including other stuff like class features for the Witch and another item which synergised with those). 

GAME MASTERS - Describe:

21.) Your favorite NPC and how the party reacted to him/her 

By far Celia Sapienza, Eladrin Kensai, who became the party Mum even though she was younger than a few of them. She’s now the head of the Empires Intelligence Services Northern Branch.

22.) A game you wish you could run or want to run someday. 

I’ve been eyeing off Dread, Skullduggery and Leverage for years, but I also recently got the Dishonoured game which looks sick as, and Blades in the Dark, and...

23.) Something you made up on the spot. 

So so much, but most recently I had a Marid sailor NPC who I had to improvise and entire story of his previous voyages. I did it in a Brian Blessed voice and the players, no shit, fucking applauded. 

24.) Your most successful game. 

The Wild Huntresses, finally figuring out who had killed the town alchemist and facing off against her and her pet Water Elemental in the caves beneath the hills. Such an epic game. God I miss that group.

25.) Your least successful game. 

Paranoia, but that’s just built into the premise.

26.) The craziest thing your players have ever done, and how it affected your plans. 

I had a player walk straight out the front doors of a castle under siege. I hit him with 2 dozen crossbow bolts. That guy was an asshole.

27.) Your favorite setting or game location. 

I massively love the idea of Eberron, and I love the MTG crossover settings like Ravnica and Theros. 

28.) Your creative process when you plan a game. 

Typically write about a page of notes for every 2-10 hours of gameplay, depending on the amount of combat expected. Things like important NPCs and what they want, where the party are expected to go in general terms and some ideas for things to throw at them when they inevitably wander off the path, that sort of thing. If it’s really plot important, though, I’ve been known to write pages and pages of lore and character info to hopefully seed into conversations. I also once wrote a full script that we did as a table read for a big conversation between a bunch of NPCs that the party were there to listen to but not be involved in. 

29.) The best / worst character concept you’ve ever heard. 

No character concept that fits within the rules is ever really bad, although sometimes the execution isn’t great. Some are very, very dumb, like say every character ever built or played by the asshole player I mentioned a few entries back.

30.) What makes GMing fun for you.

Players getting invested in the world and in each other’s stories. Nothing makes me feel better as a GM than being able to sit back while the players have a full in-character conversation with each other.

[dorizardthewizard]

TLNM musings, part 2

Okay, here I ramble about problems with the movie. Ended up adding more stuff since I first wrote this :’P

Screentime and characterisation of the other ninja:

One of the biggest complaints from fans... they're all introduced individually with very different personalities, they’re told they each have a special element they control, making you feel like they should each get some moment to shine and affect the plot of the movie, but then none of that happens. Ultimately you could take out all the ninja and the story would be the same, you don't even necessarily need them for Lloyd's character since his journey of reconnecting with his father and bringing his family together can still work without them. It's so sad because if you read and watch extra material, you can tell thought went into their personalities, but we never get to see this as they're all just lumped together, mostly there to support Lloyd's development.

For someone who hasn't seen the show, it must feel a bit off seeing characters with distinguished personalities and no payoff for it; take Zane for example. Imagine not knowing anything about the characters and seeing one of them is a robot, for some reason? You wonder why he's a robot, what significance that has for the plot and why it's important for his character (I mean they missed a big opportunity to develop Zane from always trying to fit in and seem like a “normal teenager” to accepting that he's different but that that doesn't mean he's less valid), but then this really specific characteristic is never expanded on except for comedy purposes. People probably thought “oh, guess it makes more sense in the show”, but this just detaches viewers and makes them feel like they're missing something if they haven't seen the show beforehand.

Sigh, still gotta give the crew credit for fitting in a load of little subtle details about the ninja, I had to rewatch it a couple of times because there were things I didn’t notice at first, like Kai sliding down a bannister in the Temple of Fragile Foundations and falling off :’D

Group dynamic:

Another thing that bothered me is that the movie isn't that good at making you care about them as a team. They're already established as friends but I wish there were more material showing us how much they care about each other. The Kai hug scene was 10/10 but then when Chen and the other cheerleaders started picking on Lloyd, nobody said or did anything? In merchandise it said Kai is a hothead who isn't afraid to speak up or stand up to people, then show it in the movie! Him and Nya should have been on the verge of tackling that guy to the floor! Ok, I can see Lloyd asking them not to get into fights as it makes people hate him even more and he probably feels guilty if one of the ninja gets into trouble because of him. This would still have given more emotional connection between the characters but we're never shown it, except in the novelisation where Cole tries to block Lloyd from his locker so he doesn't see the insult written on it, I think. But again, we shouldn't have to read/ watch extra material for that.

Instead of moments showcasing the ninja’s friendship and close bonds, we got the opposite- everyone turned on Lloyd incredibly quickly for one mistake. Sure, it was a pretty big one and resulted in Garmadon taking over the city and their mechs being wrecked, but Lloyd was the only one doing anything about Garmadon at the time and he didn't exactly know what the consequences of using the ultimate weapon were; it's not like he knew it could potentially hurt his friends. In fact, how did the ninja know he used it anyway? That would mean they already knew about it and what it could do, yet Lloyd was not told? In which case, how can they blame him?? Damn it Wu, why couldn't you just tell Lloyd that using the weapon would unleash a cat that could destroy the city, instead of vaguely saying the weapon can be dangerous in the wrong hands. That's taking too many pages from TV Wu's book!

Honestly, it's like the ninja were just one character either shunning Lloyd or supporting him, depending on what the plot needed :/ That scene where they're talking with Garmadon while carrying him through the jungle really rubbed me the wrong way because first, no one seemed to care that Lloyd is so snippy because he's been forced to work with the man who made his life hell, and second they joke about Lloyd with that very same person and imply they don't respect Lloyd as leader, as Jay says he doesn't usually want to listen to him when he's talking? What??

 Lloyd and Garmadon’s relationship:

I mentioned this in part 1, but they really didn’t execute this well- I feel like they had so much fun playing up Garmadon being the worst dad in the world that they forgot to give him redeemable qualities. It took me a second viewing to realise his relationship with Lloyd was actually pretty messed up, because they played off his despicableness as comedic and glossed over it by suddenly giving him a flashback to make it seem like he’s sorry. They wanted to go for the father-and-son-have-issues-but-reconnect story, and had Lloyd say “I wish we didn’t have to fight all the time” in his emotional ending, but that’s a line usually present in a daddy-issue story where both have a part to blame and there's issues with communication. In this, though? Lloyd did nothing wrong! It was just Garmadon being trash, and there wasn't even a particular scene of him recognising and apologising for his actions- not the bit about driving Misako away, but how he treated Lloyd after.

The message is all mucked up - hoping to find some good in neglectful parents is just gonna get you hurt, and in a story like this it would make more sense for the protagonist to realise they don't need validation from this guy, shouldn't feel like they have to keep connected with toxic relatives just because they're family, and that they should focus on the friends and family who actually love them (although, whether Lloyd's friends were even portrayed as liking him is a different story). I mean, Koko could just teach him to throw and catch! Does he have to have two parents just for that?

 Tone and humour:

I think another main reason this movie didn't do as well was its more childish tone and dialogue; unlike the previous two movies, it was marketed at younger children. One of the main reasons TLM and LB were so successful is because of the self-aware jokes that could actually be enjoyed by adults too, while in this movie I may have properly laughed only a couple of times. Plus, in its effort to connect with kid's humour it just got cringy in some parts, like the Ultimate Weapon compilation. It would have been funny if it was ironic, like Amazing World of Gumball style, but it just didn't come across like that, so I can see why many jokes fell flat for older audiences.

People probably had different expectations for the overall tone as well- everyone loved the previous LEGO movies because of their constant barrage of action, witty jokes and a ton of references. This was never the selling point of Ninjago, but TLNM didn’t manage to capture the show’s dramatic style and deep lore-driven plot either.

The writers:

Okay last thing. This movie had three directors, six producers, six screenwriters and seven people working on the story. Compared to most animated movies, that's a lot, and its shows. It feels like they had a few different ideas and themes and couldn't quite patch them together, with vague messages like “looking at things from a different point of view” being thrown in as well to try and link it up. I guess at the end of the day, this is a father-son story, and that makes it very difficult to fit in a power-of-friendship plot at the same time, but still. Also, the shifting plot and ideas is really clear in the trailers, I mean half the stuff there wasn't even in the movie, it's as if the entire story was changed!

 Final verdict? I think an overall theme with this movie is that the writers wanted to overhaul Ninjago to introduce it to new viewers, but also wanted to keep the fans happy so shoehorned in lots of elements from the show without giving them enough development. This just disappoints fans and alienates general audiences, which is a problem since Ninjago doesn’t have a huge following already backing it up like LEGO Batman did, and could have been the pilot for more original LEGO lines making it to the big screen. It was a technically amazing movie, with beautiful animation and visuals, an epic soundtrack and stunning voice acting, but it was also such a waste of potential.

 The only other thing we can do is think about how it could have gone differently, so here's some of my ideas :'D

NOT using the deleted time travel plot. I know that after being disappointed in a movie you welcome any alternative, but giant mechs were already a big deviation from the ninja theme; flinging in time travel as well would be too much for non-show watchers. Plus, I thought we were all complaining about how time travel in Ninjago always just messes things up :'P

Also not following the show closer. We have over 10 seasons of the show, the whole point of a movie is giving a fresh take; using a giant snake or the Overlord possessing Garmadon again would just be boring.

Delete the first act? One of the best parts of the secret high school heroes trope is seeing how they juggle both lives, if you're gonna drop it after half an hour there's not much point of it being there.

Could instead just have Garmadon attacking again, the last invasion attempt being ages ago. Maybe the ninja rediscover a rich history of elemental masters protecting Ninjago when Wu decides to get a new team together to fight the new threat?

Make it about learning master building instead so they build their mechs at the end, and then gain elements in a sequel?

Or don't mention anything about elements and have every ninja individually go through an obstacle to obtain an elemental weapon, then they all lose them but don't know they're not necessary, so it's actually a surprise that the power is inside them? Everyone gets a sort of true potential moment?

Ninja having to warm up to Garmadon's son, so we have a plot of Lloyd slowly gaining their respect and becoming leader?

Higher stakes at the end, make the Shark Army more threatening and have them turn on Garmadon using Meowthra, so there's still an intense climax of the ninja fighting the army before Lloyd reaches Meowthra and gets his emotional ending?

Get rid of the live action sequence, or make it fit the message of the story more?

Feel free to add any ideas/ thoughts!

[writing-prompts-for-friends]

Notes from Robert McKee’s “Story” 09: Genre and Expectations

The majority of this section defines genres and sub-genres of story. I’ll provide a summary of them at the end of the post. I think that we all as writers know what genre our works tend to lean toward, so I instead want to focus on what McKee has to say about what is expected of writers as dictated by genre and by the audience. 

Mastery of Genre

As life-long consumers of media, we have ingrained expectations of a story once we hear the genre. A rom-com? Well then, we’re in for a light-hearted comedy with a happy ending for the love interests. High fantasy? There’s gonna be lore and magic and elves and dwarfs, and a massive conflict that will probably span multiple novels or films. 

“The genre sophistication of filmgoers presents the writer with this critical challenge: He must not only fulfill audience anticipations, or risk their confusion and disappointment, but he must lead their expectations to fresh, unexpected moments, or risk boring them. This two-handed trick is impossible without a knowledge of genre that surpasses the audience’s.”

As writers, it is our job to identify our genre and research it thoroughly. In the previous section about setting, McKee explains how the setting of the story gives the writer both limitations and inspiration. 

Genre is, in a certain way, the frame in which the setting and story sit. Depending on the genre, the frame can be pliable or it can be rather fixed. Here you need to study your own genre deeply to find out exactly how flexible it is. For example, the genre of “Comedy” is much more pliable than that of the “Crime” genre. There are sub-genres, of course. But under the vast umbrella of “Comedy” almost anything goes as long as we can get a laugh out of it. “Crime” on the other hand, generally involves a struggle between a criminal and a justice-seeker (with the justice-seeker most commonly being the protagonist) and culminates in one triumphing over the other. 

How to Master Your Genre

“Never assume that because you’ve seen films in your genre you know it. This is like assuming you could compose a symphony because you have heard all nine of Beethoven’s.”

McKee states that genre study is best done in the following way:

List all the works that feel similar to yours, both successes and failures. Studying works that are similar to yours but were failures can lead to great insights.

Study each of these works from page to page, breaking each one down into elements of setting, role, event, and value. 

Stack these analyses on top of each other and look down through them all and ask yourself, “What do the stories in my genre always do? What are its conventions of time, place, character, and action?

Until you find these answers, the audience will always be one step ahead of you. 

Personally, that sounds like a lot of work lol. But doing case studies like he describes would certainly help me to better understand my genre. Idk when I’ll have time for it, but...well. I’ll work on it. 

Creative Limitations

This section really echoes what McKee had to say about setting, in that both setting and genre create boundaries for you to work within, but having boundaries pushes you to be more creative. 

Until now, I’ve always started writing a story on a whim, based on a single scene in my head that grows into some 300 page monstrosity. I resisted plotting and just wrote what I wanted to write that day. I enjoyed the freedom that came with having no specific plans and not thinking much about my genre. 

However, McKee uses a brilliant example to illustrate the beneficial aspects of understanding and working within the bounds of your genre:

“Robert Frost said that writing free verse is like playing tennis with the net down, for it’s the self-imposed, indeed artificial demands of poetic conventions that stir the imagination. Let’s say a poet arbitrarily imposes this limit: He decides to write in six-line stanzas, rhyming every other line. After rhyming the fourth line with the second line he reaches the end of a stanza. Backed into this corner, his struggle to rhyme the sixth line with the fourth and second may inspire him to imagine a word that has no relationship to his poem whatsoever--it just happens to rhyme--but this random word then springs loose a phrase that in turn brings an imagine to mind, an image that in turn resonates back through the first five lines, triggering a whole new sense of feeling, twisting and driving the poem to a richer meaning and emotion.

Thanks to the poet’s Creative Limitation of this rhyme scheme, the poem achieves an intensity it would have lacked had the poet allowed himself the freedom to choose any word he wished.

The principle of Creative Limitation calls for freedom within a circle of obstacles. Talent is like a muscle: without something to push against, it atrophies.”

So one of our first steps as writers is to identify our genre or combination of genres, and then learn the genre conventions. 

Genre conventions are the expected aspects of a certain genre. In a “Boy Meets Girl” romance genre, an obvious convention is that a boy and a girl must meet. It isn’t a cliche--it’s a necessary part of the equation. These conventions force us to use our imagination to reinvent the paradigms our genres and audiences demand, and if we can do it right, we fulfill their expectations while giving them something they had never dreamed of before.

Mixing and Reinventing Genres

What better way to sum up this section than Run DMC’s “Walk This Way,” which was the first hip hop hybrid video every played in heavy rotation on MTV? 

Generally, a work tends to be a mix of two or more genres. For example, there is a Love Story subplot in just about EVERYTHING nowadays, for better or for worse. By mixing genres we as writers have a chance to give the world something that has never been seen before. 

Something that McKee stresses is that genres are not static. He says:

“Genres are simply windows on reality, various ways for the writer to look at life. When the reality outside the window undergoes change, the genres alter with it.”

Social attitudes change. This means that what may have been a compelling story 50 years ago may not be as compelling when looked at once again today. The example McKee uses is the 1950′s film FALLING IN LOVE, which was about a man and woman who fell in love with each other but were already married and in unhappy relationships. Nowadays, in mainstream America, divorce isn’t a big deal. If an audience in 2020 watched this film, they’d just say, “You’re married to people you hate--just get a divorce already!”

“The audience wants to know how it feels to be alive on the knife edge of the now. What does it mean to be a human being today?

Innovative writers are not only contemporary, they are visionary. They have their ear to the wall of history, and as things change, they can sense the way society is leaning toward the future. They then produce works that break convention and take the genres into the next generation.

The finest writers are not only visionary, they create classics.”

McKee’s List of Genres

McKee states that there are many different ways to break genres down, and his is neither the best nor the most complete. Also, keep in mind that this book is actually focused around storytelling through film, so the references he uses are not books, but films. 

LOVE STORY. It’s sub-genre, Buddy Salvation, substitutes friendship for romantic love. 

HORROR FILM. This genre devices into three sub-genres: the Uncanny, in which the source of horror is astounding but subject to “rational” explanation, such as beings from outer space, science-made monsters, or a maniac; the Supernatural, in which the source of horror is an “irrational” phenomenon from the spirit realm; and the Super-Uncanny, in which the audience is kept guessing between the other two possibilities. 

MODERN EPIC (the individual versus the state).

WESTERN. 

WAR GENRE. Although war is often the setting for another genre, such as the Love Story, the WAR GENRE is specifically about combat. Pro-war versus Antiwar are its primary sub-genres. 

MATURATION PLOT or the coming of age story

REDEMPTION PLOT. Here the film arcs on a moral change within the protagonist from bad to good. 

PUNITIVE PLOT. In these, the good guy turns bad and is punished. 

TESTING PLOT. Stories of willpower versus temptation to surrender.

EDUCATION PLOT. This genre arcs on a deep change within the protagonist’s view of life, people, or self from the negative (naive, distrustful, fatalistic, self-hating) to the positive (wise, trusting, optimistic, self-possessed)

DISILLUSIONMENT PLOT. A deep change of worldview from the positive to the negative.

COMEDY. Subgenres range from Parody to Satire to Sitcom to Romantic to Screwball to Farce to Black Comedy, all differing by the focus of comic attack (bureaucratic folly, upper-class manners, teenage courtship. etc.) and the degree of ridicule (casual, caustic, lethal).

CRIME. Subgenres vary chiefly by the answer to this question: From whose point of view do we regard the crime? Murder Mystery (master detective’s POV); Caper (master criminal’s POV), Detective (cop’s POV), Gangster (crook’s POV), Thriller or Revenge Tale (victim’s POV); Courtroom (lawyer’s POV); Newspaper (reporter’s POV); Espionage (spy’s POV), Prison Drama (inmate’s POV); Film Noir (POV of a protagnoist who may be part criminal, part detective, part victime of a femme fatale). 

SOCIAL DRAMA. This genre identifies problems in society--poverty, the education system, communicable diseases, the disadvantaged, antisocial rebellion, and the like--then constructs a story demonstrating a cure. It has a number of sharply focused sub-genres: Domestic Drama (problems within the family), the Women’s Film (dilemmas such as career versus family, lover versus children), Political Drama (corruption in politics), Eco-Drama (battles to save the environment), Medical Drama (struggles with physical illness), and Psycho-Drama (struggles with mental illness). 

ACTION/ADVENTURE. This often borrows aspects from other genres such as War or Political Drama to use as motivation for explosive action and derring-do. If ACTION/ADVENTURE incorporates ideas such as destiny, hubris, or the spirtual, it becomes the sub-genre High Adventure. If Mother Nature is the source of the antagonism, it’s a Disaster/Survival work.

HISTORICAL DRAMA. The treasure chest of history is sealed with this warning: What is past must be present. He must find an audience today. Therefore, the best use of history, and the only legitimate excuse to set a film in the past and thereby add untold millions to a budget, is anachronism--to use the past as a clear glass through which you show us the present. 

BIOGRAPHY. This cousin to Historical Drama focuses on a person rather than an era. BIOGRAPHY, however, must never become a simple chronicle. That someone lived, died, and did interesting things in between is of scholarly interest and no more. The biographer must interpret facts as if they were fiction, find the meaning of the subject’s life, and then cast him as the protagonist of his life’s genre. These caveats also apply to the sub-genre Autobiography.

DOCU-DRAMA. A second cousin to Historical Drama, DOCU-DRAMA centers on recent rather than past events. 

MOCKUMENTARY. This genre pretends to be rooted in actuality or memory, behaves like documentary or autobiography, but is utter fiction. It subverts fact-based filmmaking to satirize hypocritical institutions.

MUSICAL. I would love to see a musical novel lol.

SCIENCE FICTION. In hypothetical futures that are typically technological dystopias of tyranny and chaos, the SCIENCE FICTION writer often marries the man-against-state Modern Epic with Action/Adventure. But, like history, the future is a setting in which any genre may play. 

SPORTS GENRE. Sport is a crucible for character change. This genre is a natural home for the Maturation Plot, the Redemption Plot, the Education Plot, the Punitive Plot, the Testing Plot, the Disillusionment Plot, Buddy Salvation, and Social Drama.

FANTASY. Here the writer plays with time, space, and the physical, bending and mixing the laws of nature and the supernatural. The extra-realties of FANTASY attract the Action genres but also welcome others such as the Love Story, Political Drama/Allegory, Social Drama, and/or Maturation Plot.

ANIMATION. I guess you could equate this to graphic novels, comics, and manga. 

Source: McKee, Robert. Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting. York: Methuen, 1998. Print

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Z Movie 1: Dead Zone

All right, it’s time or the first DBZ movie.   Dead Zone premiered on July 15, 1989, right between epsiodes 11 and 12.   It wasn’t actually called “Dead Zone”, and it’s title was simply “Dragon Ball Z” until the other movies came out, and then it was known in Japan as “Return my Gohan!”     Personally, I think “Dead Zone” works better as a title although it doesn’t really come into play until the very end.  

I ran into some trouble with this one, because I own all the DBZ movies on Blu-Ray, and it turns out that I can’t take screen captures of Blu-Ray movies on my computer.   So my only other option was to log on to Funimation’s streaming service and get my images from there.   But the video quality was pathetic, so I’ll apologize in advance for the crappy screenshots.  

I’m not sure how I’ll proceed with the other films.   I can’t use Funimation.com for all of them, because the Bardock special, the Broly movies, and Fusion Reborn were all taken off the site, probably because they’ve been playing them in theaters lately.   I guess I could buy the DVD editions, but I’m not sure it’s worth the trouble.   Well, I’ll worry about that later.

We open on this shot of Piccolo screaming.   Right away, you call tell this is going to be a great movie.   Casablanca should have done this.  

I’m not sure what Piccolo is up to here, but I guess he’s blowing up rock formations as part of his training to beat Goku someday.  

Then he gets ambushed by three mysterious warriors, and they pretty much eat his lunch.   A fourth one orders them to kill Piccolo.

Piccolo screams, and there’s an explosion, and the bad guys seem pretty confident that he’s dead.   They also know that since Piccolo and Kami were once the same person, they’ve killed Kami along with Piccolo, which seems to have been the purpose of this attack.

Except Kami’s just fine.  We see him on the Lookout, sitting in what looks like a confessional.   He’s startled, but only because he can sense that Piccolo has been defeated.   He suspects Goku, but then he realizes that it must have been... him. 

From there, we move on to Goku’s house, where the Ox King just arrived to bring Gohan some presents.   It’s very much like the first few episodes of DBZ, only this time Gohan is actually home when Ox shows up.

But then Ox King collapses, and Gohan has to run away before his grandpa can fall on him.

Turns out some bad guy coldcocked Ox King from behind, and now he wants the Dragon Ball on Gohan’s hat.  Chi-Chi sends Gohan into the relative safety of the house...

...but this guy’s waiting inside, so that’s no good.   Also he eats three pears, just because.

Chi-Chi squares up to fight these guys, but there’s three of them and one of her, and she has to keep an eye on Gohan too.  There’s a lot of gifs out there of Chi-Chi’s desperate stance in this movie, because it’s just so well-animated.   Everything in this movie is well-animated, really.    It might not be the most innovative story, but the visuals more than make up for it.  

Chi-Chi can’t even land a blow, as it turns out.   The bad guys take Gohan and leave, and Goku’s out fishing.   Somehow, he senses it when Chi-Chi falls, and he runs back to the house to see what’s wrong.   Chi-Chi tells him that his son has been kidnapped by bad guys.   The question now is: Is Goku a bad enough dude to rescue him?   The answer is yes.  

Then we cut to the bad guys’ lair.   This shot looks amazing.   I love the weird architecture of the castle, I love the salmon-colored sky and the yellow clouds, it’s just really pleasant to look at.   I’d hang this up on my wall at home if I did that sort of thing. 

The leader, named Garlic Junior, plans to use the Dragon Balls to wish for eternal life.   With Gohan’s capture, they now have five of the Dragon Balls, and they seem pretty confident that they can locate the last two without much trouble.   I’m curious as to how they can find them so easily, but this is never explained.

Also, I don’t understand why they kidnapped Gohan when all they wanted was the Dragon Ball on his hat.   Gohan informs them that his father will come rescue him, and the bad guys seem mildly impressed to learn that Goku is his father.   Garlic even recognizes Goku as the man who defeated Piccolo at the World Martial Arts tournament.    On the other hand, they just got done beating Piccolo, and quite easily, so they figure they can handle Goku if he happens to show up.

Garlic senses that Gohan has a great power within him, and decides to raise him as his henchman.   This right here turns out to be a huge mistake.  Bringing Gohan here was a questionable move at best, but here we see Garlic decide to keep the kid, rather than kill him or send him back to his family.    It just isn’t worth it.   Yeah, Gohan might make a useful flunky, but does Garlic really need one?   Probably not, but he’s too high on his own success to hedge his bets. 

Meanwhile, Goku heads to Master Roshi’s place to get Bulma’s Dragon Radar.   Not sure how he knew Bulma was at Roshi’s place, but whatever.   Just like in the TV series, when Radditz kidnapped Gohan, Goku was able to track his son by the Dragon Ball on his hat.   And this seems like a good time to discuss the continuity of this movie.

See, the original Dragon Ball movies sort of functioned as a retelling of Goku’s early adventures, with different characters and plot elements tossed in.   It was readily apparent that they didn’t fit into the continuity of the TV anime or the manga, because they literally retold key moments, like Goku meeting Bulma for the first time, or Krilln meeting Master Roshi, or Tao Pai Pai’s murder of Bora.   But the circumstances were changed, so it was clear that those movie moments didn’t fit in with the original story.   The DBZ movies, on the other hand, sort of operate as side-stories to the manga and anime, ecxcept that there’s usually one or two plot holes that keep them from fitting into the mythos.   

In this case, the big problem is that Bulma, Roshi, and Krillin are helping Goku find his lost son, but they didn’t find out Goku even had a son until Episode 2 of DBZ, which ends with Radditz kidnapping the boy.    If not for this scene right here, you could make an argument that this movie works as a prequel to DBZ, and Gohan got kidnapped by a different supervillain right before Raditz showed up.   

So why not say that it’s set after the battle with Raditz?    Because Goku dies in that battle, and by the time he comes back, Piccolo is dead.    By the time Piccolo returns to life, they’re all on Planet Namek.    You won’t see all of these characters reunited on Earth until Episode 121.    By that time, Goku’s a Super Saiyan, and Gohan is a few years older, and far more capable than the timid little boy we see in this movie.  

Still, it’s a pretty subtle plot hole, which I think is why some fans cling to the idea that the movies are canon somehow.   It doesn’t help that Toei did a whole filler arc in the anime, where Garlic Junior returns and references the events of the movie, but it just doesn’t make sense. 

Back at Garlic’s castle, he’s sent two of his minions to gather the last two Dragon Balls, while the third has to look after Gohan.   He doesn’t care much for this, and he stops to take a break by eating fruit from a tree in the courtyard...

... But Gohan has the same idea.  

Turns out this is special fruit that gets you drunk.  

Gohan has a whole hallucination, complete with a musical theme.

Somehow he wanders into Garlic’s oversized novelty cuckoo clock.

And then he sleeps it off on Garlic’s throne. Garlic seems to consider all of this as a sign that Gohan is no ordinary child, so maybe a normal kid would just pass out or die if they ate that fruit. 

Doesn’t matter, because it’s wish time.  Garlic gets all seven balls, and he asks the Dragon to make him immortal, and it works!   Goku’s still on his way when this happens.    It’s kind of surreal to see a bad guy pull something like this off without a hitch.    Even King Piccolo had to fight a few people first.

The actual process of making Garlic Junior immortal seems to involve some sort of energy transfer.    It even looks a little uncomfortable, but Garlic is sure that it worked. 

then we get this whole scene of demons rising up from the ground and marching off to war.    I’m not sure if this is actually happening while Garlic is becoming immortal, or if he’s just imagining what he’s going to do now that no one can stop him.

Goku arrives soon after, demanding the release of his son, and then Kami shows up, all glowing yellow like he’s a big shot.  Garlic is shocked to see Kami, since he assumed he was already dead, but Goku is just annoyed that Kami is butting into his rescue mission.   This scene makes a lot more sense when you’ve seen Kami and Goku quibble over the fight with Piccolo in the original Dragon Ball.

From there, Kami starts explaining just who Garlic Junior is.   Turns out that Garlic Senior was Kami’s rival for the job of Guardian of the Earth.   The previous Kami recognized the evil ambitions in Garlic, Sr.’s heart, so he picked the guy we now know as Kami.   Garlic, Sr. was a sore loser about this, so he rebelled against Kami, only to be defeated.   According to Kami, Garlic Senior’s last words were that he would take his revenge 300 years later. 

Kami finds it tragic that Garlic would be so evil as to put his own son in charge of his vengeance, but that’s where things stand.    So let’s talk about this for a bit.

I guess this is one of the things that makes this one of my favorites.    The previous films really didn’t add anything to the lore or advance the story.   Mystical Adventure was pretty good and fun, but it basically rehashed the same ideas that were already established in the TV series.   My favorite part of that movie was the Mifan Empire, but it can’t exist outside of that movie, because there’s no Chiaotzu or Crane Hermit to run the place.    On the other hand, the villain in Dead Zone has ties to Kami, which means that we can learn some things about Kami that maybe fit into the canon as well?   Like, this movie isn’t canon, but Kami is, so maybe he really did have to compete with a guy named Garlic to get the job 300 years ago?

Anyway, Garlic Junior seems to be an amalgam of several Dragon Ball villains.  He looks a lot like Emperor Pilaf, to the point where Funimation cast Chuck Huber to play both roles.   Garlic always struck me as an attempt to make an Emperor Pilaf who could really cause trouble.    Beyond that, Garlic also resembles King Piccolo because of his wish on the Dragon Balls and his plan to conquer the world, and he resembles Piccolo Junior, in the sense that he’s been tasked to avenge the defeat of his wicked father.   I don’t know if the Garlics have the same relationship as the Piccolos, where the son is essentially a duplicate of the father, but it could be like that.   Garlic also resembles Raditz by kidnapping Gohan and using similar moves to battle Goku and Piccolo later, and finally, he resembles Vegeta in his desire to wish for immortality.   Put all of this together, and you end up with a pretty compelling movie boss. 

At his core, though, I think Garlic is sort of meant to be an evil version of Kami.   Garlic Senior failed to impress the previous Kami, so he went full-on evil.    The current Kami, on the other hand, succeeded because he purged himself of his wickedness, although he created Piccolo in the process.    The implication here is that it was kind of a no-win situation.    The previous Kami had to choose between two inadequate applicants.    One became a villain and the other created a villain.   Even when Garlic Senior was defeated, his son was left behind to carry on his vendetta. 

The story raises more questions than answers, though.    What was Garlic Junior doing for 300 years?   Training, I guess, but it never gets explained.   The Garlic Junior Saga will later establish that he and his father are aliens from the planet Makyo, so how does that all fit into this?    Was Garlic Senior always a bad guy, or was he truly sincere in his desire to become Kami until he was turned down for the job?    Where are the Spice Boys in all of this?

Anyway, Goku doesn’t care about any of this.    He’s just here for his son, and for some reason Garlic’s minions actually bother to stop him.   They introduce themselves as Ginger...

...Sansho...

... And Nikki.

Then they puff up their bodies to get stronger and faster.

The three of them give Goku a little trouble, but then Krillin and Piccolo show up and the odds are now even.   I guess Krillin followed Goku here from Roshi’s place, while Piccolo survived the ambush from the start of the movie, and now he’s here for revenge.

Turns out that Garic’s henchmen aren’t so tough when they can’t gang up on someone.   Piccolo crushes Sansho like it’s not even hard.

Meanwhile, Kami and Garlic fight.   This is kind of a big deal, because we never get to see Kami in action in the anime, even though he was supposed to be a very powerful character in the Piccolo sagas.  But this is DBZ, so he’s helpless against as DBZ villain like Garlic.  

But Kami still has some power to spare.

Meanwhile, Goku fights Nikki and Ginger at the same time, and while they give him a little trouble, he wins pretty handily.    This movie also marks one of the few times we see Goku use his Nyoibo as an adult.    I feel like DBZ never quite figured out what happened to the Nyoibo after Goku came down from Kami’s Lookout, but he’s got it in this movie, and he needs it, because Nikki and Ginger can pull swords out of their bodies.

This movie also marks the first time Goku actually kills a villain with a Kamehameha.   In the past he either misses or the bad guy survives somehow, but here he aims at Ginger, hits him, and then hits Nikki with the same blast.   That’s one of the nice things about the movies.    They’re very short and self-contained, so there isn’t time for plot twists like “The big finishing move didn’t work!” or “Goku lost!  What do we do now?”   If Goku loses in a movie he just has to get up and try again, or hope the bad guy is feeling merciful.

Kami is clearly overmatched against Garlic, so he tries to blow himself up to kill Garlic in the process.    Trouble is, Garlic’s immortal, so that trick wouldn’t work.

Fortunately, Goku and Piccolo want a piece of Garlic Junior, so Kami can sit this one out.   Garlic actually wonders why either of these dudes would come to Kami’s aid.    Isn’t it obvious?    Garlic kidnapped Goku’s son, and he ambushed Piccolo, so now they want revenge.   I mean, on top of that, Garlic’s plans for the Earth would make things tough for their own lives, but there’s plenty of reasons for them to want to beat him up.

So Garlic transforms into the big beefy guy we saw in shadow a the start of the movie.    I guess this makes him the first Dragon Ball character to transform?   Well, Goku and Gohan turned into giant apes, but still, this is kind of a big deal.

Like I was saying, Garlic sort of resembles Raditz here, in that he managed to get Goku and Piccolo to team up against him.    He even uses the same opening move as Raditz, rushing towards them, vanishing, and then hitting them in the back with his elbows at the same time.

So where’s Krillin in all of this?   Goku tasked him with looking after Gohan, but when the fight started, Krillin got clobbered by a falling pillar and dropped the kid. 

Outside, Goku and Piccolo shed their weighted training clothes, just as they did against Raditz.    Goku again expresses surprise that Piccolo even uses weighted training clothes, so once again, this episode just doesn’t fit in continuity.   They could have teamed up to fight Garlic and Raditz, but Goku can only find out about Piccolo’s weighted clothes once.

Anyway, shedding the wieghted clothes seems to do the trick pretty well, so I guess that means Garlic Junior isn’t quite as tough as Raditz.   

For some reason, they decide Garlic is beaten, so they move on to settling their own rivalry.   Did everyone just forget that he’s immortal?

Garlic Junior sure didn’t, since he’s back on his feet.    But instead of fighting again, he takes a different approach.

Here’s a great shot of the castle, by the way.

Then this black hole looking thing opens up in the sky and starts sucking everything into it.

Piccolo almost gets drawn in, but Goku manages to save him, which is pretty awesome.

I always thought “Dead Zone” was a dub-ism, but no, that’s what Garlic himself calls it in the original script.    He even says “Dead Zone” in English.   What is a dub-ism (I think) is that his father, Garlic Senior, was banished into the Dead Zone 300 years ago.   Of course, any living thing that gets trapped in the Dead Zone gets killed eventually, so we might as well call that an execution, but the Japanese dub never mentions this when discussing Senior’s fate.  

It would be kind of ironic, though, because Kami doesn’t have anything to do with the power of opening portals to the Dead Zone.   Garlic Junior can do it (obviously), so if Senior got stuck in the Dead Zone, then that sort of implies that he put himself there accidentally, just like Junior is about to... well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Turns out Gohan’s awake now, and he’s mad.

I mean really mad!

Garlic isn’t entirely surprised to see that Gohan can resist the suction of the Dead Zone, but he doesn’t seem to think Gohan can stop him either.  He prepares to attack him with all of his power...

But Gohan fires an energy blast that knocks Garlic off his feet, and sends him into the Dead Zone instead.   

Garlic proclaims that this won’t kill him, but I don’t know if he’s relieved or terrified by that prospect.

Now that the moment has passed, Gohan just sort of passes out.

And without Garlic to maintain the portal, the effect wears off.

And then the sky fractures?   I don’t know what this is supposed to mean.   I thought the yellow and red color scheme just meant that it was sunset at Garlic’s fortress...

But now it’s a clear blue mid-day sky.    So I guess it was Garlic Junior’s doing?   Anyway, Kami remarks that he’s trapped forever in the Dead Zone, without even death to relieve his suffering in that place.  

Ironically, Gohan thinks it was Goku who saved him, when it was actually the other way around.  

Piccolo watches the others leave, and promises to deal with Goku another day.

And then we find the shards of the orange sky on the bottom of the sea, and Garlic is inside one of them, desperately trying to get out.  

So yeah, this is one of my personal faves from the movies.    I dig the idea of a bad guy actually wishing for immortality, only to have it backfire on him so spectacularly.   It fits in nicely with the whole theme of greed in this story.   Garlic didn’t need to attack Piccolo or kidnap Gohan to further his plan, but he did it anyway because he saw no downside to it, and it all came back to haunt him.   Goku and Piccolo almost lost when they got too wrapped up in their own grudge, but they managed to get back on track before it got out of hand.   

Also, this movie is just a visual feast.    Even simple things like Nikki eating pears or Chi-Chi tossing her apron aside are really beautifully done.   

It’s a little light on characters, but after Mystical Adventure, I’d say that was a good move.   Yeah, it would have been nice to have more of the gang in this movie, but they would have slowed the story down.   Honestly, they could have left Krillin out of the mix and it wouldn’t have hurt anything.  

[avisalaencantadia]

If you’ve followed me from the very start, you guys would notice that I’ve never published my own reviews or opinions over the show (except for some asks). This is because I prefer giving my opinions when a show is over. This gives my review some sense of finality.

But yeah... Anyway, just in case you want to read my rambles and opinions, feel free to click the “Keep reading” link below :) and yes the comic sans is intended

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

I’ll be dividing my feedback on certain aspects and then I’ll say what the Enca team did good and bad there. Brace yourselves, this is a very long post :))

Story/Plot

The Good

Modernizing the existing Encantadia plot - If you’ve watched Encantadia since 2005, you would know most of the 2016′s version plot derives from the original. But what I really liked with Encantadia 2016′s plot is how it was adjusted to reflect current day sensibilities and moralities like with how Amihan still loved and treated Mira as her own daughter after learning the truth, not making Mila/Lira into an archetypal abused maid, Lira and Mira being best friends and literally #cousin goals instead of love rivals, Ybramihan with their realistic and slow burn romance, Alena breaking out of the “first love never dies” trope, and so much more.

Book 1 - Book 1 (Episode 1 - 148) is the best part of Encantadia 2016. To be very honest, I really wished that the requel just ended with Book 1. Book 1 is, for the most part, well written. I like how little backstories were added from the start, the story was pretty much cohesive, most of the plot deviations from the original were logical (the fall of Amihan and the banishment of Pirena were superb), and the mortal world was less shown than from the original. Speaking of the mortal world, please see below :)

Involvement of the mortal world - Perhaps one of the best things I really liked from the plot of the requel is how the setting of the mortal world was used more logically. What I really didn’t like about the original is how around 50% of the scenes (until Lira returns to Encantadia) was divided into Encantadia scenes and then mortal world scenes and I was like, “this is a show about Encantadia right??” In this version, Mila/Lira’s growth in the mortal realm was not extended (they really did great in doing away with the maid-and-master-romance plot for Lira), Danaya and Alena’s exiles to the human world are sensible, Encantados - like Enuo, Mira, Lilasari and Hitano - choosing to live in the mortal realm was interesting, and the concept of “taong ligaw” as well. Seriously, if you know your migration and trade theories well, it’s very very logical that some Encantados would choose to live away from their motherland because y’know, it ain’t exactly peaceful in Encantadia. Or like the Bandidos who choose to go to the mortal realm to dabble in some trade... although of course human slave trade is definitely not right.

The Bad

The plot being obviously dragged out - All popular Philippine dramas are victims of extension due to public demand and it isn’t a secret that Encantadia was extended until Mulawin vs Ravena was ready. While I totally understand that GMA wanted to capitalize on the ratings success of Encantadia, unfortunately, the plot really suffered and Book 2 (together with the “Finding Lira” arc) looked like it wasn’t thought of very well. 

Plot handling - *ehem* You mean Book 2? *ehem* Ok, on paper, the premise of Encantadia is great. The problem is, most of the plot devices they introduced became too big for them to handle and the prime example was how they handled Book 2. Actually, Book 2 started well in showing what happened after Amihan’s death: 3 kingdoms flourishing, the threat of Etheria, the introduction of the 6 guardians-in-training, etc. But unfortunately, it fell apart: Lireo is great but why did it look that Ybrahim and Pirena were spending more time meddling with Lirean affairs than with Sapiro and Hathoria respectively? We all know that Etheria was a great kingdom but why didn’t they explore its history well and why did they make it fall again just to give way to Hagorn’s return? Oh and the 6 guardians in training? You know what? I really really loved it at first because it showed that not only royalty can become guardians but also normal Encantados (or a mortal like Pao Pao) as well. But after the massacre at Cassiopea’s island, all the remaining guardians-in-training became useless character scene fillers. Marami silang sinayang tbh...

Amihan-centric plot - For a show that used to highlight the four sisters, Book 1 revolved and highlighted mainly Amihan. From episode 1 until her death, we were made aware of Amihan’s significance due to Cassiopea’s prophecy and Hagorn’s obsession to kill her. If you watched the original series, you will see each Sang’gre was given enough air time and importance in the story. But since Amihan was given so much importance in the requel, this led to major plot issues when Kylie left the show. This was partially fixed in Book 2 where we see the three remaining Sang’gres united against Avria, Hagorn and Ether. However, it makes me wish they had an opportunity to do this with Amihan still alive. Which leads to...

Plot handling for actors who leave the show - For the requel we saw 2 major plot changes due to actors leaving the show: Kylie’s and Sunshine’s. Naturally, Kylie’s departure left a bigger hole in the plot and in our hearts than Sunshine’s. Of course I understand that the actors’ departures come from valid reasons (Kylie’s pregnancy and Sunshine’s schedule due to Ika-Anim na Utos) but I wish their character’s deaths and aftermaths were handled better, especially for Adhara. I had huge hopes for Adhara’s character only for her to die a very meh second death. No huge build up whatsoever nor any major revelations about her character. I’d really love to know the story they originally intended for Adhara. Was it taken over by Lilasari’s character? As for Amihan’s death, yes, it was handled very beautifully and logically but it’s the aftermath I had huge issues with. You can obviously see it in Book 2 :)

Worldbuilding and Lore

The good

Expansion of the existing Encantadia world and lore - In this requel, we were given a more solid Encantadia in terms geography: there’s a nice map and cultural distinctions between the different kingdoms were more apparent (I love the sigils and the aesthetic differences between the kingdoms). What I really love as well was the Nchan and Hathorka writing developed and explained to us. It gave us an excuse to write our names and words using these wonderful fictional but working scripts.

Limitations of the Sang’gres’ powers - Ok, some fans had issues with this but I really liked it when it was shown that the four Sang’gres only obtained special elemental powers when they have the gems in their possession. It was also a nice touch when they showed the Sang’gres not wearing their trademark warrior gears when the gems are not in their possession. This shows the Sang’gres do have weaknesses unlike their previous counterparts who can still manipulate their elements (albeit weaker) even without the gems. Because of this, it further emphasizes the gems’ importance: whoever obtains can become extremely powerful.

The deities backstories - In this requel, we get to find out there are actually 5 deities (bathala/bathaluman) instead of 3. It also showed that these deities are not all powerful and have weaknesses almost just like an average encantado. Instead of acting all-omnipotent (except Emre during Book 1), these deities acted a lot like the fickle and full-of-human-emotions Greek/Roman gods.

The bad

The fifth gem - I know a lot of people were asking about adding a new element but I did not like how they handled it. I mean, seriously, how can Cassiopea not know about its existence until the fall of Amihan? Was it because the one who obtained it was not an encantado but a batang ligaw? Speaking of batang ligaw, I did find it cute that the one who will first wield this gem is not an encantado but a little human boy. Paopao’s innocence highlights the fifth gem’s power, quintessence. However, what I highly disliked about the fifth gem is how it just became an accessory after Hagorn forced Paopao to give it to him. An extra gem to grab with no major significance unlike the four elemental gems and an alternative to the Earth gem for healing, that’s what it became. If only they let the grownup Paopao wield it again, then perhaps this gem could’ve become as significant as the others.

The deity involvement - While I first raved about adding the expansion of the deities and their backstories, I will rant about their incessant meddling (or the lack of it). For the first parts of Book 1, I liked how they maintained Emre is the Christian God-like deity, Arde is the guardian of Balaak (or hell) and Ether is the all-around mischievous meddler. I also found it cool at first that Arde and Ether both chose their champions (Adhara and Hagorn respectively) in their bid to regain power over Encantadia. However, I found it really annoying when their meddling became too much or when the encantados (*ehem* Avria *cough* Hagorn and to some extent, Lira) cannot do anything anymore except rely on their godly powers. Deus ex machina much? On the other hand, I generally thought the addition of Keros and Haliya was ok. I liked how Keros’ treachery brought about Emre’s downfall. Too bad he was killed even before he could have a total change of heart. I think it could’ve been cool if he aided Emre and gained followers after that. While Haliya was pretty useless, at least she still had some involvement in Emre and Cassiopea’s sidequest and to explain the origin of the double moon and Lilasari’s curse. It would’ve been cool if she did more. Anyway, long story short: I wish the deities meddled less and just maintained a certain distance from the encantados. Let the encantados do the work with some very occasional sprinkling of their divine blessings.

Adamya - Ok, so why was Adamya demoted from a kingdom to a protectorate territory of Lireo in the requel? I don’t get it why they made Adamya weaker than it is. Adamya had more relevance in the original series where the Diwatas usually seek refuge and get really sound advice from Imaw and his staff. However, in the requel, Imaw and the humanoid Adamyans (except the Gunikars and Nymfas) just stay with the Diwatas all the time. Is there really no desire in Imaw to return to his own homeland, see it flourish on its own and without the Sang’gres’ (especially Alena’s) help? It seems not because this is the vision of Memfes, the leader of the Gunikar tribe. While I had huge problems with him pursuing Alena, I just wished that his vision of a strong Adamya was shared by Imaw and its traditional denizens. I also wished that it was made clearer that the Gunikars and the Nymfas are technically Adamyans.

Characters and Relationships

Since Encantadia had a lot of characters, I will not be commenting on them all.

The good

Lira and Mira - Without any doubt, the Lira-Mira tandem proved to be one of the best things that happened to this requel. Like I’ve mentioned, I’m so glad they did away the love rivalry between the two cousins from the original series. It was utterly refreshing to see these two being close and doing their own adventures and shenanigans. One minor critique though, I just wished they had more character growth especially in Book 2 where they were promoted to Sang’gres.

Ybramihan - Ah, the pairing that launched a thousand ships in the requel. While I wasn’t a huge shipper myself, I really appreciated the slow burn romance between Amihan and Ybrahim. These are two leaders who are dealing with their own political and emotional issues yet still found themselves falling for each other. This mature and bittersweet kind of romance is a breath of fresh air in the sea of “pabebe” romances. I wonder if the Ybramihan endgame would still push through if Kylie did not leave the show.

Alena - Alena’s character started out as being really problematic. Lovestruck, pabebe, immature, shallow, weak - these are words I read from frustrated viewers on how they described Alena. I will also admit that I was really frustrated with Alena’s character because they made her so much weaker than her counterpart from the original series. However, thank Emre, the Encantadia crew seemed to our heard our prayers and wrote a strong and beautiful Alena in Book 2. Alena shows that despite all the hardships she suffered and endured, she learned from them and emerged a woman with the voice of reason and wisdom. I also think it was awesome that she didn’t rekindle her relationship with Ybrahim despite still having feelings for him. We really need to show less of this “first love as true love” trope and more of this “never wanted the crown but ended up as a deserving and independent queen” narrative. Alena’s character growth was one of the few things right in Book 2.

Hagorn -  Hagorn is proof you can write multi-dimensional villains. Coupled with John Arcilla’s excellent acting, I think Hagorn was beautifully portrayed. Here, we saw a king who became consumed by his rage over the injustices he experienced: Mine-a breaking his heart, his father whom he idolized being killed and falsely believing Raquim (a friend turned enemy) to have done the deed, the once mighty Hathoria being cursed, Lilasari breaking his heart and Deshna hidden from him. While yes, all of his actions can be called evil but in its essence is Hagorn’s desire to be respected and loved. Pirena is indeed very similar to her father but the difference is Hagorn let anger harden his heart completely. Although one major critique I can give of him is... why must he be so damn overpowered?? I get it that antagonists need to be more powerful than the protagonists at first but as the series progress, why must Hagorn be always gaining powers all the time??

The bad

The Etherians - I was first excited about the news they were going to bring back the Etherians in the requel since I loved the Etheria arc from the original series. However, this excitement turned into frustration when we saw flat villains on our screen again. So we know Avria and the gang are power-thirsty encantados whom Ether revived because Hagorn was presumed to be dead. However, what was their story? What really happened in the Great Etherian War? Unlike in the original series’ Etheria, we find out the reason they antagonized the Diwatas was because of a prophecy that predicts their downfall. However, for the requel, nothing was explained except their desire for vengeance against the races that brought their first downfall. And that’s it. Added to the fact our beloved Sang’gres know nothing about their history which added to my eye-rolling moments.

Aquil - You may know me as an avid Danquil shipper but I highly disliked how they handled Aquil’s character for the requel. Gone was the Lirean mashna whose loyalty and dedication was at par with Danaya’s but was replaced by a lovestruck man whose character was mainly hinged on the stubborn Sang’gre. While we did see glimpses of Aquil’s loyalty to the Lirean crown but it was really lacking compared to the original. If Muros and the soldiers did not call Aquil “mashna”, I would think of him as a normal soldier who happens to be in love with Danaya. While yes, as a Danquil shipper I am satisfied with their scenes, but as a character he fell flat. And sorry Aquil, Muros made a better mashna. PS: I have no issues with Rocco’s acting. He did well. It’s the characterization I have issues with.

Ariana - Oh Ariana... So much has been said about Ariana but I’ll say this. On paper, the sarkosi/reincarnation concept was nice but it was the execution that fell flat. I will not touch upon Arra’s acting but there were so many plot holes that came along with Amihan’s reincarnation as Ariana. So when Ariana died and Amihan’s ivtre came in, why were Ariana’s memories retained? Where did Ariana’s ivtre go? It was answered in the finale since Ariana’s ivtre came along in the Devas bunch. But I thought the memories and consciousness of an encantado lie in their ivtre/spirit? I guess not. Also, the Ariana we saw is already the Sarkosi!Amihan version. Who is the real Ariana? Would the real Ariana still be chosen by the Air Gem as its next guardian? Will she still have feelings for Ybrahim without Amihan’s ivtre in her? So many questions about this tbh. I would’ve really preferred if they went with the typical reincarnation route where a newborn encantada will grow up discovering she was Amihan in her past life.

Production

The good

Special effects - While it still has room for improvement, I must say it has HUGELY improved since the original series! The transformation sequence, ivictus scenes and even the gem wielding scenes were very smooth. Just a bit more refinement especially in the rendering of creatures (ex. Arde’s dragon form, Ether’s snake form, etc.) and I truly believe we can be at par with other fantasy series. 

Fight scenes - This is what I really loved in this requel. The fight scenes are quicker and smoother compared to the original. Kylie’s martial arts skills were in full display and were duly appreciated by the fans in return. Even Sanya’s arnis skills did not go unnoticed. I also appreciated the fact that even the actors who didn’t necessarily have martial arts skills refrained from using stunt doubles (for most part I guess). At least you can see their dedication in really embodying their characters.

Costumes for Book 1 - I may be one of the few people who’ll say this but I loved the warrior gear for this version. Yes, it may looked less detailed or bongga than the original but I think it suited this requel’s modern fantasy feel. It also enabled the actors to move more freely (thus better fight scenes). I also appreciated the fact the Sang’gres were not shown in highly sexualized scenes despite their costumes being revealing (thank you Direk Mark for not doing what male Western fantasy directors usually do). As for the gowns, I was in love with the Francis Libiran gowns. I just wish that kind of costume aesthetic was maintained throughout the whole series... (more on that later). 

Kingdom throne room set design - I liked how unique each kingdom’s throne rooms looked like. From the airy Lirean throne room to the dark and ominous Hathorian throne room, it added to the emphasis of culture differences between each kingdoms. 

Soundtrack - Who here is getting goosebumps when you hear the remixed Tadhana at the start of each episode? Or the ethnic chanting during burial scenes? I think the Encantadia crew did a good job in composing unique music to use for the requel. I’m also glad they didn’t seem to reuse music from existing teleseryes. 

The bad

Too much studio filming - While I understand logistical constraints in shooting outside the studio but it contributed to the “fake” feel of the scenes. There were many scenes that could’ve been better if they were shot outdoors. There are times when the studio sets looked obviously fake. 

Costumes for Book 2 - In Book 2, we saw a time skip and naturally, we saw costume changes. However, a lot of them looked awkwardly stitched or ill-fitting to the actors. The general aesthetic also changed and sometimes out of place. I understand not all costumes can be “Francis Libiran level” but I wish the costume aesthetic was given more attention by the production crew. We also saw costume recycling within the actors especially with Sanya wearing Marian’s Mine-a gown (not a new occurrence though since Diana also wore Dawn’s Mine-a gown).

Overall

While there are many things to left to be said, overall, the Encantadia requel still proved to be a general success. Not only did it manage to rekindle childhood fantasy emotions from the fans of the original series but had also brought in a new generation of fans. 

Encantadia reinforced the notion of girl power and has once again showed us kickass and multi-dimensional women on TV. Encantadia also proved we can produce a successful fantasy series of our own aside from the ones Americans, Europeans or Koreans produce.

Do I want a Season 2? Of course but only if it can be better than the previous season with better commitment to the plot, character and actor handling :)

Avisala eshma to the whole Encantadia crew and to fellow fans who made the watching experience more colorful. If you managed to read the whole review, thank you as well. Feel free to leave comments or messages if you wish. I’ll be open to discussion :)

[ninjagoisacrime]

Can you tell me all the plot holes in Ninjago?

Sorry if I miss some, it’s been a while and I’m tired (also note this will include things that were oddly changed when it contradicts previous episodes, not just actual plot holes... and stuff that bothers me in general)

1. Wrong Place Wrong Time: After the Golden Weapons launched off into non existence when the boys went back in time, everything was relatively the same when they got back. If the weapons never existed it wouldn’t have gotten them to where they were. Lloyd would still be a child, the Great Devourer would be alive, etc. On top of that HOW could they still exist in their timeline at all, the whole thing with Pixal’s memories of a different programming was... odd. 

2. “Garmadon’s” Letter: Back in season 2, there was 0 mention of this. Misako makes it sound like she loved him because that’s who she was drawn to more. But of course we need to drum up some sympathy for Wu because like, he’s supposed to the good brother and best sensei. It made no sense to throw this into season 4 but I guess they ran out of ideas and in return wanted some new form of tension, even if they had to shoehorn that in.

3. Jay’s Parentage: “Out of all creations, this one was our greatest” that makes it sound like you made a baby, not groomed a child to be kind and smart and a good person. Hagebros had no business writing that just to change it up that his mom and dad were entirely different and he was adopted out of nowhere in ns6. It came out of left field and once more, wanted to cause drama.

4. Zane as Chen’s Prisoner: Zane got a body back, okay, but how did he and Pixal both end up on the island? Did Pixal not tell anyone she remade the body of the ice ninja and their best friend? How could NO ONE know? Not even Cyrus knew what happened. He seemed to know Pixal vanished one day, but he couldn’t figure out Zane was in the Borg Tower systems? I WANT ANSWERS DAMNIT

5. ECHO ZANE: This one bothers me so much. The fam were all staying at Julien’s place back in season 2... where the hell was this robot throughout all of that!? Julien would just abandon Echo there all on his own until Jay and Nya go back how many years later?! It makes no sense that they would add this character to it. 

6. Constant Job Changes: How many times are the ninja going to change careers at the start of a new season? In season 3 they were teachers, fine, whatever, I can accept this if they’re finally 18+, but in season 4 they abandoned the boarding school! What about their students and the tuition their parents probably paid?? (assuming this because they had uniforms). In season 5 they had a tea farm!? Where did they get all of this money!?

7. Ronin: So if the game (Shadow of Ronin) IS canon... how does Wu, Misako, and Nya not know who he is in the show? Yet the other five do? I get the feeling that only part of the game is canon as far as who Ronin is. Though if the game is canon, that would explain more of Zane and Pixal being on Chen’s island (though it doesn’t explain about Pixal not fruking telling anyone she rebuilt Zane because in a recording in game, it shows Ronin with Zane in a physical body and Pixal together)

8. Pythor: How... How many years can snakes survive without food? Because if the Serpentine War happened 100 years ago as to Pythor’s release... did he eat rotting carcass? How did he have a stable food supply?

9. That Freaking Serpentine War and Elemental Masters: Okay so I get it, elemental masters don’t age as fast so bla blah, that’s why 50 years can go by and Ray and Maya could have Kai and Nya and Garmadon and Wu could be alive... BUT... Misako was alive too yet she’s considered NOT an elemental master! She was alive during that time... also Chen! and... is Clouse even an elemental master? If elemental masters can only live so long how can these assumed non masters still age like them? And in season 7 Maya looks even younger in modern day! This is one of my biggest peeves with the story so far in regards to the explanation Tommy told us.

10. Wu’s Dragon: In season 1... IN FREAKING SEASON UNO, NYA ASKS WU IF HIS FLUTE COULD TURN INTO A FREAKING VEHICLE OR WHATEVER I CAN’T REMEMBER. Yet in season 5... HE HAD A FUCKING DRAGON. Way to stay consistent fam. This bothers me so much... on an unrelated note, why doesn’t Misako use her spinjitsu anymore when she needs to defend herself? Oh wait, do we need to have her be incapable so Wu can “swoop in to save the day” when it’s onviously unnecessary when they shown she could fight still? Back to the dragon thing though, yea, I call bullshit. 

I have a simple need; working new lore in while staying consistent. You would think that with the newer seasons at least we would get some actual plotline, but nope, everything gets more chaotic. 

I would touch more on Kai and Nya’s parents and about Nya’s memory of them and other stuff I’ve been reading about season 7, but I don’t know much about it. I would LOVE to hear the bullshit reason Ray and Maya are alive and back... I really would guys. 

Also, although I think the semi-confirmed timeline is STUPID, it does explain a tiny bit more as far as the adults and the war... at least a couple of things with that... (but I still want to fucking know ages and shit of the actual main characters and how a bunch of 16 year olds were approved to run a school if my understanding of their ages is right)

The plot just needs a bit of an overhaul... okay? After season 2, nothing is making sense and the plot got away from them way too much.

Sorry that was long. I tried to think of as many big ones as I could but it might take me a week to binge every single episode and write it all down. I really hate inconsistencies... can ya tell? 

-mod M

[starwarshyperdrive]

My Star Wars

This is editorial and highly subjective. I apologise in advance. The thing that annoys me the most is also the thing I love the most. The fact that there is not one Star Wars fandom, there are several. Star Wars is for everyone. All ages, all ethnicities and all walks of life. And I love that. At the same time there is a lot of room for things that I don’t love. Don’t get me wrong. Just because despite trying my best I just couldn't get into The Clone Wars (I still prefer the 2003 Star Wars: Clone Wars series) I don’t think that it’s inferior. I acknowledge it. I acknowledge Ashoka, but I just don’t get excited about it the same way I get excited about other stuff. That doesn’t mean that ‘my Star Wars is better than your Star Wars’, it just makes it more interesting and at the same time challenging. I see a lot of things contradicting my personal perception of what ‘the force’ is. Even seasoned fans with popular channels sometimes seem to have a completely different perception of what Star Wars is. And instead of thinking THEY ARE WRONG I started wondering where this is coming from. The fact that we all still love Star Wars just proves the universality of the mono myth as described by Joseph Campbell. You don’t have to understand why it speaks to you. It simply does. Does that mean you’ll have a hard time predicting the plot or understanding connections. Yes, no, maybe. After all - by now - it’s ‘just a story’ that’s being made up by other individuals. Not an universal truth. I came to the conclusion that every fan has it’s own unique Star Wars fandom, built out of a large pool of pick-and-chose parts. To understand mine, here is the kind of Star Wars fan I am and what I think about that subject.

I didn’t grow up on comic books. As a European suburban kid that always seemed uniquely American to me. I grew up influenced by the history of the land around me. Medieval castles, Roman ruins and pagan folktales. I was always very interested in history and movies. So thanks to - but not exclusively owing to - Indiana Jones my dream job as a child was archaeologist. So I chose Latin and Ancient Greek in school, further focusing on ancient myths of heroes going on journeys, seeking adventure and fighting evil. Jumping a few years ahead, I started to get interested in eastern philosophy. Everything always just brought me back to Star Wars or was in some way related or seemed very familiar in that way.

If I’m interested in something I always want to go to the core, to the source, so the natural development for me was to study Kendo. The way of the sword. Ironically one of the first things the Sensei told us ‘this is not Star Wars’, this is not ‘sword ballet’ Just one of the reasons why it pains me to see beautifully choreographed sword fights in movies (did someone say prequels?). Reality is fast, reality is quick and painful. The better you are the less movement there is. I fought with 80+ year old 8th Dan Japanese Sensei who didn’t seem to move at all. They won easily and it looked like they’d just stand there. Reminded me a lot of Darth Vader in A New Hope actually or SPOILER ALERT the way Obi Wan dealt with Maul in Rebels. Luke is still a learner in Empire Strikes Back and Vader is toying with him. Those fights seem authentic to me. Same goes for the way Kylo Ren fights in The Force Awakens. Someone who is too sure of himself and puts too much power into his fighting because he isn’t used to fighting someone even close to equal. Rey has the fluidity of someone with talent (and previous training). In a fight there are no unnecessary show-offy swirly moves. This would just give the opponent an opening. Granted, a lightsaber is a bit different. Whereas a sword, or saber has 1 or 2 sharp edges, a lightsaber is deadly no matter where it hits. But enough geeking out over Japanese swordsmanship.

As for the philosophy, I started meditating and again found a lot of similarities with the force as portrayed in Star Wars. Especially after or before a fight, we used to meditate. Before to focus. After to regulate the heart rate. Both in combination would what Qui Gon did, I have to assume. There are many stories about buddhist monks who managed to achieve things through meditation some consider to be unnatural. The Chinese and Japanese even have a word for it. Chi, or Ki - the life force. Clearly a major inspiration for George Lucas when he came up with the concept of the force. 

In the west and especially in our modern ‘we have solved and explained everything through science, there is nothing we do not know’ mindset we sometimes fail to see or understand other perspectives. So when someone talks about how a force ghost can’t do this or that or be at a certain time or space based on our ‘wordly’ limitations I have to wonder why they assume that force ghosts are limited the same we are. You don’t have to study quantum mechanics to be able to grasp the concept of more ‘timeless’ existence. The way I see it - once you’re one with the force you can pop up wherever and whenever you want. Ironically the fact that the midichlorians prove that the force can itself create life it also opens the door for reincarnation. I feel like a lot of people have problems understanding this concept of the force, which limits their comprehension a lot. Then again. Who am I to judge. But I think the force has to make sense in a philosophical kind of way. Something that parallels the myths on our own planet, be it Native American or Tibetan. This is also why I think seeing Star Wars through a Comic Book filter is bound to fail. And it’s why speculations of people too much into comic books tend to be wrong. I don’t know it very well but people suddenly turning good guys after being bad and killing people and no-one bats an eye, seems a bit too WWE wrestling for me. Motifs such as redemption and fallen heroes are a primal aspect of story telling. Enkidu in the epic of Gilgamesh couldn't return to his previous state once he spent too much time in civilisation. He went too far. The reason why Star Wars is so appealing is in my opinion because it speaks to this very essence of human story telling and repeats themes we heard and told over and over again for thousands of years. That and the fact that it mixes ‘fictional’ elements with real life. 

It always worked best when movie sets can be visited. We can identify with it. Avatars Pandora might be impressive and tantalising but at the same time, deep inside we know it is not real. Star Wars feels ‘more real’ even in it’s almost Freudian usage of the ‘slimy slug’ as gangster boss or someone named Greedo who’s claim to fame is trying to make a quick buck and even double crossing his boss to achieve that goal. There is no dead superhero who is suddenly someone else and then a giant human planet attacks. There are no superpowers. The force is something everyone can feel. To use another buddhist metapher. The mind is like a glass of dirty water, when you stir it it becomes cloudy. If you calm your mind, the dirt will settle and the water will be clear. In my understanding seeing clear water equals feeling the force.

Myths also serve as moral principles and teach us valuable lessons. Darth Vader was tricked into becoming a dark side apprentice. He had doubts. He was redeemable. Kylo Ren chose the dark side. He committed patricide. An element that can also be found in ancient myths from all around the world. An act that will always lead to the ultimate demise. Don’t go too far. Don’t cross the point of no return. Don’t turn around, Lot. or your wife will turn into a pillar of salt. 

Don’t turn around, Orpheus…

People talk about Anakin killing younglings (off camera) and use it as an argument that Kylo could turn to the light. If you look at historical themes this seems to me very unlikely and too comic booky for Star Wars. Which brings me back to why I didn't like The Clone Wars. Even though George Lucas stated that Star Wars is for 12 year olds, there has always been an additional element to it. Lets call it added depth. This depth I’m missing in The Clone Wars. Ashoka speaks up to her master and no-one is really acting the way they are supposed to act if they were Jedi or in some sort of military structure. Sure it’s good fun, but he constant disobeying of orders seems a bit..shall I say unrealistic (I’m aware of the irony). At the same time, that absolutely works for Star Wars Rebels. Kanan is an insecure half-Jedi teaching a street brat hungry for knowledge. While I’m not entirely on board for everything (you almost lost me at space whales) I am definitely a Rebels fan. The introduction of Thrawn gave me goosebumps and was the best thing that ever happened outside of the movies. I’m a strong advocate for the reboot and I never liked the old EU. Too many weird stories. The reboot came at the right time and was necessary. I never really followed it, but I’m all in when it comes to the new canon. I try to read all the books and get all the tiny bits and pieces of lore they hide in them.

As for the games, I know a lot of people like them and even though I’m not a gamer, I played most of them. Actually I exclusively play Star Wars games. I had a lot of fun with Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy and hope they do something similar again at some point. I also liked the Force Unleashed series and for a bit of fun the old Battlefront games. I don’t have a TV or console, so I couldn’t try out the new ones and I have yet to be convinced that a new game is so good that it warrants a purchase of the aforementioned. Of course I also played some Knights of the Old Republic and the visuals of the Sith are simply awesome. Darth Malak and Darth Nihilus are great. But somehow it seemed too detached from the Star Wars I knew. A bit of The Phantom Menace times a hundred. How often would designs and looks repeat themselves over thousands of years. And if it’s just a kind of similar look, then it might as well be Hunger Games with a lightsaber. I know a lot of people hope for an Old Republic movie or TV series. I’m not one of them. And I also think it’s not as marketable. The gaming target audience is huge but it’s not something that can easily be sold to the general audience. To quote Snoke ‘we shall see’. Of course I would watch and love it, but if I could chose I’d have other priorities, such as boba Fett never taking off his helmet in a movie unless it’s for 10 seconds and they get Temuera Morrison. Because: consistency.

Now for the movies.. There are several generations of Star Wars fans out there. Some say their favourite movie is Attack of the Clones. Some say their favourite character is Ashoka. If that’s what they grew up with that’s understandable. Star Wars is about emotions and association. If you grew up getting a battle droid for X-mas that’s the natural consequence. To me it still feels like a Christian saying that the local priest is better than Jesus. I can’t help it. The original trilogy is holy. Nothing can ever touch it. No matter how good the movie is it will never surpass 40 years worth of memories and experiences associated with the movies. I have seen the OT hundreds of times and they still hold up. When I watch the movies every couple of months I’m usually like ‘I forgot how awesome they are’.

Which brings me to the prequels. Yes I know. blabla, but.. I never had an issue with the prequels. I have always been an apologist, even though there are parts that tested my love. I don’t mind Jar Jar as much as I mind farting space gnus, but the pod racing scene always seemed much too long. And it seems longer every time I watch it. Apart from that I still hold on to the argument that the opulence and use of colours was a genius way to portray the fall of the republic and visualise the change to a bleak and cold empire. Of course the battle droids are no substitute for stormtroopers, but over all I’m surprisingly OK with The Phantom Menace. I would’ve preferred an older version of Anakin, but like I said.. it’s OK. It had Qui Gon Jinn in it. That immediately makes every movie five times better. Now Attack of the Clones is a different story entirely. I remember having high hopes for that one. The promotion back then seemed nice enough and the scene with the imperial march is still one of the most gripping scenes from the prequel trilogy and some of the battle scenes are really good. I’m talking about the clones, not the Jedi just pretend someone shoots at you CGI disaster. But that’s that.. The movie lacks a real opponent and the position is weirdly split between Count Dooku and Jango Fett. It somehow didn’t work for me. They should've kept Darth Maul. There is also something in Star Wars I don’t really like. Every bad guy needs a new and different lightsaber. In the end it make somehow sense for Kylo Ren, but did we need a bent one for Dooku, 4 for General Grievous, a Tonfa style in Force Unleashed, an upside down one for Ashoka, a helicopter lightsaber for the inquisitors. I mean it starts getting ridiculous. What’s wrong with a good old standard lightsaber. Thank you, Rey! (if she gets a saberstaff I’m ok with that). I recently rewatched Revenge of the Sith. I always liked it but for me - after watching The Force Awakens and Rogue One - it just didn’t hold up. It’s not Haydens fault though and the visual storytelling again is on point. The clouds increasing on the horizon to symbolise the fall to the dark side. Impeccable. And while I didn’t like the design the phase 1 clone trooper design, the phase 2 armours looks bad ass. It’s the unnecessary and completely out of place slapstick comedy that’s bothering me. The R2D2 vs. Battledroids scene in the beginning is the stupidest part of all movies. I always have to cringe. The CGI is also off.  

The Force Awakens on the other hand.. I’m not an impressionable person. Leaving the cinema I’m not like ‘WOOO THAT WAS AWESOME. BEST MOVIE EVER!!!’. I usually like to let it sink for a while and philosophise about what certain parts meant and such. I have seen it 14 times in the cinema. That should give you an indication whether or not I liked it. A guy told me ‘yeah.. I saw it 2 times, the first time I was like awesome, but the 2nd I didn’t like it at all. I give it 6 months and then it’s the next Phantom Menace’. Well it’s been 1 1/2 years and it’s still far from being the new Phantom Menace. Overall the movie feels just right for me. I think the argument that it’s a remake is plain stupid. Unless you make an entirely different movie and remove all that makes it Star Wars you will always have parallels. And if we stick to the mono myth theme it’s obvious that the new hero will have a similar journey. Yes, but… yes, but..  A weapon inside a planet might be round but it’s not a Death Star. If they’d contracted a new super star destroyer the experts on the internet would’ve said ‘it’s another shape but it’s just another death star. So there is no winning here. What I personally didn’t like was the fact that Han Solo wanted to put Cpt.Phasma in a trash compactor as if he’d be doing his ‘best of’ tour. Remember that, kid? You all like that, right? We were crazy back then. That seemed a bit lets say..pathetic. 

At first the rathtars bothered me but I somehow got used to them. Weird ball shaped monsters with tentacles seem to be both retro and Star Wars appropriate. The low budget cosplay look of Kanjiklub bothered me more. They looked more like the uninspired product of a costume designer on a budget for a cheap Nickelodeon series. I always thought it would be awful if Kylo took off his mask, but they way they did it worked perfectly. Most of the ‘plot holes’ people talk about can easily fixed by either watching the movie closely, thinking or being patient. Why do we need everything laid out and explained? I like that The Force Awakens left some questions open. I also think the often discussed scene - that even Mark Hamill himself would’ve loved to do - of him catching the lightsaber at the end would've completely defeated the purpose. Fan sometimes seem  like kids that want to eat sweets all day. Don't give them everything they want. They don't know what’s good for them. This plot would've been disastrous and much too tacky. ‘was someone Luke-ing for me?’ Star Wars is not an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.

Speaking of what’s good for fans. Rogue One. Holy moly. Can Gareth Edwards please do every Star Wars movie now? (Unrelated: I’m a bit worried about Han Solo) When Star Wars episodic movies are for 12 year olds, then Rogue One is what happens if you look at the Star Wars universe through the eyes of an adult. Rogue One was intense. I’m lost for words. If it wasn’t for the sanctity of the OT Rogue One might as well be my favourite movie. We got introduced to new aspects of the force. Showing once more that the Jedi dogmatic approach that lead to their demise is just one way of interpretation the force, which reminded me of the buddhist saying ‘there are may ferries leading to the other shore’. There are mystics and pragmatists but in the end we’re all one in the force. Chirrut and Baze are two sides of the same coin. The one who loses faith and the other one who trusts the force. It doesn’t matter if they are gay. That’s quite frankly insulting and ignorant. The way I understood their bond was beyond puny worldly understanding. A spiritual bond. Brothers in the force. And I’m so glad they didn’t make a love story out of Jyn and Cassian. Out of the same reason. Not every bond has to be sexual. That’s a shallow assumption. I wouldn't have minded if someone would’ve survived, but that’s the way things go. A bold move and it breaks my heart every time I watch the movie. It puts so much weight on the sacrifice they made for the rebellion. Everything else would've been wrong. No matter how much I would’ve liked them to survive. At the end of the day we all want a happy ending.

Going forward..where do I think will the franchise go?

I’m just worried that at some point they will cast aside the traditional storytelling aspect in favour of a more comic book style popcorn cinema approach. I don’t think we’re there yet and I hope they are aware of what Star Wars is about and don’t try to jump on some train that is selling well at the moment. Kathleen Kennedy and the story group seem to be on top of it and seem to be very aware of that. Also luckily Star Wars is still No.1 but for the unlucky case that Guardians of the Galaxy or Avatar are more successful, if that ever happens, I fear movie executives do what movie executives always do and ruin everything by desperately trying to sell. Be it by doing a reboot with whoever is popular at the time. The next Jennifer Lawrence as young Leia or the next Zach Efron as Han Solo or by just copying the highest grossing movie. Marketing will make sure the general public will like it but what about us smart ass fans?

Predictions for The Last Jedi: Did/will Luke turn to the dark side? Of course not. Luke made his decision in Return of the Jedi. I can only assume that the reason why he became a hermit has something to do with the fact that sometimes doing nothing is the best option. Just like in the educational game September 12th. Everytime you shoot a terrorist, you create more of them in response until the entire game is populated by terrorists. Sometimes you have to cut your losses and not get involved to avoid even worse consequences. History is often repeating itself, so why wouldn’t Luke do the same thing they did to him? Hide a force sensitive relative in a remote place? There are several ways this could pan out, but it has been said repeatedly that Star Wars is about the Skywalker lineage. Kylo will never be redeemed, so it doesn’t really make sense to focus on him. There is only one person left. There seem to be a lot of people thinking she is a Kenobi. Which brings me back to the The Clone Wars. Obi Wan might have had feelings for someone, but Obi Wan abided the Jedi code. There is no way she is a Kenobi. Also from a storytelling point of view. The jump would be too big. The regular audience would be like ‘WHAT!?!’ and it would just be lazy storytelling. Yeah btw Obi Wan totally did it. And you are his granddaughter, because he hid his daughter well. We will also not have the time to explain who your father is, so just bear with us. NEVER GONNA HAPPEN. People seem to have a big problem grasping the Jedi concept of non-attachment which is a 100% Buddhist concept. It’s not about being living in celibacy. Anakin even says it. It’s about attachment, which leads to the fear of loss. Just take spies. They aren’t forbidden to marry. They have to accept that their family can be used against them which makes them vulnerable. Which is exactly the point, both physically and philosophically. So this attachment is what ultimately led to Anakin's downfall. Makes me wonder ‘have you understood NOTHING?’. Obi Wan might be able to see through the problems caused by the Jedi orders institutionalised dogma rules but he surely won’t make the same mistake as Anakin. Rey has to be a Skywalker. Even C3PO theoretically is. Family finds family in Star Wars. She might not even be Lukes daughter. There is a way to squeeze in a ‘Ben started acting strange so we hid his little sister from him’ explanation. He says ‘so it is you’. That can be everything or nothing. And Snoke. He will most likely be a nobody. A wizard of Oz. I expect him to be some slimy poser ex-politician, who is as much of an imposter as Kylo is. Someone once theorised that Kylo might kill him at some point, which would be a nice twist on the Darth Vader / Emperor relationship. A lot can happen in some 30 years and we don’t know half of it, so it will be interesting to see how they fill the gaps. 

To return to The Last Jedi - there are rumours that indicate that (SPOILER ALERT) Benicio DelToro won’t be some super duper Baddie, but much rather a sleazy casino owner kind of guy. I’m really looking forward to seeing his performance. He will bring gravitas to whoever his character is. Even if he is just another Dexter Jettster. 

At this point I have no clue what the plot will be. I have no clue how Carrie Fishers death will affect the plot. I kinda expected the legacy characters to die one by one, the same way Obi Wan, Yoda and Darth Vader did. Now Carrie Fishers family said that there won’t be a CGI Leia in Episode 9. Lets just say, if she died in The Last Jedi and that was the plan all along there’s no way they’d say ‘all good, we don't need reshoots’. Could all be a diversion. Leias death on screen would definitely give the movie an additional emotional momentum. Just look at what happened with Fast & Furious after Paul Walker died.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: The Marvel Cinematic Universe

That’s right, I am reviewing the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe in a single, definitive essay! Why would I, a single, brave and foolhardy man dare tackle such a task?

Because I can’t actually be bothered to write about most of the films individually.

The usual reason I write these reviews is to shine a light on media that lacks a wide appeal and does something interesting with its storytelling. I want to write stories, and studying the works of others is a good way to do that.

Now, I like the Marvel Cinematic Universe quite a lot. There somethings I’d like to be done a little differently, and I do dislike how it’s becoming increasingly locked with continuity so you have to pretty much watch the whole thing as a 19-part film series, but it executes on its promises.

Point is, I watched Avengers: Infinity War after dedicating a significant amount of time catching up on the films.

I also realized that by ranking the films, you can get a good approximation on a person’s narrative preferences.

So I’ll give a quick blurb on the films before listing them.

So enough forwarding, let’s go through these films. Spoilers, obviously.

To be fair, there’s a rift part way through. I started my catch-up with The Winter Soldier, so it’s been years since I watched anything before that. I’ll mark the rift and preemptively admit that early films may deserve better than I give.

Iron Man

The film that started it all, much to everyone’s excitement. It’s probably the most conventional superhero film of the series, but it did it’s job very well.

The Incredible Hulk

The most forgettable film. Very little carried over from it, to the point that it might as well no longer be canon.

Iron Man 2

Starts putting the work into actually building the MCU, but the story itself is one of the weakest.

Thor

I actually really liked Thor. Seems to usually be considered one of the lesser films, but I liked the fish out of water narrative, Thor himself is very charismatic, and Loki remains one of the MCU’s better written villains.

It also begins to establish that Thor has the potential for strong comedy. Just takes them a while to finally realize the potential.

Really, my biggest gripe is the ‘Norse Magic is just highly advanced technology’ angle that poisoned magic for so long. I like fantasy, and I really like how Superhero universes throw genres into a blender to make a colorful Speculative Fiction smoothie. Let magic be magic!

Captain America: The First Avenger

The subtitle’s a bit egregious, but this is my favorite of the phase one films. Good period piece, good hero, and the Red Skull is a level of pulpy villain I want more of.

The Avengers

So I seem to be one of the few who think this film was just okay. A landmark of shared universe films, yes, but I found the story wanting. Just a bunch of set up to fight aliens in New York, but nothing I feel I could sink my teeth into. It’s fine.

Iron Man 3

Another unexciting film. Tony Stark keeps learning the same ‘be a better person’ lesson, and I’m tired of it.

The Mandarin Twist was killer, though. The sort of playing with lore the series needs to take advantage of. The films are… let’s call it a dusty slate. There’s a lot of toys to play with, and expectations for how to use them, but it’s a chance to take a deep breath and streamline things. Incidentally, racism is a great topic to iron out while we’re here.

Thor: The Dark World

Yeah, not even I can defend this one. I liked the set designs. But Christopher Eccleston is wasted.[1] The plot was muddy. Jane Foster[2] twisted the knife in the corpse of Asgard Magic.

I actually did want to give this movie a rewatch, but it wasn’t checked in to the library when I started the undertaking, and I recalled it being unimpressive in the theaters. Good opening fight scene, though.

The Rift (Oooh, scary)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Not one of my favorites. Winter Soldier seems to be very well regarded, but both times I watched it, I found myself bored. It takes itself way too seriously for a Comic Book Movie, and it's very heavy on action scenes built around gun firing and punching that I don't enjoy.

The plot is built on a relatively subdued premise, questioning political corruption and monitoring the citizenry. There's also no grandiose villain.

Winter of Soldier fails to feel larger than life, and besides affirming Steve Rogers’ dedication to Bucky, it doesn't feel like it left much of an impact on the universe. So it falls short on my personal list.

Guardians of the Galaxy

Ah, finally, the movies are cutting loose. About time.

Guardians of the Galaxy is fun. Can't we just have fun? Yes. And we should.

Actual color design, fresh and exciting cast, fantastical setting, and actually making the bland villain work by having Ronan be essentially a force of nature instead of a person.

Also a soundtrack so distinctive it’s a calling card as good as Captain America’s shield. And it stands on its own legs, while all the previous films pretty much used the mounting lore as scaffolding.

And it’s just fun. It makes me smile and want to watch it again soon after watching.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

Sigh.

So, first viewing I couldn’t maintain focus. Second viewing, I could focus on Ultron’s scenes through the second act before it all goes blurry.

There’s too many characters. I’m not sure I can even give any reasonable summary of the plot. A bunch of dull, shakey cam fight scenes, the entire cast taken to their blandest characterization, and just… ugh.

Also, Ultron is supposed to be a Pym creation. He looks like a bug. This makes no sense.

The worst part is later films keep referring to the events of Age of Ultron like anyone could comprehend what happened.

I’m even putting it below The Dark World, because that one at least had some interesting visual and notable scenes.

Ant-Man

A superhero heist film.

Goofy characters and witty dialogue.

Fight scenes I enjoy.

I really like Ant-Man. It’s a good origin film, the heroes are all the right sort of dingy white to make them likeable and interesting.

And it finally helped me realize what I want from combat: visual clarity, inventive choreography, and originality.[3] Because of the gimmick of shrinking and growing, the camera needs to actually frame the scenes to show off scale. And playing with scale also makes the fights interesting, since you never fully know what will come into play and how.

Also, I just enjoy heist films. The more ridiculous the better.

Captain America: Civil War

Sorry, but I’m on team ‘This is Avengers 2.5’. But, in that light, still notably better than previous team up movies.

Yes, it’s mostly about Captain America and Iron Man, but just about everyone who appears gets their narratives progressed somewhat, the plot is clear once we get past discussing the Accords (which themselves are boring).

The only complaint I have is I feel they fired this particular plot a bit early. From my layman understanding of the original comics, one of the main thrusts of the Civil War was oversight, yes, but also maintaining secret identities, which, if they let the roster build up some (including more secret identities)[4] it would be much more easy to follow than ‘We can’t let what happened in Age of Ultron happen again!’ Because no one knows what happened in that movie.

Also, big points for not killing the Bad Guy. It should be a low bar, but I personally hate the tradition of villains dying for their crimes. It’s overdone, and limits the talent pool for later stories.

Doctor Strange

I liked this movie, but also don’t know if I have much to say. They’re finally letting Magic be Magic, which I am 100% down with. An element of Dark magic not being evil magic[5]

The bad guys were forgettable. The Good Guys fun. I’m waiting to see more, but there’s a lot of good will built up.

Should’ve cast more Asian actors, though.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

‘Well, you love the first one, does the second one exceed it?’

No. But that’s fine. There’s a few clumsy attempts to recapture lightning that don’t pan out, but it’s not particularly hindered by it. The absurdity and joyous joke-cracking continued, and the pathos that was introduced was earned.

It’s a good movie, a worthy successor to the first, but doesn’t quite beat the original on my personal list.

Spider-Man Homecoming

Title’s kind of on the nose, isn’t it Marvel?

Fun fact, I haven’t seen any of the Andrew Garfield films as my stance was ‘I’m voting with my wallet, and I want Spidey in the MCU.’ Now that that happened, the two The Amazing Spider-Man movies don’t matter anyways!

Tom Holland is perfect for the role, both in the suit and out as he manages to capture awkward youth at a level never before seen. The plot’s interesting (even though the big twist was spoiled for me),[6] the movie drips with charm, and it’s fun to see Marvel’s big money maker fight DC’s![7]

Homecoming does perpetuate the conflict with poor communication (Happy’s indifference is narratively justified, Iron Man’s not), but they also let the villain live at the end, so I guess it cancels out?

Good movie. I recommend it.

Thor: Ragnarok

I’m… okay with this film?

So the creative team finally figure out comedy is Thor’s strength and leaned into it, which I, of course, love. But the story also feels unfocused. Is it about Thor versus his family? Oh, wait, now he’s on an alien world in a coliseum. But there’s just one fight before he easily escapes. Hulk’s back, and Hulk himself is an actual character! But Hulk and Banner don’t have much effect on the plot once away from the Grand Master. And suddenly we’re back to the Asgard stuff.

Narratively, it works, but the stuff with Grand Master felt more like a diversion than actual meat. Still, they’ve shifted the tone of Thor films to that of Guardians of the Galaxy so I’m not upset.

Excited for whatever’s next, but Ragnarok didn’t pump me up like most people.

Still, hopefully the Earth-based movies catch on and lighten up.

Black Panther

I liked it, but also feel underqualified to discuss it. Saw it in theaters, so that was fun!

Lot of villain killing, though, which is a shame since Klaue was oddly affable. I want way more than we got of him!

There’s a lot of good storytelling through design and minor actions (I particularly love how Killmonger snapped his spear in half to make a shortspear). They did a good job of carefully modulating the mood with well placed jokes (especially with M’Baku, who took such joy in messing with unexpected guests).

It’s a good film for a hero that I don’t know much about, and I’m interested for more.

Avengers: Infinity War

Ah, finally, the big moment! Did they stick the landing?

Yes! Then they took another jump, so I’m waiting to see if they can finish the gymnastic routine.

At the very least, Infinity War has vastly exceeded the previous Avenger films. The universe is bigger now, and everyone’s involved and I could follow every plot point! So big applause for that.

I’ve got a couple nitpicks, of course. I wish they stuck with Thanos’s original motivation[8] just to continue to embrace the absurdities of comic storylines. The whole ‘we need to cut all populations in half’ doesn’t stand up to any thought (populations repleniish, you could’ve doubled resources, heck, turn it into a Long Earth situation, you stupid purple Homer Simpson).

But all the praise is (currently) right. It’s a good movie.

Admittedly, the scenes actually taking place on Earth weren’t as compelling as Thanos’s quest, Thor’s mission, or the Guardians meeting Tony Stark’s team, but that’s just a summary of the whole franchise. I enjoy it more when they go high concept and have fun.

They could’ve chosen the deaths better. It’s a mix of unfair (all but one of my Guardians had to go!?), and overly obvious with impermanence (Spider-Man can’t stay dead, Sony will riot).

Also, didn’t really feel much like a war.

The List

Final Standings from worst to best(based on my personal impressions)

The Incredible Hulk Avengers: Age of Ultron Thor: The Dark World Iron Man 2 Iron Man 3 Captain America: The Winter Soldier The Avengers Iron Man 1 Thor Captain America: Civil War Doctor Strange Black Panther Captain America: the First Avenger Thor: Ragnarok Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Spider-Man Homecoming Ant-Man Guardians of the Galaxy

Now, you may be asking ‘Where’s Infinity War?’

That’s a fair question. I’m holding off on ranking it because it’s obviously a Part One. Its story is currently incomplete, and there’s also the chance the next film will sour the first. It happens. But as it stands, it’d be Top 5, easy.

So, what can we divine about me from this ranking? I enjoy fun and high concepts. The more gritty and ‘real’ you try to make your story, or repeatedly spinning your wheels is a detriment. I’m also very much a character-first guy.

Maybe there’s something else you can interpret. Feel free to send me any feedback you’ve got. I enjoy thinking about my entertainment.

As for what’s coming up in the MCU? Well, the next film is a sequel to Ant-Man, my second favorite film, so that’s exciting. We’ve also got Captain Marvel, a character I know next to nothing about, which really excites me. It’ll be fun to get introduced to completely new lore, without my nerdy foreknowledge questioning choices.

Then there’s Infinity War part 2 (or whatever they’re going to call it). Now, personally, I want Thanos to be defeated by Squirrel Girl because I am a massive nerd. But I know that won’t happen. But Part One built up good faith the first two Avenger film squandered, so I’m anticipating it.

All in all, feels like the movies are moving into a good direction. I’m still trepidatious about the inter-film lore getting too entangled, but solving the Thanos situation is a good point to back off and just focus on telling good individual stories.

At least until they can bring in Dr. Doom. No one else would dare follow Thanos except DOOM!

Thanks for reading. Feel free to send me questions and comments, check out my various other works, and support my patreon. Help fund the extended Canvas Universe.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Not that he ever seems to like the jobs he takes. [2] Who also clearly wants a divorce from this franchise. She hasn’t been relevant… ever, really. [3] The final battle of Guardians of the Galaxy adds ‘clear goals’ to the list. Baddies want to touch the ground, good guys need to prevent that. Defined endstates. [4] My stance on this tropes has always been ‘Keep secret from the general public, but tell your dang Aunt, Peter.’ [5] I don’t talk about it much, but it’s one of my lesser irks. Why can’t Darkness be good, or at least a true neutral force. Night time’s nice. [6] Thanks Reddit. [7] Micheal Keaton’s great. [8] Let Thanos be in love with Death, you cowards!