#(creature power and ninja stars)

[thinly-veiled-bunny]

First fic just dropped!

Yall I'm actually pretty proud of it :]

[weirdmarioenemies]

SURPRISE! Did you think the day would come when we would cover Love Live on this blog? I didn't!

Yohane the Parhelion: Blaze in the Deepblue is the Metroidvania-style game based on the fantasy spin-off of Love Live Sunshine, but you probably don't care about that! Statistically speaking, our target audience is Bogleech readers who are deeply revolted by anime girls!

So why bring up? Why bring it up? The answer is 🐠 FUNNY FISH! It's Funny Fish Friday!

Since this game is set in an underwater temple, the enemies this game are all based on sea creatures, and that's cool! Again, statistically speaking, you probably think sea creatures are cool. I really liked seeing the variety of enemies when playing through this game, so I thought it'd be fun if I could share them with an audience of people who otherwise wouldn't care! None of the enemies really have names, as far as I'm aware of. But I'll do my Rubesty...?

Our first guy we encounter in the game is the sort of guy who emerges from the ground like the Zombies from Castlevania, and wow! A good first impression I think. It is sort of a squid mantle, if the mantle was also a cloak for a spooky sort of wizard! The way it doesn't really have a 'face' in the hood and the eye is below really makes it seem like a weird mimic creature. Cool!

They also get a tough lategame variant which looks like a mix between a flapjack and a vampire squid. You don't often see flapjacks be designed as scary!

---

Next is Barnacles! A whole clump of them, like a cake. They shoot Energy Balls at you. Is this what Barnacles can do if they combine their powers...? The top actually opens up, and it looks a lot like a sea urchin's mouth! So maybe it is some sort of naked urchin creature covered in barnacles? Game Theory!

There are also barnacles with Ice Powers. Like real life!

---

Let's give it up for Garden Eel!!!!

What a fine Garden Eel it is! Complete with the sort of grumpy face, and with the addition of two little arms that make it look like it's praying or maybe a bit shy. But it is mean! It also spits energy balls at you, then hides in the hole so you can't hit it. How very sneaky!

SO sneaky, in fact, that these eels have mastered the art of ninjutsu! The ninja eel shows up for a split second in one single room, before smoke bombing away. You'd have to use a time freeze power to get him, but I never got around to doing that. I don't have any beef with a ninja eel! I respect him and his training!

Did someone say CTENOPHORE? I hope you did, or my hearing has really gotten worse. This thing is a grade A ctenophore, only with a ring of Scary Teeth! A little scary to think of a ctenophore who could Bite you, but nonetheless this deserves a :ctenopog:!

---

Let's not forget Fish Vortex! Fish Vortex was the first guy to make me go 'wow, this game's enemies really are awesome!' So of course I had to put him at the top of the post! He is my selling point! I am selling all these enemies to you. For 4.99 a pop!

Anyway. This design is just so funny and cool at the same time. A swirling school of fish that leads into an endless dark abyss, and in the middle, a big eyeball. Also covered in fish. It shoots fish at you! Yay!

There is also a pink variant - it shoots fish that give you the Solitude status effect, which basically just makes Yohane too depressed to summon her friends. Meaning? They are Depression Fish! Maybe she just becomes so jealous of the unity and teamwork of these sardines. She's me like just for real! ^_^

---

isopot :)

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This slug is an umbrella. That is ridiculous! Ridiculously EPIC! It does the opposite of shield you from rain, which is create rain, that kills you. But I would still want one as an umbrella.

---

When I first saw this thing, I thought it was some strange round Echimoderm I had never heard of. But upon further inspection (I actually asked Mod Chikako shh), it is obviously like a Brittle Star, with each arm folded round to form a wheel! How creative and fun! It even has a bunch of eyes like a starfish!

---

Last but not least- sushi! There are sushi guys and they are cute. They don't really do much and are typically found in their own rooms, so I'm not sure what the point of them is. But finding a funny walking sushi should be a reward in of itself, I guess! Look at their funny rice feet! Or the one with the roe eyes!

I happened to use fire magic on one of them and this happened. Oopsies...

Now I am sure you are saying, thank you for showing me all these funny enemies. But are there any cool bosses? Of course there are, me! What's a Metroidvania without cool bosses? So I shall show you my favorites without delay!

First is this freak (affectionate)! It is a sort of amalgamation of lots of different animals and I think it just looks plain cool! Two squid mantles combined into one, a bit of a sea angel shape, bug legs and of course a great big eyeball!

If it is not freaky enough for you, let it be known that the bug legs turn into big green skeleton hands, and it also keeps getting pinker, and it grows new eyes and then extra horns grow out of those eyes. If THAT is not freaky enough for you then I am sorry but I cannot do anything about that.

---

Now, how about a sampling of this Freaken Thang? It honestly doesn't seem that sea-creature themed, but it uses seashells so I guess it counts!

What is really neat is that this boss has two different forms, upside down and rightside up! When it is upside down it looks a bit like a Magolor type creature. And of course, I really like the flame thing in the middle as well, that really feels like a Kirby enemy or something! Like a wisp made of plasma!

---

Fans of Anomalocaris won't be disappointed by this one! It's a big Anomalocaris tank and boy is it cool! There's something for everyone here, whether you're an Anomalocaris purist or you've always wanted to see it turn into a sort of futuristic beast with a screen mouth that shoots lasers! It really is the future, zura...

---

After covering all these wacky creatures, I'm going to have to end it off with the final boss! What could the big bad, the ultimate boss of all these sea monsters even be, I wonder? Well, it's...

...a coelecanth. Just a big coelacanth! It is big and blue! And really, does it need to be anything else? It is such an honor to make the biggest ultimate boss a coelacanth. It is even pretty cute!! Think he's smiling! 😊

Uh oh! Is it still cute? I guess so. My first thought seeing this was of course the world-renowned tongue eating isopod, so I really hope it was an intentional reference! It probably just wants to shake hands. Still, a pretty simplistic design for our final boss, right?

Buu buu! Its true form actually looks like this! Actually, it's kind of doing too much. Like let's tone it down a little?

So!! We beat the mega ultra coelacanth, and now we can find out what his motivation is! And it is... that he is the memories of the people of the past or something. And they all didn't want to be forgotten, so they turned into fish monsters! But we forgive them!

It doesn't really matter. All the girlies gather around and sing him a song. Look how happy he is! I forgot I was talking about a Love Live game until now, actually. All's well that ends well, the end, et cetera! Hit it, Yohane! [imagine this is like the end of a kids movie where all the Love Live girls are having a dance party and there is a shot of the big coelacanth in jail and he's tapping his mouth fingers along to the beat]

[drawing-by-the-bonfire]

♫ To be the wolf ♪ Following the journey to my soul ♪ The wolf ♪ Howling to me, calling to me ♫

— 𖤐 Introduction ⌗

Hello! You can call us Bonfire! We're a DID SMP that's just here to make art and play Minecraft. It's a pleasure to meet you!

Oh, but this is just our art blog! Our SMP blog is @the-bonfiresmp and some of our members' side blogs can be found here if they feel comfortable sharing their blog.

You may have noticed that we don't refer to ourselves as a DID system but rather a DID SMP. We use different system language than other systems when referring to ourselves. It is for our own comfort. A masterlist of our system language/preferred terms can be found here.

— 𖤐 Socials ⌗

Art Fight is forestbonfire.

Discord is forestbonfire.

Instagram is tommyinnit_takeover.

Simply Plural is The_BonfireSMP.

Art by our friend @gh0stttea!

— 𖤐 Boundaries ⌗

We are in a relationship with another system, so please do not flirt unsolicited or be suggestive without first asking to see if it is okay with the both of us.

Please, no comparing us to omegaverse or suggesting that we are a furry. Nothing wrong with either of those communities, but we're not apart of the omegaverse community, nor are we a furry. We're a pterolycus alterhuman/otherkin.

Don't roleplay with our members and don't treat them like their source unless they ask you to. Thank you.

— 𖤐 Do Not Interact ⌗

No DNI except for fakeclaimers, blatant haters/pricks, and spam/trolls/bots, etc.

— 𖤐 Divider Credits ⌗

Dividers by @sisterlucifergraphics

Dividers by @hyuneskkami

— 𖤐 Our Fandoms ⌗

our faves will be boldened!

TADC, DSMP, Pirates SMP, tales from the SMP , Secret Life, FNAF, epithet erased, eddsworl, Soul eater, Fire Force, Minecraft , Terraria , Creatures of Sonaria , Regretevator , Pressure , Doors , Grace , Delusional Office , Cuphead , SCP , Cookie run kingdom, Inscryption, Stardew, Undertale , Pokemon , D&D , The Walton Files , The Sun Is Missing, Welcome home , Danny Phantom, RWBY, DC Comics (Specifically centered around Gotham/Batman characters) , Somethings Wrong With Sunny Day Jack , The Groom Of Gallagher Mansion , Gavril , Frost Bite , Your Boyfriend , The Bible , Marvel , Spiderverse , Poppy's Playtime , Markiplier (Including ADWM and ISWM) , Lego Monkie Kid , My Hero Academia , Danganrompa , My Little Pony G4 (including infection AUs) , Clinical Trial , Bo Burnam , NCIS , Green Book , Blood Blockade Battlefront , Overwatch , Honkai Star Rail , The Dragon Prince , EPIC , Epic the Musical , Black Butler , Once Upon A Witchlight , The Flash , Transformers , The Green Knight , Doctor Who , Jungle Juice , clinic of horrors , Of swamp and sea , just a goblin, ultimate shut in, the city under saturn, dark zone, the blind prince , suitor armor , the commune , enderbomb , time and time again , castle swimmer , gacha life 2 , love and deepspace , life makeover , moonknight , zootopia , black mirror , mincreaft args (including all of wifies' zachobuild's, render's, and kunai's content and dont look at the moon by RT60), one piece, love death and robots, steven universe, beastars, godzilla, scooby doo , supernatural , arcane, dexter , z nation , cells at work , hot skull (I GOT THE WHOLE ASS BOOK IN TURKISH BECAUSE IT HAD NO ENGLISH TRANSLATED COPIES) , squid game , the wild robot , monkey man , john wick , the pitt , avatar the last airbender , avatar , she-ra and the princesses of power , carmen sandiego , pokemon , kakegurui, bee and puppycat , megamind , the umbrella academy , black summer , strange magic , hellsing , jurassic park franchise , criminal minds, hells paradise , castlevania , dungeun meshi , riiiiise offf the… teenage mutant ninja turtlesss! , nimona , brand new animal , pracific rim (NOT THE SECOND MOVIE ISTG), Sonic the hedgehog, demon slayer, invincible, soma, five nights at candies, encanto, detroit become human, little carly and little kelly adventures, stampy long nose/long head, mine nights at freddy's entire series/movie, mango tango's fnaf series, league of legends, sinners

— 𖤐 Our Fictionkins ⌗

Tommyinnit from the DSMP, Sandy from LMK, Music Meister from DC, Leonardo Lionheart from RWBY, James Ironwood from RWBY, Forgetmenot from X-Men Comics, Carl Davidson from Jungle Juice, Wolverine from X-Men Comics

[clarktooncrossing]

DIDN'T WANNA FEEL OLD IN 2025? SUCKS TO BE YOU!

HEY THERE PEOPLE OF TODAY AND ROBOTS OF TOMORROW! IT'S ME, CLARK!

Y'know what's funny? All last year peeps kept liking my 'Didn't Wanna Feel Old' journal from 2023. One commenter said I should make a new one for 2024. Jee, ya' don't say? Guess you missed how that was already a thing. Was nobody interested in seeing what all reached a major milestone back in 2024? Ghostbusters, Ninja Turtles, Transformers, they all celebrated their 40th Anniversary, Lion King had its 30th, a lot of cool stuff got that much older. Shame nobody seemed to notice. Ah well, maybe 2025 will be better. Especially when a certain someone is celebrating his own major milestone this year. When, exactly? Read to find out!

Key

Movie

Television

Music

Video Game

Theme Park ride

Comics

Date of Debut

Anything from 1975 turns 50 this year, including...

"Low Rider" by War

Space Mountain (Magic Kingdom) - January 15th

The Jeffersons - January 18th

"Shining Star" by Earth, Wind, & Fire - January 21st

Barney Miller - January 23rd

"Mamma Mia" by ABBA - March 12th

Terror of Mechagodzilla - March 15th

"Sister Golden Hair" by America - March 19th

Disney Springs - March 22nd

Monty Python and the Holy Grail - April 3rd

Microsoft - April 4th

Super Sentai - April 5th

Aerosmith's Toys in the Attic - April 8th

Bronze Tiger (DC Comics) - May

"Rhinestone Cowboy" by Glen Campbell - May 26th

"Fame" by David Bowie - June 2nd

Chicago - June 3rd

"One of Those Nights" by Eagles - June 10th

"That's the Way (I Like It)" by KC and the Sunshine Band - June 10th

"Why Can't We Be Friends?" by War - June 16th

Jaws - June 20th

The Apple Dumpling Gang - July 1st

Moon Knight (MARVEL) - August

The Rocky Horror Picture Show - August 15th

The Great Grape Ape Show - September 6th

The New Tom & Jerry Show - September 6th

Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here - September 12th

Ben Reily (MARVEL) - October

Saturday Night Live - October 11th

The Wiz - October 21st

"Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen - October 31st

NBC's Wonder Woman - November 7th

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - November 19th

Lady Shiva (DC Comics) - December

Anything from 1980 turns 45 this year, including...

X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga / Emma Frost / Kitty Pryde (MARVEL) - January

Dazzler (MARVEL) - February

Hobgoblin (MARVEL) - March

"Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. - March 11th

Game & Watch - April 28th

Taskmaster (MARVEL) - May

Friday the 13th - May 9th

"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" by Billy Joel - May 12th

The Empire Strikes Back - May 21st

The Blues Brothers - June 20th

Herbie Goes Bananas - June 27th

Missile Command - July

PAC-MAN - July

Airplane! - July 2nd

Cheech and Chong's Next Movie - July 18th

Caddyshack - July 25th

Xanadu - August 8th

"Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen - August 22nd

The New Teen Titans (DC Comics) - October

The Creature Commandos (DC Comics) - November

The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo - November 8th

Alligator - November 14th

Flash Gordon - December 5th

Magnum, P.I. - December 11th

Popeye - December 12th

9 to 5 - December 19th

Anything from 1985 turns 40 this year, including...

Ice Climber - January 30th

Brazil - February 20th

"Crazy for You" by Madonna - March 2nd

Moonlighting - March 3rd

"We Are the World" by USA for Africa - March 7th

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Tears for Fears - March 15th

Friday the 13th: A New Beginning - March 22nd

The Care Bears Movie - March 29th

Casey Jones (TMNT) - April

Crisis on Infinite Earths (DC Comics) - April

Web of Spider-Man (MARVEL) - April

Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? - April 23rd

Commando - May

Mogo (DC Comics) - May

Rambo: First Blood Part II - May 22nd

John Constantine (DC Comics) - June

Silver Sable (MARVEL) - June

The Goonies - June 7th

"The Power of Love" by Huey Lewis and the News - June 17th

Return to Oz - June 21st

"Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits - June 28th

St. Elmo's Fire - June 28th

Secret Wars II (MARVEL) - July

Back to the Future - July 3rd

Red Sonja - July 3rd

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome - July 10th

Ghosts 'n Goblins - July 17th

Day of the Dead - July 19th

The Black Cauldron - July 24th

National Lampoon's European Vacation - July 26th

R.O.B. - July 26th

Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird - August 2nd

Weird Science - August 2nd

Pee-wee's Big Adventure - August 9th

Teen Wolf - August 23rd

"We Built This City" by Starship - August 26th

The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo - September 7th

Ewoks - September 7th

Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO - September 7th

ThunderCats - September 9th

Super Mario Bros. - September 13th

Adventures of the Gummi Bears - September 14th

Care Bears - September 14th

Golden Girls - September 14th

Little Muppet Monsters - September 14th

The Wuzzles - September 14th

Spider-Man: The Death of Jean DeWolff (MARVEL) - October

Commando - October 4th

Gauntlet - October 15th

Re-Animator - October 18th

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge - November 1st

Rocky IV - November 27th

Santa Claus: The Movie - November 27th

Young Sherlock Holmes - December 4th

The Color Purple - December 18th

Anything from 1990 turns 35 this year, including...

Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III - January 12th

The Hunt for Red October - March 2nd

"Vogue" by Madonna - March 20th

Pretty Woman - March 23rd

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (film) - March 30th

Snake's Revenge: Metal Gear 2 - April

Ernest Goes to Jail - April 6th

Twin Peaks - April 8th

In Living Color - April 15th

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon and the Blade of Light - April 20th

Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue - April 21st

Barney & the Backyard Gang: Waiting for Santa - April 30th

The Muppets at Walt Disney World - May 6th

Back to the Future Part III - May 25th

The Witches - May 25th

Barney & the Backyard Gang: Campfire Sing-Along - May 30th

Total Recall - June 1st

Universal Orlando - June 7th

Dick Tracy / Rollercoaster Rabbit - June 15th

RoboCop 2 - June 22nd

Gremlins 2: The New Batch - June 15th

Gambit (MARVEL) - July

Die Hard 2 - July 4th

Jetsons: The Movie - July 6th

Ghost - July 13th

Arachnophobia - July 18th

"Blaze of Glory" by Jon Bon Jovi - July 21st

Dr. Mario - July 27th

Pit-Fighter - August

DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp - August 3rd

Barney & the Backyard Gang: Barney Goes to School - August 15th

Darkman - August 24th

Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories - August 25th

The New Adventures of He-Man - September 1st

TaleSpin - September 7th

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (TV show) - September 8th

Tom & Jerry Kids - September 8th

The Disney Afternoon - September 10th

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air - September 10th

"Thunderstruck" by AC/DC - September 10th

Law & Order - September 13th

Captain Planet and the Planeteers - September 15th

Goodfellas - September 19th

Wing Commander - September 26th

Mega Man 3 - September 28th

The Secret of Monkey Island - October

Beverly Hills, 90210 - October 4th

Sega Game Gear - October 6th

Troll 2 - October 12th

Night of the Living Dead - October 19th

"Freedom! '90" by George Michael - October 30th

Child's Play 2 - November 9th

Home Alone - November 16th

The Rescuers Down Under / The Prince & the Pauper - November 16th

Rocky V - November 16th

"Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory - November 18th

It - November 18th

The Nutcracker Prince - November 21st

Predator 2 - November 21st

Super Mario World - November 21st

Edward Scissorhands - December 7th

Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: Movie Set Adventure (Disney's Hollywood Studios) - December 17th

Kindergarten Cop - December 21st

The Godfather Part III - December 25th

Anything from 1995 turns 30 this year, including...

X-Men: Age of Apocalypse (MARVEL)

Tales from the Crypt Presents: Demon Knight - January 12th

Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - January 16th

Star Trek: Voyager - January 16th

Circle of Life: An Environmental Fable (EPCOT) - January 21st

The O.J. Simpson Trial - January 24th

"This Is How We Do It" by Montell Jordan - February 6th

The Brady Bunch Movie - February 17th

blink182's Cheshire Cat - February 17th

What a Cartoon! - February 20th

Indiana Jones Adventure: Temple of the Forbidden Eye (Disneyland) - March 4th

Star Wars: Dark Forces - March 8th

Chrono Trigger - March 11th

Discworld - March 17th

Major Payne - March 24th

Mega Man 7 - March 24th

Tommy Boy - March 31st

Mortal Kombat 3 - April

Disney's Blizzard Beach - April 1st

Bad Boys - April 7th

A Goofy Movie - April 7th

The Pebble and the Penguin - April 12th

Super Bomberman 3 - April 28th

"Mr. Boombastic" by Shaggy - May

Die Hard with a Vengeance - May 19th

Braveheart - May 24th

Tales from the Hood - May 24th

Casper - May 26th

Congo - June 9th

Batman Forever - June 16th

Pocahontas (nobody's favorite Disney movie) - June 23rd

Apollo 13 - June 30th

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie - June 30th

Comix Zone - July

A Day in the Park with Barney (Universal Orlando) - July 11th

The Indian in the Cupboard - July 14th

Castlevania: Dracula X - July 21st

Waterworld - July 28th

Tekken 2 - August

"Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio - August 1st

Babe - August 4th

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island - August 5th

"You Are Not Alone" by Michael Jackson - August 15th

Mortal Kombat (film) - August 18th

Phantasmagoria - August 24th

Heroes of Might and Magic: A Strategic Quest - September

Rayman - September 1st

Xena: Warrior Princess - September 4th

The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa - September 8th

Earthworm Jim (TV series) - September 9th

Freakazoid! - September 9th

Pinky and the Brain - September 9th

The Mark Walberg Show - September 11th

The Drew Carey Show - September 13th

Seven - September 22nd

Showgirls - September 22nd

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers - September 29th

Little Bear - October 7th

Street Fighter: The Animated Series - October 21st

Goosebumps (TV series) - October 27th

Leaving Las Vegas - October 27th

Dumb and Dumber: The Animated Series - October 28th

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream - October 31st

Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls - November 10th

Twisted Metal - November 10th

Me - November 13th

GoldenEye - November 17th

Worms - November 17th

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest - November 21st

Toy Story - November 22nd

Mega Man X3 - December 1st

Warcraft II - December 5th

Ace Ventura: Pet Detective - The Animated Series - December 13th

Jumanji - December 15th

Dracula: Dead and Loving It - December 22nd

Final Fight 3 - December 22nd

Tom & Huck - December 22nd

Anything from 2000 turns 25 this year, including...

Malcolm in the Middle - January 9th

"Kryptonite" by 3 Doors Down - January 18th

Jack of All Trades - January 22nd

Scream 3 - February 4th

The Sims - February 4th

The Tigger Movie - February 11th

Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue - February 12th

Reindeer Games - February 25th

Disney's The Weekenders - February 26th

An Extremely Goofy Movie - February 29th

PlayStation 2 - March 4th

Whispers: An Elephant's Tale - March 10th

Final Destination - March 17th

Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes - March 23rd

Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards - March 24th

Leprechaun in the Hood - March 28th

The Road to El Dorado - March 31st

Between the Lions - April 3rd

American Psycho - April 14th

"With Arms Wide Open" by Creed - April 18th

Mega Man Legends 2 - April 20th

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - April 27th

The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas - April 28th

Excitebike 64 - May 2nd

Gladiator - May 5th

Battlefield Earth - May 12th

"It's Gonna Be Me" by N*SYNC - May 16th

DINOSAUR - May 19th

Perfect Dark - May 22nd

Shanghai Noon - May 26th

Clerks: The Animated Series - May 31st

Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption - June 7th

Gone in 60 Seconds - June 9th

Titan A.E. - June 16th

Even Stevens - June 17th

Chicken Run - June 23rd

Deus Ex - June 23rd

Me, Myself & Irene - June 23rd

Diablo II - June 28th

Mortal Kombat: Special Forces - June 29th

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - June 30th

Final Fantasy IX - July 7th

Scary Movie - July 7th

X-Men - July 14th

Thomas and the Magic Railroad - July 14th

Mario Tennis - July 21st

Nutty Professor II: The Klumps - July 28th

Paper Mario - August 11th

Dora the Explorer - August 14th

Come on Over to Barney's House - August 15th

Maggie and the Ferocious Beast - August 26th

Alvin and the Chipmunks Meet the Wolfman - August 29th

Spider-Man - August 30th

Clifford the Big Red Dog (TV series) - September 4th

Pooh's Hunny Hunt (Tokyo Disneyland) - September 5th

Jackie Chan Adventures - September 9th

Teacher's Pet - September 9th

MTV Cribs - September 12th

O Brother, Where Art Thou? - September 15th

The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea (yuk) - September 19th

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - September 19th

Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn - September 21st

Remember the Titans - September 29th

Donald Duck: Goin' Quackers - October

Jackass - October 1st

Buzz Lightyear of Star Command - October 2nd

Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders - October 3rd

Meet the Parents - October 6th

Spyro: Year of the Dragon - October 10th

Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 - October 27th

Charlie's Angels - November 3rd

X-Men: Evolution - November 4th

Half-Life: Counter-Strike - November 9th

The Grinch - November 10th

Little Nicky - November 10th

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas - November 17th

Rugrats in Paris: The Movie - November 17th

Tomb Raider: Chronicles - November 17th

Hitman: Codename 47 - November 19th

Banjo-Tooie - November 20th

102 Dalmatians - November 22nd

Unbreakable - November 22nd

Grinchmas at Universal Orlando - December

Evil Dead: Hail to the King - December 5th

Dungeons & Dragons (film) - December 8th

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker - December 12th

Dude, Where's My Car? - December 15th

The Emperor's New Groove - December 15th

Cast Away - December 22nd

Be My Valentine Love, Barney - December 26th

Aqua Teen Hunger Force - December 30th

Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law - December 30th

Anything from 2005 turns 20 this year, including...

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson - January 3rd

Zoey 101 - January 9th

Resident Evil 4 - January 11th

Elektra - January 14th

Racing Stripes - January 14th

American Dragon: Jake Long - January 21st

Are We There Yet? - January 21st

Playboy: The Mansion - January 25th

Power Rangers S.P.D. - February 5th

Aloha, Scooby-Doo! - February 8th

Pooh's Heffalump Movie - February 11th

YouTube - February 14th

Constantine - February 18th

Son of the Mask - February 18th

Robot Chicken - February 20th

Avatar: The Last Airbender - February 21st

Star Wars: Republic Commando - March 1st

Robots - March 11th

"We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey - March 15th

The Suite Life of Zack & Cody - March 18th

God of War - March 22nd

"Hollaback Girl" by Gwen Stefani - March 22nd

The Office (US version) - March 24th

Krypto the Superdog - March 25th

Doctor Who, Revival Era - March 26th

Grey's Anatomy - March 27th

"Beverly Hills" by Weezer - March 28th

Lego Star Wars: The Video Game - March 29th

Sin City - April 1st

Kim Possible Movie: So the Drama - April 8th

Deadliest Catch - April 12th

Popeye: Rush for Spinach - April 19th

Psychonauts - April 19th

The Muppets Wizard of Oz - April 27th

Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith - May 19th

Madagascar - May 27th

Hell's Kitchen - May 30th

House of M (MARVEL) - June

Cinderella Man - June 3rd

Mr. & Mrs. Smith - June 10th

The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D - June 10th

Tarzan II - June 14th

Batman Begins - June 15th

The Buzz on Maggie - June 17th

Breakfast with Bear - June 20th

Battlefield 2 - June 21st

Destroy All Humans! - June 21st

Herbie: Fully Loaded - June 22nd

Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds - June 29th

Fantastic Four - July 8th

Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix - July 14th

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - July 15th

So You Think You Can Dance - July 20th

Mario Superstar Baseball - July 21st

Sky High - July 29th

Worms 4: Mayhem - July 29th

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - August 4th

"Photograph" by Nickelback - August 8th

Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch - August 30th

Go, Diego, Go! - September 6th

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King - September 8th

Hong Kong Disneyland - September 12th

Evil Dead: Regeneration - September 13th

Supernatural - September 13th

Johnny Test - September 17th

Loonatics Unleashed - September 17th

How I Met Your Mother - September 19th

Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks - September 19th

Tak: The Great Juju Challenge - September 19th

"My Humps" by Black Eyed Peas - September 20th

Everybody Hates Chris - September 22nd

Ultimate Spider-Man - September 22nd

Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit - October 14th

The Batman vs. Dracula - October 18th

Quake 4 - October 18th

Shadow of the Colossus - October 18th

Call of Duty 2 - October 25th

Nicktoons Unite! - October 26th

The Legend of Zorro - October 28th

Star Wars: Battlefront II - October 28th

Saw II - October 28th

Shamu's Deep Sea Adventures - November 1st

Chicken Little - November 4th

Guitar Hero - November 8th

Zathura: A Space Adventure - November 11th

Shadow the Hedgehog - November 15th

Peter Jackson's King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie - November 17th

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - November 18th

Super Mario Strikers - November 18th

Rent - November 23rd

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - December 8th

Brokeback Mountain - December 9th

The Phantom of the Opera - December 10th

Kronk's New Groove - December 13th

Peter Jackson's King Kong (aka the best version) - December 13th

The Producers - December 16th

Kingdom Hearts II - December 22nd

Ben 10 - December 27th

Mulan II - December 28th

Smash Mouth's The Gift of Rock

Anything from 2010 turns 15 this year, including...

Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep - January 9th

Mass Effect 2 - January 26th

Star Trek Online - February 2nd

Dante's Inferno - February 4th

BioShock 2 - February 9th

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief - February 12th

The Wolfman - February 12th

Aliens vs. Predator - February 16th

Heavy Rain - February 18th

Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing - February 23rd

Mega Man 10 - March 10th

Alice in Wonderland - March 5th

Pink Panther and Pals - March 7th

God of War III - March 16th

Diary of a Wimpy Kid - March 19th

Just Cause 2 - March 23rd

Hot Tub Time Machine - March 26th

How to Train Your Dragon - March 26th

Sam & Max: The Devil's Playhouse - April 2nd

Adventure Time - April 5th

Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated - April 5th

"Teach Me How to Dougie" by Cali Swag District - April 12th

Fruit Ninja - April 21st

Generator Rex - April 23rd

A Nightmare on Elm Street - April 30th

Kick-Ass - March 26th

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands - May

"I Like It" by Enrique Iglesias - May 3rd

"California Gurls" by Katy Perry (and Snoop Dogg) - May 7th

Iron Man 2 - May 7th

Red Dead Redemption - May 18th

Shrek Forever After - May 21st

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - May 23rd

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time - May 28th

"Dynamite" by Taio Cruz - May 30th

Marmaduke - June 4th

The A-Team - June 11th

The Karate Kid - June 11th

World of Color (Disney's California Adventure) - June 11th

Toy Story 3: The Video Game - June 15th

Inception - June 16th

Jonah Hex - June 18th

Toy Story 3 - June 18th

Transformers: War for Cybertron - June 22nd

Grown Ups - June 25th

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1–4 - June 25th

The Last Airbender (ew) - July 1st

Despicable Me - July 9th

Predators - July 9th

The Sorcerer's Apprentice - July 14th

"Just the Way You Are" by Bruno Mars - July 20th

Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry - July 23rd

Limbo - July 21st

MasterChef - July 27th

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty - July 27th

Phineas and Ferb Summer Belongs to You - August 2nd

The Expendables - August 13th

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - August 13th

Metroid: Other M - August 31st

MAD (TV series) - September 6th

Regular Show - September 6th

The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That! - September 6th

Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions - September 7th

Amnesia: The Dark Descent - September 8th

Halo: Reach - September 14th

Alpha and Omega - September 17th

Easy A - September 17th

FЯED: THE MOVIE - September 18th

Pokémon Black and White - September 18th

The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes - September 22nd

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole - September 24th

The Social Network - October 1st

Shantae: Risky's Revenge - October 4th

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic - October 10th

Just Dance 2 - October 12th

Fallout: New Vegas - October 19th

"Firework" by Katy Perry - October 26th

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II - October 26th

Megamind - November 5th

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - November 16th

Pac-Man Championship Edition DX - November 17th

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 - November 19th

Donkey Kong Country Returns - November 21st

The Nutcracker: The Untold Story - November 24th

Tangled - November 24th

Epic Mickey - November 25th

Tron: Evolution - November 25th

Transformers: Prime - November 29th

Black Swan - December 3rd

Doritos Crash Course - December 8th

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - December 9th

Tron: Legacy - December 17th

Yogi Bear - December 17th

Anything from 2015 turns 10 this year, including...

Strange Magic - January 23rd

Grim Fandango: Remastered - January 27th

Life is Strange - January 20th

The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water - February 6th

The Lego Movie Videogame - February 7th

Evolve - February 10th

Fifty Shades of Grey - February 13th

The Order: 1886 - February 20th

Five Nights at Freddy's 3 - March 2nd

Helldivers - March 3rd

Critical Role - March 12th

Mario Party 10 - March 12th

Cinderella / Frozen Fever - March 13th

Transformers: Robots in Disguise - March 14th

The Late Late Show with James Corden - March 23rd

Bloodborne - March 24th

Star vs. the Forces of Evil - March 30th

Archie vs. Predator - April

I Am Bread - April 9th

Marvel's Daredevil - April 10th

Mortal Kombat X - April 14th

Monkey Kingdom - April 17th

Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 - April 17th

Secret Wars (MARVEL) - May

Avengers: Age of Ultron - May 1st

Wolfenstein: The Old Blood - May 5th

Mad Max: Fury Road - May 14th

Pitch Perfect 2 - May 15th

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - May 19th

Tomorrowland - May 22nd

Splatoon - May 28th

Jurassic World - June 12th

Lego Jurassic World - June 12th

Inside Out - June 19th

Batman: Arkham Knight - June 23rd

Terminator Genisys - July 1st

Magic Mike XXL - July 1st

Minions - July 10th

Ant-Man - July 17th

Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! - Jully 22nd

Five Nights at Freddy's 4 - July 23rd

Pixels - July 24th

Angry Birds 2 - July 30th

Descendants - July 31st

"Hotline Bling" by Drake - July 31st

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation - July 31st

Fant4stic - August 4th

Fear the Walking Dead - August 23rd

Until Dawn - August 25th

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert - September 8th

Super Mario Maker - September 10th

Undertale - September 15th

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Friendship Games - September 17th

Skylanders: SuperChargers - September 20th

The Muppets - September 22nd

Lego Dimensions - September 27th

Hotel Transylvania 2 - September 25th

The Martian - September 30th

Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! - October 5th

Goosebumps - October 16th

Assassin's Creed Syndicate - October 23rd

Jem and the Holograms - October 23rd

Spectre - October 26th

Supergirl - October 26th

Halo 5: Guardians - October 27th

Ash vs Evil Dead - October 31st

The Peanuts Movie - November 6th

Fallout 4 - November 10th

Marvel's Jessica Jones - November 20th

The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar - November 22nd

The Good Dinosaur - November 25th

Krampus - December 4th

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip - December 18th

Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens - December 18th

The Hateful Eight - December 25th

Other Interesting Milestones

The Band Concert, the Mickey Mouse cartoon that inspired me to become a cartoonist, turns 80 on February 23rd

Pinocchio and Fantasia turn 85 on November 13th

Disneyland Resort turns 70 on July 17th

Popeye, Tintin, several more Mickey Mouse shorts, and the song "Singing in the Rain" falls into the Public Domain

Did seeing anything on this list make you feel old? Was there something I forgot to mention? Feel free to let me know in the comments. And what are your resolutions for 2025? Here are mine:

Finish what I start.

Beat Epic Mickey at long last!

Draw 2-3 DUDELZ of the Damned every month.

Post something new (mostly) everyday.

Bring back the 12 Days of Clarktoons this December.

Make money off my artwork somehow.

Get in shape and cut back on the soda.

Run a Dungeons and Dragons campaign based on Wizard of Oz!

Have an awesome year before turning 30!

MAY THE GLASSES BE WITH YOU!

[noneatnonedotcom]

My mouth is in horrible pain so here's a character to keep my mind off it.

danny phantom villain, the beloved

Her Hate Is Safer: (200) "Sometimes, Adorjan falls in love. Her hate is safer. Such did Marus, the murderer of Lilike, Fetich soul of the River of Torments, come to understand too late as he came to regret the love of Adorjan and vainly sought to earn her hatred until his terrible death.

But perhaps you believe you shall be different? Certainly you’ll be able to catch the interest of alien and powerful beings much easier with this. And you'll even get a sense for how to try strike up an actual romance with such exotic entities, as well as how to maintain something…

reminiscent of a relationship. Just remember that you must never forget what her love means…"

Child of the Stars: (400CP)

"It is only unnatural that you are who you are. An outsider to any world you go to. Apparently, some other beings in this world can sympathise.

You’ve found yourself beloved by the eldritch beings that hail from outside reality, the gribbly things in the cracks of space-time and the monstrous gods that do not exist yet continue to act. This is to the point that lesser such beings and creatures of the mythos often act as loyal and quite cuddly pets to you while the senior ones, such as the Old Ones or other higher beings, usually dote on you as older siblings or parents might, protecting you when they notice you in danger or leaving little helping gifts in your path.

Those you specifically anger, while difficult to do so, will ignore this mostly and they, unless you befriend them more, usually do not make extreme efforts for you without reason. Of course, while this affection can bring great boons, it can also bring great danger.

The minds of these beings are often strange even in regards to the weak creatures, much less the ancient and unknowable outer beings, so their gifts may seem more like threats or danger, though rarely would it be without a silver lining."

Stealth expert: (200CP) "You’re a Master of stealth. You could infiltrate highly armed military bases andno one would ever even know you were there."

Stealth Efficiency: (100CP) "The strong rules the weak, so how can the weak defeat the strong? Like how two brilliant NEETs from another universe always say, the weak’s weapons against the strong are their intelligence and strategy, not their power.

Apparently, you learned a different lesson from this ideology: no one, regardless of their power, can prepare themselves from an attack they don’t know is coming, including those stronger than you.

Your attacks are twice as effective and powerful when used against an unadvised opponent, but this power boost loses its effect once they perceive your presence. This is perfect for a first surprise attack to end a fight before it starts, letting even a weaker servant defeat a stronger master."

Instant Ninja: (100CP) "Blending in is all well and good, but if there are security cameras around you'll feel a bit out of luck. You can't do anything, act out or you'll expose yourself. Say you do wanna act though, but aren't in disguise, what are you to do?

Upon purchase, you become incredibly skilled at whipping up ""ninja"" themed disguises using only what you have on hand or find in your surroundings. Disguises usually consist of masks, flowing scarves and tactical wrappings that help pull the look off.

These improvised disguises are surprisingly effective at keeping your identity secret, with a single flaw that may expose you to the especially observant, your footwear. Something about your shoes leaves them the only thing people will be able to recognize in and out of your disguises, if they ever saw them to begin with."

a boy who's had the shadows wispering to him since he can remember he's a dangerous foe if only because even the ghost king can't find someone no longer bound to life or death. and his attacks bend reality that even the dead may die.

good news is that he spends most of his time dealing with the "affections" of the outsiders and has no real desire to mess with the ghost zone in it's own right. that being said buying things is for suckers and he's gonna rob everyone blind if given half a chance.

petty thief who could become an assassin should the right motivation strike him but for the most part content to just take what he wants and move on.

his admirers have their own machinations though

@weatherman667 just making this to occupy my mind to distract from the pain

[brokehorrorfan]

4K UHD Review: The Guyver

Following in the wildly successful footsteps of Batman and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Guyver takes a (relatively) grounded approach to its outlandish source material — in this case, a Japanese manga series — without divorcing itself from its comic book roots. Produced by Brian Yuzna (Re-Animator, Society), the 1991 film is directed by special effects wizards Screaming Mad George (Society, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) and Steve Wang (Predator, The Monster Squad).

As the Star Wars-esque expository opening crawl explains, mankind was created by aliens as an organic weapon. The evil Chronos corporation is further developing a technology that allows humans to change into "super monster soldiers" known as Zoanoids for world domination. The only viable defense against them is The Unit, a piece of bio-booster alien armor that increases a human's natural powers a hundredfold, turning them into The Guyver.

Mark Hamill's top billing may lead you to believe that he's the titular hero, but he instead plays a supporting role as a CIA agent investigating Chronos. The real lead is Jack Armstrong (Student Bodies) as Sean Barker, an amateur martial artist who's the only person that can activate The Unit. When his girlfriend (Vivian Wu, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III) is endangered, Sean utilizes his newfound powers to take down Chronos and the Zoanoids.

Armstrong is a bland lead, but it's not entirely his fault. In addition to a mustachioed Hamill channeling Colombo, he has to compete with several scene-stealing character actors. Re-Animator's David Gale chews the scenery as the malevolent head of Chronos, briefly reuniting with Jeffrey Combs as the company's scientist, Dr. East (get it?). Michael Berryman (The Hills Have Eyes) plays Gale's right-hand Zoanoid with Jimmie Walker (Good Times) as his rapping goon. Linnea Quigley (The Return of the Living Dead) cameos as a scream queen.

But the real stars of the show are the creatures, the designs of which showcase boundless creativity. The Guyver looks like Ultraman by way of Clive Barker, and each Zoanoid adopts a different animal's traits. While a number of other artists were employed to pull off the myriad of monsters, George and Wang's fingerprints are all over the effects, imbuing the alien superhero movie with some disturbing body-horror.

Jon Purdy's script deviates significantly from source material not only in terms of story but also tone. While some of the manga's dark atmosphere and violence remain intact, it's undercut by goofy humor in an attempt to appeal to a younger demographic. Fans of Yoshiki Takaya's original creation were no doubt disappointed (Wang attempted a bit of a course correction with his 1994 sequel, Guyver: Dark Hero), but the tonal confusion is actually charming.

Originally cut down to a PG-13 rating in the US, The Guyver has been newly restored in 4K from the original, R-rated 35mm camera negative with DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and 2.0 options for Unearthed Films' 4K UHD + Blu-ray release. Far removed from the days of Jaws and Alien in which the monster was largely hidden in shadows, George and Wang put their creations on full display — and even with a crystal-clear restoration, the in-camera effects shine.

Two new audio commentaries are included. The first is a lively one with George and Wang, moderated by Budget Biomorphs: The Making of The Guyver Films author Dom O’Brien. It's not the most informative track — the filmmakers admit to not having seen the film in over two decades — but they're enjoying themselves so much that it hardly matters. The second commentary features creature crew members "Evil" Ted Smith and Wyatt Weed, who delve into the nitty-gritty of the effects.

Yuzna and George each sit down for thorough new interviews. Yuzna reveals that he's been approached about a remake, but the rights are complicated, while George's infectious energy lasts the entire 56 (!) minutes. Creature suit camera test footage is included with commentary options from George and Wang or Smith and Weed, while outtakes and a gag reel feature George and Wang commentary.

Other extras include: alternate title sequences in English, German and Spanish; English, German, Spanish, and French trailers (all carrying the alternate title Mutronics); and extensive promotional and production galleries. The collector's edition also comes with the soundtrack CD composed by Matthew Morse (Silent Night, Deadly Night 5: The Toy Maker) and a booklet featuring liner notes by O’Brien and Morse.

The Guyver is available now on 4K UHD via Unearthed Films.

[neodracunyan]

The Ancient Bracelet - The Hour of Despair AU

This is a concept design of the Ancient Bracelet that Y/n L/n (Kenneth Parker) will use against the Dark Creatures as it was descended from his ancestors that can only be activated by the same Ancient Birthmark that Y/n (Kenneth) was born with in order to use it along with the many powerful gemstones that Y/n (Kenneth) can use in battle against the Dark Creatures.

However, after the Bracelet attaches itself onto Y/n's (Kenneth's) left wrist, only one of the gems is placed in the middle of the Bracelet, which is the Gem of Ancient Power that has the same symbol as Y/n's (Kenneth's) Birthmark that powers up the other gems that can be placed into the Bracelet for Y/n (Kenneth) to use against his enemies.

He will need to collect the gemstones to place in each slot on the Bracelet to gain the power within the gemstones that Y/n will have to hunt down in order to take on the Dark Creatures.

List of the Ancient Bracelet Gemstones

The Gem of Ancient Power: The Main Gemstones that powers up the Bracelet and the other gemstones within the empty gemstones slots to use the gemstones power.

The Gem of Shadows: It will allow you to control the darkness and shadows, but it will slowly corrupt the user without the Gem of Light to balance out the negative power of the Gem of Shadows.

The Gem of Light: It will allow you to control Light and positive energy. It can also be used as a useful light source like a powerful flashlight that can ward off Evil Shadows. It can also purify corrupted energy and make the plants grow healthy.

The Inferno Gem: Allows you to use the power of pyrokinesis, give you fire immunity and to walk on lavapits.

The Hydro Gem: Allows you to use the power of hydrokinesis, allow you to breathe underwater, and even walk on water.

The Energy Gem: Allows you to use the power of electrokinesis, power up machinery, absorb energy for a temporary power boost and even allow you to run fast with a speed boost.

The Life Gem: Allows you to heal wounds, cure status effects, and regenerate. This Gem is useful for medical situations whenever somebody needs their wounds to be healed.

The Death Gem: Allows you to absorb the life force of your enemies, summon the undead or use an instant death spell. However, the Instant Death skill can only be used once and won't be used for at least a few hours for the skill to be used again.

There is another useful feature to use the Bracelet in battle as Y/n (Kenneth) can summon various weapons like Swords, gauntlets, ninja stars, throwing knives, a giant hammer, battle axe, razor boomerang, katana blade, baseball bat, Sickles, etc.

Lastly, when Y/n (Kenneth) became a Smiling Critter after he got captured by the Dark Creatures and eventually escaped from them, he soon gained the ability to transform into 8 different animal species for the number of gemstones that Y/n (Kenneth) collects for his Bracelet.

Each form Y/n (Kenneth) gains to transform into are all based on each member of the Dark Creatures as well as a special skill for each form.

Normal/Smiling Critter Form = Your Favorite Animal

Wolf Form = DogDay aka Eclipse Hound

Cheetah Form = CatNap aka Sleep Demon

Mouse Form = Bubba Bubbaphant aka Dr. Damage

Raven Form = KickinChicken aka KickinHawk

Panda Bear Form = Bobby Bearhug aka Death Bear

Rabbit Form = Hoppy Hopscotch aka Killer Bunny

Fox Form = PickyPiggy aka The Butcher

Dragon Form = CraftyCorn aka BloodyCorn

The color design on each form including the Original Smiling Critter form all consist of two colors, which are both Black and White to represent the Yin-Yang symbol.

[fortsaveordie]

I went undefeated at my LGS' local pauper night (3-0 against UB terror, U terror, and a cool RG list running chrysalis with impact tremors effects) and I wanted to show off my list, so I figured I could make a post doing a breakdown of it! It aims to loop refurbished familiar repeatedly with ninjas, a gameplan that dovetails nicely into other affinity staples.

First and foremost is the bread and butter of the list - four of each ninja, four Ornithopter, and four familiars. I'm on three Silver Raven as a discount version of Faerie Seer, and a gurmag to help close out games.

Next up is our other assorted artifacts - three tithing blade and three blood fountain. While the blades are situational, as they do very little vs spawn tokens, Blood Fountain is an all-star in this list. It is two artifacts for one mana, allowing for very early familiars and thoughtcasts when played early, and later into the game it generates an absurd amount of value with its sac effect. Getting to fix hands using the blood token happens on occasion as well.

As for the instants and sorceries, we have the full 4 thoughtcasts, three metallic rebukes (another powerful use-case for blood fountain) and some other more generic tools as well: deadly disputes can help repurpose stranded ninjas or extra tokens when games go long, spell pierce is super useful when it comes to forcing through early plays to get the ninja ball rolling, and two cast downs are around as well to hopefully snipe Chrys or any other creature that contests my early fliers.

As for the land base, it's nothing special - four of each artifact land in color, and the UB bridge to boot. Past there, I'm on basics.

It doesn't have the greatest matchup into everything, but I adore ninjas and the way they play, and I would encourage anyone who likes tempo decks with a plan to go long to give it a roll!

(Fun bonus - ornithopter completely walls more conventional ninja decks - a 0/2 flier is not something faeries is usually equipped for)

[gethoce]

Ever since Yamikage found out about Sir Lancelot taking over the Celesta Knight case he had been following the Star Warrior in secret, worried for the safety of the dragon. The Dark Matterborn uses explosives in battle that may cause greater injuries even in powerful entities. The ninja had to make sure he would treat Celesta Knight with respect, possibly even sabotage him stealthily.

Following Sir Lancelot around without alerting him was no easy task. Out of the four generals of the GSA he is easily the most observant, even a stealth expert such as Yamikage had to be extra careful. At first he was confident that he wouldn't have any trouble along the way given his skill, yet as the hunter Renna teamed up with Sir Lancelot along with her dragon Aurea, doubt began to settle in within his mind.

That Renna managed to keep a dragon much larger than herself on a leash concerned Yamikage greatly. He couldn't help but wonder if she treated the legendary creature with respect, but also how much damage they could do to Celesta Knight in battle if it came down to it. With his interest peaked he continued to follow the trio, unaware that he wasn't the only one who had eyes on the two as they travelled through this thick forest.

Renna and Aurea belong to @lucent-nargacuga

[kamenstranger]

Ninja Sentai Kakuranger Review

I mentioned waaay back at the end of my Dairanger review that the final episode leaned hard into the comedy, inferring a sign of things to come. Indeed, the follow up series Kakuranger is far more comedic than Dairanger was.

However, one of the things that came as a bit of a surprise is how subdued Kakuranger's absurdity was compared to the impression the osmosis had given me. Oh, sure, it's laden with jokes and it gets bonkers with things like the infamous burger transformation, the Snowman fight, or a bull fighing a ninja cowboy. The show rarely takes itself completely seriously. I mean they have onomatopoeia effects like Batman '66 for cryin' out-loud. But on the whole? It's not that far off from most other Sentai of the era. I would argue Ohranger was WAY more goofy (and tonally dissonant) than Kakuranger ever was. Heck, it wouldn't be inaccurate to just say it's Dairanger's tone reversed. Kakuranger has moments of stentorian gravitas, they're simply spread out in much the same way the comedy episodes of Dairanger were. Honestly? I think that's about perfect.

But I've talked enough around the show, let's dive into the story proper.

400 years ago a war between the Yokai and the human came to a close when a team of ninjas along with three gods came together and sealed the vast majority of the creatures away. But not all the Yokai were trapped. In the contemporary era of 1994, two descendants of those legendary Ninjas are tricked by a Kappa into undoing the seal, unleashing all but the most powerful Yokai upon Japan. It then falls to them and 3 others to unite and harness their ninja abilities to defeat and reseal the Yokai.

Sasuke/NinjaRed Teruaki Ogawa

Of all the members, Sasuke is perhaps the one to have the most growth from where he starts. At first he's this sorta slacker with a gulible bend to him and maybe even a tad selfish (it's a love of money that leads him to unwittingly unleash the yokai.) He's not a bad person, but certainly different from where he ends up by the midway point as a more mature and reliable member of the team.

Saizo/NinjaBlue Hiroshi Tsuchida

Saizo is good friends with Sasuke and is even more troublesome than he is. He's incredibly boastful and a tad full of himself to the point of greatly overestimating his abilities, though there is some truth in that he's arguably the best swordsman on the team. Ironically, despite his skilled nature he's a bit lazy and has a great tendency to overreact and panic, most likely due to having the absolute worst luck of any one else of the team.

Tsuruhime/NinjaWhite Satomi Hirose

Tsuruhime is initially the most informed and mature of the members, a fact made all the more humorous given she's the youngest member at a scant 15 years of age. Yet she holds her own against the buffoonery of her compatriots and reining in their antics. After all, she is the true leader of the Kakuranger and the only one whose family has kept up their lineage.

Of all the characters, Tsuruhime is the one I find most compelling because of that dynamic of a young teenage girl leading a unit of 20 something jackasses. I have to give praise to Hirose in the role. She was actually 15 at the time and she is fantastic, on par with her much older co-stars. She would also become one of the more developed characters, being almost as prominent as Sasuke in terms of character focused episodes-- with a few caveats I'll get to later.

Seikai/NinjaYellow Shu Kawai

Seikai likes food, women, and sleeping. I relate to him most of all. Jokes aside, I do like Seikai. He's a nice complement to Sasuke and Saizo's antics. As time goes on, Seikai and Saizo would become fast friends and the defacto trouble makers, often paired together in the later episodes to comedic effect. They're sort of the refined versions of Dan and Boi from Zyuranger and the prototypical 90s slacker dumbass pairing.

Jiraiya/NinjaBlack Kane Kosugi

The thing that stands out most about Jiraiya is also the thing the stands out most about his actor; he's American. Kane Kosugi is the son of famous Ninjasploitation actor, Sho Kosugi. Kane is from California and didn't speak a lick of Japanese when he took the role, but in a weirdly meta narrative they made Jiraiya this stereotypical cowboy from California who couldn't speak Japanese. And that's kinda funny, right? Even putting aside the stuff with Kane, just the idea of this descendant of a legendary ninja warrior being so far removed from the original culture is a fun if not original idea. Kinda of a shame they don't do a whole lot with it beyond having Jiraya be good with revolvers, though.

Which I should note as the series goes on Jiraiya starts to speak more Japanese, sometimes just repeating obvious phonetics given just before filming, but eventually proper sentences-- I presume as Kane himself began to learn. What's interesting to me is that Kane's English delivery sounds… odd at first, but the Japanese dialogue sounds natural once he gets the hang of it. I gotta wonder if that's just a direction thing as a result of the language or if it's just the language barrier on my end. Does his Japanese sound stiff to that audience? Curious to know.

Which, I've spent more time talking about the meta aspect than on the character himself, and that's because "Guy from California is cowboy" is kinda all Jiraiya has for a while. Although you will probably be surprised by how good his character focused episodes are, which have a surprising amount of heart.

Announcer Enjoh Sanyutei

This is an interesting character because he simultaneously exists as a fourth wall breaking narrator mostly to provide the origins and folklore around Yokai and sometimes providing commentary to the episodes; while also still being a character in the show itself. He only appears in 25 episodes, the first 24 plus ep 39, but he leaves a hell of an impression as Senyutei was a professional rokugoka.

Sandayuu Momochi Akira Sakamoto Sandayuu is your prototypical mystery sensei, which I guess is to be expected give his namesake. He shows up out of nowhere to impart some cryptic wisdom in antiquated speech, and occasionally assists in a pinch. He clearly knows far more than he's letting on at any given time and seems to have his own agenda, but one that's always helpful with the best intentions in the end.

Muteki Shogun. VA:Tomoyuki Horita

Technically a character although just barely. Muteki Shogun is one of the gods that fought alongside the Kakuranger's ancestors 400 years ago and is the only one currently active from the start of the series. In his alternate mode he's a Japanese Castle, the "Wind Illusion Castle." which serves as a safe haven when things get too tough.

Kakuranger was Written by the late Noboru Sugimura and this is his third entry to the franchise, so these opening episodes should feel familiar by now; establishing the character dynamics, the initial conflicts, a couple of the members being a bit irresponsible; even a few parallels to Journey West characters (albeit more downplayed than Dairanger) and the big robo being a god. There's also a few surprises, like the main team coming together slowly over 3 episodes rather than being pre-established like Zyuranger or assembled in one go as in Dairanger. Heck, they even address the need for money by having the team sell crepes from a food truck and living a nomadic lifestyle. Modern day traveling ninjas.

The food truck is also a Yokai named Nekomaru.

If that didn't clue you in, Kakuranger has a heavy emphasis on the Japanese folklore, but often in a contemporary fashion. The vast majority are of course cribbing from mythology, but many of them are twisted into a more unique interpretations. Oboroguruma was an Ox cart with a humanoid face upon it, but in Kakuranger it's a humanoid taxi cab. Makes sense. Other times they get a bit more creatively radical, such as Mokumokuren, a yokai made up of eyes the lives in torn shoji. Well, in Kakuranger they mixed that with another Yokai, Hyakume, resulting in a flesh homunculus with a skin overcoat lined with eyes. Or Ōmukade, literally just a Giant centipede. In Kauranger it's an American football playing centipede that sabotages Christmas presents.

Like I said, creative.

While a lot of the story elements are familiar by now, Sugimura had a talent for meshing different archetypes and having them play off each other, which Kakuranger is still great with. The first half of the series also shares a lot of structural similarities to Sugimura's Rescue series entries; Villains tend to appear early, some take two episodes to defeat while introducing another near the end, and a very select few will stick around for narrative purposes. Such as Professor Yugami, you're typical mad scientist.

A Few episodes later we're introduced to our first major General of the series: Young Noble Junior (Kenichi Endo) later revealed to be the Gashadokuro Yokai. Junior is this punky unruly force. Kenichi Endo's vocal performance in particular elevates the character to such a fun chaotic villain. That said, Junior never exhibits the qualities of a big bad, he certainly feels closer to an underlining-- and he is, as we'll soon learn. Still, he's a lot more clever than his strongheaded persona let's on. Junior is able to unite the Yokai under a single banner to oppose the Kakuranger with further plans to eradicate humanity. It's these mid teen episodes that really kick off Kakuranger and firmly establish an ongoing story. In practice it doesn't change that much from the day to day skirmishes we were getting beforehand, but there is a more sound structure to the Yokai attacks, a more outright malevolent intention as opposed to some of the earlier yokai losing their cool at arrogant humans encounters.

Additionally, Dr. Yagumi would work on modifying or creating new adversaries for the Kakuranger to face, the greatest of these being the Flowery Kunoichi Team, an all female ninja counterpart to Kakuranger created from...cats.

That's YellowFour there in the light pink.

They are fantastic. Not character-wise (hell, they're not even archetypes) but they're a major threat and they help deliver what I believe to be our first truly fantastic episode of Kakurange: episode 15. It's the first time the team goes up against such overwhelmingly skilled opponents. Compounding matters is it's not just the Kunoichi, but the Shuten Douji Brothers as our monsters of the week. The episode builds up the brothers as these amazing swordsman, but they're still no match for Saizou, who single-handedly gets both on the ropes… until Tsuruhime is overwhelmed by the Kunoichi, turning the tide. After Saizou falls, the rest are no match. Sasuke is wounded by the Kunoichi and barely escapes.

This leads into what I mentioned earlier about Sasuke's growth. The follow up is simply a good character focused episode for him, placing him in the roughest scenario yet by rescuing the team solo. We see him in a lot more serious light than prior, showing his reliability as second in command. When push comes to shove he can put aside the buffoonery handle the situation.

Our next major entry is in the two-parters ep 23: Blitzkrieg!! The Strange White Bird and ep. 24: Ah, It's All Over.

Here the groundwork begins to be laid for a new arc, with Junior beginning a ritual to break open the Door of Seals and free the greatest Yokai of all, Daimaou. Children are turned to stone and their life drained, the Kakuranger seemingly powerless to stop it. Even Muteki Shogun falls in battle, only for the second of the heavenly trio, Tsubasamaru, to swoop in to save the day by forming Super Muteki Shogun.

This however was a one off from Sandayuu. He warns that the Kakuranger are no match for Junior/Gashadokuro. Regardless the team heads into battle to stop the ritual, even besting the Flowery Kunichi for the first time in an all out fight.

Gashadokuro is on a completely different level. He barely lifts a finger before completely wrecking the Kakuranger. Gashadokuro continues the ritural, lifting a chunk of the city into the air as even more people, even adults, are turned to stone. In one months time the Ritual will be complete and Daimaou freed.

The team, defeated, is whisked away to the Illusion Castle. Sandayuu tells them the story of the Three Heavenly Generals. 2,000 years ago they fought the yokai as the 3 sages, sealing them and their leader Daimaou. The sages would transmogrify into the Three Heavenly Generals; Muteki Shogun, Tsubasamaru, and Kakure Daishogun, continuing to fight the yokai and prevent Daimaou's resurrection along side the Kakuranger's ancestors 400 years ago.

If the team is to stand a chance against Gashadokuro, they must master heart, body, and technique, only then will they be able to freely wield the three generals. More to the point, the third god, Kakure Dashogun, is sealed in 5 shinobi scrolls, which scattered 2,000 years ago. They must not only find the scrolls, but surpass trials to gain them. With only a month and a vague map giving a broad general location, the team must for the first time separate to track down the scrolls within the time frame.

This concludes Act 1 With episode 25 we begin Act 2: Youth Battle Saga.

From 25-29 we see the group separating to track down mystical scrolls for new -toys- powers. This gives the show an opportunity to do character centric stories on each member. For the sake of brevity I won't spend too much on these. Sasuke gets a decent solo episode, while Seikai and Saizo get a fun comedic episode. But it's Tsuruhime's and Jiraiya's which are the highlights.

Tsuruhime's delves into her backstory; how her two adopted brothers, Taro and Jiro, disappeared when she was still young; her secret life as a rich girl, which plays a part in the pressure she feels to not allow herself to be carried through life. To say nothing of her father's death always looming because of her inherited role as leader.

She also struggles with her headstrong personality and overcoming what she views as inadequacies-- yet at the same time that lack of trust in the team or her ability to rein them in is perhaps revealing a deeper issue; that she doesn't have confidence in herself. I think this plays out nicely as a contrast to Sasuke's episode where he had to rescue the team by himself. That balance of needing to operate both individually and as a unit. (Although it's not lost on me that this particular framing likely would not have been applied to Sasuke if the roles were reversed.)

Of course she's now flying solo and is having great difficulties working alone. Sandayuu comes along with some magical assistance in the form of mechanical doll copies of the other Kakurangers. We're also introduced to a new child character named Bun, along with two German Shepherds, who help Sandayuu. Bun be important later.

But there's another much harsher lesson to be gleaned from this than simply accepting help, which is seeing the dolls killed off one by one as they protect Tsuruhime. Even though they are ultimately objects, the visualization is still very much her friends and she has to keep reminding herself they're basically toys. All the same, the lesson it clear: that death in their mission is a possibly.

Admittedly, that's not entirely the main point of this. I mean, it kinda is that. But, that's almost overshadowed by her showing compassion for the "dying" doll Sasuke and refusing to leave his side instead of taking the scroll, which was a test of compassion by the Scroll. Had she simply taken the scroll she would've been shocked, according to Sandayuu, who knew full well Tsubuhime's greatest strength as a woman was her care for others. Ughhhh… Did Sho Kosugi catch wind of a female Ninja and start having input on this?

I'll be honest, this last minute reveal is well intended but frustrating. I know what this episode was trying to get across, it's trying to giving strength to our Female lead by means beyond just purely physical. And sure, I can get behind that-- but honestly it kinda fumbles it. Sailor Moon this is not. And beyond that, the reason they "die" is because of the Yokai attacking and trying to claim to scroll for themselves. That wasn't some construct cooked up as a test by the scroll, it's outside interference. So what exactly would've happened if she did do this solo or the Yokai weren't there? How is this even a test of the scroll? What kills me is you could've done this same episode with just the change of having Tsuruhime not know the dolls are constructs. Maybe Sandayuu tricks her into thinking the Dolls are real so the emotions are harsher and more genuine. Be kinda scummy, sure, but still in line for his character.

While the actual plot gets worse the more you think about it, there are some great character bits for Tsuruhime which at least softens the blow and prevents the episode from being completely undermined. Again, Hirose is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

This episode also foreshadows events that will occur just a few episodes from here-- more on that in a bit.

The other episodes I wanted to highlight here are Jiraiya's. He gets the only two parter of this mini arc and it's quite a doozy with Jiraiya facing off against his former teacher, Gali, who is revealed to have killed Jiraiya's father after making a Faustian pact with a Yokai to save his own child. The best thing about this is he's played by Kane's father, Sho Kosugi. You thought I was just joking with that Ninja III reference, didn't you? This is pretty great for anyone that enjoyed Cannon or Transworld entertainment films.

A big reason for bringing these episodes up is because of his guest appearance. And while I don't want to distill Sho Kosugi as a novelty, it is kinda fun seeing the man who had a major roll in jump starting the ninjaboom. There's a giddy charm to it in much the same way as Sonny Chiba appearing in Gavan. Not to mention we get a damn great fight out of it.

The story itself is also classically heartfelt with Gali raising Jiraiya as a warrior in the hopes that one day he would die by his hand, knowing that he could never atone for his sins. There's also an unintentionally funny bit with an 6 year old Jiraiya in the middle of L.A. during a thunderstorm finding his dad's corpse beside his patrol car-- I have no idea why he was there. It's the kinda hamfisted thing you see in, well, a Cannon film.

Oh and if you're wondering where the scroll is in all this, it kinda just shows up during Jiraiya's confrontation with the Yokai that manipulated Gali, Nue. But whatever, it's fine. We get a reunion of the Kakuranger and a showcase of their Ninja Beasts, though only a small tease for what's to come.

While I do have my issues here and there, this arc for Kakuranger is an incredibly good string of episodes which builds a good story around the biggest and final upgrade of the series. Handling upgrades in toku is rarely nuanced. When you boil it down, most shows either try to work in the upgrades as part of the story or they just throw them in. How extreme those two aspects are varies series to series (and in some cases you get both, like Ryuki) But otherwise one is more predominate over the other. I generally prefer working them into the story. It doesn't have to be much and it should never interfere with more interesting developments, but it's nice when they do something instead of just having them appear with little rhyme or reason. Sugimura typically did either two-parters or mini archs. Zyuranger had a number of episodes like that, from the legendary weapons to the Thunder slingers, while Dairanger went as far as having one of the mechs be a character in their own right. Kakaurangers go is slightly less consistent by comparison, mostly due to the sheer volume and redundancy (Like the beast generals, which are just unarmored version of Muteki Shogun's limbs while also the Kakurangers themselves. Don't ask.) But the scroll segment is solid and the best the series does with the concept.

That brings us to episode 30: Reunion with a Traitorous Father and 31: Behold, new Shogun!!

With all 5 scrolls in hand, the Kakuranger are finally ready to take on Junior, and this fight goes a lot better than the last. The Kakuranger are relentless in their new Ninja Beasts, giving quite the beatdown to Junior. It's only with the intervention of a new powerful foe do they finally have pause.

This silver clad enemy is Hakumenro (Played by Vul Eagle 2 himself, Takayuki Godai) In this encounter, his mask is felled, revealing that man behind to be Tsuruhime's presumed dead father, Yoshiteru. He warns the Kakuranger that Daimaou's return is inevitable and they should leave-- departing in explosive fashion.

Tsuruhime is in complete disbelief, but Sandayuu confirms it to be him. 10 years ago, knowing the danger Daimaou posed, he sought to defeat the infernal king by traveling to the underworld itself. He went missing along with Tsuruhime's adopted older brothers, Taro and Jiro. But Yoshiteru, in exchanged for his life being sparred, became a loyal servant to the king.

Throughout the episode there's more going on than the team realizes. Sandayuu is clearly keeping more details hidden and the reappearance of Bun hints at more going on. We're even privy to Sandayuu and Hakumenro having a brief and unhostile encounter.

The rest of the episode deals with Tsuruhime's personal struggles with her father and his relentlessness in hunting down the Kakuranger in the latter half, sending four over a cliff side to the raging rapids, leaving a one of one fight with Tsuruhime. It's only thanks to Sandayuu's intervention that Tsuruhime escapes with her life. But they're not safe, as the pair are set upon by Junior, accusing Sandayuu of conspiring with Hakumenro and engaging him in combat. An already weakened and badly beaten Tsuruhime can only watch in horror as Junior stabs Sandayuu with his own Katana.

The other four Kakurangers, having been rescued by Bun, arrive to confront Junior. Eventually the fight leads into a giant battle and the debut of Kakure Daishogun.

The fight itself is doing what it should, be awesome and sell you hard to buy the DX toy. But this is also noteworthy because Kakure Daishogun from here on out becomes the defacto robo, the first time a secondary has completely usurped the original. And there's good reason for that. You may have noticed I've not mentioned Muteki Shogun outside of story elements and that's because it's kind of a mess. Muteki is one of my favorite designs in Sentai, but there's no getting around that the suit itself is horrifically impractical. It's not clear how bad it is until you witness Muteki next to Kakure Daishogun and Muteki is a good half meter taller, not to mention absurdly wide by comparison. They would use Muteki in episodes going forward, though only for big moments or instances where Muteki wouldn't have to do much-- which frankly it wasn't capable of anyway. Oh, by the way, Muteki Shogun was seemingly killed off unceremoniously in episode 27 to really drive home that they're getting a new robo. He comes back in ep. 37 with barely a blerb from Tsuruhime mentioning he's alive. This is never explained.

Anyway, Kakure Daishogun by comparison is a much more traditional design. The colors of the team pop, it's sleeker, it can even fly with Tsubasamaru. They are going completely ham with all the things this can do that Muteki cannot, both in show and on a meta level. This practical shots are probably some of the best of this era, from the flight formation, the individual components and finishers. Some of the optical shots on the other hand are pretty dated and honestly even jank for the time. But there is still a bit of charm to that cheap look.

Throughout it all they're just laying into Junior. The guy is basically getting what will become every stockfootage attack going forward, so it's no surprise that Junior is not only defeated by Daishogun but flat-out killed. (I know what some of you are thinking, but for this series, he's dead)

To cap it off, the door is destroyed, freeing those turned to stone and also killing professor Yagumi in the process.

But there's still the matter of Sandayuu. Unfortunately, it's too late. He says his final goodbyes to the team, lamenting that Hakumenro did betray humanity and the team should tread carefully, as they were only spared for being weak. In his final moments, Sandayuu catches an overlooking Hakumenro, wondering if this is how his former master wished for things to play out.

In a cruel twist, the door of reforms and Daimaou emerges all the same. It's not clear how or why-- personally I think Junior's death acted as a final push. Or maybe he gained enough power to not need the full ritual. Regardless, Daimaou makes his presence known, swearing to slaughter the Kakuranger in due time.

Episode 31 overall feels like a massive refresh for the series. An ally gained, a mentor lost, a foe defeated, a new dynamic, and a villain reborn.

As much as I enjoyed Kenichi Endo as Junior, having the great Hidekatsu Shibata as Daimaou is nothing to scoff at. I'm getting ahead of myself when I say he's less unique compared to Junior, but he fills the role of a sentai villain much better, if albeit feeling more familiar and safe.

On the flip side, Hakumenrou/Lord Yoshiteru instantly has an incredibly engaging dynamic simply by virtue of making him Tsuruhime's father. Likewise, it's a familiar riff, but it will eventually go places and pay off in ways that you don't necessarily always see.

That being said, Kakuranger is back to a more episodic format. While that may be kinda disappointing after the build up to Daimaou as this great new threat, the show has been story heavy and is in need of a break.

It wouldn't be too long before we got back to the main story, but I would be remiss if I didn't highlight episode 35 The Three Punishment Sailor Sisters. If you're familiar with Yugen Jikkou Sisters Chouchoutrian, then you know what we're getting into. If you don't, well this episode will probably be a little bit odd because it's winking at the audience quite a bit. Toei had a long running comedy franchise called the Toei Fushigi Comedy Series, which is an umbrella for a number of series, among them Robot 8-chan and Masquée Poitrine. MercuryFalcon has a very good video covering the entirety of the series, should you be so inclined. The 14th and final entry was the aforementioned Sisters Chouchoutrian, a magical girl series which featured Satomi Hirose as one of 3 sisters, Hanako. So she's essentially reuniting with her co-stars while playing up that she's totally not Hanako, but rather that Tsuruhime is just old friends with these two.

Even putting aside all that, the episode itself is a standout and legit fun, just a classic late Showa "this school has been taken over by a monster" plot. Although I do think you'll get the most out of it if you're familiar with the source and meta aspects. That Sailor Moon line is fun, but it also has a extra layer given that reportedly Chouchoutrian was crushed in sales by Sailor Moon which pretty much killed not only it but the Fushigi Comedy Series, despite strong ratings and even a extra order of episodes.

Thus far, Kakuranger had been a fun ride. From the Shuten doujin brothers, to Flowery Kinoichi, Scrolls arc, Junior's death, the revelations with Hakumenrou, etc. But there was still this nagging feeling that Kakuranger was missing something, some sort of reoccurring element as we cross further into the next half of the show.

Oh! Ninjaman! That's right, in episode 36 we finally get our extra ranger.

I don't have much to say about his debut episode itself beyond just being a fun time. Plot relevancy is minimum beyond showing Hakumenrou has an agenda that at the bare minimum might be putting sand in Daimaou's plans by sending an anonymous message to the Kakurangers, informing them of Ninjaman's arrival.

The backstory with Ninjaman is surprisingly tragic. 1,000 years ago Daimaou tricked the impulsive Ninjaman into attacking humans, thinking they were Yokai in disguise. As punishment, the three god sealed Ninjaman in a jar and cast him into space. Having arrived back on earth, the jar can only be broken by someone in Tsuruhime's family, hence a race between the Kakuranger and the Yokai to obtain it, less Daimaou gain control through Hakumenrou. Spoiler: Tsuruhime frees him.

As a character Ninjaman is essentially a delinquent. He's unruly, hot tempered and an unpredictable dumbass of great power who will bulldoze anything along his one track mind. Kind of a shame we never saw him square off with Junior. I love Ninjaman in part because of that jackassery making for great gags, but also because he's as much of a liability as he is a boon. Despite his rambunctiousness, he has a good heart and cares deeply for people. Like a lot of extra rangers he's not a constant member of the team and his persona is quite different from the rest of the group which makes him unique. It offers storylines you wouldn't get otherwise. I would argue he's the most singular fun part of the show.

He does suffer from a bit of being a win card in some episodes, falling into the routine of joining the fight, powers up, defeats monster. In this case Ninjaman turn into his true form as Samuraiman and immediately defeats the monster with a finisher. Not all of them are like that and we get proper fights with Samuraiman, but it certainly is a common enough occurrence.

As a last addendum, I would recommend episode 38 as my favorite episode with Ninjaman. Written by the secondary writer on the series, Sentai Veteran Hirohisa Soda, Soda zones in on the backstory with Ninjaman in almost a contemporary retelling of it. I don't know any other way to describe it than to say they make Ninjaman a wooby and it's kind of adorable.

Speaking of Ninjaman, he's a focal point of our next story episodes, a whopping 3 parter.

42:The Plundered Ninja Power 43:The Last Day of the Three God Generals 44: The Wound-Filled Great Reversal Daimaou births a clone of himself, Daradara, with the ability to absorb and take powers as his own. He captures Ninjaman, steals his powers and has the clone go on a rampage to draw out the Heavenly Trio. Consequently, any damage done to Daradara transfers to Ninjaman. The hesitation allows Daradara to get the upper hand over the Kakuranger, even bringing the three Gods to their knees. But before Daradara can absorb their powers the trio use the last of their strength to retreat to the Illusionary castle, bringing the team along. We get the revelation that Tsukuhime's father is a spy and that Bun can lead them to a location to contact him. This will be their only chance to save Ninjaman, otherwise they'll have no choice but to kill him to protect the world.

Of course, things aren't so simple. The Kunoichi attack both the Kakuranger and Hakumenrou, despite his attempts to keep face. Daimaou has known of Hakumenrou's deception this entire time, merely keeping him around as leverage to exploit against Tsuruhime in this very instance. Daimaou binds Hakumenrou, taunting him and seemingly obliterating him-- but not before he can throw a shuriken into the distance. To make matters worse, the Kakuranger are incapable of transforming because of a barrier. One by one they are captured by the Kunoichi, Sasuke once again being the only one to escape, albeit over a cliff side. The rest of the team are absorbed of their powers, making Daradara even stronger while Sasuke continues his ever increasingly dire escape.

It's only thanks to the intervention of Bun and two mysterious ninjas that Sasuke is able to break free of the Kunoichi's pursuit. The Ninjas turn out to be Taro and Jiro. In their mission with Hakumenrou, or rather Yoshiteru, the two were trapped by Daimaou. Yoshiteru swore loyalty in exhange not for his life, but for Taro and Jiro's, which Daimaou accepted with the caveate of turning the two into dogs. Eventually Yoshiteru would help the two escape along with a friendly Yokai, Bun. While they're able to temporarily turn human, it's at great cost and next time will ultimately kill them. With their time short, they give Sasuke the thrown Shuriken containing a message and details on how to defeat Daradara. They give one final request to Sasuke; let Tsuruhime know they still think of her as their little sister an they'll be watching over her; the two reverting back to canines and heading off with Bun.

Meanwhile, Daradara rampages through the city by filling it with toxic sluge and slowly killing the populace, forcing the hand of the Heavenly Trio to intervene. Now it's up to Sasuke and infiltrate Daimaou's palace and rescue the team before either they or the gods fall in battle. Fighting his way solo through even the Kunoichi, Sasuke reaches the inner dominion and strikes at Daimaou disrupting the connection to his clone and-- go figure, hurting the clone.

What follows is an all out battle between the Kakuranger and Kunoichi until Daimaou has enough and grows right there, destroying his entire palace and leading to a two on four fight between Daimaou, Daradara, Daishogun, Muteki Shogun, Samuraiman and Tsubasumaru. A tag team of Samuraiman and Muteki take down Daradara, but Daimaou is another matter. This Infernal King withstands both Muteki and Daishogun's most powerful attacks, but it's enough to make him retreat and end the suffering he's caused.

Crawling to a backup hideaway, we discover Hakumenrou is still very much alive. Daimaou curses him figuratively and literally, turning the man into stone for future plans, as he takes off in his nifty new Skull Castle.

We end on a slightly bittersweet note as Sasuke informs Tsuruhime of her brothers, but she takes solace in the fact that she's not without family thanks to her friends and teammates, snow beginning to fall on the holiday season.

These three episodes are outstanding. They're arguably the best episodes of Kakuranger by far and do an amazing job escalating the tension with each new revelation. Things get so dire that it feels more like the lead up to a finale than something with 10 more episodes to go. Which if I'm being real, I don't have much to say for most of those episodes. Ep. 46 The New Year's Manga Hell is perhaps the most notable for having the "Today is Friday, in California." bit. Although if you're watching the Shout relates it's going to be "Fine day."

The only other episode really worth noting is Episode 50, although the only thing pertinent you need to know is Daimaou's outcast siblings Yamanba and Daidarabocchi are introduced, the latter dying so Daimarou can use his sisters rage to mutate and empower her in the following episode.

51: Hero Elimination 52: Finale!! Father and Daughter

Having seemingly purged Hakumenro's body of his soul, Daimaou sends the golem like being to attack the city and cause chaos and despair, in the process generating a great deal of negative energy for Daimaou to harness. Yamanba appears before Tsuruhime with an opportunity to kill Hakumenro with a special sword, as doing so is the only way to stop his rampage. He'll be in a catatonic state for a short time in a cave, leaving Tsuruhime little time to make a decision before even more destruction and suffering is brought upon the city. Of course this is suspect as hell, but even so, there's no getting around the fact a lot of innocent people are caught in the crossfire. A fire must be extinguished and frankly the easiest solution seems to be killing Hakumenro before anymore fall victim.

The heavenly trio appear before the Kakuranger (Sans Tsuruhime) and warn them of her impending patricide to stop Hakumenro, which is merely a ruse to add greatly to the sorrow and anger being collected in the dark clouds.

And the Gods don't tell Tsuruhime this directly because… And the rest of the team don't use their Doron Changers phone capabilities to contact her because… Yeahhh we're just gonna have to deal with that so the team is forced to track her down in a race against time.

On the flip side, Tsuruhime gets a lot of focus in the first half and Hirose gives it her all as someone wrestling with what is an incredibly horrifying scenario.

We also get a fantastic fight sequence with the Kunoichi and Yamanba hindering the four Kakurangers from reaching Tsuruhime. It's pretty rough on the Kakuranger as the opposition is heavily powered up by the power collected. Sasuke, unsurprisingly, manages to slip by and get to Tsuruhime to slap some sense into her, as well as provide a shoulder to cry on. Unfortunately, Hakumenro awakes and attacks, zoning in on Tsuruhime and chasing her to a cliff side. She's saved by the intervention of Taro and Jiro, who take Hakumenro over the cliff side.

Tsuruhime isn't afforded a chance to process the shock before a giant Yamanba attacks, prompting the team to face her head-on with Daishogun and soon followed by Muteki, Tsubasmaru and even Ninjaman.

As one sided as this fight appears, Yamanba is immensely powerful thanks to the dark clouds. Every time she's struck down she rises one again at full power, eventually wearing down the Kakurangers.

It only through the encouragement of the three gods that the team is able to see the good that exists in the world and reignite the hope within. It's corny, it's cheesy, perhaps even flat out sappy, and it's a lot of what I love about Sentai.

The team rises one again, banishing the dark clouds and finally taking Yamanba down one final time.

Victory is shortlived as the team hurries to where Taro, Jiro, and Hakumenro fell. Taro and Jiro managed to survive, but not for long due to the curse inflicted upon them. They share a tearful goodbye with Tsuruhime, having no regrets and telling her to cherish her father. In an ironic and defiant last act, the two brothers sacrifice their already dwindling lives to lift Hakumenro's curse, fading away into stardust.

Cute touch with Sasuke comforting Tsuruhime here.

The Waterworks keep rolling as Tsuruhime reunites with her father at last. Even the whole team begins tearing up as Hakumenro apologizes for all the trouble, despite most of it it being quite literally out of his control. The happy reunion is interrupted by Daimaou, taunting this display of human affection and divebombing his ENTIRE SKULL CASTLE INTO THE TEAM.

Now that's a cliffhanger.

ep, 53: Sealing!!

Kakuranger's finale is shockingly simple and straightforward. Seriously, there is not a lot to cover here. The team survives the attack and confronts Daimaou, we're ramping up with the music kicking in and the Team transforming aaaaand the Heavenly trio stops them from stiking him down. Daimaou taunts them, heads to the city and splits off into three different beings that only the Kakuranger can see, causing them to split up and go after each entity. Daimaou does incredibly cartoonish villain tropes, from pushing an old lady over a railing, to a runaway baby carriage. … And then he blows up an entire skyscraper.

Finally merged back into one, the team confronts Daimaou again, only to once again be interrupted. The trio just spells it out directly by stating Daimaou is both a literal and figurative being. The figurative side is the embodiment of human hatred itself. It's something that cannot be destroyed but can be spread-- hence why attacking him is a bad idea. But it can also be contained. Ostensibly the Kakuranger have to seal their hearts to the rage and contain Daimau metaphorically, while also still literally stuffing him into the door of seals. The Heavenly trio probably should've mentioned all that before the skyscraper thing.

If I give this episode anything, it's got to be one of the more interesting finales, actively choosing not to have a battle with the big bad but one really long wrestling match. He even grows and is wrestled by the trio and Ninjaman. The Kunoichi also show up, but they're zapped by Daishogun and turned back into their premutated form as cats. Probably could've done that 30 episodes ago.

But with all that effort, Daimaou is trapped and the Kakurangers seal the door by giving up their Doron Changers. At long last the battle with the Yokai is over and the team free of their duties. the five celebrate and the Heavenly Trio and Ninjaman bid them farewell. The team unites with Bun and Hakumenro, Hakumenro saying he'll be waiting for Tsuruhime at home. The Five board Nekomarou and head off on the road once again, as the second half of the opening theme plays along with interspurced clips of each members greatest moments from across the series. An incredibly appropriate send off.

That concludes Ninja Sentai Kakuranger. I greatly enjoyed my time with the series, but I have a few more thing to cover before giving my final thoughts.

First and foremost the Subs are unfortunately… a mixed bag, no matter what you choose. For Shout!'s there's nothing flat out atrocious, but it's unpolished, as you might expect. I don't think anything will top MillCreek's slop with Ultra Q, but Shout gardnered notority over their sentai releases for good reason. The translation itself is fine for the most part, but it's flat and not uncommon to see weird dialogue choices or terms being incorrectly applied. For example, a pretty common choice in subbing is to take "Onii-chan" and simplify it to just be the character's name in question. That's perfectly fine, it's been done by everyone for years, offical and fansubs alike. But in episode 20, we have one of the Kunoichi saying Sasuke's name outright… and they put Onii-Chan. I've never seen that before. And the rest of the episode has a kid saying Onii-chan, subbed as Sasuke. It's like some wires got crossed. Infact, ep. 20 is a perfect microcosm of all the subbing issues in one episode.

The timing is off in several places leaving characters speaking after the subtitles have since left the screen. For what it's worth, the subs are at least on screen long enough to read, but it's still distracting having them dissappear mid speech. It's unprofessional looking no matter how you cut it. Futher more it's an issue the fan subs do not have.

The second half of the series is a bit better about all that… for a few episodes. Sub timing is still off more often than not, but it is improved and nothing is as bad as episode 20. There's more personality injected into the dialogue, making for a more pleasant reading experience. Granted, part of that might simply be Ninjaman's bombastic personality, but overall I felt the choices were more expressive once you get into the 30s. That said, it still ain't perfect. Some sentences are questions which lack question marks, others are overly wordy for what's being stated (ie turning "I'm back" to "I've somehow returned to where I was" despite bevety within the Japanese) and there's whatever the hell this is:

I swear, every time I think something is ironed out I see something like this. Ironically, this reminds me of the awkard sounding fansubs for Rider '71 before Shout did their nice polished up version. While this isn't the worst from Shout's sentai subs, there's no denying that the lack of polish bogs down the viewing experience unfairly. Now you may be considering the GUIS Fansub STL, and franky I think it's worth looking into. However, there are still some caveates. For what it's worth they're better timed than Shout. Subs rarely linger or appear too late and the dialogue flows well. Although, if I'm being completely honest, I do have my about as many critiques. Sentai is translated as Squad, which I never like; the phrasing on the opening and ending tracks aren't as good as the Shout version (Floodlights, really?) Likewise, they zig where Shout zags on wordy dialogue, and they translate Daimaou as "Infernal King" which I get, but I'm also not crazy about because it doesn't really flow like a name in the same way Daimaou can. Kinda feels like translating Daizyujin to me.

The robos, however, get it the worst. They call Saruder "Simidar," Kark is "Craan" Logan is "Lugan" Kumard is "Usardo" and freaking Gammer is "Ranna". They're essitally localizing the names. So instead of Saru (Monkey) for Saruder, they're using Simian. Likewise Ursa for Bear, Lupis for wolf and so forth. That is wholey unnecesary, misguided, and incredibly distracting in my eyes. I'm willing to give Fansubs more leeway since they're things made for free in the spare time of incredibly dedicated fans. But I consider that an objectionable creative liberty. That is just… no.

Still, they went through the effort of proper timing and even subbed the credits for writers, directors, and guest stars on individual episodes. That's pretty damn nice and very handy for folks like me. At the end of the day, sub timing, personality, and consistancey is more important to me. But this is something of a pick your poison scenario, there are things that bug the hell out of me in both options.

The Shout version is of course free to watch on Pluto/Tubi/ShoutTV so that will be the most readily accesable and easy to approach version.

On a tangentally related note, the streaming version has an audio quirk where the opening starts rather low and gets progressively louder until leveling off after 40 seconds. Every episode is like this and it's only on steaming, regardless of browser or the various apps. The DVD doesn't do it. I hurt my ears a couple of times because of this, so be careful.

While we're still on the subject, I do want to point out another quirk that isn't an issue with the subs per se but could be mistaken as such, which is that Kakuranger can't keep their timeline stright and it makes things confusing.

In episode 24 they state Daimaou and the yokai were sealed away 2,000 years ago by the three sages, who later became the three heavenly Generals. But in episode 37 they state Daimaou is 1,200 years old. I guess you could argue maybe it didn't count the time he was sealed away. Buuuut in episode 1 they say the Yokai were sealed away again 400 years ago, and in Episode 39 they say Kakuranger's story started 1,000 years ago. It's like this on both the Shout and Fansub versions.

Again, that's not a sub error, they're saying 千年前 Sen-nen-mae, which is a millinium ago. There seems to be confusion that there were multiple battles, one 2,000 years ago with the 3 sages, 1,000 years ago in which Ninjaman was involved with the heavenly kings, and 400 years ago where the Kakuranger's ansestors were involved sealing the yokai. Also didn't Kakure Daishogun disappear 2,000 years years ago? Like stricky speaking it's just the scrolls that went missing but presumebly he can't appear without them so wouldn't that mean Ninjaman never met them? But he was sealed by the trio which is after Kakure would've went missing.

You know this was supposed to be pointing out the subs not getting the source wrong, but it's now ended up pointing out why a series bible can be of importance to avoid this kinda mess.

Which I guess brings me to the more critical part of the review; Kakuranger has a lot of clunky bits. It's not horrendius, there's no one huge thing unless you really care about the timeline, but rather numerious contrivanaces and misbegotten narrative threads. Some of Sugiyama's worst habbits have a tendency to crop up, particuarly with the gods. Even putting aside the timeline, it almost feels like repeating some of the hits with Daizyujin, albeit not as bad, yet less consistent. They're far less dickish and manipulative than Daizyujin. But it's not uncommon for them to be mysterious for no good reason so the story of any given episode can happen, or things simply don't get addressed. Why does Muteki allow the team to think he's dead and show back up 10 episodes later? Or the stuff with Tsuruhime and her father. I get not wanting her or any of the team to faulter when facing him since that's the point of a spy, but it's weird it never angers Tsuruhime that this is kept from her, particuarly with Sandayuu dying. More than anything, Kakuranger is a good series I have a very speific frustration with because it's so close to be a great series, yet it's held back by a bunch of small annoying things like forgetting your henshin device works as a phone, or the gods only telling 4/5th of the team important information. This has always being the crux with Sugimura. Which if you're a Resident Evil fan, you know how it can be when the fine details start to muck it all up. He works great on a macro level, he has good ideas and plays around with themematics. But he also makes choices which can be baffling or lack the full impact of their potential because it's really obvious when he's figuring it out as he goes along. Not in a tradtional sense, but laying the tracks down as the speeding train passes over it sorta way. That's how you end up with stuff like the timeline. Oh shit, Bandai introduced a new toy? I guess there's three gods now.

I suppose if there was one thing that embodies this dicheotomeny it's Tsukuhime; a character I both adore and wish was more. She's by far in a way the most captivating of the team, but it's hard to not just sigh and go, "yup, this is the caveate for being a female sentai leader in the early 90s." She is the leader, but the writing doesn't treat her as one. Sasuke is almost always front and center unless it's a character focused episode. Sasuke is the one that gets the special sword to call in Daishogun; Sasuke is the one that gets away and rescues the team when things get dire-- a plot they use twice ffs.

And don't get me wrong I love Sasuke's episodes and they are great at giving him challenges to struggle and overcome. But that's just it. Sasuke is treated like any other red while Tsuruhime is more of a secendary despite technically being the leader and having ties to a major villain.

BUT- If I give some degree of lenancy it at least makes sense for why she doesn't get to show more leadership given her age. She is already bolstering a heavy burden, so Sasuke would end up picking up the slack. And there's also the comparison to be made to prior Sentai girls. It's hard to call Tsuruhime particuarly deep in the broader scheme of things, even to other Japanese kids shows of the era. But compared to anything Sentai from before? Oh that's a whole other ballgame. I love me some action girl quick change episodes, but even Rin wasn't exactly pushing the envelope. Hell, even something as critically lauded as Jetman has a female character with little more depth than a soap opera. Whether or not you like Jetman or can contexturalize it for what it did, I think it's fair to say Kaori is treated far worse by the narrative than Tsuruhime is. Even if Tsuruhime isn't utiliize to her full potentinal or as nuanced as she could've been, she's miles ahead of her contemporaries. Her dynamic with her father actually gives her a character, struggles and motivation. I can't say that for most sentai heroines up to that point. Hell I can't even say it for some Female Kamen Rider's decades after.

There's still a part of me the wonders what an episode by a guest writer like Yōji Enokido could've given us with Tsuruhime. But I also can't deny what's here is quite possibly the best female team member the franchise had up to that point. And that's kinda my feelings towards Kakuranger as a whole. Could it be better? Sure. Is it still incredibly good? Absolutely.

I can easily see why this would be someone's favorite sentai. There is so much to enjoy that if you can look beyond the rough edges it very well may become a favorite of yours. Personally, I'm going to need more time to stew on it, but I think it might be up there for me, at least for the 90s series. I'll fully admit to getting misty-eyed when the series concluded because I had a great time with these characters, and that ain't nothing.

But I'm not done with Kakuranger. In August of 2024 we got a 30th anniversary special from the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club: Act 3: Middle-Aged Struggles, which I'll be taking a look at next time.

[kaylinalexanderbooks]

Unusual Associations

Thanks to @anyablackwood here, @mundanemoongirl here, and @somethingclevermahogony here!

Rules: fill in what you associate your OC with in each category

I've done this game for Lexi here!

Maddie Morgan

Seasoning - basil?

Weather - warm and breezy

Color - yellow, purple, pink

Sky - partly cloudy in dusk

Magical power - ... shapeshifting

Plant - Venus fly trap

Weapon - either ninja stars, a baseball bat, or a flamethrower

Social media - YouTube? Does that count?

Makeup - eyeshadow

Candy - Skittles or Jawbreakers

Fear - helplessness or failure

Method of long distance travel - trains

Art style - geometric

Mythological creature - ... changeling

Stationary - a multicolored pen

Celestial body - red supergiant

Other Maddie: OC in three, OC in fifteen, interview, Picrew, two truths and a lie, bag, facts, origins, questionnaire one, questionnaire two, bingo, deep dive

Tagging @mk-writes-stuff @paeliae-occasionally @leahnardo-da-veggie @duckingwriting @theeccentricraven

+ ANYONE ELSE

TSP intro

TSP tag list (ask to be +/-): @thepeculiarbird @illarian-rambling @televisionjester @finchwrites

@nebula--nix @literarynecromancy @honeybewrites @the-golden-comet

[ghostscrown]

Let me introduce you to... a typical Ninjago season :

Lloyd gets kidnapped at least once

Cole adopts some traumatized kids / creatures he found in a forgotten, lonely place

Jay becomes the leader of a cult or something

Zane "dies" for the 182737492th time

Nya kicks something (or someone)

Kai runs straight into the danger powered with raw confidence and survives only by pure luck

New outfits for everyone

The animation had another glow up

Jay and Cole are paired for a mission but they have the worst influence on each other's dumbness and mess up so bad you wonder why they're still allowed to work together

Kai tries to show off but miserably fails

Lloyd thinks he's Steven Universe and tries to redeem a villain

Jay spends 99% of his screentime uncontrollably yelling

Wu reveals crazy family lore he was hiding since forever

Kai gets rejected by Skylor

Cole wants cake. Now.

Lloyd gets more daddy issues than he already had (you didn't know it was even possible)

Star Wars reference

Wth is Garmadon doing this time ?

Nya is constantly on the verge of committing murder

Kai bullies Jay

Pixal somehow manages to stay calm

Lloyd is still in his angsty teenage era except he's now a grown adult

Zane is silly, the worst things possible happen to him, then he's silly again

There's another plot hole but the lore is so crazy already no one is gonna care

Shout out to Ninjago City citizen still living here knowing their lives are in constant danger every single second they stay in this place

Nya and Jay keeps being the only healthy stable romance in the whole show

Dareth unexpectedly ends up being useful

Lloyd do the thing with his eyes when it's getting serious (you instantly start screaming)

Kai says "fiyah"

"Yep so I saw [a main character] falling of a rock so they're definitely dead." "But maybe they..." - "NOPE. THEY'RE DEAD" - "aww ok" (they are, in fact, alive)

The team yells "ninja, go !" at least once

Characters are listening to music. It's The Weekend Whip by The Fold.

Why does someone has to stay behind and why is it Zane.

"You know I'm very old I'm gonna die soon" has said Wu every single day of the past 100 years of his life

Nya builds crazy vehicles again

This is a found family trope and they want you to know it

You spotted a pride flag in the background of a 0.5 seconds action scene and you already know the homophobic fans are going to lose their minds over it again

Snakes. Snakes everywhere.

A villain has the most brutal death on screen and you wonder how th this got approved for a kid show, until the show itself makes a joke about it

"Gasp ! Are we... Gonna lose our powers ???" (no they won't)

Jay's parents are in danger

Crazy plot twist happens and you suddenly realize it's been foreshadowed every single season in the previous 10 seasons but you never paid attention to it until now

Something that happened in a previous season gets referenced and you nostalgia cry about it for a whole episode

"Omg, was that the last and final season of Ninjago ???" (no it wasn't, nothing can end this show, we'll all die way before it does, now get ready for the next arc because it's probably gonna last ten more years)

[oracleofdiscord]

Ninjago OC: Estrella, Master of Starlight (part 2/3)

Part 1

Estrella, Master of Starlight:

Now that you have some context for where Starlight as an element came from, what it does, and who Aethra is, we can talk about Estrella!

Estrella grew up in Stiix - certainly not the most pleasant city in Ninjago to grow up in. However, she wasn’t a penniless orphan. She had a decent life, and her parents were alive, they just…never paid much attention to her. Nobody did, really. With her head often in the clouds, she had a hard time clicking with other people, especially others her age. She didn’t have any friends growing up, and the closest she got to reliable affection was from her aunt Araceli, who lived in Ninjago City. Aunt Araceli was better off than Estrella’s parents and would often bring her nice things when she visited. But those visits weren’t very frequent, so Estrella took to looking up at the night sky and wishing on the stars for a friend. And then one night the stars answered.

While stargazing, Estrella noticed a strange creature - Aethra in her weakened form. She caught Aethra’s attention, and the two became friends. However, Aethra’s form was continuing to weaken, and she realized that Estrella was the only person who could see her. Aethra decided that if she was no longer strong enough to help people as she had before, she could at least help Estrella by being a friend to her. 

And then the Pre-Eminent was unleashed. In the chaos that followed, Estrella was mortally wounded. Aethra, still stuck in her weakened form, lacked the power to heal her dying body. But there was one thing she could do to save Estrella’s life - pass her powers on and let them heal Estrella from the inside. But this would mean giving up the last vestiges of power holding her form together. In the end, not wanting to fail to protect someone just to save her own life, Aethra passed her powers to Estrella and faded away.

Estrella knew that Aethra’s final act had been some sort of magic that healed her injury, but she didn’t know what it was. Though vaguely aware of the concept of Elemental Masters, she had no clue that she had become one. Over the next few months, she discovered new abilities - creating twinkling lights like Aethra had done, healing slightly faster from injuries - but with her True Potential yet to be unlocked and her being unaware of the normal extent of Aethra’s magic, she had no idea she might be capable of more.

The events that would lead to her learning otherwise began shortly after the Pre-Eminent was defeated. Her parents suggested that while Stiix was being rebuilt, she should go live with her aunt in Ninjago City. Araceli agreed to take Estrella in. At first, Estrella was thrilled with the change. Leaving Stiix, spending more time with her aunt, and living in an apartment nicer than her childhood house all seemed like fantastic things! But leaving the only home she’d ever known and moving cross-continent to a city of strangers while grieving her first and only friend made it hard for her to settle into her new life. In addition, Araceli, who had always been one of the only people to give her attention, was working more and more hours to cover the additional costs of supporting Estrella, leaving Estrella mostly alone once more.

During the day, Estrella took to wandering the streets of Ninjago City, hoping to get to know the city a little. On one of these walks, on a mostly empty street, she almost literally bumped into Avery. Avery is @destinysbounty's OC, so I won’t go into too much detail, but here’s the tldr: Master of Acid, from the future, sent back in time because of the Time Twins, has connections to Djinn. She was also part of the ninja replacement team in Skybound, and due to her connection to Djinn, she retains her memories and injuries when the timeline resets. So Estrella sees a girl walking down the street go from uninjured to suddenly injured, and she instinctively reaches out with her powers. This is how she learns that her powers do, in fact, work on other people. They’re not strong enough to fix Avery completely, but they heal the minor injuries and help make the major ones less severe.

After this incident, she and Avery become friends. Avery’s not a ninja yet (although she met them during the tournament of elements), but she goes on her own adventures and sometimes crosses paths with them. Estrella becomes her teammate, not able to contribute much to helping her fight, but able to heal her up afterward. This is especially helpful because Avery is not immune to damage from her own powers and thus often ends fights injured. Eventually, Avery gets badly injured protecting Estrella during a fight, causing Estrella to unlock her True Potential as she realizes she doesn’t want anyone to die for her ever again. She’s able to save Avery’s life with her newly unlocked powers, and from that point on, she’s a full Elemental Master.

Part 3

[funkyfoxolotl]

home away from home

chapter two

colorful city

I blink the nightmares out of my head as i hit the ground on the other side of the rift

“Oh first master” is all i catch before being face to face with a young man around my age, his orange outfit matches the old photos of ninja gi’s in our history textbooks, with plate armor on his shoulder and head more similar to a kingambit’s.

“You ok? That looked like a hard fall '' I nod as I pick myself up from the ground with one hand and pull out the high range walkie talkie from my bag.

“Celeste to home base. I've made it over and” i look out to the sea of buildings not unlike levincia back home

“It looks like a mildly advanced city. Over "I spin to see the rift, its closing. Someone is shooting at it with a bright green beam.  I look to the source of said beam and see a young man in a green gi, his hood down to reveal blonde hair in a short ponytail. 

Colors pour out from my steps as I run over to him, that's my way home, and given the context I'm sure he’s why it was unstable. “Stop. please, that's my way home "I barrel into his side and the green stops pouring from his hands while we fall onto the ground.

To late

It closed 

I'm stuck

“Kid, what are you” it was then i noticed my bright trail from here to where my bag lay open on the ground. Oh gods, even my clothes looked splotched. I look down at the man as color seeps into his gi. That's odd the colors seemed purposeful, blacks golds and purples danced in the cloth.

“It's not supposed to do that” I sputtered as I climbed off the blonde. A gold shimmering symbol appeared on his right shoulder pad. I start to apologize and tell him I can fix it but he just gets up without a word.

“Are you an elemental master?” a what. Guess my face gave away that i'm not from here, if everything else didn't.  I mumble about being a demigod and blah blah small talk while I grab my bag.

“So you're a demigod of, what colors?” I nod as I pull out the delicately carved pokeball I put Miri in for the transport. I let zer out getting me some strange and amazed looks from who i now know as lloyd the skinny blonde in green, and arin the only slightly shorter black haired teen in orange.

“Miri travel mode please, im starting to think we’re gonna be here a while” the bright leds in zer neck, legs, and tail dim and fade to conserve energy. 

“So, I'm guessing you're going to need a place to stay- uhm, what's your name? '' Arin removed his horned hood to fully reveal his short black afro whilst talking to me.

“Celeste. My name is Celeste, and yes I would love to stay with you all. Especially given I'm gonna need to fix your sensei’s gi at some point” a word waterfall spilled out faster than i had hoped as i rambled about how my powers aren't normally that intricate, answering a few questions about my life and home.

“Sensei is a demigod too you know” earned poor Arin a god damn it look from said sensei, but he just kept talking and talking about lloyds family history. He ended up talking about something called an oni “a creature of destruction and darkness” he called them.

“Oni sound similar to my worlds ‘abyssal’, the soul stripped husks of an ancient race of people who worshiped the night” the look on lloyds face showed that he had thoughts he wasn't ready to say, while Arin got comfortable on the mat i had set out for us all to sit on. I ramble on about my world for a while as Arin listens intently. Asking questions every few sentences.

I get to talking about my family and bring up star. my shapeshifting older sister. And Lloyd seems more interested now, I'm starting to think he doesn't know much about his heritage. 

Arin says that he heard shapeshifting was like having a bunch of forms that are all just you in different bodies, which i explained was wrong

“Each form can have a mind of its own, but they tend to work together for the better of their main form. If you neglect one of those minds or arceus forbid try to cage it, it will start to work against you to gain control.” Arin seemed fascinated and looked like he could listen forever. But lloyd looked like he had an epiphany and an anxiety attack at the same time, he gestured for us to pack up and follow him

I gather the blanket up and stuff it back in my pack and explain it would be faster if we went on Miri while Lloyd gave directions. I received a head nod and off we went, i asked lloyd a few questions about power and if we could fashion a charge adapter so Miri could charge. He confirmed there was a good chance we could get something set up when we got to their home.

Their city was beautiful even from the outskirts we traveled on. It was bright and colorful like the flames of a flareon at the color festival, and the night sky was a dance of auroras that remind me of the night I made my first journey to town to see the stellaris lights last year. A sign of perfect harvest to them, but a sign our mother was thinking of us to me and vincent.

“Do you mind if I go to sleep?” I get some odd looks but Lloyd and Arin seem to trust Miri to listen. I shut my eyes and lay back on the seat. 

I think this is going to be a nice adventure mom.

I reach my hand up to my necklace and feel all the carvings.

 I'll tell you all about it soon mama, when you come home i'll tell you everything ive seen.

…

Goodnight

[yippeetournament]

ROUND 1 MATCH 3: KUNEKO vs PENNY

The daughter of an angel and a demon, Kuneko (Cassette Beasts) was left on the doorsteps of a ninja clan hideout as a baby. Trained in the arts of ninjutsu and friendship, Kuneko now travels across the land in search of the four elemental shrines of power. Will she ever find her true calling?

Penny (Pokemon Scarlet/Violet) is one of your fellow classmates in the Paldea Region, of whom you meet being harassed by the unruly Team Star. She is quite introverted and shy, but is willing to lend a hand in taking down Team Star. She is also a fan of anime, and favors Eevee and it's various evolutions.

[brokehorrorfan]

Clash of the Titans and Wrath of the Titans will be released together on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray on August 13 via Arrow Video. Joe Wilson designed the new artwork for the set, dubbed "When Titans Ruled the Earth."

A remake of the 1981 fantasy classic, 2010's Clash of the Titans is directed by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk) and written by Phil Hay & Matt Manfredi (R.I.P.D., The Invitation) and Travis Beacham (Pacific Rim). Sam Worthington, Gemma Arterton, Mads Mikkelsen, Alexa Davalos, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson star.

Its 2012 sequel, Wrath of the Titans, is directed by Jonathan Liebesman (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) and written by David Leslie Johnson-McGoldrick (The Conjuring 2, Orphan) and Dan Mazeau (Fast X, Damsel). Sam Worthington, Rosamund Pike, Bill Nighy, Édgar Ramírez, Toby Kebbell, Danny Huston, Ralph Fiennes, and Liam Neeson star.

The limited edition set includes reversible sleeves featuring original and new artwork by Wilson, a double-sided poster for each film, six art cards, and a booklet with new writing by film scholars Guy Adams and Josh Nelson.

Both films are presented in 4K with Dolby Vision. Special features are listed below.

Disc 1 - Clash of the Titans:

Interview with producer Basil Iwanyk (new)

Sam Worthington is Perseus

Zeus: Father of Gods and Men

Enter the World of Hades

Calibos: The Man Behind the Monster

Tenerife: A Continent on an Island

Scorpioch

Actors and Their Stunts

Wales: A Beautiful Scarred Landscape

Bringing Medusa to Life

Prepare for the Kraken!

Sam Worthington: An Action Hero for the Ages

Alternate ending

Deleted scenes

Theatrical trailer

Image gallery

Disc 2 - Wrath of the Titans:

Interview with producer Basil Iwanyk (new)

Who Are the Titans?

Hephaestus: God of Fire

Lost in Tartarus’ Labyrinth

Creatures of the Titans

Path of Men

Battling the Chimera

Agenor: The Other Demi-God

The Cyclops Fight

Prison of the Titans

Minotaur: The Human Nightmare

The Heavens Raise Hell on Earth

Deleted scenes

Theatrical trailer

Image gallery

Also included:

Reversible sleeves featuring original and new artwork by Joe Wilson

Double-sided poster for each film

6 postcard-sized art cards

Booklet with new writing by film scholars Guy Adams and Josh Nelson

In Clash of the Titans, Perseus (Sam Worthington), son of a god but raised as a man, is helpless to save his family from Hades (Ralph Fiennes), vengeful god of the underworld. With nothing to lose, Perseus volunteers to lead a dangerous mission to defeat Hades before he can seize power from Zeus (Liam Neeson), king of the gods, and unleash hell on earth. Battling unholy demons and fearsome beasts, can Perseus accept his power and defy fate to create his own destiny? Wrath of the Titans picks up 10 years on from his heroic battle with the monstrous Kraken, with Perseus now living a quiet life by the sea with his young son. But war is raging between the gods and the Titans, and Perseus learns of a treacherous plan for world domination by his power-hungry uncle Hades and godly half-brother Ares (Édgar Ramírez). No longer able to ignore his calling, Perseus joins forces with warrior queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son Agenor (Toby Kebbell) and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy) to enter the underworld, rescue the banished Zeus and overthrow the Titans once and for all.

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