#dream crusaders

[madhogthymaster]

Down The Cabbit Hole: The Weird World of Klonoa Literature - An Archive (Part 2)

[PART 1]

22 July 2022

As I slowly work my way towards Klonoa media completionism (pending), I find myself drawn to Dream Crusaders, a fan-made continuation to the cancelled Dream Traveller of Noctis Sol webcomic, written and illustrated by Esteban Girolami.

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As you know, my opinions about that officially licensed material are overwhelmingly negative, nevertheless I am curious as to what this adventure may yield under a new direction and vision - which is automatically better than having neither direction nor vision at all.

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To be perfectly blunt, there is absolutely no chance of redemption for that comic. It was a doomed enterprise the second Huepow showed up out of nowhere. Its mere existence is offensive. That said, I'm glad this "sequel" starts off with these two. I'm keenly aware of the hypocrisy.

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Nightmare Klonoa's face game appears to be in top shape, which is swell since the original story did not give me any reason whatsoever to care about this doofus. I only now notice the cute detail of the Pac-Man's ghost hat.

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Actually using loosely established lore from Lunatea's Veil to inform your narrative? Alright, Dream Crusaders, you have my attention.

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Ah, I see. You are using your story as a thinly-veiled excuse to bring back iconic series antagonists for fan-service purposes. I can respect that. At least, you are providing something that your audience might want to see.

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This is how you are choosing to characterize the Goddess Claire, eh? Go on.

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Thou shalt not make Nightmare Klonoa likeable.

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Hurray!

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Honestly, that's a power move on the writer's part.

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Excuse me? How dare you come at me with that expression!? I don't appreciate being specifically targeted!

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Oh no, I love her.

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As far as fanfictions go, this is giving me exactly the kind of inanity I would enjoy from the medium. It is not a good Klonoa story but it's clearly having fun with its dumb premise. Goddess Claire, in full anime super villain mode, is the unquestionable MVP.

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I get the feeling this author does not particularly care about Guntz, which the only acceptable behaviour when it comes to Guntz.

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"Oh don't mind me, I'm just going to Naruto pose in the background of this exposition panel."

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Gasp! It's the bandana-wearing Moo! Legally distinct from the bandana-wearing Waddle Dee!

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"I promise not to obliterate the elderly, metaphorically or otherwise."

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It's Trauma Bunny!

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Ah, an appropriate pairing. Trash belong together, after all.

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"Hyuck!"

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Original Character. Do Not Steal.

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I am a man of simple pleasures.

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He looks just right.

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Well, this is awkward.

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As of this date, that was the last currently available page for Dream Crusaders. I am enjoying this fan-interpretation of a failed project quite a bit. It might be just a load of fan-service and entirely self-indulgent but it's the passionate, dedicated sort of fan-service driven fanfiction.

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It is everything Noctis Sol was not: the exact opposite of a soulless, dull, visionless drivel, one that actually takes the time and care to properly write sufficiently-defined characters and consistent story beats. I will continue to read it in the future.

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Conclusively, it's a fun read and the artwork is high quality, more professionally sequenced and framed than the *official* webcomic series. Unfortunately, you would have to go through that abomination in order to get to the good part.

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With this dream firmly behind us, like a distant memory of childhood, it is time to burrow ourselves down, deeper and deeper, into the Cabbit Hole in order to unearth older, much more obscure materials. Next time, we enter the positively drizzling underworld of Klonoa's "scanlations" and any remaining miscellanea, thus finally bringing my archive up to speed. Stay drowsy, fellow Phantomilians.

[PART 3]

[jhnmhm]

When you’re good to mama !

[alwaysribbit]

cutie mark crusader boards <3

[2004hitalbumsevenswans]

I really enjoyed Batman: Caped Crusader. I was worried (like everyone else) that Bruce Timm would push his Bruce/Barbara obsession, but they barely interact when Bruce is out of costume, and he’s all business as Batman. Barbara is (presumably) about the same age as Bruce in this adaptation, she’s a young public defender, who still lives at home with her dad. Commissioner Gordon is mentioned to have 30 years on the Gotham police force at one point. And the series is loosely based on Batman: Year One by Frank Miller, and has Matt Reeves as a producer. It’s definitely an interpretation of the early years of Batman.

The setting is vaguely and aesthetically set in the 1940s, mirroring the original Batman and riffing on DC comic stories and character interpretations from that time. Clayface’s story and appearance is based on the original interpretation of the character, which I really enjoyed - especially as someone’s who’s read the first couple years of the original Detective Comics/Batman stories. (There’s also a lot of great references to the Adam West show, and a couple of its themes are reimagined for this more noir story.)

I could see the series setting up something between Bruce and Barbara potentially, but their interactions are really blink-and-you’ll-miss-it. There’s a moment where Bruce’s is climbing back onto the Iceberg Lounge yacht and he uses a pick up line on her, which she scoffs at, then he proceeds to use the line on two other young women. There’s another moment that you could say is pre-flirting, or is at least setting up a foundation to further a relationship between the two. Where Barbara makes a comment about Batman letting himself into her office unannounced whenever he feels like it, and she tells him she needs a way to contact him, and he gives her the Batphone number. At this point I think you could make more of an argument for a Harleen/Barbara pairing than her and Bruce.

I think the characters would both individually need a lot more development to be in a romantic relationship. I’ll say this even though I know it will be an unpopular opinion: in this interpretation I wouldn’t mind putting Bruce and Barbara together. I know that’s practically sacrilege coming from someone who’s favourite character is Oracle but hear me out.

My main issues with Bruce and Barbara together (especially when it comes to Timm’s work) is the age difference. It’s often debated but Barbara in most iterations (including current comic canon) is around the same age as Dick, usually a couple of years older, 2-3 at most. Bruce is depicted as having at least 15 years on her, if not more. And most stories that have Bruce and Barbara together also fixate on her being batgirl. Then there’s the tendency to make a Nightwing-Batgirl-Batman love triangle which I don’t want to get into but I hate completely.

None of that is happening here. Barbara has her own storylines that are just as prominent as Bruce and Harvey’s. She’s an adult with agency and flaws and is just as fleshed out as any of the other characters are. I wouldn’t be surprised if the show takes a season or two to develop a romantic relationship between the two of them. Bruce is completely focused on being Batman and sees Bruce Wayne as a persona. He’s callous with peoples feelings (Harvey, notably) and is shown to struggle with smaller acts of empathy, opening himself up to people, and honestly, social skills. The last of which doesnt doesn’t affect him too negatively because he’s a rich and well known man in Gotham.

Compared to the Bruce Wayne of BTAS it was a smart choice to show a Bruce/Batman who struggles with people and emotions. It reminded me a lot of Reeves’ the Batman. In wider Batman media you usually see two types of depictions: a compassionate Batman (which is where I would place BTAS) or a more emotionless, be-stoic-and-punch-the-bad-guys-and-look-badass version that is usually just a male power fantasy.

This version of Batman sets up the foundation for a storyline that is relatively unexplored, and I’m sure they’re going to explore it more in the next season (which has already been greenlit).

I was surprised at the lack of adult themes in the show, it was marketed for an adult audience but could easily fit into a PG13 rating, but that was probably on purpose. I was impressed they managed to have so many strong, fleshed out storylines in only 10, 30 minute episodes. But I wouldn’t expect anything less of Bruce Timm, or some of the other names I recognized attached to the project in various ways (Greg Rucka, JJ Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Ed Brubaker).

While there are a lot of critiques of Timm I agree with, I generally enjoy his work and the care he puts into it. I love Greg Rucka and was really excited to see that he wrote the episode that was more Renee Montoya centric. And while I have my issues with Ed Brubaker, I do enjoy his work.

While the series is visually and technologically based around the 1940s, the politics are more modern. Harleen asks Renee out on a date and she talks about it with Barbara openly. I saw one review call the show “race blind” which I would not agree with. Most of the racism is implied through euphemism (the scene with Lucius Fox and Gentleman ghost), but it’s still felt as a point of friction for multiple characters, it affects how they interact with the world around them. There’s also a line spoken by either detective Flass or Bullock that implies no one in the GCPD wants to follow Renee because she’s gay. It’s cut off before the last word, but again, the meaning is implied.

An issue I always had with the Timmverse is its depictions of female characters. They always feel less real than their male counterparts, less important and less visually stylized. All the important (read: desirable) women have the same body shape. They’re thin and extremely, unnaturally curvy. I’m aware that these characters are supposed to evoke that 50s comic pinup imagery but I always thought it was a bit much. Male characters - even before the animation downgrade in BTAS season 4 - were always way more unique from each other than the female characters. That wasn’t something I felt with Caped Crusader. The three most prominent female characters (Barbara, Renee and Harleen) were all different from each other, with different heights, body shapes, hair and clothing styles. They also all had 3 distinct personalities that were built up through the series. I would argue that the show was as much about the “supporting cast” (characters like Harvey, Commissioner Gordon, Renee and Barbara) as it was about Batman.

Overall I was really impressed by the show. I was disappointed with how short it was. I hope that Renee’s personal life gets a focus with the next season, and I hope they bring back Greg Rucka to write it. I love how he wrote her in Gotham Central. I was a little annoyed that they introduced the Joker at the end of the series (as a peak into the next season). I think he’s too over saturated as a character, and sometimes his introduction into a Batman story takes over everything else, and he’s depicted as Batman’s Moriarty. I do have hope that this won’t happen in Caped Crusader, because it seems that villains will be reoccurring, but there’ll be a large cast, just like in BTAS. That aspect did remind me of the way characters were introduced in those early Batman comics, it really has the same vibe. I also really really do not want Harley to be involved with the Joker in any way. Please keep her as a separate character, this new interpretation of her is great as is, he doesn’t need to be involved.

I would also be interested to see if the show develops Barbara’s character into Oracle. I could see that happening with the introduction of the Joker at the end of season one. Maybe they’re going to rework the Killing Joke? I couldn’t see them having her as batgirl, but I would be interested to see how they worked Oracle into a world with 1940s technology. I’m thinking back to her as Oracle in the Doom that Came to Gotham, and how clever that was. I’m sure they could do something just as interesting with her here. Something more supernatural feels like a long shot, because Timm usually sticks to the more “realistic”, street-level versions of Batman, but they did introduce Gentleman Ghost. So it’s a possibility.

One thing I did think could have been better was some of the voice work. Not the voice acting itself, but the design. It felt too polished alongside the score and the animation. I wish the voice acting had been more atmospheric, had more depth. It felt too clean. Hamish Linklater was great as Bruce/Batman. Following Kevin Conroy is no small feat, and Linklater’s performance felt reminiscent of Conroy without sounding like an impression. It was quiet and unassuming, yet strong.

I’m not usually someone who watches things more than once, but I’m definitely going to be rewatching Caped Crusader soon.

[lolobizarreadventuresshatpost]

[rokupo]

Me, the hot MC, at every romanceable character

[wolf-tail]

I'd sell my left kidney for a 40k stageplay or ballet

[defnotkanyewest]

Jojos as Hollow Knight charms

[best-nun-tournament]

Prelims: Miscellaneous

Top two will get in the bracket

[romancemedia]

Anime Couples 6

[madhogthymaster]

Down The Cabbit Hole: The Weird World of Klonoa Literature - An Archive (Part 1)

It was the Summer of 2022: the HD collection of Klonoa: Door to Phantomile and Klonoa 2: Lunatea's Veil was released unto this world, and into my life. My reaction in seeing these videogames briefly in the forefront of (semi)popular culture was one of insurmountable elation. To bask into the vicarious feelings of people discovering The Fluffy Boy and his bittersweet adventures for the first time was an indescribable experience, almost as much as it was to re-immerse myself into it all. For a short time in human history, there was a proper, tangible Zeitgeist, a palpable excitement, surrounding one of my favourite things of all time, ever. Naturally, as a long time fan, an educated Klonoa scholar, I have provided several important contributions to the fandom... and I have bothered many Twitch streamers, in the process.

Exhibit A:

At this time, one of my biggest endeavours was the creation of a fan-page on the old deceased bird website, celebrating the existence of these games as well as the weird history of the series. That account's activity has all but gone the way of said avian critter but there is still a rich archive worth of material that I *needed* to conserve for posterity. I wouldn't want anyone on the Internet to be deprived of my immaculately composed memes, after all!

Here's a small selection, presented without context:

By far, the biggest body of work on that fan-page was my deep dive into the extremely lopsided plain of Klonoa comics, the mere presence of which left me scared and confused for reasons that shall become all too clear in a few moments. With the premise out of the way, I am going to share with you my various posts on the subject of Fluffy Boy Literature, mostly raw and unaltered, for your eye-balling pleasure. These salvaged tweets contain my thoughts, musings, honest reactions and critiques over the (surprisingly) multi-faceted girth of comics available to us, in one form or the other, as well as several panels to contextualize said reactions. Join me down the Cabbit hole, won't you?

We begin this journey with the Bandai Namco officially licensed webcomic, Klonoa: Dream Traveller of Noctis Sol.

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18 July 2022

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Perhaps against my better judgment, I have made the decision to read the ill-fated Klonoa webcomic series written between 2012 and 2014. It is an odd curio of officially published media that was released in an unconventional manner. Stay tuned as I report on my findings.

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The publisher was a website called ShiftyLook which seemingly hosted a whole plethora of comics based off several Namco's franchises: titles such as Wonder Momo and, of course, this non-canonical Klonoa adventure.

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It was drawn by Hitoshi Ariga, whose claim to fame comes from illustrating a respectable amount of Megaman manga and Pokémon trading cards, as well as volumes of The Big O adaptation. Jim Zub is credited as the writer which is a big deal - according to Wikipedia.

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I am cautiously excited about reading this story even as I am fully aware of its untimely demise. More over, the fact it's been forcibly removed from whatever passes as The Canon means I won't have to be too pedantic about its interpretation of the *grander* Klonoa narrative.

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Which is good because I inherently disagree with any and all attempts to expand on the inner-mechanics of "Dream Travelling" when the lack of an explanation leaves the door opened for much more interesting discourse and analysis. Not knowing is what makes Klonoa interesting.

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I HATE THIS IMMEDIATELY!!!

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Oh no, you didn't!

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I can just picture the conversation in my head. "You have OTHER friends, Klonoa?" "No. I have BETTER friends, Huepow." Hey, if you have to completely ruin the endings of two of the best games ever made, you might as well GO THERE!

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On the other hand, this is a primo villain design.

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There was a rather jarring change in art style for this page. The new illustrator is Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, another prolific comic maker.

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Ah, of course! Guntzland! Guntz's place! The place of Guntz! The place made specifically for Guntz! ... That Guntzland? I feel like I'm going insane.

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Ariga has thankfully returned to illustrate this comic. His quality work is in the only highlight in this otherwise abysmal experience.

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A black and white dream world is a rather cheeky way to justify saving money on colouring.

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"I FOUND YOU, FAKER!"

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You know, I had hoped, perhaps naively, that Klonoa could have spared me the evil doppelganger routine. This comic is a constant cavalcade of nonsense advancing at the speed of thought whilst ironically bereft of any.

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The gang is all here. Waaaaaahoooooooo....

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This is the last page. This is the note in which the comic ends. It's probably for the best, really.

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Overall, this was a toothless, dull approximation of a *Big Crossover Event* the likes of which could not possibly appeal to anyone. It was too entrenched in the games' (unneeded) continuity to attract new fans and it was too much of a travesty to please old fans. It was just bad.

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The choice to undercut the emotional, narrative and thematic impact from both Door to Phantomile and Lunatea's Veil for the sake of cheap fan-service makes this *OFFICIALLY LICENSED* material exceptionally vapid even by corporate standards. Read fanfiction, instead.

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Appropriately enough, the next piece of literature under the proverbial lens would be an unofficial continuation to the cancelled webcomic. So, yes, I followed my own suggestion there.

However, as I find myself encumbered by arbitrary image limits on this blog, I will continue my archival sharing in the next instalment of this now multi-part series. Stay tuned, fellow Phantomilians, for the story is about to get much more interesting.

[PART 2]

[yoyosbazaarsadventure]

I had a dream last night where I was Kakyoin and flesh budded for a second time and Jotaro just. didn’t seem to notice. Come on man I need you and your stand to take this thing out!

[killjoydreamer]

dream blunt rotation

[breadandblankets]

continuing from Jason's back crack skills I would like to offer Cass's hands, so perfectly crafted for murder, could be put to a better purpose, attacking whatever the fuck is going on in her siblings muscles

like two elbow strikes and there is suddenly 70% less tension and I'm not staring out the window dreamily with my fucked shoulder no...

bonus points if you team up duke's ability to see weak points with Cass's ability to hit them hard and fast and without mercy (a skill that yes can be used for bad guys but also... bad bones)

[zagreus-eats-your-bread]

when i post about the netflix dead boy detectives show i am not putting anything in spoilers that you could know already from having read the comics. your own fault for not being obsessed to the point where you had to lay eyes on manga half-naked dream of the endless. honestly skill issue

[magnusbae]

hc that sometimes Dream gets overwhelmed by the modern world/technology/the growing population & he goes to Hob for help, Hob cuddles him to help ground him and talks about his own experiences sometimes, since that helps Dream process all the chaos of the modern world more easily <3

Now consider this.

Dream got overwhelmed exactly one time because of the sheer difference in numbers since before his imprisonment and after it.

While still fully digesting all of the new dreams and media, he was fatigued one day.

And got cuddles and special treatment.

Ever since, like a cat who is pretending to still limp in order to get treats, he just—"Ah. I feel faint. All those new things. Whatever would I do." and Hob is just yeeting himself to wherever it is Dream at to take care of him.