ghoul--doodle · 2 years ago
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If I’m not exhausted after uni again tomorrow I’m gonna replay bugsnax n see how long it takes me to finish it
#I’m not speedrunner but I can complete the game to 100% in a day#excluding dlc. I’m sorry but I really dislike the gameplay of the dlc#adore the story! dislike the gameplay#I do think the dlc is good and the side quests and home customisation is very nice#the actual isle of snax? not a fan!#I feel like in the beginning it’s very hand-holding and then shifts to flat out frustrating#the characters Tell You How To Solve Puzzles in the beginning portion like. BESTIE I wanna figure this out on my own.#and after that the puzzles are easy in their solution. you put the buggy ball in the hole.#or catching the bugs. it’s easy to SEE the solution. actually doing it is hell on earth#i hate the shrinking mechanic. why didn’t you put it in the sling shot. why can’t I shoot it. why do I have to run to hope to throw it in-#time. why. and cheddaboardle rex. I Fucking Hate You.#it doesn’t take my top spot for most disliked boss but it’s 👌🏻 this close.#you’re on thin ice asshole.#for reference my least favourite boss is the mega maki#closely followed by mothza#and the natural winner of the bunch is mama mewon thank u for coming to my ted talk#anyway. my brain is fixing on the bug game again because I saw some snorpy fanart earlier#I’m going to sleep now goodnight#*also I should add there is a lot about the dlc I adore. it does its job really well! and its amazing to say it’s free#it elaborates on some characters very nicely and gives spotlight to some that maybe didn’t get as much before#it helped me connect to them more#and the side quests and home customisation are best played through with the main game rather than after- it feels more natural that way#and it is very good and fun and adds some challenges to those that want it#it is good! I just don’t like playing it JGDHFKSH
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rivalsforlife · 4 years ago
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Different anon, but I for one enjoy reading 2k rants on Ace Attorney. Do you have any thoughts on the changes they made to AA4 Phoenix? Like do you think it worked? (also if these are getting annoying feel free to ignore)
Glad to hear I’m not completely annoying everyone for constantly dunking on AA!!!
AA4 Phoenix... I’ve got to admit that the first time I went through AA4 I did not exactly like him. But I feel like there’s a LOT of potential there that would have been great to explore in laTER GAMES -- ahem. Well, I did just play the first case of AA4 yesterday with my best friend, and honestly, Phoenix is an absolute delight. My perceptions of characters tend to change upon further playthroughs and reading meta/content on the characters (Iris and Pearl being others who I really started liking later that I didn’t like at first)!
Firstly, I think making Phoenix a dad was a great move, the man already had some good dad-vibes going with Pearl in the trilogy so making it official was good. I also enjoy how they made Phoenix a dad in a way that didn’t feel... off? Like, giving Phoenix an official love interest and him having a biological child would kind of feel weird. But Phoenix has kind of been accumulating children/teenagers that like to follow him around for a while, and having Trucy actually stick around and make it official is really sweet, and their relationship and dynamics are such a great part of the fourth game. It’s done in a way where at first I was like “wait what do you MEAN Phoenix has a child???” but upon learning how he came to adopt her, I thought it made a lot of sense, it fit so well with the Phoenix we’ve come to know over the past few games.
Also one of his first lines is just a dad joke (”I-I’m fine!” “Mr. Fine, was it?”) which made me laugh a lot when playing it yesterday.
It’s also good to see him be a little mean, and show just how much of a genius he’s really capable of being. He’s always had that snarky streak throughout the trilogy and having him actually speak it out loud is great. And he’s also always been a genius, even if people around him don’t acknowledge it, and seeing him take a leaf out of Mia’s book and be the Cryptic Slightly Ominous Mentor is an interesting development for him. Like, it’s been seven years, I can believe Phoenix went through a lot of growth in those seven years.
(I do feel like a lot of the hate AA4 Phoenix gets tends to be from people who projected too much onto Phoenix as the protagonist in the trilogy -- which makes sense since he was originally kind of just intended to be a blank slate protagonist. ... Which I might’ve bought if they didn’t give him the elaborate backstories about becoming a lawyer to save Miles and the Dahlia backstory. Anyways, point is, I don’t really ever see myself in characters because I have a very loose sense of self to begin with, so I never really had that issue...?)
The things I DON’T like about AA4 Phoenix... first, it does kind of sting that two months after his Great Big Finale where he’s finally come into his own as a lawyer, he gets disbarred, and that isn’t resolved for seven years. Seven years is a long time! But I can live with that. There’s also the fact that AA4 rarely brings up any of Phoenix’s friends -- which in the one hand I get, because it’s Apollo’s game, not Phoenix’s -- and it’s odd. I know that Investigations was written after AA4 and is not by Takumi, so he didn’t really have any say in this, but even BEFORE Investigations I can’t believe that Miles would presumably abandon Phoenix over the gap. Particularly not after the ending of the second investigations game. Maya, too. She gets a few offhand mentions, sure, but even in the flashback there isn’t any mention of Phoenix having any contact with Maya, Miles, even Gumshoe... Ema mentions she didn’t even know Phoenix had a daughter, implying they weren’t really in contact either... and of course when only Maya gets a mention about Steel Samurai stuff in the fourth game, it feels like all his friends completely abandoned him. Which is why there are so many older fics written before DD was released where Phoenix was completely alone over the seven-year-gap. And while of course having the characters make an in-person appearance wouldn’t make any sense, having maybe a few random dialogue lines mentioning Phoenix was still in contact with them and they were still close would have been nice. DD and SOJ kind of fix this, but... still.
The other issue is that he kind of ends up overshadowing Apollo’s story particularly in the final case. He is the one who connects everything, and sets everything up, pretty much just using Apollo as a puppet to take down Kristoph since he can’t. Also since the whole story is about Phoenix and uncovering his past, Apollo’s own choices have much less weight. This, again, is something that could be resolved in the sequels by having Apollo have a larger role and not be overshadowed by Phoenix. Haha. hahahahaha. imagine that.
Overall I think Takumi had the right idea making Phoenix not be the protagonist since his story was done with T&T, and it’s interesting to see his growth throughout the years. I don’t necessarily think the disbarment itself was necessary -- Phoenix could still be the ominous cryptic and slightly meaner mentor/dad with his badge, and not in the spotlight, which is what I think DD and SOJ should have done after giving him his badge back. Would have liked it if it wasn’t so easy to walk away from the game with the impression that all of Phoenix’s beloved friends cut contact with him, though. 
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percyisgay · 3 years ago
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chapter 1 !?!?!
uh hi percy i havent written much and so you only get like one chapter of soup so far since ch1 is just intro but have fun anyway its also pretty short green lantern is here also bc justice for my boy <3 --- You hastily drape your old messenger bag over a small chair, concealed out of sight in a corner of the library and sit down. The library is visibly aged in such a delicate way that each crack in the walls or peeling wallpaper preserves a unique story, all frozen in time and proudly on display. The walls twist and stretch for lightyears, holding repetitive books close to their heart as dull, winter light pours through the ornate windows, illuminating them in an undeserving spotlight. You rub your eyes as you remember why you came here in the first place, ending your admiration immediately. Home.  You simply want to get home, but that is impossible since you don't exactly own a rocketship. Your second hand coat and hand made accessories serve as a reminder that you don't necessarily retain enough money to buy out NASA, and even if you did, your home was completely destroyed years ago. The closest you can do is browse this relic of a computer in the corner of a dimly lit library, searching for anything to remind you of home. Your fingers glide across the keys and mouse but your little hunt for any information is brought to a dead end after the first search. You find all that comes up on Krypton is a few articles of “The Superman”. You don’t know who this guy even is, but he is starting to get on your nerves. What kind of conceited stage name is “Superman”, anyway? Maybe you are simply homesick and thus biased, but he is pissing you off. You begin to drag yourself up from your seat in defeat but are brought to a sudden halt by a voice from somewhere behind you, sending you into a small panic. Is everyone just out to get you today? “Superman, aye? You a fan?” The voice carries a strange yet fun accent.You turn and find the source of this friendly voice, a robust, chubby figure in a black and green skintight suit, wearing a pair of underwear over top very confidently. This guy seems completely out there, you like him already. “Uh, no, actually. I don’t really know who he is.” You respond, ending your speech with an awkward ghost of a chuckle. “Whaddya mean you don’t know who he is? He’s superman! And you got articles of him up right now on your little computer.” “It’s a long story.” “Well, lucky for me I’m curious and have nowhere to be.” Okay. So you’re doing this now. Are you seriously going to tell this random stranger in green underwear and spandex your entire backstory? He probably won’t believe you anyway. People don’t tend to believe strangers in libraries when they tell an elaborate story of being an alien from Krypton that escaped seconds before it exploded, spent a few years on some empty planet and accidentally ended up stranded here. Besides, you’ve never told anyone before and you’re not sure you want to start now. “I just wanted to know more about Krypton,” You break your speech with a slight cough, “and, um, well, all I could find was stuff about some ‘Superman’, so.” “Huh. Nice, that really wasn’t a long story at all. Ion know why you said that it was but it's cool.” You simply deliver an awkward smile in response, not sure what to say. “I’m guessing you've never heard of Green Lantern either then, huh?” “Nope.” “Ah, okay. Well, that's me! And Green Lantern happens to be super good friends with good old Superman to say the least and, uh, I could give you his number? He was born there ‘n’ shit. You can ask him whatever you like. I’m sure he’d be happy to talk about it.” Holy shit. You’re a few words away from information you’ve yearned for for years on end. Oh my gosh. “Really? I mean- that would literally be amazing. Thank you so much.” “Yeah yeah! It’s no problem! Give me your phone and I'll type it in.” That line causes the reality to really sink in. What if this random guy in a cheap looking mask, really doesn’t know shit? What if he’s some creep or stalker? You wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if that’s the case. But, then again. What’s the worst that could happen? You contemplate the weight of this situation for a few seconds before reaching into your bag and handing him your phone. “Jeez, how in the fuck do you see the screen on this thing? How’d you even manage to get it to look like this, it's basically cobwebs.” A large smirk breaks across his face as he looks up at you, amused. You would usually be offended by that, but he was definitely correct. Your screen is littered with cracks and dents from various incidents caused by your severe lack of spatial awareness. “Excuse you. I like to think it gives character.” He simply frowns at that, but you can tell it’s a smile. He finishes typing in what you’re hoping is Superman’s phone number, and hands you back your phone. “Alrighty, well I gotta admit that I did actually lie to you before.” Green Lantern begins. Oh fuck. Congratulations, you idiot! You just gave away your number to a random stranger in green budgie smugglers who is now definitely going to somehow find your home address now. Your brain begins to twist in horror and fear, and apparently your face does too since he starts speaking again. “Woah there! You ‘right? I didn’t mean to scare ya, I was just saying how I lied about having nowhere to be since I have lunch with Spiderman in about ten.” “OH. Oh, okay, cool cool cool, uh so do I just message Superman or-” “Yeah, basically. I’ll tell him about you A.S.A.P so he doesn’t block you on instinct or nothin’.” “Nice. Thanks! Thank you, so much.” You really can’t express the gratitude you feel right now and before you can try again, he’s gone. That was fast. Weirdly fast. The library is now clouded with surreal, off putting silence as if the world is waiting, anticipatingly for some sudden event to break the atmosphere but nothing comes except the muffled pitter-patter of rain. You decide to leave, there’s no use of being here anymore. You heave open the unnecessarily heavy door and your gaze flickers to the sky above, covered in an armour of dark storm clouds. You wince slightly as a few raindrops manage to fall directly into your eyes and begin your walk home. 
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muthaz-rapapa · 4 years ago
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HealPre Final Review: Not terrible but not entirely laudable either...
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*sigh* Where do I start?
Well, one thing I’m pretty sure of is that COVID definitely affected production somehow. By that, I don’t just mean the show needing to go on hiatus, resulting in a shorter run compared to previous seasons. I’m also talking about any possible changes that might’ve been made to the original narrative, if there was one.
Much like how Suite’s story had to be altered in the wake of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, I believe Heal underwent a similar treatment in response to the pandemic becoming more widespread as 2020 went on.
Especially since it dealt with health and nature, HealPre is probably the season that has come the closest in relevancy to real life events.
Frankly, that can be quite scary because this virus was and is still a fucking nightmare on a massive global scale. From that view, I can understand why the writers/producers would be concerned of the anime hitting too near home. At least for their main demographic’s (children) sake, maybe they were compelled to shift to something lighter and less edgier so that the kids could find some comfort and enjoyment in the midst of the world’s current crisis.
So I can’t fault Toei for that, if that’s really the case. Going through a pandemic is terrifying, infuriating and exhausting and UGH. We could use something that can help ease our worries or momentarily distract us even a little bit. 
Though would it have killed them to dedicate one episode to the importance of wearing a mask or washing hands? (-_- ;;)
HOWEVER! Seeing as I am not a fragile child, I’ve still got several (oho~) criticisms to air out before I put this season behind me. This review isn’t particularly scathing but...there is a lot of discontent so you’ve been forewarned.
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But first, let’s tediously review what structure means in Precure.
We all know that there are certain things that will forever (?) remain fixed in the series formula.
The plot is always going to be “magical girls fight evil doers threatening to ruin the world”.
There are plot points to indicate story progression but in reality, are put there to correspond with toy releases which are usually marked by these five: introductions, first power up, midseason Cure, second power up, and build-up to the climax + finale.
There is usually a specific message (a theme) to be told with every season and motifs (narrative tools) to aid in getting that across. For HealPre, the theme is “living is fighting” and its motifs are “health” and “nature”.
I left out “animals” b/c 1) it didn’t hold as much significance as the other two did, 2) animals are part of nature anyway and 3) let’s be real, it’s just a synonym for “mascots” which we already get every year. :P
Right. I’m probably forgetting something but for the most part, these are immovable pillars of Precure.
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Story, on the other hand, has more variables you can work with.
Story is how you tell the plot, how you convey the message.
Precure, as a tv series, is unarguably carried by its main stars, the Cures. So it only makes sense that a huge percentage of a season’s success owes itself to how much of an impact its characters had on the audience as well as how effective their individual story arcs were as sub-plots tying back to the bigger picture (the message/theme).
Ideally, these arcs would shine the brightest in the filler episodes, where the plot  (“good guys vs. bad guys”) is less of a focus so there is more space for personal development and growth.
Also, not all character arcs have to be directly related to the plot but they ought to be written well in order to support the overarching message (the theme).
Now, has HealPre done that? Has each girl’s story demonstrated a good example of what “living is fighting” means?
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...nnnnnnyyeeee... look, even I can’t give a straightforward answer on that because while technically they did, by virtue of Nodoka’s observance in ep 44 recounting it as such, there’s also actually not enough to make it feel substantial from a viewer’s standpoint.
At least, that’s what I thought while watching HealPre.
With the exception of Nodoka’s, there was a lot of saying but not much doing to convincingly back the other girls’ arcs up. The fillers themselves were very weak, loosely composed in relation to the motifs and, if I may be so blunt, downright boring that if Nodoka didn’t phrase those episodes as things that counted towards the theme, I probably would put up more of a fight on disagreeing. so shoot me, I’m soft for her :P
And I know that sounds confusing right now but I will elaborate as I continue.
Before that though, to be utterly fair, some seasons keep their respective themes shrouded in vagueness until they’re given a more concrete form in words around the finale. So it’s not like we can do much except make educated guesses on what they really are. Most of the time, we’re just measuring everything against our perception of a standard in the fog. Or maybe that’s just me?
Nevertheless, you can just tell, y’know? By simply watching and observing the whole show, you can tell if the characterization, the development, and the outcome (essentially the content given) really live up to what the season claims is endgame.
So let’s go through that first then. The characters, starting with our lead Cure...
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Nodoka being the only Cure in her team to have an arc deserving of the praise “exceptional” should come as a surprise to no one.
She was the most solid in terms of direction on how her story was going to proceed. Out of all the girls, her journey had the greatest connection to the subject “health”, repeatedly delved into it every time the spotlight was on her and fulfilled everything it seemed to promise from her debut in episode 1.
Her struggles on the road to recovery from a long-term illness and the strength she’s drawn from that traumatizing experience as well as her time as Precure did more than establish her as the strongest character in HealPre.
She has also rose to become one of the most memorable Pink Cures in the entire franchise (personally, I rank her in the top 5).
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And it’s not hard to see why she’s earned such high regard in a lot of fans’ hearts.
The writers clearly worked a lot on her character composition to the point where she can pretty much embody the theme of “living is fighting” all on her own.
She came into HealPre fresh out of the hospital and full of earnest desire to make the most of her newfound freedom but she also wasn’t without knowledge on what hardship is. From there, she only got stronger, even when she was stumbling and trying to figure things out along the way. She grew more fortified in her beliefs on what it means to be truly live a healthy life.
She bravely defied the ones who attempted to take advantage of her and twist her cause against her. And she learned that taking care of herself is equally as important as wanting others to be safe from harm.
It was never about winning or coming out on top. It was about protecting a fundamental yet precious truth. That one thing any decent human being should never have to concede: the right to live well.
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Honestly, Nodoka is absolutely inspiring all around, as a fictional character, a heroine and a normal everyday person.
Everything about her arc went satisfyingly right like it was meant to and the best thing is, we don’t need to question it because we saw how it all happened with our very own eyes.
I sincerely wished I could say the same for the others but sadly, they were just too flawed.
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And Pegitan can throw flippers with me all day if he wants but as undeniable as the above statements are about Chiyu, her arc failed to leap over the increasingly mounting disappointment I had with every episode that’s been assigned solely to her.
Two of which weren’t even about Chiyu. One centered on Pegitan’s admiration for his partner and the other focused on her brother, Touji. Which, while nice to give to supporting/secondary characters, is a fat waste of valuable screentime and not what I’m here for.
It also didn’t help that the conflict of her arc (the indecision over choosing between two dreams) started really late in the game and was resolved so quickly within two episodes. There was no time for me to get invested into it, there was no powerful sense of conviction like how Go!Pri or Hugtto handled theirs and really, it just felt like Chiyu was only following what the script dictated for her rather than genuinely awakening to her own competitive passion towards track and field.
It was almost like it didn’t matter. Almost as if the writers procrastinated in thinking up something worthwhile to further her development...but then settled on grabbing an old idea off the shelf without refining it to suit Chiyu when they ran out of time.
This happened similarly with Minami in Go!Pri and Elena in StarPre, both of whom left me angry at how their arcs were executed. Yet theirs don’t compare to how pissed off I am about Chiyu’s. Because while Minami’s took a while to arrive, it wasn’t done poorly and linked back to Go!Pri’s theme well enough. And while Elena’s was over crammed last minute, at least it was unique to her character and had lots of potential ways to play out if they actually started it earlier on in StarPre.
Chiyu’s arc is like a discount version of the former with hardly any of the intriguing qualities of the latter. Sure, she had two early episodes that laid out the two most important aspects of her life (her family inn and her dedication to her sport) but after that, they weren’t brought up again until we were only weeks away from the ending. Y’know, just to fill up episode slots and meet the minimal requirement of saying they did give Chiyu some issue to resolve. 
It was not engaging at all.
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Furthermore, the fact that her arc had very little to no relation with either “health” or “nature” hurt my appreciation of her character somewhat. I just...don’t think her kind of story really matches with the central topics of HealPre?
...but maybe I’m being bitter about this all wrong and that’s screwing up my rational thinking on this matter.
Because Chiyu’s arc is valid under the logic of the overall theme, I would never say it isn’t. And again, character arcs don’t have to be close to the plot nor is it necessary to employ the “suffering builds character” method to make them interesting.
Chiyu always does her best every day. That’s sufficient argument on why her story does fit within the frame of HealPre’s premise.
Guess I’ll just have to wrangle my resistance into acceptance somehow.
...still, her arc could’ve been done so much better than what we were given. Chiyu at least deserved that much.
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Next, Hinata.
Since the beginning, I knew she was gonna be runner-up to Nodoka for having the (for lack of better term atm) “best” arc because it was heavily implied that she has ADHD and therefore, immediately checked off the “health” trait. She was even more obvious about it than Nozomi was.
Difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, impulsiveness. Hinata didn’t just display all those signs, she also showed how hard it was for her to deal with the downsides to them on a regular basis.
She kept apologizing and put herself down excessively for inconveniencing her friends even though they never blamed her for her condition. Got them annoyed a few times, yes, but didn’t stop them from staying friends with her and definitely didn’t make them hate her either.
Everybody was understanding of Hinata...except Hinata because she always took her failures to heart and considered quitting several times to avoid the crushing dejection of making mistakes over and over again.
She got better, though, and no one could have summed it up more heartwarmingly than Nyatoran with the encouraging words he gave her at the conclusion of her arc. 
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But it still feels like there’s a huge chunk of development missing between the start and finish. Or rather, it seemed like all of it occurred offscreen and we were only informed later that it did in fact, happen.
To recap, iirc, Hinata had around 5 episodes that focused on her (ep 9, 13, 23, 35 and 40). Ep 18 doesn’t count because that was a Nyatoran-centric filler more than anything.
Ep 9 and 13 did their jobs of introducing and highlighting the details of Hinata’s troubles while also suggesting she will eventually learn to overcome her insecurities. The ones after, though? They pushed those issues to the backseat.
In Ep 23, she had to share the (uneven) spotlight with Asumi. Hinata’s improvements were briefly mentioned but the majority of the ep went to teaching Asumi what “cute” meant and how to get along with puppies. I mean, I get that Asumi recently joined the group and bonding with her was mandatory by tradition. But since each Cure only gets a limited number of eps to herself, it would’ve been more beneficial for Hinata if she didn’t have to split screentime with someone else’s growth schedule.
Ep 35 is slightly better but not by a whole lot. Sure, Natasha was able to reconcile with Elizabeth which was very sweet and heck, it was the goal for that episode. But again, nothing was really done or addressed about Hinata’s main conflict. She tossed it back with the rest of her homework to deal with later. ahaha, a TroPre hint
Then ep 40 came to formally close the curtains on her story and apparently, Hinata screwed up lots of times since...whenever but she picked herself up every time after and kept on trying. Awesome. So WHY didn’t we get to see that? 
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I’m not asking for the impossible here. I’m not asking for Hinata to be cured or anything miraculous like that. There is treatment available for ADHD but it is not curable.
Also, forcing Hinata to find a way to get better at studying, the thing she struggles with the most, is not the solution either because that would only make her more stressed and anxious over her own disorder.
What I want is to see how she moved from wailing “I can’t do it! I don’t wanna! I’m so scared of failing so why bother?!” to determinedly declaring “So what if I failed 1 or 100 times? So what if I fail another 1000 times? What matters is that I don’t let that stop me!”
That confidence is not something that can be built up overnight. It’s gradual and it takes numerous tries to reach from where Hinata was to where Hinata is now.
Telling me she grew emotionally stronger can only allow me to believe so much. I need to actually witness the changes as well.
If it weren’t for that, Hinata’s arc would have been a lot more impressive. Shame.
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Finally............... Asumi.
Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi, Asumi... *sighs & drums fingers*
...she has no arc, ok? Seriously, what story is there to speak of, much less write a hefty analysis on?
A spirit born for the sake of Latte who just went along with the Precure ride because Latte didn’t want to abandon her duty. She made friends with those who aren’t Latte, extended her knowledge and understanding and gained valuable human experience during her stay on Earth. But ultimately, she will always define her entire existence around a puppy. 
Nothing is more important than this puppy.
...... to be honest, Asumi not having a storyline isn’t what bothers me. It’s her lack of depth that does.
Hell, even the giant burger she ate had more depth than she did!
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Oh, Asumi does have a personality alright. She’s consistently and unfailingly polite, utterly devoted to her raison d’être and in crucial moments, gives pearls of wisdom when the girls are in a pinch. She’s good.
But if that’s all she is, then she’s also painfully dull.
She has nothing to contribute to the discussion of health or nature, despite being created through an element of the Earth so you’d think she’d have an opinion of her own. At least worry about the planet that gave life to her as much as she frets over Latte all the time. But nope.
She shares the exact same face as Teatine’s past Precure partner so you’d think we’d explore that connection to see if it would influence or affect her in any way. But nope.
90% of the time, her role was just being Latte’s constant, fawning satellite.
Not only did that irritate the hell out of me but it just reinforced my stance that this type of character is one of the worst you can ever insert into any narrative.
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Because if someone keeps reiterating how much they’re obsessed with this one thing and seldom talks about anything else without bringing their obsession into it... then what’s so special about them on their own?
You’ve practically surrendered the different qualities you could have had for worship of something else. That’s not a fair trade-in.
Asumi’s character is so packed with Latte-related stuff that there’s not much space left for anything that can be considered uniquely Asumi.
I mean, maybe it’s because I can never see myself or any normal person comfortable with living like that.
Living for the sake of being together with the one you love? Okay. But living with your whole universe revolving around that one thing? Making most if not all decisions based on this one thing?
No. That’s absolutely crazy, alright? Nobody with a healthy amount of awareness and self-worth would live like that.
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And you can counter that Asumi’s just born like that. That she can’t help her origins because Teatine’s wish to protect her daughter is essentially what brought Asumi into existence so of course, her biggest concern would be Latte. At least, she wasn’t forced into it, right? As long as Asumi chose of her own will to follow Latte, it should be fine, right?
You can even use the fact that Asumi isn’t human. That she’s a spirit and we shouldn’t apply our human standards too strictly to her.
Yea, but those are feeble defenses in the face of her being a good main character, a good main heroine. 
There are many ways to make a decent MC. The way Asumi was written proves she certainly does not possess traits that can classify her as true protagonist material. A protagonist has to be more than one amplified feature, which Asumi is not.
For the record, I don’t hate Asumi (she’s not interesting enough to generate a feeling that intense). I'm just severely let down because even if I don’t end up loving the midseason Cure for whatever reason, I can usually count on them to bring something intriguing to the table to dissect and analyze. At least I should find something to care about them.
Didn’t happen with her. :(
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Oh god, I’ve been working on this post for days now and I’ve got a headache and with the baton pass happening in less than a few hours as I type this, I just really need to get it done and over with so please forgive me for speeding up through the rest, I’ll try to keep it as coherent as possible. NYARGH! (@_@ ;;)
Mascots.
Would you be surprised to hear that I’m not surprised that they were actually written very well?
Like I said early on, I suspected the return of fairy partnerships were going to improve the mascots’ significance in the story and, well, I was right. 
This time, they didn’t just fill in the usual expectations of relaying exposition, serving as the Cures’ transformation devices and looking cute for the merchandise. The Healing Animals had to make progress on their own training to become doctors as well.
And they did through their relationships with their human partners.
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It was a refreshing take on the mascot aspect of the series because the friendships felt really symbiotic. When the trainees arrived on Earth, they relied on the girls to help them perform their jobs as well as provide them with shelter, food, the occasional peptalk about their trainee status, etc.
Then as the story continued and they got to know each other better, the mascots were able to return the favor by giving support when the Cures needed it. Rabirin when Nodoka was frightened and confused about how to deal with Daruizen, Pegitan when Chiyu was having trouble choosing between two dreams and Nyatoran who made sure to always lift Hinata’s spirits up when she got upset at herself.
In short, they achieved their objectives of learning what it means to be good doctors by being there for their friends! How wonderful! :D
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My memory for Latte is hazy, unfortunately, since she’s coddled by everyone all the time (can’t blame them, she’s friggin’ adorable! <3) but I’ll never forget how she stood firm on the battlefield to see things through, to fight for the Earth like she promised her mother. She started out so babie but showed us all there was enormous bravery behind her cute face and ugh, we should all be very proud of her! <3
The only major issues I had about the mascots were these:
1) Too many irrelevant fillers went to them. They only needed a maximum of two for their entire mascot group.
2) Latte kept getting sick even after she acquired a Precure partner of her own. I was hoping it wouldn’t hurt her as much as it did before Asumi arrived or that she would build up a stronger immunity but noooo, they insisted on torturing the poor pupper! T_T
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Villains + Finale Battle
Not a lot needs to be said for the first part. We’ve had mediocre antagonists before. HealPre’s just happened to be extra annoying as they were despicable. 
Which is worse because jerks you can just leave in the trash but assholes won’t stop harassing you unless you pummel them into their graves, set fire to their corpses and leave no trace of them behind! >:(
Y’all know who I’m talking about. Opinions on him continue to vary depending on who you talk to and if they’re avid fans of his face or not but whatever. The son of a bitch served his purpose and is dead now. That’s all that matters to me.
Anyway, the King was flat like his two lesser generals. He was neither intimidating nor distinguished enough in the brand of evil to really make us think of him as a serious threat and because of that, it ended up making the boss fight look like any run of the mill boss fight.
I know, they tried so hard with all that shiny animation but it just didn’t have that glorious sense of vindication that previous seasons (or ep 42) gave and I blame it all on this Rumiko Takahashi reject.
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Also, this strategy was pretty useless?
They built it up like Earth was gonna sacrifice herself and die or something (she wouldn’t and even if she came close, deus ex machina would’ve kicked in to prevent that and COVID-induced caution too I guess). 
But there were no signs of pain (well, that’s a relief) after absorbing Shindoi-ne and they really pissed King Byogen off more than they did any damage with the absorbed byo-gen power.
...so yea, this tactic was just to kill some time and budget, nothing more. Meh.
By the way, did Asumi eject Shindoi-ne’s pathogen out of her body yet or did they just leave it in there to bounce around until it eventually dissolves on its own?
Because that’s eww. I mean, it’s obviously not gonna hurt Asumi they can both relate on hyperfocusing their affection for someone so maybe the compatibility helps :P but still, ewwwww.
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Fillers + Underused Motifs
In hindsight, perhaps HealPre didn’t exactly promise the content we I wanted about “health” and “nature” if their objective was to teach that any manner of “fighting” can count towards “living”.
......but fuck you Toei, you’re still cowards! >:/
Fillers will be fillers but it’s always better to try and make some of them as meaningful as possible. And they wasted the opportunity to inform an impressionable audience (during a very crucial period of our time, I must add) on a lot of things related to the HealPre’s motifs. Especially about the environment which for some ridiculous reason, they chose not to touch on for the main stretch of the overall story.
Proper hygiene, good diet plan and sleeping habits, regular exercise (already done by the girls a few times but could use another example), meditation, counseling/therapy (especially for mental health!), etc.
Real life pollution, climate change/global warming (IMPORTANT!!), deforestation, preservation vs conservation, endangered species, recycling, volunteering to clean up your community, etc.
These just came off the top of my head but yes, there’s more and no, I’m not saying that the writers need to cover all of them in extreme detail or replace the slice-of-life episodes.
But they should be able to mesh both serious and light-hearted together in harmony somehow. Like those fillers where the mascots saw people cleaning up littering at the park or that interaction with that arborist who taught them about wild animals and trees when the group went to visit a lake.
For health, maybe let the girls visit patients with chronic illness in the hospital or have them converse with a medical professional on some matter. Particularly if it’s got something to do with mental illness because stigma in Japan on those who are afflicted with such conditions is still prevalent and has caused a number of sad and shocking tragedies that could have otherwise been avoided if people didn’t have such outdated, judgmental mindsets.
That last part might be too dark for a children’s anime but there’s a lot more out there that is doable.
Do that without reducing it into a footnote, Toei. It is so necessary for your target audience to be aware of these issues at the age they are now. You have an almost 20-year old franchise to serve as a very effective platform. Make better use of it if you truly care about the message you’re conveying through your show!
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Also, what the fuck.
The last episode was a mess. Why are you only mentioning this now when the season is already over?
This should’ve been brought up months ago!
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All the things we could’ve seen the Cures done to protect the Earth without magic.
The excuse of “I didn’t know humans were so horrible!” is a shit one because everybody knows humans are deplorable trash when it comes to abusing the Earth. All the more reason why you have to persistently drill it into people’s heads that they should not be like those who don’t care or choose not to care.
One crack episode isn’t going to cut that.
God, I so want to unsee this ep just so I don’t have to end HealPre on a more sour note than it already was. *big aggrieved sigh*
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Lastly (and this really is the end of my long ranting, I promise), the missing undisclosed lore.
There are few Precure seasons without a past lore of its own in the recent years. Is it a wonder, though?
Lore is mysterious and fascinating. If it involves a past Precure, even more so.
Sometimes fans might just hang onto a show because they’re curious about what happened before the main story. We’d never get the full tale of those adventures but at least, it’s fun to imagine the “prequel”.
Also, past Precure are just badass. Fact.
Strangely enough, we didn’t get that for Heal. All we know is that she was called “Fuu” and was very close to Teatine. 
Hmm. Probably one of those changes caused by COVID interference cuz I can’t imagine the writers choosing not to tell her past in the original draft.
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With all that finally off my chest, I’m ready to part ways with you girls until the next All Stars (Nodoka, I’m gonna miss you so much! T_T)
HealPre wasn’t the worst and it was nowhere near the best that it had the potential to be. But it’s passable. At least for those who loved it even with its flaws, I’m genuinely glad it was good for you.
For those who are thinking about picking it up (although why you would read this spoilery post before watching, I have no idea), if you’re looking for a standard magical girl anime to enjoy casually, then this is a safe pick. If you really want to invest your attention and heart into it, though? Then perhaps it would be in your interest to ask someone who saw it already to help you filter out the episodes that are worth watching. You don’t need to worry about the rest, they’re inconsequential. :P
Ok then! Thanks for reading as always, brave souls who have reached this point. 
Stay healthy and safe out there and I’ll see you at the beach next week! Tropic underwater paradise here we coooooommmmmeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! xDDD
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toomuchtimenerd · 5 years ago
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Review for ‘A Curse So Dark and Lonely’ by Brigid Kemmerer
Aaaand here’s yet another popular retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. So something to know about me - I LOVE fairy tale retellings. I grew up on a lot of fairy tales, lots of Disney princess movies (most of which are based off fairy tales or in the case of Mulan, a ballad/folk legend). I’m pretty sure growing up I had this giant anthology of a bunch of old European fairy tales that had been adapted for children’s reading. I’m pretty sure my love for magic, fantasy, and all kinds of other-worldly things stems from how much I read and re-read everything in that kid’s anthology as an eight year old or something. Nowadays, I am on the lookout for anthologies with adaptations of folk lore from other cultures. Hopefully I will soon find some that seem promising.
So A Curse So Dark and Lonely is, interestingly, not a stand-alone and its sequel came out earlier this month. I opted to stop after the first book and not pick up the sequel, for reasons that I will divulge in later. A Curse, like The Cruel Prince, has incredibly favorable reviews on Goodreads, and for good reason really. It’s just unfortunate that neither of these two books quite hit the spot for me. Perhaps in the future I will pick up the sequel for A Curse, but with the third book planned for a late 2021 release I probably will not be reading A Curse So Fierce and Broken anytime soon. Something already tells me that I may have to put recreational reading on the back burner for an extended period of time once again when I go back to school. Sadface
A Curse So Dark and Lonely loosely follows the widely known story line for ‘Beauty and the Beast’, with notable changes in that the main character (Harper) has cerebral palsy and is transported from our non-magical contemporary world to the magical kingdom of Emberfall. Our Prince Rhen does not adopt the appearance of a beast 24/7, but rather transforms into one at the end of the repeating autumn season. In his transformed state, he has a penchant for violence and generally does not retain any sense of mind or humanity. When he yet again fails to win a woman’s love, the season will restart to the day of his 18th birthday and he will have to try again with a new woman. Rhen is accompanied only by the sole survivor of his first transformation, a royal guard named Grey. Grey was given the power to go to Harper’s world and take a woman to bring back to Emberfall for Rhen to court. This entire curse was brought down by an enchantress named Lilith, who apparently exists only to torture everyone’s existence. Harper wasn’t originally chosen by Grey, but Harper witnessed Grey “abducting” an unconscious woman and chose to interfere, which leads to her transportation into Emberfall. 
So let’s talk about the obvious; the representation of disabled peoples in this book via our protagonist Harper. She has cerebral palsy, and this is made very clear within the first chapter of the book. Props to the author for not OVER-emphasizing Harper’s disability, though. I love representation, and I believe in the power of representation, but I’m not a fan of when representation goes too far and it becomes the sole definition of a character’s existence. It comes off as lazy writing when a character brings no substance or value aside from the fact that they represent some kind of minority group. However, this isn’t the case here and I think Kemmerer did a wonderful job of blending Harper’s cerebral palsy into the background, yet not enough for the reader to completely forget that she is living with a disability. There are times when Harper is in a lot of pain and isn’t able to do certain things as easily as other people can, but her perseverance/grit/determination shows us that she is still just like any other human being trying to get by. She doesn’t view herself as a victim of her disability either, it’s just something she was born with and has learned to live with. It is a part of her, and even if she doesn’t like it she has learned to accept it as a part of her. I think Kemmerer sends a beautiful message in portraying Harper’s attitude with her cerebral palsy: there is no need to feel victimized by one’s disability, and there is no need to hate oneself for it either.
Outside of Harper’s disability, she is a very standard YA fantasy heroine - hardworking, passionate, cautious, determined, guarded. Is it bad that I’m getting a little bit tired of this character trope? I kind of want to see a heroine who isn’t so perfect, and I kind of want to see someone who is a little whiny or bratty at first but then grows from their hardships and experiences. Harper, like many YA fantasy heroines, just seems to start out incredibly likable (or maybe too likable) with the perfect package of personality traits. Now I’m not necessarily complaining about this, but I definitely would’ve liked to see a little more substance from Harper outside of just “I need to find a way to get home and I’m going to keep rebelling until I do”. Obviously this wasn’t her as a character the ENTIRE book, but it definitely was more or less the only thing passing through her mind for maybe the first 40% of the book. Another issue I took with her (or maybe not even her as a character, maybe it’s an issue I have with the book itself) is her wishywashy-ness in regards to her feelings. For pretty much the entire book up until Grey takes her home, Harper at best only deeply cares about and respects Rhen. But in the last 20% of the book when Grey takes her back to Emberfall to face the transformed Rhen, Harper suddenly proclaims her love for him and is willing to pretty much give herself up to Lilith to spare Rhen and Grey. That’s a huge change in emotions, and according to the book timeline this change of feelings happens over the course of like... 36 hours or something. And then the book ends on a MASSIVE ambiguity over whether the curse was broken because Harper truly loved Rhen, or if it was because Grey had succeeded in killing Lilith. So, we went from “I deeply care for you and I find comfort in your company” to “I would DIE for you” to “did the curse break because I love you? Idk” over the course of like... 3-4 chapters? Uhhhhh. Yeah I’ve got questions.
Now I know this review is coming off as pretty negative, and not gonna lie I don’t think I was a big fan of this retelling but I certainly don’t think it was bad either. Rhen’s character development was so captivating and surprising because most YA authors generally don’t pay much attention into developing the male lead as much as the heroine. In all honesty, Harper began pretty perfect with very little room for growth so she her character progression just seemed to stagnate to me. But Rhen starts off as a meh character who didn’t seem to learn all that much from his countless failures of wooing women during his cursed time and progresses into a very selfless leader (re: true KING). He goes from isolating himself in his castle while trying to break the curse to nearly ignoring the curse so he could focus on protecting and caring for his people. I guess it’s pretty obvious that I really liked Rhen as a character, and I personally think he deserves a lot better than that ending we got. It wasn’t a bad ending, and I think Kemmerer wanted to be original in creating a somewhat ambiguous ending. But as a hardcore romance junkie I think I may have a narrow scope of what my heart can tolerate for any retelling of ‘Beauty and the Beast’. 
And finally, let’s talk about Grey. He’s not a POV character in this first book, but he’s in almost every single chapter and he plays a pretty big role. At the beginning I thought I was going to get a load of a love triangle, but thank GOD that wasn’t the case. I’m all for originality, but my mind will never be okay with a love triangle in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. It’s beauty and the fucking beast!! Not beauty and the beast featuring Ludacris!! Is it obvious that I don’t like love triangles to begin with? Yeah. Anyway, Grey is an interesting character. I kind of saw the epilogue coming, because for a side character Grey was too fleshed out and well developed (considering side characters rarely are, except for my one true love Despina from Wrath and the Dawn). But nevertheless, I quite enjoyed Grey! In the beginning of the story I felt like he served almost as a foil to Rhen. They were quite the opposites in terms of personality, but they ultimately are working towards the same goal. Watching Grey’s relationship with Harper unfold on paper was also quite nice. Unlike Rhen, Grey starts off kinda antagonizing Harper (with good reason, considering their first encounter consisted of her attacking him). Rhen is kind and very elaborate in his words and manners with Harper, but Grey very much the opposite. He speaks simply, he’s a man of actions, and is mostly very detached from his emotions. I actually felt his character complimented Harper’s character quite well (considering her own emotional detachment), and I think this is what Kemmerer was going for anyway since Harper does actually warm up to Grey much quicker than she warms up to Rhen. 
Some last thoughts to wrap it up - while I understand that Kemmerer wanted to bridge the gap between this book and its sequel, I felt that she pulled WAY too much of the spotlight from Rhen/Harper and onto Grey. The ending between Rhen/Harper felt incredibly rushed, and again I just don’t think I like the ambiguity over what actually broke the curse. I was thinking about giving A Curse So Dark and Lonely a 4-star rating for most of the book up until the end, and now I’m thinking it’s more like a 3.5 star from me. The last couple of chapters were heavily action-packed, and Kemmerer’s way of tying up the lose strings (pushing the foreign army out of Emberfall) was very creative. But the ending following all of that action was just so... bland and unexciting. It was like dumping a large tub of water on a small campfire that was just starting to grow warm. I like Grey as character, but not enough to want to read the sequel where he stars as a POV just yet. 
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genderfreezone · 5 years ago
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Do you like the Evil Within 2?
Yeah! Certainly not as much as the first one (i was not immune to being sad they left out fan favorites Jojo and Ruvik's Cube)
The rest of this post is me rambling about things i didnt like about the game, and then things i did like (most of my issues are how they treat the female characters tbh)
Its missing kind of the action-noir-gone-horrifically-wrong feel of the first game. The scare factor also suffers bc our player character has been through this before, hes a veteran at dealing with this crazy shit, it doesnt phase him anymore and by extension it doesnt phase the player. They really like tripled down on the Evil Corporation thing and both the intrigue and horror suffer for it.
This game did not drink its respect women juice (the first one didnt really either, case in point: Everything About Kidman) Sebastian is surrounded by 5+ female characters and only 2 of them survive (and one of them is his 7 year old daughter hes spent the whole game trying to rescue... and yet they never bothered to give her any kind of characterization or agency. A highly empathetic and supernaturally powerful little girl in a monster-infested hellscape?? HELLO???? Lily really had the potential to be the most interesting, sympathetic, and complex character--especially as she slowly lost her innocence--in the WHOLE GAME, but she was just sort of relegated to Plot Device McGuffin) The rest of the female supporting cast are killed off for Sebastian's Man Pain. In fact, THIS ENTIRE GAME IS CENTERED AROUND SEBASTIAN'S MAN PAIN. Torrez is a walking stereotype, shes literally just Vasquez from Aliens. Hoffman was the most likeable and believeable, except when it Turns Out She Was In Love With Liam Or Whatever (psst, guess what, i dont care. Also O'neal was kind of a dick anyway? I dont care x2)
And you know who i SUPER dont care about? Bland-White-Bread-And-Mayo-Sandwich Myra. Where's the no-nonsense firecracker of a police lieutenant Sebastian married? Not here, thats for sure. Her entire personality is "mother" and "worries about stressed-out husband". We got more characterization of Myra in seb's jornals from the first game, where she never even made a physical appearance! Horror media does this SO MUCH, women are either A. Sexy Lamp B. Hurts Men (Sexily) C. Mother or D. Innocent Virgin. It sucks. Do better.
The story lacked the "digging up old buried memories" and "theres more to this than meets the eye" of the first game. It felt too...... Straightforward. Everyone told Sebastian the truth. EVERYTHING WAS EXACTLY WHAT IT SEEMED. It all felt too simple, too easy, like there SHOULDVE been something else beneath the surface. And yet there wasnt. (I watched markipliers playthrough and i loved his theory that Kidman was actually Lily. It had such potential. Kidman's entire resume for the police station was fabricated, who's to say the rest of her past wasnt fabricated as well? It would retcon a lot of stuff and like 80% of her backstory from the DLC, but you know games like this arent above retconning important shit, and at least it wouldve been sacrificed for something with actual intrigue. Maybe it wouldnt even retcon anything! Consider: tiny Lily is taken by Evil Corporation and dropped off in a non-nurturing environment that would lead her to become the kind of person who would willingly join & work for an organization like Mobius. At least wouldve been a nice excuse for why Kidman and Lilys face models looked so similar... other than... yknow.... "WomEN ARe hArD tO DRaWwwwwee")
Okay okay ive been ranting for long enough. It probably makes it sound like i kinda hate this game, but i dont! It certainly doesnt hold the same place in my heart as the first one (which i still have very glaring issues with lmao Kidman deserved WAAAAAAY better), but i do like it! It brings back salty, grizzled, tsundere Sebastian Castinellos. It brings back spooky monsters that kill you dead. It brings back having a fun theatrical over-the-top villain who takes himself a litte too seriously.
I love Stefano. Probably not in the way some other fans do, but i love him as a ridiculous theatrical over-the-top villain. He sucks! And i love that he sucks! I love him BECAUSE he sucks! Hes terrible and exaggerated and completely up his own ass and ITS GREAT. He isnt as ACTUALLY THREATENING as Ruvik was (even in his bad assassin's creed cosplay. I could go on and on and on about why Ruvik is simultaneously a ridiculous AND frightening antagonist and how much i love it but uh..... maybe later) but hes such a FUN villain! Hes the kind of pretentious art snob shitheel i cannot STAND irl, but in this game i LOVE to HATE him. Hes just SO over-the-top you kinda wonder if he actually subscribes to the pretentiousness he spouts, or if hes just being Exceptionally Extra.
The other villains? Theodore was.... forgettable. His monsters were forgettable. (Its like how i completely forgot that Frank Manera was a character in Whistleblower for like... 5 years lmao i guess this game also kinda followed that "having multiple named/characterized antagonists in one game" thing that Outlast did) Myra, i just didnt care. Her final design was kinda cool, i liked the red clusters of insect eyes. Her monsters werent really gross enough to be memorable. The only reson theyre gross at all is bc they kinda look like theyre made of semen. (I checked the wiki and apparently Myra's white goo is "psychoplasm" and her monsters lost 99% of their gross factor. I just dont care.) The Administrator literally just looked like a 3D human model of Maxwell from dont starve, and i have to laugh every time i see him. Hes not terribly threatening, all he does is threaten characters to work faster and doesnt actually follow through on those threats. He doesnt even make fun threats like HABIT or anything. He thinks hes so powerful and ominous that his mere presence will frighten the player but hes just kinda all bark and no bite. Hes The Big Bad Company Man so you know hes gonna get whats coming to him, and you know Kidmans gonna be the one to do it to him, so hes not even that much of a threat. Hes whatever.
Stefano definitely got all of the coolest monsters. Many Arms Buzzsaw Lady was terrifying and i love her. And OBSCURA was just *Chef's Kiss* Anima was cool, she kinda looked like a mix of Laura and Samara. The Harbingers were neat, but really only bc ive got a thing for gas masks. The rest of the monsters werent really unique or weighty/threatening enough to be memorable. Now the first game is a fucking TREASURE TROVE of unique monsters *muah* you got Sadist, Sentinel, Keeper, Amalgam, Heresy, Laura, Shigyo, the Twins, Alter Egos, and im probably forgetting some!! But holy FUCK!!!!! And if we're includong the DLC?? MOTHER FUCKING SHADE. SPOTLIGHT LADY. LIGHT WOMAN.  SEXY LEGS.  Whatever you call her, i fucking love her. Her design is so simple. Helmet. Sheet. Legs. Her voice? Unnerving as hell. Love it. (Also i just personally love the diving helmet. Also like you know how a lot of games have a spotlight mechanic where you have to avoid the light and if it lands on you, you're fucked? LET'S MAKE AN ENTIRE MONSTER OUT OF THAT. She's PERFECT.) Oh and also those weird crawling exploding dudes. They made gross sounds and it was great. (Tbh Keepers still probably my favorite, if only for horny reasons)
TATIANA HOW HAVE I NOT FUCKING TALKED ABOUT TATIANA. Shes like the ONE female character that i fucking LOVE in the sequel. I love how they finally gave her a personality, and that personality is literally just "fuck you, Sebastian" Oh GOD its great shes SO FUNNY. I just.... god i love Tatiana lmao. I love how she makes you kinda uncomfortable too, like she knows something, but she wont tell you bc youre stupid. I didn't like the kind of "all-knowing guide" thing they did to try and make her creepy (like she's a "guide" but then also turns around and is like "no i wont tell you what you need to know bc you """have to discover it on your own""" or whatever") it serves no purpose since she never gave you any actual information, and it didn't succeed in making her creepier, all it did was frustrate me. She was at her creepiest when she IMPLIED she was doing something behind the scenes or knew something you didn't know and then didn't elaborate (not REFUSING to elaborate, just... stopping talking and leaving the statement to hang in the air, like the "getting her nails done" and "its been a long time, detective" and the "now what makes you say that" from the first game) and she was at her funniest when she was interacting with Sebastian from the sidelines, her snide little comments and sarcastic clapping cracked me the fuck up. Tatiana not treating Sebastian seriously was a fantastic touch for a game that otherwise would probably take itself so seriously it would double back around to being silly. Without Tatiana, it would've been just another male-centric gun-toting "survival horror" game, and for the most part, it was just that. She was definitely a much-needed source of slightly derisive comedy and a definite high-point for me, even if they didn't so a great job of making her creepy or fulfilling her "purpose."
Oh I also really love the COLORS in TEW2. The first game fell into the trap of having the colors be totally washed out that a lot of horror stuff does, but it also kind of worked for it. Especially with the color pallette of our main villain and how the whole thing was His World. The saturation of the colors in the second game is a breath of fresh air and gorgeous to look at, and you can even see the color motifs of the game change with each new villain: the game starts out with Stephano has lots of blues and purples and dark reds, when Theodore takes over we get bright orange and yellow contrasted with black and brown, and in the climax with Myra the game goes back to having washed out colors and white (and with her villain design? Let's face it: they were kinda just trying to do Ruvik again) We did get portions that were still kind of wahed out whites and greens and greys, but it wasnt the ENTIRE game, even the big blood-and-brains splatterhouse sections of the first game kinda had their colors weirdly muted for that "Horror Aethetic."
In conclusion, i do like the evil within 2, but i also had a lot of problems with it. And i complain about these problems because i like the game and know it couldve done better, tried harder, and been a LOT more than it was (the wasted character potential is my real overarching pet peeve, probably becuase i loved the characters in the first game, and character development is kind of my whole jam) . But all in all, it was still a fun monster-zombie romp with at least one entertaining villain and fun-to-look-at designs and environments. It wasn't character or horror or even REALLY story driven in the way I know it COULDVE been, but i still had a fun time and enjoyed myself.
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dead-inside-mcgee · 5 years ago
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Controlling a marionette Part 6
Summary:  “A sore loser! Is this just a game to you?” He shouted, scaring Robbie.
Chase had no idea what the rest of that conversation was, as far as he was concerned he blacked out and was now trying to find and stall Jameson until Marvin figured out how to get into the void.
 That proved to be more difficult than he thought, as soon as he stepped out of the secret room he could tell something was off. He couldn’t even find Henrik or Jackie which bugged him. He did find Robbie, who was passed out in Henrik’s ER.
 He didn’t seem to happy about being woken up, but it didn’t last long. Chase was both curious and scared to see what Robbie could do if he was actually upset, but that was something for another day.
 The company was nice, even if neither really spoke.
 Chase’s heart stopped as he came to the door to the living room. Thankfully Robbie opened it for him or he would’ve just stood there forever.
 It was empty just like the rest of the house, not even a sign of the scuffle that had happened here just a few minutes before.
 Now it occurred to him, he had no idea how long he spent in that room with Marvin. Not that time was reliable anymore. It could’ve been hours or days, or just a few seconds.
 He’d checked everywhere in the house and the roof. He wasn’t sure if he should keep searching or report back to Marvin. It also just occurred to him that if there was one secret room he didn’t know about, there could be multiple.
 Back in the library he opted to just pull out random books to see if anything happened. Nothing did.
 Robbie was still silently following him, as he entered the security room. A shiver ran down his back as he realized Marvin wasn’t there. And neither was Anti.
 “G-guess it’s just me and you buddy,” he mumbled, taking Robbie’s hand.
 His next move was to watch over the last hour or so of footage to see if he could get any idea of where everyone went.
 There was footage of all of them running down the hall, then Chase appears out of the stairwell and into the library, but no one else does. Marvin can teleport, and as far as he knows, so can Jameson. But that doesn’t explain where Jackie or Henrik went.
 The stairwell doesn’t lead to anywhere else except the second and third floor, there’s nothing showing anyone exiting on the second floor, and it’s unlikely they just hid in the stairwell.
 Either the cameras were unreliable or-  
 “A secret tunnel!”  
 Robbie gave him a weird look, but it didn’t matter. Grabbing the young zombie by the arm he raced to the stairwell.
***
Chase was disappointed in himself, even though he was one of the younger egos, he should’ve known about all this secret stuff. Maybe it was on everyone else for not telling him, but if everyone knows then there would be no point in it being secret.
 Once he knew what he was looking for, it wasn’t that hard to find. There was a single brick that stuck out of the wall, pushing it in revealed a dark tunnel like he expected.
 He was more surprised that he hadn’t found this before on accident. Usually little things like the brick sticking out would bug him to no extent.
 Robbie didn’t seem at all fazed. Chase guessed he was young enough to think this was normal, or maybe he just doesn’t fully process things and just goes with the flow.
 The tunnel lead to another stairwell. He could go up or down. Down seemed like the better option.
 He reached the bottom and exited into a long hallway. It reminded him both of the dream and of the void and he hated it.
 The door at the end of the hallway lead to a large room, with ceilings too high to fit under Septiceye inc. and yet here it was.  
 “You’re aren’t the only one who understands the foundations of broken time,” Jameson’s robotic voice echoed. “Though unlike you, I can actually control it.”
 His head snapped to the direction of the voice. There, leaning against the wall, stood Jameson himself, holding two marionettes in his hand.
 “I was hoping to get ahold of that magician, but he’s a slippery one. I guess these will do.”
 Robbie coward behind Chase, trembling slightly.
 “Jame take Henry an’ Grey?” he asked.
 “So it seems.”
 “What? You’re upset that your friends failed to stop me? Don’t be a sore loser.” He tsked.
 “A sore loser! Is this just a game to you?” He shouted, scaring Robbie.
 “No yell Chay,” he whined, hugging his arm.
 “Of course this is just a game. What else would it be.” He laughs.
 “You’re sick.”
 “So you’ve told me. Of course, I would be willing to bargain. If you had anything worthwhile.”
 “Bargain? What are you talking about?”
 “A soul for a soul, as you say. I give you these two puppets, an exchange for another two puppets.” Jameson’s eyes fell to Robbie.
 He moved in front of him in defence. “No, you can’t have him.”
 “So be it, he isn’t even worth half of one of these.” He held them up like trophies. “But of course you do have something I want. Something rather deer to me.”
 Robbie growled, squeezing Chase’s hand.
 Slowly he pulled the button out and held it up.
 “Yes! Give it to me, and I’ll give you one puppet of your choosing.”
 Robbie gripped his arm tight enough to leave a bruise. “No Chay!”
 He weighed his options his his mind. There was no way he could choose between either of his friends, and it was clear Jameson needed this button. If he played his cards right he could leave here with all this friends and still have a leverage.
 “I don’t know. That doesn’t seem too fair.”
 “Not fair!” Jameson hissed, before regaining control. “Then let's bargain. How do we make this fair?”
 “Well. You kinda stole both of them from me. I know I stole this from you, but it seems you took more from me than I took from you.”
 “But that button is far more important to me than these toys are to you.”
 “If so, shouldn’t it be more fair for you to give me both my friends? Since this is so important.”
 The expression on Jameson’s face proved Chase had won. He could’ve stopped while he was ahead, but instead he kept going.
 “And now that I think about it, you didn’t just steal two friends from me. I do miss Dr. Jack.”
 He let out a low growl, a small portal appeared and he pulled out a third marionette.
 “Fine, three friends for the price of one button. Seem fair enough?” Even though there wasn’t much emotion in that robotic speech, you could hear the venom in each word.
 Robbie still gripped his arm tightly. “No trust, bad deal.”
 “Yeah, seems perfectly fair.”
 “Wonderful, now. Give me my button.” he held his empty hand up.
 “I know your tricks. You first.”          
 He huffed and held out the three. Chase nudged Robbie slightly, taking and handing his friends to him.
 “Okay you have what you wanted, now give me ́m͜y b͟utt̢o͜n̢!” His voice glitched.
 “Oh course. I’m not the kind to dupe someone out of a deal. Robbie, why don’t you take our friends elsewhere.”
 Robbie glanced between them before giving a half nod and walking away.
 Chase waited a moment before slowly holding the button out to him. Jameson lunged for it, but Chase pulled it right out of his reach.
 “Then again, that’s what I thought about you.”
 “These feeble games will bring you nothing. All of you will be mine.”
 “If you have this big plan, to kill us all, then maybe you wouldn’t mind explaining some stuff to me. Mainly what the fuck this place even is and how and why it’s under our house?”
 Jameson stiffened, his glare sharpening. “Fine. This place is the original draft of sorts, before it was refurbished and abandoned.”
 “Elaborate?”
 “This was the original design for Septic Inc. Before the creator threw it out in favor of the new, modern design. But the concept didn’t completely die. It’s like when a programer gets rid of a section in a game but doesn’t fully remove the code from the final product.”
 “Uh-huh.” He took the time to glance around the room they were currently in. It had tall ceilings with a curved glass roof, reminding him of an old style ballroom.
 “Your friend the magician discovered this place and thought he could hide his friends here, what he didn’t know was that I already knew of this place.” He sounded smug and prideful.
 “That kinda makes since. Why do you wanna kill all of us anyway? We didn’t even know you existed ‘till a good three days ago.”
 “I don’t want to kill you,” he looked insulted, “I simply want to get you out of the spotlight and claim my rightful place.”
 “What rightful place? I don’t understand!”  
 “You’ll understand soon enough. First give what you owe me.” He reached out.
 “One last thing. If you’ve got so much power, why not just kill me and take it yourself?”
 He chuckled. “Because I like you Brody. You’ve got moxie, and you’re persistent and clever. You’ve got the most character and story out of all the others.”
 “What do you mean by the most character?”
 “You’re the most human. While the rest only have bits and pieces to them, you’re the one everyone is truly curious about, which makes you very useful.”
 “Useful how!?”
 “I think you’ve asked enough questions.” His demeanor changed, sending shivers down Chase’s back. “Give me the button or I will show you that there are fates worse and death.”
 “Fine, fine.” It was a bad idea, giving up his leverage, but he’d gotten enough.
 He snatched it from his hand and placed it over his right eye.
 “Now that we’re done with that, time for the next step.”
 He raised his hands up and iron bars popped out of the ground, caging Chase. He rose up, now suspended above the ground.
 “Wait! No!” He shook the bars, but it was no use.
 “Won’t be long before your friend comes searching for you. Then I’ll have the complete set. Toodaloo for now.” Jameson smirked.    
 “You slimy piece of shit!” He slumped down to the floor of the cage, putting his face into his hands. “Goddamnit…”
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unicorns-bookshelf · 5 years ago
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Title: King of Scars
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Rating: 4/5
Beware! Spoilers to all of Grishaverse ahead!
I have to admit – I binged the whole Grisha Trilogy just so I could start reading King of Scars with a full picture. And I’m glad that I did because it made reading this book so much better. I was excited to see all the characters that accompanied Alina on her adventure. It was so refreshing to see them without being a background to her story and the relationships in the group were absolutely wholesome and made me so happy.
But off to the review we go!
King of Scars takes place three years after Alina defeated the Darkling and destroyed the Shadow Fold. Ravka, like always, is in a bad place financially and surrounded by neighbors who are ready to start a war. Not to mention the winged Shu soldiers who abduct Grisha to experiment on them with the use of parem. If that wasn’t enough bad news, Nikolai’s closest friends and guards need to make sure no one knows that the monster The Darkling had put into their king started acting up and now our favorite monarch spends his nights either sedated and in chains or relieving local farms of their livestock. 
Good time? In Ravka? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Meanwhile, somewhere in Fjerda, Nina along with two other soldiers of the Second Army is on an undercover mission to smuggle Grisha from the country to Ravka and also find a proper place to lay Matthias’ body to rest. Because we didn’t need our hearts anyway. 
I am sad to say that the one lacking star in the rating is for the plot. It was really amazing until half of the book, the political intrigue was shaping up nicely, there was the curious mystery of the miracles happening around Ravka and it was fascinating to watch how Alina’s and the Darkling’s legacy shaped up the country and what was the aftermath to the war. Zoya and Nikolai were on their way to get rid of the demon in his body and everything was shaping up so nicely. Things on Nina’s end were getting spicy too as she and her team worked to discover the mystery of a factory in a Fjerdan village and why was it poisoning the local river. At least in this end, the plot didn’t disappoint until the end.
But in Zoya’s and Nikolai’s POVs… The Saints happened. 
Oh boy. I can’t even express how random and confusing this subplot was. 
Let me get this straight - the Saints are important to the Ravkans. They’re a huge part of their beliefs and religion. Their martyrdoms and actions shaped the nation and sure, in The Grisha Trilogy we see Illya’s direct legacy have a huge part in the story, his actual descendants, the results of his experiments with merzost and it is hinted that maybe he’s even alive someone out there, kept young by his Grisha power but the whole point is that he’s not directly involved in the story. He doesn’t just appear out of nowhere in front of Alina being like “Hey girl, let me tell you about those sweet amplifiers I’ve been working on” and suddenly solving all her problems and giving her a super boost in power. He stays an element of Ravkan history and mythology, even if his past actions are crucial to the plot and behavior of certain characters. That’s what the Saints are and what they should stay. 
But no, apparently three of them picked by a random generator are locked in a pocket dimension on the fold and just chilling there until Nikolai and Zoya get somehow sucked in. Ones with the powers and knowledge that could obviously benefit the characters. It was just so… Unreal and random and we just got a half-assed explanation for it that sounds like a story made up in five minutes without any deeper consideration for the world’s lore and magic system. And I get that the Darkling’s experiment destroyed the world’s balance but this had absolutely nothing to do with anything the Darkling was trying to accomplish. It felt like something written by a completely different author with little knowledge of the source material. And if this were means to an end, I feel like it could have been accomplished in a much more plausible way.
I didn’t hate everything about the Saints subplot. I’m happy it gave us some background on how life as a Grisha was in the past, the origins of the name and some amplifier lore too. I love that Zoya got a power boost and I would love to see her change into the dragon in the second book because let’s be honest that would be absolutely awesome. I also hope that the second book will elaborate on the topic, making it more believable and incorporate it into the world’s lore in a logical way. Maybe even show more Saints so that those three wouldn’t feel like special snowflakes chosen just to achieve the ending and give the characters a power boost. I could really just roll with it if we get a more thought-out explanation in the future because as soon as they entered the Saints’ little realm I felt like I was reading about Zoya and Nikolai experiencing a mass hallucination. 
And that brings me to the ending. I know a lot of people hate it and honestly, I kind of share that sentiment. However, I must admit - it had me curious. The Darkling’s situation is completely different than it was in the Grisha Trilogy. I trust the author enough to give her a benefit of doubt in this case and see how she handles this situation in the next book. I’m curious about the Darklings interactions with other characters, as in TGT he was pretty much only focused on Alina. On one hand, I wanted a new villain or no villain at all, just a good political intrigue with some magic. On the other, I’m curious to watch the whole situation develop. 
Now it’s time to talk about the characters because they’re exactly what made this book enjoyable, even when the plot went south. 
I know most people came here for Nikolai and I have to admit that so did I. And don’t get me wrong, I absolutely wasn’t disappointed. We could finally see Nikolai outside of Alina’s POV and it was a feat. The prince seems a little more mature than in TGT but his sense of humor and charming attitude stays the same. We get to learn about his childhood, his insecurities, and concerns both regarding the monster that is inside him as well as ruling his country. His POV allows us to see him as a more wholesome character than in TGT as back then our opinion on him was influenced by Alina’s thoughts and narration. I was very happy to see more of him and I still love him to bits.
But it’s the girls that take the spotlight in this book.
When I read the Crooked Kingdom, I had a certain picture of Zoya which didn’t exactly line up with what I saw after reading The Grisha Trilogy. Of course, from the first book to the last, Zoya went thought some character development, growing out of her mean girl phase but all we’d known about it was that she lost her aunt when the Darkling used Alina to expand the Fold. King of Scars gives us an insight into her past, more information about her relationship with the Darkling and it’s all glorious and shes glorious and ruthless and I love how she’s not softened in any way as a part of some questionable character development. I want to see this girl turn into a dragon.
Nina’s POV made me love her even more than in Six of Crows. She’s still fabulous and ready to stir trouble wherever she goes. Her goodbye with Matthias was heartbreaking but I’m glad her whole storyline wasn’t based on moping after him. I loved that Matthias’ wolf was incorporated into the story and I hope we’ll see more of him. We also got a bigger display of Nina’s powers twisted by parem and I enjoyed it so much. Nina is always ready to help other girls and women and all I can say is… Icon. 
There was also a fourth POV introduced half into the book, one of a completely new character - a royal guard called Isaak. I did love him and he was shaping into a great character but the things happened and, well… We won’t be seeing any more of him and I was really looking forward to the part where he wouldn’t be playing Nikolai and we could see him as his own person. I feel like it was quite a waste but on the other hand, I didn’t grow to care enough to be bothered by it.
When it comes to relationships, both romantic subplots are a big yes in my book. When I started King of Scars I was very not on board with the whole Nikolai and Zoya thing but this book made me love it. Let’s just wish we don’t get some crappy love triangle in the second book. When it comes to Nina and Hanne, I was so excited to see Nin with a girl and Hanne is a great character who has a huge potential for development and the fact that she’s Brum’s daughter makes these dynamics even more interesting. Those two are going to conquer Fjerda together. 
Platonic relationships in the book are also delightful and heartwarming. I especially loved the Grisha Triumvirate and Nikolai acting like one big family and also Adrik being done with Nina starting drama in Fjerda and disobeying his orders like the Dreg she is and Leoni just applauding her? Absolute feast.
All in all, would I recommend King of Scars? Yes, I definitely would to all the Grishaverse fans and if you’re a new fan quickly go grab the Six of Crows duology and either The Grisha Trilogy or just a recap article on it since not everyone has enough nerves to go through books that have such annoying characters as Mal or Mal. Oh and also Mal. Sadly knowing at least basic stuff about the Grisha Trilogy is crucial for understanding this book so you can’t just avoid it like with Six of Crows. I’m eagerly awaiting the next book because I can’t wait to see where all of this goes.
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lasorciereviolette-blog · 6 years ago
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On Witch
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(So RP’s are a bit slow right now so I might as well continue down the saltapalooza that has been opened up due to a post on how Sega’s flanderized Amitie over the years. 
This one’s kind of all over the place, because it’s not a strict flanderization argument per se and since Witch is my favourite I like to gush about her. I’ll try to keep on topic as much as possible though.
So I’ll start by saying that honestly, this could be a lot worse in several ways. Sega’s done at least a little homework on Witch. It took them nearly a decade to put Witch in one of their games (no, 7 does not count since she has no lines) but it looks like she’s here to stay seeing as she was kept on the roster for both Tetris and Chronicle.
But... Now what? See, my analysis has led me to the conclusion that Sega have absolutely idea of what to do with Witch.
I didn’t always have that viewpoint. At one time I thought Sega had done a pretty good job with Witch. She showed up, her story was reasonably funny, and she was actually allowed to behave like a selfish jerk unlike certain characters. 
However, a little while ago I came across a translation of Yon’s cutscenes. And I came across an unfortunate discovery: Witch’s campaign in 20th is nothing new at all. Nope. It’s just a copy-paste of her few scenes in Yon, and one cutscene in Sun.
Let me elaborate. See, in 20th Witch is trying to collect ingredients to create a potion in one of Wish’s spellbooks. Collecting these ingredients involves taking parts off of certain cast members, namely Draco’s tail, the Acorn Frog’s eye, an imp’s horns, a ladybug, a dark wizard’s hair, and a fish’s scales. On the surface this isn’t a bad premise. I didn’t mind it too badly before I knew anything about Yon. Except in Yon, Witch’s goals are almost identical. She needs Draco’s tail and Seriri’s scales, and wants to collect Carbuncle’s finger grime (... somehow) just in case she ever needs it. When she comes across a sleeping Dragon, she also tries to seize the opportunity to grab some snot.
The details aren’t exactly the same, at least. Which is nice, because if the scenes were word for word the exact same I’d be even more peeved. I can at least give the writers that much. The thing is, after waiting so long for a beloved character’s comeback, why did they decide just to recycle half the cutscenes from other games? I suppose this can be forgiven since it’s an anniversary title, but it’s still a little odd.
And then we get to Tetris, where Witch has a total of... One scene. When DLC was released, she got another very short scene. While these were both original, there... Really was nothing to them. All she wants to do is perform an experiment with blocks in one, and in the other she mocks Draco, which would have been absolutely unsurprising if you had played either Saturn or Yon in the past. Witch’s appearance is very much a token one and she doesn’t even really interact with other characters besides Draco Centauros when there was an opportunity to have her bounce off of the members of the Starship Tetra, or Amitie, or Ringo. Or maybe to put her in Primp and have her hang out with some of the people she used to. Talk about a waste. Witch is a fun and dynamic character who has been allowed to remain a bit of a jerk. There was plenty of room to have her interact with new characters, but instead they threw her into space and called it a day. Hell, she’s a comet witch and she doesn’t even notice she’s in space!
Which leads me into the next part of this rant, the fact that Sega only really seemed to look at Yon and one cutscene in Sun and determined her entire character from there. Before Yon Witch was primarily a comet witch. While she did make potions in Seriri’s Happy Birthday, Witch’s gameplay was focused more on flight and spellcasting. Based on her moveset in other games, Witch not only shares most of Arle’s spell set (being proficient in fire, ice, and lightning magic, as well as being able to cast Brain Dumbed and Jugem) but has her signature Meteor spell and a few other comet style magics such as Big Bang. These spells have a distinctive star theme when she casts them, distinguishing her from Arle.
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Pretty cool, huh? She is also somewhat of a melee fighter, not being afraid to swat people with her broom. (this isn’t the greatest of examples but it’s cool so)
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Coming back to her broom flying, a whole game was built around it called Comet Summoner. It didn’t have much of a story, but it did feature a bunch of cute levels and a powerful boss that may or may not have been Witch’s future self. And this future self was strong, with a huge red aura, several health bars, and the ability to not only zip around the stage at high speeds, but cast spells of her own and combo you with a mix of melee and magic if you fuck up and get too close to her.
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Witch would make a good fighting game character. 
This is getting a bit off topic, but point is, Witch is versatile. But unfortunately it seems that apart from her spell names Sega can’t be bothered to remember her versatility and just wants her to make wacky potions. I’m not opposed to her making wacky potions, it’s not necessarily bad, but at one time she was a lot more than that.
She was more complex as a character than she seems to be in 20th or Tetris. Maybe not in Yon, where she appears very little, but in Madou Monogatari she got some attention. Yes, Witch is selfish. Yes, she’s pretty power hungry. Yes, she’d probably sell quite a few people out for a single corn chip. But there are some people who are dear to her, like for example her grandmother Wish. While again, I can’t read Japanese, Witch Leeroy Jenkins’s into a room when she sees her grandmother’s body on the floor in Tower of the Magician. Afterwards, Witch’s body language is pretty clear to see.
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She’s clearly very worried about Wish and does not appreciate any harm coming to her. Even jerks have loved ones, I guess?
Let’s give Sega the benefit of the doubt, maybe that one trait just hasn’t come into play yet. After all, Wish hasn’t appeared (but she has been mentioned). Sure. However, there are other traits that the Sega games ignore when it comes to Witch’s character.
First, Sega has arguably made Witch into an even worse jerk. In Compile’s games, Witch is often abrasive and rude, but she will defer to an expert’s judgment in a situation she doesn’t understand. Case in point, Saturn. Upon coming across the Yog smoke, she avoids possession because she immediately listens to Arle and Rulue’s advice. She doesn’t argue, she just does it. 
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Contrast this with 20th. 
In general, Witch is crafty and rather full of herself in Saturn, but not so much as Rulue. She has a low opinion of martial arts and so that makes her play well off of Rulue (It probably also explains her animosity towards Draco), while she has a high opinion of her magical skill and loves to soak up praise. Witch also shows little ill will towards those who quit the tournament after a Yog presents itself, which might hint at some sensibility the character doesn’t tend to have much of after this. 
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Witch is also a bit of a snarker in this game:
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There’s character here besides her excitability, or getting pissed off when things don’t go her way. Now Saturn does bring up Witch’s legendary temper, but we don’t really see the results of that in-game. 20th really pushes that informed attribute into the spotlight, where all her thoughtfulness and cleverness go out of the window for her to make a bad potion that obviously contained too many substitutions, to the potion not being useful in the first place, to her beating up Lemres for stating the blatantly obvious. Witch doesn’t really come off any smarter than Draco at the end of this, because all of this was obvious! She just comes off as an even worse ass than usual because of Sega’s wackiness mandate.
I also really don’t get what the point of her fighting Lemres even was. Lemres seems disappointed at the end that he didn’t get to talk to Witch more, but the story just ends. There isn’t any kind of payoff or character growth here. Just... Nothing. Again, a total waste of potential, having the two comet mages meet and then do absolutely nothing of value. Love it, Sega.
Oh yeah, there were two more things Sega forgot about. First, this.
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Witch is probably an actual pervert, to contrast with Schezo’s fake perversion (which may or may not be real perversion too sometimes, because Saturn’s fun like that). So that’s another thing Sega forgot, for better or for worse.
Which leads me to the last bit that Sega’s forgotten. This too I can’t really say if it’s a good thing or a bad thing. I like that it exists in Compile’s games, but if Sega remembered it would likely devour what remains of Witch’s personality. In certain games, there are implications that Witch may have a crush on Schezo. She fawns over him in athletic clothes in Puyolympics and as seen above, asks if he’s cool and wants to touch him in Saturn. Then of course there’s the whole “I want you” scene that solidifies the thing. For all I know there could be evidence for or against this in Tower of the Magician, which is a game where the two spend quite a bit of time interacting with each other, but since I haven’t learned to read Japanese in the last few hours I can’t comment on that, as much as I want to.
Now whether this is a good or bad thing for Sega to ignore really depends on your interpretation of this trait. I’m personally torn, because again I’m glad that Witch has not been reduced to a lovesick one-note failure. On the other, it’s a facet that a more competent writing team could have explored with some success. So it sucks that it’s been abandoned completely, but the end result could have been really terrible had Sega noticed this, so... Yay?
Okay, so I’ve written blocks of text. What does it all mean? Well, it means Witch isn’t immune to being flanderized in Sega’s works. It could be a lot worse, but there’s plenty of Witch’s character that’s been left out of current Puyo and plenty that has been aggrandized into a worse person. Right now Witch reminds me of a mixture of herself and Saturn’s take on Rulue, which... Really sucks, because no wonder Sega can’t figure out how to make Rulue stand out if they give her traits to other characters! Poor Rulue. Give her some love, Sega. She doesn’t deserve this kind of shafting.
As for Witch, you’re not going to get a total sweet kindhearted girl out of her. She was never that kind of character and that’s not a bad thing. But throwing on Rulue’s most boastful traits and making her a worse jerk, then giving her cameos because you don’t know what to do with her isn’t a good way to characterize her. Return some of that sense into the mix! Like I said in my Schezo comments, not everyone needs to be a wacky joke 24/7.
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advocatewrites-blog · 6 years ago
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Into the Unknown Part 4 Chapter 4
Into the Unknown
Fandom: Undertale, Coraline (book), Over the Garden Wall, Paranorman, Gravity Falls (season 2)
Characters: Frisk, Norman B., Dipper P., Mabel P., Coraline J., Wirt, Greg, the Cat, the Frog; Sans, Toriel, Papyrus, Undyne, Alphys, Asgore,; the Other Mother, the Beast, Agatha P., Bill Cipher, Asriel D., Chara D.,
Pairings: Not the focus. Alphys/Undyne, with mentions of Papyrus/Mettaton, sans/Toriel/Asgore, and Wirt/Sara. Due to the nature of Undertale and the dating segments, there is also interpretable Papyrus/Wirt, Undyne/Mabel, Alphys/Dipper, Napstablook/Norman, Mettaton/Norman, Mettaton/Mabel, Sans/Dipper, Sans/Norman, and Sans/Greg.
Rated a high +K for violence, mild language, horrific elements that may be disturbing to younger readers,  mentions of child abuse and bullying, character death that is sometimes permanent, and mentions of suicide that may be triggering. These elements remain relatively unchanged from their source material, which most all are for children, but discretion is advised nonetheless.
Disclaimer: Undertale was created and owned by Toby Fox. Coraline was created by Neil Gaiman and owned by Bloomsbury and Laika. Over the Garden Wall was created by Patrick McHale and owned by Cartoon Network. Paranorman was created by Sam Fell and Chris Butler and owned by Laika. Gravity Falls was created by Alex Hirsch and owned by Disney. Any other work mentioned or homage are property of their respective owners. This is a fan-made, nonprofit work that only seeks to entertain. Please support the original franchises.
Chapter 4
“OHHH YES! WELCOME BEAUTIES…TO TODAY’S QUIZ SHOW!”
Spotlights engulfed the lab. Two disco balls dropped from the lighting fixtures and engulfed the three into multicolored lights. Confetti fell from somewhere. Dipper knew that he was not going to like whatever happened next.
“OH BOY! I CAN ALREADY TELL IT’S GONNA BE A GREAT SHOW!” said the robot. “EVERYONE GIVE A BIG HAND TO OUR WONDERFUL CONTESTANTS!”
A fake, monotone clapping noise echoed from the robot’s soundboard as more confetti poured onto them.
“NEVER PLAYED BEFORE GORGEOUS? THE RULES ARE SIMPLE. ANSWER CORRECTLY.” said the robot. “OR YOU DIE!!!
Mettaton attacks.
“LET’S START WITH AN EASY ONE!!” said Mettaton. “WHAT’S THE PRIZE FOR ANSWERING CORRECTLY?”
“Uh…” said Dipper. “A new car?”
“THAT IS INCORRECT!!!”
A lightning-bolt shaped bullet shot from Mettaton’s microphone and collided with Dipper’s Soul.
“Are you okay?” Mabel asked.
“I’m fine,” said Dipper. “Not sure how many of those I can take. We’re gonna have to be smart about answering them.”
“Alright,” said Mabel. “Making things up is my specialty!”
“GLAD TO HEAR IT GORGEOUS!” said Mettaton. “HERE’S YOUR PRIZE: WHAT IS THE KING’S FULL NAME?”
Dipper actually remembered that one. Papyrus had said it, Undyne had said it, and the turtle that sold them things had said it even though he insisted on calling him “Ol’ King Fluffybuns”.
“Asgore Dreemurr!” said Dipper.
“CORRECT! WHAT A TERRIFIC ANSWER!”
“I was going to say Doctor Friendship…” said Mabel.
“NOW ENOUGH ABOUT YOU. LET’S TALK ABOUT ME! WHAT ARE ROBOTS MADE OF?”
“Metal and magic!” said Mabel.
That one had come pretty quickly, but Dipper figured that it was easy to guess.
“HERE’S AN EASY ONE FOR YOU: TWO TRAINS, TRAIN A AND TRAIN B, SIMULTANEOUSLY DEPART STATION A AND STATION B. STATION A AND STATION B ARE 252.5 MILES APART FROM ONE ANOTHER. TRAIN IS IS MOVING AT 124.7 MILESPERHOURTOWARDSSTATIONBAND TRAINBISMOVING-AT253.5MILESPERHOURTOWARSSTATIONAIFBOTHTRAINSDEPARTEDAT10:0AMANDITISNOW10:09HOWMUCHLONGERUNTILBOTHTRAINSPASSEACHOTHER?”
“32.058 minutes!” said Mabel.
Dipper had no idea how he could even solve that one, let alone Mabel.
“NEARLY RAN OUT THE CLOCK THERE, GORGEOUS! BUT THAT IS CORRECT!”
“You spent the entire time asking the question!” said Dipper.
“DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE BACK YOUR CORRECT ANSWER?” Mettaton asked.
“We’re good!” Both the twins said.
“EXCELLENT! BECAUSE FROM HERE ON OUT THEY’RE ONLY GOING TO GET HARDER FROM HERE!” said Mettaton.”NEXT QUESTION: HOW MANY FLYS ARE IN THIS JAR?”
“54!” said Mabel.
“WHAT MONSTER IS THIS?”
“Mettaton!”
“BUT CAN YOU GET THIS ONE? WOULD YOU SMOOCH A GHOST?”
“Heck yeah!”
“WHAT A GOOD ANSWER! I LOVE IT!!!!” said Mettaton. “NEXT QUESTIONS: HOW MANY LETTERS ARE IN THE NAME METATTON NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN…”
“56!”
“That is correct!”
“How are you getting all of these?” Dipper asked.
“Alphys is telling me,” said Mabel. “But the smooch a ghost one was all me!”
Alphys froze.
“ALPHYS…” said Mettaton. “WERE YOU HELPING THE CONTESTANT?”
“U-u-uh, I was—” Alphys stammered.
“THAT’S ALRIGHT,” said Mettaton. “I’LL GIVE THEM AN ANSWER YOU’RE SURE TO KNOW THE ANSWER TO! WHO DOES DOCTOR ALPHYS HAVE A CRUSH ON?”
The two twins froze.
“Could we…not answer that one?” Dipper asked.
Entry no. 34
During our game of multi-dimensional chess, Bill mentioned something interesting. A Kingdom of Monsters. He seemed hesitant to discuss more; although it seemed more out of ignorance than ill-will. After some prying, he managed to bring up some key points. Sometime before Gravity Falls was inhabited, humans lived with monsters. A war broke out between the two races, leading to the monsters becoming imprisoned underneath a magic suppressing barrier. Bill mentioned that he had tried to enter the kingdom several times to look for someone to help him build the portal, but he kept being chased out by some “annoying dog”.
Whether or not he meant to, Bill has just made a phenomenal breakthrough with my research. Is this Kingdom of Monsters the source of all weirdness in Gravity Falls? Or even the world? Maybe there can be a direct link between the monsters in the forest and the monsters underground. Furthermore, if Bill really wanted to find a scientific mind in the kingdom of monsters, there could be someone else working on a portal right now.  Someone else I could compare notes with!
I expect the portal will be finished by tomorrow. Perhaps once Bill can enter our dimension, I can welcome him to Earth properly with a little hike.
It was much later, after the quiz show and after a cooking show and after a news show, when sans made himself known and invited Dipper to dinner.
“where’s that sister of yours?” he asked.
“Well…”
“‘A tragic tale of two lovers, torn apart by the tides of fate’…” Mabel read off of the poster in front of her. “That sounds right up my alley!”
She ignored the fact that 75% of the poster was Mettaton’s face. It would be nice to see him actually acting, and not just the elaborate set pieces he set up when he wanted to kill them. She would have to make a mental note to come back and catch it once Mettaton had calmed down a bit.
Mabel was so lost in thought that she did not notice where she was walking next. She stopped as she noticed she was on stage.
“Oh,” said Mabel as realization dawned on her.
“OH? COULD IT BE…” Mettaton’s voice echoed through the stage. “MY ONE TRUE LOVE?”
Mettaton descended down the fake balcony with all the grace of a vacuum cleaner. The song’s opening covered most of it up. He dropped the hem of his bright blue ballgown and began to sing.
That was when Mabel knew that this was really right up her alley.
“guess it doesn’t really matter,” said sans. “so, what do you know about a talking flower?”
The atmosphere grew suddenly very heavy. Dipper swallowed before he spoke.
“We found it in the Ruins,” said Dipper. “It’s this little gold flower named Flowey—“
“really?” said sans. “couldn’t think of a better name?”
“I didn’t name it!” Dipper said. “It calls itself that!”
“alright. tell me more about flowey mc flower face.”
“Well, when we left the Ruins, he talked about a lot of weird things,” said Dipper. “Stuff like how he was the one that would inherit this world...and how we weren’t the ones he was looking for…sans, how many humans have been in the Underground before us?”
“haven’t you heard undyne, kid?” sans asked. “there’ve been six humans in the underground. not including you two.”
“And is that where you got the lamps?” Dipper asked.
sans fell silent.
“Look, if we’re going to work together, we need to be 100% honest with each other,” Dipper said. “I won’t…judge you if you did something bad. Just be honest with me.”
Sans did not say anything for a moment. Just when Dipper was about to speak up again, he chuckled lowly.
“don’t judge anyone, you say? kid, that’s a good one and you don’t even know why yet,” said sans. “alright. there have been a total of 12 humans in the underground. i’ve seen six. just not at the same time.”
“So there’s a way out of the Underground then?” Dipper asked.
“sure there is. but that’s not what i’m talking about,” said sans.
“Well, what do you know about the other humans?”
“i’d say most weren’t older than you,” said sans. “all came from the ruins, all left through new home. all came at about the same time. don’t know what happened to them. don’t think they knew why they were here, either.”
“Well, do you think that flower might have something to do with it?” Dipper asked.
“don’t know. never seen ‘em before,” said sans after a minute. “well, if nothing else, this run’s been good for information. anything else you need to know?”
Dipper opened his mouth for a minute. But there was not anything else he could think to ask.
“great,” said sans. “if you get to the castle, i won’t stop you. but try and think about what you’re getting into, alright?”
It was only when sans got to the fichus in the corner that Dipper found what he wanted to ask next.
“What do you mean, ‘this time’? You keep talking about ‘this time’ and ‘these runs’, like you’ve already seen all this before!” said Dipper. “What are you trying to hide? I won’t be able to help you if you don’t tell me everything!”
“listen, kid,” said sans. “it’s not gonna matter. even if i do tell you everything, you’re just gonna disappear again. and there’ll be another kid waiting for me at my station. or maybe something worse. i’ve given up trying to change this.”
Dipper’s mouth hung open as he tried to think of what to say. Everything that sans said ran through his head. And then he realized.
“You’re a time traveler?”
The light in sans’ eyesockets went dark. He did not say anything.
“Why didn’t you just say that?” Dipper asked. “Maybe we can help you! Are you with the same agency as Blendin? Is there actually a Time Baby?”
“well,” said sans. “you’re close. if there’s a time traveler, it’s not me.”
Dipper probably had more experience with time travel than the average person, but it was still limited. There was stuff in the journals and the science fiction books he read, but most of what he really remembered came from the 80’s movies Mabel watched. There was one he remembered quite well, about the crabby man who was stuck in the same day repeating over and over.
“Oh,” said Dipper, because he was not sure what else he could say.
“if that’s all you have to say, kid, then i better head out,” said sans. “it’s almost papyrus’ bedtime, and he gets cranky without a bedtime story.”
“We’ll find a way to fix this,” said Dipper. “Mabel and I. We have, uh…experience with this kind of thing.”
“i mean, you probably won’t,” said sans. “but thanks anyway.”
He walked past the fichus in the corner and disappeared.
It took Dipper longer to leave. Too much was going through his head, not just about what sans had said but how he looked when he said it. He was going to have to set things right. There was no way around it.
When he did stumble out, he was surprised to find Mabel.
“Hey Dipper!” Mabel said. “I just finished up Mettaton’s play! How was your date with sans?”
It barely fazed Dipper to hear it called a date. His mind was on too many other things.
“Do you remember what the Journal said about time travel?” Dipper asked.
“Hmm…I’m not sure about the Journal, but there was that Blendin’ guy,” Mabel said.
“That’s what I was thinking too,” said Dipper. “No matter how we get back home, we need to remember to find a way to contact him.”
“Sounds like a plan!” Mabel said. “I’ll make a note of it in this cool notebook I bought from the turtle!”
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sparda3g · 7 years ago
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The Seven Deadly Sins Chapter 233 Review
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After the grand brawl between Escanor and Meliodas, it’s time to shift back to focus on Camelot because Arthur still remains in trouble. Of course, there are some problems that the Sins have to work around, now that the battle is set. This chapter goes into a calming state as they try to recover before more problems rises. That doesn’t include the oddly written narrative for the recovery scene.
People sure were really rallied up with the competition. “Escanor got lucky.” “Meliodas wasn’t in assault mode.” There are so many excuses, claims, and tons of other points that while some may be true, what’s done is done. I didn’t even mind the outcome of the battle. I guess people should be more at ease with the addition of the explanation behind the result.
To begin with, Escanor was standing up for show, but realistically, he is way too wounded for his own good. It does show off that he is so prideful that he acted like he’s in no pain, which is fitting to his characteristics. Thankfully, Merlin is smart enough to know his capacity of strengths and health, so all she did is one punch and a meme was nearly born. I did laugh at his reaction to Diane’s compliment; easily startled.
I’m glad that Nakaba is capitalizing the thought of Ban feeling weak and useless, so that already setup for his power-up and development. Granted, I didn’t doubt him to give Ban any spotlight, though it was rude that Merlin excludes him in terms of body guarding. Is he really that useless? Anyway, I’m only upset that his moment was shoved away and the dilemma was solved very easily. How convenient it is that Mersaculla’s army of zombies disappeared but not Elaine.
The series has a knack to make sure Meliodas is the strongest and keep him that way for the foreseeable future. The way how Nakaba does it is to explain the reason is a bit shaky in a sense. I don’t mind that “The One” is based on the power of Sunshine gatherings. At least that is one balance point of his temp power-up, especially now he has to wait again to make it that powerful. It was stored so long, that it became so powerful enough to take down Meliodas with one strike. If he does it again like the next day, it won’t be as effective.
What’s strange is how much it tried to explain enough to keep Meliodas more powerful than any of them. I wouldn’t mind that Meliodas isn’t at his best yet, but it goes far as saying he only took it 78% damage as Escanor has 98%. He also recovers very fast, while Escanor needs to rest much longer. He’s supposedly worse than the old self with no emotions and such, so how much we must get that he is too powerful? It almost tried to demean the value of Escanor’s win if it keeps explaining Meliodas and his greatness. I would have been fine with him not at his best and that’s it. Oh well, it should make his fans happier…and perhaps snobbier…
It’s a good feel moment with the other Sins waiting for their friends to wake up and preparing to embark to Camelot. Ban is nowhere to be seen; that comment from Merlin sure put a damper to his soul. But seriously, here’s hoping the next phase will get the spotlight he needs. The chapter ends with Arthur looking well, which means his focus is definitely next without any other stop. It’s nice to see that vampire fellow from the side story, The Vampires of Edinburgh.
The art is clean and pleasant, even with worrisome problems with two powerful out of commission. Despite Arthur looking unharmed, the scenery says nothing but danger zone. It’s like living in Castlevania’s setting, it’s nothing but demons and deaths from every corners. This arc may have plenty of action or bloodbath if you will, so it may be the real deal so far.
The part that got me scratching my head is the scene with Elizabeth; seems like a trend to me. She reaches to Meliodas and disregard Escanor. You can interpret that perhaps there is a reason why Escanor can’t be fully healed, but it’s appropriate to explain it on-panel and don’t leave it to speculation, especially in this scene. It comes off shallow and forced for more “I will die for my love!” She really wants to remain number 1 in the pairing poll. I am aware that Elizabeth can’t restore mana (to my knowledge), but again, it goes back to be more elaborate on the damages. Honestly, that’s not much of a problem; it’s the follow-up.
It’s getting a little too mushy for my liking with her and her “sacrifice” to be locked up with Meliodas. I guess the problem is the narrative flow for her character; consistently stick to Meliodas. The Perfect Cube over them is practically asking for mushy scenery. If it was presented better, I wouldn’t be bothered; like perhaps lessen the cheese factor and give some space. I supposed the audience don’t mind the “clinginess” in romance, but it could have portrayed it better. What I ended up getting is her love for him over life and that’s how the narrative told me to follow.
It’s a decent chapter that eased up from the intensity of the recent battle. There is some promising setup with Ban and Arthur, more elaborated details of “The One” and how Escanor managed to win, and the art is solid. Meliodas’ prowess explanation may be a bit shaky, but it’s the narrative process with Elizabeth that continues to question my liking. Maybe his brothers are right; love can kill. Let’s hope it doesn’t kill my joy.
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izloveshorses · 8 years ago
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Alrighty so while I’m thinking about it here’s basically every element from Beauty and the Beast that I adored
can I say how surreal it was to be in a theater packed with young girls of all ages wearing yellow dresses with their Belle barbies 
not to mention all the adults and people my age who’ve been singing Be Our Guest for eternity were all so excited 
it was almost like when The Force Awakens came out and Star Wars was alive again and everyone, old and new generations of fans, gathered together.... ya know what I’m talking about? where everyone in the room is buzzing with anticipation
the CGI wasn’t as terrible as y’all thought, y’all need to have a little faith sometimes lol
the casting was excellent!!
i know people have mixed feelings about Emma Watson playing Belle but I honestly wouldn’t have casted it any other way. She’s always been a women’s rights activist, a bookworm and a thinker, and a strong role model for young girls. and her favorite princess was always Belle I mean come on. and her singing voice was so incredible!! that was what I was most looking forward to in this movie and it did not disappoint
she also said in a buzzfeed interview that she imagines Belle would open the Beast’s library to the public and start a school!!! How rad is that?? HEADCANON ACCEPTED 
shout out to Dan Stevens for waltzing in 10 inch stilts while wearing a 40 pound body suit 
ok Luke Evans and Josh Gad must’ve thought they were in Dirty Dancing because they had the time of their lives
and Luke was pretty attractive. just sayin
overall, the cast was really diverse! not one but two interracial couples! and in general there were a lot of poc in the village featuring a wonderfully sweet librarian dude
Everything about Belle’s character was fantastic I’m not kidding
i think the town had such a consistent routine that she could precisely time when the morning rush started?
despite the village blatantly gossiping about her she was still so nice and polite to everyone
so??? much??? sass??? it was unreal??? When Gaston asked why she wouldn’t go out to dinner with him he assumed she had plans but she was just like “No...” and she didn’t even explain further how freakin savage she shot that boy down
(a few more examples bc this girl was on fire) “Why would I be startled? I’m talking to a candle” and “Is that a joke? are you making jokes now?” and my fav “’Maybe you just haven’t met the right man?’ ‘It’s a small village Gaston, I’ve met them all’”
this is Elizabeth Bennet level Jane Austen would be proud
they touched on how women were expected to have kids in their late teens/early 20s and she’s like “screw that” yeah girl smash that patriarchy
how on earth did it take me 17 years to realize she’s considered odd because she’s the only literate girl in the whole village???????? how did I, a history buff obsessed with the French Revolution, never make that connection before???? this isn’t specific to the new film but still I applaud it good job disney
she was an inventor!!! i don’t know if i’ve ever been happier than when i saw her solving equations and tinkering and making a washing machine so she can read and get chores done simultaneously. emma totally had something to do with this decision absolutely no doubt
she doesn’t ride her horse sidesaddle and that was like a huge faux pas for ladies back then (again, smashing the patriarchy one step at a time)
SHE WAS TEACHING ANOTHER SMOL GIRL HOW TO READ!!! THAT’S SO IMPORTANT AND PRECIOUS I’VE BEEN UNABLE TO THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE SINCE THAT MOMENT
she planned to escape the castle from the beginning and was really creative about it, and no matter what she always found some sort of weapon lying around lol (a random stick, a chair, a pitcher Belle what would you do with that) but she was always prepared to defend herself with somewhat of a plan and attempt at thinking ahead
She was really curious about the curse and asked questions about it to figure out this mystery herself
she was always problem-solving and trying to find a solution to situations and that was so cool girls need to see that strong female leads aren’t always the ones that can fight, but girls with wit and bravery
there was lots of nice background info on characters that otherwise wouldn’t exist, like Belle’s mom’s death, why Maurice chose to stay in that boring village and Adam’s dad being a jerk and turning him into a monster (no pun intended)
Mrs Potts giving us a reason why the entire castle was cursed, not just Adam. They didn’t do anything to stop Adam’s dad from corrupting him and man that’s some heavy stuff
I feel like each character, especially the servants, were so much richer and stronger and more complex, and the stakes were higher bc each time a rose petal fell they became less and less human
even the enchantress had a name and she was gorgeous?
they went pretty dark in this one... like something caused that tree to fall in Maurice’s path and back into an upright position. the wolves wouldn’t cross the gates because of some boundary. the way the whole castle shuddered with each drop of a pedal. i could go on... and the added character depth really helped that dark stuff too
THE MUSIC!!!! WAS SO GOOD!!! I’ve had the album on repeat for.... four days now and I’m not sick of it yet?? please send help
seriously, they did an amazing job. it was perfectly balanced w both old an new songs, and neither of them overshadowed the other. each song got it’s spotlight, they honored the old ones while including new original ones that were awesome (cough forevermore cough cough)
Gaaaaaastonnnnnnnnnnnn omg that sequence was awesome. honestly i think everyone in the theater tapped their foot when he was stomping and dancing on the tabletops
Belle was really good too to me because i’m a nerd for that set design
Days in the Sun is extremely underrated!! but yes, Forevermore is breathtaking it’s growing on me more and more each day
lots of rotating cinematography and spinning i’m a nerd i love it
the costume and set design.... holy crAP it’s stunning
i read somewhere that Belle’s casual getup has large pockets for her books and she has part of her skirt pinned up so she can ride Philipe easier and that’s beautiful
each scene was packed with tiny details that most movie makers overlook and I’m so impressed???? not just visually but there were so many sounds that truly made it feel real like in the village I’d occasionally hear a crying baby or a dog barking or just constant chatter and that’s stuff you’d expect to hear in a crowded village square
the little twinkling lights during the ballroom dance was probably my favorite i may have cried
No one ever say anything bad about Belle’s dress again IT WAS SO GORGEOUS it floated across the floor like a bundle of sunshine
and there were so many details in that scene? did anybody notice her gold earrings she wore they were wonderful
her hairstyles throughout the whole movie were so cute (esp at the end with that updo!! and that pretty flower dress I need it)
the historical accuracies??? unreal??
so much baroque architecture with all of the elaborate gold designs ahhh i love it
half of it looked like a rococo painting, the other half a neoclassicism painting
girls weren’t allowed to be educated so that’s why Belle was hated so much--and so cool--and ohhhh my mind is blown why did i not understand this until now
lol a giant chunk of France was illiterate at the time too so LeFou realizing that halfway through trying to spell Gaston was hilarious
actually the mob song in general is scarily accurate. what starts with a small discomfort turns into irrational fear which turns into extremism in crowds and they did the stupidest things like “hey there’s a monster that we’ve never seen or heard of and it’s never attacked us before but LETS KILL IT” seriously the French loved mobs
they included a lot more intimate moments w Belle and the Beast to build up their relationship more carefully 
Belle almost in tears when she was in that library because honestly same girl
my favorite moment in the entire movie, although small, was when they were in the library during “Something There” and she just kept grabbing book after book and he was walking behind her holding this massive stack that was so cute
honorable mentions: when the Beast shook his head like the horse omg. and I freaking cackled when he threw that giant snowball at her face
when they were in Paris, and Belle figured out that her mother died of the plague and she said “let’s go home”
she just rode off while still wearing her ball dress
“no time to change gotta go save my pa i’m keeping this btw”
and then she strips down to her undergarments because they’re about to go after Adam and that’s the final straw nobody messes with him under her watch she has to save him and, sorry, but she won’t let a big bulky dress get in the way of that despite how beautiful it is
Belle participated in the climax fight scene she was not taking any of Gaston’s crap
and then Adam was like “stay there I’m coming” and she completely ignored him so she could step in if he needed her
“I am not a Beast”
the transformation scenes were amazing
LeFou’s character arc was surprisingly great! and I support him and his boyfriend
that one growl at the end... you know the one... I’m very confused why was that so sexy is that bad
there were so many moments where i got goosebumps and sudden tears from the swelling of the orchestra or a certain chilling line and i was just so moved by this movie
in every showing that i went to there was a massive applause from the crowd and i love it you deserve it disney
I'm running out of adjectives
There was hardly an aspect that I disliked. Maybe more of Mrs Potts would’ve been nice, maybe Belle asking Adam to grow a beard was a little strange, maybe Ewan could work on his French accent a little more (don’t get me wrong I love this man but it could use a little more work... other than that his acting was superb). my complaints stop there! I honestly loved this film so much and I’d been pumped since I first heard about it back in 2015. It didn’t disappoint! that means a lot coming from a person who had insanely high expectations for it.
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