#which is pretty impressive in my opinion a lot of games with big casts fail to do that for me

[leggywillow]

for the meme: bethany and carver hawke! :D

MY SPECIAL ANGELS <3 <3

Carver:

First impression: Okay, so I was active on the Bioware forums well before DA2's release and this actually inspired me to see what old posts I could dig up (do not recommend btw). I can officially find documentation of me being EMBARRASSINGLY thirsty as far back as November 2010. I wrote a drabble on the forum shipping him with my Tabris before the game released, lol, so ultimately my first impression (i.e, gonna latch on immediately) stuck. I did assume he was going to be a lot sweeter/less prickly/honestly blander than he turned out to be. I was expecting more of a himbo.

Impression now: He's my most special boy. Better than what I'd expected, which was a pleasant surprise. He is so full of conflict all the time, and I love it. He is delightfully prickly and also a big dumb jock and it’s the best.

Favorite moment: The scene where Carver and Hawke argue about Bethany stands out as one of my favorite video game moments, period. It was a moment that just reflected Carver's character so well: he's rash and temperamental, and he's hurting so badly as he struggles to find a new path for himself and cope with Bethany's death, he feels trapped and is stifling, he still loves his family fiercely, etc.

Idea for a story: I am actually getting around to writing all of my ideas! I finished my first Warden Carver/Warden Surana fanfic (shameless plug Never Free) which is mostly about an assassination plot against my Surana but also fills in the gaps of what Carver was up to during Act 2 of DA2, which I always love to think about. I've also always wanted to expand upon the Legacy DLC and give Hawke and Carver more chances to talk about their parents and Bethany (which I am also finishing up now: Failed Attempts at Simpler Lives shameless plug #2). I've ALSO always wanted to write about what happens to him in the immediate aftermath of Dragon Age 2, and how he reacts to finding out that Hawke was left in the Fade in Inquisition. I WILL GET THERE.

Unpopular opinion: Hmm, well, I hate the templar path for him? I've come up with better reasons to justify my dislike, but the real reason is that my taste for tragedy has weird limits and it makes me too sad to think that he gets addicted to lyrium. I don't really know how unpopular that is, though. Maybe a better answer is that my boy is BEEFY. He is built like a brick shithouse, and I hate when people draw him too lean.

Favorite relationship: His relationship to Hawke is the easy canon answer. She drives him crazy, she's irritating as hell, she's his best friend, he looks to her for leadership, he wants to shove her into a mud puddle, he would tear apart a burning city to make sure she's safe. Shipwise, obviously, it's my personal pet ship which is Carver hooking up with the Hero of Ferelden and Surana specifically. He HAS to get with a mage, he just HAS to, it's too delicious.

Favorite headcanon: He's incredibly Fade-sensitive, though he can't use magic directly. He can feel the Fade being manipulated around him and how in ways that most non-mages really can't fathom. For example, he can tell when Hawke is about to throw a fireball and he needs to get the hell out of the way versus she's about to cast a buff on him. He just attributes this to a lifetime of training with a mage father and two mage siblings rather than any innate ability. When it's pointed out to him that, no, this is pretty unusual, he just kinda scoffs and says anybody could figure it out if they tried hard enough.

Bethany:

First impression: Unfortunately I can't trace my Bethany opinions back to a series of embarrassing forum posts in 2010/2011. I think my first impression is what everyone's is: that Bethany is a sweetheart baby sister, a pure cinnamon roll.

Impression now: She's more complicated than the above. She's still a ray of sunshine, still kind and thoughtful, but she also carries so much anger and guilt. She feels just as trapped in a life she doesn't want as Carver does. Even more so, because at least Carver can hope to escape his circumstances: Bethany can't stop being a mage.

Favorite moment: ALL of her banters with Isabela. I adore their relationship more than anything.

Idea for a story: I wouldn't mind a story about her leaving Kirkwall after DA2 and ending up in Ferelden with the rebel mages. I would REALLY love a story where she meets a Ferelden noble (maybe a Cousland Warden?) who just falls hopelessly and madly in love with her and ultimately Bethany becomes a teyrna or arlessa or something. Give my girl the fairy tale she used to read about as a lonely child in Lothering.

Unpopular opinion: I can’t think of anything direct, though maybe my preference for a Mage Hawke worldstate (which means Bethany dies) could count?

Favorite relationship: The relationship between the twins haunts the narrative, to me at least. I picture each twin considering the other their better half and something irreplaceable is missing once they're gone. I am also a little bit obsessed with Bethany/Isabela ever since the banter that Isabela sends her naughty books in the Circle.

Favorite headcanon: That she allows herself to be caught and taken to the Circle. She surely would have heard that Bartrand's expedition returned to the city and probably believed Hawke to be dead. In a world where Hawke isn't a mage, Bethany has spent her whole life feeling guilty for what her family has gone through to protect her. Then both of her siblings die, and taking care of Leandra has fallen onto Bethany's shoulders. I think she has enough quiet self-loathing to believe that the best way to keep her mother safe is to remove the riskiest, most volatile thing from her life: Bethany herself. Plus Bethany is just tired of running, tired of hiding, and tired of feeling so very alone.

[mk-wizard]

Medias Who Failed Due to Picking the Wrong Guy as the MC

As a writer myself, I can confirm that it’s not easy writing a great story and it is even harder to write a great main character (MC), but sometimes, the solution is right in your face: pick someone else to be the MC and that alone fixes EVERYTHING. And no, I am not exaggerating. When you pick someone else to take lead of the story, it changes things and sometimes, for the better. Here are a few medias from movies, to shows, to video games who missed the mark due to running with the wrong guy and who should have been the MC instead... Also note that the following is my personal opinion not absolute. Feel free to disagree.

Note that there are spoilers ahead!

Final Fantasy 7: It should have been Barret Wallace. - I know Cloud is beloved for his pretty face and big sword, but if we’re talking about who should have been in the hero’s seat, Barret should have been it. And not just because he would have the first FF MC of his type (black, middle aged, a parent, widower, etc.). Barret had motives that were both heroic and personal at the same time in that he wants to save the planet, but he also has a personal stake against Shin-Ra in what it took from him. Had he been treated like a serious character and took the lead, I think the plot of FF7 would have been much better and he would have brought out better in the cast. In fact, I see so many parallels between him and Cecil from FF4. Also, Barret has a perfect balance between heart and flaws. Not to mention that unlike Cloud, he let go of making everything personal and began to fight for the right reasons in the end. He’s a badass and let’s face it, there aren’t enough MCs out there who are good dads.

Family Matters: It should have kept being Carl and Harriet Winslow. - In the beginning, the underrated couple of sitcom TV were the MC’s, but then the network decided to center the show around Steve Urkel who isn’t even a member of the family. Now, I like Steve Urkel, but he should have stayed a side character the same way Kimmy Gibbler did on Full House. When Carl and Harriet were at the helm, the show was relatable, grounded and just whimsical enough to be fun for the whole family. In never got too silly and did not shy away from serious topics. Most importantly, there was character development which I would have loved to see continue. Steve Urkel may have helped Family Matters get back on its feet, but it was fully capable of continuing to stand on its own and should have.

The Simpsons: It should have kept being Bart Simpson. - Like Family Matters, this kid was the MC initially and he was great. Bart represented what the Simpsons family embodied and why we loved it: it isn’t perfect or saintly, but filled with love and goodness. Bart is also a fun character to follow because he isn’t just funny. He’s resourceful, clever and is quite the hero. Homer is funny, but... when he took the lead, he took the show in another direction which was fun in the beginning, but in the end, became too silly. If Bart stayed in the driver’s seat, the show would have kept its focus as well as its identity. He probably would have also lead it to ending a lot sooner, but that’s not a bad thing.

Dragon Ball Z: It should have been Gohan. - I always got the impression that a part of Akira Toriyama wanted to pass the reigns down to the kid, but never wound up doing so which in my opinion, was a waste. Goku had his heroic arc during the first arc, but in the Z arc, the plot seemed to always lean towards needing a hero like Gohan because he was a better fit for what was needed. You see, Goku is noble too, but he fights for honour and to prove himself. Gohan fights because he must and because he wants to protect those he loves. Had Gohan been the star, I think Z arc could have been much better and Goku would have learned to (finally) grow up alongside his son. I mean, it’s not a bad thing to let go and accept that your journey has come to an end. Where one ends, another begins.

Transformers (2007): It should have been Mikaela Banes. - From the moment she literally took Ravage apart with a chainsaw without messing up her hair, we knew she was more than a pretty face. Mikaela is a fighter and a noble one. The only reason she had a criminal record was because she refused to sell out her dad and even then, there’s more to her. She’s smart, she’s brave, she’s resourceful and has long term life goals. She doesn’t play around nor does she let her involvement with the Transformers get to her head (unlike Sam Witwicky). And as the AU graphic novels showed us, she’s also a born leader. In my opinion, when she left Sam, Bumblebee should have followed suit and followed her instead.

Final Fantasy 6: It should have been Celes Chere. - Don’t get me wrong, Terra is a badass and belonged in the main cast, but she constantly needed to be kicked in the pants. At times, she even came across as a damsel in distress. Celes was always motivated of her own accord and she is a born leader. After all, she took the reigns when Terra was out for the count and during the end of the world, she brought the team back together. And let’s face it, her romance with Locke is heartwarming.

Full House/Fuller House: It should have been Danny Tanner. - Possibly the earliest case of a character getting hijacked in their own show... The story of Full House in general was originally Danny’s story about trying to raise his three daughters after becoming a widower with the help of his best friend and brother-in-law. Had Danny not become the show’s sad clown and instead was the lead, not only would have caught a break, the show itself would have flourished. After all, Danny is raising the family not the other way around. And quite frankly, Michelle as a main character made her and the show insufferable. I even think he should have remained the main character in the sequel series as he has experience being a single parent to pass onto to DJ. If anything, it would have still had that little bit of maturity that the audience so hungrily craved.

Star Wars Episodes 7, 8, 9: It should have been Finn as the hero and Rey as the villain. - I don’t want to be the fan who knocks down the new trilogy because in its defense, it had good bones and introduced good characters who had potential. The problem was that they were given the wrong roles in the story. Finn clearly had a connection to the force and was as plain as day MC material from the get go because like all great Star Wars MCs, he started from the bottom while being clumsy and worked his way up to being a capable young man. In fact, Finn always was motivated and capable. He was just grounded and relatable too because he is still learning to be a rebel. I can say that every time he was on screen, he always inspired me even when he was making mistakes. On the flipside, Rey also had potential, but if there’s one thing she should wound up being, it was the big bad because her greatest motivation was wanting a family though in a way that was obsessive and in so long as she was not in a position where she beneath someone. In other words, her story has a lot of parallels with Anakin Skywalker. Had she gone to the dark side, it ironically would have made her more human because it shows how wanting something obsessively (in her case, a family) even when it is something good, it can become twisted and make you do terrible things. Star Wars is all about growing and working hard towards greatness while cautioning the audience about the pitfalls of obsession, anger and selfishness.

Anyway, that is my list. Do you agree or have anything to add? Let me know. Thanks for reading and as always, stay safe.

[theregoesmylurkerstatus]

So... I have a lot of thoughts on the finale. I've deliberately kept my mouth shut, more or less, on the campaign overall because I'm a firm believer that you can't pass judgement -- at least not complete judgement -- on stories until they're over and done with.

Well, it's done! Kind of crazy. I've been watching Critical Role with almost insane consistency, viewing almost every single episode live, with maybe five-ish exceptions, since episode 19, and I've been blogging it for, what, two and a half years?

It's a weird feeling. It's been such a constant thing for me that I'm always gonna have love for it and remember with a lot of fondness.

...Which is in spite of the fact that I can now comfortably say I'm pretty eh on the ending. I know not being positive about something most of us have loved a lot for a very long time can sting a bit, but I personally think it also stings when people relentlessly crow over how good they think it is or want it to be, to the point where you feel you can't voice your absolutely valid upsets or dissatisfactions. So, here goes, if anyone's interested! I'd be curious to see other opinions, too!

I actually drafted a post talking about my overall frustrations with the campaign a whole two weeks ago, and then scrapped most of it when 140 blew me out of the water. I was really touched, and really happy. I hadn't expected it, but it shockingly felt right, you know?

Unfortunately 141 robbed me of most of that satisfaction and brought me right back to neutral.

The blanket statement you have to make, of course, is that you can’t criticise this as a DnD game, and you can’t be mad at the cast for playing it in a way they think is best for them. They’re the players, Matt’s the DM, and in the end it makes no sense for them to try to make themselves act how they think the audience wants them to, and I’m sure most of the audience wouldn’t like the result anyway.

That said, there is an audience. And that’s where I see this clash coming in. As a DnD game, as long as the players and DM have all enjoyed it and been satisfied, it’s a successful game! But for us, it’s not a DnD game. For us, we’re watching a story be written in real time through the medium of an RPG. And while as a DnD game you can’t fault it, as a piece of media, I completely get why the way things have gone has sat weirdly for a lot of people.

It's not satisfying to see so many character hooks dealt with so quickly or left as an offscreen "and then you do it." If they don't want to keep playing to dive into it, absolutely, but for us who have been watching this as a story with all these character elements get so built up, it's a huge anti-climax.

Which is a lot of what this campaign has been, really.

Oh, Nott’s cursed! But through a really cool character moment that problem is completely taken care of with no consequences we see. Yay, I want her to be Veth and that was an iconic move from Jester! Still, it kind of feels like this was built up to be a big problem and at the first success it was let go... Caleb's got a really intense frightening past he tries to hide, I wonder how the Mighty Nein will respond? Oh, they found out, but it's not a difficult revelation for anyone. Looks like it's easy for them to move past it and forgive. Yeah, that's healthiest for the characters, but huh, kinda undercuts it as a storyline or point of interest. Oooh, Avantika’s back! Ah, they’ve killed her and grabbed the eye again. I mean I don’t want them to die or for Uk’otoa to be free, but I’m starting to feel like that’s not much of a threat anyway. The Traveler’s been kidnapped! Nah he hasn’t, he tried to save Jester so he was let go with no further issue, and also he wasn’t actually in any danger anyway. Oh... Cool. So... Why should I care or be worried?

And these are just the biggest ones I remember being kind of let down by. I wanted to see them STRUGGLE for the successes to have meaning. To my view, threats of failure -- real failure -- really decreased the more the campaign went on, with a few exceptions.

Because don't get me wrong, we've definitely had struggles, and those have made for some of the best moments! Molly’s death, Yasha’s kidnapping, Yeza’s imprisonment. When failures that were threatened are allowed to occur, it’s far more gratifying when it’s followed by success, because you understand that that success was actually necessary. It shows us that what they do really means something.

Honestly, that's why the final battle really shut me up, because nothing makes you quite feel stakes and failure like having two PCs die, and having a resurrection ritual fail -- AND knowing that failure would be delivered on, had it not been for a seemingly miraculous roll of the dice to turn it around. One of the greatest failure's -- Molly's death -- made the success of his resurrection put a lot of my other issues to rest immediately, because to be honest? Molly's resurrection was the biggest success of the campaign, exactly because it was originally the biggest failure.

But this episode, we got to see the other side of making threats and successes feel disappointing -- when you get the impression that success was robbed from you. Again, their characters, their choices, but to have them roll an intervention to get Molly's soul, to convince Molly to come back with his own possessions they've so loved, after so long and so many struggles... only to apparently not get Molly at all?

Changed, of course. Memories, maybe he'd never get them back, though that seems inconsistent to how the initial resurrection was played and Matt's hints. It even makes sense that not having his memories and being a bit different, he might forge a new identity, but insisting Molly was a different person entirely after such a supposed hard won success to get Molly back, especially after what his death meant to the audience and potentially healing that old wound? It robs the narrative of a LOT of catharsis, at least for me and I know many others.

Trent, too, I'm very up and down on. He was so built up -- and what fun that build up had -- and I very much disagreed with the idea that the best story would be dealing with him offscreen.

It's true that you don’t need to explicitly address, confront, or explore every big aspect of character's story hooks and background ties for PCs to move past them and grow healthily. But that does not make it a satisfying viewing experience. People quietly healing in real life is healthy. People quietly healing in an explosive fantasy setting is frustrating for the audience.

What on earth is the point of a story if you don’t get to SEE THE ESTABLISHED CONFLICTS go anywhere? A lot of the characters got distant, quiet resolutions, if that, to everything we wanted to see.

Except, we did get to see Trent. It was a really fun, inventive battle, from opening to conclusion, but much like Travelercon, much like Nott's/Veth's problem with the hag, these were things that the audience in general wanted to see be really dug into and explored, and every single one of them got, in my opinion, quickly tidied up instead. Trent got beaten in the first and only proper battle they had with him, which, after all his build up, is pretty disappointing for a villain many of us wanted to see be a big deal. It really just felt like they were trying to tidy up to get on with the epilogue, which is not what a lot of us were looking for with Trent especially.

And that's how most of their endings felt to me. It didn't feel like any of them had reached a comfortable conclusion. Literally all of them, bar Veth and Caduceus, continued on their character journey threads, without each other and very quickly. Meeting Yasha's tribe and Vandran, Caleb finally openly debating changing time for his parents, Trent and Zeenoth's trials and the changing of the guard at the Assembly... All were things it would have been so fun to have all the PCs react to and explore together, and instead they were fleeting encounters in the latter half of a seven hour finale.

Is all this, from Molly not really coming back to Trent being a finale side plot to the Nein continuing on their individual journeys, potentially realistic to how these fantastical things might go down in real life? Sure! But that's not necessarily a good thing.

Stories THRIVE on conflict and resolution. That’s what makes them FUN! Conflict isn’t nearly so fun in real life and resolutions are often frustrating question marks, so no, past a certain point I don’t WANT stories to be realistic. I want stories to be SATISFYING.

And campaign 2 has fallen far short of the mark.

I haven’t spoken... Basically a word of this for most of the campaign, because as I said I’m a firm believer that you can’t necessarily judge something until it’s over, and because I ALSO firmly believe that being negative WHILE trying to enjoy something is counterproductive. I have had no interest in spoiling or naysaying the fun of the campaign for anyone, least of all myself.

But it's done now, and all I can say is... I really have had fun. I love the characters. I love their relationships. I’m pretty okay with where they’ve ended up. I’m not mad, really, and I’m still going to think of this campaign with a lot of affection. But it hasn’t been a satisfying story, even though for a week following episode 140 I thought, despite all the brushed over story threads, it might be.

So... to try and reclaim some of that satisfaction for myself, I might ignore some aspects of the finale proper. Namely Kingsley specifically. Taliesin's choice -- but to me, it's pretty clear that who we saw at the end of 140 was Molly, and the tags on my posts will reflect that, just as my 141 tags will be for both Kingsley and Molly, for clarity's sake. I personally want to believe Molly did come back, however others might want to interpret it. The victory in 140 that meant so much to me is hollow otherwise, and it just kind of hurts that we would lose Molly after everything. I was okay with him being dead -- I'm not so okay with his resurrection being stolen.

Kingsley will always be canon, but Molly is what I choose to acknowledge. I get if you don't like that take, and that's okay! I didn't care for canon's in the end. That's the good thing about storytelling, is that no one can stop you from making your own versions.

For the people who are hopefully hyped for campaign 3, heck yeah have fun! I’m on the fence. My investment, which... I think I can objectively say was pretty substantive as this blog will attest, doesn't feel rewarded, so I’m not convinced I can faithfully keep up for over three years all over again with a strong possibility that I will once again be left disappointed. It's been a huge chunk of my life, and... yeah!

I’ll take a break, probably, view (and liveblog, if people want!) campaign 1 when I’ve had a mental stretch and vacation, and then... I might start campaign 3. I definitely won’t be able to put the same time in it I did campaign 2 (my first love no matter what), knowing that it’s likely to not be so vindicated, in the end.

I swear I’m actually writing this in fairly good humour, but I totally get its always disappointing when the people you come to for fandom enjoyment just aren't sharing your fun. Honestly I’m half tempted to write all those frigging AUs I have sitting around! But I wanted to say my piece, and try and logically outline why this ending has been lacklustre for so many people, ultimately myself included.

Episode 140 felt right because it felt like a natural conclusion -- these disparate people coming together and finally being whole, finally soothing the hurt that MADE them so long ago. Episode 141 spat on that sentiment -- they all scattered to the winds, not as happy people to live out their dreams, but as confused people chasing up loose threads towards an unknown future, with the friend they thought returned still lost to them, ultimately.

It doesn't feel like the ending we should have gotten for the Mighty Nine, who were finally, finally all together. Until they weren't. So to me? I choose to acknowledge that they were, even if I have to force it to happen post-epilogue in my head.

[soyouareandrewdobson]

Doing something for fun: RPGs about broken anuses.

As promised, after the abomination that was the Sam arc, I am now going to write random posts about more positive/fun things. However, I also decided to add a little twist to them and correlate them in some way thematically to Dobson. E.g. by reviewing a game/show that does all the things Dobson hates/obsesses about/or fails at right.

 And my first entry in that regard is related to a videogame that came out a couple of years ago, based on a tv show Dobson claims to hate. South Park: The fractured but whole.

 Seeing how the game is 3+ years old at this time and there have been tons of reviews & walkthroughs showing how good and fun the game is, I do not really want to cover the plot and all the things that make it great in detail. Lets just say you can really feel that Parker and Stone were heavily involved in the writing of the game, as it is filled to the brim with references to the show and the typical satirical humor of it, that in parts manages to cross the line even further for me than the show. Right from the start you get a very dark but smart social joke and commentary out of the way, when as you set up your characters looks and the difficulty of the game, it is the tone of your skin that decides how hard the game gets. Meaning if you play as a black person, you are having a very hard time. It is not too preachy, just an acknowledgment that yes, in American society, blacks can have it harder compared to white people. Especially when living in a town like South Park, where social standing is pretty low and the police force is inherently corrupt and racist, doing something so outrageously to black people, I do not want to spoil it. Let’s just say it ends in a better Lovecraft joke than any of the shit SJWs did in light of censoring Call of Cthulhu board rpgs.

The overall plot is simple: While last time the kids played fantasy and things escalated quickly as they do in South Park, this time they play superheroes, with two fractions having formed: Coon and Friends vs the Freedom Pals and things escalating just as quickly. What starts off as the hunt for a missing cat to earn a 100$ reward Cartman wants to use to start a multi billion dollar movie franchise just like Marvel, turns soon into the player and his friends having to fight a real crime conspiracy thought up by one of South Park’s most nefarious characters, which also involves genetic mutations, time travel and eldritch horrors. Thankfully you, the “New Kid” from the last game, even after losing all your previous powers thanks to no one playing fantasy anymore, gain new superhero powers, make friends with the South Park kids again and even learn new fart techniques by none other than Morgan Freeman, that help you out along the way. All while also slowly revealing more about your backstory hinted on in the previous game and the tragedy of your dad having had intercourse with your mother.

 Being a South Park and RPG fan for years, I wanted to play this game for quite some time, but only managed to do so recently. And even if I spoiled myself massively over time with cutscenes and major battles online, this game is still fun (thanks in part also to the fact I watched the cutscenes years ago and by now forgot a lot of them).  The turn based battle system is way more interesting than last time by also depending on you positioning the characters on the field in a strategy based RPG style, there are lots of classes to choose and powers to combine (I myself going for elementalist, assassin, plantmancer and blaster currently) and you have a ton of allies in the game. The original cast of the four main boys, Jimmy and Butters has expanded significantly in this game with characters such as SUPER CRAIG, Clyde as the blood sucking MOSQUITO, Token as TUPPERWARE and Wendy as the social media huntress CALL GIRL (yes, that is her name) and they all are fun to interact and play with, with each one having their own unique sets of moves and finishers once again. Even outside of the battle, thanks to the writing, there are always great lines from them to get when interacting or taking missions from them. I especially came to love Tweek and Craig, who are not just decent fighters (Tweek in particular is a great elementalist) , but in this game are also now a couple ever since that yaoi episode from South Park. Helping them reconcile after a bad break up over the course of the game just feels surprisingly nice, mostly because unlike other LGBT celebrating media out there (Korra and She Ra  e.g.) none of the characters crosses some sort of moral line where you question why they deserve to be together (Hello, Catra), it is not heavily handed garbage fishing for brownie points and it is obvious through dialogue and actions they care for each other, even if they are at first going through a bad break up as only South Park could ridiculously portray it.

 Overall, the game is also surprisingly “inclusive” and socially relevant without being preachy about it, if you ask me. From the aforementioned skin color thing, to LGBT representation via Tweek and Craig, the police being involved in a plot that especially nowadays is sadly more relevant than ever (mind you, I do not believe that in real life all cops are bad, but in my opinion bad eggs on both sides certainly led to the current situation in the US and that is all I say) to the fact you can over the course of the game decide not just if you are playing as a boy or a girl, but even something in-between, a cis-/transgendered person and decide your race, religion as well as to whom you are sexually attracted to. Granted, I barely see how it has any bearing on the game’s plot, but I appreciate the following things: a) the inclusion of the possibility to decide on those factors itself, making creating your character even more fun (a basic right others demand for certain games nowadays in all the wrong ways) and b) that the game does not make the biggest of deals about it. See, I am under the impression that often times the most progressive and inclusive thing is to just let the story and personality of a character speak for itself, instead of the fact that it also identifies by a specific gender, sexuality, race or other allignment. In fact focusing on those things on a character only is something I consider ”positive stereotyping”, which for me is just racism in the opposite direction. And if you no think I am going off track here and need to be beaten up by someone who genuinely has some grip on pc culture, don’t worry. This game features PC Principal actually doing an ok job teaching you about microaggressions in his typical PC Principal manner, which in itself becomes a relevant move in future battles and is hilarious to watch. Speaking of the new kid, putting things like your chance to gender identify yourself with it in more detail (which you can also adjust again later on in game if you feel like it) aside, for a silent protagonist he/she/it can have a nice level of debt to it, if you look too much into it.

 Not only does it have a funny backstory explaining its fart and social media powers, there are recurring scenes of the kid’s parents being on each others throat and the kid just silently eating dinner for the night that genuinely feel sad and create sympathy in our little FartLord to the point you just want the kid to go out there, have an adventure and hopefully find a way to change its parents for good, cause it is obvious they love the kiddo, but damn do they need to cut off the substance abuse.

 Storywise you get something out of this game that is way more entertaining and hilarious than the last two seasons of the show combined (FUCK the season of 2019) and game content wise you are also rewarded with a lot of shit, just for exploring the town. Be it you finding hidden yaoi fanart that earns you money, your allies helping you solve puzzles that reward you with exp and new costumes to further customize your outfit, making new friends on Coonstagram by taking selfies with all the major and minor characters of the town, helping Big Gay Al finding his missing cats, stumbling upon Memberberries, forging new artifacts to increase your strength, finding summons… all stuff that helps you not just gain exp and become stronger, but also makes you enjoy going through South Park outside of the main story content. In fact I spend a majority of my first twelve hours in this game only wrapping up the prologue missions and first two chapter of the game, while otherwise talking with as many people in town as possible, exploring the stores and houses, doing side missions etc. just for the fun of interacting with the characters and the world they are part of.

 Now, how does all of that relate to Dobson?

Well lets see…

 Game based on something he hates that has however rightfully more success than he ever deserves, with lots of political commentary and satire for years in its humor? Check.

 Game itself having more of that commentary done right then Dobson in his own comics and story attempts? Check

 LGBT representation via Tweek and Craig as well as Big Gay Al that does not feel too stereotypical despite Al himself being extremely stereotypical in design? Check

 Some pretty decent/hilarious female characters in the game once you know them? (again, Call Girl and Classi, who fucks the L out of the A-S-S) Check.

 Being a style of game he hates for no apparent reason, but executed well (RPGs)? Check

 Thematically focused on superheroes, a trend he is obsessed about, but here both appreciating while also poking good fun at common tropes of it and the marketing of the MCU, in doing so just highlighting how much of a mindless consumer Dobson is? Check

 Being a game where you can also play as any gender and race and its not turned into a “groundbreaking” industry changing feature pandering to minorities that in the eyes of corporations are just a market to exploit, not people? Check

 Heck, if Dobson was not a biased idiot, the game would be perfect for him. It even panders to his toilet fetish in videogames.

 Kid you not: a mini game in the game itself features the possibility to go to every toilet in town and shit in it. The process of defecation itself being a rhythm game and you earning exp from it once you took enough dumps. And considering Dobson once spend hours in Skyrim looking for outhouses, that sounds right up Dobson’s back alley.

 Bottom line, this game is fun. If you like South Park, superheroes and RPGs, this game is perfect for you. And seeing how it has been a few years since it came out, I think it should be possible to get a cheap copy of it somewhere. Go on, play it. But always remember: Never fart on another dude’s balls. It is just not the polite thing to do.

[mellicose]

Doctor ... WTF?

An impassioned rant about the steady decline of Doctor Who, the trajectory of the Thirteenth Doctor, and the righteous indignation after The Timeless Children, not only as a Whovian, but as a woman-

I love how certain people are spinning The Timeless Children as being good, yet the BBC has released (2)TWO statements basically telling fans the following:

“Doctor Who is a beloved long-running series and we understand that some people will feel attached to a particular idea they have of the Doctor, or that they enjoy certain aspects of the programme more than others. Opinions are strong and this is indicative of the imaginative hold that Doctor Who has – that so many people engage with it on so many different levels.

We wholeheartedly support the creative freedom of the writers and we feel that creating an origin story is a staple of science fiction writing. What was written does not alter the flow of stories from William Hartnell’s brilliant Doctor onwards – it just adds new layers and possibilities to this ongoing saga.”

Creative freedom, huh? Ask Joe Hill about it. Or Gaiman. The writers, including Chibnall, are only free to do what the Beeb and the other show investors tell them. 

They go on:

“We have also received many positive reactions to the episode’s cliff-hanger. There are still a lot of questions to be answered, and we hope that you will come back to join us and see what happens, but we appreciate that it’s impossible to please all of our viewers all of the time and your feedback has been raised with the programme’s Executive Producer." 

Uglylaughing.gif

There is a huge, monumental difference between 'not being able to please everyone all at the same time' and basically making a whole fandom, New and Classic, young and old, come together with the same level of disgust and disappointment.

I also find the people arguing "Canon? What canon?" about the Doctor now being the Lord and Savior of the Shining World of the Seven Systems to be foolish at best, and disingenuous at worst.

No canon?? So what have I been steeping myself in for years  - a vague approximation of a tale? Please. Of course, writers have embellished and alluded, but tampering with the unspoken but well-known 'no touch' rule about the Doctor's origin is ... well, it's canon, in and of itself...

...which Chibnall completely wrecked, and I can't imagine why. Hubris? By all accounts, he was a fan. I thought Moffat was a dick for bringing back Gallifrey, but now, to me, my disappointment then vs now is like comparing a fart to a shitstorm.

Please excuse the scatological references, but I'm using it deliberately. It is a swirling turd, which I and many others wish we could flush down and forget forever.

In another RadioTimes article - which basically is the BBC - amongst the usual apologetics, Huw Fullerton drops this little gem:

“The glory days of David Tennant et al were in a different TV landscape, and if the Tenth Doctor touched down now it seems unlikely he’d command anything close to the ratings he did over a decade ago.”

Yeah, you can all take a break to have a hearty laugh. Or throw up. Whichever. Did they just hint that, basically, the incarnation of the Doctor who continues to get as much love (if not more) than Four, who still consistently gets thousands of butts in seats in conventions worldwide, and has made the BBC hundreds of thousands of pounds sterling in merchandising “wouldn’t command the ratings he did in 2008?”

As Gary Buechler of Nerdrotic said in his response to this article: “Actually, if David Tennant had been given as many chances as Jodie Whittaker, it would’ve had Game of Thrones-level ratings.”

And I agree. Not because I’m a Tenth Doctor stan, but because it’s just ... categorically true. His seasons consistently got average rating of 7.5 to 8 million viewers - and this in a time before BBCiPlayer, so 7-day catch up ratings meant nothing. It was butts on sofas then, which, to me, speaks of a massive, sustained interest.

But Huw goes on to say that such things mean nothing. And that the huge, telling sink in both overnight and 7-day ratings between the 11th and 12th seasons, and the dismal 4.69m 7 day ratings for The Timeless Children - the lowest for a NewWho finale since its reboot - shouldn’t be taken as a loss of interest from the fandom.

Then, pray tell goodman, what does it mean? Does it mean that fans are following the Thirteenth Doctor’s adventures in spirit? Ratings are tanking. Outside of the precious few who blindly tweet and write articles about the show solely based on its now female protagonist, people are notoriously furious, especially after the execrable season finale.

Yet BBC’s Piers Wenger, who once produced the show, says “I don’t think it’s been in better health, editorially. I think it’s fantastic and I think that, the production values obviously have never been better.”

Right. Okay. So, putting Tom Ford makeup on a pig makes it haute couture, huh? The writing is appalling, and after two excruciatingly painful to watch seasons, the Doctor has failed to appear - all I’ve seen is borderline sociopathic navel gazing from an ‘alien’ wearing a pastel duster.

How dare you besmirch the unfailingly cool reputation of the long coat, Chibnall? Jodie? How?? 

I will not let someone piss on my head and call it rain ... ‘because it’s a woman.’ Assuming I’ll accept it just adds insult to injury. Who do they think we are, as female fans? I will not cosign garbage to further an agenda that is ultimately damaging one of my favorite things ever, Doctor Who. I agree that politics, and a positive moral, have always been a part of DW, but at it’s best the writing was so good that it only added to the entertainment. Now, the BBC is feeding us all the bitter pill, without the kindness to hide it in a piece of tasty cheese. It gives the impression that they believe we are already so indoctrinated that we no longer need artifice!

Well, not only am I not indoctrinated, but I refuse to ingest.

I refuse to allow people to silence me because the Doctor is now a woman, and so am I. That, I shouldn’t say anything, or complain, because it’s an act of rebellion on womankind, not only in entertainment, but in general. Well, to that I say ... er ... I disavow.

Disavow. Disavow.

And this from a woman who once criticized Peter Davison for saying that casting a woman was “a vital loss of a role model for boys,” taking it as a sexist comment when in truth, it was just a relevant narrative concern about gender-swapping the traditionally male-presenting Time Lord. Just changing a character from male to female doesn’t do anything but demonstrate a tone-deafness about the emotional and physical differences between men and women, which exist whether we want to address them or not. This is why genderswap reboots are terrible. They are trying to further the feminist agenda, while surreptitiously painting traditional, every day femininity as weakness, and something to be avoided at all costs. I reject the modern Hollywood representation of what a ‘strong woman’ is meant to be. I can be clever, yet sensitive enough to comfort a friend when they confide their fears about a cancer relapse. I can be funny, and not at the expense of the man in the room. I can be brave, but not at the expense of my friends. The mind boggles as to why they thought their current tack with the Doctor was going to be any good. The Doctor is a woman, but more importantly, she’s a Timelord. Where are they? Is the alien that we’ve known and loved for the last 60 years truly gone away, and Thirteen is from a whole different timeline? If so, I don’t want to know her. 

And it breaks my heart.

Why continue to support a corporation who thinks of me, the fan, as no more than a heartless, thoughtless consumer? A drone? A sheep who has no conscious idea of what I like or need?

I’m done. It’s been two seasons of absolute dreck, with absolutely no sign of a course-correction due to the overwhelmingly negative response. I may be many things, but I’m no masochist - even in the name of love. And Chibnall, knowing that many fans would go back to the classic stories to cleanse ourselves, went back to the beginning and took a giant shit there too. 

Oh, the cleverness! the absolute schadenfreude of not only tampering, but rewriting the Doctor’s origins! I suppose that tells me he truly was once a fan. But no longer. Even if it turns out that the Master is as full of crap as Chibnall and it’s all an orchestrated lie, I don’t care anymore. Every inexplicable, terrible thing that happened before has already exhausted my patience with the narrative.

As veteral DW writer and script editor Terrance Dicks said:

If you’re concentrating on putting forth a political message, rather than on doing a really good show, I think there is a danger, maybe, you can do both but it would be hellish difficult, and I think that there’s maybe a danger that the show wouldn’t as be as good as it could or should be, because you’re not looking at the right aims.”

It seems like all that has been lost in time. Big corporations are buying up beloved science fiction properties, and systematically destroying them by trying to mix their politics into the mythos. [see ‘the fandom menace’]

I say, don’t support things that make you unhappy, in the name of nostalgia. That’s how they continue to upset us, while lining their pockets with our hard earned money. Complaining amongst ourselves, writing emails, or making angry Youtube videos no longer works anyway. Now is the time to just ... let it go. No more special edition DVDs, novelizations, or pretty action figures. Hit them in the pocketbook. We will still have fond memories of better times. I will not let them hijack, retcon, and retool them too.

There is a telling paragraph hidden in the depths of the article, which makes my DW fangirl sink:

It’s not as simple as “the ratings are down so Doctor Who will be cancelled,” as for the publicly-funded BBC there’s an interesting question about exactly what ratings are for beyond bragging rights. Obviously they need to make TV that people want to watch – but which people?

Not us, Huw. That’s who.

[electronicyarn]

NOT Live Blogging RWBY Vol. 7

Guess who has two thumbs and finally finished watching RWBY Volume 7? This gal! So I decided I’d post my thoughts on the volume. I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to properly live blog it, but I guess right now this is the best I can do.

(So is…is tumblr still a thing? Or has whatever company that owns it now finally run the site completely into the ground. Maybe the question I should be asking is: does anyone still follow my blog?)

I think in the interest of not rambling too wildly I’m going to organize my thoughts into broad categories. So, here we go.

Visuals

If nothing else, this volume was a feast for the eyes. I’m impressed that RWBY continues to noticeably improve its visuals with each Volume. Honestly, at this point I don’t see the need for further improvement. The character models are appropriately stylized, the backgrounds are gorgeous, and the last of the kinks have (finally) been worked out of the animation.

What I’m less enthused about is the costume design. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad. It’s just not great. Penny’s new design works. Ruby’s outfit is virtually identical to her last one, so she gets a pass. Weiss’s is close, oh so close. I like the basic design, but I think the colors needed some more tweaking. Blake’s outfit is…. Well, I don’t know. I think I’m going to call it mildly nonsensical. I’m digging the haircut though. (Same goes for Jaune!) Yang and Neo’s new clothes are so-so at best, and Cinder’s are downright awful. Strangely enough, it’s Team JN_R that wins the best-dressed award in my book. They’re new outfits look far better than Weiss’s, Blake’s, and Yang’s by a mile.

I guess I should count my blessings. After Neo and Cinder’s new outfits debuted at the end of Volume 6 I was afraid that everyone might end up looking like lampshades. Or maybe fetishists not fully committing to the part.

Story

Up until about Episode 10 I was going to call this volume the good twin to Volume 4’s evil twin. A volume of RWBY that lacked the high-highs and the low-lows that are so endemic of the franchise. The difference between the two being that Volume 4 was painfully mediocre, while Volume 7 was pretty good. But it turns out I was wrong. The entirety of Volume 7 was, in my opinion, nothing more than a build-up to the big finale. And what a finale it was! But maybe I shouldn’t get ahead of myself.

The first episode really won brownie points with me for basically doing the bad part of Volume 6 (Team RWBY spitting in the face of authority) except doing it right. It turns out that authority figures aren’t always “whimsical” caricatures masquerading as antagonists. (Sorry, I really hated Caroline, and not in a good way.) It also turns out that sometimes the authorities aren’t utterly incompetent. In many ways the Ace-Ops arresting Team RWBY reminded me of a less extreme version of the ending of the fourth Hunger Games movie. Specifically the part where Katniss and company decide to storm the castle and utterly fail. You know, the part where the movie transformed from an uninspired parody of itself to the absolute highlight of the entire franchise?

And then a bunch of stuff happened, some of which I’ll discuss in the next section. And then there were some really great fights. Oh yes, and then Salem shows up. Bye-bye Atlas! You. Are. Outta here!

Honestly, the only thing I didn’t much care for story-wise was Penny becoming the new Winter Maiden. It’s not because I don’t like the concept; it’s because it feels like they didn’t put any thought into the idea other than “let’s make Penny the Winter Maiden”. I’ll withhold judgment for now. It’s only fair that I wait and see where they go with it.

Characters

Believe it or not, I don’t have much to say about Team RWBY themselves in this section. Development-wise this volume was almost exclusively focused on other characters. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, although it wouldn’t be my first choice if I had my druthers. Honestly, Weiss, Blake, and Yang’s character arcs have largely been concluded at this point. Only Ruby’s left with outstanding issues regarding her mother. So…yeah. Maybe that bodes poorly for the franchise’s future now that I think about it? Or at least my own personal enjoyment of it? Eh, I’ll worry about that later. I should talk about all the other characters!

Team JN_R – I was a bit surprised at the lack of Jaune-related content this volume. They didn’t even deign to make him suffer much. But with a cast as big as RWBY’s, it’s not the first time we’ve seen a character take a volume off as it were. The big news here is that they actually attempted to give Ren a character and bring him into conflict with Nora. I…. Well, I don’t really think they succeeded, to be honest. As is a common problem in RWBY, there really wasn’t enough time to let the idea be fully realized. But I appreciate the effort.

The Ace-Ops – Oh, I had these guys pegged as the volume’s final bosses from the get-go. And I was not disappointed. As one-off antagonists, they worked. I can’t remember any of their names though. Except for Clover’s, and I’ll talk about him and Qrow in the section below.

Penny – It’s about time she came back. We all knew that was going to happen, right? And while I’m on the subject, Pietro was a nice side character too.

Oscar – He was there.

Robyn – I’m not sure what to say about her, to be honest. She was a good enough character, and played her role in the story well. But I never felt like she rose above her role.

Neo – You know who my favorite RWBY character is? It’s Yang, obviously. And do you know who the most strongly characterized RWBY character is? It’s the late Roman Torchwick of course. But do you know who takes second place in both of those categories? Neo. Kind of ironic for that second one given that she doesn’t speak. Neo did not disappoint this volume. She never disappoints. And I’ve said it before, on this very blog I think. In terms of raw-skill, Neo is one of the most dangerous characters in the RWBY-verse. Team JN_R vs. Neo? No contest. Although I am amused that Jaune got the only real hit on her. I’m even more amused that it somehow felt appropriate.

Cinder – Again I continue to really like post-Volume 4 Cinder. No matter how hard she tries, the universe just won’t stop kicking her in the teeth. And it just fits her character so well. Bravo Rooster Teeth!

Winter – Winter’s battle might not have been the most fun. That goes to Neo vs. some bush leaguers. It might not have been the most creative. That goes to Team RWBY vs. the Ace-Ops. But by God, no one put in more effort than Winter. She has my utmost respect.

Weiss’s Mom – Hey, she exists! Nice!

Dr. Watts – So much smarm. So much arrogance. I should hate him, but I really don’t. He’s just great.

Ironwood – And the best for last. Oh my. Oh my, oh my, oh my. His arc this volume was absolutely perfect. It was given enough time to be believable, amazing for a show like RWBY, and every step along his journey made sense. He’s become my absolute favorite kind of antagonist, the kind that believes what they’re doing is right. And here’s the thing, I can’t say that Ironwood is wrong. I don’t think he’s right, but I can’t say that he’s wrong. Give me an Ironwood over a Tyrian any day of the week. Please give me an Ironwood over a Tyrian.

The Gay Agenda

*singing* Qrow has a boyfriend….

Er…. Qrow had a boyfriend. And then Clover got Bury Your Gays’d. I’m kind of disappointed, but I’m kind of not. After all, the universe has long since ordained that it is Qrow’s lot in life to suffer.

To tell the truth I’m deeply divided on how I feel about RWBY’s take on the gays. The homoromantic subtext between Yang and Blake has reached levels equivalent to Season 3 of Xena: Warrior Princess. And Qrow and Clover were about there too. On one hand, I’m happily drinking it all up. On the other hand, I want to call Rooster Teeth a bunch of cowards. It’s not 1999 anymore. You can make characters gay. RWBY has made (side) characters gay. At best I’m expecting them to pull a Legend of Korra and only make things “official” at the very end of the show, a resolution I found deeply unsatisfying. But if I were running the show, would I do things differently? Well, yes I would. But would it be the correct decision from a revenue perspective? I’m assuming that RWBY is a, let’s say, important show for Rooster Teeth. I base this assumption on the fact that they announced three RWBY-adjacent spin-offs just after Volume 7 finished. Perhaps they feel they can’t take any risks with something so popular? Perhaps they don’t particularly care. Again, I don’t know how to feel about it.

Conclusion

Homoromanticism aside, (Never!) is Volume 7 the best volume ever? It might be. Only Volumes 1 and 5 can contend with it for consistent high quality. If I had to declare one volume as the best overall, this would probably be it. That being said, I doubt anything will ever supplant the Yang and Blake vs. Adam fight in Volume 6 as my favorite part of RWBY. I still can’t believe they paid that off so well. Three years of anticipation and they fulfilled my every expectation.

Wait, what was I talking about again? Oh yeah. Volume 7. It was good.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Brooklyn Nine-Nine season five full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

68.18% (fifteen of twenty-two).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

30.03%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Two (episode seventeen ‘DFW’ (42.85%), and episode twenty-one ‘White Whale’ (42.85%)).

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

One (episode nine ‘99′ (15.38%)).

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Thirty-two. Four who appeared in more than one episode, three who appeared in at least half the episodes, and ZERO who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Sixty-four. Thirteen who appeared in more than one episode, six who appeared in at least half the episodes, and three who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Fairly standard expectations for this show, that is: above-average compared to most tv. That said, their biggest progressive move of the season came off more prescribed than genuine to me, and sometimes I felt like they were including little remarks and things just to half-ass being ‘on brand’ rather than because they actually believe in it. This season often lacked the heart to make its social commentary really land (average rating of 3.04).

General Season Quality:

They had a whole bunch of good episodes around the middle of the season, but they started and ended weak, and a lot of the story and characterisation is starting to meander and go stale. They lifted their game in season four, but this feels like a return to the dissatisfaction that was rife in season three. 

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

Well, this is the worst they’ve done on the male:female ratio, decisively. It’s not the worst they’ve done on the Bechdel, but it is worse than what it has been in recent seasons. And while the positive content score is above average, outside of the single episode which raised that score they really did a lot less to impress than what I would consider this show’s standard (and even that one episode, I maintain, could have been much better). Setting aside the critical aspect of what I do here to speak on a pure entertainment level, this season seriously lacked one of the best qualities of the show in previous seasons, which was the basic guarantee of a good time; some episodes will always be better than others, but if nothing else, you used to be able to rely on that good time. There were no episodes this season that were just utter garbage, no, but if I were a casual viewer, then the majority of this season would probably fail to hold my attention or convince me to tune in next week, and that’s not what you want. As ever, when the show is good it is really, really good, but when it is bad it is DEEPLY mediocre, feeling phoned-in or, sometimes, like it was written by someone who does not understand the appeal of this show in the first place. To touch on some various aspects of all of the above, lets talk about character arcs.

Now, I am not one of those people who believes that every character has to have a definable ‘arc’. They really don’t. What they DO need is to feel like they’re part of the story for a reason, and giving them their own task or journey which traditionally lays out in an arc format tends to be the go-to method for achieving that. It is easily possible to have a character without a personal arc still fit into the story and feel necessary and wanted: my case in point for this season of B99 is Terry. Terry was seriously underused, and that’s a shame because he’s great, and yes, giving him some kind of arc to bring him to the fore a few times across the season would almost definitely have been a good move...but. The fact that he had no arc to speak of did not render his character obsolete, and he worked and played really well as a character whose stability can be an anchoring quality for the show sometimes: Terry is still a reliable good time, even if the writing is sliding in other places. Vitally, there is a confidence about the way that Terry is presented which allows his character to function fully regardless of the attention level; I would have LIKED more Terry, but his character is firmly established as a constant such that he can occupy a regular space without seeming superfluous. On the flip side of that, we have...Gina.

I’ve never ‘got’ Gina in that fan-favourite way that has worked for so many people, and her selfishness and her constant put-downs have often made her the antithesis of the feel-good mentality that - to me - has defined what makes this show worthwhile when it is at its best. But, setting aside my personal opinion of Gina as a character, this season failed utterly to achieve the very thing they used as the driving purpose of her return to the show at mid-season: to prove that she is ‘needed’. Real-life maternity leave is necessary and I would never advocate for axing a character just because the actor needs the time off, so I’m not suggesting they should have just ditched her and moved on despite Chelsea Peretti’s evident desire to return to the show, but what they NEEDED to do was to...give Gina literally anything meaningful to do once she returned, in order to re-establish her as someone with a reason to be around. They didn’t. Even the one subplot where Gina admits to Terry that she’s having a hard time balancing being a working mother lacked the impact to drive home a real-life struggle, and that’s pretty dire; Gina never felt right, when she was around at all, and it made the decision to bring her back on board after the show had got on just fine without her for half a season feel like one long false note. How hard would it have been to turn that weakly-delivered subplot into a proper mini-arc as Gina settled back in to work? How hard would it have been to make it clear that becoming a mother has changed Gina in a fashion which plays out in the long-term instead of just being a few remarks she made in a single episode? These are trick questions, of course. It’s not hard. It requires a bare minimum of effort which usually doesn’t even register AS effort, it’s just the writer asking themselves the question ‘What is going on with this character right now?’ and then answering it in their script. That’s just how basic character consistency works, really. And yet, they fumbled it.

In other dissatisfying news, we have the ‘Sad Excuse For An Arc’, featuring Charles Boyle. I really wish that I never had to talk about Charles again because I really hate him, for reasons elucidated constantly across my posts for this entire series which ultimately boil (heh) down to him being an emotionally manipulative nightmare of a person with possessive overtones who regularly disrespects and disrupts the lives around him without ever taking proper responsibility for his actions or recognising and working on his desperate need for self-improvement, and who somehow continues to be packaged by the narrative as just ‘ha-ha well-meaning but awkward’ while other characters pander to his manipulations and weather the many and sundry inconveniences he introduces to their lives without complaint. I still haven’t forgotten that he was an A-grade creep to Rosa in the first season and the show just kinda glossed over it and never mentioned it again, because damn, maybe if they had owned their mistake and had Charles actively tackle his flaws back then, they might have inadvertently written the character with literally any kind of development over the course of five freakin’ seasons. Because as-is, he has not changed at all since the show started (even adopting a child hasn’t changed him, it just gives him something to reference every now and then - what is it with this show and failing to incorporate major home-life changes (LITERAL! CHILDREN!!) into the character’s daily lives?), and this is how we end up with an ‘arc’ like that crap with Charles and the food truck. It goes like this: Charles buys food truck. Charles is a megalomaniac asshole chef in the food truck (significant food wastage ensues). Charles’ food truck gets destroyed. Three episodes across the season, one two three, and only the last one is the A plot of the episode instead of a minor subplot. And this? This is Charles’ personal story for the entire season. Unfortunately, he’s around constantly in the rest of the season as well and it feels like there were nowhere near enough episodes which offered a reprieve from his noxious personality, so he doesn’t suffer from Gina syndrome in the sense of seeming pointless, but that kinda...proves my point about arcs. The one Charles has here is a joke, and not the funny kind. He was used excessively throughout the rest of the season without the assistance of an ‘arc’ to legitimise his presence, he didn’t NEED one to function in the season, but the Sad Excuse For An Arc that he DID have only highlighted the wider problem of the character over the whole series thus far, which is that he has NEVER had an arc which brought about meaningful development or change.

And then there was Rosa. There was actually a sneakier amount of character fodder for Rosa this season than what may seem immediately obvious: the dominant development was her bisexuality, but there were also other pieces to pick up with her reconnecting with her family after her stint in prison, and also some welcome focus on her career in the latter end of the season (notably ‘Show Me Going’ and ‘White Whale’), which did a solid job of re-anchoring the character professionally after a season disproportionately interested in her romantic life. I feel very cynical, complaining about the bisexuality storyline, and I’d like to reiterate that I am genuinely glad to have this openly-declared positive representation for a frequently ill-treated branch of the big queer tree. I stand in unequivocal solidarity with my bisexual brethren. THAT SAID. I also sincerely dislike the way this show went about including bisexuality as a part of Rosa’s character, and it’s because of the ‘arc’ element: specifically, that the ‘arc’ is literally just about her being attracted to women. Rosa’s ‘coming out’ is not the arc - there is just the one Very Special episode about that specifically - and I’m ok with that because it’s rare to have a character whose queer sexuality is revealed comparatively late in a story without it being a revelation for the character themselves and not just the people around them. My problem is that - once the bisexual cat is out of the bag - the way the show packages the arc is just to double down, triple down on reminding the audience that Rosa is into women, is dating women, is being set up with women, is being wowed by hot women she sees...and there is no further mention of her interest in men. After four seasons of her only ever being depicted in relationships with men or having active interest in men, the narrative packages her coming out as bisexual in the same way as shows typically package a character realising that they’re gay: by giving them conspicuous subplots that revolve specifically around same-gender attraction. And that comes across to me as a brownie-points grab, as performative queer content designed to get attention, rather than the kind of inclusive representation I have celebrated this show for in the past re: Holt. It feels like the writers aren’t comfortable with the reality of Rosa’s bisexuality, that they’re subscribing to the idea that if she’s shown to be still interested in men that she’ll become magically not-queer and they’ll lose their brownie points, and so they’re throwing women at her in the kinds of meaningless subplots that they never assigned to the character before she came out. As a rule, if you treat a character differently for being queer than you would if they were straight, that’s bad representation. The way that Rosa’s life is presented to us should not spontaneously change just because we know she also likes women, especially because this is the status quo for her; the ‘arc’ here is about the expectation of an audience reaction, and not actually about the character at all. 

The good news? Jake, Amy, and Holt all have successful, meaningful arcs this season, with Jake and Amy’s journey from engagement to marriage, and Holt’s gambit for his dream job as commissioner. While both arcs came to lacklustre closes in the predictable season finale, through the course of the season they supplied various A and B plots, never slipping entirely from the audience’s memory or causing glitches in the sense of character or narrative continuity, but also never dominating the show in a manner that became distracting or tedious. Both plots were told as stories, with ups and downs and complications large or small, like proper arcs instead of perfunctory beginning-middle-end or ‘three times makes it a pattern’ ideas (which is more than I can say for the Seamus Murphy misfire which made a Sad Excuse For An Arc for the first half of the season at large - it may have ended on a high note, but it failed to generate any tension as a long-term plot or deliver on its initial promises from the ultimately-weak time-wasting two-part premiere). Honestly, as a whole this season felt like they were winging it on the bulk of the story, with the Peralta-Santiago wedding and the fate of Holt’s career the only things that were planned for the finale from the outset and everything else just fabricated as they went along, and the looseness of the entire rest of the season is the messy disappointing result of the ‘we’ll figure it out when we get there’ ethos. Last season had me so hopeful for the show getting back on track, getting back to its roots and remembering what made it work with quality story for the characters, a solid narrative backbone, and a social compass at the forefront. After the vague characterisation of this season, the shapeless meandering of so much filler plot, and commentary that was ham-fisted and anvilicious when it was there at all...It’s not like this was bad. It wasn’t bad. It was just so much less than what I expected or hoped to see.

[fatedcipher]

     It’s over.  I beat Kingdom Hearts 3, a game I’ve waited thirteen years for.  And now that it’s all said and done?

     I’m just disappointed.

     What follows is mostly my stream of consciousness impressions of the game, put to text more to organize and vent than anything else.  Be warned of strong opinions and acerbic criticism.

The Good

Roxas

It was one scene, but it was one hell of a scene.  McCartney fucking killed it.

The Sea Salt Trio finally gets justice.  Xion and Axel finally wear something besides the coat.

I had Sora walk around and take selfies while Roxas and Xion effortlessly demolished Saix.  So much catharsis.

Demyx

Yeah, I know, last thing I was expecting too.

Had exactly zero patience for series melodrama.  Every other word out of his mouth had me laughing.

Dude stabbed evil mcdarkness in the back to do the good guys a huge solid and got away with it scot-free.

Lingering Will

He was on screen for all of five seconds, but I cheered for all five of them.

Namine was the one who called him in.

Should have been him to finish off Terranort, but close enough.

Half the Disney Characters

Telling the obnoxious villains to fuck off.

Actually making them fuck off in a couple instances.

Put that Edgelord back where he came from or so help me!

Hayner!  Pence!  Olette!

Twilight Gang actually contributing to the main plot again.

Them giving a shit about Roxas when they didn’t need to.

Fucking bamboozled SoD, he just didn’t know how to react to their Scooby Doo shenanigans.

Mixed Bag

Some of the Disney worlds were pretty charming and had good cast interactions.

Frozen’s world was not.

Sora using the fallen keys was visually breathtaking and played in well to his power to connect to other people.

It was a reference to the stupid mobile game that has only polluted the plot further.

TWEWY world effectively confirmed in whatever is next.

I may not actually want to play whatever is next.

Music

It practically goes without saying at this point but, JESUS CHRIST THERE’S SOME GOOD MUSIC IN THIS VIDEO GAME

OTHER PROMISE/VECTOR TO THE HEAVENS ARRANGEMENT SLAYED ME

I LOVE YOU YOKO SHIMOMURA

The Bad

Gameplay

Plays like a janky version of 2 with a botox injection of DDD flowmotion that only makes the game feel more awkward.

Clunky melee combos have too much start-up, most have no invincibility or even armor to prevent being hit out of them.

Only a handful of the keyblade transformations are actually useful, all of which are a massive step down from drive forms.

Shotlocks still feel like extraneous instant damage and add nothing to gamplay flow.

Oversaturation of minigames leaves several worlds light on actual combat.

Attraction flow is too easy to get, not fun to use, lasts too long, and leaves you vulnerable to damage.

Worlds are simultaneously expansive by individual area and depressingly small on an overall scale.  Most of Twilight Town is inaccessible, Destiny Islands and Radiant Garden can’t be visited.

General Plot and Storytelling

Generally poor writing that fails to resolve several plot threads and introduces ridiculous retcons that only create more questions.

There’s a scene where all of the good guys are in the same room having a discussion about how convoluted the plot is and Jiminy chimes in that they should read the in-game summaries on the in-game phone.  This was when the game crossed over into self-parody for me, and not in a good way.

The total absence of Final Fantasy characters save for the mention of Cloud and Auron at the start of Olympus eliminates half the appeal of what is ostensibly a crossover series.

Awful pacing, having the Disney worlds as unimportant filler with the majority of the plot happening in the last few hours of the game, following what has depressingly become the norm.

General cutscene incompetence, from characters being effortlessly overpowered by enemies to standing around unarmed and slackjawed waiting for said enemies to cut them down.

Bad dialogue and direction clearly mandated by someone who doesn’t speak English mars a number of moments that could have been good.  The script shines primarily when it escapes that ignorant control, which is not as often as it should be.

Mass death and revival scene was entirely pointless, as were the multiple Heartless swarms everyone was suddenly incapable of even putting up a fight against.

Death is still largely non-existent save for a few characters.

It made me more bitter and fed up with this series than DDD did and that is a fucking accomplishment.

Sora

How fucking dare you treat my precious boy like this, Nomura.

Half the cast spends half the game demeaning him and refuses to listen to him for no discernible reason, despite the fact he immediately solves every problem he is introduced to.

It’s not as bad as DDD, but he’s still written to be way less intelligent than he was in 1-2.

He’s the only one who doesn’t get a perfect happy ending and the only who actually seems to suffer any consequence to his actions, despite those consequences being utterly nonsensical.

It’s not even clear what the fucking “Power of Waking” is and he never needs it save for the artificial death scenes.

Riku

Every other line in the script is shilling him and how he’s somehow better than Sora.

This Yozora clown is literally just a palette swap of him.

Three Rikus in one scene.  It is laughable in how stupid it is.

He gets two playable sections and fights the same shitty boss in both.

He’s the one who goes to pick up Namine, not Roxas, Sora, or Kairi.

You can feel how much Nomura loves him and it repulses me.

Kairi

Her lively personality is completely absent along with any agency she might have once had.

Despite getting a keyblade and training the whole game, she gets halfway through a single fight before she’s easily kidnapped, held hostage, and callously executed.

None of her statements about protecting Sora are followed through on and are empty allusions to the first game.

SoKai is finally all but canon, yet the characters themselves hardly interact in the game and the Oathkeeper charm is never even brought up.

Namine

Her in-engine model is only ever used in the character files.

The only thing she does in the entire game is have a single conversation with Sora in the afterlife, in which he still fails to properly thank her.  

Riku is the one to pick her up after she gets a body because Nomura felt like awkwardly shifting Versus XIII’s unused dynamic onto two characters totally unrelated to it.

She’s still wearing the same white dress she has been since her introduction in CoM.

Aqua

Loses every fight she’s in to cutscene incompetence.

Seriously, you kick Vanitas’ ass in her only playable segment for her to throw herself spread eagle in front of some fireballs he throws out, it’s embarrassing.

Likewise jobs to Terranort and has to be saved by the COME GUARDIAN who is apparently Terra’s heartless?

Her single contribution to the plot is finding Ventus.

The refusal to let her age is just bizarre, the same extending to Ventus and Terra.

Antagonists

Xehanort remains nonsensically overpowered and omniscient, using time travel, clone bodies, and other contrivances to achieve his goals and have the heroes play straight into his hands until his actual last scene.

Multiple members of team dark don’t even have a good reason to work for the old man.  The former traitors are the ones to remain unfailingly loyal.

They show up to vaguely talk down to the heroes and/or wipe the floor with them before smugly disappearing without a scratch.  The only instances where this is even slightly averted are a couple scenes with the Disney characters and the defeat scenes in the final boss rush.

The majority of the villains are given cloying and contrived attempts at casting them in a sympathetic light when they have only ever been shown to be selfish, merciless, and cruel prior to their final defeats.  Xehanort himself is the absolute worst offender, being cast as a well-intentioned extremist at the last possible moment, despite this directly contradicting the entirety of his character prior.

     So yeah, Kindgom Hearts 3 isn’t that good of a game and has a story that’s legitimately quite poorly written and told overall.  Are my expectations inflated by the amount of time I’ve had to wait for this game?  Absolutely, but the series has been on a downward slope in quality since BBS and this was their big chance to correct course.  Even with the promise of TWEWY involvement in whatever is in the future, I can’t honestly say I’m interested in playing another Kingdom Hearts game after this disappointment and that’s depressing for someone who’s loved this series for so long.  There’s still a lot I want to write for Roxas and the rest of the cast, but when most of that stuff is attempting to revise the canon, it can be pretty discouraging.  All the same, I don’t want to give up on this blond haired kid and his friends just yet.  Their story’s too important to me to let it end like this.

[canvaswolfdoll]

CanvasWatches: The Dragon Prince

Netflix is making a live-action Avatar: The Last Airbender series.

Just… no? I realize time and development has been put into this. People are employed. But… the first series was magic, stop trying to recapture it.

Netflix has this problem where they want to propel themselves forward with original content, but that content is very mediocre. They try reviving old series and produce productions that disappoint.[1] The original concepts mostly fade into obscurity, are Stranger Things (which had one pretty good season, and then a mediocre second season), or is BoJack Horseman which I haven’t watched but haven’t heard a bad word about.

Then there’s their irritating handling of Anime.[2]

Netflix is willing to experiment and let creators do what they want. I admire that. But (and trust me, I hate to say this), they need focus testing. They need a stricter format. Edges for creators to bump up against and work around.

A standard season length, for one. An allotted time per episode maybe. Make production a puzzle to solve.

Instead they say ‘Let’s do the live-action Avatar series no one asked for, and is a passive insult to the original!’[3]

Which drags us into The Dragon Prince.

Spoilers! You might want to watch it for yourself (it’s nine episodes), but if you don’t mind spoilers, go ahead. I’m not the City Watch.

So, I think we’ve finally figured it out. We had Avatar: The Last Airbender, which was great. Then we distilled the creative staff, ran experiments and isolated elements.

Legend of Korra was good. Had the creators produce it, but not the head writer. The world was the same, but evolved in interesting ways. Good character concepts and real heart, but still missing the magic and character relationships that resonated so well in the first series.

Now, with The Dragon Prince, we get to see what happens when you isolate AtLA’s head writer, Aaron Ehasz.

You get a cliche fantasy setting, weak main plot, and a lot of cheap AtLA mimicry. But you also get some super charming child characters, intriguing (if not currently complex) villains, and small details that could build up to something great.

Which is to say: go to Bryke for the world and myth arc, go to Ehasz for the character interactions.

There it is! The ultimate break down! Let’s pack this up and…

Okay, fine. You want to hear my opinions on The Dragon Prince. That’s… fair, I guess.

So, in this setting, magic comes from six source: The sun! The moon! The Stars! The Ocean! The Earth! I think the sky?[4]

However, then humanity created a seventh magic! Dark Magic! Ooo, so evil, so dastardly!

Sigh.

Just once, I’d like dark magic to just be misunderstood. If they called it Life Magic, they’d probably have better PR.

Anyways, humanity went to war with the elves, but the Dragon King got sick of the fighting, so he sent the humans west, elves to the east, and divided the continent in half with a lava river.

Humanity didn’t really like this, so they killed the dragon king and his egg. So that’s vengeance.

Except this upset the elves because, y’know, murder’s bad. So they send a party from the assassin elf faction: The Moon Shadow Elves! They turn invisible under moonlight![5]

They’re gonna kill the Human king and his son to make things even. Because suddenly murder’s not so bad?

However, a member of the group is a child who couldn’t will herself to kill.

Basically, that cool and exciting setting you created when you were fourteen? Good news, it’s a Netflix Show now! Yay!

Also, the first season is Book 1: Moon.

And the title card is formatted exactly like Avatar, but with white text on a black background.

So the world isn’t special, and they’re deliberately aping some Avatar trappings. But that’s fine, there’s still the characters and plot. We could bicycle this!

So, what do we have with the humans? A beloved king with a dead wife and two children? Okay… both are sons,[6] so at least it’s not the usual nuclear structure. And, hey, the eldest prince is the king’s step son! Nice change.

Who else? King has an advisor that uses dark magic, suggested killing the dragon king and the egg, and talks above his station. But, hey, Lord Viren has two charming children, and he seems genuinely concerned about his king’s survival and the good of…

Oh, he gets a magic makeover in the final episode to make him look more inhuman, and spends the season plotting to take the throne.

Ugh. Of course.

Well, what about Viren’s children? Claudia is a mage like her dad, and is a cloudcuckoolander. Good choice. And she doesn’t do much that’s actively evil. We’ve got Ty Lee in Zuko’s role. I’m game.

Soren is… well, he’s going to be Azula. He doesn’t have her sadistic streak, but he’s been given the job of eliminating claims to the throne, is a competent combatant, and Viren motivates him with being in line for the throne.

He could turn, but my money’s on just being Azula.

Now, to be clear, Viren wasn’t obviously evil. There were plenty of early moments that hinted that he could be sympathetic and non-evil. However, he does spiral into torture and deceit, so once the season is over, there’s no ambiguity. Sorry.

Hey, what about the main cast?

Prince Callum is voiced by Sokka! Awesome! Jack De Sena needs more work. This time, he gets magic and impressive artistic skills! But he had to give up his sword abilities, and kept the daddy issues. But there’s still that snarky edge and loving brother personality, though the weight of them have been swapped.

He’s the half brother of Prince Ezran, who is the heir apparent of the kingdom. He’s… a goofy young boy. I dunno. Aang light. No overt talents. He’s fine.

So those two are hanging out at the castle, when suddenly their father tries to send them off to the winter cabin, despite it being not winter. He suggests made making a dirt man or going mud sledding.

Callum finds this suspect, and eventually logics out that King Harrow expects to be assassinated and wants to get his sons a safe distance away.

Meanwhile, the Moon Shadow Elves are planning their assassination, making a vow on a magic ribbon that will amputate a limb if they fail. Two targets: King Harrow and Prince Ezran to make up for killing the Dragon King and his egg. Even, you know?

Of course, they dragged a literal child along and had her make the same oath with the same ribbon, so screw ‘em. Child soldiers are bad.

This girl is Rayla. She’ll be the rogue of the main cast! Yay![7]

However, after making this promise, they find out she let a guard go so the humans know they’re coming. You’re off the mission Rayla! Turn in your fancy switchblades and ribbon!

Except the ribbon is magic and won’t come off until the job is done, so keep that I guess. And it’d be mean to take away your knives, so… look, stay at camp while the five adults go murder a dude and an actual kid.

Please remember, these jerks wanted to murder an innocent child.

Rayla decides to redeem herself, and sneaks into the castle. She finds the two princes, Callum attempts to martyr himself for Ezran, shenanigans occur in secret tunnels, and… oh, look, it’s the Dragon King’s Egg. Guess they didn’t actually kill that?

Well, let’s call the whole thing off!

Oh, nevermind. Rayla’s Uncle still wants to kill the king and prince. What a jerk.

So our three heroes escape the castle with the egg, planning on returning to the Dragon Queen. We got our mission!

Oh, and the elves killed King Harrow. So… that’s fun.

To be honest, I wouldn’t discount Lord Viren using dark magic to sidestep this. But he’s also trying to claim the throne, so maybe the king is actually dead.

Could go either way.

The kids head off to the royal cottage, where they stumble onto Callum’s aunt. She’s mute! (Maybe deaf, not one hundred percent on that, since lip reading was referenced but also some ambiguity…)

She’s a military General, fights with a shield, is super awesome, and I’m sad how Callum didn’t bring her into the scheme.

Like, yes, for the plot to work, Lord Viren needs to know the princes are alive and the boys have to be careful and having General Amaya know and supporting the boys would’ve caused other troubles.

But… c’mon Callum, literally signing to Amaya that Rayla is a monster and forcing the elf to do a Blue Spirit act is terrible. Like… they’ve established a sweet way for Callum to communicate a secret past her soldiers, and they didn’t use it for a sweet twist?

Ugh. Intentional miscommunication and unnecessary secrets. They are hitting a bunch of my hated tropes.[8]

The children run off and… don’t really do anything very interesting for a couple episodes.

The villain side of things is where the real fun is! General Amaya goes to the castle to report on the survival of the princes and stop Lord Viren from taking the throne.

However, Lord Viren offers her the throne. Again, how the scene is written and acted, I still found myself doubting what role Viren’s supposed to take. He seems genuinely concerned for the general populace, and offers compromises at every turn, and communicates honestly and…

I want Lord Viren to be a misunderstood good guy. I really want Dark Magic to not be an irredeemable evil. A story without a Big Bad, just factions with cross purposes would be great. There’s so many good escape routes for a more interesting story.

Then Lord Viren throws the man Amaya chose (her interpreter, Gren. He’s neat! I like him!) to lead the Prince Recovery Team into a dungeon, where he can watch Viren torture Rayla’s uncle for information.

Yeah… this is who our villain is.

In Gren’s place, Viren sends his children. Soren is given secret instructions to insure the princes don’t make it home alive, and Claudia is given secret instructions to prioritize the safety of the egg. So that’s our Zuko and Azula doing the Avatar hunt.

They have a fun dynamic as Soren doesn’t put much stock in magic and Claudia is an adorable dark magician girl![10] I look forward to more of them.

Now, back to the D&D campaign of the kids: Callum is trying to learn magic after stealing Claudia’s storm magic orb, and he’s pretty good at it. Rayla is worried about the ribbon cutting off her circulation and is an awesome rogue. Ezran… needs to learn healing magic so we can have a Cleric.

They accidentally drop the egg into a frozen lake and are afraid the baby dragon within is dying, so they head off to get help at a town. There’s a fun kid moment with Rayla turning a snowman into a snow-elf (it was a cute moment and Rayla needs more).

Then the group picks up a girl, Ellis, so abruptly that she might as well have been a player that joined between sessions. Ellis rides a giant puppy named Ava, so we’ve got a beast-master fighter!

Ellis tells the boys about a magic healer on the top of a scary mountain filled with scary monsters. With no options, the four go to the mountain.

They fight one monster, have some self reflection, get to the mountain, learn Ezran can talk to animals,[11] and the monsters there are illusions.

They get to where to where the healer is, only to learn that, nah, she’s just a powerful illusionist and Ava only has three legs.

The only way to save the egg is to hatch it. But they need a storm to do so.

Thus, Callum shatters his magic orb to release a storm, the egg hatches, and the titular Dragon Prince is able to gently bite off the magic ribbon Rayla couldn’t cut off with a magic sun knife.

(Either the dragon is magic enough, or saving the baby dragon was considered equal to assassinating Ezran).

Soren and Claudia use a spell to pinpoint the group!

Lord Viren inprisons Rayla’s uncle in a coin and transforms into an eviller looking form!

Also, there’s some mystery with a magic mirror? Cliffhanger stuff.

So… The Dragon Prince is not amazing. The dialogue and character interactions and relationships are great, but the story and world is paint by numbers.

The next season has plenty of room for subversions and interesting experiments, but… until I see it, I honestly think the show’s skippable in its current form. Filler episodes to build the world and characters would do a lot to help, and committing to nuances hinted at for Lord Viren would be great.

Also, hopefully they improve the animation. I’m not normally one to care about frame rates, but boy did the animation stutter a lot for a finished product.

It’s average.

Thanks for reading this review! Consider checking out my other writings, sending me comments and questions, check out my webcomic or RPG Blog, or whatever. Next time, Netflix is releasing an Anime I’ve been excited for nearer the end of the month. Keep an eye out for that, which will post to my Patreon first. I’m also slowly rolling out a Review of Digimon there!

Until we go flying with dragons,

Kataal kataal.

[1] Admittedly, modern fandom is filled with loud obnoxious people, but I haven’t heard anything good about Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, even from my less frothy-mouthed sisters. [2] If you’re gonna simuldub series in Canada, you can do it in the US, you jerks! [3] Everything can be improved. But actually remaking something just says the original wasn’t good enough. That’s why people hate reboots. [4] Can’t remember if that’s under the purview of the stars or not… [5] Which is Warcraft, Ehasz. [6] Unless there’s a spoiler with Ezran’s voice cast. [7] Canvas likes playing rogues. [8] Let’s see if season two can get inappropriate student-teacher relationship![9] Then they can get a free sandwich. And my eternal ire. [9] For the record: when Claudia inevitably defects and starts teaching Callum magic, that’s not going to count. The two are close in age and it’s not an institutional power imbalance. [10] I want a show about Claudia, Rayla, and Amaya on awesome adventures. [11] He’s a druid! Learn to heal, nerd.

[bigbrothereclipse]

EPISODE 1 -  “I’M KINDA MAD I DIDN’T GET HOH, BUT I’LL GET IT NEXT TIME FOR SURE.” - ASHLYN

HOH - ELIJAH

POV - FROSBY

EVICTED - ASHLYN / 13-2

FROSBY - https://youtu.be/3J7_Nd8O57M

SARAH G - https://youtu.be/m-nPTenfhdM

JULS - https://youtu.be/U2RI53y6qgI

ELIJAH - https://youtu.be/IeEiggUn3f4

BROOKE

Night 1 is done and I just want to express my thoughts on my fellow housemates. 

Ashlyn- I’ve reached out to her and got two words back and now no response so I’m not quite sure what to think of her. I’m not sure if it’s just me or if she’s gonna be the ‘Chloe’ of the season, which is not a bad thing, just a bit more difficult.

Bob- We go wayyyy back. I’ve played with him in like January and completely got fooled by him. I’m definitely going to be cautious of him but also try to align myself with him. On top of all that, I got best rivalry with his brother, Joe last season. 

Cheatham- I’ve had a good conversation with him and would love to align with him.

Elijah- We’ve bonded a lot by being in the latest timezone (in America at least) and he’s even mentioned meeting in person since he’s only like a 6 hour drive from me. I can see Elijah becoming my ride or die and I definitely do feel like I could trust him. 

Frosby- OMG FROSBY IS BACK TOO! We tried to work together last season, but it failed when we both found ourselves on the block on Drew’s HoH. Frosby was quick to use screenshots against me, so I will definitely be cautious knowing that about him.

Gabe- Gabe was the first one to ask me about my daughter. I definitely see him becoming an ally and a friend outside this game. He was asking me questions about Saphire’s father, therefore probably knows the most about me on a personal level. 

Gigi- I’ve talked to her a little bit. I know I’m not supposed to judge people by their photos but she looks like someone who wouldn’t even hurt a fly. I feel like she will surprise me as I am not painting her as big of a threat as I probably should. 

Indigo- I talked to them a little bit as well. We bonded over being lazy and loving to sing, but I don’t really see any potential in the long run. 

Jacob- He seems nice. I’ve talked to him a little bit, but definitely need to talk to him more to get a full read. 

Jordyn- I’ve reached out to her and have yet to get a response.

Juls- I played with Juls once before but that season didn’t go well for me. I would love to get to know her more. 

Mackenzie- Okay, I know this is the same Mackenzie that took over my HoH in another game and I’m still a little unhappy about that. (I hold grudges, what can I say). Anyways, she thinks I forgave her but I will stab her in the back the first chance I get. 

Nick- I haven’t talked to Nick enough to get an opinion on him, but my gut is telling me he could potentially be a backstabber.

Rodney- We talked about BB22 a little bit and bonded over that, not enough of a bond to make me want to work with him though. 

Roxy- I’ve talked to Roxy a bit but don’t see them as an ally.

Sarah G- Omg where do I even start with Sarah G? Okay well she harassed and threatened me in the black hole last season (as a punishment). I still get PTSD from pings. I told her I don’t hate her, and that is true but I will NOT work with her unless my life depends on it. I will make it my goal to get her out ASAP. 

Wren- I’ve talked to Wren a little bit and she seems like such a sweetheart. Definitely someone I might be willing to work with. 

Right now, my thoughts are to form a 6 person alliance with 3 solars (Frosby, Bob, and Elijah) and 3 lunars (Gabe, Cheatham, and myself). Frosby and I agreed to meet up again after assessing the cast and we’ll go from there. With this twist in place, I think having 3 from each group would be a good idea. 

ASHLYN

Elijah and I haven’t had much of a conversation, im going to continue trying to stay under the radar and let Elijah make enemies of his own. I won’t attempt to ally with him, for fear of being seen as a suck up- I’ll just try to be kind to him and pose not as much of a threat. My bet is he will nominate the other two highest scores, either that or someone he particularly dislikes. I’m kinda mad I didn’t get HoH, but I’ll get it next time for sure.

GIGI

So the HOH came down to Gabe and Elijah. Before it was announced, I was lowkey praying for Elijah to win over Gabe just because I have connected more to Elijah than I have with Gabe. He and I talked a little bit last night but I feel like that wouldn’t have been enough if he were to win. I’m hoping I’m good with Elijah because he seems really chill and he’s definitely someone I’d want to work with moving forward. I’m kinda hoping he nominates people from the other side because I do believe that team has more threats (just based off of first impressions). 

As far as who I’ve been connecting with, I have basically talked to everyone on the cast with the exception of a few, but I’d say I’m more connected to Rodney and Roxy. Rodney and I have a little secret that no one else needs to know 😏 and that’s that we know each other! I met Rodney through a game we’re currently playing (OBB) and he’s been my number 1 ally in that game since week 1. We’ve become so close that we were talking about wanting to play another game together. He’s the one that actually sent me the app to this game so if it weren’t for Rodney I would not be here rn. He is 100% my number one ally in this game. And I want to make it far with him. But with this twist, it makes me so scared because we are on the same team and whoever wins hoh has the possibility of having to nominate from their own team. I hope he and I can survive and make it very far in this game together. Anyways I’m pretty sure like half of this cast knows each other and have some sort of pre deals going on anyways so I don’t feel bad. 🤪 I just don’t want to openly make it seem like we know each other so we don’t become targets, so RODNEY WHO??? Haha jk. They better not come for him or come for me bc it’s gonna go downnn😈. (Lmao)

With Roxy, it’s so easy to carry a conversation with and I feel like me and her are similar in a lot of ways so we kinda have gravitated towards each other. 

I’m hoping to make more connections obviously as the game progresses. 

The twist: 

The twist is pretty cute ngl but it can fuck up my game 😫😫 which I don’t like. The fact that my own teammate can nominate me just doesn’t sit right with my spirit. I’m hoping I can avoid the block but we will see. 🥰 I’m so curious to know who Elijah is gonna nominate. Gonna try to find out where his head is at. 

Anyways that’s all for now, sorry for writing so much <3

WREN

so.. i’m not very close to eli.. but we talked abt trees!! idk how promising that is. i’m trying to hang low, but i might’ve screwed up. what if people target me because they think i’m just a waste of space? i have to win the next comp that comes around.. or i need to get some “special power”.. either way, i have to get out of the shadows if i want people to see me as a game player.

BOB

I don't really mind Elijah winning, but at the same time, I haven't connected to him all that much so far so maybe I'm at risk. Who really knows? However, I have made my immediate connections with Frosby and Brooke that give me allies on both sides of the house immediately. Frosby is wary of Brooke, but that's dumb to worry about this early---everyone will want to stay safe. I get on super well with Rodney as well, loveeee talking BB with him so much. I'm trying to mend fences with Mackenzie, just don't have the energy for it lol. As far as the twist is concerned, I like the idea of it and I feel like it's not an overarching twist that will take away from gameplay so I see it like this: normal weeks as an option is great, but every other week it probably benefits me more to work with the other side. If you are going on the block by your own side, then you need the other side's votes. If you are going up at their hands, then you need to have good bonds with them. If they are getting nominated by either side, who friggin cares because it won't be me! I guess there are some benefits to maintaining relationships on my own side, but strategically, you cover more bases by cozying up to them.

WREN

so eli wants to make me a pawn against jordyn.. and that slightly worries me. she’s extremely inactive, so maybe i wouldn’t be kicked off. but everyone knows pawns go home a TON. i don’t know how i feel about it.. but if it wins me an one on one alliance.. it’s worth it. especially such a strong player. this can backfire or help me a ton. 

[the-desolated-quill]

Star Wars: The Last Jedi - Quill’s Quickies (No Spoilers)

This year, Star Wars has been almost mired in controversy. From the loot box controversy in EA’s Star Wars Battlefront II to the noticeable lack of non-white characters in The Last Jedi’s marketing. Rian Johnson making a total prat of himself by claiming that Kylo Ren is a dual protagonist with Rey, and now the reviews are in it turns out Episode 8 is the most divisive movie in the whole franchise, with critics clambering over themselves to praise the movie for its ‘bold new direction’ while the fans decry it as the arse-raping of their collective childhood. On the whole, I’d say this has been a complete and total cock-up.

I had no idea what to expect going in. I’m sure you all know how lukewarm I was about The Force Awakens. It didn’t surprise me in the slightest that the critics were praising the hell out of The Last Jedi considering they were doing the same thing with the previous film, which in my opinion was mediocre at best. The fan reaction surprised me. After all the blind (and arguably undeserved) praise The Force Awakens got, if even the fans are struggling to find good things to say about this movie, something must have gone spectacularly wrong.

So what did I, diehard Star Wars fan and professional arsehole, think of The Last Jedi? Well honestly I’m disappointed I didn’t hate it more. Truthfully I liked this movie about as much as I liked The Force Awakens, which is to say not very much. Like The Force Awakens, it’s a competently made movie and it’s possible to derive some enjoyment from it if you switch your brain off for two and half hours, but otherwise it’s just yet another tired retread of the original Star Wars movies that brings absolutely nothing new to the table. Not for the first time, I feel a real disconnect from the rest of the Star Wars community here. I have no idea why the critics are praising this movie for being a game changer because there’s genuinely nothing very revolutionary or groundbreaking going on here, and I’m confused as to why the fans have chosen to fling their bile and venom at a movie that, in my opinion, is the very definition of average. I mean sure, The Last Jedi isn’t very good and there were some bits that did kind of annoy me, but there’s nothing about it that’s outrageously offensive as far as I can see.

Let’s start with the things I liked. The biggest, shiniest gold star has to go to Finn. He was quite possibly the only new character I was in any way invested in last time around, and he’s just as brilliant here. We see him slowly embrace his new role as a hero of the Resistance and we also see him get the chance to stick it to his First Order oppressors, which I thought was quite emotionally satisfying. He’s joined by Rose, played by Kelly Marie Tran, who I thought was a nice addition to the cast and who undergoes the traditional everyman turned hero journey. I really liked her relationship with Finn and their scenes together are by far the highlight of the film, which makes their subtle erasure from the Star Wars marketing campaign all the more offensive to me because, as far as I’m concerned, they’re the main characters. They were the most developed, the ones I was most invested in, the only ones that actually grow and develop over the course of the film and who pretty much drive the plot.

The other thing I liked (and I can’t believe I’m saying this) is Kylo Ren. I really wasn’t impressed with him in The Force Awakens because he was pretty much just a shitty rehash of Darth Vader, and I mentioned in my review at the time how it might have been better to embrace the more weaselly and slightly pathetic nature of the character to help better distinguish him and give him his own identity. So I’m extremely pleased to see that’s exactly what this film does and it’s great. There’s no pretence anymore. Kylo Ren is this spoilt, impotent man-child that desperately craves power and attention, but doesn’t really know what he wants to do with it, and that’s glorious. That’s just the burst of inspiration the character sorely needed and Adam Driver does a great job with this new material. I’m actually looking forward to seeing where he goes in the next film and if they handle it well, he should make for a very unique antagonist (that’s antagonist Rian Johnson. AN-TAG-GON-NIST).

It’s just a pity that in order to prop up Kylo Ren, Rian Johnson felt the need to completely warp Luke Skywalker’s character into something wholly unrecognisable.

Yes now we come to the bad stuff, and there’s quite a bit. My main gripe is with Luke’s characterisation. In order to justify a lot of the plot, they have to make Luke this cynical halfwit and there are loads of moments where he says or does something that just simply doesn’t ring true with what we already know about him. His reasons for his exile are utterly out of character for one thing and his reasons behind his provocative statement that ‘it’s time for the Jedi to end’ are even more ludicrous. What’s worse is that the majority of the movie is dedicated to Rey trying to persuade Luke to come out of exile and rejoin the fight. Remember the scene in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke tries to persuade Yoda to train him? Well imagine that dragged out for an hour and a half. That’s pretty much the movie in the nutshell. I think that’s part of the reason why I loved Finn and Rose so much. Because it was a blessed relief to get off that fucking island for a while. There were several moments where I came close to dozing off.

I’m sure it’s no secret to anyone by this point that Rian Johnson has played pretty fast and loose with the Star Wars canon. Luke’s odd characterisation is one example. There are a few others. None of them truly insulting in my opinion. But the most notorious is a scene involving Leia, which I will hereby refer to as ‘The Scene.’ This got a lot of Star Wars fans riled up, but I personally thought it was absolutely hysterical just because of how random and idiotically daft it was. I’m not going to tell you what happened in ‘The Scene’ because this is a non-spoiler review. All I can say is you’ll know it when you see it.

Of course this was Carrie Fisher’s last film before her untimely death and that’s incredibly sad. Does The Last Jedi offer a fitting tribute to Princess/General/Queen (she’s a a Queen in my eyes) Leia Organa? Not really. In fact, outside of ‘The Scene’, Leia doesn’t really do anything worthy of comment. Some say she was mischaracterised too, but I don’t think so. At a push, I could see Leia doing some of the things she does. I just wish Fisher could have been given something with actual substance.

My views on Poe and Rey remain virtually unchanged. Poe Dameron is still a one dimensional cardboard cutout and I’m still continuously baffled as to why people like him so much. He doesn’t have a character. We’re two movies in and we still haven’t learnt a single sodding thing about him. Frankly I’ve seen fossils with more life in them. Rey meanwhile is still quite possibly one of the blandest protagonists I’ve ever seen. I’m struggling to find any reason to actually give a shit about her. Why should I be invested in her Jedi training? Why does she even need Jedi training when she seems capable of pulling any random superpower out of her arse at the convenience of the plot? At no point have these films ever given me a reason to care about her. Maybe if they focused more on her looking for her missing parents, I might be slightly more invested. And that’s another thing. In The Force Awakens, her missing parents are basically used as sequel bait. Here (without giving too much away) they’re pretty much just swept under the carpet entirely, which begs the question why was JJ Abrams wasting our time with them in the first fucking place (yes I am blaming JJ Abrams instead of Rian Johnson because Abrams was the one that actually came up with this shit and it’s very much reminiscent of his bullshit ‘mystery box’. The principle where an audience are naturally drawn to some big unknown or mystery and that he frequently utilises in his projects, most notably the TV series Lost. What he often forgets however is that good mysteries tend to have a satisfying fucking answer at the end).

And that’s pretty much all I have to say really. No doubt some of you are disappointed I haven’t quite given The Last Jedi the vengeful pummelling you’ve come to expect from me, but honestly I can’t work up the energy to get properly angry at it, and that’s largely because I’m past caring about this sequel trilogy. I think I’ve made my views on the sequel trilogy quite clear by now (that they’re a soulless cash grab concocted by studio execs who wouldn’t recognise a decent script if one jumped up and bit them on the arse) and I think it’s my total lack of interest that kind of shields me from some of Rian Johnson’s ‘creative’ decisions. These movies don’t count as far as I’m concerned. I’m not especially bothered by Johnson’s ‘reimagining’ and there’s nothing truly terrible going on here. The only crime The Last Jedi is really guilty of in my opinion is that there’s large swathes of it that are just really, really boring. And the main reason for this (apart from the obscenely long running time and a plot that drags its feet) is because, like with The Force Awakens, a lot of this stuff has been done before and done better in the original trilogy. While The Force Awakens ripped off A New Hope and a few elements from The Empire Strikes Back, The Last Jedi rips off The Empire Strikes Back and a few elements from Return Of The Jedi. What makes it slightly more egregious here is that The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi are both very emotionally charged stories that rely on three films’ worth of character development and buildup to make an impact, whereas The Last Jedi just blunders in, trying to replicate these emotional moments, but fails to recognise what made them so powerful to begin with and hasn’t done any of the legwork to make us feel truly invested in what’s going on, and thus it has all the impact of a feather duster.

So that’s The Last Jedi. A pointless and mediocre middle chapter to what has so far been a pointless and mediocre trilogy. The one bright side is that now it appears they’ve finally rehashed all they can from the original trilogy, there’s a chance we might finally get to see some original ideas in Episode 9. Unless they’re planning to ripoff the prequels next. In which case Disney must be more creatively bankrupt than I thought.

[ladyloveandjustice]

ACE ATTORNEY GAMES RANKING AND THOUGHTS ON DUAL DESTINIES

Personal Ranking of the games, highest/most enjoyable to lowest: PLEASE NOTE THAT I REALLY ENJOY ALL OF THEM AND THINK THEY HAVE A LOT OF MERIT, EVEN THE LOWEST RANKED.

Ace Attorney 3: Trials and Tribulations (WE HAVE TO PRETEND GODOT DOES’T EXIST BUT I’M WILLING TO DO THIS...but when I do remember Godot exists, it gets moved to second place and AA1 is top dog), Ace Attorney 1, Ace Attorney Investigations 2,  Justice for All, Ace Attorney: Investigations, Dual Destinies, Spirit of Justice, Apollo Justice

I think that’s pretty solid. AA3′s ranking is pretty variable depending on my mood bc ugh godot why godot but i love so much about it and it basically has great moments for the whole cast, so? gotta admit it. Even Godot can’t ruin AA3 for me. AAI and DD also might switch places depending on my mood.

I am surprised at how far down AA2 was knocked- it introduces great characters and the final case is one of the best in the entire series, but the other cases are pretty eh and the circus case is pretty terrible, as we all know. On replay that stick out more. Meanwhile 3/5 of AA1 cases are just fantastic, and it does a great job getting the feels and endearing you to the characters. Rise from the Ashes does a lot to elevate it. 

AAI2 is one of the best games in the series, I’m almost tempted to put if first tbh. The cast, the character development, the mysteries, the little moments- all a plus. 

AAI is frustrating and tedious at times and the plot is very weak, but I think largely makes up for it by having a ton of investigation options (obviously) that allow for fun character convos. The flashback case especially was a blast.

Then we’ve got DD and the fact I like DD better than SoJ and AJ is probably very unpopular- I can see why people would feel differently. The plot to DD is weak (the climax and final twist of SoJ is much much stronger), a lot of it’s on-the-nose and cliche, some characters are underwritten and it’s way too easy. SOJ is a better game structurally and mechanically. But ultimately, I find DD a lot less frustrating and more fun than SoJ. 

There are just so many things about SoJ that make me actively ANGRY- how Maya is treated and her return and character is uttely wasted and she’s damseled in a blatant retread of JFA, how Athena is regressed and blatantly sidelined, how PHOENIX is regressed for no reason in the JFA retread- like he makes almost the exact same mistakes he did in JFA and there’s absolutely NO reason for him not to tell Apollo and Athena what’s happening- and in general, just several characters are dumbed down and sidelined to make Apollo look good, which??? Ya didn’t have to do that?

I feel DD was way better at balancing it’s cast and treating them with respect. Apollo’s arc took him out of focus sometimes, but it didn’t feel like he was regressing (mostly bc...they didn’t develop his character all that much in AJ in the first place).  He made the mistake of not trusting his agency, but honestly, there was never a lot of trust between Phoenix and him in the first place, and he was just getting to know Athena AND he was going through a lot of grief- so it all felt pretty natural. And it established that he approaches “trust” and being a lawyer in a different way than Phoenix and Athena do, which I feel was very important for making him distinct as a character. It was DD that helped me really “get” Apollo TBH, because again, his own game actually didn’t develop him that much even if he was a cutie. At least he had a character arc in DD, and I felt he’d grown by the end of the game.

I think it’s important to remember it’s been explicitly stated that Apollo’s popularity shot up in Japan after DD came out, for all fans gripe about it, this game still actually cared more about him than his own game did, enough to actually endear a bunch of fans to him.

Meanwhile, I’ve already worded on Athena and how I feel her character arc was great- she grew a lot over the course of the game and her story was very resonant to me. She got a lot of the spotlight, but other characters weren’t ever dumbed down to make her look good, like what happened with Apollo in SOJ.

Phoenix also progressed a bit- he’s noticeably more confident than in the trilogy and it’s interesting to see him in a (much more reliable) mentor role. He’s always enjoyed looking after people, so it does feel natural for him to take on that role and feels like he’s really continuing Mia’s legacy by getting his own proteges. A lot of a stuff that happened to him in AJ isn’t really followed up on when it would have been way more interesting to keep those aspects, but I can understand to some extent why it didn’t happen. Following up on what AJ did to him while still making a new, separate game, is TOUGH, and I don’t envy DD’s position in having to do it. 

I do think it’s believable Phoenix could recover a bit and scale back on his cynicism now that he’s finally managed to prove his innocence, and there ARE hints throughout DD that some issues remain, so there’s at least something to work with there.I especially appreciate that DD did it’s best to address what Miles and Maya were up to during AJ and reassured players they WERE around- the hints that Miles and Phoenix might have been in conflict over whether he should get his badge back and that Phoenix was resistant to Miles helping him were especially appreciated, and make sense for the characters. The fact that Miles eventually did manage to make him get it back and even pulled strings- also great. The way they settled in old married couple closeness felt so natural too.

I think what a lot of fans don’t take into account with DD was (as well as I can glean) what it was like when AJ came out and there was no follow-up. Guys, AJ would have gotten a direct sequel if fans had reacted well to the new status quo. They obviously didn’t. And that’s NOT SURPRISING. We had Phoenix going through a full, developed character arc, a complete story and then AJ comes along and is like “lol never mind his life is ruined now and HAS BEEN TERRIBLE FOR SEVEN YEARS and all that progress he made went down the drain. also where are Miles and Maya? who knows?” and introduced a new protag without bothering to develop him or give him backstory and introduce a lot of underdeveloped, HARD-TO-UNDERSTAND (why are the gramyrie men so awful why did they do anything they did their actions make NO SENSE)   characters and unresolved, inexplicable things.

I really think what AJ did with Phoenix is interesting, but it was also devastating and frustrating and they didn’t bother to explain most of it so it felt so random too. I honestly would have been gutted at it had I not know DD was coming out and he was going to be okay and practice law again. Phoenix losing his badge is bold, and it is a legit direction to take things- life really does suck like that at times- but also, we KNOW life sucks like that sometimes. that doesn’t mean we want to see characters who had a complete story come back only to be miserable and lose almost everything. I’m a wuss, so seeing that happen to Phoenix would have been way too much for me had I not known a happy ending was coming. I find AJHoboNick interesting as a phase of Phoenix’s life, but don’t like it as a permanent state of being for him. 

That doesn’t mean we couldn’t have reached that happy ending in a more interesting way obvs- I’d have liked (and would still like) for the bitterness and moral looseness Phoenix picked up during the AJ years to be explored more, even as he comes back to law. DD played it safe, while AJ took a lot of risks that didn’t really pan out and ended up as a mess. I can see why one would prefer the latter to the former.

But I think DD accomplished what it set out to do, in an enjoyable way. It had a job: restore Phoenix as a protag while still involving Apollo, give Apollo some actual backstory and an arc, introduce this new character and give her a complete arc, actually explain where all these character who were just dropped in AJ have been and follow up on it as best you can. It did a good job doing all that, and succeeded (except for in addressing the Apollo and Trucy thing, it didn’t follow that up...aghhh....). It let all the characters shine, felt balanced, and introduced a new status quo that felt comfortable and fun. I remember being so overjoyed when I first played with it and there was a reason for that. It felt like coming home.

And again, SOJ had a lot of good things going on, like Rayfa, and a stronger plot, but the way it just blatantly screwed over characters-and how Nahyuta was SO BORING AND SUCH A FAILURE AS A RIVAL (another thing DD did better btw Simon is a blast he is ridic but also makes sense and his older-brother-relationship with Athena is sweet) just leave a bit of a sour taste.

also i love athena and DD introduced her so. you guys probably can guess that’s a big factor. 

I’ve already worded about the way AJ- while interesting and ambituous and impressive and nice looking- failed majorly in some ways. and wasn’t as enjoyable to play- so you know the drill there. I STILL LIKE IT THOUGH. IT HAS A LOT OF MERIT AS A GAME.

SO MY UNPOPULAR OPINION. DD HAS A LOT OF WEAKNESSES BUT I STILL LIKE IT A LOT AND LIKE IT A LOT BETTER THAN SOJ OR AJ, THOUGH I ALSO LIKE BOTH THOSE GAMES. DD TRIED AND IT GAVE ME MY YELLOW DARLING.

also really no need to argue with me on any of this. in fact please do not.

now i just have to play the bonus case and then it’s PLvAA time! i wonder how that will rank. probs not very high since crossovers tend to be nonsensical.

[brentchampagne]

Ranking BB3 Houseguests -- The Season of Principles

From worst to best, I’m going to share my opinions with a small disclaimer: all my opinions are based on information from the edit and what information I can find online. Also, they’re just opinions and even though I think they’re likely right, you guys can have different ones.

I dubbed this season as such because I found a theme in the dichotomy of what’s moral and immoral and the way it’s presented throughout the season.  Most of the people on this list went down with their ethics, some went down selling out their good graces, but everyone’s choices in that concern paved the course of the game -- and it certainly impacted the outcome.

12. Lori Olson 

I mean, come on.  Lori started a fight with almost the whole house because people were rightfully upset about Gerry not washing his hands after using the bathroom.  She got Danielle to confront Gerry about it and even he wasn’t that upset.  Then, post eviction, she says she would only part with 50k of the prize money to play again.  She was out of touch and emotional, and if the house had decided to evict Amy that week instead, Lori likely wouldn’t have lasted much longer.

11. Tonya Paoni

She couldn’t drop the nice subservient housewife exterior for a second, not even during her confrontation with Amy in which she still couldn’t drop the welcoming smile.  I grew up in a community filled with women just like her.  They usually don’t have a strategic bone in their body, and Tonya certainly didn’t give me any inclination that she was any kind of savvy.

10. Josh Feinberg

Josh couldn’t stop being annoying for a minute, and a lot of houseguests hated him for it.  I thought his sympathy segment was a waste of time, especially because I got the vibe he wasn’t well-liked outside of the game either.  He strategized, but he wasn’t particularly good at putting things into terms that benefited whoever he was giving a pitch, so it seemed like he just expected people to play for him without really having the reflective capabilities to realize it.  I guess he gets some points for being a blatant scumbag in a season where everyone prized themselves on their morality, but realistically he’s no where near Lisa and Danielle levels.

Also, if it speaks for anything, I originally forgot to put him on this list.

9. Eric Ouellette

Eric sacrificed his game to have a passionate affair with Lisa, but where she eventually remembered what she was playing for, he didn’t and was evicted for it.  You have to be pretty low on the list of best gameplay if you’re in a showmance alliance and you go out fourth.  To top off his disappointing game, Eric and Lisa’s relationship clearly didn’t amount to much.

At least he was nice to look at, not much else of interest to say about him.

8. Chiara Berti

She didn’t do much but talk about sex and rub people the wrong way (pun intended).  I really go back and forth between putting Chiara lower.  In her attempt to get rid of Josh, she put her showmance on the block with him because she didn’t want him to be a vote for Josh to stay.  That’s solid logic at its core, but out of the pool of other possible nominees, there were probably other people who were shaky on sending him out, and if there really weren’t, then one vote for him to stay isn’t going to matter.  I have to think this decision played a part in cracking her relationship with Roddy, but the nuances of their romance in the edit was a bit vague anyway so I don’t know how real it was to begin with. 

She was evicted the week after her shit-show of an HoH during a petty squabble with Amy and, to her merit and for reasons in which I’m still unclear, the entire house was sobbing, so I guess her social game was pretty good.

7. Gerry Lancaster 

I have to give sympathy points to older people who don’t go out early.  I also have to give points because Gerry was not only the first ever veto winner, but also the first ever to win veto more than once.  However, he cannot be ranked higher because his game motives tended to be cryptic, weird, and a little self-important.

Also, he failed to recognize how uncomfortable he made the other houseguests.  Someone who lacks so much self-awareness generally isn’t a real contender for the win.

6. Marcellas Reynolds 

I think the general synthesis of Marcellas’ game tends to be unfair. He actually had a good read on the house and somehow maneuvered his way through the game after being the week one target.  His biggest downfall was trying to marry his game with his real life morality.  He put his closest ally Amy on the block during his second HoH, and while she didn’t go, he never seemed to grasp how dangerous that could have been for him.

Okay, people give him shit for not using the veto to save himself, but given it was the veto’s first season and the rules behind it weren’t consistent throughout the whole game, I have to give him a bit of reprieve.  It really seemed like the cast as a whole didn’t understand the gravity of the veto itself, and veto culture has definitely changed since 2002.  Of course it was a dumb move, but it was consistent with the way Marcellas had been playing, and prior to that moment no one had made the example as to why you don’t do that.

On top of this, I have to give him points for being one of the few inoffensive gay men to be cast on the show.  Isn’t that sad?

5. Roddy Mancuso

Roddy’s game took a bit of a nosedive towards the end, but his longevity in a house that seemed to be anti-showmance (and on top of that, being at odds with Danielle the whole time) speaks volumes about him.  Houseguests often talked about his persuasive capabilities being the reason for him to stay, but we saw many segments where his unending knowledge and charisma skills actually made a lot of the houseguests feel isolated.  He could have taken home the win if he used those tactics to bolster his relationships with people by talking about things they cared about, but hey, when can we ever expect a straight white guy  to talk about other people’s interests.  So while he definitely had the tools to pull off an amazing social game, he did not use them to his full advantage, and he certainly did not seem the least bit interested in using them to take out the people targeting him.

Also ??? maybe don’t tell the girl you’re on the block with that you can’t vote to keep her if she uses the veto to save you...

4. Amy Crews

It seemed like Amy was beat to the ground every week.  She annoyed most of the houseguests and drank a lot, but she stuck to her guns and handled every nomination with the utmost serenity and grace -- even when Marcellas, her closest ally, nominated her for extremely personal reasons.  Her social game was equally a mess and a masterpiece, and she made a lot of personal game moves instead of logical ones, but she fought like hell to be there and managed to stick around even as a returning houseguest -- a feat a lot of buyback winners cannot boast.

I gave her points for never allowing people to control her -- namely, her drinking habits.  Everyone’s overwhelming need to do that annoyed the ever-loving shit out of me (looking at you Marcellas).

3. Jason Guy

Jason was a very genuine guy, and he was able to use it to his advantage because genuine Jason was sweet, caring, and virtuous, so a lot of houseguests thought he wasn’t capable of scheming even when he was.  However, his disposition meant he was easily trusting.  After being pulled in different ways for much of the game, he ultimately doubled down against Roddy.  Roddy’s utter ineptitude at getting out his adversaries meant Jason stayed safe, but I have to wonder if Roddy would’ve put Jason on the block with Danielle if he had the chance.  It all worked out in the end, but I have to dock points for what I feel was a glaring mistake.  Some people argue he was the true deserving winner of bb3 -- and he would’ve been a good one -- but he did not have the backbone to make a lot of necessary moves, and I believe he may not have gone as far as he did if certain people weren’t in the game.

But aww, I can’t be too critical of him because he is so adorable (and damn boy, continue to work your angles).

2. Lisa Donahue

Lisa won.  That should be enough said, but while her game was almost perfect, she definitely dipped a bit along the way.  The showmances this season seemed to be more concerned with feeling each other up instead of being the huge threats they normally are, and so I have to dock points for her relationship with Eric -- especially since it almost did her in.  After he left, though, she buckled down and slipped between the cracks, saving face with a lot of her former allies (Chiara, Roddy) and then stabbing them in the back when she needed.

And she definitely gets points for somehow making Jason believe she was less of a threat to win the game than Amy who a) had been rubbing people the wrong way all summer and b) was already on her second chance.

1. Danielle Reyes

Surprising a grand total of no one, Danielle gets the top spot.  How could she not?  Her robbery literally changed the make up of the game itself with next season’s addition of the jury.  While the game unfolded in front of her, she gathered allies during any given fallout as if trying to build the endgame in her own image.  She made her targets known but didn’t try to strong-arm anyone else’s decisions, which seemed to reinforce people’s trust in her.  Most impressively, people recognized the influence she had in the game and how big of a threat she was, but they never put her on the block, cementing her at the top of a list of players spanning two decades.

Unfortunately, I don’t believe she would’ve won even with a sequestered jury.  She made a lot of blatant, cutthroat moves in the house that made people regret trusting her, and I don’t think just keeping her DR sessions from the other houseguests would’ve changed that.

Season Overall:

Maybe this is an unpopular opinion, and I don’t know if it’s just because current seasons feel a lot more different, but the set-up was not my favorite.  It was clear production was still working out a lot of kinks with the addition of the veto, but a lot of the competitions were outright boring and lacked a lot of ingenuity (the slip and slide comp) and the veto rules were inconsistent which bothered me.  Praise be to production for casting a solid group of people because without their stellar dynamic I think this season could have been super bleak.

[purplesurveys]

150

What day would you consider the best day of your life? Why? I spent the longest time on this question only to decide not to give an answer. I don’t know, all my ‘best’ days have always been stained with something bad in between. I guess the closest to being the best is the night I got accepted to UP. That was a feeling I haven’t gotten to emulate ever since, but even then, I had a meh day for the most part and even cried in the afternoon. Do you listen to music simply for the melody or for the lyrics? Either. Whatever I’m more drawn to for a certain song. Is there a song out there that reminds you of a certain ex? Not really other than a local song by a local band. It’s called Oo by Up Dharma Down. Are you addicted to anything dangerous? What exactly is that? Making myself feel like shit and never giving myself a break from anything. Do you faint at the sight of blood? Have you always been like that? Not faint, but I get squeamish. I easily get light-headed, yes.

Would you ever consider becoming a prostitute or stripper? Not me, but that’s just my choice. I wouldn’t criticize someone doing it for a living either. Who would you consider your favorite stand-up comedian? I’m not really into standup comedy. Has anyone ever mistaken you for a certain stereotype? I don’t think so. When I stepped into university people weren’t quick to cast stereotypes on me or my blockmates. They were very open, so instead of being like, “Oh I thought people from your high school were so and so...” they asked me how it was being in my high school and were also eager to hear about my experiences there. I also haven’t had a bad stereotyping experience when it comes to being Asian or Filipino. What is the most visited website on your Internet window? I don’t check but maybe YouTube or Facebook. Do you like the daytime or the nighttime better? Why is this? Nighttime. Just a preference. What was the first horror movie you ever saw? How old were you? No clue. It’s among Paranormal Activity, The Exorcist, or The Ring. I watched all around the same period and I’ve forgotten which came first. Would you say you're too experienced or too unexperienced for your age? Unexperienced. I’m painfully shy - I haven’t joined or tried out for a lot of things plus I’m also so scared of making mistakes that I avoid stuff I might fail in, so I’ve ended up missing out on a lot. Do you normally like the dreams you have at night? Why? I don’t remember having one that I really enjoyed. The ones that stay with me are the bad dreams; and the other ones I forget immediately after waking up. Have you ever given up on someone completely before? It happens. What is the color or your favorite hoodie at the time being? I don’t wear hoodies anymore. Do you avoid the past of most people you meet? No, I don’t see why that’s necessary. If they’re open to tell me about it, I’d listen. Do you always try to make a good first impression with people? At first I used to not care, but I do try now. How many windows are in the room you're in, if there are any? It’s two big ones, but when each window is counted individually it comes up to eight. Do you always voice your opinion to random people? Well certainly not to random people, but I’m vocal around people I know. Are you related to the person you last talked to on the telephone? Nope. But come to think about it Gab and I are very very distantly related and I love teasing her about it lol. Is your hair bad for getting static electricity in it, or not so much? I don’t mess with anything electricity in the first place, so I wouldn’t know. What is your favorite holiday of all-time? Why is this? Not really a holiday but I always look forward to Halloween because I love horror. Do you think freshman are too immature most of the time? Some of them can be. Most are just too eager to feel grown up. What is your favorite neon color? Ever buy nail polish that color? I’m not into neons and I don’t use nail polish. Have you ever eaten a cotton ball before? What was it like? Why would anyone willingly eat a cotton ball.....that might even get caught in your throat?? Do you actually like the cell phone you have, or not so much? I like it and I’m not necessarily chasing after an iPhone 6, but my screen’s been cracked for so long and I just want to get it fixed :( What time is it where you are currently? 7:50 AM. Has anyone ever gotten in your face completely bitching you out? Yeah my mom on a normal day. Do you ever make your own personal surveys for enjoyment? I don’t make my own. What kind of instant messaging system do you currently have? I only have Facebook Messenger and Telegram. Have you ever peeled paint off of a building? Was it hard to do? No, I haven’t. When is the next time you'll hang out with a long-time friend? Er I guess Tuesday, since Angela and I have a class together. Do you ever watch scary movies alone or are you too afraid to? I watch them alone, but I prefer someone to be with me. Has anyone ever mistaken you to be a member of the opposite sex? Not seriously, but I got teased about it a lot when I was younger. Do you ever watch soap operas? Which ones are your favorite? Nope. Would you ever consider yourself over-dramatic? No, if I ever start drama it’s because of my BPD making me start flipping shit and crying because I was like 45 seconds late to something, but for the most part, that’s not me. Do you like to sing? Do you personally think you have a good singing voice? I like singing along whenever I listen to songs, but I’m not a singer. Are you one of those creepers who is overly excited about Twilight? Yes if you want to put it that way. How often do you text people? Who do you text the most? The only person I text regularly is my girlfriend, the others not so much. Do you accept compliments easily, or not so much? I have a hard time receiving them. Have you ever gone hunting before? Do you think it's wrong? Hunting is wrong. What do you do when you see a stray animal on the side of the road? Stray dogs and cats are commonplace here, so I’ve grown to be used to it. I always feel a little more bad seeing dogs, though. What would you consider your second choice as a dream career? Art curator. That was the course I had to give up from another university. Have you ever worn the same outfit two days in a row? Probably. Has someone ever spied on you from outside a window before? No...not that I know of. Are you someone who always leaves the lights on in your room? My bedroom light is actually never on. I keep it turned off even at night. How many lamps are in your living room? What color are they? We don’t have a lamp, just two big enough ceiling lights to cover the whole room. One is silver and the other is dark brown. Do you usually like surveys with a lot of questions or not so much? Depends on what I’m in the mood to take. How often would you say your computer freezes up? Never. It’s pretty new and I’ve been more careful about the software I put on here, so it hasn’t had any problems so far. What is your favorite color? Are your bedroom walls this color? I like black and pastel pink, but my bedroom walls are white. Do you ever listen to the band Death Cab For Cutie? Just one song of theirs since Gab dedicated it to me.  What is one word you could never properly pronounce? ‘Beautiful’ is pretty hard for anyone with a Filipino accent I think. Is there anyone you know who can never take a bad picture? Lots. Gabie, Athenna, Denise, my sister. What color is your landline phone? Do you like this color? Black. Sure, it’s simple. Do you like to wear skirts? Do you prefer just denim or frilly fluffy ones? I don’t like wearing skirts. I know denim skirts is the trend now, but I don’t own one.  Has anyone ever told you that you must have ADHD? Nope. How many iPods or mp3 players have you had in your entire life? Two. Three of your favorite movies in the world: Two For the Road, Good Will Hunting, Requiem For A Dream. What does it smell like in the room you're currently in? I’ve been here a while so I don’t smell anything in particular anymore. What is the longest amount of time you've played video games consecutively? No idea, maybe 4-5 hours playing GTA or Sims. When was the last time you got mad and broke something? I’ve never broken something because I was angry. Do you have a laptop and a desktop or just one of those? Just a laptop. Would you say you're good at persuading people into things? Noooooo no no I get really shy and I’m terrible at convincing. Except for Gab though. I’ve learned persuading when it comes to her. Are you missing anyone at this moment in time? Sure. What day of the week is it? Is this your favorite day of the week? It’s Sunday and it is actually my least favorite day. Do you ever use cheats when you play video games? No, it gets boring that way. What is a physical feature people compliment you on the most? Just my figure in general. Would you consider yourself a creative person? Hell to the fucking no. When was the last time you fingerpainted with someone? Like never. How many people are currently on your contact list in your phone? More than 50 I’m guessing. Where is somewhere you're excited to go in the next few days? I’m not planning to go anywhere other than school for the next week. Has anyone, besides yourself, considered you as a failure? Yeah my mom. When was the last time you took a picture with someone? Thursday. What is your favorite day of the year? February 23rd. Does your family go 'all out' during the holidays? No, and that’s why I hate holidays. I feel very inadequate and left out because my family never plans anything up. Would you consider yourself to be a very playful person? No. Would you prefer cold or warm weather? Why? COLD. Because constant 32ºC weather can get so fucking boring. Do you enjoy being tickled, or does it ever make you angry? I hate it, since it makes me anxious and I easily panic knowing I can’t breathe when it happens. What color are your favorite pair of jeans? Egh I don’t like jeans. The pair I wear the most is blue though. How often in a year do you go to the mall to get new clothes? Maybe like twice or thrice. I don’t update my wardrobe all that much. Have you ever won a trophy or medal for something you've done? No, just certificates. Who was the last person to call you beautiful? What was your reaction? My girlfriend. I might have rolled my eyes. How many people do you know who are currently pregnant? None. Do you like watching old home videos of yourself? YESSSSS they are so fun to watch. When will you next see the person you love or are in love with? I’m guessing Friday. We normally see each other Tuesday, but she’s told me she’s booked this week. Do you ever get paranoid about who your significant other hangs out with? No. She knows I hate her dorm mates though. Do you make typos on the computer a lot? How often, actually? A little bit. I type fast, so it happens. What is your favorite international food? Why is it your favorite? I love anything Indian. It’s so diverse and they use lots of spices and it’s a different taste compared to Philippine cuisine, so I’ve learned to appreciate it much more than any other kind of food. Do you eat fast food too much for your health, or not so much? LOL probably. What is the color of the shirt you're currently wearing? Black. How old are you and what is your birthday? I was born on April 21st 1998, which makes me 19. Do you fully understand what it takes to be a best friend to someone? It’s different for everyone, since there’s no formula to being the best best friend. As for my case, yes I guess so. I’ve been best friends with one for 12 years and the other for 5, so I must be doing something right. Do you go to amusement parks a lot or not so much? Definitely not so much because I can’t go on rides anyway.

[ceciliewritesstuff-blog]

Interview with Asa Butterfield

Boys by Girls Magazine, SS17.

Even the smallest of things can make colossal waves. A single moment in a movie can make you change the way you see the world or set a new path in your life. An actor has the power to create these moments and characters we can connect with - the power to effect the moods and lives of others, as well as opening up new imaginary worlds all of us can escape into.

At only 18 years old, British actor Asa Butterfield has already starred alongside an impressive list of Hollywood stars, and featured in a superb array of movies. Known to many as Bruno in ‘The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas’, the London actor spends a day with us to talk about his latest movie projects and upcoming films this year; including playing one of the leads in Tim Burton’s ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’. I talk to the talanted actor about the importance of making good decisions, and Asa knows how to make clever choices when it comes to the roles he takes on. Growing up in the world of acting, he talks with passion about the art of film and what it takes to embody the persona of someone else.

Yet, he is simply just a boy; one who likes hanging out with mates or sitting in his bedroom playing computer games - just another player in the game - like the rest of us. Some boys make a lasting impression on you, and Asa’s witty and quirkily peculiar words don’t fail to make a mark. Fully committed to every photo we take, it’s clear that imagination is a key part of how his mind works and he doesn’t hold back. During the day we find him talking to his least favourite walls, crawling on the dirty ground like a lizard, searching for unknown things in his Jedi robe, climbing fences, channelling his inner 4am drunk and running in fields in pyjamas. Obviously. The words ‘quirkily ordinary’, as he describes himself, seem perfectly appropriate.

When you capture someone who a wider audience has an opinion of, it adds a certain pressure to do them justice. During my day with Asa, he created such a chilled environment that the task ahead simply seemed like a light-hearted game. Although the young Brit has transitioned from a child actor to adult roles, he has been able to keep the boy within as well as his vivid imagination. Someone who enjoys living every boy’s fantasy; whether it is shooting lazer guns in zero gravity space on movie sets or sitting at home playing computer games. As he promises to slay some virtual demons in my name, I appreciate having spent the day in the world we created, and am excited to see the waves he will make this year as ‘The Space Between Us’ (19th August) and ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ (30th September) hit the big screen, allowing us all to escape for a while.

Do you cry? Yes, when the time calls for it, like when I die in a video game. No, that was a joke, I just want to clarify that, haha. I don’t know what makes me cry, sad shit. I’d say I’m definitely in touch with my emotions and quite emotionally connected, but I think that growing up as a guy you tend to suppress certain emotions for whatever reason. Whether it is to impress people or to show that you’re a tough guy, which a lot of people put on. Although I do cry a lot less than I used too, I used to be such a wimp when I was a kid. Like when you lose your favourite lego brick, that’s devastating. That will bring tears to your eyes.

Who is Asa? I think that’s an interesting question, because I had quite a different upbringing. I’ve had to be more mature and have proper conversations with adults since I was thirteen years old. There is definitely that part of me which is confident and good at talking to people. There is also a part of me, that is quite a quiet person. I’m very content in not saying much and just enjoying whatever situation I am in; playing video games and hanging out with my mates, which are two very opposing sides. The first impression I give people is that I am quite talkative and a sort of funny guy, but in reality I’m totally not. I’m a lot more boring, placid and easy going. I’m very content going with the flow and chillaxing.

You have played such a variety of roles; from Ender Wiggin leading the fight against an alien race in ‘Ender’s Game’, angsty teenager in “Ten Thousand Saints” and a math progidy in “X + Y”. You seem to make good choices. Whenever I’m picking a role I look for characters that are going to be challenging or different to what I have done before, otherwise you’re not really pushing yourself as an actor. For ‘Ender’s Game’, conveying his understanding of the situation they were in, being so ahead of his peers, was a challenge. I loved working with Gavin Hood, the director, to figure out the best way to represent that. Then “X + Y” was probably my most challenging role. Firstly it was a person who was on the autistic spectrum, which was something I didn’t know that much about before the film, so it was an educational experience for me. Everyone on the spectrum are slightly different, so I had to figure out how to portray my character, Nathan - how he would speak and observe the world. For him it was all about mathematical patterns and colour. It was quite demanding physically, because I had to totally change myself in the way I walked. When you take on a role, even if it is subtle changes you adopt, you have to start by stripping back all the things you would naturally do. You need to get rid of all that, so it’s just a blank slate in which you can start to create this new character and the way he speaks and works. It was a really interesting experience.

How did you switch between Asa and Nathan? That’s what is weird, because when you do it for a long time and it’s a character so different from yourself, it is hard to make that switch, and often it’s hard to switch back. The line starts to get blurred, and I started noticing that sometimes in everyday life I’d still be doing things Nathan would do. It leaves a sort of imprint on you. I think all of the characters do. The following movie was ‘Ten Thousand Saints’, which was my chance to do a more mature role.

What was it like to grow up within the world of acting? I think being an actor lets you appreciate other people’s differences more, because you are playing these characters and figuring out why they are troubled, sad or happy. You get quite good at analysing people. I grew up a lot quicker than my peers I think, because I was working in an adult world, showing up for work on time and learning my lines.

This year you’ve got two movies coming out. I do. The first one comes out August 19th and is called ‘The Space Between Us’. This film is about the first boy who was born on Mars. One of the astronauts got pregnant just before their shuttle launched to Mars, and when the story really starts, my character is 16 years old and has lived his entire life on a space station on Mars. He doesn’t really know anything about Earth other than bits of information he has gathered. All he has is a picture of his parents, his mother who died in childbirth and his dad who he is determined to find. He travels back to Earth to live a more normal life and starts the search for his dad. It’s quite tense, because he is on a timer as he can’t survive on Earth for that long. His character was so fun to play, because he is new to Earth and is experiencing everything for the first time. He has never seen a tree before and he has no idea what the social norms are, which makes him quite weird and funny. The cast was really great. Gary Oldman was awesome to work with, he is so good at everything he does. Then ‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ is out September 30th. This film is based on the first book in a trilogy, and Tim Burton is directing it. It’s a very Tim Burton film, if you know what I mean, very mysterious and has those kind of dark elements to it. It was an amazing shoot, five months long, working with Samuel L. Jackson, Eva Green and Terence Stamp.

The movie has such a strong cast. The cast, the crew and the cinematographer are all great. Everyone involved is really good, so I’m excited to see it. You can’t go wrong really when you’ve got such a good group of people behind it.

What was it like on set with all these amazing people? It is awesome and you do enjoy pretty much everyday you are there, give or take a couple of rainy ones. The notion of being on set with all these really cool people does kind of end up feeling normal, in a weird way. You get into a routine; you wake up at around six o’clock, go to set - it’s pretty much the same routine every day for five months. I have been really lucky to work with some incredible people. You end up learning something from each film you do, watching what they do and how they compose themselves. I’ve had pretty much the best education in acting that I could have hoped for. Would you rather spend three years in drama school, or have a first hand conversation with someone about film history? I’m really happy.

Talk a bit about the role you play. I play a pretty normal guy, probably the most normal in the film. I’m the one the audience will be able to relate to, because he is thrown into this completely wacky world, and is totally taken back by what he believed was real and what actually is real. I go to this home and meet these peculiar children, who I always thought didn’t exist. They all have these slightly odd powers and are kept under the wing of this parent who has the power to change into a bird. They live in a time loop, and there is time travel involved and a lot of fantasy.

Quite a few of your roles have a sci-fi element to it? You know when you’ve got a good script in front of you. So when a good one comes up, regardless of the genre, you know it’s the right choice. I do love fantasy and sci-fi though, as they are the only books I read when I was growing up.

What was it like to work with Tim Burton? Tim is a phenomenal director, and I love the way he works. He has such a clear vision of what he wants the film to look like and the story he wants to tell. You see him on set and he paces a lot, just thinking, thinking, thinking. As Tim works with a lot of the same people over and over again, there is this unique language and understanding. They don’t even have to finish their sentence, because they will just know what the other person wants, and because Tim is chaotic in a way it does make the whole thing really surreal. Everything is moving around, and you’re like “what the hell is going on?” Before you know it, they’ve set up this incredible shot - he is so good.

From all the films you have done, do you have a favourite scene? You do get to do some cool stuff. I think every film I have done I’ve had scenes where I’m thinking, “wow, this is awesome, I love my job!” ‘Ender’s Game’ had a lot of those scenes, as there was a lot of zero gravity harness work. We were up in harnesses with wires pretending to be in zero gravity, flying around this massive warehouse and shooting laser guns. It’s like a boys’ dream! It is still what I dream about, so that was awesome, haha. Stunts are a lot of fun, I like to do my own if I can. There are obviously a lot of stunt men around and a lot of safety people in case things go wrong. You look back at it and watch the film and you’re like “yes” - it feels good.

What are the general challenges and benefits of growing up today? I think this generation is a lot more aware of global and political issues, thanks to the accessibility of the internet and social media, but I also think we are disconnected at the same time. It’s weird, we are more connected, but we are less connected. We spend so much time in front of the screen and we are caught up in our own image I guess. There are a lot of younger people who value the kind of material and less important things, rather than the things that should make you feel more whole as a person, such as family and real social interaction.  

What makes you happy? Being around happy people. I’ve got a brilliant family, so when my familiy is happy life is good. Video games make me happy, and food goes without saying. I don’t need much to make me happy; sometimes I am most content in my pyjamas, with some food, watching a movie. I’d love to make a wildlife documentary, to go into the Amazon and spend two weeks filming monkeys. Actually anywhere, just give me some nature and I’ll film the shite out of it, because that’s my thing. I love nature and I love taking pictures. That’s my mojo.

[jolteonjordansh]

Thoughts on Digimon Adventure tri.: “Reunion”

Alright, I’m finally talking about tri after I cried about it for a week! I’m just going to cover each “movie” even though each movie is split in four episodes. I haven’t gone for individuals episodes for things like this (Generations is the only exception so far because the episodes were so short), so that’s the format I’ll be sticking to. I’m not going to go into too much detail when it comes to explaining the plot, so you should only read these if you’ve watched it. I mean, I always talk spoilers anyway, but this is just your obligatory warning in that regard. Onto my opinions past the break!

Digimon Adventure 02 was a bit of a failed attempt at Digimon Adventure trying to go for being “darker and edgier”. It had its moments where it did succeed, but a lot of times it either spiraled into something even cornier and sillier than the original (not that this was a huge problem for me) or it suffered from bad writing problems, some that weren’t even the fault of the writers’ themselves. 

tri is obviously another attempt at this, but at the same time I don’t think it’s necessarily an issue here. It’s clearly targetted towards the audience who watched Digimon Adventure years ago, and that’s not bad. While it’s probably too early of an example to use, it’s not much different from the new Samurai Jack mini-series. It’s clearly going into full-on adult themes (down to serious blood injuries, guns, etc.), but the charm so far doesn’t seem necessarily lost. The show has simply grown up with its audience when it comes to discussing more serious topics. I think tri is very similar in this regard, and a lot of it has changed in the process, but I still feel some of the same heart from it even if it is vastly different.

Still, that doesn’t mean tri doesn’t have its own problems. To be frank, right off the bat, “Reunion” is a slow start. And for what’s essentially a mini-series compared to its predecessors, you would expect them not to waste too much time. While I appreciate that tri mostly isn’t rushed, I feel like a good chunk of “Reunion” spends too much time establishing some elements while not spending enough time on others. For example, I feel like they spend too much time establishing what all of the original DigiDestined are up to when I don’t think it would take very long to show how busy they are with their own lives. On the other hand, I don’t think enough time was spent on each of the DigiDestined reuniting with their Digimon, which is ironic considering this is titled “Reunion”. We do get nice moments like when Agumon and Tai reunite as well as Joe and Gomamon, and even Mimi and Palmon to a short extent. The others are kind of just glossed over, which is a shame because I’ve always felt one of the strongest elements of Digimon Adventure is the bonds between the DigiDestined and their Digimon.

With each “movie”, there’s a central idea that’s focused on, and they’re typically things that weren’t covered in the original series or Adventure 02. For “Reunion”, there’s a big focus on the effects of fighting with Digimon in the real world, especially surrounding the consequences like the destruction of property and the psychological effect on bystanders. This is something I actually felt was always kind of ignored and brushed off with both Adventure and Adventure 02, and I guess that’s because they didn’t want to get too real about the violence. But here, they don’t shy away from it. They downright zoom in on smashed up cars and buildings, show people running away and even mothers crouching down and shielding their children from oncoming debris. And Tai, now being a young adult, actually understands these consequences and it begins to burden him greatly. It’s actually pretty powerful and I’m glad that they actually used tri to touch upon this subject.

At the same time though, despite not ignoring this element, they still completely ignore that Digimon have been in the real world and caused mayhem not once, but twice. At first I kind of let Adventure 02 get away with it considering its continuity was already kind of screwy by the time Digimon really began to have a serious impact on the real world. But here, there’s really no excuse and they honestly could have done more with it. I think it was good that they had people who didn’t understand that not all of the Digimon were out to hurt other people, even having some people saying things like “I hope they die!” and actually pissing Matt off. But this actually would have been more powerful if there were students who recalled the previous incidents, maybe even with some having PTSD over it and having the media connect the new incidents of tri to the past incidents of Adventure and Adventure 02. It just feels like a wasted opportunity considering that these episodes tried to focus on these kinds of themes.

One complaint I know a number of people have for tri is that they feel Tai is out of character. Honestly, I never really got this impression. Obviously, he’s not the same kid he was in the original Adventure or even in Adventure 02, but I think that’s the point. The idea is that Tai has grown up and changed, and some of the group (especially Matt) even call him out on it. I don’t think he’s necessarily a broody teenager either--he’s just a boy who is in the midst of growing up but is having to deal with some really heavy responsibilities in the midst of it all, especially since he’s always been seen as the leader by everyone else.

On the note of bad characters though... Yeah, let’s address the elephant in the room. I know a lot of people (though not all) really don’t like Meiko. And I can see why. I’m only covering how she is in this movie (since I’ve watched the first three so far as of the time of writing), and... yeah. She comes in really sudden as a “transfer” student and she so happens to be a DigiDestined herself, with her own Digimon named Meicoomon (it kind of bothers me that she shares a similar name with her own Digimon coincidentally?). She’s extremely timid and bashful, but deep down she’s clearly a good person at heart and... Yeah, you know the drill. Immediately she comes off as a badly done self-insert Mary Sue character, so she clashes hard with the rest of the cast. I’m not sure if it’s intentional on the writers’ part, and in “Reunion” she doesn’t do a whole lot, but she definitely does not leave a good first impression as a character.

That mostly covers the most important story bits for “Reunion”, but there’s still a lot to talk about considering it’s the first entry of tri. First we get a look at the new animation style, which I know people rag on too. I... honestly like the style of it. It’s definitely a lot different, but I like the soft colors of it. And contrary to some people, I think the DigiDestined look fine too. They look like they’ve aged naturally, so I don’t think the different art style bothers me enough. The actual animation at times is wonky, at least for “Reunion”. I think it’s still good and looks fine at some places, but there’s other places where it looks off. Naturally, it’s a step up from the original Adventure and Adventure 02, but those had much lower budgets and are much older as well. It definitely doesn’t quite have the same unique appeal that Hosoda’s smooth animation from the original Digimon Promo movie and Children’s War Game/Our War Game! had.

The Digimon evolution animations are also worth touching upon. I know some people don’t like them, but they’re honestly more exciting than what the original series did since they were just the Digimon... spinning for about thirty seconds mostly. That’s not to say I didn’t like them, but here there was more thought put into these new ones. I guess some people are bothered that these animations use CG, but considering Digimon are digital creatures, it makes more sense than when Pokémon renders their creatures in CG sometimes for no good reason. The way they’re shaded also still blends in well enough with the art style of the series, so that makes it less jarring. I guess one issue I really have with them is that they seem to have... a rather choppy framerate? I know that sounds really weird to talk about that in animation and not video games, but it really seems that way. It feels like there’s some lacking fluidity in certain places. 

The music sounds fine, and I do have to commend them for remixing songs from the original series. The remixes of Butter-fly and Brave Heart are really good and I think they fit for the fact that this is years later from Digimon Adventure (it’s kind of weird to have to remember that tri technically takes place in 2005), but the originals are probably still my favorite personally. The new remix of I Wish sounds very techno-ish too, which makes sense for this series. But considering they did get Ai Maeda to sing it (who is the Japanese voice actor for Mimi), I have to wonder why they didn’t get the original actors for the DigiDestined back. Maybe it’s because the characters are older (also, Sora’s original actor unfortunately passed away, but I believe she was still alive when tri started), but they did get all of the voices for the Digimon and they all sound fine. I still can’t believe Gomamon is voiced by Junko Takeuchi (who voices freaking Naruto), but she still does an adorable job voicing him. The new actors for the original DigiDestined still sound fine and even sound relatively close to their original voice actors while still sounding aged up. Overall, none of it is really a problem.

One of the other problems with tri for people is that it’s far more story focused, so there are way less battles. It’s kind of similar to Pokémon Generations in that sense. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want more fights, especially since the battles in “Reunion” aren’t that great compared to some of the fights from Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. It’s also another element that tends to be a bit rushed, especially in the fight with Alphamon. Omegamon just sort of happens (and then just sort of leaves due to Tai’s lack of confidence apparently), and I wasn’t a big fan of how the evolutions were just sort of rushed through all the way to Omegamon. I’m not sure if it was tri’s way of doing a Warp Digivolution, but I think it would have been better to have dedicated Warp Digivolution animations instead of rushing through every evolution stage for Agumon and Gabumon. I guess it’s also a personal gripe that I feel like Omegamon’s appearance should be built up to rather than rushed (especially after seeing Children’s War Game/Our War Game!), but at the same time it is the first movie of the series, so I think Omegamon will inevitably get some proper treatment later down the line.

I do have my gripes with “Reunion”--it’s pretty slow-paced and said pace is unbalanced on top of that. While the art style is good, the animation is weird at times. And the story has some good moments, but there’s some obvious problems and even missed opportunities. But I’d still be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it overall. It’s good to see the DigiDestined at it again, but at the same time... I really wonder just what the hell tri is doing with Adventure 02. I guess watching this whole thing through will be the only way to find out.

Overall, I don’t think it’s the strongest of starts, but I had fun getting back into the Adventure universe once again and seeing a lot of my favorite characters return.