Tumgik
themattress · 2 days
Text
Dragon Ball Retcons: The Lucky Streak
When the late, great Akira Toriyama first began work on Dragon Ball, it was a gag-flavored spoof on the legend of the classic Japanese novel Journey to the West. It was only toward the end of that initial story arc that Toriyama began to add an element of seriousness with Goku's transformation into an Oozaru. After this event, Oolong asks "So is Goku some kind of alien or something?", setting the stage for perhaps the luckiest streak of retcons from a writer who is clearly just making everything up as he goes along ever. By which I mean, retcons that were clearly never a pre-planned intention and yet somehow fit in so seamlessly that you could swear otherwise. Obviously, Toriyama eventually decided to retcon that Goku was, in fact, an alien. But with that throwaway line from Oolong, it now feels long foreshadowed!
The other examples:
- The Red Ribbon Army was the first serious villainous force that Goku faced, being full of dangerous high-tech gadgetry and robotics. However, the joke twist ended up being that its leader, Commander Red, was just some rich idiot with a Napoleon complex who wanted to use the Dragon Balls to wish himself taller and then go on to conquer the world, as opposed to simply using the Dragon Balls to wish for world domination. At the time, all of those technological threats were just a means to an end, a build-up to a punchline, and nothing more. But later, Toriyama decided that it was a super genius named Dr. Gero who was behind all of that stuff, and since Goku brought it all down he'd have more reason than anyone else in the Red Ribbon Army to hate him, causing him to seek vengeance through the creation of the Androids and Cell. And it totally tracks! The reason an organization led by a joke villain still felt so serious as a threat was because its weaponry was engineered by a serious villain, and that villain returning to ultimately cost Goku his life via a creation that blends the cells of Goku, his friends and his foes feels like a natural full circle accumulation for the story.
- Mercenary Tao actually managed to defeat Goku with a technique called the Dodonpa. At the time, it was just a cool and unexpected way to finish a fight and cement Tao as a formidable opponent. But later, Toriyama decided to bring in the Crane Hermit school of martial arts which lends its teachings to the mercenary lifestyle, which is how we get Tienshinhan. Now it looks like Tao was deliberate foreshadowing of this new three-eyed foe turned mainstay ally of Goku's even though Toriyama hadn't thought him up back then.
- Piccolo and Kami were both green with pointy ears and antennas, looking more like aliens than demon and deity respectively. And per Toriyama's own admission, he hadn't planned them as aliens until it came time for them to face off in the 23rd Budokai. That's when he decided they were actually aliens and decided to foreshadow it with a talk between them spoken entirely in an unknown language, which turned out to be the native language of the Namekians - something that would become a pivotal plot point during the Freeza Saga.
- The Saiyans (Raditz, Nappa and Vegeta) all wore a distinct spiked battle armor, had energy scouters over their eyes, and traveled in spherical space pods. Later, Toriyama retconned it so that these motifs were all part of Freeza's empire and not the Saiyans. This would not have felt natural....had Toriyama not also made the pivotal change in plans of leaving Vegeta alive at the end of his battle with Goku on Earth. Because the Saiyans' leader is still in the story, we get to clearly see his interactions and dynamics with Freeza and his empire, totally selling us the notion that this was how it always was; that he and his comrades were always serving in that empire while also scheming to overthrow it someday. It made perfect sense.
- Similarly, the remark Raditz gave about the Saiyans' home planet being destroyed by a comet was later retconned into being a lie by Freeza, who actually destroyed the planet. Once again this ended up feeling perfectly natural, because so much of Freeza's character via the still living Vegeta was the tight grip he preferred to have on the Saiyans lest they become a threat to him. So it tracks that he would decide to reduce the number of Saiyans in existence to make this easier and hopefully make a Super Saiyan arising less likely.
- Vegeta in general was pure happenstance somehow producing one of the best developed characters in the series. Instead of the throwaway arc villain he was created to be, he survived to be a great secondary villain turned ally through necessity in the Freeza Saga, where he met his tear-jerking demise....except even that wasn't to last despite originally being the intention, as his popularity caused Toriyama to resurrect him after Goku had become a Super Saiyan, creating the perfect segue into him shifting into more of a rival whose primary objective was to surpass Goku in strength. Selfish, but not villainous. And it just kept going from there, to the point where in the chapter where the decision to spare Vegeta in-universe and out of it was made, Krillin's vocal disbelief of the notion Vegeta will ever turn over a new leaf like Piccolo ends up feeling like foreshadowing that he would.
- There's also the whole Super Saiyan concept and how it seamlessly plays into the way Goku has always come back stronger after every defeat. The way his transformation happens is also steeped in dramatic irony that makes sense for the story: it isn't his strength or love for fighting that does it, but his Earth-bred compassion for his human friend Krillin.
- On that note, Gohan's hidden power. This was set up early into Gohan's time as a character, but it wasn't supposed to be specifically tied to anything. But in the Android Saga, Gohan ends up as the one most likely to fully transcend the level of Super Saiyan due to that hidden power of his. It now feels like this was always the logical end route for that plot thread even when Toriyama hadn't even thought up regular Super Saiyans yet when he started it.
- Last but not least, the Android Saga in general. This whole story was Toriyama and his editors winging it from beginning to end, and the finished product is something that flows so smoothly you'd swear it was pre-planned. Of course Androids 19 and 20 weren't the actual Androids that Trunks warned about! Of course Androids 17 and 18 were ultimately going to be redeemed villains! Of course Cell was designed to transform through the absorption of 17 and 18! Of course past elements like Dende, the Budokai tournament and Bulma being a tech genius were going to be incredibly important! Of course the story would end with the flaws Cell exploited in others being exploited in him, Gohan's power to be as much of a hindrance as a help, Goku sacrificing his life, Cell coming back even more powerful, Vegeta finally displaying actual love and humility and self-reflection, and Gohan defeating Cell by blasting him with the most powerful Kamehameha ever...one-handed! It all feels so organic both in itself and in context to the wider series! Yet Toriyama totally stumbled his way into it.
It really was impressive. Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and Toriyama never really captured that same magic afterward. Most of the retcons made in the Buu Saga, all of Dragon Ball Super, and the canonically licensed video games just feel so much more obvious and clunky. Some of them still feel sensible - Hercule's development and connection made to Goku's family, the existence of the Kaioshins, a space between time where one can intersect with the unlimited timelines...those all make sense given what has come before. But stuff like new Super Saiyan forms from Super Saiyan 3 and onward, Goten and Trunks being prodigious enough to master Super Saiyan and (when fused) Super Saiyan 3 as children, the kind of increasingly nonsensical abilities that Buu has, Beerus being the one to commission the destruction of Planet Vegeta, all of these parallel universes, Goku Black, Future Mai, Zeno, Broly and Paragus, randomly existing relatives of Commander Red and Dr. Gero, much of what goes on in the Super manga and Dragon Ball Heroes game...it's all a bunch of nonsense that truly feels as pulled out of Toriyama and his collaborators' asses as it is.
I still love the Dragon Ball franchise and even have fun with the stuff I just listed, but man, that period between when it started and when the Android Saga ended can't be topped.
2 notes · View notes
themattress · 2 days
Text
The whole mess just radiates the feeling that the writers completely gave up.
They absolutely did give up, especially Atsuhiro Tomioka whom I must point out was the head writer for the Pokémon Master miniseries as opposed to SM (Aya Matsui) and even Journeys proper (Shoji Yonemura), and was the one who scripted those last three episodes. He'd hoped to send TR off at the end of BW, which was the whole point behind the "too drastically" nature of their change in that series, but their continued popularity among fans coupled with the voice actors' entitled attitudes thwarted that. And so he just gave up on treating them as characters good for anything other than jokes and following the old formula, with the only exceptions being the episodes he scripted where they went up against Team Flare in XY and Team Skull in SM, given that ever since BW he had come around to the view of them being an effective rival force to the regional villains rather than just a comedic foil.
I think on some level they were afraid to take any risks with TR after what happened in BW. Not just for that reason, but also because I think they want to preserve as much of the status quo as possible to use as nostalgia material if Ash appears in Horizons or some sort of new material with him is eventually made.
Agreed, although to be fair that's more of a producer /executive thing than a writer thing, since again Aya Matsui and even Shoji Yonemura had managed to do some interesting things with them despite this. It really was just Atsuhiro Tomioka who didn't care to even try.
This is why when they changed things for BW - in hindsight, changed things a bit too drastically - I liked it so much. It felt fresh and interesting, and there were reasons to get invested and speculate on what might come next. The writers were smart enough to limit their use, too, so it didn't become as tiring.
Same, and I'm so glad that this kind of thing is now being done again with the Explorers.
But instead of adjusting to do the new approach even better, they just retreated back to the tired old routine from DP once BW ended.
Technically, they got a head-start on that in BW with the Decolore Islands arc, since at that point they had a pretty good idea that TR would indeed be sticking around for XY which rendered their whole Unova style (created specifically for a last bow) meaningless.
Journeys, until the ending, seemed like it was setting up to go somewhere. And then it all goes nowhere.
Again, the difference in head writers between Journeys and the miniseries explains this.
If we ever see them again it'll be the same thing we could get by watching any of the hundreds upon hundreds of old episodes instead. That's why their legacy is ruined for me - they turned out to be nothing, and I have zero enthusiasm for the idea of ever seeing them again.
I guess I had already made my peace with this after both Takeshi Shudo's exodus from the anime and then their send-off in BW failing to fall through. I kind of figured if the anime moved away from Ash (which was a big if up until it finally happened), we either wouldn't have much of an ending for TR or would have a rushed, unfulfilling ending. My expectations were low. This doesn't mean I still don't hate what Tomioka did, but I'm less emotionally affected by it.
I can't look back on Ash's ending with any sense of nostalgia because I'm still not over how genuinely, atrociously bad the way TR were treated was.
It was so empty and pointless that it ruined their entire legacy for me. Ash might have gotten an open ending, but he also got an actual character arc that reflected his progress toward something that could be considered a conclusion. TR got reverted to the very barest skeletons of themselves, had what development they did get reversed, and their "conclusion" was nothing but a reheated filler plot that had been done to death already.
Those last few weeks, I was just ready for the Ash era to end already.
12 notes · View notes
themattress · 2 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Ganondorf Dragmire appreciation post
97 notes · View notes
themattress · 2 days
Photo
I can see your whole history in your eyes.
That first sentence is so pivotal, because toward the end...
Tumblr media
Long Feng clearly does the same thing right back to Azula, reading her whole history through looking into her eyes. And that history, short as it may be (just 14 years) absolutely terrifies him. He spent his whole life meticulously learning how to be charismatic and powerful, how to be brilliant and manipulative, even how to be a ruthless murderer. But Azula was easily shaped into all of that from the very start, because she had the "privilege" of being born as the favored child of Fire Lord Ozai. Born with "a divine right to rule", as she puts it. And if he dares to fight her for that throne, she will kill him. She isn't just a child. She's a monster.
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
Favorite ATLA Scene/Speech - ‘You were never even a player.’:
Azula: I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you’ve had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. But true power, the divine right to rule, is something you’re born with. The fact is, they don’t know which one of us is going to be sitting on that throne and which one is going to be bowing down. But I know. And you know. Well?
Long Feng: You’ve beaten me at my own game.
Azula: Don’t flatter yourself. You were never even a player.
2K notes · View notes
themattress · 2 days
Photo
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
10K notes · View notes
themattress · 3 days
Text
It was so empty and pointless that it ruined their entire legacy for me.
For me, that's hyperbolic. Their entire legacy has been so full of ups and downs that them ending their run as main characters on a down doesn't especially phase me, and in some ways doesn't even surprise me given their Japanese voice actors' antics. But that said...
TR got reverted to the very barest skeletons of themselves, had what development they did get reversed, and their "conclusion" was nothing but a reheated filler plot that had been done to death already.
Nothing you just said is untrue, sad to say. They technically underwent the reversion in the last episode of Journeys proper, but then just....stuck with it all throughout the Pokémon Master miniseries, only to then undergo that reheated filler plot which just had the effect of reverting them to those barest skeletons again. And while they are at least still in Giovanni's favor, the other stuff like their underground criminal lair, the gaccha machine, and the budding working relationship with Matori Matrix (so that Matori could have them around to pass the buck of her failures to) just got left by the wayside in favor of endlessly stalking Ash and Pikachu in the hot air balloon. Ash's open ending felt like he genuinely went through a big personal realization that will affect his life for the better, whereas TR's felt like Status Quo.
Those last few weeks, I was just ready for the Ash era to end already.
Replace that with "for Atsuhiro Tomioka to leave the Pokémon anime already" and I concur. Dai Sato and all of the writers on his team have been such an upgrade it's not even funny.
I can't look back on Ash's ending with any sense of nostalgia because I'm still not over how genuinely, atrociously bad the way TR were treated was.
It was so empty and pointless that it ruined their entire legacy for me. Ash might have gotten an open ending, but he also got an actual character arc that reflected his progress toward something that could be considered a conclusion. TR got reverted to the very barest skeletons of themselves, had what development they did get reversed, and their "conclusion" was nothing but a reheated filler plot that had been done to death already.
Those last few weeks, I was just ready for the Ash era to end already.
12 notes · View notes
themattress · 3 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
Some more new anime art reveals Dot's getting a new outfit soon, rather than just her pajamas!
191 notes · View notes
themattress · 3 days
Text
Still not over it. Rebirth overdelivered on almost everything.
Tumblr media Tumblr media
IF THESE TWO DONT EVEN TALK TO EACH OTHER, I WILL HAVE SQURE ENIX’S HEAD.
65 notes · View notes
themattress · 3 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media
192 notes · View notes
themattress · 3 days
Text
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
MARVEL CHARACTER EVOLUTION
THANOS
8 notes · View notes
themattress · 5 days
Text
And this is why, despite being totally fine with the 6.5 score you gave it, I would personally give LLS Season 2 a 7 - if you attach the movie to it, then even with all the mistakes and underwhelming climax the whole thing becomes a lot better in retrospect, with many things like the heavy focus on the Third Year trio and the bonding between Ruby and Leah (and between Aqours and Saint Snow by proxy) now receiving more satisfying pay-offs, and some mistakes like Riko and You receding into Chika’s background as just supportive sidekicks being more than rectified. It also makes the final episode even better knowing that it’s followed by this movie, and done so in a way that doesn’t sabotage said final episode standing on its own as a strong finisher (*side-eyes SIP’s final episode.*) We might not see eye to eye on LLS’ first season, which I consider better than SIP's and a masterstroke in of itself, but I’m glad that with both the second season and the movie, we are in agreement.
Tumblr media
*inhale*
That was fucking great.
Like, holy shit. Holy shit. That movie was the best Sunshine has ever been by a country mile. It distills all the show's strengths with almost none of its weaknesses and wraps it in a beautiful package that lets its cast continue to grow and mature in subtle but meaningful ways. No character feels shortchanged, everyone gets a chance to prove how far they've come, even Saint Snow does a wonderful job mirroring Aquors' arc with their own, and the way it brings all those themes together in those final moments makes for a goodbye every bit as tearjerking and magical as Muse's own farewell, but entirely on its own confident terms. This is Love Live Sunshine's apotheosis, the moment it finally, finally, becomes the best version of itself it never quite managed to be in the show itself. And while I'm sad it took so long to get there, and I could nitpick a few details about how this movie plays out (In the end, the subplot with Mari's mom is really just a big cul-de-sac), I'm so fucking happy to see this cast I've grown to love so much given the chance to shine like they truly deserved. Call it a 7.5/10 cause I still prefer School Idol Project's second season by a bit, but this movie more than earns Sunshine's place as part of the essential Love Live Kanon. Er, canon.
And with such a positive note to end on, it's once again time to say goodbye to Love Live... for now, of course. I'm off to check out Maria the Virgin Witch, and once that's taken care of? It's Nijisaki time, baby. See you then!
4 notes · View notes
themattress · 5 days
Text
Tumblr media
SHES SO PRECIOUS
88 notes · View notes
themattress · 5 days
Text
I have been in this gay ass room for ten thousand years
60K notes · View notes
themattress · 5 days
Text
STUDENT CORAL! LET’S FUCKING GO! <3
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
I don't notice yesterday when I shared this pic, but incognito Coral (in an academy uniform), Sidian, and Chalce! Seems the Explorers will be showing up sometime this arc too! 🤩
We also see Clavell, but I'm pretty sure we were all expecting him.
134 notes · View notes
themattress · 6 days
Text
Sephiroth, you fucking monster.
The ship:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The Supporters:
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
The Hater:
Tumblr media
81 notes · View notes
themattress · 6 days
Text
Kai tends to get a bum rap since he can’t measure up to his villainous predecessor, Shen, which is certainly true - but I honestly feel he’s just as good a villain as Tai Lung, who is generally given more of a pass since he came before Shen + was the first villain and therefore iconic. While Tai Lung was a more interesting character than Kai, I feel like Kai made for the better adversary. He dispenses with any sympathetic angle and does a much better job than Tai Lung at balancing his menacing and comedic sides (almost purely due to his voice actor, the great JK Simmons), and actually provides a worthy pay-off for all the build-up in his battle with Po, as opposed to the slapstick indignity and embarrassingly easy defeat that poor Tai Lung suffered. He was the best choice possible to serve as Po’s final big enemy. We do NOT talk about the Chameleon in this house!
Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media Tumblr media
KUNG FU PANDA 3 (2016)
I fought by his side. I loved him like a brother. And he... betrayed me. Well... now I will destroy everything he has created.
110 notes · View notes
themattress · 6 days
Text
I know it's somewhat controversial but honestly I'm liking the changes to Ozai. There's something about the pain on his face while he holds his struggling son down and burns him that makes him infinitely more monstrous yet more human. This is not a cartoon villain who just craves power for the sake of power and being evil. This is a man who thinks abusing his children is good. Is right. This is a man who believes he is a good father as he abuses his children and commands massacres. Daniel Dae Kim was not kidding when he said his Ozai was inspired by real-life politicians. I see it. It makes Ozai more human, more real, and by extension, more monstrous and vile.
905 notes · View notes