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tac-bat · 1 year

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Why I love How Sky Portrays Death

Before I start, I go into detail about death and loss, and description of the afterlife and dying and examples of it in sky and a little mention of religion irl.

I wrote this while sleep deprived if this makes no sense, i'm not sorry

Take this all with a grain of salt as this is purely my observation and interpretation

To many, death is scary, unpredictable, and inevitable. Death is frightening because it represents the end of life, the loss and grief it brings, and the uncertainty of where we will go. Every religion has its own version of the afterlife, from our soul moving to a new body, places ranging from rewarding good and punishing evil, to simply being nothing. Death is scary because we'll never truly know what lies beyond or what awaits. It's complicated ,heavy, and it's something that many have delved deeper into too. I only bring this up because the sky not only answers, but embraces death. How? Let's take a look.

Orbit

Sky's interpretation of the afterlife is perfect. "All are given breath by starlight," as stated in the intro mural, everyone ends up back in the stars someday, becoming spirits that travel to this small part of the galaxy. They even seem to become one with the light and stars if they so please. And it's relaxing; it's soothing.

They know it exists.

Spirit's have shown from the beginning of the game that they can descend and ascend whenever they please. See all TS's, Grandma, and event spirits like Yeti, who appear briefly during Feast to cast a snowman spell before ascending. According to this logic, orbit is widely known because ancestors were bound to descend to explain what happens. And spirits aren't gone from their loved ones' lives; they're still present. They're not gone and can visit anytime they like; it's not hard for me to imagine them visiting others during holidays and events.

Gravestone's

In every social space, there are gravestones for every base-game ancestor. What's interesting is how they're laid out; unlike regular graveyards, which are organized in a line, none of the graves are uniform, some being lengths apart. This is very clear in Prarie, with one near the closet and another nestled in a cave; even irl graveyards that are less uniform don't tend to put burials that far away, but Sky does. It almost seems like an ancestor could've possibly chosen the placement themselves. You also have the special burial site at the 8-player door, a working elevator and all, the graves have their own little buildings and stones draped in gold, implying a ceremony as we know. Not only that, but Valley's way of honouring death is extremely interesting.

Let's talk about Samekh's temple

Valley really demonstrates how death is viewed—not in a morbid way but in an honourable way. The hallways of both races are lined with gravestones, with the exception of some open spaces. When compared to decorations such as the eight-player door, the gravestones themselves are painted in gold. They're unlike any graves seen so far, and you can argue that these were reserved for champions, and if so, I feel like the halls would be packed considering this is the valley of triumph, but no, there are still a few open spaces. Which makes me adore how there are gravestones in the twin's temple.

Their temple is the only one that not only has gravestones inside, but is lined with them! And considering their position and how we know they play a big role in the sky as leaders, to the point where they have a temple, it makes the fact they share it as an ancestor's final resting place so heartwarming to me. They were under no obligation to place gravestones; they could have dragged the banners down, added more statues, or even designed something similar to Daleth's temple like the murals we see, but they didn't. They allowed the room with their shrine to be a graveyard, they value their people's lives; they regard it as an honour, and whether those are the graves of champions or ordinary people, they value them all the same.

And it still hurts.

Even in the sky, where the question of death is answered, it still hurts.

It hurts when Mindful and a Tearful miner witness the deaths of their friends, Tearful having to bury their own. It hurts when Teabrewer returns with herbs for their loved one who died while they were away, so much so that they become anxious when they leave anyone alone, as seen in their info card. It's horrifying to know how many ancestors died in the war with no way to escape, faced with the fear of death every day.

Death is still scary in Sky, and I love it for that. Even when you know where you'll go, you still value your life; you don't want to die, and you don't want to go. But when that time comes, when you choose to be one with the universe, or roam your home with your star-kissed body, you'll never be alone. And that's why I adore the way death is depicted:

Because it's bittersweet.

#i spent way to long on this but head full #head very full #sky cotl #sky children of the light #skyblr #valley twins #valley elders #valley of triumph #daylight prairie #sky spirits #death mention #tw death #sky: cotl #sky: children of the light #tac rambles #tac art #?

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zestyderg · 11 months

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new question: favorite aspect of each dinaurian character? or just stuff you like or dislike about each in general

>:D

Duna: Unlike Raptin and Dynal, Duna really just regards the humans at first with indifference instead of like... active malice, which I find interesting. She was just doing her job. In the trio of Hunter, Rosie, and Duna, Duna has the braincell. Actually, even between the dinaurians she has the braincell. Kinda funny since shes like 14. The fact that she chooses to defy her entire species to help humanity after Hunter saves her, knowing the consequences, is really brave of her. She's quite compassionate, even if she's not as outwardly emotional, and her being more calm and logical is a nice contrast to rosie's energy and short-temperedness.

Raptin: Ah the angry raptor man. Like Duna, he was just doing his job, and tried to see it through to the end. His undying loyalty to his kind cannot be overlooked, even if he was a total bitch to humanity. That's probably why he's an Elite in the first place. He loves his people more than anything and will do anything to ensure their survival. Like yeah he fucks up majorly and I think Rosie should get to maim him (she should get to maim many people honestly), but I still like him lol. Nothing will justify that ugly ass green he has though, like the devs could have chosen any other shade of green?

Dynal: I've already mentioned him trying his best for his people (he and Raptin are similar in that regard) after the whole Guhnash ate their planet thing. Another thing I like is just his presence throughout the story. Everytime he shows up you get this feeling of "oh shit, that's a guy you don't wanna mess with". He exudes power and elegance, and this comes across pretty well in his battle form too. He even outsmarts the protags, disguising himself as Richmond to trick them into assembling and handing him the missing sub-idolcomp, raising the stakes and really showing off how much of a threat he is. Dynal means business, and he has no problems letting everyone know it. But even then, he has a high sense of honor and believes in a fair fight. I still find it kind of funny that one fight earned his respect (it didn't earn Raptin's) and losing the fight would not have stopped him from pressing the button, but he was just like "oh humans are cool now, guess I don't wanna make them extinct after all". Also I just really like his design and theme.

ALSO his stupid little evil laugh he does when he plots to get the sub-idolcomp back. Literally boo ah hahaha levels of cartoonish evil lmao

BONUS MINI RANT ABOUT THEIR APPEARANCES IN CHAMPIONS BECAUSE BRUH

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT?? Duna seems like herself, so I won't really talk about her.

One thing to note is how they all refer to humans as mammals in a more demeaning manner, and how every human runs from them. I refuse to believe EVERY human, especially in the world of fossil fighters, that they came across ran from them.

Raptin... bro... I get that you're a bitch but you had your arc last game. LIKE... he seems frustrated because people keep running away from him (he brings up the fact that humans look too greasy for him to EAT?? HELLO??), but Dino/Dina approaches him, and he's just mean to them. Probably why they run, Raptin. He does tell the protag that if they're lucky, Dynal won't eat them. Bro. Maybe don't spread rumors about your king EATING HUMANS? YOU KNOW, THE BEINGS YOU AND HIM SHARE A PLANET WITH NOW? Common Raptin L

DYNAL HOWEVER GOT THE WORST OF IT. HE IS SOOOO MEAN TO THIS HUMAN KID HE JUST MET. AFTER HIS CHARACTER ARC LAST GAME HE SHOULDN'T BE ACTING SO RUDE??? He should have been eager to test your strength but still courteous to you imo. Dynal's a good guy! Being mean to every human he meets would be fucking bad when you're trying to coexist with them, and he knows this!! GOD IT ANNOYS ME HOW THEY JUST MADE HIM THINK HE'S ABOVE HUMANS AGAIN.

Anyways none of the dlc stuff may even be canon so I'm probably just getting worked up over nothing.

#ask #zesty's ramblings #sorry if this ends up being like total word vomit #zesty is overthinking the funny rainbow dino game again

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neverchecking · 9 months

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All of the Sages have at least fortnightly game nights where they can just relaaaaax. (The Champions do something similar only without the cool clubroom) However, Aaliyah and Sweetpea are the ones who use it the most regularly because it's also the only place where it is not On-Sight, but instead 'Let me Gush about my perfect S/O before I Explode.' They have to hide the increasingly larger wedding binders and there is a baby binder that's just joined. (It's Sweetpea's. He literally planned out how to be the World's Greatest Uncle. He's planned out how to be The World's Greatest Papa to whatever kid he, Sidon and Yona produce. Because that has to happen at some point. He's so excited :D but it wont happen until at least the Courting Period is over. Did he mention he's Courting Sidon and Yona, Sage? He's doing this the Proper way, Sage. He's gonna be Engaged, Sage.)

(If Yona ever gets pregnant before Aaliyah, Sweetpea is going to be insufferable and that'll make Sage insufferable.)

Wild and Cal coming to the conclusion they have to play Nice with Sage is great because Sage is gonna put them through Hell. Like if they think they are even a smidgen worthy to even breathe in the same air as Aaliyah, they are Mistaken.

But Sage might be persuaded to let them take an inch if only to see her crush them. (He gives them an inch. They take a mile. How Aaliyah reacts is anyone's guess.)

(But they still play nice and maybe even come to appreciate Sage for everything he's done for their Goddess. Because She has dubbed him as Worthy so maybe he can teach them how be so as well.)

(Tia's getting a little concerned but Sweetpea assures her it's all under control.)

The trio abusing Snuggle Priviliages to rub it in her suitor's face. First tries to have tea with Tia? Aaliyah has her head in Tia's lap. Warriors wants to chat about something? Whoops, Sweetpea has literally swept her off her feet. Twilight tries to offer a ride on Epona? Sage has thrown her over his shoulder and is now jogging away as she waves bemusedly.

But I feel like this is all their own fault really. Because however this works (only Sweetpea joins the chain, Sage and Aaliyah join the chain, all three of them join the chain, the chain is stuck in this Hyrule) they will be bragging about Tia (who can't join the chain because she is stuck Ruling. This is why she's overthrowing the Monarchy. It'll take several decades before Hyrule is stable enough to do so, but she's overthrowing the monarchy.).

So they're piquing the interest of the suitors all on their own. Sweetpea only briefly touches on the whole favourite thing when he mentions she got the idea to be his guide from Twilight's own experiences. And he wasn't even talking to Twilight! He was talking with Time!

And when they're spending enough time with her, they find that for all of the trio's bragging, every single word was right.

Game nights are heavily monitored because last time there was a fire and neither Link nor Aaliyah was the one to set it. It's both the best and worst time of the month. (The champions are a little more refined, but Urbosa's fury did not stem from nothing.). Aaliyah and Sweetpea/Champ's relationship is SO funny to me. Because one moment, they're throwing Octoroks at the other or throwing them off bridges and they next, they're gushing and picking out wedding colors. (Because red, green, and blue would make for such a pretty Zora wedding and Champ has no idea what he's talking about.)

It's their version of tea time. Meanwhile Tia and Sage are getting massages or something. They probably know about the binders and meetings but let the others pretend they dont. Or alternatively, they don't know and just trust the aren't committing treason to the highest degree.

OKAY LETS TALK ABOUT THE BABY BINDER. I just want them to be happy ;-; and while it will take a lot of healing, I'm convinced that Sage has potential to be a good dad! I know you guys are probably rolling your eyes and going 'Cinder for fuck's sake that guy has more warning signs than Canada's roads in summer' and to that I say he's my comfort character and I'm gonna mischaracter him to suit my needs when I want.

Now, Champ's binder probably sparks something in Aaliyah. I could say that she is immune to Baby Fever. I would be lying. She is the biggest suck for babies. When they smile and do that thing where they stick a fist in their mouth and giggle around it? She's clutching Champ as they both just fawn over them. She's the girl making faces at your kid in the superstore to make them laugh (Only then revert back to this stoic, I'll-fucking-kill-you resting bitch face.) It's duality. And Sweetpea just putting these ideas of little half-zora-half-hylian babies makes her entire inside squirm.

(Sage can't stand the baby talk with Sweetpea bc it always turns into a competition. That's nice, Fungus, did he mention he's living with Aaliyah? If a century couldn't separate them, nothing can, Fungus. He doesn't need to do it the proper way because at this point Aaliyah could point at a rock and he'd have it made into the prettiest ring money could buy, FUNGUs-)

(Heavens forbid Yona gets pregnant first because Sage will take that as a challenge. He refuses to be outdone by Sweetpea. Besides if that Ding-dong is ready and is going to be a parent, they can't fuck it up to badly, now can they?

WILD AND CAL MY LOVES- Now, I'm not saying Aaliyah isn't open to a poly-relationship. As my Ceres X Aaliyah x Sage piece portrayed, she is so down with whatever. It's just a matter of them wiggling their way into her line of sight. And to do that, they have to get through Sage. Who will make them wish they were never born. If they live to tell the tale of getting a tooth from a Magma Like-Like while keeping it alive? He might consider it (Not. He's sending them up to Hebra next just for shits and giggles.)

Sage can be persuaded though. If they survive, that means they won't go down easily. And he knows, no matter how much he hates admitting it, he can't be everywhere at once. So having more people to watch the most precious thing in his life? He'll consider it.

Aaliyah, like I said, is probably so focused on Sage that she hardly even registers their actions. It's not until their taking a hit meant for her she offers than just the slightest bit of attention. Like a feral animal slowly taking a piece of food to prove you can be trusted. It's slow and it's careful but it's something.

(Goddess help the poor girl if they decided to team up. That trio following her around like a lost pack of wild dogs? A recipe for disaster.)

(Sweetpea is so full of shit, he's just wanting to see how it all goes down.)

Snuggle privileges are being USED TO THE MAX. Tia can't go anywhere without having one of them all up in her business.

First and Aaliyah's beef is SO FUNNY TO ME LIKE- She has no reason to have beef with this guy, but she does. And it's even funnier if he returns it. Like Aaliyah is just 'Oh, woah is me the gloom or something is acting up and TIA I NEED SNUGGLES-' And First is just watching it go down like D:< "Do you not see this, my gem?" And Tia is all ":( She needed snuggles. :((("

SAGE JUST CARRYING HER OBFBFNFF NO SHITS GIVEN

I have no idea how it ends up playing out and I haven't overly thought about it, but the three of them all joining sounds like a fun idea because of the pure chaos that follows them. And they really do be doing it to themselves because they don't even realize they're bragging about Tia. They just know that she's done a shit ton for them and she's going to get the appreciation for it whether she likes it or not >:(.

Twilight listening in the SECOND he hears Tia's name jfofnf Time can only laugh at the situation bc he was probably the same with Malon.

and of course the Trio is right. They're a lot of things, but liars are not any of them. They'll spout her gospel to anyone who'll listen, sleeping well at night because they now it was all true.

#cinder rambles #switch au #with aaliyah and tia :)

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epicspheal · 2 years

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I was debating on whether or not I should ask about this via messages or ask, but decided to go with asks cause why not.

I feel like I've asked something super similar to this in the past, but how do you handle the villains of the series in your cactuverse? Cause I've actually been having some difficulties with how I want to share them in the legendverse. Guzma and Ghetsis are fairly easy for me to know what to do with them, but others are difficult, especially in relation to my ocs. Cyrus seems the most difficult for me. He caused Danica a lot of trauma, despite her chill demeanor. She literally had to defeat him at a young age with little to no help outside of her friends, Looker( kinda) and Cynthia ( kinda. Still working on that part). Oh and Rowan, but he's the grandpa moral support. But she still did a lot of the work, you know? She was still the one that got dragged into that mess.

My main difficulty is trying that balance of " this man is literally evil" and " he can learn to be better if he legitimately tries" and that's so confusing with someone like Cyrus. He got the implied sad backstory that makes me go " ah. He needs therapy" but that doesn't excuse for what he did. Sorry if I'm talking in circles here( and for that rant) just. Cyrus. Villains. Author problems? Yeah.

Hi, there @ihopethisendswell! Ah yes, author problems! How do we handle the villains of Pokemon? You've asked me about how I felt about the villains in general which more or less goes to I really don't care for most of the villain teams. As I've mentioned before Cactusverse tends to be rather painfully accurate to the game canon for the various main series game events. Now what happens after the credit rolls varies between the villains/antagonists I'll start with Legends Arceus. Even though Kamado still retains his position as commander there is a quite noticeable dip in faith in his leadership after what he pulls on Rei (cactusverse legends protag). Over time as Jubilife Village continues to grow Kamado will eventually step down handing the reins to Cyllene and it's Rei who becomes the captain of the survey corps in his adult years. Now with Volo, there's a bit more of an emotional pull. The one thing I do change in canon for Legends is that Rei is not an isekai'd protagonist. Rather he's someone from that time period who happens to be of the Celestica people much like Cogita and Volo. So the betrayal and everything hits a lot different since there are just so few Celestica people left in Hisui at the time. I'm admittedly still ironing out the details for cactusverse!Hisui so I don't have much more to say here. Now for Team Rocket. After the events in Johto the Rocket admins all get arrested by the G-men (with the charge mainly led by Silver and Yellow with Lance in the background now that he's no longer champion after being dethroned by Ethan). Giovanni of course makes his escape as he does appear in BW2 over a decade later only to get Hyperbeamed by Lance on-sight (sorry Giovanni, Lance is Silver's new dad), and Looker arrests Giovanni. I do include the Let's Go Kanto Trio in cactusverse but I give them their own unique villain plot with the Team Rocket Trio since they are the last remaining members of Team Rocket who eventually realize they're better at being good than being bad and so they officially disband Team Rocket in Kanto. Then there's Team Aqua and Team Magma. Hoenn is one of the regions where there's some heavy meshing of canons. The climax of the plot ends up like Emerald where they both summon their respective legendaries and shit hits the fan. But this is more or less ORAS Hoenn so they have their ORAS designs and Megas and Zinnia are involved. Steven is still champion here but I do include him and May tag-teaming in the main game like Emerald because that was the coolest thing ever to me as a kid (and I had the biggest crush on Steven and at some point, I need to gush about him because he's still bae). Since Maxie and Archie are more misguided than anything they do get rehabilitated over time, with Zinnia and Wallace (who becomes champion after May decides to not be a standing champion) who help them get better.

Alright so for Team Galactic. Cactusverse follows Platinum for its events. Cyrus stays in the distortion world and dies. It's only after Dawn and Cynthia hear the story of him in Sunyshore that they realize he was more misguided but by the time they try to rescue him it's too late. The admins are arrested through a combination of Looker and the aura guardians of Sinnoh (mobilized by Riley). For Team Plasma well Neo Team Plasma largely gets arrested over time through the combined efforts of Good Team Plasma, the G-men, the international police, and the Village of Dragons (who contain the few remaining full-fledged aura guardians in Unova). Ghetsis and the Shadow Triad die in the Giant Chasm though. For Team Flare, Lysandre dies. Xerosic and Malva go to jail after the Emma events. For Alola, I've mentioned this before but I do mix up a bit of SM and USUM. The SM part is Lusamine being evil AF to her children. Lusamine also dies here but right now I'm torn if Marsha and Lillie bring her back to their world and she succumbs to the poisoning there OR if Lillie and Marsha decide to leave her in Ultra Space. Last but not least is Galar...chairman Rose goes to jail and because he is genuinely remorseful he doesn't take the lighter punishment given (because of his wealth as the courts in Galar are rather corrupt) and serves his entire sentence. The Royal Twins get off easy mainly because of their royal connections.

So that's pretty much how I handle cactusverse villains. I'll be down to talk more about legendsverse in DMs if you want to throw some ideas around!

#ask epic spheal #cactusverse #giovanni pokemon #maxie pokemon #archie pokemon #cyrus pokemon #ghetsis pokemon #lysandre pokemon #lusamine Pokemon #chairman rose #sordward and shieldbert

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currantlee · 3 years

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My Top 5 favorite Pokémon Boss Battle Themes

So, I fell into a pit of my Pokémon nostalgia. Don't look at me, I loved these games as a kid, and I don't enjoy what they have become. That being said, I really hope the Sinnoh remakes - both BDSP and Legends - are good, since Sinnoh was my first region and I'd hate to see it butchered. Plus, they look promising. But I'm not getting my hopes up yet, I'll wait for reviews.

Anyways, one of the things I enjoyed so much about these games is the music. I could probably hum you some of the Sinnoh tunes, or even sing the lyrics I imagined for them (it's obvious that Sinnoh is still my favorite region, isn't it?). Or I could list some of my favorite music tracks from all across the series. So... I did just that to get my hype energy somewhere 😂

So yeah, I hope you enjoy this little list 😊 I tried to explain the stories and memories associated with those musical themes as well as I can for those of you who aren't into Pokémon. That being said - spoilers for Pokémon OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver and especially the Sinnoh games ahead.

Oh, and if you do know Pokémon - please leave a comment or reblog and tell me what your favorite boss battle theme is, I'd love to know!

Since Pokémon doesn't have an explicified boss definition, here is what I define as boss battles in Pokémon:

Rival Battles

Gym Battles

Elite Four Battles

Champion Battles

Commander Battles

Admin Battles

Legendary / Unique Pokémon Battles

Frontier Brain or similar Battles

With that being said, let's go!

#5: Pokémon UltraSun/UltraMoon: VS Ultra Necrozma

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I will admit, I haven't played the game. I heard this battle is actually pretty difficult, but I can't speak for myself on this. Pokémon games have stopped to be enjoyable to me with Sun and Moon, which had an amazing storyline and some great gameplay concepts, but just... Not enjoyable to me. And USUM seemed like cashgrab to me. I will say though, this musical theme has something and might as well be the best legendary battle theme of modern Pokémon for me.

#4: Pokémon OmegaRuby/AlphaSapphire: VS Brendan/May

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In Gen3, Game Freak tried out a new approach with the rival character. See, you always have a rival in Pokémon, and up until this point, all rivals were pretty much jerks. What this new approach was? Well... Let's just say they made the rival character the crush of the player character.

Depending on whether you play as Brendan (whom everyone thought to have white hair before ORAS, except Hidenori Kusaka and Satoshi Yamamoto, who make the Pokémon Adventures manga) or as May, the other will be the rival, and let me tell you, the game pushes this ship really hard in my opinion. It's no wonder why the manga chose to write Ruby and Sapphire, Brendan's and May's counterparts respectively, as a romantic couple, who even confess their love for each other - twice.

Their battle theme conveys this perfectly: this isn't two people who hate each other battling, these are two friends, who might like each other more than you like a casual friend, battling to spend time together. Despite that, both of them are determined to not lose.

One of my favorite moments in the entire game is the ending of it. After the credits (during which Brendan and May are riding their bikes home together) have rolled, you arrive at the pond where you and your rival first met, and they will challenge you to a battle once more. It's when you hear this theme, the one you've listened to every time you battled Brendan or May during the game, and it's just an amazing moment in my opinion, one that is accompanied by this soundtrack, following absolute silence.

And yes, I prefer the remake version of this track.

#3: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: VS Cyrus

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Since Kingdom Hearts is currently my main fandom and therefore most people following me probably know more about that series than about Pokémon, let me explain who Cyrus is: Cyrus is the Xehanort of Pokémon. And that up there is his battle theme. And safe for the one time they butchered it by turning it into a disco song for USUM, it's absolutely perfect.

I especially like the beginning. It conveys intensity and the dangerous situation you're in. I mean, Cyrus literally wants to destroy the universe to replace it with a new one he will rule as a god. He also regards all emotions as weakness and will openly admit that his grunts are useless and merely tools to him. Honestly, he is the most terrifying antagonist of the entire series to me, mainly because his plan is that of a madman, but he is actually serious about it (and unlike Xehanort doesn't let go of it even after his defeat).

At the same time, the musical theme sounds hopeful - like all will be good. And I mean, all is eventually good. You have your Pokémon with you, and Cynthis (who also has a badass battle theme by the way) helps you out too. Here is a great thing about the Sinnoh plot: Cynthia has been built up as a character you can trust, and her philosophy is the direct contrast to Cyrus'. So when she helps you battle Cyrus and Team Galactic - you know she won't let anything happen to you. Despite how terrifying Cyrus is as a villain, you know you're safe, because you have not only your Pokémon, but her on your side. Oh, and she is the final boss of the game. So in the end, you and your Pokémon overcome not only the villain, but also the person who held your hand the entire time.

Sorry this turned into me gushing about the plot of the Sinnoh games, but I can't help it 😅 On with the show!

#2: Pokémon HeartGold/SoulSilver: VS Champion/Red

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If Cyrus is the Xehanort of Pokémon, then Red is it's Yozora. And while his musical theme is technically not his alone, I definitely associate it with him more than I associate it with Lance.

One of the best things about Red in my opinion is how he is foreshadowed during the entire game. Like, in the first city you visit, an elderly man will tell you about a boy named Red who three years ago saved the neighbouring region Kanto from the evil Team Rocket. Then, you hear nothing about him for a very long time - until Blue Oak mentions him again on Cinnebar Island and you meet his worried mother at Pallet Town.

While Red is technically an optional secret boss, the game makes you want to beat him through the little details it reveals about him. That he is a legend, that he is the true Champion of the Indigo League... To me, his mother worrying about him was always what got me the most.

I have to say, I also got a soft spot for the 8-Bit-version of the theme, it's just not what I grew up with. I admittedly never played GSC. I also like the Gen7 take on the theme, which mixes the original melody with the Alolan vibes.

#1: Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum: VS Dialga / Palkia

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I don't know how, but they managed to make the piano in this theme as epic as a theme for those two Dr Who-deities deserve. It sounds mysterious and it makes you respect what is in front of you, without sounding bombastic like Arceus' theme (which is also freaking amazing, ngl). Not that that is a bad thing, but I feel like the mysterious vibe fits Dialga and Palkia, who are the embodiments of two very abstract concepts. Arceus is simply god, and that's that. But Dialga and Palkia are the embodiments of time and space, two concepts that are far more difficult to grasp than "god".

Dialga also has an amazing battle theme in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, which definitely deserves an honorable mention here (Palkia's theme in said game is okay, but they definitely got the short end of the stick IMO).

I really hope they're not going to butcher this theme (or Cynthia's. Or Cyrus'. Or any of the Gen4 themes really) in the remakes. But the one thing Pokémon didn't mess up completely for me so far is the soundtrack (except that one time they turned Cyrus' theme into a disco song, which really doesn't fit him at all). So I have faith in that at least.

What's your favorite boss battle theme in Pokémon? Leave me a comment if you like, I'd love to hear about it!

#Fandom #Pokémon #Soundtrack #Opinion #Top 5 #Currantlee talking

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doubleddenden · 3 years

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Well I said I was going to have to figure out how to work out the team shot and trainer card, but it turns out I didn't need to do much, so it all went about as planned.

All of these Fakemon are not made by me, and in this case are made by Watertrainer from DA. I did do another lazy splice and rearrange of my own trainer sprite though. I wanted to sort of give myself a similar vibe to the protagonist design, and I think I'm okay with the design, although I am a bit too lazy to resize my head lol.

Anyway, my team from Solar Light and Lunar Dark.

more under the cut

I actually played a demo a few years back that went about to Rassic City, but got stuck due to a bug that stopped me around gym 4 or 5. The game's creators are (or were at the least) pretty cool, with one even offering to fix my bug for me (and he probably did, I just didn't know how to implement the fix). I said it in my review, but I really like the fakemon concepts and designs, and there was so many that I wish I had room for about 4 more Pokemon. Apparently a lot of the designs were conceptualized pre gen 4, and that's just fantastic.

I've been trying to do some unique things with my regional cards, but SLLD is actually somewhat unique among the fakemon games I've played because it's pretty unique in that its more traditional without a regional gimmick. So, I improvised a bit with sort of a clipped design and some zig zags at the corners. I also made a new background design by making a grid out of a series of circles, so hopefully that looks good too. Plus, I used pentagons instead of my usual stuff to try and account for the bigger sprites, and I had space between them, so I did a little sun and moon mural for the Solar and Lunar title thing

As for how Poke Den got to Rikoto, well, how does he get anywhere other than by accident? I feel like he probably went for a boat ride in Tandor or something, took a nap, and found himself in Poke New Zealand Rikoto. The stakes weren't really as high as other regions, so I imagine he just kinda went "fuck it" and decided to explore and take in the beautiful scenery. And as usual, for some reason he pisses off just the right people and ends up babysitting some kids that keep claiming they're his rivals.

Gonna be real, I liked the fact that I stumbled across the New Zealand map in the game because I wasn't able to tell before, but now its super obvious. Rikoto is a beautiful region and probably my favorite in terms of diversity in the recent fan games I've played, not to mention I would KILL to live in the tropical areas.

this is my team

1. (Mega) Salaslam: Water/Poison: Our starter for the region, and funnily enough, just like my first Pokemon ever, a Typhlosion in Silver, I didn't realize she was a girl until like, 7 gyms in. She's strong boi, and I relied on her a bunch especially in late game after I acquired her mega. I think I like water types in theory the best, so I imagine it was a very obvious pick for me, especially when its baby form is so adorable. Probably went from the rambunctious baby to friendly but dangerous monster as it evolved.

2. Aeroma: Flying/Grass: One of the earliest caught Pokemon on the team, and I almost replaced him, but he's honestly very useful and comes in clutch when I need him to the most. I imagine ours sings a lot since it learned Sing and Grass Whistle at some point in our journey

3. Lunape: Psychic: A traded monke boy that I loved so much as a Moonky. I just loved saying his name. Moonky. It awoke something primal in me. Its funny because I accidentally over trained him at first, so he initially wouldn't listen to me until until like gym 3. I imagine we're good friends now. He's actually pretty good for capturing Pokemon, not so much for battles, but he comes in clutch sometimes. In fact, he pretty much carried my team in the champion battle.

4. Werehide (Shiny): My favorite of the bunch I believe. Apparently there's a bug that makes it easier to find Shinies in this game, which I believe since I found 2 of them, but this one was my first and I decided to keep her. She spent the longest time as her previous form, Beopup, until like level 53 so she could learn Play Rough. I imagine she was my shoulder buddy for the longest time because of that, and despite being theoretically the "weaker" of the team, she kept up just fine as Beopup. After evolving, she became SO much stronger, I actually solo'd the ice gym with her, I think. The only issue is that Werehide's ability is Hustle, which makes her hit like a fuckin truck, but she's about as accurate as a broken clock. I do imagine she's like my dog and is a good doggo that likes pets, but goes feral in a fight.

5. Dinopion: Fighting/Dragon. I almost replaced him too, but there was really no reason. As a Dinomite, he was kinda weak and kept getting KO'd a lot, but once he evolved he started kicking ass and didn't ever stop. His Moxie ability, monstrous attack, and diverse move pool make him such a MONSTER to deal with for my enemies, but he is kinda frail. But if he outspeeds you and knocks out one of your guys, you've basically already lost the battle. My Dinopion was basically able to Solo Rick's Elite 4 team. I gotta imagine he's a rough and rowdy but good dino boy with a hankering for power and glory. I think my guy likes him a lot now because he's a DINOSAUR, and we like dinosaurs in this house.

6. Natoron: Ground. I LOVE DINOSAURS. And this guy is a heckin' dinosaur!!! He had a tough time at the beginning, but once he evolved once, he started kicking ass. There was an awkward time towards the last few gyms where after he evolved again, he started losing a lot more, but he's been very reliable as a wall and tank. By the end, he had both Earthquake, Head Smash, and Stone Edge, so he could dish out a SHIT ton of damage. I gotta imagine he's a bit slower, usually tries to eat grass when he sees it, and he's a gentle giant that my Poke self adores because he's a DINOSAUR

Anyway this was fun to make. I'm gonna be looking for more fakemon games to play through because I just love em, and I love making little trainer cards for my playthroughs.

#pokemon solar light and lunar dark #fakemon #pokemon fan game #trainer card #doubled32

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ivory-sunflower · 3 years

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Arty Art Things ✨

Hellooo!

I've decided to post some of the arty things I've done either recently or in the last few years, well the pieces I'm somewhat proud of at least. All my posts tend to be a lot more wordy than they need to be but hey it's what I do here!

Conchúr White

Anyone one who's been on this blog for a bit will have probably have seen me talk about this lovely Irish fella. The pencil drawing is actually a year old as of yesterday, I only know that because screenshots of me flipping out about Conchúr following me on twitter popped up in my memories yesterday. I think I'd sent it to him at about 3 in the morning (I was not in a good head space at that point in time), so probably not what he was expecting to see when he opened his phone in the morning aha

The biro version is much more recent: I got bored while sat at my desk and doing research about university courses, saw a biro, saw my old drawing of Conchúr, had an idea. I revisited my GCSE art techniques and here we are. Again, I put this up on Twitter and now (at the the time I'm writing this) when you google "Conchúr White" it's the third top image of him which is a bit mad really. I think I spent all of about 20 minutes on Conchúr but another 45 minutes on the words behind him. The words are the names of the songs on his EP 'Bikini Crops', he doesn't just really love the idea of Channing Tatum driving him around at night in a daisy print bikini... Well maybe he does but what he does in his spare time is none of my business...

TechDif

So I mentioned that the pencil drawing of Conchúr came from a rough patch in my mental health and this one is no different! In fact this one came from an even worse circumstance so we love to see it. I had a bad, bad time in July and this started as a way of distracting myself from what was going on in my head. Without it, I can't honestly say I'd still be here so even if the final product of this had been a terrible mess I would still love it for keeping me alive. However, it did not turn out to be a terrible mess!

Now that the origin of this is out the way, where do I start with TechDif? Unlike Conchúr, I haven't really talked about them on here (unless you count one brief post about Citation Needed) before so I guess I'll do it here. The Technical Difficulties are a wonderful group of 4 British fellas who have had their fair share of fun online and even before. They did a radio show at university together, which went on to become their Reverse Trivia Podcast, later moving on to a panel show called 'Citation Needed': and a game called 'Two of These People Are Lying'. All of which I would thoroughly reccomend, they're one of my go to things when I'm having a rough time. All 4 of them are excellent! Tom Scott (red top, blue jeans on the picture) has his own YouTube channel which does content aside from TechDif. If you're quite nerdy and like science, linguistics, computers, or any number of other things you may enjoy Tom's channel. He is probably best described as "The Moderator" of the group, much like a tired teacher he tries desperately to keep everyone on track with what they're meant to be doing, but usually it does not end well for him. Then we have Matt Gray (space top, holding an ice cream) who also has a channel away from TechDif stuff, he does techy electronic things and has a series called 'Will it Soft Serve?' where he puts all kinds of strange things through a soft serve machine. Matt brings a very specific energy to TechDif and I can't fully describe what that vibe is but I love it. Matt and Tom also share a YouTube channel where TOTPAL is posted and they had a series called 'The Park Bench'. Moving on to everybody's favourite Gary Brannan: Gary Brannan (SATIRE hoodie, glasses) and can I just say, what a fella he is! He's just excellent! He is the one that will argue and rip into Tom the most (not in a malicious way) and hilarity ensues. There are some episodes where he is absolutely on it, getting all the points and others where he very clearly has no idea and that's where some of his funniest quotes come from. Given how badly I was doing at the time I made this, his response to it on Twitter was so so lovely. I specifically remember one tweet where he said I'd made him happy and although it was probably a flippant comment, it just made feel alright for a bit. Yeah I might be feeling awful right now, but I've made someone else happy so that's a nice feeling. Then last but certainly not least, we have Chris Joel (buffalo check shirt, beard)! I would be lying if I said he isn’t my favourite... His sense of humor is the one I vibe with most, he can get rather dramatic in parts and can chat bollocks like a champion. He has absolutely no online presence away from TechDif and, like Rens from Temples, I fully believe he’s a cryptid and lives off in a tree somewhere.

The picture took me about 4 days to complete, well 4 nights because I did most of it between the hours of 12 a.m. and 7a.m. - I remember watching the sun come through my window each morning. It’s made up of lots of little pieces, all cut out and stuck on; even the sky and hills are made of separate pieces of paper. Nothing was actually drawn on the piece of paper it’s all stuck on, it’s not how I usually do things but if I messed up one little but I could just redraw it rather than ruining the whole thing. The most tedious parts to make were Chris’ shirt because I had to draw each square individually and then join the as well, and cutting out the ban-hammer in the bottom right was surprisingly hard. Every single detail of the picture is a reference to the podcast/shows, I still have the plan sketch and reference list knocking about somewhere. I listened to a lot of true crime videos while making it to the point that certain parts remind me of different cases: the brandy now reminds me of Peter Tobin, and the big spiral thing reminds me of Tim McLean (very harrowing case) - sorry that fact is a bit morbid but interesting nonetheless.

I did post this for a little bit back in July, but I received some rather awful messages so I took it down. Generally, Tom Scott/TechDif fans are lovely but there’s been a few that have taken a disliking to me for some reason so I’m hoping they don’t resurface again. I’m in a better head space now though, so even if they do I’m more equipped to deal with it this time.

Hozier

This was a quick sketch I did in April, I was getting bored with lockdown and decided to summon the bog man himself. There’s not really much more backstory than that, no poor mental health story, no fun twitter story - he’s just here. He’s vibing. I will say I’m particularly proud of his nose, I just think it’s one of the best noses I’ve ever drawn. His hand is okay, but I think that the hands on my Conchúr drawings are better. So there is the Hozi-Boi...

The Corpse Bry

I’ve talked about Bry on here before as well, I love him, he’s excellent, top lad. He is a living Tim Burton character, he’s 6′6, very skinny, and his legs are longer than my will to live. I was watching ‘The Corpse Bride’ a few weeks ago and suddenly had an idea and so ‘The Corpse Bry’ came to be. I gave him a little panda friend because the panda has always been his animal - he used to wear a panda beanie all the time and his album had a panda on the cover. Again, there’s not really a fun story behind this one, I guess it’s somewhat fun because it’s the first art I made after finishing my psychology exams in October so it was nice to actually have the time to draw.

James Bagshaw

Ginger talking about Temples for the third post in a row? it’s more likely than you think! I did this one last week, I’d had a bit of a wobbly day and had group therapy on Teams in the evening and I just couldn’t concentrate on what was going on and I ended up doodling Mr James E. Bagshaw, the glitter crying fraggle man himself. It’s a bare-bones drawing that I could definitely work into more but I’m happy with it as it is to be honest. I’ll be damned if I’m going to sit and add the individual bits of fringe to his jacket, just thinking about doing that makes me tired. Maybe I’ll get around to drawing the whole band at some point...

Alice in “Wonderland”

This one is from about 5(?) years ago, it’s not my typical style and was a “study” based on another artists work (basically i just had to copy this fellas work). I’ll be honest, this one has a sketchy backstory that I won’t go in to because it’s not exactly a nice one, and because of that I also won’t say who the artist is that it’s based on. Despite this, I’m still really proud of this one and I’m so sad that I never got this piece back after I got taken out the class. I’ve considered trying this style again, I’ve even joked about doing another Conchúr drawing in this style as a nod to my progression through GCSE art, eventually leading to Conchúr drawn in ink on music manuscript and stained with neon paint and dyes - it would be quite the project!

So this has been quite a lengthy post so apologies about that but life goes on. Similar to the vinyl post, I’ll probably add to this as and when I make more art. Even if no one is reading these posts, I’m enjoying making them so that’s the main thing. It’s just nice to document things and the feelings that go with them. 💕

~ Love Ginger xx

29/11/2020

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gaycey-sketchit · 2 years

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(Gary anon) It might be to do with money, but if you just get the characters you like, you can mostly avoid that hurdle. But yeah, I think some rather watch the scene than play the actual game. (Also, Blue can't seem to catch a break no matter what universe he's in. "Phantom Champion", no wonder there's hcs about him being resentful for a reason. xD) Gary may have not always been in Ash's presence. But he occupied Ash's mind a lot, and still does on occasion. (They even

(Part 2) themselves to still be rivals at heart despite their different goals; symbolize by the old Pokeball halves they kept. While later rivals may have done some things better, he still holds a unique influence that other rivals have yet to replicate. Paul didn't inspire Ash to go to Unova, nor did Ritchie motivate him during the Battle Frontier) Exactly, there's a reason why 'Infernape vs. Electivire' is remembered so fondly years later, it was the weight that battle had from all

(Part 3) the buildup. But even for the praise Paul gets, I've seen some lean towards other rivals when comes to just interactions alone. (I argue Ash's effect on almot all of his rivals is almost borderline one-sided most of the time) Heh, it's almost easy to forget since a VA's word feels more "canon" than your fellow fan comrade. But Yeah, I definitely not fond of fans who try to get the show's staff to validate them and dragged into drama. Seen way too many ugliness and stuff

(Part 4) gets *spoiled for it. *Not as in leaked content, more like VA's and writers putting stricter boundaries and rules on their socials for their sanity. (Hmm, it should. I'll don't think Dawn will be in that batch though; but her episode will be in Canada in December. Oh, and Gary's 2nd appearance should air next week [and should be in the next, next batch along with Dawn and Volkner)

That's fair, it's totally reasonable to be wary of gacha games, and it's important to be conscientious with them because it is gambling if you put real money into it (for anything that isn't guaranteed, that is). But as far as gacha games go Pokemon Masters isn't too bad--it's pretty easy to get a good number of gems for free, and prioritizing specific characters makes it easier to have gems saved up. I think I've put maybe $20 tops into the game total in the two years I've been playing it, which is less than I've spent on most other games I've bought over the years so I figure I'm doing fine (and that is my personal self-control policy for games with microtransactions--I won't put more money into them than I would've been willing to buy a similar game for).

Yeah, the character scenes are honestly probably the best part of the game.

I felt so bad for Blue when I saw that dialogue... Kanto really is brutal, he was ten years old when that happened. (And judging by his expression when he says that, he clearly still has some hard feelings about it--and he definitely has the right to hold a little resentment for that. At least he gets respect in other regions, and I like to think that at least the residents of Viridian City like him--after their last gym leader turned out to be running the yakuza, he's definitely an improvement.)

Yeah! Despite the physical distance there's been between them a lot of the time, they're clearly very important to each other even after their rivalry technically ended. When Gary got really down on himself in his Chronicles episode the mere mention of Ash helped pull him out of it, and he returned the favor when Ash was in a slump in The Unbeatable Lightness of Seeing--an episode that is specifically about how good rivals are for each other. Ash had something special with Gary, something distinct from any other rival he's had since.

Absolutely. That battle is so cathartic, Infernape's triumph--because thanks to Ash, it got the love and support it needed to heal from its trauma and become strong alongside a caring trainer--makes me so happy. I have so many feelings about that fire monkey. And like, just the fact that together Ash and Infernape proved that the principles Ash followed as a trainer were more powerful than Paul's.

Yeah, there's a lot of different opinions out there. I don't think I have to say who my favorite of Ash's rivals is--and alongside Gary, I think Ash's rivalry with Paul is one of if not the most strongly written (though I personally dislike Paul, despite acknowledging that he was an excellent rival, and I have some difficulty talking about his role without making it abundantly clear what my personal feelings about him are--and while I don't mind talking about him at all, I worry about sounding mean to people who do like him because I know how bad people hating on my favorite characters makes me feel).

Yeah, I get that--since they're on the team, and sort of are the character in a sense, it's hard not to feel like their word bears more weight.

Fans trying to drag creators (of any kind, from showrunners to actors) into fandom debates is one of the worst things to become prevalent in current fandom culture, honestly. Creators being easier to reach because of social media has had some very unfortunate consequences.

Anyway! Excited for that! I haven't been watching new episodes before they're dubbed unless they particularly interest me, so there'll be some good stuff I haven't seen regardless. (And another thing to be excited for--BDSP release is just two weeks away!)

#Andrew answers #Gary anon

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weekendwarriorblog · 3 years

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The Weekend Warrior July 16, 2021 - SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY, ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS, PIG, ROADRUNNER, GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE, and More!

We’re starting to get into the thick of summer where we’re likely to get two or maybe even three wide releases a week, and that’s definitely the case this weekend, even if it’s likely that Marvel’s Black Widow will continue to run rampant and should stay at #1 for a second weekend in a row. I also was busier than usual due to the Emmy nominations yesterday, but I now hopefully have a few easier months until the actual Emmys. (Famous last words.)

We actually have two sequels this week, one a sequel to a movie from a few years back and the other a sequel (of sorts) to a movie from 1996, so yeah, released a few months away from the 25th Anniversary of its predecessor. That always goes well.

We’ll start with SPACE JAM: A NEW LEGACY (Warner Bros.), the long-awaited sequel/reboot of the 1996 movie that captured Michael Jordan at the height of his popularity and paired him with the Looney Tunes i.e. Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, etc. For years, Warner Bros. and various parties have been trying to make a sequel, but it took basketball superstar, Lebron James and no less than Ryan (Black Panther) Coogler, to finally get the sequel made.

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee (Girls Trip, Barbershop: The Next Cut), the sequel involves James and his son Dom (newcomer Cedric Joe) having issues that are taken advantage by an A.I. named Al G. Rhythm (played by Don Cheadle) who brings James and Dom to the Warner Bros. “Server-verse” for a basketball game that teams James with the Looney Tunes against his son and a group of super-powered NBA and WNBA stars i.e. The Goon Squad.

Yeah, it’s a similar concept as what led to the 1996 movie that capitalized on Jordan’s popularity and threw in other NBA greats like Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing, plus a little Bill Murray, and then lots of Warner Bros’ popular toon characters. That original movie opened with $27.5 million in 2,650 theaters in mid-November 1996 against the second weekend of Mel Gibson’s Ransom, but it went on to gross $90.4 million domestically with the bump from the holidays (which A New Legacy doesn’t have). In some ways, the movie was a response to the success of the 1988 hybrid Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which included many of the Looney Tunes, despite it being a Disney movie.

Looney Tunes movies (and even movies based on WB properties like the Cartoon Network) haven’t done particularly well since the first movie with Looney Tunes: Back in Action opening in November 2003 with just $9.3 million and grossing just $20.5 million domestically, which isn’t good. Space Jam: A New Legacy is Warner Bros’ first attempt to bring its toons back to theaters, and the company will be watching it closely since it has already started production on Coyote vs. Acme, a CG animated film featuring the age-old nemeses.

As far as basketball movies, the comedy Uncle Drew, which also starred Lil Rel Howery oddly, that opened with a decent $15.4 million in the summer of 2018 and grossed $42.6 million domestically, but that’s without the name brand of “Space Jam” or the beloved toons that will be a bigger selling point to kids than the basketball.

Working in Space Jam’s favor is that it’s a movie both for adults who were kids when the first movie came out, as well as modern-day kids who love sports or the toons, and that should help drive business over the weekend. What is likely to hurt is that the reviews, so far, have been absolutely TERRIBLE - 35% on Rotten Tomatoes, and while that might not put off the kids, it certainly will put off their parents.

The movie is also debuting simultaneously on HBO Max, just like other Warner Bros. movies this year, although as we’ve seen with Godzilla vs. Kong and Mortal Kombat, that doesn’t necessarily hamper how a movie might do in theaters. One thing that’s changed is that Disney announced its PVOD numbers from Black Widow’s Disney+ debut over the weekend, which might change people’s tunes about feeling the need to go to theaters to see a movie like this, and that certainly might affect Space Jam’s opening weekend, but I think it will mean an opening in the mid-to-high $20 millions vs. something in the mid-$30 millions. It also doesn’t have too much family competition until Disney’s Jungle Cruise in two weeks, so it should be able to make $70 million in domestic theaters even with it being readily available on HBO Max.

Mini-Review: I’ll freely admit that I don’t have the long-term nostalgia for the original Space Jam of so many others. In fact, I only saw it for the first time a few days ago on my TV set, which may be the way many will see Space Jam: A New Legacy due to the fact that it’s on HBO Max. It’s just another casualty of my ‘90s when I wasn’t seeing many movies and also wasn’t going to see “kids’ movies.” But I do have a soft spot in my heart for the Looney Tunes, and HBO Max even did a pretty good job with its revival last year with some new shorts.

Unfortunately, this is more of a Lebron James/Warner Bros jam, to the point where you might wonder whether Lebron dictated how he wanted to be depicted to the gaggle of writers, and then Warner Bros came in and said, “Make sure to mention how great all our other properties are as well!”

The general plot involves Don Cheadle’s dumbly pun-named Al G. Rhythm -- I promise you’ll cringe everytime you hear that name -- trying to get attention by creating a showstopping basketball game between James and his son in a video game designed by the latter, and for whatever reason, it’s James who turns to Bugs Bunny to put together a team. It’s nearly 30 minutes before we finally see the Looney Tunes together, and that’s probably the best part of the movie, as Bugs goes to visit different worlds in the Warners “server-verse” to find his compatriots. I won’t spoil some of the movie worlds it visits, but these are some of the movie’s funniest scenes, although the laughs are fleeting since they’re relatively short gags. They're ruined by the movie going overboard in an attempt to throw James into some of these worlds, particularly the DC Comics superhero-verse, which seems like it might be influenced by the cartoons but never quite achieves that style of animation.

An hour into the movie, the Tune Squad is turned into 3-dimensional CG, as they face the Goon Squad team of NBA and WNBA all-stars transformed into creatures with superpowers. It's just unable to recover as the movie’s last hour focuses on that game, which is fine other than the fact that it's an awkward combination of the CG players with the audience being all sorts of background cosplayers acting as if they were found on Hollywood Boulevard or Times Square. This is the first time in a long time where I felt that the background actors ruined every scene... and then, of course, James and Cheadle are in there in a guise that seems to be a mix of human and CG.

I’ve been a fan of director Malcolm Lee for quite a long time, but Space Jam: A New Legacy is just an absolute disaster of a mess. Not that any of that matters much, because James is clearly a better ball player than he is an actor, and that fact keeps any of the movie from really gelling or offering much in terms of fun or excitement. I wanted to like the movie or find out what so many kids seemed to enjoy about the original movie 25 years ago, but sadly, that just never happened.

Rating: 5/10

The movie I’m looking forward to the most this week and will probably have seen by the time I write this is the high-concept horror sequel, ESCAPE ROOM: TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS (Sony), which follows up a little over two years since the original Escape Room. This one is also directed by Adam Robitel and starring Taylor Russell and Ben Logan as survivors of an escape room created by an evil corporation doing experiments to see how people will act. The movie benefitted from putting terror into a very familiar and popular world of escape rooms, which obviously have not been quite as prominent since COVID racked the land.

The original Escape Room opened the very first weekend of January 2019, which has seen a lot of horror hits over the years, and it proved to be a wise move by Sony since it opened with $18.2 million despite the lack of any big stars. It also had better legs than most horror movies, grossing $57 million domestically and $98 million overseas. It also did quite well in DVD and Blu-ray sales, which meant that the sequel was greenlit fairly quickly.

Unlike Space Jam: A New Legacy, the Escape Room sequel is coming out a little over two years since the first movie, which is good since more young people will remember it. Another advantage it has is that it’s ONLY playing in theaters, plus it’s also getting a full 9-hour advantage by opening on Thursday afternoon, so it could make quite a bit of money before Space Jam shows up and takes over the second spot behind Marvel’s Black Widow. It’s also PG-13 so teenagers who might not have much interest in other movies out there (or they’ve already seen them) will be able to see the movie as a group without adults.

That said, I’m not quite sure the Escape Room sequel can open anywhere near the first movie only because it’s getting a summer release where it might not be getting quite the attention of other high-profile movies out there. I’d like to think it can pull in somewhere around $15 million and maybe moviegoers will surprise me since that first movie was generally popular and its sequel can’t be viewed on some streamer day and date. We’ll see if it can then translate that into a $35 to 40 million domestic total, since I’m not sure it can match the take of the original at least domestically.

My review for Escape Room: Tournament of Champions is over at Below the Line, and you'll see that I liked it quite a bit.

This Week’s Top 10 Predictions:

Since I don’t think that Space Jam: A New Legacy will make $40 million this weekend, that keeps Black Widow at the top for a second weekend in a row.

1. Black Widow (Marvel/Disney) - $35 million -57%

2. Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.) - $27.8 million N/A

3. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions (Sony) - $15 million N/A

4. F9 (Universal) - $6 million -48%

5. The Boss Baby: Family Business (Universal/DreamWorks Animation) - $4.8 million -46%

6. The Forever Purge (Universal) - $3.8 million -47%

7. A Quiet Place Part II (Paramount) - $2.4million -28%

8. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain (Focus) - $2.1 million N/A

9. Cruella (Disney) - $1.9 million -20%

10. The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard (Lionsgate) - .9 million -47%

This week’s “Chosen One” is Rosalynde LeBlanc and Tom Hurwitz’s documentary, CAN YOU BRING IT: BILL T. JONES AND D-MAN IN THE WATERS (Kino Lorber), which is a surprisingly good documentary that combines a classic work of contemporary dance with how it originated from out of the AIDS pandemic of the ‘80s. Bill T. Jones was running the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company with his love and partner Arnie Zane, when the latter died from AIDS, and the deaths that followed led Jones to create “D-Man in the Waters.” Decades later, LeBlanc is performing “D-Man” with her college dance class, and she, along with Cinematographer Tom Hurwitz, ASC, capture that experience and embellish it with interviews with Jones and the original company performers.

Honestly, I’ve always been a bit reticent about dance and movies about dance, even though I’m almost always find that I enjoy them, like, for example, Wim Wenders’ Pina and the Cunningham doc from a few years back. The same thing happened with Can You Bring It, where I went in expecting to hate it or not find it interesting, and nothing could be further from the truth. FIrst of all, the original dance performance is something to behold, because there’s just an amazing physicality involved, which is why it’s amazing to watch LeBlanc (and the Jones himself) discussing the conditions in which the piece was written, but also getting some historical context about New York City at the time and how it was left ravaged by AIDS.

Hurwitz has tons of experience with documentary but LeBlanc is a relative newbie, but the two of them working together create a fantastic portrait of Jones, his amazing choreography work, and how the world of dance has been improved by the existence of his work and younger dancers trying to recapture the spirit of the original work. As I said, this movie was a pleasant surprise by how much I enjoyed it, since it woudln’t normally be my thing, but if you have even a remote interest in NYC’s iconic contribution to dance and how it was torn apart by the ‘80s AIDS crisis, you should give this a look.

Can You Bring It opens at the Film Forum this Friday, plus it will also be available via Virtual Cinema nationwide. Also starting at the Film Forum on Friday is its first series since the pandemic, a comprehensive Humphrey Bogart hardboiled retrospective with 19 films in 35mm and DCP.

You can also read my interview with Director/DoP Tom Hurwitz over at Below the Line later today.

A movie I’ve really been looking forward to seeing is Morgan Neville’s ROADRUNNER: A FILM ABOUT ANTHONY BOURDAIN (Focus Features), which does for the famed celebrity author and chef what Neville’s previous movie, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, did for Mister Rogers, really going in-depth into the life and career of the celebrated and opinionated foodie. Bourdain committed suicide in June 2018, leaving a lot of his friends and fans wondering why he would take his own life when he was at the height of his career. Neville’s film looks at that, but it takes some time before it gets there.

Oddly, even though I was a huge Bourdain fan and even moreso after reading his book, “Kitchen Confidential,” this isn’t my favorite movie Neville has made, and I’m still trying to figure out why. Sure, there’s tons of extra never-before-seen footage from the taping of his various world-travelling television shows. They do show us another side of Bourdain that maybe we didn’t get to see from what was eventually aired.

I guess I was disappointed that Neville didn’t try to talk to Asia Argento, or maybe he did, and she declined? (I was hoping to talk to Morgan Neville for Below the Line about this movie, but it wasn’t meant to be.) Bourdain’s friends and co-workers on the show talk about how Argento’s inclusion into Bourdain’s life disrupted the creation of his television show, particularly the Hong Kong episode Argento directed, which apparently wasn’t without its problems, even before it was yanked from CNN after Bourdain’s death. No one blames Argento for Bourdain's choice to kill himself, but it would have been nice to get her take on the man for a more complete profile.

Even so, one of my biggest issues with the movie -- and this is where I prove unequivocally that absolutely NO ONE reads this column -- has nothing to do with Neville’s filmmaking prowess or storytelling ability, but more to do with the complete inability by many that talk about his death to understand why there have been so many prominent suicides by hanging: Bourdain, Michael Hutchence of INXS, Chris Connelly of Soundgarden, and quite a few more. When you make the decision to end your life by hanging, there’s only two ways it can go: you fail miserably i.e. the rope snaps, the knots aren’t tied properly... or you die. Even if you have second thoughts while you’re standing on the chair, once you drop, you’re dead even if you merely slipped. This is why hanging has been such a popular form of execution for hundreds and hundreds of years. It’s hard to screw it up. Unfortunately, when you’ve decided you no longer want to live, and you decide to hang yourself, it’s much easier to succeed in doing so… and for better or worse, I’m not sure that Neville or any of Bourdain’s friends interviewed have ever been to that point where they tried to hang themselves to really understand that. It’s minor and probably will be a non-issue to most seeing this movie, but having been at that point of hopelessness myself (probably for far different reasons than Bourdain), that bothered me a little. That sort of context would have helped people who watch the movie understand Bourdain's last moments.

Despite those issues, Roadrunner brilliantly captures the spirit and tone of Bourdain’s character as depicted on his various television series. That's why Roadrunner is a movie that mostly worked for me as a fan of Bourdain’s amazing writing and television work.

Focus continues to give its movies semi-wide releases, and this one is going pretty wide into 800 theaters, so it might be able to peek into the top 10, maybe?

Another movie coming to theaters is Michael Sarnoski’s PIG (NEON), starring Nicholas Cage as Robin Feld, a reclusive hermit of a man who once was a legendary Portland chef. He’s now living on his own in the middle of nowhere with his truffle-foraging pig, but one night, some people break in and steal the pig, thinking that it’s their path to fortunes. Robin isn’t having any of it, and he follows his pig’s trail to a fight club and then to the father of one of his main buyers (Alex Wolff).

Even though I’ve known about this movie for some time, I didn’t really know that much about it. Like man, I expected it to be a straight-up revenge action flick a bit like John Wick, but the only thing this has in common with that is that this as terrific a showcase for Cage as an actor as that was for Keanu Reeves. Spending much of the movie completely bedraggled and beaten-up, this is still a far more subdued performance for Cage than some might be expecting, and a slower and more subdued film with only a few moments achieving anything that could be considered “action.”

Even so, this is such a great vehicle for Cage, and Alex Wolff is also quite good, plus there’s a foodie aspect to the movie that should make it a great double feature with Roadrunner. It should be expected with so much of it involving truffles, which not many people outside of chefs and gourmands know much about

Some people might go into Pig with the wrong expectations of this being some sort of genre revenge flick, but it’s in fact a pretty solid character drama, truly showing off Cage’s terrific ability at creating character, so hopefully, it will find its audience even it might not be the one some might expect.

Rating: 7.5/10

Pig will actually open in a few hundred theaters nationwide so plenty of opportunities to see it that way.

Netflix has a duo of high-profile films this week, including the action-thriller GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE (Netflix), starring Karen Gillan and directed by Israreli filmmaker Navot Papushado (Big Bad Wolves). Gillan plays Sam, an assassin for a group called The Firm, a second generation assassin no less since her mother Scarlet (Lena Headey) was also an assassin. One day, she finds herself on the bad side of a crime lord whose son she killed (on a mission) and finds herself having to fight off dozens of killers as she tries to protect that man’s 9-year-old daughter Emily (Chloe Coleman).

I can’t believe how much I absolutely hated a good part of this movie, because I generally like Gillan and some of the others in this movie, but I don’t any of them are doing particularly good work. For instance, Paul Giamatti is in full-on scenery-chewing mode as head of the Firm, but there’s also a great trio of women known as the Librarians, played by Michelle Yeoh, Carla Gugino and Angela Bassett, who I wish were in the film more than they actually are, because they literally are the best part of the film. (I also was pretty disappointed by Coleman’s bland performance lacking any of the personality she showed in My Spy, in which she was very funny.)

Basically, it feels like this is another filmmaker who has seen Tarantino’s Kill BIll a few dozen times and thought they could do something just as cool. The fact that it’s so flagrant and obvious in its ripping that movie off, it’s almost impossible to fully enjoy it. What’s really missing is Tarantino’s knack for sharp writing, because the writing in this movie is just terrible.

I thought the score was probably the most interesting aspect of the movie, but even that was highly derivative of what Tarantino has done. Even the needle drop choices during the bigger action pieces feel too much like something Tarantino might do, but generally better.

Sure, there’s some cool action scenes, and the last act generally gets better once Headey and the Librarians rejoin the fray to fight off a cadre of henchmen, but the writing never improves, so it’s just a movie that relies on far too many “oooo… Cooooool!” moments that never really come together.

As much as Gunpowder Milkshake tries to be cool and stylish, it always feels like it’s trying too hard without understanding why movies like Tarantino’s and others work so well. Any of the bad-ass fight sequences are constantly marred as soon as there tries to be any sort of talking or story.

Rating: 5.5/10

The third part of the horror series based on R.L. Stine’s books, FEAR STREET PART 3: 1666 (Netflix), will hit the streamer on Friday, this one being a prequel to the previous two movies, taking place in 1666. I’m still behind on this series, but looking forward to a night where I can finally watch all three.

I definitely had more movies to watch than usual that I just didn’t get to include some of them like Martin WIlson’s directorial debut, the horror-thriller GREAT WHITE (RLJEfilms/Shudder), which stars Katrina Bowden and others, about a tourist trip that turns into a nightmare when five passengers on a sea plane get stranded miles from the shore and try to survive as they run out of supplies and run into, you guessed it, a shark. Sounds like my kind of movie, but I’ve just been swamped.

I was pretty tickled by the premise for Jean-Paul Salomé’s MAMA WEED (Brainstorm Media/Music Box Films), starring the wonderful Isabelle Hupert as Patience, a French-Arabic translator for the Paris anti-narcotics police unit who interprets calls between the city’s top drug dealers. She’s taking care of her aging mother and one day she hears the son of one of her mother’s nurses, so she tries to protect him but ends up with a huge cache of hash, so she becomes a drug dealer herself, becoming the persona of “Mama Weed.” Nominated for a César for its screenplay, the movie will open in select theaters this Friday and then be available On Demand on July 23.

Another doc of note is Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt’s NO ORDINARY MAN (Oscilloscope), which tells the story of American jazz musician Billy Tipton who had spent his entire career passing off as a man, unbeknownst to his wife and son that he was born female. It’s an intriguing story that unfortunately got mangled by the talk shows after Tipton’s death in 1989, but the filmmakers use an interesting way to tell the story rather than using talking heads. I haven’t actually watched it yet, but it sounds intriguing. It will open at the IFC Center in New York and the Landmark Nuart in L.A. on Friday.

Debuting on Hulu this week is the amazing six-part docuseries called MCCARTNEY 3, 2, 1 (Hulu), which as you can safely assume is about Beatles founder Paul McCartney, covering his sixty-year career as he talks with producer Rick Rubin in a studio filled with instruments and tapes of some of the great songs that Rubin mixes different elements up and down to discuss how they were done with McCartney. I generally love music docs, but this is something truly special that I expect to rewatch many times over the next few years.

Netflix also has a new docuseries called HEIST (Netflix) and is debuting a doc about tennis great, Naomi Osaka, this week. Meanwhile, the anthology prequel series, American Horror Stories, debuts on FX and FX on Hulu this week, as well, so it’s a pretty busy weekend, which was bound to happen after last week’s bye week.

Other movies out this week that I didn’t get to include:

Die in a Gunfight (Lionsgate) Out of Death (Vertical) Casanova, Last Love (Cohen Media) How to Deter a Robber

Next week, two more new movies, including the action prequel, SNAKE EYES, starring Henry Golding, and M. Night Shyamalan’s new thriller, OLD.

#The Weekend Warrior Space Jam: A New Legacy #Escape Room #Box Office #Movies #Reviews #Roadrunner #Anthony Bourdain #PIG #Nicholas Cage

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