#there were cool moments but still overall meh

[ifeelfreewithoutmyshoes]

Okay but why have they spend two seasons away from each other??

#the trio is back together and finally stuff is interesting again #I’ve mostly watched these seasons bc I wanted to now how it ends #not bc the experience was riveting #there were cool moments but still overall meh #also alucard can shapeshift?? I forgot that #anyway almost done with the show now #me #castlevania

[exocynraku]

spoilers for a starless clan: wind here are my thoughts!

okay, PACING! it was GOOD! originally i thought it was a little slow up until the end, but now that i've thought about it some more i think its fine NEW KITS! YIPPEE! and THREE new prefixes! pretty awesome. i'm happy about that. though, i ABsoLUTELY hate that theres TWO greypaws. but, greypaw riverclan i assume will probably get his warrior names sooner rather than later so meh story wise, i liked it! especially frostpaws povs. sunbeams and nighthearts were both good, but frostpaws was best. i like everything that happened, and especially the tenser moments like during the storm & when frostpaw rescued leafkit. when was the last time we had a storm LOL?

okay, now onto the bulk of the story. splashtail! is. SO COOL! not in like a he's a good person was, but in a he's really interesting way. i loved all his scenes, and he really feels like a real villain. i also think podlight's dynamic with him is INCREDIBLY interesting, since he's curlfeathers brother. i wonder what'll come of that when splashtail is defeated (?) !!! excited!!! i also though the end of the book was IN.SANE!!!!!!!! berryheart found riverclan, JOINED, and then became deputy after harelight was killed! that's honestly crazy, and not what i was expecting AT ALL! also i love mothwing, duskfur and icewing. i'm really really excited to see what goes down with them. ALSO FROSTPAW AND WHISTLEPAW NUMBER ONE LESBIANS FOREVER!!! i was sort of on the fence on that ship only because my memory is too balls to properly remember the exact bits of their interactions together, but after some of the things frostpaw said to whistlepaw while whistlepaw was in the med den OOOHUUUHUHUHU i love them... overall, good book! not like, the most incredible thing i've ever read, i DO sort of wish MORE things happened, but it was still good !

#wc #warrior cats spoilers #wc spoilers #a starless clan spoilers #asc spoilers #wind spoilers #ray talk

[queatherine]

td spoilers episodes 9-13 (long post; more in depth thoughts towards the end)

ep 9:

the dudes being there for priya awwwww that was so sweet !!

hey julia, is that car cool enough :)

sighhhhh mkulia

julia is that tiktok lumberjack lesbian,, i think shes canadian too

ep 10:

listen, i think we could all agree that the moment damien found that immunity idol way back when sealed his fate that he was NOT going to be a finalist,, so i wasnt surprised, just saddened

julia manipulation truly is everything i love evil women

ep 11:

MACARTHUR??!?!??!??!? truly not the cameo i expected, but i did not mind it!!

can we stop this annoying distrust arc between priya and caleb?

cant believe they killed off raj

so like,, did dinosaurs just never go extinct in the total drama universe??? is this one of the insane lore bits like 9/11 never happening (or happening some time after 2009???) 9/11 was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs

CANT BELIEVE THEY VOTED OFF RAJ NOOOOOO IM WAYNE FRRR

ep 12:

me 🤝 priya afraid of lighting + thunder

OLD MAN TENNIS YAOI????!?!?!?! PULLED THEM OUT OF THEIR GRAVES FOR THIS CAMEO WOW

can we stop this annoying distrust arc between priya and caleb? pt2

i dont ship juliayne (juliayne shippers i do not hate you please do your thing i love you), but goddamn i want more interactions between theyre sooooo silly

ep 13: listen, i think wayne winning is fine. do i love himbos? yes. was i rooting for him in the finale? yes. in the grand scheme of things, do i think he is a good finalist? no. we can all agree that hes very much an owen, and i dont mind that!! i actually think having a fan favorite, comic relief, underdog third party winning makes sense in this season, because i dont think caleb or julia winning would be a satisfying end (especially how they were handling them by the end)

caleb's story was messy, and at the end of the day (and i know that the intentions changed), he did start his alliance with priya to use her. him winning, after all of the drama, after priya was gone, wouldve just idk felt shitty. he did get the girl in the end, which concludes his story better than him winning it. (if im comparing this to the tdi 2007 final three,, i guess hes the gwen)

as for julia, she had two seasons to be villain, and it was amazing. she is so good at what she does and she is such a joy to watch. and we all know how total drama handles its villains, they need to get their comeuppance. did bowie double cross her last season? yes. and she came back still was the main villain and was AMAZING at it. but she was still the villain for another 13 episodes, AND HER GETTING PRIYA OUT LAST EPISODE, she cant win. was her just desserts satisfying? meh. nice callback to heather (we all know julia is the heather of this comparison), though i can understand people who dont like this callback and think its tiring or something. they couldve done something else, but im not mad (i kinda fuck with the mullet). i just see no satisfying way for julia to win with how she was presented in these seasons: she was not world tour heather, with three full length seasons and a greater threat to overcome; she was island heather, and therefore could not win.

overall thoughts of the season:

im someone that thinks the hockey bros jokes nearly always land, so i enjoy the shit out of them (i think im in the majority?)

im someone that did not like priyaleb at first, grew to being more neutral about it, but still found it to be a bit tiring. i like priya, i like caleb, i dont like tiring romantic subplots, and it sucks that that was the entire thing for these characters this season

the julia mk duo was AMAZING, one of the highlights of this season and one that i never wouldve expected to be real. mkulia wins in my heart and i hope they start their podcast (JULIA WAS GOIGN TO USE THE MONEY TO START THE PODCAST WITH MK HOLY SHIT GIRL IS IN LOVE)

it sucks that certain characters really got nothing this season (millie, nichelle, emma, and even axel to an extent).. but i get that characters like millie and emma already had a lot of screentime last time and someone has to be an early boot (just realize the ones i listed off were all women,, damn the writers fr just hate women)

at the end of the day, i really enjoyed this season. and i think the most important part of that enjoyment was this was the first time i got to watch a season and have no idea what was going to unfold. i watched the first four season of total drama when they were airing, but i was a little kid with poor comprehension skills. the first three seasons aired before i knew how to read (i learned to read late). and with tdpi, rr, and tdi 2023, i watched them after the fact and knew who the winners were going in. this was the first season i watched were i truly did not know the winner, and that added to my enjoyment. not to mention this being the one and only time i was present in an online space to talk about show as the episodes dropped. this season was a bit messy here and there, but it delivered some great stuff. i found myself laughing out loud and just having a good time, which is all i need out of my silly little cartoon

#total drama #td spoilers #total drama spoilers #total drama 2023 #someone gave me a microphone

[grimmgrinningghouls]

I'm back from GxK!! heres my thoughts

I sadly had quite a bit spoiled but nothing can compare to seeing the movie in person, it was sooo much cooler in the theatre.

I kinda knew going in there wouldn't be much Goji, but I did really like when he was on screen. and tbh I don't quite get why people are villainizing him so hard for killing Scylla?? Like she was just destroying things for funzies. She was causing unneeded destruction so Godzilla had enough of her shit and took her out. Tiamat I can kinda understand but she also could've just ran away instead of fighting him.

His evolved design grew on me HARD, like I almost prefer it to his original design. The pink was soooo cool and I loved the look of his atomic breath, I even liked him being thinner. I adored the glowing eyes too, like that was so fucking cool. I do kinda wish we saw him using his thagomizer but I liked it nevertheless, for me its not about how much we see Godzilla, its about how he's used and I feel like he was used pretty well in this movie.

And I'd also like to issue a formal apology to Kong and his fans. I wasn't familiar with his game. Godzillas still my boy but I ended up really liking Kong, his story was really heartfelt. You could really empathize and relate to Kong throughout the movie, his story, emotions, and everything about him made me really like him, I also loved his bond with Suko.

this is also the first time I've genuinely liked the human characters in a monsterverse movie, really the first time I've actively wanted more of them. Loved Bernie and Trapper, more then I expected too. I assumed Trapper was just gonna be obnoxious since he was in the trailers but I really liked him. Bernie too, liked him a lot more then in GvK. I also ended up liking Jia a lot more then I expected too, she was a cool character. I liked her bonds and connections to the titans.

I do wish we saw more Mothra, but she was great when she was on screen. Loved seeing her and Godzilla on screen together again, I'd love to learn more about Mothra lore in the MV tbh.

As for villains, Skar king was pretty cool. He kinda got shat on in all the trailers so he caught me off guard seeing how ruthless he was, I wouldn't put him above Ghidorah but he was cool. I also liked Shimo and her big ass forehead, her size caught me off guard too, girlies massive. Visibly bigger then both Godzilla and Kong. I genuinely felt bad for her and seeing her get freed + find a new life as Kongs friend made me smile a bit.

I liked (most of) the fights too! I really liked the hollow earth 0 gravity fight, especially Godzillas part in it. I am for sure someone who prefers when the kaiju feel massive and have a ton of weight behind them, but that fight was so cool, Goji was badass and I loved seeing his evolved form in action.

The only fight I didn't like was the fight with Scylla, a 900,000 ton animal cannot move like that. That was a bit too silly even for me, and don't get me wrong I love a bit of silly monster fighting but meh. The godzilla suplex was funny as hell though, for sure unrealistic but funny so it passes. I liked the comedy a lot in the movie tbh, more then the other movies.

Also rq, I don't get why yall were calling the movie ugly?? Like some scenes kinda but it didn't look bad at all. The cgi was fine with me and I don't see why people called it a ps4 game, some shots were a bit wonky but not enough for me to really give a shit.

Overall? pretty good movie, I feel like the pacing could slow down a bit but I genuinely enjoyed myself a lot and had a total blast watching the movie. There was never a dull moment and I'd give it a solid 8/10.

#monsterverse #spoilers #GxK spoilers #godzilla x kong: the new empire #godzilla x kong spoilers #spook txt #godzilla stuff

[erasermist]

My thoughts as I watched the Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1 on Disney+

Episode by episode random thoughts below, but overall I loved it. The actors are really good at what they do and I love who they chose as Percy, Annabeth, Grover, Luke, Clarisse… etc.. all of them were fun to watch.

Yeah I was disappointed with the ways many of the scenes were done, but I also don’t think an exact copy of the book would have been relevant now. It’s definitely been adjusted to suit the time period and just because they were changed doesn’t automatically make them all bad changes.

Episode 1:

They’ve definitely made some changes which is obvious. They always do. But I love Walker as Percy. He does such a good job. “Okay… Why?” Was hilarious.

Somehow they made Sally even more amazing and her “death” even more sad. Though it’s an interesting change to make Sally do a lot of what Book Percy did in that fight.

Episode 2:

Luke and Percy’s relationship is making what’s coming even worse! The pat on Percy’s shoulder when leave Hephaestus’ cabin 😢 they are really showing how close Luke made himself to Percy.

Percy’s sass! Him during the waiting time of capture the flag was perfect

I kinda wish they had kneeled when he was claimed but meh I’m still good with this.

“I am Sally Jackson’s son!”

Episode 3:

“Oh geez. You seem busy. I’ll come back.” Poor Percy facing the Oracle

Medusa’s place brings up a lot of deep questions. I kinda like the way they took this. Bringing attention to the actual horrifying truth that is the gods’ cruel punishments is something I appreciate.

The conversation they have after everything is done was a nice touch. Letting us see them actually talk things out and see the bond slowly forming is amazing.

Episode 4:

The moment Percy changes places with Annabeth was perfectly done. Loved it!

Athena “my child embarrassed me so she can die for all I care” vs Poseidon “like hell I’m letting my son die and if that means I make a water tornado to snatch him from the air then I will”

Episode 5:

I love the popping their heads up from behind the concrete when talking to Ares.

Making it modern like Ares starting a fight on Twitter is so cool in a way. Making them “relevant” to the modern world is such an interesting take. I’m looking forward to seeing if they do it with the others too.

“Push down a flight of stairs” is very suspicious. That’s exactly what Percy said when choosing Annabeth.

😂😂Percy is completely on top of this entire park being a creepy ghost place lol though the music break was great

Grover showing off his genius with his flattery of Ares!

Hephaestus changing his mind was good but Annabeth standing up to him (and her mother) was better!!

Grover worked out who stole the bolt?!?!? This would be different than the books, but I’m still willing to see where they go with it.

Though also a thought… we are definitely getting a lot more of the gods than the books gave us. Never saw Hephaestus and it seems like we are gonna see Hermes next episode.

Episode 6:

Oh. They were wrong about who did it. That’s good at least. Figuring it out so early would not have been a good choice.

Annabeth stealing from the god of thieves 😭 even if he let her do it, for those couple of minutes it was hilarious

Santa Monica was more heartbreaking than I thought. Show Percy was really expecting his dad. But the fact he was actually there is something

THEY WERE LATE!! Wow what a change!

4 pearls!!

Episode 7:

The lack of the Crusty fight is actually disappointing honestly

No DOA Recording… I loved that one. Dead on Arrival was just clever. And no pay raise conversation 😢

“Only suckers wait in line” showing your New York City there Percy

Oh no. Now we are down to 3 pearls. Show universe is really out here making Poseidon a better father by actually caring. First he was actually waiting to see Percy and then he gives 4 pearls.

Annabeth isn’t with them anymore 🤔 I don’t like that.

“Sanctuary” for just a second I was impressed with Hades then he explained then I realized it was incredibly pragmatic of him.

Wow. I hold no animosity to show Poseidon like I do Book Poseidon. The immediate answer to Sally… Wow!

I hadn’t really realized I had animosity to book Sally but Show Sally actually did her best to prepare Percy for the world where Book Sally just ignored it.

Woo! Let’s go Ares fight!

Episode 8:

And so begins Percy’s absolute hate against Ares that even transcends a goddess erasing his memories.

Ares didn’t curse Percy though…

Yo… Poseidon surrenders for Percy

And Show Zeus is better than Book Zeus at least for now. He’s at least willing to entertain the idea of Kronos rising.

Oh Luke… I was right… this was worse than the book

“I didn’t think you’d give them to Grover” that is the most heartbreaking line

The mouthing off to Kronos is awesome. Love it “Are you kidding me” he says 😂

And sadly, but also thankfully, no getting rid of Gabe through Medusa’s head by Sally (though still got him lol). Seems like they made him not as abusive on screen as the books showed him to be.

#percy jackson #percy jackon and the olympians #percy pjo #percy jackson disney+ #percy jackson show #stream of thoughts #pjo spoilers #spoilers

[engie-the-profit]

What are your thoughts on Infidget (the ship of Infinite and Gadget the Wolf)?

i think its fine? i dont inherently dislike it or anything, and i dont mind seeing it from time to time. the only thing that i dont like is like, a lot of the shipping community's interpretations of it. and by that i mean the people that twinkify and feminize gadget into being a little wooby baby that cant do anything without his big strong man and infinite is just the stereotypical scary-on-the-outside soft-on-the-inside masc/male/im a man/im he him boyfriend. either that or gadget is fine and its just infinite who is extremely out of character. i had a lot of "he would not fucking say that" moments with infinite when infidget was at its most popular bc these kinds of depictions were everywhere and it was really annoying

the only version of infidget ive ever shipped was a lovers to friends to enemies to... somethings type deal where they dont go back to how they used to be by the end but its not vitriolic, they just outgrew each other in their own ways during the events of forces. that or their relationship cant get mended at all and theres no closure bc infinite dies or whatever like he did in canon. and i know this is the best version of infidget bc i made it up, thanks

i actually shipped it before forces even came out bc i thought that that was sort of the route that sonic team was going to take with tying the avatar into the story. it made sense to me for the avatar (or in this case gadget) to have some sort of previous history or connection with infinite bc in my onion, that makes their dynamic a little spicier and more compelling. in my version, gadget and infinite (then zero) used to be very close until zero started getting more involved with a local gang, the jackal squad, which began to drive a wedge between them until they got more and more distant from each other. and then some more time passes and gadget hasnt heard from zero for a long time and then the events of forces start. i think part of the idea was from this dialogue that we got to hear when footage of infinites second battle came out before the game itself:

(image text reads as infinite saying "and those eyes.. i feel like we've met before.")

-which implied that the avatar and infinite had history. which was technically true, but it was within the timeline of the game bc it turned out he was referring to like. the flashback cutscene of the avatar being too scared to fight back the first time they ran into infinite before joining the resistance, so it wasnt what i was hoping for

another reason iirc was uhhhh whatshisface? sega scourge on youtube? they made a theory video about infinite getting his mind wiped by the ruby or something and that added fuel to the fire. its a really cool concept and while i dont think that the avatar wanting to avenge those they lost is necessarily bad, i feel like its just kind of meh for the kind of story forces was trying to tell, what with the friendship-is-cool themes and whatnot. so i thought the avatar/gadgets arc was going to be we get to find out how they and infinite (or at least just the former lol) know each other, and how infinite became infinite in the first place, and gadget wanted to both help put a stop to everything but also get his friend back through, you guessed it, the power of friendship. hooray! i read a really good fic that was like that called til we touch the sun on a03 (that fic still makes me go insane thinking about it) that went with a sidestory for gadget that was quite similar to what i just described

plus the idea of infinite and gadget having shared a past but only one of them remembers it and now has to deal with a monster that looks like who they used to be but is no longer the same in every other regard due to them going dark side (willingly or unwillingly) is super angsty. and i like my ships raw and some degree of brutal for the soul. it keeps me young

but yeah im overall neutral. tl;dr: infidget is a fine ship, i just wish it had more canon-supported flavour and i wish the majority of shippers would stop writing infinite so poorly to make him fit properly into their milquetoast domestic fluff romances, but whatever. we all get enjoyment out of different things, even if theyre wrong :3 (for safety reasons i have to disclose that the previous statement was a joke)

#he said ask #thats my new ask tag. nickisnotgreeners understand the reference #fortywholecakes #engie.txt #infidget #sonic forces #gadget the wolf #infinite the jackal #sth #and i just have to reiterate that i dont think that anyone who does twinkify gadget or any other chars for ships are bad people #i just think its really boring and heteronormative to make a male char excessively feminine just for the sake of a ship #like do we have to talk about how assigning hetero-relationship roles onto queer couples is weird and stupid #or can we not bc i thought that got left in 2015 #i should also add that i have not been in the infidget tag in years so idk what people are up to nowadays #hopefully more progressive than 2018 lol

[athetos]

I’ve been very low energy and haven’t been able to play live a live much this week so I’ve only gotten the oersted ending so far but thoughts:

Shifu’s chapter was much better than I anticipated, I actually didn’t know about the twist even though it was implying that ending, well done, though I wished I put all my training into the one character and not relatively even between all three.

Oboromaru’s chapter is the best, loved the influence it seemed to have on Undertale, plus so many secrets! Just had a ton of fun with it, could definitely see myself replaying it. Also, his skill set is fantastic, very versatile and powerful.

Sundown’s chapter was tooooo short i loved it it should have been longer, it was a great change of pace but i also understand why it could only be that long. Never occurred to me i could run and thus spare mad dog which sucks because i really wanted to spare him.

Pogo’s chapter was the most boring… the crafting system was interesting but mostly unnecessary, the not having actual dialogue didn’t entertain me much, relied too much on toilet humor or awooga a woman humor. It was fine but felt too long and the superboss just seems like a “but why??” Situation instead of something that feels more appropriate to the setting + reward.

Cube’s chapter was a mashup of 2001 a space odyssey and alien, 2 of my favorite movies of all time, and while it’s obviously not close to that kind of caliber I still loved it, even if the tropes were pretty standard. I’m just a sucker for scifi horror. Captain square was a cool diversion but I wish there was more combat with cube themself. Characters had me weirdly attached to them even though they’re nothing unique.

Akira’s chapter felt like watching a goofy dark scifi anime and while again it quite obviously didn’t meet the heights of, I don’t know, the actual Akira film, it was still fun, and I liked the characters. Lots of side quests and diversions that were cool they had at all. Had some annoying moments but overall fond of it.

Masaru’s chapter was another nice change of pace, I felt it was one of the easier ones but for an episode that’s all about battles, the battles were entertaining, well, entertaining for fights with your typical fighting game heavily stereotyped fighters.

Oersted’s chapter felt generic at first but kept my attention, characters were great to use in battle so that helped. The demon’s lair was pretty confusing even with the map, but got interesting after that. But then when you’re exiled there’s no marker for where to go and I explored the damn lair in full two more times hoping to stumble upon something until realizing I had to be captured again. Annoying. I feel the ending could have been super cool with oersted becoming odio but the execution was meh, it didn’t make total sense to me and felt a bit out of nowhere, there weren’t really any clues if you ask me, but I’ll give it a pass.

Oersted’s bad ending was very, well, what you would expect for a bad ending, but playing as all the past bosses was a blast. The battles were all very easy which was slightly disappointing but I think the point is you should be overpowered because you’re a giant dinosaur or a dude with a huge ass gun, and you want to feel powerful! Not many games let you play as a boss like that so this was great

In short I think this game was very ahead of its time, fun and creative and I’m so glad it got this remake. As a teen I heard about this game and became very intent to play it, I just felt like it would become one of my favorite games but it always kept falling behind on my backlog so I’m very glad I’m playing the hd version since it adds so many QOL features and the graphics are gorgeous, the music is beautiful, etc. yeah if you like jrpgs and want something that feels fresh and has variety I recommend this game a lot

#live a live #ash.rom

[dropoff99]

Wheel of Time S2 Episode 5 - “Damane” is an achievement in adaptation that should be recognized

I’m not an active reviewer of this show or any other. It’s not something I am very interested in. However I think it’s important to note when a piece of art begins to transform into something greater than the sum of its parts, especially with an adaptation of this magnitude which has so many things to juggle it can make your head spin.

This series has been a part of my life for over 25 years. It’s as difficult for me to remove my bias as it is for anyone, especially when beloved moments from the series are changed. Any fantasy fan who has spent time around the genre has experienced this. However I feel that the fandom really needs to recognize what is happening currently on Amazon Prime’s Wheel of Time.

Robert Jordan’s Wheel of time is possibly the most ambitious fantasy series ever created. A magic system with as much depth as you will find in fantasy, hundreds of named characters, 14 large books, a prequel novella, a couple encyclopedic volumes, and now a major streaming series on Amazon Prime.

Up until this point half-way through the second season the show has been admirable in some of its attempts at adapting Jordan’s beloved series but I don’t think any fan (of either the show or the books) could really say it is has been a total success in terms of quality. S2 E5 on the other hand is simultaneously a great adaptation of the series and a great episode of television that could be the turning point from a capable fantasy show to an excellent one. Before we get into that let’s revisit where we’ve been.

Season 1

S1 had 2 really good episodes, a couple outright bad ones (finale), but mostly could be described as average storytelling hidden by some great performances by Rosamund Pike and Daniel Henney and set in a beautiful and interesting universe. For all intents and purposes it was a success in terms of attracting viewers, introducing new audiences to RJ’s series and being a decent show.

There have been some great casting choices and the majority of the cast has worked with a couple exceptions (recasting of Mat). The characters are firmly recognizable from Jordan’s work with of course some big changes as well that vary in terms of popularity with the fandom. However, the challenge of making the wheel of time universe really sing (ie the fantasy/lore concepts) was hit or miss for me in S1 (in many ways a miss). I’m not speaking of book accuracy, simply how interesting and cool they were.

Emonds Field 5 - not perfect but definitely a success

Myrddraal and Trollocs - success

Channeling - 50/50

White Tower - success

Thom/gleeman - failure

Ta’veren - TBD

Loial/Ogier - meh (admittedly high degree of difficulty)

Eye of the World - failure and was not interesting at all

Aes Sedai and Warders - biggest achievement of S1, huge success

Fal Dara - meh

Traveling people - meh

The ways - decent

Two Rivers - 50/50

Logain/male channelers - success

Darkfriends - success

Whitecloaks - decent

Shadar Logoth - decent

Overall an admirable effort, especially considering how much they adapted but IMO they had some big misses that brought down the season.

Season 2

So far the second season has seen a huge jump over the first season in terms of production quality, visual style, performances, and dialogue. Many of the actors on the show have found their footing, particularly Josha Stradowski who plays Rand. Every new major character they have introduced has not only been written well but their performances have been off the charts which I will touch on more when I discuss E5.

However the first 4 episodes were much like the first season. The pacing was hit or miss, some of the changes have landed (Nynaeve in the arches) and a few have not (namely Lan’s arc). Mat is still MIA but we will see how they land things with him later. Either way season 1 caliber storytelling combined with the other upgrades in acting, visual style, and overall polish makes for a pretty damn good product.

Episode 5 - “Damane” (full spoilers)

It’s difficult for me to fully explain why E5 was so satisfying. It is less about any one individual factor and more about how smoothly it weaved (no pun intended) many well executed components together.

The first thing I will start with is visual style. S2 has been an upgrade in general from S1 in many of its choices but Episode 5 is on a different level.

The initial location (near falme) Liandrin takes the girls is absolutely stunning. I took my own little photo above to demonstrate just how sumptuous this looked in 4K in my living room. The show has always been pretty but I will admit the variety of locales in S2 as well as the cinematography has been a significant upgrade. What I especially liked about this scene is that it did not lean on a slick establishing shot of a CG city or even a giant fortress/village made specifically for the show, two things WoT is very good at. Instead this is a simple scene in terms of CG. It’s just a waygate and the effects used for channeling all look great and are not too over the top. As far as set design it’s just the stone pillars for the waygate and the large throne that Suroth rides around on (and Seanchan costumes). Otherwise it’s a beautiful natural location that grounds the action and fantasy elements organically while pulling in the viewer to this world.

But that’s just a taste.

Story locations in this episode: Falme, Cairhien, Toman Head, The White Tower, Tel’aranrhiod, The Ways. And that’s not counting different areas within those places.

Each of the above have a strong visual language to communicate the various cultures and landscapes of Jordan’s universe and I don’t think it skips a single beat going back and forth between them. Forests, deserts, marshland, night scenes, day scenes, cities, villages, fortresses, and fantasy creations like the ways and the dream world. The show was in its bag in terms of something interesting to draw the eye the entire episode.

The performances were no different in terms of their variety and quality. Fares Fares (Ishamael) and Natasha O’Keefe (Lanfear) were probably the best on screen fantasy villains I’ve seen since vintage Game of Thrones seasons. They were engaging, scary, and villainous in a relatable but unapologetic manner, delivering line after line that could easily be viewed as cheesy if not for perfect execution in direction and tone. And frankly what I liked most is that the show didn’t fall in to the modern temptation to make them less evil. Sure they have their justifications/motivations but they are also unambiguous baddies from the viewer’s perspective which is true to Jordan.

Moving on to Rosamund Pike who we’re really running out of things to say in terms of her acting which has never dipped for a second for the entirety of the show. What was more impressive is how the show’s writers have demonstrated their commitment to showing a ruthlessly efficient character who will do whatever it takes to save the world. This episode highlighted her commitment to her cause as well as her intelligence in dealing with a character who is immensely powerful.

Ayoola Smart as Aviendha provided the best action sequence and an excellent dialogue scene with Perrin that efficiently introduced ji’e’toh and Aiel culture. I am really looking forward to seeing more from her as Aviendha is one of my favorite characters. On a similar note Meera Syal really got to flex her abilities as Verin in a much more recognizable manner to book readers than what we saw earlier in the show. It was thrilling to watch her pick apart Liandrin’s plot.

The last thing that I was really impressed by and primarily why I wrote this post to begin with is how committed the show seems to be to genuinely introducing some of the most difficult elements of the Wheel of Time universe which is honestly not what I expected given the first 4 episodes. Let’s take some inventory of what we got from E5 as well as S2 so far straight from the books/universe.

Aviendha/Aiel/ji’e’toh - success

Falme - as a location it’s a success

Seanchan - success (with a very high degree of difficulty)

Collaring - success

Lanfear/Selene - huge success

Ishamael - huge success

Novice training /arches - success

Cairhien - success

Horn - TBD

Elyas - success

Wolfbrother abilities - controversial but a success IMO

Tel’aranrhiod - success

Verin/Browns - success

Channeling - success

Mat’s abilities - TBD but this might be a big L

Min’s Visions - TBD but so far an L for me

Elayne - success

Do I think this show is going to be this good every episode from now on? Probably not. And yes there is still plenty to dislike from S2. Mat/Min are borderline non existent so far, the Lan/Moiraine arc was miserable until they separated, and Siuan hasn’t even shown up yet (despite having some badass scenes in the second book that are very memorable).

However I will say this is the first time where I’ve felt real confidence in where the story is headed both short and long term. If they do this for the remaining three episodes then Wheel of Time will hold the belt for best fantasy show currently running.

#Wheel of time show #wheel of time #Robert Jordan #Rafe judkins #fantasy #Amazon Prime #The Great Hunt #Lanfear #Ishamael #TV #books

[morievna]

BSD season 5 final - why so meh~~

Hello ^_^

So yeah i watched last episode and I have thoughts xD tbh I think manga will follow the same path as plot choices had Asagiri style all over them, maybe some details will only change.

Overall my impression was

It felt very Marvel-esque movie finals – “don’t think too much that some things don’t make sense, just enjoy spectacle” and “look look hints of new future villain” *yawn*

For such big stakes it just feels underwhelming to me how this arc was solved, because it is like that there wasn’t any danger to begin with. Like fortunate strings of events at right time but no that much effort on ADA part – Fukuchi basically planned for Fukuzawa to win (and Teruko made his wish reality) and on the other hand Aya saved the day by returning Bram to full powers, which conveniently happened at right moment so Dazai could outsmart Fyodor.

Btw I am kinda surprised how much unnecessary main protagonist was xD srsly if Atsushi didn’t leave that room after talking to Teruko, nothing would change xD ofc I am happy that Aya had time to shine, but still it is weird how many supposedly main characters (Atsushi, Kyouka, Kunikida) had nothing to do.

Imo Fukuzawa-Fukuchi scenes were strongest part as there was the most emotional weight and meaning in them. I really liked how it was executed – that these two had simply time to talk and finally understand each other thanks to Poe book. Also I really liked Fukuchi’s musings about ‘us vs them’ situation leading to wars – it felt adequate as real life goes like that and how politics use that rhetoric for own gain unfortunately.

On the other side, my biggest disappointment was final of Mersault arc:

I mean I knew that Fyodor will loose and Dazai will win, because in shounen power of friendship always wins xD  but it felt too easy and rushed – as story wanted to get rid of Fyodor without further ado and just hint at introducing new stronger villain.

Even though plot twist was clever, whole outcome of Mersault arc was feeling hollow to me. Just how smoothly things went for Dazai’s favour and therefore felt too convenient and not earned – again that there was no real danger or personal stakes for characters.

Especially framing of Dazai’s win was kinda weird to me. At this point of final it should be connected to his character arc and shown how his resolve differs from Fyodor. It should be about value of human life, that Dazai choose to be on side which is saving people. It is core of Dazai character arc, why he left PM (because Oda’s life was essentially not important to PM). It was never about trust vs control – like even in PM time Dazai trusted Oda or Chuuya plenty xD Obviously Fyodor’s methods are wrong, but still it is rooted that he doesn’t value human life as he views ppl as sinners and only wants complete godlike order. It just feels like framing is missing the point what was previously established by characters - just to go as fast as possible to reach the end.

In addition to that, just leaving Sigma to die… all his scenes with Dazai feels really pointless. Again I thought that saving Sigma is important as Dazai is on side that saves ppl vs Fyodor who seen only Sigma as pawn, but looks like whatever no it doesn’t have any meaning.

Ofc it can be that due to Fyodor’s ability shenanigans or some other healing ability Sigma will live somehow – but still it feels like Sigma was in Mersault just on Asagiri’s whim as comedic relief, not that he had some character development in mind.

Summing it all - to me as reader clever plot twist are cool, but if there is no emotional weigh and meaning backing up story then it just feels meh.  Honestly I feel like dropping BSD after this arc and maybe I will just checkout spoilers from time to time if there is going on anything interesting.

Ofc it can be that I am too negative and manga will handle story better, but that recent Asagiri’s interviews with takes like “Dazai methods of training Akutagawa were right” or “Oda is appealing to fans is because he is dead” or “characters can’t change too much because they will loose fans” are not particularly repelling my worries xD Ofc we will see, just my expectations are rather low xD

Thank you reading <3 and have a nice day <3

#bsd #bsd anime #bungou stray dogs #bungo stray dogs #bsd negativity #bsd spoilers #bsd thoughts #bsd opinions #sigh sigh sigh #it simply could be much better

[itsmegreenman]

TF2 NEW MAP REVIEW

nobody asked for it, nobody cares, so it's here! by: me

Selbyen

+ great design

+ lots of flanks, feels like every class and every playstyle can have their moments here

+++ fat fuck

- mini sentries are a crime, but tbh that's a pd gamemode boone overall

- how the hell do you pronounce it? sel-bien? sel-buy-en? prolly the latter but still

8/10

Phoenix

+ nice-looking, gives me overwatch vibes (maybe a bit too saturated?)

+ overall not too chokey i think

+ last is so cool

- first point is kinda meh imo but i mean it could be worse. looks like one of those redesigned tf1 maps with tall claustrophobic mesa walls

7/10

Venice

+ love love LOVE LOVE the design. instant fav, best map looks-wise

+- if this map was a woman she'd be such a bitch. insufferable but i wanna fuck her so bad

- sniper hell. what the FUCK are these sightlines

- halls are way too narrow or way too wide. also that doorway on approach to third... dozens of blu lives were lost to a single heavy+medic combo just sitting in there

- i swear this is an overwatch map. no i have never played overwatch.

3/10 at most

Shark Bay

+++ there are sharks on this map

+ really well balanced and fun to play, i even had to go for 2 games

+ very high octane gameplay

+- scout goes kinda schnasty but its ok, maybe it's just my bad luck

- could use more health packs i think

9/10

Rotunda

+ donut shape is always neat

+ looks cool too

- thought the entire map was rotating in the preview, turns out it's just the camera

- just kinda sucks man. nucleus did the donut shape better, at least you couldn't put sentries on the point there and have them fully protected. honestly out of 3 games not a single one was good

5/10 kinda mid (feel free to disagree btw, i probably missed something)

Sulfur

+ cp_steel, japan

+ cp_steel but without last point cheese

+ water on last is actually sulphuric acid what the hell they didn't lie

8/10

ok the game is lagging hard for no reason so imma conclude this, even though there's like 4 more maps left. also have stuff to do. pt 2 tomorrow methinks and it will come with a tierlist because that is the only way i can perceive new comparative information nowadays

#thought dump #me-posting #tf2 #team fortress 2 #tf2 summer update

[chaifootsteps]

Okay so I watched the latest episode leak, and I have to say that out of all the episodes I've seen so far this one was relatively competent which is... surprising. I do think that a lot of the issues other people are having are extremely valid but some of them I do feel are just a bit nitpicky ---but overall as far as events unfolding and then getting resolved..... which is....as you know, the very basic competence for a storyline- this one pretty much did exactly that. Something tells me that the reason why it was relatively watchable is not because of Vivienne. I was actually surprised they had Blitz apologizing and owning up to a mistake, usually he's supposed to be bad but still "deserving" of forgiveness for no reason. Just a UwU untouchable bby. so that was actually nice. The flashback sequence for their childhood was done very well....and I actually disagree that it needed a whole episode, because I actually think this was -exactly- how flashbacks should be functioning in shows. They should just give brief context that enlightens the audience to what is currently happening in the present moment that both the characters know about, but that the audience doesn't. And they did just that, surprisingly.

That being said, there was never a need for a flashback episode in the first season, especially an entire episode dedicated to a bunch of uselessness scenes. Like the other anon said earlier if there had been some kind of foreshadowing, then perhaps it would have been warranted. Anyway I think that if that episode never happened, then this would probably have more impact, cuz this would have been the first time we saw Blitz and fizz as kids.

For the first and probably only time the whole thing with Blitz apologizing and owning up to his mistake, and then making up felt earned.... But even with the things that this episode did right it's still overall felt.... meh, vapid, and shallow with all the other unnecessary things happening in it. Striker and crimson being the antagonistic party in this was just random/ unnecessary; a simple throw away villain would probably have worked in this one episode. And that entire distraction song was..... so so so unbelievably dumb. Insultingly dumb.

But hey whatever. I could go on and on but let's just say that I also agree with the overall feedback that was given by a lot of the previous anons too. But I thought this would be hopefully a different take that you haven't had before.

So this episode was not good because none of the episodes in this pointless web series are ever good..... Ever.

But as far as being relatively competent it did surprisingly an okay job. One particular thing that I found pretty cool was when another fire started and Fizz was back in... Well, another fire basically, and Blitz actually saved him this time, kind of like a redemption for what happened in the past. Although that scene seems a little..... too suspiciously decent to have been from Vivienne alone but...hey I guess we'll see.

Anyway I can't wait for Viv to go on another Twitter whine sesh. Normally I would not be happy to see a Creator upset about something like this but knowing her past track record this is pretty deserved. Enjoy the early episode everyone!

I think it was one of the better episodes of season 2, but that's an extremely low bar to clear. I've got to disagree on the flashback sequence however...rapidfire flashbacks like the one we had here work for some things, like Moxxie's backstory, but Blitzo is our main character and Fizz and his mother are some of the most important people in his lives and it was just too important a scene to rush. To bring it back to BoJack, it would be like if The Old Sugarman Place were to be condensed into a minute and change.

Agreed that the little redemption bit at the end was cute until Vivzie ruined it with of course yet another sex joke.

#Anonymous #oops spoilers #helluva boss critical #vivziepop critical #actual blog post

[dasha-aibo]

Man, I watched modern One Piece with my bf

I watched it up to the end of the Alabasta arc back in, like, 2006 and the difference is staggering

Like, I won't even harp on the fights taking too long or the amount of recaps and reused footage. It's egregious, but that's shonen for you, I guess.

The fights are shit. None of the enemies have interesting abilities, everything devolves into beam spams, even for fucking ZORRO, who uses swords, but his big fight of the last arc is still somehow a beam spam. And the animation is either stiff, because they're saving up for big sakuga moments... Or big sakuga moments that are so chaotic and over-animated you can barely tell what the fuck is going on.

A lot of the time I couldn't gauge the stakes at all. Sanji VS Queen comes to mind, as it felt like the fucking dinosaur should've been defeated for at least six times before he actually went down.

Oda's quirk of drawing some characters really big for no good reason always looked cute from a distance but in the actual fights it just looks goofy compared to normal-size protags.

Was excited to see Brook and Franky, who weren't even introduced when I stopped watching and they did fuck all.

Chopper and Usopp felt like they were doing fuck all too.

Gear 5 is a mess. I get that they're trying to evoke the feeling of rubberhose cartoons / Looney Tunes shenanigans, but they're also trying to marry it with outrageous sakuga and it just ends up looking like animation vomit. The boring fight location and the very dull color palette aren't helping to distinguish WTF is going on on the screen either. And Luffy somehow acheiving it right after seemingly dying because he's a special chosen one boy with a very special fruit is just... So boring.

I understand that I started watching in the middle of an arc and I'm missing context, but it felt like most of the fights laked any personal emotional stakes too.

I compare it to the fight against Crocodile and his goons and not only was everyone involved, everyone had to think and improvise how to counter their enemies' abilities (except Zorro, lmao), the animation was a lot easier to read even if it was cheaper and everything just kind of felt more grounded and understandable. We knew our team's limitations and understood the powers of our enemies.

That said, I did like some of the fights in the new ark:

Sanji VS Queen at least had some emotional beats for Sanji, even if they spent way too long on them. Should've left the angst for after the fight.

Killer VS Straw Doll guy was a genuinely cool fight with a creative power set and solution. I didn't even know who those jobbers are, but they clearly had history and emotional stakes, I cared about what was going on. Best fight of the whole arc.

Trafalgar and Kid VS Big Momma was kinda cool. Interesting powers, the two had to learn how to fight together, shit was happening. Momma as a big stationary target was kind of meh, tho. Like, she was a glorified turret.

Overall, I was expecting more out of the modern One Piece. I adore the early arks and was planning to catch up, but now I'm unsure.

[partypontius]

hiii my i request hcs or something for dave ehren and johnny (sepereate) where jackass hired you for a stunt or something and they end up finding you really cool and inviting you for more stunts/parties just to see you? some fluff please

luv u

a/n: well hello iloveappleberries, i luv u! <3 i hope you enjoy!! :)))

Inviting You to Events After Working With You!!

(shitty title, my apologies)

warnings: fluff, mentions of alcohol, and i’m pretty sure that’s it!! :)

Dave

Dave was rly shy at first

he thought you were really cool from the start, and knew immediately that he wanted to be friends (and maybe more) with you

he wanted so badly to talk to you, but thought that you may think he was weird

poor baby

so so so awkward

until he finally talks to u!!

you immediately connect with him

you two are complete opposites, but it worked really well!

for example: he talked about snowboarding?

you had no clue about any of that

BUT you thought it was still super swag

(swaaaaaag)

he took you to his favorite bar when he asked you out

he didn’t want to throw you into a jackass party right away

he had to let you get your feet wet first

after hanging with you away from work, he realizes that he really enjoys being around you

and you feel the same way

he keeps inviting you places

with his friends

or just the two of you

he also really enjoyed doing different stunts with you

you were badass

and he LOVED IT

overall, Dave really loves spending time with you in any way

but he really likes that now you two can spend time alone, and it’s not awkward :)

Ehren

ehren mcghehey

the weirdest, but sweetest boy alive

this guy was most definitely intimidated by you at first

why? no clue.

he just was

but Jeff ended up putting you two together for a stunt one day

you two talked for a while, and realized that you both had many common interests

ehren ended up inviting you to the party that was happening that night

you had definitely already been told about it

but you acted like you knew nothing of it

made that boy’s heart smile so big when you said you’d go

truthfully, I feel like he literally just wanted to hold your hand the whole time

so sweet to you!!

he thought you were such a cool person

he never wanted to stop talking to you

he also loved when you showed the slightest interest in anything he was saying

or anything in general

he was really good at keeping conversations going

because he never wanted to stop talking to you

as time went on, he kept inviting you to more stuf

and the both of you ended up doing most things with just each other.

such a great friendship had blossomed, and both of you were thankful

but the whole time, even after being friends for a while, ehren was still a nervous wreck

what a sweetie

Johnny

so, this one’s a bit of a doozy

you and Johnny were already acquaintances

but you two never found much time to actually talk to each other

here we go

Johnny wrote a stunt, and no one wanted to do it

except you, of course

he thought it was a bad idea to have you do it

he didnt want to see you get hurt

but, you insisted that it would be fine

trusting your judgement, he let you do it

even though he still thought it was a bad idea

when it finally came time for you to do it, no one could have done it better

it’s like you had rehearsed it

essentially, the skies opened and the heavens started singing

perfect execution

perfect footage

you had Johnny at the drop of a pin from that moment on

he immediately invited you to the bar that night to hang with him and the guys

you agreed, wanting to make better friends with him and the others

instantly clicked.

it was so easy to talk to him

and he loved talking to you

he was naturally a flirt, so obviously, you know…..

yeah, you get the idea (take that as you will)

BUT you both had such a great connection

something a lil more than friends definitely came out of that friendship !!

most badass duo there ever was

a/n: i hope you enjoyed it! if you ever want to request anything, please do!! also sorry this is kinda meh. I’ve had the WORST writer’s block ever. anyways! much love! -em <3

#chris pontius #jackass #johnny knoxville #dave england #steve o #bam margera #ehren mcghehey #preston lacy #wee man #ryan dunn #jackass stuff #jackass x reader #jackass 4.5 #johnny knoxville x reader #ehren mcghehey x reader #dave england x reader #early 2000s #mtv #jackass forever #jackass fanfic #jackass headcanons #johnny knoxville headcanons #ehren mcghehey headcanons #Dave england headcanons #partypontius #party boy #partypontius fanfics #these are my boys #i love them #jackass tv

[roccinan]

I know it's only been a day but I'm dying of curiosity, have you watched the spinoff yet? What are your thoughts?

Hi anon! As you can see, I posted an initial ramble in an earlier answer LOL I talked about my feelings for the new characters there so I won't bore you and repeat it.

In a nutshell: new banda was "meh." Cameron was hot and I hope she gets more breakout roles, but the character was written like a Tokyo/Nairobi knockoff without any of their depth or magnetism. And I personally didn't like how her backstory was treated (it wasn't taken seriously for the right reasons imo). Keila was surprisingly likable but I keep making a lemon face when I remember her being horny for Bruce's sweat. Same for Bruce. He would have been enjoyable if not for the pubic hair fetish that he keeps bringing up asdfasdf

I was most interested in Roi, and he didn't disappoint, but I was baffled over why the spinoff ignored the most important question: how did he meet Andres and why did Andres take him in?? Genuinely needed a flashback there.

Main questions that the show needs to, but didn't answer:

How did Damian/Keila/Roi/Cameron/Bruce meet Andres?

Why did Damian/Andres choose Cameron and Bruce to help?

Why weren't any of these people in the mint and bank heists? You can argue that Bruce/Keila/Cameron weren't close to Andres, but nothing indicated Damian and Roi would abandon him. Alicia "exposed" their identities, but they don't know she did that so it's HUH

Why did Andres replace them all with Jakov, Martin, and Santiago? I mean, I would too LOL but in universe, there needs to be some explanation

Why is he calling himself Berlin?

We also still have no idea why Andres and Sergio have different surnames since this show addressed nothing about them having the same or different parents. No idea when or why Andres became a thief, how he came to love heisting, etc. Overall, the spinoff chose to flash romances between the new characters instead of giving us more information about Andres, which was a stupid move imo.

That said, there were things I did like about the spinoff:

Aside from that hilarious tracksuit, Pedro pulled the various turtlenecks off more or less. He was gorgeous more often than not, but for what? smh

The ending was tight, exaggerated, and fun

I actually was hyped when Alicia and Raquel showed up

Lots of jokes/moments landed and made me laugh out loud

Camille topping Andres every chance she got was Quality content

The heist itself didn't have me on pins and needles, but it was entertaining and I never got bored of it

I liked that aside from Roi, Andres wasn't close to any of the young people on the team- that makes more sense with his character and also helps me forget the 27yo comment asdfadf

The shoutout to Sergio :') Hermanito lives rent free in Andres' mind

General elements that I wasn't a fan of, aside from the forced romances:

Not a berlicia shipper, but come on- why would you put Alicia and Andres in the same time space and NOT have them interact!?

The car race confused me, and not just because Cameron's phone breakdown made me cringe. I honestly don't understand why the racers needed a girl to stand on the roof. What purpose? How does that help or hinder the race- what- at first, I thought the girls were going to whack each other with sticks or try to break the other person's car and this was a high stakes death battle. But no, they just did this to be cool.

Speaking of the race, I think too many "cool" moments became boring because they were tailormade for the cool new stars; there should have been more moments like Berlin at the "opera"-- Ex. we should have gotten Damian and Andres at that race instead of Cameron and Roi- that would have been so much funnier, and thus more memorable

Andres' speeches were repetitive and made no sense, even for him. BUT it was hilarious how in the show's effort to ignore Martin, everything Andres says and does makes it look like he's waiting for his one true love in the form of Palermo, a man; even that no homo moment with Roi was so on-the-nose it has to be foreshadowing Martin XD

The ending with Camille was too open for my taste, especially pointless because we KNOW they don't end up together

BUT I do want a season 2, just so we can see Martin entering Andres' life and a glimpse of Sergio + any scrap of an actual backstory for Andres. They already did the romcom route, so maybe they'll experiment with yet another genre in s2, who knows lol.

#anonymous #berlin 2023 #I'm sure I have more LOL but these are my main ones #headcanon that damian ran off to some remote island with the tequila lady #and roi was so jealous and annoyed by martin that he LEFT the moment andres introduced martin to everyone

[lildoodlecat]

At last, it is complete! Tales of Destiny Director's Cut Stahn's story is done :D

(I'll be playing Leon's story next)

I loved it a lot!!!!! As I suspected, the addition of skits really expanded my affection for the characters, but I also rather enjoyed the changes they made. I honestly can't remember what exactly comparatively was different all around, but the changes to the depiction of Leon's final moments got me really hard,,,, idk if it was more similar in the original jp since I played the official English release of Destiny (I hear there were skits in jp? that might've helped my understanding lol) but I really really liked the director's cut take on things.

See my posts crying about Leon for those exact reactions lmao (they can probably be summarized with ;w;)

I also actually liked that we didn't have to see him come back as like. a raised husk or whatever it was og Destiny did bc even tho his fate seemed definite, it's still ambiguous. I haven't played the sequel obviously but I think?? the Leon looking guy is actually Leon???? idk. maybe it's a bit of a retcon. but yk

Anyway I actually liked every character quite a bit this time!! I liked my fav characters even more (coughcough Stahn and Leon living in my brain now) bc the extra conversations and voice acting were fantastic ✨✨ It really helped the emotions hit for me. I don't remember it all super well since I took so long to play it but I was a giggly little bastard abt the relationships and got a little teary at parts.

Cried at the end despite it all,, Stahn finally finished writing a letter like he was attempting for his family and it was for Leon ;w; That plus just. Tales credits. got me just a liiiittle teary lol. I liked it soso much. Also the reunion at the end made way more sense to me this time around lsjfd;lk just bc of some added dialogue and whatnot

The final boss is kinda meh as a character honestly but the overall story despite that guy was awesome!! I have a lot of fondness for the character arcs of Stahn, Leon, and Rutee, and also just the overall party dynamic was quite fun :3 Silly little creatures, the lot of them.

I missed having anime cutscenes after playing Destiny ps1 alksdjl; so they definitely got me there even tho they really only had character ones at the beginning and the end. But it's not like they do too many of those anyway.

Briefly on the character designs: they're goofy. I can't deny they're goofy. I love them sm they're unique lolol I'm attached to them

Oh yeah I LOVED the tie in to the title lol it was heavy handed as hell and it was perfect.

Bouncing back to what I said abt og Destiny, the dungeon designs were still kinda interesting here and there but less cool than the original, however the combat was definitely some of the best in the series. It's a serious learning curve but very fun!!! It was fun to see how they adapted the puzzles as well; a lot of them were similar but the final dungeon was way different. Hated the mirror area way way more than in og Destiny laskjdfkl;dsj I got stuck for a while but I do like the split party collaborative puzzles!! I remember Abyss did the same sort of thing an I liked that quite a bit, so it had that factor going for it too.

Umm final gist is it was really really fun and even tho it was actually pretty hard for me a lot of the time, but I think to a point that made it still fun. Except the 3-ish hours I spent on the final boss goddamn.

In any case, this definitely bumped up into the favorites!!!!! Stahn is an especially endearing protagonist to me and his relationship with the party was fun to watch develop <3

Fin~

#sorry if this is rambley I was a bit distracted while writing it lol #fun game fun game!!! I'm super excited to play Leon's pov #i do wonder if just my prolonged focus on Destiny in general made me like it more than I would've?? but it doesn't really matter lskfjldj #love all the silly guys in this game #i already said but stahn and leon live in my brain forever now #jay plays tales #tales of destiny #tales of destiny dc #jay yells

[reversemoon255]

Fifth Review: Digimon Top 10

I’ve been really enjoying Digimon Ghost Game, I don’t have anything else to write about this month, and Top 10s are fun, so here’s my Top 10 Favorite Digimon. Because.

NUMBER 10: OmegaShoutmon X-Antibody

It may be obvious to people who frequent my reviews that I really like Shoutmon. A well-developed Digimon with a toy-centric gimmick I enjoy, and a very shiny evolution introduced half-way through the show to add to that gimmick. OmegaShoutmon ends up winning out over Shoutmon and his kingly evolution because I like the design more, and the X-Antibody version wins out over that for the same reasons. It’s definitely a bit over-designed, but I can’t help but want to see this thing Digi Xros’d with something to see how crazy it can get.

NUMBER 9: Bastemon

I just think she’s cute. Also, I really enjoy her portrayal in Xros Wars, where she’s incredibly lazy 90% of the time, but can occasionally get really heated when she needs to. Her fight against Chuchumon, even though we don’t see it, is probably my favorite joke from that season.

NUMBER 8: Omedamon

I don’t like April Fool’s Day. It’s a lot of really dumb jokes, most of them half-hearted, and very little of it I find interesting. Omedamon, however, is the exception. A crossover between Digimon and Medarot (Medabots) that wasn’t just fun, goofy art, but both Omedamon and the eventual 3 new Medarots (across two years) are usable units in both series’ mobile games. Not only did we get several great designs introduced into two franchises, but they were canonized. I wish more companies were willing to do this kind of thing.

NUMBER 7: Omegamon Alter-S

Omegamon/Omnimon is definitely one of the most popular Digimon overall, and I like them as well. Every time I watch Children’s War Game, I well up a bit at the scene where their body is forming from the wishes of all the world’s children. Their design has also been replicated many times, both in series with Digimon like Chaosmon, Omedamon, and Shoutmon, and parodied in other series as well. Unfortunately for Omegamon standard, design always wins out over nostalgia with me, and Alter-S is a cooler design in my opinion. Replacing the familiar WarGreymon/MetalGarurumon combo with the (IMO) more interesting BlitzGreymon and CresGarurumon, they swaps the usual arm weapons and adopts a more dark appearance. I also love how they used them in Adventure:, with the dual-wield moments and final reveal against Abbadomon. An improvement on an already great design.

NUMBER 6: Dukemon (Amplified) (Art by @/Asmaria_)

Out of every evolution gimmick introduced throughout the many season of Digimon, above-and-beyond, my favorite has always been Bio-Merging. It’s the ultimate extension of the partner concept focused on in the first three seasons, and several after. And while I like all four of the Lv.6 Digimon that utilize this mechanic, Dukemon/Gallantmon is my favorite. The knight aesthetic is great, his moment of evolution and following fight are the strongest, and like many of the Digimon on this list, he has many iterations to choose your favorite from. Mine, unsurprisingly, is the model kit version. It’s still Dukemon, but with a higher level of detail and a lot more sharp edges. Just a great design.

NUMBER 5: MetalGreymon (Virus) X-Antibody

It’s not that I don’t like the original MetalGreymon, but his design isn’t that interesting to me. I like that he resembles his previous form, which not every evolution from season 1 does, but he isn’t as compelling to me as many of the other Greymon evolutions we’ve gotten, including Greymon himself. Virus X takes that uninteresting design and evolves it in a way I really enjoy, with the flaming hair and wings, increased metal parts, and especially the Alterous. It’s a rotating arm that can form MetalGreymon’s usual claw, or 180 and become a large cannon. It’s so cool that they gave it to MetalGreymon standard in Adventure: as a power-up. A fantastic upgrade to an originally meh design.

NUMBER 4: Pulsemon (Art by @/gebofrog38)

An aspect of the games that never truly integrated itself into the shows until recently is a Digimon’s ability to have multiple evolutions. We saw moments here and there, like SkullGreymon and Megidramon, but they were one-offs; active mistakes caused by the Digimons’ Tamers. Then came the Vital Brace and Pulsemon, a Digimon designed specifically to not only have branching lines, but a branching web of evolutions. Since his introduction, we got a few more situational evolutions in Adventure: and it’s Gammamon’s main gimmick in Ghost Game. It’s a Digimon with a gimmick that it did so well it inspired copycats.

NUMBER 3: Shoutmon X3

Again, I like Shoutmon. I always thought he was ok, but then I got my hands on the Xros Figures and my opinions of both him and how much went into his design skyrocketed. As I somewhat jokingly pushed the idea of him getting a model kit in the ongoing lines, I ended up becoming more and more serious to the point that I will be legitimately sad if I never handle a decent toy of this design in my lifetime. As for why I specifically chose X3, it’s because it’s the unencumbered base design without the Star Sword. While I like how it incorporates Shoutmon’s weapon as a handle, I’ve always thought the Star Sword was a bit goofy. Still, a great design that hits me right in my love of toys.

NUMBER 2: Gaioumon Burst Mode (Art by @/Asmaria_)

Gaioumon has some interesting history behind him. He was originally designed to be BlackWarGreymon X-Antobody, but the design team thought he looked so much cooler than WarGreymon X that they opted to make him his own Digimon and BWGX a recolor in order to not overshadow one of their flagship characters. That being said, you’re probably confused as to why Gaioumon has a Burst Mode, a gimmick exclusive to four-and-a-half Digimon from Digimon Savers...

He doesn’t, actually. Gaioumon Bust Mode is non-canon. Turns out Gaioumon is actually the favorite Digimon of semi-frequent series collaborated As’maria, who created the above art, as well as the original Gaioumon. So it’s a fan character, but that fan works on the actual series.

On a fun side note, within the most recent run of X-Antibody Digimon we got Gaioumon: Itto Mode, who bears a number in interesting similarities to this design, such as the gold horns, scarred eyes, and stomach teeth. An unofficial design so cool that it eventually wormed its way into some form of canonicity. Heck yeah.

NUMBER 1: MetalGreymon (Xros Wars)

Yes, MetalGreymon is on here twice, I’m not sorry.

A lot of points I’ve made previously on this list apply to this choice. It’s a toy-centric redesign that improves upon a lackluster original. It has a high amount of detail, three different evolutions, and something I haven’t been able to talk about thus far is I love its art. While it’s hard to find the old Xros Wars art at a good size, I love the thick outlines and the sketchy style of it. It’s because I like this design so much that I started painting the Xros Figures Greymon I got, and subsequently the rest of the line, to be more show accurate, and why I’m so sad I haven’t been able to find MailBirdramon to complete it. I’ve even been planning to commission art of a Xros Wars WaruMonzaemon that integrates with it to form a Xros Wars WarGreymon once I get both in hand to be able to fully understand the parts layout (I’m not the biggest fan of ZekeGreymon). There’s just so much going on that makes me like it. It may not be your favorite, but it’s the perfect Digimon for me.

Thanks for reading my ramblings about Digimon. It was fun analyzing why I liked all these designs so much. I know my concept over nostalgia mentality isn’t something most people will agree with, but that’s just how I think, and maybe this gave you a slight idea of how my brain works.

#Digimon #Metalgreymon #gaioumon #shoutmon #pulsemon #dukemon #gallantmon #omegamon #omnimon #omedamon #bastemon #top 10