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danwhobrowses · 3 years

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Star Wars Visions - Review

So I finally finished watching all of Visions, the ambitious anime project set in a Star Wars loose if at all canon, and I truly had a good time with it, as a fan of anime and Star Wars I was curious how they would deliver.

Spoilers for Visions, watch it then come back here to read what I thought about it. Reminder: This is my own personal opinion

So as I said, really enjoyed this experiment Disney decided to take, the 9 episodes weren't all flawless but they weren't awful either, so I'm gonna go through what I liked and disliked about it.

We'll start with the negatives, since they're few, picky and it gets it out of the way.

What Wasn't Great

Runtime A veiled negative has to be many episode's runtimes being too short, some only lasting 10-15 minutes. Before watching I was expecting all to be at least 30 minutes, so it was a shame that none lasted that long.

Episode 2: Glorified Music Video I think Episode 2 was perhaps the weakest episode of the nine for me, because it was all building up to a song. I think it probably leaned a bit too much on existing characters like Jabba and Boba, as well as Tatooine, to carry interest, so it was a bit of a low point.

Episode 3: Studio Trigger keep their balls away from the wall Episode 3's The Twins wasn't bad, it just lingered a bit too much on the less fun things. Studio Trigger had made a name for themselves for striking visuals and absolutely batshit crazy fight scenes that ignore all manner of physics with the likes of Promare, Kill La Kill and Darling of the Franxx (and kinda Gurren Lagann, the company was made as a result of that so it's like a Studio Ghibli thing with Nausicaa) but The Twins didn't have enough of the major fight scene for my liking, given how most of what we saw was in the trailer. Maybe it's the fault of the trailer, but it did feel like you could just watch the trailer rather than the episode, which is a bad thing.

Episode 7 too, but it also lacks bravery The Elder was also a good episode, but it too lacked in the final fight, the ending being very abrupt. The Elder also had a problem in that they wasted their good characters, but also failed in stakes. Had the padawan been killed instead of simply being wounded by a lightsaber slash to the belly it probably would've worked more, since we were shown that the Elder is precise in his cutting and it would've served to increase the urgency of the master fighting him too. The fight was short and out of the characters we lost it was the most important character that bit the dust.

The Episode Order could've been Better My final criticism has to be that the order of the episodes felt like it could've been better. Starting with The Duel was right but following it up with Tatooine Rhapsody brought the mood down, likewise putting The Elder after T0-B1 was perhaps too jarring a theme switch. The bigger sin was probably ending with Akakiri. Akakiri was good, but it was a downer and you don't really finish a Season 1 on a downer because you want people to feel excited for more rather than feeling bleak about it; with the options of Lop & Ocho, The Elder, The Village Bride and The Ninth Jedi (which would've been my pick for episode 9) it was an odd choice to pace the episodes in such a way - even when knowing that people would binge in this order. FYI if you wanted to know how I would've ordered the episodes it would've been The Duel -> The Elder -> The Twins -> Lop & Ocho -> Tatooine Rhapsody -> T0-B1 -> The Village Bride -> Akakiri -> The Ninth Jedi

This way we start strong with Sith-heavy episodes that grip with combat, we have the Duel to set us off, we show off the Elder to sell the Dark Side's strength, which blends into the Twins and that sibling relationship blends into Lop & Ocho, we use Tatooine Rhapsody as an intermission of sorts but then carry the lighter theme with T0-B1, whose artistic elements and worldbuilding leans into the Village Bride. We make Akakiri the penultimate since we show the Jedi succumb to the Dark for love in contrast to the Elder where the Jedi succeeds by steeling emotions, before finishing strong with Ninth Jedi.

What Was Great

Anime is perfect for Star Wars Star Wars has of course delved into animation before; Clone Wars (both), Rebels, Resistance and Bad Batch, but never like Anime. So Visions was allowed to shine by showing off everything anime can offer which more realistic CGI and live action could not. Bright colour grading, physics-defying movement, as well as unique character and lightsaber shapes.

(Mostly) Not Wasting Time While I have criticized some episodes for not making the most of things, and not having enough time, but many episodes would last 12-15 minutes and still feel like they had a coherent storylines with no gaps in getting to know the brand new characters or a lack of important information and investment. It is a testament to the good writing of the episodes that episodes got so much from such little time.

We're Left Wanting More In spite many episodes' brevity, the good writing also provided us stories with great potential to be fleshed out. Who wouldn't want to learn more about these new characters? See most of their adventures? The franchise potential from certain stories' one episode makes the experiment an unequivocal success.

The different styles add to the story Using a different anime studio for each story allowed each episode to stand out in their own way, and lean on different areas of importance. The Duel for instance applied a Kurosawa aesthetic which made the audience anticipate samurai themes. As much as the animation will get props for its visuals, environments and character design we should also give a hat-tip to the amazing music, especially in The Village Bride, and the voice acting from both JP and EN. We had some recognizable faces on both sides with EN having Joseph Gordon-Levitt, David Harbour, George Takei, Neil Patrick Harris, Allison Brie, Simu Liu, Karen Fukuhara, Lucy Liu and Taemura Morrison reprising as Boba, while on the JP side we had names familiar with One Piece (Zoro - why you gotta be a sith Zoro!, Brook, Tama, Kiku), DBZ (Goku), Naruto (Hidan, Tayuya and if you count Boruto; Chocho and Kawaki), Jujitsu Kaisen (Itadori, Megumi, Nobara) and more. The different styles also allowed a greater freedom to lore between studios, I know the lightsaber colour thing was done in High Republic but I did like how in the Ninth Jedi Kara's lightsaber started out translucent (I actually preferred it that way), while not diverting too far away from the canon.

The Samurai style episodes were the strongest While some episodes leaned on other elements of Star Wars, the best of the bunch kept true with the correlation force users had with samurai. The Duel, Village Bride and Ninth Jedi - alongside Akakiri, Elder and kinda T0-B1 - had strong showings by maintaining their force user characters as samurai or samura-esque, which only added to the themes of the episodes too.

Its success will hopefully entice more Studios and Directors A positive for the future is the fact that there is a future. Visions has plenty of mileage as both a series of one-off stories or stories that can be expanded upon, and its success will mean that more will be on the cards. Imagine now what other studios may want to try their hand at their own story in this universe? And what it does not only for the franchise but also the animation studios themselves, because this in itself becomes a bridge for fans on either side to be introduced to the other; new anime fans, new star wars fans, everybody wins.

Conclusion

Visions provides an alternative in Star Wars media outside of live action but also away from the CGI tv shows, but it has started off strongly almost as well as The Mandalorian and in my opinion better than the Bad Batch did. My favourite episode was probably the Ninth Jedi, but Village Bride and the Duel are close runners up, soon followed by Lop & Ocho, I hope very much that the stories these ones started especially can be fleshed out and maybe even greenlit for their own series, while also curious about what more Star Wars can deliver.

All in all, good job for everyone, they took a risk and it paid off.

#star wars #star wars visions #sw visions #sw visions spoilers #the duel #tatooine rhapsody #the twins #the village bride #t0 b1 #lop and ocho #akakiri #the elder #the ninth jedi

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stinkyratshadowgod · 4 years

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Crazy Storyline Apex Theory

(P.s: I’m reposting because Tumblr F*CKING ate my first post)

Okay in the trailer for the new event “Lost Treasures”, we see at the end that in Mila (in some way) spoke to Crypto through his drone, saying “Tae, it’s me. Be carefull! they’re watching you”. Naturally i was going to joke “Haha Mila is going to be the next Apex Legends next season lmao”. But then i stopped and thought more about it, and instead of making a joke, i decided to write a theory about why is that plausible and it’s going to be the next storyline (or maybe...this storyline)

Okay what do we know about Mila? Not much actually, she and Tae found a prediction algorithm that is directly related to the Apex Games (but we don’t know who made that and the real purpose), and then she saves it in a pen drive, leaves and is found “dead” next morning, with her brother being blamed as the killer

I know that this isn’t a lot to work with, but i think it’s enough to cook something. The name of my plate (aka theory) is “Apex is going to pull up a Winter Soldier and make Mila a brainwashed soldier (or expert Hacker) from Hammond”. You better enjoy it while it is still hot

1-Mila is still alive

Ok so why do i believe that? It’s because i believe that Mila is actually alive (even tho it’s a schrodinger cat paradox situation because shes alive and dead at the same at, and we will only know the real result when Respawn pulls her out of the “box”).

My evidences is that 1-The new trailer (lol) and 2-Shes actually pretty usefull: Shes a hacker, a good one, she was the one (with the help of Tae) to unlock the prediction programm, and she developed the system that unlock it (or at least had the knowledge that the system she found online would help unlock the algorithm). And because shes connected to the biggest hacker of the outlands, so perhaps they are going to use her to blackmail Crypto to stop going after the truth.

Respawn never explained how the brothers found the algorithm, but whatever the case is, if the sindicate would go out of their way to “eliminate” Mila and then go after her brother (but we know that this time they wanted for real kill Crypto) that must mean that the prediction algorithm must be really important, and we know why:

2-Season 4 (and the Override event)

Hammond had great interest in the Apex Games in the start of Season 4, and so they made a deal with the AG, and so Hammod brought us 1-Revenant (the best decision ever i love him but i better stop or else i will write a full essay on why i love Rev); 2-The evo shield (at least i headcannon that the evo shields are a Hammond creation in order to please the Legends), but in return they would build the planet harvester and do some promotion...it’s just me that thinks that a big company especialized in robotics (and titans) would only bring a harvester and do a propaganda to show that their hip and cool?

Even the harvester is a little weird, because: 1-The Apex Games takes ages after Titanfall 2 campaign (10 years i belive), and the war is over, so the need of building Titans wouldn’t be very necessary, yeah they can be used as heavy machinery in hazardous jobs, but the main use of the titans was military, and they already use MRVNS units to replace humans. I know that building robots and guns requires a lot of materials, but the harvester seems like a little bit of a overkill, also are we even sure that they are collecting materials for the robots? (which brings me to my next point)

2-What the heck is the planet harvester even harvesting? By the looks of the big lazer, it looks like they are actually harvesting the core of the world edge’s planet (idk if it’s also sucking materials for robots and guns, but you never see pieces of scraps flying up with the lazer, and we don’t see a storage thing to store the minerals)

I believe the real reason that Hammond is so interested in the Apex Games is actually because of 2 mf’s: 1-Revenant (since he was killing all the Hammonds workers and those connected to the simulacrum project) and 2-Crypto, since hes the one going after their tail, and Hammond knows that Crypto has the actual powers to be a real problem to them, so they partner up with the Apex Games just to keep a closer eye to Tae Joon (and Revenant but who can blame them Rev is a real eye treat).

(Side point: While i was writting this theory, i remembered a critical point of the Override event...the rewards, the rewards you got when you gained points, and in the points reward’s menu, we see this:

At first we thought this was Rev doing, but when you think about, it doesn’t make a lot of sense since Revenant doesn’t give a crap about helping people, he just wants to kill (go you, you funky lil robot), and when you think more about it, hes couldn’t pull that off since hes not a computer specialist. The only character that could this is Crypto, but Tae A)Already knows that Hammond cannot be trusted or B)He coudn’t have predicted the partnership. My point is, Crypto also didn’t left the message (cuz it would be weird leaving a message about something that seems obivious to yourself). So the only one remaining is...Mila Mila is somewhere in the Outlands (maybe she escaped or she sneakily sended the message through the place she is being held) sending messages to Crypto.

2.5-The bunkers

You know whats weirder than The Planet Harvester? The underground holes (bunker? vaults? Its hard to use these words since they’re already taken) introduced in Season 5. In the trailer they looked like bunkers that you could open at any moment (like a trapdoor). In the release of season 5 the first thing i saw youtubers do is try to open the bunkers, they failed, and then they tried to use Loba (and they would usually fail and fall to their death, which was funny content). So i thought “Okay, maybe it’s going to be like Fortnite and with each week they are going to open one by one (and yes i play Fortnite casually, it’s actually a great and fun game), and nothing. So i ask “What is the purpose of those trapdoors?”

In the trailer of the new event, after Mila talked with Crypto through the Drone, it showed us a underground bunker opening, perhaps it’s Mila, or at least a secret base that Mila used to send Crypto the messages to warn him about Hammond. Whatever the case is, i strongly believe thats it’s going to be something related to Mila

3-The artifact and the “broken ghost”

The name “broken ghost” is actually a weird name for something that has something to with Loba, sure you can say “It actually refers to something that is going to be used against Revenant” or “It’s actually something that we are going to use to bring back Ash from the Titanfall 2 campaign” and while yes that can be the case (especially the Ash theory) i actually believe that what we’re building is a universal locator, a locator used to locate everything and everyone in the outlands. You may be asking “...okay...why?” And i tell you: “The legends don’t live together”

On what i mean by that: In a tweet sended by Tom Casiello, he told us that the legends don’t live in the dropship or in a big house like housemates (even tho i decided that in my heart they are one big family of friends living together in a mansion, with each one of them having a room with their themes). And in the Chapter 4 of the storyline, it’s revealed that Bangalore and Lifeline live in diferent houses.

Where i am going with this is: Crypto is still living like a nomad, always running (and he even says in one of the elimination lines [“Sometimes you get tired of running, I understand, but you can't ever stop."], thus showing that even in the Apex games, hes running from the sindicate, the people who got his sister and now is after him, but as we can see, they still didn’t got him. Hammond could be building a robot (since the artifact [currently] looks like a skull, which spookes me a lil bit) that could pinpoint the exact location of Crypto and finally capture him.

Now for the most bonker part of this theory: They brainwashed Mila and turned her into a winter soldier

As i already said, Mila is actually pretty useful, not only because of her smarts, but because of the advantage that using someone that Crypto is closely familiar with could bring his downfall. So heres what i concluding: Mila gets brainwashed by Hammond in order to have someone to be a strong match against the best hacker of all the outlands and get rid of a big threat.

You may be asking “How?” and for that, i call my favorite boy:

4-Revenant (also yes this is a excuse to talk more about my main)

Rev doesn’t need a introduction, but heres one anyway: He was a hitman that at some point has died, so Hammond used his still somewhat salvageable brain to put it in a Simulacrum (in which i headcannon that at the same time they were also experimenting with some supernatural elements, but thats a theory for another day). after 200 years, during a hitjob he found out about who he really was and now here we are...do i need to say more?...really? Okay then: Hammond showed that they can brainwash simulacrums for an extensive period of time (200+ years i believe) in order to make them believe that they are actually human (even tho climbing a 15 store building, turning into a shadow and stabbing people with hands isn’t very...human). So in Rev backstory (and in the simulacrum lore) Hammond shows that they have the capacity to brainwash brains since the simulacrums are in a way cyborgs, being 99% robot and 1% human (that would be the brain btw). So using these techniques on a human would be very easy (i think?, i don’t know a lot of Simulacrums cuz they’re not real)

5-”THE broken ghost”

I want to touch upon is the name “The Broken Ghost”, i know that people believe that it’s actually Ash from Titanfall 2 (because spoilers she died), but don’t you think it’s weird that even 10 years after the main campaign, they couldn’t bring Ash back? I know that Simulacrums are diferent from robots, but couldn’t they just repaired Ash? And to answer myself: No. You see Simulacrums have an internal brain that is used to datastore information, but Rev is a special boy cuz hes handsome and his storage system is external, so in another words, when she died in the explosion caused by when a Titan is destroyed (or worse if you did an execution on her), her brain was destroyed, thus meaning that there is absolutely no way to bring her back. And yes, i just debunked the theories about how Ash is actually the broken ghost. Speaking of ghosts, that brings me on another point

6-Revenants and Ghosts

I wanna talk briefly about real life urban legends. First the Revenant myth is that a phisical deceased person who returns from the dead with an eternal rage for revenge, they are strong, smart and imortal, only leaving the world of the living when his thirst of revenge is sated (which fits very well for our baby boy Rev from Apex Legends)

And the Ghost is a spiritual deceased person who starts haunting the world of the living, sending chills down the spines of those who looks at them.

While yes their backstories are similar, their main diferences is that Revenants are corporial, and ghosts are spiritual, aka, Ghosts have the ability to dissapear and make people wonder if what they saw was real or not. Sounds familiar? If not, let me spell out for you: Mila. In the Crypto’s backstory, she suddenly dissapeared from Tae’s life, even in a surreal way since his life suddenly came crashing down overnight. And even better: If she was truly the broken ghost and got introduced in the Apex Games next season, that would really mess with Crypto’s brain, cuz his paranoia would make him wonder if his sister was back for real or not.

7-”Hold up”

-Said the handsome reader, scratching their brain (and yes i write fanfics)-”What does that mean for the future of Apex Legends and the storyline?”. I look at them, with the fire of knowledge burning through my eyes-“Let me tell you about the Winter Soldier movie from Marvel”

One key element from the Winter Soldier is that he was being brainwashed by Hidra (a Marvel version of the Nazis) and Bucky Barnes would transform into a emotionless killing machine, ready to kill the next target or those who got in his/Hidra’s way. But one thing that would turn him back into a normal human is his best friend Captain America, that through his pursue and persistence, by the end of the movies he saves Bucky from the brainwash trance and later movies he becomes Captain’s ally (and my OTP don’t @ me)

So if everything i talked about here is correct, heres what i think it’s going to happen: By the end of the storyline, it’s going to be revealed that Mila is alive, but she has been brainwashed by Hammond to kill Crypto. Even tho hes the main target and it would go against his better judgement, hes going to try save Mila from the brainwash trance, and not only that, hes going to use the help of Mirage. “Mirage?”-Asked the reader-”What the heck does Mirage have to do with an complicated story about family reunion, betrayl, saving someone from brainwash and fighting against a evil corporation?” and for that, i call Tom Casiello yet again (and a piece of Tae’s past):

8-Mirage, Casiello and a letter

In a early Season 5 tweet, Casiello confirmed that Mirage and Crypto’s story is far from done, and they would have many misadventures together, and while everybody (myself included) read it as Cryptage fuel, now i can confirm that Crypto is going to need Mirage’s help to make Mila remember who she was. You ask again ”But why Mirage?”, well, while i was researching Crypto’s page on the wiki, i found a peculiar letter that he sent for someone: “[Mystik -- I survived my first match, with only two broken ribs. Being as safe as I can, and keeping my distance. Unfortunately, the others are already asking about the Tower. The one Legend you love confronted me on the dropship. I thought he had evidence, but it turns out he’s just an idiot.There are two others here who are BIG guys. Like your son. Very intimidating. I’m sure one’s a sociopath, but I may have judged the other too soon. His name is Makoa Gibraltar, and he’s here to help Legends survive. I always chalked the Games up to neanderthals trying to prove something. Turns out some of them have a strong code of ethics. Ironically, the only neanderthal I’ve met trying to prove something… is me. Burn this letter as soon as you receive it. Will write when I can. Family forever. --TJP]” (https://apexlegends.gamepedia.com/Crypto)

Now you’re wondering “what the heck is that letter? Who is “Mystik” ”, and according to the wiki, Mystik is Crypto and Mila’s former caretakers at Ticacek Orphanage in Suotamo, aka the closest person they had to a parent. And in the letter, Crypto knows that Mirage is Mystik’s favorite legends, showing that him, Mila and their caretaker watched the Apex Games together

Thats where Mirage comes in: Crypto is going to use Mirage’s handsome and familiar face to remind Winter Soldier Mila the past, and then try to deactivate the brainwash (and headcannon, we are going to visit Angel City (the place where Mila and Tae used to live together) and collect parts of Crypto’s past and then bring it back to try make Mila remember who she was, but the FBI and Hammond is going to stop the legends)

Oh, and before you leave, ask yourself this: “How can a ghost get broken?”, now, instead of trying to find an answer, i’ll be kind enough to respond it to you (you’re welcome ;) ): Mila is the ghost that Hammond broke and put it together into Winter Soldier Mila, and then Crypto is going to have to break the ghost again to put back the right pieces

(I wanna thank everybody that somehow read everything, i do apologize if broke my english in some parts, it’s not my first language, also i would appreciate if yall could share my theory. It’s because i worked so hard on it, and it’s probably only going to receive like 10 likes and 3 reblogs. Also if you have a piece of information that could be considered important for my theory, please do let me know)

part 2 here

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cruddyborderlandstheories · 5 years

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Fl4k Fl4k Fl4k Fl4k Fl-

i didn’t die i just fell in love with that skill tree creator and have done nothing for the past few days but make skill trees and sleep for 3 hour intervals. im very excited for the gameplay on Wednesday but oh man oh me oh my i gotta catch up on a lot of posts lol

tl;dr: Fl4k is a badass. Stop misgendering them or I’ll show up at your home at 3am local time every time and then eat your spine. Bonus: Mr. Chew being an ‘Eridian skag’ is probably due to some funky mutation from eridium/slag/eridian stuff. Kinda like how Threshers have the ability to make singularities because they are native to Elpis, which is a big ol’ Eridian base (which i totally addressed in this post lol). I also gave my opinion on Fl4k’s skills in general, if you’re interested in that. Overall, a very awesome trailer! Definitely lived up to the hype.

i said it before, this trailer was one of the best ones. definitely #2 for me, Zane is still at #1 because i actually laughed during it. the music in this one is definitely the best out of all 4 tho. seems like they’re all variations of the same song, i like this one best. I need this soundtrack sooo bad.

also i know probably no one else following this blog watches one piece but like

that first footstep with the studded boot and the sound effect immediately flung me back to katakuri. god katakuri was a badass. i was so excited to see that fight animated.

mr chew spinning around is my favorite thing ever. i love that you can tell the personality of the pets just from watching the intro.

i know fl4k is like a real badass in this trailer, but i get the feeling they’re going to end up being at least a little soft for their pets. i mean... they have stuffed animals of them ffs.

so... we’re near Sanctuary-III in this trailer? I gotta keep my eye out then. i also want to see if that one claptrap area guess i had is correct or not... this looks like an entryway for the garage so im guessing i wasn’t, but let’s seeeee

there is a raised bit up and to the left

also im wondering if this means we’re going to have to rescue ellie from the CoV.

hmmmmmmmm

hmmmmm i don’t think the signs match up.

mr chew is the goodest boy. im so glad we can pet/interact with him!! i want to know what the names of the other pets are

also, a bit off topic but

i could have sworn fl4k’s jabber was cryo/shock. it was blue, wasn’t it? i wonder if they changed it or if it’s skill upgrades change its color. i thought the upgrades just gave it better guns.

yeah it was! i guess possibly upgrading it with the guns gives it a new color scheme? maybe? this could be the gunslinger upgrade!

it looks like their jabber went through the most design changes out of all of the pets. that or this is yet another upgrade (since each pet has 3 states). maybe this is the beefcake version.

‘bitch’. i love how expressive fl4k is with just the eye. very well done.

ohhh you know what that building is in the back?

[we’re near the intro to the game!]*

and tbh i don’t think this place has the building for Ellie’s Scrap in it... i don’t see it anywhere. maybe this is the actual scrapyard and the building is on the other side?

not quite sure tbh. but at least we know this place may also be near sanc-iii, just maybe not the same area as the actual Ellie’s Scrap.

i mean... there IS a shitload of cars everywhere. i wouldn’t surprised if it’s near her garage cause it looks like a scrapyard.

but also where in the fuck are all these ‘normal’ looking cars coming from?? it’s not like we see them being used on pandora. all the ones we see in bl1/2 are clearly dilapidated and rusting. big thonk. at least the vans/busses kinda make sense.

oh yeah that is definitely the same building. [it’s the recruitment center!]*

this scene with the rakk is my favorite out of all the trailers. so fuckin cool

i do hope the jabber goes back to being blue at some point. i like the red design too, don’t get me wrong, but i much prefer the glowy blue. it’s my favorite color and you guys know i love glowing things 👀

<Huge Selection!!!> lol

cat/doggo/monkey. mr chew is my favorite pet but i love the jabber panting like a dog lol

i never knew this is where spiderant mouths were

i always assumed they were below that... f r e a k y

“he likes to chase cars”

fl4k probably took them to the scrapyard for this exact reason ngl. fl4k being a big softie to their pets confirmed

(also, notice how fl4k uses ‘he’ for mr chew. it’s almost as if they understand the concept of gender, chose their own pronouns, and your argument that they only are nonbinary only because they “don’t understand yet” is invalid! Fl4k is canonically nonbinary and uses they/them/theirs pronouns as confirmed by both SungWon Cho and their in-game skills.

Now that you know, use they/them/theirs for Fl4k or get off my blog. Because by not doing so, you are disrespecting the devs’ wishes for this character AND the nonbinary people who find representation in them and I won’t support that. if you feel like arguing your reasons to purposefully misgender them even after knowing this, please DM me so I can block you. thanks!

For those of you out there actually making an effort: mistakes happen, especially if Fl4k is the first NB person you’ve learned about. Just make sure to correct yourself then move on, and we’re okay. Everyone has to learn sometime and it’s better to put in the effort than not care at all. It will become second nature.)

Fl4k is such a badass, they really are way different than i expected (personality-wise), but i am not complaining. gearbox knows me better than i know myself, so i know i’m going to end up loving Fl4k anyway. ProZD did such a fantastic job, i honestly did not recognize him at first! i can tell with certain words now, but wow i am blown away.

i hope we’re able to climb that bird’s nest lookin’ thing in the back. it would be perfect for sniping and/or placing ur clone for maximum coverage.

seriously, what a badass.

idk i feel obligated to give my opinions of Fl4k over here since they were recently released. I am digging them 100%, tho i was kinda surprised (not in a bad way) they’re not as... i guess soft as i was expecting from their character design with the plushes and the face on the backpack and the smiley face pin, but i imagine that’s different when they’re interacting with their pets. im super curious to see how this VH group’s dynamic is going to go.

mechanically, their skills seem perfect for people who loved sniper Zer0 and in general Mordecai, with a splash of Salvador tossed in for good luck. I am a dirty melee Zer0 main and i prefered Phasewalking over Bloodwing (altho i still play mordy bc he’s best bl1 VH) so, while I am definitely going to give Fl4k a go, they’re not my main bl3 Vault Hunter, that’s reserved for Zane and his lovely ability to befuddle enemies and run around. Funnily enough, I’m not even a fan of pet classes, so Fl4k being second in my play order is pretty funny. Tho, yeah, Amara being last is also pretty weird. I guess I don’t necessarily enjoy melee, I just enjoy messing with the bad guys lol

ohh, also, I am most interested in the upgrade for mr. chew that gives him the ability to create singularities and is called ‘Eridian Skag’.

so I’m not saying my theory that the threshers on the moon were connected to Eridians was right, I’m just saying they’re the only form of wildlife we know that has a singularity ability (outside of Mr. Chew, apparently).

im just saying gearbox, you should hire me to write your deep lore for you cause i’d do it for free

im wondering if we’ll be seeing skags with wormhole abilities in bl3. maybe the constant exposure to slag is starting to mutate them further beyond just elemental bonuses (on badass skags). We know Maya’s phaselock has a singularity ability (so does Amara’s phasegrasp), and that is sorta ‘occurring naturally’ (you know, as natural as siren powers can get) unlike the singularity grenades we encounter which use our known technology. plus, uh, whatever happened to the destroyer’s eye in TPS that made it create a singularity/wormhole by injecting it with a fuckload of slag. that probably has something to do with this as well.

but geez i really hope mr. chew is okay with being all slag/eridium-ed up. i guess being badass elemental skags doesn’t appear to hurt them, just make them more powerful, unlike humans. maybe that has something to do with sentience, if slag/eridium/eridian stuff actually is driving bandits crazy. could explain why/if the jabber doesn’t get an element like the skag (eridian skag) and spiderant (fire) do, since they’re described as semi-sentient...

anyway.

Fl4k is cool. Definitely a neat trailer- my second favorite for sure- and the skill tree drop blew me away because i was not expecting it. im expecting a lot of Fl4k mains in the first few weeks of gameplay because they look like a lot of fun!

EDIT: i was wrong, in the newest IGN vid, it turns out we ARE near the recruitment center, because that IS the recruitment center

they gave them little orange flags! good to know!!

#fl4k #borderlands #bl3 #borderlands 3 #fl4k is nonbinary #fl4k uses they/them/their pronouns

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kwispayne · 4 years

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The Top 10 Films Of 2019

Sadly my keep up with film this year wasn't as active as I would have liked it to have been. But I did see a lot of great films. Maybe none that will be in my century list, but there was some great moments throughout. Hopefully I can keep up better this year, but here is my opinion on what I did see

So here is some rules

1.Technically some of these movies have been released in 2018, but some where only released at film festivals or had overseas release. I usually go by the rules of if it was released in cinemas, Netflix or DVD in 2019.

2. This is a personal list. So some opinions are biased and selfish.

3. I haven’t seen every film from this year sadly. So any recommendations or even your top 10 lists would be helpful. I always want to watch more and I have an odd fetish for lists and stuff, so if you have any send me links and stuff.

10. Dragged Across Concrete (S. Craig Zahler)

S. Craig Zahler's films in the past few years have only just keep getting better and better. Also how this guy was able to give careers back to Vince Vaughan & Mel Gibson is a feat if extraordinary skill too. Dragged Across Concrete is a complex story, with a lot of interesting twists and turns, but one of the best skills that Zahler has as a film maker is his ability to set up scenes. He never spoonfeeds his audience, and gives the characters dialogue and scenes that are very lifelike. While this may be his least bloodiest affair, it does have some rather upsetting moments in it which leave a bigger lasting impact than a bloody gore fest.

9. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Quentin Tarantino)

I was a tiny bit let down by Tarantino's last film The Hateful 8. Overall it wasn't the worst, but there was a lot of padding. But, this film has a lot of padding too. But it's padding which I deem necessary. In fact, this level of padding I haven't seen Tarantino do since Jackie Brown. But overall, the film, even though it is slightly based on true events, constantly has the audience guessing what is going to happen, leading to an incredibly leftfield and satisfying climax. The dialogue throughout is at times Tarantino by numbers, but at times he does verge away from what we are used to, which I've got to admit, is an impressive feat by Tarantino so late into his career. Also, big props to Leonardo DiCaprio who deserves an award for his performance in this film.

8. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (Chris Smith)

The movie which launched a thousand memes. Back in the day, documentaries used to fill my lists, but that has died down, because they've been so saturated since the rise of Netflix & Amazon. But, I'm glad to say that this is the example of one that has slipped through the cracks, mainly because the story of this documentary is so insane. A failed music festival that was doomed from day one, spearheaded by a rapper with a lot of hubris and a pied piper entrepreneur. In many ways this movie very much is the perfect parable of today's obsession with capitalism. It's all glitz with no results. Netflix, you've done it again.

7. Lords Of Chaos (Jonas Åkerlund)

Being a fan of metal, the story of this film has been among the metal lore for the past few years. Now...do I believe everything the movie is portraying...no, but the movie does claim that it is based on lies too. But at the heart of it all, I think Åkerlund did get a great theme going. That at the end of the day, the guys involved in this whole affair were just kids. This is a controversial choice I know, but I genuinely loved the choice of shots in the movie, the aesthetics used and I thought out the dialogue throughout was very strong and acted well. So as a film, it's great. As a piece of metal history...not so much.

6. Fighting With My Family (Stephen Merchant)

After being blown away by Florence Pugh in Lady Macbeth, I was surprised to hear that her next project was a comedy film about wrestling. But then I saw that Stephen Merchant was directing and writing it, and my mind was put to rest. Personally I think The Office & Extras are 2 of the best TV shows ever made, so I knew that Stephen could pull of a big Hollywood comedy. But...this has such great British charm in it, that whenever I wasn't laughing I was nearly in tears with the drama. The screen play in this film is fantastic, but Stephen has always been a brilliant writer. The cast in the film is fantastic, but Florence Pugh just blows everyone out of the water. I will talk about her more later.

5. Vice (Adam McKay)

After being shocked by The Big Short, Adam McKay again proves that he has a certain style which was only veily shown in his earlier comedy films. The comedy of this film comes from the twist of what we usually except with films of this calibre, but behind the veneer of Cheney himself, this very much adds to the tone of the film. The obvious elephant in the room is Christian Bale's performance and the changes he made to become the character, which are insane as always, but the actual performance and manner of Cheney is perfectly modeled and may be one of his greatest performances, although I hope for his benefit he just sticks to a fat suit and make up next time he needs to play an older large man. Now this movie isn't the most factually accurate from what I gather, but if it is...wow...McKay has given life to an absolute monster.

4. Midsommar (Ari Aster)

Ari Aster has now made 2 of the best modern horror films. Hopefully he can make it a hat trick. This film blew me away. The psychedelic cult aspect of this movie was dripping from the screen, but it was done is such a bright and vibrant way so it seems to be safe, but it's actually very dangerous. A fantastic cast also drives the film, but Florence Pugh shows up again to prove that she may be the greatest actor that we currently have working at the moment. Jack Reynor is also fantastic in the film and I really hope he gets more work because he is fantastic (he's gorgeous too). Warning to anyone about to watch this film...it gets very freaky.

3. Avengers Endgame (Anthony & Joe Russo)

Ok...again this is mainly just for my own satisfaction. I have been following the Marvel films for a long time, and some of them have actually been able to get their way into my top 10 lists, but this one is different. This movie never would have worked if the studio didn't take their time. And the arc that they have told over the past few years with specific characters in general has come full circle, and the pay off is glorious. Now when it comes to the actual plot of the film and the time travel stuff...yes it is a bit silly, but the concept itself is silly too, so I take it with a pinch of salt, and I only focus on the story we are given. The best performance though comes from Robert Downey Jr., who I believe deserves some sort of award not for this film but for all the Marvel movies he took part in. The build up to Josh Brolin's Thanos is also a fantastic performance. And the climax of this film is one of the most grandiose and epic closers of any superhero movie that we have ever seen.

2. Us (Jordan Peele)

I felt that Get Out was a movie where the concept was brilliant, but the actual execution was lacking. I still enjoyed it, but it was one of those films where people enjoyed it a lot more than I did. But when I saw the trailer for Us, I became very excited, because the trailer made it seem overly creepy to the point where I didn't understand what was going on. So I went in knowing nothing and coming out completely blown away. To think that Jordan Peele directed this, the same guy that made me laugh from his sketches on Key & Peele has directed an incredibly smart, funny and interesting horror film. I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone (obvious joke alert). But this movie would be nothing without the stellar performance from Luptia Nyong'o. This lady deserves a lot of awards and recognition for this role, and I hope she works with the horror genre again, because he is a fantastic scream queen.

1. The Favourite (Yorgos Lanthimos)

Yorgos Lanthimos' films have been an interest of while. With his directorial debut Dogtooth, I was blown away. It was so unique that no one could follow this incredibly odd turgid and absurdist style. He then came back with The Lobster, which I found the idea of more enjoyable than that actual execution of the film itself. And he got closer with The Killing Of A Sacred Deer, but it didn't fully stick to landing. But this is his biggest film. A weird one to chose foe a style of his calibre. A period piece focusing on feminism. How could he keep his style without it distracting the audience too much with the story. But thankfully he found the perfect marriage between the 2. Now, his style did get watered down a bit, but thankfully his absurdist approach hasn't fully evaporated, with some very odd but brilliant use of shots. Acting wise, the film has a fantastic cast, and obvious props should be given to Olivia Coleman who won her Oscar for this role, but Emma Stone & Rachel Weisz also give fantastic performances too, and should be recognized too. I'm glad to see Lanthimos making his acclaimed masterpiece, and am looking forward to his next artistic endeavor.

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redpoet2 · 5 years

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Steven Universe’s Change Your Mind: A Review

I had planned and wrote out a 12 page reaction paper on the episode, like shot for shot my thoughts, and planned to copy/paste it here and add reaction gifs... For some reason Tumblr won’t let me. I have tried twice in the past 2 days, wasting the better part of 2 whole days (I started the minute I finished watching the episode for the first time and have only taken periodic breaks for my sanity).

I don’t want to want to waste my time again by spending all day on it again, only for it to not work and I loose the last strain of sanity i have left. So instead I am just going to give my overall review in parts, in the hopes that this things actually posts, and my more detailed version (minus the gifs) will be lost to time and space.

First things first! The new outfits/forms: - Peridot's form I instantly loved. Her visor and hair are on point! Literally! I love her new outfit, she finally got her stars! I also love that she is basically Static Shock with her levitating trash can lid!

- Lapis’s new form will take some getting use to. I love the look, with the crop top and the baggy pants/sandals. She looks like Aladdin and I’m okay with that. I just have a problem with the gold strings/shoes. I understand why she has the gold and what it is suppose to mean/symbolize. I just have OCD and have a hard time when I see clashing color pallets. This is just an issue I have in general, so I will just have to get use to it.

- Amethyst’s new form is probably my favorite. Her star shorts, her tank with her visible gem window, its so her! The color palate is also the best she has had, I hope she keeps this form for awhile but knowing Amethyst she probably won’t have this for long.

- Pearl’s new form is very cute and very simple. I like her new shoulder pad like jacket, it’s even got a star on the back! Those skinny jeans are also very cool!!!

- Okay confession time. I am fine with Garnet’s new form except for the visor/shades. Don’t get me wrong I love the shape, it’s just that color clashes with the rest of her. I know its similar to her gauntlets, but to be honest that part has always bugged me as well. I will get use to them eventually, it just might take time, just like with Lapis.

Next let’s cover the new fusions: - Rainbow Quartz 2.0: This is so important, this was the only fusion we know of that took place between Rose and another single Gem! (Again that we know of) So seeing this new form with Steven is so big!!!! And it didn’t disappoint! I love everything about them. They are basically a queer Mary Poppins and I love everything about them! I love their rainbow powered umbrella. I love their puns. I even love that they are voiced by a boy!

- Sun Stone: Holy crap. They are a Flaming Cheeto with sunglasses… and a walking embodiment of every 90’s “Cool Kid’s Cartoon” cliché, right down to the fourth wall breaking…. I love them!

But suction cups as a weapon? Really?

- Obsidian:

Where do I even begin? This is the first on screen appearance of the Temple Fusion in real life! Like this is a big deal! Okay, first off let’s talk about the 4-way fusion dance! Garnet with her hand movements and hips. Steven just mash potato-ing is adorable. Pearl is elegant as ever with those ballet moves. Amethyst fist bumping and rocking her hips as well. All forming a pyramid! Awesome!

Then when they all fused and started to form Obsidian, and all those arms started forming I was getting super excited! And then we got to see her (or Them since Steven is a part of the fusion) and she does not disappoint. She is basically a gem version of Ta Ka from Moana and I love everything about her! Also THAT SWORD!

The Diamond Reformations:

- Blue’s reformation was the first and easiest. She was closest with Pink, and after Steven showed her how miserable she and the other Diamonds made Pink, how much Blue made Pink cry, I knew she was going to reform. I also love that Blue stood up to Yellow and even called Steven by his real name, not joking like before. But maybe I am bias, she is MY diamond after all.... #MyDiamond

- Yellow’s was next and I knew she’d be a tough one but once Steven and Blue got through to her she crumbled easier than Blue.

I will however say that when she called Steven by his real name, the moment didn’t feel as earned as Blue’s. It should have been given a bit more time, or at least shown Steven’s reaction like when Blue did it.

- I knew White would take the longest, she is a toxic abusive parent and its very hard to get them to stop being abusive, let alone admit that they are abusive. Her taking control of the diamonds and the crystal gems was bad enough, but when she PULLED OUT Steven’s gem, I was about ready to never forgive her.

I was dead set on her needing to be poofed or something, but no. Steven did the unthinkable, he got through to her. How? By throwing shade at her! That come back was straight out of the pilot, like DAMN!

Also can we just take the time to reflect on how utterly creepy a lot of this episode was.... like nightmare fuel creepy...

The Ending:

- When this special started I honestly didn’t think we’d make it back to Earth in one piece, let alone redeem all the diamonds and cure corruption. Like yeah the ending felt more like a series finale and if they canceled Season 6 and we just had the movie left I would be okay.

We have a few unanswered things, but the big important stuff got resolved so I am not exactly sure where to go from here....

What’s Next:

- We Still don’t know what is in the chest in Lion’s mane! - All the corrupted gems are healed so now we can do stories around them! - The original Pink Pearl is no longer being controlled by White. She is free, and we still don’t know how her eye was damaged. - Speaking of we still don’t know much of Pearl’s backstory before she was given to Pink Diamond/Rose. - Jasper is uncorrupted but that doesn’t mean her redemption arc is over, it hasn’t even started. - Lars is back on earth with the Off Colors so we can do some stories around that, like more on their backstories, interactions with the crystal gems, exploring earth, etc. - How are the Diamonds made? Who made them? Was Pink an off-color or intended to be that color. - We don’t know what happened to Russia in this world - More lore on the Gem constructions on earth, like especially that Geode Storm thing from season 1. - Since Lapis is back and now a crystal gem, she and peridot need to fuse. - In fact all the remaining gems need to fuse with Steven at least once and with each other! We need more fusions okay?! - Speaking of fusions Greg needs to fuse with Steven at some point as well. - Era 3 has began. Is Homeworld going to stop their evil ways? Will gems get treated better? Will there be a civil war on Homeworld? Was Escapism foreshadowing for season 6 and beyond? - The rose quartz’s in the bubbles at the zoo need to be freed. The Humans too. - We need to learn Lion’s backstory. How did he “Die” and did Rose know she could bring him back? Also is Lars now going to get powers like Lion? Is Lars immortal now? - Mystery Girl needs to come back. - We need to see Sapphire and Ruby’s new forms, so we need an episode where they come out again, hopefully just to be cute and show off, not because they’re mad at something/someone. - We need to rebuild the barn or Uncle Andy is going to be pissed. - We have Lars’s ship AND Pink Diamond’s legs. We can travel to other colonies and parts of space unknown. I could go on and on but I think I’ve made my point.

This finale was cosmic. Beyond anything the show has done before. Now begins the long wait for the movie! I hope we get an actual trailer soon. Or just some more information on it, like the villain, or if this takes place before or after season 5. Things like that.

#steven universe #change your mind #spoilers #review #gif

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winteriron-trash · 6 years

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Ok, so that fanfic questions ask meme? You wanna do ALL OF THEM?!

YES, LET’S DO IT, HERE WE GO, PREPARE YOURSELF I’m copy and pasting answers I’ve already done just so I don’t have to retype them and there’s a break because god this got long. I might link this on my About Me post, cause holy shit I spent time on this

1. What was the first fandom you got involved in?

Actual fandom? Probably DC. That’s when I started reading fanfiction and really poked my head around online communities dedicated to media and all.

2. What is your latest fandom?

I don’t know, probably Marvel? Maybe Riverdale, but I was a fan of the comics before so

3. What is the best fandom you’ve ever been involved in?

If I’m assuming this question is about the actual fandom and not the source material and the people in the fandom and its community as a whole? Probably the Percy Jackson fandom. Not really into it anymore so I don’t know the state of it now, but it was a pretty wholesome and positive community. Any community that calls it’s creator “Uncle Rick” has gotta be pretty dope.

4. Do you regret getting involved in any fandoms?

Oh lord save my soul for admitting I like this, but definitely Five Nights at Freddy’s. The indie gaming, creepypasta, underground subculture as a whole is something I regret getting into. Don’t get me wrong, I usually love the source material, but the fandom is just so bad. You probably know what I’m talking about, the fangirls who insist they’re insane and are in love with Slenderman or something.

But specifically on FNaF, lord, I don’t even know what the fandom is anymore. It’s a meme, a fetish, and a hellspace all at once. And I’m not gonna fucking lie, I’ve been in this hellhole long before any of that. Like, I can’t even try to escape it, I’m in it for the long haul. I was just someone who joined for the lore and now we’re here with fucking casual bongos and trash gang and fuck I didn’t ask for this. I can’t escape. I know so fucking much about the franchise it hurts my fucking soul. I remember when the FNaF 2 trailer came out and we were all micro-analyzing London Bridge Is Falling Down. I remember when Springtrap didn’t have a name and we called that fucking Spring Bonnie or Golden Bonnie. I survived that era and I have PTSD from it, trust me. I remember when we were naive enough to think FNaF 3 was the last game. I know what channels were born and what channels died because of that series. I know it all.

I’m sorry, I got off topic. BUT I DON’T GET TO FUCKING RANT ABOUT IT ENOUGH, FUCKING FUCKSHIT

Oh, and a lot of bandoms I was in too. I went through an alt phase where I’d only listen to shit like BVB, BMTH, MCR, PTV, SWS, and so on. Once again, that sort of fandom was the same as the indie/creepypasta in being ‘different’ and ‘insane’ and all that and I was no different. I was a weird fucking kid when I was like 13. I regret all of it.

5. Which fandoms have your written fanfiction for?

Marvel, DC, and a couple Riverdale.

6. List your OTP from each fandom you’ve been involved in.

Not in many fandoms but

Marvel - WinterIronDC - SuperbatStar Trek Voyager - Captain Janeway/Seven of NinePercy Jackson - Solangelo

7. List your NoTPs from each fandom you’ve been in.

Marvel - Stucky, Stuckony, Romanogers, Clintasha, any incest ones, (save me for admitting this) SpideypoolDC - Any batboys shipped together, Bruce/Talia

And I don’t really have NOTPs for my other fandoms? Marvel and DC are really the only two things I’m invested in the fandom of. I guess you could count Wincest as well for Supernatural.

8. How did you get involved in your latest fandom?

What even is my latest fandom? Um, we’ll just say Marvel because I’m really not into joining fandoms much anymore. Honestly, I was a big DC fan who felt the need to hate Marvel because no shit. Eventually, I just got sick of the absolute shit movies DC had and I decided I had nothing to lose by just watching Iron Man. When I watched it I realized “wow, superhero movies can actually be good???” and I just binged the entire MCU in one month and was ready to see the next movie in theatres and I think I’ve seen every single MCU movie in theatres since Civil War? Definitely since Homecoming. I gave up on DC movies. The new Aquaman looks like shit, I’m so fucking pissed they redid Mera’s look when she looked perfectly fucking fine before and now she’s oversexualized and it’s gross. I’m excited for the new DC Batwoman TV show because I HAVE BEEN WAITING TO SEE A LIVE ACTION BATWOMAN SINCE THE DAWN OF FUCKING TIME

9. What are the best things about your current fandom?

Probably the Tony Stark Defense Squad. As a collective whole, I think the Defense Squad is one of the sweetest, nicest corners of the fandom. We’re incredibly kind to each other, write great meta and fic, and it’s just a great community. Of course, there are assholes, but you know.

I might get flamed for saying this, but also the HYDRA Trash Party corner of the fandom is actually really nice? Like, they understand consent and abuse aftermath and all the real shit better than the rest of the fandom, not gonna lie. Like, for as dark as the fic is you’d expect the people to be fucking nasties, but I have never met a rude HTP enthusiast. Or even one who’s unaware of how consent and whump work. They’re all very aware and kind. It’s bizarre, considering the source material. They get an awful rep though.

10. Is there a fandom you read fic from but don’t write in?

Literally any fandom I’m in besides Marvel and DC. I think I wrote like 2 Riverdale fics. Getting into reading fanfic and getting into writing fanfic are two entirely different ballparks. I don’t really read that much fanfic anyway, especially not anymore. I read Marvel and DC, but even then. I think it’s hard because sometimes you can’t switch off the whole ‘reading like a writer’ thing. That’s why I enjoy classic literature. I’m a slut for some good ass prose and symbolism.

11. Who is your current OTP?

WinterIron, of ducking course.

12. Who is your current OT3?

I’m not really a fan of OT3s, to be honest, I find I’m personally pretty weak with writing poly relationships and I don’t really enjoy reading them because one character is usually focused on a lot more than the other two. But if I had to pick, I would say T’Challa/M’Baku/Bucky only because I am solely responsible for the creation of that abomination and you have no idea how much people begged me for a series after the first one, it astounded me.

13. Any NoTPs?

As before listed, Stucky, Stuckony, Spideypool, Clintasha, Romanogers

14. Go on, who are your BroTPs?

IronWidow is my top BroTP, but I also like WinterWidow as a BroTP. Stucky is good as a BroTP too, as well as Tony & Rhodey.

15. Is there an obscure ship which you love?

Literally any ship I have. Yall I’ve been here since WinterIron was obscure. But to name a specific one I’m just gonna go with Pietro/Tony. I don’t know, I just had an idea I was writing for them and I was thinking about how much missed out potential there was between them. And with Pietro as a whole, but you know. Marvel has to kill off the only good Maximoff they had.

Oh, Natasha/Pepper too, but they aren’t as obscure, I guess.

16. Are their any popular ships in your fandom which you dislike?

Stucky, clearly.

17. Who was your first OTP and are they still your favourite?

Stony, and no. They fell apart for me, at least MCU-wise.

18. What ship have you written the most about?

By now, WinterIron, I believe. I recently passed my count of fics for Superbat.

19. Is there a ship which you wished you could get behind, but you just don’t feel them?

Pepperony, probably. I think it’s actually a cute and sweet ship and I like their in-canon moments, but I just can’t get behind reading fanfic of them? It never works out for me, I don’t really get it. It sucks because I do enjoy seeing their cute moments.

20. Any ships which you surprised yourself by liking?

I’ll do a different answer I thought of besides the first time I answered this. But Thruce was a big shocker for me. I didn’t even think about it during Ragnorak but then I saw an incorrect quote for it and I was like? Oh? This? This is a good, pure ship right here. The funny thing is, I actually wrote a fic with them as a side ship long before they hit it big so like, I was shocked when they came out of nowhere. But hey, I’m fucking here for it. I’ll probably never write it, but I’m here for it.

21. What was the first fanfic you ever wrote?

Goodnight, My Angel. It was a Superbat fic and really sad, but I still love it.

22. Is there anything you regret writing?

Probably... You Deserve Love And You’ll Get It. No, I won’t link it because I hate it that much. I’m not even gonna talk about it. It’s my most popular fic too why

23. Name a fic you’ve written that you’re especially fond of & explain why you like it.

Super dorky, but The (Un)Wanted Kiss. It’s my first finished chapter fic, and the first chaptered fic I did on Tumblr and it just brings me a lot of nostalgia. It reminds me of where I was as a writer when I started it and it was an entire fic spawned from people wanting more of a simple 500-word prompt and that just blows my mind. It reminds me of the power of fans and how much love and support I got from it. It really kicked me off as a “serious fanfic writer” I think.

24. What fic do you desperately need to rewrite or edit?

All You Are Is All I Need. That is a hot fucking mess. Probably The Red Halo too.

25. What’s your most popular fanfic?

*sigh* You Deserve Love And You’ll Get It

26. How do you come up with your fanfic titles?

I bullshit my way through them. My most recent fics have actually followed a trend of being named after songs.

27. What do you hate more: Coming up with titles or writing summaries?

Summaries. I always make them so fucking corny, I hate it.

28. If someone were to draw a piece of fanart for your story, which story would it be and what would the picture be of?

One Foot In Front Of The Other, probably. Just because I want more fem!WinterIron fanart. I can’t say what scene because spoilers but.... yeah, anything from that would be great, really.

29. Do you have a beta reader? Why/Why not?

Sort of. I make some of my friends like Pizza read over my shit before I post it, but that’s not often, only when I think I need it. I don’t just because I write a lot and I’d feel bad for constantly annoying someone with making them read everything I write. I hate inconveniencing people.

30. What inspires you to write?

The better question is what doesn’t. I never stop thinking like a writer. My brain forgot how to turn off that feature.

31. What’s the nicest thing someone has ever said about your writing?

Ummmm, I can’t think of an exact thing? I get so many beyond sweet comments and messages, it’s hard to pin down one comment. I think if I had to pick, I once got a message from someone on Tumblr who was old enough to be my mother complimenting me and telling me I didn’t write like a teenager and I think that was really sweet.

32. Do you listen to music when you write or does music inspire you? If so, which band or genre of music does it for you?

Yes, yes, yes, yes. And honestly, any genre. I listen to everything. Everything. But specifically, Emilie Autumn has inspired a lot ideas/fics I’ve written.

33. Do you write oneshots, multi-chapter fics or huuuuuge epics?

All of the above.

34. What’s the word count on your longest fic?

Around 23k, I think?

35. Do you write drabbles? If so, what do you normally write them about?

Yes, and whatever I get prompted for, really.

36. What’s your favourite genre to write?

For fanfiction, I guess romance? I mean, that’s really all my fanfiction is. Otherwise, I’ll write quite literally any genre I feel like. I go wherever an idea takes me. I’m character based, not genre or plot based.

37. First person or third person - what do you write in and why?

Third. I fucking despise 1st person. I just do. That’s an entire rant we ain’t here for today.

38. Do you use established canon characters or do you create OCs?

Usually canon characters. I only use an OC when I absolutely have to, to make the plot do the plot stuff.

39. What is you greatest strength as a writer?

Nothing. My writing sucks. All of it is shit.

40. What do you struggle the most with in your writing?

Everything. I screech the most about pacing and sentence structures though.

41. List and link to 5 fanfics you are currently reading:

Most of these are actually on my to-read list but whatever.

Winter's End by ali_aliska Winter is Coming (aka Fifty First Avengers Dates) by 27dragons, tisfan My Love is Vengeance by seikaitsukimizu The caged Hawk by asamandra Fertile Ground by 27dragons, tisfan

42. List and link to 5 fanfiction authors who are amazing:

27dragons tisfanChiaki_Hamano arianapeterson19 thepartyresponsible

43. Is there anyone in your fandom who really inspires you?

Not really? I’m not knocking any of the other ‘big names’ in the Marvel fandom, but I don’t really draw inspiration from other fanfic writers. Not for plot, and definitely not for writing style. I get inspiration from fanart I see sometimes, but it’s never one main artist who I stalk to be inspired, just whatever I happen across online.

44. What ship do you feel needs more attention?

WinterIron, duh. I will not rest until WinterIron is the biggest ship in the Marvel fandom.

45. What is your all time favourite fanfic?

I’ve mentioned this fic before and honestly, it hasn’t been topped yet, but In the Company of Monsters by Chiaki_Hamano. It’s not even a Marvel fic, and it’s not even a ship I like, but god, I fucking adore it. I’d love to write something like it, but with WinterIron if I had the time, I think the entire world and setting would fit WinterIron beautifully.

46. If someone was to read one of your fanfics, which fic would you recommend to them and why?

Well, that all depends on what they’re looking for in my fanfiction. If they’re looking for WinterIron, I’d probably tell them to start with The (Un)Wanted Kiss just because that’s one of my most loved fics and I think I did really well with it. But if they just want a general fic, A Great Connection is one I’m really proud of and I still get gushing feedback about.

47. Archive Of Our Own, Fanfiction.net or Tumblr - where do you prefer to post and why?

For just writing fanfic, Ao3. Tumblr can be a pain in the ass, and I don’t even use ff.net.

48. Do you leave reviews when you read fanfiction? Why/Why not?

Yes. But only if 1, I really, really loved it or 2, I don’t think the fic has enough attention. It also helps if the writer responds to comments. I don’t see the significance of saying “I loved this!” if the fic has dozens of other comments saying the same thing. As a writer, I know what comments writers prefer. Longer ones, deep comments pointing out what things they liked, and so on. However if I write a comment that long, I like to get a response because you know, I love seeing the writer talking about the elements of the story I liked.

49. Do you care if people comment/reblog your writing? Why/why not?

Not really, to be perfectly honest. Yes, I love and cherish every kudos and note I get, and the sweet comments make me want to die of joy. But I write for me. Even when I take prompts, in the end, I write because it makes me happy. Yes, I love the validation. But even without it, I would still write. I do not write fanfiction for you, I share fanfiction with you. There’s a difference. Writing makes me happy. If I only cared about the validation, I wouldn’t have a folder reserved of fics I’ll never post but I wrote just because I wanted to. I write to write. The moment I start writing for validation, I might as well stop writing, because it’s not worth it.

50. How did you get into reading and/or writing fanfiction?

Ummmm I think I was just curious? I was new to internet culture, I saw fanart of Superbat and I discovered Ao3 and was like “wow, this stuff exists??? Words for free????? About my favourite characters being happy and dating each other??????????” and it was a downward spiral. I was like, 11 when I read my first fanfiction. I was obsessed with Superbat fanart, and I thought, what would it hurt to try actually reading it? Like, that was so taboo to me. And now we’re here. Tadaaaaaah

51. Rant or Gush about one thing you love or hate in the world of fanfiction! Go!

Oh, a chance to ramble. Yay. I’m gonna rant because I’m a rant-y person.

I think something that annoys me about fanfiction is not necessarily a probably within fanfiction, but rather the outward view of it. Fanfic has an awful rep within the real world. The one-time fanfiction really took centre stage was when Fifty Shades came out, which only hurt the platform by furthering the stereotype that it’s all porn made for horny freaks who just want to get off.

I should not be ashamed to say I write fanfiction. I should not feel childish saying it to myself. No one should. At least half of my ‘fans’ are nearly a decade or more older than me. It’s clearly not something that’s immature or silly. Of course, it can be, but any hobby can be dumbed down to a kiddy version.

But fanfiction at its core is ignored for what it really is. When adults talk about fanfiction they belittle it and only see a tiny subsection of it, ignoring what it’s supposed to be about. It’s about creating transformative works for media you’re passionate about.

Fanfiction gets a worse rep than other transformative works such as fanart or whatever. Writing as a whole does. Fanfic is painted as this utter trash.

I’ve read fanfiction that made me cry, laugh, feel shit. I’ve read fanfiction that tackled heavy topics. Even on a sexual standpoint, I’ve read fanfiction that was willing to write erotica that published authors wouldn’t fucking touch. Both in a kink sense, but also in terms of how the relationship functions. I’ve read shitty fanfictions, sure. But I’ve read fanfictions that were better than 90% of the published books I’ve read. Even fanfics I didn’t like.

To put fanfiction into perspective, the average YA novel (the age group fanfiction is generally but not always aimed at) is 70k words. I’ve read fanfiction that blows that word count out of the water. And it takes fucking skill to write something that long. It’s not just writing a bunch of porn or cute scenes, that takes serious world building and character arcs.

Fanfiction kills so many tropes that are common in YA and literature in general. I read a YA after reading nothing but fanfiction for a long time and I was fucking appalled? It was a popular YA too. I won’t name what one because you could literally imagine anyone and it’d probably fit. The characters were flat, the romance was outright manipulative and toxic, the plot was dull, even the writing itself was bland. This was the type of book years ago I would’ve loved. But compared to most (of course, not all. Shit exists, but I think in fanfiction, we’re able to better filter out the shit) fanfictions, it was fucking trash.

When I started reading fanfiction, I assumed it’d lower my standards. The first time I picked up an actual novel I was relieved, excited to not have to deal with the problems that are in unpublished writings. But I quickly realized it was the complete opposite. Fanfiction threw my expectations through the roof. I expect fiction to include representation, fresh plots, interesting characters, thrilling romances, and decent fucking sex scenes if they’re there. But it just wasn’t there. It all fell flat. As someone seriously into the writing and reading community I hear so often that it’s hard for plots to be original and you shouldn’t judge on originality, but then I read fanfiction written by fucking teenagers that’s fucking mind-blowing with plot twists and original ideas, and I have to wonder is it really that hard? It’s clearly doable, you just have to take away the fanfiction part.

I have YA novels sitting on my sheld I know I’ll never read and enjoy because fanfiction just made my expectations too high. Which is good in a sense because I pray some of these amazing writers, when they get older will go on to write mind-blowing original novels and I hope that this generation of writers will put out great literature in ten to fifteen years, but for now I’m just… underwhelmed. I think it’s why I read a lot of classic literature too. Shit was better back then.

And yet despite all that, fanfiction is still made to look like shit in the modern media. It sucks so badly for fanfiction writers not to look like serious writers. I could publish one book, have it get the amount of attention my biggest fanfic got and be considered a serious author. My biggest fanfiction currently has 40k notes on Tumblr. Imagine if that were a published short story. It’d be a fucking hit. And there are others that make my numbers look small. And yet it’s brushed aside as unimpactful.

I think a lot of that stems from the fact that fanfic writers do generally start out younger. I’m 16. Others either are or were my age. But age does not equate to skill in writing. Sure, that is a factor, but it is not the entire story. I know a 14 yr old who writes some of the best prose I have ever seen. And even if younger fic writers aren’t on level yet, fanfiction is what’s helping them grow as a writer. But because we’re teenagers, we’re turned away just because of that. Even more specifically because we’re teenage girls (for the most part, I’m not saying other genders and/or age groups aren’t writing/reading fanfic) and we all know how society feels about them. It’s just a fucking shame that fanfiction can’t be respected for the legitimate form of writing it is because of the stigma. I’ve seen fanfic writers say they aren’t real writers because of the stigma, it’s awful. We feel the need to tear ourselves down for an admirable hobby. I can’t say my favourite book is a fanfiction I read, when I has every right to be a valid answer.

We’ll cut this ramble off here because wow I really went on didn’t I.

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wakraya · 7 years

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Hiveswap: The Theorizening

Having finished Hiveswap, there’s a lot of different things going through my head at once, thoughts, theories, characters, so I’ll try to not mix things together! That being said, as theories tend to be, Spoiler Warning under the cut! Also sadly I won’t be able to post images in it quite yet since they’re not too easily available around right now, will probably have to wait until some Youtube Video pops up with the gameplay/cutscenes. Without further ado!

Grandpa Harley - There’s a lot that has been revealed about Grandpa in the first half of Act 1, before moving to Alternia. He’s an absent father, and his absence obviously affects Joey a lot. She doesn’t like to blame herself for him not being there, and thus channels this as well deserved anger towards him, specially as she cannot relate to him in the slightest with his disdain for animal life. However, I noticed a few things Joey mentions. He’s been coming back home less and less ever since his wife died, and having ‘vacations to the Pacific Ocean’. I don’t know what’s going through that moustached head of his, but Jake didn’t come across the Frog Temple by mere chance, he actively seeked it for years before bumping into it. Where did he learn about it? What’s going on? Also the basement is full of Crockercorp Tools, old, but still present there. Is there some mind control and manipulation going on perhaps? Jane had to bear with the Baroness for a long while before she straight up faded, but Jake just ‘left her’, perhaps Crockercorp things reminded him of his departed sister? For all the hoarding and aimless adventuring we always thought he did, it seems like he does have a goal. That being said, the obsession doesn’t excuse his neglect for his family or being a shitty parent and being absolutely crazy but, yeah. There’s something deeper going on with him, and I’ll be glad to explore this facet of him on Hauntswitch.

A. Claire - She’s dead. From the very first moment you start the game, in the very first room, you get heavy clues that she’s already dead. However, while I thought A. Claire was nothing more than ‘Joey’s Mom’ before, after playing through the game I can’t help but feel there’s something more to it. She had the Key. The Key was a ‘Heirloom’ she stored in her jewelry box? Or did it appear there afterwards? Joey heavily associates it to her, and with Grandpa’s obsession of tracking down the Frog Temple growing stronger after she died, I have to wonder if there’s something more going on with her. How did she die, exactly? What was she hiding? Again, something really interesting to have in mind for Hauntswitch.

Tetrarch Dammek - Wow. I don’t think any of us expected him to be such a dick. Look at that name, too- Tetrarch Dammek. Tetrarch is basically ‘one of four rulers’, and I believe Xefros alludes to there being another 3 Tetrarchs within the resistance. With him gone, the power structure of the Rebellion is shaking, and now Trizza will make her move- They have to make do, and they’re very likely going to have to get Joey to help them. Back to Dammek himself though, Tetrarch is ALSO an 8-Letter title, like Adults on Alternia seem to use. The Tetrarch. Along with his ideals and how he treats Xefros, it seems that he’s living a sort of Highblood Power Fantasy of Leadership and Control to bring Trizza down. If we’re supposed to care about him, Jude/Roxy are very likely going to shove him in the right direction. Maybe without his guns and in an alien planet, he shows his true colors, scared, defenceless, with no one backing him up- And he learns to be a better person before going back to Alternia. I sure hope so.

Xefros Tritoh - Sweet cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too PURE. I fell in love the moment Joey started to talk with him, poor thing has been pretty much brainwashed. It puts in perspective just how shitty Rustbloods REALLY have it on Alternia, and makes me wonder if Aradia’s complacency comes from this too. Like... It’s not just that it’s her thing, she was ‘0kay’ with things, but rather just a... Grim outlook on not being able to do anything about her situation. “That’s fine. It’s how things are.” That being said, Joey came to the rescue quite unexpectedly, I didn’t think she’d lash out against Dammek like that and I’m VERY glad she did! I still think Dammek has a chance of redemption on Earth, but what he’s done to Xefros is intolerable, and I’ll be glad to see his confidence AND his psychic skills develop over time as he journeys with Joey through Alternia to bring down the Empress!

Doc Scratch - We have little information about him so far. There was the delivery to Xefros but that’s about it. That was incredibly creepy. Someone also mentioned the Hint System sounded a bit like Scratch- But I’m not quite sure since I never clicked the ? Button, I might check it at a later date. For now, his involvement seems to be pretty tame, but if he’s pulling the strings behind Trizza, it’s been a nice little cameo so far.

Trizza Tethis - What a bitch. I love her. We didn’t see much about her, but we heard more about how awful she is, and got that one last image at the end. “Wish you were here”, what a piece of shit. Who was she saying it to? The other members of the resistance perhaps?

Axolotl - We actually did get a little bit teased about that! The painting in the hallway had what, to me, looked like Aztec representations of the Grimalkin, the Sloth and the Axolotl, which is very interesting. Foreshadowing? Or perhaps something more? There was also a weird tapestry in the Trophy Room I can’t quite remember, but it could be something really interesting to analyse at a later date.

Biggest Fan - I’m assuming Xefros and Joey are going to see Cridea at the end of the game. Maybe? The only other option I can think of is the Rebel Marshall. I believe they said their biggest fan was a ‘she’, unless I’m thinking wrong, otherwise it could be Fiamet too! (Wait is Fiamet a guy? I actually think I just assumed he was a guy because the Axolotl from Animal Crossing is a guy. God dammit, it could really be anyone huh? What a mess). Whoever it is, given he mentioned it’s a ‘Fan’, I doubt it’ll be another Tetrarch.

Tetrarchs - The leaders of the Rebellion. Dammek was one of them. I wonder if Cridea or Fiamet are Tetrarchs too. Who knows, maybe the Canon Fantrolls are Tetrarchs! That would be an interesting plot twist wouldn’t it? I’m assuming Fiamet IS one, merely based on the fact he has the power of the Green Sun on his side. Too valuable and powerful of an asset to NOT be a leader.

Alternia - We’ve gotten a few glimpses at life in Alternia! Lo and behold, it just so happens that Hellworld is EVEN WORSE than I thought from the canon! Even with Trizza being excessive in her killings, it just feels like absolutely no one cares about Rustbloods and lives of the lower bloods can be taken for like, anything at all. Seems like there are contests that can change people’s lives however, like the music one Xefros and Dammek seemed to want to attend, that would either give them a life of ‘luxury’, or death. There was a comment on how it took SWEEPS for Scythian to deliver something to Rustbloods, which means that apparently you MUST register your caste on literally EVERYTHING online. Another interesting fact, aside from the Stickball sports which seems a mixture of Rugby, Quidditch and Pool, Xefros mentions Rustblood Dead Communion, and also Blueblood posh attitude and crushing strength, making it canon that, yeah, those kind of powers aren’t actually genetic oddities but are commonplace among castes! Of course comparing Aradia’s telekinesis with Xefros’, it’s obvious some Trolls may be better gifted than others, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some outright lack them. Still, interesting.

Jude - He’s still convinced that the figures are behind this, but something the previews and trailers didn’t mention is that he believes the figures are after the portal. In the same vein, on Alternia, the interviews said that Trizza wants to get her hands on the portal too, which after driving Joey and Xefros away is incredibly easy. Seems like the villains of both games are after this thing, whatever it is. I thought Jude would be nervous and shaky and scared, but NOPE, he’s fucking ready, he’s been ready all his life to take those things down, and I think that’s kind of impressive. Still a dork though.

Joey - Poor thing knows nothing about Alternia, and it’s hilarious to see how confused and grossed out she is through the game. I wonder if she’ll have to eat bugs at some point. I hope she has to eat bugs at some point. She’s so pure too. I like how at the end, Xefros blushed grabbing at her, but she just flashed a little, comfortable smile. I ship Xefros <> Joey already, and feel like, given how her orientation has been leaning so far with the paintings and statues in the Harley Household, she’s totally gonna fall in love with some blueblood lady. Watch her blush when Cridea enters the scene.

The Portal - God this fucking THING. Up in the attic I tried to see if I could see the God Tier’s symbol next to the portal, but it was too difficult. I think it was somewhat round? It might’ve been Mind? But I might’ve just imagined things too, who even knows. The portal itself though, I did NOT expect it to be artificial. It’s not just a structure someone found. Jude has Blueprints. And on Alternia, the more futuristic looking version is also built and has Blueprints. Xefros calls it a ‘weapon’ but he also obviously has no idea what it does, meaning Dammek likely has some more idea about it, just like Joey does. Did they build it? was it some attempt to contact both words? Can a built structure actually be a Juju? I have so, so many questions about that thing and I hope the game solves all of them eventually. But for now, there’s just not enough information to determine anything. It’s soooo weird.

Those are my thoughts on the lore the game added upon so far. We’ll see how things go as more things about Hiveswap and Act 2 start to pop up!

#Hiveswap #Homestuck #Upd8 #Hiveswap Spoilers #HS Spoilers #Spoilers #Hiveswap Theory #Theory #Thoughts #Infodump

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daleisgreat · 4 years

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Last Action Hero

Today’s entry will result in one of the quickest turnaround times of an older movie in my backlog box yet. A couple weeks ago I noticed Uproxx posted an article on how 1993’s Last Action Hero (trailer) was way ahead of its time (click or press here for the Uproxx piece). Once I noticed this story I tracked down a BluRay copy of it off Amazon and promptly watched it within 24 hours of its delivery. I did not read the Uproxx entry yet, but I will after I finish proofing this entry to prevent it from altering my current thoughts I am about to deliver and will post a little addendum at the end of this look back at Last Action Hero for some extra insight on how my take compares with Uproxx’s. I cannot remember how many times I watched Last Action Hero as a kid, but my gut tells me it may be near the double digits. Our family had the HBO and Starz movie channels as part of our cable package back then, and the way those channels primarily were programmed back then was a specific amount of newer and older movies were highlighted each month, and they would play each movie once every day or two to the best of my recollection. I remember being stoked for Last Action Hero. The turnaround time on movies from the theater back then in the early 90s was it would take about five to six months after the cinema release for a film to hit Pay-Per-View and home video. Several months later, or roughly a year after release it would hit the premium cable movie channels like HBO, Starz and Cinemax in their original form. Another year or two after that it would be available for local and basic cable channels, but usually in an edited and censored/FCC friendly format. Our family could only afford trips to the theater and video rentals so many times a year, so if we missed a movie in either of those formats and it wound up on HBO/Starz it was kind of a guilty pleasure in my childhood boredom days to pick an anticipated movie like Last Action Hero and watch it as many times as possible the first month it was available.

I have not seen it since then however when I was 11 and have not thought much about it since LAH is not as highly regarded as other Arnold Schwarzenegger classics even though it hit at the tail end of Arnold’s prime (which I consider to be from 1984’s original Terminator through 1994’s True Lies). When it hit theaters in 1993 I remember a ton of hype for it getting ubiquitous advertising and the requisite hot-summer-movie-licensed videogame and pinball table. The pinball table is part of the many licensed tables included in Pinball Arcade on PS4 which I also played a few rounds of before diving into the movie. In 1993 Arnold was the big name action star fresh off his Terminator 2 success. He also dabbled in the occasional comedy like Kindergarten Cop and Jingle All the Way. LAH marked Arnold’s first action comedy however. Schwarzenegger portrays big name action movie star ‘Jack Slater.’ Danny (Austin O’Brien) is Slater’s #1 fan on top of being a middle school film guru where he routinely cuts class to catch flicks at the local cinema where he is best friends with the old-timer projectionist there, Nick (Robert Prosky). Daniel is promised by Nick an after-hours exclusive showing of the wildly anticipated Jack Slater IV. To celebrate the special showing, Nick gives Danny a special ‘magical’ movie ticket that Nick states he got from legendary magician Houdini himself as a kid, but was too afraid to use it. Through cinema magic, the ticket activates and Danny is warped into the movie world of Jack Slater IV as his new reality when he winds up magically transported into the backseat of Slater’s ride in the middle of a cliché action movie car chase.

Danny is thrilled being immersed in an action movie world filled with the clichés and tropes of the genre that he gleefully points out and references past film lore to help Jack track down his latest bad guy. Slater has none of it and takes in Danny in for questioning. Slater’s over-the-top-gruffy captain, Dekker (Frank McRae) is impressed with Danny’s knowledge and makes him Slater’s new partner. Slater begrudgingly works together with Danny to track down Slater’s current most wanted baddie, Benedict (Charles Dance). The film unravels from there in a world jam-packed with the aforementioned clichés that Danny constantly breaks the fourth wall by showing off his action movie fandom by pointing out how all the women in this universe are hyper-sexualized, indulging Slater’s gratuitous one-liners, how Slater instantly pops up from battles unscathed and how the bad guy stereotypically monologues too long to give Slater a chance to make the heroic comeback. 11 year-old-Dale was the perfect target age for LAH when I first saw it in 1994. I experienced the filmed vicariously through Danny and I was right there with Danny for how wicked it would be to magically transport alongside your movie hero in his latest summer blockbuster and helping him bust bad guys and be in the middle of an extravagant chase scenes overstuffed with special effects. I think a big part of me held off forever re-watching this again because I dismissed LAH as a satire film over the years that I loved as a kid, but thought I thought I would outgrow over the years. After my recent re-watch however, I emerged surprised how wrong I was. Seeing it with a grown-up’s set of eyes significantly helped with a new understanding of filmmaking references and other off-color jokes that went right over my childhood head. I also got a whole new appreciation of the scene where Danny takes Slater to a video store in his universe to show him how awesome he is in Terminator 2 only to instead see in that world Sylvester Stallone landed the role.

Speaking of guest stars, the cameos are through the roof in LAH. There are some blink and you miss it surprise cameos, and then there are exponentially more in the final act where Danny takes Slater back into the ‘real’ world in time for the red carpet movie premiere of Jack Slater IV. The premiere sees the likes of Little Richard, MC Hammer, Jean Claude Van Damme and a few other recognizable celebrities of that era. Back in 1994 I was probably only lucky enough to recognize Van Damme from his role as Guile in the underappreciated Street Fighter, but reliving it again with a new set of eyes made that scene pop in a whole new way. Needless to say, Last Action Hero was a surprise delight to experience in 2020. If I had any nitpicks it is that it was not as brisk a watch as I recalled as it clocks in a little over two hours and I came out of it feeling they could have trimmed at least a good 10 minutes or so off. For as big a deal LAH was when it hit in 1993 it was a bit of a buzzkill to see the no-frills BluRay have a complete lack of extras. I would have loved all-star action movie director John McTiernan (Predator, the good Die Hard films) do a commentary track with Arnold and a few other bonus extras, but it regrettably was not meant to be. At least I have this Uproxx take I can now peruse that will have to suffice for a bonus of some degree…..

Alrighty, I just finished the Uproxx 27 years later take on LAH and we share a lot of similarities. Uproxx’s Mike Ryan thesis is that LAH was too meta and ahead of its time in 1993, but perfect for a 2020 viewing experience. I could not agree with him more, and he grinds out the little references and meta-details more eloquently than I can here, so I highly urge you all to give his editorial a perusal. One key takeaway from Ryan’s article on why Last Action Hero came and went back then was because it made the big time mistake of releasing one week after Jurassic Park. No wonder it is not brought up with other classic Arnold films over the years. I am right there with Ryan on how LAH is an absolute marvel of a film, and if it has slipped by you all these years later then now is the perfect time to watch it in these pandemic times with zero movies hitting theaters nowadays. 1993’s Last Action Hero is the ideal 2020 summer blockbuster! BONUS EXTRAS TO COMPENSATE FOR BLURAY’S ABSENCE OF ANY Click or press here to check out this awesomely through ‘Did You Know’ style breakdown of facts and backstage filming secrects from Mental Floss Here is an incredibly thorough two part oral history of LAH complete with interview excerpts from the cast and crew And I will leave you with Cinemassacre’s ‘Rental Review’ roundtable of Last Action Hero….

youtube

Other Random Backlog Movie Blogs 3 12 Angry Men (1957) 12 Rounds 3: Lockdown 21 Jump Street The Accountant Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie Atari: Game Over The Avengers: Age of Ultron The Avengers: Infinity War Batman: The Dark Knight Rises Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice Bounty Hunters Cabin in the Woods Captain America: Civil War Captain America: The First Avenger Captain America: The Winter Soldier Christmas Eve Clash of the Titans (1981) Clint Eastwood 11-pack Special The Condemned 2 Countdown Creed I & II Deck the Halls Detroit Rock City Die Hard Dredd The Eliminators The Equalizer Dirty Work Faster Fast and Furious I-VIII Field of Dreams Fight Club The Fighter For Love of the Game Good Will Hunting Gravity Grunt: The Wrestling Movie Guardians of the Galaxy Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 Hell Comes to Frogtown Hercules: Reborn Hitman I Like to Hurt People Indiana Jones 1-4 Ink The Interrogation Interstellar Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Jobs Joy Ride 1-3 Major League Man of Steel Man on the Moon Man vs Snake Marine 3-6 Merry Friggin Christmas Metallica: Some Kind of Monster Mortal Kombat Mortal Kombat Legends: Scorpions Revenge National Treasure National Treasure: Book of Secrets Not for Resale Pulp Fiction The Replacements Reservoir Dogs Rocky I-VIII Running Films Part 1 Running Films Part 2 San Andreas ScoobyDoo Wrestlemania Mystery The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Shoot em Up Slacker Skyscraper Small Town Santa Steve Jobs Source Code Star Trek I-XIII Sully Take Me Home Tonight TMNT The Tooth Fairy 1 & 2 UHF Veronica Mars Vision Quest The War Wild Wonder Woman The Wrestler (2008) X-Men: Apocalypse X-Men: Days of Future Past

#random movie #last action hero #arnold schwarzenegger #austin o'brien #robert prosky #john mctiernan

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mhkred-blog · 7 years

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A Fan’s message to Director Hajime Tabata - My Review for Final Fantasy XV

While The World of Eos and the plethora of Characters it contains is beautiful and the lore of it is of epic proportions. Every Director, Story-teller and Developer must listen to and consume fan/player feedback to challenge the status-quo of their thinking and hence pave way for a positive creative disruption that breeds innovation and novelty in idea generation and creative thinking.

FFXV had that mix of Wars, war orphans, Prisoner of wars, loss of parents, abuse of POWs, Political manipulation, greed for power, corruption from power and the young generation: Noctis, Luna, Ravus, Prompto, Ignis, Gladio, Iris, Aranea, Cindy in the midst of all of it. Imagine what kind of a story you could've shown had you made use of all of these themes. Which actually formed a great recipe for a great narrative

Combat

While I like the new direction Director Tabata has taken with the action combat. Moving away even from the ATB and Gambit battle system of Crisis Core. The combat lacks many things that would’ve added more variety to it. Following features are lacking:

Lack of Variety: There isn’t much variety in battle as seen from the generic hack-and-slash in the battle modes and the Altissia battle. There are no interactive battle sequences where as a player I would feel the dangers of the environment I am battling in. Example: Falling rocks, pieces, buildings etc. We should be able to tackle and fiht enemies and engage with them in hand-to-hand combat and take and use their weapons against them – specially in the Nifleheim base where we should be able to do this.

Lack of Interactive Combat: There is sheer lack of scripted interactive combat just like there is lack of variety in combat. I recommend take Hints from Uncharted 4: A Theif’s End combat for reference.

Climbing feature – in the ATRs it was shown that Noctis could climb up giants beasts while earlier trailers showed Noctis’ climbing Lucis building and Nifleheim airships. The climb feature is by far one of the most realistic elements added to combat and gameplay in the current generation games. FFXV lacks this one very important feature.

Warp-strike points: Very few warp-strike points during battle. It would be nice to see an action combat with warping abilities as shown in the movie Kingsglaive.

Auto-mode: While we can Press Square button on the PS4 to dodge attacks, toher than that the combat is pretty much automatic in the sense that we have to just Press down Circle and R1 button on the PS4 and the battle pretty much plays on its own.

Rope/grapple feature: There is no rope/hook/grappling feature and it’s an open world game.

Swim feature: I don’t understand why a swim feature was taken out of an open-world game. Why? A swim feature is as real as the gameplay gets in these days for exploration and just viewing the world. Even Linear games like the Uncharted 4 are featuring a swim feature these days, what’s Tabata’s, FFXV Dev’s or Business Division 2’s excuse for not including a swim feature?

Gameplay

Always with the Friends: Noctis is never alone, other than the story-driven point where he is infact left alone and has to travel alone for some time. It’s annoying really that Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus are ALWAYS besides Noctis during exploring, running. It’ll be nice to just have them sit by the campfire, and just take Noctis alone in the night or day and just explore with Noctis ALONE. As a player, I need to connect to Noctis and value him as the Hero by xploring what and what cannot Noctis do when alone. There should be an option where we can choose to either travel with or without the Noctis’ bodyguards, which as the game progresses feel more like baby-sitters. There’s an important factor about Noctis’ growth to be able to handle his exploration and journey alone too.

Lack of Female party members: There is a dire need to add more female permanent party members to the gameplay and not just Aranea or Iris but Cindy and especially Lunafreya. Variety can be added that to the interaction between characters. As well as various relationships between characters can be deeply explored. IT could be that certain arty members can explore together; Noctis and Luna just as duo sometimes.

Lacks of Explorable and Accessible places on the map: The world of Eos is vast with various regions consisting of Lucis: Insomnia, Tenebrae, Nifleheim: Gralea, Accordo: Altissia, Duscae, Solheim, Lestellum, Caem, Glacia. Yet only Duscae, Lestellum and Caem are fully explorable. It’s an open-word game, every part on the map should be fully explorable and accessible. Solheim has so much importance to the creation and beginning of Eos yet that place wasn’t even shown on the map, let alone accessible. Please add Solheim as an explorable and accessible area too.

Lack of Story Based Side-quests: Almost every side quest that we encounter is either a delivery mission, fetch quests (fetch dogtags/frogs/ precious gems etc). Instead the side quests should be mini-stories about NPCs lives in Eos and how are they affected by the plague and how they feel about it and how the NPCs feel how the world can be and should be saved. How the NPCs feel regarding the demons and their problems. Side-quests should revolvv around these and should be about solving NPCs serious problem regarding the plague and the world of Eos.

Lack of Interactive environment: Everything in the world seems to be nailed down to the ground. When Noctis is running and he bumps into some chair or small table, he stops, instead of knocking down the chair or the small table. This is the sign of the PS3 gaming era and that Final Fantasy XV codes and environment were built for PS3 and haven’t since been updated. The environment needs to highly interactive for the player to feel immersed into the game.

Stamina Bar: Whoever came up with the Stamina bar? It does feel real to be exhausted after sprinting, but in an open-world game it’ll be better to have an endless sprint. While there is an option where I can activate an endless sprint, it’s still annoying.

Lack of Warping: We cannot warp during normal running in the game. I do not like this. I’d love to travel fast by warping and leave my friends behind once in a while. It makes sense too, since Noctis can warp normally in his real life, it’ll be normal for him to use the warping feature in in-game running or exploring.

Story

The story is by far the BIGGEST disappointed in Final Fantasy XV. Why? Because it’s an RPG for God’s sake. Final Fantasies have always featured excellent, deep and mature story-telling with layered characters in its predecessors, while Final Fantasy XV falls really short of it when compared to even linear action/adventure games. Hint: Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted series, The Witcher series.

The Three Pillars of the story and why are they missing?

Director Hajime Tabata said that there are 3 pillars to the story:

1) Noctis’ relationship with his father – King Regis

2) Noctis’ relationship with his childhood friend – Lunafreya Nox Fleuret (love her name BTW)

3) Noctis’ relationship with his friends – Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus

Noctis’ relationship with his father wasn't explored at all. It would have been possible had we been able to play a child version of Noctis as flashbacks (by Platinum Demo's example I thought we would have a childhood playable flashback - like in Uncharted 4). Most people don't even know why Noctis acts the way he does, why his father is distant, where is his mother, (because most haven't watched Kingsglaive or Brotherhood anime - and they shouldn't have to because they're paying $60 for a AAA title.) We don't even see any picture of Noctis' mother in the citadel/Castle. Why can't we even explore Insomnia as young Noctis? Isn't that a part of his life? All of these are genuine questions.

Similarly, I was expecting a playable version of Noctis (my expectations for playable Luna washed away when Tabata announced that only Noctis is playable, so I bet my hopes on child Noctis based on the Platinum Demo) that he'd be in Tenebrae and we'd see Tenebrae, child Ravus, Luna, Queen Sylvia and the life at Tenebrae through his eyes. People don't even know why Noctis was on a wheelchair during his childhood cutscenes with Luna. And all they talked about was Cosmogony, they're kids. They seriously have no other pass time? Like running or playing in the beautiful gardens of Tenebrae? Like Ravus, Noctis and Luna - all three playing together. Ravus is a teenager, does Noctis look upto Ravus as a big bro? You know, young boys are impressed by older boys. That would have explained Noctis anger on Ravus when he found out he's different than how he was when he met him.

As much as I appreciate the Brotherly bond between Prompto, Ignis, Noctis and Gladio. At times it does sort of fails. Especially when Gladio fails to show some sensitivity to Noctis in times when Noctis needs empathy not a lecture. Like he lost his father, cut him some slack from being a little whiny, he lost his bride, BRIDE , cut him slack for the trauma he was going through (ever heard of too soon?). He lost his entire family. Promto, Ignis and Gladio are his friends, but Regis and Luna were meant to be Noctis' 'family' - there's a difference. Father and Wife are family, and believe it or not they are bonds meant to be closer and deeper than friendship in the end.

Only 1 pillar – Noctis’s relationship with his friends: Prompto, Ignis, Gladiolus – was explored and the remaining 2 pillars were sidelined. Why? Seems like the writer doesn’t know how to make a protagonist relatable to the audience. When we look at our own real life we see that certain relationships always take priority over another in the following order:

1) Parents

2) Spouse/children (in some cultures Spouse/children are the priority)

3) Friends

Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that Tabata wanted to focus on the brotherhood between our 4 main characters but this obsession with the bromance fest ended up sidelining Noctis’ most important relationships that actually take priority over his brothers.

Lack of Women representation:

Final Fantasy XV’s cast does consist of female characters mainly; Lunafreya, Iris, Aranea, Gentiana and Cindy but it seriously undermines their roles by a HUGE margin. Final Fantasy XV also fails even the minimal “Bechdel Test” that requires that if a story has two or more female characters, they converse with each other about something other than the men in their lives.

I’ll quote Hajime Tabata’s own words: “Speaking honestly, an all-male party feels almost more approachable for players. Even the presence of one female in the group will change their behaviour, so that they'll act differently. So to give the most natural feeling, to make them feel sincere and honest, having them all the same gender made sense in that way”

I don’t know, but Director Hajime Tabata are you living in the Dark ages? Or are you just simply have a cave man mentality? Because we live in a time where we have Co-education in schools, universities and co-workplaces. We have mixed friends groups, mixed travel groups and mixed project teams. Boys and Girls travel together all the time, and I see no reason why there can’t be any permanent female party members in the plot of Final Fantasy XV. Are you implying that boys always flex muscles when around girls or can’t be emotional? Because women can be as good as friends with guys as their guy friends. Afterall, Director Hajime Tabata, your main protagonist Noctis’ opens about his inner feelings more with his childhood female friend Lunafreya than his guy friends. What led you to include a contradiction to that in your plot for FFXV? Because as far as I know women like road trips, greasy food, camping in the wilderness, sitting by the campfire under the moonlit sky, talk about their feelings and selfies too you know.

The portrayal of female characters in Final Fantasy XV is so clichéd that I can honestly project onto these women some clichéd negative tropes for women in video games:

Lunafreya – Woman in Refrigerator:

A woman in refrigerator is one whose basic role to the entire plot is just to serve as a device to induce ‘man pain’. That means Lunafreya’s only role is to die and sacrifice herself so she can serve as a device to drive Noctis’ angst against killing Ardyn – the main villain. Her role doesn’t grow anywhere from here. She has no life of her own, no personality growth of her own, no ambition of her own, poor girl doesn’t even get to have friends of her own.

Iris – Mamic Pixie Dream girl:

The ever optimistic, chirpy, generic, anime girl character. We are only told that she’s a badass demon hunter but the game fails badly at trying to develop Iris’ personality growth in the 10 year time skip.

Aranea – Sinister Seductress:

A sinister seductress is a role written for female villain/boss character that’s both evil and seductive. Aranea’s armor is very impractical knowing what her work is. She can easily take a hit at her apparent cleavage and get fatally injured. But this doesn’t have to make any sense right?

Cindy – created for Male Gaze, just an Eye-candy:

Cindy should have been the titular ‘Cid‘ of Final Fantasy XV, but this job was relegated to her grandfather Cid because women can’t seriously be an actual mechanic and have some relevance to the narrative right? As the titular mechanic of Final Fantasy XV, Cindy would have had more importance to the plot and at the same her role and character can be developed exponentially.

Lunafreya, Iris, Aranea and Cindy could easily have been added to the plot as permanent party members and nothing would’ve changed the dynamic between the male cast. Infact the relationships between Noctis and Lunafreya, Prompto and Cindy could have been explored in-depth had the female characters been added as permanent party members. In addition to this female characters’ relationship with themselves would have been explored. Previous Final Fantasies have been able to include mixed groups but why can’t Final Fantasy XV?

Fabula Nova Crystallis (FNC) mythology and a ‘clichéd generic tragedy’:

When Square Enix decided to make Final Fantasy Verses XIII into Final Fantasy XV, it was supposed to break away from the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology and have a change in the story. But Director Hajime Tabata’s recent public message has stated that infact Final Fantasy XV always had the plot points from the Fabula Nova Mythos but it was just marketed to the public otherwise, so that more new comers will play buy and play the game. This is clear deception on part of Square Enix, Director Hajime Tabata and FFXV Devs.

Using the Fabula Nova mythos gave the the plot of Final Fantasy XV a terrible cancer that can be called a ‘generic’ clichéd tragedy. It’s nothing more than regurgitation Hamlet meets Greek/Norse mythology and the plot has taken everything from the Greek and Norse mythologies so much that we draw actual parallels between the characters and the people in the mythologies. Hint: Lunafreya being the goddess Selene and Noctis being her mythological lover. Tabata, we don’t want gods and goddesses as human in the story. We just want simple humans that we relate to. Final Fantasy Xv’s characters are so one-dimensional that they aren’t relatable anymore especially the heroine Lunafreya.

The direction that the plot took from Chapter 9, went so much downhill that it leaves the player feeling depressed and somewhat miserable and heart-broken. Tell me Director Tabata was this the feeling you wanted to give to the players when you were conceiving this story? Because certainly FFXV was marketed as an epic tale of Ultimate fantasy experience. Such ‘epic tales’ always have a message of hope and courage where Characters fight their fates.

I and most fans would prefer an alternative route to be added, where both Noctis and Luna denounce the fate chosen for them by ancestors that died 2000 years ago. Why do Noctis and Luna have to suffer by the wrong choices made by Bahamut, Ardyn, or any of their Ancestors?

The story is much shorter than 50+ hours - which was originally promised:

Also the story is insanely shorter than what Hajime Tabata initially promised it to be. View the following article from Gamespot:

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/final-fantasy-15-has-over-100-hours-of-gameplay/1100-6441008/

It clearly says that the story campaign mode will be ATLEAST 40 hours. And from what we got, it’s was barely 10 hours worth of story campaign. This is a clear deception on part of FFXV Devs. Had the story been 40-50 hours long, enough justice would’ve been done to the character development of the entire cast of Final Fantasy XV.

Which brings me to another point. Why do we have only Noctis, Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus ONLY as the main cast? While King Regis, Lunafreya are sidelined to the ‘supporting cast’ when it’s clearly implied that they have a bigger role and importance to the narrative, to Noctis and to the fate of the world. While Promto, Ignis and Gladiolus are only presented as baby-sitters – excuse me - Body guards to Noctis and are supporting Noctis only. That means that Prompto, Ignis and Gladiolus are infact the supporting cast whil King Regis and Lunafreya tend to have roles that are befitting of the main cast. Lunafreya especially was advertised to be the deuteragonist of Final Fantasy XV who’s the secondary main character after Noctis Lucis Caelum himself. And she was sidelined to only 15 minutes worth of screen time and that too were either flashbacks of her childhood or just one cutscene where she was bound to sacrifice her life and was refrigerated by the writer.

The story feels like it has been written by a 10-year old, or a really immature middle aged man who doesn’t know how to write proper development for female characters. Also, the writer doesn’t know how to manage time and interactions between characters. It lacks creativity and novelty to a point where I am forced to quote a parody video by College Humor called “Every JRPG Ever” that has so much resemblance to the entire plot of FFXV – and this video was released in 2015. Seriously that’s like 90% of FFXV’s plot. Check out the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IptvSQY9Qa8&t=117s

Also there is so much featured in the map and none of those areas are explorable or even slightly accessible. And it’s an open-world game to speak of. Nifleheim, Accordo, Lucis, Glacia. Solheim is mentioned in the Ultimate Guide books and that place that is has so much importance to the history of Eos, Ardyn, Gentiana, Noctis’ ancestors but isn’t even mentioned on the map. Why?

This brings me to my discussion on individual characters in Final Fantasy XV.

Characters:

Noctis Lucis Caelum

Noctis’ seems to be lacking what essentially a protagonist should have in the first place – the will/ drive to action. He’s not a man of action. He’s lost his father, he’s lost his home, he’s lost his people to become refugees, he’s lost Jared who had helped him in Lestellum, he’s losing Luna while her health is declining in her pursuit to aid Noctis. But Noctis’ still doesn’t seem to get motivated or driven to take any action. Why? This is by far the biggest fact that’s lacking in Noctis’ character development. And by the time we see some motivation to act in him, it’s in the 11th hour when the game is simply rushed to finish. My question is why didn’t Noctis choose to question Bahamut/ Stars in the first place? Why does Noctis’ not take any major decision himself and instead all of that is relegated to Ignis. (Is Ignis the protagonist of this game? No. it’s Noctis Lucis Caelum). Even his relationship with his father, Lunafreya, Ravus, Ardyn and the Nifleheim empire isn’t explored at all. We don’t know how he truly feels about Ardyn’s ancestory, or Ravus’ joining the empire, or Lunafreya’s sickness (since they never communicated), or about Ieodolas, About Verstael, About Loqi, about Caligo? Does he even know that Caligo is the one who initiated abuse on Luna during her captivity? No he doesn’t, even I the player doesn’t even know who it was since it was never even explored but somehow managed to get advertised to us.

We don’t even know how Noctis’ would react to Lunafreya, or how he would react to listening to the events of King Regis’ death. We will never know why Noctis is the way he is in the first place. Or why is he aloof to his father? Why is he pampered and sheltered? Why doesn’t he take any responsibility ever? We don’t even get to see his development in the form that he starts taking responsibility, he starts exploring the world on his own, he starts seeking answers to various questions that the plot throws at the player.

Lunafreya Nox Fleuret:

Apparently she’s the heroine of Final Fantasy XV. But did I get that feeling at all? Nope. Not at all. She’s barely shown for 15 minutes worth of screen time and that too only in randomly generated flashbacks and one cutscene after which she sacrifices herself to aid Noctis’. Now FFXV Devs, I have a very simple question from you guys. Why do you write such female protagonists? Why must a woman always die to put the hero into action or give the hero angst so he could fight against the villain who killed her? Why couldn’t Noctis and Luna actually explore a different way to save the world. Why must Noctis and Luna not choose to live for themselves instead of sacrificing themselves for the sake of a covenant their ancestors made 2000 year ago?!

Lunafreya has suffered abuse as a Prisoner of War in her childhood. She’s been victimized enough by the Nifleheim empire. By writing her death, you guys actually victimized her even more. Instead why couldn’t you guys actually write about a strong heroine that grows up and learns from her inability to escape from her captivity and instead starts taking things and situations into her own hands. Lunafreya could actually stand upto her aggressors and fight back. That way she’d be a strong heroine that you guys actually advertised her to be and she’d be a ‘fighter’ and ‘survivor’. You know Amy Shield, Lunafreya’s English Voice actress said once in the convention in Anaheim, California, U.S. that fans came to her crying about how they could relate to Lunafreya. By killing Luna you guys actually let down all of her fans who relate to her childhood struggles against abuse and captivity.

Going through an abusive childhood already made her a victim, her death would solidify her image as a victim. Instead a powerful message coulde be given to players who could relate to her would be that she 'survives against all odds' and can live her life as normally and as willfully as any ordinary woman. She had the desire to live, to live happily and normally but through an ending that would see Noctis and Luna survive, void of their duties, and just living as commoner folks, she would've believed she had the right to live happily and normally as well.

Instead, the writers just wrote her as the generic, optimistic, purist, self-sacrificing heroine that’s all too common in Japanese animes. Her only goal in life is to ‘meet Noctis’ expectations?’ Seriously that‘s how you write strong, independent women? Throughout her cutcenes she was either teaching Noctis’ about Cosmogony as a child or simply yearning for Noctis. What happened to living life for your own sake? FFXV Devs failed to give Lunafreya a personality of her own, ambitions of her, where she would want to travel the world and discover the many flavours it offers. FFXV Devs also failed to provide Lunafreya with female friendships. Which are necessary for women to have. Women like road trips, greasy food and selfies too you know. It would have been nice to see Luna travel as a party member and get to be friends with Promtpo, Ignis, Gladiolus, Iris, Aranea, Cindy, Cid and Cor. She needs friendships too in her life, she need a life besides fulfilling her duties to ‘Noctis-sama’ (jeez that Japanese dialogues is cringe-worthy).

Lunafreya, like most heroines was used as the tissue paper. She was used by the writer and then thrown away. She was only present to serve as a plot device to give Noctis a reason to fight the villain. That trope is called “Refrigerated” where women are only present in a plot – not to live as individual human beings – but only to serve as a device to be killed later to give the main hero a reason to fight against the villain. Lunafreya got refrigerated. That’s how I put it.

King Regis:

King Regis is Noctis’ father and he’s the most important to the plot after Noctis and Lunafreya themselves. And still he was given even more less time than 15 minutes of Lunafreya’s screen time. Why? He’s the father ‘the father’ f the protagonists that plotted against the Nifleheim empire apparently (according to Cid, Regis never mentioned any of the plot himself). But his motives, his desires, he ambitions for Noctis and Luna are not even shown and never been communicated with Noctis or/Luna. There are so many answered questions regarding King Regis. Did he know who Ardyn was? Did he know his own ancestor’s backstory? Did he know how to the world was created? Who was his wife? Who was Noctis’ mother? Why don’t we see any photographs of him with his wife? Why aren’t there any photographs of Queen Aulea in the citadel/castle?

Queen Aulea?

Sadly the mother of the protagonist of the story Noctis didn’t even get her separate mention or portrait in-game.

Ravus Nox Flueret

He’s important to the plot since he’s the brother of the deuteragonist Lunafreya. Ravus was one of the first children Noctis met in his childhood yet his relationship with Noctis isn’t even explored. His relationship with regards to Lunafreya isn’t even fully explored. Even Ravus’ captivity isn’t even explored. He was a Prisoner of War alongside Lunafreya too, so was he abused too just like his sister? When and how did he become a puppet of the Nifleheim empire? How did the empire brainwash him? What doos he currently feel about the Nifleheim empire? So many answered questions.

Ardyn Izunia/Lucis Caelum

He’s the main villain yet his backstory isn’t even explored that drives his motivation to kill Noctis and end his bloodline. What’s Ardyn’s relationship with Izunia? What Ardyn’s relationship with Gentiana? What happened to Ardyn 2000 years ago? What kind of a place was Solheim? What kind of a person and king was Ardyn 2000 years ago? When did he forge the covenant with the Bahamut/crystal? Why did he? When did he forge a covenant with Ifrit? Why did he? So many unanswered questions.

Gentiana:

Who is Gentiana and what’s her relationship with Ardyn Izunia? How did she meet the Luna’s mother? How did she become the caregiver for Luna? Where was Gentiana when Tenebrae was attacked? Where was Gentiana when Luna was being killed by Ardyn? Again, so many answered questions.

Pryna and Umbra:

Those dogs deserve a separate mention of their own. Who are these two dogs? Who they belong to? How can they travel faster than Noctis when delivering the diary to Luna? What happens to Pryna? Where is Umbra in those 10 years? How does Umbra know Noctis is in Angelgard? Are these dogs super-natural? Why can the dogs travel back in time? If they can travel back in time then certainly they can reverse the space and time and bring everything back to normal.

Prompto:

He’s apparently an Magitek and his father is Verstael? Okay why is this news being given to me though a gaming news outlet and why not through the game story itself? He’s a one dimensional character at best, and when the only time he actually shows some personality is when he discovers he’s a magitek and then that plot point is brushed aside so the game ending could be rushed through. Also he seems most eager to meet Lunafreya yet he never gets to. It would have been nice to see Lunafreya hanging out with Noctis’ friends and having selfies with them.

Gladiolus:

He’s the one dimensional and by far the most annoying among the group. Why is he pushing Noctis’ to fulfill his duties – aka to his death – all the time? Like cut some slack for Noctis Dude. He just lost his father, his wife-to be. Gladiolus has some really annoying moments in the game.

Iris:

Iris is apparently demon-hunter in the future and we’re never shown that. Though her DLC is announced we have yet to see what aspect of her personality will be explored.

Cindy:

She’s a mechanic, but at most her only role is to be an eye-candy for the players. Can’t you guys even give Cindy a personality too? She seems to have had a difficult childhood, but where her backstory? Couldn’t she narrate her backstory herself? We never get to see how she views the world and herself. This is why she doesn’t stand up to be more than an eye-candy. You it would’ve been good to see Cindy actually hijack a whole Nifleheim airship and customize it. That way a bigger party could travel together along with the Regalia within the airship. That would’ve expanded Cindy’s character even more and given her importance to the narrative that’s otherwise non-existent.

Cor:

Cor is immortal. And yet none of the boys who hear that seems to question him on this. What’s Cor’s backstory? Why does he know all of the things? How long has he been around on the Eos? Again so many answered questions.

Overall the game is lacking in character development on a HUGE scale. And important plot points are left answered. It feels like not the only the game is rushed and unfinished at this point. It’s like there is not a single cohesive story even present to begin with. It looks like a couple of ideas were put together just to get the game out before 2016 ended.

Conclusion:

1) I won’t recommend this game to anyone until it’s actually completed and finished properly

2) This game shows female characters but their growth and importance/relevance to the narrative is severely lacking

3) I am never buying again from Square Enix knowing they deceived by selling me an unfinished game. I will tread carefully in the future

4) Final Fantasy XV has gone back to the dark ages regarding female character portrayal. I doubt Final Fantasy can ever have mature deep story to a female character in the future.

Suggestions:

1) Please add the lacking Combat and Gameplay features: Climbing, rope/grapple, swimming, entire map explorable and accessible including Solheim, Interactive and Scripted battle sequences, more warp strike points, ability to warp during exploration.

2) Please add the option to explore and hunt alone and leave your party to the camp sometimes.

3) FFXV Devs clearly have to re-write it from the beginning to the end, since this game is already a rush job, the plot is not cohesive at all. It’s not lacking a couple cutscenes, it’s lacking the entire plot.

4) Add permanent female party members to the cast, addition of female characters need not change the behavior of men (what kind of Cave man thinking is this anyway?) Women like road trips, greasy food, camping and selfies too you know. Hint: Add Lunafreya to the party permanently.

5) Please make Lunafreya, and other characters playable in their own stories told through the character’s own perspective.

6) Re-write Lunafreya’s character to accurately portray her abuse and then make her take charge of her own life and make her have ambitions of her own, instead of showing that her only goal in life is to meet Noctis’ expectations/objective. Show Lunafreya wanting to make friends in her life, travel, get to know Noctis’ deeply.

7) Please write a proper closure to Final Fantasy XV. Director Hajime Tabata announcing that the ending is open to interpretation is actually a message that communicates “we are not competent enough to give a proper closure to a story”

8) We already have a tragic ending, give us an alternative route from Altissia (Chapter 9) onwards where we get to see Noctis and Luna not only interact but also get to survive the outcome as well

9) Write another happy ending to the story. There is enough demand for it, and there are good and unique suggestions to how to write it as well.

10) Make Noctis and Luna explore their own lives as well, only as Noctis and Luna not as an Oracle or/and a King of Lucis. That will give more depth to the story and their characters.

11) You have tracks named “Sunset Waltz” and “Starlit Waltz” yet we don’t see an actual Waltz between Noctis and Luna or anyone for that matter? Add a Walts after properly writing and making CGI scenes for a proper wedding of Noctis and Luna.

12) Please give us a proper wedding for Noctis and Luna. The one you showed felt like a small (and cheap) consolation for the pathetic tragic end that FFXV Devs wrote. Please show us Noctis and Luna kids since that’s a way to show character growth in ending in far future. Shows how far our protagonists have come from their struggles.

13) Noctis and Luna didn’t get to have proper families in their childhoods, it’s cruel for killing them in the plot too. Let them live as only Noctis and Luna.

14) Please give us the 3 pillars of the story that Director Hajime Tabata promised were relevant to the plot of Final Fantasy XV

15) Please give us the 40-50 hour worth of story campaign mode that was promised by Hajime Tabata in addition to the 100+ hours of short- story based side quests (learn from the Witcher 3)

16) Create a darker story around the themes of Wars, war orphans, Prisoner of wars, loss of parents, abuse of POWs, Political manipulation, greed for power, corruption from power.

2 notes · View notes

aion-rsa · 3 years

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Marvel’s Loki Episode 1: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains nothing but spoilers for Loki episode 1. We have a spoiler-free review here.

Marvel’s Loki episode 1 has finally arrived on Disney+! And in the grand scheme of things, this one is much closer to WandaVision than The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in terms of its tone, weirdness, and overall sense of mystery. The halls of the TVA are packed with obscure Marvel Comics lore and hints of what’s to come for the MCU, and we’re here to try and help you make sense of all of it.

The MCU and Loki Timeline

It’s appropriate that the first thing we see in Loki is a scene from Avengers: Endgame, the time-iest, wime-iest Marvel movie of them all (so far) and whose timeline branching/headache inducing time travel rules are crucial to the central concepts of Loki.

Basically, the most important thing to remember here is that this ISN’T the Loki who died at the start of Avengers: Infinity War, but rather the Loki who had only JUST been a supreme dick in the first Avengers movies. And as we see in this episode, TV Loki has not lived through the events of Thor: The Dark World or Thor: Ragnarok (both of which we see shown to him by Agent Mobius) nor has he um…died through the opening of Infinity War. Yet. Which helps explain why he’s more incorrigible than usual.

We wrote about this in more detail here.

The Time Variance Authority (TVA)

The Time Variance Authority was created by Walt Simonson in the pages of his legendary run on Marvel’s Thor comics (seriously, it’s one of the best of all time) back in 1986. They’ve made sporadic appearances in Marvel Comics continuity since then, always in their inimitable and quirky style. They’re a much bigger deal now, though.

If you’d have told us back in 2008 when Iron Man came out that the TVA would be the central piece of a Loki TV series, well…

Owen Wilson as Mobius

You mean Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius, TVA bureaucrat extraordinaire, and he of the tremendous onscreen chemistry with Tom Hiddleston’s Loki? THAT Mobius M. Mobius? Well, yes, he is indeed from the comics.

In fact, in the comics, all middle-management TVA “employees” look exactly like Mobius. This was a loving nod towards the brilliant Marvel writer/editor Mark Gruenwald, keeper of Marvel continuity in the ‘80s and ‘90s (and also author of one of the longest and best runs of Captain America comics, but that’s a story for another time). It appears that in the MCU, there’s only one Mobius, but who can tell with the TVA, right?

Anyway, it’s pretty cool that Owen Wilson is basically playing a legendary Marvel Comics writer, through a fun little meta lens.

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Ravonna Renslayer

Gugu Mbatha-Raw (who you may still best know from Black Mirror’s standout San Junipero episode) plays Ravonna Renslayer, a former TVA Hunter-turned-judge. In the comics, Ravonna was a time-traveling princess linked to Kang the Conqueror, but Loki’s version of the character is quite different – at least so far. We do know that there’s some Kang-flavored stuff coming up in Ant-Man 3 though, so watch this space.

Mbatha-Raw has noted that the character has lots of future MCU potential, so we assume we’ll learn a lot more about her in upcoming episodes.

Wunmi Mosaku as Hunter B-15

As far as we can tell, Wunmi Mosaku’s Hunter B-15 isn’t directly based on any one Marvel Comics character. But her general badassery and take-no-shit-from-anyone attitude feels faintly reminiscent of Justice Peace, the very first TVA agent who was ever introduced, back in the first TVA story from the aforementioned Walt Simonson Thor run.

The Time-Keepers

In Marvel, the main universe was created after the heat death of the previous one. The last living employee of that reality’s TVA, known as He Who Remains, created the Time-Keepers in order to protect the new timeline. His first attempt led to the Time-Twisters, who were flawed and used their logic and authority to destroy certain realities. They were introduced in Thor #282, where Thor split their reality in two. In the reality where the Time-Twisters were destroyed, He Who Remains replaced them with the more improved Time-Keepers.

While relatively more benevolent than their multiversal rivals, the Timekeepers did oppose the Avengers in the miniseries Avengers Forever, which was mainly a storyline put together to explain away certain issues of Avengers continuity.

Miss Minutes

The “orientation” video that Miss Minutes shows to new Variants includes a couple of fun nods to Marvel stuff of the past…

A robot that looks suspiciously like HERBIE from the Hanna-Barbera Fantastic Four cartoon is here. This is now the 2nd Marvel Disney+ show to tease Fantastic Four stuff, but it’s a VERY safe bet that the generally-despised HERBIE will always/only be part of some alternate FF universe…or will he?

The two warring armies we witness appear to be the Kree and the Wakandans. While that standoff hasn’t happened in the comics to the best of our knowledge, Ta-Nehisi Coates just wrapped up a long and excellent run of Black Panther comics where Wakanda became the inspiration for a colonial intergalactic empire, so maybe this is a tease for Black Panther 2.

Also, it’s pretty cool how it switches to a retro 4:3 aspect ratio for this segment, perfectly in keeping with the overall aesthetic of the TVA.

Oh yeah, and just as everyone suspected but Marvel refused to confirm when Miss Minutes’ voice was first heard in the trailer, that’s Tara Strong doing the honors.

The Marvel Multiverse

So, the TVA is in charge of making sure “the sacred timeline” remains intact. That “sacred timeline” is the main continuity of the MCU. They’re doing this because nexus events create new timelines, and they’ve had problems with that before.

To give you a small sample, the “main” Marvel Comics continuity timeline is referred to as “Earth-616,” while the MCU is “Earth-199999” So this means the “sacred timeline” referred to here is designation 199999.

This all happened due to a multiversal war. This seems to be a shout out to Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers/New Avengers run, which culminated in 2015’s Secret Wars. In this storyline, entropy was spreading through the multiverse and was causing alternate Earths to collide. Either both realities would be destroyed or one reality would live on by annihilating the other. This led to the mainstream Marvel Universe and the Ultimate Marvel Universe going to war with each other as the last realities standing. Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Doom, Dr. Strange, Molecule Man, and later Reed Richards, a new main timeline was created in the aftermath.

It also might be something of a reference to “Timequake,” a five-issue story arc that took place in the issues of What If #35-39 back in the 1990s. It involved a plot by the Time-Twisters and Immortus using various players from alternate timelines as pawns. They were eventually thwarted by Uatu the Watcher, the TVA, and a last-minute intervention from the Timekeepers themselves.

Nexus

According to the TVA orientation video and its big Jurassic Park vibes, Variants cause Nexus events – unauthorized branches in the timeline – sometimes just by being late for work! If the word “Nexus” is ringing a bell, it’s because we previously saw it manifest in WandaVision during the antidepressant commercial in the seventh episode.

In Marvel Comics, the Nexus of All Realities first appeared in 1972’s Fear #11. It’s a cross-dimensional gateway that provides access to all possible realities and is a place where all the realities of the multiverse intersect (amusingly, Howard the Duck was brought to Earth in the comics via the Nexus of All Realities) Wanda Maximoff is often referred to as a “Nexus Being”, a multiversal anchor who protects us from threats outside our reality.

At another point during the TVA orientation video, Miss Minutes says that a Nexus event that is left unchecked could branch off into “madness” leading to another multiversal war. It’s probably not an accident that the word “madness” is used here, as next March we’re getting a movie called Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.

Is it a pretty safe bet that at some point during this series the TVA is going to fail in their mission to keep the timeline sacred? Will a Loki Variant be responsible?

Oh, and speaking of Doctor Strange…

The Nightmare Department

Mobius makes reference to something called “The Nightmare Department,” which is presumably part of whatever bureaucratic cosmology exists behind the scenes of the MCU. The inter-dimensional being known as Nightmare is a key foe of Doctor Strange. Hmmmm…

Mephisto? Nope!

Now, we know that we all had fun speculating about Mephisto’s inclusion in WandaVision, and a big ol’ red-horned devil in a stained-glass window in this episode sure is gonna have everyone doing the Leonardo DiCaprio pointing meme. But sadly, folks, this ain’t a Mephisto reference.

“The devil in the church actually genuinely is coincidental,” Loki director Kate Herron tells us. “That’s meant to be a reference to our show. It’s a metaphor for Loki with the horns and, you know, he was cast out of heaven so that is coincidental.”

Next time, baby…

And to think that back when Avengers: Infinity War was on the way, people were speculating that Loki would be taking the Mephisto role from Infinity Gauntlet. I guess we were just a few years off.

Kablooie

Believe it or not, the blue mouth gum that the variant Loki gifts kind of has a comics connection. Not as in it’s a Marvel easter egg or anything, but in that it feels like a nod to something that was omnipresent in old comic books.

Y’see, back in the day, every comic had an ad page that was nothing but novelty gifts: joy buzzers, whoopie cushions, X-ray glasses (which you may recognize as the Den of Geek logo), and gum that would turn the unsuspecting recipient’s mouth blue or black. Loki, in true trickster fashion, gave this poor little French kid some of that novelty gum, leaving him with a blue mouth.

It’s a clever nod to a piece of comic book history, and one that’s extremely appropriate for the God of Mischief.

DB Cooper

The show depicts a real event in this episode, as it reveals that Loki was in fact famed skyjacker DB Cooper. For those who might not know, a well dressed and polite man known as “Dan Cooper” hijacked a plane flying between Portland and Seattle on Nov. 24, 1971. His master plan was to escape with $20,000 in cash and parachuted out of the plane somewhere over the Pacific Northwest…and was never heard from again.

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Eventually, a portion of the cash that was identified as being part of Cooper’s haul was found in the woods (hence the historically accurate depiction of the cash scattering as Loki is yanked away by the Rainbow Bridge), but Cooper himself was never truly positively identified. So really, the idea that it might have just been Loki having some fun is as plausible an explanation as any.

Chalk this up as one of the great DB Cooper pop culture moments!

The Posters

The vaguely dystopian propaganda vibe given off by the posters that line the walls of the TVA is no accident. We sense elements of The Prisoner here, with some of the messages feeling like they could have come from “the village” of that series.

But Loki director Kate Herron has cited other sci-fi influences that would all line up with this including Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Blade Runner, A Clockwork Orange, and more!

We’ll have more from Ms. Herron about the influences of the show soon!

Aw, What’s in the Drawer?

Aside from the MANY Infinity Stones in Casey’s drawer, there’s also a medallion, a cross, and what appears to be a dagger of some kind. This is a stretch but…is this a hint that Dracula is coming to the MCU in the Blade movie and (ok, fine, fine we’ll stop).

All jokes aside, this tracks fairly well to how we know the Infinity Stones work in the comics. In Secret Wars, Battleworld was comprised of the bits and pieces of the multiverse that Doom and Dr. Strange could save before it was annihilated by the Beyonders. Strange suspected that Doom (all powerful at the time) might need to be taken down at some point in the future, so he made sure to grab a set of Infinity Gems to use on him. However, they only worked in their home reality, so on Battleworld, that meant that if you traveled to a different land with the Stones from the first, they’d stop working at the border.

Casey’s drawer looks like it’s full of inert stones from variant timelines that don’t work because they’re no longer connected to their home realm.

Who is Casey?

Casey is played by Eugene Cordero. He’s been in so many things including The Mandalorian Season 1 but you may know him best as Pillboi in The Good Place. He is amazing and a big fave at Den of Geek.

And was that a nod to Scream when Loki tells him “I’ll gut you like a fish?”

Josta

A favorite drink at the TVA is Josta, which was one of the first “energy drinks” before those were really a thing. It was manufactured by Pepsi and only briefly available in the mid-to-late ‘90s, back when everything had to be “extreme.” It’s pretty funny that in addition to using outmoded analog technology, the TVA also consumes outmoded soft drinks. We guess it’s pretty easy to get whatever you need when you can go anywhere on the timeline.

Miscellaneous Time Fragments

There appears to be a variant Skrull in the waiting room of the TVA when Loki is first brought in. He’s the guy in the tracksuit.

When we go to Salina, OK (1858) at the end of the episode, there’s a very cool piece of Jack Kirby-lookin’ technology laying around. What the hell is that, a shovel?

Salina is a couple hundred miles east of Broxton, the spot in Oklahoma where Asgard reemerged after its Disassembled-related final Ragnarok in the comics. Coincidence? Probably.

The consequences for not having a ticket during your TVA orientation are only SLIGHTLY more severe than the ones Indy dished out to a deserving Nazi in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. “No ticket!”

It also sets up a fun parallel to Thor on Sakaar from Thor: Ragnarok. Like Thor, Loki is a confused prisoner in a bizarre new land, given an introduction via family entertainment (theme park dark ride/1950s-style cartoon), only to realize how serious shit is by seeing a fellow prisoner get horribly vaporized nearby.

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The entitled jerk who gets vaporized by the TVA is named Martin. He doesn’t appear to have any significance to the larger Marvel Universe, but his dad is on the board of Goldman Sachs…don’t know if you’ve heard. Martin is played by Josh Fadem, who you may recognize as one of Jimmy McGill’s college student cameramen on Better Call Saul. He has also voiced characters on American Dad and The Powerpuff Girls.

Spot anything we missed? Let us know in the comments!

The post Marvel’s Loki Episode 1: MCU Easter Eggs and Reference Guide appeared first on Den of Geek.

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thatbookcritic · 5 years

Text

Kingdom Hearts 3

Title: Kingdom Hearts 3

Media: Video Game

Developer: Square Enix

Criticism written by: Kai

Editor: Julie

The Review:

Hey there everyone. I just finished playing Kingdom Hearts 3 and I need to vent about it. What better way than to do a review on it. I’m simultaneously amazed but disappointed by the game. It’s beautifully crafted and hit all the right notes for the nostalgia. There were many occasions that got me to tear up as I recall my childhood that this game shaped. Yet despite the shine and sparkle that was the gameplay, design, and music; the story was extremely lackluster. For the story that were all waiting for, it wasn’t delivered properly and it was cheap. I’m sure many of you have already seen “kingdom hearts 3 disappointment” appearing on your search recommendations when you type up the title. I know there are those who like the game and others who are defending it tooth and nail, but I hope you all can understand that nothing is immune to criticisms and improvement.

That being said, this is all a warning for you all about spoilers. If you haven’t played the game yet, I highly recommend doing so before reading my review. For those who stayed, let’s review Kingdom Hearts 3.

Before actually talking about the story, I want to first say that I won’t dive into the lore and past games of the series. I’m going off the assumption that everyone reading this review knows the story and all the information pertaining to the series. If you need a refresher, I suggest looking up a TL;DR video on youtube about all the games.

Anyways, Kingdom Hearts 3 immediately picks up from Dream Drop Distance. Sora failed his Mark of Mastery test while Riku passed. Riku and Mickey went on to the realm of darkness to save Aqua. Sora, on the other hand, is tasked to go to other worlds and try to reclaim the “power of waking”. Skipping over the disney worlds since they’re literally not important for the big picture here, Sora learns about the three people who are currently living in his heart and how to free them via replicas and finding Ventus’s real body. It’s just one big scramble where team light is trying to find their seven members and team dark flexing on them by going “lol we got our 13 members already.” There’s also some side story about Maleficent and Pete looking for a black box but that’s never addressed except once by team Sora. Moving on, Sora saves Aqua which then leads into Aqua waking Ventus. From this point, the game goes from 0 to 100 in pacing. The team jumps straight into the final battle quest. Fought an army of heartless and nobodies, Kairi ex machina (will explain later), killed 12 members of darkness, exposition, final battle, “the villain was misguided!”, cliffhanger, epilogue, and secret end. That’s literally the chain of events at the end of the game. I finished this final portion in under 2 hours…. With breaks in between.

If you seen people complaining about how short this game was, they aren’t joking. This game is insanely short for what it should have been. The story was at least 24 hours long… that might sound like a long time but it’s not. At least, not a long time for a game. Kingdom Hearts 3 was released on January 29. Eight days passed and there are already guides on where you can find all the collectables. Eight days after a release date… that’s insane. You might say it’s due to “speed runners” or devoted fans with too much free time, but as a casual player myself, this was a short game. I finished it just under 24 hours… and that was me taking long periods of breaks (dealing with friends, going to work, doing chores, ect.) Needless to say, the story had a lot of wiggle room to expand instead of rushing to tie up loose ends.

Another thing to point out is the number of worlds included in the game. There weren’t a lot, let me tell you that. Just eight worlds (excluding the Final World and Caelum). Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 have about 14 worlds each (excluding the other games since they aren’t “main” games). Some might argue that even if there’s less worlds, there’s more content in each world. I say bullshit. Are you talking about the mini games and collectables from the worlds? I bought this game for the main story, not the mini games. If I wanted mini games, I would have gotten mario party instead. As for the story each world present, they didn’t take long to complete… the story may be longer than other games but I still managed to finish two worlds for one sitting… one world if I’m getting rushed by my mom to go to bed lol. Needless to say, this part of the game wasn’t it chief.

Finally, let’s talk about story here. When it comes to Kingdom Hearts, you kinda gotta accept that the story isn’t going to make 100% sense, have plot holes, inconsistency, and lots of recons. That’s just how Kingdom Hearts gonna be but the story was still good. If a story can suspend your disbelief for the entire ride, then it’s a good story. And Kingdom Hearts is good at “story first, questions later”. But with this, the pacing is so fast that it broke the fantasy way too soon.

Now… in anticipation for Kingdom Hearts 3, I ran through all the lore and game stories once again to have a good idea on what’s going on. Leading into KH3, there was a long list of tasks that was left over from all the previous games. We have to save the Birth by Sleep crew. We have to save Roxas, Namine, and Xion. Sora isn’t a Keyblade Master. We got Xehanort and his norted group. The Masters of Master and his black box. The Keyblade war. The Dandelions. Maleficent and more. We got a long checklist here yet the script writers seem to just… gloss over all these details. With how long these cutscenes are, I’m honestly surprised how fast they zoom past the story. Honestly, there were many points where the writers could expand on something and actually lead to more gameplay. For example, for saving Roxas, Namine, and Xion. They just toss these three at the very end in one scene before moving to the next. Like… lmao what? It would have been interesting if they had Kairi… you know, actually being useful and chilling in Radiant Garden or something. Goes up to emo scientist and be like “Yo! Let me just free Namine in your conveniently placed replica and… boom!” Maybe toss in like “I remember this place” and give some background about Kairi. Then with Namine, she could have been useful in drawing up memories about Xion which would lead into that quest. These three could have been a great main quest in unlocking for main story. Would have been also great to see some interactions between Ventus and Roxas too and toss in a bullshit explanation on why they look the same. The same with how Vanitas look like Sora; instead of, again, glossing over it at the end. There’s just… so much where the writers could have expanded on and actually make the game a bit longer to make it more satisfying to play. Yes, I understand this was supposed to be the end of Xehanort’s arc but it was distastefully done. It was cheap and rushed. That ending where it’s revealed the Xehanort opened Kingdom Hearts to bring the worlds back together and was more or less well meaning about the whole thing (basically, he’s not doing this for the shits and giggles) but it doesn’t explain anything still. I honestly think it was an idea given to him and not something he came up on his own, judging on his ending cutscenes about him. Can I point out how funny it is that Xehanort was a more fleshed out character than fucking Kairi… a main character? Oh my god, this fucking bitch. Kairi is so useless storytelling wise. She’s just a deus ex machina for anytime Sora feels down in the dumps and only there to get kidnapped. “I’ll protect you Sora!” *Immediately gets kidnapped after*. Even in the one time she fights by our side, she instantly dies on me and left killing three bosses on Sora and Axel. She’s not even good canon fodder like Donald or Goofy in a fight. Just… there’s so much this game could have done with story and it just failed.

Some people might use the argument that we have high expectations for this game so “of course you would get disappointed.” Honestly, yeah! This is a valid point and we’re in the right for having high expectations. I don’t see how this was our fault? We all literally waited 14 years for this game. We were given all these puzzle pieces and waiting to see the finish picture. The hype was massive… and don’t say that it was just the fan’s hype. It was very much advertised to be the “conclusion” for Kingdom Hearts. The trailers that advertised the “end”, the names of the songs being used for this game (“Face my fears” and “Don’t think twice”), the fact that this is the third game (when it comes to series in media they usually end in trilogies (but of course I’m not saying that this is absolute)). It’s just that the hints that the developers were giving us were making us think in a certain direction… that is deception… and it wasn’t a good trick. Another argument to tackle is that: “A lot of time passed. You’re expecting the same thing as the original games. You’re not the same person as before, so you won’t experience it the same way anymore.” It’s one thing if you’re harping that the game doesn’t give you “the feels” anymore, that argument fit this issue. But it’s entirely different from the disappointment of reading a half assed story, no matter the age, I think anyone would be annoyed. I also want to toss out the argument of “You’re not the marketed audience”. Then… who’s the marketed audience then? People who aren’t fans of the game? This is the third main game in a series with a crazy fucking lore. You kinda need to be a fan to keep up here, mate. This isn’t an issue about age. The fact that there’s disney characters in it should be a sign that this game isn’t going over a pg-13 rating. So most people aren’t expecting a mature, “adult” story here. But we are expecting a “good” story… and that is an issue everyone can relate to. You! You are a consumer! You can expect more from a creator sometimes! I agree on respecting a creator’s visions, art, ect. I’m a writer myself. But at some point, you gotta realize that some people would shit in a bucket and try to sell it to you as art. Be a little critical sometimes. It’s fine. If anything, creators want some criticisms to know where to improve. So just don’t take this sitting down!

Kingdom Hearts 3 was an good game if you’re looking at this objectively. But for what it could have been… well… just wasted potential. Pity.

Overall Score: 6/10

(Btw, if anyone want some theories about Kingdom Hearts 4, I believe that they’re going to tie it in to us. The player. I mean, besides the obvious secret ending where it looks like the real world (we can use the same ending to point toward The World Ends With You so this isn’t strong enough evidence). I’m mostly basing this on a storytelling perspective and Union X. From a storytelling point, Kingdom Hearts tackled every single trope so far. Time travel, doppelgangers (the replicas), amnesia, multiple selves, body possessions, time passing at a different rate, alternative worlds, data worlds, ect. We can go on, but the one trope they haven’t touched yet is the 4th wall. I honest to god wouldn’t be surprised that they would do this for both storytelling but to also say a big “thank you” to the player. They already got closed to it by including the usernames of players from Union X in the Heartless Tornado. Talking about Union X, there’s still the Dandelions. Based on the current story known, the Dandelions are keyblade welders who are still alive in the dream realm… one of the welders being you… the player. Also, the alternative game at the end that Master Eq- however you spell his name, talked about. It was seven darkness but an unknown amount of light. I suspect that it’s a number flip from the original 13 darkness and 7 light. It would make sense if you do a counting of the current cast. Sora, Riku, Kairi, Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Terra, Ventus, Aqua, Axel, Xion, and Roxas (I’m excluding Namine for now since she can’t fight). 12 fighters, right? Well… it becomes 13 if you count yourself since… we are fighting through Sora. Well… I could just be egotistical and give the writers way too much credit lol.)

#kingdom hearts 3 #review #kh3 spoilers #opinion #more of a story review than function review

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