Thursday, August 21, 2014

Nefarious - A New Game Where You Play the Bad Guy


That's right!  Play the villain!  Kidnap princesses!  Outwit the good guys!  Even turn the tables in a boss fight (whereas you're the big guy trying to thwart the little guy jumping around)!  Nefarious, a new game coming for the Wii U, Windows, Mac, and Linux (and currently undergoing voting for Steam Greenlight)!

As you can see, the game is fully animated, almost akin to Wario Land: Shake It! or other such titles.  You play as Crow, a man who prides himself in being a classic villain, as he kidnaps various princesses, each of which unintentionally assist him through various stages, and uses his skills and tricks, including his specially made "power glove", to both escape pursuing good guys and make it back to his lair.  You can even interact with your minions back at Crow's Lair, though most of the management for them is handled by Crow's assistant, Becky.

What I found most notable about this, thought, is that Matthew Taranto, aka TriforceBun, the author and artist of Brawl in the Family is doing the music for the game (as well as another guy named David Levy who I'm not that familiar with)!  He even wrote the main theme, which can be heard on BitF's site and on the Kickstarter page.

...Oh yeah, this is a Kickstarter.  The game needs $50,000 to get funded, and it's almost a fifth of the way there.  Of course, there are also stretch goals, including...

$60,000 - Musical Stage!
$70,000 - Additional Princess!
$80,000 - Hero Rush Mode!
$90,000 - Additional Princess!
$100,000 - New Game+
$110,000 - Additional Princess!
$120,000 - Minion Co-Op Mode!
$130,000 - Local Versus Mode!

For more information about the game, and to back it, visit the Kickstarter page here:

Nefarious by Josh Hano - Kickstarter

...Just so you know, I'm not tied with this game or the production team at all, I just think this is a really cool-looking game that deserves to get made (and NOT just because they're making it for the Wii U).  Besides, I'm a bit tight on money at the moment so I can't really back it that much, so I want to try and support it however I can.  Here's hoping this gets funded!

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

My Thoughts on The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water trailer

So, if anyone's curious, I'm feeling better now, but man...  I was in some major depression there.  It might take me a while before I can watch any Robin Williams-relates stuff without breaking down...  But I'll get better with time.

So a while back, Nickelodeon announced their intentions of making a new Spongebob Squarepants movie.  My reaction was pretty much the same as everyone else's at the time, that of surprise, exasperation, and apathy.  It's pretty much common knowledge that Spongebob hasn't been any good since the first movie (and when the creator left the show), though at the time, I had no idea how horrible the show had gotten...  After that, this news kind of faded from memory, or at least my memory, until the first trailer came out...  a few weeks ago; I procrastinated on talking about this sorry about that.  The movie will be called "The Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water"...  It's almost like the titles both implying that the previous Spongebob Squarepants movie never happened, while also denoting it as a sequel by giving it a subtitle.  Anyway, the trailer itself:



Read what I think of this after the break.

Monday, August 11, 2014

Robin Williams is dead...

Robin Williams Has Died at 63

I seriously can't stop crying now... There is a joy that's been lost, a void in my heart that's gone missing... I know I'll move on, but... it feels like I'll never get over the death of Robin Williams. He truly felt like joy, childhood, and humor personified. With him gone... nothing feels the same anymore.

Saturday, August 9, 2014

Star vs. the Forces of Evil - What is it?


Created by Daron Nefcy, a former storyboard revisionist for Wander Over Yonder, Star vs. the Forces of Evil is set to be the first show created and run by a female showrunner on Disney XD.  ...This WAS going to be a Disney Channel original, but since Disney REALLY wants that network to stick to it's dumb tween image (as evidenced by moving Gravity Falls and Wander Over Yonder to Disney XD), we're getting it on the other channel.  I would have been annoyed by this, but honestly, with all three of these shows, plus Phineas and Ferb (if that IS still any good, which I honestly don't know, since I don't watch it) and The D7 (which is being run by Tom Ruegger, the creator of Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs), I'd say Disney XD is starting to become a new home for some of the best (or at least some of the better) shows in animation, kind of like Disney back in the 80's and 90's.  Heck, if I recall correctly, Disney XD used to be Toon Disney, which I watched all the time when I was growing up, so it's almost a return to form...  sort of.

But anyway, back to this show in particular.  The basic premise is this: Star Butterfly is a a magical princess from outer space who, as the title of this show implies, battles the forces of evil.  She soon comes to Earth to live with the Diaz family, and while on Earth, she continues to battle the forces of evil while also going to high school (ho boy, here we go again) and also figuring out the powers of her magic wand.  The premise, I'm not going to lie, sounds INCREDIBLY cliche, especially the whole "high school" aspect, which I'm so sick to death of...

But seeing this teaser made me reconsider.  I really like the design ove this show.  The way the characters are drawn feels really similar to certain other shows I've seen, though I can't exactly think of which ones, other then the obvious one (Wander Over Yonder).  I also like the designs of the monsters she fights, it's a cool juxtaposition of being cutsie while also being scary and/or gruesome, kind of like how The Powerpuff Girls used to be.  Other things about the teaser, like the guy accompanying Star (I'm assuming that's Marco Diaz, the teenager son of the Diaz family).  He seems relatively competent (he knows karate after all), so hopefully he won't just be dead weight whenever Star fights evil.  Also, they seem to travel to all sorts of places and meet all sorts of neat characters.

You know what, I'm suddenly reminded of Steven Universe, which is another show that's created by a female showrunner.  Mystic, otherworldly powers, self-discovery and character growth, simplistic yet expressive character designs...  That reminds me I REALLY need to catch up with that show, I'm like way behind...

Anyway, this seems like a cool show, and yet another one to look out for when it finally airs in 2015!

Thursday, August 7, 2014

Hex Heroes - What is it?



A party/real-time strategy game for PC, Mac, Linux (whatever, I don't even...) and most notably, the Wii U!  With music from the wonderful Grant Kirkhope, and the the key designer having worked on another title, The Bridge, that received...  decently good reviews.


The game appears to be meant to be played as a group, with one player, using the Wii U Gamepad, commanding and directing up to 4 other players, who use either Wii Remotes or perhaps Pro Controllers(?).  There are a variety of modes, where it's to fend off enemies, search for enemy strongholds, or going on a journey together.

But what caught my attention was the fact that certain indie developers have approved of cameos of their characters in the game!  These cameos include:

-Alicia from Heart Forth, Alicia (I haven't played it, but it looks really good)
-Zoya from the Trine series (never played, but heard a lot of good things about)
-Juan from Guacamelee! (featured in the intro trailer; have yet to play, but it's on my list!)
-Max from Mutant Mudds (featured in the intro trailer; sweet game overall)
-Shovel Knight from...  well, yeah. (featured in the intro trailer; if you haven't played it yet, GET IT NOW!)
-Rusty from Steamworld Dig (featured in the intro trailer; fantastic game, even though I've yet to finish it)
-Lady Faye IV from Rogue Legacy (REALLY want to play, but I'm computer-retarded when it comes to PC games, and don't have any PS systems)
-Subject W from Parasite Lost: First Contact (dang, this game looks really cool)
-Cyrus from Wizorb (OH MAN, I've heard of this game!  I think I might actually have it on my Xbox 360 and forgot about it!)
-The Drifter from Hyper Light Drifter (said to be a combination of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo... interesting)

But the biggest thing that caught my attention?  Egoraptor and Danny Sexbang, also known as the Game Grumps, are going to be featured in the game as well!  ...Oh, and also Ross from Steam Train (and his cat, Dr. Orpheous).

Anyway, the Kickstarter is over, but you can visit their page here:

Hex Heroes - A Party RTS for Wii U/PC/Mac/Linux by Prismatic Games LLC --- Kickstarter

And you can visit the developer's Facebook page here:

Prismatic Games - Facebook

Please support this game.  Being a Wii U owner, I know I will!

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Gravity Falls season 2 blogs: Scary-oke & Into the Bunker

So I guess this is going to be my regular thing now, until My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 5 starts airing.  I try to do the same with Adventure Time and Wander Over Yonder, but I either don't have to proper motivation to do write-ups on those, or not enough people comment or are interested in discussing those shows (not that I regularly get comments on these blogs, but whatever)...  I should catch up with those shows, actually, I've fallen behind quite a bit.

...ANYWAY, season 2 of Gravity Falls.  Before I watched the season premiere (and the second episode of the season), I was kind of nervous...  Mostly because after the cliffhanger at the end of season 1, I was afraid the series would return to the status quo.  After all, before I watched it, I did see some sneak peek clips of the first two episodes, one of which was of, to avoid spoiling for those who haven't seen it, essentially reversing something that happened in the season 1 finale.  I remember hearing on a Nerdist panel interview with Alex Hirsch that something happens in the season 1 finale that made writing season 2 difficult, and I assumed it was the thing that happened in said episode. Since this turns out not to be the case, I kind of assumed the worst and that they copped-out, and there wouldn't be that much change this time around...

...Leave it to Alex Hirsch and his crack team of writers, storyboard artists, etc. to prove me wrong and show me why I got into the show in the first place!  Not only are the first two episodes of season 2 Gravity Falls excellent, exciting, and hilarious, they also continue Mr. Hirsch's trend of showing that this show progresses and that we should have stakes in what's going on!  Two major things happen in both of these two episodes, and while I'm going to discuss them in further detail, I just want to say right now that I'm glad they did what they did here at the beginning of season 2, since it pretty much addresses two problems (or rather, a problem and a minor annoyance) I had with season 1!  It's so fantastic, I really don't know where to start...

Just a fair warning, anyone not familiar with what I did with my My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic blogs, or heck anything I talk about in general, there will be a LOT of text, because I tend to talk in detail about a lot of things.  If that intimidates you, or turns out off, that's fine, just don't bother pointing out that my post was "too long" and you "didn't read", okay?

Oh, and another fair warning, spoilers for the first two episodes of season 2 are in this post, obviously, as well as some profanity here and there.  See what I thought, after the break.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Operation Murasame Ca$ale

So here's a tale about a Japanese game titled Nazo no Murasame Jō (which can be spelled a number of different ways).  It was a relatively obscure game for the Famicom Disk System, a peripheral for the Famicom, Japan's equivalent to the NES (Nintendo Entertainment System), that stored games on floppy disks.  Many other popular titles had games for the FDS, including Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda.  In the case of Nazo no Murasame Jō, though, it was moderately popular, though not too popular, and because of the Japanese flair, it was considered too niche for a Western audience and never saw a release outside of Japan...

Until recently anyway; after years of mere cameos in various other games from Pikmin 2 to Samurai Warriors 3 to NintendoLand, having bit parts like being a sticker in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and being one of the many forgotten Nintendo characters featured in the other Japanese exclusive game Captain Rainbow, Nazo no Murasame Jō is finally seeing a release outside of Japan, under the name of The Mysterious Murasame Castle!  On the Nintendo 3DS, players in both Europe (as of May 29, 2014) and North America (as of August 7, 2014) can finally experience the highly obscure cult classic for the first time!  Heck, such an announcement, plus the amount of attention it was getting at events like the San Diego Comic-Con and the aforementioned cameos over the years, made many, including myself, think that he might be playable in Super Smash bros. for 3DS and Wii U!

...Turns out, that wasn't the case, as he is a mere Assist Trophy in both games.  Many have lost faith that this is all Takamaru is ever going to amount to...  But perhaps not!  A new movement has started known as "Operation Murasame Ca$ale", where the goal is to make The Mysterious Murasame Castle popular in the West!  Why?  Well, for a number of reasons: for one, it'll bring attention to a pretty sweet, classic game.  For another, it can show Nintendo that people clearly have an interesting in this classic IP, perhaps enough to make a long-awaited sequel out of it.  Heck, the same thing happened to Pit and Kid Icarus, not to mention Saki Amimiya of Sin & Punishment, who similarly was an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Brawl and had a game available on the Wii's Virtual Console and subsequently got a sequel known as Sin & Punishment: Star Successor!  Heck, who knows, perhaps Takamaru will be like Little Mac, in that he'll be an Assist Trophy, get a new game that draws more attention to his franchise, then become playable in the next Super Smash Bros.!  There certainly wouldn't be any harm in trying the game out, and letting Nintendo know via Miiverse or other means how much you like the game and would like to see more!  For more information on the game and the movement, check out this tumblr blog:

Operation Murasame Ca$ale tumblr

...Oh, and apparently Digimon Adventure is getting a sequel series following Tai as a 17-year-old high schooler.  Yay~!

Monday, July 21, 2014

Super Smash Bros. 3DS/Wii U Maximum Roster Speculation

I love the Super Smash Bros. series.  It's kind of where I got my name.  It's a serious that's all about Nintendo and it's various video game franchises, getting together and battling it out!  The latest games in the series, Super Smash Bros. for 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, are going to be released soon, and my excitement can't be contained!  I feel like I'm a bit overdue when it comes to making a post about Super Smash Bros., honestly, so now's as good a time as any to making on about it, since I just made something I wanted to share!

On my own downtime, I've been doing some number crunching with the characters who have been confirmed to be playable for this gam, and possible characters to be confirmed, and I felt like sharing my results.  Hopefully I'll be able to present this in a way that make sense...

Check after the break to see what I've read.  Warning, there is a LOT to read through...  also, some spoilers regarding The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, but I'll let you know when that appears.

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Shigeru Miyamoto asks Kotaku what games Nintendo should make

A while back, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda, etc.) was interviewed by gaming journalism website Kotaku (which...  you know what I won't even talk about it), and posed a question towards the readers of Kotaku: what kind of games do you want to see for the Wii U?

http://kotaku.com/shigeru-miyamoto-has-a-question-for-all-of-you-1593754129

After collecting a variety of opinions, Kotaku finally gave Miyamoto an answer:

http://kotaku.com/shigeru-miyamoto-we-have-an-answer-to-your-question-1597993025

I'll talk about what I think of these ideas after the break.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Wander Over Yonder blog: The Hero and The Birthday Boy

So, it's been a while since I've seen and talked about Wander Over Yonder...  I guess now's a good time to talk about it, since new episodes are going to air on Disney XD in a few days.  Oh yeah, for anyone who doesn't know, Wander Over Yonder moved from the Disney Channel to Disney XD, for what I can only assume are completely asinine reasons...  Either way, I feel like I should get caught up with the series before new episodes premiere, which isn't that hard, since there were only two episodes I hadn't seen yet, namely "The Hero" and "The Birthday Boy".  So here I talk about those two episodes.  Check after the break to see what I thought of them.

Sunday, May 25, 2014

My thoughts on X-Men: Days of Future Past

I saw X-Men: Days of Future Past in theaters with my co-worker and his sister the other day, and I wanted to share my thoughts on the movie to anyone who's interested.  This is kind of like a review, but not really.  I might do this more with other movies I see, some I'll be more critical with then others.

...Just so anyone who reads this knows, some of what I have to say about this movie is based around this review I saw beforehand.  So some of you might want to take some time to go watch it for yourselves to get a better understanding of where I'm coming from (spoiler warning).

The Escapist - Escape tot he Movies - X-Men: Days of Future Past

With this in mind, here's what I have to say about the movie, after the break.

Saturday, May 10, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blog finale: Twilight's Kingdom

I saw the season finale over at a friends house.  Don't want to sound too overly hyped or excited or anything, but I FUCKING LOVED IT!  In a calm and manageable sense.

I should also say that since we chatted a bit during the season finale, and since the guy's cable box wasn't working too well, we missed out on certain details, but we got most of it.  Regardless, I consider this a bit of a first impressions write-up rather then my usual analysis junk...  which is not to say a lot of them are basically my first impressions, but since I don't have ALL the details, I don't want to be too analytical, since there might be something I missed.  That being said, I can't really think of anything wrong with the two-parter, even stuff that might have been a problem or annoyed me kind of made up for it in other ways.  Hell, it might have even improved some episodes that I didn't think too fondly on...

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blog: Equestria Games

So my mom encouraged me to watch yesterday's new MLP:FiM episode, Equestria Games, this morning so it could be removed from the recorded stuff to make room for other recorded stuff.  things got a bit hairy when my dad came in and started goofing around, interrupting us, but I did see the full episode, which is good, since I tend to procrastinate on these things.

...It was okay.  Which is weird, because I FELL like I should like this more, given how the moral speaks out to me and my own personal problems in particular, the same way Hurricane Fluttershy's morals speak out to me in particular...  though that might be part of why I didn't ultimately care for it...  among other things.  Really, though, the whole episode just felt incredibly awkward, and even though I'm certain that was the point of a lot of the jokes and moments in this episode, I still detest awkward moments.  Not because of any logical or story-purpose reasons, I just literally can't watch/sit through them, because they make me feel so uncomfortable (I actually had to walk out of a showing of The Graduate because I couldn't take how uncomfortable the movie made me feel).  But...  on to this episode...


Thursday, May 1, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blogs: Inspiration Manifestation

I saw this episode earlier today with my mom.  I liked it...  though that might me because my mom was there with me and we both made glib observations about the episode as we watch it.  I think it's here that I realize that watching these kinds of things, even if you don't like them, is always better when there are more people watching with you.  This is why I typically only go to see movies in theaters with someone else.

The downside is that since I watched it with me mom and since we both kept talking during the whole thing that I didn't pay as close attention to some things, and thus I don't know about how critical I can be.  Maybe to some of you that's a good thing, since maybe some of you think I'm being too harsh on episodes lately, but I feel like I'm a disappointment to myself by not being as analytical.  Though on the bright side for both me and everyone, it'll hopefully mean this post will be shorter then normal.  So, let's get rolling...

Oh, and by the way, in addition to spoilers about this episode, this also contains some spoilers from Adventure Time as well, so...  watch out.

Monday, April 28, 2014

Adventure Time blogs: Big-Time Catch-up!

So I finally sat down and caught up with...  most of the episodes of Adventure Time up to this point.  It's been something I've really been procrastinating on, and I wanted to get down to it, since I've been trying to beat Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! (which yeah, isn't really that good, but I at least appreciate what it's trying to do...  plus it contains a piece of canon information that I want to know).  Hopefully I'll try to stay on top of new episodes after this.

I feel bad because I went all details with Red Throne, but now I'm back to general summaries since I'm marathoning this.  Hopefully I'll get across everything I wanted to talk about while keeping it short.



Oh, and uh, spoilers ahead, obviously.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blogs: Trade Ya

Saw Trade Ya earlier today.  I definitely had a lot to nitpick about while watching it, but I don't think it's that bad...  from a neutral perspective.  The ending definitely felt way too corny and wishy-washy for my tastes.  It's not like I don't expect the series to be like that, but...  there's a difference between genuine emotion in writing and half-hearted, ham-handed corny stuff that don't feel believable.  Family Guy falls into this trap quite frequently, it pulls the rug from under the audience so frequently, and the characters act so horrible to one-another that I can't be invested when they try to act nice once in a while.  Obviously this episode doesn't got that far, and I can't put my finger on why I don't like it...  Hell, I'm not even sure if I like it or not, I just know that the nitpick train's in town and I'm the conductor this time.

Friday, April 11, 2014

My Thoughts on the Super Smash Bros. Direct

Alright, so...  This past Tuesday, there was a special Super Smash Bros.-themed Nintendo Direct, in which a lot of things were revealed for the new Super Smash Bros. games for the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.  I've have a lot of time to collect my thoughts on it, and since I have a LOT of thoughts on it, I figured I'd post about it on my blog!  I've also been arguing my thoughts on what I saw on Facebook and the like, so there's that.  Either way, I feel like now I can finally say what I thought about what I saw in it.  BTW, for anyone who hasn't seen it, you can watch it here:


So I guess I should start by saying I at first found it rather underwhelming, mostly because what was implied about a character I really wanted to see playable and the newcomer they revealed at the end.  I'll explain further when I get to those parts, but I'll just say that now I feel a lot better about the Direct then I originally did...  though still kind of off.  Anyway, let's begin...

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blog: Testing, Testing, 1, 2, 3

Right, so I watched Testing, Testing 1, 2, 3 after watching last week's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which, along with this week's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is tied in with what happens in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  That, coupled the Super Smash Bros.-themed Nintendo Direct later today, gives me a lot to think about so it's hard to concentrate on this episode.  I will say that I enjoyed it, for the most part, but I don't know if I necessarily like it.  Hard to say, with a lot going on in my mind, though I don't want to say it's bad or I didn't like it because that's not true, though part of me isn't completely on-board with it...

I just want to say, throughout this entire episode, the one thing I was constantly thinking about (aside from how awesome it is that I'm hearing how the Wonderbolts were formed) was The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets an F", and any of you who've seen that episode know EXACTLY what I'm talking about.  I'll guess I'll go into further detail when I go down the line.

So sorry if my recap is a bit jumbled or if I don't explain myself well enough, bear with me for anyone that's reading this.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blogs: Leap of Faith

God dammit I hate my procrastinating nature.  I had a big list of things I want to get done, watching this episode and commenting on it being one of them, but now it's so late...  But I don't want to put this off any longer, not only because I want to comment on the episode before it gets too close to the next one, but also because I have a busy day tomorrow, so I won't have much time to talk about it then!

But yeah, I saw Leap of Faith earlier this afternoon, and even though it's around midnight while writing this, I want to get this out there, so here I go, my thoughts on the episode!

But first, Josh Haber.  Josh Haber is an interesting writer...  in that there's nothing all that interesting about the episodes he writes.  With the exception of writers who have only written one or two episodes, and other newbie writers this season, most of the writers for this show have distinct styles which makes it easy for one to tell who wrote it just by looking at what happened in that episode.  The vibe I get from Josh Haber's three episodes this season, including this one, is "meh".  Not bad, but not very good either.  The only one I really liked was Simple Ways, and it had almost nothing to do with his writing.  Hell, I actually found that episode's writing rather annoying, I'll be honest.  Same goes for Castle Mane-ia; no Castlevania references at all outside of the title, plus a slightly contrived set-up, mentioning the star spiders twice at the beginning, leading you to expect them to be relevant only for them to never be mentioned again, all meant to be a shout-out to Scooby-Doo, which...  okay?  Yeah, that's what hard about talking about his episodes, for as much as I like to nitpick about them, they're not bad, like there's nothing atrocious about them, and he CERTAINLY never made me angry the way Dave Polsky, Merriweather Williams, or even Amy Keating Rogers did.  there were parts that annoyed me, but they were never frustrating to watch.  They're frustrating to talk about, in that I have to begrudgingly say they aren't bad while simultaneously being incredibly unsatisfied with the results.  This seems to be a major problem with critics that I've seen, they come across something that's either mediocre or average, and they have a hard time explaining what's good and bad about it, as opposed to something that's just wholly bad or wholly good.

In the case of this episode, yeah, it's not bad, but there's not much that I particularly like about it.  I found a lot more to complain about then I did to actually praise, though that doesn't necessarily mean it's bad.  Yeah, I give other writers a hard time for similar complaints, though that's because I either have a vendetta against them or they've shown to be inadequate writers (to me, anyway) and I hope they improve as time goes on.  With Josh Haber, there's nothing I can really comment on when it comes to improvement, other then incredibly nitpicky details.  So forgive me for being incredibly petty with my "in-depth" overview of this episode, as I totally respect Josh Haber as a...  decent writer, I guess I'll call it.

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Batman turns 75

This is actually going to be an incredibly short post for once!  Apparently, according to the Hub Network's Facebook page, today (or perhaps yesterday) marks the 7th anniversary of Batman's first appearance in Detective Comics issue #27.


For as increasingly overrated, or rather overexposed, Batman has gotten in recent years, I still think he's every bit as awesome as everyone says he is (to a point). I COULD go in-depth as to why I think that is, or what I think of Batman as a whole, but I honestly don't feel like it right now, so instead I'll just say, congrats, Bats! ;)

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Friendship is Magic season 4 blogs: For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils

So I saw For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils earlier today...  Incidentally, many say it's a reference to the Ernest Hemmingway novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, but THAT was originally a line from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes, by poet John Donne in 1624!

Anyway, the episode...  *sigh*, I just don't know...  I don't want to hate this episode, nor do I think there's anything wrong with it, but it makes me depressed.  It's mostly based on the beginning of it, and also that it kind of gets personal for me.  Not that it's anything specific from the episode, but that the concept in general is not only a cliche I've seen dozens of times, but also something I just dealt with and I'm still a bit shaken from.  As a whole, the episode made me feel depressed, and I feel bad because I want to like the good bits, but...

...Well, I guess I should probably start explaining myself.

Saturday, March 15, 2014

MLP:FiM season 4 blog double whammy - Somepony to Watch Over Me and Maude Pie

Okay, missed commenting on last week's episode, so I'll briefly cover it here...  actually, I don't have to, because The Mysterious Mr. Enter pretty much said everything I would:

Video won't embed, so follow the link here.

I don't necessarily agree with EVERYTHING he has to say, but it's pretty spot-on to how I feel about the episode.  Now that we have that out of the way, moving on to this week's episode: Maud Pie!

It would seem this is another new writer, Noelle Benvenuti...  who apparently hasn't written anything, TV Show, movie, or otherwise, before this!  So what we have here is a NEW newbie!  ...And it's quite good for a first go!

Yeah, really, this was a great episode!  Well, great might be stretching it, I'm not entirely sure it hit all the right notes, but it definitely felt like a good episode, and enjoyable to watch!  Gosh, not sure where to start.  This time, I'm going to go back into in-depth mode!  How y'all are ready!

I should probably first say that this is the first episode I saw when it aired in a while, since someone at my work asked me to trade shifts with him, so I'm supposedly working later tonight.  I would have commented on this episode sooner had I not needed to drop my sister off somewhere...  Anyway, onto the episode!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4 blog: It Ain't Easy Being Breezies

Easy Breezy Beautiful Covergirl!  ...Have I made that joke already?  Well, even if I did, I hope I'm not the only one who made that joke, though I haven't been reading what people have been saying about the episode, so I wouldn't know.

But yeah, I was away last Saturday, and thus missed the episode.  I just saw it today because procrastination.  Now that I've seen it...

OMG THIS EPISODE IS SO CUTE!!!  The Breezies themselves aren't that cute, at least until they started talking!  Those high-pitched voices, ESPECIALLY coupled with that different language, plus Seabreeze's accent, like, oh man, I can't take it!  I also can't take when my recording (or maybe it happened when it aired, just in general, but whatever) starts wonking out and the audio stops working briefly in the middle.  I still got a lot of what happened, but still, that annoyed me.

Okay, so, don't feel like going over the episode chronologically, so I'll just point out stuff that stuck out in my mind...

Saturday, February 22, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4 blog - Twilight Time

I wan to open this by saying, in regards to Amy Keating Rogers and last week's episode, I'm greatly troubled to see how people reacted in such an extreme way towards Ms. Rogers.  Regardless of how well she writes her episodes of the characters, she did not deserve the treatment she got, nor should anyone have to go through what she did.  Because of that, I'm finally going to get a Twitter account an apologize for the actions of my fellow Bronies and give her my condolences...

HOWEVER!

I will also make it clear that, despite the extreme reaction being uncalled for, she DID poorly write Pinkie Pie in such a way that created such a reaction.  I'm not saying she had it coming, not at all, I'm saying that there's a reason for everything, and I think it's clear that a lot of people, myself included, didn't like how Pinkie Pie acted in Filli Vanilli.  Speaking only for myself, I've never been a fan of Pinkie's innocent insensitivity, but the levels in which she went to in Filli Vanilli is easily the worst I've ever seen from Pinkie Pie, even worse then my previous most-hated Pinkie moment, that being when she stalked and pestered Cranky Doodle Donkey at the end of A Friend in Deed.  And I honestly don't care if people actually found Pinkie funny, or if they can somehow justify it, the fact of the matter is I don't want to see this happen again, and I want Amy Keating Rogers to realize this and not dismiss all the criticisms at the episode as blind hatred.  What I'm getting at is, I sympathize, even empathize with her a bit, but I also want her to grow into a better, more skilled writer in the process.

...And that nicely ties into this episode and Dave Polsky.  Dave Polsky recently stated on Twitter that he's trying his hardest to get rid of his status as the most controversial writer for the show.  And as much I don't care for him as a writer, I can't really blame him, because while I outright despise his first two episode, a lot of his more recent episodes seem to be trying to be good but still somehow manage to be controversial; Too Many Pinkie Pies had a questionable method of getting rid of all the Pinkie clones, Spike At Your Service had a cliched plot that came at the expect of Spike's character, Keep Calm and Flutter On...  oy vey...  Games Ponies Play had a plot that could easily be resolved in 5 seconds tops, and a resolution that made no sense, Daring Don't made a previously thought to be fictional character "real", and Rarity Takes Manehatten had ponies not acknowledge Twilight was a princess...  Ironic, since this episode seems to be all about Twilight's princesshood.

Let me get this right off the bat: no, I didn't like the episode.  Which is not to say that it's bad, I just really didn't care for it.  See, that's the thing about me, I try to acknowledge when something is good or bad, or just not for me personally.  I'm sure from a technical standpoint, it's decent, and I'm sure many people could get some enjoyment out of it...  I didn't.  I honestly don't want to argue about it, because lord knows I've argued too much lately.  In fact, what I said at the beginning is kind of why I won't be as in-depth this time around.  I doubt I would have liked it anyway, even if the whole AKR Pinkie fiasco didn't happen, but it certainly didn't help, either.  Anyway, let's get to this...

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Filli Vanilli: MLP Season 4 Being Too Gimmicky?

So I was in the middle of a discussion on a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic forum I go to, when a thought occured to me...  According to Amy Keating Rogers on Twitter, this episode was originally going to be called "The Return of Flutterguy", before it was decided that that would be too spoilery...  That had me thinking...

This season seems to be all about gimmicks, as in each episode seems to be selling itself on a single gimmick, and the episode seems to be built around it as opposed to something that makes sense in the context of the series, thinking about how the characters would react in a certain situation, or anything like that.  Castle Mane-ia was a pretty flat "spooky" episode, Daring Don't's gimmick was Daring Do, a previously thought fictional character, being real, Power Ponies was a BLATANT comic book episode that felt completely interchangeable with any other TV series, Bats! felt like an excuse to turn Fluttershy into a bat, Three's a Crowd having Discord faking being sick just because, and now this, an episode that seems to want to bring back the Flutterguy voice.

I should note that that doesn't mean this season is all that bad, or only has gimmicky episodes.  Rarity Takes Manehatten, Pinkie Apple Pie, and Simple Ways feel like episodes right out of any previous season (though in the case of Rarity Takes Manehatten, that's kind of bad, given the whole "no one notices Twilight's a princess, but that's another discussion).  Hell, even episodes that DO have something of a gimmick, Flight to the Finish being both about Scootaloo's flight problems and tying into the Equestria Games subplot, Pinkie's Pride guest starring Weird Al Yankovic, and even this very episode, managed to make the episode more meaningful using that gimmick, as opposed to the other episodes, in which the gimmick drives the whole plot.

But here's the thing about this episode...  in retrospect, I feel like this episode's gimmick was thought up before the episode.  It feels like "hey, let's make an episode where the Flutterguy voice comes back, the fans really liked that!"  Part of me feels like this is kind of a bad way to go about this, since it opens up a lot of questions...  like how come Zecora has a potion that can instantly regrow chipped teeth yet her cure for a sore throat takes more then a day, why do the ponies refer to her manly voice as Flutterguy when it was originally used as teasing nickname from Spike, why did the ponies applaud a clearly female pony that has a really deep male voice instead of laughing, etc.  Like I said, the episode manages to address the idea of loving to perform but hating performing in front of an audience spectacularly well, but I feel like you could have done that WITHOUT the gimmick of the Flutterguy voice.

Eh, this was just a thought I had, and while I feel like this might be an issue with this episode (and season 4 as a whole) I don't think it's AS bad as Pinkie's characterization in this episode.  Like I said, the episode is done really well, despite the gimmick possibly holding it back.  Here's hoping the writers get more introspective with the series as opposed to just throwing ideas out there and fitting them into the plot later on.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4 blogs - Filli Vanilli

Well, this was an interesting episode!  I started out thinking I'd hate this episode, but it turned out I loved it!  It might just be one of my new favorites, despite one major, consistent problem.  Still, I can't help but adore this episode, and I'll get to why...

First let my just say, HELLO AMY KEATING ROGERS, glad to see you're back again!  ...Sort of.  I have to admit, I was never all that fond of A.K.R. as a writer, specifically sense a lot of her episodes then to leave me...  very angry or annoyed.  But hey, she won back some good will with Pinkie's Pride, so maybe she'll do well here!  Hopefully...  With any luck.  Anyway, onto the actual episode.


Monday, February 10, 2014

Adventure Time blogs: Red Throne

Since I finally sat down an watched an Adventure Time episode when it aired, as opposed to binge-watching it along with several other episodes, I ended up having a lot to say about it.  As such, I figured I could give a blog post about it for anyone who's interested.

Before I talk about the episode, though, I want to mention that I saw this promo for this "Hall of Games" that'll be going on next week, and when I watched it, it felt like I was watching the intro to Cartoon Network Fridays, or Cartoon City; seeing all those CN characters interacting with each other, it was all great fun, and I wish that Cartoon Network did this more...  but then again, they don't have many cartoons to do this with.  That's a shame.

Anyway, Red Throne...  Um...  Well that was certainly interesting.  Like, the most interesting part of it was something I honestly wasn't expecting to be interesting.  Hell, it almost feels like a bait-and-switch...


Saturday, February 8, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic season 4 blog: Simple Ways

I should probably say right off the bat that I don't like love stories, not that there's anything wrong with them, they just don't interest me.  I should ALSO say I hate awkward moments, because they're hard to sit through.  This episode is FULL of that, plus other stuff I didn't like.  Which is not to say it's bad, in fact there's a lot of stuff I liked about it, I just doubt that I'll be re-watching it anytime soon...  Or maybe I will, just to try and catch anything going on in the background...  Anyway, see my thoughts after the break.


Saturday, February 1, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 4 blog: Pinkie's Pride

And so we continue my journey into season 4 with Pinkie's Pride!

Well, um...  not sure what to say about this episode...  I mean, I have a lot to say, but it's hard to explain...  I mean, I'm going to explain myself, but so much happens, it's hard to even know where to start or what to talk about, like holy cow, so much happens...

So, here's the thing; when I heard "Weird Al" Yankovic was guest starring in this episode, I was hyped to living Hell, saying this will be the best season ever and this will be the best episode ever.  As the days got closer to the premiere, I started to calm down a bit, and I got worried.  For one thing, Amy Keating Rogers was not only writing the episode, but also the songs.  Amy Keating Rogers isn't the worst writer of the show, not by a long-shot, but last time she wrote a Pinkie Pie episode (A Friend in Deed), It made me really frustrated and REALLY angry...  like Dave Polsky's Feeling Pinkie Keen levels of anger.  And her other episodes that season, specifically The Last Roundup and MMMystery on the Friendship Express, I hated those episodes, too!  Which, again, doesn't mean I hate her as a writer, Hell I liked The Cutie Pox, as well as The Best Night Ever in season 1 (thought then again, her other episodes that season didn't do much for me, either), but it still made me nervous all the same.  And then there's the songs.  I only heard bits and pieces of them before I saw the episode, and while they were okay, I wasn't TOO impressed by them, nor was I all that impressed with A.K.R.'s original version of the Smile song.  This wouldn't have made me THAT nervous if Weird Al wasn't guest starring, and I felt it would be a travesty among travesties to have him guest star in an episode and NOT have him write at least one song!  Daniel Ingram's comments about working with him also made it sound like he mostly supervised and didn't actually write songs.  So again, I was worried this was going to backfire, but did it meet expectations?  Well, let's go through the episode from the start to finish, to show you my progression and my thoughts as it went.




Thursday, January 30, 2014

Wander Over Yonder blog: The Bounty

So yeah, I'm going to start up a routine blog, where I post my thoughts on the latest episode of Wander Over Yonder.  Who knows, maybe enough people will see this and get into the show.  I think I'll do the same with Adventure Time and Steven Universe, once I catch up with those shows, and I'm also doing the same for My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.  Same goes for Gravity Falls, once it comes back.  It's funny, this is starting to turn into an animation blog, even though I didn't exactly want it to be like that, but hey, as long as I'm using this blog for something!

So yeah, Wander Over Yonder.  I made a post about this show a while back, explaining my hopes and expectations for the series, and so far, the series might have exceeded my expectations.  It definitely has a lot more going for it then on the surface, and I really hope more people get into it, because it truly is a funny and entertaining show!

I believe the first season is almost halfway over, which is a shame, I probably should have started doing this from the beginning.  But like I said with Friendship is Magic, better late then never, so instead, I'm starting with The Bounty, the latest episode of the show.  It's a really good episode, check after the break to see why!

*WARNING: SPOILERS ABOUND* 

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

My Thoughts on The Powerpuff Girls 20th Anniversary: Dance Pantsed

20 years ago, a cartoon show known as The Powerpuff Girls premiered on Cartoon Network, and it soon became one of the network's most popular shows, even to this day.  It was about a trio of kindergarten superheroines, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, using their super powers to save the city of Townsville "before bedtime".  The show was known for it's clever sense of humor, as well as it's surprising amount of violence (which, in a sense, is also part of the joke).  In celebration for their 20th anniversary, Cartoon Network produced a half-hour special:


As you can see, it has a new art-style, and is also the first time the series had zero input from the show's creator, Craig McCracken, who is too busy working on another original show of his for the Disney Channel, Wander Over Yonder, which I've mentioned in previous posts on this blog.

I recorded this and saw it when I saw the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode, Three's a Crowd, this last Saturday, and as such, I probably don't have the best memory of what I watched as opposed to if I wrote about it then.  While I watched it, I tried to keep in mind the tone of the original show more then anything, but also tried to maintain an open mind about it...  Honestly?  I kind of liked it.  Find out what I mean after the break.



Saturday, January 25, 2014

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season 4 Blog: Three's a Crowd

I've been meaning to do this for some time.  See, I like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and I typically watch new episodes and post my thoughts on the forums I go to.  I figured my thoughts are so long and extensive, I should actually post them on my blog!  I probably SHOULD have started doing this as soon as season 4 started, instead of near the middle of season 4, but whatever, at least I'm actually doing it.  Plus I'll likely do the same thing for other TV shows I'm watching, like Wander Over Yonder and anything else I feel I'd like to comment on.

ANYWAY, the first episode of this particular series: Three's a Crowd.

Yeah, I liked it alright, I guess...  I'm still a little confused and/or conflicted about some things in the episode, which I MIGHT get to them as I come to them, but then again, I'm the kind of guy who tends to forget things I wanted to comment on...  Oh well, here it goes.  See my incredibly extensive thoughts on this episode after the break! (WARNING, some profanity is in here, use discretion while reading)