#a Very different story. okay. also considering the game is set in the early 2020s Tsukasa would've been ~13 when Greatest Showman released

[project-sekai-facts]

The play that Saki and Tsukasa watch as children in the WonderlandsxShowtime main story digest animation directly references The Greatest Showman (2017).

#project sekai #this is from the Come Alive choreo if anyone is curious #so according to the animation the show that got Tsukasa into acting was bootleg greatest showman but in-game it was happy phoenix which is #a Very different story. okay. also considering the game is set in the early 2020s Tsukasa would've been ~13 when Greatest Showman released #pretty sure the Barnum stand-in is meant to be Tsukasa's idol but since he hasn't appeared in-game yet i can't confirm

[metalandmagi]

Summer 2019 Anime Worth Watching

Summer is here, and with it brings another new season of anime! In case you’re feeling lost and want to find some new shows to pass the time, here’s some of the anime I think are worth checking out...because some really good shows tend to fly under the radar. I think there’s some genuinely interesting stuff this season, so hopefully you’ll find something you like too. 

I also have a Winter list and a Spring list and a fall list now!

And here’s my master list for 2020

New Shows!

Given: A *cough* BL *cough* romance anime in which tsundere highschool guitarist Ritsuka Uenoyama is on the verge of losing his passion for music when he stumbles upon the sleepy-eyed Mafuyu Sato who constantly carries a guitar around that he doesn’t know how to play. Drama and musical shenanigans ensue. This was by far my most anticipated show of the season, because I happen to have read a few chapters of this manga and liked it a lot. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to hear the music in this music oriented story...so naturally the anime makes me very happy. Not only is it sweet and cute with great animation, but it’s also hilarious. Sato is also basically a human incarnation of a lost puppy, and you just help but fall in love with him and the other characters! AND NOW WE HAVE TWO GAY MUSIC SHOWS THIS SEASON! 

Dr. STONE: An action adventure anime that takes place 3,700 years in the future after the world is struck with a mysterious phenomenon that turns the entire human race to stone. Our protagonists: the genius, scientific minded Senku Ishigami and the muscle-y comic relief Taiju Oki, must find a way to rebuild civilization and turn humanity back to normal using the POWER OF SCIENCE! It’s fun, good looking, and way more interesting than I thought it would be. I’m not very attached to the main characters yet, although it’s still early. I’m mainly sticking around for the plot, the comedy, and the answers to the crazy amount of questions I have after watching the first episode!

Fire Force: An action/drama where super powered fire fighters must protect Tokyo from people who are spontaneously combusting while our hero Shinra must find out who started the fire that killed his mother. More than anything, I’d say this show is definitely worth watching for the cinematography and action because almost every second has been high flying dynamic animation that really grips you. It reminds me a lot of Soul Eater, the story and characters have a lot of potential, and you know an anime will be good when the girls have muscles too!

If it’s for My Daughter, I’d Even Defeat a Demon Lord: Can you tell it’s based on a light novel? A slice of life set in a fantasy world where an adventurer named Dale stumbles upon an adorable lost little girl in the woods, who happens to be branded as a criminal. So of course Dale basically adopts her and tries to find out how she came to be with him. It’s basically fantasy School Babysitters without the tragic depth to it (but there’s room for potential). Yes, this is definitely the most wholesome show of the season, but it’s to be expected considering it’s basically Japan’s latest attempt to get people to have more babies. Personally, the most interesting aspect of this show is the fact that Dale and his “daughter” can’t speak the same language. Unfortunately, the light novel ends up pulling a Bunny Drop...so I sincerely hope the anime doesn’t try the creepy romance factor. So for now, if you feel like puking up some rainbows, give this one a try. 

To the Abandoned Sacred Beasts: An action drama where, during a civil war, one side used “forbidden technology” to enhance their soldiers and basically turn them into badass monsters. The only problem: the soldiers who were turned start to lose their humanity and end up killing humans for the fun of it. Now our protagonist must hunt down his fellow soldiers and kill them before it’s too late. Honestly, this show has some pacing issues and can be a bit stilted in terms of its character interactions, but what kept me watching was the last 5 minutes of the first episode. I was so not prepared for the roller coaster that was the first episode’s ending, and now I’m extremely intrigued. Besides it’s made by MAPPA so I would at least give it a couple episodes to see if it’s for you.   

Vinland Saga: The story of a young boy named Thorfinn’s journey to become a great warrior and while the adults deal with going to war. IT’S THE ONE WITH THE VIKINGS!!! It basically feels like a darker, grittier viking version of Moana. I’ve heard literally nothing but praise for this manga for so many years that my hopes skyrocketed as soon as I heard Wit was doing the adaption. And it has definitely lived up to the hype so far! It’s a great action historical drama to fill the void after Dororo. The only problem is no one will watch it because it’s on Amazon Prime.

Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga: A fun brightly colored historical anime about the famous warlord Nobunaga when he was a young teenager. I honestly don’t know what the tone of this anime is going to be from here on out, because it’s going to go from “fun thieving shenanigans with pretty boys” to leading people into battle, but it got me interested. I know putting Nobunaga in an anime isn’t exactly original, but this one seems like a fun ride...and it looks gay as fuck. 

And I have to shout out some that haven’t premiered yet...just in case...

Try Knights: This one doesn’t come out until the end of July, but you bet your ass I’m going to be watching it because it’s an original anime about PRETTY BOYS PLAYING RUGBY! And I have a feeling it’s going to be very... different from the other resident rugby anime All Out. 

Yokai Ningen BEM (Humanoid Monster BEM): Okay, this one’s not out yet either, but the trailer had a really cool vibe to it, so I’m including it anyway. It’s a remake of the 1968 anime in which a group of yokai who look like humans fight crime in the big city. If nothing else, the music is cool, and it’s made by Production I.G, so why not?

*UPDATE* The first episode finally dropped, and holy crap I’m so into this. It’s basically Durarara mixed with Psycho Pass mixed with Bungo Stray Dogs. The first episode has me completely hooked!

Next seasons and continuations!

As always there are some leftovers from the spring season that are continuing into the summer that I highly suggest!

Carole and Tuesday: The musical sci-fi anime directed by Shinichiro Watanabe wherein a rich runaway named Tuesday meets a streetwise girl named Carole, and the two decide to start a band together. Now Carole and Tuesday must rise to stardom in a world dominated by android created music. It was by far my favorite new show of the spring, and if you can find a way to watch it (because it’s still not available legally anywhere aside from Japanese Netflix apparently) I wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s got the best and most diverse music I’ve seen in an anime in a long time, an interesting setting (apparently it takes place in the Cowboy Bebop universe!?), and very well rounded fun characters. And I'm dying for a soundtrack release with all the songs!!!!

Fruits Basket 2019: Yes, the remake of the classic 2001 anime in which a girl moves in with a family who can turn into animals from the zodiac is getting a full run. And thank God because I just can’t say goodbye to it after only 12 episodes. It is so stunningly beautiful in both animation and story subjects that I don’t know what I would do without it. The characters feel so much more fleshed out, and I feel like I learn a lesson about life each week even though I already know most of what’s going to happen. If you never watched the original because thought you were too “cool” to watch a shoujo anime, give it a chance. Because if you think it’s just a generic love triangle romance show, you couldn’t be more wrong. The reboot is so good at portraying different kinds of love and how the presence of love and family can change lives AND IT’S JUST SO FREAKING GOOD! 

Demon Slayer Kimetsu no Yaiba: In case you missed Ufotable’s newest project, this is a shounen anime that follows a young boy named Tanjiro and his sister Nezuko who has been possessed by a demon and their journey to turn Nezuko back to normal while fighting demons along the way. I still feel like this is a pretty basic shounen anime story wise, but I really like the characters, especially the villains. It has some of the coolest fighting/power mechanics I’ve seen in awhile, and the animation is very cool and different!

Ace of Diamond act 2: Our favorite shounen baseball anime is continuing into the summer. And I have very mixed feelings about this season so far. We are getting some fun new characters and some great scenes with the team, but the games are very...choppy and rushed. Apparently this is how it goes down in the manga, and we’re in for some good Sawamura development...but it’s still touch and go for me personally.  

That’s it for now. Most of these are available on Crunchyroll, except Vinland Saga, Carole and Tuesday, and Kochouki: Wakaki Nobunaga. Since Try Knights and Yokai Ningen BEM aren’t out yet, I don’t know where they will be available legally. 

See you next season!

#long post #anime recommendation #summer 2019 anime #ace of diamond #demon slayer #kimetsu no yaiba #fruits basket #carole and tuesday #try knights #yokai ningen bem #kochouki: wakaki nobunaga #vinland saga #to the abandoned sacred beasts #katsute kami datta kemono-tachi e #if it's for my daughter i'd even defeat a demon lord #fire force #dr stone #given #given anime

[tatooines-ghosts]

HAPPY 2020s ENDING Y’ALL!!!

Enjoy a little blog-exclusive Shades AU that I affectionately refer to as the No Jedi Allowed AU, feat. everybody’s favorite prequel-era Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Sometime this last summer, while trying to work past writer’s block, I toyed with a little AU idea for funsies, I made a post about it, said I wasn’t going to do anything else with it, and left it at that. Until a month or two ago when, still in the throes of writer’s block, I took that little AU idea and figured “fuck it, I’m not working on the next chapter, but at least it’s writing SOMETHING Shades related” and made a real thing out of it.

This is Part 1. Future parts will come out at some point in the future, I’m thinking about making these a holiday special or something haven’t decided yet. (And really it’s only blog-exclusive because I cannot make a series on AO3 and remain anonymous so...)

Enough rambling. Please read, I hope you all enjoy this look at how things might have gone a little differently if a couple Jedi didn’t end up going all the way out to Tatooine to stick their noses into Hutt business.

Please assume content warnings given on AO3 may apply to this story as well. Also, beware spoilers if you are not fully caught up on the main story.

No Jedi Allowed AU - Part 1

Jango Fett heaved a long sigh as the door closed behind him. He had just finished up a long job for Jabba, one that should have been quick but ended up requiring well over a week of stake outs and reconnaissance, but in the end he got his man, as he always did. Jabba had at least expressed his gratitude suitably, in money and amenities. He had given Jango one of the better guest suites and was probably going to send up one of his better girls for a night of entertainment.

Jango began shedding his armor, considering what he would do with the slave girl. He really didn't have the energy to draw anything out. He hoped it wasn't going to be a new girl, explaining how things work was more effort than he cared to expend. Really he just wanted a shower and to sleep, but he wasn't about to leave his stuff unattended with a stranger on the way.

There was a light rap on the door.

"Enter."

The slave entered pushing a dinner cart. Jango breathed a sigh of relief. "Skywalker, nice to see you again."

She flashed him a small smile. "Been a while, hasn't it, Jango?" She paused just over the threshold and let the door lock behind her. "The usual tonight?"

"Sure." He finished removing his armor and set it aside carefully aside. "Get yourself ready, I'm hitting the shower first."

He stepped into the 'fresher, leaving Skywalker alone. Ten minutes later, he was stepping back out, with the provided robe draped around him. His clothes were a little rank, and the quick rinse he gave them in the shower wasn't enough to really clean them. They'd get a proper wash when he got home.

Skywalker had set up dinner, laying out the food and drink from the cart on the little dining table for him. She was perched at the holotable, flipping through the selection of games. There weren’t many games, as most visitors to a Hutt pleasure den were usually otherwise occupied in their rooms, or wanted to watch porn.

"How's dejarik sound? I'm not feeling anything particularly strenuous tonight."

"Fine." Jango sat down in the free seat. He grabbed the complimentary bottle of liquor and poured himself a healthy glass. He offered Skywalker a drink, but she declined. She did pick at the fruit he offered to share. There was always more food than he could eat, and he knew the slaves didn’t get fed nearly as well as guests.

She made the first move on the dejarik board. "How's Boba?"

They fell into comfortable conversation about Boba, about Skywalker's sister, about the recently finished racing season – Jango congratulated Skywalker on another victorious season. They played a few lackluster games of dejarik. That was a bit unusual, Skywalker was a worthy opponent, and she didn’t usually lose more than once or twice.

He beat her soundly for the fourth time in a row, the board resent, his turn to make the first move, but instead he checked the time. "I think I'm going to turn in. It's late enough."

"Yeah," she agreed distractedly. She fiddled with the edge of the gauzy white shawl wrapped around her. She looked pale, uneasy.

Jango gave her another critical, searching look. Her behavior was odd enough, was she supposed to be spying on him? Bribe him, coerce him, assassinate him? He knew Jabba wasn’t opposed to taking out a troublesome being with some poison served by a pretty face, but Jango hadn’t done anything to offend his second-best employer recently. The Hutt had no reason to want him dead, or otherwise intimidated.

Maybe Skywalker was just having an off day, or dealing with some other problem. He wasn’t going to ask. Wasn’t his business.

Her outfit tonight was white and copper, paper-thin linen wrapped in layers to be made suitably opaque, with copper metal accents to draw the eye and match the heavy collar around her neck. It was one of her softer, looser costumes. Aside from looking pale and anxious, Skywalker looked pretty good, a little softer, better fed. Jabba kept his slaves starved and stick thin, save for a few exceptions for the fetishists. This was a change, but not a poor one. Maybe Skywalker was being treated better after another successful racing season.

He turned off the holotable and stood up to stretch. The bed was looking very comfortable, and he wanted to get out of here early tomorrow morning.

Skywalker didn't move. "Jango, I need your help."

He fell still. This was a first, she had never asked for his help before. He'd taught her a few tricks to defend herself against handsy patrons who hadn't paid for the privilege to touch her. Maybe someone was a little more aggressive than she could handle. But Jabba had enforcers on staff whose job it was to take care of people like that. There wasn't anything else he could do for her. She had nothing to ask him to smuggle of planet, and there probably wasn't anything she knew of that he could bring to her. Which meant she was about to ask him to do something very stupid and probably impossible.

"What is it?"

She turned her wide blue eyes to him, her lower lip was caught between her teeth, and she worried it as she considered her next words. He could read her indecision clear in her face. His heart sank. If she was so afraid to even say the words, it couldn't be anything good.

"I need you to free me and my sister."

Jango actually laughed, a single, dry bark. "You're joking." She wasn't. "You want me to steal you from the Hutts? Never gonna happen. Jabba would kill us both for just considering it."

She didn't seem particularly disappointed with his rejection. She implored, "Please, Jango, you're our only hope for freedom."

"No. No way." Even if he wanted to, Jango wouldn't risk earning Jabba's ire, no matter how much he liked Skywalker.

Yes, he felt sorry for Skywalker and her little sister. Being born slaves was unfortunate, but it was their rotten luck that they ended up being owned by Jabba the Hutt. If anyone touched Jabba's property, or thought they could steal from him, they were dead already. Jango had been hired several times to bring in a bounty on someone who had done exactly that. He was not going to put himself on Jabba's shit list.

"I'm pregnant!" she blurted out. "Please, Jango, I can't let my baby be born a slave too." She shifted her arms, removing the shawl from around her waist, and there was the unmistakable roundness to her belly. "I don't even know if Jabba will let me keep my baby."

Jango sighed heavily. "He let you keep your sister."

"Because I didn't give birth to her, because he needed leverage over me after my mom died." She drew a shaking breath; he could see tears gathering in her frightened eyes. "He hasn't even made up his mind on whether he'll let me have the baby. Any day now he could take them from me if it stops me from being able to serve. He'll cut the baby out of me, he'll kill them. And if I do get to have them, then what? He'll steal them from my arms, or just use them like he uses Shila. Please, Jango, I can't go on like this. I want my baby to live. I want to raise them. I want Shila to grow up and know what freedom is."

Jango didn't move, didn't speak, his eyes stayed on Skywalker. His brain was already picking at the idea; it wouldn't be too difficult to – no! He was not about to ruin his career and risk his life for a pregnant slave girl, it's not like the baby was his. What stake did he have at all in Skywalker's future? None! If he tried helping her and they got caught, Boba would be left fatherless. The boy might never know what became of his father. But Anakin... she was the victim of her circumstances. Her little sister and her unborn baby were innocent of the whole matter. They were just slaves.

It wasn't like Jango was opposed to slavery, it was a lucrative evil for the dark corners of the galaxy, and it kept him paid, fed, and employed. He was a mercenary; he wasn't a saint, or even really a good person. Killing was never personal, it was for the job, but he still had a code of honor. And abandoning Skywalker after she asked for his help, after she had exposed herself to be in such a vulnerable position… that was breaking his code.

Would he be able to live with himself if he left her here to her fate? If Jabba stole her child, would he ever be able to look her in the eye again? And Boba... was this the kind of example he wanted to set for his son? Disregarding the lives of children and babies because he didn’t want to risk his own neck. Shameful. Dishonorable. No true Mandalorian would sacrifice a child’s life for their own comfort.

"Ossik," Jango hissed under his breath, dropping back into his seat. "Okay. Fine. I'll get you out of here."

X

Freeing Skywalker and her little sister was easier than Jango suspected it would have been. Granted it was easy for him to go where he needed in the palace, and nobody looked at him twice. He met Shila Skywalker, the little ad'ika he had heard so much about from her older sister. It was clear they were family, they shared the same face, but where Anakin was fair haired and blue-eyed, Shila was dark haired and brown-eyed. Reportedly she looked like their mother, Shmi, but Jango had never met the woman. Shila was young, only three years old, and she was quiet and shy, and frightened of Jango; a fact that was not helped at all when Jango had to cut the slave chip out of the child's stomach. It was just beneath the skin, and he didn't have to cut deep, so he was able to be very quick about it, but it still had to be done without pain killers.

It hadn’t been pleasant or fun for any involved. Skywalker had to hold the child down, keeping her hand pressed over Shila’s mouth to muffle the screams. But Jango had been the one with the knife. It would probably be some time before the child trusted him.

She flinched away from him with a whimper, hiding her face in her sister’s shoulder when he offered his hand after it and apologized. “Sorry, ad’ika, but you were very brave.”

The elder Skywalker, on the other hand, hardly made a sound when Jango carved out her chip from her shoulder.

With the girls freshly unchipped, Jango smuggled them unseen into his ship and stowed them in a hidden compartment in his cargo hold. It was specially lined to block life signs from most scanners, and certainly anything Jabba had his hands on out here. He left at dawn, nobody looked twice as he had made several comments before about leaving early, and he had never made a habit of staying very long in Jabba's palace in the first place.

Only when he was safely in hyperspace and clear from any Hutt influence did he release his cargo from the hold. Shila had been soothed to sleep by her sister, but Anakin was fully alert and terrified.

"Thank you for doing this," she said gratefully. "Jango, I don't know how I'll ever be able to thank you. You saved our lives."

"Don't thank me yet. Just because I got you out of there doesn't mean you're safe. Jabba's not going to like losing you."

"I know." Her hand moved behind Shila, rested against her belly. "But you've given us a chance."

A few hours later there was a small explosion at Jabba's palace. Nobody was injured, and the damage was minimal, but it threw everyone and everything into hysterics. In the chaos, it took time for someone to take count of the slaves, and then they noticed two very valuable slaves were missing. Search parties uncovered the hastily buried tracker chips, coated in dried blood and sand. Jabba's wrath was terrible and he turned the planet of Tatooine upside down looking for Anakin Skywalker.

X

Jango landed Slave I on the storm tossed landing pad, rain drummed against the hull. It was midday, though the rainclouds were so thick it might as well have been midnight. He dropped from the cockpit down to the passenger hold, where Skywalker sat with her sister.

Anakin, he supposed he should get used to calling her by her first name. They were aliit now. Whether she knew it or not, when Anakin had thrown her lot in with him to gain her freedom, Jango had brought her into his tiny clan. There really was no way to get around it. Releasing the Skywalkers into the galaxy to fend for themselves was as good as putting a blaster bolt in the back of their skulls. Jabba would have them back and dead, or worse, by week’s end. There was safety, at least, in a clan, security under the Fett name; even if the clan had doubled it in size overnight.

Shila was sleeping soundly, curled in her sister's arms and lap, but Anakin was alert and worried.

"What's that noise? An attack?"

The rain was so familiar to Jango, he tuned it out automatically. "What? No, that's the rain. Water falling from the sky," he had to clarify. He realized rain probably wasn't a word that ever got thrown around on Tatooine.

Anakin glowered at him. "I know what rain is. My mother told me." Her cheeks went pink. "I just didn't realize it made much noise."

Jango gave her some credit. "It is coming down rather hard out there. Come on. We'll get you inside and into more suitable clothes."

Kamino was cold, and the cloner's kept their facility chilly. Anakin's service costume was not going to cut it. He opened the cargo ramp, a blast of cold, wet air swept in.

He heard a gasp and a yelp behind him, Shila had woken up. Anakin tried to comfort the child in Huttese, but Jango could see her own eyes were wide with fear. This much rain and water had to be a shock. But Jango was hungry, tired, and ready to change into something more comfortable. He didn't want to stand here until the desert natives got used to rain.

"Come on," he said again, taking Anakin by the arm and pulling her forward. They walked quickly from ship to facility door, Jango keeping his grip firm so Anakin didn't slip and fall on the wet walkway, her shoes were less suitable for the slick metal than her clothes were for the climate. By the time they stepped inside, Anakin was shivering. Whether from the cold and wet, or everything else, he wasn't sure but thirty seconds in the downpour had turned her costume downright indecent. The flowy white linen had turned translucent and plastered against her body. It made the curve of her belly even more obvious.

It was a good thing Skywalker was so distracted looking around at everything else to not notice him staring and frowning at her. Well, more accurately, staring at her abdomen. A seed of doubt quickly settled and bloomed in his mind – not the first to grow since he agreed to free the Skywalkers, and he squashed it like the others. Having a baby around soon was going to make things interesting.

He sighed softly and shook his head. That little bastard was going to cause him a lot of trouble, he knew it already. After all, it had been the baby that tipped him over to helping the Skywalkers in the first place and inevitably put him on Jabba’s shit list.

How long would it be until Jabba put a bounty on his head? He couldn't possibly be so lucky as to escape without suspicion.

Jango stepped off down the hall, wondering whether the Skywalkers should be seen by a doctor first or if he should just take them home. When the ad'ika began to complain of the cold and the wet, he bypassed the corridor turn that would lead to the medical wing.

Their apartment had that mild, unlived in scent when he stepped in. Boba would have been left with his Kaminoan caretakers while Jango had been gone for a few weeks.

"Come on. We'll get you dried and change clothes before getting you to a doctor."

"Doctor?"

Jango stepped into the 'fresher and dug out some clean towels. He buried his derisive snort in the linen closet. "I doubt Jabba wasted any expenses on having you checked out, didn't he?"

"No, he didn't." Anakin folded her hands over her belly. "I thought for the longest time it might be dead inside me, but I've started to feel them move."

Jango handed her two towels. "How far along are you?"

"Almost six months."

Anakin bent to wrap Shila in the fluffy towel so she didn't see Jango frown at her. He was no expert, but he was almost certain most women were bigger by the time they were five or six months pregnant. Sure, she looked pregnant, but only barely.

"You sure about that?"

Anakin stilled, but nodded, her voice was low and confident. "Yes. I know exactly when it happened."

Jango wasn't going to press the issue. The Kaminoans could figure out the nitty gritty biological details. He moved to the bedrooms, "I'll find you some dry clothes. Won't fit all that well, but they'll be warmer and more suitable than that costume." He pulled a shirt and a pair of pants with a soft, drawstring waistband from his closet. The Kaminoans would have no trouble fabricating something more suitable for Anakin and Shila to wear, but this would do short-term. The little girl's clothes were the basic pants and tunic of Tatooine, but Anakin's costume would be entirely unsuitable for Kamino's climate, not to mention just daily life.

Jango grabbed a shirt from Boba’s room for Shila. It was big enough to be a dress on the child, and the sleeves fell past her hands, but it was workable with a few adjustments. Anakin's clothes were just as ill-fitting, but she didn't complain. She just had to pull the drawstring tight to keep her pants secure around her waist.

"It's only temporary," Jango assured her as she tugged at the oversized shirt. "We'll get you some better fitting clothes ‘fabbed once the Kaminoans get their measurements."

"It's fine," Anakin said quietly, fingering the shirt fabric, it was probably sturdier than anything she'd worn in a long time. Jango's clothes were made for warmth and wear. "This will do."

Jango took them back from the apartment and into the cloning complex, through the cold white hallways to the medical facility. It wasn't empty, it never was. With how many clones the Kaminoans spat out, the medical facilities were always busy; someone was always hurt or sick or injured, or having their genetic aberrations evaluated for viability. But the entrance from Jango's side of the facility kept him separated from the main body. He had mentioned the cloners to Anakin before, but he wasn't sure how much she had picked up on though. It had been a passing conversation as he taught her how to play sabbac. He felt like explaining it in whole might be a bit much for the newly-freed slave.

His side of the medical facility was a little clinic set aside from the main body of the medical wing. It was just one room; the medical bed dominated one side, while cabinets of medication and supplies lined the other walls. There were two doors, one they came through and another that went into the larger facility.

Jango flipped a switch on the panel by the facility door, it would summon a doctor. It must have been a slow day because a Kaminoan stepped into the room a few moments later, one of the doctors. Her big eyes scanned over Anakin and Shila before turning to Jango.

"What can I do for you today, Jango?"

"Doctor Wey Luma, this is Anakin and Shila Skywalker, new additions to my aliit. They both had subdermal chips removed that need patching up, and health checks, and Anakin's pregnant."

Kaminoans weren't nearly as expressive as humans, but Jango could see the excitement in Wey Luma's face. The doctors working with the clones were human specialists, but it wasn't like they came across any pregnant ones in this facility. She would probably become a scientific celebrity just on the fact that she got knocked up. He hoped Anakin wouldn't mind the scientists pawing at her. Probably not, she had enough practice with drunk Hutt patrons, and the Kaminoans wouldn't want to fuck her.

He turned to the Skywalkers, "Wey Luma will take care of you. I need to make some arrangements for your stay here."

"Okay." Anakin nodded and set her sister on the bed at the doctor's encouragement. Jango left the room and pulled up his comm.

He made a call to Taun We to arrange for a bigger apartment, they would need more space with Anakin, Shila, and a baby on the way. Plus supplies and clothing for the new additions.

And it was time to get Boba back from his caretakers and introduce his son to his new aliit. By the time he stepped back into the exam room, Anakin was perched on the medical bed, and Wey Luma was practically buzzing with excitement.

"Such hybridizations are almost unheard of," the doctor trilled. "You could provide us with priceless data."

Anakin looked nervous. She chewed on her lower lip while her hands rested over her little belly. "Would that mean you'll make sure the baby is healthy?"

The Kaminoan paused, confused. Jango stepped in quickly. "They'll take care of you and the baby regardless of whether you agree to let them study you."

"Oh, yes, of course," Wey Luma insisted quickly. "We would not withhold medical treatment. But… you would just do us an enormous favor if we were able to study you and your child."

"What's so special about it anyway?" Jango asked before Anakin had to agree to anything.

"He's half-pantoran. Humans and pantorans typically do not mix genetically."

Jango grunted in understanding. He understood only the most basics of genetics, and he imagined Anakin understood even less. "She'll think about it."

There was nothing else they needed from the doctor, so Jango took them back home.

Taun We was waiting with Boba and a small crate of supplies, the new clothes. Kaminoans were nothing if not efficient; the clothing fabricators must have gotten Anakin's measurements from the medical scans.

There wasn’t time for more than the quickest introductions, as their apartment had to be packed up and everything moved into bigger quarters. A squad of droids expedited the process, and after only a couple hours, they were fully moved into a new apartment.

Taun We and the droids left the newly expanded Fett clan alone to get properly acquainted.

“Boba,” Jango put a hand on his son’s shoulder, pushing him forward ever so slightly. “This is Anakin and her sister Shila Skywalker.”

Boba’s dark eyes traced over the Skywalkers. Confusion curled in his head, father had never brought home anyone before, much less a woman and child. He’d met a few of his father’s more trustworthy associates before, but Anakin didn’t look like a bounty hunter or well… much of anything. What was it about them that had prompted such a sudden uprooting? Why were they now living together?

He’d heard Jango and Anakin muttering about a baby earlier during the move. Was that why? Was she his father’s… girlfriend? Was Shila his half-sister? A natural born Fett heir?

Jango’s grip tightened on Boba’s shoulder and he quickly remembered his manners. “Hello.” He nodded quickly to Anakin and Shila, and then turned to his father for further explanation.

“Anakin and Shila are alit now. I expect you to treat them as such.”

Aliit? Them? That word meant something in Mando’a, Jango wouldn’t throw it around casually. But he knew his father’s adopted clan lines, he knew the branches and offshoots, and distant relations belonging to the family that had taken his father in as a boy. Skywalker was not one of those family names.

“Where did they come from?”

“Tatooine.”

That illuminated very little for Boba, but he could hear the mildly dismissive tone in his father’s words. Now was not the time for more questions.

Jango pushed Boba forward a little more. “Anakin and I need to talk. Can you keep Shila entertained?”

“Oh, okay.” Boba craned his neck a little to peek behind Anakin’s legs, where Shila was hiding. “Shila?” The child buried her face in the back of Anakin’s thighs.

Anakin smiled slightly and scooped her hand behind the child’s head and pushed her forward towards Boba. She said in gentle Huttese, “Go on, Shila, go with Boba.”

Shila stumbled forward, gripping tightly to Anakin’s sleeve. Her eyes were wide and frightened, and Boba didn’t miss the way she flinched away from Jango.

“Introduce yourself.” Anakin prompted.

Shila stuttered out in Huttese a quiet little, “H-hello.”

Boba looked back to his father once again, asking silently if Shila only spoke Huttese. His father nodded curtly, yes.

No worry there, Boba was near fluent in Huttese, so he smiled at the little girl and said back to her, “Hello Shila, I’m Boba.”

Her eyes lit up when she finally understood his words. Boba offered his hand and the child took it. He led her off down the hallway to her new bedroom, right across the hall from Boba’s.

“Let’s see what kind of toys we can find.”

Boba thought he was getting a little too old for toys, but the move had unearthed a lot of old stuff he had nearly forgotten about. He pulled the box down and set it on the floor for Shila to explore while he moved to the open door and tried to listen to whatever his father and Anakin were discussing, but they were speaking too quietly for him to overhear. Jango was clattering around the kitchen, preparing their evening meal, but also making enough noise to purposefully discourage eavesdropping.

Annoyed and disappointed, Boba turned back to Shila. She had tipped most of the boxes contents out onto the floor and had promptly ignored all of them for the plush Aiwha that was almost as big as she was. It must have been a gift or something, though Boba had never particularly cared for the stuffed animal; or many plus toys in general. Shila seemed to like it, though, so he held no qualms bestowing it upon her. Shila was so delighted and excited over the gift, she even dragged it out to the kitchen when they were called for dinner to show Anakin what Boba had given her.

Shila was all set to sit the Aiwha at the table with them for dinner, but Anakin had her put it back in her room. Jango wouldn’t have cared either way – it wouldn’t have been the first time a toddler would have insisted that a favorite toy had to be a dinner guest – but Anakin was still trying to figure out her place in this whole affair, so he wasn’t about to step in a parent her baby sister. Not yet at least.

Shila was still very much frightened of him, even without his armor and the knife, it would be some times before she warmed up to him. Probably when the pain and scar from her tracker faded. Having everyone around her able to speak the same language helped, but Jango knew the child couldn’t only know Huttese for forever. Galactic Basic was a must, as was Mando’a, and Kaminoan would be useful too. He had no doubt Shila would pick up new languages quickly, children that young learned fast. Anakin on the other hand needed to start Mando’a lessons as quickly as possible, picking up the language would be harder for her, but it was something she had to know.

Nobody in his aliit would not be fluent in Mando'a.

"You keep using that word," Anakin observed over dinner. "'A-leet' what does it mean?"

"Aliit means family, of the same clan."

She frowned at him, her brow furrowing in suspicion. "But we're not-"

"You are newly freed slaves. You have no clan or family. You're foundlings and I have taken you in, so now you are part of my aliit. The galaxy is safer for you this way, you have protection."

Anakin stared at him, caught between gratitude and suspicion. “Does this mean we will have to change our names?”

For practical reasons, it would be safer for Anakin and Shila to adopt new surnames; it reduced the chance people would recognize her by name. But he understood the importance and attachment beings could have to family names. If he told her she had to change, she would probably do so without complaint, but that might make her resent the name, resent him and this gift of freedom he was giving her. Then again, this wasn’t something he felt was within his power to decide for her. “Not if you don’t want to.”

Anakin nodded slowly, considering something else. “Does that mean we’re trapped here?”

Trapped wasn’t the word that Jango would have chosen, but he knew where she was coming from. What was the point of being free if you had nowhere to go except back to slavery? With no home, no family, no resources, or friends to turn to Kamino could feel like a trap.

“For now,” he said reassuringly, “You are safe here, and hidden. Kamino is not widely known to the galaxy, nor will the Hutts think to search for you here. And there’s no chance of anyone seeing you and turning you back over to him. If you find staying here to be truly interminable, I can make other arrangements for you, but it will take time.”

Most of the suspicion left Anakin, though Jango could still read a little unease in her. Freedom would take time to adjust to, and it had been less than a day. Her eyes skimmed over him and to the dark, rain-lashed windows that made up a wall of their living area. She managed an uneasy smile and said lightly, “Well, it is very different from Tatooine.”

#long post #not kidding y'all #this is over 5k of story #story related #no jedi allowed au #shades of tatooine #anakin skywalker #jango fett #boba fett #star wars #Jango is ace and there is nothing that will ever convince me otherwise!

[coolgreatwebsite]

Cool Games I Finished In 2019 (In No Real Order)

We’re here. The end of the decade. 2019 was a weird, turbulent year for me. Despite my cross-country move already being a year behind me somehow, nothing’s really settled yet. Living situation is still weird, still separated from most of my belongings, I left my full-time QA job for a contractor position at a mobile game advertising company that may or may not convert into a full-time position... everything about what’s going on with me still just feels like I’m completely winging it, and while that’s not a position I’m really comfortable being in for such an extended amount of time, everything seems to be working out okay enough despite it. All this is probably why I spent most of my time playing the shit out of a handful of games rather than playing a bunch of different games this year! Needed some sort of stability. Also when I did manage to pull myself away from the timesink games and play something else, a lot of them ranged from “okay” to “real bad”. But I still managed to play just enough stuff that I liked to where I can put out yet another one of these.  Here’s a bunch of cool games I experienced for the first time in 2019.

Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst (PC, 2005)

I haven’t bothered to do two thirds of the story quests yet and have barely touched any Episode 4 content so this game technically doesn’t count for this list, but if I left it off I would be neglecting to mention an extremely large portion of my video game playing time this year. I fell back into PSO preeeettty hard this year after the surprise announcement of Phantasy Star Online 2 finally coming to the US. Guess what: game still rules. It feels stiff to play and it’s obviously far less expansive than it seemed back in 2000, but the core of Phantasy Star Online is still as fun as it ever was and the aesthetics are still entirely my shit. I love everything about the way this game looks and sounds, I love stumbling on a weird new weapon, I love participating in the custom seasonal events the server I’m on runs, and I love how oddly relaxing the experience of playing this game and taking it all in is. I will probably continue to play Phantasy Star Online into 2020. I will probably still dip back into it after PSO2 US servers finally launch. If I know you and you want to join my Discord server for PSO get at me. PSO forever.

Cookie’s Bustle (PC, 1999)

You ever play a game that just speaks to you? Even through a language barrier? A game so incredibly out there and bizarre in the exact way you love that you can’t help but adore it despite barely understanding it? Holy moly did I ever find that game. I learned about Cookie’s Bustle through a news story last year about some rare games leaking from a Japanese collector’s stash. Didn’t manage to get it to run back then, but my off and on attempts to get it working finally paid off in March of this year and I’m so glad I kept trying. I knew nothing of this game other than it had a weird name and was about a bear doing sports, and it turned out to be a fully voice-acted and mostly unsubtitled adventure game starring Cookie Blair, a 5 year old girl from New Jersey who sees herself as a teddy bear and has traveled to Bombo World, an island nation once visited by aliens and currently in the middle of a civil war, to participate in the Bombo Sports Tournament. Dead level, I probably shouldn’t have been able to genuinely love Cookie’s Bustle as much as I did. The only context I had for what was happening and what I was supposed to do was provided by a 20-year-old Google translated walkthrough with broken images, the game’s slightly higher than usual reliance on English loan words, and 30-ish years of video games and anime allowing me to halfway pick up on a handful of Japanese words. However, Cookie’s Bustle is dripping with an undeniable and off-beat charm that genuinely transcends language. Even if you can’t understand the words and specifics, you can understand the basic plot, characterizations, and emotions they’re going for. Cookie’s Bustle manages to both be completely off-the-wall bizarre and feel totally genuine and heartfelt at the same time, a balance very few games manage to successfully hit but many of my favorites do. One could say that’s why it seems to have resonated with a decent amount of other people this year, too. Games rarely make me feel sad that they’re over. but when they do that’s how I know they’re one of the good ones. Seriously, go look up a longplay or stream of Cookie’s Bustle if you (understandably) don’t want to go through the hassle of setting it up and figuring out how to play it, it’s impossible not to love.

Devil May Cry 5 (PlayStation 4, 2019)

Here’s something crazy to think about: Devil May Cry 4 came out 11 years ago. Aside from being a potent reminder that time is moving too fast and we’re all going to die soon, that means that there hasn’t been a DMC for over a decade. Devil May Cry 5 does not bare this fact even a little bit. Not only did they pick up right where they left off and manage to make another Devil May Cry game without missing a beat, they made arguably the best Devil May Cry game. I mean I still like the story and single-character focus of DMC3 the best, but DMC5 is the best playing game in the series without a doubt. Nero finally feels like he has a complete and complex toolset, Dante is the most mechanically dense and fun to play he’s ever been, and they even added a new guy that’s... neat to play as, until you start trying to S-rank the harder difficulties. Then he’s kind of annoying to play as. But it’s still cool that they tried something totally different and mostly got it to work! They also did something very stupid that I love and used this game as an excuse to make literally every single piece of Devil May Cry media canon. Like, characters exclusively from the anime and the books show up and act like they’re someone you already know and love? And they go out of their way to explain the most esoteric lore shit possible?? And despite it all they still intentionally give DMC2 as short a shrift as they can??? It’s so dumb, it rules. It’s just one of the many things about the game that show that even with so long of a gap between entries, no love for the series was lost by the people that make it. I don’t think the suits at Capcom expected this game to hit as hard as it did though, because despite there being clear areas where the game could be expanded on with DLC there still hasn’t been anything announced. I hope they’re maybe saving it for some sort of DMC3-esque special edition, or maybe just already working on DMC6, because even after getting all S-ranks I still wanted to play more. The game’s just that damn good.

Hypnospace Outlaw (PC, 2019)

I expected very little from Hypnospace Outlaw. I backed the game on Kickstarter solely because it looked cool and I thought a game about fake GeoCities was neat, and then I immediately forgot about it until it released. Admittedly my lack of expectations stemmed mostly from the fact that it’s kind of hard to set expectations for a game you never really thought too hard about, but even in the brief period of time where I considered it enough to give it money, I never expected it to be much more than a pretty-looking 101 Great GeoCities Jokez delivery vehicle. Boy was I wrong. I mean, it is incredibly good at that, but Hypnospace Outlaw is so much more than a funny period piece. The basic premise is that you’re in alternate universe 1999 and have just become a community moderator for an Internet service provider that allows people to connect to the Internet while they sleep. You’re tasked with browsing the game’s weird fake Internet and issuing demerits to users who violate the five basic Hypnospace rules, but it quickly evolves into something way bigger. Hypnospace Outlaw’s greatest strength is its exceptional ability at weaving together subtle world building, small and engaging character arcs, esoteric microjokes, and a genuine sense of mystery and discovery into an incredibly cohesive and engaging package. It’s as much a game about the people that use and run its weird fake Internet as it is about that weird fake Internet itself. And a lot of the problems both face echo the problems we face with our real world Internet today. When I was mapping out writing this article like a month or two ago I was prepared to go on about how at its core, Hypnospace Outlaw is an incredibly poignant story about how uncaring tech corporations actively harm their users and always have, but then a couple of days ago I read Colin Spacetwinks’ game of the year list and his #1 entry put most everything I would have said about that topic down in a way more eloquent and well-written way than I ever could have. And then I remembered that Friend Of The Site Heidi Kemps covered some of the same angle but from the perspective of the early Internet in an article earlier this year, again way better than I could have. So I highly recommend you read those when you’re done here. What I wanna bring up instead is just how effortlessly surprising and interconnected a lot of stuff in Hypnospace feels, using a mildly spoiler-ish late game example. Two of the first “zones” you’re allowed to moderate when you start Hypnospace Outlaw are Teentopia and Goodtime Valley, which are essentially alternate universe Yahooligans and a little slice of Hypnospace just for Boomers respectively. On Teentopia you’ll see a bunch of kids that are wild for Squisherz, Hypnospace’s alternate universe version of Pokémon, and over in Goodtime Valley you’ll see (much like there was back in real world 1999) a few pages made by religious fundamentalists convinced that everything the kids like these days is the work of Satan. This of course includes Squisherz, and you can find a page by one organization full of crackpot conspiracy theories with flimsy evidence that TOTALLY DEFINITELY backs up their claim. Squisherz contains a wolf, which the Bible warns about many times! This giraffe monster CLEARLY has a pentagram in its design!! And the eye of this snake-like Squisherz is the eye of Horus, an Egyptian occult symbol and NEED I REMIND YOU that Lucifer took the form of a snake in the Garden of Eden!!! It is very clear what this page is goofing on and throughout the course of the game it doesn’t get updated at all, so it’s very easy to laugh at it and forget about it. Very late into the game, you get an optional sidequest. Adrian Merchant, one of the CEOs of Merchantsoft, the company that created Hypnospace, was found out to have logged traffic indicating he was a frequent visitor of a website called Children of HORUS, and a call is put out to investigate what that even is. You can easily find the website, but it asks you for a password if you click the Enter button. Adrian Merchant is consistently portrayed throughout the game as a complete idiot, and the solution to this puzzle has you capitalize on that. Another early game objective ended up with you finding a list of cracked passwords, and one of those passwords happens to be for the instant messenger account of Adrian Merchant. If you can remember that he was even in that text file from forever ago, and then put two and two together that of COURSE that dumbass would use the same password for everything, you just punch in his messenger password and you’re granted access to the Children of HORUS page. It turns out that HORUS is an acronym that stands for Hiding Occult References in Utmost Secrecy, and the page itself is a basic leaderboard with a list of names and two numbered columns reading “Hidden” and “Found”. In that list of names you’ll find A. Merchant, along with the names of various other CEOs and celebrities you might have read about elsewhere in Hypnospace. One of the other names on this list is F. Kazuma, the CEO of Monarch, creators of Squisherz. The funny conspiracy theory website from the beginning of the game that you most likely forgot about was, about this one specific thing, correct. There was an eye of Horus hidden on the snake from Squisherz. Not as any sort of Satanic plot, mind you, but only as part of some weird millionaire dickwaving contest. This dumb tiny revelation is not called out by the game at all and nothing comes of it, it’s just there for you to notice if you’ve been paying enough attention. Hypnospace Outlaw is LITTERED with stuff like this. Weird small interconnected things you wouldn’t expect to be interconnected. Little dumb things you wouldn’t expect to have any sort of payoff but somehow do. And it’s also just as chock full of big things. Having all the pieces fall into place at once to where I was able to access Hypnospace’s equivalent of the dark web was the best sequence in a game this year for me, even beating out the outlandish shit in DMC5. Getting and solving the final case was a rush. Hypnospace Outlaw is full of incredible moments big and small. It’s genuinely engaging and affecting, which is so much more than I was expecting from a game that was pitched to me as “Funny GeoCities Cop”. It almost has no right being so good. But it is. Hell, even the music rules! I didnt even get into that! I don't have enough time or space to get into that now! The music is so goddamn good! I know I started these lists because I had no interest in ranking games, but every year I sort of jokingly-but-not-jokingly say “haha this game sure would be my number one if I did that!” for at least one game. It’s time to fully lean into it. I don’t gotta rank ‘em all, but I can pick a favorite. Hypnospace Outlaw is my favorite game of 2019 with a goddamn bullet.

These games were also cool, I just had less to say about them:

Etrian Odyssey (Nintendo DS, 2007): Man, this series just started out good, huh? I dabbled with the first two games in college when I got a DS flashcart but never really dug in until EO4, and the first game is enjoyable in just about every way the modern ones are. Definitely more barebones and punishing though. Kero Blaster (PlayStation 4, 2017): This is a game by the creator of Cave Story that does not aim to be Cave Story, and that’s fine! A fun little shooter in its own right, though I do think the shooting in Cave Story felt a little better than it does here. Space Invaders Extreme (Nintendo DS, 2008): I played the shit out of this game in college thanks to that flashcart I mentioned before, but I never finished a playthrough in full until this year for some reason. Still way stylish and way fun! I need to get a copy of the second one... CROSSNIQ+ (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Incredibly chill puzzle game that can be as hard or easy as you want it to be. Almost uncanny in how well it emulates the style of late PS1/Dreamcast games. Super Mario Maker 2 (Nintendo Switch, 2019): Mario Maker 2 is kind of weird for me. It’s a solid improvement in a lot of aspects, but a clear regression in a lot of others. Also the online multiplayer is the second least amount of fun I’ve had with a video game this year (Secret of Mana swooped in and stole the number one slot near the end). Still, I had a lot of fun with it and I’ll probably end up going back to it eventually. Katamari Damacy Reroll (Nintendo Switch, 2018): The original Katamari Damacy is still every bit as fun and charming as it was upon its original release. This port is weirdly based on the Japanese version with the English text inserted, which means no English voice acting and Wanda Wanda only plays in the multiplayer mode. The Joycon sticks also aren’t the greatest for doing charge rolls. But none of these faults detract too much from the game. Bring on We Love Katamari Reroll! Earth Defense Force 5 (PlayStation 4, 2018): Sandlot somehow keeps finding ways to make each new EDF bigger and explodier, and EDF5 is the biggest and explodiest yet. I think the mission design in 4.1 was more solid overall, but 5 feels the best to play and has the most fun tools. Also the dialogue is the most absurd its ever been, and the final boss goes for it way harder than the series ever has. Pokémon Shield (Nintendo Switch, 2019): This game is honestly just okay, but leaving it off would again be neglecting a game I put a ton of time into this year. Pokémon Sword is fun in the way most Pokémon games usually are, and extremely half-baked in basically every other aspect. I’m still having a good time putting together teams and finding shinies and doing The Pokémon Thing regardless.

And that’s 2019 (and this decade) in the bag! I don’t know where anything’s going from here, but I’m going to ride it out as best as I can! I hope you do too! As always, thank you so much for getting to the bottom of all these words. I’m hoping to be in a more stable place mid-2020, and then I want to get back to all the things I haven’t had time to do. I want to get back to streaming, I want to write more dumb articles like The Best Babies, I want to do it all! I hope I will be able to do it all. Until then!

#article #year wrapup

[nellie-elizabeth]

Supernatural: Moriah (14x20)

Well then! Yeesh!

Cons:

I wish we could do a bit more to sort out this whole Cas vs. Dean thing. Now that we've got bigger fish to fry for next season, it seems like Dean and Cas' pretty intense disagreement will likely be pushed aside in favor of... you know... surviving the end-times. But maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised, and their relationship drama will continue to be a factor as we enter into the final season of this show.

I really, really like the direction this is going, but I can't help but wonder if there were re-writes once the decision was made that Season Fifteen would be the end. It seems to me that several elements of the story, especially the stuff with Lucifer coming back, wound up being scrapped in favor of the ridiculously awesome reveal that Chuck is our final Big Bad. So while this finale on its own kicked some major ass, there were definitely some elements that didn't add up for me in terms of the buildup from the rest of the season.

Pros:

What a smart episode this was, though. Honestly. Usually the finales of Supernatural have to escalate things to some new extreme height so that we know what's coming in the next season. Oh no, we've started the apocalypse! Oh no, all the angels have fallen from Heaven! Oh no, the Darkness has been released! This season is, in some ways, no exception to that. Apparently, God is the villain. And he's done playing nice. While this might seem like just another classic Supernatural power-creep escalation, it's actually something a little different. And I love it. This is an opportunity to pit early show vs. late show against each other, by bringing back old villains, but letting Sam, Dean, and Cas handle it in the way they've learned to do over their many years of being hunters. It's an opportunity for nostalgia while at the same time a chance to focus on the one and only true central theme of Supernatural: free will. Honestly, this show goes all over the place with its plots and messaging, but at the center of it all, from day one, has been the idea of free will, and I love that we're setting up the final season to be a direct reckoning of that theme.

This episode was also a lot more down-to-earth than some other finales we've got. It's very focused - Jack is out there. Dean wants to kill him. Sam admits that killing him is maybe their only option. Cas is not on board. Three different approaches to one big problem. Meanwhile, Jack is trying to do the right thing without a soul to guide his conscience. And then God is there, and we learn once and for all that he truly does view the Winchesters as a story. That they've been puppets all along, dancing for his amusement. The end. I love that a lot of this episode really was just sitting around talking things out, making plans. It felt real, and grounded, in a way that I really appreciate from this show.

Let's talk Dean and Sam for a minute - I loved the scene when Dean said he was going to take the shot at Jack, effectively killing both Jack and himself. They don't even need to have the full conversation, because they've been there so many times before. And Sam says no - he's not going to be okay with a plan that makes him lose Jack and Dean in one fell swoop. He's lost enough as it is. Dean, who has over the last few seasons grown into a person who actually respects his brother's right to make his own decisions, has been having a bit of a relapse on account of Mary's death. He takes the gun and leaves without telling Sam. It's predictable, and frustrating, and it was easy for me to feel Sam's pain.

I love how angry Dean is, how his tight grip on his control seems to be in constant danger of snapping. He loves Sam, he loves Cas, and he loved Jack, but he can't bring himself to process those emotions in a healthy way right now. He needs to be a man on a mission, otherwise he'll fall apart. Jensen is doing such a great job with this. There's the moment in his conversation with Sam where he talks about the fact that God told them that Jack needed to die, so that's the end of the discussion. It's just so Dean to be such a hypocrite about this. Billie tells him that locking himself in a box is the only way to save the world? Cool. He'll do it. God tells him to kill his foster son? Cool. He'll do it. Because Dean Winchester kind of hates himself. And he definitely hates himself for Mary's death. It's just that in this case, he can kill Jack, the person who he outwardly blames, and himself, the person who he blames for everything, in one fell swoop. Yeesh. Poor Dean.

The moment when Dean shows up to kill Jack, and Cas is there and tells Jack to run? I fucking lost my mind. I am so in love with the way they've positioned Dean and Cas on opposite sides of this debate. These are two men who would die for each other - who have died for each other in fact. And in this moment, they are as opposed as they've ever been. Not since Season Six have we seen Cas and Dean at such odds with one another. There's this delicious tension to knowing that Dean is going to kill Jack at any cost, and Cas is going to stop Dean from killing Jack at any cost, and yet the thought of either of these people doing anything to hurt the other is so ludicrous. This is the stuff good drama is made of.

Then there's Sam Winchester, who easily gets MVP from me for this episode. We've seen, from the very early stages of this show when angels were considered an unrealistic fairy-tale, that Sam has always had faith. Maybe he hasn't quite understood the specifics of his own belief, but he's believed in a higher power and he's believed in the essential goodness of that power. We saw the way he behaved with Chuck when they met the last time. He was worshipful. Dean didn't quite understand it, but Sam... even when Sam was annoyed or frustrated with Chuck, he actually believed in him. So the moment when Sam says "hey, Chuck," and shoots God in the shoulder is honestly just... exquisite.

Sam spends this episode trying to contextualize everything that's been happening to them recently - he blames himself for Mary's death, because he's the one who brought Jack back without a soul. He tries to understand why Chuck hasn't been showing up to help them before now. He tries to explain himself to Dean, to make his brother hear him. He tries to reconcile his love for Jack with what Jack has become. And then he picks up a gun and he shoots God, even knowing he'll hurt or even kill himself to do it. And it's not a brave sacrifice play, or a planned moment - it's done in anger, in desperation, in fear. The realization that Chuck doesn't care about them is the biggest betrayal Sam Winchester has ever faced, and that's saying something, given the life he's lead. It's so hugely important to me that Sam is the one to make this move, and not Dean. It represents a breaking point for his character that I cannot wait to see play out next season.

Obviously I figured that Dean wouldn't really kill Jack, but I admire how much tension they still managed to put into that scene, and how, as Cas says "writers lie." The magic gun doesn't kill Jack; Chuck does that directly once he realizes that Dean isn't going to play the little game he's devised. We get this final shot of Sam, Dean, and Cas all standing back to back, ready to fight against the hoard of returned villains that are closing in on them. Cas has the angel blade, but Sam and Dean are practically unarmed, and Sam is bleeding from a gunshot wound to the shoulder. It's bleak, and on top of it all there's Jack's corpse just sitting there, a reminder of their failure.

We see Jack awaken in the Empty, and Billie seems to have plans for him, so now we've got a Billie vs. Chuck situation, with Jack, Cas, and the Winchesters as potential pawns. I am beyond excited to see how this plays out, and where Team Free Will lands in this battle for their own agency.

Before I finish this review, I want to praise the episode for suggesting the apocalyptic scope of Jack's powers. This show has never managed to really convey the way the whole world is affected by the various apocalypse-y type things that have come up over the years. But here we see that Jack's order to "stop lying" actually throws the whole world into chaos. If Chuck had wanted to see that play out, he would have; it's only his ability to reset things that saves the world. We see how people's inability to lie leads to instant resentments and chaos. It's actually a pretty great trope to explore some inter-character drama, so at first I was a little surprised that Sam and Dean didn't accidentally drop any uncomfortable truth bombs on each other when they both lacked the ability to lie. But then I realized - while Sam and Dean are having a rough time because of Mary right now, they are firmly on each other's sides and fighting to preserve their family at all costs. They actually aren't hiding anything from each other, and they haven't been for quite some time.

As a plus, all of this stuff is actually pretty humorous too - I loved the Celine Dion bit, and Dean going on and on about internet gossip, and the guys fighting about yogurt, the newscaster confessing his love, and the not-so-subtle dig at Trump.

Okay. This review is long, but I think that's allowed, given that it's for a finale. I greatly enjoyed it. I thought the smaller scale and the more character-driven story worked in its favor, and I love that everything from the plot to the framing is placing Castiel on equal footing with Sam and Dean as a protagonist for the finale season. I can't wait to see what we get next year! This time in 2020, I'll be sobbing my eyes out as "Carry On Wayward Son" plays over one last montage... it's going to be a wild ride.

9/10

#review #supernatural #supernatural review #14x20 #spn 14x20 #moriah

[the-crippled-god]

Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Okay, so, some stuff I didn’t know: The PSP version that I played (and think I remember beating) is an enhanced version of the PC one. Most notably it gives you more resources in the early game, and has double boost mode, which magnifies damage beyond what boost mode does, and heals you. Double boost trivializes most boss fights, and considering I didn’t remember most of the boss mechanics, beyond the Chester fight and the final phase of Galbalan, I have to assume I abused the shit out of it. Or, I didn’t actually beat the game, and got stuck on the armoured centaur robot thing in the castle, since I didn’t have good memory of most of the story beats after that. Either way, moving on.

The game is more difficult than Ys: Origin is, but it’s not unfair. The biggest difference is the bosses will throw multiple attacks at you at once, or with less delays in between, so the game requires a higher mastery and understanding of boss mechanics in order to win. Most bosses also have attacks that are very difficult to avoid, but don’t do much damage, I’m guessing to punish players trying to play safely, so you can’t just wait fights out an whittle the health bars down. On normal it feels pretty good, but on higher difficulties it might be a bit much.

Gameplay wise, this feels pretty much the same as Origin, it is another Napish game after all. However, healing is less accessible, and more enemies have complex AI, or require specific strategies to beat. Adol’s tool kit is pretty good, his combo string is longer than Yunica’s, and his wind ability is effectively the same, with the exception being that you can’t continue to sword combo while the attack is ongoing. His fireball is the same as it as in Ys II, but the charge attack has an AOE explosion, the fireball is awkward to aim, and is ineffective against most enemies, but critical for a handful of bosses. His dash is the most conditional in use, it’s good for getting away from attacks that suck you inward, and the shield is really useful, but over all it feels a bit awkward to use due to having too much recovery time, and using a bit too much MP.

The equipment progression requires that you grind a little bit, and enemy level progression requires the same. This is more similar to Ys II, where if you’re under levelled/geared enemies do crazy damage, whereas if you’re over levelled by even 1 or 2 levels, they do almost none.

The Napish engine games feel like a weird peek into an alternate reality where games took after old PC Engine stuff much more than they do. The way equipment, items, and levels work feel like throwbacks, and the way the game feels does a good job of carrying on how the Bump system worked, but having actual attack buttons. I think the jumping and platforming is what makes me like it more than the SEVENS engine games I’ve played, even though all the dungeons are pretty linear, you feel like you have a lot of ability to explore, which was missing from Celceta.

Weird how the Napish games also become less rpg-esque as they progressed, this one had a handful of side-quests (some miss-able), which are totally absent from Origin.

Story wise, this one is pretty throw away as far as connections to the rest of the series go, and would probably actually make more sense if it occurred chronologically before Celceta, instead of after. Have Adol and Dogi leave Esteria to take Dogi home (which gives Adol a reason to leave Lilia that makes sense), Felghana happens, Adol fights Galbalan and loses the Brave sword, and either something during the fight, or like in Mask of the Sun where he finds a message in a bottle, that sets him off towards Celceta. With it being how it is, Adol has already fought Galba before, and should already have an item that can kill them (unless he gives it back to Eldeel or something), I get that this Galbalan is a ‘more complete’ (and older) one than any that Celceta made, but it feels weird.

One enhancement that seems new (as of 2020) in the PC version is a new voice over, and it’s pretty great, swings wildly between genuinely well done and so bad it’s good depending on the character. Elena and Chester’s VO is especially excellent, and really adds emotional weight to the story. My biggest complaint is that Galbalan did not need VO, he’s ominous enough in design, and having him start the fight saying “I am the Alpha... And the Omega” is kinda cringy.

Story summary: You and Dogi arrive in Felghana, Dogi tries to introduce you to his childhood friends, Elena and Chester, only to learn that Chester has been missing for 6 months. Dogi heads off to reunite with his old master in the mountains. Disaster strikes at the mines, and Adol sets off to help out. This progression continues, until you run into Chester, who is working for the Duke of Felghana, who everyone thinks is openly corrupt and evil. Chester wants you to find/wants to find 4 statues, for the Duke. You’ve been getting the statues by beating giant monsters, so you’ll likely find them all by accident anyway. Chester makes a show of kicking you off a cliff into lava, but when you make your way back, it’s pretty clear he didn’t expect you to die. Investigating the statues, you eventually work out that they’re relics binding an ancient monster called Galbalan, who was sealed away by a Winged One called Genos hundreds of years earlier. Eventually we learn Chester’s motive: He and Elena are descendants of Genos, and when they were children Duke McGuire used monsters (and soldiers) to genocide the inhabitants of the Isle of Genos, with only him and Elena escaping. He intends to use the power of the statues to cause the Dukes downfall, while the Duke intends to use the power to usurp and control all of Felghana.

Eventually, you confront the both of them at the top of the Duke’s castle, only to find that both of them were being played by the ultimate evil: the Church. The Bishop (and Nell, a Nun) had already sacrificed their mortal bodies, and are manipulating everyone behind the scenes in order to revive Galbalan. They capture Elena, since they need a descendant of Genos to complete the revival, and you pursue them to Genos Island in order to stop them. Eventually you do, but Chester sacrifices himself in order to kill Galbalan for good, and blow up the island.

The best part of the story here is Elena’s growth as a character. She starts the story fairly shy and unsure of herself, but eventually she’s the one who confronts her brother and calls him out on how bad his plan is. I really hope, given how she talks at the very end of the game, that she’ll be a party member in a later game, that’d be fun.

Playing this again was good. It definitely still feels limited, I’d definitely like a Napish style game with a grander scope. Origin was just one long dungeon, this was 5 short dungeons, both had a linear progression of upgrades, and a linear plot with no choice on what to do next. I’d really like to see a game of this style where upgrades were more ‘options’, the dungeons were less linear, and the game let you tackle dungeons in a variety of orders. Between this and Origin I don’t know which I like more. Origin feels like it has a better pace to it, but its hyper linear nature got annoying. This take awhile to get going, combat against regular enemies doesn’t start to feel ‘complete’ until the end of the clock tower, and up until the mountains the dungeons feel really small, but I liked the boss fights here a lot more, and there was actually reasons to go back to previous areas.

Next is Ys: The Ark of Napishtim, the oldest Napish game, and given stuff the previous games have set up, likely quite story heavy. I started this game on PSP, but don’t think I got further than the intro area.

However, before I get to it, I’ll likely be taking a 2 week break. Hopefully look at a bunch of the Steam Next Fest demos this week, and then taking a vacation.

[furederiko]

Time for November's 1st Random-News-Digest! And specially released on November 17th, 2017... despite being several hours late. LOL.

(Images courtesy of Nintendo, Warner Bros, 20th Century FOX, Square Enix, and The Pokemon Company/GameFreak. Taken from Official Trailers and/or Official Sites)

Super Mario Bros

Hold on to your Yoshis, because Mario Mario is coming back (yes, after that dreadful live action attempt in 1993) to Hollywood. This time, in an animated movie created by Illumination. If the report is to be believed, then Nintendo will be partnering with Universal to produce and release this movie. In case you live under a rock and doesn't know Illumination, that's the studio in charge of the "Despicable Me" and "The Secret Life of Pets" series. I know what you're thinking, I can already see the Toads being treated as the new Minions. LOL.

This project is said to be just in early stages, so it might take a few more years before it is ready for release. The average process to develop a big screen animated movie takes roughly 3 to 5 years, so if the deal moves on this month then we can expect the movie to arrive in... 2020. Which is the year of the Japan Olympics!!! Aaaaah, I see what you did there Nintendo. Honestly, I'm not expecting much of this project. As long as it's as entertaining as SONY's "The Angry Birds Movie", and unlike those numerous dull live action attempts... then I'll be okay. I'm pretty much sold by the word ANIMATED anyway, because forcing a live action adaptation to Mario and Luigi would be... a HUGE NO.

Metal Gear Solid

Now for this one, I'm... NOT so sure. Not just because I'm not big on KONAMI's "Metal Gear Solid" franchise as a game, but because it's live action. And we all know there's an eerie curse looming over live action adaptations for video games title. Look no further than "Assassin's Creed"... among many others.

The good news is, Derek Connolly is writing the script, and Jordan Vogt-Roberts is directing. The former has worked on "Jurassic World" and "Star Wars", while the latter is determined to make a watchable video game movie. LOL. Vogt-Roberts is most definitely a unique and seemingly fun guy, I'll give you that. This pair has worked together creating "Kong: Skull Island", which was an entertaining movie. Hmmm... now that I think about it, the whole espionage Special Forces theme would be somewhat similar to what Vogt-Roberts did in that King Kong movie. I genuinely think he actually CAN pull this off! Let's just hope the project moves on to higher stages, and not fizzles out like... it has always been.

Disney Animation

This was actually a news from last month. Yeah, I got pretty caught up with many personal ordeals, that I've completely missed out on mentioning this movie on my previous R-N-D. "Gigantic", Disney's version of the classic "Jack and the Beanstalk" story had been cancelled.

Said news was quite startling, considering the title was still part of their D23 Event... even if it was in a very minor way. It also has been in development by co-directors Meg LeFauve and Nathan Greno for quite some time, with a fixed 2020 release window. 'Creative process' was mentioned as reason for its cancellation, with Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studio president Ed Catmull calling the movie as 'not working'. The studio has moved on to another original project, that is expected to open in Thanksgiving 2020. Will we be getting another Disney Princess movie, following last year's "Moana"? Here's hoping. For now, the studio still has "Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck-It Ralph 2" set to open on November 21st, 2018, and the sequel to their hit title "Frozen" on November 27th, 2019. We can still look forward to those ones...

Disney Live Action

The live action department also hit a bump. Director Sam Mendes has departed his live action re-telling/adaptation for "Pinocchio". This is the second time he has walked out from a Disney project, with "James and the Giant Peach" being the first one. There's a rumor that Mendes might be moving to the franchise he worked on before, but that's the topic for a different category.

It's unclear if Disney will continue to work on this title by finding another director, or take a completely different approach and shelves it like what they just did to "Gigantic". Right now, two titles that are in active production is Guy Ritchie's "Aladdin", and Jon Favreau's "The Lion King" that will open on July 19th, 2019. If I'm not mistaken, Niki Caro's "Mulan" is still in pre-production, along with other titles.

We can also add a new title "Prince Charming", that is set to be written and directed by Stephen Chbosky. Chbosky is famous for his recent work "Wonder" that is set to be released this weekend, as well as the critically acclaimed "The Perks of Being a Wallflower". As the title suggests, it will focus on a young Prince and all the struggle he faces to live up to the family name. Of course, since the name Prince Charming typically refers to the one from... "Snow White" and/or "Cinderella", I can't help but wonder if this will be connected as prequel or some sort to either. It doesn't sound like it, but who knows, right? Let's just wait for more information in the near future...

Star Wars

Remember the time when many people speculated Rian Johnson would take over Collin Trevorrow's directorial seat for the tentatively titled "Star Wars - Episode IX"? Lucasfilm had expressed positive response to the director, and he himself was genuinely excited, giddy, and extremmely passionate about his love to experience in the franchise. It felt like a sure if not most plausible thing. But then we all knew that didn't happen, because it's J.J. Abrams instead who returned for the job.

But why didn't Johnson take the movie? Surprise surprise, turns out, he has other BIGGER project planned... for the franchise. Yes, he's not leaving the franchise anytime soon. Lucasfilm indeed had a great mutual time with Johnson, that they not only want him to work on another "Star Wars" movie, but to set up an entirely NEW non-Skywalker trilogy for them! The word 'bigger' would be an understatement now, right? He will be writing and directing at least the first one of this trilogy, while long time collaborator Ram Bergman is producing.

We can safely assume that this means the Skywalker-focused storyline will be wrapped up in "Episode IX", and afterwards, we'll be seeing a new route for the franchise in the foreseeable future. This new trilogy might not be episodic in nature, and will introduce entirely new characters from the universe. A "blank canvas" as Kathleen Kennedy said. Many fans have expressed both praises, and approval, as well as concerns, and disapproval for this approach, but if you ask me, I'm welcoming this with open arms. I've never been an avid fan of this space opera before, so this could be my official entry point. Without the need to explore previous movies, that is! LOL. I wonder if this new trilogy will be connected to the newly announced live action TV series?

Of course, this means that his work on "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" has completely left Lucasfilm VERY satisfied. Johnson himself might be REALLY anxious about it (a humble response, by the way), but this is by all means an expression of HIGH confidence from the studio. As evidenced by the departure of Trevorrow, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, and others, they wouldn't give Johnson such massive responsibility if they are not overly pleased collaborating with him. He might be such a good polite and down to earth guy, eh? If you're curious about his work, then you only need to wait a bit longer. "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" arrives in less than a month on December 15th, 2017!

James Bond

Yep, thanks to walking out of the Disney live action project, Sam Mendes has immediately been rumored to direct the untitled "Bond 25". This naturally makes sense. Mendes worked on "Skyfall" and also "Specter", and the next movie might very well be Daniel Craig's last foray. Would be nice to see Mendes returning to deliver Craig's swan song as well as to wrap it up as his final 007 trilogy. Christoph Waltz had stated that he's not coming back as Blofeld though, so I wonder if that might affect Mendes' decision. Sure, Waltz teased that the role could be re-cast, but who can really tell what the future, I mean James Bond holds. Also, MGM announced earlier this month that Annapurna will help bring the franchise to the theatre. Does this mean the studio has won the bidding war? It's unconfirmed for now, but that seems to be the case. Quite surprising too, because it felt like a lesser entity when compared to other bigger names on the mix. But I guess as long as the franchise can still hit theatres, it's a victory for Bond's devoted fans nonetheless.

Dark Universe

Sad to say, this could be the LAST time for this category to be featured in my R-N-D. According to recent report, Universal has pulled the plug on its ambitious Dark Universe. At the very least, it's in critical condition.

All signs have totally led to this. Tom Cruise's "The Mummy" was a big failure that didn't make enough good impression (could you imagine what would have happened had Tom Cruise agreed to play Tony Stark in the first "Iron Man"? Marvel Studios dodged an bullet right there). And then production for Bill Condon's "Bride of Frankenstein" was halted not long after it begun, and the movie had since been removed from the planned release date. None of the other projects like "Invisible Man", "Wolf Man", or some others showed real progress. Next thing that happened, both Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan who seem... (or to be precise USED) to be the overseer to this Monster-based universe, have each moved on to other projects. That pretty much sealed the deal, don't you think? For the record, this isn't the first time Kurtzman abandons a cinematic universe. Don't ever forget Paramount's Transformers and also SONY's Amazing Spider-Man series.

Of course, it doesn't mean that the idea is gone for good. Universal can still pull off a soft reboot or some sort, simply by planning more properly before jumping towards another dark waters. President of production Peter Cramer even stated, "We are not rushing to meet a release date and will move forward with these films when we feel they are the best versions of themselves.". This implied that at least, Condon's movie might still become a reality sometime in the future.

I'm personally feeling VERY disappointed to hear this, knowing the probability of seeing Russell Crowe reprising his Dr. Jekyll is now close to zero. I really want to see him 'Hulk Out' and becomes a massive monstrous Edward Hyde... which we didn't really fully get in "The Mummy". But who am I to say, right? All I can say is, I hope Universal will inspire other studios to think ahead and NOT just try to snobbishly copy Marvel Studios' success without analyzing what makes their universe works. Heck, they have even proved that it's never to late to course-correct things. So don't give up Universal, and just do it one step at a time, okay!

DC Films

Uhmm... so yeah, embargo for critics reviews (both social media on November 10th, and full essays on November 14th) for Warner Bros' "Justice League" has been uplifted earlier this week. And well, true to the nature of DC Films (at least its first three movies, with "Wonder Woman" being the not-that-surprising exception), the response is a mixed-bag. Immediately, it has divided critics both fans and non-fans of DC Comics alike with polarizing opinions. Some said that Joss Whedon's clear influence doesn't gel well with the 85% done by Zack Snyder, but others said it worked just fine to elevate the movie. If you visit one entertainment site, you'd likely stumble on a review that paints the movie in a moderate-to-good light by calling it 'Pretty Good', while elsewhere you'll be greeted by review that sees it as bad-to-awful by calling it 'Pretty Bad'. Suffice to say, despite leaning to positive, things do not look completely 'PRETTY' for WB and DC.

By the way, RottenTomatoes deliberately delayed their aggregated score for the movie. My initial assumption when I saw the headline? "Ain't this cheating, huh?". Those who think RT is being paid by Marvel Studios... looks like WB is the one paying them instead, am I right? After all, this studio is infamous for constantly blaming RT for their movies' own critical failures. Of course, despite the fact that WB DOES have a stake in this site (feel free to make your own conclusion with that), that is NOT the actual reason. It's more inline with the site's Facebook show, or something like that. Of course, said score have been officially (it was leaked before hand) released now, and no surprise... as of writing (October 17th, 08:50PM local time), it's currently sitting at 37%. That is already a tad lower than its initial number. YIKES!

General consensus is calling the movie as fun but flawed. A narrative mess, but at least it gets the characters correctly now. An entertaining spectacle, but visually it's ugly and tacky. So at the very least, it's not a trainwreck and is still BETTER than the dreadful "Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice" nor the abominable snowma-... er, "Suicide Squad".

Ironically, WB tried to be boastfully 'different' three times, and failed miserably. Eventhough, in a way they WERE mimicking or parroting Marvel Studios. Just admit it, "Batman v Superman" was consciously made to rival Captain America 3, and "Suicide Squad" was their version of Guardians of the Galaxy. This year, they blatantly and openly COPY that 'competitor' movies. "Wonder Woman" was an amalgam of the first Captain America with elements of Thor, while "Justice League" is clearly DC's version of the 2nd Avengers. And my oh my, look what they've gotten! Good to POSITIVE responses!!! The morale of the day, if you can't compete, just follow suit. Oh, and also... use talented people who have worked on the opposite side. I mean, duh... Patty Jenkins, Joss Whedon, and Brian Michael Bendis? "Justice League" opens today on November 17th, so let's hope it will perform better financially than critically.

David F. Sandberg's "Shazam!" is moving along nicely as the movie next to be seen after next year's "Aquaman" (to be released in... *drumrolls* December 2018). After casting Disney Prince Zachary Levi as the heroic version, the movie obviously needs the human version, the little kid named Billy Batson. Remember when acclaimed young actor Jacob Tremblay (who similar to his Oscar-winner BFF, deserves BETTER roles) was said to be in contention? Well, the role ended up on young Asher Angel's hand instead. Name doesn't sound familiar? Well... he is one of the leads of "Andi Mack" on... Disney Channel. See? If you can't beat them, snatch their actors too. Grace Fulton is said to be portraying the female lead, and actor Mark Strong was said to be in negotiation to play the antagonist Dr. Sivana... whoever that is. Should he decide to take the job, this would be Strong's second DC character for WB after his short turn as Sinestro.

Interestingly, WB desperately wants this franchise to be noticed. Why is that? Just think about it, the movie is set to open in Spring 2019, so it's going to be released not far behind a particular Marvel Studios movie called... "Captain Marvel". I'm sure you know where I'm leading to with this, right? Yes... because Shazam used to be called by the same name. Coincidence? Highly UNLIKELY. It's another game of chicken by good'ol always-competitive WB (no matter how many try to scoff it off, their rivalry to Marvel is apparently REAL), folks! And a rather ballsy albeit rude one too. I mean for crying out loud, in this kind of political situation that sees a president continuously provoking people to hate a previous female opponent like a sore loser, and numerous reports of mistreatments of women by Hollywood top names... WB wants to use a testosterone-manchild-themed movie to directly challenge a FEMALE-led movie just because the two shared the same name? I call that suicide.

How about Dwayne Johnson's Black Adam then? That character is the nemesis of Shazam, so it's natural if we get to see him too in the movie. But noooope, apparently WB is planning to put him in another movie instead. And surprise surprise, it's not his own solo movie as the studio repeatedly promised, but Gavin O'Connor's "Suicide Squad 2". I literally slapped myself in the face when I read this, because dang it... wasn't it enough to throw a sexist Enchantress, that they just HAD to pit the broken Squad against another supernatural character? This is not confirmed for now, but since the movie still has a long way before starting production in October 2018... let's just hope WB has a more sane way for combining the "Suicide Squad" and "Shazam!" franchise. Hold on... did they just confirm that "Shazam!" is part of the current continuity then? Then I'm honestly not sure how I feel about that... (read: there goes half of my interest in seeing the movie.). I really want this to be its own separate thing, and not boggled in the failed universe. I guess I expected too much too soon, huh?

About "The Batman", there's a hint that Ben Affleck might be stepping out the Matt Reeves movie after all. Though he was singing a different tune during this year's San Diego Comic-Con International, the actor has since been saying a complete opposite. In a press junket for "Justice League" in London, he even openly said that he does NOT know what the future holds. That sounds like a guy who's thinking of gracefully bowing out from the DC Films... as soon as possible. He even mentioned the exact same thing to USA Today not long after. Quite surprisingly, the internet also expressed their agreement to see him leave. Some already even fancasting and speculating a replacement (that one actor, I hope its NOT true). OUUCH! Looks like what once a bright star, is slowly fading away like a comet that visits a solar system every hundred of years. Hmmm... I wonder if Henry Cavill will follow suit after this...

Last but not least, Patty Jenkins' much anticipated "Wonder Woman 2" has vacated its December 13th release date to arrive 6 weeks earlier. CALLED IT! Yep, I knew WB would end up doing this because competing directly with "Star Wars" would be waaaay too risky. I'm just surprised that it took this long for the studio to announce the shift. I guess they were waiting for Marvel Studios to prove that early November is a good spot for comic book adaptation, huh? Don't worry, Gal Gadot is expected to reprise her role, because WB had said that the report of her 'refusal' (originated at PageSix) is NOT true. "Wonder Woman 2" will now open in November 1st, 2019.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

Would you look at that?! I can't believe this, but WB has mischievously prepared a contingency plan for the negative response to "Justice League". I assume based on past experiences, WB is aware that critics would still be divisive (no different situation, a bit worse than "Man of Steel" even) about their DC movies, so they immediately releases official synopsis and cast photo for the "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" sequel. Come on, releasing this on the same day the DC ensemble movie is released? Can't be a coincidence. A pretty darn good distraction, if I should add! Not to mention, this comes on the heels of that recently announced Niantic AR game.

The new official title has immediately generated mixed response. After all, "Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald" OBVIOUSLY put the focus on Johnny Depp's villainous character Gellert Grindelwald. It could be a good thing, if his name was still as big as it used to be in the past, but we all know that the world has changed. Thankfully, one character stood out the most among the confirmed cast members. It's none other than Jude Law's young Albus Dumbledore. I must say, he doesn't look the way I expected to be, but I'm definitely not complaining. Hey, a charming dashing Dumbledore would be a great selling point for the new franchise that hasn't been able to be on par with its "Harry Potter"... sequel.

We got FIVE couples now. The four core characters from the first movie are here, hopefully in a bigger and more memorable inclusion. We have Claudia Kim's cursed 'Maledictus' character, who seems to be pairing up with Ezra Miller's Credence and could very well be serving as an antagonist. And then there's Zoe Kravitz's Leta Estrange who is engaged with Callum Turner's Theseus Scamander. Indeed, Theseus is Newt's big brother, so here's hoping Eddie Redmayne isn't sidelined completely and get to showcase actual dramatic involvement in this sequel.

Say what you will about the first movie, but it was surprisingly entertaining enough to make me see more. It might be not at the heights of the "Harry Potter" series, but I'd gladly take this over the DC Films anytime. Directed by David Yates based on a screenplay from J.K. Rowling, this movie is set to arrive precisely one year from now on November 16th, 2018. Aaaah, I get it now.

X-Men Universe

Let's address the elephant in the room first. When we talk about Marvel character owned by 20th Century FOX nowadays, then you should be aware of a recent report that has taken the world by storm. That's right, the House of Mouse Disney is in negotiation to purchase FOX's film and TV division, because the other company wants to focus on news and sport. That literally means, all the movie rights for X-Men and Fantastic Four will be reverted back to Marvel! Yes, every characters from those faction might be returning home in the foreseeable future, because despite the report that talk has ended, the possibility is still very much high. Assuming Comcast or Verizon doesn't suddenly come out of left field and snatches this opportunity instead, of course.

If you ask me how I feel if FOX and Marvel Studios arrange an agreement similar to what the latter did with SONY and Spider-Man? Then I would not hesitate to say "No Thanks". Combining Marvel Studios' movie universe with FOX's sloppy, botched, and well... generally uninspiring one would be a disaster. FOX tend to disregard good characters, and treat them badly more often than not. But if this deal DOES become a reality, then I'd be REALLY happy. That means we WILL be getting the much-needed reboot that the X-Men and Fantastic Four are desperate for, and not just a soft-reboot that producer Simon Kinberg had been boasting out and about... that ended up with his "X-Men: Dark Phoenix". I don't know about you, but Kinberg clearly doesn't know what he is doing, so I want to see him OUT of and AWAY from any Marvel stories for good. Of course, there's a downside to all things. Through FOX movie division, we were able to get more comic adaptations in a yearly basis. Not just that, we also got titles like "Logan" or the upcoming "The New Mutants" that run in R-rated route, one that Marvel Studios or Disney in general would be highly unlikely to explore. That might be an outcome that many fans might be hard to swallow...

Anyways, amidst that rumbling news, Deadpool kept on walking proudly, as if it doesn't care about what would happen to its own crumbling universe. After all, one comment on social media said that Wade Wilson is the only Marvel character who could easily address the change casually without the need to mind its own continuity. Don't forget, this is the guy who is consciously confused which Professor X he should report to. LOL. "The Untitled Deadpool Sequel" (that's the placeholder title, which I hope would be the official title because it just fits the character so much) movie released a holiday-themed first official poster, as well as a Bob Ross inspired second teaser that well... if you ask me, pretty much stole a bit of buzz from WB's movie premiere. LOL.

This teaser suggests that despite the change in director, the movie still retains the same idiosyncratic atmosphere. I'm glad that the returning characters aren't forgotten in this one, and if some people catch this one theory right, we might be getting a rather 'sinister' antagonist as the super villain. WOW. "The Untitled Deadpool Sequel" (I'm still laughing here!) arrives on June 1st, 2018, so if you're a fan of the first movie, make sure you mark your date.

One more thing, would you like to see a movie featuring... a mutant character called "Multiple Man"? Well, James Franco might be starring in one. So whether you want it or not, it's still probably coming in the future. Who's behind this bizarre and preposterous idea? Duuuh... Kinberg of course. Who else? LOL.

SONY Marvel Universe

Situation in the SONY side, is a 'little' different. Not content with "Venom" (showing us a first look of Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock after just 2 weeks of production) and "Silver & Black", the studio is already moving forward with another title. This time, "Morbius the Living Vampire". Earlier this week, it was revealed that the writers of this year's "Power Rangers" Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama had submitted their script to the studio. The two previously worked on several underwhelming movies like "Dracula Untold" and "Gods of Egypt".

To be honest, I'm actually surprised when I found out that Dr. Michael Morbius belongs to SONY. He's a long time antagonist of Blade, and as far as I know, that character has reverted back to Marvel. Of course, I just discovered that the Roy Thomas and Gil Kane's creation debuted in "Amazing Spider-Man" #101. It makes sense now, because it's almost the same situation to the character Kingpin. Problem is, similar to Venom and other Spider-Man related characters, the BIG question is will these character work without Spidey himself... Or in Morbius case, without Blade? I seriously doubt it. I believe just the fact that these characters will not interact with the ones from Marvel Studios, is already strongly pessimistic. Let's just wait and see if SONY can prove that it DOES have what it takes to jumpstart their own Spidey-less Marvel Universe.

Marvel Studios

Let's talk about "Thor: Ragnarok" first! Eventhough this weekend the movie's might would likely be overthrown by DC's first ensemble movie, Taika Waititi's comedy has managed to at least stay on number 1 for two consecutive weeks. It's making huge money, even more than Chris Hemsworth's first two solo movies. Seriously though, should we even be surprised? This buddy comedy is genuinely FUN and hilarious, and plenty of its memorable scenes will be etched into your brain... forcing you to laugh or giggle whenever the memory strikes. Like a lunatic? Well, if you say so. LOL. Really though, you couldn't see me now but I'm currently cackling upon remembering that... uhm, naked scene. LOL.

By the way, Waititi has openly expressed his desire to make another Thor movie with Hemsworth and Mark Ruffalo. What do you think? Should he get his second Ragnarok movie? If it means we'll get another 'Get Help' moment, or more of Jeff Goldblum's Grandmaster? Waititi might not have a vast or deep knowledge of comic book, but since "Ragnarok" pretty much creates a clean slate for Thor Odinson and the Asgardians... he can pretty much do anything. And I honestly look forward to see that.

Disney has begun campaigning the movie and James Gunn's "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2" for Oscar race too. Since many of the Award's regular players have been lambasted with various kinds of sexual misconduct allegations, can we expect members of the Academy to turn towards comic book adaptations now? I certainly hope so. We know that 'Best Visual Effects' and in some cases 'Best Make Up' will be the usual entry, but I sure hope these movies get a chance in other categories too. 'Best Score' or 'Sound Editing' perhaps? I do think Mark Mothersbaugh deserves an appreciation for his work in "Ragnarok".

"Black Panther" is now officially three months away from release! Well, for the US region at least... because several other countries (like yours truly) usually get it earlier. To celebrate this, Marvel Studios have released a batch of single character posters that includes Chadwick Boseman's T'Challa, his royal family members, up to Andy Serkis' Ulysees Klaue. As far as I recall, we haven't had one for Michael B. Jordan's Erik Killmonger... or did I miss anything? The movie also have tested positively in early screenings according to report, so we're in for another Marvelous time. "Black Panther" arrives on February 16th, 2018.

Fans have been actively demanding the D23/SDCC trailer for "Avengers: Infinity War", to the point that people started doing illegal stuff like posting leaked images and all. We got the first look for Proxima Midnight, Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow's new hairdo and costume that resembled another Marvel character, as well as Paul Bettany's Vision and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch looking in despair. These pictures are great, but HOW we get them is the morale question here. I'm not particularly fond of this attitude, because it only shows the dark and negative side of fandom.

Obviously there are VALID reasons why Marvel Studios is withholding that trailer, thus is it so hard to just WAIT until it is released officially? The reason can be a simple one, like the need to add quality Visual Effects to it, or a bigger one like... the potential of spoilering other movies. In particular, "Ragnarok" and "Black Panther". I'll use "Ragnarok" for example. Thor's appearance in the trailer shown exclusively last Summer was INCONSISTENT compared to how he ended up in "Ragnarok". In the end of "Ragnarok", we know that he got a 'permanent scar', and he didn't look like that at all in the "Infinity War" trailer. And then there's that scene with Loki holding the Tesseract. Also, Thor ran into a gigantic vessel, that Marvel Studios President has confirmed to be the Sanctuary II. The owner? Josh Brolin's Thanos. See? It's a massive spoiler already. Who knows what kind of secret from "Black Panther" it would spoil in advance!

I personally feel what we all need to know, is that the movie will undoubtedly be HUGE. Like Ruffalo himself hyped stated, it has "all of the Marvel characters in it. All nine franchises. I mean, it’s mind-boggling. Everyone has their moment to shine. Everyone is still their characters.". Feige admitted that even the filming felt overwhelming and surprisingly emotional everyday. And also, that the movie is some kind of a... heist movie? HUH? Yeah, co-directors Joe and Anthony Russo specifically said so to CNET, which honestly made me wonder. They were pretty specific that the heist would be Thanos' play, as he collects all 6 Infinity Stones. Hmmm... let's just stop right here, because now I've become curious to see the trailer. LOL. But nope, I know for sure that I'm going to be watching this movie. At least, ONCE. That's why Marvel Studios can even delay the trailer forever or not release it at all, and I won't mind. Because I don't really need any more convincing to see it.

As far as I know, "Ant-Man and the Wasp" has completed production. I'm not really sure about this though, but I think I did see like some kind of celebration for it on Twitter. Regardless, both Walton Goggins and David Dastmalchian have completed their parts earlier this week. Dastmalchian even gave us a look for Randall Park's Agent Jimmy Woo. Here's hoping we'll be getting a teaser trailer soon.

Laurence Fishburne who would soon be seen as Bill 'Goliath' Foster in the movie, opened up to Collider that because he grew up with Marvel, he actually pitched himself to Marvel Studios! Intriguingly, he also came with several ideas, and has been developing one secretly with Marvel. He hoped that "It’s gonna change the world". Hmmm.... this is intriguing. Fishburne didn't specifically say movie, so it could very well be a comic series, or even a TV one. Something related to Blade perhaps? or some others? Hmmmm...

Recent report by Variety claimed that Ben Mendelsohn has been approached to play the antagonist in "Captain Marvel". If his interview with Collider was any indication, it seems he might have officially come onboard the movie... or at least in final talks. His response reminded me greatly to when Paul Rudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, and also Carol Danvers herself Brie Larson tried to play coy about their roles. These are obviously polite and sincere actors, so they couldn't really hide that big of a secret. Since this is feeling like a dejavu, let's just say we shouldn't be surprised if Mendelsohn ends up antagonist-ing Larson in the movie when it arrives on March 8th, 2019.

This is the last one for the category folks! More SPOILER-ish (as usual, you might want to skip to the next category if you avoid one) information surrounding "Avengers 4" has been flying over the internet. One particular bit teased the reenactment, a flashback, or perhaps a time travel twist involving "The Avengers". Not only because Robert Downey Jr. was spotted wearing the exact same shirt from the 2012 movie, Hemsworth himself posted a photo (with his daughter) wearing a costume precisely from the same movie. Actor Frank Grillo and Maximiliano Hernández were also suspiciously present in Atlanta. Does this mean Crossbones and Agent Jasper Sitwell are alive in the movie? Hmmm. Could we be seeing a reality alteration here? Especially if we consider the ability of the Reality Stone. According to report that can't really be considered credible, these will all be scenes generated by Tony Stark using his B.A.R.F. simulation that we saw in "Captain America: Civil War". To who? Ty Simpkins' Harley Keener, who has been confirmed to appear in the movie. Hmmmm... now I'm really curious about this movie too. But let's just focus on "Infinity War" first, shall we?! One day... I mean one movie at a time.

Marvel TV

Oh hey, Marvel's "Inhumans" has officially ended with its eight episode. I think it was last Friday, if I'm not mistaken. How would I know, if I couldn't even care less about it. Personal preference aside, that means the 5th season of Marvel's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." is about to air very soon. And if you're among devoted Marvel fans who are already counting days, then the show has released an official trailer to wet your appetite for this new season.

The trailer was... uhmm, okay I guess? I'm still on the fence to follow this season, so I can't really tell if this manages to persuade me or not. One thing for sure, it's action packed and filled with creepy aliens. It's really nice to see Henry Simmons' Mack and Natalia Cordova-Buckley's Yo-Yo get more presence and involved in more action. We also see bits of the new characters: Jeff Ward's ambiguous Deke, Eve Harlow's Tess, Pruitt Taylor Vince's commander Grill, and Coy Stewart's possible-Nuhuman Flint.

And then there's that confirmed report of Nick Blood returning in some capacity as Lance Hunter. What about Adrienne Palicki's Bobby Morse? Last we heard, she won't be making an appearance due to her tight schedule in the equally space-themed alien-filled "The Orville". That doesn't mean she's not open to reprise her role though, because she has had a great time and is still in touch with the cast. Here's hoping the stars will align somehow, and we get to see her official return in the series. "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." will begin the new season on Friday, December 1st, 2017, with a two-episode premiere entitled "Orientation Part 1 & 2".

Marvel's "Runaways" is set to premiere next week, on November 21st. Its first three episode will hit the streaming platform Hulu on the same day. To prepare for this, Entertainment Weekly has released official posters and banners for each of the six lead characters, while IGN dropped additional ones showcasing their super-powered abilities. They looked neat, and teased the teenager's signature skillset. Currently being praised as the teenage soap-opera side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let's just hope that this series attracts enough viewers and good rating to warrant another season.

Meanwhile, Marvel's "New Warriors" has departed Freeform... even before it is even aired. Although Kevin Biegel's 10-episodes first season was initially meant to debut in the network, the pilot was so well-received to the point it attracted several high-level Disney execs. Freeform was unable to set a time slot for this show (I guess they prefer Marvel's "Cloak and Dagger" more?). Thus Marvel Entertainment pulled it out, and has been actively searching for a partner that can launch it next year as planned... as a direct two-seasons package! Surely it won't land on Netflix, given Disney's plan to launch their very own streaming service in 2019. This is just a wild guess, but I think Hulu would end up becoming its new home.

Speaking of Disney's upcoming new service, CEO Bob Iger confirmed that it will feature at least one new Marvel series among others. I wonder what that is? I just hope, and sincerely hope that it is not concerning Kamala Khan's Ms. Marvel. It would be such a waste to utilize that massively popular character in a TV setting, when it would make the most in movie format. She's an Avenger, so she's better of to be with the other members, right? Not to mention, Marvel TV doesn't exactly have a good track record to pull their projects off properly (Inhumans, anyone?). I prefer that rumored "Power Pack" movie to switch places if that's indeed the case. Crossing my fingers!

Netflix

Eventhough Marvel's "The Punisher" is catching everyone's attention, and receiving mostly positive response from entertainment critics (general drawbacks are inevitably concerning the gun violence), Marvel fans need to be prepared with the possibility of it being the final Marvel title on Netflix. As has been widely reported, Disney is intent on creating their own streaming service. One that will include new live action show for "Star Wars", animated series based on "Monsters Inc.", and also Marvel series.

It's unlikely if the service will ONLY have one series. So it makes perfect sense for Disney to end their contract with Netflix, and pull out movies and shows like Marvel's "Daredevil", Marvel's "Jessica Jones", Marvel's "Luke Cage", Marvel's "Iron Fist", and Marvel's "The Defenders" from the platform to be exclusives alongside their 'future family'. After all, Disney had openly stated that Netflix would end up becoming their competitor when the time come. I doubt Netflix would be threatened, with a vast library of original series and movies in their pockets. But this might have a bitter result to fans of the series. Sure, this might not be as bad as many fans are worrying about, because these shows might simply move to a different place. Then again, we also need to remember that Netlfix co-financed these series, so the most likelihood is that these series will be put to a close. Can fans handle that? I don't think so.

For now, "Daredevil" begins filming Season 3 this week. I think the 2nd seasons of "Jessica Jones" and "Luke Cage" had wrapped, while the one for "Iron Fist" will start next month. At the very least, these shows are still set to air in 2018 since Disney won't be launching their service until the following year. Come 2019? Come what may. All episodes of "The Punisher" should already be available today, so you might want to enjoy it as much as possible... while you still can.

Final Fantasy

"Episode of Ignis", the third character DLC for "Final Fantasy XV" has received an official release date. Square Enix announced at the Paris Games Week 2017, that it will be available on December 13th, 2017. The storyline will take place after the "Trial of Leviathan", where Ignis is tasked to protect the unconscious Noctis as they make their way to safety. Ravus will also join forces with Ignis, likely to protect his sister Lunafreya. The story will have multiple endings, and feature new music from "Chrono Trigger" composer Yasunori Mitsuda. You can check out the official trailer for this DLC on Youtube.

Noctis himself, is set to have his own... uhmmm, 'adventure'. As in, he will be guest starring as a playable DLC character in... "Tekken 7". Yes, I know I should've put this in a separate "Tekken" category, but moreso than Geese Howard who came from "The King of Fighters" series, Noctis IS the LEAD of "Final Fantasy XV". It would be more appropriate to feature him here in his own turf, right? Ahahaha... good excuse, eh. Noctis will be available in Spring 2018. The announcement trailer sees him receiving an in-game invitation/request from Lars Alexandersson, and features his three travelling companions too (who unfortunately are only present as cameo). Go check it out, it's a fun video...

Dynasty Warriors

KOEI Tecmo has announced the release date of the English version of "Dynasty Warriors 9". While the original Japanese version will arrive for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on February 8th, 2018, countries in North America and Europe will have to wait a few days later for a release on February 13th, 2018. I doubt this will spark complaints though, because unlike previous titles, this one only sees a delay that is only less than a week away.

Pre-ordering the game will reward players with a set of extra costumes for the character Zhao Yun, Guan Yinping, Diaochan, Sun Shangxiang, Lu Lingqi, Wang Yi, and Wang Yuanji. I know what you're thinking, Zhao Yun's the only male on the list! I guess that's because he's the unofficial poster boy for the franchise, so he gets the privilege to be surrounded by the ladies. Fans of the series can already book their copy of the game right away, whether in physical or digital version.

Ace Attorney

Nintendo Switch has taken the world by storm, and rightfully so. While its launch lineup was pretty scarce, third party developers have begun noticing the potential and strong selling point of the hybrid console. One of them, is of course CAPCOM.

According to recent report, they are preparing THREE... yes, not one or two, but three titles from the "Ace Attorney" franchise to be released in 2018. The first two, are compilation titles set to be released between April and October 2018. The first one compiles the first three games (Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney − Trials and Tribulations), and the second compiles the next three (Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Dual Destinies, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice). All those titles have been exclusively available or re-released for Nintendo 3DS, so I doubt it will take long for them to be transferred into a Switch version.

The third title, is going to be an entirely new title that features Phoenix Wright as the lead protagonist once again. This is good because the latest title released was the 19th century setting "The Great Ace Attorney 2: Ryunosuke Naruhodo’s Resolution", and just like its prequel, it didn't get an English-language version. Having Phoenix at the spotlight means fans might get an international version, albeit via digital services. This news is still regarded 'rumor' for now, but as I said, Switch is getting all the buzz, so I won't be surprised if it ends up becoming actual fact and not just fan fiction.

ARIKA

The company's so-called 'Mysterious Fighting Game' has been given an official title. It's "Fighter EX Layer".... Whooaa--HUH? Hold on, Layer? Why Layer, what's the point? I wonder why they don't just call it "Fighter EX Arena" or something. Japan and their Engrish sometimes throws you for a loop, huh? LOL.

ARIKA will start beta testing on December 11th, with six playable characters: Kairi, Garuda, Skullomania, Darun Mister, Allen Snider, and Shirase. Those who attend PlayStation Experience 2017 on December 9th and 10th, will also be able to play a demo version. The game will utilize a system called 'Gougi', which sounds a little hard to describe or comprehend. Apparently, this will allow players to have different ways to play, so the flow of matches will be changed. To put it simple... it's difficult to make sense of until I can get my hands on it. LOL. "Fighting EX Layer" will arrive next year, so for the time being, check out the new trailer to get more... uhm, understanding about it.

Pocket Monsters

DC fans have gotten a "Justice League" movie, while Marvel fans received "The Punisher" series this very day. There's still one more, and this one is dedicated for Pokemon fans worldwide. Yes, the high-scored "Pokemon Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon" is now officially available in market! Yaaaay...

Since the start of the month, The Pokemon Company has been releasing new promotional materials to convince gamers to grab the new and final adventure on Alola Region. Did you know that every Legendary Pokemon and their alternate forms are set to appear via Ultra Wormhole? Make sense, because this would be the last title for Nintendo 3DS. Some of them are version exclusives (like Ho-Oh is Ultra Sun while Lugia is in Ultra Moon), and some even requires special conditions (Giratina can only appear if version exclusives Dialga and Palkia are present), but all the Legendaries from Generation I to VII is here.

What about Team Rainbow Rocket? It's a villainous organization created by... previous bosses from past games. Yes, Team Rocket's Giovanni is bringing Team Magma's Maxie, Team Aqua's Archie, Team Galactic's Cyrus, Team Plasma's Ghetsis, and Team Flare's Lysandre to challenge the protagonist. There's also The Battle Agency that allows players to use Rental Pokemon, and also Totem Stickers that enable them to obtain totem-sized Pokemon. You can check out the details on these features on Gematsu, or check out the official trailer.

The latest one focuses on Necrozma, because the so-called 'Strange Evil' contains another enlightening "Secret". This refers to a report that the poster Pokemon/Ultra Beast will have a new form in these games, and not just the Dusk Mane or Dawn Wings. Read the details of this news on Gematsu.

Those who don't have a 3DS, has no other choice but to rely on "Pokemon GO" your Smartphone. Hey, there's a free Alolan costume now... to make it seem like we're also playing "Ultra Sun & Moon". LOL. Problem is, what would happen now that Niantic is actively developing a new title? Should casual and devoted players alike be nervous? Well... if Niantic's statement could be hold accountable (they... generally do, by the way), then players should NOT be worried. The company openly promised that inspite of "Harry Potter: Wizards Unite", "Pokemon GO" will still be continuously improved and updated. They even say that the team is 'doubling down' on new improvements, particularly in the year 2018. Hmmm... that means we won't be getting the rest of Generation III until at least January, huh? Bummer.

With a new 'copycat' app already 'stealing' the buzz by implementing most-requested features that "Pokemon GO" has been sorely lacking, it looks like Niantic will be pushed to step up their game much faster. Producing updates in a slow pace simply won't cut it anymore, unless they are planning on losing more and more players by relying on the same gameplay that... well, ends up becoming tedious and boring after a while. So yeah, let's just keep a close tab on this 'promise' and whether the company will be able to be true to their words or the opposite. That's when the judgement will be strike down. Am I right? *wink*

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