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multiverseforger · 3 years

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In November 2013, Marvel Comics announced that Kamala Khan, a teenage American Muslim from Jersey City, New Jersey, would take over the comic book series Ms. Marvel beginning in February 2014. The series, written by G. Willow Wilson and drawn by Adrian Alphona, marked the first time a Muslim character headlined a book at Marvel Comics.[2] However, Noelene Clark of the Los Angeles Times noted that Khan is not the first Muslim character in comic books, which include Simon Baz, Dust and M.[3] The conception of Kamala Khan came about during a conversation between Marvel editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker. Amanat said, "I was telling him [Wacker] some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim American. He found it hilarious." The pair then told Wilson about the concept and Wilson became eager to jump aboard the project.[4] Amanat said that the series came from a "desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective."[5]

Artist Jamie McKelvie based Khan's design on his redesign of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel and on Dave Cockrum's design of the original Ms. Marvel.[6] Amanat requested that the design "reflected the Captain Marvel legacy, and also her story and her background."[7] Amanat stated that Khan's costume was influenced by the shalwar kameez. They wanted the costume to represent her cultural identity, but did not want her to wear a hijab,[8] because the majority of teenage Pakistani-American girls do not wear one.[9] Amanat also stated that they wanted the character to look "less like a sex siren" to appeal to a more vocal female readership.[8]

Marvel knew that they wanted a young Muslim girl, but stated that she could be from any place of origin and have any background. Wilson initially considered making her an Arab girl from Dearborn, Michigan but ultimately chose to create a Desi girl from Jersey City.[10] Jersey City, which sits across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has been referred to as New York City's "Sixth borough".[11][12][13] It therefore forms an important part of Khan's identity and the narrative journey of her character since most of Marvel Comics' stories are set in Manhattan. Wilson explains, "A huge aspect of Ms. Marvel is being a 'second string hero' in the 'second string city' and having to struggle out of the pathos and emotion that can give a person."[14]

The series not only explores Khan's conflicts with supervillains but also explores conflicts with Khan's home and religious duties. Wilson, a convert to Islam, said "This is not evangelism. It was really important for me to portray Kamala as someone who is struggling with her faith." Wilson continued, "Her brother is extremely conservative, her mom is paranoid that she's going to touch a boy and get pregnant, and her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor."[4] Amanat added,

As much as Islam is a part of Kamala's identity, this book isn't preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It's about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It's a struggle we've all faced in one form or another, and isn't just particular to Kamala because she's Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself.[2]

First appearance of Kamala Khan from Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Scott Hepburn

In the series, Khan takes the name Ms. Marvel from Carol Danvers, who now goes by the alias Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel writer Kelly Sue DeConnick revealed that Khan actually made a brief appearance in Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) saying, "Kamala is in the background of a scene in Captain Marvel 14 ... She is very deliberately placed in a position where she sees Carol protecting civilians from Yon-Rogg."[15] According to Wilson, Khan idolizes Carol so when Khan acquires superhuman abilities, she emulates Danvers.[14] "Captain Marvel represents an ideal that Kamala pines for. She's strong, beautiful and doesn't have any of the baggage of being Pakistani and 'different,'"[4] Wilson explained. "Khan is a big comic book fan and after she discovers her superhuman power – being a polymorph and able to lengthen her arms and legs and change her shape – she takes on the name of Ms. Marvel," Amanat elaborated.[16] Khan is one of several characters who discover that they have Inhuman heritage following the "Inhumanity" storyline, in which the Terrigen Mists are released throughout the world and activate dormant Inhuman cells.[17]

In the series' first story arc, Khan faces off against Mr. Edison / the Inventor, an amalgam of man and bird. Wilson created the Inventor to be Khan's first arch rival in order to mirror Khan's own complexity. Wilson characterizes the Inventor, and the overall visual look of the opening story arc as "kooky and almost Miyazaki-esque at times", owing to the art style of illustrator Adrian Alphona, which balances the drama of the threats which Khan faces with the humor of Alphona's "tongue in cheek sight gags." During the storyline, Khan also teams-up with the X-Man Wolverine against the Inventor. Because Wolverine is dealing with the loss of his healing factor during this time, Khan is placed in the position of having to shoulder much of the responsibilities, as Wilson felt this was a role reversal that would subvert reader expectations that Wolverine would take the lead in such a team-up.[18]

At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, writer Dan Slott announced that Khan would team-up with Spider-Man beginning in The Amazing Spider-Man #7 (October 2014) during the "Spider-Verse" storyline. Slott characterized Khan "the closest character to classic Peter Parker,"[19] explaining, "She's a teenage superhero, juggling her life, making mistakes, trying to do everything right."[20]

Beginning in June 2015, Ms. Marvel tied into the "Secret Wars" crossover event with the "Last Days" storyline, which details Khan's account of the end of the Marvel Universe. Wilson explained, "In the 'Last Days' story arc, Kamala has to grapple with the end of everything she knows, and discover what it means to be a hero when your whole world is on the line."[21] In the storyline, Khan rushes to deal with the threat in Manhattan. However, Wilson revealed, "She will face a very personal enemy as the chaos in Manhattan spills over into Jersey City, and she will be forced to make some very difficult choices. There will also be a very special guest appearance by a superhero Kamala—and the fans—have been waiting to meet for a long time."[22]

In March 2015, Marvel announced that Khan will join the Avengers in All-New All-Different Avengers FCBD (May 2015) by writer Mark Waid and artists Adam Kubert and Mahmud Asrar, which takes place in the aftermath of "Secret Wars".[23] A second volume of Ms. Marvel starring Khan by Wilson, Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa is also debuted following "Secret Wars" as part of Marvel's All-New, All-Different Marvel initiative.[24] Amanat said,

By the time this new launch comes around, it will have been almost two years since the premiere of Ms. Marvel—and boy, has Kamala Khan been through a lot since then. She's been slowly coming into her own, dealing with the challenges of navigating adulthood and being a super hero. But her training is over now and it's time for the big leagues; the question is can she handle it? ... As much as Kamala has a right to be there—it's still a bit of a culture shock. Dreaming of being an Avenger and then suddenly being one is a lot to take on for someone of her age. So, she'll be a little awestruck, a little overly ambitious.[25]

In March 2016, Marvel announced that Ms. Marvel would tie into the "Civil War II" storyline by releasing a promotional image illustrating a rift between Khan and Danvers.[26] "While "Civil War II" may have initiated this rift, we've known for some time that Kamala would eventually need to separate herself from her idols. Her journey centers around self-discovery and identity, and a part of that exploration includes separating yourself from those you put on pedestals. The rift between Carol and Kamala doesn't really have to do with right and wrong. It has to do with growing up and realizing that you perceive the world differently from even the ones you love," Amanat elaborated.[27]

In July, Marvel announced that Khan will join the Champions, a team of teenage superheroes who split off from the Avengers following the conclusion of "Civil War II". The team, featured in a series by writer Mark Waid and artist Humberto Ramos, consists of Khan, Spider-Man (Miles Morales), Nova (Sam Alexander), Hulk (Amadeus Cho), Viv Vision, and a teenage version of Cyclops. Waid said, "The first three are the kids who quit the Avengers proper. That was an easy get. Those three, in and of themselves, form a nice little subteam. Their dynamic is great. They all show up in each other's books, and even though they have their arguments and stress points, clearly they're good together."[28]

In August, Khan made an appearance in Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur #10 by writers Amy Reeder and Brandon Montclare. In the issue, Khan acts as a mentor to Moon Girl (Lunella Lafayette) who is also a young Inhuman that suddenly came into her powers. Amanat stated that Khan sees much of herself in Lafayette and by teaching her, Khan learns much about herself.[27]

In November, Marvel announced that Khan will join a new incarnation of the Secret Warriors in a series by writer Matthew Rosenberg and artist Javier Garron that debuted in May 2017. The team, formed in the wake of the "Inhumans vs X-Men" storyline, also includes Quake, Karnak, Moon Girl, and Devil Dinosaur. Rosenberg stated that there is some conflict and friction amongst the team members explaining, "Ms. Marvel and Quake are really fighting for the soul of the team in a lot of ways, while Moon Girl will continue to really do her own thing. They will all be tested and challenged, they are superheroes after all, but they are going to do things their way."[29]

In March 2017, Marvel announced that Khan would team-up with Danvers in a one-shot issue of the limited anthology series, Generations by Wilson and Paolo Villanelle. Wilson stated that the issue would explore Danvers' and Khan's mentor–student relationship, but "at its heart, [it] is about growing up, and a big part of growing up is discovering that your idols have feet of clay – and forgiving them for their flaws as you gain an adult understanding of your own."[30]

In December, Ms. Marvel began the "Teenage Wasteland" story arc, as part of the Marvel Legacy relaunch. Wilson said, "Since the events of 'Civil War II', there's been friction between Kamala and her mentor, Captain Marvel. In this arc, we're exploring how complicated legacies can be when they're passed from generation to generation ... She's questioning a lot about herself and her mission. Her friends end up stepping into some very important—and unexpected—roles. So in a sense, the arc is really about a bunch of chronically under-estimated teenagers who pull together to fight evil."[31]

Ms. Marvel #31, the 50th issue of Ms. Marvel featuring Khan was released in June 2018. To mark the occasion, Marvel brought in additional collaborators for the issue including writers: G. Willow Wilson, Saladin Ahmed, Rainbow Rowell, and Hasan Minhaj; and artists: Nico Leon, Bob Quinn, Gustavo Duarte, and Elmo Bondoc.[32]

Beginning in March 2019, Khan headlined a new series titled, The Magnificent Ms. Marvel, written by Ahmed and illustrated by Minkyu Jung. Wilson stated that she had been planning her departure from the series for over a year, stating that she originally anticipated that the series would only last for ten issues and was excited by the fact that she had written 60 issues. Ahmed said the new series will have much wider scope, "while still maintaining that intimate tone that people have loved about it."[33]

In July 2020, Marvel announced that Khan would star in an original graphic novel, published in conjunction with Scholastic and aimed at younger readers. The book will be written by author Nadia Shammas. An illustrator has not yet been named.[34

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ash-etherwood · 3 years

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Top 5: writing memories, songs, characters that are not blank rune, runes, food

♡

Linda I love you but are you trying to kill me … that’s so many Top 5’s! But alright, I’ll do my best! (Answers will probably switch between German and English RIP to every non-German-speaker who follows me and wants to read this for some reason I swear I’m normal)

WRITING MEMORIES

5.) The entire time I spent finishing my first (second?) longer writing project It was the year 2012 and it was a cyberpunk story about my friends’ and my edgy self inserts riding dinosaurs, fighting aliens and being badass. The plot twist in the end was that my character was secretly evil and wanted to kill everyone. (Things to show your therapist) The final boss fight made zero sense and also everything was incredibly weird and stupid. But sometimes I still think about those times when I sat in my grandma’s living room at night, eating chips and listening to Vocaloid covers while thinking this story was the coolest shit ever. Truly simpler times.

4.) Researching something about universities in Texas for OvF on a rainy Saturday afternoon I have no idea why this memory is still sticking with me to this day (I think it was around 2016 or something?), but I remember that it was just a really nice day and I felt really at peace at that moment?

3.) The entire writing process of Bathroom Blues It was such a spontaneous project and I still have no idea how I managed to power though it in just a little under two months! Also it was just incredibly fun seeing you getting excited over new drafts and I loved coming up with new plot points and Halloween costumes for everyone with you. :-D Truly a summer worth remembering.

2.) FINALLY uploading the prologue and intro chapter of WWBL Not really a writing memory, but that moment was … so sexy and magical. Seriously, you have no idea how long I had been waiting to finally start that story, waiting for the Steckbriefe to roll in and see people react to the prologue and generally the idea … I even made one of those countdown graphic thingies for the designated upload date! 8D At that point I had planned that story for about six months and just … yeah, that felt powerful to me.

1.) Writing the prologue for WWBL When I first started the draft for that prologue I was sitting at the window in my favourite hotel in Winterberg, Sauerland, wore my dark green flannel, had the window wide open breathing in the cool mountain air and allowed myself to listen to my WWBL playlist for the very first time. God, that felt so amazing. I even have a photo of it (which somehow makes it look like I have the biggest football shoulders in the universe) my sister took that night. God I miss Sauerland. )’:

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SONGS

My apologies to every favourite song of mine that I forgot about, I have a whole playlist of them, but I think these are some of my oldest faves … (Honorable mentions for Don’t Mess With Me and Not That Big by Temposhark, Goodbye by Apparat, Me And The Devil by Soap&Skin, Heart Heart Head by Meg Myers, Pain and Animal I Have Become by Three Days Grace, Beautiful Crime by Tamer, Gravity Of Love by Enigma, In Flames by Digital Daggers [thanks Phi u_u] and Murder Cries by Snow Ghosts AHHH FUCK IT I could’ve just made a playlist,,,)

5.) Vater Unser by E Nomine Starting off with some weird shit, won’t we? I’ve been in love with this song since fifth or sixth grade, when I was just starting to develop an actual music taste and although I have many favourite songs by E Nomine, this one has to be my absolute fave. Every time I can relate it to a character it makes me love said character even more. (Also I think about it every time my mom forces me to go to church for Christmas so … yay? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t even be able to remember the Vater Unser if it wasn’t for this song. 8D)

4.) Wires by The Neighbourhood I think this is the newest all-time fave on this list, I found it in … 2015? Thank you, Youtube AMVs. Yeah man, this one is just … on so many playlists it’s not even funny anymore.

3.) Heathens by Twenty One Pilots An edgelord classic but like … it’s on EVERY playlist of mine. Every single one. It’s just so good. The first time I heard it was on the radio tho, when I was having breakfast with Jessie and I forced her to shazam it because it immediately stuck with me,,,

2.) Imaginary by Evanescence My first Evanescence song ever and the first step towards becoming who I am today I think. This song has like … such a big history for me, man. It single-handedly turned me goth in 2008 and I have never really thanked it for that.

1.) Eternal by Evanescence Might be my favourite song of all time. The number of dramatic RP scenes I have written with this in the background … man. Oh, also this song is the reason for one of my oldest internet nicknames, ‘eternala’, which subsequently shortened into Etschuh and then Tschuh, my main nickname until 2017, when I came out as trans and finally found an actual name for myself I was comfortable with!

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NON BLANK RUNE CHARACTERS

I know this was probably supposed to be about fandom characters but I can literally not come up with a single character right now that I love with a special burning passion and that is not my or one of my friends’ OCs so you’re getting OCs now. u_u And boy do I have a lot of those.

5.) Jackson Tracey from atroCITY (mine) This little piece of shit kept me company for a pretty long time and is still very close to my heart for some reason, although I haven’t drawn him or really thought about him in detail for a while now. My favourite thing is how I only realized what a horrible person he was after I stopped regularly working with him but honestly good for me. 8D His storyline and personality is kinda convoluted and tbh I’m not really sure how much of it is canon anyway (atrc was always a little weird about canon rip) but yeah. He’s an obsessive stalker piece of shit who pities himself way too much and he is also a semi-immortal demigod who likes knives. I hate him but he also helped me a lot with some gender and sexuality stuff so thanks I guess.

4.) Mayoko Imai from Century Riders DXPrototype (Maus’ and mine) Mayoko is a magical girl protagonist with a cool cyborg arm prosthetic and her main character trait was that she was basically a reverse weeaboo, a Japanese girl who was obsessed with American media, culture and comic book heroes! I actually love her concept a lot and she also had a pretty cool character arc in her story (which Maus and I wrote together and actually finished btw!), although it could use a lot more … polishing from today’s point of view. But I love her anyway. She always wanted to do the right thing and be a hero and got broken pretty cruelly and her ending is kinda bittersweet I guess? Ahh there’s just so much nuance to it … anyways, CR3 also stuck with me for a very long time and I enjoyed the time with her a lot. :3 (Her name had a cameo in Another Incident btw heehee)

3.) Tessa *insert extremely long chain of unnecessary first names here* von Lean from Nobody Is Perfect and Infernal Temptation (belongs to one of my old school friends) Tessa is just … a hand full. I love to hate her. She is badly written and developed and just OOZES mentally ill teenage girl’s idealized self-insert power fantasy, but she just … man, she was a big part of one of my most drama-filled high school friendships which I love looking back at so much. Tessa has fucked so many of my characters … good for her tbh! There are actually two versions of her, one is just a ‘normal’ teenage girl and one can shapeshift into a cheetah, but both of them are very close to my heart. I should really adopt and redesign her some day.

2.) Judy Khayat from Original vs. Final (mine) Look, I love all my OvF-characters and every single one of them is special to me in their own way, but Judy is just … the most complex of them all I think? Man, she went through so much … she is actually one of my oldest (semi)-active characters (I created her in 2009) and her latest version is from 2016 but I should really, REALLY revise her again tbh. She has a very complicated backstory that I didn’t handle as carefully as I should have, and anger issues and religious conflict and depression and PTSD and then Vance of all people becomes obsessed with her for no reason and decides to traumatize her even more … yeah. God I really love her but I seriously need to work on her. A LOT. I should also finally rename her tbh … let’s just see where she takes me next.

1.) Okami (I don’t even remember if she has a proper last name rn lol) from Split Realm (mine) Yeah, that bitch is just my favourite OC. She’s also very old, probably from around 2009, and initially was a magical girl with fire powers who I played in an RP with my friend Flauch but boy did she grow up! Holy fuck. Okami is a horrible person but I love her so much. She is so violent and full of anger and pain and sadness and treats everyone around her like shit and she is in love and she is a demon but also apparently the personification of the concept of Chaos but she just wants to be a teenager again and run away with the love of her life and ahhh it’s all so hopeless for her … also she turned out gnc af with time passing and pretty much went through a gender/sexuality crisis in real time with me, her creator, which is always fun. :^D I haven’t drawn her in a while tbh. Should really do that.

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RUNES IN BLANK RUNE

I’m just gonna go with the arcs here, okay? Also this entire answer might look completely different if you asked me again tomorrow, you know how indecisive I am with Blank Rune shit ahha,,,

5.) Jera Look. I know I’m boring and stupid. But I just love Tave and Liam having their disgusting little foreshadowing talk, okay? I can read it over and over. I just love my horrible little shit crime boys. Also Rhy and Phillip are there. (’:

4.) Isa This one is here because it was the first arc I witnessed in real time which gives it a very special place in my heart and it also … hit pretty hard at the time. But having read Fehu it’s become even better now! It’s just such a wonderful, tragic romance between two horrible, ruthless boys and I … I’m not immune to Rhy, sadly. :-/ Just like Phillip.

3.) Wunjo We still haven’t seen everything that leads up to Wunjo yet, but we DO know more than we did initially (wow shocker) and it’s just always a fucking blast. Also, it has the first mention of Ash’s real name … the first Rhy POV (which what the fuck!! I always feel like we had one before but we didn’t!! Wild) and it has crazy blood-soaked murder Tave, my beloved. :///3

2.) Eiwaz You guys have heard me fanboy about Eiwaz so many times already. Eiwaz-OT3 (and Kain) my beloved!!! It’s just SUCH an amazing starting point and there are so, so many things that tie back to it and every time we find out about a new one my heart makes a little jump … und es beginnt von Neuem indeed.

1.) Gebo One of the most painful but also the most beautiful arcs yet in my opinion. It’s been hyped up for so long and boy did it deliver. God, my heart still hurts when I think about that last scene. Also all the dialogue … the golden lines we got … and it’s an arc without Rhy! Crazy!! :-D I just love the relationship between Ash, Astrid and Jakob so much. God fuck I want what they have. Just maybe without the murder suicide,,,

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FOOD

5.) Diese Sonntagsbrötchen wo die Verpackung so plopp macht, wenn man die Folie abzieht Better than normale Brötchen for some reason. Most of the time. See 2.) Look man, I just really love a good breakfast …

4.) Chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese topping One of the first things from a certain baking book I tried when I was getting into baking back in 2019. God they are so tasty. I don’t make them often so I don’t get used to them too much and eating them still feels special but ahhhh I love them so much!

3.) Grünkohl mit Kartoffelbrei und Mettendchen One of my favourite things about autumn/winter and one of my biggest comfort foods. God I love this shit so much. I just put … mountains of Grünkohl and Kartoffelbrei on my plate every time and I will just warm it up for four days straight until there’s no more left. It turns me into a fucking caveman. I’m not even big on eating meat but … yeah. Everything is different when there’s Grünkohl.

2.) Normales Brötchen mit Butter und Scheibenkäse aber ich bin beim Frühstücksbuffet im Hotel Oddly specific but that’s just how it is. Sorry. Nichts geht über Brötchen mit Käse.

1.) Chilli-Knoblauch-Nudelauflauf My beloved. My comfort food. I eat it literally every second day. At least one hour in the kitchen every time. Fresh ingredients. My only vegetable intake. And I’ve been doing that for three years. I just love it so much, man. I cook it for everyone who visits me. Chilli-Knoblauch-Auflauf cured my depression.

#ask #crimsondaisy #2.4k works of me talking about myself under the cut rip #thank you tho!!!

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soyouareandrewdobson · 4 years

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Dobson’s favorite cartoon reviewed: The adventures of spandex girl in New York aka the Miraculous Ladybug movie

So THIS is not going to be about a Dobson comic, but rather with the lack of Dobson posting shit out here, I thought I give my opinion about something Dobson would have likely sperged out within the last few months. What could it be I want to talk about? The riots? The death of RBG? Cuties?

Are you insane? My brain may function better than Dobson’s, but even so I am not touching those subjects with a tong, seeing how I myself am lacking detailed knowledge on such subjects. No. I am talking about the cartoon that makes Dobson’s little brain (and dick) all tingly: Miraculous Ladybug.

For starters, let me just say that despite being an animation fan myself, I am not really into this show at all. For a magical girl show that goes on for over three seasons at this point, I just feel like nothing happens in it. Sure, A LOT of tokusatsu and magical girl shows run on repetitive monster of the week formulas, but overall they will still have some progression to themselves. Growing up with Sailor Moon, I always loved the first season and how it actually made me feel like things are increasingly at stake as the story progressed. Especially in the final episodes when the Senshis actually died protecting Sailor Moon and it was only thanks to a Deus ex machina everyone was reincarnated again. As melodramatic as Sailor Moon could be, at least each story arc had a beginning and ending that did not overstay its welcome. Ladybug meanwhile can be summed up as followed:

Teenage girl is thirsty for obvious blond boy whose dad wants to get magic jewelry to necromance his comatose wife. Teenage girl gets magic jewelry and turns into heroine in ladybug mustered spandex suit that makes rule34 artists all tingly. Same goes for boy she has the hots for, only he becomes gimp catsuit shota bait. Bad guy transforms random citizens who feel down for some reason (often times connected to a blond whose family name Dobson can’t write) into action figure like super villains. Ladybug and Cat Noir defeat them, the damage is reseted, Ladybug and Cat Noir never figure out who the other one is despite things being so obvious Ray Charles could have seen that shit coming. Repeat not just for one, but ALL seasons so far and add as little as possible storywise to increase the roaster of characters, but not progress the plot.

All that said, I can say that there are worse shows out there and for a show meant to sell toys to girls and be about a female hero, it is not THAT bad. But a) the creator is an asshole (think of functional Dobson) and b) there are still better shows to watch, even within the preteen magical girl genre, than this. Not to forget that this thing may be the indirect successor of Totally Spies and give certain people internet related fetishes within the next few years.

So, why am I believing Dobson would talk about the show at least for today more than he already tends to do on average? Because Ladybug actually got now a movie.

Well, it is called a movie, but in reality it is more of a 3 parter to start the fourth season if you really look into it. The thing is called Miraculous World: New York – United HeroeZ. It clocks in around 65 minutes and focuses on Marinette and Adrien in New York, teaming up with new heroes that are so unsubtlety promoted in this movie, I expect them to get their own spin off series by the end of next year so the showmakers can milk the cow even drier.

Let me try to elaborate in what is going to be a less than just a bit snarky summary with a few critical points and jokes at Dobson’s expense thrown in here. In other words, the typical biased youtube reaction channel/movie review. Spoiler warnings are obvious and I promise than unlike certain pedos on youtube I am not going to focus on the assets of underaged French girls. I do warn however for increased levels of making a fool of myself by writing a multi page “mock summary” of this thing.

So because the movie is based on a children show, it has a very basic set up; Adrien and Marinette’s class is invited to spend one week in New York, because of a pointless international collaboration thing referred to as French-American Friendship week. The sheer existence of this showing that a) we needed any reason to get them there and b) this special was worked on LONG before COVID19 hit us all. And yes, I know animation takes its time to be done, I just think it is funny how in today’s international political climate and health situation this thing has become outdated already, when it is hitting the tv just now.

At the same time, Adrien’s dad suspects that an artifact currently shown at a museum in New York may be a missing Miraculous that was owned by the Marquis de La Fayette and gifted to George Washington during the American Revolution. And yes, we are going there and you can guess what Hawkmoth’s goal this time is, while at the same time history gets fucked up the butt.

But before we can get to any action in New York, we have to deal with the one thing Ladybug is known for best: Cringy shipping bait.

Look, I know that shipping is a part of magical girl shows in general, but the shit going on in this cartoon is not only drawn out tediously even for children tv standards, I find it makes some characters outright dumb and unlikable. We get it Marinette, Adrien makes you tingle. But can you stop cringing your way through life around him in a manner that would make Tomoko Kuroki say that you are freaking pathetic?

I don’t want anybody else. when I think about Adrien I...

Just three minutes into this movie she essentially melts away at a poster of Adrien and throughout the first 15 minutes she just simps away in the big blue yonder. For example by asking Adrien’s dad to allow his son to travel with the others to New York, obviously stumbling upon her words when she needs to remind herself that she can only see Adrien now as a friend and not love interest (because this is supposedly set after season 3, when she decided to go for the second price in form of the guy who plays guitar), insisting that she is only “friends” to the point even her best friend Alya gets fed up. Or when Marinette gets more than just “a bit” nervous at the chance of sitting on her flight to New York next to Adrien, resulting in her fucking that chance up so badly, I felt an headache approaching.

Not gonna lie, I had to pause a few times because it got so cringy for me, I wondered why Dobson makes primarily jokes on Adrien’s expense when Marinette herself is female thirst personified. Even the movie seems to point out how the two are so obvious to each other, when Alya has the following to say about them: I can’t decide if they are the most cutest people I know, or the most embarrassing.

Thankfully it is at 18 minutes into it, we FINALLY get something of a conflict. While still on the plane (And Adrien and Marinette watching a sunset through a window) a villain shows up, trying to steal the jet engine midflight.

Just roll with it

Thankfully, before the plane can go down thanks to a Gremlin on the wing- I mean TECHNO PIRATE, the real stars of the movie show up.

Wait, you thought this thing was going to be about Ladybug and Cat Noir being the primary heroes? WRONG!

Okay, to put the summary on hold and explain what I mean: This “movie” introduces us to “United HeroeZ”, a group of American superheroes. Yeah, turns out Miraculous is essentially set in your average “Superheroes are everywhere, but primarily US dominated territory” world and this story is meant to introduce us to them and have Ladybug and Cat Noir team up in order to save the day. And while I don’t necessarily HATE the characters, I have to admit that I can’t help myself but snark quite a bit about them. Not only are they for the most part just expies of well known superheroes, the way how prominent two of them in particular are featured in this movie makes it very, VERY obvious that (As I stated earlier) this thing aims just to create a tie-in show for the creators to make more money of the property. Not just that, but their presence in a way reduces Adrien and Marinette’s importance as characters, even though the new ones at best would count as supportive characters overall. Which again makes me wonder, what does it say about Ladybug and Cat Noir’s “impact” in their own franchise when I actually find myself more interested in the side characters made to promote new toys, than the actual leads?

Anyway, United HeroeZ defeats Techno Pirate and in doing so we are introduced to the main members of the group which are relevant for this movie:

So please, give an applause for…. MAJESTIA (aka actually decent Powergirl redesign/Non Superman)

SPARROW (Aka yet another Robin that may get hit by a crowbar)

UNCANNEY VALLEY (aka The Shipper on Deck/Cleopatra in Tin Foil/Vision as your Waifu/the dumbest name you could have chosen for a character!)

NIGHT OWL (aka Alan Moore is going to be pissed!/Oh look, it’s Batman!)

You get where I am coming from when I call them expies, right?

Anyway, with the plane safe the class finally gets to New York. Both Sparrow and Uncanney Valley get tasked to go undercover with the students and assure they are save during the trip, because plot reasons and New York is supposedly enough of a safe place that their services aren’t needed to fight bigger threats currently. Which confirms at the very least that a) this is not the Marvel Universe cause at this point the town may be ground zero yet again and b) a way more enjoyable version of the Big Apple than the real deal.

By the way, these are Uncanney (left) and Sparrow’s (right) civilian identities :

I can now imagine Dobson wanting to proclaim how problematic the character is for being a native American who looks the way she does. But believe me. It gets kinda worse in all the right ways.

Also, we are 28 minutes into the movie and we are introduced to the dumbest thing in the movie yet. The arch enemy of the Condiment King; Hot Dog Dan.

A superhero hot dog vendor seller with a flying hot dog truck, whose hot dogs give you temporarily some random superpowers when you eat them. And it seems he uses hot dog tongs as weapons.

I don’t know what the people making this show take, but I am torn between wanting some of that myself and putting them into rehab.

I really bring the character just up because he is as a concept in itself so ridiculous that part of me thinks he is a fever dream of Dobson. Otherwise he has no real bearing on what is going to happen on the rest of the movie. He is just relevant for a three minute long scene of a house roof party during which Adrien and Marinette dance for a bit.

Speaking of relevance, the next day the class finally gets to do something on the trip that leads into conflict for our heroes to face. During a visit of the museum where the La Fayette related Miraculous is hold, Uncanny and Sparrow decide to play shipper on deck by forcing Marinette and Adrien in a room and attempting to set a really stupid plot into motion (and no, I don’t mean they enforce a reenactment of Steven Universe or something). At the same time the villains finally do something, when Hawkmoth (now in New York) turns Techno Pirate into his latest minion and have him attack the museum to steal a saber by La Fayette as distraction, while he takes the charm he is out for. Long story short: Our heroes FINALLY transform and have to fight with Uncanney and Sparrow against Techno Pirate on the roofs of Manhattan.

And while I don’t think it is all that great of a fight, it still means something aside of Marinette cringing her way through the plot is happening and the heroes are actually in decent peril. Plus during the fight the movie gives me one of the funniest moments possible. You want to know what it is?

Well, while fighting the bad guy, Cat Noir and Ladybug obviously trigger their miraculouses. And what does Ladybugs miraculous turn into this time, to help her develop a strategy to defeat the villain and save the day?

A bikepump.

... yeah, I am going to give all of you now 5 minutes to laugh it off. Believe me, I needed them too.

Sure, it is a cartoon and I doubt anyone working on the show is even aware of our favorite uncare bear, but come on. At this point the universe itself is either mocking Dobson or tries to set up the perfect opportunity for an obvious joke from my side.

Not helped by the fact that once the bike pump shows up, the dialogue between characters that follows is, and I quote:

Cat: A bicycle pump? What are you going to do with that?

Ladybug: I may have an idea, but you wouldn’t like it

Anyway, believe it or not, the fight actually ends with a surprising shock moment. Cat Noir, while having his cataclysm powers active (you know, the powers that make him decompose anything he touches), being thrown by Techno Pirate at Ladybug, resulting in Uncanney protecting her and being turned into scrap metal. Which in turn causes Techno Pirate to make the acquaintance with Majestia’s fist, as Uncanney is more or less her adopted daughter and I guess she has seen what was going on (but did not interfere because the plot says so) until now, pummeling him so hard he flies through a few buildings and causes at least three 9/11 to happen on this day in New York.

So, yeah. Uncanney is dead. The heroes experiencing their darkest hour in the movie.

… welp, can’t have that for long, so less than 2 minutes later Ladybug uses the Magical bikepump…

5 minutes of laughter later

Got it out of the system? Good. As I was saying; She uses the fetish toy to reset all the damage done by the akumatized villain and in doing so fixes Uncanney too.

Welp, that was a waste of tension. Guess someone watched the entire Lars dying thing from Steven Universe.

So, damage undone, but Majestia and Night Owl pretty pissed at what happened, want Ladybug and Cat Noir to give up their miraculouses (I assume that is the correct plural) until they leave New York. You would expect this to result in some dramatic chase scene or confrontation with the older heroes, but because this movie has just like 22 minutes left and we need to close act two now, our heroes instead flee and end up in the sewers of New York.

There they do NOT team up with a group of mutated reptiles, but have a heart to heart talk (I never thought I would agree with Dobson on something, but I have to agree on this: The show is kinda fixated on having important stuff happening in sewer channels) that is sort of an argument Cat Noir and Ladybug also had during the fight. You see, because those two idiots haven’t figured out their respective civilian identities yet (something even Sailor Moon would have figured out AFTER THREE SEASONS!) Marinette assumed that Cat Noir would be in Paris while she is in New York to keep the city save. And Adrien/Noir was okay with making the promise of keeping the city initially save, because his dad only allowed him on the trip the day after he made the promise. So when the two transform out of sight of the other in New York and meet, instead of asking some logical questions (like “where is Marinette/Adrien and why is Cat/Ladybug here?”) they kinda argue wtf Cat is doing here while Paris may be in danger.

Long story short, she is angry at him, he feels guilty for having disappointed her and the thing with turning Uncanney into scrap, Paris was attacked by Hawkmoth’s secretary unleashing temporarily some monster clone because Hawkmoth thought that distracts the heroes in Paris (and really just results in damage that makes a city that experienced the destruction of Notre Dame the year prior just feel numb) and because this is the turning point in the plot, our hero needs to do something just a bit too melodramatic. Which is that Adrien gives up his powers and runs away.

… so, up to the final part in which things to care about start to happen.

Hawkmoth now has the Miraculous and unleashes its Kwami who is this eagle themed little thing referring to itself as the “Kwami of Freedom”.

… Yeah, this thing was NOT around for the last 200 years, wasn’t it?

Anyway, it states that its powers are based on “freeing” people of limitations to achieve their full potential. What does that mean practically? It means that when Techno Pirate holds its powers on top of his regular powers increased by being akumatized, he can unleash some energy attack that removes moral inhibitions when getting hit by it.

… So it basically unleashes the Purge.

Which is exactly what happens to Majestia and Night Owl, turning one into Man of Steel Superman causing nine additional 9/11s on top of the three prior (how the fuck did this movie manage to turn an American tragedy in a measuring unit?) and the other into All Star Batman.

Oh and it turns the President of the USA into a worse war monger than people accuse Trump of being.

Oh, this is NOT going to sit well with anyone...

… Yeah, sidenote: The president of the USA in this movie is essentially Michelle Obama who ALSO is a superhero with an American flag theme and besties with Majestica and Night Owl, trying to protect the exchange students. Because supposedly NOTHING better needs to be done. Once she gets hit by the “Freedom Feathers” or whatever you want to call the Kwami power, she pulls out the Football and activates turrets all over the USA, ready to blow up anything that moves into smithereens. Including at least 10.000 such turrets on the roofs of New York and a nuclear missile in the bay near the Statue of Liberty.

I’ll take it to the people with the eagle not the dove. If there is one thing that obedience is symptomatic of, it’s W-E-A-P-O-N-R-Y... WEAPONRY, from above!

(BTW, the rocket is animated like shit!)

I get the feeling someone on the production team is not the biggest fan of America.

Anyway, with the heroes being useless and Marinette and Adrien mopping around for what happened during the battle (and Adrien being tricked by his dad to leave New York and get back on a plane cause this town is not save and Adrien can’t fucking stand up to his emotionally abusive father), Uncanney and Sparrow have to get the ball rolling so the day can be saved. Which means that Sparrow and Ladybug try to fight and distract people for time (off screen mostly), while Uncanney hijacks Adrien’s plane and brings him back to take up the gimp suit of Cat Noir again. Oh yeah, almost forgot, Uncanney, cause she is a robot, has figured out easily who Ladybug and Adrien really are cause scanning. Making our heroes literally dumber than a walking toaster.

So the four finally together, fight Techno Pirate on the Statue of Liberty a second time (after some hijinx with another corrupted hero whose power is literally to create portals through doors, but he is irrelevant for anything so I skipped him up until now) and defeat him. He loses the Miraculous, Sparrow takes it on and becomes its next official owner, resulting in her costume turning into THIS

So now we have the native American girl turn into an eagle based superhero with a costume that looks like out of a western based Lego set.

Real talk here: Unlike Dobson I do not believe that everything is political or offensive or some other shit. In fact I hate his comic where he talks about “skin color changes” of the black characters in Ladybug, because he essentially tries to create a race issue and tension where there is none, just because he is a social justice moron. Which gets especially funny when his ideas for a progressive female results in characters like the black rat pirat who kicks you in the face for being hetero or infantilizing the characters of Patty to make them visually more appealing to Max Karson.

That said, in this day and age, doing a character like that… kinda yaiks.

Like, on one hand I think the girl has an enjoyable personality and the design of her hero outfit is okay for a kids cartoon. It’s not like she also talks in some cartoonishly native way or has suddenly a tomahawk as a weapon.

On the other hand, it is kinda stereotypical from multiple ankles and unfortunately there is nothing to the character past this point. Oh sure, Sparrow has now Miraculous powers, but really, all she does now is just use her powers to nullify Techno Pirates influence on the adult heroes before Majestia manages to reenact the bad ending for Majora’s mask and that is it.

Granted, there is Hawkmoth also almost starting World War 3, but that is really just happening at the site and dealt with almost instantly. To be more specific, because Ladybug and Cat Noir did not hand over their Miraculous, he lets Techno Pirate launch one of the missiles near the Statue of Liberty (worse president than Trump, honestly) but before the thing can hit anything, Majestia sweeps it away and throws it into the sun.

You know, if the show writers want to make Adrien’s dad even remotely “sympathetic” or interesting/intelligent, they increasingly fail. Cause I don’t know about you, but causing World War 3 does not really feel like it will benefit in bringing your comatose wife back.

Bottom line: Nuke has been burned, Techno Pirate gets defeated, all the damage reseted, Sparrow is now the official owner of the latest Miraculous and renames herself Eagle, everyone is happy, there is a big celebration for the class and Hawkmoth is convinced there might be other missing Miraculous all over the globe he wants to get his hands on, meaning season 4 may have more globe trotting Miraculous “action” once it starts.

And also the last scene of the movie shows Eagle and Uncanney meeting some other guardian of the Miraculous box who wants the Eagle charm, but she seemingly convinces him to team up, solidifying that this one hour “movie” was really just a backdoor pilot for a tie in series about an American centered heroine that is so big, a freaking monster truck could pass through this backdoor.

Yeah, if you can’t tell, I am not a big fan of what I saw.

Look, I will openly admit that my opinion on this is in large parts already tainted by me not being part of the demographic which enjoys the show. So this was never going to be considered “good” in my opinion. That said, I tried to be neutral to it for the sake of fairness. And I kinda failed.

Sorry, but I genuinely do not think this is a good “movie”. First, with barely 65 minutes I don’t really consider it a movie and more of a tv special meant to lead into the next season of the show. Second, I expect of a movie based on a tv show to have slightly higher stakes and presentation value to it than what you would expect from any average episode it has to offer. Which this thing doesn’t. Oh sure, the animation is slightly improved in some scenes, but overall just the same. And frankly, the writing is just still as “bad” as in the original show, if in parts not even worse. Aside of the typical stables, such as the cringy romance that does not move forward but is kinda on the forefront, the main heroes stumbling more or less into the situations instead of being more active in their duties, Hawkmoth not even in a movie having a genuine plan aside of “get this, see how it will help me defeat two kids and fail”, the movie also just never manages to induce a proper escalation of conflict to make it feel like something “special”. For example, we have a shitton of temporarily corrupted heroes. Do Ladybug and Cat Noir ever properly face them off at one point or have meaningful/fun interactions with Sparrow and Uncanney or each other outside of the first three minutes of the movie? Nope! I can name a few movies based on animated shows that gave me enjoyment, even those following basic shonen anime rules. But this one isn’t really among them. And taking into account that I consider at least the Steven Universe movie enjoyable in a dumb way, that says something.

There is also just the fact that it takes away from Ladybug and Cat Noir too much. Sure, I don’t like the romance stuff with them because I think it plays out in some of the cringiest way possible. But I would have been okay with them or other already established sidecharacters doing other stuff and having to face some conflict that is centered more around them.

Instead the movie finds this bizarre disbalance where it focuses too much and yet too little on completely new characters, that feel shoehorned in to create a starting point for a spin off, making Cat Noir and Ladybug secondary characters in their own movie.

I mean sure, I have seen many shonen anime based movies where there is a set of “movie only” characters interacting with our heroes, but they don’t take too much away from the heroes being heroes. Say what you want about the 13th movie of any long running shonen anime, at least Luffy, Naruto, Son Goku etc. are still the central characters of their respective franchise affiliated flic. Here however we take too much away from Ladybug and Cat, while at the same time focusing also too much on their “struggle” as Marinette and Adrien (or rather just Marinette making a fool out of herself while Adrien is utterly obvious to her behavior) while the major heroics are reserved for the movie characters only, that this entire thing should just be renamed “The Adventures of Mummy Robot and Not Robin, also starring two underaged kids that Dobson is obsessed about!”

All that said, I will give it a few things.

1) Uncanney and Sparrow/Eagle, despite my jabs, are kinda enjoyable in terms of personality. So are their partners/parents (Majestica and Night Owl are actually the (adoptive?) mothers of their sidekicks and also a couple openly caling themselves love, so yay, L(GBT) representation) and if the show would ever decide to focus also a few episodes on other characters aside of Ladybug and Cat Noir, I wouldn’t mind to see them. I just don’t think they are the most original characters out there and I think I may speak for some fans of the show when I say it sucks, that when it comes to the “action” within this “action adventure show”, they take up the spotlight from the actual main characters.

2) The fight scenes against Techno Pirate were okay overall. Nothing mind blowing animation wise but okay for the standards of this franchise.

3) Eagle’s costume design is not the worst despite my jabs at it being “stereotypical”, at least under consideration of cartoon designs (again, I can think of more offensive shit from the 90s or the Dobbear himself)

4) Well, it wasn’t for me, but I can say it was at least still on the same level of quality as the show. Make out of that comment however whatever you want.

My verdict: Three out of five Dobson’s would approve this movie. The other two would rant about stereotypes and be too busy incest shipping Majestia with Uncanney based on one shot of the movie. And none of them would acknowledge the flaws that make the “movie” a badly disguised jumping point for a spin off that makes the Equestria Girls look subtle.

Hope you got some enjoyment out of this rant that ironically may have been overall more retarted and detailed than anything Dobson may ever say in regard of this movie.

#miraculous ladybug #movie #marinette dupen chang #andrew dobson #so you are a cartoonist #syac #movie sperging #animated movie #sucks #mock #review #adrien x marinette

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pkmnjesus · 4 years

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The 2010s Decade of PokéAni (An overview - Part 2 of 2)

← Continuing on from the first half of this PokéAni 2010s overview....

2015: Serena cuts her hair to chase a dream

February 12, 2015 Serena’s character arc had a rocky start with her not really sure what to do after becoming a Pokémon trainer meeting her Fennekin for the first time. I was really excited when her character was first announced, but I wanted to like her more than just being “that pretty girl who has a crush on Ash”. Maybe it’s because I’m not that shippy of a person, nor a romantic type of guy whatsoever but I didn’t want a main character to just be defined as a potential love interest. With her development slowly leaning towards a clear goal on wanting to become a top Pokémon Performer, I was happy she was finally carving her own path. However it was this specific episode that marked a major turning point for her ambitions, and made me truly invest in the new and improved Serena.

It was finally Serena’s debut as a Pokémon performer competing in her first Pokémon Showcase in Coumarine City, along with her friend, rival, and fellow-performer, Shauna. The performers in this showcase are divided into groups, and only one from each group gets to move on to the next round. Going into the first round, Serena was nervous yet confident. It was a Pokémon styling contest, and Serena put a lot of care and effort into making Fennekin look as cute and gorgeous as possible. But maybe it was a bit too much...

As they walk down the runway showcasing Fennekin’s fashion, everything went well and both were having a great experience in their first showcase...until something terribly went wrong. Fennekin accidentally trips over its ribbon while walking the runway which ends up scattering all the decorations Serena had styled over her. She made a crucial mistake in making the ends of the ribbon too long, thus costing them the round and ultimately eliminated her from the competition. Shauna was able to advance from her her group easily, and all Serena could do now was watch the rest of the competition from the stands. Shauna ended up winning the Showcase and her first Princess Key. It was devastating defeat going into your first performance having to lose like that. On the outside, she tried to put up a good face for her friends comforting Fennekin and even congratulating Shauna on her first victory.

But in the inside, she was grieving and blames herself for not realizing the error she made while styling Fennekin. Even Ash knew that she would be alright all along knowing her strength. The following early morning when no once was watching her besides her Pokémon, she decides to let it all out and break down in front of the ocean. It really broke my heart seeing her crying like that knowing that she really did care about pursuing a performer career. Fennekin and Pancham immediately try and cheer her up as they engaged in a lovely group hug. After understanding the disappointment in defeat, she knew that this was a part of every dream. You can’t be successful without making a couple of mistakes and that it’s okay to cry sometimes to let the bad stress out. No one is perfect, and that same goes for some of Ash’s gym battles or what happened to some of May and Dawn’s contests in the past. It was all part of the process of chasing her newly found dream and Serena finally realized that. It was just the beginning, and she wants to keep going until she gets to Aria. She decides that going forward in this new chapter, there needs to be a change. She got her big scissors out and starts trimming her own hair (for her to do that on the spot without a mirror, she was pretty darn impressive to properly cut her hair like wow lol) as Palermo watches in the distance from her limo. She knew that was the same performer with the tripping Fennekin. It’s possible she saw potential in her that early. Serena rejoins her friends and surprises them with a new look!

If you ask me, I like this new outfit of hers way better (and I think girls with shorter hair cuter ^///^). Also you can’t forget about the blue ribbon Ash gave her prior to this, it was a really cute touch knowing that he helped her get stronger through her personal journey as a trainer. Now that’s fitting ;) You know even though it was spoiled early on that she was going to have a redesign, I’m really happy on how they did it and it wasn’t just random day where Serena decides she wanted to cut her hair. I’m no girl, but apparently (I researched this) when a woman cuts her hair shorter, it symbolizes a change or a major life event that has happened. To Serena, it was a major shift in her character after the embarrassing loss. She eventually went on to win future performances evolving her Braxien, and even got to be friends with Aria! Remember, Serena is MORE than just AmourShipping...she is our Kalos Queen <3

Honorable mentions from this year: There’s a lot to talk about when it comes to 2015 PokéAni. Ash had 4 gym battles that year, including his battle with Clemont which I was very hyped about. To the point of him temporarily leaving the group to prepare himself at the Lumiose gym, that’s how much he cared about being in the best battling shape for Ash. There was that infamous “date” episode that Ash & Serena had, Meowth & Bonnie being stuck together, Cosplay Pikachu everywhere, Trevor trying to get a picture of a Moltres, and the debut of Sawyer, the Treeko trainer who was fascinated by Ash. One of my personal favorites too was when Bonnie wanted to ‘keep’ a Tyrunt/Tyrantrum (matched her pajamas too :3) she helped and befriended but unfortunately already had a trainer </3 It was a year of a couple of catches like Ash’s Noibat, Serena’s Eevee, Clemont reminiscing the time he caught a Bunnelby, and of course the lost Goomy. Within months after Ash caring for the Goomy, he was able to evolve it to a Goodra but had to leave it behind when they finally found its homeland it had to watch over with a Floette. We got two more Mega Evolution Specials before it merges with the main anime the following year, but we did get start of the XY&Z arc where Ash’s (then) Frogadier would fulfill a prophecy to save Kalos from a great danger. When they met up with Sanpei in the Ninja Village, Frogadier would finally evolve into Greninja. It would be the year when Team Flare would initiate their plans, attempting to capture all the Zygarde cores. There was one specific Zygarde core that Bonnie was able to befriend and bring it along with them naming it Squishy/Puni-chan. If you thought 2015 was awesome, wait until what PokéAni does in 2016!

2016: Gym Leaders assemble - the last line of defense

September 15, 2016 The fallout following the Kalos League took a dark turn when Lysandre broadcasts Team Flare’s manifesto to create a new world order, where only the “chosen ones” will join them. Alain, feeling betrayed with Lysandre’s true nature, decides to team up with Ash and the others to take down Team Flare. Lysandre’s gone mad, and even Malva thinks that this is too much. On other side of the story, Mairin with Serena, Professor Sycamore, and Hoenn League Champion Steven, rescued Chespie/Hari-san from Lysandre Labs.

While all the chaos is going on outside, Clemont reclaims the Lumiose Gym from Xerosic at the cost of terminating his good ol’ Clembot/Citroid assistant he invented for the Gym. I can’t remember how sad I was on robot’s death and nearly cried on it...they really made this scene heartbreaking for Clemont to push that shut down button. You can see the bot’s loyalty towards him volunteering to sacrifice himself for the greater good. But thanks to their bravery, Team Flare no longer controls one of their Zygarde (Z2). Squishy was also able to show its true form (50% so far) when it called upon the other Zygarde cells under Team Flare’s control, but thanks to Bonnie’s bond with it, she was able to breakthrough that mind control by singing Puni-chan’s song (don’t think the dub has an actual name for their version) she often sings when they’re together. The development Bonnie had with Squishy throughout this whole arc was fantastic, because it gave her more responsibility and sense of friendship even after Squishy was under the control of Team Flare destroying every thing. This was her own trial to prepare her for what’s to come when she eventually becomes an official Pokémon trainer and own an overpowered Zygarde in the future xD. Squishy also trusted Bonnie as a human it can rely on.

With Team Flare looking to be defeated, there was one more threat looming over Kalos. What was that threat? A ROCK. But no ordinary rock, it was The Giant Rock (Meaglith) that Lysandre created based off Primal energy form a beast like creature similar to Zygarde’s 50% forme. It was his last ditch effort in creating a new world, and we have never seen anything this catastrophic from an evil boss since probably Cryus. The Zygarde-like rock beast even absorbed Mairin’s Chespie which makes it even more difficult for them to stop it. It’s destination was the Anistar City Sundial to trigger a massive explosion that could destroy Kalos and the world! Everyone joins up to stop this calamity from happening, but is their strength with Mega Evolution enough to bring it down?

Then, the epic back-up finally arrives! The whole Kalos crew is here with Champion Diantha uniting all the Gym Leaders (minus Clemont/Clembot) within the region. They even got their own solo introductions. This never happened in the previous regions of the anime, where the Gym Leader would just appear once battling with Ash, but in here they interjected themselves to the Zygarde’s story arc. This really reminded me of what happened during the climax of the Black & White games, where the Gym Leaders joined forces to stop Team Plasma. But this isn’t Unova, this is Kalos, and this is their last line of heavy defense against Lysandre! With 2 League Champions, a Blaziken Mask, Ash-Greninja, Z2′s army of cores, and 7 Gym Leaders, this Giant Rock wont stand a chance! When Zygrade finally reached its 100% forme, it uses Core Enforcer to end Lysandre’s evil plot once and for all (RIP him btw). From Steven Stone’s assistance, to Clembot’s sacrifice, to Team Rocket’s aide, and Diantha leading the region’s top gym leaders, this was an epic way to end the XY&Z saga with. For them saving Chespie, and bring back peace to Kalos.

Honorable mentions from this year: The closing year for the Kalos ended in epic fashion before taking flight to Alola. Who could forget the episode where Serena wore or should I say cosplayed as Ash? She even almost got to a dance with him during Monsieur Pierre’s party. She wasn’t able to, but at least got to evolve her Eevee into a Sylveon! Clemont also had a new bride that Bonnie wasn’t too fond of (despite her asking multiple ladies to ‘keep’ for him) when her jealousy kicks in. Ash’s Noibat also evolved into Noivern, and briefly reunited with Goodra. Serena got all her Princess Keys needed to compete in the Pokémon Showcase Master Class, and even went head to head with Kalos Queen Aria for her title! She was unsuccessful, but it still won’t stop her from getting better. It was also the official birth of Ash-Greninja when he had a battle with the Kalos Champion, Diantha! Ash finally meets our Mega Evolution protagonist Alain and gained a new rival for the League. Before the Kalos League, he struggled a bit with getting his final badge from Wulfric eventually perfecting Ash-Greninja. In the Kalos League, he had a great battle with Sawyer (who can now use Mega Evolution), but came up short against Alain in the finals. It was a loss everybody was bummed about, and it would take another 3 years for him to compete in another league...we’ll get to that :> But the farewells were unforgettable. Greninja had to be let go in order to destroy the reappearing roots with Squishy and Z2 protecting Kalos from further calamity. And I know y’all can’t forget about the ‘kiss’ heard around the world when Serena leaned in for her parting gift to Ash <3 Him and Clemont have one final battle (just like how the XY series started) before heading back to Pallet Town...”And to our own way”. But 2016 had to end on a happy note, where we see Ash finding a new home in Alola enrolling in their Pokémon School program. Upon arriving, he was blessed with a Z-ring from Tapu Koko, an Alola deity, because he saw something in our boy. Through his class he made 5 new friends, got a Rotom Dex, a little Rowlet birb chilling in his backpack, and meeting a feisty Litten. WHAT. A. YEAR. !!!

2017: Stoutland’s final days with Litten

April 6, 2017 In possibly one of the most depressing and emotional episodes the Pokémon anime has to offer, the wild Litten that always stole Ash’s food finally gets to be apart of his team. But what made this little kitty finally gave Ash a chance to train it after escaping him so many times when he tried to reach out to it?

Ash tried to help the loyal Stoutland Litten was living with after following it from stealing his groceries, but due to Stoutland’s old age and declining health, there wasn’t much Nurse Joy could do. The tree shots with the falling leaves throughout the episode pretty symbolize the time Stoutland has left.

Litten, bringing back his mentor to their old spot after spending the night at the Pokémon Center, still wanted to spend as much time with Stoutland and master the Fire Fang move it was trying to learn. Then the leaves were out, and the finals days of this Stoutland were up. Litten slept with his friend one last time, and even had a dream of Stoutland attempting to chase after it going off in the distance. This symbolizes Stoutland’s departure from being under its care.

It wasn’t directly shown, nor mentioned, but it is clear to me that the Stoudland had passed away. *sobs* The gloomy rainy weather, and the dark tone shown during this part of the episode signifies the sadness and mourning every character that was involved during Litten’s struggle to find help for its good ol’ friend, not immediately realizing that Stoutland was gone for good. Meowth tried to communicate with his fellow feline to understand what it was feeling, while Ash even spends the entire duration of the rainfall with Litten even though it refused his food offer many times and didn’t want his help. This definitely took me into a feels trip because it is rare for this anime to even do an episode about a death of a Pokémon, even though it was indirect with how they presented it. Not mention, every time I was on my Stoutland ride Pokémon when playing Pokémon Moon (to help detect hidden items), ridding the big doggo always made me think about this particular episode. ;_;

Eventually the rain stopped, and a rainbow bloomed in a distance that made Litten feel better remembering the good memories it had with Stoutland. Finally, Litten decides to give Ash a chance, but didn’t want his pity over what happened. Litten was a tough little cat and wanted Ash to earn its respect through battle. Litten finally joins Ash’s team after battling with Pikachu and successfully catching it. Ash was also able to feed Litten after accepting it as its trainer. This was probably what Stoutland would have wanted for Litten.

Stoutland knew what kind of trainer he was and wanted Litten to go with Ash to finish the training they started. Besides mastering Fire Fang, they did a lot more in the future to come. When Litten saw the rainbow and familiar cloud formation, both smiled in peace. Stoutland knew that Litten was in very good hands. The memories learning and training with Stoutland are never forgotten, as Litten embarks on a new journey with brand new friends and a caring trainer.

Honorable mentions from this year: The first fully fledge year of Alola! Ash owning the first discovered Dusk Lycanroc in the anime verse, Lana getting her own Z-ring and how can I not forget Brock and Misty’s (especially MISTY) big return to the anime when the class went to Kanto! We had new Pokémon caught added to the main cast such as the birth of Lillie’s Snowy/Shiron, James’s touchy Mareanie and Kiawe’s Alolan Marowak. It was Gladion’s debut year becoming Ash’s new rival. Ash’s Z-Crystal collection kept on growing bigger through his adventures in Melemele and Akala Islands, and even clears its respective grand trials. We were also introduced to a little Cosmog turned Solgaleo, Nebby. The bad guy in Faba to steals Nebby however to summon, an Ultra Beast (Nihilego) that would eventually consume Lusamine (just like in the games, only she is less obsessed here). Thus, a Z-Powered ganbaLilie was born to save her mom! With the help of her brother and friends of course. We had family matters like Sophocles thought he was moving a way for good, and fun little fillers like the pancake and Charjabug races, or raving with an Alolan Dugtrio blonde wig. A personal favorite of mine was when Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio had mini-adventure of their own, and outsmarted Team Rocket nasty schemes. Speaking of Team Rocket, we got a short glimpse of them versus a trio of Team Skull members. Kukui’s class activities like the baseball teams, camping outdoors, switching Pokémon partners with fellow classmates for the weekend, and sleeping over at the professor’s house were awesome too! Their field trip seeing the beautiful white-colored Aether Paradise, and traveling through the mysterious Ultra Space were treat as well. We got to see the development of Kukui and Burnet’s pre-married relationship, which wasn’t featured in the games…AND WE GOT A PROPOSAL AND WEDDING OUT OF IT! There’s a reason for the animation change, and to be honest I’m happy that they did! The art style definitely fits the tone and theme of the jolly Alola region. In conclusion, 2017 was a pretty cool year if you ask me!

2018: The People of Alola vs. Necrozma

September 13, 2018 The conclusion to the Poipole/Necrozma arc is probably the biggest highlight for this year. In Japan, this marked a major end of an era because this was also the final episode on a Thursday night (for 20 years!) since the series was officially moving to Sundays starting with the episode after this (~pika ;3).

From Gladion joining the Ultra Guardians, to Team Rocket’s Matori Matrix attempting catch a fused Necrozma, to Nebby returning to assist with the mission, to rescuing and healing a weakened Lunala, to visiting Poipole’s home world and hear a Naganadel talk in their minds…I’m at the edge of my seat! The Masked Royal’s identity was first exposed here too when Faba fought alongside Kukui to ward off the Matori Matrix. Luckily Faba can keep a secret. The whole time this arc felt like it could be one Pokémon movie. This should probably make-up for why there really isn’t an Alola region based Pokémon movie for this series specifically. But going back on topic, the entire region of Alola was still in crisis as Necrozma absorbs all the Z-Power the Ultra Guardians tried to strike back with. At this point, Nebby was already fused with the Necrozma and they knew that they had to separate them just like what happened with Lunala. So what does everyone do in a time like this? UNITE! Not just the Guardian deities, not just the Ultra Guardians, not just the Aether Foundation, not just the Kahunas participating in the Manalo Festival, but Alola as a whole teamed up in various locations where citizens swarmed together and gave their “light” by doing Tapu Koko’s pose to bring Necrozma back to its original form, The Blinding/Radiant One! Nebby has been freed, and rejoins the Ultra Guardians.

In one last Ultra stand, Nebby (with Ash holding Solganium Z) and Lunala (with Gladion holding Lunalium Z) gave one final blow to Necrozma with some Ultra Aura. After unleashing the combination of Z-moves, Ultra Necrozma rises from the light and uses its power to restore all the damage that has been done to Alola, thus ending the chaos ensuing in the region. The Matori Matrix did try to go to Ultra Space when an Ultra Wormhole opened, but Tapu Koko was like “not so fast!” eventually forcing this Team Rocket unit to retreat.

Not only did they save Alola, but also brings back light to the Poipole home world. Of course the most emotional thing out of all this was saying goodbye to our little sticky Poipole friend who had remain in its home world. It left its home world to find a better home, and it did when Ash gave Poipole a spot in his team and is even an official member of the Ultra Guardians squad. Now that the home world has been restored, Poipole knew it needed to stay and protect its original home from further threats. As the Ultra Wormhole closes with Nebby and Lunala accompanying the Ultra Guardians back to Alola, Poipole painted Ash & Pikachu’s face as a sweet goodbye gesture. The flashback scenes, and the music in the end was absolutely magnificent to top it all off! This teary goodbye even had me tears. We’ll forever “like, like, love” you, Poipole <3 Maybe Ash will see it again one day...oh who am I kidding xD If you’re up to date with the anime, you know already what happens in the future ;]

Honorable mentions from this year: The year of Ultra Guardians! They’ve had multiple missions in bringing back the Ultra Beasts to where they came from. Anime debuts of Ilima, Mina, and the long-awaited Hau make their respective appearances. We also got to see James “fighting” a Toxapex, Lana & Mallow’s childhood past, Lillie getting her first Z-Crystal and even Rotom Dex joining the set of Detective Laki. There were significant evolutions like Ash’s Litten evolving to Torracat starting its rivalry with Masked Royal’s Incineroar (while Burnet fangirls over them) and Mallow’s Steenee evolving to a Tsareena. And how can I forget Sandy/Nagisa? Those Eevee mini-specials ultimately led it to Alola for our great Lana to catch! The Ula’ula trials were highly significant too when Ash trained with Acerola and tested his strength against Kahuna Nanu. Specials include Mallow’s big brother visiting home, and the 2-parter with Dia and his Zeraora in the mysterious Ultra Ruin. For Team Rocket, they temporarily get an Alolan Meowth, but got a permanent family member with a Stufful later on (Bewear’s child!). I’ve gotta mention the fun ones too like Ash dressing up as a female nurse the class helping Nurse Joy at the Pokémon Center, the class making their own school play, and Faba accidentally shrinking Ash, Lillie & Sophocles. Finally, in another emotional themed episode, Molayne showed everyone the beauty and sad reality of the Minior Pokémon at the Hokulani Observatory. Such a strong theme of having precious memories with a sad outcome due to the nature of that certain Pokémon :( Just look at the variety! I could still go on, but in summary was 2018 one heck of an ULTRA year!

2019: Ash wins the Alola Pokémon League 🏆

September 15, 2019 In the last highlight of this 2010s decade, it may probably be the biggest one. Ash vs. Gladion. Pokémon League finals to determine the first ever champion of Alola. I’ve already made several posts about this (maybe one too many) in my blog, so let me quickly reiterate the significance of this special event one last time. First thing I have to mention, is that Ash’s rivalry with Gladion has been amazing from the get-go. From their first meeting at the beach by Kukui’s place with a feisty Rockruff that wanted to battle, to the Manalo Stadium battling for a prestigious championship title with Ash’s Lycanroc fully controlled over its rage with dirt. It wasn’t a traditional full 6-on-6 battle, but the 3-on-3 showdown still gave us one heck of battle! It may not be considered the best battle of all time, but it was still an amazing and fun match between two trainers who promised each other to meet in the finals of the big stage since the start of the League.

The laugh they shared, the flashbacks that was shown to us (with the awesome Type: Wild! music playing in the background), and their storytelling on who wants the W more makes you invested, and cheering for Ash all the way to finally win a major Pokémon League. Ash’s newly evolved Melmetal showcased it’s new strength but still wasn’t able to beat Gladion’s Silvally. Then, when Zoroark and Pikachu knocked each other out, it was the 1v1 Lycanroc battle that really put this friendly and competitive rivalry full circle.

Ash has NEVER defeated Gladion…until this moment. He’s been training for this, and it finally paid off. The two Lycanroc’s took no prisoners and went back and forth with one another. In the final blow of that match, Gladion’s Lycanroc used Counter against Ash’s Lycanroc that was charging towards it, but then our big brained hero fights back with their own Counter attack.

Never have I heard of countering a Counter in the Pokémon universe, but using it in this one moment nobody expected, was a perfect opportunity to swerve fans with Ash almost losing the match but ultimately gave the hypest and sickest counterattack ever that would knock out Gladion’s Lycanroc to the wall. And for the first time since the Orange League, Ash is a Champion. Only this time it is a way bigger deal! Mostly because this is a game-based series which has more meaning when it comes to the Pokémon League. He proved non-believers wrong thinking that the Kalos League was the closest he’ll ever get to victory, but I always knew he would win this one since this League started. If you look at my Twitter, I predicted it since last July and this is speaking from a person that DIDN’T believe he would have won at Kalos (I must be good at League predictions then lol). But even Ash himself couldn’t believe it. The moment his named was announced the victor and everyone cheering him, it took a moment for him to process it all until he realized he won the whole shabang. Old fans, new fans, and casual viewers a like were buzzing within 24 hours after this episode released in Japan that caught mainstream media attention. People who have never seen a Pokémon anime episode in their life (or a subbed episode for that matter) past the original series, wanted to see how this episode went down to see a childhood hero achieve a major trophy.

This is how big of a pop-culture icon Ash & Pikachu was among many generations of fans since the show’s launch internationally. To me personally, it was the reason why I’ve always watched this anime for years since 1998 as a kid and NEVER stopped watching (took a few breaks here and there growing up but still have been consistent and up to date! Never grew out of it whatsoever ...why would I even made this decade post?). I was waiting all that time for him to win the big one and he finally did it in 2019. The long journey was worth watching all those episodes (NEVER skipped a “filler”). I doubted at times, but deep down I know I always believed. I grew up with Ash and he feels like an imaginary brother. Seeing him hold that trophy felt like my childhood had closure. He became the FIRST EVER champion in the Alola anime-verse and no one can take that away from him. BUT, the journey isn’t over yet. Remember, his dream is to become Pokémon MASTER, NOT a CHAMPION which people often treat the two as the same. He probably still wants to go to more places, so he can get stronger and be friends with even more Pokémon. Finally, I’m glad that it was Gladion who was Ash’s opponent in order to get the title. The boys and the doggos shake hands in the end as sign of respect for one another. Unfortunately, Guzzlord had to ruin the closing ceremony afterparty…but our Alola Champion and his friends were able to take care of that properly :)

Honorable mentions from this year: Another marked an end of an era, but a start of a new one too! From overcoming his final Grand Trial and gathering his Z-Crystals, Ash was ready for the League. If you ask me, this was one of the best Pokémon Leagues ever because of how much importance each competitor played a role in that tournament, and the match-ups were good. It wasn’t just filler characters or last minute rivals. Alola had a lot of great characters! I couldn’t stress that enough. But besides the historic Alola League, we also saw the continuation of Brock & Misty’s trip to Alola, the class’ crash-course golf lessons with none other than Kahili! Ash catching a rare Meltan that appeared out of nowhere, Guzma’s debut that EVERYONE was excited about, Ash challenging Ryuki’s Kantonian Gym, Lana’s fully evolving Primarina (thanks to hooking a Kyogre mind you!), Mallow’s meal for Tapu Koko, and Matori’s unexpected visit to the Team Rocket base in Alola. Ash even time-traveled to the past and met Kukui when he was little. It would ultimately build up to the actual final full 6-on-6 battle between Ash faces Kukui (just like in the original Sun & Moon games), and it was a 5-STAR BATTLE in my book for this 5-PARTER battle. Seriously, they didn’t had to make an exhibition match that good but they did, and Ash WON that too! Ash’s Incineroar evolved and Pikachu finally defeats Tapu Koko in a battle. For the feels portion of this year, Mallow briefly reunited with her mom and getting a Shaymin to care for in the process. The whole side-arc with Lillie, Magearna and a missing Mohn had a huge impact on our young miss. She got a Z-Ring out of it, just like everyone else in the class with their respective focus. And, the final episode of Sun & Moon was probably the most emotional farewell episodes in the anime’s history similar (or even greater) than Brock & Misty’s goodbye in Johto for you nostalgia fans out there. Everyone in the Alola crew knew what to do post-League, but for Ash, he wanted to explore the Pokémon world more, which transitions to the new on-going series today. 2019 of the Pokémon anime will never be forgotten!

LET’S GO to the 2020s and beyond!

We already got a taste of what the new series brought us late 2019, from Pikachu’s pre-series background story to our newly appointed research fellows, Ash & Go. It is was Lugia brought these two together, and are now living under the same roof. And with Go having his newly caught Scorbunny by his side after that Gigantamax Snorlax incident, it shows us a little taste of the cool new adventures await them when traveling in the Galar region. It’s also refreshing to see updated animation within Kanto where they’re home base is at, and I absolutely cannot wait for them to go back to other past regions with this fresh new art style. With Go’s goal to catch every Pokémon there is for him to index, he’s bound to meet Mew again one day! He’s literally every Pokémon games’ protagonist and I’m glad we have a main character like him who actually focuses on catching them all. As for Ash, he’s still our Ash carving his own unique path on his continuing journey to become a Pokémon Master because it’s more than being the strongest trainer and more than just catching Pokémon.

Some people may not be invested in this series yet, but it’s okay as it is still new! Everyone has that “pacing is slow” excuse from EVERY anime series, or it may not just be your cup of tea. But, I’m sure it will definitely pick up the pace sooner or later especially with the upcoming episodes announced (as of this posting) getting a Koharu-focus episode and the debut of Galar Champion Leon facing off against another League Champion...the return of Lance! Now that’s hype...and that’s what I’m looking forward to in this series more returns and cameo appearances hopefully. They gotta make it special of course and not just some fan-service to please series-specific fans. Oh, and Ash competing in the Galar gym challenge too of course! In addition to that, we can look forward to the new movies in the 2020s! We already got a preview of the 23rd PokéAni film, Pokémon the Movie - Coco...so we Tarzan now?! and it looks like they’re still continuing the AU-verse Ash instead of using the canon series’ universe. I mean if The Power of Us was great, you gotta give this movie a watch too! This is what I love about the anime because it separates itself from their game counterparts. The anime is doing its own thing with their original stories to tell.

WOW! What a decade. I’ve put in a lot of time reminiscing my experience watching the anime this past decade on these 2-part posts, and I had a lot of fun. From being a high school student all the way to being a full-time working adult...time truly flies by quickly. If you’ve read everything I had to say (I’m sure there are a few typos I probably missed), then thank you for your time (and sorry for the dash spam lol)! Feel free share your own favorite PokéAni moment decade in the replies if you choose to do so. Also, check out the strawpolls I made for what you think the best Pokémon anime battle and movie is in the 2010s. Now, it’s time for us to GO to 2020 and the next decade of PokéAni to witness multiple generations of new Pokémon series to come (hopefully they’ll still be making them by the end of 2029...and your boy P J will still be watching as a 30+ year old adult, heh). Alrighty, let’s have some fun! ϞϞ(๑⚈ ․̫ ⚈๑)∩

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aion-rsa · 4 years

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10 Best Fighting Game Movies

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Once upon a time, Bruce Lee, Jim Kelly, and John Saxon visited a crime boss’ private island to compete in a fighting tournament and it was awesome. The 1973 movie Enter the Dragon is basically the prototype for the fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. And when those fighting games became popular, they inspired their own movies that either tried to emulate Enter the Dragon or do something completely new.

The ‘90s gave us the cheesy live-action fighting game movies from Hollywood and the animated movies from Japan. There have been several live-action Mortal Kombat movies as well as a few animated ones. There have also been multiple Street Fighter movies, four attempts at Tekken, a trilogy of Fatal Fury films, and more.

Are most of them bad? Yes. But did we pick our 10 favorite fighting game movies anyway? You bet. Here are our picks:

10. ART OF FIGHTING (1993)

Eh…it’s harmless.

The Art of Fighting series is mostly defined by the twist that the first game’s final boss is the main character’s father and the second game’s final boss is a younger incarnation of the villain from Fatal Fury. Take away those aspects and you’re left with a rather lowkey storyline for a fighting game where a teenage girl is kidnapped by a mobster and is rescued by her brother and her boyfriend.

Wait, I said that weird. It’s two different people, I swear! Except in Capcom, where Dan Hibiki is literally both of them merged into one character.

In the 45-minute Art of Fighting movie about Ryo and Robert, who are like chiller and dopier versions of Ryu and Ken, we watch as the duo gets sucked into a plot about stolen diamonds, martial arts criminals, and angry police lieutenants. It doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s a fine, breezy watch.

Ryo’s incorrect hair color kind of irks me, though.

9. STREET FIGHTER ALPHA: THE ANIMATION (1999)

This movie suffers from the same problem as Fatal Fury: The Motion Picture. It features a cast of heroes from a fighting game taking on a villain created for the movie instead of the villains we actually give a shit about. But the movie does also have some brief but awesome cameos (Kim Kaphwan and Geese Howard from Fatal Fury and Dan Hibiki and Akuma from Street Fighter Alpha) to brighten up a less-than-stellar plot.

Street Fighter Alpha: The Animation does at least get by because the original characters play up Ryu’s whole fear about being overcome by “the Dark Hadou.” This leads to some cool animations where Evil Ryu looks like a mindless, shambling zombie but also an unstoppable fighting machine.

The movie’s main storyline is about a kid named Shun who claims that he’s Ryu’s long-lost brother. He too is a fighter cursed with an inner dark side, which is used as a red herring to suggest that Shun’s father (and presumably Ryu’s father) is actually Akuma. That ends up being bupkis and Shun is just linked to some scheme by a mad scientist or whatever.

Probably the funniest thing about this movie is the directors’ infatuation with Chun-Li’s midsection. She’s wearing her form-fitting Street Fighter Alpha costume and there are dozens upon dozens of random close-ups to her lower torso from the front and back. If this were a drinking game, it would kill you.

8. FATAL FURY 2: THE NEW BATTLE (1993)

Of the Fatal Fury movie trilogy, this one is easily the best, even if it makes all the good guys seem like a bunch of overly-serious crybabies. The basic story is that after having avenged his father’s death, Terry hits rock bottom, dusts himself off, and comes out the other end stronger. Good, good. Going Rocky III is the perfect direction for a follow-up.

The problem is that Terry comes off as a bit of a whiner and the other heroes try way too hard to vilify the movie’s main antagonist, who hasn’t actually done anything that terrible. Krauser shows up one day, challenges Terry to a fight, wins, and says, “Okay, when you get better, train and fight me again.” Krauser isn’t trying to take over the world or murder orphans or whatever. He’s just a dude with huge shoulder armor who wants a good fight.

But everyone acts like Krauser’s the absolute worst. Terry starts drinking and falls to pieces while his buddies hope to get revenge. What a bunch of jerks.

While a fun romp, the worst thing about this sequel is how they redesigned Krauser. Gone is his mustache and forehead scar for the sake of making him seem younger. Kind of a bullshit move, considering he’s supposed to be the half-brother to middle-aged Geese Howard.

7. TEKKEN: THE MOTION PICTURE (1998)

This hour-long anime is almost great but just can’t stick the landing. It runs into the same problem as Mortal Kombat: Annihilation where the game series tells a specific overall story but the movie cuts corners to tell the same story. Tekken: The Motion Picture covers the first Tekken while setting up Tekken 3 and skipping Tekken 2 completely.

It means that everything’s well and good until the confusing and rushed finale. Otherwise, the movie is a fine use of the Enter the Dragon formula. Heihachi Mishima has a special island fighting tournament and the entrants include his vengeful son, a couple of cops investigating the situation, a gigantic robot, an angry Native American girl, two feuding assassin sisters, and a bunch of awesome characters who only get about three full frames of appearances each. Really would have liked to see something from Paul, King, and Yoshimitsu, though.

Other than Kazuya being pissed at everything, the best scenes are the over-the-top ones. When Jack does crazy robot stuff, when dinosaurs show up and start eating people, and that memorable sequence where Heihachi catches a hatchet with his mouth and then shatters it with his jaw.

6. STREET FIGHTER (1994)

I know this movie is just a GI Joe script with Street Fighter names pasted over it. I know it’s a cheesefest of dopey ideas and Belgian accents. I’ve long accepted that. Thing is, the movie is still a total blast to watch. What it lacks in faithfulness to the source material, it makes up for with pure camp and ham.

The 16 characters from Super Street Fighter II are represented here, except Fei Long is replaced with the forgettable Captain Sawada. How ironic that the movie star character isn’t even in the movie!

In general, the movie features some head-scratching depictions of classic Street Fighter characters. All-American Guile is played by Jean Claude Van Damme, Charlie Nash and Blanka are the same character, Dee Jay is an evil hacker, Ryu and Ken are comedic conmen, and Dhalsim is a frumpy scientist.

It’s Raul Julia’s M. Bison who keeps this guilty pleasure afloat. He’s to Street Fighter what Frank Langella’s Skeletor was to Masters of the Universe. He gives 110% and his performance is easily the best reason to watch this movie. It’s truly a wonder to behold.

Games

The Forgotten Fighting Games of the 1990s

By Gavin Jasper

Games

King of Fighters: Ranking All the Characters

By Gavin Jasper

The movie is infamous for inspiring a fighting game based on it, but you know what nobody ever talks about? The Double Dragon movie also had a fighting game based on it made by Technos and released on the Neo Geo. And Double Dragon wasn’t even a one-on-one fighter to begin with!

Anyway, if you intend to sit back and watch Street Fighter, make sure to add in the RiffTrax commentary.

5. DOA: DEAD OR ALIVE (2006)

Enter the Dragon meets Charlie’s Angels is a heck of a concept, but DOA: Dead or Alive is so confidently tongue-in-cheek that it succeeds as an action comedy that’s way better than it has any right to be. Part of why it works is that Dead or Alive has never had much of an overarching storyline, but is more defined by the individual characters (plus, you know, all the cheesecake). Enough of those characters appear in what’s your regular “fighting tournament on a mysterious island” setup.

The whole thing moves with such energy that it’s easy to get sucked in. It’s the opposite of the live-action Tekken movie, where even though the film features accurate versions of all the characters, everything is so drab and lifeless that you just can’t wait for it to be over. In DOA, the combatants spend their downtime playing cartoony action volleyball with Fake Dennis Rodman on commentary, while in Tekken everyone mopes about dystopian capitalism.

Other than Helena’s character being “important dead guy’s daughter,” most of the main characters are charismatic enough to keep your attention during the 3% of the movie when fights aren’t happening. It must suck for Ninja Gaiden fans that Hayabusa is depicted as a total dweeb, but he at least gets to do some cool stuff here and there.

The movie also has Kevin Nash playing a character based on Hollywood Hogan and he’s so likeable that I’m genuinely bummed that he peaces out about halfway into the movie. Luckily, the movie is entertaining enough that I didn’t even notice until after it was over. It helps that during that time, we get more of Eric Roberts, his amazing hair, and his special sunglasses that turn him into the ultimate martial arts master.

Spoiler alert, but the secret to defeating him is, get this, removing his sunglasses!

4. MORTAL KOMBAT LEGENDS: SCORPION’S REVENGE (2020)

It took a while, but Warner Bros. Animation is on fire these days. After that Batman vs. TMNT movie and Teen Titans Go vs. Teen Titans, the studio appears to be hitting more than they miss. That’s exactly the kind of team needed to put together the latest animated Mortal Kombat movie.

This is the umpteenth retelling of the first game’s story. Not only does it have to compete with the first live-action movie, but also the events of Mortal Kombat 9, which depicts the tournament in cutscene format. Fortunately, Scorpion’s Revenge has a few tricks up its sleeve. First, it puts Scorpion in the forefront as the protagonist. He was barely a character in the original movie and the game just had him kill Sub-Zero and feel bad about it for the rest of the story mode. Now he feels like a character in a crossover, making a mark on the original story instead of being put in the sidelines.

We also have the wonderful stunt casting of Joel McHale as Johnny Cage. More importantly, Jennifer Carpenter plays Sonya Blade, which is such a step up from Ronda Rousey’s voice acting in Mortal Kombat 11.

This cartoon has a very hard R when it comes to violence. From the very beginning, Scorpion’s origins are gruesome and grisly. Once Jax is introduced, it doesn’t take long until we realize, “Oh, that’s how they’re dealing with THAT plot point in this continuity.” Then there’s a surprise villain death late in the movie that not only comes as a shocking development, but it’s so graphic and nasty that you can’t help but be taken aback.

Scorpion’s Revenge is a fantastic first chapter of what is hopefully a series of animated movies, but it does have its pacing issues. Scorpion being the protagonist may be a welcome change, but at times it does feel like a square peg being crammed into a round hole.

3. TEKKEN: BLOOD VENGEANCE (2011)

One of the best things about the Tekken series is the endings. While the cutscenes from the first couple games haven’t exactly aged well, these CGI epilogues have become a staple in nearly every installment. What better reward for your time and success than watching a rocking action sequence with Yoshimitsu and Bryan Fury killing each other in the jungle?

And so, to play to the series’ strengths, Bandai Entertainment released a Tekken movie that’s really just one big ending cutscene. It’s not canon, but it feels at home with the games.

Since Tekken’s main conflict is with two ruthless megalomaniacs (Heihachi and Kazuya) and a disgruntled nihilist (Jin), it’s hard to treat any of them as a real protagonist here. Instead, they go with Ling Xiaoyu, who is portrayed as the person who sees the good in Jin and wants him to see the light. She’s given a robotic BFF in Alisa Bosconovitch because Xiaoyu is kind of a tame character and needs someone with chainsaw arms and a jetpack to liven things up.

The first hour or so is good enough to keep your attention and its lightened up by a couple appearances by Tekken’s best character, Lee. But once it gets to the third act, it just becomes a completely awesome Heihachi vs. Kazuya vs. Jin fight, with Xiaoyu taking a backseat to watch all the crazy shit going on. It’s a full-on fireworks factory, as we not only see Devil forms of Kazuya and Jin but a very special final form for Heihachi that’s a true delight for Tekken fans.

2. STREET FIGHTER II: THE ANIMATED MOVIE (1994)

Let it be said that for someone who grew up in the ‘80s and ‘90s, finding a faithful cartoon adaptation of a video game property was not easy. Link and Simon Belmont were unlikable sexual harassers. Mega Man was a more annoying sidekick than Scrappy Doo. Mario and Luigi teamed up with Milli Vanilli. Power Team was…a thing. When we got an animated movie based on Street Fighter II, it was mind-blowing. This was a movie where the very first scene was Ryu tearing Sagat’s chest into a bloody gash thanks to a well-animated Shoryuken.

There’s a lot going on in this movie, but at the same time, nothing is going on. By this point, there were 17 characters in the various Street Fighter II games, and outside of a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it Akuma cameo, it feels the need to include every single one of them. Some get minor roles, like Cammy and Dee Jay. Then there’s Zangief and Blanka, who fight each other for no reason other than for the sake of giving them something to do. Even Ryu vanishes for a huge chunk of the runtime.

Once everything funnels into the third act, this movie is great. And the earlier fight scenes are straight fire too, including the memorable Chun-Li vs. Vega brawl. Even though the movie already feels true to Street Fighter II, it’s even better when you realize that it’s all supposed to be a prequel to the game itself.

Or at least I hope so. Otherwise, all Sagat gets to do is get his ass kicked by Ryu and get chewed out by Bison.

1. MORTAL KOMBAT (1995)

The stars truly aligned for this one. Mortal Kombat Mania was at its peak, so it makes sense that this movie was a retelling of the first game’s story with added aspects from the second game, all while hyping up the arcade release of the third game. CGI was such a novelty in Hollywood in the ’90s that even if it looked primitive, it still looked cutting edge at the time. It was the perfect time to release this movie.

But Mortal Kombat isn’t perfect. Reptile is embarrassing. Scorpion and Sub-Zero being relegated to goons still stings. I still roll my eyes at the part towards the end where Sonya is suddenly the damsel in distress and Raiden flat-out verbally buries her by saying she couldn’t beat Shang Tsung in a million years. Otherwise, it’s the perfect storm of ‘90s action garbage.

There are so many over-the-top and charismatic performances here. Johnny Cage, Raiden, Shang Tsung, Kano, and even Goro are a blast to watch. All 10 characters from the original game are given something to do and, most importantly, they realize how uniquely weird the game’s story is and actually dive headfirst into it. The movie isn’t embarrassed to be a Mortal Kombat movie but handles itself well enough that we aren’t embarrassed to be watching a Mortal Kombat movie.

Even with a PG-13 rating, the movie was violent enough. Kano talked up seeing a pile of frozen guts in the wake of a Sub-Zero fight, Scorpion got his skull sliced apart with demon brain goo spewing all over the place, and Shang Tsung got impaled to death.

With the reboot being rated R, going for the gore could very well be the right route to go, but for the love of the Elder Gods, don’t forget to have FUN. All I’m saying is, if even Johnny Cage isn’t hamming it up, then what’s the point?

The post 10 Best Fighting Game Movies appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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ghxst-bxsted · 5 years

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Class IV Specter - Drabble

tw: Grown ass adults nerding out over ghosts!

@petalscfwax

---

Ray had allowed the Rookie to take camp at what was generally considered one of Egon's spaces. Upstairs in the firehouse, by the kitchen area, and where Ray could easily sit and keep a keen eye on her.

The last thing he needed was a piece of high-tech equipment being screwed up on his watch. They had the money, sure, but not the time; Egon needed to get more sleep, and he wouldn't be able to work on that if an accident occurred.

[[MORE]]

The Rookie had long since removed her blazer, placing it neatly on the back of her chair, leaving her in merely her waistcoat and shirt. A rare occurrence, and Ray had only seen her do that less than a handful of times. A wondrous sight, he'd argue, for the concentration had been oozing from her for a few hours now.

She was busy examining a small metallic box. It was one Egon had left in his workshop downstairs, and it was a deactivated version of a new upgrade to her proton pack. The working version was currently on her pack, and she had been worried enough to attempt to alter the design so it felt safer.

Admittedly, she didn't know if that would even work, nor if it would be possible to make it safer.

The radio singing away gently to the side made the soft cigarette smoke from both her own cigarette and Ray's similar to that of a cliché '50s movie. It was comforting in an odd way, reminding the girl of the movies she'd watch to escape reality as a child.

The Rookie, so caught up in her own thoughts, didn't hear approaching footsteps. Nor did she even feel as though someone was watching her. But she did, however, hear the voice clear as day.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped, pencil stiff between fingers as she straightened and half turned in her seat, gazing upon a suited up Egon who had no doubt just gotten back from checking out a client's home.

"Dr. Spengler," She replied after a moment of silence. "I didn't hear you come in."

"Is that the meson collider's particle collider center?" The scientist questioned, glancing to the black box which sat before her. He already knew it was, and a sense of mild anger consumed him.

"Yes," She confessed quietly, making a loose gesture towards Ray, "Dr. Stantz said I could examine it."

"Ray," Egon called, half turning to look at his good friend, who's cigarette was half hanging from his mouth.

"She asked politely, and she seemed excited!"

"That's a dangerous piece of equipment that, if mishandled, could vaporise what ectoplasm we may naturally have in our bodies in a violent way. It's not something to draw for study," He turned back around, and the Rookie had since placed the pencil down, hands awkwardly in her lap as she looked down to her shoes in indistinguishable emotion.

He peered over her, furrowed brows catching her drawings; she was redesigning the entire chamber? She was either incredibly stupid, or incredibly smart. He picked up the piece of paper, examined the lines and frustrated comments, and even more so the improvements she proposed.

"An even smaller particle colliding area?" Egon questioned nobody in particular, realisation hitting him like a brick wall. "That would make the meson collider much more effective, and with a faster rate of fire - - how did you think of that?"

"...it just made sense to me, Dr. Spengler?"

"Do you have a degree?"

"A PhD," She replied cautiously. "I graduated a year early on a three year course."

She wasn't trying to boast, for she was rather reserved in that fact. She didn't want any special treatment, nor did she want any alienation.

"Truly impressive," As if by magic, but in reality realisation, Egon had eased completely. It was now curiosity which had him staying to discuss the matter. "You have no real clue how the proton packs work, yet what you proposed is plausible. Far fetched, but - plausible."

The Rookie slowly looked back to Ray for guidance, but he was stood at the table with a small, uncertain smile of assurance. Not much help considering the situation at hand.

She picked up the second page of sketches she had done, standing quickly with a hurried apology.

"Is that a class IV full bodied specter?" Egon questioned abruptly, brows arching as he gazed across what had caught his attention; an extremely detailed annotated drawing of a class IV they had encountered a day or so prior.

"Oh, uh, yes. I had their anatomy and whatnot on my mind after being slimed."

"Get a look at this, Ray."

Ray obliged Egon, walking over to peer at the piece of paper Egon had moved to pick up. His brows arched, mouth fell slightly agape, and he pointed to the face, "Isn't this the class IV we trapped a few days ago?"

"A day ago. And yes, it is," He looked to the Rookie, "You're considering they're encased in slime?"

"Considering what we know about their ectoplasmic residue and how they tend to act, it's not beyond the realm of possibility that they're coated in a layer of slime," She explained.

"-Which is why they only leave residue when physically contacting an area. A sort of... ectoplasmic membrane surrounding them." Ray added.

"Or a form of protonic penumbra." Egon agreed.

"On that topic," She reached between the men and pointed at the torso of the drawing, "As you can see from the annotation to the side as well, it can be argued that the strongest point of origin is the torso. I'm not exactly sure why just yet, or how."

"We can run some tests by passing solid objects through different parts of the specter. By collecting the samples, we can see any changes in viscosity," Egon commented, gazing between Ray and the Rookie, as if looking for validation of his plan.

"That could work!" Ray announced excitedly, clasping the Rookie's shoulder in a friendly manner, "Good job, Rookie!"

"Yes, well done on the idea."

"You're... welcome?" She replied with furrowed brows and wandering eyes.

"What do you think about the ability to move objects with telekinetic ability?" Ray asked, removing his hand from her shoulder, and she made a loose gesture around the drawing.

"My first thought would be a possessor or swarmer entity, but this is a single thing. So... I don't know, Dr. Stantz."

"It's-"

"Well, what's going on here? A party? Without me?" Peter abruptly asked, voice loud and more than enough to make the trio turn.

Stood shoulder to shoulder, with the Rookie sandwiched between the much, much taller men, they all offered a smile to greet their comrade.

"You need to see this, Peter," Egon announced, raising the piece of paper to try and turn it around for him.

"Y'know, I've got a better idea," Peter approached and took the paper from his friend, placing it onto the table behind himself, "We should order food! Chinese?"

"No," Ray spoke first, "Greek?"

"Indian?" The Rookie suggested, and Egon and Peter nodded slightly at the idea.

"Indian it is! Where's the menu?" Peter turned, walking to the kitchen area.

Truth be told, the annoyance was written plainly over his face. Peter was, for the lack of a better term, annoyed by the sight of the Rookie with his friends. Perhaps he felt excluded. Perhaps he felt cheated. Did it matter?

Exchanging a look of shared nerves, the three rather awkwardly shifted from their position, following Peter to find their desired menu.

#Tobin's Spirit Guide - drabble #@collect spores@ egon #<stay puft marshmallow man> ray #||don't get attached!|| rookie

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xathia-89 · 5 years

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A Princess, A Dragon and A Tiger Part 5

@notsafefortum-blr @colivara @jennacat84

“Papa and Dad are home!” I couldn’t even try to keep up with the twins. I mostly worked from home these days after an extended agreement with Kenshin and Sasuke, I would attend in person for the red carpet events and for any big name photoshoots, but otherwise, I was shown around by some poor girl and told her what to dress the demanding man in. It was a different girl every time as well, which made me feel extremely special as I trailed behind the two boys to see my husbands pull up in the car with Masa’s parents in the back.

Tadamune and Katsuyori were both on Yoshihime and Terumune without a thought, both of the kids were doted on, despite that only technically Tadamune was any relation to them. It made me smile to see such a happy scene before the cold was making me shiver whilst I was stood in the doorway. I rubbed my arms as everyone came up to the backroom, smiles all around.

“Natsuki, you shouldn’t be out in the cold like this,” Masa frowned and scolded me, ushering me straight inside before anything else could be said. Shingen’s expression told me I couldn’t argue and I was straight into the warm living room before much else could happen. The house was heavily decorated for Christmas, tinsel and garlands strung in abundance along virtually every space in the ceiling and walls, and the spray on snow was in every window as well. I was very outnumbered in the house when it came to all of the decorations, but then I never had to put anything up. Except for the tree topper, I had been carried onto the shoulders of my husbands and made to put it up and it was all photographed by the twins as well.

Shingen took all of the luggage through to one guest room before the doorbell went to announce that Kasuga had made her arrival. We had tried to convince her that we would pick her up around Terumune and Yoshihime, but it was fairly apparent where Shingen had inherited his stubbornness from. All three grandparents adored our boys, even though on the technicality that one of the twins wasn’t theirs, then again nothing about our little family was all that normal. I had insisted that we host Christmas this year and that everyone would stay over Christmas eve and then go home the morning after Christmas Day. I opened the door as Masa stayed to keep his parents and the kids entertained, though he yelled that I wasn’t allowed to carry any luggage as soon as I opened the door to get Kasuga in out of the cold at the very least.

“Mum!” Shingen came barreling back down the stairs and bear hugged the poor woman, I had only just sidestepped in time to avoid it. “I told you before about spoiling the boys,” he sighed.

“Oh, most of this is for you three actually,” there was a devious tone to her voice which made us both pause. “Shall we get out of the doorway at the very least?”

I left Shingen with his mum to sort her out before she came into the living room to greet the two terrors. It had been interesting when they had started school since seeing me in the schoolyard had caused some stir and a brief flicker of the media before everyone got bored again very quickly. I hadn’t been photographed with Kenshin for some time, and his very public marriage to Ieyasu helped I had to admit. Kenshin wasn’t a fan of women in general, so I considered myself amongst the elite that he wouldn’t simply dismiss me at any point.

“Right, we have some early presents to share!” Shingen had set our parents up in the right rooms and was now getting antsy, which made me smile. “Mum,” he opened and gestured for her to stand in front of the tree, “Yoshihime and Terumune?” he was asking them before positioning them appropriately as Masa was now holding the chalkboards that had been hidden behind the sofa. The twins had excitedly dashed off and reappeared with the camera for me and I was making sure to not damage Masa’s work camera as I set it up to capture the whole event.

“No looking at the boards,” the one-eyed chef grinned, making sure to keep them all high enough that nothing would give the game away. I was getting more than a little nervous, and more than grateful when my husband took the precious camera off me. “Three, two, one,” he counted down and took them until he had a handful that he was happy with.

“Now you can look at the boards,” I smiled, already stepping to a side to make sure that the camera wouldn’t go flying.

“Seriously?!” Yoshihime was practically screaming as Kasuga was more than a little slack-jawed, not that anything stopped the two women from embracing me tightly. It was all being recorded by photo and video. “That’s our surprise?” She was laughing heartily now.

“Another little terror on the way,” I grinned, happily taking all of the hugs whilst Terumune was still more than a little stumped on his own. I didn’t tell any of them, but I was hoping for a little girl though she would probably be worse than her twin brothers, and I had safely opted to not know who the father was biologically. The child would be adored and loved regardless as the twins then pointed their grandparents to the top of the tree. A twelve-week scan done a week ago as Masa plucked it down for them to get a closer look at the biggest picture we had than the scaled-down versions on their boards.

The kids had gone to bed, as had all the grandparents, and it was now just the three of us collapsed on the sofa. My head was resting on Shingen, and Masa was massaging my feet since my legs were draped over his thighs.

“Tomorrow is going to be the longest day,” I murmured, gazing over the piles of presents that were crowded around the tree. “And keeping sugar away from the twins is never happening.”

“At least you’re past the throwing up at all hours stage now,” Shingen sympathised, his fingers stroking through my hair as I snuggled in closer to his warmth.

“I think it’s bedtime for you,” I felt Masa move, but my eyes were too heavy to open before I was picked up.

“It’s not,” I whined, forcing my head back so I didn’t need to open my eyes as much. “I can see you perfectly fine,” I pouted.

“Which husband am I?” Masa teased, kissing my forehead.

“The mean one,” I grumbled, my head using his shoulder as a pillow.

“Grumpy princess,” Shingen chuckled, making sure to turn off all the lights as I was carried through to our sprawling room.

“It’s that awful stage of pregnancy where you just feel like you’ve eaten too much,” I was chatting with Yoshihime over some tea whilst the boys were terrorising my husbands and Terumune, Kasuga had disappeared for something in her room, and then reappeared with something I hadn’t been expecting.

A very old style pregnancy dress. In hideous colours. It was effectively a tent.

“I love that you’re so expressive,” Kasuga was laughing. “I brought it more as something to prompt your mind. This sort of thing is really practical for pregnancy, but it’s clearly not designed with how the woman feels in mind, so I brought it along for you to redesign,” she smiled.

“You two just knew,” I shook my head before the twins came barrelling through into the kitchen.

“Shingen worries too much for it to be a well-kept secret. I suspected it, but finding out you’re about five months from seeing your next grandchild is still thrilling,” Yoshihime smiled at me, whilst budging up to let my boys sit next to me. “And I thought you two were busy,” she tapped Tadamune on the nose. There was never any trouble with distinguishing between the boys, they took after their respective fathers in looks and personality, so I knew that I was going to end up with a string of girls to deal with in twelve or so years, and many broken hearts would likely be involved.

I was the middle of the group hug, a twin on either side.

“Our little sisters are going to be princesses!” Katsuyori brightly announced, their head resting on my bump.

I froze. The scan had only confirmed one baby, and then Yoshihime went to get the big scan picture off the fridge.

“There’s only one baby in the scan,” she shook her head, and I patted the boys on the head. “You’re only getting one sibling,” she gently corrected the five-year-old.

Who promptly started to scowl and glare at her before they both slipped away. We returned to inane conversation, as I tried to desperately put the statement to the back of my mind.

“Princess?” Shingen was a little sharper of the two men, pulling me into his arms as I had spaced out in the kitchen.

“I’m fine,” I broke my thoughts and smiled up at the man.

“What’s been said?” He asked, his head resting on top of mine as he refused to let me go out of his hold.

“Katsuyori and Tadamune, they came up to me earlier, had me in the middle of a hug and then Katsu announced that his sisters are going to be princesses. There’s only one baby in the scan, but that’s not a guarantee,” I trailed off.

“We’ve got another scan in a few weeks,” he soothed me, kissing the top of my head. “It won’t happen again as much as we would love for it to be. Medical miracles don’t happen like this,” he was hurting about the thought that the kid wasn’t his, but it would never make a difference when it came to loving the children.

“Part of me is hoping for twins and a complete repeat,” I admitted, burying my head into his chest as my body was twisted to be embraced into him completely. “I love you both so much, and I was so happy when I found out it was twins and you were both involved.” I could feel the tears starting already, and then my back was covered in a second warmth as Shingen’s calloused fingers wiped her tears away.

“It was a medical miracle what you did last time,” Masa softly repeated, and then kissed my temple. “One of us might hurt briefly if it’s clear who the father is, but that’s not going to change a single thing. We love you more than you love us,” he was trying to make me smile now. “This child is not going to be shown any less love than the boys, regardless of the situation.”

Kenshin was in a rush as I held out the outfit he needed to wear, and I was starting to get more than a little grumpy with the man. He had insisted I come to his house and deal with this issue in person like a spoilt brat. He had already loudly complained that he’d needed to change the scents in his house to stop upsetting me, though his husband had already gone through the house to make sure nothing would hurt me or the baby. I was feeling quite round in the shadow of the well-defined model, especially given that he had already paused at the door upon seeing the size of me. And the only reason I hadn’t gone home was because I’d made the effort to get this far.

“I don’t like the cut-” the model was in one of his bad moods. Unfortunately for him, I was in a hormonal bad mood as well.

“You’re wearing it,” I cut in, already tugging the shirt to undo enough buttons to look fashionable without looking sleazy. “The press won’t tear you to pieces. You own this,” I argued, before wincing as I felt a twinge.

“Natsuki?” Kenshin had forgotten his own temper tantrum.

“Just being told to calm down,” I waved him off, sitting against a dresser.

“Yasu?!” the model forget his composure, desperation in his voice before the doctor came running through in a panic.

“It’s just likely to be Braxton Hicks,” I grumbled, gritting my teeth against the contraction. I also realised that the blonde was already up my skirt without a sexual reason before much else could be said.

“Early stages of labour,” he shook his head and glared at his husband. “I told you to video chat this one,” he scolded Kenshin. “There’s no point going to the hospital yet, they’ll just send you home. I’ll go and babysit the twins and send the lugheads over here whilst Kenshin waits for those two to arrive before going to the shining red carpet event,” he laid out the plan without hesitation.

“You hate kids,” I frowned as the two started to move me out of the dressing room and towards the lounge.

“Well, I’m not leaving those two in the hands of any babysitter. Who knows what they’ll get away with,” he huffed.

“Thanks, Yasu,” I waved after they had both lowered me onto the sofa. The twinges weren’t helpful when they occurred, but they were easily fifteen minutes apart. “Kenshin, don’t you dare crease that suit,” I ordered the model, knowing that he would be trying to pace about.

“It’s something of a medical miracle indeed,” the doctor was smiling. “And we would appreciate if you would consent to being referred to as the subject of a paper since there is great medical interest in both your pregnancies now,” he was explaining whilst I was propped up in the bed.

“Two sets of twins, both with different fathers,” Masa was definitely having more than a little of a proud father moment, scratching Irohahime under the chin as Shingen was trying to soothe Kikuhime in his arms.

“Don’t you hate it when you have to tell a five-year old that he was right?” I smiled, my gaze resting over part of my family.

#modern AU #ikesen #ikemen sengoku #ikémen sengoku #masamune date #shingen takeda

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frederator-studios · 6 years

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Justin Chan: The Frederator Interview

vimeo

Justin Chan is a Toronto based artist and animator who keeps plenty busy: in college, he designed characters for Nickelodeon and Mattel, and as a post-grad, he still takes freelance animation jobs while working full time as a concept artist on major video game titles. Somehow he still finds time to work on his own IPs, including “Veggiemancer,” created as his senior year thesis at Sheridan College and a proof of concept. It’s a lovely minute of animation, and I - along with the many fans who give TLC to the project as he develops it over Twitch livestreams - can’t wait to watch the idea grow.

When did you decide you wanted to work in art or animation?

I’ve been drawing since I was young. I grew up really into cartoons and video games. So art was a hobby for a really long time. Then in my later years of high school I decided I wanted to go to college for it and do it professionally.

Where did you go to school?

I went to Sheridan College for their Animation program. “Veggiemancer” was actually my thesis project that I made in the final year. We spent 2 semesters working on them: the first was all the planning and storyboarding, and the second was executing the idea. Rough animation, clean-up, compositing.

What inspired “Veggiemancer”?

I was looking for a simple story idea that I could build a portfolio around. It’s definitely Ghibli-influenced. I wanted to build a world with characters that have magical powers, and that’s what led to these funky vegetable creatures. So I built the idea out of those characters. I had more story planned for the film - the final version is only a minute long - but I had to cut things to finish it in time.

Makes sense - it look beautiful! Are you still developing the idea?

I am: I try to sit down and work on it at least once a month. Add new pieces, redesign characters. I play around with different settings or ages for the characters. And some totally out there ideas: like one where she pilots a mecha robot. So I’m experimenting with a bunch of different ideas right now.

Are there more details about the world and characters in “Veggiemancer”?

The girl is Paprika, and her little radish companion I haven’t finalized a name for yet. I call him Radish Boy for now. I’m still figuring out the world - it changes constantly. But for the short, I imagined there are many kinds of Veggiemancers. Paprika specializes in radish-type vegetables, but there are mancers that favor other kinds of vegetables and fruit, like carrots or tomatoes. There’s magic and bewitchment: Gordon, Paprika’s older brother, she accidentally turned into a radish type, and isn’t yet advanced enough to change him back.

Do you plan to pitch it as a TV series eventually?

Maybe one day! But I think a more realistic goal would be to make it into a short comic first. Or potentially a pilot, if the right opportunity came up.

Are you working on other ideas outside of work?

Definitely. “Veggiemancer” is one of my larger projects, but I have a bunch of different characters I’m starting to build stories around. I also do Game Jams: the one in Toronto gets about 400 participants annually. I work with a game design friend of mine; he codes and I make the art, and together we plan an original concept in 3 days. It’s a lot of fun, and often people will keep working on their ideas after the festival ends. Some have even become indie games.

That's awesome. Did your path as an artist always skew toward games?

I was fortunate enough to do freelance work during school, and back then my work was more aligned with TV animation. While at Sheridan I worked as a flash animator, and eventually began doing character design for a few clients: Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Mattel. But along the way my interests started leaning toward games more. So after I finished “Veggiemancer,” I was hired at Ubisoft Toronto to do concept art for games.

How did you enjoy that?

It was a great learning experience. My style is definitely more stylized and cartoony than most of the projects done at Ubisoft. So I learned a lot about using more realistic and grounded lighting and colors, and taking advantage of texture more. The year I was there helped my art develop a lot. The game I worked on was recently announced: Starlink: Battle for Atlas. It’s a toys-to-life game kind of like Skylanders, but the setting is in space.

What’d you do after Ubisoft?

I work at a visual development company, Crush Visual, still doing concept art for games. I also still do freelance work for TV, and I teach on the side too.

How do you like teaching?

I’m still pretty new to it! I’ll start my 3rd semester in June. But so far it’s been really rewarding. The students are all really talented, and it’s nice to kind of give back to the art community in Toronto. It’s fun to watch them progress through the course - it sounds cheesy, but I learn a lot from them too.

What is your biggest career aspiration or goal?

I’d like to have my own game one day. To do the art direction on a game - or to have my own show. I’d like to be able to develop my own IPs; whatever form that might take. Maybe it’s a comic. Just to be able to develop my own ideas and build worlds around my characters.

What sort of things do you do outside of work, to develop your IPs?

Lately I’ve been doing more art live-streams on Twitch. I work on “Veggiemancer” on some of them. People tune in and I’ll ask them questions, and they’ll make suggestions for what I’m working on. It’s a really fun back-and-forth, and it’s nice to have a bunch of people there to help me out.

That’s so cool to have that kind of community.

Yeah, I think stuff like that is gonna be the future of online cartoons and comics. People building a community on platforms like Twitch. And with Patreon and Kickstarter, it’s so cool that a community can directly support a creator to work on their own projects. It’s also great to make drawing interactive; I’ll have a mic on and a webcam on, so people can kind of put a face to the art. It makes it more personal, and I think more relatable.

What are your favorite cartoons?

If I had to pick one as an all-time favorite, I’d have to say Avatar: The Last Airbender. I love that it has this huge story arc and that the characters develop as the seasons progress. Even just how they change in appearance—it spends time on every character, giving them all their own subplots and growth. And it has fantastic humor as well. To me, it’s just the perfect show.

Have to agree on that! What are your other hobbies, outside of art?

Aquascaping is one of my big hobbies: arranging live plants in a fish tank. It’s creating a totally natural environment for the fish - so no plastic decorations. Only aquatic plants and materials like driftwood. It’s a really nice way to bring nature into the home, and it’s definitely a side passion of mine. Even while I’m working and drawing, I’ll constantly be researching it and trying to learn more.

Follow @justinchan on Tumblr and Instagram (@justinchans)

Thank you for the interview Justin! I’m excited to keep track of your many awesome projects.

- Cooper

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usashirtstoday · 3 years

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I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny

That is a I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny psychotic transgender you know wife or daughter in is bad the need this bathroom handicap bathroom to break your fucking links and just in case you guys go don’t believe that this pedophilia shit is really going on take a look at this that is a pregnant child these are pregnant children how do you think these children got pregnant grown man raping that can say having sex is no such thing as consensual sex with a child that is right these children are rape victims and it happens every fucking day in Q’s been exposing it trumps been exposing and going to war with them been exposing it to YouTube is a been exposing it and as a result were being targeted but we can’t stop fighting is one from WikiLeaks to do a bad and you who Montezuma Aberdeen Obama Barack. Four year olds have the background when I got out of the FMLA moments that moment when you drop off back and asked about the people that 11 finance automatic blood profit for my children I would be me and letting worthwhile arrows on CBS news located in a story that will be Catherine Jean Harding transformer is neither a note of the charges against the and went away for me to spend his time take a look at the Thursday March 4 they looking for the election’s names and politics will choose these the questions you want is a very sorry for every the very point to face the nation CBS we are in this area to be made to look through a telescope on in a few hours to nomination for Carolyn bangs forward and primary challengers will also be speaking to Cory Booker and Michael Bloomberg meanwhile brought in from continued to make official White House tricks to key battleground stage where he campaigned against binding in Scranton a former BP birthplace been the subject throughout this week convention last when he was. Happening here and took in what they are doing that’s the that just a continuation of the hoax whether it’s the impeachment Oaks or the Russia Russia Russia hope this is what I’m talking about certainly not referring to this how can anybody refer to this this is very serious about the way they referred to it because these people have done such an incredible job and I don’t like it when they are criticizing these people and that stokes that’s what I’ve done information Dr world renowned for being my Dr is just a question has because he has had that ability to do virtually whatever is wanted to do that in fact he was never muzzled think I can speak what are you let me let me clarify I have never been muzzled ever and I been doing this since the administration of Ronald Reagan I’m not been muzzled by this ministration what happened which was misinterpreted is that we were set up to go on some shows when the vice president took over said let’s regroup and figure out how to be communicated so I had to just stand

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My mom said you dad told you smart dog judging you right now and your best friend is called crazy the only give it to a I'm A Little Smart Short And Stout Here Is My Finger Funny story mansion getting your newsletter noble in Stephenson’s sleep news straight to the store maybe more neuron than I am now with so much on the line number one for on stories stories stories is now is most likely has I had bad news ABC news live watch the street prescribers right now will hear from you 2 now away for 2021 not seem to be ready by 2021 so much attention when he may have a short answer connect and be ready training 2021 according. Our country faces well aware well aware of all the threads to this nation and ready to respond to them as a child of immigrants she knows personally how immigrant families enrich our country as well as the challenges of what it means to grow up black and you need American in United States of America per stories America story different from mine to many particulars but also lots of different in the essentials she’s worked hard she’s never back down from a challenge and she has earned each and every of the accolades and achievements that she has gained many of them often in the face of obstacles that others put in her way but never quit and this morning all across the nation little girls woke up special black and brown girls so often feel overlooked and undervalued in the communities but today today just maybe they’re seeing themselves for the first time in a new way as the stuff of present and vice presidents in her campaign the primary camel often talked about what you referred to as the 3M agenda by moms. Is based on something happening books are that years ago I remember what day is here was actually exclusive from New York comic con 2011 I believeand my friend Kal who owns straight investors the comic shop whereby complex he went to New York goneand pick up this exclusiveand he just gave to me because he was collecting the line so that was pretty sweet but I kept this guy in package I just keep picked up on my walland next a couple of she hulks services Holt’s cousin Jennifer Walters who turned into a hold of her ownand she had a blood transfusion forand this is she holding her classic fit this is what she wears in most of her miniseriesand stuff is cool I didn’t see hope in the marvel of design until very recently been released her in her grave version out which is actually a great figure I don’t have a marvelousand where she will actually Holt’s girlfriend Betty Ross came remember why she turned into a red hope for a while but to deny scope on this figure cool character we don’t ever marvel into herand I can waitand see this figure released in this formatand here we get some hope villains so first up is the abomination which is a pretty nice felt but I will say his first big muscular guy goes it doesn’t work as well for abominations of the whole what it is the sizes had me produced body because it used horses are something it’s focus is not working here but I don’t dislike the figures that does a lot of looking but do you still fly scope in the faceand the scope of the body toand then it took that they figure they did have some new additional parts hereand see he’s got these a very distinctive looks on his forearms but otherwise it he’s mostly the same figure but this is the second abomination which was actually character Rick Jonesand when he became abomination he took on any A bomb which is corny cool thing that I think this is the only A bomb figure that never gottenand I it’s very cool I hope we get him in the wasand still some point that big lookand then the leader was a classical villain pendulous face will walk you need to close this is the glare section to Beth Beth deny scope of this figure I think this one actually looks a lot better than the upcoming Marvel legend figureand the quite a bit portions are nice guys with big goofy heads like this can sometimes be hard to pull off but your think a this leader looks really good so next up with a look at some force so we can we get this file here is essentially classic though her body from the IPE’s comments is what most people associate with the words that will hammer with his little inscription a pretty cool although the head rather classic beardless had to give us his the bearded one here is not college but not a bad figure if I’m going to have one classic door I would prefer beer now than the store her this is a more contemporary look for Thorand my personal favorite store this is the look he wore no is a contemporary for 15 years but the door was dead for while composting he came back sometime after the Civil Warand he had his newly redesigned costumes that was really the first time I started reading for complex on a regularand is seeking a big fan I really love this look this is a great figure is a lot of personality in the face looks a lot like the artwork that this costume is based on you I like the wash over the over the chain mail there there is a detailed brother is a really nice figure one of my favorites from the lineand lastly the for standing this is next with the words another character called thunder strike which I use Thor’s hammer for a whileand yet he is a claim is the classic for a fit on the leather jacket over top of the objectives were popular in the 90sand the he’s okay I see a new associate figure of a character that you don’t expect but the Dr to that much soand now we have some Thor allies have been rebuiltand I absolutely love this figure looks great he’s got an articulated jaw’s message is awesome for such small figure I love this costume love the hammer elevating about it we did recently get a bit rebuilt Marvel legends but his more updated costume as just a is not as nice looking as this one so if I do choose between the two I still prefer the smaller version of the rebuiltand we got sifts so this is based on the look from the movie the first form of so as a counterclaimand the actors likenesses not great is okay for this figure the size but you need to furtherand Connie outcomes based on Anthony Hopkins this is Oden Thor’s father so this is cool again characters with Odenand said I would prefer to have the comic based version rather than a movie one but never made but based one so I will be checking my foot had byand so here are some Thor villainsand these guys are all based on the movies so low key hereand at least as lucky with his helmet on Sotelo bit of a flair for the comic design they always would prefer the comic book appearances post movie appearances but low key characters right never really loved his comic book look anyway you could get a version of this they did make one comp costume is also really skinny goofy looking so I was content with this being my only low key except we have curse you might remember he was kind of a henchman in the second Thor movieand this is a character has a really cool design of the comic books it’s really crazy looking out there is happy that they work this character into the moviesand this is a cool design but I would prefer to look more like the comic book look in your filters underused anyway but it’s cool that these have some figure of him but I hope they eventually do Marvel legend of him based on his comic book appearance then we got one of the frost giants this is supposed to be a specific guy I think I can see he’s pretty cooland then we’ve got one of the dark elves also from the second movie so Mel kicked with the leader than the discipline to henchmen dress like this so I would’ve preferred exit amount kiss but it’s always fun to get some little army builders here too so it I do dig the look of the skyand here we have some comic book based Thor villains so first destroyer in the office action probably was from the movie line as well but the movie line was so close to the car because I would tell the difference so I member this was a hard to find figure I really wanted itand I think actually not by misguided eBay pain a bit of a premium form but it’s pretty cool figure there’s a couple different variations on this one is pretty much sum of solid black are really really dark grayand his but on his chest he had some sort of light up featuring his chest look red or something but the battery emeritus long since died this destroyer is pretty cooland the enchantress so she’s plain looking she supposed to be all seductressand I don’t know how people should be seduced without Syria is a special Marvel legend is much betterand then this guy here I don’t think we go Marvel him this is you look he’s a controland this is pretty cool figure I think it uses a lot of the same body as the abominations of suffers a little bit of heaven that same kind is a look but it may be makes more sense for troll reports to be sized that way then it’s a cool figure’s analysis looks at Capt See Other related products: What Would Joe Biden Do T Shirt

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ridingirlsblog · 4 years

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Photoshoot of the Week: February 17th-23rd 2020 - Ducati Monster 821 & Stefania

These days, the best urban motorcycles are those that can navigate, cut through traffic, and place you at the head of the mid-morning rush with ease. Acceleration and speed are nice qualities to have, but they take a back seat to mobility, compactness, and fuel economy. When looking for the perfect inner-city cycle, you’ll need something that can fulfill all these elements with ease, while also offering you a bit more in terms of safety and manageable speed. Without any doubts cool Italian bikergirl and impressive socialite Stefania made the right choice: Ducati Moster 821. The smoothness and precision of this bike make it feel as though you are always in control. In the city, this bike is able to handle everything an urban rider can through at it. It is very balanced at slow speed and does not give you the feeling that it will topple. It steers with minimal effort and is able to avoid hazards and obstacles with very little effort. The Monster runs perfectly in the city, despite all of the “stop and go traffic” and endless idling. Besides, if you leave the city to head out of town, you'll be not disappointed, again. Just try out the touring setting: once set, it reminds you to let off on the throttle to engage the mode. It's like switching to a different motorcycle: the motorcycle immediately feels more responsive and the acceleration become more immediate. Everyone who tryed the Monster can tell you how agile this bike is in the twisties and how responsive it was on the straights: the touring setting highlighted the torque of the bike. Riding a Ducati Monster 821 definitely puts a smile on your face, as you can see from fascinating Stefania's posts on Instagram. I think that legendary actress Mariyn Monroe once said that "a smile is the best makeup any girl can wear". Well, I think that's so true, but such an amazing bike can also play its part! Am I right people? *** *** *** The Monster 821 pays homage to the legacy of the Monster 900, which over 25 years ago revolutionised the motorcycle world. Agile and featuring sporty performance, it was designed for maximum riding enjoyment, at all times and in all conditions. The Monster 821 range has been rejuvenated with a new stealth version: matte black livery, updated graphics and front fairing give a unique character to the naked Ducati par excellence. The standard equipment, which includes adjustable fork and Ducati Quick Shift up/down, makes it even more effective on the road. Now, the Monster 821 has been upgraded to include aesthetic and functional features first introduced on the Monster 1200: a more streamlined, agile look with fully redesigned tank and tail, an all-new silencer and a headlight that is both classic and contemporary. Also making its debut on the mid-size Monster is the colour TFT display with selected gear and fuel indicators, while available accessories include the Ducati Quick Shift up/down system. The Euro 4 compliant liquid-cooled Testastretta 11° engine delivers a maximum power of 109 hp (80 kW) at 9250 rpm. Thanks to its 8.8 kgm (86 Nm) of torque at 7750 rpm, the 821 offers exciting performance, easy riding and unmatched fun. A beefy front end, exposed Trellis frame, and tiny tail give the Monster 821 an all-up-front look that just accentuates its aggressive nature and makes it look kinda like a big cat about to pounce. Fans of the family will likely recognize the round headlight and fuel tank as the same used by the Monster 1200 with a very special detail in the tank clip that hails back to the family’s origins in 1992. A short-rise handlebar lets you push off for a near-vertical posture in a relaxed attitude with plenty of room to tuck in over the curve of the fuel tank for those times when you’re feeling a little more aggressive. The rear of the tank tapers to a narrow waist ahead of the deep-scoop saddle to form a knee pocket that pulls the leg in out of the slipstream and gives you a knee-hanger if you’re inclined to do a little pegdragging. An adjustable saddle gives you a choice in seat height with a 30.9-inch setting and a 31.8-inch one without having to change the seat or suspension components. Behind the pilot, a monochrome cover disguises the two-up nature of the seat with subframe-mount, flip-up footpegs to complete the pillion gear. Tubular-steel members make up the Trellis frame on the Monster 821 Stealth, and as you’d expect, the engine is a stressed unit that completes the assembly and replaces a significant chunk of frame in the downtube/cradle area to reduce weight. Aluminum is the material of choice for the yoke-style swingarm to minimize unsprung weight at the rear axle. Toward that end, a set of 17-inch, cast-alloy wheels round out the rolling chassis with a 10-spoke design and Pirelli’s Diablo Rosso III hoops to make the connection to the pavement. The hoops are typical of the genre at 120/70 up front and 180/55 out back, and they get all kinds of help from the electronics to make this a relatively safe ride. The Monster 821 Stealth comes with the Ducati Safety Pack that includes delightfulness such as the aforementioned ABS and Traction Control alongside variable power-delivery Power Modes and a Quick Shift feature that let’s you bang out clutchless shifts both up and down the range. An anti-hop slipper clutch couples engine power to the six-speed transmission, and it provides one final layer of protection for the rear contact patch. Said power measures in with some fairly impressive numbers. Ducati’s Testastretta pumps out 109 horsepower at 9,250 rpm with 63 pounds of torque that top out at 7,750 rpm. Twin, 88 mm bores run with a 67.5 mm stroke for a total of 821 cc and a sizzlin’ 12.8-to-1 compression ratio, and as usual, Duc’s Desmodromic valvetrain times the four-valve heads with a pull-closed cam rather than coil springs to seal the combustion chamber. The bike maintained it’s smooth acceleration, but it was undeniable that this machine has the heart of a racer. This is where the steel trellis frame highlighted the precision that is undeniably Ducati. With very little effort, I was able to pass slower traffic. At no time did I find that I was not in control of the bike. The Monster 821 played its role very well in allowing me to experience the road in a very exhilarating and fun way. It is a powerful motorcycle; however, it is very smooth and predictable as one would expect from a twin cylinder engine. The relatively flat torque curve and the 109 horsepower combined with the weight of this motorcycle gives it a finely tuned feeling that Ducati is known for. I would recommend the Monster 821 to everyone. It is an awesome machine that I hope to have a chance to ride again soon ... maybe with Stefania? #bikergirl #Monster821 #ducatiobsession #ducatilife #motorcycle #ducatista #ducatinsta #superbikes #ducativ4 #ducatimonster821 #ducatiSuperSport #ridefast #bikeracing #motosports #motolife #fastbikes #RidinGirlsBlog #racing #motorbike #bikersofinstagram #bikerfamily #biketouring #riderich #girlsonbikes #hjc #sportbike #sexybiker #bikerchick #bikerlady #desmo #speed #roadracing #ridingsexy #superbike #motard #ducaticorse #motorrad #ducati #motogp #moto #helmetporn #ducatimonster #ducatiracing #turin #monster600 #monster797 #v4

Precious Memories *** Visualizza questo post su Instagram Ride day #endofsummer #keepriding #ducatinsta #monster821 #hjchelmets #alpinestars #bikersofinstagram #bikerchicksofinsta #bikergirl #ducatimonster #ridingtime #happiness Un post condiviso da (@stefidem) in data: 21 Set 2019 alle ore 8:54 PDT Read the full article

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etherealellaelf · 4 years

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So I just saw Cats 2019 and here are my thoughts:

(I’mma talk about the good and bad things) So I went into this movie both worried about the cursed design and also as a longtime fan of Cats: the Musical. I first watched the 1998 filmed stage production on PBS when I was a little girl, and then I revisited it when I was older and became a fan of all the colorful characters, the haunting music, and the great dance performances. It’s based on the Poetry book by T.S. Elliot “Old Possum’s book of Practical Cats”. Since it’s a poetry book, there is a problem: each poem about the cats doesn’t flow very well into a cohesive plot. So the new movie fixed that. Here are some other good things about the 2019 Cats movie: *spoilers*

(And before I start I was sitting beside an old woman who told me that she saw the very first stage production of Cats in London many years ago and she said to me in a very concerned voice after the movie was over, “It wasn’t THAT bad, was it?” I looked her in the eye and shook my head and I told her it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t lie. It was just a little bad. But my heart went out to her nostalgia.)

-Victoria is the main character now, so the audience is seeing the cats through her eyes. She’s our vehicle. That makes the songs that the cats sing introduction songs; they’re introducing themselves to us and Victoria.

-Like I said before, the plot is a lot more cohesive. The new script explains what jellicle cats are, the purpose of the jellicle ball, and who macavity is. They also added a ton of stuff, like Macavity kidnapping the other contenders to become the “Jellicle choice”, the cat that the leader will choose to be reborn(like, cats have 9 lives? It’s a bit weird, just go with it), because he wants to be chosen. Macavity didn’t really do this in the old one, this cements him as the villain. Also other cats like mungojerry and rumpleteazer and bombalurina are helping macavity.

-I have mixed feelings that Grizabella is being shunned because she used to work for Macavity. It does give the other cats a better reason to hate her, but they don’t hate mungojerry and stuff. I’ll talk about that later.

-These new additions to the story made it a lot more palatable, but at the same time I like the old version as well. They’re both good. This one is just a lot more cohesive.

-All of the ballerinas, dancers, and singers were really good, and the acting was pretty good too, for people pretending to be cats. I thought taylor swift’s rendition of “macavity” was really good, and they brought a new facet to her character and the odious nature of the song, as it’s now a villain song and she is a villain.

-Tom Hooper as director. I really liked his style in Les Mis, and I guess it kind of worked here. (Also I love you so much Tom Hooper I feel bad that this movie did so badly because I want you to succeed, you have a great style and vision and it really worked for Les Mis.)

-They left out that awkward *scene*. You know the one. The o-r-g-y scene. Good on them. Thank you. I read somewhere that it was there, but when I watched the movie, it was not there. I’m confused by some reviews saying it was there. It wasn’t there?!?!?!

Now let’s talk about what I didn’t like.

-The “cursed” design. Clearly everyone agrees with me about this. I forgot about it within the first ten minutes of watching. I really liked the look of Old Deuterotomy, who was a very fluffy, long-haired cat. That’s what made the old designs from the musical so memorable: the wigs were really big and poofy and the leg and arm warmers looked like fuzzy cat legs. The floofiness gave them character. Making all the cats shorthaired just made them look pretty naked, and I know they did this to accentuate the line of dance(it’s why dancers wear tight clothes), but they should have had fluffier cheeks, fluffier heads, and fluffier limbs. That would’ve prevented all the naked-looking cats. I understand the animators wanted to try something new, but they should’ve taken a page out of Sonic the Hedgehog movie’s book and redesigned.

-They totally changed Mungojerry and rumpleteazer’s song! It used to be a vaudeville production and it was so mischievous and fun. Now it just doesn’t have much tune.

-They cut the Pekes and the Pollicles, the song where the cats are making fun of how clumsy dogs are. But I suppose it’s probably for the best. Lots of people like dogs nowadays.

-Grizabella getting shunned because she used to work for Macavity??? The integral part of her character is just that she’s old. They should have made the Jennifer Hudson cat look a lot older, with greying fur and hair and stuff. The other cats shun Grizabella because she’s a reminder that they will die one day and she used to be beautiful and wonderful like them, once. It’s a big part of their character and despite them trying to explain and gloss over why everyone hates her, my friend who’s never seen cats was still confused. I wish they hadn’t said she worked for Macavity, but at this point it’s canon so who am I to question it.

-They totally cut Munkustrap and Macavity’s fight.

-Although they cut out the weird scene, there was a really strange scene where all the cat’s tails quivered in the moonlight and they started just acting so strange. Then suddenly everyone started dancing! I could’ve done without the tail quivering.

-The cockroaches and at times, the mice, with their human faces, were a bit weird. Especially when Rebel Wilson ate some of the cockroaches. Also a bit weird was when she unzipped her skin, but it’s fine, she did that in the stage version, too.

-The Rum Tum Tugger did not need to catch Victoria’s foot the way he did, as it was really close to his mouth and it was just a really weird decision.

-I’m sorry, but when the Cats rubbed their heads against each other’s heads, it was a bit weird. In the stage production, head rubbing is done very fast. It’s over with. It’s done. In this one they lingered and stared a lot. I guess real cats do that. But anyway. It’s whatever.

-Some cats wore clothes and took them off at points as well while other cats did not wear clothes. I think it actually was good that the train cat wore suspenders and the fat cat, Bustopher Jones, wore a top hat and evening jacket. It was charming for them. I don’t think Idris Elba’s fedora and trench coat needed to come off of his body at all. He should’ve kept them on. Just make his ears poke out of his hat or something. He totally looked naked.

-”Jellicle” is a weird word. There is a jiggly sound associated with it.

-The opening orchestral music is, at times, hit or miss. I personally like it because it sounds eerie and strange, sinuous and slithery, like how a cat do. It can come across as creepy though, especially during the song “The Naming of Cats”. In the stage production I can’t really watch because those cats all, as one, look at the audience, staring into my soul, and chant the song in one voice, and then they advance on the audience and it’s creepy but I guess it’s interesting. Idk how to convey in words. I am glad they cut that particular element about that song from the movie.

Okay, now I’m going to address people who won’t give it a shot:

-Give it a shot. You forget about how they look like ten minutes into the movie. If you think about it as an arthouse film about dancers pretending to be cats, then it is enjoyable.

-There was a lot of time, money, talent, and effort put into this production. All the ballerinas and other dancers are very passionate about their performance and it shows.

-The animators for this movie were only given 7 months to model and do special effects for every single character on this movie, and there are hundreds of cats. Toy Story worked on its movie for 4 years. So I guess it’s easy to accuse the animators, but they were just doing their jobs; they weren’t given a lot of time to make the designs look fantastic, and they couldn’t deviate from what their art directors told them to do. I’m sure that some of them wanted to do the stage makeup and hair and whatnot, but you have to remember; the actors and director had no idea what the finished product would look like. Don’t blame them.

-Let’s just face it: Cats is a really weird concept to begin with. Andrew Lloyd Weber had some good ideas, like Phantom of the Opera, and he had kind of strange ideas, like Cats. It was really popular in the 70′s because the play has music that is very 50′s themed(note the malt shoppe that is a milk bar in the movie and Rum Tum Tugger is supposed to be like an Elvis character) and 20′s themed(the vaudeville Mungojerry, Rumpleteazer, and Macavity themes), so in its time, this show was a lot like Stranger Things for us. It was a nostalgia trip. And even amongst theater fans, there is a tiny niche who love Cats. This is not a huge fanbase. I liked it by accident, stumbling upon it by coincidence. I don’t understand why they put so much money into it knowing this. They should’ve cast much smaller celebrities and advertised much smaller, but we all know that Andrew Lloyd Weber is Mr. Moneybags and Mr. Outlandish, so of course he wanted to attract a younger fanbase to keep the spirit going for years to come. I, as a dance and musical fan, liked the stage production. I think if you’re willing to overlook the cringe, how a lot of the cats wear clothes and others don’t, and Idris Elba’s neon green contacts, you could like it. I don’t know. I’m not you. I just think this movie was made for certain people who like the old version of Cats, and they should’ve marketed it to them, and the reason why they tanked so hard is because they didn’t. They should’ve put them in stage costume and makeup and only CGI’ed some things.

-Maybe it would’ve worked better as an animated movie, where the designs for the cats was simply a cat who does ballet. It worked for the stage production because we used our imagination and we thought they were cats with emotions, personalities, attitudes. I think if you squint you can imagine this on this movie as well. But the thing is there was just too much backlash and nobody wanted to see it. Fame is dictated by social media these days, and if they meme you, you’re done. There’s really nothing you can do.

-The moral of the story is maybe see it, but if you don’t want to, don’t. But keep in mind Cats isn’t for everyone. It’s only for people who liked the Cats musical. So if you did, great, if you don’t, then you don’t have to see it.

#cats #2019 #review #I actually liked it #cats appreciation post #andrew lloyd weber #they shouldn't have tried to revive it #tom hooper #cursed #1998 #idris elba #appreciation #they tried

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jpweb12 · 7 years

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40 Logo Design Failures That Somehow Made It To Production

However, before doing this, it’s important to know the most important criteria that make a logo effective. The first features consist in recognition and memorizing. This means that a good logo design can immediately “grab” the viewers’ attention and when they see it, they will associate it with your company.

Anyway, if you managed to catch the viewers’ eyes, it doesn’t necessarily mean you did it in a good way. There might always be a hidden something or some sexual-related design you cannot see at first glance.

Below is a list of Top 40 logo design failures that probably didn’t look so bad at first sight and somehow, made into production.

A style

Wow, I wonder what you could imagine while watching the letter A form of this logo. Definitely a bad logo example.

Comprehensive Health Care

I think we just saw this home while it was taking its chlotes of. Shame on us.

London Olympics 2012

Well, when you see this logo, it’s hard to ignore the little girl behind the computer. Maybe she could try a better version?

Aldershot & Farnborough Twins & Triplets Club

I don’t know what’s happening with the logos for this kind of organizations, but…Once again we have a child being placed in a position that just screams inappropriate.

Office of Government Commerce

I don’t know exactly how people feel that government organizations could take more care of people, but I hope this logo doesn’t illustrate this. Sometimes you need to shift your view to realize the error.

Take a look at the vertical version….

Dough Boys

With a logo like that, would you really want to get food from there?

SatAn

Man, what is it with satellite TV and awful logos? SatAn is a devilish German brand of satellite dishes. Maybe they would know something?

Locum

Believe it or not, Locum is a Swedish property management company. Would you trust to deal with them for your real estate?

Kostelecké Uzeniny

This is the logo for the Czech sausage company Kostelecké Uzeniny. I’m sure their products are tasty, but..maybe. just maybe, it could find other ways to advertise sausages?

Sherwin Williams

Apparently, Sherwin Williams wanted to cover the world in blood-red paint. The sinister “cover the earth” logo was adopted in 1906 and it’s unbelievable they have kept this unfortunate logo for more than a century.

The Computer Doctors

Maybe they are doctors… Maybe they are good in what they are doing, but seeing this logo, I know one thing: I don’t want them anywhere near my computer.

Institute of Oriental Studies

Maybe if it’s seen from the other angle, this logo looks better. Or not. I just hope no child is allowed in there.

Taylor Pork Roll

Definetly not the best way to illustrate pork rolls.

Highlight

Except for the majormigrane this logo gave me, I actually kind of like it. It’s diffrent I guess.

National Reconnaissance Office Nrol- 39

I don’t know what you think, but the spy agency’s logo looks pretty phenomenally horrible with an octopus sucking the face of North America off. And the best thing? Someone paid for it and it’s being used to spy on you.

Chinese Iconography

I don’t care what the Chinese letters are saying, but there are no words for describing this disgusting image

Wikileaks

Even if the hourglass is an interesting idea, the Wikileaks’s logo is even more awkward than the Sherman Wiliam’s logo that covers the world with red paint. Needs improvement I would say.

Braum’s

I hope they don’t make the ice cream hot and fresh at the same time!

Bureau of Health Promotions

I wonder what kind of health services they are trying to promote here. Maybe a healthy increasing birth rate? Do they need a “bureau” for this???

Pepsi

I like these guys! At least they are sincere! By seeing Pepsi’s logo, no one can accuse the company of false advertising! The company shows what the effects can be if the people drink their soda.

Kudawara Pharmacy

I wonder what kind of pharmaceutical products are selling in there

Fully Erect Dome Tents

It seems someone is really excited about going camping.

Pepsi Max

I’m not sure what drinking Pepsi Max is supposed to do for you, but based on what the “X” letter looks like, maybe some people should stay away from it :).

MSN

This is a classic example of when redesigning a logo, taking things away without paying too much attention to detail, can and will lead to bad results. Always.

Clinica Dental

In my humble opinion, you might get more than just simple cleaning services for your teeth, according to their logo design.

Click Lovers

Click… Definitely, click. This is another great example of the importance of letter spacing, especially in logo design.

Wonky

If someone is wondering what’s the name of the company… Well.. it’s WONKY. Just to be clear and not to understand something else.

Islamic Understanding Institute

I don’t know exactly what was in the designer’s mind, but I’m sure this logo doesn’t have anything with the Institute it has been created for. Or with the understanding of their religion…

TGV Logo: Snail

Flip it upside down and you’ll get a snail. By the way, TGV is France’s high-speed rail service, and “TGV” is an abbreviation for “Train à Grande Vitesse”, meaning high-speed train in French.

Catwear

Speachless.

Tesco

I am very curious to find out if this accidentally NSFW giant waggling ..buttermilk logo from Tesco… is really selling Buttermilk to anyone.

Ilkadim Sünnet

Frowning face or a spider watched from the front. Or o schematic position… I just let your imagination work. Period.

K9 Compassion Foundation

K9 Compassion Foundation is a non-profit organization having as the main goal to get every dog home. Unfortunately, their logo is far, far away from conveying their message. I hope they do a better work with pet adoption.

Hip Hop for HIV

A hip hop concert for educating the young about HIV realities was an awesome idea. The logo that advertises the event is bloody awful.

Labyrinth Coffee House

This logo was probably designed in a coffee house. One of those from Amsterdam if you know what I’m talking about.

Alternate Escapes

This logo is for a recreation center, where people should feel good and enjoy…. Maybe in the twilight zone.

Trashy Roots Salon and Spa

This is the logo for a full-service studio specialized in precision and curly women’s haircuts. Does anyone see the irony here?

Marple Syrup

Congrats to the state of Vermont for celebrating one of their greatest exports with a logo of a man peeing in a trash basket.

Junior Jazz Dance Classes

Should be a logo or an optical illusion? If you see a pair of breasts here, you might have a dirty mind…

Read More at 40 Logo Design Failures That Somehow Made It To Production

from IT Feed https://webdesignledger.com/40-logo-design-failures-that-somehow-made-it-to-production/

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regulardomainname · 7 years

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40 Logo Design Failures That Somehow Made It To Production

All marketers and graphic designers know that when it comes to corporate communication, a good logo design is one of the most important tools. It doesn’t just provide an easy way to recognize the identity of your business, but also allows your audience to know who you are and what your business is related to. These are the main reasons for which every company should consider investing in creating at least a good logo, if not a memorable one. However, before doing this, it’s important to know the most important criteria that make a logo effective. The first features consist in recognition and memorizing. This means that a good logo design can immediately “grab” the viewers’ attention and when they see it, they will associate it with your company. Anyway, if you managed to catch the viewers’ eyes, it doesn’t necessarily mean you did it in a good way. There might always be a hidden something or some sexual-related design you cannot see at first glance. Below is a list of Top 40 logo design failures that probably didn’t look so bad at first sight and somehow, made into production. A style Wow, I wonder what you could imagine while watching the letter A form of this logo. Definitely a bad logo example. Comprehensive Health Care I think we just saw this home while it was taking its chlotes of. Shame on us. London Olympics 2012 Well, when you see this logo, it’s hard to ignore the little girl behind the computer. Maybe she could try a better version? Aldershot & Farnborough Twins & Triplets Club I don’t know what’s happening with the logos for this kind of organizations, but…Once again we have a child being placed in a position that just screams inappropriate. Office of Government Commerce I don’t know exactly how people feel that government organizations could take more care of people, but I hope this logo doesn’t illustrate this. Sometimes you need to shift your view to realize the error. Take a look at the vertical version…. Dough Boys With a logo like that, would you really want to get food from there? SatAn Man, what is it with satellite TV and awful logos? SatAn is a devilish German brand of satellite dishes. Maybe they would know something? Locum Believe it or not, Locum is a Swedish property management company. Would you trust to deal with them for your real estate? Kostelecké Uzeniny This is the logo for the Czech sausage company Kostelecké Uzeniny. I’m sure their products are tasty, but..maybe. just maybe, it could find other ways to advertise sausages? Sherwin Williams Apparently, Sherwin Williams wanted to cover the world in blood-red paint. The sinister “cover the earth” logo was adopted in 1906 and it’s unbelievable they have kept this unfortunate logo for more than a century. The Computer Doctors Maybe they are doctors… Maybe they are good in what they are doing, but seeing this logo, I know one thing: I don’t want them anywhere near my computer. Institute of Oriental Studies Maybe if it’s seen from the other angle, this logo looks better. Or not. I just hope no child is allowed in there. Taylor Pork Roll Definetly not the best way to illustrate pork rolls. Highlight Except for the majormigrane this logo gave me, I actually kind of like it. It’s diffrent I guess. National Reconnaissance Office Nrol- 39 I don’t know what you think, but the spy agency’s logo looks pretty phenomenally horrible with an octopus sucking the face of North America off. And the best thing? Someone paid for it and it’s being used to spy on you. Chinese Iconography I don’t care what the Chinese letters are saying, but there are no words for describing this disgusting image Wikileaks Even if the hourglass is an interesting idea, the Wikileaks’s logo is even more awkward than the Sherman Wiliam’s logo that covers the world with red paint. Needs improvement I would say. Braum’s I hope they don’t make the ice cream hot and fresh at the same time! Bureau of Health Promotions I wonder what kind of health services they are trying to promote here. Maybe a healthy increasing birth rate? Do they need a “bureau” for this??? Pepsi I like these guys! At least they are sincere! By seeing Pepsi’s logo, no one can accuse the company of false advertising! The company shows what the effects can be if the people drink their soda. Kudawara Pharmacy I wonder what kind of pharmaceutical products are selling in there Fully Erect Dome Tents It seems someone is really excited about going camping. Pepsi Max I’m not sure what drinking Pepsi Max is supposed to do for you, but based on what the “X” letter looks like, maybe some people should stay away from it :). MSN This is a classic example of when redesigning a logo, taking things away without paying too much attention to detail, can and will lead to bad results. Always. Clinica Dental In my humble opinion, you might get more than just simple cleaning services for your teeth, according to their logo design. Click Lovers Click… Definitely, click. This is another great example of the importance of letter spacing, especially in logo design. Wonky If someone is wondering what’s the name of the company… Well.. it’s WONKY. Just to be clear and not to understand something else. Islamic Understanding Institute I don’t know exactly what was in the designer’s mind, but I’m sure this logo doesn’t have anything with the Institute it has been created for. Or with the understanding of their religion… TGV Logo: Snail Flip it upside down and you’ll get a snail. By the way, TGV is France’s high-speed rail service, and “TGV” is an abbreviation for “Train à Grande Vitesse”, meaning high-speed train in French. Catwear Speachless. Tesco I am very curious to find out if this accidentally NSFW giant waggling ..buttermilk logo from Tesco… is really selling Buttermilk to anyone. Ilkadim Sünnet Frowning face or a spider watched from the front. Or o schematic position… I just let your imagination work. Period. K9 Compassion Foundation K9 Compassion Foundation is a non-profit organization having as the main goal to get every dog home. Unfortunately, their logo is far, far away from conveying their message. I hope they do a better work with pet adoption. Hip Hop for HIV A hip hop concert for educating the young about HIV realities was an awesome idea. The logo that advertises the event is bloody awful. Labyrinth Coffee House This logo was probably designed in a coffee house. One of those from Amsterdam if you know what I’m talking about. Alternate Escapes This logo is for a recreation center, where people should feel good and enjoy…. Maybe in the twilight zone. Trashy Roots Salon and Spa This is the logo for a full-service studio specialized in precision and curly women’s haircuts. Does anyone see the irony here? Marple Syrup Congrats to the state of Vermont for celebrating one of their greatest exports with a logo of a man peeing in a trash basket. Junior Jazz Dance Classes Should be a logo or an optical illusion? If you see a pair of breasts here, you might have a dirty mind… Read More at 40 Logo Design Failures That Somehow Made It To Production http://dlvr.it/PjVFgg www.regulardomainname.com

#Editors Pick #Featured #Inspiration #Logo Design

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