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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 2 months

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Some Mouse House news today. One story is true, the other *might* be true.

Today, Sean Bailey steps down as head of Walt Disney Pictures. The studio of Disney's massive film division that does all the live-action movies, and in some cases, animated tech demos that look like real-life simulations. Ya know, THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016) and THE LION KING (2019)?

He singlehandedly ushered in the whole remake craze (on top of saying some very weird and obtuse things about the animated classics they are largely based on), whilst trying to launch new franchises out of over-budgeted risky movies, and suffice to say? I'm more than happy that his replacement is Searchlight Pictures' David Greenbaum.

Greenbaum will now lead a combined Disney Live-Action/20th Century Studios effort, while Matthew Greenfield continues to lead Searchlight. This is a very smart move I feel, as Searchlight were usually quite good with budgets. They greenlit several outre and unique movies. Most recently Yorgos Lanthimos' POOR THINGS, which I loved. In the weirdest sense, and you'll probably think I've lost the plot in saying this, but... The $35m hard R-rated sci-fi black comedy with plenty of sex scenes felt more in the spirit of "Disney" - creative, game-changing, and bold - than a lot of the titanic-budgeted seemingly-noted-to-death movies released under the mainline "Disney" name in the recent years... That's quite something!

(Maybe it's just something of a shock to see a movie simply made by a FILMMAKER come out Disney. After all, when Walt Disney saw TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD in 1962, he was floored by the film and lamented... He wish his studio could make a picture like that.)

So yeah, as you can tell, I'm thrilled with this move. I feel that the output of the "Live-Action" end of Disney hasn't really been for me for a long time, creatively, and maybe Greenbaum will course-correct. Take a chance on different filmmakers, let them come in and make a really cool movie that isn't buckled under notes and mandates that attempt to make the proceedings "more Disney" - whatever that means. Less things like ARTEMIS FOWL and LION KING and this TRON-in-name-only sequel with Jared Leto, more stuff like the first PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN and assorted smaller movies. These things don't have to be $150m+ behemoths, either.

This move has been a long-time coming, I feel, especially after the film division lost money on HAUNTED MANSION and live-action LITTLE MERMAID, in addition to seeing diminishing returns elsewhere.

(And hey, on the off chance... Maybe we can see another Muppets movie get off the ground, haha.)

Sooo... As for the other piece of news...

Apparently Pixar is working on a movie called DUCKS.

And it's a full-blown musical, too... A first for Pixar...

Right now, this is all coming out of the rumor mills and I feel it should be taken with a grain of salt. Much like that soccer movie set in Barcelona that they were supposedly developing around 2018.

What's interesting is that a locked Facebook account and a locked Twitter account have been made for a "Pixar Ducks" thing. So maybe... Yeah... Maybe DUCKS is a movie in the works at Pixar. Or it's a short.

Some have pointed out that this news arrives a little after the release of Universal/Illumination's animated duck romp MIGRATION, which brings up the pairs of yore: A BUG'S LIFE and ANTZ, FINDING NEMO and SHARK TALE, RATATOUILLE and FLUSHED AWAY, the ill-fated NEWT and RIO... But really, sometimes great minds think alike. Remember how we had three animated movies about Sasquatches/yetis from September 2018 to September 2019? SMALLFOOT, MISSING LINK, and ABOMINABLE?

Sometimes it just happens...

I've also noticed people saying "Wait a minute, what about COCO? Wasn't that a musical?"

COCO, when it was coming out, was carefully described as a movie that was about music, not so much a "musical". I don't see COCO as a "musical", myself.

You see, I feel musicals inhabit a heightened reality of their own. Typically, in musical movies, when characters start singing, everything else around them is engaged. Like the whole block or the whole neighborhood or the whole area was prepared for this moment, and are going along with it. For some people, that's weird. "Why are they all singing? Imagine doing THAT in real life!" That's the point of musicals, I feel. The singing is the characters' feelings, their world, their point of view. These movies don't follow a literal reality, and that's what has always made them and their theatre counterparts so special for so many years.

COCO, by contrast, is about musicians. They pick up a guitar or instrument, and when they play music and sing, it's not of a heightened reality. Everybody else goes about their business, the whole block isn't singing- You get where I'm going with this, right? There's a clear difference between COCO and BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.

Some 30 years ago, when Pixar was working on TOY STORY... Their first ever feature film, they specifically didn't want to do a musical or something with an "I Want" song. A little list of rules, so that they wouldn't make something similar to what Disney was doing post-OLIVER & COMPANY. Many of the other animation studios were mimicking that formula as well, as evidenced by all the SWAN PRINCESS and FERGULLY types that were being released all throughout the '90s... It's understandable that Pixar and their tight-knit culture wanted to avoid that at first...

But we're in 2024 now, and Disney Animation has long balanced out musicals with non-musicals (BIG HERO 6, ZOOTOPIA, RAYA, etc.), while other studios have tried other kinds of musicals that don't try to recreate what Howard Ashman and Alan Menken perfected circa 1989. Like the SING movies, those are jukebox musicals, the TROLLS movies are more like pop musicals than they are Broadway...

So, some three decades after the release of TOY STORY (assuming that this film comes out in 2026 at the earliest), yeah! Pixar making a musical isn't so far-fetched. What this studio brings to that genre remains to be seen, but I'm interested nonetheless. They could possibly re-invent it in a very cool, fun way. I just find the title to be curious... Ducks... Talking animals... It seems very basic, but there's a lot we don't know, so I'll wait til I hear more. It could be about, say, duckpin bowling for all I know.

My other question is... Who is directing it? I know that the following filmmakers have pitched or are working on films at Pixar:

Brian Fee (director of CARS 3)

Enrico Casarosa (director of LUCA)

Domee Shi (director of TURNING RED)

Dan Scanlon (director on ONWARD and MONSTERS UNIVERSITY)

Kristen Lester (director of Sparkshort PURL)

Rosana Sullivan (director of Sparkshort KITBULL)

Aphton Corbin (director of Sparkshort TWENTY-SOMETHING)

Daniel Chong (creator of WE BEAR BEARS, storyboard artist on CARS 2 and INSIDE OUT)

Their schedule currently looks like this:

6/14/2024: INSIDE OUT 2

06/13/2025: ELIO

03/06/2026: Unknown

06/19/2026: Unknown

TBD 2026: TOY STORY 5 (likely summer)

So, logically, this could be their spring 2026 original movie while TOY STORY 5 expectedly takes the prime summer slot. Maybe! Perhaps it swaps spots with something else, I don't know.

We do have a D23 Expo coming up this year, so maybe we'll learn what Pixar's post-ELIO films are that aren't sequels. If DUCKS is real and it's moving along quite nicely, then that should be the one. We shall see...

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chemicalbrew · 5 months

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2023 game list, part 1: I love complaining!

Once again continuing what has become an honorable tradition thanks to @smash-64 💜

I tried to promise myself I'd be more organized this year, trying to take notes after I beat things, making lists and gifs and everything, as it has become a consistent yearly undertaking. In truth, what happened is that I felt more overwhelmed by this than I did the last three years. The best explanation I can give is a combination of two facts: this year, while not particularly worse than what came before, still saw my confidence in myself tank a bit (i.e. What does this matter when few people read it and I don't bring much things of value to the table?)...

And the fact that I played very few games that really stuck with me, that I enjoyed enough to see through to the end and feel like that had merit, for a lot of the year. When that wasn't the case, it was more than likely I'd been on my nth playthrough of Katana ZERO of the year (more on that in a later post, hopefully).

I probably need help, don't I?..

games I played, but don't have much to say about at the moment without being prompted, aside from 'I kinda liked them, I guess', ordered best to worst:

Purrfect Apawcalypse trilogy (2019-2021) - series of VNs that's genuinely just good fun as you find yourself attached to the characters before you know it. You'll know if this one is for you at a glance. Also, this is how I found out about Panel Royale! LOL

The Witch's House MV (2018) - good old RPG Maker horror with a few decent twists. The remake has good QOL changes.

Gunbrella (2023) - the plot might be forgettable, but you get a gun that's an umbrella! What's not to enjoy?

Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest (1995) - I played this game, but only in the most technical sense. Literally cheated the fun out of it - either that, or this platformer style is not for me.

Coffee Talk: Episode 2 - Hibiscus & Butterfly (2023) - the most upsetting entry on the list. The writer behind the original game has passed away, and his absence is felt keenly even if you're not aware of the fact - because this sequel lacks charm.

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion (2021) - yet another of those cheap and short indie 2D Zelda clones. The definition of the word meh.

Irisu Syndrome (2008) - a unique free puzzle timewaster. Tries to have a story and fails.

dishonorable mentions (the part with the most complaining)

2064: Read Only Memories (PC, 2014) [♪ Home (Not) Sweet Home]

Starts off decent enough, doing the bare minimum to string you along the mystery (which, for most people with standards, wouldn't even be good enough, but I was willing to stick with it for the sake of the neat audiovisual presentation).

As soon as the murder scene is revealed, however, the main plot starts to fall apart, and the longer you spend with the game's writing (which seems to go on and on forever) and characters (about as flat as a pancake fresh off the pan), the more bleak and yawn-inducing they seem (including Turing, who just took longer than everyone else to annoy me).

Do yourself a favor, play VA-11 Hall-A (which this game gratuitously references) instead. You'll get all the benefits of cute pixel art and upbeat soundtrack, but with an actually good story\character cast to match. I swear it says something about 2064 that one of its most exciting moments was seeing throwaway lines from a VA-11 character!

Ori and the Blind Forest: Definitive Edition (PC, 2015) [♪ Climbing the Ginso Tree]

This is a game that won awards back when it came out almost a decade ago. Unfortunately, it feels like it was made to win awards and little more. While the credits scrolling up the screen tried to convince otherwise - with the usual special thanks given to families and pets of the developers - I sat there, unsure of what I was supposed to take from this experience (once again, the less words you try to use to tell your story, the more it usually suffers!).

The heart of any platformer is its movement systems - and, while eventually Ori's tools open up just enough to make you feel at least a little free and alive in its world, they also never go beyond what is almost painfully typical. Double jump, wall climb, ground pound, glide, charged projectile? None of that is going to wow anyone. The way it comes together is not too pleasant, either - Ori's too floaty and the obstacles before him, while painted with a talented stroke, are too unclear in their presentation to make for truly fun traversal. The exception to this is the escape sequences - sure, a lot of the time they're not much less frustrating than the rest of the game, but they're definitely more memorable, to the point where the accompaniment to one was the only part of the soundtrack I could think to showcase.

I don't regret the time I spent on this, per se, but what I can tell you is that it probably didn't deserve the awards. Also, the way the wall jump worked was annoying! Pushing towards the wall to do it feels very counter-intuitive, and with this I found that I much prefer when games have you face away from the wall to register wall jumps, or do not require you to press a direction at all.

Celeste (PC, 2018) [♪ Checking In] + Celeste Classic (2015, played as part of full game) :)

I was in high school when this made waves. I pointedly feigned disinterest as it splashed all over the internet, while making sure to download the soundtrack quickly and listen to it - more than occasionally - over the next three or so years. Lena Raine's work carried me through my school years and empowered me, and all the while I hadn't a clue what playing the game is actually like.

Those were the better days.

Now, the things about this game that seem to appeal the most to a lot of people are how refreshingly simple Madeline's moveset is and how much the game respects your time with death transitions and reloading, and the story it tells through heartfelt cutscenes and gameplay working in sync. To which I boldly say... none of those things are good enough.

Having to climb and manage your stamina adds another layer to navigating the rooms, sure, but to my simple ass, that's one layer too many. To the game's credit, there's a setting to make climbing toggleable instead of requiring you to hold down the trigger, and using that was the only reason I managed to push past the hotel and Oshiro (call me a scrub, it was genuinely overwhelming otherwise), but it still did nothing to change how I feel about this mechanic fundamentally.

I get it, it adds precision and verticality to your movement, and, seeing as you're literally supposed to be scaling a mountain, it's more than a natural inclusion... but its existence did nothing but add pressure for me, somehow. I would frequently forget it's an option at all before realizing the room in question expects me to utilize it. Instead of feeling like climbing expands my options, I felt constricted and awkward.

My second issue is much simpler. I'm a spoiled brat, and Celeste's respawning process involving that annoying whoosh sound effect and a transition that, yes, takes only about a second, but is still not quite instant, was not good enough. I recognize that having it be truly instant would not be ideal, either, but I can't help but wish that was the case.

As for the story... It underwhelmed me even back when I was doing surface level research at the time of release, and it's not impressing me now. It's okay, and I recognize why it would resonate with people - the themes of self-acceptance and resolve are plain to see (and just as plain to mull over). But in my time with the game, Madeline never began feeling less like an avatar for my failures and more like an actual character, never changed into someone I would truly like.

By the time I reached the Mirror Temple, I was certain that this game, in most respects, is just not what I would ever want. I pushed towards the summit anyway, and left it feeling profoundly... nothing.

However... Celeste Classic did not have any of those things! That little prototype gem of a game wastes zero time trying to set the stage and make you feel things with ~a story~, doesn't give you any opportunity to climb whatsoever, and neither does it waste your time having the screen fade to black when you die! And these three things, I reckon, are key to why this smaller version, that's supposed to just be treated as an Easter egg now, a relic of the past, and to be forgotten in favor of the project it grew into... resonated with me so much more! I beat it twice! It's lovely! It's what I actually needed Celeste to be!

IT'S COMPLICATED

AI: The Somnium Files (PC, 2019) [♪ MonzAI] + AI:TSF - Nirvana Initiative (PC, 2022) [♪ Nefarious Institute 1]

You know how they say not to judge the book by its cover? This is a story of me learning (once again) to judge a game neither by its reception nor by the credentials behind it. When I plowed through this duology, I came to understand that sometimes, lightning might strike just the once.

Of course, most of my bitter feelings about it stem from just how miraculous of a fuck-up Nirvana Initiative ended up being as a sequel (it's impressive how much it had to twist everything its predecessor stood for to even have a chance at making a mediocre point!), but a lot of the disappointment came from the way the first game carries itself in general, and maybe even from the presence this game has among fans. 'Oh, if you want more of the magic and mystery that you so enjoyed in Zero Escape, you have to try this! It'll be just as good!'

I should have had my doubts from the start, given how little I had enjoyed the ZE series after 999. AI1 flounders in many things, like its obtuse, deeply unfun gameplay loop - most of which is pressing random buttons until you see the most ridiculous shit present itself. There's also the overt reliance on stale and perverse jokes, and a story that can barely do much except trudge to the finish line and attempt to convince you the journey was worth it with a trite dance number, of all things.

But the thing is… even with all that, the first entry was somewhat compelling during its runtime, though most of that comes from its bold novelty. The idea of taking advantage of the surreality of dreams to find deeply concealed truths is fun to occasionally ponder, and there's just enough fluff to the places you visit and things you do to string you along for the ride (though having to check the same spots for flavor text on each revisit to very little results is a deep annoyance I have with both entries). The characters actually got a chance to grow (if not by much… this series' urge to be immature at every turn is nothing short of ruinous, sometimes), and their designs strike a wonderful line between outstanding and cringeworthy that makes them just… stick out in your brain, you know?

So while I thought the song and dance (both the literal and the metaphorical) were ultimately not worth much, I was still convinced, fooled by the magic just enough to see things come to an end; and the resolution itself was satisfying and believable, if nothing else. And with how exhausted I felt reaching this point, I figured that'd be enough.

To me, AI1 is all about finding shards of diamonds in the rough, and it doesn't surprise me in the slightest that its fandom runs away with what little they have to try and improve on it (and often succeed). As such, you'd expect its sequel to take advantage of how much room there is to grow, capitalize on this chance to refine things, and use the few strong themes the original presented (value of bonds and family made both by blood and by choice, finding those you can rely on to carry what you have done forward, etc)... right?

Um, yeah, turns out it twists over itself even more than I'd already thought possible in order to make sense (not to mention seemingly forsaking most of that mess right at the true end in order to approach the established universe from a contrived meta angle). If AI1 can be described as having extremely unrefined gameplay coupled with a decently intriguing story, NI is just about the opposite of that.

While I'm glad they bothered to make exploring the dream worlds enjoyable this go around, there's no way in hell that makes it worthwhile to bear witness to the innumerable ways in which this mess of a sequel sullied the already weak foundations laid down by its predecessor. When I had finished that game, I wrote, on impulse, that 'I haven't been this confounded by a sequel's existence since Chrono Cross'. It just… did not need to happen, like, at all.

Nirvana Initiative posed to me one of the worst questions you can have while playing a game, which is…

'Why am I doing this, again?'

Let's be real, it was mostly for the soundtrack. Unlike AI1, this game had passable music! Though having to watch ANOTHER dance number (like half a dozen times, actually! and no, there's no skip button!) just about had me gagging.

That's not even the worst part about that sequence, no - that would have to be the way it almost actively ruins and undermines what's probably the only passable character arc in NI (and even then, you have to squint hard for it to pass your judgement, given how it starts... gotta hand it to this game for managing to have multiple relationships with genuinely questionable setups involving uncomfortable age gaps).

I wanted to feel touched by the new, somewhat expanded narratives, I wanted to see the world grow a little, despite all the grievances I was certain I would have... But not even halfway through the plot, I realized that my true wish was to just move on. I think that's what I'll do here, as well, as even reminiscing on this chaos is quite dreadful.

Xenoblade Chronicles 3 (Switch, 2022) [♪ Agnus Colony]

Don't become prey and victim to your own expectations - or to bad advertising.

Xenoblade is a special series, full of wonder and power. Words fail me this year, as they did the year before, when it comes to describing how much of an impact these games - the second entry most of all, a game I think about now and then with a bittersweetness on my heart that I oddly never can get enough of - had had on my mental well-being last year. They might as well have saved me back then, and while getting to experience them was something I'd been planning to do for a while, the specific circumstances it all had happened under were just so special, so exceptional, so wild, that it's hard to think of those days as anything but a gift.

And yet, there are plenty of things in this particular journey I still have to reconcile with. I never settled on what my impression of 1 is, in the end (or, some might say, I never properly played it); I could use a fresher look at 2, and… I never, ever, will finish Xenoblade Chronicles 3. It's a game I once had hopes for, but nowadays don't ever want to think about.

I thought it a privilege, of sorts - the fact that I was there to witness (and acquire) a brand-new release in a series that became dearly important to me. I ended up hearing many things - the trailers, the rumors, the leaks. They all spoke of a definitive resolution to the series, of levels of refinement never seen before, of intrigue so big you can barely take it, of key character appearances we were all dying to see.

Turns out most of what we were so eagerly expecting came with an extra price tag.

The base game of Xenoblade 3 is a mirage, a mere shade of what came before it. The environments are open and vast, but they look more drab than ever - and with the new autowalk feature, it takes even less time to get sick of it. The music takes you on a journey, but you forget what it sounds like far sooner than you'd prefer. The battle system promises lots of options and a nice learning curve, but it only overextends, overwhelms and forces you to grind. The cutscenes look every bit the part of a Xenoblade story, but meander and stretch things out to the point of boredom, which means none of the characters get enough time to grow on the player, either… Though a lot of them would probably go nowhere even given all the time in the world.

And the setting as a whole? Well, it's a simulation, so who cares about it feeling unique or fun? That's the point, the game says, you're supposed to empathize with these characters breaking out of their bonds, out of this miserable existence! Well, I say that things can be made appealing even in decay. You don't have to actively worsen things to make a point.

Future Redeemed is an impressive demonstration of how things could have been. It fixes practically every point where the base game falters - and it is in this part of the game where all those promises that once seemed hollow finally come true. Sort of. The exploration process is smooth as butter in the way none of the games before were, characters are at last back to having defined roles in battle, and all that teasing becomes a thing of the past as 3 acknowledges its own roots and past in full, and you think to yourself… 'If only we'd got this in the base game all along!'

But we didn't. And the credits on Future Redeemed roll far too soon to truly be satisfied. Is this how you wanted the saga to end?

honorable mentions

Butterfly Soup 2 (PC, 2022) [♪ Night Tourist] *I hope you'll forgive me for not finding a GIF for a mostly static VN...

It's so funny. For me it has been two years; for the creator, it'd been five. But I guess time doesn't matter when it comes to maturity, as I feel like both myself and this game have done plenty of growth. And for that, I love it all the more, just as I am now thankful to be able to call Butterfly Soup a short series.

Compared to the first game, the art is more refined, the tone is more consistent, and treatment of serious topics is more grounded - in more ways than one, this sequel is like a fond, yet melancholic look at what you once had, what changed since then, and what you hope to make of things. But between all that, it stays sincere and silly in the best of ways - the ones that make you feel cozy on the darkest of nights, the ones that endear you for a good while yet. Truly, this game was a ray of light in a sea of mediocrity this year.

Road 96 (PC, 2021) [♪ Hit the Road]

Yeah, I know. The fact that I have played a goddamn walking simulator at the behest of a good pal (who might or might not be reading this, hi on the off chance that you are!) is nothing short of a miracle. Not to mention the fact that I ended up having a good time with it!

I'll put it plain: the vibes of this game are almost impeccable. It wastes little time setting things up - it's the turn of the century, and a massively corrupt government is practically folding in on itself as it closes its borders. It's up to you, as you're literally put into a blank-slate teenager's shoes, to go on a desperate journey and see whether or not you make your way out.

Over the course of Road 96, you do this six times, and the people you meet on the way and choices you make with them may or may not shape not just your own future, but that of the whole country. There's nothing for it, then, but hit the road and see what awaits you, as you sit in a car that's probably stolen, blaring music from your carefully curated tapes… or are dropped off on the wayside with nothing but a paltry backpack to speak of… or find yourself biding your time near a gas station… or… whatever it is the game throws at you, as you hope that the strangers you run into actually deign to help.

Yes, the biggest way this game attempts to stand out is with our good old friend, RNG. Even reading blurbs about it, you cannot escape the all-too-typical claims of 'your own personal journey', 'a thousand unique paths waiting for you' and all that… months later, I find myself unable to decide whether this helped the game or harmed it more, as it's definitely smaller than it makes itself out to be.

As a story hook, this setup is clever and delightful, as I tried to illustrate a moment earlier, but the moment you begin to overthink it, you realize that the randomness aspect clashes hard against the continuity the game tries to establish. You, as the player, indeed learn more about the world and colorful characters in it each time you venture forth, but the avatar you control is supposed to be clueless as ever, setting out on a path that is, in fact, not quite their own any more. It's a weird gripe to have, and I found it an easy one to ignore, but I wish something could be done about it anyway.

As for the rest of the plot, let's just say it's... surprisingly binary, and the supporting cast small and not always compelling in turn. The game sacrifices some of the personal intimacy and uniqueness it has built up to make a sweeping, painfully boring statement of 'freedom good, suppression bad' before credits roll, but as damaging as that is to the overall experience, I feel like one can't deny the fundamental appeal of just being asked to go on a journey with sweeping stakes and truly, truly banging music. Seriously, it was meant to be put on speakers and blasted as the world passes you by!

In a word, Road 96 is ambitious, and in a sentence, it is ambitious, yet falling short of itself. Nonetheless, I was impressed by how it managed to worm its way into my heart for a while.

A Space for the Unbound (PC, 2023) [♪ Don't Have Much Choice]

Wouldn't you know it? I had actually played two games involving entering people's subconsciousness to solve their problems this year!

Truth be told, I'd been looking forward to this game for about a year, given that it was published by the people behind Coffee Talk (which, if you recall, I had quite enjoyed). The warm and inviting screenshots on the back-then almost empty store page, showing off awesome art and promising a sweet little journey with slice-of-life tropes and a mystery waiting to be solved… well, to say all of that was alluring is to say nothing, really. I just about jumped when I received a notification for this game releasing at last at the beginning of the year, and wasted little time trying to dive in.

The sad thing is, what you see is not always what you get. The cozy, comfortable, sensible vibes of the early game - running around the city, doing chores at your school, naming every stray cat you come across, watching the protagonist's diary fill up as he crosses all the little goals he had set in life off his precious list… Yeah, those things won't last - definitely not long enough to get you attached to characters living in this world.

As the plot begins to unfold, it fumbles over itself trying to introduce various cliches and supernatural elements, to the point where you recognize the whole experience as a tedious drag as you see exactly where it's heading, and think to yourself that you have heard all this before. It's yet another heartfelt story about self-actualization, and as the game hammers it in harder than ever before, you sigh and wish you could go back to the times of bottle cap collecting and cat petting. Sometimes, simpler is better.

Unfortunately, that's not exactly true when it comes to actually playing A Space for the Unbound. The gameplay is as simple as can be - basically all you do is walk around (quite slowly) and interact with things. I can appreciate how linear the game is, for the most part, but I wish it let us accomplish our goals without wasting too much time! Not to mention, if you try to see everything there is, you have to be prepared to deal with quite a few mind-numbingly repetitive mini-games for far longer than you have to. Don't do that. It'll just sully your impression of the game.

If you're somehow still interested in this after reading this messy opinion of mine, don't be too discouraged - you'll see plenty of beautiful sights, hear some cute music, and, maybe, be affected by the story far more than I was. (Besides, for a cat lover, it's always nice to see others appreciate them!) Just... try not to waste too much time with the game's superficial sidequests.

Tales of the Abyss (3DS, 2011 port of a 2006 release) [♪ The Distribution Base]

There's something ironic in how playing (most of) this game has been one of the best things I have done with my lovely 2DS since I homebrewed it earlier this year... and yet I quite regret not checking how (ahem) easily available the PS2 version is, instead. They may be functionally identical, but the hardware is not - you have no idea how hard some of the goddamn Mieu Fire puzzles become when your character is taking up a mere four or so pixels of an already tiny screen. Man, that was trying my patience at its finest.

These horrors aside, though, what kind of game are we even dealing with here? Well, it’s a Tales game first and foremost. I can’t deny claims that Abyss has a few strengths of its own (most notably, of course, actually bothering to have coherent character development arcs), but it’s not quite enough to obscure the ever-prevalent issues this series has:

exploration and side-questing is still annoyingly obtuse, not to mention traversal is painfully slow in the first half of the game,

some characters (in this case, Anise more so than others, but I'd argue Mieu's whole existence is part of this too) are obligated to suffer because Tales has to meet its unhealthy anime tropes\wackiness quota per game,

the skit system has not, unfortunately, evolved one bit (the amount of times I would skip a skit on accident, because any input halts its playback entirely…),

while I’m inclined to say the battle system is, for the most part, an improvement (the Field of Fonons mechanic is quite a nice change given the foundations of Tales gameplay, I have to admit), any goodwill you might want to give it gets shattered when you realize Free Run breaks bosses in half. And aside from that, it’s just your usual button-mashy fare.

So why did I push on with this game as far as I did, pulling the classic move of quitting right at the final boss instead of, well, any earlier? A lot of that is because I was just in the mood to mash some buttons in bed until I realized I was slightly underleveled for the finale and caught myself groaning at the mere thought of trying to even cheese it. A shame, that, because the ending of this game is pretty wonderful for what it set out to do, and it was the only bit I did not see on my own. It's like my experience with Final Fantasy VI all over again…

That's not all there is to it, though. Abyss has some of what's probably the most involved and curious worldbuilding (once you get past all the awkward made up jargon it loves to throw at you) of any Tales game I know! Not that this says much, because that's a low bar, and I'm not too familiar with the series at large, but it was enough to keep me engaged for a long while. And, as mentioned earlier, it puts in greater efforts than I expected to endear you to the cast as they slowly band together and uncover their own talents, purposes and aims in life - Luke in particular.

I liked him almost immediately - because I'm not too hard to please when it comes to this series, and his design is, I feel, particularly sweet and striking (especially given how nicely the game used the Important Haircut trope with him, and of course, the contrast between him and Asch). But that alone doesn't a good protagonist make - it's the fact that the story allows Luke to make mistakes (from small ones to straight-up catastrophes), get his comeuppance and grow from them organically, at his own pace, that makes him stand out in my mind.

As Luke sheds his sheltered ways of thought and accepts his responsibilities, those that were traveling with him, either out of obligation or by chance, begin to support him more and stand by him in earnest. It all comes together gradually and at a satisfying pace, and is definitely a highlight of the experience to me.

Growth and connection are probably among the biggest themes of the game, so it's nice to see that it applies pretty much equally to both protagonists and antagonists. Sure, it's the job of a Tales' Big Bad faction to be goofy and up to nefarious activities, but beyond that, the group has solid enough chemistry both among themselves and with the party that I actually ended up looking forward to most encounters with them, even if ultimately it felt a little predictable. As an aside, for a game this old, the voice acting was really good and plentiful (though there is none for skits, which sucks), and further piqued my interest in the story along the way.

To conclude, I'd like to say that the biggest thing I learned while playing this game is that I'm a sucker for grounded tales of (ha) self-actualization even this many years later. And also that once you play one Tales game, you truly, to some extent, know them all.

SANABI (PC, 2023) [♪ Warm Hospitality]

Do you want to know why I ended up playing this one? Of course you do, that wasn't really a question. I only bring this up because the answer can be revealed with a single screenshot:

...yep, the inspiration is that blatantly on display. I was expecting it, of course - the Katana ZERO community is the only reason I know of SANABI in the first place, and even as you read people's thoughts on it, the extreme similarity is practically all they ever bring up, be it in a positive or negative light. It pleased me and warmed my heart, while also making me feel wary - it's one thing to be inspired by something, and another to actually carve an identity of your own.

That said, KZ is far from the worst thing to try to replicate, particularly when it comes to visuals - SANABI has some awesome scenery that makes me feel right at home. And while the story at times feels so much like an amateurish copy that it leaves me confused more than anything (I'm sure the awkward English translation sadly does not help matters, not to mention the fact that I'd played this game in an unfinished state - you might expect me to write about it again next year!), the gameplay is anything but.

I'm sure there are quite a few platformers out there that have you use what's essentially a grappling hook to swing through the stages, but SANABI is my first experience with something like this, and in this regard the game absolutely manages to shine on its own. Movement is lightning-fast and responsive, enemy targeting is extremely generous - almost to the point of being handholdy (and, of course, they all die in one satisfying hit - as do you, if you set the game to the highest difficulty. It's nice to be given an opportunity to learn the ropes before engaging with the game earnestly!), and there's something to be said about how the level design has that extreme kind of clarity to it that I always appreciate and favors speed over precision, with how spacious everything is.

My only big issues with how the game plays are how it doesn't seem to be designed with a controller in mind (it is an option, but I found myself moving much more precisely with KBM! Me! Someone who never plays games with that!), and, once again, the just-a-bit-too-long death animation\transition. Being able to skip it helps, but I just yearn for no time to be wasted...

#celeste #aitsf #xbc3 #tales #abyss #zero.txt #yearly game list #flashing gif #.gif

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angiemcalisters · 1 year

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finn cole in slaughterhouse rulez (2018) 🌻 if you click in the source link, you will find #183 giftangles of finn cole in slaughterhouse rulez. this pack is incomplete ( my hard drive broke / i may remake these and finish the pack in the future ). these were primarily made for roleplaying purposes. you can edit these as much as you would like, but please link back & tag me if you redistribute them! thank you & enjoy !

content warnings : blood ( barely noticeable except he has tissues up his nose in some gifs lol )

#finn cole gif pack #finn cole gif hunt #thegifpackreblogs #gifsociety #supportcontentcreators #gif pack #*#finn cole #this is a throwback to when i really liked giftangles <3

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mynonblwatchlist-bl-bam-beyond · 10 months

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Hana Yori Dango-Boys Over Flowers & Meteor Garden:

Family of Male Lead

Domyouji, Daoming Si & Gu Jun Pyo 's Mother & Sister

Domyouji, Daoming Si and Gu Jun Pyo were spoiled brats with a domineering mother and a cool sister. It's his sister that raised him and gave him a good beating when she thought he needed one. So let meet them.

Number 1: 1992 Hana Yori Dango Anime. Since the 1995 did not complete the full story meaning Domyouji's family was not a part of the abbreviated movie version I am including the anime where Domyouji's sister whacked him in the kisser.

Number 2: 2001 METEORGARDEN. Daoming Si's mother made her appearance around Episode 14 appearing for her son's birthday and meeting Dong Shancai whom she hated immediately. His sister arrived around Episode 9 to give him some love and a beating.

XIU ZHEN ZHEN played mama bear DAOMING FENG

MARY HSU played fighting sister DAOMING ZHUANG (Mary passed away in 2011 after a battle with cancer. RIP QUEEN)

Number 3: 2005 Hana Yori Dango had a mother that barely spoke to her son. She was a powerhouse business woman but as a mother she seemed to be a failure. But she was keeping the business running for Domyouji Tsukuba to take over. She was mean. His sister stepped in to protect Makino from her brother.

KAGA MARIKO played mama bear Domyouji Kaede

MATSUSHIMA NANAKO played fighting sister Domyouji Tsubaki

Number 4: South Korea's Boys Over Flowers had a mother that was ruthless but she seemed to care more about her son even though she still sat out to control him and his choices. Meanwhile his sister arrived as Gu Jun Pyo tried immaturity in evading Guem Jan Di. A high speed chase followed by an ass whooping by his noona

LEE HYE YOUNG played mama bear Kang Hee Soo

KIM HYUN JOO played fighting sister Gu Jun Hee

Number 5: 2018 Meteor Garden China's Remake had one mean mama. She was willing to let her son suffer a hunger strike because she would not allow him to marry Dong Shancai. She had him kidnapped and even cut him off financially (briefly) but I do believe she truly loved her son. They gave her vulnerability as she almost lost the business and needed Daoming Si to marry to get out of it. His sister arrived to whoop his ass when she saw him manhandling Dong Shancai

WANG LIN played mama bear Daoming Feng

DEE HSU played fighting sister Daoming Zhuang (She is a Taiwanese actress and the sister of Barbie Hsu who played Dong Shancai in Meteor Garden Taiwanese Version)

So who was your favorites of these mother daughter duos. @pose4photoml

#MY WATCHLIST #NON BL #SIDE BLOG #HANA YORI DANGO ADAPTATIONS #BOYS OVER FLOWERS #METEOR GARDEN #JAPAN #TAIWAN #CHINA #ANIME SISTER INCLUDED #NO MOM OR SISTER IN 1995 MOVIE #My GIFS #MYGIFSET #MyGIFedit #DOMYOUJI #DAOMING #GU JUN PYO

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crazykacey · 10 months

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Different possibilities of future Sera Myu

Since it is the 30th of June, Usagi's birthday, I thought I might finally post this thing that has been in my drafts for some months lol

Let's go!

So ever since the end of Musical Festival Chronicle, I've been thinking about what would be the next Sera Myu we get? During the Senshuuraku of Chronicle, Riko mentioned that when Kaguya-hime no Koibito ended, they weren't sure if Sera Myu would continue so most likely the same thing applies now. It might be possible Myu might end but we had Super Live this year so there are chances. Many might think that since the Crystal series finally comes to an end, so does anything else related to Sailor Moon, but it is very much certain that they will keep pushing out merch as it has been very profitable so far and even the Sailor Moon Museum announced that it will reopen in 2024 so there might be more musicals just like back in the day! Although we still haven't gotten any news regarding it and I for sure thought we would get some new info today... ANYWAY we have gone through all the main 5 arcs, one short story and one original so what next? I have a few ideas. (check terms at the end of the post if confused)

1) Third installment in the Snow Kaguya series

For me, it didn't really seem like Snow Kaguya was fully defeated in Chronicle, as she was defeated in the same way as she was in KHnK so it feels super random that she would be defeated NOW so maybe they could do one more musical to finally defeat Princess Snow Kaguya (maybe as Eternal Sailor Moon)

2) Something completely new

It could be possible we might get something completely new and original. Who knows? lol

3) R movie or SuperS movie

Ever since KHnK, people have been wondering if the other two movies would be made into a musical, although KHnK bore no resemblance to the movie as it pretty much followed the manga short story to the T, it is still possible that the other two movies will be made into musicals.

4) Another Story musical

ah the forgotten gem in the SM universe. I really love Another Story and I wish it would get more recognition. And since they are going with the Super/Mugen arc theme as KHnK takes place around that time and Another Story is supposed to take place after the Mugen arc so it could be a possibility. How it works in action is kinda ? as Another Story featured every major villain from Dark Kingdom arc to Mugen arc but they could focus it on the Oppositio Senshi and Apsu. It also would be cool if previous Senshi actors would return as the Oppositio Senshi (for example, AE Inners)

5) Kaguya Shima Densetsu/Snow Kaguya hybrid

So this is kind of similiar to my #1 idea but I feel like this needed to be its own thing. It could be possible that they'd fuse these two stories into one where Snow Kaguya replaces Dark Plasman and she is somehow connected to Kaguya Island since they have the same name(although she was given that name by Kakeru but who knows. Myulore tends to be confusing sometimes lol). And the reason for this is that I think that we will not get Kaguya Shima Densetsu remade and I will get to that soon

6) The Dracul series remake

I have my doubts about this since the Dracul series tends to be kinda confusing and since it's a story that requires all 3/4 musicals to be watched and that all to happen in the span of 3 years would be kinda hard to follow (during BanMyu it only took about a year and a half as they did multiple musicals in the span of one year but now they are doing only one musical a year, not counting Super Live). And the 4 musicals had way too many plot points in them so it would be fairly impossible to put that all in one musical. Also, it had kinda dark stuff in it so not sure if it would be allowed to be performed in this day and age lmao. (But I actually had a dream some time ago that Sayaka Okamura(Snow Kaguya) sang Muma no Oodri as Death Lamia so yeah lol)

7) Sailor V musical

I think the best point for a Sailor V musical would have been in 2018 after LMF as the main story has ended and the cast at the time had had their "graduation". So as much as I want a Sailor V musical I do not really see them doing it now when they have a cast of all the Senshi (unless they decide to do multiple musicals a year)

8) Kaguya Shima Densetsu remake

I do not see this happening as of now cause I just cannot see Dark Plasman played by a woman. I do not mean this with the intent to hurt anyone's feelings or to attack those who are fans of the all-female cast. It's just that Dark Plasman has such a deep voice that I just don't think it would be possible, or if they did, I think I would personally not enjoy it. I mean, if there is someone who has a deep voice like that, I would be happy to see it, but it just seems kinda unlikely as the deepest voice we have had in NewMyu this far are Syu Shiotsuki (UNV-LMF Sailor Uranus) and Kei Oogi (UNV Kaolinite). So unless they return to the mixed cast they had in BanMyu I do not see Kaguya Shima Densetsu happening in its original form in any way in the near future.

9) Other side stories

This is kinda random but maybe they could make musicals from other side stories. This seems very unlikely tho as the other side stories are a lot shorter and KHnK (unless they decide to make the Exam Battles into one musical or something idk) Demon Tree arc is also a possibility

10) NogiMyu R

Don't really see this happening as it has been quite a long time since the previous NogiMyu (although Super Live made a comeback so who knows). The only things to support this are the facts that at the end of NogiMyu they teased us with the Black Moon arc and ever since then it's been a possibility. Also on the Official Sailor Moon website, NogiMyu is still listed in the "Stage" section even after all this time so maybe they could be planning something with it. But if NogiMyu does make a comeback, I hope they do not do the DK arc AGAIN.

So there are many possibilities but will any of them come true? Who knows lol

Terms

KHnK: Kaguya-hime no Koibito musical from 2021

AE: Amour Eternal, musical from 2016 based on the SuperS/Dream/Yume arc

BanMyu: Sailor Moon musicals made by Bandai 1993-2005

UNV: Un Nouveau Voyage, musical from 2015 based on the Super/Infinity/Mugen arc

LMF: Le Mouvement Final, musical from 2017 based on the Stars arc

NewMyu: "new" Sailor Moon musicals by Nelke 2013-2017/2023 (some consider NewMyu to be only the five musicals of the first five arcs but some consider since 2013 to be part of NewMyu)

NogiMyu: Nogizaka46 Sailor Moon musical from 2018-2019 based on the Dark Kingdom arc

#sera myu #sailor moon #sailor moon musicals #usagi's birthday #june 30th #sailor moon 30th anniversary #30th anniversary #musical festival chronicle #banmyu #new myu #nelke myu #nogimyu #sailor v #kaguya hime no koibito

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disneyat34 · 2 years

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Frozen II at 35

A review by Adam D. Jaspering

Frozen was meant to be a stand-alone work. Released in an era that prioritized sequels and remakes, Disney Animation valued innovation and new ideas. But Frozen was a special case. Frozen was not just a popular film, it was a phenomenon.

The original Frozen was successful, acclaimed, and popular by every metric. Ironically, it was almost too celebrated to make a sequel. Anything that follows up such a landmark production was sure to be a lesser effort by comparison.

Upon completion of the 2015 theatrical short Frozen Fever, Disney decided it was worth the risk. The characters of Frozen were still beloved. Their world was still engaging. The concepts were still fun. The audience was still eager. Disney wanted to return to the world of Frozen, and a sequel was greenlit.

In a show of eagerness, Disney gave themselves a standard four-year production window. Fans and investors alike were expecting Frozen II in theaters by November 2019. Surely, such optimism would in no way backfire.

Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, writers and directors of the original Frozen, returned to helm Frozen II. The duo branched out, onboarding other official writers. This included storyboard artist and animator Marc Smith. Also joining were Frozen’s soundtrack mavens Robert and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. The award-winning songwriters were no longer consulted just for musical needs. The husband and wife team were contributing story beats as well.

Perhaps five writers were needed to ensure quality. Perhaps it contributed to the increasingly layered and complex plot. Perhaps because the two initial writer/directors were detained with other duties. In 2018, partway through production, Lee was promoted to Chief Creative Officer of Disney Animation.

In the past, I’ve lauded the efforts and contributions of former CCO John Lasseter. I chose my words carefully, knowing full well how his tenure with the company ended. Lasseter, despite his achievements, left Disney on very unfortunate terms.

As CCO, Lasseter’s creative and artistic visions lifted Disney Animation out of a dark age. However, it was his personal behavior that resulted in his departure. Lasseter made frequent salacious remarks and unwanted physical advances towards Disney’s female staff. An ongoing problem, this behavior began when he was at Pixar, and continued well throughout his employment with Disney. He used his power, his authority, and his connections to silence any objection. But after many years and many victims, the secrets erupted. As the allegations went public, Disney removed Lasseter from his role.

Jennifer Lee was promoted to fill the void. This opportunity gave her the dual responsibility of overseeing all of Disney Animation while also continuing to finalize the production of Frozen II. A distracted and overworked director, even one of two co-directors, explains much of the final film.

It was decided early on, Frozen II would be centered on a hook. Elsa would hear a strange, ephemeral voice beckoning her. Four notes, sung across the wind, only she can hear. She’d go on an adventure, trying to find who is calling her and what they want.

Such a foundation should be great a jumping off point for a screenplay. Except nobody on staff knew at the time who this voice would belong to, or what their relation to Elsa would be. Nor did they decide on these factors in a timely manner. Production continued with the idea left ambiguous and undecided, under the assurance the details would be provided down the line. Without a central plot or direction, development of the story proceeded at an awkward, aimless pace.

Everybody had vague ideas about how the movie should look and how it should feel. Nobody knew what the movie should consist of. All they had were odd story bits and scenery. Songs sung about nothing in particular for no known reason. New characters who had no purpose and no reason for existence. And no central story to tie everything together.

In February 2019, the first teaser trailer was released online. It featured Elsa standing on a beach at night, staring down the crashing tides. She attempts to run across the water, daring to breech the ocean waves that crash on top of her. She’s alone, she’s determined, and she’s fighting nature’s might with all her strength.

The trailer garnered interest and buzz. Fans all speculated the same things. Why was Elsa alone? Where was she? Where was she trying to get to? Why was she so desperate to combat nature, not taking a boat, or waiting until the waters calmed?

The filmmakers had no answers because they themselves had the same exact questions. After three years of development, this scene, apart from a few isolated test scenes, was the only completed part of the film. The animators had nothing to animate because the story and storyboards were still changing. The filmmakers didn’t know what Elsa was doing, how she got there, or what it all meant. All they knew was that it looked cool. But they used it for the teaser trailer, so they were obligated to fit it in the film somewhere.

Test screenings of the movie were disasters. Child audiences were either bored or confused. The plot was too convoluted, exposition dumps were unhelpful, and scenes went on too long. The film’s tone was too dark and too dry, lacking the childish humor of its predecessor. Much of the film felt hopelessly bleak.

These test screenings forced rewrites all the way to May, 2019. The plot was simplified, humor was added, and the story moved at a more exciting pace. Frozen II was being rewritten six months before the release date.

There is a docuseries on the making of Frozen II available on Disney+. It was likely intended to be a marketing tool, giving audiences even more Frozen content. It unintentionally depicts the desperate path to completion. Disney higher-ups have edited the series to seem like Frozen II was a labor of love, but the stress bleeds through.

It’s clear everyone involved was deeply invested in the project. The problems weren’t an issue of incompetence, arrogance, or limitations. The film just couldn’t coalesce. At a certain point, the motivation was nothing more than “get it done.”

Frozen II is the end result of a marathon session of rewrites, reworks and re-edits. It’s a miracle a film of any regard came from such a Sisyphean effort. If a release date wasn’t already promised, Frozen II would have very likely languished in development hell for years.

Frozen II takes place three years after the events of the previous film. Life has gone on without significant drama or upheaval. Our heroes are happy. Their kingdom is prosperous. Everything seems fine. All until Elsa begins receiving omens. To find answers, she and her colleagues venture to a mythic land up north. There, they must confront their kingdom’s past, discover their family heritage, learn their destinies, and right a wrong generations in the making.

The first thing one notices about the film, setting it apart from its predecessor, is the color scheme. Frozen was set during an unseasonable winter curse. Its hibernal setting prompted landscapes of icy splendor, including snow-draped landscapes and motifs of white and blue.

The sequel is set in autumn. A variety of arboreal colors interact, focused on reds, violets and deep green. The only scenes featuring snow and ice feature Elsa specifically. The name ‘Frozen’ is doing its setting a disservice.

Once again, color theory is employed to great effect. The first film used its color scheme to reflect Elsa specifically. There was a delicate beauty representing Elsa’s fragile mental state, but also a chilling sense of danger, representing her despair and hostility. The autumnal colors of the sequel represents both Elsa and Anna together. Autumn is a time of transition. Before we know the stakes of the plot, we know the the film will be focusing on impermanence and change.

The first change is one of setting. The first movie took place in Arendelle and its surrounding forests and mountains. The sequel removes our heroes from these familiar areas. They move further north to a land called Northuldra.

Arendelle is a rather undefined place. Its unclear whether its a nation, a nation state, or the capital city within a nation. It’s not important. What is important is, Arendelle is set in a fictionalized version of Norway.

A Norwegian setting was chosen purely for aesthetic reasons in the first film. The sequel uses its real-world counterpart for a fuller narrative effect. Northuldra is an area in the taiga biome, sparsely populated, with only hearty flora and fauna surviving. Its sole human residents are foragers, lacking any permanent structures or colonies. The Northuldran people have a relatively small tribe (about 50 people), but a rich culture.

Northuldra is a stand-in for the Sápmi region and the resident Sámi people. Scandinavians and the Sámi live mostly detached lives to each other. Scandinavians prefer the southern portion of the peninsula for its arable farmland. The Sámi prefer the north, where great populations of reindeer live. This passive cohabitation has preserved the Sámi culture and lifestyle.

The plot of Frozen II uses this cultural relationship as fodder for its own plot. The Arendelle citizens represent Norway, while the Northuldrans represent the Sámi.

Acknowledging Disney’s poor history of depicting indigenous cultures onscreen, the Sámi insisted on a cultural ambassador opportunity. The filmmakers accepted, sending several representatives to Sápmi. They absorbed the culture, made diligent notes, and shared preliminary character models and story bits. This ensured what appeared onscreen was both respectable and accurate.

Also part of the contract, Disney would produce an officially dubbed version of Frozen II in the Sámi language. A genuine gesture of goodwill, and also a clever contract rider. An ignored international demographic now had a movie that would be uniquely theirs.

The Northuldran are depicted as an unknown culture to our heroes. They’re simple, but not primitive. They’re interesting, but not a sideshow. They’re seen as rustic and rural rather than uncivilized or savage.

There are many ways to read the differences between the two groups. Their clothing is one of the most interesting. Anna and Elsa wear dyed fabrics, embroidered with intricate designs. These outfits are clearly handmade and personalized for them. Even Kristoff, laden in fur and leather, is far departed from mere hunting and trapping. Rugged and durable, they’re manufactured all the same.

This contrasts against the Northuldran, all of whom wear a uniform, practical outfit. The prime focus of clothing is not of fashion, but functionality and unity. One type of outfit for one tribe with no extraneous details. If it rips, it can be mended. If it’s ruined, it can be replaced. If more are needed, more can be made.

But this uniformity is not depressing or stifling. In the simplicity, there is beauty. The dulled browns and grays emphasizes a tapestry-like focus to needlework. It’s admirable as a craft, not as couture. What’s more, the monotone appearance emboldens the scenery and the world around them. The people look clean, simple, and humble to emphasize instead the resplendent glory of their forest home. Again, the autumn setting working to the film’s advantage.

One of the most beautiful moments of the film isn’t visual, but musical. Upon Anna and Elsa learning their mother was Northuldran, the entire populace welcome their estranged sisters wholly into their ranks. They do so with a choral performance, strongly implied to be an honorable cultural tradition (Olaf steps on this tradition, but only for a second before the film cuts away).

Although Anna and Elsa are unfamiliar with it, we the audience recognize the song. This is the same choral chant that accompanied the title card of the first Frozen and the studio logos of the second.

But this isn’t a lazy bit of recycling. The filmmakers weren’t considering a canonical use when the number was first performed. They just needed something that sounded Norwegian and somewhat mystical to introduce the Frozen title card. They used a traditional folk song, and that was that.

In the sequel, the piece is given a new context, one inside the film world’s universe. This abstract orchestration has been given a definition and a purpose. It’s an amazing bit of retroactive connectivity that makes the world of Frozen and Frozen II seem like a cohesive, defined unit.

While the score and music are both grandiose accompaniments, nothing quite reaches the heights of its predecessor. The major problem is, Frozen II’s soundtrack is treated as a retread, not a continuation. Many of this film’s big numbers seem to mimic the first film, trying to replicate its success. “Some Things Never Change” is the follow-up to “For the First Time in Forever.” “When I am Older” is the partner of “In Summer.” “Reindeer are Better Than People” gets a reprisal before its spun into a much more bombastic original work.

Elsa gets two numbers, both hoping to copy the success of “Let It Go.” “Into the Unknown” and “Show Yourself” both demonstrate the range and power of Idina Menzel’s voice. Both demonstrate Elsa’s magical abilities front and center. Both hit emotional high notes, highlighting Elsa’s psyche and confidence. Both feature grand demonstrations of animation, letting fantasy visuals of snow and ice accompany the music.

“Show Yourself” goes one step beyond emulation. Just like “Let It Go,” Elsa once again constructs a palace out of ice. Once again she lets her hair down and manifests a glamorous gown. Once again the lyrics serve dual purpose, reflecting both Elsa’s current place in the narrative and her subconscious feelings. They may have been eager to replicate the success of “Let It Go”, but this is desperate.

Frozen II establishes its themes early, the same way a musical puts its auditory motifs into an overture. It introduces everything blatantly, even awkwardly, all sequentially in the beginning. It’s not until later, after the story develops and these themes return, do we see their significance. Until then, it just seems as though everyone is speaking in cryptic platitudes.

Anna and Elsa’s mother sings a lullaby whose origins and significance are a secret. Their father tells a bedtime story from his past which he describes in great detail except for the portion regarding himself. Repeated talk about the comfort of familiarity portends a tragic irony. Anna adopts the tenet of doing the next right thing despite the suggestion not being given to her specifically. Olaf insists water has memory completely unprovoked. The apparitions from “Into the Unknown” are literal displays of what’s about to come. There’s foreshadowing, there’s preludes, and there’s whatever’s going on here.

After this prelude to a means, the movie begins in earnest. Arendelle is besieged by strange natural phenomena. Darkness, droughts, strong winds and earthquakes befall the city, forcing an evacuation. Elsa recognizes this as an ultimatum. She’s not only being beckoned to travel north, she’s being forced.

This is our first insistence that Frozen II is departing from its predecessor. The tonal theme shifts wildly. Our fantasy adventure is turning into a tense, atmospheric drama.

Up north, our heroes are tasked with passing through a mist that has isolated Northuldra for years. Not an ordinary fog, this is a magical forcefield. Only Elsa has the ability to pass through, bringing her companions with her.

The impenetrable boundaries. The feeling of imprisonment. The unfamiliar environment. The lack of sky. The strange colors. The impossible wind patterns. The rising panic. The threat of separation. The sense that everyone’s being watched… Don’t let the bright colors and animated characters distract you from the situation at hand. For five whole minutes, Frozen II is coded like a horror movie. This is a film with a singing snowman, but it feels like something made by Alex Garland.

The first film was a personal journey, focusing heavily on Elsa’s character arc. It was an allegorical tale, broaching topics such as mental illness, identity issues, and suppressed trauma. Frozen II keeps its characters mostly static, though the threat of Elsa backsliding into her old ways is on everyone’s mind.

Instead, the focus is on the family history of Arendelle’s royal family. Before, Elsa and Anna’s parents were just parts of a tragic backstory. They were basically stock characters, and didn’t even have names.

Through carefully placed discoveries, revelations and flashbacks, we learn about the life and death of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna. They met the day Northuldra disappeared. They died searching for the same answers Anna and Elsa are now searching for themselves. They don’t know what caused Northuldra to disappear; they don’t understand the magic involved. They suspected the same magic was responsible for Elsa’s powers, and they wanted answers.

But once again, all this was decided after the fact. No one during the production of the original Frozen considered Agnarr and Iduna’s death to have a significant purpose. These new plot details were considered years later, while the old ones were manipulated in order to establish a timeline. As the movie plays out, it’s easy to forget they didn’t die trying to save Northuldra. They were trying to cure Elsa’s magic, still considered a tragic curse at the time of their deaths.

No one in 2013 thought about Elsa’s magical origins or what it meant. Elsa was magic, and that was enough. Frozen II tried to create a story out of nothingness, with nothing to go on. If they had, these facts could have been integrated better, following a better sense of logic.

Why is the Fire spirit an ordinary salamander sometimes when none of the other spirits have animal forms? Why does the Air spirit have no corporeal form at all beyond wind? Why are there several Earth spirits instead of just one? Elsa is the uniting spirit between Earth, Water, Fire and Air, so why does she have ice powers? Ice is a form of water. She should either have the ability to manipulate all four elements, or have a neutral unassociated fifth power.

It’s a Frankenstein sort of filmmaking, joining together different concepts with mismatched results. The film is full of logical inconsistencies and outrageous behavior. Actions don’t necessarily correspond to decisions made. Characters overreact or underreact to plot details.

Why? The troubled screenwriting process. The only concrete elements of the story were markers. The movie needed to hit those markers in a certain order at a certain rate. When the filmmakers couldn’t guide the film naturally to those markers, they forced it. Sometimes effects and causes were decided at two different iterations of the writing process, leaving them mismatched in the final film.

For example, Kristoff heads to a forest glen to ready a romantic proposal for Anna. He’s maybe five minutes away, but Anna considers this departure a form of abandonment and leaves camp without him. Elsa sees lumbering stone giants and turns her gaze towards them as they pass. Anna considers this evidence that Elsa is about ready to impudently storm off. Elsa has a theory that the wind spirits are guiding her to an island. Rather than explain it’s only accessible to her because of her ice magic, she blindsides Anna and Olaf, magically chucking them into the woods, nearly killing them in the process.

The lack of motivations are distracting, but worse is its heavy nature. The first movie was a fairy tale, this one is a tragedy. Many scenes are too stressful or too dramatic for their own good. Elsa and Anna learn about the untimely fate of their parents. They learn their grandfather was an abhorrent monster. They both face numerous threats of abandonment, injury, and death.

To compensate, humor is shoved into awkward places. Focus groups determined the movie was alienating children. Frozen II needed some softer moments. As such, we have many jokes and vignettes clearly added after the fact, not fully integrated with the plot.

Olaf delivers a one-man show, humorously recounting the plot of the first Frozen. Kristoff gets an absurd love ballad that’s straight from the days of hair metal. A Northuldran herder reveals he also uses ventriloquism to make his reindeer talk, just like Sven. Hans is mentioned surprisingly often, each time dismissed with flippant annoyance. Elsa bashfully regrets her affinity for showy drama, twice cringing when reminded of her “Let It Go" performance.

The original Frozen earned acclaim for making Elsa a complicated character. She was a metaphor, prompting a number of valid discussions. Frozen II tries to be bold with its morality as well, but doesn’t fully succeed in either its message or how its delivered.

Elsa and Anna discover that their grandfather, the former king of Arendelle, betrayed the Northuldran people. He built a giant dam for them under the guise of diplomacy. In reality, it weakened their natural resources. This exploitation forced their dependency on Arendelle. When confronted with these accusations, the king assassinated the Northuldran leader, sparking a war between the two civilizations.

Elsa and Anna, separated during this discovery, each come to terms with a different half of the moral. Elsa’s half focuses on the effects of bigotry. Magic has been empowering for Elsa. It’s coded as a cultural trait, something connecting Elsa to her Northuldran heritage. Her grandfather despised Northuldra for the same reason. Magic is foreign, therefore strange, therefore must be eradicated.

For his intolerance, the king lost everything: his kingdom, his family’s respect, and ultimately his life. Meanwhile, Elsa is actively and emphatically non-racist. She not only excels as a head of state, but she’s powerful, glamorous, popular. Racism is bad, not being racist is good. It’s a very obvious moral, spelled out in no uncertain terms.

Anna’s half of the moral is more subtle, and delivered more effectively. Her portion focuses on racial privilege. Her grandfather’s misdeeds were heinous, but she had no knowledge of them until this point. She has, however, reaped its benefits every day of her life. Her royal title, her wealth, Arendelle’s prosperity, her loving parents, and her magical sister; everything she has comes from Arendelle gaining from Northuldra’s losses.

Anna’s exposure to tragedy, physical exhaustion, psychological trauma, and emotional pain all culminate here. The line of suffering ends with her, and she is taking drastic measures. Anna needs to make things right, even if it seems irrational or insane. She destroys the dam, even if it means flooding Arendelle.

The prophecy called for King Agnarr and Queen Iduna having a child, but they had two. Each needed to prove themselves worthy, independent of the other. Elsa is the one blessed with magical powers, Anna is the one grounded in humanity. Elsa is the one who reunites the magic with Northuldra, while Anna is the one who saves their land. And she does so by destroying the accursed dam.

In the end, she’s justified. Deciding to flood Arendelle was a final test of character. For her actions, the magic forces who have been guiding Elsa intervene, sparing the kingdom, diverting the flood. Not even raising the harbor’s water level. Its unsatisfying knowing that this dramatic sacrifice doesn’t actually involve any sacrifice. The stakes were raised and then lowered without any significance. It’s superficial drama.

The greatest strength of Frozen II is its quality of animation. While the animation of Frozen was great in its own right, the sequel is in another class. Every single frame is filled with rich detail. The animators focused attention on every small detail. Even things the average viewer would never notice or consider. Wood grain in lumber. Stitching on clothing. Condensation on glass. Skin and hair texture.

Elsa is still a cartoon character, but she’s a stunningly detailed cartoon character. You can see freckles, musculature, nailbeds, and individual eyebrow hairs. She spends much of the movie in a bodysuit that defies logic; there’s no collar, it just dissipates into nothingness around her collarbone. The fabric turns into adhesive sequins that turn into skin. And yet, all one can do is admire how each of those sequins are rendered with such careful attention.

The film looks fantastic. To young audiences, those stellar sights can distract from the story which they’re almost guaranteed not to follow.

This is a film where two young lovers perform an act of love while their respective nations devolve into war. For their purity, they are spared from a mystical curse that secludes the warring participants and the land from the outside world. The progeny of the two innocents will be a legendary fifth element, with the ability to control and manipulate ice and snow. This gift will allow her to one day unite the elements, allowing her to learn the truth, and bring harmony to the warring people. In doing so, she must destroy a dam that’s affected the environment. It was deceptively built as an act of goodwill, but was deliberately detrimental, disenfranchising the populace, making them ripe for colonial exploitation. However, destroying the dam will doom her home empire sitting at the base of the river. All this prompts the moral quandaries of whether children are responsible for the transgressions of their forefathers, and whether an empire built on the oppression of others deserves its modern glory.

This is the only film in the Disney Canon that needs its own page on Sparknotes. And remember, this is after a series of rewrites from test screenings calling the film too complex. This is the simplified version.

The end result of Frozen II is a massive film whose failure is its ambition. It’s a complicated plot with too much fantasy lore among a huge familial backstory. Instead of characters defined by their adventure, the characters are already defined. So they’re further defined to excess, explaining every how, who, and why, forgetting the appeal of fantasy is that things don’t always need an answer. As satisfying as it is to learn the origins and purpose of Elsa’s ice powers, it also robs the character of her mystery.

And that in essence was the major failings of Disney’s sequels in 2018 and 2019. They were making follow-ups to stories that didn’t need or anticipate follow ups. There was no story left to tell, so writers forced a story, and it feels forced. We get to revisit old characters we know and love, but what’s new is superficial and clashing. The experience is unrewarding.

While Frozen II did outgross Frozen on an equivalent budget (supplanting it as Disney Animation’s highest grossing film of all time), it killed the studio’s ambition for further sequels. Production was an ordeal, and the film was an overcomplicated mess held together with duct tape and wishes. Had this been a follow-up to any film besides Frozen, things could have been a disaster of Black Cauldron proportions.

To this end, Disney changed its approach to animated sequels. It didn’t matter what the beloved characters were doing, just as long as audiences got to revisit them. If the stakes were that low, there was no point creating a full-length screenplay. Short form content for Disney+ would suffice just the same. After all, Frozen II was made in the first place because the short Frozen Fever was a success.

Frozen II has its strengths, but it’s a confusing and overwhelming experience. Especially considering most of its audience was expecting something simple, or at least comfortable. The movie is overstuffed with ideas, most of which are underdeveloped or disjointed. By making a sequel to their most popular and profitable film, Disney was hoping lightning would strike twice. But in a franchise themed around snow, they should have been more concerned about avalanches. Beauty and the Beast Fantasia The Lion King Frozen Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs Cinderella Alice in Wonderland Sleeping Beauty Mulan Zootopia Tangled The Little Mermaid Aladdin Lilo & Stitch The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh Pinocchio The Jungle Book Robin Hood The Sword in the Stone Bambi The Emperor’s New Groove The Hunchback of Notre Dame Moana The Princess and the Frog The Great Mouse Detective Big Hero 6 101 Dalmatians Bolt The Three Caballeros Lady and the Tramp Frozen II The Rescuers Down Under Atlantis: The Lost Empire Wreck-It Ralph The Fox and the Hound Fantasia 2000 Peter Pan Dumbo Hercules Meet the Robinsons Brother Bear The Black Cauldron Melody Time Oliver & Company Treasure Planet Tarzan The Rescuers Pocahontas Saludos Amigos The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad Winnie the Pooh The Aristocats Ralph Breaks the Internet Dinosaur Fun and Fancy Free Make Mine Music Home on the Range Chicken Little

#Frozen ii #Frozen 2 #Disney #walt disney #Walt Disney Animation Studios #disney studios #Disney Canon #film analysis #movie review #Film Criticism

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babycatlix · 1 year

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#GIFREMAKECHALLENGE – DO NOT REPOST ↳ originals left: april/may, 2022 – remakes right: june, 2022

@spoopy-boo started this cool gif remake challenge! so here i am with my gifs! i’ve actually been making gifs since 2018, but i never thought to recolor or anything like that. i just adjusted the frame timing and added a watermark. i stopped making gifs in late 2021. i wasn’t really... motivated i guess, i wasn’t excited to gif things. but after i fell into stray kids, i found motivation again and here i am!

even in such a small time frame, 1–2 months, i started to use all 3 parts of the color balance layer, which is such a dramatic improvement from the left to right. i remember making the gifs on the left and thinking they looked amazing (which they do), but looking at them compared to the right, there’s so much more color, more life on the right since i started using all 3 parts of the color balance layer i use.

this is so cool to see, even when i looked at these gifs back in june, i thought they looked a little lifeless and i wanted them to look better. so i actually went back through ALL my gifs from april, 2022 and recolored them ALL. i would call it the perfectionist in me that made me do that, but yeah, this is a fun challenge!

#lee felix #yang jeongin #gifremakechallenge #stray kids #usersun #amanda.tag #userlau #sunnishine #userbeepls #heyale #usertsu #cheekyuser #g: skz #m: gifs

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sparklingdemon · 2 years

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who wants some cool behind the scenes “making of” stuff for explorers of death?

this is a long post with a lot of fun facts/trivia, so i’m going to have it all under the cut!

i made the first experimental screenshots for EOD back around 2018.

at first, i wasn’t planning on making a fully fledged remake, it was just going to be a remastering of V2.

the beach wasn’t grayscale, or the whole world for that matter, because the original story hadn’t described it like that. instead i tweaked the beach to have a nighttime palette instead.

^ (shot of the beach used in the final)

this changed once i decided to expand on the lore - since explorers of sky’s ruined future was monochrome, i thought it would better suit the theme of the story.

shadow, and all the enemy pokemon myra faced in the original EOD, were all monochrome as well, so i wanted to make the environment suit their designs.

this was a really silly looking test. the original pasta describes myra and shadow as being in a nondescript cave with nothing but a campfire, and this was the best placeholder image i could find?

spriters resource didn’t have sprites of any campfires despite there being multiple in the game, so i just used the effects of some fire type attack. it looks really dumb, haha.

i considered using armaldo’s cave at one point, but i wasn’t sure how far away the cave is from treasure town and thought that might be immersion breaking. this was also before i started developing the rewritten story.

eventually, i settled on sharpedo bluff, because i wanted myra to explore around the ruined treasure town before going into the dungeon.

conveniently, it also had a campfire during one of its cutscenes.

this early test version of shadow’s death doesn’t even have a background!!

i think it was because i couldn’t figure out where the scene took place - the original pasta didn’t describe it as well as i’d liked.

once i’d finally thrown V1/V2′s environments out the window, i eventually settled on this cave design. it’s a modified version of the pit that igglybuff and armaldo fall into and face a monster house inside of.

the dungeon is supposed to take place inside of beach cave, but i like to think that cave is somewhere even deeper below than the final room of beach cave you’d see in the regular explorers of sky.

probably one of the oldest test images i made, but i liked it so much that it made it into the final version!

i wanted to emulate the canon style/body type of squirtle, rather than my usual art style, and i think i pulled it off pretty well.

time for the reason why i couldn’t finish this story until 2021, despite brainstorming for it in 2018 - the dungeon!

my pokepastas aren’t really rom hacks, they’re just glorified sprite comics, made using modified screenshots taken from an emulator. so, before skytemple, i had no feasible way of creating convincing looking gameplay screenshots of the mystery dungeon itself.

i couldn’t modify pokemon inside the dungeons, i couldn’t give dungeons the custom tilesets i wanted, and so i couldn’t have myra fight enemy pokemon in a convincing manner. essentially, a major portion of the story was impossible for me to do.

skytemple, the explorers of sky hacking tool, was then released at the end of 2020. it made the whole remake possible to finish.

it allowed me to modify beach cave to have the pokemon i needed to fight, and the number of floors i wanted.

characters speaking to myra was all faked though, i do not think this is actually possible, even with rom hacking tools like skytemple.

something that was kind of funny though - in my modding attempts, i somehow managed to crash the game when trying to make kecleon’s shop spawn on floor 10, which was unfortunately where i wanted it to be.

whenever i tried to load in the shop by stepping into the room kecleon was in, the game would just crash with no explanation.

the strange part was that kecleon’s shop was perfectly functional if it was on floor 1 instead. i never figured out how to fix the crash, so, for the entirety of the kecleon floor, i had to edit the HUD to say “B10F” instead of “B1F”.

for the most part though, everything in the dungeon was relatively smooth.

the only fight that was Entirely Fake was actually the unborn. i didn’t know how to make a custom boss fight using skytemple, and even if i did, i don’t know if the game can actually handle this many pokemon on the field at once.

so, instead, i laid out a game plan.

i had every movement planned out. instead of myra actually fighting all these pokemon at once, i would insert the pokemon into the scene artificially.

every pokemon that myra attacked, and every pokemon that attacked myra, would be fought in-game one at a time, and spliced into the battle scene i had laid out.

so, if the unborn’s movements are inaccurate to the AI that pokemon actually have in EOS, it’s because i made up their every move in a way that i assumed they would behave.

however. due to an error in my planning, i realized that totodile would be able to move upwards and attack myra for an extra point of damage. i even lampshade this in the story itself.

that wasn’t an intended error on the narrator/player’s part, it was a genuine mistake in my battle plan that i had to roll with. i’d already made a massive mistake with my battle plan that caused me to have to do the whole thing over, and i didn’t want to redo it again just to make the narrator’s fight as optimal as possible.

it... adds realism, i suppose??

also, just for fun, here’s what the unborn’s icon and background would look like in full motion!

there were three different stages of this background, increasing in intensity as myra lost more hp. this is the kind of cool stuff that i can’t show off when the media is still images.

NOW, time for the really fun part!

this isn’t necessarily “cut content” for the story itself, but these are things that were intended to be in the official explorers of death rom hack, developed by jesterfox6. (now cancelled, unfortunately!)

though the hack is cancelled, it had some semi-canon stuff to it that i’d love to show off!

these are ideas i had after the story was already completed, but it was nothing intrusive to the final story. a lot of the easter eggs here are things that the narrator would have missed out on seeing, but were theoretically possible!

this was a hidden easter egg for the top screen. it wasn’t meant to be seen in normal gameplay, as myra would have been covered up by the top screen’s menus and text boxes.

here was a version i made just for fun with eyes!

this bit is noncanon. due to hacking limitations, the part where you analyze your aura was unable to be removed.

if you lift your finger from the touch screen early, you get some secret text!

this was unused text that was in my original draft of the rewrite, but i instead removed the aura analyzing altogether.

it was scrapped because it messed with the pacing of vulpix myra being revealed, but i still like this idea.

the aura test was also modified to have the bow be white 100% of the time. the bow is not obtainable within the story, and was instead meant to symbolically suggest that maybe myra the vulpix doesn’t have an aura...?

there are secrets in the options menu, too! changing the top screen to “job” reveals myra’s objective.

the map and team option seems relatively normal at first, with myra on a monochrome map...

but as you approach beach cave, text appears at the bottom of the map!

some additional text the narrator missed out on! the eggs inside of chansey daycare have all been ruined.

if you try to save your game here, you’re not allowed.

this text has a double meaning, mocking myra as if to say that she can’t save her adventure or her world.

inside of wigglytuff’s guild, the top screen has an image! in theory the narrator would have seen this, but it’s okay to have the story without it, as it doesn’t add that much to the story.

my favorite is the “who is myra?” one, but the “food?” one adds a bit of lore that everyone here is starving as they’re losing themselves.

here’s what the item info for the vulpix tail says!

as the description suggests, myra would have been able to eat the vulpix tail.

i was kind of kicking myself, because i came up with this idea after the story was already done. i would have loved to do this instead of the narrator spitefully throwing it away...!

though the narrator wouldn’t have dropped it inside the dungeon at any point, i made a custom sprite for the tail, just in case anyone playing the hack would have dropped it.

in the bedroom that the player and partner would have had in the guild, there’s a secret in the bed that would have been myra’s.

this one was jesterfox6′s suggestion, added in as a half-joking reference to a gag from oneshot.

wigglytuff is not happy to be going hungry!

and speaking of wigglytuff, i had a handful of ideas about him!

for starters, if the player tries to go down to the beach before wigglytuff’s guild, myra will shake her head. you’re supposed to go to the guild first and burn it down, but you can actually continue forward despite myra’s protest if you try again!

myra would automatically walk to the middle of the road, before turning around.

wigglytuff’s shadow would quickly rush in to attack her, and the screen fades to black.

but in the demo hack, she just wakes up back at sharpedo bluff as if the whole thing didn’t happen.

a similar scenario would play out if the player tried to go into wigglytuff’s room instead of running out of the guild.

however, a different death would have theoretically occurred if wigglytuff caught myra while chasing her.

the following is a mockup gif of how the scene might have played out -

if he caught up to myra, a scene would start where he grabs her and begins to eat her alive. during the scene, the screen would fade to black.

in canon, these kinds of scenes would have resulted in the narrator’s premature game over, permanently killing off myra before getting to any of the fun story stuff. that’s why it would have appeared in the rom hack, where players could fail on purpose without the high stakes of missing out on the rest of the story.

but since the hack turned out to be unfeasible, i decided to show off all this unseen stuff!

that’s pretty much all i have to show off for now, but i’ll be willing to show off more if people have any follow-up questions, haha.

if you made it this far, thank you!

#pokepasta #pmd explorers of death

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dsi-os · 2 years

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hi twitt doesnt seem to like our original stuff so heres our entire object show concept thread /HJ

[4 days ago]

alright so

in 2018/2019 we came up with an object show idea called "tostde" or. aka. "the object show that doesnt exist" (with spinoffs such as "accidently exists" or "was made last week")

it was basically an excuse to use our old stories and mix it with what our fixation was

and now! because we found it again, we decided to fully remake it from scratch

same characters, yeah but. yknow

so this is gonna be thread ahaha

heres animation tests! 2019 vs 2022

and the full lineup of MOST of the characters! or atleast like. the main focus ones (in order: post-it/notey, boxy, stop-sign,keyboard, ribbon, cubey/"the host", soda-can, love-lettery, candy-heart, planty/pottery, tablet-pen)

oh no

also heres MOSTLY JOKE interactions between stop sign and ribbon

and finally, another thing with stopsign and ribbon

[today]

also look we found what 2018-2019 sodacan looked like- also back when we could do pixel art

i dont know what happened to him this is such a downgrade but at the same time we kinda like it

#object oc #object show #object show character #object show community #object shows #osc #please look at this #i beg of you #please

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etes-secrecy-post · 1 year

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Hi, before I explain my post, I want to say something important.

• What you see my blog has become a major overhaul. And despite the changes, I decided that my 2nd account will be now my artwork blog with a secret twist.

⚠️NEW RULE! (W/ BIGGER TEXT!)⚠️

⚠️ SO PLEASE DO NOT SHARE MY 2nd ACCOUNT TO EVERYONE! THIS SECRECY BLOG OF MINE IS FOR CLOSES FRIENDS ONLY!⚠️

• AND FOR MY CLOSES FRIENDS, DON’T REBLOG IT. INSTEAD, JUST COPY MY LINK AND PASTE IT ON YOUR TUMBLR POST! JUST BE SURE THE IMAGE WILL BE REMOVED AND THE ONLY LEFT WAS THE TEXT.

⚠️ SHARING LINKS, LIKE POSTS, REBLOG POSTS, STEALING MY SNAPSHOT PHOTOS/RECORDED VIDEOS/ARTWORKS (a.k.a. ART THIEVES) OR PLAGIARIZING FROM UNKNOWN TUMBLR STRANGERS WILL IMMEDIATELY BE BLOCKED, RIGHT AWAY!⚠️

😡 WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT EVER LIKED & REBLOG MY SECRET POST! THIS IS FOR MY SECRET FRIENDS ONLY, NOT YOU!

Okay? Capiche? Make sense? Good, now back to the post…↓

#OnThisDay: Jan 12th, 2018

Title: Freedom Spot - Attack Upside Down

This is a "GIF" drawing for Spot (I - Cuteness Leader). 🙂

I made both my 1st GIMP art project and a GIF artwork in ONE this year of 2018.

Well I was gonna remake, but I decied I want to edit from my old Freedom Spot Sketched art from the same year in 2014. I add some flat-out effects and electric blast on each of his rail cannons (on side hips) and plasma beam cannons (each side wings) which is kinda too much to add but that's alright and I add a light brush from his backpack (I was gonna do his wings but it blocked my signature so I'll just leave it). Also I'll be using my sketched art as a picture background, kinda like a comparison rather than making a a new background. 🙂

So yeah that's it. That's all I did, it's really awesome to make a remake or editing from my old arts.😉

And BTW: This is my 3rd time making Freedom Spot in a Freedom Gundam's full burst assault attack, but I rather like the 2014 version though. 😅 Also, I've already did a GIF in line art but I kind a bit a mess, I guess.

Previous: New I Cuteness Leader - Spot [Jan 11th, 2012]

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nelson-riddle-me-this · 1 year

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Any new favourites in music, movies etc. from the past year?

MUSIC

10 of my faves, in no particular order...

Ginger Root who I got into thanks to my friend @clownpsycho100

Count Basie's "Swing Shift"

"Secrets (Your Fire)" by Magdalena Bay [i listen to hip music too]

this disco recording Cab Calloway made of "Minnie The Moocher"

this rec. of "Something's Gotta Give" from Daddy Long Legs (1955) with 'slurping' saxes in the Billy May style [mighta been arr'd by him, I'm not sure]

this cue from Quincy Jones' score to The Slender Thread (1965) which has been my wakeup alarm for most of the year

Lizzo's "Coldplay"

"Again And Again" - The Bird And The Bee

"When You Love" - Sinead O'Connor

"C'est Si Bon" - Jane Morgan

MOVIES

Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio (2022) is really excellent [be prepared to cry]

Glass Onion (2022) is a blast, I've seen it twice now and I'm glad I caught it in theaters during its initial limited engagement.

Spielberg's The Fabelmans (2022) really got into my brain. I'm sure lots of people would find it tiresome, but the whole mid-century coming-of-age and passion for film thing is very up my alley.

saw The Slender Thread (1965) at the 2022 TCM classic film festival and really loved it

watched Athena (1954) for my birthday with @sailor-freddie-mercury - the movie was better than I expected and not bad as lesser MGM musicals go

VIDEO GAMES

Psychonauts 2 (2021)

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)

Mafia III (2016)

Grim Fandango (1998)

the 2018 remake/remaster of Spyro The Dragon (1998)

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kylesvariouslistsandstuff · 19 days

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So yeah... That totally unnecessary Nelson Peltz proxy fight saga of current-day Disney is finally over.

Thank goodness. Peltz seemed like he was acting on behalf of former Marvel Entertainment CEO Ike Perlmutter, another guy who is bad news bears to say the least. Peltz just looked like another old man who plays to the crowd that loves to call everything "woke". While it doesn't take rocket science to figure out that The Walt Disney Company is having some trouble across various divisions, their solution wasn't even a solution. Nothing remotely near that.

Interestingly, Disney finally released their first *new* theatrical movie this year, a $30m prequel to THE OMEN that got solid reviews but struggled on opening weekend for whatever reason. It's looking to perform more like last year's new EXORCIST movie than 2018 HALLOWEEN (both films directed by David Gordon Green), I guess not all horror legacy sequels (lega-sequels) are destined to make coin. No matter, $30m isn't steep, it should make it back eventually if not in theaters. It's a 20th Century Studios movie, so it's no big deal really.

Weirdly, POOR THINGS is one of their few box office successes released over the past 12 or so months, outside of GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL. 3 and - by a hair - ELEMENTAL. 20th kinda came to the rescue there, too: A HAUNTING IN VENICE doubled its budget, THE BOOGEYMAN did pretty good.

All I know is, Disney's probably never going to relive 2019 again... And I feel like they keep trying to make that year happen again... But it won't, because that was a case of the planets freakin' aligning...

I extend that to the 2010s in general, honestly, but I'll focus on 2019...

That year saw the billion-dollar releases of - in order: CAPTAIN MARVEL, AVENGERS: ENDGAME, ALADDIN, TOY STORY 4, THE LION KING, FROZEN II, and THE RISE OF SKYWALKER... They got a moderate success out of the MALEFICENT sequel that year, too, while the live-action DUMBO didn't recoup its - ironically - massive budget. (The original 1941 DUMBO was a low-budget picture belted out during the war.) Some 20th titles came out that year, too, most of them not doing great, like the X-Men movie DARK PHOENIX and Blue Sky's penultimate SPIES IN DISGUISE (I call it penultimate because I consider NIMONA a partial Blue Sky movie, their swan song).

Even then, that was a year to die for. But that's the rub... ENDGAME was the culmination of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's whole Infinity Saga. 11 years in the making, it's astounding it was able to have juice for that long! Yes, yes, I know, SPIDER-MAN: FAR FROM HOME was the *actual* end of Phase 3... That functions more like an epilogue, while ENDGAME was the big finale event everyone waited for... and of course, CAPTAIN MARVEL benefited greatly from being the movie that preceded ENDGAME. By less than two months... TOY STORY 4 was locked to be big, because TOY STORY 3 made a billion nine years earlier. ALADDIN and THE LION KING were remakes of some of Disney's biggest animated movies, and FROZEN II was a sequel to another one of Disney's biggest animated movies. RISE OF SKYWALKER ended the entire Skywalker Saga... And ending the main story of one of the biggest franchises- You get the idea!

Suffice to say, Disney's not going to have that year again. They'd have to acquire like another 2-3 franchises, and release their finales all during the same year in addition to two other favorites. The MCU isn't the must-see event with each and every film anymore post-ENDGAME, Star Wars' future is probably in serialized shows still, the remake well has run dry and all the biggest Disney animated movies were pretty much covered (SNOW WHITE - from the one that started everything - is on its way, but I see that performing more similarly to DUMBO and not LITTLE MERMAID), and... Well, animated movies that aren't sequels are more of a gamble nowadays.

But it seems like in 2025 and 2026, Disney's looking to keep trying this usual platter of movies that would've been a killer line-up in 2017. Not today. That's how I felt about their offering last year, too.

It's a lot of reliance on the brands. New Star Wars sounds like box office gold, right? Well, two new Star Wars movies in 2026 after all those movies Disney did from 2015-2019 in addition to what seems like a ton of Disney+ shows... And Grogu was super-popular back when he first appeared in THE MANDALORIAN back in 2019... Yeah, like, who knows how those will do... In addition to all the Marvel movies planned, not all of them are gonna get everyone packing the auditoriums - as we saw with QUANTUMANIA and THE MARVELS. (And on the Warner Bros./DC end, SHAZAM! 2 and BLUE BEETLE, even AQUAMAN 2 didn't make half of what the first one made, THE FLASH fell sharply after its opening.)

And then you have the animated sequels, which seem like safe bets. Disney only missed with Pixar's LIGHTYEAR, which was a spin-off that went a totally different direction that seemed to have alienated the audiences that made all the TOY STORY movies the big hits that they were. TOY STORY 5 likely does way better than that, but I expect it to be a box office come down from the last two. It would have to have a real banger story, I feel, to get people to keep coming. I think MOANA 2, ZOOTOPIA 2, and FROZEN III - all from Disney Animation - are locked to at least open big. If they're very unsatisfactory movies to the public - like STRANGE WORLD and WISH were, then they have weak legs... And smackdab between this sequel-frenzy is one original Pixar movie: Space adventure ELIO.... Which got delayed, supposedly because it was a big mess and it needed another year and a half to be reconfigured. Not that that really means anything, but it's sure to balloon its probably already-big budget. ELEMENTAL had to climb and climb to somewhat eke out a profit, ELIO might have even more trouble as an original movie. It's also not known what Pixar's other 2026 movie is opposite TOY STORY 5, though I suspect it is another original, which will make it stick out as well. WDAS' original movies seem missing in action at the moment.

20th Century Studios and Searchlight continue to have the interesting stuff, which I think will last longer than more Marvel and Star Wars movies. Both studios really did become a replacement for Disney's former adult movie label Touchstone, didn't they? And they too have their franchise biggies, more for Disney, with the likes of PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN... Whose new installments come out this year and are sure to do okay. Plus, more AVATAR... And yet those franchise don't feel - to me - as overdone as Star Wars and the MCU. It's been 7 years since the last APES and ALIEN movies, weirdly enough (WAR FOR THE PLANET OF THE APES and ALIEN: COVENANT), and AVATAR took a long break before returning with a cluster sequels all reasonably spaced out from one another. PREDATOR/PREY looks to keep going. I also wonder if future KINGSMAN movies are still in play.

Again, it's the little stuff that matters, because wells always run dry... And I think that's Disney's problem at the moment, ditto them playing things way too safe in other areas... I've said that before, but they - specifically on the "Walt Disney Pictures" end - need to just let loose and let a filmmaker just make something dynamic and cool and new. Something that takes the audience completely by surprise, not just another "Disney movie". Something like PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN or WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT. And make more smaller movies, too, and not relegate them to streaming. Little movies like THE PRINCESS DIARIES, HOLES, etc. We're in that scene in RATATOUILLE again where the patrons of Gusteau's ask if there's anything *new* on the menu...

The time is now, Disney. With a new head of your live-action division, let's see what you've got. We're past calendar years locked and loaded with 8 tentpole movies...

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