Super Mega Finale

At the end of the penultimate episode, the Zords were destroyed and the Rangers fell to their death...if we were being realistic. No. They should have been dead from a fall like that onto rubble like that, but they woke up more or less fine the next episode during a repeat of the In Space apocalypse (except not as cool because there wasn't as much side-character development). I got a charge out of  the civilian Ranger cameos we did get, although I am sad that a lot of people were excluded due to politics and/or having appeared in Disney-owned seasons. I was surprised to see Leo there since I thought he'd reportedly stated he didn't want to do it again and was only in it for the money for law school at the time. Cassie and TJ were awesome as always, as was Tommy, though I don't understand how there can be more of each of them running around in different costumes. As for the current Ranger team themselves, I did appreciate how the Red and Silver Rangers boarded the emperor's ship and used the controls to blow up the armada...though I'm not sure why they thought it would be over after that; it's like they didn't think there would also be ground troops, especially since that was all Troy had dreamed about. He is one Red Ranger that I just don't know how to feel about, or any of them for that matter. For a season (two, really) based on copying Ranger powers, the Rangers themselves seemed not to be that original or interesting themselves. Furthermore, I haven't seen MMPR yet but it seems to have been overshadowed by the announcement of the official movie in 2016, even though it has music by Wasserman and the real Zedd and Zordon actors. I've also seen a bunch of fan shorts for seemingly unrelated projects.

Speaking of branding, it sucks that Cartoon Network's Clone Wars is being cancelled halfway through a season just because Disney owns the rights to Star Wars now. They could just air it on there instead, but no, they had to cancel it so they can do a show that probably won't be as good.

Cinderella's Castle

Saw the trailer for Cinderella this week, also the Cinema Sins video for Maleficent. Maleficent was always different from the other fairies, but the movie made her look more like Hawk Girl in her native state. The weakness to iron also seemed like cheating, especially since Aqua's team-up with Prince Phillip against her in BBS was so awesome. I know some people like the Maleficent movie better than the old Sleeping Beauty, but Disney's animated Cinderella is irreplaceable to me. I didn't want to see Maleficent, and I probably won't see Cinderella either. It'll be like a Tim Burton movie with Helena Bonham Carter as the fairy godmother, even though it isn't. She should have swapped roles with Meryl Streep from Into the Woods. As for the name Cinderella, I always thought it was prettier than just plain Ella; I didn't know it was an insult. It sounds fiery and awesome, speaking to her inner strength.

I've lost interest in Castle after all this wedding nonsense happened. I don't appreciate the disappearance twist. The parallel universe episode was also a stretch. I'm used to the episodes being set up like the murder case appears to be something crazy but can usually be solved by normal means. The parallel universe artifact being legitimate is too much like Warehouse 13, which isn't bad, but I like to keep the two separate. But Castle and Beckett are married now. Woohoo. Whatever.

Anyone else find it funny that on NCIS, Abby is dating a man named Bert, like her hippo?

Kagemiya Sayuri part 5

Chapter 5: Closure (This is where the story takes another dramatic turn to address issues that had been brought up before, but it's not something I'm currently dealing or have ever dealt with)

Ienzo felt bad for prying, but he had to know. Ansem had to have done a background check when he'd interviewed Kagemiya as a potential babysitter. He was shocked and saddened when he read about her mother's cause of death.
Ansem caught him going through his papers. "Ienzo? What are you doing in my office at this time of night?"
"Kage-san had told me that her mother was dead, but she didn't tell me what had happened. Given her recent health problems, I was worried the two might be connected. I didn't think it would be anything like this."
"It's terrible, isn't it?" Ansem sympathized, taking the papers away from him and putting them back in the drawer. "If she wanted you to know, she would've told you. What will you do now that you have this information?"
"I'll try to forget it, I guess, but I don't know if I can. I mean, how can someone take their own life when they've got little kids at home depending on them?"
"I don't know. You shouldn't upset her by talking about this, Ienzo. It would be detrimental to her health and recovery."
    After a few days, Ienzo tried again to work up the nerve to ask about her mother without giving away what he now knew. "The same disease that killed my mother killed Even's mother as well. He had us both tested but didn't find any trace of it in our cells, so we're not sure if it's genetic or not. Do you think your arrhythmia could be genetic?"
    "It's highly likely. Heart problems do run in the family. My mom's father died of a heart attack when she was nine."
    Ienzo looked shocked then saddened. "Oh. That's awful."
    "Yeah, it was very sudden. You can't always predict these things."
    "Your grandmother must have been a very strong person."
    "She was, much stronger than Mom. That's why it was hard losing her too."
    Ienzo proceeded with caution. "Was your mom in bad health?"
    "She became depressed and started saying crazy things. I didn't understand until it was too late."
    He could see that she was starting to get upset and squeezed her hand. "I'm sorry."
    "It's okay."
    "No it isn't. Losing people suddenly really sucks. That's why I thought we could talk about it, but..."
    "You can always talk to me if you want."
    "No, I came here with the intention of finding out more about your problems so we could bond over them, but it isn't my place to do so. All I've done is upset you."
    Kagemiya hugged him. "No you didn't. You were concerned about me, just like the day I showed up at the castle crying because my grandmother had died. You've all been so nice to me, probably more than a commoner like me deserves."
    Ienzo was taken aback by that last comment the most. "Whoa. None of us sees you like that."
    They heard someone clear his throat and looked up to see Isa standing there. "Kagemiya..."
    "Isa," Kagemiya responded.
    "Lea told me you were in pretty rough shape when he saw you. Are you all right now?"
    "I'm on the mend."
    "That's good." He paused, staring at them. "It seems like the two of you are always together."
    Ienzo took slight offense. "It's because we're friends."
    "Yeah, Lea told me that too."
    "What else did he say?" Kagemiya inquired.
    Isa looked guilty. "He said that you guys had forgiven us for what we did to you, but I thought I'd come over and apologize anyway." He bowed his head. "Sorry." With that, he took off again.

More What Ifs

I read that "van-van" is a term for a Hoodoo cleansing of stagnant energy from a house, specifically a floor wash made from certain herbs (lol that's the power of Pine-Sol). It could also be a cute nickname for Vanitas. Also, it would be cool if Goodnight Moon existed in the KH universe, among other books (theoretically, of course).
    Zexion sat on a couch in the lobby reading late into the night. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open but struggled against sleep to finish the chapter. Nearby, Mikage was finishing that day's cleaning. Lexaeus walked in and noticed him. He gently put his hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Time for bed." Reluctantly, Zexion closed the book and stood up stiffly, having been sitting there for hours. "I'm here to take Mikage back to her cell. Can you make it there on your own?"
    "Uh-huh."
    "Goodnight, then. Mikage, let's go."
    Mikage looked up and acknowledged them. "Okay. Goodnight, Zexion-chan."
    "Night." Zexion was too tired to reproach her for using -chan.
    Zexion found his room and climbed into bed. The Kingdom Hearts moon was shining brightly in the window. Goodnight, moon, he thought. He remembered a story his parents used to read to him when he was little. One page was blank with the words "Goodnight nobody;" that took on a different meaning for him now. He tried to remember how it ended; he would usually fall asleep by that point until he was old enough not to need it anymore. "Goodnight stars...Goodnight air...Goodnight noises everywhere."
Contrast this with a take on their first night as Nobodies...
Vexen tried to go to sleep, but his mind was racing. I have to find my heart...I have to find everyone's hearts, he thought. What was Xehanort thinking when he- He was suddenly startled by someone appearing at the foot of his bed.
"I can't find it," Zexion muttered pathetically. He was still kind of a zombie.
"What?"
"I can't find it," he repeated more clearly.
"Can't find what?"
"My heart...I can't find it."
Vexen sighed and got up out of bed. "We'll retrieve them someday. Go back to your room, Zexion."
"That's not my name."
"It is now. The Superior said-"
"My mom and dad gave me a name. I want them back. I want to go home."
"We all want things...but we can't go back. Not until we fix what happened to us." He wondered why Zexion was getting so upset without a heart, but he chalked it up to his memories playing havoc on his systems. He put a hand on his back and ushered him to his room. "Go to sleep," he instructed once they were there.
Zexion stared at him blankly. "I can't."
"That makes two of us." Vexen disappeared without tucking him in.

So it looks like we're getting a live action Suicide Squad movie. I was just saying that we needed a live action Harley Quinn (the fan film Harley I saw was pretty good though). CCH Pounder has always provided the voice for Amanda Waller, but I wonder who they would cast to play her in live action? Would they still have her do it? She's currently in NCIS: New Orleans, so I don't know how much time she'd have to do other things.

This Week Today

Top 5 Cartoons Growing Up in the 90s (There are others I liked, but I would rank these the highest overall):
~1- Batman The Animated Series (WB)
~2- Recess (Disney)
~3- Hey Arnold! (Nickelodeon)
~4- Animaniacs (WB)
~5- Doug (Nickelodeon/Disney)

Equestria Girls really is like the Doug universe. The best part of Rainbow Rocks was Sunset's facial expressions. The Dazzlings also had better songs even though the lyrics were evil. I like human Pinkie Pie better than regular pony Pinkie. That speaks more to the problems most people have had with the writing of her character in season 4, which this movie takes place after. The hook from Fluttershy's song in Filli Vanilli makes an appearance in the one song she supposedly wrote (no way that wasn't going to become important). My brother got mad that they ruined "Shake Your Tail" for the sake of plot instead of using the music video footage for it. I'd have to agree, but I'm just a little frustrated they had to do so many rewrites and posted what did get finished as "prequel" clips. And a novelization ( the "real" story became known as "Mane Event" while the original concept took the title proper). They did a novelization of the first movie too, and the individual stories that started with Crystal Heart Spell continue with Fluttershy's coming out next as the last of the Mane Six. I have not checked those out aside from Twilight's and don't plan to. In the case of the Rainbow Rocks and Crystal Heart Spell novels, I'm just happy with reading about what could have been, like I will be keeping the glitched DVD which will only run in order from the chapters page (which means the commentary remains out of order, though).

Poor Morgan. Too bad we didn't have time to get to know her friend before she got killed. I don't like it when shows do that. At least get us emotionally invested in a character before killing them off. Now I'm only upset because Morgan's upset. It's like with NCIS season 1's Pacci episode, but he at least got a little more screen time beforehand (even though it was only to set up a flashback to remember who he even was).

Seriously, This Is Still Happening?

This week the Critic did another commercials special. One segment had Ninja Turtles toys, which he mocked as scraping the bottom of the barrel for ideas for them. At the end of the segment, he got in a joke about Venus being pregnant for a toy idea. Really, you're going to go there? I don't even care at this point whether you like her or not. That was a tasteless joke. I have nothing against Doug, it's just his character who's an ass (as has been proven multiple times). He's not the only one, though. It seems almost all the critics who have reviewed this year's Michael Bay Turtles have said "It's not as bad as Next Mutation" and made fun of her. It's been over ten years. We should probably stop talking about her. But people still persist, and I must air my grievances. Hail Zeon is pretty much the only one who defends the show and her, and I respect him for that.
Now that we're headed into a new era of TMNT with a new generation to grow up with them, the kids today might just do their research. It's not hard; we nostalgic types have made it very easy. I can only imagine trying to raise a little girl and have her ask why there isn't a girl turtle. What would I tell her? "There was one, sweetie, but people didn't like her and were mean to her, so she's not in the picture anymore and never should have been?" That does not set a good example and is pretty heartbreaking. I'm probably blowing this out of proportion, but it is pretty heartbreaking for me every time I hear someone complaining about or making fun of her. It's just a character after all. If my being sensitive is inappropriate, then so is everyone else being a dick about it. As I may have mentioned before, I didn't fit in when I was growing up. As Venus didn't fit in either, I could relate to her. After all, she didn't ask to be created, just like none of us asked to be born. Her running off to Central Park to sulk and saying sadly that she wanted her world back (her master had just died in her arms, by the way) should really shame people more than it does (which seems to be not at all).
To any new Turtles fans reading this, withhold your judgement until you've considered all the facts. If you don't think you'd like Next Mutation, then just don't watch it. If you do want to see it out of morbid curiosity, just give her a chance. The show itself may not be the greatest thing ever, but it has good ideas; whether or not she was one of them is in the mind of the beholder. I just don't want to have to have this discussion again because my immature peers won't let this die and leave well enough alone.
(Note: This blogger does not support the idea of the Turtles not being related to each other. Before Venus, her favorite Turtle was Raphael.)