Sweet Victory

I liked the twenty-minute video Critical Role put together for their Winter's Crest episode. While I couldn't commit it all to memory on the first viewing (implying I might watch it again but I probably won't), it was great to see their adventures before the livestream. I also liked how human Trinket fooled pretty much no one. As for the campaigns I'm in, one of my characters has foiled two dark rituals. The other one just got a Cloak of Arachnea and has put it to good use, walking backward down a castle wall while casting Call Lightning and flipping off the enemy. She really needed a win after an emotionally crippling defeat during the previous game.

How Revenge of the Sith Should Have Ended got it right. While I like Christopher Lee as Count Dooku, I don't think they should have scrapped Jar Jar as the secret Sith Lord. Adding him back into the third movie would have been interesting, but by then Jar Jar was seen as a good guy, though everyone hated him for being so annoying. At least if he was evil it would've made the hate justified. It's also kind of odd that Christopher Lee's characters in both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings get killed off early in the beginning of the third installments.

I finished writing the last story of the series I wanted done this year, which is both a relief and a little sad. I have other series to write but no set schedule, as there are other things I have to do early next year. If my Everything Wrong With video goes well, I might make individual explanation videos for why I think the Organization members are the astrological signs I assigned them last time. That's assuming I or anyone else isn't sick of the sound of my voice. I still don't know how long the video will be, and I haven't done a count of the sins thus far (still two episodes to go). The explanation videos will be short, though, but there will be twelve of them.

Stalling

I think I preferred Minecraft: Story Mode when I thought it was going to be following Jesse and Petra (and Reuben). I've watched Ray play the first three episodes and he's right, almost everyone is annoying. Speaking of Ashley, I'm glad she was able to Skype in again to help defeat the Briarwoods. That episode really was harsh. It was funny when Travis tried to high-five her through the screen. Sam was scraping the bottom of the barrel of his inspiration songs. "Percy's got a gun..." Taliesin was not too impressed with that one. "Really?!" I preferred "All the single Percys" myself. The previous installment was dark, as was last week's RWBY. That's not why I'm procrastinating finishing my story, though. I just want to get it perfect in my mind before I type it up. I've got just under two weeks and two pages left to go. There's no way I'm finishing it before Christmas, and I don't necessarily have to. New Year's Eve is the cut-off.

I'm also scraping the bottom of the barrel with what I have on hand for reading material. I've been rereading a book about Egyptian birth signs, and on this reading I've been figuring out what some of the Kingdom Hearts characters might be. There's no concept of time as far as dates in Kingdom Hearts, but other series like Cardcaptor Sakura and Yu-Gi-Oh! gave their characters actual birthdays. Based on what the book says about the Egyptian signs, I have determined that in the Western equivalent: Even is a Virgo, Dilan is a Libra, Ienzo is a Scorpio, Lea and Myde are Sagittarians, Braig is a Capricorn, Ansem the Wise is an Aquarius, Isa is a Pisces, Rould is an Aries, Aeleus is a Taurus, Lumaria is a Gemini, Xehanort is a Cancer, and Relena is a Leo. People on Tumblr have already pondered the main characters' signs, so I won't attempt to.

I found out there's a new Popples cartoon, but it's computer animated so I'm not interested in seeing it. It's bound to be different from the original, and I shouldn't judge it unless I watch it, but why do they do kids shows entirely CG these days? It looks cheap and wrong. I'm not saying it has to be hand-drawn animation - flash puppets work just fine (referring to MLP again unless that's changed and I just haven't noticed).

Machinations

The Dino Thunder Christmas episode was as good as the Halloween one, with it being a clip show but one with a story built around it. It was nice to see the Rangers helping Santa again (and in turn Santa helping Chase get home to see his family). Poissandra even impressed me with her antics, not wanting to take over the holiday but stealing Santa's Naughty or Nice computer to view the Rangers' files to attempt to find out where their base was (even though they'd already infiltrated it in the Halloween special).

In the FF7 Machinabridged, they first referred to Cloud as Blonde Zack. Based on that, I think Vexen/Even could be called Blonde Hojo. The voice actor playing him in the Machinabridged has that same type of voice, so maybe Derek Stephen Prince should play him in the FF7 remake (I mean why not? Quinton Flynn already plays Axel/Lea and Reno). I haven't been following the news that closely, but if each "episode" is the length of a game, wouldn't it make more sense if each "episode" were more like a world in length? They're already saying the battle system is going to be more like that of Kingdom Hearts anyway.

I'm halfway through my final story in the series I'm working on. Now all that's left is the big boss battle and the epilogue. I hope I have time to finish it before the holidays, but I doubt it. I still have some last minute shopping to do - my boyfriend and I have to get together and get in-law presents at the mall when we both have time. A lot of games came out recently, so he's spent most of his free time playing them while I watched.

Filler Talk

The Atop the Fourth Wall movie was a sequel to To Boldly Flee. As hinted at in two of the Nostalgia Critic's previous reviews (Superman and Planet of the Apes), the villains didn't die at the end of that one. Mechakara came back just like Zod and Turl. That being said, it was an okay movie. I'm looking forward to History of Power Rangers finishing up this month so that the next installment won't be for another year when Super Dino Charge (or Dino Super Charge) concludes. Dino Charge itself hasn't been as bad as previous installments, as it's pretty well acted and written. I mean, it tries to be cute and fails sometimes, but the actors seem to be having fun at least.

I've been working on short segments of Kingdom Hearts fan fictions, but the lack of knowledge is preventing me from making stuff up accurately. For instance, I have no idea what the apprentices actually do on a day-to-day basis for work, let alone what Ienzo would do as a kid if he had to play outside. Filling in the blanks is tougher than it sounds, even if you've technically lived some of it. I'm talking of course about the experiences I've projected onto Kagemiya in order to better deal with it myself. I thought of this exchange:
Braig put Kagemiya down on the table as Even activated a heart monitoring device. "I'll need you to open her shirt so I can attach these electrodes," Even instructed.
"Eh, really?" Braig asked uncomfortably.
"Oh please. Don't be so immature."
"I'm not being immature. I'm trying not to be a pervert, here."
"Just do it, Braig. It's basic anatomy."
"You do it," Braig shot back.
"All right, then you get this IV drip started," Even countered, knowing his friend couldn't.
"I hate needles...Fine," Braig grumbled. He unbuttoned Kagemiya's blouse and tried not to look. Even noticed the readout and administered medicine accordingly. The two then reported back to Ansem and Ienzo, who were waiting in the hallway.