Eat a Dick, 2016!

This season's Survivor finale was depressing. The winner, whose mother had cancer, won unanimously, but the mother died before it was made official (he'd told her he won upon his return and she died soon after). That's one of the saddest things in Survivor history. This whole year was pretty sad and challenging for the most part, but I don't want to talk about that. It wasn't all bad, but the Top 10 Reasons Why 2016 Was the Worst from WatchMojo sums it up pretty well - except that it needs to be updated to include more celebrity deaths since it was posted.

Digimon Appli Monsters was great at first, but it has been showing its stupid lately. I'm pretty sure Raidramon already exists, yet they gave that name to one of the Appmon. Also, the Christmas episode was painfully stupid. The digital calendars don't have Christmas Eve and Day on them all of a sudden, guess they don't exist anymore. How dumb are these people? These monsters don't change reality, only electronics (which can cause trouble, but not reality-bending). At least they made a reference to season one by having Calendamon start with August 1 when he was changing the date around. I can put up with the pop idol and the Pewdiepie wanna-be, but even they're starting to get on my nerves as they seem to be one-note characters. It's okay for them to have catchphrases, but do they have to say them every episode? Haru doesn't go on about wanting to be a main character all the time, and that's part of why I like him. I still don't know what the deal is with his friend whom he called a main character type. (He called himself a side character at first only for his friend to tell him that he's wrong. If this was abridged, specifically by Manitoug10, the "because I'm not a homo side character" joke would apply like Ouran.)

I'm glad I watched Galavant season 2 on Netflix. Since I stopped watching TV altogether (with a few exceptions), I had no idea that I had missed the premiere date and essentially all of it. ABC cancelled it, of course, but if Netflix picks it up it'll be the best thing ever. Still, the only plot line left to resolve is Gareth and Sid going to save Madelena from herself, but I'd watch that. Especially if they can get Weird Al back a third time. Ending season 2 with him was fantastic.

The recent chapter of CCS Clear Card arc was pretty cool. Sakura had to fake a stomach ache to get out of class to catch a card, but otherwise no one else was around. More self-referential humor as well.

Top 15(?) Disney Movies

I decided to make a list of my top 5 Disney feature films, Pixar films, and direct-to-video releases. So it's not really a top 15 but only sort of. It was hard narrowing it down to just five each. For the direct-to-video, I decided to stay away from anthology stories and holiday specials, which made it more difficult because so many of them aren't good or I haven't seen them. I also stuck with one per franchise (per category). I offer no explanations other than what is reflected of my childhood (for the most part).

Disney films:
1. Beauty and the Beast
2. Cinderella
3. Mary Poppins
4. Mulan
5. Aladdin

Pixar:
1. Toy Story
2. A Bug's Life
3. Wall-E
4. Finding Dory
5. The Incredibles

Direct-to-Video:
1. Return of Jafar
2. Cinderella III: A Twist in Time
3. Mulan II
4. Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch
5. 101 Dalmatians 2: Patch's London Adventure

Some honorable mentions include Lilo & Stitch, The Princess and the Frog, Ratatouille, The Emperor's New Groove/Kronk's New Groove. Don't see your favorite(s) on here? Well I did say it was hard with there being so many of them.

Standards and Expectations

Alpha and Omega: The Big Fureeze, while a dumb title, was still better than the last one. It was supposed to be released before the last one, so this was a gamble since the last one sucked so bad. It didn't need to lower our standards - this one was fine. I don't know why we needed another Christmas one, but here it is anyway. There was a lot of action, and it brought back characters from the first sequel movie that started this series of low-budget spin-offs (though we're so far removed from it in time that I can barely remember, and I really don't have time to rewatch them).

Legends of the Hidden Temple the Movie was pretty good too. I love how they got Kirk Fogg and Dee Bradley Baker to reprise their roles. My only complaint is that the human Olmec looks more like a Temple Guard than the actual Temple Guards in this movie. I didn't even mind the child acting. The set for the temple was amazing - the Silver Monkey and the Steps of Knowledge looked identical to the show. The CG-colored animals were interesting, but the Purple Parrot crashed into the barrier trying to escape; I can't help but think that it's a reference to their team having the least wins, given how smart the script is. It had problems, but I'd give it an 8 out of 10; better than the Goosebumps movie, which I'd give a 7.

Teen Titans Go! was able to use the Happy Birthday song, finally. They didn't reference that fact; they just sang it three times. The Dino Supercharge Christmas clipshow wasn't as good as last year's because they only highlighted four Rangers. Not all of the Rangers showed up unmorphed, either. The acting was on point, however. Thanks to the Hetalia commentary, I now know that Taliesin took over the role of Britain from Scott Freeman. I didn't even notice. As always, Eric Vale was the best part of the commentary and called out Taliesin for being too busy to appear.

Oreo now has its candy in ball form. The Bagel Bite Dogs were good but the hot dogs kept falling out. Also I'm sorry that the previous post's title lacked originality. I honestly didn't have a clever title to connect all the subject matter.

Some Stuff

Since I've been unsuccessful at Taco Bell, I went to Burger King for breakfast instead. This is what you've made me do, Taco Bell. I swore never to get breakfast at Burger King, but you drove me to it. I got the Eggnormous Burrito, which has everything the AM Crunchwrap has but tastes slightly different (and is messier since it's a burrito). It's only for a limited time, but I'm really not interested in anything else on the menu. It wasn't that bad, but I would've rather had a cheeseburger. Or actual Taco Bell breakfast. Or a safe walking route between work and the McDonald's down the road. I also snagged an Oreo Big Crunch Bar at work. It's pretty much a cookies and creme candy bar inside of a milk chocolate bar. I bought some Damak as a stocking stuffer, and that's probably going to taste exactly like it looks (I hope). And we started selling Krackle again. Did you know Bagel Bites sell pigs-in-a-blanket now? That's kind of weird, but I have to try it.

Hetalia season 6 didn't have outtakes, but it had commentary. Still no references to Frozen or Kickassia, though (even though Eric Vale has interacted with Doug before). The Halloween OVA had some copyright-friendly costumes and some not, so how did they decide? America was wearing an orange suit, but he really should've been David S. Pumpkins since that's a popular costume (I don't know who that is but I know it's a thing).

My Larxene video didn't get any views in the two weeks since I uploaded it. Xehanort's got three. I guess people don't care or don't like Larxene. I hope they like my December video. I ended up going from a shortage to an abundance of Critical Role holiday fan art.

Recent Releases

Episode 74 of Critical Role was assigned a title late - "Path of Brass." The following episode had a title when it was posted so probably a minor hiccup. I haven't really paid attention while watching either of them, maybe because of it being the fire plane or because Keyleth is my new Cheesy Gordita. I paid attention to the next one, though (mostly), since it was a big fight.

The next arc of Thrilling Intent is called The Harpy's Nest. No one was added to the intro, even though Colvin is now the bar's bouncer. Firi went with the group on whatever secret job Thog had found for them. I don't really like her, though, but maybe this arc will change my mind. Karol (Tales of Vesperia) was filling in a monster book too, but I didn't like him that much either. I liked Ilen from The Big War arc.

I looked at the RWBY manga. I couldn't really get into it because it just didn't sound like how they talk. I'm probably still going to read it, though. I wonder if volumes 2 and 3 got dubbed in Japanese and/or are available on YouTube. As far as I know, only three episodes from volume one survived.

Hetalia the World Twinkle dub came out. It was pretty amazing - they even mentioned Brexit in the last OVA. I also checked out AppMon recently. At first I thought it was stupid and annoying, but it had some good references. I liked the newest Pokemon movie with Volcanion. While the opening song was terrible, the end credits song was spot-on. Team Rocket was great too, though it would have been even better if they could have their own Megas since they actually have bonds with their Pokemon. Another nitpick is how Ash kept changing outfits while the shackle was still around his waist. I have yet to watch the Sun and Moon episodes subbed or dubbed, but I am current with the Generations episodes.

On the Precipice

This past week's episode of Critical Role had no episode title. A decent one would've been "The City of Brass" since that's where they went. I wonder if they're not going to do episode titles anymore or they just decided to skip it this time. They were in the Fire Plane, but in Connecticut the Brass City is Waterbury.

Pumpkin Spice Life was a let-down after the Cheerios in that it was weak in flavor by comparison. Count Chocula had an overwhelming win, carrying 44 states (Boo Berry with 6 and Frankenberry only popular in Montana).

I had a dream that there was a Birth By Sleep game in which you played as Lea. He was trying to save Isa from being possessed by Xehanort. Then for some reason it became a crossover with Yu-Gi-Oh!. I don't think I'll ever be able to finish the Haunted Mansion storyline I was writing, but I did start a Sleepy Hollow storyline for Zexion. I may add more of an epilogue later but this is what I have for now:

    Zexion was sent to explore a world called Sleepy Hollow. Just a coincidence, he thought to himself, thinking about a story his master used to read to him. When he arrived, however, he became less and less convinced of that. As he crossed a small bridge over a stream, he heard the sound of galloping hooves behind him. He expertly ducked out of the way and hid so that he would not be noticed. His breathing temporarily stopped when he saw that the rider of the horse had no head and carried a jack o'lantern with him.
    It actually happened! he realized, finally getting his breath. As he continued to watch, Heartless trailed after the Headless Horseman. "Can't say I'm surprised," he muttered. This was the reason he'd been sent here, but he couldn't do anything about the Heartless on his own; a Keyblade was necessary to capture the hearts, or else the Heartless would just come back. He raised his arm to summon the corridor of darkness, but something stopped him from leaving. He remembered a sense of injustice he'd felt at the end of the story when Ichabod was run out of town by the Horseman.
    No, that's not... He shook his head, trying to wipe away the memory; he was unsuccessful. Even as a child, he'd seen right through the Horseman's disguise. It was Brom Bones, a bully of a man who donned the guise of the Horseman to eliminate his rivals. Zexion didn't particularly like Ichabod, but something deep down told him to intervene. It goes against our instructions. During the explorations of newly accessible worlds, the members of the Organization were not to interfere with the residents therein. Interfering with the histories of past worlds was also frowned upon, but that rule fell by the wayside if it was in line with the Organization's plans - Xemnas' plans. If Zexion helped Ichabod by unmasking Brom, he'd be changing the story. But...

    "That's it? The bad guy wins?" young Ienzo had asked when the story was over.
    "There's a life lesson in that. The good guys don't always win," Ansem had said solemnly.

    Zexion was conflicted, unable to shake it. "If I let Ichabod be run out of town and then unmask Brom in front of everyone, history won't change and Brom won't be able to hurt anyone else," he concluded. He decided to scout ahead to see where the Heartless had gone.
    By the time he arrived at the village proper, the Heartless were attacking the townspeople. Zexion made as many of them as he could disappear. Then he heard the galloping of hooves again. This time it was Ichabod, and the Horseman wasn't far behind. Zexion followed them, making sure his hood stayed up. He knew where they were going, so he bamfed back to the bridge.
    Right on cue. He watched as the Headless Horseman threw the jack o'lantern at Ichabod. It spooked the horse, which bucked Ichabod off. Zexion caught his breath as the Horseman closed in on Ichabod and pulled out a knife. "No!" Before he knew what he was doing, Zexion was diverting the Horseman's attention. The Horseman paused long enough to look in Zexion's direction, and Zexion made him disappear too - into his Lexicon.
    Ichabod was still sprawled on the ground. Zexion didn't give a damn whether or not Ichabod was happy as long as history was intact and he was still alive. "Get out of here!" Zexion urged.
    "But...the Horseman...You..." Ichabod shakily pointed a finger at the Lexicon.
    "I don't know how long it will hold him back. Flee!" Zexion pretended to struggle with the book, making it look like the Horseman could force his way out at any moment. Ichabod scrambled to his feet and ran after his horse.
    And now... Zexion returned to the village, where the townspeople were regrouping. Without a word, Zexion opened the Lexicon and produced the Horseman. The townspeople began to panic again, but Zexion yanked off the Horseman's head covering to reveal Brom Bones. There was a collective gasp and rapid murmuring among the crowd. Two people stepped forward to arrest Brom. During all the commotion, Zexion disappeared into the darkness. For all they knew, he was a ghost.

    "What are you smiling about?" Vexen asked him when he returned.
    "Oh, nothing," Zexion replied mysteriously.
    Vexen scowled. "Is that what you're going to write in your report? Nothing?"
    "I'm going to write it. There were Heartless, after all."
    "Fantastic. Though I don't see how that would make you happy." Vexen eyed him suspiciously.
    "Off the record, I consider it a personal victory." Zexion hurried off before Vexen could ask any more questions.
    He included the basics in his report. There were Heartless following around a person with darkness in his heart. He'd played by the rules and didn't engage with the townspeople (except for Ichabod, but Zexion didn't count him). He made no mention of what he'd done, as that hadn't affected the Organization's goals. Brom would still be there, heart filled with darkness, and the Heartless would undoubtedly return.
    Zexion lay down in his bed. He was certain that the book had said that Ichabod had fled, and he'd made sure it stayed that way. However, he didn't have the book with him now, so he couldn't say for sure. "Maybe I misremembered. Maybe I just wanted him to get away," he hypothesized. No. Master Ansem wouldn't have read it to me if the main character had been murdered. The day's events had almost seemed like destiny. He'd changed the story, but only slightly and to suit his needs. Ichabod is alive because of me. Brom is in jail because of me. Would the story in that book change, or...?
    He wondered what other worlds had been written about in books and who the people were that wrote them. What if we end up being written about in a book? Who would write it? Our story hasn't ended yet. Zexion didn't know how this would all end, if Xemnas would get his way or if it would truly benefit the rest of them. Who would even read such a book? I doubt history will remember us kindly. He sighed and switched off the light, resolving to turn in the report in the morning.

Disappointments

After three years of working on other things, Goldpanner jumped ahead in the Dream Drop Distance story to bring us the translation of Sora's last chapter (in which he asks the important questions but also treats his Dream Eater like a Yoshi). However, this will also be the last one produced, as Yen Press is putting out the official localizations. So far the translated versions of Kingdom Hearts One and Chain of Memories have been published in the last two years, and there still aren't release dates for the Birth By Sleep books, which are the only ones I care about at this point (okay, and Riku's side of Dream Drop Distance). Well, after three years of nothing, I guess another three years or so won't be that bad - wait, of course it will.

For some reason, whenever I try to go to Taco Bell for breakfast, they haven't been serving it. I keep going before 11, but there's never anyone around or at the registers. Last time they didn't even have the breakfast menu flipped over and were only making food for the dive thru. No one acknowledged my presence at all. What they need is an all-day breakfast option if they're still doing breakfast at all (they're open early enough, so what's going on?). PM Crunchwraps aren't the same with "beef" instead of eggs and a hash brown. I even missed out on free taco day because I was sick in bed with a migraine.

The next Alpha and Omega video is about a deep freeze. That was also the title of the last installment of The Land Before Time series I saw before my brother and I grew out of it. We've both donated towards saving the wolves, but not because of this series (unless the proceeds of the DVDs go to the foundation as well, then that too). I'm just keeping at reviewing these things out of morbid curiosity. I kind of wish they would stop. It's gone on far longer than it had any right to from a creative standpoint.

Fewer Blurbs

Last week my store was selling pumpkin-filled powdered sugar donuts (also lemon and blueberry), but when I got one it was underwhelming. Normally, our bakery's donuts are more saturated than Dunkin Donuts', but I'm willing to risk the calories when I'm this desperate. Still, baked goods tend to sell out pretty early in the day, so by the time I get to what's left they're pretty stale and the filling doesn't taste as good (if there was much of it to begin with). We also seem to have sold out of Nestle products. The nice thing about working at a grocery store is the employee discount, but there really isn't much left after your shift is done, and you stand there starving while everyone else buys their food (or maybe it's just me).

The MLP season finale was pretty good. There would've been a riot if they had reformed Chrysalis, but starting a revolt made sense, especially if Thorax was offering the other Changelings a way never to be hungry again - it worked with Scar and the hyenas. The Homestuck epilogue came out, too, and while it wasn't exactly what I wanted, it was better than nothing. The Big War arc of Thrilling Intent finally concluded. I can't wait to see what's next.

Continuing his Dawn of the New World playthrough, my boyfriend acquired an earth monster named Riku, a harpy named May (close enough, as Sheena is actually voiced by Megan Hollingshead), and a skeleton with the same name as me. As for Telltale Batman, the only real difference the choice at the end of episode 2 made was whether or not Selina would continue to try to romance you and whether or not Harvey looked like Two-Face as he starts to go mad either way. Harvey may not have liked the idea of Selina and Bruce together (whether they actually were or not), but Travis was practically giddy over Vex and Percy getting together in Critical Role. Also, Lady Kima is here to smash things and eat chicken, and she's all out of chicken. Grog understandably still has a thing for her, and Allura was sad when they told her about Tiberius.

A Few Quick Blurbs

I haven't had a lot of time lately, so I probably didn't do as good a job with the latest Alpha and Omega review. That dance number would've been a big-lipped alligator moment if it didn't get used as a plot point instead. It was definitely the weirdest installment, but I still think the clipshow one was the worst. That being said, the Halloween clipshow for Dino Charge was done well, as it was last year. It even tried to include everyone, even though the main five were once again in the spotlight.

I will probably not get the pumpkin marshmallows after all (I was going to put them in hot chocolate, but they are way too big and it would take too long to finish the bag, and it's just way too much sugar). I did, however, get a candy bar that was "pumpkin latte" flavored, but it didn't taste like coffee at all. It tasted like pumpkin and white chocolate, which was far less appealing. The Butterfinger skull I bought was much better but smooth instead of crunchy. I'm not sure if I'll end up getting any more candy for various reasons (sugar being one of them), but if I do I might be looking for some holiday-themed version of a Crunch or Krackle.

Thrilling Intent animated the part of the final battle when they beat Xin, by tabletopping no less. There was a reference to Persona when Markus, Gregor, Ashe, and Kier teamed up to do it - the four of them in a beat-em-up screen like when the entire party beats up an enemy. My boyfriend has been re-playing Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World. Names and voice actors from the Persona series have been popping up in it. Not surprisingly, so have the names Aqua, Ventus, and Terra (two Centurions and a monster).

Teen Titans Go! has resorted to abridging the old series (I hope it's just a one-off but there could be more). Since it's a parody series to begin with, I can't really say it's wrong. However, it does feel like an incredibly lazy move, much like when 4Kids did a similar thing with their dubbing. It's a move that screams "This is what you like, right? Right?!"

That Time Again

The sixth Alpha and Omega feature, Dino Digs, came out on my brother's birthday back in May, so I thought I'd review it before the next one is due to come out next month. It has been named the worst one in the series by both fans and critics, though critics were more lenient with it. Let's start with the cover. The back cover says they have to stop a T-Rex from being excavated and coming to life. There's a T-Rex on the front cover, so it doesn't look like they succeeded (and indeed they did not). But why, you ask? Because magic exists in this universe apparently, and they sure as hell don't explain it (though they try, sort of). The environmental message of this installment is about wolves being relocated to man-made dens or "wolf suburbia." It's made ridiculous (not to mention there's a shoe-horned in dance number) and they go back to the wild at the end even though there are predators who want them dead (though I suppose the appearance of magic dinosaurs required a truce of sorts). If you want to watch dinosaurs revived by magic, just watch Power Rangers Dino Charge. I really can't compliment the actors enough, especially the guy who plays Heckyll.

I drew another piece of Critical Role fan art, in which Ghost Tiberius reminds Vax about what he'd said about Kynan in the first place. That's just an element I added to the part where Kynan stabs Keyleth and Ripley kills Percy; Tiberius was never directly mentioned again after his death (not by name anyway), but his presence was necessary a la Homestuck and DBZ Abridged. "I warned you about the boy, Vax. I told ya, dog."/"Shut up, ghost of Tiberius." As for Thrilling Intent, I love how Kier and Thog have just had it with this war.

This month's issue of Cardcaptor Sakura 3 had very nice artwork. Still lots of secrecy for seemingly no reason from both Syaoran and Touya. It also sounds like whatever is happening is purposefully redoing Sakura's journey of gathering the cards. Water has become Aqua.

I had to go to Wal-Mart to get the pumpkin Cheerios, and all they had was family-size. You can really taste the cloves and pumpkin puree.

Giving In

A couple of weeks ago, I caved and gave into the pumpkin spice. I bought the Pop-Tarts and the Twinkies. They are so delicious. It's still hot and humid where I live, but the watermelon gum I still have has lost its appeal (probably because it started melting in my purse it was so hot this summer). I don't think I'll be getting the pumpkin gum if that comes back, and I'd really rather not get pumpkin marshmallows, even though I will probably give in to that too. I was on board with the pumpkin Cheerios, but they were sold out when I went shopping after work, as per usual. I'm not interested in pumpkin Special K (I tried the apple cinnamon and wasn't impressed), and I forget if I tried pumpkin Life already. I haven't tried the Cheeto Chicken Fries yet, probably won't, but for all their Cheeto dusting, why can't they bring back the Shake-em-up Fries?

I finally gave in and signed up for Pottermore. I'm a Gryffindor (wanted to be a Ravenclaw) and a Pukwudgie (which I'm assuming is the American equivalent of a Gryffindor), so I suppose I'm a Hermione as opposed to a Luna. I have a cherrywood wand with a unicorn hair core that is 10 3/4 inches long and bendable. My patronus is a dolphin (in my fan fics I have a lynx but I'll take it). Being a Gryffindor, for me, is like being a Green Lantern. I keep getting that result too when I'd rather be a Blue Lantern. Compassion is pretty important to me.

I liked Calluna's review of Digimon Cyber Sleuth. I like how she keeps bringing up Persona in her reviews (and even in her guest appearance in Linkara's Pokemon Omicron videos recently - which actually inspired me to draw Ienzo with a Litwick). The best parts were the little skits, like when she finds a lost object for her Tanemon plushie literally on the other side of the room to replicate one of the earlier side quests. I loved the fake flashback to her eleven-year-old self crying and covering her Gatomon plushie's eyes as she's watching Wizardmon die in the anime. That's why it was so satisfying when she got a Wizardmon in the game. She broke down the game pretty concisely and demonstrated why it's better than Pokemon Go.

This time there were five more Digimon Tri episodes released. I didn't have a problem with it for the most part except for the fact that none of my questions were answered. The person masquerading as the Digimon Emperor turned out to be Jennai (or is also masquerading as Jennai). Derek Stephen Prince wasn't listed for it on imdb, so I'm assuming they're going to use young Jennai's voice actor (or it just hasn't been updated yet). I didn't trust Himekawa. I'm not sure what she's up to or how she does what she does, but I didn't think she was dangerous. As usual, the Digimon parts were great (especially Gatomon) and the only thing that continues to hold it back is the half-baked plot.

Decisions Were Made

Season 1 of Tales of Zestiria the X will end with encountering the Lord of Calamity on the battlefield in episode 13. Season 2 will be next year. It's kind of weird to do it that way, I think. Pending the success of Berseria, who knows if they'll be making another appearance as well? I hope not. The dub wasn't bad but I still don't care about the game. They have a connection with Edna's brother but that wasn't tied into the anime at all. Doing that in season 2 might make it worth it, or whenever they next try to deal with him. Conga line for peace through violence indeed.

Not only will there not be a female Aqua Ranger, but there will not be a Talon Ranger either. I'm only disappointed because expectations were so high going into this and what we got was the short end of the stick by comparison. They still used the Talon Ranger's Zord, but in this continuity Shelby created it herself. That sounds like more work to keep the Spinozord footage but cut out its proper Ranger's existence entirely.

Yotsuba and Princesses was a cool chapter. To be continued, though, not that it really ended on a cliffhanger. My favorite part was when her dad didn't understand so she went next door where the oneechans live because SOMEONE would get it over there. Asagi became her fairy godmother and made her a dress out of trash bags. Yotsuba had tied strings with ribbons to her hair to have it trail on the floor like Rapunzel, but it looked more like Princess Serenity (although she did get TANGLED up in it like a familiar scene in said movie).

I'm glad The Silver Chair movie is being made. I didn't realize the Narnia films did so bad at the box office that the series was cancelled. At this rate I'll never get to see Magician's Nephew made. Please don't let this new movie suck. I want it to keep going.

Tales of Kingdom Hearts and Fast Food

Nope it was Berseria. This is what happens when I let people correct me; I always think I'm wrong. Even dubbed, I still don't care. After that, the Zestiria story proper diverged from its video game counterpart, but I assume that was done for time. That doesn't mean I have to like it, though. They even did some parts offscreen then flashed back to them later. The way they call the drake "dragon puppy" in Engrish is weird too. And I found part zero dubbed elsewhere. Alisha should not be a tomb raider, but she can have a conga line for peace. She's seen some shit.

Marluxia's zodiac segment went up as planned, and it got two views overnight (whereas Lexaeus' got one view in about five weeks). That only leaves two more, and it should be pretty easy for people to figure out who they are (if anyone cares). I felt a little uneasy posting it on 9/11, but that's what the schedule worked out to, and it's just another day. The world doesn't have to stop because of something terrible that happened 15 years ago. You just need to keep it in your thoughts. People who were the same age I was at the time are learning about it without having lived through it. That's some perspective. Besides, I already referenced it in my Ninja Turtles: Next Mutation project. I can't wait til KH III comes out so I can work on the amv for that one. I've got a great idea for the stinger (it makes me laugh, anyway). For some reason, I keep having dreams about Ansem and the apprentices having to fight Maleficent. I can't really finish my story about if Xehanort lost in BBS without seeing how the events of KHIII affect her. I find it funny that Arby's did an ad featuring a Keyblade since there was that one fan comic I dubbed wherein Vexen and Zexion went to Arby's.

I was finally able to buy a Crystal Pepsi. For once, The Walgreen's had a few in their mini-fridge left when I stopped there on my way home. People must buy them first thing in the morning because there usually aren't any left for me at work or Walgreen's by the time my shift is over, which is mid-afternoon. It just tastes like a Pepsi, which is still pretty good since I've been drinking mostly Coke at my fiance's house (and there's a Coke bottling plant halfway between work and home). My senses are tricking me into thinking it's Sprite, but it isn't. I like it. We stopped at a 7-11 for slushies the other day, and I got the Skittles green apple one. That was pretty great too. Speaking of my fiance, he's been playing Nuka World. He plans to use all of the Raider clans to get their achievements (and Gage's perk) before killing them all to make the park an actual park again.

Top 10 Channel Awesome Duos

10. Malcolm and Rob as the Chart Guys (various). Specifically, they were in top form in the Alvin and the Chipmunks review, and I liked their song lyrics in the Phantom of the Opera review. In general, I'm not too interested in these characters, but they look like they're having fun.

9. Doug and Tamara as Uncle Lies and Aunt Deceit/Despair (various). They were standout characters in The Happening review, and even before that when they weren't named (they'd just been labeled The Abusive Parents). They're not my favorite characters in the new review format, but they are good for a laugh. "Our daughter is a twat!" "You guys like hotdogs, right?"

8. Count Jackula and the Horror Guru (various). While I don't watch either of their shows (horror's not really my thing), I have seen them pop up in other people's reviews, and I loved it when they were in Some Jerk's Haunted Mansion review. More recently, they appeared in Calluna's review of Scooby-Doo & KISS Rock and Roll Mystery (though I could've sworn they'd done a KISS episode in the past) by helping her kidnap Luke Spencer of Rocked Reviews (as well as stick around for commentary and the hallucination at the end). I've mentioned before how much I enjoyed Jack's song in part two of the Haunted Mansion Review, but Horror Guru was no less entertaining (especially the running gag of shaving his head between the pre-filmed bits and the actual review segments).

7. Billy Jo and Patty as Doctor Affect and Nurse Cause (various). I too was under the assumption that these two had their own show, but they don't. They are two of ERod's allies in the Blockbuster Buster reviews. They are actually a couple, so their back-and-forth is believable as well. I especially liked when he was criticizing her for the breach in security and she just flipped him off. Lately they've taken on the personas of Doctor Doom and his assistant, but they are nowhere near as funny as their completely original Cause and Affect (except maybe the "Don't You Wish Your Girlfriend Was Hot Like Me" bit).

6. Film Brain and Mike J, Uncanny Valley. These two are friends in real life and have appeared in each other's videos before. However, their submission into the Year Five movie Uncanny Valley took things to the next level. I enjoyed their interactions more than I did the ones between Film Brain and Luke Mochrie in the Year Three and Four films. Their performance is the most sincere, even if they don't swing that way.

5. Doug and Tamara as Devil Boner and Hyper Fangirl (various). I can't help but smile at this pairing. It seemed to come out of nowhere, as they weren't introduced at the same time and even got together offscreen (as revealed at the end of the Mad Max Fury Road review). The joke could've been satisfied by any character played by Doug, but DB was the most over-the-top to match Hyper's enthusiasm. Their interactions during the Old vs New Cinderella review were the best, showing that he'd do anything for her (including fight Benny over her and settle the Old vs New argument himself).

4. Tim and Beth, Phantom of the Opera review. I have seen a few episodes of their show Shark Jumping, but their appearance in the Phantom of the Opera review was outstanding. I'd say their being a real couple helped in this instance, as they were stand-ins for Raul and Christine. This was hilariously turned on its head as Tim and the others barely noticed her absence when she was kidnapped by the Fandumb Ghost (at most, Tim found himself without a ride home). They've made appearances in other  videos, but this one was the highlight.

3. Elisa and Paul, Les Miserables review. Like Tim and Beth, the couple was put into a musical production of the movie being reviewed as the romantic leads. In this case, they were the love-at-first-sight cliche in which they pretty much ignored everyone around them. Unlike Tim, Paul was sad to see Elisa go (Kyle tricked her into thinking there was a Buffy marathon going on downstairs). "Cockblocker!" These days they put out the occasional video, including their baby son.

2. Doug and Brad as Adam and Jamie, Sharknado review. It's crazy how well they pulled this off. Doug had all of Adam Savage's energy and enthusiasm, and Brad was as deadpan as the real Jamie Hyneman (even if the joke was that he had to drink to get into it). I certainly wasn't expecting the MythBusters to appear in a review about a deliberately ridiculous movie about sharks in a tornado, but I suppose they've done enough Shark Week episodes for it to make sense. I loved the parody these two did (the build team not so much, but at least the real build team are getting their own show now).

1. Malcolm and Rachel as the Devil and Evilina (various). Who else could be at the top of this list? While the Devil and Santa Christ can play well off of each other, it's not as entertaining as it was when Rachel was still around to play the daughter of Satan. Either bonding with the Critic over the original Dr. Seuss stories or torturing him under her father's tutelage (while annoying both with her My Little Pony obsession), Evilina is unforgettable. Malcolm plays the Devil so well that breaking character during the behind-the-scenes is quite jarring. The elevator scenes in the Devil review had him saying some of the best lines, like anticipating everyone turning to look at him accusingly or making up stuff about "Stupid Day." And of course there was Evilina in the control room the whole time.

Honorable Mention 1: Handsome Tom and 8-Bit Mickey. I didn't really know these two outside of the earlier anniversary movies, but who could forget them? Handsome Tom was the tall, mostly silent one, and 8-Bit Mickey was the short, excitable one (remember how he killed that federal agent when Tom wasn't around in To Boldly Flee?). Whether as themselves in Kickassia or as Willow and Peter Pan in Suburban Knights, it certainly wasn't dull with them around.

Honorable Mention 2: Nella and Elisa as Dr. Block and Dr. Tease. Lindsay/Nostalgia Chick's sidekicks appeared in several of her videos, but their standout roles were the two scientists. Nella as Dr. Block was the one grounded in realism and Elisa as Dr. Tease was overly enthusiastic. They also appeared in the beginning of To Boldly Flee when they were trying to decipher the message on the computer screens and figure out what was wrong with Spoony. They disappeared after the feds captured Spoony, allegedly fleeing to Mexico, and were never heard from again. Who knows what sort of adventures they had after that?  

Nerd Roundup

So I guess it's Beseria, not Berseria. I thought it was a portmanteau of Berserk and the Tales naming convention (based on a combination of looking at it too fast and not really caring since I was pissed). While it has nothing to do with Berserk, it does straight up rip off concepts from Dark Souls, Bloodbourne, and other games (purely by coincidence, I'm sure; please don't take legal action from this). In other gaming news, the 20-sided die came from 200 BC Egypt, at least according to something I saw someone repost to Facebook. While they used two 10-sided dice for Monster World, it does seem uncanny for something that could be Yu-Gi-Oh!-related (although Atem's past was somewhere between 3000 and 1000 BC). I also finished watching the Best Friends Play Nier. The Shades seemed like Heartless to me, and the human vessels were like Nobodies. The voicework in it was the best part, many of them having appeared in Tales of Vesperia. That Freezeria game looks pretty fun too.

So if we're to believe Ventus was a Dandelion, that raises a couple of questions for me. Did they all get sent forward to the same time period in the future? How did Xehanort get Luxu's Keyblade (and does he have any connection at all to Ephemera and Skuld)? Should we have been playing as Ventus all along in X and Unchained X? I had to draw something new to get this pent-up frustration out of my system. I drew Aeleus and Dilan being defeated by a Heartless swarm while Even and Ienzo look on in horror. That's probably not what you expected me to say, but I've just been feeling some kind of way lately.

Now each member of the Thrilling Intent trio has gone and made a big move without consulting the others, so none of them is in the right as far as I'm concerned. I was the most angry at Gregor as his was the most arrogant and also the first. Ashe was next, but it can be argued that she was manipulated by Xin. I was confused by her reasoning, as we went straight from her being mad at Gregor to having an existential crisis. Markus is chaotic, but lying about destroying the Iconoclasm spell and then using it to kill Xin was extreme. Thus, the best character in my mind now is the Goddamn Wonderpuss.

Catching Up

Dino Super Charge came back, and judging by how these past two episodes went and how many remain, the series is suffering from too many Rangers with too few episodes. Phillip and James don't feel like a part of the cast since they only show up when the Graphite and Aqua Rangers are in the footage used in the episodes. Matt showed up again, but at this point he's more like Richie from MMPR - a red herring for a possible Ranger (even though he was originally supposed to be one). The Titanozord saves him in Gone Fishin, but that doesn't make him the Silver Ranger. The Talon Ranger isn't slated to appear until almost the last episode, and there's no mention of the female Aqua Ranger at all. We basically have to go through some filler and Zenowing's story arc, and then it's the end. While that's great if you're Zenowing or a first-string Ranger, everyone else gets the shaft. I'm still waiting for this Dino Thunder crossover conspiracy to happen, but it doesn't seem likely. The actress playing Shelby has a nice singing voice; too bad it's wasted here (though to be fair, Shelby did say she wrote that song for a talent show in elementary school, and it shows).

I'm not sure what The Siege Card used to be, or why it's called that if all it did was make Sakura's room a big pocket dimension balloon. The chapter itself seemed somewhat hollow (well, maybe that's not the right word - expected? It hit all the notes it was supposed to, I guess). There's more going on, and Eriol's obviously worried about Ruby (not sure what happened to her), but he still refuses to tell Sakura because it isn't time yet. If this is starting to affect both of them, wouldn't they need to work together? I'm jealous of the food they were eating, though.

Looks like the Zestiria dub is going ahead with the Berseria interruption. And the X is pronounced Cross. I wonder what happened to episode zero, unless the site I'm watching it on didn't upload it.

Critical Fail

Tales of Berseria is a distant prequel to Zestiria. They hijacked the anime to promote the game with a two-part prologue. Even after they resumed the story, they added Velvet Crowe to the opening. That was really annoying and didn't make me want to play the game. They could've just given it its own OVA since it didn't tie back into the series directly. I don't know how many episodes Zestiria the X has, but it probably could do without this padding. It's even being dubbed already, minus episode zero. Maybe they'll skip the interruption too (unless they just skipped zero to follow the episode numbering). Here's another joke from episode 2 (titled episode 1): "Sorey, no!" "Sorey, yes." I'm actually more upset by the fact that Matt killed off Tiberius on Critical Role. That's like dropping a cheesy gordita on the floor. That's such a waste.

Lay's Do Us A Flavor is back, and the best one according to Brad is the Greek one. I tried it, and it tastes like a Mediterranean/white pizza. None of the swaps from earlier this year happened, so that's good. Despite Southern Biscuits and Gravy winning (nice!), I haven't seen it where I work. As per usual, the only newer flavors we have are cheesy garlic bread and bacon mac and cheese. I think we even stopped carrying actual mozzarella garlic bread. We still have mozzarella garlic toast, though. We also supposedly sell Crystal Pepsi (as in, I've seen people buying it), but when it was my turn to shop, there was no evidence that they ever existed.

The cast for next season's Power Rangers has been revealed. Fucking finally, they have a Ranger with the same first name as me. I'm not even mad unless her personality sucks.

Bag of Dicks

The Telltale version of Bruce Wayne looks like Archer. "Eat a dick, Gotham!" If this were an anime, Selina's note would've had an angry cat face doodled on it. Speaking of anime, I have one Tales of Zestiria the X joke from episode 5 - "Can you hear me now? Good!" Episode 6 delineated from the plot to focus on spin-off characters from the new game that's coming out. I wasn't expecting that and I can't say I enjoyed it, especially since it wasn't a one-off thing and I have no idea how or when it'll tie back into the original story that's being interrupted. We've already made it farther than the OVA, but are we ever going to reach the end?! I'm just as pissed about Digimon Tri getting dubbed before part 3 of Fusion, which was supposed to be this year but has been put on hold. I don't like Tri, so I may not even seek it out to watch. I haven't seen Suicide Squad but I liked the animated version (Assault on Arkham) better. I did see The Killing Joke and it was a piece of shit.

Teen Titans Go! had a week-long event with five episodes revolving around the characters stuck on a deserted island by plot contrivance (much like the bottle episode where Raven could get them out but chose not to, except her and Star's powers couldn't work). Cue all the deserted island spoofs and other references. I anticipated the last part to be the "no but seriously let's get out of here" episode, but they went one step beyond with a Truman Show reference culminating in a big battle with all the villains. The new intro was pretty catchy, and I liked how they added hula skirts to the usual dancing part.

The Tome of Beasts is out for Fifth Edition. Jason, Stephen, and I play-tested some monsters, so our names are in the credits. So that's pretty cool. An equally thick set of monster tokens came with it too. The snow queen is just Elsa, which is pretty funny and pretty stupid at the same time.

Here We Go Again

Three chapters into the Cardcaptor Sakura "Clear Card" arc, and I still have no real idea what's going on. As the title suggests, the cards all became transparent, then new spirits started appearing, the key/wand changed as they do, and the Windy (I assume) became the Gale. Eriol has told Syaoran something that they're keeping from Sakura and the audience. We don't know yet who the cloaked figure is in Sakura's dream yet either (unless that's the secret they're keeping from her). Everything in the first two arcs had been a test, and as hazardous as those events could be, they were never in any real danger. What's the test this time, and who's doing it? The story picked up right where the second arc left off, but did we really need a third arc? There didn't seem to be anything else that needed to be resolved. What more does she need to do? What possible adversary could be left messing with Clow's (and by extension, Sakura's) magic?

I drew Xaldin as a centaur and Lexaeus as a minotaur after all, and I added Vexen as a tiefling - specifically, Markus Velafi from Thrilling Intent. The two look very similar. I also drew those other two things I'd mentioned, plus more Raven and Ienzo together (both drawn and written, but they don't correspond with each other). Thrilling Intent is another fun D&D series, but it's a different format than Critical Role. Markus is my favorite character, though Aesling is cool too. I didn't initially hate Gregor (I'd liked his innocent naivete and optimism), but as the series went on he just got worse (lawful good doesn't mean lawful nice, and good is dumb in his case - too dumb to realize his own misdeeds and hypocrisy). The original forty episodes are classic, and but then they go on another quest and everything escalates from there. The voice actor for Markus makes great music for it, too.

Pop-Tarts has outdone themselves on flavor insanity. Now they have soda flavors - A&W Root Beer and Orange Crush. As much as I like those sodas, I don't think I want to touch them. I learned my lesson from the watermelon ones and I'd rather not chance it, not even if it was enhanced to be root beer float instead. I did, however, try the new Vanilla Life. It's pretty good but I'd rather they bring the brown sugar one over here.

Current Events

I watched the updated PokeRap by College Humor. I thought the twist at the end would've been that there were more pending since Sun and Moon are coming out later this year, but I was wrong. Diancie wasn't in it either, as it only went as far as Zygarde. I've also seen Egoraptor's video with mostly fictional Pokemon. While I would love to play Pokemon Go, I don't think I'm missing out on anything by not playing it. So far I've heard an even mix of heartwarming tales of community catching as well as horror stories of muggings, not to mention the competitive element of the game that includes King-of-the-Mountain-type gym structure and three factions based on which Legendary Bird is your favorite (though that last one was somewhat quelled by the creation of a fourth faction under Lugia, who is Sir-Not-Appearing-In-This-Game). Pokemon Go is also getting blamed for people getting into car accidents, but you can blame that on individual people's carelessness. The problem is that you can't fix stupid, and that's partly why we have such a bad gun problem in America. It's not just about guns or stupid people, though; it's the overall state of the education and mental health systems, which the impoverished don't have access to in the first place. Just like how fast food is cheaper than healthy food, guns are somehow cheaper and easier to obtain than quality schooling and health care. That's what we have to fix, but nobody's going to because the status quo is too profitable to the people in power and the solution is not.

If we're going to have a two-party system, why bother registering unless you're going to take an active part in its affairs? For the rest of us who only have to vote in November, they should at least make the primaries open to the public so we have a say in who will verse who. If it were up to me, I would've voted to have it be JEB vs Bernie Sanders. But no. Instead I have to deal with this broken two-party system (which George Washington didn't even want in the first place) which is controlled entirely by the people with money anyway. Where does that leave me? I can either vote my conscience and go with someone I don't even know (why did you betray us, Bernie?) or I can vote for a Hillary Clinton I don't even recognize anymore. I hope Jill Stein is worth it because I don't want Trump to win by default as they claim Bush did when Nader was the third (Green) party option.

WatchMojo has a spinoff channel called MsMojo. Hopefully they will eventually make a top 10 hottest male Power Ranger video to go along with the hottest female Power Ranger list on the main channel. The videos are also on the main channel, but overall it's sort of a Nostalgia Chick situation I would guess.

Observations and Updates

The MLP hiatus didn't last as long as people thought it would. Something I was thinking about recently was the holidays, or how they were treated, more specifically. They tried to get Fluttershy to like Nightmare Night, but in the end she decided it wasn't for her and they were okay with that. But when Starlight Glimmer says she's not into Hearthswarming, that cannot stand and they get her to change her mind. While each episode served its purpose and that's fine, when looked at together it seems like a double standard for either the holidays or the ponies involved.

Luxu's role as the sixth foreteller is just to watch and to know things the others don't. And to wear the black coat along with the master of masters. And his keyblade gets passed down to Xehanort. It is seen hanging on the wall during young Xehanort and Eraqus' chess game, so maybe he's related to their master. Depending on how much time has passed since Luxu went ahead to the future, could he even BE their master? And what about the E + S = X theory? Since the object of the Kingdom Hearts Chi series is to collect light, or as they call it, lux, his name probably has a deeper meaning (though Luxord's may be coincidental).

I'm liking the new anime for Tales of Zestiria so far. The Episode Zero prologue from Alisha's point of view was both needed and dragged on for too long. The second episode, Episode One, seemed almost all the introduction necessary at that moment since she's going to introduce herself to Sorey and explain most of what we'd seen anyway. This makes me wonder what the pacing is going to be like. I haven't heard how many episodes it's going to be yet. I like how they focus on Sorey and Mikleo's fist bump hand shake; can't wait 'til they get to their slap fight. I like the theme sequence as a whole, which shows off most of the important characters. I also like the next episode preview done in the style of the sprite conversations.

Is This Real Life?

As hated as the new PPG series is, it didn't need to do a crossover on Teen Titans Go! For one thing, Tara was probably a little upset since she doesn't voice Bubbles anymore because none of the original voice actresses were asked back or even made aware that it was being produced. Raven flat-out says later in the episode, "Yeah, I just remembered I don't care." A good crossover would've had her and Bubbles going at it, something akin to Rob Paulsen's Donnie and Raph in the TMNT crossover. For another thing, Beast Boy shouldn't have taken a liking to Mojo Jojo (at least not right away) since he resembles a combination of two of his villains - a monkey and a brain. The takeaway was that PPG is superior to TTG, and not because the Girls were the guests in this case. In my opinion, both shows suck, but at least TTG kept its original voice cast.

On an off week for Critical Role, Liam DM'd a real-life post-apocalyptic world with Travis, Laura, Sam, and Taliesin playing themselves (and even made character sheets for them). I haven't watched it yet since it isn't the main story, but it sounds like a D&D video I saw on YouTube a while back (I think it was the same group who did The Gamers videos) where the players were trying and failing to role play real life (but only accomplished breaking into their friend's house, causing their dog and themselves to get hit by a car, and drinking the "potions" under the sink). I like the idea, and judging from the highlights I've read, it should be hilarious and enlightening.

I posted Saix's zodiac segment, and it also got three views and a like overnight. Scrolling back through the most recent page of videos posted, more of them had one (even two) like than I was previously aware of (not the zodiac ones though, just Saix and Ansem). They all had to do with Kingdom Hearts, which is why I currently have 155 subscribers. Other ones are end-of-year holiday videos (not the Homestuck Troll ones though).

REM Time

So instead of making up new "bedtime" stories, I've been focusing on thinking up "happily ever after" scenarios to get myself to sleep at night. It still doesn't work, but I've got "missing father returning home to his family," "husband waking up from a coma," and "exonerated prisoner drinking beer with his friends." Earlier this week I had a dream which included Percy as a cyborg.The depressing thing about Critical Role lately was the Raven Queen saying to Percy that everyone is broken from birth and the meaning of life is to try to better yourself before you die. I don't like that. While it's true that no one's perfect and there's always room for improvement, I just think that creates more conflict than it solves sometimes. We all just need to find some form of happiness before we die. It's sad to see Ashley go again long-term, and even sadder that Scanlan has given up pursuing Pike.

Sailor Moon Crystal episode 39 dragged too much, focusing on still shots (some reused) and rewinding too far into the end of the previous episode. If any episode needed to be abridged, this one definitely qualifies. Saturn and Pluto saved the day, and Sailor Moon fixed everything. The abridged answer to Pharaoh 90 asking to be sent home would be "F**k no!" Also Saturn could say that she will take lives and Sailor Moon will give life (which is a Tales of Zestiria reference), to which Sailor Moon would respond that she's taken plenty of lives already. I'm surprised that the main cast is in high school at the end of the episode (that didn't happen until the beginning of season 5), doing a time skip so we didn't have to sit through a study montage. And we get more character development as they talk about what clubs they're going to join. But then there's an eclipse, and the Crystal Twinkle Bell is heard, and Chibi-Usa isn't going to be able to return home just yet. I thought we'd get a special end credits sequence since this was the end of the S arc, but instead we just got the first ending again. No preview either, but we know it's amazon time.

Memory is the Chi

So the black coat in Chi is the Master of Masters and not the sixth Foreteller? Is there even a sixth Foreteller?? I'm beginning to think there's nothing special about the coat - it's just what they use to hide secret characters before they're revealed, and then the Organization made them a thing. Diz even had them readily available for Riku and Mickey. I'm done trying to fathom the meaning behind his now-iconic piece of apparel. Anyway, Ansem's segment got a couple views and a like overnight. That's really something. The Next Mutation videos are getting more views too, probably since the show is "universally reviled" according to one Internet source. Xaldin is trailing behind with only one view, but at least it's more than zero.

This week's SMC was a good one. My only joke to add is when Saturn gets summoned. The Outer Scouts could be like, "Hey remember that whole coming to kill you thing? Just kidding! Could you help us out?" and she'd be like, "Beg!" or something smug like that. It'd be so cool. That's why Saturn is best Outer Scout (except Pluto, I guess). A cancellation joke would also work. This week's Whose Line was great, too - very funny.

Milano cookies have so many secondary flavors now that I will seriously never buy regular ones again. There are even two different caramel ones - dulce de leche and sea salt. My favorites are mint and orange (also double chocolate but my brother eats them all). The Dunkin Donuts I pass on the way to work has maple frosted donuts, so that's incredibly awesome. When they went away in college I thought they'd never come back. Who knows if they even left this location to begin with? I only just started going there. Since I don't go to Wendy's anymore these days, I've been getting the frozen hot chocolate from Dunkin to substitute for a Frosty. It's basically the same thing and it's delicious.

Uncanny Valley

What I learned from Critical Role earlier this month is that Laura and Travis have a disagreement about oatmeal. Laura likes maple brown sugar (as do I), and Travis likes apple cinnamon. That would be my second favorite if not for strawberry, so it's a very close third. Brown sugar makes everything better, especially baked beans. The funny part was that Travis was set off by Matt saying Grog's skin was melting off like oatmeal. It just came out of nowhere. Are Matt and Travis in Kingdom Hearts Chi Back Cover? That's what I've heard, anyway, and a couple of them sounded familiar (although I admit I was going in under the impression that they were going to be voiced by Aqua, Terra, Ven, Kairi, and Riku - did that trailer ever get dubbed?).

Not much to say about Sailor Moon Crystal other than its awful animation in some parts, and also the padding. At least Hotaru and Chibi-Usa had dresses on as souls like the manga. If not, they would've been added later for censorship, which is appropriate in this case since, again, THEY ARE UNDERAGE! On top of references to the horrible visuals, all I'd have to add is elevator humor and a body swap joke. Speaking of animation, the RWBY Chibi animation looks like either Rankin Bass or Jimmy Neutron. Or the Peanuts viewfinder reels.

I wasn't going to watch Camp Camp, but Michael sounds like he's worth it. And they put Travis in a position of power, which always turns out great (TINY MINISKIRTS!). It's probably also better than Camp WWE, which I was just reminded exists by LittleKuriboh. The trailer reminded me of Dawn Somewhere's Gym of the Romantic Journey. The first episode was mostly Travis' character giving a speech. Miles' character had better not grab his leg and say something along the lines of "You're a miracle! I'll follow you forever!" while Lee Eddy's character mutters to herself and walks away. Speaking of camp, I've had the Salute Your Shorts theme song stuck in my head lately.

I like Diamanda and Count Jackula as reviewers even though I don't usually watch their videos. Their special appearances in other videos, like Count Jackula in Some Jerk's Haunted Mansion review (especially his song in part 2) and Diamanda in the RPG version of Advent Children.

Nice Work

Xigbar's zodiac segment is up. I'm happy that Zexion's has one view now. I'm also amazed to report that the Sins videos I posted have ten views each! If I was following PokeSins' format, I would've added a few "Plusles," but since regular CinemaSins doesn't have them (usually), and I was trying to make a point, I left them out. One of them would've been Splinter making me laugh when he says "Yes I can. I am old!" in response to Leonardo saying he can't change his mind - about helping Raph no less. Leo was a dick in this version. I might've given one to the guy playing Shredder too, since he seemed really into it despite only appearing in a grand total of three episodes. That had to be nuts getting the part of the Shredder only to learn the series wasn't about him. That's like the girl playing "Sailor Luna" thinking she was going to be Chibi Moon. I had a few more audio swap ideas too, but I either didn't have access to the audio I needed or it was for a different episode entirely, and I'm not doing the whole series. It's too much work and I don't have that kind of time. And it's not that I don't like the Nickelodeon Ninja Turtles; I'm just all Turtle'd out at this point. It's great that kids (and other fans) like it.

Operation Dude Rescue turned into Girls Night 4 on a recent episode(s) of Teen Titans Go! I had the same reaction to the boys' chivalry as Raven did. Having manners is one thing, but they were just being annoying and kinda creepy. Jynx's personality can only be explained by her relationship with Cyborg. When she's not in jail or the Hive, she's with him. Now she acts like him. I don't know when Terra had the opportunity to betray them while they were breaking in because she was with them the whole time. They were working together, they got captured because of her (including her too but she didn't care), and the answer was more teamwork? I guess the real takeaway a la "What I Learned" is that milkshakes are awesome.

I had a couple more fan art ideas that I may or may not do. The first one is Ienzo dressed as Tuxedo Mask because they share a voice actor. The other is Ken getting emotional over teaching his son (whom he probably named after his brother) how to blow bubbles. 

Fan Service

If anyone asks Pluto who's guarding the Gate of Time, she could joke that she found someone to cover her. Cut to Time Patrol Trunks. "Guys...?" I liked the first version where Hotaru's house goes nuts and all of the scouts including her are being chased through it by Kaorinite and her minions. The Sailor Planet Attack was awesome, but in this version all they do is summon the grail again. This episode was kind of dark. Chibiusa is clinically dead, and Mamoru is using his bullshit powers to keep her on life support until it kills him. It's like what happened with Nanako in Persona 4. The new ending with Tuxedo Mask/Endymion and Serenity was good, if not a bit heavy on the fan service. Next time on SMC: nudity! That's another thing that StarS got censored for. Speaking of, there are only a few episodes left before this storyline concludes and SuperS starts. I'm looking forward to seeing that, although there will be more differences in that too. Maybe since pure heart crystals weren't a thing this time around, dream mirrors won't be either.

There are bacon PopTarts now. Plus some more Oreo abominations that probably aren't going to show up where I work. Suzy Q's are back too (though I didn't realize they were gone). Also, who's this Casey they mention on the box who will be happy about it? I'll admit my only exposure to it is that movie with Amy Jo Johnson. At least the Hostess section is a bit more organized now.

If David Dayan Fisher wanted to, maybe he could be a guest voice on Archer since it's similar to what he's already done. He wouldn't even have to be a villain, just some random asshole. Since I've been watching Archer instead of NCIS for the most part this past year, I was imagining lines from Archer while watching the NCIS finale.

One-Two-Three

We finally got to see what happened to the Outer Guardians, who were actually not present at the Silver Millennium when it was destroyed. They hate Saturn because she was summoned by the talismans to put an end to the rest of them as well. That's not the worst thing in the world. It had to happen so they could be reborn with everyone else. It's the equivalent of Meenah setting the bomb off in Homestuck. You would think Meenah's the bad guy since she would've grown up to be the Condesce, but she's actually not. The look of "oh shit!" when Hotaru turned into a servant of Pharaoh 90 instead of Saturn was somewhat amusing given their situation, which was just hiding in a tree and letting Chibi Moon approach the house. Just what we needed, another Wicked Lady.

I finally found the cupcakes. The store I work at doesn't keep them all in the same place but scattered throughout the various aisles. I don't understand our system and they sure as hell aren't going to teach it to me. They were all right, but I like the orange ones the best, and maybe the ones made to look like baseballs. Not worth filling a whole bank vault with, as in Comic Book Quickies this week. Hostess is not the preferred brand at the store, just tossed in haphazardly among the bread and other baked goods. Drake's Cakes are in the paper aisle, and Little Debbie's are in the frozen aisle. Other brands have their own endcaps on other aisles further down. It's so dumb.

The December video is more or less done. There's just some timing issues to sort out. It isn't entirely comprised of holiday fan art but that's kind of what I was going for originally. The Next Mutation videos are also up. The Organization zodiac view counts from before still stand. It makes me wonder if the Zexion one didn't make it to people's inboxes for some reason. I've heard of that happening.

Swan Song

NCIS is so badly written. Cote wouldn't come back so they killed Ziva, but then they made her have an out-of-wedlock daughter with Tony?! That's even worse than devolving Kort's character and shooting the shit out of him (justified, but still). Poor dumbass. I'm just disappointed that they didn't go for a twist instead of their "fuck this guy" approach. But no, it had to be "I'm a bad guy. I suck at fighting. I don't do all my research and get in way over my head. I'm actually into selling nuclear secrets to the Russians and burning the homes of my enemies either by accident or on purpose." I saw the episode of Rush Hour with David Dayan Fisher that was pretty much an episode of Flashpoint. Also he makes goofy faces. Too bad he's wasted on typecasting.

Sailor Moon spontaneously transformed into Neo Queen Serenity, to whom Uranus and Neptune apologized for their rudeness. But then they went right back to being rude in that same conversation. Neptune mentions that Uranus is both a man and a woman, which, no she's not. She's a crossdresser like Naoto from Persona 4, but she's still not like the Sailor Star Lights. The holy grail looks like it was summoned by the royal family and not the three talismans, which are supposed to be used against Sailor Saturn/the god of destruction, but we already know the Inner Guardians aren't going to let the Outer Guardians kill Hotaru. She gets to decide that for herself.

Higashi in South Windsor is the best Japanese restaurant I've ever been to. Just saying it's the best sit-down experience I've had. I wore out my arm muscles using chopsticks on everything in the lunch plate instead of just one side dish.

Christmas in May

MLP did their own version of A Christmas Carol. It was a great episode, but it had some problems. I loved the opening, but the beginning of the actual story seemed really slow to me. There was no Marley character, but there was a teacher who looked a lot like Snape. I was a little disappointed that Twilight wasn't a character in the story, but she was the narrator and Starlight was the stand-in for the audience (which makes Twilight Gonzo and Spike Rizzo if we were to compare it to the Muppet version). They were annoying. The best part was Princess Luna's song as the Ghost of Hearth's Warming Future. Also Derpy.

I was searching for some Kingdom Hearts fan art the other day and found some pretty good ones. There was one where Aeleus and Dilan are about to beat up Braig for his role in the betrayal. There's another one where Even and Ienzo are waking up and getting mad at Lea for what he'd done to them as well. There was also one where Isa is telling Sora to kill him off, but Sora says no because it would make Lea sad and offers him his hand saying "Let's get you home, Isa." That one got me right in the feels. Then I searched for cute pictures of Ienzo specifically and was not disappointed. I like that more people are drawing him when he was a cute little kid (unfortunately several are of him crying so that's sad). Similarly I saw a picture of Batman with a caption that read: "I'm here to kick ass and hug my parents, and I'm all out of parents." Too real.

I usually don't give nicknames to Pokemon, let alone Digimon, because I can't immediately think of any good ones. However, in Digimon Cyber Sleuth, it becomes necessary when keeping track of individual Digimon going through different evolutionary trees. I have a Magnadramon named Lady, a Cherubimon named Velvet, and a Piximon named Styx. I really have to get better at nicknames since it's required for a Nuzlocke run (which my boyfriend started but never finished because he got distracted by doing randomizer runs). Kyle told me about a creation called the McGangBang, where you put together two cheeseburgers and a McChicken sandwich. Those are two things I get normally but not at the same time, so maybe I should try doing it. I found out there was a triple cheeseburger recently, so I ate that. It's because the patties are so thin that I'd even considered it.

Ye Not Guilty

I'd given up on NCIS this season, but of course they couldn't conclude Tony's run without bringing back Kort (no matter what trouble the two had gotten into in real life). At first they tried to humanize him some more, but then it all turned out to possibly be a lie as he has been accused by the suspect of selling secrets to the Russians and killing people to cover his tracks since before La Granouille. And just to stick a knife in and turn it, he's now after Ziva (more specifically, her father's files). I'm not worried about the fire, however. Ziva probably set it and ran. There's no way Kort's going to survive the next episode, though. I was all for a redemption of his character, but this just harpoons all the progress he's made because he is Tony's nemesis. A nice touch was his fake eye (contact lens over the actor's real eye) but having a pirate eye patch instead of his medical one on his updated personnel file showing he'd been sacked. We don't even know why he got fired, and there's a chance he is actually innocent (although he looks pretty guilty). While all signs point to the writers making him out to be a monster since he's a character people love to hate, it does match his M.O. to find a lead on his own, keep it to himself, and try to take action alone only to get his ass kicked once again. Like Gibbs said the last time they mentioned him on the show, Kort is upfront about being an asshole. The more I think about it, the more I start to suspect Monroe since he is a character that was introduced then released and forgotten, and those characters are usually guilty. I won't be upset if it turns out Kort is guilty or dies either way; I'm just disappointed with the writing, though that ship sailed last season.

Also looking forward to next week's Sailor Moon Crystal. I was a little disappointed in this one. It should have been Makoto's episode (I was expecting her to kill Lulu or at least fight her more), but then Mini Moon got her wand (seriously how was she supposed to defend herself without it?), which instead of doing nothing got absorbed. Then Pluto showed up, as her name is actually in the episode title. The brief appearances of Haruka, Michiru, and Mamoru respectively felt pointless and added nothing. Instead of getting eaten by her plants, Lulu turned into a horrible plant monster. To be continued.

Quick Updates

Post # 300, not that it matters. Last entry's title should've been "IT'S A WORKING TITLE!" I think I used "Stepping It Up" already, but I don't know if this site checks for title redundancy.

Burnie and Ashley lost, so I have no reason to watch the rest of it. I will continue to listen to their podcasts, however. Excited for RWBY Chibi and RvB 14 even though it will all be supplementary material. The bake-off between Meg and Ryan as judged by Barbara, Lindsay, and Kerry was hilarious.

Newbie Dash is probably the worst episode of this season, hands down. It's true that sports players give each other derogatory nicknames (at least that's the kind of nicknames the coaches assigned to us when I played softball), it doesn't make it right. Dash was bullied by being called Crash, so she should've been able to talk to the Wonderbolts about it eventually. Also, another episode where Spike gets shat on. Those aren't funny.

I think the caramel cupcakes were only on sale the week I saw them because I haven't seen them since. I guess I missed my chance, but they probably weren't all that great anyway. But this is coming from someone who has been dreaming about cupcakes, so that might just be sour grapes.

Stepping It Up

I've finally caught up with Critical Role, and that new intro is amazing. My favorite part is the segment starting with Percy ducking behind a tree and ending with Scanlan chasing after Pike. Percy is my favorite, so I should be upset that he had to get knocked out, right? Well, two things. One: Pike had to heal someone, I suppose, to show off her powers (except she's also a badass at everything else save stealth). Two: My personal feeling is that if I'm playing D&D, why would I want to still be human when I could be anything else? In that respect Percy is a weak link (though Taliesin rolls like a boss). Also, sometimes I would want to smack Percy upside the head for some of the decisions he makes. Vax even calls him by his last name now instead of "Percival." The costumes and effects were gorgeous, as they looked more like their characters this time around. I'm still a little bit sad Orion couldn't be part of it.

No Second Prances is a dumb title, as they directly reference second chances in the episode. On the one hand, I can understand Twilight not wanting Starlight to be friends with Trixie given what happened when Discord made friends with Tirek (though this was not mentioned by anyone, and Twlight only seemed to be doing it for selfish reasons, something which Discord would have called her out on). On the other hand, I was actually on Starlight's side for this. Twilight shouldn't have been meddling. It would've made more sense if Trixie had remembered or even known when the dinner was since she had already scheduled her show for that night and told Starlight she couldn't go. I guess they wanted to play up Trixie's history with Twilight instead. "Way to go, dum-dum." Another thing to consider is that Celestia shouldn't have cared whether or not Starlight and her +1 showed up. Instead, we see her very annoyed at being left at the dinner with Cranky, Vinyl, and Derpy as company. And where was Spike during all this? Fluttershy was also underutilized, being abandoned by Starlight, who left after petting Angel (who loved it/her). Andrea Libman even got credited only as Pinkie, as all Fluttershy got for dialog was sighing and gasping. The other ponies whispering and rejecting Starlight and Trixie was a little reminiscent of when it happened to Sunset in Equestria Girls 2, but the two of them together made it uniquely theirs.

It was nice to see Sailor Mercury in action, albeit briefly. It was actually even nicer to see Mamoru and Usagi be constructive in their relationship. Chibi-Usa's end theme was a bit jarring, as it seemed too bright and childish (even though that's her character). When she was talking about how her mom had the chalice since she was young, an abridged option would have been for Rei or someone to blurt out, "Whoa! Spoiler alert! We don't have that yet!"

Segues

So, without giving anything away, I just read a bunch of spoilers for the new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie. Ryou is more involved in it than usual (usual being not at all as most extra material is filler and he's not in any of that), but that also means horrible things happen to him. This being the case, I'm going to do what he would do: talk about food now and try not to think about it.

Jason offered me some of those Oreos that were supposed to be cream-filled chocolate cupcake flavored. They were pretty good, but my mentality is that I'd rather just eat the cupcake. Actually I wouldn't because I probably got burnt out on them as a kid, but they have this new caramel cupcake variety I'd like to try too. I tried the Batman and Superman cereals because they were cheap. I thought that the caramel Superman cereal was going to be bland, but it was actually really good. The concept of chocolate/strawberry cereal has been pulled off with other brands like Special K, but not with Batman. It wasn't as terrible as people are saying, but it wasn't as good as Superman. As for the movie, Zack Snyder is bad news.

Ruffles All-Dressed came back, so that's pretty cool. What's also pretty cool is that the Survivor recaps finally caught up. It was almost three weeks behind. What isn't behind is my upload schedule. I just finished the Yu-Gi-Oh! tribute and will upload it soon. I have some idea of what I'm doing for a year-end holiday video as well, but that's later down the line.

I Would Like to Rage

I received an anonymous comment that one of my articles on HubPages didn't cover everything about the Civil War and that I needed to provide more details. 1) Anonymous. So lame. 2) I don't write in-depth hubs. I'm more of a one-page-analyisis type of writer on that site. 3) I'm not even being paid for this so I don't give a flying fuck anymore. I'd also like to rescind my shameless promotion of Dino's Seafood. It is not the same as it was before. And I'm also annoyed that the Survivor recaps are behind, but at least they're back on the regular web site.

Another downside to not having filler in SMC is that middle management villains become monsters of the week. The Witches 5 are all probably going to be killed by Sailor Moon and the other senshi at this rate. I'm not sure why Haruka has turned into Seiya from the Sailor Star Lights (or why the three pure-hearted ones [or holders of the three talismans since heart crystals aren't a thing] are also being referred to as the Three Lights). I'm also not sure why Mamoru is having the dream in addition to Rei (I can't remember if he did or not before), but it beats having the ones that keep sabotaging his relationship with Usagi. But then, everyone and their mom is having the dream now, and Michiru and Haruka are seemingly getting in between Usagi and Mamoru even though they would never do that.

Burnie and Ashley came in second once again. While that's great for keeping them around, I would've liked to see them get first at least once, especially when they deserved it.

UAE FTW

In the latest episode of The Amazing Race, they revisited the Dubai water slide. I've thought the United Arab Emirates is a pretty interesting country since I was learning geography as a kid. I don't know why since I didn't know or learn anything about it, but I liked the sound of it. I'm glad Burnie and Ashley are still doing well. They could've had first this time too if Zack and Brodie hadn't used their express pass to get past the puzzle. I loved the water challenges in this episode, though the puzzle was annoying. I prefer logic puzzles, myself. Anyone remember the handheld games that were full of water and you had to push buttons to blast rings onto hooks? It was almost as challenging. I had gotten pretty good at the handheld Magna Defender target practice game (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy!).

Axel and Demyx are popular (or at least Axel because he's on the thumbnail) since the video I made about them being Sagittarius has gotten three views in the first twenty-four hours while the previous one about Zexion being a Scorpio still has none and Xaldin the Libra has only one. The first one with Vexen as a Virgo still has the most at four. Also, I had been teetering between 154 and 155 subscribers only to now drop to 153. Maybe it's my voice people don't like, or my lack of editing skills. I don't think it's the popularity of the characters, though maybe more die-hard fans of certain characters would sit through a minute of my rambling (or perhaps they were fooled into clicking on it??). Meanwhile, TheBrotherhoodAbridged lost our content and our channel (TheFMABridged). Our leader has since launched another channel (BrotherhoodAbridged) and is reuploading the videos with an altered format. He will still probably have to fight the audio claims all over again, though.

I forgot to mention last time but I like that Mamoru has his own communicator watch (which looks amazing btw). They even gave him stuff to do like protect kids and fellow students. I would like to see this continue since he used to just inexplicably show up just to give encouragement. Because there's really no filler here, he now has a reason to show up instead of popping in and out as the formula demands.

No More Shiny Makeup

Sailor Moon Crystal came back with its version of S. I didn't read the manga so if differences from the earlier anime are in it I wouldn't know. I just didn't like how everyone - including Michiru - is referring to Haruka as a boy, which makes me think she's pretending to be one. She's even got a cape and a domino mask like Mamoru and calls Usagi "bun head" instead of "moon face." I didn't like the end theme focusing on Uranus and Neptune either since this is Sailor Moon and the focus should be on her. Chibiusa and Hotaru as a pairing in the opening theme is a bit weird too, especially since their meeting in this was not as good as it was in S. I was even bored during the transformation and introduction sequences. It took way too long, so I ran out of patience by the time they did it again. The opening theme song is okay, but it's no Shiny Makeup. Episodes 27 and 28 are both Act 27 (parts 1 and 2), so episode 29 is Act 28. This got very confusing very quickly. Is it a bad thing that I was the most excited by the Witches 5? One other thing I liked is the triangulation of Mugen that uses the last names of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. As for any potential abridged jokes, Pluto in the opening theme could be like "I'm back, bitches!" and a reference to the Witches 5 resorting to murdering each other to get promoted (and the promotion was probably a lie to begin with).

Homestuck ended (at least until he comes out with the epilogue), but we are left with more questions than answers. Collide and Act 7 were great animations, but I felt disappointed that there weren't any panels with dialog. The team that does "Let's Reads" hasn't updated any of their projects in months, so that may not be a thing anymore either. Hopefully the store will remain open at least through the rest of the year because merch will continue to be relevant.

Spies and Thieves!

There has been some debate about whether Xehanort is going back in time to get the Foretellers to join him or if he's simply conjuring them from the Book of Prophecies which he totally has (and told Maleficent about). If he's conjuring them from the book, do they become lost from history or does he just have copies of the real ones? Since Chi is a simulation, and the characters and worlds you visit aren't real (and the real ones have no memory of it), I would have been inclined to think it was more time travel shenanigans and he had a previous life as the sixth master who was denied a page of the book. Alternatively, if the traitor is one of the five who was helping him, then that's pretty much what Braig did (bonus points if the traitor is whichever one you chose to train under so it's equal opportunity, but I don't think that's possible). It would be cool if they segue to Xehanort and Braig turning the rest of the apprentices against Ansem the Wise if Back Cover details the fall of the lost masters because it's basically the same thing - history repeats itself. Again, that's probably not going to happen, but that's what I would like them to do.

My CinemaSins parody video is finished. Like the Star Wars prequels, it's two parts and about twenty minutes in total (around eighteen of which is actual sin time). I just have to decide when I want to upload it. I still have to figure out my holiday video plans, and other than that there's a release schedule for my Org XIII zodiac series. If I can get decent screen caps of the Yu-Gi-Oh! movie that's coming out in Japan on the 23rd, I wanted to make one for that and post it next month.

I tried the chili cheese version of the Burger King Grilled Dog, and I liked it. I still like the ones at my local diner more, but it was by no means bad if you like chili dogs. (Dino's Seafood in North Haven! Shameless plug!)

Wake Me Up

I tried making a fried noodle sub by putting yakisoba in a sub roll. It was all right, but like I thought, the addition of bread into the equation gave it too many carbs. I could barely finish the tray. On the other side of things, the company I work for came out with garlic bread sticks stuffed with mozzarella. Whoever thought those up is a genius because they are great. Friendy's Ice Cream also put out a limited batch of ice cream cake ice cream (that's like Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan), which is really good. My boyfriend hates ice cream cake because he thinks it's an ambomination, but I haven't gotten him to try it yet.

We finally got around to playing a session of one of our D&D campaigns. It was a big battle, which was scripted for the big bad to knock us all out for a week and for another NPC to effectively get the kill. I was rolling well at first but poorly toward the end, and I disagreed with my party members about what I should do (not that it mattered in the end since none of us could do anything). Highlights included getting an NPC drunk so he would give us  some information. We did end up getting the information from him, but then one of our party decided to sacrifice him to his dark god anyway behind our backs. I could've tried scrying but that hadn't worked on another ally NPC because the DM rolled a nat 20. We ended up hiring a wizard and a cleric to use sending and tongues to get our message across, which was to bitch out our ally for not complying. At the end of everything, we actually gained two levels. I felt it was more deserved than the last time it happened, though I still felt like I hadn't done very much. In the other game we only level up when the DM says we can, which hasn't happened since Level 8. We started that campaign first, and we are now behind by three levels.

We also started watching Ray play a randomized version of Pokemon Crystal. Naming his Geodude Goofy on top of the Evanescence song was a little too on-the-nose considering what happened to him in Kingdom Hearts 2.

Mind-blowing

After watching the AT4W retrospective, I would totally read the Jaime Reyes Blue Beetle books if I ever come across any (but not the new 52). Also thanks to Linkara, I'm hooked on the Game Show Reviewer videos. It helped me remember that there was a game show called Scrabble that I used to love too. I can't wait to watch more. The review Linkara promoted was Carmen Sandiego, and I liked that one enough to look at what other game shows he'd reviewed. His first two reviews were Legends of the Hidden Temple and Supermarket Sweep, so I was sold on it after that. I hope he does more Nickelodeon game shows in the future, as he's already done a few and has name dropped a few more. I was surprised to learn of a Rock and Roll version of Jeopardy and even more shocked that the host was Jeff Probst. 1970s Alex Trebec as the host of the original Double Dare is also worth a watch. This guy only has a few thousand views per video and a few hundred subscribers, so I am also promoting him here and on Facebook. That's still doing better than me, but I didn't make a YouTube channel for views or subscribers. I'm almost done with my Turtles video; once I'm done editing part 2 it won't take long. I may actually get an editing gig if my friends decide to try making their own web series since they are fed up with their real jobs. If they're successful maybe I can even guest star if I know enough about the subject material.

Teen Titans Go! had an Easter special that pretty much ripped off Nightmare Before Christmas - not an homage, just the same idea applied a different way. Halloween wasn't even referenced in the holiday pantheon at all (it was replaced by George Washington and President's Day). It also means it copied the video game sequel Oogie's Revenge. I really liked it even if some parts were stupid. The Ninja Turtles crossover was much like the 4Kids one except Nickelodeon could afford the original voice actors. Unfortunately that's pretty much the only thing it had going for it aside from a dig at the Michael Bay Turtles. The 2D animation looked more storyboard-ish than I would have liked. I don't watch the Nickelodeon show, so I was surprised to hear Gilbert Gottfried as their Krang and also impressed that Andrea Romano is the voice director. Finally, the most recent episode of Dino Super Charge had the most WTF ending I've seen in a long time.

Natural

I drew more Critical Role fan art, this time of Laura and Mary Elizabeth cosplaying as their characters. I feel bad that Laura almost died again, but I wasn't worried (although if Will hadn't been there it would've been perma-death). I had been in a similar situation myself in one of the games I'm in, except it was possession and not instant death. I too rolled a nat 1 which caused it to happen, but the guy who antagonized the ghost (*cough*Jason*cough*) also apologized to me the same as Taliesin. To this day, he is still super sorry, so I don't believe Taliesin will forget this either. Not that Laura or I are mad, since we rolled poorly and it was just as much our fault.

I'm still thoroughly enjoying Dino Super Charge, especially this past episode "Home Run Koda." Like when Chase was being a dick to Shelby, Riley was being a dick to his best friend Koda, causing his crystal to lose its power. I'm easily ten years older than these characters, so they seem even more like children to me (they're probably written that way because it's a children's show, so there's that). Being a baseball episode, I was immediately hooked since I used to play softball and TJ (a.k.a. best Ranger as far as I'm concerned) had a baseball episode too. The funniest part was when Ivan blew a horn reminiscent of a vuvuzela. These guys are too much.

I know this is late, but I'm glad Leo finally won. Also, I love Trefoils too (Thin Mints are a close second). I've heard they're a dollar more in California. What would be a good idea (but something they probably wouldn't do since Bavarian cream Munchkins have gone the way of the maple frosted donut) is if they injected cream filling into the chocolate glazed Munchkins to make Boston cream Munchkins.

Tri Again

This group of episodes was centered around Mimi and Joe, revisiting their issues of selfishness and cowardice. While it did seem like character regression, I'm glad it resulted in Palmon and Gomamon finally reaching Mega level, something I've been waiting to see since middle school. What I'm not glad about is Ken becoming the Digimon Emperor again, the ultimate character regression. It tells me that the creators of Tri aren't working with many original ideas. It's one thing to bring back characters we like, but completely retreading old ground that we'd already closed the book on is unacceptable. Just get to the meat of the Alphamon/Omegamon plot and whatever the hell Meiko/Meiccomon is supposed to be. I would not object to a continuation of the Dark Ocean/Dracomon storyline that never went anywhere, though. Unless they get posted elsewhere, I'll have to wait for crunchyroll to make them available to the public next month; so far I've only read the Wikipedia entry.

I saw the new trailers for the new Yu-Gi-Oh! movie. It's funny to see Ryou surrounded by girls since that hasn't happened since Season Zero and Otogi was there too. His eyes look more purple than brown now, and in Zero they were green (and blue in the video game). Can they just not decide what color eyes to give him? Yugi and Anzu walking together is cute, and Tristan almost choked to death on a fried noodle sub. I know it's a fried noodle sub because they had them in Azumanga Daioh. Also, I find it a little weird that the Kul Elna ruins became a dig site. Wouldn't the Ishtars have wanted people to stay away from there? This stinks of early GX. Still, I can't wait to see it.

Such a Cop-out!

There are recaps on the CBS mobile site for Survivor but I couldn't find it on the drop-down menu on the regular site like I used to. I'm still rooting for the bounty hunter, though it'd be better if the tribes worked as a team to find idols like theirs did and that it'd give them a much-needed advantage at challenges. And I knew Tai wasn't the one being evacuated - he was just upset because of who was. Burnie and Ashley were so close to winning, but it just had to be an equalizing leg of the race. Then in the next episode they fell to the back of the pack again. So disappointing.

The person who sins the Pokemon movies gave the Diancie movie no sins because he liked it so much. Because of this, I'm no longer afraid to have free reign of my own video, though I still strive to be fair. Like the CinemaSins Star Wars prequels, I'm going to have to cut mine in half. Part 1 is finished except for the total run time, which I may have to figure out later if I don't default to "too many minutes" or "too long minutes." It is currently set at "X minutes." Part 1 covers episodes 1, 2, and 3 and has a stinger of its own. Part 2 will contain episode 4, episode 5, the bonus round, and the stinger proper. It's a lot of work and it may not be worth it, but I've had fun. In making the short stinger for part 1, I realized that Venus would've fit right in at Hogwarts. She's a legilimens, she knows wingardium leviosa and expelliarmus, and at seventeen (an important age in the wizarding world) she should probably know a lot more. Then again, Hermione wasn't as popular with her classmates in the beginning either, and Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone came out around the same time as or shortly after Next Mutation (or Hero Turtles in Europe, pfft).  Another problem is that rather than being a witch among wizards, she was a shinobi among ninjas.

Flavor of the Month

Since the Grilled Dogs are made of 100% beef, I decided they weren't a threat to my health and got one slathered with ketchup and mustard. It wasn't that special, but it wasn't bad either. There are two new flavors of Pop-Tarts. I opted for the fruit flavor, thinking that watermelon was safe. It's disgusting. The chocolate caramel probably wouldn't be good for me since s'mores always made me sick. I remember sitting in the living room with my family eating bad pizza and cinna-sticks (Domino's) and arguably bad movies (TMNT II Secret of the Ooze, Inspector Gadget 2, Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf).

I drew a picture of Ruby hugging one of those soda machines featured in a Rooster Teeth Animated Adventure. Weiss is in the background rolling her eyes. Blake and Yang are probably getting sandwiches or something. I'm currently enjoying the Japanese dub of volume 1. It's so cool. As with going back to the beginning of anything, I have a greater hatred for Cinder in the first episode. It also made me wonder what she was doing flying the helicopter when it's usually Neo doing the driving (and the fact that Neo seemed to have a relationship with Torchwick). Weiss' relationship with her sister is also inconsistent. On the one hand, she said she'd always wanted to have bunk beds to share with her in volume 1 and greeted her with excitement when she arrived at Beacon in volume 3. On the other hand, she didn't want to talk to her in volume 2.

Amazing!

I'm watching The Amazing Race this season for Burnie and Ashley. There aren't episode recaps for Survivor anymore, so I have to watch it too. I guess I don't mind as much since there is a bounty hunter named Kyle Jason who also happens to be a perfect fusion of my friends Kyle and Jason. Move over, Lirran. Speaking of my friends, we've been playing the new Digimon game together and having a lot of fun. We each chose three Digimon - mine are Lopmon, Gatomon, and Sorcerimon (Jason chose Wizardmon). It feels just like a Persona game, and the graphics are amazing. It's an awesome game for winners.

I found out Ninja Turtles Next Mutation was put out on DVD a couple years ago, so I'm going to get that for my birthday. The only negative feedback I could find was a lack of features (no haters on Amazon, apparently). I don't mind. It's not like Batman and Robin where they actually apologized for making it; they just want to forget it ever happened and move on. Batman and Robin was the Easter Egg I mentioned before - a movie billboard over the NYPD. Just add that level of camp to the special effects of Dinosaurs and you get Next Mutation. I've finished all the Organization horoscope videos (they're really short!) and the stinger to the Everything Wrong With East Meets West video. The rest will take some work, especially if I have to work around copyright to get what I want (getting the DVDs will help).

There was a video opening/closing that I remember from my childhood. I looked it up and it's actually on youtube. The video series was called Children's Circle, and it featured a van with drama masks painted on it (more like circular emoji form before emojis were a thing) driving through a neighborhood. The lyrics I remember are "Come on along, come on along, join the caravan." In hindsight, a van driving through a neighborhood and beckoning little kids to listen to a story probably isn't the most appropriate image to present.