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).