A Title Goes Here

I just want to get one correction out of the way first. I accidentally said "Over a Barrel" instead of "The Last Roundup" when talking about the MLP season finale. I don't know what titles are anymore.

It was great to see the Blue Ranger brothers team up again in the Christmas episode of Super Ninja Steel. The only problem I have with the episode (aside from not remembering a lot about the villains and their interactions from two years ago) is that, once again, the Rangers are depicted using a situation to their advantage. They don't actually care that Sledge lies to Poisandra a lot. They just use it to distract her so they can escape. I don't expect every hero to sympathize with a villain, but it just felt icky, like in an episode of Dino Charge when Chase was leading on that one villain to distract her. Toying with her emotions like that just felt wrong. It could be a good strategy, but it made me feel bad for the villains, which is not something this series does intentionally anymore the way it used to. I wonder what the new Hasbro era will be like.

In a gruesome scene, we see that someone hired a crocodile faunus named Tock to kill Maria in the past but only succeeded in slashing her eyes. People are speculating it was Salem, but then why would she want Ruby alive? Why would she put a hit on Maria and presumably Summer but not her? I didn't like this episode. I'm looking forward to seeing more of Jaune's sister and her family, though. I've seen the sneak peak and it looks like the Atlas guards are mimicking the card soldiers from Wonderland, and the only way to get to Atlas itself is to sell out Weiss. Hopefully Winter is nearby or within contact.

After seeing amvs of Kingdom Hearts openings with RWBY songs, I've thought about which RWBY opening songs fit each game thematically. The first one is obviously the volume one theme "This Will Be The Day," and Kingdom Hearts II would be the volume two theme "Time To Say Goodbye." The volume 3 theme "When It Falls" would fit Birth By Sleep since nothing really ended well for anybody in that game. The volume 4 theme "Let's Just Live" would go to 358/2 Days as it explores Roxas' daily life in the Organization. It would also fit the other members of the Organization moving forward to get their hearts back whether they had a hand in losing them or not. The volume five theme "Triumph" would go to Dream Drop Distance with Riku and Sora taking the Mark of Mastery Exam, and the likes of Lea, Aeleus, and Ienzo waking up. Finally, the volume 6 theme "Rising" seems like it would fit the Kingdom Hearts III intro that was released the other day. I'm still getting used to the feel of "Face My Fears," but I like it. As for the games I didn't mention, I don't have anything for them specifically. The only other one I care about is Chain of Memories, and the only other song I really like that's not specific to certain characters is "I May Fall," so let's go with that for now.

The Boss (portrayed by a palette-swapped Zero-Suit Samus) is a tough fight in the new Smash story mode. My husband and his friend beat it by sheer dumb luck. My husband jumped and fell off the edge, and she jumped after him. He Yoshi'd her and jumped off her head back to safety, and she fell far enough down that she couldn't jump back up. His friend threw a Fire Flower off the stage and she jumped after it to her death. For a time, my husband also enjoyed throwing a Bob-omb as his opening move, winning several of the story mode matches in seconds.

Beware Spoilers for the Following

Larxene's real name is Elrena, it seems. We didn't get to see much of her, but Lauriam talks to her in the data world of Daybreak Town. He's asking after Strelitzia, which is weird because it looked like he was the one who'd killed her and taken her book and position as a Union leader. He also refers to Strelitzia as his little sister, but that might not mean a blood relative in Japanese, rather someone who is like a little sister or just someone younger. Why bait us with this on Thanksgiving, Nomura? I feel like this is information we should've had a long time ago since many people (including myself) are too entrenched in their fan fics and headcanons to change them now. Also, Brain being related to Ienzo might be even more likely now since he spends all his time reading. Or it could just be a massive coincidence, since we don't know how Ven, Lauriam, and now Elrena exist in present day or if anyone is actually an ancestor of anyone else.

I still like Hazel. The only thing that could make me hate him is if by "we've dealt with their kind before" he means he killed Summer Rose. Or he could mean Maria Calavera if her silver eyes were taken from her but her life was spared. That sounds like something Hazel might do. I like how he treats Emerald like a surrogate sister. Salem tells them Cinder is still alive, and they are shocked. Hazel tells her Ozpin was reincarnated already, and she asks them to leave the room so she can rage about it. Then we get the return of Neo, who blames Cinder for Roman's death. Cinder says it's Ruby's fault and that they should take revenge against her together. She says "Let's talk," but Neo indicates that she still doesn't talk, which felt like it could've been a RWBY Chibi skit minus the signs. She's supposed to be Mary Poppins, but is she also the little mermaid since she can't speak? It really wasn't anyone's fault that Roman was eaten by a Grimm, but they don't know that or care. People have been complaining that the name Malachite was repeated for the Little Miss character when it was used previously for the Malachite twins from Junior's club who look nothing like her. While I'm not sure which fable they're supposed to be from, Little Miss is a reference to Little Miss Muffet. Hopefully her two henchmen's names won't be a play on curds and whey.

Spoilers for Clear Card: there is a different twist in the manga. While originally the fifth volume was touted as the final one, there will be a sixth. If it had followed the anime, it could have ended at five as that's as far as the anime got. However, there is more to the story as we were all hoping since the anime ending was quite lacking in substance. The twist is this: Syaoran was responsible for the Sakura Cards turning clear and deactivating. Using the bear that she gave him and he traded back at the beginning of the arc, he was siphoning her power and now the cards are his. He did it to protect Sakura from becoming too powerful. If I were her I'd be pissed, but Sakura is more likely to be confused and sad when she finds out. Volume 4 ended with Sakura seeing her mother's ghost, but that was not followed up on except in her mom's old bedroom with the Record Card like in the anime. Volume 5 ends with Sakura confronting the person wearing Akiho's robe (who turns out to be Syaoran) then waking up in her room wondering if it was a dream. Maybe other plot threads will actually go somewhere now, like Toya's new power or the pendant (in this case, watch) that Sakura's great-grandpa gave her. Just gotta wait 'til June to find out. *screams into pillow*

People keep talking about the possibility of Yellow and Blue Diamond fusing into Green Diamond, but what if they fused with their own Pearls instead? They wouldn't, since they see Pearls as objects, but what would they be called if they did do it?

Throwbacks and Backstories

Halo Top pumpkin pie ice cream is exactly what it says on the carton, including bits of pie crust and pumpkin filling in it. I haven't tried Turkey Hill's version yet, but I expect it to be similar and just as good. I did pick up Friendly's pumpkin flavor, which is creamy and delicious. It reminds me of drinking pumpkin eggnog, and a little bit of the pumpkin ice cream that I had for the first time at an ice cream parlor called LJ's that no longer exists (it had Nicktoons fan art on the walls because it was around in the 90s). Randomly, I found a bag or two of Yoohoo candy at work. I have no idea where they came from - I didn't see them on the shelf during the lead-up to Halloween, and I didn't see anyone buying them. I only saw them when they were clearing out all the leftover candy before Thanksgiving. It has Palmer's on the wrapper, so I guess that's who's responsible for the revival. It doesn't look how I remember it at all, and it just tastes like one of their peanut butter candies without the peanut butter. I'd feel ripped off, but I didn't pay that much for it, and at the end of the day, it's still chocolate. It's probably better than eating a stale candy from Amazon from way back in the day.

The death Ruby was referring to in the trailer ended up being one of the two huntsmen from the preview clip. I can't remember which one was voiced by DBZ Abridged's Dr. Gero (who also voices Lavender in Super for real). The pair of them were probably meant to be the Tweedles from Alice in Wonderland, now that I think about it. More recently, we got Ozpin's and Salem's backstory, and of course they were in a relationship at one time since they're both immortal. When he originally died, she asked for him to be resurrected, but the gods said no. Well, one said no and the other said yes and then no, which caused him to be resurrected and immediately killed a couple times. Brutal. Then he was set on the path of reincarnation in order to stop Salem, but there's no real way for him to do that. At first he was like "fuck it" and the two of them got busy, but that didn't last. I'm not happy about the fake-out that their four daughters were the original maidens, but mommy and daddy had a fight, and I think they might've gotten killed. After all, the maidens from the fable only reminded the old man of his daughters and weren't actually related to him (unless the daughters did escape and the maidens were their descendants). The Salem we see now might be too far gone, especially after the death of her family, but up until she and Ozpin had their big fight, she didn't seem all that bad. She was certainly devious, and people tend to make bad decisions when they're grieving.

Rapid-fire Recaps

The best part of the Super Ninja Steel Halloween clip show was Preston dressed like a caveman (even though Koda wasn't referenced or mentioned, Preston could've just chosen that costume anyway). Also when they objected to wearing capes over their Ranger suits, which might not have been a slam of Mystic Force but I like to think that it was. Not sure why we got the preview of the season finale ahead of the anniversary crossover; it would've made more sense to pick up from the hiatus with that since most of the episodes between the mid-season finale, crossover, and the finale itself are all filler episodes that feel out-of-place even though they're in continuity. The defeat of the villains seemed underwhelming, but it worked on the level they were operating on. Is it bad I was rooting for the bad guys since the mid-season finale? Ladies doing it for themselves! I felt sad when Brax died. He and Badonna needed more time. Victor and Monty's hero status only just now felt earned, and I only saw them as real characters instead of caricatures during the magic club episode where they acted like normal people instead of their usual obnoxious, over-the-top personas. If we had a little more depth to the series as a whole, I would've felt worse when Hayley broke up with Calvin after an argument. It didn't last that long anyway, as they made up in the next episode, so the "soldiers in a war together" lecture would not have been appropriate. Just one more clip episode and then it'll be a new series.

Because there are no recaps for this season of Survivor, I have to watch it, but I don't mind. I'm enjoying it despite the two people having to pull out due to injuries and the second evacuation in Fiji because they underestimated the the severity of the cyclones. Other than that, I'm happy with the way it's going so far. That might change now that there's a merge, though. I don't like Angelina.

Kingdom Hearts 3 trailers are dropping left and right and will continue to do so for some time leading up to the release. It's almost like they're compensating for something (I'm sorry the rest of the DLCs for FFXV got canceled, but that game was mostly DLC). In the latest one, we have Demyx freaking out because he doesn't want to participate, declaring that he's a chicken. He also doesn't want to be paired up with Vexen/Even because they aren't friends. That's probably what "This wasn't my idea/it was all his idea" was in response to, as Vexen/Even's probably not thrilled about it either. Heyner attacking the Seeker of Darkness was unexpected and probably doesn't go well for him; it also looks like a Matrix reference. I didn't think they were returning to the Hundred Acre Wood, but it's there.

The second TTG origin story episode was much better than the first. It told some of what really happened with their own twist on it, and that was fine. The three episodes that followed, however, were garbage. With the news that "we've found a way back" only referred to the TT vs TTG direct-to-video special, there's going to be a riot. Airing season 6 of both series back-to-back was a generous hope of the fans, but now if TTG gets a 6th season it'll be even more rage-inducing. I choose to bury myself in my non-canon cross-franchise ship. It's getting pretty serious.

What Comes Next

The season 8 season finale of MLP was a little different than I thought it would be. Instead of Cozy working with the chancellor, she was working with Tirek. She trapped the mane 6 and Spike in Tartarus with him. However, just like in Over a Barrel, Pinkie annoys Tirek into submission. Twilight pretty much says, "We're not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with us!" The teaser had contained a clip of the student five saying that Sandbar had betrayed them, which would've fit in What Lies Beneath, but it was clear in the episode that he hadn't done any such thing. However, this is the first appearance of the CMC since Cozy got them in trouble, so I'm disappointed that they were underutilized and locked in a closet by Cozy. I thought Cozy might have also poisoned Starlight with mustard and tried to poison the mane 6 with cupcakes, but that wasn't the case. In the end, Cozy was locked up in Tartarus with Tirek. Celestia didn't even have the guts to send a child to Hell herself and had Luna do it. At least she didn't get banished to Equestria Girls. Sunset would've had a thing or two to say about that. After this two-parter, I'm ready for the final season next year.

Emerald did feature prominently in the RWBY volume 6 trailer, as Salem tells her that she is basically Cinder's replacement and that she should know her place. I feel so bad for her, especially when Tyrian gets in her face. We didn't even get to see his new tail (assuming he has it by now). Not sure where Mercury, Hazel, and the rest are. Since Team JNR and Oscar aren't in the clip where Ruby says "Don't let anyone else die," I'm hoping she's still referring to the people who have already died. It's another fight on a train. Hopefully this one won't have bombs on it. There also seems to be a new character silhouetted on the poster who can fly and people are bowing down to him/her. Going off flight, maybe a Peter Pan archetype? Do they have one of those already?

Maple Cheerios is the new Honey Nut Cheerios. I say that because Honey Nut tastes like regular Cheerios (bland) to me while Maple has just enough flavor to make it past that. I still think it could use brown sugar or something to really stand out. Pumpkin Spice is still up there too. Maybe they should make one called Coffee-Os. I already did it by pouring iced coffee into a bowl of plain Cheerios, but it's not quite the same thing. I poured maple syrup into milk before, but that didn't do anything other than sweeten it; the Maple Cheerios has an undeniable flavor to it.

Don't Trip at the Finish Line

After some light retooling, I could technically post my original Kingdom Hearts 3 video before it actually comes out, plus my Raven/Ienzo video. I will make another video after the game's release which will have a different tone (fingers crossed that no one dies though). I'm super happy that the Birth By Sleep light novel is coming out around my birthday (assuming it doesn't get delayed like the last one). It might not live up to the expectations I have for it, but it's something. I'm sure there will be more for us to learn from Kingdom Hearts 3, but I will at least find out from it why I should care about Vanitas. While Kingdom Hearts 3 can't possibly cover everything, I'll bet he gets his due there too if the novels are supposed to be canon and just contain extra material. It seems like everyone might get the attention they deserve in this huge game, and I'm looking forward to it.

The Persona 5 anime only made it to 26 episodes and as far as Akechi shooting the protagonist. The rest of it will be presented in a special rather than order more episodes. It doesn't have an air date yet. It's not that unusual, but the extra material in Persona 4 Golden was the bad ending (not the one from Persona 4 the animation where it goes through the other bad ends first, the one where Yu sides with Adachi). We still have two dungeons with some major plot points to cover. They could probably have made a second season out of it if they wanted to take their time (not that there weren't filler episodes already, because there were); Tales of Zestiria did (it wasn't good, but it still got two seasons).

I watched the Crossover Nexus special, and I wasn't impressed. Impressed with the number of easter eggs and references, yes, but they seemed pretty much hollow. It was only eleven minutes and seemed too quick with not a lot of time to properly build to anything other than brief flashes of characters we know. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but it just didn't seem as meaningful to me as it did to everyone else. Garnet was easily the best part. Teen Titans Go! Raven was all right, but I'm not sure if the reference to original Teen Titans at the end was supposed to be "Oops, I'm not THAT Raven" or "Pssht, that show was a mistake." Given Teen Titans Go!'s affinity for tearing its older audience a new one over their criticisms, it came across as more of a "fuck you" to me than was probably intended. At least the new PPG didn't feature. The other two episodes of TTG that aired were all right but not great. I can see why they called the block "Raven Domination."

Plans and Perplexity

I like the theory that there are more than thirteen people who have been Norted because it's part of an infiltration plan - probably what Norted Even was talking about if it also involves Demyx, who seems like a go-between as the least evil person in the Organization. As for whose plan it was, since Even says "It was all his idea," maybe this was what Braig was talking about when he told Young Xehanort that he had his own plans. Or maybe Ansem or one of the other apprentices thought of it? Nevertheless, I'm worried about Even whether he's undercover or truly Norted. We didn't see him or Dilan in any state other than out cold in Dream Drop Distance, so I have no idea how bad off the two of them were. Is he really up to the task? Otherwise, Xehanort needing backups also makes sense. We see apprentice Xehanort briefly, so I'm not sure if he's an individual member of the Organization or if he came back into existence because Sora defeats Xemnas and the Seeker of Darkness again. Time travel is weird.

I started working on this year's holiday video. I'm going to have to wait and see if there are any holiday-themed Critical Role fan art pieces for the second campaign. So far the only snowy ones are of Molly's grave, and that's not what I'm going for. I also freshened up the Kingdom Hearts video I've been working on for some time, but there will probably be more and better scenes in the game that we have yet to see in the trailers. I did find a piece of fan art recently for the scene in the trailer where Ansem puts his hand on Ienzo's shoulder, except in the fan art he asks Ienzo why he deceived him, which just about breaks my heart. I'm still hoping for a hug.

I found a video with all the voice actors who have been Frieza, including Derek Stephen Prince, and I was not impressed with his performance. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't Frieza. He sounded exactly the same as you'd expect him to sound, which is a mixture of the Digimon Emperor and Vexen depending on the tone. I'm disappointed that he didn't go for something closer to how Frieza has sounded for years. However, I was happy to see him in the Power Morphicon videos he was in for villains, voice actors, and Turbo. I'm a bit surprised that he wasn't on the In Space panel too; they could've asked him about Scrudley, too. Goldar's voice actor told his getting pulled over story again, and he kept repeating his favorite line from Power Rangers the Movie ("You think she's cute too, huh?"). He also takes issue with the portrayal of Goldar in the newer movie, which I can appreciate. Richard Steven Horvitz was probably too busy with publicity for the Invader Zim movie (Power Morphicon and Comic Con were around the same time, right?).

Extended Gifts

Well, either recording isn't over or certain people are filthy liars. How the fck did Even get Norted?! He and Dilan were supposed to be recovering! Furthermore, Xigbar says that if they destroy someone for straying from the path they've set, they'd have to find a new vessel, and he doesn't look happy about that. Norted Demyx is seen talking to Norted Even and also carrying a body wrapped in a sheet over his shoulder to Ienzo. The best part for me is Ansem coming to see Ienzo, who is either sad or bowing out of respect (maybe both if Even got Norted under his nose, and Aeleus wasn't seen so he might be dealing with a Norted Dilan too; wait, did Demyx bring him, and is he Norted as well? This better not be a trap! Don't do this to me, Nomura!). Also Vanitas is seen sitting on the back of Ven's chair, and later either Roxas or Ven in a black coat, so maybe Vanitas merged with him somehow. And Data Riku was confirmed. Not sure about building a new body for anyone else out of data. It looks like what Ienzo gave Sora was a communication device he calls them with, which the three aren't happy with because they expected it to be Riku calling them for some reason. It looks like Sora takes pictures with it too. Isa goes to see Lea on the clocktower, so I'm looking forward to the context behind that. Can't wait for the English dub.

One of the greatest aspects of shipping Zexion/Ienzo with Raven is the what-if scenario of them randomly meeting before Zexion gets shipped off to Castle Oblivion. With Raven being an empath, it REALLY throws a wrench into the "Nobodies don't have hearts and therefore no emotions" lie that he was taught to believe. Of course, if he ever confronted Xemnas with this (which he probably wouldn't because he knows that'd be suicide), Xemnas would say that Raven was the one lying or projecting her own emotions onto him. Since Zexion only trusts Lexaeus, he does have the capacity to doubt Xemnas. Add to that the conversation between Zexion and Xigbar on the stairs. In this scenario, I would imagine that Xigbar would have been spying on Zexion and Raven while they're together in the World That Never Was, but he would keep it a secret from Xemnas because it amuses him. Otherwise, the whole pairing is a writing challenge since both of them are emotionally stunted for different reasons. I can't hit all the typical story beats or dialogue an ordinary couple would have, and their interactions are more awkward and filled with a lot of exposition as they try to understand each other.

Reviews and Revelations

When my husband and I go on vacation, we get to watch Food Network in the hotel room. This time, all that was on that day was Guy Fieri's new show, but we used to watch Beat Bobby Flay. So then we streamed Scooby-Doo and the Gourmet Ghost after we got back, but we weren't that impressed by it. We felt there were some missed opportunities and bad writing overall. Instead of having original character Chef Sue (the sous chef), we felt Chef Anne would've been better (she's awesome, we love her). Maybe I'm just used to the old Scooby-Doo movies, but I felt there should've been an actual Red Ghost in addition to the scam (which wasn't super obvious but really convoluted). Giada apparently wanted to be genre-savvy and a ninja because that was her character. It also could've benefited by having more cameos besides Marcus, like Padma and Aarti.

I finished watching some of the panels from this year's Power Morphicon. Aisha, Tanya, and Katie decided they came from Wakanda. Some of the actors' kids aren't as excited that they're Power Rangers and are more engrossed in Fortnite. In fact, what happened to Tommy's kid in that episode? Did he even notice Tommy was gone? Is Kat his mom? Is he going to grow up to have two sons, the older of which also becomes a Power Ranger? Selwyn Ward is unquestionably our Obama (and said he was considering running?), and Johnny has been identified as our Harrison Ford because he keeps asking to be killed off. Some of the actors are making an original movie and prequel comic series called The Order. It's cool seeing them have fun together. If Johnny still wants to get killed off in it, that's fine.

The Big Hero 6 Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer dropped, but there was no Demyx, Norted or otherwise. Instead, we got a glimpse of what looked like a Norted Xion. If so, either Xehanort went back in time and snatched her (shoring up the numbers while dealing an added blow to the heroes), or Ienzo created a body for her out of data too but then she got Norted; if this is even Xion at all - could be Replica Riku maybe? NOTE: I didn't notice the bug blocks (didn't think anything of them not actually having seen Big Hero 6), so that points to Data Riku being the cloaked figure. But how? It's not likely that Ienzo's responsible for this one (he might be reluctant to agree to anything having to do with a Riku), but who else would know about Data Riku and pull him from the datascape? This seems to line up with my suspicion that things aren't going to go according to plan with this assignment, especially if it is indeed Data Riku attacking the Big Hero 6 team with bug blocks. NOTE: Jesse McCartney reportedly hasn't been called to voice either Ven or Roxas, so that's problematic to everyone's theories and the overall story if Ven never wakes up and Roxas doesn't come back. (If it's that late in the game, maybe there's hope for Derek Stephen Prince to be called in too?) Who knows what we'll see in the extended trailer next week? Plus we got to see Aqua's full makeover from the darkness with an outfit that puts Riku's hula skirt to shame. Even if she isn't actually a Xehanort vessel, she's clearly lashing out at anyone who has wronged her, hero and villain alike. Nothing is going to go smoothly in terms of recovery and/or reclamation. We also got snippets of other cutscenes from Monsters Inc and Tangled, including Randall and Flynn, respectively.

The people who were originally hating on the Persona 5 anime were wrong, as there will more than 24 episodes. Episode 23 aired last week, and if the style of upcoming episodes is to be believed, there will be at least 27. That's good because episode 24 will be starting Sae's palace. While I like the first theme better than the second, everything on this soundtrack is still fire.

Something to Think About

My Steven Universe playlist for Ienzo/Raven is as follows: Love Like You, Something Entirely New, That Distant Shore, Do It For Her/Him, Here Comes a Thought, For Just One Day Let's Only Think About Love, and Stronger Than You. Thinking about it, there might be a good reason Garnet didn't foresee the Diamond attack at the wedding. Ruby did ask Sapphire not to use her future vision to see her in her dress. Had she, she might have seen the Diamonds coming to Earth. At the wedding itself, Sapphire can only think about Ruby anyway.

I watched the legendary crossover episode of Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel, and I found it underwhelming. I get that it was an homage to the Shattered Grid comics, which are Tommy-centric, but the episode focused a little too much on Tommy and not enough on the other captured Rangers. What were they doing when they got kidnapped? I would have liked to have seen that. Maybe if it was a two-part episode, but the previous episode was probably supposed to be part one since it featured Wes, Gemma, and Koda as robed figures. I'm also disappointed that Koda and Preston didn't get a moment. I mean no offense by this to anyone, but Gia looked like a baby next to the other Rangers. Why was Tommy the only one who cycled through his morphs, anyway? Gia, Kat, Rocky, and TJ could've done it too. They basically just woke up, said a line or two each, and then it was pretty much over. On a sadder note, a lot more people from the extended cast have died than I thought. I knew about a few of them: Trini, Ernie, one of Zordon's voices. A few of them didn't surprise me, like Phenomenus, Mr. Collins, and Bandora. Others I didn't know or expect but made me sad anyway: Richie, Tommy's brother, Udonna, Pappenbrook, others.

The princesses will have more screen time than that one scene in Wreck-It Ralph 2, after all. The pajama scene in the newest trailer threw me off, especially since I didn't recognize Tiana (girl doesn't sleep!). I think they're ripping off Dreamworks with the joke that no one can understand Merida because "she's from the other studio." That one character from How to Train Your Dragon did the same thing. I watched the two-part video MatPat did on the qualifications for being a Disney Princess, and it was kind of disturbing. Basically, it's whose movies grossed the most (no surprise there) and whose clothing is more marketable and non-controversial (that goes for the voice actors too). Also the thing Maui said about having an animal sidekick (I'm surprised he didn't also show the clip of him saying "If you sing, I'll throw up"). Speaking of, The Rock is the highest paid actor in the world right now, according to ERod's Baywatch review (the movie sucks, the review is awesome).

Finales and Fulfillment

Well, I was sort of right about the Camp Camp season finale (which was only slightly longer than the summer social episode if you don't count the credits). Cameron did try to screw everyone over, but he didn't have the heart to go through with it. He'd still rather be in jail than take orders from David and Gwen, though. "Welcome to camp, asshole," indeed. Max rounding up all the campers reminded me of the Recess movie where TJ does the same (except for the burning).

The DuckTales season finale was a mixed bag for me. I didn't like that Gearloose made Donald swallow a device that made him speak clearly, but it was nice to hear what Tony Anselmo really sounds like. I'm still confused about Lena. Magica kept saying she could have her "dark heart's desire" if she helped her, but Lena ended up just being her shadow and not a real person, and now she's Webby's shadow. Did they change her story at the last minute? She seemed to know that she was a shadow, so was her heart's desire to become real? What's dark about that (unless Magica was only talking about herself and had no intention of giving Lena anything)? I was disappointed that she got away, even without her magic. She did the unconvincing smoke bomb escape like Trixie in Rainbow Rocks. Speaking of MLP, the song in the new episode was an obvious parody of Road to Rhode Island.

The FNAF 6 Random Encounters video came out. It was a little different than what I was expecting, but it was still cool.

One good thing about the newest Power Rangers crossover is that the brothers playing this season and last season's Blue Rangers will be onscreen together. Tommy is a fucking showoff.

I found out that there are still Yoohoo candy bars for sale on Amazon. Reviews are mixed, so there's a 50/50 shot I'd get something good or I'd get something stale and terrible. I'm still going to wait until winter and see what I want to do and what's in stock. I also didn't know that strawberry Yoohoo existed until now.

Missed Opportunities

Teen Titans Go to the Movies was dumb, but I didn't hate it as much as I thought I would. It's not worth your time, nor do you need to see it to understand that Slade destroyed the Tower in the newest episode. It would have been better if Jade Wilson was a real person instead of a mask over Slade's mask. Any plot holes (like the different voice) are easily hand-waved away by his "mind manipulation." It made me miss Mad Mod. Unlike Trigon, I don't see Slade as being a comical villain in any capacity. He's done too many horrible things in the original series. Even destroying the Tower wasn't that cool - Terra sneaking in earlier in this series was better, and Trigon used it as a throne in the original series. I would've rather seen a whole movie about Weird Al's Darkseid. I also felt uncomfortable with Robin's nightmare sequence based on The Lion King with the same faux-Disney animation that Family Guy used that one time. In fact, I realize that the similarities between TTG and Family Guy are what make me dislike TTG in the first place. They hold on unfunny moments for too long, have dark moments that come out of nowhere and aren't funny (like running over Michael Bolton), and dramatic moments don't feel entirely earned. I don't even mind that Raven suggested killing the other heroes; original Raven probably would've said the same thing, albeit sarcastically. It's got some great moments for the kids amidst the garbage that is this series, but it's not going to change your mind about the show. I hope if we get a new season of the original show that it won't suck too.

Since Ashley's D&D character was referenced earlier on Blindspot, I think Cyborg should be revealed to play D&D on Teen Titans Go! since that show also does actor allusions. TTG!Robin rolling nat 1's like Wil Wheaton would be hilarious. The 2003 cartoon had the whole team playing a trading card game at one point.

I haven't compiled a list of favorite Steven Universe episodes, but I did like the one where Peridot was basically Wile E. Coyote and the one where Amethyst says "I got hit by an airplane!"

I was looking forward to the most recent "Let's Read Homestuck" because of the Kurloz/Meulin interaction (they talk with gifs). Next time, however, we start with Rufioh, voiced by Dante Basco. I'm really looking forward to that.

I tried Cocoa Puffs Ice Cream Scoops, and it's basically Berry Kix. Kind of disappointing. I'm starting to like the Azuki Bean Kit Kats a bit more. I've been eating them slowly because they're on the bitter side. The box is nice too.

Not What It Seems

The good thing about binge-watching Steven Universe with the knowledge that Rose was Pink Diamond is that Pearl's behavior makes a lot more sense. Originally, she was one of the things that bothered me when I tried to watch it before; pretty much everyone was annoying except my friend's favorite character, Amethyst (and except Garnet, but she was the leader so I didn't care for her or was at least neutral on her). But now I can see that Pearl is like me, Pink is like my mom, and the other diamonds are like my mom's three older sisters. And I need therapy. Early Steven Universe is still not for me for the most part, though. As for "Legs from Here to Homeworld," the structure we saw shaped like White Diamond from "The Trial" was indeed her ship and not a statue or building. It's unclear how long she's been in there being the battery and the glue keeping Homeworld running and intact. Everyone had assumed she'd been out ruling over or conquering planets, but unless she did that through projections, those days are over. Also, who knows if she's always been emotionally detached or if it had something to do with Pink's faked shattering since the other two diamonds seem to have dealt with it in their own ways. Can Steven get her to care about anything ever again or even listen to him? Yellow thought she could talk to her but it's clear White's not listening to anyone. Or maybe something else happened that has nothing to do with Pink and that's just how she is.

The Orchestra trailer for KH3 finally resurfaced, and whoever reported on it before was wrong about who says "something doesn't feel right" probably because they were distracted by the hype (it was Buzz, not Aeleus). However, I still feel like bringing back Roxas isn't going to go that smoothly.

One more thing I will say about Berseria is the typos. Oh God, the typos. These subtitles were not written out by some poor tired person at ass o'clock in the morning. They were clearly the work of Google Closed Captioning. There is no excuse for this, even if it's just skits (sometimes the result was funny-bad but increasingly became bad-bad). My husband and his friend completed the story (there's still new game plus stuff to do, but all they wanted to do was finish it), and it's disturbing that Velvet and her brother are eating each other for eternity and kinda sad that Laphicet turned into a dragon anyway - the dragon of light, Maotelus.

Walgreen's had Sloppy Joe flavored Pringles, so I bought some. I'd rather have the real thing, but the real thing is messy, and these aren't. They taste very barbecue-y but different enough. I don't love them, but I think they're pretty decent.

Binge-Watching

The Lake Lilac Summer Social felt like it should've been the season 3 finale of Camp Camp. I thought that would be something involving Campbell trying to take David down with him, but that turned out to be the next episode, and Max shut it down. I liked the character development for Erin, but the Midsummer Night's Dream plot was never going to end well since none of them really belonged together (I felt bad for the boys, though). It also made me wonder who would've won if Max and Nikki didn't stuff the ballot box to punish Gwen. Real life can't live up to slash fiction, or even friend fiction. Now I wonder what the actual finale will be (unless Campbell tries again but I doubt it). I'm not sure how I'm going to feel about the Shape of Water episode coming up, but I've read good things.

Volume 4 of the Clear Card manga seems to have some translation issues. Akiho's last name was changed from Shinomoto to Shinohara for some weird reason (probably a new translator who wasn't paying attention), and at one point Sakura's speech balloon seems to be a curse word as it is made up of symbols. She is probably screaming her signature "HOEEEE!" as the Flight Card flies off with her, but apparently somebody decided it needed to be censored.

Equestria Girls Rollercoaster of Friendship had been partially leaked before, and it seems like it aired without much announcement leading up to it. I'm glad I was able to see the whole thing. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either. I'm more excited about the other Equestria Girls shorts that were leaked, particularly Game Stream. I want them to be released in their finished form so I can favorite that one officially.

If Blue and Yellow Diamond's ships are arms, and Pink Diamond's ship is legs, then White Diamond's ship must be a head and a torso for them to fit into to form a Megazord-type robot (though that doesn't take into account things like the hand ship). I have binge-watched seasons 2 though 5, but season 1 is going to take a while to get through since it's so long and I had no interest in it when it was originally airing. One thing I don't understand is that gems can't hold shapeshifting very long, but Pink was able to change into Rose permanently (unless that's just a diamond thing). Also, if Lars is a pink zombie, then so is Lion, which means one of Rose's lions died and her tears brought him back to life (I don't know, I haven't seen the episode he was introduced in yet).

So far, Lin-Manuel Miranda has been in two episodes of DuckTales as Gizmo Duck. While they haven't made any direct references to Hamilton or Moana, you can probably apply some lyrics to the situation: "What's your name, man?" "I'm not throwing away my shot," "Immigrants: we get the job done," and so on.

Monumental

I decided to actually watch the Heart of the Crystal Gems run of episodes, and it was great. I like Ruby and Sapphire better than Garnet, but I appreciate Garnet more now. "Why would Ruby be a cowboy?!" made me laugh, but then that was actually what happened for an episode. I think Bismuth is cool now too. At first I thought it was dark that she stuck her head into the lava to scream, but I quickly realized that gems can survive that. All I knew about Patti Lupone was from that episode of Will and Grace she was on (where Jack was trying to get a lock of her hair for his collection), but she's perfect as Yellow Diamond. I was impressed with how Lapis came back and dropped the barn on Blue Diamond, then no-sold her emotional attack. "I've felt worse." Damn. I haven't written anything about Raven and Ienzo lately, but the relationship between Ruby and Sapphire has inspired me. I even had this weird dream where Ienzo used his illusion power to pretend to be Raven so she could escape, but she wasn't having it.

The return of RWBY Chibi was hilarious. J Michael Tatum and Vic Mignogna really stole the show (or episode in this case). The first skit was Tatum as Klein the butler cycling through his multiple personalities, including telling off Winter for yelling at Weiss. The second skit was a day with Uncle Qrow, in which everything turns into chaos around them but Ruby still loves spending time with her uncle. Unfortunately, Yang didn't feature much in either story, entering the scene too late in the first one and actively avoiding her uncle in the second.

DuckTales did an episode crossing over with Gummi Bears (not the actual characters but the mcguffin from that show). I never really liked that show, but if they do an episode about Rescue Rangers that would be awesome. I like the character development and relationship between Scrooge and Webby, though.

It turns out that Tales of Berseria is loosely based on Berserk (or at least a core theme found within it), so whatever goodwill and benefit of the doubt I had is gone. It was on sale this month so my husband and his friends bought it and started playing it. It's fun enough for a Tales game, but I still don't like it very much.

I don't know why it took me this long to try Marshmallow Fruity Pebbles. That stuff's delicious. And they have added peanut butter and chocolate to the roster. Oreo did the same, but I'm more excited for finally getting the strawberry shortcake flavor (which is amazing).

More KH News and Drama

It has come to my attention that in the Japanese trailers, Marluxia does in fact have yellow eyes. I doubt Sora encounters him twice in the same world, both before and after getting 'Norted, so this was probably a mistake. Some people are complaining that the trailers gave too much away, but I don't think that's true since we're all talking about what's going to happen in such uncertain terms. It's certainly been hyped up much more than I was expecting. It's almost too good to be true. Can we really be getting everything that we wanted in the end, no matter the outcome? If we can save Aqua (Aquanort, omg) if we try hard enough, what does that mean for everyone else? Do we get to pick and choose which of the new Organization lives and who dies? Then there's the recap video that's said to be potentially several hours long to get new players (and especially Xbox players) up to speed on the lore. Unfortunately, the videos we've gotten so far in Japanese don't summarize the individual games but certain aspects to the plot, so it's not really a completely comprehensive series as of yet. They don't cover all of the characters, most notably leaving out Ansem the Wise (they show him but don't talk about him). I am interested to see how they handle the story of Pirates 3 since Sora has missed a lot in between adventures and is now okay with being a pirate. Furthermore, there seems to be some confusion as to how Aqua became tainted by the darkness and whether or not Ansem the Wise is also a seeker of darkness. At first Nomura was surprised that we were shocked that Aqua appeared thusly and didn't see it as a big deal, saying that that's just what happens when you're in the Realm of Darkness too long unprotected. Then later he was published in Famitsu describing the scene as Aqua being under the influence of Xehanort. Which is it, man?! Until we learn more, I'm staying out of this drama. Speaking of...

As far as I can tell, too many people asked Yandere Dev "Where's Osana?" and that caused him to lash out a little. However, people are still blaming him for his attitude based on past issues he's had on forums and such. People are acting like a person can't change who they are and should be harassed with their past mistakes and not allowed to move forward. I'm not taking sides as I have not read any of these forum posts, but this sounds no different to me than the commenters who asked Team Four Star "Wen Broly?" and the ones who harassed LittleKuriboh with "Where's the new episode?"

Pistachio Oreos are really great. Brad tried the pickle slush at Sonic despite him hating pickles, but he said he really enjoyed it. I've drunk pickle juice before because one of my classmates did it in high school, and I love pickles, but that's not what I'm looking for in a slush drink. I'd much rather have a nice lemon lime.

Kingdom Hearts E3 Analysis - Thoughts and Implications

Everyone got what they wanted at E3. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition is definitely something I wanted. As for Kingdom Hearts, I want Ansem the Wise to come back (either in an actual cutscene or end credits sequence) and for Ienzo and Aeleus to bow to him. Then I want him to hug Ienzo and Aeleus to hug both of them. Dilan and Even can hobble in as well if it's the end credits. I don't know if Braig (or anyone who got 'Norted) will make it back; I'm starting to lose hope. Luxord's still a pirate - they're doing Pirates 3. Still no word on where Demyx will be dropped. Some people think it might be Big Hero 6 since they're still working on those cutscenes. He might be a hold-out and help the heroes, or he may just make a water clone and cower in the bathroom. Upon closer inspection, Larxene's and Luxord's eyes are yellow (and they're both blonde so it's harder to tell if their hair has white in it). However, Marluxia's are most definitely still blue. What does this mean? So far the Seekers of Darkness consist of Master Xehanort, Young Xehanort, Ansem (Heartless), Xemnas, Braig, Isa, Larxene, Luxord, Marluxia (though why has he not been 'Norted?), and Vanitas. That leaves three. Demyx is probably one, Aqua might be one if Xehanort knows about her situation and takes advantage of it (since Nomura says her condition has nothing to do with him), and the last one was supposed to be Sora as of Dream Drop Distance. We see Riku sitting with Replica Riku ("the other him") like they're friends in one of the trailers, so it's probably not him. I'm going to be sad once we see a 'Norted Demyx. To be clear, he's my favorite Organization member, and the apprentices are my favorite people - Ienzo, Aeleus, and Even especially. I don't look at Ienzo now and see Zexion - I see a grown-up version of the boy from Birth By Sleep.

We also haven't checked in with Maleficent and Pete since we saw them talking to Hades about a black box. We know Ienzo is going to be working with the datascape to help get Roxas back. If she's still interested in the datascape, he's going to be a target like I originally feared. We know that the group from Radiant Garden don't like Maleficent, as she invaded their home when they weren't around after they'd lost their hearts. Even if it's not her, I just know something bad is going to happen or there's going to be a fight outside of where they're working on it (and it would be cool if Ansem swooped in to help in the midst of an attack on his castle if he managed to escape the Realm of Darkness). Aeleus said he had a bad feeling about something. What will that turn out to be? At least Sora won't be antagonistic toward Ienzo and Aeleus; on top of not remembering Marluxia (and by extension Larxene, and Even who is Sir Not Appearing), he's never met the two of them. He'll know they were in the Organization because they're Ansem's apprentices, but the last time he talked about that group, he was asking Braig how he could lie to his friends like that. Maybe Sora will get the full story of what happened from their perspective, and wouldn't that be awesome?

The Hype Train Cometh

The orchestra trailer features Sora talking to Ienzo about building a new body for Roxas out of data using Ansem's computer and the data he left within Sora from Dream Drop Distance. Several questions come to mind. First of all, where do they draw the line? If they succeed, who else can they build a body for? Who would need it? It certainly can't be done to bring just anyone back, so how will it work with Roxas? Does that mean they can use it on the Lingering Will to bring Terra back? We know they aren't talking about replicas necessarily since Even doesn't have a speaking role and he would be all about that plan ("I'm all over it! You can't stop me!"). If it does involve replicas and Even's just out of commission, he's going to be pissed that the kid did this without him. In addition, we don't know the context of Aeleus saying that something doesn't feel right. Since Sora's asking Ienzo to do this, and Aqua has been turned by Xehanort, does that mean something happened to Ansem as well? While I'm glad Ienzo's going to be useful, I feel like Ansem should be around for this too, and if he isn't, something has gone horribly wrong (although that might already be apparent in Aqua's case depending on how that went down). Does helping Sora redeem them for what they've done? Because Sora has never met Ienzo, he would've had to have been referred to him by either Lea or Leon: Lea because he would be all about getting Roxas a new body and knows that Ienzo could help, and Leon because that's who Sora would go see in Radiant Garden as any sort of authority figure or primary contact. I'm also a little worried about Braig. He's still openly defying Xehanort by talking to Sora, which is what got Vexen killed. I'm afraid that Xehanort will have had enough of his shit and have Isa take him out (unless Lea can get to him first). The only thing that would make this better is to find out which side Demyx and Luxord have ended up on.

By now more people have figured out that "Escapism" is a Pink Diamond song. She grew to hate the diamonds and being a diamond herself. Her fake shattering, while also a ruse to get the Diamond Authority off her back, was symbolic of destroying her old self and embracing her new path in life. I'm enjoying the relationship between [Pink] Diamond and Pearl and especially Ruby and Sapphire, as I'm sure they are in reference to the Pokemon gens of the same names. Pink/Rose is still selfish and doesn't consider the feelings of others (like Pearl and the other diamonds), but I think Greg's a cool guy. I saw a clip of Peridot saying that Pearl was a servant, and coming off of playing Detroit: Become Human in a group, that made me uncomfortable. That seemed to insinuate that pearls are like the androids from that game.

FNAF just got more confusing. The Crying Child is Michael Afton, and he was rebuilt after his death to continue in the other games. Golden Freddy was possessed by a girl named Cassidy, and she and all the rest were Michael's friends. This seems even more messed up than I thought and raises a lot more questions (although Fritz and Jeremy were two fake names he used in honor of his friends - that makes sense).

Underwhelming and Unresolved

The finale of Clear Card was crap. Nothing was resolved, and Kaito just decided not to go through with his plans and rewound time so the fight never happened. It was really disappointing because just when there were stakes and it was interesting, he gave up (granted, Sakura and Akiho were about to fall to their deaths, but still). It really could've used a couple more episodes. I'm still looking forward to reading the manga to see it unfold that way.

The Mean Six was a lot like the comics in which the group gets split up with their doppelgangers, except that story was epic. The episode was just a mid-season finale with the mane six being none the wiser (seriously, did none of them notice that AppleJack's cutie mark was a different color?). They didn't know why they were fighting, but they wanted to stop, so they did. I didn't find it that compelling, and I'm actually sick of seeing the discordant six.  Better luck next time, Chrysalis. You're lucky that good is dumb because that's all you had going for you.

The release date for Kingdom Hearts 3 has been revealed to be January 29, 2019. What happened to 2018? It's only a month off, but that's not the same thing. Did they need more time? The fans at E3 say it's because of the feedback they gave of the playable demo before. At E3, they got the trailer with the new release date and the Frozen world (featuring Larxene!). There is also a clip of Riku and Mickey in the Realm of Darkness with a yellow-eyed Aqua telling them they're too late. If this isn't an illusion or trick of some kind, this may be part of what will be hard to accept. Maybe in the end, not everyone can be saved. Maybe no one will be saved, but they'll probably manage to save at least one person. Speaking of which, we last saw Aqua and Ansem the Wise together, so what happened to him?

Not Quite Cool

I didn't like the first episode of this season of Camp Camp. David and Gwen did a stupid thing, but I didn't like seeing them get beaten up either. Why wouldn't they have talked to the QM about it in the first place, since he's the only other adult around? This show always seems to reset whatever goodwill there was between them and Max every time. They could've just told at least him what was going on. Sad Nikki covered in dirt and oil was adorable, though. At least the second episode was a lot better. I also didn't really like the episode of Robot Chicken with Bitch Pudding as Maria in The Sound of Music, but it ended with them killing Nazis, so yay? The recent one with the Sailor Scouts was gross but funny. Still waiting for that Yu-Gi-Oh! sketch, but that was probably scrapped or a lie.

Sakura's been the one creating the Clear Cards, including a new mirror card (which is great since Touya was wondering why she hadn't used it when she sneaked out). She didn't want or mean for any of it to happen, but apparently her powers exist to make her unhappy. It's weird since in season two (of the manga at least) Eriol said that Sakura wouldn't awaken to stronger powers if she didn't want to (such as visions of the future, which Tomoyo was convinced would make Sakura unhappy). And now she's in possession of a key-shaped pendant that's probably related the relic Kaito "lost."

I received and read the standard version of Vox Machina Origins. You're better off just downloading it. Downloading it is far cheaper, and this is just the standard version (with shipping, it was just over fifty dollars). The deluxe version is a hundred dollars before shipping, and I don't even care about the extra content (with standard you get a couple character sheets and early artwork). Everything in the Geek and Sundry store is expensive, but it's also high-quality. One thing that bothered me is that Orion wasn't credited in the beginning with the rest of them even though Tiberius is his character. Taliesin and Ashley were credited and their characters don't even appear. As for the story, it was okay, but the first couple pages was like "WTF did I just read?"

All we know about the release date of Kingdom Hearts 3 is that it's in the fourth quarter. I think that's what we were all expecting anyway. It will probably be in November because a) there was a placeholder date given a while ago; b) the 358/2 Days light novel was pushed back until then; and c) Wreck-It Ralph 2 also comes out in November. Speaking if which, I hope the clip we've been shown with the princesses isn't the only time we see them (but I have a feeling it might be).

Cake and Regrets

Well, I've unsubscribed from Channel Awesome. Time's up, Walkers. Keeping your heads down, while from a legal standpoint isn't a bad choice, is insulting and disappointing. You suck.

The roll cake episode of Clear Card was pretty enjoyable the first time I saw it. Then the dubbed version came out this week. I liked the scene with Rika; I think her English voice suits the character (although having a lot of female characters with high-pitched voices annoys me). I don't understand what "appear" has to do with it since they already have a card that animates objects. Tomoyo blocking Sakura from sight in the corner so she could summon snooze was cool. Since this is an anime, people aren't going to be suspicious that they all fell asleep and the roll cakes were gone - they will continue to be oblivious/shrug and move on. Unless Kaito turns out to be a third split incarnation of Clow Reed, this is the first time Sakura is facing an actual threat rather than a test. Or he's just using her because something's going on with Akiho and her book. Maybe she's running out of magic/energy like Yuki was. Maybe her parents don't actually exist like Yuki's grandparents.

Hershey's Flavors of America - this time, instead of strawberry flavored Kit Kats, it's chocolate-covered strawberry flavored Kit Kats, which is all I ever wanted. It's like the Japanese apple-flavored ones only better because it's regular size too. I also got the New York Cheesecake Cookies and Cream bar, but that wasn't great. Real New York cheesecake is, though. The strawberry cheesecake Kit Kats from Japan were better anyway.

I missed opportunity in my lightning round video involves Ryan. I should've given the "they only bring disease and famine" quote to one of Ered's dads in regards to the platypus. Then I could've had Andersmith say "Enjoy Super-Guantanamo." I also regret that nothing Jensen said was all that funny, so I probably could've skipped giving anything to Orf or given her something from another one of Barbara's characters. Cosmo wasn't all that funny either but I wanted to include her too. I broke my rule and gave Taiyang two, one from Church and one from Burnie. And I suppose I could've given Tabii one of Nora's quotes like "I'm queen of the castle!" I haven't decided if I'm making a second lightning round video yet, but I wouldn't count on it.

I've had to watch most of this season's Survivor because whoever was posting the recaps to the CBS web site stopped after March 7. At first I thought it was on hiatus for March Madness, but nope! I'm glad that Wendell won out of the three of them, but I'm disappointed that Angela doesn't have a Ponderosa video. It's PonderOsa, not PonderosA.

No Redemption

Digimon Tri is finally over (?) with its last set of episodes, "Our Future." I added the question mark because the entity shapeshifting between Gennai and Digimon Emperor is still plotting things (unless that was supposed to be a joke). Unless he is Yggdrasil in disguise (and speaking about himself in the third person), he was never dealt with. He instead grew more insane. As for the characters from Zero Two, they were only shown in silhouette and were said to have recovered. I have no idea what happened to their Digimon, since we saw Paildramon under control of the not-Digimon Emperor and then never again. I really hope this isn't a sequel beg because I don't believe it deserves one. I feel bad that Derek Stephen Prince is being left out of this one too since both real Ken and real Veemon don't feature.

The Teen Titans Go movie has Will Arnett voicing Slade. While I'm unsure if Ron Pearlman was available or asked, it's weird to hear a Deathstroke that sounds like Bojack Horseman (not even Lego Batman - all I heard was Bojack). That and maybe the movie producer being Slade's sister Jade Wilson with the same hair color as Rose has me perplexed. Surely someone who reads comics would know if Jade exists or if they invented her for this. Or it could be nothing.

So I found out from a WatchMojo video that Chris Bores rebooted his show. I watched the handful of videos at the time this was written and I only really liked the Deadly Towers review. The rest seemed too tame and boring, which is why I didn't watch his tech reviews. Then I went back and saw his Archfiend Response video from a few years ago and looked at the comments. This is just as much drama as Channel Awesome with cliques and factions. Some say Chris is lying, some think the Nerd has become a horrible person. I don't know what to believe. Similarly, the comments on current Nostalgia Critic episodes are demanding answers or demanding that people shut up about wanting answers. Have Doug and James gone Hollywood? Is Chris just a hack? It's funny what'll blow over and what won't.

Do You Believe?

I've been thinking more about the fact that people have powers in Kingdom Hearts not just as Nobodies but as complete people. Braig is undeniably already using his space powers, but the sixth sense shown by Ienzo could be written off as an artistic choice just like Even saying to Ventus that they'd meet again. However, given what we know about the nature of their experiments, Even probably intended on kidnapping Ven later, only Ven doesn't live in Radiant Garden. As for Ienzo, he probably did have the power to smell darkness and sense presences. Thus, his role in the experiments (in addition to requesting the lab be built) was probably as lookout since they knew Ansem didn't approve of what they were doing anymore. It's a job he continued to have as a Nobody, standing in the corner of a darkened room and sensing the goings-on of Castle Oblivion (except he couldn't sense Diz or Ven). Dilan and Aeleus probably reserved their powers over wind and earth respectively for when they really needed it, when their weapons and strength weren't enough (or else they could cause some collateral damage that way). We know Even hates witches and magic, so it would make sense that he'd barely make use of his ice powers.

I finally got to listen to the Vox Machina version of Hamilton and it was definitely worth listening to all at once. Then I did the same thing with the original soundtrack, and it was like listening to the Weird Al parody of a song before the song itself, which is something I do sometimes. History is depressing, though; D&D is more fun.

Despite Tony Goldmark (SomeJerkWithACamera) mentioning on Twitter that the Walkers lawyering up and Doug's employment status changing to the past tense on Facebook, it appears Channel Awesome still exists with just the Nostalgia Critic crew, who are as of yet unrepentant and never looking back. Michaud must have them by the balls.

The Unexpected

I don't know why people are saying the Persona 5 anime is a waste of time. It had only been three episodes in at the time of these videos' release (Glass Reflection and Mother's Basement). Granted, the Kamoshida Palace took up the first four episodes of a 24-episode run to set things up, but I think it's still way too early and that we should reserve judgment until the end.

"Sakura and Meling's Friend" was the latest stupid title, as well as how it was presented. The Clow Card they compared it to was The Twin Card fought by Melin and Syaoran. The Struggle Card is obviously a recreation of The Fight Card, which was from Meilin's first episode. She fought it by herself only to fail, and Sakura beat it with The Power Card. The Swing Card was also a weird name, as it doesn't really call to mind anything earth-related like The Earthy Card. Kaito slips up and mentions a detail about Sakura's dad that Akiho never told him, so he has to rewind time a little bit to undo his mistake. It's like what Whis does but with a pocket watch and a glyph.

I'm disappointed that Derek Stephen Prince announced that he hadn't been asked to record Even for KH3, which means he's probably still unconscious or doesn't have a speaking role (which also means he might appear during the end credits). Larxene is going to be there, though. It would be cool if the rest of the clip where Marluxia confronts the heroes includes her joining him. Others had signed non-disclosure agreements and can't say if they're in it or not.

I gave in to curiosity and tried Hershey's Gold. It was surprisingly really good, like caramel ice cream with pretzel bits and nuts (things I usually don't like). It's probably better than the caramel pudding Kit Kats because of the stronger caramel taste.

I feel bad that Grif didn't get his pizza. This is what happens when you repeatedly ignore a call to adventure - it blows up your favorite pizza place and forces you to answer.

Indulgence

Halo Top is overrated. It's still good, but it lies. I was willing to let the mint chip slide, even though it wasn't what I was used to. But then came cookies and cream. It was not as advertised. There were no cookies, just cocoa powder splattered on top, and not a lot of it. It's fine for a white chocolate ice cream, but that's not what I was looking for.

It took me three sittings to get through the Vox Machina musical (it's based on Hamilton so it's long). It was great, and I'm going to listen to it again, hopefully all the way through, when I have time. It goes from the fall of Emon to Scanlan leaving the party (with Taryon popping up to kick off the credits). Of the new group, Caleb is my favorite, followed by Nott and Jester. The fan works for that, like the animations and Fire Emblem parodies, are also amazing (people who used to animate for the Vox Machina campaign improved their skills, especially Gee Whiz, who also animates Achievement Hunter).

Thinking back on the last episode and others, AJ probably acts like an overprotective idiot around family because her parents are dead and she doesn't want anything to happen to anyone else. But that's the problem: if you don't let anything happen to the ones you care about, nothing will happen to them, good or bad. The recent MLP episode was almost about divorce, but instead it was literally about living in two worlds (despite the parents living in separate worlds, they didn't act divorced). Scootaloo's behavior also had unfortunate implications, namely that being a sea pony was just like flying, but she said she'd rather be a pony than a bird. She didn't have a "lucky fin" like Nemo, though.

Since Melin is still in the narrative of the Clear Card anime, it's getting hard to tell how much of what she was involved in is filler. For instance, the picnic episode happened in a flashback in the manga, and the Gravitation Card doesn't exist. Anything going on with Akiho's book (what she read about the Mirage Card happening to Alice that actually happened to Sakura) may or may not be canon, just like the viewing party that happened in the most recent episode. The anime is really pushing the Sealed Card movie as canon, even though it can't really fit into the narrative anymore the closer they stick to the manga.

Channel Awesome Update and MLP Review

Rob and Doug have quit and are suing Mike, but I don't know if watching their videos on YouTube will give money to the Walkers or Michaud. Even hearing the theme music in other people's videos talking about the whole debacle makes me sick. Speaking of sick, I took down my JewWario video because now I know why. People either didn't know about it, heard about it but didn't believe it, or knew about it and covered it up. I've been trying to make sense of the clique drama too, but to cover everything would be impossible for one person. From what I could gather, Hope is now Jacob, but the way (s)he broke up with Nash and took advantage of his hospitality wasn't great. But Nash is also an asshole for demanding pizza and beer at a party that didn't have either and then leaving before the people bending over backwards for him could get it for him. And then there was everyone in Lindsay's group concerning GamerGate and their "if you're not with us you're against us" attitude. I don't even know where to start with that, other than the fact that Lindsay's input was dismissed during anniversary specials yet she is dismissive of other people's input as well (though not to the point of causing dehydration/exposure to the elements/etc.). Despite any of their content, there are few reviewers who are actually good people. It's just too bad we had to find out like this. *exasperated sigh* Why couldn't it have just been creative differences among everyone?

I feel like the latest episode of MLP "Grannies Gone Wild" wouldn't have been possible without AppleJack's meddling. If she hadn't given Rainbow Dash all of those overprotective instructions (we know dealing with family makes her stupid - she is a repeat offender and the characters know it). If they had gotten there and Rainbow had said "But AppleJack gave me this list" and then the Golden [Horseshoe] Girls told her to throw away the list and have fun with them/do whatever she wanted, there wouldn't be an episode. Except there still could have been, because it would just be an episode of the Golden Girls. Flim and Flam own the place but don't make an appearance (though their likenesses are everywhere), Rick and Morty ponies wait in line for the roller coaster, and there's a stage magician who may or may not be Trixie's father (or at least a male version of her). It wasn't a waste of an episode, but it did take the wrong approach. I could see it going that way if AJ had gone with them, but Dash didn't even check with Big Mac to see if AJ's rules were legit. But again, it's not an episode if everyone's being stupid.

Down with Awesome

I ordered more Japanese Kit Kats because I couldn't help myself. I wanted to try the caramel pudding ones because Phelous said they were good, and they are. I can't stop the people I live with from eating them on me, so I'm going to have to order more come Halloween. I also got black tea flavored ones, or Uji Hojicha. They're every bit as delicious as I thought they would be when I wondered if they existed or not. They are now my second favorite after green tea (caramel pudding can be third I guess, or maybe strawberry cheesecake). I will probably end up ordering more of them too. After tasting all these flavors, though, I do find myself missing regular milk chocolate.

Mike Michaud is possibly worse than Al Kahn ever was, and that's saying something. Kahn was a bad businessman and a terrible CEO, but he at least never bullied or harassed the talent (that I know of). I don't like Rob and disagree with Doug on notable occasions, but I believe Doug is the lesser of the two evils as he seems to be an actual human being (at least, I want to believe that). To clarify, I think the Nostalgia Critic is a character and Doug is not himself that arrogant; however, Doug can be a raging egomaniac at times while Rob always seems to have an air of superiority to him. Mike apparently owns Nostalgia Critic and is a giant man-baby when he doesn't get his way. Doug is complicit but also I believe his hands are tied in some ways. That doesn't mean he shouldn't be held responsible, though, as he as almost as big a man-baby as Mike. There are cliques in any workplace situation, but it makes me sad to learn that not everyone on the site is open and friendly as they seemed during crossover events, or they were but it all fell apart. I will never watch the anniversary specials again, nor will I ever go to the Channel Awesome site again. I will remain subscribed to the Channel Awesome YouTube channel, but things have to change. For all involved, it would be too little, too late, and too much to hope for.

Oh Boy...

People must like Miles. His video got 30 views, but Michael's still only has three. I posted the lightning round, and I'm glad to be finally done. I guess I could have included more Ryan, but putting in more than just Port was a last-minute decision. I didn't have time for any Nomad stuff, and I completely forgot about Camp Camp since he's two people. I had fun, but it's been an awful week. First I almost didn't get my vacation due to an error in the schedule. Then my husband's car was broken into and his entire work bag was stolen, including his brand-new GPS. While I was working on researching the final parts of the video today, a car crashed into the fence across the street and flipped up-side down. And while it is nice to have an extra two days tacked onto my vacation, I do have to work the rest of next week, with all but one being 6-hour shifts. I'm going to need coffee and prayers.

I read the first volume of Wolf & Parchment after only having seen the Spice & Wolf anime. There were parts of it I liked, but I don't think I'm going to continue reading the whole series. I don't find it quite as compelling as the first series, and that one could be boring at times. My biggest problem is that Myuri wants to be with Col, who she has always seen as a brother. While that may or may not be a problem since they're not actually related, I was all in for a brother-sister adventure until they threw that in too. Col is training to be a priest, so that makes it difficult for Myuri with his vow of abstinence and all. I also find the church's plot to be juvenile in its execution, what with its name-calling and waiting games. I think one of the old priests had a heart attack and died during that.

The English dub of Clear Card has almost caught up. Good call not joining the literature club, Naoko. Meilin is coming back, but since she's been gone I think I like Chiharu more.

I had a hard time finding onion bagels at the store I work at too. Thanks, Dunkin Donuts. Without you selling them, we're sold out. The most Munchkins you can get is 25 now. I could've sworn we used to get forty.

RWBY Chibi idea: Phyrra and Nora break Cardin's legs.

It's My Birthday (Sunday)

The Clear Card anime had pictures from the Sealed Card movie, which means it has to be canon. But it can't because it doesn't fit in the continuity now. They even had to change the ending of season 2 as the prologue to this series. It took them until almost halfway through the anime to comment that a lot of the new cards are the same as the old cards, and even that things tend to happen in the same locations. I don't know if this is lampshade-hanging or if the characters are getting genre-savvy. And it was Tomoyo who pointed it out. It also kind of annoys me that, most of the time, the action with the cards doesn't happen until the second half of the episodes whereas they used to be an ongoing threat throughout in previous seasons. I also forgot to mention Tomoyo Naruto-running for no reason when she went to grab Syaoran to play piano for them in an earlier episode. I bought volumes 1 & 2 of the manga for my birthday and pre-ordered 3-5.

If the season 7 finale of MLP didn't bother me before, the comics have made it even worse. The current narrative is riddled with mistakes that are hard to ignore, such as saying "hands" instead of "hooves" on multiple occasions and calling Flash Magnus Flash Sentry. Saying "people" instead of "ponies" I can let slide, but not all the time, especially as it gets more frequent. The animated series set the standard for Equestrian parlance and stuck to it.

Power Rangers Shattered Grid follows the Lord Drakkon storyline from the comics, starring Jason David Frank and composed by Ron Wasserman. This is the movie that was promised to us, so I hope it gets green-lit.

Miles' video is up. It's a good thing I waited for the RWBY Chibi episode to come out that week because it had great Jaune fodder. I will probably finish and upload the lightning round during my vacation in a couple weeks.

The Casa Bonita DLC for Fractured But Whole makes me want to ship Kenny and Henrietta - Kenrietta. They're as cute as Wendy and Stan when they're in the same party, that's all.

The 24-hour Dunkin Donuts gave my friend the wrong thing as well. They really don't care anymore.

Update: The 358/2 Days light novel was pushed back to November. My plan is to buy Birth By Sleep when it comes out (maybe next year), then follow it up with Part 2 of KH2 (I think all the Roxas stuff comprises all or most of part 1), THEN wait for Dream Drop Distance.

All of the Feels

I cried at the end of Life Is Strange: Farewell. Max ended up moving away on the day of Chloe's dad's funeral. We finally get to see her parents, but they don't have lines. I still don't like them. It's clear from the way Max talks that she spends more time at Chloe's house than her own, and they're probably the reason. They don't abuse Max, but they probably spend more time working, and their work is the reason they're going to Seattle. No words at the funeral, just patting Max on the shoulder as she stands next to Chloe and her mom, and they walk away expecting her to follow. What's worse is Max's recorded message to Chloe at the end, which is heartbreaking since you just played through a game in which Max doesn't keep in touch with her.

Power Rangers Super Ninja Steel has had some pretty dumb episodes that require everyone to be stupid otherwise problems wouldn't last the whole episode. In some cases, they teach lessons that didn't even need to be learned. Hayley and Preston are in the drama club, yet Calvin doesn't think they could be rehearsing for a play (though they were being pretty method about it), and rather than admit to her stage fright Hayley continues to avoid and lie to him. Then Sarah has to give up working on her hover board to spend time with her friends despite having won fairly the first time but didn't because everyone falls for Vincent and Monty's tricks (Vincent didn't start at the same time she did and just appeared on the track with her). It seems like she gave up too easily after Mick shamed her for using a monster's ninja star. Mick may have had a point about using stolen tech, though he just came across as jealous that she didn't use one of his ninja stars, but that would still be cheating. And he already has a habit of doing crazy/dumb things just to prove a point, like when he purposefully dropped a hammer on his foot and yelled at Calvin.

At least around here, the stock of Dunkin Donuts is the same (though the non-24-hour ones have more than just plain or everything bagels, they don't have onion either). At least the people at the one across the street from where I work are nice.

The Michael video is up, and the Miles video will be soon. I'm still working on the lightning round.

What Did I Just Watch?

The Raven vs Twilight Death Battle didn't shock me with the outcome, but it didn't really make sense to have them fight at all. I feel like, if they had to fight at all, they would end up stopping the fight and realizing it was stupid. The two of them have similar personalities and are even voiced by the same person (Tara Strong, but not in this). They'd probably just end up having a discussion over tea or something. If they were going to keep the Teen Titans Go! aspect of Raven playing with pony figurines, then she shouldn't have gotten defensive about it when she suddenly found herself in Twilight's library (although Twilight was not among her figurines). If anything, Twilight should've asked (as she would) about her having the figurines in the first place. And Raven certainly wouldn't have set the books on fire. Speaking of TTG, I was pleasantly surprised (though a little put off since it's still TTG) by Cree Summer voicing the gender-bent version of Beast Boy.

I found out there was a prologue to the Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card anime that closely followed the end of the manga and differed a lot from the final episode of season two of the original anime. I also found out there was another dub of Cardcaptor Sakura, possibly by one of the same companies that dubbed DBZ atrociously (seriously, I think the same actress might voice Chi-Chi and Meilin). It's equally bad, though the dub I grew up with wasn't exactly perfect and was far from complete.

I've been so busy lately forgot about Year of the Dog.
http://s62.photobucket.com/user/ShadowGalactica/media/Shigure%20doorway_zpsb4zw8mvi.jpg.html
http://s62.photobucket.com/user/ShadowGalactica/media/Shigure_zps1vd7a4i8.jpg.html

Also I cobbled these together just for fun (emphasis on cobbled).
http://s62.photobucket.com/user/ShadowGalactica/media/tiny%20miniskirts_zpsmzvcdcyo.png.html
http://s62.photobucket.com/user/ShadowGalactica/media/roll%20call_zpsvpephxms.png.html

Top 10 Random Encounters Musicals

Honorable Mention: Bendy and the Ink Musical
They worked really hard on this one due to all the stop motion. It's really impressive and pretty catchy.

10-Friday the 13th the Musical
It's short, but given the horror tropes and gameplay references, this was pretty funny. It has a great melody too.

9-Kindergarten the Musical
With all the roles played by AJ, it's hard to pick a stand-out. Nugget has the best lines, though. "Nugget says no!"/"Throw her in the Nugget Cave."

8-Finding Mr. Midnight (Fran Bow the Musical)
I like SparrowRayne's voice. I like the game's atmosphere as well.

7-Muffins the Musical (A Derpy Hooves Song)
While kind of dumb, this one's upbeat and cheery and made my day the first time I saw the video.

6-Go Go Pokemon Go!/Pokemon Go! in Real Life
Out of all the Pokemon Go! music videos I've seen, these are the best. It also serves as a wonderful culmination of all previous Pokemon musical numbers starring Peter as the trainer.

5-Phoenix Wright the Musical (supercut)
Originally a three-parter, this set of videos and later supercut video retell the Turnabout Storm storyline in a very entertaining way. I especially like Miles' line toward the end, "Answer the question or my sister will beat you." Another outstanding performance by SparrowRayne.

4-What's in Your Basement?/Up on My Housetop (Hello Neighbor the Musical)
It's too bad the final game didn't live up to the hype or these videos. First it's AJ trying to get into the neighbor's house (even dressing up like a Girl Scout to do so), then Santa. I like how the neighbor (played marvelously by Peter) tells them both off, which lines such as "I will put you in the ground" and "Kiss my rear!" respectively. A poker game with the likes of Bonnie Bunny, Strong Bad, and The Beard was a better twist than the one we got.

3-Just Monika (A Doki Doki Literature Club Song)
The newest one as of this post, but it somehow put me in a better mood that day. Just shy of the number two spot (though for a very similar reason), this takes the number three spot due to its sweetness and insanity. I like the twist at the end where Monika is wiped from existence and it becomes "Just Sayori" (as it should be).

2-Senpai Notice Me (A Yandere Simulator Song)
Monika may be a monster, but Ayano is the OG. If this game were an anime, I'd watch the hell out of it. This song, performed by SparrowRayne, illustrates the lengths to which one lovesick girl is ready to go to eliminate the competition. Info-chan and Kuu Dere as the Yandere Posse was a nice touch, also. Too bad Nate as the Senpai didn't get to sing, though he did get to speak.

1-FNAF the Musical (supercut)/Blood and Tears (Sister Location)
It really wasn't going to be anything else. The odd-numbered parts were my favorite out of the original five-part series. SparrowRayne was great as Baby, even if she hated the series and was absolutely giddy when they got to tear down the set, which was dominating their house. Mark and Nate were the unnamed guards and AJ was the hapless purple guy, which is weird now since we didn't know anything about the Aftons at the time.

Maybe someday they'll do a Life is Strange the Musical, or at least FNAF 6.

You've Got to be Kidding Me

At first I wasn't worried when I heard that Dunkin Donuts was scaling back their menu since I don't get anything fancy, but I was wrong. I'm not sure if it was left up to individual owners, but the one closest to my apartment only has a choice of plain or everything bagels (as far as bagels go), and one of them just ran out. Granted, this is a 24-hour location and they're always running out of things anyway, but there's barely anything there anymore. I'll have to check other locations along my route, but I'm surprised they went that far. They didn't have white hot chocolate either (and neither did the store), so I ordered some from Amazon. I'll have to see what kind of donuts they have after the Valentine's ones run out. They gave me the wrong ones and weren't very nice to me the last couple times I was there. I should be used to disappointment by now.

I'm adding a third video to my audio swap project, which is going to be a lightning round of other people's characters. Instead of exploring characters' interactions and voices, it's just going to be one-off memorable lines from one character put into another character's mouth (sometimes two, and sometimes more than one trade). I started Miles' video and am putting some final revisions into Michael's, so that should be up before the end of the month. RWBY Chibi already beat me to Jaune singing the Camp Camp theme, though.

Meilin appeared in the Clear Card Arc anime via video chat. It'll be a little weird not hearing Nicole Oliver voice her. If I remember correctly, Rika could play the piano, but that role has been assigned to Syaoran. At least she got to say something over the phone that one time. The most recent episode referenced Dragon Ball  during Kero's Corner, as he mentioned he knew a monkey boy who stole a peach, and Spinel asked if he knew Goku.

That Explains It

Now the RWBY volume 5 opening sequence makes sense - Emerald made a hallucination of Salem. She was there after all. She took Cinder's death pretty hard. I wonder what she's going to be like next volume, or what she and Mercury are going to do. I don't feel bad for Lionheart at all because he was the worst. The stinger reminds me of the end credits of Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep when a feather falls near Zack and then he's gone. Has Raven gone to try to patch things up with Tai? She's kind of the worst but she didn't have to be. Will there be new characters introduced into RWBY Chibi season 3? Oscar? Raven? Salem and/or her inner circle? Ilia? Blake's parents? Depends on which voice actors they can get, I guess. They probably haven't been able to get Kathleen, hence Glynda's absence.

I'm currently working on two video projects. They have the same basic premise, but I decided not to combine them into one video. One involves characters voiced by Michael Jones, and the second involves characters voiced by Miles Luna. I'm really into making the Michael video right now, so it's going to be a little longer than expected anyway. The same thing will probably happen once I get into the one for Miles. I have no set date for finishing or posting them yet, but Michael's is almost done.

The dub for Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Arc is already out, so that's nuts. I guess it's going to be like Tales of Zestiria the X that way. It sounds weird with different voice actors, even with Monica and Jason reprising the roles from their Tsubasa days. If they were to go back and redub everything like they did with Sailor Moon I guess I wouldn't mind, just to have some consistency. Now that I think about it, was Rika/Rita's only character trait that she had a crush on the teacher? Is that why she isn't in this anymore?

It's probably too late for me to get into Steven Universe, but recently I've been watching fan videos about it and took a personality quiz on Buzzfeed (I got Opal).

Old and New

The only reason I would like Hazel less (besides him being scary, but then so was Blake's dad) is that he's asking Ozpin how many more children need to die while he's fighting the group. I did miss him making the connection to the train station the first time around, but that's not what I'd wanted to happen since Oscar only says "Why does he hate us?" meaning him and Ozpin. What I'd wanted was a "You?" YOU!" moment. Instead it was "OZPIN!" "Oh no." I don't know why Weiss hooked and dragged Hazel back into the building after Nora went to the trouble of putting him through a wall in the first place. Him getting knocked through the wall and surprising Adam was similar to Oscar knocking Lionheart into him earlier. I especially liked how Hazel told Adam that he could go fuck himself in a turn of cruel irony. If Cinder is really dead, did Raven get the Fall Maiden powers as well? Having two Maiden powers is what Cinder wanted, but I don't know if it's what Raven wanted. A part of me wonders if Vernal could have been the Spring Maiden but Raven had trained her to keep her in her mind even if she's being killed so that she'd get the powers. Emerald's not going to be happy when she finds out. She's either going to stop functioning or power up for revenge.

I've been trying to decide which characters I like in the new Critical Role campaign. I liked Percy and Pike the most last time, so I thought I'd like Mollymauk and Yasha. However, I'm only neutral on them so far, especially since Ashley will be gone most of the time for work anyway. Frankly, I'm amazed she showed up to start this at all. I like Caleb so far, so maybe Liam will be my new favorite.

I like how the Clear Card Arc anime mentions the anime-only characters (Wei and Meilin) in passing instead of trying to incorporate them into the ongoing narrative.

Teen Titans Go to the Movies sounds like what they just did with the 200th episode but on a much larger, much longer scale.

Wham!

Nice going, Nora and Ren. Hazel said he didn't want to fight you, and you fought him anyway instead of helping your other teammates. Hazel's face when he said no one was getting in or out did not look like the face of a man who was happy about that. He doesn't like what Adam is doing and is completely indifferent to the fight unfolding before him. Hopefully Blake and Sun show up soon. Maybe Weiss won't be dead. Spoilers: she's not because Jaune turned out to be the white mage - and no one fucks with the white mage. It also turned out that Vernal was a decoy and Raven has the Spring Maiden powers. Vernal is still super dead, though. And Hazel is still my favorite. Still no recognition between him and Oscar; Hazel just wants Ozpin to die "over and over again." Then Ruby regained consciousness and gave Nora and Ren orders to do what they should've done from the beginning of the fight (help Weiss/Jaune/Qrow).

I finished reading the rest of "Smartest Book," including the ending. Greg does realize that the book is baseball-heavy and apologizes for it, saying there would be less baseball next time around (if he decides to write another book). He also does include the phrase "it sounds better than the truth" when referring to how icky white guys control history again. Speaking of books, the 358/2 Days light novel will release in June, which is a step in the right direction. We're getting that much closer to the Birth By Sleep omnibus, and I can't wait. If I like it, which I probably will based on what I've already read, I might pick up the KH2 ones afterward. I could pick them up now, but my interest in them is predicated on how the prequel is handled. I have plenty to read right now anyway; I also just read Coraline for the first time. It's not the movie, but that's also a good thing; I really liked it.

I watched the first episode of the Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Arc. It picks up where the second season left off in place of the second movie. It feels the same, like it could've come out as a natural third season of the original series instead of all these years later.