Wednesday, September 26, 2018

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?).

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

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.

Friday, September 14, 2018

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.