Summertime

Once again, the summer run of TTG episodes has a catchy jingle, and they're ripping off better shows. There's even a continuity error that the other members of Titans East keep appearing even though it's stated that the rest of Bumblebee's team got food poisoning and couldn't make it (and later that Bumblebee wants to join the team because she's got nothing better to do). Bumblebee herself is easily the best thing about it. I hope they really do keep her on and that she doesn't end up spying for the Hive in a reverse of the first series. The final episode was terrible, though I suppose Trigon will still be scheming without using Raven to open portals with his usual "See you! I love you! Bye!" Ugh. Then there's the trailer, which is mostly the eight Titans fighting Santa while both Trigons have kidnapped both Ravens. I hope they get to actually do something (and aren't being used to open a portal, but original Trigon made no such promises). It's too bad they chose to do everything in flash, but the old Titan designs are still cool.

Changing Momiji's line from "Kyo's got the hots this morning" to "Kyo's got hearts for eyes" was a great decision. Even his whining is better even though it's basically the same words. Colleen is killing it as Akito. I love her. She brings so much personality to the role. Yuki's terror is a lot more palpable this time and really reminds me of Eric's closet confessional. Chris Sabat's Ayame is more restrained compared to the first go-round. He was a lot less over-the-top vocally and quieter.

Masako X's What Ifs got me thinking about my Mikage fics, and I've written some scenarios that could've gone differently but didn't because canon. It was fun at first, but now it seems unfulfilling. I wrote one shipping her with Lea because he initially lets them escape Castle Oblivion, but I didn't enjoy the payoff. What I did enjoy was Zexion being reunited with Ansem (Diz) while they were hiding out in the abandoned mansion. Diz's anger goes away much earlier when he realizes these are just children who had no agency in their fate (especially with the KH3 reveal that Ienzo had been lied to about Ansem's disappearance to begin with). As such, Zexion's eager to please him and be of use, and Diz keeps assuring him that he's not in the way and is a valued member of the team. He even gives Mikage a task that uses her skills and doesn't involve cleaning.