Here We Go Again

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

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

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

Current Events

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

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

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

Observations and Updates

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

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

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

Is This Real Life?

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

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

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

REM Time

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

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

Memory is the Chi

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

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

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

Uncanny Valley

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

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

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

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