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.