Questions and Concerns

Elrena was on a team with Strelitzia, so that's why Lauriam went to her. They are siblings, but not that close, apparently. That brings up a point I've been wondering about. No one in Chi (X) seems to have parental supervision or mention parents at all. In the first game, we hear Sora's mom. In Birth By Sleep, Sora mentions his friend's dad (Riku's dad), Kairi has her grandmother, and Even specifically tells us that Ienzo is adopted. So what's everyone else's deal? Why go to the trouble of telling us that some people have family members while most seem to be free agents? None of the characters original to this series even have last names. Anyway, no one seems to know that Strelitzia was killed or even that she was supposed to be a Union leader, so Elrena decides to investigate despite her Chirithy saying it's not like her to care. We all thought it was Lauriam since he showed up last, but if he was late because he was looking for his sister and not killing her, then that means the other four leaders are now suspects. Would the Vanitas side of Ven have done it? What about the others? What does any of this have to do with Kingdom Hearts 3?

HMK brings up a point that I overlooked because I didn't want to believe Even was well and truly Norted. Obviously, as HMK says, Vexen could clone Xion and/or Replica Riku again for the new Organization. As Ienzo is working towards bringing Roxas back through data, I was at least curious about how Even would react when he comes to and sees what the boy was up to without him (and possibly that Ansem has returned). I'm also concerned that Riku might die since that has also been brought up. Maybe he hangs out with Replica Riku in the afterlife? I really don't want anyone to die (though the video I'm going to work on will most likely have an obits section), and I don't think Disney and Square would kill off all the heroes in order to leave Sora completely alone. Luxord was able to separate them with cards, and it looks like he will do so again. We also see Kairi get carried off by a Heartless swarm, but I don't think she'll die either. The seven lights don't even have to be killed, but I'm guessing some hearts may be stolen.

I watch Monster Factory, and in the newest episode, the McElroys fought their creation against other created fighters, one of whom was called Buff Riku. I know buffing up characters is a meme (like Buffsuki of Doki Doki Literature Club fame), but it also looks like Riku decided to become Lexaeus after getting knocked out by him.

Persona 5 Dark Sun isn't a single OVA but an OVA series. Episode one of Dark Sun was two episodes in length and ended with Shido's confession going wrong. The next one's not coming out until March. I really wish this was planned out better.

It makes me mad that no one knew Phyrra was from Argus until this episode. No awkward looks like they were avoiding talking about it; team JNR found her statue and had a moment. Jaune even got to talk to her mom (also voiced by Jen Brown), whether he knew it or not. One of my friends stopped watching because Phyrra was fridged, and I can't recommend he start again now because of this episode. I'll keep watching, but screw this. She deserved better. I had accepted that she was meant to die, but this episode made it feel even shittier.

I've Been Busy (and Sick)

It seems like ever since I said that I liked the way Survivor was playing out, it has become a constant source of disappointment. I'm glad Nick won out of the three of them, though. I knew it wasn't going to be John or Christian, but Davie was my favorite to win.

In the latest episode of RWBY, Maria said she was on the extra screening list for bringing in outside cashews, but she was not allowed through to Atlas either. If she was on the train to get her eyes tuned up, which she needs regularly, she shouldn't be denied passage. I also don't believe Weiss could've finished the journey on her own. Caroline seems to know that Weiss ran away, so she'd only go back to being her father's prisoner if she was allowed through. He'd never allow her to bring the relic anywhere, and it certainly wouldn't be safe with him. Her only hope would be if Ironwood or Winter came to visit.

Critical Role's "The Night Before Critmas" was the best one-shot I've seen in a while. Like Laura's one-shot, they had to skirt around the copyrighted material by changing some names and being vague about other details. Travis' heel-turn was handled expertly. I liked how he thought he might get away with it until he realized what Matt meant. It's too bad Laura wasn't there to give a reaction, but Julie's was probably close.

It's the time of the year to be nice to people and things we don't like. There is no better way to do that than to say two compliments and one critique. Here's what I have to say about Teen Titans Go! at the moment:
Compliment: Another Darkseid (Weird Al) episode just aired, which is fantastic.
Critique: Robin needs to stop beating up Beast Boy.
Compliment: Raven's outfits are super cute.
I should probably look into DC Super Hero Girls at some point, but I also probably won't.

I'm glad Yandere Dev is still going. The Jingle Bells video is my second favorite Christmas parody he's done after It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Murder. As for Random Encounters, it took me a while to get A Mei is in Danger = Away in a Manger. It's not one of the songs I usually hear. This year I have to figure out which songs I've already used in holiday videos so I can choose new ones. I might also have to work on some top 10 lists as well.

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.