Variation

I didn’t know that the Organization members in 358/2 Days came with 22 weapon variants and two joke weapons, one of which “reveals their true nature.” Vexen’s snowman shield and Saix’s rabbit claymore are cute, but the descriptions are negative (Vexen being cold-hearted and Saix being ambitious). I think it means the two of them have a soft side, as we saw in KH3. Xigbar’s trumpet is still a mystery. It says he likes to toot his own horn, but is the Master of Masters’s herald or something? Marluxia’s looks like the flowers he’s holding in the Union X art, which represents his sister. Strelitzia’s name doesn’t appear on any of his weapons, but that had to have been in the works pretty early on. It’s fun to think everyone has a weapons locker somewhere that they pull from, and Zexion has a bookshelf. The wiki guide made writing any fight scenes I write for him a lot easier. The weapons that Dilan and Aeleus have in Birth By Sleep don’t resemble any of the ones in Days, though. Braig’s weapons match the basic ones (that don’t use a gear). The fan art I’ve seen of Even’s shield doesn’t match any of Vexen’s arsenal either but does fit the aesthetic of Dilan and Aeleus’s. I found some good fan art recently, including a few fan comics. One of them is Aeleus asking if Ienzo is okay, and he says he’s fine because there are more important things to worry about as they greet Riku and Mickey. Another one is Even returning and Ienzo asking him for an explanation for his whereabouts. Even remembers when little Ienzo asked about Master Ansem’s disappearance. Ienzo says they were all supposed to stick together and makes him promise not to leave again. In another, Even tells Ansem that he’d hoped Ienzo would take after him, but instead he’s like Even. He thinks he’s cursed and projected all his problems onto the kid. Someone also drew a picture of Zexion working on his laptop with a sandwich hanging out of his mouth as a nod to his joke weapons.

The other night, I had a dream that Matt was wearing a unicorn hoodie and was telling his union of Keyblade wielders that he’d take them out for lunch if they beat Travis’s union. Travis, of course, was wearing a Trinket hoodie.

The Moxxie/Millie video is live. I have to comb through my content and make some playlists, the first being Christmas obviously.

I got it wrong. I forget who J. Michael Tatum has voiced in regards to Laura Bailey. I’m getting old.

Better Late Than Never

I shouted “MY BULMA!” when Ayame hugged Mine. The Kyoru hug looked like it was animated by James Baxter himself. I’m a little disappointed that the real story of the banquet was told entirely by Tohru instead of God and the animals all talking. If that had been the case, it would’ve been a missed opportunity not to have Liam O’Brien voice the cat (though I thought the animals should be voiced by the cursed characters and that God was Akira because they looked similar) since Matt Mercer is voicing God. His part was post-credits and the next episode where he tells Yuki he’s the last. I made a video with the orchestra version of “Don’t Think Twice," but Disney still copyright claimed it with ads. This is what I had been trying to avoid, but we’ll see if I ever get accused of advertising to kids. If I figure out another Helluva Boss or Hazbin Hotel video, I’ll use the Beer and Board Games clip at the end of that. I’m glad that a limited series was announced for the Kyoko/Katsuya backstory. It’s either an OVA covering three chapters, or it’s been called an anime series itself, so maybe they’ll flesh it out more? People are already saying that the age difference and power imbalance isn’t going to go over well with today’s audience. J. Michael Tatum is voicing Katsuya, so that'll be kinda weird. And I don’t normally watch reaction videos, but I liked FloraRed's reaction to the end scene: “Hajime!" I also liked HMK's reaction to Luxu taking Brain's body: “Luxu you son of a bitch!" 

Sailor Moon Eternal was my first time watching the new dub. The voice work was kinda stilted in spots, and the two movies suffered from pacing issues that a limited series could’ve rectified. I couldn’t help but groan and roll my eyes at times, as this story is more ridiculous than I remember. Otherwise, I like the voice cast and the animation was better than season 3. Robbie Daymond playing D&D reminds me of Will Friedle, by the way.

Ben & Jerry's tiramisu ice cream is probably my new favorite. Cannoli wasn't bad, but not exciting, maybe because the cannolis I'd get at the carnival had cherries, and I'm missing that. I'm glad chocolate Dunkaroos came back, and the lemon Pop-Tarts are pretty damn good.

Yet Another Top 10 Random Encounters

They've done another poll, so that means it's high time I did another one of these too. Honorable mention goes to Emergency Meeting: An Among Us Song, specifically for the bonus challenge video. I did think the ending was a bit corny. Another Honorable mention goes to Phasmophobia the Musical, featuring NateWantsToBattle, for the spooky atmosphere.
 

10. Minesweeper the Musical - I thought this was catchy and it made me nostalgic for playing it as a kid (and not really knowing how to play it, so this actually helped)
 

9. Amiibo the Musical - Another catchy tune illustrating AJ's amiibo obsession. An alternate ending truncates the song with murder and a terrified Miss Bird running screaming from the house.
 

8. Friday Night Funkin' the Musical - An interesting entry. I chose this one more for the colorful costumes, acting, and set.
 

7. Ice Scream Man‭ [‬An Ice Scream‭ ‬Song‭] - I think the first was better than the second, an introduction to the game’s lore as kids tell a story around a campfire. It’s a bop.
 

6. A Proper End: A Stanley Parable Song - It was fun to watch AJ flailing around and trying to push buttons. He's replaced by their cat in the end.
 

5. Luigi's Mansion the Musical - The roles of Luigi and the professor were acted well, and the humor in it was great. “It’s not right.”
 

4. God of War the Musical - AJ and Nate as Kratos from the original and new installments of God of War. It’s hilarious.
 

3. Cooking Mama the Musical - Very catchy and funny. “Mama quits."
 

2. Goose on Holiday:‭ ‬An Untitled Goose Game Song - I love everything about this video. It's catchy, funny, well-acted, and the costume Gwen made is amazing.
 

1. Spooky‭’‬s Jump Scare Musical - This song was well-written and well-executed, and it did a good job of endearing Spooky to the audience (or at least me). “I did it to SCARE YOU!" 

Penultimate Entries

I have not yet watched the Sailor Moon Eternal movies, but I'm going to. I also need to find a day to sit down with my husband and watch the seven-hour Critical Role Campaign 2 Finale. That being said...

I liked the fight in 139 where they’re all shouting things at Lucien trying to awaken Molly with the power of friendship. It was very anime, and Matt says this is his love letter to Final Fantasy, as there is a second final boss form to Lucien. I can’t wait for Jester to tell Molly that she found her dad just like he said she would. She and Caleb [almost] died in that fight, and Caduceus came in clutch after almost dying himself.
 

Episode 10 is probably the best episode of Fruits Basket the Final so far. Haru just casually ordering a pizza while the Kyo/Yuki fight was going on was hilarious. The old maid was a lot more sympathetic. I thought I remember her just being coldly disappointed in Akito for how she’d changed in the manga, but here she laments not being able to change herself. She too doesn’t know any other way to live after spending her whole life in service to the Somas. I wonder which maids are responsible for giving Shiki the note that says "Your mother is human garbage." Probably not her.
 

After giving it some thought, I officially shipped my insert character with Isa. I tried it with both Lea and Isa, and I've come to the conclusion that Sayuri x Isa was best for both of them. I've been trying to get her look down, but I always seem to default to service industry colors (white shirt, black skirt). The original idea was that Namine is blond with blue eyes, so Sayuri would have brown hair and brown eyes. The difference between her and Tifa is that she sucks at fighting. What I was really going for was Rin wearing Tohru's clothes from the summer vacation arc of Fruits Basket. Thus, Sayuri's relationship with Isa emulates Haru x Rin, at least esthetically. Fundamentally, they're a little bit Kyoru as well, with Saix's berserk mode being compared to the monster cat or black Haru.

For some reason I want to draw fan art of Vaggie drinking an Oreo milkshake. On the video front, the Fruits Basket one is finally finished, and depending on the last three episodes, I might make one more. I made a seven deadly sins-related stinger, and I'm trying to figure out what video I could make to attach it to. Or I could just throw it in the stinger compilation video like I did with the Patti Lupone clip.

It's A Lot

Union Cross is over, and honestly, I’m not sure what I just saw. Player trapped four willful darknesses in the datascape along with them, but unfortunately everyone in the datascape is not sleeping - they’re dead and their Chirithy turned into Dream Eaters. Player’s heart joined with a new heart, which happened to be Xehanort’s. Since the timeline is screwed up, I don’t know when anything happens. I was hoping to see Skuld as Subject X, but it looks like she was Xehanort’s mom after all (unless Braig/Luxu took her back in time to when Ephemer founded Scala). She hands the baby off to someone in a blue robe, who takes him to Destiny Island where he grows up but then the blue robe drops dead. Brain lands in Scala where Ephemer has been memorialized with a fountain statue, and someone named Sigurd says his arrival was foretold. We see Marluxia in a field of flowers looking like he doesn’t have a care in the world, but then they cut to an unconscious Elrena on the cliffside where the evil queen dies, and there’s lightning around. Don’t be there, El! Someone help her! And then of course Ven is facedown in the Keyblade Graveyard, and we know what happens to him from there. Luxu goes on to possess Brain, maybe? I thought he was just supposed to give him the No Name.
 

Damn it, Kyo. Two episodes after telling Tohru he wouldn’t be disappointed in her, the episode title is “I’m Disappointed in You." It was spaced out more in the manga, but the anime doesn’t have that kind of time. At least that one maid had the correct reaction to the situation - screaming for help because Kureno got stabbed. At least Akito had the same reaction after the cliff crumbled beneath Tohru. Masterful acting by Colleen as always, as well as Momiji laying into her. Akito is responsible for her own actions, but I find it interesting that she got the knife and her emotional baggage from her mom.

RWBY Chibi came back because things got too real again in the main series. This time, however, it’s part of an anthology cartoon series that may or may not also include RTAA. Looking forward to seeing Yssa talk about Hamtaro games.
 

Key Lime Kit Kats are great, even better than the M&Ms. Still not sure I’d like the lemon meringue Kit Kats, but maybe if they came in regular size instead of bags of minis I would be more open to trying it. Or maybe those Dove candies I’ve seen advertised online.

Relationship Goals?

If only Akito had her spider-sense (God-sense) for important things and not just when their bonds break. Momiji’s episode was very jarring and sad, but he’s the strongest one for how he handled Akito, and he’s younger than her. It’s frustrating that the last season is only thirteen episodes, but the way that episodes 5 and 6 were paced, they’re moving some stuff up and condensing some other stuff. They haven’t shown Katsuya’s face in his picture, which leads me to believe that we won’t get Kyoko’s backstory at all. It was probably cut for time. That’s probably the most frustrating thing. I want people to know that Kyoko walked out on Tohru and was going to kill herself to be with Katsuya, and that she thought better of it and went home and apologized to Tohru for leaving. I don’t like Kyoko in that moment, I don’t like Kagura when she slaps Tohru, and I don’t like Kakeru for reasons we’ll get to, or maybe we won’t.

I saw Thought Bubble's video on love languages in Kingdom Hearts, and that made me think back to the character blurb stating that Even cares for Ienzo and my problem with him never really showing that. While verbal and physical aren't his thing, maybe acts of service would be, at least when they aren't serving his own ego. When this happens, he usually does so anonymously, like when he sends Dusks to aid the Twilight Trio. He probably thought he was keeping Ienzo safe by barring him from leaving the castle after the events of Birth By Sleep (I'm assuming, since we only see him outside when he's training Roxas in Days). Ienzo is an adult now, but he's still only ever seen indoors. When faced with writing how to ship Even with Ansem the Wise, I find it hard to reconcile their love languages. Ansem's is physical, which Even seems uncomfortable with. Even is devoted to Ansem (when not blinding himself with science), but that can easily be played off as a master-pupil relationship. Their opposite approaches to parenting Ienzo is cute and I am here for it. Ansem's response to Ienzo having been in danger was to probably hug him and take him out for ice cream, while Even put him in the corner (Ienzo visibly sighs before turning to follow him afterward - it’s already tense between them).
 

Unruly Rollers was a mess of a campaign, but at least you could make a drinking game around it. Take a shot every time Matt says “I’m ten" or every time they kill someone who was helping them. But not every time they roll ones because then you would die. At least Matt and Lindsay made it safely to their parents’ van. And since Matt had to keep reminding everyone he’s ten, I don’t remember what was said every time, but I just had to make a meme of a picture of Ienzo from Birth By Sleep: “Whose loose baby is this?!" “I’m ten."

Sprinkle has been “Artagan All Along.” They didn’t sing or reference that song, but it’s fitting.

I Need More Content

In part one of the Union Cross update, things are starting to move. Skuld, Ephemer, and Player stay behind with one ark in reserve while Brain, Ven, Lauriam, and Elrena go on ahead. The true Dandelion is data Strelitzia, apparently. There are six willful darknesses, which I think shows restraint on Nomura's part as it easily could've been seven. Brain gives Ephemer the Master Defender and the Book of Prophecy, saying he has a plan to come back and save them. I guess we'll see how that pans out if this ends with a flash forward to each of their fates. Anything to connect the dots between the main game and the mobile games. 

The third episode of Duckburg podcast was about ad-reads, and fittingly, Sam did the first one for Funzo's Fun Zone. Just a normal Thursday night for Sam. In episode 4, Donald says he loves Sam. He says his name with the same amount of gusto that he uses when he says David Tennant’s name. Sam features heavily in episode 6, primarily as Launchpad’s new friend Sal.

The acting in Dino Fury is still all over the place. Warden Garcia (Izzy and Javi's dad) is messed-up. In the beginning, he was just an obstacle to getting to the base, but then he got worse. It was one thing for Ravi's mom not to value his hobby, but Garcia took away Javi’s keytar (which went viral), and he fosters an especially competitive attitude in Izzy and their cousin. Void Knight is just Dr. Fries. His wife looks just like Nora, too.
 

Solitaire is supposed to come standard on computers, right? I got suspicious when achievements started popping on mine. Then the free trial ended and now I have to mute it when it plays ads every other round. It's so annoying. I'll take the boost in my gamer score. I don't play much else.