Monthly Archives: November 2022

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 8s

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We’re getting even closer to the end of the seasons now but surprisingly this batch may be more dialogue based than the last one. A lot of the volumes are still setting up the climax in this part so don’t expect a lot of big fights. Still, you can feel the payoff right around the corner and so of course that is something to think about as we rank the episodes below. So lets dive in!

9. Volume 4

This is definitely another lore type episode for Volume 4 as Qrow explains the situation to the team. We already knew most of this but it’s new knowledge for the team. I think some of this could have been off screen’d but ultimately it’s a lot of information that is good to have out in the open. In the Blake plot we start to see the White Fang making moves and Blake is forced to address this even though she initially just wanted peace. Blake was not my favorite character during this volume as she had a bit of a slump until Volume 5 but at least this was a step in the right direction. A necessary episode all in all but not the most exciting one so you can see why it didn’t rank much higher.

8. Volume 6

In Volume 6 we are getting closer to Atlas but the heroes are stopped by an old lady and two comic relief guards. I have to say that this plot always felt like a random thing to include just to slow the heroes down. None of the characters are all that endearing or likable which just hurts them the whole time. If they could have a fun scene to make you grin or something then that would be good but it can’t match the classic humor of the old days. Without a lot of strong plot elements to help it out, the episode could not get much higher.

7. Ice Queendom

Ice Queendom is in a similar situation to Volume 4 here. Sure, it’s good that the heroes are getting in a little deeper through the dream and learning more but it does feel a bit like they’re treading water by this point. Not much has really changed since the last episode to the point where it almost feels like this episode could have been merged into the last one. In a way I think I just miss the real world by this point as the dreamscape got old real quick. That being said you can tell that we’re getting close to the climax so I’m ready to see how this all pans out.

6. Volume 1

In this episode Jaune finally manages to overcome Cardin and stops the cycle of being bullied. The whole episode was a rough one for Jaune and the show did a good job of depicting how you can be surrounded by the strongest fighters in existence but if you don’t stand up for yourself then it’ll all be for naught. Jaune refused to ask for help at all during this adventure and that’s what had cost him for so long. He could be a bit annoying in that sense here but the ending is solid. Perhaps a bit cheesy but ultimately it was a well rounded episode with humor and even a little action. Cardin also made for an intense villain.

5. Volume 7

This isn’t an action heavy episode but it was nice seeing everyone be at the table to talk things out. Papa Schnee may be trying to take control of the situation but right now he does have the upper hand and does o effectively. In a way what he is saying does sound reasonable so that makes him a solid antagonist here. As always I think the characters are rather harsh to Whitley the whole time. He seriously doesn’t deserve a lot of what he gets here as it always seemed like he was actually rooting for Weiss and just had to be careful how he expressed it. The heroes just never really tried to understand his side of the story all that strongly.

4. Volume 2

The heroes are getting ready for their first big adventure! This episode mainly gets by on its solid humor which keeps it higher than you may expect. It was nice to see the debut of Zwei and Ruby even outsmarting Ozpin was impressive. While he was allowing himself to be manipulated, it did feel good that Ruby could feel like she had a mega win though and that’s what counts. This was also getting us started on the big mission that would begin the climax for Volume 2 so I’m ready for that. Coco and the others taking longer than expected to complete their mission would contrast well with Qrow finishing his mission ahead of time in Volume 3 to show just how skilled the pros were.

3. Volume 5

This episode finally had the main members of Team RWBY talk things out. It’s the first real downtime they’ve had together and of course Yang still has a big grudge with Blake for ditching them all this time. It makes for an emotional episode and in particular we really see how Weiss has grown. Gone are the days where she would get real excited and jump to conclusions. Now she is someone that is there for the others to lean on and gives the emotional speeches. The action part of the plot was with Blake and she actually did really well this time as she called in Sun and didn’t just try to handle everything alone.

It was a good moment for her character because it showed that she was actually willing to trust Sun this time and the lessons of friendship really stuck. It was also impressive to see her lay out one of the fighters with a single punch. Her physical strength gets a whole lot of credit in this volume and this was just the first instance of that. There would certainly be more where that came from. It was a very strong showing for Volume 5 and while Ghira may not be the most impressive fighter over there, it’s always nice to see Sun fighting. To date Volume 5 still has one of the stronger climaxes or it felt that way so I look forward to seeing how it stacks up with the other volumes in the rankings.

2. Volume 8

We get to see the talking Grimm attack the heroes here and it looks very impressive. Maybe a little too impressive in the sense that I thought Ruby and Blake should have looked way better in the fights this episode. I don’t buy Blake losing against a random acid Grimm and Ruby getting one shotted by this Grimm was a bit odd. Still, it was nice to see her rebound with the Silver Eyes afterwards. Weiss and Whitley finally made up as well. This was a very important episode and while we’re near the end of the season so much more happens in this volume that it’s hard to believe that we’re near the end. With Penny slowly turning to the dark side there was a lot of intrigue set up for next week.

1. Volume 3

Volume 3 is back to reclaim the crown! Not too surprising but it really was close. There is less action than volume 8 as Pyrrha mainly has to try and come to terms with what’s going on. Her talk with Jaune is good but of course the huge highlight for the episode is the cliffhanger. It was nice to see Ruby noticing that something was off and go to investigate. The music that plays when Mercury appears is exceptional and you can feel the dread rising in the air. This was still before the show had gone all the way into getting things really serious and dire so it still hits as a very powerful moment. I was not fully prepared for this back in the day. The episode really does a great job of mixing in humor, drama, and tension. From here on out all of the episodes are 10/10 quality so it’ll be hard to dethrone Volume 3 but of course the other volumes have big climaxes as well.

This is where the comparisons are really going to start getting extra fun so be sure to stay tuned! This has been a fun rankings event that is over halfway over but the best is yet to come. It’s safe to say that all shows want to end strong and RWBY has always accomplished this so now it will be time to see which one did it the best. There are going to be a lot of nonstop fights coming up soon that’s for sure.

Godzilla: Unnatural Disasters Review

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Godzilla has returned to destroy everyone who gets in his way. He has long been known as the King of the Kaiju but in this collection he has to go up against all kinds of opponents. It’s a pretty solid collection with a whole lot of stories within it. I had a good time here and I would definitely recommend it to any Godzilla fan. You’ll get all of the action that you could want and more.

From the 3 titles in here I already read the Godzilla in Hell saga so I’ll go over that one a bit quicker. See Godzilla gets taken to hell by some kind of demon and it’s heavily implied that Godzilla has to overcome every challenge of hell in order to escape. This means overcoming physical threats as well as mental ones. Nothing is particularly effective against Godzilla though and he just continues to barrel through the place with ease. It’s impressive just how powerful Godzilla is. The guy is absolutely unrelenting and looks really impressive here. A lot of the monsters he fights with have very unique designs as well. Part of the hype here is that the whole saga is shrouded in a lot of mystery. Even by the end you have to use a lot of headcanon to decide exactly what happened.

The art is very solid and the pacing is good so I didn’t really have any issues with this one. It’s also very unique so I’d say that any Godzilla fan should really appreciate the experience. You know that you probably won’t be seeing anything quite like it any time soon. I think this would be the perfect story to turn into a movie because it would just be so out there that it should catch people’s eye right away. How could you turn away from a film with this kind of premise right? Now for the other two story collections they have a more traditional approach with humans running around but not all of them. We’ll dive into the Legends issues first.

The first Legends issue focuses on Anguirus who is a super big underdog but the humans talk fondly about how he never backs down from a fight. You can take this as a positive trait in that he’s super brave or you can take it as a negative one in that he is very bad at understanding power levels and jumps into flurries that he knows he can’t win. It’s a solid first issue but man does Anguirus need a power up. It feels like someone is giving him the McDonalds combo every time he steps into a fight. When’s the last time he got a definitive win against anybody? Because I can’t think of a single win for his character and that’s unfortunate.

The second issue is definitely a lot weaker though. So this crazy scientist has a Rodan egg and gets obsessed with it. The government isn’t happy because of how dangerous it is and get ready to destroy it so he runs off. His son gets picked on a lot and wanted to show off so he helps his father keep is secured but then the Dad gets arrested and the kid is potentially bumped off. This was probably the only issue in the collection where the Kaiju was completely put to the side in favor of the human plot and that’s what hurt this one quite a bit. The humans were just super annoying the whole time and that’s not what you want to see here. In general the humans are usually not great in the Godzilla comics as you sort of tune them out and wait for Godzilla to return but these guys really stuck out as being rather annoying.

Now the third issue is definitely one of the standouts here. So we have these telepaths across the world who can control Kaiju and the main character is taken to one of these schools to be trained. It’s like something out of Assassin’s Creed as they emotionally manipulate him the whole time and we get a real solid twist involving aliens. The humans were actually rather interesting this time around and it’s a shame that these are all one shots because this could have had a real solid continuation. Titanosaurus got to look good as well, well maybe not in the sense that he was being mind controlled but he looked good in a power context and that’s what you want to see. Throwing in a solid cliffhanger like this one did was pretty effective.

Issue 4 continues on a very solid note as we see Hedorah enter the fray. This time the humans have a Mecha Godzilla at the ready but are still unsure if he will be enough to really help them be victorious this time around. The story has a good amount of tension and they have to decide which monster to take down when Godzilla appears. What I liked about this one is that Hedorah really got his respect. He’s one of the few Kaiju who was actually more powerful than Godzilla when they first fought and so I wanted him to look powerful here. That definitely did happen as the humans had to get involved. It was an emotional story and one that has a satisfying conclusion. I dare say fans all around will have a good time with this one.

The final story is a bit more low key as an old danger climber goes on one last hike. This time he’ll be climbing Godzilla and it’s the most daring thing anybody had done. Godzilla’s filled with radiation so this gets dicey but it’s interesting to see someone hanging on like this. I’m sure Godzilla could have removed him a any time but just wasn’t bothered enough to do so. He knows that no human can hurt him anyway so what would be the point right? It’s a reasonable attitude for Godzilla to have when you really think about it. It works as an emotional climax here especially with the final scenes.

Now we dive into Rage Across Time as we see that Godzilla has been terrorizing the world for centuries at this point. He’s just built different and not even time can get in his way. In the first issue we have him going up against a bunch of samurai/ninja which makes for a pretty unique setup. Personally I tend to like trips to the future a lot more than trips to the past but I get the concept of the series. If a modern military had trouble with Godzilla, imagine back then right? Fortunately other Kaiju are around as well so this leads to a lot of big fights.

Then in the second issue we have the Greek gods trying to unite in order to fight off Godzilla. Thing is they’re really bad at that. None of them get along at all and you can throw the lion’s share of the blame onto Zeus for this. Zeus is just being mean for no reason right out of the jump and it only gets worse from there. Since the gods power comes from the prayers of the mortals he enters the fight in a weakened state because he has been distant for so long. No johns though, Godzilla would have beaten him anyway. There is a good reason why he is known as the King of the Monsters after all. It was nice to see how out there these fights were. It really felt like a very hype supernatural encounter and not just Godzilla beating up on other Kaiju and humans. A very solid issue.

The third issue was a bit different than the others. So it had the knights of the olden days and there was a plague around so they go to Mothra for help. We get a nice fight with Mothra and Battra while the corrupt people across the kingdom mess the knights up. It was interesting but just felt a lot different from the others since Godzilla didn’t get to do a whole lot. A decent issue but Mothra isn’t able to hold her own issue quite as well as some of the other Kaiju. Regardless you should have a good time here.

This 4th issue may be the weakest of the set so you can see how it’s losing a bit of steam here. Godzilla shows up but this time he actually has trouble against humans as they put a lot of snow on him. It may be a tribute to Raids Again but this one suffered from the main issue of the humans getting too much screen time. Nobody really cares about the humans here…no offense to the humans. But I’m reading Godzilla for the Kaiju and the fights and this was the only one that didn’t really deliver in that respect.

This last issue gets real crazy as a bunch of Kaiju all appear and it becomes a whole nonstop fight from all sides. That was great and definitely the right way to end things off with. You barely even remember the story of this one beyond everyone just duking it out and that’s fine by me. Throw in Orga and then you’d really have a party. One issue for the future would have been nice to show that Godzilla is never over but I suppose it just wasn’t to be this time. Maybe next time.

The artwork is mainly solid during the issues. It fluctuates a bit but on the whole I was satisfied with it. You get to have the Kaiju with solid proportions and the fights are on point so that’s the important thing. By the end of this adventure you will be having a good time all around. The writing is good and there is a whole lot of content here so you will be able to enjoy Godzilla in his full glory the whole time.

Overall, If you haven’t read this comic yet then you definitely need to change that. All big fans of Godzilla owe it to themselves to check this out because it is just such a great collection of issues. You’d be missing out if you missed on this one. I would like to see more of a proper ongoing return with some really big plots in the verse but think of these like best hits and stories that could have certainly been movies in their own rights. Look at the issues through that lens and then you’re really all set. I have another Godzilla comic to check out pretty soon so that’ll be hype.

Overall 7/10

RWBY: Arrowfell Review

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Felt like I had to wait years for this game to come out! I was waiting a long time ever since they announced that WayForward would be helping out with this game. They’ve churned out a lot of all star titles over the years and then ArcSystems was also in on it? This was shaping up to be a game of the year contender and the definitive RWBY game at last. Unfortunately it feels like they ran out of development time early on as this feels a whole lot like a cash-in title. That was too bad but at the end of the day it was still a pretty good game. Not amazing in the way that I was hoping for but you’ll have a fun time here.

The story takes place in Volume 7 shortly after the heroes got their professional licenses but before the election since Jacque Schnee isn’t on the council yet. So it’s a rather tight timeline that we’ve got here. A lot of Grimm have been appearing lately including a new group by the name of BRIR so something is amiss. Ironwood asks Team RWBY to investigate what is going on along with the AceOps. The whole world is depending on them so the heroes have to be up to the task.

This is a fairly short game as I completed it in under 4 hours and I obtained the Platinum trophy around an hour or 2 after that. So there is very little replay value here. 100% completing the game in 6 hours and not having any kind of post game to complete is a bit rough on that front. You don’t want to be spending too much money on this one but fortunately it launched at $30 and I suspect that it will be a lot cheaper very quickly. That may feel like shots fired but it just feels like the price would dip quickly. That said it is still RWBY so I would advise you to get this game immediately.

One of the issues with the story here is it feels like Rooster Teeth told the devs they couldn’t do much of anything because the game takes place too recently and they didn’t want to mess with continuity. That’s why it would have been best to make the game not canon so you could just go all out with the plot. As a result it’s not always the most grand of stories. I liked the new villains introduced here in Team BRIR and the final boss is fairly solid in his own right as well. Only issue is that there is a bit of a mystery on who the villain is so any original character made up for the game is deeply suspicious. It makes things just a tad too easy if you ask me. I would have skipped the mystery angle from the jump.

The script also reads like it was created from someone who didn’t actually watch the show. The characters tend to be out of character and it just doesn’t make sense. I’ve never seen Weiss be so upset at Penny constantly. She seems to be really antagonistic to the robot right from the jump for no real reason. It’s a bit bizarre to be honest. Now this may all be sounding a bit dicey but we’re here for the gameplay right? That part is fairly good. It reminds me of the old Cartoon Network web games from back in the day. You can run, jump, attack, and use your semblance. You can also switch between the 4 girls at any time and you need to as each one has an ability needed to get past an obstacle.

It’s like a budget version of Shantae. The hit stun is pretty large so try not to fight any opponents by a ledge or you are definitely falling down. There’s no EXP in the game so you should try and skip all of the enemies that you can. The only benefit to fighting them at all is that they drop coins which is useful for buying items but getting money is quick either way so not much to worry about there. You can buy skill points and heart upgrades that way though. Make sure you buy them all as you’ll need them for the platinum. All of the levels have chests with skill points. You may have to walk a few steps out of your way to get them but I recommend doing this because then the Platinum is even quicker after you beat the game.

The graphics are pretty solid. The character models for the characters are surprisingly low quality but the actual level designs and everything are fun. I wish we could have gotten full voice acting instead of the old text boxes for most cutscenes but one treat is that we do get real fully animated cutscenes in each chapter. Now that was cool and it made you feel like the game did get a big budget somewhere in there that just dwindled over time. Those cutscenes were one of the highlights in the game. Then you also have to consider that the soundtrack here is pretty cool. I liked the new lyrical song that popped up during the first level. It’s really catchy and a lot of fun. There are a few other lyrical songs that weren’t really my thing but I did applaud the effort. It was still impressive to get these in there. So I give the soundtrack a thumbs up because of these songs and it makes up for the repetitive minion theme that plays for each ambush.

I said to skip the villains but that isn’t possible during ambushes of which there are a few in every level. These are points where you have to beat everyone before you can go forward. A bit tedious no doubt but they go down quick. The problem is that you’ll have probably maxed your character out after the first few levels so your attack doesn’t get any higher while the minion health bars just keep increasing. It makes things a little longer even if they are easy to dispatch. I did lose a life once on one of the last bosses though so it’s not a total cake walk. For the most part you can just spam the attack button and beat them before they can drain your health though.

Ruby has the best semblance here as she can go through enemies so I would spam that as I blasted through the levels. I ended up using her the most by far. Blake’s copies are handy though since you can attack in 3 spots at once. Weiss has the worst attack unfortunately but she is good for reaching high places. Yang is strong but her attack is too short ranged so it’s usually better to use Ruby.

Overall, Ruby Arrowfell is one of those games that should have been a whole lot better. Put in the right elements and this would easily be a 9 star game. It didn’t go that route but I would still say to check it out. It’s a pretty fun game that probably would have been a really massive hit back in the GBA era. Now it just feels more standard. The gameplay is good and the big cutscenes help to carry the game. They keep things from getting bad for this one but unfortunately it looks like we’ll have to wait a while longer to get a definitive RWBY game. I know that it will eventually happen though.

Overall 7/10

Tatsumi vs Deku

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Suggested by BassisweakerthanBruceLee Tatsumi has some good armor and he is able to fight along with Assassins so he is quick on his feet and knows how to improvise. Ultimately that’s just not going to be enough to hang with someone as powerful as Deku though. Deku can utilize his 100% power now and so his speed and power are many leagues above Tatsumi’s. The guy likely wouldn’t even be able to track Deku’s movements. Deku wins.

Sonic Frontiers Update

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I now have the Platinum Trophy! I told you all this would be game of the year right from the jump so of course I also had to make sure I went in and played it all the way to the Platinum. It’s surprising that you don’t have to get all S ranks or even come close to getting all collectibles for the Platinum but it just goes like that sometimes. Hopefully we get a big sequel sooner than later!

Yooka Laylee and the Impossible Lair Update

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I’ve finally achieved the Platinum trophy in this one! Always fun to finally get up to 100% and safely take another game off the list. This was a solid game all around and hopefully they make another one soon.

Orion Eden vs Voltron

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Suggested by Sonic Voltron is a powerful Saint but you definitely know that he isn’t going to be taking down a Saint of Athena. Orion Eden is a thunder type fighter and has attacks like a Big Bang move which does incredible amounts of damage. Voltron’s first issue is going to be even trying to land solid blows on this guy and the very next one will be trying to survive the counter moves. Orion moves many times faster than Voltron which is why the fight will be over before it has begun. Orion Eden wins.

Leonidas vs Age

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Suggested by Sonic Leonidas is a great dragon who has gotten many different super forms over the years. That said, Age is on a completely different level. In his robot mode this guy can take out whole planets. Leonidas isn’t doing anything to that. Their stats are just too different and Leonidas can’t even be said to have the speed advantage. Ultimately he is going down here without doing much damage. Age wins.

Yoshimitsu vs Byakuran

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Suggested by Sonic Yoshimitsu is good with a sword and can fight at a high level within his verse. The issue is that his abilities aren’t all that impressive compared to anyone in the Reborn world. Byakuran is many times faster than Yoshimitsu as well as more powerful. A single punch would likely break this guy’s sword and then that would be the end of the match. Yoshimitsu would not have a way to counter attack. Byakuran wins.