Monthly Archives: December 2022

Klaus Review

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It’s time for a Santa Claus origin story. You’ve probably seen some of these around and Santa always makes for a fun character to watch. Well, this one takes a bit of a different look at the classic tale and switches some things up. It’s a fun way to readapt the legend and you should have a good time with this movie. It’s a classic feel good film.

The movie starts with Jesper failing at being a mail man. He just can’t seem to do anything right but his father is wise to this and realizes that Jesper is failing on purpose so he can go back home to slack off. His family is rich after all so being at home just sounds more fun. Well now his father has sent him off to the coldest, smallest village out in the middle of nowhere. Jesper needs to have sent out 6000 letters if he ever wants to leave and that will be difficult. For starts the village is in the middle of a civil war and a lot of the kids don’t know how to write a letter anyway. It may take some Christmas magic to get this mission completed.

Jesper goes through a fairly classic character arc here where at first he’s spoiled and mean but gradually learns how to be a better person. He stays in the mean phase for quite a long time though so if anything holds you back from liking him it would be that you may feel the arc took him a little too long. Even by the end he is being mean to one girl because she doesn’t speak English and he doesn’t want to take the time to understand her. For a while he is only focused on the letters so since she wasn’t going to help him get closer to his goal, he had no time for her. It was rather a cruel moment on his part.

He also makes some big mistakes near the end. Inevitably you know there will be a moment where he has to decide to stay in the village or leave with his father and it plays out pretty much the same way in every film but for once you’d like him to just say straight up that he’s not leaving. There are a whole lot of ways that he could have gotten himself out of the sticky situation but he didn’t go with them.

So he definitely has his share of issues. That said, Jesper does give us a lot of the fun comedic moments in the film so you wouldn’t want to miss out on that. He may not be my favorite character but the character arc is still a big staple of the film. The village absolutely needed someone to help out and even if his motives weren’t the best, he did get the job done. It’s like when you see someone doing a good deed online for clout. Yeah they may not have the best reason for helping out but if they actually are helping someone then I can overlook the motive.

Alva is one character who ended up being helped out a lot thanks to Jesper’s selfish actions. She had grown quite disillusioned with the world but when the kids started being eager to learn then she was finally able to find her purpose. Likewise Klaus wasn’t in a great spot in his life and this whole adventure helped to snap him out of it. Jesper definitely did help a lot of people even without meaning too. There was a really solid scene in the movie where we see exactly how much the village has changed. It was worlds different from back when they were always fighting.

The village really couldn’t get much worse from how it was when Jesper first got there. It’s hard to imagine just how sad the place would have been to live in for all of those years but at least now there is no need to worry about any of that. The film has a lot of good musical themes to help back the scenes up as well. Some fun modern titles and then more classic Christmas songs. It all helps to keep a lot of energy within the film and the fast pacing is one of its strengths.

The humor style here is usually about quick wit. Characters talk really quickly as they get the jokes in and usually they’ll already be telling another one while the first is ending. That’s the kind of humor style I like because nothing is dragged out. You either get the joke or you don’t. There are also a good amount of visual gags as well. The animation style here is fairly unique. The characters are all off model but in a stylistic way which is usually used to amp up the humor as the designs are actually referenced once or twice like when Jesper meets Klaus. It may not be a style that you would want to overuse but it’s always tough to look unique in this day and age so props for pulling that off.

I dare say the film almost didn’t need any antagonists. We do have two villain groups here (The ones always fighting) and they continue to get involved all the way to the end but I don’t think they added much. Yes they create a little drama at the end but it’s fairly brief. You could cut that part out and get the same effect by having Klaus or the main heroine walk into his officer and see his notes about getting the letters and leaving. It would have the same effect and I dare say that it would work a bit smoother. The villains were okay but just a bit forced.

Klaus has a good ending so things really work out quite nicely. The ending is important for all movies of course but it’s massively important for a feel good film like this one. You need to feel good or it’s just not going to go over well and would spoil the whole thing. So the ending here is very satisfying and caps off a very nice experience. This is a high quality film that is a lot of fun. I don’t expect you would have any significant issues with the film. It’s got a nice amount of polish and it’s the perfect time to watch this one.

Overall, Klaus is a fresh take on a classic tale. It’s a good amount of fun from start to finish with good character arcs and a fun cast. Jesper may take a little long to get with the program but the important thing is that he does by the end. The movie has a lot of humor throughout and it’s all executed really well. Seeing how the film incorporates each bit of the Santa mythos by the end is always fun. It tackles the Reindeers, the cookies, the naughty list, etc. It was really quite clever at smoothly incorporating them in. You would understand the references each time but it never felt forced.

Overall 7/10

One Piece – Defeat Him! The Pirate Ganzack Review

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It’s time to jump far into the past with this one for a retro One Piece adventure. It’s a full original story with just the first 3 Strawhats so that’s pretty fun. The team has grown a lot over the years but there’s still something special about seeing the first crewmates team up to take a villain down. The special goes by very quickly but makes the most of its roughly 30 minutes. We get some good action here and Luffy gets one step closer to being the King of the Pirates!

The story starts with Luffy and the crew chilling on a boat when they are attacked by a giant monster. Unfortunately they are at sea so Luffy isn’t able to fight once he hits the water and this prevents Zoro from claiming the easy victory because he has to save Luffy. So Nami is kidnapped and eventually Luffy finds himself on a mysterious island. He saves a girl named Medaka from two pirates and finds out from her that the pirate known as Ganzack has taken down the whole village. They no longer have enough food to survive and need someone to save them. Luffy may not be a traditional hero but he likes his food so he is ready to help.

Ganzack actually does rather well as the villain here. For starters he actually takes down Luffy twice which is likely way more than anyone was expecting here. He just takes him down like it’s nothing and you may expect that once, but twice? Granted Luffy was much weaker back then but it’s still fairly unheard of to be taken out like that. Ganzack also talks about being the King of the Pirates several times which helps to really establish him as a big threat. He’s not someone who’s just playing around here but trying to accomplish his dreams.

There isn’t much more to his character beyond this but it’s enough to still make him a solid villain. I liked his fighting style with the little crab arms. It wasn’t something that you’d quickly forget. I dare say Zoro would have had a tougher time beating him though. This was early enough in the series where you could make the case that Zoro was stronger than Luffy. Some would say Luffy didn’t truly pass Zoro until he obtained Gear 2 but it would be a fun debate either way.

Regardless Zoro definitely looks great here though. He commands a lot of attention as the pirate hunter and pretty much takes down the whole army on his own. He didn’t need any help and he didn’t take any Ls. He was just around dominating the whole time with his 3 sword style. Meanwhile Nami is surviving as bet she can with a little trickery and it makes sense as a strategy. When you can fool the villain really easy then you may as well do that right? Luffy and Zoro should still have enough confidence in her not to think that she has actually turned evil or anything like that. I’m cool with the plan because it didn’t seem super risky and it’s not like she had to do anything villainous in order to gain Ganzack’s trust. So it worked out pretty well.

Meanwhile this is probably not Luffy’s best appearance since he was getting wrecked so often but I guess we can chalk it up to him being overconfident. By the end he was ready to make his comeback and start winning. It just took him some time to really get settled. Luffy gets credit for not backing down from a fight although that’s the bare minimum for any good lead.

It’s definitely interesting seeing One Piece with such a different animation style. It feels extra retro and not having the same sound effects when Luffy does his attacks will take a little getting used to. Still, I think this group could have done a fine job with the series. I liked the speed showings they gave to the characters and the action scenes are on point. I wouldn’t call this high budget but it has aged well enough so it works on that level. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side for the most part. There are a few scenes where it feels like the music is about to pick up but then the scene ends real quick before that can happen.

The special is really short as I mentioned but it does work well. You’ll be engaged from start to finish and it’s really just a chance to see the characters get to fight some villains. It would have been nice if Ganzack had a right hand man or something so Zoro could fight him instead of the normal minions though. That would have helped make the film even cooler but this way at least they had Zoro taking on the whole army.

The original character here was also not bad. Medaka may just be a kid who wants to help her town but she doesn’t get in the way and actually saves Luffy twice. Once directly and the other indirectly by triggering his rage mode. So she really did a good job here and was likable which isn’t always easy for the heroes made up for the movies and specials. In general the writing here was on point which really goes a long way to making this a solid special.

Overall, If you’re looking for more One Piece content then this is a special you will want to check out. Ganzack makes for a memorable villain and there is a lot of action here so that’s all you really need. There is never a dull moment here and everyone gets something to do. It’s too bad they don’t make short specials like this quite as much nowadays. Personally with how One Piece sells I’d be trying to generate one of these every year. I’m sure the profits would be enough to cover the expenses each time. Maybe have a dedicated company that would handle these so it doesn’t impact the show.

Overall 7/10

Sonic the Hedgehog, Vol. 1: Fallout! Review

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It’s time to finally jump into the world of Sonic in the more recent comic series. Sonic has had a ton of epic comics over the years and you’d expect no less from the greatest video game series of all time. After playing Sonic Frontiers it was pretty good timing to be reading this comic. It really is a great way of starting off the saga. I had a blast and look forward to seeing how things go from here.

The story kicks off fairly quick as Sonic takes down a bunch of Eggman’s robots. After the events of Sonic Forces Eggman vanished but his army remained. They now randomly attack across the planet and so the heroes must all join forces and do their best to stop these bots. The problem is the sheer numbers of them and more are built by the day. So while they may not be a threat to Sonic and friends, the world is quite large and people will continue to be at danger until they’re all taken down. This volume brings 4 issues and right now they’re all fairly stand alone as we start to learn more about the overall threat.

The first story involves Tails as Sonic teams up with him to stop the robots. Then we have one for Amy, Knuckles, and finally Tangle. In each comic Sonic shows up to save the day but it becomes clear that the robots do have some kind of a master now. The attacks have grown coordinated and more powerful robots are also showing up. Sonic is as confident as ever but the rest of the heroes are getting a bit nervous at this point. Can they really hold out against such an onslaught forever?

My first big praise for the series will be the action series. Perhaps it’ll feel like a given that the series has great fights but there is a lot of detail to the action in each issue. There will be whole pages of no text, just action as the heroes use combo attacks and take the enemies down. I like that there is a lot of choreography here and actual back and forth. These aren’t one hit KOs or anything like that. Instead you’re getting actual battles through and through which is a great thing. Sure the robots aren’t a real threat to Sonic but that’s not really the point anyway. You’re here to see what he can do with his speed and I like the combos are are used all the time.

The writing here is also great as you would expect. Sonic is as confident as ever and takes all the villains down easily but he has the skills to back it up. He’s never overconfident and he’s also still very mature. When the other heroes want to get deep or talk about something important he doesn’t brush them off and still has a reasonable answer. His conversation with Amy about joining the resistance was a very good conversation. Nobody jumped to conclusions or anything, just a solid talk where they each explained their points of view and that was the end of it.

As a result I’m happy to report that all of the characters were solid here. Tails also looks good and while he may still be a little on the nervous side, he can still fight and defend himself. This is Tails closer to his best like in Adventure 2 Battle and I like that because he absolutely has proven himself many times at this point. It’s fine to be a little nervous especially with Sonic being taken down by Infinite and pals in the past but he’s not whining about it or anything like that.

Meanwhile Amy looks really good here as well. She’s keeping her feelings in check and doing a great job as the leader of the resistance. (She’s basically the leader at this point) She can still fight a lot and of course she would love to go with Sonic but she chooses her responsibilities first. Amy has come a long way and this really makes her a much more endearing character. You can also sympathize with her one sided romance towards Sonic more now that it’s not portrayed as this crazy gag that’s always around. Holding herself back and just trying to go about things normally is a great move. Even if Sonic were to vanish again, I think she’d be able to keep the resistance in good shape.

Then we have Knuckles who is on point here. He always has a great dynamic with Sonic and you know that the two of them can take on any threat that gets in their way. They have a good fight against two new fighters who showed up and I would take these two against just about any villain combination. I can also see why Knuckles is eager to go back to Angel Island since actively running around and getting results is really his thing. He’s not the kind of guy who usually just sits behind the desk and it fits in with his character.

Finally we have Tangle who is new for the comics and she’s been a fun character so far. I know apparently there is a reference for her within Sonic Frontiers as well so she may even get to the games soon. Her tail makes for a very handy weapon in combat and she can take care of herself. I’m not sure I totally have a read on her personality yet but she’s strong and is a quick thinker as she helped Sonic and Blaze take out the enemies. I look forward to seeing more of her later on.

Meanwhile Blaze did get to appear as well which was fun. She shows up rather suddenly but that’s the fun part of time travel. The comics are already hinting that something major is about to happen and I’m absolutely ready for it. Imagine if Infinite returns soon? We already have a mysterious villain talking tough in the background and planning things out so I’m looking forward to seeing who that is. Shadow hasn’t appeared yet either but there will be time for that. The comics are slowly re-introducing all of the characters which is a good way to start things off. I also like how they show that the Egg robots can be a decent threat when there are enough of them.

I was always skeptical about the world being taken over without Sonic and I still am to be honest since the game never gave a good reason for why Shadow wasn’t around taking everyone out. I consider that to be a bit of a plot hole but the comics are doing good damage control here. I also just like the continuity being present here because it just adds a little extra immersion to the whole experience.

It almost goes without saying but the art is really solid. All of the characters stand out and the colors are bright and vibrant in general. This all looks fantastic all the way around and it makes reading the comics a breeze. I hope they keep this artist for the full run if possible because it would be difficult to top this.

Overall, Sonic is off to the races once more. I always thought the Archie comics were fantastic as well so I was sad to see them go but hopefully this new ongoing will continue for a very long time as well. I think Archie had something like 700 issues so for me I first want to see 100 total issues and then after that I’d like the series to reach 1000. Of course that will take years to do but it would be a really fun goal. If you haven’t read the comics yet then you definitely should. It’s got everything that a Sonic fan could possibly want!

Overall 8/10

Dick Review

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The concept here isn’t bad since you could think of it like an alternate version of Bill and Ted. The real problem is really just that the movie isn’t too clever. It goes for the obvious jokes right away but after that there isn’t much left. Even the obvious joke doesn’t work since I know a Richard who still goes by the short version so the name isn’t dead yet. There was a good amount of potential here but right from the jump you get the feeling that it won’t live up to that.

The movie starts with a flashforward as a news guy tries to trick Woodward and Bernstein into revealing their source for the whole Watergate scandal but they don’t fall for it and then we find out what happened. The movie revolves around two teen girls, Betsy and Arlene. They aren’t very smart at all and can’t keep a secret for more than 5 minutes. One day they happen to be near a heist which ends up becoming a big deal and the White House staff has reason to believe that they know more than they should about Watergate. So President Nixon decides that the best way to keep them quiet is to keep them close and hires the two to be his official dog walkers. They have fun with that since who wouldn’t want to walk a dog in such a prestigious place right? Arlene even falls for Nixon but little do they realize that he is as corrupt as they come.

The film has fun making Nixon as big a bad guy as you can imagine. He is practically making evil plans in every scene that he is in. The guy is always planning something negative at the very least but the girls just never notice. It would take a whole lot to get them to realize that he is the villain so of course he keeps pushing the envelope further and further until they have to notice. If he would just pretend a little harder and not make obvious mistakes like leaving the tape recorder active then he would probably have gotten away really easily. Ultimately he wasn’t the smartest character either.

It’s always intense to see how the White House used to look though. It’s hard to imagine people just walking in and going upstairs like you see in this movie. It’s just all very lax and Betsy/Arlene really have the run of the place by the end. One unfortunate subplot for the whole staff is that they start making spiked cookies unintentionally and of course everyone loves them. This even helps with global peace so it shows what a strong meal can do.

From the main two I would say Arlene is the main weak link. She just gets crushes on people way too quickly as she already had another crush at the start of the movie. Just jumping from crush to crush like that in an instant is definitely a bad move. Then for Betsy she is a lot more outgoing and aggressive but that can be a detriment as well like when she has an affair with a random guy just to buy time for the tape to be stolen. It’s a really desperate plan that’s for sure and one that’s not worth it. Better to even try knocking him out but otherwise he seemed like the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind if the two just ran in and stole the tape. He probably wouldn’t even realize that was happening at that point.

The main focus of the film is how the two girls manage to have a massive effect on the president’s office and how every big decision actually went through them but it’s not a premise that can stand on its own without any backup. I don’t even think you need to make the two girls smarter necessarily because you can absolutely have a fun film with the characters not knowing anything. You just need a really clever script though and this film doesn’t have that.

Then you have the two reporters. I actually thought Woodward was solid and he did a good job of getting intel and always trying to be on top. I liked that guy but his partner was on the annoying side. Bernstein never really helped on his own and would only show up to steal the credit. Seems like an annoying guy to have around and I can see why Woodward was always upset. Here he is putting in a lot of work to grab the biggest story of the century and he’s only going to get 50% of the credit. That’s rough.

In a way it worked out that Nixon was the villain because if the president was a good guy then he may have been in trouble with how the main two immediately started spilling all of their secrets out to everyone. They did not hold the secret at all and that’s a shame. It’s another moment where they look really bad even if that is part of their characters. This is exactly why you need more than just the two off them wandering around and having stuff just happen. Maybe throw in a paranoid White House worker who starts following them or have the girls live at the White House instead of going there part time. They could keep hearing new confidential topics over and over which would cause more issues to keep occurring.

You need something to keep the film fresh for longer than it was. Without the writing improving it’s possible that this would just drag the film out instead of saving it but that’s really the best way to try and start working on making this one better. There is barely a plot here beyond the original premise so there isn’t really a whole lot to discuss here either. Either you will like the main dynamic the girls have or you won’t. That will make or break the film for you and it’s really that simple. There just aren’t a lot of other things going on here and the film can largely be aimless.

Overall, This movie isn’t all that good. It may give you a smile once in a while but there was just so many more things they could have done with the film. It wasn’t nearly as funny as it should have been and that’s really fatal for a comedy movie. There really isn’t much replay value to be found at all here. This movie could absolutely use a remake to see if they can do the premise a little more justice. I definitely think they would do better this time but we’ll see. It’s always a fun line of making things funny without making it too forced.

Overall 4/10

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit Review

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Jack Ryan returns for another intense adventure and this time he is a fighter. In the other films he was usually an analyst without much combat experience but here he was a full marine who was an expert at survival and getting the job done. So you can bet that he was taking a lot of wins and could handle himself in the field. It’s an interesting change and hey I do like my action scenes so that works out. It’s not quite as solid as the last one but still makes for a fun adventure.

The movie starts off with Jack getting a big injury and he has to do some tough rehab for a very long time just to walk again. Fortunately he meets up with Cathy and the two of them get engaged. Jack is then recruited by Thomas into the CIA so it’s all fun and games but then he notices a big move by Russia. They’re messing around with the stocks and currency. It looks like this could be a major play to take down America once and for all so Jack will have to go there in person but this last second trip is going to be putting a lot of tension in his relationship with Cathy since she doesn’t know about his true job. Can he save the world and salvage his relationship or will he have to choose one or the other?

One positive out of the gate is that the series still keeps a lot of political intrigue into the mix even while it is focusing on the fights more. The plan to take down the U.S. through a stock crash is quite inventive and while I may have some issues with seeing that go so smoothly, it’s a fun plot. It’s different and we get to have a lot of discussions from the characters on how this would work and how to stop it. The short answer is that you don’t just stop it, you have to foil the terrorist part of the plan actively and rest will fall like domino’s. I feel like as a last resort they could take the stock market down but that would cost billions on its own and would probably just delay the inevitable.

As for the action, that’s fun. We get a high speed chase scene and Jack has to take one guy down early on. He seemed quite outmatched so he was smart to use the terrain to his advantage. It was a nice way to start off the Russia adventure since the danger hit close to home almost immediately. Although it also made you think of a fun alternate premise for the film. When Jack escapes the room his contact tells him he just has to survive until he can meet with the next agent. Imagine if the rest of the film was him trying to survive in a foreign country with plenty of assassins after him? I think that would be very interesting but ultimately it would be a different movie.

The writing is on point here as well. The movie goes by in a flash and it always feels like a lot is going on. The characters are good too. I liked Thomas as the senior agent here and he actually made himself useful. A lot of the times it feels like these agents are only around to hand out the moral of the day but then they get bumped off or written out. Here he actually acts like a senior member should and is always watching out for Jack. He makes sure to step in if things are getting too dicey and pops quite a few of the villains with his sniper rifle. That’s absolutely how this should go.

As for the villain, he is definitely a downgrade from the last few. He has a lot to prove and really wants to get a win for Russia but he has some pretty well known weaknesses. He loves money and he can’t resist women. These weaknesses are so well know that the heroes and his own minions know this so they use it against him. That part’s a bit annoying because of course the instant Cathy wants to help, her role is to distract the villain while Jack infiltrates. That just seems to always happen and I’d rather for once her role would be to take him down while Jack breaks in or something like that. At least the movie uses it as a weak weakness for Viktor which costs him a lot but it’s still very overdone in the movies.

His minion wasn’t very smart though. Why would you tell your own boss about how he’s failed and how Russia will be disappointed? That’s like asking for your boss to take you down. There was no way that he was going to survive after that. No shot at all. Catchy was a good heroine at least. She was able to handle the dangerous situations really well without panicking or making mistakes. While she had some issues with Jack initially due to the secrets, you can actually blame Jack there because Cathy gave him multiple opportunities to come clean. He was just way too slow on the uptake and handled it all really badly.

If you see that your girlfriend is asking if you’ve seen a specific movie that you just saw yesterday, wouldn’t you think that something is up? He should have just said that he saw it. If he had to lie about the reason then just say he needed a break and saw it by himself but anything is better than just avoiding the question or saying he didn’t see the movie. He was also sloppy to leave the ticket there.

Beyond his romantic slip ups, Jack is a good main character though. He’s always ready for action and does well on the tech side as well. It’s definitely handy when you’re a computer whiz and you can fight. That makes him the ultimate dual threat here. With a solid cast and story the movie was certainly set up for good things. The only weaknesses here would really be the main villain and the romance. It didn’t really add onto the story and having a better main villain is always a great way to instantly elevate the film. We get some decent banter though so with the writing still being on point the villain doesn’t really hurt the film.

Overall, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is a good film and a solid way to try and kick some new energy into the series. If you like classic action thriller films then you would like this one and throw on an extra point if you also like the political intrigue and drama there. This one has a bit of everything even if it’s a bit of a step down from the last one. I’d recommend checking this one out, it’s a quality all around movie.

Overall 7/10

Ranking all of the RWBY Episode 11s

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It’s time for the first ranking without Volume 1. It’s a bit odd to see the list only have 8 spots instead of 9 but we’ll see which volume takes this chance to nab the #1 spot. With every volume going all out you can bet that the rankings are going to be quite stacked here.

8. Volume 4

Volume 4 has to bring up the rear again but we have a lot going on here. Each of the main plots gets some screen time as we set the finale up. Blake is finally getting ready to fight against the White Fang and Weiss is leaving Atlas. Yang has also decided where she has to go and Team RWBY is face to face with one of the most powerful Grimm that they have encountered yet. This is one of the last times that there would be a Grimm strong enough to take on the whole team like this so you weren’t likely to forget it any time soon. While this episode ultimately couldn’t quite hold its own against the other volumes, it’s still a strong episode all around. It’s part of why Volume 5 was so much fun since the heroes finally got to all meet up again after being apart for so long.

7. Volume 8

This is a bit of a breather episode compared to the rest that we’ll be getting in the season. Ironwood proves that he is quite serious about blowing up the city and any rationality that he may have had is out the window. He’s now a crazed villain through and through which is unfortunate since he was such a good anti hero but that’s how it goes. Ruby gets her next plan underway and it’s always nice to see Yang supporting her throughout everything that happens. It’s one of the many reasons why Yang is such a great character.

It’s still a bit surreal to see Emerald as one of the heroes now. She has certainly come a long way. It’s also good to see Qrow acting more like his old self as he’s back to being a fighter and a team up with Robyn is a good idea. Robyn is perhaps being a bit too cautious while Qrow is too aggressive so it makes for an interesting combination right there.

6. Volume 2

This was always the standout episode of Volume 2 so it’s almost odd to see it be so low but that’s just how stacked the volumes have been. We get the really iconic Yang vs Neo fight, Weiss vs the Buzzsaw guy, and Blake’s rematch with Torchwick. Throw in Raven’s first true appearance in the series and there’s a lot to love here. The fight choreography is absolutely on point and there are a lot of good tunes to check out here as well.

You also see how much Blake has improved since volume 1 and it’s a good bar to use as we can safely assume that the rest of the team also improved a lot since volume 1. Blake effortlessly crushes Torchwick here when of course she was getting demolished when they first fought. Of course part of that is also due to the elemental dust that Weiss supplied Blake with. So you could say the matchup would have been tougher but Blake still would have won based on what we saw here. Yang and Weiss losing their fights was a nice twist because after you saw Blake win hers you would have assumed that they’d all win. That was handled really well and the ending really establishes a lot of danger for the final episode.

5. Ice Queendom

This was quite possibly Ice Queendom’s best episode in the batch. We finally get to see the team fight as a unit on more than one occasion which was really satisfying. The ost was top tier as you’d expect and they really saved up a lot of the budget for this episode. It was an excellent way to wrap up the arc and we got to see how strong Blake would be with the power of Adam. It all goes by really quickly with nonstop action so I had no issues with the episode. It’s just a lot of fun and I always enjoy team fights like this. I hope to see more and more combos from the team in the future.

4. Volume 3

A bit low for Volume 3 standards but that’s just how strong these other episodes are. We get to continue the villains’ onslaught against the heroes. Every time the heroes get some kind of win (Ruby taking back the skies) the villains take another counter like Adam taking down Yang or the maiden being taken out by Cinder. It all really helps solidify the stakes here because the villains actually have backup plans as well. Usually when the tides start changing for the heroes it stays like that but the villains absolutely refuse to let the heroes get too much momentum. It really makes things very interesting. To date Volume 3 still had the most dire situation for the heroes and it’ll be hard to top that. Part of what makes it so effective was how happy the first two seasons were so when the tone started to shift you almost didn’t believe it. If you didn’t before now, then this would certainly convince you as the body count is rising and characters are receiving permanent injuries.

3. Volume 6

With Adam’s big return it was no surprise that this episode would rank really high. The giant mech fight against Team RWBY is cool as well of course but that would not have been enough to get it a really high score. No what got this one way high up was the big battle with Adam and Blake. Then they even squeezed in the fight between Yang and Adam, at least the first chunk of it. I remember watching this one so many times when it came out. I had been waiting for this rematch for years and it was finally here. The fighting is top tier and the story/dialogue is hype to the max. This is RWBY at its best and the kind of episode you could easily recommend to someone who is on the fence about watching it. There is just so much tension here and it never lets up.

2. Volume 5

For a very long time this was my favorite episode in the history of RWBY. It did mean that my disappointment was much greater the next week due to the budget being cut a bit which led to next week’s fights not being as great as they should have been, but the set up here is perfect. Honestly if they ever wanted to redo this episode and the next one with updated fight scenes I’d be all up for it. Every big hero and villain across the series is showing up for a big battle. All of the rematches from Volume 3 are here and of course Team RWBY (Minus Blake but she’s on the way) is back together. This is what you would have been waiting for! The music is perfect and like in a fighting game every character gets some intro dialogue before their fight.

No expense was spared on the setup and this is the kind of episode that is only possible when you have years to build up the story elements. This is the big payoff and it absolutely delivers on that. So no matter what happens afterwards this will always be an all time episode for me. Weiss’ fight against Vernal is actually really solid too. The music was good and I’m fine with Weiss losing because it makes sense that she would have been out of practice. She wasn’t able to train or fight much at all since Volume 3 because she was locked up in Atlas. It’s almost like somebody picking up a game for the first time in a while and only remembering how to do the super attack. Weiss only trying to summon did look bad but I think writing it off as rust is perfectly valid.

1. Volume 7

At the top is Volume 7 with a really outstanding episode once again. Ironwood’s fight against Watts was great. Not just in choreography and music but the story behind it. Ironwood is a character that the heroes have had doubts on for quite a while and I suspect the same would be true for the viewers. Well here he proves himself. There is nobody watching, nobody to impress but he puts his life on the line and takes this guy down. Ironwood even sacrifices his arm to do it and shows that he has the resolve to do whatever is necessary. Such commitment is always seen as an incredible trait for a hero and a very dangerous one for a villain.

Then we also have the villains making their move to scatter the heroes. Unfortunately Team RWBY made this easy with their deceptions that Ironwood found out about at the wrong time. The episode is so stacked that you almost overlook the Tyrian vs Qrow, Clover, and Robyn fight even though it’s great. That’s how much is going on here and it’s really impressive. The ending is certainly a turning point in the series because Ironwood and Ruby are finally at odds. Ironwood makes his first questionable call but Ruby has no real alternatives. It makes for a battle of wills and at the day it’s a difference that they can’t resolve. They are at two completely different positions and so fighting is the only way out of it. You understand the logic from both sides and how peace won’t win the day this time. Fantastic writing all around.

That concludes the episode 11s. Things are really heating up on every level now that’s for sure. It also means we are inching ever closer to the end of the series. With the next episode a few more volumes will drop out since they only had 12 and that means the future writeups are going to start getting smaller and smaller. Still that just means that the rankings will get even more intense as each volume tries to be the best!

The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night Review

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The Spyro trilogy continues with The Eternal Night. It’s been fun going through the Spyro journey and now I am one step closer to finishing up the whole series. This game gets surprisingly difficult to complete near the end as well. The bosses really pack a punch and most can take you out in a few blows. Fight with a lot of tactics and you’ll be okay though.

The game starts with Cynder being upset with herself for being the big villain in the first game so she runs off and then the kingdom is attacked by a bunch of apes. Even the dragon elders are no match for them so it’s time for Spyro to claim victory. He will need more power though and so that leads to him falling into the world of dreams to get all the elemental powers. Once he is at full strength then he will be able to save the world unless it is already too late. With some vague prophecies at work as well, Will Spyro be able to come out on top or is he in for a rough surprise?

In terms of gameplay this one is very similar to the last game. You still have your combo attacks and projectiles at the ready but this time the enemies won’t just watch as you get ready to fight. No these guys are going in hard now and I died many times during the game. They don’t have a lot of hit stun so when you attack you have to watch out for the immediate counter attack. If you play it wrong then you’re really going to be in a bad spot. What I would recommend is really putting your time slow to use. Yes, in this game you can manipulate time, causing it to slow down to a crawl. It’s really quite handy.

It’s not unlimited though and will take up your energy gauge really quick. Almost like a blink and you’ll miss it kind of speed. So you do have to keep that in mind but it’s still extremely handy. Try a lot of run and gun techniques. Slow down time so you land a combo and then just run out of there. Rinse and repeat until the enemy goes down. The game will walk you through all of the specific element attacks as well and you’ll get the hang of things the more you play the game. Just know that even once you are used to the gameplay style it will not be a walk in the park. This is the kind of game where you really need to work for your victories.

I’m not even sure I would have been able to beat the final boss if not for a glitch showing up at the perfect time to save me. The last boss was really fast and his attacks dished out a bunch of damage but then all of a sudden we were both trapped in a circle where I could hit him but he couldn’t hit me back. I was able to exploit this until he went down and let me tell you it was no easy feat! I had to press the attack button so many times that my thumb was exhausted but I can tell you that it was definitely worth it.

The game’s length is not too long but still ends up being decent. I want to say we had it beat in around 8 hours. That’s considering that I died a whole lot so if you end up being a whiz at this game then you could beat it sooner but I wouldn’t expect to get out of those levels without a scratch. There isn’t any replay value as beating the game takes you back to level 1 so this will all be about your story experience. Most of your deaths will be legit but there were a few times where I died due to some gameplay issues. There is like a 1 in 3 chance that your second jump won’t register in which case you will fall to your doom. It seemed to happen to me quite a bit. If you’re not perfect with the timing then you will sink like a rock so watch out for that.

In terms of the story I suppose this makes sense as the middle of the trilogy because not a lot happens compared to the first game. There are prophecies and a big cliffhanger to set up the third game but if the apes don’t come back then they were more like filler villains to buy time. It’s impressive how strong they were but I’d like the dragons to get some hype back. It seems like they lose to every invader and you’d expect these guys to be made of sterner stuff. Dragons are still supposed to be the strongest animal out there right?

We do get some more lore building on the purple dragons and Spyro himself gets a super form so that was pretty cool. I hope it ends up returning for the third game, that would be great since you don’t get to play as him a whole lot here. In theory he will really hit hard though and every platforming main character needs a super form at some point.

A nice quality of life feature here are the constant checkpoints. When you make a game that’s really hard then it is imperative that you have a lot of checkpoints so you are never thrown too far back into the past. It can be very tragic to have to play the same parts over and over again when these aren’t present. You can also skip cutscenes which is great. You do usually have to watch a few seconds so the skip can load but I’ll take it.

For the most part the soundtrack is more on the forgettable side but the end credits theme was great. It was super emotional and I can’t say that I was really expecting that. It’s a song that has aged really well and it’ll be tough for any Spyro track to top that one. Still if any could do it, it would be the third game as we get the big climax to the saga. Little did people realize that the Spyro series would basically end there.

Overall, Spyro: The Eternal Night is a very solid platformer. Perhaps the devs grew tired of everyone talking about Crash was so much harder so they decided that this time they would get the last laugh. Even if you don’t normally play Spyro, I’d recommend this game to anyone who wants to really test their platforming chops. It’s not easy to make a 3D platformer difficult, particularly one where you can slow down time. Your reaction times will be tested extensively and you feel a great sense of accomplishment when you beat this game. It’s all executed well so you won’t be frustrated even when you lose. No matter how many times it may take, you will be ready!

Overall 7/10