Samurai Equine

Hello there, my crowd! Welcome to my Weekly Musings: Red Edition. 

[I ❤ JAPAN] -- [I ❤ THE COLOR RED] -- [I ❤ CELESTIA]

For those wondering why this is being posted late, it's because it was raining last night, and it took out my internet for a while. Nothing I could do but go to bed and try again tomorrow.  But let's get into it, shall we my crowd?

 The biggest thing about last week was all the trailers that dropped. FNAF, Spider-Man, Pokemon, Rugrats, and more! Looking forward to Rugrats because it looks like they really want this to be just like the original cartoon. Also, we got more previews for the two He-Man cartoons coming to Netflix, so that's at the top of my hype list. But easily the biggest thing is the next gen of MLP.  Someone brought this to my attention, and I have to say... Is Hasbro REALLY trying to compete with their knockoff competitor Filly Funtasia?  Hope not. Either way, long story short, I'm a mix of positive and negative feelings right now, but I am doing my best to keep an open mind.

 The saddest thing that happened last week was that Daft Punk disbanded. Never expected that to happen. But at least the rest of the week was largely positive! I started a project where I collected awesome mashups and burned them to a CD for him. Not only was he not expecting it, but he absolutely loved it too! A perfect success. 

 Kiramager 43: To Paint A Stone Black...  The revelation in this episode wasn’t necessarily bad. I’ve seen other stories in Super Sentai where one of the main villains was being manipulated against their will or brainwashed. I just wish they could have built up to this revelation a bit more. It seems rather cheap that they are revealing this within the last 3 episodes, especially because I was expecting something different. I thought Garza had a legit (though misguided) reason for turning evil. Revealing that he was just brainwashed near the end is kind of cheap and empty, And to prove how pointless it all is, they kill him off too. Even I could have written a better reveal than this. To think we went through all those filler episodes for nothing.

 Kiramager 44: Another Dull Shine. This episode was interesting, but it could have been better. I was surprised to see Emperor Yodon sacrificing Yodonna like that. I know, I shouldn’t have been, but I was surprised none the less.  Everything kept me on the edge of my seat except for one part. I was really hoping that when Garza fused himself with his train, that would basically make him a living Kiramai Stone like the ones the Kiramagers are partnered with. Doing that would at least somewhat make up for the previous episode. But no, the show runners have put their foot down. Garza’s dead, Kiramai Red gets the train. Whatever. Let’s just get to the final episode all ready.

 Kiramager 45: Crystal Clear!  When I saw the preview for this episode, I was scared they were going to bring back the character that deserves it the least, Yodonna. Thankfully, that was not the case. In the end, the heroes got the happy ending they all deserved, perhaps happier than usual. And with a little teaser image of the next Super Sentai, no less! While I can’t say I fully enjoyed how the series ended, I am glad that it’s over, and I’m genuinely happy for these heroes. They deserve some peace. I’ll expand more on my over all thoughts in the series summary, but for now… All’s well that ends well.

 Saber 22: Stone Cold Confused.  It seems really weird that Buster would challenge Saber like this. I thought that he trusted Slash’s judgment. If he defected to join Saber, then that must mean Saber’s on the up-and-up, and therefore Buster should trust him too. Right? I am hoping that Buster was not really trying to attack Saber, just testing his resolve like Slash did previously. Either way, this episode had some confusing direction.

 Saber 23: Flossing on Dragon Bones! Well, this was a surprisingly good episode! Sneaking into the Southern base, finding a mysterious person we’ve never seen before (I assume it’s Master Logos without his cloak on), and top it all off with Saber getting a new power when he accidentally glances at a forbidden book. I was skeptical about how they were going to throw a berserker Rider into this, but they found a way to make it work! However, I was mostly not expecting for this Master Logos person to be a thing. So is he like the king to the knights?  This puts previous episodes in a new light... I may need to keep watching to really get a full picture.

 MY THOUGHTS ON THE KIRAMAGER SERIES OVER ALL: It's hard for me to fully hate this series, even if I didn't care for the latter half of the series. I feel like I'm betraying those who loved it if I say anything negative about it. This series came out just as COVID was beginning to be a thing, and for many, it was just the escapism they needed. It didn't need to be perfect, it just needed to be fun, and Kiramager was a fun distraction for many. Lately I've been saying that a show doesn't necessarily need deep or engaging plot; a simple MOTW formula can work too if the show is fun enough. I feel like I need to count Kiramager as such a show, even if I personally didn't care for it. Not to mention, the main actor playing Juuru/Kiramai Red came down with COVID but managed to overcome it and get healthy again, and I don't want to downplay that amazing feat. The show itself started off great! I loved the music, the poses, the randomness, and sheer unpredictable spirit it had. It was just as refreshing as seeing the first season of Jojo after watching a billion cutesy moe anime. I just expected a lot more from Garza's personal story reveal, and the show didn't quite deliver in the way I had hoped. Instead, they chose to make the series more like just a standard show. So in the end, it could have been more, I wanted it to be more, but it's not. And that's fine, my issues with it are personal criticisms only. It gave people a moment of happiness in dark, confusing times, and I can appreciate that. But I'm glad I finished watching all of it, because now I can watch Zenkaiger as soon as it premiers. 

That's all for now, my crowd.  Take care, and grab that fire on the wall. (Not literally.)

Once upon a time, I played a simple yet funny flash game. Ultimately, there's really no reason to play it, especially now that Flash has been discontinued. But the song that was made for the credits was hilarious, and I sometimes find myself quoting it. Here is "Now you're a hero" by Reachground.

How can I appreciate the sun more?

(Art by Invidiata)

Hello, my crowd.  How are you?

So many trailers released this week!  And most of them were Pokemon. And apparently, the live action Tom & Jerry movie was also released. Add that to the list of movies I'll need to see some time...

But at least I finished my music project for my uncle.  Hope he likes it.

Goodnight, my crowd. 

And now, let's reveal the winners of Tuesday's game! And the winners are: @PawelS, @Dynamo Pad, @Flying Pencil, & @TomDaBombMLP!
Coming in at second place, @Sparklefan1234 gets the pun appreciation award, @Woohoo gets the good spirit award, and @Stone Cold Steve Tuna gets the counter trivia award.

Thanks for playing along, everyone! Congrats to all the winners and participants.  Next week if all goes well, we'll play the Undying Ember Edition.

Take care for now, my crowd. 

Hey there, my crowd! How's the ponies? 

Actually, I have to specify which ones I'm talking about now, because it looks like we're on the dawn of a new era of ponies.
I've been avoiding speaking about anything because designs and other leaks have popped in and out of discovery. To me, leaked images mean nothing. I'm waiting on something more concrete.

Well, we finally got something. Not just 2D images, but 3D CGI images, and an unfinished piece of CGI animation. So I guess it's time to give my thoughts...

I want to wait til we have a real trailer. With sound and everything.
Right now, I'm not super hyped about the designed. It looks like a mix between G1 and G4 style. These characters are expressive, but not the way I'm use to. G4 really had its own unique art style. These new ponies feel like they could stand side-by-side with the characters from Frozen, or any of Disney's other CGI cartoon characters. It's hard to make CGI as expressive and as charming are 2D animation. I felt they struck a good balance with the "Hello Pinkie Pie" shorts. It's better than those fanmade SFM animations, at least. You can talk about the voice acting all you want, but I really felt like the CGI in those shorts really did close the distance between stiff CGI and the cartoon's expressive style. However, this new CGI feels more like a step back.

Not that it matters much, I guess. Based on the 2D images I've seen, they were always going to abandon the G4 style in favor of this. The ears are a little more pinched at the base of the head. The eyes are smaller and narrower. I saw a fan draw them in G4 style and it looked way better than the official art that was leaked.
But none of that matters because I want to fall in love with the story. I want to fall in love with the characters and what they are going through. All of that is either going to make or break the next generation. It's not about what's new, it's about if Hasbro can still bring us good stories and great characters. It would be such a waste if Hasbro decided to regress the brand or learn nothing after how successful G4 was. 

That's all for now. Hope everyone is either enjoying the new ponies or keeping an open mind. We never know what else is around the corner!

Take care, my crowd.