That has nothing to do with this blog entry. I just wanted to remind people.

But seriously, that actually happened.

-GAMES-

Escape Close Call: How is it possible to screw up a concept this simple? With all the unnecessary things tacked on to the game, it makes me wonder how much effort was really put into the core; the three city maps are really, really small to the point where you can't be creative driving around the environments if you tried. If you're going to draw inspiration from another game, which this title does in the credits, make sure it's not an equally-awful iOS game with the same assets and concept.

Pocket Card Jockey: I wanted to do a 3DS review again, and that's when I remembered this was a thing. Timely, too, since it came out a month prior to me remembering its existence. As stated in the review, I pretty much lost a ton of time during my days off, but I had a lot of fun with it in the process. Then for some reason, I stopped playing the game for almost an entire week, resuming near my following days off. That's where I began noticing the game's long-term problems... I'm really glad I decided to give it another shot then, because I was super close to writing a review after that first experience.

I also tried keeping in the spirit of giving horses weird names, so these are some of the names I gave during my sessions: Popful Mail, VeryBerrySweet, Eagle Dental, Winning/Losing, Double Peanut JR, Gaw, Mendal Palace, and so on.

Catlateral Damage: After my repetitive disappointment with Escape and my dismay over PCJ's long-term nonsense, I wanted to wind down and review something that wouldn't give me a headache in the process. I thought this would do the job. I was mistaken.

It's shockingly similar in execution to Escape, where you're forced to do something insanely repetitive and joyless. In Cat's case, you just knock down objects to the ground. That's it. You have anywhere from 4 minutes to 16 minutes to knock down anywhere from 300 to 600 objects within each level. I'm not lying. It's harder than it sounds, because first of all, you're in first-person view, and second, objects rarely move where you want them to, so they require multiple paw swipes or pushing. It's super boring. I easily managed to complete all six (randomly-generated?) levels the game threw at me after coming up with a simple game plan. The saddest part occurred when I was in the last level, and I got a PS4 trophy for playing the game for 30 minutes. After I beat that level, I got no special ending or anything, just sent me straight back to the title screen.

I won't be reviewing this... I just finished Escape: Close Call, and the last thing I want is to review something so similar and bad. I'm actually worried that if I force myself to do too many bad or mundane titles in a row, I'll sink into another reviewing drought that happened around the same time last year.

-MOVIES/SHOWS-

The Losers: I completely forgot this was a thing until I happened across it while looking through someone's filmograhy. It came out shortly before the A-Team movie, so I just assumed that's why it was easily forgettable. Then I watched it. The film just comes off like some kind of TV or direct-to-video release, since everything feels really average. All its "setpieces" are inferior renditions of things seen in other movies, such as the village/fortress attack at the start with awful, generic rock music, or the transportation heist that had zero weight to its delivery. And I swear this is like the billionth time I've seen a movie conclude at the shipping docks. I guess it's cheap to film there.

Lean on Me: The movie has some weird, iffy transitions (a serious talk about kids' futures abruptly jumps into an upbeat, 80s pop montage) and it moves towards an awkward final act that feels like it's there just to end the film. However, this movie is noteworthy purely for Morgan Freeman's performance. Regardless if you agree or not with the methods of the person he's portraying, you can't deny that Morgan Freeman hijacks the movie every time he's in a scene. He has such a commanding presence, and I couldn't help but rewatch certain scenes after the film ended.

(warning: I basically talk about my experience with Gundam ZZ and Gundam X in detail below, especially with Gundam ZZ, so if you plan on watching these shows, I spoil and/or imply some stuff while I made my observations. I tried my best not to mention super specific things and major spoilers, but in certain instances I couldn't help myself. Also, I wrote up these comments and observations after several viewings over the past few weeks. I figured my thoughts would sound more clear that way, in comparison to my scattered thoughts on Zeta Gundam in the previous blog entry.)

(additional Gundam ZZ note: the episode numbering on the Blu-ray release considers the prelude Gundam ZZ episode as the first episode. I mention this because I noticed certain websites with listings don't consider it part of the show's numbering.)

Gundam ZZ (constant spoilers): (after viewing episodes 1 - 17) So, after watching the first eight episodes of this show, I came to the conclusion that Tomino is more capable of doing light-hearted action over hard drama. The goofiness displayed during these opening episodes is so astonishing, that it feels like it's poking fun at Zeta Gundam's straight-faced attempts at theatrics. He seems to be doing a better job finding the humanity in ZZ's characters than Zeta's cast. If there's one major complaint with the show, from what I've seen so far during its first half, is that it seems to linger too much. Despite being entertained by the opening episodes, I found it surprising how much time they spent in that one colony, since a lot of it was dedicated to junkyard battles. It found a different flow once the crew made it back in space by episode 9, but by episode 13, the plot progression seemed to have stalled again.

Though, by then it shifted gears into a slightly more serious tone starting with episodes 16/17. However, I begrudgingly had to sit through a very unnecessary two-part filler plotline (episodes 14 and 15) about a forgotten space colony with a cult. The whole scenario with Judau's little sister being kidnapped is wearing itself thin, too. Even with bumps in the road, I have been entertained, even smiling a few times during those first 8 episodes; probably because it felt like a cleansing to Zeta Gundam's climax. Though, admittedly, I'm staying somewhat in conjunction with Gundam X's episode count, and I'll say it's keeping me more intrigued at the moment. I just hope the show doesn't have more wasteful filler episodes like with 14/15, and that an actual, legitimate plot rears its face soon. Considering this is by Tomino, I wouldn't be surprised by a sudden serious tone shift.

Also, watching the show made me question something else: if this wasn't a continuation of Zeta, or more specifically, a direct continuation of the Argama's exploits, would it have been better received? Like, if this was released on TV during a different year or period, I wonder if it would have been remembered more fondly over the last few decades?

(after viewing episodes 18 - 25 and after completing Gundam X for context, I guess): So... Elpeo Ple is a thing. I couldn't help but make comparisons to Kamille's "relationship" with Rosamia the more I watch. Though, it seems to make more sense here considering she's just a kid, compared to Rosamia's odd infatuation. Glemy Toto's obsession with tutoring both Judau's still-kidnapped sister and Elpeo Ple, both young girls, is creeping me out with each passing episode he's in. Not to mention his continuing fixation with a female pilot, Roux, on the Argama. What the hell is with this guy? And he got promoted??? Haman Karn's new outfit is ridiculous, but it's totally her. Personally, it would've looked cooler if it didn't have the cape and crown.

Remember how I said I despised the two part filler episode? Well, it happened again with episodes 20 & 21. Except, I hated it for the fact that it easily could have been told in one episode. The best part about that two part plot occurred during the latter half, when Neo Zeon bought every docking bay on the moon and proceeded to crash cargo ships into them just to locate the Argama. It was both stupid and ingenious; loved it. Anyway, judging by a quick glance of the episode listing on the back (and trying my best not to see spoiler titles) of the second blu-ray collection, there's three more two-parters... Wonderful. One of them is even super close to the show's climax, which horrifies me.

After finishing episode 23, I came to reflect that a lot of Gundam ZZ's early space episodes could have easily been scrapped or condensed into single episodes. It's almost like Tomino didn't have enough actual material for an entire 47 episode run, so he just stalled as much as possible. They're not terrible (except for the 2-parters), but honestly, nothing of value would have been lost if about six or seven of these early space episodes had never been created.

(after viewing episodes 26 - 36): Wow, ever since the Argama crew arrived on Earth back in episode 23, I've noticed the show's quality has increased. Everything seems like it's moving at a more solid, focused pace, and the battles feel like they have more weight to them. The biggest shock for me was when I hit another 2-parter (27 and 28) and it turned out to be pretty good! Another 2-parter came almost immediately after, which had me worrying again, because the first part has an amazingly stupid concept that could have sunk the story; the 2-parter revolves around the actual city of Ghardaïa, Algeria, and about halfway through the first episode, it's revealed that the city has been taken over by Europeans, who built a city beneath Ghardaïa. The first actual shot you see of it makes it look like a giant mall. It's really, really stupid, and I don't think it was explained very well during either part. THANKFULLY, the plot rarely focused on it, and instead, we got an arc filled with conflicting ideals from all sides, revenge, and some snazzy battle scenes.

The weirdest thing I can't seem to get over is the fact that Beecha and Mondo, who have been (and still are) acting like a bunch of backstabbing stooges this whole time... just know how to pilot the Zeta Gundam and Hyaku Shiki like it's no problem. I know Bright commented early in the show that Judau's group might possibly all be Newtypes, but this is kinda ridiculous.

Thinking back on it, too, I'm shocked how much stuff occurred within the span of a few episodes, most notably episodes 33, 34, 35; the Argama arrives in Dublin, we find out the Federation higher-ups are seriously the biggest assholes on the planet, Fa and Kamille make cameos and even help out, Creep Master 2000 (aka Glemy Toto) is turning out to be surprisingly cunning, Hayato gets some solid screen time, and something dramatic happens after all that. Not to mention, the entire Earth arc nicely gets wrapped up in episode 36 with some heavy stuff. Seriously, after episode 22, this show has been consistently entertaining, with only minor bumps here and there. Though, if you can't seem to get used to the cast of Gundam ZZ by the mid-20s, then that probably won't mean anything. The more I get away from them, the more apparent it's becoming that the "teen" episodes (around 12 through 21-ish) have been the weakest segment of Gundam ZZ.

(after viewing episodes 37 - 44): Space! Because it's a Gundam show and this was super predictable. Know what wasn't predictable? The new ship that replaced the Argama is called... the Nahel Argama. And it looks exactly the same as the Argama. After constantly implying throughout the show that the Argama was going to be replaced with a better ship, I was expecting something really different. Also, some of the deaths that occurred starting from 37 onward are kinda weird. Weird in a sense that, I didn't realize some of these characters died at first until another character confirmed it. Now, I'm not gonna start spoiling deaths, but I'll just say I was surprised by a certain death to the point I actually had to go online and double confirm it because I didn't believe it. I just assumed this person just went on to live the rest of his/her's life after the conclusion of Zeta Gundam.

I was also going to complain about Haman's weird plan and behavior during the span of these specific batch of episodes, until I realized this was super in-character for her to do something like this. Stupid, yes, but considering her abandonment issues that became apparent all the way back in Zeta Gundam, it actually makes sense.

(after viewing episodes 45 - 47): With three episodes remaining, I was genuinely concerned if this show was capable of having a proper wrap-up, especially since there was so much left unresolved by this point. Thankfully, in my opinion, Tomino and company managed to end the series without feeling all too forced about it. In fact, I think it also does a better job wrapping up many things that were left hanging at the end of Zeta Gundam, which in comparison felt like hot garbage being tossed all over the place.

(additional spoiler talk for the last three episodes):

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You know, I was genuinely upset that Haman Karn died the way she did, committing suicide because a kid defeated her in battle. However, I sat on that thought for a little bit, and that's when it hit me how one-sided the battle of Axis actually was. Even without the involvement of the hide-and-go-seek Gundam Team, Glemy Toto's forces STILL would have won against Haman Karn.

Rakan and his group easily captures Mashymre, who proceeds to overexert himself and die in the process. Chara Soon dies after confronting a gang of Qubeleys. Glemy Toto also straight up crashes not one, but TWO asteroids into Haman Karn's forces, and when Haman sends out commandos to stop the second asteroid, they report back that the control system has been damaged. THEN Haman loses Core 3 when Gundam Team flings the first asteroid in its direction. To top it off, she fails for the umpteenth time to get Judau on her side and loses in battle to him seconds later. I'm still bummed about the way she died, but after all the stuff that happened within the span of, maybe, a few hours, this entire Axis battle must have been soul-crushing for her.

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(end additional spoiler talk)

Gundam ZZ was a pleasant surprise. I'm glad I actually gave this a shot, and I'm hating myself for contemplating skipping this show two months ago due to its infamous stature among Gundam fans. To those that are thinking of giving this a watch (after reading through these spoiler-esque commentaries....), I cannot stress enough that the batch of episodes around 12 through 21-ish are the roughest parts of this series. They're like the equivalent to the desert episodes of the original Gundam where it feels like filler to pad out the series. But if you can make it past those episodes, it gets better.

Now the wait... The Blu-ray release of Char's Counterattack can't come soon enough!

Gundam X (spoilers): (after viewing episodes 10 - 14) With each passing episode, I'm noticing this show has one of the weirdest issues I've seen in a Gundam show - the good guys start off too powerful. They have a Gundam that can unleash a destructive attack with an impressive radius, and they also have a captain that constantly knows what to do or say. Hilariously, I think the show's staff/director caught on to this, because the captain was out of commission after only a few episodes into the show, just so the other characters could fumble their way out of a problem. Also, the main Gundam received a few upgrades just so it COULDN'T use its invincible attack; seriously, the mechanic actually went to the captain's office to convince him NOT to use the attack all the time. To the director/writers' credit, they still managed to create tension and problems for the characters in spite of these crutches. I just wanted to point out the hilarity of the whole situation.

Anyway, I've watched a couple more episodes, finishing just after the "snow arc". The way that whole thing played out and concluded felt like it easily could have been the finale. Granted, had it an extra episode or two. I'm liking the show, but I'm somewhat feeling squirmish with each passing episode. Maybe it's because, in the back of my mind, I keep thinking about the show's episode count and worried just how much left is going to be shown off. It's unfortunate the show's staff had to work around something like that.

(after viewing episodes 15 - 34) So, after my last thoughts, the show has grown on me more, even when a few bumps in the road knocked it around. Just when you think you've figured out the show, it takes you in different directions that you weren't expecting, even if they seem kinda obvious in retrospect. I gotta commend the staff for not wasting time and space; when a thing, a character, or a moment has to get done for the sake of the plot, they get it moving right along. If this was another show and with different writers/directors, they would have lingered with a plot point for an additional episode or two.

Though, probably the weakest point of the show occurred near the end, during episodes 26 - 29, when it was introducing "Villain of the Week" characters. Thankfully, it only lasted four episodes. To the writers/director's credit, an overarching plot was happening between those episodes, so it wasn't a total waste.

As for episodes 31 - 34: I was actually squirming quite a bit. Not because it was bad, because it wasn't, and not because it was really obvious that I could envision an extra episode here and there in certain plot moments; the thing is, I was actually amazed at how consistently solid the quality and pacing is during this arc of the show. You would think, with the fact that Gundam X was shortened to 39 episodes from its originally-planned count during mid-production, that the quality would take a hit during the climax.

It's absolutely shocking how much plot and character development occurs during episodes 32 - 34 alone without feeling forced, especially since NEW characters are being introduced. AND these new characters feel fleshed out within that time frame. That's some genuine craftsmanship. It's almost like the director was thinking, "We bombed in the ratings, got moved into a graveyard shift, and now have to work with a diminished episode length. You know what? I accept this challenge and will still make a solid show in spite of these handicaps. Screw y'all." And it actually feels like that's reflected during this segment of the show.

(after viewing episodes 35 - 39) This is where it really feels like the staff is trying hard to conveniently wrap up the show in the final stretch. Considering what left they have to work with, it's actually a commendable effort, even though it basically feels like the cast going around in circles until every important character is placed in the same area for the climax. As for the final episode: that... well, that was definitely some kind of conclusion. Though, I did find this show's interpretation of Newtypes to be an interesting alternative to the UC's definition.

You know how it feels like certain series would have benefited by having less episodes? I feel the opposite with Gundam X. There's a surprising amount of world-building, that it's a damn shame we only got 39 episodes to explore its universe.

But it is what it is. I enjoyed watching Gundam X and its post-war adventurous exploits. There were definitely times, too, where I could feel the show channeling the spirit of 0079, especially toward the end. Except this didn't get the opportunity to spawn an entire franchise after failing in the ratings. What a travesty.

And again, as stated in my last blog entry, if anyone plans to pick up the new DVDs for Gundam X, be warned that the image quality is not great for some reason. You get used to it after watching an episode for about 2 or 3 minutes, but that still doesn't excuse the treatment this release got.

Later.

Most recent blog posts from Wendell B...
(for personal reference) I've changed my name from pickhut to dementedhut Some Rambo: Last Blood Thoughts

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	honestgamer - June 21, 2016 (09:41 PM) I couldn't read most of your post, for spoiler concerns, but thanks for the link to that Mr. Ed episode. I need to go ahead and get the show on DVD. I have a lot of classic television already, and the show is more fun to watch now than it was when I was a kid and most of the jokes flew over my head. Ah, nostalgia!
	joseph_valencia - June 21, 2016 (10:15 PM) I'm glad you gave ZZ a chance, as most Gundam newbies tend to dismiss it. I wouldn't call it a great Gundam series, but I think it deserves better than its "black sheep" status. It also deserves props for introducing the Kapool, the coolest aquatic Mobile Suit of all time. 8-) In a way, Gundam X kind of epitomizes the 1990s era of the franchise. A lot people would probably say the 80s was the golden age of Gundam, but I think the 90s had the strongest and most interesting overall line-up of shows. But, like X itself, Gundam wasn't all that hot during the decade.
	dementedhut - June 22, 2016 (09:47 PM) Venter: It always surprises me when I go back to older shows or movies, and realize they're not as "clean" as I originally thought. JV: After watching all of Gundam ZZ, I actually can't believe it gets so much hate, with some even calling it one of the worst Gundam shows ever. Sure, its quality bounces around during the first half, but I've seen my share of Gundam shows/OVAs/movies where the quality of the stories take massive nosedives into drivel. I didn't mention it anywhere above, but going into your love for the Kapool, I noticed ZZ had a lot of unique mobile suit designs. It's unlike Zeta Gundam, where a lot of the designs were forgettable. Though, the Mk-II Titans design is pretty cool, I think. Sure, it's just a modified version of the original Gundam... but it looks really good in dark colors! The 90s were certainly good to the Gundam franchise in terms of variation. It's amazing that we went from that to the slim pickings of the decade that came after.