Star Wars The Clone Wars season 5

 As I wanted to complete or at least reduce all the Star Wars and superheroes series and movies still on my To Watch list (some for years if not nearly a decade), I sat down for the fifth season of Clone Wars.

 

These animated series is pretty fun viewing for sure, and tie in a lot of stories from the movies of the prequel as well.

 

And this season seems to focus mostly on the rise of the crime syndicates and underground resistances, on the one hand the return of Darth Maul who gains more and more influence and takes over Mandalore, and on the other hand Hondo's pirate band as the often go to solution.  And a fun droids only adventure arc, which broke the pace nicely. 

 

But the heaviest arcs lie at the end of the season, first with how Maul is being overcome and recruited by Palpantine to serve him again, though not as an apprentice, and at the cost of his brother's, Savage Opress's, life.  And then we get the big finale arc, where Ahsoka is falsely accused and set-up for a bombing inside the Jedi temple, and how it leads to her leaving the Order as a result.

 

Definitly a very intresting season, with some very strong arcs having been set up.  Now to one day see those final two seasons and complete it all for this animated series. 

 

MASK season 2

 I never got to watch this second season of the fantastic MASK cartoon, as it never was aired overhere back then.

 

But thanks to the magic of YouTube, I finally caught up in the swansong of this saturday morning cartoon and toyline.

 

Now don't get me wrong, as a kid, and even now still as a collector, MASK has always been my second favorite toyline, the honour of first being held for StarCom.  But where the first season and the whole take on the series was a world of MASK agents trying to stop the evil VENOM organisation from crimes, the second season went to... the races.  Who ever decided on that?

 

On the other hand, I always loved the Razorback toy, reminds me to find one to update my slowly yellowing one I guess.

 

Now, in a cartoon and toy infused market, this new angle wasn't a success, and it resulted in a short series of only a dozen episodes.  But the toys that came out with them where as great as the first line, though felt less "military" to compete with GI Joe, and Transformers had really cornered the market by this point on transformation gimmicks.  But they where still better then the Split Seconds series that came after this, of which not even cartoons where ever made to tell the story of the toys.

 

And it is odd they used the intro music still from the first season and line, meaning you don't see anything of that during the season...  

 

 The story of the season is that they participate in a demolition derby, which doesn't have any rules.  Other episodes include confrontations for trade rights and the likes, and it still forms in a rough way the same sort of stories as the first series... but the race gimmick just detracts from it to be honest.

 

What has been kept though is the little "morale lesson" at the end of the episodes, like not taking a bath with your radio and the likes, or leaving stuff cluttering around in order to prevent accidents.

 

Was it a good series?  Actually, yeah, though I might be biased considering my love for the franchise ever since I was a wee little bloke.  But does it stand up to the original series?  Not by a long shot, though it does leave a bit of a curiosity taste of "what if" the final toyline series had also been animated... 

 

 

Star Trek Prodigy season 2

 When a kiddie cartoon is beter then Star Trek Discovery, second cour...

 

And it's no lie, this series that is based around the retrieval of capt Chakotay and breaking timelines is actually great fun... and has some more illumini appear this season.

 

The story takes off about a year after the events of the season 1 finale, as Admiral Janeway recruits our young heroes Dal, Rok Tahk, Jankom Pog, Murf and Zero to join her aboard her new ship, the Voyager A.  They work as cadets though, but soon discover there is a special mission about to happen with a ship called the Infinity to retrieve Janeway's best friend.  

 

On present day Solum, Gwyn struggles with a coup forged by Ascensia, and reunites with the Diviner's younger uncorrupted self and her father to be, Ilthuran.  Dal and his friends, together with a young vulcan called Maj'el, accidentally activate the Infinity and tossed to the future, locked away together with Chakotay.  Gwyn loses the challenge, while the cadets set Chaokotay free and manage to launch the Protostar into the future, hopefully restoring the timeline.  Murf in the meantime is contacted by a stranger...

 

As they take the Infinity through a Borg conduit, they set out to find whoever is being sending messages to both Murf and Gwyn, and start connecting dot's during various adventurous in the quadrant, like a mind control device and a new body for Zero on a Medusan refugee planet.  They arrive at a Time Ziggurat, hidden in a pocket dimension, where they are greeted by Wesley Crusher.  he was the mysterious person sending messages, as the timeline hasn't been restored and theirs is actually dying, slowly invaded by time parasites called The Loom who feast on closing timelines.

 

Wesley reveals the plan to find Chakotay and restore the timeline, sending them off before The Loom take the upperhand, and realises Maj'el is the seventh variable.  They come to a sandy planet, finding a stranded Protostar and Chakotay who apparently has been there for 10 years already since their previous meeting.  They manage to convince him to heal the paradox, and set out making the ship spaceworthy again.  They will need to build a new protocore to return to Voyager though, whom is 3000 light years away.

 

They manage this on a planet of genetically enhanced tribbles, and set off for the rendez-vous, and Zero gets a body looking like her old one, as the new one is breaking down, but improved with more senses.  Ascensia however is still bound on destroying the Federation, and her battleship Rev-1 engages the Protostar and Voyager A.  They are then ordered to Solum, where Wesley is being held captive by Ascensia to make a temporal weapon, the Incursor.  

 

The Protostar crew infiltrates, freeing Wesley and Ilthuran, and the people of Solum rise against Ascensia, triggering the civil war events, but Janeway decides to ignore the Prime Directive and aid the people against the tyrant.  As she launches her fleet against the Federation, as the wormhole is opened to send the Protostar back to where it all began and restoring the time paradox.  As everyone settles back into their normal life, and adding some nice details like Wesley visiting dr Crusher and meeting his infant brother Jack (nice Picard reference here), and the Mars Attack from Picard season 1 takes place, cementing the series in the timeline.  The cadets are field promoted to Ensigns, and Dal realises he is more of a first officer then a captain material, handing command of the ship they received for their training to Gwyn, the Protostar class USS Prodigy.

 

And as they set out to learn the ropes and explore new planets while the body of the fleet is facing the events that transpire in Picard, the series comes to a close in what was a great and fun run, well worth checking out! 

Pariah Nexus

 Right, time to give another one of those Games Workshop franchise made cartoons a go.

Though I must admit, I liked Blacktalons for the story, the style of animation, for a "connoisseur" of the japanese anime style, isn't really down my alley.  Luckily, this series is a full CGI project, making it look more as an exquisite videogame cutscene movie of high definition.

But, never the less, I sat down and watched this short 3 episode series set in the Warhammer 40k universe.  Set on the planet Paradyce, overrun by Necrons, sister Danica of the Adeptus Sororitas is fighting a desperate last stand.  When teamed up with a guardsman, she runs into Sa'Kar of the Salamanders chapter, who is trying to save the civilians she seems unworthy of saving, fuelled by her hate for the planet to have fallen.

The Necron Illuminor Szeras activated a Deathmark assassin to hunt them down, and just when Danica comes through her hate-fuelled hallucinations, the assassin shoots her down before the Salamander destroys it.  Sa'Kan manages to save a children, sending them west, he goes to hunt Szeras.

But in true 40k style, when the children arrive at the next camp, they are gunned down by the military in order to prevent a brain affecting sickness infesting them...

So, short and grim, and fitting for the 40k universe.  The opposing points of view between Sa'Kar and Danica play out nicely though for such a short series, and it is worth the watch if you are into the game.  

After all, worst that can happen if you don't like it, is that you only spend an hour of your time...

Arcane season 2

 First thing I noticed: they added League of Legends to the title.

Second thing: Stromae made his comeback after years of being away from the public eye, and his new song My Meilleure Ennemie has trashed the streaming numbers for 2024, even though it only came out end of november.

The series begins with Jayce and Mel surviving the rocket attack alongside a few other councillors, but Caitlyn's mother is amongst the casualties.  Viktor is mortally wounded, prompting Jayce to fuse the Hexcore with him to save his life.  Pushed by Ambessa, retaliation is planned against Zaun, but the use of Hextech weapons is blocked by Mel.

During an attack at a funeral for the fallen councilors, Renni and her men attack but Ambessa and her Noxian warriors arrive and kill them all.  A taskforce led by Caitlyn is formed to go and capture Jinx and to end the shimmer production.  But in Zaum, there is distrust amongst the Chem-barons, one of them, Smeech, even proposing to hand over Jinx to have their production not disturbed.  Jinx runs into a young orphan, Isha, and they decide to tag along together after she is saved from an ambush by her.  Ekko and Heimerdinger decide to sneak into the Academy to discuss a magical corruption manifesting at the tree in the Firelight's hideout.

Vi is concerned by the aggressive take Caitlyn displays on their mission, as Mel is abducted by a Noxian sorceress cult, the Black Rose, who are linked to Ambessa.  Jayce, Heimerdinger and Ekko discover a "wild rune" in the Hextech vault.  Vi and Cailtyn corner Jinx, but Vi stops Caitlyn shooting at Jinx with the child Isha shielding her, allowing Jinx to escape.  This leads to Ambessa declaring martial law in Piltover.  A force of Piltover and Noxians occupy Zaun, as the series makes a short time jump forward, with Jayce, Heimerdinger and Ekko missing, Caitlyn and Vi having broken up, and Jinx becoming a legend...

Starting a revolt, and encoutering a werewolf hybrid Singed has created in secret, Jinx and Sevika decide to free Zaun from their oppressors.  The beast is none other then Vander, and Jinx goes to seek out Vi who has become a pit fighter after her break-up with Caitlyn.  Singed through identity is deducted by Caitlyn, as Mel finds herself in a Black Rose prison where she is reunited with her thought dead brother Kino.  But he is al illusion, and it causes her latent powers to be manifest.  Jayce, having encountered visions inside the Wild Rune, is released by it and scarred by the experience vows to destroy all Hextech.

Jinx, Vi and Isha take Vander to Viktor's hideout in an effort to have him healed, as Viktor tries to bring his humanity to the fore.  But they are tracked by Ambessa and Caitlyn, and Vi is captured by them.  Ambessa orders Viktor's progress to be reversed, but it is revealed Caitlyn and Vi where in league with each other, as Jayce infiltrates the camp and kills Viktor, provoking a physical backlash of those he healed.  Vander goes berserk, and Isha sacrifices herself to try and stop him.  Ekko and Heimerdinger find themselves in a parallel universe, where Hextech was never invented.  They need to work together with Powder, who never became Jinx in this universe, to create a time-reversal device... and here the awesome song enters the fray.  

A small sidenote: I was driving the car at 9.07 in the morning, the moment the song actually hit, and heard the radio go all crazy as our elected "Greatest Belgian" made his comeback.  And boy, what a comeback that was!

 

Ekko is returned to his universe, at the cost of Heimerdinger, who vanishes with his fate unknown.  Jayce is transported to a post-apocalyptic world, reuniting with the hooded figure that gave him the runestone when he was a child.  Learning that this future is the result of Viktor's actions, he promises to stop him before being send back by the figure, leading to the events that happened at the sanctuary.  Following the attack, Singed used Vander's remains to save Viktor as Vi confronts Caitlyn about Jinx's arrest.  But as she goes to see her sister she is outsmarted and Jinx escapes.  Mel has become fully embraced by her magical powers, escaping her prison, and encounters Jayce, as they are attacked by an emmisary of Viktor.  Caitlyn finds Vi in the cell, and they reconcile in a sweaty way, I love Vi's back tattoo ;-)

 

 

Ambessa allies with Viktor and they prepare to attack Piltover, as the troops, joined by the Zaunites, hold the line.  Jinx, persuaded from suicide by Ekko, arrive to save the city from falling just in the nick of time, as our heroes face off their enemies.  Caitlyn and Mel face Ambessa, overcoming her at the cost of the eye of the former, while Vi and Jinx face Vander.  Viktor uses his powers as he controls the Wild Rune, but Ekko remains out of the brainwashing grasp thanks to his time device.  He reveals the hooded figure from his past was none other then a future Viktor, who wants to stop the destruction his current version is about to cause.

But Vander remains feral, and Jinx seems to sacrifice herself to finally stop him, as the attack is stopped.  Vi and Caitlyn ponder their future, but Caitlyn suspects Jinx did escape at the final moment, having gone in hiding to break the cycle of violence...

So this was a fantastic series for certain, even though the second is a bit weaker then the first, it still was a stand out production with awesome art.  Go watch this if you haven't, even like me you never played the game more then 2 weeks...

Transformers: Combiner Wars

 Combiners, the huge Transformers made up of 5 others to become an ultimate weapon of destruction.

So as a childhood "fan" of the Aerialbots, I just had to watch this series of 8 rather short episodes.

It begins with a battle between Menasor and Computron falling from orbit, the Decepticon overcoming the Autobot.  He is taken down hinself though by Autobot reinforcements.  Starscream arrives, reporting to Rodimus of the arrival of the Combiners.

Rodimus considers to use the Enigma to create more Combiners to stop them, as they reveal that both Optimus and Megatron are in exile due to the war they started long ago.  A failed attack by Windblade on the enigma artifact is prevented by a returned Optimus though.  They engage in a duel, bith physical and motivation, Optimus managing to disarm her.  She begs him to help her out, and as he learns that the Council wants to use the Enigma of Combination he looks to Megatron to help them out to destroy the it.  

He agrees to help them out, as he hates Starscream even more then Optimus Prime.  Together, the three of them make way to the Council tower where the fallen Combiners are located, though they do all look differently on the plan to follow.  Observed by the Council, they argue to use the Enigma to control the Combiners themselves and stop Optimus, Windblade and Megatron by the threat of the huge Transformers alone.  Megatron attacks Starscream as the Council retreats inside behind their defences, but they manage to break through the gun systems.  

Devastator arrives on scene, tearing off an arm from Rodimus.  Devastator has revolted against Megatron, refusing to follow his orders anymore.  Victorion arrives to look for the Enigma as well, engaging the Decepticon combiner.  Starscream obtains the Enigma by the vote of the Council to stop the war, reactivating both the deceased Menasor and Computron.  But Starscream being Starscream he immediatly betrays their trust in his evercraving hunt for power, turning all the present Combiners into his ultimate form with him as the core.

But he can't control the power of the Enigma, causing it to overload  and rain devastation on the surrounding city.  Windblade engages him, her inner power awakening in order to face him, awakening Metroplex to hold Starscream, allowing Optimus and Megatron to stop him.

So, a short series, and it was okay to watch.  No Superion though, that was a bit of a pity...

Blacktalon

 Okay, so everywhere I read that those Games Workshop produced cartoon are decent, so I gave one a go, the Age of Sigmar based series Blacktalon.

And the first thing I noticed it's style feels a bit of a mix between Netflix's Castlevania and the Magic the Gathering slideshow art commercials.

 

Naeve Blacktalon is one of the Stormcast, mythical immortal warriors chosen by Sigmar to hunt evil in the Mortal Realms.  But with every reforging, the process that when they die, they get reborn in lightning, they loose some of themselves.  Yet Naeve keeps remembering things of the days before her demise, seeking anwers as why this is, as she relives in her memory their last mission against the Maggotkin of Nurgle.  By opening her memories, she discovers there was someone else at the tower where she fell, resulting in that she can stop the spread.

 

 

When a vanpire has claimed one of the Stormvaults as her fortress, she and her team must bypass a Treeman Ancient that protects the vampire. But what does this vampire, Kaelena, actually know about Naeve's past.  But when they a mission they not support, namely the assassination of an ally, the Hag Queen Vintessa, they must decide if they will follow orders.  But which dark secrets will be revealed should they allow her to live instead as they must balance both options.  They battle their way into the fighting pits where captives are being sacrificed together with barbarians as Naeve and Shakana go after the Hag Queen.  Shakana is killed by the Hag Queen for breaking the alliance, as due to the blighted skies, she might not be reforged, as Naeve slays the Queen in angry retalliation, completing their mission as a result.

 

As Naeve keeps digging in her own past as Hammerhal prepares for a massive threat, a farmer on the Realm of Life shows how it happens that a mortal would choose the gifts of Nurgle.   While Skakana is revived after all with the information of the Hag Queen, Hendrik is forced to kill Naeve as she is digging to deep.  As a result she will be reforged and have forgotten again.  But on the verge of reforging, she keeps remembering and reliving visions of her past, bringing her to the point that she must actually choose between the God-King she serves or the last grasps of her humanity.  For she learns that she isn`t one of the warrior women she feels connected to, but the Chaos Warrior that killed them.

In the meantime Hammerhal is besieged by the forces of Nurgle, as the Sylvaneth honour their vows and come to the aid of the besieged Stormcast.  But as her companions are overcome by Thysis, the root of the Nurgle attack, Naeve returns to the battle.  

Okay, so this wasn`t actually half bad, if not to say rather good.  Maybe I might look into some more of them shows, albeit probably not the 40k ones which are sadly so dominant.  But this was an enjoyable 6 episode show.

 

 

Voltron season 7

 A longer season this time for the Netflix reboot of the legendary Lion robot and his paladins.

Numbering 13 episodes, that is about double of season 6 which counted only 7 episodes.

 

The season starts with the group, having to abandon the castle and travel in the lions alone with their passengers and pets, being accidentally minituarized.  They manage to revert the effects, and travel to a base that once belonged to the Paladins, but while abandoned they come under attack.  Stuck far from home, and in a perilious situation, Coran is the one hope they have to get out. 

Together with some unlikely allies, they get out, but find themselves suddenly trapped in a strange gameshow with more on the line then simple prizes.  But this turns out to actually be a strong interdimensional being, testing their worth.  Stuck in the void of space, they find their resolve as a team agin, and allowing them to form Voltron once again.  Jumping through an energy field, they arrive back in our milky way.

But Earth has been attacked and overrun by the Gal'Ra, even though under the guidance of Pitch's dad they tried to prepare to no avail.  But as Earth is being run over, the paladin's arrive.  They join the battle to save Earth from being annihilated, but they have been betrayed and the enemy was waiting for them.  This results in Voltron being severly hit, and the paladins captured.  As a result, Shiro launches earth's final hope, the Atlas.  A massive battleship retroengineered from Althean technology, it allows them together with Voltron to drive off the invaders.

 

 

But the Gal'ra unleash their planet shattering device, so while the lions and the Atlas do their best to hold it off, Shiro infiltrates the enemy command ship to destroy the weapon from within.   He confronts the enemy lord on the falling command vessel, as the lions try to avoid it crashing in an inhabited area.  Together with Keith he finally ends the reign, as a meteor seems crashing towards Earth.  This turns out to be a huge Gal`ra robot suit, causing Voltron to reveal another weapon in it's arsenal... but is defeated never the less.  And then Shiro unleashes the full power of the crystal from the former Lion castle, causing the Atlas to transform in a gigantic robot itself.

So this was a good season, especially the second part was really tense when the battle came to earth, and very enjoyable to watch.

Now all that remains of the reboot is the final 8th season...

Transformers: War for Cybertron - Kingdom

 Remember that Beast Wars episode where the Ark is found?

Well, this season gives of a vibe of following on that part, as the Maximals and Predacons enter the fray.

 

With the Autobots and the Decepticons now crashed on Earth, they meet unlikely allies from the future: the Maximals led by Optimus Primal and the Predacons led by a Megatron who received his name from his illustrious forefather.  But Optimus Primal reverts to Optimus Prime as Nemesis Prime, with Optimus having no idea who he is talking about.

 

Megatron, still in possession of the Matrix, receives a Golden Disc from Predacon Megatron, a relic he has seen in a vision from Galvatron.  Both factions realise they are looking at their descendants from a far future, where Cybertron has fallen as Prime didn`t manage to return the Allspark.  In the meantime, Airazor who has been captured is tortured by Predacon Megatron, much to the dismay of Dinobot.  As he engages in conversation with Airazor, he starts doubting his loyalties and honour.  

The Autobots and Maximals band together to free Airazor, while Prime sets out to stop "his" Megatron from obtaining the Allspark.  They manage to free their comrade, but the Decepticons have set out to find the Allspark, guided by visions from Megatron.  Dinobot realizes Megatron must be stopped, and sheds his Predacon allegiance, trying to get the Golden Disc and the Matrix from him.  He bests Megatron in combat, but "Beast" Megatron intervenes, but a critically wounded Dinobot manages to escape with the Matrix.  Optimus Prime finds him, returning the Matrix to his chest and thanking the dying Dinobot.

Optimus reaches the Allspark, learning it is dying itself.  The Allspark and Cybertron seemingly share a symbiotic relationship, one cannot sustain itself without the other.  Blackarachnia and Starscream are scheming together to seize control of the Decepticons, as Optimus Prime learns that in order to defeat Megatron, he must loose.  Inside the temple, the old foes face off against each other, and Prime knows this is where Megatron lost the war.  Megatron, who obtained the Matrix again, steps into the temple, but the Matrix rejects him, returning to Optimus Prime of his own accord.

They know they have no time to loose to return to Cybertron, to save both the planet and the Allspark, and prepare the Ark for launch.  But the Nemesis arrives, battering the vessel's shields even with Autobot and Maximal fighters trying to take down it's weapons.  Starscream in the meantime is having visions of Unicron, and that Galvatron is Megatron in the future, turning him into a rambling madman.  As the Ark is about to be destroyed, it suddenly transforms into a giant robot, as Teletraan One had learned in the Dead Universe that this was a moment in time he needed to do this, and had been rerouting systems and energies by himself to do so.  With the Nemesis out of commission and the Decepticons and Predacons captured, the vessel sets course for Cybertron.

On Cybertron, they encounter not only Galvatron, but Nemesis Prime as well.  While Megatron and Galvatron battle the Autobots and Maximals, the two Prime's square off, allowing Bumblebee to sneak off with the Allspark into the temple.  The evil lords seem to get the upperhand, but when Bumblebee places the Allspark in it's holder, sparkghosts of fallen Autobots and Decepticons arrive, including Elita-1 and her team that fell at the end of the second season.  They make Nemesis and Galvatron dissappear, as the Allspark powers up and Cybertron comes back to life.

An uneasy peace is formed between Optimus Prime and Megatron, in order to try and rebuild Cybertron to it's former glory, as Unicron torments Galvatron and Nemesis Prime for their failure...

So, that concludes the War for Cybertron trilogy, and I must say it was great fun to watch, even though it did receive a heap of bad criticism (mostly for not having it's original voice actors).  Never the less, if you are into Transformers, this was worth the watch.

Transformers: War for Cybertron - Earthrise

 The second part of the War for Cybertron trilogy, and finally I got round to watching it.

And let's see how the remaining Autobots handle the fall-out of season 1, with the betrayal of Ultra magnus, and the Battle of the Starbridge that left Cybertron is shambles.

It all starts with an Autobot prison raid on a Decepticon jail, where they are amazed they locking up those of their own kind.   But Shockwave is working on a big plan called Project Nemesis, which will require all the energon of underperforming Decepticons, something Megatron must acknowledge after visiting Sector 12.  The Autobot team is captured by a lure of Starscream, who used the long-dead Steeljaw (btw, that was one of Blaster's cassetes in G1) to send out false messages, and brings them before Megatron for harvesting.

In space, the Ark is boarded by Doubledealer and his mercenaries, where he finds the inert body of Optimus Prime.  They are fixing the ship back up, as he has a deal he can keep the ship if he delivers the passengers to his secretive patron.  

On Cybertron, Elita and her team are about to be killed when suddenly the Decepticons they freed earlier make a break-out attempt, and even in Skythread they find an ally who thinks Megatron is going to far.  On the Ark the Autobots are starting to awaken, and they are brought before a Quintesson.  He claims it was him that freed Cybertron aeons ago, but as he is about to destroy the Autobots, the mercenaries, being doublecrossed, sweep in to free them.  Back on the Ark, they realize that not only does Megatron not have the Allspark, but that they have the actual means to search for it and take off in the vessel.  But on Cybertron, Megatron forces Shockwave to activate Project Nemesis, a gigantic spaceship powered by harvested sparks and sets out to search for the Autobots himself.

 

With the Ark not having enough power and the spacebridges on Cybertron destroyed, they set course to a station where a bridge is seemingly constantly open.  They find a spacestation wedged inside it, and as they board the station are attacked by an enraged Scorponok, the last of his kind that didn`t revolt against the Quintessons.  When Megatron and Optimus Prime engage in a duel, he orders the destruction of the station and they find themselves in a strange  "Dead Universe".  Here they meet some strange visions, Optimus Prime encountering Sky Lynx, who long ago wanted the matrix for himself but has come to terms with his own failure.

Megatron meets Galvatron, who tells him he will help kill Optimus Prime, and he reawakens the old spark of hatred Megatron had when still fighting in the pit.  He engages the Ark, but Sky Lynx sacrifices himself so that the Ark can escape the Dead Universe.  The Nemesis persues, and they find themselves above a blue watery planet where the Allspark should have gone to... Earth.

As on Cybertron the battle rages on with Elita facing Shockwave, resulting in a big explosion engulfing both forces.  As Optimus Prime communes with the Matrix on what he should do, as the mercenaries also exit the Dead Universe, out to destroy both Autobot and Decepticon alike.  Megatron through deceit overpowers Optimus Prime and takes the Matrix from him, as the Ark crashes to an ancient Earth.  It is seen by a Velociraptor... when he suddenly scans the vessel with an optical sensor.

And so the second season of the trilogy ends, and I am eager to start the third for one with that cliffhanger.  If you ask me, the Beast Wars are entering the fray, and that raptor was Dinobot...

Bananaman season 1

 Okay, I admit, I spend an hour of my life just for cheer nostalgia!

This bloke was my very first superhero when I was still a tiny wee lad, and I found the first season of 10 episodes accidentally on YouTube.

So I just couldn`t resist watching Eric eating a banana.  In a not wrong way if you google that stuff these days.

The cartoons are about 5 minutes in length each, and to be honest the art is still funny, but of course age shows as this is created way back in 1983.

But the stories are still fun as Dr Gloom and the likes plot to take over the world and defeat Bananaman, like the one he is turned into a baby and the likes.

So yeah, if you are my age, it might be a fun little watch, though I only "did" the first season for the fun of it, but if you are of the far younger generation you are going to find this old BBC cartoon prolly silly as hell.

And you would be right, it is silly, but it is my kind of silly!

Disenchantment season 4

 So we almost caught up to the series.

And the fourth season is hopefully as fun as the third, where our heroes where stuck in all kinds of hard situations.

Lucy, together with Jerry, escape from heaven to save Bean from a forced marriage with Satan.  But she tricks her mother into the marriage instead, making her Queen of Hell.  Back on the surface, Elfo finds out his mother is the queen of the ogres, while Zog regains his sanity and after finding himself in a monastery returns to Dreamland.

 

Upon their arrival, it seems Cloyd and Becky have taken over the land.  While they drive them off, they possess a couple of dolls, working together with an awakened Freckles. Elfo learns about how humans stole Dreamland from the elves in an old sunken castle, while Zog himself finds out he has a child with the bear selkie from season 3, Ursula.  When she perishes in a fire, he takes Jasper with him back home.

But the elves in the meantime demand their castle back, taking up arms and resulting in reuniting with the Trogs as a single people.  The "Goo" is drank by a nightmare ridden Beanie, and as a result her dreams reveal her evil self to her, bend to take her place.

So, after the dip of season 2, I really enjoyed the next seasons including this one.  Now to wait for the fifth one to see how the cliffhanger resolves...

Disenchantment season 3

 More catching up has been done with this Matt Groenig cartoon by me and Noshi.

And thank God it was serialised again instead of the stand alone episode format of season 2.

After being saved from the stake by her mom Dagmar, who seems out to redeem herself, Beanie and her friends find themselves trapped in an underground lair with bug eyed trogs.  But soon they learn her mom is still putting on a farce.

In the meantime, Zog is buried alive as the revolution led by Osvald and the arch druid continues, and he looses his sanity in the process, becoming a honking madman.  Oona returns to try and help him, but it all seems in vain.

The archdruid flees to Steamland, chased by Bean and Elfo, but soon the little elf finds himself caught in a freak show, while Bean is stalked by a rich guy, Alva, that got a crush on her.  But together with Mora, a mermaid from the freakshow, they escape, and Bean discovers she has feelings for her.

Back in Dreamland, Bean tries everything in her power to get her dad back to normal, but with seriously mixed results.  In the end, it is decided he will go to an asylum, and Bean is crowned queen in his wake.  Big Jo arrives, seemingly rissen from the dead, as ogres attack the castle.  They are after Elfo, and while the trogs come to the aid, Elfo in the end decides to surrender himself to save Dreamland.

Dagmar takes Bean to hell, as Luci gets decapitated in the process, finding himself in heaven.  While the elves discover an ancient throne in the trog tunnels, realising Dreamland was once actually Elven lands...

So that's a lot of cliffhangers, and as I said in the beginning, the series is far stronger in a serialized fashion.  So onwards now to season 4 and see how it all plays out!

Disenchantment season 2

 Well, it only took Noshi and me a few years, but we are catching up on this amusing satire cartoon on Netflix now.

Starting of course with the second season, about 3 years after we saw the previous one hehehe...

 

The series starts with Beanie sailing out with her revived mother.  But in the new homeland, she learns her mom actually wants to sacrifice her.  She escapes with the help of Lucy, and they literally go to hell to bring back Elfo from the dead.

 

 

In her homeland of Dreamland, they manage to de-petrify the inhabitants, as Bean's stepmother becomes a pirate captain after divorcing her father.  Now Bean must pick up her old life again, but is being haunted by a strange music box given by her mother. 

Through various stand alone adventures, focussing mostly on Bean trying to cope with her feelings and her dad, King Zog, trying to become a more respected king, the series has some awesome gags.  But alas, it also lacked in my opinion some direction without a truly overarching story this season, which meant it felt odd connecting (or trying to) episodes together.

But, some good entertainment in the end, and now onwards to season 3 in the catching upping...

Arcane

 Recommended to us by multiple people, this Netflix series details the world of League Of Legends.

Yeah, THAT game...

But, as we also saw on a YouTube video, you don`t need to know the game or the lore to be able to follow the series (I played it like two weeks or so).  The story details the differences between the rich upper city and the slums of the underworld.

A group of friends, namely Vi, her younger sister Powder, Claggor and Mylo try to rob an uppercity house full of artifacts when an explosion takes it out.  They hide again in the underworld at their employer, Vander, but the ruling caste wants to set an example and weed them out.  This leads to old enimities flaring up again and the spark of uprising being kindled.

In the meantime, the owner of the house, Jayce, is trying to harvest magic through science, leaving him expelled from the academy.  When Silco, an underworld industrialist, takes Vander in captivity, the children mount a rescue that not only destroy's his illegal research and base of operations, but in the process also kills Mylo, Claggor and Vander due to Powders overpowered magic crystal bomb.  This leads to a break between the sisters, and Silco taking Powders in.

Fast forward a few years, and Jayce, having refined the research with his assistant Victor, has managed to create Hexgates.  These rapid ways of transportation brought great wealth to the city of Piltover and bring grant a place on the council.  But others are after the technology as well, and Powders, now going by the name of Jinx, steals one of the refined, stable crystals.  In the follow up investigation, an enforcer named Caitlynn gets Vi out of prison in order to go hunt Silco down in the undercity...

 

While they learn the harsh truth downthere, and Vi finding out that her sister has gone semi-insane, Jayce tries to convince the council that, while he is unknowingly manipulated, Professor Heimerdinger (who also founded Piltover) needs to go on retirement.  His assistant Victor in the meantime discovers that the Hextech reacts to organic matter, and tries to cure his ailement that way, but forcing him to bring a huge sacrifice before he sees the mistakes of his ways.

 

The uppercity does weponize hextech though, and brings the fight to the underworld.  But when Jayce accidentaly kills a child, he decides to barter with Silco for a peaceful resolution.  He would have agreed on all the terms, but Silco refuses to give up Jinx.  She captures Vi, Silco and Ciatlyn, and accidentally kills her adoptive father and creator, widening the chasm between the siblings forever as she goes on to assassinate the council...

A truly lovely series, even for someone like me that never gotten into the whole LoL affair, though maybe I should dust off the account again.  With an artstyle reminiscent of the Telltale Games videogames, it is very well animated and just gorgeous.  Though I can`t get that whole Jinx-craze though, Vi is a hundred times sexier teeheehee.

Castlevania season 3

 At current, it seems this being the last season of the Konami video game adaption following the exploits of Belmont.

And in this third season, we take a look at the aftermath of our heroes, now that Dracula has fallen.

During the 10 episodes, 4 storylines are told.  The first of course involves Trevor and Sypha, as they arrive in a village.  While joined by the enigmatic Count de Saint-Germain, they soon learn that the local priory has fallen to the demonic.

Hector, former servant of Dracula, finds himself in the capture of four vampire queen's, and tries to work out a means to escape while they want to bind him to their will to create an army of dead soldiers.

Isaac the Forgemaster on the other hand wands the north african region, bound on revenge against Hector.  he travels to Genoa and needs to conquer the city with his night creatures to get closer to his target.

Meanwhile Alucard gets visited by two vampire hunters from Japan who seek his training to overcome the vampire ruling their region with cruelty...

A lot has been going on as such in this season, yet the viewer keeps a good overview of events as the episodes tend to mostly focus on one or two lines only.  This avoids making it a hotchpotch of back and forth's, giving a fun experience.

Season 4 has been confirmed, but with one of the producers getting involved in a sexual allocation case, there is seemingly a strong delay on it, so we will just have to wait it out for it's release I guess...

Pacific Rim: The Black

 As is rather well known amongst my friends, I totally worship the first Pacific Rim movie, it had everything I love in a sci-fi film.

The second one... not so much...

And now netflix has released this seven episode first season upon us, called The Black.  The series takes place around or some time after the events of the second movie (it meticuiously avoids a pinpoint year, yet hints at the rough time period), and follows the loss of the Australian continent.  Taylor and Hayley are two children of Jaeger pilots, left behind safely during the evacuation.  But 7 years later, their community is attacked by a Copperhead level 4 Kaiju, and it's inhabitants killed.

They escape as they find an old training Jaeger, Atlas Destroyer, in an abandoned PPDF base.  This leads them to an encounter with Kaiju egg dealers, as well as discovering a mysterious kid they name "Boy".  As they try to find their parents back, the series tells more about drifting, but also brings back Herc Hansen (who piloted the Striker Euraka in the first movie), whose fate remains unknown to this day.

And there is that mysterious black Kaiju / Jaeger hybrid that appears at seeemingly random intervals... but is it linked to them or the Boy in some way?  What about Mei or the locked files in Atlas's memory banks?  The series has been confirmed for a second season, so let's see what that will be all about when it arrives...

A good series that catches on an action level the feel and spirit of the first movie, and actually makes it a pity it's drawn instead of the CGI behemoths of the franchise.  It's worth checking out for sure though!