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Idea for upcoming reviews!
My latest semester of college is over in a week and a half. That means hopefully some more free time. Now’s the perfect time to recommend a Manga or anime. Remember, as far as animes go I mostly just watch on Crunchyroll, so that’s your best bet of getting me to watch it. Its been entirely too long since I’ve done a review on here. Hopefully I can change that within the next two weeks.
As always, thanks for reading and have a great day!
Pokemon Sun and Moon Latest Update!
Pokemon hit us with it’s latest video. If you have not seen it yet, check it here Pokemon Sun and Moon Video.
Let me just say, I have loved everything Gamefreak is doing with this installment. Some Pokemons are still hit or miss but the ideas and creativeness they are trying with mechanics and style is welcomed.
Here’s some of the takeaways.
#1 Pokemons getting fresh make overs:
Have you been playing 20 years of Pokemon? Well Gamefreak is giving some new life into old pokemons, and I like it, personally. Vulpix and Ninetails are getting ice forms as well as Sandshrew and Sandslash. They retain their design but get new colors and typing.
Exeggutor has an Alola form as well. I’m more or less on the fence but I am sure it will work out.
#2 Region based forms are back:
Much like Shellos in Diamond and Vivillion in X and Y, where you catch a pokemon matters. Shellos would be green or pink depending on where you caught it. Vivillion would have different designs depending on where you caught them. Oricorio will have four different forms depending on which island you catch them on. The four forms are the Baile form (Fire/Flying), the Pom Pom form (Electric/ Flying), Pa’u form (Psychic/Flying) Sensu form (Ghost/Flying).
This is a pretty sweet addition if it works how I think it will, because it will be four Pokemon for the price of one. I don’t know about you, but I am always down for more Pokemon!
Their ability is dancer which I did not realize how powerful it can be the first time I watched it.
Here’s a list of all “Dance Moves”
Quiver Dance- Raise Special Attack, Special Defense, Speed by one stage(Most have special based typing so this my be the most useful to steal)
Dragon Dance- Raise Speed and Attack by a stage
Rain Dance- Summons rain for 5 turns (Seems redundant)
Swords Dance- Raise Attack by two stages (Depends on stats and move pool, but does not seem as good.)
Teeter Dance- Confuses all other active Pokemons (Seems like a funny interaction)
Lunar Dance- KO yourself, heal the next Pokemon up (This could be used against you, be careful)
The rest of the dance moves are all attacking moves, we will have to wait to see how this interaction works out.
It’s an awesome ability that could stop a dragon setting up dragon dance, but it does not stop there. Assuming it works how I think it will, it becomes amazing in double battles. Have Pokemon A use Quiver Dance and your Oricorio will copy it. However, I do not know if this counts as your move. If it does, it becomes worse then I think it is. If it does not count as your turn, it can get pretty broken in double battle.
I wish the wording was “Copy the effects of dance moves”. Also I could see Bellossom getting this ability.
Minior has shields down, which seems to act like a substitute ability (much like disguise), and it has four different cores. Not much has been shown yet.
#3 Island Trials
We now have an Island Trial on the four islands, beating them will unlock the leader of each island. This is how you will gain access to new islands. I’m curious to learn more about this aspect.
#4 Z attacks are a thing:
They look broken. Just look at this
Here’s a couple things that stand our about Z attacks.
Look at the levels. It shows Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio, and Pikachu. All baby forms. So how early do you get access to this broken mechanic?
Also, as the video shows, the trainer is the one doing the dance, so it is possible that any Pokemon can use its corresponding type attack.
With new forms, z moves, and tons of variety, this could shake up competitive play as well as how we play Pokemon in general.
The future is as bright as the Alola regions, and I for one, am super excited for what it hold.
Three Take Aways from the Latest Pokemons!
I am not reviewing each Pokemon this week because, well, they were mostly bland. Here’s the three big take away though.
#1 Mudsdale looks legit.
Own Tempo can make him a sweeper using moves like thrash or even in a double battle swaggering it. Stamina is a new ability that allows him to raise his defense. I can easily see this guy being a mixed sweeper, for sure.
#2 Substitute is now an ability.
Mimikyu is a terrifying little guy I almost brushed off just by looking at it (This is literally a Pikachu clone). However, he is actually kind of cool. He is a ghost/fairy who made a Pikachu disguise most likely out of bed sheets. Disguise is an ability that nullifies the first hit it takes once per battle. Pretty sweet. People have already mentioned the idea or fear of using substitute on the first move to safely set up. Do not worry. I doubt they would slap this ability on anything relevant.
#3 This generation might just be the scariest one yet.
Just when you thought Mimikyu was going to be the scariest thing on this blog.
The bear and fist in question do not seem to go together, but hey, that’s why we play this wacky game. Take a second to realize how deadly this guy might actually end up being. Plus GameFreak is rolling in the bear puns. Bewear and Beartic. I love it.
The Cat Returns- Anime Movie Review
Today is a first here at DaHubbz! Our first Anime Movie Review (Hopefully the first of many). I’m reviewing The Cat Returns.
The Cat Returns is Studio Ghibli (Spirited Away, Only Yesterday) 12th film. It was directed by Hiroyuki Morita and Reiko Yoshida and was released in Japan in 2002.
We’re about jump into this but I want to add a couple disclaimers before we go.
First one:
I watched the Blu Ray English dub from Disney. The Cat Returns moved to America in 2005 and starred Anne Hathaway in the lead role of Haru.
Second One:
I watched Spirited Away in my younger years, so for review purposes, The Cat Returns is my first Studio Ghibli film.
Spoilers: Spoiler free as I can get.
Okay, here we go!
Studio Ghibli is a studio known for it’s heart warming characters, enduring animations, and timeless story telling. The Cat Returns delivers on all three fronts. After my first viewing I was torn. I knew it was a good movie, but I struggled to stick with a score. The best part of it for me the first go round were the characters. Anne Hathaway was great as Haru. Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves Raymond) as Muta and Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Frozen) as Hiromi and the other cast I think all did great jobs with their respective roles. After it was said and done I struggled to find the meaning of the film. I was getting hung up in the stuff that bothered me and did not make sense.
For starters, The Cat Bureau. It seemed like such a cool idea. Objects are given souls and come to life. Unfortunately, we only see the Cat Bureau once. I also struggled with a purpose for the film. Honestly, I think that boils down to being so caught up in everything else, the meaning just went right over my head.
Thankfully, I watched it a second time. It hit me and stuck with me. Biggest mistake I made going into it was assuming this was a movie about Baron, the kitty cat on the cover. Well it is not. This is a story about Haru. As cool as they try to make Baron out to be, he has to take a backseat to Haru. This was not something I was willing to let happen my first viewing. I wanted more of Baron and Muta and the Bureau. Big mistake on my part.
I’ll break it down by topics moving forward.
Plot: The Cat Returns is a story of Haru, a young teenage girl. She oversleeps, has secret, little crushes, and most noticeable struggles with who she is. This is very apparent through dialogue with her friend and mother. She saves prince Lune, prince of the cats, and news travels fast to the cat kingdom. The king makes it his priority to return the favor. This part is cute as the cats offer her several live mice among other gifts. The most noteworthy is Lune’s hand in marriage. She tries to run away from the cats, but these cats are willing to risk all nine of their lives to get Haru to the kingdom. Baron leaves her with more or less these words, “never forget who you are and you will be fine.” Good stuff. Needless to say, Haru gets caught up immediately in the kingdom. Haru turns away from her human side and becomes a cat. I’ll avoid major plot spoilers. Baron shows up and save hers in more words then that.
Characters: While I said the characters were the best part of this movie, and stick by it, there really is only one character to do a major analyze on. For starters I think this movie is great, but so much of it depends on Haru. Haru is a character we have been taught has issues. She begins thinking maybe the cat kingdom is where she belongs, but she does it everywhere new. First, it is the Cat Bureau, then the kingdom. It is at least consistent in that regard. Watching her evolution is a beautiful yet unfulfilling event. I think getting wrapped up in the kingdom and the other characters is why I did not realize how much of this movie hinged on Haru. This is why I’m sad it did not hit me the way I had hoped. When she has the dramatic change from cat back to human it felt rushed or unexplained, I guess. I felt the urgency from Baron to get Haru back to the human world, but not Haru’s. Maybe that is just me. Even in the end, she has to be saved from falling off the tower. I guess the one big take away is that she did choose to ultimately leave the cat kingdom, even if I’m not sold on it. This makes me doubt the Haru seen at the end, even though I do enjoy that Haru.
The World: Another great part of this movie. The Cat Bureau and Cat Kingdom are great, beautiful, and lively. The cat kingdom is bustling with heart, character, and humor. This place is filled with secret agents, explosions, mazes of death, epic falls, and a crazy ruler. I never got a sense of dread or darkness. Seriously, even during all these crazy parts, it is still fun, energetic, and up beat.
Verdict: What I’m ultimately judging this film on is this movie through Haru’s eyes. This differs from the score I’d give if I was just judging it as a whole.
Score: 7.5 out of 10.
Conclusion: This movie is awesome and well worth the watch. I dare say it could be a classic. It is charming and enduring. It bolsters amazing characters, well timed humor, and a vibrant world. Haru did not connect with me the way I wanted her to, and the grade reflects that. In the end I do not actually believe she has undergone any change, or more so, the change feels forced. Her coffee line at the end did not hit me the way I think the studio had hoped.
My Thoughts: Pokemon Sun and Moon: Salandit!
They did it. They actually did it. I know what you’re thinking. “What did who do?”
Pokemon! Someone at Gamefreak seems to be a fan.
In all seriousness though, back in September I was messing around with ideas for future types, moves, and abilities. Check it out if you haven’t already. If you know anything about me and Pokemon, it’s that I love poison Pokemons and I constantly try to think of ways to make them OP. I tossed out a theme revolving around the word rancor. I came up with a standard 120 base power poison move called Rancorous Blast. It had a 20% chance to poison any type of Pokemon. Obviously, I despise steel Pokemons and this was my way around them. Well earlier today Game Freak gave us Salandit:
(My Hero)
Okay, so before we get carried away, let’s evaluate him for what he is.
He is based clearly on a salamander. Parts of him seem off, but not enough to take away any points. He is Poison/Fire. So right off the bat is a slam dunk in my book. A steel fire Pokemon just feels like a win. This typing would have been amazing in prior generations. Poisons suck against steel, so fire would have been a nice touch… and still is, mind you. Now, though, poison Pokemons have access to the ability corrosion.
Corrosion, a great name for this ability as well, means the user can inflict poison damage on any typing of Pokemon. And yeap, you guessed it, even steel types. But Game Freak did not stop there. Nope. You can even poison poison Pokemons.
This is truly a great day for all us Brotherhood of the Poison Pokemons.
I really do think he is going to be a big deal. They clearly used him to illustrate this new ability (a huge ability at that) for a reason, and they slapped fire on him too. I think he can be a trend setter for awesome Pokemon to continue and shake up the landscape. I am honestly getting super excited for this region.
I’ll hold back from giving him a 10 out of 10 just yet, but now the only question I have is why couldn’t he be a starter over Litten!
Oh, and Pokemon Go came out today. I’ll talk about that tomorrow.
Manaphy Givaway! X&Y ORAS
So I put this video up on my youtube channel over a week ago and got… well, no responses. So I’m turning to my amazing readers on here.
Yeap I have a Manaphy that I am giving away and all you literally have to do is follow and comment (oh, the struggle we put on our followers). And I guess you also have to own a copy of the game. There will be 4 winners
2nd-4th will receive:
a Phione and a Kanto starter of your choose (that’s Squirtle, Bulbasaur, or Charmander)
1st Place will receive:
A Manaphy and all three Kanto starters!
Seriously, all you have to do is follow the blog and comment. If you know anyone who also plays X&Y or ORAS, then please pass them a link to this pages so they can enter as well.
If this goes well, I might just giveaway a Shamin as well.
As always, thanks for reading!
Let’s Talk: BatmanVSuperman!
Oh boy. It’s that time. Sorry this is so late.
(I do not own any rights to the images used throughout this article. All rights belong to the original creators)
Lets do a little background info as to why I am even doing this review and why I am a little annoyed. For starters, when characters got leaked(Wonder Woman and such). Everyone got so pumped. In the final days leading up to BvS the same people started saying the plot was convoluted and the cast was crowded and so on and so on. In fact, that seems to be the main reason it’s getting crapped on. So the way I see things is that big reviewers hyped it up when they knew they were going to crap all over it. Though I tend to stay away from big time reviewers and form my own opinion (and you should too!)
Spoilers: Yes. Enough to warrant this message anyway.
Quick note: I am not a huge Superman fan nor do I pretend to be so I will mostly be reviewing this as a movie and not a strict faithful retelling of the comics.
Let’s get down to the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.
The Good:
The action! It’s the same Zack Synder here who directed The Watchmen and 300 among other movies as well. Anyway my point is the action is good. My favorite fight scene was the final Batman vs Superman fight. Watching Batman beat Superman to a pulp was wonderful (i prefer Batman over Superman honestly).
Ben Affleck. I loved the Dark Knight with Christian Bale and I so scared when they announced a new Batman. But boy, Ben was everything I wanted from a Batman. The old, edgy, push the chips to the center of the table Batman was wonderful. He stole the show in my opinion.
Visuals. The visuals were beautiful. I think notably the final action scene against Doomsday looked really pretty(If that’s the right word for it). The movie is probably underrated as far as color goes. There’s a series of scenes where they are showing the good Superman has done and the color is ominous and heavenly. When the citizens are on the roof and there’s a massive flood and the woman is holding out her hand. The camera then pans to show Superman in the sky. Yes, it is very metaphoric but also a gorgeous scene on it’s own.
The Bad
The Betrayal of Superman- To me, this is the part where the script/plot is the weakest. The propose makes sense. The goal is to turn Superman from a god to a devil. Simple enough. I see what they were going for. But I was not overly convinced by them. The shootout in the desert and the bombing of the court just seemed forced.
Lex Luthor
I wanted this to be awesome and it started out awesome. I should start with a disclaimer. I do not honestly know that much about Lex. I should say as far as backstory and motivation goes in the comic. This is just another point where the script missed the mark. So, Lex was trying to ruin Superman’s image. He wanted to show people Superman was not for the people. How do you do this? I’ll borrow a quote from my good friend the Joker. “It’s simple, uh we kill the Batman”. This sounds epic in theory. Have Superman bring the bat’s head to Lex. Batman being the metaphor for man. The introduction to a new villain and a similar name brought this to a halt. Anyway he seemed to be caught in this weird mix between the insanity of the Joker and the ambition of Kingpin . That might just be me?
The Ugly
Villains- If you avoided spoilers on the villains up to this point, stop reading now. If you’re interested, keep reading. Okay so Superman has to fight Batman, Lex, and Doomsday. This is the part where the plot gets crowded in my opinion. They should’ve just cut out Doomsday. I mean he’s famous for being the guy to “Kill Superman”. It was waaaaay too early to bring in Doomsday. The Batman vs Superman angle was amazing and the first two hours is fantastic. However, the addition of Doomsday I think is where the plot went too far. I know what you’re thinking, we needed Doomsday to bring the Justice League together. Here’s one alternative. They had been hinting at The Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman. Aquaman should’ve come out and beat them both to pieces and tell them to grow up. The camera kept hinting at the the pool where they throw the spear. Have Aquaman grab the spear, hit Superman, and than beat Batman to a pulp. Boom. No need to add Doomsday, or anything like that. or B. Have Lex build his combat suit and make Superman and Batman fight him. I do not know the best course, but they should’ve cut Doomsday. He is way to high profile of a villain to be a second tier baddie.
MARTHA- Yeah, this scene got made fun of and rightfully so. I know Bruce missed his mommy and we get constant flashback of her grave so it’s not out of place or anything like that, but it’s two titans dueling it out to the death and a single name makes them buddy buddy. Now if you enjoy this scene and this resolution, than great! But it was just kinda cheesy to me.
Final Review: 7.5/10
It’s not terrible and probably not as bad as everyone is making it out to be. The movie is visually breath taking and has a nice mix of developing plot and juicy action. Bruce is well developed and Lex is off to an okay start. I assume he will play a bigger role in future films. Also, if they cut the Doomsday part and just replace it with something other than Doomsday, this movie would probably be an 8 or 9.
So what is your guys opinions? Was it good, bad, or just straight up ugly?
Announcement: Youtube, Daily Blog, Mew Mythical Collection
Hey, guys. It’s time for another life update.
So you guys have probably noticed post have slowed down again. Daily Blog is officially being put on hold. Here is why:
In 2009, I started my very first youtube channel. I was 14. I made some good friends. My brother and I were best friends and bonded over making videos and playing games. I had not even started high school yet, and somehow, this was what I was wanting to do with my life. I commonly remember this time period as the second best time period of my life.
My sophomore year of high school I gave YouTube a second try. Me and my friend did improv/sketch comedy. We sent them to all our friends and we had a small following in our home town. Yet again, this was one of the best periods of my life(at the beginning anyway). My senior year, my friend and I could not see eye to eye with what to do with the channel, he eventually realized we should not change our style, but it was too late. I had already lost interest.
My junior year, I returned to my roots and began let’s playing again. It had no momentum this time and suddenly, I was having editing problems. The audio and video were out of sync. At first, I tried fixing and working around it. It become too tedious and, coupled with school, just got lost in mud.
In 2013 as a freshman in college, I decided I wanted to return to YouTube. Roughly three years later, I get a chance to return to the website I love.
When I first started out, videos did not have to be 1080, the market was not super over saturated with lets players, and half the people you know and love today either were not around or were not nearly as popular. It was simply a different time.
I’ve tried. I’ve lost passwords, interest, and patience. But I’m here this time to see it to the end. So come along with me.
Right now I am let’s playing Pokemon: Golden Age for some friends. You should check it. I already have two videos out and I’m hoping to upload frequently. Just search DaHubbz in your YouTube.
For what I am doing for today, I’m going to my local Gamestop. They should have 4 of the Mew Mythical Collection tcg box. I’m strongly debating on buying all four. If I do, I might do a give away. If you want a more play-by-play and direct approach on this. Follow me on twitter to see what I decide over at Dahubbz.
Manga mondays and all that jazz are still on going so stay tuned for more reviews!
As always, thanks for reading this!
Check back later for more content!
Daily Post: February 15th
Hey guys! Leave it to me to get sick on the day my three page paper is due. Ugh!
I’ll be back tomorrow, given it does not get worse.
Oh, well.
Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Check back tomorrow where I might be better and back to writing! haha
Daily Blog Challenge: February 9th
Today’s Theme: Hardest Zelda Game
I find the Zelda game’s relatively easy and only one game even sticks out to me as being even remotely hard.
That Game: Link’s Adventure
One Picture. Countless Nightmares
Yeah, I did not have to look too hard to find this one. I’ve never beat more than the first temple. Yeah. I think this game was so different. It was a top down mixed with side scrolling action. You died so easily and when you got a game over, you restarted at the main temple. I really want to go back and play because the characters and towns actually look decent.
I know today was short. But I’ve only had a short experience with the game. Tomorrow I’ll talk about easiest and I should be able to talk a little more about it.
As always, thanks for taking the time to read this!
Check back tomorrow for more daily post!
Also, check out my review of ReLife Volume 1 Here!
Da_Hubbz 