Rumble

 A while ago while scrolling through the Netflix catalogue, me and Noshi stumbled upon this 2021 animation movie about monster wrestling.

 

So kaiju and wrestling, what could be wrong?

 

Well actually, not much, this is trulky an enjoyable film.  Of course, with the topic being wrestling, half the WWE has some voice role in it (Becky Lynch, Roman Reigns, ...) but also other sports illumini like Charles Barkley (yeah, the Dream Team one), and the main lead is for Will Arnett.

 

The movie is basically of a franchise threatening to go away to another town and arena after they have been betrayed by their star.  To that end, the daughter of a legendary coach, Winnie, goes out to find another monster, and finds it in the son of a former legendary beast, Rayburn Jr.  Who is used to getting paid for losing on purpose in an underground wrestling ring.

 

Together they start training, but ise very, very unorthodox methods making them a laughing stock, yet keep winning.  When the city is about to sell the lifework of her dad, they challenge the ruling champion (the monster that betrayed them), and defeat him eventually.  Not only saves this the city, but it also brings the belt and the franchise back to it's glorious home!

 

So yeah, it is a bit of a predictable story of course, but it is great fun.  Salsa dancing wrestling moves, a heartwarming coming of age story, and a great finale match for certain with all that typical wrestling drama in it.

 

Sit down and have a watch, the movie is worth it! 

Masters of the Universe: Revolution

 I have the powerrrr!!!!!

 

It must have been decades since that phrase was yelled on the school playground...

 

And then I discovered that Netflix did a new short series on Masters of the Universe, as I found the 5 episode long Revolution series on it.  Which is a follow-up to Revelation, and of course that wasn't available in my area, so I'll search for that online in the future somewhere.

 

So this means I didn't know who died and why, and Skeletor has changed into a semi-cyborg by the tech of Hordak.  Because it is a battle of magic versus technology on Eternia in this series.  Skeletor takes the throne, as he returned to his old guise of Keldor, an identity he didn't remember.  But soon his plan springs, bringing the people of Eternia under his sway as he aims to overthrow Hordak as well.  

 

The heroes in the meantime try of course to stop them, with Evil Lyn losing that first part of her name as she helps Adam and Teela to find ancient mystic powers to break the curse, and this all results in Adam and Teela "getting the power of Grayskull" and changing into a sort of "super saiyan form".  With Teela getting tiger shaped armour instead of battlecat, so she now really became He-Man's pussy...

 

The series is well animated and has a very strong voice cast, of course with Mark Hamill as Skeletor but also Gates McFadden (dr Crusher), Melissa Benoist (Supergirl), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones) and other big names tossed in there.  The fact you "know" their voices makes you bind easier with the characters, as they somehow feel familiar that way, if you know what I mean.

 

It ends with a possible opening for a third series, but for me, let's go and see as I said if I can find that first one, well, first... 

Star Trek Prodigy

 Time for some more Star Trek goodness, and this time it's in animated style.

 

 

Star Trek Prodigy is canon, and follows the adventures of a young group commandeering an old vessel, in search for a better future.

 

In the Delta Quadrant, on the prison colony of Tars Lamora, a young alien named Dal escapes together with a bunch of exotic aliens from The Diviner.  They do this when they find an abandoned Federation starship, the USS Protostar.  On board, they are greeted by the training hologram, looking like former USS Voyager captain Janeway.

 

She thinks the refugees are actually Starfleet cadets, and begins learning them to fly the Protostar and it's experimental drive, and the younglings dream of joining Starfleet after they learn more of the Federation.  Meantime, a girl named Gwyn, the daughter of the Diviner, is held captive in their brig.  Coming along an M-class planet they land the ship and set out to explore, but the planet is actually bound on devouring them, as Gwyn escapes and takes control of the ship.  They manage to escape the planet when The Diviner and his enforcer Drednok arrive, and as he would sacrifice Gwyn for his own goals, Dal saves her and she joins the crew as they find out about the "proto-warp feature", from which the vessel gained it's name.

 

The vessel made a 4000 light year jump into the Gamma quadrant thanks to this engine, and as Dal learns more about captaincy by running the Kobiyashi Maru scenario, they unlock a code in Janeway's databank, showing the original crew, led by captain Chakotay was boarded by an unknown enemy.  Meeting with the Ferengi that raised Dal, they are framed by her as they try to prevent breaching the Prime Directive.

 

 

When the vessel goes through a Tachyon storm, it is thrown into various timelines and Janeway must move between all of them to reverse the anomaly, causing them to learn how to work together.  A Drednok is discovered onboard, showing a message that all the prisoners of the colony will be freed should the Protostar be returned, and Dal agrees.  But they have created a rouse to prevent The Diviner getting his hands on the engine.  Gwyn learns her father was send back in time to save his people, as in the future the events following First Contact with the Federation leads to the destruction of their homeworld, and a computer virus has been planted inside the Protostar.

 

The real Janeway, now a vice-admiral, is tracking them though aboard the USS Dauntless, and when they reach a remote station in the Beta quadrant, the virus causes the statiosn weapons to turn on itself, destroying it.  Realising they can't go to Federation space,  even going as far as boarding a dormant Borg cube to try and destroy the device, as The Diviner, who lost his memories, is brought aboard the Dauntless.

 

 

As they try and find a way to reach the Federation by other means, they run into Janeway, and as they escape from the Dauntless Dal learns from a Dr Jago that he is fully genetically engineered and as such unique in his kind.  On the Dauntless, one of it's crew, ensign Asencia, reveals to the Diviner that she is also an agent, the Vindicator.  Together with Drednok they manage to bring his memories back.  Dal manages to warn the Dauntless of the virus, but they are met by a Federation armada.  The fleet fast starts attacking itself due to the virus, but other non-Starfleet vessels come to their aid.  Hologram Janeway decides to sacrifice herself to save the Federation and be hurdled into the future to hopefully find the crew where they may still be alive.  The Protostar crew joins Starfleet thanks to Vice-admiral Janeway, and asks them to join her on a mission to find Chakotay and the Protostar crew, as Gwyn goes to her homeworld to prevent it's destruction in the future.

 

While aimed at a younger audience through Nickolodeon, this is actually a pretty good series and worth the watch.  And it is better then Discovery for sure!

 

Pacific Rim: The Black season 2

 Time to return to the universe of big mecha and raging kaiju with the second season of The Black, set in the Pacific Rim universe.

As those who know me, I LOVED the original film (the second, not so much).

The series starts with Hayley trying to calm Boy, the little kaiju from season 1, who evolved in a big monster.  She manages to revert him back to humanoid form, but as he is injured they must find a mysterious person called "kaiju man" to help him.  To reach him, Taylor and Mei must pilot the Atlas Jaeger through a valley full of monsters though...

 

Entering this region, called The Never Never, they meet the excentric old man, who actually seems to have bonded with the kaiju in the valley.  But he is betrayed by the one he had handtrained and eaten before the antidote could be given.  They escape the valley, and set out to find another way to help Boy, but encounter a strange culled called The Sisters who kidnap young kaiju.

Entering this area called the Divide, they encounter a Jaeger graveyard.  They realise the Sisters want Boy, Taylor betraying Hayley to hand over Boy in order to bargain safe passage.  But never the less, the Sisters attack, Atlas being hardpressed against the hybrid kaiju they send.  But they receive help from an unexpected corner in Shane, allowing them to get away, albeit without Boy.  Shane catches up with them, revealing the Sisters being Taylor and Hayley's mom, influenced by ichor.

As Shane enters her mind to find out what happened and wether they can still bring her back, the Sisters begin a ritual to make Boy their Messiah.  He learns that Taylor has the key to his mom's heart, Shane sacrificing himself for their mother Brina.  As a final gift, he returns a datakey with Mei's memories stored on it.  As they work out a plan to free Boy, Apex, the kaiju / jaeger hybrid is hunting the planes.  They manage to break Boy free, Brina trying to buy them time to escape.  

Atlas Destroyer arrives at Sydney base at last, where they are reunited with their father.  But this is a drift illusion, as in reality her injuries where to grave and the children used the drift to allow her to pass away peacefully.  Boy awakans as the Messiah, transforming and attacking the Atlas, as the Apex intervenes.  Controlled by the Sisters, Boy sets upon Apex, both engaging in a heavy fight, Atlas coming in between to save Apex.  Using it's scanning beam, Apex calms Boy down and brings him back to it's senses, but Apex powers down as a result.  

They make a run for it, leaving an enraged High Priestess behind.  Chased by a Category VI kaiju, they must fight all the way to Sydney base.  But Sydney base has picked up their signal and dispatches troops to meet them.  Atlas Destroyer faced the huge kaiju while outmatched, as Mei is met by the High Priestess.  Atlas is beaten up badly, fighting with all desperation as the Priestess manages to escape Mei and run off with Boy, who reverted back to human form.  But he kills the Priestess when he sees his new family being hurt, as Loa, the AI of the Atlas, ejects Hayley and Taylor before making the ultimate sacrifice against the big kaiju.  Extraction forces from Sydney arrive, taking the survivors to the base, and reuniting with their father.

This was a pretty good animation series, with some epic battles in it as a bonus while showing the strengths of (new found) family.  Surely recommended if you like mecha vs monsters shows in general, or Pacific Rim in particular.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Voltron season 8

 Time for the final season of the remake of the classic, and it was an enjoyable ride so far.

But how will this final season play out, with Earth now under direct threat?

The Atlas is being readied for launch, as the Paladin's spend one last evening on Earth.  Lance finally dares to ask Allura out on a date, as she goes shopping with Pidge to find a right attire while Lance goes to gather information about what she likes with Coran.  But the Altean mecha pilot briefly wakes up, telling her they are all doomed as Honerva wants to bring back Lotor.  Lance confesses his feelings to Allura, and she responds with a loving kiss as she admits liking him as well.  And then the Atlas launches.

In a series of flashbacks, it is shown what drives Honerva and how she build an army for Lotor upon his ascension and how that brought the mecha in operation.    They go to break out an old ally of Hunk from prison, but there has become a serious strain on their relation.  They set out reluctlantly to a missing fleet, only to find it ravaged by a super weapon Keith had set free in the past to escape the Gal'Ra.  Keith redeems himself by trying to stop the monster, as the vessel is set for self-destruct, taking the monster out with it, causing them to join the Voltron alliance after all.

Visiting their old allies of the Alkari to check rumours of a giant mecha like that attacked Earth, they find the planet ravaged by it.  Pitch, due to her connection with the lands there, learns what happened, and how to track the arrival of the beast.  When the paladins come under attack and have their lion's pinned down, they discover Gal'Ra forces infused with Alkari elements.  But the Atlas comes to the rescue, with the help of the characters you usually only see as extra's.  Having discovered the origin of the mechabeasts, they go to face Honerva.

Arriving, they witness Honerva destroy a guardian, to drain it of it's power.  But as she is seemingly defeated, she awakens a truly fearsome mechabeast infused with the power of Lothor, now returned, whom immediatly engages Voltron.  Princess Alura engages her, but is sucked into a dark dimension where Honerva tries to tempt her into joining her.  As we follow the crew in their day to day life, we get a look at how the paladin's go interacting with the situation of the mechabeast pilots and the chores that happen to be done around the Atlas.

 

While joining a celebration day on the planet Drazan, Alura keeps being plagued by nightmares.  While the paladin's and the crew set their minds of things on Clear Day, she connects with an entity that promises to grant the power to defeat Honerva.   Entering the entity, the paladins come face to face with the souls Honerva consumed, including the previous paladins of Voltron.  Combined, they use the power of the entity to enter Honerva's mind to locate her.  Inside, they learn her deepest desire, to find a reality her family can be reunited, while destroying the others in the process.  With a redeemed spirit of Zarkon, the paladins of the past ride one last time together.

At Althea, Honerva begins her reality destroying plan, but Voltron sets in pursuit.  Thanks to the energies of the Balmoreans, he transforms into an upgraded form that can pierce the realities as well, giving chase while Coran tries to keep the rift stable together with the allies of the Voltron Coalition.  She reaches a reality but is rejected by her son.  This causes her to sweat that she will destroy every universe in existence.  She faces off against Voltron, at the beginning of all realities.  Alura manages to stop her, and realises she must sacrifice herself to repair the damage done, staying behind.

One year later, at the first rememberance anniversary of Alura, the universe is calming down and coming together.  But during the night, the lions suddenly awake on their own, and leave into space...

So that concludes the rather excellent remake of the classic series, a great series to watch for sure and one I thouroughly enjoyed!

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.