7th Station ~TV, movies, games~

[Amped]

A Filipino artist's comic about Filipino folklore finally becomes animated and will be on Netflix.

[Celedam]

From over the years…

As a fan of semi-old-school Gundam, I am saddened. They'll slap the name "Gundam" on almost anything these days.

And oh yeah, get off my lawn.

(0079, Zeta, and ZZ were a bit before my time, but I'm familiar with them. I got in with 0092: Char's Counterattack, 0080: War in the Pocket, and especially 0083: Stardust Memory.)

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For Gundam, I recommend that people start with the self-contained, 13-episode 0083: Stardust Memory. It's starting to show its age, but it still feels relatively modern and mature. It's also a classic and very representative Gundam story that references the rest of the Universal Century (UC) timeline without getting bogged down by the Amuro-Char rivalry, the Federation-Zion politics, or the Newtype silliness. (Of course, many fans say those things are what classic Gundam is all about, so… *shrug*)

I can't keep up with the more recent Gundam series. They keep the archetypes and just rewrite the setting over and over again. It's like a string of parallel worlds, and in almost every one, it's a replay of Amuro versus Char. Yeah, 0083 did it too, but it was the first to do it. It had not yet become a trope.

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Gundam has been on Hulu for a while, although I don't know if that means anything for people outside the U.S.

I'd still like to see my personal favorite, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, be made available. It's been buried and forgotten by all of the other, newer series — especially standalone, non-UC series — over the last couple decades. Sure, Gundam Wing (a.k.a. Boy Band Gundam) was immensely popular and opened the way for those other series, but it twisted the franchise a bit and made it less palatable to old-school fans who prefer the worldbuilding and military realism of Universal Century.

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GundamInfo, the official Gundam channel on YouTube, is posting the theatrical film version of Gundam 0083…



It condenses a 13-episode series into a 2-hour movie, but the Gundam folks are actually pretty good at doing that. There were two side quests and a lot of slice-of-life stuff in the series that weren't critical to the main story. Cut that stuff out, along with the OP and ED for each episode, and it wouldn't be difficult at all to get it down to two hours.

If you prefer Gundam Wing (shudder), they posted that last month…

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJV1h9xQ7Hx8id2TZBKVSeEM7lnOHCPQB

This stuff seems to be available for a limited time only, probably due to licensing agreements. I remember that Gundam UC RE:0096 was available last year, but it's gone now.

[Celedam]

Celedam: Earlier today I was browsing new additions to one of the libraries I use, and this just happened to pop up: "Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins Series I & II Collection"

Maybe this will be an alright way to summarize my way through (part of?) S1? At the very least I feel like the universe is yelling at me now, so I'm putting a copy on hold for my nex library run.

Sorry, I forgot to reply to this earlier and just happened to notice it again as I was scrolling through the page.

Those comics show how the characters met and what they did while Campaign 1 was still a home game, before they started streaming it. Hence the "Origins" in the title. They're technically not prequels since it's all the same campaign, and reading them might be a good way to get to know the characters and the setting, but they do not summarize any part of the campaign that was actually streamed.

I bought and read the comics via comiXology. They're okay, I guess. Not particularly well paced, though, and whatever charm they have depends on the reader already knowing the characters and wanting to see what they were like before they were famous. In fact, that's literally the punchline of the first page (click for larger, and beware spoilers)…

Spoiler: show

In theory, you could read the comics and then jump to the animated series (when it finally arrives). You wouldn't get the full experience of watching Critical Role proper — and believe me, their personal interactions around the table are half the fun — but you should get most of the Campaign 1 storyline.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

^ Ah, well, I'm not paying for them so I'll go ahead and give them a look anyway. Thanks for letting me know though, you probably saved me a lot of initial confusion.

A Filipino artist's comic about Filipino folklore finally becomes animated and will be on Netflix.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IhCjxVjM-A

This looks good too, will be adding to the Watchlist.

Edit: Sweet jesus that Vox Machina Origins I & II book is massive (and heavy). It's very pretty to look at but impossible to read comfortably without sitting at a desk or table.

[Celedam]

^ Oh, that book…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1506721737/

Yeah, that's overkill if you're not already a dedicated fan. I thought you were getting the regular TPBs.

It's on sale for $22, though. Hmm.

Anyhow…

Campaign 2 might be wrapping up soon, so you could jump in fresh with Campaign 3…

Campaign 2 ended last night with Episode 141. I'll let you know when Campaign 3 begins. They might be taking a break like they did between Campaigns 1 and 2, but it's hard to tell since they've been pre-recording episodes in order to comply with California's stricter lockdowns.

[Moh]

Moh: [...] Might marathon it on a free trial once the whole season is complete though.

The season finale is on September 12th.
Paramount+ is gonna have a $4.99 option starting on Monday; it includes ads, but I'll probably end up going with that plan.

[Nayoko-Kihara]

^ September? I figured they'd drop episodes a little faster than that. Thanks for letting me know.

Yeah, that's overkill if you're not already a dedicated fan. I thought you were getting the regular TPBs.

It's on sale for $22, though. Hmm.

It was a bit much, but it wasn't bad. Though I did end up with a slightly sore arm because I was too stubborn to leave the couch for 2/3 of it. I think I liked Keyleth the most (not too surprised, I really like druids - used to play druid a lot in WoW). Grog and the twins were nice too (the bear was cute).

Could've done with a pinch less of the bard.

Campaign 2 ended last night with Episode 141. I'll let you know when Campaign 3 begins..

I appreciate it!

[Celedam]

Anime talk : the 2009 Anime film "Summer Wars" (highly recommend)

Summer Wars (2009) is gorgeous, but The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) is the better film. Same writer/director team at the same studio.

I haven't seen Wolf Children (2012), which was the third film by that team.

I'm not a big anime fan, but I loved all three. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is in fact my favorite non-Ghibli anime. I also enjoyed Hosoda's more recent films, The Boy and the Beast (2015) and Mirai (2018), but not as much as those three.

The latest from Mamoru Hosoda…



So… a mashup of Beauty and the Beast and Summer Wars?

[Celedam]

Wait… <replays from 1:05> …did Kevin Smith make Orko cool?

[JonCC]

Speaking of Netflix.



They'll be the exclusive streaming service for Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway.
They've already got Unicorn and Iron Blooded Orphans on there.
The original movie trilogy and Char’s Counter Attack have been announced as being available on Netflix soon as well.