Results 121 to 150 of 365
Thread: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-09, 05:26 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
EPISODE 9
You're mellowing in your old age.
You have no idea.
It's actually a baseball, btw.
It made it about halfway.
I think you mean, Mahad asks Cortez if he's serious, because otherwise the line makes little sense.
You have no idea.
These things actually exist, they are called chaps and are PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). They're based on a design originally for horse riding.
It was made jointly by French and Canadian studios. I get the impression that both French and English versions were made at the same time.
This. Something, either solid, liquid, or gaseous, is blocking the light.
Wasn't Mahad's fault. It was overhead and fell right above where the three of them were standing.
EPISODE 10
Knocking it off was accidental, Lena grabs it to save him, thus distracting Lena from the tug of war, thus allowing Oslo to grab the cube.
P.S. The place is actually called Puerto Angel.
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-09, 09:24 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
WAT D:<
Just teasing
I'm excited to see what, if anything, this means
Could of sworn she said it was a rock and that it looked like a rock
Yes, error on my part
I know about those, the issue is that the chaps go UP TO HER CHEST. I don't think they're supposed to do that. Also Wyatt's got a pair as well.
Theory: It's Kharzem Prison. What better place to hide the prison with no sunlight but in a place where it will create a day night cycle? Although it's PROBABLY just the core of the planet.
Okay, I wasn't too clear on that.
And what does Puerto mean
In all seriousness I just didn't know how to spell Puerto but knew it meant Port so I knew it'd be alright.
-
2014-08-09, 04:08 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2014
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Originally Posted by Coidzor
Originally Posted by Coidzor
Spoiler: Episode 10Hmmm, there were a few things in this episode that could have lead to things getting interesting, but it sounds like it was all just dropped. If this has taught me anything, it's that a save-the-world premise and an unchanging status quo are a bad combination. (I don't like enforced status quo much anyway, but I want to know who thought it was a good idea in a classic rebellion against the empire plot. And if there's some sort of asylum we can send them to )
My next nitpick is: why is the monster called a symbiont? It seems to be its own organism, with no desire or ability to bond/merge with anybody. I was hoping it would fuse with Mahad, then he might be useful (going by your verdict that he's useless, which (with all respect ) I don't entirely trust.)
Why did they leave it? It definitely would have been a good adition to the team (and we could have a job for Mahad: Official Monster Keeper.) and its one of the best monsters I've heard of. If you've read my full Edge Chronicles post (coughbestsettingevercough), you'll know that's not an easy achievement. I think I'll have to watch this episode just so I can see it.
Was it shown how Mahad managed to control the Symbiont? It sounds like he was facing certain death, then turned up to kill Brigs with no explanation.
The Mahad = not Hero material could be (now into pure speculation, I'm afraid) an interesting path to follow: Lena has to guide him into being a real hero (or sidekick). Part of his development could be swallowing his ego (and possible envy, as she does have superpowers) and accepting that his little sister knows more about being a hero than he does. If he did gain the Symbiot as a permanent upgrade (with a fusion option if I was on the writing staff), that could alleviate some of the power envy, as well as drawing attention to the differences between Lena and himself (i.e. his failings, though addressing any flaws that Lena has would be nice) now they both have the resources to demolish armies.
Is the 'Oslo has cancer' bit confirmed in-show or is it your own theory? Either way, beaning him with a rock (so his powers cut out to heal him) is now a valid strategy.
Spoiler: Pixel avatar and Raincloud Durkoala were made by me. The others are the work of Cuthalion.
Cuteness and Magic and Phone Moogles, oh my! Let's Watch Card Captor Sakura!Sadly on asmallhiatus.
Durkoala reads a book! It's about VR and the nineties!
-
2014-08-09, 04:59 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
No idea why it's called that. My assumption is that since it's an electrical program powered by Seijun power, it's...a lot less nice a thing then it appears. But we don't know, and they didn't bring it because "Cortez wouldn't get along with it" and that's it. Also, good luck seeing it as it IS invisible (though as I said it shimmers a bit so that you can at least make out what it would theoretically look like. It seems like a giant lizardman Predator hybrid)
As for Mahad's usefulness, I'll note that it depends on the episode. Some episodes he's able to dodge bullets and behead Brig's with ease with his boomerang, but as we saw a few episodes ago a Brig can if willing throw him to the ground like a punk. Additionally, he is 100% incapable of fighting a Seijun due to being a normal. I'd of liked him to keep the Symbiont, or fuse with it, but alas, it is not to be. It was not shown how he controlled it but it's implied that the control switch is on it's head since it was charging head first into him and he put up his hands.
It's not confirmed in show but I'd like to note that he is a sick, grey looking dude with big shadowy bags under his eyes, and he...BASICALLY looks like someone who's been subjected to chemotherapy for so long that they've become a shriveled husk of sadness and pain. No offense to anyone who has to experience this. So it's a good theory, and we know over abundance of sun in real life CAN cause skin cancer, so there's that.
-
2014-08-09, 05:35 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-09, 05:38 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-09, 05:55 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
The symbiont was created to guard the base, and likely cannot be removed from the area. Saying that Cortez wouldn't get along with it was just an attempt at humorously dismissing their inability to take it.
Yeah, Mahad held out his hand. It's assumed that he somehow lucked out and got the sensor.
Puerto Rico is the name of a territory (like a state, only not granted the full rights of a state... well, you know, you live in one, this bit was for the others). It consists of one big island and several smaller surrounding islands (an archipelago). It's name is based on the fact that there was a port there, but the entire territory is not a port and, in fact, likely contains several ports. The word port specifically refers to the harbour, and sometimes the city surrounding the harbour.
The difference, and this is largely inconsequential, is that they are not saying they are going to the port of Angel, they are going to a place actually called Puerto Angel, which would have been named after the port it contained. It's appropriation of foreign words to name something officially. Like Los Angeles, which literally means The Angels in the original language.
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-09, 05:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
-
2014-08-09, 06:22 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-11, 03:33 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
When's the next episode! I want to watch the next one and I'm getting impatient!!!
P.S. Does this theme look somewhat familiar?
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-11, 08:28 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-11, 08:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2013
- Location
- most dangerous place ever
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-11, 08:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
-
2014-08-11, 08:55 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2013
- Location
- most dangerous place ever
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Spoiler: taken from your commentaryAlso meanwhile, Mahad tries, and fails (poorly) to hit on the pilot of the pirate ship while they're flying at high speed through fog. So yeah, I don't like Mahad that much. He then falls into her arms as the ship makes a hard turn...in the sky, and he "smoothly" asks her name. It's Dahlia.
i got to here, and i just nope
nopenopenopenope
-
2014-08-11, 08:58 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
It gets worse and then it gets worser to the point of getting hilarious. Trust me, Skyland has a weird sort of flow where it does start to get progressively better, even if some characters get worse (but to the point of being hilarious).
Also, fun fact guys. Only three episodes left until the end of Season 1! Which means we've got another full season of this
-
2014-08-11, 03:27 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Okay guys, it's time for some Landsky!
Episode 11: Babylonia
SpoilerGonna be honest, wasn't sure we'd see Babylonia again. Interesting, wonder what this episode will bring.
We open with a relatively nice opening pan shot of Angel, then a close up view of it's city before slowly moving over to where the Hyperion is hidden, docked. Inside the area near it, which I...suppose is Mahad and Lena's house from a few episodes ago, we see Lena packing up some stuff. She trips by stepping on a squishy ball which causes her to trip, dropping the box and it's contents everywhere in a pretty exaggerated mess.
One of the things in the box was a picture of their Mom. She picks it up and strokes it gently, and says that she misses her Mom. This is sweet. Not the best framing or acting, but it's pretty good. Suddenly, she hears Mom through telepathy! What? How is this happening? And...nothing, not even a response when Lena tries reaching out.
Outside with Mahad, he's loading up the Hyperion, or unloading it (not entirely sure). An announcement says all air travel is being closed today due to a heat wave. Mahad thinks Cortez is a wimp for doing this, continuing to prove that he is Mahad and he does not learn. Mahad tries to open up the hatch to the Hyperion and burns his hands. Good.
Then Lena shows up, shouting about the telepathy we heard! If it were not for the fact that we heard the "this is the music that plays when Seijun's are doing stuff" music, I'd consider this telepathy to be a hallucination. I do think it's a trap but WE HAVE SEEN HOW THAT'S WORKED OUT. Five episodes in a row, baby!
Lena says that she thinks the reason she was able to telepathicly connect with Mom was because of holding her picture. Since it has a connection to her, it allowed them to connect mentally. I...no, I don't think that's how that works. And besides she's in Kharzem she can't use her Seijun powers anyway. Mahad says that they don't really have much of her here, so this is fruitless.
Lena says we have to go back.
Mahad agrees, so it's time to get going. However, before they can, Dahlia is there, knocking on their windshield. For once, Mahad actually does something smart, and Mahad's about how "Lena complained about how I get to have all the fun, and I'm taking her out for a spin to make her stop whining". This isn't in character for Lena, but SAYING this certainly is for Mahad. So good plan all around.
Except Dahlia is so used to Mahad's bull**** that she see's through it immediately. Good job Mahad, you can't even be yourself correct . Lena just comes clean with what they're doing. Dahlia at first goes hard on them, saying that if Cortez found out she let them leave, Cortez'd kill her. However, if she went with him...so Mahad lets her in so they can leave.
I don't actually understand. What does Dahlia mean by this, specifically? The "However, if I went with you..." line doesn't...doesn't really make SENSE here. I don't know. This episode is weird.
Anyway, we fly back to Babylonia. We get a reuse of the shot from episode 1 with the seagulls and stuff, only a little faster and with different music. Normally I'd be a little annoyed by reused animation, but considering that it'd save on costs and they do change it up, I am okay with it. Lena and Mahad reflect on how the place hasn't changed a bit, and we cut to Hanako! Another character I sort of wish would show up more if only because she's actually kind of interesting, if only because she LIKES Mahad. It seems her and some dude in a cowboy hat are working on a farm, but they're being worked pretty hard. She cuts out early claiming that "we're employee's, not slaves."
True, but the implication seems to be that you aren't actually finished with your work today, so...well, just be careful, kind of cute side character who doesn't show up much. She flies off on Mahad's old jet motorcycle (I guess she just sort of stole it after they left. Makes sense to me.)
Meanwhile with the slowly docking Hyperion, Dahlia mentions she's worried they're too out in the open. Mahad just insists she worries to much. He tells her to just relax, and go to that hill over there so she can see a great view of Babylonia. Lena then teases Mahad about him always taking Hanako to that hill to "be alone with her."
Mahad says "No I didn't!" which makes sense considering he's clearly got eyes for Dahlia now, though I'm actually surprised as Mahad seems the type of guy to brag about this sort of thing.
Once they disembark, Dahlia orders Mahad to stay put with the ship while she and Lena go to get the item of personal interest that will assist in telepathically communicating with Mom. Lena insists that everything will be fine, she should cool her jets a little, and this is true. Dahlia's clearly worried about this whole situation. Mahad sighs, accepts this and then once they're out of ear shoot says he'll take a run up the old hill, just for old times sake.
Meanwhile, with...the blue guy from Episode 1! He's working with a Brig...though he's wearing a shirt that has the pirate logo on it. Huh. Maybe it's just some sort of generic cat ship logo or something. No idea. Point is, he's repairing a Brig, but the parts they need are missing. This individual Brig is unhappy with this, cause he wants his arm to work again. I don't want to get into the horrors of these horrible ****ty robots having actual sentient AI. However, it accepts the two days the blue guy says it'll take for the replacement part to fix. And it's revealed this was actually a lie, and blue guy is going to, apparently, take this Sphere shuttle for a joy ride. That won't go poorly at all.
Meanwhile, Mahad gets to the top of the hill and...oh man, Hanako is there! They have a nice reunion hug, and it's actually really sweet, with nice music and actually fairly good voice acting. I even like Hanako's voice actress, as shrill as it is. Mahad says he'll tell her where they disappeared to, just that it's a looong complicated story. And I suppose this makes sense, no one really knows what all happened. Then the blue guy shows up (not in the Sphere ship as I supposed), though it's clear some time has passed since Mahad's finished his explanation of what all has happened.
Haha, okay, that's funny. Hanako says that's incredible, and that she can't wait until Shumday hears about it. Shumday being the blue guy. Mahad starts to wonder where Shumday is, right as Shumday ****ing FOOTBALL TACKLES Mahad off the edge of the hill. And considering how close they are (and how close they FALL) to the edge, this was a DISASTRIOUSLY bad idea, and VERY good luck.
Shumday explains that he thought Mahad was just some random drifter giving Hanako a hard time. Nice effort Shumday, though...seriously, be careful around edges. Also of note, just realized that Shumday's shirt is basically a Superman shirt with the catpirate logo on it instead of the S. Weird.
Meanwhile, back at the Ferral household (I suppose at any rate), Lena and Dahlia arrive. It looks pretty good for a house that's been abandoned for at least a month. Lena starts feeling something as they look around, lightning running up her arms as a vision of their Mom appears. I'm starting to think Mom just set up special Seijun powered triggers around the place, like audio recordings only someone like them could hear it.
...oh dear, Dahlia spies a Sphere shuttle. This can't be good. Or it's Shumday...which also can't be good for other reasons. Lena meanwhile hears the vision say "LENA! BRIGADIERS!" but in a really stilted way that supports my "this is all sort of audio recorded" theory. Like imposing her will on the location. The vision then fades and Lena falls down. Dahlia tries to quickly get her up but...a Brig arrives, saying they're under arrest for going to this restricted area. Oh dear. Kinda wish Dahlia brought a gun to this.
Meanwhile with Mahad, he's gushing about the Hyperion. Shumday says that if he takes a look at it, he could probably improve this. I'm...tempted to say NO because it's a prototype. But then he also mentions he gained his skilsl fixing Sphere shuttles, so maybe he could since Hyperion is Sphere tech. Also, Mahad is...surprisingly alright with Shumday's job. He gets a little upset, but Shumday says that hey, it's a good job (which basically means "it's a living") and Mahad just sorta rolls with it.
Back with Mahad and Dahlia, they're on the shuttle that has the Brig with a busted up arm. Lena's scared and wants to get out, but she's still weakened by that vision so she can't fight back yet. I imagine if she could this would be over quickly. Dahlia says it "shouldn't take much" to finish off the Brig with the busted arm and...I've gotta be honest. This bugs me. Brig's have been constantly shown to be super weak losers who can be killed by a boomerang. The fact that now like three of them are a threat to a Seijun, and of those three one has a broken arm and thus is "easier to take out now" seems really inconsistent.
Lena then...uses her powers to cause the broken Brig's gun arm (the damaged arm) to fall off, and Dahlia jumps forward, grabs the arm, and destroys the Brig's all in quick succession using the arm cannon. I...don't quite know how she fired it since it's just an arm cannon, and we never really see the blasts from this gun, so...maybe this is just a budget episode. Dahlia then commandeers the shuttle by killing the Brig pirate. Hooray I guess!
Dahlia then says it's time to gtfo. They'll pick up Mahad and the Hyperion, and then they're gone. But Lena insists they have to go back home, she still needs to talk to Mom. Dahlia says they really, really shouldn't because it won't be long until the Sphere notices something is wrong and sends a veritable army of reinforcements to deal with it.
...now that's weird. Dahlia comes to where Mahad is, but she can't see him anywhere, even though he's clearly on the hill near the Hyperion. Or at least I thought so, because the tree near the Hyperion looks IDENTICAL to the tree at the hill Mahad went to. This is some really bad framing, jeez.
Anyway, Dahlia lands nearby with the Sphere Patroller, and Dahlia sighs at the fact that Mahad left to go find them even though they arrived to find him, which is kind of funny. She says she'll take Shumday's jetbike to fine Mahad, but he's like, no way lady it's my bike, and only I can catch him anyway! Dahlia begrudgingly allows him to do it himself, if only because she "doesn't have time to argue."
We...okay, I get it, it's resource management, and this episode is clearly meant to be a sort of "not as good episode so we can save the budget for the season finale" but...wow this is blatent. They reuse the race footage, only with the models swapped so that it's Shumday and Dahlia instead of Mahad and Hanako on a blue bike, while Mahad is by himself on the red one. That aside this is just a sped up version of that opening race, completely and utterly, with the audio hastily dubbed over.
After the crash, Mahad goes over to see if Dahlia is Shumday are okay. After...after saying "Dahlia, are you okay!" he closes his eyes and purses his lips and SLOWLY GOES DOWN TO TRY AND KISS DAHLIA TO 'wake her up' PRESUMABLY.
...MAHAD WHAT THE ****.
...ANYWAY, that bit of uncomfortability done with, we cut to Hanako through radio. Lena's gone, she went back home to listen to Mom again. This episode is kind of a cluster ****, when it really could of, and should of, just been Mahad reuniting with old friends and Lena learning about Mom stuff.
We...we then get another reused shot, of Lena playin' basketball and getting the ball stuck in that exact same position and doing the "tilt the head causing the ball to tilt" trick.
...only this time it's a twist! Lena's just holding the ball and seeing a flashback, and we cut to present day where we see her holding it, watching the Seijun thought impressions going through the same conversation they had back in episode 1. See, THAT is a good use of reusing clips. Hanako shows up after the scene is done, and Lena reveals that yes, it wasn't telepathy, it was just a memory. A memory of a Seijun, so strong it imprinted itself in the world. That's actually kind of cool.
Hanako tries to comfort Lena, talking about the importance of memories and stuff. This gets to me for personal reasons, and I think this is a good scene because of it.
Back with Shumday, we see five other Sphere shuttles flying by. Oh dear. We cut to the others, and we get an actually really nice scene where Mahad actually shows some humility, and Hanako says things haven't really been the same since he left. It's kind of touching. And then Hanako kisses his cheek. Unfortunately, the circling Sphere shuttles show up to spoil the mood! Also I've noticed that...I think the models have been upgraded slightly. Not in appearance, but in terms of how the lighting effects them and stuff, and maybe in terms of just quality, since the Brig's seem shinier now.
Anyway, Shumday saves the day, blowing some of the shuttles out of the sky! He leads them on a chase, dropping a package off with our heroes as he passes by. Dahlia insists it's time to go, and Mahad delies, trying to think of what to say. He finally settles on stammering out "Tell Shumday...tell him...just tell him I'm still the best pilot!" before running off.
He also told Hanako to hide inside the house which...is a restricted zone. Good job Mahad. And...unfortunately, Shumday's shuttle gets hit and he starts going down. Everyone else in the Hyperion sees this going down. Thankfully, Shumday is okay. So now it's time to get out of here. Lena then...uses her memories of Mom to help them, by summoning up a giant construct of her doing the Kamehameha pose, and uses the energy created by this construct to destroy a ship, and the shuttles that fly through it are just strait up destroyed! Good job Lena! Not sarcastic!
While flying off, Dahlia opens up the package and...holy ****. It's a thing! It's a Shuttle strategic planner, and if they can break the encryption, they might be able to find the location of Kharzem prison! This...this is actually an advancement of the plot! Holy crap!
Lena then theorizes that, maybe Mom DID contact them, so they'd come to Babylonia to get this gift. We do know that Shumday was getting it for...basically no reason. Maybe he's working deeper with Sphere then we know, as a double agent? I think it's just a coincidence personally.
Meanwhile at Kharsem, we see Mom. She's in her jail, and the light dims. I...I think the implication it's trying to give us is that Oslo set it up so that she gets sunlight sometimes...for whatever reason. I don't actually know, it's kind of weird. Point is, I still think it's a coincidence.
And that's the episode. My thoughts? It was alight. The reusing of footage got a little excessive at times, but over all this was a decent episode. It was nice to see Babylonia again, and REALLY nice to get some plot advancement (at least towards "lets save mom" plot.) We still haven't seen them actually fight against the Sphere that Mahad claims they do, which seems like the more important plot thread overall. But we'll see.
Two episodes left for Season 1 folks. Where do you think it'll go?
-
2014-08-11, 06:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Xin-Shalast
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Spoiler: Ep 10Well, they're French, so there's still a fair bit of chance, I suppose, though less than compared with if it were actually an Anime, I think? No idea what it'd be if they were actually French-Canadians though.
Penguins, they're quite importantly associated with the sun. And we have to remember them somehow, now that they're all extinct. Because there's no way Penguins are still around outside of some kind of deliciously decadent zoo.
...Mahad took his little sister out to go dogfighting? ...That's just dumb even if she is probably able to easily survive the ship getting blown up once she's properly trained.
That Mahad, disobeying direct orders not to do things. xD Boy needs some punishment detail. SCRUB ALL OF THE STREETS OF PUERTO RICO CLEAN WITH A TOOTHBRUSH, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
In a shocking twist it turns out Cortez is actually Mahad's father, but not Lena's. Or the other way around. XD It's a fairly standard "I'm a dumb punk kid angry at my surrogate father figure" sort of thing to say.
In a surprise twist, Mahad's Dad was just as much of a twit as a teenager as Mahad, just like James Potter.
Woo! Distress signals!
Woo, obvious traps!
Nah, see, if it was actually their father, they wouldn't *know* until after they had already met him. That's how these sorts of things are supposed to work. That's just... narrative causality! A bard could explain it better, even Elan.
Well, it was an accidental trap with the two Seijun Not-So-Elites.
"I'll show Cortez I'm not a kid, I'll jump into a trap without even telling anyone what I'm doing so they'll actually come looking for me when I die! Maybe!"
I like how the twelve year old is the voice of reason, too.
Maybe if he survives enough stupidity-induced badtimes he'll realize to stop doing it?
It's obvious shenanigans and we should go towards it anyway since it's serious enough shenanigans to blow up regardless of whether it's true shenanigans?
So how is he bullying the girl with super powers by being excited then incredulous when he should've been incredulous the entire time, but not about there being a block where there should be no block because they didn't establish that blocks worked in such a way as to make his statement make sense.
Oh 12 gods... no... they're actively making him even dumber, aren't they!?
Silly Zodi, though. There's nothing your laser light shows can do against Goron rock hard old man nipples.
It means she can kill people while killing other people, Mahad. Silly. Probably other things.
Ahh, having a distinctively unique ship that's easily recognized on scanners rather than at least being somewhat stealthy.
Wouldn't going home just lead Oslo to Puerto Rico Angeles?
Something Stupid!
Mahad, so cocky he really just needs to die off already to show the actual protagonist not to be a cocky idiot. So... uh... Cheng, I guess? Since Lena doesn't seem to need to learn that lesson, so she can't be the protagonist if Mahad needs to die to teach the protagonist that lesson...
Hmm... Tricky...
Mahad, that's not how you do ramming Speed... Nor is a fast, light craft supposed to be doing ramming as an attack, generally speaking... @_@
Dumb robutts are dumb. Sadly, not funny.
Yeah, they sorta dropped the ball on that one. We have no idea who Oslo's boss is supposed to be or the government or anything, so it just sorta becomes him wanting to rebel against... himself...
Hmm... maybe he's controlled by Sun Ghosts and needs an exorcism?
Mahad is dumb. This will not be the last time this is said. XD
I'm glad Lena's at least not impressed with Mahad's BS. Too bad she didn't call him on it in time to prevent them crashing into one another like morons.
Silly Norwegian City.
Oh dear, they already lost their birthright from daddy? That bodes poorly for the narrative.
Yeah, like we can trust Mahad's judgment about fixing a wrecked space-ship-thing.
They're going to get eaten by cannibal goron monsters, I just know it.
...Well that's weird. I mean, I know Oslo has their mom locked up, but taunting him while he's ... wait, he can use his seijun powers no matter where he is. How is he *stuck* that... that doesn't make sense.
They're taunting him while he's laid a cunning trap for them using himself as bait.
Oh, ok, that explains one thing but just raises like 5 more questions. And, yes, the magic system really needs to get more coherent.
Ah, but he's a bargaining chip, if they had half a brain. His problem is that he assumed Mahad had *any* brains. And, well, Lena's like 12. So he probably made the mistake of addressing the older one rather than trying to reason with the actual brains of the operation.
Norway does know how to push some buttons though, with playing the mom card though.
I'm... I'm not sure that's actually a formal hero test. Definitely not the narrative place to off the BBEG though.
And, yeah, despite all of Mahad being a horrible waste of time and screen, Lena makes much more sense as the protagonist from everything you've said.
Obviously only Norway has proper pronunciation powers.
Also, good decision to watch his limp, though who's to say it being inconsistent wouldn't just be an animation goof?
Ah, yes, walking someone with a bad leg 10 km...
Um, they have a working radio and don't radio Cortez, still? XD
Oh dear. Oslo's gonna be groping Mahad. D:
No light, no food, no water, no plants... Obviously it's a molepeople place with a subterranean cloud>water machine.
Surrrrre. Believe the BBEG Sky Wizard... It's obviously a trick. Though I suppose that's one way to insert that badly needed exposition of their sky magic system...
Never go into magic circles. It's just a bad idea. Though it's good on Oslo for not having told them that there was a horrible eldritch abomination sealed away there on the block int he first place though. Great way to try to get Mahad killed.
Are you sure he didn't just mean an airlock between outside and the interior of the block?
Because that's what it sounds like...
And yet somehow he never found Puerto Angeles. Either that or he intentionally left it there... for reasons...
It's Diwan's day off, give her a break.
But who set the loop? Dun Dun Dun! Woo, info dump and data cubes.
...Technobabble monster made out of the symbiosis of sky wizard magic and technological abominations, eh? Intriguing. And it's their half-sibling. Sorta. And been here for godsknowshow long being crazy and alone. Fun fun.
Eh, it's probably too craycray anyway.
Evil shadowy palpatine as he should've been stuff.
Wouldn't he deny Oslo any after making sure he didn't poison it if he were really jerkfacing though?
If Norway was resistant to the poison he put into the water, sure. It'd just be like Le Princess Bride. Considering his personality he probably has made himself resistant to poisons by dosing himself with 'em. If that's even possible given Seijun Healing Magick...
At least he didn't go into "I ****ed yer mom" territory, I suppose...
Oh dear, all of the not-living-up-to-his-old-man's-example for Mahad. XD
Wooo! Finally some Enemy Mine action up in this.
Oh my, mysterious rebel scramblers. Maybe there's more pirates than we thought? Or Cortez went looking for Mahad's dumb ass. XD
Oh my. Oslo wants dat. And villains have two options, they can either go through and cooperate until the first opportunity to actually backstab or they can go until they're out of it and either start fighting again or go their separate ways to fight again the next day after they've all had a nap.
Norway's choosing the backstab option, as befits his type, I suppose.
Dun, Dun, SLOOOSH!
*shudder* At least Mahad has never had the thought cross his mind that anyone would want to **** a 12 year old, I guess.
Woo! Attempted pseudo-fratricide! And backstabbery! And Mahad being a dummy leading to problems!
Well, that at least makes some sense...
Finally, something that's a threat that's not Norwegian!
Hmm, well that's weird. I wonder how cowering and peeing his pants in terror will get him out of this one...
Wait, he had a group of brigs that survived the crash? XD He really was laying a trap with himself as bait.
Woo, tug of war for something which can only have a crappy grip on it anyway!
Woo, no more maguffin!
I... What? They have a tame crazy-half-sibling and they just leave it on an empty block rather than at least make a note to grab it for when they need a crazy killing machine?
Yeep. Also, where were the rock-people?
That... really doesn't make sense then. If it's going to fall while Mahad is being irresponsible, it should be his fault. Or of an NPC to provide an object lesson not to be careless by being an expendable example...
-
2014-08-11, 06:54 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-11, 07:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Xin-Shalast
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
I mean, if the Symbiote had turned a bunch of mooks into statues and they found their rock corpses in the dwarf kingdom, that'd have satisfied things, I think. XD
Spoiler: Knights of Babylonia: 11Probably not explanation as to how Mahad had managed to acquire a girlfriend-like thing or shoulder-floozy despite being an uncharismatic lout and maroon.
... What, they have a dog or a smaller child than Lena now? Also, exaggerated mess when tripping for comedy is silly.
Either something weird or little girl with super powers is hallucinating... Whee! When did they have the time to grab old family photos though?
I have to wonder what a heat wave has to do with not being able to fly though.
Ahh, so that's why you didn't think it was hallucinamation... So many traps. Just so many. Eventually we'll stop suspecting they are traps and then the traps'll get us!
Oh dear...
...So what did he do that was smart?
Well, Mahad's gotta fail at being a failure sometime, right? Makes perfect sense. And in doing so, he fails. XD
Dahlia just wanted to get out of the house. XD
Obviously she can leave and is just using them as an excuse to do so. Or something butchered.
Oh dear. It's that weirdo who was either Mahad's shoulder floozy or girlfriend-like-thing. I predict assumptions that Mahad dumped her for Dahlia and catfighting to ensue.
Ahh, skiving off work. XD Well, it's not like he was going to use it. And why let the brigs eat it when they were ransacking the place after all of that kerfluffle?
Honestly I'm not sure which is worse, Mahad not being a virgin or Mahad not being a virgin and claiming he is one to a woman who hates him half the time anyway for... some reason...
Heh. Getting stuck on the ship so no one can drag him off. And then he runs off. XD
Uh... What... ...I don't even.
Hugs? Instead of chewing him out for being the worst boyfriend/guy for a shoulder floozy to latch onto ever?
Blue Boy...
Well that's silly. Mahad has no peripheral vision or awareness, I guess.
Oh, I thought that was just the standard greeting everyone gave to Mahad. Or that Shumday was now the one giving it to Hanako now that Mahad was out of the picture. XD There's no way someone could not recognize Mahad though, with all them red clotheses and such.
It doesn't look completely ransacked and looted? Curious. Interesting that Mama Bear decided to go to all of that trouble, but handy, I suppose.
And the Brig doesn't even recognize the highly wanted person associated with the location.
I suppose that explains the lack of looting, though not the lack of Sphere-based ransacking for things to potentially use against them. At least they were watching the place, I guess.
Pfft. He's probably just wanting to nick something off of it.
Obviously it's a Magic Boomerang, like what Link has. XD And those were Magic Pipes! XD
Though, yeah, I mean, Lena started out able to ignore Brigs with her Sky Wizard Fightan Magic.
Oh my, she megamans! Wait. Brig Pirate?
Well, obviously, they just stole a shuttle and got arrested and stuff. They need to leave before they get even more attention.
Maybe Mahad went off somewhere else other than the hill?
...Mahad left somewhere and left Shumday by the ship? ...wat...
Better than a Clip Show, I guess? Even if it sorta is...
Except why Mahad is running away from them is... kinda weird in itself, too.
Well, that's freaking creepy. And weird. And creepy.
When, really, this should probably be about where Hanako decks him for kissing Dahlia and then Dahlia wakes up and starts kicking the snot out of him for being a creeper too...
Well, at least there's that instead of her actually doing that.
Seijun Memory Illusion Magics!
And that's why they needed to leave earlier. And then Hanako kisses his cheek for some reason despite him being the worst boyfriend-thing ever. XD
Shiny is good though!
Delays. Silly Mahad, finally getting tongue-tied.
She can now remotely shoot energy waves from illusory duplicates? Oh dear.
And yes, awkward place to tell someone to hide...
Woo!
That or he's a troll or rebel sympathizer. XD
Just enough sunlight to make her aware of her need for more of it?
To the moon? I dunno. I don't really see anything coherent as far as an arc, really.
-
2014-08-11, 07:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Basically, he used the stereotypical "Mahad is an idiot braggart" strategy to try and play off the real reason they were leaving.
I don't think they've gone THAT far. Hanako was just a long time mutual crush.
Marvel at our robots who are sentient enough to complain about having a broken arm, but not enough to tell faces apart!
Pilot. I am the god of poorly placed typos.
-
2014-08-13, 04:47 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Well, he wasn't actually being irresponsible at that point, he was just giving a lame excuse as to why he wasn't around to help earlier.
---
I have no idea how telepathy works either, considering the fact that it doesn't, but this is a common theme for helping someone to focus on the recipient and make contact.
Cortes (yes, that's how you actually spell it) sees her as responsible. If she went with him, then they'd have an excuse of her being able to tell Cortes that "it really was that important that we just up and left during a no flight restriction without even telling anyone". No, I don't know how that works either.
Nah, it was a toy or something. Not living.
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/wh...me-heat-2013-7
I giggled.
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-13, 10:48 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
-
2014-08-15, 10:26 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Ooos almost forgot to do Skyland because I was busy making another cake!
Episode 12: Bloodties
SpoilerOh, that's an interesting title. Lets see where this leads us!
This opens on, of all people, Cheng! We don't know much about him. He's 12, same age as Lena, and is basically the pirate crew's techie. Today he looks really sad actually. We pan out a bit to see Lena and Mahad playing checkers at a table nearby at the water bar.
Lena is not impressed with how long it's taking Mahad to take his turn, and when he turns his back to ask a waitress for some more water (this causes the water jugs to change colour for some reason) Lena uses her powers to rearrange the board to be more in her favor (I do say more, she was winning, now she's just super winning)
Mahad, to his credit, notices the changes! To his lack of credit he only notices one piece moved and doesn't understand that Lena's comment of just moving his "man" for him only set him up for a cool move later is a lie. This is because Mahad is not very smart. Mahad calls Cheng over to "teach Lena how to play this game" but Cortez shows up before he can do so, apparently he's been looking for Cheng.
Cortez is a little upset, because the Hyperion's radio was broken and Cheng hadn't fixed it. Cheng says he was GONNA fix it, buuut...and then he trails off. Cortez is a little concerned about Cheng being overly distracted lately, and basically tells him to focus. He then says "It's not like I ask too much of you, is it?" to him, which...I don't know. On the one hand he's like 12, but he's also a really good mechanic and techie and stuff and he does clearly enjoy working on that stuff the time we've seen him do it. I wonder what's wrong.
Suddenly, Wyatt radios into...the water bar's TV, to report that a Sphere patroller is header strait for Port Angel! Oh dear
Cortez orders him to open fire, but Wyatt says he's been trying to, it's flight pattern is too erratic. Interesting, must not be a Brig piloting then. We see some footage of him firing and...someone messed up because we only actually see a single shot fired, and it misses wildly, despite him shooting a whole bunch. Wyatt then notes that it's not counter attacking. Wonder what it could be.
It manages to escape Wyatt in the mosquito, and it starts heading towards Vector's lighthouse. Cortez radios into his other men that exist and order them to scramble, and orders Mahad and Lena to get into the Hyperion to engage it in battle as well.
Oh, it appears Cortez didn't mean for his men to get in Mosquito's to go shoot it down, but to away at a place where the shuttle just sort of parks and point guns at it. A...alright. So the shuttle parks near a landing platform near the lighthouse.
The shuttle opens it's loading door and...no one is there. Suddenly a very faint hologram appears and says it is "Tibalt Hee" and that he seeks his grandson...Cheng! Oh man this would be more suspenseful if we actually knew anything about Cheng or his family! We don't though. It's still pretty interesting though, regardless.
For some reason Cheng doesn't seem surprised by this. I think someone just...forgot to play the animation for shock on his face. Also, calling this a trap for like...the seventh time in a row. At this point I think I might give up trying to predict what is and isn't a trap.
A few minutes later, they're analyzing the hologram. Cheng thinks it might be his grandpa, but Cortez honestly thinks this is a trap. See, Cortez is like me, constantly seeing traps that are totally traps and probably won't turn out to be traps because **** our luck. Vector shows up now, and says that the shuttle has stealth technology. Now, I WANT to get mad at this because to me, stealth tech would be going invisible. However, they do explain that in this case they meant it's ability to evade the Mosquito's lock on and the warning radars that usually tip them off to Sphere activity. Here's hoping this ship is a random prototype and not the new design for CHRON shuttles
Everyone surmizes, due to the lack of Brig's on board, that it's mission really was to find Cheng. Therefor, not a trap. Cortez, however, insists that no, Cheng, your grandfather is dead. I'm you're family now, we all are. I can tell Cortez is TRYING to be like a father to Cheng here, in contrast to his trying to treat Mahad like an adult. I like the difference, and it shows that Cortez knows how to treat people in the right ways. The problem is that Cheng...Cheng really wants to see his blood family. He says that if Cortez was his real family, he wouldn't be so mean to him.
On the one hand this is a childish outburst that's just predicated by Cheng happening to be deep in thought lately, thus straining his relationship with Cortez and the others. On the other hand CHENG IS LITERALLY A CHILD so this makes TOTAL sense. Cheng runs off, and Cortez gets shadowed over a bit, looking...pretty rough.
Vector asks Cortez why he didn't tell Cheng the truth. Mahad asks what this means and Cortez tells them. Tibalt is his grandfather, and Cheng's parents where part of the resistance...and they died. Mahad can't read between the lines and asks why this is important. Cortez says that he knew Cheng's mother more, and that Cheng's father was a great scientist. Tibalt was also a great scientist, and after the Earth split up...he went to work for the Sphere. Before Cheng's Mom died, Cortez promised to look after Cheng. While this is happening, Cheng is making his way to that Sphere shuttle, and getting ready to fly off to the coordinates the shuttle came from.
This is a really good scene, and it mixes world building quite well with character development and learning the history of a character we don't really know. They haven't stated how Cheng's parents died but seeing as how he works with the Sphere, and worked with them from the very beginning, we can have a pretty easy idea of WHAT happened. The implication is honestly better then just strait up hearing it.
Meanwhile, Cheng activates auto pilot, and the shuttle begins to take off, presumably to take him to where Tibalt is. This can only be good for our heroes...and also technically since Tibalt works for the Sphere this means IT IS IN FACT A TRAP! Finally called it...technically. We don't even know for sure if I did or not. We'll see.
Thankfully, everyone hears the shuttle take off, and Cortez radios Wyatt to intercept the shuttle at all costs. I'm worried that Cortez didn't specify "don't shoot it Cheng's on board" but...it'd make sense for him not to specify that. Cortez would and in fact could tear his ship to pieces with his bare hands if it meant stopping the Sphere, I don't think a single life, even one close to his own, would make him stay his hand.
...OH. Yeah um no one actually knew Cheng was in the shuttle. Lena shouts wait, and says she senses Cheng is inside the shuttle. This causes Cortez to, as quickly as possible, radio Wyatt back and tell him to not fire, at all, what so ever, because Cheng is on board. Wyatt's then ordered to keep following the shuttle, though he says it'll be hard. You know, I like that we're getting a bit more of Wyatt, even if he is still technically the blandest character, by virtue of just not being touched upon at all aside from being "the black dude who pilots stuff."
Mahad and Lena leave to get the Hyperion to also give chase, while Cortez regrets how harsh he'd been on Cheng, and how he really, really needs to get Cheng back so he doesn't fall into Sphere hands like his Grandfather. Vector agrees and says that they need to tell him the truth.
Meanwhile, Wyatt is talking with Cheng over the radio, telling him to go home. Cheng tells him that no, he's not going to, and for the first time in this entire series called Wyatt by his actual name, Wayan. I'm...honestly just going to call him Wyatt because I've never heard it said correctly by anyone other then Cheng in this one instance, and I don't think even the credits call him Wayan. But yeah, Cheng don't wanna go home.
Oh **** son Mahad called him Wayan this time too. I feel like EVERYONE on staff up to this point just assumed he was called Wyatt because Cortez is the only one who really says the dude's name and his accent is just that thick, so Cheng's voice actor was all "...hey you guys do realize his names Wayan right?"
At any rate, Cheng's ship shuttles off at super speed the Hyperion going super fast as well. Left in the proverbial dust, Wayan radios in his return.
Cutting to a large Sphere facility, and we see...Tibalt! He's arguing with Diwan about how his new Missile Defense System isn't being finished as quickly as it should. Tibalt says that he's running into some problems, that he can't quite deal with. Diwan says that SHE heard that the system is 100% working right now, and Tibalt BURNS her by saying "well when you rely on spies, you should expect inaccurate information". Also, Tibalt's voice actor is REALLY good.
Diwan counters by saying that this is a daaangerous game he's playing, and that if he's not careful she'll tell Oslo his loyalty is...waning. Tibalt tells Diwan she can tell him whatever she wants, because he's got work today. SO, it seems this wasn't actually a trap after all. Good god Skyland can you maybe STOP blowing my expectations like this once or twice
Diwan goes to leave, and Tibalt gets one last shot in, saying to keep her spies out of his lab, because they slow him down. He then goes back to work, and it's clear Diwan is NOT in a good mood. And even her good moods have her moody as heck. Just as she leaves, Tibalt's computer activates and says that hey, one of the scout ships he sent out is coming back, and the designated passenger is on board! Tibalt lets out a sigh of relief.
Back with the Hyperion, flying over the Sphere settlement and...I've gotta say, I like the aesthetic here. Large white buildings with gardens on the roof tops, still on the ground but it's clear that they could probably detach and become flying homes if absolutely required. It really fits with the more high tech appearance the Sphere tries to have, steam bot Brig's aside. Contrasted nicely with the steampunk tech the pirates have, which is counterbalanced by Vector's quasi future tech styling. If the series was a little better this would show a lot better too.
Brief aside Vector is wearing a SUPER snazzy lab coat in every promotional material I've found for Skyland but all he's ever worn in series is a dinky ass sweater. This disappoints me.
Tibalt waits at the landing area for the ship, and after it parks Cheng comes out. Tibalt assures him he's safe, and introduces himself as Tibalt Yee. He assumes, based on Cheng's startling resemblance, that Cheng must be his grandson. This is a really nice scene, especially because Cheng realizes he DOES remember this guy, now that he's actually seeing him in the flesh. He runs over and gives him a hug and it's nice and touching.
...oh wow, Grandpa Tibalt dropping some truth bombs on Cheng. Mostly that Cortez and his mother where...very close. "Before she met your father, of course." So that explains in part why Cortez cares SO much. I've noticed this series has a pretty big obsession with "the one that got away" relationships. Everyone's a Captain Ahab who's love is a white whale, lost to some unending storm.
The brig's guarding the place walk by as they leave the landing area and Cheng gets worried, but Tibalt says not to worry since they are harmless. This is the most accurate statement ever said about the Brig's this entire series.
It's around this time that Wayan and Cortez have grouped up, and are flying the Saint Naziere around to find the Hyperion. Their radio is still busted so it's impossible to contact them. However! Mahad (though more likely Lena, since she's the one who suggested they find a way to contact Cortez a little while ago) thought to drop a distress signal beacon near the location of the Sphere facility, thus allowing the Saint Naziere to home in on their location! That's actually really clever.
Meanwhile, Diwan's send a message to Oslo. He continues to look like the most intimidating cancer ward patient ever, due to him sitting in his solar bath. Apparently Tibalt is behind schedule by MONTHS, and they've gotten reports about unmanned shuttles leaving on unscheduled missions. As many as six in the past two days. Apparently Tibalt isn't too good at covering his tracks.
Oslo tells Diwan to tell him that he's gonna come by in 24 hours to test out the missile defense system. He wants to see a demonstration. Diwan says it'll be her pleasure, and Oslo gets this sort of creepy grin and tells her to not enjoy herself TOO much, since Tibalt is vitally important. I'm hesitant to think about what this means, and am starting to think that red splotch on Diwan's head is a gang tattoo of some sort.
Back with Cheng, and he's super excited to be in this lab! He's currently controlling a Brig like a puppet! Cheng asks the rather obvious question of why this super tech savvy guy didn't try to escape, when the only things stopping him from escaping are crap machines that he could easily reprogram. However, Tibalt seems...concerned, and is trying to tell Cheng something. He finally gets it out. He designed the Brig's. He's designed...basically all the Sphere tech, more or less.
...we then proceed to get what is a sorely needed, but better late then ever, scene. It's entirely hand drawn and much, much better for it. Tibalt explains the world directly after the Earth shattered. Block fought Block for resources like food, water, people. Some even did it just for the fun of it. The world was thrown into chaos, with mass starvation and dehydration. The picture we see here is a bunch of people in torn clothes ambushing a woman and her two children. The people in worn clothes are clearly bandits who are going to kill her. Holy ****.
Tibalt says the Sphere was the only hope for order, and we get this awesome picture of an army of Brig's, standing triumphantly over generic rubble as Sphere shuttles fly in the background. The Brig's actually look kind of intimidating here, bulky and powerful. Tibalt finishes this flashback by saying that Commander Oslo asked Tibalt to work for the Sphere. This...kind of doesn't jell with what we know of these character's past, but maybe Tibalt didn't join Sphere as IMMEDIATELY as Cortez seems to imply. What I'm saying is that the time frame seems weird.
Cheng says that he was told Oslo killed his parents, but Tibalt says he was told bandits did it! The shuttles he's been sending out have brought him nothing but horrifying news, so he isn't sure what to believe anymore.
Cheng says to believe HIM. The Sphere would kill him if they found out he was here, as well as anyone who came to find him. Tibalt apologizes, and just then Diwan and some Brig's show up. Diwan gloats about finding out what was REALLY preventing him from working.
Meanwhile, Mahad and Lena are on a sneaking mission, trying to get into the floating laboratory that everyone is apparently inside right now. Mahad proves that he is not very good at tactics by saying they need a plan to get past the two Brig's guarding the entrance, and that he's got one! Part 1, Lena goes out and distracts them. Part 2...is the assumption that he'll think of a part 2 by the time she's distracted the two brig's. As always and ever, I'm annoyed whenever any number of Brig's other then like ten or twenty is able to impede the progress of our heroes, giving how weak they are.
Lena snark's at Mahad "don't rush on my account". Someone's been practicing with Dahlia, I see
Speaking of which, Dahlia is here as well, flying the Saint Neziere. Since Wayan is in a Mosquito it's Dahlia's job to do Wayan's job. This makes sense because hey, they're the only two crew left.
Fun fact Dahlia's voice actress also plays Claire Redfield in every appearance said character has made in Resident Evil. This also means that she was Loonette on Big Comfy Couch, and the person solely responsible for the translation of Megaman X5 being so weird. This is stuff I learn when IMDBing actors I'm forced to listen to at 12 in the morning.
Back with Mahad and Lena, Lena continues to sneak about so she can get into a better vantage point to distract the Brig's. Did...they just forget she can mind crush these fools? Also, Mahad is totally open to behead the two of them with his boomerang, which is what he intends to do when she distracts them ANYWAY. See, this is kind of frustrating actually. We've seen Brig's be destroyed by a scottish punch to the face, I can't take them seriously as a threat anymore!
Maybe the Brig's have been upgraded, or maybe they've scaled down the power of the ultra boomerang. Lena distracts them so Mahad throws his boomerang and...instead of beheading them both, it slams into the Brig and simply knocks it down, sparks flying from the wound, and Lena obliterates the other with a Seijun blast.
...hahaha, okay, that was kind of funny. Lena leads the way into the lab, saying it's time to get Chang and go home. Mahad gives a quick kick to the Brig he destroyed before following after her.
Apparently we're supposed to believe all of that happened during the flashback, because Mahad and Lena show up right behind Diwan and her Brig's, right after SHE showed up to confront Tibalt and Cheng. Talk about a stroke of luck. Though it's clear that even though she's technically surrounded by enemies, Diwan has won this little ambush. She...proceeds to taunt the ever loving **** out of our heroes. "IF only I had some cake and ice cream. Then we'd have a real party!" she says.
I've got you covered Diwan *I baked a chocolate cake today*
Diwan lines everyone up against a window, and Tibalt says this is an outrage. He's to be allowed to do his research without any outside interference! After an awkward pause Diwan says that he lost that privilege when he was found harboring a known enemy of the Sphere. Valid point. Tibalt mentions that Cheng is just his grandson, an enemy to no one.
Diwan says that she's sure that is relevent to people who are weak and let their sentimentality control them, but she doesn't care and uses her powers to drag Cheng closer to her. She then stops Lena from Seijun'ing everyone to death by basically threatening Cheng, and says to Tibalt that SHE is in charge now, and she'll "hold onto" Cheng until Tibalt's work is done. Looks like a relatively solid victory for Diwan. Good luck not messing it up lady.
Oooh, sly. As the Brig start escorting everyone away Tibalt quickly snatches the little control pad Cheng had that let him control a Brig like a puppet. Everyone gets outside, but before they can get into Diwan's shuttle (talk about cramped) a Brig says "Enemy ship approaching!". Diwan shouts "WHERE!" and we get...an actually really funny answer. The ship surfaces from underneath the floating lab, RIGHT next to where everyone is standing. This is why I love sky based stuff.
The Brig's open fire on the Saint Neziere, which gives Mahad and Lena ample time to each destroy a Brig. The Neziere opens up it's loading bay and CORTEZ COMES LEAPING OUT, SHOOTING A BRIG TO DEATH WITH A LASER PISTOL IN MID AIR! Sadly before he can fire again, this time on Diwan, Tibalt charges Cortez and knocks him to the ground! Diwan then hides behind Cheng's small child body for protection.
Before I can react to Tibalt's betrayal (because I thought Diwan used her powers to throw Tibalt at Cortez) Tibalt reveals the control thing he took from the desk (not the control pad, my bad) to Cortez and whispers "hide this and follow my lead" and then the two start rolling around, fighting! Cortez gains the upperhand and captures Tibalt, Tibalt saying "Help! Diwan, help me!"
...oh. Oh dear. Cortez demands they let Cheng go, or they, quote "lose their genius". Cheng says no, but Tibalt starts laying it on thick, about how these horrible people tricked him into believing Cheng was his grandson. Cheng is...absolutely traumatize by this series of events. Diwan, since she's NOT smart, believes this is legit and says Cortez has a deal. Cortez whispers to Tibalt "you can still come with us" but Tibalt says that no, he must stay and try to repair some of the damage he's done.
Just as everyone starts to leave, Diwan shouts "TO BAD DEALS MEAN NOTHING TO ME!" and she fires off a massive Seijun blast that Lena easily catches and reflects back. They play tennis for a brief while before...Diwan gets strait up knocked off the edge of the flying lab
She lives, managing to hold onto the edge, and our heroes escape. Tibalt takes his glasses off in a rather solemn, sad scene, while Diwan rages at her anger at almost being killed because she never learned not to shout "SNEAK ATTACK" when sneak attacking.
Cheng is super sad, but Cortez takes out the hidden thing, saying that "your grandfather left me something for you". I wonder what it could be. Probably a nice, touching message.
And technically it is! It's...the new missile defense blueprints! Cheng is confused, and Cortez explains the middle of the battle, Tibalt gave this to him. He's on our side now. When this is all over, we can get him back.
...Cheng then lies a bit by saying that Tibalt told him that the design for the missile blue prints are rather complicated, but Cheng would easily be able to figure it out. I...SUPPOSE Tibalt could of said that while Diwan was thinking about the deal, but I'm not sure. Seems kind of sketchy...
Cheng asked if he really said that. Cortez asks him if he knows what a *technobabble* is, and Cheng says "of course! I may be a kid but I'm not stupid you know" which is...far more affective a joke then it has any right to be. The two apologize to each other for the beginning of the episode, and everyone makes up. Happy end, roll credits.
And that's it. My thoughts? That episode was pretty alright. The actual plot of it was a LITTLE weak, but...they managed to pull it together quite nicely at the end. We had some good scenes, a great guest actor for Tibalt, and we learnt a bit about the most prominent non main character aside from Dahlia. All in all, pretty good.
What this episode excels at though is the world building. We only really see three pictures, but seeing how the world was directly after the Earth split was great. Hearing about how chaotic it was, hearing about how Sphere was started, it was just great. They honestly need more of this, but I'll take what I can get.
So, guys. Monday is the last episode of season 1. Where do you think this is going to go, now that we've got some more plot items to work with after the last two episodes? Maybe somewhere good, hopefully? I'll admit, this seems like it's leading up to a somewhat...lack luster in scale season finale, but who knows maybe it'll be good! I've been wrong about a lot of my first impressions on Skyland after a few episodes.Last edited by LaZodiac; 2014-08-15 at 10:28 PM.
-
2014-08-16, 12:23 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2008
- Location
- Xin-Shalast
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Spoiler: A Dozen Bloody BonesTo a bloody, unfortunate end.
And here I thought he was Cortes's trained monkey.
Bad Mahad, stop being a bad influence on your impressionable kid sister's moral development.
Encouraging her to cheat when she's already easily winnning... Yeesh.
Though it is amusing that even the water jugs hate Mahad, I suppose.
Oh, Mahad, trying to get the two of them together just because they're the same age and opposite sexes. What a card.
Well, he's about due for puberty, I suppose. That's a tad distracting when it first sets in.
Oh noooo~
That or the Brig is, like, super drunk. Or sober, depending. Heh. Bender the Brig. Heh.
Good thing it didn't just try to kamikaze the lighthouse in order to take out the one scientist in all of Skyland, then..
Tybalt!?
Run Romeo, Run!
No, wait, screw Romeo.
Run Mercutio, Run!
It's only a trap if you don't think it's a trap, apparently. Or it's only ever accidentally a trap. Trapccidents?
Well, is one of Cheng's grandpas named "Tibalt Hee" or not? XD
Stealth tech doesn't mean invisibility in this universe either, Lala.
Probably been illegally modified by some crazy or other.
And here we see evidence that Cortes actually just stole Cheng as a chillen. Err. Smaller chillen. XD Cheng's just forgotten that he was stolen and has stockholm syndrome imprinted upon Cortes, though it seems to be weakening due to the effects of puberty.
Well, yeah, Cheng's 12 and just now going through puberty. Mahad is an annoying whiny 17 year old who can't even figure out how to Protagonist half the time despite allegedly springing from the loins of a born Protagonist.
And keeps trying to get into the panties of a twenty-something. So he'd have to treat Mahad like an adult. That or be completely skeeved out by Mahad. Or be kinda skeevy himself.
Ahh, angsty pubescent preteens.
Well, Cortes is a middle-aged Spanish Scotsman. Not exactly known for not having craggy features.
Ahh, so here's the real reason he stole Cheng... he secretly knocked up Cheng's mom! XD And then kidnapped him.
So apparently Earth fracturing is within living memory for old people. Interesting.
Good to know that Cheng can do stupid pubescent preteen stuff, too. ...I shudder to think of what Seijun powers would be like with a child first going through puberty...
That Cheng's parents and grandfather killed one another in a murder-suicide? Cortes revenge murdered Cheng's grandfather after he killed Cheng's mom?
Sphere purged the world of all non-Vectorian scientists, including their own?
It is kinda... Obvious... And it should've been being watched by someone. Granted, it should've been getting run over with a fine-toothed comb for transmitters and the like.
Despite it being an obvious conclusion, it'd still be jumping to conclusions to just assume that Cheng's the reason it started up.
Thank goodness for SEIJUNOSITY! XD
He does seem to appear rather infrequently and not interact with much of anything. Better than being actively, offensively racist, but being the token black guy AND never really doing anything to get characterization... Oy.
"I knew I should've taken him to that Jonas Brothers concert! Oh, woe is me."
"If only I had paid attention to the signs and talked to him about the strange feelings he was feeling from puberty!"
Hmm... Maybe Sphere sucked out the brains of their scientists and made some kind of super-computer out of them. And then they'd feed Cheng's brain to it if they got him. Certainly would be pointlessly evil enough, I suppose. Probably a bit too macabre for the saturday morning cartoon villainy demonstrated so far.
Oh dear. Cheng's having such a tantrum he's actually using the character's proper name. XD
Best explanation.
[QUOTE=LaZodiac;17949362]At any rate, Cheng's ship shuttles off at super speed the Hyperion going super fast as well. Left in the proverbial dust, Wayan radios in his return.
Hyperdrive engagedededed.
Well, there goes my hopes of a brain-absorbing super-computer. Durn.
Silly Diwan, your specialty is failing to capture twelve year old girls, not sending spies to spy on your own scientist monkeys.
Silly Diwan, what kind of silly game are you playing now? Not reporting that your missile defense scientist is plotting to betray you and leave after giving you a flawed missile defense system?
You'd be moody too if your boss forced you to be Bald This Way with him.
Amber Alert! Amber Alert! He's just sending out all kinds of ships to kidnap chillens.
Sphere... Village? Not research compound? ...That just raises further questions if they rule most of the setting with only a few forgotten places and secret cells of resistance within their *ahem* Sphere of Influence.
Understandable.
Suspicious. Is he Tibalt Yee or Tibalt Hee? Introducing yourself with two different second names is just sketchy, old dude. XD
Called it. Cheng is actually Cortes' bastard son.
They're only dangerous to you if they're on your side and fighting a Seijunjin.
Haha, inability to coordinate leading to hilarity because a distress signal is going to be a huge red flag to the Sphere too.
Evil Chemo Man.
And it's... rather hard to hide that kind of activity. Even altering the flight logs won't be enough if you keep doing it in any real quantity.
Rather than a liver spot?
So she's going to try to beat an old man scientist who she already suspects of planning to betray them until he's ready to do a test with her boss. Either she's stupid or she's hoping he does something stupid that leads to Oslo getting taken out or being weakened enough for her to take him out in the confusion and pin the blame for it on Tibalt so she can have Oslo's job for herself.
That's almost devious.
Tibalt is E-VIIIIIIIIIIL Vector, eh?
I guess it explains a lot about why Sphere is so crappy, since their AIs were designed by someone whose heart isn't in updating their OSseseses anymore. XD
Maybe you shouldn't beat your only scientist, Diwan. XD
Ahh, slave empires and mass death. Standard semi-survivable apocalypse fare, really.
Well, he's got a point that in a place like Skyland you couldn't exactly get away without some level of organization and that someone is needed to stamp out the actual piracy that'd crop up naturally as a result of having endless space to hide in and the necessity of trade for any level of settlement to survive.
Not much of an advantage, or even point, if they just kill everyone and destroy everything in trying to unify people, though.
Hmm. Commander Oslo.
Oh, I thought you said that Cortes said that Tibalt killed Cheng's parents. Wiggy.
...How were those shuttles able to bring back news? Were the holograms carrying on conversations with people?
Oh, right, you weren't planning on betraying us, you just wanted your only surviving family member back as a pet. Gloat-gloat-gloat, now I have someone to threaten as leverage against you, muahahahahaha. I'm a compulsive villain.
Part 1, lure them away. Part 2, bonk them over the head. Part 3, go "boop, beep, boop, beep, I am a robot," while sneaking around disguised as Brigs.
Bam, a better plan than Mahad's that still sounds dumb enough to be something he'd think up.
This is a Sneaking Mission, after all.
Ahh the joys of a minuscule crew to draw upon for Bridge Bunny duty.
I'd make a Claire Redfield joke, but I honestly don't remember her having much in the way of memorable or memorably bad lines. She's no Jill Sandwich, after all.
What's this about a voice actress being responsible for messing up Megaman X5's translation, though? I don't even remember the one female reploid in that game *getting* voiced lines...
[QUOTE=LaZodiac;17949362]Back with Mahad and Lena, Lena continues to sneak about so she can get into a better vantage point to distract the Brig's. Did...they just forget she can mind crush these fools? Also, Mahad is totally open to behead the two of them with his boomerang, which is what he intends to do when she distracts them ANYWAY. See, this is kind of frustrating actually. We've seen Brig's be destroyed by a scottish punch to the face, I can't take them seriously as a threat anymore!
Well, Seijuns can sense other Seijuns doing stuff like firing their lazors, right?
Hey, Scottish punching isn't anything to be sneezed at, though it doesn't hold a candle to Scottish headbutting.
Woo, variable power boomerang! Woo, saying screw it, let's just attract Skywizard attention.
Oh, Mahad, that doesn't mean anything when it's a dead robutt instead of a knocked out person who'll feel the broken/bruised rib the next day.
That's... sorta weird timing, but, OK.
How is Diwan ahead? She wasn't able to quite beat a little girl last time, and this time the little girl is stronger and actually partially trained.
...How does Diwan even know about Cheng, anyway?
I mean, she knows Mahad and Lena because of her eternal shame at not catching a 12 year old girl, sure.
...Dumb Lena is dumb. She didn't try to fight and then only tries *after* the badguy gets a hostage and then stops when the badguy reminds her that she has a hostage...
Diwan's just begging for something insidious to be done to sabotage the missile defense system. I guess she really wants it set up in such a way that some target she wants gone is able to be taken out before they realize it's borked.
But what target could she want blown up....?
...That's his big plan? Turn a single loserbot on a Seijun?
Good entrance by the pirates, though.
Dumb Tibalt is dumb. Not sure why Cortes jumped out instead of, y'know, lowering the ramp and shooting from inside the bay, though. Unless he's just gone into Papa Wolf mode since his babby was taken from him.
[QUOTE=LaZodiac;17949362]Before I can react to Tibalt's betrayal (because I thought Diwan used her powers to throw Tibalt at Cortez) Tibalt reveals the control thing he took from the desk (not the control pad, my bad) to Cortez and whispers "hide this and follow my lead" and then the two start rolling around, fighting! Cortez gains the upperhand and captures Tibalt, Tibalt saying "Help! Diwan, help me!"
Oh. Not as dumb as I thought.
Dumb Cheng is dumb. Granted, dumb Cheng is a 12 year old in the throes of puberty and on the high of being conflicted about meeting his only known surviving family member since his daddy won't reveal himself to him.
Oh, Diwan. Trying so hard to score evil cred over the course of one episode instead of having it established over several. XD
And here's more egg on her face about not being able to beat a 12 year old girl. Gonna end up with a complex at this rate.
And also being weaker than a half-trained 12 year old. XD
Apparently it's not the remote. Oh well. Woo, backdoors in defense systems!
Is nae lying, is... making up stuff to fill in the gaps between the truth.
Effective. Good to know that Cheng knows what technobabble is, though.
IIRC that's the most worldbuilding done in any single episode so far as far as you've said.
Obviously it's going to be a combination season finale with something exciting as well as establishing something about Dahlia and Cortes and maybe even Wayan/Wyatt, since Cheng just had a spotlight episode.
-
2014-08-16, 01:34 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
I was under the impression that what Cortez was talking about, concerning the death of Cheng's parents, was that Tibalt Yee (that's his real name, I misheard it the first time) was involved in their death.
Yeah, it's the most world building we've had in an episode.
Diwan REALLY wants to be seen as a threat. This is why I think Artemis and her blue partner should come back, they're understandably weaker then Lena.
Cortez jumped from the ship's loading bay because of how the boat was positioned. Also because it was bad ass.
Dahlia's voice actress was either dating or is married to the translator for Megaman X5, and she noticed all the musical and design cues that showed that Megaman X5's mavericks are literally all references to the Guns and Roses. So she influenced him to make their translated names more in line with that theme. Thus we got a boss named Duff McWhalen.
I should note the village is more of a large compound that happens to be on or floating near blocks, which are growing farms and stuff. It's probably insidious in some way.
-
2014-08-16, 06:09 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2014
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Alright, world building! It reminds me of Trigun, with the rampant struggle in the face of an impossible disaster.
I keep forgetting that there are characters other than Mahad, Lena, Cortes, Oslo and Diwan. I really should watch an episode or two, even if it's just to see the Symbiot. (why couldn't they have brought it with them? If it can't leave the block, get a few dozen ships and drag the block back home. If it scares off Oslo and can be controlled by an ally, then it's a valuble resource. And you could start a monster zoo: 'Pay to see the terrifing beastie! It funds our rebellion against the Sphere!' But I digress, before somebody starts making Symbiote/Durkoala fanart.)
Well, I expect that next episode will be attacking somewhere important, like the prison, now that we have a hole in the sphere's defences. If it is the prison, Meela (?) will probably reveal something to drive the next series, but I don't know if she will be rescued or not. We might see some of the disappeared characters return to help out. There might even be an actual trap.
Also, if Diwan's a Sejun, shouldn't she be able to fly when knocked over the edge?Spoiler: Pixel avatar and Raincloud Durkoala were made by me. The others are the work of Cuthalion.
Cuteness and Magic and Phone Moogles, oh my! Let's Watch Card Captor Sakura!Sadly on asmallhiatus.
Durkoala reads a book! It's about VR and the nineties!
-
2014-08-16, 08:21 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Understandable. Also, I can't help but imagine how that zoo would go. Pay to see the amazing Symbiont! And then they pay and go into a room and there is basically nothing in it because it's practically invisible.
Here's hoping! Also it's spelt Mila according to the credits. Diwan's not the strongest Seijun, and we've yet to actually see someone fly freely with their Seijun powers. The most we've seen is a hover.
-
2014-08-16, 12:10 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2014
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
That was the general idea: set up some empty rooms, maybe with
some guyMahad standing just out of sight with a leaf blower, and tell the public that the monster is invisible but if you look closely you might see it move.
If anybody actually sees it wrecking invaders, they might even believe that, as they know it exists. If you want to be serious,put it in a dark room. The lightning monster will show up easily.
So is Lena stronger than Diwan? I bet Oslo will do some flying when it's his turn to fight.Spoiler: Pixel avatar and Raincloud Durkoala were made by me. The others are the work of Cuthalion.
Cuteness and Magic and Phone Moogles, oh my! Let's Watch Card Captor Sakura!Sadly on asmallhiatus.
Durkoala reads a book! It's about VR and the nineties!
-
2014-08-16, 12:57 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2005
- Location
- Australia
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
This is a stealth fighter:
Spoiler
This is a stealth bomber:
Spoiler
Stealth doesn't mean invisible, stealth means hard to detect. Those craft have paint that absorb radar, are shaped to deflect radar unusually, and are painted the colour of the night sky (which is not black). They aren't completely invisible to radar or visual detection measures, but they are a lot harder to detect, hence stealth.
Also, stealth missions in video games and stealth in real life means sneaking/not being seen, not invisibility. I'm really not sure how you got the impression that stealth = invisibility...
So, we now know how recently the Earth splitting was, within three generations. So, people still knowing/associating with previous cultures and locations is not all that far fetched at all.
Cortes was the one doing the lying.
Yeah, I thought of this too, but it is possible to tailor a distress signal so that only a select group recognises it as one.
She's seen the crew on numerous occasions, and probably has profiles of them.
Just a couple of notes here, and sorry for seeming like apendantpedant, but I figure you'd appreciate the knowledge. I think you might have picked up a slightly incorrect use of digress. Digress means going off-topic, "I have digressed a little from the main topic" means that you've drifted away from the main point or discussion. The line "but I digress" is not technically 100% grammatically correct, but it has been used for so long that it is generally understood. It means "but I have digressed from the main topic". So, you have used that correctly, at least in so far as it has been used historically, it's just from the rest of the sentence it appears that you have used it to mean "but I must return to the original conversation", which leads me to think you may have misunderstood it.
---
Also, it's probably worth mentioning to everyone that it's symbiont, as Symbiote is something different (actually, symbiote is sometimes used as well, it's just much rarer than the preferred term).
"My Hobby: Replacing your soap with gravy" by rtg0922, Doll and Clint "Rawhide" Eastwood by Sneak
-
2014-08-16, 01:56 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2011
- Location
- Canada
- Gender
Re: Lets Watch: Skyland
Yeah, Lena is much stronger then Diwan.
I am aware I just...got distracted by cake and forgot to finish my thought to mention those
100% true. This I'm totally okay with now. IT is also why some world building is needed for the beginning of the series
[QUOTE=Rawhide;17951855]Cortes was the one doing the lying.
I am become Typo, destroyer of writing projects.
Does Symbiont mean anything?