The Legend of Korra Series Finale ABSOLUTELY SPOILERS!!!

ABSOLUTELY STAY AWAY IF YOU HAVE NOT YET FINISHED THE LEGEND OF KORRA.

If there is one thing this blog could be known for it is my forever gushing over The Legend of Korra series. And this will be no different. In fact, this will be the most gushing-est thing that I have aver written.

Season 4 began with a lot of oomph. Korra was not the strong and confident person that we had come to know over the course of the last few years. Her fight with Zaheer left her deeply scarred both mentally and physically. Korra spends a lot of time just trying to get back to the level of power that she had in the previous three seasons. It takes her the majority of this final season to not only find herself again, but become an even better person than she was before. But beyond that is where this season kind of flops. It felt like a huge crawl. And this seems to be pretty consistent with Korra. The majority of a season will feel a little slow and then the season finale will shake it all up. Getting things to a glorious boiling point that makes it all worthwhile. This 4th and final season was very much the same. Only this time, the payoff was far greater than any other season.

Every shot in the two-part finale is astonishing. They really pulled out all of the stops here. Despite being in it's fourth season, these episodes manage to implement something entirely new, never before seen in the series in nearly every shot. Scenes of fantastic, sweeping grandeur. More than a few beautifully done continuous shots where there are no cuts, but fantastic fight scenes. As an animator, I was driven to tears seeing all of the impressive feats happening here in such rapid succession! It was spiritual, I tell ya!

The recap episode that we saw this season was proof that the production team was having a budget issue. Too often an animated show will receive a budget cut. And too often, the first place where this will show is in the finale. I am so, so proud of the creators' wise decision to invest all they had into the series finale. It really shows that this was carefully crated with love. In any story, the ending is paramount. None of what comes before matters if you don't give your audience a satisfying ending. Other shows have given us a long and exciting ride only to fizzle out on us at the end. Sometimes, those final episodes are next to non-existent. I won't name any names...

But I will point fingers.

The return of Asami's father who was imprisoned way back in season 1. His last sacrifice and shot at redemption. Mako's destroying of the war machine's core at great risk to himself. Varrick's engagement and hasty marriage to Zhu Li. The genius uses and reiterations of "do the thing". At the beginning of the season, we were introduced to Prince Wu of the Earth Kingdom. He was entirely spoiled, annoying, and unlikable as a character. Even Wu has his moment to really shine in the finale and becomes not only tolerable, but a serious joy to watch. In fact, his entire role throughout this is one of my favorite parts of the finale. It is important to note that at no point did Korra enter the avatar state and become the badass defender of the world. She could have not have done anything without the great supporting cast that we have come to love over the last few years. It blows my mind how well the writers were able to give nearly every character a satisfying role and ending. Save for perhaps Bolin and Opal. Like, what happened there? Their relationship was seriously on the rocks and here at the end we get virtually no screen time of the two together.

As if any of that was not enough, the last few seconds might just be the greatest shock of all. A relationship between Korra and Asami is heavily, unmistakably implied. At the end of season 3, some people saw a little bit of a spark of this beginning. But of course, I (and a lot of others, I'm sure) thought this was not the way it was going to go. "They're just good friends". Wrong. This series has been known to push the boundaries of what is okay for a "children's show" (remember that time we watched Zaheer suffocate the queen of the earth kingdom to death, cause I certainly do). But this is different. This is something entirely new for not only Avatar, not only animated shows, not only children's programming, but not even television as a whole. This is an incredibly bold ending that is certain to be the cause of controversy for a very long time. I never could have seen it coming. And I for one approve of this move entirely.

Much of the 4th season felt a little lackluster to me. But these final two episodes went above and beyond anything that I could have expected. The animation, the voice acting, the drama, the filmography, the writing. All were masterfully done. So beautifully. As if somehow this finale was constructed from an atomic level to be everything that a series finale should be. And I do not feel that I am exaggerating here.

Thank you for reading, and as always, GOD Bless.

Rest In Peace, Robin Williams

Celebrity death hoaxes are disgracefully common in our society nowadays. So when I woke up today from a heavy nap to a text telling me that Robin Williams had passed, I thought for sure it had to be somebody's awful idea of a joke. What I came to find later was a sad, sad truth.

I won't bother repeating what others may have already said about this great man. And I won't pore over the grim facts. Instead, I will choose to honor him. I'm going to share with you some of my all-time favorite Robin Williams moments.

Robin Williams had fantastic roles in both live-action films as well as some animated features. 

If we're talking about Robin's voice-acting roles, then we'll get the obvious out of the way. Robin brought life to one the most beloved characters in any Disney film ever made. Genie is unlike any other Disney character. He bounces around and makes reference to pop culture of the 90s in a way that is second only to maybe Hercules. We aint' ever had a friend like you, Robin.

Forgive the Chinese text at the end, it's in HD!

A lesser-known character that Mr. Williams voiced was Batty the Bat from Ferngully. The obscurity of this movie was made clear when I discovered how impossible it was to track down a quality video of this. Never the less,this is one of the best songs in any animated film, I gotta say.

Who doesn't love off-screen recordings?

And as a huge fan of both Robin Williams and Zelda, a little part of me was screeching over these commercials for Ocarina of Time 3D

And lastly is this beautiful scene from one of my all-time favorite movies, What Dreams May Come. The themes of  this film may prove to be a little too bittersweet for me to watch it again any time soon, given the current circumstances. But the imagery in this film is something that I won't forget for a long time.

Robin also played a minor role as a voice actor in the film AI Artificial Intelligence. A movie that holds a special place in my heart as one of the films that makes me cry like Niagara Falls every. single. time.

Robin starred in many other films that are so, so beloved by many of us. And there are quite few that I'm not awfully familiar with. But you can be sure that I will be catching up on those post-haste.  

At the time of his passing, Robin actually left behind some films that you can look forward to. 

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb will release in December of this year. (He makes an amazing Teddy Roosevelt in the other 2 films.)

He will star in a Holiday-themed comedy coming in November called Merry Friggin' Christmas. (Directed by the same folks as the recent Captain Amaerica: Winter Soldier)

Believe it or not, there were plans for a sequel to Mrs. Doubtfire, though the script was still in production at the time of Robbin's passing.

Robin brought a lot of memorable characters and moments to our lives in both our childhood and into adulthood. My condolences to his family in an incredibly rough time.

Thank you for reading, and as always, GOD Bless.

METAL GEAR SOLID V THE PHANTOM PAIN TRAILER E3 2014

I know, I know. Why the heck have I been posting a bunch of trailers for upcoming things? Well, because frankly, these things are amazing. However, the particular trailer that I'm sharing with you today is one that I believe to be a brilliant piece of art in and of itself. The fact that it's here to showcase a more complete product simply boggles my mind.

The song that plays over the duration of the trailer is both haunting and catchy. Nuclear by Mike Oldfield definitely fits the mood and themes of the game. I can't get it out of my head; it's on all my playlists. I'll gladly watch this over and over until the game releases in 2015. At the moment, it's slated to release for both PS3 and PS4. Hopefully, I still won't have to buy a PS4 to play it by the time it comes out.

Thanks for putting up with my sharing of trailers and overall nerding-out-ness.

Thanks for stopping by and GOD bless you, eh.

The Legend of Korra Season 3 Trailer!

If you've been paying this site even once cent of attention, you know that I am absolutely  an enormous fan of The Legend of Korra; touting the series on quite a high pedestal with such statements as "the greatest animated show on television",  "grandiose story with fantastic animation", "a pioneer in an era of cheaply made educational shows". All these statements were actually made within one single paragraph, people. 

FACTS! Read my thoughts on Book 2 while you got free time, eh.

So of course I can't just sit idly be when a glorious new trailer appears! Check it out. Let your mouth water. Indulge in the sweet, chocolaty goodness of promised things to come.

I actually don't want to do much speculating over this, so I'll just let the trailer speak for itself.

Thanks for dropping by and GOD bless.

Requiem for Romace by Jonathan NG

Very moving dramatization of a break-up via phone call. Very unique animated watercolor backgrounds. Canadian animation blowing my mind again. Considering moving to Canada for animation schooling...

I ALSO HIGHLY RECOMMEND WATCHING THE MAKING OF VIDEO HERE!

The Legend of Korra Season 2 (complete) - THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS!

Once more, this post contains spoilers. If you haven't watched this season in it's entirety, you'll probably want to steer clear of this post.

I may have jumped the gun with my earlier review of The Legend of Korra's second season; also known as Book 2: Spirits. I had previously stated that the first half of this season felt a little too unfocused and cliche. (Read that review HERE if you haven't yet)

About halfway through the season, Korra gets amnesia. AMNESIA!! As far as I'm concerned, amnesia is the greatest tool that you could ever use in stroytelling. When has amnesia ever been an effective tool of stroytelling? The fact that this was made into a cliffhanger for one episode, makes the impact all the more awful. It was at this point that I decided I had had enough and I actually took a pretty long break from watching this show.

When I returned, I got a great surprise. For 2 episodes, the focus of the show shifts onto another story entirely. I know that I've been complaining about a lack of central focus, but this one I can excuse. We are introduced to Avatar Wan, the very first Avatar. The entire art style of the show was changed for these 2 episodes, and to great effect. It felt so refreshing and it just demanded my attention so strongly. The first episode focused on certain revelations about what exactly The Avatar is and how it came to be. It also introduced us two new key characters in understanding what The Avatar is. Raava, the spirit of light and Vaatu, the embodiment of darkness. As much as I enjoyed all these things coming to light, the 2nd episode in particular was fantastic. I'm not usually one to go crazy for battle scenes, since they're usually pretty lazily done and visually boring. The battle between Wan and Vaatu was possibly the greatest animated battle I have ever seen. Never did I think I could get such goosebumps from watching this show, much less this season.

An issue that I had was that by the end of this whole Avatar origin story was that Korra immediately had her memories return; making that whole element really irrelevant. Why was it included? Was it a cheap shot at a cliffhanger? I still don't know.

Korra then travels The journey into the Spirit World was also visually refreshing as well as just plain interesting. Yet another locale for this season. It's just all over the place. We're in The North Pole, Republic City, we're in the ancient past, we're in the spirit world, we're at the air temple, we're in some random island where old women give Korra a hallucinogenic dreams. EVERYWHERE. And it is such a contrast to the first season where we stayed just in Republic City. But The spirit world is different. Things change and bend in impossible ways. People travel instantly. Laws of physics are broken. Plus, you get a few shocking cameos in there from the original Avatar series.

The final battle between Vaatu and Korra feels a little goofy. Vaatu and Unalaq fuse to create a giant generic man-shaped blob of...spirit energy. And Korra transforms into I giant version of herself made of...spirit energy. It's all kind of cheesy and unnecessary. Overall, I enjoyed it, but I'm kind of ashamed of saying so. It just feels so wrong.

This season ends with it's loose ends a little too well tied up, just like the first season. Only this time, the entire world of The Avatar series is changed. Spirits now intermingle with the world of mortals. Once again, I get thoughts like "How can they possibly continue from here?" and "Why didn't they just let at least a little bit of one season spill into the next?" and "Why make it to where each season is virtually unrelated to the next?". They do plan on making a 3rd season, but I have no idea what they can do. And if they do, I doubt it can top this season. But of course, these are all things that I said of this season before it's release too. So I have faith that the shows creators can prove me wrong again and create a really stellar show.

I may have a lot of gripes with it, but this show still is what I believe to be the greatest animated show on television. This is what TV animation can be. It can be mature and still be okay for children to watch. It can be a grandiose story with fantastic animation. Children's TV shows are too often overly simplified and really kind of insulting to kids. We don't respect our children's ability to understand a larger story. Kid's are smart, people. And you know what? They eat this stuff up. This show represents what I want to see more of. It is a pioneer in an era of cheaply made educational shows. Kids can learn a lot through shows with deeper meaning; shows with emotional content. Shows with physical and emotional strife and how to combat it. Things that I believe are outstandingly more important that teaching a child how to count to ten over and over and over again. I know that that has little to do with the show itself, so I'll save it for a later posting since I just now realized how passionate I am about this. 

Thanks for reading and GOD bless you.

The Real James Baxter

If you're a fan of Adventure Time, you've probably seen a recent episode that features a ridiculous new character; James Baxter the Horse. If you haven't seen the episode, here's a quick wiki description of the character:

James Baxter is a horse who travels around the Land of Ooo, cheering people up by balancing himself on a beach ball and neighing out his own name, "James Baxter." He is voiced by, and named after the animator James Baxter. He seems to come out immediately after someone becomes lonely, depressed, or starts crying. When James Baxter is done for the day, he deflates his beach ball, folds it into a hat, places it on top of his head, and trots away.

I noticed right away that there was something different about James Baxter. There was something in the way he moved. The animation on this character alone was so much smoother than anything else around him. The flowing hair in his mane and the smoothness in his steps were so smooth. It contrasted so much with the usual animation of the show that he couldn't help but shine on screen. This perplexed me to end. Why? Why this horse alone?

I recently began the habit of listening to animation podcasts during the ludicrous amounts of downtime at my job as a dishwasher at a hospital. One episode actually featured an animator by the name of James Baxter! Suddenly, everything made a lot more sense! As it turns out, James Baxter is a well-known and much-loved animator that has been in the industry for quite a while.

This handsome fella' right here!

James Baxter both animated and provided the voice for his Adventure Time horse counterpart. Which explains why the animation on this one character was absolutely stunning. James has worked on a lot of amazing stuff. The very first film that he worked on was Who Framed Roger Rabbit! Can you believe that? First job as an animator and he's working on what later became one of the most well-known and much-loved animated features of all time! At the age of only 21! My envy is through the roof!

James Baxter later worked on a ridiculous number of great animated films! The Little Mermaid, The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Lion King, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Prince of Egypt, Road to El Dorado, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Sinbad, Shrek 2, Madagascar, Curious George, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and far more than I am going to list! 

Wow

I may be in love

But in all seriousness, this guy is nothing short of amazing! The three-part podcast that he is featured in spans a bit over 2 hours and is so full of great tips and insight on the world of animation. I felt so inspired by this guy's story as I washed dishes at the same age as he was when he worked on Roger frickin' Rabbit! If you're an aspiring animator or are just a fan of animation, I highly recommend you listen to the three-part podcast. The recordings are actually from a few years back! 2008, in fact! But the amount of things that I learned is just priceless and timeless!

If you want to take a listen to this great interview by The Animation Podcast, you can find them for free on iTunes. Thank you for reading, and God bless you.