The Winter Court of the Insane, Philosophical Ladybug

After a discussion on Sailor Moon with someone last Friday, I felt like getting out my DiC dub DVDs and watching some. Usually I watch Sailor Moon in Japanese, but honestly, I still love the DiC dub. The characters' voices had a lot of heart and those were the voices I heard when I first tried Sailor Moon in 2002. I'm very sentimental about the DiC dub.

I felt like watching the end of R, so I pulled it out Saturday morning. After the first two of four climatic R episodes, I was thinking, "Sailor Moon season climaxes are really downers." I remembered getting depressed the last time I watched the end of S. Even in the DiC dub, the R climax kept most of its dark elements. It doesn't try to cover up Sapphire and Diamond being murdered. Sapphire's last episode was especially heartbreaking. But then the other two R episodes had a lot of squee and hope (in spite of the downer of Diamond's death). (And no, I didn't watch that silly thing after the end of the arc that was basically a clip show as everyone argued who should lead the team (or star in the show, as per the Japanese, heh). I saw that once, maybe twice, and that was enough. I rarely like clip show episodes.)

Seeing those episodes left me with some serious nostalgia. Even though I didn't see Sailor Moon in first run, the whole feel of the dub and its added Sailor Moon Says segments were so very 90s. I love the 90s and I miss their relative innocence compared to today's cynicism. The 90s, at least the early to mid 90s, were kind of an extension of the 80s in some ways. Both were lovely decades to enjoy as kids, with fun, cheesy, and wholesome shows. (And you know, honestly, I liked how most of the Sailor Moon Says segments were tailored to each episode. It was clever how they found a moral in each one that they could use. I was disappointed when towards the last of the DiC run they stopped trying and just reused old segments.)

Then I watched some YGO. I did see it in first-run, and I had nostalgia about 2002. Those years when I discovered YGO and watched it in first-run were among the happiest years of my life. Not just because of that, of course; my real life was very good then and I wasn't cynical and weary like I am now. I often long for those happy days again. Not that I don't have happy times now, and my real life is still good, but there's a lot to be said about the days of relative innocence. Evanescence's Field of Innocence sums things up pretty well (although thankfully I don't feel as despondent as the person in that song).

Later that day, I had the urge to try Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog again. I grew up with it, and as I recall, it was my first introduction to Sonic. (Either that or I saw the comics before I saw the cartoons. Now I don't remember the order.) Netflix has a few of them, so I thought I'd watch the one where Sonic tries to find Tails a new home after deciding it's just too dangerous for Tails to be with him. I last saw it ten years ago and I thought I remembered that there was only one instance of physical humor in that episode, involving something in Robotnik's eye. I had completely blocked out all the rest of the Warner Brothers humor in the climax. Sigh. As a kid, I could watch that sort of thing without batting an eye. As an adult, I have to look away and I'm still in horror anyway. And unlike Darkwing Duck, which was a really strong show that I still love in spite of that horrible Warner Brothers humor, Adventures definitely didn't have the same lush animation and storytelling quality to mean more than the violence. (Although the storylines aren't always bad; the one I watched is pretty moving, barring all that physical humor. And this line from Tails is absolutely beautiful: "Family just means the people who care about you more than anything else!" It fits perfectly for the friends as family concepts I love to write. I also loved that in spite of Sonic's obnoxious behavior, he wasn't too proud to say he loves Tails.)

Other things I noticed about Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog:

- The opening theme song, with everything forming "Sonic," is so very obnoxious.
- Sonic himself is too.
- Mobius looks weird, lol. It's always so surreal. I guess that fits the tone of the show, but it's so minimalist that it seems more sloppy and unimaginative than anything else.
- They use a bit of game music, which is awesome.

I wish they had styled Mobius like the games. Then it would look lush and gorgeous!

I'm glad Sonic isn't portrayed quite as frustrating as he was in those old series. All Sonics have a bit of an obnoxious streak, but I definitely don't remember it being that bad in Sonic X, or in the games. If Knuckles ever met Sonic from Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, he would probably not be able to refrain from punching him in the face.

Then I decided that one episode of that series at a time was more than enough to break my brain. I wanted to mend it, so I decided it was the perfect time to play a Sonic X episode and hear David Wills voice Espio. I'd wanted to do that ever since learning that he played Espio. He also plays Nesbitt, you see. My favorite Sonic X episode, where Eggman actually saves Sonic's life, also features the Chaotix. And it's one of the few episodes I have on DVD.

I definitely got a kick out of David's performance. Even though both Espio and Nesbitt have deep voices, they still sound completely different. I'd never know it was the same guy without having looked it up. I want to draw a silly picture of them staring each other down, neither very impressed with the other.

(I wonder if I'm able to draw Nesbitt recognizable. It's hard to draw him without him resembling Tristan, I discovered, since he also has a piece of hair sticking out on his forehead. Of course, with him it's more realistic and not bizarre-looking like Tristan's. LOL.)

Man, season 3 of Sonic X is dark. Of course, I always knew that, but it hits even harder when I'm not always able to deal with darker things these days. That episode is still so absolutely awesome, though. I love Eggman, totally prefer him over the Robotniks of the old 90s cartoons, and I loved that Vector figured out that Eggman was really trying to warn Sonic about the Metarex's plans instead of bragging and gloating like he said. I feel like watching the episode again.

I remember when Sonic X was coming out, I wondered if I'd be able to get used to Eggman after all the Dr. Robotniks. Well, I got used to him just fine with the first episode and enjoyed every moment of it. I wish I had more of the Sonix X episodes. I have the very first DVD, with I think 12 or 13 episodes, I have the season 2 DVD with the Sonic Adventure 1 and 2 adaptations, and I have the season 3 DVD with the last 13 episodes. I may have a few more recorded off of television. Well, I know I do, but I don't recall if any of them aren't also on those DVDs.

I wonder if I'll ever try overhauling my fic idea of doing a Sonic X version of Shadow the Hedgehog (the game). I was typing a chapter and suddenly realized, "What am I doing?!" All the alien invasions were dark for me and, I realized, too dark. Plus, to follow the game there'd be entire cities demolished later. I didn't feel I could write it. I wonder if there'd be a way to do some elements of the Shadow game while keeping the lighter feel of the first two Sonic X seasons. Probably not.

And even though I've never liked that Great Eastern doesn't make their Sonic plushies furry, I wish I'd gotten their Espio plush. Now it's out of print and GE lost the license for a while, so prices went through the roof. I heard they got the license back, and I wonder if they'll make Espio again since there's clearly a heavy demand for him.

I want to get to GameStop and see if I can find that Uncle Scrooge plush Funko made. I can't find out if it's furry, and I'm not sure how big it is because I keep hearing different sizes, so I'd like to see it in person before I decide whether to get it. I've wanted a Scrooge plush for years. He was always my favorite character on DuckTales. I did see a Scrooge plush for the reboot at Target, but I'd rather look into the classic plush from Funko first.

I also want more G1 My Little Ponies. I had a dream about going to get another one and having trouble deciding between all the new ones released. And there are a lot of new ones! In addition to the wave I just started being able to find recently, there are at least two other waves coming out! Squeeee. It's so amazing to be able to find G1 Ponies new in stores again! The inner little girl who longed for them so badly is overjoyed. It's nice that the original Ponies can still be found used from other collectors, but nothing compares to being able to get them new!

I'm also wanting to get the movable Yami Yugi and Yugi figures with Amazon gift cards. It's a struggle deciding who to get first, though. Yugi's release is tied to The Dark Side of Dimensions, so he might go out of print first, yet I really am excited about the Yami Yugi. But I'd hate if I couldn't ever get Yugi, even though I'm disappointed the duel disk can't be removed from his arm. I kind of doubt Yugi would go out of print between now and the next time I'd have enough gift cards, but you never know. But for that matter, Yami Yugi could suddenly go out of print even though you might think he'd be around longer.

So the closer we get to the DuckTales reboot, the more I dread it. Most people seem to get more excited the more they learn, while I get more uneasy. My suspicions that it will be a mix of DuckTales and comic elements are shared by others. Of course, the thing that worries me most about bringing in comic elements is that Scrooge just wasn't as close to his family in the comics, whereas their bond in the series was probably the sweetest thing about it. I just watched a YouTube video where someone was musing at length on that point. My one hope for the new series is that Launchpad made a cute quote about family, so perhaps family will still be a driving force.

Of course, in the end, eh, it's just a TV show and if I don't like it I can always put on the classic. Which I'm sure I will do even if I do end up liking the new one. They just released the opening and it's fun enough. I'm glad Glomgold will be sticking to his TV series roots instead of his comic roots. But still super leery overall. Also really hoping it won't be a period piece like the comics.... I think that would depress me.

Ah well. I need to think about other matters, like how to celebrate Christopher Cary's birthday today. I dug up a trailer for a movie he made called Beyond the Universe and squeed all over that he was in the trailer. It's not my kind of movie at all; I hate post-apocalyptic stuff. But I'd watch it for him. It looks like his part in it is pretty big.

Maybe later today I'll watch his Riptide episode.

Also, still having a ball with my slice-of-life fic. I hope the readers won't be annoyed by its presence. It's mainly a bunch of conversations tying up loose ends from the prior fic, but there's also a mini-conflict and some hints of things to come.

Finally, we do have hot water again! Squeee!