Reviewing D&D 5E Monsters - Planescape - Morte's Planar Parade, Part 2

  

This is part two of my coverage of Morte's Planar Parade, the Planescape bestiary for 5th Edition. I did a longer deep-dive into Planescape's lore. I really have been dipping a fair bit into the original Planescape books from 2nd Edition thanks to this, and I do really feel like it deserves a bestiary and a setting guide that is a lot more extensive than this. It's kind of a similar feeling to what I felt with Spelljammer, although to an admittedly lesser extent. Planescape at least gave us a lot of subgroups like Archons, Guardinals, Demodands, Rilmanis and the expanded Modron family. 

Anyway, this has been a pretty fun run! Reviewing the Monster Manual again is fun, of course, but it's always great to venture out and talk about monsters that are a lot more atypical to your regular fantasy setting. 

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• Click here for the index.

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Kolyarut

• Medium Construct (Inevitable); Lawful Neutral; CR 20

A group of enemies I found particularly fascinating in the pages of the 3.5E are the Inevitables. Perhaps not their visual design, where they are merely more elaborate contracts. But the idea of a divinely-created race of constructs who existence is to ensure that certain 'inevitable' aspects of the cosmos is maintained is such an interesting idea to me. We got the Marut represented in 5th Edition with a significant change in design, but more or less the same concept. For a while, though, it seemed like 5E didn't really care to adapt the rest of the Inevitables, merely relegating the role of the Inevitable to the strongest among their ranks, the Marut.

But lo and behold, the Kolyarut makes its 5E appearance in Planescape, with an interesting twist. Kolyarut is now both the name of a type of Inevitable, but also its leader, The Kolyarut, which was created by Primus of the Modrons. Capital-The Kolyarut hangs out in Sigil, and acts as the ultimate judge and arbiter of binding terms and contracts. And if some enforcement or investigation is needed, The Kolyarut will send out Maruts to enforce the terms of the contracts, and fragments of itself -- the Kolyrauts given a stat block here -- to be both investigator/detective and enforcer. 

The original 3E Kolyarut is merely just a robot man with some Greco-Roman robes. 5E's Kolyarut is a four-armed robot with blades. Star Wars General Grievous jokes notwithstanding, I feel like they could've done something more interesting here visually. The Marut redesign was a very distinctive steampunk/clockpunk design with a strange organic eyeball within. The Kolyarut just feels rather... basic, really. I still enjoy the lore of the Inevitables, and having these multiversal robo-detectives running around is neat, but I kind of wished they didn't look so bland. 

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Maelephant

• Large Fiend; Lawful Evil; CR 10

Ah, monster elephants! When I first saw the Maelephants, I kind of rolled my eyes at what's just another monstrous animal-man. 5E did give a nice reinvention to the Maelephant that makes it a bit more monstrous while still keeping the base silhouette -- the 5E Maelephant has several spidery eyes on its head (or perhaps it's a helmet?) and has rather exaggerated tusks and spiky armour that sets it apart from a mere elephant-man like the Loxodon. The end result is a monster that only appears to have the head of an elephant instead of just being a cartoon elephant man, which is what this design is meant to be. 

Maelephants are fiends that unleashes toxic fumes from their trunk that specifically saps memory. In the game, this is represented by a Maelephant's opponents to temporarily forget their combat training, spellcasting abilities and proficiencies; leaving them vulnerable to the Maelephant's considerable strength and to follow the orders of whatever fiendish allies. They are apparently extremely faithful to whatever sinister contract that they have entered, putting them as lawful evil. 

I find them quite interesting. Elephant devils that absorb memory isn't a connotation I would've made on my own, but I do find this guy to be quite neat. 

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Modron - Decaton

• Large Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 8

Gasp, can it be? Modron expansion? Yes! The original Monster Manual brought the Modrons to a spotlight in modern D&D, but only the weakest Modron variants, all the way up to the Pentadrone. Planescape brings in the top dogs of the Modron race, the hierarchs whose names end in -ton. We are actually counting backwards in terms of power, starting off with the Decaton and moving up until we get all the way to Primus. 

And right away you can see the difference in the aesthetics of the Decaton from the monstrous octopus-creature in 1E with the mouth of a dead fish. 2E and 5E both give us a more mechanized take of the generally same body design, interpreting the starfish tentacles as metallic limbs. I must say that I like the 2E 'steampunk' design a lot more. 5E has this obsession of giving the Modrons weirdly and contrastingly human features... which worked out for them a bit. The 5E Decaton has the Monodrone's very human eyeballs and lips, which is fine... but also has a pair of baby legs that it walks around in, which I find to be supremely disturbing. I don't know. I just don't feel like I can take the Decaton particularly seriously with those legs. 

Keep in mind that the Decaton is a large creature, too, and you can see the scale to a normal human helmet that it's manipulating in its ten tentacles. A Decaton has ten tentacles and ten eyes, and their function is to monitor the physical well-being of the Modron minions. They are able to unleash lightning bolts from their eyes, and all the Modron hierarchs have the ability to plane shift and cast buffing spells. 

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Modron - Nonaton

• Large Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 10

Going up another rank is the Nonaton, which... yeah, just looks weird in 1E. 2E and 5E reinvents the Nonaton as a snake/caterpillar robot with the single eye and mouth on the end. I like the Nonaton's design a lot more than the Decaton, for the simple reason that we got rid of weird fleshy baby-feet. Fleshy eyes and luscious lips are good enough for the strange contrast that the 5E design team wants. 

I do like the Nonaton as well, with four pairs of arms running down its serpentine body, and the ninth arm popping up from the center of its head. Nonatons, interestingly, are the enforcers of Mechanus, being in charge of hunting down rogue units (which is a plot point emphasized in both Monster Manuals' entries for the Modrons), and also interrogate any interlopers that come to Mechanus. Most importantly, it is able to summon a massive pillar of truth that forces anyone that enters it to revert into its natural form. 

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Modron - Octon

• Large Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 11

I actually love the original 1E design of the Octon, with its design best described as a plate with alien tentacles, stubby feet, and a pointy head-like organ. 2E redesigns the Octon into a rather boring design that's just a more elaborate Quadrone, and 5E also redesigns it to a rather mundane octopus-bot with a semi-dome head. I don't think this newest design even feels like a 'Modron', and most certainly not one that's supposed to be higher-up in 'evolutionary' ranking compared to all the Modrons we've seen before. I don't know. They don't quite feel like 'part of the set', if you know what I mean? 

Anyway, Octons oversee daily governance, collecting and providing data to other heirarchs both above and below them. Their unique attack is a rather bland 'whirlwind attack'. I don't know. Design-wise it's a cute octopus/jellyfish robot, but as part of a set in the Modrons, it really feels off. 

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Modron - Septon

• Large Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 12

The Septons were also a lot more elaborate, alien-looking affairs in 1E and 2E. But in 5E, it's just... another almost-fully-mechanical robot. I do like that it at least still has eyeballs, with a tiny moncular head, and two eyeballs floating on top of two of its seven tentacle-claws. But once more, I would like to reiterate that this just feels like a random robot. There's nothing that screams 'Modron' visually from him, and you could say that these guys are part of the Rilmani or something and I'd believe you. I don't know... if you introduced a pattern for most of a type of creature and drop it without any real reason, they just feel off, you know?

Septons are the auditors of base Modrons, ensuring that operations are in perfect order. They also record stuff, so that kind of makes the Octons' jobs a bit more redundant. They have a 'lightning network' attack. And... I don't know. Maybe if the writers cared a bit more to give the more powerful heirarchs more interesting roles, I would be able to forgive their more generic-robot designs.

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Modron - Hexton

• Huge Construct; Lawful Neutral; CR 13

And I mean, I wouldn't want the Modrons to be just 'weird organic aliens with some metal parts' like what the 1E and 2E Hexton turned out into, but 5E went the other way and made the Hexton into just a big, lumbering iron giant with a single organic eye. Again, this just doesn't feel like a Modron, but just a random generic big mecha. 

The Hexton is of the 'huge' size class, and the artwork we see it in has it looming over a Septon and two Octons that are barely half its height. Hextons serve as field generals that command troops, and are often the leaders of the Great Modron Marches. The 'hex' thing extends to the six glowing spikes in their body... which, again, feels a bit boring. They kind of also just dropped the whole geometry thing, didn't they? How is this a Modron? This is just a giant robot that shoots lightning bolts. 

It is a bit of a letdown, really. I admittedly wasn't a fan of the original Planescape's take on the hierarch Modrons just turning into weird 'Frankenstein' cyborgs with random amalgamations of organic and robotic parts (and it gets increasingly human-like as we go up the Quinton, Quarton, Tertian, Secundus and Primus), but making them fully robotic, particularly after all the previous Modron variants have had a rather consistent 'uncanny organic features on geometric shapes' theme feels very odd. 

I was actually quite excited when I flipped through this book and saw that we're getting some Modron expansion, but they didn't really give us much lore, and the three stronger Modron hierarchs just didn't get anything interesting either visually or lore-wise. I don't tend to be so negative in my D&D monster reviews unless I have a strong opinion, but in this case I definitely do. 

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Planar Incarnate

• Gargantuan Celestial or Fiend; Any Alignment; CR 22

We've got a more abstract creature here, which does fit with the whole 'Planescape' setting. I will readily admit that these sort of more ambiguous-looking creatures are not my cup of tea in monster design, although I recognize the need for them. Essentially, the Planar Incarnates are pure, fundamental expressions of the Upper and Lower Planes made manifest, roiling energies with features distinct to whichever heaven or hell analogue it is birthed out of. It's like elementals, but instead of embodying fire or water, the Planar Incarnates embody good and evil -- such as D&D's cosmology defines them, anyway.

Morte's Planar Parade gives us an example of a good one and a bad one, with the Lower Plane Planar Incarnate being a ball of hellish rock and flame, while the Upper Plane has like miniature copies of the idyllic grasses and buildings on it. Planar Incarnates are noted to appear to protect their home from destructive or antithetical forces, before melding and merging back to their plane of origin. This does raise some questions -- do they always appear when a sufficiently powerful antithetical force enters their plane? What does this mean for the Blood War between the lawful evil devils and the chaotic evil demons; why are the Planar Incarnates not involved there? 

The Planar Incarnate itself is a whopping CR 22 creature, but I honestly don't find its abilities all that interesting. Other than generic attacks and legendary resistances, its 'planar exhalation' is a very simple necrotic/radiant breath weapon. I know 5E is moving away from being so alignment-focused, but I felt like Planescape would be the setting to do an exception. 

Being a bit curious about what they are in the original Planescape, I ended up looking them up... and the original Incarnates (not 'Planar'!) are far more interesting to me. Incarnates are embodiments of specifically abstract principles, and exist as balls of light that gravitate towards planes and beings that suit their individual aspects. And when they possess a being, they will essentially enhance that quality in whoever they possess. The evil incarnates are the seven sins in Christianity (anger, greed, envy, lust, gluttony, pride and sloth) and the good incarnates are the seven virtues (charity, courage, hope, faith, temperance, wisdom and justice). Even if the designers wanted to stay away from the more religious themes, I felt like being incarnations of like, lawful obedience or chaotic freedom or whatever would be way more interesting than 'big blob cloud go smash'.

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Razorvine Blight

• Medium Plant; Neutral Evil; CR 1

This is kind of cute. The idea of Razorvine has been around since the original 2nd Edition Planescape Campaign Setting, with Razorvine itself being likened to the 'kudzu of the Outer Plains'. Location-specific hazards are one of the sorts of things you kind of take for granted, but does end up adding up to the flavour that gives your locations some identity. Now 2E's Razorvines are just that, spiky vines that can drain vitality. 

But with the Blights slowly rising to prominence across the newer editions, I love that they decided to merge the two together and create the Razorvine Blight. Regular Blights are created from a powerful vampire's curse, but Razorvine Blights are created by vampiric blood spilling upon a clump of Razorvine. Most of them are just ambush predators, acting like regular Blights... but the entry also notes that the Razorvine Blights are exposed to so much life and variety in the city that they sometimes mimic the behaviours of beings in it; and a particularly notable Razorvine Blight has actually spread copies of itself across the city, creating a one-plant spy network. That's cool!

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Rilmani - Aurumach Rilmani

• Large Celestial; Neutral; CR 17

And now we have the Rilmani, who were introduced in older editions as weird-looking metal men. And... again, they kind of look a bit boring concept-wise, the nice 2E art notwithstanding. The Rilmani are redesigned to be a lot more angular, a lot more geometric in 5th Edition, and... while I don't agree fully with just how sci-fi they look now, I will absolutely admit that this helps them stand out a lot more. Rilmani are mainly associated with the Outlands, and they represent the alignment of True Neutral. Rilmani want to maintain the equilibrium between good, evil, law and chaos, because they view all of these as fundamental to the multiverse's existence. Thus they try to ensure that no force over-exerts itself in the balance of the cosmos. 

This is something that I feel is quite specific to the setting of Planescape and the clash of ideas between the different planes, and I feel like many of the other celestial, fiend, law and chaos factions actually do this a bit more interestingly. Just being a fence-sitter that makes sure everyone gets the same share of cosmic territory doesn't feel particularly exciting or easy to work into stories. 

The Rilmani are also all metallic thematically -- which brings them in rather close conceptual theme with Metallic Dragons, Modrons or Inevitables. They go for a very angular, more abstract-sculpture looking design. Starting off with the most powerful is the Aurumach Rilmani, representing the metal of gold. They've got got a mouthless head that's floating off a slender body and is orbited by several floating spires. They normally wait within the Outlands, only appearing when the risk of planar collapse is about to happen, fighting with their spells and manifested blades.

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Rilmani - Cuprilach Rilmani

• Medium Celestial; Neutral; CR 12

Next in line for the Rilmani is the Cuprilach (copper), and I find the design of the two trooper Rilmanis to be a lot more interesting. The Cuprilach has legs that are still metallic, but not robotic -- the legs are bent in weird ways that wouldn't look too weird on like a demon or something. There's an orb on the hips, and then the upper body is just hovering on top of it. I like the head, too, which appears to be an eyeless cobra hood ending in mandibles. 

Cuprilachs infiltrate places of power, serving the Rilmani as spies and assassins. They have spells that allow them to disguise themselves or to infiltrate, and they will follow the Aurumachs without question or emotion, and are single-minded at completing their mission. 

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Rilmani - Ferrumach Rilmani

• Medium Celestial; Neutral; CR 9

The weakest Rilmani is the Ferrumach, which feels a bit more mundane as a robot. I do like the angular head and shoulder-pads, and the extremely strange design of the legs. This is kind of what I want to see in 'fantasy robots', which I didn't find particularly interesting with the 5E Kolyarut and to a lesser extent the Aurumach, both of which wouldn't look too out-of-place as Star Wars extras. There's something about the Ferrumach's proportions that make it look a lot more like something that magic would create. 

Ferrumachs are footsoldiers and are relatively single-minded at, again, obeying the orders of their Aurumachs. Their arms can transform into blades, and they can shoot these at the enemy. I find the designs of the Rilmani to be a bit interesting, but I also find their lore to be quite... a bit too underdeveloped for my tastes. This is another thing that I feel I needed to go back to the 2E work to really understand what's going on with them. 

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Sunfly

• Tiny Celestial; Chaotic Good; CR 0 (regular)
• Medium Swarm of Tiny Celestials; Chaotic Good; CR 1 (Swarm)

It's a little buddies! I think these are new to 5th Edition, and they sure are... interesting? Sunflies are obvious mascot material, and they've got head of a smiling cow-thing, a huge fuzzy body with bumblebee wings, bug legs, and a stinger tail. And they are colourful. The Sunflies move around different Outer Planes, and they act as a bit of a barometer on how 'healthy' a plane is. When the planes they are in struggle, so are the planes around them. Sunflies are also able to inject a specific toxin to other creatures, and these toxins have different effects depending on which plane you are in. Apparently, in the city of Sigil, Sunflies are treated as very valuable pets. 

They are neat, but I also feel like every setting in D&D is a bit obsessed at churning out a brand-new 'cute' thing that sometimes feel a bit forced. In the Sunfly's case, they don't really scream 'plane-hopping being' to me, nor does the artwork really feel like this is a creature easily mutated by other planes. I would find them more interesting if they showed off proper plane-touched Sunflies. But maybe I'm just cynical here, but I feel like they just added the Sunfly to potentially sell more cutesy merchandise. I don't know. I'm very indifferent about these guys. 

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Time Dragon

• Gargantuan/Huge/Large/Medium Dragon; Neutral; CR 26/18/11/5

We've got a new setting, and with a new setting comes a new dragon. And I think I can skip through a lot of introduction about the different size and age classes, and all that jazz. But I have a nice soft spot for the Time Dragons, and for me personally it's because of Warcraft. Warcraft's pulp novels is the first D&D-adjacent fantasy world I've stepped into, and this was before World of Warcraft popularized the game. But in the novels I read, among the five main dragonflights is the Bronze Dragons, which unlike D&D's equivalents, are actually the stewards of time. Giving all the dragonflights an aspect of reality to protect gave them such a huge level of gravitas. 

And Time Dragons are similar to this concept. Or, more accurately, Warcraft's Bronze Dragonflight are most likely based on 2E Planescape's Time Dragons. The Time Dragons from 2E were much more powerful, with their equivalent of wyrmlings being as powerful as ancient dragons of other types... but 5E 'standardized' the Time Dragons to be more or less as powerful as other dragons. It's a bit of a double-edged sword since it does make the Time Dragons feel a lot less special but it also allows you to use them as opponents beyond their baby stage. 

Anyway, these are esoteric creatures that are detached from time, and have a unique viewpoint on past, present, future, and even potential branching timelines. Their hoard revolves around keeping items preserved from ancient history and fallen cultures... and perhaps even those that have been annihilated from timelines due to time-travel shenanigans. 

Also, my god how sick are those artwork for the adults? I particularly love the full-page art for the Ancient Time Dragon, with it almost ghostly-white scales, its massive set of feathery head-horns, its long tapering beard and the halo of light in the background. Of course it's coiled around a giant hourglass. Why wouldn't you, when you are a time-controlling dragon? They have a rainbow theme around their wings, with glittering rainbow veins that are meant to suggest 'time's pathways and possibilities'.

The Wyrmling and Young Time Dragons aren't particularly interesting combat-wise, merely having a time breath that 'desynchronizes' you from the timeline and weakens them. But the Adult and Ancient variants are a fair bit more interesting, having the abilities to 'slip' through time to negate attacks and teleport, 'fling' enemies through time (essentially removing them from existence for a turn), exist in two simultaneous space/time locations at the same time, or slow down the time of an attacker. The Ancients are able to create time gates to specific times and places in the multiverse (with the limitations being deities' domains) and the Ancient Time Dragons use this ability to essentially act as the multiverse's Dr. Who, preserving fate-determining moments or to banish threats outside the flow of time. 

I really like the concept of Time Dragons. Of course, they are mostly neutral and they are beings that exist outside the general perception of time, and I like the flexibility of these Time Dragons being as likely to be antagonistic, helpful, or straight-up indifferent towards the party that encounters them. The most important thing here, of course, is that the Time Dragons are able to view the world in a much larger scale than mere adventurers, giving them a unique motivation that not a lot of creatures can compete with. 

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Vargouille Reflection

• Tiny Fiend; Chaotic Evil; CR 1

Our last creature is another twist on a somewhat more obscure monster, the Vargouille. I love the Vargouilles, and I honestly found them to be a bit of an underrated horror story for the simple reason that the 'instant-death-and-become-a-flying-demon-head' isn't really a fate you want to push onto your very happy players. The Vargouille Reflection is a Sigil variant with a unique twist... instead of reproducing into more Vargouilles that look more or less the same, the Vargouille Reflection has a little ability to mimic its enemies, terrifying that creature by appearing as their own disembodied head. 

I'm not convinced that this needs a whole stat-block, but on the other hand the artwork and the little boost to remind people that Vargouilles exist is really neat! Vargouilles are canonically like 'hell ticks' that often find themselves planarly displaced anyway, so it does make sense that they are included in a Planescape book. 

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And that is it for Morte's Planar Parade! The third half of the book deals with a bunch of humanoid factions, like the Doomguard and the Bleak Cabal and the Fraternity of Order and the Harmonium... but as I've been mentioning, I don't really care to delve too deeply into very faction-specific enemies. I also skipped Shemeshka the Arcanoloth, who is a very specific character. There are, admittedly, some omissions that I find surprising (like the Lillend) but I feel like they did a much better job at representing a lot of the things highlighted in the original Planescape setting.

I did have some grouses towards how certain things are adapted, like the Modron hierarchs and Incarnates in particular... but overall, I felt like they tried a lot more here than some other setting updates. I do really feel that for a setting like Planescape, the truncated bios and write-ups for many of these monsters really do hurt the presentation, and I feel like there really could have been a lot more context given to so many more of them that doesn't require me to flip up the older editions for reference.

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 17: Debt Collectors

Now during the dinner after the Gwynn/Ivor sequence, there's a brief moment when Taunie gets a call that the rest of us aren't privy to, and she brushes it off. 

The next day, Naveen notes how quiet everything is, and how he's finally getting some peace now that Lida and Taunie aren't causing a ruckus in the morning. He's going to catch up with his sewing commissions, and he randomly gives me a pair of performance sneakers. Okay, Naveen. Lida then rushes in and, of course, something bad's happened. Turns out that Taunie has been borrowing money to film a Hotel Z Promo Spot... and now, we're in debt to a scary group called the Rust Syndicate. 

Hold the fuck up, we are having a debt collector arc? In a Pokemon game? Huh???

Also, Taunie, wtf? You were just filming videos on your Rotom Phone. You were even dragging random people into your videos! Why do you need to borrow money for? 

Naveen is horrified, Lida is terrified... and I get a call, of course, from the Rust Syndicate. The debt collectors know that I am a kid that lives and helps out Hotel Z. I can pretend to not be me, but the Rust Syndicate representative says that there's no use playing dumb. He talks about the amount of money that Taunie has borrowed and hasn't paid back. Regular debt collector stuff. He tells us that he could show up at the hotel but it would be preferrable for a reputable business to not have debt collectors showing up and causing a scene. So he's asking for us to go to them. Going straight to their base is not the best thing to do when you're facing off against the French Yakuza, but do we have a choice? 

Lida apparently also got the same call. Naveen says that Taunie didn't borrow a ton, but the interest! The interest is out of control, and that's how they get you. Naveen says that these organizations often force you to work off your debt by doing their bidding. Yeah, I doubt Pokemon would go that dark, but it's still a surprisingly mature plot to bring up in this game. 

AZ tells us to go and try and smooth things out, saying that it is only through speaking with each other that we can hope to find a satisfactory conclusion. I mean, when you have a disagreement about politics, maybe, not when you're dealing with the French Mafia! Lida and I go off to the Rust Syndicate. 

So Lida and I arrive at the Rust Syndicate's dojo, a very Japanese-yakuza-coded building with statues of Kingambit and Weezing in the courtyard. Two grunts, a guy with a funky haircut and a lady with a very 'goopy' blonde hair, do a little jingle. "We clean the city of dirt and dust! Watch us grunts wash away the rust!" Okay, not quite as catchy as 'to protect the world from devastation', but sure. The grunts are angry when we say we're here to talk, and threaten to crush us. Unlike what the cutscene seems to imply, however, it's not a 2v2 battle -- a bit strange, since the earlier Dedenne fight showed off that this is most certainly a viable technology in this game. But okay. 

The dude grunt sends out Garbodor, followed by a Lairon. The Poison-type isn't too surprising, but the Steel-type? As I would soon figure out, the Rust Syndicate is a Poison and Steel themed team, so I guess they really, really have a beef against faeries? 

The two grunts argue at each other at whose loss is the more embarrassing one, with the female grunt insisting that her win is a 'near win'. They are interrupted by a big unit of a man, a massive dude in a fancy suit, with, uh... staples? Are those staples? And... uh... metal spikes embedded onto his facial hair. Okay. Let me not mock the French Yakuza. This man is Phillippe, and he admonishes the two grunts for not maintaining appearances and dignity in front of their organization base. The two guards kowtow for forgiveness, and Phillippe tells them that guard duty is a crucial part of their organization's charter, and they have to do it properly. 

Phillippe then addresses us, and we tell him that we're here to discuss Taunie's loan. Phillippe is the man that called me earlier, and thanks me for coming since they take loans and debts very, very seriously... before gaslighting us and saying that we are kind of horrible people for beating up his guards, 'humiliating them so thoroughly and heartlessly', and muttering if he could even 'do business with people as rude as [us]'. Phillippe then notes that it would be equally rude to send us back after we went so far, so the solution is to clearly for him to give me a thrashing in battle, and he'll call it even. 

He would be intimidating if this was the real world and he was a real yakuza intimidating two teenagers, but thankfully I have a monster centipede, a flower dinosaur, a mind-controlling psionic squid, a hippo with a parasitic shell friend, and a soul-sucking ghost chandelier on my side. Phillippe boasts that he is the top brass of the Rust Syndicate, and he won't leave me with false optimism as to how the battle will go... and we get a fight!

Phillippe is a Steel-type trainer, and he unleashes a massive, impressive Steelix upon us. Steelix spends his one turn on the field setting up Stealth Rock... and my Chandelure just unleashes a gout of Flamethrower that one-shots it. Phillippe then sends out Scizor, which doesn't even get to do anything as Chandelure breathes fire through the Stealth Rock and cooks the robo-mantis alive. 

Phillippe's ace Pokemon? It's a Skarmory! Oh! This wasn't a Pokemon I expected to get a new Mega Evolution! Honestly, I do like the rather random choices for the brand-new megas in Legends Z-A! Phillippe taps the Keystone on his lapel, and Skarmory mega evolves... into Mega Skarmory! It's, um... it's interesting. All of Skarmory's silver parts become golden, which looks pretty badass. Its secondary colour is black, but... most importantly, its talons elongate to an absurd degree. I mean, I shouldn't say absurd, some real-world birds like the jacana bird have those kinds of proportions, but it looks really weird on a Mega Skarmory that's constantly flying. 

I like it, though! For the ten seconds that it remains on screen before I mega-evolve my small chandelier into an even bigger chandelier and cook the metal bird to a crisp. 

Phillippe is shocked but regains his composure very quickly, even healing my Pokemon (yes, the 10 HP that Chandelure lost from running into Stealth Rock). Because he's a man of his word, he brings us in to do business. So Lida and I follow him into the Rust Syndicate building...

And oh boy, the presentation! It's just a single room, but we've got two rows of guards standing rigid with their arms behind them, and we can only walk, not run, as we walk down the guard-corridor towards where Phillippe is waiting in front of the lift. It really is quite tense, and, again, the yakuza aesthetics of the building is pretty cool. There's a random Sneasel-themed bar where a lady is muttering about a 'fresh start', but we can't really interact with her now. 

After that intimidating walk, Phillippe brings us to a massive, lavish yakuza boss office with a lot of fancy decorations -- a whole Japanese sand garden, wallpaper with Steelix on it, a giant golden Kingambit statue, random katana displayed all over the place... Phillippe reports to his boss, Corbeau, the boss of the Rust Syndicate. Corbeau is an interesting design, with the same 'goopy anime hair' texture on parts of his hair and the accents of his business suit, so he clearly is a Poison-type trainer. He's got a general businessman-with-glasses look, with two dangly things off the sides of his glasses. 

Corbeau isn't too pleased that we came in place of Taunie, so at least we know that Taunie isn't being held hostage in a yakuza basement somewhere. Corbeau then asks Phillippe why we are unharmed, since Phillippe should have 'crushed our spirits' to make us more persuadable. Phillippe freely admits his defeat, which Corbeau finds interesting. The two of them have a brief discussion, which reveals to us that Phillippe was the former boss of the Rust Syndicate, but freely ceded his seat to Corbeau after seeing how much stronger he is. Corbeau also notes that he didn't really want the title of boss, but here he is. 

Corbeau then directs us to the very comfortable sofas... "our guests all love 'em. In fact, they never seem to want to leave 'em... at least, not before agreeing to everything we ask."... Okay, that is surprisingly unsettling for Pokemon's standards! I still find it rather refreshing and awesome that we're getting a somewhat more serious debt collection and yakuza subplot out of Pokemon! 

Corbeau warns us and tells us that we better make it worthwhile for him. Lida explains the situation and says that we hope to negotiate in Taunie's place. Phillippe gives a recap of the situation from his side, emphasizing how kind he was when he offered Taunie help with funding when he found Taunie helping people in the streets. It's a service, and Taunie should totally be thankful to be offered such an assistance, because after all it's the yakuza's service to provide loans to those in need! A beautiful little circle, as they helped each other in the end... and, of course, all the terms were detailed within the contract. Corbeau tells us that he totally took Taunie's well-being and capabilities in mind, asking her if she's sure, if she could pay it back, because after all she's not a pro and her videos won't be that good.

Of course, despite all of the totally-legitimate-business's warnings, Taunie's interest ballooned to ten times her original loan. Pretty typical loan shark story, really. 

Corbeau asks us what we're going to do about the situation, and we give the standard reply of 'we need more time to repay'. Corbeau decides to leave the matter of the initial 100K loan to just Taunie, but essentially gang-presses us to deal with the 1 million Poke-euro interest. Because of course this is for our own good, and this is for our sake so we don't have to deal with debt hanging over our heads. Sure! Totally for our mental wellness. 

Corbeau says that he'll give a proposal that's not too hard -- just some little jobs here and there for us.  This sounds very much like either indentured servitude (of any kind, really, including the less-PG-13 one) or that they're hiring me as drug carriers or hitmen. Lida asks what guarantee that we would have that the yakuza would follow through... and Corbeau just shrugs and says that this is the best deal we'll get, it's out of the goodness of his heart and it's up to them how much of the interest-debt they want to shave off with every job. Lida gets angry because we might end up working for them forever, but Corbeau just brushes it off as it 'probably' won't come to that. 

Lida gets a bit angry, and Corbeau also starts getting pissed off... before calming himself down because he shouldn't be losing his temper at civilians. He emphasizes that this deal is the best for all sides, and if we don't like it... he'll just show up at the hotel with the entire Rust Syndicate at his back and call to have a big, messy yakuza Pokemon showdown. 

I can actually say 'no way' in response to Corbeau's offer, but Lida immediately accepts on my behalf in panic. Corbeau thanks us for a good deal, and spins some yarn about how the job will be for the benefit of the city -- just do our best, and everything will be fine. Phillippe sees us out after the agreement, and Lida bemoans the fact that we might find ourselves indebted to the Rust Syndicate forever. Oh no!

Returning to Hotel Z, we are greeted by Naveen, Floette and AZ. Naveen is very thankful that we came back alive, and also notes that Floette was apparently ready to go full-on Light of Ruin on the yakuza base. I mean... let her! The Syndicate was ready to bring the fight to our doorstep, let's unleash the whole flower power on their base! AZ is also wholly unconcerned despite his wards just being threatened and dragged into free enforced labour by the goddamn yakuza. 

Lida starts a meeting with just Naveen and myself, essentially recapping the Rust Syndicate situation and trying to figure out where Taunie even is... only for Taunie to come in and be confused at what she has missed. Lida gets angry at Taunie, and it's at this point when Taunie realizes just how much of interest debt she had accumulated. She missed the small print in the contract! Silly Taunie. She can't even see it without zooming in!

Taunie is apologetic and feeling silly for herself, but the plot ends up being a bit interrupted by a call from Vinnie. Three more Rogue Mega Evolutions have appeared in the city, and with the Rust Syndicate not calling yet, Team MZ decides to tackle these evolutions. There is a Mawile, Ampharos and... Barbaracle! That's another new one! Another rather underrated generation VI Pokemon! I love that a lot of the Gen V and VI Pokemon are given some attention!

But before I go on a Mega hunt (or really, a side-quest hunt -- the Gwynn, Ivor and Phillippe scenes have triggered the activation of a bunch of them) I think I have decided on who's going to be my sixth party member. Chandelure and the shiny Slowbro have basically ousted out Aegislash and Greninja, thanks to the type overlap and the latter two not really having any megas. And I definitely want to use some of the newer Legends Z-A megas. Out of the ones available to me right now, Eelektross and Hawlucha speak out to me... but Hawlucha is a Generation VI Pokemon and I feel I need to have some Kalosian-originated Pokemon other than just my friend Malamar! 

Hawlucha spawns on top of some specific buildings, but they don't always spawn there! I had to do some resetting and climbing up way more times than I care to admit. But at least this time around I get an ALPHA Hawlucha! With the Hawluchanite in tow, this means that four of my six party members now have access to megas now, and I do know for a fact that the other two will get megas at some point in the game. Current party, and likely to be my final party: Meganium, Scolipede, Malamar, Slowbro, Chandelure, Hawlucha!

Next up is going to be me catching up on some side-quests, and maybe a couple of mega evolution hunting too! 

Random Notes:

• In an attempt to make us calm, AZ notes that 'the police has never moved against the Rust Syndicate', indicating that there might be more than meets the eye and that they might be a bit nicer than their population. I read it immediately as 'oh, the cops are fucking dirty'.
  
• I didn't realize the Z-A dex is a lot smaller than I thought, and as far as I can tell, neither Kingambit or Weezing are in this dex. Their pre-evolutions would've probably shown up at some point already. I think I was under the impression that like Legends Arceus we'd get all the Pokemon in the original national dex, but nope, as it turns out. We're just guaranteed all the Generation VI guys. 
• Since I've seen Mega Chandelure used by Gwynn, its stone is now on sale in Quasartico. So yeah, Chandelure is now my permanent fifth party member, replacing Aegislash. A lot of the trainer-tied mega stones become available either at Stone Emporium or Quasartico after beating the respective associated trainer, so Excadrill, Eelektross and Falinks are also available. 
• I bought the Amaura and Aerodactyl fossils and revived them for the dex! Also have been slowly staking out that one Eevee spot to catch more Eevees to get more dex entries. I don't think I care enough to do all the trading to get the full dex (boo hiss, no trading cable item in ZA) but I'll still make an attempt to. 
• I have a lot of colourful screws that I hunted during the downtime as well, which translates to a lot of experience and money bonuses! 
• Steelix's textures look really good. I don't know if this is an upgrade that Scarlet/Violet gave it. Did Steelix even appear in that game? But he actually looks like he's made of proper, glinting metal now!
• I am surprised the loan sharks didn't use a Mega Sharpedo or Mega Garchomp. Too obvious, I suppose. 
• Phillippe's quote if I re-enter the yakuza hall after the scene: "money is a very important matter. It has the power to destroy friendships."

Let's Play Pokemon Legends Z-A, Part 16: I'm Gonna Swing / From A Chandelier

So last time we left off, we did a ton of side-quests. But now we're off to do more of the Z-A Royale. I go to the Fists of Justice dojo, and I meet with Josée again, the martial arts student I beat up before in front of Wild Zone 2. Josée is shocked that I, with my protagonist powers, have shot up from Rank Y to Rank E or wherever I'm at, but she wants to fight me before she tells me where Ivor is. Josée... has a Machoke and a Medicham. I have a Malamar and a Mega Slowbro. After beating her up, Josée mutters and wonders if Team MZ has its own dojo with harsh training... but honestly, considering the Fists of Justice trains their humans instead of the Pokemon. Josée briefly talks about how she's going to providing the service of using Seeds of Mastery to turn moves into plus moves, but to be honest I genuinely don't know why I would do that. If I don't use Megas, I guess? 

Turns out that Ivor has being going around looking for his missing sister Gwynn, and right on cue Ivor bursts in and starts abusing the text size and yelling "GWYNNNNN!!!" several times. Yep, Ivor is that kind of anime character, the trope of the complete and utter meathead who yells a lot and hams stuff up. I have to say that these sorts of characters are only really ever funny for me personally when you have either a great voice actor, or really exaggerated expressions. The Pokemon games aren't really able to do that. So at least for the first half of this quest, I found Ivor a bit insufferable. 

Ivor sees me and asks if I was there to join the Fists of Justice, and I immediately say 'absolutely not'. Ivor apparently doesn't even have a Rotom Phone, and the only way for him to verify any of that is if we find Gwynn. Turns out that Ivor is such a strong man that all Rotom Phones he touches breaks if he presses them. Rotom Phones are sentient beings, Ivor, what the hell! I know Rotoms are ghosts and all, but they probably felt pain! 

Ivor says that he'll only fight me once he's sure that his sister is out of trouble, and he runs off yelling Gwynn's name again. Josée directs me to go to a detective agency, and I go there to find Ivor begging Emma to find Gwynn. Ivor, of course, is a complete moron and misunderstands Emma's requests to ask him for information to help find Gwynn. At least we've got Emma! Sadly, Emma can't immediately resolve this for us. Her partner Mimi is a bit tired and tuckered out (we get an animation for that, aww Mimi!) so she can't use her Psychic powers to locate Gwynn. Ivor explains that Gwynn's hobbies is 'going to city hall', which Emma lampshades as something... unconventional. 

So off to city hall we go! There is a running gag (heh) of Ivor just running off every time there is a slightest hint of a clue, which I won't repeat in describing. 

We reach Town Hall and Ivor is upset that we don't immediately find Gwynn. Emma and I go around and talk to the surrounding NPCs, a lot of them with dialogue bubbles that are misleading (like "I've found her!") before being a false alarm ("...my friend online!"). Finally we get a clue that says that Gwynn often goes to Centrico Plaza after visiting the Town Hall, so off we go. 

We go to the food truck run by totally not Team Flare, and the lady with the fancy hair talks with Emma. She reveals that Gwynn was just there with the 'DYN4MO Girl'... and I have the option to answer that maybe it's Tarragon. Hey, I'm not wrong! I am virtually right! In a bit of a dick move, I just immediately tell Emma that my recent promotion match against Canari took place in Racine Construction. We are ready to go...  and the Nouveau staff bemoan the fact that they actually already got Emma's coffee started. Emma Naruto-dashes away, and we get a *beat* shot of the barista just holding the coffee pot before he deflates. That's cute.

In Racine Construction, Ivor is confronting Canari, demanding where Gwynn is. Canari, a popular streamer, is rightfully not very pleased that I went around telling people where she is. Doxxing isn't good, kids! Canari is rightfully angry, and Emma has to apologize on Ivor's insane behalf. Canari calls Gwynn 'G-Volt', and brushes off Ivor's insistent, single-minded demands. I really do like the scene where Ivor goes all 'my refusal to back down is proof of how worried I am about Gwynn', while Canari gets super-angry at Ivor that if he really cared, he should pay more attention to what Gwynn gets up to. 

Canari briefly calls me a 'new Canatic', and wants a rematch for her previous loss. That's cool! Canari's team hasn't changed -- still Heliolisk, Ampharos, Stunfisk and Mega Eelektross -- but her moves have! Most notably is that her Stunfisk runs Stealth Rock (which I severely underestimated) and her Mega Eelektross knows Fire Punch now, which takes out my Mega Meganium! I still win, but Canari managed to take out three of my Pokemon (Meganium, and the admittedly weak-to-Electric Greninja and Slowbro) in the process. That's not bad!

Canari does another bout of wingdings cursing, before calming down and telling us that she and G-Volt go way back, and they like to hang together and play games and stuff. Canari notes that Gwynn has been looking for a spot that could only be hers, like a hideout where "the X, Y and Z axes don't meet up". Typical gothic poetry! Gwynn is apparently training to beat a Pokemon that her partner's type is weak to, and Canari finally gives us a clue -- a fountain that depicts such a Pokemon. 

Ivor tells us that Gwynn's partner is a Chandelure (!!! best lamp child !!!) and Canari gives a list of potential fountains that I can pick. The answer, of course, is a Clawitzer fountain. Ivor runs off, yelling that he's going to catch a Clawitzer because that's where Gwynn is. I would love to see him fight the Alpha Clawitzer in one of the Wild Zones. Emma runs after Ivor, yelling that it's a fountain... while Canari does what the audience probably realizes already -- Gwynn probably just wants some alone time. I totally get it. 

We get to a Clawitzer fountain, and of course, there is no Gwynn there. Emma mutters and thinks of the riddle Canari gives us. Emma's logic... isn't very sound, but she notes that our X-axis is correct, and we just need to adjust our Y and Z axes. I... okay? Your argument is full of holes, Emma, but you're much more pleasant than Ivor, so I will pretend what you said is super logical. Emma notes that we need to go to the sewers, which elicits a huge 'yes' from me. In video games, sewer levels are cool!

Emma gives me some options to deal with the flowing water that's covering the sewers. Vaporizing it doesn't work since we would need flames from a legendary Pokemon. Ivor is willing to try drinking all the water, but Emma stops him before the idiot does something dangerous. Ivor also tries to destroy the fountain, and is about to summon his Falinks -- until Emma stops him from destroying public property. Emma instructs me to find a Pokemon with Ice Beam. My Slowbro knows Ice Beam! I freeze the fountain solid, which causes the water of the canals below it to drain out. 

And this unlocks... a dungeon! Wow! Okay, I didn't expect this, and I must admit that I thought all we're going to get are just more and more parts of the city that is altered as the game goes on. This is very preferable, the city is nice but it's admittedly getting stale. The dungeon is very nicely shaded, and we even have a nice little map. It's not super extensively long, but there's quite a bit here. 

I have fun exploring the sewers and meeting more of the Pokemon here. I'm getting a bit of Elden Ring flashbacks, since I also did the underground sewers level under Leyndell in that game not too long ago. The sewers are populated with some appropriate Pokemon. Some rats like Patrat and Scraggy are around, the Noibats flutter down and try to bite me, and some Skrelp and Inkay hang out where the flowing waters are. More importantly, and appropriate thanks to Gwynn's signature Pokemon, Litwicks are here. 

And... I'm sorry, Aegislash, but with Gwynn's signature Pokemon being a Chandelure, I can predict what's going to happen. Your stance change animations are really bad in this game as well, so I'll have to retire you for my other different fully-evolved Ghost-type. I quickly raise up Litwick to a Lampent and then Dusk Stone him into a Chandelure! That's going to be a permanent member of my party. 

Halfway across the sewers is a giant locked gate. Ivor, of course, wants to punch it. Emma stops him from destroying public property. My investigations on the lock  reward nothing... and then a Klefki floats by. We run after the Klefki and corner it at the end of a corridor. Emma tells us to catch it. Ivor gets excited, and takes a pose, saying that his Poke Balls reach speeds of 100 miles an hour, and sure, sometimes the Pokemon are knocked out instead of being caught, but that's okay with him? This man is a menace! A menace I say! Emma is horrified, and says that punching Pokemon is something that even ancient Hisuians wouldn't do. 

I get into a battle with Klefki, and like a civilized person, I knock it out with a Flamethrower from my soul-reaping ghost chandelier. Totally much more humane than chucking a ball with brute strength, hmm hmm! 

We bring Klefki to the lock... and Klefki jangles its keys at the lock... and none of its keys work! Klefki gives a sad expression. Ivor decides to try out his plan. This is probably the part of the game where he does make sense -- there is no guarantee that the key is in this sewers. Therefore, since we cannot obtain the key we need, we must let him BECOME the key. Okay, that's kind of funny. With a yell of 'Justice Punch', Ivor punches and the metal doors go flying. 

As we progress, we see Gwynn's Chandelure move past... into a dead end room. Investigating all the strange abandoned sewer panels and boxes in the room leads to nothing. Ivor gets impatient, starts yelling "Strength is Power! Strength is Justice! Justice Punch!" and punches a brick wall! Except that wall isn't actually a wall, it's an illusion, and Ivor's fist kind of glorps through it. Emma walks through the wall, and reveals that this is just an illusion, likely caused by a Ghost-type. 

We follow the Chandelure back to the end of the sewers, where of course Gwynn is waiting. Ivor rushes in yelling with all his hammy attitude, and Ivor demands to know where the villain is. Emma asks if I've figured out who the culprit is, and of course, there's no real culprit -- Gwynn is just hiding in her little hidey-hole to get away from the overbearing Ivor.

Gwynn is all quiet as Ivor demands answers, and says that she'll only talk if she's beaten in a Pokemon battle. Now, logically and narratively speaking, Ivor would be the one fighting her... but of course, being the protagonist of the game, I fight Gwynn. 

Gwynn actually does the stupid 'Strength is power, strength is justice' pose before fighting, which I do find adorable -- she doesn't mind the Fists of Justice philosophy, she is just pissed at her brother being a dingus. Of course, Gwynn is a woman of culture and her team is all Ghost-types. Her first fighter is a Banette, which I fight with my own Chandelure. Ghost vs Ghost! Her next Pokemon is a Gourgeist, which Malamar also beats down but not before suffering some damage from 'Trick or Treat', which summons Halloween pumpkins as its animation. 

And Gwynn's final Pokemon, of course, is a Chandelure. She does the pose, then points her fingers on the key stone on her Chandelure hat... and Mega Chandelure enters the stage!

...it's a Chandelure as a far more elaborate chandelier, with a lot more... I don't know how to say them, but a lot more of those candle-holders. A little dangly jewel hangs below, and Mega Chandelure's also got a little king's crown. 

You know what? You know what, as a massive Chandelure fan, I actually like this. I like this a whole lot. This keeps a lot of the spirit of the original Chandelure while also making it a bit more over-the-top. A lot of the newer Mega Evolutions in Z-A hasn't been clicking with me, but I really like Mega Chandelure!

I summon my own mega, Mega Slowbro, because I had the mentality of 'Water beats Fire'. Unfortunately, Ghost also beats Psychic, so both our megas have a form of advantage against each other. Mega Chandelure wins, though, using a Protect against my Slowbor's surf, before rapid-firing a Fire Spin trap, and a Shadow Ball. Mega Chandelure then wreaks havoc, sweeping my Scolipede, my Meganium, and my own Chandelure until Malamar finally comes out. The sweeping went so long that the Mega Chandelure actually runs out of energy and reverts to a regular Chandelure, which gets taken down by Malamar. 

Congratulations, Gwynn, you might be the toughest challenge in this game yet that isn't a Rogue Mega attacking my trainer. I love that. I love that this feels like a "beat the boss to gain the power of the boss". 

Gwynn then explains what's going on, and starts laying into Ivor. He breaks smartphones. He doesn't respect the rules of the Z-A royale. His excessive training causes noise complaints. Gwynn has to keep covering for Ivor's bullshit, going to the town hall wasn't actually her hobby, it's her making amends and apologies for the Fists of Justice. And this sewer? This sewer is her 'me time', her little hideout, a way for her to get some privacy while also denying Ivor the chance to cause more havoc if he gets promoted in the Z-A Royale. 

Ivor is shocked that he is causing his sister so much trouble... and Gwynn looks at me and tells me to give Ivor a good trashing in the upcoming promotion match. Okay! 

With zero self-awareness, Ivor runs off, getting ready to prepare for his bout. Oh, we were so close at getting biceps-for-brains some actual self-awareness. Emma apologizes to Gwynn, but then praises her for the great barriers and illusions Gwynn puts up. Gwynn gives a bit of her backstory, saying that she found the place when she was young, and the Ghost-types all liked her. It is a bit of a shame that her little hiding spot is now found by Ivor.

And it's time for a beatdown. No real bullshit, and Ivor just waits for me at the Justice Dojo. Ivor goes on for a bit about his goal to break down the barriers between humans and Pokemon, and he'll reach that with strength. Yeah, fuck you, Ivor, when you didn't even realize that your emotional brute-forcing is what caused Gwynn to feel so suffocated with you. And I'm really not sure how even more violence is going to bring harmony to Pokemon and Humans. 

I tell Ivor's smug, deluded face that he's going to be an opponent I climb over to reach glory, and then he does his pose and we fight. Ivor runs a team of all Fighting-types. I have a Fairy and two Psychic-types. This isn't going to be fair. His first Pokemon? Heracross. My Slowbro just Psychics it out. Machamp? Psychic, again. Medicham? Malamar Night Slashes it out. Easy, easy. 

Ivor's final Pokemon is Falinks, which isn't a surprise since he's got the colours and a little bag painted up to look like Falinks. Ivor then mega evolves, which I am curious... and Mega Falinks is... Mega Falinks is FUNNY AS SHIT. I love it. The central Falinks head has transformed into a giant head-and-torso, three Falinks act as the abdomen and legs, and two other Falinks have morphed into a lance and a shield. The one holding up the big head looks like he's in pain!

I fight the goofy Mega Falinks with one of my own, Mega Slowbro, and take it out quickly with a Psychic and a Psyshock. "Defeat... how incredibly unjust!" No, what's an injustice is your stupid hair, Ivor. 

I go to rank D, and Ivor is a bit sad. Gwynn gives Ivor a bit of a talking-to, especially telling him not to battle in the Royale after daybreak, and starts telling him how much he is vexing everyone around her. Ivor then seems to have a bit of an epiphany, and asks Gwynn to coach him... and instead of the kumbaya everyone-is-happy ending, Gwynn gives a flat no. She tells Ivor to stop being a child, start acting like the master of the dojo that he's supposed to be, and stop making others take care of his messes. Yeah, you tell him! Gwynn then goes off with Ivor in tow, promising to give him more of a talk once they get home. 

As I return to Hotel Z, the other members react to the story. Taunie makes a little crack about hearing about 'X and Y' a long time ago... come on, girl, it's just a decade, it's not that old! It's not just a mythology gag, though, and Taunie mutters about how there was something someone said about how X, Y and Z are in different directions but it's important that they meet at some point. Lida takes it as something that this group of friends, or humans and Pokemon, can all learn from as there is a meeting point at some point. Okay, then. 

But the Gwynn and Ivor stuff? That's fun. That's really fun. 

The game doesn't go super in-depth into it, but I do like this story trope. Ivor genuinely does love Gwynn as his sister, but is a bit myopic and doesn't actually pay attention to what she does, and what her frustrations are. I kind of wished that Ivor got a bit more punished for his actions, but hey, baby steps for Pokemon, I suppose. Again, Ivor showing concern for his sister? Sweet. What a brother should do. The smothering, the lack of self-awareness, the lack of privacy? Not so sweet. 

I actually really enjoyed this part of the story, Ivor notwithstanding. Gwynn and Emma are fun, the sewer dungeon was great, and I did enjoy some of Ivor's overacting. The game honestly kind of lost me a bit with the Naveen/Canari stuff, and while the new designs were fun it wasn't particularly engaging story-wise, you know? 

Random Notes:

• I still haven't completed the game yet to do the Diancie event, but now there's a Mega Mewtwo event to coincide with the upcoming release of the Legends Z-A DLC. I'm only halfway through the game, slow down, dog!
  
• I'm still playing/writing at my own pace. Obviously the actual playthrough is slightly ahead of the rate that I'm releasing these writeups, but not by that much. I'm not rushing; I'm going to play through the game by my own pace.
• (Consider this, also, by the way, a big 'fuck you' from me to the time-gated, season-based nonsense with the Mega Kalos starter stones. It's already scummy enough to lock them not just behind a DLC but a completely different monetization model, but the fact that it's taking time for me to even find time to play the game makes it feel extra scummy.)
• I discovered how cool Future Sight is in this game. Instead of a rather bland 'Psychic, but delayed', Future Sight has the Pokemon designate a location, and several seconds later psychic meteors rain down from the skies above that place. That's so cool!
  
• I did the little battle course quest in Restaurant Le Yeah, which is a five-course meal, er, continuous battle. That alone isn't anything too special, but the twist is that you're not healed between fights!
• In the Fists of Justice base is an adorable martial arts log-wood thing that you see in kung-fu movies, but it's painted up to look like a Trevenant. This is cute as all heck. 
• There is also a little Lampent hanging lamp and a Pumpkaboo street light in the dojo, which I'm assuming are all of Gwynn's doing. 
• Wait, if Gwynn is actually good IRL friends with Canari... she actually lost the Canari quiz! Didn't even make it to the final round! Some friend! 
• Among Canari's choices is a Heatmor fountain. There are no Heatmor fountains in Lumiose City, and in fact, I don't think Heatmor is even in this game. 
• I have actually ran a Klefki in my Pokemon Y team, but just like Aegislash's Stance Change, I'm not sure if Klefki's more status-move-oriented moveset will be actually useful in this game engine.
• After the Ivor mission, Emma mutters that she should train a bit. She also mentions her Expansion Suit, which could help her physical abilities... but she also doesn't want to rely on it. Hey, hopefully we get to see her super-spy suit in action!

One Piece 1168 Review: Cults

One Piece, Chapter 1168: Elbaf Snow

A bit of a shorter review from me this time -- I wrote up something longer but my computer ate it. We start off with a montage of the world actually becoming slowly more accepting of the giants, thanks to Harald's efforts and the giants joining the Marines. The latter in particular is important, I think -- with so much of what the audience sees being the evil heads of the world, it's still important to emphasize that a good chunk of the world still sees Marines as a bastion of hope and justice. 

But as much as Harald is pushing his agenda of peace, we get a nice conversation between him and Saul. Saul hates warmongering giants, as he mentioned during the Ohara incident, but even as the Walrus School is being built he asks if there's 'something' lost in Harald's revolution. 

We flash back to Ida's death as well, where the dying Ida thanks Harald for being able to transform Elbaf... but Ida also mutters about how she also found the 'warrior pride' thing as something cool. Again, it's something that needs a huge chunk of analysis, but generally I do think this is a really nice commentary that swinging in too extreme of any view is dangerous. Being savage giant raiders is bad! But eliminating all warrior culture? That's also wrong, and even a nominal pacifist like Ida can see that. 

But of course, let's not take away from the excellent death scene of Ida. Ida and Harald have a moment, talking about how she loves both of her sons, how Harald is 'almost there' and they can go around the world again... and her arm falls. Hajrudin, his crew and Mato rush in and cry while Harald walks out. And in a prison cell, Loki mourns silently. 

And then... in Marie Geoise, Shanks is missing! He apparently only stayed in the holy land for a year. It's interesting to see what's going on with Shanks and there has been so many conspiracy theories about him already, but this is absolutely something that's being kept for a future exploration, just like how Rocks was saved for this flashback instead of Kuma's. Harald gets given the offer to be a God's Knight by the Gorosei, and Harald is so deep into this cult that he's just selectively ignoring all the warning signs that are obvious. And the Gorosei are obviously happy to just keep stringing him along. 

Bringing him in front of Imu, Harald is shocked to see someone atop the empty throne... the Gorosei and God's Knights have been dropping 'Great One' and 'God' here and there, what do you think was happening, Harald? We cut away from the actual ritual, but Harald's tattoo transforms from the Shallows to the Deep Covenant. Mars note that this grants Harald the power of immortality, and Warcury interestingly notes that it still 'sends shivers down [his] spine'.

Harald is ordered by Imu to carve an Abyss Pentagram in his throne room, and Harald is just super happy. In his mind, his mission -- the mission that cost him Rocks and Ida; his best friend and his wife -- is about to be completed. It really is quite sad to see just how cheerful he is drawn as he returns to Elbaf. But then Imu gives him a telepathic command -- his last mission? Mobilize the entire nation into an army. This, of course, is against everything Harald has been fighting for and he makes his surprise and confusion clear... but of course, Imu doesn't give a shit. Again, poor Harald is just so blinded by his single-minded focus on 'this is the only way to atone for Elbaf/giantkind's sins' and so driven by... guilt? Grief? Whatever it is, he's not thinking straight until absolutely this point. 

Harald tries to negotiate, telling Imu that he's happy to let giants be recruited to the Marines... but Imu just doesn't give a shit anymore. Imu kind of mocks Harald's whole 'I want to atone for Elbaf's sins' deal, before declaring psychically that Harald cannot disobey Imu. And as Harald loses control and Imu gloats in his mind, it's at this point that Harald summons Jarul and Loki. Harald yells at the guards to chain him to the pillar while Loki is released from his jail; and Jarul is summoned... and this is where we see them in an earlier chapter all the way back before God Valley and everything... and we're entering the endgame as we are about to see Harald's death. 

Not much to say, I do feel like there's a lot I could say about Harald. I find him quite complex, and it's easy to handwave him as 'what a dumbass'. And he is! Most of us are, too, when we're driven single-mindedly by an emotion and we don't know the full implications of what we're doing. But I am also equally glad to be going back to the main story soon, and I see that in 1-2 chapters we might wrap up the Loki/Harald flashback. And that's awesome. 

Random Notes:

• This chapter has the artwork spelling Elbaf's name as 'Elbaf' and 'Elbaph'. I've been inconsistent in using the spellings in my own reviews, and I honestly personally always preferred Elbaf anyway. 
• The guy selling Elbaf Cedar is a nice cameo from Deep Sea Current Umit, a smuggler that previously appeared in Big Mom's party as one of the major underworld figures. I think he's made sporadic one-panel appearances in other flashbacks. 
• With that pose of Loki in the prison, slumped over sad as his adoptive-but-real mother dies, I have a feeling Eiichiro Oda really, really loves 'Thor: The Dark World'. And to be fair, Loki in that movie is easily the best part of an otherwise weak entry in the Marvel universe. 
• Hajrudin was also summoned to Harald's throne room, but he's out at sea -- and of course, he knows nothing about this, which is why he needed the recap in the first place.