Let's Play New Pokemon Snap, Part 11: EX Hidden Legends

So... yeah, some of the legendary Pokemon are really, really hidden. And I needed to use some hints and guides to actually see what side paths that I can unlock. Some of which are... not... the most intuitive, actually. 

The first one I unlocked was the sidepath in the underwater area, which is actually something I partially unlocked before, when I saw the Lanturn being lynched by the two Frillish. It's just that I didn't even realize that I needed to trigger something in order to make it happen... I have to Illumina-orb the Lanturn before the massive scripted scene of the Wailord rising up from the depths of the ocean, which would make the Lanturn actually turn around and dive down instead. 

This leads to the encounter where the Lanturn is attacked by the Frillish, and I needed to Illumina Orb the Lanturn to give it enough strength to blast aside the two murderous Frillishes... and then as a reward, the Lanturn brings me down through an alternate pathway in the depths of the ocean that leads me to a little underwater cavern... which contains the mighty Lugia!

...who's asleep. I guess Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres ain't causing havoc on top, huh?

But it is quite a nice little moment. I do feel a bit smart with this one, because I figured out that the Lanturn/Frillish interaction I took note of before was something unusual, but I didn't realize that it was something I needed to trigger, and I didn't realize that was something I needed to trigger in the first place. 

With Lugia done, I get the Maricopa sticker on my Photodex that indicates that I've photographed all Pokemon on this island. Neat! Honestly, a lot of the areas that I haven't completed are the ones with higher levels of post-game/DLC content, and I'm still farming for experience points to get those ranked up. All the while, I'm just doing a bunch of these levels while slowly taking note of what's changing in the level 2 and level 3's of each area. 

Some notable newcomers are in the Outaway Cave, which at level 3 has a Hydreigon show up rather randomly in the huge yawning cavern and flies around throughout the course of the level up to the end. On one of the two pathways in this cave (the one that goes past a bunch of Sableyes) is a Goodra, who's just... hanging there? Is there like a pseudo-legendary quota in this game? Goodra feels a bit off because this part of the cave doesn't even feel particularly humid or moist that a snail dragon would be happy to be around. Eh. 

There's also a random group of Pumpkaboos hanging out which I felt was pretty weird to find in a cave, but... why not, I guess? It is a ghost. Pumpkaboos can go wherever they want to. One of them hangs out in the hidden grove at the end of the level, which I guess is where the rest of the pumpkers in the cave come from. 

Interestingly, the nighttime Badlands at level 2 has the Tepig squadron disappear almost entirely. And I'm not sure what's going on, but in the opening area with the geysers there's just a half-dozen Magikarps karp-karp-karping pathetically. Poor Magikarps! Did they get blasted out of wherever they're swimming? Poor Magikarps, they never get a break. A newcomer in the Badlands is Gliscor, who's just a Pokemon I find pretty pleasant and a Pokemon that the anime had a pretty great field day with. Gliscor can be found not just flying but also hanging upside-down in a glorious mix of its scorpion and bat inspirations. 

And... well, the hardest and most confusing part that I had to really look up a guide to unlock? The Snowfields' alternate path. It's not just an alternate path that I had no idea how to unlock, it's even double-layered and the way to unlock it was pretty... confusing. So good job on the game designers, honestly, on making this a pretty fun little easter egg that I needed to work through. At each point of this, I actually didn't want to see the whole guide on how to get past it, thinking that I could do it with just the first clue to the first segment... and I constantly have no idea what to do next. 

So basically, I have to look for one of the Alolan Sandslashes in the very first stage of the daytime Snowfields, and this Sandslash is different from the other Sandslashes because... it's outside the snow, I guess? I take a photo of it and it's so camera shy that it burrows in and out throughout the cliffsides of this first area, up to three times. And then it burrows through a random snow mound on the side right before the steep uphill incline that leads to the Mamoswine herd. This unlocks the side-path... which is completely useless in the day, because it's covered by a blizzard. 

(I do like that it deposits me from the ranadom skylight hole where there's a bunch of Snom, though. Somehow, it never crossed my mind that this was a location connected to a side path).

No, I have to load the night Snowfields. Thankfully, the broken-down path is now just accessible as an alternate path, so I don't have to do it every time I want to access this side path. Anyway, going through the night Snowfields leads me to see what the area is supposed to look like without a deathly blizzard... it's a bunch of pine trees covered with snow, with a bunch of abominable Crabominables lumbering around. I figure out the little interaction there, which isn't the hardest -- illumina orb-ing one of the Crabominable causes it to punch a tree, which causes snow to fall on a sleeping Abomasnow, and the Abomasnow gets super pissed off and starts chasing the Crabominable around. 

Also, in this little evergreen tree grove is a tree absolutely infested with almost a dozen Snoms, who peek out if you use the radar. Now these are Snoms, and Snoms are perfect and cute and adorable, but I've seen trees utterly infested with caterpillars. I don't get queasy or creeped out with bugs, but those caterpillar-infested trees made me shiver to my core. 

Um, where were we? Right, two snow-Pokemon coincidentally named after 'abomination' in their English names chasing after each other. That funny interaction wasn't the whole point of this sequence. No, the important sequence was the massive ice blizzard that Abomasnow unleashed when it wakes up, becuase it causes a Froslass to appear and fly away from the conflict... 

...and I have to photograph this Froslass, and realize that it's flying towards a snowbank to point it out to us. Honestly, I don't think it ever crossed my mind that the act of photographing a Pokemon can cause it to run and point things out, since all other times (or all other times that I've noticed, more likely) I've needed to use an apple, an orb, the radar or the melody. 

Anyway, this leads me to a cave completely encased in ice, with a bunch of Jynx and a poor Aurorus frozen in the ice walls. Man, not all the dinosaurs survived in Lental, I guess. The ice cave opens up to the frozen ocean, with a Dewgong, a bunch of Beartric (including one that jumps out of the ocean, which is cool), a regular non-frozen Aurorus and a Delibird that leads a group of Piplup and Snom on a little march. 

The most adorable part of this whole scene? A Jynx that rides a swimming Avalugg around, like some kind of a mount. That's just so hilarious, so out of nowhere, but also honestly such a nice little display of Avalugg being somewhat more memorable. These past couple of games that I've played really did a great job at making Avalugg a bit more memorable than 'iceberg with legs'. 

Anyway, throwing an Illumina Orb at the Jynx riding the Avalugg causes it to sing. Which is what all the other Jynxes do, but this Jynx summons SUICUNE. Out of nowhere. Again, I'm frustrated at how confusing this all is, but also so happy to have this ridiculous set of 'guide dang it' moments happen. It's so much fun trying to go by each step and trying to see what I missed on each step. 

Ohm, and speaking of elusive Pokemon, I eventually got the daytime snowfields ranked all the way up to level 3, which unlocks a couple new Pokemon... most notably Glaceon. But this isn't enough for me to get my sticker for the Durice island, and I thought I was done with legendaries because I thought that we had a legendary per island... but no, apparently not, because I forgot that Mew and Celebi technically share the same island. So Durice has two, with another one in Outaway Cave! Which I found completely by accident as I was trying to figure out how to get the one last eeveelution, which is Jolteon. 

Going through the Outaway Cave again, I was just lobbing Illumina Orbs left and right when a group of Mawiles and Carbinks get lighted up and... Diancie just nonchalantly pops in out of the side of the cave. I almost missed Diancie even showing up at all until I was almost out of that area! This one was pretty cute, and after the amount of stress I went through trying to figure out how to get Suicune and Lugia to spawn, Diancie was pretty chill. 

What's rather hilarious is that the legendary isn't even the final part of this little chain -- I have to summon Diancie, then use the Illumina Orb to get her to create a huge pink diamond-dust explosion... and then this allows a random Mawile standing on the rock-crystal pillars to be 'less wary of me' after seeing me play with Diancie. Which... I'm really not sure a Mawile is going to block the NEO-ONE from going past anywhere, but I guess the protagonist isn't fond of honking his horn to get metal venus flytrap cave-dwelling elf-people to get out of the way. This open up another branching pathway that leads to another part of the underground overgrown caverns... where Jolteon is. 

That's right, somehow Jolteon ends up being a bit more elusive than the mythical diamond Pokemon. Okay! Well, with Jolteon I end up completing the Durice region's dex, which earns me another sticker. 

Random Notes:

• There are also a bunch of branching paths I haven't really been aware of in older areas, like the Bidoof Dam in the Nature Park or a ruins on night Founja Jungle.
• Okay, one of the Outaway Caves side-paths is quite cool. It requires me to wake up two sleeping Crobats, which somehow unblocks a slight detour near the end of the route, but it lets me go through some rimstone lakes that have a bunch of Goodra, Noibat and inflated Drifloons hanging around. It's pretty!
• I also really like this TCG art of Goodra. it's just using its head-goo-tendrils like whips, which doesn't feel like the most practical usage of that bit of anatomy, but it looks cool regardless. 
• Dude, what the hell are these "Legend" cards, and why do the artwork go so hard? 
• Also, haha, even the TCG game makers think of Lugia as a Water-type instead of a Psychic/Flying. 
• I would like to reiterate that Frillish and Jellicent are pretty hauntingly creepy once you get past their whimsical design, with their dex entries noting how they cause shipwrecks and haunt shipwrecks. And being jellyfishes they're pretty nasty predators, and this game just establishes that they attack fish Pokemon! Poor Lanturn would've been absolutely fucked if we didn't help it. Or if this was a bloodier genre of a game. 
• I see a Snom hanging upside-down and lowering itself with a silk from its butt, which a Froslass investigates curiously. I thought that was super-cool! It looks like something that real caterpillars (or at least those cave glow-worms) would do, and it's a nice reminder that for how cute Snom is, it's still a caterpillar! 
• While the christmas tree grove is still blizzard-ed, the side path that leads to the icy ocean part is also accessible in the day, with more Mightyenas nd Mamoswines hanging around there. Some of the more elusive Pokemon like Glalie, Dewgong and Vanniluxe get to do other behaviours there, though. 
• I'm half-convinced that Pumpkaboo is only in this game because it's very visually distinctive with the glowing jack-o-lantern eyes. In fact, you kind of get the sense that they went and picked a lot of Pokemon with glowing features like Aurorus, Beheyeem, Chandelure, Chinchou, Lanturn and Morelull, among others. 

Bleach TYBW E27 Review: Almighty Recap

Bleach, Thousand-Year Blood War, Episode 27: A

It has almost been a year since 'cour 2' of Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War ended, huh? And we're back,

And in a decision that's perhaps not the best look for the returning anime, we've got the decision to spend the first 9 minutes with a recap. It's... it's honestly rather vexing for an anime that's promised to be more modern and be less full of fillers... especially with the amount that's cut from the anime adaptation. I wouldn't mind a shorter episode or an 'season three, episode zero' recap, but taking 9 minutes before we catch up to the end of the previous episode is not a good look. It's like... I like the revelation of Senjumaru and Ichibe's powers; I didn't need to rewatch it again.

Anyway, a little more than nine minutes in, and on the first commercial bumper, we finally catch up to Ichibei slapping 'Black Ant' Juhabach as he falls down from the Soul King palace. The entire episode essentially adapts the last couple of attacks of this Juhabach/Ichibei fight, and ends with Juhabach stabbing the Soul King... as far as source material stuff goes, anyway, since it did add a fair bit on the Uryu and Senjumaru front. And once the episode starts to get going, it's pretty neat!

Juhabach finally activates his extra pupils, and turns a defeated line ("I can't imagine...") into a badass boast ("...I can see this much with my eyes closed!") .As he says this, seemingly in response to Juhabach's activation of the Almighty, the six Qiuncy Elite Guard members break out of Senjumaru's cloth folds. The 'black ant' kanji on Juhabach begins to burn and flicker away, really confusing Ichibei since he's supposed to be all-powerful with all his naming abilities and stuff. 

As he does so, as he dodges Ichibei's giant brush-blade, Jugram Hsachwalth gives a monologue, repeating the Quincies' Kaisergesang, telling the audience that throughout all this time, Juhabach has been fighting with 'his eyes closed', since he needs to follow the timing of the prophecy. And now, he's able to dodge everything Ichibei throws at him, and even bypass those powers, due to the schrift of the god-emperor of the Quincies... "A', the Almighty .

In the realm of Senjumaru's Bankai, another "A" begins to flicker. Markings that look like Blut continue to crackle and sparkle in Ishida Uryu's glasses and wrists, and he pulls out his Quincy bow against Senjumaru. Senjumaru notes that Uryu seems to have gained power in response to Juhabach. She then continues to be sadistic, offering to 'sew shut Uryu's eyes', before Uryu launches a volley of light arrows at Senjumaru. It isn't quite as creepy as her original 'rattle, rattle' appearance in the Bankai realm, but Senjumaru starts walking through her looms and clothing like a moving picture, moving from loom to loom, which does look really cool! Uryu then zips around the realm, chased by the tendril-like cloths. 

Uryu blasts those away with a storm of Licht Regen, but Senjumaru continues to use her different cloths to summon different effects. One of the cloth-rolls turns into some kind of lava, though Uryu shows off some more Blut Vene to neutralize the magma. Senjumaru continues to move from being a physical person to images on her cloth reams, mocking the 'legacy of one forsaken by the Soul King', before delivering a cold line about how Quincies have outlived their time, and after tossing some of the effects she used against Haschwalth (fire) and Gerald (ice), she summons a new roll of cloth with a bunch of holes, and sics a horde of Hollows on Uryu.

This isn't the first time a Soul Society scientist shows off a swarm of captured Hollows for research purposes! It's also really nice to see the fancy acrobatics Uryu is doing to swing around the room, shooting Hollows (which seem to be made up of Senjumaru's threads) before he is ultimately overpowered and strung up with these clothing lines. The seeming victor, Senjumaru notes that she's not Mayuri and laments the fact that Uryu didn't just know his place and just stay in the land of the living. She's about to stab Uryu in the back of his neck with Shiragami, when Uryu states that he 'has a reason for fighting', and starts to glow really brightly. 

Cutting back and forth to a parallel fight also makes the Ichibe/Juhabach scene flow better too, actually! I remembered in the manga how Ichibe just feels like an arrogant twit that just lobs one attack after another after Juhabach showed off how strong he is, and for a character we know very little about, it's diminishing returns, y'know? There's only so much that Ichibe can yell about Juhabach being 'arrogant' or 'weak' or that he's got the power of 'black' and 'names' until it just becomes repetitive. Breaking up Ichibeis monologues and power showcases a bit is a lot better. 

Most importantly, the Futen Taisatsuryō sequence is just so much cooler here. It's the same thing as the manga, where Ichibe reads a poem... but it's an actual poem, like a Japanese opera or a rakugo performance, with the background and character turning into complete black and white, while eerie music plays in the background and Ichibe just sings and does brief little dances before the terrain explodes and Futen Taisatsuryō, the death-mausoleum of broken reincarnation, shows up. 

Unfortunately, just like the manga, this turns into a 'no you' conversation as Juhabach says the exact same thing that Ichibe says. His pupils turn into three as he reiterates that 'all that I know is powerless against me'. And restates his name as JUHABACH, the one that will rob Ichibe of everything. And then Juhabach reaches his hand forwards and explodes Ichibe in an almost-as-graphic-as-the-manga sequence. 

Simultaneously as Juhabach claims victory over the commander of Squad Zero, something is happening to Ishida Uryu. Two gigantic energy wings appear on his back, and... this is basically his Qiuncy Vollstandig, isn't it? Thanks to the rushed nature of the manga, Uryu never has a Vollstandig form and barely even has a fight in the arc that was supposed to be all about Quincies, so seeing this sequence play out was certainly a massive delight for me. 

Uryu also turns the tables on Senjumaru, as she realizes mid-mockery that she's actually trapped within the cloth bindings of the Bankai, where Uryu was supposed to be. This confirms that Uryu has used the Antithesis, his Sternritter Schrift that he only ever uses once in the manga. 

Uryu then says something that he said in his first major fight against a Shinigami -- Mayuri -- in the manga. "I am Ishida Uryu. On my honour as a Qiuncy, I will kill you." He lets loose an arrow, and it pierces Senjumaru's chest, drilling a hole through her which drips in blood. 

And as Senjumaru falls, other characters react to this, while the Bankai realm slowly fades away. So does Uryu's Vollstandig, and... I really like this. Combined with the last two episodes, this really fixes the problem of 'Squad Zero died offscreen, while also giving Uryu an actually cool scene, a proper fight scene, and even a moment where the audience goes 'oh shit, so he's evil now' instead of the laughable 'yeah, sure he joined the enemy' betrayal that he did in the manga. Now I'm not sure how the confrontation is going to be, but Ichigo versus Uryu would have actual stakes now that it's slightly more conceivable that Uryu is evil.

And with the Qiuncies victorious, Juhabach mocks Ichibe, blows up the giant ink seal, while the magical candle-seals that corresponded to Squad Zero peters off with the deaths of Ichibe and Senjumaru. Uryu and the rest of Juhabach's Royal Guard bow down as Juhabach walks up towards the Soul King's Palace, and it's a rather drawn-out sequence as Juhabach disassembles the random reishi pillars around them and turns them into footholds all the way to reach the Soul King. Juhabach monologues about the crusade he's been doing for a thousand years while we get the flashes to the representation of his backstory given to us earlier in the anime. Again, the framing and dialogue did a rather good job at framing the Quincies as villain protagonist who see their cause as justifiable. Great music, too. 

Roll credits, and we then cut to three scenes. Team Ichigo arrives, and they find the corpses. Thanks to Ichigo calling Ichibe's name, he's able to reform with ink, though he hasn't really regained his power. Always found this to be a bit anticlimactic, though at least he makes it clear that he's not going to fight. Ichibe lays on the stakes and tells Ichigo to stop Juhabach. 

We cut briefly to Kyoraku in the dark basement, walking up to the imprisoned Aizen, which is a scene that's supposed to happen a bt later in the manga... I guess they really wanted the fans excited for Aizen, huh. 

And finally, the final scene of the episode is Juhabach stabbing the Soul King and dropping the random bombshell that the Soul King is Juhabach's father. And... in addition to the Uryu stuff, this has been another point of contention from me. I hope this also gets some expansion in this anime. 

Overall? Pretty great opening, once we get past the recap. I've gushed enough about the addition of the Uryu scene, but I also really like that it actually enhances the Juhabach/Ichibe fight a fair bit. This cour is presumably going to cover a lot of the Elite Guard fight, and I wonder just how much beyond that is going to be expanded. 

Random Notes:

• There is technically a brief scene of Ichigo and company discussing a bit about the Zero Squad and Senjumaru's Bankai activation while on the delivery pillar. This is an original scene to the anime, and actually is a nice little touch of giving some context (both in-universe and out-of-universe) about how important it is when a Squad Zero member activates her Bankai. I kind of wished that this would be the way that the recap is done, but oh well. 
  
• I like the new opening a fair bit. The music's great, though I do miss the zaniness of the second cour's opening with the civilian outfits and gangster boss Juhabach.
• I almost want to say that this might be Uryu activating his Sternritter "A" powers for the first time, but he did utilize the Antithesis in cour 2 with the medal. in a very blink-it-and-miss-it moment. 
• When Senjumaru pierces Uryu's neck, a shot of dropping blood set against a background of white can be seen. Either Senjumaru actually did stab Uryu, or this is a flashback to the drops of blood that Uryu drank from Juhabach. 
• I really love the show of Ichibe holding a whirling semisphere of black that turns into the sake bowl. 
• Futen Taisatsuryō steals 100 nights from the future of Soul Society and, if Juhabach isn't so overpowered, would've burned him away so entirely that he's out of the cycle of reincarnation. 
• I really do hope that if we get a Juhabach flashback, we do focus a bit more on his identity, and whether that identity is actually a huge theme in his life. I have a feeling that it might be, and it would make him reafirming his identity to Ichibe the naming monk a lot more powerful. 
• The ending really teases the Uryu/Ichigo fight. Please, let that happen. 
• As the episode closes, the 'A' in 'BLEACH' glows red, and the other letters fade to black before the 'A'. That's cute. 

One Piece 1128 Review: Not a Dream

One Piece, Chapter 1128: RPG

So we continue on with the whole Elbaf Legoland storyline, and... as I expected, it's not a 'dream world'. I honestly think if Oda ever does a 'dream world' sequence, it would be way trippier than just giant animals! Look at what he did in Thriller Bark and the Seducing Woods, and even for Uta's world in Film: Red. 

I think this chapter shows off the Lego city a lot better, with our heroes jumping around, and even Sanji makes a bit of a fun about the dreamworld theory in that "if this was a dream, there would be more women in it". Yyyyeah, we know exactly what kind of dreams Sanji's having. There's some discussion between Luffy and Usopp about how Luffy thinks Usopp should've been able to beat the cat-lion, which... again, I really am expecting some kind of an Usopp character arc in the Elbaf part of the story, so I do like the sprinkling here and there. 

Usopp poses in his funky bearded puffy-pants Viking outfit, and gives a nice little theory -- these are Elbaf warrior clothing, but it doesn't make sense that Elbaf has clothes their size. Luffy is all excited about adventure, and Sanji makes a comment about how he doesn't sense Robin on his 'radar'. 

They then meet some big, bearded plump guy -- who isn't a giant, but he's riding around on a giant grasshopper that acts like a bug. Apparently this guy serves the cat that rules over Bigstein Castle, and we get a glorious panel of Luffy about to blurt out that they beat the cat and hedgehog and ate the rabbit. Usopp just covers his mouth with the scammiest, most disarming smile on his face, while Zoro, Sanji and Nami are whistling inconspicuously. Very old-school One Piece comedy. I really like this. I didn't like it as much back in Wano for some reason, but I did like the hijinks that the Straw Hats get into at the beginning of each arc. 

The grasshopper rider then talks about the Sun God's Temple, where it's dangerous and guarded and all the sounds of adventure, leading Luffy to burst off running in the direction of said temple while Usopp and the others yell at him to come back. Luffy just runs all happy, gets briefly confused when he sees another castle and another 'him' running towards him... and runs straight into, of course, a mirror. That shatters. They then see that the Lego-Elbaf that they've been in is... it's the equivalent of those gigantic, impressive Lego cities that people built, placed inside a cage with a fake sky. Outside it is a workshop with a bunch of Legos and a sewing machine where Chopper is trapped. 

We also get the answer about their clothing, where they find the clothes that Usopp compares to doll's clothing, while Sanji notes that all the bricks are made of plastic synthetic resin, hence the weird smell they mentioned last chapter. There's also a sequence where they realize that the mirror they broke is a one-way mirror, allowing the giant to peer inside like it's an ant terrarium or something. Sanji makes a comment about wanting to install the mirrors in the women's toilet and gets kicked in the face by Nami. And... basically the Straw Hats get a bit into theorizing, and while we can't confirm that we're in Elbaf, they're definitely captured by a giant. 

And then RANDOM ENCOUNTER TABLE, and even more giant animals -- a snake, a raven with a skull hat and some mice show up. 

We get to finally see the "Sun God", who has high heels, a black cloak, a staff and a goat's skull hat. She (I'm assuming 'she' because of the high heels, but the clothes are baggy enough that the "Sun God" could be a dude too) looks pretty creepy, but having seen the Lego diorama and how she's probably just a gigantic dork, this "Sun God" is probably wearing the creepy deer-skull mask just as an elaborate LARP-ing exercise. Which is adorable, actually... if not for the fact that she's kidnapping sentient humans and tossing them and placing them at the mercy of a psychotic cat. 

The Sun God comes in to see her game room on fucking fire, and Luffy actually is in the process of using Gear Fifth: Dawn Pistol to beat the shit out of the giant snake. Oh, and they are named after beings from Norse mythology, which is cute. The crow is named Muginn, a portmanteau of Huginn and Muninn, Odin's two crows. The snake is called Hilmungandr, a riff on Jormungandr. They run back into Legoland and take over the giant cat and force him to be their steed. 

Chopper, of course, can speak to animals and he notes about how the cat promises vengeance on the Straw Hats. Oh, and Nami also gets a map of Legoland... and then the "Sun God" show sup and chases them around the kingdom, being a full-on giant right next to the giant lego castles. The humans trapped (?) in the Legoland is panicking at the Sun God being infuriated, and that's the end of the chapter.

Still pretty fun stuff, and I don't see the Legoland adventures to extend particularly long. Maybe one or two more chapters, after we beat this Lego person. I do wonder just what this Sun God person is, if she's actually kidnapping these people out of malice, ignorance, or if this is actually a part of Elbafian society? We'll see. Not a whole ton to really talk about, to be fair, I'm just here with half my brain shut off and happy to enjoy the ride. 

Random Notes:

• No Yamato cover story this week, but a cover art with them as witches. 
• So yes, last chapter was just sloppy. I do think that having Oda pulled in all directions with One Piece live-action season 2 and the second One Piece anime being released are all kind of eating a bit into his bandwidth.
• I've seen some people take Sanji's comment about his sniffing 'radar' to mean Observation Haki, which... sure, why not?
• We last saw an arthropod being used as a motorcycle in One Piece: Strong World, where Franky, Brook and Robin rode on a crayfish bike. 
• I love the brief panel of Zoro also being excited at the prospect of fighting, and Sanji admonishing Zoro for 'feeding' Luffy. 
• Chopper is trapped by a hard metal collar, but... I really do think that he should've been able to break it in Heavy or Monster Point. Oh well, Rule of Funny. 
• Remember when there were a lot of theories about the Gomu Gomu no Mi's awakening as being something along the lines of resin? Yeah, I remember. 
• Hilmungandr is a bit of a weird pun, but it's basically switching the "yoru" on the Japanese reading of Jormungandr to "hiru". Yoru means night, and hiru means day. Oh, Oda. 
• Yes, Luffy goes to Gear Fifth to beat up a snake. I... I don't know how to feel about it, but I'm not bothered about it the way Dragon Ball Super portrays Ultra Instinct and how Goku can sometimes go into it to spar with Krillin, and sometimes he can't... generally I find Luffy to take battles and powerscaling with a lot less respect than someone like Goku, though, so I guess it's a bit more palatable to me. 

Reviewing Monsters: Genshin Impact, Part 12: Natlan

So, in our ongoing coverage of Genshin Impact monsters, we've entered Natlan, which is the Pyro region based on various South American cultures. I actually think Natlan's release as a region is probably the best out of all the regions I've been around 'live' for, at least as a region -- both Sumeru and Fontaine had pretty great story hooks. But I do really think that making other games like Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero had really caused the Genshin team to buckle up and focus a bit more on the environment, the traveling, the cutscenes... and maybe the monster designs?

It took me a while to get to this review mostly because I was really sick from August to September, so I really didn't manage to experience a lot of the region during the first couple of patches. But I really do like the region, which was absolutely fun to explore. Being a bit of a 'soft-reboot' of the many elements and having extremely distinctive elemental-tied tribes really does make exploring Natlan feel like exploring a brand-new land entirely instead of just a 'themed' location. 

Again, I'll try to have minimal discussion about the story, and focus more on the monster designs, since that's what this whole series is all about!

(Honkai Star Rail monster reviews may be coming at the end of the year.)

________________________________

SAURIANS:

Tepetlisaur Whelp

And these are the best part of Natlan... the Saurians! The Saurians are Genshin's equivalent to dinosaurs, and in a great attempt to make the six tribes (who we'll talk about in the human enemies section below) feel unique, each tribe gets their own themed Saurian, which is, in my opinion, perhaps the biggest way to give each tribe its own unique flavour. The Tepetlisaur Whelps are the baby forms of the Tepetlisauruses associated with the Geo-aligned Children of the Echoes, and... tragically, just like the cute sea creatures in Fontaine, the fact that I'm listing them here means that, yes, they can be killed and farmed for materials. 

The Tepetlisaur Whelp is quite cute, though, having a chubby body and a head of spiky rocky crystals. There's a definite Pokemon influence in there somewhere, and it does communicate the idea of a rock dinosaur that burrows everywhere pretty well. 

Tepetlisaurus

The Tepetlisaurus is the adult and mature form of these guys, and it's a lot more armoured, with spiky crag-like rocks and crystals running down its dorsal part. It can freely zip in and out of rock (and you can 'indwell' the adult dinosaurs as part of the region mechanic) though its head has gained a bunch of extra tusks and yellow amber-like growths that make it a lot less cute. I think I'd like the Tepetlisaurus a lot more if either the white tusks or the big yellow amber-nose are gone. 

The usage of the words 'Saurian' and 'Vishap' in the English localization does make it easy to miss, but these Saurians are essentially offshoots of dragons, because the original Chinese script does make it a bit clearer, what with the word for 'dinosaur' containing the character of 'dragon'. In which case, the Tepetlisaurus could be considered a related breed to the common Geovishaps we've seen before. I do think the Tepetlisauruses look a lot nicer and more polished, but I also do think that until we reach Primo and Azdaha the Geovishaps look rather lame. 

Koholasaur Whelp

Probably my favourite Saurian are the aquatic Koholosaurs, mostly becuase their babies are adorable! They don't even look like dinosaurs or dragons, they look like weird baby seals or something. Look at that head! They look like they escaped from Fontaine! I like the manta ray fins and hydrodynamic tails that they have. Again, absolutely adorable!

All of these Saurians are noted to be all but sentient, with most of them being able to communicate with humans and are given a close space in Natlanian society. Each of the six tribes correspond to one of these dinosaurs, and, again, I will keep reiterating that all of these really does help in making the sub-cultures of Natlan come off as being so distinct from each other. 

Koholasaurus

The adult Koholosaurus is probably the most traditionally 'cool' and 'badass' of the original three Saurians we get to see here, with a low-set body that combines shark and dinosaur. This particular screenshot isn't very clear, but it's got massive blade-like fins jutting out of its forelimbs. Love the colours, too, and I do think that the 'indwelling' mechanic that allows you to take control of these Saurians to travel the land looks coolest with the Koholosaurus. 

These Koholosaurus can swim through water as well as liquid phlogiston (i.e. magic lava) and, again, the commonality between Saurians and Vishaps are a bit clear when you compare a Koholosaur with the Bathysmal Vishaps side-by-side. The animations aren't exactly identical, but it definitely looks familiar!

Yumkasaur Whelp

Mmm, I'm not really feeling these guys, but maybe it's because of the face looking not quite as similar to their grown form? They look a bit like a child-level Digimon, though maybe that's those Terriermon-looking ears. The Yumkasaurus are theropodal buggers that live with the Scions of the Canopy. Not much to say here, they sure are baby dinosaurs. 

Yumkasaurus

I really didn't like the adult Yumkasaurus the first time I saw it, but I've grown a bit more used to it. Being a theropod with a mixture of avian and mammalian features, the Yumkasaurus's gimmick is a bit more interesting than 'swim through materials' that the Koholosaurus and Tepetlisaurus can do. They can extend their long, chameleon-like tongues... and then Tarzan around with them. It's so ridiculous and giving any amount of thought of supporting your weight with your tongue makes me wince, but it's cool. 

They also have an additional gimmick, where they can use those Spider-Man tongues to pick up explosive fruits called 'Flamegranates' and store them in their cheek pouches or their huge tails, and then vomit it out as an explosive grenade. That's a cool way to interpret and integrate a typical 'Pokemon breath attack' for sure. Oh, and those puffy tails double up as portable chairs, as idle Yumkasaurs will inflate their own tails for fun and sit on them. Cute! 

SAURIANS (BOSSES):

"Gluttunous Yumkasaur Mountain King" Kongamato
Of course, the bosses are also Saurians. One of the bosses is an overgrown version of the Yumkasaur, named Kongamoto, who has grown quite big. It's an ancient being that has survived time and battles, and just lounges around in its battlefield until you show up and beat his fat ass up for materials. The gimmick that he does is similar with the regular Yumkasaurus, only extended to be a bit more video-game-boss-y. He knocks down Flamegrenates that you have to blow up before he swallows them and uses them point-blank against you, and hilariously, despite his size he's still a Yumkasaurus so he can still Tarzan around the battlefield.

And then you dig around a bit and read some monster and item descriptions, and the story of the happy-looking Kongamoto is a rather depressing one. He was once the partner of one of the ancient heroes of Natlan, but contact with the Abyss corrupted him, causing him to deal a mortal wound against his master. His memory would eventually be ravaged by time that he didn't even remember his master or what he did or even his own name... but he remembered that he needed to protect something. And he's doing it. Sure, he's eating a lot and has grown into an enormous size, but he's still faithful, not realizing that the very thing he's supposed to protect is long gone. 

"Goldflame Qucusaur Tyrant" Holawaqa Ngoubou

OOOOOOH FUCK. Yeah, in this blog I tend to go 'that's a typical cool monster, neat', but the Qucusaur Tyrant, Holawaqa Ngoubou, just looks cool. Holawaqa Ngoubou is a member of the Qucusaurs, who are associated with the Flower-Feather Clan. He's a similarly mutated version like Kongamoto, and between the nice shade of red they use for him, and the wyvern-like way he stalks around, and the massive nose-horn, Holawaqa Ngoubou just looks pretty dang cool! He flies around breathing fire, and has a second phase where he reduces himself into what's basically an energy form. It's just pretty nice, and with the rather interesting decision to not have a lot of Natlan enemies be actually Pyro-wielders, the Qucusaur Tyrant is a nice little showcase that allows the nation of fire to have a fire boss. 

Similarly to Kongamoto, descriptions note that Holawaqa Ngoubou was once the companion of an ancient hero, but was likewise corrupted and pushed to the brink of insanity by Abyssal corruption in his blood. And as the description mentions, the moniker of 'Tyrant' is an unambiguous statement that the story did not have a happy ending. 

_______________________________________________________

HUMANS:

Forged Sand Interrogator/Shieldbreaker/Javelineer

So I think by simple virtue of giving each tribe an element, a dedicated main character,  dedicated village and a dinosaur, they really did a great job at making the tribes far more interesting and distinct compared to the Sumeru Akademiya Darshans, where realistically I can only think of Tighnari and Faruzan's Darshans being about biology and archaeology respectively, and I can't remember the rest. In-game, the Geo element Children of the Echoes is represented by playable character Kachina, and they have a great village that is built into the sides of a large mining canyon.

Ahem! Enemies! The Forged Sand warriors hail from the Nanatzcayan Tribe, or better known in the game dialogue as the Children of the Echoes. These guys are presumably just independent warriors that hang out in the wilderness, and unlike most other human enemies (Fatui, Eremites, ronin, treasure hoarders) they aren't technically hostile... they're just REALLY pumped for the battle games. They have a really wide aggression range and will spot you from afar, but they will pose a bit longer to taunt your character before starting aggressions.

The weapon designs are cute for these three footsoldiers, with the lady wielding a sword-chainsaw, the dude wielding a cudgel and the ranged guy chucking javelins. The former two are noted to be mining for precious rock when not fighting, and even the javelins are noted to be repurposed as mining markers. That is a nice in-universe lore touch. It really does bring into question why the game's so reluctant in introducing new weapon types.

Tepetlisaurus Warrior: Shard Striker/Rockbreaker Blade

Each tribe gets two elites that wear helmet-masks based on their tribe's dinosaur, and the Children of the Echoes are the only ones that have two dudes as their elites. The Tepetlisaur has one of the coolest heads, so these guys look far more intimidating than their Hydro and Dendro counterparts.

In addition to being regular-purpose enemies, they also double up as NPCs in the actual main story, with them representing the elites that reach all the way to the finals of the Hunger Games style competition. Shard Striker has a rather boring big hammer, but Rockbreaker is way more fun, wielding a Dark Souls "pizza cutter" style of ridiculous weapon, being a huge spear with a spinning buzzsaw at the end. 

Flowing Blade Skirmisher/Grease-Saw/Harpoon-Thrower

The Metzli tribe, or the People of the Springs, live on a village near the sea and it's represented by playable character Mualani. They hang out with the Koholosaurs, and are super-chill. I think they spend 90% of their time either surfing or in hot springs.

The lesser goons are a bit more "modern", I think? Though it might just be the Skirmisher's fancy naval hat. Grease-Saw's hat looks a bit more tribal. Among these guys, the Grease-Saw wields a giant jagged machete-like weapon and the Harpoon Thrower is a reskinned Javelineer from before, but the Skirmisher just throws hands. This strength which originate from their traditional ability of having to hunt and subdue prey underwater.

Koholasaurus Warrior: Reefsplitter/Waveshuttler

The two elite ladies of the People of the Springs are probably my favourite of the human enemies. Their saurian masks look a lot more like fancy naval hats than the dinosaurs, but the way they attack is so funky! The Reefsplitter hangs around a gigantic cannon with a turbine, and uses it to fire hydro-pumps and chase you around the battlefield with it. It's such a wacky weapon and the animations of this lady is pretty fun!

But the Waveshuttler takes it up to eleven, because she has a surfboard slingshot. Two things that wouldn't normally work well together, but she rides around this bizarre device like a surfboard across the land (playable character Mualani also has a unique insane shark-surfboard) but she can also plant the slingshot on the ground and fire off giant water balls at her enemies. Great, colourful designs from both, but I really do appreciate how crazy they are -- being over the top with the accessories really does make them feel a lot more unique.

Swiftstep Seeker/Storm Scout/Armed Courier

I actually find the Scions of the Canopy, or the Huitztlan tribe, to have the most boring minions. The concept of Kinich's tribe is pretty great! The city is built next to a cliffside and their Yumkasaur buddies allow them to navigate the treetops and cliffsides like Tarzan, but the soldiers... kinda look a bit more generic? They wouldn't feel too out of place as Akademiya soldiers in Sumeru's jungles. 

It also doesn't help them that all three use basically the same jagged sword whereas the Metzli and Nanatzcayan goons all at least have different weapons. Oh well, can't all be winners.

Yumkasaurus Warrior: Whirling Leaves/Flowing Skyfire

The Scions' elites share models with the other two tribes, with the Whirling Leaves being a reskin of the Echoes' sawspear minions and Flowing Skyfire being a reskin of the Springs' cannon lady. They at least look cool, though I really do think the flavour of both designs work better with the Geo and Hydro themes respectively.

These guys have a grappling hook attack that represent how the tribe move around in the canopy. It's neat, and at least the descriptions note how the sawblades are used to clear foliage and the cannon is an extension of the grappling hooks they use. There is some attempt to explain these guys' roles, at least.

OTHER MONSTERS:

Eroding Avatar of Lava / Fluid Avatar of Lava

It is a nation of flames, of course, so having some fire -- or rather, lava -- elemental style enemies makes sense! A lot of the initial tribes we see aren't actually connected to Pyro, but there are lava lakes and the like to make this a nation of Pyro. And these guys show up there! Pretty simple designs, just blobs with wiggly arms and 'eyes', but a nice and effective one.

The Eroding one is Geo-themed and the Fluid one is Pyro-themed in terms of attack and defenses, which I appreciate. These guys are apparently former golems or artificial lifeforms that were created by an ancient civilization to manipulate phlogiston, which is the local magic lava.

Secret Source Automaton: Hunter Seeker

We get another brand new category of robot separate from all the different styles of automatons we've seen before! And it's... a bit underwhelming? The porcelain-like rings are neat and the artwork and animations are cool, but this is like our twentieth robot or something and it doesn't really have a gimmick like Inazuma's origami cubes or Sumeru's pyramid robots or Fontaine's clockpunk swag.

There is some talk about how these Hunter Seekers were made by ancient civilizations predating humans, and that these used to be sample collectors... but mysterious ancient laser shooting robots are the initial wave of Genshin robot enemies in Mondstadt and Liyue. So other than being a new geometric shape I really am at a loss to find what to say here.

Flow-Inverted/Foliar-Swift/Rock-Cavernous Wayob Manifestation

And finally, we close off the first patch of Natlan with the Wayobs. The actual 'true' Wayobs are the spirits residing in the Night Kingdom, a parallel dimension that's all but stated to be the land of the dead. The descriptions note that the Wayob are 'consciousness of collective thoughts, and home of the ancestor's souls.' This is mild spoilers for the actual main story of the region, but the wars waged by the Natlanians are against our old foes, the Abyss. The Wayobs are spirits that reside in the Night Kingdom and act as deity-like spirit guides. Any more, I think, would spoil certain aspects of the main story, but suffice to say that these Wayobs are quite respected and are a major part of the Natlanians' culture, and they sometimes manifest in the real world in these totem-like forms called the Wayob Manifestations.  

And their designs are pretty cool! They are a bit more abstract, having a body like a totem and a vaguely human-like 'neck', 'head' and 'collar' plus a set of six wings that almost make it resemble angels... but then you throw a dash of the so-called biblically accurate angels into the mix, with visible eyeballs set onto the topmost pair of wings for all the Wayobs. Their 'heads' are just weird spikes, and I am fully convinced that their eyes, or what passes for their eyes, are those wing-shaped appendages. 

Again, just like everything else in this initial chapter of Natlan, three Wayobs exist, one for each tribe. The main difference beyond colour would be the crowns on their heads. The Hydro Wayob has like a stylized shark, the Dendro Wayob has a bunch of vines arranged in a spiral, and the Geo Wayob has... a crown? It looks badass, whatever it is. In addition to shooting their respective elements, Wayobs are also able to summon shields, and create 'arenas' with specific effects around them. This is flavoured as the Wayobs sometimes appearing to tribe members in the 'material world' to act as messengers of trials. 

Overall, these are very cool and add a dash of fun originality to Natlan's bestiary!