HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ONE AND ALL! I certainly hope that you are all with your loved ones and enjoying this wonderful day where we can call appreciate how grateful we are for what we have! Even if you aren't celebrating today or at all, it's still a wonderful day to be thankful and enjoy time with loved ones!
Because there is a lot to be grateful for, even when it seems that everything is going wrong at the surface level. Sometimes, in those more terrible moments where it feels like you are losing everything, you realize what you truly do have and that is what you are truly thankful for.
So get out there appreciate what you have in life! And tell those people who mean something to you that you ARE thankful for them! That's what I did to Master Yoda and Luke! Lastly, here is a video I made a while ago that truly captures the Thanksgiving spirit. Nothing I say can match what I expressed in this videos, please give it a watch! https://youtu.be/14E1NLjuZpk
Hello There! Welcome, at long last, to the FINALS. 2 weeks ago, I began asking a question: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO? You voted and narrowed the pool down from 36 to these final 4. Who will win it all? The outcome, as always, is up to you!
These final 4 heroes won each of their preliminaries and semifinals to face each other, the best of the best! We have GENJI: the dragon wielding cyborg ninja. Reaper: the fallen founder of Overwatch. Soldier 76: OW's former leader who lost his way. And last but certainly not least is Reinhardt: the joyful shield of a bygone era. Reinhardt himself fought tooth and nail to make it out of the losers brackets and we will see how well he fairs here!
You may choose your favorite using whatever criteria you like! You could be going off of gameplay, story, design or something else entirely! But I ask you explain your choice! I need to know your rational and your perspectives so I can understand why the winner indeed was chosen as the winner!
Thank you all for voting! This has been the largest and most successful series of polls I've ever done! I can't wait to see who will finally win after 2 long weeks and 15 separate polls! This is the moment you've been waiting for, let's see how it ends!
Hello There! In an incredible move, Reinhardt demolished his competition in the losers bracket! That means he gets to move onto the second losers bracket! The question remains the same: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO?
To clarify the brackets, we concluded the semis and are awaiting the finals. But before we get there, I'm pitting the losers of the semis against each other for some bronze medal match-ups! This round features the second place finishers in the semis and Reinhardt who fought his way up from the last round! I am tempted to place whoever wins this round into the finals if they dominate enough so let's see how they do!
Rules are the same as always, just vote for your favorite OW character! You may use whatever criteria to want to pick your favorite be it gameplay, story, design or something else! And please leave a comment explaining your choices below! I love hearing all of your rational, perspectives, and even tangential experiences with these heroes!
Overwatch 2 has literally been the greatest thing to happen to my channel's algorithm in years. Ramattra, the newest thank hero for Overwatch, has just been revealed and the instant he was the views on my Storm Rising video (the cutscene that introduced Ramattra) started going up.
I'm not even joking. Literally the minute Ramattra was revealed you can see a huge upshot in views. I'm obviously not going to complain about a windfall in views, I'm just happy to be here. I think Kronk most eloquently summed up my situation.
If you want to see that original video, here's the link: https://youtu.be/6KbDuCl0YEU
If you want to see Ramattra's reveal trailer, here's that link: https://youtu.be/vd_SPOkaZZ4
Hello There! Solider 76 proved just how hard he is to kill by securing victory from even the mascot Tracer herself! Todays participants might seem out of place but that's because we are going to have a losers' bracket before the finals! The question remains the same: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO?
To clarify the brackets, we just concluded the semifinals. Genji, Reaper and Solider 76 were the winners in each of their respective brackets and will be feared in the finals. But before that, I'm pitting the losers of the semis against each other for some bronze medal match-ups. In this round, I will be featuring the heroes who received the lowest share of votes in their semifinal match-ups. Next round will feature the 2nd place finishers in the semis.
I'm also letting Reinhardt into this competition because he simply did so well against Reaper that I had to give him his shot! If Rein wins, I'll even let him move onto the 2nd place finishers losers' bracket! Rules are the same as always: vote for your favorite OW character and you may use whatever criteria you want to judge them as your favorite! And please, leave a comment explaining your choices below!
Hello There! Reaper delivered his opponents to an early grave in the last poll. We now enter the 3rd and final semifinal matchup. The question remains the same: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO?
Rules are simple: vote for your favorite OW character! What criteria you use to determine your favorite is up to you. You could be going based off of gameplay, backstory, design, or something else entirely! And please leave a comment explaining your choice! I love hearing about all your reasonings and perspectives, even tangential stories you have with these characters!
The winners of this semifinal will face the other winners in the final poll to determine the winner of it all! I will also pit the losing semifinalists against each other first so we can have a bronze medal match of sorts!
Hello There! As if we needed any more proof that Genji is extremely popular, the cyborg Ninjag decisively one the first semifinal round! We now enter the 2 semi where I ask you the question: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO?
Who will win toady? The spirit, the angel, or the devil? This poll pits the newbie Kiriko against the every popular Mercy and Reaper! That's right, in the most heavily contested and voted poll I've seen yet on this channel, Reaper trumped over Reinhardt by only 1%! That is why you see the masked menace here today instead of the quintessential tank! I'm sorry to the disappointed Rein fans but that's democracy for you and my allegiance is t the republic, TO DEMOCRACY!!!
I wonder if anyone even reads the rules I posted here? Well, might as well say them again for consistency's sake (but if you did read this let me know!) Rule are simple, just vote for your favorite character! You can use whenever criteria you watch to judge your favorite by be it gameplay, story, deigns or something else! Please leave a comment explaining your choice down below as I love reading your rational and explanations!
Hello There! The preliminaries have concluded and so begin the semis! Now, the winners of each preliminary will face each other to answer the same question you've been voting on all week: WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE OVERWATCH HERO?
Rules are simple: Vote for your favorite OW character! The criteria you use to judge your favorite is up to you! You could be going off of gameplay, backstory, design, or something else entirely! It is your prerogative! And please, leave a comment below explaining your choice! I love reading about all your perspectives and reasonings for why you voted the way you did!
You are also welcome to go back to the preliminaries and vote in those previous rounds! The Reaper vs Reinhardt match up of Round 6 particularly close with only 1% separating the two! I strongly recommend going to that poll specifically because you can still vote to decide which of them will advance to tomorrow semifinals! Will it be the Ex-Overwatch and current Talon leader? Or will the 70 year old honorable German win the day and be your shield? The choice is still yours to make!
After 1 long month of anguish, my sabbatical from YouTube is finally over. This weekend, I saw the final part of Crystalized with that dear friend I was waiting to watch it with. Now I can watch all the Ninjago fan content on YouTube I've missed these last 3 weeks, I have a lot of catching up to do! You can expect me to reenter the comment sections as I slowly make my thought the tremendous backlog of Crystalized videos!
Now seems like an appropriate time to share some brief opinions I had regarding Crystalized overall. These are my immediate impressions as I literally finished the season only a few hours ago. These will only be my brief thoughts as I'd need to actually make proper video (or several) to review every aspect of this season. That being said, please remember that the word "brief" is subjective if you are familiar with the length of my comments, know that I will subjectiveize that word to the max!!!
SPOILERS:
Overall, I liked Part 2 of Crystalized. I'd go as far as to say that I really liked it. I thought was much better than the first part but that being said, this season did have issues. Nothing catastrophic or season ruining but issues none the less.
The greatest problem with this seasons is that it does not follow through on certain concepts and arcs it established or alluded to. This resulted in what should been a fulfilling and emotional arc feeling shallow and unfinished, as if the rest of the arc was left on a draft in the writers' room instead of being added to the final episode script. I say this because so much of the season works in principle, character moments and arcs felt lacking due to the show not committing hard enough or providing scenes to make said moments feel earned and complete.
This criticism applies, in my mind, the most to Garmadon's arc of rediscovering his humanity and Harumi's redemption/relationship with Lloyd. Both of these arcs should have been the primary emotional conflicts of the season but neither feels like they were developed enough.
And it stinks because there are many isolated scenes where Garmadon and Harumi's characters produced extremely emotional reactions from me. Garmadon talking about "Christophern" and wondering if he can feel compassion are amazing. Harumi tormenting Lloyd by threatening to kill his friends, feeling intense sympathy and a desire to be with him, wrestles with liking vs hating him, and her turning on the Overlord are all fantastic. These were tent pole scenes in their arcs but there isn't enough in-between moments to supplement these tent-pole scenes. That makes the arc feel incomplete but at the same time, it make me know what the writers were intending for their characters.
And that's what's so frustrating. Conceptually, these arcs are great, but they were not executed properly. And while I'm frustrated, I also can't be be too angry because the parts we did get were fantastic!
Tommy Andreasen talked a lot about Crystalized before it airing and he often attested that it was the most ambitious Ninjago season ever made. And in terms of visuals, plot, characters, and arcs, he's right. The problem, however, is that if your ambitions are too great then you risk being crushed underneath them. And that I fear partially happened with Crystalized.
Crystalized is not a bad season, far from it. The visuals are spectacular, the concepts are amazing, and the story is good in principle. There are also plenty of moments were the elusive "next level Ninjago" was achieved. These include Nya remembering who she is, Harumi unmaking herself, the fall of the monastery, Lloyd and Harumi going though Primeval's Eye, the Overlord crystallizing Ninjago City, Garmadon trying to care for his plant, Pixal's speech to a comatose Zane, the Ninja unlocking their dragon powers, and Lloyd colliding with the Elemental powers.
All of these aforementioned scenes rank amongst the best Ninjago has to offer and seeing them make me remember why I adore this show. The problem is, Crystalized tried to do too much with too little of a runtime.
Shockingly, 30 episodes was not enough to cover this massive story that spanned from rescuing Nya, to breaking out of prison, to learning who the Kabuki Mask is, to Harumi trying to kill the Ninja, to the Overlord taking over, to Garmadon discovering his humanity, to Lloyd unlocking his Oni from, to regrouping in Ninjago City, to Harumi being redeemed, to defeating the Overlord once and for all.
That was too much content for 1 season even if that season was 30 episodes. This massive story needed to be split up into 3 or even 4 seasons to be done justice. Only then would each arc and plot-point have enough time to be properly developed, paced and still have room to breath.
On one final positive note, I will say that I was very happy with the conclusion of this season, as rushed as it may have been to get there. When I first began this season, I feared we might have been saying goodbye to these characters we've known for 12 years. This might have been the last time we followed Kai, Jay, Zane, Cole, Nya and Lloyd. But it was a most joyous feeling to have these fears alleviated by Crystalized's finale.
It very much feels like Ninjago is not having a hard reset with a new roster of characters, rather it is just entering a new era, similar to how season 11 began. The ending of this season and Tommy Andreasen's letter announcing his departure make me feel that there are many more adventures with these beloved characters in the future to come. Seeing the characters content and happy as they rebuilt the monastery feels right and fills me with appreciation for the past and hope for the future. It is the greatest type of ending, the kind that feels like a new beginning.
Those are my brief (you call this brief? Now that's hilarious) thoughts on Crystalized. It's not a bad season by any stretch of the word but it didn't quite reach the lofty heights it aspired to reach or the loft heights of Ninjago's greatest masterpiece seasons. But even if those heights were not reached in their entirety, a few select scenes proved they were up to the mark. In these particular scenes, Crystalized achieved the best animation as a medium has to over. In these scenes, Crystalized proved that it is worthy of being call "Ninjago", one of the greatest animated shows ever made.
For that, I am grateful. For that, I am left satisfied enough. For that, I can look to the horizon as I eagerly await to see what Ninjago will have in store for us next time.
Thank you for reading and take care my fellow Ninja. Take care and may you jump up, kick back, whip around and spin. And then may you jump back and do it again. NINJA-GOOOOOO!!!!!!!!
I have a theoretical question for my Ninjago fans out there. Suppose, theoretically, that I have a new videos featuring all the Ninjago Crystalized Gifs coming out. And suppose, theoretically, that this video features all the gifs in their native high quality, high quality that no one else, theoretically, on the internet has actually managed to locate or upload yet.
Then suppose, theoretically, that I were to create a thumbnail for this video. Which of these theoretical thumbnails do you like the most? Which one, theoretically, do you think would best capture the full high quality perfection I procured? Which would motivate you the most to click on my video to watch this exclusively highest quality so you could enjoy these wonderful gifs and use them as you please? Theoretically of course.
Hello There! This is your favorite High Ground taking Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi. I'm a retired Clone Wars general who is now hiding on some back water planet with a very special mission.
It's quite boring here on Tatooine so I spend much of my time writing what I hope are witty and positive comments on YouTube. Sometimes Luke visits me and has recently introduced me to the concept of video games so I play those in my free time as well.
Feel free to leave a comment on any of my videos! Uncivilized language or inappropriate jokes, however, are not allowed and will not be approved. Cursing is not the Jedi way.
➤ If you want to contact me, please do so with the email below. I know it says "for business", but the archives are incomplete. You are free to email me questions, comments or anything else and I will happily respond!
May you achieve only the Happiest of Landings as you travel throughout YouTube and remember to always say no to Deathsticks! May the Force be with you!