Personal Post: Top Video Games of the Decade (2010-2019)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 10:00 ET

 To think that ten years have already come and gone. As we head into the 2020’s we must take the time to reflect and plan from where we were in 2010 to where we are now to where we want to be in the future. But that’s a bit too overwhelming and philosophical for this guy so let’s instead talk about the best video games of the decade. Now this is all my list covering games that I’ve personally played that were released in the United States that year so if you don’t see your game of that year on here leave a comment and let me know how much of a non gamer I am. Also there won’t be any compilations or collections on this list so no Mega Man X Legacy Collection, Bioshock collection or anything like that. 

 Nor will I put any game on here just for the critical acclaim that they’ve received or what everybody else thinks should be on the list for that year or anything like that. If you want that go to IGN where they’ve most likely put Ocarina of Time 3DS on their list because it’s expected and everyone is a Emperor Damned Sheep. No my choices are ones that I either really do love or have a personal attachment to me as a gamer and as a person. Though to give you all hopefully some idea of what kind of gamer I am here’s the list of the runners up for their respective years.

2010 God of War 3/ Bioshock 2

2011 infamous 2

2013 Project X Zone/Bioshock Infinite/ SMT4 

2014 Persona Q Shadow of the Labyrinth/Ni No Kuni

2016 SMT 4 apocalypse

2017 Persona 5/ Pokémon Sun

2018 Fist of the North Star Lost Paradise/ Bendy and the Ink Machine (PS4)/ Ni No Kuni 2/ Mega Man 11

2019 Luigi’s Mansion 3

Now that you have a taste here’s what I consider to be the best games of the decade in the year of their release.

 Starting off with 2010 I’m going with the release of my very first non Persona SMT game Shin Megami Tensai Strange Journey. With Persona 4 I discovered my favorite franchise and fittingly enough Strange Journey was my first step into the wider SMT catalogue. The best way to describe the transition from the two was like one minute you were watching Diamond is Unbreakable and the next; a remake of Saving Private Ryan written by Alan Moore. Strange Journey introduced me to the negotiation system, a more serious story, even harder bosses, but slamming difficulty and the moral choices between Law, Neutral and Chaos that the wider SMT games are known for. Now I know that this game got remade in 2018 and while I do love it to pieces and consider it essential for your 3DS collection the original is more personal to me and while I will definitely recommend the 3DS version the original game is what I will remember 2010 for, when I took a chance, chose my unit and ventured forth into a strange and dangerous land and will carry those experiences with me forever.

 2011 however will be much shorter since honesty I would rather keep any positive comments toward Konami at a bare minimum considering how they are the pinnacle of the Japanese Hell Company and thus earns my unyielding hatred. Downpour contributing to that as well when Konami tried to release this game, Book of Lost Memories and the horrendous Silent Hill HD collection during the aptly named month of Madness. The last hurrah of the Silent Hill franchise; Downpour was the spiritual follow up to Silent Hill 2 that Homecoming tried and failed so hard to be. Though it did have its flaws with the Otherworld segments being reduced to running away from a red vortex for a few minutes to the breakable weapons the spirit of what Silent Hill should be still shined through without having to lean on nostalgia. Plus it was one of the few games that acknowledges that Silent Hill 4 existed so there’s that. So; short and sweet, this game is underrated and #FucKonami.

 Now I did say that compilations are off the list but that doesn’t mean that remakes of the same game with new original content were excluded. So that means that I can put Persona 4 Golden as my pick of 2012 no problem. Oh the poor PS Vita, a lovely little handheld that Sony sadly neglected. Before the Switch came around this was as close as we could get to having full console quality video games on the go, with the enhanced rerelease of Persona 4 being the pinnacle of that notion. With this game I will forever refer to the PS Vita as the Persona 4 Golden machine.

 Aside from that Persona 4 Gold is basically Persona 4 only portable with new content, simple as that. And if you have a problem with that (other than "please port it to a system that more than a few people own so everyone can enjoy it aside from watch let’s plays") let me know. Not much else to say but it’s Jojo’s BizzaRPG 4 on the go, what’s not to love?

 Now 2013 was a great year for the 3DS with Project X Zone introducing me to new franchises I was only casually aware of to SMT4 my first proper mainline SMT game. But for me I have to give that spot to the game that got me back to a childhood classic, Pokémon X. I skipped generations 4 and 5 simply because I was kind of bored with Pokémon by that point so seeing as I had a new 3DS and needed games for my library I figured what the heck and now I was literally back in the game. Just seeing all of the Pokémon in 3D on a proper portable console invoked the expected reaction. 

 Not much else to say except it was the game I needed at the right time, sometimes you can come home again. Except for now when Nintendo, game deal or whoever decided to do what they did with Pokémon Home, absolutely unforgivable!

 2014 however was a rough year for me personally. This was the year that I finished my one year game design course at the New York Film academy and started to get into the real world. I didn’t have a job for months so until that came around I had quite a bit of time on my hands. And after the emotional roller coaster I needed a pick me up and Studio Ghibli and Level 5 gave me that with Ni No Kuni, Wrath of the White Witch. It’s a cliche to say that certain video games are like playing an interactive movie, but it’s true Ni No Kuni gives you the chance to play an actual Studio Ghibli movie with all the tropes, proper hand drawn art style and the whimsy, wonder and magic that comes with it. 

 Now as much as I love this game I do have some problems with it. Actually completing the game is an absolute nightmare with getting all the Familiars, creating all the items from the Genie, fighting the super boss and completing the Solosseum was just too much for me to bear back then. Speaking of the Familiars I was not a big fan of that, you’re supposed to be a newly minted Wizard with your new companions yet you have little monsters to do all the work for you, sounds pretty weak to me. Completion problems aside this game and Studio Ghibli remind us that sometimes it’s always darkest before dawn, even if Miyazaki himself can be a grumpy asshole.

 2015 was one of the tougher years to pick out though that was mostly due to the lack of games that I was interested in. But there was one game that I was waiting for, the conclusion to the Arkham trilogy; Batman Arkham Knight. While I did have a fun time getting to be the Goddamn Batman one last time before my opinion of Warner Bros withered and died like the Joker. That was mostly due to me playing the PS4 version while PC users were treated to a buggy, broken disaster. Also if you knew anything about Batman history you knew who the Arkham Knight was as soon as you heard him talk.

 Now funny enough apparently the Arkham Knight caught on with someone at DC since there’s an actual Arkham Knight in the comics now. Now before you say anything, no the Arkham Knight in the comics is not Jason Todd. Back on track Arkham Knight wasn’t the only problem since Scarecrow was a boring, droning putz who took himself way too seriously. But thankfully we had the surprise inclusion of the Joker with Mark Hamill’s second to last performance as the clown prince of crime before the bellyflop that was The Killing Joke. As the conclusion to the trilogy that helped repair the reputation of Superhero games it was satisfactory but Warner Bros and WB have burned too many bridges with me to give their games another chance, and that's truly a shame.

 Speaking of licenses in 2016 we got the brilliant return of Ratchet and Clank on the PS4. Now while I never saw the movie that the game was apparently tied into (and from what I heard that was for the best) this reboot got most of what made Ratchet and Clank work right gameplay wise. The game had the proper mix of platforming, gunplay, puzzle solving and a good bit of humor in the writing. I would complain about how Ratchet and Clanks early dynamic was off from how it was originally but since this was being told from Captain Quarks perspective (aka the most unreliable of narrators) I can let it slide since he most likely didn’t pay attention to those parts. Though that does bring up a bit of a problem with that excuse; namely. 

 Plot wise this was a remake of the first game only with Dr Nefarious added in as the evil scientist working for Chairman Drek. Sure, while we didn’t re-explore every planet from the first game it did expand on some of the smaller details on the planets that we do revisit. From what I can gather the movie seems to have the same problem that the Warcraft movie suffered from, namely being too faithful to the source material that it forgets to create a story that it appeals to others outside of the established fan base. But again that’s just what I’ve heard, I could be wrong. Regardless of the movies failings the game itself is a good introduction point to the new fans while being a great trip down memory lane for the old fans. It definitely makes a better showcase for the PS4 than Knack that’s for certain.

 Now before I made my pick for 2017 I initially thought that it would be Persona 5, since it was one of my most anticipated games this generation. But when I finally played the Switch rerelease last year and knowing the development history; I have to name Cuphead as my favorite game of 2017, at least retroactively. Now since Cuphead DLC was included in Smash Bros one can assume most people know about Cuphead through research and pop culture osmosis; bit you know what they say about assuming so here’s the rundown. Cuphead is a hard as nails 2d side scrolling boss rush game in the same vein as Alien Solder on the SNES. It was made by two brothers who remortgaged their houses to keep the project alive and to capture the feel of the Fleischer cartoon style they did the animation for every character by hand! 

 Let me repeat, they put their livelihoods on the line to get their uncompromised game out into the world. Now add on the fact that Cuphead was so critically and commercially received that the game now stands among the ranks of Shovel Knight and FNAF as one of the icons of the indie game market and that would have been enough but for it to be just so damn fun and challenging with era appropriate music, creative and challenging bosses and all for at 20 bucks sets it leaps and bounds over any other game in 2017. If you haven’t played Cuphead you need to rectify that ASAP!

 Now 2018 had the exact opposite problem of 2015 for me to pick the best game since there was so many candidates I could have picked if my runners up for that year were any indication. But my ultimate pick for 2018 was the PS4 Spider-Man. Just like the Arkham games you truly got to be Spider-Man, but unlike the overexposed, multimillionaire Goddamn Batman who constantly drones on about how he touched his dead mother's breast, Spider-Man’s entire premise is being relatable to the observer. Though that’s what my draw to this game is since, honestly I can’t stand 616 Peter Parker. Mostly attributed to One More Day Into The Spider-verse also showed how 616 Peter’s life is a complete and utter train wreck not helped by the writers constantly trying to put him into the “escapist fantasy” box and other people who have the name of Spider-Man just carry it better than him, like Gwen Stacy, Miguel O’Hara, Dr Octopus and yes even Miles Morales are all just better than main universe Peter. 

 But in this game we have a similar Peter Parker but thankfully not an exact copy. He has a better relationship with the NYPD, Mary Jane knows his secret identity but their relationship is on the rocks and spoilers; this Peter Parker takes the “great responsibility” part seriously when he didn’t waste the antidote to the Devils Breath on Aunt May before it could be mass produced. That moment is what cinched it for me, because I knew that main Peter Parker would be that big of a selfish, shortsighted idiot to put Aunt May over everyone in New York if the whole deal with Mephisto was enough of an indication. Spider aside the gameplay here is some of the best I’ve come across in a long time. Sure the combat system may take a few notes from the Arkham games such as the spider sense but unlike the detective vision it’s not game breaking nor does the combat system guarantee a block by pressing a button; it still relies on your skills as a player. 

 Also yes, THE WEB-SWINGING IS THE G.O.A.T! Just the feeling of swinging around New York climbing to the top of Avengers Tower and free falling into the concrete jungle down below and swinging around like an urban Tarzan was just downright magical. But then again these are the guys behind Ratchet and Clank and they know how to make a fun and entertaining game through and through. If you haven’t played this gem, rectify that immediately!

 Now to wrap this up we have the one game that several of us were waiting 13 years for, 2019 finally gave us Kingdom Hearts 3. Now did this game have some problems when it came out regarding the difficulty, yes. Did the story wrap up the Xehanort saga while still having Tetsuya Nomura’s less beloved little writing quirks such as sequel baiting, leaving some parts of the story unexplained or not explained well enough that a whole new set of DLC was released to retcon those parts, yes. Did this game still capture that feeling of childhood wonder, excitement and hopefulness even if you’re not a major fan of most of the Disney worlds, yes. Did this game draw out the ire of some of the worst parts of the gaming community for various reasons, sadly yes. 

 But no matter what anyone says about this game at least Square recognized the criticism and actually did something about it with the free Critical Mode update and the (sadly overpriced in my humble opinion) Re:Mind DLC. Whereas most other companies would have just left it and forget it to drive their reputations into the ground “cough Gearbox” “cough Bethesda” “cough Warner Brothers.” Now as a game KH3 is still a fun old time, though in my experience Proud mode was a bit too easy and Critical Mode took this game from zero to Cuphead in just a few Megabytes which was fine with me and at least you can unlock the Oblivion Keyblade by finishing Critical so there’s that. Now while KH2 is my overall favorite game in the series KH3 as of the Re:Mind DLC is a very close second.  So that wraps up my list of the favorite games of the decade per year. 

 From the end of the PS3, the failure of the Wii U, the end of Steam Greenlight to the rise of the loot box and its subsequent need for regulation to the mistake that was the Stadia and the constant disaster of Fallout 76. From the birth of both the PS4 and, honestly the best console so far the Switch; video games have had a rather interesting and turbulent ten years. Now speaking of Decade; since we’re in the Reiwa era now I have to give my thoughts on the last of the Hesei era of Kamen Rider. If this list didn’t kill me than the next one will, oh well I beat Cuphead, The Valkyrie Queen on Give me a Challenge and Yozora on Critical within the span of three months. Bring it on!

Shin Megami Tensei Strange Journey is owned by Atlus, Sega and Lancarse.
Silent Hill Downpour is owned by Vatra games and Konami Computer Entertainment
Persona 4 Golden is owned by Atlus and Sega.
Rick and Morty is owned by Justin Rolland, Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions, Harmonious Claptrap, Starburns Industries, and Williams Street
Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, Ken Sugumori and Statoshi Tajiri.
Ratatouille is owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios and Brad Bird.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is owned by Level-5 Games, Studio Ghibli and Namco Bandai.
Batman Arkham Knight is owned by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, Rocksteady Studios and DC Comics
Ratchet and Clank is owned by Insomniac Games and Sony Computer Entertainment.
Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT and Dragonball Super is owned by Funnimation, Toei animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama.
Dragon ball Z Abridged is owned by Team Four Star. 
Cuphead is owned by Studio MDHR and Chad and Jared Moldenhauer.
Kingdom Hearts is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.

Movie Review: Spider-Man Far From Home: The end of Phase 3 (No Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

"I knew I shoulda taken that left turn at Albuquerque." 

 Summer is here and after the events of Endgame it looks like the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man is looking for a little bit of R&R. But sadly no matter what universe it is Peter Parker needs to suffer, c'est la vie. This suffering comes in the form of Nick Fury highjacking his class' European trip to have him help a new hero called Mysterio (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) who is totally a survivor from another universe hunting down four elemental monsters to prevent the destruction that his world suffered from occurring in Peters. Of course Peter doesn't want any part of this, but after the events of Endgame the world is looking for the next Iron Man, and since Peter is technically Tony's apprentice and the only active Superhero he's basically guilt tripped into helping Mysterio. So will Peter be able to live up to Tony's expectations or will the four elementals have their way with this Earth?

 Short version of this movie, it's really good, better than Homecoming, and a decent sorbet course to wrap up Phase 3 of the MCU. But it does also help to explain how the world of the MCU adjusted to the people who were snapped out by Thanos returning like nothing had ever happened and having a little fun with it with a pretty funny gag at the start. In the case of education; the kids who "blipped" as they called it (I see what you did there, and I'm still bitter) just had to repeat the year that they were in from the start while their friends and family who weren't blipped moved on with their lives without them. Like for example your younger brother who was three years younger then you is now two years older. The only way your family tree could be even more insane was if you were from the planet Jurai or your last name was Joestar/Kujo.

 But the biggest gaps to fill is the lack of Superheroes, sure there's Dr Strange but he's dealing with cosmic threats. Falcon, Bucky and Wanda are most likely on the run thanks to the Sokovia accords and T'Challa has a kingdom to run. No idea where Bruce Banner is, Thor is in space with the Guardians, Carol is protecting the Skrull and the rest of the cosmos, Cap took the long way home and is in no shape to do anything like he used to, and as for the guys like the Defenders, Inhumans and any other groups from the T.V series? They're more akin to local protectors than facing threats head on unless they're right in their neighborhoods (literally in the Defender's case.) So everyone looking to Spider-Man to fill Iron Man's boots makes sense, but on the other hand Peter's a Teenager who skipped 5 years and is dealing with the fact that his mentor/father figure is literally plastered all over the place as if in constant judgement of him for not living up to his example.

 But at least since Aunt May, Ned and pretty much everyone important in his life knows he's Spider-Man anyway he at least doesn't have to worry too much about the secret identity thing. That's something I do give the MCU Spidey credit for, throughout the life of 616 Peter Parker his secret identity issues has given him absolutely nothing but grief and plot contrivances, thankfully the writers recognized that and at least took measures so that MCU Peter doesn't have to worry about his loved ones. I do want to talk about Mysterio, butter those who've never heard of him before I'll keep my trap shut. All I'll say is that Jake Gyllenhaal's performance makes this character, this really is Mysterio. As for the ending, all I'll say is that I was desperately waiting for a certain character to say this line when he showed up.

 But now that Phase 3 has ended, it's time. As before when Phase 1 and 2 ended its time for me to go down the list of them and list the best to the not as good. Though make no mistake Phase 3 had no movies as bad as Iron Man 2 or Thor the Dark World, at worst they were just fun and with the main MCU Achilles heel holding them back (the boring antagonist).

#1 Infinity War (The big show stopper and finally worth it to see Thanos get his big purple ass off that chair and wreck all of the ass, just to take in that sunrise on that farm.)

#2 Captain America Civil War (This was the movie that Age of Ultron should have been.)

#3 Avengers Endgame (This really needs to be seen back to back with Infinity War to get the full effect, also never just insert Time travel, ever!)

#4 Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 (Another great Guardians movies and thank Yandu's beautiful blue mug that James Gunn is back on track for Volume 3.)

#5 Black Panther (Poignant social commentary with one of the best villains of the MCU despite said villain overshadowing most of the cast.)

#6 Thor Ragnarok (Definitely what Thor needed after the Ragnarok that was Thor the Dark World.)

#7 Spider-Man Far From Home (For better than Homecoming and helps establish the new status quo after the Snap.)

#8 Captain Marvel (Cool 90's throwback, a great female lead; though not as good as Wonder Woman but that's a high bar to reach so, fair's fair.)

#9 Doctor Strange (A good Phase 1 movie and amazing visuals but the villains sucked. Yes, an MCU bad guy was lame color me shocked too.)

#10 Spider-Man Homecoming (The plot was just there and mostly inconsequential. Though it did introduce some of Spider-Man's rogues gallery that never got decent live action incarnations before and Michael Keaton killed it as the Vulture.)

#11 Ant-Man and the Wasp (Most of the same complaints as Homecoming but with a weaker villain with Ghost. But at least she had Lawrence Fishburne backing her up so she's at least better than Kamen Rider Ghost.)

 With that list done we move on to Phase 4. Maybe later on I'll do an overall list of MCU movies from top to bottom, we'll see. But this movie does raise a rather important question that needs to be answered. Now that the founding members of the Avengers are gone (Except for Thor but he's in space so whatever.) Who will rise up tot take their place as Earth's Mightiest Heroes?

 Will it be a family of 4 with Fantastic powers? Will it be a group of young people using the powers they were born with to protect those who hate and fear them? Or will the Defenders get upgraded to the main movies once they ditch Iron Fist? That remains to be seen, but rest assured we'll be there to see it. But as for me, I've run out of excuses, it's time for me to finish Heisei Generations Forever once and for all, this is gonna suck.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Spider-Man: Far From Home is owned by Sony Pictures Releasing, Marvel Studios, Pascal Pictures and Colombia Pictures
Dragon Ball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball GT and Dragonball Super is owned by Funnimation, Toei animation, Fuji TV and Akira Toriyama.
Dragon ball Z abridged and Hellsing Ultimate Abridged is owned by Team Four Star. 

Tokusatsu Review: Kamen Rider Final Form Top 20 Update Genius Form: More like C- (Happy 5th Anniversary)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

While I do have massive problems with this series this Ridewatch does make for a convenient title card doesn't it?

 Time yet again for another update to my top Kamen Rider Final forms list. But before I give my thoughts on the hilariously named Genius Form I have to unfortunately touch on the recently revealed Grand Zi-O. Long story short I hate it and seems to incapsulate all of my problems with a Zi-O as a rider.

While the design isn’t all that bad the power if the form itself is what kills it for me. All Zi-O has to do is touch a Rider on the armor and it summons that Rider to perform their very first finishing move, where they were at their weakest, yet it’s able to repel a late series monster.

 I don’t even need to explain why you all can hopefully tell why this power is so ungodly useless to Zi-O. Rest assured that when Zero One’s Final form is introduced this grand failure will hit rock bottom of the list. But for now we have to change gears and focus on the flaws and strengths of Build’s Final form.

 Aesthetically I’ve seen worse, contrasting against the all black dominated color scheme of the Hazard Forms that mostly rely on pure power and speed Genius Form (theoretically) depends on variety since it apparently can utilize the powers of all 60 of the Fullbottles. Yet we never really see that happen on screen just like with Blade and his King Form and Fourze's Cosmic States. All that it was built for was to combat the Lost Smash and save its victims without killing them by purifying the Nebula Gas in them, purifying the Lost Fullbottles in the process. Other than that, nothing, it barely even helped Sento stand up to Evolt. I don’t think that I’ve ever come across a final form that was so specialized to be almost useless outside of its intended purpose. 

 Also I get what they were trying to go for with the red and blue color scheme calling back to Build's default Rabbit Tank form but the color balancing just doesn't work for me. Though symbolically this form is the culmination of Sento’s identity crisis. With this form complete he was able to balance himself between Kiryu Sento and Katsuragi Takumi, the false persona made real and the demon scientist. Around the time that Genius Form was finished Takumi conceded the body to Sento, though he was a false persona he’s proven to Takumi through both is actions and character that he truly is the better man between the two. So while the form itself isn’t all that impressive it does do what a final form is supposed to do and culminate the emotional and or character arc of the main character and it does that job well but not enough to break the top 10.

 Also apparently Sento even lost access to this form after the two worlds were merged at the end of the series. Though does still have the Fullbottle itself he can't access the form, but there's still the V Cinema's coming down the pike so we'll see about that. But for now if I was being extremely generous I'd at least put it at 12th place knowing down Faiz Blaster.

#20 Hibiki Armed
#19 Ghost Mugen Damashi
#18 Ryuki Survive
#17 Agito Shining
#16 Decade Complete
#15 Stronger Charge Up
#14 Fourze Cosmic States
#13 Faiz Blaster
#12 Genius Form
#11 Drive Type Tridoron
#10 Wizard Infinity Style
#9 Kabuto Hyper Form
#8 Muteki Gamer Lv 100
#7 Blade King Form
#6 Ultimate Kuuga
#5 W/Double Cyclone Joker Xtreme
#4 OOO Putotyra Combo
#3 Den-O Liner Form
#2 Gaim Kiwami Arms

#1 Kiva Emperor Form

 Now I know that I should be finishing up my review of Heisei Generations Forever and yes it will be done. But since there's Spider-Man Far From Home coming in the very near future I have to make that priority. And since it's the end of Phase 3 I have to give my list of the best and worst of Phase 3 so that's going to take my attention for now. But afterwords, I will finish that review, so please be patient, thank you all for the views, shares and what not, and Happy 5th Anniversary.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.


Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Gravity Falls is owned by Disney Television Animation and Alex Hirsch.

March to Infinity: Avengers Endgame: Go time (No Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 11 years, that’s how long the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been going on. 22, that’s how many of the main movies there are. All this time, all this preparation, all of this calculated planing, gambling and downright prayer and has been leading up to this movie. And after a brief detour in how the strongest being in the MCU made her debut in the 90's we come back to the present day where her old pal Fury is quite literally dust in the wind and she wants to know whose ass she's gotta kick to the edge of the universe. Yes as Dr Strange said, we're at the endgame; at the end of the day we must ask the question, does it live up to the hype? In someways hell to the yeah, others however I felt were better handled in Infinity War. 

 But I can’t help but think it was by design, Infinity War being the set up for Thanos and Endgame being the big popcorn blowout finale. Now I will be doing my duty and avoiding spoilers for the major plot points of endgame. (Even ignoring that we already know that Spider-Man: Far from home is only a few months away taking away some of the gut punch that was the end of Infinity War.) I'll just say that this like Kingdom Hearts 3 and MGS4 Guns of the Patriots in that this is a sequel in every sense of the word with call backs, follow ups on previous movies and just general fun for those that have been paying attention tot he previous installments in the franchise. But I know that this review needs some meat to it so I'll merely recap the events that lead up to this movie (ignoring the continuity stuff from the T.v series and Netflix shows.) For years now Thanos the mad titan has been working behind the scenes to uncover the 6 Infinity stones, 6 objects born from the creation of the universe that each contain incredible powers.

 The Mind stone was hidden in the Scepter that was given to one of Thanos’ pawns; Loki in an attempt to conquer Earth to claim more of the stones. It was later repurposed to give life to the A.I Ultron and was in the head of the android named Vision. The Space stone was hidden in a device called the Tesseract, originally located in Asgard it was moved to Earth where it was uncovered by Johann Schmidt during World War 2 but was lost during his confrontation with Captain America, later it was eaten by Goose, puked back up, was in the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D and taken back to Asgard. The Time stone was inside of the Eye of Agamotto which was kept safe by the sorcerer supreme; Dr Stephen Strange in his sanctum in New York. The Power stone was hidden in an Orb on an ancient temple on the planet Morag, until it was uncovered by former Ravager Peter Quill. Eventually it was placed in the custody of the Nova Corp. The Reality stone (not really a stone but shut up) was kept in a sealed chamber in Asgard, but was uncovered and was given to a being called the Collector in his eponymous collection in the mining world of Knowhere. 

 The last stone, the Soul stone was enshrined on the planet of Vormir, according to its enslaved keeper  the previously mentioned Johann Schmidt, the stone could only be claimed by someone who sacrifices a loved one by tossing them off the cliff where the stone was sealed, a soul for a soul. But eventually they would all be recovered by Thanos and used to achieve his ultimate goal, kill half of all sentient life in the universe in a painless way. However the survivors were kind of pissed off at this psychopath's genocide so now they're dead set on finding him, killing him and hopefully reclaim the Infinity Gauntlet to restore his victims to life. So to recap, their plan is to track down the big purple alien who has the power of a god who previously kicked all of their asses even without the full god powers, steal the source of his powers and restore half of all life in the entire universe without being destroyed by said power.

 But that's as much plot as I feel safe to disclose. As for the technical and production aspects I feel this  once again the MCU at it's best. The CGI is still spectacular, the fights are well choreographed and what happens to the characters after Infinity War is in some parts interesting while others are hard to watch and not for the reasons you're thinking of. It's not like "oh god why did they think this was a good idea" it's more like "oh wow, how the mighty have fallen". Also definitely keep an ear out for certain references that those who even know a little bit about the comic book source material will definitely get a chuckle out of.

 I honestly wish I could say more but this is just one of those movies that you have to see. Endgame is one of those rare movies that every, and I do mean everyone is talking about, for better or worse. in layman's terms; go see Endgame you dingus'! Though be sure to come back in July. Where we not only talk about Peter Parker's school trip to Europe but we finally end Phase 3 and I give my countdown of the best and worst movies from Phase 3, from Civil War to Far from home.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Avengers Endgame is owned by Walt Disney Studios motion Pictures and Marvel Studios Based off the original comics Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Ghostbusters (1984) is owned by Ivan Reitman, Coulumbia-Delphi Productions, Black Rhino and Columbia Pictures.

March to Infinity: Captain Marvel (Marvel): Watch out for Goose.

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

 It's gotten to the point where it just doesn't feel like the year has started till the latest MCU movie is out in theaters hasn't it? It's definitely is going to feel like something's gone once this whole franchise finally comes to an end in like the next 10 years or something but in the meantime we have one of the prequels of the MCU. As of this article Linkara hasn't made a Secret Origin video describing the original first appearance of Carol and I will not be reminding anyone of Avengers #200 so when it comes out I'll edit this article to fill in the details. But for now we have the MCU incarnation to cover.

 Our story starts in 1995 with an amnesiac woman named Vers (played by Brie Larson) on the planet of Hala, the capital of the Kree empire where she under the tutelage of Yon-Rogg (played by Jude Law) serves the Kree leader, the A.I known as the Supreme Intelligence as a member of the Starforce. Her current mission has her working to exterminate the Skrull, a race of shapeshifters who have been at war with the Kree for centuries. However she gets captured on her latest mission and has her memories probed by the local Skrull commander Talos (played by Ben Mendelsohn) which, aside from being a massive invasion of personal privacy, triggers her memories of a certain planet that holds the rest of the pieces of her long forgotten past. If you guessed that that planet was earth, then you get a gold star.

 After she lands in a Blockbuster Video she runs across a young S.H.I.E.L.D agent by the name of Nicholas Joseph Fury (played by a masterfully de-aged Samuel L Jackson) who after getting attacked by Talos and his men agrees to help Vers discover what the Skrulls are up to on Earth and what Earth may hold about her past. Now there's nothing but spoilers afterwords so I'll stop right there. Ignoring the spoilers I thought this was another good entry for the MCU. I honestly wasn't expecting this to be a throwback to 90's Buddy cop movies with Superheros but hey, I've seen wielder things happen. Speaking of our duo I think they're both really good.

 Starting off with our title character, I like Brie Larson's Vers, at the beginning we can see that her real persona is breaking through the amnesia but that tends to get her in trouble among her fellow Kree subjects. But when she gets on earth she seems to fit in much better despite the primitive technology and galactic awareness. And as she wanders with Nick and arrives at certain locations she's overcome by something, she can't quite put her finger on it, and then the word comes to her "nostalgia". Aside from just the 90's California aesthetics that is, which there is quite a bit of in this movie as if the Blockbuster Video scene wasn't enough of a nostalgia bomb. Seriously It's been how long since Blockbuster closed down their stores?

 As for Nick, I have to agree with everyone, the de-aging effects on Samuel L Jackson are amazing. Keep in mind the guy is about 70 years old yet he looks just like he did around when they filmed Pulp Fiction, it's amazing. Other then that we see a younger Nick Fury who hasn't become so much of the cynical contingency planer that we see in the other movies. These two working together makes for funny back and forth, a short yet powerful friendship and helps show Fury that Earth has more than just their local superpower wack-jobs to worry about and why he went straight for that pager at the end of Infinity War. He knows that she's the most powerful being on Earth aside from Thor and that she is the last resort since she had her own agenda all this time protecting her people from the end of this movie.

 But as for how I would personally grade it. I don't think this is the absolute worst of anything, especially Brie Larson's acting. Listen people, I know what wooden acting is and this performance was not it. Go watch something like Birdemic or "The Time Machine (I found at a Yard-sale)", Twilight or anything made by David Cage. I dare you to tell me that her acting is bad after you've seen Wooden Rod, 50's Mc Cheerios and Dead Pan Mcgee.

 No, in this movie we see that while she has had extensive training as a Solder she has plenty of one-liners, attitude, empathy and is, shock and gasp, an actual human being with a wide range of emotions! Sorry, sick and tired of the current discourse surrounding this movie and I had to get that off my chest. Back on track, the villains, are at least better than standard Phase 1 fare. We have personal conflict and a legit reason to hate them. Avoiding spoilers but when we see Vers take on the Captain Marvel codename and fights the big bad all I wanted to say was "this is for the science guy!" 

 Though the sequel set up was a bit obvious we do want to see where this goes for the Captain and how she's going to deal with this overcoming threat and how it shapes up the Kree for how we see them in Guardians of the Galaxy 1. Speaking of, yes we do get some cameos from Ronan and his #2 guy, but they're pretty much window dressing right now. The comedy is on par with the MCU as well, well written, perfect tension breakers and help to give dimensions to the characters. The action is cool, diverse, well choreographed and the final set piece where Captain Marvel unlocks her full potential is a sight to behold, as well as a good reason why she was kept out of the movies for so long. She's basically the MCU Superman, if she showed up the conflicts would have been over and down with before Tony Stark finished even one one-liner.

 So like I have to keep saying so long and often I feel that I have to make it my catch phrase, ignore the hype and make the best judgement call around, yours. So now that MCU movie #1 is out of the way for this year time to see Marvel join up with the Avengers and leave a meteor sized fist mark right into Thanos' skull. But not before we see the original Captain Marvel up on the big screen. And from what I've seen of the trailers and how DC's been getting their act together all I have to say is, holy moly.


Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Captain Marvel is owned by Marvel Studios and The Walt Disney Company. Based on the character created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan.

Movie Review: Ralph Breaks the Internet: The special water (No Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain!, support me on Patreon and watch my Twitch Channel Every Saturday at 12:00 ET

Sorry but Deadpool still holds claim to that feat.

 The first Wreck it Ralph is honestly still a good movie, as a video game fan I love the little touches, retro callbacks and the side by side jokes comparing Arcade classics to modern gaming sensibilities and aesthetics and I really enjoyed the central idea of Ralph (played by John C. Reilly) as a Character, that even though he's a "bad guy" it doesn't mean that he's a bad guy. I also liked Vanellope (played by Sarah Silverman) as a knock back against the Disney Princess archetype and the cute little friendship she develops with Ralph as both are outsiders who find common ground. I even liked King Candy as a villain and for the whole "hit guy with glasses" bit that was really clever. All in all Wreck it Ralph was an enjoyable movie and I'm definitely looking forward to wrecking stuff with Ralph in Kingdom Hearts 3.

 I had to get all of that out of the way so that when I say that Ralph breaks the Internet falls short in comparison to the first one I don't have ravenous Disney fans out for my blood. Yeah, yeah a sequel doesn't live up to the original a sadly not uncommon story. But it's true, while the premise of the story is a good one and it does have some great moments and commentary it just sadly ends up as a less intellectually insulting version of the Emoji movie. I'm serious there's just as much product placement as the Emoji movie but it has an actual story behind it as opposed to just being a piece of brainwashing marketing, it's a contrived and drawn out story but at least it has a story.

 It takes place 6 years after the first movie (so in real time I guess?) Ralph and Vanellope are still being best buds and have a routine going on, but Vanellope is tired of the same old same old in Sugar Rush so Ralph tries to change up her course for her but it winds up with the Sugar Rush cabinet getting broken, unplugged and with the only available part costing $200 bucks on Ebay it looks like the game is going to be moved out in a few days leaving all of the Game Characters homeless unless Ralph and Vanellope use the new Wi-fi router to go into the internet, buy the part and save Sugar Rush before Fix it Felix and Calhoun (reprised by Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch respectively) lose their minds after agreeing to adopt the Sugar Rush racers and learning that, surprise, surprise adopting 15 kids was a very stupid idea!

 Along the way they encounter a group of diverse characters, most prominently is Shank (played by Gal Gadot) who is a character from the Game "Slaughter Race" who gives Vanellope the challenge that she was looking for. Basically Slaughter Race is like Christmas Town for Vanellope, so new, so different and everything she was looking for, which causes more then a fair bit of jealousy to stir within Ralph. So if they get the part delivered to the Arcade, will it really just be like old times for Ralph and Vanellope? I mean as the song goes "How 'ya gonna keep'em down at the farm now that they've seen Paree", or in this case Detroit?

 As mentioned before there's a lot of advertisements in this movie for Ebay, Youtube, Amazon, twitter you get the idea. But unlike the Emoji movie aside from Ebay and Youtube (which is weird they have a location called Buzztube which I'm guessing the unholy fusion of Buzzfeed and Youtube even though we see adds for Youtube in the background it's odd) there's very little product placement in the foreground, it's mostly just background details, which is good though still questionable but in a movie about the internet as it is today these references are unfortunately unavoidable. So at least this could make a decent time capsule of internet culture as it is today if anything else. So while it's good that the movie doesn't focus on the advertisements and keeps its focus on Ralph and Vanellope it's not a whole lot to do. While Vanellope and her thoughts of Slaughter Race is a good angle to go with Ralph has unfortunately kind of regressed as a character due to his jealousy threatening to drive a wedge between him and his best friend.

 Though you'd think that after the first movie Ralph's friend count should have gone up by a few names it just kind of feels weird. Speaking of his friends as mentioned before Felix and Calhoun were practically gift wrapped their own sub-plot with them adopting the Sugar Rush racers but it's just dropped like a lead Elephant until the end of the movie for one joke. So if you were fans of the two, liked how they got together and wanted to see more of them in this new scenario, well tough taffy you're out of luck! Also we get some jokes about gamers and modern internet references. While some were a bit on the nose I did get a raised eyebrow about some of the topics that they talked about, I won't say what they are but it will lead to the most unexpected Arnold Schwarzenegger movie reference you'll ever find aside from the Kindergarten Cop School from the first Silent Hill game.

 Now if you feel like I'm being too negative there are some good scenes in this movie and they're both focused on Vanellope. First is the one that's in all of the advertisements, where she goes to a Disney website and meets the Disney Princesses. It's easily the best part of the movie with all of these different princesses interacting with each other, talking about the overused tropes of the archetype and the "Special Water" conversation. I don't know what I just saw but I'm cool with it. Also when Vanellope finds the special water, it lead to one of the most surreal musical numbers since the Cake Song in Madoka Rebellion, as I was watching I could only think of the Manperor's wise words.

 Though aside from that, Shank's crew and the once again surprising ending I don't really have a whole lot to say about Ralph Breaks the Internet. It honestly felt a bit "by the numbers" from Disney. Which is very weird, it feels like one of those straight to video Disney sequels that flooded the market back in the late 90's early 2000's but with better writing, a bigger budget and more product placement than Man of Steel. I didn't really go into this movie expecting something groundbreaking, really I just saw this on a whim but I'm kind of in a weird place, I'm not angry I thought it was just, ok. I figure that maybe they could have gone a bit farther with the "what kids are into" angle that they were hinting at with Slaughter Race and Buzztube like maybe Ralph interacting with characters from popular games that got big because of Youtube and streamers and that, like Ralph interacting with the FNAF characters but then that'd just be going into Fanfic territory and I'm not that far gone just yet. Or at the very least give us the Felix and Calhoun subplot like they set up or something.

 I guess I was kind of expecting more out of a movie where retro game characters go into the internet, but for what I got I wasn't bored so you know just like my review of the Happytime murders this is just one of those instances where you just have to ignore the hype and make the best judgement call around, yours. But as before at least I have Ralph fighting Heartless to look forward to. Now if you'll excuse me, I've prolonged my suffering for long enough, back to Dumbluck and his gang of idiots next week.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Ralph breaks the Internet is owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Warhammer 40,000 is owned by Rick Priestly, Games Workshop and Citadel.

If the Emperor had a Text to Speech Device is owned by Bruva Alfabusa.

March to Infinity: Ant-Man and the Wasp: World's Greatest Grandma (No Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

 So, an MCU movie post Infinity War, this is gonna be fun. Though yeah after the events of that mega movie we need something a little (heh) closer to home. Though since this is the MCU debut of Wasp I'll point you to the debut of her mother's comic book incarnation.

http://atopthefourthwall.com/tales-to-astonish-44/

 Obviously there's no Lovecraften monster from beyond the stars here to kill everyone with a space light-show, nor does it mention Hank's first wife who was supposedly killed because of Communism. Though the movie does showcase the consequences of Scott impulsively joining up with Cap's group during the events of Civil War. But he honestly got lucky considering what happened to everyone else who broke the Accords, just put under house arrest for two years. He even still has weekend custody of Cassie, has set up a private security firm with Luis and his two buds and also found the time to learn some slight of hand card tricks. Though ones fortune can become or is balanced out with someone else's misfortune.

 The "someone" in this case is Hank and Hope since, because they were the ones who provided Scott with the Ant-man tech they're considered to be his accomplices thus have been on the run. Needless to say they're pretty pissed at Scott, but they need him back since durning the climax of the first Ant-man he returned from the quantum realm. The two need him to help recreate that seemingly impossible feat to hopefully find Hank's lost wife Janet (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) the original Wasp and all before Scott's house arrest is officially up and he can finally get his life with Cassie back on track. Though like every other MCU movie Hank's past screw ups come back to bite him in the ass. This time in the form of a Quantum shifting former S.H.I.E.L.D assassin called Ghost (played by Hannah John-Kamen) and her surrogate father, one of Hanks bitter former colleagues Bill Foster (played by Lawrence Fishburne) who are trying to get their hands on Janet to cure Ghost of her reality phasing affliction before it kills her.

 After such a massive punch to the gut that was the ending of Infinity War, something a bit more lighthearted and down to earth (considering the universe) was definitely needed. While the first movie was more of a heist movie with superpowers this is basically the same but with more fight scenes and some fun gags with the shrinking tech. Honestly the gags and sequences with the shrinking and growing tech are the best parts of the movie, not that the story is bad or anything far from it, it's just that a movie with more personal stakes is needed after the whole universal conflict of Infinity War. So we're allowed to focus on the gags with the shrinking and growing tech, cool sequences in the Quantum realm and we finally get to see Hope kick ass in the Wasp suit. Yes they totally should have had her in the suit in the first movie but hey they more then make up for it here.

 No doubt we'll get some more time with Wasp in either this or Avengers 4, but Hope has definitely won through this time around. Now this isn't going to make my top 10 MCU movies but this is still a fun romp with a great cast, likable characters and just one of those times where just this once everybody wins. Well except for Sonny but who really cared about that guy? That is until we get to the post credits scene. I won't spoil it here but I believe that Bird Person can sum up mine and most audiences' reaction to it.

 So with that the MCU is wrapped up for 2018. But don't fret, once Phase 3 is over it will be the best time to sum up my top MCU movies. Before that though I'll get working on a certain list for Halloween since it doesn't look like there's going to be any new villains introduced in Captain Marvel. But those are for another time, speaking of another time the March to Infinity will take a few steps back to the 1990's to let us know who Fury was trying to page after the "snap" heard around the world.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Ant-Man and the Wasp is owned by Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures. Based off the comic book characters created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber and Jack Kirby.
Rick and Morty is owned by Justin Rolland, Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland's Solo Vanity Card Productions, Harmonious Claptrap, Starburns Industries, and Williams Street

Tokusatsu Review: Toku Summer Recap: Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Vs Keisatsu Sentai Patrangers: Persona 5 the Live (Spoilers)

When you're done read, comment, spread the links, re-tweet and follow me on Twitter @OnDavidsBrain! and support me on Patreon.

Before you even ask, no this isn't a movie this is an actual series. Now I have to wonder what the crossover with Dumbluck and his gang of idiots is going to be called.

 Now that our resident genius is covered for now we're ready for a game of cops and robbers. Thankfully there isn't as much story to cover as of this article so here's the gist of 2018's Sentai. Over 100 years ago the legendary thief Arsène Lupin amassed a vast collection across his career as a Gentleman thief. Among his prizes were a group of powerful and potentially dangerous artifacts which has been dubbed the Lupin Collection. However an organization of interdiminsional criminals called the Ganglar stole the Collection and have used their powers to commit terrible crimes. 

 Their Don, Dogranio Yaboon announces on his 999th birthday that he's looking for a successor to the Ganglar crime family, thus declares that whomever conquers the earth shall be named the new Don. Naturally every Ganglar is looking to take his place and begin plotting their various schemes to earn his favor. But there are two forces that stand in their way by using their own pieces of the Lupin Collection modified by the man himself to protect humanity, the Lupinrangers charged by Lupin's estate to recover the Collection pieces in exchange for a single wish, to resurrect their loved ones who were killed by a Ganglar. The other is the Patrangers charged by the Global Police with protecting the general public from the horrible crimes committed by the Ganglar. Who will win, whose justice will prevail in the end?

 On paper this sounds like an interesting concept for a Sentai, two separate teams with opposing viewpoints and yet equal motivations to stop the Ganglar. One is a rebellious group of thieves who risk their lives to prevent anyone else from suffering the way they have. The other is a group of officers sworn to protect the safety of the general public by any means necessary. But when you see it play out, it commits the ultimate sin of team ups, the Lupinrangers are portrayed far more positively then the Patrangers. In all honestly my feeling of the Patrangers' inclusion in this show can be summed up in this meme.

I'm betting Toei originally wanted a Phantom Thief themed Sentai to take advantage of the popularity of Persona 5, but decided to just include the Patrangers just for the sake of differentiating themselves from what they're clearly trying to cash in on.

 I'll get into why I feel the Patrangers are unnecessary and why the Lupinrangers are the real heroes of the show after I talk about them. Now Toei seems to have learned their lesson from Kyuuranger (for now at least) so instead of 12 characters that get all the development and attention focused on their reprehensible Red Ranger we instead have two teams of three making my job much easier in that there's less Rangers to cover and harder in that they're distinct. But enough malarky, first is our Red Thief, Kairi.

HA, I wish. A female Red Ranger right from the start, pfft, that'd be bullshit. (sarcasm)

No no, instead of a Keyblade wielder we have Kairi Yano who became Lupin Red to resurrect his older brother.  He's sly, cunning and sympathetic to people's suffering. Though does tend to focus on the Phantom Thief business to the chagrin of Umika who winds up getting overworked at their bistro.

Next is Tooma Yoimachi, he became Lupin Blue to resurrect his fiancée. While he's the most driven of the Lupinrangers this tends to cause him to take impulsive and reckless action in regards to obtaining the collection pieces from the Ganglar or the Patrangers which Kairi and Umika have to reign him in for before he goes too far. Wait, isn't this the other way around? It's usually the Red who's impulsive and the Blue who's the calm thinker. Though he is driven like that he does care for his teammates and will go above and beyond to see his fiancée again. 

Last for the Phantom Thieves is Lupin Yellow, Umika Hayami. Her dead loved one was her childhood friend Shiho.  Though she may appear be the weakest of the team she is the most resourceful and approachable. Though she may come off as childish she does take her mission as a Lupin Ranger very seriously, though she wouldn't mind if Kairi would help out more around the Bistro.

 I love the designs of the Lupinrangers their visors are shaped like a Top hat, the color balance of black and the primary color to look like a tuxedo and best of all is the capes.

 Edna darling, shut up these capes work. They're not long long enough for an enemy to take advantage of, the black on the shoulders contribute to the tuxedo design and two triangles on the collar of the cape look like a bowtie. All in all a classy and cool design. So now we have the thieves, we then move on to the cops. 

First is Patren 1gou Keichiro Asaka or as I like to call him; Dickhead since he's a detective who seems to only think with his other head. Yep we have another dumbass Red, just with a different flavor. Instead of a god modding idiot we have an impulsive, angry hothead who has a very black and white worldview and seems to only do his job to stroke his ego against the Lupinrangers. He claims to protect the public but on multiple occasions has been willing to perform reckless actions to stop the Ganglars and Lupinrangers such as when he drew out a fight with a Ganglar just to draw out the Lupinrangers. Or that time when he nearly got himself killed with poison just to show a kid how much cooler the Patrangers are then the Lupinrangers. Oh and most recently when he tried to kidnap Goodie (aka Good Striker a sentient collection piece charged by Lupin himself to protect the collection pieces that forms the basis of both teams mechs) and forcing him to serve the Global Police as a weapon against the Ganglars. I repeat, a supposed officer of the law, wanted to enslave a sentient being as a weapon to uphold Law and Order just because he was sent to them first.

 That is YHVH from SMT levels of Lawful Evil. You know, the guy whose most powerful minions were literally designed by the guy behind Garo.

 Though at least Dickhead is far more tolerable then Wrong, Leftovers or Dumbluck for four reasons. One, Tsukasa more often then not does call him out on his crap. (Though why their commander Hilltop hasn't is beyond me.) Second, the show doesn't over glorify his actions or make him right when everything says that he's wrong, most of the time. Third, he's not the only Red for the show, so if you don't like Dickhead we can cheer on Kairi. Lastly, the show's not over yet. We've had this type of Red before with the exact same theme, Banban Akaza aka Dekared from Dekaranger had a similar personality and temperament at the start of the show but he did grow and develop as a character. Also from little info I was able to gleam about the 6th Ranger Lupin/Patren X his whole goal is to bring the two teams together to focus on the Ganglar so part of that will hopefully involve Keichiro getting over his ego and seeing the bigger picture.

Moving on to slightly better characters we have Sakuya Hikawa, Patren 2go. He's the rookie cop who is just one step away from Umika getting him a restraining order. He has a crush on her and is not subtle about it at all. He has a much more laid back attitude which of course rattles Dickhead's cage but he does care about his duties.

Lastly is my favorite of the Patrangers, Tsukasa Myoujin. She's the mother hen of the group, routinely motivating Sakuya and occasionally reprimanding Dickhead when he crosses the line. She also has a running gag about her love of odd plushies despite not being the stereotypical girly girl.

 Before I get into my major gripes of the show I'll say that what worked for the Lupinrangers' costumes also works for the Patrangers. Design wise they're complete inversions of the Lupinrangers, Police hats instead of Top hats for the visors, white with their primary colors instead of black looking like a police uniform along with actual shoulder pads instead of the capes, overall a good design. While they're supposed to be the best of the Japanese branch of the Global Police the Lupinrangers more often then not use them to draw out the Ganglar of the week rather easily. So basically denigrating one faction of this vs series to make the other team look better by comparison. This show commits the ultimate sin of any team up to feed into Japans negative perception of their cops.

 Now occasionally the Patrangers do display their competency and manage to nearly expose the Lupinrangers, but to make up for that the Patrangers have been given some of the dumbest episodes so far. Like the aforementioned Dickhead trying to impress the random brat episode and of course they got a gender swap episode, and yes the jokes were bad and insulting why'd you expect any less? Though the second part of that two parter exposed the biggest problem with the Patrangers, when Dickhead was hospitalized for the poisoning caused by his recklessness Sakuya and Tsukasa actually managed to do much better against the Ganglar despite their injuries (again a result of Dickhead's reckless actions yet he's never held accountable, because of course.) But when Dickhead forced himself out of the hospital and defeated the Ganglar it was back to business as usual.

 This idiot even nearly caused the Lupinrangers to fall into despair when it looked like he destroyed a Ganglar before the Lupinrangers were able to retrieve his Collection Piece. Though from what I can tell its never made clear whether the Patrangers know about the collection pieces, what they can do, the Ganglars having extra powers because of them, the wish, why the Lupinrangers are so desperate to get to them first it just seems like they just focus on the Ganglar regardless of the consequences. Now because I'm me I have a suggestion that would clear up this whole ambiguous part of the show and possibly improve it, make the Patrangers know about the Collection Pieces from the start and actively try to destroy them. Have them know that the collection pieces are what gives the Ganglar extra powers as well as the wish that they can grant when all of them are brought together and try to destroy them not only because of the first reason but also to prevent a dangerous person from amassing the pieces to try to become a god, take over the world, destroy the world or something crazy like that. But even when they eventually learn about what the Lupinrangers are trying to wish for have them still go after them.

 But this is the key part, have them be sympathetic towards wanting to resurrect their loved ones but try to push a "the dead can't come back, you have to accept their deaths, tragic and pointless though it may be otherwise this desire will consume and destroy you" point of view. They can possibly relate with them by talking about some of their loved ones who were pointlessly killed and have that be a contributing factor behind why they joined the Global Police. Besides anyone who has seen any piece of fiction ever can tell you what happens when you try to resurrect someone with supernatural means.

Unless you're using the Dragonballs to resurrect someone

they tend to come back horribly, horribly wrong!!!

 This way we have a legitimate reason why these two groups are trying to reach the Ganglar first, have some understandable conflict between the two teams and make the Patrangers actually sympathetic and likable. We can both see their points of views and hope that either the Patrangers agree to help the Lupinrangers to ensure that the wish is only used for non violent means or have the Lupinrangers eventually accept the potential risk of the wish, move past their grief and join forces with the Patrangers to stop the Ganglar. Or we could just have one team outwit a pair who are stuck with a hotheaded ball and chain around their ankles. We could have Captain America Civil War, but Toei seems set on settling for being at least just above Batman V Superman, though all thats missing is for one of the characters to say "Martha" and the show will officially go down the toilet.

 I'll just naively hope that the show gives Dickhead the character development he desperately needs with the intro of Lupin/Patren X but somehow I know Toei is just going to keep the spotlight on the Lupinrangers until they eventually make the Patrangers into flat-out secondary antagonists. Or even worse have the two join up just because with no real development or camaraderie between the two. Though this is still a far better show then Kyuuranger and I do like it despite its flaws so give it a watch if you want too. Besides it's still a better adaptation of Persona 5 then Persona 5 the animation.

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Super Sentai is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Kingdom Hearts 2 is owned by Square Enix, Disney Interactive Studios, Tetsuya Nomura, and Shinji Hashimoto.
The Incredibles are owned by Walt Disney Pictures, Pixar Animation Studios and Buena Vista Pictures.
Shin Megami Tensei IV Apocalypse/Final is owned by Atlus, Sega and Kazuyuki Yamai.
Solomon Grundy is owned by DC Comics, created by Alfred Bester and Paul Reinman
Fullmetal Alchemist is owned by Studio Bones, Square-Enix, Funimation, Viz Media and Hiromu Arakawa.