Friday, November 22, 2019

ANI-MOVIES, *Wonder Woman: Bloodlines

Done as both a prequel and continuation of all the current DCAMU titles, Wonder Woman's new solo adventure has her introduction to the post-Flashpoint timeline. Bloodlines(no relation to the 90s DC Comics event), has a brief rundown of Amazing Amazon's secret origin, while finally giving her rogues' gallery center stage.

Set just before Justice League: War, Princess Diana of the Amazons rescues pilot Steve Trevor from an early swarm of Parademons dispatched prior to Darseid's main invasion. Diana leaves Themyscira with Steve, and becomes an advocate for the American military while adopting the superhero identity of "Wonder Woman". While getting her bearing in Man's World, Diana moves in with archaeologist Julia Kapatelis and her daughter Vanessa. Their live-in relationship has Julia enthralled with Diana's history, while giving Vanessa the short end of the stick. Timeskip five years where Wonder Woman is now a member of the Justice League, and learns that Vanessa stole an ancient relic from business mogul, Veronica Cale, leaving Julia asking Diana for her help. Wonder Woman and Steve find Vanessa trying to pass the relic to villainous Dr. Poison, who brought Giganta along to act as her muscle. During the fight, it seems as if Julia is shot, and her last request is for Wonder Woman to rescue her daughter. Vanessa now blames Diana for her mother's death, and pledges to help Poison and her partner Dr. Cyber in their new gang of bad girls, Villainy Inc. Wonder Woman finds out that Vanessa has ambushed some of Cyber's couriers in the Middle East, and upon confronting her is shocked to Vanessa's reveal as the metallic-winged Silver Swan. Swan is defeated by Diana, and is taken to Veronica Cale's skyscraper where its revealed that Vanessa new cybernetic enhancements are replacing all her flesh with nano-technology. Diana figures she needs to find Themyscira as their tech could completely heal Vanessa, but both she and Steve forget where the island is due to a special magic used to protect its location. Diana, Steve, and their friend Etta Candy journey to the labyrinth of the Minotaur where an enchanted fountain grants divine knowledge. After having a brief scrape with a now pumped-up Cheetah, Wonder Woman uses the fountain to get a clue of where Paradise Island is, and destroys the fountain which frees the Minotaur from its curse which compelled him to guard the labyrinth. He pledges to become Diana's personal "Alfred", and is given the name Ferdinand. Team Wonder than goes back to Cale's office to figure out where Themyscira is, only to find out that Dr. Cyber hacked into their security system, and learns where the Amazons' island is. This leads to a large tangle between Cyber and Poison's huge ace in the hole for taking on an island filled with immortal warriors.

Bloodlines helps revitalize Wonder Woman's position as a mainstay in the DC Universe, mostly because of the upcoming "prequel", Wonder Woman 1984. It focuses more on the character's ties with the rest of her own main cast, but her rivalries with her mortal(and immortal)enemies. There is also more focus on developing relationships in the main Wonder Woman family, like Diana and Steve's resurfacing romance after Wonder Woman stopped dating Superman, or Etta Candy's fondness for Amazons being polyamorous. The animation is up to the normal specs of your average DC Animated Movie Universe title, but does feature slightly better fight choreography since Wonder Woman is a warrior first and foremost. For longtime fans of DC's premiere superheroine, this should meet their standards even if they're not all that into the extended DC Comics lore.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

OBSCURE O.V.A.S, *Hazbin Hotel

In production for several years, Hasbin Hotel is a crowdfunded pilot/ONA movie created by Vivienne Medrano(also known as "VivziePop"). Originally starting her career from doing webcomics like Zoophobia, she also created several short animated films for various school thesis. From there, she gathered a large following conceiving her supernatural comedy about life in Hell. The pilot has gone on to be one the most talked-about animated projects in internet history.

Set in modern day Hell, the princess of the underworld, Charlie, is under the impression that Hell is in fact a "temporary" placement for souls outcast from upstairs, so she sets up a hotel meant to rehabilitate souls in the hopes of ascending. Despite the stunning Disney Princess-esque music number she performs on live TV to pitch her idea, nobody seems to give into her idea. This and her sole patron Angel Dust is not really as noble as he seems when its shown he's currently involved in a turf war between two of Hell's finest. Charlie's friend/partner Vaggie is pissed with Angel on how he made their promotion look bad, but the hotel regulars are visited by the charismatic but overtly sketchy Alastor, also called "The Radio Demon". The pinstriped fast-talking Alastor is an infamous figure in Hell, and despite that seems to want to help Charlie operate her hotel. Vaggie is profoundly skeptical about Alator's true intentions, but Charlie arranges for him to bring in a cycloptic neat-freak and an alcoholic winged cat as acting hotel staff. From there, it appears Alastor has his own agenda for what direction this new "Hazbin Hotel" will take, even though he protects it from invading gangsters like the snakeman, Sir Pentious.

Hazbin Hotel struck the internet like a comet through a wet paper bag, and has gained an unwavering select group of fandom not seen since Homestuck. The animation is very much in the style of shows like Ren and Stimpy and Invader Zim, while giving separate homage to old Terrytoons similar to like the hit Cuphead game. There are catchy music numbers in the spirit of songs from the Disney renaissance, although it should be made apparent that this is not intended for younger audiences. There is a free spoken approach in the dialogue and subject matter, but not intended to offend any specific social group or lifestyle. If anything, its one of the more open-minded projects as it has openly gay, pan-sexual, and asexual themes, which doesn't triangulate itself making viewers think that "only gay people go to Hell". The pilot is currently not picked up by any specific network or major backer, even though chances are that with the spinoff web series of Helluvaboss will help it gain even more notoriety.

Wednesday, November 6, 2019

Madame Razz has precog-senility.

ANI-MOVIES, Lego DC Comics Super Heroes: Aquaman-Rage of Atlantis

With a new live-action solo movie on bubbling to the surface, Warner Bros. decided to release a new animated movie based on their King of the Seven Seas, but instead of new DCAU title, they fell back on their kid-friendly Lego line. Taking place in the same continuity as the Lego Batman video games and Lego DC Super Hero animated specials, Rage Of Atlantis combines two unusual corners of the DC Universe, their underwater adventures with cosmic odysseys.

Justice League noob Jessica Cruz is the new Green Lantern on the block, and alerts the rest of the League that super-strong space bounty hunter Lobo is raiding a government facility jammed with dangerous alien tech. Aquaman down in Atlantis gets wind of this and heads arrives on the scene first, but his water powers aren't all that useful in a desert landscape. The League arrives to pull Aquaman's fat out of the friar, but Lobo makes off with a mysterious orb. Aquaman takes the League back to a celebration to his kingdom of Atlantis where Batman is surprised to find out that he's not only married to the lovely waterbender Mera, but that his half-brother Orn is the devious Ocean Master, even though he doesn't seem to have started his bad guy career as of yet. Ocean Master shows them a forged document of the Atlantis laws showing that Aquaman can't be king because he's only half-Atlantean, and convinces the other sea folk to make him their new leader thanks to a rage-inducing Red Lantern power battery after secretly teaming up with the Reds leader Atrocitus. Orn has Aquaman and the League locked up, but our heroes manage to breakout, and discover the Red Lanterns are planning an Earth invasion using the mind-controlled Atlanteans as their army. Everyone but Green Lantern escapes to an alien world near a red sun, which instantly robs Superman of his powers. So a distraught Aquaman pulls his act together to find Lobo at a literal local watering hole, and convinces the Kiss Army reject to help them free Atlantis after Lobo learns his "space dolphin" buddy Fishy(a genuine DC Comics character!)who has also under Atrocitus' control. Meanwhile, Jessica Cruz teams up with Batgirl and the current Robin to preventing the Atlantean's land invasion while the Justice League destroy's the Red Lantern battery, and Atrocitus' plan to drain the planet of all water thanks to a colossal drinking straw!

The story fits to most standards of the DC Comics Lego productions, taking obscure things from the comics lore and bringing them together for a enjoyable family picture, but still manages to shoehorn the needs for characters like Superman and Wonder Woman using pimped out vehicles despite their ability to fly. The dub has Troy Baker back as Batman, Teen Titans Scott Menville as Damien Wayne/Robin, Jonathon Adams returns from the Green Lantern cartoon as Atrocitus, and former-Wonder Woman Susan Eisenberg as Mera. If you're a regular fan of the Lego pictures, or a hardcore DC reader, than this is worth at least a once-over.