Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 12

You know a cliché that is always awesome? The angry teacher/mentor discovering his/her/their mentee/students are being threatened. Why? Because the only comparable fury to that is a mother going mama-bear to protect her kids. It’s intense, scary and just plan awesome. This is particularly true with All Might, given that the guy is already drawn to look super-duper intense normally. Threaten his students, and he enters demon rage mode. It almost makes you forget that he has a finite amount of time he can spend in his hero form, which he has already used up today. Not good. Let’s get to it.

Villains cheat? Who knew?

We open right where we left off last time, with All Might arriving to save the day. He walks in, ripping his tie as he does so. He explains that he’d had a bad feeling he couldn’t shake even while listening to Mr. Nezu’s speeches. Which is impressive, given the fact that from his two-minute scene earlier, we can easily infer that Mr. Nezu is a long-winded talker. All Might had been making his way to the USJ when he ran into Iida, who explained the situation to him. All Might sent Iida to get the rest of the staff, and continued on to help things at the USJ. Mentally, he berates himself for letting all this stuff go down while he was recovering. The guy bears some Atlas level weights on those massive shoulders, doesn’t he? He’s HYPER pissed that the so-called League of Villains threatened his young charges and seriously injured his fellow teachers. He barely gives the villains a chance to breathe, super-speeding around, knocking out the few remaining League of Villain members still standing, and gathering Izuku, his little team, and Aizawa. While rushing around, he knocks of Shigaraki’s weird severed hand mask.  Shigaraki kind of freaks out when All Might arrives and when he loses his mask, but recovers after putting his hand-mask back on. He reassures himself with the knowledge that All Might is definitely slower, and definitely weakening. Which is so not good.

Izuku tries to warn him of the danger that Noumu presents, but All Might tells him not to worry. He charges over and starts fighting the monster. Noumu is like something out of a nightmare, taking multiple punches without being phased even a little. Shigaraki, feeling confident, tells All Might how futile this fight is. Noumu, he explains, has a Quirk called Shock Absorption.  As the name implies, his body will just keep absorbing the force of All Might’s blows. Armed with this new knowledge, All Might elects to change his strategy. He grabs Noumu around the middle and suplex him into the concrete. His thought process is that if he can’t beat the thing into submission, he’ll bury the monster to keep it from moving. Sound plan, as it worked on DC’s Doomsday. Everyone is excited to see the monster go down, everyone but Izuku, that is, who is really nervous. He knows All Might has used up most of his power today, and that his personality will keep All Might from stopping even when he hits his limit. No matter how well All Might fights, Izuku probably won’t feel at ease until All Might can get away.

How do you know you've hit someone hard? When your
punch visibly distorts their arm!

We then see how the suplex turned out. Turns out, shockingly, villains cheat. Who’d have guessed? Kurogiri opened a warpgate right where All Might was going to slam Noumu. And then opened the exit right next to it. The result, Noumu materialized at All Might’s back, and has grabbed the hero’s sides, drawing blood. Noumu is digging in particularly hard into All Might’s wounded left side. Now having All Might literally in their grasp, their new plan is to pull All Might half way through the Portal, and snap it shut. In case there is any confusion, that will cut him in half.

Izuku passes Aizawa’s body to Sue, and runs in to save All Might. He super leaps over and preps a One For All Punch. Kurogiri noticed Izuku’s rather stupid plan of attack. He warps in between them, most likely planning on warping Izuku somewhere else, but is stopped at the last moment. By who? Bakugo! The angry Firestarter sucker punches Kurogiri while he was focusing on Izuku. He grabs Kurogiri by the collar and forces him to the ground. Todoroki also arrives, freezing Noumu. Kirishima tries to knock out Shigaraki, but he’s a little too quick for Kirishima. Shigaraki is still pretty confident in his chances of winning, somehow. Which either speaks volumes about his arrogance, or how powerful his lackeys are. Meanwhile, Sue and Mineta bring Aizawa to the others. Thirteen, who is barely conscious, warns the students to hide until the other teachers arrive.

Bakugo mocks Kurogiri’s rather simple tactics, of using his smoky warpgate form to cover his physical body. But, in Kurogiri’s tenuous defense, the simple tactics are often the most effective. Bakugo threatens to blow Kurogiri’s neck to kingdom come if he moves. Two villains down, one to go. Or so it seems. In a bout of frustration, Shigaraki orders Noumu to do something. The creature forces itself to its feet, shattering his left arm and leg. It’s at this point that everyone is shocked to learn that Noumu has another Quirk, Super Regeneration. A new arm and leg grow from the stumps in mere moments. Having multiple, unrelated powers is something unheard of in this world, FYI. Shigaraki orders the beast to free Kurogiri. It rushes Bakugo, but All Might grabs him, throws Bakugo out of the way and takes the full brunt of the attack. Shigaraki spouts some nonsense about the nature of heroes and villains, how the heroes are glorified for their violence and villains are demonized for theirs, that sort of thing, but everyone can tell that Shigaraki is pretty much just reciting lines. He’s here because he likes causing mayhem, destruction, and killing, there’s no greater goal in this particular scheme. No poetry to his actions. He’s just a mad dog looking to bite. The students want to help, but All Might makes them stay back. He gives Izuku a thumb’s up and rushes Noumu.

The face of a hero; battered, bruised, but still smiling.

The two slam into each other like a pair of freight trains. They do that perfectly symmetrical punch thing, Noumu’s right hitting All Might’s left. When the hit each other the first time, we can see the shockwave travel up Noumu’s arm. After the first strike, they start smacking each other with a flurry of punches. The wind they kick up while punching get’s to be so strong that Kurogiri can’t get close enough with a warpgate. After a few seconds, All Might starts getting the upper hand. He smacks Noumu around for another minute, shouts “Go beyond, Plus ULTRA!” and sends Noumu hurtling into the stratosphere. Ho dang! Literally everyone in the facility, including the guys in the covered/closed off areas feels the shockwave of the punch. All Might comments on his own waning strength, stating that in his prime, beating Noumu would have only taken 5 blows, where now it took 300. Shigaraki, shaking with fury, claims the hero cheated. Shigaraki, have you met Pot? He’s got a comment about the color of your jumpsuit.

All Might’s battle with Noumu is pretty darn intense. It’s a roller coaster ride, with All Might gaining and losing the upper hand more than once as the fight progresses. His ever-weakening condition plus the fact he’d already burned through most of his hero time today pretty much ensured this would be difficult battle. Noumu is pretty much unsettling on every possible level. That cold empty stare, that colossal beak with the permanent smile plastered on it, and his tank of a body mix together to make him rather terrifying. Japan, never make a live action version of this anime, since that Noumu would haunt my nightmares. FYI, the word Noumu in Japanese means “brainless,” which is exemplified a couple of times this episode. He never moves or even reacts unless specifically ordered by Shigaraki. If the situation were a little less dire, I’d like to think someone would have thought to take out Shigaraki first, as that would leave Noumu without orders. Just saying. All Might beating Noumu by just ‘hitting him really hard,” was a little anti-climactic, but launching him into the stratosphere is pretty impressive, so I’ll give it to him. So yeah, this episode was a kick ass 20-minute fight scene. Super fun. Just one more episode left in this season, it’ll be dropping soon. Have a good one.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 11

For those that are watching along with me, have you noticed that a lot of minor characters are getting a fair amount of screen time in the last few episodes? Of course you have, as I have been forced to throw a lot of names around that you obviously don’t recognize unless you’ve watched the show. On the one hand, this is a good thing as it does help sell the idea that UA is a top hero school. If Izuku and Bakugo are the only guys doing anything amazing, that is a much harder pill to swallow. On the other, I’m having to mention a whole lot of characters you have no reference for. Sure, some like Todoroki and Yaoyorozu have come up before, but almost none of the others really have done anything besides react to stuff. And be nice to Izuku, who really does need the positive reinforcement. A lot of these guys are visually interesting, like Tokoyami who has a head like a crow, but that is kind of hard to transcribe, now isn’t it? Regardless, it’s happening so we have to make do. If you’re unsure of a character or are otherwise confused, let me know in the comments and I will try to clarify. Enough set up, let’s get to it.

Yeah, Todoroki is kind of a monster.
And these idiots picked a fight with him.

We open with a quick situation summary. Villains are attacking UA high school’s USJ facility, some students are scattered with said villains in the USJ, and Aizawa and Thirteen are doing their best to protect the students that weren’t. Izuku, along with Tsuyu “Sue” Asui and Minoru Mineta escaped a bunch of aquatic villains in the Shipwreck Zone. Thirteen is battling Kurogiri, which is difficult given the baddies warping power. Aizawa is singlehandedly fighting a horde of villains. His Quirk-cancelling power, and super-scarf give him an edge. But, he’s a ‘Batman’ style hero, specializing in stealth tactics and one on one fights. Fighting a straight fight against a horde is really not something he should be doing. So, things aren’t going super great, but they’re surviving. Let’s progress the plot, shall we?

Once away from the villains, Izuku and co try to think of what to do next. Despite their recent victory, they’re still in the middle of a warzone, and need to do SOMETHING to rectify the situation. They at firsts want to go and get help, but once Sue rather stupidly points out that Aizawa is fighting a bunch of baddies alone, Izuku insists that they go help him. Future Izuku, who has been an intermittent narrator up until this point, does admit that this was a dumb plan. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.

In the Landslide Zone, Shoto Todoroki has learned the baddies’ plan, having interrogated his villain-cicles. He has also figured out that this ragtag looking group of villains is just that, ragtag. They have little to no actual training, or teamwork, and were clearly planning to just use numbers to win the day. Which really doesn’t add up in Todoroki’s head, since All Might is… you know, All Might. Hard to beat a guy who can change the weather with a punch regardless of how many people you bring. Ants before an Elephant, am I right? He notes that the big three, Shigaraki, Kurogiri and the creature Noumu, are the only true threat here. He threatens his prisoners, to get as much info out of them as possible. He’ll free them if they tell him the All Might killing plan. But if they don’t… he points out how quickly nerve damage develops when one is frozen solid. He might just be the scariest fifteen-year-old I’ve seen on TV. Right up there with Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Funny, given that both characters have fire powers, mixed feelings about their fathers, and a disfiguring burn over their left eye, delivered by someone close to them.

Nearly 3 to 1 odds, not great.
But, I find myself more curious about bunny girl's backstory.

Meanwhile, three other students are… surviving. Momo Yaoyorozu, Kyoka Jiro, and Denki Kaminari are using their unique set of skills to take on their opponents. Momo is using her creation power to make weapons, Jiro is plugging her extendable earlobes (yes you read that right) into her boots to weaponize her heartbeat, and Kaminari is using his electrical powers to stun a few of them. Quick explanation of Jiro’s powers, her earlobes end in headphone jacks. She can extend them, plug them into things to hear things, and such. Her boots have speakers built in, so when she plugs her earlobes into them, she can turn her heartbeat into a sonic cannon. It’s a weird, but still pretty awesome superpower. After a few minutes of struggling, Momo reveals something she’s been working on, a giant sheet of insulation. She and Jiro cover up in the insulation, letting Kaminari take the lead. He couldn’t release a massive electrical attack before, as he can’t control said electricity once he discharges it. But, since the ladies are now protected, he can cut loose. He lets out a massive electric attack, leaving villains stunned and slightly crispy. This, unfortunately fries his brain, leaving him pretty much useless until he recovers.

Izuku and co make it to the courtyard where Aizawa is fighting. He’s taken out most of the villains, but Shigaraki and Noumu are still observing. Which is a problem, as they’re the real threat, obviously. After watching Aizawa a few moments more, Shigaraki charges. The villain had figured out a few things, namely that Aizawa’s cancelation window is growing shorter and shorter as this fight continues, and his tell. Namely, that when he’s using his power, his hair sticks up, and drops when he stops. He’d been able to hide this to some degree while fighting, as he was jumping and flipping around, but Shigaraki is an observant SOB. Shigaraki gets him in a grapple, and pretty much disintegrates Aizawa’s elbow right down to the muscle. Shigaraki’s power, explained later, is Disintegration. If he can get all five fingers of one hand onto something, he can destroy it. Not good. Aizawa breaks free, and takes out a few more baddies, despite his new injury. Shigaraki gives him a begrudging compliment, and then sicced Noumu on him. Not good.

Like we need more evidence that Shigaraki is twisted.

Back with the other students, Thirteen is doing his best to suck up Kurogiri. Kurogiri compliments Thirteen, but then points out his major weakness. Specifically, that as a rescue specialist, he doesn’t have much combat experience. Something that he can easily take advantage of. Kurogiri opens a warpgate behind Thirteen, and causes Thirteen to suck himself up. Iida tries to make a break for it, but Kurogiri moves to cut him off. He’s saved, though, at the last second by Mezo Shoji. Another of those aforementioned background students. He uses his six webbed arms to completely cover Kurogiri’s warp, temporarily disorientating him long enough for Iida to make for the exit.  Kurogiri, who recovers fast, tries to rush him again.

Shiguraki explains that his monstrous sidekick, Noumu, is a bio-engineered Anti Symbol of Peace and is going to kill All Might. He seems pretty confident that his super monster will do the job. Noumu, meanwhile just keeps staring blankly. It’s just so damn unsettling.

We leap over to Bakugo and Kirishima clean up the rest of the villains they were facing. Kirishima wants to meet up with everyone else, but Bakugo swears he’s going to go and take out Kurogiri. Kirishima tries to talk him out of it, but Bakugo explains his rational. Basically, they take out Kurogiri, the baddies are trapped. He also points out that, if all the rest of the so-called League of Villains suck as much as their group, the others will be fine. Kirishima, seeing Bakugo’s point of view agrees to go along with him. Ojiro in the Fire Zone, and Tokoyami and Koda in the Squall Zone are also having success in taking out their villains. Everybody is making progress.

Kurogiri nearly catches Iida, but is stopped by Uraraka of all people. Not dissing her, it’s just she hasn’t come across as the most combative student at UA. Which she’s not, but, thankfully, she’s observant. She noticed that, when Kurogiri moved to attack Iida with his main body, he had some sort of armored collar hidden in his misty form. She deduced that that must be his real body, and the smoke show is mostly to hide himself. She grabs him by the collar, cancels out his gravity and tosses him away. Kurogiri tries to keep after Iida, but Hanta Sero’s cellophane tape and Rikido Sato’s strength keep him just out of reach of Iida. Iida gets out the door. Once outside the USJ he’s able to sprint away at top speed.

Everything about the next couple of minutes with these two is
unsettling and grotesque.

Aizawa isn’t faring well against Noumu. The creature shatters his arms, even after Aizawa cancelled out his powers. Not good. Kurogiri reports to his master. To say that Shigaraki is upset that someone escaped the USJ is a bit of understatement. Shigaraki starts scratching himself and is clearly holding back extreme rage. He calms a moment later, and decides that they’re leaving. No point in fighting a lost cause, as he puts it, which does seem rational. Izuku notes that this really doesn’t make all that much sense, as when the villains leave UA will beef up security, making another assault more difficult. Shigaraki then reveals his sore-loser qualities, and announces that he’s still going to “Make this hurt.” He rushes Izuku and co, intending to disintegrate Sue. No! If someone has to die, kill Mineta. What? He and his antics get really grating. Izuku has only enough time to picture his froggy friend turning to ash before Shigaraki gets a hand around her neck. But nothing happens. How is this possible? Well, despite two broken arms, two broken legs, a bunch of broken ribs, a pretty messed up face, and an insane amount of pain, Aizawa was able to get Shigaraki in his sights and cancel out the villain’s power at the last second. Eraser Head, an uncompromising bad ass. Noumu smashes his face into the ground for this act of heroism. Izuku seizes the momentary distraction, and tries to use a smash on Shigaraki. His super punch collides with something, kicking up a whole heck of a lot of dirt. To Izuku’s shock his arm doesn’t break, for once. Hooray! But Noumu blocked the punch. And he wasn’t even scratched. So not Hooray.

Noumu grabs him and goes to crush his skull. I’m thinking that Izuku is really wishing OFA gave him some measure of invulnerability right about now. Sue, reacting incredibly fast for a frog, tries to use her tongue to knock Izuku out of the away. Shigaraki, still wanting to kill these kids himself, goes to disintegrate both Sue and Mineta. Mineta, I will begrudgingly compliment, has one of his sticky hairballs in hand and despite his look of utter horror looks like he’s going to use it to defend them… somehow. But, they all freeze in place when the door bursts open. Light cascades in as a hulking figure enters the building. All Might has arrived, and He. Is. Furious! He’s not smiling, this time, he has a look on his intense face like he’s about to put his fist through a wall. Despite the greatest hero in Japan suddenly arriving, Shigaraki is pretty happy that the game is going to continue. Psychopath.

All Might's fury level: Over 9000.
Wrong anime, but still fits here, me thinks.

We sure do have a whole lot things happening at once, now don’t we? We have students battling villains, heroes battling villains, heroes escaping villains, and one student kind of torturing villains. Todoroki, you’re pretty darn scary when you want to be. Aizawa’s battle with the villains was intense, and it’s ending, while satisfying, was rather heartbreaking. Though, he does prove himself as an uncompromising badass when, despite being part way though being beaten to death, he still had the presence of mind to protect one of his students. Imagine that, having broken bones, lacerations, and constant pain but still having that level of situational awareness. It’d be pretty difficult, wouldn’t it? Shigaraki joining the battle was the turning point, and showcased what sort of villains that they’re dealing with. He’s incredibly observant, having noticed that subtle tell when Aizawa used his powers, incredibly powerful (he can disintegrate anything that he wants) and is sadistic as all hell. Breaking down Aizawa elbow down to the muscle, and going to kill Sue to “make this hurt,” are just the first few examples of this extreme sadism. He also seems to have a very… bizarre mentality. He’s constantly making gaming references, and seems pretty aloof when things are going his way. Sure, he instantly starts flipping when this go wrong, like when he temporarily lost his mask, or when Iida escaped and he started scrapping his neck, but at just about any other time he’s acting like he’s watching a tennis match. That does suggest his confidence in Noumu, I suppose. It’s well placed confidence, though. The super monster is immensely seemingly unstoppable, as he’s strong enough to snap Aizawa’s bones even when the hero-teacher uses his powers on it. The fact that it is called “the anti-symbol of peace” seems incredibly fitting as, like All Might, it doesn’t seem like anything can stop it. Izuku has excellent moments, choosing to risk himself twice to help others and get things back to normal. Sure, these are borderline suicidal qualities, but hey, the kid kind of has a martyr complex. The moment when, for a second, he thought he’d successfully taken out Shigaraki and not broken his arm using OFA is great. Seeing the hope in Izuku’s eyes, which are immediately dashed when the smoke clears and Noumu’s massive pecks in the way instead of Shigaraki’s caved in face. All Might’s arrival is perfect, show casing how much hope rides on this guy’s massive shoulders. Can’t wait to take on describing All Might vs. Noumu next time. See you then.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 10

We’ve had two slower episodes. They’ve been good slow episodes, don’t get me wrong, but I do miss explosions, screaming and life or death situations. It’s why I watch this kind of thing, obviously. In exchange for our patience, we get four episodes packed to the seams with action. The League of Villains are attacking in force, and our heroes are underequipped, undertrained, and just overall in over their heads. Let’s see how they fare, shall we?

Eraser Head is not playing around today.

So, when we last left our young heroes-in-training, things were about to get messy. A group of villains have invaded the USJ training facility. Kurogiri, the creature made of swirling black mist, lets the assembled mass know that they are the League of Villains, and they’re here to kill All Might. They’ve come prepared, as they imply they have a means of killing All Might and have somehow disabled the USJ’s alarm system. Kurogiri and co are upset that All Might isn’t there, and plan to start killing students until he arrives. Hm… Dozens of super-powered criminals vs. two pro heroes and eighteen barely trained fifteen-year-olds. Oh, this does not bode well, not well at all. At least, at first glance. Aizawa puts on his goggles, and orders Thirteen to stay and watch the students. If he had theme music, now would be the time to play it.

Several villains, not realizing who they’re up against, rush to meet him. In quick succession, Aizawa cancels out their powers and disables them, by beating the snot out of them. Some of the villains catch on that they’re up against the famous-ish Eraser Head who can cancel out powers. The quicker witted villains try to take advantage of a slight flaw in Aizawa’s abilities. Namely he can’t cancel out Quirks that manifest as physiological changes. I. E., if your Quirk is that you have extra limbs, he can’t make those limbs go away. But, thanks to his capture weapon, his incredibly durable scarf, he’s able to disable said villains easily and whip them around like they’re a mace at the end of a chain. Being used as a melee weapon? Yeah, that’s a special kind of humiliating.

While that’s going on, the students try to make a break for it, but Kurogiri cuts them off. His ethereal form makes keeping track of him difficult, to say the least. Thirteen steps up and preps his Blackhole, but is cut off by two idiots running in the way. Said idiots, Bakugo and another hot-headed student Kirishima (he can harden his skin into a stone like substance) think they can take Kurogiri on. Their physical punches, obviously, have no effect on his ethereal form. Kurogiri, more annoyed by this than anything, uses his warping Quirk to scatter the closest dozen or so students around the USJ. He was trying to get them all, but Iida is able to use his superspeed to get a few of his classmates out of the warping radius.

Izuku ends up in the Shipwreck Simulation zone, and is nearly eaten by a shark-like villain. He’s saved at the last second by Tsuyu Asui, who uses her froggy powers (namely a strong kick and a prehensile stretching tongue) to nab Izuku and another student, Minoru Mineta before leaping away. If the names don’t ring a bell, it’s because they’ve been background characters up until this point. They make it to the ship, away from the aquatic baddies. Sue (I’m assuming it’s actually spelt Tsu, but I’m going with the anglicized version), as she insists to be called, points out that the baddies must be pretty confident that they can kill All Might if they’re going through with such a brazen assault. Izuku resolves to do everything to protect All Might, no matter the cost.

Meanwhile, other students are faring about as well as can be expected. I’ll quickly sum up their situations, and mention what the student’s powers are in brackets. If they haven’t been covered before, that is. Shoto Todoroki is in the Landslide zone turning baddies into Villain-cicles. Bakugo and Kirishima are busting heads in the Collapsing Building Zone. Three students, Momo Yaoyorozu (can make inanimate objects from her body), Kyoka Jiro (weaponized earlobes, I’ll explain later) and Denki Kaminari (electrical manipulation) are holding off a small mob. Mashirao Ojiro (has a big ol’ tail) is dodging baddies in the Fire Zone. Fumikage Tokoyami (bird head and a monster shadow) and Koji Koda (looks like a rock and talks to animals) are handling the villains in the Squall Zone. And Uraraka, Iida, and everyone else are following Thirteen’s lead at the entrance. So, in summation, this situation isn’t ideal but no one has died yet. Got to find the silver lining somewhere.

For the first time, ever, a Frog beats a Shark.

Back at the school, All Might is trying to get a call into the teachers from the teacher’s lounge. He’s still recovering from overusing his powers earlier that day. Neither Aizawa nor Thirteen are answering his calls, so he’s concerned. He tries and succeeds in transforming. He plans to quickly make it to the USJ, say something inspiring, and then rush away, but he starts bleeding from the mouth a moment later. Odd of making his hero form last at all are pretty slim when blood gushes from his mouth. He’s further interrupted by Mr. Nezu, the school’s principle. He’s…some kind of rodent… or weasel… or something. He’s a rare example of an animal that has a quirk, giving him anthropomorphized features, incredible IQ, and an extremely lengthened lifespan. What? Normal rodent lives like a half dozen years at best, and he was the principle back in All Might’s day. Not possible if he didn’t live as long as people do. He politely chastises All Might for being too reckless, and starts brewing tea. All Might isn’t looking forward to this discussion, as Mr. Nezu is known to be quite the long winded talker, especially when tea is involved.

Thirteen orders Iida, whom is by far the fastest, to rush out and get help. The power still hasn’t come back on, so a messenger is really their only option. Iida is hesitant to leave, but is encouraged by the others to make a break for it. Kurogiri belittles their overconfidence in strategizing in front of a villain and attacks. Thirteen preps and begins to unleash Blackhole. The two collide.

On the ship, Mineta is kind of freaking out. The thought that they might have to fight villains that can kill All Might is a little too much for him to bear. While he’s bawling, Izuku and Sue assess the situation. They realize that the baddies must have thought this through to some degree, as they deployed villains into the best environments for their powers. Water guys in the water, flame resistant guys in the fire zone etc. But, Izuku does notice a major flaw in whatever the plan might be… they sent Sue, the frog-girl, into the Shipwreck Zone. Why drop off an amphibious superhuman in water? He postulates that the baddies must not have any idea what the student’s Quirks are. Which is also why the baddies are holding back in the Shipwreck Zone, not willing to climb onto the boat to get at them. Kind of a major flaw in the plan, if I’m being honest. Sure, the students don’t hold a candle to any real hero, but you really have to assume that the best students at the best hero school in the country won’t go down easily. Just saying.

The teen heroes look over their assets, namely their powers. Sue has your standard frog powers; jumps really high, cling to walls, super long and strong prehensile tongue, and she can secret a poisonous fluid. But she admits that her poison isn’t particularly effective, so it’s probably best to not try to use it. Izuku has his super strength, but lets them know about his… bone breaking problem when he uses it. Mineta can make these super sticky…hairballs. They don’t say that exactly, but he pulls them from his scalp, what else could they be? They regrow as fast as he pulls them off. Yes, pretty useless sounding. The water baddies, tired of waiting, slash the boat and create a major hull breach. Mineta freaks out some more and flings a few of his sticky balls into the water. Whatever the balls are made out of, they’re incredibly buoyant, and float gently on the surface. Izuku notes that the baddies are hesitant to touch the balls, which gives Izuku an idea.

Villains defeated: Check. Kids escape: Check.
Izuku avoids breaking a bone: Uncheck. 2/3 isn't bad...

Izuku decides that the best way to enact his plan is to act like Bakugo. He screams “Die,” leaps into the air, and attacks. He focuses OFA to his middle finger and thumb, and unleashes a super-powered flick. He breaks his thumb and middle finger, and the water below. The shockwave of the flick causes the water to flow out in all directions. Who remembers their basic physics? For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The water, after being forced out by the shockwave, rushes back inward, creating a temporary whirlpool. The villains are all sucked in as well. Mineta, meanwhile, hurls countless sticky balls into the water. The villains get stuck to the balls, and each other. Sue leaps after Izuku, wraps him in her tongue and super jumps away. One group of villains down, dozens to go. Hooray for little victories.

So, all around, not a great situation to be in. Which makes for great TV, not going to lie. The USJ facility is a pretty awesome location to have this brawl. It’s all in one building, but we still have sinking ships, burning buildings, and a giant quarry for fighting locations. Variety is the spice of life, as they say. Izuku, once again, shows off that big beautiful brain of his. In only a few minutes, he assesses the situation, formulates a strategy and executes it beautifully. It’s also nice to see that he’s figured out a way to use his powers without completely disabling himself. Sure, two broken fingers aren’t great, but it’s still preferable to a completely mangled arm. Just saying. It was also nice to see a few of UA’s other best and brightest show off their powers and skills. Todoroki, using his freezing powers to keep a dozen or so villains in place is just terrifying. He’s fifteen, and can keep several armed baddies under his thumb. Is there any wonder why Todoroki is at UA? Sue also gets her moments, getting to save our protagonist, twice, and be the group’s main means of escape. Powerful legs on that girl. Mineta is… annoying. He’s got a lisp, is a coward, and is a major perv. None of these traits make him endearing to me. Granted, his unusual power did help in a pinch, but I can’t help wishing he’d ended up being with Todoroki. Why? Because him being frozen would be so much more entertaining. Finally, Mr. Aizawa is awesome. He was in charge from the moment he pulled his goggles on. He’s got incredible reflexes, above average strength, and a power that makes the baddies tremble. I wonder why Eraser Head isn’t more of a household name? Probably because he keeps Batman hours. That’s the only reason that I can think of. Next time, the battle continues. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 9

Are you ready for action, adventure, and life or death situations? Well… you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. I promise, this is the last set up episode for the season. Nerds honor. You can’t see it, but I’m doing the Vulcan salute. And what is the center of this episode? Breaking and entering, and an effective electoral system. Was that bizarre enough to get your attention? Good, then let’s get to it.

Mr. Aizawa naps while the students vote.
Why is he allowed to bring a sleeping bag into class?

For once, we’re opening to a completely fresh scene, no retreading of the previous episode. Outside UA High, a massive crowd of reporters are mobbing anyone that comes by. Why? They want to know about All Might. How he is as a teacher? Who’s his favorite student? Is he going to retire and be a teacher fulltime? That sort of thing. They try to get soundbites from students, some like Iida are helpful, and some like Bakugo are, well… Bakugo. Eventually, Aizawa steps in and tells the press mob to beat it. One of the reporters, tired of being blocked by teachers like Aizawa, tries to make her way onto campus grounds. This triggers UA defensives, namely the dropping of a massive metal gate. The reporter almost loses her head when the gate drops. How is it that no one told her about these defenses? That feels like something that should have been covered in orientation before sending her to cover a story at UA. Just saying. Said defenses trigger whenever anyone’s tries to enter the campus without the proper pass. Seriously, how do they afford these things? We’re briefly shown the back of a sinister looking fella across the street, who’s watching the events unfold. Nothing ominous about that.

Inside the 1-A class room, Aizawa reviews some of the student’s performance in the combat training the previous day. He’s particularly direct with Izuku, pretty much telling him to get a handle on his powers, as the excuse that he ‘can’t control his powers’ won’t cut it for much longer. He also tells Bakugo to stop being a baby whenever he loses a match. After that, he lets the class know that they’re going to have to pick a class representative. It’s the equivalent of a class president. The student’s all breathe a sigh of relief that they just have to do ‘normal’ school stuff rather then something terrifying. Now, normally only a few students would be interested in doing the extra work that the job of class president/rep requires, but in UA literally every student wants the part. Why? It’s something to pad the resume when they start looking for jobs at various hero agencies. Being the class rep at UA shows initiative, leadership skills, and all that other stuff that gets heroes and their agencies interested in a new sidekick. With all that in mind, having a vote seems pretty silly, as just about every student would just vote for themselves. But they try it anyway, rationalizing that if someone does get more than one vote, they must be pretty awesome and great pick for the job. To most of the class’s shock, especially Izuku’s, he wins with three votes. The brainy girl from the previous episode, Yaoyorozu, gets the VP spot with two votes.

Tenya Iida, aka Emergency Exit.
There are worse superhero names...

During lunch, Izuku learns that one of his three votes was from Iida. This is rather shocking, as Iida made it very clear that he wanted the position. He was practically shaking with anticipation earlier. He explains that wanting and feeling one is qualified for a part are two different things. He also let’s slip that he’s actually from a family of pro heroes. Currently, the most well-known Iida family member is his older brother, Tensei. He goes by Ingenium, and is an incredibly popular hero. After hearing Iida’s little speech/family history, Izuku plans to reveal to both Iida and Uraraka that he’s mostly succeeding by dumb luck, not by some super skill that everyone thinks he has. But, he’s cut off by a siren blaring. Everyone starts flipping out, as the alarm is only supposed to go off if someone snuck inside the school. As they all assume only a supremely powerful villain could have done this, the student body freak out is kind of understandable. During the chaos, Iida is pushed towards a window and finds that the intruder is in fact just the press mob from this morning. Also, that Mr. Aizawa and Present Mic are already on top of the situation, and clearly fighting the urge to kick these idiots off campus themselves. Getting help from Uraraka, Iida floats over the rest of student body and gets their attention. He gives everyone a rousing speech and gets them to calm the fudge down. When class starts again, Izuku passes the rep job to Iida. He feels that, despite Iida’s previous comment, that the speedster is the absolute best man for the job. And the rest of the class agrees, since Izuku thinks so. Izuku is clearly still weirded out by his new popularity. Well, everyone agrees except Yaoyorozu, who’s a little disappointed she’ll be playing second banana to Iida when she got two more votes.

Meanwhile, the faculty is kind of freaking out. While the public blames the alarm on the media, it turns out, that they had just seized an opportunity. In truth, someone had straight up melted a hole in one of the gates. Kind of hard to blame that on overzealous reporters. The unknown criminal did something inside the school grounds, and used the media circus to slip in and out without being noticed. Something wicked this way comes.

The following day, we see All Might’s morning commute. The supersized hero is continually sidetracked on his walk to campus by various civilians in danger. He muses as he leaps through the air, mentioning that his powers are weakening faster since he began the transfer of One For All to Izuku. He also remembers warning Izuku to not repeat their secret to anyone, like Izuku did with Bakugo. Don’t want the baddies to know that OFA can be passed on. That’d complicate things.

In the classroom, Aizawa lets them all know that they’ll be doing Search and Rescue training at an off-campus site. Aizawa, All Might and another pro hero will be instructing this exercise. After everyone gets in gear, they head out. On the bus ride, the students compare powers. In a world of teenage superheroes, I imagine this kind of topics comes up a lot. They agree that the two students that have the most ‘heroic’ powers are Bakugo, with his explosions, and Todoroki, with his Frozen Flame powers. I refuse to call it Half-Hot Half-Cold. They also all agree that Bakugo is kind of too much of a jerk to ever make it as a pro. Izuku is still pretty amazed that he’s the one fitting in and that Bakugo is the one getting openly mocked. Everyday must feel like Opposite Day for him. One of the students, Tsuyu Asui, points out that Izuku’s Quirk is oddly similar to All Might’s. He quickly side quickly tries to shift attention onto one of the other student’s powers.  

They arrive at the facility, and meet their special instructor, Thirteen. Thirteen is a space themed hero that specializes in crisis situations and search and rescue ops. He designed this oversized facility, which houses a ship wreck, landslide, earthquake, typhoon, and fire disaster simulation, to name a few, to train students in Search and Rescue ops. He dubs it that Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ. Aizawa notes that All Might is absent, makes a snide remark about him “booking an interview” and then is told by Thirteen that All Might used up his hero time on the commute. Thirteen is more subtle, but Aizawa and Izuku are able to infer what he meant. All Might promised to recover in time to catch the tail end of the simulation over the phone.

The final bosses arrive.
Let the game begin!

Thirteen explains his power, called Blackhole. As the name implies, he sucks up anything and destroy it. He explains that part of this test is to make sure the students keep their powers in check, to ensure the safety of others. Everyone lets out a big cheer, excited by this new challenge, and then it hits the fan. The power shuts off in the USJ, and a black portal opens up in the entry way. Villains start pouring out into the USJ. Of this group of villains, three stand out. One, is the creepy guy covered in severed hands, later named Tomura Shigaraki, that runs the show. Another is the villain that created the portals, Kurogiri, that is made of an ethereal black mist. Kurogiri, FYI, literally translates to Black Mist. Finally, there is Noumu, the colossal monster that looks like the off-colored offspring of Donald Duck and She-Hulk. Oh, this is not good. For them. This will be really fun for the rest of us.

Okay, this is the absolute last slow episode of the first season. From this point on, we’ll be cranking things up to 11. And, as the students themselves point out, this IS a high school so they should get wrapped up in some more typical high school stuff. If only for a little while. This situation gives us good insight into Iida’s character, which is good from a story perspective. I am not a huge fan of stories that only give the lead character development. Iida is a hardworking individual, one that clearly wants fame, glory and respect, but also realizes that certain people are more deserving of that recognition then others. As the other’s pointed out, he clearly wanted the position of Class Rep, but also acknowledged that Izuku was the better choice. And, Izuku, being a little unsure of himself still, recognizes that Iida is a little too hard on himself. I really enjoyed the part where he nominated Iida to take his place, and he’s hyper shocked when everyone else is like “Izuku is backing him, so we’re cool with it.” The kid that has never once been given respect is suddenly the big man on campus, it’s funny as heck. The end of the episode, when the villains break in, is a pretty epic entrance. Shigaraki, Kurogiri and Noumu are visually distinctive, menacing characters. Shigaraki being covered in severed hands is both creepy, and a unique look for a baddy. His right hand, Kurogiri is all kinds of awesome. This swirling black ball of mist, with a bellowing voice and warping powers, pretty hard to forget this thing. He seems to be Shigaraki’s right hand man, as well as the group’s main means of transportation. Teleportation is super convenient power. Then there’s Noumu, a colossal beak faced monster. He’s at least 10 feet tall, bulging with muscle, has a grin seemingly forced on his face, and an exposed brain. I gag a little thinking of how he’d look in a live action version of this. <Gag> Regardless, Noumu and the others promise to make an intense battle. Next time! Damn teases. Have a good night everybody.

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 8

Today we get to see some of the aftereffects of Izuku and Bakugo’s grudge match. Izuku put his whole being into this latest bout, and it once again cost him the use of one of his arms. Sure, his actions allowed him and partner Uraraka to clinch victory from Bakugo and Iida, but the collateral damage is not good at all. How will All Might grade this test? How will Bakugo handle his loss? Will Izuku ever not break his bones when he punches things? We’ll find out… right now!

Best time to give advice is when your worldview is shattered
Maybe...

We open to the test just after Izuku and Uraraka claimed victory over Iida and Bakugo. Bakugo is visibly shaken at being beaten by Izuku, the kid that he’d just moments ago thought of as ‘nothing more than a little bug for [him] to squash.’ All Might calls the mock battle over, and that A Team is the winner. Some of the students point out the irony that the losers were pretty much unscathed while the winners are largely incapacitated. Uraraka suffers from pretty severe nausea when she over uses her powers, and Izuku’s down both arms. One broken from using OFA, and the other being severely burned by Bakugo’s explosions. Not great circumstances to be in. While the robot janitors’ clean things up, All Might observes Bakugo for a moment. The angry, angry young man seems to be almost having a panic attack when the thought crosses his mind that, if they’d actually gone all out, Izuku would have possibly beaten him. All Might tries to give him some advice, to learn from failure, and then takes him to observation to review the challenge.

All Might names Tenya Iida the MVP of the test. Why? As one of the other students, Momo Yaoyorozu, points out; Bakugo lost it over a personal vendetta and acted without thinking, Izuku’s strategy put him in the infirmary, and Uraraka acted with a little too much force given the scenario. Launching a bunch of debris at a nuke isn’t really the best idea. Iida, conversely, embraced the rules of the situation, never abandoned his duties, and even seemed to have fun pretending to be bad. So yeah, I’d named him MVP, too. Iida is pretty overjoyed at being praised, and All Might is a little freaked out by how analytical Yaoyorozu is. He recovers, though, and announces that they’ll continue the test. We then have a montage of students taking the test. The only one that they go into any detail is the second test. In this exam, one of the heroes wins it in under a minute. Shoto Todoroki uses his powers to completely freeze the building. Every floor from the base level to the roof were encased in Ice. Both of the ‘villains’ unfortunately, were barefoot, and ended up froze in place. Todoroki easily claims the weapon, and then melts all the ice. His powers give him complete control over heat, allowing him to freeze or incinerate anything at will. He’s not super important now, other than being the best example of an incredibly awesome opponent. That being said, keep an eye out for this guy. The test ends, and All Might congradulates the group at a job well done. He rushes off after, partially to check on Izuku, and partially because he’d just about hit the limit on his hero form. His time limit is going to be a real hindrance to his teaching ability, unless he can teach a lesson over the phone or something. He resolves to keep an eye on Bakugo, as the young man’s ego might be a serious problem. Smart move, as I’ve learned that the line between anti-hero and villain is razor thin.

Shoto Todoroki = Awesome
Half-Cold, Half-Hot = Not Awesome

In the nurse’s office, Recovery Girl scolds All Might for being so reckless and letting Izuku get so banged up, yet again. The kid in question is unconscious in one of the hospital beds. She makes it clear that Izuku being a regular of the nurse’s office by the SECOND DAY is not a good thing. Got to agree with the sweet ol’ gal, not going to lie. It’s also revealed that, while the staff all know about All Might’s weakened condition and his limited ‘hero’ time, Recovery Girl is one of only four people (other than Izuku) that know that All Might’s powers are transferable. Wow, he must put an insane amount of trust in Recovery Girl to let her know that particular secret. They argue a little over his tactics, but agree to disagree. She thinks his idea that he has to appear as a ‘natural born hero’ really only puts him at a disadvantage. But, I side with All Might. People need that invulnerable hero, someone greater than them to look up to. She ultimately insists that All Might do his best to be a good guide, for Izuku and the other students.

Izuku wakes up hours later. He’s recovered… comparatively speaking. The major injuries are taken care off, but he’s still pretty banged up. Recovery Girl explains that she can only accelerate the rate of healing, and Izuku’s body is at its limit. Can’t make something from nothing, as she puts it. That, for me, raises the question as to how exhausted and for how long Izuku was after the Entrance exam. You know, since he broke an additional limb. And broke his left arm even worse that time. Regardless, he’ll have to come back in the following day to get completely healed. When he goes back to class, he expects Aizawa to choke Izuku with his scarf for being reckless again. Instead, he’s greeted by his classmates, and is somewhat shocked to realize that, here, he’s actually popular. Everyone is impressed that he held his own against Bakugo. They heap praise on him, and it is pretty clear that the young Izuku isn’t used to having this level of positive reinforcement. He notices that Bakugo isn’t there, and runs after him when the others tell him that Bakugo walked off. He meets Bakugo at the gate, and tries again to explain. Not sure why he’s trying so hard, considering Bakugo is a jerk, but hey, that’s Izuku. He actually reveals to the nutcase that he ‘got’ his power from ‘someone’ and that he’s only just now getting a handle on it. Not sure what he expected, but it throws Bakugo into a fit, and he storms off. But not before venting his frustration that, while #1 in the entrance exam, he has a long way to go before he’s the #1 hero of UA. He vows he’ll never lose to Izuku again and storms off.

What has to happen to someone to want to cover themselves in
Severed hands? Also, scariest bartender ever.

All Might rushes in a moment later and tries to give Bakugo some more advice. More of that ‘keep your chin up’ schpeel he’s been spewing. Bakugo isn’t interested, claiming he’ll be bigger than All Might, without the super-duper hero’s help. After he storms off, All Might tries to press Izuku for details about what they were talking about, but, obviously, Izuku doesn’t want to tell his hero what happened. He might get a little mad that Izuku spilled even a little bit about their secret.

Guess what? We have an after-credit scene! How theatrical. We’re shown a bar where some unsavory looking people have gathered. The bartender looks like he’s made out of a black cloud, which is just unsettling. One of the patrons, a young man covered in several severed hands, lets we the audience know that he and his crew are planning to kill All Might. Something wicked this way comes, me thinks.

This is, at its core, a transition episode. We’re rapping up the loose ends from the previous arc, and laying the ground work for the next. Izuku got his honest to god victory against Bakugo, but somehow, I doubt that he got what he wanted from it. Or, he’s yet to fully comprehend the magnitude of the nobody Izuku Midoriya taking super all-star student Katsuki Bakugo. He toppled a titan, that’s a huge deal.  Granted, it really seems that the main thing that Izuku wants out of Bakugo is his respect. If so, then it’ll be a LONG time coming. If even All Might doesn’t get respect from this kid, no one will get it. On Bakugo, seeing how he handled things was very interesting. The whole being beaten by a ‘loser’ thing clearly shook him on a fundamental level. Like I said, it almost looks like he’s having a panic attack when he’s processing the possibility that, if he and Izuku fought for real, that there was a real possibility that he’d have lost. It was like showing him evidence that up was down, left was right, or dogs and cats living together. Mass Hysteria! Bakugo is a world class butt munch, but damn it, he’s an interesting guy. It’s going to be a long time before he gets any real character development, but this is a hint as to what is to come. The glimpse that we get of the bad guys is rather important. They’re going to be making their play soon, and when they do, they’ll shake society to it’s core. Have I built up enough hype for what’s to come? I hope so. Have a good night!

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Twitter: @BasicsSuperhero

Review: Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol II

Well… I’m in a conundrum. On the one hand, I did really enjoy Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2. On the other hand, I’m not a fan of some of the changes that had to be made to make this film. The comic purest in me is screaming at me right now. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s dive into this space opera, shall we?

We open to 1980s Missouri, planet Earth. Hm… interesting way to start a space opera. We see a young couple driving through town. One of them is obviously a digitally age reduced Kurt Russell. I mean, it’s better than the effect done to Jeff Bridges in Tron: Legacy, but yeah, it’s still not perfect. Anyway, the man takes the woman, Meredith Quill, to show her something in the woods. This thing, whatever it is, greatly excites him. He claims that one day soon, this plant thing will spread across the universe. Nothing ominous about that.

Why do I suddenly feel like busting a move?

Jump 34 years into the future, and we find the Guardians on a mission. The group, consisting of Rocket Raccoon, Drax the Destroyer, Gamora, Baby Groot, and Peter Quill aka Star-Lord, were hired to protect some powerful batteries from an interdimensional monster. Rocket nearly has the sound system set up when the colossal creature attacks. As the opening credits crawl, Baby Groot plugs the last plug in and starts rocking out. It’s flipping hilarious to see tiny sapling Groot dancing around, while the rest of the team battles the creature in the background. I was actually a little sad when the dancing stopped and we focused in on the fight. Drax gets himself swallowed, believing that the creature’s hide was too tough to pierce from the outside. Gamora and Peter both point out how insane this idea is, as the creature will be the same thickness all the way through. They’re able to kill it, thanks to a sizable cut the creature had in its neck and Gamora’s super sharp sword.

The team is congratulated by High Priestess Ayesha of the Sovereign. The gold skin aliens give The Guardians their payment, Gamora’s psychopathic estranged adoptive sister, Nebula. She’d been captured by the Sovereign while trying to steal some of their batteries. The team leaves, Rocket revealing to Drax that he’d stolen some of the batteries. Greedy little varmint. The Sovereign discover the theft, and send their fleet to shoot the Guardian’s down. They fight back, shooting down dozens of enemy fighters. Not to worry, though, as the Sovereign fly drones remotely. There’s a pretty hilarious bit showing the Sovereign piloting their ships, their control modules look suspiciously like an old timey video game. The Guardians try to escape through a quantum asteroid field, but their ship gets critically damaged when Peter and Rocket fight over who should be the pilot. They’re saved at the last moment by a single man on a ship, that blows the fighters out of the sky. The team warps to the nearest world, crashing onto a planet. Their savior lands a few minutes later, Kurt Russel stepping out with an antennae-having alien attendant, Mantis. He calls himself Peter’s father, and reveals his name to be Ego. Oh no. More on that later.

We then cut to Yondu, Peter’s adoptive dad and leader of a Ravager ship. The Ravagers are, for those just joining us, like an intergalactic mercenary group. They work as hired muscle, thieves, transporters, and so on. Yondu is taking some R and R time at an alien brothel, when he runs into Stakar Ogord, another Ravager Captain. Stakar storms off after seeing Yondu, claiming that the planet they were on just lost the business of 99 of the Ravagers 100 factions. Yondu, it is revealed, was exiled from the main Ravager group for breaking their most sacred rule. Heck, it seems like it’s their only rule. Namely, that the Ravagers don’t deal in human… er, sapient trafficking. Specifically children. Seeing this scene, some of Yandu’s crew express frustration at being banished and think a change might be in order. Before things escalate, Ayesha arrives and offers to hire them to capture the Guardians of the Galaxy.

Kurt Russel, one of the most disarming bad guys ever.

The team splits in two. Peter, Gamora, and Drax go with Ego and Mantis to Ego’s planet. Rocket and Baby Groot stay with the ship to enact repairs and keep Nebula in check. What could possibly go wrong? That night, the Ravagers arrive on the planet and set to ambush Rocket. Unfortunately, Mr. Raccoon is wily. He set up a number of traps, and gives most of the Ravagers a run around for some time. He knocks out a bunch with tranquilizer darts, throws some around with gravity manipulators, and then shocks a few more. Unfortunately, Rocket is cornered by Yondu’s flying arrow. Rocket tries to barter his and the Guardian’s freedom by offering Yondu the stolen batteries. Yondu wants to take them, but the crew calls him out. Even his loyal #2, Kraglin, calls his boss out on the obvious favoritism Yondu shows Peter Quill. Yondu gives a believable lie, that sure the batteries are worth less than the Guardian’s bounty, but if you take out the Guardians of the Galaxy they’ll be enemy #1 of that planet Xandar, it’s Nova Corps, and dozens of other systems. Obvious lie, but a rational lie. Yondu is still in control of the situation, since his arrow moves faster than anyone, but he’s shot from behind by Nebula. She fries his ‘Fin,’ the metal plate on his head that lets him control the arrow. Not good.

 Peter and co arrive on Ego’s planet. Ego explains, using some nifty displays, his backstory. He’s an ancient being known as a Celestial. Over the millennia of his existence, he learned how to manipulate matter, formed his giant planet form, and then perfected a smaller humanoid Avatar to explore the galaxy. He eventually discovered other intelligent life, and then kind of just trails off. After showing Peter around the planet a little, Ego teaches Peter how to tap into his Celestial power and the two bond a little. Hooray.

On the Ravager ship, all of Yondu loyalists are jettisoned out the airlock. Messed up way to kill people, just saying. One of Yondu’s Lieutenants takes over, an ugly SOB that named himself Taserface. Rocket mocks him incessantly for it. Rocket and Yondu are safe, for now, since the Sovereign want to do the executing. Groot is also taken as a pet/slave for the Ravagers. Nebula is given a ship as a reward, and flies off to get her sister. After being thrown in a cell, Rocket and Yondu get Groot help the escape. Yondu had a spare ‘Fin’ in his room and they task Groot to get it. Unfortunately, Groot isn’t so good at finding things. He brings a desk, a prosthetic eye, a space rat, human toe, and Yondu’s underwear.  Thankfully, Kraglin helps him out. He was really upset to see the loyalists killed, as they were his friends. Yondu equips the fin, which looks like a giant mohawk, and he and Rocket obliterate the crew. It’s one of the most artsy and awesome scenes I’ve seen in a while. Taserface lets the Sovereign know where they’re going before dying.

Baby Groot, too cute for words.

On Ego’s planet, Gamora let’s Peter know that something feels off about this whole thing. Mantis is obviously terrified of something, Ego is hiding something, and all that jazz. Peter, who is still too excited about meeting and bonding with his bio-father refuses to listen. Gamora leaves in a huff to try and contact Rocket and Groot. While sitting in a prairie, she’s attacked by Nebula. Nebula crashes, they fight a little, nearly die in an explosion, and then fight a little more. They bond a little when they seem to realize, at the same time, that they really should both focus their hatred on dear ol’ Dad Thanos. They notice something odd in the cave they’re in and investigate. They discover a gigantic pile of bones. Oh, that is super not good. Gamora and Nebula meet up with Drax and Mantis, and demand answers. Mantis reveals that the bones are Peter’s siblings.

Meanwhile, Ego reveals the final bit of his story to Peter. When he discovered intelligent life, he was unimpressed. He decided it was his purpose in life to spread. To this end, he seeded thousands of worlds with seeds like the one mentioned in the beginning. The problem is, even with all the power of a Celestial, mass terraforming… (Ego-forming?) thousands of worlds is too tall an order. But with two Celestials… the impossible suddenly becomes possible. To get that second Celestial, he impregnated countless woman on the worlds he seeded, and then hired Yondu to bring him the progeny. Yondu was under the impression that he was just reuniting the kids with their father, or something. In actuality, Ego would test them to see if the children had the Celestial potential. Those, namely all of them except Peter, didn’t have the power and were killed by the process. Yondu discovered this before dropping Peter off, and elected to keep the boy to keep him safe.

Nebula's back, and she's pissed.

Rocket, and his team, and Gamora and her team reconvene and rush to save Peter. Peter almost looks like he was seduced by his father’s vision of perfection, that is until Ego drops a huge bomb. While he impregnated many females, Meredith Quill held a special place in his heart. She was the one that might have convinced him to just enjoy being a corporeal being. He visited her four times, and admits that if he’d come again, he’d have stayed. To make sure he was never tempted… he gave her the brain tumor. Peter refuses to help his father after that, but Ego is done asking. He uses his powers to force Peter to help power the Ego-forming, but the other Guardians arrive to save the day. The team decides that they need to stop Ego once and for all. Using a small nuke and the stolen batteries, Rocket jerry-rigged a super bomb to blow Ego to Kingdom Come. The problem, they need to plant the bomb right up next to Ego’s core to make it count. And Ego is not going to go quietly. And the Sovereign fleet have arrived. Damn, this is complicated.

So, the good first. The cast is top notch. Everyone brings their A-Game for this one. The new additions are up to par as well, with Kurt Russel being deviously evil, and Pom Klementieff as Mantis is just a delight. She’s an empathic alien that has 0 social skills. She’s like on the same and yet opposite end of the bizarre spectrum that Drax is. They’re a treat together. Sylvester Stallone is also fun, for the little bit of the film that he’s in. I had to look this up myself, but Stallone’s character Stakar Ogard is also known as Starhawk. Starhawk being the leader of the first-generation Guardians of the Galaxy, there’s even a post credit scene where Stakar and his former team reconvene, resolving to work together again. I doubt we’ll see a Gen 1 Guardians spin off anytime soon, but somehow I just feel better knowing that they’re running around too. Just saying. The visuals are stunning. One of the best was when Yondu, Rocket and Groot are going ham on the traitorous Ravagers. The raining of corpses, the Arrow flying about, and those three of them strutting their stuff, it’s just spectacular. And it’s funny. So very funny. I glossed over most of Drax’s story in this one, simply because they’re too funny to describe. Baby Groot’s gags are funny as heck, but, not going to lie, I’m glad they make it clear he’ll be full sized again for next time. Too much baby Groot is a no-no. Do I even have to mention the sound track? Top hits of the 70s and 80s. Interestingly, Looking Glass’s “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” could be viewed as the ‘theme’ song of this one. In much the same way that Blue Swede’s “Hooked on a Feeling” was for Guardians Vol. 1. Ego on a couple of occasions uses the characters of the song, the sailor and Brandy to describe his relationship with Meredith. Namely, she was Brandy, the woman that could keep him (the sailor) from returning to sea. His destiny. Which ultimately led to her own untimely death. Very sad.

It's a good group.

The bad is there, but it’s once again kind of minimal. I’ll get the most minor of minor out of the way. Ego is not Star-Lord’s father. Peter Quill is not a Celestial. Peter Quill in the comics was fathered by J’son, Emperor (Or Star-Lord) of the Spartoi space empire. He is a jerk, but not a “I’m going to destroy all of creation” jerk. More of a “my son will do as he’s told regardless of how he feels” kind of jerk.  This bad is only for those of us that know the source material to some degree, as it took me out of the movie ever so slightly. The next one feeds into this slightly, as Peter learning how to use his Celestial powers is kind of a big deal. These powers were only hinted at in Vol. I, and only really shown in this one. Namely to form an energy ball for he and Ego to play catch with, and then to fight Ego to the death. And yet they treat it like a big deal when he opts to lose these powers when they go to kill Ego. Kind of hard to get emotionally invested in this loss when it’s kind of just being shown now. There were also a LOT of forced and/or cliché moments. Yondu actually advises Peter to “use his heart,” in the climax to get a handle on the Celestial powers. He also has a really kind of awkward chat with Rocket, as they were the asshole on their respective teams. It just feels weird. Also, Gamora and Nebula’s reconciliation is a little odd. They are at each other’s throats for what is implied to be years, and yet they bury the hatchet after Nebula accuses Gamora of being a crappy sibling. What the heck? Also, one thing that was bugging me from the start of the climax to the end. Ego is the planet. Ego can form a body from just about anything. So WHY couldn’t he stop the nuke at his core? They never really establish why he couldn’t do something to save himself. Like, why didn't he make a new body at his core to remove the bomb? Or transport it away from himself? Or encase it in heavy metals and move it? I suppose you could argue that fighting Peter was distracting him but… then you’re telling me the eons old being of near infinite power never learned how to multi-task? What the heck?

Overall, I give this one a B. It’s a good film, but if you’re a fan of the comics or have a basic knowledge of the comics, it’ll take you out the film a bit. And aspects of the climax were just a little too odd for me to just let go. I know what you’re thinking, Michael, aren’t you getting hung up on little details? Yes, yes I am. That’s what I do. I’m not saying don’t see it, far from it, I’m just saying that I didn’t enjoy it as much as a lot of folks. It’s a decent movie, just not Marvel’s best. In my opinion. Have a good one, everyone. 

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Viewer Log: My Hero Academia ep 7

You know what’s even more important in a Shonen series than training? Rival fights. There’s just something about two characters that come from similar backgrounds, have similar training, and have a complex history together having a no holds barred grudge match that just gets the blood pumping. It’s a means of showing us how not only the hero has developed, but also how some of their supporting cast has developed as well. Heck, because of that, they might even be more important than fighting a series’ or arcs’, major antagonist. They’ve been building to this Bakugo vs. Izuku from the start. And it has all the hallmarks of a great fight. Bakugo’s unstoppable force against Izuku’s immovable object. The talented Bakugo vs. the hard working Izuku. Fury against Calm. Dark against light. I’ve run out of opposites colliding. Oh, and Uraraka and Iida are their too, but their fight is less important.  Let’s get to it.

Wow, this is some real subtle imagery for Bakugo's state of mind.

We open to a quick episode recap. It can be summed up as Bakugo swearing to crush Izuku, and Izuku swearing to beat him. And then Izuku flipping Bakugo and giving his “Deku is the name of a hero” speech. After that, Izuku has a flashback. Specifically, he’s remembering his and Bakugo’s sort of complex background together. In Pre-K, Bakugo was kind of the neighborhood ringleader. The other kids, Izuku included, flocked behind him and followed along with everything he said. He was brave, confident and all the things that Izuku admired. We also learn that Bakugo didn’t shift into full on jerk hole until after his Quirk manifested. Afterwards, the students and teachers heaped praise onto the child, and probably helped set up his superiority complex.

In the present, Izuku remembers his little speech from the first episode, that “Not all men are created equal” shpeel. Fitting, since he is now going up against the jerk hole that smacked that lesson into him. Bakugo, meanwhile, seems to be losing whatever semblance of sanity that he has. He’s basically saying ‘screw it’ to the test, so long as he gets wipe the floor with Izuku’s face. Not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. On the one hand, being angry means that he’s significantly more likely to screw up. On the other, he WILL mess Izuku up if he catches our green hair protagonist. Guess we’ll have to wait and see how it goes down. In the control room, All Might re-explains the perimeters of the test. Namely, that the heroes need to use ‘capture tape’ to tie up and disable the villains to win, and vice versa for the baddies. And if they heroes run out of time, the villains win.

Izuku and Bakugo rush each other. Izuku uses Bakugo’s fixation on him to give Uraraka a chance to slip passed and find Iida and the dummy bomb. While Bakugo is clearly stronger, more savage, and experienced with his powers, Izuku is more strategic. Having spent nearly his entire life watching heroes, memorizing strategies, and fighting styles, Izuku knows how Bakugo fights. His knowledge lets him keep the upper hand. But, Bakugo is no slouch either. When he realizes Izuku is predicting his moves, he tries to change up his fighting style, switching to kicks when punches fail. Izuku then flees, trying to keep Bakugo at a distance while he formulates a plan.

After losing Bakugo, Izuku assesses the situation. He’s actually pretty thankful, as Bakugo going rogue works out in their favor, since the faster Iida is stuck looking after the bomb. And, since Iida is so…ridged, odds of him abandoning the bomb are minimal. He plans to either disable or escape Bakugo before meeting up with Uraraka to take on Iida. Not the best strategy, but hey, got to work with what you have.

Why do I get the feeling Iida would really get into LARPing.

While searching for Izuku, Bakugo does some reminiscing of his own. Specifically, how he gave Izuku the most unpleasant nickname of Deku. “Deku” being another way to read the characters that make up Izuku’s name. Deku, in Japanese, can mean “the one who can’t achieve/do anything.” It’s a rather long winded way to call him a loser, isn’t it? His superiority complex over Izuku was pretty much solidified when it came out that Izuku didn’t have powers. Obviously, how could a loser without powers ever hold a candle to the amazing Bakugo? But then, something strange happened. And by strange, I mean normal. Like, this could happen in the real world. While leading his little crew on a bug hunt through the nearby woods, Bakugo slipped off a log bridge into the river below. He was fine, but Izuku instantly ran down to make sure he didn’t hit his head. This was probably the first sign of Izuku’s ‘run head first into danger’ mentality. This small act of kindness infuriated Bakugo. His thought process basically being “where does this loser get off trying to help me!” or something like that. Katsuki Bakugo could really, really use a therapist.

Meanwhile, Uraraka found Iida and the dummy bomb. She witnesses Iida getting a little too wrapped up in the role of villain, and laughs out loud at his super seriousness. This tip’s him off, and causes him to start Monologuing. He’s really, really good at Monologuing. Utilizing Iida’s monologuing, Uraraka contacts Izuku and lets her know that she’s a floor above with the bomb. Izuku plans to take down Bakugo, just as Bakugo corners him. Not good. Now that Izuku is in a corner, the pyro reveals that his quirk is that his hand sweat works like nitroglycerine. And, that the big grenade gauntlet’s he has with his costume are designed to soak up the excess nitro-sweat. Why? He stockpiles the sweat, and is then able to release it in one monster blast. All-Might tries to stop him, but Bakugo unleashes a monster blast. He laughs maniacally as the fireball rockets toward Izuku. Izuku barely dodges the fireball, which obliterates the wall behind him.

While Iida’s distracted by Bakugo’s bomb-ugo (I regret nothing) shaking the building, Uraraka tries to use her powers to float over and grab the bomb. But, Iida sees and uses his superspeed to move the bomb away. He knows how Uraraka operates, and thanks to his speed, he’ll be able to keep playing keep away with the bomb until time runs out. He also removed any and all small objects from the room that Uraraka might have used as projectiles if given the opportunity. So, the heroes are screwed unless they can somehow stop Iida’s speed.

In the observatory, All Might notes that Bakugo’s isn’t trying to kill Izuku. Well, not actively trying. By his words and actions, it’s clear he’s looking just to humiliate Izuku, by any means necessary. All Might is able to get through to Bakugo via the intercom and stop him from using his other firebomb gauntlet. He gives the ultimatum that if Bakugo uses the other blast, he’ll end the exam right there. Not the most substantial threat, but it’s enough to get Bakugo to back down. All Might realizes that, as a teacher, he should really stop this fight. Bakugo is growing more unstable by the minute, and will probably do something he’ll regret if the fight goes on too much long. But, he also knows that Izuku NEEDS to fight and beat Bakugo, as part of his development. And that, honestly, Bakugo needs the loss as much as Izuku needs the win, to also help his personal growth. While All Might ponders, Izuku formulates a plan, and tells Uraraka to make for the window in the room she’s in.

Bakugo starts laying the smack down on Izuku. He shows off his speed, and his skills with his Quirk. Using his powers to run at high speeds, and even change trajectory in the air to leap around Izuku. Izuku, realizing he has to use his powers, makes for a window. He’s REALLY apprehensive about using his powers, obviously, but he’s refusing to lose this match. Good on you, Izuku. After getting into position, Izuku and Bakugo charge at each other. Seeing that Izuku is going to use his power, All-Might tries to stop them, but it’s too late. They collide. And Izuku reveals his strategy.

Izuku is willing to take an explosion to the face to win.
That takes commitment.

At the last moment, Izuku threw up his left arm to protect his face from Bakugo’s direct attack. Rather than attack Bakugo, Izuku instead uses One For All to smash the ceiling above. The powerful shockwave his superpowered punch unleashes pretty much turns the floor above into powder. This gives Uraraka, who is now floating in mid-air, plenty of ammo to use her zero-gravity powers. She distracts Iida with debris, leaps over him, and grabs the weapon. Bakugo is infuriated to being beaten. Izuku tries to explain again that he wasn’t tricking Bakugo for all those years, and that he had refused to use his powers for so long during the fight because he CAN’T control them. It obviously doesn’t work, as Bakugo seems incapable of accepting all that has just happened. Izuku passes out as All-Might announces the Hero team the winner.

This was a great episode, for a number of reasons. We got an excellent battle between these lifelong frien-enemies, where both parties were pushed to their limits to beat the other. Izuku got to show off that beautiful brain of his at work as he figured out counter strategies to Bakugo’s savage assaults, and to get to the bomb. Bakugo, on the other hand, got to show off that he’s not just all power, no brains. He adapted to his opponent, changing up his fighting style in the moment to best counter Izuku’s experience against him. We also got some insight into why Bakugo is such a dick to Izuku. I’m not going to say that being mean to someone because they were nice to you makes a whole lot of sense, but it fits into Bakugo’s character. He was Mr. Perfect, even at the age of four. He was unstoppable, untouchable, with an amazing power and a great future ahead of him. So where did this nobody, this Quirkless loser get off worrying about his wellbeing and/or safety. Yeah, even spelling it out like that doesn’t make it better. It was also nice to see All Might be divided on how to proceed. Stopping the fight to keep Izuku healthy is the right thing to do. But, letting the fight go on so Izuku can beat his lifelong rival is also good. Which good is the best good? Thankfully, Izuku took the choice out of his hands. And, finally, while their story wasn’t as important, Uraraka and Iida’s part was really entertaining. Seeing Iida fling himself so perfectly and fully into being a ‘villain’ is pretty hilarious. And Uraraka’s reaction to his 1940s style villainy is also pretty fun. So yeah, all around a really good time. Next time, we’ll take a short break from My Hero Academia, and focus on Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2.

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