Monday, December 22, 2014

Cross Ange Episode 12

Episode 12 begins in a undisclosed location where Cross Ange's answer to Evangelion's SEELE is meeting and going over the battle footage from Sala's appearance, and Julio is dismissing questions about something called the Dawn Pillar activating, but everyone else thinks that's bullshit and wants to reinforce Arzenal (apparently the tip of the spear of the DRAGON counter-offense), then another guy points out they can't do that and brings up the Vilkiss, which everyone thought had been destroyed (explains the flashback scene with Jill piloting it at one point and why it was stuck in storage for so long), and Julio starts getting shit on for his apparent failure to keep an eye on Arzenal (which falls under his purview), and the fact Misty got kidnapped and the Misurugi family screwed the pooch preventing that is used as a goad that who is apparently Misty's father is rather pissed by.

Julio then makes it official Ange is an unperson once again by referring to Ange as a thing (when his sister gets the blame for Misty's abduction, which, as you will recall, he partially engineered to trap Ange). The token woman at the proceedings then tells everyone to get back to business (i.e. - how are we protecting the world again?), and when it's mentioned the Norma can't be relied upon to be humanity's shield (thanks to events mentioned previously), that's when that blonde guy who was behind a tree reading since the intro gets up, and calls everyone hopeless. His name is Embryo (gee, that sounds like something from obviousvillainnames.txt), and apparently everyone else there defers to him.

Cue opening credits.

Once we get back to the meeting, Embryo brings up their options: surrender (like hell they are doing that) or kill all DRAGONs off, which is unthinkable,because it will interfere with option three: rebuild the world (Instrumentality, in my Gundam referencing dragon killing mecha series?), and the way he describes it, you'd seriously think this guy was channeling Keel Lorenz, albeit less on the quasi-benevolent side (as in, there is no benefit to everyone hidden in this forced evolutionary reset like there was in Evangelion, depending on your POV) and more on the purge everyone we don't give a shit about when we wipe the slate clean (damn, how Nazi-ish can they get with their Instrumentality plan?).

Of course, Julio gets in touch with his inner Hitler and just loves option three, and while everyone else is kinda reluctant to throw the baby out with the bathwater (as in, all the progress they achieved with a Mana based society with a slave class covering their ass), they all concede it may be the only choice, and as Embryo hands Julio the car keys to Instrumentality, the meeting ends (it was set in some fancy holographic meeting room area) , and as Riza's like "so, how'd it go?", Julio and her leave, and we see what looks like a recording device was under Julio's desk.and Tusk is apparently not thrilled with what he heard.

We then cut back to Arzenal, where there are so many DRAGON corpses Jasmine is having to use a bulldozer to put them all into a mass grave. Meanwhile, everyone else is picking up the frankly jacked up remnants of the base. Maggy tries to check on a shaken Emma in the infirmary (apparently, her first real experience with combat gave her epic PTSD), who is not in the mood for anyone to get near her. Meanwhile, Jill has gathered together all the surviving senior cast members and is asking who has command experience.

Hilda quietly raises her hand, and Jill signs off on it, with Ersha and Vivian as her lieutenants. Rosalie and Chris are understandably shocked at Hilda (a deserter) getting the job, and Jill points out it's temporary and Salia's out because she's in detention for defying orders. Hilda then tells Rosalie to do the job if she wants it that much, and Rosalie backs away from the thrown gauntlet. That settled, Jill tells everyone to be on combat alert. As they all salute and leave, Jill lights up a cig, reads over the report Tusk sent, and doesn't look happy.

Ange then speaks up behind her and points out her detention is over, and she wants Jill to honor her promise from the previous episode. Jill tries to use the "we've got a lot of shit to do" excuse, but Ange is like "I saved everyone's ass, you kinda owe me". Jill concedes the point, but tells Ange to leave Momoka out of the conversation. Meanwhile, Hilda wants to know where Ange is going, while Ersha wonders where Vivian is. Cut to Vivian and Salia's room where Vivian falls out of bed.

We then cut to the bath where Ange is like "why are we discussing this here?", and Jill claims "secrets should be shared when completely exposed", and Ange is like "fine, but I want to know the answers to question the whole audience has had since day one".

Jill begins with the story of the world's creation, and just as Ange is like "are you trolling me", Jill continues, and apparently, that Instrumentality plan the SEELE ripoffs were discussing has happened before, and Mana and the benefits it brought were one of the side benefits of the last time. However, it seems some female children were discovered to be Norma (genetic leftovers from before the world was reborn, which kinda explains the prejudice, given these former humans fucked everything up in the backstory), and because humanity was like "why the hell do we still have leftovers of when humanity was a (literal) goddamned disgrace around, Norma were shit on merely for being remnants of a time everyone wanted to never return. Apparently, whoever the hell was behind this (all evidence points to this Embryo guy) encouraged this racist horseshit, and it was used to keep humanity united against a common enemy, which, while that strikes me as a cynical plan, seems to have been effective as cover for the fact "God" let this happen on purpose, feeding everyone a line of crap about how Normas had to be dealt with to prevent the Bad Times from returning.

In short, Normas exist because God fucked up remaking the world from last time, left some people in the human genome who didn't fit in with the reborn humanity, so he used the Norma as scapegoats as a compensatory way of maintaining stability and to cover his own incompetence.

God sounds like an asshole IMO.

Ange is in "......" mode, and when Jill asks about it, Ange is having a hard time swallowing all that, and Jill drops a drama bomb: she heard it from God himself. Anyway, Ange files that away as Jill continues.

And so, with the exception of the occasional Norma, humanity was good, until a bunch of remnants of the old humans decided they were tired of being shit on and went to war with the Mana users, and in the process, captured one of God's own superweapons: Ragna-mail, the prototype of all Para-mail.

AKA - The Vilkiss.

However, God was smart enough to seal it from being used by just anybody, and as they discovered a little too late this information, they did discover where all the other Norma were sent off:

To fight DRAGONs and shield all Mana users from having to deal with them.

Anyway, they made contact with Arzenal (when Jasmine was running things), handed over the Vilkiss, and basically prepared for the day they would overthrow their oppressors (a key part of this was finding out how to make the Vilkiss work right).

Jill enters the picture at this point, and we discover she was basically just like Ange, circumstances and all (royalty, born Norma, lost everything, etc). In fact, she used to be named Alektra Maria von Loewenherz.

Cue intermission.

Before I resume, this is clearing up quite a lot, except for how the DRAGONs fit into all this, but yeah, why am I not surprised the Norma are just innocents blamed for something they had nothing to do with because God is literally a bastard?

Ange heard of her, and the official story is that she fell ill and died when she was ten (of course, propaganda, to cover up the fact she was born a Norma), and we discover she was the first one to get the Vilkiss to work right (due to being born of the same bloodline God had entrusted the Vilkiss too, and her royal ring was a further unlock code for the Vikiss' true potential, just like Ange. We also find out Jill was all for helping out with Libertus, the plan by the Norma/Ancient People to screw over their oppressors, which also explains Tusk (his father was one of the latter). Jill also reveals she is just as pissed off as Ange is now, but during a flight gone horribly wrong, she lost her ring, right arm, her friends, and a massive chunk of her self esteem.

And that's where Ange enters the picture, and we discover Jill knew all along Ange was basically Herself 2.0 and Jill basically tells Ange to take up her sword being the spearhead of Libertus. Ange gets confirmation Jill was basically planning for Ange to fill her shoes since day one (explains her Stealth Mentoring quite a bit), and she thanks Jill for opening her eyes, but tell Jill "No" to being her successor, citing shes not opposed to the idea, but she doesn't want to be forced into it (Jill understands and accepts that), then asks the big question:

Where do the DRAGONs fit in with the story?

We then cut away as Emma is wandering the halls, trying to patch in to HQ via Mana comm, and as she does so, Vivian (sounds like a big plodding giant, face hid from view at this point) runs into her, Emma metaphorically shits herself and passes out, and Vivian looks down at some glass shards on the ground and discovers a massive WTF:

She's now a Scuna class DRAGON.

Some Norma discover her, they freak (as does she), and the whole base springs into action as Jill and Ange's talk gets cut short. Meanwhile, teams are being brought down to hunt down the DRAGON survivor, and as Hilda is barking orders, they realize Vivian isn't around, but table that as they decide hunting down the DRAGON is more important. Ange shows up, gets chided for being late and tossed a gun, and Ersha gets orders to let Salia out to join the DRAGON hunt.

Meanwhile, Jill heads to the infirmary, passes Maggy, and tells her to get a ton of inhibitor ready.

We cut back to DRAGON!Vivian, who is in the mess hall, hungry, and as she discovers she can't eat the same with claws (even though the curry smells really good), that's when Salia and Ersha show up, don't recognize her, and open fire, forcing Vivian to evade. Vivian makes it outside, realizes what's going on, files around Arzenal all emo, and as Ange is about to open fire, she realizes the DRAGON is making the sounds of her mother's song, so she decides to sing along. It's working, and as it starts dawning on Ange who the DRAGON might be, Hilda, Chris and Rosalie show up, and Ange fires a warning shot at them so she can continue, to their WTF reaction.

Jill shows up to stop Ersha and Salia from joining in, and Ange reaches out to DRAGON, who transforms back into Vivian (with her doing another 'Quiz time!" line), and everyone else is all 0_0. Maggy gives Vivian a knockout shot not long after Ange welcomes Vivian back to humanity (with some sun flare censoring preserving Vivian's modesty), and as Maggy takes Vivian away, Ange has WTF lightbulb moment as she realizes what the DRAGON's really are.

At that moment, Jasmine finishes up piling all the DRAGON corpses in the hole, throws gas on them, then as she lights it up, Ange and the others show up to watch and stare in horror as the corpses turn human shaped in the flames.

And that's when Jill shows up and drops the drama bomb to the rest:

"You know how the story goes. The monster was human all along."

In short, the DRAGON's are basically to Cross Ange what the Mu were in RahXephon.

Ange is more than a little sickened as she realized what she's been killing the whole time, flashbacking in revulsion to her blood rage in the Tusk debut episode, and that's when Jill throws back Ange's line about enjoying her current life back in her face. This pisses Ange off epically, and as Ange is like 'fuck helping with Libertus", Jill is like "fine, then be the bitch of the sadistic God who created us, your choice". As Jill walks off, Embryo shows up right in front of her, sarcastically mentions he never referred to himself as God (confirming he is the series Big Bad). Jill shoots him (it's a hologram), and that's when he points out the flashing bulletin in the background about how the Norma are being thanked for their service and are going to be evacuated from Arzenal.

We don't even need Julio showing up (but he does anyway) to confirm this is, in yet another Nazi parallel, the beginning of the Final Solution to the Norma Problem.

Cue end credits.

Next episode preview has the Norma obviously fighting this extermination plan, more combat, and what looks like Embyro deploying in the Evil Twin of and a Shinkiro (from Code Geass) inspired Paramail counterpart to the Vilkiss, and Vivan and Ange having an amusing conversation about how Vivian needs to pay Ange royalties for singing her song.

P.S. - This episode finally does admit, in a roundabout way, why there is so much lesbian cheesecake: Basically, all the Norma are the Humanity 1.0 aberrations in a Humanity 2.0 world, and since only women have a chance to be born this way, it practically guarantees, given how things turned out, there would be a lot of woman-woman scenes.

That strikes me as epically tacky.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

In this post, I tell spammers to fornicate with their mothers

WARNING: ANGRY AND VERY VULGAR RANT ABOUT SPAMMERS AHEAD!

For those not aware, I hate spam. Spam email, spam on blogs, spam on wikis, any form of spam (well, the edible kind isn't too horrible if you have nothing else in the fridge) has my undying hatred, and even though I'm sure my feelings aren't unique, I want to share the reason why I detest spam and the idiots and assholes responsible for it.

1. It's lazy - Spam is the lazy asshole way of getting people to give a rat ass about their shitty blog, website, or product. Spam is what these shitstains on humanity's ass do when they can't be bothered to design a decent website and spread the word like a normal person. Instead, spammers shit out word salad messages with links and metadata tags related to whatever the fuck they want me to give a damn about with bot programs and smear the shit that is their crappy bastardization of advertising all over the internet, forcing me to have to junk folder it when using email, delete it on wikis I administrate, and attempt to ignore when reading comments on blogs and forums.

Seriously, I have no clue why the fuck anyone would result to such half assed, lazy methods of spreading the word about their pointless bullshit, but the methods they use only make me more determined not to give a fuck about their faggotry.

2. It's counterproductive - Spam is regarded with loathing across the internet, and with good reason: it takes up space that could be used for more worthwhile things and wastes the time of people who have better content to look at that than some bot produced link whore bullshit. It's also counterproductive because spammers know there are tons of ways people have come up with to defeat spam, spam is deleted with extreme prejudice on wikis so it rarely has a chance to thrive there, and I make a point of reporting every site I can that spams their URL in my face to Google so I get the satisfaction of watching their shit disappear from search engines.

My point is: Spammers have tons of enemies, and spamming more will only make everyone else who isn't an abortion that should have happened want to fuck over the spammers more.

3. It's insulting to the intelligence of everyone involved - Spammers operate on the cynical notion that even if no one clicks the links they spam (almost no one does), and even if no one looks for their shit on the internet (and almost no one does), they are hoping an increased search engine rank wil make their stupidity more appealing SEO wise and thus have a higher chance of showing up during a random Google search.

The insulting part comes from the fact they are assuming anyone will still give a shit, especially after these diseased cunts have pissed off all their potential viewers of their content by making an ass of themselves as described above. Also, Google is not amused by the faggotry of spammers and works their ass off trying to deny them the fake boost in SEO they were hoping for, so their continued spamming is just telling Google and the rest of humanity they are proud to be filthy leeches and don't care if the rest of the world wants to watch the idiots producing the spam be burned alive with a splintered baseball bat (wide end first) rammed up their assholes.

Seriously, anyone proud of being that much of shitheel is just a dickhead of the highest order IMO.

In conclusion, I have this to say to everyone who hates spammers: I feel your pain.

To the spammers, I have this to say: Fuck off, turn off the spam bot, and just plant yourself balls deep in your mother's asshole already. That would make at least one of you happy and not waste my time with your idiotic bullshit.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Cross Ange Episode 11

Episode 11 begins with a recap of Ange's escape and scarring of Julio via throwing star, which turns out to be a nightmare of Sylvie's. Since she can't sleep, she hops in her hoverchair and decides to roam the halls of the castle for awhile until she calms down. As she does, she starts wondering if she did the right thing, as apparently Julio convinced her all the crap she did was to make sure Ange could never hurt her again or some shit.

As she passes by Julio's room, he's currently getting laid courtesy of his aide de camp Riza Rundog, and he's looking more than a little emo. Even worse, he apparently he has some sort of mommy fetish, since he's roleplaying some creepy Oedipus complex sex play shit with her, which frankly is just Norman Bates level fucked in the head. Also, his dialogue, on top of having fucked up undertones, sounds like he's reading off a script as he also reveals he really does have a massive Oedipus complex because his mom always favored Angelise.

The creepy factor hits critical mass when Riza drops some weird purple poison like substances in his mouth from one of her fingers, just as Sylvie passes back and happens to see what's going on. Meanwhile, Riza (who is apparently mind controlling Julio via a combination of some chemical shit and playing on his mommy complex) is asking him to do her a favor, and he mentions something about opening a singular point, and that's when Riza notices they are being watched.

And that's when the weird shit o meter goes through the roof as Riza sits up, revealing she has DRAGON wings on her back. Sylvie immediately turns to flee, only to be caught with what appears to be Riza's tail, and as Riza strangles the hell out of her, Sylvie calls out for Ange to save her (oh, the hilarious irony.......).

Before we go on, this is an interesting twist, but it was foreshadowed earlier on the DRAGONs were a lot more intelligent than they seemed, and given that it looks like Julio is the pawn of one that can assume human form, it seems the conspiracy that pervades the show just assumed a strange new dimension.

Anyway, after the opening credits, we cut to the mess hall, where Salia is informing everyone there is going to shift change regarding deployments.Since their squad is down a couple pilots (due to Ange's temporary desertion), they'll be standing down for awhile. Rosalie pissed since this means they don't get paid, and Chris is even more pissed. We then cut to Momoka, who is trying to convince a guard to the cells to give Ange a basket of food (she's worried Ange isn't eating right), but is being stopped cold. Meanwhile, both Ange and Hilda are bemoaning their skimpy rations, and Ange really wants to take a bath. Both of them are also slinging insults at each other to pass the time.

We then cut to Salia near the graves being paid a little hero worship, which obviously pleases the hell out of her, and then we get a flashback to a younger Salia and Jill, and we see Salia hero worshiped Jill in much the same manner. We also see Mei is paying respects to her fallen older sister. We later get another flashback to Jill after she lost her arm, barely making it back to Arzenal, about to pass out from blood loss. W also see a younger Jasmine (who was quite the looker), and it seems Jill once hero worshiped her (explains why they still have so many heart to hearts). Jill is heartbroken over the death's of her squad and who is presumably Tusk's father, feeling she did a pisspoor job. We then see young Salia and really young Mei tell her that's not true before the cut back to the present.

We also get another, slightly more recent cut back to Salia getting herself all fucked up after a failed attempt to pilot the Vilkiss, and Jill tells her to quit trying so hard, or she'll wind up [gestures to the cybernetic arm she got to replace the one she lost]. Jill responds to Salia then asking what it is she's lacking by asking the same thing, then we cut back to the present as she wonders how Ange can pilot the Vilkiss when everyone else can't.

We then cut to the comm tower, where a signal is detected, and Jill and the other soldiers nearly shit themselves when they realize the signal is right above Arzenal. Worse, a fuckton of Scuna class  DRAGONs start a massive ambush attack. Emma pops in, shocked they had zero warning, and Jill wastes no time in basically ordering a basewide 'THE SHIT HAS HIT FAN, EVERYONE WHO CAN FIGHT, GET IN YOUR PARAMAILS" alert. In fact, the alert is so severe they are even passing out assault rifles in the event they have to fight it out on foot as well, even authorizing all their anti-air weapons at the same time.

As everyone starts loading up, and Emma asks Jill who is going to defend the base if they sortie all the Paramails (basically, are they leaving any behind as defenders), and a techie just tosses her a gun as shorthand for "Welcome to the shit like the rest of us, hope you can use this to keep from getting killed". A truly impressive amount of anti-air pops out of various strongpoints around Arzenal and several Scuna go down in the initial assault. Ange and Hilda realize shit is going down, and then we cut back to the control room where a DRAGON crashes through the window. Ema fails hilariously at being a badass and tries to shoot it full of holes (her shots ricochet everywhere and scare the shit out of the other grunts, since she's aiming in a berserk rage like Ange did in the Tusk debut episode), and Jill knocks her out from behind and expertly dispatches the DRAGON with a well aimed shot to the head. Unfortunately, the command center has been screwed by these events, so Jill orders them to fall back to the backup comm center. Meanwhile, as the pilots are shooting down any Scuna who are attempting ingress into the hangars (with Rosalie still pissed their earnings were stolen by the others), the Scuna start withdrawing as someone starts singing. As Ange wonders who, the weird shit o meter explodes again as what look like several Paramail appear out of the same vortex as the Scuna, and as everyone is like WTF, the Paramail turn golden like the Vilkiss and reveal themselves to be on the DRAGONs side as they obliterate pretty much all Paramail already in the air and hit Arzenal pretty hard in the process. A moment later, we cut back to Salia recovering, only to notice a sizable chunk of Arzenal just got blown away, and as the show is about to cut to the intermission, the Scuna start coming back.

Before I go on, looks like the show is finally entering the "shit hitting the fan" stage where the story really starts to begin.

When we get back, Hilda and Ange are recovering from the blast that just blew a full third of Arzenal off the map, and both Hilda and Ange nearly get hit by Scuna that plunges through the wall. Around the same time, Momoka is looking for Ange, and as she frees Ange and Hilda, she had to hold her nose (apparently both Hilda and Ange are REALLY ripe and really do need a long bath). Both Ange and Hilda decide they'll find out why things went pear shaped if they get to their Paramails, and even though Momoka advocates they bathe first (and Ange agrees), Hilda is like "we have MUCH MORE IMPORTANT SHIT TO WORRY ABOUT!".

Meanwhile, in the backup comm center, the losses are being tallied, and it looks like the new enemy blew up one squad and gravely crippled another, so Jill transfers overall command authority to Salia's squad. She then tells Salia to put Ange in the Vilkiss, citing it's the only thing in hell that has a chance in stopping their new foe. Salia tries to ignore this, but Jill drops the hammer on that. Salia is still frustrated over her inadequacy, and when she basically rants over the radio how Ange is (A) a deserter (B) in detention and (C) a troublemaker, Jill tells her she doesn't give a shit, and Salia jumps out of her Paramail at that one. The rest of the team deploys to buy their allies time to regroup, and Jill orders Ange (who she presumes to have made it to the Vilkiss) to take down the new foe, only to learn Salia finally gave in to her jealousy and jacked the Vilkiss for herself. Jill is understandably pissed about this, but Salia doesn't care, her jealousy have told her wisdom to fuck off so she finally prove she can be a badass in the Vilkiss.

Jill, upon hearing Salia still hasn't grown the fuck up at all is disgusted, and Ange and Hilda enter the hangar in their pilot suits (with Momoka still holding her nose). As both wonder where their squad is, they realize they are outside (and Salia's in the Vikiss). As the rest of the squad is taking down the Scuna, Salia is still charging toward the enemy Paramail. She quickly discovers the limitations of the Vilkiss and is knocked out of the air briefly but recovers, then realizes the Vilkiss has more power but she can't use it. She then get saved from some Scuna by Hilda's Paramail (in which her and Ange jammed into and both are bitching about the limited space). Ange tells Salia to hand over the Vikiss, and Salia decides to be a dumbass again.

The enemy Paramail (one is red, one green, one blue) decide to respond to the challenge and Salia finds herself being quickly outmatched, but is too stubborn to want to admit it. Jill's words about how she shouldn't do shit she can't do keep reverberating in her head despite her stubbornness, and as Salia continues to be a fucktarded moron, the red Paramail kicks her out of the sky.

Ange immediately tells Hilda to haul ass so she can do a mid-air jump over to the Vilkiss. Hilda thinks that crazy, but figures "fuck it, you'd do something like that", and as Ange grabs Hilda around the waist so she doesn't fly off, Hilda's a little surprised, but she charges ahead, and Ange does a midair flip right into the Vilkiss. Salia has thrown in the towel at this point, but Ange tells her not to give up, as no sooner does Ange grab the reins does the Vilkiss flare to life, and just as it looks like they are hitting water, Ange pulls it back up into the air, and in what looks like Ange is molesting Salia due to the angle (she just trying to get Salia out of her seat), she then tosses Salia out towards Hilda and tells the WTF Hilda to catch. Salia screams her head off but Hilda pulls it off, albeit pissed Ange had her do something so batshit insane.

Ange then goes off to do what Salia couldn't and she more than holds her own against the red enemy Paramail, and as the rest of the squad is all 0_0 at Ange's badassery, the red paramail joins up with it's buddies, and that song goes off again as it's charging it's laser from hell, and Ange decides to sing her mother's song again. (for those that forget, this is the same one that pissed off everyone at the gallows last episode, especially Riza). This triggers her ring to glow again like it did first episode, the Vilkiss goes all golden, look like a really spikey, glowy version of the Hyaku Shiki from Zeta Gundam, and it also has it's own bitchin laser cannon, as as Ange continues singing and facing down her opponent's also charging laser cannon, her HUD screen shows the image of what looks like a flying angel as they fire their lasers at the same time.

A flash of light later, it seems both Ange and her opponent are nose to nose, and the female pilot of the other mecha asks "why does a false citizen sing the true Star Song", and then she pops out of her mecha, revealing she looks some dark haired priestess type in her own pilot suit (with a kickass crown like helmet). They both appear to be floating in some weird energy vortex at the moment, as as Ange returns the favor and asks what the other woman means, some weird flashback appear in the background showing what looks like various incarnations of Ange and the other woman (and some of the other characters as well) throughout history/alternative universes or something, which includes a blink and you'll miss it Gundam SEED Destiny shout-out with what looks like Athrun Zala and Dearka Elsman in the background, as well as a Kira lookalike from behind (could be Tusk) and someone who looks like Hilda wearing Lunamaria Hawke's pilot uniform from Destiny (basically, the whole sequence at the end is a massive Gundam SEED reference), and that's when the sequence ends as a klaxon goes off from the other woman's Paramail.

At that, the other woman withdraws, leaving a cryptic message about how "the truth is with Aura" as she leaves, and as the portal closes, Ange is staring at it in shock.Meanwhile, Jill realizes that Ange's song was the final element needed to make the Vilkiss be totally badass.

We then cut to Salia still on Hilda's Paramail, realizing she has to accept that Ange and the Vilkiss go great together. She then leans against Hilda, who makes a comment it feels different (basically another 'Salia is flat joke'), but Salia doesn't seem to notice the subtle insult as she's finally accepted her limitations. Then it turns funny as she tells Hilda she stinks (who takes obvious offense).

Later, as Jill and Maggy are checking out the massive hole where a third of Arzenal used to be, both agree things have gone FUBAR, and they have apparently lost their power plant, which makes it worse. We then cut to Vivian who found hers and Salia's room was jacked up, but she's still cheerful as ever as she muses on how pretty Ange's song was.

As the credits begin, both Jill and Maggy wonder how much time they have left.

In the post credits, we see Ange and Jill chilling in the hot spring, a Scuna class dragon scratching it's head, Salia's squad shooting at it, Tusk makes an appearance, and Julio looking peeved as Salia is bitching about her lack of importance in the show (ironic, thought she just moved past that)

......okay, this episode was a massive drama bomb, and it look's like next episode we'll get some more backstory on Jill's past, but this episode has already been a massive WTF game changer and has blown all of my previous theories out of the water, except for one.

There is still a conspiracy going on, looks like the DRAGONs have been in on it, and whatever it is the royal family seems to have been hiding (beside Ange being a Norma), it seems to have a deep connection to the entire plot.

P.S. - Forgot to mention this, but the enemy pilot of the Paramail Ange fought is named Sala. Also, as if we didn't need more references to Gundam SEED crammed down our throats, Sala's Paramail is an obvious Infinite Justice analogue, while the Vilkiss has always been a Strike Freedom expy.

Seriously, we get it already, the same guy who did those shows did this one too.....

Monday, December 8, 2014

Cross Ange Episode 10

Episode 10 of Cross Ange begins sometime after Episode 9, but not too much long afterwards, and begins with a rather horrifying scene of a bound in rags Ange being brutally whipped by her own sister Sylvie, who has apparently swallowed the racist Koolaid completely as well being convinced her sister wanted her crippled (remember, not true, Ange beat herself up over that very fact). As this going on, Julio is watching with a smug look on his face and the NORPs of the series are cheering because, well, she's a Norma, and thus worse than Hitler by default.

Momoka (bound herself and forced to watch) tries to get Sylvie to summon up a conscience, but that goes down in flames as Sylvie just spouts "Racist Talking Points.txt" as her justification for lashing her own sister, and as everyone else wants Ange to grovel for mercy and apologize for being born, Julio drops a drama bomb of his own:

He purposely set the whole thing with Momoka seeing Ange and by proxy the fake distress call from Sylvie, for the purpose of making sure Ange was eliminated, which makes sense, since it was odd Momoka basically got a free pass to visit Ange (remember, Misty only got in because of her security clearance, which Momoka didn't have), and he further reveals part of duping her into it was for the lulz.

Before I continue, even if Julio is an asshole (and he is), good troll on his part.

Anyway, Julio ten plays to crowd a little, then orders Ange's execution, then the opening credits play.

When we get back from the credits, we see Ange being led to the hangman's noose (hanging is appropriate, as that is considered on of the traditional punishments for traitors), and as this is going on, the rest of the NORPs are shouting shit that wouldn't sound out of place in the Jim Crow south if you switched a few words around, and as the cries for blood get louder, what little remaining sympathy Ange had for anyone from her birthplace goes completely out the window, and she decides to do one final fuck you troll in response:

She sings her mother's famous song, which epically pisses EVERYONE off, and as the guards are ordered to silence her, she just calmly walks towards the noose without being forced to, and the guards are like "well, she's making our job easier, so what the hell, let her have her parthian shot". However, this is just making Julio's rage meter go through the ceiling, so Ange has her head shoved into the noose ASAP and the platform is pulled out from under her to kill her.

And that;s when a really bright flare goes off, a Paramail (looks like the one Tusk was flying a few episodes back, hint hint) does a flyby, and a knife severs the noose.

And then, because the running gag just needs to happen again, Tusk's head winds up between Ange's legs. Of course, it's not his fault, she kicks him off her, realizes who it is, and that's when the assholes in the background pull their heads out of their asses, assume Tusk is just a Norma sympathizing terrorist, and prepare to kill him and Ange. Momoka shows up, and Ange weaponizes being a Norma again to free Momoka, who returns the favor, and this makes Julio almost blow a blood vessel.

Momoka throws up a shield against the incoming bullets, and Ange takes them down. Momoka then tosses Ange some of the explosive Tusk had strapped on him (he still groggy from Ange kicking him off her), and she goes all Mad Bomber on them. This buys them time to hop on Tusk's Paramail, drape his body on the seat as Momoka hops on, and as they haul ass, Ange delivers a beautiful parting troll to Julio (telling him he made clear who she was, AKA "Ange"), and then tells Sylvie thanks for confirming how much a fucking asshole the NORPs are, and as she leaves and Julio orders troops to give chase, Ange throws a ninja star at Julio, just barely not killing him (but rips open his face pretty good).

Later, as Ange and co. are safely away on a return trip to apparently Arzenal, Momoka is sorry for all the trouble, and Ange is in a great mood, then turns her attention to Tusk, slaps him away, then gives him a double noogie as she annoyedly asked why his head keeps winding up in her crotch.

Tusk is pleading innocence (he's the poor bastard who is cursed to be part of a Running Gag, after all), and that's when Momoka is like "who is this guy?" Tusk decides play coy and calls it a special relationship, and Momoka is pleased, thinking that's why he did the Knight in Shining Armor thing, and she then immediately assumes the two of them are an item (not too far from the truth, TBH).

Ange is all indignant about that and asks Tusk why he showed up, and he tells her he got a call from Jill, and it turns out he was even nice enough to snag back her ring when he sideswiped Julio. He also reveals he was the one who was originally detailed to watch over the Vilkiss by Jill.

He then changes the subject, says her hair is a beautiful shade of blonde (she's pleased and blushing over this), then like an idiot mentions her below the belt region matches.

Cue a cut to outside the Paramail as she beats the crap out of him for being a pervert and it banks and yaws all over the places.

Much later, back at Arzenal, Tusk (sporting a bandage, a black eye, and some visible bruises) bids her farewell, and as he's about to go, Ange thanks him for saving her life, and Tusk tells her the song she was singing was beautiful, tells her he'd like to hear it again, then leaves.

Jill then shows up, Ange decides to ask her about her connection to Tusk, and Jill then cuts her off by gut punching her with her cyber arm, telling her she talk only after Ange does some reflecting.

We cut to the mid episode credits, and before we go on, I can understand why Jill is pissed: Ange just went on a fool's errand, got herself in even more trouble than she was in before, and Jill is not happy her attempts to get Ange to realize how fucked she is didn't take as well as they should have.

Later, a naked, bloodied up Ange (remember, those whip wounds are still kinda new) is lying in a cell, and Salia is telling Ersha to throw a bucket of cold water on her to wake her up, and as Ange realizes where she is, Salia tells her she'll be confined to suspension quarters for a week for her desertion, and all of her property will be consfiscated (Vilkiss included for the duration). Ersha is playing the Good Cop and being somewhat nicer, but reiterates she has to take responsibility.

Ersha then asks why Ange even bothered, since most Norma were sent off since infanthood and know that hardly anyone gives a damn about them, and when Ange can;t answer, Salia goes Bad Cop and assumes it's because Ange isn't trustworthy.

As they leave and Ange covers herself up, she sneezes, realizes how cold she is, and that;s when a familiar voice tells her to shut up. Ange turns around to discover Hilda curled up on the bench behind her, and even though she wants Ange to stay away, she gets up and reveal her face and body had the ever loving shit beaten out of them.

Ange is horrified and wants to know what happened, but Hilda tells Ange to spill first. Ange then goes over all the even worse crap she was put through, and Hilda is impressed. Hilda says she got beat up by fifty guys but managed to kick their asses (despite taking some damage herself), which sounds kinda BS (she probably got saved by Tusk too). Ange asks if Hilda met her mother, Hilda gives her a noncommittal answer, and Ange figures out Hilda got screwed over like she did too.

Some hours later, we cut to Ange getting dressed and Hilda waking up from a nightmare about her mom. Ange asks what happened in full this time, and Hilda reveals her betrayal by her own mother.
We also get a brief cutback to Rosalie and Chris being disappointed Hilda bailed on them, and Hilda basically admitted she saw them as pawns. Chris then reveals to Hilda she bought back all of Zola's stuff and her and Rosalie leave, understandably mad.

We cut back to the present, where Hilda is like "I'm as screwed as you now, Ange". Ange tells her not to give up on life, Hilda assumes Ange is saying that because she's still in royalty mode, and Ange tells her 'you'll stink if you die". Hilda calls her a selfish bitch, but is clearly amused by this statement, and then Ange confirms to Hilda 'yeah, all the stars are out of my eyes, fuck being royalty, I'm still lower than shit and I fully accept that now". Ange then does a little ranting about how naive she was, then her and Hilda start getting all fatalistic and musing about how much damage they could do to all the assholes they hate, and Hilda is like "are you serious?", and while Ange is like "oh, what the hell, we'll figure something out, Hilda is still pointing all out all the flaws in the "let kill all the assholes who rejected us plan"

After this brief bit of levity, Ange goes all Nietzsche for a moment (or maybe Wagnerian tragedian) , and her and Hilda start to bond over their mutual urge to burn the whole bigoted world to ashes.

Later, Ange gives Hilda a good night concert singing her mother's song again, which is being heard all over Arzenal, Vivian and Ersha are pleased, Salia is studiously ignoring it, Rosalie and Chris are having "don't leave me sex", Momoka is all teary eyed, and Jill is all alone in the comm center, smoking a cig and looking all contemplative.

The post credits have scenes from the Imperial palace with Sylvie all quiet, Julio getting some from his purple haired lady in waiting (and he kept the scar from that throwing star it seems) but still looking emo even though he's getting laid. Meanwhile Hilda and Ange are discussing the cliched aspect of them finally becoming friends, the two of them are hurling playful "we're not friends" (bullshit) jabs, and we get more scenes of DRAGON ass kicking.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

My final, exhausted appeal to Nate Spidewood to drop his grudge against TV Tropes

WARNING: EPICALLY ANGRY POST BELOW!

I was going to do another episode recap of Cross Ange tonight, but screw it, it can wait until tomorrow. For now, I just want to make something clear to that mentally ill little bitch of a man named Nate Spidgewood, aka the lunatic who has been engaging in the lamest trolling campaign against TV Tropes that even I, who once had unrelenting hatred for the place, think is stupid as hell.

Nate, assuming you ever read this, give the hell up you retarded faggot. Yes, that not nice of me to say, but seriously, quit acting like a retarded eunuch with a keyboard and drop your idiotic grudge against TV Tropes for putting pages in namespaces.

For once, they are going to totally revamp the system to something that, given how they are talking, is going to be similar to MediaWiki (it's going to use a relational database and a tagging system from the discussions so far), so Nate, get this through your damaged when your mother dropped you on your head as baby brain:

YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST, YOU PATHETIC SACK OF SHIT!

Second, I have made peace with TV Tropes, and I'm even contributing to their discussion on how best to revamp the site because that corrupt asshole who used to run the place is gone and the new owner (whom I have emailed and my fellow ATT staff member Brent has met IRL) is a guy who has shown ethics and human decency, and frankly, since he's agreed to work with us and extended us an olive branch, I'm willing to call off my hatred because the main source of it is gone and help the guy because he promised to do the same for us concerning things we at ATT have been upset over, and since he was willing to be a human being, and those of us with far more legit reasons to be pissed (hell, some of us were on the brink of suing TV Tropes at one point for good reason) have decided to instead be constructive and help Drew (the new owner) instead of being asshats.

That said, you are a deranged little bastard, Nate; and a criminally stupid one, given how you made a public fundraiser to hire a hacker to damage a website in the name of revenge, and even though it got taken down, that's still a criminal act you asshole, and even then, despite my intense hatred of Fast Eddie, I would have happily joined forces with him to make sure you were in a crossbar apartment, because while I didn't like Fast Eddie, I hate whiny cunts who are willing to commit criminal acts in the name of one of the lamest reasons to be a spiteful little bitch much more.


......okay, rant over, got that out of my system, but there is a point to this: Drop your pathetic grudge Nate, you've lost the battle, and if you'd pull your head out of your tard raging ass, you'd also realize you aren't going to win the war either, especially since both sides have declared a truce and both sides consider you a complete loser who refuses to grow up.

Saturday, December 6, 2014

The results of our meeting with TVT's current ownership

ATT Staff member Brent Laabs and TV Tropes owner Drew Schoentrup met on December 5, 2014, and while I'm not at liberty to reveal the specific details of that conversation at this time, the meeting was very cordial on both sides, several matters of mutual concern were discussed, and we at All The Tropes have every reason to believe the current owner of TV Tropes wishes to work with us and does not wish to be our enemy as Fast Eddie was.

We will release more information in coming days, but TV Tropes' current owner has extended us an olive branch, and we have no reason at this time to believe that offer is anything but genuine.

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

ATT Staff will be meeting the current owner of TV Tropes on December 5, 2014

Brent Laabs, ATT's technical director, will be meeting with the current owner of TV Tropes (Drew Schoentrup) on December 5, 2014, and the purpose of this meeting is to hopefully settle the legal issues concerning the copyright status of TV Tropes content base, which has been illegally tainted, as explained in this blog post.

It is our hope and intention to finally get this matter properly addressed in a legal sense and to compel TV Tropes to have their current content base examined in light of our claims of illegal copyright and the various violations of intellectual property that have resulted from those actions, and should those facts be verified in a court of law if need be, we merely seek to have anyone who has suffered injuries from these actions to be properly compensated, and for TV Tropes to make whatever legal changes are necessary to make sure they are not in violation of copyright law.


I will not have an active role in this matter, however, as I do not have the money, time, or enough of a legal case personally to pursue this matter, but my colleagues Bob Schroeck and Brent Laabs do, and as for my role in things, I merely intend to be their moral support and wish the both of them my best in proving this matter requires proper legal intervention, and in regards to TV Tropes, I merely hope, since Drew has expressed he wishes to meet with Brent and discuss these matters (as opposed to Fast Eddie, who did everything in his power to avoid and stymie us), that we can resolve this matter in as legally fair and honorable way to the satisfaction of both parties, and regardless of the outcome, I wish TV Tropes and my own troping site the best of luck in prospering according to their ability.

My tentative optimism and concerns about TV Tropes' change in ownership

After having gotten a better idea about the change in ownership, I think Drew replacing Fast Eddie might be a good first step for TV Tropes.

However, I still have some concerns:

1. The tainted copyright question - In my previous posts, I have gone on at length about how, for the past 2, going on 3 years, Fast Eddie has been running a site with illegally tainted copyright, and I seriously call upon Drew to examine this issue and work with a copyright attorney to assess the legality of the current content base before doing anything major (he has already been contacted by myself and other interested parties and is aware of our concerns), as Fast Eddie left him with a massive legal problem that people whom I'm acquainted with could easily file DMCA's and lawsuits for, and if Drew does absolutely nothing to address this once and for all, I would consider that the height of foolishness at best and no better than the sins of Fast Eddie at worst.

2. The Kickstarter - TV Tropes is raising $50,000 dollars to totally revamp the site from the ground floor up, presumably with a massively revamped wiki engine.

That's all well and good, and if they finally take a shotgun to the head of Fast Eddie's bastardization of PmWiki and replace it with something that doesn't suck, that would be a massive improvement. However, I'm not very optimistic about why they need such an obscene amount of money.

For once, we at All The Tropes proved you could port TV Tropes to MediaWiki, and it cost us 0$ to do. A fair amount of time converting our initial data set and examining copyright law to be sure we were legally safe, but it cost us no money to do aside from any donations we handed Orain (and that was voluntary/optional), and our Wikia branch has all tech support and costs covered by Wikia. Personally, while I understand (though consider it a retarded pride in) the urge to not become like 'The Other Wiki", PmWiki and MediaWiki are not too dissimilar in many ways, include various parsing functions and ability to of the former to act like the latter, and I see no reason you need $50,000 dollars to do what we did for peanuts.

Also, even if they do make something radically different, the current version of PmWiki is going to be a nightmare to convert wholesale given how it mutated under Fast Eddie under the years, even though he's still in the background coding wise lending support in that role to the new ownership (though to my pleasure defanged of any other responsibilities).

Also, my concern about the Kickstarter is also legal: TV Tropes is still allegedly a non-profit, so long as more than half the money earned go back into keeping the site going, and if they are seriously about using this Kickstarter funding for revamping the site, I hope for some transparency regarding how the finances will be spent, if only so the new owner can avoid the shady reputation Fast Eddie built up for not disclosing such matters.

3. The guard needs changing - While I notice Drew has still settled in as owner and not much is changing while they determine the transition needs and requirements, I would do a purge of the current moderators, particularly all those who have proven as corrupt as Fast Eddie (especially Fighteer, whose ED page I have read and found disturbingly accurate, their typical hateful embellishment aside) and replace them with those truly appointed by community consensus. I would also throw out Fast Eddie's manic insistence on "no negativity", which was largely responsible for transforming the site from a somewhat legitimate place to discuss tropes and the works that use them into a pathetic hugbox of a fandom site where you can't say anything bad about something, even if it can be objectively proven, regardless of how salient or legitimate your criticism may be of a trope or work.

Further, I would also toss out many of the rules, such as the draconian "three strikes you're out" and have a more "assume good faith" policy, as being a dick to the noobs and banishing them forever after three mistakes, no matter how innocent, still strikes me as the height of being a poor way to encourage new contributors.

4. Least important, but still a good idea - Throw out the foolish censorship policies and the dependence on Google Ads. Both led to the further emasculation of what TV Tropes once was (an informal yet informative troping site) and turned it into a laughably transparent attempt to fuel Fast Eddie's greed, even if he had to purge anything Google and himself didn't like in the name of money and his own poorly explained personal morality, as I still see no objective reason why works like ''Sengoku Rance'' or ''Kodomo no Jikan'' are any less valid to trope than ''Macbeth'' or ''The Bible'', as despite the controversial subject matter, they are still works with tropes and they don't deserve to be banished from discussion just because an arbitrary censorship panel (who I have found contradictory and corrupt) is throwing it out on the grounds of it being "porn or pedoshit".

That was one of the two reasons my disgust for what TV Tropes became is now so strong that even the full reversal of this policy would disincline me from ever wanting to return to trope there, and the last two and a half or so years of this frankly senseless policy have done little to convince me of the wisdom of such policies.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

TV Tropes getting a revamp, made an appeal to the new owner to handle Fast Eddie's legal BS

I just learned TV Tropes is raising money to revamp the site from the ground up. I also learned that it has a new owner.

While the techie in me is pleased to see they have finally realized the POS of a wiki engine and plan to utterly revamp the site to be better, not to mention I'm pleased that corrupt old man Fast Eddie (aka Gus Raley) is no longer in charge, there is still a grave matter of concern I have over the content of the site still being illegally copyrighted, which I hope the new owner is willing to address.

In fact, I just private messaged drewski (the new owner) and decided to risk being bounced from TV Tropes the following, in the hopes he will prove more ethical and reasonable than the previous owner:


As you may know, I'm the founder of All The Tropes, the wiki founded on Wikia and Orain in opposition to the censorship, and more importantly, the illegal copyright changes effected by TV Tropes July 2012 changing the copyright of all content from CC BY SA 3.0 to CC BY NC SA 3.0 and later on November 2013 adding a retroactive ownership clause to all contributions, forcing users to surrender them to TV Tropes. 

In case you aren't aware, these moves were made in contravention to Creative Commons licensing and thus all pages affected are now illegally tainted as a result, as CC licensing does not allow for these changes without the consent of all parties who have submitted edits to those pages, and the retroactive ownership clause is in blatant defiance of the free reuse policies of CC licensing and flagrantly illegal. 

That said, I am contacting you privately to inform you several members of our wiki have seriously considered filing DMCA notices on the pages in question, or, if need be, pursuing legal action in response to this disregard for the copyright of those contributions, which myself and other parties never agreed to have submitted under anything other than CC BY SA 3.0. However, since you aren't Fast Eddie, I am contacting you in the hopes you might prove more reasonable and ethical and be willing to address these legal concerns. 

If so, and if proper compensation is rendered to any injured parties, we would consider the matter closed and merely wish this site well in its efforts to prosper, especially since Fast Eddie (who was the chief architect of these illegalities) is no longer in charge. 

This does not necessarily mean many of us would wish to return to TV Tropes, as so much bad faith has occurred many of us no longer feel welcome here, even if the needless censorship was rescinded and the copyright issue was addressed, but we would abandon any possible legal action/DMCA notices and so on if you would be willing to work with us to address these issues, and while we may not return to TV Tropes, we would be willing to wish the site our best. 

I have submitted edits here that I do not personally want to raise a legal issue over (my account here was made willingly after the license changes), but other members of my community do have serious grievances considering the violation of their copyright, and I am asking if you would be willing to address these issues so TV Tropes is no longer tainted with compromised content under illegal licensing. 

A summary of our legal concerns can be found here:

 http://blog.brentlaabs.com/2013/12/the-edge-of-creative-commons.html 

If you are willing to address these issues, please contact our staff here:  
https://allthetropes.orain.org/wiki/All_The_Tropes:Contact_us 

Bob Schroeck is the one with the most sizable list of illegally copyrighted items, and I respectfully request his concerns be dealt with as soon as possible. 

Respectfully,  

Geth N 7 

P.S - We have kept careful records of all the pages that were illegally copyrighted, and if need be can produce them, including copies of the pages histories of the pages in question.

Cross Ange Episode 9

Episode 9 begins with a flashback scene to when Hilda was younger and somewhat more adorable chilling in a tree until someone who is obviously her Mom (yeah, definitely see where her looks came from) tells her the apple pie is ready.

As the flashback ends with Hilda about to wold down some pie, we cut to a later scene where Hilda is being carted off by the cops for the horrible crime of being a Norma, and her mother is understandably upset, and to her credit, she still loves her child even if she is a Norma.

Slightly later, we cut to Hilda doing a little window shopping (well, theft) as some shocked onlookers watch, though considering she's considered a criminal simply for being a Norma, that's kinda minor league in the crime department, and as Hilda evades detection and heads off presumably to her home village (with a change of clothes and a new handbag), the opening credits play.

Once they end, we cut to Ange and Momoka under a bridge, with Ange wisely telling Momoka they move only at night, and as they wait for the sun to set, Ange wonders if Hilda found her mother. We then cut back to Hilda (wearing an outfit that makes her look a LOT like she did as a kid, probably so her mother would recognize her easier), and as Hilda pops an apple off a tree and thinks back again to her mother wanting her daughter back, Hilda is hopeful (as she looks on to her home village) her mother still feels that way.

We cut back to Ange, who is still decked out like a commando and doing Solid Snake style stealth shit as Momoka serves as her locksmith (for Mana sealed doors). They manage to find Akiho (someone else from Ange's princess days), who is understandably 0_0 over seeing Ange again, and as Ange hopes to talk her down into cooperation by being calm, Akiho is edging backwards in obvious fear, doing a poor job trying to keep calm.

Eventually, Akiho falls to her knees a sobbing wreck, and Ange finally manages to calm her down by telling her "look dammit, being a Norma didn't make a monster, no matter what BS you may have been fed on that score". Akiho appears to believe this as Ange and Momoka are about to jack a hoverbike, but it's obvious Akiho is lying as she summons a comm panel behind her back to raise the  alarm, and Ange figures out really quick Akiho has drunk the racist Koolaid in obvious disgust, and Ange, after one leg sweep later as a parting fuck you, hops on the bike with Momoka as they haul ass for the Imperial palace, and we briefly cut back to Akiho fighting her way out of some quickly done up bonds.

We then cut back to Ange and Momoka using the waterway through the city to sneak past most of the public, and Ange thanks Momoka for not a being a bigot despite being a Mama user. We then get a brief scene of what looks like a younger Hilda on a bus (though the scene seems to be set in the present), then back to the present where Hilda finds her childhood home, experiences a brief bit of fear before turning the knob, then sucks it up and goes inside.

Once inside, Hilda is obviously looking around in a mix of nostalgia and fear, and discovers her childhood music box, and just then, Hilda's mother shows up (have aged into her middle years fairly well), and weirdly, is utterly unfazed by Hilda and acts like everything is the way it was before, though she seems to act as if Hilda is coming home soon (not to mention has an odd glazed over look on her face). Hilda seems oblivious to the warning signs something is not right and waits outside, crying in happiness, nostalgia blanking out some serious warning signals she would otherwise be getting.

We then cut back to Ange and Momoka just in front of the Imperial Palace, and both of them crack the throttles of the hoverbike in "fuck it, let's do this!" mode, and as Ange realizes it might be wise to take the long way around, it seems the cops were warned about her as they approach a barricade of cars and hiked up security troops. Ange decides to bust through, and while the cops wisely throw up Mana shields against the bullets she's firing, her true target is their vehicles, which leave a nice fireball in her wake as she charges on.

We then cut to the traitorous Akiho, who is in the back of a patrol car, obviously a racist Koolaid drinker through and through. We then cut to what looks like Tusk (remember, Jill had Jasmine give him a ring) doing recon, realizing Ange is still the blunt, unsubtle girl he's used to.

After the midshow credits, we cut to Ange being pursued by several patrol cars, and the cops learned from before and shield the cars with a mana barrier and try to throw a restraint net around Momoko, but Ange weaponizes her Norma status to destroy it. The cops have gotten a clue from this and prepare to use a conventional net gun instead. Ange and Momoka dodge the net gun shots well, but the imperial forces show up via a two transport craft above with more net guns, obviously not fucking around anymore, but Ange pulls the pin out of  grenade with her teeth  and targets the engine of one of the craft, causing it to crash into the other, and both go down in a fireball.

Ange then orders Momoka to charge into what looks like a waterfall, and Momoka does despite the insanity of doing so, and turns out to lead to a hidden passageway, which allows them to evade their pursuers. Meanwhile, someone is currently watching the action on their own Mana screen (presumably Julio, the asshole from the first episode who launched the coup that fucked Ange and her family over royally).

We then cut back to Ange explaining the secret passage they are using was one only known to the royal family, and Momoka is slightly miffed to learn Ange used it to sneak out of the castle sometimes.

We then cut to Julio's office, where the smug bastard is gloating over how predictable Ange is. Meanwhile, Ange and Momoka have popped out near the exit of the castle moat, directly in front of the palace, and they continue their ingress forward. Of course, more goons in armored transports show up, and as Ange sees Slyvie under heavy guard as guns are pointed hers and Momoka's direction, it's obvious Julio anticipated this and decided to used Slyvie as bait. This just pisses Ange off as she opens fire on the advancing goon squad.

We cut back to Hilda, where everything seems normal at first, and that's when that little girl who looked a hell of a lot like Hilda shows up, and as Hilda's mother addresses the little girl in a manner that makes it clear she got herself a Replacement Goldfish of her own daughter, presumably out of grief, and now that she has "Hilda", the older one realizes what she should have figured out earlier, and as her own mother regards her as a stranger, the final piece of the puzzle is made obvious.

Hilda's mom had a mental break due to her grief, adopted a surrogate for her own daughter (who she gave up for dead), and doesn't recognize her own daughter due to the fact she's living a world of denial of her own making to avoid the pain.

Before I continue, I have to say this is a pretty heartbreaking to watch, and considering Hilda (the older one) only recently started redeeming herself, even I have to admit this scene has got to be a knife to the heart for her, and shit, if you don;t feel the slightest bit sorry for her having to witness this, IMHO, you have a heart of stone.

Hilda immediately realizes all the above and basically explains "I dunno who you got to fill the void, but I'm the daughter you lost eleven years ago", which manages to pierce the denial veil of her mom, who basically is outraged her comfy fog of denial just got shattered and tells her own birth daughter to leave, which has Older!Hilda understandably heartbroken, and as Young!Hilda wonders what's going on, the fact Older!Hilda is a Norma slips out (causing Young!Hilda to faint), and you can understand Hilda's mom a little better, as she doesn't want to lose another daughter, and she still retains enough love for her birth daughter that she tells Hilda she won't tell anyone she came, but she just wants her to leave, and to get the point across, she tells her own birth daughter she shouldn't have been born (because the fact she was a Norma brought nothing but grief), which causes Hilda to flee in tears.

We then cut back to Ange taking on the goon squad, beating the ever living shit out all challengers and manages to rescue Sylvie, who is happy Ange still cares about her flesh and blood, but it's also obvious this was meant to close the jaws on Julio's trap as well.

And that's when we get the shocker of Ange getting knifed in the arm by her own sister.

As Ange is in WTF mode, Sylvie reveals she too has drunk the racist Koolaid (albeit more because she figures they would have been happier and not a cripple had Ange not been born to screw that up), though IMO some of her dialogue sounds like a script she was fed (presumably by Julio), though now Ange know exactly what Hilda is feeling as she too is betrayed by her own blood.

The soldier net Ange and Momoka, and Julio comes out to gloat, admits he set the whole thing up just to fuck her over, and then tells her they are going to put her on trial for being a subhuman.

Before I go on, I have to admit I really wanted to jump into the screen and beat the shit out of the guy at this point.

We then cut back to Hilda, who gets jumped by some cops and is beaten up and captured as well.

Next episode shows Hilda and Ange being captured, Ange being given a show trial, Tusk apparently launches a rescue, and Jill gut punches Ange, presumably for being a dumbass. We also have Sylvie narrating the post credits this time, more or less recapping her betrayal and backstabbing of Ange.

This episode was pretty dramatic and well done IMO, especially with a fanservice level of zero and a very tightly, well written plot executed, looking forward to the next one.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Cross Ange Episode 8

Episode 8 begins with a flight drill, and Salia is doing a quick preflight sitrep, which goes well, but Vivian's helium voice grates on Emma's ears back at HQ. Meanwhile, as Mei telling the engineering team to get ready for Salia's squad to return, Ange is still thinking about the frightened communication she got from Sylvie in the previous episode, understandably worried about her. We then cut to takeoff, where her spaceout causes her to stay on the flight deck, understandably pissing off everyone else behind her like Rosalie (who has a legit reason to be annoyed). Oddly enough, Hilda seems to be in a world of her own as well.

Anyway, Emma is wondering WTF is going on and orders an emergency launch (basically, the flight deck has a slingshot rail system that flings the Paramail into the air), and Ange snaps out of her cloud to realize her situation just barely in time to avoid flying into the ocean, and as Ange finally joins the formation, it seems fleet HQ staff (with military Mana users approved to see how Norma live without being shot if they try to leave) is inbound via transport planes, with someone important named Misty aboard, who is amazed DRAGONs are fought in Paramail.

Later, the festival mentioned in the previous episode has begun (basically, it's BEACH EPISODE TIEM!) , and as the camera pans around to show all the food stands and beachgoers, Ange is amazed they actually get a day to just screw around, which turns out to be one act of kindness actual humans extend Norma (strikes me as a backhanded way of trying not to look like total assholes IMO) , and all of them basically just get to chill for a day with no military crap to deal with. Ange decides to call it what it is ("slaves getting a chance to vent steam"), but drops the issue, instead wondering why the hell they all have to wear fanservicey swim wear (which is actually in better taste than I expected), and Salia explains "duh, it's beach wear.", to which Ange decides to troll Salia a little by making a allusion to Salia's lack of bust, which causes Salia to cover her chest in obvious envy/embarrassment.

TBH, Salia doesn't look too bad actually (she's far from flat), but she's pretty average compared to the Standard Gag Boobed Female Anime Characters most of the cast is.

Meanwhile, we cut over to what looks like a formal residence for visiting dignitaries, where Emma is welcoming Princess Misty Rosenblum (who basically is in the role Ange once had before her disgrace, with more authority and less ignorance' albeit not from the same kingdom), and Emma is doing a good job of sucking up Misty, who has been officially baptized and thus recognized as legit royalty.

Misty then decides insert the record scratch question of "I heard Angelise is here"(who Misty still regards as a human being apparently), and even though she makes it quite clear who she is talking about, Emma denies anyone like that is at Arzenal (technically true, Angelise is "dead"), but Misty isn't buying that and insists she wants to meet her no matter what.

We then cut back to the beach episode antics, where a bunch of piglets are in a race (and Rosalie has apparently plunked down some serious cash on her favorite to win, but Chris is more wondering why Hilda seems to be in another world, feeling like Hilda is avoiding her, but Rosalie is too absorbed in her gambler frenzy to notice, until Chris yells her name to get her attention, then points out "Uh, Hilda's not here, isn't that, y'know, odd?". Chris is trying to convince Rosalie something might be wrong with her, but Rosalie can't be bothered to really care (I loled when she said it might be because Hilda is having a period).

We then cut to Ersha getting an oil massage (turns out she was in an animal costume handing out balloons to kids earlier), then we cut to Salia watching what looks like, strangely enough, a French romance movie (French is apparently an in universe language), and while most everyone else is snoring through it, it seems Salia is big fan of soppy romance movies.

We then  cut to Hilda wondering around, not being all that happy looking, who looks over at Ange, who is sitting in the shade with Momoka, being about as happy as Hilda, and Momoka figures out rather quick what is on Ange's mind. Ange tries to put on a brave face and goes to toss the fruit drink she was nursing in the trash as Momoka get's a call from Emma, apparently about how Misty wants to talk to Ange PDQ.

Turns out Ange's remembers her (Misty was a bit of rival to her). Ange immediately assumes Misty wants rub in her disgrace, then grabs Ersha's ridiculous animal costume and puts it on so she can walk around incognito, then tells Momoka not to blow her cover as she heads off, with Hilda in the background, suspicious as to what is going on.

We then cut to Vivian pigging out on squid barbecue as Mei chides her about eating so much, but Vivian tells her she needs the energy for the upcoming sports festival event, that's when Ema walks back, holding her nose (squid stinks in her opinion). She then zeroes in Momoka, obviously flustered because she's trying to appease Misty's request, and Momoka is following Ange's orders and says she lost track of her charge, which prompts Emma to try tracking down Jill to get Ange, who is currently chilling with Jasmine and Maggy in the medical tent, and all three feign embarrassment like she walked in on them changing (and they don't give a shit about what she wants, it's their day off, after all), prompting the even more flustered Emma to stomp off.

Amusingly enough, she walks right by Ange in the costume in the next scene, then we cut inside the costume, where Ange is realizing it's hot and stuffy as hell. A girl on the carousel in the background almost falls off due to a malfunction, and Ange's PTSD over her childhood with Slyvie kicks in and she does a last second save, barely managing to keep her cover as "Perolina" (the name of the animal costume).

Later, we cut in on two Norma in a shady abandoned spot on the flight deck about to go down on each other, and in barges Ange, who usurps their lovers spot to hide, to their obvious upset. She finally gets some air and decides to chill in the quite breeze. Meanwhile, as she has a little more flashback happen, she glances over at one of the transport craft, realizes the imperial crest is the same one as her own family (remember, the coup d'etat essentially seized the symbol as their own, and given they transported Misty to Arzenal, she must know more than the average human), and Ange finally realizes she just might get some info on Sylvie via Misty if she pulls her head out of her own ass.

We then cut to Momoka wandering around, calling for Perolina, and as she walks by Hilda, she gets a Click, Hello as Hilda is planning on figuring out what's going on with Ange.

After the midepisode intermission, we have Jasmine on a bullhorn, announcing the huge cash prize for the sports festival (with Rosalie wanting to make up for the loss in the earlier race), and the first event is basically a bun eating contest where they have to eat the buns while trying not have their swimsuits dissolve (basically, Cheap Fanservice Excuse.txt).

Meanwhile, back at the dignitary residence, Misty's female guards get their asses kicked offscreen, and Ange hilariously wearing the Perolina costume head barges in on the obviously surprised Misty, and as Misty recognizes her once she takes off the costume head, Ange is back in military hardass tough bitch mode as she says her hellos.

Turns out Misty was actually a secret fan of Angelise, with the whole Norma thing coming as a shock, and she was so "this shit can't be real" she came along with the military transport just to find out the truth. Ange's is like "yeah, I'm a Norma, satisfied now?", and as the obviously stunned Misty is still trying to make that compute, Ange stashed her combat knife in her bikini bottom (yeah, with the flat side of the blade against her skin, but don't worry, I cringed too), and then holds it up as she asks Misty to help her escape with a "do you really want to refuse me?" smile on her face.

We then cut back to festival, where cheesy fanservice event #2 is taking place, where they have to race each other while not spilling  or cracking a bunch of eggs stuffed in their cleavage. Salia barely has one egg stashed in her unimpressive bust (and is noticeably flustered), Rosalie is dropping hers, and Chris snags it and hauls ass across the beach, keeping hers intact surprisingly well.

We cut back to Ange, who has loaded up on a ton of military gear (and has Misty tied up as a semi-cooperative hostage), and we find out what's left of Ange's family is destined for the chopping block for deceiving the people (hiding the fact Ange was a Norma, confirming that was the linchpin of the coup d'etat), and as Ange hauls ass with a screaming Misty and shitload of guns (we get a brief cutback showing Ange left money to pay for them all), we see Hilda holding Momoka at gunpoint as they head for the transport vessels, and Hilda basically tells Momoka to use them to escape. Momoka tells her she only does what Ange wants, and Hilda tells her that she's screwed if she continues to stick around, and as Ange shows up, turns out Hilda wanted to bail on Arzenal herself.

Cue Mexican standoff between her and Ange, where Hilda reveals she isn't going to stand in Ange's way, but explains two very good flaws in Ange's escape plan:

1. The transport plane is locked down to the flight deck with arresting clamps for maintenance, and forcing them will trip an alarm.

2. Defeat those, and the transport will be damaged if an emergency takeoff is attempted, possibly fatally.


After posing this, Hilda drops the drama bomb.

She'll defeat the locks, and proposes they join forces in exchange.

Meanwhile, the now exhausted Emma heads back to the residence to find the guards KO'ed and assumes the worst (not being completely incorrect either).

We then cut back to the setting sun over the sports festival where Chris is hailed the winner (a rather unlikely one), as Vivian mangles a Muhammad Ali quote. Chris reveals to Rosalie she won so they could buy a really nice meal for her, Rosalie and Hilda, and that's when fireworks go off.

As they do, we cut to Hilda taking out the only person in the control tower who could screw things up, then uses a bobby pin lockpick to defeat the emergency clamps. Hilda then winds up getting stiffed by Ange as they are about to get lifted off, and Ange reminds Hilda of all the bad faith she built up Ange has remembered, and as Hilda tries to argue 'let bygones by bygones", Ange just tells her she doesn't (reasonably enough) trust someone who tried multiple times to shoot her in the back.

Ange orders Momoka to close the hatch, and Momoka, being the inherently decent person she is, pauses just long enough for Hilda to barely grab on to the edge, just as Jill, Emma, and Maggy show up, faces in 0_0 mode, and that's when Hilda, still dragging herself into the cockpit, drops drama bomb #2.

She never gave a shit about Zola (aside from the benefit it played in helping her survive), and she had no true loyalty to anyone but herself, all she ever wanted to escape her shitty situation because dammit, she wants to return to her mother.

In short, she's not much different than Ange in motivation, and upon realizing Hilda is basically her, Ange's conscience kicks in and she helps Hilda in before the hatch closes. Momoka is happy with this, and as we cut back to Emma fainting because Misty was apparently kidnapped, Jasmine chides her dog for being lousy at guard duty (Ange bought him off good), and Jill had put everything together and tells Jasmine to give Tusk a ring.

We cut to what a day or so later, where a bunch of military SWAT guys surround the downed transport guns ready to kill the Norma and rescue Misty, and they find the plane empty except for Misty (stuffed in the Perolina costume).

Meanwhile, at an gas station some ways away, Hilda reveals she's good at hotwiring vehicles as she ganks a motorcycle and parts company with Ange and Momoka, telling her rival (who seems to have finally forgiven her) not to die on her as she heads out. We also find out the Misurugi Empire has been crossed out on a road sign (as if it wasn't official enough), and Hilda is going in the other direction to a place called the Elderant Union.

Next episode looks like it'll be action filled, with Ange doing action movie stuff to save Sylvie, and Hilda apparently gets a royal screwjob, judging by the next episode preview. We also get Ange pointing out how the fanservice was rather abbreviated for a beach episode in the post ending credits.

Looking forward to the next episode, and just to close this post out, I'd have to say, in hindsight, Hilda's actions make perfect sense.

Her intense hatred of Ange stemmed from two causes: One, she was pissed Zola died because Zola was her meal ticket and her getting over Zola's death and making Rosalie and Chris her groupies also fits because they were, in her mind, pawns to achieve her goals. Her intense hatred of Ange makes sense as well given the latest revelations because Ange was basically "Walking Reminder Of Herself.txt", so all the animosity was out of envy.

I wouldn't call Hilda totally redeemed for all the crap she pulled, but it now makes more sense her and Ange enemy mined for mutual gain.

Also, bit of a theory before I close out this post: Ange's attempt to rescue Sylvie is going to blow the masquerade the "humans" have thrown up about the Norma being worse than Hitler, or the DRAGONs are gonna show up and do the same thing, as it's very obvious by now the Rosenblums (the ones who seized power) are DESPERATE to keep that a secret. I also suspect Hilda is going to find out she has been trumped up as evil incarnate for being a Norma and won't get as warm a welcome from those she still cares for.

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

TV Tropes apparently needed another server upgrade

I recently saw this message on that crappy site announcements thing TV Tropes has:

We've switched servers and will be updating the old code over the next couple months, meaning that several things might break.

Of course, the thread they have for this reveals that the whole site had over half the features break.

Now, for those who don't know any better, TV Tropes probably did need a server upgrade, and having presided over that myself, I'm not going to give them any grief over doing the needful.

I will, however, laugh my ass off at the fact switching servers caused their whole setup to freak out and the very idea that Fast Eddie is still hellbent on polishing that overripened turd known as PmWiki.

For those not in the know, switching servers for a MediaWiki wiki (hell, most other wiki engines) is as easy taking the site down for maintenance briefly, moving the files from one server to another, then making sure your server configuration has everything point to the new server.

Usually, this is painless and bloodless, unless you are using some weird server setup, and I seriously doubt a Web 1.0 kludge like PmWiki needs an esoteric server setup. However, the fact TV Tropes apparently remained up the whole time means that Fast Eddie was apparently unwilling to shut things down for so much as five minutes to minimize issues, which is idiotic because that can lead to data corruption and the laundry list of site fuckups they had a thread created to report, and two, how the blue fuck can you update software that is the long dead corpse of what appears to be PmWiki 1.x build that Fast Eddie has been keeping alive with coding necromancy, duct tape, and the fact he's still around to keep it from dying completely.

Which brings me to my main point.

TV Tropes will still continue for the time being, despite having shitty software, worse moderators, and an easily butthurt, greedy old man who wipes his ass with copyright law running things, but let me leave a warning to everyone who enjoys TV Tropes despite all that:

When Fast Eddie dies, TV Tropes goes with him. If I died tomorrow, I have no doubt anyone with a mediocre level of competence in MediaWiki could take my place on All The Tropes, but when Fast Eddie dies, I dare any of his sycophants to claim they can resume operations when the site software goes belly up again.

And when it does, (and given Fast Eddie's age, I'm confident I'll be around to see it, barring unforeseen calamity) I will be laughing my ass off.

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Cross Ange Episode 7

Episode 7 begins with Salia detailing her recent combat sortie Captain's Log style, and as we get some flashback scenes to the combat action, Salia notes Ange ignored orders. The animation officially starts with Ange kicking ass all by herself, which Salia reluctantly notes.

Later, as they are about to leave the combat bay, Rosalie is pissed at Ange because she keeps getting all the money (remember, they get paid on commission), and Ange immediately hands her some cash and asks if she wants more.

This pisses Rosalie off, but Ersha restrains her as Salia tells Ange she's not happy Ange doesn't understand the meaning of teamwork. Ange coolly retorts she is killing DRAGONS and doing it well, and if Salia really is pissed, she can either fine or execute her, and she walks away on that note.

Later, as Salia continues typing up her after action review, she notes Ange's continued refusal to work with the team may force her not to pilot the Vilkiss due to disciplinary issues.

After the opening, in Jill's office, Jasmine reads off a recon report from Tusk, of all people, and the fact he's alive is mildly surprising to everyone involved, Jill especially. As Mei alludes to the possibility of Ange and Tusk.....well, you get the idea (as well as mentions of him having repaired the Vilkiss), Jill tells Jasmine to get back into contact with Tusk PDQ.

Before we go on, it seems Tusk is both known to the higher echelons of the Norma at the Arzenal penal battalion (Jill especially) and works for them as an unofficial recon guy.

Anyway, Jill then turns to the matter of Salia wanting Ange grounded due to her lack of teamwork, and Jill basically tells Salia "you have the power to pull rank, just do it already".

The next day, we get a scene with Emma all 0_0 at the idea of Momoka being Ange's servant (remember, Norma are subhumans, so this is like a black guy having a white man as a slave in the pre-Civil War South), so Emma immediately has a logic bomb moment as she recites the party line about why Norma are subhuman assholes, which Ange blows off, and Emma tries to appeal to Momoka, who doesn't care about Ange being a Norma, which causes Emma to give up before her brain blows a fuse.

Meanwhile, at Vivian, Ersha, and Salia's table, Vivian is pleased at the previous scene, Ersha mentions a festival is coming up and she wants to do something special for the kids, and Salia is ruminating over how to pull rank on Ange.

Again, brief pause here, but it's obvious Salia's professionalism and her personal jealousy are having a war here, and she obviously wants to do the right thing professional despite her personal jealousy, and while she does have an arguable case for reprimanding Ange for lack of teamwork, she know arbitrarily screwing over Ange would just be a dick move based on pure spite, so she wants more justification before pulling rank.

Hilda shows up to pour gas on the fire by pointing out Ange could buy her way out of any punishment and that Ange most likely wouldn't give a shit about any punishment, and when Salia realizes the truth in this, Hilda goads her by attempting to manipulate Salia's jealousy by saying Ange holds her in contempt and that when Zola was around, this would have never happened.

Hilda then oversteps by asking if she can take over Salia's position, to which Salia immediately gets up and leaves. Later, Salia is still pissed, thinking about how she was drafted into her current job, hen we get to see Ange telling Momoka as they enter Jasmine's mall that she wants to buy her some actual sleepwear.

It's at this point Salia buys herself something special, and as Ange and Momoka go to try on the new pajamas, we find out Salia is into Magical Girl cosplay (which she considers stress relief, weirdly enough).

And that's when we cut to Ange telling Jasmine the last dressing room is in use, Jasmine facepalms, and Salia realizes her cosplay fetish was just discovered by the last person she wanted to see it, and she has a vision of Hilda and her toadies laughing their asses off and Jill with a "WTF is this shit?" look on her face.

A scene later, as Ange is bathing with Momoka assisting, Salia snaps and tries to stab Ange (who barely blocks the blade with her bath bucket), who is understandably shocked, not realizing Salia flipped out pretty bad over having her cosplay fetish discovered. Ange figures it out pretty quick, and as she keeps parrying the hits, she tells Salia to calm down, she ain't saying anything, and she has no reason to care.

Salia's rage bubbles over at this moment, and as the knife and the bath bucket go flying, she grabs Ange's shoulders and screams at the still naked Ange about how she's cheesed off over Ange's lack of teamwork, and Ange retorts about how they once tried to take her out, then with a knee to the gut and a shoulder toss later, Salia goes flying into the water.

As Salia gets out, it seems her outfit was deftly removed by Ange, and as Salia realizes she just got literally combat stripped, Ange tells Salia why she fights alone.

Basically, Salia does squat to stop anyone from giving her grief, so Ange refuses to work with someone who enables assholes like Hilda in their attempts to kill her.

This leads to a catfight in the bath, with Salia melting down (especially after accidentally getting handful of Ange's boob during the fight, realizing Ange is even more busty than her, on top of basically being casually better in most other categories).

Vivan and Ersha walk in on the fight, Momoka pleads with them to get Ange to calm down, and Ersha instead decides to egg things on a little for the lulz, and throws Salia and Ange bath brushes while her and Vivan drag the still worried Momoka out of there while Salia and Ange continue slapfighting and insulting each other's bust size (and lack thereof).

Later, Emma is facepalming hard as she dresses down Salia and Ange for fighting, and even Jill is a little exasperated at how Salia threw her professionalism out the window. Emma decides to force both Ange and Salia to write fifty pages of "I shall not have retarded slapfights", despite Ange wondering why she has to do so as well since Salia started things, sneezing as the scene changes to the next morning, where Momoka delivers her breakfast, tells Ange she finished the essay for her, and discovers Ange has one hell of a fever.

Salia in a scene later is explaining to the other pilots Ange is out of the action until she recovers, and Hilda and crew all all smug over how you lose a hefty amount of cash each day you are not combat capable.

A day later, we get more Salia monolouging about how training is going well, a scene of Ange still in bed, then we cut to the lesbian love shack where Rosalie and Chris are going down on Hilda, and as the lesbian love fest continues, Hilda's face is basically Smug.JPEG.

A day later, Salia is asking Mei about the status of Vilkiss, and Mei admits it's a pain to repair since Ange is the pilot (understandable, given Ange's berserker tendencies), and as Mei admits she's somewhat technopathic and can sense Ange goes all batshit in the Vilkiss to keep anyone from dying, and when Salia calls BS on this, Mei points out they have had ZERO casualties since Ange became the Vilkiss main pilot, a fact Salia is forced to accept.

A scene later, as she looks over her previous reports, sure enough, every day since the Vilkiss became Ange's machine, there have been zero casualties. She tries to convince herself it's a massive coincidence, and that's when the combat alarm goes off.

As they prepare to liftoff, Salia tells everyone that since Ange is down, they will concentrate their fire to make up for the Vikiss not being with them. As they leave, we cut to Momoka barring Ange from trying to leave, since Ange is still unwell, but Ange tells Momoka it costs money to keep Momoka and herself fed, then collapses.

We cut back to Salia's squad closing in on DRAGONs about to exit a dimensional gate, and as they do, one of them is a massive monster none of them have seen before, which they call a "virgin" (slang for a type of dragon they have never fought before). Also, we find out just gathering into on "virgins" is worth a really hefty bankroll, so Hilda and her toadies are really excited about kicking its ass.

Salia then does the sensible thing and calls for backup, which Hilda protests by using the "Zola never had to worry about that" goad again, then they break formation and go after the massive "virgin" while Vivian and Ersha remain with Salia to fight the rest.

Hilda deduces its belly it where it's weak, but as she and her groupies are about to close in for the kill, Vivian is getting a seriously bad premonition (apparently, when her hair feels tingly, bad shit happens), and that's when the "virgin" reveals it has gravity powers and forces Hilda and company's mechs to hit the ground, frozen in place due to the gravitational field they are now trapped in, and that's when Salia and the others get trapped in the gravity well as well.

Vivian realizes the DRAGON's horns are the source of its gravity powers, so she attempts to destroy them with her new boomerang cutter, but the gravity pull nulls the attack. In fact, the gravity pull is getting strong and its forcing the ground around the gravity well to crater. Vivian tries one last time to counterattack, but is screwed, and Salia realizes they may just have to abandon their machines.

A few hacking coughs over the comm later, and Ange in the Vilkiss shows up, hilariously bundled up over her piloting uniform (and we get a flashback scene where Momoka insisted on Ange looking like she wore everything in the coat closet at once if she really had to go outside),  and even though Ange is still feeling like crap, she says she's gonna kill the DRAGON herself like she usually does.

Salia flips the fuck out and tells Ange that, for once, if she doesn't want to die (since the DRAGON in question is retarded strong), follow orders for once. Ange is feeling too crummy to argue and does so and Salia starts barking orders, and Ange is still kinda woozy and screwing up stuff but is trying to comply.

The DRAGON then cranks up the gravity field to capture the Vilkiss as well, and Ange is so out of it she says "I think I'm falling" in the most deadpan voice ever. Thankfully, turns out Salia positioned Ange so she could use the gravity well to her advantage, and tells Ange to kick the DRAGON like Ange booted her in the bath area.

Scene change later, and Ange has drop kicked one of the horns off the "virgin", which causes it wail in pain as the gravity well ceases. As it does, Salia orders everyone else to kill the DRAGON dead.

Later, back at the base, EVERYONE is holding a huge bankroll (save Ange), over cloud nine and Mei is looking at the busted up Vilkiss with a sigh while Salia thanks Ange for following orders for once. Ange then approaches Salia and holds out her hand asks for some extra money as compensation for how the Vilkiss was broken up thanks to those orders. Salia initially refuses, then Ange whispers in her ear she might just reveal Salia's little hobby, which causes Salia to say she just might withdraw her thanks then.

Regardless, this little bit of comedy over, Salia's professionalism kicks in and she tells the rest of the team Ange did make their victory possible, and then turns to Hilda and her toadies and tells them to quit taking potshots at Ange, then emphasizes they only won when they worked together and that there is a very good reason for that. Everyone but Hilda is down with that, and even Ange agrees.

This prompts Ersha to give Ange a big hug, and her troll tendencies come out as a scene later, everyone throws Ange in the bath again. As Ange wonders what that was for, Ersha says it was to wash away all the bad that happened before, then they all jump in too.

Salia then monologues her latest AAR as she recounts the mission, admits she's let Ange continue to fly the Vilkiss despite her reservations, and as we see the team finally bond (save Hilda), Salia mentions she hopes it will continue until the day of Libertus, which was mentioned all the back in Episode 3.

Me, I have idea what this refers to specifically, hope more info will come to light in later episodes.

Later we cut to Ange grousing about going through hell,  but Momoka is just grateful Ange is feeling better. We then have a WHAM moment as Momoka gets a secret message from Sylvie (Ange's little sister from the first episode), who asks Momoka if she got in touch with Ange, and then we hear her struggling with someone on the other end as the message ends, leaving Ange and Momoka understandably horrified.

Next episode preview looks to be a beach episode, and Salia is the one comedically bitching about how her cosplay habit was exposed, and it looks like we'll get a little drama as well.

Dunno how things are gonna go from here, but I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Also, one final note: It's obvious by now some dark evil secret is being kept fiercely under wraps, and another theory of mine is that the coup d'etat that took place in Episode 1 was done to keep that secret from getting out (Ange being exposed as a Norma seemed to helped the usurpers in maintaining the conspiracy), but it's obvious bad shit is going on back in the former Empire of Misurugi, and I suspect the whole plan to use Norma to keep the NORPs from learning about the DRAGONs is going to come apart in later episodes.

Gamergate 2 is on, and I want no part of it

 This will not be a long post, but I just want to make clear, as someone who was involved in the first go-round of Gamergate, I want no part...