Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

I know Madelyne Pryor has been more villain than heroine, however she was also a tragic character the same time.  Mr. Sinister couldn't secure Jean Grey so he cloned her as a copy of Jean Grey.  As the clone grew up, she manifested no mutant powers.  Mr. Sinister considered her a failure until one day, the Phoenix Force descended unto her instead of Jean Grey (who was thought to have died)... and Mr. Sinister's plan came in to part of what he wanted.  Since Jean Grey was not available for the time, Madelyne Pryor the identical clone of Jean Grey would suffice in her place.  The union between Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor would result to Cable, who would come back years later older than his parents. So she did fall for Scott Summers for a time, she was happy.  She and Cyclops both had a son she ended up naming as Nathan (after Mr. Sinister's suggestion).  What she did not remember for sure was that, Mr. Sinister her" father" intended to grab the child a...

Anybody who has played Megaman and Bass for the Super Famicom or in the Game Boy Advance may actually figure out that Bass' controls of being able to fire in multiple directions, no charging but a series of rapid-fire bullets. The same was added to Axl who was introduced into the seventh game as a prototype for a new generation, yet hinted to have been existing from the previous century. Axl is introduced as a vigilante and member of Red Alert. Like Bass, he appears in the seventh game of their respective series. But unlike Bass, he is introduced as a playable character instead of a villain (which Bass dropped into the status of anti-hero after Megaman 7). My thoughts were this... did Capcom try to recreate Bass with Axl? Probably. Whether or not Axl could be Bass is never official, just my speculation. Axl is an arrogant jerk with a bad mouth. Axl can fire in several directions but can't run while doing it. Axl is a master infiltrator (remember Bass invaded Dr. Light's...

If anybody in X-Men got so screwed up aside from Wolverine, it would be Cyclops.  Yeah him so I thought that here's just a few instances of Cyclops' messed up love life... I was a fan of the Cyclops/Jean Grey pairing but I hate how the writers just love to mess it up.  The worse came to worst during the Dark Phoenix Saga and its conclusion.  One may consider the whole aftermath worse like when he does get into dates to forget about Jean.  He even had a brief relationship with Lee Forrester but can't forget Jean. If anything was more screwed up was when he met Mr. Sinister's "daughter" Madelyne Pryor who resembled Jean Grey.  So Mr. Sinister raised Madelyne as an experiment for YEARS.  But Madelyne manifested no powers at all so he decided to "put her away" but one day, the Phoenix Force came into her giving her some of Jean's memories.  I just thought that Cyclops was just wrong, very wrong to use her as a substitute for Jean which led to Ma...

I just wonder whether this was a coincidence or not.  Again, provided Mako's first 12 on-screen appearances hardly give her any development, I just thought of summarizing these: Kimberly in "Different Drum" is portrayed to be overly blunt when she supposedly taunts Billy after she meets a mishap, rather than help him up.  So while Kimberly taunts Billy (sort of), she tries to help out a deaf-mute who made a mishap.  Kimberly was right to tell Billy that it wasn't the right way to meet girls BUT she was could have at least helped him up. Mako in "Nightly Tears of Sympathy" shows her overly blunt attitude.  Like Billy, Ryunosuke becomes a subject of ridicule at least, for this episode.  Ryunosuke gets annoying to his fellow rangers in this episode.  Mako here was reading what could be a girls-only magazine and he bothers her.  So rather than just shove him off, she hits him with her reading material.  Ryunosuke takes the place of Melissa as th...

If you want to replay some of Mortal Kombat movie moments through MK 2011, here's what I suggest: 1.) Play Sonya against Kano in Shang Tsung's Arena (Daytime).  For a bloodier finish, do Sonya Blade's second fatality.  Hehehehe... I wish Kano said "Give Me a Break" here. 2.) Play Liu Kang vs. Shang Tsung in Pit II (Night) and do a stage fatality on him.  Remember in Two Player Mode, not one player mode.  The one player mode boss version of Shang Tsung only takes place in the Throne Room which makes it impossible to do so. 3.) Fight Goro with Johnny Cage.  Do the Crotch Punch at Goro as often as you can.  Remember that Johnny Cage will lose his glasses and they snap.  He will wear a new pair of glasses after that. 4.) Fight Scorpion with Johnny Cage in the Hell Stage.  Let Johnny Cage do the Stage Fatality on Scorpion. 5.) Fight Reptile in the Wasteland with Liu Kang.  Do Liu Kang's first fatality though.

Although I refuse to believe that Serges and Isoc are Dr. Wily but at least, they could have been results of Dr. Wily's influence, Dr. Wily has a posthumous influence that even after he died of old age, his influence lived on in the next century. So I was thinking the answer lies in one person- Zero! Zero was his final creation and successor. It was revealed in Megaman Zero that he wasn't able to use Zero immediately because of that bug but had him tested further. Dr. Wily knew he wasn't going to last long either so he probably wrote his last will and testament to Zero, inserted his life's work into Zero and maybe it resulted in Zero's programming flaw. Dr. Wily had years of knowledge and trying to let Zero understand them in one sitting may have caused it. For Zero, he was also the carrier of the Evil Energy, which may have evolved into the Maverick Virus containing Dr. Wily's influence in it as he also had Dr. Wily's knowledge in his head, heck Zero may ...

Indeed he lives to his role as the time-lost son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor, returning in time only top find out he has become OLDER than his parents.  So yeah, freaky huh?  Mr. Sinister's theory of the Summers-Grey union of creating a character so powerful didn't just get fulfilled in the mainstream Marvel, he was also taken INTO Marvel vs. Capcom 2 where he is actually, really, really spamworthy! And yup, I think he is the most powerful playable character ever.  Mr. Sinister never dreamed that Cable would too, become an overrated fighter! Cable is really VERY cheap.  His standing FP can be canceled into his Viper Beam then if at level one, you can then follow up with a Hyper Viper!  Now the Hyper Viper may not look so intimidating but don't let it fool you, it does awesome amounts of damage!  And I would say that with Cable, I simply love spamming him against the CPU that I usually avoid playing as him against my friends.  I mean, he's so cheap ...

I'm crossing my fingers hoping Liu Kang will appear in MK X as a darker, twisted version of himself after Raiden accidentally killed him.  If Shinnok had the dead protagonists as his phantom warriors, Liu Kang would definitely be included.  So I thought what if Shinnok turns the Mortal Kombat champion into a darker, more twisted version of himself?  You could get loads of a dark twist on Liu Kang himself! Liu Kang in MK Legacy went from hero to a darker version of himself after winning the first tournament.  MK X should consider making Liu Kang now a darker, twisted version of himself and make one of his modes as "Evil Liu Kang" similar to Evil Ryu from Street Fighter.  I mean, Liu Kang IS the Ryu of Mortal Kombat!  Liu Kang's MK9 non-canon ending has him becoming an unjust god, which MK9 Shang Tsung's ending has that in connection.  Though both endings are not canon but I don't see any reason why a darker, twisted Liu Kang shouldn't exist.  I ...

Kamen Rider Black RX was a show that empowered non-superheroes.  For Stronger, I really felt bad why his ally Tackle Lady had to die and then, the actress dies in real life =(.  Now for some of Kamen Rider Black RX's empowering non-superheroes! Joe the Haze was originally one Crisis' test experiments and his past is never known.  All that was known was that Kotaro rescued him and he swore to help fight Crisis Empire.  I just love how he helped Kotaro in any way possible. Kotaro's girlfriend Reiko.  Okay Reiko didn't know Kotaro was Black RX until episode 29.  Starting from episode 29, Reiko started getting involved with Black RX's battles more than ever.  Before, she helped Kotaro without knowing he is Kamen Rider Black RX. Kyoko Matoba was a young teenage girl whose parents were murdered by Crisis.  Unlike the others, she can summon water but she didn't have that power yet.  I just love how she got involved and showing that she ...

Tommy is definitely overrated and not to mention overused.  It's pretty annoying to hear how some Power Rangers fans are already Tommy fantards.  Come on, Power Rangers is a franchise that needs new ideas for the franchise.  Tommy for one is overused.  I would admit he was my favorite ranger for some time, but honestly, I feel like the guy is overly overused and for me, I stopped with Zeo and don't want to rewatch it.  And as a Power Rangers fan who can turn on to neutral mode, I don't really, really like the idea of Tommy being overused.  And I would be honest, the Zordon arc started to bore me pretty fast to the point I could only rewatch MMPR Season 1!  And I'm ranting on Tommy's being an overrated and overused Power Ranger with Dino Charge coming in, and perhaps Judd Lynn may have burned himself beyond belief! I really was thinking that for a Tommy fan, Tommy in many suits is cool but for me it just got BOOOORING.  So I did enjoy him being...

While watching X-Men and Dragon Ball Z, I started to notice how often ideas fly from area to another.  I mean Super Sentai even copies ideas from its adaptation, Power Rangers.  So I thought for Frieza, what are his possible similarities to Apocalypse? Both believe that only the strong survive, the weak will perish.  Apocalypse lived with the doctrine of survival of the fittest weeded out the weak and got the strong.  Frieza conquered planets, spared the strong to serve him (most of them are just disposables) and he also fears to be usurped.  If Apocalypse wanted to get rid of any powerful mutant, Frieza feared the prophecy of the Super Saiyan that would destroy him.  Apocalypse infects the infant Nathan with the techno-virus, Frieza destroys the Planet Vegeta hoping none would oppose him but failed to notice the infant Goku. Both have their backup forces.  Apocalypse has his Four Horsemen.  In Frieza's case, he has Ginyu Forces. Their fall...

Dragon Ball Z's Cell Saga was a time paradox era. We meet Future Trunks the son of Vegeta and Bulma from the future. Would that sound a little bit similar to Cable from X-Men? Knowing that America and Japan copy from each other, I also felt like Cable's type of story was implanted into Future Trunks as a mysterious time traveler. Cable was first published in X-Men in 1986 so I'd say Dragon Ball Z copied the concept of Cable but modified it. So unlike Cable, Trunks is not time displaced but like Cable, he seeks to prevent a dangerous catastrophe from hitting the future. And like Cable, he ended up meeting his own infant self at one point, which during the Android Saga to the Cell Saga, Future Trunks STAYED in the past. He also destroyed a cyborg Frieza and King Cold before the start of the saga. Future Trunks' timeline is different from the present. His timeline was ransacked by several of Dr. Gero's robots (and I'd love to imagine Dr. Gero as being based on Ba...

Cable is the son of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor.  During the time Mr. Sinister failed to get Jean Grey as part of his experiments, he cloned her but the clone manifested no mutant powers.  He considered her a failed experiment at first, to which later he only released her when the Phoenix Force entered into the clone.  Mr. Sinister intended that the union of Cyclops and Madelyne Pryor (in the place of Jean Grey) would give birth to the intended child.  He gave Madelyne a set of false memories and suggested to her to name the child "Nathan" after Mr. Sinister.  The union produced the powerful child that Apocalypse dreaded but the same time, thought could be his worthy heir.  Apocalypse infected the young Nathan with the techno-virus to which, the child was soon taken into the alternate future by his alternate half-sister Rachel Summers.  Cyclops having no choice, allowed his only son to be taken into the future. In order to preserve the possibility of...

While Megaman X4 was basically the "X and Zero" game as one would choose whose storyline to play as for an entire game (just like "Megaman and Bass"), it also presented Zero's side of the story. We finally know he is Dr. Wily's greatest masterpiece but he was never unleashed in any of the old Megaman games, he was revealed not to be immediately usable but it's hinted somehow that he is Dr. Wily's successor... just my thought on what could have happened between Zero and Sigma during the events prior to Megaman X aside from the flashback. So remember Sigma used to be the leader of the Maverick Hunters, created by Dr. Cain as the epitome of robotics.  Zero was that "red maverick" that wiped out Gamma's units.  Zero was shown to be a sadistic robot who relished in destruction, but also he seldom had seizures probably something that would upgrade his knowledge, maybe Dr. Wily inserted a copy of his memories into Zero's system hoping h...

Megaman is a series known for its weird science aside from being a battle of science.  In Megaman, you have Dr. Light against Dr. Wily.  In Megaman X, you have Dr. Cain vs. Sigma's perverted science.  In Megaman Zero, you have Dr. Weil.  Well the Legends series is an exemption to that rule.  Now for some weird science that I have observed: Gameplay: In Megaman 1, Megaman cannot jump higher in water. In every Megaman game, even the slightest touch of spikes destroys him. Boss weaknesses: The relation of fire, ice, wind and electricity can be seen to interchange a lot: In Megaman 1, Iceman is weak to Elec Beam and Fireman is weak to Fire Storm.   In Megaman 6, Flameman is weak to Wind Storm and Blizzardman is weak to Flame Blast. In Megaman X, Chill Penguin is weak to Fire Wave,  Electric Sparkmandrill is weak to Shotgun Ice, Flame Mammoth is weak to Tornado Storm. In Megaman X4, Frost Walrus to weak to fire attacks and Magma Dragoon ...

Well I would admit I am a Kimberly fan BUT I'd also want to express why I think she is pretty much overrated.  It's stupid how I once joined a Tokusatsu community that talked about girls most of the time maybe because it lacked girls to balance it?!  For one, heroines were created as role models for both genders, not just for girls or boys... and I personally believe that Kimberly Hart is really, I mean REALLY that popular AND overrated. Now drum role... Kimberly for me is pretty much a wall breaker aside from her other friends.  If Zack started out to empower blacks, Trini trying to empower Asian... Kimberly was probably a character that was liked for wrong reasons.  I would admit for a 23 year old actress, Amy Jo Johnson looked more like she was not an adult in the show.  She had a charm as an actress that is quite hard to replicate though as an actress, she's not THAT great, I mean she's no Emmy Awards material but I'll admit Kimberly has somewhat a plac...

Megaman X6 is no doubt one hard game but fortunately, reasonably hard as not to actually make it as frustrating as "Megaman and Bass" or Megaman X3. So far, the game has lots of ridiculous level designs, you need to keep reloading at times because you might have turned a rescuable into a Maverick and so on. But for me it's a fun game that you can't miss even if it's difficult. The whole story continues some time after Megaman X5 with Sigma supposedly defeated. The story has the Nightmare Phenomenon and the main antagonist Gate. Gate plans to use Zero's DNA for absolute dominance. On the other hand, a Wily-esque type of Reploid known as Isoc (who probably has Dr. Wily's mindset while not being the character). The game itself is pretty difficult, sometimes I am forced to cheat because of how ridiculous the level designs are but not impossible. The game features Megaman X with the Z-Saber (which he could acquire in X3 but at the cost of Zero). Here he carr...

Super Sentai purists (or Sentards as I call them just like those Powtards) will always call Power Rangers as parasites because it can't exist without Super Sentai.  Then again, Disney can't exist without the classic works of other authors so does that make them also parasites?  Power Rangers whether it's a localization, adaptation or remake was legitimately done. Like it or not, Toei is CREDITED as part of Power Rangers.  If Power Rangers were bootleg, why didn't Toei sue Saban into oblivion years ago?  In fact, the Zyu2 footage was part of a Toei/Saban agreement to keep Power Rangers going, at that point neither company had no idea on any new direction for Power Rangers for America!  Toei is part of Power Rangers' existence and neither Super Sentai nor Power Rangers really exists without Toei!  Bootleg is ANYTHING that is reproduced without permission! Whether you like it or not, Power Rangers and Super Sentai are culturally different.  I hones...

Tekken 1 and Tekken 2 were basically trying to get Tekken to its image. Tekken 3 itself is an important transitional game that broke the mold for the better. How is that? Tekken 2 supposedly killed Kazuya (who was revived back in Tekken 4 ) and Tekken 3 happens sometime after Tekken 2 when the new menace known as Ogre attacks the world. The new protagonist is Kazuya's illegitimate son, Jin Kazama who bears a striking resemblance to his father. So let's get it down, shall we? Tekken 3's introduction here outdid Tekken 2's introduction. Tekken 2 was more or less a conservative upgrade of Tekken 1 . But here, you can see that the CGI graphics of the FMV videos even in the endings, have already been upgraded. Tekken 3 also introduced the characters with their own fighting stances compared to the first two games. It also added more to the moves list to challenge the player even more. Mokujin was a character who imitated everyone except Ogre and True Ogre. Te...

When I played Mortal Kombat Komplete Edition (glad I didn't buy the game immediately) - I had my thoughts it was a Mortal Kombat Trilogy remake with a throwback to the classic series with a newer, better fighting system. Character-wise the original no download roster includes most MK Trilogy characters minus Motaro, Chameleon, Khameleon, Robo-Smoke, Rain (he is DLC ) and for one the boss characters aren't playable because they are extremely difficult to beat and cheap, for balance reasons in VS Gameplay. Yeah, MK Trilogy for the PS1/Saturn had issues with balance in VS Gameplay because the bosses were playable. So what was taken back from the original 2D Mortal Kombat games? One can notice these throwbacks to the original MK storyline prior to reincarnation aside from the obvious block button and sweep moves: 1.) Kombat Kodes  These are back though most of them are pretty new like headless combat, armless combat, rainbow kombat, zombie kombat, tournament mode and infi...

There are theories that Dr. Wily is still around in the Megaman X series but I just stared to think, neither Isoc nor Serges is Dr. Wily. Certainly, Dr. Wily's influence has lived on in the Maverick Virus but most likely not him. But I had theories that could counter the idea that both Serges and Isoc are Dr. Wily. However, none of these are canon and just simply best said, headcanon.  Serges' role in Megaman X2 Serges appeared in Megaman X2 as a Reploid who looks like a robotic version of Dr. Wily. We can see that Serges was able to do a couple of stuff that only Dr. Wily could do. Dr. Wily is the creator of Zero and nobody else knows Zero from inside-out but Dr. Wily. Serges made Zero a NEW BODY and created the Z-Saber. Also, Serges chooses to fight Megaman X using a machine rather than through direct combat. Sounds familiar?  It's also interesting that there are some textual changes between the Japanese version and the American version of the game. It turns out that the ...

Back in 1995, Tekken became a popular hit.  Tekken was a game that featured a unique type of gameplay which featured realistic fighting moves (while it's set with loads of sci-fi) in contrast to others that had projectile moves, a button was made for each limb in contrast to the use of strengths of punches and kicks and it was all but the beginning. Tekken though it was still in its starting point, had much better graphics than Virtua Fighter's blocky graphics.  It was Virtua Fighter's direct rival.  A lot of fans were not only attracted to its graphics but also to its interesting gameplay.  Now I would admit moves back then were pretty hard to execute and  the A.I. was usually cheap.  What do you expect from an old game?  It featured eight characters, each character had a different sub-boss before you meet the final boss. Ah yes, Heihachi back then was a total cheating bastard.  Compared to Jinpachi in Tekken 5 or Hehiachi in Tekken 4, thi...

As a fan of Power Rangers to a lesser extent (I also had my Sentai purist days too), I would like to write about Kimberly Ann Hart, a fictional character I believe had impacted my life and perhaps the lives of others too.  The fact she was played by Amy Jo Johnson had created an almost irreplaceable character, hard to imitate charm, hard to replicate charm of a character. Looking at Kimberly Hart as a character, she started off as a ditz but she was also the team heart.  Earlier on, she was easily blunt not hesitating to tell Billy that what he did (that is attempt to imitate the girls) was not a way to meet girls.  While she seems shallow, she actually has brains to a certain extent but unlike Billy who is probably even physically weaker than she is.  She knew how to do sign language and she's outsmarted some nuisances like Skull (fooled him into kissing Bulk) and in season two, outsmarted Lord Zedd who once thought she could be the perfect replacement for Rita if ...

While I'm among a group of people who believe that Megaman X is the original Megaman rebooted, however some people have some valid reasons to believe X isn't the original Megaman even if they were both created by Dr. Light. Megaman is 132 cm and weights 105 kilograms.  Megaman X is 160 cm and weighs only 57 kilograms.  Then again, Dr. Light could have reconfigured and upgraded Megaman entirely and rebooted his memories, causing the original robot to lose all his memories.  Then again, the argument of the statistics may prove Megaman X is a totally different robot.  Megaman may not be able to survive such a drastic makeover either which again, gives some valid points to why Megaman X is a different robot. Another is that Megaman X's mental programming is for a 15 year old human while Megaman's mental programming is that of a 10 year old.  That could be a valid argument for both sides.  Assuming Megaman's programming got obsolete sooner or later, Dr. Lig...

Megaman had some villains like Dr. Wily, Dr. Weil, Vile, etc. but for me, none of them stand out as much as Sigma. Sigma is the main villain of the Megaman X series (though he didn't appear in Command Mission, which may have confirmed his final demise). So what makes him all my favorite villain? Here's why I love to hate this guy, this sociopath villain of the Megaman franchise. He's one incredibly shady big bad who is willing to do anything for supremacy, even sacrifice his own subordinates He had been a shady dealer for most of Megaman, manipulating events throughout the series. In X1, he manipulated law and order to start his own army. In Megaman X2, he manipulated the X Hunters and even learned of Zero's origins (probably because he downloaded Zero's data during their first encounter). In Megaman X3, he manipulated Dr. Doppler into creating a new body. In Megaman X4, he manipulated the Repliforce into making him a super weapon he can use to destroy humanity....

While adaptations are necessary because of cultural differences, but I thought Guile was just not fit for the role of main protagonist.  For one, he's not even that important a character.  I also felt Guile feels like a bad name too.  Now for my choices... So we do know Street Fighter's protagonists are Ryu and Ken.  Ryu is the main character, Ken is the sidekick.  For me, if they want American focus, Ken would be a much better protagonist and Ryu would still do well as a sidekick.  I mean, Ken for me is still much more fit to be the protagonist for any American adaptation of Street Fighter. I always felt Guile was not really protagonist material.  Remembering that stupid Street Fighter movie with Van Damn (above), I really just couldn't respect the movie nor its plot derailing the title "Street Fighter".  It was more of a military movie... come on where's the tournament?  Ken could have been a better replacement for Ryu in the American...

Here's what I would call the Kimbely effect.  Kimberly was appreciated for the wrong reasons and on Tokusatsu, you have Sentai girls appreciated for the wrong reasons.  Some bloggers may call Kimberly as every 90s boys first love or something like that.  Now I just thought that while I watched MMPR enamored with Kimberly even if the actress is way older than me, I wanted a girl who looks like her haha.  I was thinking did Amy Jo Johnson's appearance also made Toei decide to try and get as many hot girls in Super Sentai as possible?  Maybe not but maybe, they wanted to try and replicate her as well. Now for the effect: Chisato might be the first one for the Kimberly effect.  Well she's the show babe.  Although yes, she is really useful but like Kimberly she can both sing, dress well and she is really, very attractive.  Whether or not Chisato was created as a response to Kimberly is just speculative. Ashley though she is a yellow ranger, sh...