User blog:Gundam Legilis/New Challengers In Depth

''May contain traces of Fatmanfalling style satire. Not meant as personal attacks against anybody.''

Hello everybody!

So, we're here watching the New Challengers, and I must say, it's quite stale compared to previous episodes.

JNPR V. BRNZ

The episode starts off with JNPR against BRNZ.

First, I gotta give kudos to their sniper, who uses the surrounding environment to try and actually snipe people, unlike Ruby, who just runs around all over the place like your typical MLG tryhard. Also, she changes position to prevent getting caught.

And one for Jaune, who gets the team to re-strategize from sniper fire behind a rock. And the next one is pretty consistent, dodging to avoid getting shot.

The 1v1 choreography is nice, but the problem is that the animators spam close-ups like shitty Instagram selfies every single time. I know you have a deadline to put out, but why not try and find a few different angles along the way?

And then we get a big expo dump, while Nolan and Nora just stand still. Is it really that necessary? I mean, they could have Nora smack him aside, used Nolan's thoughts to explain it for us, or just let the visual exposition speak for itself. How? By having viewers make the connection between the cattleprod, the sparks, and Nora's grin. Not to mention the Thor symbolism.

And while we're at it, can't we have Nolan move a few feet away from Nora?

We're also introduced to dynamic map elements in Amity, and it's nice to have Jaune strategize on taking control of the lightning and having Ren distract the sniper.

And here lies another problem. Jaune instructs Pyrrha to block the sniper shot (good tactic), but it's poorly explained, and Pyrrha automatically makes such a connection. Maybe if he would clearly define it just like Flower Power and Arkos later on, it would help a lot. Not the first time either *coughPlayersAndPiecescough*.

See what clearly explaining things the way you could explain Flower Power and Arkos can do for you?

The next one is clearly retarded for both sides. While it's obvious that JNPR is to blame for the bickering during the middle of a fight, BRNZ just stands there like retards instead of, oh, I dunno, attacking them? This is just like the time Locus from RVB lets Felix monologue instead of attacking the enemy in Cloak and Dagger! Yes, it looks dishonorable, but it makes sense! Plus, BRNZ will probably be celebrated as one of those Thug Life "savages" for wiping the floor with these idiots.

And all that tension and pacing just de-evolves into Nora using her Semblance and hitting everyone with her hammer. Like seriously, BRNZ, why don't you run, or dodge!?

SSSN vs NDGO While it is nice to see Sage and Scarlet for the first time since Extracurricular, and Neptune getting repercussions for flirting in front of Weiss (though they're barely crushes), I can already tell something's amiss.

While I do like the callbacks, unfortunately, this new joke that Neptune is afraid of the water is constantly repeated. We get it!

Next, we have Scarlet and Sage. While Scarlet does well, unfortunately, Sage is barely knocked out with only a few seconds of actual combat. Way to establish characters and develop them!

Again with the close-ups.

But I must commend everyone that's still in the tournament for using the environment to their advantage. NDGO and Scarlet for using the pirate ship (and Scarlet for being a badass, grappling swashbuckler), Sun for using coconuts, Dew for eliminating Sage with sandstorms, the rest of NDGO trying to take advantage of Neptune's aquaphobia, and Neptune for electrocuting the water with his taser trident to compensate for his fear of drowning.

However, there's too much bickering, and it follows the same structure as before: 1-hit KO with weapon/Semblance. And the three really need to get out of the way if they want to stay in the game.

There's a reason why Qrow would rather get hammered in a bar than to see the competitors fight. And this is why. Thus far, Qrow is the only character on screen that makes the most sense, and he hasn't fought...yet.

Can't wait to see how his beef with Winter plays out next time.

Thoughts?

-Gundam Legilis