Ronnie

I don't think Survivor is UE5, I think that's a common misconception. It's UE4 but new-gen only. I can't say I'm massively fussed about the big file size. Modern consoles can only hold a handful of big games anyway so I just delete an old one I'm finished with to make room. That's a good idea but there's no way I wouldn't be tempted to veer off the beaten path. It sounds like there's lots of stuff to do if you look around. If this game was out three weeks before Zelda I'd probably go for it, but as it stands I'll prob just wait a couple months before playing. Might play a pixel art game before Zelda instead so that the graphical jump will make TOTK look great (at first glance), as opposed to going from Survivor > Zelda

Chapter 24... Man, that was a fantastic season finale. In fact I actually thought it retroactively brought the rest of the season up a level. Incredible action, satisfying resolutions and in true Mando video game fashion, another *Main Quest Complete* to round off the season, with a tease of what's in store in S4. Truth be told, I was relieved when the Armorer told Din he had to go off with his new apprentice on adventures. The Mandalore storyline has been fun, but I'm ready for some non-Mando-centric, Outer Rim adventures now.I'd read far too many bullshit internet rumours about a falling out between Pedro Pascal and Lucasfilm and how they were supposedly killing him off this episode stupid me for paying any attention to stuff like that, but I did go into the episode a bit worried, especially with Brendan Wayne talking about how this one is going to hurt. Sounds like he was just messing with the fanbase a bit cause it was as happy an ending as can be really. Anyway, a 10/10 for me. Had a great time. Overall, bit of an up and down season. Some fantastic highs for me: The Mines of Mandalore, The Pirate and The Return, and a couple of lows: The Foundling and Guns for Hire. Then you had great little moments like Din in the Anzellan workshop in the first episode, the Purrgill scene, the awesome creature design of the Pirate King and that incredible ship dogfight on Bo's planet, the creepy spider monster thing on Mandalore, and of course, my boy, Zeb in live action . Overall negatives? Clunky dialogue quite often, and a few too many big monsters. The scope has definitely increased and this season was always going to be a bit of an adjustment because of that. Haven't got any but this display case might give you an idea, it has the dimensions of the case included so might help a bit narrow things down. Yeah that strikes me as more of a Jon quote than anything Dave might say. Tbh it was never officially quoted, was just an insider report, so who knows really. That exact question was asked in interview with the pair of them on IGN the other day, was it always the plan to tell a crossover story. They basically said that it was always the plan to expand the scope and start telling more galaxy-wide stories. I think Bad Batch is probably tying into the sequel trilogy (well, TROS in particular) more than Mando tbh, especially with the revelations of what Gideon wanted to do with cloning. Then again, he wasn't the only warlord interested in it, so I'm sure there'll be much more there in future seasons. S3 E7 only seemed to hint at it, for now. His film is definitely being called that! I don't think it'll be a direct adaptation though, I've not read the Thrawn trilogy but from what I hear there's some weird stuff in it like clone Luuke. This is her moment for growth and development, like you say she didn't have a big role in Rebels and definitely not the Mandoverse shows, so if not now then when. Always interesting to hear the rest of your thoughts btw, even if I don't reply to everything. Only four months to go... only four Ditto your thoughts on the previous two eps of Mando. Briefly for me... Guns for Hire: - really disliked the opening scene. Did they pick some random dude off the street to voice the Mon Cala? Really cringeworthy scene. Very soap-opera and weird. - really disliked the closing scene. Like you say, weird plot progression with just handing over the Darksaber on a technicality. - hated the celebrity guests. The casting has always been weird on this show, be it comedians, or MMA fighters or Favreau's mates. - I actually really enjoyed the middle, detective part of the episode but it didn't get enough time for it to feel satisfying and the resolution was an example of Star Wars talking to itself. The reveal that Christopher Lloyd was a separatist will have flown way over the heads of casual Star Wars fans. A mate of mine still has no clue where the whole droids going rogue storyline went in the end for example. 5/10 for me. Tough gig for Bryce to be given! The Spies: - I think I was in a really bad mood when I watched this episode because I didn't enjoy it as much as I probably should. I could tell it was a good one but the awful dialogue was getting on my nerves. I was rolling my eyes so hard by the time the 13th Mandalorian said "I will go". - Cool pirate ship, or at least it was until another monster came in out of nowhere. - RIP Paz, you will be missed. 7/10

If Cal is customisable I can't imagine there's pre-rendered cutscenes, unless there's literally one for every variation which would account for the huge file size Can I just say it's really annoying this comes out just two weeks before Zelda. I'm playing the latter as soon as it comes out but I doubt I'll have 100%'d Survivor by then. Might have to wait till after I'm done with Zelda to play it

Crime O'Clock looked interesting. Nice to see Animal Well come to Switch, it was PS5 only until today.

Looks great!

nice, glad to hear it! I read a rumour/report from BespinBulletin I think it was a couple of years ago, that said Favreau/Filoni realised they could tell the Rebels sequel series better in live action, so that got cancelled. It'll be interesting what sort of line the show walks between the search for Ezra and Ahsoka's own personal storyline. I 100% trust Filoni to maintain the Rebels spirit and do all those characters justice. My issue with him and Favreau is as ever, the dialogue, but we'll see how it goes there. I suppose I better...

4 years. 4 years since that reveal trailer.

Never change ResetEra...

Take it you didn't see the extended trailer from the Ahsoka panel? There was an action shot on Lothal... so yeah, series looks great. As for Tales season 2, tbh I'd be surprised if Filoni doesn't just do more Clone Wars, which whilst not for me, would certainly make a huge chunk of the fanbase happy so who could blame him. Getting some darksaber context would be good although you'd imagine that might have been better timed to be in S1 to tie into Mando S3, but who knows, could still work.... PS: please, never stop posting contextual Star Wars gifs.

A couple of panels definitely came in handy as a place to rest your feet, looking at you Funko. Turns out, people dodging in the huge crowds was knackering. Take your time was only joking around. Post con depression remedies: Jedi Survivor in like 11 days and Zelda TOTK in 3 and a half weeks. Glad you liked Tales of the Jedi, I've not watched it yet. Really hope S2 isn't the same Clone Wars era and like you say they jump around a bit. How about Luke's temple before TFA, or the first Mando Jedi who's name escapes me now.

*me waiting for @Julius's Celebration/Bad Batch write up*

Trailer is pleasing fans then !

Thanks for the above, I'm definitely going to do my best to skip it. Glad it was good though. Noticed it was 4 minutes long

Nice! Definitely sounds like this is the meaty trailer similar to the January BOTW one from 2017. I'll probably skip it.* * = say I'm going to skip it, then cave 45 minutes later and watch it three dozen times.

Yeah, definitely could have done with another ten minutes.

There's definitely something intangible missing from the spirit of the game, it could just be because the concept isn't fresh anymore. Looking back, I also wasn't a fan of the way they changed the battle system. The game is easier than the first because they allowed for free movement, so you could position everyone wherever you want to extend range with no consequences. People talk about the lack of grid, but there's still a grid, it's just invisible. It's the free-roam that's the game changer, and not in a good way imo.

The film is still a brilliant time the second time around, confirmed. The only bit where I think something is missing is when Mario and DK are swallowed up by the Unagi eel. It feels like that was leading to a slower moment where they talked about their respective dads not believing in them etc, but instead it just kind of cut away to the action suddenly. Wonder if there was a scene there that got cut.

I found it compelling and extremely well portrayed. Did you think Obi Wan talking to Luke in his X-wing was lazy? Or Vader talking to Luke on the Falcon in Empire?

Why is it a cop out?

Had an absolute blast at Star Wars Celebration. You really feel the love for the franchise among fans, everyone’s so friendly and nice. That love goes the other way too though, Lucasfilm doing such a great job putting on some amazing stuff for us. Even wandering around meeting and greeting the day before and during. So much fun cosplay-watching. Green jumper Mon Cala mechanic from The Heiress ep of Mando was one of my favourites, just cause l love that character. Shirtless swole Kylo made my sister blush. The actual organisation and running of the show was pretty good I thought. Everything was mostly seamless. Apart from the entranceway and how they barely checked badges. I suppose that’s the downside of having a public transport station literally right outside. You get this huge mass of people coming in at once as opposed to somewhere like Anaheim which is more spread out. That said, the only negative I can think of, too many people. Waaaay too many people. Especially on Friday and Saturday. They absolutely overbooked. It actually made it s bit of a challenge to enjoy the show at first. Sunday and Monday especially were much better tbf. 2022 was a fair bit better overall as a convention for me personally, but the content Lucasfilm had to show was much better here in London. The Live Stage was 100x more approachable in Anaheim too. You could walk up and be 2 or 3 rows from the front. Here you were always miles away. I think because it was tucked away in LA whereas here it was so easy to spot as you go in. Highlight for me was probably wandering into the portfolio review room and showing my infographics to the Licensing Art Director at Lucasfilm and seeing his reaction to my work. “I never give out my email at events like this, but, email me.” Shook his hand and took a moment to recover outside the room. Another highlight, the Rebels mural. That epilogue is one of my favourite scenes in Star Wars so to see it life size and beautifully realised, amazing. Final highlight, Daisy Ridley coming out on stage, to Rey’s theme no less. Wow. Don’t think many saw that coming. Panel wise, Lucasfilm Showcase: Mind-blowingly good. Last year’s one was decent but this blew the doors off. 5 tv shows. All with trailers or footage. And movie news! Loved the timeline. Loved the whole presentation, pacing and all. Almost too much stuff lol Making of Andor: awesome, love hearing Tony Gilroy and Diego Luna speak. Ahsoka: This was great but a big step down from Mando+ last year. Surprised no Ezra reveal but we got Thrawn which was pretty cool. Great to see an extended trailer. Very brief Purrgil scene at the very end, awesome. And Sabine using Ezra’s lightsaber. Visual Effects of Andor: amazing. So glad I went to this. Really fascinating conversation with the ILM guys. Well put together too with footage at right times etc Lucasfilm Publishing: good fun. Nice to FINALLY see them reveal a new visual guide reference book. The Bad Batch: one I was most excited about and it didn’t disappoint. Wasn’t expecting a trailer for S3 so that was a nice surprise. Looked brilliant. Doug Chiang: Always a great time. The crowd go mad for him and rightly so. Legend. Blagged a seat in the second row too. Overall had a brilliant time. Felt exhausted on day 2 but thankfully got a second wind on day 3. Then felt exhausted again on day 4 As for 2025, was planning on potentially going to Japan next year, I guess I'll hold off on that for another 12 months!

Unsurprisingly, the film is doing very very well box office wise.

Loved the Iwata mention in the credits. And a perfect role for Martinet to play too. I had no idea who he was until I saw the credits.

Absolutely incredible Lucasfilm showcase. I’m sure @Julius will agree. Such a privilege to be in the room for that. Everything looks amazing. What a show they put on. Daisy Ridley back

To see 35+ years of Mario history given such reverence on the big screen, wow. No the film isn't Citizen Kane but it was never going to be. The storyline was perfectly fine for what this film is. No complaints about any of the cast. Credit where credit's due, Chris Pratt did a great job. I thought Mario was perfect. Same with most of the voices tbh. Loved Toad (never in a million years did I think I'd hear the Captain Toad theme tune at the cinema). I take back what I said about Seth Rogen, he was actually pretty decent. DK in general was a standout character for me, great fun watching him and his rivalry antics with Mario. Peach, fantastic. Kamek, Luigi, list goes on. Charles Martinet playing Mario's dad, loved it. The film is beautiful. Side-scrolling sections were incredible. Likewise the Mario Kart sequence, loved that one continuous shot. SNES Rainbow Road music gave me goosebumps. I was a little worried they seemed to be rushing through the plot really quickly as soon as Mario got to the Mushroom Kingdom, but as soon as they got to the Kongs that stopped being a thing. Only negative I was hoping it would be a bit funnier. Some were good but a lot of the jokes were worth a slight chuckle but that's it. I've not really seen an Illumination film before though so from what I hear that's just kind of par for the course. Going again next week.

Excuse my French, but that was fucking amazing.