Catching Up On Season 2 Episodes
Ok, I really did mean to do post-episode thoughts celebrating the State airing of season 2 on Disney XD...clearly, it didn't happen exactly like that, so off the top of my head from the last episode so far
Blueprints:
-Oh, is Mysterio fun! XD
-I really think this is my favorite Stan Lee cameo ever. Or it's just really one of the best ones.
-Peter's nightmare with Venom was an awesome opening--initially you can think it's for real, but then it does get to the point where it's unmistakably a nightmare.
-Norman's Ominous Dinner Party. XD I can't get over his wife being alive here. Is that Emily for real? I know this isn't exactly the first time they tried to keep Norman's wife alive in animation, while in the mainverse comics she's pretty damn dead: 90's Spider-Man series strongly implied they divorced (though she's unnamed there and we never see her), in the Ultimate comics she lives long enough to be killed by Norman when he turns into Ultimate's really odd version of the Green Goblin--but tellingly, I'm pretty sure they called that wife 'Martha,' rather than 'Emily,' and that just seems to make it even more out of continuity; again, in Ultimate, we don't see this 'Martha Osborn.' But here in SSM, I think the wife has been named Emily, and we've seen her, and she does look like comics Emily. But it still rather breaks my crazy shipping brain, where the comics imply strongly that Norman genuinely loved his wife, and her early death factored into his turning into the Goblin later. Admittedly, Emily's only been used in a handful of comics, and not in recent memory--I'll have to track down where exactly she's been used. (Does this all mean that I'll eventually try to do Emily/Norman fic in SSM? Maybe. ;) I'm such a NormanGreen Goblinfan.
Destructive Testing:
-Kraven/Calypso=one of my OTP's forever. It's so neat to see a shipping that started with the 90's toon continue in the new series.
-full-on furry transformation=yeah, rather unnecessary. Weren't we already shown in the opening he was a Badass Normal? Still, the design of the furball is rather visually cool--they could have just as easily have Warren do unwilling experimentation with Kraven, and then we go down the 'wanting to be normal again' trope, with Calypso helping out with that.
-Speaking of Warren--I know him from the comics, but this is my first real sense of him. I really like what I see so far, such an ominous villain.
-"The eyes suit you love." D'aww. That Kraven/Calypso moment at the episode's end is part of why I'm not as hard on the transformation as I could be, it was too sweet and it felt true to them.
-I imagine Kraven didn't anticipate growing furry, with Spidey as his only point of reference, who looked fairly normal, no extra spider-arms--though I guess it should've occurred to him that he still might have 8 eyes under that mask. ;)
-And the Flash subplot. ^____^ Flash is surprisingly interesting here (flat in the Raimi's movies--well, he only appeared once, and he didn't seem important enough to keep around for expansion--think he was flat in the the Ultimate comics, but he got some depth in the 90's series). After considering another fandom with implications of very heavy bullying, it's refreshing to see this bully not come off as bad as compared with that different fandom character. But more to the point, Flash may bully, but he's growing, has depth (has layers like Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Cordelia Chase). Granted, in this ep., that depth is more shown by others' reactions to him--I mean, even Peter is bothered when he gets hurt (though that's also a mark of Peter's character). We see glimpses of his family--he's not a bully coming from nowhere, he's a character with family and other such connections.
Reinforcement:
-The Christmas episode! XD -Ben's picture at the end made me so sad--just mostly sad, rather than touched, recalling what they've lost, and this is their very first Christmas without him. ;_; -Very interesting theme this episode: distraction vs. focus, I don't really seeing something like that touched upon explicitly, and that was just very interesting, since it does prove important -I heart how even the villains in this show get character development (i.e. I swear Max just gets dragged down into Electro worse and worse -Mysterio has such a genuinely snarky charm ('Gee, I don't know, do you think the Master Planner has, I dunno, a plan?') And his whole line about the Tinkerer 'being useless in a fight' always makes me pause--not only since it's delivered well (props to VA), but since it's Mysterious saying it, and, well, I always figured Mysterio's strength lied more in his illusions and misdirection than direct fight. Then again, he may have a different definition of fighting--could just mean who has the most explosive gadgets. ;) Or it really is just a straight up evaluation of whatever proves useful in a fight.
-Rhino's adorable. OMG, the show made Rhino adorable to me! ('I hate you. So much.' Great delivery--I could just feel that resigned, deadpan, very familiar loathing from Rhino.
Shear Strength:
-Dr. Octopus rocks, that is all. XD 'Evil genius' mug, hell yeah.
-Norman's concern for Peter, and Peter's 'aww, he does care!' XD
-I love how Gwen Stacy gets a personality in this. At the end, when she's understandably freaked, but then sees how exhausted Spidey is, her face just grows very determined and she navigates them safely out (kudos to Ock for fantastic labeling)
-Speaking of Ock, it's very cool in retrospect--the conflict that starts between him and Capt. Stacy. Given what happens between them in the mainverse comics. Very clever twist around of old canon to make something spectacular (pun totally intended).
-It was interesting how well Vulture worked with Ock in this ep. And then I remembered how from the series premiere, they were set up as old friends, and I just fell in love with the show more.
-I will always heart SSM!Electro's Hero Worship of Dr. Octopus. It's just sweet and interesting and so unexpected, especially when you know Otto is aware of it, and makes use of it. Cracks me up how even as Electro tries to keep Ock's secret, you can tell by his praise of the Master Planner the real i.d. Though I'm very interested to see if Ock's leaving Electro behind will affect Electro's opinion of him. Either the obvious anger over the abandonment, or it would make for a twisted scene of Electro still thinking the world of Otto. I definitely want to try to write the fic of Electro getting his Hero Worship, centered on those letters Electro mentioned--how Otto was the only one to write him (interestingly, I notice they don't specify if it's Dr. Octopus writing to him, or if maybe Otto started writing to him before Otto's own accident--maybe I can play with the idea it's seemingly sweet natured Otto starting to write to Max, but then the tone of the letters drastically change when he becomes Dr. Octopus, and Max just gets drawn deeper into psycho SuperVillainy...)
First Steps:
-Sandman/Flint Marko is love, that is all. :D Speaking of which, HE'S NOT DEAD. Just...not. We still have to see him do an official team-up with Spidey! XD
-Harry's back, and reminds me of another great thing about SSM!Gwen--her agency. Independence. I mean, when Harry says Gwen's the only one who noticed he was in trouble--it's, y'know, true. Gwen wasn't helpless or going along with someone else--she noticed the problem first, she acted. I dunno, I just find it really something compared to mainverse comics Gwen's now rather morbid passivity--even alive, she seemed passive/ineffective.
-Harry hearts Gwen. Of course he does. :D I really do like this ship. Whether I prefer it unrequited or requited, I haven't decided yet, but I do really love Harry hearting Gwen. And I like that bit of character depth/flaw when Gwen does seem to really only accept Harry's offer to try to make Peter jealous. Harry, is again, adorkable.
-EDDIE. OMG, Eddie, how did you get those ninja skills that could fool even Peter into thinking you were Venom again? And you made your own webshooters? And the Venom jacket's back too! XD Really, this is my favorite Eddie/Venom. And his last scene? Everything, the animation, acting (voice and movement), everything--just perfect. Such an ominous and enjoyable cliffhanger.
ETA: BTW, I have seen all of season 2 already, but have been rewatching on Disney XD, because it's that good, and to try to support the show. But for the post-ep. thoughts, I don't intend to spoil.
Blueprints:
-Oh, is Mysterio fun! XD
-I really think this is my favorite Stan Lee cameo ever. Or it's just really one of the best ones.
-Peter's nightmare with Venom was an awesome opening--initially you can think it's for real, but then it does get to the point where it's unmistakably a nightmare.
-Norman's Ominous Dinner Party. XD I can't get over his wife being alive here. Is that Emily for real? I know this isn't exactly the first time they tried to keep Norman's wife alive in animation, while in the mainverse comics she's pretty damn dead: 90's Spider-Man series strongly implied they divorced (though she's unnamed there and we never see her), in the Ultimate comics she lives long enough to be killed by Norman when he turns into Ultimate's really odd version of the Green Goblin--but tellingly, I'm pretty sure they called that wife 'Martha,' rather than 'Emily,' and that just seems to make it even more out of continuity; again, in Ultimate, we don't see this 'Martha Osborn.' But here in SSM, I think the wife has been named Emily, and we've seen her, and she does look like comics Emily. But it still rather breaks my crazy shipping brain, where the comics imply strongly that Norman genuinely loved his wife, and her early death factored into his turning into the Goblin later. Admittedly, Emily's only been used in a handful of comics, and not in recent memory--I'll have to track down where exactly she's been used. (Does this all mean that I'll eventually try to do Emily/Norman fic in SSM? Maybe. ;) I'm such a NormanGreen Goblinfan.
Destructive Testing:
-Kraven/Calypso=one of my OTP's forever. It's so neat to see a shipping that started with the 90's toon continue in the new series.
-full-on furry transformation=yeah, rather unnecessary. Weren't we already shown in the opening he was a Badass Normal? Still, the design of the furball is rather visually cool--they could have just as easily have Warren do unwilling experimentation with Kraven, and then we go down the 'wanting to be normal again' trope, with Calypso helping out with that.
-Speaking of Warren--I know him from the comics, but this is my first real sense of him. I really like what I see so far, such an ominous villain.
-"The eyes suit you love." D'aww. That Kraven/Calypso moment at the episode's end is part of why I'm not as hard on the transformation as I could be, it was too sweet and it felt true to them.
-I imagine Kraven didn't anticipate growing furry, with Spidey as his only point of reference, who looked fairly normal, no extra spider-arms--though I guess it should've occurred to him that he still might have 8 eyes under that mask. ;)
-And the Flash subplot. ^____^ Flash is surprisingly interesting here (flat in the Raimi's movies--well, he only appeared once, and he didn't seem important enough to keep around for expansion--think he was flat in the the Ultimate comics, but he got some depth in the 90's series). After considering another fandom with implications of very heavy bullying, it's refreshing to see this bully not come off as bad as compared with that different fandom character. But more to the point, Flash may bully, but he's growing, has depth (has layers like Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Cordelia Chase). Granted, in this ep., that depth is more shown by others' reactions to him--I mean, even Peter is bothered when he gets hurt (though that's also a mark of Peter's character). We see glimpses of his family--he's not a bully coming from nowhere, he's a character with family and other such connections.
Reinforcement:
-The Christmas episode! XD -Ben's picture at the end made me so sad--just mostly sad, rather than touched, recalling what they've lost, and this is their very first Christmas without him. ;_; -Very interesting theme this episode: distraction vs. focus, I don't really seeing something like that touched upon explicitly, and that was just very interesting, since it does prove important -I heart how even the villains in this show get character development (i.e. I swear Max just gets dragged down into Electro worse and worse -Mysterio has such a genuinely snarky charm ('Gee, I don't know, do you think the Master Planner has, I dunno, a plan?') And his whole line about the Tinkerer 'being useless in a fight' always makes me pause--not only since it's delivered well (props to VA), but since it's Mysterious saying it, and, well, I always figured Mysterio's strength lied more in his illusions and misdirection than direct fight. Then again, he may have a different definition of fighting--could just mean who has the most explosive gadgets. ;) Or it really is just a straight up evaluation of whatever proves useful in a fight.
-Rhino's adorable. OMG, the show made Rhino adorable to me! ('I hate you. So much.' Great delivery--I could just feel that resigned, deadpan, very familiar loathing from Rhino.
Shear Strength:
-Dr. Octopus rocks, that is all. XD 'Evil genius' mug, hell yeah.
-Norman's concern for Peter, and Peter's 'aww, he does care!' XD
-I love how Gwen Stacy gets a personality in this. At the end, when she's understandably freaked, but then sees how exhausted Spidey is, her face just grows very determined and she navigates them safely out (kudos to Ock for fantastic labeling)
-Speaking of Ock, it's very cool in retrospect--the conflict that starts between him and Capt. Stacy. Given what happens between them in the mainverse comics. Very clever twist around of old canon to make something spectacular (pun totally intended).
-It was interesting how well Vulture worked with Ock in this ep. And then I remembered how from the series premiere, they were set up as old friends, and I just fell in love with the show more.
-I will always heart SSM!Electro's Hero Worship of Dr. Octopus. It's just sweet and interesting and so unexpected, especially when you know Otto is aware of it, and makes use of it. Cracks me up how even as Electro tries to keep Ock's secret, you can tell by his praise of the Master Planner the real i.d. Though I'm very interested to see if Ock's leaving Electro behind will affect Electro's opinion of him. Either the obvious anger over the abandonment, or it would make for a twisted scene of Electro still thinking the world of Otto. I definitely want to try to write the fic of Electro getting his Hero Worship, centered on those letters Electro mentioned--how Otto was the only one to write him (interestingly, I notice they don't specify if it's Dr. Octopus writing to him, or if maybe Otto started writing to him before Otto's own accident--maybe I can play with the idea it's seemingly sweet natured Otto starting to write to Max, but then the tone of the letters drastically change when he becomes Dr. Octopus, and Max just gets drawn deeper into psycho SuperVillainy...)
First Steps:
-Sandman/Flint Marko is love, that is all. :D Speaking of which, HE'S NOT DEAD. Just...not. We still have to see him do an official team-up with Spidey! XD
-Harry's back, and reminds me of another great thing about SSM!Gwen--her agency. Independence. I mean, when Harry says Gwen's the only one who noticed he was in trouble--it's, y'know, true. Gwen wasn't helpless or going along with someone else--she noticed the problem first, she acted. I dunno, I just find it really something compared to mainverse comics Gwen's now rather morbid passivity--even alive, she seemed passive/ineffective.
-Harry hearts Gwen. Of course he does. :D I really do like this ship. Whether I prefer it unrequited or requited, I haven't decided yet, but I do really love Harry hearting Gwen. And I like that bit of character depth/flaw when Gwen does seem to really only accept Harry's offer to try to make Peter jealous. Harry, is again, adorkable.
-EDDIE. OMG, Eddie, how did you get those ninja skills that could fool even Peter into thinking you were Venom again? And you made your own webshooters? And the Venom jacket's back too! XD Really, this is my favorite Eddie/Venom. And his last scene? Everything, the animation, acting (voice and movement), everything--just perfect. Such an ominous and enjoyable cliffhanger.
ETA: BTW, I have seen all of season 2 already, but have been rewatching on Disney XD, because it's that good, and to try to support the show. But for the post-ep. thoughts, I don't intend to spoil.