Green Phoenix - A More Perfect Union Review

Today's book recommendation is going to be quite different than usual. While most of the book's I review tend to be alternate history novels, which makes sense given my personal literary preferences (though I will try to expand my literary recommendations for future reviews), today's recommended story isn't a true novel in the sense of the word.

Today's recommended story is extensive and a long-form exploration of an alternate timeline, but presented on the AlternateHistory.com forum, comprised of dozens of individual blog posts. The author is a teenager, but their grasp of narrative flow and historical interconnectivity is surprisingly complex. A More Perfect Union is a truly fascinating thought experiment, borne out of a love of a famous Broadway musical, that has grown into one of AlternateHistory.com's most popular and extensive timelines of recent memory.

And the timeline isn't even finished yet. I have wanted to geek out about this timeline for a while now, and with the new year now wrapping up its first month, I've decided to expand my "book recommendations" to include this wonderful view of a better America.

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Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Number 44: The Truth Revealed - Summary/Review

The 44th episode, continues off the cliffhanger from last time. No time for silly jokes so let's click "read more" and jump right into it.

ChouSeiShin GranSazer Episode 1: Awaken! The Warrior of the Stars - Summary/Review

Wow! Tokusatsu that isn't by Toei? Nope. Back in 2003 the creators of Godzilla, Toho, attempted to get into the Super Hero Tokusatsu scene to compete with Toei's Super Sentai and Kamen Rider success. Thus, the Chouseishin franchise was born. This is the first incarnation, Gransazer. I have no idea what to expect so, let's click "read more" and find out what this series has in store.

Woodle Tree 2 Deluxe+(steam) - review

     What is up, my name is Octangle, a.k.a. The Orange Shard. I'm new, but I hope you enjoy the review.

  Woodle Tree 2 Deluxe+ is a 3D plat-former published on Jul 22, 2019. It is very reminiscent of Super Mario 64 and others in the genre. The game seems to be for younger audience, as it is E for everyone.

Green Phoenix - Building Better Backstories III

Last week I took a long look at Frozen 2 and throughout that review, I felt myself inherently comparing it to its predecessor. This is perfectly natural, as any sequel will be held to the standard set by the previous entries in any series (sometimes to its determent).

But while I was watching Frozen 2 in theaters, that unavoidable comparison brought an interesting thought to my mind. The story of the original Frozen is a fairly strong one, possessing only a single element that I feel is fairly weak and could be improved upon.

With that in mind, I was sitting in the Frozen 2 showing thinking about just how one minor change to the overall film could change the narrative direction of the film, and even improve its thematic and dramatic elements.

Which naturally left me realizing that that would make an excellent article for Building Better Backstories. So let's take another quick look at the Frozen franchise and change one story beat and see whether or not the "new" film is better or worse than the original?

THIS ARTICLE WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS TO THE ORIGINAL FROZEN.

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Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Number 43:The Man Who Came Back - Summary/Review

The final stretch of episodes continues. Last time one of the main villains were defeated and destroyed so now the ball is rolling for everything to wrap reach their climax. Click "read more" and let's see what happens next.

Supaidâman Episode 1 Review: The Time of Revenge has Come! Beat down Iron Cross Group!!

Hey guys Blue Beast from the Shard warriors here. Ill be reviewing "Supaidâman" the weird japanese take on the webcrawler. The first episode is fun as long as you don't expect it to be really even close to the Marvel original (other then the costume and basic powers). Click on "Read More" to read my thoughts on episode 1

Green Phoenix - Frozen 2 Review

It's the sequel to Frozen. A sequel to one of Disney's highest grossing and most critically and commercially successful film's of the past decade.

Normally I would use this introductory section before the post cut to give the viewer and overview and history behind the production of the film in question and its significance (if any). If you have somehow managed to avoid Frozen and its incredible cultural impact on the 2010s and the Disney Company as a whole, then I would love to take a nice long look at that apparently spacious rock you've been hiding under.

With that out of the way, Frozen was an adaption of The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen (the same author behind The Little Mermaid). Following its release in 2013, the film was a monstrous success and quickly became over-saturated in terms of merchandise and especially music (LET IT GO! LET IT GO!).

With such a hit, a sequel was less of a possibility and more of an inevitability. We all knew it was coming. But for the past 7 years, Disney was perfectly content to release the occasional Frozen short in place of a full length film. Many of these shorts were fairly well received, though Olaf's Frozen Adventure did receive a great deal of criticism for its length and its position ahead of 2017's Coco.

But then we saw that first trailer. And we knew that Frozen 2 was coming. So now the question is, does the sequel live up to original? Does it continue the story effectively and reach the same emotional and toyetic potential of the first?

It took 7 years to make this sequel, was the wait worth it?

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Keisatsu Sentai Patranger feat. Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger Another Patren 2gou Parts 1&2 - Summary/Review

Dang the title is a mouthful! Well, this is an interesting two part spin-off series of Lupinranger vs Patranger. Taking place roughly in-between episodes 26 & 27, this special was only shown in the Toei Tokusatsu Fan Club and features a the original Patren 2gou or green Patranger before Sakuya. I'm entirely sure what too expect but both parts are only around 13 minutes long so, click read more and let's go over both of them.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Nintendo Game Boy) Review.

Last week I reviewed the Game Gear version of this game.  Now I go from a handheld device full of color to a handheld device that's not.  Oh yeah, baby! It's week two of the Power Ranger Movie game series.  I'm reviewing the Game Boy port.  Sweet! (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Green Phoenix - Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker Review

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN MANY SPOILERS FOR THE MOVIE.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

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In 2012, George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to the Walt Disney Company, following his announcement of retirement and the largely lukewarm or cold reception to Lucas' most recent films. Following this purchase, Disney began a complete overhaul of the Star Wars extended universe, eliminating the last 30 years of extra content (save for the movies and CGI TV shows) and beginning an all new sequel trilogy, furthering the story of Star Wars into the years after the Battle of Endor.

With that goal in mind, The Force Awakens was released in 2015 to...a lukewarm response. People seemed to enjoy it well enough, but felt that it was just too similar to Episode IV: A New Hope (To be fair to them, they're not wrong). Not exactly the strongest start to a new trilogy, but maybe Episode VIII would fix everything?

2017's Episode VIII: The Last Jedi did NOT fix everything. In fact, when coupled with the release of Solo 2018, it was considered by many to be lowest point in Star Wars history. The franchise was in dire straits and, somehow, Episode IX was going to have to fix the mistakes of The Last Jedi, conclude the story introduced in The Force Awakens, and be worthy of book-ending the last 42 years worth of films and resolving the entire "Skywalker Saga" in a form that audiences (many of whom were already turned against the film because of Episode VIII) could appreciate and enjoy.

So...did Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker meet those expectations? Well...if any of you saw my initial Twitter thread following the release of the film, you might get some sense of my opinion. But let's go into more detail.

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Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Number 42: Time for Battle - Summary/Review

Back again with episode 42. The last episode was all build up for what they promise will be an exciting episode of fights. Will it live up? Click "read more" and we will find out.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (Sega Game Gear) Review.

Nineteen-ninety-five couldn't have gotten any better for a Power Rangers fan such as myself.  The TV show was running on TV everyday after school, the toys were awesome, I was watching the video tapes that I bought from Woolies, and I was enjoying playing the Super Nintendo game that I rented from Video City.  One day, I heard the good news that there was a Power Rangers movie playing at the cinema over at Bernie, Tasmania.  (I lived near there in a town called Wynyard.)

I was so excited and then I got myself grounded and my family saw it without me, those bastards.  (Joking about the bastards line.)  Thankfully, it came out on video a little later on and we rented it right from the overnighter section.  I loved watching it and still do.  Years later I found out that there were video game adaptations based on the movie.  Yup, not just an adaptation, but adaptations.  For the next four weeks I'll be reviewing those games, starting with this one.  Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie for the Sega Game Gear.  (Click on "Read More" to read the full review.)

Kaitou Sentai Lupinranger VS Keisatsu Sentai Patranger Number 41: The Door to Another World - Summary/Review

Forty first episode is here. It is the final stretch of this season so let's just dive into it.

Green Phoenix - 2019 in Review

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE!

This week is going to be a little different. This won't be an article analyzing a piece of media, or an editorial giving my take on an element or change I would make to a cultural capstone. Instead, in the spirit of the new year, I will be taking a look back on the previous years articles and looking at the various statistics behind those articles and what that can tell me about what I can do more next year.

While this article may be a bit more dry than my usual editorial, I feel that, as my audience, it is very important you see the work I go into making these articles the very best they can be and as entertaining and informative as I can make them.

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Remembering Caroll Spinney

We have recently lost Sesame Street legend, Caroll Spinney at the age of 85.  He died from complications from dystonia at his home in Woodstock, Connecticut.  In memoriam of this legend to begin 2020, let me honor him by sharing my biggest memories of him.