Pokemon Nicknames: Disney

I was never much of one for nicknaming my Pokemon when I was a kid, but in recent replays through Pokemon (especially since Pokemon Go came out) I’ve been finding little ways to make their names a little extra fun to look at, instead of just seeing “Pikachu” on my screen all the time. One of my favorites to do is Disney nicknames, just for the spread of names to use. Not all nicknames are equally awesome though (some are kind of just there… like my Virizion named Goofy). But there are some Disney nicknames that I’m a little too proud of. I’ve only included Generation I nicknames on this post, to avoid it getting too long, but look forward to more in the future.

Butterfree (or Beautifly) as Heimlich

Raticate (or Watchog) as Ratigan

Arbok as Jafar

Growlithe as Dug

Rapidash as Maximus

Gengar as Cheshire

Shiny Dragonite as Elliot

Disney-Themed Pokemon Nicknames:

• Gen I: Part 1
• Gen II: Part 2
• Gen III-V: Part 3
• Gen VI-VII: Part 4
• Additional: Part 5
• Additional (2): Part 6

Power Rangers: Who You Want to Be

(Guest post by David B)

It never ceases to amaze me where and when insights come. In this case, I found an opportunity to draw inspiration from Jason Scott of the 2017 Power Rangers.

I had the chance to spend some good time with my children while vacationing in Utah. While at our hotel room we decided to watch Power Rangers. In one part, Kim is explaining to Jason why she feels responsible for the team not being able to morph into their ranger forms. After explaining her situation and why she can't open up to the team, Jason explains, "You did an awful thing. It doesn't make you an awful person. Just be the person you want to be."

I feel like too often we let our actions define us. And why not? That is, after all, what most people remember. And what's easier to remember than the awful things we've done? Just like in a customer service experience, we will tell our friends and family about a bad experience right away but don't usually volunteer a positive one.

I know that I've done awful things. I have let those awful things weigh on my mind and let myself be convinced that I'm an awful person. However, just like Kim, I'm not an awful person. And just as Jason tells her, I can just be the person I want to be.

"Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought, I cried within my heart: O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me, who am in the gall of bitterness, and am encircled about by the everlasting chains of death.
"And now, behold, when I thought this, I could remember my pains no more; yea, I was harrowed up by the memory of my sins no more.
"And oh, what joy, and what marvelous light I did behold; yea, my soul was filled with joy as exceeding as was my pain!" (Alma 36: 18-20)

Alma chose who he wanted to be.

We're all guilty of making awful choices but the choice is mine as to who I want to be. And the choice is yours as to who you want to be.

Onward - Pixar's latest masterpiece

I knew I was going to be biased when I walked into Onward, since I'd already defended it on several internet forums and had a Barley dolly sitting at home waiting for me, but nonetheless I was still amazed at how much I truly enjoyed the film.

Onward then.

The Non-Spoiler Plot

Onward takes place in a magical Dungeons and Dragons-esque setting where elves, unicorns and the like used magic to coexist relatively peacefully. When technology came along, with its ease of use, the magic in the world slowly died out to be replaced with smart phones and planes. In this world we follow Ian and Barley,  played by Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively, two brothers who are given the magical ability to see their deceased dad for one day by way of magic. The spell goes awry and the brothers have to go on a quest to find the missing component of the spell that can allow them to see their dad again.

Ian and Barley, The Emotional Core

Ian is the younger brother of Onward, an awkward 16-year-old who seems to be afraid of everything including making friends. His opposite and brother, Barley, is a geek by way of Wayne's World and is confident in his life, despite being seen mainly as a screw up. Barley is obsessed with their world's version of D&D, Quests of Yore, which is not only a role-playing game but an historically accurate game making it a mix between D&D and Civil War reenactments. His passion usually lands him in trouble as he tries to convince the world that things were far better back when there was less indoor plumbing and more hocus pocus.

It's the brother's chemistry that makes the movie shine, much like Elsa and Anna from Frozen this film focuses less on getting one of the main characters married off and more on the relationship between siblings, a dynamic that is all but universally felt. The film's overall message is about reestablishing connection, whether it's with the brothers connecting to their dead father, Ian connecting with really anyone, or Barley trying to connect the world to its lost roots. Without giving too much away it's this theme of connection that accumulates in the film's emotional climax, which had my party in the theater all literally reaching for the tissues.

The Cyclops in the Room

It would be remiss to not mention the major controversy surrounding the film, being the first canonical LGBT character in Disney/Pixar's vast canon.

She's a cop cyclops that has about a 6 minute scene and in it she mentions offhandedly that she has a girlfriend. That's it.

As far as representation goes it's not bad, an applauded step, but for me the real representation star came in the form of Barley, the geeky, loud, over sized older brother (gee, I wonder what I see in him). In my representation post I mentioned how geeks are still usually portrayed as comic relief at best and degrading stereotypes at worst. Barley starts out as a stereotype, the over-obsessed loser with no direction but to play his games and bore everyone endlessly about his obsessions, but as the film progresses he's actually shown to be more of the one in the right. Barley doesn't go through a forced change where he has to put away his toys and rockin' denim vest to pursue a degree in engineering, his knowledge of the old world pays off more than once, and those he comes in contact with start to see that the magic inside of them is worth the effort to pursue, despite the technological wonders around them.

Onward is the film that needs to become Disney/Pixar's new tent pole franchise, essentially the Frozen for boys and geeks. If you've been wondering weather its worth it, stop right now, get your tickets and go as soon as you can because you will not be sorry for the experience you get.

-JOE

Click here to also see Ryan's insights about grief, inspired by Onward.

Unpopular Opinions: MCU

I started off this week with a countdown on Facebook to Black Widow and the launch of MCU Phase 4. I feel it's only appropriate to pair that countdown with a reflection of sorts to the history of the MCU. Phases 1-3 had movies, shorts, Netflix, Hulu, and network shows. Now we're moving into an area consolidated to movies and Disney+. So as part of my reflections, here are a few of some unpopular opinions about the MCU thus far.

Iron Man 2 and The Incredible Hulk weren’t so bad
They are two of the lesser loved MCU movies. They’re not fantastic blockbusters, but they aren’t as bad as people make them out to be. The big problem with Iron Man 2 is that they bit off more than they could chew (Black Widow’s introduction, Whiplash, Justin Hammer, etc.) but it didn’t make the movie bad. On the other hand, I think the big problem with The Incredible Hulk is how it kind of came out of nowhere and became irrelevant afterwards. It assumed you knew the backstory of The Hulk and it kind of just threw us in there. Also, especially since they re-cast Bruce Banner, the movie kind of became inconsequential. We’ve seen Ross since then, but the Abomination and Betty just disappeared (although the Abomination was mentioned in Agents of SHIELD).

Iron Fist was good
I think the biggest issue people have with Iron Fist is how it’s so different from the comic book character. So to be fair, I’ve never read the comics. Maybe that’s why I enjoyed Iron Fist. Danny Rand was a refreshingly chill character compared to Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage being so angsty. Also, as far as Season 2 is concerned, it was one of the shorter seasons of any Netflix MCU show, so I think that helped keep the pacing up. The 13-episode Netflix seasons made them feel like 13-hour long Marvel movies. And that got kind of exhausting. So even shaving off three hours made it more manageable.

Daredevil Season 1 wasn't so great
Before I watched Daredevil, I heard how great it was. But I was disappointed. Matt Murdock was cool and I liked Daredevil as a character and a concept. However, as the season went on, it felt drawn out. Like I said with Iron Fist, the 13-episode seasons often felt like a super long movie. I much preferred the shows where each episode felt like a self-contained story with an over-arching plot. In my opinion, Jessica Jones, Runaways, and even Cloak & Dagger did a better job at that.

Agents of SHIELD Season 1 was good

I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about Agents of SHIELD's bumpy start. As the series started in the post-Avengers/MCU Phase 2 era, they took some time figuring out their footing. Until the Winter Soldier tie-in episodes, the series didn't have an over-arching story per se. It kind of just seemed like an MCU cop show, where each episode was its own story. Maybe it's just because I had lower expectations that I liked it? I don't know. But it's still my favorite MCU TV show thus far, ever since I started binging seasons 1-2 during grave shifts.

Captain Marvel is good
I don't know what it was about Captain Marvel that got people up in arms last year, but I liked it. Granted, the 90s nostalgia helped, but it added a story into an era of the MCU that we'd never seen before. Also we got some backstory with Nick Fury and Phil Coulson (though I'm still kind of bitter that we didn't get as much Coulson as I wanted). Maybe the details of Fury's eye injury wasn't important, but it was a fun addition. In addition, the plot twist was unprecedented. Everything I'd read had the Skrulls as bad guys, so we were set up for the Kree to be the good guys. But we'd also only seen the Kree as the bad guys (in Guardians, in SHIELD, etc.) so I didn't know what to expect. All that made the experience more fun for me. Honestly, my biggest disappointment with Captain Marvel is that she didn't have a bigger role to play in Endgame, after all that buildup.

Black Widow isn't necessary
Don't get me wrong; I'm looking forward to seeing Black Widow. However, I'm skeptical about it. My worry is that the whole movie will be pure fan-service for the people who've wanted a female-led Avengers movie. Representation matters (as Joe explained this week), but it has to be done right. If Black Widow is done right, it'll be great. My fear is that it's just a cash-grab and it won't matter after it's done. We've had lots of standalone MCU movies over the years (Ant-Man, Doctor Strange, etc.), but none of them have been filler; they've all been relevant to the universe. But since Natasha is dead... how is her standalone movie going to relate to the future of the MCU? I'm skeptically optimistic, but mostly skeptical.

Seeing Myself: The Importance of Representation

Every year it's the same problem: I go to pick out a new cosplay only to realize once again that anything I pick out I'll have to bend to fit my demographic. Rick of Rick and Morty becomes Fat Non-White Rick. Harley Quinn becomes Fat Boy Non-White Harley Quinn.

The only costume I could pull of with my ethnic traits and body type is Mario.

What Is Representation? 

Representation is the ability to see similarities in the characters one sees in media and one's own self. This can be anything, including age, gender, race, sexuality, religion, language or even personal experience. A person can enjoy a character even if none of these traits are apparent, how many people after all have bought Baby Yoda and Baby Groot merchandise without being a big eared alien or a tree? But when a majority of human characters look the same (i.e.Caucasian males between 16 and 25 with trim beach-ready bods and perfect hair whisking their equally athletic blonde love interests into the sunset, it's hard to not eventually take it personal.

The Street Rat

The first time I ever saw someone who looked like me playing the hero was in Disney's Aladdin. The titular hero has tanned skin, and while I am not from the Middle East, that one trait was enough to let me know that I wasn't alone in the world and that people of my own color could be heroes. After that Disney came out with a small pile of heroes I understood, like how Beast had a temper like mine when I was a kid, or how Quasimodo felt like a monster, a problem I faced most of my life since I feel like I look like a Mr. Potato Head that was left out in the sun. Being able to see myself, even partially, was valuable to me because it validated my existence as a person to see other people like me.

When Representation Goes Bad

Fast forward several years, the MCU is at the height of popularity, though unfortunately full of the white Caucasian slim-fits that were as alien to me as Drax. Spider-Man: Homecoming enters theaters and my friends all tell me that there's a character that reminds them of me down to a tee. Curious and excited I see the film to see the character they were talking about-Peter Parker's fat Filipino-American nerd friend. I wanted to be insulted. This. This is what my friends see me as. This is how I get represented. As a comedy character sidekick. This character is in the list of characters I could pull off in a cosplay, and it hurt.

I don't want it to come across that I thin the character shouldn't be there. He is fun and makes for a pretty good audience surrogate, but my issue is that he's the only person who looks like me in film. I want to be the hero, or at the very least get to be part of the action rather than delegated to a computer lab helping the hero save the day.

This sadly is not the most insulting comparison that's been made with me. One of the most offensive pieces of media in the last several years (in my humble opinion) is the TV series Big Bang Theory. The show portrays four geeks who follow every piece of geek stereotyping: Social ineptitude, obsession, oblivious to fashion, even portraying stereotypes long since thought to be overcome, including Jewish, Indian and people on the autism spectrum. While the show was on the air and in its hey day I was constantly hearing comparisons between myself and the characters, to which I would become legitimately insulted. I felt like my interests, my personality and the things I hold dear were being exploited for entertainment, and it made others think of me as the same joke character as these people were.

Onward and Upward

With as many missteps as are taken over the years hope still abides. This week Disney released a film celebrating geeks all over and giving them the proper Disney treatment. Chris Pratt, famed comedian and actor, plays Barley, a large nerd who enjoys life. From what we've seen of the trailers Barley is not portrayed as useless but more of following his own drummer, and while his skin tone is bright blue I am very pleased to announce that he is a more hefty fellow, calling back to Pratt's body shape before hunking up for Guardians of the Galaxy.
Onward.

It's important for people to see themselves in films, even briefly. Onward has caught online slack for featuring Disney's first in-canon LGBTQ character (though I would dispute that with Le Fou from the live action Beauty and the Beast but whatever). The character, a background cop with one line indicating that she has a girlfriend. Some picture the damage it could cause children to see this character, but I imagine the person struggling with their identity seeing a character like them, even if it's just one line in the background, and knowing that they are not alone in the universe, they're not a freak or a monster, they're a person.

Incidentally, I haven't seen the movie yet, but I am the proud owner of a large stuffed Barley. We play video games together.

-JOE

Also check out our review of "Onward"

The Wit and Wisdom of Calvin and Hobbes

As a kid, I loved Calvin and Hobbes. I identified with the mischievous kid whose brain was occupied equally by existential thoughts and fart jokes. He was a smart and introspective boy who loved to get dirty and explore and imagine and speak his mind. He was Spaceman Spiff and Tracer Bullet and Stupendous Man and the leader of GROSS. (Ugh, slimy girls!) A cardboard box was all he ever needed to live life to its fullest. And who doesn’t love littering the front yard with dark scenes of snowman carnage?

As an adult, Calvin and Hobbes speaks to me on a deeper level. Named for the theologian John Calvin and philosopher Thomas Hobbes, it’s appropriate that these two characters often delve into deep philosophical discussions. Calvin is so much more than a peeing bumper sticker. It would be easy to say that Calvin is just the embodiment of childhood (and he is), but he is also a found of wisdom, advice, and astute observations on life.

So here are some of my favorite Calvin and Hobbes moments!

I've never understood why parents ask "What are you doing?!"
when the answer is obvious. Thank you for poking fun, Bill Watterson.

Beautiful advice, Calvin.

Simplicity

This might need to be a mantra for my life.
Can somebody please cross stitch this, frame it, and
hang it on my wall? Mmkay, thanks.

Perfection

I love loopholes! And if a student did this to me,
I would mark it wrong AND give them extra credit.
It's all about balance, people.

It feels like this should be the theme
for most online political "discussions".

As a teacher, this one speaks to me on a visceral level.

You said it, Calvin! 💪

And fittingly, I'll end with the very last Calvin and Hobbes strip ever,
which is possibly the best one ever, as well.

If you're interested in seeing the Calvin and Hobbes memes that we've collected on our Instagram page, check them out at this link!

Donna Noble: The Most Important Woman

Donna: "Well, what d’you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I’m nothing special. I mean, I— I’m not… I’m nothing special. I’m a temp! I’m not even that. I’m nothing."
Rose: "Donna Noble, you’re the most important woman in the whole of creation."

I recently finished re-watching Season 4 of modern Doctor Who. It’s easily my favorite season, largely because of the Doctor/Companion combo. I loved the Tenth Doctor’s era in general, but his chemistry with Donna just makes it that much better. Not only is Catherine Tate a professional comedian who plays off David Tennant so well, but Donna’s character development over her story arc resonates with me so much.

In her first episode, Donna gives us a well-rounded character, right from the start. “The Runaway Bride” starts off with Donna being an obnoxious, naive bridezilla. However, as she realizes that the Doctor is her best chance of surviving Christmas, she softens up. Later, when she learns that her fiance has been using her, you can see her innocence and her genuine soul. With how raw she ends up and how shocked she feels after her traitorous fiance dies, she declines traveling with the Doctor. But that’s not the end of Donna.

Over a year later, Donna and the Doctor reunite and she brings a refreshing, non-romantic feel to the TARDIS. After two seasons of romantic tension in Doctor Who, it’s nice to have a break from it and for the Doctor to just have a best friend for once. So for the first several episodes of Season 4, we get the witty back-and-forth of David Tennant and Catherine Tate’s comedic chemistry. In many ways throughout the season Donna acted as the Doctor’s moral compass and she frequently gave him a much needed fresh perspective. Towards the end of their journeys, it gets deeper though.

During “Turn Left” (one of my favorite Donna Noble episodes), she gets an It’s a Wonderful Life experience, seeing what life would be like if she’d never met the Doctor. As the world falls apart at the hands of the Judoon, the Titanic, Miss Foster, and the Sontarans, Donna’s family and her self-esteem slowly fall apart. At a low point, Donna’s mother even straight up says that she’s given up on her. How heartbreaking is that???

Everything comes to a point as dimension-hopping Rose approaches Donna over the years, promising her that she’s the one that can fix the whole mess. Despite Donna’s insecurities, she goes back in time and fixes everything, only moments before the Daleks steal the Earth and mess everything up again. In the end, Donna overcomes her insecurities and saves the Earth and the universe, bringing everything back to normal. But it comes at a cost. The Doctor has to sacrifice Donna’s memories and character development in order to save her life.

For a moment before her memory was taken away, Donna knew how important she was. For just a moment, she knew it. As a generally insecure person, this resonates with me. Since we live in a fallen world, I get the occasional boost from the Holy Ghost reminding me who I am. However, those spiritual experiences have a half-life. What would life be like if we could always remember our divine potential? What if we could always live in a way that we magnified our gifts and our callings from God? That’s what Donna got (in a sci-fi kind of way) when she was the DoctorDonna. In real life, we can have that too. It involves continually seeking the Spirit and drawing close to God. Through His word and His light, we can keep that spiritual self-esteem boosted up. We can transcend this fallen world as we seek to fulfill our divine potential.

Unpacking the Man-Child

The dinner party nears its end when the conversation at the table turns to the latest trends in Magic the Gathering. The men begin asking me what the new sets are like when two of the wives stand up and say "We'll be in the living room. Come ladies, let's leave the man-children to their games."

I have to suppress my shock as well as several unpleasant things about to come out of my mouth. 

The term man-child refers to an adult male who disregards his responsibilities for fun and games, or in other ways acts childish. The common image is the 30 year old man living in his parent's basement, playing video games and not bathing on a regular basis. 

A fine description until it gets thrown around near me.

Geeks Are Not Man-Children

The issue I have with the phrase is when it's applied to geeks in general or any male who expresses passion outside of going to and from work every day. I've heard it pulled out and used to apply to anything from fathers playing with their children to a man who lovingly restores cars. It seems that any time a man allows themselves to indulge in something they enjoy they are immediately called out for being childish, disregarding the fact that they may have a successful career, a loving family, or be a responsible priesthood holder. 

The labeling of men who have passion as man-children begs the question: What is expected of men if not to have passion? I've met men of prior generations who have devoted their entire lives to throwing themselves at work in order to support a family. The expectation to be the sole provider for the family and nothing else killed any drive to do or become anything else. These men would then come home exhausted and watch TV until bed, only acknowledging the family when they became annoying to him or disturbed his respite. 

I don't mean to critique a hard working man who provides for his family. I don't even blame a man for being exhausted by his job and just wanting to come home and have some peace. What I'm saying is that if a man does not fit into that mold and has the time, energy and resources to pursue a passion or hobby he shouldn't be chastised for it and compared to a child. 

The Power of Words

It may not seem like such a big deal. "I call him a man-child out of affection!" one might argue, but the problem is that words are what shapes how we think about a person or group. While the mainstream popularity of Dungeons and Dragons, Marvel and other properties formally kept to the back of the comic book shop have skyrocketed over the years, geeks still struggle to be taken seriously by the media and culture in general. When we call someone a "man-child" just for they express joy in something or because they want to talk about their favorite hobby, we're saying that their interest is not okay in our eyes, which then tells other people that expressing the same passions are not okay either, leaving them to maybe abandon something they once love in exchange for a perceived concept of normalization. 

The next time you refer to someone as a man-child, stop and think why you're using that term. Is it truly childish to love something so much you get excited over it? Is it childish to spend money on a hobby when it doesn't take away from time and expense with the family? Would you want something you love to be considered childish and told you couldn't do it because you had to be more of an adult? 

-JOE

Sonic the Hedgehog goes too fast and runs out of steam too quickly

I really wanted to like this movie. I enjoyed other video game adaptations (like Angry Birds and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider) and other movies that mixed CGI and live action characters (like Detective Pikachu and the 2016 remake of Jungle Book). I truly enjoyed playing Sonic as a kid, and I even have two pairs of Sonic socks! And my son used to be the fastest runner in his class and we would call him “Sonic”.

An improvement?

But this movie was not good, people. Not good.

I was impressed that Sega and Paramount listened to fan feedback and changed Sonic’s appearance, and I think it was an improvement. But Sonic’s physical design was a symptom, not the actual problem. Fixing the teeth and the eyes was a good gesture, but there’s an underlying misunderstanding of the character; the real problem is a desire to make Sonic look “real”. And this problem informs every aspect of the production, unfortunately.

What really got me was the story. Every major plot point seemed to be shoehorned into a story to serve the purposes of adapting a video game (with practically no story) into a film (which I guess also had practically no story). Was it a buddy road trip movie? An alien sci-fi movie? A fish out of water movie? A bad guys chasing the good guys movie? The director couldn’t decide, and neither could I.

The rest of the movie needs an overhaul also. I like Jim Carrey -- like, I genuinely think he’s a very good actor, and a really funny comedian. But Carrey was lackluster in this film. He was very one-note (I guess you might appreciate him if you enjoy the “always angry” method of acting), and was doing goofy schtick when it really wasn’t necessary, or frankly even that funny. (Tell me again why he was dancing in that one scene?) I did enjoy some of Dr. Robotnik’s tech, even if the drones were a little Spider-Man: Far From Home-esque.

James Marsden was decent -- likable and charming, he did his job as the straight man. Tika Sumpter was appealing and enjoyable. Adam Pally brought all the best of his quirks, and it’s always fun seeing a Happy Endings alum! But don’t get me started on Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic. Jean-Ralphio was annoyingly funny in Parks and Recreation when he was presented in small doses, but giving this loudmouth actor a leading role was a mistake. Schwartz thinks he’s funny, but most of his lines just don’t land. I can’t blame him too much; the subpar writing didn’t help his case much.

But in the end, my 13-year-old son, a huge Sonic fan, really enjoyed the movie. So I guess if you want to see a movie that appeals to 13-year-old video game fans, then this is the movie for you.

Meh, give me Flash or Quicksilver any day.

Agency: Palpatine or Skywalker?

"Therefore, cheer up your hearts, and remember that ye are free to act for yourselves—to choose the way of everlasting death or the way of eternal life." (2 Nephi 10:23)

So I finally made time to go see Star Wars. It’s not easy to do when you have a newborn. I really enjoyed it, so I don’t really know what people’s complaints are about. But this isn’t about that. I’m not doing a review. We’ve already done two of those. I want to talk about the concept of agency.

Throughout the sequel trilogy, Rey was haunted by her heritage and why her parents left her and why they never came back. Among everything else that perspired during the trilogy, this finally came to a point in Rise of Skywalker.

I had seen some spoilers about her being related to Emperor Palpatine, but I didn’t think it would be revealed quite so early in the movie. I thought it was just going to be a plot point in the finale. But instead it was an important part for like half the movie.

Throughout the whole trilogy, Rey was tempted by the Dark Side on and off. I don’t think it was really until she learned about her heritage that she really felt that temptation strongly. What I take from her inner battle is about rising above who we are.

You might be born that way or this way. You may have grown up with abusive parents. You might have genetics that put you at risk for disease or depression. That’s all part of living in a fallen world. The natural man embraces all these flaws and makes excuses for them. But the gospel and the atonement give us the opportunity and the blessing to rise above the natural man. Do you want to follow the gospel? Or do you want to be who you’ve always been?

Are you a Palpatine? Or are you a Skywalker?

"For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ the Lord..." (Mosiah 3:19)