Nitpicking... THE STORY OF "FIVE NIGHTS AT FREDDY'S"

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Now, I know I'm going on and on about this game Five Nights at Freddy's, but I recently watched a video on Youtube about the game's back-story. The details were grisly, I'll tell you. Plus, the story seemed to be well-thought-out. However, I couldn't help but nitpick this story anyway. If you haven't heard the story yet, Google it or try Youtube before reading further in this entry.

Here it goes:

1. So the pizzeria is shut down because of one employee killing five children? If that's the case, why doesn't any establishment do the same whenever a employee misbehaves criminally? (Just refer to that one employee that was videotaped bathing in the kitchen sink at a restaurant that one time. I'm sure that was on the news for quite some time.)

2. The animatronics were being criticized by the customers, because of their foul smell, and the blood and mucus coming from their eyes and mouth. Shouldn't the company have the animatronics inspected? Chances are, that may be where the missing children were. I don't know; that seems like a no-brainer.

3. The story reveals that the animatronics are possessed by the souls of the children that were murdered in the pizzeria. The animatronics attack people. Why don't the animatronics hunt down their killer, instead of killing other people? People that have this night-watch job are dying, while the children's killer is sleeping comfortably in jail!!!

4. Again, the story says that the dead children's souls possess the animatronics; and yet the animatronics are now killing whoever has the night-watch job at the pizzeria. Why? That seems counterproductive to the dead children's unfinished business with their killer, while they're most likely still stuck in purgatory.

5. Was the pizzeria too dang lazy to clean their place up, as they kept getting complaints about the place's sanitation? They really let themselves go after that murder incident, didn't they?

6. If some fans believe that the voice of the recorded messages is the killer himself, and that he may have been the previous night-watchman before and during the incident... Could he be the one behind the whole animatronics-gone-deadly fiasco that this game is putting players through? (Just a theory.)

And now, to nitpick the game itself...
1. Why the limited power? The pizzeria must be too cheap to have running electricity.
2. Why is Camera 6 always down (except that you can only hear audio feedback)?
3. Why does Freddy the bear seem to appear in the office, even though the doors are closed? Wouldn't that technically mean that the game is cheating itself? (I believe that's cheating... or doesn't seem fair, at the very least.)
4. What's with the red cupcake in the office? (You know, the cupcake with the eyes...?) It has little to no importance to the game, instead to be one of the game's Easter eggs.
5. What's the purpose of having a squeaker on the pizzeria poster in the office? Does it summon one of the animatronics... or is that another Easter egg?
6. Why is there even an occupation as stupid as night-watchman for a wannabe-Chuck. E. Cheese restaurant? Couldn't the animatronics be used to scare off burglars at night? (This feels like deja vu.)
7. Is this game too stupid to know the difference between a male and a female.

For example, the bunny animatronic's name is Bonnie the Bunny. Unfortunately, the bunny is wearing a bow tie; so that's obviously a boy, right?! What about Chica the chicken? The game doesn't clarify whether the chicken is a boy or a girl either.

(I've seen many fan art fantasizing that Chica is a girl, but I just don't want there to be any future confusion or regrets. Well, by now, it's been clarified that it is a girl.)

Despite all the criticism here, I still think that Five Nights at Freddy's is still a great game. Last I heard, the sequel is gonna be more rough than the first...

Whatsoever Critic
Source: Five Nights at Freddy's

Courtesy: Scott Cawhorn

CHARACTER ANALYSIS #5: The Bad Apple from "LarryBoy and the Bad Apple"

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

About time we get to a good Character Analysis on a cartoon villain! Give it up for the Bad Apple from LarryBoy and the Bad Apple!

-Well... we really shouldn't be rooting for her. Know why? She's the bad guy, that's why!

What makes her more memorable than the other LarryBoy villains (for LarryBoy fans, at least)? What makes her creditable? What makes her top-notch? Well, pull up a couch and enjoy what's tempting candy in your hands...
-I say "tempting" because she symbolizes temptation... BTW she makes that perfectly clear several times in the movie... Don't get it? Well, okay. Scratch that. It's not really tempting candy we're dealing with here...
This is my Character Analysis on the Bad Apple.

When I first heard about the LarryBoy and the Bad Apple DVD in July of 2006,

I wasn't sure how to imagine the villain. I mean, I first envisioned the Bad Apple as a guy...
-...for some reason...
until I got my hands on the DVD and saw it for the first time in September of that exact same year.
-I was in 8th grade when I first saw this movie.
I was surprised to see that the Bad Apple was a woman, and that her character was seductive...
-...well, no sh**! She's temptation!

Unlike the Fib and the Rumor Weed, the Bad Apple has a much bigger personality. She's manipulative; she's deceiving; she's ambitious; and she gets things done. What's symbolic about her is that she can be referenced from the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, where the two were tempted by a serpent to eat the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Life, which was usually seen as the apple. And guess what: that works to the movie's advantage, as well as its message, because the Bad Apple is portrayed as temptation, trapping people into their temptations and looking to conquer.

Not to mention, this villain is smart as heck! If you look closely at the order of people that she entraps into temptation, you'll see that she takes down the Mayor first.

That makes sense, because the Mayor is the one running the city's tricentennial celebration. So, without the Mayor, the celebration is put on hold.
Next, the Bad Apple goes after the reporter Petunia Rhubarb, because she's reporting on the celebration.

-This was questionable, because the Bad Apple could've gone after the news anchor or the TV station itself. Well, she apparently take over the broadcast some way, but hey!
Then, the Bad Apple sets her sights on LarryBoy, because he's the one that can stop her if both the mayor and the media are put on hold.
-You know, this is like going through a chain of commands here. Just saying...
Eventually, she entraps not only LarryBoy,

but also his butler Alfred,

allowing her to carry out her plan to set up her evil funhouse in place of the city's 300th anniversary, so that she can enslave everyone else.

Plus, her voice! Can you really blame a villain for having a seductive voice? Well, sure, she's not Tim Curry or Benedict Cumberbatch, but it's really Cynthia West...
-(pause) You don't know who she is, do you? And don't try to Google it; there's little known about her.
Anyway, it's like the Bad Apple's voice actor got a tip from Tim Curry or someone in that league to have a scary yet seductive voice. It's that good!

Now... where does the Bad Apple fall flat?
-Well, to be fair, there's no such thing as a "perfect" character, especially in the LarryBoy universe...
-And by "fall flat," I mean what her problem is, other than that she can be a real bi-otch sometimes...
One problem is her sidekick Curly.

I know the movie wanted to create that old apple-with-a-worm imagery, but he has little to no personality outside of being a henchman to the Bad Apple.

-Yeah, and come to think of it, clashing a character with little to no personality with a character that has personality can be conflicting.
Plus, Curly seems less memorable than the other characters.

However, I have a theory that if you just picture him as Oscar the Grouch's pet worm,

if he got fed up with Sesame Street and decided to develop a Brooklyn accent and be in the employment of a cruel mistress.

Another problem is her back-story. We get a back-story alright... but it's told through the story of her great uncle... dated back to the discovery of America... with the Pilgrims.

-Uh, nice thought, but what about the Bad Apple herself. Sure, she got her evil personality from someone, but can you elaborate on her past, like her childhood?
Well, either way, that seemed to be enough to say that she's temptation, and she means business.

Another concern is... do you think the Bad Apple would've been too scary for younger audiences? Well, if the Fib from Outer Space was nightmarish, then the Bad Apple is the queen of nightmarish! She wears a cape at the beginning of the movie. But as the movie progresses, what's under that cape are spider legs that she can walk with, jump with, and even threaten people with.
-Yeah, there was a scene where she nearly stuck one of her spider legs into Curly's neck. Seeing that bit as an 8th grader, I couldn't believe I was watching that!
-Suggestive themes? There are a few, but only minor ones. For example, the Bad Apple stripping her cape to reveal spider legs was... a little questionable on how that was done. But just before that, when she and LarryBoy came down the stairs, LarryBoy was looking at her as if to check her out.
And how close she gets to LarryBoy...

(pause) I mean, seeing a character get that close to the movie's hero...

I mean, we're already trying to stomach that scene in The Pebble and the Penguin where Drake tries to get Marina to choose him or suffer the consequences in that one musical number.

However, in this case, instead of an uncomfortable song, we get an uncomfortable reciting of a random poem, along with an acid-trip-like backdrop.

Well, despite the character of the Bad Apple being, in some ways, a little risky, I still think that she's a great villain that goes under-appreciated.

Yeah, this movie may have took chances and outdid itself, but keep in mind that this was something that brought LarryBoy out of the diet-LarryBoy era of the Cartoon Adventures series. In fact, I present a challenge to Big Idea to bring the Bad Apple back, because... (SPOILER ALERT) her spider leg turning off the TV at the end HAD to have meant something!

Whatsoever Critic
Sources:
LarryBoy and the Bad Apple
Sesame Street (that one pic)
The Pebble and the Penguin (that one pic)

Courtesy: Big Idea; Children's Television Workshop; and Don Bluth.

CHARACTER ANALYSIS #4: Skipper from "Penguins of Madagascar"

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

Another video, and here we are! Character Analysis #4. So far, it's going... well, we had some breezes so far. But now that I've handpicked a great one, I'm glad to say "About time!"
So here it is! Skipper from Penguins of Madagascar.

I'm not sure how this one will be. However, Skipper is not as basic as the characters that I have analyzed so far.
-So, no "breeze" this time, I hope.
What's so great about this guy? What's unique? Well, sit back and enjoy another segment of CHARACTER ANALYSIS!

Skipper, by far, is one of the best stern leaders in media.

In fact, I'd rather see him in our military movies than anyone else.
-I mean, wouldn't he be great in movies like The Expendables, The Avengers...? Or heck! Space Cowboys?!
I don't know. He's just that great a leader that I feel like no one else can top him.

Without him, the formula for movie/TV teams wouldn't be complete; I mean, the muscle, the geek, and the friendly would be helpless without the leader...
-...Yeah, we'll get to that in a minute.
He, like Rico, first appeared in the Madagascar movies, as the smooth-talking, bent-on-agenda penguin leader that takes every mission seriously. He was one of the most memorable characters in the franchise, aside from the other penguins. So, when the spin-off TV show came out on Nickelodeon, Madagascar fans knew what to expect from this guy.

Besides the stern leader type, Skipper is smart, fights pretty bad-ass, and always to the point.

When it comes to his smarts, he definitely uses that to his and the team's advantage. Well, one can say that he's as smart as Kowalski; usually, he's the man (or penguin) with the plan.

Also, his combat skills are top-notch.

It's like every time you see him fight, it's like:
"Wow! Look at him go!"
"Whoa! How does he do that?"
"He doesn't mess around! Those moves are awesome!"
And to be honest, that's like one of the perks of being paramilitary all the time.

And of course, he's to the point.

He doesn't BS when he says this or that. He usually means every word he says. And by the way, he treats everything like a mission: from Christmas, to throwing a party, to just grabbing a snack from the zoo without anyone seeing, to just doing daily routine. EVERYTHING, in Skipper's world, is a mission.
-Not that there's a problem with that. I sometimes do that in my life...

Now that we've unraveled Skipper's character, we can finally explore what Team Penguin would be like without him. And yes, that has happened in the past. One perfect example of this is The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole.

This was when Skipper was robbed of his memories, strained on an island,

and had to rely on an imaginary Alex the lion to get himself back home to save the Central Park Zoo and New York from Dr. Blowhole.

Notice that during Skipper's absence the other penguins are oblivious to it, until Dr. Blowhole breaks into their HQ to assault them. During that time, the team is like Oh, sure. Skipper can handle himself. We don't need to worry about him. But in actuality, he was in trouble to begin with.
-Seriously, don't they use Skype on solo missions?

-And for that matter, why was Skipper on a solo mission to begin with? At least ask him to sign a waiver!
Anyway, Skipper and his memory loss wasn't all that interesting, because hey...

where's that street-wise stern leader when you need him?
That was that one epiosde where Skipper had fallen flat, because there wasn't much to work with. The memory loss acted like a catalyst.
-It's like trying to operate a car without the engine. It just wouldn't work.

Other than that, Skipper is one of my favorite characters in the cartoon universe, and I can't wait to see him in the 2014 Penguins of Madagascar movie... despite there being a villain that's NOT Dr. Blowhole... and that's NOT as best-looking... and that's NOT as threatening... and that's NOT as [FILL IN YOUR OWN INSULT HERE].

Whatsoever Critic
Source: Penguins of Madagascar

Courtesy: DreamWorks Animation

"Downton Abbey" Seasons 3 & 4 Review

Hi, I'm the Whatsoever Critic. I review just about anything.

This semester has not only being busy, but also fast. Lately, I've been working on different projects, as well as schoolwork. However, I'm still following the series Downton Abbey. However, I was supposed to review Seasons 3 & 4, but haven't had the time to because again... BUSY. So, to save time, I've decided to combine Seasons 3 & 4 into one review.

So, sit back and enjoy my take on Seasons 3 & 4 of Downton Abbey.
-Disclaimer: This review may be heavy on the spoilers. So, if you haven't seen the show, then stop reading now.
(pause)
Okay then let's get started!

Season 3:

Good news! Matthew and Mary are finally married!
-About time!
Bad news, though... the estate is in financial trouble. They try to seek help from people that they know, but they don't get the needed money until Matthew Crawley's ex-fiance's father writes that he passes down his inheritance to Matthew.
-BTW, Shirley MacLaine makes an appearance... in the season premiere. (Whoop-dee-do.)
As for the Grantham daughters, Sybil is expecting a child. Edith is subject to work as a columnist. And Mary is... well, just Mary.
-Not much is done about Mary...
Oh, and guess what, after being in prison for a while, Bates is freed.
-Thank you!
So, what kind of tragedies can overshadow the good stuff in this season? Um...
1. Sybil dies while giving birth to her daughter.
2. And who else dies? MATTHEW CRAWLEY! WTF?! Him and Mary were meant to be together, despite Mary's shortcomings! What's the matter with you?!

Season 4:

In this season, I still can't believe that Matthew is dead.
-I mean, come on, guys! Why?
Anyway, things get serious in this season. Just like Five Nights at Freddy's, things get harder and harder as the series progresses. I mean, check it out: there's a rape; Bates is questionably... questionable; and the essence of America creeping into the traditional realms of Downton Abbey. Oh yeah, and someone is murdered.
-Not saying anymore!

So, what was one theme that should out in seasons three and four? Well, it would have to be the theme of change. In the show, you can see that the main character Lord Grantham is trying to keep things the way they were, as if to run away from change and not embrace it. People tell him over and over that he has to accept change, because it's there. This nonacceptance of change is portrayed over and over in books and movies, that you can understand this character's struggle.

So, how were Seasons 3 & 4 for me? They were a lot more intense than the first two seasons. So, what's a girl to do, now that Season 5 is coming to a close, and I'm still trying to catch up to Season 5 before the Christmas special? Well, I've got a lot of work to do.

Whatsoever Critic
Source: Downton Abbey

Courtesy: PBS/Carnival Films