6th-sage's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[With My Mind's Madness]

This... let's see... what should I start with?

I'm really sorry you weren't eligible for Madness Day 2008's winner's list, being that you are an official NG staff and all. But Krinkels loved your submission to insanity, and even called it the best damn Madness tribute movie in history. Be proud.

Aight - I'll roughly divide the review into 2 parts - what I enjoyed and what I didn't like. Basically the Pros and Cons. And towards the end I have some questions (and suggestions if I have words left to write)

Pros:

Well, the smooth animation was excellent, but then again you ARE Mindchamber after all. The idea and your version of the ending took the Madness series to an even higher level - beyond the storm. I absolutely loved how you made Light and Dark clash on the brink of destruction of the world. And I thank you so much for remember Jesus's ability to summon zombies and his telekinetic powers.

What I enjoyed most was probably 2 things -

1. The music (I want it so bad, but I don't know where to download it =/). How you managed to make the animation match so well with the flow of the music I'll never know, but knowing your previous works (you veteran flash genius, you XD) I'm not surprised. I went to coldstage's site, but I can't find the song, any suggestions? ^^"

2. The battle of zombies against the Madness "victims" was the climax of the entire animation. I absolutely loved how you made army clash against army rather than just one person killing all (even though that's Krinkel's signature theme, but whatever, it's your work). And when Jesus went into overdrive by self-crucification was absolutely ingenius. But I couldn't read the words in the back, was it "Underestimated Government", "Unenstated government" or something else? It flashed too fast for me to catch the words. T_T"

Cons -

Well no one's perfect, and although you are one of the Gods of flash, even Gods make fatal errors. (Check out Messed Up Bible Stores, LOL). You are welcome to disagree at anything I write, because opinions are relative and may flash differently in your eyes. All I ask is to judge the criticism without bias.

What should I nag about first?

I guess I'll start with the quality. All right, I understand - you only had a week. The rough quality of the animation made my eyes hurt a bit, because it was a bit scratchy. Actually, that was what stopped me from getting a 10. Now, I'm not exactly complaining though - because as you said, you only had a week. But that's still no excuse - you should have prepared earlier. That way the quality would have skyrocketed, and your score (number 1 as it is) will rise beyond the heavens into the cosmic realms.

The second con was that it was rather disturbing, even more disturbing than Krinkel's madness series. Okay, the killing the victims part was all right, because it was the Madness Signature theme. But the self-crucification part, however much I enjoyed it at first, gave me nightmares. Seriously. And I'm sure there are probably some religiously serious people who are secretly cursing you at night for using such a religious relation to the real crucification of Jesus. Well I'm not Christian (I'm Buddhist), but I guess maybe some christians out feel a bit insulted.

You left out Hanks and the Clown. That disappointed me. I know Krinkels made it look like Jesus killed them, but Hanks and the Clown don't die. You should know that. If the Hanks can get his head ripped off by the clown and still manage to make a full recover as to commit mass slaugher, a couple of stabs and bullets can't stop them. What you could have done is have Jesus summon them as a zombie. There could've been a high-level battle. But it probably won't be able to match the music.

Also, I have a question - What happened in the end? Who switched heads with whom and how did it happen? And why did it happen? I'm confused. @_@

Meh, it's still one of your best works. Being number one on top fifty proved it. Don't let my review get to you. I'm a harsh critic. Not that may read this of course, you have like 1311 reviews.

Best of luck in the future.

MindChamber responds:

I agree with everyting.. but remember hank and the clown werent in the last madness episode, and this was an epilogue of that one. adding them wouldnt have made any sense.

[Super Mario bros Z ep.7 (old series)]

OMFG WHERE THE F*** WHERE YOU???

BASTARD, DID YOU KNOW THAT I MARKED EVERY FLIPPING DAY OF THE CALENDER, WAITING FOR YOU? I WAS SHAKING LIKE I WAS ON DRUGS, DAY PASSED LIKE YEARS, AND YOU NEVER WENT ON. I'M GOING TO KILL YOU.

Lol, jokes aside - congrats on your newest episode. You took your sprite skills up a notch AND you threw in voice acting. I daresay if you continue this, you may even surpass Daniel Sun's sprite skills. However, strong as you are, you're still several notches below him.

The humor continues to be a bit silly to the point of being corny, but the hell of a story makes up for it. I think that's where your movie really shines though - the plot and dialogue. It has a small taste of DBZ while adding your own spices to further expand the uniqueness of thsi work. I love the way how you made the good guys strong, but not overly dominant. However, I was hoping for only a central bad guy, not many =/.

Well, I suppose I do have a popular question that many of us have been dying to ask - are you ever going to add blood?

I know you've watched the Power Star episodes and that's where you got your motivation, but Daniel's ability to rip toads apart is top notch. I think you can take a few leafs out of his book.

What I'm really wanting to see is a war - a clash of army vs. army. I'm not saying a 5 people army. I'm talking thousands against thousands. That would be pretty cool, considering that it's pretty hard to animate that. And please don't make the soldiers cannon fodder. At least let them fight back.

Well, it was a long wait, and an even longer watch (damn, you piled up the dialogue to the point of insanity), but it was worth the wait.

I suppose I'll mark my calender for 2010 for episode 9 to come out. Haha.

I HOPE NOT.

Regards, 6th-sage.

[Power Star 4]

Hmm... this is going to be a long one...

The score I wanted to give you was 9.5, but I rounded it to a 10.

So we have the main antagonist Mario. And we have the tragic hero Luigi. And basically Mario gets possessed by Boos in Power Star 1. He commits mass slaughter of Toads in an attempt to seize all the power stars. And then Luigi comes in and chases Mario. He fights fiercely from Power Star 2 all the way to 3. But Luigi still had brotherly feelings towards Mario and could not bring it in to kill him; and possessed Mario proved too strong for Luigi to stop. So in the end, strong as Luigi was, he could not defeat Mario and dies by sword point. Mario goes berserk and kills Peach. Mario, upon seeing them dead, commits suicide and kills the host along with the invaders. Everyone dies.

What a happy ending.

What should I nag about first? Hmm, I'll start with the Toads. I wanted the Toads to have an "evolution". As in, kind of like climbing up stairs, the further the story goes, the stronger the Toads. The first toads will be basic soldiers. The 2nd toads to enter will be like knights - the stronger soldiers (armored Toads). The 3rd will be elite combat Toads (FBI-looking Toads). The 4th kind will be Toad assassins (a ninja-looking toad). And finally Giant Toads (Giant Toads, that's clear enough I think). I would have you improvise and strengthen the Toads as the story grows.

And what happened to the yoshis? They disappeared after their debut in Power Star 2! Did you give up on them or something? Or did they just happen to vanish. And you didn't have any of the Yoshis possessed. You should know that Yoshis are stronger than Toads and are people's favorite characters.

About your ending - I predicted a tragic ending from the start. That I already knew from the beginning from the foreshadowing and the dark mood of the entire story. I am grateful for you not making the hero (luigi) overly dominant. The hero was strong, but the bad guys were stronger. However, you made the hero close enough to the bad guys in strength as to have a fierce fight. The balance of power was perfect. And your fight scenes kicked ass. Especially the swords. I would have liked a gun duel, too though =/. No guns =_="

But your ending has a weakness - it was too rushed. I would have ended it the same way BUT added a few scenes. However, opinions are trivial, and my version might not be so good in your eyes. All I ask is that you judge without bias.

I would have done the same thing with Power Star 4 all the way until Mario raises his sword about to kill Luigi. Then, Mario has a struggle in his mind. His head starts to pound and then he drops his sword. The scene flashes to the dark world inside Mario's heart. Mario refuses to listen to his host to kill Luigi and he resists the command. And then war occurs inside Mario's dark world. Finally, the war becomes so fierce that Mario's body separates into 2 - Dark Mario and Light Mario. And Boo takes possession of the Dark Mario. Mario wakes up and finds Luigi unconscious (but not dead) next to him. He dukes it out with Dark Mario, but is overwhelmed. Just as hope is lost, Luigi wakes up and joins Light Mario in the fight against Dark Mario.

Dark Mario is overwhelmed and attempts to flee. He commands his invaders (which did nothing in power star 4 except march) to attack them. Luigi and Mario slash their way through the possessed Toads and finally catches Dark Mario. They have a fierce fight against Dark Mario and blasts the castle apart.

Dark Mario is overwhelmed and finally killed. Hope is won and a happy ending ensues... or it should've. Just as they prepare to celebrate, Dark Mario's eyes light up. The Host escapes Dark Mario and takes possession of Light Mario. Light Mario goes berserk and stabs Luigi in the back. Luigi dies. Then do the same thing you did for your ending. Mario kills Peach. And the "Is there anything more painful than watching those you love... die..." thing. And Mario suicides. Blah blah blah.

But nice job man. You are the king of sprite flashes. I loved it all the way.

Damn, I'm out of words

D-SuN responds:

Wow thats quite a review... I love it!
Your ending to Power Star 4 is actualy very good and would work! Infact, Its rathe similar to one of the endings I had planed. The battle inside Marios Soul. I actualy animated some of that. I might try to digg it up.
Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoyed Power Star so much that you wrote this. I'll be wiping out some awesome stuff in the future so stay tuned :)
Peace

[Dawn of the Madness]

WTF is with that "To be continued" shit? =D

Damn! Looked like you performed a DBZ fusion with the Resident Evil and Madness Combat series. Now, I absolutely loved how you based the art and concept on Madness while having a bit of your own stuff. This is my favorite Madness 2008 submission by far along with Xionic Madness 2 (Check that out if you haven't already. now THAT's what I call unique).

You know what would make the series even more pwnage? Check out the "Castle III" series. I want to see not just a few people against many, but rather I want to see army against army. That would be badass. Don't make the soldiers just cannon fodder. If you kill off any soldiers, then at least let the soldiers take down a few zombies.

Cuz Madness it's just one person (okay, 3 if you include Jesus and the clown) killing many. What I would like to see would be not slaughter, but war. I want to see human army against zombie army. That would be sweet and it would include something Krinkels doesn't do. So basically I want to see mass slaughter against mass slaughter instead of just a few people killing thousands. I know that's what Madness is all about, but you could incorporate a few of your own ideas.

Thank goodness you had a plot. Krinkels also has a plot, but it's a more abstract kinda plot. Yours is a bit more solid and understandable. Thank goodness (albeit a bit unoriginal of an idea, but still great). I enjoyed how you killed off some of the main characters, otherwise the protagonists would be overly dominant and that's how I hate it.

Grenades and explosives would be a nice addition. You could do some aerial battles from the chopper. If I were to write the story (don't mind me, I'm just writing fan fiction) - I would find that the Pennsylvania Island infested by the zerg, I mean, ZOMBIE LOL. And group of 3 find that the base is already blasted into oblivion. And just as they were about to lose all hope, they find a small band of surviving soldiers in uniforms (maybe about 20 or 30). And together they try to find a way to contact the outside source. They find a radio tower, which is their only source of communication on the island. But it's already invaded by the zombies. So the soldiers and the gang rush in to contact anyone outside.

It took a while, with a mechanic trying to fix the equipment with the survivors trying to fend off the zombie invaders. Finally, they made contact with the Central Military Headquarters. The headquarters tell them that they are planning to seal off the eastern coast of America and in 3 days, they will use nuclear bombardment to cleanse the entire area of zombies. They tell them that they can spare 3 choppers to the base. But it will take 2 days to arrive.

And they have to survive for a 48 hrs - (use your imagination - how they survive the 2 days). And they are being slaughtered and cornered. The army of zombies are endless. Just as they are about to lose hope, 3 choppers land. The next part is based on the "Castle III" series.

They slash their way through the endless zombie hordes to try to get to the choppers. But there are too many zombies. The pilots urge the surivors to hurry up. And soon the zombies attack the helicopters. But the survivors are still too far away. And soon, the zombies laid waste to the first helicopter and it explodes. Only 2 choppers left.

The other two decide to take off and throw rope ladders down to avoid zombies. And the survivors grab hold of the ropes while shooting and trying to fend off the zombies. But one ladder was overtaken by zombies and the zombies mass onto the chopper's tail. The chopper loses balance and falls to the ground.

The last chopper remains and the pilot yells that the chopper could only support 10 people at most. But there are 15 survivors left. And so, one of the main heroes jumps off to stay behind. 5 other soldiers head off after him.

And they fight a heroic suicidal battle while the other choppers take off. And then in the distance, the nuke arrives and BOOM. The survivors see the mushroom cloud as they fly towards the sunset.

I'm out of words.Damn

LittleLuckyLink responds:

Woah this was long
Nice story there bud, that's actually the sort of direction I am headed for with Day of the Madness.

[Super Mario bros Z ep 3 (old series)]

Well...

Yoshi is one of my favorite characters, and I know that allowing Yoshi to fight back even for some time against Mecha Sonic is supposed to have proven Yoshi one of the stronger characters in the Sonic World, I still wished he did a lot better. Seriously. Well, assuming this was made before Super Smash Bros Brawl, I forgive you, because in brawl, Yoshi has a lot of killer moves.

Aside from that, the 7th hasn't been out yet for some time. Meh, take your time, because it takes time to make a flash decently, but don't take too long. Or you might find guns and knives aimed at your throat from crazy fans demanding you make the 7th flash or die and I would be amongst them. =D

I gave it an 8, the highest I give to sprite movies. But I cannot give you a 10. For one thing, you got the concept from DBZ, the sprites and characters from video games, and you don't even have voice-acting. The only thing you have is your story line and action. The storyline is based off of DBZ (well, of course it is, it's a parody). The action and suspense is amazing, I give you that - with the amazing attacks and combinations, but there are too many flash movies on newgrounds that the action is not exactly out of the world. To sum it off, you lacked originality, or rather you have an original idea that's not original, or an unoriginal idea that's original. Whatever. I still loved it. Otherwise, I wouldn't have give it an 8. Put some original ideas in there (they take skill and luck - but skill you definitely have). Imagination is infinite, and with brains like yours, there should be lots of it. Find something that no one else has used and apply it. Many ideas are used up already, but there still has to exist some. Find them.

Well as for episode 6, it was much better because you moved it from dimensions of 2 to 3 - also you started it out with a bang, so if I wanted to review that, I would've given it a 9.

[Elevator Action++]

OMG VINNIE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN MAN?

Geez it's been ages since I last saw one of your flash movies. I can't believe you haven't submitted anything for so long, but welcome back!

I was hoping you'd surprise us with another CCC movie and this one was okay... but there were a few lacking elements that would've made it a kick-ass movie:

1. The pace was extremely slow compared to your CCC movies like Rush or Rush 2... which practically bored me to death all the way until the end. I felt absolutely no suspense, which is weird because there's guns and shootings and all. For one thing, you could've speeded up the animation a lot more and added in a few more details - one where you put the protagonist in danger for a moment, which might let our hearts skip a few beats. For another, the music, though it might be intentional, added to the boredom by being simple, slow, and well... classic, which was another difference compared to your previous CCC movies with their rapid, exciting music.

2. There was no plot - you could've expanded a bit with an intro: why he was invading the building (cuz not all of us have played the video game XD) - for what purpose, and stuff. I'll cut off some slack because this si supposed to be a short, right? But maybe adding a say... a half a minute intro (like a flashback) or something to get us into the mood. Your type of flash movies, well, if they lack plots, they lose half their points.

3. The flash was too simple to vote high for. I voted a 4 for it, and I could vote 5 for it if you want, but it's not top-notch compared to your previous movies. I personally thought you could've done a lot better. It was short, simple, and had little meaning, which was a direct opposite of some of your previous works. Frankly, I kept myself to the edge of my seat hoping for something to pop out and surprise me... and nothing happened.

No offense man, I'm still a big fan of your works and this one isn't a failure, just short of what could've been great. But seriously, don't just suddenly disappear for half a century without telling us XD. Newgrounds love you, you know that ^_^.

[Metal Gear Awesome 2]

I'll get straight to the point

Well it's useless trying to compliment you, cuz I wouldn't know where to begin, and everybody before me had just about said every good thing about this. I'm sad to hear that you no longer wish to continue your Awesome series, but still I wish you luck on your future works.

Meh, I'll cut to the point - I only have a few suggestions:

1. Put in subtitles damn it, I mean, some of us can't keep up with your light-speed voice-acting, some of them are slurred or not understandable (I know the fast voice-acting is what makes this a classic, but can't you put a subtitles option). And for the people who can keep up, they can turn off that option, but for those who can't, I would appreciate being able to understand the words or I might miss a punch-line or two.

2. Well, I would suggest menus - as in... scene-selections cuz this is pretty long, and some of us want to just watch a specific scene.

3. If you want, you could make a commentary or something that explains to us how you thought of these things - what inspired you, what was the motive behind the humors, and whatnot. I mean, that would explain a lot to us on why this was late, how this became funny, and everything.

4. The Easter Egg was like... a split second. Wtf? Lol. Leave the penis-jokes for Tankman XD.

I won't comment on the scratchy graphics, because I understand that's what makes the whole series funny in the first place. Well , I'm done. But care to let us on a few secrets to your future projects? What're you starting on after now that the Awesome series is over?

[Awesome Compilation Vol 5]

Well... I'll be honest

Not bad, but in my opinion (maybe other people disagree) it wasn't as good as the previous ones.

1. I liked your "acapella" ranting in the menu screen, but you didn't include it in.
2. I get the humor in this one, but it didn't seem to make me laugh.

Meh, it's still pretty good, just that I liked it better. Don't let it get to you man, it might just be my personal taste for humor does not conform with this version.

[Waterlollies]

Damn, took you long enough

As usual, outstanding graphics as expected of an ex-Disney animator. I thought the Yuyu was already beyond a normal human flash artist's capabilities, but you took this to a whole new dimension. I must say, WOW.

But as usual, you fail to create a long term plot. Here's the deal, you have created an amazing world full of creativity and infinite possibilities, and you have unique and unforgettable, special characters, but you have no definite plot. I'm sure you're so sick and tired of hearing this, but there's backbone. A backbone or a plot is usually what keeps the series running and it's getting annoying just to see "fillers" if you understand anime vocabulary.

In short - what you're good at -

1. Graphics
2. Creating a vivid, imaginative world and scenery
3. Character creating and personality.

What you lack -

1. A major plot to support the series as a backbone. It's either you have a plot, but we can't see it (then you need to expand on that).
2. Without a plot, there's basically no meaning to a story, which means, all we've seen of this film is kinda like a documentary of a fictional world, and it's boring. There's action, but no meaning to the action.
3. DIALOGUE. YOU NEED DIALOGUE. So far, I've rarely seen dialogue (perhaps only once), and there's no interaction between characters other than motion. This can be a good AND a bad thing. Lack of voice actors and trying to make interactions stand out through behavior and personality through action may emphasize and strengthen a characteristic of the character. But dialogue can enhance it even more, and overall, it's something that can't be replaced readily. In movies (other than the silent films), and in novels as well as comics and anime, there are dialogue.

So basically, it's like a golden rocking horse that shines prettily, but there's no center core, and when you try to ride on it, it collapses.

And something else besides the criticism, I really want to understand the meaning and purpose behind your Brackenwood series. I went to your site and checked out the history and motives behind making the Brackenwood series, but I'm not understanding why you're making it in the first place. Is it out of hobby? Or are you using it as a stepping stone to transcend and do something even higher, like say... transform this into an actual disney series/movie? Is it kind of like a preview or trailer, to give us a "taste" of what's going to happen in an actual disney movie? Or are you just going to stick with making this a flash series for newgrounds?

And anyway... (I hope I'm not saying too much) I want to thank you for making such an outstanding, and vividly graphical film that transcends the natural boundaries of a normal human. I know you might not respond to this (hell, none of the popular ones respond, cuz you get too many reviews, I know), but I wish you the best of luck in the series. The important thing is to listen to the reviewers. If something similar not sporadically, but quite frequently amongst us reviewers, well... take the advice.

For encouragement, Mr. Phillips (if this happens, otherwise ignore me) - When you've reached a certain point where you feel that you've reached the ultimate limit and there's a barrier blocking your way to a higher level and you think there's no way to pass that barrier, you're wrong. If you can't pass the barrier, then SMASH that barrier with a hammer. I've been through that before, and I made myself that hammer and smashed that barrier down and continued on. You may need to knock that barrier many times before it breaks, but I assure you, it CAN be broken. Never give up.

I wish you luck in your future series and I'm sorry going very off track with my review and heavily off topic, but anyway, thanks for the flash movie. You are God. I bow down to you, but even God can make mistakes. That's why we exist =D.

Signed by yours truly,
Nick
~ checking out.~ ^_^

[Mastermind]

I beg to differ.

You might have meant it intentionally, but you're being a sexist. As in, you're not being sexually equal. Not all women are walking tits with skimpy skirts. There are alot of women who are hired by men NOT because of their pretty face or whatever sexual attractions, but rather their own abilities. Women are just as capable as men, whether in business, medicine, or even the military. Heck, some walking tits and skimpy skirted women might even be MORE capable than the men in the military. That's being unfair by calling any women being involved in jobs or business nothing but a pair of walking tits. That's insulting them and demoting them, causing a major rift between men and women once again. I must say, when I saw this, I'm not very pleased.

The-Swain responds:

There were two main characters, one of whom was sexist and one of whom was offended by sexism. You immediately associate me, the artist, with the sexist character.

I don't normally say this, but you're an idiot.