Back with a new episode from Self Quarantine and with my first remote guest in the Concerts To Consoles history. This episode brings Duck, from Joystick, remotely on the show from NOLA. As we catch up with each other, talk about the band and quarantine activities, we try the trick or treating JRPG style of Costume Quest on the Xbox 360. Find it on YouTube, the Twitch archive, and podcast services now!
A few days have passed since the rest of Costume Quest season one dropped, but I’ll stick to the Spoiler routine just in case.
Brief non-spoiler thoughts. Wow, this was good. They didn’t do a couple of things I thought they would, they did do a couple of things I thought they would, but in ways I didn’t expect that were ten times better. And I got at least one thing spot on.
Anyway, the rest below the cut off.
Oh, wow did that get epic. I admit it started off a bit week and there were some odd things I didn’t quite get behind. Since when does the president of a candy factory run a town? Okay yeah, Auburn Hollow is literally a factory town, but I’m pretty sure they would elect a mayor and city council at some point. Also, since when is a company president chosen in a public election? I get that they needed to put the nougat supply in Bob’s hands, but yeesh. Anyway from here on episode by episode.
Breaker/Breaker:
Yeah, the plots for this one and Factory Tour were spoiled by IMDB. Still, nice to see how they played out. I like to see Everette getting super serious about his dad. This does lead to the lead to the standard-issue with shapeshifters becoming, vehicles, though. Um, you do realize you’re riding inside someone's body, right?
Also, since when do people get seasonal allergies for a day or two at most? Okay, Nougat is a mineral that can be processed into candy. Okay, fine. But, now it’s also a crystal that can reflect sunlight and make a rainbow? Look, can we just pick a method of making science cry and stick to it, please?
Factory Tour:
Yeah, IMDB spoiled Oona as the dragon, but it was still nice to see her in action. It was also nice seeing Wren get a taste of humble pie. Hmm, you know Ren, maybe the hundred plus-year-old monster hunter who can become a dragon doesn’t need your help? Just a thought.
Stuck in the Middle with Toots:
Sigh, yeah I know Wren had to learn not to put too much faith in idols. But, I was really pulling for Rudy to be a decent person, here. It’s not to see Wren give someone the benefit of the doubt, even though it came back to bite her in the end.
Scout’s Honour:
What...was this? We see Reynold’s role as secret-keeper wear on him and Norm cover for him, okay, that’s fine. But, Reynold retreats to the history wing of the factory again? I thought we covered this, already. Plus Scout just comes out of nowhere. And we’re stuck with a cliche plot about someone making a friend, only to have the friend betray them the first time an opportunity comes along. Scout’s design was nice though, gave me an old school Real Monsters! vibe with the foot hands.
But, am I the only one thinking Reynold dumping her on an island was massively out of character for him? Okay, yeah desperation moment, but still. Though the woman’s reaction to Reynold and Scout in the bathroom was priceless. Also, good call going with healthy snacks, Reynold. Especially since everyone’s been binging on nougat for the whole show.
Schmooz Cruise:
Okay, I’ll just say it. I thought this was going to be Lucy’s mom going on a singles cruise and Lucy getting jealous. Turns out it was Everette getting jealous of Benji. It’s a nice Iron that Everette, who is the tallest of the four, is also the most prone to act childish. And it’s nice to see him start to grow out of it. Also, I was wondering when that girl was gonna show up, I mean she’s in the opening credits. Hey, Lucy gets in on the crossplay with Wren. And she makes a fine pirate, though it looks like the Gorton’s Fisherman has let himself go a bit. :) And is it me, or is Reynold having far to much fun with that merman costume.
Perfect Vision:
I had no idea what to expect with this one going on. Nice to see the kids getting creative with the costumes to campaign for Oona. But, then we go into another cliche plot, this time someone having a vision and becoming paranoid about it. Someone should have told Lucy you can’t force fate.
A couple quick points. We got a tease of Lucy’s mom being a monster. And it’s nice to see that Lucy would be cool with it. Though we get some foreshadowing with Ren’s attitude. And did Lucy not catch Wren threatening her mom, or is Lucy just used to Wren? How the heck does an ice cream give itself brain freeze? And Wren plays up the stereotype that geese are evil. Also nice to see those two monsters again. They seem to be a bit of a couple, which is an unexpected bit of character growth.
Dragon’s and Dry-cleaners:
Once again, Wren’s recklessness comes to bite her. And we finally get Oona’s personality as a jaded loner who doesn’t think she needs anybody. I really thought Wren was going to learn a lesson here, but no. That was saved for later on. Still, cool fight scene.
In the mouth of Badness:
Buckle up, kids, here we go. The rest of the episodes are a straight shot to the finale. They almost pull a 24 here. It’s such a shame that it had to start on a sunch a mediocre note. I mean seriously, an eating contest? It was basically an excuse to resolve Scout’s plot, but at least it’s nice to see that Bob can be too arrogant for his own good. But, the main fight, inside of Bob’s mouth? I mean just why? That was some major cringe material, especially for people who are allergic to bee stings.
Deal With It:
And this gets real, quick Nice touch calling back to the Fun Room. I knew Ren using the doggy door would bite her eventually. It’s nice to see Norm step up and get active, though he’s not really good at it, or making deals to help people.
And the secret is blown, in the worst, way possible. I honestly wonder what Reynold was thinking in that moment. Not hard to know what Wren was thinking. But, it’s nice to see that Everette and Lucy were willing to be reasonable. And really nice to see Norm get some action. Speaking of action...
Sibling Showdown:
I felt fairly cathartic when I read the title of this one. I knew Wren’s bossy, aggressive, attitude would push Reynold too far at some point. And it’s nice to see Reynold actually hold his own, here. He may not be all that good with the physical stuff, he’s been living with Wren his whole life, he knows what buttons to push. Sadly, I thought the two would hug it out here. I should have known Wren could never let something go so easy.
What about Norm?:
But, it did lead to this nice episode. Wren starts off in practically a berserker rage. I love that that had to dump her in the fun room just to get her to listen. So now we get Norm’s backstory. It’s nice seeing the original four kids, again. But, really, Oona’s the only one we get to see out of costume? I know budget limits and all, but would it have killed you to at least give us a glimpse of the other three? Man, Norm had a harsh life. And if people didn’t hate Bob before, they do now. Also only Oona gets pissed at Norm, the other three see angry Oona and just nope out of the whole thing. Honestly, both Wren and Oona give me a bit of a Lucy vibe. I just wonder if that was intentional. And Lucy finally realizes how dumb she was being. It’s nice to see them make up and also nice to see Wren’s tantrum come back to bite her. “Uh, where’s Reynold?” “Oh, crap.”
O Grubbin, Where Art Though:
Not that Reynold needed any help. I admit I thought Lucy would use her Edit form to start a grubbin uprising, but no, leave it to Reynold to think his way out of a problem. The two monsters Lucy made friends with are back and Oona finally starts to thaw a bit. Nice to see Rudy get a big damned heroes moment, even if it did get him grubbinized. And it’s especially nice to see Reynold throw Bob’s arrogance back in his face. But, this is only the wind-up to the final act...
All Hallow’s Eve:
Hoo boy, did they pull out all the stops? Wren learned that you shouldn’t put your faith in idols, but she also learns that sometimes people can surprise you. And the kids left their best battle costumes home. Hey, at least this way it gives them time to spend a few moments with their parents and Oona and Norm a chance to settle things. I pretty much knew Oona was going to be the friend Norm lost. But it’s still touching to realize that Oona never forgot Norm, even if she never forgave him.
Okay, brief quality time moments. Wren and Reynold carving a pumpkin together. Wren could never quite spit out an I’m sorry, but in the end she didn’t need to. Reynold gets her. Also nice to see the mom warning about no fighting and the twins looking very sheepish. If she only knew.
Nice to see that Everette has gotten over Benji’s girlfriend. And it also shows that Benji hasn’t grown up too much, while Everette has grown up just enough. I Wonder if that Masked Rider costume is going lead into anything?
And now my favorite moment of the whole episode, maybe the whole series. Lucy and her mom sit down and hash things out. And Lucy reveals all. The mom just thinks she’s playing pretend of course, right up until Lucy turns into Edit. Yeah, there’s no real arguing with that. Also, Lucy just turned into a monster and told her mom she and her friends are going to battle monsters for the fate of the entire world and the mom’s immediate response is, you know it’s getting chilly out, maybe take a jacket? It’s not as bad as it seems. The mom just had a traffic jam in her head at that moment and that happened to be the first thing that worked itself loose. I just wish we could have seen the talk they had later.
And factory Brawl! In this corner, four kids, an old woman with magic costumes and a friendly monster with a lot of determination. And in this corner, a factory load of monsters with an unlimited supply of power-ups. Even though it was obvious this wouldn’t go anywhere, it was still cool as hell.
Also, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself! That gag will never get old. It looks like Oona was doing a little prep work. And Norm finally gets to follow in father’s footsteps with the portal juice. Also, wren taking a page from Reynold’s book and using her head, nice touch.
And Rudy pulls a double, shutting off his own movie premier and rallying the kids to the amusement park. Of course, Wren points out they don’t have a bunch of magic costumes for them. But, then Lucy remembers Mr. Elephant. Now, I thought they would go giant robot, here. But, they did one much better. Turning the park rides into king-kong sized versions of the original costumes, much cooler. Is it me, or did Bob kinda go down like a chump a little bit? He got in a little defense, but not a whole lot of offense. Still, it was the culmination of the kids working together and Bob’s arrogance getting the better of him. Anyone else think the portals weren’t open for very long? How are they supposed to organize an invasion when they have access to their reinforcements for an hour tops?
And a new day dawns. Nice to see everybody getting on with life. Oona and Norm in the factory, the kids commenting on the cool monster fight. And Rudy and the other two Grubbins are still around. Can that blonde kid ever catch a break?
Wow, this was epic But, there’s something I’ve got to wonder. Lucy told her mom the truth and proved it. A theater full of kids and at least one teenager participated in a giant monster fight. And pretty much half the town saw four park rides get up and beat down a giant monster. So, is the lid off at this point? I mean it’s going to take some CIA level covering up to put this genie back in the bottle. Also, are Wren, Reynold, Everette, and Benji going to have conversations of their own with their parents?
Well, that’s all for now. Looking forward to Heroes on Holiday next month. Now I know it’s a Christmas special, which are usually standalone stories because networks usually play them at holiday time instead of the regular rotation.
But, this is Amazon Prime and that rule doesn’t apply anymore. It could be a standalone story, or it could follow up on All Hallow’s Eve. And this a possibility it could do more.
Now, I know that this is a totally different continuity from the games, but still my mind goes to three words. Grubbins on Ice. An expansion of the first game that is set at Christmas time and sees the kids dragged to Repugia. I don’t know if Costume Quest has earned a second season, or not. But, it makes you think. It’s awfully convenient they picked a Christmas special. Anyway, if there is a season two I just hope we don’t have to sit around and wait seven months for the second half. That did not work, at all!
Wren, Reynold, Everett and Lucy face off against ferocious, nougat-munching monsters that lurk in the shadows of the sleepy town of Auburn Hollow. They must learn to use their imaginations to unlock the magical powers of their homemade costumes and save the universe on a night where monsters reign... Halloween!
COSTUME QUEST is out today on Amazon Prime Video! It’s the first half of season 1, with the second half coming this fall. One big story from beginning to end! Check it out!
Just got done watching the first six eps of the new Costume Quest series.
I’ll split this into spoiler and non-spoiler Sections. First a few non-spoiler notes.
I thought I was gonna be irritated by them turning turning Wren into into a brusque tomboy and Reynold into a scaredy-cat, but I really wasn’t. The four kids personalities seem to really fit them.
I like Norm, he’s a really good character. He basically takes the role of Dorian from the games.
The changes they made to the game’s plot took a bit of getting used to, but it actually kinda works.
Okay, now for spoilers below the break.
Okay, let me just get this out of the way. They changed the story from the games. To the point where this can basically be considered an alternate universe. But, you know, I really don’t mind. I like the story they’ve told so far. And if the story is going where it seems to be going, this could get very interesting.
The costumes look great. Nice to seem some favorites from the game, but it’s great that they’re also throwing in a bunch of new ones. Also the ones from the opening credits are a total fake out. They basically lose those by the end of the second episode. Also each kid seems to have a set of costumes and I think they really fit their personalities. I just hope this doesn’t become a trend. I know they only have so much money in the budget. But I’d love to see the kids actually trading up costumes at some point.
Let’s take a look at each of the kids styles.
Reynold:
As I said they turned Reynold into a bit of a scaredy cat. But, they also kinda made him the smart kid and his costumes reflect that. With the exception of the superhero his costumes focus more on agility and support over muscle and melee and it kinda fits.
Wren:
Wren’s costumes are a little odd. They’re playing up her tomboy side, so almost all of her costumes have her either turning into traditionally boyish things, dinosaurs, movie monsters, or into actual guys, Abraham Lincoln as an action hero Sherlock Holmes and the headless horseman. This is very interesting and I’ll talk more about it later.
Everette:
Everette’s costumes fit him perfectly. Either he’s trying to play the hero, knight karate, robot, or he’s trying to impress people, like Partystein and the Daredevil. That just seems to fit him, somehow.
Lucy:
All but one of Lucy’s costumes are animals and this makes total sense. Lucy is big into science so it makes perfect sense for her to pick costumes from the animal kingdom. The only exception? A sci-fi space hero. But, there’s more to Lucy than that. Note, I’m not counting the birthday episode costume as an official costume. Though that is a great episode for Lucy. She’s really starting to show an independent attitude and it culminates with her not only taking down a Repugian by herself, but also standing up to her own mom, which, in a lot of ways, can be even harder.
Now we get to what I think is really the weakest part of the show so far, the monsters. Well kind of. There’s a good part to this and a bad part.
First the bad part, the Repugians are really getting the shaft, here. The different types from the games are gone. Now they’re just generic monsters. And it’s really confusing too. Apparently Grubbins are little gremlin things who need to eat nougat to turn into big monsters. So are Repugians the name of the big monster forms? Are Grubbings baby forms? It’s just a total mess. Also, no Dorsilla, instead so far the main baddie is a Repugian who got a promotion and is acting like a privileged jerk. Slightly off topic and no offense, but the writers really don’t understand what nougat is. It’s honeyed almond paste, not a mineral for god’s sake.
Now we get to the good part of this, the human suits. Oh my good, they’re pulling a full on Animorphs, here. The repugians are disguised as humans and living and working along side other people. The first episode reveals that people the kids recognize from their neighborhood are monsters in disguise.
This is actually great, not only does it force the kids to have to be very careful who they tell, but they can never be certain they’re safe. That lends a whole atmosphere of tension. Everette has a big brother in this version and one of his teenage friends, who he’s presumably been hanging out with for at least a year, turned out to be a monster. Which leads me into.
The story set up:
Okay, yeah I guess they couldn’t just go with kids fighting monsters using the power of Halloween. That might be fine for video games, but it just isn’t enough for an animated series. But, I legitimately like the way they solved the problem. It adds so much depth to the story.
The way the costumes work actually makes sense. It’s basically Repugian magic, or at least monster magic, powered by imagination.
There’s a legacy, now. This has happened before and four other kids teamed up to save the town, then. I like that. Also, the show might just be hinting that one of those kids is still around, though not a kid anymore.
But, the single thing I like the most is the fact that Repugians aren’t the only monsters. It flat out says other monsters have been coming to the human world for ages. And, unlike the Repugians, most of the others didn’t come here to cause trouble, most of them just wanted to live in peace. And by all accounts, at least some of them have been. And that opens all kinds of possibilities.
Now to finish of with a few final points. Bear in mind most of these are strictly speculation on my part.
They posted the first half of season one and also a teaser for the second half. It seems that the guy in charge of the Repugians is just a placeholder and the real big bad is coming. Please, let this be Big Bones, or at least Dorsilla, maybe?
The monsters living here for generations thing opens all kinds of possibilities. Wren basically guesses this in the first ep. True, she was just being paranoid at the time, but is it still paranoia if you turn out to be right?
Also there’s something I couldn’t help but notice. In the second half of the first ep the kids get lured to a meeting of monster survivors, which turns out to be a bunch of Repugians setting a trap. Now this may just be me, but one of the people at the meeting looked a lot like Lucy’s mom.
Most of the Repugians from that meeting showed up again, later. But, I’m not sure that woman did. And I’m positive the kids haven’t gone up against her. Could that be a relative of Lucy, like an aunt or something? Could it be possible that Lucy is actually part monster, or even part Repugian? That would be one hell of a twist. And it would be a massive thing that Lucy and the other kids would have to deal with.
And finally, this is totally just me. But I can’t help but notice that Wren has been given a very tomboyish attitude in the show. And all of her costumes have her becoming very traditionally boyish things, or out right becoming male. Now this may just be me reading way too much into this and it probably is. But, could they be going somewhere with this? Could Double Fine and Frederator actually be trying to make Wren, dare I say the word, gay? Would Double Fine and Frederator do something like that? Could they get away with it? Or am I just out of my mind?
