"District 10" is Finally Getting Made (Maybe)

Foreword: 

This was originally written and posted on DeviantART on October 5, 2021. Sorry, it's taken me so long to repost this. It's supposed to be a continuation of my previous post about Neill Blomkamp's film career, and the possibility of him making District 10, the long awaited sequel to District 9. Though I wrote this before I wrote that. You can go read it if you want. There are a couple of things about this post that I want to say before I talk about other things in this foreword that I've wanted to talk about, but didn't have the opportunity to. 

For thing, Twitter 🐦 is no longer called Twitter 🐦 because the idiot billionaire, Elon Musk stupidly decided to rename the website and company, X for no goddamn reason. All because he has a fetish for the letter X, it's his favorite letter for some reason. He even named his one of his son, X Æ A-XII, pretty much setting him up to be bullied in school over his name. Another thing is that Avatar 2, or Avatar: The Way of Water 💦 as it ended up being called, did not come out the same time as District 10.  

Avatar: The Way of Water 💦 came out first, beating District 10 to the punch, and it already has a sequel set to come out next year. The third film, Avatar: Fire and Ash 🔥 is set come out on December 19, 2025, and it has two more sequels well on the way. While District 10 hasn't even officially entered development as far as I know. We don't even know for sure if it's ever going to get made despite the statements made by Neill Blomkamp, Sharlto Copley, and Terri Tatchell a couple of years ago. But regardless, I'm way more hyped for District 10 than I am any of those Avatar sequels.

I've been pretty busy for past week. A lot of different things came up, last week was payday 🤑 for us, so we finally had money 💵 and we went down to Albuquerque to buy things that we needed for our house. Yesterday, we were in Albuquerque trying to buy a new truck or SUV from Reliable Chevrolet, and we did manage to get one, but our excitement for it was a bit dampened because we went to a Mexican restaurant called The Whole Enchilada, and the food wasn't very good. 

In fact, in my opinion, the food was pretty bad. It was like my grandpa would say, "Gringo food," like white people's interpretation of Mexican food and not like real Mexican food or even real New Mexican food. There is a difference, trust me. New Mexican food is a very Americanized version of Mexican food 🇺🇸, and it is a cuisine unique to New Mexico. This food at The Whole Enchilada wasn't even that, and it wasn't good as that.

I was so angry and upset that we went to that place, and I was upset that my dad was coming with us to the dealership that I kind of took it out on my grandma. I kind of ruined her whole mood yesterday, and made her feel miserable, and she didn't feel as excited as she should've been about getting her new vehicle. And it was all my fault, all because I threw a bit of a fit at the restaurant. Okay, well it wasn't all my fault that she was feeling that way, it was also my dad who did absolutely nothing while he was with us at the dealership, he didn't help my grandma at all with the deal, didn't ask any of the questions that she wanted him to ask, all of the right questions that she can't think of to ask, in order to get the best deal possible.

My grandpa, when he was still alive, used to do that all the time whenever him and my grandma got a new vehicle. He would ask all of the right questions, all of the things that my grandma wouldn't think to consider, all in the service of getting the best deal. That's how we got that car that we've been using all these years, and the car that we're still using until we trade it in tomorrow on Monday September 16, 2024, the 2017 Silver Chevy Malibu. But, my dad didn't do that. All he did was sit around and sleep all day 😴, not even participating in the process, and not helping my grandma at all. Not that I think he would've been much help to her anyway. He is not my grandpa, and perhaps my grandma was a little a bit too naïve to expect him to be. 

He's not going to be able to do any of the things my grandpa did because he didn't have the same life experience. He doesn't have the knowledge that he had, he isn't anywhere near as accomplished as he was, and he doesn't have the connections that he had. My dad is simply a different man ♂︎ from my grandpa. That also put a damper on her mood as well 😞, and made her feel more misery, feel as if she was alone and no one cared about her or cared that she was doing all of this work to get a new ride.

But, I apologized to her, and we made up, so we're okay. She's feeling a lot better than she was yesterday, and so I am I. Now, she's feeling properly excited to have her new vehicle, and I'm pretty excited too to have a new vehicle too, but more than that, I'm just happy to see her happy 😊. But, while I am talking, I probably should address the current situation surrounding the car since I mentioned it in my Boy Kills World review a few weeks back. I meant to do this in one of my previous posts, but I kept forgetting to do so. 

Basically, the car's fine now. My cousin's grandpa on his dad's side came over, and fixed our transmission fluid, putting some new fluid in there, replacing all of the fluid that my dad had split when he failed to change the oil in the car the proper way. But, it wasn't perfect, the car moved kind of jerky, at least according to my grandma and my dad. I never felt anything, but apparently both of them did. So, grandma took it to a shop, and had more transmission fluid put in, and it was running a little bit better. But, it still wasn't perfect, and it was clear that from then on out, the car would need more regular maintenance to still be an effective mode of transportation. 

Not that it matters anyway since we bought a new vehicle, and this old Chevy Malibu is going to get traded it, meaning today (Sunday September 15, 2024) will be the last day that we ever get to spend a full day with the car, and today's a "stay-at-home" day so we're not driving anywhere today as far as I know. In fact, for my grandma, buying an SUV and trading the car is a bit of a godsend since she no longer has to worry about paying for all that expensive maintenance to keep the car in working condition. She'll be starting fresh with a new vehicle entirely, though it is an older preowned vehicle, a 2017 Grand Cherokee, so it isn't that new, but you know what I mean. 

But man, that Chevy Malibu was a work horse. It was our only mode of transportation for the better part of 5 years, maybe even 6 years, I don't exactly remember, but it was for a long time, and it served us well. It got us through tough times, and was there for us when no one else was. In some ways, I am going to miss that car, but I am ready to welcome our new vehicle, the Grand Cherokee. Let's hope that it lasts as long, and serves us as well as the Chevy Malibu did. 

Moving on, there's a few other things that I would like to mention. I've also been playing a video game that I bought a week or a couple of weeks ago at this point that I've been wanting to play ever since it first came out in 2022, Mario+Rabbids Sparks of Hope. I finished the base game, though not 100%, I've still got some side quests do to get to 100% completion, but this isn't really a game that I feel like 100%ing. But, I do like the game a lot, it's pretty good 👍. It has a good story, which is not something a lot of Mario games have, and probably something that not a lot of Rabbids game have as well. 

I can't say anything about the Rabbids games because I've never played them, but I have played a few Mario games now, and while none of the ones I've played have bad stories (Super Mario Odyssey, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, Super Mario 3D World, and Bowser's Fury are the only ones that I have that I've played before Mario+Rabbids that have stories), it's not that they don't really prioritize the story. They put way more emphasis on the gameplay. Thus, they keep the story pretty simple, and don't flesh it out beyond that. 

But not Mario+Rabbids, they put a lot of emphasis on the story. There are way more cutscenes and dialogue scenes between the characters in this game than there were in say Super Mario Odyssey or Captain Toad. Though the Mario characters themselves don't really talk, like they aren't fully voiced acted. They just make noises or say one word or phrase, and the rest of their dialogue is shown as text on the screen like in an RPG game. 

The same goes for the other characters, all of the original Rabbid characters that were brought back from Kingdom Battle and the new ones they introduced in this game. One of the only two characters that fully talks is Beep-0, the group's robot companion who helps you gain stats on the various enemy types in the game and helps you strategize, and also helps you locate collectables and other objects, or even create bridges or ladders to gain access to new locations in the various maps in the game and progress further after he has two Sparks enter his body. The best way I can describe Beep-0 as a character that he's a somehow even gayer version of C-3PO 🏳️‍🌈. 

Like, they queer-coded the fuck out of this character 🏳️‍🌈, it's not even funny. I mean, it is, but you know I'm saying. Read my post about queer-coding in fiction 🏳️‍🌈 to learn more. From what I understand, he didn't really have this kind of personality in the previous game, Kingdom Battle because I have watched some longplays and walkthroughs of that game, and Beep-0 doesn't have this kind of sassy personality that he has in this game. In the previous game, he was a lot more of a regular robot, but did kind of start to gain more of a personality overtime. 

The implication being that Beep-0 gained more of a personality as a result of being here, in the Mario universe, a place full of magic and wonder. The same really goes for the other Rabbid characters who fused with Mario characters that were introduced in Kingdom Battle. They all gained their own distinct personalities, like Rabbid Peach is no longer just a Rabbid in drag, she's her own individual with a bit of a Valley Girl ♀︎ primadona diva kind of personality. She's the kind of character that people online would simp for and say that she's a "queen," or hell, even a "baddie." Any semblance of the old Rabbid she used to be is pretty much gone. 

But, the Rabbids' personality are even distinct from the personalities of their Mario counterparts like Rabbid Peach is nothing like the real Princess Peach and Rabbid Luigi is nothing like the real Luigi. I would say that the Rabbid that is most like his Mario counterpart is Rabbid Mario fittingly enough, as he has that stereotypical Italian accent 🇮🇹 just like the real Mario has. But, his personality is much more akin to a boxer 🥊 or a circus strongman ♂︎💪 than it is Mario's, who is a plumber 🪠. I mean, Rabbid Mario's weapon of choice are bunch of robotic boxing gloves 🥊. If that doesn't tell you who he is as a character, I don't know what will.

But, back to Beep-0. I think he is a fun character for the most part. He does kind of function as a comic relief type of character in the story, as he's given the majority of the funny lines and has all the funny reactions to the various situations they find themselves in and to the all various characters they encounter on their journey. And his back and forth with JEANIE is pretty funny for the most part 😄. 

But, I would be lying if I said that he didn't get annoying at certain points, and that there were moments where I wished that he would just shut up. I skipped some of his dialogue at certain points because he kind of got on my nerves. Speaking of JEANIE though, she's the only other character besides Beep-0 that is fully voice acted and says all of her dialogue out loud rather than it being text on a screen that you have to read. 

She's the ship's computer, and compared to Beep-0, she's a lot more cold, calculated, and robotic. Like, what you would expect an AI for a spaceship to be like. But, through her interactions with Beep-0, and through her experiences visiting the various worlds and meeting the various character they go to and meet throughout the story, she starts to warm up a bit and gain a lot more of a personality overtime. Just like what happened with Beep-0 in the previous game. 

Her function within the game itself is to tell you which world you're going to next on your journey and explain the objectives of the mission, and also to read out loud all of the various memories that you collect throughout the game. Memories are the encyclopedic logs giving further explanations about the worlds you visit, characters you meet, and the enemies you face. But, I would say of all the new characters introduced in this game, my favorite would have to be Edge, the former Spark Hunter leader who joins the Heroes on their journey to save the Sparks and defeat Cursa once and for all. 

I like her design, I like how she looks like someone's edgy OC (original character) brought to life. I like her voice, her voice is really cool and makes her stand out from the other character. And I like her personality, she has a cool, calm, and badass demeanor, like she's someone who would want to have on your side, and that's why I added her to my team. That big sword of hers alone makes it worth having apart of your trio. Oh, and Rabbid Rosalina, she's pretty cool too, I like her too. I like how she has this very lazy and kind of grumpy personality, like she acts like someone who just got out of bed and doesn't want to do anything, and yet, once she meets the real Rosalina, she completely fangirls out 😍, that was a great moment. And her weapon is pretty cool too, one of the best weapons in the entire game, which is why I had her in my trio.

It is more of an RPG with turn-based strategy elements that has very few platforming elements. There's some puzzle elements, where you have to solve a puzzle in order to progress or get one of the collectables that this game has to offer like the Star Bits, which you use to upgrade your Sparks. Sparks, for those who haven't played this game and thus don't know, Sparks are basically Lumas who were Rabbidified after the Rabbids accidentally teleported themselves to the Mario universe in the previous game, Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle. 

And if you don't know what Lumas are, then that means you've either never played Super Mario Galaxy or its sequel, Super Mario Galaxy 2, or you've never read up on any Mario lore past the original NES titles, or the Nintendo 64 game, Super Mario 64. They're those cute star things with eyes that hang around Rosalina, the defender of the galaxy and the guardian of the Lumas. But, in Sparks of Hope, there's a new type of Luma that has arisen as a result of the Rabbid incursion in the Mario universe, which the characters in the game decide to dub, "Sparks." 

Beep-0 wanted to call them "Rabbid Lumas" since they're Rabbid versions of Lumas, but everyone else decides to call them Sparks instead and that's the name that stuck. My theory about how the Sparks came into existence is that like with the Rabbid versions of other Mario characters like Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, Rabbid Peach, and Rabbid Rosalina to name but a few, the Sparks were regular Rabbids who had somehow fused with Lumas, perhaps as a result of the SupaMerge from Kingdom Battle, and became their own distinct species over time. They're hybrids basically, and they're a sign of how the Mario universe has changed and evolved since the Rabbids came along and settled into their new surroundings.

The whole game is about finding these Sparks, and rescuing them before the main villain, Cursa finds them and uses them to take over the galaxy. Each Spark you collect has their own unique ability that can be used to boost your combat capabilities, or give you an edge for some of the enemy types you encounter throughout the game. I was a bit of a wimp and played this game on Easy Mode with Invulnerability turned on, so I didn't need any of the Sparks that help you restore health (nor did I need any of the health packs which came in form of Mushrooms 🍄), and I just equipped all of the Heroes (that's what the good guys' team is called) with Sparks who specific in powers like electrocution ⚡️, fire 🔥, ice 🧊, and even poison ☠️ or ooze as they call it in the game. The kind of powers that can deal massive damage to multiple enemies at once. You can swap out your character's Sparks any time you want. 

As I said before, you can upgrade the Sparks by collecting Star Bits which you feed them on the Character customization page, and you can upgrade them to Level 5, which is the highest level that you can upgrade Sparks to. You can bypass the Star Bits by using Star Potions to upgrade your Sparks, but these are very limited in supply, and you don't get that many of them throughout the game that you don't have to purchase from the Salesbot using the currency specific to the world that you're in. So, use Star Potions sparingly if you can. I hardly used any of the ones that I had. I just upgraded my Sparks using the Star Bits as Star Bits are way more abundant and are not as hard to obtain for free as the Star Potions are. 

The gameplay was nothing like what I initially expected it to be when I bought the game and before I started playing it. I don't know what I was expecting, I guess maybe I was expecting to be much more of a traditional Mario game with some 3D platforming with some combat elements, or maybe even a third-person shooter since a lot of the characters have guns; laser guns since this is a kid's game but you know what I mean. But no, it was neither of those two things. Instead, as I said, it's a turn-based strategy game with RPG elements. You face enemies in a grid-like arena, each side gets one turn. You and your team get a turn to move on the map and do your attack if you choose to attack on that particular turn, and the enemy side gets to have their turn to do the same thing. You keep doing that until you win. 

Each battle is different depending on which enemy you encountered while in exploration mode and depending of if it's a story-based battle or not. There are about four different types of battles, there's your standard "Defeat All Enemies" type of battle where you have to defeat a certain number of enemies or a certain number of a certain enemy type to win, there's "Survive," where you have survive the match long enough before the battle is over, there's "Get to this location," where you have to get to a certain location on the map, and the location you go to is marked by a green square that you have touch down on, and there are "Boss battles," where you have take down a boss, simple enough. 

Probably the most unique battle I encountered was this one battle in The Last Spark Hunter DLC, where you have to rescue all of these orchestra musicians that were kidnapped and held hostage by the Darkmess entities created and controlled by Cursa, expect these ones aren't working for Cursa, but I'll get to that later. They're all trapped in cages, and you have to break open the cages to set them free. That was a cool battle, I really liked that one a lot. Still, I wouldn't mind to see a third-person shooter Mario game, I think that would be a lot fun, and be a way to introduce the third-person shooter genre to kids.

Now, I'm on the DLC expansion packs that I got after I purchased the Season Pass. Luckily, I bought the Season Pass long after all the DLC expansions were released, so I didn't have to wait like everyone else did. I'm glad because if Tower of Doooom was the only DLC expansion available for the time being, I would've been pretty upset. 

It is probably my least favorite of the three expansions, because there wasn't that much to it. There's not really a story with that one, there aren’t even any cutscenes. The closest thing to cutscenes we get in this DLC are still images with text on them that are narrated by Madame Bwahstrella, a fortune teller Rabbid 🔮 and the character who’s at the center of Tower of Doooom. You encounter her in the base game, and you get side quests for her which exist to give you a taste of what’s in store in this DLC. And every time you see her, she is represented by a marionette puppet caricature of herself. We don’t know what she actually looks in the flesh nor do we know much about her beyond what she lets on, which makes her such a mysterious character.

The basic plot of Tower of Doooom is that Madame Bwahstrella has called upon the help of our Heroes to rescue Spawny from a tower that that he's locked in that she refers to as “the Tower of Doooom,” with four o’s. Spawny, for those that are unaware, is that first initial Rabbid from the previous game, Kingdom Battle who donned those special VR goggles that can fuse objects together. He’s the reason why he and the other Rabbids were transported to Mario’s universe, and why some of them were transformed into Mario characters, like he created Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Luigi, and Rabbid Peach.

The goggles that he put on and caused all of this to happen literally fused to his face after the beam accidentally reflected back on himself, so now he’s stuck with these big huge eyes. Like with all of the other Rabbids that came to the Mario universe, Spawny developed his own distinct personality and no longer behaves like the standard Rabbid that people were used to seeing before this crossover franchise came along that started with Kingdom Battle. Now, he’s being hostage by Darkmess entities inside the Tower of Doooom and only our heroes can save him.

That’s about as much gameplay as this DLC has, the rest of it is gameplay. It’s a roguelike DLC meaning that it has procedurally generated arenas and enemies, and everything is randomized. You don’t get to select your characters, they’re randomly picked for you, and you’re kind of just stuck with the ones you’ve been given, though you can win some characters and Sparks by winning battles. But even then, it’s still not guaranteed that you’ll win any characters or Sparks if you win any battles. I only won one character and a couple of Sparks throughout my playthrough of this DLC. Everyone’s experience playing this DLC will be different, as no one gameplay with this particular DLC is not exactly alike. The reason why I don’t like it as much as the base game or the other two DLCs is not just the lack of story, but also the difficulty.

The base game is already pretty hard, even on Easy mode and with Invulnerability turned on, but this DLC takes the difficulty to a whole other level. Each level of the tower you play gets harder than the last, every level past 5 being unbearably hard. And the Invulnerability function is not available in this DLC, so unless you’re a highly skilled player who can play the game without dying once, you’re going to die a lot, I know I did. It just stops being fun after a while and feels more like a grind. I barely got through the regular version of the tower, there was no way I was going to play the premium version that’s even harder. So, that was one DLC that I could easily do without, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels that way.

The other DLCs, on the other hand, are we really start getting into the good stuff 😁👍. The next one up is The Last Spark Hunter, which is an actual addition to the story. It fills in the gaps in-between the section where you leave Barrendale Mesa and head over to Cursa's stronghold and the section where you actually face off against Cursa and the last of her minions. Basically, while on their way over to Cursa's stronghold, the Heroes crash land on a completely new world unavailable in the base game called the Melodic Gardens, a lush jungle world 🌴 that operates entirely on music 🎶. Like, all of the plants, animals, and even the rocks on this world produce their own music 🎶, and the Warden (the leader of this world), Allegra was a former orchestra conductor or pianist 🎹, I'm not sure. I don't exactly remember.

But, all is not well in the Melodic Gardens because one last Spark Hunter named Kanya has set up shop, in order to strike out on her own after betraying Cursa. So, while the Heroes were mainly focused on trying to find a way off of this planet so that they can go defeat Cursa, they decide to help the locals defeat Kanya and all the Darkmess entities she managed to sway to her side while they're there. They can't leave any stone unturned, they have to defeat every last Spark Hunter and Darkmess entity, and save each of these worlds from the Darkmess energy that Cursa placed on them. Only in this case, it wasn't Cursa who brought Darkmess energy to this planet, it was a rogue Spark Hunter. 

I really like this DLC. It really does feel like playing more of the base game, which is what I wanted. I wanted to play more of the game because I was so invested in the story and I liked the characters so much, and there wasn't that much left to really do after completing the main story and doing all of the side quests. Or at least, all of the ones that I could find. This DLC also has side quests, but like with the base game, I only did the ones I could find, and I didn't feel the need to complete it 100%.

So, playing this felt like a true continuation, and like you were playing a new part of the game, rather than some glorified minigame where everything is procedurally generated and randomized like Tower of Doooom was. It added a new gameplay element with you riding along this wooden boat because several of the areas are underwater 💦, and the only way to travel to certain places is by boat. Like, there's this entire lake and river system inside the Melodic Gardens that you have to traverse through to progress further and either do main quests or side quests. That was something that wasn't at all in the base game.

I also liked the story of this DLC, it was a really interesting story on its own, and Melodic Gardens is a great location. It's a really creative idea creating a musical jungle 🎶🌴 where every plant and rock is like an instrument, and every other animal produces their own musical sounds. Even Allegra's a really interesting character, and one of the more intriguing Wardens in the game, even if we don't see her that much throughout this DLC. 

Kanya is a really great villain, it's interesting to see another Spark Hunter break off from Cursa just like Edge did, but rather than joining the side of good like Edge did, Kanya chooses to stay evil, trying to strike out on her own and carry out her own plans for galactic domination. And Kanya apparently was supposed to be the one that Cursa created to replace Edge as the leader of the Spark Hunters, so this is twice that Cursa's Spark Hunters have gone AWOL on her. I guess there's just something about Spark Hunter leaders that makes more independent than the others, and less easy to control and more likely to betray Cursa. 

In a lot of ways, Kanya is kind of like a dark mirror for Edge, showing what she could've become had she not gone in the right direction and sought redemption by joining the Heroes. Though, Kanya's personality is way different than Edge's, as she's much more crazed and egotistical, always having a sinister toothy smile on her face. Plus, she's got a mech that looks like King Bob-omb and can drop Bob-ombs on the battlefield, you can't get any cooler than that. 

This DLC also introduces two new enemy types that were not in the base game or in Tower of Doooom, the Golems and the Fieldbreakers. There are three different types of Golems, there's the fire-type 🔥 which have fire-based abilities 🔥 and are resistant to fire-based attacks 🔥, there's the tidal type which have water-based abilities 💦 and are resistant to water-based attacks 💦, and there's the electric-type ⚡️ which have electric-based abilities ⚡️ are resistant to electric-based attacks ⚡️. They're probably the most annoying enemy types in the entire game as you can only kill them by destroying their eggs after they've retreated to their egg form after they've lost enough health, and the only way you can destroy their eggs is by dashing into them. 

But, if you already used one of their abilities on them to get their health down enough for them to go back to being an egg, you can't dash anymore. So, you have to wait your turn to do another dash move, and by the time your turn is next, the Golem has already hatched from its egg and back to full health. They're extremely annoying, and can make any battle a drag, as in it just drags on and on until you can finally kill them all one by one because killing one Golem is already enough of a chore. Killing multiple Golems is kind of a nightmare, and will make you very frustrated 😤.  

The Fieldbreakers aren't as bad, but they still kind of a challenge to deal with in a battle. You see, their main thing is that they drop Darkmess puddles all over the map, and unless you have Invulnerability turned on, these Darkmess puddles will drain your health bar significantly and will limit your abilities. The thing that makes them pretty annoying to deal with is the fact that they're pretty much resistant to pretty every special ability referred to the game as "super effects."

They're resistant to fire-based attacks 🔥, they're resistant to water-based attacks 💦, they're resistant to electric-based attacks ⚡️, and they're resistant to ice-based attacks 🧊. They're even resistant to Vampire-based attacks where you can suck up the enemy's health and give them to you. The only things that will work on them are your standard weapons and your dash move. But at least, you don't have to specifically do a dash move to kill them like you do with the Golems, you can just kill them with your standard attacks. 

So overall, The Last Spark Hunter is a huge improvement over Tower of Doooom, and if you're someone like me who was really invested in the story of the base game and wanted to play more of it, this DLC is for you. I bet for the people who had to wait to have this one released, it felt like a breath of air, and a nice refresher after the grindy roguelike gameplay of Tower of Doooom. The third and last DLC expansion is Rayman in the Phantom Show, which marks the return of the Rayman character after he had been absent from gaming following the release of the last mainline Rayman game, Rayman Legends in 2013. So, it had been a long time since Rayman had been in any video game period. 

This was the DLC was the one I was the most excited to play, and was the main reason why I wanted to play this game in the first place, because I really like Rayman. Sure, I may not have played most of the Rayman games, or at least most of the mainlines ones like I've never played the original 1995 Rayman, nor have I played Rayman 2: The Great Escape, or Rayman 3: Hoodlum Havoc. Though I did write review Hoodlum Havoc a year so ago based on what I had seen of it on longplays on YouTube. It was the only way I could experience the game since it's not available on current gen consoles and it has never been remastered or remade. I might repost it on here if only to increase the amount of video game centric posts on this blog. I haven't even played Rayman Raving Rabbids, which was the fourth entry in the game, and was the introduction of the Rabbids. 

It was meant to be a much traditional 3D platformer like the previous Rayman games were, and was even meant to be a much darker game with the Rabbids being much more sinister than they ended up being. But, in the end, it ended up being a minigame compilation, a party game basically, and probably the biggest departure the series had made up until that point, and the point that really marked the beginning of the Rabbids' rise to prominence and the beginning of the end for Rayman as he would be completely overshadowed by them. To the point of being forgotten by Ubisoft altogether. Then there were the two 2D Rayman games in the early 2010s, Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, which were much closer to the original 1995 game than they were to any of the previous sequels. I haven't played those either. 

Trust be told, the only experience I ever had with Rayman until now was the Rayman spin-off game, Rayman M AKA Rayman Arena, which was a party racing game that featured Rayman, his friend, Globox, the Teensies, and the villains from Rayman 2, Razorbeard and Henchman 8000. I didn't even play the version of the game that was on the PS2, or on the GameCube, or on the XBox, I played the version of the game that was on the PS1 called Rayman Rush, which was considered a separate game and more of a demake than a true port of the game. Unlike Rayman M AKA Rayman Arena, Rayman Rush was strictly a racing game with no party elements, since that was all that the outdated and limited hardware of the PS1 could handle. The PS1 was pretty much at the end of its life when Rayman Rush was released. 

Despite my limited experience playing the games, and my relatively limited knowledge of the character, I still like Rayman and I still wanted to get the chance to play as him in this DLC. He's just a really cool character, with one of the most unique designs out of the major video game mascots, including Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, and Banjo and Kazooie. And indeed, playing as him in this DLC, he is really cool. He plays slightly differently than the other characters in the base game or in the previous two DLCs. 

For one thing, he's the only playable character in the entire game that doesn't use any Sparks, nor can he equipped with any, and two of his special abilities are based on two of the costumes and abilities he gains in Rayman 3. The vortex ability and the rocket ride ability. He also has those Lum things that allow him to hook onto and swing from one location to another, which means he can move across the map without the need of a jumping pad like the other characters do. During exploration mode, he also has the ability to punch things 👊, which along with his lack of limbs, gives him to reach further and grab objects that would otherwise be in accessible to other characters. Collecting gate keys, and opening Darkmess gates is a lot easier with him than it is for say, Princess Peach, who was the character I mainly played as in the base game and in The Last Spark Hunter. 

The only downside to this DLC thus far is the fact that we never get to see Rayman interact with Mario or any of the Nintendo characters in the game. The only other characters that Rayman pairs up and interacts with are Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Beep-0. Those are the only three characters that connect this DLC to the rest of the game. This and Tower of Doooom are the only two DLC expansions that actually take place after the events of the main story. The Last Spark Hunter was during the events of the main story rather than after. 

The plot of Rayman in the Phantom Show is that Rayman, along with Rabbid Mario, Rabbid Peach, and Beep-0, are summoned to this film/TV studio called the Space Opera Network by the Phantom, a villain and boss from Kingdom Battle. He owns the studio, and he claims that he wants to make each of them a star ⭐️, though Beep-0 is a bit skeptical and distrustful of the Phantom because he was such a menace in the previous game. 

Rayman is also bit distrustful of him as well, since he's a Rabbid and Rayman has had bad experiences with Rabbids in the past and therefore doesn't trust them. In fact, when he first met Rabbid Mario and Rabbid Peach, he was a bit scared and went into full-on defensive mode, ready to fight them if need be. The only reason he didn't fight them is that Beep-0 assured him that they were friendly and were not like the Rabbids of the past. 

But, they all agree to work for the Phantom, and help him clean up his studio after it has been infected by Darkmess energy left over after Cursa's defeat. I haven't completed the story. I'm at the part after you clear the Medieval set of Darkmess energy, and are summoned to meet the Phantom in the studio for a "party," which makes me think that there's going to be some kind of twist where it's revealed that the Phantom wasn't reformed at all and that he's still evil, and that this whole thing was a trap. 

I'm having fun with this DLC so far, and I hope to continue the story from where I left off last night. My only complaint or gripe is that we never get the chance to see Rayman interact with the real Mario, or the real Princess Peach for that matter. He's just stuck with Rabbids the whole time. If there ever is a third Mario+Rabbids game, I hope they make him a main playable character in the base game from the very beginning. Not just be DLC. He deserves a lot more than that. They could call it, Mario+Rabbids+Rayman and then whatever subtitle they come up with for that game. And while they're at it, make another solo Rayman game, and make it a 3D platformer please. Rayman deserves to have his own Super Mario Odyssey. 

I'm not sure if I'll play the first Mario+Rabbids game, Mario+Rabbids Kingdom Battle. I don't really need to play it since there's nothing in Sparks of Hope that's particularly reliant on you having played the game, other than the Megabug thing that they keep mentioning over and over and is the thing that created Cursa in the first place. Oh, and the Phantom, he's a character who I would probably understand and appreciate a lot more if I had played Kingdom Battle. But, before playing both Rayman in the Phantom Show and The Last Spark Hunter, which features a reference to him, I get the gist. He was a bastard, and is incapable of change. He's evil no matter if he's under the influence of the Megabug or not, which I don't entirely understand. 

If anything, I'd play Kingdom Battle just to get a better understanding of what the Megabug is, and how it would spawn something like Cursa. But, the gameplay is a bit primitive compared to Sparks of Hope, which makes sense since it was their first go-around at making a turn-based strategy game with Mario and Rabbid characters. Everything I've heard suggests that Sparks of Hope is a massive improvement over Kingdom Battle in every way in terms of gameplay. So, why would I need to play it if it's just an inferior version of what I just played? 

Then again, I did still play Resident Evil 4 (the original) after I played Resident Evil 5, even though Resident Evil 5 is technically an improvement over Resident Evil 4 in terms of gameplay, and I did the same with Resident Evil 6, which was an improvement or advancement gameplay wise compared to Resident Evil 5. So maybe my point is a bit moot, or a bit hypocritical. I could still play Kingdom Battle even if it technically has more primitive gameplay compared to it sequel. 

If I do get it, at least it'll be a bargain since the game has dropped significantly in price since it originally came out in 2017. It's now in the $20 range 💵 or $15 range 💵, perfectly affordable for anyone with extra cash 💵 to spare. The only downside is that it's a digital only release. They didn't make a physical copy for that game. So if you buy at the store, like at Walmart or Target or Best Buy, it'll come with a digital download for you to redeem and download the game off of the Nintendo eShop, which is a bit lame to me. 

I really wish it came with a card like Sparks of Hope did. Sparks of Hope is a newer game than Kingdom Battle and yet it still managed to have a full physical card release. Why is that? Why does the game from two years have a card release whereas the game from 7 years only has a digital download code? Make that make sense. I mean, the Donkey Kong DLC along has to make it worth it right? Even if I am way less interested in the Donkey Kong DLC for Kingdom Battle than I was in the Rayman DLC for Sparks of Hope. Most the novelty of it. 

Rayman is much more obscure character who had been out of the spotlight for 8 years when Rayman in the Phantom Show came out. Donkey Kong is a much more abundant character who's had more recent titles, most notable Donkey Kong County: Tropical Freeze 🌴🥶. Plus, he's in a bunch of crossover games with Mario like the Mario Kart games, Super Smash Bros., and of course most recently, Mario vs. Donkey Kong (2024), though that one's technically a remake of a game from 2004. 

So even if he didn't get a DLC expansion in Kingdom Battle, he still has dedicated solo games and other crossover appearances that are from more recent times that people could play. He's even in The Super Mario Bros. Movie that came out last year, in 2023, where he was voiced by none other than Seth Rogen. Rayman really doesn't. The last Rayman game that came out was in 2013, which was 10 years ago by the time Rayman in the Phantom Show was released for the Sparks of Hope Season Pass. Now that it's 2024, it's been 11 years. 

On top of that, the only film or TV appearance he's ever had since the failed Rayman: The Animated Series back in 1999 and 2000, is the 2023 Netflix miniseries, Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix, which was an adult animated series which serves as a self-referential self-parody of Ubisoft properties, and Rayman wasn't really himself, but rather a twisted version of himself that cussed and shot and killed people. He even changed his name to Ramon to set himself apart from his video game counterpart.

One thing that surprised me about Sparks of Hope after I started playing it is that it is a Ubisoft game, as in it was made entirely by Ubisoft. I always under the impression that the Mario+Rabbids games were collaborations between Nintendo and Ubisoft that they made together. But no, it's not. It's an entirely Ubisoft game, and it's more like Nintendo licensed the characters and the world over to Ubisoft, and Ubisoft made their own game set in that world with these characters. It was even made with their own game engine, Snowdrop. I suppose that explains why when you open the game, it asks you to log into your Ubisoft Connect account. It wouldn't say that if this was a Nintendo-made game, or a game that Nintendo had a direct hand in.

Speaking of licensing, that brings me to the other thing that I wanted talk about in this foreword while I had the chance and while it was on my mind, I bought Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 a couple of days ago. So now, I have another game to play after I finish playing Rayman in the Phantom Show. Tokyo 2020 is the final entry in the Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games series, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided not to renew the license awarded to Nintendo, and thus Nintendo is no longer legally authorized to make any more Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games games. 

This was surprising to me when I first learned about it because I was under the impression that it was Nintendo that wanted to make Mario and Sonic crossover games set at the Olympic Games, and went over to the IOC to get a license to do so. But no, that's not really the case. It's more like the IOC went to Nintendo, wanting to make a Mario game set at the Olympics want to promote the games to a wider audience, mainly a younger audience, and Nintendo agreed and decided to use it as an opportunity to do the long await crossover between Mario and Sonic that people had wanted to see for years. 

The first one of these that they did was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games for the Nintendo Wii in 2007, which was based around the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics ☀️. Then, the next one was Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games in 2009 which were based on the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics ❄️, then there was Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games in 2011 which based around the 2012 London Summer Olympics ☀️, then there was Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games in 2013 which was based on the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics ❄️, then after that was Mario & Sonic at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in 2016 which was based on the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics ☀️, and then finally we have Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 in 2019, which were of course based on the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics ☀️, which actually happened in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic 🦠😷.

So because the IOC didn’t renew the license, Tokyo 2020 ended up being the final game in the series at least for the time being. It may change in the future, and the IOC may decide to renew the license. But for now, no Mario & Sonic game for the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics ☀️, or for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics ☀️, though that Olympic Games may be far enough away for the IOC to change its mind, and give Nintendo the license to make another Mario & Sonic game for that particular Olympic Game. 

It’ll be the first Olympic Game to be hosted in an American city 🇺🇸 in about 26 years since the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics ❄️, and it’ll be the ninth Summer Olympics ☀️ overall to be hosted in an American city 🇺🇸, the last American Summer Olympics 🇺🇸☀️ being the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics ☀️. It’ll be kind of a big deal. It would be a huge missed opportunity not to make a Mario & Sonic game out of that. 

The last thing I want to talk about in this foreword is an update on the 2024 US Presidential Election 🗳️. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris had their first debate last week on Tuesday September 10, 2024. I didn’t watch the whole debate, I just saw the highlights and recaps of it because I did not feel like watching a full hour of Trump talking. I can’t stand him, and there’s only so much of his mind-numbing rambling that I can take 😖. But, everyone who saw the debate agrees that Trump lost and that Harris won. She just gave better answers to the questions asked by the moderators, she stayed on topic and didn’t ramble on about nonsense like Trump does, and she put Trump in his place whenever it was appropriate for her to do so. 

You know, she didn’t tell a completely fake story like Trump did. Trump told a completely made up story about Haitian immigrants 🇭🇹 eating dogs 🐕 and cats 🐈 in Springfield, Ohio. A story that ended up humiliated him and made him a laughing stock 😂 on the national stage. It’s the main thing people remember from the debate, and people were making memes about it on social media and TikTok, the place where brains 🧠 go to rot. Trump’s running mate, JD Vance recently admitted to fabricating the story, and spreading it throughout the conservative and right-wing media ecosystem, and it was this admission that made many Ohio citizens call for his resignation since he’s the senator of Ohio. 

The irony of it being JD Vance who cooked up that story of Haitian immigrants 🇭🇹 eating pets in Springfield isn’t lost on me. You don’t need to point it out. This is the same man ♂︎ who called pretty much every strong woman ♀︎ who he doesn’t like or agree with “childless cat ladies 🐈♀︎,” and yet he’s trying to gain sympathy and support for his side by lying about Haitian immigrants 🇭🇹 eating pets. Appealing to people’s love of pets, particularly dogs 🐕 and cats 🐈. Of course, all of this nonsense about “childless cat ladies 🐈♀︎” means that we got all this annoying discourse online and in the media about how cats 🐈 are great and cat ladies 🐈♀︎ are lovely, that they're somehow the best America 🇺🇸 has to offer. Hardly 👎.

I hate cat ladies 🐈♀︎ as much as the next guy, in fact I think cats 🐈 overall are pretty overrated, but I wish Vance hadn’t said anything about it so that we wouldn’t have gotten all these annoying and trite defenses of cat ladies 🐈♀︎. I blame Vance for making this an issue, he should’ve bit his tongue 👅. But, like Trump, Vance is a man ♂︎ who can’t keep his mouth shut, and puts his foot in his mouth every chance he gets. I wouldn’t be surprised if he made it worse after all those people called for his resignation. 

All I can say is that I can’t wait until Vance loses his debate with Tim Walz, who I’ve actually grown to like since I wrote that initial post about his selection by Harris’s campaign to her Vice Presidential running mate. Unlike Vance, Walz feels genuinely blue-collar like he feels like he comes from a blue-collar background, which is probably why Harris picked him to her running mate. She wanted someone who could appeal to that sector of the population, all blue-collar workers in this country. And as much as I like him, Mark Kelly simply couldn’t do that, or do it as well as Walz has. 

He just has that high school coach energy to him, which makes sense since he was actually a coach prior to him becoming a politician. I don’t know if he was a high school coach or a college coach, but he was definitely a school coach. All of the jokes about him by all the late night talk show hosts, particularly Seth Meyer, Jimmy Kimmel, and Stephen Colbert have all been about his Midwestern background and his blue-collar look and demeanor. So yeah, Harris made the right choice in picking Tim Walz as her running mate in this year’s election 🗳️.  I can’t wait to see him kick JD Vance’s weak little ass in the debate on Tuesday October 1, 2024. 

I also want to get a better grasp of where he stands on foreign policy because so far Walz hasn't really talked about foreign policy. Trump and Harris did talk about foreign policy during their debate, though it was mostly focused on Ukraine 🇺🇦, Israel 🇮🇱 and Gaza, and Trump's adoration of dictators. As well as democratic world leaders' fears about Trump returning to the White House. They barely spoke about China 🇨🇳 and Taiwan 🇹🇼, so we don't know exactly where Harris stands on Taiwan 🇹🇼, the South China Sea, and the competition with China 🇨🇳 overall in her own words. All we can assume is that she holds the same position on China 🇨🇳 and all issues related to it as Biden, including the promise to come to Taiwan 🇹🇼's defense should it ever be attacked by China 🇨🇳. 

I also wish that she mentioned the planned invasion of Mexico 🇲🇽 laid out in Project 2025. I thought that was a bit of a missed opportunity to mention that and lambast Trump over that, especially since it's something so few people actually know about or talk about, even amongst people who has read Project 2025. The American people 🇺🇸 have the right to know that the Republicans are plotting aggressive military action against Mexico 🇲🇽, and that electing Trump will mean increasing the likelihood that something like that could happen. We'd in a quagmire a thousand times worse than Iraq 🇮🇶 if Trump gets elected, and any military action against Mexico 🇲🇽 goes through. Even just airstrikes. But mostly a full-scale invasion which would be a disaster of the highest order.

It would also give Harris the opportunity to reassure Mexico 🇲🇽 that if she's elected, she will not attack them or be overly aggressive towards them and will do everything she can repair the relations between the United States 🇺🇸 and Mexico 🇲🇽. Make Mexico 🇲🇽 a true partner by treating them as the equal they've desired to be all these years, and therefore keeping them out of the orbit of both Russia 🇷🇺 and China 🇨🇳. 

She could've said something like, "I assure the American people 🇺🇸 that I have no intention of invading our southern neighbor if I'm elected. It would hurt us just as much as it would hurt all the people of Mexico 🇲🇽, especially those Americans 🇺🇸 who are Mexican immigrants 🇲🇽 and still have families in Mexico 🇲🇽. A vote for Trump means a vote for a war." But, I already know what Trump's defense would've been. 

He would've said that he has nothing to do with Project 2025, which is something I believe he might've actually said during the debate because I do believe Project 2025 did come up at least once. He also would've said that the idea that he'd invade Mexico 🇲🇽 was preposterous since he's the real peacemaker 🕊️, and Harris is the real warmonger out for blood 🩸. But, considering all of the other stuff he said during the debate, I doubt anyone would believe him, say for his most vocal supporters. 

The MAGA cultists who believe everything Trump says, even if it's contradictory and goes against something he said before in the past. We all know that if Trump were re-elected, and he decided to invade Mexico 🇲🇽, MAGA cultists would justify it in their minds and say that Mexico 🇲🇽 deserved it if Trump wants to invade, and that invading Mexico 🇲🇽 will solve our drug trafficking problem and our illegal immigration problem. It wouldn't, it would make those problems so much worse, but MAGA nuts wouldn't care. As long as it's their god emperor doing it, they'll accept anything.

After the debate between Trump and Harris, Taylor Swift immediately endorsed Harris, and left a link to a voter registration site 🗳️ to her fans on social media for them to register to vote 🗳️, presumably for Harris. I know Taylor Swift and her supporters (her adoring fans) would probably say that she’s not telling people who to vote for, she’s just telling them to register to vote 🗳️ and then make their own decision. 

If that’s the case, then why did she wait until after the debate and until after officially endorsed Kamala Harris to provide that link to the voter registration website 🗳️? Why didn’t she do so weeks or months before? Registering to vote 🗳️ was just as much of an issue 4 months ago as it is now. She wants her fans to vote for Kamala Harris. Don’t play stupid, people 😒. 

This is the exact same shit she did during 2020 Election 🗳️ when she waited until the election 🗳️ was two months away to finally endorse Joe Biden. And she didn’t do the same this year until recently because she obviously was dissatisfied with Biden’s presidency and fully bought into the narrative that Biden was too old and frail to lead this country again for another four years. So, she waited until he was out, and someone younger than him was in to endorse and send a voter registration link 🗳️ to her cult-like fans who base all of their political decisions based on whoever their infallible goddess supports, and in this case, it was Kamala Harris. 

I know everyone online and in the media made a big deal out the fact that Swift endorsed Harris and were treating it as if it were some major victory, simply because she’s the biggest pop star in the world, but I couldn’t care less if she endorsed her or not. Her endorsement means very little to me because I’m not a fan of her or her music. I’ve only listened to a couple of her songs, and I tend to be of the opinion that she’s a bit overrated, in fact she’s more than a bit, she’s very overrated. 

And her fanbase is just beyond crazy, like some of her most rabid and devoted fans make the most vocal Beyoncé fans look sane by comparison. Or really any of the fans of the favor of the week pop stars that have popped up recently like Charli XCX or Sabrina Carpenter. But I did write this once in something that I haven't posted to this blog, but if Taylor Swift ends up being one of the factor that saves this country from a second Trump term, my respect for her will go up by a significant margin. I will see her as a true patriot 🇺🇸 🫡. I still won’t like her music though. 

I also want to quickly address the recent second assassination attempt on Trump's life earlier today. I don't know that much about it other than it happened around Mar-a-Lago, Trump was not hurt, and that the suspect was apprehended and is currently in police custody. We don't know what the wouldbe assassin's motive was, or how he managed to get so close to Mar-a-Lago without Secret Service spotting him or any of the security detail at Mar-a-Lago spotting him. 

The suspect is probably going to be revealed as yet another registered Republican, another crazy far-right lunatic who was bullied in school and adopted extremist beliefs while being chronically online on 4Chan, or Discord, or Truth Social, or Parler, or Rumble, or any of those other far-right alt-tech websites. I would be genuinely surprised if it was a registered Democrat this time, and that it was a leftist or a liberal who tried to kill Trump this time. But, I strongly doubt that it will be. 

It'll likely be someone who is registered Republican, who is extremely far-right, and is more extreme than Trump is and saw Trump as a moderate or as a sellout and wanted to take him out for not going far enough. Or like with the previous guy ♂︎ who tried to kill Trump back in July, the person who tried to kill him this time might also not be politically motivated and might've just done this to try to get attention. 

I also know that there will be all kinds of conspiracy theories about this attempted assassination just like there were for the previous one, that it was all staged and that Trump planned it out all out in order to divert attention away from his bad debate performance and make people feel sympathy for him two months away from the election 🗳️. A lot of the  conspiracy theories about the previous assassination attempt being staged came from the so-called "pro-democracy" side, the side that's against Trump and against conspiracy theories, or at least they claim to be. I know stupid people like Politics by Tabitha or the Belle Kurve will try to push a conspiracy theory to that effect if they haven't already. 

To me, none of this screams that Trump secretly planned this out and staged it to garner sympathy after his bad debate performance. What screams to me is that there are a lot of people who really want Trump dead, and they're all on the Republican side. They're all far-right lunatics who are more extreme than he is, and want him dead because he isn't far-right enough for them, or perhaps they perceive weakness in him after his debate performance. 

Who knows, but all I know is that Trump has a lot of enemies, even in his own corner on his own side of the political aisle, and the enemies in his corner are the ones who are trying to off him with a bullet to the head or chest. If that doesn't tell you just how unlikeable this man ♂︎ is, I don't know what will. I wouldn't feel that bad if this assassination attempt had succeeded or if the first one back in July did. 

If anything, I would feel a sigh of relief 😮‍💨 that this man ♂︎ was gone forever, and could no longer pose a threat to this country ever again. The world would be a so much better place without him. Everyone talks about how much of a threat Trump is to America 🇺🇸, and yet, they feel sorry for him when some idiot tries to kill him and fails? The reality is that most people probably wouldn't miss him if he were gunned down by an assassin, professional or otherwise. That's all I have to say on the matter. 

Oh, and RFK Jr. dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, big surprise of the century 🙄. Whatever, I'm just glad RFK Jr.'s out of the race and can no longer be spoiler to help Trump, all while showing his true colors to those naïve enough to still believe RFK Jr. was some kind of enlightened centrist who was to answer to all of America 🇺🇸's political problems. He never was. He was a crazy far-right conspiracy theorist who had more in common with Trump than his father, RFK Sr. from the very start, and was no friend to democracy. We're so much safer with him out of the race. Trust me. 

—

(This is a photo from the film, District 9. It's during what I call the "documentary section" of the film where it's mostly just the documentary stuff and before we get into the cinematic stuff. Most of the documentary or mockumentary stuff in the film is during the eviction sequence, where Wikus along with his assistant, Fundiswa Mhlanga and his bodyguard, Thomas are going shack-to-shack evicting the aliens. This particular shot is during a short montage of various MNU agents and guards evicting or detaining aliens for various reasons. I believe the reason why this alien in this still is being arrested is for illegally owning a donkey 🫏. I guess certain animals are illegal to own inside of District 9, so if an alien is caught with any of these illegal animals, then they will be arrested immediately. Especially in the midst of the mass evictions by MNU.

The entire world of District 9, and the entire organization of MNU (Multi-National United) is portrayed as being very bureaucratic, like they have rules and laws for every little thing that in and around District 9. And all of those rules and laws are really just there to oppress the aliens and undermine them as much as possible. Wikus himself is portrayed early on in the movie as a corporate bureaucrat, someone who's just a cog in the machine and is apart of the system, this oppressive and repressive system that was set up to keep the aliens down under the heel of humanity. Or at least, under the heel of the South African government 🇿🇦 and the MNU corporation. And after he gets infected by the alien fluid, and starts turning into one of them, he is forcibly ejected out of the system, ejected out of that awful institution, and is reduced to being a guinea pig, a lab rat or a "medical experiment" as Wikus himself put it, and is made into an enemy of the company. 

So, he becomes a victim of the very system and institution that he was more than willing to serve before being infected. As a result, he sees the other side of that, the shoe on the other foot, and sees what the aliens experience and how badly he himself was treating them. Of course, he still has fits of selflessness and callousness, like when he knocks Christopher Johnson out, and tries to take the drop ship (while Christopher's son is still inside), just to save his own skin, just so he can make himself human again. 

But, after that plan goes horribly wrong, and he is thoroughly humbled by both the MNU mercenaries and the Nigerian gangsters 🇳🇬, Wikus actually grows a backbone, and he grows a heart and decides to sacrifice himself and fight off the remaining MNU mercenaries led by the main antagonist of the film, Koobus to allow Christopher Johnson to escape in the drop ship with his son, and fly the mothership back to their home planet. He stops caring about himself in that moment, and learns to care about others, but more than, he learns to care about the well being of these aliens. 

So, he just kind of accepts his fate, and starts living among the aliens after he fully transformed into one of them. 3 years later, or 12 years later, or whenever Christopher Johnson returns to Earth 🌍, will Wikus actually remember who he is? Will he remember who himself was, who he used to be prior to becoming a full alien? Will he actually want to become a human again by the time Christopher Johnson does return? I don't know, but these are all questions that the sequel, District 10 will have to answer, and I'm confident that they will and they will explored in interesting and unique ways as typical of Neill Blomkamp 🙂‍↕️.)

 

I rewatched the 2009 sci-fi film, District 9 a couple of days ago. I just finished watching all of the special features, and other bonus material on the Blu-Ray last night. And it came at the right time because I learned that the director and co-writer of the film, Neill Blomkamp is officially working on a sequel. Apparently, he confirmed it on Twitter 🐦 in February of this year, 2021, but I didn't hear about it until now. He is writing a script along his co-writer on the first film, Terri Tatchell, and even Sharlto Copley, the star of the first film who played Wikus van de Merwe, the guy who gets infected with an alien fluid and starts turning into an alien himself. All three of them are apparently working on a script together. I don't know how far along they are in the pre-production process now, but it's really cool.

It's cool that we're finally getting District 10, the sequel that we were asking for after District 9, but never thought we would actually get. But, it turns we will get one, 12, 13, or 14 years later after the first one. Can you believe it's been that long? District 9 came out in 2009, the same year as James Cameron's Avatar, and from this year, it's been 12 years. 

Speaking of Avatar though, wouldn't be pretty ironic if District 10 came out the same year as Avatar 2 after District 9 came out the same year as Avatar? That would be a fun coincidence, considering that they are kind of similar, they have similar messages about racism and xenophobia, and they have both have plots revolving around a human becoming an alien, in more ways than one. District 10 would definitely be the one that I would see, unless the trailers for Avatar 2 just completely amaze me.

But, yeah, I can't believe that they're actually doing it. Whether it's Lana Wachowski returning to The Matrix and making The Matrix Resurrections, and this, it seems that science fiction directors of the late 1990s and the 2000s are returning to the works that made them famous, and making sequels to them. District 9 is by far Neill Blomkamp's most beloved film, it's still considered to be his best film out of the three feature-length ones he has made so far. I remember when it came out, people were talking about how great it was, and how it was one of the best sci-fi movies ever made, and all these years later, it's still considered to be one of the best sci-fi movies of the 2000s by a lot of people.

It's the only one of three feature films that people were actually demanding a sequel to, like you don't hear anyone beg for a sequel to Elysium or CHAPPiE, now do you? It's all about District 9. Speaking of which, I guess since his last two films, Elysium and CHAPPiE, didn't go so well and got mixed reviews, Neill is going back to the work that put him on the map. Not that I personally felt that way about those two films, I like them just fine, I'm just saying what the common consensus is about them, and they aren't particularly positive, especially CHAPPiE.  

Chappie is easily Blomkamp's most disliked film, it's the the one that you'll hear most people say, "Oh, I didn't like that one" or "That one's my least favorite of Blomkamp's movies." You honestly hear more positive things about Elysium than you will about CHAPPiE, at least on the Internet, but you know, most things are more negative on the Internet than in real life. Anyway, maybe, it's that Blomkamp has been creatively reinvigorated by his independent experimental film studio, Oats Studio, and now has an idea for a District 9 sequel.

Whatever it is, I'm glad it's finally getting made. I'm not sure what it will be about though. Is it going to be a full-on invasion or war like people were expecting after the events of District 9 with Christopher Johnson coming back with an armada to retaliate against the humans for what they did to his people? Is Christopher Johnson going to make good on his promise and try to rescue Wikus and turn him back into a human? 

Because we saw at the end of District 9 that Wikus had fully transformed into an alien, a Prawn, and he is now living among the aliens in District 10, the camp that replaced District 9 after the Prawns were all evicted, and District 9 was completely demolished. But, will he actually want to become human again by the time Christopher Johnson returns? Will he even remember who he was before turning into an alien, or has his new alien brain made him completely forget his original human self and he has been consumed by the alien instincts and what was left of the original Wikus is gone by the time Christopher returns.

I really don't know, and we won't know until an actual trailer comes out, but I'm sure Neill, Terri, and Sharlto have a pretty good idea up their sleeves. I'm confident that they'll come up with something good. One thing's for sure, the CGI for the aliens is going to look awesome. I mean, the CGI in District 9 still holds up to this day, imagine what the CGI in District 10 will look like with all the advances in CG technology since 2009, some of which Neill himself has taken full advantage of at his Oats Studio. I am definitely looking forward to this one for sure.