I think 'The Harvest Moon Festival' is Striker almost selling other characters (and the audience) on the version of himself he wishes to be all the time, while his next two apperances unveil the arrogant, hypocritical lunatic he actually is. He's still a capable fighter, a highly competent assassin with a large bodycount, and slippery as all hell, but he also openly looks down on anyone he deems a disgrace to the imp kind, while taking jobs from the same royals he supposedly despises more than anything. I think that's such an interesting route to take with him, but because the audience had almost two years to project all the implied badassery onto him, the shift in portrayal has been divisive.
Honestly, I think from a writing perspective it's kind of brilliant. I don't know if you're a DBZ fan, but it's kind of like when Team Four Star pointed out how cool Broly is yet his premise is so dumb (in the first movie); it makes for a really interesting look at a character. It was great seeing Striker's lair, as all the over-the-top western paraphernalia makes him feel more like a cowboy fanboy than an actual one, yet he still has skills so it's pretty awesome as a dynamic.
@@DarkfoolDave I am not particularly familiar with DBZ, but I think I get what you mean. Also, sorry for the long comment in advance lol. I found Striker's lair to be cool. He's clearly trying to project a certain image of himself, but it is a genuinely dope location. The big D statue felt like a bit too much - especially since this was literally after a certain other shark-snouted antagonist was obsessed with proving his was the biggest. Though, the more I think about it, that might've been an intentional parallel between the two. Also, if you have a mariachi band constantly singing out your praises, you'll eventually start to believe your own hype. Not like he doesn't have the cred to back it up, at least somewhat. I found the choice of soundtracks during his big battle with Moxxie and Millie interesting. At first it's this country tune that Striker would prefer to accompany the climactic battle where he crushes these two - you can see him tapping his foot, cracking his neck with a smile. But then the boombox gets hit again...and an upbeat pop song starts playing, fitting the wacky B-plot at the hospital, but not the serious A-plot. It's like the universe is actively denying him the right to a badass battle. Now, the battle is still really awesome in terms of choreography, Striker does some cool moves in it, but it's hilarious how the show is essentially saying 'no' to him. Come to think of it...Agent 1 and Agent 2 were obsessed with being seen as badass, too, weren't they? Even at the cost of practicality. But I'm sure Striker would still be annoyed with how overt they are about it.
Honestly it seemed faster paced then normal but not to the point where I couldn't understand what was going on. The visuals were super great and all the characters were so fun to see all together.
That whole thing with opening the cage was a Rube Goldberg reaction. And it was real quick, but Asmodeus ate the Lawyer (chicken are omnivorous and he’s actually part chicken).
