A/N: This review episode will be the start of the second season's Part 3 storyline, which is the third and final half of Season 2 which will lead up to the season finale that will conclude the one-week Sociality crossover arc and furthermore also have a Season 2 finale story arc as well.
P.S.: I'm very delighted to have Cameron MacCloud, Yume, Kasuga, Emi Yusa, Eureka and the others return after their absence in Part 2 of the second season just in time for Part 3. This is also the eightieth chapter of this story so far.
P.S.S.: Also to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Ernest Cline's best-known novel, Ready Player One.
In this fourty-first review episode and the first review episode of the second season's Part 3 (the third and final half of Season 2), as well as taking place immediately after the events of the previous review episode (The Purge), RWBY, Baiken, Athena, Maka, Sinon and the others (along with a few new friends) have returned to Beacon Academy after their temporary visit to Edo Island as they continue the remainder of their social event, while Cameron MacCloud, Yume, Kasuga, Emi Yusa, Eureka and their friends have returned from their Niagara Falls vacation a few days earlier. As worlds collide between Cameron and Baiken for their first time meeting each other, Team RWBY then arranges another review for themselves, Cameron, Baiken and Ibuki as a means for their next collaborative teamup, thus being Steven Spielberg's ultimate science-fiction visual pop culture treasure trove of the 2010's, Ready Player One.
Original Story and Originally Written by Myself
BEACON
"Hello there."
It was the first time Cameron had met Baiken, the morning when the former had arrived with her gen:LOCK friends, as well as Yume, Emi Yusa, Eureka and their other friends, after their Niagara trip a few days prior.
Ruby, Yang, Blake, Weiss and their new friends on the other hand had returned from their visit to Edo Island, in which they had a great time exploring and having the opportunity to try new things, meet people and even do some reviews in free time along the way.
Cameron simply said happily when she looked at Baiken, "Hi...", before she sees RWBY and the others as she and her friends get off the hovercraft shuttle and then proceeds to hug Ruby Rose while dropping her luggages (while Cameron and their gen:LOCK friends' AI companion Caliban was helping with some of their luggage), "RWBY! Sorry we weren't there for a few days because of those Niagara raffle sweepstakes that Kasuga here won by sheer coincidence, and we've had a fun time for the most part."
"Well, we're glad that we enjoyed it. The four of us and our friends happen to meet this amazing samurai and she took us to her home domain over at Edo Island.", Ruby explains excitedly.
Both Cameron and Yume ask, "What's Edo Island?", the latter saying as she came over, "We've never been or heard about there before."
"Oh, you wouldn't believe how great it was there. It was like as if we travelled to another time period centuries back, and it looked gorgeously ancestral, though anachronistic due to some modern tweaks like electricity, electronics and everyday homestyle furnishings. Even every person there happens to be female.", also said Yang.
The scottish gen:LOCK recruit thought, "I see.", and then turned to the female samurai as she said curiously, "Who are you by the way?"
"The name's Baiken. I am known to be the ruler of the Samurai Kingdom back at Edo Island. These are my loyal companions Kuradoberi Jam, May and Millia Rage."
Blake adds, "The four of them are characters from the Guilty Gear fighting games. The other pink-haired girl here is also another friend of her's and she is an immigrant from Japan over at Edo."
"My name's Inori Yuzuriha.", she said, shaking Cameron and Yume's hands, "I'm obliged to meet all of you."
The pink-haired samurai then asked, "And you are?"
"Ah'm Cameron MacCloud. A gen:LOCK recruit from Scotland and a technical hacktivist at the Anvil. These are my friends Julian Chase, Miranda Worth, Kazu Iida, Valentina Romanyszyn, Yasamin Madrani and Caliban. Pleased to meet you.", she said as she shook Baiken's left hand (since her missing right arm was a clawed grappling hook in its place).
"Also, my name is Yume, and my friends are Shihoru and Merry. Me and Cameron have started a relationship a few days ago after we first met."
Kazu Iida asked about Ibuki in Japanese, "Kunoichi wa daredesuka? (Who's the kunoichi?)"
"My name is Ibuki. I live in Edo Island at the Glade of Ninjas. You must be Kazu, right?", she translated since she can understand Japanese.
The Japanese gen:LOCK recruit replied, "Hai. Sutorītofaitā no gēmu kara kita node wanaidesu ka? (Yes. Aren't you from the Street Fighter games?)"
"Yes, I've been getting that a lot lately. It's an honor to meet you, though.", figuratively said Ibuki.
Emi Yusa asks Eureka, "She can understand Japanese? Good thing we're meeting a Street Fighter character on our side."
"I don't see a problem with that.", said Eureka.
Kasuga then said to RWBY and the others, "Wait, you went to Edo Island and both the Samurai Kingdom and the Glade of Ninjas? That's where me and my friends live!"
"You didn't know?", Sinon says, "If you haven't won the sweepstake raffle, you guys would've came with us. It was very good there, Kasuga."
The blonde kunoichi asked the blue-haired sniper, "What did you guys do for fun during your visit?"
"Oh, we went to those places you've said, and we took a look around. Me, Leafa, Asuna and Alice even stopped by your residence and we found that not only you are a ninja expert, but you also seem to have a fascination for movies, shows and even literature in your spare time, just like my fascination for exploitation movies."
"I can't argue with that. Though I may be a full-time kunoichi in Edo Island, I still tend to review things like that every once in a while."
"You know, I'm actually starting to like you as a friend.", Sinon bondingly told.
Kasuga agreed happily, "Same here.", before turning to Baiken, "I assume you're here too, Baiken? Because we've met many times back home on Edo."
"Yes. You, Kasuga, with your friends Saika Magoichi, Matsu, Nohime and Oichi. The others were very good during the visit to Edo Island."
The golden-eyed ninja girl then saw Ibuki, saying, "Ibuki."
"Kasuga.", the black-haired Street Fighter character said as they came closer, as the two ninjas do an arm wrestle handshake as a greeting, "How did you do?"
The blonde kunoichi answers, "Not that bad."
"Anywho, my name's Emi Yusa and here is my girlfriend Suzuno Kamazuki.", she says to Inori and Millia.
"And I'm Eureka, and this is Anemone.", she also told Kuradoberi and May.
Suzuno and Anemone both said, "Hello."
Inori simply said, "Nice to meet you too."
Ruby then says to Ibuki, "If you don't know who our friends here in Remnant are, there's our fellow team JNPR, including Jaune Arc, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos and Lie Ren. The others are our friend Penny Polendina, Professor Glynda Goodwitch, and our other friends who have came here to this event including Noelle Silva, Harley Quinn, Church and Sarge."
"I see. It seems very nice that you have made a lot of friends here on your homeworld.", acknowledged Ibuki.
Yang adds, "Yeah. Not to mention me and Ruby's Uncle Qrow and my mother Raven..."
"...our friends Sun and Neptune and my family over at Menagerie...", Blake also mentioned.
Weiss includes, "...my sister Winter Schnee and my family over at Atlas..."
"...and especially Cinder, Emerald, Neopolitan, Salem and Ozpin.", concluded Ruby.
Natsume points out, "Me and Ohana saw this Salem woman with Ruby's friends on their video chat last night. They were reviewing that Purge movie in which the others happened to do a watch party last night."
"We did.", Pyrrha and Nora said, "Salem was doing alright last night. At least we had a great time together."
Penny also noted, "Aside from that, Grimm activity has been low since the last attack a few nights ago."
"There wasn't Grimm present at the time Salem visited, but team JNPR and Penny helped kill a few Grimm over at the Forever Fall forest again, which wasn't a severe encounter besides what happened the other night. The Beacon headmaster Ozpin is aware of what happened so far.", spectates Glynda.
Yang responds, "So far, so good."
"I assume these creatures of Grimm are the ones you guys are hunting back in your world?", Baiken assumed.
Blake says, "Yes. Hunting Grimm, that's our specialty."
"It's what we do for a living.", finished Weiss.
Cameron also presumes in her Scottish accent, "And whilst we all have occupations that keep us going, it's really braw to have a hobby every now and then."
"Like reviewing or reacting?", Yume guessed, "Just to name a few."
Ty Lee also mentioned, "And besides those hobbies, which I honestly think reacting to videos is enjoyable here and there, there's always a variety of hobbies that are beneficial for everyday life."
"Yes, we tried some of those in the past together, and we had a hell ton of fun. Especially the social event that's been going on so far.", Yang recounts.
Ruby added for her sister, "But why stop there? There's still a few days left until the end of this event, so there's plenty of time for fun to go around."
"I guess so. Believe it or not, our visit to Edo Island was an experience. Actually makes things better for this event than we thought it would.", Ty Lee confides.
Cameron confuses, "I haven't been to Edo Island yet, but it sounded like you guys had fun. Someday I can go check that place out."
"So now that everyone's here...", Baiken ensured, "I suppose you guys could take us around the academy since it is our first time coming here, after all?"
Blake suggested, "Well, we suppose we might, but..."
"They're guests. You girls have my permission, even Ozpin's.", Glynda informed, "The night when Salem visited for the watch party Pyrrha, Nora and Penny arranged, she discussed with me and Ozpin and she seemed okay to come over, although her and Ozpin's relationship is still...estranged, to say the least."
Weiss says after, "Alright. That settles that."
"I can't wait.", Ibuki anticipated as the others agree.
Ruby insists with a nod, "Shall we?"
After team RWBY and Glynda recieved nods by the others, they all proceed to explore and enter Beacon Academy once again.
CAST
Ruby Rose
Ibuki
Ty Lee
Weiss Schnee
Blake Belladonna
Kasuga
Kazu Iida
Leafa
Natsume
with Yang Xiao Long
and Sinon
RWBY'S NOSTALGIA COMMENTARY COLLECTION
Cameron and Baiken: Showbiz Shogun Showdown
11:30 AM
One hour and a half later (after lunch as well), RWBY had shown Ibuki, Baiken and her four Edo Island companions Inori Yuzuriha, Millia Rage, Kuradoberi Jam and May, alongside Cameron MacCloud and Kazu Iida as they were strolling with the others through the dorm room halls.
"Thanks for showing us around Beacon.", gratefully says Ibuki, "It appears you guys have been living in an classy academy."
Weiss told, "Correction, it's actually the second most classy academy on Remnant. Atlas Academy back where my family lives as well as its kingdom is more classy and technologically advanced than the other three kingdoms or academies, not to brag."
"But it doesn't hurt to say that this is our home, despite the fact that we're still huntresses here in this academy. Someday when we graduate, we don't know if Ozpin would allow us to stay since he likes to dismiss graduating students, but maybe he would and we would reside as alumnis, or otherwise we could live in a lovely home somewhere here in Vale close by to the academy.", Blake thought.
Yang presumed, "That is, if our reviewing business alongside hunting Grimm becomes financially successful or beneficial at some point in time."
"Well, yeah. Alongside our regular occupations, our part-time reviews is starting to progress into monetary benefits. All thanks to Starscraper.", Cameron thanked.
Baiken includes, "Imagine. The bigger the fan count, the higher the revenue. From what I've known, it gives 2.5% more revenue per 10000 fans for a person on the app."
"So...we get $25,000 like that? My, this has an even bigger revenue split than YouTube.", Ruby figured, "Rest assured, it is far out in the future where that path would lead. Because the four of us, team RWBY, no matter what families we come from, we always stick together."
"Like sisters.", Yang smiled.
Blake and Weiss thought, "Like a family."
"That's love.", Jam and May proudly stated for an answer, "Not saying that you two are in a relationship, Blake and Weiss, but the bond the four of you had, just like us, Baiken, Inori and Millia, has grown."
Kazu Iida agreed, "Jodanjanai. (No kidding.)"
"That is why we were thinking of us four on doing a review collaboration with Cameron, Baiken and Ibuki on a film to celebrate our return to Beacon.", Ruby organized.
Cameron wonders, "Gee. What is it this time? Bride of Chucky?"
"What makes you think of that movie?", Baiken questioned as she rose an eyebrow.
The Scottish gen:LOCK recruit dismisses, "Oh, it's because I've done the first three Child's Play movies with Ruby the night we started visiting on the first day of RWBY's social event."
"I see.", the pink-haired samurai said.
Ibuki then asks again, "What were you thinking of reviewing?"
Yang suggests, "We were thinking about that awesomely nostalgic movie called Ready Player One."
"Ready Player One? Is that where there's this VR world with countless references to pop culture?", interested the Street Fighter kunoichi.
Ruby confirmed, "Yes, indeed. And that's why we're going to our dorm to review it. That's what we do mostly when it comes to movie reviews although we still have our regular duties as huntresses."
"Well, we did explore everywhere in the academy but the dorms, so it'll be glad if we visit your fellow team JNPR's room while you're doing your thing.", Inori Yuzuriha says.
Blake decided, "We think that's fair enough."
"Anatagasukinara watashitachiha issho ni tamuro suru koto ga dekimasu. (We could hang out together if you like.)", Kazu offered to Inori.
Inori replied, "Arigato. (Thank you.)"
"Nice to hear that she speaks Japanese.", Weiss riveted to Baiken.
The female samurai told, "She is from Japan after all."
Soon enough, Millia, May, Jam, Inori and Kazu decide to hang out with JNPR in their dorm room just across RWBY's dorm, as Team RWBY, Cameron, Baiken and Ibuki go to RWBY's dorm the four had been staying in.
"Seems like your residence is doing well.", Ibuki examined before seeing the makeshift bunk beds that RWBY had been sleeping on, with the top left bed being Ruby's which had been hanging with ropes to the ceiling, the top right being Yang's, the bottom left being Weiss', and the bottom right being Blake's, which sets of books had raised and stabilized on the posts that carry Yang's bed, "Bunk beds? How did you make this?"
Ruby recounted, "Well, the first time we came to this academy and when we were given our dorm, we organized and cleaned our dorm room the morning after our initiation. Unfortunately the beds were a tight heap, so we arranged bunk beds to have more space. I remember that was the day when I accidentally cut the red curtain with my Crescent Rose and we stitched it back afterwards in our dorm. Sometime after we started our occassional spare-time movie reviewing, we moved Blake's books to her drawer and we decided to get a 4K HD TV around the time with a shelf of DVDs, Blu-Rays and even a few 4K movies to start us off."
"One day, we even visited Minnesota on Earth to participate the Super Bowl LII years ago, and along with the premiere of one of our commercial sessions, we've helped the Philadelphia Eagles win the game by having a bonus field goal at the end of our commercial session and we were given a replica of the Super Bowl trophy, along with our accolades and medals from back home in Remnant prior to that event, as well as autographed pictures of us, fan drawings and newspaper articles from that day.", Yang remembers.
Baiken says, "Not only you're in a series, you hit the big time for fame. Just like I am back home in my Samurai Kingdom."
"If something were to happen to me li'ah', I wouldnae participate in the FIFA World Cup, or even the Olympics!", imagined Cameron in her Scottish jargon, "But...that will likely never happen again. Sadly, ah'm no famous yet although ah'm ur part of the gen:LOCK program and an expert techie."
The pink-haired samurai included, "It seems like you guys had a lot of fun though."
"Yeah, and getting to think that being in newspaper and publicity, it's like Ryu and Ken over with their Smash Bros friends back on Earth. Speaking of whom, I keep in touch with them as much as my other friends in Japan.", delighted Ibuki.
Ruby began, "Good to know your friends are with the Smash Bros. Heard about them on the news one time when they went on a tour across the state for their new Super Smash Bros. Ultimate game years ago."
"Anyways, we'll set the movie up. Let's get ready then. You know, watching Ready Player One in IMAX 3D for the first time between the four of us, it was worth the nostalgia.", reported Yang.
Her sister replied, "Definitely also worth the rewatch value."
"Oh, I remember seeing it when it came out, and it was a blast, both visually and breathtakingly in 3D.", Baiken recalled.
Cameron thought, "I think I've seen it too before I joined gen:LOCK, and I loved the 3D too. I can honestly say we may have the same opinion."
"Same here!", Ibuki answers additionally, "So cool!"
Blake simply said, "I can say that it's the best Spielberg film, period, in a while. That is, until his next movie being the remake of West Side Story."
"Let's just get on with it. The excitement is heightening, but could we get a move on with the review?", Weiss questioned politely, "Not to be rude, Blake."
Her faunus girlfriend says, "We're getting right on it."
Shortly, they set the movie up as the seven took their commentary seats as they started off;
"I'm Ruby..."
"...I'm Yang..."
"...I'm Blake..."
"...I'm Weiss..."
"...I'm Cameron MacCloud..."
"...I'm Baiken..."
"...and I'm Ibuki."
Team RWBY said in unison, "We remember it so you don't have to."
"We are very pleased to have Baiken and Ibuki join us in this review with our friend Cameron MacCloud, and we've just got back from our visit to Edo Island, where we explored and hung out around the kingdoms as well as covering up some reviews here and there with our new friends.", Ruby gave an introduction, "But now, let's talk about a book that came out by Ernest Cline, called Ready Player One."
Yang told, "Written by Ernest Cline, the book Ready Player One was published on August 16, 2011, and it had received praising reviews from entertainment magazines, publication websites and news critics, as well as being a #1 New York Times bestseller. Hell, one critic even said the story was 'Willy Wonka meets The Matrix'."
"Wow. Imagine a story having the imagination of Willy Wonka with the action of The Matrix, with a huge variety of nostalgic things from movies, games and all, and a virtual setup, how awesome do you think it would be?", awed Ibuki.
Blake mentioned, "Although some people were polarized or gave critical reception on the book, many have lauded it for its nostalgia and social commentary. Ernest Cline even made a long awaited sequel almost 10 years after the first one called Ready Player Two."
"It would be funny and great if the next installments were called Ready Player Three or Ready Player Four- It would feel like a four-player co-op game like Mario Party!", thought Weiss.
Cameron ensured, "But today, we'll be looking at the most nostalgic and visually-stunning movie in a long time, something that'll have you rewatch the movie to make sure you get every single detail that's put in this movie."
"It is known to be Steven Spielberg's quintessential science-fiction nostalgic-filled masterpiece in recent years, the film adaptation of Ready Player One.", Baiken announced.
Team RWBY, Ibuki, Cameron MacCloud and Baiken's Commentary of Ready Player One (Part 1)
Ruby and Yang started off, "Directed by Steven Spielberg and released in 2018, the movie Ready Player One received positive reviews from film critics and audiences alike, and gained over 580 million dollars at the box office over a budget of 175 million."
"Although it may or may not have the same praise as the novel it's based on, the author Cline himself got co-credit for the film's screenplay. Yeah, pretty much like J.K. Rowling's screenplay credits for the Fantastic Beasts movies although she has written the Harry Potter novels.", Blake and Weiss said.
Cameron continues, "Three weeks before its debut in theatres, many fans seen the premiere at the South By Southwest Festival, and they basically wiz like 'We love it!'", adding, "And it had been the same thought by many audiences when this movie premiered, as some claim it was one of Steven Spielberg's best."
"Even when I saw it the first time, I was enjoyed by the many references and surprises the film had thrown at us, albeit the differences between that and the novel.", Baiken carried on.
Ibuki stated further, "And the rewatch value... I've saw it over 7 times before and when it first came out after I read and got the novel for free on Loot Crate. It was an overly anticipated phenomenon, if it's not the greatest on par with Endgame, Avatar or Star Wars. Still got me hyped when Street Fighter characters were featured in it!"
"Now let's plug into our virtual realities, this is Ready Player One.", Ruby commenced.
Ready Player One
The leader of team RWBY starts, "The film opens in the year 2045, in the city of Columbus, Ohio where the film's primary suburban neighborhood known as The Stacks was said to be the fastest growing city on Earth, while much of humanity has been addicted to the massively virtual world known as the OASIS. Gee, a future with advanced technology and increased population rates have really skyrocketed at this point, huh?"
"We also meet our main hero named Wade Watts, played by X-Men's young Cyclops himself, Tye Sheridan, whom Wade is an orphaned teenager who had lost his parents when he was young and lives with his aunt. We then see him get prepared to enter the OASIS, which, I kid you not here, lies a treasure trove of nostalgia.", prepared the elder sister of Ruby Rose.
As the following snippet showed Wade putting his virtual OASIS goggles on as the film enters the virtual world of the OASIS, the seven girls were awed by the vast amount of pop culture references it withheld.
The faunus girl says, "Every time. Every time we see this scene, it is by far godly.", explaining, "Look at this! Not only we are being introduced into the world of the OASIS, the references come out in unexpected surprises. There's Minecraft, sports, Twister, The Wizard of Oz, vacations, skiing, Batman, Tomb Raider, even the casino ship from Cowboy Bebop made an appearance!"
"Hell, we wouldn't be surprised if anything from Samurai Champloo would've been featured in this too!", imagined the Schnee heiress, "Or anything else anime-related!"
The seven girls then heard the door open as Faye, Fuu and Iki peek in the room when overhearing the references they said, as the former said, "Did someone say Cowboy Bebop?"
"Yeah, we're reviewing Ready Player One. They included the casino ship Spiders From Mars into the film.", told Ruby.
Faye Valentine smiled, "I've seen that film one time, and I loved it. Thought I heard something, but thanks for pointing that out."
"Same here. Is there really any references to Champloo?", Fuu asked.
Yang saddened, "Sadly no. Would've been awesome though."
"Oh. That's okay. But still, it was a great movie!", Fuu said, moodswitching through her remarks as the three then left, closing the door.
Ruby and Yang nodded, "That was nice."
"The movie's potluck of pop culture continues as we enter the OASIS to see characters like the Cyclops from Clash of the Titans, the Wolfman, the Flash, Battletoads, Robocop, Marvin the Martian, Warcraft, Sonic the Hedgehog, Tracer from Overwatch, Hello Kitty, Freddy Kruger, John Bender from The Breakfast Club- Seriously, this has access to the most well-known properties mostly from both the late 20th and the early 21st centuries!", Ibuki remarks proudly.
Cameron continued, "But, putting the references aside for a tad bit, we're also introduced to Wade's avid OASIS gunter avatar named Parzival, who, we admit, the visual effects do have their touch in this movie, seeing they're nominated for an Oscar. We also get to see Planet Doom from the Voltron series, where armies of robotic scorpions and Joust ostriches battle against each other."
"That is where Parzival's friend named Aech was at, shooting characters like Freddy Kruger, Duke Nukem and Bloodshot. The DC one, not the Valiant Comics Vin Diesel one.", adds Baiken, "We're also given some exposition about the OASIS artifacts and how they can give players useful abilities, as well as the what would happen if a player were to get killed in the OASIS."
The next scene had Wade narrating that if a player were to get killed in the OASIS, they would lose everything they earn in the OASIS as avatars like Chun-Li from Street Fighter, Jim Raynor from Starcraft and Jason Voorhees were shown during the scene in cameos, or as Wade put it 'losing your shit means losing your shit'.
"Dying in Fortnite in a nutshell. Still fortunate that Sword Art Online's consequences aren't in this.", Blake imagined.
The seven girls heard the dorm room door of RWBY's room open as they saw Sinon and Leafa peek in the room, the blue-haired sniper asking, "What about Sword Art Online?"
"Oh. Nothing, guys. We were referencing it in our review of Ready Player One. That movie and the Sword Art Online anime are quite similar...", Weiss thought through.
Leafa understood, "No joke."
"Okay then, how are you doing so far?", asked Ibuki.
Sinon answered, "Me, Leafa, Asuna and Alice are gonna hang out with Kasuga, Saika and their other friends for a bit."
"Alright, have fun, you guys.", Cameron and Baiken greeted as the two close the door once again.
Blake and Weiss simply excuse, "This movie really is a callback to so many properties at so many levels."
"We're then introduced to Wade's idol James Halliday, played by Oscar-winner Mark Rylance, where he and his co-creator Odgen Morrow, played by Simon Pegg, both created the OASIS twenty years before the story. Sadly when Halliday dies five years prior, Halliday had announced an Easter Egg hunt before his death, revealing his Gandalf-esque OASIS avatar known as Anorak the All-Knowing."
"You know, after playing the Big Friendly Giant in Spielberg's BFG, it's pretty...decent to see him in another Spielberg film and in another CGI makeover.", says Yang, giving her opinion, "Good to know that his funeral memorial has Star Trek callbacks.", making a joke afterwards, "Long live and prosper, old friend. Boldly go where you've never gone before."
Blake then said, "The Easter Egg hunt involves searching for three keys, a copper, a jade and a crystal, all needed to unlock the Easter Egg with rewards being the stocks of Gregarious Games being over 500 billion dollars, and the winner would gain total control of the OASIS."
"Yeah, it's like having a lottery contest on finding the most important artifacts in the world and the one who brings the most gets a billion dollars and become the next president. These contests really raises the stakes sometimes, don't they?", considers Weiss.
Cameron then said, "But that doesn't stop there as Wade then goes to try getting the Copper Key...in a race.", sarcastically reacting afterwards, "Really? A race?", questioning, "How does a race become the first challenge in this Easter Egg hunt, you may ask? In the book, the Copper Key was located on the planet Ludus within the Tomb of Horrors where Wade has to face off Acererak the Demi-Lich in a best two out of three game of Joust, leading up to a bonus round where Parzival goes into the 1983 movie WarGames to raise his score. Here, the Copper Key challenge is made into a race instead of a fantasy-like Joust quest. What are the chances? But it's safe to say, a race does sound much better than a Joust challenge since we've seen the Joust ostriches already."
"Hey, look on the bright side, MacCloud. We also get to see even more pop culture references. There's Bigfoot the monster truck, Christine, the A-Team vehicle, the Batmobile, the guy from Gears of War, and Ryu from Street Fighter.", Baiken fortunately reassured.
Ibuki pumps her fist, "That's my boy.", after seeing the Ryu appearance in the movie.
"That being said, some of the racers also include the Sixers, who are indentured employees working for the Innovative Online Industries trying to get the keys like the gunters.", summarized the pink-haired samurai, "During this time, Parzival meets up with Aech."
In this part, Parzival meets up with Aech, who has saved him a spot yet the former has to go in the back after realizing his fuel gauge for his vehicle was low, with Aech joking about Parzival's purchase of the That's Something About Mary hairdo.
The black-haired kunoichi responded, "Trust me, we both don't wanna know how that hairdo was done.", synopsizing, "After we see Parzival's vehicle is the Delorean from Back to the Future, the race finally starts, and Parzival glimpses a mysterious racer on the bike from Akira. And trust us by saying this, the entire race sequence that follows is a heartpounding non-stop nostalgic thrill ride. Literally! Every little reference is coming at you but the kitchen sink."
"It was unbelievably amazing when we first saw it. There was obstacles, trains, death-defying jumps, the truck from Big Trouble in Little China comes in and fucking decapitates one of the Sixers with coins spewing out...which I'll get to that later on in the review...there's even the Tyrannosaurus Rex from Jurassic Park appearing and destroying cars, and fucking King Kong rampages through the race track! One thing after another makes this scene awesomely bonkers!", ecstatically says the red-black-haired huntress.
The blonde huntress shared her thoughts, "This scene would've been better if Godzilla or the tripods from War of the Worlds, or even the Mothership from either Independence Day or Close Encounters of the Third Kind made an appearance! I know we're compensating on pop culture references too much, but on top of that, it's the best treasure trove of callbacks ever!"
"Aside from that, Parzival doesn't make it to the finish line as he saves the unknown racer from being zeroed out.", the black-haired huntress said as the seven watch King Kong crush the Akira bike after Parzival saves the mysterious racer, "I hate this bike! You can have it back!", as she then abstracts, "The biker is revealed to be a girl avatar named Art3mis, played by Olivia Cooke. She and Parzival after the race go to Aech's workshop to repair her bike when..."
That was when the seven saw the Iron Giant in Aech's workshop.
The white-haired huntress confessed, "Oh my god, when we saw the Iron Giant in this movie, we were blessed with bliss! Not to mention the references from Battlestar Galactica, Aliens and Silent Running too.", as the following excerpt had Parzival and Art3mis conversating about their risk of zeroing out, the latter telling him that a real gunter would risk everything to save the OASIS from IOI, also saying she came up with this quote, "My, someone's making up their inspirational quotes. Yay for innovation!"
"Back in the real world, Wade returns to his aunt Alice's home where her angry boyfriend, who was the guy who played as the Jim Raynor avatar in the OASIS, blames Wade for losing a death match he was playing. Her aunt doesn't seem happy for the both of them.", the Scottish gen:LOCK recruit outlines as they watched Alice warn Wade that if he uses her stuff again, he would be forced out of the house, "And if you appear in another X-Men movie, oh, you're in so much trouble, young man!"
The pink-haired samurai summarizes, "Wade returns to the OASIS to go to Halliday Journals, where he meets the Curator, also played by Simon Pegg, as he takes him to the archives where he tries to figure out clues.", just as Parzival overheard Halliday in the archives say 'Why can't we go backwards, for once? Backwards, really fast. Fast as we can.', "Yeah, go backwards! Let's Tenet before Tenet does it up!"
"Using this clue, Parzival drives backwards in the race which unveils a secret pathway leading to the finish line, finally getting the Copper Key in the process.", synopsizes the female Street Fighter ninja as the next snippet showed Anorak congratulating Parzival for winning the Copper Key first and even calling him Padawan, as Ibuki makes a Star Wars reference, "May the force be with you."
Ruby continues, "Meanwhile, back in IOI, we are introduced to our main antagonist named Nolan Sorrento, played by Ben Mendelsohn. He and his assistant F'Nale Zandor, played by Ant-Man and the Wasp's Ghost herself, Hannah John-Kamen, ensures his advisory board that he plans to release a bunch of microtransactions and pop-ups if IOI wins the contest. We bet most of them are scams though since pop-ups on computers pretty much lead to viruses."
"It's strange to find that he was in another movie we reviewed that came out barely two years prior to this one, where he was in Rogue One playing as Krennic.", remembers Baiken.
Cameron surprised, "Wait, you girls reviewed Rogue One? Well, I still think it's a great movie but I didn't know you guys reviewed it while we were gone."
"Yeah, coincidentially in both movies Ben played in were antagonists. Plus, he don't have to count his role in Captain Marvel though since he was a mistaken villain.", Yang dismissed, "After we have a cool shopping scene with callbacks such as Halo, Borderlands, Overwatch, Dungeons and Dragons, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Robert Zemeckis, and Street Fighter once again..."
Ibuki delightfully says, "Again, I'm proud they had that!"
"...Sorrento enters the OASIS in a battlefield looking like Bizarro Superman in a business suit, as we also see the tripod from the original War of the Worlds, and he meets his mercenary bounty hunter known as i-R0k, played by T.J. Miller, where he shows him of the artifact known as the Orb of Osuvox and is given the task to find out Parzival's identity.", Ruby's elder sister then said.
Blake pointed out, "But we digress, I cannot take this character seriously. A very intimidating character performed and voiced by a comedic actor doesn't always land perfectly unless it's done by a intimidating actor. Here, i-R0k may seem like a typical CGI movie villain but kinda sounds like one of the people that were on SNL. That doesn't mean Miller was bad in the movie."
"In fact, he does hit some jokes throughout the movie here and there and acts as one of the film's comedic reliefs. i-R0k looks like Skeletor if he merged with the Snyder Cut's Desaad...and a given upgrade!", believed Weiss, "Back to the story, Art3mis, Aech and his friends Daito and Sho were the next people to get the Copper Key, as they recieve the clue for the Jade Key."
Cameron condensed next, "Parzival goes back to Halliday Journals where she comes across Art3mis disguised as Goro from Mortal Kombat with an Alien chestburster scare that she has as a hand puppet. I really want to get one of those.", whilst Art3mis gives Parzival in the movie a Clark Kent disguise to avoid fans who are thrilled that he got the Copper Key first, "I wonder if Parzival is gonna be Superman in this movie. Eh, probably not."
"They go back to the archives where they look back at another memory of Halliday about his first date which happened to be Odgen Morrow's deceased wife named Karen 'Kira' Underwood, whose gamer tag is named after the character from The Dark Crystal. Parzival's bet that Kira is mentioned only once in the archives also gives him a coin from the Curator for his troubles.", recaps Baiken.
Ibuki reacted when Art3mis asks Parzival if he was free thursday and said she would date him, but confusing Parzival and the Curator who he was, both turning around, "No, no. The cameraman isn't free on Thursday, but nice try.", resuming after, "Art3mis arranges a date for Parzival as he gets ready that day, dressing up as Prince, Michael Jackson's Thriller, Duran Duran and Buckaroo Banzai as more examples of this movie's boundless references."
Then, Aech in the film warns Parzival on what Art3mis true identity could be, even mentioning that she could be a 300-pound dude who lives in his mother's basement in Suburban Detroit named Chuck.
"Wow, what's said about some gamers nowadays is true... It kinda hurts thinking about it...", the leader of team RWBY hurtfully facepalmed, "Parzival goes to the Distracted Globe club where not only more characters appear, but he finds Art3mis once again. Unbeknownest to them, i-R0k seems to surveillancing the two. But the scene heats up when The Bee Gees' Staying Alive is played in this film's dance sequence."
The elder sister of Ruby Rose adds, "This has got to be one of the best movie soundtracks in recent years, right next to Baby Driver and the Guardians of the Galaxy movies!", precisely remarking as Parzival reveals his name as Wade to Art3mis and i-R0k overhearing this before saying 'Well, Buckaroo blows it.', "My, he must've came up with the title for the next Buckaroo Banzai film, didn't he?", adding, "But their fun ends shortly as IOI Sixers ambush the two as they fight the Sixers in a gravity-defying shootout."
During the next snippets of this scene, Parzival and Art3mis fight the Sixers, but i-R0k almost depletes the former's armor with his sniper rifle, and Parzival uses a Zemeckis cube (with the musical sting of Back to the Future) to rewind time and give time to escape.
"Okay, I know that looks like a Rubik's Cube, but with that Zemeckis reference and the Back to the Future stinger, sign me up for one of those!", the Faunus interested, "Parzival and Art3mis escape, but she reveals that her dad died in a loyalty center at IOI. And we have to admit...Olivia Cooke's performance in this scene almost...almost felt compelling at this point."
"She, like Wade, also had a sad parental death prior to the story, which makes way for some interesting character development. It builds up the revelation that more of these dark, tragic ramifications happen in real-life besides in the virtual world and how big the threat IOI was inside and outside the OASIS, and brings a distinction between both settings realistically and virtually.", taught the Schnee heiress.
Cameron supported, "Even when she said that she couldn't afford him to distract him, I think that's the reason why this scene takes place in The Distracted Globe. Never thought about that.", also describing the following excerpt, "After that scene, i-R0k reports to Sorrento about Parzival's true identity as Wade Watts, as Sorrento arranges a meeting with Wade to try manipulating him about his offers for the keys to the Easter egg."
As Sorrento said during the scene to Parzival during his offer scene in the former's office that he may think he is a corporate asshole who doesn't appreciate pop culture and say that wasn't true, Ruby and the others imagine the word 'LIAR!' flashing on the screen as the movie was playing.
"Wade declines the offer, and Sorrento threatens to blow up his house, which Watts isn't there at the moment but his aunt and boyfriend. He tries to warn them, but he fails to make it.", Baiken says, just as in the film when the house complex where Wade's aunt Alice, her boyfriend, and Wade's neighbours live blows up before Wade was about to reach the place, collapsing as Wade got out of its path, ""Getting this far by bombing and killing innocent people, should he really be capable of running a enterprise company all because of a competitive yet simple Easter Egg hunt? They better send him to jail at some point!"
Ibuki agrees, "No kidding, that incident was so destructive it even got dirt on Wade's face after that.", also pointing out, "He tries to warn his friends in the OASIS, but he gets kidnapped by a man with a tattoo, sending him to an abandoned building where many people were camping in, including Art3mis' real-world player Samantha Cook, who finally meets Wade in person."
"Okay, first things first. The original book looked at this differently. In the novel, Wade never meets Samantha until the end of the story, as much of the story has Wade's Parzival avatar interact with her Art3mis avatar throughout most of the novel. Here, he meets her after her bodyguard kidnaps him. She must've known where he is after he told her his name, he must be an A-grade OASIS celebrity at this point.", Ruby speculated.
Yang explained, "But what we need to point is the underdeveloped characterization different from the novel. Besides the fact that her father died and in this scene where Samantha has a conversation with Wade on the rooftop about her birthmark, introduction and apologies to him, there is nothing more explained about her backstory! You might as well instead focus on romanticizing the two since Wade is falling in love with her-", before the girls were startled when Samantha in the movie startled Wade when she realized something and said, 'Oh shit!'.
"What the hell?!", shocked Ibuki as the excerpt played again, "That came out of nowhere... What are we supposed to assume? She sounds like she either forgot something at home, or she's running late for something.", as the snippet is played once more as the Street Fighter girl imitates, "Oh my god, my favorite show is about to start!"
To be continued...