Ever since he was a little boy, it’s been Plankton’s dream to take over the world—a dream he believes he can fulfill if he can only steal the infamous-but-secret Krabby Patty formula. The reason he believes this is a bit convoluted; but suffice it to say that Plankton’s plans have always failed, often foiled by SpongeBob himself.

Unfortunately, that repeated failure has taken a toll on Karen. She’s always supported her husband’s dream, but she believes he’s going about it the wrong way. Karen’s something of an evil genius herself—being a cross between a computer and a robot, after all—but for 25 years, Plankton has neglected to acknowledge her brilliance.

Well, enough is enough for Karen. So when Plankton refuses to listen to her ideas once again, Karen decides to end their evil alliance and take over the world for herself.

Realizing he can’t stop Karen alone, Plankton reluctantly teams up with SpongeBob. But the happy, yellow sponge doesn’t just want to save Bikini Bottom: He wants to save Plankton’s marriage.

The post Plankton: The Movie appeared first on Plugged In.

A rabbit was the first to go. Enraptured by the sight of the tiny purple meteorite, which had just crashed into its enclosure, the bunny took a bite. It wasn’t long before the once adorable critter transformed into a fanged, gummy-like zombie. And with one bite with those sharp teeth, other animals at Colepepper Zoo transformed, too.

The chicks and sheep went next.

Down went the goats.

Then, they came for the monkeys.

Pretty soon, the whole zoo was gone—save for a wolf, mountain lion, capybara, ostrich, lemur and proboscis monkey.

But the gummy zombies are coming for them, too.

The post Night of the Zoopocalypse appeared first on Plugged In.

Why?

Who knows? It’s the future. And in this future, there lives a powerful witch that seemingly everyone wants dead. But this witch, Gray Alys, lives on.

Part of her longevity is because of her magical ability to make eye contact and force anything—man, zombie or feral beast—to see what she wishes them to see. Her other saving grace is the requirement that she must grant any and every wish that someone asks of her.

“I refuse no one,” she will murmur when asked. And people always ask, even though her expression immediately conveys a bitter truth: wishes always lead to one cataclysmic disaster or another.

So, when the city’s Queen approaches with a request to gain the shapeshifting ability of a werewolf, Alys dutifully replies, “I refuse no one.”

But why would the Queen want such an ability? Who knows? And when the Queen’s captain and secret lover later asks that Alys fail in that request, Alys once again declares that she cannot refuse him.

Somehow Gray Alys is required to fulfill requests that even might oppose one another. While in a magic trance, she sees a man who will guide her to that resolution. He’s a large and gnarly gunslinger named Boyce.

This massive mercenary will lead her into the Lost Lands. They will find a werewolf there. And they must also keep one step ahead of the foul crusader-like churchmen that want Gray Alys’ skin.

Oh, and Alys isn’t aware (or is she?) that Boyce also happens to be one of the Queen’s many lovers. He might even be the sire of the child that’s newly growing in her womb.

Oh, what a twisted web this witch now clings to.

But it leads to a conclusion that Gray Alys cannot refuse. Why? Only she knows for sure.

The post In The Lost Lands appeared first on Plugged In.

That “saturation” part means Chris works with a maintenance crew that goes so far down in the ocean’s dangerous depths—sometimes as deep as 1000 feet down to maintain miles of fuel pipes that run along the ocean floor—that he must be treated with pressurized gas before each lengthy dive.

Of course, it’s the dangerous side of things that make Morag consistently worry. Does he really have to risk his life repeatedly in the crushing depths just to make a living? Couldn’t he find something on the dry, sunny surface that he could do?

Chris kisses his bride-to-be and laughs off her fears. “It’s just like going into outer space, except in the opposite direction,” he chuckles.

After a beat, she replies “Is that supposed to reassure me?”

Let’s face it, Morag has a point.

Even though it’s all becoming second nature to young Chris—after all, he works with an experienced, dedicated crew—accidents do happen. And sometimes storms at sea create unpredictable problems for the ship far above on the water’s surface.

Sometimes the thick umbilical cables that connect the divers to oxygen and diving bell communications can tangle or even snap. Sometimes the power goes out, and the ocean floor becomes a pit of ink-black nothingness.

And sometimes all of those things happen at once, leaving a stranded diver with nothing but minutes of oxygen in his diving suit’s emergency back-up.

That’s when an entire crew must do all they can to fight the ocean, fight the storms, fight the failures, and desperately try to save an endangered crewmate.

In this case, that endangered soul is a guy named Chris.

The post Last Breath appeared first on Plugged In.

Perhaps it was inevitable. Because after generations of people are born and grow up in space colonies, it doesn’t seem fair that the blue planet with which they have no immediate connection gets to be in charge of how they live. That’s why some of the stronger colonies rebelled against the Earth Federation, calling themselves the Principality of Zeon and sparking a devastating year-long war. And as both sides gear up in giant robotic mobile suits armed with both guns and blades, billions of people perish.

If you’ve seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam movie, you know what happens next: a Zeon reconnaissance team begins attacking a Federation colony, while a teenage mechanic Amuro Ray climbs into the Federation’s newly prototyped RX-78 Gundam and saves the colony. His decision, ultimately, would help Earth win the war against Zeon, too.

Except, what if someone else got to it first?

That someone is Char Aznable, a soldier in that Zeon recon team and (in the original timeline) a major antagonist for Amuro. And after using the mobile suit to achieve victory, Char recognizes that these Gundam models are powerful. And, after reverse engineering the stolen tech, Zeon wins the war.

But independence doesn’t always look pretty, as high schooler Amate Yuzuriha may tell you. She’s living in a space colony independent from both the Federation and Zeon five years after the war’s end. It’s a world where police care little for civilians and few feel like their freedom means much of anything…especially when a Zeon ship appears in overhead.

It turns out, the ship was on a secret mission, hoping to find the location of Char and his Gundam. Both vanished at the close of the war following a strange explosion—before the Gundam suddenly reappeared near the colony and began attacking the Zeon ship. Moments later, colony police, who have donned mobile suits, engaged, too.

Zeon quickly deployed its newest Gundam model, codenamed GQuuuuuuX, in defense … but it wasn’t long before its inexperienced pilot came crashing down into the colony, bringing the battle directly onto Amate’s head. She had been busy learning how to pilot a mobile suit to engage in illegal-but-lucrative underground mech combat fights.

And, like Amuro Ray, Amate acted in desperation, jumping into the GQuuuuuuX pilot seat to escape from the battle. And though she’s likewise inexperienced, she suddenly feels a connection to the robot, one that allows her to control the mech with her willpower alone.

And it’s a connection that just may change her life for good.

The post Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning appeared first on Plugged In.

Hey, lots of kids are like that, right? But in Ne Zha’s case, the results can be … bad.

See, Ne Zha is a demon, and not just any run-of-the-mill, dime-a-dozen Chinese demon, either. He’s part and product of the Demon Orb, and as such he’s incredibly powerful and destructive. Why, if left to his own demonic nature, he just might be so destructive as to threaten heaven and earth themselves. So the orb was slated for destruction by the Supreme Lord, Yuanshi Tianzun. And what the Supreme Lord says, the Supreme Lord does.

But through a series of adventures and surprising relationships (as chronicled in 2019’s Ne Zha), Ne Zha saved his parents and his hometown of Chentang Pass. And thanks to help from his enemy-turned-friend, Ao Bing (a reincarnation of something called the Spirit Pearl and the son of a very important dragon), Ne Zha even staved off the Supreme Lord’s destructive curse. The only downside? He and Ao Bing lost their corporeal bodies. Bummer.

But as Ne Zha 2 opens, good news! Master Taiyi Zhenren uses (and exhausts) his sacred lotus to regenerate both Ne Zha and Ao Bing.

Bad news. Chentang Pass is soon under threat again: Ao Guang, Ao Bing’s very important dragon father, believes his son died in the last movie, so he unleashes a few other dragon rulers from their lava-y locale, which are ushered into the fray by the demonic Shen Gongbao. Before Ne Zha and Ao Bing can truly get their bodies back, they must defend the town—and Ao Bing’s corporeal form is quickly destroyed. (Naturally, Ao Guang feels just terrible about this strange turn of events.)

But more good news! Ao Bing’s spirit doesn’t need to dissipate forever! Taiyi says that Ne Zha can host the spirit of Ao Bing for seven days. During that time, if Ne Zha can pass three trials and become one of the immortals, he can claim a potion that will restore the sacred lotus and, thus, give Ao Bing another shot at having a real-life body again.

But more bad news. Demons aren’t allowed to perform these trials. In fact, the trials are all about fighting demons—something that gods and immortals love to do. And if anyone detects Ne Zha’s true nature during these trials—inescapable if he fights as Ne Zha—he’ll certainly get booted out of heaven.

The only solution: Ao Bing’s spirit must take over Ne Zha’s body during these critical trials. And he can only do that if Ne Zha knocks himself out somehow.

Follow all that?

Well, in truth, we learn all of that within, like, the first 15 minutes of the movie, and then things get much more confusing. But in short, Ne Zha—the spirit of Ao Bing in tow—and Taiyi mount a flying pig and fly to heaven to embark on a series of spectacular adventures. And perhaps they’ll right a few long-festering wrongs along the way, too.

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Not that Marvin is a cutthroat type of guy. Not in real estate, anyway. He smiles a lot. He bakes cookies for open-house events to give those showings that nice, warm scent of home. Marvin just wants to match his wonderful clients up with wonderful houses. Nothing wrong with making people’s dreams of home-ownership come true, right?

He’s one of the most successful real estate agents in Milwaukee—proof, it would seem, that nice guys can finish first. Sure, he’s not thrilled that someone’s drawing mustaches on all of his bench ads. But what is he gonna do—track down and kill the vandal?

Well, once upon a time, maybe he would have. But Marvin’s different now. The only killing he makes these days is through his very reasonable commissions.

But then a former colleague of his shows up, announcing his presence with a fist to the face. When Marvin comes to, he finds himself at his desk—one hand tied to his chair and the other harpooned to the desktop with a sharp, wide knife.

Seems his old life has returned. And it’s not at all happy.

Apparently, back when Marvin was mainly killing people for a living, his last hit was a purposeful miss. Knuckles, his boss and brother, told Marvin to kill a woman named Rose (Knuckle’s top lieutenant) for stealing from him. But Marvin secretly loved Rose, so he let her go.

But now, it seems, Rose is back. And she’s sending Valentine’s missives to all of her old pals.

And what unwelcome Valentines’ they are. Knuckles is none-too-pleased that Rose is alive. Merlo, Knuckles’ new top lieutenant, really doesn’t want Rose to start blabbing about who really stole Knuckles’ money.

And Marvin? He had hoped that Rose would stay hidden, that both of them could’ve started new lives free of crime and murder. Marvin had escaped: Why couldn’t she?

Plus, he’s got houses to show. Contracts to sign. And it’s awfully hard to do that when your hand is pinned to a desk with a giant Bowie knife.

Seems like Marvin will need to revert to his old self for a little bit—just until he can dislodge the knife and deal with The Raven.

Yeah, the real estate business can be cutthroat, all right—but nothing like Marvin’s old gig. And he’ll be giving a few folks a nice education in morgue-age rates before he’s done.

The post Love Hurts appeared first on Plugged In.

The ex-British Army window cleaner woke up late for work, earning the anger of her superior. And she was forced to come in even later when she learned that her autistic brother, Michael, had just gotten kicked out of his 9^th care home. (This time, he’d hacked their system and exposed some of their unsavory records.)

Because Joey was running late, she didn’t have time to take Michael back to her house, so he had to wait in the lobby of the Agnian Energy skyscraper while she worked. And because she got to work late, her supervisor is forcing her to work an extra hour later than scheduled.

And that’s why she was still working dozens of floors above the streets below while the company hosted a celebratory gala for investors. It’s also how she witnessed the event—and the building—being taken over by a group of anti-humanist terrorists. They claim that Agnian Energy is killing the planet, and they want to expose its corruption.

As the police catch wind of the situation, they’re informed by the terrorists that they’ve strapped their hostages in bomb vests; should any of their officers attempt to enter the building, they’ll blow the people and the building sky high.

But with her brother still inside, Joey can’t just wait for the cops to resolve the situation.

And despite her occupation, this window cleaner isn’t afraid to make a mess.

The post Cleaner appeared first on Plugged In.

Officer Knight may not be the sharpest tack in the box, but he’s athletic and strong. His dog Greg, however, is as bright as they come. He just can’t communicate well because he’s, you know, a dog.

Together though they make a great pair of crime stoppers. (And hey, they don’t even need a police siren, since Greg’s doggy howl attracts far more attention.) They’re the best of the best and they get the job done.

Until, that is, they don’t.

One day while giving chase to the vile villain Petey the Cat, Officer Knight and Greg accidentally set off a bomb. And PAZAW! The two find themselves in a conundrum. They’re rushed to the hospital, and the doctor proclaims that the poor officer’s head is just no good anymore. And poor Greg’s body is no good either.

All is lost … until a nurse steps up to suggest that they simply sew Greg’s head on Officer Knight’s body. Which, of course, is a brilliant idea. Greg’s smarts matched with Knight’s athleticism results in nothing less than Dog Man, a truly terrific Supa Cop!

This incredible law officer can’t talk anymore, but hey, talking is overrated. Dog Man can lick crime better than the best of ‘em. He treats baddies like a dug-up bone. He’s incredible!

Of course, villains like Petey won’t just hiss and run for cover. Petey is still scratching up insidious inventions and hairball hoodwinks. He even goes so far as to clone himself! (Though his clone, Lil Petey, is just the cutest little thing. Ahem.) Anyway, Petey the Cat is up to no good.

So, Dog Man will have to put his nose to the ground and get to do-gooding and crime-solving. I mean, after he chases a stick and a tennis ball or two.  

Ruff!

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Her father, Simba, has temporarily left to be with Nala, her mother, as she prepares to give birth. And sure, she’s got Timon, Pumbaa and Rafiki to look after her while Simba’s away, but that approaching storm makes her tremble even more.

That’s why Rafiki sits her down to tell her the story of another scared cub who overcame his fear and became the lion king: her grandfather, Mufasa.

Yes, Mufasa was also terrified when that flash flood swept him away from his parents and into a foreign land. But he found a brother in Taka, the cub who pulled him from the water and helped Mufasa find acceptance in a new pride.

Taka is royal blood, son of King Obasi. And he’s ecstatic to finally have a brother with whom he can grow old. And one day, when Taka is king, he and Mufasa can rule over all the creatures of the land.

But the truth is … Taka is no leader. He is a coward, which is why he fled when outsider lions ambushed his mother.

The lions are led by Kiros, a fierce, white-coated feline who has slaughtered his way through the lands to crown himself the lion king—and he’s soon to arrive at Taka’s pride. That’s why Taka and Mufasa are commanded by King Obasi to flee to order to preserve the royal bloodline. They take off, hoping to take refuge in the far-off Milele, a mythical land of peace and prosperity.

But something nags at Taka. Because as they journey, he can’t help but see the animals they encounter along the way look at Mufasa as leader, not at him. They admire Mufasa’s traits, not his.

Isn’t Taka the one who’s supposed to rule?

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