REVIEW -- Last Man (Complete Series - Episodes 1-26)

Lastman is a French comics series written by Bastien Vivès and Balak and drawn by Bastien Vivès and Michaël Sanlaville. It has been published since March 2013 by Casterman in the collection KSTЯ. In 2016, an adult animation telling the genesis of the main character started being aired on the public French TV channel France 4. It was produced thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign in the summer of 2016. The episodes were all aired on France 4, on Tuesday evenings from November 22 to December 14, 2016. The show was made available for streaming on the Mondo Media VRV channel in the United States and Netflix in France in 2018.

It currently airs as part of the Mondo Animation Hour on the El Rey Network in the United States. 

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THE TEAM  (from Lastman Kickstarter Presskit)

Jérémie Périn (Director)

Jérémie Périn is a director/animator. He’s internet ­famous for his music videos ​Truckers Delight (Flairs), ​Fantasy (dYe­ 57 millions views), and ​Hi Life (Syd Matters). Additionally, he animated the opening sequences for the film ​Gainsbourg ­Vie héroïque and has worked for several years in  television (​CO2, Nini Patalo, and more). 

Balak (Screenwriter)

Balak is one of the three writers of the comic book Lastman, and he too is  a fixture in the world of animation. He is known for the web series ​Les  Kassos (200 millions views), as well as Turbo Media, an innovative  platform for digital comic books, which he created and adapted for several publishers including Marvel and Dupuis.

Je Suis Bien Content (animation studio)

 
Je Suis Bien Content is an animation studio founded in 1996 by Franck  Ekinci and Marc Jousset. Their work includes feature ­length films such as Oscar­nominated ​Persepolis and ​Avril et le monde truqué, as well as  television series such as ​L’île à Lili, Nini Patalo, and ​Molusco. They also  produce many award­-winning shorts.

The Lastman team is also made up of Jérémie Périn’s longtime collaborators: Laurent Sarfati (Writing  Director) and Mikael Robert (Art Director), as well as some of the usual suspects from studio JSBC, such as Jérémie Hoarau (Assistant Director) and Nils Robin (Supervising Animator). In the creative  team, we’ve got Christelle "Kuri" Abgrall (Storyboard Supervisor), Benoît "Bill" Boucher (Storyboarder), and Baptiste "Gobi" Gaubert (Character Designer). Lastman would not be complete without its set design, produced by the studio Tchak, and its original score, composed by Fred Avril  (a master of electronica and film music) and Philippe Monthaye (from the bands Prophet et Los  Chicros).

Lastman is produced by ​Everybody On Deck​, which was also at the helm of the feature­ length film  Polina, adapted from a graphic novel by Bastien Vivès. And something exceptionally rare for a  French series, Lastman is financed by only one TV channel (France 4 ­ France Télévisions).

English Voice Cast: 

Richard Aldana - Ben Phillips
Dave McKenzie - David Brimmer (credited as Michael Alston Baley)
Howard McKenzie - Jamieson Price (credited as Taylor Henry)
Siri - Alyson Leigh Rosenfeld
Rizel - Kevin T. Collins
Taylor "Chubs" Brando - Joe Ochman (credited as Joseph Whimms)
Duke Diamond - Chris Jai Alex
Tomie Katana - Cherami Leigh
Milo Zotis - Jason Griffith
The Holy Father - Michael Sorich
Harry Zenkova - Doug Erholtz
Lt. Monica Mendoza - Monica Rial
Chorum the Devourer - (adult) Michael Alston Baley

Additional Voices by but not limited to Matthew Mercer, Robbie Daymond, Ray Chase, Yuri Lowenthal, Bryce Papenbrook, Patrick Seitz, Max Mittelman, Michele Knotz, Carrie Keranen, Ted Lewis, Ben Diskin, Cassandra Lee Morris, Haven Paschall, Erica Schroeder, Cam Clarke, Kyle McCarley, Trevor Devall, Sean Kenin, Bob Joles, Vi Mignogna, Billy Bob Thompson, Cindy Robinson, Josh Keaton, Ian Sinclair, Steve Blum, Sean Schemmel, Barbara Goodson, Fred Tatasciore, Carrie Savage, Erica Lindbeck, Veronica Taylor, Dave Wittenberg, Scott Menville, David Vincent, Caitlin Glass, Kate Higgins, Robin Atkin Downes, Michelle Ruff, Crispin Freeman, Wally Wingert, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Hynden Walch, Scott McNeil, and Erica Mendez to name a few.
Full credits for both the French and English dub can be found here.

Plot Summary/Overview:

Richard Aldana just got knocked into the deep end of the multiverse. Set 10 years before the events of the international hit Lastman comic series, this 26-episode extrasensory epic turns the cocky brawler's rough and tumble routine upside-down as he's charged with protecting the key to a mystery beyond anything he could have imagined.

THE STORY (from Lastman Kickstarter Presskit)

Paxtown is a capital under the influence of drugs and corruption, torn apart by inequality and  poisoned by the mafia. Here, trouble lurks at every corner. In this depraved metropolis, Richard  Aldana grew up to be a cunning young man, without attachments or ambitions. In his spare time, he  boxes. For Aldana, boxing is neither a sport nor a passion; it's just a way to keep annoyances at bay.  Despite having real talent, Richard would rather die than wear satin shirts and participate in the  championship of ultra­violent martial arts, the Fist Fight Funeral Cup (FFFC), for which all of Paxtown turns  out.   

But all that was before everything fell apart. Before his friend Dave, the owner of the boxing club, was  murdered. Overnight, Aldana becomes the protector of his friend’s orphaned daughter, Siri. Those who killed Siri’s father are now targeting her. They call themselves “The Order of the Lion”. They are a religious sect much more dangerous than the cops or gangsters that usually cause trouble in Paxtown. These nutjobs think Siri is the key to their "other world".  Searching in Dave's past for what could have triggered such a shit storm, Aldana and Siri are drawn  into a quest that overwhelms them, one in which the words “Valley of the King” ­ a mythological land  of magic and demons – keep popping up. 

Episode Descriptions: 

E1 - You’re An Asshole, Aldana

Richard Aldana’s just trying to survive. He was doing alright, squatting at the boxing gym of his buddy, Dave… until the day when everything went south.

E2 - You’re Just Saying That ‘Cause I Have a Grenade

Richard learns that the gang of lunatics who went after Dave are also after a member of Dave’s family.

E3 - I Have a Thing for Mustaches

Richard tries digging into the secrets of Dave’s life, but doesn’t find any answers.

E4 - Get Outta My Mom

Richard winds up in the boxing ring and unexpectedly encounters an enemy from his past.

E5 - Squares Inside of Squares

Richard and Siri encounter a dangerous man from Dave’s past.

E6 - The Teeth, the Teeth, the Teeth

Siri ends up in trouble, so Richard does a deal with the mob in hopes of helping her.

E7 - You Speak Like a Man of Honor

Richard gets even more indebted to the mob and has to find a way out of it.

E8 - We Will Dismember You
Richard ends up literally tangled in a mess and needs the help of Howard and Siri.

E9 - Yellow Brain
Richard and Howard pretend to be cops in the search for answers.

E10 - Did We Have an Appointment
Richard and Siri end up in what seems to be a dream, but it turns out to be a nightmare.

E11 - Watch Out When It Starts Flickering
Richard and two other fighters want to compete in the FFFC fighting championship, but there isn't room for three, so one must die.

E12 - Why Is This Guy Hitting Me?
Richard struggles to survive a brutal match in the boxing ring only to be rudely awakened by some news from law enforcement.

E13 - You’re Cute, Aldana
Richard gets a dark dose of prison life while Siri gets a dark dose of life in a foster family.

E14 - Go on, Sing Something For Us
Richard has an opportunity to free himself from prison, but will revenge from an old ‘friend’ get in the way?

E15 - I Am the Passenger
The Order of the Lion finds a grotesque way to place a boxer in Richard & Duke’s upcoming match.

E16 - Parameters My Ass
Richard is nearly paralyzed in the boxing ring while Siri has a dangerous encounter with a boy who knows her quite well.

E17 - Family Is Always Complicated
Howard reveals a secret about the demons from the Valley of the Kings and how he and Dave came to terms with it.

E18 - Action!
Richard, Tomie, and Siri end up having fun at a mall together until a couple of junkies take them hostage.

E19 - Stay Tuned to Pax News
Pax News covers the dangerous hostage situation involving Richard, Tomie, and Siri while the Holy Father informs his ‘sons’ he knows of a traitor in the ‘family.’

E20 - Could You Pass Me the Mustard?
Richard has a streak of incredibly good luck thanks to the Order of the Lion, but how long will it last?

E21 - Oh no…
Howard gets embroiled in a near deadly encounter with a sexual deviant while Richard fends off an uncontrollable Siri.

E22 - Your Hermit Crab Looks Like One Nasty Dude
Richard must fight Gemini Kross in the ring, but finds out a terrifying secret making Gemini the most dangerous opponent yet.

E23 - Don’t Ever Let Him Touch You
The power of the Order of the Lion is on full display during Duke’s match with Gemini, but so is Siri’s defiance against it.

E24 - Hang in There and Don’t Die
Richard finally faces the very dangerous Gemini in the ring and takes a massive risk in an attempt to survive.

E25 - I’m Sorry
Richard is shocked to learn what Howard is willing to do to enter the Valley of the Kings.

E26 - This Is the Last Time I’m Going to Ask You Nicely
Siri urges Richard to move on without her, but Richard does everything in his power to save her. Will she survive?

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The Verdict:

I discovered Last Man on a whim actually. I tuned into El Rey Network's Mondo Animation Hour (Saturdays at midnight, airing two episodes back to back from midnight to 2AM) during the latter half of 2018 when the animation block premiered and stumbled across this show. I thought it was animation in the vein of Adult Swim's Venture Bros. but the more I watched the premiere episode, I picked up on the obvious anime influences and I was hooked. This was really something else. The thing that got me hooked was this fight in the gifs above and below between Rizel, Dave, and Richard that started it all.

More importantly, I was shocked that barely anyone (at least not outside of the United Kingdom) talks much about this show. The most I could find in terms of details was a half-assed review from the folks at Gizmodo (ugh LOL) and even they admit to not finishing it all, but called their write-up a proper take on the series after only watching SIX of the twenty-six episode order in the season. Then again, it could be that this is an adult themed animated series with a lot of mature content, so that could be one reason why it's not on the radar for most people, but then again, I have seen far more animated series with much more explicit content than this show. (Shrugs) So yeah, I don't know what the deal is with the lack of awareness on this outside of Europe.

That's where I come in. After seeing this series from start to finish, I feel like I owe it to this series to write a proper review on it. For the most part, this review is going to be spoiler-free... Or at least I'm going to attempt to spoil as little details as possible on the overall plot.

Availability (Or The Lack of...)

The only place to watch the series in it's entirety by legal means (at least in the United States) is by purchasing a subscription to the VRV streaming service. FYI they have a 30-day free trial, so if you can binge-watch within that time frame that's an option worth taking an advantage of. They have the first few episodes up for viewing for free but when you get into the thick of it, you're going to have to shell out some cash to see the show to it's end. It's a damn shame too as word of mouth on this show is already quiet whispers as it is and there's this road block from getting more eyes onto this show and getting more awareness out there.

If I were to guess, VRV and the minds behind publishing the show figure that as popular Lastman (the comic book series) is in Europe that people will seek it out anyway as the comic book is practically unheard of here in the United States. The show being a part of the El Rey Network's Mondo Animation Hour is another double-edged sword too as not every is paying for that channel on their cable/satellite television packages, so there's not many eyes on that front either. On top of that, the Mondo Animation Block is competing with Cartoon Network's Toonami block at the same time slot. Outside of Lastman and maybe Gary & His Demons and Brogan: Master of Castles, I doubt the animation block would have held my interest. I only tuned in to see if the block was anything like FXX's Animation Domination block that died off a few years ago that introduced me to Major Lazer (a show that we'll talk about another day).

Now there's another issue that comes up even if you find someplace to watch the show on. It's originally dubbed completely in French with English subtitles. There's at least 2-3 different English dubs, with the one from Mondo Animation Hour being my favorite from the sheer amount of voice acting talent involved.

Last but not least, there's a collector's edition box set of the complete series on Blu-Ray with a shitload of production extras and tidbits from the show. I honestly would LOVE to own this, but I absolutely have no means of purchasing this in the United States unless someone knows a trick to allow me to use my US Amazon account on their French counterpart. Hint, hint... I have a birthday coming up in December and this would be one hell of gift.

For those interested, the box set includes the following:

• * The complete series in Blu-Ray and DVD format
  
• * The exclusive Artbook: FABRICATE LASTMAN (166 pages)
  
• * The complete BOF for download
  
• * The vinyl 45 laps of Tomie Katana
  
• * The Siri Flip-book
  
• * The posters of the series
  
• * The picture of Dave and Siri

A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into making this show and it's sad that more people don't get to see the fruits of this labor.

Narrative & Creative Influences

Each episode has it's own self-contained obstacle that Richard Aldana or one of the other characters has to deal with within the 15 minute runtime of each episode, but contributes to the overall plot of the season. Richard Aldana isn't the best (if not at all) role model to look up to, but he's just a big musclebound goof you can't help but get behind to see him to do the right thing, even though he stumbles at that more often than not. He's far from perfect and it's easy to relate to him in that sense.

Richard Aldana is only one of many characters that we are introduced to in the world of Lastman. There is so much evolution between these characters from the start of this series all the way to the closing moments of the final episode.

All of the works cited by the Lastman crew as influences on the series

The series benefits from it's heavy influences from 70's and 80's pop culture and the film noir genre in terms of character designs and themes. Contrary to popular belief, this animated series is NOT anime. It is a French-created adult animated series created in the style of Japanese anime to make the action and narrative serialization more appealing.

Meet Duke Diamond. He's not introduced until roughly the second "act" of the series, but by far my favorite character of color in the series. 

I have seen some English reviews on the series that frown upon on this series for it's negative stereotypes, but even as a black/African-American viewer, it didn't bother me in the least. I didn't find the character designs to be distasteful, nor did I think there was anything insulting. Everything here I found to be a representation of the time period that it originates from. Nothing more, nothing less. The only other thing I could see as something that could be taboo or a flag to more people being exposed to this series are the explicit sexual scenes and occasional nudity, but even the one in Episode 21 that's the longest one of the series due to the circumstances surrounding it, it's about the same as what you find in a typical R-rated film or your favorite M-rated Netflix TV show. Episode 4 starts off with a sex scene that will more likely either make a lot of first time viewers bust out laughing or fast forward, but once again, it contributes to the story and explains why that guy wanted to kick Aldana's ass so bad - not that I can blame him in the least in that regard.

(From left to right): Siri, Tomie Katana, and Lt. Monica Mendoza.

Another aspect that's criticized about the show is it's portrayal of it's women, but I honestly think that's up for debate. Siri is easily the most polished and refined female character by the time the credits roll at the end of episode 26, but Lt. Mendoza and Tomie Katana were pretty bad ass too in their own right. Both of which just happen to get caught up into some pretty common cliches known in this genre.

At first, I couldn't stand Lt. Mendoza's no nonsense attitude, but by the end of the series, I grew to respect her as a character. It wasn't her fault that she was fighting for credibility in a city dominated by male bigotry. 

Lt. Mendoza gets caught up in over her head with everything that is going on in Paxtown surrounding Richard Aldana and Siri. Instead of coming off stupid like a lot of female cops do in this situation (Netflix's Misty Knight in Marvel's Defenders and Luke Cage and Dinah Madani in The Punisher quickly come to mind in that regard), she is actually pretty darn competent instead of only being smart when and where the plot demands it in most other cases for this type of character.

I'm sure most fans are going to read this comment and laugh, but I can't help looking at Tomie and seeing her as a mash-up between Spider-Man's Mary Jane Watson and Jerrica Benton/Jem from Jem & The Holograms. 

Tomie Katana is first introduced in the second episode as an airhead with a maniac for a boyfriend. By the time she pops up in the series again a few episodes later, she's turned her life around and is a budding musician. It's no secret that she keeps popping up as this series' dose of regular eye candy (if there's not enough to go around...), but I thought she was a pretty cool character in her own right. No matter what hardships life seemed to throw her way in Paxtown, she made the best of it.

Hitomi Tanaka meet Tomie Katana.

By the way, she's inspired by Japanese model, Hitomi Tanaka, who is actually a friend of one of the authors.

Siri hides a great power within her and there are terrible forces willing to do anything to take it for their own. 

Siri, Dave's estranged daughter that is left into the care of Richard Aldana following the events of the first episode, I found to be this series' most intriguing female character. If she didn't have enough going on growing up as a young adolescent teenage girl, Siri struggles with coping with the mysterious power within her of unknown origin while learning to accept Richard Aldana as her caretaker and protector. Siri's growth throughout this series was another reason why I enjoyed this series so much, seeing how her relationship with Richard evolves and how she came to terms to accepting herself in terms of the hidden powers she has within.

Lastman has an impressive variety of antagonists to stand in Richard Aldana's way over the course of the series, whether it was Rizel and the supernatural members of the Order of the Lion coming after him and Siri, the various shady individuals in the mob spread throughout Paxtown that Aldana constantly found himself mixed up with in some capacity, or the various oddball personalities that Aldana faced while competing in the FFFC tournament. Lastman never let up in terms of introducing new, interesting antagonists even when it seems like they would kill off a major baddie almost every other episode at times, only to replace them with someone bigger and badder.

(From left to right): Richard Aldana, Dave McKenzie, and Harry Zenkova.

I think the show is best described as being split up into three acts. The first act introduces the viewers to the world that Richard Aldana lives in, namely the city of Paxtown, while Richard himself is a very flawed individual, but finds himself with a lot of responsibilities thrown into his lap from out of nowhere like a strong haymaker. Every episode follows Richard's attempts to do the right thing and get down to the bottom of the mystery that his former mentor, Dave McKenzie, dragged him into, involving his estranged daughter, Siri. Dave's brother, Howard McKenzie, aids Richard in care of Siri and the mystery surround her and the Wrens, like Rizel, after her as an informant. Richard doesn't have any other means to support Siri, so he finds himself doing odd jobs for the local mob, headed by the Holy Father to get by. His nephew, Harry Zenkova, owns a strip club, but manages to be a thorn in Richard's side as payback for breaking his nose several times in the past.

The second act sees Aldana enter the FFFC fighting championship and introduces his partner for this tournament, Duke Diamond. I think that this portion of the series has strong influences from other martial arts/contact sports-inspired animated series and/or anime, such as Megalobox (that recently aired on Toonami and currently streaming on Crunchyroll) or Hajime no Ippo, in terms of following the underdogs' quest to get to the top. Richard and Siri find a sense of normalcy in their relationship as her surrogate/foster father while he reunites Tomie Katana, who has blossomed into a celebrity since her appearance(s) in the first few episodes. Richard and Tomie stumble into a relationship that is a joke by the tabloids at first, but they slowly began to have legitimate feelings for each other.

As much of a douchebag that Milo Zotis is over the course of the series, I couldn't help but bust out laughing at this scene.

By the time the third act rolls around, Richard's world in Paxtown is crumbling all around him as he and Duke close in on the finals of the FFFC fighting championship as the mysteries surrounding the Wrens, Rizel, Siri and the "Valley of the Kings" that Howard McKenzie - along with the Wrens - are all obsessed with finding come to their boiling point. All of this comes down to Richard facing a Wren (handpicked by Rizel) in the finals of the tournament while a more sinister confrontation awaits him at the entrance of the Valley of the Kings.

I don't want to spoil details for once but the best thing about watching this series for the first time was all of the cliffhangers and not knowing what was going to happen next in terms of the story after they hit you left and right with punches to the gut in terms of emotional investment. For example, who knew what was going to be the origins of Rizel and the demonic Wrens and how did they come to Paxtown in the first place? Or how they all tie with Siri? Episode 17 exposes all of this, but damn that was a lot to take in at once seeing it for the first time.

If I had any major gripe or complaint about the series, it would be that by the time the third act rolls around, the gravity of the situation concerning the FFFC finals was non-existent until Rizel was revealed to have a Wren firmly inserted into the tournament to win the prize that stood as the final obstacle in his way. Even with that roadblock lined up against them, I was still convinced that Duke and Richard were going to pull out a win as the show had to show us what did the Valley of the Kings had in wait for Richard, Howard, and Siri. It was like this series' equivalent of Paradise in Wolf's Rain, you knew they were going to make it there eventually after wading through all of the shit to get to that place and either live up to their expectations or be another emotional punch to the gut. And boy did this show deliver a final one-two combo in that regard in this series' final moments.

I understand that this is a prequel to the events of the ongoing Lastman comics, but I can't help wanting to see more from this series. I'm sure the comics would benefit with an animated adaptation in the same vein as this. I know I would definitely be interested in checking that out if it ever came to fruition.

Character Designs & Visual Artwork

I wanted to take a moment and show some appreciation for the character designs in this series. For those unfamiliar with the Lastman comics, the character designs in that aren't the same as those seen here. For this series, the creative minds behind it sought out to make each character more visually appealing with obvious American and Japanese influences in terms of design and artistic modernization. As a result, it comes off much more appealing. The protagonists to secondary characters that maybe appear only once per the entire 26-episode season are all excellently styled from head to toe. I really love the designs for Rizel and the other various Wrens, who serve as the primary antagonists for this series. They all come across as stuff that you would see in either a horror movie or some science fiction nightmare.

Dave McKenzie

Howard McKenzie

Richard Aldana

Siri

Tomie Katana

Milo Zotis

Duke Diamonds

Harry Zenkova

Chorum the Devourer

Gemini

These excellent designs aren't limited to the featured characters, but to the locales and venues that the story takes place in as well. Below you will find a few still screenshots from some of the locations found in the series. It's not limited to these settings, but this is merely a sample of the quality to expect.

From its characters to the locales, Lastman really brings Paxtown to life over the course of its 26-episode tenure.

Lastman artistically appeals to me the most in the sense that it stands as a reminder that Japanese anime doesn't have to dominate our animation mediums and/or preferences. Any animation studio can put out great work that looks just as good, if not better in some instances here, than the typical action-oriented anime series.

Music

As much as the visuals play a factor in the excellence of this series, I have to tip my hat to the amazing musical score accompanying every episode too. The music plays another pivotal portion of creating the masterpiece of this work of animated art.

Future?

No matter how old he gets, Richard Aldana doesn't seem to stray away from a fight... or rather getting his ass kicked.

As of this posting, the Lastman comic book series is currently closing in on it's second full volume of chapters of this ongoing story, so if you want to jump into the story following the events of the animated series, you can aim to do so.

It was announced during Annecy 2019 that France Television would be debuting their new programming platform for all ages, including a new season for Lastman. If I'm reading the translation correctly, the second season will be six episodes, each running at a 45 minute runtime. "Richard Aldana is no longer himself, Siri has changed and the world is more ... All is only fight, boxing and pleasure."

You can read the article here for more information.

I hope in the meantime that Lastman shows up on more media outlets outside of France. You can ask the folks from Lucha Underground, being on El Rey Network is cool and all, but you don't get as many eyeballs that you would think being on a cable network that's not widely available.

Watch It or Don't Bother?

If I didn't learn anything else from Richard Aldana, it's to endure all of the punches that life may throw your way. You don't have to have superpowers to overcome those obstacles in your way. The hardest part of winning these battles is finding the strength and motivation to keep on fighting when you're running on fumes and got nothing left but the last bit of air in your lungs.

Definitely give this a shot. I highly recommend going out of your way to hunt it down online or signing up on VRV's streaming service for the 30-day free trial after checking out the first few episodes if this is up your alley. While it's not something I would allow young children to be watching, I found it to be specifically tailored for adults anyway in terms of its narrative content. Like I said earlier in this review, I just cannot rave enough about this show. This is something you have to see for yourself and marvel at. VRV has the first few episodes up on their site to sample until asking viewers to subscribe to the service to watch the rest.

Lastman was definitely one hell of a ride and I hope this isn't the last time we see Richard Aldana's adventures in animation. He's not the last man on Earth (as how often Google Searches for ANY and ALL information on this show tends to point to), but he's definitely a good man that you can root for when the going gets tough.

Monster Hunter: World - Iceborne -- WEEK 1: FIRST IMPRESSIONS

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne released formally on Friday, September 6, 2019, and while I have enjoyed parts of this new expansion so far, I don't feel that it's fair to do a proper review on the game until a few months into the game's shelf life once the endgame meta and most players have gotten their feet wet into the post-game grind. That's why this write-up is simply based off my experiences and impressions during the first week of the game following the initial release.

** Starting off, I haven't rushed through the majority of the story campaign for the expansion like most people have blown their load on. After getting 90% of the monster reveals (including the last boss) spoiled on Saturday (9/7/19), I've been going at this with baby steps. **


I love all of the new QoL (quality of life) changes, but at the same time, a lot of this shit that should have been available at the start. I get it - as a newcomer to this series, I haven't properly "earned my stripes" in terms of enduring the archaic (read: primitive) humble beginnings of this series, but when Capcom decided to bring this series to current gen consoles, they knew they had to make this more user-friendly and optimized. Granted, they've listened to their player base FAR more than they have for anything fighting game related so I thank them highly for my enjoyment of the game during the base titles tenure.

My favorite QoL changes so far? Saving Radial (shortcut) menu loadouts to your preset item loadouts, more room for stuff on the weapon/armor crafting Wishlist, and a few visual changes that were needed, especially for spotting dropped materials on the ground that were blending into the background/environments previously.

Being able to use communication stickers/gestures in Astera/Seliana is a plus too if you're in a session with international players. I made a habit to put a lot of gestures on my communication shortcuts for multiplayer in terms of callouts for "Let's capture this thing!", "Swords & Blades PLEASE cut the tail!", and "Outta my way, Hammer Bro here!" For the most part it's working to my benefit without having to resort to Flinch Free in my builds, but you still get twats playing this after all of this time who are all swarming around the head and not trying to damage other weak points or cut the tail. 

I like to think that these were the same twats who flake out of the game every few months and don't come back until something new gets added since they don't have a shred of courtesy that a lot of players who were grinding during the last festival in preparation for this expansion.

More slots for Harvesting and Weapon/Armor/Charm Crafting Wishlists were more than appreciated. (Laughs) I still have stuff from the base game that I never finished acquiring crafting materials for. I just added a wealth more things to craft in Master Rank.

Only weapon I'm using right now is Hammer (Hammer main FYI), but I plan on switching back to Gunlance and HBG in post-game. I just want to get a feel of the new and returning monsters on Master Rank (MR) first since it's an all-new ball game. Maybe it's just me but the Slugger skill (which can be upgraded to lvl5 now for 60% added KO potential) is REALLY good this time around with the added buff to Charged Upswings and Charged Brutal Upswings. Almost every other time I land those moves on a monster they are either reeling or flat out KOed now.

My biggest gripe on Hammer though is that they haven't fixed the hitbox on Upswings and there's still that off chance that all of the hits of a Brutal Upswing will miss completely. So fucking frustrating when that matters most when you have a monster downed and can't get that additional KO to keep them down longer after the stun/stagger. You used to be able to SLIGHTLY aim the analog stick to correct your swings a little better on alignment of those attacks for Brutal Upswing and Big Bang combos, but I haven't noticed that being the case thus far.

Maybe it's just me, but I feel like there's a lot more stamina drain now in terms of trying to maintain a charge while moving around and evading. I found myself letting go prematurely a lot earlier than the base game just for I won't run out of stamina while evading.

I like the Clutch Claw a LOT more now that there's an optional quest that serves as a formal tutorial on how to use the new slinger functionality properly. My only gripe about it as there's still monsters that won't allow you to grapple onto them with this new mechanic to bring them down to your level for inflicting damage, so it's not the "end all" solution like how Capcom was acting like it was when they first introduced it in the early trailers for Iceborne. Some weapon classes get to do some amazing things with it while others (like the Hammer) can just fire slinger ammo while unsheathed. I don't feel like it's not going to revolutionize the wheel on most weapon classes' individual playstyles in most cases. 

Mounts seem to be possible multiple times now back to back in succession. There was one hunt I did early into Master Rank where I mounted the monster at least 3-4 times back to back where previously I was under the impression that there was a "cooldown" of sorts before you were able to do that to a monster again. I guess not, not that I'm complaining about that aspect.

Difficulty

If this is the equivalent of fabled “G rank” in previous Monster Hunter games then I’m not impressed as a newcomer. The way Monster Hunter series vets talk about it as if it’s the Devil May Cry series' equivalent of Dante Must Die difficulty tier of these games. The Arch Tempered monsters limited to event quests posed MUCH more of a threat than most of the monsters I’ve seen thus far, with Barioth being the only hunt I thought was more frustrating/annoying than actually difficult since that monster continuously moves around giving you little to no means to hit it until it’s exhausted. Shrieking Legiana is another "annoying" new monster type/variant and that fight is just straight up stupid on a lot of levels. Again - I repeat myself. I don't think it's hard or difficult, just frustrating in terms of level design that could have been streamlined. Oh and don't tell me to bring dung pods and flash pods for that hunt because I did that and still felt it was just absolutely awful in single player.

Visuals

The changes to the visuals are appreciated, even with the smallest details smoothed out on your hunter during cutscenes and the Handler not having a butterface outside of those scenes (which was meme worthy for the most part). There’s some refined details to monsters now that’s appreciated on the returning cast, such as you can see Odogaron’s scales redden in anger when he’s fired up/enraged in better detail. I’m sure these details pop out more on PlayStation 4 Pro of Xbox One X but it’s noticeable on my standard PS4 just fine enough. What I’m not a fan of are the longer load times between hunts. I get that with the story hunts that they have to load a cutscene or something before/after said hunt, but geez this game tackled on a ton of downtime it seems.

When you get this far into the expansion's narrative you will appreciate this meme...

The new Gathering Hub and new base of operations, Seliana, in the Hoarfrost Reach has streamlined all of your needs at the NPC shops and stations, but geez it takes more time loading into anything than actually hunting said monsters.

Bugs & Glitches

Glitches and bugs galore in this from what I’ve noticed so far. I’ll list off the ones off the top of my head.

BTW what is up with this weird, stutter step/odd walking animation at the start of some of these Assigned Quests with the Handler? Controls would usually return back to normal by the time the actual fight starts, but damn that’s been annoying. Kept making me think that there’s something wrong with my PS4 controller. I have had this issue pop up anytime where my Hunter needed to crouch down or crawl too. I vividly remember this being an issue in the last beta during the Velkhana hunt as well, so this isn't a new problem.

An example of the layered armor coloring issue described below. Mind you, I don't even own this armor set in any capacity. 

There’s some menuing glitches as well, such as the layered armor coloring settings not displaying the proper armor that your hunter is wearing in the preview window. For example, I was switching back from the preset layered armor that they give you at the start of the expansion when you arrive to the new region back to the usual Drachen layered armor that I use for most hunters. In the menus, it’s showing that my hunter is wearing either the Lavasloith or Velkhana Master Rank armor sets, with the latter I haven’t even unlocked/acquired. It switches back to normal during gameplay in most instances but still comes off odd. Oh yeah, did I mention that the Rainbow Color palette doesn't randomize at times and just shows up as ONE singular color during most hunts?

Custom radial settings weren’t saving to my item loadouts until I figured out what the trick was. After assigning what you want your communication customized settings to the radial menu, you register it to the item loadout but DO NOT override the radial settings when the menu asks you to. It’s so damn confusing that Capcom did this feature like that. I had to force myself NOT to overwrite those settings with the default radial settings everytime I would swap item loadouts. By the third day, this issue corrected itself after I completely exited out of the game and loaded it back up, but goddamn that was yet another annoying shortcoming with this expansion.

Glavenus' hunt is allegedly bugged. I haven't run into this myself but players are running into instances where they are picking up "Unknown" materials after carving his corpse. Capcom has already stated that this will be the first to be patched out at a later date.

There's some odd clipping through objects and environments with some of the new monsters in the new region, Hoarfrost Reach, making me think that Capcom's playtesters must have had time off for the most part. That's not to mention some hilarious, yet pathetic instances where monsters are flying/retreating into walls over and over until being struck with an attack or Clutch Claw.

In the two images above, Shrieking Legiana decided to fly repeatedly into the nearby mountain wall over and over until I was able to mount onto him with the Clutch Claw. Wasted five precious minutes of this annoying hunt because of that...

Speaking of the Clutch Claw, there's some instances where your hunter won't grapple onto the monster as intended and immediately get thrown off or the Claw passes through the monster completely. A minor annoyance but that can be easily fixed.

This hasn't been proven yet, but I could swear that Hot Drinks are bugged. I feel like Cold Drinks, Demondrugs, and Armorskins all last longer than this new item that is essential for braving the harsh environment of the Hoarfrost Reach. It seems like the Hot Drink wears off in less than five minutes of unsheathing my weapon or even faster if I'm evading and moving around. I have been going through Hot Drinks so fast that I had to start harvesting the Hot Peppers to craft them. Once again, this is just something more annoying than anything else.

Monsters

In comparison to the open beta, I’ll give my impressions of the several new monsters (along with a few additional ones if you fought the hidden ones along with Velkhana in the last trial session) beta monsters in terms of their behavior and patterns in that compared to the expansion
.

• Great Jagras - Nothing’s changed. He’s essentially what he was in the base game more or less. I’m just too twitchy from reacting to him like he’s Greatest Jagras from the festival events.
• Banbero - Pretty much the same as I remember from the beta, just a LOT damn bigger.
• Beotodus - Causes Iceblight a lot more frequently from his attacks than I remember in one of the beta sessions. More annoying to keep him above ground than swimming below it.
• Nargacuga - He was optional in the Ancient Forest when you accepted the Great Jagras quest in the beta. Most people weren’t even aware he was roaming around the forest (Area 8 I believe) until at least the 2nd or 3rd beta session. In the beta, he abused his mace-like tail attacks religiously, but from my impression of fighting him in the expansion he was an absolute pushover. With better gear and my skills up to par, I had him KOed for 70-80% of the fight and didn’t allow him to do much anyway when he wasn’t having turf wars with Rathalos. That fight was a little of a letdown in this expansion if I'm honest.
• Tigrex - I thought his AI behavior was essentially the same as the beta but that rock toss move was completely brand new. Definitely caught me off guard right off the bat. His hitbox on his tramples and jumping tackles are just as wonky/janky as Vaal Hazak and Teostra’s. I KNEW Capcom wasn’t going to fix that shit in that regard, yet people were making tons of excuses saying that it was just the beta and it would be fixed in the expansion.
• Velkhana -  I’ve only fought her during the first encounter where you repel her away from the Elder’s Recess, so I’m going to guess she’s going to reveal the other aces up her sleeves from the beta down the road, but I thought the first encounter with this new Elder Dragon in the expansion was pretty darn lame. Model seems a LOT smaller than what I remembered from the beta. 

Closing Thoughts

One thing that needs to stop though from the Monster Hunter World community is this mindset from the veteran players that are shooting down players on social media, especially on the Reddit forums, when someone reports one of these various ongoing bugs/glitches that need to be addressed. Time and time again, I have see veterans talk down to newer players and discredit these reports when Capcom needs to be made painfully aware that there's problems with this expansion. When I read these posts, I get this negative vibe from the vets as if we should be just happy that we have an expansion period for this game and should deal with it while sitting on our hands while the house is burning down around us.

Fuck that noise. I was never a fan of keeping expectations low to justify a mediocre sequel/DLC expansion for any game. Iceborne retails at $39.99 as full blown expansion to the base game; I paid $59.99 for the Master Edition and I expect to get my money's worth. I'm not one of these tools like the folks who buy 2K (formerly THQ) WWE Games, then go into denial EVERY.SINGLE.TIME when it doesn't live up to their expectations or when people find a laundry list of bugs and glitches that need to be addressed. I'm not saying the damn game is unplayable. I'm just asking to simply address this stuff before it becomes a lingering issue and deters people from playing it altogether. I enjoyed the hell out of what was offered previously. This just comes off as a minimalist effort in a lot of aspects. Besides, if this was ANY other AAA title, people would have been shitting all over it in terms of some of the bugs that people have been running across instead of throwing over a new coat of paint and ignoring it.

I hate shitting on the player base too as I raved about this being my favorite community to game with in my review of the base game. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly and now it's devolving into that douchebaggery of Dark Souls and/or of the same elk that I frowned upon from the FGC (fighting game community) with that same "git gud" response to any question or request to feedback.

I had people say that my disappointments from the game so far stem from "fatigue" of the game. Trust me, I would have taken it back to the damn store and gotten a refund if that was the case. I'm not tired of the Monster Hunter grind, despite 600+ hours of gameplay time over the past year. I dunno, I was expecting a little more from this expansion rather than a half-assed new area (and a "surprise" in post-game) in a pretty boring new locale once the "newness" of it wears off while rehashing a lot of the older monsters for the sake of "variants" due to the environmental/ecological changes to their world. I thought only like ONE of the new fights ruled out of the new monsters brought to this expansion that I have ran into. The rest have ranged from "Meh..." to "Now that's interesting..." at best. I know that I'm only a little past the halfway mark, but I had the misfortune of getting 90-95% of the new monsters spoiled to me anyway the day after launch, so I know what's in the pipeline ahead. I'm not going to lie but that definitely played a factor into killing my hype/anticipation/excitement for this expansion.

When I say I'm disappointed at aspects of this expansion don't take it the wrong way as your experience may vary from mine. I'm going to keep at it and see that maybe if I enjoy the endgame grind like before, but otherwise, I doubt I'm going to stick with this as long as I did with the base game, especially when you're regulated to fighting reskinned variants of older monsters with VERY few new types (Barioth, Nargacuga, Tigrex, etc. use the same skeleton and behavior patterns for the most part outside of a few unique attacks while Brachydios and Glavenus actually seem to have different skeletons from Anjanath than I first thought.)- something they didn't have to add at $40+ price tag to do in the first place, along with the quality of life changes. I didn't shy away from the beta sessions as those were the things that got me interested in the base game to purchase it in the first place. Hell, I STILL enjoy facing Rathalos just from the blasts I had hunting it in those sessions to this day. Forgive me if I'm not one of the Monster Hunter veterans who get off from 2-3 variants of the same monster. I know most see that as Capcom being generous as they stack the deck in terms of monster variety well over the number of opponents found in the base game, but what was the point of of that back in the base game when everyone was farming Elder Dragons in the endgame grind and rarely saw the rest of the title's monsters outside of sporadic event quests? We could potentially run into the same pattern here if the endgame grind ends up repeating the same process. I'm just concerned that's all.

I know that everyone who reads this write-up and walk away thinking that I'm a complete Debbie Downer on the game when everyone else is up and over the moon about it. It's not a crime to have a difference of opinion. There's a few things that I have really enjoyed, such as the hunts against Glavenus and Brachydios, along with revisiting some of the older cast of monsters to see what new tricks that they have up their sleeves. I'm optimistic that Capcom will iron out these issues in this expansion and stabilize what has been an excellent experience thus far with the base game. I just want to get to a point where I enjoy this expansion as much as the original game.

Until next time, my fellow hunters. Happy Hunting!