The girl was really getting the hang of the whole childhood thing. Oh, sure, the move to San Francisco had rocked her world for a while (as chronicled in 2015’s Inside Out). But she’d settled in just fine (eventually). She was excelling in school. She was tearing up the ice. She had a couple of fantastic friends, Grace and Bree. What more could a girl want?

Yep, all of Riley’s emotions would agree that their now 13-year-old girl was turning out just great. And those emotions—Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust—rarely agree on anything.

Then, wouldn’t you know it, puberty had to come in and wreck everything.

Wreck is the operational word here, at least as far as Riley’s emotions are concerned. One minute, the puberty alarm on Riley’s emotional control bank is blaring. The next, a team of blue construction workers storms headquarters, saws and crowbars in hand, and completely decimates the control room. The workers say that it’s all to make room for the others.

And then those others start showing up.

Anxiety arrives first, all teeth and eyes and frazzled hair. Envy shows up and fawns over the control board. Embarrassment, a big galloot of an emotion, tries to hide in his hoodie. And Ennui lounges on a couch—oh so over everything—and fiddles with her phone.

No problem, right? I mean, it’s not like this is Joy’s first rodeo with meddlesome emotions. They’re all part of the team! And as long as Joy’s in control, everything will be fine. Just fine.

But when Riley goes to an important three-day hockey camp and (at Joy’s urging) goofs off with her friends, the hockey coach makes it clear that unbridled joy in this setting is not fine. It’s not fine at all. If Riley wants to be a top hockey player—perhaps even one that makes the high school team as a freshman—she’ll need to work. She’ll need to focus. There’s a time and place for joy, but this camp ain’t it.

Anxiety gently nudges Joy aside and takes the controls. If Riley hopes to succeed in this unfamiliar world, the girl could use a little anxiety. She could use a little motivational stress. Riley’s a teenager now, after all. Time to put away those childish things and grow up. Grow into an entirely different person who can cope with all of life’s present stresses and future uncertainties.

“This is not Riley!” Joy protests.

“I know!” Anxiety tells her. “It’s a better Riley!”

But is it?

The post Inside Out 2 appeared first on Plugged In.

We might look to Dr. Onda, the leader of the Kaiju Defense Force, who lost his wife and daughter to those giant monsters. Now, he’ll do whatever it takes to find the hidden Kaiju island and slaughter the beasts once and for all in order to prevent that tragedy from happening to another family.

We could also think about the actions of the kaiju Gigantron. The dragon-like monster did everything in her power to protect and reclaim the egg containing her child—an egg which had been stolen by the KDF as a step in locating Kaiju island.

And we could certainly talk about Professor Sato. He’s got the power to transform into Ultraman, a giant humanoid robotic figure who defends Tokyo from the occasional kaiju attacks. Unlike the KDF, he’d rather repel the endangered and misguided beasts than turn them into sashimi. And because of his superhero status, he chose to protect his wife and son from his dangerous profession by sending them away to Los Angeles.

But if there’s anyone who needs to learn a lesson about family, it’s Kenji “Ken” Sato, Professor Sato’s son. In the two decades since he was sent away, Ken grew up to have both a professional career in baseball as well as a hefty grudge against his father for abandoning them. And just as Ken was about to take the Dodgers to the championship game, his father, weary from years of battle, asked him to come back to Japan and take up the Ultraman mantle.

Well, Ken does begrudgingly go back. By day, he plays baseball for the Yomiuri Giants. By … well, whenever there’s a kaiju attack, he repels kaiju as Ultraman.

But remember that egg Gigantron hoped to get back, prompting her attack on the KDF? Well, just after Ken watches the KDF blow Gigantron out of the sky, the egg hatches, and the tiny kaiju imprints on Ken. And, just like his father, Ken can’t bear to see the KDF kill the creature—so he vanishes with it before the KDF can secure their asset.

And so Ken begins to discover just how difficult being a father can truly be.

The post Ultraman: Rising appeared first on Plugged In.

First, there’s Cricket, the thrill-seeking and wildly unpredictable son. Then, we’ve got the unique and whimsical daughter, Tilly. Up next is family patriarch Bill Green, a loving father but overwhelmed farmer. And finally, there’s Gramma. If you threaten her son or grandkids, she’ll come after you with a sword, mace or even her prosthetic leg in a pinch. But she also loves distributing kisses and hugs.

Bill and his kids moved to Big City to live with Gramma after they lost their farm. And the family has adjusted. They’ve made friends and even converted Gramma’s yard into a profitable vegetable garden.

But after working so hard to get their lives back together, they’re ready for a vacation. Cricket knows just the thing: a luxurious stay at Big Tech’s Space Hotel in, you guessed it, space.

There’s just a little matter of funding this spacecation. Though the Greens work hard, they don’t make enough to cover the $10 million a night stay.

Luckily, Cricket has the solution for that, too. In addition to creating the Space Hotel, Big Tech has also created a farm located on an asteroid. And the farmbots created to harvest the plants are malfunctioning.

So, Big Tech CEO Gwendolyn Zapp makes the Greens an offer: Go to the asteroid and harvest the produce for her and she’ll let them stay at the Space Hotel for free.

It’s not exactly the family road trip Bill had in mind for this vacation. But after a little convincing from Cricket, he finds himself saying a sentence he never thought he’d utter: “Let’s get to that asteroid and harvest those space crops so we can enjoy our space vacation at that Space Hotel!”

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No one is more excited than Hinata, a Karasuno player who’s been dying to have a real match against his friend Kenma, who plays for Nekoma. And though the reserved Kenma won’t admit it to anyone else, he’s excited to play, too.

The match is set to be a good one—even other teams at nationals are pausing to watch this fierce rivalry between two skilled teams. In fact, they’re calling it the “Dumpster Battle,” because the teams’ respective mascots, a crow and a cat, are animals that frequently pick food out of the trash.

People gather because they know it’ll be a close match. Karasuno’s offensive power is evenly matched by Nekoma’s defense—making every point a war of attrition. But someone must eventually come out on top.

The post Haikyu!! The Dumpster Battle appeared first on Plugged In.

Garfield thinks his life is pretty good. He was adopted off the street by Jon when he was just a kitten. Shortly after that, Jon also took in Odie, Garfield’s ever-loyal canine sidekick. And the trio has been living in suburban bliss ever since.

But then, on a dark and stormy night, Garfield and Odie are kidnapped. They’re used as bait by a street cat named Jinx to lure Garfield’s wayward dad, Vic, out of hiding.

Turns out that before Garfield came into the picture, Vic and Jinx used to run in the same crew—before Vic abandoned Jinx during a heist, allowing her to get sent to the pound.

Jinx says she doesn’t want revenge, just compensation—one quart of milk for every day she was stuck behind bars. And she’s giving Vic 72 hours to make good … or else.

Garfield doesn’t want anything to do with Vic. As far as he’s concerned, the guy abandoned him, only to show up years later and pull him into a life of crime.

Unfortunately, Jinx’s threat extends to Garfield and Odie as well. So the father and son will have to put aside their differences and learn to work together … or else.

Man, this sure is starting to feel like a Monday.

The post The Garfield Movie appeared first on Plugged In.

The man has a yurt, a pool and much more set up to “survive” in the wild. He proudly—and loudly–proclaims that what he’s got may just be enough to make all eight million of his subscribers come join him in the fun.

But this guy alone is bad enough, Woody thinks. He couldn’t stand eight million more. And so, with surprising finesse, Woody destroys the man’s setup in explosive fashion. But as the wily woodpecker soon finds out, the local park ranger isn’t too pleased with Woody’s shenanigans.

“Those chuckleheads got what they deserved,” Woody protests. “We can’t let loud and annoying creatures who only care about themselves ruin our forest, can we?”

Ranger Walters gives Woody a dry response. “No, we cannot.”

But the ranger argues Woody’s more of a nuisance than that influencer ever could have been. And until Woody can learn that the forest is for more creatures than just him, he’s officially kicked out.

Well, Woody has no idea how he’ll prove to Ranger Walters that he’s a team player. But a nearby camp, Camp Woo Hoo (complete with a “Dedicated to Teamwork” tagline) just might be the solution to his problem: Campers obtain teamwork badges at the end of the season. So Woody figures that’ll be the perfect certification to prove he should be welcomed back into the woods.

But as those campers soon discover, Woody really isn’t a team player. In fact, he’s such a nuisance that his actions threaten to get the camp shut down for good. What’s more, another outsider is all-the-happier to help close the camp for his own nefarious plans. And unless Woody can get his act together, well, both the camp and that coveted badge may be gone for good.

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Twelve-year-old Bea is having a tough go of things. You see, she lost her mom when she was little, and now her dad is sick, too. And he has to have an operation at the same New York City hospital that Bea’s mom was in.

It’s good that Bea’s grandmother lives nearby, so Bea can stay with her. But the tween is finding life difficult right now.

Don’t get me wrong, Dad is still playful and full of jokes, like usual. He’s trying to keep things light and help Bea find fun in life’s tricky moments. But Bea can’t help but stop and tell him, “Sometimes, life doesn’t have to be fun.”

Dad agrees, with an assuring smile and a warm hug. He tells her to go on out and “explore her own story” while she’s here. Figure out how everything fits. But he tells her … to have a little fun, too.

Then something unexpected happens.

After returning to her grandmother’s apartment, Bea spots an odd little figure fliting in and around the building’s shadows. At first, she thinks it’s a young girl. But when getting closer, she realizes this person looks like a 1930s cartoon version of an anthropomorphized butterfly.

Hmmm. How very strange.

Bea secretly follows the creature back to the apartment of a man named Cal. And after forcing him to talk to her, Bea finds out that the amazing-looking character, called Blossom, is none other than an “IF”: an Imaginary Friend.

You see, imaginary friends are often left behind, Cal tells the girl. They help their young human pals through tough times, but then the kids tend to forget all about them once they grow up.

Cal has the ability to see all the left behind imaginary friends in the world. Just as Bea apparently can. And after Cal shows Bea to a retirement home full of bizarre and wonderful IFs, she is ready to lend a hand.

Bea determines to spend her time at grandmother’s helping Cal find new homes for the lonely IFs. And maybe they’ll reconnect some IFs with their now grown-up kids, too.

What Bea doesn’t realize, however, is that there might be a big part of her own story that she’s about to connect with as well.

The post IF appeared first on Plugged In.

But as Thelma, Otis and Reggie step out to perform for the Sparklepalooza talent search, they don’t even get a note out before one judge tells them to move along.

“Look, babe, you just don’t have ‘it,’” the judge says.

She can tell just by appearance that the Rusty Buckets would never make it to stardom. Thelma’s a “forgettable farm pony.” Otis is a donkey; and Reggie, a llama. None of them have the “look” needed to achieve their dreams. So the judges don’t even bother listening to the band play.

It hits Thelma pretty hard. She mopes around the farmstead, imagining just how different her life could’ve been had she been born some fantastical creature—like a unicorn. She sticks a carrot on her forehead to roleplay the dream.

And that’s when a careless truck driver careens down the nearby road, spilling his hyper-specific cargo of pink paint and glitter all over Thelma as he passes. And when Thelma looks at her reflection in a puddle, she’s shocked at just how closely she resembles …

“I’m a unicorn! It’ll be like the old me never existed!”

People take notice, too. After all, most people know unicorns aren’t real. A crowd gathers to ask all the unicorn questions they can think of. And when asked if she can do anything magical, Thelma decides to sing.

But this time, people listen. They cheer. They ask for her autograph. They spread her image across social media and cable news. In less than a day, Thelma has a massive following.

Otis protests. “You’re just gonna let people think you’re a real unicorn now?”

If the unicorn façade is the only way Thelma and her band can get famous, then, yes, yes she will.

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Yes, there’ve been exceptions. Add a little code here, twist a little wire there, and you could “jailbreak” a robot and allow it to run wild. And while sometimes those unimpeded robots make trouble—no one needs to be reminded of the Novgorod Insurrection—most are so excited about their newfound sentience that rebellion is the last thing on their newfound minds. Why fight when you can party?

So why did this robot—seemingly in a pleasant state of inactivity in this Mars university laboratory, and with no one fiddling with it in any way—suddenly rip off its restraints, leap from the table and threaten tech student Jun Chow? Why would it ignore all commands to shut down? And why would it then just … scamper away?

And most importantly, why would Jun and her roommate disappear, just hours later?

Private investigator Aline Ruby wants to know. She and her android partner, Carlos, are on the case.

Normally, Aline’s work is more straightforward. Why, her last case was a simple piece of work: Catching a so-called robot “emancipator” and sending her off to jail. Well, the sending-her-off-to-jail part didn’t work that well, actually; the warrant for the woman’s arrest somehow disappeared off the network. But other than that little hiccup, everything worked like a charm.

But this case feels different. It feels more weighty, somehow, than a straightforward missing person investigation. Jun’s disappearance must have something to do with that surprisingly independent robot.

But the more she and Carlos dig, the more interesting—and the more convoluted—the case becomes. And while they don’t know it, every step forward just might put them a step closer to their own very terminal ends.

The post Mars Express appeared first on Plugged In.

Loid Forger is a Westalis spy operating in the rival nation of Ostania. He’s been there awhile now working on Operation Strix, an assignment that requires him to get close to Donovan Desmond, the Ostanian National Unity Party Leader whom Westalis fears may incite a war between the nations. The only problem? Donovan is a cautious man who “only appears at social gatherings held at the elite private school his son attends.”

That’s why Loid got himself a fake family—since he needs a child to enroll at the school to have a reason to be there, and because the school requires their students to have a father and mother.

What Loid has yet to realize is that his fake family is full of people with secret identities, just like him. His wife, Yor, is an assassin who agreed to the sudden marriage in order to conceal her identity from pursuers. Anya, meanwhile, is a six-year-old telepathic girl who thinks Loid and Yor will send her back to the orphanage if they ever found out. Even the family dog, Bond, was a former lab animal and now has the ability to see the future.

But it seems none of that will matter anymore, since HQ has decided to replace Loid as the agent for Operation Strix. Unless Loid can prove that he’s made some progress on the mission, he’s up and out of there.

Well, the family is in luck. Anya’s school is hosting a dessert competition, and the principal himself is the judge. And whoever’s dish impresses him the most will get a Stella – one of the eight medals Loid and Anya need in order to become eligible to attend the school’s aforementioned social gatherings. If they can secure it, then Loid will have some ability for pushback so he can remain on the mission.

That’s why the family’s going on vacation to the principal’s favorite vacation spot—which also just so happens to have his favorite dessert. They’ll study the ingredients and methods of making it to all-but guarantee that they’ll win the competition.

Of course, it’s never that simple—especially when Anya finds and eats a chocolate belonging to the military which secretly contained microfilm evidence that could cause a war to break out. And these soldiers aren’t too keen on letting the girl get away.

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