So Gregory was, obviously, the ‘Blondie’ that Latho was referring to – and the latter will be very happy with that choice, too, for compared to the recalcitrant/comatose Mopey, Gregory is a veritable example of pliability.
Despite not knowing what any of this is about, Gregory follows Latho’s instructions: holding the scepter aloof proudly, he utters the magic words: “What it told me!”. Latho had had that scepter programed to use these particular words after earlier problems with more original and poetic, but unfortunately also more ambiguous phrases. With this trigger phrase, Latho is always on the safe side.
And here it is rewarded for all of the thought and effort it has invested up to now: with the stunning and uplifting sight of a magical-girl-transformation-sequence, full of magic, glitz and glitter. The magical girl in question might be a guy, in this case, but the basic remains the same. Which also goes for the additional aspect that is as necessary to the concept as magic, glitz and glitter are: fanservice.
Here Latho feels a need to tone the process down a bit, however. Depending on angle, certain things are more obvious on a silhouette when they are present, instead of absent, so while the girl/guy difference doesn’t affect the principle of the matter, it does affect the specifics, aka details. And Latho would like to keep the specifics covered, in order to…uh…prevent people from getting distracted from the principles. >_> It must be some legitimate reason like that, I couldn’t imagine a bizarre (and apparently gender-less) plush-creature like him to be prudish.
But, anyway, keeping the specifics covered is solid advice in many different situations – often, in not only saves you a lot of time, it also lets you get away with shit. And that’s always a nice option to have. Much better than the alternative, not getting away with shit. I, uh, heard that from friends, that’s how I know.
More on Monday.
It seems Latho not only had to switch to a backup plan but also to a backup staff. You have to wonder, in case Gregory still had more of a zombie in him, would Latho have handed him a chainsaw?
And getting censored during transformation is probably still preferable for Gregory as opposed to becoming temporarly genderless or even switching genders. Plus the true fans know that the censor bar will probably either shrink considerably or cease to exist on the Blu Ray.
For the purposes of this chapter, I’m assuming that there’s no trace of Gregory’s earlier zombie-hood left. The intersection between the zombie genre and the magical girl genre is just too little explored at the moment – you just couldn’t predict the outcome. Bright pink doesn’t mix very well with the various colors of decay, and physical transformations could lead to unforeseen effects if the limbs of the transformee aren’t firmly rooted in the rest of their physical frame. Better not risk it. XD
“Become a Patron to see uncensored version”
Hey, that’s not a half-bad idea! XD
Does Latho have multiple wands or did Nolan misplace props once again?
I’m going to blame Latho for even needing to censor for this one. Normally the washing out/bleaching effect from the transformation is supposed to be bright enough to obscure all the finer details of the person being transformed. They basically look like someone in a full-body suit that ISN’T skintight. But obviously the brightness of Gregory’s transformation is WAY too low and he basically just looks naked while covered in white paint. That’s what happens when you cut corners on transformation McGuffins.
You are not entirely correct here. If you’re talking about Sailor Moon, then sure, their transformation sequences are bleached. But that is not typical for Magical Girl genre. People assume it is just because SM is the most popular one.
Well, the truth is that I just found a better scepter to use than I had for the first stip – but, yeah, the ‘official’ version will be a slip-up in continuity by the prop department, which suits the B-movie theme just fine. XD
And of course anime creators really have a lot of leeway when it comes to transformation sequences (I’ve studied quite a few for this chapter), so there’s never really an issue with modesty – or, at least, never an unintentional one. The censor bar thing was really just to draw attention, rather than deflect it. XD