The Downside of Physical Media that no one wants to talk about.

Mass producing Physical Media means also mass producing plastic which has an environmental impact. But this is the one thing Internet Leftists don’t want to think about the Environmental impact of right now.

How much the 2020s have been defined by concerns about Cryptocurrencies and NFTs and Generative AI has put a lot of focus on how doing things digitally can have an environmental impact. But that Environmental Impact is entirely a symptom of Fossil Fuels being our primary energy source. Cryptocurrencies and NFTs and Generative AI have reasons to be opposed that have nothing do with the Environment, storing data digitally in general will have no adverse effects on the Environment once Fossil Fuel industries are destroyed and all energy is clean energy, which is what needs to happen to save the planet regardless.

The concerns that digital and streaming replacing physical media are bad for Art Preservation is also a symptom of Capitalism and Copyright Law. Intellectual Property Laws need to be abolished or at least massively reformed and there should be laws mandating all even minimally culturally significant Art and Entertainment Media be archived by as many Public Libraries as possible. 

Art Preservation is an ongoing process even when it's physical media, your physical copies will be ravaged by time even when not used. It's never going to be as simple matter as there are physical copies in a vault somewhere so now they are preserved. 

Plastic Production is an environmental concern that exists independent of those issues. And it’s very messed up how when something related to that issue trends it’s usually something like Plastic Straws which many people with disabilities need.

I understand the impulse behind wanting Physical Media, I have an emotional attachment to every VHS and DVD and Blu Ray I already own. And destroying what already exists will not solve the problem, it could make things worse (never burn plastic, that's the worst thing you can do), so go ahead keep what you have.

But there was a time early in the streaming era when some people were talking about how unhealthy this obsession with collecting Physical Media is. Owning stuff for the sake of owning it used to be included in what people critiqued when they critiqued “consumerism”.

The Profit Seeking Corporations have made streaming less convenient than it was supposed to be, but that should not discredit the concept itself, it should discredit Capitalism. Instead people started romanticizing Physical Media again.

You don’t want to support the Corporations that own the official Streaming Sites and Digital Purchase platforms, good, but guess what most Piracy is digital nowadays too. Buying bootlegged physical media requires connections you are probably better off not having. 

I have very recently felt the frustration of something I bought a digital copy of being removed from PrimeVideo when there never was a Physical Release meaning I now have to resort to Privacy if I want to watch it again. But the way to prevent that should be first and foremost laws banning such practices. 

Worldbuilding doesn't and shouldn't matter.

I’ve increasingly come to feel there is nothing people should care about as an “objective criticism” less than “Bad Worldbuilding”. 

When the Worldbuilding in something is genuinely well thought out and holds up under scrutiny that’s a neat bonus, I love watching YT videos about the hidden depths of the lore in ASOIAF as much as anyone else who only watched the TV shows. But it should not be a requirement and certainly not an end in and of itself, and I kinda feel like what’s happened to that very franchise proves my point. 

Tolkien was a worldbuilder like none before him because he spent 20 years writing about this fantasy world just for himself before he actually published anything set in it. And even then he still had to partially rewrite The Hobbit later when he fully integrated it into Arda’s overarching history. Chances are you have not read the book that was published in 1937. 

I don’t care whether or not the world of a story makes sense, I care whether the characters are people I like spending time with and then if the story being told with them is compelling. And if anything related to worldbuilding as a concept affects my ability to enjoy a story, it’s not detailed the history is, or how unique it is and unlike other fantasy worlds it is, or whether its internal logic really makes that much sense. As I explained in my post on why I couldn’t get into Magic Knight Rayearth it’s whether or not the world actually feels alive and lived in, like the people playing specific roles in the story are not the only real people in it. 

I saw someone say how a particular Urban Fantasy Pet Peeve of theirs is when the Economy doesn't make sense, and then went about all the math they did regarding some story's Economy. The fact that you put more thought into this silly thing to even care about in the first place than the author did doesn’t make you a better writer than them. 

Another incorrectly named Detective Conan Collection on Netflix.

It should be named The Vermouth Arc because it's real purpose is finally filling in what they skipped in the first collection. I wish they could have just added these to that.

My nitpicking the presentation aside, they are all episodes I'm glad to see Dubbed finally and as usual this Cast Dubs them all excellently. It's also nice to finally have one with no extra long episodes and thus an episode count that doesn't look deceptively underwhelming

This was half episodes that barely if at all feature FBI characters, and for the ones that do it's a kind of a spoiler to be advertising them as FBI episodes, these are all from before that was supposed to be known. When they announced the new collection will be FBI themed I expected a few of these but mostly episodes continuing after 425. But this is for the best, those post 425 episodes should be part of a future Collection branded as The Clash of Red and Black.

I'm glad the Nano voice for Sonoko of finally got to do a Deduction show. And I'm pleasantly surprised Higo's introduction got to make a collection at all.

The case this batch ended on is the first case in this Dub that I hadn't already seen in it's entirety before.  It's a good case, some unique non standard tension that makes it stand out. 

After ending where it did, I'm now expecting the second Cour of this collection to open on Contact with The Black Organization and then include both Four Porsches and The Connivence Store Trap, and I'm hoping at least also the Hidden Bathroom Secret. After that it could go either way on just being the other 2003 Vermouth Arc episodes or including some episode following it's finale.  Episode 346-347 is easy to dismiss as a mere aftermath episode but it is the episode that properly reveals certain things. And Aftermath episodes are fun.

Based on the pattern of how the last collection was released, I'm expecting July 1st to be one the second half drops.  But I do hope it can happen sooner after having to wait so long for the 3rd Collection.

And then there is the matter of the Watch order.  I may add a more refined update on this later, or link to someone laying it out well if I find one. But the gist is...

The first case of this collection should be watched before The Desperate Revival.

The second case in it between where the Rivals Collection ends and The Mysterious Passenger.

The next 3 cases between The Mysterious Passenger and The New York Case.

And the last case after the New York Case.

Update: The Director of the Dub has updated her Chronological order list. I should just always link to that instead of trying to explain it myself. 

https://matchaandmayhem.tumblr.com/post/799001080524570624/detco-dub-order