Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

This was delightful. Has a Hallmark cheesiness quality to it, but that's a part of its charm. Lots of funny moments, and in typical Gunn fashion, made me tear up at the end. It was nice to get to spend more time with Drax & Mantis in particular and to see more of their relationship and communication troubles :lol:. I think this one might be a yearly tradition for me going forward.
 
It's supposed to look low budget. Besides, only the flashbacks are animated.

The Star Wars holiday special had it's cheap animated sequence too, I mean the whole thing is a nod to that hot mess anyways. LOL

Honestly I was expecting some kind of way for Gamora to somehow show up, but I guess that's for the next movie.
 
I just watched it. I thought it was pretty good. I applaud the efforts to make Groots costume practical rather than CGI, but to me he just looked way off. It looked cheap, bulky and heavy.
On the other hand, I love that Cosmo has a part here. And I really liked the animation. It reminds me a lot of Heavy Metal.
 
I loved it, I watched it once yesterday and then my girlfriend and I just watched it together.
It was great seeing where Peter got his blasters and how Peter seemingly started Yondu's obsession with collecting nic nacs.
Also nice to see Peter and Mantis share a bond despite their relationship being based on the actions of a literal Ego maniac.
I like the use of animation to illustrate a memory, it was very effective and the style was reminiscent of the old Filmation style which fits perfectly as that would have been what Peter watched as a kid before his abduction by Yondu. That was a clever choice of style.

This had James Gunn all over it, from the dialogue to the music and even getting his friends involved with writing a song for the opener in the form of the Old 97's as an alien group.
Nice hint in the end credits scene, maybe we'll see another special.

A great holiday special to lead us up to Christmas. With all the bad stuff being thrown at us by the news, this was a nice, fun piece of Marvel to lighten the mood. As Stan would always say, "excelsior"!

Have a great weekend.
 
Mantis’ amorality is just hilarious:
“Give it to me for free…. Give me all your money.” Literally, LMAO.
Yes. Best moment!

As for the animation… knowing Gunn’s tastes, and how he’s done animation in the past, he’s going for a look, and in this the look appears to be “Bakshi”

To get that specific look you gotta straight up rotoscope the whole thing… keep it on like 4-8 frames a second… it gives it that weird look that even Bluth couldn’t let go of (And looks awful)… but the second I saw it I thought “yeah… he would go for the Bakshi look! Ha! I hate it, but suits what he’s going for here”.

Quill starting Yondu’s dashboard collection and the guns gift was a nice moment… builds on their lore, and as stated above… this siblings theme may run into the next flick. Mantis being what she is really grows her part in the group

So no shock, really happy with it… as a Guardians, Gunn, and Christmas special crap fan!

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No shadow layers in the Star Wars holiday special either…. So weird… off-putting.
 
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Yes. Best moment!

As for the animation… knowing Gunn’s tastes, and how he’s done animation in the past, he’s going for a look, and in this the look appears to be “Bakshi”

To get that specific look you gotta straight up rotoscope the whole thing… keep it on like 4-8 frames a second… it gives it that weird look that even Bluth couldn’t let go of (And looks awful)… but the second I saw it I thought “yeah… he would go for the Bakshi look! Ha! I hate it, but suits what he’s going for here”.

Quill starting Yondu’s dashboard collection and the guns gift was a nice moment… builds on their lore, and as stated above… this siblings theme may run into the next flick. Mantis being what she is really grows her part in the group

So no shock, really happy with it… as a Guardians, Gunn, and Christmas special crap fan!
I also hate the Bakshi style, but it was totally appropriate for this special. It was very fun as a whole, and I’m continually surprised at just how much Gunn has managed to mine from this little outcast group of C-tier heroes.
 
I am not a holiday special type of girl, and I don't generally care for a lot of the sentiment around Christmas. Most of it tends to feel very forced and performative to me as an adult.

HOWEVER.... this was absolutely amazing. I had basically no expectations going in, and the charm and humor completely bypassed my cynicism and cut straight through to my inner child's love of the holidays. This will definitely be preferred holiday viewing for me on a yearly basis now.
 

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