Lock 'N' Load 2

There comes a time in every 3DMM director's career where they find themselves either focused on one massive project that looks to never come out for a long while or burned out. Despite most falling into the latter both of these times have one thing in common: you find yourself with a massive collection of random .3mm files ranging from test animations to entire unfinished works. Moreoften than not a director will assemble this collection of files into a compliation zip and release it in an almost pathetic attempt at one last hurrah, however big or small it may be. The success rate on these compliations isn't usually all that high, which kind of explains the depressing atmosphere surrounding the release of such a collection. But for one director just releasing a collection of movies was a little too traditional and an idea formed. Known highly in the community as one of the most fluent animators and an uncanny ability to bring a few green and black spheres to life, Gorosaurus is one of those directors who you know has tons of test animations in his Microsoft Kids folder yet you feel he's not willing to surrender them. Surprisingly enough he has put together most of these clips, plus some unfinished scenes into one of the most coherent scrap films made in 3DMM: Lock 'N Load 2.

Set up right after the events of Lock 'N Load, Ashtar and his henchmen, Hench, begin their rise to power...only they soon discover that Goro has cancelled Lock 'N Load 2. Slightly disgruntled, Ashtar decides that he will take over the direction of the movie, since his star role has been robbed of him. Now for any other movie that might have come out that meant to have this kind of storyline I'd have to raise an eyebrow to but I must say Goro took this brilliant idea and ran with it. Soon after we are back into the world of Lock the Fly and Toad the Frog and all the mishaps that lead into what can only be called a random musical trip that is strangely entertaining at the same time it is mind boggling.

One of the key elements that brings this whole concept together as a whole is actually the way Goro utilizes his spare clips. While most directors just throw their files into a zip and send it off it looks like Goro actually took the time to make a coherent road map for his two stars (Ashtar and Hench excluded) to take. This actually impressed me immensely since God knows if I took my old files and tried to piece them together I'd end up one frustrated man. Along the way it seems that a few other characters from other directors appear such as the Masked Rider Blade and a few of Aaron's creations. Ryu also appears as an ending battle but instead of the usual Pikios syndrome of groaning when the same characters appear over and over again you like it's just....right watching these characters on stage, like these characters will forever remain as 3dmm icons if you will. It's just a shame that Ashtar and Hench probably won't reach the same status but Goro did the right thing with them in this movie.

Another thing that acted as a main driving force behind this movie was the music. While not having any real dialogue or big speaking moments the music acts as a catalyst for the action to start happening. The diversity of it(from Blink 182 to Queen) also helps bring a sort of unique charm to the clips. I couldn't imagine the alien invasion part without the music, or even the epic Lock and Toad battle without it either. The only downside is that that IS the downside. This meaning the music was really the only thing that made the clips really show much action. Now whether or not it was added before or during production of LNL2 only Goro would know but the music really was the only thing making the movie hold together for most of its duration.

As for the bad points of this movie I can really put it together in about a sentence. Meh dialogue, having only the music to really carry the movie along, and not really having any real flowing plot are the only things I can think of, and that is looking as deep as I will without becoming a preteneous ass. Most of these things are easily explained though in just taking a moment to think "this was a compliation movie", which I must say Goro I give you much respect for. This idea was actually pretty damn creative and a good use of extra footage that others really need to look at. If you're going to go into this expecting it to be a blockbuster or even make perfectly logical sense you better not even bother since you'd be disappointed. This is pure entertainment and a great look at what goes on behind the scenes of Lock and Toad and Ninja Gaiden. A damn fine compliation that ranks up there with Andres' Unfinished Work and Woulda Coulda Shoulda.

8.1/10