[Byg42]

Since all the episodes for UGF3 are out, here are my thoughts on it.

Overall, I do think it's better than TAC. The overarching story feels a bit tighter, it has a somewhat more conclusive ending, and like before it manages to highlight various aspects of the Ultra universe that haven't been seen or used in a while. At the same time though, I think it still suffers the same structural problem that impacted TAC, namely that the story and concepts it's trying to tell feel a little too big and ambitious for the format that UGF offers.

TDC feels like it's trying to be the next big event in the Ultra universe, something that shakes up and impacts future entries. That however doesn't really work with the UGF format, which tend to be 80% fight scenes, with maybe a couple of down time here or there. TDC does have a couple of interesting themes and ideas, especially with the end goal it's putting forth that the Ultras and Absolutians can work together and co exist. Those elements however aren't given the time or brevity to sink in, since most of UGF3 concerns around big spectacle actions moments. Especially when you try to watch all of this at once as a movie, which is how I first viewed it back on Connection, the whole thing can feel like a bit of blurr, which also caused me to miss certain things in that initial viewing.

Like I think back to UGF1. That story was a much simpler and straightforward affair, and I think as a result it ends up feeling the tightest and concise out of the 3 UGFs. While UGF2 and UGF3 do explore a lot of interesting concepts and developments, those elements aren't given the time and focus that they should, which leaves them feeling kinda undercooked. With the upcoming Regulos specials that were announced, I'm hoping that given those seem to be smaller affairs, they won't suffer the same issues that UGF2 and 3 had.

Some other random thoughts:
-While I do think the ending is better than UGF2, it still feels like they're pushing it to again end on another cliffhanger/tease for a future UGF.
-For how much he's been teased and advertised, it's weird how barely relevant Regulos himself is to UGF3, only really showing up in the 3rd act. And that just makes it funny when they do all this lore dump about him.
-It's cool and also just kinda funny how much spotlight Astra got in this. Like he plays an integral role in the 3rd act, and he's the character that Regulos has a connection to.
-The cliffhanger with Ribut is kinda weird. Like they try to play it as a bit of shocking and impacting moment, but by the time this aired, we had already seen him in Trigger more than a year ago. I didn't think we needed this whole explanation for how Ribut, Tartarus and Diavolo ended up in Trigger's world, especially since I think most of us thought this took place after the Trigger UGF tie-ins
-The initial way this released I think really hurt a lot of the interest and hype for this, with both the JP and EN versions locked to subscription services. It's weird too how the JP version was released as weekly episodes, while the EN version released as a full movie, which meant both sides ended up getting spoiled in some way or another