#[ it's because quill kept saying kevin bacon was a “hero” ]

[celestialmantdonna]

HOW DID YOU NOT KNOW KEVIN BACONS AN ACTOR????

"How was I supposed to know?! No one told me!"

[scribblesandimaginings]

Guardians’ Halloween

The Guardians take Groot trick or treating - Anon

Okay, so there is very little actual trick or treating in this, but I’m pleased with the way it turned out :)

First time writing a fic that isn’t reader insert or features an OC, wish me luck, but I didn’t think this would work with another character to add to the mix

(Also, Yondu lives AU)

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Ever since Peter had explained what Halloween was, the rest of the Guardians had become intrigued. In particular, Groot had gotten very excited over the whole idea. And Rocket hadn’t been terribly hard to convince get in on it. In fact, the only person who had needed a little extra convincing was Gamora, but once Rocket pointed out that a surprise Halloween party would make Peter really happy, she had to get involved.

Somehow, Rocket arranged it with Yondu, that Peter would be kept busy all day, while the other Guardians set their plan into action. Since everything that had happened with Ego, Yondu had been accepted back amongst the Ravagers, making the Ravagers as a whole, new friends allies of the Guardians - meaning that they were getting forced to take part too.

It was late by the time everything was sorted, but it looked sooo good. The decorations were up round the Milano, all skulls and bones and scary masks with ghosts and and ghouls and made up monsters. Everyone had their costume on, even Drax who still wasn’t 100% sure of the entire event. There was so much food, drinks, sweets and cakes, on the Milano and all of the Ravager ships too.

They had found a suitable location to land all the ships, using them to form a circle. The Ravagers had been told to dress up too - which, in fairness they had, but no Ravager had a costume as such, so they were all wearing either the only good clothes they owned, or undercover outfits - at least they all did dress up. They all did take part. In the centre of the circle of ships, they had set up dozens and dozens of tables, all with more food and drink. And because the Ravagers had taken care of that, there was a lot of drink. They had had no problem getting involved, once Rocket had explained that it was a surprise for Peter - and seeing as Peter was more or less Yondu’s kid, and Yondu was in on the whole thing, Stakar and the other captains took it as an opportunity to try to make things up to Yondu.

On the Milano, the Guardians received a message from Yondu saying that they were on their way back.

‘Everything ready?” Rocket called, a mischievous grin on his face. His costume was a ninja - ever since he’d been told about ninjas, Rocket had loved them. He was dressed all in black - he’d managed to get a hold of black boots from somewhere, but he’d struggled to find a mask, so he’d wrapped a long length of black fabric around his head and made it work. He looked pretty damn good.

“Everything’s been ready for the last hour, Rocket” Gamora answered - she was slowly getting impatient, waiting for her boyfriend to return to get this whole thing underway. She had found a mask a few days ago, at a market place, that had the feathers of a Terran bird, a peacock. She had based her costume off of that, wearing a long green and purple dress, and a ‘feathered tail’, she’d made out of patterned material over a wire frame. The overall effect was incredible.

“How long will Quill take to return?” Drax’s voice boomed as he entered the room. His costume (if you could call it that) was supposed to be a ‘warrior’ - it looked sort of like a very scantily clad Terran gladiator. He was wearing a leather stripped ‘kilt’ that came just to his mid thigh and just about covered his... dignity. Other than that, all he was wearing was a leather sash, and his normal boots. It was a... striking look.

“Not long, ten minutes if that” Rocket said, “Where’s Groot?”

“I am Groot!” came the little call.

Seeing the tiny Flora Colossus all dressed up, Rocket grinned wide. “This is gonna be awesome”

*****

Peter’s day had been weird to say the least. Yondu had shown up out of the blue (ba dum tsh) going on about how he needed help with finding this ‘artifact’ and because it was originally Terran, Peter had to be the one to help find it. The story was bullshit, and he knew it, but he went along with it anyway, curious to find out what was actually going on.

It had been a wild goose chase from the off. Yondu had them round every port and market the thing - which Peter eventually found out was an ancient Egyptian statuette (which was pretty cool) - had ever been at. By the time they found it, and Yondu had gotten it sold at a ridiculously high price, and then had split the money between them both, it was late.

It was late. And Peter was tired. And he had no idea what this was actually about. And why the shit there had been an ancient Egyptian statue this far out in space. And why in the galaxies he hadn’t heard a word from the other Guardians (which was totally out of character). No. Peter had had a very long day, and he just wanted to go back to the Milano, and forget all about the weirdness the day had brought.

So, when Yondu touched down, who knows where, in a ring of ships, which (bar one) were all Ravager ships, Peter actually thought he might kill him.

Peter stood up, “Yondu what the f-”

“Wasn’t ma idea boy, don’ go shoutin’ at me. Now git yer ass out there and see what’s goin’ on”

Peter stared at him for a second before he turned and stepped outside, grumbling about the ‘crazy old blue man’.  Then he was his friends.

Peter started laughing, quietly at first, then louder, and louder and louder, clutching his sides. “What the shit?” he managed to get out.

“Happy Halloween” Rocket said, smugly grinning.

“You guys made a Halloween party, with all the Ravagers... to surprise me?”

“Yes” Gamora said, quite precisely.

“I don’t have a costume though!” Peter laughed, still taking in the everything around him.

“Yes you do - Gamora got it for you” Drax said, producing a shiny plastic bag, hanging on a coat hanger, with his costume inside.

Light blue jeans and a white vest... with a picture of Kevin Bacon in Footloose taped to the from of it.

“It’s Kevin Bacon, you’re dancing hero” Gamora said, hoping that this was in fact correct.

Peter grinned “It’s awesome” He grabbed it and ran inside the Milano to get changed. Returning quickly, now in costume, he started dancing. “Hey, where’s Groot?”

“Right here” Rocket said, proudly, stepping aside to let Peter see the tiny tree creature.

Peter froze, his jaw dropped open, “No way” Groot was dressed as a tiny little Star Lord, with mask and gun and all. “Aww, dude”

“Okay, so first up - we’ve got some trick or treating to do” Rocket said.

Peter frowned, “...how?”

Rocket gave another smug smile, “Go round each of the Ravager ships - ya think they’re here for nothing?”

Peter nodded, “You guys are awesome”

And, as a group they started to walk towards the nearest ship, to start their trick or treating, and the rest of their Halloween party activities. Peter hadn’t had such a good in literal years.

[gywair]

I finally watched Endgame. I’d put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral. This series has been part of my life for a decade. Going to see the cumulation of over twenty films felt too heavy to see. Putting it off only made the tension build though. Finally, bite the Infinity Stone and ordered tickets.

First, I watched it in “4DX”. This is similar to the theme park rides that started popping up that are a mixed medium experience. So the seats move, air blasts at you, there are water effects, lights flash, and even smells get pumped into the room. In theory, this seems really interesting but usually, I go to movies I don’t care about to try out new gimmicks. My first 3D film was My Bloody Valentine. It was silly and fun. It also helped me adjust to what a 3D movie would be.

My first 4DX-like experience was the Empire State Building ride as narrated by Kevin Bacon. A sentence that makes me feel like I suffered a stroke while writing but is a real thing that exists that I have experienced. It’s been a few years since that and I think it lasted less than 20 minutes (probably less). Sitting for an entire movie seemed like a whole different worm can.

For me, I didn’t really like it. The water, lights, and smells were cool. The smoke was nice too. The seat, however, is made for someone slightly smaller. So when Iron Man gets kicked in his kidneys, oh spoilers BTW, the seat hits you too like a demented message chair. I think normally it would softly strike you in the back on your rib cage. For me, it went straight to my soft organs. This made the fights are to concentrate on (a problem for a movie about fighting). Likewise, little jets of compressed air go off just above your head. For me, they were pointed directly into my ears. So each time they fired off, I couldn’t hear and had the painful sensation of a ghost giving me a wet willy (I’m also blessed with ear problems so your experience may vary).

Anyway, big thoughts:

The Good:

The job of wrapping up 20+ movies was a big task. This film does that. It has a large cast of characters and several errant storylines to wrap up in a short timeframe. Cause even with 3-hours, this felt like there was still more to say. Which isn’t bad cause that means there can still be more films but for a chapter closer it was ambitious.

I was satisfied by the investment I’ve made into the franchise. This was a fitting close to this chapter. Each film contributed in ways that made the complete journey feel fluid and necessary.

It makes several subversions of expectations. Not just for characters but for narrative design. It kept me guessing the entire time. Even with seeing a handful of tiny spoilers, I was never sure what was going to happen.

Avengers served up heaping mounds of gratuitous fan service in the best ways possible. Sometimes this can be very bad like in animes when the whole episode is about boys spying on girls in a hot tub. Here, it’s Captain America fighting a copy of himself or Professor Hulk half-assing some smashing. One of the best parts of the film is about time travel. Here they show off fan-favorite Loki popping up at different points in history.

One important aspect to me for a story of any kind is how much foreknowledge a viewer needs before starting the work. If you watch Pirates of the Carribean 3 or Return of the Jedi, you will be pretty confused. However, you can pick up just about any Marvel movie anywhere in the series and have a fair idea of what is going on. This continues in this installment. Some context is lost or hidden but anything you need to know is shown/told/explained to you. This, for me, is what makes a story stand on its own legs.

See?! This scene just makes sense all on its own.

The Bad:

With so many cooks in the kitchen, there are still weird dangling problems in the continuity. Things still feel left open to interpretation. Even the filmmakers didn’t agree on how elements in the film worked which is something that should have been determined before the first Avengers movie was written. It feels haphazard with how certain things were written off or ignored.  This plays well into feeling like a comic book where different creators retrofit things to fit their narrative but it still felt jarring.

For example, in Captain Marvel, the cat has a stone. Well… so does Thanos… but also now Loki… There is a lot going on and even a whole (if well delivered) exposition still didn’t completely cover all their bases. It feels like they slapped it together at random at times. I get that they can play with the timeline literally but I feel like there were still a lot of open questions that should have been answered that weren’t.

I could rewatch all the movies (read as: will eventually) to get the full context. This makes the act of enjoying these films more academic though than just for pleasure viewing. It’s not that I don’t want to do this but for casual viewers, there was a lot of backstories to keep up with to get each nod.

The Ugly:

After years of hearing that fans want more women characters, the film tried to give them the limelight for an action sequence. The rest of the film is mostly about a boys’ club rushing around doing action hero stuff. Yes, Nebula and Black Widow make important contributions to the plot but they feel sidelined or overshadowed by the boys. The problem here is that the women are treated more like set dressing than people important to the plot to move ahead. If Spiderman had finished running the Infinity Glove to the van it would have served the same device. Instead, they made a big show of having the girls team up for a few seconds.

Supposedly this movie was gonna have a “Big Gay Film Moment” TM that would make people happen. Instead, it just suggested that gay people do actually exist. IDK man, like that, is a pretty cold take. If Warmachine and Bucky had started making out after the big fight I would have been cheering my head off. I’m not upset by any means. This is more of a missed opportunity for the filmmakers to do something and instead, they took the safest path.

  Hope you weren’t invested in Starlord and Gamora cause that entire trio of films is pretty much null now so far as character development for Gammy. She had an awesome arc. Then they killed her off. Then she comes back but now she doesn’t know Quill. Okay, well this means that other dead people come back… right? Oh, no? Vision and Black Widow are still gone? Weird… I heard this is cause they were killed pre-Snap BUT so was Gamora and they got her back. I think they were just running out of time. I hope Scarlet Witch gets to go back to her robo-boyfriend.

Was that all just a wild middle finger to Gunn? That’d be drama.

The funeral… why isn’t anyone crying? Everyone seems so calm. Is this like when you have already been to like six superhero funerals that week and five are already back on their feet?

I told myself I wasn’t gonna cry.

Characters:

Alright, so this film had way too many characters to really cover perfectly as a group. I have some stray thoughts on several, however.

Hulk is my new boyfriend and I will fight you for him. Banner has made peace with himself and created a half-way point between Hulk and himself. Now he is permanently strong and smart. This is wonderful for character development as he finally finds the peace and belonging that he has wanted since Edward Norton tore up downtown as the rage-y green giant. His new hipster persona felt satisfying and fresh for the film universe. Something of a reversal of the Ragnarok Hulk.

Captain America finally bangs and accepts his position as “America’s Ass”. I’m so proud of my boy. He’s all grown up.

It took Iron Man a decade but Tony Stark finally discovered how to care about something other than himself. His character arc is the film universe’s arc to this point. He was the foundation for everything that came after. This film serves as much an Iron Man movie as it is an Avengers’.

Black Widow kind of gets the shaft here. She began as a coldhearted assassin and ends up as the corporate mom leading the heroes’ home base. There is so much to still unpack for her. Her character has so much potential just under the surface but no one seems to be interested digging into it. I mean Scarlett Johansson “kills” in the role but this movie doesn’t really give her anything to do except talk to Hawkeye…

Hawkeye tried to be the Marvel Aquaman comeback kid and he just comes off as edgy but not in a good way. More like a midlife crisis day buys a motorcycle than the Crow. Like, he tries to make it sound like his entire career of being an assassin was more good than being an assassin now. He does get a brutal back story but I feel like he falls short of reaching his character potential here. He does get some cool scenes and then just gets shoved to the back of the movie.

Thor is bae. He has a brutal journey to this movie but he gets a lot of character work here. His beer belly hermit hijinks provide a much needed comedic break. I also cried like a baby over him.

Rocket has finally gotten some growth as a person. In this movie, he gets to interact with the core team more. This was a lot of fun because of his sass with characters like Iron Man. Also, he finally dons his iconic blue flight suit and red scarf–not important but it was a fun Easter egg.

It only took two Guardians and an Avengers but they finally let Karen Gillan really make Nebula rule. Gillan is a fabulous actor so it was always painful that Nebula just ran around screaming. In Endgame, she finally gets to have some real personal moments that don’t feel weird. Paper football was the best scene honestly for the emotion and narrative. I mean, her whole career as a sour rage junky comes to a boiling point and then she FINALLY gets to open up the tiniest bit with Tony. I really hope there is something… anything in the future where she gets to be this new fun Nebula. It’s like your weird aunt went on vacation and actually had some personal growth and brings you back some neat shells and a guy named Desmond for herself.

Ant-Man got some funny moments in but nothing to really write home about. He was our Joe McEverydude here and it worked fine. I’m baffled at the taco scene but it was worth it for Hipster Hulk to share with him. Like, I know Scott Lang as a character isn’t super bright. That’s his whole thing. But, I just can’t understand what would drive him to go outside the fancy building to eat tacos on a bench facing the jet landing pad.

Warmachine got some interesting developments here. I’m sad now that he didn’t get to build a romance with Nebula (that is just barely suggested here). He felt like a full member of the team rather than just a sidekick from movies past.

The Falcon & Bucky were there. I really wish there had been some kind of closure or growth moment for them. In Winter Soldier, they were at each other’s neck. Now they seem cool. A friendly word or a high five could have sold me on their growth but they kind of get forgotten instead. I was never gonna see my Falcon-Bucky slash make it to the silver screen but would it have killed the Russos to have one heated kiss between these two obviously boyfriend material lads.

**EDIT** —–> THERE IS A SPIN OF THESE DORKS. OMG.

Alright. I’m psyched for this.

Captain Marvel comes in at the end of this list just like she did in the movie. That’s right, she shows up as a Deus ex Machina and looks cool but really got burned here. She deserved better. She just drops in for a minute to help and then jets. Still cool but she gets no development here. Her movie rules though so I’m gonna forgive it. Mostly. That said, it was wild to see basically an Amy Dangerous on screen and that was special for me.

Closing Thoughts:

It was a really fun movie. I may never watch it again. Just like the other Avengers, it’s a good time but it feels more like a spectacle than a great film. That’s not bad but when I watch a film, I wanna see characters grown in new unexpected ways. I want to see hard choices and emotions. Those moments were there but as little islands between big budget action scenes. I really enjoyed it but for the same amount of time, I might just watch Ragnorok again or Detective Pikachu. Finishing this movie felt like the end of a long (20 movie) hike. It was a great adventure. The fun of it was the friends we made along the way. I don’t regret a minute of it.

But it feels good to be at the end.

For now.

Endgame Thoughts I finally watched Endgame. I'd put it off a week since its release. It felt like planning to attend a funeral.