#[ original for the flashback; remake for the present :) ]

[nightmarecountry]

🦷 🦷 🦷 {traumatic flashback tiem} -Cabal

Dream's hand is on his jaw.

He knows that hand better than his own. Knows to expect an adjustment of some kind; to feel his lord's will pass through him and change something they've found wanting, whether it's the depth of his hungers, the set of his jaw, or some strange unnameable thing only Dream can feel. None of those this time: my teeth, the Corinthian thinks, knows, by the way Dream's hand drifts upwards towards his right eye. He starts to open it wider, playing at being docile because he's not allowed to bite and it'll go faster if he doesn't struggle, but--

A metallic clink: pliers in a bowl of teeth, HIS teeth, pried from one eye socket with surgical precision while he thrashed and roared and wept like an animal, which he wasn't and had never been. Cabal knew as much as he did that the thing on the table (himself, though he tried desperately to pretend it was something else, that he was somewhere else, that this wasn't happening) wasn't a person. He told it as much, very casually, and ignored the Corinthian's agonised snarl of protest when another tooth was pulled loose. Whatever was streaming from his mouth wasn't blood, and he wanted to push it back in along with the teeth Cabal had taken, but he couldn't MOVE.

He came back to himself in a slow, strange wave, and was appalled to find that two things had happened without his permission. The first was that his teeth were clamped around Dream's knuckles, desperately trying to sever his fingers, which hadn't bled so much as a drop in response. That was bad enough, but the second--the second was that his whole body was shaking, heaving with frantic breaths and sobs like an animal with an actual nervous system, which wasn't a reaction he could remember ever having to anything before, and Dream wasn't bleeding but the Corinthian's eyes were definitely wet with something.

Horrified, he did the only thing his instincts would let him: he bit down harder.

[safeworksrender]

I finished the original Final Fantasy VII for the second time yesterday (been about 8 years since I last played it). It still remains one of the greatest games I've ever played, and I think that it is a must-play even if you have played/are playing through the games from the Remake project.

I've been really disapointed with the way the narrative has been told within the Remake project so far, so this was a nice reminder of the game that I initially fell in love with all those years ago. The story feels more focused, compact, and is presented in a way that is clear and easy for players to understand. Cloud is better presented as an awkward person who never knew where he fit in amongst the rest of society and ultimately feels a bit more relatable (I forgot how often he tries to display his sense of humor). Sephiroth is presented as a much bigger deal and has a much more ominous presence because we don't constantly see him on screen and only ever get to fight him once (and as a result, the "One-Winged Angel" track feels warranted when it does eventually play. Thanks Remake/Rebirth for already wearing that track thin). Midgar and other sections like the Gold Saucer don't feel like drags and don't overstay their welcome. The Nibelheim flashback is *so much better* in my opinion and the visual of seeing Sephiroth dealing 3k+ damage while Cloud deals a measly 15 damage is some of the greatest use of gameplay as a narrative mechanic.

Point is, I love this game and can ramble about it for hours. If you have not played it, you owe it to yourself to at least give it a try.

[pen-and-umbra]

SE appears to be intent on slightly expanding Jenova lore, which was not present in previous installments. It will be interesting to see how this plays out in the remake, particularly in the Nibelheim flashback. 

The remake portrays Jenova as a master of illusions, citing her abilities to create visions during the Jenova Dreamweaver battle. The enemy's description posits the entity induces hallucinations, while FF7R Ultimania suggests that it messes with the minds of those who come into close proximity to it. Sephiroth elaborates on this in the first Rebirth trailer:

They say she's a monster. That she can peer inside you into the very depths of your soul. That she can become those you hate, those you fear, those you love.

The implication is clear: Jenova somehow probes an individual's mind, scans memories, and chooses an appropriate illusion to weave. Given that this predatory behavior was used on the Cetra, I assume that being injected by Jenova cells is not a prerequisite in and of itself, but it may serve as an amplifier, making an individual more susceptible to mind-reading and later indoctrination.

In light of this and the released Ever Crisis information, does this imply that Sephiroth experienced the same pattern when he came into contact with the Jenova vault in Nibelheim? With all the turmoil of looking for his mother/origins brought to the surface by Genesis' intervention, his mind may have presented an easy target to hijack. Could Jenova have created the illusion of Lucrecia in a tube — „become…those you love“? Sephiroth's onset of insanity aside, a woven illusion and mind manipulation could explain a seemingly absurd course of action, such as cutting off your supposed beloved mother's head and dragging it with you: he could have been seeing something else that a player — via Zack or Cloud POV — could not. Something woven by Jenova's hallucinogenic effects. Furthermore, his body language during the breakdown is not too dissimilar to that of Cloud in the Remake, when the latter experiences hallucinations. Gripping head, shaking, nearly doubling over, etc.

If Jenova remained in a vegetative state — bodily faculties disabled but brain/mind function intact, in whatever measure it applies to the entity — then coming into contact with a perfect live host, essentially a hybrid, such as Sephiroth, could have triggered a sort of awakening (in which case, a dormant state is a better description). Its next logical step would be to break free from confinement. Given Jenova cells' longevity and corruption abilities, it stands to reason that the entity could regenerate/reassemble its body if the "brain" remained intact. From that perspective, it makes sense that the only thing that truly needed escaping was her head. And sure enough, the deed was carried out.

If SE chooses to emphasize Jenova's importance as this lurking eldritch horror in Rebirth, the scenes provided by Ever Crisis could add a new and interesting angle to Nibelheim events. If her meddling with Sephiroth's head is brought into light, the Nibelheim slaughter may be mixed with Rhadoran or Wutai war scenes, with Sephiroth hallucinating himself back on the war-torn battlefield among enemies and "traitors". Could be a nice touch to show his mind slipping completely. In fact, it could fit in with the glitched fire sequence from Sephiroth's story announcement teaser, where his adult and teen selves intermixed and overlapped each other.

[centrally-unplanned]

I watched the Scott Pilgrim anime! I was deeply ambivalent, which I am sure is a shock to no one who knows me and saw it lol. I think I have a sequence of thoughts, so I will tackle the obvious one first to get it out of the way: Marketing, Adaptation, & Genre Drift in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

Starting from top, if you don’t know, the Scott Pilgrim anime is not an adaptation of the original source material, but an alternate history version of the events where the titular Scott isn’t present for the majority of the episodes and Ramona Flowers is the main character. Which has been controversial! Not…amazingly controversial or anything, this is an extremely low stakes scenario and from my analysis the majority of people liked it. But controversial enough to get insufferable Kotaku articles “explaining the backlash” which don’t explain the backlash well. Let me see if I can do a better job - its fun to set low bars for yourself to clear after all.

The backlash starts with the marketing; really just the professional drama-trolls would have objected beyond an initial reaction to Netflix announcing Ramona Flowers vs the World; as a concept it makes a ton of sense, and it is essentially what they actually did (well, we will get into that). But that is not how it was sold:

“Join Scott in his fight for love, life, and rock!” I’d love to, still waiting for the invite! This is the first teaser for the show, and if you do a quick “frame count” it pretty equally privileges Scott & Ramona both, but Scott is still on top and it deliberately hides any sense that it is an alternate timeline. It even has this screenshot as one of its final moments:

Which I am pretty sure does not appear in the actual anime! If it does its in some flashback alt-timeline scene in a later episode, not its implied context (in the actual episode Scott ‘loses’ this fight). I can show more evidence - casting the original cast of the movie to make it seem like a ‘recreation’, statements by O’Malley where he plays deliberately coy with the idea of how similar it's going to be, and so on - but I think I don’t have to, because it was intentional, you don’t have to read the tea leaves on this. The bait-and-switch is part of the marketing, not an accident from it.

That is the step 1: people are thrown about being deceived. The step 2 is simple - this is a deception about an adaptation. I am someone who constantly complains about shows sacrificing cohesion & storytelling for “the twist”, but its too common these days to be that mad over it in a mass way. My designated punching bag over at Kotaku points this out:

This is a recurring theme for metatextual work like Final Fantasy VII Remake and the Rebuild of Evangelion films: initially they’re presented as retellings of beloved stories, only for it to become clear at some later point that they’re going to take more than a few liberties and tell a different story entirely.

The difference here is that FFVII and Evangelion are remakes, not adaptations. FFVII is a video game being made into a video game again; Evangelion is a tv show + movie being made into a movie series. The FFVII decision was controversial, but fundamentally you can just go back and play the original game; fucking everyone hated the idea of the Evangelion rebuilds being remakes because that is pointless, the originals have aged amazingly, and they had to deviate to justify their existence (they failed at that, but a story for another time). Meanwhile, Scott Pilgrim is a comic, that has never been a TV series, or an anime. There is the movie, but did you know a bunch of comic fans hate the movie? You see a lot of comments like these all the time (from a discourse reddit thread debating the new show):

Personally, I thought it was fun. I agree with a lot of your complaints honestly, but I don’t understand how you liked the movie? I can’t stand the movie because I feel like the characters are all flat, especially Ramona who has absolutely no personality at all.

I disagree btw, the movie is great, but it is a loose adaptation - hell it was released before the final volume of the graphic novels was finished, it has a different ending! A short, cohesive movie could never adapt a long-form, episodic graphic novel. And its live action, stylistically very different. So this TV show was both branded as, and was expected to fulfill a demand for, a first “real” adaptation of the comic, that people wanted. The fact that Evangelion deviated in its remake is a poor comparison. Questioning that people want full adaptations of works they enjoy isn’t really worth our time.

Now I personally don’t care about the above two - I am explaining the debate, but they aren’t problems for me. Step 3 is where I start caring - I think Ramona Flowers vs the World is a great idea. They thought they made that, and I wish they had. But in the process of telling the bait-and-switch of the story, they also bait-and-switched the genre. There is this great quote from O’Malley about the original graphic novel’s story from an interview (whose headline we will revisit in another post, don’t you worry):

Yeah, I mean, when I was writing Scott Pilgrim the first time, I just wanted to come up with a very simple story engine: fight, fight, fight, get to the end. That gave me something to hang all this other stuff on, all this slice of life hanging out in Toronto.

Its such a nice summation of what Scott Pilgrim is - the fighting against the evil exes? Its all sizzle and jokes, none of it matters. Its a plot device to structure the real story, which is a slice-of-life romance drama, coming-of-age narrative, and extremely intimate portrait of Toronto’s scene of indie music venues and hipster coffee shops. The joke is that Scott is dealing with all this crazy video game/anime shenanigans on top of actually having to navigate very grounded past emotional damage and present challenges of adulthood. The heart of the comic is not the fight scenes, some of which literally happen in the background while other characters are talking, but scenes of a group of friends hanging out at 11:00 PM at a dive Korean restaurant:

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off meanwhile is not built around this cast. Its built around a mystery plot and Ramona Flower’s evil exes, who she is investigating, and Scott Pilgrim, uh, checks notes travelling to the future and fighting his …aged enraged alternate self from the original timeline…? Anyway, Ramona’s evil exes are mainly joke characters, comic reliefs who engage in crazy shenanigans. Half of the episodes are structured around them, and their episodes are filled with extended comedy bits and very-long fight scenes. Episode two has a 13 minutes long fight scene between two of them, including build-up, over control of the League of Evil Exes. Hell, they don’t even live in Toronto - a ton of the new anime takes place in New York City and a bit in California. The comic meanwhile has panels just…explaining locations in Toronto sometimes:

Listing the hours of operation, its so cute! The anime has no time for this in between its sci-fi plots and fight scenes, and its far cheaper for it.

The decision to focus on shallow characters like Ramona’s exes is downstream of the decision to focus on Ramona without Scott -besides the exes the rest of the characters are Scott’s friends, who Ramona gets to know through him. Which is the final point here - who are the characters people love from Scott Pilgrim?

All of Scott’s friends ofc. Characters like Lucas Lee are memes, not people. Obviously Kim Pine, Young Neil, Knives Chau and so on appear in the anime. Sometimes they have great scenes - like the adorable scene of Knives & Kim playing music together, Knives’s first time really trying to jam:

Which goes absolutely nowhere from a character perspective - Knives & Kim barely interact after this. It sets up Knives doing a comedy-meta musical for the plot, sure…but that’s boring in comparison to real emotional connections, Knives doesn't have an arc. But they can’t have more, because our main character Ramona Flowers doesn’t know these people; she wouldn’t just hang out with them, and she is busy with her mystery investigation. She sees them when she needs them for plot reasons. Kim and Knives and Stephen Stills are much flatter this time around (Julie, to her credit, kicks ass in this one).

Obviously I could point out that Scott & Ramona’s relationship in the anime, given that they have literally one date before Scott vanishes, has no depth to it, but that is easy. The funniest way to summarize this character issue is if you check the tags on Tumblr right now, you are going to be awash in Scott/Wallace shipping posts. Like I swear, at times its straight(?)-up 50% of the posts going on, its a rabid gay horde out there lusting for this sugar daddy/baby dynamic. Which makes sense, they have so much sexual tension & emotional depth as friends…in the comic. In the anime they barely know each other! Wallace hates Scott and interacts with him maybe a half dozen times, primarily to tell him to move out, then does his own shit. This is all people projecting comic!Scott/Wallace onto the current show.

There are more downstream consequences of these decisions & other issues (like the overdone meta elements, or abandoning most of the indie-music aesthetic) but this has gone on long enough. The point is that telling a different version of the story would actually be fine. It would disappoint some fans, sure, but if done well you would likely win them around. Hell, the original comic’s ending kind of sucks, good time to polish some things. But if you change the main character and the genre and the cast focus and all the character dynamics…at a certain point its just its own new story now. A story irrevocably tied to the old one, but not about any of the things the old one cared about. I think you can see why that would be a harder sell than Ramona Flowers vs the World, even if it was a good zany action comedy anime in its own right. You will get backlash from this level of drift - and you will deserve it.

Also fuck Lisa am I right? Jeez, 0 out of 2 for moving picture adaptations. What you get for being blonde I guess.

[thenightling]

Someone finally asked me the golden question. How would I have handled Universal's Dark Universe.

Disclaimer: If someone sees this and likes my ideas, you may use them for free. No consultation or acknowledgement required. Just do justice to my boo boys.

Well, I would stop so blatantly trying to make it the MCU. It's not the MCU. And don't be afraid of a little camp. These are the classic monsters after all.

Time period. Start in the past and then WORK your way to the present. Don't force all of it to be set in the present from the get go. Let the audience feel and understand these are immortal beings. You can even make it a surreal, timeless, fairy tale-like setting that just resembles the nineteenth century. Most people use generic medieval for fantasy settings but Gaslamp fantasy is a thing.

2. Start with the most well-known of the monsters. Do Dracula. It can be a book faithful adaptation, or something along the lines of Bela Lugosi or Frank Langella. I think general audiences like Dracula to be fierce and predatory but also somewhat romantic, that's why the Mina / Dracula romance has endured even though it deviates heavily from the novel. So let Dracula be romantic but do something unexpected and fresh with it.

Honestly I'd love an adaptation of Fred Saberhagen's The Dracula Tape (Dracula retold from Dracula's point of view). But I know they'd want to stick with the public domain version.

Let Dracula have his literary powers to take wolf, bat, and mist form, and conjure storms. Let him be able to walk by day but not able to shapeshift by day. Bela Lugosi's version didn't actually burn in the sun until the sequels anyway and that was only from mimicking Nosferatu (1922).

Either leave out the reincarnated wife concept all together or let the reincarnation be someone other than Mina. Dr. Van Helsing (a male or female version) or even Jonathan Harker could make for an interesting twist. Lots of depictions of Dracula are bisexual now and this would be something fresh for the universal version.

3. When doing Frankenstein stop trying to recreate the Karloff version "for modern audiences." Let's try the literary version for a change. Long black hair, no neck-bolts or green skin, let him be articulate. And don't go for "steampunk action figure. " (I'm looking at you, Van Helsing.)

Let each classic monster have their own setting and time period. Dracula gets 1891 since that's when his novel takes place, unless you do a fifteenth century origin or fifteenth century flashbacks in the nineteenth century. Frankenstein is late eighteenth century or very early nineteenth century.

You can get more free with the concept if you do a Frankenstein sequel. Think 1985's The Bride but the male creature is intelligent and articulate too.

4. With Wolfman go old school. Practical effects in the style of Rick Baker. Get Guerrero del Toro involved with these somehow. That man knows how to handle classic monsters. Remember the rules, and acknowledge that he's mostly immortal and can regenerate. Everyone forgets this.

5. Have Danny Elfman do the music. I know he's already doing the Dark Universe park music but let him do ALL the music. Trust the man. Have you heard his score to Sleepy Hollow? Just let him do his thing.

6. Don't treat each film like a commercial for the next or hinted team up. Just let the films be able to stand on their own at first. That's how the Uniersal Monster movies started originally. You can let one or two characters turn up in multiple films but don't be ham fisted about it like with some of what was in 2017's The Mummy.

7. When you finally do allow the team up go watch the Asylum's Monster Mash (2024) first.

I'm serious. Hell, buy the movie from The Asylum to do a high budget remake but add about twenty minutes to it so The Creature from the Black Lagoon can be added too. It's cheesy but its fun. Let them be dysfunctional would-be heroes. Let have What we do in the Shadows-like moments without being too cynical and insulting and mocking the very idea.

By this point you already made the monsters scary but with some potential for redemption, compassion, and tenderness. Let them organically evolve from brooding villains and anti-heroes to surprisingly competent heroes but let it happen organically.

You can even get organic diversity. The mummy is from Egypt (North Africa), the witch is Roma (and possibly a previous lover of Dracula's daughter), The Creature from the Black Lagoon is from South America, etc. Again, get Guillermo del Toro involved. The Shape of Water was pretty much Creature from the Black Lagoon with a happy ending for The Creature anyway. An Abe Sapien-esque version of The Creature from the Black Lagoon would be great.

I forgot to say who the main antagonist would be in my version of The Dark Universe. Possibly a mad scientist like Doctor Moreau, Doctor Pretorius, or a faction of vampires who want to dethrone Dracula from his self-appointed title as king of the vampires. There's nothing in Stoker's novel or the Universal movies that claim he's the first vampire but he's commonly depicted as king of the vampires simply because no one had thought to unite and lead all of them until him.

[watchingblsnowandforever]

Let's Talk BL: My Love Mix Up Th

Ep. 1

Hello!! =D

Welcome to my other version of crack posts! This doesn't have any screenshots sorry 😅

Also, a little spoiler warning for those who haven't watched the original Kieta Hatsukoi, I might reference it a little, but it won't be any great big reveals, just small comparisons here and there. This is for the show only, since I haven't read the manga.

I know I shouldn't be putting this right at the top (and honestly, feel free to ignore this particular point, it's entirely a personal opinion), but it's bugging me a little. In the special eps, the director as well as GemFourth have said how their characters are completely opposite to their own personalities, and how the roles were very challenging for them. They are both incredible actors, especially for their age. But, they're young, and suppressing their very personalities is hard. And it shows a bit. Not much, but sometimes, Kongthap has to frown to remain serious, Atom has to actively be hyper etc etc. It doesn't hamper the show in anyway, but it does make my eye twitch because if only they had switched roles, the boys would have soared. This is no way a criticism, I just think it would have been easier for them and the result could have been a bit more finely tuned. I do fear a little for them during the harder scenes.

Pahn is very cute and amazing and portrays Mudmee so well. (Will I have a smol crush on Mudmee just as I did on Hashimoto-chan? Yeah, probably)

The veggies scene was absolutely hilarious. They probably had to shoot that so many times 😭

This version is a little more fast-paced, me thinks, but I don't really mind

The colours are as obvious (and probably the same) as the original. (Kieta was so colour coded, even a rookie like me could see them vividly 😭👍🏼) For more about colours, I'd recommend visiting @respectthepetty

I liked how they showed the origin story of the cat (like in Cherry Magic Th).

Speaking of Cherry Magic. To be very honest, the original Japanese version of Cherry Magic wasn't very high on my favorites list, so I was a bit skeptical about the Thai remake. I was pleasantly surprised, and the Th version will always be one of my top 8 BLs. I was skeptical about MLMU for the exact opposite reason. I adore Kieta Hatsukoi. And that charm would be very hard to recreate, but I decided to wait and see. Till now, my hope remains that this'll be another Cherry Magic 😌 (maybe not that perfect, but still)

Atom is such a dork I love him 😭

Also, my cluless babie Kongthap 😭

WE ARE GETTING THE DANCE SCENE IN EP 2 ITSELF WHAT-

I have nothing to say about character chemistry (it's GemFourth duh); I do have a teeny problem with the lighting/filter (I think the rooftop scenes might have been overexposed so they had to filter it or something), but after reading through the tags I realized that's not just me; the cinematography is so far so good and the characters are - it's just ep 1, mind you - well portrayed.

The unique friendship between Atom and Half is also nicely done.

HOW COULD I FORGET. The ads *vice versa war flashbacks*. It's just so hilarious. At this point, I'm just looking forward to all the ad placements. It's even more funny because GemFourth are the presenters for like 4 of them 😭😭👍🏼

That's all for now! See you next week. And as always thank you for reading! 😊

Here, have a slice of (vanilla) cake 🍰

[mariyekos]

Temporary Post

Trying to share something. Rant about Corel Prison below the cut.

This essay was originally a response to someone else. Text in blue comes from them. I wrote this months ago and did not proofread it so it could be better but tip.

the OG never explains how the Gold Saucer came to be, who funds it cuz if they kept it as the OG,

I’m one of those people who believes that not everything needs an explanation. FFVII Remake and Rebirth both have a problem with over-explaining things at times, but that’s another topic. The overarching theme of this mini-essay is that OG FFVII very prominently features themes of complacency, apathy, and inaction, and how those can lead to misery and destruction just as well as direct bad actions can (i.e. doing nothing can lead to just as much misery as intentionally hurting someone). One famous (misattributed, but still good) quote is this: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” And that’s part of the soul of the OG.

First, I have to lay out a VERY important difference in Corel of the OG and Corel of RE (Rebirth and Remake). The town of Corel in the OG is the land that becomes the prison. This is evident based on the scene in the house in the Prison where Barret talks about Dyne and Scarlet, and by the flashback at the ropeway where you see Corel burning and it has the same buildings/landmarks as the Prison. The town of Corel in RE is North Corel, which is a shantytown. To me, it doesn’t make sense that generations upon generations of people would be stuck in a shantytown. And, Corel being a shantytown in both RE Barret’s flashback and the present undermines his whole thing about how Corel is now worse because of Shinra, because it isn’t. It’s been a shantytown the whole time. Yes you can still argue that the people are unhappy and that shows how Shinra is bad, but it’s not nearly as bad as destroying the town and turning it into a prison so the original inhabitants are forced to create a new town from the literal scrap that’s left.

Going along with that is the difference between a Prison made from and populated by the things Shinra has destroyed, and a town populated by ruffians who chose to be there and are having a good time. In the first, it's Shinra and greed-enforced misery. In the second, it loses that. It's instead about reclaiming your own happiness, I guess. Which is an okay point, but doesn't hit as hard and is already done elsewhere so it doesn't need to be repeated. It makes Corel much more generic than it was in the OG, where it stood out via its harsh reality and the cruelty of its existence.

Now then, for the explanation of Gold Saucer in the OG: Shinra is the root of many evils, but it is not its sole source nor its sole enactor. Yes the OG doesn’t explain the details of how the Gold Saucer came to be, but I believe it doesn’t need to, because you can extrapolate based on the situation. OG Corel was destroyed by Shinra. Dio, a traveler, decides he wants to create an amusement park. The desert of Corel is a harsh environment, but in the words of that one meme, It’s Free Real Estate!

Given Shinra completely rebuilt Nibelheim to cover up what happened there, it’s possible that Shinra funded the construction of the Gold Saucer too, in order to hide Corel somewhat. Corel isn’t as damning of Shinra as Nibelheim is, so they wouldn’t need to rebuild it, just distract. Or it could be that Dio was just a rich guy who wanted an amusement park and built it independent of Shinra (until they wormed their way in anyway). When you ask “why does the Gold Saucer exist,” the answer doesn’t need to be about who funded it. The answer is “to exemplify how the rich and elite will brush away the suffering of the poor for their own gain, whether that be profit or amusement.” FFVII is a video game, not real life, and it’s okay for the answer to be a thematic one rather than a logistical one. Plus there are already several places that Shinra has obviously stuck their hands into, so we don’t necessarily need the Gold Saucer to be overtly Shinra too. (Given how many times Shinra appears there, it’s at least Shinra friendly in the OG).

it like creates a plot hole of Why would Dyne who hates Shinra, run a prison that is created from destroyed town of Corel be okay with the Gold Saucer being built on top // hell Dyne feels more organic compared to the OG, cuz like his despair and nihilism is created by Shinra leading to his descent to madness

Dyne in the OG is someone who hates not just Shinra, but the whole world. To quote him: “I want to destroy everything. The people of this city. The city itself. The whole world! I got nothing left in this world. Corel. Eleanor….. Marlene….” Dyne is someone who thrives on misery. You can ask why Dyne would be okay with the Gold Saucer being built on top in RE just like the OG- he waits 4 years both times. The answer to this I’ve always interpreted as Dyne’s nihilism and hatred building over time from apathy to action. It takes him time to be so fed up with the world that he decides he wants to actively destroy it, rather than just let it rot (as Shinra is doing). Now I think the real reason is that he waited because the writers needed the Dyne thing to happen when the party was there, but in either case we don’t get a reason for him being okay with the Gold Saucer in either game so I don’t see it as a fault with the original.

As for why Dyne would run a prison, he doesn’t run it in the traditional sense. He’s not the one keeping people down there. The way the party gets out in the OG is by winning the Chocobo Race and being pardoned by Dio. Dyne is the “boss” in that of the people stuck in prison, he’s the one people won’t cross. After you kill Dyne, Mr. Coates (Gus in the OG) says: “So Dyne's dead…Maybe now, this place'll calm down a little. Dyne didn't care who anyone was.” He’s happy Dyne is dead. I always interpreted it as Dyne being the “boss” because people are scared of him, not because he’s actually leading people in any real way. If you want to do something, you need permission from Dyne otherwise he’ll snap and murder you or something. Unlike in RE, people in the OG don’t need to outright say they don’t like Dyne. It’s instead implied. AND it’s another case of the apathy that I mentioned: people don’t like Dyne, but they’re not willing to change anything. They’re miserable and they’re going to wallow in their misery, and that’s their downfall.

As for Dyne’s descent, in both the OG and the RE it’s pretty much the same: Shinra took everything from Dyne, which drives him insane. The difference is that in the OG, Dyne decides he wants to take it out on everyone (the world, and importantly the people of Corel!), while Dyne in the RE is more targeted on Shinra. Except he’s not, fully! Because he shoots innocent people too! He just names Shinra out loud. Honestly the biggest kick to the gut in the RE was that Dyne didn’t have his line about wanting to kill Marlene because Eleanor was lonely. That line is sickening in the OG. A man so corrupted by despair that, upon hearing his daughter is alive, he decides it’s better to kill her to free her of the world he hates so she can be at peace in the afterlife, than to reunite with her to make her life happy. Thinking about it gives me chills. That’s true despair right there. And THAT is why Dyne fights Barret in the OG- because Barret wants Marlene to live, while Dyne wants her to die. In the RE, Dyne turns on Barret because he thinks Barret is working for Shinra again. It doesn’t hit nearly as hard. We already know Dyne hates Shinra; it’s when Dyne decides he wants to kill Marlene that I went “okay, there’s no walking away from this one. Someone’s got to go.” Because we all hate Shinra already, so hating Shinra doesn’t make Dyne special to me. Wanting to murder his own daughter does.

Which goes into his death. Dyne in the OG doesn’t really get a redemption arc/scene. Dyne in RE definitely does. Dyne in RE shields Barret from approaching Shinra soldiers, then dies on top of him. I’m not going to lie- I got teary eyed when Dyne fell on top of Barret. That hurt. But in the OG, Dyne doesn’t get a traditional redemption. He commits suicide. His "redemption" is much more subtle- when he goes to jump, the lighting of the scene changes and illuminates himself and the crosses (that I interpret as being for Marlene and Eleanor based on their sizes). It to me shows that he is going to the beyond, the great big light in the sky in many representations. Light is purifying, because even though he didn’t get a redemption in saving Barret, he’s come to terms with his life and death and that’s the best you can get.

In the OG, not everyone can be saved, physically OR morally. But you can try to be better. And the forgiveness comes in the form of that light and the pendant Dyne gives to Barret so Barret can save himself. He doesn’t have to kill himself to earn his redemption; the light comes after the pendant is given. He kills himself because he thinks he can’t be redeemed, not realizing he’s already been forgiven. Dyne in RE saves Barret with his body. Dyne in OG saves Barret with his medallion. Furthermore, giving the pendant to Barret also shows how Dyne has changed because he says the pendant is for Marlene, which means Dyne has come to accept or even just realize that it’s better for Marlene to be in the living world, and while his hands are too stained to hold her, he can at least give her one last gift.

There’s symbolism there too, about the survival of the next generation. A Dyne who wants to kill Marlene because she’s better off dead is one who has decided there is no saving the world (symbolically eliminating the future). This is the same thing Shinra is doing. Shinra is eliminating the future by killing the world. Barret is fighting to save the Planet, but while doing so, he’s put his personal life to the side- which is something he comments on in the RE! But we see in this scene with Dyne that his personal life and his larger goal of saving the Planet are at times the same. Yes Dyne dying for Barret in the RE shows Dyne now believes in the future, but it’s more powerful when he gives the pendant to Barret so Barret can secure Marlene’s future just like he’s securing the future of the Planet. In both suicides, Dyne is saying that the rot must be excised. That sometimes there is no redemption. But Barret’s mourning is what makes you question whether that’s true. ESPECIALLY with how Barret says his hands aren’t clean either. That’s Barret saying that even if you’ve sinned, you must push on and try to do good (because whose hands AREN’T stained, in the end? If not by murder than by other sins).

Dyne committing suicide by jumping is more powerful than him committing suicide by saving Barret because one is entirely selfish, while one is selfless. Saving Barret is selfless, even if the goal is the same. He’s explicitly helping Barret by dying to save him in the RE. But in the OG? Barret doesn’t get anything out of Dyne killing himself. Dyne could’ve given Barret the pendant and lived or gone and talked to Mr. Coates himself, but he didn’t. That shows how much Dyne has given up on the world to me. He doesn’t give himself a way out. In the OG, Shinra has completely and utterly destroyed this man to the point he doesn't see redemption as an option. In the RE, he shoots for his redemption via saving Barret. He's not as far gone. [EDIT: Also your great point about Dyne falling 4 years ago mirroring him doing it by choice here!!!!! I somehow. Never caught onto that but that's so good, nd makes the OG even better]

Last note on Dyne’s madness: Dyne in the RE is very crazy, don’t get me wrong. But him talking to his dead wife and daughter didn’t make me think he was NEARLY as far gone as the guy who wanted to murder his daughter when he found out she was alive. THAT’S true insanity to me. THAT is what Shinra has done, and it’s all the more damning of them. RE Dyne is broken. OG Dyne is corrupted.

And last note on Dyne: Him wishing for the destruction of the world in the OG is so good because it shows how Shinra’s influence not only damns themselves, but the entire world. The mako reactors are Shinra’s invention, but they are killing the Planet as a whole. Dyne’s madness is a result of Shinra’s intervention, but leads to him wanting to destroy the world as a whole. Shinra has damned the many for their own gain.

Dio who GETS an expanded role here, and explains he's just left in charge [Mari's note: this comes from a longer thing claiming Dio in Rebirth is much better than the OG because we know more about him]

Okay so this section goes beyond what you’ve brought up, I’m just going into it because it’s big to me. Another theme of both the OG and RE is of redemption. Can Cloud redeem himself for (OG late game spoilers) giving Sephiroth the Black Materia. Can Jessie and Avalanche be redeemed for the deaths they caused (Shinra’s extra involvement in RE is something I have issues with better left in another post). In Crisis Core, there’s the question of Genesis’ Redemption. And there’s Vincent’s whole character, who is the epitome of “can people be redeemed for their sins, and do they even deserve redemption in the first place.” He’s also a great example of what comes from apathy and inaction - misery and the worsening of a problem.

Dio in the OG is a character who throws Cloud and Co. in Prison without a care. They’re probably guilty, but beyond that causing problems, so to Prison they go. He is a rich elite who is willing to trod on the lower class to eliminate his problem. Once Cloud wins the Chocobo Race and they sort out the Dyne thing, only THEN does he forgive Cloud and pardon them. I think the OG has a much stronger message about the damage of jumping to conclusions, since Dio doesn’t give them a chance. And again, it shows how people are willing to turn a blind eye to the messy stuff. The stuff with the Buggy and Keystone also show how he’s trying to be redeemed. It’s a stronger message about how even if you do wrong, you can make up for it and should. That’s lessened in RE where he becomes more sympathetic from the outset.

I’m going to cut the Dio stuff off here because this is already too long so whoops. Dio in the RE is a good character since he’s more fleshed out, but I don’t think he’s as symbolic or good for the THEME/MESSAGE of the game and the Gold Saucer specifically as he was in the OG. Dio in the OG worked well as an example of blindness and complacency, whereas Dio in the RE is more fleshed out but doesn't work as well thematically.

[livingwithhorrors]

Probably unpopular opinion.... but I like the new Crow... but not everything.

There are certain things that could have been written better and or altered to give a better understanding of time and given more action. SPOILERS FOR ORIGINAL, TV SERIES AND REMAKE

They give no information how long Eric and Shelly are together before dying. All we know is they meet in rehab, fall completely and utterly in love with each other and then end up dead. In the original we see how they met in flashbacks, but in the present we can tell they've been together a long time from the clues. They're utterly in love and engaged, planning a wedding. They're looking after a girl who's mother is an absent drug addict. They're known and loved by people around them and they talk about how much they loved each other.

Shelly get's Eric killed, which is a bold way to play this version, adding to the how long have they known each other that they're this in love that they are still living in the area where Shelly is being looked for as a wanted woman and he doesn't know more about her. In the original movie they die for not selling their loft to the criminals who want to make money as well as doing evil things like burning down homes, businesses and so on, killing people, incest and more.

This one we got a guy selling innocent souls to the devil or something of the like, to not go to hell himself. It's in the same realm, but all we see him do with it is kill people and not really show what deal he made. My best guess it was to be super rich and have young good looking woman around him.

The original villains were brother and sister and did it for power and showed what they did to keep that power through out the movie. The sister had visions and was sadistic as her brother. Both sleeping together and with others before killing them.

The remake has many unnamed victims and henchmen that help keep the main villains actions secret. I couldn't name a single one of them if I tried. We just get to see Eric kill them all in interesting ways at the end in one big battle, but never as personal as the original. The original we see and get to know the main villain and the henchmen through out the movie and get to enjoy and watch as Eric hunts down every single one. Leaving them as calling cards to invoke fear for the next on the list and they don't know who that will be.

Another thing that fails is who are Shelly and Eric’s friends. I don’t remember anyone in the remake.

The original we have mainly Sarah, but she makes us feel in on what’s happening and puts stakes in to what’s going on.

She and the friendly cop are missing.

I missed the buddy cop so much in this remake. It seems they are trying to make one of Eric’s friends that, but it doesn’t really work that well. He’s there and gone.

With the original we had a cop fed up with the way the city is and wanting to stop it but doesn’t have the power. He’s not corrupted and he even cares when he sees what happened to Eric and Shelly. Trying to be there for Shelly in the end.

We don’t have that in the remake, and it really shows. We get less than 10 mins of Eric fighting the main villain at the end of the movie and it feels fast.

The original takes it’s time and we feel it. He’s weakened and he ends up needing help.

The reverse happens, we here he is week and then strong, but we do see the reasoning behind it is to set up for sequels.

Which I wouldn’t mind if it means we see more of him fighting like the last part of the movie.

In the end this all feels similar to how they set up The Crow Stairway to Heaven.

They leave it open for Eric to be a superhero for those in need. To see more crazy supernatural villains and the sort.

Even the part were they mention Shelly and Eric meeting again in another life and being soulmates.

That is heavily played on in the tv series to the point that there are episodes where Eric and Shelly were together in past lives. Though Eric has been a Crow as well as both met tragic ends in past lives as well.

They also introduced the idea of other animals bringing souls back and being their source of power to the returned person.

One villain pretending he is paralyzed and tormenting his wife while also doing other evil things when he can walk and his pet snake is his power.

I haven’t had the chance to read the novels/comics, but I can understand upset to those diehard to the material.

But for myself I don’t mind the changes to a great degree. Only a few things like the relationship building taking up much of the run time and not knowing the amount of time together bugs me the most.

If they had cut that down, played it as she’s been on the run for years and in another city and they had to go back for a reason, I’d have bought that more.

The ending as well is confusing, but supposedly it’s universe resetting as balance returns sort of thing.

Bill is amazing as Eric and I could watch him for hours.

I’m not really a fan of the actress chosen for Shelly, but whatever.

This makes two clowns I’d watch Bill play every chance I’d get. Gots me excited for his IT return.

Make the sequel better in the end and I’d watch it.

[notajinn]

Top Games Played in 2024 - 2. Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5)

I don't think I've played any other game that had this much money spent to make it.

But also that makes sense because it's Final Fantasy VII.

What I Like

This game mostly has the same pros as Final Fantasy VII Remake. The voice acting and characterization are both practically perfect, which is critical for one of the most famous casts in video game history.

The combat continues to build on Remake by adding team-up moves and a fair share of new Materia to try. Among other things I also feel like Aerith feels a bit better to play here but I can't put my finger on the difference. Maybe I just didn't understand how to use her as effectively before?

It's fun to see the PS1 world adapted into this big money open-world map. I'm not a diehard fan of the original FF7 (I didn't play it until after Final Fantasy X so 7 wasn't as impactful) but even I can appreciate the way they set up the world for travelling. And thank god for Chocobo because otherwise I would hate trying to get around everywhere on foot on maps this size.

Each character has a detailed skill tree with tons of options. Most importantly, you can reset and reallocate skills at any time! I would do this nearly every time I loaded up a save based on what I felt like leaning more towards that day. It's also great when you get crushed by a boss because you can alter everything specifically for that boss fight, then change it back right after. Since team-up moves are also in here, changing them whenever you get a forced party change is also really important.

I love that any weapons you don't find in the overworld will be sold in stores for a high price. It's a good balance of rewarding you for exploring (getting the weapon early and for free) while giving you the opportunity to get that weapon if you missed it.

What I Don't Like

The game is too long. Just way too long. The maps are huge, and some of them like Gongaga are just frustrating to navigate. Again I'm not a FF7 diehard fan, so maybe it's the right amount of content for those people. And this game is definitely made for those people. But for me I went from doing almost every optional thing early on to only some, and by mid-game stopped doing nearly everything that wasn't required. And it still took me like 80 hours to beat over six months! I spent half a year playing this game!

There's just too much content here with all the side quests and minigames. They're not even necessarily bad, but eventually I just wanted to beat the game and they kept introducing more side content.

In a similar vein, the game thinks I really like Sephiroth. Whether as a flashback or phantom, he is nearly always present. As someone who thinks Sephiroth is just fine, it got really annoying.

Meanwhile Zack, advertised as being a big part of this game, gets only a handful of segments across those 80 hours. And most of them are just really slow walking around and talking about stuff that doesn't really matter. Again this might be a "if you're a Zack fan this is great" and I'm not.

The game feels like it's not sure if it wants to be a "sequel" like Remake suggested, or just a regular adaption of the PS1 game. For this reason, I feel like it kinda failed on both fronts. Personally I'm interested in it being a sequel and seeing it do new things, but that didn't happen much. I think the feedback they got was to make a more normal adaption.

Without going into spoilers, I didn't care for the climax of this game both from a story and gameplay perspective. That final boss is unnecessarily long.

If you decide to do side-content, you will never stop hearing Chadley. Nearly every type of side content involves Chadley talking. I don't hate him, but I got tired of him really fast early on.

I also don't like that this game has "Ubisoft towers" but unfortunately no open world game seems to escape those.

Final Thoughts

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is a strange case where I have a LOT of problems with the game but still really enjoyed it. There's a lot of good stuff, and a lot of bad stuff. I like to remember the good stuff more, like the main casts interactions.

At the end of the day, this game has a lot in it for better or worse.

[synergysilhouette]

Remaking X-Men: Evolution (Season 3)

(Note: If this looks familiar, that's because this is a reupload. I've rewritten all 4 seasons, plus my own original season. Make sure to check them out!)

Continuing on with my X-Men: Evolution series remake, I decided to put all of the Apocalypse arc into this season rather than spreading it out through seasons 2-4. Take a look:

Day of Recovery--A chef’s kiss episode for me, so it’s mostly minor changes. It’s noted during the rescue mission that Daken, Polaris, and Colossus are not present, leading the teams to believe that Magneto is alive and has saved them, though the X-Men are still suspicious of the Brotherhood. Prodigy and Bobby are a duo (as Kitty has went with the Morlocks along with the rest of the New Mutants), and it’s Magik who rescues Wolverine instead of Spyke. Nightcrawler and Mystique have a brief bonding moment. Nightcrawler is disappointed that Cyclops left Mystique behind, though Destiny warns Scott that he will pay for his actions, and Havok supports him, despite having some misgivings. During her investigation with Toad, Wanda finds Psylocke and uses her abilities to revive her. While she awakens from her coma, Psylocke seems to feel more hesitant on being the Brotherhood’s side, but still uses her telepathy in order to allow the Brotherhood to live in Mystique’s house undetected by the police.

2. The Stuff of Heroes--Again we take some influence from my version of “Survival of the Fittest.” First off, Gambit goes with Rogue and Logan to the store, making out with Rogue to prevent her from being recognized and seriously injuring himself. However, they’re found out anyway. Magik accompanies Beast (who does most of the speech, being the only adult) and Storm to the summit. However, while the mutants watch, Iceman, Magik, Prodigy, Rogue, and Jean are transported into the Mojoverse and forced to battle Juggernaut and prevent him from destroying a dam–but they don’t realize they’re being televised on Earth and the dam is in their area. The rest of the X-Men are forced to defend themselves against the military. In the end, when the X-Men are transported back to Earth, Longshot attempts a failed rebellion against Mojo, who sends him and Shatterstar to Earth, though Longshot now has amnesia and the two are separated.

3. Mainstream--A few changes; Kitty is one of the students taken home, and being away from the X-Men allows her and Lance to still maintain a relationship. Bobby, like Kurt, is also unrecognized because he was in his ice form at the time he was on camera. Graydon works together with Principal Kelly (who doesn’t know about his heritage) and invites the Brotherhood back to school in place of Kelly, claiming he’s working for Mystique and has reconciled with her. Amanda becomes disillusioned with Kurt not sticking by his friends and threatens to break up with him if he doesn’t stick up for them, and Bobby decides to reveal himself as a mutant. Both Jean and David are accused by Kelly of using their powers to get achievements (which David did sometimes on tests, something he inadvertently reveals that gets him expelled, making him go to school online for the rest of the season). During the Brotherhood’s rampage, Nightcrawler tries to reconcile with Graydon, who only outs him as a mutant.

4. The Stuff of Villains--Combines elements of season 2’s “Mindbender” so that the Apocalypse saga fully occurs in season 3. Wanda is searching for Pietro, giving us flashbacks into her, his, and Polaris’ childhoods. Psylocke is trying to locate Daken, Polaris, and Colossus, but finds something blocking her. Destiny discovers Jean, Nightcrawler, Magik, and Gambit have been brainwashed to commit crimes, and Psylocke goes to the X-Men to see if there is a connection. The remaining X-Men and Psylocke rescue Quicksilver that evening before turning their attention to the brainwashed X-Men. After defeating them (but not before Mesmero gets the key), Psylocke is invited to join the X-Men, but the stress she’s experienced has her hesitant to engage in more battles. Xavier instead offers her a room at the institute with no obligation to join the X-Men (as long as she keeps going to school), to which she agrees to. She notes that for a second, she sensed the missing Acolytes and Brotherhood members, along with a powerful man she never met.

5. Blind Alley--Another great episode. In this case, Alex is kidnapped and Scott goes to find him. However, Scott is ambushed by Mystique, who steals his visor and abandons him in Mexico. Jean discovers both of the brothers are gone and a note from Scott. She rescues Alex first, during which time a man scares off Mystique, revealing himself as Mr. Sinister. He attempts to acquire a DNA sample, but is unable to do some before Mystique returns. When Mystique returns to finish Cyclops off, Jean and Havok rescue him from her. I know the episode is supposed to focus solely on Scott and Jean becoming a couple, but I thought it’d be a waste not to include Alex since he’s on the main roster in my version and he’s Scott’s brother.

6. The Toad, the Witch, and the Wardrobe--This is where everyone will hate me. First off, the Pyro that burns the bridge is actually Simon Lasker, kidnapped by Magneto and brainwashed by Mastermind to be a “fill-in” Pyro for the Brotherhood while the OG Pyro remains an Acolyte. Bobby attempts to break though to him by referencing their brief romantic relationship, allowing time for Storm to douse the flames before any major damage is done. Psylocke stays out of the fight mostly, but attempts to read Pyro’s mind, only to find the brainwashing has left his mind a fortress. Pyro II tries to escape, but Wanda captures him and finds a card. She angrily questions him about it, but unlike Pietro in the original version, is unafraid of her, goading her to visit the ski resort. After getting pep talks from Storm, Iceman, and Beast about being comfortable in his own skin, Nightcrawler and Amanda’s evening with her parents goes as well as it did originally–which is not at all. Pyro II wilingly tells Wanda where to go, only for her to be captured by Magneto. Toad enlists the help of Nightcrawler, who brings Storm, Iceman, and Prodigy with him. They all chastise Toad, who angrily accepts blame and sadly says he doesn’t care about what happens to him, but wants to save Wanda. When they enter Magneto’s sanctum, they notice how empty it is, and ponder if Magneto didn’t rescue Daken, Polaris, and Colossus. Bobby attempts to break through to Simon again, but both of the Pyros outdo him and Storm subdues them with snow. Prodigy helps Toad and Nightcrawler rescue Wanda, who has been conditioned to let her hate of Magneto go. Toad apologizes for being a nuisance to everyone and almost deceiving Wanda into kissing him, and Wanda says that she was cruel to say he had to be someone else and has to learn to care about himself more–something she was going to work on. Amanda and Nightcrawler officially break up, with Nightcrawler realizing he’s not secure enough with himself to date a non-mutant and reveal himself to the world, and that he doesn’t want Amanda to suffer because of him. They part amicably, and Storm and Iceman join them for ice cream.

7. Self Possessed--One of my favorite episodes. While Rogue flirts with Scott, it’s purely platonic, as Gambit and Rogue are on the cusp of an official relationship. A lot of Rogue’s anxieties are quelled in this version–except for the obvious split personality. Gambit is weary of Risty, but doesn’t mention it to Rogue since he sees how well they get along. Gambit and Rogue go to the concert with Risty, as well as Scott and Jean, Storm and Nightcrawler (hinting at a romantic relationship), and Havok, Magik, and Iceman. In my version, Jean and Scott are a bit more comfortable about the concert being a date. After Rogue absorbs Mystique again, she has flashbacks once more of her childhood, albeit seeing it from her adoptive mother’s eyes. She realizes that Mystique is her adoptive mother, and criticizes her for always using and manipulating Rogue, Nightcrawler, and even Graydon. Mystique acknowledges that at certain times she was driven by selfish goals (saying the whole thing in “Blind Alley” with Scott was personal, albeit reckless). She says that being friends with Graydon and Rogue was something she wanted to do because she knew they wanted nothing to do with her–in contrast to Nightcrawler, who she planned to pick up the pieces with later, knowing he’d be more forgiving. Rogue runs away, memories of her childhood flashing around her. When she uses her ability to fly, she finds Jean taking over. While Gambit and Nightcrawler try to soothe her, it is still Jean and Professor X who quell her raging mind. Psylocke visits her out of sympathy while she’s healing, while Gambit kisses her forehead. In the end, Rogue notes a conversation Mystique had with Destiny, something about “Apocalypse.”

8. X-Treme Measures--A freebie episode. It premiered earlier, but I moved it around for narrative purposes. With Spyke gone, this episode still focuses on the Morlocks–specifically taking from “Uncanny X-Men #169-170”. Making Callisto a bit more comic-accurate, she finds Angel saving humans, and invites him to join the Morlocks. When he refuses, she captures him, intent on breaking his spirit (I do want some of the “he’ll be my mate” vibes, but it could be weird since he’s a teen in my version and Callisto is still an adult). Prodigy sees this and attempts to save him, but is struck ill doing so. Storm battles Callisto in order to save both Angel and Prodigy, coming out victorious. There is a brief moment where Storm is almost overcome with hatred, and Nightcrawler talks her down from it, sharing a brief kiss with her. The X-Men invite Angel to join them, and he says he will consider it.

9. Under Lock and Key--Essentially follows the same beat, except Mesmero uses Quicksilver to get the relic instead of Gambit, Beast goes with Wolverine to track down Mystique, and the bonding scene between Rogue and Nightcrawler lasts a little longer, with Mystique’s memories giving Rogue flashbacks to her and Kurt’s childhood and discussing it with him. Gambit quietly listens in the doorway, not wanting to ruin their moment. It’s hinted that Mesmero knows the whereabouts of Magneto’s missing members, making Magneto almost kill him. Banshee also appears, and while not officially joining the X-Men, tells them that they have his number. At the end of the episode, Angel joins the New Mutants.

10. Cruise Control--Occurs in a similar way, but switching up the characters; Beast takes Storm’s role as chaperone, Storm takes Kitty’s role in having fun with Nightcrawler, and Magik takes Boom-Boom’s role, which includes making a woman’s food come to life and exposing the group as mutants (Somnus attempts to make them think they dreamt it, but very few passengers believe that). Kurt also mentions he wishes Rogue could’ve been there to enjoy the cruise. Both Magma and Rictor feel the volcanic eruption, and they team up to save the day.

11. X23--I don’t have a lot of changes for this. Obviously make Laura look more like Wolverine like she does in the comics, and give Wolverine a cathartic moment where X-23 reminds him of Daken, and he ponders if he only exists to cause pain and how he could help them. Psylocke also recalls her time in the Mojoverse and that she was an assassin while under his control.

12. Dark Horizon (Part 1)--Happens similarly, with a few changes: it’s Magik at the beginning of the episode, Graydon taunts Scott and Jean with Principal Kelly, Rogue using her powers on Wanda inadvertently loosens some of Mastermind’s brainwashing on Wanda (which also happens when Rogue uses her powers on Pyro II), it is up to Magik and Nightcrawler to find Apocalypse’s hidden room. During the investigation, Iceman attempts to break through to Pyro II, who vaguely recalls Magneto’s imprisonment.

13. Dark Horizon (Part 2)--The teams split up differently: Magik, Nightcrawler, and Prodigy; Cyclops, Pyro, and Havok; Quicksilver, Pyro II, and Iceman; Beast, Magneto, and Professor X; and Storm and Jean. During their investigation, Prodigy suspects the missing mutants are somewhere in the pyramid, and Mr. Sinister appears briefly when Scott and Jean reunite. Other than that, the episode plays out pretty similar to the OG episode.

14. Impact--It's so emotional as-is! Though I do have changes: Wanda’s hypnosis is wearing off (which explains why she’s sympathetic to Rogue and Nightcrawler’s situation) though she doesn’t remember all the painful memories yet; Magneto doesn’t disappear and is just repelled by Apocalypse; and Nightcrawler has an angry “how could you?!” With Rogue before they both break down into tears, comforted by Storm and Gambit. But neither of them see Mystique’s statue repairing itself, slowly turning her back into flesh and blood (protected by the bargain she had made to help Apocalypse).

15. Cajun Spice--Deals more with the pain Kurt and Rogue feel, having them jumping between screaming matches and depressed interactions. Nightcrawler, being who he is, attempts to find some wisdom in the experience while Rogue goes with Remy to New Orleans. The rest of the episode virtually plays out the same, but now Gambit and Rogue become an official couple while Rogue and Nightcrawler reconcile. Kurt apologizes for making Rogue feel as though her pain wasn’t justified, and Rogue apologizes for demeaning his wish to bond with his birth mother and taking away the chance. They agree that Mystique is easy to despise and love, and they wonder if she has the same feelings about them. Mystique secretly listens to this conversation.

16. Ascension (Part 1)--Remove Storm and Professor X being taken away by Apocalypse, instead they're only injured. The Four Horsemen are revealed: Daken as Death, Colossus as War, Polaris as Pestilence, and a new mutant known as Vulcan becomes famine. Mr. Sinister reveals that Vulcan is the brother of Havok and Cyclops, who he saved following the airplane crash that happened to the Summers family. Mystique reveals she’s alive to the X-Men and states that she will assist them take down Apocalypse. Everything else is the same.

17. Ascension (Part 2)--The teams in different corners of the world: Storm, Magma, Jean Grey, Multiple, Somnus, and Rictor face Death (Daken) in Egypt; Prodigy, Beast, Havok, and Cyclops face Famine (Vulcan) in China; Magik, Sunspot, Wolverine, Psylocke, and Angel face off against War (Colossus) in Mexico; and Magneto, Professor X, Gambit, Scarlet Witch, Nightcrawler and Mystique go to face Pestilence (Polaris) at the Sphinx. There’s A LOT going on–like 1 hour of stuff going on. I’d want there to be brief “Dance with Death” and “War of Swords” sequences (inspired by “X of Swords” parts 3 and 13), Magneto and Wanda trying to break through to Polaris, flashbacks to Vulcan’s (who almost wins before running out of energy) manipulation under Sinister’s tutelage and descent into madness, and a real apology from Mystique to Nightcrawler and Kurt about how awful she’s been to them. In the wake of saving the world, attitudes towards mutantkind shift a bit more positive, allowing for Jubilee, Shadowcat, and Wolfsbane to return to the New Mutants, and Prodigy being allowed to return to school. Along with this, Psylocke and Colossus join the New Mutants. It should be noted that Mr. Sinister and Vulcan survive, with Vulcan flying into space to escape Mr. Sinister.

Lemme know what you think! Be sure to tell me what your favorite episode(s) is!

[foxgirltail]

My gf and I watched the first episode of the atla remake and it is. Not good.

It's an hour long but felt longer. Around the halfway point we both remarked that we'd rather be watching the original series

The show starts by showing the genocide of the air nation. Besides feeling in bad taste considering the current state of the world, I think it was less impactful than the way the original series does it - where we don't actually see what happened, and only hear about it and see the aftermath several episodes in

The show is rated tv-pg and we see numerous people burned to death

Characters regularly talk in the "I'm going to get a good grade in therapy" manner. It's annoying

Towards the end, we get a flashback to a scene we saw towards the middle of the episode? We just saw this, it felt so unnecessary

Aang told katara like a single sentence about bending and her ability increased 10-fold. I don't remember if something similar happened in the original but it seems silly

Aang can basically straight up fly unassisted. But only sometimes

Zuko's scar is smaller and on the wrong side and less... Vibrant? Under different lightings it's more difficult to see. it looks more like warpaint than a scar when viewed from the side, isn't shaped like a handprint, and doesn't appear to have any effect on his eye's functionality

The opening sequence is different (it still gets the point across), but there's a scene where grangran repeats the original lines verbatim for some reason? We literally saw the history behind those lines 30 minutes ago, why are we being told them verbally now?

How I think I would have done it is: keep the first scene, this also happens 100 years ago, an earth bender tries to send a warning that the fire nation is going to attack the earth kingdom. Sozin later explains to the captured earth bender that his success was intentional, as he lays out his plan to kill the avatar. Then do the title sequence. Then cut to 100 years later with katara and sokka. Proceed as normal from there (this would also cut out at least one instance of therapy-speak)

This removes the redundancy of the flashbacks, makes it so that when grangran says "...then everything changed when the fire nation attacked..." We don't already know everything about it. It makes everything a little less hand-holdy while still presenting all the necessary staging information. Also the episode is around 20 minutes shorter

Or, if knowing how aang got into the iceberg is so important, do more scenes from the past than what I laid out here, but don't have a focus on the actual attack on the air temple. Do a more scaled out perspective - more buildings burning and collapsing, and less individual fights between air and fire benders.

All in all: why was this made? I think it's a pale imitation of the original, I have zero interest to keep watching, and if I do want to watch more avatar, the original series is just right there?? The bending and appa look good I guess

[ihavedonenothingright]

So thus far into TOTK (I haven't finished the game, but I got the instruction to go beat the final boss), it really does seem like TOTK and BOTW are completely separate lore-wise from most every other game in the series except for maybe Skyward Sword. Zelda travels all the way back to Hyrule's "founding," which she is fairly familiar with, and there's a comment one of the researchers makes about mentions of a "Zelda" in the ancient past confirming that perhaps the name doesn't originate from their princess. He's unaware it's the same Zelda, which means naming every princess of Hyrule "Zelda" is not a thing. This Zelda is, as far as she knows, the first (though that doesn't eliminate the chance others existed).

This (and some other stuff) leads me to believe that the founding of Hyrule in TOTK takes place after all the old games. I highly doubt that all historical records of the name Zelda would have completely disappeared between the ancient past of TOTK and TOTK's present if that space was occupied by all the other games. And that is ignoring the weird time stuff and the required presence of two Ganondorfs simultaneously. On top of that, Sonia, the only Hylian we see much of in the past, resembles Skyward Sword's Impa more than Zelda and Gaepora. We don't know for sure that that Zelda founded Hyrule, but the reincarnated spirit of Hylia is blood-related. So I'm solidly shunting aside the idea that this is the first founding of Hyrule.

Now because the name Zelda has apparently been forgotten, even by TOTK's ancient past (Rauru and Sonia don't exactly go "Oh! Zelda! That's a famous name"), and no one seems aware that Hyrule existed before, I'm going to say that pre (or post...) the arrival of the Zonai, Hyrule goes through something like a Dark Age. Their history is no longer preserved and retold like in older games, and so eventually, you end up in a place where there is no Hyrule, and no one knows about the Triforce and the cycle. But that's really odd, right? Like, scarily odd. How do you forget the Triforce exists? It's the big war-causer in Hyrule's history, this thing that grants you the power to completely remake the world. And no knowledge of Zelda or Link or Ganon? No knowledge of the epic cycle? Clearly Zelda is still inheriting the memories of her prior reincarnations since she recognizes the name "Ganondorf" in a flashback, so what gives?

It seems awfully convenient that no one knows about the Triforce, especially since there's evidence Zelda carries it. The symbol shows up when she uses her sealing powers, and it's definitely still associated with the royal family's crest. Now the second part is really weird since we're at a second founding of Hyrule and no one seems to know what it is. But just focusing on Zelda's powers: for the Triforce to be the source of them, that would have to mean it somehow ended up in Zelda's bloodline. How would it do that?

They mention that she seems to have inherited Rauru's light power and Sonia's time power (which implies they had kids, I know people are skeptical and I am too, but it seems like they did). So, does Rauru's power also derive from the Triforce? Did she get it from him?

Well if he did have it, founding a Hyrule where no one remembers the Triforce, the cycle, or old Hyrule would be much easier.

There's a lot of problems with this theory: namely, Rauru isn't technically dead (I think) until the beginning of TOTK, so wouldn't the Triforce have stayed with him that entire time if he had it? But there's also evidence in the games that the Triforce is a one-use kind of thing, so I can see him getting one shot with it and then passing it along via bloodline like a lot of Zeldas have done with the Triforce of Wisdom. Something about Rauru strikes me as very sinister, and some other people have done a really good job looking at that in more detail (check out @golvio and @betterbemeta's posts), but yeah the vibe of Rauru's inner circle and his Hyrule overall is strange. The representatives of all four races (though we never see the Sheikah in the past, so we can't verify what's going on with them at this point; they might not be Hylians yet) cover their faces with these large, clearly Zonai masks to signal their fealty to Rauru. Practically, they serve the same purpose as the champions' blue clothes, but it's so much more uncomfortable. They don't have faces! They aren't individuals! The only people in the past whose faces we see (who aren't Sonia, Rauru, Zelda, or Mineru because even the ancient Hylians in Rauru's employ wear masks) is Ganondorf and some of his Gerudo. Rauru, Sonia, and the royal line get to walk uncovered, but everyone else depicted as loyal and righteous is faceless.

So I would hazard that the reason BOTW and TOTK are so cut off from the other games lore-wise is not just distance, but because Rauru, when he came down to become king, used the Triforce to completely reforge Hyrule in his own image. It's possible he was told to do this by Hylia, and sent down by the gods as a representative of theirs, but I think it's also possible he was sent for another job (fixing the chaos that is the three way timeline split) and chose to stay and set himself up as a king. He doesn't seem to have been a particularly notable figure among the Zonai; Mineru notes how well he's done for himself on the surface which leads me to believe he had far less power where he came from. Whether or not his intentions were benevolent is a "who knows?" sort of question. Maybe they were! But I think Rauru is a good case for the idea that Ganondorf's reincarnation cycle isn't some cosmic punishment, but rather a natural reaction of balance. Rauru builds all his shrines of light, doesn't appoint a Sage of Shadow (no Sage of Shadow is weird, right? I'm not the only one), forces hegemony on Hyrule, and in the process of trying to make a completely clean society, births an opposite of chaos to his order. TOTK Ganondorf is a little obscure in terms of motive, but in his first few cutscenes in the past, he's fairly composed. He wants Hyrule to bow at his feet; he wants to humiliate Rauru. All the comments he makes towards him are pointed. This is a Ganondorf who resents the idea of becoming another faceless mask. Eventually he morphs into a being of pure chaos, perhaps in response to Rauru's more frantic attempts at control. But if the objective was balance, Hyrule does end up there: by the time of BOTW, the races that were faceless under Rauru seem to be mostly independent. Zelda doesn't exactly force the champions into their divine beasts, and their positions aren't predestined or divine in nature like the sages.

And this isn't even touching on the Sheikah (though their forced assimilation into Hylians might be completely separate from Rauru) and the idea that the Rito, Gorons, Zora, and Gerudo exist solely to aide Link and Zelda. There is a lot of stuff in this game that is absolutely fascinating (and a little frightening) from a world perspective. Most of it isn't new to Zelda either, just more explicit.

(Also I've seen some people say that the masks might've been because Nintendo was lazy with the modeling, but regardless, it's fair to analyze a work as it exists and leave the creators' intents out of the picture.)

[playermagic23]

Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan Khan reunite as Mufasa and Simba, while AbRam Khan makes his debut as young Mufasa in Mufasa: The Lion King. Hindi trailer, watch

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan and his eldest son Aryan Khan will reprise their legendary roles as Mufasa and Simba in Disney's much-anticipated prequel, Mufasa: The Lion King, in Hindi. To add a bit of familial magic to the film, AbRam, the youngest Khan, will make his voice-acting debut as young Mufasa. The news was officially verified with the publication of the Hindi teaser, which drove fans into a frenzy of anticipation and nostalgia. The teaser highlights the story's grandeur and emotional depth, offering a cinematic experience that will appeal to audiences of all ages.

Millions of people were captivated by Shah Rukh Khan's imposing presence and booming voice as Mufasa in The Lion King's 2019 Hindi dubbed remake. His portrayal of the wise and benevolent king received widespread praise, making him an indelible part of the film's legacy. With Aryan Khan as the young Simba, the father-son combination produced on-screen chemistry that reflected the characters' loving bond.

Now that the prequel digs deeper into Mufasa's story, AbRam Khan's naive voice adds a new and appealing layer to the character. His portrayal of the young lion cub is guaranteed to captivate audiences and inspire a new generation of followers.

Speaking about the collaboration, Shah Rukh Khan said, "Mufasa has a wonderful lineage and stands as the supreme king of the jungle, passing on his wisdom to his son, Simba. I personally relate to him as a father, and I also identify with Mufasa's journey in the film. Mufasa: The Lion King chronicles Mufasa's existence from childhood to his ascent to become a magnificent king, and revisiting this character has been fantastic. It's a wonderful cooperation for me with Disney, especially since my sons, Aryan and AbRam, are part of the journey, and sharing this experience with them is quite meaningful." "The ferocious Mufasa is more than simply a fictitious character; he represents a spirit that has inspired generations, which is something Disney aspires to achieve with each movie. When Mufasa: The Lion King was revealed, we could only imagine Shah Rukh Khan and Aryan Khan reprising their roles as Mufasa and Simba. With AbRam joining the cast, this film has become much more special for us. Our goal here is for millions of Indian viewers to enjoy this great narrative with their family!" remarked Bikram Duggal, Head of Studios at Disney Star.

Disney Entertainment wowed attendees at D23: The Ultimate Disney Fan Event this weekend with a stunning preview of forthcoming films and programs. The night concluded on a particularly high note with the captivating presentation of Mufasa: The Lion monarch, the much-anticipated prequel that delves into the beginnings of the beloved monarch of the Pride Lands. The film's director, Oscar-winning filmmaker Barry Jenkins, made a special appearance for fans.

Mufasa: The Lion King honors the heritage of the original 1994 animated classic, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. It also adheres to the visual approach created in the 2019 live-action version, which enthralled fans worldwide and grossed an astonishing $1.6 billion at the global movie office.

The trailer dives into Mufasa's early years, charting his improbable journey to become one of the greatest kings. Rafiki, the wise mandrill, relates the legend of Mufasa to Kiara, Simba and Nala's daughter, in an enthralling story, with Timon and Pumbaa providing their trademark humorous relief.

The story is told through intriguing flashbacks, beginning with a small cub named Mufasa, who is orphaned and alone. Fate intervenes when he meets Taka, a sympathetic lion who is also the heir to a royal family. This fortuitous encounter sparks an epic journey for Mufasa and his unusual companions, all misfits looking for their place in the world. Their relationships will be challenged as they face strong opponents and battle for their fate. Beyond the star-studded D23 presentation, the film features an even larger cast. John Kani, Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Keith David, Donald Glover, Blue Ivy Carter, Folake Olowofoyeku, Joanna Jones, Thuso Mbedu, Sheila Atim, Abdul Salis, Dominique Jennings, and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter all lend their voices to bring this captivating story to life.

The film's production team is similarly impressive. Adele Romanski and Mark Ceryak serve as producers, with Peter Tobyansen as executive producer. By merging live-action techniques with cutting-edge CGI, they've created a visually spectacular experience unlike anything else. Mufasa: The Lion King hits theaters on December 20, 2024. Indian fans may celebrate the film's release on the same day, as it is accessible in English, Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu.

[denimbex1986]

'***

It's always a risk to make another version of a well-loved story. Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley was a hit upon its publication and has remained one since, and the 1999 film adaptation is well-regarded in its own right. When Netflix announced Ripley, both anticipation and trepidation emerged in equal measure. Would it live up to its predecessors, or become just another remake that gets lost in the neverending river of regurgitated IP that seems to dominate both the big and small screens?

The show looked promising. A stellar cast, a characterful black-and-white style and, of course, a good story. It had all the makings of a mega-hit — but the sum of its parts doesn't add up to much at all.

One of Ripley's biggest problems is that it gets lost in its own style. The aesthetically engaged production and indulgent architectural shots, initially striking and unusual, lose their charm by the final episode, and seem to be favoured above movement of plot or character development from about halfway through. This isn't helped by the several pacing issues that make some episodes seem interminable and others' timeframes difficult to follow. There's a tendency among some recent shows to try to exploit the watch-on-demand format to make what is essentially an eight-plus hour film chopped into 60-minute segments rather than consider the actual enjoyability of the watching experience; Ripley, sadly, teeters on the edge of this flaw.

When it comes to the story itself, despite the strength of the original narrative Ripley decides to put its own spin on the tale. Art plays a prominent role in this interpretation of Highsmith's novel, with Tom besotted with an original Picasso hanging in Dickie's (Johnny Flynn) Atrani villa and, later, by an obsession with Cavarggio. The tie between the two characters is tenuous at best, and the nuance of the first few episodes is completely lost by the oblique signposts to the ‘parallels' in their stories later on. Particularly egregious is the inclusion of a hammy flashback sequence to a murder Caravaggio supposedly committed in 1606. Not only is this entirely unnecessary, it's inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the series and obliterates the narrative's tension.

A similar diversion from the original plot sees Tom meeting a fellow career criminal (John Malkovich in a nudge-nudge wink-wink cameo), the two recognising each other's nature based on some psychic criminal connection. This too is unnecessary, and is used as something of a deus ex machina to give this story a more conclusive ending than Highsmith's.

Andrew Scott, true to form, is excellent as the titular Tom Ripley. He plays the sociopathic social-climbing con man with an intriguing complexity, weaving humour and complexity into what could be a cliche, surface-level psycho. That complexity is limited, though, as the show never allows us to understand Tom's motivations, either overtly or subtextually. Despite being a textbook homoerotic tale, his relationship with Dickie has no sense of romance or lust to it. It comes across that his interest in him is purely financial, a desire for material goods and social status pushing him towards murder.

Although the majority of the show features strong, compelling performances, casting choices don't quite ring true. When the first promotional photos of Scott as Ripley were released, although there was inevitable excitement, there were also concerns that he had been miscast when it came to age. In presenting Tom and Dickie as significantly older than Highsmith's original characters, the glow and beauty of youth is a theme entirely removed from the narrative. Their actions feel less like the impulsive decisions of young men and more like those of established adults, who understand (in their own ways) how the world works.

This could be used as an interesting twist, but no further changes are made to the story to accommodate for this striking difference. The somewhat age-blind casting doesn't work, especially when we're introduced to Freddie (Eliot Sumner), who looks considerably younger than his peers. Although at first glance Ripley appears to be sleek and polished, just like its titular antihero, it can never quite be what it wants to be. By forgoing a compelling narrative in lieu of incomplete thematic ideas and a focus on aesthetic charm, and in spite of Scott's undeniable prowess, the show never gets its claws into you.'

[bronzewool]

The marketing surrounding Ever Crisis is starting to concern me.

"We still don't know Sephiroth"

Good. Despite what remake thinks, I don't need to know every tiny detail about these characters.

That was my main complaint with Traces of Two Pasts. It was just a cheap cash grab to sell a book about Tifa and Aerith's backstories, where there was nothing in the pages that changed our perspective of the two as characters or altered our experience playing the game on a second playthrough.

The fact that game begins after the Wutai War was a deliberate move by the creators. As a kid Cloud fantasies about becoming a hero just like Sephiroth but by the time he's old enough to join Shinra, the war is already over and the world doesn't need heroes right now. We never see the war through flashbacks but we hear enough from second-hand accounts and how history is already being written by the winners.

Shinra now controls all corners of Gaia and is presented as a force of good towards the stubborn Wutai who couldn't see reason by just giving up their land so they could make more mako reactors and free clean energy for everyone :D

The planet is dying and Wutai was the final sprint to ensure Shinra's monopoly on a now desolate planet where flowers can't grow.

Wutai is so scarred by this loss it becomes a tourist attraction and gets it's own sideplot in the form of Yuffie who joins Cloud's party in hopes of returning her homeland to it's former glory.

There is so much left unsaid about the Wutai War but the aftermath is felt throughout the game, which is why I'm not interested in a prequel where Sephirith feels sad for conquering said territory and murdering its people, or possibly changing the circumstances in order to rid him of any responsibility.

Because the original game did an amazing job highlighting Sephirith's best and worst qualities. He is a powerful warrior and skilled tactician who can lead his troops to victory but does not question the destruction he brings in his wake. He was even given the name "The Demon of Wutai" for his role in single handling conquering it and had his face plastered on every poster to sell this false image of him to further Shinra's own agenda (which worked because Cloud, Zack, Genesis and Angeal all recruited to become just like Sephiroth).

We know very little about Sephiroth but he is complex enough to get the point across. He cares for his men and puts the wellbeing of others first, but he is still a tool of Shinra and if ordered to do something then he will do it most efficiently with the least amount of bloodshed.

I don't want this to be a Crisis Core situation, where we take all these well-established scenes and ruin them by shoving more characters who don't need to be there, or pull an Anakin Skywalker where we muddy Sephiroth's character by over-explaining everything to the point it destroys the reputation of the original source material.

[321spongebolt]

Ideas for spiritual sequels to "Frosty the Snowman" by DreamWorks Animation

With three more weeks left until Christmas, I wanted to share not one idea, but two ideas for spiritual sequels to one of the most iconic Rankin/Bass Christmas franchises, "Frosty the Snowman". Both of these ideas revolve around two supporting characters from the original special (which will have an anniversary next year). I don't know if they should be TV specials like the rest, or if they should be adapted as theatrical films, but these are my ideas down below.

IDEA #1: "Frosty the Snowman and Karen" (AKA, "Frosty and Karen")

The premise for this movie focuses on Karen, one of the children responsible for creating Frosty long ago. Karen would've been all grown up in this film, having forgotten all about Frosty and her adventure to the North Pole. I was thinking about if this film should take the same approach to how Disney adapted "Winnie the Pooh" as a live action remake with "Christopher Robin". Only, this would be completely animated, and I would still want this to follow the events of the original Rankin/Bass specials special more closely (Unlike "Frosty Returns" and "The Legend of Frosty the Snowman", which I don't plan on watching, but I have heard about them.). You can read more about my idea by clicking here.

IDEA #2: "Frosty the Snowman and Professor Hinkle"

Following the events of "Frosty the Snowman", I wanted this film to focus on the main antagonist, who really isn't considered "evil" (at least, looking back), just misunderstood. Hocus Pocus would still be a mute character, but from his thoughts, I wanted him to narrate the events of the film, including flashbacks that drove Professor Hinkle to chase after Frosty in the first place. In the present, everyone will have heard Professor Hinkle melting Frosty in the greenhouse, and the once evil magician would now be at his lowest point. Fortunately, Frosty would easily forgive his former enemy and help him be a better person.

One idea I thought of for an ending would be if Frosty's hat flew off his head, making Frosty lifeless. The hat would've landed in a wood shredder and everyone will mourn for Frosty. And for once in his entire life, Professor Hinkle would perform his selfless act of sacrificing his new hat so Frosty can live another day, which results in the crowd cheering and praising him. The movie would end on a high note where Frosty and Professor Hinkle now become closer friends. This ending would be open-ended allowing the viewers to interpret if this takes place before the credits of the original special (considering Professor Hinkle and the traffic cop do follow Hocus Pocus and march in line with his new hat.) or if it's an original new ending all its own.