#{ same here with chloe. }

[aspen-charminghearts]

Chloe talking to Chad in her and Red’s dorm: The thing is I drop hints like crazy! She just won’t take the stupid hints! I could paint it on a banner, point at it, say I made it for her and she still wouldn’t get it!

Chad: Surely she can’t be that bad.. Can she?

Red walking into the dorm: Hey you guys, what are you guys talking about?

Chloe staring at Red: [Flustered]

Chad: [Nudges Chloe]

Chloe regaining her senses: Oh! Right.

Chloe very bluntly: I’m in love with my roommate, I’m not even subtle about it, she’s just clueless.

Chad: [Almost spits out the water he was drinking]



Red, clearly jealous: Oh wow, lucky her, she sounds stupid.

Chad: [Has the most incredulous look ever seen on his face]

Chloe sighing in frustration: She indeed is very.. dense.

[jq37]

Descendants: The Rise of Red is kind of a bizarre movie to talk about critically because, imo, it almost doesn't make sense to talk about it in the usual terms of good vs bad or enjoyable vs not enjoyable when the way more obvious tension is finished vs unfinished.

Because, more than any other movie I've ever seen, it does *not* read as a full movie. And I don't mean in a "this movie has a cliffhanger" kind of way. The Empire Strikes Back and Across the Spiderverse fit that description. They end on big dramatic cliffhangers that point to a resolution in the third installment.

But Rise of Red just sets all this stuff up and then...ends without concluding anything. It doesn't feel like the first movie in a trilogy (or duology). It feels like the first act of a two-act musical. It very specifically reminds me of the end of the first act of Into the Woods where all the main characters sing the song Ever After about how they all fixed their problems with magic and nothing bad will ever happen to them again and then the narrator ominously says "To be continued" before the curtain drops. But in Into the Woods you know there's a second act and this movie wasn't sold as the first act of a bigger story. Like sure, it has the, "You didn't think this was the end" tag at the end like all the other movies, but those movies were complete, self-contained stories even though they had sequels. This was NOT a full story. It's half of one story.

Like, if we're supposed to take this as a full story, there are so many bizarre choices:

Why did they make sure to mention that Cinderella and Charming fell in love at the ball at the top if it wasn't meant to set up Back to the Future style, "Oh no, I accidentally got my mom banned from the ball so she's not gonna fall in love with Dad and I won't be born" shenanigans?

Why did Maddox very pointedly have that bit about "you could lose your mom completely" if that was never going to come into play? Red never did anything to endanger Bridget or endanger her own birth so it doesn't make sense as a warning in that way.

Why was there all this focus on this Carrie on prom night moment for Bridget if we LITERALLY NEVER SAW CASTLECOMING? Why dance around this moment and talk about it all cloak and dagger with no specificity if they weren't building up to some big reveal that it wasn't as straightforward as it seemed? And like, they leaned in HARD with making Bridget the nicest, sweetest, cotton candy princess as a teen so I need WAY more than, "She got pranked by known bullies she's been enduring with a smile very handily up to this point" to buy that she went from that to "murderous dictator". And even if she did become murderous, I find it insanely hard to believe that she'd include her best and only friend on the list of people she wants to suffer unless there was a betrayal. I find it INSANE that there wasn't a falling out scene at any point in this movie with how thickly they were laying on the admiration and camaraderie.

(Note: And adult Cinderella def has guilty vibes re: the Queen at orientation. Which I know I'm not imagining because it's literally spelled out in the Jr Novelization!)

Before the time travel element of the movie started, I thought they were going for something like they go to the past and realize that Bridget was bullied not by the VKs but by the spoiled royals, and Ella ends up joining in the bullying once she gets with Charming, betraying Bridget and justifying her whole "Love Ain't It" philosophy. Or Ella ditching her at the last minute to be with Charming meaning she has to deal with the monster prank alone and it was the being alone rather than the prank itself that hurt her (though that is NOT a good enough reason to go all off with their heads on your subjects). The fact that, as far as we know right now, it literally was just a relatively mild and reversible prank that caused all of this is just, such flat storytelling, you know?

But! All of this makes way more sense if this is meant to be the first act of a single contained story. And I don't wanna be all "Pepe Silvia, secret good 4th episode of Sherlock" about this but I did see this picture:

Which seems to indicate that this was written as a Part One. Which, if so, idk why they wouldn't advertise it that way but whatever. The point is, if that's the case then it means that we're potentially in bad pacing territory rather than straight up bad storytelling territory. Because this isn't a bad place to be halfway through your story:

The heroes, warned that time travel is dangerous, have gone back in time to change the heart of a brutal tyrant before she can stage a coup. They seemingly succeed in their mission and when they come home, everything is great! But then, the side effects of time travel start to catch up with them. Chloe realizes that, in breaking the vase, she prevented her mother from going to the ball and falling in love with her dad (who was conspicuously absent from the final scene btw) which means she's starting to be forgotten and erased from the timeline. And Red realizes that though this new version of her mom is as sweet and kind as the teen she once met, she's a complete stranger to her (fulfilling the Hatter's warning that she could lose her mom completely). So they have to go back in time once more to make sure the Ella and Charming fall in love again, perhaps at the cost of whatever bad thing that happened to Bridget happening again and bringing back the original version of her future self. But, now with more context of how her mom became that way, Red can now talk to her mother and persuade her to give people another chance.

Boom, that gives us time to go back and hit everything we haven't yet hit. We can pay off the time travel tropes that were set up but not explored. We can go to Castlecoming which feels so obviously set up to be the centerpiece of this story (like, come on, Back to the Future literally does the school dance thing. This is Time Travel Storytelling 101). We can actually get info about what the prank was and why it affected Bridget so completely.

(Note: This is a side thing but it really strikes me as so crazy that Bridget would so SUCH a big 180 here. Like, I know the Queen of Hearts is a silly, goofy, campy villain, but she straight up murders people and there's no way to get around that if we're taking her out of the surreal story she comes from and putting her in a (comparatively) grounded story. If I wasn't doing a betrayal plot, I would make the twist that the spell that turned Bridget into a "monster" didn't just have a physical effect, it had a mental effect and it magically twisted her personality to be the way it is now. So they broke the physical half of the curse, but neglected the other half and it's been festering the whole time, turning her as evil as she was sweet. Because like, a simple physical transformation isn't that big of a deal to have such heavy security--Bridget made cupcakes with a transformative effect and that was totally fine. I'm not saying that that's what's gonna be the case. I just think it would be an explanation that makes sense for why she changed so crazy much that makes more sense than a simple prank or even a betrayal. Her mom wasn't even evil! How did she go from zero to murder without even an evil mom to push her onto the path? But I'm super digressing right now.)

(Note #2: OK, one last thing. The trap on the book presumably would have hit the VK's and trapped them in Merlin's office regardless of what Chloe and Red did, right? That's like, net zero influence on the timeline. I genuinely can't tell if that's a straight up plot hole or set up to be like, "Oh no. Actually when she said that she was turned into a monster in front of everyone it was meant in a less literal way." Like she was just made to look bad and that was the real thing that pushed her over the edge. Like idk. It really feels like the only thing they really did that would change the timeline was get Ella banned from the dance and presumably out of the way where she couldn't hurt Bridget. OK NOW I'm done.)

Anyway, my point is that this is not how I would have structured my movie and I think this was a super weird way to go into the second era of Descendants movies, but they can still tell a complete story if that's their plan. I'm genuinely really curious to see if this pans out to be a fairly competently told story that just happens to be split over two movies or a complete fumbling of the narrative bag because it could really be either at this point and it's fascinating to me.

[maxthesillyy]

This is gonna sound pessimistic, but I always found Chloe not reacting at all to Joyce dying...pretty weird tbh. I haven't read the comics so I don't know what happened, but it's something that really bothers me. Cause after Lis2/Bae the only family she has left is David and it's a little crazy that Chloe and had to lose borh William and Joyce in order to grow as a person. Idk if this makes sense at all, but it's something I think about at all the time Thoughts?

well, first off, please dont take the comics as a “Canon” continuation of the sacrifice arcadia bay ending. it has the same level of canon as any old fanfiction does, the only difference is that the comics are officially licensed. it’s a HUGE common misconception i see almost anytime i see someone talk about them.

and secondly, i would say chloe very much does react at the idea of joyce’s death.

but i guess you could’ve meant when after max makes the decision to sacrifice arcadia bay. and in that case i would say the answer to that then is simply that chloe was respecting and supporting max and her decision.

i mean, i feel like even someone as emotional as chloe could tell that it wasnt the right time to fall to the ground crying about how her mom was going to die. she knew max needed her support in that moment, and chloe was ready to momentarily push away her own emotional turmoil to give that support to max.

(something something. chloe is full of love. something something. parallels. something something. topic for another time.)

especially when they get to the point where theyre driving off from the destroyed town— chloe has accepted it, even when max clearly isn’t as sure of herself as chloe is of her.

(something something. literally their entire dynamic. something something. topic for another time x2.)

she trusts max to have made the right choice, and even if she wasn’t so sure about it, it’s not like she couldve done anything about it.

i mean maybe she couldve yelled, screamed, and begged max to rewind and make a different choice, but whether you think she trusted max in those moments or not— i feel like chloe knew there wasnt any going back on it.

i think that specifically really shows when chloe says max is the only one who can make the decision of who to sacrifice. both in a literal sense and in a “i’ll follow you in either choice you make.” sense.

honestly i think chloe dropping any doubt she couldve had in that moment just to support max is literally the most in-character thing she could’ve ever done in that scene.

[weirdfreakshow]

You’re in a sawtrap where you have to rape one of your mutuals, who’s gonna get violated??

I can just pick random cause i love them all sm 😁😁😁 and im sure they can take it, for me ♡

[caus34concern]

every bmc character is neurodivergent and i don't just mean autism and adhd

[carnivalls]

want to bring her into the mutual circle so bad

[chasingfictions]

i know we all already did trying to cut down ttpd to a listenable playlist but . alternate universe where ttpd was called prophecy

[marsneedstherapy]

okay, cuz like, when chloe posted on her Insta a few days ago about oliver technically being in ove everyone was like "yes I knew it! conformation!" and what not, but I straight up never even thought for second that ppl thought it was just a theory, I assumed it was already accepted canon- 💀💀

[vaugarde]

im bored rn, here's what i'd have liked ash's gen 8 team to look like

[emmagail-brainrot]

C: “So, does she have hella powers like Max does too?”

E: “Hm? Powers? No powers. Well. Maybe. She does have the power to get whatever she wants from me.”

—-

M: “Wowser, you did the cover art for this issue?”

A: “Yep! Turns out if you keep sending them your ideas in the mail and also emailing the lead artist enough times every week, your perseverance might pay off!”

[the-acid-pear]

If cage wasn't a fucking coward DBH would explore gender for androids more too.

[cyberfunsupporter]

i hate warren so much and clearly max wants him to leave her alone / stop thinking that he has a chance w her bc she tries so hard to friendzone him without being weird idkk you’ll never make me like that or view warren as a “love interest” 😃 the idea of kissing someone post kidnapping & borderline sa (let’s be honest about jefferson) is unrealistic she def just did that to make warren feel better idgaf and she rewinds anyway so he won’t remember it hmm tells u something doesn’t it… maybe that last bit is reaching a bit i guess i can admit that but 👍 you don’t have to like p/ricefield i just think it’s crazy as freak to pretend like warren’s an actual love interest when max spends the whole time uncomfy w his advances idk there’s a line and a lot of people cross it #imo guys like him are just too weird and i’ll never find that cute 🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️🧟‍♀️

[chronotopes]

literally what the hell am i supposed to do when jane moves to seattle

[louisdotmp3]

fr u all need to get into big love it has everything you want

[glitterpensupremacy]

Planning a reboot of sorts of Miraculous Ladybug (reboot because I’m not focusing on correcting things from the previous show as much as using the concepts from ML to make my own thing, since I like the og show, just wanted to make my own interpretation). These two are Night Light (Zoe Lee but she wields the firefly miraculous, which is original to the reboot) and Greyhound (Felix but based off his PV iteration, and he wields the dog miraculous but it kinda works differently from Miraculous). They are superhero partners, but NOT love interests. And don’t worry, they also aren’t the main characters, that’s still Ladybug and Chat Noir (who I might post one day if people are interested).