#And name a more criminally underrated actor

[blueeyeddarkknight]

Val's infinite physical skills.. Here are some of them he showed us on screen and off. 🔥😍😵

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

[super-paper]

so what are your thoughts about what happened to og!afo? while og!afo was able to stop pretending right before his death, i feel like it was just... not enough? do you think his character arc is not over yet and will continue with vestige!afo? because i can't stop thinking about 368 where shigaraki's face changed to afo's pre!potato face upong seeing yoichi and how in 369 afo kept saying "not yet, not yet!" and talking as if he still has some kind of a last card up his sleeve. and that trump card was mentioned again in this chapter.

If this were the actual conclusion to AFO's arc, I wouldn't feel satisfied! But like you said, Hori has already gone out of his way to include the "trump card" line and left the actual fate of AFO's vestige deliberately ambiguous (ex: using words like "suppressed/defeated" instead of "killed" to describe vestige-for-one). Like, there's a lot that points to his arc not being finished yet, imho.

That said, I do believe AFO's "trump card" is gonna be something particularly heinous, and may involve him tipping his hand/finally revealing his involvement in the Shimura Family massacre. Like, something we have to keep in mind is that Tomura sincerely believes that he killed his family intentionally and that he """enjoyed""" killing them + enjoyed destroying his home— it’s what he considers to be his origin, and "remembering that origin" is what allowed him to take back control of his body. So in theory, all AFO has to do in order to shatter Tomura's sense of self is cast doubt on that "origin" (which in turn may create a necessity for Tomura to finally remember his *actual* origin in order to take back control of his body again).

Like, I gotta stress: AFO's villain mask/demon lord persona finally slipping off to reveal the pitiful and desperately lonely human underneath does not equal him suddenly becoming a good person, so I'm 100% expecting vestige-for-one to try and pull some truly awful bullshit at the absolute worst possible time lmfao.

----

Anyhoo, a couple more points to consider:

I know I'm beating a dead horse at this point, but once again: names are everything in mha and Hori 100% wants his readers to pay attention to what names are being used/emphasized during key scenes-- especially when it comes to names being used to separate fantasy from reality, authentic from inauthentic, and the "actor" from the "character/role."

Chapter 393 begins with the LOV discussing the meaning behind hero and villain names and encouraging Toga to pick a villain name for herself (with Toga ultimately deciding to use "Toga Himiko" written in katakana as her villain name because she ultimately just wants to be seen as herself)-- chapter 393 then ends with Ochako referring to Toga as "Himiko-chan," in a stealth rejection of Toga's stealth villain name. Bakugo resurrects and starts proudly referring to himself as "Kacchan" instead of “Great Explosion Murder God" + starts calling Izuku by his given name in total earnest. Meanwhile, Tomura stops referring to Izuku by his given name and starts referring to him as the much colder and distant "hero." Etc etc.

With this in mind, AFO still not having a name reveal-- not even during his own damn flashback/origin chapter-- is something that sticks out like a sore thumb.

This chapter was (appropriately titled) our farewell to "All For One: The Demon Lord/The Villain King/The Shameless LARPer" It's not necessarily our farewell to "*insert name here*: The Cataclysmic Mess Of A Person" yet. Yoichi and Tomura are the only ones who can properly say farewell to that side of AFO, because despite everything, they're the only ones who have some semblance of pity/"affection" for AFO as an actual human person (not as a god, or an object of worship, or a villain king, or a "role").

Death and Rebirth continues to be one of the big (and criminally underrated) themes of the series-- MHA frequently plays with the idea that part of a character's identity/alter-ego can "die" while their body lives on (or conversely, that a person's will can take on a life of its own and live on even if their body dies. which. y'know.)

All Might """dies,""" but Yagi Toshinori lives. Touya """dies""" and Dabi is born. Tenko """dies""" and is "reborn" as Shigaraki Tomura. Endeavor """dies""" during the PLW, leaving the world's ugliest crier Todoroki Enji behind. The representation of Keigo's hero identity (the fierce wings vestige) """dies""". Bakugo switches it up by dying for real, but upon resurrection, sheds his conceit and discards the "mask" he used to conceal his insecurities. Etc etc.

AFO himself has always been born (and reborn) from death. He takes his very first breaths while next to the corpse of his mother and half-dead brother. He died once, but was brought back to life by someone that society rejected and AFO ""accepted"". He has now died a second time, triggering a subtle change in Tomura that has made him even more dangerous (i.e. Tomura has started using the AFO quirk again, and more specifically, is now using the AFO quirk to whittle away at the collective "will" of OFA by stealing the vestiges one by one. This Action Will Have Consequences.jpg)

Killing AFO does not actually solve the root problems of this story, nor does it fix the longstanding problems of heroaca society (which all precede the advent of quirks and the creation of the hero/villain system)-- or rather, it might be better to say that AFO will never *truly* die as long as the world remains fundamentally unchanged. AFO is enabled by the status quo! He is allowed to keep existing and able to continuously resurrect himself over and over and over again as the ultimate villain specifically because of it.

My theory right now is that AFO will only die permanently when A) He is finally acknowledged as a human individual and given a name, and B) when Izuku finally takes Tomura's hand + Tomura is "finally taken out of the garden and back into the house," symbolizing the radical shift in the status quo that empowered (read: created) AFO in the first place.

Also worth mentioning: body!AFO and vestige!AFO are heavily implied to have some sort of "shared" awareness with each other-- we even see body!AFO flashing back to the UA cage match during his mental breakdown. This means there's a chance what body!AFO was feeling at the moment of his death might spill over to vestige!AFO, allowing for his arc to continue seamlessly from where it apparently "left off" during this chapter.

Which is good! Because this chapter has AFO finally admitting that "nothing is good" without Yoichi while also indirectly confirming that yes, the various traumas from his childhood DID in fact play a major role in his development into a villain-- AFO and Yoichi growing up in a society that ignored them is basically what fuels AFO's ridiculously self-detrimental attention seeking behaviors (like the AFOmight fight becomes retroactively hilarious when u realize AFO was trying to get as much attention out of mangling Toshi as possible and that his obsessive need to kill Toshi in front of an audience is what ultimately led to his downfall 💀It's, uh, marginally less hilarious when u also realize that he impulsively killed Yoichi bc Yochi had stopped looking at him. 😬)

Anyway....!! AFO and Yoichi are both the "source" and the representation of the main conflict in this series-- og!AFO fizzling out without any fanfare is admittedly an appropriate narrative punishment for someone who wanted to be the eternal star of the show, but it doesn't offer a proper resolution to the actual conflict of the series: the cycle of irrational fear and insecurity leading to a lack of understanding, lack of understanding leading to rejection, rejection leading to the creation of villains, villains creating more fear in civilians and leading to the necessity of heroes, which inevitably leads to even more rejection, and so on and so forth, etc etc etc. Yoichi and AFO exist at the center of this cycle, representing it in its purest form-- and Tomura is the ultimate consequence of this cycle.

Ultimately, I feel like vestige for one’s death may be….. gentler, for lack of a better word. Less focused on karmic punishment and more focused on giving Yoichi and Tomura a sense of closure. Like, it's honestly not about what AFO "deserves," but what Yoichi needs in order to finally pass on and what Tomura needs to finally detangle himself from AFO (although in the spirit of keeping it completely real, all three of them need to detangle themselves from each other lmfao💀💀💀). Neither Yoichi or Tomura have ever been granted a chance to truly grieve the loss of themselves or their families, and AFO is at the root of that as someone who is both "family" and as someone who also took everything away from them.

tl;dr Hori can eat his cake (punish AFO for his hubris by having him fight, lose, and die against versions of himself that *chose* to be better or regret how they treated their own "Yoichis"-- i.e. Toshinori, Endeavor, Bkgo) and have it too (finally resolve the ShigaBros century long conflict and the complicated feelings AFO-Yoichi-Tomura all have for each other, giving everyone the closure they desperately need) thanks to the presence of the vestige world.

I also think it'd be cool to get some sort of resolution re: the captain hero comics, since they were the "trigger" that started it all-- perhaps in the form of a dying dream sequence, where we get Yoichi and AFO as children again-- but this time Yoichi basically forces AFO to sit his ass down and finally read volume 4 of captain hero lmfao.

Like, a lot of AFO's actions/beliefs stem from his insistence that he ~already knew~ how the story was gonna end, and he built his life and plans around "rejecting" that ending-- I feel like a scenario where it turns out the ending WASN'T what he expected (like, say it was an ending where Captain Hero does defeat the Demon Lord, but ultimately chooses to save him rather than kill him-- something that mirrors Tomura's ultimate fate, rather than AFO's) would be a neat way to wrap up his and Yoichi's arcs from a metafiction perspective, since he and Yoichi both represent "different types of readers."

It would also be bittersweet, with the implication that things could have been different if AFO had just stopped being reddit pilled for five seconds and just read to the end with Yoichi in the first place-- the blueprint for an ending where the hero is no longer all alone and where the "demon lord" doesn't have to die/vanish at the end of the story was there all along, he just refused to see it.

tl;dr 2.0: AFO's ultimate punishment should involve him getting slapped in the face by tiny yoichi with his little comics over and over and over again until he develops an actual sense of media literacy.

[concook20]

Wild Kratts Headcannon (3) (OC)

Nigel/Antonio/Andrew/Susan

OC: 3/???

Andrew Harvard Baxter

Age: 43

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bi-curious

Birthday: April 9th

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Height: 6 ft

Weight: 180 lbs

Body Shape: Fit, a bit thin, but fit regardless

Favorite Color: Green and gray

Verts: Extrovert

Phobia: Tryanophobia (Fear Of Needles)

Hobbies: Hunting, playing video games, and metalworking

Backstory

He's a criminal, a full on one at that. He steals things, breaks into places, and mostly causes disturbances. He wasn't taught well since, unlike Nigel and Antonio, his family hates him. His brothers and sisters, dad, mom, all of them hate him. He began to hunt in order to eat, until a bear nearly killed him, but Nigel and Antonio saved him as the two were on the father-son hunting thing, which the three began to be friends.

Voice Actor

His voice actor, like Nigel and Antonio, is one of the trio from The Amazing Digital Circus, whose voice by Long Arms, aka Chad, aka...ironically enough Jack Hawkins

(Yeah, the trio are the boys from The Amazing Digital Circus, but I can't help it! I love their voices so much and they're an amazing underrated trio!)

Family and Relationships

Remember what I said about his family, but one does secret care about him, even sent him a place for therapy. But he doesn't think much of it, thanks a lot to everyone hating him.

He does care a lot about Nigel and Antonio, after all, they saved him from near death, though, they're now stuck with him since he's a chaotic neutral.

He has a crush on someone, Antonio, even if he gets jealous of the fact he got Nigel's kid to like his company more than Andrew's, which he, sadly, understands, since he did make her cry once... It still haunts him.

For the villains, it seems easy. He doesn't care much for any of them, since they're either annoying, bland, or boring. The only one he doesn't mind is Khris, who has mistaken him as Chris since... Well look at the two.

For the Wild Kratts, he hates Chris, he doesn't know why, cause he doesn't mind Khris, but he hates his ass so much. The others he doesn't care much about.

Facts For Andrew

He has a pet hamster named Stub, cause he's both a stubborn animal and a little stubby guy.

As his therapist recommended, he listens to soft music when he's mad or wants to hurt someone, which works easily, since he gets tired or relaxed.

Most of the time, like Jax from TADC, Andrew steals keys from random places and uses them in order to break in and steal or prank people with them.

Andrew has MAJOR anger issues.

Andrew would have the balls to eat inedible things.

Even if he's an extrovert, Andrew likes being alone most of the time.

Andrew likes to eat straight coffee beans, which weirded out Nigel and Antonio.

Andrew always has a knife on them... ALWAYS.

That's all for now, if you guys have any questions, please comment down!

[denimbex1986]

'Ever since he burst onto the scene with his breakthrough role as Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock, Andrew Scott has thrived as a universally beloved actor who has won admiration for his eccentric villains and his more understated, dramatic roles. While he has become an icon of the small screen, particularly in the realm of British television, Scott has also appeared in some of the biggest and most celebrated movies in recent years.

It is a testament to his versatility that his best projects contain everything from queer comedies to war dramas, thought-provoking thrillers, and even major blockbuster cinematic events. While admirable turns in films like Catherine Called Birdy went mostly unnoticed, these ten titles mark the highlights of Andrew Scott’s sensational career and represent the actor at his very best.

10. 'Handsome Devil' (2016)

Directed by John Butler

A coming-of-age film from Ireland that deftly weaves drama, comedy, and complicated notions of romance together, Handsome Devil marks an underrated highlight in the career of up-and-coming star Nicholas Galitzine. He stars as Conor Masters, the star student of a rugby-obsessed all-boys school who forms a bond with a lonesome new student. Their growing friendship finds support in Adam Scott’s Mr. Sherry, even as he faces hostilities linked to his sexuality.

With overtones of self-discovery and forbidden love, Handsome Devil engages in its core theme of same-sex love in a manner that is universally accessible and powerfully heartfelt. The story is perhaps a tad formulaic at stages, but it overcomes its pitfalls with exceptional and effective performances, brilliant use of music, and a sharp sense of humor that brings a pleasant layer of humanity to what is a dramatic story.

9. 'Spectre' (2015)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Aside from Sean Connery’s era, Daniel Craig’s James Bond films are regarded as the best of any of the 007 actors’ runs in the franchise. Spectre was far from the best Bond movie of Craig’s tenure, but it still excelled as an exciting, action-packed spy blockbuster. It follows 007 as he looks into a sophisticated criminal organization known as Spectre, headed by the elusive mastermind Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz).

Scott is a secondary antagonist, “C," the Director-General of the Joint Security Service, who thwarts MI6’s efforts to stop Spectre while actively striving to end the 00 operatives. Spectre has its flaws, namely a severely underutilized Waltz as Blofeld, but Scott provides some smarmy villainous heft, with his penchant for playing a great bad guy on full display and marking an underrated highlight of a somewhat disjointed film.

8. 'Locke' (2013)

Director: Steven Knight

Operating with a simple and unconventional yet entirely captivating premise, Locke has become something of an underrated cult classic, gambling everything on Tom Hardy’s lead performance and coming up trumps. It follows a construction manager throughout a 90-minute drive, covering the phone calls he makes in that time. The conversations relate to a major upcoming project, issues he’s facing with his family, and the premature labor of a woman he had a one-night stand with seven months prior.

The supporting cast is incredible, featuring Olivia Colman, Ruth Wilson, Tom Holland, and Andrew Scott. They only feature as voices on the phone, with the film intensely focused on Locke’s reactions to the conversations. Scott voices Donal, Locke’s work trainee, who he coaches through the preparation of a pour despite everything else going wrong around him. Locke is a fascinating and absorbing film executed incredibly to be something of a hidden gem of the 2010s.

7. 'Pride' (2014)

Directed by Matthew Warchus

A triumphant mixture of comedy, drama, and true story intrigue that flaunts an urgent weight while remaining uplifting and fun, Pride is one of the most underrated and brilliant comedies of the 2010s. Set in the summer of 1984, it follows a group of gay activists who recognize they face a common political enemy and rally behind the lengthy strike conducted by the National Union of Mineworkers in Wales.

Juxtaposing the mineworkers against the gay rights activists, Pride strikes a clever thematic balance that deftly uses the issues faced by one group to highlight the suffering and angst of the other. Nestled within the film’s impressive ensemble cast, Scott handles a lot of the dramatic impact of the film as Gethin, a homosexual man with a tragic past tied to his coming out. Scott adds a layer of raw realism to an otherwise uplifting story, showing more sides to the situation.

6. 'Black Mirror' (2011 - Present)

Created by Charlie Brooker

Netflix’s hit anthological series Black Mirror has become a global phenomenon. Each episode features a different cast as it explores social and technological anxieties through the lens of a dystopian near-future. The second episode of Season 5, “Smithereens,” sees Andrew Scott star as a rideshare driver who kidnaps an intern at a major social media company to learn more about the system’s internal workings and expose the online entity's true nature.

The episode is loaded with thematic heft, coasted on Andrew Scott’s sensational central performance. Still, “Smithereens” is considered a middling installment of the series, largely because of its singular tone and somewhat formulaic approach. However, Black Mirror is widely regarded as one of the greatest television shows of the modern era for its insightful and thought-provoking narratives, as well as its ability to lure A-grade talent like Scott on the regular.

5. '1917' (2019)

Directed by Sam Mendes

Sam Mendes’ ambitious and thrilling war drama famously fuses its shots to appear as one continuous take. It follows two soldiers through the hell on earth that was the front lines of WWI. As such, 1917 is a breathtaking technical achievement that features an impressive supporting cast around its two young stars, George McKay and Dean-Charles Chapman, who portray soldiers sent on an urgent mission to warn another battalion that they are walking into a deadly ambush.

Colin Firth, Mark Strong, and Benedict Cumberbatch were just some of the stars to appear briefly in the film, with Andrew Scott likewise getting a cameo early on as Lieutenant Leslie, the weary soldier who advises the two messengers how to cross no man’s land. 1917 was warmly received by fans and critics alike, and while it perhaps isn’t the most focused showpiece of Scott’s talents, it still gives him enough to impact the story and set the bleak tone of the film.

4. 'All of Us Strangers' (2023)

Directed by Andrew Haigh

One of the best romantic hits of 2023, the magical and powerful All of Us Strangers sees Andrew Scott put in arguably the greatest dramatic performance of his career alongside Paul Mescal, Claire Foy, and Jamie Bell. He stars as Adam, a lonely screenwriter who forms a relationship with a mysterious neighbor, Harry. Drawn back to his childhood home, Adam stumbles upon his parents, who look the same age they were when they died 30 years prior.

A powerful acting showcase by all involved, All of Us Strangers is a beautiful and overwhelming portrayal of grief that is bold and ambitious in its approach yet remains centered on its driving human emotions. Scott delivers a career-defining performance, embodying a myriad of emotions while remaining detached and elusive. With flourishes of fantasy and the supernatural, All of Us Strangers is a unique and captivating movie that is among the best and most underrated features of 2023.

3. 'Band of Brothers' (2001)

Created by Steven Spielberg & Tom Hanks

While he had the briefest of appearances in Saving Private Ryan, Andrew Scott returned with a slightly greater role in Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks’ next war series, Band of Brothers. One of the greatest miniseries ever made, it tracks the soldiers of Easy Company, an American Airborne division who were on the front lines from the Normandy invasion on D-Day to the very end of the war.

An all-encompassing dive into the horror and humanity of war, Band of Brothers earned high praise for its effective battle sequences, excellent character work, and authenticity to the real experiences of the soldiers. It also features an incredible supporting cast, with Andrew Scott appearing in the second episode, "Day of Days." Other actors who briefly appeared include Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Simon Pegg, and Tom Hardy.

2. 'Fleabag' (2016-2019)

Created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Perfectly balanced between authentic, real-life drama and hysterical comedy that is painfully accurate yet completely absurd, Fleabag has become a modern television classic despite its mere 12-episode, two-season run. It follows the titular Fleabag (played by series creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge), an emotionally lost and volatile woman in modern-day London struggling with the recent death of her best friend while combatting family woes and romantic headaches.

The defining relationship of the series comes when Andrew Scott enters Season 2, with his performance as the Priest working flawlessly in conjuncture with Waller-Bridge’s wry wit and skewering, unfiltered comedy. Fleabag remains one of the greatest comedy series of all time, a poignant and powerful drama and a wonderful meditation on the enigmatic nature of love. Many would argue it is the greatest project Scott has ever worked on and stands tall among the best shows ever made.

1. 'Sherlock' (2010 - 2017)

Created by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat

Ever since he rose to fame, Andrew Scott has shown an endless versatility that can be applied to everything from quiet and quaint roles to explosive, bombastic characters. Yet, his greatest work remains his breakout performance in the hit BBC series Sherlock. The show was one of the major television sensations of the 2010s, following Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman) as they investigate crimes in modern-day London.

While the chemistry between the two leads was flawless and largely defining of the series’ brilliance, few fans would deny that the episodes that feature Andrew Scott’s Moriarty packed an added heft because of the actor’s infectious presence. Completely unpredictable, dangerously psychotic, yet entirely lovable all the same, Andrew Scott’s portrayal of Moriarty helped elevate Sherlock to be one of the greatest television shows of all time, and it remains a brilliant highlight of the actor’s career thus far.'

[cf56]

What is your favorite Animaniacs song? It's impossible for me to choose a favorite, as nearly every song from Animaniacs SLAPS! But if I were to list my top 5, they would include Yakko's World, Variety Speak, There's Only One Of You, It's New Years Eve, and Yakko's big idea.

Another very hard question! You can't really name an Animaniacs song I don't like. My go-to answer for my favorite song has always been Noel. It isn't the type of song most people traditionally think of when you mention Animaniacs, but I love the siblings' harmonization so much. It's such a nice and soothing song to listen to, their voices are smooth like butter. It's incredible that three unrelated voice actors came together in the 90's and ended up sounding so good as a group that it really sounds like they're siblings.

Out of the more traditional, show tune types of Animaniacs songs, I really like Yakko's Universe. For one, the audacity to teach an entire generation of children about existentialism and how small we are in the universe, in the hyper-religious family-oriented culture of the early 90's, nonetheless. For two, the audacity to sing it in such an upbeat, happy tune. I just really like listening to it. It has a passion behind it that makes me smile. Despite its topic, it sounds so sweet and wholesome. The way the sibs interact and dance with each other helps that feeling, too.

I wouldn't say it's my favorite, but I think Panama Canal is perhaps the most underrated Animaniacs song. It's a total banger, but no one ever talks about it. Yakko's World is iconic and an impressive feat on Rob's part, but I can't say it's one of my favorites to listen to as a song on its own.

Yakko's Big Idea is similar to Yakko's Universe for me. I love the tune, I love the upbeat happiness, I love the passionate singing. It tickles me to hear Yakko singing about a topic his character is clearly so passionate about. That's definitely my favorite song of reboot season 2.

I love Do It Yourself. I love the singing, especially Wakko's. I don't know why he's so criminally underutilized as a singer. In the reboot, at least, I would say Jess's singing voice was the strongest of the three, although all were great. Yet he gets the least spotlight of all of them.

Some of Humanity's Wins is definitely up there for me as one of my favorite Animaniacs songs. I love the powerful orchestral sound and the emotions of it. I like the message. Knowing it's the last Animaniacs song for now also gives it another emotional layer for me.

I would be proud to name any of the songs I mentioned in this post as my favorite Animaniacs song, but it's really just an impossible task to name one and stick to it. Variety Speak, There's Only One of You, and Lots to See are others that are up there, along with so many others I won't mention. My top two are probably Noel and Yakko's Universe, with a bunch of others right on the edge threatening to barge in there.

[d-field22-blog]

First appearance: World's Finest Comics #3(September, 1941)

Story: Beware of the Scarecrow. For upon his brow is written the word doom. Jonathan Crane had once been a brilliant mind at Gotham State University and served as an Arkham psychologist. His studies were in the art of one's fears. Eventually he began to experiment on his own patients. Using a chemical fume known as Fear Gas. One whiff of that dreaded chemical shall bring to life your deepest darkest nightmare in your own mind. Creating a mask that not only shields him from his own toxin, but also enhances the effects of the gas, the Scarecrow will be sure to break your mind and your will. Until you have succumbed to the power of fear. The power of the Scarecrow.

Bio: Real name: Jonathan Crane Occupation: Professional criminal. Base of Operation: Gotham City Eyes: Blue Hair: Brown Height: 5ft 11in Weight: 132 lbs

Attributes: Master of fear Expert Psychiatrist Employs fear-inducing gas that creates hallucinations of one's worst fear Obsessed with fear and the power it holds Genius level of biochemistry Skilled blade wielding skills. Mainly with a scythe or sickles.

Dream voice actor: Dino Andrade. After playing and beating Arkham Asylum for the millionth time, I remembered something. The Scarecrow in this game was bad ass. Don't get me wrong, I love John Nobel's Scarecrow. But Dino's was the first Scarecrow other than both the BTAS and TNBA Scarecrow that I ever loved. The voice for Dino was just creepy and it suited the character rather well. Like I said, there are many Scarecrows I love, but Dino's actually scared me. And that is why I chose him.

Featured Songs: Scared by Three days grace, and In The Dark Of The Night by Jim Cummings. I'm not too familiar with this song, however with a few of the lyrics I have heard, it does seem to fit the Scarecrow fairly well. I have been searching for a song to give the rogues as of late and so far, Scarecrow was the hardest, until I thought of the second one days later. This songs has many key elements that fit Scarecrow, the use of terror, nightmare, fear, etc. That and I just really like this song. It's a bit underrated just like the movie it comes from.

Notes:

So far my favorite drawing of the master of fear. Since I have been drawing them bigger, I can add far more details to them.

Under his eyes, I have decided to color them gray so that way he could somewhat resemble a skull.

The glove from Arkham Asylum returns but this time, there is a fear gas tank added and with the glove connected to it.

He also carries a sickle on his back, since he is known to using those weapons.

[gingeroyalty]

Since everyone seems to be submitting there Domina S2 thoughts to you to react to I thought I’d do the same lol

Tiberius being Livia’s fav (so far) was not what I was expecting! And I kinda love it. Not loving Drusus being such a brat though

I love how they just causally are like “you’ve changed” to Tiberius and it’s just a whole different actor, I audibly gasped.

I think most everyone dislikes how Vipsania is portrayed but justice for my girl Antonina (Antonia Minor) who historically was quite intelligent and a bit Livia-esque. They’re making her seem a bit…idk odd?? Like getting married was the only personality trait. I hope they give her more of a personality and story.

Also who decided to give Piso all this screen time?? I’m loving a scheming king. More Piso pls

Hot take, Gemina needs to go. DISLIKE and I don’t see any chance for redemption with me. If I could’ve fast forward through her scenes I would’ve but I was afraid I’d miss plot

lmao, i have become domina blog, not because of my own merit but because the show is criminally underrated

i have absolutely cackled like a witch on the "you have changed" line, especially since drusus came up - "you have not changed at all" brilliant all around.

the thing with vipsania being accomodating to tiberius' mommy issues is insane the moment you remember his little whorehouse murder from last season, like 'you sure you wanna go there girl?' but i'll say i like this new actor, i think he is doing good job

actually both antonia and antonina (i'll go with her show name) deserve better...

here is the thing, the show is going insane with the relationships, it's like a freaking "dynasty" but in rome but neither of those relationships makes me actually care for them. this is outside of livia&gaius&agrippa, they are their own thing, and maybe family ties such as livia&her sons, octavia&her children. this 'everyone sleeps with everyone' is kinda meh to me. especially marcella and domitius, like go girl give me nothing. ALSO i was never so happy to see scribonia, because yes gemina needs to go and i'm about 99% sure scribonia will make that happen.

[best-underrated-anime]

Best Underrated Anime Group A Round 2: #A5 vs #A8

#A5: Two girls unravel mysteries surrounding an isolated manor

#A8: Badass woman deals with the supernatural

Titles, summary, trailers, propaganda, and poll under the cut!

#A5: Shadows House

Summary:

The Shadows, characterized by their pitch-black appearance and tendency to emit soot when agitated, are a family of nobles who reside in a colossal manor deep within the mountains far from other humans. When a Shadow child is nearly of-age, they are assigned a Living Doll who acts not only as their attendant but also as their second half—the faces they could have had if not for their complexion.

Emilico is a cheerful, newly created Doll who serves a rather soft-spoken master named Kate. Despite their difference in personalities, Emilico does what she can to carry out the needs of her master. As she learns more about her role and duty, Emilico begins to meet her fellow Dolls and their respective masters and comes to know more about the purpose of her existence.

"Do not fret over trivial matters," says one of the rules by which all Dolls must abide. But how could the ever-curious Emilico do so in the face of the deep secrets that the Shadows House holds?

Propaganda:

The atmosphere of the manor is probably the most effective aspects of the story, creating a feeling of isolation and worry as Kate and Emilico try to survive in the mansion. The show starts off pretty subtle, but as it progresses it becomes more and more strange and off-putting. This series is an incredibly interesting, layered mystery, and the horror elements are excellently done.

Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse, Emotional Abuse

#A8: Trese

Summary:

In Manila, where dark supernatural forces pervade the criminal underworld, it’s up to one woman to keep the peace—but there’s a storm brewing.

Propaganda:

It’s the first Filipino anime (at least, that I know of) to feature the country’s supernatural creatures, so if you’ve only watched Japanese anime up to now, you will find the magic in Trese very novel. I also like how the protagonist is a woman when the Lakan, in Philippine history, tended to be a man. She’s also quite badass. Although she has two bulky twin sidekicks who can serve as her bodyguards, she is in no way less than them when it comes to fighting. The show’s on Netflix with different language audios. If you’re gonna watch it in English, you can even hear Dante Basco (Zuko’s voice actor) voicing one of the minor characters.

Trigger Warnings:

Child Abuse – for the episode about a reanimated baby

There’s Violence from fight scenes. There’s also Gore for when the monsters get killed brutally, but because of the art style, it doesn’t appear that extreme.

When reblogging and adding your own propaganda, please tag me @best-underrated-anime so that I’ll be sure to see it.

If you want to criticize one of the shows above to give the one you’re rooting for an advantage, then do so constructively. I do not tolerate groundless hate or slander on this blog. If I catch you doing such a thing in the notes, be it in the tags or reblogs, I will block you.

Know one of the shows above and not satisfied with how they’re presented in this tournament? Just fill up this form, where you can submit revisions for taglines, propaganda, trigger warnings, and/or video.

[vox-off]

i don't get trauma. my dad died 9 years ago. y'know when you're a kid and you make a best friends list and there's a name you put at the top and draw a line under it and the list starts after that line because no one on the list can compete with that one person? that one person was my dad

i love brandon so, so much. he's the light of my life, he's my home, he's my best friend in the whole world, i would not be alive if not for him, and he still can't hold a candle to my dad

my dad's death was awful; i have c-ptsd from that night. he introduced me to lord of the rings when i was 8 and it was our Thing. we'd spend a weekend watching the extended triology and it'd take the whole weekend because we'd pause and talk about it; the themes, the acting, the deviations from the books, how it added or detracted from the overall story, how we think it should've been done. nine hours of film turned into a 48 hour affair because we just liked talking about it so much. we played lord of the rings online together, questing and still, as always, analysing. bar none, lord of the rings is my favorite media of all time, of all types, all genres, all platforms. and i haven't been able to watch the movies since he died. i miss them, but not nearly as much as i miss him

my dad was a writer to his core, a masterful one, and he taught me more about literary analysis than every english class i ever had combined. we dissected everything we watched. looking back, he was probably autistic in the same way i am. we dug deep into what we loved. we learned it from the inside out, we read it or watched it or listened to it over and over and over until we knew it by rote and we still weren't tired of it

but lord of the rings is the only hurdle i can't pass. i don't know why. we loved law & order: criminal intent; he thought the world of vincent d'onofrio. i can still watch that. we loved the kiera knightley iteration of pride & prejudice; i still love it and watch it often. we loved fringe; we agreed that john noble is a criminally underrated actor. i'm in the middle of a rewatch right now

but lord of the rings. i want to cry every time i think about the movies. i can read the books. i can still remember the movies minute by minute. but the idea of watching them without him. without stopping. without talking about them. without loving them as much as he did

i can't bear it

and i don't know if i ever will

[twistedtummies2]

The Price May Be Right - Number 17

Welcome to “The Price May Be Right!” I’m counting down My Top 31 Favorite Vincent Price Performances & Appearances! The countdown will cover movies, TV productions, and many more forms of media. Today we focus on Number 17: Paul Toombs, from Madhouse.

“Madhouse” is probably one of Vincent Price’s more underrated pictures. It’s not a film I hear a lot of people talk about, which is a shame because it really is one of Price’s more interesting cinematic endeavors. This is yet another case where Price basically plays a fictionalized version of himself. The difference, however, is that rather than being a sort of self-parody, or even a parody of his career, the film plays things more earnestly. The plot focuses on Paul Toombs, a movie star who got his name in horror movies. Most notably, he was the titular character in a series of movies that – based on their description – must have been the precursors to the SAW franchise. The series was simply (and unoriginally) called “Doctor Death,” about a deranged criminal mastermind who enjoyed torturing and killing his victims in various brutal and sadistic ways. Paul is beloved and applauded by audiences, if not the critics, for his many successes and performances…especially as Dr. Death. One night, after announcing his engagement to a beautiful young lady, however, things take a sudden turn for the horrible for poor Paul Toombs. He blacks out at a party, and when he regains consciousness, he finds that his fiancé has been murdered! Not only that, but the murder resembles a scene out of one of his Dr. Death pictures. Paul is suspected of the murder, but the case is never proven; believing he might be going mad, he checks himself into an mental hospital, and remains there for years… …But that’s not where the story ends. You see, eventually, Paul leaves the hospital and returns to the world of the movies. His old partner in filmmaking and best friend – writer Herbert Flay, played by Peter Cushing – reveals that he is working on ways to bring Dr. Death back to life. Against his better judgment, Toombs agrees to reprise his greatest role…and as soon as he does, murders and horrible accidents occur. Each time, Paul blacks out before the hideous events happen. As the film goes on, Paul finds his grip on sanity ebbing away, as he is unsure if he is the killer, or if something larger is afoot. This movie isn’t perfect. The ending is a bit…weird, to say the least, and there are some plot contrivances that cannot be overlooked. However, what makes the film work, at the end of the day, is simply its sense of self-referential style. This is basically one giant love letter to Vincent Price’s whole career, up to that point. Not only is he basically playing himself, but whenever scenes from Paul Toombs’ movies are shown, they are actually taken from stock footage from various older Vincent Price pictures. The fact that Peter Cushing – one of Price’s best friends and colleagues in real life – plays Price’s friend in this film is likely no accident. There’s a wonderful scene where Toombs is on a TV interview, and talks about why he thinks people like villains and scary movies. With the way it plays out, its hard to tell if Price is really playing Paul, or if he’s simply speaking as himself. The closeness to real life makes this one of the most sincere performances Vincent ever gave; I’m sure a lot of Paul’s frustrations – disregarding the matter of serial murders – were frustrations Vincent had in real life, as well, with the people he knew and the situations he often found himself in. The joys he felt were likely also the same. As a result, it becomes difficult to tell where the fantasy ends and reality begins, as well as vice-versa. It’s one of the grandest self-tributes the actor ever appeared in, and if you’re a Vincent Price fan even in the remotest sense, you owe it to yourself to give this one a watch. We’re about to hit the halfway point for this series. Tomorrow, the countdown continues with Number 16!

[greensparty]

Movie Reviews: The Instigators / Borderlands

This week I got to review two movies from directors who have made some films I loved...and some I didn't. But nonetheless I like to check out what both are up to.

The Instigators

Doug Liman's second film Swingers was one of the great indie gems of the 90s. Written by and starring Jon Favreau it was a sharp comedy about dating, break-ups, and above all, friendship. This little movie made for $250,000 amassed a word-of-mouth cult following. But it was the criminally underrated 1999 film Go that proved he wasn't a one-hit wonder. That was one I saw multiple times in 1999. Then he made a big swing with the 2002 action mystery The Bourne Identity with Matt Damon looking for answers about who he is. Since then he has done some big movies with movie stars like Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise and expanded on his interest in spies and political intrigue. Some were better than they should've been and some were let downs. But now Liman is reunited with Damon for the action heist movie The Instigators, which was released theatrically and just released on Apple TV+.

movie poster

Damon is Rory, a desperate father looking to make just enough money for his son and cash out, and Casey Affleck (who co-wrote the film) is Cobby, an ex-con. They've been put together for a heist to rob a crooked Boston politician (Rob Perlman). When the heist does not go as planned the two reluctant partners find themselves on the run from the police, crime bosses, and other politicians. On the run, Rory convinces his therapist (Hong Chau) to be their hostage. Oh and there's some supporting roles from Ving Rhames, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jack Harlow, and more.

Casey Affleck, Doug Liman, and Matt Damon on set

There's a certain excitement to seeing Damon and Ben Affleck producing a Boston movie, Damon and Casey getting their Boston townie on, and seeing Liman reunite with Damon. But beyond that initial excitement, I found myself thinking about Boston Accent: The Movie, a movie trailer parody Late Night with Seth Meyers did a few years ago, where they were poking fun at all of the Boston crime movie cliches (ironically, it actually looked like a good movie!). In The Instigators, there are countless Boston crime movie cliches to the point where it bordered on self-parody at times: aerial shots of Fenway Park (check!), chase scenes through Boston alleys and along Charles River (check!), crooked politicians (check!), neighborhood bars where everyone knows your name (check!), etc. But when the movie works - it really works! Say what you will, but the chase scenes are awesome! It's also exciting to see Liman getting back to that Go magic (even if it's only at times) of characters that are making split second decisions and Liman is putting the viewer right in the moment. But the one that stole the entire film is Hong Chau. Holy Cow - someone please give her a starring role now! She deserved the Oscar she was nominated for for The Whale and here she holds her own as the moral compass trying to do the right thing is a completely wrong situation. When the movie doesn't work, it feels like it is trying to get parodied by Seth Meyers. It's clearly bowing at the altar of The Brink's Job and The Town, but when the movie flies off the rails, just keep watching the action and enjoy a drinking game everytime a non-Bostonian tries the Boston accent.

For info on The Instigators

3 out of 5 stars

Borderlands

Speaking of local filmmaker / actors done well, Eli Roth hails from Newton, MA (not too far from where I live). His 2002 debut Cabin Fever was one of the great horror films of the 00s. Highly inspired by Sam Raimi's Evil Dead, it had a sense of freshness that set him apart from other horror films of the early 00s. Without missing a beat, he followed that up with Hostel, a somewhat plausible slasher about American tourists who stumble into a hostel in Slovakia that is not what it seems. It rocked! He became buddies with Quentin Tarantino (a producer on Hostel), who cast him in Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds. His next few films were hit or miss. The trailer for Thanksgiving featured in Grindhouse was awesome, but last year's feature had an outstanding first 15 minutes and then went downhill. But I need to give credit where credit is due, he's been trying to make the leap beyond horror films. Even if Knock Knock and The House with a Clock in Its Walls were a mixed bag, they did have their moments and showed promise of something more than just slasher flicks. Now he has taken on his biggest budget film yet with an adaptation of the video game Borderlands, which opened this past week.

movie poster

The logline: this all-star action-adventure follows a ragtag team of misfits on a mission to save a missing girl who holds the key to unimaginable power.

This movie is tanking as of this writing (about 6% on Rotten Tomatoes and less than $10 million gross of a $120 million budget), and it's an easy target to dump on. But I'm going to begin by saying this is far from the worst movie I've ever seen or even the worst movie I saw this year. There are a few fun action sequences and Cate Blanchett can elevate anything she's doing and make it seem way better than it has any right to be. But the biggest issue I had with this is that everything about it felt redundant and derivative of other movies. The most obvious example is Guardians of the Galaxy, but throughout I found myself feeling like "this scene is like Star Wars, Blade Runner, Mad Max, and even Tank Girl only not nearly as good". There's a great cast and some cool visuals, but it felt like this was being made to sell more video games as opposed to telling a compelling story. Uggh - it's so frustrating because Roth, Blanchett, Jack Black, Kevin Hart, Gina Gershon and Jamie Lee Curtis are capable of so much more.

For info on Borderlands

2 out of 5 stars

[burningexeter]

[PITCH]

Bloodwatch

What is it —

A hard R action horror movie that starts off as a dark and nihilistic crime drama and then turns into a supernatural and psychological horror thriller.

PREMISE:

Set in the 100° degree heat ridden Texas, a gang of ruthless escaped criminals led by their leader nicknamed Karras (played by Walton Goggins) whose just as dangerous as he is morally grey intent on heading over the Mexican Border to flee the law before they're caught, especially since now that they've killed a Texas Ranger and are now being hunted down by his son bent on revenge.

It's here that they're forced with no other option once their plan goes south unexpectedly to hide out in a mysterious and abandoned, run-down maze-like network of trenches. But it proves to be no refuge as both the gang and even later officers are hunted by unseen evils, hallucinations corresponding to their fears and regrets, floating enigmatic creatures that almost resemble distorted angels, the resurrected corpses of those who are killed along the way and even demons with all of these forces intending on dragging them all to the depths of hell as Karras and the Ranger's son have to fight to survive.

NOTES/TRIVIA/DETAILS:

• The movie will be a very hard R that doesn't hold nothing back in terms of the brutality and violence that's shown with the major influences on the film itself being Silent Hill, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Devil's Rejects, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Wild Bunch, Event Horizon, Bonnie and Clyde, Badlands and even a hint of the underrated video game Darkwatch. A hint.

• Walton Goggins will be the lead of the movie and Karras will be an interesting character. It's basically revealed later on in a natural dialogue part that "Karras" is in fact his nickname with his real name not being revealed at all. As for his actual character, while he's just as ruthless as the others when he wants to be, the difference is that he's shown to have a moral code of honor as he only kills when he feels necessary, acts as the genuine voice of reason among the group and is both appalled and infuriated when a member does something horrible to a certain hostage.

• As for who are the other actors — Vince Vaughn, Gerard Butler, John Gallagher Jr., Patrick Fugit and Bill Moseley are five who I have in mind for potential roles.

• As for who's the director — Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Chloe Okuno, Flying Lotus, Gigi Saul Guerrero and JA Bayona are the ones who I potentially have in mind to helm it.

• The effects I picture being a balance of both practical and CGI since it gives the movie a more distinctive vibe to it.

[chaithetics]

i saw sharp stick and it was… awakening 😳😳😳 the plot was kinda not good (it felt like it was trying to be absurdist but not fully committed if you know what i mean, but the performances……..)

and honestly i totally get what you feel, i’m still not over succession that’s kinda why i veered toward a rewatch then exploring something new (it felt safer 😂😂😂)

and the BEAR …. honestly jamie lee curtis was phenomenal, it really triggered my flight of fight instinct, it was eerily accurate and painfully familiar. and yeah Clare is just … a character… that’s the best non mean thing i can say 😅😅😅😅😅.

THE FAMILY CHRISTMAS episode left me unwell , it was so heart wrenching knowing what lied ahead for all the characters (especially Mikey). the fact that it was five years too really just drives home just how much and how long of suffering there was.

I too am a sucker for pain that’s why i’m on the hunt in the Mikey fanfic tags because i need moar!

I AM A NATALIE STAN UNTIL THE DAY I DIE season 2 just made me love Pete more, Natalie really is doing her best to break the cycle.

i’ve heard so many good things about Sharp Objects (i think that’s the one with amy adams, who i love, i think she’s criminally underrated, one of the most versatile actresses ever)

i’m wrapping up Punisher season 1 and wow, i forgot how much of hardcore Kastle stan (frank x karen) i was, their chemistry is actually so crazy and they’ve never even kissed, it’s like ‘in a another life’ type of thing. it was so apparent in season 2 of daredevil but i forgot how much it’s expanded upon in season 1 of punisher and honestly how could i forget. (i’m digging in my ao3 bookmarks for the proof lolllll) i also really love the romance between Elektra and Matt (matt really did Karen dirty it’s okay tho she has frank) it’s also very starcrossed… i also think i’m so romance focused because succession and the bear really gave crumbs and said bon appetite 🤪🤪🤪🤪

anyways i do really love the action sequences, and dialogue it’s very comforting and familiar which is what i need lol

now i’m off too browse Kastle tiktok edits hahahaha

I know what you mean! I think the performances of like the two leads were good but the plot wasn't great. It wasn't the worst film I'd ever seen but it certainly wasn't the best. I also just couldn't get over how kind of unbelievable it felt that the MC (I don't remember her name) was such an innocent Mary Sue I guess? And she had come from a very sex positive and open household but didn't even know what a blow job was etc. I felt like Lena Dunham thought she was saying a lot more than what she really was? Also those last shots with the single pair of hands, it reminded me a little of that scene with Theo from Hill House on Netflix with the hands but that was done so much better and had more meaning. Felt like she just wanted to make an artsy sex comedy but couldn't really commit to it. I don't know what to think about the film honestly.

That makes sense! Rewatches are safe haha!

"Clare is just...a character..." DEAD. But you're not wrong that's it sadly. Yes it was truly painful! You're right, suffering is such a long journey and can be such a buildup it's not an overnight thing. SAME I WILL DEFEND NATALIE FOR LIFE! Yes, Pete is so sweet! I recognised the actor from a show called Love and he seems to do a good job of playing sweet goofy men that are simps. We love a simp here, as a woman I am a simp for women. We should all be simps for women! Yes, Natalie is really doing the best to break the cycle! She's doing that for her family she's starting but also with Carmy as well, she's so supportive with him and we see throughout that she really cared about Mikey and tried her best.

Yes, Sharp Objects is with Amy Adams! Same! I love her so much, she is so underrated and precious! I will admit I've made NO progress on Sharp Objects since my reply mentioning it lol...

I LOVE KAREN SO MUCH! I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY SHE GETS SO MUCH HATE FROM THE FANDOM! AND I THINK DEBORAH ANN WOLL DID AN AMAZING JOB PORTRAYING HER! Sorry I just needed to say that! I'm glad that at least most of the fanfic I've read on here writers are kinder to her. They do have great chemistry! I do think she's a great actress and everything I've seen her in she's so talented at having convincing chemistry even if it's subtle. Elektra and Matt makes me sad and anxious. Star-crossed lovers are tragic. Yeah, Succession and The Bear aren't super big in the romance department haha. Makes sense! Comfort is what we need after S4 of Succession and S2 of The Bear. Good luck finding for the Kastle edits!!!!

Thanks for sensing this in Bear Nonnie! Appreciate you! 💗🐻

[a-life-in-film-by-wc]

Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls (1995)

Eagle-eyed readers may have noticed (as I have in writing this) that the last three films all have a certain Canadian link. So, I topped off my personal 12 month Jim Carrey trilogy with the Pet Detective sequel, which coincidentally featured a protagonist with a plot-central fear of bats like the previous one. My older brother, some mates from down the road and I headed to town to watch a second helping of veterinarian slapstick, after being assured by Sean and Paul that the first one was hilarious. 

Sophie Okenedo gave me a funny feeling in my tummy, which I've since recognised as the realisation of how criminally underrated she is as an actor. I think. Oddly enough, Simon Callow was also in this one, fresh off last year’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, whose Wet Wet Wet soundtrack single remained at number one just one week shy of Bryan Adams’ soundtrack single’s record from a few years before. The songwriter Reg Presley reportedly spent much of his royalty check on funding crop circle research. Jim Carrey allegedly had a paranormal experience in room 217 of the Stanley Hotel (from The Shining) while filming Dumb and Dumber the year before. Are these things connected? Up to you. Though if it was up to me, I might say no.

Anyway, this movie is mostly set in the fictional country of Nibia,* which I’m not sure how I feel about, but then again, I guess it could cause more trouble setting it in a real country. Regardless, I have a feeling that this movie would not survive a rewatch. If memory serves, there was definitely some ‘White Devil/White Saviour’ stuff in there and don’t recall our titular detective (or the filmmakers) showing much respect for the culture of the country they invented. Perhaps they could have simply not invented it.

*I wonder how many fictional countries there are in movies. Movie buff points if you can name the films that feature Freedonia, Zamunda, Krakozhia, Florin and Wakanda.

[s3x-repulsed-warnings-and-recs]

Shows that I’ve watched with none-to-few sex scenes

(Part 1)

Merlin (2008)

- No sex scenes in the entire series

IMDB Summery: These are the brand new adventures of Merlin, the legendary sorcerer as a young man, when he was just a servant to young Prince Arthur on the royal court of Camelot, who has soon become his best friend, and turned Arthur into a great king and a legend.

Reasons I liked:

- its gay (in my heart and in the magic metaphor)

- slow burn enemies to best friends (to lovers /j)

- kinda spooky sometimes ??

- homophobic (magic metaphor) dad gets what he deserves 

Criminal Minds (2005)

[I do not recommend this show if you are triggered by discussion or depiction of sexual assault, or excessive violence. There’s a list of episode specific warnings at the bottom of this section. ]

[if you're looking for an episodic investigative type show with a much more funny and light-hearted tone that also has an autistic coded main character with the name Spencer (insert doofenshmirtz nickel meme here), Psych is pretty great]

- many episodes revolve around sex related crimes but these can be easily skipped over without missing many plot details

- some implied scenes where people have sex- characters kissing very passionately -but there are few and can be easily skipped over without missing many plot details

IMDB Summery: The cases of the F.B.I. Behavioral Analysis Unit (B.A.U.), an elite group of profilers who analyze the nation's most dangerous serial killers and individual heinous crimes in an effort to anticipate their next moves before they strike again.

Reasons I liked:

- its an anthology (I love anthologies)

- good actors playing interesting characters

- spencer reid is asexual and no one can convince me otherwise

TWs: this is a list of possible triggers relating to harm to children, harm to animals, and sexual assault for each episode. I pulled it from a comment on reddit by u/princessgalaxy43 on this post. I’d also recommend taking a look at Does The Dog Die?’s page on Criminal Minds before you watch.

Literally any cartoon that is targeted at kids

My Recommendations:

- Dead End: Paranormal Park

IMDB Summery: Two teens and a talking pug team up to battle demons at a haunted theme park and maybe even save the world from a supernatural apocalypse.

Reasons I liked:

(I haven’t finished it yet I’m sorry)

- its gay & trans!!!

- spooky

- neurodivergent rep

- The Owl House

IMDB Summery: Accidentally sent to the world of the Boiling Isles before a trip to summer camp, a teenage human named Luz longs to become a witch, with the rebellious Eda and pint-sized demon King at her aid.

Reasons I liked:

- its gay

- I relate to the characters 

- cool magic system

- also a cool magic school that isn’t homo/transphobic

- character development

- Gravity Falls

IMDB Summery: Twin siblings Dipper and Mabel Pines spend the summer at their great-uncle's tourist trap in the enigmatic Gravity Falls, Oregon.

Reasons I liked:

- it’s gravity falls

- cool villian

- ~mystery~

- nice sibling duo

- Steven Universe

IMDB Summery: A team of intergalactic warriors fights to protect the Earth, but the combination of three highly trained beings and one quirky young boy leaves the team struggling to overcome the dangerous scenarios that are put in front of them.

Reasons I liked:

- it’s gay

- there’s banger music

- steven is the sweetest person on the planet

- Infinity Train 

(highly recommend, it’s underrated)

IMDB Summery: Various people find themselves on a mysterious train with an endless number of cars, each one being its own universe, and they must find a way to get home in this animated anthology series.

Reasons I liked: 

- interesting concept

- good characters

- cool character design

- it’s an anthology (i love anthologies)

-  Over The Garden Wall 

(also highly recommend, also underrated but probably because it’s a limited series)

IMDB Summery: Two brothers find themselves lost in a mysterious land and try to find their way home.

Reasons I liked:

- cool character designs

- elijah wood can voice act ?!

- singing frog

- villian is an eldritch horror

[maxwell-grant]

Having asked your thoughts on designing Frankenstein's daemon, might I now ask your thoughts on bringing Count Dracula from the written word into illustration? (I'm definitely in favour of the 'Hairy Old Mountain Man of Horror pretending he's people' look from the original novel; one of the small tests too many Draculas fail to pass is an absolutely tragic lack of the Evil Beard and/or Wicked Moustache explicitly described by Mr Stoker).

Unlike with Frankenstein, where I think the design needs to be painstakingly thought out in order to achieve the best balance of the creature's traits for horror and tragedy alike, I think with Dracula you can actually just take an approach of "whatever works". Because as I mentioned before, I think much of the appeal and longevity of Dracula is how the character's both a layered villain as well as a shapeshifting narrative force that can be tailored to whatever you want to do with. Granted, there are bad or dissappointing Dracula designs, of course there are, but in regards to the leeway you get for reinterpretation, you get a lot more of it with Dracula than with other literary icons.

Like with Frankenstein, I'm gonna bring up how I'd tackle a less grim, more comedy-centric Dracula first, one that's less a force of horror and more of a charismatic villain, and I think to that end I definitely agree that people are sleeping a lot on the hairy old man barely-passing-off-as-humanoid of the original story. Despite very much loving these performers, I'm actually not a fan of takes that mold Dracula too closely to people who've portrayed him, like Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, partially because I think it's a waste of an opportunity to create your own Dracula design. Since I can't draw (yet), I'll do what I usually do and make a board of images to try and convey some of my thoughts on one way I'd design Dracula.

(Pictured: Kiwi's design for Dracula, Hotel Transylvania concept art, Nandor, Castlevania Dracula, Charles Dance in Dracula Untold, Vladislav, a Transylvanian rug)

I used the images in my other Dracula post and I’ll post it here again because I absolutely adore @kiwibyrd's designs for Dracula and it's main heroes, in particular I love the way it strikes a good balance at making sure Dracula looks distinctly separate from the humans, but not too much that he couldn't conceivably operate in society as just a harmless old man. I also adore the mustache and bushy eyebrows and pointy ears and I think these three are wonderful features to keep on any Dracula design. I'm also very partial to the Hotel Transylvania concept art, even if it makes me incredibly depressed to look at all the great designs they had for Dracula that they threw in the trash because they somehow decided making him look like Adam Sandler was the idea to go with.

I deeply adore What We Do In The Shadows, both the movie and the show, and Jemaine Clement's Vladislav is one of my favorite (maybe even my actual favorite) on-screen Draculas. But I also enjoy Nandor just as much, and I think it's really great that as a character he's completely different from Vlad while also being ostensibly a take on Dracula, and in particular I bring up his Jersey look because "Dracula in common clothing" is a criminally underrated concept for a joke.

As a character, I'm very partial to comedy takes on Dracula that play him up as a decadent aristocratic supervillain, the kind that can get away with talking in third person. I also have this idea for a version of Dracula who dresses ostentatiously in finely-broidered Romanian or Transylvanian patterns, maybe even wearing a rug as a cape, claiming that he's carrying the legacy of his people on his back. And of course he's lying, he's not Vlad Tepes and he's not even Romanian, he is just a parasite pretending to have a history to be proud of, but good luck getting him to admit that. And finally, I'd like this version to be played by Charles Dance, and I consider it a tremendous crime against humanity that he has yet to play Dracula proper even despite being in a film with the character's name on the title.

So that's kinda how I would design a take on Dracula for something more comedic or more based around him as this guest character and personality on-set. Now, if we're talking a more serious version, I think the possibilities increase, and I won't be getting into all of them because I may prefer to keep them to myself, but I'll elaborate a few ideas.

For example, the edition of Dracula I personally own comes with these really scratchy, really creepy B&W illustrations related to the story, that I can't find scanned online so I'm uploading them here so you can look at. They don't necessarily depict the scenes but rather some of the story's moments, like Van Helsing staking Lucy, Renfield in a straightjacket, Dracula as a coachman, and they are more focused on conveying the horror of the concepts at play.

Dracula never looks the same way in any of the illustrations, in fact you kinda have to piece him out of them by trying to find teeth or capes or eyes or bat-features to see where he's hiding this time. In the first, it's the half-man half-bat, in the 2nd, he's the shrieking bat silhouette next to Renfield, and in the latter, he's the gaping jaws and eerily humanoid eyes in the wolf. The effect to me almost feels like if you were to look at a bunch of tv static and then see a humanoid shape form for a split second before everything went back to normal, something like you'd get from Slender Man or other modern creepypastas, and I’ve argued before that Dracula’s form of horror is a very modern one. 

In terms of illustrations of Dracula that keep up the original traits while still pulling off horror, I definitely have to hand it to the one at the left of the image above, drawn by regourso on Deviantart (account deleted at present). Going back to Castlevania’s many takes on Dracula, two in particular that stick out to me would be Castlevania: Judgment’s armored dress Dracula, who’s got this great twisted heart/rose motif going on in his outfit, and Dracula’s final form in SOTN where he just sits in his throne and his cape twists into all these monsters, particularly how it’s depicted by witnesstheabsurd’s depiction. 

I’m not particularly a fan of how Dracula’s “final form” in these games is usually just some big demon, and part of what I like about his final form in SOTN instead is that, while it’s not a particularly challenging final boss, I do find it interesting the idea of us never actually getting to see what Dracula’s true final form looks like, only an ever-shifting pitch-black torrent of teeth and claws and bloody veins pouring out because that’s ultimately what Dracula is and brings to the world.

On the flip-side of the rotten old monster, we have the charming seductor Dracula, and while I’m really not a fan of how various adaptations have convinced people that “the point” of Dracula is that he’s a seductive force and an allegory for Victorian xenophobia and I’m reeeally even less of a fan of adaptations that make Dracula some misunderstood tragic hero (and I think I’ve made rather violently clear my feelings on interpretations that play up a romance between him and Mina), that the seductive force part exists is impossible to deny, so conversely, while on one hand we can have Dracula as the gargantuan whirlwind of predatory violence, we can also go for Dracula as the tantalizing lover.

I’ve seen a lot of opinions proclaiming Frank Langella as the best Dracula because he was the best at actually being seductive while still playing Dracula, although I haven’t yet seen his performances. If I had to point at one picture I look at and do buy for a second the idea of Dracula as a romantic character, it would be that particular still of Raul Julia in the left of the above image. And it’s strange for me to think of Raul Julia as attractive because I mainly associate him with his brilliant comedy performance of M.Bison (I know it’s far from the highlight of his career but, look, I grew up with Street Fighter, I can’t help it) but those eyes are definitely looking pretty convincing to me, if nothing else. 

And I’ve included this still of Sebastian Stan in the right because, during a conversation between me, @krinsbez and @jcogginsa about who could be a good fit for Dracula, jcog suggested Sebastian Stan, partially because he’s Romanian, and I’ve learned recently that Stan was actually interested in playing the character in Blumhouse’s upcoming remake. And you’d think I’d hate this idea  considering how much I don’t care for tragic anti-hero Draculas, but who says that’s what he’d have to play? 

Do you have any idea how much actors, who are traditionally known for heroic or supporting roles, usually LOVE it when you give them a chance to cut loose as the main villain?

I’d want Sebastian Stan to put all of his charm, all of his talent, all of his good looks and etc, into playing the absolute most vicious, bloodthirsty and irredeemable Dracula put on screen. Someone who is exceedingly, eerily good at being a lovable protagonist, who’s all smiles and charming eyes and politeness mannerisms and maybe even a funny accent, and then it isn't as funny when he's flying through your window intent on kidnapping babies to feed to his brides, except he may take a moment or two to do so because he's feeling pretty hungry himself right now.

Now, admittedly this is kind of a lot to juggle in regards to a single character, which is why my answer for questions like these inevitably has to be “depends on what I’m going for”. That being said, if I was going to try and cast someone who I think could both look the part of Dracula, as well as respectively, play “cartoon aristocrat” Dracula, “mercurial embodiment of evil” Dracula, as well as realistically be an attractive, even seductive performer who can charm viewers even as the character descends into horrible villainy, and juggle these performances even?

I think I’d have to go with Mads Mikkelsen. Not specifically because of Hannibal (I actually haven’t watched it yet), although it’s definitely a factor, the thing that actually made me pick him specifically is, other than his looks, his voice, his reputation for playing sinister characters, the fact that he loves the role and wants to play it, or how many people are deeply in love with this man, or that people already joke that he looks like a vampire, was watching him in Another Round, and specifically that glorious final scene where he’s just dancing to his heart’s content and just, moving with such spring in his step and such joyful vitality even though he’s past his mid-fifties, and that was the moment where, in regards to how much you all love this man, I went

And now I am going to add “casting Mads Mikkelsen as a dancing Dracula” to The List of Reasons Why I Became a Filmmaker.